Pic relevant. I’ve tried playing the new Civ games several times, and quickly end up quitting because I find them too overwhelming and find it hard to want to deal with the learning curve.
It occurred to me that part of the problem might be that I was jumping into a very old franchise that has been getting increasingly complicated over the years. Had a hunch I would have better luck with the original, so I went onto one of those play-dos-in-your-browser sites, dove in, and sure enough I am hooked!
Do I know what I’m doing? Not really, but stuff is happening and my civilization is growing, and it’s a good time.
Most people don’t know: There’s a multiplayer variant of Civilization 1: CivNet.
Barely playable today, as it’s a Windows 3.1 game.
I loved it till late in the 2000s.
Yup, CivNet seemed the most popular for a while. Somebody also put together a mod archive for WinCiv. I also found there’s an open-source decomp project that is “playable”, but I haven’t looked at how mature that one is.
I’ve been leaning more toward UnCiv and FreeCiv21 with a Civ 1 style tileset. Think I prefer the Civ 2 ruleset though.
I played more Civ 1 than any of the later games. Civ 2 is also great as is 4 (3 is decent, but I wasn’t nearly as enthralled with it). Every game in the series since has had aspects to it that I disliked enough to keep me from continuing to play and I heard enough bad comments about 7 to not both buying it.
SMAC (Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri) had some really interesting ideas and mechanics. SMAC is based on “well what happens after you win Civ via space race” and has actual lore, but I didn’t feel it in any way limited the replayability. There is an expansion, Alien Crossfire, that is also included in the pack on Steam. The expansion included new factions, a bunch of different game mechanic tweaks and “secret projects” (aka wonders like in Civ), but you can play them separately and I think I’d encourage you to play the original first as not all of the changes were necessarily better, just different.
It probably won’t matter since you enjoyed Civ 1 just fine, but there are some of the mods out there that can update the graphics and things like that.
I made the mistake of buying 7. “It’s Civ, how bad can it be?” I literally forgot it existed until reading your comment. When I want to play Civ I pull out 6.
ALWAYS play one generation behind with Civ because they don’t actually finish the last game until the new one comes out. Civ 7 will probably be fine, in like a year and a half.
Honestly, one could probably just keep playing Civ 5 without missing much unless there is a specific mechanic in Civ 6 that you enjoy. If you just use it to play risk (i.e. military victories only) Civ IV is probably the best version.
I seem to be this minority. Civ 4 on the Xbox 360 was my first but Civ V was the first on PC and I have wasted away many Saturdays playing.
I almost deleted it from my MacBook before forgetting that I still have a game from a few weeks ago I’m near completing. I branched off to nuke Alexander off the map because he was a dick to everyone but then everyone feared me and I felt bad and haven’t returned.
I’ve been playing since 1991. My friend had a copy and I was so into it I’d go over to his house to play it when he wasn’t home. Then I got my own copy and I haven’t stopped playing since.
Well, except that one time where I had to have my wife hide the Civ V disc from me because I couldn’t stop myself.
I guess what I’m saying is take breaks and go outside, but I know your life will be “just one more turn…” from here on out.
I spent so much time playing this version, loved it but not the 30min+ turns while waiting to do a move in end game. Depending which version you are playing, you can save before entering one of the random village huts and if you get something you don’t like (attacked) you can reload and it will reroll the hut. Not all versions allowed this
I was babysitting the neighbours kids one night and their dad was like “kids are in bed feel free to play civ (III) until we are back”
I had no idea what he was talking about and he delayed his date night to give me a tutorial. Gave me the CD rom after because it wasn’t needed to play. Great times.
I mean they have been rolling out updates and fixes since launch, couple of content packs, balance tweaks, reworked a number of systems…
They’re currently working on a scenario, WW2 Pacific, sounds at least broadly similar to the kinds of scenarios in earlier Civ games, in concept.
I would hope that after that, they can eventually get to something approaching proper mod tools.
Yeah, it was a bit of a buggy mess of a launch, no arguing that, but they have been and are still just slowly refining and improving the game.
Of the seemingly fairly small number of people still playing it… Recent Reviews = Mostly Positive.
Personally, I don’t know why you’d play any deep strategy game multiplayer.
Every time I’ve tried multiplayer, in any 4X / Grand Strategy game… everyone is annoyed that I am taking too long, to, you know, evaluate this considerably complex strategy game, with tons of potential upside to taking your time to micro manage things.
If I am able to take my time, I tend to snowball and by mid or late game, be either winning to the point everyone else quits, or be the only reason why a group of players vs group of AIs game has not totally fallen apart yet.
But I am one of those apparently rare people who plays single player on the biggest maps and slowest time scales my system can manage…
… I just have way more enjoyment that way, and I appreciate that the AI in Humankind at least seems to me to be generally better at playing the game than most AIs in most 4X / Grand Strat games, when the player and AIs are on an equal footing in terms of bonuses/maluses.
