What's your "favorite" Glitch ?

prince_aki · January 17, 2002, 12:15

Besides the lag, I "like" the periodically occuring glitch that disables my ability to move my units. More so, I also "like" when the AI initially accepts a deal, but when I generously give them something more, they refuse it . Lastly, (in this list that is), I really "like" the perpetually fluctuating international perceptions of my nation.

Calorman · January 17, 2002, 12:19

The combat system.

Arrian · January 17, 2002, 12:47

That first glitch you mentioned - I think I've run into that as well. Is that when you do something in particular with a unit (in my experience thus far, it has been either chopping down a tree or killing & plundering a barb encampment), and the unit stays selected, but cannot move (as it has already moved)? You can select and move other units if you want, go to your advisors and such, but the game is kinda "hung up" for a while. Then, probably when you're in the middle of looking at something else, the game snaps back into action and activates the next unmoved unit?

-Arrian

Harovan · January 17, 2002, 13:11

Sometimes it seems to hang for a while, after you (or the AI) pillaged or bombed down a road or a harbor, or sold or bought techs like Astronomy, Navigation and Magnetism. Probably the time the game has to re-calculate all trade routes for being still possible or newly possible. I am sure the other glitches have similar simple reasons.

kimmygibler · January 17, 2002, 13:32

I like this one: I offer the ai 100 gold in exchange for 1 gold and it refuses, saying they would never accept such an offer. Gee thanks ai, wouldn't want you to take advantage of me...

Libertarian · January 17, 2002, 13:40

My favorite is the zip-zap-where-ya-at-now.

Spec · January 17, 2002, 14:31

Well, the glitch I hate most is all you ppl that keep on b*tching about the game instead of talking about the fun stuff....which is 95% of the game!!! It's not a best seller for nothing...Stop trying to convince ppl that it"s a suck ass game when really you just have no skills at it!

But a real glitch is when my Elite Cavalry gets killed buy a regular swordsman when I attack...but they have to be Upsets. I wouldn't think of something more unrealistic then Elites ALWAYS winning even if their attack is higher then the defenders. Just look at all those Russian choppers that where gunned down by afghans in the 1970. Ok they had Stinger missiles BUT it WAS an upset. Besides, if it wasn't for upsets the Canadians would win the Stanley cup every year...but wait......

Spec.

Kassiopeia · January 17, 2002, 14:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Calorman
The combat system.

A classic.

Slax · January 17, 2002, 15:55

Well I like the fact that my Hanging Gardens did not go obsolete when it should have in my current (unfinished) game.

prince_aki · January 17, 2002, 16:21

Has anyone else ever contemplated the idea of breaking their civ 3 cd against their head? Seriously though, I think that it would be rather difficult, and expensive for Firaxis to remedy all these glitches in a series of patches. There are just too many of them. (It's sort of like)

this game is still in the beta period of development. I think that the playtesters only managed to thoroughly game test the ancient and early medieval periods.

.

opaque · January 17, 2002, 16:22

When I heard about the glitch where you can ask the computer for 9999999 gold in exchange for nothing and it would accept I thought it was quite cool. Shame it never worked on my computer, before or after the patch. Perhaps because I have the UK version of it.

kimmygibler · January 17, 2002, 16:38

"Stop trying to convince ppl that it"s a suck ass game when really you just have no skills at it!"

Most people don't need any convincing...

OneInTen · January 17, 2002, 22:40

Quote:

Seriously though, I think that it would be rather difficult, and expensive for Firaxis to remedy all these glitches in a series of patches. There are just too many of them.

Yet there are far fewer than for most games, including a game from the very same company that produced civ 3 and as I write this has threads on this board extolling its virtues (SMAC).

You only need to look at some of the gaming greats to see that they too also needed many patches:

DOOM, arguably the greatest game of all time, which has at least 6 major versions (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.666, 1.7a, 1.9).

Quake, probably the first big internet game, had so many patches it's not funny trying to get the network code to a playable state in it's QuakeWorld incarnation.

Diablo, Starcraft & Diablo 2, all of which sold millions of copies and won multiple game of the year awards have each had over half a dozen patches.

Civ 2 had at least as many patches also.

A few "glitches" is not the end of the world - all games have bugs, even the best of them, and it's not uncommon for major issues to be fixed in patches. The minor bugs expressed in this thread are really nothing out of the ordinary for a game, and quite fixable I would guess.

Willem · January 18, 2002, 05:35

I like the jumping units. Every so often, I guess the animation screws up for a second, a unit will look as if it is making a huge jump, rather the usual run. I get a chuckle everytime it happens.

Dry · January 18, 2002, 08:05

A leader - polite or cautious - shows up, proposes a trade;
I accept the trade;
the leader leaves the room annoyed...

Is 'not bargaining' considered as an insult?

OneInTen · January 18, 2002, 10:12

Quote:

Is 'not bargaining' considered as an insult?

Won't 'aggle? You're supposed to say "10 for that, you must be mad!"

EnochF · January 18, 2002, 14:36

Quote:

Won't 'aggle? You're supposed to say "10 for that, you must be mad!"

prince_aki · January 18, 2002, 15:52

"A few "glitches" is not the end of the world - all games have bugs, even the best of them, and it's not uncommon for major issues to be fixed in patches. The minor bugs expressed in this thread are really nothing out of the ordinary for a game, and quite fixable I would guess."

You interpreted my statement wrong. That's probably my fault, because I forgot to include a very important part.

