Poll: What is the best Civilization game?

[malestrithe]

Civ 2. I've played it so often that I can win pretty much all the time.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Civ 2 was one of the first PC games I ever played, most definitely my favourite Civ game.
Civ 4 is pretty fantastic aswell.
Civ 5 would be the best if they didn't remove so much of the sideways progression like religion/government type.

 

[Joccaren]

Civ IV easily.
Civ V has potential, but it simplified far too much, was poorly optimised, and many of the features that could have been cool were poorly implemented. Gods and Kings looks set to make it better, though I probably still wouldn't like it as much as Civ IV - especially with Warlords and BTS.
The previous Civs were good, though I couldn't get into 3, but I found Civ IV to be more enjoyable. Plus, dem mods be awesome.

 

[Joccaren]

Civ 2 was one of the first PC games I ever played, most definitely my favourite Civ game.

Hehe, would you believe Civ 2 was actually the very first game I ever played?
Probably half the reason I love the series so much, but it was a great game.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Civ 2 was one of the first PC games I ever played, most definitely my favourite Civ game.

Hehe, would you believe Civ 2 was actually the very first game I ever played?
Probably half the reason I love the series so much, but it was a great game.

Awesome
Yeah Civ 2 had alot of impact on me aswell. I probably wouldn't be into all the Strategy/Empire Building/4X games i'm into now if it weren't for Civ.

 

[Savagezion]

It's a tough choice between Civ4BTS and AC.

AC is the more balanced game and it even has a story, but the civ games have somehow always felt more lively, probably to do with bigger impact the techs and civics have. AC is a bit more about balancing and acquiring more small increments in numbers.

Interesting... is the story just backstory, setting everything up, or does it actually progress through the game?

There's surprisingly little backstory, actually. But the story cuts in at significant moments and tracks along with your research into the alien life forms that are attacking you. For instance, after having a city attacked by mind worms for the first time, a story screen will pop up explaining what happened and how the worms attack. When you learn a certain tech involving the aliens, another screen pops up involving a scientist learning that the aliens have a specific ability, etc.

Plus, the backdrop that we ARE given is brilliant. The population of the spaceship divided into seven factions, so you're forced to have seven factions on every map with predictable personalities. Plus, there's logical diplomacy involved. If you decide to be BFFs with the UN Peacekeepers, don't be surprised when you find yourself at war with the Communist Despot.

I...want...need...must...

If you pick up Civ 4, try Planetfall mod. It is an overhaul mod that emulates AC on Civ4's engine. It's pretty good too. Civ 4 has some really good mods out there for it that are overhaul mods. I was wanting to make an Age of wonders mod for it but I don't have access to a good artist. Maybe one day I'll mod it with placeholders and see if anyone jumps on board. Part of it is I just haven't done it yet.

 

[Vivi22]

That sounds....fantastic. I've found AC on GOG cheap, so i'm probably going to get it in addition to whatever comes out highest on the poll.

If you were going to get only one of them, AC is the one to get. Excellent choice there.

As for which proper Civ game to get, I'll say Civ IV hands down. I haven't played anything pre-Civ III, but here's my take on them. Civ III is a hard fucking game. Brutally so, and monstrously unfair as well. I came in with years of AC and some Civ Revolutions under my belt and that game destroyed me. It is not going to hold your hand, the interface is fairly confusing, and playing it was a fairly unenjoyable experience for me. I wasn't surprised to find out from some Civ loving friends later that it's one of their lesser loved entries.

Civ IV on the other hand streamlines a lot of what made Civ III tedious while still giving a lot of control to those who want it. The interface is better as well which is a god send. Not having a clue what you're looking at is never fun. It also has more features in it than Civ V was released with it making it a richer game experience overall if you ask me.

Civ V I've yet to play much of, but it's fairly hated by the Civ community because it has a lot of issues. Apparently multiplayer doesn't really work (it never did in Civ games, but I guess the net code is somehow worse now and disconnects are frequent), the game is poorly balanced, and there's some weird stuff that can result thanks to the one unit per tile, namely that infinite city sprawl becomes a massive issue and when the map gets saturated with enough units movement can become nearly impossible. Apparently the AI actually got worse as well, or at the very least, didn't improve at all. This site goes through a lot of the issues in a lot more detail than I could though: http://www.garath.net/Sullla/Civ5/whatwentwrong.html

 

[if_then_else]

I only played Civ IV BTS and Civ V. I find it really hard to choose between the two.

On one hand, Civ IV have really nice diplomacy and a usually good AI. Religion was a selling point for me, combined with the Civics, your relation with other civs was really fun. The Diplomatic Victory was my favorite by far, I remember making alliances with strong "cultural" civs such as Isabella, spreading our religion to other civs and then trying to maintain good relations with them so I get elected at the UN. I've sink SOOO many hours in this game.

