Civ IV..

[Zap]

No worry, ravinhood , if the bank loses your money your insured

[Pippin]

One thing I hate, building that wonder, and then a few turns later it becomes obsolete!

The whole new civic thing still has me debating with myself. I have enough hard time trying to figure which government I should choose, never mind changing to a new civic every 3 turns. One thing is for sure, I always get backstabed by someone in this game.

[ilovestrategy]

ORIGINAL: Pippin

One thing I hate, building that wonder, and then a few turns later it becomes obsolete!

The whole new civic thing still has me debating with myself. I have enough hard time trying to figure which government I should choose, never mind changing to a new civic every 3 turns. One thing is for sure, I always get backstabed by someone in this game.

Backstabbed? Thats why it's called civilization [;)]

[bartholimew]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood
Actually that's not quite true. Unlike the other CIV's which had a linear approach to teching, you can bypass a hellofalot of techs to get to something wayyyyy in the future epochs. The old civs you pretty much had to tech everything to move forward. You don't have to in CIV IV and if you use your Heroic people correctly you can really advance through a line of techs to classical age when you're still deep in the ancient age.

I was moreso refferring to combat unit techs. You require multiple prerequisites from all disciplines just to get to guilds in order to build the nation special unit. True you can shoot far ahead in tech. But Your build que is empty. You still have to go back and pick up the rest of the pieces to build various structures. I tried it. No advantage.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

no Civ4 for me for a while, my comp strted shutting down by itself and I won't be able to reapir it for at last a month. I'll have to be happy with forum posting on my kids comp for about 4 weeks [:(]

Is the CPU overheating? That would shut you down repeatedly. Or have you diagnosed the problem already?

I checked all 3 of my fans and they were working. I thought maybe it was my power supply dying so I repalced it. Last night my comp ran for maybe an hour and shut down. Hasn't started since last night. Luckily if it is my CPU its a couple of years old so it wont be that expensive to replace(AMD 1.8). But i won't have the $$$ to repalce it till end of December. A month with no wargaming. *sighs* [:(]

That's tough. I was checking processor prices at Newegg.com though and it looks like you need about $49. Are you going to consider upgrading to 64 bit if you start major replacements? An AMD 64 bit processor starts at $129 which isn't bad at all and motherboards can be obtained very reasonably also.

Let's hope Santa Claus drops a bundle of loot down your chimney!

[Cmdrcain]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

The Blaster Worm Virus, I had that one too. Man it was a doozie, I had to fight the worm making it's way to my computer as I was downloading the fix for it....it was like a suspense thriller, 20 seconds to go....tick tock....tick tock....the worm is getting closer...tick tock tick tock.....3 seconds.....2 seconds......1 second.....PITCH BLACK (commercial break).

Did you see the news about the latest FBI / CIA E-mail Worm?

<< Computer Worm Poses as E-Mail From FBI, CIA
'Sober X' Web Threat Spreads Quickly

By Arshad Mohammed and Brian Krebs
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 24, 2005; Page D01

It's being called the worst computer worm of the year -- a fast-spreading Internet threat that looks like an official e-mail from the CIA or FBI but can leave your computer wide open to intruders.

The bogus e-mail claims the government has discovered you visiting "illegal" Web sites and asks you to open an attachment to answer some official questions. If you do, your computer gets infected with malware that can disable security and firewall programs and blast out similar e-mails to contacts in your address book. It can also keep you from getting to computer security Web sites that might help fix the problem, and it may open your Windows computer to intruders who can steal your personal data. >>

This one not only threatens your computer, but scares the H*** out of you that federal agents will be carrying you off in a black sedan for an unwitting security violation. I have to give it to the authors of this one... that is potentially a devastatingly effective way to get people to open your attachment. I hope the CIA and FBI catch them and fry their A****.

I'd say yes fry their bleepy, actually I'd say they are breaking federal law, Posing as Fbi/Cia, however I'd also say:

Who would really thinkthat the FBI/CIA would send an EMAIL?

If They Really were truly notifying you it would be either by a knock on door or via regular mail, certified (so they have proof you signed and accepted..) or other such way, it just is that people are gulliable, they will believe even that their ISP would email them about account problems, in actually you would more likely be phoned oe regular mailed, they simply use peoples being so gulliable..

