OT: Late the Civilization 4 Party

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:13 am

Yeah I got it and tried a game tonight online with my friends. We've played 100's of Civ IV games together so we were looking forward to this. It is definitely a lite game of Civ but thats fine because it is fun enough.

Problem is as usual with a 2K game it is buggy as hell. We had major syncing issues during the game and about 90 minutes into the game it just frooze all of our screens.

Hopefully a one time thing.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:18 am

I just grabbed my copy. I'm so pressed for time that I really appreciate the fact that you can bang through a game in a few hours. It's Civ-lite, but honestly, a lot of the things that were cut were micromanagement tasks that didn't add much to my enjoyment of the game. It's really a clever transition to the console format.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:14 am

My copy from Gamefly shipped on Tuesday so I should have this by the end of the week, hopefully today. I have never played Civilization so I'm a total newb. I'm not that well-versed in strategy games either so this should be a pretty new experience for me. Any tips would be appreciated.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:34 am

Now that I have a few more minutes.

If you're a die hard Civ player then there is a chance you will hate this game. Personally I love what they have done graphically but also to streamline the game play. Some examples.

1. You don't build worked you get them automatically when you build a city and as your city pop goes up you get more.

2. You manage your workers from the city screen there is a nice option to force them to concentrate on Production, gold, food etc. It always starts as balanced.

3. There is no percentage for setting science, culture etc like in the PC game. There is just a way to switch your city from Science to Gold.

4. You build roads by selecting it as an option, choose the city you want to go to and pay the gold and then you have a road.

5. You can create armies, if you have 3 units of the same type together they can make an army. These guys fight much better but you can't mix unit types.

I like how combat is handled you can retreat as an attacker but give the defender a big exp bonus. But the odds are clearly laid out. I like how the victory conditions are easily defined and you can call them up and see who is in the lead in each condition.

Cons.

- There seemed to be no set up options for mp games. I mean can select which level or number of AI opponents or teams etc.

- Seems to be a lot of syncing issues, I've had 2 games both die.

- I don't like that some great people can just allow you to take another Civ's city. I don't recall that inb the pc game

- The maps seem really tight. If you enjoy a large map with a lot of time to work on your Civ before combat don't expect that here.

- Can't access the Civpedia in Multi-player games.

Overall I like it but if multi-player doesn't work then it is going to get traded in real quick as the reason I got it was for fast MP games. I can't get a deeper, single player game on my pc.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:54 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:My copy from Gamefly shipped on Tuesday so I should have this by the end of the week, hopefully today. I have never played Civilization so I'm a total newb. I'm not that well-versed in strategy games either so this should be a pretty new experience for me. Any tips would be appreciated.

Yeah, I'm a newbie too and could use some tips. This game is going to have a TON of replay value for me as a newcomer because it's going to take many games just until I get the hang of it let alone get bored with it. I've only touched the tip of the iceberg after a couple games and 6 hours or so.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:25 pm

I really dig the game. I've never played Civilization before, so this is a fresh experience for me. I played one full game on the King level and found it challenging. It took me about 5 hours or so. I love that there are so many different ways to win, that should really keep the game fresh.

My only complaint is I do think the maps are just a little too small. It seems like free land runs out a bit too quickly.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:59 pm

Brando70 wrote: My only complaint is I do think the maps are just a little too small. It seems like free land runs out a bit too quickly.

They are a fraction of the size of the pc game, the goal is to promote conflict quicker thus making a quicker game.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:04 pm

Danimal wrote:
Brando70 wrote: My only complaint is I do think the maps are just a little too small. It seems like free land runs out a bit too quickly.
They are a fraction of the size of the pc game, the goal is to promote conflict quicker thus making a quicker game.

Dan you seem to be the guy to ask as you have played both IV and Rev....I am a serious vet of the series Is this a buy?

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:42 pm

I've been able to successfully finish one game and I must say that I loved it. I was trying to be a peaceful leader with no thoughts of waging war until f***in Gandhi of all people comes at me with a threat. I had to put that little punk in his place.

I ended up scoring a victory by building the United Nations wonder. I didn't always know what I was doing but I sure had fun doing it. I'm sure I was pretty scatter-brained with my decisions other than the non-war one. This seems to be a pretty deep game with a lot of strategy. I need to focus on how I want to win and what I need to do to get there faster now.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:02 pm

34,

Honestly it is 50/50 with my Civ IV friends. I like it and find it enjoyable.

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:19 am

I played Civ 4 a lil but it was too advanced for me so I was turned off quick.

I loved Civ Rev demo and with NCAA getting poor feedback I think I need a new game and it looks like Civ might be it.

Will I be disappointed?

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:06 am

Zlax45 wrote:I played Civ 4 a lil but it was too advanced for me so I was turned off quick.

I loved Civ Rev demo and with NCAA getting poor feedback I think I need a new game and it looks like Civ might be it.

Will I be disappointed?

If you love the demo, you will love the game. I actually played before I had to start work this morning, something I never do.

Despite being Civ-lite in terms of complexity, this is still a complex game. Deciding which technologies to pursue, where to build cities, how to allocate your resources, planning battles...there's a lot going on. I like that the micromanagement has been stripped out -- it allows you to focus on the big picture of your civilization.

And seeing how games take a few hours to play, you get a lot of value, even for $60.

slyguy · Post by **slyguy** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:14 pm

Zlax45 wrote:I played Civ 4 a lil but it was too advanced for me so I was turned off quick.

I loved Civ Rev demo and with NCAA getting poor feedback I think I need a new game and it looks like Civ might be it.

Will I be disappointed?

If you are on the fence then don't be. If you loved the demo then you will love the full game. This is the new crack this game is so addicting i play last night till 6:30 in the morning(thank god i am off today)Dude don't walk run and get this game, and once you start playing you may start to have dreams/won't be able to fall asleep because you are thinking about your strategy

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:42 pm

How is the online play going now?

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:57 pm

I still haven't been able to complete a game, 3 tries so far. I haven't taken the time to see if it's a mjor issue or just happens to be the 2 guys I am playing with. It was the same people all 3 times.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:31 pm

Won my first game last night, a cultural victory with the Greeks. I finished the UN building with two turns left to play and just beat the Mongols from getting an economic victory. I wound up having some epic battles against the Zulus on my border, finally driving them from their capital with a massive combo of bombers, artillery, and tanks.

I do like how there's a bit of randomness to combat. The odds usually work themselves according to the relative strengths of the units and modifiers, but it's nice to see that you can get lucky and score an unlikely victory.

My only other complaint other than the size of the maps is that the game moves really quickly through the ancient and medieval periods. I wish it slowed down a little but or that you could set game speed as an option. Is that another change for the console version?

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:41 pm

Brando70 wrote: My only other complaint other than the size of the maps is that the game moves really quickly through the ancient and medieval periods. I wish it slowed down a little but or that you could set game speed as an option. Is that another change for the console version?

Oh yeah it's a change.

gotta keep in mind they are trying to promote online play that you can finish. Personally most of my games go 3-4 hours so I have no idea how I would finish one online if it worked.

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:11 am

Anyone play this anymore?

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 2:59 pm

Holy...