First Impressions - Page 2

Seneca · October 29, 2001, 21:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Ralf

Please, give them a brake.

ALL new software ALWAYS have some few bugs. By comparison; "Europa Universalis" didnt even start up the first time I booted it. That, I didnt like.

Yeah - a few patches and it'll be fine.

As for 700MB, that sounds good to me - don't know why, I'm just shallow and like games with loads of stuff...

manofthehour · October 29, 2001, 21:37

The AI sounds great. What diffuculty are you playing at and how hard is it? Sreenshoots whould be nice.

Admiral PJ · October 29, 2001, 21:49

a Crash? it has to be icqs fault

icq seems to take up tonnes of memory and mucks up.
Hopefully we won't need too big a patch, i'm sure some bugs will pop up.
Nice to see you again Old timer - lots of rivers is pretty realistic, please tell me you can travel up river with some kind of boat at least. Rivers in real life slow down troop movements a lot, Its probably an advantage for defenders, even heavy tanks (maybe more so) will have difficulty reaching your cities, unless theres bridges available.
I'd appreciate your help oldtimer on that Mantra project.. i'll email you in private.

AddyPJ

faded glory · October 29, 2001, 21:50

Quote:

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
A crash already? I must admit, that is a bit ominous...let us hope it is just a one off!

Yes I just found it myself... dont right click on the leader picture on the diplomacy screen

First impressions? AI is pretty darn good. I dont have any wonders and ive lost 2 cities. Btw Im on turn 63.

But I cant figure out how trade works and there are so many bleedin info screens for micromanagement. Hey you can also enslave workers

Also I think it takes too long to build improvements and units. Atleast early on.....

Oh yes- Barbarians are everywhere!

faded glory · October 29, 2001, 21:52

btw..to put the controversy to rest. The interface is extremely annoying.

albiedamned · October 29, 2001, 21:57

First, regarding rivers, my poor Greeks have none in sight. I can't irrigate anything! So whoever posted that rivers are everywhere, that may be the case in his game but not mine.

As for the interface, it's not bad, just different. I've been playing for about 90 minutes now, and I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · October 29, 2001, 22:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Faboba
First in my defense I'd like to remind you all I really do love Firaxis and their new-born.

However the large savegame size gives two bad points.

1 : It's going to be a pain in the ass saving games. Probably take a minute or two.
2 : It's not going to be easy doing progressive/dynastic games anymore. I mean it takes me a good 10 minutes to get a file that size on my 56.

Just FYI, saving games is really fast (at least as I've noticed). The files aren't compressed, which is what makes saving them extremely quick. With WinZip on maximum compression, my savegames usually compress down to a couple hundred Kb.

Dan

Pembleton · October 29, 2001, 22:12

Quote:

Originally posted by faded glory
btw..to put the controversy to rest. The interface is extremely annoying.

Details please. Do you use hotkeys?

Jason Beaudoin · October 29, 2001, 22:17

Dan... what are you doing up so late?!

Shouldn't you be at home resting after a long day at work?

How does it feel not being raked over the coals for information?

tmarcl · October 29, 2001, 22:38

Quote:

Originally posted by albiedamned
I have it!!! I got it at Electronics Boutique in Laurel Mall, in case anyone in the Baltimore/Washington area is interested. I called around beforehand, and not every EB in the area has it (for example, EB at Columbia Mall said they wouldn't have it until Wednesday).

Ugh, don't remind me.

As soon as I heard other people were getting their's early, I called Stop & Save at Arundel Mills Mall where I'd pre-ordered the game. They won't be getting it until Wednesday either. I *knew* I should've ordered from EB!!!

Marc

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · October 29, 2001, 22:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Jason Beaudoin
Dan... what are you doing up so late?!

Shouldn't you be at home resting after a long day at work?

Well, what I *should* be doing is studying for a Network Security mid-term. But the ECB mode of DES is so thrilling I could barely contain myself.

Quote:

How does it feel not being raked over the coals for information?

I dunno.... par for the course?

Dan

dasaecorvic · October 29, 2001, 22:48

I love you guys, you are making my wait until 16th November less painful.

Greetings to all of you and specially tks to those, like Andrew1999 and others that have been posting lot of information in the last hours.

faded glory · October 29, 2001, 22:55

Quote:

Originally posted by Pembleton

Details please. Do you use hotkeys?

no havent found any yet.I havent read the manual tho. Its not my game but I might ask to borruw the manual and read it on the squatter tommorrow morning.

