Post by friedrichpsitalon on Oct 3, 2005 10:19:53 GMT -5
The World As You Know It Is Changed Forever
[/center]-an honest review by Friedrich Psitalon
[/center]With the arrival of CIV, much of what has been true in the world of C3C is gone forever. Many things have been changed, and it's true that some of these things will not please everyone. Overall, though, the game is vastly improved, and its playability for Multiplayer is much better than it was.
Let's start with the bane of C3C: Connectivity and everything surrounding it.
Connectivity in CIV
I fully realize that even as I say this, people are going to raise a very high eyebrow, but I'll say it anyhow - you're going to be amazed. Gamespy NAT negotiation allows people behind routers, firewalls, etc, to play with no trouble at all - no opening or closing of ports, zones, etc. If needed, Direct IP still exists, and WOULD require playing with ports, but the only port you need to open is 2056, or whichever port you specify in your INI file. The days of "X can't connect with Y ever for some weird reason" are over.
Out of Synch
How does "gone" strike you? If someone has a different version than you (meaning modded files of any type) you'll see the OOS return - otherwise, never again. The game has even shown the ability to "resynch" itself if a genuine problem arises temporarily (hotjoining players sometimes cause a 1 or 2 second OOS.)
The Need to Reload vs. Hotjoins
Reloads? Oh yeah.. I remember those. The only time you'll be reloading a multiplayer game now is if everyone decides to take a break. Hotjoining allows a player to jump right back into the action if they drop. In the meantime, every other player in the game votes to decide between continuing with an AI taking over for that player, waiting in the vote menu, or saving and quitting.
Aditionally, players can set up games that start with an AI player, and a human can join in and take over for the AI at any time. Substitutes? Sure - just tell your sub the password you used to secure your Civ at the start of the game and you're golden. No imposters here!
Imposters
No longer an issue. Everyone has a specific nick when they log into CIV. If you're letting people into your game via direct IP, that might be an issue - anyone can choose any name that way - but just be sure who you're giving that info to, and you're set.
So believe it or not, the biggest hurdles of C3C are GONE - completely, totally gone. We can spend our time concentrating on the game now, rather than concentrating on getting the game to work. Let's talk briefly about the leaders themselves.
Trait Balance
They're all quite strong in CIV. Since all of them can be leveraged into points in some manner, it's tough to say which is the weakest or strongest. They can all rule or stink, depending on how you use them. Personally, I consider Organized to be a little bit of a long-game trait, and Spiritual I find restricts my play choices a bit much, but others will definitely feel differently. Some people will find my favorites - Industrial and Financial - to be quite flimsy, and indeed, on certain maps they are.
Civ Balance
Are they all equal? No. Are they all playable in MP? Yes! Every trait combination has an angle which can work in some way in MP (except maybe Frederick...) and even America, the land of no-Unique-Units-until-the-modern is quite competitive, if its traits are leveraged properly. One thing's for certain - the days of "the same eight civs" are definitely gone. A few favorite may emerge, sure, but there are at least a dozen potential players. Rome? Definitely. Inca? Sure. Aztec? Yep. India? ABSOLUTELY. China? Qin's in. Egypt? Chariots still abound. America? Washington is the new Lincoln trait-monger. Greece? Flexible and Phalanxes! Mali? Choker's delight! France? Fear the little General - or the Castling Louis! Mongolia? I prefer Genghis, but either is quite potent for MP. I'm not much a fan of Elizbaeth, Tokugawa, or Victoria, but I've seen fans of all three. Want a novelty that you might make work? Try my favorite: Catherine! Choices abound!
Play Modes
Cton-style fans rejoice. We call it "Always War" now, but that option is a selectable game toggle - enforced from the rules themselves. All players are considered by the game to be "at war" at all times. Alternatively, if you just want a Free-For-All where three people can't trade techs against you, choose "No Technology Trading." You can still swap resources or make border agreements, but you do your own research, thanks!
There's also the strange favorite One-City-Challenge enforced by the rules (be warned, the AI can ignore this rule if you add them to the game.) Though I personally find it about as much fun as watching drying paint, there's even an "Always Peace" mode - no war declarations of any kind, ever!
