The Gang of Five

Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => Hobbies and Recreation => Gamers Zone => Topic started by: The Chronicler on January 12, 2013, 10:30:15 PM

Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 12, 2013, 10:30:15 PM
Has anyone here played any of the Civilization games? :)

The first one I got was Civilization III: Complete Edition. Over the years, I also played Civilization IV and both expansion packs: Warlords and Beyond the Sword. I also got Civilization V a few years ago, but it was only recently that I've finally gotten around to actually playing it.


My thoughts on the versions I've played:

Civ III was a great place for me to get into the series. I remember playing through all nine scenarios as every playable civ for each one of them.

Civ IV is very memorable to me in many ways. Of course, I also enjoyed playing the scenarios from both expansion packs, and even though I played all of them at least once, I didn't quite get around to playing as every playable civ.
(Sadly, all of the progress I made on Civ III and IV were lost when the computer they were installed on crashed a few years ago. :(  I recently installed those games on the desktop in my room, though I doubt I'll get around to rebuilding my record anytime soon.)

Civ V, I'm finding to be very different from the previous versions. Just to name a few; the playing grid is now hexagons rather than squares, the introduction of City-States, resources are now limited (so you can't make a hundred tanks from just  a little oil), and no more unit stacking (in other words, only one unit is allowed to occupy a tile at the end of each turn). Also, since this game's hosted on Steam (the only reason I got my account was just so I could play this game), I've noticed that there are achievements to win, so now I'm tempted to really play this game rather than just beat each scenario once.

What do you think of this game series? Which one is your favorite?
Title: Civilization
Post by: Malte279 on January 13, 2013, 08:14:25 AM
The original Civilization game was one of the first (possibly THE first) computergame I ever played. I never saw the second (though I was recently told that the advisors are very entertaining in that one). I got Civilization III and IV with all expansion and just recently I had been playing Civ III again for a while.
I like the recources element in the later Civilization games but I think there are some shortcomings in diplomacy (oftentimes it appears like other civilizations are refusing trades just because (without any previous wars and without the trade being unballanded in any way)) and difficulty levels (sometimes there is very little between the one and the other extreme (hunting axmen and swordmen with tanks and being an axmen hunted by tanks ;)).
One game which I think must be mentioned in this context too is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri which was kind of a continuation of Civilization. I consider the game one of the best turn based four x games ever made and very much regret that the course of that game has not been pursued any further. The diplomacy system in that game exceeded anything I have seen in any of the other civiliation games (e.g. being able to agree with an ally on where he or she is to attack and where you are going to attack). The option to design own military units with the technology available also was a very nice addition and the AI in the game was working really well too. Combining this game's advantages with the recourses functions of the civilization games and the option to play with more than seven factions and we would have something really epic.
I haven't played Civilization V so far. From what I read opinions are divided on the changes that have been made and I would be very interested in your opinion on these changes Chronicler. From what I read diplomacy in that game is a little to the other extreme with the other factions being all too ready to offer their towns to you.

I think it is a pity that there are ever less good turnbased strategy or tactic games produced compared to real-time strategy games which are often superior in graphics but way inferior in terms of complexity and long-term playing fun.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 14, 2013, 09:45:16 PM
Here are my thoughts on Civilization V:

In a nutshell, it's a lot simpler in many ways, not that it's a bad thing for the most part.

City cultural boundaries now expand only one tile at a time, rather than an entire ring of tiles all at once. Also, if you just can't wait for cultural expansion, you can also purchase tiles, useful if you want to guarantee that a certain resource will be yours (though my habit of doing this tends to occasionally piss off the neighboring civs :lol: ).

I also like the Social Policies concept, because now you just add benefits, rather than having to switch from one to the other and go through anarchy for one turn.

Like I said, that fact that it's powered by the Steam gaming system (or whatever it is) means that there are achievements to earn (which has encouraged me to really play this game rather than just the scenarios), such as "Win as each playable civ at least once" and "Build every wonder at least once". Also on Steam, you can purchase downloadable content, such as new civs and scenarios, though I haven't yet gotten around to trying any of them just yet (though I'm definitely interested, once I have the chance).

There are two concepts that I consider to be the real game-changers from the previous Civilization games: City-States, and no more unit-stacking.
City-States are AI civs that consist of only one city. You could either invade them due to being such easy-looking targets, or ally yourself with as many of them as possible since it's the only way to win a Diplomatic Victory.
Removing the ability to stack units (meaning that now you are not allowed to have more than one unit occupy a tile at a time) means that warfare now focuses more on strategy rather than shear numbers. Also, cities are now their own military units, meaning that they can fight back on their own, and have to lose all of their hit-points before they can be captured. In addition, strategic resources are now limited, so you can't make dozens of, say, tanks from just one source of oil. I actually like this new combat system more than what we saw in the earlier games, because now I don't have to keep building so many units and thus neglect improving the cities themselves.

All in all, I'd say Civ V is definitely worth trying out. :yes
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 20, 2013, 09:00:16 PM
Just remembered something I wanted to add about Civ V. When it comes to diplomacy with AIs, I've noticed an interesting pattern. If you and an AI inhabit separate landmasses (the further away you are from each other, the better), then that AI is very likely to be friendly with you. But if you and an AI inhabit the same landmass (worst case, you're very close to each other), then it's more probable that they'll want to declare war on you (either because they wanted lands that you've settled, or you're allied with city-states that they wanted to be allied with). For example, on the latest game I played (on an archipelago type map), only two AIs ever went to war, and they were the only two AIs who shared the same island. Coincidence? I doubt it, from experience. Another game I played earlier essentially sums up the pattern: AIs on your continent will hate your guts (and each other's, too), but AIs on another continent (while hating each other just as much) will wish to be friendly with you (and others on other continents, too).

The way I see it, Civ III, IV, and V are each better or worse than the other two in their own ways. In Civ III, you were never given recommendations on where to build a city or an improvement (it was something you really needed to think about), but the grid layout just seemed... awkward to me. Civ IV had what I consider the great concept that many civs had multiple leaders to choose from, but to play each scenario required loading a mod each time (which I think is rather inconvenient). For Civ V, I already mentioned how much I love the removal of unit stacking, but I've found it frustrating how easy it is to piss off the AIs when you're neighbors with them.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Caustizer on January 20, 2013, 11:14:46 PM
I recently bought Civ V and I can say I love that game.  Having never played any other game in the series it was something completely new.  Adjusting to playing in turns isn't easy when I usually play RTS, but once I got used to it I realized its pretty fun and a great time wasting game.

Social Policies are kind of like talent trees, in that each political development changes slightly the way you play.  For instance, at the start of the game you can choose between Tradition, Honor and Liberty.  Tradition is quite defensive and transitions well into gathering Culture, while Honor is aggressive and keeps your people happy as you conquer other cities.  Taking Liberty allows you to expand quickly, but often leaves your empire unhappy as a result.

From an AI point of view I do sometimes find they can be really dumb and overly aggresive for no apparent reason.  For instance, the Romans attacked me at the beginning of the game and I easily defended against it... but then they start putting out peace proposals that involve me giving them all my cities and resources.  What's the point of ending the war if I give him all the stuff I went to war to defend in the first place?  The only way to get an unconditional peace it seems is to attack back.

Other times too an AI empire will refuse an alliance with you against an enemy even as that enemy is attacking their cities, just because they are 'suspicious of you'.  This type of diplomacy often results in warmongering empires taking out player after player with no real united resistance from the other AIs.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 23, 2013, 12:00:15 AM
Hey, it's good to see someone here who also plays Civ V. :yes

Yeah, I once found Rome to be a rather aggressive AI, too. In that game, I (playing Greece) shared a continent with Rome and Egypt, while all five of the other AIs had the other continent. Even though Rome spent practically half of that game at war with Egypt, they also declared war on me a few times, despite the fact that the only border they shared with me was through an Egyptian city they had captured. I was easily able to brush off each invasion and end each war with a just a simple peace treaty. I would have been fine with just sitting back and letting Rome and Egypt duke it out, but when I noticed Persia taking over the other continent (their score surpassing mine for a while), I decided to settle the conflict... by conquering them both. (Besides, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get that "Tomb Raider" achievement for capturing an Egyptian city. :D )

Speaking of the achievements, how many have you unlocked so far, Caustizer? As of right now, I've gotten nearly 60 (out of over 200). I plan on getting as many as I possibly can, so I'll still be playing for a while.

