What DO you like about Civ 4?

[Brain]

There have been a lot of "I don't like ..." comments recently and I get the impression that many people are overly negative towards the new game based on pre-mature assumptions. So I decided to look at it from the positive point of view and make a thread about all the stuff that I like about Civ 4.

1- I love the idea of being able to mod anything in the game. From what I've seen it will be a completely new level of modability. I would love to be able to hand-craft AI behavior to various situations or have a different kinds of behaviors for various scenarios. If it's like other games it also probably means that we can trigger victory on custom conditions, which opens a huge number of possibilities.

2- Religion is a great idea. There's a lot of rant from people complaining about it but really we have no idea of how it will actually play. Please give it a chance before you start complaining. The simple truth is that religion is a fundamental aspect of history that really needed to be in the game.

3- Civics. Now that's a new concept that could go a long way to making the game a lot more fun, especially for those tired of warmongering games. The new culture system will also make it harder for warmongers and better for builders. Thanks God for that because frankly, there was much more to history than just wars.

4 - Graphics are not really that important for me, but am I the only person who actually likes the new graphics? Okay, it looks a bit clumsy and needs some polishing, but the graphics engine looks like it can do amazing things. Zooming to a city is done by actually zooming in and you can see all the graphical details of the city on the map. Those seem like very good ideas to me.

Overall, I like what I've seen so far and I would like to see more positive comments from other people. So what do you like about the new game?

 

[Communisto]

i completely agree with everything you've said. Also, i like the way the units look even if they are a little big

 

[JG99_Korab]

Right on man!!

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

What I LIKE about civ4 (based on what I know) is CIVICS-definitely the BEST thing I have heard so far.
I have no problem with the graphics at all. That continous zoom looks soooo cool, and I have a feeling that it will make it possible for the English to play, on the British Isles, and build enough cities to actually remain viable.
I also love the fact that they seem to have REALLY tried to deal with the Snowball Effect. Whether it works or not is still to be seen, but at least it seems that they are listening on this issue-and trying to deal with it.
I love the whole special abilities and promotions of units, and I LOVE the WYSIWYG system for cities. Not to mention ALL of the great new terrain improvements you can build-hopefully this will be a MEGA moddable part of the game.
I am not all that fussed about religion-yet-but it is a brand new concept for them, so I will wait and see how it develops-both in the game and in future expansions.
Man, I could just go on and on and on about all the things that I ALREADY love about this game, and I hope that all the future info will be EQUALLY loved by me (I, for one, am still hoping to hear that civil wars and minor nations are in the game!)
Oh, and did I mention the revolutionary AI leaders, and multiple leaders for many civs, which will alter the way these nations play?? Oh, and lets not forget the Health system for cities!!! Man, I really COULD go on and on !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Darwin420]

Above and beyond all else that has been revealed to us, I am most in love with the SMAC-style Civics model.

Thank you so much, Firaxis!!

 

[narmox]

I love that there is even a civ4 at all, so the franchise isn't dying! (no need to repeat what everyone else said which I do like, plus I'll really find out what I love most when I play the game for a while)

 

[Icevulture]

I like unit sizes, leaderheads actually moving around and reacting, and I like that action cam if that's what it's called. When your units had a battle with an enemy, the camera zooms in and angles itself so you can see the battle up close. I like how you can see what buildings a city has simply by having it in your line of sight. Unit promotions? it's about time . All the information about how techs are shared with your ally, line of sight is shared with your ally, etc etc, very nice.

 

[Smidlee]

i agree with Brain plus the promise of a improved AI handle units as a whole. No more stacks of doom.

 

[Stilgar08]

Brain (great thread, BTW!), Icevulture, Aussie Lurker:

My gang!!! I'm with you on everything you said! I'm pretty sure, cIV will be an amazing game and hope, those Firaxians out there feel, that there's not only critizism flying around, but also encouragement!

From what I've seen and heard I'm sure the game won't be perfect, but will very likely be the best Civ ever! As usual! I'm looking forward to it!

 

[Ranbir]

It's Sid Meier's Civilization IV. What else?

 

[Sub]

The civics are probably one of the coolest features. I also like the fact that you can customize your government like in smac. The diplomacy screen is also pretty nifty looking.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

The new combat model sounds good.

 

[Trade-peror]

I like how the trade model will be changing a bit, with more tradable resources and the mysterious but intriguing "farms." The Civ4 model still appears to be a far cry from a truly engrossing trade model, but, hey, something is better than nothing!

