Civilization 4

[LlamaGod]

Civ 4 is terrible. Alpha Centauri will never be topped.

care to explain?

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Also, does the computer cheat?

The computer has always cheated.

 

[LlamaGod]

Computer doesnt cheat in CIV 4 as much as the others. They can only see what they've uncovered, instead of total map view.

Also your difficulty will give them or you a bonus/penalty.

 

[ExMonk]

Computer doesnt cheat in CIV 4 as much as the others. They can only see what they've uncovered, instead of total map view..

Happy to hear that. I really liked Civ 2. Never really got into Civ 3 for a number of reasons, one of which was the "superiority" of my opponents, esp. later in the game. Then again, I always seemed to play it after midnight when I wasn't at my best. :wink:

 

[kingcomrade]

I've been playing a number of games lately...what will happen is that I'll get about halfway through medieval times, then someone will declare war, then manage, with like 2 horse archer units, to run through and raze all of my major cities while I'm trying to get my army to attack them.

edit: Yes I know to leave guards on my towns.

 

[LlamaGod]

From your previous posts and such, i'm wagering you just suck at the game and need to stop bellyaching already.

 

[kingcomrade]

Thanks, genius, I've already stated this. Go somewhere else, I'm asking for help.

 

[Jinxed]

Fortify your archers, make sure they stay fortified. Once you get bronze working and hunting, you can build spearmen, which get a 100% bonus against mounted units. If that still doesn't work you might want to try building walls.

The archery units aren't for attacking, so don't send them out of the city.

Build your cities thoughtfully. Usually near some nice resource, like iron, coal, gold, silver etc.

As for specialists, you may want to use engineers if your town is producing very poorly, scientists to speed up tech, but use them in towns that already have bonuses to tech, like a library or academy. Priests are for calming people down and can add to production and money with the apropriate wonders. Merchants... I don't really use them.

Using specialists also adds to great person birth rate.

 

[Higher Game]

care to explain?

Yeah. The system requirements aren't insane, the AI is adequate, the game is balanced if the player doesn't abuse crawlers or other exploits, and mind worms are an actual threat, unlike barbarians and pollution. Oh, and each faction plays completely differently, too, while still being relatively balanced. That's huge.

Civilization is almost a rock/paper/scissors type game. The tactics are just terrible. A single defence unit for bases, a single attack unit for attacking, a little bit of artillery, and a few balanced/defence units to escort the attackers. Boring. In Alpha Centauri, infantry, artillery, rovers, mind worms, probe teams, choppers, bombing needlejets, and fighter needlejets are all important in the battlefield. There's so much more strategy involved, especially in multiplayer PBEM matches, where mass rovers won't work against skilled players.

Air power comes early and is very decisive, but still beatable by a skilled player. In Civ, the first guy to whatever super techs is still ownable. Technology helps, but it isn't an overwhelming advantage at all. Civ games always give technology too much importance.

Civilization 4 is a waste of time because Alpha Centauri is a better game. Only old school games like Master of Magic come close to Alpha Centauri, but of course, they're still not the best. :twisted:

 

[kingcomrade]

I finally played a game where I dominated. Catherine, I think, has the best traits, Financial and Cultured. So, I wiped Napoleon and the Aztecs off the map.
I ended up being ranked as "Nero" after the game.
I do like Alpha Centauri so much more...

 

[Crnobog]

All this talk made me want to play SMAC again, at least until I upgrade my computer so that I'll be able to play CivIV properly.

 

[NOVD]

Yeah. The system requirements aren't insane, the AI is adequate, the game is balanced if the player doesn't abuse crawlers or other exploits, and mind worms are an actual threat, unlike barbarians and pollution. Oh, and each faction plays completely differently, too, while still being relatively balanced. That's huge.

The game is also balanced and the AI is pretty good. Barbarians, I think, are a bit tougher than in previous civs. In civ 4, you should play differently depending on your leader's traits. Really, if you like the historical setting, then Civ 4 is worth some money.

Civilization is almost a rock/paper/scissors type game. The tactics are just terrible. A single defence unit for bases, a single attack unit for attacking, a little bit of artillery, and a few balanced/defence units to escort the attackers. Boring. In Alpha Centauri, infantry, artillery, rovers, mind worms, probe teams, choppers, bombing needlejets, and fighter needlejets are all important in the battlefield.

You should mix your defenders in Civilization 4. Also, no one gives SMAC naval units their proper respect.

Air power comes early and is very decisive, but still beatable by a skilled player. In Civ, the first guy to whatever super techs is still ownable. Technology helps, but it isn't an overwhelming advantage at all. Civ games always give technology too much importance.

Industrial automation was a super-tech in SMAC. It's not obvious, at least, that there are super techs in Civ 4.

