NationStates Jolt Archive


The Civilization IV Thread

Potaria
28-11-2005, 11:29
Here I am, bored as usual. There's not one of these already, so here it is... Anything about Civ IV goes, really. Strategies, your favorite civics, favorite civs, etc. I'll get things started with my favorites.

Favorite Civ: Arabia.

Favorite Civics: Representation (Police State during war), Free Speech (Nationhood during war), Emancipation, State Property, Theocracy. With Islam as my state religion, it's a very "colorful" way to play. :D

Favorite Strategy: I usually go for a culture boom. This starts out with me researching all of the early religion techs as fast as possible so I can have a monopoly on their special buildings. After that, I create at least four workers, then I expand from there. Military operations begin when I have at least six cities. I usually don't need a large military, though. One or two defenders per city usually does the trick, sometimes with a small border guard.
Greater Valia
28-11-2005, 11:37
Here I am, bored as usual. There's not one of these already, so here it is... Anything about Civ IV goes, really. Strategies, your favorite civics, favorite civs, etc. I'll get things started with my favorites.

Favorite Civ: Arabia.

Favorite Civics: Representation (Police State during war), Free Speech (Nationhood during war), Emancipation, State Property, Theocracy. With Islam as my state religion, it's a very "colorful" way to play. :D

Favorite Strategy: I usually go for a culture boom. This starts out with me researching all of the early religion techs as fast as possible so I can have a monopoly on their special buildings. After that, I create at least four workers, then I expand from there. Military operations begin when I have at least six cities. I usually don't need a large military, though. One or two defenders per city usually does the trick, sometimes with a small border guard.


Oh god I am ADDICTED to this game.

Favorite Civ: Tie between Chinese and Germans (Mao, Bismarck)

Favorite Civics: Free Market, Slavery, Theocracy, Corporation, Nationalism.

Favorite Strategy: Military rush early on with an emphasis on science, and economy.
Monkeypimp
28-11-2005, 11:58
1) build chariots
2) Molest world
3) profit





Sry, that's civ 1.



I haven't got civ 4 yet.
Harlesburg
28-11-2005, 12:05
CIV II here!

It destroyed any chances of a social life for me.
MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAcoughs dies........

Romans or Germans

1.Armys of Phalanx and Chariots
2.Leonardos Workshop
3.Wipe the local area clean of Barbarian Huts collecting Gold with at least 2 other units supporting.
4.Science is my main aim.
5.Strong Navy with plenty of Horse and Catapult later or equivelent(SP)
Mariehamn
28-11-2005, 12:55
OMG! CIV IV? Is OUT? When did that happen? What did I miss?

Oh...Civ III:

Commerical, Seafaring

Go for British empire, rush buy everthing, luxery monops, Repub. or Dem.. Oh, the days....
Lazy Otakus
28-11-2005, 12:58
I'm not that impressed with Civ VI yet. I can't say why exactly though - but I haven't even finished a single game. Maybe the Civ formula is getting old for me. :(
Jello Biafra
28-11-2005, 13:16
Ah, so it is possible to run Civ IV, just not on my computer.
I guess until I get a computer that can run it, I won't be playing it.
Heron-Marked Warriors
28-11-2005, 13:23
How different is Civ IV from Civ III?
Drake and Dragon Keeps
28-11-2005, 13:24
Civ 4:

My favourite civ is the english as the redcoats kick ass.
My tacticts is to expand as fast as possible early on (settlers and 1 defensive unit) and carry on doing this untill there is no more room to place cities (bad habit from earlier civs). Build the odd worker to gradually improve empire. Once I have finished the city construction stage I go and beat on the person closest to me who has already started to anoy me by then with demands (using axeman, swordman and catpaults and upgrading when i can). My research early on is to found at least one religeon then I go straight for rifeling (redcoats). Once I have redcoats I start beating on everyone I can except maybe the biggest computer. Then I try and decide between conquest, UN or space ship victory as my empire is big enough to win any of these. I only have trouble once my enemy start using mech inf and tanks as they beat my redcoats hands down.

