Alright boyz, here we go!!! Civ 5 first impressions & tips thread!

[SackAttack]

That should read 'new,' I hope, or else I have to tear Take-Two a new one for emailing me to say that they ARE coming.

[Butter]

What is a "standard bias start"?

[Buccaneer]

What is a "standard bias start"?

Each civ tends to favor a set of resources/terrain/location that plays toward their UA, UU and/or UB bias. For example, Iroquois starting in a large forest; Egypt starting near marble.

[Ben E Lou]

Is it just me, or can you pretty much always get another Civ to back off an attack on your city-state ally as long as said c-s hasn't declared permanent war?

[Buccaneer]

I would go even further in saying that you can usually get a civ to stop fighting and to give you almost every thing he or she has. But the permanent war thing is a drag when the civ initiated hostilities in the first place.

[Ben E Lou]

Upcoming Changes (Updated 10/14) - 2K Forums (http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94438)

Upcoming Patch Info...

Also, many people have been asking for an ETA on when this patch will be released. I said I'd do what I can to get some sort of ETA and now I have it for you. However! I am about to do something I don't normally like to do: Give an ETA. Big emphasis on the E. So what I am about to tell you is the current estimation of when it will be available. This patch is not done with testing at the current time, and most everyone in software development has experienced the dreaded last minute showstopper bug that forces a delay. This could happen! So, with all of that in mind:
The patch will be available as early as next week.


UI
Fix for production prompt that sometimes appears with newly created puppet states that could stop the player from being able to end the turn.
Aircraft banner corrections – now when you rebase an aircraft, the number will move with it.
Resource icons now come up with Ctrl-R again, instead of sharing the same button with Build Roads.
Selecting a great general will no longer cause yield icons to appear.
Added option to disable auto-unit cycling.
Fix for full-screen game when running dual monitors. Previously, the curser could scroll off the “open” side, and not be able to scroll the map in that direction.
Misc additional fixes to mouse controls, and other interface issues.
Rounded out financial information in the Economic Overview screen. Details now provided on the amount of gold provided by each city, the cost of buildings in each city, etc.
Auto-populate save menu with save file name
Allow selection of other cities by hex from within the city screen
Added detailed trade route info to Economic Overview screen
Added new tab to the Economic Overview Screen: "Resources & Happiness." (new 10/14)
Added option to activate the mp score list in single player (for “always up” score similar to Civ IV.) (new 10/14)
The Annex/Puppet/Raze popup now indicates how much extra Unhappiness will be assumed with each action. (new 10/14)
MODDING
Category list now displays correctly
“Installed” panel now displays ALL versions of a mod but prevents the user from enabling multiple versions. (new 10/14)
GAMEPLAY
Workers - Added option to force workers to ignore manually made improvements (so they don’t change what you decide was best for a plot).
Workers - Fixed bug where number of turns to complete were incorrect in build action button tool-tip.
Economy - Fixed bug where players could disband a single unit, and not see the economic return until disbanding 1 more.
Economy – Increased city wealth setting to 25%
Economy – Multiple fixes to the way trade-routes are tabulated and recognized.
Economy - Can now sell Buildings in a city (to help lower maintenance for obsolete buildings later in the game).
Trade – Found and corrected a Trade problem that could cause your Resource inventory to multiply.
City States - Fixed a bug where you could not gift aircraft to city states.
Military - Medic promotion now only provides healing bonus for adjacent units.
Military – Fix for Minuteman movement.
Military – Correct promotions for “archer-like” units (horse archers, chariots).
Military - Embarked units will no longer slow enemy land units
Military - Improved unit cycling logic. Camera will jump around much less.
Balance - Engineers +1 hammer
AI
Military – Better handling of unit need (navy vs land, etc.) .
Military - AI will tend to build ships to deal with blockaded cities more often
Military – Corrected an issue hampering movement of AI armies, especially when in close proximity to enemy forces
Diplomacy – AI will be more reluctant to offer or accept open border agreements with more powerful opponents.
Diplomacy – Fix for never ending deals (peace, research agreements, etc).
City – City specialization and city focus improvements.
City - Cities that are Avoiding Growth will not grow while that option is selected
Workers – Priority of trading posts reduced, and rebalanced priorities on other improvements
Workers – Improved the path-finding mechanic when building route-to roads improved, including a large performance increase when evaluating road-pathing.
City - Make sure Puppets don't construct buildings that require Resources. (new 10/14)
City - Add a Puppet city strategy that turns off training buildings and emphasizes gold. (new 10/14)
MULTIPLAYER
Exploit – Fix for gifting unit exploit
Chat – Color-coding, sound alerts, etc., added for in-game chat system, including a larger window.
Deals – Additional deal validation put in place to verify deals before they are committed
MISC
Research treaties that end because you declare war will no longer grant the free tech
Save/Load – Fix for corrupted saves being experienced by some players in late-game.
Map - Huge map crash-during-load fix that were reported on some specific systems.
Map – Terrain caching fix that could cause problems for certain video cards (the “glowing red orbs” seen on the map are an indicator of this).
Map – Fix for the low res terrain that appears the first time the game is run (terrain tiles would not load in anything but low-res the first time you play on some computer configurations)
Strategic View – Crash fix for units rendering in background.
Strategic View – Fix for selecting units either standing on a city plot, or garrisoned in the city plot.
Eyefinity – Better handling of leader scenes when using Eyefinity displays.
Tutorials – Many tutorial tweaks and adjustments.
Multiple crash fixes.
Taller than wide map crash fix. (new 10/14)

When the patch is actually released I'll unstick and close this thread.

[Buccaneer]

and added today


UI
* If there are less than 5 buildings still needed to construct a National Wonder, the production popup tool-tip now lists which cities lack them. (new 10/20)
* Added Yield & Culture tool-tip info to the production popup. (new 10/20)
* Tweak information on the Global Politics tab in the Diplomacy Overview screen. (new 10/20)

GAMEPLAY
* Balance - Disbanding units now provides only 10% of their production cost in gold. (new 10/20)
* Request – Enable “one more turn” button if you lose, but are still alive. (new 10/20)

AI
* Military – Defensive tactical AI update. When you are at war and threatening an enemy city, the AI will better utilize the garrison, as well as the surrounding terrain in defense of the target city. (new 10/20)

Finally some small improvements in tactical AI and removing overpowered features.

[Jughead Spock]

Cool, moving in the right direction, for sure.

The more I've played it, the more it's definitely felt like it needs a patch or three. I'm still not complaining, because I'm overwhelmingly positive about the changes they did make. Once it's patched to BTS-era IV, it'll be awesome.

[Jughead Spock]

Holy smokes, it's coming to Mac this 'holiday season'. Awesome. I don't have a Mac, but I know a few hardcore Civvies that do.

[Ben E Lou]

Patch Released.


1.0.0.62
Released 10/22/2010
UI
Fix for production prompt that sometimes appears with newly created puppet states that could stop the player from being able to end the turn.
Aircraft banner corrections – now when you rebase an aircraft, the number will move with it.
Resource icons now come up with Ctrl-R again, instead of sharing the same button with Build Roads.
Selecting a great general will no longer cause yield icons to appear.
Added option to disable auto-unit cycling.
Fix for full-screen game when running dual monitors. Previously, the curser could scroll off the “open” side, and not be able to scroll the map in that direction.
Misc additional fixes to mouse controls, and other interface issues.
Rounded out financial information in the Economic Overview screen. Details now provided on the amount of gold provided by each city, the cost of buildings in each city, etc.
Auto-populate save menu with save file name
Allow selection of other cities by hex from within the city screen
Added detailed trade route info to Economic Overview screen
Added new tab to the Economic Overview Screen: "Resources & Happiness."
Added option to activate the mp score list in single player (for “always up” score similar to Civ IV.)
The Annex/Puppet/Raze popup now indicates how much extra Unhappiness will be assumed with each action.
If there are less than 5 buildings still needed to construct a National Wonder, the production popup tool-tip now lists which cities lack them.
Added Yield & Culture tool-tip info to the production popup.
Tweak information on the Global Politics tab in the Diplomacy Overview screen.
MODDING
Category list now displays correctly
“Installed” panel now displays ALL versions of a mod but prevents the user from enabling multiple versions.
GAMEPLAY
Workers - Added option to force workers to ignore manually made improvements (so they don’t change what you decide was best for a plot).
Workers - Fixed bug where number of turns to complete were incorrect in build action button tool-tip.
Economy - Fixed bug where players could disband a single unit, and not see the economic return until disbanding 1 more.
Economy – Increased city wealth setting to 25%
Economy – Multiple fixes to the way trade-routes are tabulated and recognized.
Economy - Can now sell Buildings in a city (to help lower maintenance for obsolete buildings later in the game).
Trade – Found and corrected a Trade problem that could cause your Resource inventory to multiply.
City States - Fixed a bug where you could not gift aircraft to city states.
Military - Medic promotion now only provides healing bonus for adjacent units.
Military – Fix for Minuteman movement.
Military – Correct promotions for “archer-like” units (horse archers, chariots).
Military - Embarked units will no longer slow enemy land units
Military - Improved unit cycling logic. Camera will jump around much less.
Balance - Engineers +1 hammer
Balance - Disbanding units now provides only 10% of their production cost in gold.
Request – Enable “one more turn” button if you lose, but are still alive.
AI
Military – Better handling of unit need (navy vs land, etc.) .
Military - AI will tend to build ships to deal with blockaded cities more often
Military – Corrected an issue hampering movement of AI armies, especially when in close proximity to enemy forces
Diplomacy – AI will be more reluctant to offer or accept open border agreements with more powerful opponents.
Diplomacy – Fix for never ending deals (peace, research agreements, etc).
City – City specialization and city focus improvements.
City - Cities that are Avoiding Growth will not grow while that option is selected
Workers – Priority of trading posts reduced, and rebalanced priorities on other improvements
Workers – Improved the path-finding mechanic when building route-to roads improved, including a large performance increase when evaluating road-pathing.
City - Make sure Puppets don't construct buildings that require Resources.
City - Add a Puppet city strategy that turns off training buildings and emphasizes gold.
Military – Defensive tactical AI update. When you are at war and threatening an enemy city, the AI will better utilize the garrison, as well as the surrounding terrain in defense of the target city.
MULTIPLAYER
Exploit – Fix for gifting unit exploit
Chat – Color-coding, sound alerts, etc., added for in-game chat system, including a larger window.
Deals – Additional deal validation put in place to verify deals before they are committed
MISC
Research treaties that end because you declare war will no longer grant the free tech
Save/Load – Fix for corrupted saves being experienced by some players in late-game.
Map - Huge map crash-during-load fix that were reported on some specific systems.
Map – Terrain caching fix that could cause problems for certain video cards (the “glowing red orbs” seen on the map are an indicator of this).
Map – Fix for the low res terrain that appears the first time the game is run (terrain tiles would not load in anything but low-res the first time you play on some computer configurations)
Strategic View – Crash fix for units rendering in background.
Strategic View – Fix for selecting units either standing on a city plot, or garrisoned in the city plot.
Eyefinity – Better handling of leader scenes when using Eyefinity displays.
Tutorials – Many tutorial tweaks and adjustments.
Multiple crash fixes.
Taller than wide map crash fix.

[gi]

Good, will test out LAN multiplayer tonight and verify it doesn't crash.

[Butter]

Sweet.

Does it work with saved games?

[Buccaneer]

For those with the Deluxe version trying to load a saved game with the new patch, wait till early next week for the hotfix.

[Jughead Spock]

At first glance, the patch seems to be doing its job. At least as far as peace treaties go anyway.

Minor rant... I took my laptop on a trip this weekend. Played Civ (offline) on the train ride over. Got to the hotel, can't start because I can't connect to Steam. No internet all weekend, so no Civ. Wouldn't say I was pissed, but I can certainly see why people are frustrated now.

Especially with the 'you have no network connection. Visit this website for support' Crazy.

[gi]

Still have crashes in multiplayer. Seem to be less now, but once every hour or so, hard crash that makes the screen go black or all goofy. Hard reset is only option.

[Ben E Lou]

Heh.

I am at war with France. They're ahead of me tech-wise. I managed to take Chartres from them, but I know I can't take more, so I built a Citadel on the side of Chartres facing their next city.

I put a Companion Cavalry in it. France then built Cherbourg two hexes away. The city is hitting my Cavalry every turn, but not doing enough damage to drop it below 9 HP. I'm collecting free unit experience from this. I wonder how long it'll last.

[Ben E Lou]

+2 levels so far, with no immediate end in sight.

[Eaglesfan27]

+2 levels so far, with no immediate end in sight.

I've seen that as well in my games. Some definite improvements to the AI are needed. I'm still having fun with the game despite these areas of concern.

[Buccaneer]

I think it's called XP Spamming or something like that. You can even do that early on against Barbarians since they will keep spawning from the camp.

[Ben E Lou]

I've seen that as well in my games. Some definite improvements to the AI are needed. I'm still having fun with the game despite these areas of concern.

I think it's called XP Spamming or something like that. You can even do that early on against Barbarians since they will keep spawning from the camp.

Well, this is one of those things that falls more into the camp of "exploit" than "AI failing." In every case I can think of but this very odd one, an AI city should absolutely be hitting the most dangerous enemy unit in its radius every turn. Given that it wouldn't work at all in MP since the human simply wouldn't hit it, I say "just don't do it" when playing SP if you want a challenge. I'm doing it in this game just out of my own curiosity, but I won't do it again.

[bulletsponge]

I think it's called XP Spamming or something like that. You can even do that early on against Barbarians since they will keep spawning from the camp.

you can only max 30 xp against barbarians though

[Passacaglia]

Okay, time for me to buy this thing! I'm looking at steam, and it's got Civ V for 49.99, Civ V Digital Deluxe for 59.99, and Babylon for 49.99. Are there better version or cheaper prices out there?

EDIT: Or is steam the only place you can buy it digi-download? I thought I read something about there being several versions of the game, but it seems like there's really just Civ V, and Civ V plus Babylon.

[Buccaneer]

Info on the next patch.


AI
Worker AI improvements .
Update to tactical AI pillaging code. Additionally, always check to make sure it’s not trying to pillage in an enemy dominance zone.
AI victory emphasis improvements (more efficient end-game when focusing on Science and Diplo victories).
AI should colonize other continents regularly.
AI will emphasize production of an Ocean going explorer unit when the time comes.
Adjust Napoleon to make him more likely to go for culture.
More aggressive second wave expansion (mostly off shore) after initial empire building and consolidation has occurred.
Optimization when finding routes (pathfinder improvement).
Multiple tweaks and bug fixes.
AI will now build ranged and mobile units more in line with the flavor settings.
Multiple defensive AI tweaks.

GAMEPLAY
Cities heal more quickly.
Only allow one upgrade per unit from a goody hut.

UI
Tweaked the single-player score list to hide the civs of unmet ai players.

DIPLO
AI's attitude towards you is now visible in the diplo screen and diplo drop-down.
Added info tooltip for an AI leader's mood. Lists things that are making an AI player happy/upset.
New diplo system: Declaration of Friendship (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
New diplo system: Denounce (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
New custom leader responses (Serious Expansion Warning, Aggressive Military, Luxury Exchange, Borders Exchange, Gift Request).

MODDING
Parent category counts now include counts of child categories.
Selecting/deselecting a category now automatically selects/deselects it's children and its parent.
Tweaked category name truncation to better fit names.
Hide categories w/ no children and a count of 0.
Added support for fallback languages (if mod is not translated, fall-back to English so text keys are not showing).

MISC
Fixed save format which causes saves to increase the memory footprint of the game drastically when loading frequently over the course of the game.



Finally a good step in the right direction in making this game more playable. I've stopped playing a month ago and could pick it up again if this patch is good. I think we still need some major AI 1upt tactical changes but those might take a while.

[Big Fo]

That is some good news. I haven't played this in awhile, partially do to a slew of good games that have come out recently but also because there are a number of bothersome flaws. At least a few of them might not be so bad after this patch.

[heybrad]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but how does licensing through Steam work if I want to install CIV 5 on my home PC and a laptop? Is it even possible?

[Passacaglia]

I think you can have the game on as many computers as you want, just not running at the same time.

[heybrad]

Thanks.

[Ksyrup]

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I have hardly touched the game since I bought it. And I don't really have an interest in playing it any time soon, either. I don't know why.

[chesapeake]

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I have hardly touched the game since I bought it. And I don't really have an interest in playing it any time soon, either. I don't know why.

I got 3.5 full games out of it and it appears that I am now done. I don't know whether to blame this iteration of the game or Civ IV for being such an outstanding game that I played out my Civ needs for a few years.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, I kinda feel like it's the latter, simply because I haven't played enough of the new one to hate it or anything.

[bhlloy]

I played a couple of games and then put it down, probably for good unless a patch comes out that really gets people raving about it again. It just felt like some of the bugs/new features made the game much easier than it should have been and killed some of the depth of Civ 4. It was definitely a 50% love, 50% hate deal with the new features... if I go back to Civ it will be Civ 4.

[Passacaglia]

Have I been missing something, or is there no way to allocate between tax, science, and culture now?

[chesapeake]

Have I been missing something, or is there no way to allocate between tax, science, and culture now?

No more sliders. Essentially cash comes from working tiles, science production is based on population and culture comes primarily from buildings. There are a host of exceptions and modifications.

[Big Fo]

Now that I have played a few games of Civ V, I think what I'd really love is Civ IV: BTS with a hexagonal map, one unit per tile, and an AI that is good at fighting with one unit per tile.

[Butter]

I don't know, I like some of the building progressions now, but the tech tree and the buildings are almost TOO linear, and the AI makes it a little too easy for you to get where you want to go.

It just seems like the design is a little off, but I can't put my finger on exactly why. It takes way too long to build things now, and the penalty/maintenance for buildings is too great.

As someone said (not sure if it was here or one of the Civ boards), this is the first Civ game that seems to be all about how not to build units, buildings, and cities and still win.

[bhlloy]

Now that I have played a few games of Civ V, I think what I'd really love is Civ IV: BTS with a hexagonal map, one unit per tile, and an AI that is good at fighting with one unit per tile.

+infinity

[Toddzilla]

I find it strange to be plugging along and around 1300 AD you discover another Civ that has 13,000 GP. Happens in every game, no matter the difficulty. How the hell does one civ just sit back and rake in the cash?

