Civilization 4

[random evil guy]

screw sid meier and his crappy civ4! tried just about everything now to no avail. there is litterally no difference between playing a huge map with graphic settings high or a small map with the graphic settings as low as possible...

 

AAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!

[Spider]

It's faster to use the mouse rather than the keyboard? What's the world coming to?

 

I may have put that wrong. I hadn't played for a few days (out of town) when I wrote it so my memory was a bit clouded. I'm not sure moving with the mouse is faster if you move square by square, but the right button works as the "go to" command of old. So if you tell a unit to move a few squares (roads etc) there will only be lag at the start of the move rather than for each square.

 

Overall, moving with the mouse just feels more natural than the keyboard this time around (at least to me) although it does take some getting used to.

 

It sounds like the diplomacy has been improved out of sight. (I have never lasted more than a dozen turns before a nation on my continent decided that I was too much of a threat, regardless of my technology and military levels.)

 

It has. Diplomacy is a great tool. For instance, I wanted another civ to adopt my religion but he didn't like me enough so I simply gave him a tech as a gift and then all of a sudden we were real pals. Same goes for trade, there are times when you can get valuable resources through trade if you don't have them yourself (just don't trade away all your coal like I did, leaving me without the ability to build railroads without breaking the deal and upsetting an ally).

 

Sucks that ATi hardware is having trouble; they have just released a patch that apparently speeds up all OpenGL games by 35% (tested in CustomPC, only for the latest X1000 series models and possibly the X800s later, though).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not all ATI-users are having problems, those that do have severe ones though. Not being able to start the game severe (although that is what's been fixed). The game is a bit unstable for me as well and crashes every now and then, but it's still loads of fun.

[Pope]

my pc is over 3 years old now, and the game runs perfectly smooth

 

yay for low-tech pc's!

 

 

 

just played my first Civ game ever! I must say, it was quite cool kicking Gandhi's ass

[kumquatq3]

just played my first Civ game ever! I must say, it was quite cool kicking Gandhi's ass

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'd fight Shatner

 

 

So, I guess I should go buy this game? Or should I buy Fire Emblem. Choices choices.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

So, I guess I should go buy this game? Or should I buy Fire Emblem. Choices choices.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Gandhi looks really funny. Most of the leaders look like caricatures though Victoria looks like the queen of hearts from Alice

 

Which Fire Emblem ?

[kumquatq3]

The new GC one

 

been meaning to get Metroid Prime 2, but the price won't drop, damn it. Same with Star Fox Armada

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

The new GC one

 

been meaning to get Metroid Prime 2, but the price won't drop, damn it. Same with Star Fox Armada

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Should be arriving on Thursday. I've played it in Japanese but I couldnt really get a feel for what was going on.

 

Even though I'm a big fan of Fire Emblem I reckon Civ games offer much more replayability.

 

GC games have an annoying tendancy to hold their price. Not as bad as the GBA though.

Edited November 1, 2005 by ShadowPaladin V1.0

[Cantousent]

Bought it, played it, loved it. There is just something about Civ IV that rocks when compared to Civ III. This really is a return to the heady days of Civ I. It's like the end of a long journey, seeing your front porch, and opening your front door. No matter where you've gone, Sid's Civ is ready to welcome you home.

[metadigital]

Really? On that review I am now a lot more interested.

 

I went into the local Game shop today; the game is slated for release on Friday (4th November). I don't know why this is, as the salesman was happy to show me all the copies behind the desk, and even declined my polite bribe that i was quite willing to pass off as petty cash, or something else ... s'funny that he just wasn't interested in breaking the law. Stupid person. I wouldn't tell anyone ... "

[Delta Truth]

HMM seems like their is positive feedback except for the error messages.

 

Bought it, played it, loved it. There is just something about Civ IV that rocks when compared to Civ III. This really is a return to the heady days of Civ I. It's like the end of a long journey, seeing your front porch, and opening your front door. No matter where you've gone, Sid's Civ is ready to welcome you home.

