builer680
eats too much Taco Bell
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2010
- Messages
- 525
I've seen a number of posts that dismiss the problems many of us have with Civ 5 as "matters of opinion" or "taste." So I sat down and wrote up the problems I could think of that are not opinions.
The fact that nearly every single one of these problems existed upon release, and has not been fixed in the 3 1/2 months since, directly challenges the arguments of those who state that the game will "get better in time" and has "potential." Moderator Action: Trolling
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
It may very well have potential, and it remains to be seen if it will get better in time. My only question is... How MUCH time?
While many of the things I list are also in another thread, the primary purpose of this post is to directly ask...
If you're reading this Firaxis, why aren't these things fixed by now?
I am sure there are more. If I think of or see any from other posters, I'll add them.
The fact that nearly every single one of these problems existed upon release, and has not been fixed in the 3 1/2 months since, directly challenges the arguments of those who state that the game will "get better in time" and has "potential." Moderator Action: Trolling
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
It may very well have potential, and it remains to be seen if it will get better in time. My only question is... How MUCH time?
While many of the things I list are also in another thread, the primary purpose of this post is to directly ask...
If you're reading this Firaxis, why aren't these things fixed by now?
Spoiler :
SETUP AND SYSTEM
Initial load times (game startup) can take over a minute.
Turn times can take several minutes even on Small maps, especially late game with lots of AI units (Deity unit spam). This is not limited to lower end machines, it includes machines that are above the recommended specs listed on the box.
Setup preferences are not saved. If you launch from the basic setup menu, the options you made there are saved. If you launch from Advanced Setup, where there are many more options, any changes you make must be made every single time you setup a game.
The game crashes regularly on systems that exceed "Recommended." It frequently crashes on game reloads, game "re-setups," and randomly upon issuing commands or menu option selection.
Generating a new map with the same options requires exiting to the main menu and setting up the game options all over again. Then waiting for about a minute for the new map to generate. Then typically a crash to desktop, restarting Civ, and reloading the Autosave, which can take 2-4 minutes each time (game startup + Intro video + game save reload).
UI
Unit cycling is not intelligent. Instead of cycling through all units in current view on screen, the game will cycle from a unit on one side of the map, to a unit on the other side, back to the other side, etc...
Units auto garrison when moved to a City.
You cannot see friendly defensive combat bonuses such as Fortification and Flanking, as you must be mousing over another Civ's unit to see combat bonuses. This only shows their defensive bonuses and your attack bonuses.
You cannot see friendly combat bonuses when mousing over your unit. You must mouse over an enemy unit with your unit selected. This means you already be at war to see them. (Apparently this is wrong, you can do it by holding down Alt. I'm leaving it here so others can see it.)
You cannot see neutral unit combat bonuses. You must be at war to see them. (Apparently this is wrong, you can do it by holding down Alt. I'm leaving it here so others can see it.)
Multiple unit promotions are represented by the same icon (Triangle).
It is hard to see all Enemy unit promotions, because you must mouse over them with a Friendly unit selected. When you move your mouse to see what the promotions are (since many are just Triangles), by definition your mouse is no longer over the Enemy unit, and thus the info box disappears and you can't read the promotion.
Parts of the UI sit on top of others in certain situations. An example is a Unit gaining a promotion. If your screen is set in a way that the promotion selection box is over an enemy unit, your promotion options disappear under the combat box that comes up. You must "move" your screen to promote it. This can result in a unit being destroyed in the simultaneous turns of Multiplayer.
Citizen management requires extra click to activate, and is more cluttered than previous versions. It's harder than before to tell at a glance who is working what, the green citizen circles, gray empty citizen circles, shared tile circles, yield icon circles, and terrain features blend together.
Production queues require multiple clicks to setup. Can be, and has been, done with fewer necessary user inputs before.
Invisible rivers still exist.
"Phantom" units still exist. You can see an icon but there is no unit there. Vice versa as well, there is a unit there but you can't see the icon.
Buildings and Wonders still frequently appear in the middle of the ocean, or a lake. If you can tell a Wonder to sit on the texture of a mountain inside a terrain tile, you can make buildings sit in the proper places in a terrain tile, coastal or otherwise. Alternatively, you could simply adjust the texture rendering of the terrain tiles in question upon construction of said Wonders or buildings.
Only Happiness buildings, Wonders, and some Naval buildings show up on the game map. This is a step backwards.
DOCUMENTATION
The Civilopedia is sometimes wrong.
The Civilopedia is sometimes missing information.
The Civilopedia no longer utilizes Hyperlinks in text.
You no longer get a manual and tech chart with the game. Instead you must use the manual on the Internet. To be fair, this isn't something they can change now, even if they wanted to, which they don't.
