Why is Civ II so liked?

[Cheese]

I just purchased Civ II Gold and have not played Civ in any flavor as of yet. I've come from a Warlords/AoE world and just can't seem to get into Civ II though it seems that everyone else in the world can. Maybe answers to a few questions can help me out...

I am finding it to be very slow going, especially early in the game. Any Barbarians I encounter seem to move more or less randomly (go over the same squares over and over ) around the map and will occasionally pester me. Is this normal?

I find that AI players just tend to move randomly around my territories as well. I don't get the impression they are mapping or planning an attack. Just random movements. Is this normal?

I find that progressing through techs is confusing. I feel like I am researching things somewhat aimlessly, and the interface doesn't clearly tell me the game value of Fuedalism, though it tells me historically why it was important. Am I messing something up here?

I'm playing on King level and find it pretty easy to be ranked as the top cities. I find that I can create wonders faster than my opponents. I've just started playing this title and am surprised that I find it this easy? Is it that I will be challenged later in the game?

The graphics are very dated. Has anyone tried the graphics patch I've seen here? Is it worth it?

I know I am a newbie, and I really want to like the game, but I find that I spend an hour working on it and I'm not even remotely challenged.

Am I nuts? (Ok, I opened the door there..)

Cheese

[Steve Clark]

You have raised some good questions and I hope others can provide their opinions. For now, I can only make these comments. For gamers that have been playing the latest generations of RTS games (AoE, Warcraft, etc.), as well as console games, TBS (turn-based) games like Civ2 would seem anachronistic. Civ2 came out in 1996(?) and it was an enhancement of Civ1 which was developed in 1992(?). Many of us here come from playing strategy and war games since the 1980s, which had all been TBS or some variation of that. I, for one, never played console games (I hate them) so I view RTS as nothing more than a video game that gets boring after a while. So I think a quick answer lies in what type of games have you grown up with or what types are you used to.

[Smash]

Keep playing to the end.There is along way to go and much to discover.

Too easy,bump up the difficulty level.

Still too easy?Try winning only ever having 1 city.

Still?-try the scenario Red Front.

Try MP.First few games will be humbling.
[This message has been edited by Smash (edited June 13, 2000).]

[Ming]

Yeah... beating the computer is no problem.
Try winning against humans. Give it a try and report back to us how easy the game is

[Andz83]

Great Ming has spoken.

Grr. One time he banned me, be careful with him, Cheese! He feels insulted easily, and the consequences for you can be terrible.

[Ming]

"He feels insulted easily"? HA HA HA HA!

If that was the case, half the people at Apolyton would be banned

But seriously... until they produce a smarter AI for the game, the only real competition can be found by playing people who understand the game. It has raised my appreciation of this fine old game to new levels!

[Thue]

quote: Originally posted by Ming on 06-13-2000 01:53 PM Yeah... beating the computer is no problem. Try winning against humans. Give it a try and report back to us how easy the game is

Try getting freeciv and winning against that AI...

[Ming]

When it becomes available for some other operating system besides Linux, I will give it a try

[KhanMan]

Here here!

Freeciv has some really interesting features (looking in from the outside), but a windows-native version isn't one of them...

As for the lack of understanding thing, check out the "Civilopedia" menu, and experiment with the things you can click on, like "tree" in each of the "civilization advances", which shows you what you need to get an advance.

Also, there are a number of nice challenges out there, like:

1. OCC-One City Challenge: Land a space ship on AC, using only one city throughout the game.

2. Nomads Challenge: Never build a city, and only capture them from huts and enemies. This is particularly challenging when played at deity, raging hordes, 7 civizations, excellerated start-up...

(doubt anyone but the best could win with those settings)

Also, as many have mentioned, there's mp-play too: I can beat the ai 99% of the time or more on King, and I'm 0 wins and 13 losses in mp play, if that's any indication...

Best of Luck,
-KhanMan
(who recently tried AoE for the first time...what's all the fuss about?

[Andz83]

quote: Originally posted by Ming on 06-13-2000 02:30 PM "He feels insulted easily"? HA HA HA HA! If that was the case, half the people at Apolyton would be banned

It was only a joke, Ming. But I think you know that, don't you? For you're not one of these whiners in the civ3 forum...

[Ming]

Yeah Andz83... I knew it was a joke, and that's why I added my smile at the end...

And as far as the CivIII section goes, I decided to be useful and start the cheat thread. I just wanted to show them how we currently abuse the program, hoping they would clean up their act in the next version.
And, it is a great reference piece for current civII players.

I had a real problem going through many of the other suggestion threads too

[Andz83]

cough

Ming: I wasn't referring to the cheat thread...

[Strategist]

Hello Ming, Andz83, Khanman and all the others!

This is my first post here, and I have a question:

What does "OCC" mean?

I also like to play Civilization 2. I hope that I can learn a bit from this forums.

[Thue]

quote: Originally posted by Ming on 06-14-2000 06:50 AM When it becomes available for some other operating system besides Linux, I will give it a try

Ha - got you Ming. It is available for other operating sytems than linux! How many OS'es do you want?

It runs natively under
GNU/Linux
OpenBSD
NetBSD
FreeBSD
BSDI 4
Amiga
Sun Solaris
SunOS
SGI Irix
IBM AIX
HP HP-UX

With a unix environment (ie an x server) it also runs under
MS Windows 95/98/NT
IBM OS/2

And work is in progress to get it running under
MAC
BeOS
OpenVMS


beat that!
I will interpret your comment that you now have to try freeciv. It does run under some other operating system
[This message has been edited by Thue (edited June 15, 2000).]

[Ming]

OCC stands for One City Challange.

Many of that have played for a while were looking for a new challange to keep the game interesting. Trying to win with just one city does indeed test all your skills.
And welcome aboard

And Andz83... I knew you weren't... but since I was one of those Thread Leaders, I wanted to make sure I distanced myself from the stuff you were complaining about... notice I used the smile again