 

Hey Eldar did you have any problems as others have stated?

 

I guess I will add this next to my collection

Edited November 2, 2005 by Delta Truth

[Reveilled]

Really? On that review I am now a lot more interested.

 

I went into the local Game shop today; the game is slated for release on Friday (4th November). I don't know why this is, as the salesman was happy to show me all the copies behind the desk, and even declined my polite bribe that i was quite willing to pass off as petty cash, or something else ... s'funny that he just wasn't interested in breaking the law. Stupid person. I wouldn't tell anyone ... "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

My copy will hopefully arrive tomorrow.

 

Please, oh please let it arrive tomorrow!

[metadigital]

I can see now why the fora are a lot quieter than normal ...

[Cantousent]

Well, I've been playing a few different civs. I started a game on a huge map with all settings cranked to max. I have tried epic and normal speed settings and on terra, continents, etc.

 

The first observation is that my video has no problems at all. The small hicups in the wonders videos, which are nicely done, is probably related to video problems, but the video itself is just fine in those areas. I'm running the game on a 9800pro with 256MB of video memory.

 

I'm impatient with the turns, but they rarely last a whole ten seconds, often less, even in the mid and late games. I'm just impatient and a few seconds of waiting seems like a lot more. The game at high difficulty levels can be brutal, but that's Civ for you. The AI seems a bit more likely to deal with you. In fact, I don't feel like I must make war on my nearest neighbor to stand a chance in the mid game.

 

There are a lot of toggles and sliders, so if your system can't handle it, then lower the settings. On the other hand, I have heard some of the complaints. I don't know what's causing them, but my wifes computer is running this game with a 9600 and I'm running it with a 9800, so it must not be entirely an ATI problem.

 

Happy gaming, friends.

[mkreku]

No, our entire review crew run games on ATI without problems. It's just a popular excuse to blame everything that happens in a game on ATI for some reason. I have a feeling it's mostly **** behind the keyboard though.

[alanschu]

Actually I think you bring up an interesting point.

 

ATI does have a negative reputation about their drivers (at a conference where nVidia was demoing their new GeForce 3, the PR guy basically made fun of me and my "driver issues" when I commented that I owned a Radeon....ironically, I think he insulted more people than just me with his arrogance. Anyways, enough ranting). I think if someone has a game that has a problem and they have an ATI card, many people immediately jump to the conclusion that it is ATI's fault.

 

 

I know that there have been situations, but for some reason I continue to be among the "lucky" that haven't really had any problems with an ATI card since my Rage Fury.

 

 

The one thing I do miss is ATI's fantastic RMA policy. I used to be able to get them to ship me a card while I kept my current one, and didn't have to send back mine until I received theirs. They still have a decent one though. When I got my Radeon 8500, I had bizarre problems. So I RMA'd my card. They said they tested it and found no problems, but still gave me a new card "just in case." Turns out my motherboard was subpar and could not feed enough power to the AGP slot. Less of an issue with cards having their own power connections now though.

[Spider]

No, our entire review crew run games on ATI without problems. It's just a popular excuse to blame everything that happens in a game on ATI for some reason. I have a feeling it's mostly **** behind the keyboard though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That's probably true in most cases, but not in this one. The main problem with ATI is a "failure to render" problem that people have. I haven't read up closely on it (since I don't have ATI myself) but from what I've seen it's happened to a significant amount of users and it makes the game unplayable (I think).

 

The problem was so bad that a fix was released within days of the release (two at the most).

 

Other issues people are ascribing to ATI I have no idea about though. In those cases you're probably right.

[Darth_Schmarth]

I can see now why the fora are a lot quieter than normal ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You got that right in my case.

