Washington (IC) Immortal Cookbook

[drlake]

Yeah V - The diplo aspect is really the most confusing thing. The amount of info is very different. I believe I watch or read some preview stating that the intent was to make diplo more subtle than in Civ4. It will take some time getting used to.

Ha dr - yeah...centrinos weren't made for gaming that's for sure

Hey GB - when we gettin' this round started?

The round started, GKey's save won. Scroll up.

 

[lymond]

ah...well, i haven't seen the official GB announcement or the cut-off date (GB, I went with 1300AD in the MC)

 

[GKey]

I wasn't in the mood to fight through round 3 right now. Things are going there in a way that makes it a bit boring.

So I opened steam and downloaded Civ5 demo.

There are many topics in civ5 forum like:
"Ordered it and now want send it back. Die Firaxis"

or "Best game I've ever seen!!111 Love you Firaxis"

or “put here whatever you want”.


So why don't we take a little brake to share our impressions here in this thread?
I am curios to know opinions of people I was playing with these weeks, you guys.

Here is mine:

1. Starting movie is boring, hitting Esc during it does not help much, it will keep playing on till almost end. I guess they keep load actual game during playback and put movie in background instead of static picture with “Game Loading…” thing. At start I thought it’s a nice change but now I almost want run away from the room just to not see that old man telling same @#$$# to his son again and again and again and again. But may be I am just schizophrenic myself, who knows.

2. Now to the demo itself. You have 3 leaders to choose from: Darius, Ramesses and Alexander, each with fixed location on small size map and you able to play till renaissance era. No complaints here! In fact it’s more then I could expect from the demo. In civ4 I would be ~70% sure by that time if I won or lost. Difficulty is not limited; go for Deity if you want to!

3. Finally game starts.
WOW! Nice graphic dudes! These dynamic clouds instead of darkness for unrevealed tiles look really cool. Terrain looks very natural too. Good job!
Found Thebes and go into city screen...

Btw do I boring you guys with this of topic %$#&, or should I go on?

 

[lymond]

aaaargh!!! this forum is sooooooo sloooooooooow

Gkey - There's an option in the user settings file under My Docs>My Games>CIV5 to turn of the intro. Not sure if you have access to do this with the demo though. Odd though is that with the intro off you get a few seconds of just a black screen. Seems like they would have some sort of splash screen, but it is faster.

Graphics are okay - some things do look cool. Thing is that my eyes and my mind are having to adjust to the new details. The map and yields look so very different and the screen is very bright compared to CIV4. Sort of gives me a headache after a while, but I guess I'll adjust eventually.

Obsolete said he clobbered the Demo on Deity, stating that the AI was pretty dumb. I expect the Demo is not optimized for Deity though. I'm playing on Prince though and having trouble keeping up with the AI. I've not yet fought the AI though.

There are always naysayers among the purists, so I expect some backlash. I'm sure there was a lot from Civ3 to 4 as well. Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of the game yet. CiV is really very very different from CIV4 in so many ways that it will take a good deal of time to adjust to it. I'm holding back criticism until I've played a bit and actually learn some strategies and optimal start paths.

 

[GKey]

Yeah, "SkipIntroVideo = 1" in that file did the trick, thx!
Took me some time to adjust myself to that food now are green apples, production orange circles and commerce is ... ok commerce pretty same.
But after founding first city I see +4 science and +4 gold, while city is size 1 and get 2 commerce from tiles overall. I was stumbled till found in civilopedia that each city earns base commerce equal to its population, if they count core city tile too then ok. But then again it looks like 4 commerce I produce are multiplied by 2: 2 from pop + 2 from tiles = 4 commerce = 4 beakers + 4 gold. Am I correct?

EDIT: That was absolutely wrong. Never mind it.

 

[Quaren]

Sorry I didn't have time to vote. Been away with work for a few days. From what I remember from the saves I know I would have given GKey a few points.

 

[lymond]

I don't think the concept of commerce exists in the game - Gkey. Science appears to come strictly from citizens and buildings like libraries will multiply that effect. You can also run scientists as usual for bonus science and GPPs.

The orange circles at least have the little hammer in them - i mean little

 

[Gumbolt]

Okay few points.

The dropping a pin referred to my flat not the forum.

I do think the civ 5 debate should be had in the civ 5 part of the forum. Although it is interesting to hear what people think. I am undecided on the purchase yet.