Starting in different eras no longer requires a goofy mod file - it's right there on the game select screen: Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Industrial, Modern, Future. Special bonus: You start with different amounts of units in each one, and your cities even found with a few buildings and population points in them at the higher eras! Never has starting with an advanced era been so fun.
Elimination has also changed into two possible flavors:
a) You take a city and it instantly burns to the ground, and your opponent gets a "tick mark" towards the elimination total. (1 city, 2 city, etc)
b) You take a city and it is automatically kept. The person who lost it can ERASE the "tick mark" for a lost city if they retake it from you. You, on the other hand, can lose that city to anyone without a "tick mark" - you only get eliminated by losing cities you founded.
Either option can be chosen from the rules menu at the start of the game. One allows "Elimination Assassination" while the other requires Elimination to be a convincing show of military domination, not snapping up a tiny city on the frontier that would be retaken the next turn.
Victory when the game ends is still a matter of score, but score is no longer a guessing game. On any given turn, you can hover over your name and score to find out exactly how you've earned your points. No mysteries!
Game Length
CIV plays faster than C3C, as a rule, at least once you're used to it. Here's why:
- Hotkey binding for building queus and unit stacks. You can set a number key to say "build these buildings in this order" and then found a city, smack a key and you're done, it's got five buildings queued up. Unit stacks all over the map can be immediately selected and centered by binding them in the same manner.
- No more super micromanagement needed! Since everything overflows now (extra hammers go to the next building, extra research to the next tech, extra food to the next population jump) there's no more need to go tweaking city tiles every turn.
- Much better governors. Every city has six governer buttons that will set the city's tiles in an optimal position for what you want: Emphasize food, production, commerce, science, great people, and "Stop growth." You can even mix and match!
As a result, games tend to progress further. This is okay, because the tech tree and starting position in CIV is a little earlier than C3C. You don't start with a worker, or the ability to build roads, mines, farms, etc. Those wishing a C3C era tech start should choose Classical starts.
Typically, a decent-length CIV game is about 2.5 hours, and 150 turns. (That may vary widely, depending on your timer setting.) 100 turns usually (except on Duel, a very small map size) isn't enough for a decent game anymore. 150 turns doesn't take nearly as long as C3C, though, especially on Blazing, the fastest of five turn timer speeds.
The Place of Research in CIV
Even in your fast ancient-start games, the days of "kill tech and max lux" are over. Techs earn points now - quite a few of them - and there are precious few useless technologies. A player who builds too big an army and neglects research will likely find themselves crushed very quickly after their venerable units are repulsed. There's also no clear best path, even in the ancient era for warmongers. What's your fancy? Super-defensive longbows? Siege and tusk? Swords and crossbows? Each carries major advantages and disadvantages. Ever play "Rock, Paper, Scissors?" You've got the idea.
Road != Cash
The nature of commerce has changed in CIV. Inexperienced players may frequently find themselves staggering with debt until they become accustomed. Roads no longer improve commerce - tile improvements called cottages do. A cottage-heavy empire will haul in lots of money but have poor production. A cottage-poor empire will haul in too little cash and produce junk. Like so much else in CIV, the answer is that there IS no easy answer. Adapt to the situation, or die.
The Balance of Power: Builders vs. Warmongers
CIV changes this landscape a great deal, and debates will no doubt rage at great length on this subject. Here's how it seems to me: Novice/inexperienced players will find defending much easier than C3C. Reckless, unplanned, unintelligent warmongering will get you CLOBBERED in CIV. A well-planned, combined-arms campaign, however, is a great deal more difficult to resist than in previous versions. Here's a bunch of important details...
