Civilization :)

[runequester]

Recently got a copy of Civilization for the amiga, along with the manual and a very cool looong strategy guide. So I've been playing it a lot again.


Some random thoughts that spring to mind:

A lot of little tricks to earn money that I never thought about before
(Sell barracks before they are outdated by conscription and later combustion, f.x.)

I can't believe this one never occured to me. Late game, it takes a big city 3 turns or so to build a courthouse. Under democracy, you have no corruption making the courthouse useless. But.. you can build it, sell it for 80 gold and built it again. Voila.. tons of money to incite revolts.

Don't want the senate to force a peace treaty with your enemies? Refuse all attempts at negotiations.

Never underestimate the defense of riflemen or the AI's willingness to build 5 of them in every damn city.

2000 gold to incite a revolt may be small change compared to the piles of bodies required to take it.

Some wonders are absolutely essential (Hoover dam, womens suffrage spring to mind) others are fairly modest improvements that can be built or ignored (capture later to earn points)

Finally understanding how pollution and corruption is actually calculated (I knew the basics but its nice to have the formula)

There's a certain simple charm to the original Civ. Each game has thrown more and more factors into the mix and given more stuff to keep track of. Im not opposed to complex games (I like Steel Panthers and Hearts of Iron f.x.) but for Civ, I like it a bit simpler.

The original combat is also by far the best. The various hit point schemes caused all sorts of trouble of their own.

[Darrin]

Yep, Civ was always a big favourite of mine, and it was Civ2 coming out on the PC that made me buy my first Windows PC (a used 100Mhz Pentium).

I still play the Civilization games, but I prefer Civ3+Expansion.  I've tried to get into Civ4 a few times, but there's something about the display and menu that makes me cringe.  I've noticed Civ5 in the shops, so I might give that a try.

Edit:  One last tip... when you know you're about to lose a city to the enemy then sell the most expensive improvement before it falls.  

[runequester]

I have played untold hours of civ2.

I never really could get into civ3. All the ideas they brought seem good, but the execution just lacked for me. I guess I was disappointed it wasn't more like Alpha Centauri.

And good catch on the tip

[ElPolloDiabl]

In Civ 2 I once got a tank (combustion) before 40BC by sending scouts to discover free techs. At chieftain level of course.
I usually always try to get a railroad stretch built before 0BC at chieftain level.
I prefer king level the best, if you set it higher the computer actually cheats. Doesn't seem fair.

I've had a look at Civ 5 it looks like a very different game, no unit stacking at all. Cities can only garrison 1 unit which actually adds to the cities defense/hitpoints instead.
They at least got rid of a lot of the bad parts of Civ 3 and 4, but I would like to see them polish it up more with an expansion or sequel.

[Darrin]

In Civ 2 I once got a tank (combustion) before 40BC by sending scouts to discover free techs. At chieftain level of course.
I usually always try to get a railroad stretch built before 0BC at chieftain level.

The key to all of the Civilization games is unit movements.  As soon as I build a new city I build a road to link it to the others and railroads are deployed as soon as possible.  At least that way you can back up the defenses of one city with several near-by ones and quickly replace lost units with new ones.

[countzero]

nah, for me 4 was the best, religions, great people, culture just add so much fun and different mechanics to the game I usually try to play realistically, to please my people, not to win, so I dont do many battles or destroy other players, I'm a builder

I bought Civ V at steam on release day. it was absolutely awful. worst Civ I've played definitely by far. Shallow mechanics and most stupid AI I've ever seen. Still go back and play IV and some mods.(despite its short comings, like AI stacks of doom ...)

[runequester]

The key to all of the Civilization games is unit movements.  As soon as I build a new city I build a road to link it to the others and railroads are deployed as soon as possible.  At least that way you can back up the defenses of one city with several near-by ones and quickly replace lost units with new ones.

yeah, a defense network is vital. The roads also help amp up your trade, which is vital.

I always got a chuckle out of invading barbarians riding your railroads, complete with their swords and legionaire helmets

[Xanxi]

Funny, i'm playing a game of the original Civ AGA these days (at the first level though, i found the game too hard at higher level) :-)

[guest7146]

Mayor flees in panic.