Any Gamers here??

[Revinius]

The screens I posted were from the Extended Greek Mod and that particular unit is expensive to train and takes 30 turns to recruit, so it's balanced for it's high stats, I think.

In the un-modified game, I think it's justified. Without high valor, armor, and weapon upgrades, they are good, but not too overpowering. The unit itself is a highly dumbed down abstraction of the spartan warrior system and works to simulate the way the unit works as a hole. I think, though, that giving them 2 hitpoints is a bit much, as no matter who you are, getting gored by a spear is going to put you down, but then, why give Generals multiple hitpoints? I don't think I'v ever had to face Spartans, though, so I'm not sure. I always save them for Siege towers, or as my reserve force when I play as the Greeks.

I like my Romans Pre-Marius, because once that trigger fires BAM my ultra-useful Hastati and Princeps (rarely build up to Triari in time) are un-replacable, and instead I get ultra-lame Auxilia, except in one or two higher-tier cities where I probably can get the Early-Legionnary Cohorts. Also, I mourn the loss of my Equites for Roman Cavalry and Auxilia Cavalry, and 2 turns to build Legionary Cavalry? No thanks.

Once I start rocking the Legionnary Cohorts, then I begin to thank Mr. Marius. I generally ignore the Praetorian and Urban Cohorts, as I ignore almost anything with a more-than-1-turn build time, with the exceptions always being Druids and Berzerkers.

Now, for Barbarian Invasion, I made the Celts into a playable faction, and I must say, they are extremely powerful. Once you take Southern Britannia, you're sitting on a giant money-machine, and from there, you just take your pick on any number of small-garrison Roman towns/cities, or you can just pick off the Saxons. Their Gallowglass unit is excellent, but heavily vulnerable to archers due to their defense being mostly skill, rather than armor and shield.

I like Alexander, but the game is messed up with 2 turns = 1 year. I'm advancing at what I think to be an aggressive pace, captured a couple of cities in West Perisa...but Alexander is already 27...he was only 33 when he died! There's no possible way I can finish at his pace, and I don't see how you're supposed to when it takes 2 turns to train a phalanx unit.

I found the totalwar total realism mod to be quite satisfying.

[HisLeast]

I haven't done Civ 4 yet, like you, I got burned by Civ 3.

It took me a while to believe Civ4 would overcome my Civ3 heebeejeebees... but once I tried it I knew that a masterpiece had been created.

[Clavicula_Nox]

I found the totalwar total realism mod to be quite satisfying.

I haven't tried that one, I usually play the Europa Barbaroum mod, but it has one of the most unforgiving economies I've ever seen. It's hard enough for me to balance an un-modded game's economy, once I get around 10 settlements, I find it very hard to manage my money.

It took me a while to believe Civ4 would overcome my Civ3 heebeejeebees... but once I tried it I knew that a masterpiece had been created.

I'll give it a try. I've been a fan since Colonization (the original...) and Alpha Centauri, so we'll see how it is. What do the expansions add?

[Revinius]

I haven't tried that one, I usually play the Europa Barbaroum mod, but it has one of the most unforgiving economies I've ever seen. It's hard enough for me to balance an un-modded game's economy, once I get around 10 settlements, I find it very hard to manage my money.

Cities in RTW can be annoying as they are egocentric. Their morale depends upon annoying things like 'distance from capital' which is something that makes a vast empire difficult to make. Medieval is a much easier game to manage i find.

[IamRyan]

Anyone else kinda not like the MTW 2 campaign? Idk, i loved the first MTW's campaign, but the second's just seems too complicated. I bet if I tried to get into it, I could but there is way too much going on, so i just play online or Historical Battles.

Anyone know Empire's release date?

[Clavicula_Nox]

Cities in RTW can be annoying as they are egocentric. Their morale depends upon annoying things like 'distance from capital' which is something that makes a vast empire difficult to make. Medieval is a much easier game to manage i find.

I think the single most annoying factor in city-management was Squalor. As any culture other than Romans, I find I can't get my cities to the highest tier because I can only build slit trenches , and my squalor rating is maxed out. I end up building tons of entertainment buildings which sap my military and economy, and the jerks revolt anyways. Because of that, I always do sniper attacks on high tier Roman cities (Patavium, Ariminium, Segesta, Mediolanium), and then attack backwards to link my newly aquired territories with my older land.

Medieval 2 toned down the squalor considerably, but it's devastating in Rome.

For the Capital thing, I wait until I'm well enough along in my conquests, and pick my highest-tiered, centrally located city as my new capital. In fact, in Alexander's campaign, you cannot keep loyalty in Persian cities without having your capital follow Alexander.

Now, I love Medieval 2, but they screwed up city fights something fierce. I have an extremely difficult time maneuvering units, where I have no difficulty with anything other than phalanxes who love to disintegrate the phalanx when moving forward 10 feet.