[AlexB]

Now that I have played a few games of Civ V, I think what I'd really love is Civ IV: BTS with a hexagonal map, one unit per tile, and an AI that is good at fighting with one unit per tile.

but without the espionage

[Passacaglia]

Does anyone know exactly what a 'pact of cooperation' is? I can't find it in the manual.

[chesapeake]

I've wondered the same thing myself. It seems to play as an unofficial alliance of sorts. But, as near as I can tell, there are no formal obligations involved.

[Celeval]

My impression is that's a positive diplomatic value, and future negative impacts will be more impactful if done during the cooperation pact.

[Toddzilla]

I remember in Civ4 there were a large variety of strange maps - mazes, a wheel with a hub, etc.

Are there any available for Civ5?

[Passacaglia]

My impression is that's a positive diplomatic value, and future negative impacts will be more impactful if done during the cooperation pact.

So there's no documentation of what it actually means? That's insane.

[Buccaneer]

New info on the upcoming patch


AI

* Worker AI improvements.
* Update to tactical AI pillaging code. Additionally, always check to make sure it’s not trying to pillage in an enemy dominance zone.
* AI victory emphasis improvements (more efficient end-game when focusing on Science and Diplo victories).
* AI should colonize other continents regularly.
* AI will emphasize production of an Ocean going explorer unit when the time comes.
* Adjust Napoleon to make him more likely to go for culture.
* More aggressive second wave expansion (mostly off shore) after initial empire building and consolidation has occurred.
* Optimization when finding routes (pathfinder improvement).
* Multiple tweaks and bug fixes.
* AI will now build ranged and mobile units more in line with the flavor settings.
* Multiple defensive AI tweaks.
* Never use ranged units to provide flanking bonuses. (Added 11/18)
* Improve AI use of protected bombard attacks (melee in front, ranged in the rear). (Added 11/18)
* Worker priority adjustments (prioritize pillaged tiles, etc.). (Added 11/18)
* Further pathfinder optimization. (Added 11/18)


GAMEPLAY

* Cities heal more quickly.
* Only allow one upgrade per unit from a goody hut.
* Science building track adjustments (cost, specialist slots, GP Points, etc). (Added 11/18)
* Amount of damage caused during naval combat increased. (Added 11/18)
* Melee horse units combat value lowered, and now receive a penalty when attacking cities. (Added 11/18)
* Lowered bonuses received from Maritime city-states. (Added 11/18)
* Removed maintenance from defensive buildings. (Added 11/18)
* Multiple unit upgrade track adjustments. Most (but not all) units now have a full upgrade path from start to finish. (Added 11/18)
* Open terrain penalty lowered. (Added 11/18)
* Policies must be selected the turn they are earned. (Added 11/18)
* Promotions must be selected the turn they are earned. If it’s as a result of combat, then the beginning of the next turn. (Added 11/18)


UI

* Tweaked the single-player score list to hide the civs of unmet ai players.
* Added game option to disable automated workers from removing features. (Added 11/18)


DIPLO

* AI's attitude towards you is now visible in the diplo screen and diplo drop-down.
* Added info tooltip for an AI leader's mood. Lists things that are making an AI player happy/upset.
* New diplo system: Declaration of Friendship (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
* New diplo system: Denounce (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
* New custom leader responses (Serious Expansion Warning, Aggressive Military, Luxury Exchange, Borders Exchange, Gift Request).


MODDING

* Parent category counts now include counts of child categories.
* Selecting/deselecting a category now automatically selects/deselects it's children and its parent.
* Tweaked category name truncation to better fit names.
* Hide categories w/ no children and a count of 0.
* Added support for fallback languages (if mod is not translated, fall-back to English so text keys are not showing).


MISC

* Fixed save format which causes saves to increase the memory footprint of the game drastically when loading frequently over the course of the game.

Now I am confident that Civ5 is heading in the right direction. The initial release was "dumbed downed" and I wonder if they would keep it that way or work on reducing or eliminating the cheese, exploits and overpowered features and elements.

[Celeval]

Wow, major changes in there - that'll knock out a lot of the "agreed-upon" strategies at this point. Probably a good thing.

[Schmidty]

I have a strange, annoying problem. I suddenly can't play Civ 5 in DirectX 11, even though I've always been able to before. It says I need Service Pack 2, but I have have Windows 7, not Vista.

For some reason, I can't post in the forums at all. I emailed a mod, but haven't heard back yet. Frustrating.

[Jughead Spock]

Imagine the patch should be literally any day now, since the Mac version hits on Nov. 23.

[Flasch186]

I have a strange, annoying problem. I suddenly can't play Civ 5 in DirectX 11, even though I've always been able to before. It says I need Service Pack 2, but I have have Windows 7, not Vista.

For some reason, I can't post in the forums at all. I emailed a mod, but haven't heard back yet. Frustrating.

I never have been able to.

[MizzouRah]

I've finally had some time to get into Civ 5 and I'm having a blast.

[Buccaneer]

Ok, now it's adding up to something serious - almost like a new game. Here are the additions to the list above:


AI

* AI will be more aggressive about pursuing Diplo victory if they are wealthy. (Added 12/3)
* AI more effective with building, moving, and using aircraft and anti-aircraft more effectively. (Added 12/3)
* AI more likely to effectively use siege units in a city attack. (Added 12/3)
* Better nuke targeting by AI. (Added 12/3)
* Tactical AI Tuning: Reduce chance of AI civs making "suicide" attacks. (Added 12/3)
* Multiple tweaks and bug fixes. (Added 12/3)


GAMEPLAY

* Increased city strength ramp-up based on technology. (Added 12/3)
* Catapults and Trebuchets now weaker against units but stronger VS cities, and reduced effectiveness of Archers & Crossbowmen (and their UUs) VS cities. (Added 12/3)
* Have culture cost for policies never go down (trading away cities to reduce culture cost exploit). (Added 12/3)
* Reduced effects of Forbidden Palace and Meritocracy (Happiness per city). (Added 12/3)
* Reduced points from Wonders & Cities, increased points for population. (Added 12/3)
* Reduced culture needed for first plot acquisition. (Added 12/3)
* New Building: Circus Maximus (National Wonder for happiness track). (Added 12/3)
* New Building: National Treasury (National Wonder for economic track). (Added 12/3)
* Unhappiness beyond a certain point breeds rebels within your empire, based on the number of cities a player has. (Added 12/3)
* Reduced amount of food needed for cities to grow at larger sizes. (Added 12/3)
* Tradition branch balance (Landed Elite and Monarchy improvements). (Added 12/3)
* Liberty branch balance (Settler training bonus now only applies to capital). (Added 12/3)
* Buildings can now no longer provide more Happiness than there is population in a city (wonders are excluded from this). (Added 12/3)
* 3 new additional Natural Wonders added to gameplay, with accompanying “rarity” code. (Added 12/3)
* Multiple Tech Tree tweaks to address “slingshot” tech exploits. (Added 12/3)
* Killing a barb inside a city-state's territory now gives a 5-turn buffer where there is no Influence intrusion penalty. (Added 12/3)
* Reduced and balanced combat bonuses. (Added 12/3)


UI

* Additional updates to the Global Politics screen. (Added 12/3)
* Added game option to disable turn-blocking promotions and policy choices. (Added 12/3)


DIPLO

* Additional AI attitude tool-tips for cases that were not already covered. (Added 12/3)


MODDING

* Support for mods that perform major restructuring of the tech tree including adding, deleting, and updating techs, buildings, and units. (Added 12/3)
* Added GameEvents system for overriding Gameplay DLL specific functionality. (Added 12/3)
* Fixed "Reload Landmark System" mod flag to now refresh landmarks defined in "ArtDefine_Landmarks". (Added 12/3)
* Multiple SDK Updates (details to come with full patch notes). (Added 12/3)

[AFShadow]

Ok, now it's adding up to something serious - almost like a new game. Here are the additions to the list above:


Great news. I have been waiting for this patch to pick the game back up. Any word on when it will be released?

[Ben E Lou]

Patch estimated release date within a week. Full list of changes published.

December Patch - Full Change List (http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?99880-December-Patch-Full-Change-List)

[AI]

[TACTICAL AI][LIST]
Proper evaluation of which enemy units can reach my units next turn.
Sorting enemy targets (within a class) by damage.
Combine bombardment fire from cities with other ranged fire where possible.
Never target a city for a ranged attack when they are already at (or going to be at) 1 health.
Have the tactical AI be more aggressive about fortifying units that aren't moving anyways.
Make all forms of guarding improvements the lowest priority tactical AI moves.
Don't mark tiles adjacent to enemy at sea as good for flank attacks -- there is no flanking at sea.
Update to tactical AI pillaging code - now prioritize enemy land resources and trade routes (never regular mines or farms). Always uses the check to make sure AI is not trying to pillage in an enemy dominance zone. Barbarians will still target everything.
Never use ranged units to provide flank bonuses.
Reduce chance of AI civs making "suicide" attacks.
Changes to better protect the capital or any city with an enemy within 5 tiles.[/LIST]
[VICTORY][LIST]
AI will be more aggressive about pursuing Diplo victory (bribing City States) if they are wealthy.
AI will be more aggressive about building Spaceship parts when going for Science victory.[/LIST]
[CIVS][LIST]
Tweak a few leader settings to be more likely to use their traits.
Adjust Napoleon to make more likely to go for culture.[/LIST]
[COMBAT/UNITS][LIST]
AI will not use Horse as defenders on hills as much.
AI will often build more defensive troops.
AI will more aggressively hunt barbs in the early game.
Slightly more naval units.
AI will now build ranged and mobile units more in line with the flavor settings for the team - in general, this means more mobile units.
AI now builds, deploys, and uses air units more effectively.
Allow AI to build more units if above Prince.
AI will be more likely to build and bring siege units in a city attack.
Better nuke targeting by AI.
Won't build AA if no air threat.
Allow AI or automated human explorers to move to edge of sight range and then explore again.[/LIST]
[EXPLORATION/EXPANSION][LIST]
AI will emphasize getting an Ocean going explorer unit when the time comes.
AI slightly more likely to settle off home continent.
AI should colonize other continents regularly.
AI second wave expansion more aggressive.
Improve the AI's chances of setting up protected bombard attacks.
Settlers: should handle watery maps better.
AI will grab goody huts on other land masses.
AI will grab empty barb camps more often.[/LIST]
[WORKERS/CITY AI][LIST]
Large Cities should be more willing to build happiness and gold buildings.
Workers prioritize repair builds higher than other builds.
AI will be more likely to build a wall on any city that was an original capital.
Builder tasking now calculates yields appropriately during golden ages and weighs tiles according to how much stuff they provide overall as well as their maximum yield of a certain type.
More likely to build up economy early.
Multiple worker AI improvements.[/LIST]
[MISC][LIST]
Factor GS into flavors more.
Disband obsolete units even if not losing money.
Upgrade units a bit more.
Tweak flavors of policies a bit.
Have AI factor Grand Strategy into picking policies.
AI will factor grand strategy into tech choices a bit more.
AI don't send a barb expedition if defenses are critical.
AI less likely to pick a city on an inland sea for serious naval production.
Additional pathfinder optimization.[/LIST]
[SIZE=4][B][GAMEPLAY][/B][/SIZE]

[CITY/BUILDINGS][LIST]
Added "National Treasury" national wonder, which requires Markets in all cities. Provides +8 Gold per turn to the city in which it's built.
Added “Circus Maximus” national wonder, which requires Colosseums in all cities.. Provides 5 Happiness.
Library now has no specialist slots.
Wat now has two specialist slots.
Public school now has 1 Science per pop, +1 free Great Scientist point, +1 Culture for 3 gold maintenance.
Observatory now has 1 specialist slot.
Research Lab has two specialist slots.
Public school now provides 1 beaker per pop for 3 gold maintenance.
Watermill now provides +2 good and +1 production for 2 gold maintenance.
Paper Maker now has no specialist slots.
Circus now has +2 happiness and no maintenance.
Theatre now has +5 happiness.
Stadium now has +5 happiness.
Reduced production cost and maintenance for the Courthouse.
Courthouse can now be purchased in a city (although it is expensive).
Removed maintenance from city defense buildings (Walls, Castle, Military Base).
City defense buildings now help cities heal.
Increased city strength ramp-up based on technology.
Reduced effects of Forbidden Palace and Meritocracy (Happiness per city).
Reduced amount of food needed for cities to grow at larger sizes.
Buildings can now no longer provide more Happiness than there is population in a city (wonders are excluded from this).
Ironworks now gives 10 hammers instead of a % bonus.
National College now gives +5 science in addition to the % bonus.
Hermitage gives 5 culture in addition to its previous bonus.
Raze/Unraze exploit fixed.
Cities being razed are unhappy about it (only during the razing process).
Cities heal more quickly.[/LIST]
[UNITS/PROMOTIONS][LIST]
Cavalry can now go obsolete with Combustion.
Stealth bombers cannot use carriers.
Only allow one upgrade per unit from a goody hut.
Add second embarkation promotion ("Defensive Embarkation").
Amount of damage done during naval combat increased.
All melee horse units get penalty attacking cities.
Increased city attack penalty for mounted and armor units to 50% (from 40%).
Lancers (and Lancer UUs) upgrade to helicopter.
Lowered combat value of Horseman and Companion Cavalry.
Promotions must be picked the turn they're earned.
Can no longer promote a unit that has fought during the turn (instead, the promotion comes up the beginning of the following turn).
Catapults and Trebuchets now weaker against units but stronger VS cities.
Reduced effectiveness of Archers & Crossbowmen (and their UUs) VS cities.
Reduced some combat bonuses: flanking (15 to 10), Great Generals (25 to 20), Discipline (15 to 10), Military Tradition (2x to 1.5x).
Remove requirement for aluminum on Mobile SAM.
Lower open terrain penalty to 10% .
Marsh is now 3 moves to enter (Chariots do not move quickly through it anymore).
Cavalry now upgrade to tanks.[/LIST]
[CITY STATES][LIST]
Reduced bonuses from Maritime city-states - Friends: +2 food in capital, +0 food in other cities - Allies: +3 food in capital, +1 food in other cities
Only the first 3 units gifted to a city-state will earn Influence now.
Killing a barb inside a city-state's territory now gives a 5-turn buffer where there is no Influence intrusion penalty.[/LIST]
[HAPPINESS][LIST]
If an empire reaches -20 Happiness, it goes into revolt, and rebels start appearing throughout the empire, based on the number of cities.
Amount of Happiness needed to trigger a Golden Age reduced.
Amount of Happiness needed to trigger a Golden Age now increases as the number of cities in the empire goes up.[/LIST]
[POLICIES][LIST]
Landed Elite (Tradition Branch) now reduces culture cost of border growth by 2/3.
Monarchy (Tradition Branch) now provides +1 Gold per 2 pop in the Capital..
Liberty now provides a Settler training bonus to only the capital, and not every city.
Tradition now provides +50% growth in the capital.
Theocracy now reduces Unhappiness by 25% .
Reformation now gives a 10-turn GA.
Adopting Rationalism now gives a 4-turn GA.[/LIST]
[TECH TREE][LIST]
Add link between Military Science and Dynamite.
Add link between Civil Service and Education.
Add link between Economics and Scientific Theory.
Add link between Chivalry and Acoustics.
Research overflow now works correctly (extra beakers after completing a tech will rollover to the next tech).[/LIST]
[GENERAL][LIST]
Fixed bug where clicking on a city plot wouldn't select the garrison.
Natural wonders now award culture (if worked) and happiness (if in border) if that trait is assigned to a wonder in XML.
Players must now always adopt Policies immediately, and cannot defer picking until later.
Have culture cost for policies never go down (trading away cities to reduce culture cost exploit). Razing cities will not raise your policy cost ceiling.
Reduced culture needed for first plot acquisition from 20 to 15.
3 new Natural Wonders and rarity code for both base game and New World scenario.
Reduced points from Wonders (40 to 25) & Cities (10 to 8), increased points for pop by 1 (3 to 4).[/LIST]
[SIZE=4][B][DIPLOMACY][/B][/SIZE]
[LIST]
AI's attitude towards you is now visible in the diplo screen and diplo drop-down.
Added info tooltip for an AI leader's mood. Lists things that are making an AI player happy/upset.
New diplo system: Declaration of Friendship (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
New diplo system: Denounce (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
New custom leader responses (Serious Expansion Warning, Aggressive Military, Luxury Exchange, Borders Exchange, Gift Request, etc.).
Not agreeing to a friend's request now results in a relations hit.
Third party AIs can now respond when a player makes a DoF or denounces someone. What they say is based on the situation - e.g. if you make friends with someone they don't like, they'll scold you.
AI leaders will now sometimes ask their friends to denounce one of their enemies as a show of support, and refusing to denounce someone when an AI asks can now make them very upset.
AI is now capable of denouncing friends (aka, backstabbing) and added backstabbing info to diplo overview screen.[/LIST]
[SIZE=4][B][UI][/B][/SIZE]
[LIST]
Add XP bar for air units, do not allow XP for air units attacking a city that is already down to its last hit-point.
Change ActivePlayer's name to "You" in single player in score list.
Added game option to disable automated workers from removing features.
Fixed bug where Happiness from garrisoned units wasn't being listed in Happiness info tooltip.
Load Map function will now display correct size and type of saved map.
New “Angry Genghis” loading screen (replaces the “fluffy-bunny Genghis” loading screen).
Added setup options to allow players to defer choosing Policies and Promotions right away.
Show the river penalty when attacking city across river (the penalty was there but was not being shown in the preview).
Global politics screen updated to reflect new diplo system.
Can no longer Force End Turn (shift-enter) through blocking notifications. CAN now use it to skip over units which need orders.
Multiple tweaks and bug fixes.[/LIST]

[SIZE=4][B][MISC][/B][/SIZE]
[LIST]
Fix small bugs with adding long roads around existing features.
Fixed bombard arrow across world wrap.[/LIST]
[SIZE=4][B][MODDING][/B][/SIZE]
[LIST]
Parent category counts now include counts of child categories.
Selecting/deselecting a category now automatically selects/deselects it's children and its parent.
Tweaked category name truncation to better fit names.
Hide categories w/ no children and a count of 0.
Added support for fallback languages (if mod is not translated, fall-back to English so text keys are not showing).
The pager for the installed mods tab of the mods browser is now displayed in the correct location.
Long values for properties such as "Special Thanks" will no longer extend past the edge browser frame.
Categories refresh much faster now in the mods browser.
Multiple additional tweaks and fixes to the mod browser.
Support for mods that perform major restructuring of the tech tree including adding, deleting, and updating techs, buildings, and units.
Added GameEvents system for overriding Gameplay DLL specific functionality.
Fixed "Reload Landmark System" mod flag to now refresh landmarks defined in "ArtDefine_Landmarks".
Multiple SDK updates (new version to go live shortly).[/LIST]
[SIZE=4][B][SERIALIZATION/SAVES][/B][/SIZE]
[LIST]
Fixed save format which causes saves to increase the memory footprint of the game drastically when loading frequently over the course of the game. This heightened the risk of late-game our of memory crashes significantly.[/LIST]

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Ton of changes. Looking forward to seeing AI with new fixes.