[Cmdrcain]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

See, that's why I'm such against this "direct download" stuff. I don't like giving out my credit card number over the internet at all. And unless it's some very well respected site like SOE (everquest etc), I just won't do it. I use a Paypal

Don't know where your located but if you have access, you could get a "reloadable" card thats used as a Credit card, you could load it with just enough for the purchase and thats it, if something occured with card, there be no useable credit unless misuse occurs while you have had it reloaded before using again.

Paypal is not that safe, through tying it to a near
empty Checking accts good idea.

[pasternakski]

This is why I keep all my money in my mattress and only buy what I need out-of-pocket at McDonald's and Wally World.

[Wuotan]

After reading those comments about CIV III and CIV IV i still can´t understande why they dont try to build a CIV II-clone with some spoilers... many people would be very happy to see it and would pay for it (me, too). Is it so hard to understand for those
developers?!

After the CIV III-experience i would not spent a single cent for CIV IV. Very sad. And,
as i see it, i am not the only one with those thoughts. Animated units, dozens of terrain-types, blah-bla... but no fun, a very strange timescale... you know that. May be i am outdated.

Hey, you out there: GIVE US A SUPER-CIV II!!!!!!! No game i ever played has given me that lots of fun (especially via a LAN) as CIV II.

Frustrated:

TL.

[ravinhood]

Actually with a few modifications CIV IV can be made to play very much like CIV I & CIV II.

I went in and modified the timeline so the first 4000 years are the first 400 turns, adjusted the research values so there aren't modern tanks in bc and turned on "aggressive ai" feature. Holy cow, I haven't won a single game and this is playing Prince and Monarchy level of difficulty. I could at least have some pretty tight games on Monarchy of CIV II.

With 400 turn ancients play and slow research, you'll be using and defending with your ancient units for a long long time. At least 200 turns. Getting to Bronze and Iron working to get the spearmen/swordsmen will take a considerable amount of time (and this still doesn't mean you automatically get them, unless you get copper and iron in your provincial areas). Archers will be your life savers and caveman wars will be nothing unusual. Chariots will appear and then the fun really begins as 12 stack AI armies come marching across your border, taking pretty much what they want.

Also by changing the timeline, you can get to 10 cities pretty quickly even taking 25 turns to build a settler (this like CIV I & CIV II). So, you can still get the game you enjoyed with the new perks of CIV IV like religion, which is really pretty neat, you can use it diplomatically to try to keep your borders secure from your neighbors, just adopt their religion or hope they adopt yours. Having the border restrictions is pretty sound, I never liked alien armies marching across my territories freely in the first place like in CIV I, II and III. But, the AI is sneaky it will be your friend, you'll open up your borders for trade cause they will be peaceful towards you, you'll seemingly have many years of peace and harmony as they slowly and tactially move combat units near one of your cities, maybe even your captial and then BOOM declaration of war and bye bye city or capital...YEAH THE FLIPPIN AI BACKSTABBED ME LIKE THAT!! lol A neat trick humans always do to them.

It doesn't take a wiz to modify this game to be any of the CIV's before it. I hate modding, but, I found this so simple a 10 year old could do it. It's nothing more than a few lines changed in the timeline dating system and a little trial and error getting the research values correct so modern tanks don't hit the scene in bc. (took me about 3 games). If you play on a PANGEA map with 14 civs, it's a blast. Adjust the HUGE map size from the default 32x16 to 80x60 or 100x60 and you'll get a rip roaring warmonger of a game. If you want a more diplomatic game, just turn the aggressive ai back off again and turn off barbarians altogether (these just hamper both you and the AI) I tend to like all nations to get the same start without barbarians bringing in that random screw me or them up feature. It works great for me this way, all nations will usually have 7 to 8 cities when I get my 10th.

Some will have already started wars also in this time frame. I watched India smoke America each had 6 cities to start and when the flames cleared America had been decimated, but, Germany had also entered the war on America and they took a couple of cities also. hahah Poor poor America wiped out by India and Germany.

Out of the box CIV IV IS an RTS players turn based game come true. All the games even EPIC HUGE play too fast for my tastes, to say one could play a game in 8 hours or less isn't incorrect. It does play fast, too fast for old CIV grogs that's for sure. But, the game comes with the easy to use "OPTIONS" and easy to modify "scripts" that it can be any game you want it to be with just a few changes and a little trial and error. EPIC HUGE PANGEA games are simply the best I've ever played of all the CIV series after I modded it. The AI aggression is there and/or the diplomacy is there whichever you prefer. I suggest turning off "first to alpha centauri" as a victory condition as well. Work for domination, culture or diplomatic victories, turn off timed victory as well. You'll get the challenge you want then.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

Actually with a few modifications CIV IV can be made to play very much like CIV I & CIV II.