Hey, maybe we could even try a multiplayer game, sometime. :idea  What do you think?
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 29, 2013, 09:40:40 PM
Just a little update on my progress on Civ V.

I have just finished what may have been the longest game I've ever played (it took me six days, playing an average of 4 to 5 hours each day, so that would make it more than a full 24-hour day if it had been done nonstop :o ). I played as America on a huge, Earth type map (yes, the terrain and resources (but not starting locations) are based on the world as we know it). What made this particular match significant is that I tried it at the "normal" difficulty level, the hardest I've ever tried. (Nearly all previous times I've played any Civilization game was on the easiest difficulty level. :oops ) But it was worth it to get six more achievements at once. :D

Malte, you mentioned "shortcomings in difficulty levels," and I can now say from experience that the normal difficulty (4th easiest of 8 levels) could be considered a fair balance between the two extremes, at least in Civ V.

My score was by far the highest for most of the game, but that's mostly because I was able to build nearly every Wonder. My starting location didn't leave a lot of room to expand, but it did give me easy access to such a wide variety of luxury resources that I was able to keep my empire happy. While easier difficulty levels allowed me to easily follow my victory of choice, this was the first time I found myself changing tactics on the fly. I wanted to go for a Space Race victory, but halfway through I saw India allying itself with so many City-States that I had to sway some to my side to prevent that guy from winning a Diplomatic victory (which in hindsight ultimately turned out to be unlikely on its own, anyway). Because I had to keep spending gold to keep my allies on my side, the area I really struggled with in this match was gold funds. I was so strapped that it was actually cheaper to build new units and disband old ones rather than simply upgrade the old units.

As I got closer to the end, it was becoming clear that some empires were far stronger than others (out of 12 civs and 24 City-States, there were only 9 civs and 17 City-States left by the end of the game). I was not one of the stronger ones by any means, my score was even surpassed during the last few turns. This time, I couldn't afford to fool around, so once I reached the Modern Era, I ignored all other technologies and focused on researching only the ones that would allow me to win a Space Race victory. It was worth the effort, because I was starting to get worried that the nearest of these superpowers would invade me next, but I managed to finish the spaceship.

Needless to say, I'll never again play another game on such a high difficulty level (except for the scenarios, where achievements are awarded for doing so). This is mainly due to my attitude on how I play any Civilization game: I never lose a game, I just refuse to finish the ones I know I'm about to lose. :p
Title: Civilization
Post by: Petrie85 on January 30, 2013, 11:57:09 AM
Nope not yet I may check them out soon.
Title: Civilization
Post by: vonboy on January 30, 2013, 12:40:11 PM
I've played some civilization port on the SNES (I think it was either based on Civ I or II, or maybe kinda both), and it was a ton of fun.

I've also played Civ IV, with both of it's expansion packs as well. and really liked their first try at a culture system, and civilizations actually claiming their own territory from it. It did help, at least visually, when just keeping an eye on who is controlling what.

I'd love to give the latest version a whirl sometime, but I don't think Civ 5 will work on my current computer very well, and due to lack of funds for it anyway, I'll just stick with IV, thank you very much.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Caustizer on February 03, 2013, 12:57:03 PM
Quote from: The Chronicler,Jan 22 2013 on  11:00 PM
Speaking of the achievements, how many have you unlocked so far, Caustizer? As of right now, I've gotten nearly 60 (out of over 200). I plan on getting as many as I possibly can, so I'll still be playing for a while.

Hey, maybe we could even try a multiplayer game, sometime. :idea  What do you think?
Yeah we could try a multiplayer game sometime.

I recently upgraded to the Gods and Kings expansion and the Korea-Ancient Wonders DLC, and it improves the game considerably.  The addition of Religion is an interesting concept that I haven't completely grasped yet, but the changes they made to Social Policies make sense.

Basically, they added the 'Faith' Resource which is now seperate from Culture and linked to the Piety Tree (which before was dedicated to generating more Culture... which was very odd because it meant you were investing in Social Policies for the purpose of investing in more Social Policies).  They also reworked the Commerce Tree so it doesn't suck anymore (Naval Tradition now gives a free Great Admiral) as well as made some Naval units melee so they can capture coastal cities.

Now England (+1 Ship Speed and Ship of the Line) + The Great Lighthouse (+1 Ship Speed) + Naval Tradition (+1 Ship Speed and Great Admiral) is a very potent combination for attacking coastal cities.

The Ancient Wonders are also very handy - Statue of Zeus gives you a bonus attacking cities, Temple of Artemis gives you a growth and archer production bonus and the Maleuseum gives you +gold whenever you expend a great person.

Let me know when your online and we'll link up.

Caustizer.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on February 03, 2013, 10:00:16 PM
To be honest, I plan on trying out all of the DLC before moving on to the Gods & Kings expansion. The only one I've gotten so far is the Mongols civ and scenario, and that's only because it apparently came as a free bonus with my copy of Civ V.

I usually play on weekdays (except Wednesdays) starting around 10am to 12pm and finishing around 5pm, so if we ever do try a multiplayer game, it'll have to be a relatively quick game. (maybe a duel-size map) I'm not really feeling up to a multiplayer game right at this time, but I'll be sure the let you know when I'm ready. ;)

Anyway, I'm currently at 66 achievements, after finishing that week-long game. (I can now say from experience that huge maps take a very long time. More than half of my time on that match was spent just waiting for the AIs to process their turns. <_< ) How's your progress with achievements, Caustizer?
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ghostfishe on February 04, 2013, 03:56:26 PM
Ahh... I used to play Civ II, when I still had a computer that could run it. Loved the throne room decorating aspect. But I always had to cheat, because I've never had the "multitasking" abilities necessary to play well, and the AI was always so psycho. They'd start out with "hey, we like you, let's be bestest friends!" Then two minutes later, when I hadn't even done anything, "we've had enough of your insults! You're going to die!"  :slap

I did try Civ III after that, but mostly just play without opponents so I don't end up getting creamed. The later sequels look really interesting, but... I doubt I'd be any better at playing them.  :lol:
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on February 16, 2013, 09:48:31 PM
It's been a little while since I played Civ V, (been busy with other things) but I'll getting back to it in two days.

Earlier today, I finally got around to purchasing all of the DLC, except for the Gods&Kings expansion pack. (I'm saving that for after I've tried everything else.) This is definitely going to keep me busy for a while.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on March 18, 2013, 08:40:15 PM
I've found out that the second expansion to Civ V was recently announced. It's called Brave New World, and it basically expands significantly on Culture and Diplomacy. There will be 9 new civilizations (the only one confirmed at this time is Poland), and some new scenarios which include the American Civil War. This will be released sometime this summer, so keep an eye out for it.

As for my progress, I've now won as twelve different civilizations, the most recent being England. I'm obviously going for the achievement of winning as each playable civ, and I'm currently halfway there (six from the base game, and seven more from all the DLC). There's also an achievement for sinking a total of 357 naval units while playing as England, which I've quickly discovered is going to take a while. (mentally keeping track, I'm currently up to 55, and that's with and archipelago type map with raging barbarians and I wiped out all the other players on the map (the count from that one game is actually 32; the first 23 came from my first attempt that I gave up on because I remembered why I don't like huge maps: gameplay becomes way too slow.)) Right now, I've unlocked a total of 83 out of 227 achievements.

Malte, you mentioned your perception how in diplomacy the AIs tend to "give away their cities". In my experience, they literally will do that, but only if you are at war with them and you have proven that you are definitely capable of completely destroying them. I refuse the offer every time, because why wait ten turns before I can declare war on them again, when I can just finish them off within five turns. Also, if you want to remain friendly with any of the AIs, don't invade more than one or two of them, or they will all hate you. In other words, going for a conquest victory is really an all-or-nothing approach.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on April 20, 2013, 08:24:34 PM
Just over a week ago, four more of the nine new civs that will be coming in the next expansion pack were revealed: Zulu, Assyria, Portugal, and Brazil. Also, the release date will be July 9 in the U.S., and July 10 everywhere else.

