I know most of these games can be read and commented on in the Apolyton Site, but surely someone here must have played them. Civ2 was one of my first and favorite PC games. I played it constantly and when I showed friends the game they all went out and bought it. CTP1 (Civilization:Call to Power) Was a big disappointment. Its sequel, (Call to Power II) is a minor improvement, but it seems activision released it without sufficient play testing. Its relatively new as of the writing so I hope a patch comes out that will make the AI more agressive. As it is now, even on hard level you can steamroll over the AI in the first few thousand years making the end game anticlimactic. SMAC (Sid Meier;s Alpha Centuari and its expansion pack Alien Crossfire) is a great game following the formula for Civilization on a different planet after human colonists have landed.

For any who don't know- The Civilization games are empire building games. You start off with one or two settlers, build cities and armies and develop technology from the stone age and into the future. All the while the AI players are setting up nations of their own and either forming alliances with or against you, attacking you or being crushed by you. Great fun! So, does anyone have any comments?

I loved Civ2. I bought it at Kmart for 10$ and spent weeks playing it. It's a great game but seems a little unbalanced sometime. It doesn't seem like I should be rampaging through primitive civilizations with fighter jets when they haven't discovered gunpowder yet. And an interplanetary spacecraft in 1763 A.D.? I suppose the inaccuracies are part of the style of the game.

Theres on civ game where you're probably gonna be 'historically' accurate. I had a buddy once that made the moon launch in 1649!

Ever try SMAC?

I am not too fond of the Civilisation games. It is very random and rather dull in a way. It is ridiculous that a barbarian should be able to destroy a battleship every now and then, and I do not like the turn based nature of the thing, suggesting you only control things half the time.

For real empire building strategy, there are the Age of Empires games, which require more skill, and for military strategy, there is Total Annihilation, IMHO the best game ever made.

Peter.

Like what Jake said, I once had a bank in 3000 BC and a spacecraft in the 1500's? Spoookkkyyy

Why? The Dark Ages didn't happen in your game, I assume, so why on Earth couldn't we be five hundred or more years ahead of today's technology. There is no pre-set time for when we can do certain things, you know. For centuries events got in the way, so we had to put such advances aside. Sir Isaac Newton was born around that time so if it had not been for the fall of the Roman Empire, he might have been present at the first space launch.

Peter.

Civ is fun! I like nuclear carpet bombing the enemy. You can't do that in reality.

Er . . . what a shame you have to stick to fantasy to put your evil deeds into practise, Electron.

Peter.

Actually, I don't have to...

I loved Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately I had to uninstall it to get room for Baldur's Gate II. It, and Unreal Gold, Deer Avenger 3D, Outlaws, Yoda Stories, Rainbow Six, and South Park FreeCell.

I love these games. I have Civ 2, Fantasic worlds and Test of Time. And I brought them within a week of release. Moan.

I doubt if anyone will see this, but does anyone have any cheats for Alpha Centauri? I keep getting my butt handed to my by the Hive or the Believers (I usually play the University or the Spartans)!

I am not too fond of the Civilisation games. It is very random and rather dull in a
way. It is ridiculous that a barbarian should be able to destroy a battleship every
now and then, and I do not like the turn based nature of the thing, suggesting you
only control things half the time.

Well, Barbarians could destroy a battleship in the old Civilization, but for Civ II the combat system was adjusted so this never happens.

And dull? Come on! I loooove Civ II. It has an immensely steep learning curve, but it's great fun building a globe-spanning empire from scratch. I can hardly wait till Civ III.

For real empire building strategy, there are the Age of Empires games, which
require more skill, and for military strategy, there is Total Annihilation, IMHO the
best game ever made.

Well, both of those are less about empire building and more about city/army building, not that they're not great in their own right (especially AOEII). Anyway, the sort of strategy in Civ II is more of the grand scope variety, where you control the resources of entire nations to mobilize your army and defeat the enemy.

Sorry, for being so defensive, but I looooove Civ - as I said already

Any opinions on Call To Power 2 (which has dropped its Civ tag not accidentally)?

Well, Civ 3 should be out any second now...

