[Robert Garcia]

I had such a wonderful surprise the other day; my PC had been seizing up when I was playing this, badly enough that I was resigned to not being able to play it any more. After having a major HDD clearout, I decided to give it another go... IT WORKS!!!

I am so glad I can once again play this absolute masterpiece, I've put on a mod which pretty much halts progress at the end of the medieval era, and I'm realising how much I've missed my civathons. If I had to limit myself to one game for the rest of my life, I think this would be the one I'd pick. Fantastic game is utterly fantastic

[Unstoppable Judge]

Civ IV is a great game, yeah, but unless you work really hard at setting each Civ apart, they end up way too similar to each other, IMO. It's my only major complaint about the game, though. The rest is absolutely fantastic, and the mod base is impressive.

[Flesh Tunnel]

I've never really given it much of a chance. What puts me off about the 5th one(don't know about the 4th) is that it "ends" after a certain period of time. I don't like being rushed.

Glad you like it, Bieltan. I hope I love it as much as you do if I ever get a copy.

[Nauty]

unless you work really hard at setting each Civ apart, they end up way too similar to each other, IMO. It's my only major complaint about the game, though.

Handily addressed by the Varietas Delectat or Quot Capita mods, I find.

And I agree with the OP - I could easily play Civ IV: BtS for the rest of my days and be quite content.

[emma sweeney]

Oreo, do yourself a favour and get the complete package on steam, its pretty cheap, not at all demanding on the system, the 'beyond the sword' addon is possibly the best addon EVAR, there's a tonne of great mods, and if you want an everlasting game, turn off all the victory conditions bar 'conquest'. Hell, you can still keep playing a game after you win it, even if you are the last player left! Go on, take the plunge, you won't regret it...

[Anthony Diaz]

Thought about trying this game, but I've decided against it. Solely turn-based stuff isn't really my thing, I'll stick with Total War.

[JUDY FIGHTS]

Thought about trying this game, but I've decided against it. Solely turn-based stuff isn't really my thing, I'll stick with Total War.

I'm the opposite. Real-time strategy puts too much pressure on me and I end up doing horrible, whereas I feel very comfortable with turn-based. Funny enough, despite all of that time to think, I still can't wrap my head around the combat system of Civ IV. I lose every single war I'm in.

[Sheeva]

I'm the opposite. Real-time strategy puts too much pressure on me and I end up doing horrible, whereas I feel very comfortable with turn-based. Funny enough, despite all of that time to think, I still can't wrap my head around the combat system of Civ IV. I lose every single war I'm in.

Dice roles combined with some basic attack and defense values for units. A tank is going to have higher attack and defense then, say, a horseman, but due to dice roles you can get results like 16th century sailing ships taking out a WWII battleship.

[kirsty williams]

I'm the opposite. Real-time strategy puts too much pressure on me and I end up doing horrible, whereas I feel very comfortable with turn-based. Funny enough, despite all of that time to think, I still can't wrap my head around the combat system of Civ IV. I lose every single war I'm in.

I'm the same way. I really prefer turn-based strategy games, rather than RTS.

CIV IV is a great game, but it's been a while since I've played it. I've been playing the [censored] out of CIV V, so perhaps I'll check out IV again if I feel like it sometime.

[Naazhe Perezz]

Oreo, do yourself a favour and get the complete package on steam, its pretty cheap, not at all demanding on the system, the 'beyond the sword' addon is possibly the best addon EVAR, there's a tonne of great mods, and if you want an everlasting game, turn off all the victory conditions bar 'conquest'. Hell, you can still keep playing a game after you win it, even if you are the last player left! Go on, take the plunge, you won't regret it...

Hmm, according to Steam the complete edition is $29.99. I guess that's a pretty decent price, I may look into it. I just so happen to have 30 dollars in me paypal account too.

[Hazel Sian ogden]

I'm the same way. I really prefer turn-based strategy games, rather than RTS.

CIV IV is a great game, but it's been a while since I've played it. I've been playing the [censored] out of CIV V, so perhaps I'll check out IV again if I feel like it sometime.

Civ IV is good. The main reason to play it over Civ V that I can think of is all of the content in the Expansion Packs. V will probably be getting similar stuff down the line.

Although there are some ways in which the mechanics of the game work that make me like Civ IV a bit more than Civ V.

[Manuela Ribeiro Pereira]

I'm the opposite. Real-time strategy puts too much pressure on me and I end up doing horrible, whereas I feel very comfortable with turn-based. Funny enough, despite all of that time to think, I still can't wrap my head around the combat system of Civ IV. I lose every single war I'm in.

