Civ IV or not Civ IV, that is the question

[DaveV]

My two cents: I'm running the demo on two under-spec systems: my laptop (512 MB of system RAM, 32 MB of video RAM), and my home computer (384 MB of system RAM, 128 MB of video RAM). I don't notice any slowdown on either system, but the demo is restricted to small map size and 100 turns. My impression is that memory demand goes up with map size, and you need a bunch of RAM to run the large map sizes, especially in the late game.

My initial reaction to the game: I like it. Firaxis did a very smart thing in recruiting a bunch of the best Civ 3 players as beta testers, and they spent a lot of time addressing balance issues and plugging holes. They made a real effort to produce a game where there are a lot of choices, each of which is potentially equally beneficial. But, then, I liked Civ 3 for a while, before I lost interest in it...

[rjmatsleepers]

I've run the demo and enjoyed it. I find the interface confusing (but that's probably me being an old fogey). I assume that as well as reducing the functionality, the demo was an early version. One of the civics options required future technology - I'm guessing that's not in the game as shipped. I spend a lot of time swimming in treacle - but I did that in my initial games with Civ II as well. Overall, I'm very impressed.

However, I'm a bit taken aback by the game spec. I'd like to play on a lap-top, but it's way beyond my current machine. Even the PC World ad in my Sunday paper did not have a lap-top above 1.6GHz. Perhaps I'll wait until the price of the game comes down a bit and the performance of cheap lap-tops goes up a bit.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Orky]

Some of the civics in the demo require Future Tech, because the demo doesn't include the techs those civics require. It's got nothing to do with being an early version -- I suspect the demo is based on Civ IV 1.0 or maybe even 1.09 (It was released at around the same time as the patch, wasn't it?) -- it's just a side-effect of the tech tree being cut off at Divine Right.

---

As for processor power, don't worry about that too much. The demo runs fine on my 1GHz Pentium III, and if you buy a laptop with 1.6GHz, make sure you get a Pentium M instead of a Pentium IV, because the Pentium M will (1) consume much less power, and (2) probably be significantly faster than a Pentium IV of the same clock speed. AMD CPUs are okay too, I guess, but I don't really know.

So, don't worry too much about processor speed, unless you're really worried about waiting a few more seconds between turns. Worry about having enough memory, and a decent graphics chip. It runs fine on my nVidia FX5200 card, and ATi users seem to have problems, so try and get a laptop with a GeForce2Go chipset in it. You will need at least 512MiB RAM -- and watch out, some systems have the graphics chip eat from that instead of having their own dedicated memory -- but judging from the complaints from people, I'd really try to get at least 1GiB of RAM, maybe more, if you can afford it (really -- the more memory, the smoother the system will run, not just with Civ IV). I have 512MiB in my system, and once I get the game (it's on its way...) I won't even try playing maps larger than Normal size.

So, to summarize:

1. Don't worry too much about clock speed


2. Try to get at least an nVidia GeForce FX5200 or similar mobile chipset. ATi might be okay too, I don't know.


3. Splurge on RAM. Eat ramen and mac'n'cheese for a couple of months if necessary.


4. It's all about the memory.

[rjmatsleepers]

Thanks for the comments, Orky. I feel a bit guilty about buying a new lap top simply to play a game, but I keep telling myself that my current one is quite old and very under powered.

There are still things about the demo game that I find confusing. I can't seem to spend money on rush building. It seems to require universal sufrage to do this. Also I can't seem to use existing part built units or city improvements if I switch. They just get stored for when I return to them. On the otherhand, at least I get some money when another civ completes the wonder I'm building!

RJM at Sleeper's

[DaveV]

Originally posted by rjmatsleepers
There are still things about the demo game that I find confusing. I can't seem to spend money on rush building. It seems to require universal sufrage to do this. Also I can't seem to use existing part built units or city improvements if I switch. They just get stored for when I return to them.

Yep, that's exactly how it works: an attempt to get rid of incremental rushbuilding. You can adopt Slavery after you discover Bronze Working and reduce your city's population in exchange for shields; you can also chop down forests and get some shields in the nearest city.

Originally posted by rjmatsleepers
I feel a bit guilty about buying a new lap top simply to play a game, but I keep telling myself that my current one is quite old and very under powered.

Just make sure your new laptop has a real graphics chip (ATI or Nvidia) instead of the Intel integrated graphics. There has *much* wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Civ4 help forums about the the game not running on the Intel graphics, which seem to be universally used in lower-priced systems.

[solo]

RJM,

Democracy is needed for Universal Suffrage, but if you want it earlier in the game build the Pyramids, which allow any Government Civic.

[Elephant]

Originally posted by DaveV

Just make sure your new laptop has a real graphics chip (ATI or Nvidia) instead of the Intel integrated graphics. There has *much* wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Civ4 help forums about the the game not running on the Intel graphics, which seem to be universally used in lower-priced systems.

Sigh. That's what my best machine has... Well, maybe I'm down to a $50 game forcing me to buy a $100 video card and $50 of memory. Still not my ideal world...

[rjmatsleepers]

Thanks for the comments guys. I've just sent an e-mail to that nice Mr Christmas telling him what a good boy I've been and asking him to find a little more room in his sack next month.

RJM at Sleeper's

[DaveV]

Originally posted by Elephant
Sigh. That's what my best machine has... Well, maybe I'm down to a $50 game forcing me to buy a $100 video card and $50 of memory. Still not my ideal world...

First, make sure that you have an expansion slot available for a video card. My home system came with the integrated graphics (I'm a cheapskate), and didn't have an AGP slot for that flavor of graphics card. I bought a PCI graphics card for about $30, and it's working fine for the demo. My system is pretty underpowered anyway (1.8MHz Celeron), so I couldn't see putting a top-of-the line video card into it. I did pay about $5 extra to get 128MB of video RAM instead of 64MB.

[Elephant]

Got the AGP slot, can't tell whether its 2x or 4x (time for some research). Also need to check how many free memory slots I've got. I think there may be a max of 512MB. The Intel chipset version should tell all.