Civ IV..

[Pippin]

Well I don't know.... I picked it up recently but I just... don't feel as impressed as I hoped. Even if the driver issues (etc) were fixed I don't like how it tends to feel sluggish, etc.

Another thing that gets me, I build a few wonders in my city, then suddenly they put a cap on it?

[mashkis]

I have mixed feelings about the game myself. I have been playing it since it came out. I had major crashes until I decided to play the game on the tiny world setting.

The game is easy to beat on the Nobel level but when you go higher the AI cheats and I hate it. Since you can be in the middle ages and the AI is in the Industrial age. I feel that there is no strategy to the game. All you have to do is research and build improvements. I don't even build a huge military since I know I will probably never go to war. Once you have a war, it is all about the number of units you have versus the other civ. The type of units matter only in the middle of the game but at the end game everyone has the same type of units.

The game looks good but it is not worth the money or the hype. All civs play the same as well from my point of view.

I have had the same issue with wonders. There is one that you build and after that it limits you to two per city.

[oi_you_nutter]

there is a patch on its way

so far i am not too impressed with CIV4

[bostonrpgmania]

ORIGINAL: mashkis
I don't even build a huge military since I know I will probably never go to war. Once you have a war, it is all about the number of units you have versus the other civ. The type of units matter only in the middle of the game but at the end game everyone has the same type of units.

Agreed.

Religion is also somewhat superficial (and we all know why).

Not as good as I expected, but still a solid game.

average of 92 seems somewhat too high
What are all those very good reviews..(check gamerankings.com)
Maybe there is a herding behavior among reviewers.[:D]


I rated it around 85 for single player

I havent tried multi but some say that it is enjoyable

[mashkis]

I think it is all ties into good marketing and building on brand name.

It is like when an artist become famous they can produce any kind junk and they still can charge a lot for their work.

[Pippin]

Ugh, I don't quite get the religeon thing yet myself. I keep getting asked to change 99 times, and I always refuse to change it. I've spend most my time building war units though, seems I just take over everyone elses town. If I don't start a war, the AI tends to declare it on me anyway.

[bartholimew]

I caved in and got it as well. Tech tree is linear. You have to complete a total line of prerequisite technology to advance to the next line. No fast tracking. That disappointed me. Also very suspicious all civs deploy on the same continent. Hmmm thats gotta change.
No paratroopers, they were great for island city takeovers.
AI is tough, forget about allies. If you can get settlers to an empty continent in the early game you got a good chance at winning.
I'm not disappointed yet, I think there is still more here than first impression.

[pasternakski]

I still play CivII and have no interest in changing, particularly after what a mess CivIII was and the fact that my excellent video card (ATI Radeon 9600) creates a problem with this thing.

Anybody remember my posts (vilified at the time) about how I thought this game was a waste of time based on that low-tech shot of the "globe?"

No, thanks. This is crap, pure, unadulterated, 24-carat crap.

Skrew Sid. Gimme more Matrix products.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

I still play CivII and have no interest in changing, particularly after what a mess CivIII was and the fact that my excellent video card (ATI Radeon 9600) creates a problem with this thing.

Anybody remember my posts (vilified at the time) about how I thought this game was a waste of time based on that low-tech shot of the "globe?"

No, thanks. This is crap, pure, unadulterated, 24-carat crap.

Skrew Sid. Gimme more Matrix products.

Surprisingly, I agree with you! Civ II forever!

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Pippin]

Surprisingly my top of the line ATI card seems to strugle on the normal and big maps. This happens every time you purchase a world map and then see EVERYTHING. My solution has been to only play on Tiny maps. Oh well, maybe a decade from now it will run better

I keep trying to tell myself that I just don't know enough about this civ IV yet. BTW, is it just me, or is this game very short. Seems before you get anywhere on the harder settings the game is already over due to the max turns?

[Kung Karl]

Patch is out!

[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 [:(]

[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?

[Pippin]

Oh man that reminds me when I had that virus/worm that rebooted my machine every minute.. Umm I forget the name of that one.

BTW, what happened to that really fat kid who got charged with something related to it? He just disapeared.

[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).

[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****.

[Vyshka]

ORIGINAL: bartholimew

I caved in and got it as well. Tech tree is linear. You have to complete a total line of prerequisite technology to advance to the next line. No fast tracking. That disappointed me. Also very suspicious all civs deploy on the same continent. Hmmm thats gotta change.
No paratroopers, they were great for island city takeovers.
AI is tough, forget about allies. If you can get settlers to an empty continent in the early game you got a good chance at winning.
I'm not disappointed yet, I think there is still more here than first impression.

I have yet to play a game where all civs deploy on the same continent. I do believe though that one of the types you can choose is where everyone starts on the same continent and then make a beeline for the new world. I don't have the manual in front of me, so I can't tell you the name.

It is called 'New World' oddly enough (pg 13 of manual).

[ravinhood]

Lol Rhonda they last time I looked at my emails I almost can't remember. I've pretty much quit all that playground mess for just using chat rooms and forums and local forums emails.

I keep accounts open specifically for registration purposes for games and forums, other than that I rarely even look at what's in my email, it all gets listed as "spam" lol

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 account to buy off ebay and even that is tied to a 2nd rate bank account that has little funds in it except to cover the cost of items I get off ebay.

Even though I KNOW my own damn bank uses the internet constantly and is just as open and vulnerable to hijack as any one of us, I just hope they are at least somewhat more secure than we are.

[ravinhood]

[I caved in and got it as well. Tech tree is linear. You have to complete a total line of prerequisite technology to advance to the next line.]

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.

[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* [:(]