[Reveilled]

Well, I've had one game now with a standard map and everything else at its default settings, and I've enountered nothing worse that a quarter-second lag between moves, and the tuly disappointing job Spock has done with the quotes. *sigh*

 

Other than that, Civ IV is awesome! The map situation is one of the most impressive, as in my first game, I didn't discover every civilisation until around 1500AD, mainly because there is so much else to do that I didn't discover Optics (which gives the first ocean-going vessel) until around about that time. The world options look very interesting, though I've not had time to play on the maps they generate, but a desert world filled with oases and a world similar in layout to Earth (large continents with lots of islands, I assume) sound like a lot of fun to play on.

 

Something no one else has mentioned yet (I think) is the addition of an alarm clock into the game, which will not only tell you the time (if you don't have a watch, since you can't see the taskbar's clock in a full screen game) you can set so that the game will inform you when a certain time has passed (if, say, you only wanted to play for two hours), something that I'm sure anyone who ever played Civ until 4AM will find useful.

 

In fact, the only thing other than the voiceovers I can really think of as not liking is the tendancy towards the use of leader names rather than civilisations. In the diplomacy screen, you don't ask Rome to declare war on Germany, you ask Caeser to declare war on Frederick. Perhaps this was done to make the single player feel more like a multiplayer game with the AI as real people, but I personally don't like it.

 

But that's just me nitpicking. This is a great game. A great game. Buy it! Buy it NOW.

[alanschu]

As long as I can abuse the "snooze" function on that alarm clock

 

 

It'd probably be best if the alarm clock just saved the game, booted you from the game, shut down your computer, and tossed you into bed.

[Deraldin]

It'd probably be best if the alarm clock just saved the game, booted you from the game, shut down your computer, and tossed you into bed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Or out the door in the morning? "

[metadigital]

...

Turns out my motherboard was subpar and could not feed enough power to the AGP slot.  Less of an issue with cards having their own power connections now though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There was a VERY interesting comprehensive test of all available power supplies by Custom PC in the UK last month (November, issue 26), in which a significant proportion of them could not produce the wattages advertised, and some (i.e. NOT ONE but SEVERAL) even BLEW UP whilst under load (but under 100% of their advertised maximum, though: one blew up at about 75%).

 

It seems anyone can sell a PSU without regard to the false advertising legislation ...

 

I'd recommend back-ordering this issue to get the results, and make sure you buy one that is recommended, or at least is capable of producing the wattages it says it can!

It'd probably be best if the alarm clock just saved the game, booted you from the game, shut down your computer, and tossed you into bed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Or out the door in the morning? "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you consciously quoting from the sheepdog and wolf looney tunes cartoon?

[alanschu]

Heh nope.

 

 

As for the power supply, I know it wasn't the power supply.

 

One, because I swapped the power supply, and two because when I swapped the motherboard with my original power supply it ran perfectly.

 

 

Though I do know that poor power supplies can cause huge problems too.

[metadigital]

I can't believe that PSU suppliers can just say anything and get away with it! I mean, can AMD say they have a 3GHz CPU and it only clocks @ 2.5GHz? Or if you buy 1GB RAM and it actually only is 768MB? What's up with that?

 

Sheesh!

 

(It was a fantastic cartoon: Sam was the sheepdog, and Ralph was the coyote, iirc.)

[Spider]

There is another issue with this game, unfortunately.

 

Later in a game when a lot of the map has been uncovered, the game starts crashing. Either CTD or a full system reboot. And I'm not the only one this is happening to (and it's affecting both ATI and Nvidia users).

 

I've been trying to read up on it and as far as I can tell most people it happens to are playing on huge (in-game term) maps, or the second largest.

 

The game uses a LOT of memory and that can be the cause of it. I tried shutting off animations and lowering the graphics settings and that seemed to help a little.

 

This is just the sign of a buggy release though and by no means a deal-breaker (for me). It's still a great game and I managed to finish a game in spite of the crashes.

[metadigital]

How much RAM have you got? And where are you reading up on the crashes?

 

September 26, 2005

...

The Firaxis team has been playing Civ IV for over two years now, and we're all really happy with the new level of depth the Great People feature brings to the game. We hope you'll like it too!!

 

Barry Caudill, Senior Producer

CIVILIZATION IV

FIRAXIS GAMES