Civ3: Your Greatest Fear/Hope

[yin26]

Greatest Fear:

After being dazzled by the graphics and sounds, I realize my same-old, tired strategies work just as well (or better) as they do in Civ2. Within the week I'm already on auto-pilot, looking for MP games (but can't easily find any)...and nobody seems to be able to modify anything (or even has the interest enough to try).

Greatest Hope:

After being dazzled by the graphics and sounds, I realize my same-old, tired strategies are getting me slaughtered on easy level. Within the week I'm already totally reinventing my approach, excited at the prospects of sneaky, sophisticated MP games (easily found in dozens of always-busy on-line rooms)...and nobdy wants to modify anything (though they eventually do 'cause it's easy to do and 'cause the game has unlocked so many cool possibilities).

[The Mad Viking]

Yeah, that's preetty good.

My greatest hope is a very sophisticated diplomacy system and a fiendishly clever AI, with sophisiticated but easy to use trade models and city/empire management screens.

My greatest fear: none of the above, but rather, a devolution into a flashy military game.

[The Mad Viking]

Yeah, that's preetty good.

My greatest hope is a very sophisticated diplomacy system and a fiendishly clever AI, with sophisiticated but easy to use trade models and city/empire management screens.

My greatest fear: none of the above, but rather, a devolution into a flashy military game.

[Aredhran]

I'm afraid of finding the same old crappy AI, with nothing but a jazzed up interface.

This is not directly related to the game itself, but I'm afraid of living the SMAC experience all over again when it comes to support from Firaxis, ie. good response and presence on the forums within the first few weeks, then endless waiting and begging to get more patches... and seeing each patch introduce more bugs than it fixes (OK, I'm exagerating a bit here ). We'll be waiting forever for SMAC5 and SMAX3 I suppose...

Like you Yin, I'm hoping for a great game that will surprise and challenge me behind a nice UI. But call me pessimistic, but I don't think that will happen.

Aredhran

[Steve Clark]

Hmmm...

Greatest Fear: That there won't be a plethora of custom scenarios and modpacks to keep the game exciting and interesting after the initial buzz wears off.

Greatest Hope: Keeping expectations low.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Greatest hope:
An AI that will chrush me utterly , so that I have to sit down and actually think again. No more auto-pilot like yin said.

Good diplomacy

Total Customization

The ease of use and speed that the civ 2 interface has. I like the city view, not clicking through a bunch of tabs to get anywere. A lot of customizable screens where you can f.e. change productions in several cities at once depending on some criteria.

Something totally new, like "the rise and fall of empires" idea.


Greatest fear:

Useless 3d graphics that bogs down the game, that after an initial "wow this looks great", becomes more and more annoying. I don't care about unit animations when it makes moving units a drag.

Poor AI

The only thing that has been enhanched is the combat system, when everything else is what really should be made better.

[Stefu]

My greatest hope: I open the package and it contains Civ3.

My greatest fear: I open the package and it contains Civ2 masqueraded as Civ3.

[DaveV]

Greatest hope: a game with many equally-appealing paths to victory, and an AI strong enough to keep up with me.

Greatest fear: a completely unbalancing wonder, unit, or feature that forces me down a particular path.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Fear: A slow game. Civ, CivII, and SMAC were just the right speed for me, and although I don't really expect the Firaxis crew to screw it up, games like CTP(II), BOTF, and the plans for MOO3 make me wary about lots of pointless factors slowing down the game. Micromanagement is nice...picomanagement is not.

Hope: That all of those pointless factors will be in the game, but they will feel important, and have an interface that makes handling them simple, quick and easy. Note to Firaxians in the audience: You should avoid the CTPII interface like it had ebola.

[airdrik]

Fear: Hmm, I haven't been playing many civ-type games lately so I don't know what exactly what to fear.

I just thought of one: Having more cities is always better, even if you are constantly working on most of your cities. Also, a score which is mostly dependant on the number of happy/content citizens in your empire.

Hope: That I will be able to maintain a military and be able to skirmish with my unruly neighbors WHILE I work down my path to be the costantly most advanced player in the game.

You can beat it with about 5-10 initial cities and any cities that you conquere over the ages, even on the hardest level (though it will be very difficult) and still get an excellent score because you had the best economy/military, were most advanced, etc.

