2K Games Announces Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords.

[Alexander I]

Originally posted by Generaldoktor

We probably should go back to talking about Warlords.

You're right of course.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Alexander01


Yes, I understand that Island is Iceland. Neverthless, the flag Zoid is displaying is not the flag of Sweden.

How did the Swedish flag get into the discussion? I mistakenly thought it was Islands flag since I didnt take note of the yellow. Mea culpa. Nikolai is correct though as to my meaning, Islandic is closest to the old Norsk (hmmm, maybe the 'Faroese' is pretty close too - I dunno about that one).

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Generaldoktor


We probably should go back to talking about Warlords.

Instead, lets wait for the game to come out then tear it to pieces as each flaw is discovered. Now thats fun

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Generaldoktor


We probably should go back to talking about Warlords.

No! Let´s talk more about me!

[Zoid]

Originally posted by SpencerH


How did the Swedish flag get into the discussion? I mistakenly thought it was Islands flag since I didnt take note of the yellow. Mea culpa. Nikolai is correct though as to my meaning, Islandic is closest to the old Norsk (hmmm, maybe the 'Faroese' is pretty close too - I dunno about that one).

Faroese is actually more of a Danish dialect. Icelandic is the language that most resembles the Old Norse that was spoken in all of Scandinavia in the Viking Age...

[padillah]

Umm, Solver? You gonna loack this any time soon?

I think it's proven to have out lived it's usefulness.

Tom P.

[Alexander I]

You know, in all of this E3 stuff, how much have we actually learned about Warlords that we didn't already know?

[Generaldoktor]

Originally posted by SpencerH


Instead, lets wait for the game to come out then tear it to pieces as each flaw is discovered. Now thats fun

I was a big game-ripper when this thing came out, but I wanted to find out (through these forums) if it was just me or the world. . Come to find out it was a significant lot of the world.

My monitor has been cutting out for two weeks, evidently from eight months stress from Civ4; it just did now while I was typing this. Of course I do that "one more turn" thing too much. Interesting you say in your bottom quotes, Spencer, your kicking a-s with a Radeon 9800; I have a Radeon 9700 and have had nothing but pain. You mean I was only one model type from bliss?

BTW, the game plays better in v.161, except either my monitor or my vid card is now shot. The actual game play is interesting, if different, from Civ3. Call me slow but I still haven't mastered it at Noble. I really do hope things will continue to improve. from a technical standpoint, with "Warlords," but still don't know why we couldn't have had it better from the first. I really had very few problems with Civ3.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Generaldoktor

I was a big game-ripper when this thing came out, but I wanted to find out (through these forums) if it was just me or the world. . Come to find out it was a significant lot of the world.

I wouldnt say that. A lot of people like to complain about or discuss what they view as problems but I suspect that most (like me) think CIV4 is the best version of the game game version since CIV (I).

My monitor has been cutting out for two weeks, evidently from eight months stress from Civ4; it just did now while I was typing this. Of course I do that "one more turn" thing too much. Interesting you say in your bottom quotes, Spencer, your kicking a-s with a Radeon 9800; I have a Radeon 9700 and have had nothing but pain. You mean I was only one model type from bliss?

The video card problems are a ***** but I haven't followed the discussion for so long now that I dont think I can add much except that it seemed very strange to me that for every person who had a problem (and I sympathize with y'all) there was another with the same card who had none. That 'fact' and the range of solutions that worked for some but not others suggested to me that the problem was not so much CIV4 but the complexity of the OS's that people are using today. All I can say is that I installed CIV4 using a 9800 with old drivers and I have had no problems with any build of the game that I've played (and I've played a whole bunch ). My personal opinion (and I have no facts to back it up) is that it's a conflict between CIV4, the OS, and the crap programs that people have running in the background. My system is simple, I dont even allow anti-virus to constantly run.

BTW, the only thing that I know screws up my 9800 is overheating so I use an open case and a house fan to cool it.

BTW, the game plays better in v.161, except either my monitor or my vid card is now shot.

I cant see how playing CIV4 would wreck your VC or monitor.

The actual game play is interesting, if different, from Civ3. Call me slow but I still haven't mastered it at Noble.

