Civilisation choice for beginner

[paquitisimo]

I have a few really really beginners' questions.

1. When playing several civilizations at once in a hotseat game, I find it impossible to agree to anything (not even open borders) with the other civs I am myself. Screen says "will not accept" every time. Sometimes comes back a turn later with "will accept", but NO open borders at all will result.
Is this an intentional limitation? Or is there something which I fail to do to make it work?

2. Playing the original Civ4, version 1.00 (which had been lying uninstalled on a shelf for years as I kept toying with civ2) I don't see all those civs you people talk about such as the Dutch, the Sumerians, the Egyptians with Ramesses (got only Hatshepshut), I wonder what patch do I need to get all that. And secondly, if I do install such patches, is it true that my old unfinished games become inaccessible?
Or should I simply buy a newer version and start all over?

Please help, somebody. Thnx.

[OzzyKP]

Bit of a BUMP here.

Ozzy compiled a very interesting list of most popular Civs/Traits in Diplo-Games.

What I would like to know is not just how many times people picked a particular Civ but how often that profited them. Obviously player ability will have a huge impact but for all the times FIN has been picked just how many times has a FIN Civ actually won?

In SP I know my favourite Civ/Leader is India/Gandhi followed by the inevitable Inca but I have always enjoyed greatest success with the Byzantines. I know this is MP but for early Civ development the rules remain the same.

Just off the top of my head, I've won two diplogames (once with India once with Arabia), Priest won the last one, and Toni won all the rest (and Deity winning most of the Civ2 games). So not a very diverse set of winners to pick from, in the final analysis player ability is probably the only relevant factor. But that a top player can win without having a FIN leader doesn't mean the trait is irrelevant.

[rah]

I have a few really really beginners' questions.

1. When playing several civilizations at once in a hotseat game, I find it impossible to agree to anything (not even open borders) with the other civs I am myself. Screen says "will not accept" every time. Sometimes comes back a turn later with "will accept", but NO open borders at all will result.
Is this an intentional limitation? Or is there something which I fail to do to make it work?

2. Playing the original Civ4, version 1.00 (which had been lying uninstalled on a shelf for years as I kept toying with civ2) I don't see all those civs you people talk about such as the Dutch, the Sumerians, the Egyptians with Ramesses (got only Hatshepshut), I wonder what patch do I need to get all that. And secondly, if I do install such patches, is it true that my old unfinished games become inaccessible?
Or should I simply buy a newer version and start all over?

Please help, somebody. Thnx.

1. never played hot seat so no help here for you.
2. Warlords added some civ and the BTS did also so you would need to buy bts, (you can skip buying warlords)
And you can't play your old games using BTS but you could still play them with the vanilla version. Since you'd only need to patch BTS.

[paquitisimo]

Thanks a lot, Rah, for your quick reply.

I guess I'll go out and buy BTS one of these days.
Will it be possible to have both versions installed on one computer, so that one can just change the DVD and play the other thing? I certainly hope so.

[rah]

Yes, I have all three on mine. And the nice thing is the lastest patch for BTS includes the no DISC hack. Of course I usually get mine from direct to drive so I don't have to worry about that.

[St Jon]

Just off the top of my head, I've won two diplogames (once with India once with Arabia), Priest won the last one, and Toni won all the rest (and Deity winning most of the Civ2 games). So not a very diverse set of winners to pick from, in the final analysis player ability is probably the only relevant factor. But that a top player can win without having a FIN leader doesn't mean the trait is irrelevant.

Much as I thought; MP does still reward better play than better Civ/Leader combinations. Blind luck cannot be ignored for the early turns, regardless of skill or Civ choice, but given an even playing field the best player should still win.

[Rasputin]

Much as I thought; MP does still reward better play than better Civ/Leader combinations. Blind luck cannot be ignored for the early turns, regardless of skill or Civ choice, but given an even playing field the best player should still win.

Perhaps the winner of any game should be forece to take a WEAKER civ in the next games jsut for fun.

I am sure people could agree a list of WEAKER civs to choose from

[St Jon]

Perhaps the winner of any game should be forece to take a WEAKER civ in the next games jsut for fun.

I am sure people could agree a list of WEAKER civs to choose from

Hard one to agree on as Vikings, your choice in BtP, are far from bad but just would be low on my list of choices. Likewise, Russia is popular with many but would be low on my 'pick list' whilst Zulu and France seem unpopular here but in SP I reckon them great.

[Korea (DoC)]

Hard one to agree on as Vikings, your choice in BtP, are far from bad but just would be low on my list of choices. Likewise, Russia is popular with many but would be low on my 'pick list' whilst Zulu and France seem unpopular here but in SP I reckon them great.

very true...


Perhaps put no restrictions on.

Why shoudl we hamper the best.