Looking for player opinions - CTP2 modded/civ3...

[kimmygibler]

Points 1, 2, and 6 are killer. The others have either been fixed, or are not big problems, at least in my opinion.

[hexagonian]

Supposedly, the learning curve on EU2 is easier because it includes a tutorial, which was one of the main reasons why I wanted EU2 instead of EU1.

The tutorial did help me understand the interface issues, but figuring out how it all works together only comes through gameplay.

I do wish that EU2 had some kind of in-game Great Library though.

[sacjim]

I have EU1 but haven't installed it yet.
Is it worth my time? Or should I just buy EU2 and give away 1?

[Dinner]

I'd recommend holding off buying civ3 until we see exactly what improvements art made for the expansion pack and MP version.

[hexagonian]

I thought I would do an update on this post.

Funny thing happened at Christmas...
I ended up getting both EU2 and civ3 for Christmas due to some work on the part of my wife and sister. Initially I had been looking forward to civ3, but due to the discussions in the civ3 forums, I cooled on the idea of playing civ3 - even to the point of asking my wife that if I was only getting one game for Christmas, I wanted EU2. Turns out that both games had already been purchased.

All I can say is that EU2 is an incredible, deep game, and it has hooked me. I'm sure that eventually I will find things that I will not like about it, but at the same time, there is a lot to learn about EU2, due to its depth, so I can see myself spending the time to learn it.

And I have been playing Stronghold - it is a lot of fun.

For the moment, I have no desire nor the time to play civ3 - so it sits on my hard drive without ever being launched.

It is encouraging to see players in the civ3 forums making their way over to the CTP2 camp too.

[spy14]

If you want to sit around building and talking, civ3 is brilliant. If you want to have a bit of fun by taking a walk to another part of the map and overrunning some cities, the corruption devastates your game. And not many people can resist the tempation to do that...

On another note, the micro-management i found wasnt a problem, combat can sometimes be a pain, the editors a bit naff but functional... but its the corruption that single handedly turns a brilliant game into a tedious chore

[jardim]

Hi,
Since you asked for an opinion here's mine.
Don't by civ3 just yet, i have both it and CTP2 and find that civ3 has just two things in it´s favor, first the concept of strategic resourses and second the Ai seems better. I play CTP2 with my own mod, based on Medmod, and to be frank still prefer it, wait and see if Civ3 becomes all it can be before wasting your resources on a game that might end up on a shelve. It's a lot less customizable, so far, has too little tile improvements (I like those), the graphics could be better, and the faults you mentioned

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Just to give an opinion.

Don't buy Civ 3 until civ 3 MP is released. Reason being is that you are on limited funds. I have both Ctp 2 and Civ 3. Well out of the box civ 3 is better, and there are some good new features, but the lack of modifying options is appaling, so don't buy yet. Wait and civ 3 will become much better I believe, and you will save yourelf some money, I doubt that you can have enough time to play both.

[The Big Mc]

I got most of the ctp sprites I was taking about the civ 3 sprites making an appearance

any way have you got the Saturn v it's the only one I am missing as well as any special effects and goods that change.

[hexagonian]

Originally posted by The Big Mc
I am just waiting to see the sprites come to this forum which they should like a lot too

I have a catalog of all the CTP1 sprites/tga converted into the CTP2 format, plus I have all the ones that were created in the CTP1 Modder community.

What are you looking for?

[The Big Mc]

I am just waiting to see the sprites come to this forum which they should like a lot too

[Lou Wigman]

Mr. King

Save your money. Civ3 is a heap of rubbish.

I started a thread in the civ3 forum called 'I want my money back'. This was quite popular for a while (Sid Meyer must hate me.) It obviously struck a chord with quite a few people. I am hanging out for MOO3 now. Keep that credit card in your wallet.

[ENGINEER]

The first time I play SMAC I quit and put it on the shelf for six months, finally it clicked and I played it and enjoyed it. the dipolmancy was wonderful, simple, but understandable, IMO Civ 3 is a step back, I mean even in CTP 2 the dipolmatic game just seems stale, if a then b = c, but don't do d, kind of stuff, I wish SMAC was with the modern world and not sci fi, I enjoyed it, but it was hard to relate to

Oh well maybe Civ 3 will continue to get support and get better, you can tell it was very rushed

[kaigun]

Well Civ 3 is pretty .......Personally thats as far as it goes.I dont think the AI is that aggressive it seems to go crazy to catch workers which then leaves its units open .Air combat (I have the patch) is too strategic you have little tatical choice....Movement one by one is as the game progresses on large or medium maps an ever increasing chore..pollution is painfull it should be a straytecic effect...Land combat no finesse.....CTP2 with the mods has much more flexibility and intrest..lots of goods better dip-lomacy and even natural disasters...as for Civ 3 pluses CTP already has them Leaders armies diplomacy upgradeable units large maps etc it offers nothing more except graphics and the ability to easily edit certain parts but no SLIC...Id go for EU2 the diplomatic model is great ..Have a rest from Cradle ...then come back the work you did was great...Seperate I changed the Bombardment values as suggested with Civ 3 and work and Xmas played a little I think Im right with out bombard the AI starts assaulting with it it sits endlessly ..Ill give it a real try in the New year break

[hexagonian]

Well, I've had it happen a total of one time in Cradle, where the AI managed to take out a rival AI civ, so it is a rarity - too rare, IMO.

I always did like the diplomacy model in SMAC, its just that there were other things that took away from my enjoyment of that game. One of the reasons why I am taking a hard look at civ3 is that the diplomacy does seem more advanced than the CTP2 model. It's just that I think the other issues will lessen my enjoyment of the game. And now you are saying that the AI diplomacy in civ3 is a step backwards from SMAC. Interesting...

The different Modswapper settings...
Cradle of Civilization 1.2 - the basic setup

Seafarers Edition - bumps up the settings for the AI to build ships (this is experimental)

More Peaceful AI - uses Diplo 3.6. Diplo 3.5, the standard for all the other setups locks all the AIs in a warmongor state. There are very few AI/AI alliances in 3.5. I prefer 3.5 because it makes the AI even more aggressive - Dale, the creator of Diplomod, concurs.

Deity Slayer - Incorporates a set of AI Tile Improvement boosts - the AI has very good infrastructure now. Keeping up with the AI is now extremely hard in this setup. And what I have seen is once the AI does get a sizable lead, it does become more aggressive.

Finally, I usually take the attitude that it is me against all the AIs, so they are all, to a great extent, my enemies. My playing style is usually peaceful, and almost isolationist builder, and then a methodical war once I get a tech lead. I generally do not do a great deal of diplomacy (at least in the CTP series). My CTP2 setup was made to counter my own tendencies. It is very hard to play a peaceful builder in Cradle, and it is proving to be hard to catch the AI techwise.

And there is room for improvement - and from a Modder's standpoint, CTP2 is much easier to Mod...