Comments on: Making Of: Soren Johnson On Civ 4

By: Scott Fox

Scott Fox — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:13:36 +0000

I”m late to the party here, but I want to say that Civ IV is one of the best games I have ever played. Only because of nostalgia is Zelda higher on my list. =)

I’ve been playing strategy games for almost 30 years, and comparitively, the early/mid game of Civ IV is just so astoundingly exceptional. Nearly every decision for the first 3 hours of a Civ game feels like the hardest strategic gaming decision I have ever made.

And random everything sends the replayability through the roof.

Civ IV is one of those games that make you fall in love with strategy gaming all over again.

By: Dave Mark

Dave Mark — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:01:14 +0000

Actually, the AI does cheat still. The best part is that you don’t notice it as much as you did. :)

By: pv

pv — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:18:05 +0000

Agree with poster who cites non-cheating AI as best thing about Civ4 (though it still cheats a little bit in not having ‘inflation’). It was the obvious way the AI had no ‘fog of war’ that made me give up on Civ2+3 in frustration.

A shame that the 3d aspect means maps can’t be that big (just tried a ‘vast’ one by editting the xml and it really struggles in the end game). Also I find even the ‘epic’ game speed is unnervingly fast. Whereas at ‘marathon’ speed its so easy to overexpand and have your economy collapse, requiring a restart as there’s no coming back from that.

But despite that its a horribly addictive game! And no more endless ‘city in civil disorder’ dialog boxes to deal with.

By: lsnduck

lsnduck — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:58:04 +0000

Good point, Tssha. A simple change to a well established system has made a distinct improvement in the mechanics.

Although I did rather enjoy the expansion rush, and trying to beat off the hordes of AI settlers with spearmen.

By: Rawhide

Rawhide — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:50:40 +0000

CIV4: Beyond the Sword. The only expansion you need

By: Keyser Soze

Keyser Soze — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:04:03 +0000

I rate CIV IV as the best game I have ever played. I play no other game although I still buy games now and then. These other games gets a few minutes attention and then it is back to CIV. I have Gal CIV II (played maybe 10 hours) and Fantasy Wars (played demo, have game still inn shrinkwrap).
ALL HAIL CIV VI!

By: James T

James T — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:44:29 +0000

Damn… wrong thread. Oh well!

By: Tssha

Tssha — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:37:17 +0000

Not to mention the Settler mechanic of Civ 4 slows down the colonization race of previous games, where you’d have to pump out settlers or lose key city locations to the AI. It was especially unforgiving in Civ 3 because the AI would settle as fast as they possibly could (even on lower difficulty levels), so you had to too. With Civ 4 you have to sacrifice growth in one city to settle another, and you have city maintenance to rein in overaggressive settlers. Thus, the settler race became less of a sprint and more of a marathon. A much more manageable pace for the newbie or the seasoned pro.

By: lsnduck

lsnduck — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:54:51 +0000

Agreed KING, this was very interesting. I have also read the interviews with Soren Johnson and Sid Meier in the booklet that accompanied the ‘Chronicles of Civilization’ box set.

I was intrigued by the difference that new blood can make to an established idea. Johnson has led changes to Civ that may not have happened had the existing designers carried on themselves. For example, above he mentions the population of cities producing Settlers. Having played far too much Civ II and III, it would never have occurred to me to have that system any other way. I suspect that similar things can occur with designers working on long term projects.

By: KING

KING — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:49:16 +0000

I’m only repling because I feel a bit sad for the lack of attention this excellent article gets.

My fav thing about Civ 4? The ai didn’t BLOODY WELL CHEAT.

By: Nuyan

Nuyan — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:58:32 +0000

I love Civ4.

I’ve got Beyond the Sword since it came out and still haven’t got into playing it, I installed it again a few days ago. I’m also looking for a fun internet-group to play Civ4 with.

And there are so many cool mods out there. I especially liked the Revolution mod, that is in my opinion the direction Civ5 should be going.