Yeah, the combat in Civ 4 was definitely one of the weaker parts of the game, which is part of the reason I like FfH2 so much- it's much harder to roll over other Civs just using a brute force approach to combat, but on the other hand the options provided by the likes of arcane units means there's quite a few different and very effective approaches that can be taken, provided you prepare and plan your tactics carefully.

If you do, I highly recommend seeking out and using a mod that changes how Religion works, as otherwise it's way too easy to use it to manipulate the AI civs into never so much as giving you a hard stare. This is especially true if you're playing a Spiritual leader, since then you can change at will with no Anarchy periods between types.

Other than that, though, it's one of the best offerings in the series as it corrects/removes a lot of the problems that crippled previous installments in one way or another.

I still dabble in Civ IV on occasion, but the stacks-of-doom, the spearman-beats-tank problem and the odd way siege units work always get to me. The former problem did not have to be solved with a 1 unit limit per tile like in Civ V, and the spearman-beats-tank problem stems from the fact that all the units in the game are not simulations of their actual units but are in essence all the same unit with just slightly varying values, and siege units seem an afterthought but with just a little more work put into the combat system could have worked brilliantly. I had a system all worked out a few years ago, involving actually laying siege to a city for a number of turns like in Total War.

Let me explain the spearman beats tank problem. In reality a spearman would never beat a tank. A privateer sailing ship or ironclad would never beat a battleship or modern AEGIS destroyer. But in the Civ series we aren't looking at spearmen or tanks or sailing ships or battleships, we are looking at a single generic unit with different strength values and names. It's a laughably simplistic approach to combat that worked in games 20 years ago but doesn't today. A spearman is a strength 4 generic unit and a tank a strength 20 generic unit (or something like that) so the former has a chance to defeat the latter, but because of their names and graphics we expect them to behave like they would have if they were simulating their namesakes.

You may think it's not fair to not give a spearman unit a chance to beat a tank, but the fact is if a civilization is relying on ancient or pre-gunpowder units vs a civilzation with modern-era gunpowder units, it should be looking at it's demise. Musketeers vs spearmen is one thing, but tanks or modern infantry? Or sailing ships vs battleships or worse, submarines?

For some reason the Civ series made great strides in every facet of the game (up till Civ IV) except combat. Combat has remained the same antiquated version it's been since almost the first game.

Civ IV is still a great game. I recommend either III or IV for your first game. IV is much more involved, but III does some things right that they messed up in IV like zone-of-control and siege units.

EDIT: I listen to IV's soundtrack sometimes for enjoyment, especially medieval and renaissance eras. It's the best soundtrack of any game.

I heard this argument many years ago actually. Even though I've never played the Civ series I've read a few articles and comments about the games through the years. Your argument, which others share as well, is one of the major reasons why I haven't tried the Civ series. For a game that is so serious and attracts so many smart people, it's perplexing that Sid hasn't addressed this gameplay mechanic. Perhaps he has; perhaps others have a better understanding as to why.

Is there a mod to overhaul the "spearman beats tank problem"? I'll definitely download that mod.

To be fair Civ IV improved greatly on this problem compared to Civ III, where you'd often have to sacrifice at least one modern armor for every spearman defending a city (and sometimes you'd watch 4+ modern armors blow up just to take down a single spearman). In Civ IV you'd still sometimes have spearmen getting lucky and taking out a modern armor, but the vast majority of the time a full-health modern armor would win against a spearman (even in a heavily fortified city). As for siege units, the way they worked was a bit odd, but they were actually a bit overpowered in my opinion, particularly when used against a stack of doom. The collateral damage meant that you could just sacrifice a few siege units against the stack, and just like that the entire stack was heavily damaged and easy pickings. And speaking of stacks of doom, while they could be a pain if you faced them conventionally, in the late game they were great targets for nukes (hey, if you're going to wage a war you might as well go all out).

I have Civ III, played it ALOT when I was younger, like 8ish. The I played Civ IV, brilliant game. And then I got Civ V, which I think is better than IV. It's just a shame that Civ V doesn't have the mods and expansions of Civ IV. Civ III is probably my favorite, and Civ V my second favorite. Also played the hell out of Alpha Centauri, that was a great game aswell.

Stacks of doom are the major problem. Why they didn't limit the number of units per tile is beyond me, say 10 per tile or something reasonable.