CONTROLS
Input is not always consistent. Right clicking an enemy unit with a ranged unit sometimes bombards the enemy, sometimes moves the friendly unit instead. An example involves a naval unit. Right clicking an enemy ship and right clicking an enemy embarked unit have different results.
Cannot move units as a group.
Many hotkeys are no longer used.
Many hotkeys are not intuitive. (B)ombardment with land and naval units is (B). The exact same thing with air units is called Air (S)trike, and uses (S).
Cannot see a unit's destination by clicking on it.
Units forget their destinations if they run into an obstacle, even a friendly one, such as your own Worker.
GAMEPLAY and INTERFACE OPTIONS
Cannot change many options, including most (all?) Video Options midgame. It requires a reload, which can take 2-4 minutes each time (game startup + Intro video + game save reload).
Cannot change combat and moves animation (quick moves/combat) options midgame. It's selected at the start of the game and can never be changed for that game.
Can no longer differentiate between Showing/Not showing Friendly moves.
Can no longer differentiate between Showing/Not showing Friendly combat.
There are no longer any videos other than the intro video.
You cannot view a game replay without digging through game files.
AI
Governors will sometimes starve population with different settings.
Neutral or Friendly units block passage of tiles. Frequently in the early game, multiple scouts from multiple 'neutral' Civs on other sides of the continent, purportedly exploring, will Fortify themselves right on top of tiles I would be using to attack a nearby enemy Civ.
Similarly, supposedly neutral Scouts from the other side of the landmass often Fortify in choke points linking your cities so Workers cannot get through. Once you move your Worker, the Scout will often then move away.
The AI frequently suicides units with no military followup to take advantage of any weakness they may have created by suiciding the units.
The AI fortifies units in City bombardment range until they are dead.
The AI embarks units on water tiles in City bombardment range until they are dead.
The AI will frequently, repeatedly, and with multiple units walk right through "kill zones" with both military and non-military units while at war, when there are other options to get to a destination.
The AI occasionally brings to bear a preponderance of force to a City's gates, only to frequently either move back and forth until bombarded to death, or Fortify until bombarded to death.
City State mission requesting a road does not recognize the Road once it's built, if you can manage to build it while dodging the City State's units shuffling tiles every turn. (This is a new issue that came up after the 1.0.1.135 patch.)
MULTIPLAYER
There are no options for combat animations. Only "off."
You cannot use Hotseat, PBEM, or Pitboss. Your only option is Simultaneous turns.
You are limited to one timer, you can not alter the amount of time per turn for different games.
There is no option to hide the player score screen.
You cannot use DLC Civs.
There is no staging area / chat lobby. You must use 3rd party chat rooms such as the room set up by www.civplayers.com to talk with other players, except for the chatbox that is only open to those who have joined your game.
If a player disconnects from a game and you aren't in Steam chat with them, it is very difficult if not impossible for them to reconnect and continue the game.
Initial load times (game startup) can take over a minute.
Turn times can take several minutes even on Small maps, especially late game with lots of AI units (Deity unit spam). This is not limited to lower end machines, it includes machines that are above the recommended specs listed on the box.
Setup preferences are not saved. If you launch from the basic setup menu, the options you made there are saved. If you launch from Advanced Setup, where there are many more options, any changes you make must be made every single time you setup a game.
The game crashes regularly on systems that exceed "Recommended." It frequently crashes on game reloads, game "re-setups," and randomly upon issuing commands or menu option selection.
Generating a new map with the same options requires exiting to the main menu and setting up the game options all over again. Then waiting for about a minute for the new map to generate. Then typically a crash to desktop, restarting Civ, and reloading the Autosave, which can take 2-4 minutes each time (game startup + Intro video + game save reload).
UI
Unit cycling is not intelligent. Instead of cycling through all units in current view on screen, the game will cycle from a unit on one side of the map, to a unit on the other side, back to the other side, etc...
Units auto garrison when moved to a City.
You cannot see friendly defensive combat bonuses such as Fortification and Flanking, as you must be mousing over another Civ's unit to see combat bonuses. This only shows their defensive bonuses and your attack bonuses.
You cannot see friendly combat bonuses when mousing over your unit. You must mouse over an enemy unit with your unit selected. This means you already be at war to see them. (Apparently this is wrong, you can do it by holding down Alt. I'm leaving it here so others can see it.)
You cannot see neutral unit combat bonuses. You must be at war to see them. (Apparently this is wrong, you can do it by holding down Alt. I'm leaving it here so others can see it.)
Multiple unit promotions are represented by the same icon (Triangle).