[Buccaneer]

Full Patch Notes released.

December Patch - Full Change List (http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?99880-December-Patch-Full-Change-List)

Looking awesome, esp. the AI changes and the nerfing of the overpowered Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the City-States ATM.

[Ben E Lou]

Patch is released. Downloading now.

[aran]

I'm quite impressed with this changelist. It looks like they've cut out some of the annoyingly common tactics that pushed me towards shelving the game.

[Buccaneer]

Impressions post-patch?

[Alan T]

Just a note for those that got in on the pre-order deals, I just got a note from direct2drive that my bonus free first DLC is now available to me. The Inca/Spain double civilization/scenerio pack.

[Ben E Lou]

Got a great person from a C-S ally, but because of the lay of the land, the cultural borders of the nearby nation make it impossible to move it out. I haven't made it to the extreme late game due to crashes before now. Is there any sort of airlift that I can do out of the C-S, or do I have only two choices as to how I can get it out of there?

1. Open Borders
2. War

[bulletsponge]

Got a great person from a C-S ally, but because of the lay of the land, the cultural borders of the nearby nation make it impossible to move it out. I haven't made it to the extreme late game due to crashes before now. Is there any sort of airlift that I can do out of the C-S, or do I have only two choices as to how I can get it out of there?

1. Open Borders
2. War

boat. your GP can embark and swim home

[Ben E Lou]

boat. your GP can embark and swim home

No. Surrounded on all sides by a civ that refuses to do open borders with me.

[henry296]

Has anyone seen this?

I traded a couple of my excess luxury resources for another luxury resource and my hapinees got much worse? In fact, I lost credit for the items I traded. I'm extremely confident I had extras as I have tons of land and resources.

[Mike Lowe]

This may be a silly question, but is there a reason this game suddenly runs incredibly slow after upgrading to Windows 7?

It's either that or the patch...

[cartman]

This may be a silly question, but is there a reason this game suddenly runs incredibly slow after upgrading to Windows 7?

It's either that or the patch...

I've been getting constant crashes in Civ 5 since the last patch. A search of The Google shows that there are a ton of cases with the latest patch causing issues with folks running Win 7 64 bit. I can't make it more than 10 or 15 turns before a crash happens.

[Coffee Warlord]

It'd be nice if I could play a huge map game without it blowing up / being incredibly slow once it gets to the later eras.

[Jughead Spock]

How's this going for everyone? I've kinda shelved it for now until there's some AI improvements. I still like it a lot, but it gets mundane pretty quickly as it is. For better/worse, it definitely doesn't feel as 'deep' as IV.

I've pondered putting IV back on, but I don't know if I can go back to squares and stacks of doom. Hexes & 1UPT is awesome.

[Buccaneer]

I've pondered putting IV back on, but I don't know if I can go back to squares and stacks of doom. Hexes & 1UPT is awesome.

I cannot go back to squares and SoD (unless playing Civ4:Col AoD2). I am finding the AI to be more aggressive in trying to win and thus, making it harder for me to beat them. For example, if Greece is on the map, they will go hard after city-states, your cities-states and what they can't bribe, they will conquer. That's what happened in my last game in which I tried to win a cultural game (which is challenging to do). Other than that, the AI still has trouble tactically but it's noticeably improved post-patch, imo.

[Butter]

Yeah, I think the CPU is definitely harder to beat now. It's a pretty fun game on Prince difficulty (the even-with-the-AI difficulty). But it's still not matching the fun I had with Civ IV. Still needs some tweaks. Something is definitely still missing.

[Mike Lowe]

Is there a plan for another patch? Seems odd for Sid to just ignore this game!

[Buccaneer]

Even with Jon Shafer gone, 2K announced that new patches were forthcoming (perhaps even an expansion pack?). Sid has left this ship a long time ago and have been working on a facebook version of Civ (ugh).

[Bobble]

Anyone else getting a crashload....I mean, crapload of crashes? There's points in the game, using a large map, that I can't go 10 turns without a crash.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Even with Jon Shafer gone, 2K announced that new patches were forthcoming (perhaps even an expansion pack?). Sid has left this ship a long time ago and have been working on a facebook version of Civ (ugh).

Oh gosh, really... Wow the civ franschise is dieing a horrible death, Facebook really.....

I really hope Sid comes down from his high horse and start to work on Civ6. Maybe in 4 years we'll get a descent CIV game again..

[Jughead Spock]

I don't think Sid's actually been involved since Civ II, if that.

[gi]

Anyone else getting a crashload....I mean, crapload of crashes? There's points in the game, using a large map, that I can't go 10 turns without a crash.

ATI video card?

[Bobble]

ATI video card?

Why, yes. Talk to me. Solutions?

[Edward64]

I had fun with Civ5 and played it on-and-off for a couple months. It was fun but hasn't grabbed -- in fact seeing this thread again made me feel guilty that I had not played it in a while.

Haven't figured out why exactly. I remember enjoying it for the first month.

Ready for some expansion packs and additional goodies.

[gi]

Why, yes. Talk to me. Solutions?


My wife and I had the same issue, have to up the overclock with a tool I found. The problem was with the card powering up and down depending on resource need. I had to set it to always be HIGH.

I'll get the link to the tool as soon as my kid is taking his nap in a couple hours.

[gi]

Okay:

ATI Tray Tools by Ray Adams

ATI Tray Tools Free Download and Reviews - Fileforum (http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/ATI-Tray-Tools/1086738656/1)

You can find it else where as well. ATI Tray Tools Public Beta Section - Guru3D.com Forums (http://forums.guru3d.com/forumdisplay.php?f=52)


After you install it, right click on the taskbar icon -> Choose Hardware -> Overclock Settings

Change Voltage to the highest. On my card it is changed from 0.950 to 1.100

Click Apply

I'm good to go when I do this. Still need to invest time to make this change happen automatically every time I boot the computer.

Hope this helps.

[Ksyrup]

It is hard for me to figure out why, but I haven't had the faintest interest in playing this game since the first week it came out. Of course, I haven't gone back to CIV IV either, so I don't know if I'm all played out of this game or if the new one has soured me on the entire thing. I've played the new one so little that I'm pretty sure I could go back to IV without a problem.

[Bobble]

Okay:

ATI Tray Tools by Ray Adams

ATI Tray Tools Free Download and Reviews - Fileforum (http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/ATI-Tray-Tools/1086738656/1)

You can find it else where as well. ATI Tray Tools Public Beta Section - Guru3D.com Forums (http://forums.guru3d.com/forumdisplay.php?f=52)


After you install it, right click on the taskbar icon -> Choose Hardware -> Overclock Settings

Change Voltage to the highest. On my card it is changed from 0.950 to 1.100

Click Apply

I'm good to go when I do this. Still need to invest time to make this change happen automatically every time I boot the computer.

Hope this helps.

Cool. Thanks. I updated the drivers (thanks, Dell, for making that hard to do) and I'll try this if I continue to have issues.

[Carman Bulldog]

So I've been out of the Civ game for awhile, and in fact the only Civ game that I had really played was the original for a big period of time in the mid-late Nineties.

Recently, I played a bit of Civ Revolution for the Xbox 360 and want to get back into the PC version.

Is there a recommendation for the best version? Is Civ better than Civ IV? From some of what I've read, Civ II is still some people's favourite.

[Jughead Spock]

You will find a religious faction for all of 'em, but I *think* Civ IV (w/ BTS expansion) is the go-to. You certainly won't regret it.

[molson]

I haven't played CIV V yet, but the reaction to it has been underwhelming. And CIV IV with the expansions gets thrown around in "best PC game ever" conversations. And it's not really that old a game - it was perfected with the last patch/expansion within the last 2 years or so.

Meanwhile, this thread is depressing.

[dolfin]

I've been playing Civ V again recently and while I am having fun, I think I'd recommend Civ IV as well. With you mentioning Civ:Rev and wanting to get back to the PC version, I'd think you will get more enjoyment out Civ IV. To me, Civ V seems a little more akin to Civ:Rev than Civ IV

[PadresFan104]

I prefer Civ V as it looks prettier than the older versions. And no, I'm not kidding... :)

[gstelmack]

Giving Up On Civilization 5 | No High Scores (http://www.nohighscores.com/node/16) seems to be an interesting writeup on Civ V.

[Buccaneer]

I'm having fun with Civ5 despite its weaknesses. I don't think I could go back to Civ4.

[bhlloy]

Civ 4 with BTS is almost certainly a more balanced game, but I don't think I could go back to stack of doom and the old hexes. If they could just find a way to mix the two, that would be an incredible game IMO.

[Buccaneer]

Speaking of balancing, here are the notes to the next patch


Along with these notes, I have an introduction from Dennis, the Civilization V producer at Firaxis. We wanted to give you a little insight in to the thought process behind this patch's changes, so be sure to give it a read before diving in to the changes themselves:


The upcoming patch will contain some significant balance adjustments to Civ V. We thought it would be a good idea to give everyone a quick run-down on our thoughts behind these changes and a look at what further balance work lies ahead….

This February patch comes at a great time for making balance changes; The five months since Civ V’s release has given us time to analyze reports of dominant strategies and implement and test deeper changes that will better balance the game in several key areas.

Working with our “Frankenstein” gameplay test group, we have been looking closely at the tradeoffs between building a Wide empire (one with lots of smaller cities sprawling across the map) and a Tall empire (one with just a few highly populous, highly productive cities). With this patch you’ll see a number of changes to the economic side of the game to bring these two play styles in closer balance with each other. City spacing, building effects and the Liberty and Tradition policy trees are where the most extensive changes have occurred. We’re now seeing games where a Tall empire can match or even exceed a Wide one in production and science output even deep into the game.

We wanted to improve the effectiveness of buildings. We also wanted to improve how cities interact with the map. Adjustments to terrain have increased production, while buildings that modify production have been adjusted in tune with these changes. You’ll find many buildings to be easier to build, with extra benefits, especially if you’ve settled near beneficial terrain and resources. We've continued to make improvements to pacing, diplomacy, turn times, the AI, and other aspects of the game.

With future patches we’ll continue to iterate through Civ V systems and fine tune the balance of each one. So far we’ve already identified combat, multiplayer, late-game policies, wonders and civilization-unique bonuses as additional areas that will benefit from this sort of attention. And as this journey progresses we promise to keep an ear to the ground for other areas the Civilization community may want us to address. Continued collaboration between community, our gameplay testers, and the development team will be nothing but a win for Civ V.
And so without further ado, the changes:

ENGINE
•Significant turn time improvements.
•Invisible Rivers now display correctly. This caused many issues because the player could not see some rivers, like fresh water showing up in strange places, unit movement suddenly shortened, etc.. Basically, there were certain rivers that did not display where forks occurred, etc.

USER INTERFACE
•Add combat summary when a city bombards a unit
•Add a new diplomatic status "Denouncing" that displays on the turn that an AI civ is denouncing the player
•Embarked units no longer look like they have 500 strength
•User warned if about to declare war on a city state that is under protection of a major power

GAMEPLAY
•Taper off benefit of excess food when building settlers
•City-States now recognize when a road is connected for their road-connection quest.
•Golden Ages now provide +20% production per city rather than +1 hammer per tile

STRATEGIC AI
•Prevent AI from building too many AA units
•Don't allow CSs to build Manhattan Project
•AI calculation of enemy military might are tweaked based on size of enemy gold reserve
•AI calculation of enemy power now takes into account promotions

DIPLOMATIC AI
•Avoid cascades of denunciations against a single player. AI now uses its own current friendliness level with a given power to determine how much weight to place on a denunciation against that power.
•Denunciations expire after 50 turns
•Declarations of Friendship expire after 50 turns

MODDING
•Added support for policies that provide culture from kills
•Added support for policies that provide extra culture from cultural improvements
•Added support for policies that provide extra embarked movement
•Added support for policies that provide free Great People
•Online Panel now displays TOTAL downloads for a mod and not just the downloads for that specific version.
•When you click on a mod in the online browser, you may now use a dropdown to select a previous version.
•Added Line Control for modders to use when creating graphs, etc.

MULTIPLAYER
•Can now use DLC civilizations in multiplayer
•Added Ring, Skirmish and Ancient Lake maps to MP.

BUG FIXES
•Clear up cases where diplomatic status could show as "Friendly" even after that AI power has denounced the player.
•Fix situations where AI demeanor and verbiage didn't match friendliness level shown in diplomatic status string.
•Additional bug fixes and tweaks.

BALANCE CHANGES

Game Rules
•Cities must now have three or more tiles in between them (1 more tile than before), unless separated by a sea/coast tile.
•Cities now only get 1 free production and 0 free gold (1 less in both cases)
•Trade routes get bonus gold based on population of capital; formula changed a bit so minimal gold received for hooking up very small cities
•Bonus production from excess food (used when building settlers) tapers off if excess is 3 or more.
•Allied maritime city states provide 3 food per turn to the capital, not 4
•Balance pass on production and maintenance costs throughout the game.

Buildings
•Aqueduct added (entirely new building). 40% of Food is carried over after a new Citizen is born.
•Palace boosted to 3 gold and 3 production
•Granary gives bonus 1 food for Wheat/Banana Deer; cost reduced
•Market and Bazaar provide 2 gold (as well as +25%)
•Workshop provides 2 production (bonus reduced to +15% but affects ALL production); cost increased
•Windmill now has a +15% production modifier (for buildings only) and provides 2 production
•Stable gives bonus 1 production for Sheep/Cattle/Horse and can be built with Sheep or Cattle; cost reduced
•Lighthouse gives bonus 1 food for Fish; cost reduced
•Ironworks dropped to 8 production (but earlier in tech tree now)
•Factory requires Workshop; add 3 production but boost now just 25%; has 1 more specialist slot (now 2)
•Nuclear and Solar Plants now require Factory but increase to production is now 35% and provide 4 production themselves; these two now mutually exclusive
•Hospital adds 5 food (but no longer retains food), requires Aqueduct
•Forge adds +1 production to each source of Iron
•Reduced Armory maintenance to 2 gold
•Reduced Colosseum happiness to 3, and reduced maintenance to 2 gold
•Reduced Theatre happiness to 4
•Reduced Monastery maintenance to 0 gold
•Reduced Garden maintenance to 1 gold
•Reduced Observatory maintenance to 0 gold
•Reduced Opera House culture to 4, and reduced maintenance to 2 gold
•Removed the Great Person Point from Public School

Specialist Adjustments
•Temple -1 Artist
•Mud Pyramid Mosque -1 Artist
•Opera House +1 Artist
•Bank -1 Merchant
•Satraps Court -1 Merchant
•Stock Exchange +1 Merchant
•Observatory -1 Scientist
•University +1 Scientist
•Garden -1 Artist
•Laboratory -1 Scientist
•Public School +1 Scientist

Improvements/Routes
•Production bonus from Railroads reduced to 25%
•Removed 1 extra gold from Mine on Gems, Gold, Silver, Marble.
•Fishing Boats give 1 food, not gold.
•Fishing Boats give 1 gold with Compass.
•Camps on Deer give production instead of food .
•Remove 1 extra food from Sugar plantations.
•Trading Post gold reduced from 2 to 1 (increases back to 2 when hit Economics).
•Trading Post & Camp gold increases by 1 with Economics.
•Lumbermill production increases by 1 with Scientific Theory (moved up from Steam Power).
•Mine & Quarry production increases by 1 with Chemistry.
•Plantation & Pasture food increases by 1 with Fertilizer.
•Well & Offshore Platform boosted to 3 production (from 1).
•Academy increased to 6 Science.
•Landmark increased to 6 Culture.
•Manufactory increased to 4 Production.

Policies
•Tradition: Culture border expansion discount in cities placed on Tradition branch opener. Discount increases over the course of the game. Also grants +3 Culture in the capital.
•Aristocracy: Wonder bonus reduced by 5% to 20%.
•Legalism: Provides a free Culture building in your first 4 cities.
•Oligarchy: Garrisoned units cost no maintenance, and cities with a garrison gain +100% ranged combat strength.
•Landed Elite: +15% Growth, and +2 Food per city.
•Monarchy: +1 Gold and -1 Unhappiness for every 2 Citizens in your capital.
•Liberty: +1 culture per turn in every city.
•Collective Rule: Settler production increased by 50%, and a free Settler appears near the capital.
•Citizenship: Worker construction rate increased by 25%, and a free Worker appears near the capital.
•Representation: Each city you found will increase the cost of your next Policy by 33% less. Also starts a Golden Age.
•Order: Reduce Order production bonus to 15%.
•Meritocracy: +0.5 Happiness for each city connected to the capital, and a free Great Person of your choice appears near the capital.

Resources
•Fish reduced to 1 food (but can be boosted back to 2 with Lighthouse)
•Marble boosts wonder production by 20%, down from 25%

Technologies
•Scaled up tech costs throughout the game (slight change for early eras; close to double for Modern)
•Move Lumbermills up to Construction
•Move Bridge Building back to Engineering
•Move Ironworks to Machinery

Units
•Workboat cost increased
•Settler cost increased by 25%

Wonders
•Colossus no longer goes obsolete
•Angkor Wat now provides a 25% discount for the costs (both culture and gold) to gain plots empire-wide.

Civ Unique Bonuses
•Reduce Chu-ko-nu from 10 to 9 ranged strength
•Doubled culture from kills for Aztecs
•Krepost now provides a 25% discount for the costs (both culture and gold) to gain plots in the city.
•Paper Maker only provides 2 gold but no longer requires any building maintenance

Map Generation Changes
•Increased Oil quantity per resource.
•Minimum Uranium is now 2.
•Cut Deer Appearance in Arctic regions.
•Adjusted Sheep placement so it is more spread out.
•Decreased Wheat appearance in Plains.
•Increases Cow appearance overall, including adding up to 2 Cow tiles to heavy grass start positions.

[Buccaneer]

Patch released. Some changes to what I posted above.