Medieval 2's frustrating city fights have led me to put that one down for a time, though I love almost everything else about it.

Anyone know Empire's release date?

Supposed to be March timeframe, could always be pushed back again, though. I'm reticent about Empire. I'm glad they're branching out, and it looks interesting, I'm just not sure how Napoleonics will translate over. It seems to me that a lot of the tactical elements are lost when you run out of spearment to hold and heavy cavalry to flank. I'm not familiar with Napoleonic-era warfare, so I can't comment much on it.

[HisLeast]

I'll give it a try. I've been a fan since Colonization (the original...) and Alpha Centauri, so we'll see how it is. What do the expansions add?

Warlords expands the pre-gunpowder gameplay, Beyond the Sword expands post gunpowder play. Specifically....

WARLORDS (link to details)
- New great person type: "Warlord" (great people is a feature Civ3 failed at but Civ4 does very very well)
- Vassal States - Make opponents your vassal as an alternative to conquering all their cities.
- New scenarios
- 6 new Civilizations
- 10 new leaders
- 3 new leader traits
- Unique buildings for each civilization
- 3 new wonders
- New units

BEYOND THE SWORD (link to details)
- Random events (AWESOME!)
- 10 new civs
- 6 new leaders
- new buildings and custom buildings (focused on post gun powder eras)
- new units
- new wonders - includes "Apostolic Palace" which functions like a pre-gunpowder UN
- Corporations - functions in a similar fashion to the "religion" feature, but comes later in the game when the religious elements tend to wane.
- New espionage model

[Clavicula_Nox]

Yeah, Civ 3's "Great PEople" thing was something that I thought, they totally missed.

I was browsing one of the major Total War forums, and there are some people in the process of making an Israel at the time of Joshua mod. It looks pretty interesting so far, and I have seen one that deals with the rise of Gog and Magog and the struggle to fight them.

I'm still in the learning phase of my mod, but this weekend I learned how to do many things, such as import units into the game, so I have Celtic warriors fighting alongside Dunedain Rangers, alongside Elves of Rivendell, alongside Makedonian Companion Cavalry, alongside Valkyries.

Next, I'll learn how to make factions, and from there, I'll learn how to make a campaign map.

[HisLeast]

Yeah, Civ 3's "Great PEople" thing was something that I thought, they totally missed.

Its way WAY WAY WAY better in Civ4

Basically each city accumulates a small amount of "Great People Points" (GPP). Building wonders increases the rate at which GPPs are accumulated in an individual city. The types of wonders affect the % chance of landing a specific type of Great Person (there are 5 types). For example, the Pyramids increase the odds that the Great Person will be an engineer. The Sistine Chapel inceases the odds the Great Person will be an artist.

Each time a Great Person is born, the amount of GPP required for one increases. So in a sense, Great People is just a waiting game that you can manipulate, but it goes over such a long time frame that it feels pretty random. On the "marathon" game setting, I usually see around 8-10 for my own civ, unless I'm playing a Civ who accumulates GPP faster.

The Warlord type of Great Person works a bit differently, and I haven't got him to spawn yet since I just installed Beyond the Sword. This link gives all the info you'd ever need on Great People in Civ4. Suffice it to say its a much more complex and satisfying game element than in Civ3.

[TransformedSon]

I think I'm going to be asking for a PS3 as a wedding present...Anyone here play that?

[Metamorphasis]

I thought they moved my thread to this forum, it has the same titles, lol. I am HUGE into gaming. I only seem to play RPGs and when I have friends over I play fighting or party games with them. I love all the Tales series, and other RPGs by bandai namco. I also like NIS and Atlus games like Disgaea, Atelier Iris, Persona 3, Luminous Arc, and millions others. I do online games, did WoW, LOTRO, and most recently I am playing Wakfu Beta on the French servers, even though it isn't translated to english yet, but I love it, its a turn-based strategy mmorpg.

[Dravenhawk]

I have gotten into Ages of Empires II again. I play vs the computer but the computer doesn't fight very well. Microsoft used to host Ages of Empires but the link embedded in the game is dead. Does anyone know a site that still hosts ages of empires? The only one I could find was the game-spy site and picked up a virus from them.

Dravenhawk

[HisLeast]

I have gotten into Ages of Empires II again. I play vs the computer but the computer doesn't fight very well. Microsoft used to host Ages of Empires but the link embedded in the game is dead. Does anyone know a site that still hosts ages of empires? The only one I could find was the game-spy site and picked up a virus from them.

Dravenhawk

Oh boy... after college my room mate and I used to love playing that game, especially the Age of Kings expansion. I was all about the French... 25% stronger knights confirmed for brawl.

[Clavicula_Nox]

I was a Teutons player, even though the Teutonic Kniggets were extremely slow.

[Revinius]

I was a Teutons player, even though the Teutonic Kniggets were extremely slow.

I always enjoyed playing against a teuton when i had the brits or chinese or a long range-type race.