Who tried the demo of Civ 5?

[Steph]

Ok, that's a little off topic...

But I 'd like to now the feeliongs of the old civIII veterans who tried the demo of Cii V.

I have a feeling of ... emptyness.

Imagine someone very thirsty, who drinks a very small cup of water, and is still very thirsty after.

I mean, same small tech tree, same small unit lines.... For years I think they have not really expanding the game, they are just shuffling the interface and graphics around.

I also have the impression (bug?) that you cannot control where you want to assign citizens.

 

[Kyriakos]

From what i read you do not assign citizents anymore, it happens automatically. But i didnt look into it much since i hate steam and won't be dling the demo as long as it is only through steam.

And civ5 will be in a bad state for at least a year. So i will wait till then to try it.

 

[Plotinus]

No, you can choose to have citizens assigned automatically, or you can assign them yourself in the traditional way.

I didn't know that there was a demo. I shall have to try this out!

 

[Steph]

No, you can choose to have citizens assigned automatically, or you can assign them yourself in the traditional way.

I couldn't find how.

 

[Plotinus]

Well, I'm just going by what I read in the reviews.

 

[JSnider]

Done at City level ... per rules

The City Screen

Click on a city’s banner to reach the city screen.
The city-screen allows you to “fine tune” your control over each city. It contains the following
elements:

Your Citizens at Work
The center of the City Screen displays the map around your city. Your city’s borders are displayed,
and you can see which tiles your citizens are “working” (the tiles with the green citizen
“coins” in them). Tiles that they could work are shown as black “coins”.

“Locking” a Citizen to a Tile
You can order a citizen to work a specific (unworked) tile by clicking on that tile. If an unemployed citizen is available, that citizen will go to work that tile. If not, the city will choose a
citizen from another tile to work the tile. The coin will turn green and have a lock symbol on
it. This notes that the city will always work that tile, until you order it to cease by clicking on it
again.

Removing a Citizen from Work
If you click on a tile that is being worked (it has a green coin, either displaying a person or a
lock), the citizen will cease to work that tile and become “Unemployed”, appearing in the
Unemployed Citizen List (see next page). You can then order that citizen to become a specialist
in a building. You can click on an unemployed citizen in the list and he will return to
work a tile on the map (if one is available to be worked).

Still the overall is not as robust as CIV3 or 4 at this point, to be expected in a 1st release (my opinion) ,,, like only 70 techs for x numbeer of 1000s of year .. an on and on. Still will buy for the mods folks will do for it and make great just like ones done here and still being done.

 

[Steph]

In the demo, I tried to click on different tiles while in the city screen and nothing happened.
I think I was a bit disappointed by the pace of the game.
You can discover bronze working and iron working relatively fast, moving quickly forward in the tech tree, but you need 20 turns to build an archer unit...
It almost takes more time to built a unit than a wonder.

 

[Goldflash]

UGH.

No, I didn't bother with the demo. I preordered the Deluxe edition months ago and haven't looked back. This nonsense of "just shuffling the tech tree around" is complete and utter garbage. They have totally revamped many major aspects of the game, including culture, research, moving units across the water, and taxation. It feels so utterly different than previous titles. Obviously, the demo isn't giving you the full experience.

And yes, you can re-assign citizens in the city screen, but you can't just click willy nilly. There is a box in the upper right hand side of the city screen called "Citizen focus" that you need to click. Thgen you can move citizens around.

And Kyriakos, how can you hate Steam? Steam is the best thing ever. Hating Steam is like hating chocolate, or hating beer. This is unfathomable to me.

Anyway, the short and tall of is it Civ 5 is amazing, but it is still different. I'm not going to uninstall Civ IV, or Civ 3 for that matter.

 

[WildWeazel]

I pre-ordered it, on principle of being a Civ fanatic and now Maryland resident, but having played an hour or so I can already tell that it's gone downhill even from Civ4. To me, it feels like one of those "casual games"- exactly what Civ is supposed to not be. I think I've bought my last Civilization title.

And yes, you can manually assign workers, although there is also a handy dialog for automatically maximizing food/production/commerce.

 

[tom2050]

I mean, same small tech tree, same small unit lines.... For years I think they have not really expanding the game, they are just shuffling the interface and graphics around.

That is why I have been comparing Firaxis with Tiger Woods Golf. We all know how Tiger Woods Golf is changed every single year. They switch and shuffle. Obviously it is different with Civ, but in a sense it is similar.. in this way:

Instead of building upon Civ 4, they took out a whole lot of concepts; and added in relatively few new additions (some of which were from Civ 3). I have a feeling all the concepts removed will make a re-appearance in expansions (please no DLC).

Of course economy was changed (slider obsolete), and combat, social policies, etc... but diplomacy is still lame as ever, it's tough to see an overall view of how things are going diplomatically.

Civ 5 isn't bad, but the review scores cannot be trusted; it is getting mixed reviews from members in Civ 5 forums.

My complaint thus far is that researching tech is so fast, that I researched 6 techs and in the same time was able to build only 3 units (18 turns for an archer, and 7 turns for the next most expensive tech). And because the beginning is sooo slooooooooow, I felt like blood was shooting out of my eyesockets.

