Civ2 Birthday

[Verrucosus]

Although I'm quite busy exploring Civ4 at the moment, it's pleasant to visit these forums and see people still enjoying this ten-year-old game as much as I do. While watching the succession game unfold in the other thread, a strange question came up in my head that I couldn't find an answer to: Civ2 was released in 1996. Is there an exact release date that could be considered as Civ2's official birthday?

[Straybow]

I dunno, I got mine at Christmas.

[Verrucosus]

I found some information on gamefaqs.com. According to the entry there, the US release date was February 29th, 1996. Poor Civ2 ... only gets a proper birthday party every four years.

[Elephant]

I was going to celebrate October 8th, but now that you mention it I realize that date comes from a patched version, not the original release.

[Scouse Gits]

Originally posted by Verrucosus
I found some information on gamefaqs.com. According to the entry there, the US release date was February 29th, 1996. Poor Civ2 ... only gets a proper birthday party every four years.

A flash of (possibly substance enhanced) revelation!

Was the release date a hidden clue to the oedo cycle?

Is this the Holy Grail?

Stu

[Bloody Monk]

Wow, Stu, that's breathtakingly brilliant. Even if it is not 'actual' truth, it sounds too good to ignore. Good catch!!

(Whatever it was I want some of that.)

Monk

[DarkCloud]

Was the release date a hidden clue to the oedo cycle?

More like a clue to whenever we'd get the next Civ Game...

Civ I- 1992
Civ II- 1996
Civ III- 2000?/1?
Civ IV- 2004?/5?

Every four years... scary!

[Straybow]

That means they missed the oedo cycle for Civ3 and stayed in anarchy until they built the Statue of MP Liberty. But now as long as they didn't lose the MP WoW they'll not be stuck in anarchy.

[Addled Platypus]

at 2012

it will be the Golden Age of Civ

[Verrucosus]

My tea wasn't strong enough to make me see the importance of the date.

Now that I've started to think about it I see oedo cycles everywhere. For example, I have realised that my computer upgrades have followed the Civ2 oedo cycle (1991 ... 1995 ... 1999 ... 2003 ...).

It really helps to have a well-researched formula as a sound basis for important decisions. Maybe American members of this forum should push for a constitutional amendment to have future presidential elections only in oedo years (though I must say the non-oedo 2000 election was fun to watch from abroad).

[Elephant]

Come to think of it, the World Cup is on an Oedo cycle too...

[DarkCloud]

-Aren't the american presidential elections already on oedo year cycles? Every four years, that is?

[Verrucosus]

In that sense they are. What I meant was that the elections are not held in the real Civ2 Oedo years. I haven't played in a while but according to the list included in solo's Early Landing Guide, the last real Oedo year (for Deity) was 2003 and the next one will be 2007.

However, having just read up on this, I saw this comment:
"Remember that the worst time to declare a revolution is during an Oedo year. It's the turn before that you want to do this, so that the following Oedo year can be used to make the switch in governments."
With this in mind, I have to modify my original proposal to have the presidential inaugurations in Oedo years and the elections in the years prior to those. I've heard that the amendment thingie is awfully complicated, so maybe the American Oedo League should not push for an early election this year, but rather postpone the next one until 2010. (If you were to do it this way, the current administration would certainly be on board.)

Just for the sake of completeness, my books tell me that the only Oedo inauguration ever was the irregular one of Lyndon Johnson in 1963, but every second election between 1796 (Thomas Jefferson) and 1844 (one James Polk; forgive me, but I'm not an American) was an Oedo election.

Civ2 may not teach you history, but certainly gives you a fresh perspective. I'm sure history exams would be much more fun with a few Civ-oriented questions.

[Straybow]

Well, yes, but Sid isn't a mere Deity...