Next round length. I had planned 1300ad. I do think we should well be on track to win this game.

Lets play to 1200ad. Then perhaps we can do a 1400ad reporting round and play on to a finish. There is no defined way to finish the game. I think domination will be most likely.

 

[drlake]

OK, 1200AD it is. I may post an intermediate status update, for feedback. We'll see how it goes, though.

 

[GKey]

Sorry, Gumbolt.
It was soooo silent here last couple of days. I am undecided myself and demo did not help much.

 

[Gumbolt]

Round Three Commences

Congratulations to Gkey for winning the vote in the second round!

Below you will find the save that will be used for Round 3:

Gkey winning save


Round 3 lasts from 400 AD - 1200ad and will tentatively end at 6pm GMT on Sunday, September 26th, with voting to occur the subsequent couple of days.


This round is also open to players that have not previously submitted games and have not played/shadowed past the date of 1500BC. Players that feel their overall game is too strong for the IC may submit shadow games, and this is actually welcome as it can prove educational for less experienced players.

Overall lets have some fun this round.

 

[GKey]

Forgot something:
Turn 0:
Workers converting cottage to workshop near Seattle (it haven't been worked yet). You can stop them still.

 

[Fierabras]

Some more tips on 400 AD:

- We don't need more espionage points on Sumeria. Adjust that.
- Don't forget we are expansive, so harbors are cheap to build

 

[GKey]

True that, thx. Got Compass 1-2 turns ago and forgot about that.
2 galleys near Phylo were there long ago vs barbs. We going to need them north instead.

 

[lymond]

GB - Ha...for the most part I agree about the CIV5 discussion, but really, there are so many whackos over on that forum right now and whacko threads - I'm not kidding either, it is why this forum is slow. Anyway, it's nice to chat among some sane people - at least I think we are all sane.

edit: One more CiV thought - after playing some more the game is really starting to grow on me

 

[bobbyboy29]

Civ 5

Spoiler :

I agree completely with Lymond here. I hope you don't mind if we do a little Civ V discussion here Gumbolt. The civ V forum is just too flooded with people who's opinions i dont value or respect. Hopefully soon enough all the haters will just stop playing the game and stop posting about how annoyed they are so the rest of us can get on to mastering the game.

Personally, I'm very excited for when the game comes out. Assuming my comp can run it that is. I think that it will be very different but still great and exciting. Also undoubtedly once it gets patched and expanded it will be a fantastic game.

The only main concern that seems valid to me about the game is the long build times. However, that was exactly what I felt about Civ 4 until I learnt how awesome slavery was. I was just wondering whether anyone here was around when Civ 4 first came out and how long it took back then to realise that there were alternate forms of production which were very useful and efficient.

Similarly, I think that rush buying in Civ V will make a big difference and people are reluctant to use it too much and perhaps unable to generate enough commerce to make it effective yet. What do you guys think?

I should also say something on topic for this thread I guess... I will attempt to play the round some time today.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Some more tips on 400 AD:

- We don't need more espionage points on Sumeria. Adjust that.
- Don't forget we are expansive, so harbors are cheap to build

Good calls and thanks for providing those tips!

Indeed, what I like about this Cookbook game is that we're all in it together. While we can try to each play our own game and try to differentiate our games from each other, we're also there to provide support and suggestions to each other.

While I love the Game of the Month games, the competitive aspect of them sometimes gets a bit in the way of being able to analyse each other's games, as we generally only have textual descriptions and screenshots to go off of, while looking at someone's saved games can certainly provide a whole new dimension of tips that can be offered.


Civ 5

Spoiler :

Btw do I boring you guys with this of topic, or should I go on?

I was quite enjoying hearing vicariously about Civ 5 experiences, as I am currently leaning towards not buying the game. However, I suggest that if you do have further comments, it's probably best to spoiler then in a Civ 5 heading, so as not to clutter the thread.

Maybe it's just me, but "CIV" and "CiV" look too similar on the screen for me to treat them as easily differentiable from each toher.