The civcs I like are:
Representation: nice research bonus (or Universal sufferage: to rush buy things)
Vassalage (can't remember spelling) for war (xp yay). (free speach for peace)
Emancipation (fast village growth and oponents become less happy)
stateproperty (good for big empires) or environmentalist for extra health if needed.
Theocracy (more bonus xp) for war

Has anyone been able to win by culture yet? It is so damn hard.
I also like the americans and their navy seal, especially on island maps. You attack but they can't attack you except with ships and battleships stop this nicley.
Khymru
28-11-2005, 13:26
Not very different tbh.
I think I am getting bored of the concept as well. Still to complete a game, seems to easy now.
Same tactics as others still work.
Hata-alla
28-11-2005, 14:22
I MUST have that game. I loved Civ II(Haven't played III yet). I usually build a small defense in every city. Then I threaten my weaker neighbours. When they want peace, they usually pay 100-200 gold for it. Then I attack them. Hehe.
N Y C
28-11-2005, 15:00
I like it. actually, I'm happy it's a little less addictive, I can finish my homework at a sane time now.:p
Turquoise Days
28-11-2005, 16:02
I'm not that impressed with Civ VI yet. I can't say why exactly though - but I haven't even finished a single game. Maybe the Civ formula is getting old for me. :(
A bit ahead of the times there, aren't we?:p

Oh, yeah. At the minute I'm the English, an I'm gettin invaded by the Aztecs. Bar-Stewards.
Potaria
28-11-2005, 22:42
Not very different tbh.
I think I am getting bored of the concept as well. Still to complete a game, seems to easy now.
Same tactics as others still work.

Unh? You're playing on Chieftan, aren't you?

"The same tactics as others still work." --- Not true. You can't expand constantly from the beginning. Doing this will *kill* your economy and scientific research. It's also easier to build a large military earlier in the game, because the upkeep model has changed.

Civ IV is a huge upgrade from Civ III... These few things I've mentioned being just the tip of the iceberg.
Heron-Marked Warriors
28-11-2005, 22:46
Unh? You're playing on Chieftan, aren't you?

"The same tactics as others still work." --- Not true. You can't expand constantly from the beginning. Doing this will *kill* your economy and scientific research. It's also easier to build a large military earlier in the game, because the upkeep model has changed.

Civ IV is a huge upgrade from Civ III... These few things I've mentioned being just the tip of the iceberg.

So, worth me getting off my lazy, no-money-having ass to buy it, then? Seeing as how I still spend maybe 20 hours a week on III
Potaria
28-11-2005, 22:48
So, worth me getting off my lazy, no-money-having ass to buy it, then? Seeing as how I still spend maybe 20 hours a week on III

It's definitely worth it, even if you're just getting it for the much-improved online play.
Kryozerkia
28-11-2005, 22:53
Civ IV, what's that? :D

Civ III baby!

Preferred civ: Celts (agriculture, religion), Babylonians (science, religion)

Preferred strategy: I use civs with religion as an atrribute because stable government is the key to getting a stable government early on in the game. Revolutions cut into precious research and advancement time. Religion virtually elimiates it and and you wait until the end of 1 turn and you got your government choices at hand. I like to wait until I have republic then move onto democracy. Monarchy isn't much better than depotism.

Once I have that, I like to walk over my opponants by building up my culture.

I start out with about 5 cities at once and I try and build as many as I can at once. I always use my capital city for wonders and settlers, since it can turnout settlers the fastest, rivalled only by the two closest, which I use when I need a wonder built quickly.

I like to research construction and law as soon as I can so I can have aquducts and courthouses quickly, thus allowing for order and quick growth.

If I had additional resources, I'll always make 1 unit per city if I have an advantage over my enemies, otherwise, I focus on culture.

Since I focus heavily on culture, I don't like their cities close to mine. When that happens, I send out a settler and put another city close by so that I have more influence than they do and consequently, I'll often get their weaker city because I always build a temple or libary right away in cities on my border with the enemy.

I always make sure I research something that will give me a wonder or structure for my cities before I do the secondary discoveries. The one ones I do that don't give me something right away, are republic, democracy and communism (police stations, which reduce corruption and help control riots and unrest).

From this point on, I just watch as my civ thrives and I go on to win.

Usually if I get to the point where I have to build the UN, I don't bother with any of the diplomatic crap; I just build it and dominate it, not holding elections and instead, move ahead to beat the game using the Apollo Program and space race. If I don't have to build the Un to win, I'll settle on a cultural victory.
Heron-Marked Warriors
28-11-2005, 23:13
It's definitely worth it, even if you're just getting it for the much-improved online play.

Cool. I've never played Civ online, though.
Clemantion
29-11-2005, 00:03
Ah its not fair, all you people have Civ IV and i so want it. But can't right now with Christmas and such. I have played all the Civs and just want to play this one.

So people could you be so kind as to tell me how great it is to make me even more jealous at all of you.
Utracia
29-11-2005, 00:10
How much different from Civ III is Civ IV? I own III but is IV alot better?
Heron-Marked Warriors
29-11-2005, 00:46
How much different from Civ III is Civ IV? I own III but is IV alot better?

