Yin has Civ3!: Let the testing begin ...

[yin26]

I thinks it's time for some anger management therapy then Yin!!

There are in rough terms two kinds of gamers: Those who will play anything and anything shoved at them on a disk. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. But in either case they don't really care.

The other gamer DOES care and tries as much as a fan can to watch and even influence the progress of a game's development.

It's not an anger issue. Of course, when the customer is led to believe certain things and then gets others ... certainly there's room to be a bit peeved.

[Simpleton]

Originally posted by yin26


It's not an anger issue. Of course, when the customer is led to believe certain things and then gets others ... certainly there's room to be a bit peeved.

Yes, perhaps anger is not completely appropriate. How about a displeasure management group then.

PS: I have the game and am presently playing at the beginner level just to get a feel for it. So far, I like it. It has that Civ feel. BUT perhaps all your talk over the past months has jaded me somewhat because I am hesitant to jump right in and love the game. It may also be that I still feel the sting of when I did that with CTP and CTP2.

[2H Pencil]

just want to make a comment about armies disappearing when cities changes side

i think the reason for them to disappear is not that they are killed by civilians/militias or anything

it's more likely that they, being in close contact with people of a higher culture, were assimilated into the other side

[Jeje2]

Originally posted by yin26
HalfLotus: Well, I can buy the game from him for $35, which is quite cheap. My main concerns are over at this point now that I solved graphics problems, etc. Again, I buy a game a month (or every other month) from him. It's been like that for 5 years! That's a LOT of money I've given the guy!

Wow!!
Talk about an addict and his uncle Sam...

Yin, you obviously are quite a gameholic and when you try to break free form drug.. games, your dealer gives you some new taste for free... You really should turn him over to the police.


Back to serious with a question, inbetween my reading:
has the "move indefinetly your troops along the railway" been solved?

Oh, and those railroads look messy, now where does my railroads go?

[Dracon II]

Well, I've just been following this thread with great interest for the past hour or so.... and it seems that despite criticism to the contrary, Yin is a very level-headed, objective gamer.
The pros and cons of this game have been presented in this thread with much more clarity than any other thread on the subject that I have read... when it is released in Australia, I will definitely be purchasing a copy.
It would seem that this game will prove a challenge for the more militaristic civer... something that I am pleased to note. In previous incarnations of this game, it was all to easy to stomp across AI territory and hold cities with little difficulty, but this idea of culture has dispelled that idea once and for all. I think the Culture system would have to be one of the most innovative new concepts in civ so far... although I have yet to recieve word in this review on the trade system.
The resource system seems infinitely more realistic..... and difficult.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing Yin's review, and obtaining my own copy of Civ 3.....
Cheers,
Dracon.

[korn469]

yin

i'm glad you are enjoying yourself...i am too so far

however i have noticed a few things

*the early parts of the game are by far the most fun
*they powered down aircombat too much (it got neutered, then they performed the operation again just for spite)
*all in all the modern era is fairly dissappoints

[Alex 14]

Yin:

How hard is it to build a wonder in comparison with Civ 2, since it cannot be rushed does it take less shields?

[yin26]

Simpleton: 'Displeasure Management"! Funny. Actually, I seem to come across a lot more angry than I really am. I should put in more smilies. I think it's good to be cautious, though. As you noted, CtP taught us some lessons. Korn's comments below, for example, seem quite important.

2H Pencil: Well, that could be, but it's still not a very satifying feeling. Maybe if they made it so you could easily bribe units far from their capital, but they wanted to take out bribing.

Jeje: LOL. Yes. The guy knows an addict when he sees one. At this point, he has given me more than a fair chance with the game. Looks like I'll be buying Civ3 next week unless anything horrid turns up in people's reviews before then. I will say, however, we are a few patches away from things working properly (balance and pacing, etc.). Soren's presence on these forums, though, gives me some hope.

