Post #29,483
2/23/02 2:12:04 PM
|
Civilization III
A few friends of mine bought this turkey. Only to find that it didn't run on their Windows 2000 or XP machine. The ones that had Windows 98 found that it was very slow to play once the other civilizations colonized most of the map. I seem to recall Civ2 not taking that long to play, and it ran great on a Pentium 60 with 32M of RAM. Civ III on a 800Mhz PIII with 256M of RAM runs like a dog, and I wonder what you need to run it the way it is supposed to run? The GUI has changed, and confused a lot of my friends who played Civ2 or Civ1. Plus the wealth option in cities does not work, they are supposed to generate wealth when you select this, but it did not change the gold per turn. I assume there is an update to fix this? Plus those galleys sink way too easily, even when not in deep waters. Just two spaces away from the shore, and they sink. Yet the Computer AI galleys don't seem to sink and they can travel around the planet without sinking and colonize places you cannot get to.
Ah well, spend $10 on Civ2 or $20 on Civ2Gold instead of $50 on Civ III. Infogrames must have bought out Microprose or their software? Anyway there is a free version of Civ out there at [link|http://www.freeciv.org|[link|http://www.freeciv.org|http://www.freeciv.org]] and has ports to Windows, OS/2, OSX, Linux, FreeBSD, and others, even the old AmigaDOS port is there!
P.S. Remember "Masters Of Magic"? [link|http://www.ageofmagic.org/|Check out [link|http://www.ageofmagic.org/|http://www.ageofmagic.org/]] I hope that they one day finish it. It is a MOM clone based on FreeCiv! I used to play that game a lot.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
|
Post #29,511
2/23/02 8:24:37 PM
|
long live MOO, MOM, and ultima 7!
I've personally never played Civ 3, but my officemate has it. He got it working with w2k so it must be possible somehow. He has also complained about how slow it is so your friend's speed problems are not unique.
Personally, I no longer have interest in the commercial CIV games as I get my kicks from freeciv. It lacks the annoying eye candy and is an excellent variation of the CIV series. I don't play it much so the computer can kick my ass. 8^)
Norm, I'm in shock that someone other than me remembers Master of Magic! I killed so my hours of my life when I was younger playing MOM, MOO(Masters of Orion), and MOO2. Hopefully the Age of Magic people will actually finish their reimplementation.
While I love freeciv, the best reimplementation of a classic has to be exult. It does an awesome job of reimplementing ultima 7. Not only have they done an amazing job, but exult is better than the original. I never finished ultima 7, but now I have a chance to finish what I started so long ago. The only drawback is that exult requires the original ultima 7 data files to play though.
David "LordBeatnik"
|
Post #29,517
2/23/02 10:16:16 PM
|
MOO2 rules!
Just wish it ran under WINE, Win4Lin, or VMWare. :-P
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
|
Post #29,520
2/23/02 10:50:58 PM
2/23/02 10:51:53 PM
|
Other ports
Just check out [link|http://www.freeciv.org/projects.phtml|The other projects and ports] I am sure that if someone does the MOM port, the MOO port won't be far behind it?
Freeciv is fine, but takes some smarts to set up a game. I think they have a Windows manager launcher, but it only exists for Linux. Would be nice if someone ported it to Windows and such?
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
Edited by nking
Feb. 23, 2002, 10:51:53 PM EST
|
Post #29,522
2/23/02 10:59:53 PM
|
Civ3 and Windows 2000
I am not sure why it doesn't work, but the main problem is that it will not install.
Insert the CD, no program gets launched. Autorun is enabled.
Right click on the CD drive letter, and choose Explore, select setup.exe and click on it. It runs, but then nothing. No screen comes up.
Finally I had my friend run "G:\\SETUP.EXE" from the Start/Run command, and it ran, then nothing.
After this, it said there was an invalid disk in drive G:, and it would not read any other CD inserted into drive G:, until after a reboot.
I tried this out on my Windows 2000 system, that has a 56X CD-ROM drive on it, got the same results. I tried it on my Windows 98 system with a 32X CD-ROM on it, and it loaded no problems.
Any ideas? Could it be the copy protection and the settings we have on the W2K system? I was logged into W2K as Admin, should have had full rights. I did have NTFS for the file system, and maybe the copy protection cannot install to it? Maybe I need a FAT32/FAT16 drive to install it to?
My friend would like to install this on his Windows 2000 system, but so far I cannot find any way to do this. It fails everytime he goes to install it.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
|
Post #29,558
2/24/02 2:16:50 PM
|
Two minds about civ 3
I'm of two minds with Civ3, I keep starting up games and then getting bored half way through.