"Seriously though, I think that it would be rather difficult, and expensive for Firaxis to remedy all these glitches in a series of patches. There are just too many of them." Instead, the company is more likely to release an x-pack, if it chooses to do so. It costs money to produce patches, and unfortunately, Firaxis, like all competitive companies, would rather produce profit. Why else would they rush this game for a Christmas release?

Grrr · January 18, 2002, 22:01

A "couple" of glitches is normal, but the way firaxis have left this, I'm surprised they haven't made a link to apolyton instead of a help file!

My favourite problem would have to be, um, er, um, eh, ?!?!.

Oh yeah! thats it: The time when you build a railway to on an iron square, you just connected with a road earlier this turn, and the iron runs out!

Brundlefly · January 19, 2002, 08:37

Quote:

A few "glitches" is not the end of the world - all games have bugs, even the best of them, and it's not uncommon for major issues to be fixed in patches. The minor bugs expressed in this thread are really nothing out of the ordinary for a game, and quite fixable I would guess.

I wonder at what point did the gaming public become so tolerant of purchasing software that needed so many revisions to work properly. SMAC/SMAX had how many patches, 3, 4? If you take the money you spent on that software and purchased a vaccuum cleaner, how would you feel about sending that vaccuum cleaner to the repair shop 3 or 4 times before it was usable? All manufacturing companies follow the same product development lifecycle of design, production, testing whether the product is software or vaccuums. I think software companies like Firaxis count on the public's perception of software development as some kind of extremely difficult "magic" to afford them the luxury of supplementing a supposedly "finished" product with patches.

Toasty · January 19, 2002, 08:43

Maybe it's because I'm a World War II Online vet, but this isn't as much of a beta as it is a game that needs to be hammered out, which happens to be 60% of the games I get that were just released. Firaxis is taking it's good sweet time on the patches yes, but this is hardly a beta.

Libertarian · January 19, 2002, 08:51

It is a beta by definition. As I understand it, the modern era was never play-tested before shipping.

prince_aki · January 20, 2002, 02:33

"As I understand it, the modern era was never play-tested before shipping." I doubt that's all that wasn't tested.

Toasty, I read about the "World War II Online" controversy (hilarious

), so I understand why you would tolerate the glitches in this game. In contrast, I am primarily a console gamer, and have only bought the aoe games for computer. So, I have never really bought a game that is still in development before.

Spec · February 6, 2002, 13:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Feephi

I wonder at what point did the gaming public become so tolerant of purchasing software that needed so many revisions to work properly. SMAC/SMAX had how many patches, 3, 4? If you take the money you spent on that software and purchased a vaccuum cleaner, how would you feel about sending that vaccuum cleaner to the repair shop 3 or 4 times before it was usable? All manufacturing companies follow the same product development lifecycle of design, production, testing whether the product is software or vaccuums. I think software companies like Firaxis count on the public's perception of software development as some kind of extremely difficult "magic" to afford them the luxury of supplementing a supposedly "finished" product with patches.

If you put it this way, I agree, but the thing is that the game "works" this way, it's just botched. Is it were perfect we wouldn't need a civ four, just like a vaccum, if it were perfect, they would need to make a new one with a....I dont know....power suck mode or something....That's what's cool about software, you can upgraded it for free afterwards, but not a vaccum. So that's probably what Firaxis thought. I know, They should'of done a better job but you know, money counts on top of all. They just thought:" well, we'll make a patch in a year orso..." like every other company.....

Dida · February 6, 2002, 13:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Libertarian
It is a beta by definition. As I understand it, the modern era was never play-tested before shipping.

true.
The modern era seems rushed with lack of units and new civ advances. The game is over by the time you reach modern era, because it is no longer fun.

copcartman · February 6, 2002, 14:29

I'm a little annoyed when the AI keeps suggesting I build "Swordsman" when my ground forces consists of only no weaker unit than infantry, armour and artillery.

Willem · February 6, 2002, 14:40

Quote:

Originally posted by copcartman
I'm a little annoyed when the AI keeps suggesting I build "Swordsman" when my ground forces consists of only no weaker unit than infantry, armour and artillery.

You can turn that off in the preferences. It will only pop up after you've built an improvement, or you reach the end of your build queue.

SSushi · February 7, 2002, 08:18

My fav. bug is the one wehich waits until you eventually stop getting whooped in the first 20 minutes, then stops the game from running. A classic!

(no I'm not running the game down but there are a few others suffering with this.

Brundlefly · February 7, 2002, 10:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Arrian
That first glitch you mentioned - I think I've run into that as well. Is that when you do something in particular with a unit (in my experience thus far, it has been either chopping down a tree or killing & plundering a barb encampment), and the unit stays selected, but cannot move (as it has already moved)? You can select and move other units if you want, go to your advisors and such, but the game is kinda "hung up" for a while. Then, probably when you're in the middle of looking at something else, the game snaps back into action and activates the next unmoved unit?

-Arrian

I've seen this one before and I think I have an idea of what's happening and how to avoid it. When you move a unit make sure you wait for the game to take you to the next unit -- in other words, don't finish moving a unit and then immediately select another unit with your mouse. Sometimes the game (for whatever reason) needs do processing after your unit move. If it is still trying to process when you click on another unit then that process gets hung.

copcartman · February 7, 2002, 12:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Willem

You can turn that off in the preferences. It will only pop up after you've built an improvement, or you reach the end of your build queue.

Well, what I meant was when some production is finished and the queue is empty. Then you get a dialog asking what to produce next, and very often the selected item in that list is swordsman or longbowman. I guess I should use the queue more. It would be great though if there were some option to get rid of all obsolete choices in the build list.