OT: Civ 3 Complete Edition or Civ 4?

[Rollo]

I am in the mood for some Civ again. Civ 1, Civ 2 and Alpha Centauri rank among my favorite games. So, I figured it would be nice to try out a newer version. I have never tried Civ 3, but Civ 4 is already out.

If you tried either or both of these games, which one would you recommend? The already somewhat old but patched, bug fixed (?) and expanded Complete Edition of Civ 3. Or the new and better(?) Civ 4.

Any opinions are welcome. What are the main differences between the two versions? Is there anything good in Civ 3 that is missing in Civ 4?

[Combat Wombat]

I have both but I'd have to say I play Civ III more than I do IV but I don't have any of the expansions for IV.

[PDF]

I've both (Civ3 Complete and Civ4+WL), I'd say go for the 4, it's really more beautiful and innovative (religion, techs requiring this *or* that, unit experience...). Only thing I lack is the att/def characteristics, now they have one overall "combat" value.

[Fyron]

Civ 3 is a terrible game, even with the expansions. Don't bother with it. Civ 4 is a decent game. Wonder how that Fall From Heaven 2 mod is progressing...

[Yimboli]

Civ 4 is absolutely amazing. Have the previous graphics card issues with nvidia been fixed? I use ATI and its always worked well, but I think for at least a year after release it crashed a lot with nvidia cards, caused a LOT of heartache amongst the populace...

I can't recommend civ4 enough. Plus it's incredibly moddable!!!

[StarShadow]

I'd reccomend playing more Alpha Centauri, Civ 3 isn't too bad though. I wouldn't reccomend Civ 4 though, it's a complete disappointment, which is a shame because I own all the civ games except civ 4.

[Fyron]

The moddability of Civ4 puts SE5 to shame. Too bad it still has that shallow Civ gameplay. :-\

[PDF]

Yimboli said:
Civ 4 is absolutely amazing. Have the previous graphics card issues with nvidia been fixed? I use ATI and its always worked well, but I think for at least a year after release it crashed a lot with nvidia cards, caused a LOT of heartache amongst the populace...

I can't recommend civ4 enough. Plus it's incredibly moddable!!!



In my experience it was the reverse, ie compat problems with ATI in the first game release, then fixed. I've had an ATI 9600 since 3 weeks ago, then a GF6600, and no problems at all with the later !

[Caduceus]

Civ 4.

I have the first edition of both games. Aside from graphical problems and some quality controls (play disc 2 - really use disc 1) I like Civ 4 better.

[Kana]

Civ 4 has many fine elements. The multiplay is practically solid, and could only dream that SE4 or SE5 would play as well. There are more mods and such than you can shake a stick at.

[Fyron]

But the mods that are worth looking at can be counted on a hand or two.

[Atrocities]

Civ3 gave me nightmares. Literally, dark depressing horrifying nightmares. I still cannot play it to this day or even think about it without being filled with complete dispair.

[NullAshton]

Civilization 3 is decent if you have nothing else to do. But Civilzation 4 is better, by far.

True 3D! Whooooooooo! And decent AIs...

[vanbeke]

I like Civ 4. WL is a good add-on, but I have only tried it a couple of times.

I would still be playing SMAC, but it stopped working after some Windoze patch. Also, ever since I built my latest dual core 64 bit machine, it tells me that it is not compatible.

[Fyron]

Tried dosbox?

[Kana]

Turn off the dual core for the program, like some do for SE5...?

I've run SMAC, on a WinXp machine, but no dual core...so...

[frightlever]

I just started playing CIV 4 again a couple of nights ago. Played a fair bit of CIV 3 (bought the complete edition) and it was fine (certainly not as bad as some would make out) but wouldn't go back after playing the latest.

[Spectarofdeath]

I have 3 (not the add ons though) and 4 and I would say go with 4, more options, and hopefully more expansions coming.

[tesco samoa]

Imperator Fyron said:
The moddability of Civ4 puts SE5 to shame. Too bad it still has that shallow Civ gameplay. :-\



Too bad its a CIV Game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Phoenix-D]

Alpha Centauri runs fine on dual-core machines. Just ignore the not-compatable box; it does that on all my machines, and they all play it fine.

If you do have problems, add
[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

to the bottom of your alpha centauri.ini file.

Dosbox won't work because AC is a Windows game, Fyron. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[StarShadow]

That's easy to fix, you should just need to change a number in the ini. Change ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0 to ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1 and it should work.