Never played Civilzation games before - should I try Civ3? (1 Viewer)

[Chris Rock]

Errmmm... that should read: Never played Civilization games before - should I try Civ3?
I noticed the Collector's edition of Civilization 3 on sale at my local EBX for $39.99 (which is odd, because the "normal" edition is $49.99).
I enjoy RTS games (Command and Conquer, Warcraft, Starcraft, etc) and Turn-based board games (Britannia, Maharaja, etc). Would these interests make me interested in Civ3?
For those of you who've played, what's it like (compared to other games)? What's the learning curve if you've never played?

 

[Chris Bardon]

Let's put it this way-I'm really not a big strategy game fan, and even I loved Civ 3. The common term for civ 3 in our house last term was "black tar heroin", simply because the game is so addictive.

As for drawing parallels, think of risk, but increase the number of variables by a factor of ten. Besides the military game, there are also technological, diplomatic and cultural considerations. The learning curve-they're pretty good about teaching you how to play via the tutorial, and most of the interface etc is pretty intuitive. There's a pretty huge manual with the CE, but you can skip it if you'd like and jump right in (it's interesting to read through later though).

 

[Chris Rock]

Well, I picked it up today and found that it was only $29.99 (Not bad for the CE!).

I'm looking forward to this as a diversion from all the other mind-numbing games that I play so much.

 

[Dave E H]

Well, prepare to kiss away much of your life, beginning now.
Civ - in all incarnations - is probably by far the most addictive game I've ever played. Single games take a long time (when played on a decent sized map to completion) strategies take a long time to develop, and everyone's got a different style of play. It's a blast - can't tell you how many times I've looked up from a game of Civ and realized the sun was coming up..

 

[MikeAlletto]

You could just get freeciv (http://www.freeciv.org/) and give that a try.

 

[Mark Evans]

I never got into Civ much, but did play the first one endlessly. I'm honestly not sure why, but it had its moments.

For me I'm a much bigger fan of Sid Meier's other, more specialized games, like Railroad Tycoon, Pirates, and SimGolf. I dearly love SimGolf, but damn, why doesn't somebody release a brand new version of Pirates? That game never got old...

 

[Kenneth]

I found the Civ series and the Heroes of Might and Magic series the ultimate in one more turn games. Although I think both peaked at II and III respectively I still enjoy Civ III. I love the pace and planning of the turn based games, as opposed to the frantic pace of the real time games (although that hasn't stopped me from getting hooked on Warcraft III ).
Kenneth

 

[Chris Bardon]

I'll definitely agree that the turn based games are much more enjoyable than the RT ones. Just something about actually being able to think about what's happening rather than just being able to control a pile of units really quickly. I never really got into civ 1 or 2 though, but I think that Civ3 got me because of the variety. Just the fact that there were seven or eight different ways to win got me interested in trying them all. This isn't to say that the game is without its flaws (like the fact that there are NO secret negotiations and everyone remembers things you did 1500 years before-even if they had no contact with you!).

 

[Dave E H]

Colonization was quite good, but the same type of game. Even wrote a FAQ once upon a time on it...