Dude, I already asked this.
Utracia
29-11-2005, 00:47
Dude, I already asked this.

Hey, I'm in a hurry. Reading every post would slow me down.
I'm still going to wait a year for the price to go down though. Paying $50 is not something I'm eager to do. Then I'm sure will be the inevitable expansion disk to take more money from me.
Potaria
29-11-2005, 03:22
Cool. I've never played Civ online, though.

With the right people, nothing beats it.
Kanabia
29-11-2005, 04:02
How different is Civ IV from Civ III?

It's a lot more flexible in what you can do - politics, unit upgrades, etc. I personally think III was the worst civ game (not counting the call to power games).

They oversimplified things a bit too much to give it marketing appeal, though...I want a Civ game as deep as Alpha Centauri. That's the best civ-style game to date, IMO. It would be awesome outfitting a modern army...you could rely on fast, mechanised units (as the WWII era USA did), or slow but immensely powerful heavy armour. Imagine the choice between having a small, but elite plate-mail clad professional army or a cheap leather-and-mace army to give some flexibility in medieval times. You have that choice in a way now, but the unit design feature of Alpha Centauri really involved you in it, and it felt like you were making the decisions rather than being subject to the arbritary "i need horses and iron to build knights" thing. What if I don't have access to horses, but I still want an elite force in medieval times, similar to samurai? What if I don't have access to metal, and I want warrior-monks that double as missionaries for my religion, or even as spies? What if I don't have iron, and need to have my soldiers wield bronze swords and spears...or even wooden staves? I shouldn't be left in a time-warp, being stuck with ancient-age spearmen because I don't have iron for pikemen, for example. I should be able to design units to counteract this...military forces throughout history developed their character as a response to the circumstances around them, and you as player should be able to guide this development. Samurai, for example, fought different enemies to European knights and neither were really geared up to fight eachother. You should be able to adjust this and design weapons to counter what your opponent has. Another example of how this might be useful: what if you're fighting a weak opponent that has no aircraft technology? You could build hugely powerful and long ranged, but utterly defenseless and unmaneuverable zeppelins or 12 engined bombers that could level cities. More civics would also be good. The game degenerates into a money/research vs. military strength battle. At the end of the game, there aren't really that many choices to customise your nation...there are only two real alternatives for each area...police state vs. democracy, freedom of speech vs. nationhood, and so on. In Alpha Centauri, it was a lot more flexible, and felt more real. You could be a fundamentalist green state that valued wealth above all, while having a big-brother-esque thought control system in place - or a technocrat cybernetic democracy with a planned economy. All options were feasible at any stage of the game. In Civ IV, slavery becomes totally redundant, for example. What if I want to establish a police state with slavery in modern times? I should be able to without penalising myself because I have a "better" option available to me. Maybe the civics could get different penalties and benefits as you advance in ages, making slavery a good choice to boost production in ancient times, but having completely different effects in the modern age, while still remaining possible as a game choice - as it is now, it becomes totally redundant. What if the world had turned out differently? Civ is about alternate history, after all. It would be nice if I could have a bit more flexibility like that. Still, that's not everyone's thing, I guess. *sigh*
Lt_Cody
29-11-2005, 04:59
One thing will decide if I get this game or not:

Can Spearmen hurt Tanks?
Kanabia
29-11-2005, 05:01
One thing will decide if I get this game or not:

Can Spearmen hurt Tanks?

Can't say, because you don't have that problem. The AI upgrades all of its units.
Potaria
29-11-2005, 05:03
One thing will decide if I get this game or not:

Can Spearmen hurt Tanks?

No, they don't do anything to tanks whatsoever. I actually encountered a spearman (barbarian) with a Mech Infantry unit. Not a single balance issue in that sense.
Maineiacs
29-11-2005, 05:15
I tend to go for cultural/scientific victory. Egypt's a cool one to play. War Chariots give you a millitary boost early on, so no one messes with you while you start building every wonder you can get your hads on. I like playing as the spiritual civs because the no anarchy lets you build up you millitary (with vassalage/ police state), then if you do get into a war, draw them out into your land, switch to emancipation. They'll have two choices: either face serious unhappiness at home, or pull troops back to put daown a slave revolt, at which point you can sweep them aside. Of course, if they've already emancipated, this doesn't work.
Vaitupu
29-11-2005, 05:51
Hey, I'm in a hurry. Reading every post would slow me down.
I'm still going to wait a year for the price to go down though. Paying $50 is not something I'm eager to do. Then I'm sure will be the inevitable expansion disk to take more money from me.
I got it free :p
Pure Perfection
29-11-2005, 06:50
Well, since i've got both CIVIII and CIV IV, my favorite games of all time :), i'll list both:

CIV3:

Favorite civ: Germany. I love the science and aggressive traits, fits me perfectly.