 

[GKey]

@bobbyboy29
Civ5

Spoiler :

Have to confess, I am currently closer to haters then lovers. Simply don't feel the game, miss something in it.
Hope it will past like it did with Civ4. First time I tried Civ4 for couple of hours, I've got to conclusion it sucks.
Luckily there was something in a game that made me return to it again and again. Still was not addicted to it like I was addicted to Civ3 and previous ones. One day I got enlightenment, opened browser and typed "civilization 4" in google (took me only like 3 years, yeah). Civfanatics opened for me Civ4 in whole glory.
Hopefully adaptation to Civ5 will take less then 3 years.

 

[vranasm]

CIV

Spoiler :

I did the little trick with proxy so I can play already civ even if I should wait to friday in non demo mode.

I play on King from start and don't feel that behind. I choosed Babylon who gets free GS for teching Writing. GS in this game can bring you any tech you want you can already research, so no more set paths.

The game is different. I am a bit worried about AI and their fighting ability though. In my now game I am on continent with Japan and 4 city states (btw city states are awesome addition, even though they are tricky in ancient era!).

The game feels really really really slow. Rush buying actually isnt there, since you can't rush production. But you can build complete builds from 0 and immediately (you dont wait for end turn). They are expensive though.
We will have to find soon some balance between workers/cities, since this time the worked tiles don't bring that much bonus to tile, but you want definitely improve the specials asap (happiness and all strategics.)
I think they missed the mark with build costs of buildings (with units I am fine, since on 1upt you generally want less of them). They are sooo slow to build and the payback on the first sight is pretty low (for example granary offers +2 food and nothing more and its hammers are pretty big). Mine adds only +1 to tile, so imagine you build things with desert hills everywhere with costs around 200+ hammers. Standard is in costs like epic, but timing is like normal.

Expansion is slow...I have 3 cities at T70 with sizes of 4,4,1 (or something like that). Luckily I have a lot of happiness sources so am sitting on surplus and had already GA.

What worries me about AI is their fighting ability...Yesterday the Japan declared on Budapest (city state) with clear intention of taking the city. Cities now can defend self, so budapest was at strength 17. they bring 2 archers, 2 warriors. In something like 7 turns the attacking force was killed...the cities are tough to crack. It seems they don't bring enough focus...
Barbarians are somewhat less dangerous but can heavily pillage you and annoy you a bit. But I feel they are more fun this game then in CIV where they could screw you up big time. For example I left my settler unguarded, barb archers took them up to encampent and few turns later I freed the settler with spearman. So it's a bit funnier then CIV.

Stonehenge in my book is absolutely critical early wonder since it brings 8 culture and culture is veery important since you expand 1 tile/a lot of turns and get SPs through culture, and stonehenge basically tripples the amount of early culture you have, that allowed me to get 3 SPs very early.

I think it will be good game, but the AI will be critical. I am undecided yet on it. But am a bit worried through some respected peoples reports (obsolete, but obsolete is his own league...).

 

[bobbyboy29]

Civ 5

Spoiler :

I know we've hijacked this thread a bit but its nice to have good, civilized discussion about the game. I just bought it, it doesn't unlock for 6 more hours though! Anyway, I'm pretty excited for CiV and I think i'll enjoy it. I think that most people's concerns atm are legitimate and most major things should get patched soon (i.e build times, major AI stupidity etc.) Another important thing to remember is how much Civ 4 improved with patches, expansions (I remember vanilla cossacks were basically unstoppable if properly beelined and siege used to be able to kill units!).

My Civ 4 experience was very similar to Gkey's. I got it the day it came out but found myself bored of it. 2 years later I decided to give it another whirl. I found this site but most importantly, somehow got a link to Sisiutil's ALC's. The rest as they say, is history.

One thing which interests me at the moment is people's gripe with the non-transparent diplomacy. Personally, I think its a good idea. Obviously at first its a bit annoying not being able to know who likes, hates you and how much. But at the same time i think it will make things far more interesting. In a way it makes the AI's act a lot more like humans, I mean think of how many times you've backstabbed a friendly AI, imagine how they felt then (if they had feelings...). One of the main problems with Civ 4 I feel is that diplo is too transparent and too easy to manipulate. Usually it just boiled down to "if you're in my religion I love you, if not, I hate you" I think that over time people will realise having unpredictable (and maybe slightly stupid)AIs will make the game more interesting as you won't be able to hang your hat on something like "Zara is a monster and should win, but he can't DOW me cause we're friendly".

Anyway, now I really can't wait to play but I think i may be playing Civ 4 for a while still until patches and expansions drastically improve civ V