Civilization 4 Expansion disc: thoughts?

[Garboshnik]

Civ4 definitely has some technical issues. Its also something of a resource hog, and drags down computers that are capable of displaying far prettier games. Pity since it is so much fun

 

[KenM]

Civ4 definitely has some technical issues. Its also something of a resource hog, and drags down computers that are capable of displaying far prettier games. Pity since it is so much fun

When I went to install Civ 4, I had to update direct X, but it would not install from the Civ 4 CD, I got an error when I tryed. I had to find the direct X files that was missing from the net.

 

[Vigilance]

My video card is based in an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro, which is not that old. Still, I'm having all sort of troubles with a few games. Civ is perhaps the greatest offender, because, unlike the others, I really like it. Next time, I'll go with a nVidea card.

I have a 2.6 Ghz processor, 768 MB ram, but I still had to upgrade the memory card to play it, I got an nVidia GeForce MX 4000 whatever that is.

Also, now that I think about it, I had some crashes when it was playing the Wonder of the World videos, but I turned them off, and haven't had a glitch since.

Still, looking forward to the return of generals, the best thing (by far) about Civ III.

Chuck

 

[Ron]

I played probably 50 long games and never had a crash. I'm using an ATI 9800. Could be your specific driver rev. ATI puts out buggy drivers a lot.

My driver is version 8.241.0.0 from March, 21th. I already downgraded image quality to medium, which helped a lot but not enough to prevent the problems. My video card has 256 MB of memory and the computer have 1 GB. Still, I believe Civ 4 is leaking and consuming all the memory available.

 

[Nifft]

Soooo.... does anyone have this expansion yet?

How is it?

Thanks, -- N

 

[vulcan_idic]

As I recall they came out with a patch to download for Civ IV as soon as a week or two after release that seemed to fix most of these sorts of issues folks were having - did you try that?

 

[Simplicity]

I have it and it's great!

It's not a ton of content for the core game, but they managed to make a number of small improvements on an already great game. Vassal states alone are worth the expansion pack price. Not only do they greatly speed up conquests but they significantly alter diplomacy.

The warlords themselves are kind of fun, but nothing super special other than the fact that it's fun watching the bar fill up with combat after combat.

Marble becomes important as stone always was (who really prefered the Parthenon over Stonehenge and the Pyramids?) with the addition of the Temple of Artemis.

Triremes really add a lot to the early naval game. Though I agree that more could be done there still. God, I wish I could blockade or intercept or something.

Trebuchets are great, but not super special.

Chariots now counter axemen. Finally they have a counter.

The great wall wonder looks fantastic.

Religion is much more important. The Spiral Minaret now gives 2 gold per building. Sankore gives 2 beakers per religious building.

The AI for barbarians is definitely tougher (they don't just stupidly attack you anymore). I think the AI for opponents is slightly better as well.

 

[Mercule]

Religion is much more important.

Wow. I already play a game pretty focused on religion (culture wars). If there's more to do with religion, I definitely need this expansion.

 

[Simplicity]

Wow. I already play a game pretty focused on religion (culture wars). If there's more to do with religion, I definitely need this expansion.

The changes aren't really "more" to do with religion as opposed to the fact that having religion can have more of an impact on your economy.

 

[Mercule]

The changes aren't really "more" to do with religion as opposed to the fact that having religion can have more of an impact on your economy.

Hmm... economy, you say?

Yup. Sounds like an expansion that even those of us you rarely go to war could use. I'm really, really liking the additional religious/cultural options in Civ 4. But I used to run a economics-heavy game in previous versions (sustainable spending of 500+ gold per turn to build stuff). Being able to do both of those well/better would be great.