Civilization V

Oh, I will get it sorted out - along with my letters to my state's Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. There are laws about selling products to the public that don't work. *Imagine how torked you would be if you bought a new car and couldn't drive it because you didn't have a credit card account at BP*

I mean what if a 'customer' didn't have the internet to begin with?

*shuffles off mumbling and swearing and knowing better than to type another word*

Romantic Heretic said:

Necroing this thread because I just got Civ V.

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I got Civ V this week-end also. I'm not sure when I last played a Civ Game -- Civ II in 1992?

I was the Greeks once -- very dull and then Nebechadnesser II. A lot of the Babylonian names don't seem very Babylonian -- isn't Nippur Sumerian? Isn't Tilgath-Barad-Dur Assyrian-Tolkeinian?

I'm going to get the Gods and Kings Expansion and make the world safe for Zoroastrianism (as is my wont in many a simulated universe -- I tried it in Crusader Kings II and Alp Aslan -- Kind of a Leonine C. S. Lewis Seljuk -- crushed my little Theocracy the 3rd time I revolted) -- this time we'll see about that -- Alp probably isn't even in the expansion, bless his heart.

Yep. Sure enough in my First game with Gods and Kings, I managed to get the 2nd religion slot -- Rameses II started Islam and I got there one turn later with Zoroastrianism after subduing the Polynesians and enraging the Huns.

It looks like the Huns may wipe me out unless I play all my diplomatic cards and sneak up some warships on their unguarded provinces or something.

But no, I mobilized to the point that in 1 turn my Empire was going to go broke and attacked the Huns. After that I financed the war with plunder and the Huns killed off enough of my army to make it economically workable. It only took most of the early Middle Ages to wipe out the Huns.

I should add -- it's a fun game: neat graphics, good indicators of what you might be forgetting before you end your turn. Nice triremes, though I don't get why the game can't run from say 4000 BC to 600 AD with greater variety in ancient shipping and whatnot.

Gods and Kings does add Dromons and Quinqueremes.

I found out that there is a rather large increase in difficulty between the Warlord (Easy) level and the Prince (Standard) levels.

I've started a couple of Prince games so far and my Civ become unhappy with me the first time I founded another city. I spend most of my time at the beginning fighting off barbarians. I don't dare do any improvements until I build some fighting units because they'll just be captured.

In the meantime my opponents, judging by their scores, just happily expand and build without any major difficulties.

I'll try another Prince game soon, but if the idiocy continues I'll just stick to Warlord. Civ 5 is playable at Warlord. Above that it strikes me as a 'butt rape without lube' type of game.

Romantic Heretic said:

I found out that there is a rather large increase in difficulty between the Warlord (Easy) level and the Prince (Standard) levels.

I've started a couple of Prince games so far and my Civ become unhappy with me the first time I founded another city. I spend most of my time at the beginning fighting off barbarians. I don't dare do any improvements until I build some fighting units because they'll just be captured.

In the meantime my opponents, judging by their scores, just happily expand and build without any major difficulties.

I'll try another Prince game soon, but if the idiocy continues I'll just stick to Warlord. Civ 5 is playable at Warlord. Above that it strikes me as a 'butt rape without lube' type of game.

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I think I'm playing at an easier level than Warlord. Even so, now that the Empire is vast and flourishing, everybody is really unhappy. This is despite 2 major Prophets, a fully enhanced religion, Monastic Life in Most Cities, an Inquisition that Will be starting Soon and a Liberal Use of Capital Letters.
BUT I know what will make everyone happy -- if they revolt and I RAZE the cities. No cities, no unhappiness.

KellyAssauer said:

Oh, I will get it sorted out - along with my letters to my state's Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. There are laws about selling products to the public that don't work. *Imagine how torked you would be if you bought a new car and couldn't drive it because you didn't have a credit card account at BP*

I mean what if a 'customer' didn't have the internet to begin with?

*shuffles off mumbling and swearing and knowing better than to type another word*

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Plenty of people don't like Steam, which is fine, that's their prerogative. Steam being one of the largest game distributors on the planet, however, means that some companies -- like Firaxis, which makes the Civilization games -- use it to provide the game to the largest gaming customer base around. Civ V uses Steamworks, which streamlines matchmaking, DLC distribution, and some games even allow users to create their own content (though I'm unsure if Civ V is such a game).

I'm not so sure that the BBB is going to be the route you want to take, namely because Valve (which owns and operates Steam) has a pretty good reputation. Somewhere like 2K Games' support website where you might have a chance of finding a fix for your problem is probably time better spent.