[Big Fo]

I just hit the Industrial Age in my first game with the new patch (and my first game in months). I haven't fought enough battles to comment on any combat AI improvements (I defeated the only other Civ on my continent in the spearmen/knights/crossbowmen era) but the balance between early techs and midgame techs seems better and various aspects of the economy (tile output, building costs/maintenance, building effects) seems better. It's encouraging at least.

[cartman]

The new patch has resolved the issue of the game crashing after 10 or 15 turns for me. Glad to be able to play it again!

[thealmighty]

Recently got the game. Won the first effort on lower end difficulty (I suck at Civ) after 350 turns or so.

Question I have is if/when barbarians quit popping up everywhere, every turn. Quite a pain in the ass to still have them to deal with when a whole continent is under your control.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Update ready to download......

1.0.1.221a

• Fixed graphical issues on Intel HD 3000 GPU.
• Newly supported video cards – ATI HD 6750, ATI HD 6490, ATI HD 5870, ATI HD 5770, and Intel HD 3000.

ENGINE
• Significant turn time improvements.
• Invisible Rivers now display correctly. This caused many issues because the player could not see some rivers, like fresh water showing up in strange places, unit movement suddenly shortened, etc.. Basically, there were certain rivers that did not display where forks occurred, etc.
• Memory leak – UI – Change the way the UI Manager calculates the hash of a texture so that different ways of specifying the same texture will not load the same texture more than once.

CRASH/TURN SPIKE
• Correct coding error that could cause turn-time spikes, incorrect deployments for protected bombard attack, or incorrect deployments as armies marched across the map

USER INTERFACE
• Add combat summary when a city bombards a unit
• Add a new diplomatic status "Denouncing" that displays on the turn that an AI civ is denouncing the player
• Embarked units no longer look like they have 500 strength
• User warned if about to declare war on a city state that is under protection of a major power

GAMEPLAY
• Taper off benefit of excess food when building settlers
• City-States now recognize when a road is connected for their road-connection quest.
• Golden Ages now provide +20% production per city rather than +1 hammer per tile

STRATEGIC AI
• Prevent AI from building too many AA units
• Don't allow CSs to build Manhattan Project
• AI calculation of enemy military might are tweaked based on size of enemy gold reserve
• AI calculation of enemy power now takes into account promotions

DIPLOMATIC AI
• Avoid cascades of denunciations against a single player. AI now uses its own current friendliness level with a given power to determine how much weight to place on a denunciation against that power.
• Denunciations expire after 50 turns
• Declarations of Friendship expire after 50 turns

MULTIPLAYER
• Can now use DLC civilizations in multiplayer
• Added Ring, Skirmish and Ancient Lake maps to MP.

BUG FIXES
• Clear up cases where diplomatic status could show as "Friendly" even after that AI power has denounced the player.
• Fix situations where AI demeanor and verbiage didn't match friendliness level shown in diplomatic status string.
• Additional bug fixes and tweaks.

BALANCE CHANGES

Game Rules
• Cities must now have three or more tiles in between them (1 more tile than before), unless separated by a sea/coast tile.
• Cities now only get 1 free production and 0 free gold (1 less in both cases)
• Trade routes get bonus gold based on population of capital; formula changed a bit so minimal gold received for hooking up very small cities
• Bonus production from excess food (used when building settlers) tapers off if excess is 3 or more.
• Allied maritime city states provide 3 food per turn to the capital, not 4
• Balance pass on production and maintenance costs throughout the game.

Buildings
• Aqueduct added (entirely new building). 40% of Food is carried over after a new Citizen is born.
• Palace boosted to 3 gold and 3 production
• Granary gives bonus 1 food for Wheat/Banana Deer; cost reduced
• Market and Bazaar provide 2 gold (as well as +25%)
• Workshop provides 2 production (bonus reduced to +15% but affects ALL production); cost increased
• Windmill now has a +15% production modifier (for buildings only) and provides 2 production
• Stable gives bonus 1 production for Sheep/Cattle/Horse and can be built with Sheep or Cattle; cost reduced
• Lighthouse gives bonus 1 food for Fish; cost reduced
• Ironworks dropped to 8 production (but earlier in tech tree now)
• Factory requires Workshop; add 3 production but boost now just 25%; has 1 more specialist slot (now 2)
• Nuclear and Solar Plants now require Factory but increase to production is now 35% and provide 4 production themselves; these two now mutually exclusive
• Hospital adds 5 food (but no longer retains food), requires Aqueduct
• Forge adds +1 production to each source of Iron
• Reduced Armory maintenance to 2 gold
• Reduced Colosseum happiness to 3, and reduced maintenance to 2 gold
• Reduced Theatre happiness to 4
• Reduced Monastery maintenance to 0 gold
• Reduced Garden maintenance to 1 gold
• Reduced Observatory maintenance to 0 gold
• Reduced Opera House culture to 4, and reduced maintenance to 2 gold
• Removed the Great Person Point from Public School

Specialist Adjustments
• Temple -1 Artist
• Mud Pyramid Mosque -1 Artist
• Opera House +1 Artist
• Bank -1 Merchant
• Satraps Court -1 Merchant
• Stock Exchange +1 Merchant
• Observatory -1 Scientist
• University +1 Scientist
• Garden -1 Artist
• Laboratory -1 Scientist
• Public School +1 Scientist

Improvements/Routes
• Production bonus from Railroads reduced to 25%
• Removed 1 extra gold from Mine on Gems, Gold, Silver, Marble.
• Fishing Boats give 1 food, not gold.
• Fishing Boats give 1 gold with Compass.
• Camps on Deer give production instead of food .
• Remove 1 extra food from Sugar plantations.
• Trading Post gold reduced from 2 to 1 (increases back to 2 when hit Economics).
• Trading Post & Camp gold increases by 1 with Economics.
• Lumbermill production increases by 1 with Scientific Theory (moved up from Steam Power).
• Mine & Quarry production increases by 1 with Chemistry.
• Plantation & Pasture food increases by 1 with Fertilizer.
• Well & Offshore Platform boosted to 3 production (from 1).
• Academy increased to 6 Science.
• Landmark increased to 6 Culture.
• Manufactory increased to 4 Production.

Policies
• Tradition: Culture border expansion discount in cities placed on Tradition branch opener. Discount increases over the course of the game. Also grants +3 Culture in the capital.
• Aristocracy: Wonder bonus reduced by 5% to 20%.
• Legalism: Provides a free Culture building in your first 4 cities.
• Oligarchy: Garrisoned units cost no maintenance, and cities with a garrison gain +100% ranged combat strength.
• Landed Elite: +15% Growth, and +2 Food per city.
• Monarchy: +1 Gold and -1 Unhappiness for every 2 Citizens in your capital.
• Liberty: +1 culture per turn in every city.
• Collective Rule: Settler production increased by 50%, and a free Settler appears near the capital.
• Citizenship: Worker construction rate increased by 25%, and a free Worker appears near the capital.
• Representation: Each city you found will increase the Culture cost of Policies by 33% less than normal. Also starts a Golden Age.
• Order: Reduce Order production bonus to 15%.
• Meritocracy: +0.5 Happiness for each city connected to the capital, and a free Great Person of your choice appears near the capital.

Resources
• Fish reduced to 1 food (but can be boosted back to 2 with Lighthouse)
• Marble boosts wonder production by 20%, down from 25%

Technologies
• Scaled up tech costs throughout the game (slight change for early eras; close to double for Modern)
• Move Lumbermills up to Construction
• Move Bridge Building back to Engineering
• Move Ironworks to Machinery

Units
• Workboat cost increased
• Settler cost increased by 25%

Wonders
• Colossus no longer goes obsolete
• Angkor Wat now provides a 25% discount for the costs (both culture and gold) to gain plots empire-wide.

Civ Unique Bonuses
• Reduce Chu-ko-nu from 10 to 9 ranged strength
• Doubled culture from kills for Aztecs
• Krepost now provides a 25% discount for the costs (both culture and gold) to gain plots in the city.
• Paper Maker only provides 2 gold but no longer requires any building maintenance

Map Generation Changes
• Increased Oil quantity per resource.
• Minimum Uranium is now 2.
• Cut Deer Appearance in Arctic regions.
• Adjusted Sheep placement so it is more spread out.
• Decreased Wheat appearance in Plains.
• Increases Cow appearance overall, including adding up to 2 Cow tiles to heavy grass start positions.

[Buccaneer]

That patch is the long awaited Mac patch, similar to the PC patch that was released 7 weeks ago.

[Passacaglia]

But it's still good timing to remind me of this game, which I will want to play after my exam next Friday!

[Honolulu_Blue]

I have finally really gotten into this game over the last 2 weeks or so.

I am enjoying it. I am no Civ expert by stretch of the imagination, but played a TON of Civ IV, so I know the basics.

I can't wait to see what expansions they have planned for Civ V. I really enoy the lack of "stacks of death". It makes the later game combat much easier to handle and it goes by much faster.

[Butter]

Yes, my wife and I are having a lot of fun with this since the last patch. The computer is still pretty inept at combat however, and we are usually able to get by with minimal combat if we choose to.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

New patch downloading.......

AI
• Economic AI: Tweaks to improve the number of workers built.
• Diplo AI: Correct minor error in calculation by AI to decide if it wants to join a coop war.
• City Strategy AI: Fix flavor broadcast to cities just after they are founded. Player level adjustments since start of game weren't being copied over to the new city.
• Operational AI: If AI sees that WarState is Calm (i.e. no one has troops near enemy lands), still consider launching an attack if overall military strengths are at least even.
• Operational AI: Enhancements to more sensibly pick city from which to launch a naval invasion.
• Operational AI: Slightly relax requirements for naval invasion to be on target (to get them onshore and attacking sooner).
• Operational/Tactical AI: Fix to movement/deployment for naval invasion forces.
• Operational/Tactical AI: Improved weighting and selection of muster and target cities for city attack operations.
• Tactical AI: Early game AI tweak to allow occasional sneak attack.
• Tactical AI: Improvements in civilian and embarked units targeting.
• Tactical AI: Units with defensive embarkation had a combat strength when embarked and were being considered for tactical moves (like making ranged attacks) that they weren't actually eligible for.
• Tactical AI: Improved the logic of how units are chosen for tactical moves so embarked units can now drop into place on land as flanking units, bombard units, etc.
• Tactical AI: Changes to more effectively use Great Generals offensively.
• Tactical AI: Citadels now project danger.
• Tactical AI: Units defending citadels are high priority targets; AI will prioritize trying to take these spaces.
• Tactical AI: AI will now pillage undefended citadels.
• Tactical AI: Be wary when approaching an enemy city; don't close on it if enemy clearly has superiority.
• Diplo AI: Make sure the diplomacy AI doesn't declare war on someone they are already at war with. Prevents confusing pop ups.
• Operational AI: AI will now correctly abort operations against a player that were started during a war (like gathering a new attack), but could execute after a peace treaty was declared. This corrects the occasional “AI declared war during a peace treaty” issue.
• Operational AI: Fix muster radius for gathering a naval invasion. Invasions won't get stuck trying to gather and will get moving to target sooner now.
• Operational AI: Don't allow nuke attacks on tiles that will break a peace treaty.
• Homeland AI: Make sure that flavor settings don't prevent workers from building improvements. This would cause some AI players to have large amounts of unimproved space in later parts of the game.
• Homeland AI: Fixed a problem that was causing workers to ignore pillaged non-resource and bonus resource tiles.

GRAPHICS
• Fixed an issue that was not allowing the Americas building set to display properly.
• If a 3D leaderhead scene cannot be created, fallback to 2D.
• Update to river color, texture, and shader.

GAMEPLAY
• Units: Stealth Bombers can now get promotions.
• Units: Add “Fortify until Healed” option for aircraft. Before, they only healed when inactive, which could cause confusion for the player.
• Units: Prevent units with the "No Melee" promotion from capturing cities (archers, catapults, etc.).
• Units: Air units must be in a city to upgrade, and no sneaky "I'm on a carrier in the city" either.
• Units: Fixed a problem that was allowing units to upgrade in territories that were not their own.
• Terrain Improvements: Allow Moai to be built over top of resources.
• Terrain Improvements: Correct an issue that resulted in double resources if you founded a city on top of an improved resource plot.
• Yields: Fix a load order problem where the lake bonus is not applied to a farm after loading an existing save.
• City Management: When selling a building, ensure that all citizens are properly removed.
• City Management: When assigning a specialist to a building, make sure we don't accidentally assign more citizens than we have available.
• City Management: Fix for an issue that was causing workers to go missing when population went down.
• City Management: After the citizen is removed from working, adjust the unassigned worker count before subtracting from the total population. There were rare situations that could cause the worker to disappear.
• Culture: Keep the current culture level of the city after it is captured. The culture production will go to 0, but the culture level must remain the same or else a large city will be able to acquire tiles at the same rate as a smaller city.
• Exploit: Removed ability to gain additional free settlers/workers by gaming the policy system.
• Units: City States in games started in the industrial/modern era now correctly produce workers as needed.

UI
• Pre-Game: The tooltips for unique items in the Loading screen no longer show up until AFTER loading has finished, preventing potential “stuck” UI.
• Pre-Game: Prevented escape key from being used to corrupt starting parameters while starting a tutorial game.
• Pre-Game: Multi-player maps added to Single-player as well.
• Pre-Game: Fixed a rounding issue in the options menu so that values are always integer based for the tooltip delay.
• Pre-Game: Using ":" in a save filename is no longer considered valid since Windows does not allow this. Players could potentially use this character in a save name without knowing that the file was not created when they exited the dialog.
• Notifications: Fix notifications that arise after a city is liberated so they show the name properly.
• Notifications: Extra DOF expiration notifications removed.
• Notifications: Notifications for denouncement or friendship are only displayed if the active player has met one of the teams.
• Tool-tips: Tooltips for worker/workboat build recommendations now build dynamically by looking at tile yields for these improvements: camp, pasture, farm, mine, trading post, fishing boats, custom house and manufactory.
• Tool-tip: Plot Mouse Over text for Natural Wonders will now display the culture yield as if it was in your borders and being worked, similar to how other yields are displayed.
• Mod Browser: Mod Browser panels now reset their scroll value when a new mod is selected.
• New Addition: Resource Panel integrated into upper-left Info Panel UI.
• New Addition: Specialist slots in buildings are now shown in the info tooltip for both the tech tree, production popup, and Civilopedia.
• Combat Preview: "Bonus VS Cities" is now renamed to "Penalty VS Cities" when it's < 0.
• Combat Preview: Fix bonus display issue when bombarding an enemy unit (if enemy had bonuses that required “friendly” territory, it would show up in the preview even though they were obviously in enemy territory).
• Combat Preview: Show Oligarchy Garrisoned Unit bonus for city ranged attacks.
• City Screen: City Growth meter within the City screen now displays the correct amount.
• City Screen: Fix the display of the current research progress UI, which made research estimates appear to be incorrect.
• In-Game: Fix the display of the movement cost for units that can embark.
• In-Game: Fixed a rounding issue in the military overview (actually, a lack of rounding issue).
• In-Game: Properly hide the Aircraft selection UI if hidden from view (fog of war, etc.).
• In-Game: City State's "Quest" icon is now hidden if that City State is at war with your team.
• In Game: City banner now displays different tooltip for puppet cities that are not owned by the player.
• In Game: Top Panel now differentiates between unhappiness from regular population and unhappiness from specialists.
• In-Game: Selecting a unit in the military overview will now select that unit, selecting it twice will now move the camera to it.
• Victory: Fix UI display of Diplomatic Victory votes (it was displaying votes from dead Civs/City States).
• Victory: UN Voting and Results screens now have better support for team games.
• Multiplayer: Human players no longer show an approachability type since that was meant for AI.
• Multiplayer: Multiplayer diplomacy w/ teams no longer has overlapping text.
• Diplomacy: There's now a confirmation dialog when you publicly denounce a civ.
• Diplomacy: Player cannot publicly denounce a civ multiple times in the same turn.
• Unit Panel: Fixed an erroneous display of a needed upgrade resource if the needed resource quantity was 0 and you are running a deficit on that resource (negative return value).
• Production: In UI for national wonders that have a prereq building, don't list each individual city that needs the building if the prereq doesn't have to be in EVERY city in the empire. Instead just continue to show the count.
• Production: City connected by railroad production bonus now correctly displays across all UI.
• Civilopedia: Multiple updates to Civilopedia functionality and accuracy.
• Pre-Game: Civillization Name in Load Menu is now truncated if it's too large.

DIPLO
• Don't allow research agreements if one party has finished the tech tree.
• Correct opinion code so we can get outcomes of friendly or allied.
• Fix the AI's deal adjustment so that it doesn't accidentally treat your luxury items as strategic items. This essentially prevented the AI from ever countering the deal with a request for a strategic resource from the other player. It just re-submitted the counter offer, requesting more luxury items, which the player could not see. If accepted, the player would realize too late that all their luxury resources were gone.

WORLD BUILDER
• Map Resize: Added controls for adding and removing rows of hexes from the top, build, left, or right of a map.
• Added default “map size” drop-down so that players can set the default number of Civs that they want to play on a map.
• Fix permanent war setting in the WB so that it reflects properly in the game.

MODDING
• Support for disabling the Happiness system.
• Support for disabling the Science/Research system.
• Support for disabling Social Policy acquisition.
• Support for disabling the Tutorial system.
• Properly initialize citizens and trade routes when loading for a scenario with a preexisting empire.
• Correct a problem with the awarding of contacts with minor civs in games created from WB scenarios.
• Add "CityCanConstruct" Lua hook.
• Exposed LoadString to Lua scripts.

ACHIEVEMENTS
• Fixed issue for Lancer that was stopping the Model of a Modern Major-General achievement from firing.
• Fixed issue with building type comparison that was keeping the Tomb Raider achievement from firing.
• Fixed issue that was keeping the Barbary Coast achievement from firing.
• Fixed issue with the Flying Fortress achievement that would cause it to fire when the action was performed by an AI player.
• Fixed issue with the God is Great achievement that would cause it to fire when the action was performed by an AI player.

SCENARIOS
• Mongol: Disable all victory conditions except domination.
• Disable tutorial across all Scenarios.