Green Giant · October 29, 2001, 23:04

Faded Glory, any specific reason the interface is annoying?

Skanky Burns · October 29, 2001, 23:11

Of course the interface will be annoying if you dont understand it

albiedamned says its not annoying, so theres still hope

Alexander's Horse · October 29, 2001, 23:36

If you wait to buy it, you won't need to read the manual

squid · October 29, 2001, 23:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

Well, what I *should* be doing is studying for a Network Security mid-term. But the ECB mode of DES is so thrilling I could barely contain myself.

is this undergrad or grad school Dan? anyhow, put down the Civ! put down the Civ!

albiedamned · October 29, 2001, 23:40

The interface will seem annoying at first simply because it is not the same as Civ2. But I have gotten used to it now (I've been playing about 3.5 hours now), and I have no problem with it. People are always annoyed by changes, but that doesn't mean they're bad.

I'm playing on Regent level (formerly known as Prince level). I have not read the manual yet, even though I really need to. I have started 3 games now and played to around 1000 BC. Each time, I am only able to found about 4 cities before I run out of room. Meanwhile, my neighbors have 6 or 7 cities! I have no idea what I am doing wrong. The AI does seem rather expansionist at the beginning, for sure. I have seen this in my three games with the Japanese, English, and French, so it is not just one civ. I am about to start over again, and this time I am determined to try to expand faster. The 2 pop point settler thing really does slow you down though.

Also, in my last game, I lost pop points twice to disease. I had workers on flood plain squares. So that is definitely a factor.

Techs are coming very slow at the beginning. Maybe this is related to my inability to expand rapidly, or perhaps due to my general incompetence.

The inability to irrigate unless you have a river or inland sea is a huge hindrance. I find myself mining everything because that's all I can do (besides roads of course).

I have won battles with my Hoplite several times (I am the Greeks), but always against barbarians. Apparently that doesn't count for triggering a Golden Age, because I haven't had one yet. So I guess you have to fight another civ with your UU to get a Golden Age.

To resolve one controversy that we've been discussing on the boards: When you first found a city, you cannot use the full 21 square workable radius. You can only use the 8 squares immediately around you until your cultural borders expand the first time. Then you can use the regular 21 square radius. Also, the second cultural border expansion does not affect workable city radius - it remains at 21. I don't expect it ever goes over 21, but I haven't gotten beyond the 2nd cultural border expansion yet.

Ok, I'm starting over one more time, this time focusing more on expansion. I'm also going down a level - apparently I need the AI to cheat in my favor to be able to compete!

Bereta_Eder · October 29, 2001, 23:51

My heart rejoices when I hear that the AI is giving you a tough time

(assuming you ARE Civ 2 veterans).

A big thank you to americans who post their impressions of Civ 3 here.

It does make the wait easier for US SECOND CLASS CITIZENS WHO HAVE TO WAIT UNTILL 16 NOV

(Ok I'm calm now

)

albiedamned · October 29, 2001, 23:53

I like to think of myself as a Civ2 veteran, and I've also played tons of SMAC. I've always been a builder, and I've never been into ICS, so take my comments with that in mind. But I always play SMAC on Transcend, and Civ2 on Emperor (though not usually Deity).

BigBear · October 29, 2001, 23:58

Damn my stupid ways and my ordering from Amazon.com. I want this game so BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dreamed that this day would come as soon as completed my first game of Civ2. And now its finally hear, and all I can do is read what other people think about it!!

On another note, I would not listen to the majority of people on these forums about the game. So many people here are pessimists. They are gonna find everything they can that is wrong with the game before they say one thing about the good stuff.

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · October 30, 2001, 00:02

Quote:

Originally posted by squid

is this undergrad or grad school Dan? anyhow, put down the Civ! put down the Civ!

Grad school. And come December I will never have to go to class again, as I will be finished... Of course, I have to start paying student loans again, but if it isn't one thing it's another....