On the other hand, now that I played Civ V, I find Civ IV's square-based tiles and stacking units to be totally retarded. Combat in Civ V is so much fun, much better than Civ IV. You can take advantage of the terrain, and depending on how the other civs build their cities, invading them can be really tricky. I tried to go back to Civ IV the other day, and I just couldn't make myself play more than a couple of turns, I find Civ V progression so engaging. Also, the city states system can be really fun, when used well. I've sink around 100 hours and I'll probably sink many more when Gods and Kings comes out.

But, of course, Civ V's AI and Diplomacy are a joke. Diplomacy Victory has turned into Economic Victory, you just need to bribe the City States with gold, no need to do many of their "quests". The AI is truly bipolar, and is really impossible to maintain good relations with them, because basically they also are "playing to win", in Civ IV they acted more as their respective avatars, and if you make friends with them, they will help you out on winning the game. In Civ V, if they see that you're gaining strength, they will declare war on you no matter how friendly they appear.

So... Yeah... Civ IV is probably the "better" game, but I find it really hard to enjoy it anymore.

Let's just hope the new expansion fix some of Civ V's issues.

 

[Supertegwyn]

Civ V by far. I've played all games since III and I just find V to be far superior.

Something about it just clicks with me.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

Yeah I believe with the upcoming expansion, CIV V will clinch the title.
I grew up playing number 2 and 3 haha, so I have a huge love for the game. As things stand, IV is probably the best, although I do only play V now.

 

[lapan]

My personal favorite was Civ 2 which isn't even on your poll :/

I loved those little movies when you build a worldwonder, the detailed 3d-city models, the throne rooms, the advisors and al lthe other little details. Was really dissapointed when the later games didn't ave any of those or only in a dumbed down version.

 

[Arakasi]

My personal favorite was Civ 2 which isn't even on your poll :/

I loved those little movies when you build a worldwonder, the detailed 3d-city models, the throne rooms, the advisors and al lthe other little details. Was really dissapointed when the later games didn't ave any of those or only in a dumbed down version.

Doesn't CivV have all of these?

 

[lapan]

My personal favorite was Civ 2 which isn't even on your poll :/

I loved those little movies when you build a worldwonder, the detailed 3d-city models, the throne rooms, the advisors and al lthe other little details. Was really dissapointed when the later games didn't ave any of those or only in a dumbed down version.

Doesn't CivV have all of these?

Worse versions of them.

Civ 2 Advisors:

All of them are fully voiced and animated. They interact with each other and react to things like revolutions. Civ 2 wins hands down.

3d City model:

You have the option to view a zoomed in version of your city with all the buildings displayed. Civ 5 has extremly small models, but those can be viewed att all time. I guess those are about equal up, but it took them a lot of games to put this feature back in.

Throneroom:

The upgradeable throneroom was more of a gimmick and argueably the least important, but it was another reward for doing well during the game.

World Wonder movies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5719RoAMi-I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lf5thJI1Kk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KALj---8DVY

Every world wonder you created played one of those small movies about the wonder.


______________________

Neither of those features were really important, but they made a special kind of charm about that game.

 

[rutger5000]

Civ 4 is better then Civ 5 because civ 4 has religion, espesionage, civcs (yes Civ 5 has something like civcs as well, but they aren't as relevant.). Also the combat in Civ 4 is better. Units stack, and probablilities of your unit winning are given more clearly. Both of these allow for deeper strategies and tactics.

 

[Polarni]

Alpha Centaury - because it allowed you to terraform and colonize cities on water!

 

[gorfias]

Upon your advice, I did just buy Gold edition w/ warlords expansion. Dang it,if I'd shopped a little bit more, I coulda got the complete for the same price. Live and learn.

 

[Jandau]

Alpha Centauri. It is by far the best Civ game ever. The sheer number of mechanics it has that were never seen since is on its own fascinating. After playing AC, every "normal" Civ game feels simplistic. Also, propery differentiated factions (every nation in Civ feels pretty much the same), a functioning ecosystem, a coherent vision of the future with roots in actual science, an actual storyline, etc.

Out of the "regualar" Civ games, it's Civ 4, since it was the most feature-rich of the games. Let's be honest, Civ games have essentially been the same since the first one (start by researching Pottery, end by launching a Spaceship), only with more and more mechanics as time went by. Civ 4 was as good as it got, and Civ 5 is its oversimplified idiot cousin. Civ 5 will get a lot of votes since it's the only Civ game in recent history and a lot of today's games either haven't played Civ 4 (and earlier ones) or really enjoyed the updated graphics.

A special mention goes to Colonization (the old one, not the remake), not because it was great, but because I played the shit out of it as a kid and I'll have fond memories of it forever.

 

[Gert Scholten]

I've played all the games. Started with Civ1 when I was 11. Played it a lot! I still remember my very first game. Played for hours but didn't get it. Was stuck on a little island. One city with a few phalanxes, until I saw an Ironclad unit. Bammm... some musketeers and bye, bye!

Civilization IV is it for me.