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Civ III first impressions?

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Old 10-31-01, 10:05 AM
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Civ III first impressions?

I plan on picking this up today, who already has it and what do you think?
Old 10-31-01, 10:18 AM
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I picked it up yesterday and played it for a few hours. It's quite impressive. Of course, it's not that much different than the earlier Civ games, but the various improvments and features make it worthwhile. There are still a few bugs and oddities here and there, but overall it feels like a finished project...there were no "gamebreakers" that I could find.

Highly recommended.
Old 10-31-01, 10:33 AM
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Oops, forgot to post this last night.

Civilization 3 is a lot like it's forebearers. There are some new rules that have changed since Civ 2. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading the manual before playing the game. There is a lot of new things in Civ 3 that is totally different than Civ 2.

The game is addicting as hell and I purposefully lost so I could go to bed or I'd still be playing it right now and not at work.

And buy the standard edition of the game. The Limited edition evidentally has a poorly put together fold-out tech tree. You can get the tech tree in the game and print it out yourself for $10 less.
Old 10-31-01, 12:53 PM
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I haven't picked it up, I'm waiting for the summer due to lack of time, but Gamespot gave it a 92% rating.

One that that I find funny though, places like Amazon sell it 45$ (that's 10% off, wow!) when you can buy it on sale at the Radioshack B&M in Canada for 40$ CDN which is around 25$ or so US which sure beats Amazon!
Old 10-31-01, 02:11 PM
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bought it monday, not sure when I'll get around to playing it. still haven't finished BG2
damn_school taking up all my time
Old 10-31-01, 03:23 PM
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It just arrived (FedEx) but I'm at work. First impressions: The box looks great.

I'm gonna fire it up tonight; I can't wait... But if I miss work tomorrow there's gonna be hell to pay...
Old 10-31-01, 03:45 PM
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i bought it at EB yesterday and subsequently played it for longer than i care to admit.

i read the differences portion of the manual before i jumped in, but i highly recommend reading the entire thing because i find it to be a lot different in playing strategy.

it seems excellent and up-to-par so far!
-di doctor-
Old 11-01-01, 04:01 PM
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So far I'm not impressed with the game... it seems like the others, but different. I haven't played it more than an hour or two...
Old 11-01-01, 04:06 PM
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okay, now that i've had time to really play it..

i've got one major bone to pick with it: the GRAPHICS.
yes, they are good.. but they slow down the game quite a bit. i have unclicked all of the "animate" features in the main menu, but it still takes a long time to go turn by turn.. or, at least, that's what it seems like to me.. anybody else feel this way? (or is it just my computer being slow?)

plus, when i load a saved game, it takes about a minute to two minutes just for the game to load.

i do like the new diplomacy set-up a lot though. and having no movement barriers in terms of moving around another civs units or cities. the game feels more developed, but it also feels clunky.. but, once again, that may just be because my computer is slow..?

-di doctor-
Old 11-01-01, 09:13 PM
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Installed at 5:00 PM EDT.

Before I know it, it's 10:00 PM.

I think that's a good sign
Old 11-01-01, 11:29 PM
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Argh!! I solely blame AgtFox for addicting me to this game when he posted the first thread on it

hehehehe I'm only kidding......but seriously, you guys are right you can play this game and the time just flys by.

As they say, time flys when your having fun
Old 11-02-01, 05:25 AM
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version III certainly retains the previous versions addictiveness, i'll give you that..

but i've figured out what i hate more than anything about this new version: it shows EVERY SINGLE MOVE of EVERY SINGLE OTHER CIV of EVERY SINGLE UNIT if you are allied with them and happen to share a continent with them.. it takes at LEAST two minutes to get from me hitting the end of the turn button to actually get to interact with the computer again. i have literally taken to READING a book or something else IN BETWEEN as it shows EVERY SINGLE MOVE! i'm sorry, i can't seem to CONTROL THE VOLUME OF MY TYPE.

does anybody happen to know if i can turn those moves off? i would really appreciate it.

