C3C--should I buy it to prep for Civ4

[inca911]

Been busy for quite a while. Saw that Civ4 is on the way and I'm wondering:

Should I buy C3C for educational value in prep of Civ4?

What say you?

[joncnunn]

Well, I can't really say what the educational value of C3C would be for Civ IV (assuming you've played Civ III vanilla)

But Civ III Conquests is certinatly enjoyable in its own right.
(Includes the PTW expansion and therefore has the buildings and civs added from PTW. In addition it has the two new traights, and a total of 31 civs adviable for the epic game, and 9 conquests.)

[1889]

Don't bother now. Instead get everything else in your life finished up so you can really concentrate on Civ4 when it comes out.

I think most human opponents will hold off starting new C3C games at this point anyway, but numerous Civ4 games will start up a day or two before release even. Everyone will be learning the new game at the same time.

[Vince278]

Don't bother.

[Willem]

Re: C3C--should I buy it to prep for Civ4

Originally posted by inca911
Been busy for quite a while. Saw that Civ4 is on the way and I'm wondering:

Should I buy C3C for educational value in prep of Civ4?

What say you?

Civ 4 is going to be very different than Conquests judging by what I've been reading. So it would be rather pointless to get it for that reason.

[Barinthus]

Originally posted by 1889
Don't bother now. Instead get everything else in your life finished up so you can really concentrate on Civ4 when it comes out.

I think most human opponents will hold off starting new C3C games at this point anyway, but numerous Civ4 games will start up a day or two before release even. Everyone will be learning the new game at the same time.

Agreed

[Jerh9e1k5]

SMAC

If you want to find a game that will help educate you towards civ4 I would buy Sid Meirs Alpha Centauri (SMAC).
From what I've heard Civ4's gameplay seems to be very similar to SMAC with one or two more features (like culture and better graphics).
Last time I saw SMAC was $14 Canadian and that was about 4 years ago
Personally I would not get a game to educate myself about another game, I don't really see the point. Educating oneself about it makes it sound like a chore, I'd suggest simply playing the game when it comes out, and thoroughly enjoying all of the "new" features.

BTW I haven't seen anyone mention this before but do you guys agree with me when I say SMAC and Civ4 seem VERY similar?

SMAC + Culture + Graphics = Civ4

PS. I liked SMAC a lot, the only problem I had with it was that the colours of the game were too dark so staring at the screen for more than an hour was very straining on my eyes. So I am actually quite pleased that Civ4 is a lot like SMAC

[Kc7mxo]

yeah. never could stand the smac colorscheme. way too red. it had a lot of good ideas implemented well in it though.

[spartak]

Re: SMAC

Originally posted by Jerh9e1k5
PS. I liked SMAC a lot, the only problem I had with it was that the colours of the game were too dark so staring at the screen for more than an hour was very straining on my eyes. So I am actually quite pleased that Civ4 is a lot like SMAC

You did know you could turn up the brightness or mod the colours?

[Datajack Franit]

Save the money

[Addled Platypus]

do you have any history with the prior civ games ?

if not, do not bother...enjoy it without any biases

[hexagonian]

Or you can do this...

[ElConejo]

The thing is, from what I have heard at least, Civ4 will be in many ways very different from CivIII. In general I foresee that even veteran Civ3 players will have to learn the entire game again with Civ4. This means that even if you were to buy Civ3, you would not be able to "prep" for civ4 properlly with it. I say just read up as much as you can on Civ4 (as far as rules and settings go) as your prepretory warmup.

(however I will never say DONT to the question of buying a civ game )