- Improvements give you money when you rip them up now. That means a Choker is breaking even on his troops abroad while he's ruining your land. Advantage: Attacker
- Cities are much harder targets, especially after they generate culture or build walls. It takes a serious siege to take a prepared city now - "sudden kills" are going to be rarer. Advantage: Defender
- Because the game actually warns you when your borders are penetrated, sentinel nets are marginally less important. The era of the reflex-driven ambush-kill is over. Advantage: Defender
- Double moves are no longer possible. Units that exhaust their movement cannot move again for six seconds, even if a new turn dawns. The likelihood of you striking a city before the defender can respond is almost nil. Advantage: Defender
- Instantaneous stack attacks also exist now. Yes, instantaneous. In return for removing the reflex-driven double move, the reflex-driven mid-combat reinforcement is also gone. Advantage: Attacker
- Since cities, by neccessity, are defended by single large stacks, they are more vulnerable to collateral damage. A smart player can split his attacking stacks appropriately, though this carries other risks. Advantage: Unclear
- Units in construction when a resource is cut STOP BEING CONSTRUCTED. Advantage: Attacker
- Forests give the largest defensive bonus now (50%) which means that, particularly in the early game, aggressors will likely have good terrain to approach cities in. Advantage: Attacker
- Failed attacks often mean experienced, PROMOTED defenders; next time will be even harder. Failed defenses may mean promoted attackers, but attacking units have a funny way of dying more often than defenders, both historically and in CIV. Advantage: Defender
Who wins out? I've heard lots and lots and LOTS of arguments either way. Here's a tip, though - spend six months playing before you make up your mind. CIV is a lot deeper in "tactical expression" than C3C, and a lot more potential strategies and counterstrategies work.
The Big Four Strategies - What's Become of Dagger, Choke, Sledge, Castle
Dagger - the quick early rush MUCH tougher to do for new players, slightly tougher to do for veterans. Warrior rushes are folly. Poorly prepared "accidental" rushes are far less likely. Properly planned and executed, though, Daggers are a good bit more dangerous than in C3C; the cities you capture ARE productive right away, unless they're still revolting. Forward base by the enemy civ, anyone?
Choke - the pillager/harasser Tougher to do for new players, easier to do for veterans. Chokes will require a lot more intelligence and planning than "build X unit, rally point to enemy border and go." Since counterunits exist for every unit now, that strategy will just get you butchered. Noting what your opponent does and does not have for resources, striking the important resource first, and then choking with the unit they can no longer build the counter for... now that, on the other hand, is choice. "Best defender always defends" makes attacking stacks of pillagers tough, but the larger your pillager stack, the more it costs you, and the more production you've sunk into tearing up tiles. One large stack can really tear up the enemy land, but if they're repairing the land 4 turns after you pass, it doesn't do as much good when it costs you 10 gold a turn...
Sledgehammer - one big punch - Somewhat harder to do for new players, about the same for veterans. "Build my highest strength unit in large numbers and go" is a recipe for disaster now. Stacks need to be carefully planned and prepared, composed of the right forces and also the right promotions. Promotions such as Medic I, II, and March makes Sledging easier, as does the slower speed of roads until Engineering. Catapults and Castles, on the other hand, make it a bit tougher, since no stack wants to be counterattacked by a bunch of siege equipment. With proper scouting ahead of the stack (yes, send a mounted unit or two ahead) and proper use of terrain, though, the effectiveness of the sledge is about break-even.
Castle - stand firm against the world Easy to set up, especially for newer players, but potentially also much easier to foil, especially for veterans. Pre-Engineering movement rates leave new players quite vulnerable to feints and draws. The common new player mistake of overbuilding the wrong type of defender (often, Ranged Units) can put them in a bad situation tactically and financially. Ranged units are great city defenders... but not so keen at holding the land itself. It's quite easy for a castle player to end up holed up in his cities waiting to die, rather than holed up in his empire, waiting to win.
The Final Tally
Soren Johnson put it best: "CIV - sometimes it's better to be good, than lucky." I've said it before and I'll say it again many times - CIV's biggest difference over C3C is that canned, often-repeated-and-mimicked strategies just won't work anymore. There are so many approaches and styles, so many available responses, and so many minor factors to balance between health, happiness, commerce, military, this-tech-or-that-one... "build this and then do that" is simply not relevant anymore.
If you can adapt, improvise, think, and react, you will LOVE Civilization 4. If you are looking for a game where pet strategies handed down from five friends can be imitated to the Nth degree, and will work every time...stick with C3C.
Civilization 4: Adapt and conquer.