I've now gotten just over 100 achievements out of a total 287 for the entire game. (It seems there will be 60 more from the second expansion pack, though none of them have been given real names just yet.) That may not seem like much, but from the base game alone, I have 92 out of 108, so that leaves just the really tricky ones. So far, I've done little more than let my time fly by as I unlock more achievements. I've been sticking to the easiest difficulty level every time, simply because I'd much rather be bored than frustrated. That'll likely change once I start with the scenarios, where there's achievements for winning on the harder difficulty levels.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on May 18, 2013, 08:42:31 PM
I have now gotten as much of the achievements for the base game of Civ V as I can actively go for. Today, I finally got that achievement for sinking 357 enemy ships while playing as England. I had to go through five games to get that, so now I'm glad that I can finally stop playing as England all the time. The last few of these achievements, like build 1000 temples, are ones that I can only keep on playing regularly until I eventually hit that number needed.

For the DLC achievements, I've already gotten the ones that can be done in a custom game (mostly just win as a certain civ). To get the rest, I'll need to play the scenarios, something I've been looking forward to for a long time now. :)

One of those DLC achievements, Turtle Power (sink an ironclad with a Korean turtle ship) may seem simple, but the hard part is actually finding an enemy ironclad ship in the first place (probably why only 0.1% of all players on Steam have gotten this achievement). Apparently, none of the AIs ever build an ironclad. After a little online search, I found a technique that solves this problem: 1, Build an ironclad. 2, Gift it to a city-state. 3, Once you see that ironclad belongs to them and you have a turtle ship ready, declare war on that city-state. The rest should be easy to figure out.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on June 04, 2013, 08:40:11 PM
I just finished unlocking all the achievements from the Mongols DLC, which includes winning the scenario on the hardest of all difficulty levels. Of course, I didn't go straight for the ultimate challenge, I gradually worked my way up through each progressive difficulty level, in hopes of perfecting whatever strategy would work. Of course, my key to success was reading advice that was posted online by other people who had already beaten the scenario. Conquering all 8 other civs in less than 100 turns may seem impossible, but if you start off just right, it can be done. Heck, I was afraid I'd have to try multiple times on the hardest difficulty level, but I actually managed to do it right on the first try. :D

Previously, I never would have even dared to play any game of Civilization on one of the higher difficulty levels. (I never saw anything to gain that would be worth such potential frustration.) After this accomplishment, I feel like I actually have a good shot at collecting every achievement on Civ V.

I'm going to take a break from this game for a while, due to an upcoming family vacation, but once I get back to it, I'm very confident that I'll succeed with the 5 other DLC scenarios.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Petrie85 on June 04, 2013, 09:14:03 PM
Ah that's cool And I might check these Games out.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on July 10, 2013, 08:30:22 PM
Civilization V's second expansion pack, Brave New World, has just been released yesterday (or today, if you live outside the U.S.). Even though I certainly plan on eventually getting it, I'm in no rush. I've found that there are advantages to waiting a little while after a video game's initial release. :)
Edit: Almost forgot to mention, Brave New World comes with two scenarios: Scramble for Africa, and the American Civil War. I think both of these should be very interesting.

Anyway, after an extended break, I'll be getting back to playing Civ V tomorrow, continuing where I left off on my progress of achievements.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Malte279 on July 17, 2013, 02:18:30 PM
A while ago I got the Civilization V gold edition (original game with gods and kings that is). There are some good and interesting concepts in this version of Civilization. For example I like the way they made the defence of towns more autonomous (so you don't have to have units in every single town to ensure they are save) and powerful enough so a town won't just be captured by any random unit that happens to walk by. I also think that the idea behind not allowing to stack units was quite sensible (towns with stockpiled units had become pretty much unconquerable in Civ 4). However, I think they should have been a bit more moderate about the stacking limits. Rather than making it just one military and one civilian unit per tile only I think it would have been a better option if they had allowed one melee and one distant unit per tile too (so you can actually protect catapults. Also the moving of units in tight places (mountains etc.) is sometimes getting rather annoying mostly because of the stack limit.
One thing I find kind of annoying too is how with the invention of firearms range weapons cease to be. Musketeers as well as their advancements all have no range attack (unlike antic archers) which is not exactly realistic.
I like the social policies options of Civ 5. In terms of diplomacy I think it would have been a great addition if they had permitted for an option to trade / annex individual tiles rather than entire towns as well (given that such little "border disputes" can indeed be a source of conflict). Unfortunately other civilizations continue to be somewhat unreasonable when it comes to trading. Neutral nations with whom you don't have any quarrel may still refuse to trade a luxury good of which they have several for two or three of your own luxury goods claiming for the trade to be "unfair" for them.
Another nice addition could have included the option to change the direction a unit was looking at for the purpose of allowing "flank attacks" or attacking the rear. Different marching- (higher speed) or battleformations (better fighting abilities less casualties) might have added a little more tactical depth too.
Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good game with some interesting innovations but I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. Maybe there's some of that in the expansion "Brave new world" (I am particularly curious about the Civil War scenario).
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on August 19, 2013, 07:37:47 PM
I have been a fan and avid player of the Civilization series ever since Civilization II was released.  I currently own Civilization II, III, IV, and V, in addition to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.  I recently purchased Civilization V and although I am reasonably pleased with many of the gameplay dynamics, I think that some of the strategy elements from Civilization IV have been lost.  In particular, I found the ability to spread religions and their effect on diplomatic modifiers to be an interesting element to Civilization IV.  I am glad to see, however, that Civilization V is still mod-friendly in the same manner as its immediate predecessor.  I find that  the fan-made content in the Civilization series is among the best and most ambitious I have ever seen.

With regards to Civilization IV, which is my favorite of the series thus far, I would have to recommend the Caveman 2 Cosmos mod in particular.  In this mod you lead a civilization from the discovery of fire in the stone age all the way into the events of the distant future.  Among the amazing things that you can do include: domesticating various animals that were not domesticated in our history (Mammoth riders and Deer archers are actually possible units); creating creation myths and animal myths based upon the subdued animals you bring into your camp; fight neanderthals and wild animals as diverse as pigeons, mammoths, sabre-tooth tigers, and quolls; create religions as diverse as druidism and Scientology; create different settler types as your technological progress advances; become more able to support larger empires as your social knowledge advances; and much, much more.

It can be found here:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/caveman2cosmos (http://www.moddb.com/mods/caveman2cosmos)

I also really like the theme song to the mod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6wlTDPiPU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6wlTDPiPU)  :lol
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on August 20, 2013, 09:30:19 PM
rhombus: I'm guessing you haven't even heard of Civ V's first expansion pack, Gods & Kings. Not only does it reintroduce religion, but also improves on what we saw in Civ IV. I have yet to even purchase that expansion pack yet, but I've heard that the different religions now have actual differences, as opposed to just serving similar purposes with different labels. The second expansion pack, Brave New World, introduces some entirely new concepts, like archaeology and tourism.

Malte279: If I remember correctly, the Civ V Gold Edition includes the base game, all of the DLC (downloadable content) and Gods & Kings. (I had the misfortune of purchasing all of the DLC just days before hearing about the Gold Edition on the day it was released, meaning I spent money I could have saved just by upgrading to the Gold Edition. :(  Oh well, at least I'll still be saving some amount once I decide to get Gods & Kings.) Since Civ V requires a Steam account (as far as I know) I assume you're also aware of the achievements there are for this game. Are there some you're trying to go for, or are you just not even bothering with them?

As for my personal progress, I've now done all but one of the DLC scenarios, Wonders of the Ancient World. Once I'm finished with that, I should have almost every achievement outside of the two expansion packs. I'll definitely be taking a long break from this game before moving on to that.
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on August 20, 2013, 09:40:21 PM
Quote from: The Chronicler,Aug 20 2013 on  08:30 PM
rhombus: I'm guessing you haven't even heard of Civ V's first expansion pack, Gods & Kings. Not only does it reintroduce religion, but also improves on what we saw in Civ IV. I have yet to even purchase that expansion pack yet, but I've heard that the different religions now have actual differences, as opposed to just serving similar purposes with different labels. The second expansion pack, Brave New World, introduces some entirely new concepts, like archaeology and tourism.

