But when town residents start staying up late, turning pale, and listening to Depeche Mode, Dan starts to suspect that bat might have been patient zero in an epidemic of vampirism
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It strikes me as a refined version of Civ 3. It doesn't seem particularly revolutionary; they tweaked a lot of things, it is hella pretty, the new interface allows for the absorption and processing of more information faster, which makes things nice -
- I'm still a little worried about game balance with respect to trying to create and run a pacifistic, non-violent society, which is what I've wanted to do for a long time - I used to be able to pull it off some in Civ 2, but there was no way in Civ 3, there was too much of a land grab - I've been playing through a bit, and still thinking a cultural victory is mostly right out - you have to have 3 cities up and churning Wonders ASAP in order to have a chance at it, I think. Conquering or otherwise being strategic with culture isn't likely happening either; although I have flipped a handful of cities to my side that way, they're mostly small borderlands next to a metropolis.
- Science win is still good, though.
- Large military campaigns still bog down a bit. I'm particularly missing a "build to here" command.
- Multiplayer seems to be a bit more refined but still a bit of a work in process. There's rumors and such of a "pit boss" mode where people could switch off back and forth between real online play and PBeM play that wasn't available in the first release version but will be coming out in a few months - that is where the proof will come.
- Plenty of resources and resources matter quite a lot, as do trade routes. The first real civ I pushed through took forever to build railroads because there was no supply of coal to be had for love or money until one suddenly popped up.
- There is a stress toward increasing specialization of both troops and cities - I have yet to sense that seriously affecting my decision tree for either. In general, there's about one or two promotions in particular that seem worth getting at any given point in time.
- Civ's built-in suggestions for things like tech advances and buildings are about halfway between truly useful and Navi of Zelda fame. Generally they're mostly on target, but sometimes get annoying ("I think you need a settler. Most of the world is settled already, but I still think you need one. Shut UP!")
- Their use of religion is a bit bizarre and random but still interesting. A good addition overall, allows for more rivalry and a bit of good spying if you can spread the religion properly.
- I'm still a little worried about game balance with respect to trying to create and run a pacifistic, non-violent society, which is what I've wanted to do for a long time - I used to be able to pull it off some in Civ 2, but there was no way in Civ 3, there was too much of a land grab - I've been playing through a bit, and still thinking a cultural victory is mostly right out - you have to have 3 cities up and churning Wonders ASAP in order to have a chance at it, I think. Conquering or otherwise being strategic with culture isn't likely happening either; although I have flipped a handful of cities to my side that way, they're mostly small borderlands next to a metropolis.
- Science win is still good, though.
- Large military campaigns still bog down a bit. I'm particularly missing a "build to here" command.
- Multiplayer seems to be a bit more refined but still a bit of a work in process. There's rumors and such of a "pit boss" mode where people could switch off back and forth between real online play and PBeM play that wasn't available in the first release version but will be coming out in a few months - that is where the proof will come.
- Plenty of resources and resources matter quite a lot, as do trade routes. The first real civ I pushed through took forever to build railroads because there was no supply of coal to be had for love or money until one suddenly popped up.
- There is a stress toward increasing specialization of both troops and cities - I have yet to sense that seriously affecting my decision tree for either. In general, there's about one or two promotions in particular that seem worth getting at any given point in time.
- Civ's built-in suggestions for things like tech advances and buildings are about halfway between truly useful and Navi of Zelda fame. Generally they're mostly on target, but sometimes get annoying ("I think you need a settler. Most of the world is settled already, but I still think you need one. Shut UP!")
- Their use of religion is a bit bizarre and random but still interesting. A good addition overall, allows for more rivalry and a bit of good spying if you can spread the religion properly.
Brainslugs are useful.
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