Longtime Civ 4 junkie...

[justjoinedtopost]

For the last decade this has been the game I have played. Gave up all the FPS and whatnot.

But it is overdue for that to change. Think its time to pick up a new hobby.

Any recommendations for a civ style game (don't say civ v, hated it) to replace it? And what is the top fps now? (I may just reinstall UT2004, idk)

 

[zippypinhead]

My favorite 4X games besides Civilization are of the space strategy variety. There was one called Ascendency, which I still love with all my heart, but which is now abandonware. I hope one day that it might get the GOG.com treatment. It definitely deserves it.

As far as games you can actually still play, Galactic Civilizations is awesome. I have put hundreds of hours into GalCiv II, and would fully and enthusiastically recommend it. GalCiv III just released in May, but I haven't played it. I'm one of those gamer types who generally waits for all dlc to show up and get put into a single package before I really consider buying it, so I doubt I'll get to it anytime soon.

For less 4X strategy, I love me some Heroes of Might and Magic. Heroes III is the best in the series, and can be found in an updated format. Also, Cosmonautica just came out, and it looks pretty charming. I think I'll be giving it a try when I have a few bucks to spare.

 

[justjoinedtopost]

Cosmonautica does look pretty interesting.

 

[DeezNA]

Long-time Civ fan as well. I had been recommended Europa Universalis IV, I played a little bit but was completely overwhelmed by the scale and depth of it, despite it being moderately simplistic to the eye... kinda like what Civ V could have been if they made Civ IV a fuck-ton more complex instead of focusing on graphics and user-friendliness for new players. I wish I could recommend it based on personal experience but I really haven't had the time to learn how to play it, but it may be up your alley if you like complex empire-building games. The Total War series is pretty fun too, albeit slow paced and more combat focused from what I gathered.

Most of the other ones I got conned into buying were essentially blatant Civ knockoffs or just poorly designed. I honestly wish I had more recommendations because I love the genre but good lord, we need some better devs out there on this.

As for FPS's, I haven't played anything recently. Planetside 2 was kinda fun (and free-to-play if you want to give an FPS MMO a try). Payday 2 is fun if you have some friends to team up with. I'm sure there are others who have better FPS suggestions.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

Civ V grows on you, but that is the subject of 200+ page thread in another forum. There really aren't many great historical turn based 4x games, Civ pretty much rules that niche.

So if you are ok with fantasy setting for your 4x game. I'd recommend both Endless Legends/Fallen Enchantress and Age of Wonders III. I just start playing AoW recently. I played Endless Legends quite a bit a year or so and the latest expansion pack Fallen Enchantress came out about a year ago, it is bit more of a 4x game than tactical game. AoW III is about a year old, like the Total War series the focus is more on turn based tactical combat and less of strategy but there is a good strategy layer. I like them both a bit better than Heroes of Might and Magic.

I liked but didn't love Galactic Civ. I am not sure I'll get the most recent game or not. A somewhat over looked 4x space game. is Sword of the Stars (the original not the good awful sequel). The 3D star map takes a while to get use to it but it is pretty cool. Once again tactical combat is pretty important but you do have the option of not playing with it at all.

I have played a lot of Paradox games. I think they are really cool to explore but they take so much time (at least the way that I play with lots of pauses) that I basically never finish a game. Still EUIV is the best of the bunch.

 

[DaddyDominant]

For the last decade this has been the game I have played. Gave up all the FPS and whatnot.

But it is overdue for that to change. Think its time to pick up a new hobby.

Any recommendations for a civ style game (don't say civ v, hated it) to replace it? And what is the top fps now? (I may just reinstall UT2004, idk)

I'm curious..what did you hate about Civ5?

I've been playing since Civ, and I really enjoyed Civ5 with ALL of the DLC.

 

[justjoinedtopost]

I'm curious..what did you hate about Civ5?

I've been playing since Civ, and I really enjoyed Civ5 with ALL of the DLC.

Not sure. Hard to put my finger on. May be that I just wasn't ready to give up on 4 yet. Tried like hell to get into 5 though. Kept going back.

 

[ACFFAN69]

I felt the same way. Civ 4 and all it's mods seemed significantly better then Civ 5. I was really looking forward to it and I'm not sure what I didn't like about it. I guess maybe because it seemed a bit less "complex".

I should say, I thought it was good, but not nearly as great as 4.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

I felt the same way. Civ 4 and all it's mods seemed significantly better then Civ 5. I was really looking forward to it and I'm not sure what I didn't like about it. I guess maybe because it seemed a bit less "complex".

I should say, I thought it was good, but not nearly as great as 4.

I eventually ended up really liking Civ V. Civ IV was big improvement over Civ III, better in virtually every respect. Especially the AI which was excellent. Civ V was much more of mixed bag somethings like the UI and graphics were better. Some things like global happiness were just different, and somethings like AI which just plain worse. The big problem was that the 1 unit per hex was too much for the computer to figure out how to use.