I have not yet purchased any expansion packs for Civilization V, but I will definitely have to check them out.  Considering how my main complaint for Civilization V is the lack of religion as a gameplay element, the Gods & Kings expansion pack might address some of my concerns.  Thank you for pointing it out to me.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on September 19, 2013, 08:20:47 PM
An update on my progress in Civ V.

Out of 173 achievements for the base game plus all of the DLC, it seems there is only one that is just too difficult for me: "All-Achieving Zeus" (win the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario on Deity [the hardest of all difficulty levels]). I did fine on my own until I got to Immortal (second hardest difficulty level). I searched the fan forums, Civfanatics.com, for helpful advice from other players. Although I was then able to easily pass the Immortal level thanks to what I read, I just couldn't seem to do the same on Deity. I've tried and failed three times over the past week, and that's not including all of the countless restarts I made, just for a favorable map arrangement. The problem I'm seeing now is that all of the strategies I've read online have one thing in common: "It takes a little bit of luck." If the deciding factor of whether or not a loss is guaranteed really does come down to luck, then I'm not even going to bother, since it will ultimately just be a big waste of time.

The other scenarios I've played on Deity (Mongols, Vikings, and Korea) were rather easy because they were all focused on combat, which is simply a matter of replenishing your armies and knowing where to put them. The other two scenarios (Conquest of the New World, and Polynesia) don't have achievements for higher difficulty levels, so I don't know how hard they can be. With this last scenario, Wonders of the Ancient World, I think I might have finally hit my difficulty limit. I just don't see how I can possibly get that last achievement without cheating a little bit. I do know of some ways to do just that, but I'll hold off on such attempts for now.

With that off the table, I now have only three achievements from the base game and DLC left to go (build 1000 temples, chop down 1000 forest tiles, and win 100 games). All of them should be very easy, but it will take a long time. I'll just have to play a bunch of quick and easy games to get those last three. Then I can finally take a long break from this game.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on January 03, 2014, 09:42:39 AM
I've been playing Civ V some more of lately and am really enjoying the game. Finally I've come to a point where I get how the game works and how victory can be achieved. I'm far from good, but at least I'm getting somewhere :P: I've now got 32 hours on record and 46 achievements, yay!
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 04, 2014, 08:36:15 PM
Better make sure you can set aside a lot of spare time. This game can be quite addicting, believe me.

Over the past year, I've logged a total of 770 hours and got 170 achievements (I don't yet have either expansion pack, so that means I've got all but five achievements from the base game and all of the DLC). I've been spending the past month going for just one achievement (chop down 1000 forest tiles), which I still do not yet have. (My strategy is to play a Hotseat multiplayer game (pretty much me against myself) on a huge Earth map. I've cleared nearly all forest tiles on that map three times, and still no achievement. It'll be a huge relief for me once I can finally go back to playing a normal game.)
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on January 25, 2014, 05:31:18 PM
This game sounds very interesting :) Is there a way to play Civ V without Steam? I hate that service  :x  

I'm most interested in Civ IV anyway... is there a way to download it for free? Or a test version at least?
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 25, 2014, 10:15:34 PM
Unfortunately, Civ V does require a Steam account. In fact, even though I originally bought that game on PC CD-ROM (like all of my previous games), it still required me to make a Steam account. However, I personally don't mind at all. In fact, I actually like having the ability to purchase games online and download them only once, rather than install them again every time I would get a new computer (and thus lose all past progress). I honestly haven't had any issues with Steam that I can think of. Why do you not like it?

Civ IV, on the other hand, does not require Steam. I actually used to play it a lot many years ago, long before I had even heard of Steam. However, I am not aware of any free downloads of any kind. As far as I know, the only options are to buy a hard copy (which I obviously did back then) or buy and download them from Steam (which I also did once I realized it was available (I did not want to ever again lose all progress I made on a game, as had happened to me with Civ IV not long before getting Civ V)).
Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on January 26, 2014, 10:38:46 AM
I'm not sure why people hate Steam. My boyfriend was against the service as well, while I have only seen positive aspects. All my games accessible anywhere, multiplayer made easy. I've not been forced to use Steam for any of my games, but I do use steam all the time to redeem Humble Bundle promotions. Next to that, the discounts you can get on Steam usually are better than those you'll find in the game store.

Try looking for Civ IV second-hand. I got mine in a thrift shop for just 1 euro :) As Chronicler said, you don't need Steam for that game.

This one looks interesting: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Sid-Meiers-Civiliza...=item3a8a8dae5e (http://www.ebay.de/itm/Sid-Meiers-Civilization-4-Complete-/251432644190?pt=DE_PC_Videospiele&hash=item3a8a8dae5e)
Title: Civilization
Post by: bestariana1girl on January 28, 2014, 03:43:41 PM
@Mumbling My ex- boyfriend is a jerk lol I'm random
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on January 28, 2014, 03:56:33 PM
^yes, you certainly ARE random... too random.

Anyway, I ordered civ IV. Will tell you how I find it as soon as I have played it long enough to judge it fairly.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on January 29, 2014, 03:17:54 AM
Cool, good luck with that Ducky! :)
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on February 02, 2014, 12:36:14 PM
Alright, I must admit that I'm getting addicted to playing Civ IV :lol Such a good game.
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on February 02, 2014, 02:06:31 PM
^ Indeed it is.  Even after all of these years, it is still a favorite of mine.  It also has a wide selection of fan-made mods that are available online, so if you ever get tired of the basic game, there are literally hundreds of modified versions of the game that you can play.  One of my favorite mods for Civ IV is Caveman2Cosmos (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=288570).
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on February 02, 2014, 04:37:42 PM
I can imagine why you would prefer "Caveman2Cosmos" :p

Sounds pretty amazing, the first one I'll try one day :)
Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on February 04, 2014, 05:50:39 PM
https://www.humblebundle.com/ (https://www.humblebundle.com/)

^ If anyone wants to get Civ V for a decent price, it's on humble bundle the next two weeks! :D

Here's the video for the bundle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzhRiYiHOlA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzhRiYiHOlA) :)
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on February 04, 2014, 09:10:15 PM
^ It is a shame that I have already bought the games full price, but it would be a good way for a person to get started in the game series.  The revenues go to a good cause as well.  :yes
Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on February 05, 2014, 03:00:19 AM
Same here, haha! I don't have the latest expansion yet, but I'd have to buy the bundle twice, because I only ever play with my boyfriend... So we'd both have to get the expansion :p I'll just wait until a new one comes out and this one drops in price massively. But it's definitely a good deal for those who are new to civ :)
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on March 07, 2014, 08:45:45 PM
Earlier this week, I finally got that achievement for chopping down 1000 forest tiles. So (outside of both expansion packs) I now have only four left: download a mod, play a game with a mod, win 100 games, and beat the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario on the Deity difficulty level. The first two, I may not even bother with, since I don't really have an interest in mods. The third shouldn't take much longer, as my current count is 91. But that final one will be a real problem.

I'm sure I've mentioned this earlier in this topic, but I pretty much gave up on it after many failed tries, mostly because I don't like relying on luck as a strategy. If that's what it has to take, then I'd rather fix the odds in my favor with some slight cheating. Fortunately for me, that may be possible, as I found a mod that adds an in-game editor, much like what was standard in Civ IV. I could use it to alter things just enough to allow me to win. However, I've heard that achievements don't work while that mod is active, which would defeat the purpose of me downloading that mod in the first place.

I honestly don't know what to do. :unsure:
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on April 15, 2014, 07:50:13 PM
Just a few days ago, the next game in the Civilization series was announced.

