buffer-overflowed's Journal: Civilization 4 - Impressions

They haven't fixed a few things that just don't make sense. For instance, my gunship(a helocopter) will still get damaged and even destroyed by melee units. Same with other advanced units. They still generally win due to greater strength, but you could in theory mob a modern unit with the right pre-modern units and take it down. IE: pikemen against cavalry(even though the cavalry have guns, they go down like a drug-addict in a back-alley desperate for a fix).

The civics system is interesting. Lets you mix and match various things in 4 categories to get little bonuses, and complicates the tech trees a bit.

Great people are good for three things, tech, culture, and buildings. They cost cash to upkeep so I like to sac em for tech or a wonder ASAP. You can also sac two to usher in a golden age, which increases your production and gold.

Being warlike is still the best way to get a good score. Which sucks for us tech whores. The guys with early era special units can still on the right map just mob you into oblivion. The romans dominate at this(their special unit is cheaper and almost as powerful as the next-tier normal unit), providing you get lucky enough to get access to iron fairly quickly.

Cultural victories are possible with every nation, but not a good way to get a decent score. You can't really achieve one quicker than you could a military or domination victory. And it's far easier to win a diplomatic or space race victory. So, the best bet is still military domination, with a slight nod to diplomacy.

Ah well, especially for those of us who don't think the game really starts until towards the end. Fortunately you can mix up the rules.

Spearmen vs. Tank

[orkysoft]

I read a lot of complaints about primitive units being able to defeat more modern units, but it's fundamental to game. If spearmen had a zero chance of defeating a tank, instead of the current small, but nonzero chance, you'd be able to tech really fast, and then defeat all the other civs with just one tank! Where's the fun and/or game balance in that? It gets much better when you have a hundred tanks! Dakka dakka dakka! Ahem... With the current game mechanics, more primitive civs can offer resistance to mo

Re:Spearmen vs. Tank

[buffer-overflowed]

Ok, I can see scenarios, unlikely as they are, of club-wielding thugs beating superior modern forces via sheer numbers. The russians did that in WW2. What I can't see is how the hell a Knight can hit a helocopter.

Re:Spearmen vs. Tank

[orkysoft]

Either he's got a really long lance, or he waits until the helicopter has to land for some reason, or the knight scavenged an RPG somewhere, possibly looted it from enemy troops? Mmm... knights with RPGs...

But you've got a point. Non-flying melee units should have a penalty in combat against flying units. But the chance of victory should never be zero, as that would make the game really boring.