I think the problem is that while Civ3 has some major improvements in terms of graphics, interface and AI, much of the game is the same as Civ2 and a few bits actually regress a bit.
The problem is that despite the fact the game looks entirly different, it plays like Civ 2.5. There is little in the way of new material to learn.
The new resource and trade system is the only major new game mechanic, and it's not that complex. And there a few bits that have been simplified.
As for bugs and slow interface, well that has been true of all the Civ games. As a matter of fact, almost all of the Sid's game show the same problems. They don't seem to have a well designed internal architecture, but instead are built up on the fly. This is part of what makes them so fun, but it also makes them buggy.
Jay
|
Post #29,586
2/24/02 11:59:54 PM
|
Downfalls of Civ3
First if you don't find a source of "Iron" you cannot make swordsmen, if you don't find "salt peter" you won't make Musketmen. It is sometimes hard to find these things unless you trade with another civilization or take over their city that has that resource. So even if you have the tech, if you don't have the raw materials you are SOL. Sometimes you find a "new source" for X, but very rarely. They need to improve this part of the game, maybe make a "prospector" unit that can search the hills and mountians for a new source of iron or something.
Second the combat system is really f*cked up, how can a Regular Spearman take out an Elite Musketman? Must be bad dice rolls or something? I wish they had the MOM or Ultima 7 combat system, where you move each unit one at a time, and tell it what to do and where to attack. Instead, you see them bump heads and watch as the hitpoints go down until one unit runs away or gets killed?
Third, I did not find out any way to make an Diplomat or Spy unit, when I had the tech to make one. In Civ2, you could make one of these creatures and then bribe the enemy unit or city to join your cause. Without these, it makes the game less fun.
Fourth, non-combat units get captured too easily. Your worker, settler, cannon, catipult, etc can be captured and taken over. In the old Civ2, they had hitpoints and could take damage and fight back. Now they just f*cking surrender and become an enemy unit? Aren't there any people manning those cannons?
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
|
Post #29,691
2/25/02 10:00:33 PM
|
Re: Downfalls of Civ3
The resource thing is obviously intentional. What is the point of having strategic resources if everybody can get one? The limited resources is actually one of the things I like about the game, since it can force you to rethink your plans half way through the game.
The combat system is really messed up though. The flattened the power levels of units, so higher tech grants less of an advantage. It does solve the race for gunpowder that was a problem in Civ2, but they could have found some other way to fix that.
As for diplomats and spies, they are not units anymore. You can still do the same things by selecting cities and having spies there attempt things but you can't stockpile them anymore.
And I do agree that non-combat units should have a chance of going down fighting rather then being automatically captured. It does make defending your territory a significant factor though, which I do like.
Jay
|
Post #29,596
2/25/02 5:32:52 AM
|
I'll defend Civ 3
Yes, the combat system can be annoying, such as Musketmen sometimes losing out to Swordsmen but it does mean a single tech advantage gives a nation an edge but not practical invulnerabiity. As in real wars, the direction of battle can change frequently and a tactician has to take this into account.
I like the trading system, including strategic resources such as Iron or Oil, though such resources ought to have a concurrent usage limit. The key to the game is diplomacy! The AIs are sharks. Trade hard, trade often and keep your swords polished. Keep an eye on the Trade Embargos and Mutual Protection Pacts between rivals. Make sure you have friends, especially for those important strategic and luxury resources.
Warfare is now more challenging. The AI no longer attacks piecemeal. Attacking units come in mobs and your sword had better not be dull.
Microsoft Outlook - one, big, macro virus portal.
|
Post #29,633
2/25/02 11:50:48 AM
|
I prefer the board game
[link|http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewitem.php3?gameid=71|Civilization] can be played by 2-7 players, the more the better.
Darrell Spice, Jr.
[link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
|
Post #29,635
2/25/02 12:06:58 PM
|
Yes the board game
that is what the "Civilization: call to power" video game was based on. The other Civilization game must have been based on it as well?
The thing I like about the video game, is that each map is different with each game, unless you load a scenario or something?
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
|
Post #29,650
2/25/02 2:14:48 PM
|
alternate maps
Yeah, alternate maps can make things interesting. Jean Phi made a [link|http://www.biochem.purdue.edu/~westerm/civ/|new map] for the board game. There could be others floating around.
Darrell Spice, Jr.
[link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
|
Post #29,638
2/25/02 12:19:57 PM
|
Ditto
Trading is a lot more fun when you are trying to con the other player. :-)
Cheers,
Ben
|