Dan

MustPost · October 30, 2001, 00:16

One question I have is why do civ2/3 use the standard looking windows interface. While Sid Meiers other games seem to use costum made interfaces.(gettysburg and SMAC). Although this is a little skewed because civ2/SMAC were both mainly Brian Reynald's creations

Grunthex · October 30, 2001, 00:30

Quote:

Originally posted by MustPost
One question I have is why do civ2/3 use the standard looking windows interface. While Sid Meiers other games seem to use costum made interfaces.(gettysburg and SMAC). Although this is a little skewed because civ2/SMAC were both mainly Brian Reynald's creations

Am I missing something? How do they look Standard Windowsy? SMAC especially, the only thing that vaguely resembled Windows was the save game screen, and really, how many ways can you manipulate files?

From the screenshots of Civ3, NOTHING looks anything resembling 'standard' to me.

faded glory · October 30, 2001, 00:30

Umm my game stagnated and it was 11:00pm. So with only 3 cities left I called it a night. The souix were kicking my ass anyway.

Hey Dan, you guys did a bang up job

The AI really meet my expectations. Which kind of shocked me

I believe Im the first to detect a Civ3 bug.

TCO · October 30, 2001, 00:38

Quote:

Originally posted by albiedamned
The interface will seem annoying at first simply because it is not the same as Civ2. But I have gotten used to it now (I've been playing about 3.5 hours now), and I have no problem with it. People are always annoyed by changes, but that doesn't mean they're bad.

I'm playing on Regent level (formerly known as Prince level). I have not read the manual yet, even though I really need to. I have started 3 games now and played to around 1000 BC. Each time, I am only able to found about 4 cities before I run out of room. Meanwhile, my neighbors have 6 or 7 cities! I have no idea what I am doing wrong. The AI does seem rather expansionist at the beginning, for sure. I have seen this in my three games with the Japanese, English, and French, so it is not just one civ. I am about to start over again, and this time I am determined to try to expand faster. The 2 pop point settler thing really does slow you down though.

Also, in my last game, I lost pop points twice to disease. I had workers on flood plain squares. So that is definitely a factor.

Techs are coming very slow at the beginning. Maybe this is related to my inability to expand rapidly, or perhaps due to my general incompetence.

The inability to irrigate unless you have a river or inland sea is a huge hindrance. I find myself mining everything because that's all I can do (besides roads of course).

I have won battles with my Hoplite several times (I am the Greeks), but always against barbarians. Apparently that doesn't count for triggering a Golden Age, because I haven't had one yet. So I guess you have to fight another civ with your UU to get a Golden Age.

To resolve one controversy that we've been discussing on the boards: When you first found a city, you cannot use the full 21 square workable radius. You can only use the 8 squares immediately around you until your cultural borders expand the first time. Then you can use the regular 21 square radius. Also, the second cultural border expansion does not affect workable city radius - it remains at 21. I don't expect it ever goes over 21, but I haven't gotten beyond the 2nd cultural border expansion yet.

Ok, I'm starting over one more time, this time focusing more on expansion. I'm also going down a level - apparently I need the AI to cheat in my favor to be able to compete!

You don't sound like much of a veteran. Most vet civ players don't irrigate or especially don't mine in the early game. They expand. You sound like a wimpy builder. We should rip you apart in multi-player...err....I guess you're safe...until Ultimate Civ3/Civ3 MGE comes out.

faded glory · October 30, 2001, 00:42

Quote:

The AI does seem rather expansionist at the beginning, for sure. I have seen this in my three games with the Japanese, English, and French, so it is not just one civ. I am about to start over again, and this time I am determined to try to expand faster. The 2 pop point settler thing really does slow you down

Definately! In my game the Souix and the Frensh had 10 cities each by the time I had 4.

Dan:

Firaxis:

Souix AI:

Myself:

Pembleton · October 30, 2001, 00:47

Quote:

Originally posted by GP
You don't sound like much of a veteran. Most vet civ players don't irrigate or especially don't mine in the early game. They expand. You sound like a wimpy builder. We should rip you apart in multi-player...err....I guess you're safe...until Ultimate Civ3/Civ3 MGE comes out.

You get a free worker. What would you do with the free worker?

faded glory · October 30, 2001, 00:51

What GP is forgetting is that Civ3 is nothing like Civ2.

nothing.....

Imran Siddiqui · October 30, 2001, 01:05

Quote:

Definately! In my game the Souix and the Frensh had 10 cities each by the time I had 4.

You mean the Iriquois? The Sioux aren't in the game.