Civ 3 what is this the beta version?!

[Tlogmer]

Re: Well,

Originally posted by Slunko
The UI has more pitfalls than the slowness however, many things seems to only be accessible via hotkeys (I like it that way actually, dunno about Joe User)

Er -- have you tried using the buttons at the bottom of the screen?

And just to spout my $0.02, since I'm posting anyway: I haven't had any gameplay issues or crashes (well, one), but I'm in full annoyedness about the random starting locations and disappointment about things like the diplomacy screen.

[MustPost]

Yeah the only bug I kinda noticed is that the game freezes my computer (total crash- not recoverable) before I even get to see the starting movie.

I have a problem like this. The movie starts and then crashes about when it says either infogames or firaxis. It is recoverable, but civ3 woun't start anymore.

Solution: hit escape quickly when the game starts, their probobly is way to auto-skip the opening movie also. Maybe by editing the .ini file.

[MustPost]

Yeah the only bug I kinda noticed is that the game freezes my computer (total crash- not recoverable) before I even get to see the starting movie.

I have a problem like this. The movie starts and then crashes about when it says either infogames or firaxis. It is recoverable, but civ3 woun't start anymore.

Solution: hit escape quickly when the game starts, their probobly is way to auto-skip the opening movie also. Maybe by editing the .ini file.

[Gandalf The Grey]

Whoa! I had no idea so many ppl were having so many more problems than me! I suppose i'm lucky to have been able to play it at all...Technically the only problems i see is the off center texts and a few other minor problems. My main gripes are with a lot of the layout and interface choices they made. The game is simply a pain in the arse to navigate through. The screens load slow (even with all sound, animation and music off). I really don't like how they've made the advisors so important in this game, everything you need to do is done through some silly advisor and it takes forever to load, give me the days when i could switch between screens instantly and everything was do-able from a pull down window!!! The biggest mistake they've made though has to be the descion to allow "govenors" to decide what to build for you. Why is it mandirory?! If I tell them to make a tank I want tanks! Not a tank then a temple or some other garbage, this is almost like a sim-civ type game. I know you can tell the govoners to make almost anything but it is tedious and boring and that is the last thing this game needs. All in all the game doesn't look finished, game mechanics and concepts aside, the game is almost unplayable. Today i found myself unable to play more than 5 minutes untill i got bored with all the screen lag and ugly menus and layouts. For me to play this game there are going to have to be a hell of a lot of changes, and i'm not talking about stuff that can be covered in some 2mb patch either and i seriously hope firaxis will take the time and listen to the public this time. I always though sid meier was the best game designer in the industry...but now i'm not so sure, I hope he is able to restore my (and many others) cofidence in him and his company.

[dsteckel]

You know, I can't help but wonder if their testers were simply too cowed to say anything about the bugs and awkward UI since the testing was kept in-house. The game has not been out a week, and so many people are posting bugs and annoyances to this forum, and their testers *had* to have experienced the same thing as we have.

I find it hard to believe that their testers didn't discover that the fortresses didn't work as advertised, or that "air superiority" missions didn't work, or that the governors were a pain and didn't pay any heed to the user's preferences. I can't help but feel that they either were too afraid of taking a stand to get these things fixed, or that they were just ignored in order to meet the release date.

At the *least*, letting a few beta testers outside the company under NDA might have caught some of the hardware/graphics issues. At best, they would have raised hell and forced some corrections to be documented if not corrected.

The more I play this game, the more I *want* to love it! I am really impressed at some of the new features they've added to make this still feel like good ol' Civ yet be different and challenging in new ways. However, the awkward UI and the painfully obvious bugs they've left in are like a wet blanket.

Dar Steckelberg

[Friday]

Feels like a beta version to me too. Couple game play issues, music is awful, no wonder videos, and it comes out all warped on win2k.

They should have released it next year.

[Fidel]

Re: Well,

Originally posted by Slunko
Tired of micromanagement I later switch some of my workers to Automatic mode. Bad thing to do, in two turns they've managed to destroy 5 irrigrated tiles and begun building mines. There were equally good uninproved tiles to mine, but they had to choose the already irrigrated tiles. Later games confirm that this is always their behavior. I turn the automatic feature back off and start controlling them manually again. (The manual labor this implies in empires with 20+ workers is great fun!) Meanwhile the AI's are busy producing excessive military units whose sole purpose is to walk in and out of my nations borders, excusing themselves once in a while, when

consulting your manual might enlighten you highness so as to notice that there is a command for settlers NOT to destroy previuos improvements while automated.