On-Topic Off-Topic Forum Thread: Rate'em! Civ's I-V

[Wiglaf]

4, 5, 3 , 1, 2. Did anyone hear that twink Jon Shafer is making a new kickstarter TBS, "At the Gates"? His fall from AAA developer to couch potato twink is complete. : angry:

[MichaeltheGreat]

I'll depart from the norm: 1,4, SMAC (despite the myriad bugs), 5 and 2. Never played 3. 1 can't be compared to the later games because the technology limits were so severe, but there was simply nothing like it before. Same with the original Pirates! and Railroad Tycoon. There were just blow you away games because they were unprecedented. Now anything that comes out has massive technology, RAM and storage to be sloppy with, and a huge history of good, great and suckass games in every genre to be compared against.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Sounds clunky and micro managery.

Just have an overall stack limit per tile, with each unit having a 'size' rating depending on its type and era.

That way you avoid unrealistic SODs and also get rid of this 1UPT nonsense...

Seriously, just copy and adapt the mechanics of virtually any old Avalon Hill bookcase wargame - it's not ****ing rocket science...

Yeah, the old Atomic Games V for Victory series handled that quite well, with mixed company and battalion size units and a realistic stacking limit that also affected traffic flow up roads if you weren't careful. Kinda like real life.

[snoopy369]

It's just that it takes so ****ing long to build enough ships to transport your guys overseas. I usually spend half the game building up my fleet, and then the rest of the game executing the invasion.

Honestly, I never had a problem with Stacks of Doom.

Did you ever play Civ5?? You don't have transports anymore.

[Elok]

Pollution whack-a-mole was a PITA, agreed.

I pretty much never used whipping, and didn't have any problems beating the AI. Don't think that was the issue.

I hear that whipping is very powerful, but I've never used it. I'd rather have the extra population and rely on chopping if need be. Usually when I want to rush something, it's to kickstart a small new city with few industrial resources that would otherwise take forty damn turns to build its granary or whatever. Sacrificing pop in that situation is either silly or impossible. Probably it's better for "industrializing" flood plains cities, or various exploits. Dunno.

[Hauldren Collider]

Did you ever play Civ5?? You don't have transports anymore.

Yes, I did. I know that units turn into transports when they hit the ocean. I don't think that would be balanced in Civ IV because in Civ V they are mostly defenseless, but you could stack them in CIV.

[Hauldren Collider]

Pollution whack-a-mole was a PITA, agreed.



I hear that whipping is very powerful, but I've never used it. I'd rather have the extra population and rely on chopping if need be. Usually when I want to rush something, it's to kickstart a small new city with few industrial resources that would otherwise take forty damn turns to build its granary or whatever. Sacrificing pop in that situation is either silly or impossible. Probably it's better for "industrializing" flood plains cities, or various exploits. Dunno.

Whipping turns food into hammers. It's incredibly powerful. A city with some fish or some wheat has as many hammers effectively as a city with several mines.

[Elok]

Eh, maybe I'll try a game as Montezuma sometime. But I finally got Planetfall (gonna install it as soon as I've done all my homework for this week), so it isn't likely.

[Elok]

Speaking of which, any advice for somebody trying the Planetfall mod for the first time?

[onodera]

Speaking of which, any advice for somebody trying the Planetfall mod for the first time?

Reinstall SMAC.

[Elok]

I already have SMAC, I wanted Planetfall because I like the idea of applying certain Civ4 mechanics to the SMAC universe.

[Elok]

Don't get me wrong, I love SMAC, but Civ4 improves things in some ways (while missing out in others). Promotions, for example, and a more involved civics/SE system. Hopefully Planetfall can also address some of SMAC's sad deficiencies, like the grossly overpowered supply rovers or the near-uselessness of the "supply" SE value. I don't expect something better than SMAC, per se; I have no real expectations except that it will be something different with a familiar flavor.

[self biased]

to be super effective at whipping requires more micromanagement/paying attention to the game than i care to indulge in.

also, the planetfall mod is pretty good, but it's really its own beast: neither SMAC/X or civ 4, and not quite between.

[self biased]

also relevant:

[Hauldren Collider]

I can't say I've ever actually been able to pull off a cultural victory. I've either not had the patience or had to go to war.