I went in and modified the timeline so the first 4000 years are the first 400 turns, adjusted the research values so there aren't modern tanks in bc and turned on "aggressive ai" feature. Holy cow, I haven't won a single game and this is playing Prince and Monarchy level of difficulty. I could at least have some pretty tight games on Monarchy of CIV II.

With 400 turn ancients play and slow research, you'll be using and defending with your ancient units for a long long time. At least 200 turns. Getting to Bronze and Iron working to get the spearmen/swordsmen will take a considerable amount of time (and this still doesn't mean you automatically get them, unless you get copper and iron in your provincial areas). Archers will be your life savers and caveman wars will be nothing unusual. Chariots will appear and then the fun really begins as 12 stack AI armies come marching across your border, taking pretty much what they want.

Also by changing the timeline, you can get to 10 cities pretty quickly even taking 25 turns to build a settler (this like CIV I & CIV II). So, you can still get the game you enjoyed with the new perks of CIV IV like religion, which is really pretty neat, you can use it diplomatically to try to keep your borders secure from your neighbors, just adopt their religion or hope they adopt yours. Having the border restrictions is pretty sound, I never liked alien armies marching across my territories freely in the first place like in CIV I, II and III. But, the AI is sneaky it will be your friend, you'll open up your borders for trade cause they will be peaceful towards you, you'll seemingly have many years of peace and harmony as they slowly and tactially move combat units near one of your cities, maybe even your captial and then BOOM declaration of war and bye bye city or capital...YEAH THE FLIPPIN AI BACKSTABBED ME LIKE THAT!! lol A neat trick humans always do to them.

It doesn't take a wiz to modify this game to be any of the CIV's before it. I hate modding, but, I found this so simple a 10 year old could do it. It's nothing more than a few lines changed in the timeline dating system and a little trial and error getting the research values correct so modern tanks don't hit the scene in bc. (took me about 3 games). If you play on a PANGEA map with 14 civs, it's a blast. Adjust the HUGE map size from the default 32x16 to 80x60 or 100x60 and you'll get a rip roaring warmonger of a game. If you want a more diplomatic game, just turn the aggressive ai back off again and turn off barbarians altogether (these just hamper both you and the AI) I tend to like all nations to get the same start without barbarians bringing in that random screw me or them up feature. It works great for me this way, all nations will usually have 7 to 8 cities when I get my 10th.

Some will have already started wars also in this time frame. I watched India smoke America each had 6 cities to start and when the flames cleared America had been decimated, but, Germany had also entered the war on America and they took a couple of cities also. hahah Poor poor America wiped out by India and Germany.

Out of the box CIV IV IS an RTS players turn based game come true. All the games even EPIC HUGE play too fast for my tastes, to say one could play a game in 8 hours or less isn't incorrect. It does play fast, too fast for old CIV grogs that's for sure. But, the game comes with the easy to use "OPTIONS" and easy to modify "scripts" that it can be any game you want it to be with just a few changes and a little trial and error. EPIC HUGE PANGEA games are simply the best I've ever played of all the CIV series after I modded it. The AI aggression is there and/or the diplomacy is there whichever you prefer. I suggest turning off "first to alpha centauri" as a victory condition as well. Work for domination, culture or diplomatic victories, turn off timed victory as well. You'll get the challenge you want then.

Fantastic post! I may actually consider purchasing the game now.

[ilovestrategy]

Rhonda, thanks for checking up on prices for me, i really appreciate that

[Pippin]

I have worked up to Prince level... but the AI seems to complete the space ship project just too fast to win.

[ravinhood]

I see you've encountered the "tougher AI" as well Pippin. Prince is like Emperor level of old CIV games, I used to could slaugher Prince level and Monarchy was my favorite game. But, in CIV IV, woah, with my mod and "ai aggressiveness" ON, I feel like I AM THE AI now. lol

[Pippin]

I used to stick to only Deity on Civ IV, and could win diplomatic, space, or cultural victory that way. Now I'm only playing vs half the AI strength, and getting my ass kicked.

Maybe if I figure out this whole religeon thing I can get a better edge. I understand the government thing, but too many religions. I build just about every possible temple but I'm not sure if they even help, unless you have a specific religeon for THAT temple? Sometimes I get the AI to DEMAND I switch religeons. As soon as I do that, another AI forces me to switch to another one again.

