I really like the game. I can play it well because of my supa-computer. (2.2 GHz CPU, 1024 MB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6600, 200 GB hdd...) The only lag I get is when one of two things happen:
1) I use the wheel to switch between globe and normal views (I hate when I do that!)
2) Norton pops up in the background and I run out of memory. I once got set back about 15 turns because of that. but then, I had been playing for hours.
Anyways, I am fully capable of large games with more civs. My current game sports 10 opponents, I have about 30+ cities, and I'm loving life. OK, I get a small framereate drop in the late late late game if I zoom out too much. Other than that, I'm fine.
I love the combat system. I don't know why, but I like it more. Probably because I
don't need to stack 10 units to take a 3-unit city ala Civ III (though I do that anyway when wiping out someone with 2k+ points.)
The modern era is fun. You get so many cool toys... In my 10-opponent game, I start attacking a 10-unit, 60% bonus, size 11 city by using about a dozen bombers to wipe out the bonus and injure units. Then I send in the choppers, artillery, tanks and the like, and wipe them out. If any remain, I just use my Navy SEALs to finish the job. Wash city, rinse, repeat on next city.
I love religion. The ability to spread it is fun, and if you have an opponent with a religon nobody likes, you can declare war and nobody will care. Well, except for them. But they'll soon die anyway.
I like the fact that they did away with most of the micromanaging. No civil disorder = one giant headache gone. The new system is much more realistic. And the lack of pollution means I can spend less time worrying about Factories and more time doing what I want to do. More fun.
Then there's diplomacy. I don't bother with diplomacy most of the time. OK, the red options all around the board is a little annoying, but it is only because I don't hold well to kissing @$$es of other nations. If they don't like me, they can provoke my giant death-army to go crush them. I really don't care what they think. I just become the world superpower so it doesn't matter.
From the Civ III manual:
You cannot please everyone, but if you control all the trade routes and have the world by the throat, it matters less.
I now also like long games, if the challenge remains. I get bored, then *snap* New game... I did that a lot in Civ III when I hit the industrial age and knew I was going to win. I got challenged beyond my ability on Emperor level, so the boredom was lost, and the game was fun again.
But Civ IV is different. It keeps the challenge for me. I tried a Noble game, but after getting crushed by an endless stream of Barbarians (I never before had the chance to have an Archer with City Garrison III... from a city with no Barracks) I got a little discouraged. I'll try again in a day or two.
Well, I think that covers everything in the poll. I guess I'll see you around.
