Civ Games Comparison Chart

[VetLegion]

Hullo fellow civvers!

I have installed and played a little of Galactic Civilizations yesterday. It struck me how much Civ-in-Space feel to it it has, much more than Master of Orion series or Space Empires and other such games.

Anyway, inspired by that I have ventured into creating one HUGE chart that would both quantify and compare the features and aspects of what I call the Civ Genre but could be described as "Large scale God games" in a politically correct way.

You can view the chart here (works in IE, but not in my Opera which I attribute to my extensive and messy customization. It is just a table so you should see it OK): http://free-zg.htnet.hr/SimunSelak/c...ison_chart.htm

Since I started it I have mostly been adding columns as I remember more and more features that are comparable.

I would appreciate if you have comments or suggestions on the columns and I would also appreciate if someone takes the time to "process" any particular game and fill the table for it.

[reds4ever]

How long will it be before some pedantic saddo asks this to be moved to the 'Other Games' forum?

[reds4ever]

...and talking of pedantic saddo (ie. me!), you missed the Fundamental government type out of Civ2 by lumping it with Civ3

[Eli]

Multilateral diplomacy
UN, Planetary Council, etc... exists?

Civilization III

Yes

---

I wouldnt say that the UN thingie to achieve diplomatic victory can really count as a "Planetary Council".

[VetLegion]

Ok, you are both right, I'll add Fundamentalist to Civ 2 and I'll remove Civ 3 from multilateral diplomacy.

[Hueij]

It works fine in Opera...

Suggestion: put non-breaking spaces in those empty cells so they will show a border too.

[VetLegion]

Done (with questionmarks).

[Verto]

Could a mod move this to 'Other Games' please?


Just kidding. Nice job so far.

[Spiffor]

To make it simple:

CIV III
Rules
Rules
Rules
Rules
Rules
Rules
Rules
Rules

There is no need to say more

[Henrik]

Suggestions for some missing entries :

Colonization:
Different AI personalities: Yes (Spain allways kills indians, France allways attacks with too few units)

SMAC:
Victory Conditions: Conquest, Economic, Diplomatic (planetary council), project

Civ2:
Tech cost increases by 10 for every new tech discovered. Linear Tech tree.
Number of techs: 99 I think?
Victory conditions: Remove diplomatic, the UN is there but it's just an
other wonder.
Mods in existance: Too many to count (I have 2 GB on my computer and that's noweher near everything).

Moo2:
Purchasing switch penalty should be yes
Combat model: complex I suppose (there's a battle screen where you controll your ships in turn based combat and you get to refitt ships and stuff)
Special unit for terrain improvement: no (it's done from the planet screen...)
Diplomatic proposals: Trade treaty, Research Treaty, Peace, War, demand tribute (5 or 10% per turn), exchange techs, demand gold/colonies/techs, ally
UN/Planetary senate: Kinda, there's a galactic senate thingie as I recall
Govt types: Dictatorship, Empire, Democracy, Unification
Internal politics: There's unrest and planets defecting if they are populated by enslaved enemy pops but that's about it...
Grid Type: There really isn't a grid apart from in combat. Instead you jump between the systems...
ICS solutions: Um, increased corruption I think?
Can build Bases on: Planets
Tech Tree: All techs cannot be researched by one civ you get to chose which one to develop out of 2-4 in each "layer" of the tech tree. You can however trade for the others. Not sure about tech rate.
Victory Conditions: Diplomatic (vote), Conquest, Defeat Antarans (by going through a portal and fighting them)

Europa Universalis 2: (perhaps you should add a box for if the games are turn based or not?)
Colony cost: Depends on area being colonized
Government types: Religions and in EU2 there's Domestic Policies too.
Internal Politics: Stability counter
ICS Solution: In EU2 trade posts get increasingly expensive depending on how many you have allready forcing you to make them into colonies instead...
Tech Rate: Tech costs are calculated from a nations size, the more provinces the higher cost for new techs.
Different AI personalities: Yes (there's an AI file for every country)
Scripting, custom units, graphics, custom AI behaviour...: Yes (Full scenario support: scripting language, moddable graphics)
Scenarios and mods in existance: A lot

[Peter Triggs]

Here's some CTP2 data:

Design own units/ships: No (not as in SMAC)

Purchasing switch penalty: No

Colony unit cost

Complex or simplistic combat model: Complex

Stacked combat: Yes

Special unit for terrain improvement: No, public works.

Types of diplomatic deals available: 37

Multilateral diplomacy : No

Government types : Lots, add whatever you want.

Internal politics : No

Grid type : Diamonds (isometric)

ICS (Infinite city spread) solutions :

City Radii (const. expand, Point based)

Can build bases on (Land, Water, Space, Underground) : Land, Water.

Tech rate and is tech tree linear or random? : Modable.

Number of techs in the tech tree: Lots, add as many as you want.

End Replay : No

Animated units: Yes

Governors : Yes, modable.

Different AI personalities : Yes, modable.

Victory Conditions: Diplomatic, Conquest, Build project

Modability and Scenarios: Are you kidding? Almost everything is accessible via SLIC or text files. No comparison. See my sig.

Scenarios and mods in existance : Lots.

Game length in turns on standard settings: 600?

[VetLegion]

Henrik and Peter, thanks
I'll add that data now

I'm still not sure should EU even be there though..

[DarkCloud]

Good work!
Very interesting table!

[VetLegion]

If the Data Master Himself says so

Updated and put the small logos of games up there.

[Kuciwalker]

The fact that they ruled C2's combat system the best makes me wary of giving much credence to their ratings

EDIT: oh, and C1 was rated best for grid type