[gunny]

Been playin this for a few weeks. I reserved making any comments til now. Glad I did cos I would have slammed this game the first week. This is the best Civ game IMHO, and I've played all 6 of em. As alot of you have.
All I gotta say, until you comprehend which government is required for war, which is best for technology, and which makes money.... one will have empty build lists in peace, be invaded during war, and flat broke any other time. Get that licked, constantly flip Governments, then the game play is enjoyable.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

Rhonda, thanks for checking up on prices for me, i really appreciate that

You are more than welcome! I hope you get your game machine back up and running very soon! If you have any technical questions about upgrading, feel free to e-mail me for help or recommendations.

[ravinhood]

Religion Pippin basically is just another means to postpone the inevitable of going to war. If you take those nations surrounding you's religion they'll be nicer, trade with you more easily and help you out if you are attacked, but, keeping your borders surrounded by your own religion isn't easy, so eventually someone or several are gonna come after you and force you to change religions as they take your cities one at a time. hehe

The advantage of religion besides good diplomatic relations with other nations that have it, if you can get the "holy city" of that religion then every city on the map that adpots your religion pays you tribute of 1gp per turn. To get the holy city means tech rushing the religious line in the tech tree at the expense of weakening yourself monetarily and militarily. See, you have to make those kinds of decisions.

This is one of those games where you can't be ALL THINGS or get ALL THINGS (wonders an such). You have to PLAN your future pretty carefully. From religion, to politques, to military to economics. Now I take more of an economic approach to the early game, those extra coins you get when you place down cottages really add up not only in military units but also research value. Placement of your cities is very important, you can drop on an industrialized set of squares (lots of hammers for production here, but, little or no economy squares (gold coins), or you can look for the gold mine of economy place to settle (lots of gold coins, average hammers), or you can look for the mother of trade place to settle (3 or more trade items that your city will enclose, good for luxuries to keep your people happy and trade to keep your enemies happy)

This is not the type of Civ where you'll have 30 cities to play with. If you get 10 cities consider yourself lucky, but, everything is faster in this version so you don't need 30 cities for income or production. Teching up is quicker, advancing the timeline is quicker, being elminated by the AI is quicker lol. Thas why I like my mod the best, I like SLOW LONG games of CIV and I get 400 turns of sheer enjoyment out of the ancients timeline. With the ease of modding one could literally make the entire game play out in the ancients and just play for a timed victory or cultural or domination or conquest victory (leaving out diplomatic and space race) of however many turns you wish to play it out. My game lasts a total of 960 turns if I ever get to the end. lol To push futuristic techs off the chart just increase the research values to where it would take 1000 turns to get to the first one of the next epoch. It's not that hard, just takes some trial and error.

If I could change one thing in the mod file it would be the starting date, this is static at the year 4000bc, I would push it back futher to 6000bc or 10000bc and play a pure ancients game I think. I'm an ancients fanatic, though I do like the medieval period as well, once I get the ancients down pat, going to work on having 200 or so turns of medieval era play and then steamroll it when gunpowder hits cause I get bored playing that portion of the game. But, that's what I mean, you can make it any type of game you want. If you like more modern play, just adjust the research values downward, you can have modern tanks by the year 1000bc lol, the timeline is what makes it seem weird, but, if you just think of the game in "turns" and disregard the timeline, then it's enjoyable for anyone.

[Pippin]

Hmm, not sure if it is worth it altogether then. I take the risk of gambling to make the holy city, spend all my tech for silly religeons... and even if I get lucky... all I get is one measily gold for each city on my religion? So maybe I make a few bucks if lucky? lol.

Another problem is I have to use a small or tiny map or this game runs SLOW even on a high end graphics card. That is even less cities that may pay me. Grrrrrr.

I shall do experimentations...

[Cmdrcain]

ORIGINAL: gunny

Been playin this for a few weeks. I reserved making any comments til now. Glad I did cos I would have slammed this game the first week. This is the best Civ game IMHO, and I've played all 6 of em. As alot of you have.
All I gotta say, until you comprehend which government is required for war, which is best for technology, and which makes money.... one will have empty build lists in peace, be invaded during war, and flat broke any other time. Get that licked, constantly flip Governments, then the game play is enjoyable.

Humm It is CIV "IV" and you say "VI" of them played [:D]