Jason_Els
Chieftain
Fourth time I've tried to get a civ going on Warlord level and I keep getting dumped in horrendous terrains usually combining arctic ice, desert, high mountains, or dense jungles! I cannot get a foothold in the world and I invariably end up getting put next to the Zulu or Aztec. Last game I quit in frustration because 6 veteren archers and spearmen got wasted by ONE Elite Impi. The game before that I got all my cities stuck at 12 population waiting for Hospitals while still in the Renaissance and not only was growth extraordinarily slow but I got beaten out of every Wonder I attempted to build even when everyone was trailing me in technology. The "puny" Egyptians managed to crank out Leonardo's and Adam Smith's with just 4 cities to their nation.
Conducting war is nearly impossible on large maps with many civilizations and pausing to produce even a competitive military puts me so far behind in the tech race that I get wasted fast by smaller civs which don't seem to have a problem building a huge military and keeping technologically advanced at the same time.
I have to say this game is a huge letdown from Civ 2. If the AI is better in some areas it's cheap in others. No wonder movies (which I sorely miss), no animated rulers/emissarys, no world view even when satelllites are discovered (really disappointing omission), and music that's either rehashed from the old games or wildly inappropriate. Planting spys is impossibly difficult without saving/restoring ad infinitum and other espionage missions don't seem worth the time. Military units aren't as balanced as before either and my fighters just sit on the ground getting bombed when enemies attack! Why can't stealth fighters perform air superiority missions and why can't they do this ALL the time??
Forget about trying for military victories unless you starve conquered cities to near obvlivion or waste the other civ in one turn. This is my biggest complaint. Sitting around handing out technologies and furs for world maps and spices is nice in the beginning but the game quickly turns tedious as the only option for winning appears to be smiling, waving, and building the UN. And you can forget that if the Aztec or Zulu have any sizable civ anywhere in the world. They won't leave you in peace no matter how nice you are. Why on earth didn't Fundamentalism/Fascism stay in the game? Why do post-patch cities flip for inexplicable reasons?
I was hoping for animations, movies, more detailed views (certainly more than 2 zoom sizes), new units and tehcnologies that could offer increased depth of play, and certainly deeper trade and foreign affairs options. Trade in this game is a joke. I can't store all that wonderful iron I regularly find nobody has any surplus items to trade. There is also a trade bug where I lose the ability to trade with civs I have been trading with even when there are direct routes to that civ and there are items to trade.
Civ used to be a Mercedes-like franchise; outstanding in all its strengths and always a generous manual that was actually informative and interesting to read. I applaud Firaxis/Infogrames for including a manual but it's not exemplary.
Civ was about using different play styles to play the same game whether peaceful, warlike, or scheming. A player could win a variety of ways using different startegies. In Civ3 however, I feel greatly restricted in play style; forced to be U Thant in EVERY situation even when it isn't practical or healthy for the civ under my stewardship. This, combined with the un-random randomness of my starting positions and the numerous bugs such as in the middle of one game suddenly the Japanese, Egyptians, Babylonians, Germans, and Greeks appeared out of nowhere but weren't represented on my diplomacy or trade screens even after I initiated contact through a third party and established embassies?
This civ is a half-baked effort and particularly galling after the great Alpha Centauri. We are not amused and that, to me, makes the game less than enjoyable.
Sorry to make my first post a rant but when what is arguably the single best PC game ever made screws itself I get kinda mad.
Conducting war is nearly impossible on large maps with many civilizations and pausing to produce even a competitive military puts me so far behind in the tech race that I get wasted fast by smaller civs which don't seem to have a problem building a huge military and keeping technologically advanced at the same time.
I have to say this game is a huge letdown from Civ 2. If the AI is better in some areas it's cheap in others. No wonder movies (which I sorely miss), no animated rulers/emissarys, no world view even when satelllites are discovered (really disappointing omission), and music that's either rehashed from the old games or wildly inappropriate. Planting spys is impossibly difficult without saving/restoring ad infinitum and other espionage missions don't seem worth the time. Military units aren't as balanced as before either and my fighters just sit on the ground getting bombed when enemies attack! Why can't stealth fighters perform air superiority missions and why can't they do this ALL the time??
Forget about trying for military victories unless you starve conquered cities to near obvlivion or waste the other civ in one turn. This is my biggest complaint. Sitting around handing out technologies and furs for world maps and spices is nice in the beginning but the game quickly turns tedious as the only option for winning appears to be smiling, waving, and building the UN. And you can forget that if the Aztec or Zulu have any sizable civ anywhere in the world. They won't leave you in peace no matter how nice you are. Why on earth didn't Fundamentalism/Fascism stay in the game? Why do post-patch cities flip for inexplicable reasons?
I was hoping for animations, movies, more detailed views (certainly more than 2 zoom sizes), new units and tehcnologies that could offer increased depth of play, and certainly deeper trade and foreign affairs options. Trade in this game is a joke. I can't store all that wonderful iron I regularly find nobody has any surplus items to trade. There is also a trade bug where I lose the ability to trade with civs I have been trading with even when there are direct routes to that civ and there are items to trade.
Civ used to be a Mercedes-like franchise; outstanding in all its strengths and always a generous manual that was actually informative and interesting to read. I applaud Firaxis/Infogrames for including a manual but it's not exemplary.
Civ was about using different play styles to play the same game whether peaceful, warlike, or scheming. A player could win a variety of ways using different startegies. In Civ3 however, I feel greatly restricted in play style; forced to be U Thant in EVERY situation even when it isn't practical or healthy for the civ under my stewardship. This, combined with the un-random randomness of my starting positions and the numerous bugs such as in the middle of one game suddenly the Japanese, Egyptians, Babylonians, Germans, and Greeks appeared out of nowhere but weren't represented on my diplomacy or trade screens even after I initiated contact through a third party and established embassies?
This civ is a half-baked effort and particularly galling after the great Alpha Centauri. We are not amused and that, to me, makes the game less than enjoyable.
Sorry to make my first post a rant but when what is arguably the single best PC game ever made screws itself I get kinda mad.
... I've no problem playing at Regent, and many people even manage at Deity!
)
Now, after a couple weeks, I'm back to beating Deity and haven't played anything lower since before the patch.