Dracon II: Thanks! Well, you seem to have the perfect image of Civ3. Some of the things aren't particularly 'nice' to have happen to you (no nearby resources, fast AI expansion, etc.), but you know that going in, and you realize it for what it is: A challenge. If my posts here helped you make the decision to buy the game a bit more informed, then I'm very happy. I hope you saw Korn's comments below, though. Looks like the later ages need some overhaul.

Korn: Well, damn. I guess this means we'll need to tweak aircombat and the modern era in general. I wonder if the modern era was the last that they worked on? This could make sense. Do you feel it's patchable stuff?

Alex: The hardest thing about wonders is that the AI grabs them up like crazy! But when you are in a position to make one, it's pretty easy in terms of build time. Again: Having the chance to build on at all is the problem. I've built Epic Novel and Military Academy (hope I have the names right). That's it! Other civs have been flying by with 'em.

[yin26]

Some good stuff:

* (small thing) The saved game menus highlights your previous save. I don't know ... I just like that kind of thing.
* The AI really seems to know how strong you are relatively speaking. They can really abuse you in the diplomacy part ... sometimes unreasonably demanding. Again, this seems to add to the challenge.
* Perhaps I am 'lucky' being on a small continent, but you seem to be able to recover from earlier mistakes somewhat by good planning and good diplomacy. Again, perhaps that's just because I'm islolated.

Some not so good stuff:

* I already have unit animations turned off. I wish I could turn off seeing the AI moves ENTIRELY. There's a lot of drag here once more and more units get on the map.
* The replay I mentioned before is great ... but it won't let you jump in the timeline. This means you might get really bored waiting to see the one or two important moments in the game. A gamelog would be great as a txt file that we could post on the Net!
* (small thing) Your diplmocy 'words' should be selected by a check box instead of just being grouped in plain text. More than once I have almost clicked the wrong text line.
* (small thing) No way to clear the Hall of Fame from within the game?
* (small thing) No way to delete saved games from within the game?
* (small thing) No intuitive way to break trade deals when you no longer want to trade for a bad resource or terms?

[MrRogers]

I may have some insight to the apparent grouping of civilizations.
The different civs are segmented into cultural groups, a la http://www.civ3.com/devupdates/abilitiespopup.cfm
This means (so ive heard) that civs of the same cultural group are more friendly to each other in negotiations (which i think is pretty whack btw).
MAYBE the civs are made to start in similar areas as well, it seems logical. Whaddya reckon?

now to go off topic, HOW DO I STOP EMAILS NOTIFYING ME OF REPLIES TO THREADS!!!! I went to my options and toggled it to "no", but still it continues. But thats a minor problem.

Danke
Glenn

[JimMac]

Yin:"If my posts here helped you make the decision to buy the game a bit more informed, then I'm very happy. I hope you saw Korn's comments below, though"

I just thought I would let you know that I have been following (and enjoying) this thread, and that your and Korns reviews will detemine whether or not there are 3 additional sales of Civ III in Belfast when it appears. (We had previously decided to wait for MP).

So, no pressure then -but do a good job eh?

JimMac

[yin26]

So, no pressure then -but do a good job eh?

Well, I'll plan mine for a few days after Korn's ... damn, now I got pressure on me! LOL (Actually, I already put pressure on Korn, so ...)

[Grunthex]

Originally posted by yin26

* (small thing) No intuitive way to break trade deals when you no longer want to trade for a bad resource or terms?

I won't speak for intuitive, since I had to look pretty hard for it, but if you haven't figured it out - Open diplomacy, propose a deal, click 'Active' at the bottom, and click on the deal you want to cancel... it will propose it as a new deal, and just click never mind.

Any deal with a (Number) beside it is not cancellable for that many more turns (without declaring war)

I wish there was a diplomacy summary screen (textual) showing my relations/treaties with all (up to 15) civs, and what trades I have with them.

[yin26]

Grunthex: Thanks! I think that should be improved in a patch.

O.K. Let me post this image:

[Jeje2]

Originally posted by yin26
O.K. Let me post this image:

Yin
- What year/turn?
- Who's tanks?
- Who's horses?
- Are still limited to the starting continent?

Horses versus tanks...
Somehow I wanna think of Poland and start of WWII.