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Civ 4, is it better when all is said and done?


Kalfear

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So finally got civ 4 working a month or so ago and have made it to noble level (that I can win at).

 

But Im really starting to think Civ 3 was the better game.

 

Now granted, I love having the religions and all that, thats a nice new addition. But Im finding that building units kinda less important in civ 4 as you can breeze through to tanks and mech inf so easily.

 

basically if you can survive the barbarians early on, get to muskets (for defence) and knights (for offence) you have won.

 

Civ 3 was much more detailed and getting those newer techs were more difficult (or fealt so anyways).

 

Also the limitations placed on you early on in expanding I find annoying in Civ 4, I much prefered the old system of needing at a minimum, 3 pop in a town before you could build a settler.

 

Im just not sold Civ 4 is a better game, graphically yes, has some new ideas and concepts that are appealing, but over all game wise, I just dont think so.

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I think the only reason why it took you so long to get the later techs in Civ 3 is because in the later parts of the game, each turn took so much longer.

 

 

To be honest it sounds like you're playing against the AI at a less than intense difficulty level.

 

 

I think Civ 4 is much better than Civ 3.

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Sid is managing the entire studio of Firaxis I believe. Though I think he had "final say" on anything to make sure it kept an appropriate Civ style of gameplay.

 

He really liked the innovations IIRC.

 

 

 

I thought Alpha Centauri was a Brian Reynolds/Sid Meier co-op project?

Edited by alanschu
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Yeah, from the civfanatics forums, it seems - as a whole - those who preferred 2 to 3 like 4, but those who preferred 3 don't.

 

 

What about those that think that Civ1 is the best of the first three civs?

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
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According to Moby Games, Brian was lead designer, but Sid was still a designer.

 

Curious.

 

 

I don't have the manual here with me, but I think there's a text written by Brian about the development of Alpha Centauri in it that describes the involvement of Sid in the creation of the game.

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
Heja Sverige!!
Everyone should cuffawkle more.
The wrench is your friend. :bat:

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I'm taking a break from all things Civ at the moment. In a few months, I'll feel a civ urge once again, but will it be for Civ 3 or 4? I'd guess 4, but only time will tell which has the greater staying power.

"An electric puddle is not what I need right now." (Nina Kalenkov)

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IMO, Civ 4 is clearly better than Civ 3. The removal of pollution and corruption alone (replaced by health and city maintenance, respectively) put it over the top. Also, the better tech tree and more varied infrastructure improvements both take what used to be mechanistic decisions and make them interesting. I haven't tried the multiplayer yet (need to hone my skills further first), so I can't talk about that.

 

Overall, I doubt I'll play it as obsessively as I played 1 or 2, but I don't have that kind of free time anymore anyway.

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Civ 4 plays a lot better on Epic speed, it gives each unit time to be useful rather than being obselete by the time you've got a decent number on the battlefield.

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Civ 4 plays a lot better on Epic speed, it gives each unit time to be useful rather than being obselete by the time you've got a decent number on the battlefield.

 

I disagree. I find Epic too slow; Standard works fine for me. It took me just over 16 hours of game time to win a Standard SP game (my first Monarch level win :D ) last week-- I don't need it to last any longer than that!

 

As for units going obsolete, I did notice that when I first started with Civ4, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I think that ratcheting up the difficulty level helps slow down the science (AI is more aggressive, and you have increased research costs). Plus, I'm not the type of player who often builds large invasion forces. I'm more of an opportunistic warrior-- grabbing a city or two from a rival when I have a momentary advantage and then suing for peace in exchange for some nice goodies.

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