anyway, i'm a little pissed off about that part of the game.
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Old 11-02-01, 06:09 AM
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just turn it off in the preferance menu... umm... i think it's like show enemy/ally moves... or animations... i turned all that off... no music, it moves a lot faster.
Old 11-02-01, 08:25 AM
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Originally posted by DrRingDing
i've got one major bone to pick with it: the GRAPHICS.
yes, they are good.. but they slow down the game quite a bit.
Hmm...I haven't experienced much slowdown and my computer is lower-end. Then again, I haven't been playing on anything larger than a standard size map...and I've heard that turns can take a while on huge maps, especially in the later parts of the game.
Old 11-03-01, 06:09 PM
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No graphics problems in the least here.

My problem is that I can't find any friggin coal. Grrrr.
Old 11-05-01, 02:46 PM
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You can trade for it...or just take it by force.
Old 11-05-01, 03:59 PM
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i've got one major bone to pick with it: the GRAPHICS.
yes, they are good.. but they slow down the game quite a bit.
There is a known problem with the latest nVidia detonator video drivers and Win2k/XP. This could be your problem. If so, I've read that installing an older version of the video drivers can help. If you search for any Civ3 fansite you should be able to find more info on this.
Old 11-05-01, 10:11 PM
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i'm running win98, so i don't think that would be my problem!

could it have something to do with the fact that i have 2G of mp3s on my computer? i have 1.5G free, though..
-di doctor-
Old 11-06-01, 09:04 PM
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I can't get the damn thign to work on XP! I get the opening movie, then my screen flashes off and the light blinks. I have an ATI Rage Pro ATG 2X or something, HELP!



AZ_MAN
Old 11-06-01, 11:56 PM
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Love this game. Only problem is that it runs much slower than CIV II does on my laptop, but that is to be expected with the animation etc. One more reason to update the hardware, and definitely not a reason to complain about the software- it looks and plays great.

Great rules updates- unfortunately it means I can't use Caravans to build wonders... but that was sort of ruining CIV II for me after a while.
Old 11-07-01, 03:17 AM
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I like the new cultural influences of cities and such. The new diplomacy system is good... I love using mutual protection pacts to cause an all out world war
Old 11-07-01, 10:57 AM
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Game #5 in progress

1 win (cultural)
3 losses - How do they build so damned fast?

Still no coal. I have never seen coal.

This game is going to "Just One More Turn" me to death.
Old 11-07-01, 12:37 PM
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Just found http://www.civfanatics.com

There are a couple of Mod packs for Civ3 that make a big difference. Check it out.
Old 11-11-01, 03:50 AM
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oh dear god.

i just made a big mistake, or rather the computer just made a big mistake for me.. heh heh.

i am playing as the babylonians against 9 other civs as a warlord.

it has been nothing but peace between everybody for the entire game... until my destroyer which was moving automatically stumbled upon a persian sub and they fought, without my being able to intervene..

and then... then... well:

i got all the other civs except two (zulu, england) to join in alliances against the persians. the zulu and the english both signed trade embargoes. and then at the end of the turn the metaphorical sh..t hit the fan.. i don't know if can recap it exactly:

1) germans attack persians.
2) persian/zulu mutual protection pact causes zulus to declare war on germany.
3) germans attack zulu.
4) zulu/english mutual prot pact causes english to declare war on germany.
5) english/me mutual pact causes me to declare war on germans after i had just bought them into an alliance against the persians. oops.
6) japanese attack persians. zulus declare war on japanese.
7) somehow the chinese declare war on japanese as well. (i happen to like the japanese.. they're the underdog, fer sher.)
8) aztecs attack persians leading to me declaring war on them after i had just bought them into an alliance.
9) all the rest of the world goes to hell...
10) and the english build the manhattan project..

DUCK!
-di doctor-
Old 11-16-01, 06:55 PM
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I finally had to time to start playing. There are several new rules I noticed right away (no irrigation from oceans, for example). Looks pretty solid so far ...


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