# Recommend me a game to replace Civ IV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216 "2005-10-27T22:41:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/21 "2005-11-01T05:30:51Z")
I’m not able to get Alpha Centauri to play on my WinXP machine, so I’m forced to play it on my laptop if I want to play it at all. My take on Alien Crossfire is sort of meh. I liked it because I’d played a lot (loooot) of Alpha Centauri and I appreciated the variety it provided. But it didn’t really upgrade the game any at all. It just provided some new characters and new technologies (or names for technologies). One thing that I saw mentioned earlier in this thread was national borders – this is present in AC. Also, something that you don’t see in any of the Civ variants is the Unit Workshop. You can design your own units combining any of the technologies you’ve discovered to date. Occasionally this provides some useful flexibility. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/22 "2005-11-01T19:49:36Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > To the OP: Be sure to check out the Alpha Centauri has an expansion pack, Alien Crossfire. I hear (due to limited production runs?) that it’s always been almost impossible to find and used copies sell for $60+ due to the rarity. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/23 "2005-11-01T20:39:10Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > I completely failed to realise why your _nom de net_ here was so familiar. Huh. > > My ID over there is a bit unencrypted for my liking, but too late to change: I’m the moderator of the EU2 Bug Reporting forum who isn’t **kurtbrian** or **Carolus Rex**. I also work in the EU2 Tech Support forum there, and am a beta tester on the **Diplomacy** game that **Lute Skywatcher** mentioned a couple of posts ago. AHA! Well, I should, I suppose, have guessed. 🙂 Must be nice to participate in a forum where your posts don’t consist of, “Already Reported 500 frickin’ times; don’t you read stickies!?” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/24 "2005-11-01T20:42:08Z")
_Alpha Centauri_ was the best computer game ever, for a first play. It was, in many ways, one of the best games ever, period, though I didn’t like the static nature of the game once you had the seven factions down, and the aliens from _Alien Crossfire_ were simply too much. _Civ 2_, however, in the end run was more delicious than any other game, for no other reason than the tremendous number of mods available, something none of the other _Civ_ games have managed to duplicate. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/25 "2005-11-01T20:43:18Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I hear (due to limited production runs?) that it’s always been almost impossible to find and used copies sell for $60+ due to the rarity. Indeed, and it won’t work with modern Windows systems. However, I still have a disc with the expansion pack on it, and I’m getting a copy of windows 98 and gonna partition my harddrive so I can run some old games. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/26 "2005-11-01T21:02:02Z")
I run SMAC on my modern, patched with the latest updates, Windows system with no problems whatsoever. I don’t have SMAX, despite my having recommended it, due to the aforementioned rarity. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/27 "2005-11-01T21:06:01Z")
Oh, Alpha Centauri runs just fine on my service pack 2 machine, but Alien Crossfire does not. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/28 "2005-11-01T21:09:13Z")
Interesting. I guess I’m glad I can’t find it, then. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/29 "2005-11-01T21:51:03Z")
I know an abandonware site that has SMAX. Funny how they allow downloads for that but not SMAC. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/30 "2005-11-01T22:21:03Z")
Is it home of the underdogs? (they’re totally legal and legit, so it shouldn’t be a problem mentioning them) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/31 "2005-11-01T22:54:38Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Is it home of the underdogs? > (they’re totally legal and legit, so it shouldn’t be a problem mentioning them) Maybe. 😉 (not taking any chances) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/32 "2005-11-12T02:38:58Z")
Not to hijack an old thread, but I just installed _Civ IV_. Let me just say that Firaxis Games (recently acquired by Take 2) won’t be getting any more of my money. It runs fine on my step-son’s machine, but why bother? The graphics are way behind the graphics in the Age of Empires franchise (Age of Mythology was better!), and compared to, say Railroad Tycoon III, they suck. Game play is a bit different, but, let’s face it, they’ve gone about as fur as they can go with the basic concept. Interestingly, I’ve been dinking around with SMAX for the last few days. I think I’ll finish that game before I bother much with the new one. And I know it won’t be pulling me away from my regular Wed. night multi-player _Europa Universalis_ game!!! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/33 "2005-11-12T03:48:33Z")
As long as **DSYoungEsq** revived my thread, let me just thank everyone who made suggestions here. But special thanks to **DSYoungEsq** and **Askance** for their recommendation: _Europa Universalis II_ freaking rocks!!! - Peter Wiggen ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/34 "2005-11-16T22:32:46Z")
> [@PeterWiggen](#): > > As long as **DSYoungEsq** revived my thread, let me just thank everyone who made suggestions here. But special thanks to **DSYoungEsq** and **Askance** for their recommendation: _Europa Universalis II_ freaking rocks!!! > > - Peter Wiggen Don’t forget to visit us over there at that forum, [\*Europa Universalis 2 Forum](http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=51). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216/35 "2005-11-16T23:14:00Z")
I’ve also just started playing Hearts of Iron II…which is essentially WWII for Europa Universalis. I’ve juuuust about figured out combat now, on my fourth game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-game-to-replace-civ-iv/328216.md?page=1)