CIV4: Napoleon, France. Not sure exactly why, but I guess it's due to the fast construction and the aggressive trait.

The only Goverment civics I use usually, is Police State, Nationhood, Serfdom, (I think), and Organised Religion. The early priests really help your culture.

But the reason I love those civics is because i'm always at war :D.
Heron-Marked Warriors
29-11-2005, 11:21
~~snip~~

That'd be awesome **drool**
Mariehamn
29-11-2005, 11:43
That'd be awesome **drool**
There was a mod from Civ II that let you make your own units.

Now, if your hoping for a link, you expect too much of me. Rather, I'll try to recall the name of it: "Civilization Evolution" or something. Its free, and the bunch of people are (were?) working on making Civ inteligent, something that might have been fixed in Civ IV, but I wouldn't know, as I haven't played it.

CHECK IT OUT!
Heron-Marked Warriors
29-11-2005, 12:09
There was a mod from Civ II that let you make your own units.

Now, if your hoping for a link, you expect too much of me. Rather, I'll try to recall the name of it: "Civilization Evolution" or something. Its free, and the bunch of people are (were?) working on making Civ inteligent, something that might have been fixed in Civ IV, but I wouldn't know, as I haven't played it.

CHECK IT OUT!

Back in the days when I still had II (long story. I "borrowed" it from a friend and it took me two years to give it back) I seem to remember using something similar. Those were the days.
Mariehamn
29-11-2005, 12:42
Yeah, but you don't need Civ II to use it. Something about open source code. Its good for a rainy day or two! But, then again, I had no idea what I was using. I was like, "Oh, hey, free game!" And then played it. :D
Heron-Marked Warriors
29-11-2005, 12:46
Yeah, but you don't need Civ II to use it. Something about open source code. Its good for a rainy day or two! But, then again, I had no idea what I was using. I was like, "Oh, hey, free game!" And then played it. :D

OOH!! To the googlemobile!
Mariehamn
29-11-2005, 12:55
Hope ya find it, it was one of those random "lost in the laberinth of the internet" things and hey-hey! :)
Kanabia
29-11-2005, 13:04
Hope ya find it, it was one of those random "lost in the laberinth of the internet" things and hey-hey! :)

I guess you mean Freeciv.

http://www.freeciv.org/index.php/Freeciv

It's okay, but I think it's mainly geared at multiplayer. Maybe they've improved the AI since i've played it, because it was atrocious last time.
Heron-Marked Warriors
29-11-2005, 13:05
Hope ya find it, it was one of those random "lost in the laberinth of the internet" things and hey-hey! :)

Well, I found this: http://c-evo.org/. Not sure if that was what you meant.
Trotsgrad
29-11-2005, 13:13
civ 4 lets play a game

woops the drivers that come with that new GE FORCE card dont work

lets download the new drivers

woops those do not work

lets call customer service and find out wtf

after an hour they tell me to download drivers 77.77

hmm those suck too

oh wait 81.94 is out, ahhhh does not crash as much but still crashes about once every 3 hours and is a bit unstable

oh well I getting sick of Civ 4 cause of the crashes lets play sim city 4, wait the card is unstable for that too, bah stupid geforce, lets get another card...

(to be continued)

In honesty seems like a great game though though huge worlds are still not that big compared with civ 3 or civ2 and a few bugs with the game
Heron-Marked Warriors
29-11-2005, 13:16
Yeah, I heard it crashes a lot. Although as someone I know put it, "It's a good fucking thing it keeps crashing, or I would have lost my job, been kicked out of college and died of starvation by now":D
Kanabia
29-11-2005, 13:16
Yeah, I heard it crashes a lot. Although as someone I know put it, "It's a good fucking thing it keeps crashing, or I would have lost my job, been kicked out of college and died of starvation by now":D

I haven't had a single crash to date, and i've played it a fair bit...
Olaskon
29-11-2005, 14:23
Civ IV to me is the perfection of the classic civ games.

I've played every single civ game since the first was released, although I have to say I had the most fun with civ II.

I don't think it's really fair to throw in Alpha Centauri with the rest of the civ games. Although it was developed by Sid Meier the formula is entirely different.

