When is firaxis going to fix.....

[Solver]

Just look, Sid wants to do something else apart Civ. For Civers, he's the Big Daddy of Civ, but he wants to design other games, too.

Yes, in Civ 3, he was only making some decisions, and was more of a name, but he was doing Golf, something that interested him at the moment. Though maybe I can be gotten to agree that Civ 3 misses Sid's touch .

[Capt Dizle]

Oops, sorry. Sid does not call the shots at Firaxis and Firaxis has no rights to the Civ series. Get your facts here, facts here.

[simwiz2]

"People register dislike about facets of the game and they get attacked. There are about a dozen hardline Civ3 defenders here that gang rape anyone expressing a negative opinion on the game."

This is completely true. I personally don't care about whether the AI knows that one of my cities that it has never seen is undefended, because it also works against the AI as someone said. But apparently the originaly poster finds it to be an annoying AI cheat, which I can see why some may not like it. But he gets attacked, suddenly he is a newbie, he must be bad at civ3, his strategy sucks, he can't adapt, he has a huge ego and should be playing cheiftain, etc.

I have seen countless posts about how "those awful whiners keep attacking firaxis" yet those same posters then turn around and attack anyone who disagrees with something in the game.

[notyoueither]

He also got discussion of the points that concern him.

The fact that some posters reacted to the red flags in his and other posts and became a bit combative might have a lot to do with how their beefs were stated in the beginning.

Come to a discussion board. Take a stand on an extreme, like saying 'I hate the topic that this forum exists for' and you should expect to be in the market for asbestos protective gear.

miike wasn't that offensive, but he wasn't completely the voice of calm reflection either. Then COT fanned the flames and the temperature of the thread rose. Then other posters started telling them what they thought in mildly combative terms. Go figure.

'Attack anyone who disagrees with something in the game'? Methinks you are generalizing a wee bit large. Fact is, if you are belligerent in your message you should expect some belligerent responses.

OTOH you have a bit of a point. Civ3 General is a bit like a busy cross roads in the TBS gaming world right now. All sorts of strangers and freinds will pass through from time to time. It would be better for everyone if the regulars could err towards tolerance for opinions they don't agree with. Not me though

[Civ Old Timer]

jimmytrick

I don't follow the gaming world all that closely although I do follow it some. You might be right that Sid isn't all of Firaxis, but I would be very surprised if he gave up the rights to Civ. I think it's probably the most valueable proptery he has created, so it wouldn't be wise. My copy of the Game's CD does say, Sid Meir's Civilization 3. I assume from that that the game is still Sid's. If I'm wrong, can you bring me up to speed?

Much thanks!

[notyoueither]

COT. The rights to Civ are owned by Infogrames. The publisher. They got them via a convoluted sequence of transactions and legal procedings among gaming companies.

The claims that Sid may have on any given version of 'SM's Civilization' are unclear. They are undoubtely filed away on contracts that will probably never be made puiblic. It is a good topic for speculation.

However, there is the case of the various Norton products owned by Symantec. Symantec bought Peter Norton out and they have the rights to produce 'Norton X' even though Peter is long gone.

[Civ Old Timer]

"Then COT fanned the flames"

Well, maybe. It was unintentional if it happened.

My first thread in here was minutes after abondoning a game I'd been working on for a week and I was quite annoyed, feeling that I would probably put the game aside until the next patch. I had only recently picked it up again after the 121 patch and that only added to my annoyance and disappointment.

My venom was directed at the game's producers and not at anyone here. We should be free to critize the game, freely, and take a softer touch to each other. I that vein, all my posts since then have taken a more collarborative touch. I also think it is very very easy to forget how harsh words on the screen can appear - much more than we intend. So perhaps if someone is angry we cut them a wee bit 'O slack.

Right? Right.

[notyoueither]

Right. But get that some people might respond harshly when something or someone they like is slagged. That is human nature. BTW. Some people might feel a bit of an attachment for the programmers who show up here personally. Uber has said he loves Soren, that's why he beats him.

I didn't feel that either you or miike slagged the game or the programmers. I hope my responses showed that. Yes, you were a bit belligerent, and some of the responses were a bit belligerent too. Thicker skins would be a good complement to the softer touches.

