Your first time

[mastertyguy]

I started civ2 at 8, and found it easy as I accidently activated cheat mode. so I conquer the world saying : this game is fun, I can beat the hell out of every body, not even caring about realism of armors in -3000. the game was in english, and at the time, I didn't uderstand a word of it. So I won this game easily. Indeed, I discovered that 20 armors created in the middle of ennemy core is kind of cheap. So I won conquest victory. It took me 2 years to know there was another kind of victory!

 

[CruddyLeper]

I started playing Civ when a work colleague of mine disappeared for a few days. When he finally showed up, bloodshot eyes, unshaved, he dropped the disk on my desk and screamed."Take it away from me! AWAY, I SAID!"

Reviewing computer games was a bit different in those days.

 

[thetrooper]

I actually didn't start til Civ3.

Ditto. @ all the stupid things I did in the beginning: spearmen attacks, changing govt every five turns etc.

 

[budweiser]

Back in '92 or '93 I got a new job and they had computers there. At lunch time they guys would get together and play games on the computer. One time they decided to show me this game that spanned the whole range of human history from cave men to lunar landings. I could hardly belive any such thing was possible. Shortly afterwards, my wife went on maternity leave and she was allowed to bring her computer home to do work. I obtained a copy of this wonderful game called civilization and stayed up all hours of the night playing it until it was mastered.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Civilization's reputation precedes it. When I wanted to get a new game, I decided on the series I had heard so much about, and bought Civ3. I made the mistake of following a strategy guide from a magazine (won't name the magazine), so I was automating workers, among other things. I attacked a city with spearmen (too much time with Age of Kings ), never declared war before attacking...somehow I won by Domination. I was researching replacable parts in the 2020s.

 

[wildptr]

circa 1991 - Civ on a 486? running Win 3.1

catapults and chariots ruled the day

will never forget that old school beeping attack sound - it haunts me in my dreams

Those were the days I played the amiga 500 version first but resorted to an old and lousy 386 with cga graphics when I swapped to an atari to pursue a miserable music career... go figure

 

[Rambuchan]

I belong to the generation that left their teens just when computers became commonplace in homes in the UK (will be 28 this year!). I never spent hours at a comp when I was a teenager and thank god I didn't have the option! I actually played loads of sports!!! We didn't play many computer games at all in fact. The only I can recall are Chucky Egg, Doom I and Civ I. Of course they were on floppy discs and the graphics were ****e but it didn't matter one jot. Nevertheless I've grown up with the Civ franchise and here are my recollections:

CIV I: We would drop acid and friends would play Doom for hours but I never saw the appeal in shooting ugly things till your fingers hurt. Smoking herbs and playing Civ was far more 'civilised' . I never thought to buy a copy for myself even after getting a PC. It was strictly at friends' houses and on lower levels. The main fun I remember was coming up with themes to name the cities by . Then I got Civ I for myself and fell in love with the Egyptians. I used to go and paint the whole world yellow on low levels till all hours of the night. It never bothered me to get good on higher levels, main thing was dominating the world. In fact I clearly remember seeing a friend's Hall of Fame and being amazed that he could rack up scores of between 1000 and 2000 points!!!

CIV II: I was at uni when I became aware of Civ 2. Must have first played it well after Civ 3 came out. In fact I never owned a copy myself but still got loads of time on it.

CIV III: How I ended up back at Civ 3 is quite weird. I was living in London and this drunken stranger started chatting to me on a bus late at night. We were both shi*faced in fact and both worked in the film industry so there was stuff to chat about. We ended up playing pool and drinking whiskey till dawn. We got together to do more drinking a week later and he just randomly gave me his disc of Civ 3 saying it was a gift. We had never discussed the game until then. I was aghast and reluctant to receive it. I felt like I'd never play again back then and was well aware of THE POWER OF CIV. But like a fool I accepted it. It was clear the guy was shedding the Civ shadow from his soul in just giving me the disc.

Naturally I got back into Civ 3 in a big way. It was such a massive improvement on what I had known of the game previously - of my whole impression of computer games in generally in fact. I only picked up Conquests a few months ago after finding stuff on the net about Civ, CFF especially. I was completely unaware of the whole world of game releases, forums, mods and so on until only last year. I've been really impressed by the vibrant communities that exist behind games, especially with the Civ fanatics.

I don't see myself playing any other games really. I've tried MMORPGs but they are seriously detached from reality and just grind. I've also tried Age of Empires but the fight against the clock ain't my idea of relaxing. Civ satisfies and will continue to do so.

Thanks for the cool thread, it was great to get nostalgic about Civ. And sorry for the lengthy memoir

 

[Aralanis]

I remebmer when i played the germany in ww2 and i didnt know englsih. Every time after I marched into enemy city and French president contacted me to make peace i thought that it was just message that i own that city now and continued attacking. I also droped nuke on my troops

 

[MeteorPunch]

Some friends were playing Civ I in 1995 and let me borrow a 3.5" The first time I played was without the manual so I didn't know how to change production. I had about 30 warriors running around.

 

[Dual]

I started playing Civ back around 1995. I had come across a used copy of Civ 1 for the SNES in a small videogame store. I had read good things about the game in magazines, so I decided to give it a shot. Of course there was no instruction booklet for it, since the game was used. So it took me a few days to figure out how everything worked through trial and error. But even so, I fell in love with the game, it was so much fun.

Later, I would buy Civ 2 for my Playstation. And then Civ 2:Test of Time for my PC. And Finally Civ 3 after it came out. After years of reading how it "was in development, and would be released soon" in gaming magazines for a few years.

 

[Crazy Eskimo]

Ah.... you always remember your first time. But which first time? Hmmm... well... two different stories.

Civ I I played back when I had a Mac :shudders: I don't remember exactly when it was but '95 sounds right. My first game was as the Americans, but there were not Aztecs, only the Germans, the Zulus, the Indians, and the Chinese. I expanded and expanded to fill North and South America, then took a trireme along Antartica to Australia, where I half settled and made contact with the Indians. Eventually, I engaged in a battle for west africa, where the cities traded hands every two turns. Once I finally had my toehold firmly established, the tide had turned in my favor and domination was mine!... except I ran out of time...

Civ III I got my fourth year of college. My then-girlfriend, now fiance bought it for me for my birthday. I had gotten back to school from sprign break early, so no one else was around, so I decided to take it for a quick test drive. Nothing long, just a quick half hour jaunt. I was Joan of Arc, whom I renamed Buffy (my gf is a big fan) and off I went. That was 10:30 pm. At 12, I thought, okay, one more turn, then I turn it off. At 1, I thought, okay, I'm really going to quit now. At 3, I thought "Must... quit... now! Right now!"

I've been addicted off and on ever since.

 

[Whomp]

CIV III: .It was clear the guy was shedding the Civ shadow from his soul in just giving me the disc.

After pounding cocktails with him he saw you coming from a mile away and he fed your addiction!!! He knew!

Thanks for the cool thread, it was great to get nostalgic about Civ.

So true. so true. Good stuff Rambuchan.