The reason I've stopped playing is that I found that the only way I could beat the game at 'Noble' and above was to warmonger from the start and steamroll the opposition. If I did that, the game was easy. If I played CIV4 as I did all previous incarnations (builder) it was a toss-up. Despite the long awaited improvements in the combat aspect of CIV4, I still find it to be too simplistic for my tastes. That is especially a problem now that warfare seems more important for victory (for me anyway). I look forward to more complex combat in future incarnations but I dont think that 'warlords' will be quite what I'm looking for.

I really do hope things will continue to improve. from a technical standpoint, with "Warlords," but still don't know why we couldn't have had it better from the first. I really had very few problems with Civ3.

I guess you played a fairly refined (later) version then. There were lots and lots of game ending bugs with CIV3 and PTW that were eventually corrected (although AFAIK some were re-introduced with 'The Conquerors' which I didnt play).

[Generaldoktor]

Well, this isn't a technical thread either, so I guess we shouldn't haggle this all day. I am running a lot of background programs; several different virus/spyware programs (some came in packages with other things; one is left over from when I got a better one and I left it in cuz I think it catches things the other ones don't.) I have one comprehensive program called "System Mechanic", that I 've had pretty good luck with over several versions, over the years, but it meddles in many OS routines and appears completely incompatible with Civ4; right now one of its main functions is on the blink and C4 itself is slowing down again as I mush through the latter half of my first v.161 game after initially good results. When the map is totally revealed appears to be the crunch point. I have a lot of multimedia programs installed too (Windows Media, FlashPlayer, RealPlayer, QuickTime, a vidcam program, two Internet music services, three basic photo-edit programs, these two last because I haven't settled on one; News [group] Rover and a multi-function printer/scanner/fax.) You may well be right that me and others encourage compatibility issues. (Wouldn't it be great to be able to afford one dedicated, state-of-art PC just for games? )

My Norton anti-virus informed me today it needs reinstall. I have never before had problems with this program, even in the presence of a virus, which I don't think I've had in about three years.

All this with a P4, 512 mb RDRAM and the ATI Radeon 9700, which at some point was considered a pretty good card. (I have no audio/startup problems, at least after the last couple patches.) I've haggled this over on the technical threads with some people, most of whom think I should buy and install a new video card; and its really not worth picking over again here.

Regarding C3, I've heard the horror stories, but somehow they never affected me. I bought it when it first came out, added PTW and played that with no problems until "Conquests" came out; and everything smooth all through, even after downloading major variants "RAR" and "Ancient Med." Go figure.

Let me just repeat what I said earlier. From a technical standpoint, I hope "Warlords" and subsequent patches continue to improve the game.

[Solver]

This technical aspect of games continues to surprise me. Specifically I keep getting surprised by the fact that I run almost all games without any technical problems. I don't have issues with getting games to run, don't experience abnormally low performance or any other technical problems. I don't have many crashes, either.

For Civ4 specifically, I have never had a crash with any of the official versions. My performance has always been fine, no movie problems or such, and starting with the second patch, performance is downright great.

I have no idea why I'm this lucky. I don't have a "simple" system, I have all sorts of tweaks or non-standard stuff on my computer, so I would be less surprised if I did have trouble! At that, I havent even been bothered for quite a while to sort out my Windows installation, clean it up completely, give it a bath, whatever it needs.

And no, I don't even have a top-of-the-line PC. I'm actually sitting on an outdated video card and an outdated CPU now and need an upgrade.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Generaldoktor

Regarding C3, I've heard the horror stories, but somehow they never affected me. I bought it when it first came out, added PTW and played that with no problems until "Conquests" came out; and everything smooth all through, even after downloading major variants "RAR" and "Ancient Med." Go figure.

Hmmm, off the top of my head:
the fighter bug (ie they didnt work at all),
the units32 problem (unit mod-ers had this one --- firaxis kept it a secret until we figured out what was wrong but then fixed it a little in the next patch).
From PtW the "drigate crash" that I could make a work-around for
some type of diplomacy bug crash (I forget the details) that we couldnt work-around and that caused us to give up our PBEM after about 5 months of daily world-wide play (both of those were fixed I think).

[padillah]

Oh, what was the big one right at the beginning that made them release the first patch like a week after the game came out?

I can't remember it right now, but I know it was bad enough to demand a patch immediately.

Tom P.

[sabrewolf]

that was civ3 vanilla
1.06 in about a week, 1.07 maybe 1-2 weeks later

[SpencerH]

The big one was the fighter bug (fighters didnt defend the cities they were in).