I never even found a use to build the initial warrior guy, because I already had researched a better unit before I could even build the first one. Not sure who balanced that portion of the game, but it is way off.

And Kyriakos, how can you hate Steam? Steam is the best thing ever. Hating Steam is like hating chocolate, or hating beer. This is unfathomable to me.

I know! How in the world can someone dislike Digital Rights Management software..! I mean, gosh! It is just soooo out of the ordinary to not want a piece of DRM access control technology sitting always in your taskbar and running processes. I wish I could have Starforce, Macrovision, SecuRom, and every other piece of DRM running at the same time! Even though my computer would probably implode, it would be great!

 

[Goldflash]

DRM only matters if you're a software pirate. I'm not. I'm a regular pirate. I enjoy having all my games on any computer.

And how can you not like DLC? A DLC is just an expansion you don't have to use your car to get.

Also, don't even dare saying you think DLC should be free. The games companies spend resources to make them, why on earth should they not be compensated? They aren't charities, you know. Imagine if you made a painting. It is a nice painting. You sell the painting for 500 bucks to a person. Then you make a smaller painting that complements the first one. How would you feel if the person came up to you and demanded it for free?

In a similar vein, say you made said painting and then sell it and the person you sell it to promptly photocopies it and gives it to all his friends. How would that make you feel? Pretty cheese'd off, I say.

Really, sometimes, people disgust me. Take take take but never give.





All that said, the diplomacy in Civ 5 is the worst it has ever been.

 

[Steph]

This nonsense of "just shuffling the tech tree around" is complete and utter garbage. They have totally revamped many major aspects of the game, including culture, research, moving units across the water, and taxation. It feels so utterly different than previous titles. Obviously, the demo isn't giving you the full experience.

What I meant was that the tech tree is little different. It even feels smaller, and much too fast, at least in the demo.
And the problem with that is that as the tech tree is fast, but building anything is slow, when you try the demo, you end with doing virtually nothing. You can hardly see if the new combat system is good since you barely built 2-3 units which are obsolote before you have time to complete them.
The demo is really not giving a good impression.

Some things are good, like culture growing slowly, I like how you can build pasture, quarries, mine, to exploit the resource (except they are strange: pasture gives + 1 production but no effect on the food or gold?), but it was already in Civ IV.

However, I have difficulty to feel I'm playing an epic game. It feels more like a kind of RTS, except it's not one.

And about DRM and DLC, I have nothing against, providing the DLC are actually new concents, and not hidden bug fixes.

 

[tom2050]

No, DRM only matters to paying customers, because they are the only ones that get stuck with it on their computers. Now I have Steam on my computer, and I would prefer it not to be there. All the pirates on the other hand, are DRM free. It almost makes no sense to me.

I don't mind DLC, but the prices for DLC are usually outrageous compared to what you receive. If they sell 1 civ for $10... that = ripoff. Even for $5 is pushing it compared to what you receive in an expansion or the game itself.

If some cool 5 DLC comes out at reasonable price, that is great. But DLC for 5 doesn't make sense, because 5 will be modded like crazy. Why buy when you can mod it?

 

[Plotinus]

Guys, if you want to argue about DLC and Steam, believe me, there are plenty of threads about that in the Civ V forum, and have been for months. The last thing we need is for those wretched arguments to spill over to here.

 

[General 666]

What I meant was that the tech tree is little different. It even feels smaller, and much too fast, at least in the demo.
And the problem with that is that as the tech tree is fast, but building anything is slow, when you try the demo, you end with doing virtually nothing. You can hardly see if the new combat system is good since you barely built 2-3 units which are obsolote before you have time to complete them.

That`s the reason why I don`t play CTP and CTP2 anymore. I really loved the most features. But ending up with an new advance every single turn takes out any fun.

Spoiler :

Btw ,for those who didn`t know CTP means Call To Power.

Because Civ4 has giving me the impression to play a 3D Action game like "Command and Conquer" or "Starcraft" ,I STOP to support the Civ series. And with me they`re losing one of their most hardcore fans of the first hour.
Already in the `90s I have realized that strategy gaming is best in 2D. Or better said in isometric view (pseudo 3D).

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Despite my better judgment I decided to break down and purchase Civ5 and I'm glad I did...sort of.

While the just one more turn addiction is still there and Civ5 is better than Civ4 I just don't feel gripped by the game yet. I'm playing on marathon level which allows you to enjoy your techs before they become obsolete. Definitely play the game in marathon level.

 

[Goldflash]

Well, whatever guys. You don't play Civ 5, your loss in my opinion.'



Though I do think research times and build times for units/buildings need some tweaks

 

[Kyriakos]

I hope that the release of civ5 won't make this place even more of a ghost-town...

 

[Goldflash]

Well, as far as I can tell, Of all the Civ 3 modders left, I'm the only one who likes Civ V. But now the Civ 4 hard core fans will now exactly how we felt when civ 4 came out.

 

[tom2050]

You are right Goldflash, those who stay with Civ 4 will have to listen to a torrent of trash talking from certain Civ 5 players.

I find it funny that when someone says something like 'the idiots that play Civ 3' or something like that, I ask them if they think the same about SMAC; and suddenly they get all defensive. Really pathetic IMO.