My partner and I love to sit next to each other and play these kinds of games co-op — or mostly co-op since they have a bad habit of going Gandhi in 4X games. It’s us versus the world, as it’s always been. ❤️
By sheer chace I came across Alpha Centauri (wikipedia) a sequel to the original Civilization on gog.com. Best purchase ever. Exceptional gameplay. The best 5$ I remember spending.
Alpha Centauri is a game I’ve had since release. Ended up building a dual P3 1Ghz box so I could play without experiencing extreme slow downs during end game when the whole world is visible.
I’ll add my vote for Sid Meyer’s Alpha Cebtauri, it is a masterpiece. If you want to branch out Master of Magic is also quite fun and adds some interesting twists. Though it’s not a Sid Meyer game. There’s even a remake of it.
Civ 2 is my favorite, plus it has a large collection of fan-made scenarios that cover almost every single sci-fi franchise with some fantasy mods as well, plus lots of historical scenarios that are fun to play.
There’s even a mod that lets you play mafiosi in a SC2K-like NY:
It is also a time capsule in who we were twenty odds years ago.
Any pointers on how I can play Civ 2? I have a physical copy I inherited from my dad when he passed but I haven’t found it on Steam or GOG and don’t even know where to begin to try and get the physical copy to work.
I too have the original box with a CD that can’t be read. Maybe hypothetically one could search for it using the word abandonware and find it.
It’s true though it hasn’t yet made available at any of the online stores.
If you enjoy the original Civilization, be sure to try out Freeciv. Basically the original game but with expanded gameplay and updated for compatibility. It’s OpenTTD to Transport Tycoon, if you’re familiar with those games. It also has multiplayer features, and there are sites that run turn-per-day MMO events.
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Most people don’t know: There’s a multiplayer variant of Civilization 1: CivNet. Barely playable today, as it’s a Windows 3.1 game. I loved it till late in the 2000s.
Yup, CivNet seemed the most popular for a while. Somebody also put together a mod archive for WinCiv. I also found there’s an open-source decomp project that is “playable”, but I haven’t looked at how mature that one is.
I’ve been leaning more toward UnCiv and FreeCiv21 with a Civ 1 style tileset. Think I prefer the Civ 2 ruleset though.
I helped develop Unciv.
Have fun.
Thank you for your service o7
You’ve helped me waste dozens of hours I should be giving to the corporation. Thank you for doing your part.
I played more Civ 1 than any of the later games. Civ 2 is also great as is 4 (3 is decent, but I wasn’t nearly as enthralled with it). Every game in the series since has had aspects to it that I disliked enough to keep me from continuing to play and I heard enough bad comments about 7 to not both buying it.
Thoughts on Alpha Centauri*?
While I loved the premise and lore, I felt a bit overwhelmed.
*The game, but if you wanna share thoughts on the star system, I’m all ears (not literally).
Alpha Centaui is a masterpiece and I feel it is better than any actual Civ game.
Spurred by your comment here, I did a search and Alpha Centauri is presently $2.49 on Steam. Looks like I’ll need to try that now too. 🥳
I hope you enjoy it!
SMAC (Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri) had some really interesting ideas and mechanics. SMAC is based on “well what happens after you win Civ via space race” and has actual lore, but I didn’t feel it in any way limited the replayability. There is an expansion, Alien Crossfire, that is also included in the pack on Steam. The expansion included new factions, a bunch of different game mechanic tweaks and “secret projects” (aka wonders like in Civ), but you can play them separately and I think I’d encourage you to play the original first as not all of the changes were necessarily better, just different.
It probably won’t matter since you enjoyed Civ 1 just fine, but there are some of the mods out there that can update the graphics and things like that.
I made the mistake of buying 7. “It’s Civ, how bad can it be?” I literally forgot it existed until reading your comment. When I want to play Civ I pull out 6.
ALWAYS play one generation behind with Civ because they don’t actually finish the last game until the new one comes out. Civ 7 will probably be fine, in like a year and a half.
Honestly, one could probably just keep playing Civ 5 without missing much unless there is a specific mechanic in Civ 6 that you enjoy. If you just use it to play risk (i.e. military victories only) Civ IV is probably the best version.
I seem to be this minority. Civ 4 on the Xbox 360 was my first but Civ V was the first on PC and I have wasted away many Saturdays playing.
I almost deleted it from my MacBook before forgetting that I still have a game from a few weeks ago I’m near completing. I branched off to nuke Alexander off the map because he was a dick to everyone but then everyone feared me and I felt bad and haven’t returned.
I’ve been playing since 1991. My friend had a copy and I was so into it I’d go over to his house to play it when he wasn’t home. Then I got my own copy and I haven’t stopped playing since.
Well, except that one time where I had to have my wife hide the Civ V disc from me because I couldn’t stop myself.
I guess what I’m saying is take breaks and go outside, but I know your life will be “just one more turn…” from here on out.
cough heroes of might and magic III cough
Yess, was playing that recently too. Love that game.
yeah me too, love that game to bits
I spent so much time playing this version, loved it but not the 30min+ turns while waiting to do a move in end game. Depending which version you are playing, you can save before entering one of the random village huts and if you get something you don’t like (attacked) you can reload and it will reroll the hut. Not all versions allowed this
Turn off display enemy moves and it goes much faster.