CRASH
• Additional nil checking to prevent possible Lua crashes due to invalid data in the HoF database.
• Tighten up decal culling to reduce the number of decals rendered per cell (Scroll crash).
• Fix to "Moai on the edge of the map" crash.
• Prevent CvDiplomacyAI::DoUpdateEstimateOtherPlayerMilitary Threats from doing a divide by 0 (caused by a city having more damage that hit points).
• Added in additional protections against using invalid player IDs that were causing crashes in community provided saves.
• Fix bad cast of PlayerType to TeamType (and resulting crash).
• Fix random map selection in multiplayer, which could cause a crash.
• Additional crash protections

[Buccaneer]

Post-patch, I've been reading a lot about how the AI civs are playing much tougher, causing some to drop 1-2 difficulty levels.

[Qwikshot]

I bought this game and I've purchased all the add-on nations, but I'm wondering if any of the other DLC is worth purchasing.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Big update today.......

[NOTES]
* Pacing has received a large amount of work. Expect to have more of a challenge managing your empire at higher difficulty levels than you did before. Consider dropping a difficulty level if you have problems.
* Existing saves will work correctly. However, the balance pass may make your existing happiness lower than expected when loading into your existing save post-patch.
[UI]
* Civilopedia now available in the Main Menu (under “Other”)
* Replay is now available at the end of the game, and through the main menu. You can choose Map, Graphs, and turn-by-turn. Only games played post-patch will apply.
* Great People progress UI addition (upper-left Info Corner UI).
* Combat preview for Aircraft UI addition.
* Fixed aircraft UI issue causing the aircraft selection UI to duplicate itself when rebasing aircraft.
* When loading save game files, you can now order the list by name, or last modified.
* Fix aircraft UI bug that was causing Nuclear Missiles and Atomic Bombers to leave behind container UI after it’s destroyed.
* Removed dead players from Demographics UI.
[DIPLOMACY]
* Made backstab routine more transparent (the dialog will clearly state that they are backstabbing you).
* AI now remembers when it has been nuked, for a permanent diplomatic penalty.
* AI now recognizes a player that captured their capital for a permanent diplomatic penalty.
* End declaration of friendship as soon as war is declared (so can't later get a notification that it has expired).
* AI remembers if you satisfied one of their requests (positive modifier, decays over time, based on value of items granted).
* AI remembers if you fought against a common foe (positive modifier, decays over time, based on damage done to the common foe).
* Track trades between players and allow that to positively influence relationships (the better the deal for the AI, the stronger the modifier). Particularly useful for bribing a hostile AI.
[AI]
* Rebalanced AI flavors and strategies for unit training to improve AI army composition and build choices.
* Allow the AI to consider Pikeman units for offensive roles when they can't build Swordsman or Longswordsman.
* Allow Alexander and Darius to consider Hoplites and Immortals for offensive roles in early game.
* AI players may now use a Great General in early rushes on higher difficulties.
* Modified flavor tags for Atomic Bomb and Nuclear Missile so AI builds them only when it decides it specifically wants Nukes.
* Block City States from building carriers, atomic weapons.
* Strategies for building mobile units now persist into Modern era to help AI decisions for when to build tanks and modern armor.
* Dampen early game Grand Strategies to give the AI time to expand (AI were sometimes stuck in a single city until late in the game).
* Victory adjustments to AI behaviors, including alternate victory paths as “back-ups” (for example, building the Apollo Program, even if they are not going for a Spaceship victory).
* Revise code calculating recommended army size (using smaller armies if the threat is low).
* Correct issue that was causing late-game continent-bound AI’s to over-build units intending to invade, and never properly execute the amphibious invasion.
* Scale recommended army sizes based on difficulty level.
* AI grand strategy and flavor weighting balance pass.
* AI policy choice weighting balance pass.
* AI tech choice weighting balance pass.
[GAMEPLAY]
* Player is now given the option to return a CS worker that they free from barbarians.
* Roads under captured cities no longer charge maintenance.
* Machu Picchu no longer destroyed when capturing a city containing Machu Picchu.
* Fixed Oligarchy bug that was causing the effect to expire when loading from a save.
[MULTIPLAYER]
* Multiplayer AI is now consistent with Single Player AI.
* Hot-Seat is now available through the multiplayer menu.
o You can have as many humans playing as available slots in the game.
o Password protection is built in.
o All maps, including purchased and user-created, are available to play in Hot-Seat.
o While play-by-email is not yet implemented, we did include an in-between turn saving option for those that want to play via email.
[BALANCE]
Mechanics
* Policy “Finishers” added to all 10 policy trees. Taking all policies in a tree will grant an additional bonus effect. See policy notes below for more information.
* Tweaked Policy cost formula (cheaper earlier, more expensive later).
* Reduced per-city Policy cost increase by 50%.
* Culture from City States tweaked (less early, more later).
* Killing a barbarian for a city state now gives 12 influence (was 5).
* Production cost adjustments for units/buildings/wonders (mostly a little cheaper, much cheaper late game).
* Unhappiness per city increased to 3 from 2.
* All great person tile improvements now connect all strategic resources.
* Reduced Culture from Goody Huts to 20 from 30.
* Defense penalty and city assault bonus promotions are now lost with upgrade.
* Research agreements now give a tech boost instead of a free tech. Tech boosts start at 50% of the median value of all techs you can research. Can be boosted to 100% if you both start Rationalism and build the Porcelain Tower.
Terrain, Resources, and Improvements
* New bonus resource: Stone (+1 production, improved with a Quarry). See the Stone Works building note below for additional details.
* Map generation improvements to integrate Stone into production-poor terrain, reducing the temporary usage of Cows. Additionally, will switch grass bonus resources from Cows to Stone when production is needed.
* Marsh and Fallout terrain penalty reduced from -33 to -15.
* Academy yield increases with Scientific Theory.
* Customs House yield increases with Economics.
* Manufactory yield increases with Chemistry.
* Marble wonder production mod reduced to 15%.
* Luxury resources now give 4 Happiness, down from 5.
* Remove penalty for improving Tundra, Snow and Desert.
* Railroad improvement now takes 3 turns, down from 7.
* Scrub Fallout now takes 2 turns, down from 5.
* Repair improvement now takes 2 turns, down from 3.
* Well improvements now remove jungle/forest/marsh.
Buildings
* New building: Stone Works: +1 Happiness and +1 production, and +1 production for each source of Marble and Stone worked. Requires Marble or Stone.
* Burial Tomb now correctly has an Artist slot.
* Mud Pyramid Mosque reduced 1 Culture.
* Circus moved to Trapping.
* Forge maintenance reduced 1 gold.
* Windmill production modifier reduced 5% to 10%.
* Monastery base Culture reduced from 3 to 2. Per resource Culture unchanged.
* Mint gold per resource reduced by 1 gold.
* Colosseum maintenance reduced by 1 gold, Happiness reduced by 1.
* Theatre maintenance reduced by 1 gold, Happiness reduced by 1.
* Stadium maintenance reduced by 1 gold, Happiness reduced by 1.
* Broadcast tower cultural modifier reduced to 33% but now gives 3 Culture.
* Armory maintenance reduced by 1 gold and moved to Machinery.
* Military academy maintenance reduced by 2 gold.
* Arsenal moved to rifling and now provides city defense instead of unit production.
* Walls now gives 4 Defense (was 5).
* Walls of Bablylon now give 6 Defense (was 7.5).
* Mughal Fort now gives 6 Defense (was 9).
* Castle now gives 4 Defense (was 7.5).
* University maintenance reduced by 1 gold and now gives a 33% boost to science instead of 50% (will increase to 50% after adopting Free Thought Policy).
* Military Academy now requires Armory instead of Barracks.
* Arsenal now requires Castle instead of Military Academy.
* Military Base now requires Arsenal.
* Wat now requires Library.
* Mud Pyramid Mosque now requires Monument.
* Harbor naval production reduced 10% but now increases sea resources yield by 1 hammer.
* Seaports no longer require a sea resource, they now require a Harbor. Production per sea resource reduced by 1 hammer.
* Factory production increased by 1 hammer but modifier decreased to 10%.
* Solar/Nuclear plant cost greatly reduced.
* Solar/Nuclear plant production increased by 1 hammer but modifier decreased to 15%.
* Public School science per population reduced by 50% and now provides a flat 3 science.
* Research Laboratory modifier reduced by 50% but now gives a flat 4 science.
* Workshop production modifier reduced by 5%.
* Barracks, Armory, Military Academy and Krepost now provide experience to all units trained.
Wonders
* National College moved to Philosophy and reduced by 2 science.
* Oxford University now gives 3 additional science.
* Great Lighthouse now also provides a free Lighthouse in the city where it was built.
* Great library now gives 3 additional science, and provides a free Library in the city where it was built.
* Porcelain tower now additionally increases the Science granted when completing Research Agreements by 50%.
* Hermitage moved to Acoustics and much cheaper to build. Now requires Opera Houses but gives only a 50% boost to Culture.
* Stonehenge Culture reduced to 6 from 8.
* Pyramids worker speed increase reduced to 25% from 50% but now give a free Worker when built
* Hanging Gardens now give 10 Food instead of 1 population per city and Happiness.
* Great Wall now obsoletes with Dynamite instead of metallurgy and gives 3 Culture. Additionally, a free Wall is provided in the city where it was built.
* Hagia Sophia great person modifier reduced to 25% from 34%, and gives a free Great Person of your choice.
* Eiffel Tower now give 5 Happiness plus 1 for every 2 Policies adopted.
* Chichen Itza now grants an additional 4 Happiness.
* Machu Picchu trade route gold increased by 5% and also gives a flat 5 gold.
* The Colossus now gives an additional 5 gold.
* Notre Dame now gives 10 Happiness, up from 5, and 3 Culture.
* Sistine Chapel Culture modifier reduced from 33% to 25%.
* Kremlin global city defense mod reduced to 25% from 50% but now gives 12 defense in the city where it's built.
* Cristo Redentor Policy discount reduced from 25% to 10% but now gives 4 Culture.
* Pentagon upgrade cost reduced to 33% from 50% but now gives 3 Culture.
* Sydney Opera House moved to Mass Media and gives 50% Culture in the city where it's built plus 4 Culture.
* Big Ben hurry modifier reduced to 15% from 25% but now gives a flat 4 gold.
* Himeji bonus reduced to 15% from 25%, and provides a free Castle in the city where it was built.
* Forbidden Palace now provides -10% unhappiness from Citizens in non-occupied Cities.
Civilization Unique Abilities
* Arabia: Bazaar now gives 2 gold on oil/oasis.
* America: Remove river start bias.
* America: Increase plot buy modifier to 50% from 25%.
* China: Great General trait reduced to 50% from 100%.
* Babylon: Great Scientist trait reduced to 50% from 100%.
* Germany: Now receives a 25% discount on land unit maintenance.
* Ottoman: Now receives a 67% discount on naval unit maintenance, and can upgrade Galley’s to Trireme’s.
Policies
* Liberty and Autocracy are no longer mutually exclusive.
* Freedom, Autocracy and Order are now mutually exclusive.
* Tradition
o Aristocracy now provides +15% Production when building Wonders down from 20%.
o Landed Elite now provides 1 Happiness at every 10 Citizens in each City.
o Tradition Finisher: +15% Growth and +2 Food in each city.
* Liberty
o Meritocracy: +1 Happiness for each city connected to your capital, and -5% Unhappiness from citizens in non-occupied cities.
o Republic now adds an additional 5% building production modifier.
o Liberty Finisher: Great Person of your choice.
* Honor
o Honor Opener now additionally provides Culture for each barbarian killed.
o Warrior Code now also gives 15% melee unit production.
o Military Caste now provides +1 Happiness and +2 Culture for each city with a garrison.
o Professional Army now reduces cost of upgrading units by 33% and provides +1 Happiness per defensive building (Walls, Castle, Arsenal, Military base).
o Honor Finisher: Grants gold for each enemy unit killed.
* Piety
o Piety Opener now provides a 15% production bonus on Culture buildings.
o Free Religion now provides only 1 free Policy but increases the Culture from Monuments, Temples and Monasteries by 1.
o Organized Religion now gives 1 Happiness per Monument, Temple and Monastery.
o Reformation now increases Culture in all cities with a Wonder by 33%, and starts a Golden Age.
o Theocracy now increase gold yield by 10% in cities with a Temple.
o Piety Finisher: -10% Culture cost of future Policies.
* Patronage
o Scholasticism reduced from 33% to 25%
o Patronage Finisher: Causes other players’ influence with City States to decrease 33% more per turn than usual.
* Commerce
o Naval Tradition policy now also gives +1 moves to embarked units.
o Commerce Finisher: +1 Gold per Specialist.
* Rationalism
o Rationalist Opener now increases the Science granted when completing Research Agreements by 50%. Stacks with Porcelain Tower.
o Free Thought now also increases University science yield by 17%
o Humanism now also affects Public Schools and Observatories.
o Rationalism Finisher: +1 Gold from Science buildings.
* Freedom
o Freedom Opener now provides 25% Great Person Points in all cities.
o Democracy now provides -50% Unhappiness per Specialist.
o Constitution now provides +2 Culture per Wonder.
o Free Speech now provides 8 maintenance free units.
o Freedom Finisher: +100% yield from Great Tile Improvements and increase length of Golden Ages by 50%.
* Autocracy
o Police State now provides 3 Happiness per Courthouse, and reduces the time it take to build Courthouses by 50%.
o Total War now provides +15% Production when building Military Units and +15 XP for new units.
o Autocracy Finisher: 30 turn attack bonus of +20%.
* Order
o Order Opener now provides +1 Happiness per City.
o Socialism and Planned Economy swapped places.
o Socialism buff to 15% reduction in building maintenance from 10%.
o Planned Economy now increases Science yield by 25% in cities with a Factory.
o Communism now provides 2 Production and 10% Production towards buildings in each city.
o Order Finisher: +1 Food/Production/Science/Gold/Culture per city.
* United Front – Militaristic City States now grant units twice as often when you are at war with a common foe.
Technology
* Reduced cost of Calendar, Civil Service, Iron Working, Gunpowder, Rifling and Dynamite.
* Scaled up costs of all sciences starting in the mid-renaissance era and on (larger increases later on).
* Metal Working requires Construction.
* Railroad now requires Dynamite.
* Radar now requires Combustion.
* Globalization requires Computers, and the cost is increased.
* Computers require Radar.
* Particle Physics no longer requires Globalization (Space victory now possible without overlapping Diplomatic victory).
* Future Tech requires Globalization.
* Tech Aesthetics: moved Dynamite and all future technologies around by 1 position for better alignment.
Units/Combat
* Destroyers no longer start with extra sight.
* Extra Sight promotions are now lost with upgrade (Caravel).
* Great General promotion spawning effectiveness reduced by 50%.
* Mohawk Jungle/Forest bonus reduced to 25% from 50%.
* Gunship anti-armor promotions now work correctly.
* Jaguar now gets Woodsman promotion.
* Minuteman now start with Drill I.
* Mohawk Warriors no longer require Iron.
* Carriers no longer require Oil.
* Destroyer moved to Combustion.
* Mechanized infantry moves reduced from 4 to 3.
* Galley now upgrades to Trireme.
* Ironclad now upgrades to Battleship.
* +1 moves for Tank, Panzer, Modern Armor, with no sight penalty.
* Increased combat strength of siege weapons to 50% of their ranged strength, increased intrinsic city attack promotions (10%/30% -> 20%/50%).
* Increased Incan slinger combat strength slightly.
* Increased Crossbowman and Chu-Ko-Nu combat and ranged strength.
* Decreased Longswordsman, Fighter, Bomber, Guided Missile, Jet Fighter and corresponding UUs strength.
* Removed Mandekalu Cavalry city attack bonus promotion (but still has no penalty).
* Reduced Tank, Panzer, Modern Armor to lower tier city attack penalty (-25%, instead of -33%).
* Aztec Culture from kills now stacks with new Honor Policy branch opener for double Culture killing barbarians.
* Boosted Chariot Archer to strength 4 and ranged 7 (Egypt War Chariot as well).
* Drop combat value of Berserker and Huscarl to match Longswordsman.
[MODDING]
* Fixed a bug in Lua where "Events..Remove" was not behaving correctly.
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.CityCanBuyAnyPlot(ownerID, cityID) (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.CityCanBuyPlot(ownerID, cityID, plotX, plotY) (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.CityCanCreate(ownerID, cityID, projectTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.CityCanMaintain(ownerID, cityID, processTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.CityCanPrepare(ownerID, cityID, specialistTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.CityCanTrain(ownerID, cityID, unitTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerAdoptPolicy(playerID, policyTypeID); (Hook)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerAdoptPolicyBranch(playerID, policyBranchTypeID); (Hook)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanAdoptPolicy(playerID, policyTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanAdoptPolicyBranch(playerID, policyBranchTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanConstruct(playerID, buildingTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanCreate(playerID, projectTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanEverReseearch(playerID, techtypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanMaintain(playerID, processTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanPrepare(playerID, specialistTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanResearch(playerID, techTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.PlayerCanTrain(playerID, unitTypeID); (TestAll)
* (Lua) Added GameEvents.TeamSetHasTech(teamID, techID); (Hook)
* It's now possible to have the tech tree "dead end" where the final technology is not repeatable.
* New graph datasets used by the replay viewer can be added by mods.
* Action Icons now use the database in the same way as other icons instead of using ActionIcons.lua.

[Mike Lowe]

My game keeps crashing right after game creation. Windows 7. Any ideas?

[lighthousekeeper]

One of the diappointments for me with Civ IV was the knowledge that the AI played by different rules from the human (for example the AI only had to spend a fraction of what a human had to pay when purchasing unit upgrades).

Does Civ V have this same problem?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

One of the diappointments for me with Civ IV was the knowledge that the AI played by different rules from the human (for example the AI only had to spend a fraction of what a human had to pay when purchasing unit upgrades).

Does Civ V have this same problem?

No.

[ColtCrazy]

Anyone else experienced this problem? I've never had a problem with the game launching, but suddenly today, it's crashing on the opening video. I found out how to skip the video, but it's still crashing. Any suggestions?

[gstelmack]

I just purchased this on the last Steam sale a week ago, and so far I'm having a ton of fun. I'm nearing the end of my second game and having fun conquering everybody that ticked me off. I go after the City-State of Venice because some other folks were calling for their head, and that pisses off Bismarck and the Japanese who declare war. It takes a while, but I fend off Bismarck and start steamrolling the Japanese, who are way behind techinically. Cannons and riflemen move through their crossbows and cavalry, and I get to infantry and artillery in time to finish them off. Along the way another City State or two gets uppity, so I annex them.

Bismarck is at war with Arabia on my border, he gets them down to their capitol but can't finish the deal. By this time I have tanks, so I move in and finish off Arabia, since they have all these annoying City States in their pocket for a diplomatic vote.

