Pic relevant. I’ve tried playing the new Civ games several times, and quickly end up quitting because I find them too overwhelming and find it hard to want to deal with the learning curve.
It occurred to me that part of the problem might be that I was jumping into a very old franchise that has been getting increasingly complicated over the years. Had a hunch I would have better luck with the original, so I went onto one of those play-dos-in-your-browser sites, dove in, and sure enough I am hooked!
Do I know what I’m doing? Not really, but stuff is happening and my civilization is growing, and it’s a good time.
I’m late to the party, but if you’re new to Civ and looking for which game to start on, ignore the people who say that you need the DLCs for the “complete” experience.
I started on Civ 6, and fell for this, getting a complete edition (at a deep discount). When I tried to play it, I was quickly overwhelmed by the complexity. Now, 80 hours in, I realized I can play with just the base game rules, and that’s what I’ve been doing, and now I yearn for one more turn. I’ll eventually start playing with the DLC rules, but not before I get a good grasp on the base game.
I started the tutorial for Civ 6 recently, will probably play more. Been bouncing between various Civs off and on, and seems I’ve been playing UnCiv the most at this point - considering it’s right there on my phone all the time.
Alpha Centauri is a game I’ve had since release. Ended up building a dual P3 1Ghz box so I could play without experiencing extreme slow downs during end game when the whole world is visible.
I still do a playthrough once a twice a year.
“Don’t go, the drones need you”
Sequal to civ2 though I think?
I think you may be right.
I’ve been playing since 1991. My friend had a copy and I was so into it I’d go over to his house to play it when he wasn’t home. Then I got my own copy and I haven’t stopped playing since.
Well, except that one time where I had to have my wife hide the Civ V disc from me because I couldn’t stop myself.
I guess what I’m saying is take breaks and go outside, but I know your life will be “just one more turn…” from here on out.
Had to uninstall Unciv from my phone.
Having a Civ-like app 24/7 available in my pocket isn’t something I can handle…C’mon bro just one more turn.
l mean, I should still have plenty of time, as it is still quite early in the evening!
*looks at watch*: 2:49am… When did the sun rise?
I was babysitting the neighbours kids one night and their dad was like “kids are in bed feel free to play civ (III) until we are back”
I had no idea what he was talking about and he delayed his date night to give me a tutorial. Gave me the CD rom after because it wasn’t needed to play. Great times.
Just one more turn, bro.
Then you’ll totally go to bed.
Omg its 6am and I need to go to work
I spent so much time playing this version, loved it but not the 30min+ turns while waiting to do a move in end game. Depending which version you are playing, you can save before entering one of the random village huts and if you get something you don’t like (attacked) you can reload and it will reroll the hut. Not all versions allowed this
Turn off display enemy moves and it goes much faster.
I’ll add my vote for Sid Meyer’s Alpha Cebtauri, it is a masterpiece. If you want to branch out Master of Magic is also quite fun and adds some interesting twists. Though it’s not a Sid Meyer game. There’s even a remake of it.
Alpha Centauri was the shit. I played the heck out of that.
Civ 2 is still and always will be the best civ Boat stacking armies for an invasion was the bomb
Getting pulled into nonsense by the war hawks was so frustrating yet so peak
FMV advisors best advisors.
Especially culture dude. Those anarchy councils were hilarious.
And the throne room
I remember hitting “next turn” and going to eat, because it d take 30min to compute all AIs lol. I d save literally every turn
I’ve played the first five Civ games and I have fond memories of buying units with diplomats! There’s also FreeCiv which is an open source project that’s very similar to Civ2 but probably supports modern hardware better. It’s been built for android but from what I understand they’re built by third parties so if you’re tech savvy or feeling adventurous you could build it yourself. I played it many years ago in a really rough state where nothing was explained and my own knowledge of Civ 2 was the only thing that made it playable but from what I have heard it’s much better now.
Fun fact, Civ1 was ported to the SNES and Civ2 was ported to the PlayStation.
Civ 2 is my favorite, plus it has a large collection of fan-made scenarios that cover almost every single sci-fi franchise with some fantasy mods as well, plus lots of historical scenarios that are fun to play.
There’s even a mod that lets you play mafiosi in a SC2K-like NY:
It is also a time capsule in who we were twenty odds years ago.
Any pointers on how I can play Civ 2? I have a physical copy I inherited from my dad when he passed but I haven’t found it on Steam or GOG and don’t even know where to begin to try and get the physical copy to work.
I too have the original box with a CD that can’t be read. Maybe hypothetically one could search for it using the word abandonware and find it. It’s true though it hasn’t yet made available at any of the online stores.
I noticed there is a Final Fantasy mod. I will have to try that.
I really love this approach and find myself employing it more the older I get. The second game has the best simplicity/fun ratio imo but 4 is also pretty good in that regard.
If you enjoy the original Civilization, be sure to try out Freeciv. Basically the original game but with expanded gameplay and updated for compatibility. It’s OpenTTD to Transport Tycoon, if you’re familiar with those games. It also has multiplayer features, and there are sites that run turn-per-day MMO events.
Civ III was the height of the Civilization franchise.