 

[ACFFAN69]

I eventually ended up really liking Civ V. Civ IV was big improvement over Civ III, better in virtually every respect. Especially the AI which was excellent. Civ V was much more of mixed bag somethings like the UI and graphics were better. Some things like global happiness were just different, and somethings like AI which just plain worse. The big problem was that the 1 unit per hex was too much for the computer to figure out how to use.

I agree with pretty much this entire post. The first build of Civ 3 was infuriating! I could tell the game was spectacular but there was so many bugs and the whole "corruption" mechanic was a mess. I heard it got better with patches.

Civ 2 was fun, the wonder movies were amazing.



So much nostalgia. I grew an unhealthy obsession with the hoover dam when I was younger strictly from the music of it. Don't get me started on the Great Library and The Oracle!

 

[DaddyDominant]

Not sure. Hard to put my finger on. May be that I just wasn't ready to give up on 4 yet. Tried like hell to get into 5 though. Kept going back.

It took me a while to get into Civ5....and I didn't really like it until I loaded both DLCs. (I know..if I didn't like it, why buy them? well..you see, I'm totally Sid's bitch...)

I would advise you to stay away from Beyond Earth. I didn't care for that game at all, and Sid Meier's Starships was fun..but it plays like what it is..a 10 dollar game, not much depth to it.

Have you tried FTL? Its an addictive, frustrating rogue like game.

 

[ACFFAN69]

It took me a while to get into Civ5....and I didn't really like it until I loaded both DLCs. (I know..if I didn't like it, why buy them? well..you see, I'm totally Sid's bitch...)

I would advise you to stay away from Beyond Earth. I didn't care for that game at all, and Sid Meier's Starships was fun..but it plays like what it is..a 10 dollar game, not much depth to it.

Have you tried FTL? Its an addictive, frustrating rogue like game.

FTL is awesome! I've recommended it to so many people and they all love it.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

It took me a while to get into Civ5....and I didn't really like it until I loaded both DLCs. (I know..if I didn't like it, why buy them? well..you see, I'm totally Sid's bitch...)

I would advise you to stay away from Beyond Earth. I didn't care for that game at all, and Sid Meier's Starships was fun..but it plays like what it is..a 10 dollar game, not much depth to it.

Have you tried FTL? Its an addictive, frustrating rogue like game.

Yes Beyond Earth was a giant cesspool of bad design and uninteresting story. I actually managed to fall asleep playing it the first night. Now falling asleep isn't bad if it is like 5 AM, but this was like 12:30 I never go to bed that early.

Oh FTL, that's been on my list for a while, next steam sale.

 

[DeezNA]

With Civ V, they dumbed the shit out of the interface and how much you can actually customize your empire to give the game that sleek "Apple" look (as I call it), make it more aesthetically pleasing and easier to learn for new players with little to no tutorial. I remember the lengthy tutorials in Civ 4, I think their main goal with Civ V was to make the game more accessible and less intimidating to newcomers to the franchise and in that respect it was extremely successful. The only problem is that there really isn't much substance to the game unless you buy shit (which are well worth the purchase if you are a devoted Civ fan, I agree on that point wholeheartedly). I did have several bouts of "dammit Sid, why are you making me pay for things that were included in Civ 4 and making me buy it as an 'expansion'", but I'm over it now.

I don't play it too often... but when I do, it's usually with people that are new to the franchise: that, in itself, is the only factor in which it supersedes its predecessors, in my opinion.

I would advise you to stay away from Beyond Earth.

I got suckered into the allure of this as well, I was so goddamn excited for it's release. I cannot tell you how many times I gave this game just one more shot. I ran through the mess of a 'tech web', I ran all the Affinity trees, all the races, I dicked around in every facet of the game I could find and all I could think was "this is seriously just Civ V with aliens... but worse". If you are expecting Alpha Centauri - RUN AND DON'T LOOK BACK. You will cry for days, spare yourself the torment. I have not even bothered to buy the "not-really-an-expansion" for it since I heard it's pretty much just a mini-game.

 

[ACFFAN69]

I got suckered into the allure of this as well, I was so goddamn excited for it's release. I cannot tell you how many times I gave this game just one more shot. I ran through the mess of a 'tech web', I ran all the Affinity trees, all the races, I dicked around in every facet of the game I could find and all I could think was "this is seriously just Civ V with aliens... but worse". If you are expecting Alpha Centauri - RUN AND DON'T LOOK BACK. You will cry for days, spare yourself the torment. I have not even bothered to buy the "not-really-an-expansion" for it since I heard it's pretty much just a mini-game.

The most demoralizing thing about it is that it probably means they aren't going to be making a new *REAL* Alpha Centauri in a long time. That game was amazing. The civs and "governments" were so distinct and unique, especially after the expansion.