Civilization: Beyond Earth

The idea is similar to Alpha Centauri (future civilizations on an alien planet), but with a lot of new features that make it a unique game. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this game when it's released later this year.
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on April 16, 2014, 12:27:04 AM
As an avid fan of Alpha Centauri and Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire, I have been waiting for a sequel for around 15 years now.  Even though this game will not be a direct sequel (EA owns the rights to the Alpha Centauri brand) I am still looking forward to seeing how they develop the concept.  From what I have read (http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/12/firaxis-revisits-alpha-centauri-territory-with-civilization-beyond-earth) about the features in the upcoming game, it truly sounds impressive indeed.

Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on April 16, 2014, 01:29:33 AM
I'm looking forward to Beyond Earth. Since I enjoyed Civ 5 so much, I think a 'different version' of the game is definitely welcome. It looks pretty good so far, so lets hope it is!
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on May 11, 2014, 10:24:24 PM
Last week, I finally got around to purchasing the Gods & Kings expansion pack for Civ V. I've played one game so far, and I can already see a lot of differences.

It's not just the addition of religion and espionage; the entire tech tree has been altered and expanded, and in addition to some new wonders, the bonuses from some of the existing ones have been altered. Needless to say, this has completely thrown off the standard strategy I've been using on regular Civ V for the last few months.

However, I still like this game a lot. Plus, I now have an additional 51 achievements to unlock. I've already gotten seven of them, obviously among the easiest ones. The hardest ones will undoubtedly be on the scenarios, needing to win as a certain civ on a high difficulty level. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. The next step for me right now will be to try out some of the new civs (and earn the achievements relating to them).
Title: Civilization
Post by: Malte279 on May 14, 2014, 06:51:22 AM
I'm rather curious for Civilization Beyond Earth (http://www.civilization.com/) scheduled for fall. To me Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri has in several respects been the best of the entire Civilization series and I very, very much hope that they will come up with a worthy successor.
I got a kind of "personal wishlist" for a new civilization game it alast that list is likely to remain just that, wishfull thinking.
The previously mentioned option of making individual tiles a subject to diplomatic negotiations (without the need to annex a town for them) would be one thing.
I've also always been fancying the idea of the game getting an (optional) tactical level in addition to the strategic map we know. E.g. when to enemy units move to the same tile to start a combat you get the option to "zoom in" and move units on a larger scale map to make individual decision such as occupying high ground, entrenching troups, laying in ambush etc. (I do realize that to a degree the first two options are available on the strategic map, but I think that a more detailed tactical level would for example allow for a much better use of the skills which the troops can get for their experience). Moreover this would allow for a much more realistic and ballanced implementation of ranged weapons (no longer a need for troops to loose range with technological advances as is the case with archers > musketeers in Civilization V).
One thing I very much hope they might addopt from Alpha Centauri is the unit designer where you could assemble your own units by combining types of chassis (infantry, motorized, ship, plane etc.) with different types of armor, weapons and special abilities.
The possibility to coordinate battle plans with an allie is another feature of Alpha Centauri which I hope they will pick up again.
Last but not least it would be great if they could at last get rid of one of the most annoying aspects ever since the very first Civilization game, namely the unsatisfying experience of having spend many rounds on building a wonder just to be told that someone else beat you to it and that you get a bit of cash instead. This is not only extremely frustrating but also highly unrealistic :bang
I thought of two different ways in which this problem could be met. One would be that the moment one civilization starts building a wonder the said wonder does no longer appear as an option to others. To avoid "reserving wonders" by just starting to build them and then switch to something else one could make it a rule that once started the construction of wonders cannot be stopped without loosing any progress made so far.
Another option could be to just allow the building of "a wonder" without previous knowledge of what it is going to be but once it is done you can decide either for one of the wonders still available (with the cost of wonders getting higher in more advanced ages) or else you could determine in which field (science, military, trade, culture, religion etc.) the wonder is to produce bonuses and the type of wonder is determined based on that decision. Getting rid of the painful annoyance of wasted time, efford and resources for wonders which you didn't even know someone else was striving for (in Alpha Centauri you were informed if another faction was building a wonder and you had the option to speed the wonder building with additional payments which may be a bit unfair but which spared you the previously described frustration).
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on May 14, 2014, 01:32:54 PM
Quote from: Malte279,May 14 2014 on  05:51 AM
Last but not least it would be great if they could at last get rid of one of the most annoying aspects ever since the very first Civilization game, namely the unsatisfying experience of having spend many rounds on building a wonder just to be told that someone else beat you to it and that you get a bit of cash instead. This is not only extremely frustrating but also highly unrealistic :bang
I thought of two different ways in which this problem could be met. One would be that the moment one civilization starts building a wonder the said wonder does no longer appear as an option to others. To avoid "reserving wonders" by just starting to build them and then switch to something else one could make it a rule that once started the construction of wonders cannot be stopped without loosing any progress made so far.
Another option could be to just allow the building of "a wonder" without previous knowledge of what it is going to be but once it is done you can decide either for one of the wonders still available (with the cost of wonders getting higher in more advanced ages) or else you could determine in which field (science, military, trade, culture, religion etc.) the wonder is to produce bonuses and the type of wonder is determined based on that decision. Getting rid of the painful annoyance of wasted time, efford and resources for wonders which you didn't even know someone else was striving for (in Alpha Centauri you were informed if another faction was building a wonder and you had the option to speed the wonder building with additional payments which may be a bit unfair but which spared you the previously described frustration).
I agree whole-hardheartedly.  :yes How wonders were handled always seemed to be the most unrealistic and annoying aspect of the game.  On a related note, I also quite like the option on Alpha Centauri where you could prevent the selecting of actual technologies, but rather select a tech focus.  If both of these options were in the new game, then neither the wonders or the technologies would be directly selected, but rather they would be a stab in the dark.  Just like how actual technological progress is made.  We may be conducting research in a certain area, but we cannot foresee the direct consequences of those choices.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Belmont2500 on July 28, 2014, 01:46:42 PM
Recently got Civ V off of Steam(only the vanilla game as of now, I hope to get the expansions and DLC eventually.) I mostly play as the Greeks and very rarely China and England. I do like to use modded Civs as well.
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on July 28, 2014, 07:08:22 PM
Some gameplay footage was released (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy6aGLFIACE) for Civilization: Beyond Earth.  A gameplay walkthrough has also been posted (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfQyG885arY).  So far, it is looking good.  :yes
Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on October 21, 2014, 06:30:50 AM
Civ 5 is free to play this week in anticipation of Beyond Earth coming out this Friday.

http://www.pcgamer.com/civilization-5-is-f...play-this-week/ (http://www.pcgamer.com/civilization-5-is-free-to-play-this-week/)
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on November 03, 2014, 02:30:14 PM
Has anybody purchased the game besides rhombus? And is somebody already able to give a review (not so many spoilers though)? :) I'm referring to "Beyond Earth" of course ;)

Another thing. A while ago some of us had been considering playing a multiplayer game of Civ IV in the GoF Skype Chat. Is there still interest in organising such an event? :) I recall rhombus, vonboy, Malte279 and yours truly taking interest in such a game.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Malte279 on November 03, 2014, 02:59:23 PM
I remain interested in that multiplayer Civ 4 session. Be aware though that I have next to zero experience with multiplayer gaming and may ask "stupid questions" at first ;)

With regard to my interest in "Beyond Earth" I would be a lot more interested it it was following "Alpha Centauri" more (which all reviews I saw emphasize it doesn't). The reviews stress it being closer to Civilization V. While I like Civilization V it never gave me the same enthusiasm as I had for Alpha Centauri.
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on November 04, 2014, 02:20:43 AM
I would be very interested in a multiplayer Civilization 4 game.  Though it would probably take us quite a few sessions to finish a game, I think that the Earth (18 civ) map would be quite interesting.  Though there might be a few disagreements on who gets Germany and America.  ;) We would need to work out the best times to organize such a game, however.  I am available during the day on Thursdays and Fridays (noon-7pm CST, which would be 7pm-2am German time.)