 

[RuySan]

the biggest super-tech in civ games was "the wheel" in Civ 1. Having a 4/1 right in the beggining was broken

 

[Higher Game]

The game is also balanced and the AI is pretty good. Barbarians, I think, are a bit tougher than in previous civs. In civ 4, you should play differently depending on your leader's traits. Really, if you like the historical setting, then Civ 4 is worth some money.

I want a fun game and I don't care much about setting. Board gamers aren't the guys with a gig of memory and a Geforce in their computers. We don't want wasteful eye candy.

You should mix your defenders in Civilization 4. Also, no one gives SMAC naval units their proper respect.

Naval units are very useful on huge maps, and I don't like huge maps. They emphasize strategy over tactics too heavily. Naval units, unfortuantely, aren't that great on standard maps, except probe foil teams rock! Defenders aren't even needed much becaues offence is much more important, but AC requires good defenders. Formers can make new land passages very quickly, so being a builder is much harder.

Industrial automation was a super-tech in SMAC. It's not obvious, at least, that there are super techs in Civ 4.

Crawlers are an exploit against the AI that doesn't understand them. The resource hauling and super fast project building is game breakingly powerful. Simply don't use them, since they ruin the fun.

 

[kingcomrade]

OMG PATR---
uh,
LEONARD NIMOY!!!

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

MOTHER OF NECRO!!!

anyway:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=516476

kudos to whoever finds me this file, a modmod for dune wars which has been dead for a while now.

 

[anus_pounder]

 

[kingcomrade]

Wow I got a post from 2005 brofisted. Why did I post here that long ago? I must have needed attention so badly

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

If anyone's playing Caveman2Cosmos (ton of fun, btw): is there a way to remove the 'special' stuff from a city (myths, herds, etc)?
I know Ctrl+A allows to remove regular buildings, but 'specials' aren't in that menu.

 

[oscar]

If anyone's playing Caveman2Cosmos (ton of fun, btw): is there a way to remove the 'special' stuff from a city (myths, herds, etc)?

I was going to download this but looked at the tech tree and saw stuff like 'Lawn Sports' and 'Tattoos'.

 

[Turisas]

I was going to download this but looked at the tech tree and saw stuff like 'Lawn Sports' and 'Tattoos'.

A mod that advertises a massively expanded tech tree has techs for less important stuff? Wow, who would've guessed!

Multiple Sarcasm, those count as wonders I think - the only way to destroy them is via World Builder (but even then I don't think you can rebuild them in another city, they'd just be gone from the game).

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

I was going to download this but looked at the tech tree and saw stuff like 'Lawn Sports' and 'Tattoos'.

Also bear cavalry.

Multiple Sarcasm, those count as wonders I think - the only way to destroy them is via World Builder (but even then I don't think you can rebuild them in another city, they'd just be gone from the game).

Well, damn. Science bonuses from Myths eventually go away, but can't add Stories later on because have Myths. Oh well, C&C.

 

[Turisas]

Are you playing with the v34 release version (what map size)? They have a v35 coming soon but since all the members who knew anything about coding have left the team, they have nothing but the content guys left and the larger map sizes become unplayable in later eras. Shame, it'd probably be my favorite mod if it actually worked properly.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Are you playing with the v34 release version (what map size)?

At the moment, v34 on a customized Giant Earth pre-Columbian scenario.

They have a v35 coming soon but since all the members who knew anything about coding have left the team, they have nothing but the content guys left and the larger map sizes become unplayable in later eras. Shame, it'd probably be my favorite mod if it actually worked properly.

Haven't faced anything not working properly myself, but I'm only half-way through Ancient era on Eternity, so the day is young.
What annoys me more is Civ4's inherent inability to multi-thread and poor memory optimization, so massive mods like Caveman2Cosmos make it crawl like absolute ass. Which is a shame, since C2C makes it pretty much the only Civ game worth a damn (apart from SMAC).

 

[Turisas]

What annoys me more is Civ4's inherent inability to multi-thread and poor memory optimization, so massive mods like Caveman2Cosmos make it crawl like absolute ass.

That was exactly the issue I inevitably came across, usually starting at late medieval era (granted I usually went with gigantic map size). I could handle the game slowing down, but the fact that it starts crashing constantly made it unplayable; I do have high hopes for v35 in this regard since apparently they've cut down on the number of civs and there'll be an option to disable the civ-specific unit graphics (these all get loaded into the game no matter which civs are actually in your game). The custom units are of course cool as hell, but I'd rather have the increased stability. I'd love nothing more than being able to play C2C with Immense map size, revolutions and barb civs on, but I don't think that will ever happen unless someone from Firaxis leaks the source code - there's so much that needs to be fixed that the modders just don't have access to right now.