Make lots of catapults/cannons/artillery when attacking. For defense, I usually just have a group of archers/muskets/etc sitting in the middle of my territory, waiting to see which city the AI chooses to attack. They usually only focus on one.

But who knows, for all 500+ hours I've put into the game, I still svck.

[DarkGypsy]

I remember feeling so proud of myself the day I learned to use workers effectively and not resorting to automating them.

I feel like I have more fun in the early stages of the game, explorations and expansion are my favorite parts. I tend to lose interest when the whole world is explored So I tend to start new games fairly often.

If the Civilizations don't feel unique enough, check out Civilization Revolution. I really liked it, but it gets a lot of hate from the PC gamer crowd.

If anyone gets the urge for multiplayer, count me in.

[Tammie Flint]

I remember feeling so proud of myself the day I learned to use workers effectively and not resorting to automating them.

Oh dear God, how? I manually operate my workers until I have so many of them that giving each of them orders starts to make me lose hair, and I'm forced to set them on automatic settings. They occasionally do something really stupid and I throw a fit of rage, but I'd rather deal with that.

And I agree about the initial exploration being the best part. I'd sometimes pretend I'm a group of lost adventurers and make a custom game with only my civ, add a metric [censored] ton of Barbarians and lock the time period. Lots of fun.

[CHARLODDE]

Oh dear God, how? I manually operate my workers until I have so many of them that giving each of them orders starts to make me lose hair, and I'm forced to set them on automatic settings. They occasionally do something really stupid and I throw a fit of rage, but I'd rather deal with that.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I also get to the point where my territory is so large and I have so many workers that I automate them. I think micromanaging the workers in the early-game has huge advantages, not so much the farther along you get in time.

I'm not sure what the best method of automating is, but I usually resort to making workers automated for one specific city (I think you need to check out the advanced controls to get the button to appear on screen), IIRC, it was like "Automate in this city only" button.

[Jessie Rae Brouillette]

I've been a fairly active member over at Civilization Fanatics Center, and I highly recommend you check out the large pool of knowledge available there. http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/ is a good place to start

[BRIANNA]

This thread is making me want to reinstall Civ IV. My PC can handle it easily, but it's been crashing frequently lately, and Civ IV is not a fast-loading video game...Now I'm sad.

[James Smart]

This thread is making me want to reinstall Civ IV. My PC can handle it easily, but it's been crashing frequently lately, and Civ IV is not a fast-loading video game...Now I'm sad.

Just think of Baba Yetu.

[Kara Payne]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I also get to the point where my territory is so large and I have so many workers that I automate them. I think micromanaging the workers in the early-game has huge advantages, not so much the farther along you get in time.

I'm not sure what the best method of automating is, but I usually resort to making workers automated for one specific city (I think you need to check out the advanced controls to get the button to appear on screen), IIRC, it was like "Automate in this city only" button.

Yea, the worker automation for me at some point was a must as it was just too much to make workers do stuff while waging war when I have so many workers but early game I didn't automate.

My only complaint from Civ IV was unit stacking and I am thankful it's gone in Civ V. Every was just turned into tons of unit stacked on one spot with each unit getting its turn and it took forever when it was several warring nations.

[Barbequtie]

I don't think I've ever automated a worker. Then again I'm quite OCD about everthing doing what I want all the time

[Franko AlVarado]

Just think of Baba Yetu.

And just like that, the theme song is stuck in my head until I wake up tomorrow. [censored].

[SexyPimpAss]

I'm the opposite. Real-time strategy puts too much pressure on me and I end up doing horrible, whereas I feel very comfortable with turn-based. Funny enough, despite all of that time to think, I still can't wrap my head around the combat system of Civ IV. I lose every single war I'm in.

Psst don't tell anyone... but I just like parading the soldiers and pretending I'm a general. I play military marches in the background and do a little wave.

I've always played RTS, since I was a little kid and I guess I'm used to it. Turn-based stuff confuses me (I have real problems with managing bigger empires in Total War too), but I love battles!

[Lindsay Dunn]

Let's talk about multiplayer. . . does anyone even play multiplayer? In my experience, games end very quickly when people quit due to unlucky attacks from barbarians or a poor capital location.

Has anyone had success with PBEM?

[Floor Punch]

Am I the only one still playing Civ III?

I'm waiting for Civ V to go on sale before I pick it up for my semi-new gaming rig. Is it worth trying out Civ IV too?

edit: grammar

[Chloe Lou]

I just got peer pressured into buying Civ 4. Yay.

Estimated download time? 24 hours. Heck yea!

I'll play with you Pete sometime...