# Things we learned from Civilization IV
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [November 12, 2009, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295 "2009-11-12T07:46:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295/61 "2009-11-17T02:58:06Z")
> [@Sitnam](#):
>
> Your criticism is fair and I thought I was the only one this happened to (I like large maps and 20+ civs), apparently I’m not and it’s a large problem, however, the recently released 2.8 version is supposed to fix this. When I get some time I’ll play it and see if I can get passed the 1800’s without it locking on me.
When I tried it I never got past eight or ten turns. I attempted three different games, and each time got a CTD after a few turns; restarting and reloading wouldn’t help. It looks interesting, but I think I’ll wait for confirmation that the problem has been fixed before downloading it again.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295/62 "2009-11-17T03:05:53Z")
Yeah, I was lucky to get past c. 20 turns myself. Ambitious mods often tend to be buggy, because the creators are always so gung-ho to add this and that new feature without fully testing it first and ensuring a stable public release first.
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### Author:  [@Petek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petek)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295/63 "2009-11-17T03:08:23Z")
Based on the comments here, I downloaded Rise of Mankind (v2.8). I’ve played more than 300 turns without a crash (giant map size, snail speed).
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295/64 "2009-11-18T06:24:08Z")
Better than scouts is to use warriors and get upgrades to woodsman II. Then you can move two squares on forests and jungles, and your guy is pretty much invulnerable to animals as long as he stays in the woods. And you can zip back home and upgrade to axeman.
As for global warming, I never seem to have a problem with it, since I typically ban nuclear weapons as soon as possible. I mean, the human player has a lot more to lose from nukes than the AIs. You don’t want your core cities ravaged do you?
And the Malinese are always my bestest buddies. They always have great tech and are peaceful, and they’ll happily trade with you as long as you don’t fall behind.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295/65 "2009-11-18T17:14:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> What’s wrong with that? The Chinese, for example, still write without an alphabet. What would be really impressive would be an alphabet without writing.
Point taken. I think it would have been more accurate to research drawing first, then writing with alphabet included in the writing tech.
What irritates me is that I have a great game going, right up there in the top civs, have a nice chunk of a continent, and then if I want coal or oil or aluminum or uranium, it’s all concentrated on the other side of the continent. I often find myself without horses, but don’t let that stop me. No copper is no big deal unless I want to build the Colossus. No iron means the game is hopeless. Then sometimes the AI asks me to trade iron to them, and I refuse (as I do all requests for resources), then two turns later he’s sending swordsmen over the border.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295/66 "2009-11-18T19:38:05Z")
> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> - Don’t futz around on the edges: expand _toward_ your rivals and take the center ground if at all possible.
This really depends on the Civ IMO. Some are essentially tailor made for a rapid expansion where you settle your first few cities on the best spots and chokepoints of the continent, as far from the capital as possible (barbarians and CRAP,BEARS!! allowing), then backfilling the huuuuge tracts of empty land later, when tech can do away with the City # bureaucratic penalty. The Dutch, the Romans, Carthage…
But others really seem to do much better with just an armored core of ridiculously huge, terraformed and well developped cities. The Aztecs (or was it the Mayas ? The ones with the cultural granaries and the weaksauce Spearmen unit) come to mind.
In fact, if you’re going for a cultural victory (cheap, I know, but…) three good cities are all you really need, with the rest only churning out defensive units for the inevitable gang rape you’re going to face when your neighbours suss you out.
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-we-learned-from-civilization-iv/517295/67 "2009-12-03T06:30:48Z")
Yesterday I learned how sweet it is to kick Hattie’s ass. I was holding the majority of my continent (as Qin Shi Huang) and she had just a tiny little island offshore just to spite me. So I built up an armada of battleships & destroyers plus a carrier, and transports carrying tanks, Marines, SAM infantry and artillery. And then I took that flotilla and hid it in the Arctic just above her main continent.
And _then_ I dispatched a single company of Marines with artillery to take that crappy offshore island.
And _then_ my spies on her mainland confirmed what I’d suspected, that she would immediately build up her own flotilla with transports seeking revenge on my homeland, carrying all her most modern equipment and a good percentage of her whole army. I tracked this flotilla with submarines, and as soon as they were in range of my homeland I started hammering it with fighters and sank the whole thing with my coastal defense force of destroyers.
And _then_ my own Arctic flotilla swooped down and kicked the crap out of her homeland defenses, capturing several of her main cities before she squealed for a cease fire.
I’m a geek, but boy that was satisfying. ETA: esp. as this is as successful as I’ve ever been at Prince level.
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