Civilization V

[Boss Llama]

I wish when you preloaded a game it told you the truth. "Preload and be ready to play as soon as we decrypt your game for an hour!"

But Carpe, without a tyrannical and useless DRM scheme, how will Steam prevent you from using the software you paid for?

[BigBiker05]

I'm really liking how expansion is done. Unlike other civ games when there was no land mass and 15+ cities per player by the time you hit the medieval era, civ 5 uses a lot more management and land isn't being taken up too quick.

You'll also see India's special that benefits less cities but bigger cities.

[Tungsten]

I played the demo and I enjoyed it enough to purchase it.

[Yahoo!!]

I played the demo and here were somethings that I thought were interesting

-Cash is king. I seriously get the luxury/strategic resources I need to maintain my empire by buying the tile. You can also buy units and rush them.
-Good lord Egyptians are good with their monument building. Getting all of the wonders before anyone else is great.
-Great Scientists are broken. I can instantly research any tech instead of the current tech I am researching? Umm yeah, that might cause some trouble.
-Pain in the ass to capture towns now. That damn bombardment has made it very necessary to get artillery in there fast and hit the city.
-City States is Seriously awesome idea. For those of us that are the diplomacy/building types, a militaristic city-state is PERFECT. This is easily the best addition to the game.
-They will need to fix the awesomeness of the huts. I got a warrior upgraded into modern infantry and just facerolled my way to victory. Yes, I took down an entire civilization with just one super awesome unit that could not be touched.
-Research is VERY fast and it is darn near impossible to keep up production of improvements.
-Much easier to maintain cities, so you won't spend time focusing on them, but rather your troops.

I so thoroughly enjoyed the demo, I will probably pick up the game soon.

[BigBiker05]

How was the demo based? Like what kind of limitations was it?

Anyways, this is what I learned so far. Don't overgrow your cities, once your people are unhappy it becomes a thorn in the butt. Keep a large army around, even though cities attack now that old fashion one archer per city is still a good idea. This last game I was way ahead in tech so I had units that could easily dominate. When England declared war one me, I knocked her off the map with two units. However, because my army was so small my entire continents declared war on me, including every city state I could not buy out.

I'm also having trouble getting high production. When looking at the stats for that game I was second lowest in army size (ghandi was below me and he still declared war, but gave me lots of money 1 turn later to sign a peace treaty). I was last in production. However, I was highest in tech and highest in population.

And yeah, the ruins that give better weapons are awesome! Getting a spearman on your second turn lets you farm barb camps like nothing.

Also to note, you can't get really high level units right away. It seems your max level is capped depending on the era of the unit you're fighting. Maybe your era.

[Tungsten]

The demo was 100 turns on a small map (I think it was continents) as Egyptians, Greeks or Persians.

[TheCarpe]

I haven't gotten too deep in a game yet because I keep restarting around the Medieval Era. No particular reason, just want to try out something new

[LadeeeDuke]

Well, Duke surprised me with getting this edition since I am into the previous ones. I'm not sure how I like this one. It's SLOW, or I am impatient. There is alot more to be explored and the way things are mapped out for finding your things like technology, etc. is a bit confusing. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I don't quite understand the introduction of "neutral" cities, in addition to your normal ones, that you pay bribes to be your friend. It's kinda annoying. But, like any change, it takes me a while to like it. I'll let you know what I think in a month.

[BigBiker05]

So all in all... I love the new mechanics for the hexes, combat, cities, and money but really Civ 5, I'm not impressed. Overall it seems to lack from the previous civ 5. Now in their defense I am coming straight off of beyond the sword and that's 2 expansion packs worth.

City-states are cool but really so far they seem like a waste of money. So far it seems all the close ones have the same resources as you so why spend the cash and build a road to them? And then the few times they do have missions they aren't worth doing, and really the cash just doesn't seem to be worth it. I loved the vassalage set-up in beyond the sword.

Variety seems to be a big problem too. There doesn't seem to be that big of a variety of anything. Units, civs, buildings, resources. And even then, all the luxury resources don't mean a difference.

While I love the UI, I seem to have a problem finding some information. I never really know how much a civ likes me. I know if they keep offering different agreements and pacts they like me, otherwise I don't know anything until it says hostile or they declare war.

Lastly the choices of maps are pretty bland. There are what, only 4 types? Continents, big land mass, islands, and earth? Its like we're playing civ2 again.. without the throne room. Some of my classic favorites were Old/New and Big/Small. Those map gave the player something to look forward to and a race to settle new land with a cleaver timing push.