I was babysitting the neighbours kids one night and their dad was like “kids are in bed feel free to play civ (III) until we are back”
I had no idea what he was talking about and he delayed his date night to give me a tutorial. Gave me the CD rom after because it wasn’t needed to play. Great times.
that is an oddly specific suggestion
Yeah, I think it was the only game he had.
based if true
Peaked at Civ 4, been downhill from there.
If the idea of having Civs that change with the era, but Leaders who stay the same appeals to you…
Humankind did it better than Civ 7.
Humankind had so much potential. I wish they had spent more time fleshing out the late game and fixing their multiplayer code.
I mean they have been rolling out updates and fixes since launch, couple of content packs, balance tweaks, reworked a number of systems…
They’re currently working on a scenario, WW2 Pacific, sounds at least broadly similar to the kinds of scenarios in earlier Civ games, in concept.
I would hope that after that, they can eventually get to something approaching proper mod tools.
Yeah, it was a bit of a buggy mess of a launch, no arguing that, but they have been and are still just slowly refining and improving the game.
Of the seemingly fairly small number of people still playing it… Recent Reviews = Mostly Positive.
Personally, I don’t know why you’d play any deep strategy game multiplayer.
Every time I’ve tried multiplayer, in any 4X / Grand Strategy game… everyone is annoyed that I am taking too long, to, you know, evaluate this considerably complex strategy game, with tons of potential upside to taking your time to micro manage things.
If I am able to take my time, I tend to snowball and by mid or late game, be either winning to the point everyone else quits, or be the only reason why a group of players vs group of AIs game has not totally fallen apart yet.
But I am one of those apparently rare people who plays single player on the biggest maps and slowest time scales my system can manage…
… I just have way more enjoyment that way, and I appreciate that the AI in Humankind at least seems to me to be generally better at playing the game than most AIs in most 4X / Grand Strat games, when the player and AIs are on an equal footing in terms of bonuses/maluses.
My partner and I love to sit next to each other and play these kinds of games co-op — or mostly co-op since they have a bad habit of going Gandhi in 4X games. It’s us versus the world, as it’s always been. ❤️
Ah, well, I’ve never had a partner with any interest in strategy games.
Foreign concept to me.
That is a pretty good reason to care about multiplayer tho, lol.
Had to uninstall Unciv from my phone.
Having a Civ-like app 24/7 available in my pocket isn’t something I can handle…
C’mon bro just one more turn.
l mean, I should still have plenty of time, as it is still quite early in the evening!
*looks at watch*: 2:49am
… When did the sun rise?
Never too late to dicover a classic.
By sheer chace I came across Alpha Centauri (wikipedia) a sequel to the original Civilization on gog.com. Best purchase ever. Exceptional gameplay. The best 5$ I remember spending.
Alpha Centauri is a game I’ve had since release. Ended up building a dual P3 1Ghz box so I could play without experiencing extreme slow downs during end game when the whole world is visible.
I still do a playthrough once a twice a year.
“Don’t go, the drones need you”
Sequal to civ2 though I think?
I think you may be right.
I remember hitting “next turn” and going to eat, because it d take 30min to compute all AIs lol. I d save literally every turn
I’ll add my vote for Sid Meyer’s Alpha Cebtauri, it is a masterpiece. If you want to branch out Master of Magic is also quite fun and adds some interesting twists. Though it’s not a Sid Meyer game. There’s even a remake of it.
Alpha Centauri was the shit. I played the heck out of that.
Civ 2 is still and always will be the best civ Boat stacking armies for an invasion was the bomb
@MrNesser @AnimalsDream 2 mech infs in each city – sorted
Getting pulled into nonsense by the war hawks was so frustrating yet so peak
FMV advisors best advisors.
Especially culture dude. Those anarchy councils were hilarious.
And the throne room
Civ 2 is my favorite, plus it has a large collection of fan-made scenarios that cover almost every single sci-fi franchise with some fantasy mods as well, plus lots of historical scenarios that are fun to play.
There’s even a mod that lets you play mafiosi in a SC2K-like NY:
It is also a time capsule in who we were twenty odds years ago.
Any pointers on how I can play Civ 2? I have a physical copy I inherited from my dad when he passed but I haven’t found it on Steam or GOG and don’t even know where to begin to try and get the physical copy to work.
I too have the original box with a CD that can’t be read. Maybe hypothetically one could search for it using the word abandonware and find it. It’s true though it hasn’t yet made available at any of the online stores.
I noticed there is a Final Fantasy mod. I will have to try that.
If you enjoy the original Civilization, be sure to try out Freeciv. Basically the original game but with expanded gameplay and updated for compatibility. It’s OpenTTD to Transport Tycoon, if you’re familiar with those games. It also has multiplayer features, and there are sites that run turn-per-day MMO events.