I’m a certified Civilization IV addict, so anything with that name on it is an automatic purchase for me, especially an update to a much beloved strategy game from way back when.
Wikipedia description:
I’m lovin’ it™ so far. The updated Civ4 engine looks outstanding, and the game is as addicting as I’d expect. Anyone else check it out yet?
And for the experts of the old game: Have any hot tips for the noobs among us? How quickly do you establish new settlements after the first one? And it is advisable to get a church up quick to speed immigration? Should I start two settlements initially or start one and have the other guy join it?
Anyway, it’s a great game. Go get it! Or download it - it’s on Steam and a few of the other digital services.
Wow. I loved Colonization back in the 90’s. Great game, if a little short.
As far as I remember, you can create a city with any given colonist. But you probably don’t want to in the early game. Larger cities are just so much better at doing pretty much everything, and the only spreading out you really will want to do is to grab extra resources as the game goes on.
Churches are an absolute necessity: both for increasing immigration (the key to beating out your European rivals) and for missionaries (the key to keeping the natives from eating you).
Can anyone tell me how Steam works? Are they just a download interface, or do I actually have to have a program called “Steam” running while I’m playing games I downloaded from them? Can I play without a connection to the internet? Are there any restrictions beyond what a normal CD installation would impose? I want to play this game so bad, but I can’t find it for sale at any of the stores near me.
After a quick after-supper run to Best Buy, I’m not happy.
The game installed OK, and starts up OK, but after I have made my selections and the game starts: there’s a colony charter screen that tells you about your leader and starting units, etc., but when I click ‘continue’ the game crashes. Five times now. Can’t find anything on 2k’s site about it.
Also, everytime it starts it wants to access the internet. I think not.
Steam is wonderful. It does run as an app in the background. You can play while offline. You do not ever need CDs. When you buy something, it is on your list of games you own. At any time, you can install or uninstall any games you own on Steam. Once installed, you can start it offline and play. It also has great deals on old/obscure games, a decent community, stable MP servers, etc.
That isn’t my experience. I ended up with Steam when I picked up Portal and it won’t let me play the damn game unless I’m connected. I don’t find whatever advantages might be htere to be worth the hassle and the invasion of privacy.
I picked up my copy a few hours ago and have been thoroughly enjoying it.
The only thing that I really miss so far is that the “Europe” screen doesn’t look like docks with all the colonists lined up on it; it’s still functional but it just slightly sucks me out of the “feel” of sending a caravel full of goods back to Ye Olde Worlde when, instead of showing up at the Thames Docks, it just appears on a data screen.
Also, I don’t particularly want to fight the King to win Independence, and I wish there was an option to either achieve Commonwealth (ie, NOT declare independence, perhaps winning by occupying the most land or making the most money or something), or win by wiping out the other European powers (as in FreeCol).
Still, nothing that can’t be fixed in a patch/mod , and the game is still as awesome this time around as it was back in '94. I’ve warned my wife I’m going to be very busy with my Viceroyal duties for the foreseeable future…
Agree, Martini Enfield, more victory options would be welcome. That’s one of my favorite things about Civ IV - the fact that you can play it a number of different ways depending on how you want to win. Fortunately the Civ IV engine is infinitely moddable, so hopefully we’ll see some of those ideas incorporated in the future.
One tip I picked up on playing last night: It’s good to explore. I sent out one of my two initial units out to explore the land around while the other established my first colony, and the explorer turned up all kinds of treasure I could send back to Europe for pretty good money. Before long I was able to afford a Galleon so I could transport any future discoveries back to the Old Country without paying the king his 50% cut. After that I had plenty of money to pay off the native tribe near where I settled to keep them happy while I expanded.
I also get a few trade routes going, which took me a bit as I don’t think the process was explained very well by the game. Once I figured that out I was sending much more valuable goods back to Europe and the money started flowing in.
Regarding Steam, you can indeed play in “Offline Mode.” I think it’s under the File menu.
Steam does not require you to have it running on the background to play games. You can play offline, but I believe it does require to sign in at least once every 10 days or so. Well worth the (non) hassle, IMHO.
Steam and stardock’s impulse are pretty much the only way I buy games now a days, with an exception or two (NWN mainly).
I’ll give this game a shot next week, sounds fun, and I haven’t had my strategy game bone tickled in a while.
Huh. Mine’s on order, I have the day off and nothing’s arrived.
Having replayed the old game recently, I can venture some tips based on it (but I’m going to read the new manual to see what changes they’ve made…).
Depending on how friendly you are with the natives, I used to get a second settlement quite soon (i.e. before the first reached size 3). It depended on what specialists I had and the terrain…
In general, a new settlement gives you the bonus of the cnetre square as well as whatever the colonist is doing, so it’s a useful boost. But you’ll need Wagon Trains to get the resources out…
I like to put a couple of horses in each settlement as they started breeding as soon as there was a food surplus.
I found the Church meant nothing compared to a Scout finding a Fountain of Youth (if they still have that).
Although useful, large cities take longer to gain independence.
Also, as I posted, each new small settlement produces more than if the colonist simply works in the big city.
As for Churches, Petty Criminals and Indentured Servants can be turned into Missionaries on the European Docks. (Even playing the English, who encourage Immigration, I never found a Church (even with a Firebrand Preacher) gave me much extra immigration. Perhaps they’ll change that in the new game, because it wiuld be good for Churches to do something.)
Another Steam question – is it cheaper than buying off the shelf? After reading this thread last night I was looking at the Steam site and saw the game listed for $29.99. I haven’t seen the new Colonization game in stores yet, but it seems that usually new PC games are in the $49 - $59 range.
There’s some reports of poor performance. Better wait for the patch.
Download services are usually not cheaper than retail. Though once the titles has been out for a while they tend to sweeten the pot with bundles, or price drops that hit them before they hit the retail versions.
The reason, of course, is that retails would throw a fit if they knew online retailers could undercut them.
I really like it, but I have a few questions. I have limited experience with the original so I’m not sure if it’s a design thing or bugs.
-When hiring colonists they are all not only the same price, but the price fluctuates wildly. It doesn’t seem right to have to pay 500 for either a Tobacco Expert or a Petty Criminal and after getting your first guy the second set of choices all cost 4500 or so. Does this reflect the lack of cross production for the second guy or what?
-Buildings seem to require different things to complete. I don’t need tools to complete a lumber mill but I do for a dock. Is this right?
-Around what percentage of tax do most players revolt?