It is hard to see all Enemy unit promotions, because you must mouse over them with a Friendly unit selected. When you move your mouse to see what the promotions are (since many are just Triangles), by definition your mouse is no longer over the Enemy unit, and thus the info box disappears and you can't read the promotion.
Parts of the UI sit on top of others in certain situations. An example is a Unit gaining a promotion. If your screen is set in a way that the promotion selection box is over an enemy unit, your promotion options disappear under the combat box that comes up. You must "move" your screen to promote it. This can result in a unit being destroyed in the simultaneous turns of Multiplayer.
Citizen management requires extra click to activate, and is more cluttered than previous versions. It's harder than before to tell at a glance who is working what, the green citizen circles, gray empty citizen circles, shared tile circles, yield icon circles, and terrain features blend together.
Production queues require multiple clicks to setup. Can be, and has been, done with fewer necessary user inputs before.
Invisible rivers still exist.
"Phantom" units still exist. You can see an icon but there is no unit there. Vice versa as well, there is a unit there but you can't see the icon.
Buildings and Wonders still frequently appear in the middle of the ocean, or a lake. If you can tell a Wonder to sit on the texture of a mountain inside a terrain tile, you can make buildings sit in the proper places in a terrain tile, coastal or otherwise. Alternatively, you could simply adjust the texture rendering of the terrain tiles in question upon construction of said Wonders or buildings.
Only Happiness buildings, Wonders, and some Naval buildings show up on the game map. This is a step backwards.
DOCUMENTATION
The Civilopedia is sometimes wrong.
The Civilopedia is sometimes missing information.
The Civilopedia no longer utilizes Hyperlinks in text.
You no longer get a manual and tech chart with the game. Instead you must use the manual on the Internet. To be fair, this isn't something they can change now, even if they wanted to, which they don't.
CONTROLS
Input is not always consistent. Right clicking an enemy unit with a ranged unit sometimes bombards the enemy, sometimes moves the friendly unit instead. An example involves a naval unit. Right clicking an enemy ship and right clicking an enemy embarked unit have different results.
Cannot move units as a group.
Many hotkeys are no longer used.
Many hotkeys are not intuitive. (B)ombardment with land and naval units is (B). The exact same thing with air units is called Air (S)trike, and uses (S).
Cannot see a unit's destination by clicking on it.
Units forget their destinations if they run into an obstacle, even a friendly one, such as your own Worker.
GAMEPLAY and INTERFACE OPTIONS
Cannot change many options, including most (all?) Video Options midgame. It requires a reload, which can take 2-4 minutes each time (game startup + Intro video + game save reload).
Cannot change combat and moves animation (quick moves/combat) options midgame. It's selected at the start of the game and can never be changed for that game.
Can no longer differentiate between Showing/Not showing Friendly moves.
Can no longer differentiate between Showing/Not showing Friendly combat.
There are no longer any videos other than the intro video.
You cannot view a game replay without digging through game files.
AI
Governors will sometimes starve population with different settings.
Neutral or Friendly units block passage of tiles. Frequently in the early game, multiple scouts from multiple 'neutral' Civs on other sides of the continent, purportedly exploring, will Fortify themselves right on top of tiles I would be using to attack a nearby enemy Civ.
Similarly, supposedly neutral Scouts from the other side of the landmass often Fortify in choke points linking your cities so Workers cannot get through. Once you move your Worker, the Scout will often then move away.
The AI frequently suicides units with no military followup to take advantage of any weakness they may have created by suiciding the units.
The AI fortifies units in City bombardment range until they are dead.
The AI embarks units on water tiles in City bombardment range until they are dead.
The AI will frequently, repeatedly, and with multiple units walk right through "kill zones" with both military and non-military units while at war, when there are other options to get to a destination.
The AI occasionally brings to bear a preponderance of force to a City's gates, only to frequently either move back and forth until bombarded to death, or Fortify until bombarded to death.
City State mission requesting a road does not recognize the Road once it's built, if you can manage to build it while dodging the City State's units shuffling tiles every turn. (This is a new issue that came up after the 1.0.1.135 patch.)
MULTIPLAYER
There are no options for combat animations. Only "off."
You cannot use Hotseat, PBEM, or Pitboss. Your only option is Simultaneous turns.
You are limited to one timer, you can not alter the amount of time per turn for different games.
There is no option to hide the player score screen.
You cannot use DLC Civs.
There is no staging area / chat lobby. You must use 3rd party chat rooms such as the room set up by www.civplayers.com to talk with other players, except for the chatbox that is only open to those who have joined your game.
If a player disconnects from a game and you aren't in Steam chat with them, it is very difficult if not impossible for them to reconnect and continue the game.
I am sure there are more. If I think of or see any from other posters, I'll add them.