Civ3 EXPANSION PACK!!!!

[hexagonian]

Originally posted by MarkG
* MarkG tries to remember the last time in gaming history a patch added multiplayer abilities

...CTP1 added PBEM

[Barnacle Bill]

Well, before I even fire up the game again (much less spend any more money on it), I'm waiting for them to fix it I don't care what combination of patches & expantions it takes - when I read the game is fixed I'll download the patch(es) and buy the expansion pack(s).

What it will take to fix the game:

1) Hard borders - can't cross without declaring war first. I'm sick of being unable to defend my territory against my so-called allies.

2) All the missing scenario/mod tools from the final iteration of Civ2 (i.e. ToT) - including the scripting language.

3) Fix the one glaring flaw in Civ2 scenario/mod capabilities - you could not restrict an advance to certain civs unless you also prevented any negociation between civs that are supposed to be ble to get it and civs that are not, because if they could talk they would trade it.

[player1]

SMAC added PBEM & Hotseat in patches.

[MarkG]

hex, ctp1 already had multiplayer out of the box. it didnt have pbem, but it had mp...

[Solver]

Yeah, Markos, this is an unique case.

[Brutus66]

just one grumpy old man's opinion

Great, now you can pay for features that should've been in the frigging game out of the box.

Venger is absolutely right.

I never stop being amazed at the foolishness of the average consumer. Take major league baseball for example- the cost of tickets and concessions has skyrocketed, and everbody knows what the players are being paid. A lot of them are multimillionaires. And I ask myself why these guys are rewarded like this. They really haven't made any real contibution to the human condition. They aren't curing cancer, creating peace in the middle east, etc. And yet the fans can't hand their money over fast enough. When you add in the price of parking, how can anybody afford to take the kids to the games anymore? But they keep on paying.

So I really shouldn't be surprised when I see all of the posts from folks who are going to rush right out and plunk their money down on the expansion pack of this game as soon as it hits the shelves. Hell, I'm sure there are those idiots who will steal a march on the others by pre-ordering their copy.

Capitalism is based on the consumer's willingness to pay. That system worked great in the old days, but now - it seems to me, anyway- there is a lot of consumer irresponsibility. We have gotten accustomed to paying big bucks for inferior products. You can see it everywhere- look at automobiles and housing, just for example. When you bought a car in the forties or fifties, you bought something manufactured to last. It was made of geniune steel and had plenty of room- it wasn't a plastic and aluminum box that will dent if you look at it too hard.
We will pay good money for anything these days- how else do you explain the success of the Spice Girls and N'Sync? The pet rock? Designer drinking water? Seems that the general intelligence level of the whole planet has hit a low that hasn't been seen since we became multicellular creatures.

I can't help but feel disappointed with Civ 3 when I compare it to Civ 2. Civ 2 was a really good game for it's time, even if it left out multiplayer. The designers of Civ 3 stood on the shoulders of those who came before, and still managed to release a product that disappointed and disaffected a lot of the fan base.

I can't help but feel that I am being screwed when they try to charge me again to get multiplayer functionality. Sid did it before with Civ 2, so again I shouldn't be surprised. But I am not going to pay this time. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent. At this juncture.
I fully expect the rah-rah brigades to flame me and shout me down, label me a 'whiner', etc., so fire away; do your worst. Go ahead and whiz your money down the side of your leg if it makes you feel better. The memory of the limited edition rip-off and all the bugs that were in the initial release of this game still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I am going to sit this one out on the sidelines- I think I am going to wait to spend any more cash until another company takes a stab at this genre. Hopefully it will be from a development team with some enthusiasm and fresh ideas. The civilization-type game is far and away my favorite genre, and I continue to hope...

[Shadowlord]

I'll buy the expansion...


When the price has dropped to $5. I don't believe Infogrames deserves to profit from their attempts to rip off the Civ community. Don't reward them for shipping a buggy, incomplete game, which lacked many of the features they promised.

Actually, I'm giving Firaxis the benefit of the doubt, by assuming that it's Infogrames that is pulling the strings, and by assuming that Infogrames forced Firaxis to release Civ3 before it was ready, and is forcing Firaxis to release an expansion rather than simply adding the missing features in a patch! My hope would be that Firaxis will release a multiplayer-only patch for the original Civ3. (And the patch wouldn't include the new civs, etc, which the expansion would.)

[Spatzimaus]

What I'm REALLY hoping for is an engine code change that allows it to recognize icons placed in the appropriate directories (for units, techs, splashes, etc.), with no hard-coded 82-slot limits or the need to be added to a specific .pcx file. That way, they can include libraries of new icons for different settings, and allow players to do the same.

I like the idea of the 8 new civs as long as they add a new civ trait. Seafaring would be nice (free Harbor in every coastal city, +1 move to all boats), or Agricultural (adds food in the same way that Industrious adds shields, Irrigate in one turn). Diplomatic could be useful (+10% to the value of your side of the table when trading with the AI, and free Embassies once you get the tech). Personally I'd go with Seafaring since I think the naval system needed the most work.

As for which civs, one thing you need to check is the list of Barbarian tribes. If something is listed as a possibility there, it wouldn't be important enough to count. My guesses (and I'm assuming Seafaring is a new trait):
Vikings (Seafaring/Militaristic)
Spanish (Seafaring/Industrious)
Turks (Commercial/Expansionist)- Ottoman?
Incas (Religious/Expansionist)
Phoenicians (Seafaring/Commercial)
Atlantis (Seafaring/Scientific); okay, not likely, but it'd be neat. Crete maybe?
and two more civs that'd have to double up on abilities, but I can't think of any good ones. Europe's already too crowded, and if you add Arabs or Assyria, they'd be right on top of Babylon or Egypt on an Earth map.

They could alter the traits of some old ones:
English (Seafaring/Expansionist)
Japanese (Seafaring/Religious)

[centrifuge]

I want to see the Mongols, otherwise I don't really care about the xp.

[centrifuge]

Oops I take that back, it will be nice to have scenarios as well, and not just custom maps.

[JtheJackal]

Come on people! The Koreans are going to be in!

[SirSebastian]

Turks
Ottomans
Byzantines

When will people actually learn what went on in history? =P

PS - Civ III rules... the post on the downfall of capitalism because we buy inferior products is particularly hilarious. Talk about no perspective on recent history.

[The Rook]

I'm just waiting to see what other features are going to be implimented. Multiplayer, new scenarios, and an editor are not really stuff I am willing to pay for. The 8 new civs sounds promising, but still that's not enough to whet my appitite. I would definitely go for a future era, or such gameplay changes like civil war and/or more in depth diplomacy options. We shall see what Firaxis has in store for us. I'm sure I will eventually buy it, but it's a matter of when I will buy it. It may turn out to be a "bargain bin" buy.

[civman2000]

When will people actually learn what went on in history? =P

What's wrong with the turks?

Spatzimaus, I think free harbors in every city might be a bit TOO advantageous...

[Steve Clark]

"New scenarios" imply that there were "old" scenarios, as someone had said. I certainly hope that they don't call custom maps and hacks/mods - scenarios for we have not seen a single scenario created yet for Civ3, from Firaxis or from the scenario community. If this XP includes a scenario editor (unlike the rules editor we have now) and MP, then my and number of other's prediction have come true. We'll wait and see.