PtW as it stands now...

[Jonny]

I agree with Sir Ralph.

For $20, I'd buy it.

[pedrojedi]

I bought it just for the SP experience. And it's great.

Never tried hotseating with myself, but I shall sometime give it a try, since I loved to do that with War table game.

[Inverse Icarus]

i disagree.

i play PTW with a group of close friends (ie, i got go looking for random games), and i havent had one crash since we all got 1.21.

[statusperfect]

In single player it IS a masterpiece. Multiplayer sucks if you go for random games over gamespy.

[Jon Shafer]

After getting back into playing SP games, I found that the AI was much smarter compared with vanilla Civ 3.

[BigFree]

I'm satisfied overall with SP game play; MP needs some work still. Patches are rumored to be on the way to deal with some of the MP issues; we'll see..... :/

[Cookie Monster]

Well I picked up the game over lunch. Now it's only 4 more hours to go before I get home and try out PTW.

Thanks to all for your feedback!

[pedrojedi]

Have a great time! It was a pleasure helping you make a decision and give Infogreed a little more money.

[Theseus]

HD, try SP with the latest version of the AU Mod.

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by Theseus
HD, try SP with the latest version of the AU Mod.

I've heard a lot about the AU Mod. Is it really designed to help one learn to sharpen their skills?

[Willem]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel
Better barbarian AI, other upgrades that I can't think of at the moment.

Improved stack movement and rally points. Those two are biggies IMO.

[PrinceBimz]

From what I have read everyone states its worth it even just for single player. I did not know it was down to $20. I will have to get to the store and get a copy

[Arrian]

I've heard a lot about the AU Mod. Is it really designed to help one learn to sharpen their skills?

It's about adding more "strategic choice" to the game without making drastic changes.

Off the top of my head (I don't normally use the AU Mod):

Great Wall beefed up: walls to all cities, like in CivII.
Coastal Forts needed to produce veteran ships.
Archer units have zero-range bombard (which simply gives them a free shot when attacked).
Longevity wonder moved to Sanitation to make it worthwhile.
Changes to the tech requirements for a SS launch, don't recall what exactly.
Beefed up Commie a bit, IIRC.
Tax men/Scientists beefed up to +2/turn instead of +1. Tax men moved back to currency... scientists to literature(?) I think.

Stuff like that. Nothing HUGE, but tweaks here and there to make more interesting choices.

Check out the strategy forum for more (there is a long readme, etc).

-Arrian

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by PrinceBimz
From what I have read everyone states its worth it even just for single player. I did not know it was down to $20. I will have to get to the store and get a copy

Yeah, I picked up my copy at Gamestop in the local mall. Best Buy also has PTW for $20. I wouldn't have picked up this game if it didn't drop to $20 but now that I have it I'm glad I did end up buying it.

Now to find the time to play the AU mod's before RoN comes out. That gives me about 2 weeks or so. Whoooppeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Harovan]

Originally posted by statusperfect
In single player it IS a masterpiece.

It's a very good game, but for being a masterpiece it lacks real ZoC and a tweaked combat system. Just like CivII, it suffers from the infinite railroad movement. This makes combat less enjoyable, you don't need to locate your troops in a good tactical way. And you can't build a screen along your borders. As soon as you built railroads, just stockpile all units in a huge stack and put them somewhere, location doesn't matter.

Also, the denial to use the roads (not railroads) on enemy territory is very annoying. Unfortunately, these features can't be modded in. It's a good game, I give it 8 out of 10, may be 8.5, but not more. It's not perfect.

Multiplayer sucks if you go for random games over gamespy.

That's not the fault of the game. It's your own, if you use gamespy.