Civilization IV has burrowed into my breast and laid eggs

itburnswhenipee

itburnswhenipee

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May 25, 2005
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"OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! Civilization four is out! I have to go to the store" is what I said to my wife after realizing that civ 4 was available in stores. I've been playing these games since way back in '91 and have hotly anticipated this new offering.

So what's new in this version? Well, for starters it uses the graphics engine from the remake of Sid Meier's Pirates. The downside of this is that it can be kinda slow. I found that getting the latest drivers for my sound and video hardware (reference drivers, not mfg.) improved performance tremendously.

The sound is good. There are interesting musical scores for each civilization in the game, and even voice over work by Leonard Nemoy.

There seems to be less micromanagement than in the last game, though I haven't gotten into the modern era where civ traditionally bogs down. Even so, little features like being able to group units should help cut down late game turn length.

Crossing another nation's border is now an act of war (unless you've got an open border treaty) so there's no more annoying cycles of demanding enemy troops to leave your territory just to have them march back in next turn.

The tech tree has been reworked as have many of the units, which now earn special abilities with experience.

There's more, of course, I just can't think of it right now. You can get way more info than you ever wanted at Apolyton.net

Any other civ fans out there on UF?
 
They......SHOULD'VE used William Shatner. He.....HAS a magnificent way of....CARRYING a sentence.
 
I thought the last one was cool but only played a few complete rounds...built a new comp and never got back to installing/playing it again
 
I used to love Civ until Civ3. I tried playing but had my ass handed to me within 4-5 turns on all but the very easiest setting. The AI cheated like hell. I found it wildly ironic that they would all come after me even when I'm not the closest country and while I would only have time to build 1-2 units, they could come marching in with 4-5. Fucking retarded and took all the fun out of the game.
 
Sarcasmo said:
They......SHOULD'VE used William Shatner. He.....HAS a magnificent way of....CARRYING a sentence.
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Every time you finish researching a technology Nemoy comes on and reads some quotation from the tech description. The first time I heard it I instantly thought of the monorail episode of the Simpsons.
 
SpangeMonkee said:
I just can't stand the waiting. Kinda like CS. I just wanna play. At least when you play a board game, you socialize.
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When you're playing a turn based strategy game the 'waiting' is called thinking. Well, at least in my experience. I've usually found that real-time strategy games boil down to "omg zerg rush" or "i droped teh zomby parachut tanks on j00 base kekekeke".

Though, maybe the main difference is that I don't mind single player games. I prefer it for strat games, actually.
 
I agree with theac. Civ I is a classic, and Civ II is one of my favorite games ever. Civ III, meh, good graphics but I didnt' like how they ratcheted up the gameplay. I've heard great things about IV tho, probably put it on my christmas list.
 
bast_imret said:
I agree with theac. Civ I is a classic, and Civ II is one of my favorite games ever. Civ III, meh, good graphics but I didnt' like how they ratcheted up the gameplay. I've heard great things about IV tho, probably put it on my christmas list.
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Thread jack: Status?
 
bast_imret said:
I agree with theac. Civ I is a classic, and Civ II is one of my favorite games ever. Civ III, meh, good graphics but I didnt' like how they ratcheted up the gameplay. I've heard great things about IV tho, probably put it on my christmas list.
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I actually bothered to read a Civ III strat. guide and it was a joke. Basically it stated there were only two, possibly three ways to win and there were a very rigid set of steps to do it. No strategy at all.
 
theacoustician said:
I actually bothered to read a Civ III strat. guide and it was a joke. Basically it stated there were only two, possibly three ways to win and there were a very rigid set of steps to do it. No strategy at all.
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Uh... maybe it was just a terrible guide that was slapped together for the expressed purpose of separating you from your monies. There are way better places to get strategy tips for free. gamefaqs and apolyton come immediately to mind.

edit: The game is really about making choices. "Do I build this city next to the diamond bearing mountains or is it better to move it over just a little so I have sea access?" "Can I fight a war long enough to secure a source of oil from my enemy, or should I try to trade for it?" "Should my next invention be railroads to develop the infrastructure of my nation, or should I research nationalism which will give me a more powerful military unit?" There are basic strategies that you can try to follow, but each game is different.
 
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