This ticks off Bismarck who decides to try me again. Ceasar has had enough and declares war on Bismarck, so while Ceasar and his cannons / riflemen keep Bismarck busy on the eastern frontier, I roll my tanks, infantry, artillery, and now bombers in from the south and west. That's where I stand now, 2 civilizations down, 1 on the run and going fast.

It feels more streamlined than Civ IV and I love the hexes. Still getting used to maneuvering armies around when they can't stack, you can't have two units swap positions in the jungle, for instance. And the UI is a bit slow, will show me "Next Turn" before I can click on it, it's hard to find units you can move (ones on Alert don't seem to show up in the step through arrows, and the military dialog list is modal so you have to keep bringing it up), and it seems like multi-turn move orders interrupt silently at the drop of a hat (someone ends up in the end spot, or blocks elsewhere along the track, even though they'll be out of the way in time).

But I'm dealing with those annoyances and having fun not having to micromanage as much as in the past.

[Ben E Lou]

Expansion Pack Announced

2K Games - BLOG - CIVILIZATION V EXPANSION PACK ANNOUNCED! (http://www.2kgames.com/blog/civilization-v-expansion-pack-announced)


Fans of Civilization V have been begging me for an answer to this question for quite some time: will Civilization V get an expansion pack?
Today I am extremely excited to tell you all that yes, it will! Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings is currently slated for a late Spring 2012 release.
It will come as no surprise to those of you who are familar with expansion packs for previous Civilization games that Gods & Kings will add more techs, units, buildings, Wonders, and playable Civilizations. But what about the big brand new game elements that will change the way you conquer the world? Let me lay it out for you:
Tons of New Stuff. I know I just mentioned it, but I want to draw attention to just how many new things we've got here: 27 new units, 13 new buildings, 9 new wonders, and 9 new playable civilizations. Among the new civilizations are the Netherlands (William I, Prince of Orange), the Celts (Boudicca), and the Mayans (Pacal the Great).
Religion. That's right; quite possibly the most requested major addition to the game is coming in the Gods & Kings expansion. Using the new "Faith" resource, you'll be able to found your own religion and grow it from a simple Pantheon of the Gods to a world-spanning fully-customized religion.
Reworked Combat System. The expansion has a reworked combat system along with an AI that places more emphasis on balanced army composition. Among the changes to the combat system is the addition of melee naval units, which will force you to really rethink the way you execute your naval assaults.
Enhanced Diplomacy, with Espionage. In addition to being able to establish embassies with your rival civilizations, spies will now be an important part of how you conduct your foreign affairs. Surveilling foreign cities, stealing advanced techs, and garnering influence with city-states are some of the things you'll be able to do with this new powerful mechanic.
New City-States. With religion being added to the game, it only made sense to introduce Religious city-states which will interact with your religion in special ways. In addition, Mercantile city-states will be attractive for those of you who love to grow your civilization's treasury. All city-states will use the greatly expanded quest system, making city-states more dynamic and diplomatic victories more challenging, while decreasing the importance of gold when dealing with city-states.
New Scenarios. Three new scenarios will be coming in Civilization V: Gods & Kings. Experience the fall of Rome, explore the medieval era, and my personal favorite: a unique scenario in a Victorian science-fiction setting.
So there you have it. What do you think? I'm sure you guys have tons of questions, so come on over to our forums (http://forums.2kgames.com/forumdisplay.php?74-Civilization-V-General-Discussion) and let us know! Or if you'd prefer, you can also reach us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#%21/2kGames) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/civ). We'll be reading all of your questions!

[Chubby]

Thank god!

/rimshot

Fans of Civilization V have been begging me for an answer to this question for quite some time: will Civilization V get an expansion pack?

Today I am extremely excited to tell you all that yes, it will! Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings is currently slated for a late Spring 2012 release.

It will come as no surprise to those of you who are familar with expansion packs for previous Civilization games that Gods & Kings will add more techs, units, buildings, Wonders, and playable Civilizations. But what about the big brand new game elements that will change the way you conquer the world? Let me lay it out for you:

Tons of New Stuff. I know I just mentioned it, but I want to draw attention to just how many new things we've got here: 27 new units, 13 new buildings, 9 new wonders, and 9 new playable civilizations. Among the new civilizations are the Netherlands (William I, Prince of Orange), the Celts (Boudicca), and the Mayans (Pacal the Great).

Religion. That's right; quite possibly the most requested major addition to the game is coming in the Gods & Kings expansion. Using the new "Faith" resource, you'll be able to found your own religion and grow it from a simple Pantheon of the Gods to a world-spanning fully-customized religion.

Reworked Combat System. The expansion has a reworked combat system along with an AI that places more emphasis on balanced army composition. Among the changes to the combat system is the addition of melee naval units, which will force you to really rethink the way you execute your naval assaults.

Enhanced Diplomacy, with Espionage. In addition to being able to establish embassies with your rival civilizations, spies will now be an important part of how you conduct your foreign affairs. Surveilling foreign cities, stealing advanced techs, and garnering influence with city-states are some of the things you'll be able to do with this new powerful mechanic.

New City-States. With religion being added to the game, it only made sense to introduce Religious city-states which will interact with your religion in special ways. In addition, Mercantile city-states will be attractive for those of you who love to grow your civilization's treasury. All city-states will use the greatly expanded quest system, making city-states more dynamic and diplomatic victories more challenging, while decreasing the importance of gold when dealing with city-states.

New Scenarios. Three new scenarios will be coming in Civilization V: Gods & Kings. Experience the fall of Rome, explore the medieval era, and my personal favorite: a unique scenario in a Victorian science-fiction setting.

[cody8200]

It's like they are adding all the good stuff they left out from civ 4 back in. Personally, I'll probably pick it up.

[Buccaneer]

Wow, I did not expect that both religion and espionage would be added to Civ5. I really hope they are implemented much better than their awfulness in Civ4. Looking forward to this.

[Jughead Spock]

Day one buy/download here. I went back to Civ IV because the game really is superior (esp. the AI), but there are some huge elements in V I love. If it can bring it anywhere near BTS, that'll be awesome.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Damn. There goes more of my money.

[molson]

It's amazing how different and better CIV IV got once it was really "done" via expansion packs, hopefully we'll see the same thing here.

[Coffee Warlord]

Espionage I could easily live without, unless it's a drastic shift away from prior Civs. I don't really a single iteration of it that wasn't obnoxious.

[RendeR]

I've avoided this one altogether due to the must use download system of sales.

If I'm paying THAT kind of money for a game I want the discs and manual and everything else that ought to be with it.

[Blackadar]

I've avoided this one altogether due to the must use download system of sales.

If I'm paying THAT kind of money for a game I want the discs and manual and everything else that ought to be with it.

Keep up the good fight, RendeR...but you're going to miss a lot of good games in the coming years if you stick to that stance.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Keep up the good fight, RendeR...but you're going to miss a lot of good games in the coming years if you stick to that stance.

Absolutely. While I do miss a good manual for certain games (like Civ) I do not at all miss having to deal with CDs and installing games. I can't remember the last game I didn't buy via download.

Hell, I've bought and downloaded games off Steam that I already own in hard copy just so I wouldn't have to deal with the CDs anymore. (E.g., Civ IV and all of the expansion packs).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Absolutely. While I do miss a good manual for certain games (like Civ) I do not at all miss having to deal with CDs and installing games. I can't remember the last game I didn't buy via download.

Hell, I've bought and downloaded games off Steam that I already own in hard copy just so I wouldn't have to deal with the CDs anymore. (E.g., Civ IV and all of the expansion packs).

+2

I don't miss having stacks of CD's, manuals, and boxes from PC purchases. Just sign in and play any one of over 100 games I have now on Steam. Most of them for far cheaper than I would ever have paid under a normal retail setting. Also don't have to go from store to store looking for those cheap deals.

[Shepp]

I've avoided this one altogether due to the must use download system of sales.

If I'm paying THAT kind of money for a game I want the discs and manual and everything else that ought to be with it.

"Civ 5" is actually a bad example because you can by a boxed version. You just have to register it through Steam. I fought using Steam for a long time too but "Civ 5" and "New Vegas" were the games that broke my will. I'm still not thrilled with Steam. I don't think the average home internet connection is up to the task of downloading large games (It took me about 10 hours to download Batman: Arkham City). Otherwise, its a tolerable experience.

[Honolulu_Blue]

+2

I don't miss having stacks of CD's, manuals, and boxes from PC purchases. Just sign in and play any one of over 100 games I have now on Steam. Most of them for far cheaper than I would ever have paid under a normal retail setting. Also don't have to go from store to store looking for those cheap deals.

Not to mention the auto-updating and patching.

[mckerney]

Absolutely. While I do miss a good manual for certain games (like Civ) I do not at all miss having to deal with CDs and installing games. I can't remember the last game I didn't buy via download.

Hell, I've bought and downloaded games off Steam that I already own in hard copy just so I wouldn't have to deal with the CDs anymore. (E.g., Civ IV and all of the expansion packs).

Agreed. If I'm spending money on a game I don't want to deal with the hassle of having a CD lying around and needing to find a place for/keep track of everything. I'd much rather have download service where everything is just a click away. Not to mention having my settings and saved games stored online, it was awesome when I got my new computer to just need to redownload or copy over the game files and have everything right there for games with Steam Cloud.

[mckerney]

Not to mention the auto-updating and patching.

Ah yes, that and several other features that make Steam so great. Auto patching, saved games and settings saved in steam cloud, integrated friends list that lets you invite or join your friends easily, plus the new features for Skyrim with one click install and auto updating.

A printed manual would be nice for some games, but the PDF works well enough usually. Though most games don't have a decent manual nowadays anyway, printed or digital.

[Crapshoot]

This game makes me sad - I bought it, played through one set, and realized that I was just bored by it - the lack of units on the screen and the overall nuking of diplomacy just made this game so simple that I lost interest. If its gotten a lot better I'm open to trying again, but it just seemed such a step down from IV.

[Honolulu_Blue]

It took a while for me to get into Civ V, but once I did I enjoyed it. I don't think it matches Civ IV, which is a game I played for many years.

But after playing "Civ V", I really have no desire to go back to Civ IV and its "stacks of death". The end game for Civ IV was just too brutal.

[bronconick]

It took a while for me to get into Civ V, but once I did I enjoyed it. I don't think it matches Civ IV, which is a game I played for many years.

But after playing "Civ V", I really have no desire to go back to Civ IV and its "stacks of death". The end game for Civ IV was just too brutal.

I haven't looked, but I wonder if anyone ever figured out a way to mod Civ IV to some limited # of units per tile.

[Caine]

Did they ever add Pitboss to Civ 5?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Did they ever add Pitboss to Civ 5?

I don't think so.

[PilotMan]

Gonna cross post this here in case there are others that don't own this like I do. Gamestop (formerly Impulse) has Civ 5 for $7.49.

[Buccaneer]

In anticipation of the upcoming expansion Gods & Kings, Valve has announced the following:

Kick off the weekend by playing Civilization V for FREE starting now until Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time.

You can also pickup the entire Civilization V franchise this weekend only at 75% off the regular price! Sale ends Monday, May 28th at 10AM Pacific Time.

So if you haven't tried the game, now's a great chance to while away the weekend getting in as many hours as possible before the sale ends!

[Buccaneer]

Don't forget to check out the new site for Gods & Kings

CIVILIZATION V: GODS & KINGS (http://www.civilization5.com/godsandkings/us/)

[Honolulu_Blue]

Don't forget to check out the new site for Gods & Kings

CIVILIZATION V: GODS & KINGS (http://www.civilization5.com/godsandkings/us/)

I am very much looking forward to this expansion.

[GoldenEagle]

Should i buy Civ V or Civ V GOTY edition?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Should i buy Civ V or Civ V GOTY edition?

GOTY is best. Not a huge difference in price and you get all the DLC currently available.

[CleBrownsfan]

Any of the DLC up to this point worth a purchase?

[Buccaneer]

Any of the DLC up to this point worth a purchase?

All of DLC civs are awesome and recommend all of them. The only DLC you can skip is the map pack.

[Buccaneer]

Steam has the pre-order up for Gods & Kings for a 10% discount ($26.99).

[Honolulu_Blue]

Steam has the pre-order up for Gods & Kings for a 10% discount ($26.99).

Purchased. Thanks for the head's up, Bucc.

[Buccaneer]

Civ V will still be playable, and probably much improved, in a year's time. The sports games? One and done.

Just reading back through this thread (fun read!) and this caught my eye (posted on Day 0). Not only has Civ5 improved greatly in 1 year but they kept improving it after that. Now with the unexpected expansion pack coming, it will provide more depth and variety than we ever thought possible since the first release. 2/3 of my gaming time still goes to Civ5 and looking forward to G&K despite some misgivings about religion and esp. espionage (which I will likely turn off).

[GoldenEagle]

Crud. I meant to buy this over the weekend but forgot. Now the price is back up high again. Does it go on sale pretty often?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Crud. I meant to buy this over the weekend but forgot. Now the price is back up high again. Does it go on sale pretty often?

I have no doubt they'll drop it around the expansion release date to try to sucker people in again.

[Mike Lowe]

I keep getting this error every time I create a new game:

Faulting application name: CivilizationV.exe, version: 1.0.1.511, time stamp: 0x4ee9bec8
Faulting module name: CvGameCoreDLLFinal Release.dll, version: 3.0.3.0, time stamp: 0x4ee9bc13

I did a search for that file name, but didn't see anything legit. This seems to be a common problem, but more so after playing the game deep into 200+ turns. I USED to have the problem where the game would crash 3-4 turns in...now, I can't even get it to load a new game.

I've gone through all of the help steps here too, but to no avail:
How to Fix Civilization 5 Crashes and Freezes? | Unigamesity (http://www.unigamesity.com/how-to-fix-civilization-5-crashes-and-freezes/)

This sucks, I want to play my game lol

[nilodor]

I was super excited for the new expansion, so I picked up a couple of the DLC civilizations. However when steam tried to download them it crashed and now when I try to run steam it gives me an error saying that I need to connect to the internet. It seems to be a semi-common error that not a lot of people have been able to fix. =(

[fantom1979]

I keep getting this error every time I create a new game:

Faulting application name: CivilizationV.exe, version: 1.0.1.511, time stamp: 0x4ee9bec8
Faulting module name: CvGameCoreDLLFinal Release.dll, version: 3.0.3.0, time stamp: 0x4ee9bc13

I did a search for that file name, but didn't see anything legit. This seems to be a common problem, but more so after playing the game deep into 200+ turns. I USED to have the problem where the game would crash 3-4 turns in...now, I can't even get it to load a new game.

I've gone through all of the help steps here too, but to no avail:
How to Fix Civilization 5 Crashes and Freezes? | Unigamesity (http://www.unigamesity.com/how-to-fix-civilization-5-crashes-and-freezes/)

This sucks, I want to play my game lol

What operating system and platform (steam/disk?) are you playing this on? Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling?

[ColtCrazy]

Sadly, my Mac isn't quite powerful enough to run this, so it's Civ4 for me. It's a decent consolation prize.

[cartman]

One week until Gods and Kings is released!

[Butter]

Figured out how to play with my wife on our LAN with one copy of the game... plus it helps that my work got me a laptop that is powerful enough to run the game. Finally playing again and having a lot more fun this time!

[cody8200]

This is neither here nor there but I play in game reviewer, Bill Abner's, OOTP league and we have the guys that were the lead designers on each of the last 3 Civ games playing in the league - Soren Johnson for Civ 3 and 4 and Jon Shafer (Civ 5). It's nuts. I told Abner that the next team that needs an owner needs an invite sent out to Sid.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Thought people would enjoy this, a Civ II game that's been going on for 10 years:

Reddit r/gaming link (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/)

[Radii]

Thought people would enjoy this, a Civ II game that's been going on for 10 years:

Reddit r/gaming link (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/)

I just came here to post the same thing, completely fascinating.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Thought people would enjoy this, a Civ II game that's been going on for 10 years:

Reddit r/gaming link (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/)

I guess I don't remember back that far. You could keep playing forever as long as you weren't the only civ left?

[bhlloy]

Great. Now I have to go home this evening and figure out how to buy/download civ 2 AND alpha centauri. Thanks guys

Seriously, I had forgotten how many kick ass features had been lost over the years as graphics and animation got better.

[Crapshoot]

Great. Now I have to go home this evening and figure out how to buy/download civ 2 AND alpha centauri. Thanks guys

Seriously, I had forgotten how many kick ass features had been lost over the years as graphics and animation got better.

GOG.com. Recently bought Alpha Centauri and forgot how much time it took from your life. Give it a go. :D

[Big Fo]

I wish GOG.com would put the Alpha Centauri expansion up for sale too.

[spleen1015]

I wish GOG.com would put the Alpha Centauri expansion up for sale too.

I always liked playing with the pirates, building colonies on water.

[Big Fo]

I actually thought about starting up a new Civ II game recently but wound up reinstalling Civ IV with the expansions instead and tried a mod of a mod (or modmod) that made some tweaks to Rhys and Fall of Civilizations called Dawn of Civilization. I think I started and finished a game as America in one weekend (it took 10-12 hours on epic), it'd been awhile since I'd gotten so into a game of Civ.

Hopefully Gods and Kings will make me want to play Civ V more than the older games.

[RomaGoth]

GOG.com. Recently bought Alpha Centauri and forgot how much time it took from your life. Give it a go. :D

How does this run on Vista and/or Windows 7?

[RomaGoth]

Thought people would enjoy this, a Civ II game that's been going on for 10 years:

Reddit r/gaming link (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/)

I just came here to post the same thing, completely fascinating.

Wow, I love it. Vikings using nuclear weapons during a nearly 2000 year war.

lol!:lol:

[Bobble]

Anyway, I was forced to do away with democracy roughly a thousand years ago because it was endangering my empire.

This line had me chuckling.

[Crapshoot]

How does this run on Vista and/or Windows 7?

Works fine for me on Vista.... I

[Crapshoot]

I wish GOG.com would put the Alpha Centauri expansion up for sale too.

Alien Crossfire? I thought they did...

[RainMaker]

All of DLC civs are awesome and recommend all of them. The only DLC you can skip is the map pack.

I'm confused on the DLC. So the Cradle of Civilizations include different leaders? Or is it just a map pack?

From what I see, the ones I should buy are Korea, Denmark, Polynesia, Spain/Inca, and that's it? I guess I'm confused by what the Cradle of Civilization means.