 

[Crazy Eskimo]

Because I posted a big post of critiques, I feel I should post here as well.

1) Civics. Tremendous idea. It's unrealistic to have a democracy where the president wields as much absolute power as a dictator. Rather than feeling like different governments, it felt more like different dictatorships where you can either be better suited to building or war. Civics adds an element where the operation of your civilization will actually affect your gameplay. This will be most welcome.

2) Improved AI. Need I say more?

3) Stacks of Units interacting. I've long felt that use of units together needed to be more interactive. Before we knew anything Civ IV, I actually had been thinking about ways to make armies that actually would use different units (ie. infantry to hold the front line, cavalry to flank, cannons to bombard, etc.). My main concern in this was that this was getting away from strategy and into RTS stuff. It sounds like the stack interaction will avoid that pitfall while still steering clear of the hundreds of units standing by while two fight a one-on-one duel scenario that was a rare unsightly blemish on the Civ games.

4) WYSIWSG is a great principle. I like the idea of seeing if a city has the pyramids or the Eiffel tower. It's a great, and almost revolutionary, step up from the city growth effect that would happen as towns became cities, cities metropolises, etc. in Civ III and before.

5) I like the fact that they were bold in moving to the 3d engine. Granted I don't think the graphics look great and I think it's too cluttered at the moment, but it's far better than just sticking with what works blindly. I mean, the graphics weren't great in Civ I and I loved it, so bad graphics aren't going to sink a game. I think by Civ V, they'll have 3d graphics down pat and then it'll really be impressive. Rather than let the genre stagnate and stick with what worked, they got the process of innovation started. I just hope that they at least a) clean up the graphics so it's easier to see and less cluttered and b) refine the unit graphics more. The noticable lack of eyes on the units kinda bugs me. But these are minor points, to the overall praise of tackling this issue head on, rather than avoiding risk.

 

[Colonel Kraken]

The unit promotion thing seems really cool. Reminds me of my hundreds of hours playing the Panzer General series!

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

4 - Graphics are not really that important for me, but am I the only person who actually likes the new graphics? Okay, it looks a bit clumsy and needs some polishing, but the graphics engine looks like it can do amazing things. Zooming to a city is done by actually zooming in and you can see all the graphical details of the city on the map. Those seem like very good ideas to me.

If you dont like the graphics mod them!!! even as youve said brain, its a whole new level of modding! Or with the units, anything is possible.

 

[puglover]

The graphics are okay I guess. And the civics idea is awesome.

That's what I like.

 

[Sirian]

I like the separation of leaders+traits from civs in general. More than one leader, so more than one way to play a given civ (in some cases, at least!)

I also like the concept of taking out boring stuff like workers cleaning up pollution. Less makework, less babysitting leaves more time for fun stuff.

I like the idea of more types of things for workers to do. I've always liked messing with workers at least in the first half of the game, and if that is richer, I'll enjoy it more.

I like the end of Attack/Defense numbers. This should make the AI stronger because in Civ3, the AI's cavalry or tanks are always run out front where they get slaughtered. For foot units, the AI has to have a defender escort for every attack unit, which is somewhat tortured, I think. Simplifying this aspect looks really good to me -- assuming the AI can effectively use all those level-up thingies.

I liked how in the video, the Gandhi AI didn't do what the designer expected it to do. I thought that was kind of funny.


- Sirian

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

One thing I HAVEN'T mentioned yet-like OR dislike-is the combat, diplomacy and trade systems. However, the fact that you can now try and make peace between two civs, or even cause war between them, suggests that they have listened to us to some degree on the whole 'Puppet Master' business. This will be even MORE so if Unit trading is also in the game!! (Actually, on unit trades, they said they took it out because of AI exploits. However, if we have AI 'personalities' now-and a better AI overall-then this exploit factor should be far less of a factor). Anyway, needless to say that I will love diplomacy even MORE if they have better alliances and MPP's, Protectorates, and unit trading.
As for trade, I LOVE the fact that you can trade ALL resources now, though I really REALLY hope you can trade 'food' and 'hammers'-both internally and between nations. The fact that you can see 'the particulars' of your trade network also suggests visible trade routes which-in turn-suggests the possibility of REAL piracy and embargoes. Again, I wait with baited breath !
Lastly, on combat, I do love the multi-figure units-as it will increase the immersive nature of the game for me. However, I still wait eagerly to hear how stack combat will be handled-if at all!!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[North King]

Well...

1) Civics.
2) Mali.
3) ...If I could figure out what WYSIWSG is, then I might have something to put here.