As for Civilization: Beyond Earth, my opinion of it thus far is somewhat positive though there are a few areas of disappointment.  On the good side the game utilizes the Civilization V engine which is a proven system that does its job relatively well.  If you are familiar with the trade system in Civ 5 then you will be well acquainted with its equivalent in this game.  The cultural expansion of borders, bombardment system, and happiness system (now called health, but the principal is roughly the same) is very similar to Civ 5.  So in terms of gameplay mechanics I have few complaints.

Likewise, there are a few interesting additions.  

TECH WEB

The tech web adds variety to the research system in that different civilizations can research technologies in very different directions.  Having each technology have 2 secondary techs is also an interesting idea that makes sense when you consider how actual technological development happens.  

AFFINITY SYSTEM AND UNIT UPGRADES

Also the affinity system is quite fascinating.  By performing certain quests (which can involve anything from using explorers to observe ruins or simply making a choice between two options), researching certain technologies, or taking other actions then you can gain ranks in one of three affinities.  The purity affinity favors keeping humanity human and making the planet more like earth, the supremacy affinity favors mechanical augmentation of humanity in order to make them independent of their environment, and the harmony affinity favors biological modification to become more like a native lifeform of the planet.  As you take ranks in the affinities you gain certain benefits and can upgrade your units.  In fact, the new units are not really discovered so much from researching technology.  Rather as you increase in ranks then you can select how to upgrade your units based upon a few choices.  The upgrade options in this game are far fewer than what existed in Alpha Centauri.  As you upgrade the units, each copy of the unit in your army automatically upgrades.  Obsolete units are not really an issue in this game.

ALIENS

There are alien units which act in a similar manner to barbarians in Civilization V.  However, there are some differences.  For one thing, if you choose the harmony affinity then you can make your own alien units which can be quite powerful.  Furthermore, aliens tend to ignore military units unless you attack them first and make them hostile, though Colonists (Settlers) will be killed by any aliens in the area.  They can be quite an obstacle early on, but later in the game (as you unlock new units) the aliens are much less of an issue.

CUSTOMIZATION

When you start a game you select many aspects of your civilization (er... faction.)  For one thing you select your backer, which is the equivalent of your civilization.  Each faction has unique attributes (for example ARC has bonuses to covert actions) which can suit some gaming strategies but be less suitable to others.  You also pick your colonists (scientists, artists, aristocrats, etc.) which will determine their skill set and give a set bonus per city (for example, scientists will give you +2 science per city.)  You also pick your cargo (which determines what unit, building, or bonus you start with) and your spacecraft (which can give you an energy bonus, allow you more freedom to pick your landing area, or give you more information on the terrain around your landing area.)  All of these make your start quite customizable and unique.  Which also leads to the major issue that I have with the game...

A LACK OF PERSONALITY

Due to the customization of the factions, each time you play the game the factions will be different.  This does change up the game, but it also removes the possibility of giving the factions any personality of their own.  In Alpha Centauri we had the University, Morgan Industries, The Hive, The Believers, and others with unique ideologies.  This made you feel for the factions and their leaders and made you feel like you were playing a game with personality that was telling a story behind the scenes.  This was reinforced by the wonder videos, technology quotes, and story quotes throughout the game.  Though this game does try with its quest system, the inherent feeling of eeriness and distinct philosophical factions is lost in this game.  The game mechanics are there, the innovative additions are there, but the personality is gone.  Perhaps it is unfair to compare this game to a classic like Alpha Centauri, but I feel that it is inescapable considering the parallels between the two.

OVERALL VIEW

I suppose that I would give the game an 8.5/10.  It is a fun game with an excellent replay value (I have played it for 16 hours thus far) but it could have been much more.  If you are a fan of Alpha Centauri or Civilization V then I would recommend buying it when it goes on sale, perhaps for the Christmas season.

If you would like to see a video review that matches my overall opinion for the most part and that gives you an idea of the gameplay then I would recommend this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IydX8R2xxe4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IydX8R2xxe4)
Title: Civilization
Post by: Belmont2500 on November 05, 2014, 01:53:53 AM
Recently started playing Civilization V(as well as its expansions) two months back. Much easier to get into than the original and honestly much more refined, as expected.

I like to play as the Greeks and Koreans most of the time.


I think my most memorable experience was during my Greek campaign, when Japan, England, China and Germany all joined forces to take out the Netherlands, who were hogging quite the amount of territory and after pushing William's forces backt o his last city, we were victorious.


As for Civilization: Beyond Earth, haven't played it yet.  I'm just going to stick with Civ V for now, as I enjoy it too much. Beyond Earth looks promising, but I am disappointed at the lack of Alien-led factions, the previous games got away with having all human factions because they centered around real world nations. But since the game is no longer taking place on Earth, I think the devs could take a few liberties.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Malte279 on November 05, 2014, 07:38:56 AM
I'm afraid I have to postpone plans for an online game of Civ IV with you. For the time being I'm restricted to a tablet computer which is good enough for working and using the internet, but not really for gaming. My regular computer had given me some signs lately that it wants to die and now I can start it in safe mode only. So I'm saving all my data before handing it in for repairs. Since I got it less than four years ago I can still get repairs on the basis of the warranty, but that computer sure was the most failure prone I've ever had (I think this is the third or fourth time I got to hand it in <_<).
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on November 05, 2014, 01:19:57 PM
Well, that's okay. I don't think we can start a game very soon anyway. Things will have to be discussed (e.g. the times the players are available (this will be the hardest part I guess), or what settings we're going to apply (18 player earth map sounds like a good idea to me btw!).

I would be available from Thursday to Saturday probably (evening-night european time). I think I could play on Sundays too but I actually have to get up very early the next morning :p
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on December 23, 2014, 09:39:40 AM
Are people still up to a multiplayer game of Civ IV? I have plenty time during the holidays while I'll be very unlikely to find any time for gaming from February to April (final exams). I'd suggest to do the planning work on Skype (I hope all players have skype   :unsure: )

So far, I know that Malte279, vonboy, rhombus and yours truly would join such a game. I can imagine that one or two other members here might be interested as well.
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on December 23, 2014, 10:37:21 PM
I am still open to the idea of a multiplayer Civilization IV game.  My schedule next semester means that Thursdays and Fridays will be open for me until March, and then Fridays will remain open for me for the rest of the semester.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on March 11, 2015, 10:15:05 PM
I've been hearing about a new game that's due to be released soon called "Starships", which is pretty much in the same series as "Civilization: Beyond Earth", except it's primarily focused on controlling a fleet of spaceships. I'm not interested in getting this game anytime soon, but I figured I'd point it out for anyone who might be interested.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on May 18, 2015, 09:10:46 PM
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/18/con...All+Articles%29 (http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/18/control-the-seas-in-civilization-beyond-earths-first-expansion?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ign%2Farticles+%28IGN+All+Articles%29)

The first expansion pack for Civilization: Beyond Earth has just been announced: Rising Tide. Of all the new features that have been revealed so far, perhaps the most significant one of all is that you will be able to build cities on water! This expansion pack is due to be released later this fall, so if you enjoyed playing Beyond Earth, then this is definitely something for you to look forward to.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on May 11, 2016, 07:40:09 PM
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/sid-meie...take-on-cities/ (http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/sid-meiers-civilization-vi-debuts-this-fall-with-a-new-take-on-cities/)

Civilization VI has just been announced, and is due to be released on October 21, later this year. According to this article, it seems that the biggest change from V will be that cities can occupy more than just a single tile. In other words, just like military units for the previous game, buildings will no longer be stackable. Looks like my habit of trying to build every single wonder in a single city will be simply impossible for this next game.

I'm still in the process of unlocking achievements on Civilization V, so it may be a while before I get this game. (Fine by me, not only because I can wait for other gamers to make guides that can help me, but also the price to get games like this tends to come down a bit after some time.)
Title: Civilization
Post by: ADFan185 on May 14, 2016, 11:52:47 AM
Awesome looks very good and looks like effort has been added to the game.
Title: Civilization
Post by: action9000 on May 15, 2016, 08:23:40 PM
I'm definitely excited to try out the new Civ VI!  :yes

My only minor complaint at this time has to be the art style. When I look at screenshots I don't get the same sense of elegance and pristine-ness to the visual aesthetic that I got from Civ V. Rather, Civ VI has a much more cartoony artstyle which doesn't seem particularly appropriate for a game like this.

