CIV IV is evil!!!!!!

[ilovestrategy]

Death Rays from the sky? I just got this game so I don't know what you're talking about. Could you tell me please?
Thanks! [:)]

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

Death Rays from the sky? I just got this game so I don't know what you're talking about. Could you tell me please?
Thanks! [:)]

Basically it's supposed to model so-called glogal warming. When you start having fallout it will attack various tiles. I can't remeber if I ever had a unit in one of those tiles, but if I did it completely wiped them out too. It will turn ALL tiles to desert that it hits. All you can do with desert, IIRC, is irrigate it for two food, if that. I'm not too sure on this point, but I think it will level all tiles to desert, even mountainous ones. It conspicuously had a disproportion of strikes against my capitol city's fat cross , which of course previously was my highest producing one. When I quit that game approximately HALF of that city's fat cross tiles had been destroyed. Strangely enough, the strikes leave the city's themselves completely alone. This can become largely a non-factor if you know what portion of what file to edit. Unfortunately I haven't played it in so long I have no idea where that is.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort

But... I haven't played much Beyond the Sword due to how AWESOME Sins of a Solar Empire is. Seriously, it kicks major butt!

'Tis true. They pretty much managed to pull off the seemingly unpulloffable. The RTS and 4X balance is just perfect.

[Terl]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

ORIGINAL: Son_of_Montfort

But... I haven't played much Beyond the Sword due to how AWESOME Sins of a Solar Empire is. Seriously, it kicks major butt!

'Tis true. They pretty much managed to pull off the seemingly unpulloffable. The RTS and 4X balance is just perfect.

Absolutely! I pre-ordered it and played all throught the beta and am still going. Great game....

[ilovestrategy]

Ooooooo hearing you guys say this makes me want to get it!

Wow, deathrays. Now that I know what they are it sounds ominous!

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

Ooooooo hearing you guys say this makes me want to get it!

Wow, deathrays. Now that I know what they are it sounds ominous!

Well death rays may not be a very accurate term if indeed they do not detroy units, but Grossly Exaggerated Enviromental Devastation probably sounded too scientific[;)]. Here's hoping you can play the game without having to resort to the limitations I had to.

Oh, BTW, I just remembered what stopped a lot of the CTD's I was having earlier in the game. Part of it was some adjustments they made, but when I got an additonal 1gig of memory that helped quite a bit more. I can only wonder if turning the computer into a 3GB or 4GB machine would solve the problem. It's pretty pathetic when the programing is so bad that what is basically a turn-based game ends up needing more memory than anything else you have played.

[morvwilson]

I have civ4 with the play the world expansion pack. If you liked the generic game, wait till you try the senarios. I specifically liked the "tet" scenarios.
 
Just one more turn, ilovestrategy, and your journey to the darkside will be complete!

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: Charles_22

Oh, BTW, I just remembered what stopped a lot of the CTD's I was having earlier in the game. Part of it was some adjustments they made, but when I got an additonal 1gig of memory that helped quite a bit more. I can only wonder if turning the computer into a 3GB or 4GB machine would solve the problem.

I believe you.

I'm running the game with 4 gigs DDR800 and a 768mb nVidia card with the game's graphic specs all the way up.

Very solid, no crashes but the scrolling screen refresh can still jerk but ever so slightly.

The game plays lightning fast. But bad/insufficient RAM can kill this game.

[Stahlherzog*]

If you like Civ IV then you gotta download the Fall From Heaven mod. I had wore myself out playing CIV IV, then i found that Mod. Now I'm hooked all over again.

[ilovestrategy]

I am so happy I have 4 gigs of Ram, from what I've read here. I'm gonna google that mod!

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

ORIGINAL: Charles_22

Oh, BTW, I just remembered what stopped a lot of the CTD's I was having earlier in the game. Part of it was some adjustments they made, but when I got an additonal 1gig of memory that helped quite a bit more. I can only wonder if turning the computer into a 3GB or 4GB machine would solve the problem.

I believe you.

I'm running the game with 4 gigs DDR800 and a 768mb nVidia card with the game's graphic specs all the way up.

Very solid, no crashes but the scrolling screen refresh can still jerk but ever so slightly.

The game plays lightning fast. But bad/insufficient RAM can kill this game.

Good to hear, but i have only a 2.80Ghz machine and my vid card is only 526MB. Yes, it probably memory more than anything. So have you ever played till the year 2200 or so? One CTD I can remember, and a late one at that, is that I decided to launch all my nukes. One civ who was probably the only other one with nukes counterattacked with nukes, but I never saw them as crashola occurred. I think I turned quite a few of the graphical specs down or off, as some of them were annoying (such as a full menu of shortcut buttons), but I didn't turn off any grpahics for the sake of thnking it would allow me to play longer beforre CTD's.

