Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: jdjtcagle on February 11, 2008, 09:58:05 am
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I've never seen this posted before so...
So how many play Civ or have played? What do you think of the new expansion?
I personally love Civ IV, it is a huge step towards making the Civ franchise a masterpiece! :nod:
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From what I've seen, the Civ IV community is a little bipolar about Beyond the Sword. Some people view the expansion as adding a wide selection of previously overlooked features (espionage, corporations, and such), but others see the additions as little more than mandatory tedium. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that the expansion pack adds some great depth to the game, but needs some fine-tuning in the realm of maintanence and AI. The latest patch promises to resolve my quibbles about corporate maintanence and is supposed to enhance the AI's ability to utilize new features of the game, but I've not put much time in under the latest patch, as I've had other endeavors distracting me.
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I've played Civ IV and found it amazing having a game running a month long. It's that enjoyable. So far, I haven't managed to get the expansion but will hope to do so later on.
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I tried the demo for a few minutes, but I really didn't feel like reading a manual to figure out how to make my phalanx kick a can while singing Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Da. :ick:
As for the original... I never got into it, though I have recently played Freeciv. On that note, I hated Freeciv. Is Freeciv an exact clone of the original? If not, then I just may pick up a copy.
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It seems like you draw to conclusions a bit too fast. Freeciv is pretty bad, mind you; Civ IV far surpasses it interms of depth and usability.
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There was a time when I barely understood english. That didn't stop me from playing Civ on my Amiga. And loving every moment of it. The only problem I have is that the time goes too fast in the game (CivIV). There should be a super epic time setting. Anyway, I think it s time to dust off my Civ again...
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There should be a super epic time setting.
Erm.... Marathon speed would seem to fit that bill pretty well. By the end of a Beyond the Sword game at marathon speed, each turn will be representing a week or two.
I am in total agreement that it's time to plop that particular disc back into the drive, though. Only problem is that doing so now might not facilitate the completion of a couple of papers I have due at the end of the month....
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Love the game, great improvement on Civ IV, which is no small feat. Definitely a more substantial improvement than Warlords, and some really great late-game additions that spice everything up. Not to mention the great mods they included this time around. Got a Final Frontier-mod game running with a Canadian friend of mine as we speak. We only get around to playing it barely once a week or so for a few hours at a time, but it's stupendously fun:
Producing an invasion fleet to wipe out your "ally" - 2 weeks
Moving the invasion fleet into position to wipe out your "ally" - 3.5 weeks
Convincing your "ally" that your invasion fleet is simply meant to 'supplement' his massive defense fleet - Priceless.
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There should be a super epic time setting.
Erm.... Marathon speed would seem to fit that bill pretty well. By the end of a Beyond the Sword game at marathon speed, each turn will be representing a week or two.
I am in total agreement that it's time to plop that particular disc back into the drive, though. Only problem is that doing so now might not facilitate the completion of a couple of papers I have due at the end of the month....
I know. But that too feels too fast. In all likelyhood it isn't, but I'm mentally damaged and have a huge issues with time limits. Yes you can play on after the "end of history". But like I said I have issues. People should ignore me, and they usually do. :D
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I tried the Civ4 demo but couldn't get into it all that much. Nice graphics and all but the gameplay is not like the classic Civ at all. I still play Civ2 from time to time.
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The demo is a poor example of the full experience. The game just starts to get rather interesting after the demo time limit ends.
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I personally love Civ4 BTS...
It's a great game. I first tried it in the BTS Charlemagne demo... I hated the turn limit but the game was awesome. Here's how I play...
I usually use Huge maps and try for snaky continents & small islands. I build cities on coasts or along rivers whenever possible, leaving inland cities when "necessary", and the build them on hills (25% defense bonus). Specialize each city in some factor of production--two coastal cities in building ships, two inland cities in building troops, my capital on culture. Five cities is a nice number to start with. Whenever possible, build on hills and on rivers. Use forts as canals to shorten travel times. Once possible, send two ships out on the open oceans in opposite directions, seeking to get the +1 movement bonus ASAP. Research to monotheism (Judaism) and then make that state religion. Choose civics and build up. Late in the game, start heavy research in espionage.
I've won a few tech races because I specialize--my cities sometimes get 100+ production. I don't play online yet, so telling this strategy won't harm me.
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I usually try to make my games as big and long as possible. Problem is that my laptop slows down like crazy later on because its graphics card is terrible.
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city specialization is the way to go... I usually run a entire empire of one good commerce city, army off of 1 good production city. I only really play epic speed, huge maps, prince, and terra maps... I love the idea of everyone starting on one continent and then taking over the "barbarians" of the "new world" :D
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I liked that too but found the difficulty of getting off the continent a tad bit grating. Instead, I decided to kill everyone in the main continent :p
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That works too. I'm not a great warlord so I usually build up my nuclear might. ;) I have tried to win some games by causing mass global warming and surviving past others. Big cash reserve and minimal research.
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Beyond the sword is a really good expansion and so is Civ IV