When I get Civ4, the first thing I'll do is...

[Brutus66]

First thing I would do is download a hacked no-cd exe so I don't have to worry about putting the disk in every time I play in the future...

[yin26]

Or give Alcohol 120% a try (no need to wait for a crack). You own the disk. Make a perfect image and mount it -- also means no need to worry if a patch comes out and having to find a new crack.

This is a good point I failed to mention! O.K. 1) Read manual 2) Image the disk 3) Clean the monitor. This thread did ask for the first 3 things you'd do, right?

[Tassadar500]

Originally posted by yin26
First, I don't plan to announce I have the game for some time. I want to put together a serious review for the people waiting to buy the game and/or waiting for the game to be released in their part of the world.

So to do a good review, I'll first read the manual very carefully. I don't want to be for or against something in my review if I misunderstand how it actually works. Obviously a good manual will help this process.

Next step will be to get the Windex glass cleaner and get my 22" monitor looking absolutely flawless.

I'll then adjust any lighting in the room to avoid any glare on the screen.

I'll start my typical crazy testing setup: Super small map, lots of resources, mostly land, and as many civs as possible (all aggressive so as to not get any resource feeder civ on my side). The goal here is to get to as many of the game elements as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. I want to bang out a string of games within a few days.

Throughout the process, I'll have a Word document in the background, to which I'll drop to keep notes, screenshots, etc.

Hopefully having found some of the game's best and worst elements, I'll expand the map size to see if that changes much. If there are no show stoppers, this is when I'll finally start simply to play the game for pleasure and can begin to think about a proper review based on solid experience.

This makes you sound kind of pretentious.

[yin26]

Lord Nuclear: Where to start...

EDIT: A few people have asked me specifically for a review, if that's what you mean. I take the opportunity seriously. As for the rest of it, nothing pretentious there, right?

[abj9562]

I'll give up sex for 3 days while I play. Well maybe just 2.

[Ninot]

So does this mean you plan to purchase a copy Yin?

[Alex]

I'll take a look at the manual while the game installs, and then I'll start my first game (with Greece, to honor an old tradition of mine) and I'll explore what the game has to offer. I hope it is going to be a looong night...

[Alex]

Originally posted by Ninot
So does this mean you plan to purchase a copy Yin?

Nah, Markos will send him one because we all hope to see pictures of Yin eating the box.

Unless, of course, ICS is still alive and kicking...

[yin26]

Ninot: Well, if an interested party sends me a copy to review (which I think has some chance of happening), I'll do so immediately. Otherwise I'd rather not get a copy right away without reading some solid reviews on Poly first. Hey, will do you any Day 1 review stuff?

[Ninot]

like i posted earlier, depends on if i can get home and install it on day 1

i'll post a review as soon as i play enough of it tho, as long as thats not like a month later.

[Tassadar500]

Originally posted by yin26
Lord Nuclear: Where to start...

EDIT: A few people have asked me specifically for a review, if that's what you mean. I take the opportunity seriously. As for the rest of it, nothing pretentious there, right?

Oh, I wasn't aware people had ask you to right a review for the game.

I think that if you do want to write a good review though, you should probably delay it a bit more, so you can play the different types of games and scenarios, and even Multiplayer. You can't rate the game only based on a small map with many civs.

[yin26]

You can't rate the game only based on a small map with many civs.

Hopefully having found some of the game's best and worst elements, I'll expand the map size to see if that changes much. If there are no show stoppers, this is when I'll finally start simply to play the game for pleasure and can begin to think about a proper review based on solid experience.

(regarding small maps, lots of civs, etc.) What I'm testing there specifically is AI aggressiveness and diplomacy. Abundant resources and land map helps this. And, frankly, if the war aspect of the game is flawed, then I'll be quite worried (I don't want Civ to be all about war, but the war aspect needs to be handled well). More generally just to finish a few games as a tutorial. Only if I find something really broken here will I walk away with a conclusion about much. From there, larger maps to get more nuance, test peace-time strategy, etc.

[hexagonian]

Load up game.
Mod out infinite rails (if possible).
Copy music to Jukebox and add to my gamemix list.
Play.
Screw up.

[Solver]

Load up game.
Mod out infinite rails (if possible).

[Patroklos]

Cry.