[ilovestrategy]

Still playing, so far no problems and I'm really enjoying it. Soon, I'll be checking out which Matrix game to play next. World at War is too short and WiTP is just too long for my taste.
I really want something set in the 1800's

[gunny]

CIv 4 shortest lived game on my hard drive. I played all civs and evn the EA civ clones that were pretty good.
The Tech Tree just got too Linear in Civ 4. If I got tanks the AI got tanks next turn. No chinese rockets in 500 AD
Aztec hotair balloons in 1400 AD alternate technology chains of a dirrerent path, absolute lack of imagination.
 
My favourate was in random mode in past CIV games when an AI india for example would be on an isolated island for a thousand years, become
technololgically isolated and ripe for exploitation if discovered by the player. This happend in the real world did it not?
But Nooo Sid Mier thought this was a Bug and removed this Feature. Now we have linear patronizing Civ 4 game play.

[marcusm]

I actually have higher hopes for the console CIV. Hopefully the series gets back to what made
number 1 so fun. Simplicity and playability. Every CIV after that just added complexity and work.

Yes I know the spreadsheet gamers love 2-4 but I want fun to be more important than realism etc.

[ravinhood]

ORIGINAL: gunny

CIv 4 shortest lived game on my hard drive. I played all civs and evn the EA civ clones that were pretty good.
The Tech Tree just got too Linear in Civ 4. If I got tanks the AI got tanks next turn. No chinese rockets in 500 AD
Aztec hotair balloons in 1400 AD alternate technology chains of a dirrerent path, absolute lack of imagination.

My favourate was in random mode in past CIV games when an AI india for example would be on an isolated island for a thousand years, become
technololgically isolated and ripe for exploitation if discovered by the player. This happend in the real world did it not?
But Nooo Sid Mier thought this was a Bug and removed this Feature. Now we have linear patronizing Civ 4 game play.

You obviously missed all the OPTIONS available to you for setting up the type of game you wanted to play. You can slow down or speed up technology and of course the difficulty levels are completely different from the past CIV series. CIV IV is an excellent evolution of the CIV series "IF" you know what you are doing and can do in the options features. And with the simple and easy to use XML files you can change the game to playout like you want it to within a few short minutes. I made a mode where the first 500 turns barely get you to 1ad. I like ancients battles and play more so I just adjusted the research values and the time frames and that's all it took to have an enjoyable ancients time frame in CIV IV without rushing to tanks.

@Marcusm :

I'm disappointed in you! Whatever happened to adding fun to complexity? I mean cmon CIV IV compared to say WITP is a childs toy to play. I don't like complex detailed games like WITP, but, I have enjoyed all of the CIV series except maybe CIV III since the AI was just too much of a pushover in it with nothing to help it along except the difficulty levels. But, really Alpha Centauri and Master of Magic get the greatest nod of achievements as those are still my two favorite civlike games to play.

[Armygrognard]

That's funny. For me, CIV II was good, but III really rocked and had me addicted. IV hasn't really grabbed my attention yet.

Funny how that works!

[gunny]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

ORIGINAL: gunny

CIv 4 shortest lived game on my hard drive. I played all civs and evn the EA civ clones that were pretty good.
The Tech Tree just got too Linear in Civ 4. If I got tanks the AI got tanks next turn. No chinese rockets in 500 AD
Aztec hotair balloons in 1400 AD alternate technology chains of a dirrerent path, absolute lack of imagination.

My favourate was in random mode in past CIV games when an AI india for example would be on an isolated island for a thousand years, become
technololgically isolated and ripe for exploitation if discovered by the player. This happend in the real world did it not?
But Nooo Sid Mier thought this was a Bug and removed this Feature. Now we have linear patronizing Civ 4 game play.

You obviously missed all the OPTIONS available to you for setting up the type of game you wanted to play. You can slow down or speed up technology and of course the difficulty levels are completely different from the past CIV series. CIV IV is an excellent evolution of the CIV series "IF" you know what you are doing and can do in the options features. And with the simple and easy to use XML files you can change the game to playout like you want it to within a few short minutes. I made a mode where the first 500 turns barely get you to 1ad. I like ancients battles and play more so I just adjusted the research values and the time frames and that's all it took to have an enjoyable ancients time frame in CIV IV without rushing to tanks.

@Marcusm :

I'm disappointed in you! Whatever happened to adding fun to complexity? I mean cmon CIV IV compared to say WITP is a childs toy to play. I don't like complex detailed games like WITP, but, I have enjoyed all of the CIV series except maybe CIV III since the AI was just too much of a pushover in it with nothing to help it along except the difficulty levels. But, really Alpha Centauri and Master of Magic get the greatest nod of achievements as those are still my two favorite civlike games to play.

I know the options. It wasn't the speed of tech discovery that bothered me, or difficulty levels. That really didn't make any difference. The tech tree is horrible. The special national units did not go far enough. There should have been dozens of special units unique and not available to each nation. Different tech trees for all nations, similar in core but specialized if researched far enough on certain paths. I'm pretty handy with a spread sheet, paintshop, and could have modded in new tech branches that lead to special units. But the AI I don't think would use these.

