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[Carlos del Vaca]

so. it is still 40 bucks. And I really want it. A lot.

I got Civ III for $5 at the $5-or-less store.

Of course, I've played it maybe a total of four hours.  I'd like to play more video and computer games, they sure look like fun!  But who has the time?

[theinevitable]

yeah, I downloaded FreeCiv and I am losing at it pretty consistently.

[CortJstr]

I stilll play Civ 1 on SNES occasionally. Of course I have to keep it on Chieftan and play on Earth due to a congenital defact known as sucking. I could barely stay alive at all before I read about the Copernicus's Observatory + Colussus trick.

For Civ 3 I'll sometimes play a hyper-powerful mod just to see how quickly I can get a Domination victory.

Playing these games according to the rules and not losing painfully is basically something that I cannot do.

[theinevitable]

yeah. no matter what I do, they start sending Musketeers my way really early on. Like, wow. My main problem, i think, is thinking about things in a realistic way. Apparently what I am supposed to do is expand as fast as is humanly possible, micro-manage every single city every single turn, and research straight to gunpowder. Even when I try to do these things, the computer still whups my ass on the easiest difficulty setting.


the thing that bothers me: I remember not-sucking at Civ II back in the day. I mean, maybe I never actually won, but I could at least hold my own for a pretty long game. I remember the game ending because it reached the year 2000 plenty of times.

[Drygioni]

I love Civ II, but for the love of God I have serious trouble expanding with any kind of effectiveness. Normally I inadvertently end up in the latter stages of the game with 5 AWESOME cities, while the Sioux invariably have about 100 merely good cities. Understandably, I am wiped out.

I think the computer has a bit too much ease holding empires together in Civ II. I'd prefer civil wars sprouting up in large empires. But it's an old game, so who cares. Maybe they've already made those changes in the new ones.

[CortJstr]

I love Civ II, but for the love of God I have serious trouble expanding with any kind of effectiveness. Normally I inadvertently end up in the latter stages of the game with 5 AWESOME cities, while the Sioux invariably have about 100 merely good cities. Understandably, I am wiped out.

I think the computer has a bit too much ease holding empires together in Civ II. I'd prefer civil wars sprouting up in large empires. But it's an old game, so who cares. Maybe they've already made those changes in the new ones.

IV actually encourages you to go the 5 city route in most cases. And there's an "Always Peace" option when you start a game if you want to focus on tech and other forms of diplomacy. Oh, and the expansion pack adds Vassalage as an option, which is kind of neat.

[theinevitable]

I have so many issues managing my cities.

also, freeciv does not have the "next city" button, so I end up going through the cities list, missing some, etc.

bullshit.

[jough]

I've never played any Civ games, but is it one of those games like the Sims or The Movies where you can build stuff and then the game gives you lots of chores to do? 

If I want to do chores I can do my laundry or clean my apartment.  At least that way something will get done, too.  I don't need a video game to pile on busy work - if I'm going to spend the time on a game it had damn well better be fun.

I mean, I really liked Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which gave you some chores to do (have to eat, work out, spray paint 100 things, take 50 photos, etc.) but they were added on to a richer game experience, not the point of the game.

[CortJstr]

I've never played any Civ games, but is it one of those games like the Sims or The Movies where you can build stuff and then the game gives you lots of chores to do?

You start with 1 settler on an unknown ladscape. You start a city, add buildings, and spread to new cities in an effort to become the dominant civilization on the planet. There's 2 violent ways to win, 1 purely peacefull, 1 passive aggressive, and a couple neutral ways. Depending on what civ you play as and your own personality.

[AugustWest]

I've never played any Civ games, but is it one of those games like the Sims or The Movies where you can build stuff and then the game gives you lots of chores to do? 

No, not really.  I'm with you on the Sims.  Played it for a while -- I can somewhat understand the appeal, but it wore off pretty quick.  Deciding when to poop and when to wash the dishes is something I get to do in real life, so the simulation aspect seems a little wasted.

But the Civ games are very different.  There's a huge element of strategy (and on a grand scale).  Also tactics and resource management.  In a nutshell, you are the dictator of an ancient culture at the dawn of civilization (I play the Chinese and the Persians a lot...)  You're given a map of your surroundings, which you gradually uncover as you explore.  There are various resources (food, minerals, money) on the map along with bonus resources and "special" resources (iron, gunpowder).   You build cities in order to best exploit these resources.

You have to decide how to best manage your nation to compete (and eventually dominate) the other nations out there developing at the same time you are.  You can use different strategies (Rapid population growth, militarism, financial domination, scientific research, etc) by choosing what each of your cities devotes its resources to building.

It's really a hell of a game.  The variations I've enjoyed most have been Civ II and Alpha Centauri.  Stay away from Civ Call to Power. 

[Drygioni]

I just fuck*ng love the different choices you have on Civ 2 (I have not played any others but really would like Civ 3 or 4). Often I try to win the money race by focusing on trade and running Republican or Democratic societies, which limits your military options because of a Senate. However, increased happiness and trade are not to be sniffed at when you've built up your infrastructure a bit.

However, it's just as much fun to run a Fundamentalist nation, putting all my output into military production while my zealous population starves happily.

[CortJstr]

I just fuck*ng love the different choices you have on Civ 2 (I have not played any others but really would like Civ 3 or 4). Often I try to win the money race by focusing on trade and running Republican or Democratic societies, which limits your military options because of a Senate. However, increased happiness and trade are not to be sniffed at when you've built up your infrastructure a bit.

However, it's just as much fun to run a Fundamentalist nation, putting all my output into military production while my zealous population starves happily.

After Civ 2 they basically removed Fundamentalist for being too powerful. Personally I like building a city right up next to a rival city then rushing all of the culture buildings I can afford. Then the other city sees how great my civ is and revolts. This is even more fun with Elimination Mode turned on.

[theinevitable]

man. Fuck Civ. Yesterday about 20 guys on my floor simultaneously realized that we own AOE II.

Good lord, that was fantastic. We all packed into these two rooms, because one guy had a wireless network set up... played for 3 hours straight, 2 teams of 4... our RA was amazing, as was this one other kid. I held my own pretty well, I think... I got 3rd place on my team/in the game, mostly because I didn't attack until too late in the game.

The best was this one kid who just built huge walls around his little island, and cussed up a storm whenever we attacked and broke through.

a resounding "hell yes!" to having 2 days until my last exam, which is "Introduction to Film."

[CortJstr]

man. Fuck Civ. Yesterday about 20 guys on my floor simultaneously realized that we own AOE II.

Good lord, that was fantastic. We all packed into these two rooms, because one guy had a wireless network set up... played for 3 hours straight, 2 teams of 4... our RA was amazing, as was this one other kid. I held my own pretty well, I think... I got 3rd place on my team/in the game, mostly because I didn't attack until too late in the game.

The best was this one kid who just built huge walls around his little island, and cussed up a storm whenever we attacked and broke through.

a resounding "hell yes!" to having 2 days until my last exam, which is "Introduction to Film."

This sounds like the Hotseat games of Worms 2 and Worms: Armageddon when I was in school. I actually had to import the british version of W:A because would coudn't wait for it to be released here.