I also want to say it's sort of bullshit how you can get the GOTY for such a good deal and it punishes people for buying the game early and having to buy all the DLC individually.

[Shkspr]

It's also sort of bullshit how people who have lots of cash to spend can get the full version and DLC months earlier and it punishes people for holding out until the GOTY is released so they can save money.

[RomaGoth]

I also want to say it's sort of bullshit how you can get the GOTY for such a good deal and it punishes people for buying the game early and having to buy all the DLC individually.

Err...what?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

It's also sort of bullshit how people who have lots of cash to spend can get the full version and DLC months earlier and it punishes people for holding out until the GOTY is released so they can save money.

I see what you did there.........

[Buccaneer]

RainMaker: Ok, I scratched what I wrote. I looks like the bundled nearly everything up in the Cradle of Civilization DLC for $9.99. However, I don't see Korea on that list. I bought each one separately except the map pack but enough time has passed that it's all packaged up at a bargain price.

[Buccaneer]

It's also sort of bullshit how people who have lots of cash to spend can get the full version and DLC months earlier and it punishes people for holding out until the GOTY is released so they can save money.

Reminds me of the nonsense I saw at CFC where they were some ranting and raving about Spain now being included in the expansion pack when they paid $3 for it....18 months ago.

[RainMaker]

The "Cradles of Civilizations" don't have the civilizations in it. You'd have to buy the CoC pack, Spain/Inca, Polynesia, Denmark, and Korea, along with th explorer map pack to get the GotY.

It's not a big deal, just find it an odd way to handle the people who bought the game at launch. It's $42 for the DLC and $20 for it in the GotY. So you're paying double if you bought the game before GotY came out. You'd think they would offer some kind of bundle for all the DLC too.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

The "Cradles of Civilizations" don't have the civilizations in it. You'd have to buy the CoC pack, Spain/Inca, Polynesia, Denmark, and Korea, along with th explorer map pack to get the GotY.

It's not a big deal, just find it an odd way to handle the people who bought the game at launch. It's $42 for the DLC and $20 for it in the GotY. So you're paying double if you bought the game before GotY came out. You'd think they would offer some kind of bundle for all the DLC too.

Welcome to two weeks ago when it was all 75% off. I picked up what I didn't have yet for about $6.

[Ben E Lou]

You'd think they would offer some kind of bundle for all the DLC too.Why on earth would they do that? Neither Civ3, Civ4, nor Civ5 were playable at release, yet they know that tons of people will still pay full price to be late beta testers for a few months, and that many of those same dummies will pay full price for every bit of DLC the first day it's released.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Why on earth would they do that? Neither Civ3, Civ4, nor Civ5 were playable at release, yet they know that tons of people will still pay full price to be late beta testers for a few months, and that many of those same dummies will pay full price for every bit of DLC the first day it's released.

I resemble that remark.

[Buccaneer]

The "Cradles of Civilizations" don't have the civilizations in it. You'd have to buy the CoC pack, Spain/Inca, Polynesia, Denmark, and Korea, along with th explorer map pack to get the GotY.

It's not a big deal, just find it an odd way to handle the people who bought the game at launch. It's $42 for the DLC and $20 for it in the GotY. So you're paying double if you bought the game before GotY came out. You'd think they would offer some kind of bundle for all the DLC too.

Checking to see if what I saw last night was wrong...

Yep, sorry, not the clearest layout I've seen.

Downloadable Content For This Game
-10% $29.99 $26.99
Sid Meier's Civilization V - Gods and Kings
$4.99
Sid Meier’s Civilization® V: Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar II)
$2.99
Civilization V: Cradle of Civilization - Mediterranean
$2.99
Civilization V: Cradle of Civilization - Asia
$2.99
Civilization V: Cradle of Civilization - Americas
$2.99
Civilization V: Cradle of Civilization - Mesopotamia
$7.49
Double Civilization and Scenario Pack: Spain and Inca
$4.99
Civilization and Scenario Pack: Polynesia
$4.99
Civilization and Scenario Pack: Denmark - The Vikings
$4.99
Civilization V: Explorer’s Map Pack
$4.99
Civilization V - Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario Pack
$4.99
Civilization V - Civilization and Scenario Pack: Korea
$4.99

Like MBBF said, they have sales on these regularly but skip the map packs or simple get the GotY edition, plus Korea. The scenario packs that come with new civs are pretty cool. Been playing one of the Spanish/Incas scenarios for the past two weeks.

[Buccaneer]

Looking at my record, it looks like I got Spain, Incas, Polynesia and Denmark all for $9.99 and Korea for $2.99. Bablyon came with the special edition or something like that. The rest I skipped including ancient world one.

[molson]

Like with CIV IV, I'm waiting until Civ V is completely DONE before jumping in. I still dust off CIV IV for a marathon game every couple months so I'm in no hurry. It's a little discouraging though that it appears I'll have to do a ton of research just to figure out what I'm supposed to buy. Hopefully there will be an "ultimate" collection or something in a year or two.

[Buccaneer]

Civ4 got completely done?!?! With its many broken, nonsensical, poorly implemented elements???? ;)

I only partly kid since Civ4 was my favorite game until Civ5 patch 1 came out. There are too many people with absurdly high expectations for G&K but I think some of those are just waiting to bash Civ5 again. I've had a great deal of fun playing Civ5 over the past 18 months (after 1.0). As an old wargamer, the combat appeals to me better than any other version, not to mention themuch better richness of the AI UA/UU/UB.

[Ben E Lou]

I've tried to get into Civ5 several times, and have been unsuccessful. I keep going back to Civ4:BtS. I'm hoping that G&K (or a subsequent patch) can draw me in. I'm still annoyed that there's no truly "random" way to play Civ5 like there was in Civ4. (I'm talking about where you have random leaders with random personalities leading random nations on a random map, so you might have an Aggressive Gandi leading the U.S. on a map that you find out as the game progresses is an archipelago.)

[Buccaneer]

I've tried to get into Civ5 several times, and have been unsuccessful. I keep going back to Civ4:BtS. I'm hoping that G&K (or a subsequent patch) can draw me in. I'm still annoyed that there's no truly "random" way to play Civ5 like there was in Civ4. (I'm talking about where you have random leaders with random personalities leading random nations on a random map, so you might have an Aggressive Gandi leading the U.S. on a map that you find out as the game progresses is an archipelago.)

:confused:

You can set it to random leaders, random map and click on Random Personalities in the advanced set up screen. I think random nations would have to be a mod, but I haven't heard about that one.

[Ben E Lou]

:confused:

You can set it to random leaders, random map and click on Random Personalities in the advanced set up screen. I think random nations would have to be a mod, but I haven't heard about that one.Right. Without random nations, the other stuff is basically pointless.


Minor patch released in advance of G&K.

[MODDING]


Steam Workshop enabled.
DLL swapping is now possible in-game.
Updated mod browser to utilize Steam Workshop.
Font Icons are now moddable.
Unit art is now fully moddable.
Mods are now activated the moment you click "Next" on the mods browser rather than when you click "Single Player."

[ADVISORS & TUTORIALS]


Improved the queuing and prioritization of advisor pop-ups.
Unique advisor portraits per era now show up for the advisor counsel screens and advisor info screens.
Adjusted advisor levels down a bit so that experienced users won't see so many tutorials.
Fixed several issues with the Tutorials.
When selecting "Learn as you play," all tutorial messages are now enabled despite having your options set to "No Advisors."

[MULTIPLAYER]


When switching players in hotseat, have the new players existing notifications rebroadcast to them. This allows the player to see non-expired notifications such as deal proposals.
Fix Diplomacy Deals in Hotseat.
Add a few multiplayer error messages to let the player know what went wrong (disconnects, gets booted, etc.).
Add invite button to in-game view. (This brings up the Steam Invite list, which is different from the Shift-TAB overlay).

[UI]


Main Menu now contains an option to activate/deactivate specific DLCs.
Quick combat and Quick Movement options are now part of the Options menu and can be changed during gameplay.
Options menu now contains "Skip intro video."
New Loading screens have been implemented.
Diplomacy: Disabled modifiers for trying to win the same way.
Diplomacy: Layout changes to diplo modifiers for better readability and more information.
Mods and DLC used in a game are now stored in the Hall of Fame database (Only games which match currently active DLC are displayed in the Hall of Fame).
The "Time Spent" message now displays in the saved replays.
Load Replay Menu now defaults to "Sort by Last Modified."
Added a "Retire" button to the game menu.

[GENERAL]


In some cases, previous saves may not work correctly after updating.
Several text bugs fixed (in all languages).
Prevent escape from being used when a leader requests a luxury resource from you.
Social policies may not be unlocked unless the player has founded at least 1 city.

[WVUFAN]

Still no PiTBoss?

[Buccaneer]

Right. Without random nations, the other stuff is basically pointless.

I can see that. Unlike previous versions where all of the AI civs were nearly identical in play except for their color, Civ5 actually has them playing more distinctly. And there is one leader per civ thus the UA/UU/UB are all tied together. I actually love that part since some those are really hard to beat at higher levels (I play Immortal).

[RainMaker]

I think Civ 5 was a bit behind when it came out, but it has improved a lot. Have some minor gripes still but it's not that big. My problem with the game is I can't stop playing once I get going. So I'll blow through 9 hours on a Sunday without even knowing it.

Did have a question for you guys. When you take over cities, what is your strategy? Puppet, annex, or raze? I'm also having a weird problem where when I take over a city and their land, it doesn't seem to add the special resources to my pool. The city is connected to the capital and all that, but am I doing something wrong there? I need my damn aluminum! :mad:

[cartman]

Did have a question for you guys. When you take over cities, what is your strategy? Puppet, annex, or raze? I'm also having a weird problem where when I take over a city and their land, it doesn't seem to add the special resources to my pool. The city is connected to the capital and all that, but am I doing something wrong there? I need my damn aluminum! :mad:

It won't immediately. You have to calm the populace first before the city will produce anything. Usually a courthouse will do the trick.

[Buccaneer]

cartman is correct. Underneath the city name, there is a small red fist icon. Hover over that you will see the turns in revolt. Once out of revolt, then you can buy a Courthouse.

[RainMaker]

Yeah, I know that takes awhile to go away, but there were cities I swore had ended that stage and I wasn't getting the resources. Maybe I was using them for other buildings or units that I didn't know about.

Anyways, do you annex, puppet or raze cities? I'm having a tough time with that decision.

[Big Fo]

For me it really depends on how good the tiles around the city are and how far my civilization is from becoming unhappy.

[Buccaneer]

Yeah, I know that takes awhile to go away, but there were cities I swore had ended that stage and I wasn't getting the resources. Maybe I was using them for other buildings or units that I didn't know about.

Anyways, do you annex, puppet or raze cities? I'm having a tough time with that decision.

Never annex a city while a revolt. If want to control the captured city (annex) because of its location (helps to have a city on the frontlines that can produce or buy units) or resources (particularly if it's a high production city), then annex after revolt. If those reasons do not matter but it is not a small city or has a unique luxury, then puppet. Otherwise, if it's small (<5) and have no resources or wonders, raze. One caveat could be if you are trying to gain a foothold on another continent, then puppeting would work better than razing.

I typically only have 4 cities but lots of gold-focused puppets. If I am moving through a continent, I would annex 1 or 2 along the way (usually a capital, which you cannot raze).

[mckerney]

Wot I Think: Civ V – Gods And Kings | Rock, Paper, Shotgun (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/18/wot-i-think-civ-v-gods-and-kings/#more-112604)

I’ve never actually been physically assaulted for enjoying Civ V but the internet has told me how stupid, ignorant and irresponsible I am on many occasions. Yes, irresponsible, because liking this iteration of the series apparently encourages dumbing down. I’m rewarding their failures, it seems, like bestowing a meaty treat on a dog that has just dumped a pile of compost on grandma’s favourite rug. That thing really tied the parlour together.

The thing is, despite a host of problems, I’ve spent a great deal of time with Civ V, the majority of which I’ve greatly enjoyed. It’s not Civ IV, which is fine because Civ IV still exists, but nor is it Civ IV + 1, which the V does suggest if that’s the way you choose to read it. Beyond the Sword, the spiffiest expansion pack of all, was Civ IV + 1 though. Rather than that, Civ V is a new take on the model of map-conquering, settler-spawning, race-to-the-finish strategy that the series has been since its inception.

I’ll move on to the expansion in a moment, but here’s a quick summary of what I do and don’t like about the base game. It’s important to know this because whether or not Gods and Kings is for you will depend largely on whether Civ V was for you or not. Despite all the missionaries in the world being added, there’s nothing here that’s going to win over non-believers.

...

Then it did a lot of things not quite so well, most notably, from my point of view at least, diplomacy, AI and a tech tree that funnels into linear progression too soon in every era. There has been hope that the re-emergence of religion and espionage will change the game significantly, bringing back some of Civ IV’s complexity, but that isn’t the case. Gods and Kings is more Civ V with additions and tweaks along the lines already drawn rather than bold new directions.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, although if you were waiting for the game to be salvaged this will do nothing to change your mind and is more likely to make you think it’s unsalvageable. Religion is similar to the culture mechanic, although this time around the policies are global, so once a belief has been selected by one player it’s gone for good. While that means civs that want to build their strength through faith have to specialise more, it’s problematic because my time with the expansion suggests the advantages of a strong religion are nowhere near as effective as focusing on science, culture or the amassing of gigantic armies.

...

Gods and Kings has required me to spend a great deal of time playing Civ V in the past few days. It’s also made me remember how much I enjoy the game, although not without also drawing my mind more to its differences from previous entries and its flaws. As an expansion it delivers lots of content but doesn’t have the killer addition that elevates the game beyond its base. It also suggests that Firaxis are well aware that their game is not and never will be equivalent to Civ IV because they’ve made it a moderately better version of what it already was rather than what so many people hoped it could become.

[Blackadar]

That's what I expected. I have over 100 hours in Civ V and think it's a very good - if not quite great - game. I'm looking forward to having a few more options available in my quest to conquer the world, a few more luxuries to keep the population happy and a few more talents to research.

[Ben E Lou]

Wot I Think: Civ V – Gods And Kings | Rock, Paper, Shotgun (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/18/wot-i-think-civ-v-gods-and-kings/#more-112604)
Thanks for that, mckerney. I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't hate Civ5, but I don't love it either. I definitely play/enjoy Civ4:BtS more. Sounds like maybe for me this might move it from "not as good as BtS" to "almost as good as BtS." If it's good enough to make it a worthy diversion from BtS, then it'll be worth the purchase. *shurg*

[Blackadar]

Thanks for that, mckerney. I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't hate Civ5, but I don't love it either. I definitely play/enjoy Civ4:BtS more. Sounds like maybe for me this might move it from "not as good as BtS" to "almost as good as BtS." If it's good enough to make it a worthy diversion from BtS, then it'll be worth the purchase. *shurg*

See, I'm not going that route. I think BtS is literally the best turn-based strategy game of all time. Yeah, it's that good. I've played through it with every single leader and scored more than 30k points with every leader. I easily have over 1,000 hours into that game. So I shouldn't expect Civ V to top it - that's really not a reasonable expectation.

So what I expected out of Civ V is simply a good, fun TBS game with different mechanics. Civ V delivered (mostly) that on release and I'm looking to having a few more arrows in the quiver when I play it. I don't expect that I'll get over 1,000 hours out of Civ V. I'm not sure I'll get more than 200. Still, that's more than sufficient for me to call Civ V a success.

[Ben E Lou]

I think BtS is literally the best turn-based strategy game of all time. Yeah, it's that good. I've played through it with every single leader and scored more than 30k points with every leader. I easily have over 1,000 hours into that game. So I shouldn't expect Civ V to top it - that's really not a reasonable expectation. Heh. So maybe that's my problem. I've never stated (or thought) it in terms that strong, but the proof is in the pudding, I suppose. There's no question that I've logged more hours with BtS than any other game of all time. Maybe that's where I am, too, and why I have been disappointed in Civ V.

[Blackadar]

Heh. So maybe that's my problem. I've never stated (or thought) it in terms that strong, but the proof is in the pudding, I suppose. There's no question that I've logged more hours with BtS than any other game of all time. Maybe that's where I am, too, and why I have been disappointed in Civ V.

I entirely understand. I had to temper my own expectations. I knew that if I was expecting Civ V > Civ IV + BtS, I'd be sorely disappointed. So I learned to enjoy Civ V for what it was. If I wanted more of Civ IV, there are mods that add more techs, units, civs and so forth that are pretty interesting. I've played 'em and frankly I don't think there's much anyone can do to improve Civ IV. So if it's pretty much perfect, then the next game needs to be different in order to succeed. Civ V ain't perfect - nowhere close - but at least Firaxis was smart enough to try something else rather than give us a Civ IV+, which wouldn't have made anyone happy.

Along the same lines, I'm looking forward to Firaxis' X-Com this year. But I'm not expecting it to be better than the original X-Com, which was brilliant. That's kind of setting the bar unreasonably high. If it gets anywhere close I'll be more than happy.

[Ben E Lou]

I think this speaks to why I really hoped for the random civs option...More than ever, with Gods and Kings I felt like I was reliant on the seed of a map, my location and the unique qualities of my people combining to set my path for the next six thousand years or so.That statement really rings true for me for Civ5 in general. I feel less free to go down different paths in Civ5 than I do in Civ4. I'm wondering if I might need to try playing shorter games so I don't feel "stuck" on a path as long.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Just over an hour to go. Think I'm going to stay up and put a couple hours in tonight.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Download just started. Guess it was midnight EDT. Woohoo!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Found my first new wonder. Mt. Sinai. Looks like it boosts religion tremendously.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Attacks are much more specific now. Rather than losing 1-10 troops, it's now 1-100 scale.

[RainMaker]

Crap I want to play but know I will be up till 6am if I start one.

[CleBrownsfan]

Kind of a silly question.... Do you have to build roads to attach resources to your city? I always do but always wondered if I needed to.

[Blackadar]

Kind of a silly question.... Do you have to build roads to attach resources to your city? I always do but always wondered if I needed to.

You build roads to create a trade route from your main city to your other cities. You do NOT need to build a road to get a resource to a city. In fact, the fewer roads the better - each road costs gold while each trade route generates gold. So you want to connect your cities with the least amount of road as possible.

[Buccaneer]

Rule of thumb is to have the two cities connected by road to be of a size equal to or greater than the number of road tiles between them.

[Blackadar]

Rule of thumb is to have the two cities connected by road to be of a size equal to or greater than the number of road tiles between them.