Call To Power 2 is okay. I find that the "special units" still introduce problems in game balance, and the A.I. isn't very tough. Plus it takes a loooooong time to get through a game.

That said, it's fun, though Civ 3 is much more polished and, well, better.

I'm still playing Civ 2: ToT (it's the only Civ game I own, by the way, so no laughing at the back, please) and I still find it takes ages to play through a whole game. Maybe about a week. Rather spookily, I'm finding I'm subverting the whole world into my evil empire (bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!) and everyone hates me for that, apart from one rational perfectionist empire whom I've subverted down to one city and have surrounded with troops - they're allies now, anyway. For a laugh, I played as the Americans under the name George W. Bush, and it's the most successful game I've played yet. Scary.

Maybe I should up the dificulty level away from Chieftain from now on?

Personally, I love the game. Matt Pesti, you say you have ToT. Have you tried the Sci-Fi or Fantasy worlds? Or the Midguard Scenario? What do you think of them? I quite like the sci-fi theme, particularly the need for alien diplomacy to further your research potential, but haven't tried the fantasy ones yet.

Josh G, if I were to abandon my current version of Civ, should I go for CtP2 or Civ 3? I heard some people were a little disappointed with Civ 3 over previous incarnations (possibly for the same reasons they didn't like Sim City 3000, which I also own and like).

Get Civ 3. My only real complaint about it is the lack of Wonder videos and less extensive customization (no in-game scenario editor or cheat mode). However, it's a much cleaner, more polished game than CtP2, with greater depth.

About Sim City 3000, I can't really understand why some don't like it. Granted, it's much more difficult than SC2000, but it has terrific graphics, and it doesn't have those ridiculous-looking arcologies

Okay, for anyone out there currently playing CivIII, has anyone ever achieved a culture victory? No matter how massive my culture level gets, I can never seem to get close!

I have, but it involves building nearly EVERY SINGLE Wonder there is.

I used to play Civ I on my super nintendo-loved it! Also played Civ II--loved it even more(especially the high council!"BUILD CITY WALLS first and other improvements later!" Remember..everything cost money!")

Want some fun on civ II? Try to meet with your advisors when you are in anarchy. Its helarious!

Civ III really had to grow on me-i didnt like it at first-but i like it now. I always play as the Persians.

Okay, I have a question for anyone who's playing Civ III Conquests. In the Middle Ages Conquest, how exactly are you supposed to move your Holy Relic? I can't get mine to move over land, and I can't get it to board a ship. Since much of the Conquest involves trying to get the things to Jerusalem, I thought it might be nice to make them move, but the Civolopedia is being unhelpful. What am I doing wrong?

Yeah, this stumped me too. What you're supposed to do is get a regular land unit, and "load" the Relic into it just as you'd load a unit into a ship. Beware, though, because once you load the Relic into the unit, it stays there until that unit enters Jerusalem or it's destroyed.

I learned that the hard way my first game, loading it into a weak unit instead of the Knight I had planned to use.

Ohhhhhhhh, okay. Hmmm, interesting. Do you have to control Jerusalem to get the thing inside?

Definitely, although I suppose you could use the Relic unit to take the city after the appropriate seige. Would be taking an awful chance, tho.

Hey, Snick, sorry I haven't been on AIM lately, there have been some problems. Like every time I try to open a message window, AIM crashes. Anyway, one of my friends here at school is getting antsy to start a "play by e-mail" game, and I was wondering if you would want in.

Ooh, I'd love to, Sparrow, but my copy of CivIII has developed a strange, inexplicable bug (it handles terrain improvement effects all wrong), and I've uninstalled it until I get a new copy. Thanks for the offer, tho!

Does the bug still happens when you're running Conquests? Maybe you just need the patch.

The bug happens in both the original program and when I'm running the expansions, which is why I tend to think it's a problem with the original program.

You haven't tried to tweak it in the editor, have you?

Nein. It's a real funny glitch, because there's absolutely no other problems, the game simply treats a roaded square as if it was irrigated and other similar effects. It's still very irritating. Perhaps I should install again and see if the problem is persistent.

Wow. That's bizzare.

Okay, everyone, hold onto your hats... Firaxis is coming out with CIV4!!!!!