Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Civ 4
Classes started today at UW-L (9/5/06).
To mark this solemn occurence, I salute the computer game, Civilization 4. I spent much of my last few weeks of "freedom" playing the game.
It's a "conquer the world" type strategy game that can be very addictive. A previous iteration, Civ 2, was the first computer game that caused me to experience the "Just one more turn..." syndrome. Basically, that's when you promise yourself that you will stop playing after the current turn... then after the next current turn... then after the next one... and so forth. Before you know it, many many hours have passed.
The thing that hooked me in Civ 2, which is a large part of Civ 4 as well, is the technology advancement. Every so often, your civilization discovers a technology. Technologies allow you to produce better military units, better city features, more trading options, special "wonders of the world", etc. So, what you can do at first is quite limited, but you rapidly expand your options by advancing technologically. Thus, you're constantly telling yourself, "in 3 more turns, I'll discover Banking, and then my current financial woes will be a thing of the past," or, "Next turn I'll finish building the Statue of Liberty, won't my neighbors respect me then?" and the like.
Luckily, with Civ 4, they fixed some of the serious game-play issues that plagued the previous two iterations of the Civ series, Civ 3 and Civ: Call to Power. Civ 4 is a very well-balanced and fun game.
Civ 4 keeps the innovation of "resources" from Civ 3 (or maybe it was Civ: Call to Power, I get those iterations two confused). Some military units require your empire to contain, or to trade for, particular resources before they can be built. Additionally, some resources can increase your cities' happiness, or prosperity, or things like that. Some resources help you build "Wonders of the World" faster.
Civ 4 also keeps the innovation of "culture". Basically, your sphere of influence is marked on the map, and you can expand it either militarily or culturally. To pursue the cultural option, you can build buildings which promote your culture, and you can even get cities of your opponents to spontaneously convert to your culture. In Civ 4, you can even win the game by establishing three cities of "Legendary Culture"--so conquering your opponents is not the only way to victory!
Civ 4 adds a new innovation to the game: religion. Religion mostly impacts the game in two ways: (1) If your civilization has a different religion than an opponents', you won't be as liked as may otherwise be the case. That opponent may demand more trade concessions, may be more likely to declare war on your, etc. (2) A city with a religion, or with multiple religions, can build religious-type buildings, which can really help the city's culture--and hence the culture of your empire. You can wait for religion to spread spontaneously, or you can create missionaries to help the spread--to your own cities, as well as to your opponents'. It's an interesting addition to the game.
All in all, it's a very complex game. I played it for a couple of weeks before I felt like I had a good grasp of practically all the ins and outs-- and I had played all of the previous versions! But it's great fun, and well worth the time investment (well, to the extent that any computer game is, anyway).
To mark this solemn occurence, I salute the computer game, Civilization 4. I spent much of my last few weeks of "freedom" playing the game.
It's a "conquer the world" type strategy game that can be very addictive. A previous iteration, Civ 2, was the first computer game that caused me to experience the "Just one more turn..." syndrome. Basically, that's when you promise yourself that you will stop playing after the current turn... then after the next current turn... then after the next one... and so forth. Before you know it, many many hours have passed.
The thing that hooked me in Civ 2, which is a large part of Civ 4 as well, is the technology advancement. Every so often, your civilization discovers a technology. Technologies allow you to produce better military units, better city features, more trading options, special "wonders of the world", etc. So, what you can do at first is quite limited, but you rapidly expand your options by advancing technologically. Thus, you're constantly telling yourself, "in 3 more turns, I'll discover Banking, and then my current financial woes will be a thing of the past," or, "Next turn I'll finish building the Statue of Liberty, won't my neighbors respect me then?" and the like.
Luckily, with Civ 4, they fixed some of the serious game-play issues that plagued the previous two iterations of the Civ series, Civ 3 and Civ: Call to Power. Civ 4 is a very well-balanced and fun game.
Civ 4 keeps the innovation of "resources" from Civ 3 (or maybe it was Civ: Call to Power, I get those iterations two confused). Some military units require your empire to contain, or to trade for, particular resources before they can be built. Additionally, some resources can increase your cities' happiness, or prosperity, or things like that. Some resources help you build "Wonders of the World" faster.
Civ 4 also keeps the innovation of "culture". Basically, your sphere of influence is marked on the map, and you can expand it either militarily or culturally. To pursue the cultural option, you can build buildings which promote your culture, and you can even get cities of your opponents to spontaneously convert to your culture. In Civ 4, you can even win the game by establishing three cities of "Legendary Culture"--so conquering your opponents is not the only way to victory!
Civ 4 adds a new innovation to the game: religion. Religion mostly impacts the game in two ways: (1) If your civilization has a different religion than an opponents', you won't be as liked as may otherwise be the case. That opponent may demand more trade concessions, may be more likely to declare war on your, etc. (2) A city with a religion, or with multiple religions, can build religious-type buildings, which can really help the city's culture--and hence the culture of your empire. You can wait for religion to spread spontaneously, or you can create missionaries to help the spread--to your own cities, as well as to your opponents'. It's an interesting addition to the game.
All in all, it's a very complex game. I played it for a couple of weeks before I felt like I had a good grasp of practically all the ins and outs-- and I had played all of the previous versions! But it's great fun, and well worth the time investment (well, to the extent that any computer game is, anyway).
# posted by John Colton @ 3:01 PM 
