First Impressions

[Alexander's Horse]

If you wait to buy it, you won't need to read the manual

[squid]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS


Well, what I *should* be doing is studying for a Network Security mid-term. But the ECB mode of DES is so thrilling I could barely contain myself.

is this undergrad or grad school Dan? anyhow, put down the Civ! put down the Civ!

[albiedamned]

The interface will seem annoying at first simply because it is not the same as Civ2. But I have gotten used to it now (I've been playing about 3.5 hours now), and I have no problem with it. People are always annoyed by changes, but that doesn't mean they're bad.

I'm playing on Regent level (formerly known as Prince level). I have not read the manual yet, even though I really need to. I have started 3 games now and played to around 1000 BC. Each time, I am only able to found about 4 cities before I run out of room. Meanwhile, my neighbors have 6 or 7 cities! I have no idea what I am doing wrong. The AI does seem rather expansionist at the beginning, for sure. I have seen this in my three games with the Japanese, English, and French, so it is not just one civ. I am about to start over again, and this time I am determined to try to expand faster. The 2 pop point settler thing really does slow you down though.

Also, in my last game, I lost pop points twice to disease. I had workers on flood plain squares. So that is definitely a factor.

Techs are coming very slow at the beginning. Maybe this is related to my inability to expand rapidly, or perhaps due to my general incompetence.

The inability to irrigate unless you have a river or inland sea is a huge hindrance. I find myself mining everything because that's all I can do (besides roads of course).

I have won battles with my Hoplite several times (I am the Greeks), but always against barbarians. Apparently that doesn't count for triggering a Golden Age, because I haven't had one yet. So I guess you have to fight another civ with your UU to get a Golden Age.

To resolve one controversy that we've been discussing on the boards: When you first found a city, you cannot use the full 21 square workable radius. You can only use the 8 squares immediately around you until your cultural borders expand the first time. Then you can use the regular 21 square radius. Also, the second cultural border expansion does not affect workable city radius - it remains at 21. I don't expect it ever goes over 21, but I haven't gotten beyond the 2nd cultural border expansion yet.

Ok, I'm starting over one more time, this time focusing more on expansion. I'm also going down a level - apparently I need the AI to cheat in my favor to be able to compete!

[Bereta_Eder]

My heart rejoices when I hear that the AI is giving you a tough time (assuming you ARE Civ 2 veterans).

A big thank you to americans who post their impressions of Civ 3 here.

It does make the wait easier for US SECOND CLASS CITIZENS WHO HAVE TO WAIT UNTILL 16 NOV (Ok I'm calm now )

[albiedamned]

I like to think of myself as a Civ2 veteran, and I've also played tons of SMAC. I've always been a builder, and I've never been into ICS, so take my comments with that in mind. But I always play SMAC on Transcend, and Civ2 on Emperor (though not usually Deity).

[BigBear]

Damn my stupid ways and my ordering from Amazon.com. I want this game so BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dreamed that this day would come as soon as completed my first game of Civ2. And now its finally hear, and all I can do is read what other people think about it!!

On another note, I would not listen to the majority of people on these forums about the game. So many people here are pessimists. They are gonna find everything they can that is wrong with the game before they say one thing about the good stuff.

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by squid


is this undergrad or grad school Dan? anyhow, put down the Civ! put down the Civ!

Grad school. And come December I will never have to go to class again, as I will be finished... Of course, I have to start paying student loans again, but if it isn't one thing it's another....


Dan

[MustPost]

One question I have is why do civ2/3 use the standard looking windows interface. While Sid Meiers other games seem to use costum made interfaces.(gettysburg and SMAC). Although this is a little skewed because civ2/SMAC were both mainly Brian Reynald's creations

[Grunthex]

Originally posted by MustPost
One question I have is why do civ2/3 use the standard looking windows interface. While Sid Meiers other games seem to use costum made interfaces.(gettysburg and SMAC). Although this is a little skewed because civ2/SMAC were both mainly Brian Reynald's creations

Am I missing something? How do they look Standard Windowsy? SMAC especially, the only thing that vaguely resembled Windows was the save game screen, and really, how many ways can you manipulate files?

From the screenshots of Civ3, NOTHING looks anything resembling 'standard' to me.

[faded glory]

Umm my game stagnated and it was 11:00pm. So with only 3 cities left I called it a night. The souix were kicking my ass anyway.

Hey Dan, you guys did a bang up job The AI really meet my expectations. Which kind of shocked me

I believe Im the first to detect a Civ3 bug.

[TCO]

Originally posted by albiedamned
The interface will seem annoying at first simply because it is not the same as Civ2. But I have gotten used to it now (I've been playing about 3.5 hours now), and I have no problem with it. People are always annoyed by changes, but that doesn't mean they're bad.

I'm playing on Regent level (formerly known as Prince level). I have not read the manual yet, even though I really need to. I have started 3 games now and played to around 1000 BC. Each time, I am only able to found about 4 cities before I run out of room. Meanwhile, my neighbors have 6 or 7 cities! I have no idea what I am doing wrong. The AI does seem rather expansionist at the beginning, for sure. I have seen this in my three games with the Japanese, English, and French, so it is not just one civ. I am about to start over again, and this time I am determined to try to expand faster. The 2 pop point settler thing really does slow you down though.

Also, in my last game, I lost pop points twice to disease. I had workers on flood plain squares. So that is definitely a factor.

Techs are coming very slow at the beginning. Maybe this is related to my inability to expand rapidly, or perhaps due to my general incompetence.

The inability to irrigate unless you have a river or inland sea is a huge hindrance. I find myself mining everything because that's all I can do (besides roads of course).

I have won battles with my Hoplite several times (I am the Greeks), but always against barbarians. Apparently that doesn't count for triggering a Golden Age, because I haven't had one yet. So I guess you have to fight another civ with your UU to get a Golden Age.

To resolve one controversy that we've been discussing on the boards: When you first found a city, you cannot use the full 21 square workable radius. You can only use the 8 squares immediately around you until your cultural borders expand the first time. Then you can use the regular 21 square radius. Also, the second cultural border expansion does not affect workable city radius - it remains at 21. I don't expect it ever goes over 21, but I haven't gotten beyond the 2nd cultural border expansion yet.

Ok, I'm starting over one more time, this time focusing more on expansion. I'm also going down a level - apparently I need the AI to cheat in my favor to be able to compete!

You don't sound like much of a veteran. Most vet civ players don't irrigate or especially don't mine in the early game. They expand. You sound like a wimpy builder. We should rip you apart in multi-player...err....I guess you're safe...until Ultimate Civ3/Civ3 MGE comes out.

[faded glory]

The AI does seem rather expansionist at the beginning, for sure. I have seen this in my three games with the Japanese, English, and French, so it is not just one civ. I am about to start over again, and this time I am determined to try to expand faster. The 2 pop point settler thing really does slow you down

Definately! In my game the Souix and the Frensh had 10 cities each by the time I had 4.


Dan:
Firaxis:
Souix AI:
Myself:

[Pembleton]

Originally posted by GP
You don't sound like much of a veteran. Most vet civ players don't irrigate or especially don't mine in the early game. They expand. You sound like a wimpy builder. We should rip you apart in multi-player...err....I guess you're safe...until Ultimate Civ3/Civ3 MGE comes out.

You get a free worker. What would you do with the free worker?

[faded glory]

What GP is forgetting is that Civ3 is nothing like Civ2.

nothing.....

[Imran Siddiqui]

Definately! In my game the Souix and the Frensh had 10 cities each by the time I had 4.

You mean the Iriquois? The Sioux aren't in the game.