Colour is welcome. Vividness is welcome. I'm not looking for grit. I'm just not in love with how childish the art style appears to be compared to Civ V.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on May 25, 2016, 07:30:06 PM
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/25/why-fira...ivilization-vi/ (http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/25/why-firaxis-decided-to-make-drastic-changes-to-cities-in-civilization-vi/)

A new article that talks more about the expanded cities feature in the upcoming Civ VI game, along with a few other features. Also, based on one of the images shown in that article, it looks like one of the playable leaders will be Teddy Roosevelt (which I believe is a first for the entire series, as far as official content goes).
Title: Civilization
Post by: vonboy on May 25, 2016, 08:19:52 PM
Quill18 showing some gameplay from the game here. So far, it looks a lot like 5, haven't goten to see the whole video yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qzC5cUQcFk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qzC5cUQcFk)

Edit: Civics aren't like in civ 4 or 5. It's basically it's own seperate research tree now. So you have a tech tree that you still get techs points to research, but you have a civics tree, that you get culture points to research, and get mostly happiness and culture buildings with, like the Oracle or coliseum, for instance.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Coyote_A on August 20, 2016, 07:17:38 PM
Real sorry for this little bit of necroposting, but I've been playing a lot of Civ5 recently. Currently trying to achieve cultural victory. Never bothered to do so before since it kinda seemed nonsensical and very time consuming... And boy was I right about both of those things. Hope they'll make taking the cultural route worthwhile in the new installment. <_<
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on September 23, 2016, 10:30:47 PM
Steam has been having a sale this week, so I decided to finally get the Brave New World expansion pack for Civ V (along with all the remaining DLC I had not yet obtained). I made the purchase literally just a few hours ago, so I have not yet had a chance to actually play it yet, but I certainly look forward to it once I do.

I had been spending the entire summer going through the three scenarios from the Gods & Kings expansion pack, trying to win as every playable civ, and I will say that some of them took a lot longer than I had anticipated. In fact, considering all the other things I've been doing these days, I've since come to realize just how time-consuming this game really is.

I used to follow a self-imposed rule I should stop playing before 6 pm, and if I'm not near the end of my current game, then I just go until the next auto-saved turn before quitting, and then reload that game the next day. Lately, however, not only have I continued playing past my daily deadline, I've even continued past midnight, just to make sure I'm not playing the same game for more than two or three days. The fact that I do my gaming on my desktop and my web browsing on my laptop, plus the fact that I hardly need the keyboard to play this game, I've been able to make it work. Processing the turns for the AI players takes quite some time, especially on larger maps, so I figured I could do other things rather than spend nearly half my time just waiting and waiting. But even so, I doubt I can continue playing something so intensively time-consuming for much longer.

Therefore, I have decided that I will not be getting Civ VI when it comes out. I am going to play through Brave New World, unlock as many of the achievements as I possibly can, and once I'm done with that, that'll be it for me. Once I'm finished with Civ V, I plan to no longer play any game of Civilization at all. I really do enjoy this game series a lot, but I'm afraid I just can't continue to invest so much time into this one game.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Coyote_A on September 24, 2016, 03:05:11 AM
Quote from: The Chronicler,Sep 24 2016 on  06:30 AM
Therefore, I have decided that I will not be getting Civ VI when it comes out. I am going to play through Brave New World, unlock as many of the achievements as I possibly can, and once I'm done with that, that'll be it for me. Once I'm finished with Civ V, I plan to no longer play any game of Civilization at all. I really do enjoy this game series a lot, but I'm afraid I just can't continue to invest so much time into this one game.
Awww, does this mean you won't be joining us for any online matches? :lol With that said I agree that Civ games are basically the largest time waster after MMORPGs and MOBA games. But hey, Firaxis promised that an average session in the next installment will be a lot shorter (about 2-4 hours).
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on September 24, 2016, 11:22:58 AM
The problem is that you're forcing yourself to gain all these achievements. That's more work than it is gaming for fun so you'll get tired of it after a while, obviously. Only play when you feel like it and not for achievements, then you shouldn't have to worry about Civ eating up all your free time :p
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on September 24, 2016, 08:30:44 PM
It's actually not much different from how I used to play Civ III and IV, neither of which came with any achievements to unlock. Basically, I made myself try to play (and win) all of the scenarios as every possible playable civ. I had successfully done that with all nine scenarios in Civ III, and while I did go through every scenario in Civ IV, I'll admit that a few of them I found to be so boring that I never bothered to play them more than once. (Of course, to avoid frustration as much as possible, I always played every game on the easiest setting.)

Sadly, the computer on which I had played all those games had crashed long ago, so all the progress I had made in Civ III and IV is gone forever. Although I did later purchase digital copies on Steam with the hope that I could rebuild my records on a more enduring system, I never bothered to try installing and playing them as I simply couldn't find the time to do so. (And since those two games, unlike Civ V, don't come with achievements to unlock, that would leave me with little more than a bunch of saved games to prove my progress, so I figured, what's the point?)

But if what you're saying is true in that Civ VI games are supposed to be much quicker than Civ V, I may one day reconsider. But for now, I'm going to stay with my decision to finish what I started with Civ V, and then calling it quits on the series.

EDIT: I should also probably mention that I'm not going to unlock all of the achievements on Civ V. I have already come to accept that some of them are so extremely difficult that I'm never going to get them anyway (such as winning certain scenarios on the hardest difficulty setting). There are nearly a dozen such achievements that I've already accepted that I'll never unlock, so we'll see how many more there will be for the Brave New World expansion pack.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Coyote_A on September 25, 2016, 05:12:50 PM
Quote from: The Chronicler,Sep 25 2016 on  04:30 AM
But if what you're saying is true in that Civ VI games are supposed to be much quicker than Civ V, I may one day reconsider. But for now, I'm going to stay with my decision to finish what I started with Civ V, and then calling it quits on the series.
Well, that's what the devs claimed in the interviews so far. We'll see whether it's true or not once the game hits the shelves... Personally I didn't preorder Civ6 and neither am I going to buy it day one though. I like the direction the series has taken and I have high hopes for the new title, but I've been hurt before (i.e. Beyond Earth was far from perfect). :o
Title: Civilization
Post by: vonboy on September 25, 2016, 05:18:55 PM
I think what they were talking about with shorter games was more some way to play a shorter multiplayer game, for those people that can't dedicate 10 hours or more to play together in a more epic scale civ game.

They still haven't elaborated on this, so not sure what they really mean, or how these shorter games would be different than the standard ones.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on October 21, 2016, 05:00:10 PM
Today is the day that Civilization VI officially comes out.

I had decided to take a look at the list of achievements on Steam out of curiosity, and while many of them are rather straightforward, there are also quite a lot of them that require such a special set of circumstances that I honestly find it hard to believe how it would take anything less than pure luck to get them (and I absolutely hate relying on luck as a strategy). And since I've already stated my desire to unlock achievements in any game, I think it'll be best if I stick with my decision to not play this game at all.

I still need to go through Civ V: Brave New World, and then after that, there are also quite a few other games I'd like to get around to playing, so I think it's fair to say that I've now made up my mind for good regarding the Civilization game series.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on October 22, 2016, 02:27:44 PM
So, Civ 6 is out now, what are the thoughts of those who have got the game already?

BTW: I bought Civ 5 this week (haven't tested it yet though) and started playing the Caveman2Cosmos Mod for Civ 4 :D If anybody wants to play a really cool mod for it, I can also recommend the BASE mod of the german community. It's awesome! (and I'm gonna do a let's play of it soon)
Title: Civilization
Post by: vonboy on October 23, 2016, 03:06:30 AM
I'm thining of doing a let's play of Civ 6, but with it a little modded by myself. Now, I can't do much with modding, just look in .xml files and change values, but this is how I'm gonna be playing it.

A marathon game that's modded to have production and growth as fast as in a standard speed game (So 3x faster than it would be) with the tech and civics research rate the same marathon speed in the ancient area, but it get's exponentially more expensive as you go through the ages, so you'll need a huge civ with tons of science to really advance later in the game.

