Just started playing Civ4 BtS...

[AnonymouseUser]

I have to admit I've enjoyed playing Civ V lately, but I didn't get it until it had been patched heavily. Still, it doesn't hold a candle to Civ IV BTS, especially with regards to late game wars and the tedium involved in moving your forces thanks to 1UPT and various interface quirks.

I'm getting my derrière kicked hard in Warlord. Everything was going pretty well, had many good standings with most Civs but out of nowhere Charlemagne attacks me?!?!!? He grabs one of my border city but I manage to get it back in a few turns.

Then the UN vote to force Charly to stpo war with me. From that point I was like "Nice, the world love me". Couple of turns later, another Civ (can't recall) declares war and then Catherine...

Think i'll just restart and play more wisely...

Love this game!

To avoid multiple AIs declaring on you, you have to pay attention to their enemies. If 5 of 8 share the same religion then you had better be the same or neutral, and don't trade (open borders, techs, resources) with anyone of another religion. If you do trade with an AI's worst enemy (before you knew better), and they demand that you stop trading with that enemy, failure to comply will likely make you their worst enemy!

 

[Sulaco]

Damn, I hate reading threads like this. They always make me want to start a new Civ game.

I've been playing Civ since the first game, but I always get frustrated with the relatively weak AI and terrible diplomatic options and execution, so I stick with Paradox games like Victoria and Europa Universalis. The problem is, they don't have nearly the scope and scale of Civ, but are far deeper.

If I could just import some of the depth of the Paradox games (namely AI and diplomacy) into Civ, I very likely would be the happiest gamer on earth.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

Damn, I hate reading threads like this. They always make me want to start a new Civ game.

I've been playing Civ since the first game, but I always get frustrated with the relatively weak AI and terrible diplomatic options and execution, so I stick with Paradox games like Victoria and Europa Universalis. The problem is, they don't have nearly the scope and scale of Civ, but are far deeper.

If I could just import some of the depth of the Paradox games (namely AI and diplomacy) into Civ, I very likely would be the happiest gamer on earth.

This! I played a ton of Civ IV before, and was thinking of starting a game again recently. But after going through a tense game of EU3 walking a diplomatic tight rope in central Europe and the incredible depth and options there I find it hard to go back to civ. Actually needing proper casus belli, negotiating peace terms, trust/betrayal etc. These things add so much to that side of the game

The games are very different though; as you said Civ has a more epic feel with a great scope spanning millennia which I don't get from EU. I'm sure I'll love it (civ 4 that is) if I just start it up. But now I have to play crusader kings 2 first..

 

[Born2bwire]

I'm getting my derrière kicked hard in Warlord. Everything was going pretty well, had many good standings with most Civs but out of nowhere Charlemagne attacks me?!?!!? He grabs one of my border city but I manage to get it back in a few turns.

Then the UN vote to force Charly to stpo war with me. From that point I was like "Nice, the world love me". Couple of turns later, another Civ (can't recall) declares war and then Catherine...

Think i'll just restart and play more wisely...

Love this game!

First and foremost, have a military. If you let your military fall too far behind then even your nice neighbors will swoop in to gobble you up. I don't think you need to be friends with everybody, but it helps to be friends with your immediate neighbors. Choose the same religion as them (or spread your own into them), almost always agree to their requests, and try not to place your cities too close to theirs. That is, don't let your cities' fat crosses (the areas that they can develop with citizens) overlap the fat crosses of your neighbors' cities. If they do, they will take offense (diplomacy hit) and will be itching to take those border towns.

One good diplomatic rule of thumb I have used is the love triangle. Choose two other civs that are in good relations to each other and make them your best friends. Whatever they want, do it, and everybody else, fuck 'em. In this way you can establish a strong alliance that can support each other and check the aggression of the other civs. Of course you have to be careful not to be too offensive to the larger civs to prevent war, but it's a good policy on the lower difficulty levels.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

i prefer the combat of civ5, but like most of the rest of the mechanics of civ4

 

[Sulaco]

Anybody personally recommend any must-have mods or tweaks for BtS?

I hate starting a new 30+ hour game out feeling like I could be getting a better, more complete experience with a quick download or two.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Anybody personally recommend any must-have mods or tweaks for BtS?

I hate starting a new 30+ hour game out feeling like I could be getting a better, more complete experience with a quick download or two.

The Bug Mod is all I use.

 

[Wardawg1001]

The Bug Mod is all I use.

The BAT Mod adds in all of the features of BUG but adds some graphical enhancements. Then theres a Better AI BAT Mod, which is a combination of all of BAT's features, combined with a mod known as BUG Better AI, which just makes the AI more challenging and overall less non-sensical in the way they play. You can check out all the mods at civfanatics.com

 

[M0RPH]

Civ 4 for the people who like their combat in easy mode. Stacking unlimited units on one tile? That's just lame. In Civ 5 you actually need to think about strategy when placing/moving units in combat.

 

[Larries]

Civ 4 for the people who like their combat in easy mode. Stacking unlimited units on one tile? That's just lame. In Civ 5 you actually need to think about strategy when placing/moving units in combat.

Actually, this may apply when you are playing multiplayer; but single player, against the pathetic AI, using any tactics in placing/moving units is like an exploit.

 

[Sulaco]

Civ 4 for the people who like their combat in easy mode. Stacking unlimited units on one tile? That's just lame. In Civ 5 you actually need to think about strategy when placing/moving units in combat.

...and Civ 5, for people who like everything else in "easy mode".

 

[Sulaco]

Civ 4 for the people who like their combat in easy mode. Stacking unlimited units on one tile? That's just lame. In Civ 5 you actually need to think about strategy when placing/moving units in combat.

Oh, and the laughably atrocious Civ 5 combat AI almost completely negates the logical advancement of tile stacking limitations.

Sorry, until they fix that, there's nothing worth bragging about.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Civ4 is a fantastic game. TV shows + Civ4 = time black hole. Two complaints though:

1) Multiplayer is very frustrating, especially in the beginning. In the beginning of the game where you blow through turns pretty quickly, the game seems to take quite a while to sync with your other teammates before everyone can successfully end turn and get started again. This really ruins the momentum of the game for me.

2) The combat has always been annoying to me. Taking cities feels way too difficult as the attacker, and it is just excessively annoying having enemy armies running around destroying my improvements and not directly attacking my city. Yes I know I'm being whiny, but generally I disable the combat in Civ4 and just go for space race or cultural victories.

This thread has motivated me to get out of bed and play more Civ4. Its only 1:30am right? Thank god for school holiday tomorrow.

 

[walkur]

Another civ 4 fan here.
I decided to stop playing civ 5 after a quick game, gonna have to dust it of and check the mods one of these days.

I was used to played truly epic games thankls to some great mods for civ 4.
The biggest problem was that the engine couldn't handle the increased load (5 min wait until a new turn) even on a top of the line rig

 

[Rhezuss]

Got a new Civ 5 game started yesterday as the Babylonians.

I'm still enjoying it even though Civ 4 is a superior game. Civ 5 is perfect when I feel to play a strategy game without having to overthink everything.

Both games are doing their jobs.