I hook em up anyway, just for defense purposes.

[Ben E Lou]

Played with G&K for an hour or so this morning. I'm cautiously optimistic about it. I might end up liking the "forced" direction of your nation after all. I am playing as Rome (I always go "Random" for my nation start) and have two sources of stone in my capital's borders, and when presented with my first Religion-building choice, (I don't know all the terminology yet,) one option out of like 30 was "2 extra religion points per source of stone." It seemed like a very easy choice to pick that one, which seems to set our course as a religious Civ, a direction I wouldn't have necessarily chosen. It seems like there a variety of ways that religion can take you, depending on your resources. That could be rather interesting...

[Buccaneer]

The only thing I'll say about Civ4 vs Civ5/G&K is that Civ4 BtS (which you knew to have been my favorite game for 5 years) was one of those rare games where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. It's astounding how many bad, broken or poorly implemented elements there were in BtS (religion, espionage, vassals, civics, stacks of doom, overabundant resources - just to name a few) but somehow it worked. Civ5 has many far superior elements (wargamers hex, 1upt, SP, limited resources, ranged units, city-states, etc. plus supposedly a much better implementation of religion and espionage now) but the AI hasn't quite learned how to deal with the changes yet (sounds a lot like all those Civ5 ranters). But those elements make the game much more fun for me to play, particularly at a high level.

I don't have the illusion that G&K will "fix everything". Truthfully, I don't want them to fix much - just give me more variety and choices in the game (which they have done). I basically ignore diplomacy (doesn't interest me, never have in civ games) but religion should be interesting. I will turn off espionage as I can't see how that can be in a civ game.

I love the changes in G&K to the new civs, altered tech tree (much needed), Great Persons (very much needed), wonders, SP, city-states (huge changes there) and of course, the rebalanced units and finer-grained combat numbers. I look forward to playing soon.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Played with G&K for an hour or so this morning. I'm cautiously optimistic about it. I might end up liking the "forced" direction of your nation after all. I am playing as Rome (I always go "Random" for my nation start) and have two sources of stone in my capital's borders, and when presented with my first Religion-building choice, (I don't know all the terminology yet,) one option out of like 30 was "2 extra religion points per source of stone." It seemed like a very easy choice to pick that one, which seems to set our course as a religious Civ, a direction I wouldn't have necessarily chosen. It seems like there a variety of ways that religion can take you, depending on your resources. That could be rather interesting...

I've been impressed with that as well. Really like the option to use religion while catering it specifically to what your civ has available.

[CleBrownsfan]

Thank you... this will probably help me succeed in this game a lot more ;)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

dola

Forgot to mention that skipping the opening sequence is MUCH easier now.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Looks like the natives are a bit grumpy. Some game crash issues along with slowdown. I personally have noticed a big increase in the loading time to get to the main menu. In addition, the turn time has increased dramatically. Think there's a memory leak in there somewhere. I went to an old restore point on my computer just to make sure something fishy didn't install on my computer and it's definitely not that. Did notice that there was an extra install this morning for Civ 5 today, so hoping that's a fix.

[bhlloy]

Seeing as I was getting mid game crashes with vanilla civ 5 I guess I'll resist rolling the dice on this one in the hopes that those kind of issues were fixed then. At least until a couple patches in

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

New download from Steam this morning helped quite a bit with lag. Much quicker gameplay now.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

REALLY like the religion option. Much better implemented than the old religion component in Civ4. It's not the black and white option like in that game.

[Crapshoot]

So, is diplomacy and trading still an empty husk at this point, or have they fleshed it out? I compare Civ 2 to Civ 5 in this regard and cry...

[Ben E Lou]

Been playing for a half hour this evening. Some comments...

Much more robust interaction with City-States
The more-robust interaction also makes diplomacy more interesting. For example, Japan just demanded tribute from Valletta. Valletta is pissed about it and asks me to denounce Japan. Japan is more powerful than me, so I run the risk of war, but denouncing them gave me 40 influence with Valleta, which is a big deal in the early game. I can see this sort of thing being a place where I have to weigh the pros and cons.
Just found another diplomacy improvement, also related to C-S interaction. The Chinese have had negative interaction with Venice. The "You Will Pay For THis" vs. "Very well, I won't let this create a divide" has some real punch to it. "You will pay" pisses off China, while "I won't let this create a divide" costs -20 influence with Venice. Me likey.
Gifted units now show up in your borders, rather than in the C-S borders.

[Ben E Lou]

(Overall: I'm impressed so far.)

[Buccaneer]

If you want more of a random map, choose Shuffle.

Shuffle - Everything always random, in one click. Contains all the core map options and landmass types. So you could get a Hot, Arid, Low Sea Level, Continents, or a Temperate, Wet, High Sea Level, Archipelago. Always a surprise waiting!

[Blackadar]

I played the expansion for about 4 hours last night and I have to say I'm liking it - a lot - so far. The whole religion aspect gives a new dimension to the game, though one I don't fully understand yet. But still, it's a new "arrow in the quiver" and a pretty large on at that. I'm just now getting to some espionage, but that looks a little more tacked on since you don't even play that from the regular map. But given the annoyances with spying in Civ 4, maybe that's not a bad thing. The new tech tree offers some good choices so I don't feel as constrained as before.

But it's not just the new toys. It's the whole host of tweaks that matter the most. Like the free settler bonus in the Liberty tree. Because it's buried deeper, it's no longer the "chop rush/Oracle" strategy of Civ V - you know, the automatic one you lead off with every time. Or that siege units don't take resources, allowing a resource-poor nation to actually mount an attack. Or the new bowmen, which fills a needed gap. Or the unit HPs being increased to 100 - it's not THAT different, but it does change things somewhat - battles feel a touch more epic. Siege weapons are now awesome against cities, but so unbelievably weak against regular units. You got to get them in, set up and you will lose one or two during the course of a city siege. All of those little changes make sense and improve the same in a myriad of ways. I don't think I've stumbled across one yet that I didn't think improved the original game.

REX has been the dominant strategy in every Civ. I think Civ V probably gives players the most options if they don't want to REX than any in the series. And for those of us who like to build large, expansive empires, at least it's a little easier now. Before, with happiness so damned scarce, anything more than 4-5 cities was often impossible. But resources are still grouped, so REXing still requires trading partners to pull off. That requires diplomacy and having some friends, something that wasn't always necessary in prior versions of the Civ series. So you still can't expand willy-nilly, but it is a bit easier now. That helps for those of us who really like city specialization.

The AI still isn't great, but I think it's improved. Suleiman launched a very early attack on one of my cities. It happened that the city was relatively undefended, so I got to watch him set up his units around the city. He set up everything right. Of course, what he didn't count on was my units coming from other cities on the flanks of his attacks (my units happened to be above and below that city, so I didn't come from behind it as any opponent would expect). When I simultaneously hit him on both sides, he was in big trouble and I quickly decimated his units. He was smart enough to pull back and sue for peace before I launched a counterattack - gave me some gold and some resources and then quickly asked for a statement of friendship. I thought that was pretty decently smart of the AI - it knew that it was in a bad way and decided to cut it's losses before I could counterattack and make things much worse. And since I was worried about the Austrians to my north, I took the deal.

But it's still not great. Later on, I took on the Austrians and they were pretty pathetic. I pretty much rolled them. Of course, they had been in a few conflicts and with only a couple of cities, there wasn't much they could do. The AI had a couple of chances to take out a couple of my archers, but then again they'd have lost those units the next turn, so I'm not sure if that was just bad AI or just a very weak opponent.

Overall - I'm having a great time. I liked Civ V (I had 100 hours in it after all), but this just feels more "complete". I have more choices and I don't feel locked into one or two paths. I can REX again, but I'm still limited by the happiness. I'll need another 20 hours or so to make a final determination, but so far so good.

[Big Fo]

Austria's Unique Ability sure comes in handy. I'd just finished a Golden Age so I had a lot of gold on hand when I finished researching the technology that reveals aluminum on the map. Despite having the second largest land area of the remaining five civilizations (began with eight) I didn't have any in my territory or any in a nearby area that could be settled.

But with that UA I just threw some money at Belgrade to become their allies then paid the 500 gold for the diplomatic marriage and like that, I have a new, size 13 city with no unhappiness penalties for annexation that has an 8 aluminum resource in its radius. This might be a bit too powerful really.

[spleen1015]

Bought Gods anf Kings this morning, but I don't see anywhere on Steam to download it. It is like my games list didn't get refreshed after I bought it.

Anyone ever have that problem?

EDIT - Nevermind. Since it is DLC, I have to access it from within the game.

[Buccaneer]

Big Fo, Austria is turning to be nice overpowered for the reasons you gave. The Huns too if you can get a quick start on ramming.

[PraetorianX]

Overpowered?


I was able to build a super city in the desert.

I founded Philly in a nice spot in the desert, very very hilly with a couple of mountains, two flat desert hexes with flood plains (one of which I founded it on) and two wheat hexes on the outskirts of the cities reach. I also had some iron and I think some stone within reach. Well, I mined the heck out of those hills, built a couple of farms to feed folks, and overall had a decently productive city and more importantly, iron which I didn't have anywhere else.

Then I noticed the Petra wonder...dunno if it's new or if I just forgot about it as I hadn't played CivV in awhile. But man...after building Petra in that city...it's freaking epic now.

[RainMaker]

I know Civ 4 is a great game, but I'm not sure I could ever go back after playing one that doesn't have unit stacking. It's one of the things from the old game that bothered me to no end.

Really enjoying G&K. Definitely freshens up the game and fixes some things that bothered me.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I know Civ 4 is a great game, but I'm not sure I could ever go back after playing one that doesn't have unit stacking. It's one of the things from the old game that bothered me to no end.

I totally agree. I love Civ 4. There are few games, if any, that I spent more time playing. The idea of going back to unit stacking, however, holds absolutely zero appeal.

[henry296]

I just finished my first game last year. It was a small map with 6 nations and 12 city-states on prince level. I ended up as China. I ended up steam rolling my opponents winning before I even researched railroads. That was even when my first settler was captured by the barbs.

I ended up finding the 1st religion and very quickly almost all of city-states were allies. Once I got a dominant position I won every question about most culture, faith or technology. I played pretty similar to the base civ game which I hadn't played in a year. Basically, I expanded quickly and allied with as many city-states as possible. Also, once I got a couple of puppets they really help bring in the gold.

One thing that was odd, was that after I conquered Maya which was the 3rd civ I beat, there were two wheat hexes that weren't improved.

I also ended up with so much faith I didn't know what to do. Is it a benefit to convert your opponents to your faith. I would assume the get the benefits, but what does the founder get?

Next I need to try a game with some more civs, because small civ games can be easy because there are so many wonders you don't have a huge risk in trying to build one.

[Bearcat729]

Big Fo, Austria is turning to be nice overpowered for the reasons you gave. The Huns too if you can get a quick start on ramming.

The Huns are just silly early game with the battering ram.

[Buccaneer]

With excess Faith points, it all depends on the beliefs you chose. In all cases, you can buy a GP wihen finishing any of the last 4 Social Policies. As far as beliefs, choose the ones that allow you to buy stuff with Faith, as oppose to the happiness or cultural ones. Being able to buy military units with Faith is cool, for example.

RainMake, HB: I came to that conclusion right after Civ5 came out. I used to play a lot of tradition wargames and that's the exact template they used. Despite the glaring weaknesses of the initial release, just trying to navigate the hex-based terrain was not only challenging, but immensely fun. What it would take a SoD two turns to bulldoze a way into a capital, now can take many turns in a dense area.

[RainMaker]

Saw this posted elsewhere.

http://i.imgur.com/IAAxg.jpg

[Jughead Spock]

I think the best way I can sum up the improvement (to me) with the G&K addition is this - before, I would start a Civ, play for maybe 100-150 turns and it was pretty fun. Would save, go back to 'life'. Then next time I fired up Civ, I'd invariably say, eh, screw it, and start a new Civ. Now, I feel very compelled to return and complete. It has much more of the 'one more turn...' feel to it now.

Hopefully they can take care of some of the lag, though. Turn times have definitely amped up.

[RainMaker]

Wanted to open a discussion on what your favorite civs are. Everyone seems to hate America but I love being able to buy tiles at half price. Polynesia is also a favorite as I can get out and explore right away.

[Buccaneer]

America, I believe, started out one of the weaker civs upon release but then got much more popular when they realized the importance of buying cheap tiles and scouting. Then, they discovered some great strategies for bombers and America has the best one, so it vaulted to a solid mid-range civ.

I did Polynesia once on an archipelago map but found that beyond popping ruins (which had diminishing returns), there weren't much I could do with them. They probably play better on other maps, plus I think archipelago is not an easy map to play.

[Grover]

France is my favorite civ, but in civ games I'm generally a culture whore.

[RainMaker]

I think archipelago is the easiest maps to play because the AI never builds a sufficient Navy. They hang on to outdated units far too long and you can storm through them gaining valuable experience.

[Buccaneer]

I would think G&K makes a difference since they increased/changed naval builds and combat substantially.

[chesapeake]

I did Polynesia once on an archipelago map but found that beyond popping ruins (which had diminishing returns), there weren't much I could do with them. They probably play better on other maps, plus I think archipelago is not an easy map to play.

Ironic.

[spleen1015]

I like America and France. I started with the Celtics with the expansion.

My problem is, I can't seem to get beyond the mid game without starting over.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Man, this game is SO much better with the new expansion. Just a lot more options available. I feel like I'm able to play better with the new options because I can control the direction of my civ a bit more than in the original version.

[Buccaneer]

A patch has just been released

[PREVIOUS SAVES]
Older saves with DLC leaders (including Genghis) will no longer "shift" when loaded into the patched game.

[CRASH FIXES]
If a user does not have a religion, and receives a religion from another Civ, setting the "automated faith purchase" option could previously cause a crash when the purchase tries to fire for either the player, or the AI.
Fixed an issue where a user could click on a city banner during the AI turn, and the game could crash depending what AI process is happening at the time of the "click".
Into the Renaissance
If an AI player has open borders and a friendly relationship with another Civ, they would sometimes send a Great Admiral to park in their city. If the city tries to purchase a civilian unit while the Great Admiral is parked there, the game could crash. This is corrected.
Scenario hang
There was a chance that when you won a scenario, the game could hang. This has been corrected
Fixed an issue where any user with special characters in their Windows name will be unable to load saves.
If a player has Steam in "offline mode", and clicks on Mods, into the modding area and then backs out, the game could crash. This is now corrected.
Game Hang on turn 0
After patching, many have reported being unable to interact with units or end the first turn. This is now corrected.
Game could previously hang on "Unit Needs Orders" after the player clicks next turn. This has been corrected, and the camera snap has been fixed.
A crash that could occur in Hot Seat if the game core threading had been disabled is fixed.

[BUG FIXES]
Fall of Rome Scenario
Golden Ages were switched to providing bonus culture earlier in project. We've removed the culture bonus from Golden Ages for the scenario.
Open Borders that do not exist
If the AI is trying to renew an open borders agreement, but has something more important to talk about in the queue, the system would still record the Open Borders agreement as being active (even though it is not actually in place). This has been corrected.
Military Caste (+2 culture from garrison) was not working correctly. Whenever a civilian unit embarks, bulbs, or is deleted, it subtracted 2 culture, and kept adding up each time this happened, leaving the city at permanent negative culture. This has been corrected.
The "Peace Loving" belief was not functioning. This has been corrected.
When cities bombard attacking units, death animations would now play correctly.

[Simbo Klice]

I just had a funny thing happen to me in the original game- I was playing as Nebuchadnezzar II, and was gifted a great person from Vienna through having that social policy active. The turn before, I'd convinced Genghis Khan to give them peace, one turn after he declared war on them. The funny part is that the GP they gave me was the Khan, Mongolia's unique great general unit. Don't know if it was random, or if Mongolia being the invaders had something to do with it (Vienna definitely didn't capture any units, that much I know).

[henry296]

I'm playing as Bismarck in the expansion pack and also got gifted Khan Great Generals. Genghis Khan isn't even in this game.

[Buccaneer]

Yes, that's a feature where you can get a civ's UU from a city-state regardless if they are in the game or not. I think it's pretty cool. Also, if you mouse over the city-state, it will tell you what kind of UU or GP it can give you, I believe. For example, if you are deciding between two city-states to ally, look at which one can give you a better unit.

[Bigsmooth]

Any of you play a multiplayer game using GMR:

Want an easy way to play Civ V online? Say hello to Giant Multiplayer Robot! - Civilization Fanatics' Forums (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=455596)

Sounds like fun.

[MizzouRah]

Any idea why I can't save my game in progress in Civ 5? There is no option on the menu screen. I did a file check via Steam and it did fine 2 files that it needed to reinstall, hopefully that was it.

I bought Civ 5 a long time ago and I finally have some time to dig into it a little bit over the next couple of weeks.

I'll start on the easiest level and then go up from there.

Edit: I'm getting Civ IV and Civ V confused

[HarryLime]

start game again, but with out tutorial being active... i did the same thing and by not enabling tutorial i was able to save..

[Passacaglia]

Any of you play a multiplayer game using GMR:

Want an easy way to play Civ V online? Say hello to Giant Multiplayer Robot! - Civilization Fanatics' Forums (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=455596)

Sounds like fun.

I'm in if people are okay with a slow pace. How many people could we get in, do you think?

[MizzouRah]

start game again, but with out tutorial being active... i did the same thing and by not enabling tutorial i was able to save..

Yeah I did that last time, but will check just to make sure.

[MizzouRah]

I'm getting ready to buy G&K but do most of you Civ faithful buy all the DLC too?

I see Steam has a map pack bundle for $4.99 is it worth it?

[Big Fo]

I bought Gods and Kings but haven't bought any of the DLC so far. If I do buy any in the future it will be extra civilizations and not maps.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I bought Gods and Kings but haven't bought any of the DLC so far. If I do buy any in the future it will be extra civilizations and not maps.

+1

I've bought everything except the map packs.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I really do love the Gods and Kings expansion. I have noticed, however, that since I installed the expansion the time between turns in the later years really becomes quite significant.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I always play a random civ. And, for whatever reason, whenever I get Ghandi I always end up playing one of my most warlike and aggressive games. I don't mean to, but it just seems to happen that way. Circumstances force my poor Ghandi into being a blood-thirsty warmongerer.

[MizzouRah]

Thanks.. I just bought Gods and Kings.. it's going to be a late night/early morning again.