I'm also playing on a map 2x as big as you can normally play in the game (50% more width and height, so I think that's 2x the size)

I'm playing through some of a game with these settings right now, and it's a ton of fun. You can expand and build up much faster in this game, and you have lots of room around you to expand too.

Any one else have any easy to change ideas that could make this better? :D
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on October 23, 2016, 11:32:11 AM
Is it really that easy to change these values? I wish I was capable of coding so I could write my own mod :D A dinosaur mod for civ 4, anyone?  :lol
Title: Civilization
Post by: vonboy on October 23, 2016, 02:27:16 PM
I looks like right now, all we can do is write stuff in those .xml files. Adding new graphics, like units or leaders) can't be done till they release the actual modding tools. And it's really easy to dig in those files, and just edit values, but if you want to add in new units or anything really, you'll have to add in code in a few different files, at least, and there's no guide right now in what all files you'll have to edit for that.
Title: Civilization
Post by: rhombus on October 23, 2016, 05:15:17 PM
I am loving Civ 6 thus far.  The new district system, when combined with the trade system, really adds to the necessary strategy in the late game.  Want to build a wonder but don't want it taking 100 turns?  Then you have to carefully manage your trade routes to get extra production to the city in question and make sure that it has the districts to allow for improved production. Want to conquer the continent? Then make sure that you plan your unit production and maintenance. Do you plan on using production to build the units, gold to buy them, or faith to inspire them?  And this doesn't even take into consideration the new civics system...

I am still adjusting to the new details and additions but I do not hesitate to say that I am pleased with my purchase thus far.  Civ 6 is much better than Civ 5 was upon its initial build before DLC.  I look forward to wasting even more of my free time with Civ 6 in the near future.   :DD
Title: Civilization
Post by: Ducky123 on October 23, 2016, 05:23:47 PM
Playing civ is never wasted time imo  :lol I should know after streaming civ 4 on twitch for 3 hours (thanks for watching vonboy  :p )
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on November 03, 2017, 08:40:21 PM
At the beginning of this year, I had set myself a goal of completing all progress I wanted to get done for Civilization V: Brave New World by the end of this year; playing as each of the new civs, playing on each of the scrambled continents and scramble nations DLC maps, and completing all of the new scenarios as all playable civs, all while trying to unlock as many achievements as I possibly can. Today, I have successfully met my goal.

Just hours ago, I finished what I have decided will be the last time I will ever play any game of Civilization. (I had played the American Civil War scenario as the Union.) As I've said numerous times before, Civilization V has been taking up too much time for me to continue with it for much longer. Since I always have to practically dedicate entire afternoons and evenings to playing this game, I was able to spare only two days per week for most of the year, and with the number of rounds I had planned on eventually playing, I've very relieved that I was able to meet my goal with less than two months to spare. Needless to say, I'm sticking with my decision of not getting Civilization VI or any other future game in this franchise (though I'll still be checking for any new releases and sharing them here in this topic for those of you who might be interested).

According to my Steam account, ever since I started playing Civilization V back in January 2013, I've logged a total amount of playing time of 2314 hours. As for the achievements, out of a total of 286, I was able to unlock 269 of them, so that's 17 that I've accepted that I'll never get, leaving me with a total progress of 94%. Not bad for all that effort I've done over the past five years of playing this game.

I've certainly enjoyed playing this game a lot, but now it's time for me to move on to other things.
Title: Civilization
Post by: vonboy on November 03, 2017, 09:02:05 PM
I still would have hoped you could continue to play civ games, but more casually, but if that's the way you feel, I won't be able to stop you. I would have loved to be able to play a game with you sometime, but oh well.

Anyway, congrats on doing almost everything in the game. :cheers  I'll never 'complete' a Civ game like that.

Are there any other games that you enjoy?
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on November 04, 2017, 08:45:40 PM
Multiplayer games don't really interest me much, so it's unlikely I would have ever considered playing with you or anyone else here, even if I was still playing the game.

Yeah, I've got quite a few other games that I hope to try next, now that I'm finally finished with Civ 5. I'll talk more about them later in the "Whatcha Playin'?" topic, as this topic is meant just for the Civilization franchise.

Anyway, since it's now been over a year since Civ 6 came out, what does everyone think of it so far?
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on November 29, 2017, 08:20:14 PM
As I said, even though I will no longer be playing any games in this franchise, I'll still be keeping an eye out for any new releases that other people here might be interested in knowing about.

Just recently announced is the first expansion of Civilization VI, known as Rise and Fall, and due to be released on February 8.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/in-civilization-vis-new-expansion-a-golden-age-is-nigh-or-maybe-a-dark-age/ (https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/in-civilization-vis-new-expansion-a-golden-age-is-nigh-or-maybe-a-dark-age/)

Certainly a lot of interesting new features. I'm honestly starting to get a little surprised by how anyone can manage to keep up with all of it.
Title: Civilization
Post by: Mumbling on January 07, 2018, 05:21:34 AM
If anyone is interested in Civilization 6 but does not yet own it, Humble Bundle (https://www.humblebundle.com/monthly?partner=claydoodles) currently offers it as part of their monthly plan. You get the game straight away through a key you can redeem on Steam, plus 2 DLC packs, for just $12. It is an ongoing subscription, so make sure you cancel it if you don't want to pay the $12 a month (you will still get all the games they make available in February).

If you subscribe through the following link, you'll help me out financially too! Plus we could play together sometime, I'd like to try out this new game.

https://www.humblebundle.com/monthly?partner=claydoodles (https://www.humblebundle.com/monthly?partner=claydoodles)

Hit me up on Discord if you'd like to play! I've not played Civilization in years, so I'll probably be extremely rusty, but it'd be fun to play with friends again!
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 17, 2018, 08:40:14 PM
Some more information has been revealed regarding the upcoming expansion pack.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/civilization-6-expansion-rise-and-falls-new-featur/1100-6456131/ (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/civilization-6-expansion-rise-and-falls-new-featur/1100-6456131/)

Among the civilizations being added are Mongolia, Netherlands, Georgia, the Cree, and a second leader for India.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 24, 2018, 08:35:18 PM
Some more information on the upcoming expansion pack:
https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/22/16911622/civilization-6-rise-and-fall-impressions (https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/22/16911622/civilization-6-rise-and-fall-impressions)

Nine new leaders will be included (the five I mentioned previously, along with Korea, though the last three are still unknown). Among other details described in this article, the potential for cities to flip culturally (previously seen only in Civ IV) is introduced, along with a loyalty system to determine how likely cities are to remain with you or revolt, and you can assign governors to cities to affect loyalty.
Title: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on February 17, 2018, 09:26:10 PM
Been a little too busy lately to really mention it, but the Civ VI expansion pack "Rise and Fall" is now available.

Again, I'm not interested in getting this game myself, though I would be interested to hear what anyone here thinks about.
Title: Re: Civilization
Post by: The Chronicler on January 19, 2019, 07:48:15 PM
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sid-meier-civilization-vi-gathering-180000470.html (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sid-meier-civilization-vi-gathering-180000470.html)

I missed the initial announcement back in November, but the second expansion pack for Civilization VI, known as Gathering Storm, will be released on February 14, so that's less than a month from now. The most significant feature of this expansion pack is the introduction of environmental impacts, where you'll be faced with natural disasters like floods or volcanoes, and of course you'll be faced with climate change in later parts of the game, and the choices you make throughout the game will actually determine how much that environmental impact will be.

Even though I still seriously doubt I'll have enough time anytime soon to actually try this game, I honestly am starting to consider possibly getting Civ VI. I guess this franchise is just too interesting for me to stay away from for too long.
Title: Re: Civilization
Post by: Compsognathus on April 22, 2021, 02:57:58 PM
I played Civilization V, I enjoyed especially wars, but I did not spend as much time playing it as Europa universalis III, or IV. I considered diplomacy part better in EU, and I liked AI more in EU games. I played most times as Germans, and I preferred Earth map with as many city states and enemies as possible. I remember, that I won only in smaller maps with few enemies, in huge maps never.