Walkthrough by Sullla

[drekmonger]

(Well, there are twenty in the box. Fantasy Realm was held back for later release.)

Huh.

So what's this Fantasy Realm map script do?

[Stuie]

Man - this game just keeps looking better and better. Just when I think I've read everything about it, something new gets revealed. Really looking forward to this evening...

[The diplomat]

I like the fact that goody huts can give units experience points. But what struck me the most from reading the walkthrough is how with the death of ICS, the player really has more interesting strategies in the early game. It seems that players will have to carefully balance exploration, religion, military and expansion based on their gameplay style and starting location.

[Stuie]

Makes city placement way more important too - as far as grabbing resources and such goes.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

I agree with that, The Diplomat. What strikes me-as I have said in the CFC thread-is that not only does the ancient age SEEM much longer, but it also seems infinitely deeper. In Civ3, I really just spent the better part of 2000 years alternating between settlers, workers and military units-with the occasional switch to improvements and wonders as soon as I got the appropriate tech. Aside from that, all I really did was road, road, road-mine, mine, mine and farm, farm, farm. My point is that there was no real THOUGHT or depth to my decision making, just sort of autopilot. It wasn't until the early AD's-once you had progressed further into the tech tree and met a large number of neighbouring civs-that things started to get more interesting (though, I admit, the thrill of discovering the 'lay of the land' was good in Civ3).
Compare my Civ3 experience to that of Sullla's Civ4 walkthrough, where almost every turn he is faced with a major 'turning point' strategic decision (and sometimes more than one)-and very few turns pass by without something interesting happening. Add to this the fact that exploration is even MORE interesting (what with barbarians, wild animals AND a minimap which only tells you about the part of the world you know about !) and you have an ancient age which you actually WANT to drag out for a long time ! I am also intrigued by the impacts which the early diplomacy system has on your gameplay (e.g. no 'tech whoring' from the get-go). It also just makes me drool as to how fantastic the Middle and Renaissance ages will be, as naval technologies become available, new continents are discovered and diplomacy/relations become more complex and involved!!!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[Verenti]

Sulla updated for today, If anyone didn't notice.

[conmcb25]

I did and Im pretty impressed with this preview.

Why wont EB Games open already!

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by Solver
Windowed mode indeed .

i love windowed mode and hate locked screen games (like doom3) where you cannot Alt-Tab and elsewise multitask.

but the problem tends to be the mouse shooting out of the screen and thereby either losing the scroll-direction or having the scrolling locked and rotating endlessly (stupid, when your mouse cannot exit the game window without setting the whole earth moving.
also, sometimes it the grace area around for scrolling is only a few pixels which is easy to hit with boundaries but tough in windowed mode.

so my question: how is this in civ4's windowed mode?

[Tventano]

A very important change is that no tech trading is posisble yet in early game. Thus you have to actually research that early techs, instead of trading them with others and making a profit of being the tech broker.

[sabrewolf]

i'm sorry if i sound a little too critical here. but from what i see in sulla's walkthrough, early religion is an absolute must!
that +5 culture boost for those ultra-early religions (buddism, hinduism), the earning money very early on, the additional line of sight, the ease of creating a shrine which gives yet more money, and and and...

and if i read correctly, getting these religions seems virtually impossible if you don't start with mysticism, which nearly makes it impossible without the spiritual trait.

now sure, on a largish map divine right and code of laws will come soon enough not to already be under control of another religion. but on small to medium maps it seems to me that one of the 2-3 early faiths is a must.

please - to all who have played the game - convince me that you are not shafted if you miss out on them and that the head start can be caught up easily... especially if you are not spiritual.
please confirm that spiritualism isn't civ4's version of civ3's industrial and C3C's agricultural hyper-trait. pretty please

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by Tventano
A very important change is that no tech trading is posisble yet in early game. Thus you have to actually research that early techs, instead of trading them with others and making a profit of being the tech broker.

i had once requested that in civ3. trading maps and contacts had a tech requirement there, but tech trading not. nice to hear my requests were heard (although i assume it was independent )


btw, these early meetings are quite eventless:
peter: hey vickie, whazzup?
victoria: oy pete, not much.. and with you?
peter: having a beer, watching TV...
victoria: ok, catch you later

[LDiCesare]

Sabrewolf, your concern looks legit, but since it's a walkthrough he's only talking about the traits he chose. I wonder what the other traits are worth. For instance does the extra promotion do wonders? I'd like to hear more about this too indeed.

[DeepO]

please - to all who have played the game - convince me that you are not shafted if you miss out on them and that the head start can be caught up easily... especially if you are not spiritual.

This one's easy... if you do not want to go for religions, you have all the time in the world to go the military techs, and conquer a holy city. Nobody said you needed to discover a religion, you only need control of the holy city to get the money.

And the cultural bonusses apply to your state religion, not to those you discovered yourself first.

DeepO

[DeepO]

Originally posted by sabrewolf

btw, these early meetings are quite eventless:
peter: hey vickie, whazzup?
victoria: oy pete, not much.. and with you?
peter: having a beer, watching TV...
victoria: ok, catch you later

Try starting at Monarch

DeepO

[Arrian]

i'm sorry if i sound a little too critical here. but from what i see in sulla's walkthrough, early religion is an absolute must!
that +5 culture boost for those ultra-early religions (buddism, hinduism), the earning money very early on, the additional line of sight, the ease of creating a shrine which gives yet more money, and and and...

Imagine one of the AIs had rushed him, though! Sullla went with a very peaceful opening strategy. He could have gone for a rush route and laid a beatdown on one of his neighbors. I'm pretty sure their are other viable opening strategies, too (my beta testing was quite limited).

-Arrian