[ravinhood]

Picking favorite computer strategy games is much like picking ones favorite actress. Lot of guys think Liv Tyler is hot, but, to me she's average, I'll take Angelina Jolie Others would pick someone else. With games it's just what makes the difference in what is good or bad about them. I go for the "challenge" level they offer. Others go for the pritty pictures and on an on. At least the AI in CIV IV does build up troups and defense. Far greater than any other of the series and will come a stomping on you if you aren't careful.

[ravinhood]

ORIGINAL: gunny

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

ORIGINAL: gunny

CIv 4 shortest lived game on my hard drive. I played all civs and evn the EA civ clones that were pretty good.
The Tech Tree just got too Linear in Civ 4. If I got tanks the AI got tanks next turn. No chinese rockets in 500 AD
Aztec hotair balloons in 1400 AD alternate technology chains of a dirrerent path, absolute lack of imagination.

My favourate was in random mode in past CIV games when an AI india for example would be on an isolated island for a thousand years, become
technololgically isolated and ripe for exploitation if discovered by the player. This happend in the real world did it not?
But Nooo Sid Mier thought this was a Bug and removed this Feature. Now we have linear patronizing Civ 4 game play.

You obviously missed all the OPTIONS available to you for setting up the type of game you wanted to play. You can slow down or speed up technology and of course the difficulty levels are completely different from the past CIV series. CIV IV is an excellent evolution of the CIV series "IF" you know what you are doing and can do in the options features. And with the simple and easy to use XML files you can change the game to playout like you want it to within a few short minutes. I made a mode where the first 500 turns barely get you to 1ad. I like ancients battles and play more so I just adjusted the research values and the time frames and that's all it took to have an enjoyable ancients time frame in CIV IV without rushing to tanks.

@Marcusm :

I'm disappointed in you! Whatever happened to adding fun to complexity? I mean cmon CIV IV compared to say WITP is a childs toy to play. I don't like complex detailed games like WITP, but, I have enjoyed all of the CIV series except maybe CIV III since the AI was just too much of a pushover in it with nothing to help it along except the difficulty levels. But, really Alpha Centauri and Master of Magic get the greatest nod of achievements as those are still my two favorite civlike games to play.

I know the options. It wasn't the speed of tech discovery that bothered me, or difficulty levels. That really didn't make any difference. The tech tree is horrible. The special national units did not go far enough. There should have been dozens of special units unique and not available to each nation. Different tech trees for all nations, similar in core but specialized if researched far enough on certain paths. I'm pretty handy with a spread sheet, paintshop, and could have modded in new tech branches that lead to special units. But the AI I don't think would use these.

That's like saying there should be different chess pieces for each nation of the world though when people sit down to play a game of chess. CIV is a strategy game NOT an HISTORICAL SIMULATION and that sounds like what you wanted it to be. CIV has always been an abstract STRATEGY game, like a RISK or an AXIS & ALLIES with just various units of the periods of history, but, hardly following the direct paths of history for EACH nation. It did have at least one unique unit for each nation and that was just fine for me and well a horde of others. I'd say next to THE SIMS that the CIVILIZATION series is probably running a close 2nd in computer game sales over the years. It's a classic, will always be a classic and expecting it to be something it is not, well, I'm sorry, but, that's jest the way the ball bounces.

I play the CIV games and all games of that calibur as a STRATEGY/CHESSLIKE game, not as some historical simulation that I think should follow OUR history to the tee. The whole point of these type games is sort of to play them in a godlike mode. You're the creator, you're the one who creates the path of the worlds evolution as well as the AI depending on its difficulty settings. Heck, you don't even have to play to WIN, just play for the fun of the evolution of the civilizations. I turn off just about all victory conditions except the race to space or percentage domination.

Have you ever played Sids Alpha Centauri? Sid took a new twist on the evolution of the races. While they all got the same abilities to create the same units, because, you could DESIGN your own units there were all kinds of unique combinations of units on the map (especially from my faction) battling it out for supremacy. Alpha Centauri took the strategic/chesslike/godlike game of CIV to the next level that's for sure and I probably play that more now than the Civilization series itself because of that.

Of course everyone isn't going to like every game (hahah I'm well known for that myself), so it all boils down to choices of what is important in the game for it to be fun and worth playing. I prefer the challenge and chesslike play in the ones I play most. I don't really care for historical simulations because they are in a sense too linear in their path of victories and soon run out of steam for fun value because they become the same game play and strategy over n over every game. I'm BIG on RANDOM generators in all games I play nowadays. I also prefer tactical to operational 99 to 1.

I think if you can deal with a real time strategy game that isn't too fast you might like "The Seven Kingdoms" origional game since you appear to like there to be more than one unique unit per faction and realistic as far as history is concerned though it does have some fantastic creatures and god units in the game as well.

[marcusm]

I think it's all about what CIV was your first and how much time you invested in it.
If CIV2 was the first game you played in the series then obviously this game will be the best in the series for you.

But remember, for us who had to wait a few years after the CIV announcement, not believing that this game could
deliver on all the promised features, it was a big deal when it did. I spent so many hours on Civ 1 that everything after
became a question of trying to re-kindle the interest. I still play Civ4 from time to time but nothing has repeated the
feeling of number 1.

Maybe the console version will be it?