Siege units don't need to do collateral damage. That shouldn't be their function. They also shouldn't have to be sacrificed. Siege units are long-rang units and should work like they did in Civ III at the very least, or if they bothered to put some thought into it they could have worked even better. Yes, a small fortified stack (if there were a unit limit per stack, like 10) with siege units could be devastating if they functioned like they did in Civ III, but a stack like that should be devastating.

I had a whole system worked out for how siege units should work in Civ IV but I forgot most of it. It did borrow some elements from the Total War series because I like the idea of siege units being used primarily in sieges, not as sacrificial units used as one-time collateral damage dealers.

Anyone who hasn't played a civ game yet and plays Civ IV first will think it's a brilliant game, then smack himself on the forehead when he sees how siege units work. It's so wrong and it's so obvious there's better ways to do it.

Mods are now live on the workshop.

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse?appid=8930

Anyone tried any of these yet?

The Westeros map looks like it might be fun, but I can't tell if they updated the leaders and civs.

I've been playing CIV 5 a lot lately with my cousin. I'm playing as the Incan Empire. Going for a science victory. Got invaded early on by Washington and Ramk guy whatever is name is. The one who is allegedly a peace lover. Took them both out, now I have a crap ton of cities spread all across a giant river and lakes. So hopefully I can get back on track. I might have to get rid of a few though, the upkeep might just be too high.

Edit
Despite the setbacks I think I'm still the furthest in the tech tree, so imagine once I get my research going 100%.

Edit2
Oh wait, yea Washington survives, but I did kick his ass so hard he's basically out of the game. Or fodder for one of the bigger civs.

In Civilization 4 is there a way to play the game past the ending. Or is there a mod for it?

I'd keep them if you're going for science victory, just make sure you build courthouses to get rid of the unhappiness. More cities = more population = more science.

Yes, once a set of victory conditions is achieved no further score is recorded, but you're given the option to continue playing for as long as you like.

I've played 2, 4 and 5. Only one I trully liked was 2 for the PS1. In my opinion, you can't have a good Civ game without the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqPC08cPGJw


They have been sorely missed.

Good that was one thing I wanted before I picked it up in a couple weeks.

I want a mod that lets us choose an age to END with, not BEGIN with. Like say I want a game where all civs can only advance to the Renaissance, right before gunpowder.

I disagree. For a science victory, you're really better off with a small empire. If you get a really lucky start, you might actually be best off with just two cities (one for science, one for production). 1st, happiness is what really limits population, and every additional city takes away from your happiness, and 2nd, one citizen in a well-developed science city can be worth twenty citizens of a normal city, in terms of science. Another huge factor is the impact of additional cities on your acquisition of great scientists and social policies.

When I say a crap ton, I mean a crap ton. They're all little and pathetic as well. Like 8-9+ cities in a few turns. Even with courthouses upkeep is insane. I might have to get rid of a few of the weaker ones.

Anyone played Sid Meier's Pirates? I love that game. Enjoy the old ones as well.

Have played Civ 2, 4, and Civ Revolution. Enjoy all three, and will eventually get V. Most Sid games can be quite addicting.

I have my head buried in the Final Frontier plus mod for Civ 4, as well as the Star trek version for it.

I want to do a slight re-balance for the FF+ mod, with elements from the ST version, as well as some ideas of my own. /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

I'm going to die unless someone can help me. Civ 4. All I want to do is play the 18 Civ Earth map but I can choose which civilisations start; not even that actually, I just want to replace the English with the Celts. I'm more than willing to spend time placing the other civilisations in their proper starting locations if I have to settle on a map with no fixed locations.

I've been looking and downloading maps for 2 hours now to no avail and I just want to play the damn game. I just want the map with no fixed civs.

open worldbuilder -> delete civ starting cities -> save map

start custom game -> use said map..


have oodles of fun and gleeful experiences that would probably require exigent expungement in any court




also, I'm learning big words /banana.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':banana:' />

I tried that but when I loaded it back up again the geographical changes I had made remained but all the civs came back /angry.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':angry:' />.

Civilization NiGHTS is now available on Steam Workshop and compatible with the latest patch.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=77097295

If you have Civ 5, you must try this overhaul mod. It adds almost 100 new cultural policies, overhauls the tech tree and greatly improves the game balance, among many other fixes.

I thought http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/ was really cool.

Is the new update causing anyone else to crash and freeze constantly for Civ V?