Re:The Game of Everything, Part 1: Making Civilization
by fjsolwmv on Friday March 16, 2018 @03:53PM
(#16603552)
Some traditionalists never cottoned to the isometric angled view, and prefer the original overhead style.
Re:The Game of Everything, Part 1: Making Civilization
by da_chicken on Friday March 16, 2018 @04:33PM
(#16603832)
I, for one, was sick to death of the dreaded Stack of Doom that Civ IV and earlier had. Civ V was a remarkable breath of fresh air. Square vs hex just isn't a big deal to me.
Re:The Game of Everything, Part 1: Making Civilization
by Bartweiss on Sunday March 18, 2018 @08:38PM
(#16615396)
Civ V's combat is frustrating in a lot of ways, the unit-per-square system makes ranged strength overpowered and takes away all value from numerical superiority.
But I still hugely prefer it to the doomstack approach - wars actually involve doing something now.
Civ 4 marks the end of the 'old' Civilization games, and honestly I don't think there's much reason to look further back than that if you're just joining the series. It's fully-featured, cheap with all expansions, and offers a great experience.
Civ 5 was the start of the new era, but has been out long enough to get two much-needed expansions. It cleaned up the look and interface of the game substantially, and changed the feel of combat to a more modern TBS approach. I think common consensus is that it's a bit less deep than 4, but plays more smoothly and with more engaging combat.
They're both great, and I don't know that it matters too much which way you go. If anything about either game frustrates you, there will be a mod to change it. You really can't go wrong.
Civ 6 is more controversial - it reworked a lot of the city-building elements really substantially, and I'm not sure it's for the better. It'll probably be a solid game by the time all the expansions are out, but right now it doesn't feel complete and polished the way 4 & 5 do.
Don't get Beyond Earth. Honestly, it's just not worth it - it doesn't have any real merits beyond 5 except "in space!", and it's long on balance and design issues.