[EnochF]

Greatest Fear: Obvious choices for city improvements, wonders, technologies, terrain resources, and units will be ignored because "they were already in Civ II." Instead they're replaced by off-brand stand-ins, as in Call to Power. There will be no Pyramids, no Destroyers, no Temples, no Coliseums, no City Walls, no Statue of Liberty, no Gunpowder, no Masonry, no Navigation, no Great Wall, no Metallurgy, no Cavalry, no Apollo Program, no Literacy, no Howitzers, no Coal, Iron or Gold deposits, no Galleons, no Cruise Missiles, no Corn, Grapes or Whales, etc. Instead, we get stuck technologies like Advanced Tank Design and Log Cabin Making; Wonders like Mohammed's Quill Pen and Napoleon's Horse; city improvements like the Dojo, the High School, and the Body Exchange; resources like Crab, Cactus, Alligator and Henbane; and units like the Samurai, the Fire Ship, the Battle Mech, the Fluyte, and the Cuirassier. Yech.

Second Greatest Fear: Peaceful expansion will be impossible despite an enhanced Diplomacy system. All rival civs are warlike, betray all their treaties, and attack the player even when it's not in their best interest. Designers say this "shows off the improved combat system of the game" and makes warfare "an essential part of the gaming experience." My small numbers of high-tech units are still routinely defeated by phalanxes and pikemen.

Greatest Hope: The game incorporates every good thing about ever Civ game ever made. The replay of history and newspaper reports from Civilization. The playability and excellent menu design of Civ II. The graphics of Call to Power. The diplomacy of Alpha Centauri. It leaves in my favorite stuff, like random goodie huts, and even gives me a kick-ass evolving Throne Room and the High Council to keep me amused while I'm learning the game mechanics. Plus, it's customizable enough for me to casually go in and fix things that I might not like.

[Fiera]

Greatest fear:

Again, Civ3 offers only 7 civs to play with at a time, plus a demi-civ called the Barbarians. All this seven civ are dumb, and the barbs are the dumbest.

It offers a great scn editor tool as well, but no one is able to consistenly modify the beatiful and animated units, or to create new ones that go together well with the default ones.


Greatest hope:

We will have the ability to play with, say, 16 major civs at a time, plus 16 minor civs, all of them with their own agenda and their own military. The players who still want to play with 8 civs at a time, or even with only 4, are free to do it. Civ3 is highly customizable!

More elaborated diplomatic status.

Clever AI, that know how to raise and use a navy...


------------------
Rather be first in a village than second at Rome

[Grrr]

Greatest Fear

SLOWNESS!!

Crappy AI, ones which build a navy and put them in a 1x1 lake, ones who trespass ever 2 turns (CtP), ones who attack without any defence in their cities.

To few civs / To small map (I want to be able to play against 1000 major civs, and maybe another 9000 minor civs.

Incustomizabity: I don't want to have to abandon my WWII scenario (details on 3rd page of thread 1893) until I know the most complex programing language and must write the game myself.

No bugs!

That it takes several months after the game is realeased to get a copy, as it is SO popular.

Greatest Hope

FAST CLEAR GRAPHICS!!! (No mowing the lawn while the computer computes the next turn (aka CtP).

Abilty to make my desired scenario.

Ability to play 1000 player multiplayer games.

No ICS and BAB!

More winning parameters.

Expansion packs which don't cost twice as much as the game itself.

AI able to win!

Ablity to win without wonders!

Warriors can't kill Stealth bombers!!!!!!

I can get the first copy in New Zealand

Thats about all I can think of for now!
[This message has been edited by Grrr (edited January 10, 2001).]

[New Yorker]

Greatest Fears:

the AI military tactics being so bad that u find the barbarians more of a danger(like in CTP & even CTP II)

to get anywhere in diplomacy u need to be a oppressive most powerful empire making threats(like in CTP 2)

useless wonders(i am sure all civ games had this problem)

overpowering wonders(i am don't have to tell u)

no mayors

Greatest Hopes:

AI's military tactics can kill u & barbarians r not the only thing that r a danger to u

complex diplomacy that combines the best diplomacy parts of SMAC & CTP 2(like counter-proposals & planetary councils)

balanced wonders

mayors manage better

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if at first u don't succeed, skydiving ain't 4 u

[- Groucho -]

Greatest Fear:

A peaceful diplomat can't win. (I'm not saying that you should be able to win without ever investing in an army. But you should be able to win without ever having to annihalate an opponent. Too many of my CivII and SMAC games have ended with me rolling over all the other Civs because I got to frustrated with doing it the peaceful way.)

Greatest Hope:

That I find myself, 12 months after release, still thinking the wonder movies are pretty cool (despite having seen them every day for the last 365 days due to my overwhelming addiction to CivIII).