On topic: my brother in law prefers to "buy" his games by way of a Torrent link (if you follow my meaning ), so I got to watch him play and try it out a little. The Civ series has never quite been my bag, but Civ V is being offered as a pre-order bonus for another Firaxis game (XCOM: Enemy Unknown) if enough people pony up for pre-orders first. Is it worth just playing the Vanilla version, or does Gods and Kings offer enough of an upgrade that it's worth buying to go with it?

Shuemais said:

Plenty of people don't like Steam, which is fine, that's their prerogative. Steam being one of the largest game distributors on the planet, however, means that some companies -- like Firaxis, which makes the Civilization games -- use it to provide the game to the largest gaming customer base around. Civ V uses Steamworks, which streamlines matchmaking, DLC distribution, and some games even allow users to create their own content (though I'm unsure if Civ V is such a game).

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The first problem is that this 'game' was purchased in a box store - only to find out that I had not 'purchased' the game. This is false advertising. The 'game' had to be registered and downloaded online from a third party.

I cannot load the game from the disc, cannot play the game I have purchased without going to a third party, and cannot play the game without an internet connection.

All of these things need to be represented in huge letters across the physical box. THIS IS NOT A GAME, IT IS ONLY THE THREAT OF ONE.

After several attempts, the third party's software finally downloaded only to inform me that my license for the game was invalid. Repeated emails to said third party to fix this issue never met with any response.

Four weeks after trying to install a game I thought I bought... a phone call to Aspyr finally got results.

I could care less who this third party is, what they do, or whether or not people like them. They should have no business at all in my purchase arrangement with the game maker. It's as if I bought a new car, but wasn't allowed to see it, or drive it, until I made arrangements with a third party I've never heard of.

I don't want or need matchmaking -streamlined or otherwise- and do not need DLC distribution. Heck, I don't even know what they are. I just want to open the box, load the game, and play it.

Shouldn't I be able to do that?

Yeah. Levels past Warlord (Easy) are meant to be lost.

No matter what I do or what I research I end up running out of money and or/happiness long before Jesus is born. The only thing that kept me in the last game as long as I did was I picked the policy that triggered a Golden Age, so I built up a bit of savings. But before long two cities, four units (I even disbanded one to save money), two workers and two cities (one with five buildings, one with one) was more than my empire could handle.

Shrugs. You would think they'd have tested better than that, or patched the balance by now. I'll keep playing on the easier levels. I like building things. But any game that strangles your progress that quickly isn't one I'm going to care much about.

Civ V is so addicting. I'm tired of being the World Police though. I've found out that those I've come to aid for in wars just end up turning on me a few centuries later anyway. I'm going to find my own island and work toward a nice Cultural victory so everyone will leave me alone.

Civilization 5

I didn't see a thread like this while searching, so here goes:

This is basically just for general discussion of Civ 5 and the G&K expansion.

So...can we build ourselves a thread that will stand the test of time?

Enjoy!

ETA - So, I apparently didn't see this one, so consider this a bump.

I want to play Civ V, but unfortunately, I don't have the money for it =[ I really love the Civ series though, it's addicting! I'm still playing Civ 3 though haha.

KSavoie said:

I want to play Civ V, but unfortunately, I don't have the money for it =[ I really love the Civ series though, it's addicting! I'm still playing Civ 3 though haha.

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I believe it's on sale on Steam until Jan. 5. So, it might be helpful to get it now...

I've got Civ V + expansion. Played Civ since the very first one and always loved the series.

The past month or so I have been trying my darndest to win against 12 computer opponents with 36 city-states on Level 7, Marathon. Eeeesh! They start off with such a huge advantage you are always playing way behind. And if you don't expand/protect early on, you're toast by medieval era.

Brave New World Expansion

Hey, guys...

Who's excited for the new expansion coming out? I'm really intrigued by the whole World Congress concept. My friends will be able to get revenge on my brother now, seeing as the latter plays really aggressively. Now he'll have to tread carefully, lest he meet the diplomatic sledgehammer.

Billtrumpet25 said:

Hey, guys...

Who's excited for the new expansion coming out? I'm really intrigued by the whole World Congress concept. My friends will be able to get revenge on my brother now, seeing as the latter plays really aggressively. Now he'll have to tread carefully, lest he meet the diplomatic sledgehammer.

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I'm looking forward to it - have been playing Civ V again recently.

Torgo said:

I'm looking forward to it - have been playing Civ V again recently.

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Would I be correct in assuming you also have Steam?

Billtrumpet25 said:

Would I be correct in assuming you also have Steam?

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Yep. I'll PM you my username if you like?

Torgo said:

Yep. I'll PM you my username if you like?

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Please do.

ETA - Some friends of mine and I sometimes play games of Civ together. I don't know how well time-wise this would work with you on the other side of the pond D), but if you can make it on one of the games, you are welcome to join.