[Captain]

COT,

The editor is far from what I hope it would be, but even so, there are a few things you can do. your question about how to lesson impact of resources? (I don't like to do this because i like strategic resources but whatever is fun for you - that's why I'm pushing for a better editor al the time, we can both be happy)

here are two solutions.

the quick and easy one is to go to the editor, open civ3mod.bic, and edit the units. where it says required resources, just put none instead of whatever it has. this virtually eliminates the effect of thos resources though.

the second is to use jimmyh's hacked editor (it has add/delete buttons) to add units (or use gramphos's multitool to copy units) so that you now have two versions of tanks, armour, bombers, etc...
and then make the second set of units to have a higher shield cost (to represent the expense of using some substitute material for oil/rubber/whatever resource), or even a pop cost.
alternatively, make the second set slightly less powerful, like -1 hp, or a -1 A/D, to represent using inferior substitute materials. you could have coal steam powered tanks instead of oil run combustion engines, but they'd be weaker, more vulnerable...
this keeps strategic resources in the game, gives it that edge, but you're still in the game if you don't have them.

ask in creation forum if you have any specific questions on that.

hope this helps!

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by jimmytrick
Oops, sorry. Sid does not call the shots at Firaxis

Wrong. Sid is the co-founder of Firaxis and he and Jeff Brigs call the shots there.

and Firaxis has no rights to the Civ series. Get your facts here, facts here.

Right. Infogrames has the rights. I think they only have a license for them but in any case they have the rights to the name Civilization via a buyout of the original boardgame company.

However if Firaxis wanted too they could make a civ game with a different name. Just like was done for Call to Power II. Anyone can do that. Even Velocyrix.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Ethelred

Right. Infogrames has the rights. I think they only have a license for them but in any case they have the rights to the name Civilization via a buyout of the original boardgame company.

However if Firaxis wanted too they could make a civ game with a different name. Just like was done for Call to Power II. Anyone can do that. Even Velocyrix.

Does infogrames "own" sid's name? I mean, could Firaxis make a "sid meier's [insert generic empire building name here]" without infogrames? To distinguish what ethelred said, could it have sid's name on it?

[Ethelred]

Does infogrames "own" sid's name?

Maybe they can find an employee named Sid of their own. Meiers is another problem.

I mean, could Firaxis make a "sid meier's [insert generic empire building name here]" without infogrames?

Of course. They do it all the time.

Sid Meier's ---

Sim Golf

Gettysburg

Alpha-Centauri


The real question is whether Firaxis will ever make a game without Sid Meier in the title.

GAME ANOUNCEMENT

Sid Meier's Sid Meier Simulation Tycoon.

Create a company to make Sid Meiers games. Earn money and inflame Jimmytricks and Coracles everywhere. Scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2003.

[Panag]

Originally posted by notyoueither
For $750 I'll bet Soren could take you on a tour of what TBS AI could really do.

hi ,

yep , and they will use the 750 to buy beer with , ...

have a nice day

[Civ Old Timer]

notyoueither -

not to belabour the point, but if you like Pepsi and I tell you I don't, will I need to carefully think about how "some people might respond harshly when something or someone they like is slagged"? It's only a drink, or a bit of software. We have different opinions about it, but you might still be an ok person. So the game or the drink don't need to be defended. It doesn't have any feelings. As for the programmers, well, it's a struggle for us to get heard and colourful commentary can help. I hope. I also expect that they know fans can get unruly and that they don't take it personally. They get paid to have tough skins, as it were.

On another gripe I have with the game - why does it insist on putting me on a mid sized island when I select a pangea? I only got about six cities on my last try. Between the corruption and my gallies sinking and taking all my swordsmen with them, and missing out on tech trading, it's a very behind the 8 ball position to be in. More than I can be bothered with.

Somebody earlier mentioned how they like to "play it through" even when they know a position is doomed. Well, to each his own, but it looks like a waste of time to me. Even grandmaster chess players resign positions that are hopeless and no one calls them quitters for it.

I need to check out that editor...

[Panag]

Originally posted by Solver
Good thread and great posts.

Yes, I like the AI. And I really got the philosophy "The AI has those advantages, but I got the advantage of being human". And don't you try to find a better spot for the invasion whenever you attack the AI?

The AI wants to expand, and it wants new land. So it will attack. It wants money and technology, so it wants you to actually pay for resources.

And to all those who want the resource system of Civ 2, where resource squares only gave a tile bonus. Go to the Editor, uncheck the resource requirements to all the units, and play it like Civ 2. In fact, there are much more options to play Civ 3 like Civ 2 than you would think there are.

hi ,

behold , some-one who is a addict , of , ......civ3 , .....

Solver ya put it all so nice , unfortunatly a lot of people dont even look at the editor , ......its a shame because its worth it , every inch of the way , ....

civ2 this and civ2 that , civ3 is the next in line , and its a whole new ball-game , ...

have a nice day