Anyways, I hope they have some good DLC coming that doesn't cost too much. Also waiting for some good mods to show up in the download section! Speaking of mods, 2k didn't even feel like making any to include?

[Boss Llama]

So all in all... I love the new mechanics for the hexes, combat, cities, and money but really Civ 5, I'm not impressed. Overall it seems to lack from the previous civ 5. Now in their defense I am coming straight off of beyond the sword and that's 2 expansion packs worth.

Having just completed my first full game, I love it! I didn't do BTS, however, so I don't have as much background in "modern" Civ IV.

City-states are cool but really so far they seem like a waste of money. So far it seems all the close ones have the same resources as you so why spend the cash and build a road to them? And then the few times they do have missions they aren't worth doing, and really the cash just doesn't seem to be worth it. I loved the vassalage set-up in beyond the sword.

They are insatiable money pits, but I've found two great uses for them

1) It's not as important to ally with the ones next to you, as to ally with the ones next to your enemy. It's great having their soldiers attacking, weakening foes, even taking cities. Also, their territory counts as friendly, so you can use it to heal up, and upgrade in the field.

2) As sources of both strategic and luxury resources. The luxury ones do make a big difference, it's just not always obvious. If you get luxuries (especially demanded ones), it increases your happiness, which causes golden ages to occur. If you can get some back to back golden ages going, you will make quite impressive amounts of money, and can build things (like wonders) faster, which makes people happier, which leads to more golden ages. I think I spent at least 90 of my last 100 turns in continuous golden age, through a mix of happiness and using great people, wonders, and special abilities to strategically trigger them.

Variety seems to be a big problem too. There doesn't seem to be that big of a variety of anything. Units, civs, buildings, resources. And even then, all the luxury resources don't mean a difference.

I dunno... I never had a single city run out of buildings to build - there was always something (usually a dozen things) that were worthy. By the end of the game, even my capitol still had around 15 building options. Units are a bit more restricted, but I think that's necessary because of the far fewer units that are going to be used in a game, thanks to no doom-stacks. Strategic resources are definitely fewer in number, though I think that's because of the fact you now have to manage supply and demand of each one, not just get it an be good.

While I love the UI, I seem to have a problem finding some information. I never really know how much a civ likes me. I know if they keep offering different agreements and pacts they like me, otherwise I don't know anything until it says hostile or they declare war.

That is a bit of a pain, I agree. I would like more information access while in the diplomacy screen, and more metrics on the varying relationships.

Lastly the choices of maps are pretty bland. There are what, only 4 types? Continents, big land mass, islands, and earth? Its like we're playing civ2 again.. without the throne room. Some of my classic favorites were Old/New and Big/Small. Those map gave the player something to look forward to and a race to settle new land with a cleaver timing push.

There are like 40 map types. Those 4 are just the most common ones, so show up in the quick-start. Hit the advanced options button when creating a game, and you'll have more map choices than any previous Civ title.

Anyways, I hope they have some good DLC coming that doesn't cost too much. Also waiting for some good mods to show up in the download section! Speaking of mods, 2k didn't even feel like making any to include?

Likewise, looking forward to what comes out next

[Espada]

Someone needs to buy this for me.
Seriously.

[TheCarpe]

I've used city-states for massive Culture boosts. Right now I've got four City-states on my continent allied to me, all of them cultural, and I'm the French. Needless to say, I'm getting 100+ culture every turn.

[Tungsten]

I think I have a maritime city state allied to me. They don't do much...but they do have whales near them. I guess it kind of works out since I'm trying to stick to the land. That's what Iroquois do, right?

[Boss Llama]

I've used city-states for massive Culture boosts. Right now I've got four City-states on my continent allied to me, all of them cultural, and I'm the French. Needless to say, I'm getting 100+ culture every turn.

Oh yes, this as well. So very this!

Rocking your way through a couple social trees is the source of much win. I'm particularly fond of the left side of rationality.

[BigBiker05]

Thats about the only time I use city-states now. Either to trigger a 'We love the king' from a demanded resource, or as meatshields in a war. Otherwise I'd rather just insta-buy Colosseums or circus's. I'm also very found of golden ages. In my current game I have the wonder that increases by 50%, and the civic that increases by 25%?. My last golden age was 15 turns long, during a golden age I make over 150gold per turn.