The civics are an interesting take on managing your nation, it's nice to do something like have representation with slavery, the concept alone is a weird juxtabposition but it really helps the feel that you're personalising your civ. And FINALLY! The ability to NAME your units! There's nothing like forming an army with your elite 1st legion at the spearhead of your invasion force :)

That they've kept access to resources necessary for construction of certain units is good, I was afraid that wouldn't follow through.

Anyway, favourite civ would probably have to be romans or english, I have a thing for the whole empire thing, and I like being able to push my weight around when it comes to the specialist units these nations have.

I remember often was the time when I'd go rampaging around at the advent of gunpowder in the original civ. My typical tactic is to throw as much into research as I can afford and have all my settlers actually settle a city with a warrior already with it at the beginning of the game, instantly to do the same . Rule of thumb - once a city gets founded it works on founding the next one. I concentrate on mostly scientific buildings in my capital and outward. Once you've got to a sufficient level of growth and knowledge it's pretty easy to bowl over the other civs.


*Addendum*

Additionally, I did have alot of problems initially "installing" the game - lots of cab CRC errors, but I managed to get it on in the end. I've had the occasional crash, more'n likely due to memory leakage I think, but I can still run the game for 8 hours without it happening. It's a lil frustrating though, cause you're looking at making sure you save your game every ten minutes.

We all know how frustrating it is to lose the whole modern era because you forgot to save.
Greater Valia
29-11-2005, 14:29
civ 4 lets play a game

woops the drivers that come with that new GE FORCE card dont work

lets download the new drivers

woops those do not work

lets call customer service and find out wtf

after an hour they tell me to download drivers 77.77

hmm those suck too

oh wait 81.94 is out, ahhhh does not crash as much but still crashes about once every 3 hours and is a bit unstable

oh well I getting sick of Civ 4 cause of the crashes lets play sim city 4, wait the card is unstable for that too, bah stupid geforce, lets get another card...

(to be continued)

In honesty seems like a great game though though huge worlds are still not that big compared with civ 3 or civ2 and a few bugs with the game

You're using shitty graphics card made by a shady company. Thats your problem. ATI FTW.

BTW, I use to like Civ 3, until I played Civ 4. Civ 4 stomps all over Civ 3's ass in every way possible.
Mariehamn
30-11-2005, 09:17
Well, I found this: http://c-evo.org/. Not sure if that was what you meant.
Yeah, that was it. Did you like it? I was kinda of turned off, and went back to playing hotseat Civ III multiplayer with my homeboys after I got pwned by the computer because I forgot how to play.

But the mere thought of being able to customize my army brought me back, again and again. :p
Mariehamn
30-11-2005, 09:32
Yeah, I heard it crashes a lot. Although as someone I know put it, "It's a good fucking thing it keeps crashing, or I would have lost my job, been kicked out of college and died of starvation by now"
LOL! Like Civ III hotseat multiplayer! I'm such a nerd. :p

And FINALLY! The ability to NAME your units! There's nothing like forming an army with your elite 1st legion at the spearhead of your invasion force :)
I'm just going to be nitpicky: I named my unites in Civ III so I knew which one was which, but then I gave up naming every unit and began naming just the Elites and Heros and Armies or whatever, so when "Torgall the Impaler" or "Cletus of Ugandia II" died when those musketmen surprised us from behind the mountain, I cried...I really did....*tear*

Anyhow, point is, you could name units in Civ III.
Heron-Marked Warriors
30-11-2005, 11:13
Yeah, that was it. Did you like it? I was kinda of turned off, and went back to playing hotseat Civ III multiplayer with my homeboys after I got pwned by the computer because I forgot how to play.

But the mere thought of being able to customize my army brought me back, again and again. :p

It's not bad, although I'm yet to be entirely certain what I'm doing most of the time.
Potaria
30-11-2005, 11:16
I'm just going to be nitpicky: I named my unites in Civ III so I knew which one was which, but then I gave up naming every unit and began naming just the Elites and Heros and Armies or whatever, so when "Torgall the Impaler" or "Cletus of Ugandia II" died when those musketmen surprised us from behind the mountain, I cried...I really did....*tear*

Anyhow, point is, you could name units in Civ III.

It's true that you could name units in Civ III, but only after they made victorious leaders. On Civ IV, you can name any unit, regardless of its experience.
Mariehamn
30-11-2005, 12:56
It's true that you could name units in Civ III, but only after they made victorious leaders. On Civ IV, you can name any unit, regardless of its experience.
With advanced buttons on, you can name any unit with the PTW expansion, or maybe the Conquerors. I didn't purchase either of them, if you know what I mean....
I used to name every unit, but who wants to mourn a conscript bullet biter?

And, yeah, I didn't quite know what I was doing most of the time either, heh.