Civ 4

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I didn't realize this game was out 'til today. It sounds pretty awesome from the reviews on IGN. I hopefully will pick it up soon. Anyone else have the chance to play it yet?

[Guest Vitamin X]

This game is buggy as FUCK and has insane system requirements for something that really should be much simpler. Don't be surprised if you have to spring for a new video card and/or RAM...

[A Happy Medium 0]

It runs on my laptop....let me say that again...it runs.

 

The beginning of the game is fine. It is quick. But, of course,Leonard Nimoy (who does the voiceovers for the game) starts to skip when he tells you about the importance of fission.

 

A very addicting game, however. I still love it, even with its flaws. I hope it comes out on 360 some time.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Ahhh, I've never had problems with it. Of course, my computer is absurd.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Well I'm running a rather average computer for what you get nowadays.. 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 dual-processor with 512kb of RAM. Formerly had the on-board video card, but it was an Intel Extreme Graphics 2 that didn't have hardware transform and lighting, so I bought a 128MB 3D video card (nVidia Geforce 4000MX) at Best Buy for about $60, and the game still runs much slower than I'd like it to.

 

Also it had a bug where by putting in the disc, it would erase my sound card from device manager, then when the game was booting up and looked for the sound card, would crash on startup. This meant everytime I wanted to play the game, I had to reinstall my sound drivers first. Now, ever since the patch came out, it just crashes to the desktop right after the loading screen. Despite all these bugs, I love playing the damn game, and would probably be addicted to it if it weren't for all the problems I'm having technically speaking.

 

Nimoy's voiceovers are awesome.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Dude, it's definitely your video card. 4000MX is a really old card and I doubt Civ 4 supports it. Even with 128MB, it's not really sufficient to run the game. You'll probably need at least a 6600GTX

[Guest Vitamin X]

Well, it DOES run (or at least it used to before the patch). I still find it rather asinine that I have to drop an additional $250 or so for a decent video card just to play the damn game.

 

But on the bright side, this means I can in the meantime upgrade my graphics card to one with multi-monitor support like I want (and possibly need in the future for video/film editing), and possibly a TV tuner or at least an S-Video out like the one I have right now.

 

It really doesn't feel like it's the video card, though, as it just straight out runs real slow and choppy, and they do meet the minimum specs, just not the recommended ones.

Edited December 6, 2005 by Vitamin X

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

Could also be the 512mb ram. That would explain a lot of the choppiness. Most games need about a gig to run smooth these days. The fact that the game runs, though, doesn't mean that it isn't the video card (odd how that works out, then?) causing the bugginess. I had the same problem in regard to Battlefield 2 when it first came out and didn't support my card.

[Guest Vitamin X]

In either case, I'm going to upgrade my RAM to my motherboard's supported (ugh) 2 gig. It's only a couple hundred bucks on newegg, so hey, why the hell not.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

It's the same old Civ with a nice shiny shell. Fun for a few weeks then it will rot on your HD.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Oh hell no it is not the same old civ!

 

I had to buy a video card to run it, but it looks sweet. I'm enjoying the hell out of it. I play on Noble/Prince

 

Things that make it better than previous Civs

1) AI Relationships -- You can actually see what's affecting your relationships with them

2) AI respects borders!

3) Religion adds a whole new aspect.

4) Warmongering or large empires are not necessary. I've won on Prince level with 5 cities.

5) With the Civic enhancements, government style matters. There's war governments, peace governments, commerce governments.

6) The value of wonders has been reduced.

7) To fight, you actually have to use combined arms.

 

This game is crack, and nothing like previous civs. It got a few things wrong, but made alot of the right choices. On multiplayer, its addictive as hell.

[Insane Bump Machine 0]

Civ IV is the best game in the series and one of the best games I've ever had the privilege to play. It runs fine on my Notebook (Centrino 1.73 GHz, 512 MB DDR, Radeon X600), although more RAM wouldn't hurt I guess.

 

the new religion system and near-perfect AI kick my ass. Fantastic game, and incredibly polished with the new interface and all-around presentation, which were pretty much the main flaws of the series until now. Can't wait for some all-night LAN games with my friend who's addicted as well.

[Guest cosbywasmurdered]

Holy Shit. I MUST get this. I still play CivII religiously.

[The Man in Blak 0]

It doesn't seem right to have to buy a new video card for Civilization.

 

How does it compare to Alpha Centauri? (My personal favorite in the series.)

[Stephen Joseph 0]

It blows AC away.

 

I meant, AC has a few things that are done better, but as a whole, it is a much better and more well-balanced game

 

Anyone up for TSM Civ4 Game? If we can get 6 players or so, I can arrange it. Play By Email?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Oh, not to mention that your civ's culture plays a HUGE role in everything. In this game, your borders are determined by the level of culture in your civ (and all cities have different cultural values) and it can get to a point where a neighboring city from another civ will actually revolt against that civ and switch to you if your city has way more cultural influence. That can also be determined by religion.

 

I'm definitely up for a TSM Civ4 game, provided I can get the game working again by re-installing the thing from scratch and patching it...

[Cartman 0]

Geez, i'm completely broke since buying this house a month ago and settling in. I know I cannot really afford to spend money on another video game.

 

Yet you guys just convinced me that i need this game. Civ 2 is awesome but it's time to upgrade.

[A Happy Medium 0]

I would be into a Civ game....could you break down how this would go, Tyler?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Oh, not to mention that your civ's culture plays a HUGE role in everything. In this game, your borders are determined by the level of culture in your civ (and all cities have different cultural values) and it can get to a point where a neighboring city from another civ will actually revolt against that civ and switch to you if your city has way more cultural influence. That can also be determined by religion.

 

Not to nit-pick, but in Civ 3, cities from rival civs would also defect to your civ if your culture was stronger.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Geez, i'm completely broke since buying this house a month ago and settling in. I know I cannot really afford to spend money on another video game.

 

Yet you guys just convinced me that i need this game. Civ 2 is awesome but it's time to upgrade.

 

This is what torrents are for.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Invader3k..Yeah thats true, but now you can tell when and why its happening, which you couldnt in Civ3

 

Okay, so right now, we've got me, V-X, and Medium for a TSM Civ 4 game.

 

I would like to have three more players. I think 6 would be easy enough that we'd be able to progress pretty darn fast, either via email or by a set time to play. I'm thinking email would be better for everyone's schedules, but it would be a slower game.

 

I'd be thinking...

Custom Game option with

Standard Size Map

Continents

Normal Temp/Terrain

Permanent Alliances Enabled

Cultural Flipping Enabled

Quick Speed (speeds up production and research, but there's less turns)

All Game Winning Conditions Enabled

Randomly Assigned Civ (so things are equal)

 

Anyways...once we get a few more people, I'll send some PM's out with some information about it. Get emails together, and voila. Bragging Rights on TSM.

[Cartman 0]

Well I "aquired" the game and have been playing all night tonight. Very addicting and I like it alot. I may have some interest in this e-mail game you guys are talking about but I need to know more about it. How that works and all.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I really want this game, but I don't think it will run on my computer. I guess I will just have to continue with Civ 3 for awhile longer. Maybe I'll be ready by the time the inevitable expansion comes out.