Poly admin change

[Alexander's Horse]

In SP, to make it interesting, the AI has to get advantages.

I'm finding civ 3 very frustrating in that regard, the AI is always ahead. Soren just didn't get it imo. That probably contributed to the inactivity on the forums because, cheats, shortcuts and good strats are few.

[MikeH]

Suggestion: Content content content.

Adopt a modern CMS system and use the hell out of it. Hire new content editors.

There are two things. CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT is one mantra, the other mantra should be "CAN I FIND IT" there actually is some really good content on Poly but it's very frustrating to find unless you know what's there and where to go, or follow a link from a thread in the forum.

Set yourself some user scenarios to help you think through what key information needs to be on the home page/every page.

eg.

1. I'm a new Colonization player I want to find a bunch of stats about all the units. I google and find Apolyton and CFC. Which one do I get the information from and why?
2. I'm an experienced CivIV player who's coming back to it after a break and want to find out some interesting strategies.
3. I'm a CivIV modder who regularly uses Apolyton and CFC, and there was a really useful discussion about AI editing that got converted into an article somewhere... now where was it...?

Throw everything from the current site away in terms of design it has virtually no redeeming features. Link to archive stuff where required and migrate any useful articles to the new CMS.

Oh and another bugbear of mine. Images like this:



Look cheap, naff and worse than not having an image at all.

Stick with a simple design, like what everyone is used to. CFC isn't the prettiest site and it's all in vbDupral, but it's incredibly functional. Easy to navigate and find what you want. Their left side navigators mean I can get to pretty much any of their major informational articles I want with one click from their home page.

[Dis]

I liked that you can find the mods/scenarios from the threads in cfc. No reason we can't do that here. Or at least link it to the download section.

Other than that, just keep things up to date, and we'll be ok.

[SpencerH]

I'm finding civ 3 very frustrating in that regard, the AI is always ahead. Soren just didn't get it imo. That probably contributed to the inactivity on the forums because, cheats, shortcuts and good strats are few.

The CIV3 forums were actually very robust back when the game was new and poly was still on top of the heap. There was lots to complain about, fixes to stupid bugs to post, game ending bugs to report that occurred after 6 months of PBEM, etc. In addition to beating up on the poor game quality at release, there was also lots of 'history' related discussion.

Why are you playing CIV3 ? CIV BtS is much much better.

[Arrian]

I was one of the most active posters in the CivIII and CIV on-topic forums (the general and strategy forums, anyway) when they were active.

I do check the CIV general forum occasionally and post when there is a discussion going on, but that is very rare now. It's basically dead. If it had more activity - say, newbies asking questions - I'd be there, answering them.

-Arrian

[BeBMan]

What's with all the changes? Sounds like a coup to oust the current guys

And what will be the pov of the new administration regarding locust space aliens?

[Cort Haus]

Good strategy guides and discussions and access to them is key for me - and what I most want to read on a Civ forum. Vels strat threads were in this spirit, but there were many other good discussions and strats posted. CFC has seperate forums for strat articles and strat tips - this is a good division and helps to keep the meaty, detailed analysis accessible and not diluted by lots of quick-fire threads. Also on CFC, they have collections of articles, plus the links to the discussion threads.

If possible, some kind of 'Strategy Tsar' whose role it is to closely observe, collate and organise this kind of contribution would be good.

[SpencerH]

We could start a few on topic threads sure to get comment: "best MBT", "best assault rifle", etc.

[EPW]

decision

[chequita guevara]

Is the OT about to go bonkers?

[DanQ]

Oh and another bugbear of mine. Images like this:



Look cheap, naff and worse than not having an image at all.

Your opinion -- I disagree completely. (I'm biased, of course, but that surprisingly doesn't change my view. )

[notyoueither]

Is the OT about to go bonkers?

About to?

[Lancer]

In all the years I've posted here this is the first up front discussion about the site that includes mods...or x-mods. It was always behind the scenes, if it existed at all. I wonder why that is.

[MOBIUS]

Because they liked the site being ****?

Thanks for the tips MikeH - I'm off to CFC to reacquaint myself with Civ IV!

[Asher]

Your opinion -- I disagree completely. (I'm biased, of course, but that surprisingly doesn't change my view. )

He's quite right. The design of this site is stuck in the late 90s (see my internet nostalgia thread -- the frontpage of this site in 1999 is actually BETTER than today).

This image is a perfect example. It looks like it was made with cooltext.com