Expansion packs, are they any good?

[Alex]

So, after a long winter without civ, I decided to buy Civ V just to see what happened to my favourite game.

I still can't understand how they could take that piece of greatness that was Civ IV and turn it into this awkward mess. Not a bad game per se, but a very uninteresting and dumb game.

I started to read about the expansion packs and apparently they do fix some of the most glaring flaws. Is this the case or is Civ V still a game without soul, dragged down by a very inept AI?

I want to know so I can decide if I should spend my money on it or not.

[Aeson]

I bought the complete version a couple weeks ago and have enjoyed it. Not sure how it compares to the base game since I never played Civ 5 without the expansions. 1UPT is the biggest problem for me, but other than that it's enjoyable.

[self biased]

the expansions make the game playable and actually enjoyable. vanilla civ 5 is super boring because there's not really much to do.

[Alex]

Good to know. I may give a chance to the expansions then.

I think that Civ 5 has its heart in the right place, but the implementation could have been better. Concepts like 1UPT and cultural policies are interesting, even if badly implemented. I like how cities grow one tile at a time (and you can buy more tiles if you wish), I like how cities can defend themselves, I like how city-states shake the diplomacy game.

But the vanilla game seems to favor the warmonger more than the builder, and it seems that the expansion addresses this problem to a certain extent. Good.

[self biased]

social policies are better with the expansions because they aren't required for a cultural victory anymore, which gives one greater flexibility.

[Alex]

social policies are better with the expansions because they aren't required for a cultural victory anymore, which gives one greater flexibility.

Yeah, they changed cultural victory so that now it needs something called "tourism", right? I find the idea quite silly, but at least it is better in terms of gameplay.

[self biased]

it seems silly, but the idea was pretty well implemented.

[Dinner]

I got the first one and it was really only so-so but I've heard good things about the second one. Not good enough things to tempt me to buy it before it hits the bargain bin but still good things.

[Beatie]

I hate Civ5 (i own vanilla).

but the things i hate most are:
* 1UPT rule
* land units automatically turn in to ships when placed on water
* no way to really defend your units over sea for over sea warfare
* traffic jams on land
* huge army over long voyage on sea is boring without transport ships.
* No Corporations
* No Religions (in vanilla)
* One resource of something have very limited units.

and the whole game is booooooring in my eyes. So people speak up.. what are the nice things in those expansions packs? Are things get any better?
I does not buy them I think is a waste of money.

[self biased]

the expansions address most of the "the game's just boring" issues.

1upt and the derivative problems are just something that have to be gotten over, though more things to do over the course of the game ameliorates some of the problems.

Corporations were actually pretty poorly implemented in civ 4; i rarely used them in SP.

they've eased things up resource-wise, and now you're not hamstrung if you manage to not get any iron in the early game.

[Alex]

I hate Civ5 (i own vanilla).

but the things i hate most are:
* 1UPT rule
* land units automatically turn in to ships when placed on water
* no way to really defend your units over sea for over sea warfare
* traffic jams on land
* huge army over long voyage on sea is boring without transport ships.
* No Corporations
* No Religions (in vanilla)
* One resource of something have very limited units.

and the whole game is booooooring in my eyes. So people speak up.. what are the nice things in those expansions packs? Are things get any better?
I does not buy them I think is a waste of money.

Funny, I actually like some of the things you dislike in the game. I just think that most of them were badly implemented. 1UPT actually solves the problem of warfare based solely on stacks of doom. I hated having to build transports to move my units over water. And I actually like the fact that resources limit the units you can build, I think it ties in nicely with the 1UPT concept and the whole smaller armies idea.

But I cannot overlook the fact that 1UPT barely works on civ maps, creating traffic jams as you said.

The idea of religion as a sort of virus that no one can control was cool in Civ 4, but its weight on diplomacy was too big and could be easily exploited. I don't know how it works in 5, but I recently bought the expansions and I'll see it soon.

[Adagio]

I hate Civ5 (i own vanilla).

but the things i hate most are:
* 1UPT rule
* land units automatically turn in to ships when placed on water
* no way to really defend your units over sea for over sea warfare
* traffic jams on land
* huge army over long voyage on sea is boring without transport ships.
* No Corporations
* No Religions (in vanilla)
* One resource of something have very limited units.

Like Alex, I also like some of the mentioned "problems" you mentioned.

- 1UPT - While it does cause some problems, it is without doubt better than the stacks of doom. Maybe a solution like in Call to Power would have been better
- Land units to ships - I really like that.
- Defending units on sea - Is a bit better with the latest expansion pack
- Traffic jams on land - Agree, it can be a bit too much sometimes and unfortunately the AI is bad at it
- Huge armies on sea - Agree, can be a bit annoying transporting many units a long distance on sea*
- No corporations - Thank God, I really hated how it was implemented in Civ IV
- No religion - Was a bit annoying it wasn't in vanilla Civ V, but with the expansion pack they did implement it a lot better than in Civ IV
- Limited resources - I really like that, makes the game more interesting when fighting over land.

*Unfortunately this has not been an issue as pretty much all mapscripts doesn't give you interesting continents with lots of sea between them. It seems like in all mapscripts you can go everywhere with a simple tireme

One of the worst things in my opinion is the social policies. Once you pick it, it stays with you forever. What if I want to change my kingdom to democracy?

[Johansukipli]

no comment

[lourencohen]

That is better

[Jerieth]

There OK. Minor improvements, but nothing earth shattering.