5 started off horrible, but after the patches is better than everything but 4. 4 vs 5 is a preference thing at this point IMO. 3 is nowhere near as good as either of them!
Yeah but why? Are units more balanced? One thing I've noticed about Civ 3 is the battles are all random. It was weird switching from the RTS genre to TBS. I expected units to be more statistical instead of dice rolls. The only other experience I have with this type of game is Romance of 3 Kingdoms which I played like 10 years ago and it confused me a ton.
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What's the order of quality in the Civ series and what makes it that way?
4 = 5 >>> 3 > 2 > 1
Some would argue that 2 and 3 should be switched. I think the more modern UI and accessibility make 3 better, but if you played 2 when it came out you might like it more.
4 and 5 are the really good ones, and they succeed in different ways. 4 is like a culmination of what made the series good. Everything is well thought out and they've gotten rid of some dumb stuff that plagued the earlier games, but it's still like the first few.
5 is something of a departure for the series, in some good ways and some bad ways. 5 has by far the most interesting combat system of the series - the last few games were known for their "stacks of doom" where you stack 70 tanks and mass move them onto a city as standard practice. 5 makes armies more expensive and limits to one unit per tile which makes combat a lot better and less of a messy cluster. 5 is also a lot more streamlined than the rest of the series.
5 has a less-developed diplomacy system though - if there's ever an expansion, we can hope they address that. If not, it's still a good game, though one that lacks a couple areas of depth that 4 had.
Yeah but why? Are units more balanced? One thing I've noticed about Civ 3 is the battles are all random. It was weird switching from the RTS genre to TBS. I expected units to be more statistical instead of dice rolls. The only other experience I have with this type of game is Romance of 3 Kingdoms which I played like 10 years ago and it confused me a ton.
You're describing the "wtf spearman beats tank" thing that happened far too often in early Civ games. I'm mostly familiar with it from Civ 3. Yeah, that got better over time. It's not what they mean when they say combat got better, though - combat just improved a good deal in every way between 4 and 5. 5 is the first game where combat is somewhat interesting TBH.
Well I haven't made it that far yet, but yeah. I was having trouble understanding why I wasn't making money. I would research something and I'd wonder why I wasn't able to make certain units. I had no idea I had to actually go and gather the resources.
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The Real Truth posted... Yeah but why? Are units more balanced? One thing I've noticed about Civ 3 is the battles are all random. It was weird switching from the RTS genre to TBS. I expected units to be more statistical instead of dice rolls. The only other experience I have with this type of game is Romance of 3 Kingdoms which I played like 10 years ago and it confused me a ton.
Battles in Civ4 are less random and even carry light RPG elements. I've never played Civ5 but from what I've heard, the combat in general is improved but the AI is too dumb to adjust to it.
Play Civ4 later, darn it! Also this thread has inspired me to perhaps think about giving Civ4 another playthrough. Maybe after my blind Portal playthrough?
EDIT: I've never played Civ3, but from what I've heard, you merely need to link each resource with a road to gain access to that resource. In Civ4, a resource must actually be linked with a tile improvement as well as a road (for example, a mine is needed to gain access to copper and a pasture is needed to gain access to cows).
Battles in Civ4 are less random and even carry light RPG elements. I've never played Civ5 but from what I've heard, the combat in general is improved but the AI is too dumb to adjust to it.
The AI is super dumb in Civ 4 (and 3) as well, it's just that 5 having an interesting combat system makes it more obvious. the curtain is lifted and you can see that the AI doesn't always really understand the game it's playing.
Haven't played 5, but the AI cheats enough in the earlier games that having an advantage doesn't seem like too much of a bad thing (I never did well on difficulties above Prince). Every country hating your guts and declaring war on you as much as possible (but not on each other) was always really annoying.
Haven't played 5, but the AI cheats enough in the earlier games that having an advantage doesn't seem like too much of a bad thing (I never did well on difficulties above Prince). Every country hating your guts and declaring war on you as much as possible (but not on each other) was always really annoying.
It's like that in 5 as well. That's a weakness of the series, I think - they can't really make smarter AI so they just penalize you more for going up in difficulty. other civs get various bonuses, you get happiness penalties, etc. it's not swell and not really balanced. I think there's a good reason to play on normal difficulty and that's enjoyable, even if it's pretty easy.
in 3, roads everywhere is pretty much standard procedure. makes everything look ugly, but tactically sound.
in 5, roads have recurring costs so you only want them to go specifically where they need to.
as someone who has played both 3 and 5, i like 5 better for making combat much more interesting and even some of the graphical beauty. diplomacy still sucks balls, but still good games.
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From: OmarsComin | #006 Any reason you're playing 3 over the vastly superior 4 and 5?
4 is far worse, don't have enough experience with 5.
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Never underestimate the power of stupidity in numbers. ~War13104 Never stoop to the level of idiots. They will drag you down and beat you with experience.
Civ 4 + expansions is $15 on Steam. If you've ever got that money lying around, I rec it, especially if you like 3. 4 is a lot like 3, just improved on pretty much every front.
From: OmarsComin | #024 Civ 4 + expansions is $15 on Steam. If you've ever got that money lying around, I rec it, especially if you like 3. 4 is a lot like 3, just improved on pretty much every front.
4 has one major improvement and a lot of things I didn't like whatsoever.
Played it seriously once and have never been able to make myself play it again, as I always end up going back to 3.
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Never underestimate the power of stupidity in numbers. ~War13104 Never stoop to the level of idiots. They will drag you down and beat you with experience.
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Never underestimate the power of stupidity in numbers. ~War13104 Never stoop to the level of idiots. They will drag you down and beat you with experience.
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http://www.pentdego.com/prentjes/9049d5.jpg 11/1/11 - Error Day - The Day Error the Great freed us from the oppressive and short termed rule of Burgess.