Civ3: Your Greatest Fear/Hope

yin26 · January 10, 2001, 08:54

Greatest Fear:

After being dazzled by the graphics and sounds, I realize my same-old, tired strategies work just as well (or better) as they do in Civ2. Within the week I'm already on auto-pilot, looking for MP games (but can't easily find any)...and nobody seems to be able to modify anything (or even has the interest enough to try).

Greatest Hope:

After being dazzled by the graphics and sounds, I realize my same-old, tired strategies are getting me slaughtered on easy level. Within the week I'm already totally reinventing my approach, excited at the prospects of sneaky, sophisticated MP games (easily found in dozens of always-busy on-line rooms)...and nobdy wants to modify anything (though they eventually do 'cause it's easy to do and 'cause the game has unlocked so many cool possibilities).

The Mad Viking · January 10, 2001, 11:23

Yeah, that's preetty good.

My greatest hope is a very sophisticated diplomacy system and a fiendishly clever AI, with sophisiticated but easy to use trade models and city/empire management screens.

My greatest fear: none of the above, but rather, a devolution into a flashy military game.

The Mad Viking · January 10, 2001, 11:23

Yeah, that's preetty good.

My greatest hope is a very sophisticated diplomacy system and a fiendishly clever AI, with sophisiticated but easy to use trade models and city/empire management screens.

My greatest fear: none of the above, but rather, a devolution into a flashy military game.

Aredhran · January 10, 2001, 11:25

I'm afraid of finding the same old crappy AI, with nothing but a jazzed up interface.

This is not directly related to the game itself, but I'm afraid of living the SMAC experience all over again when it comes to support from Firaxis, ie. good response and presence on the forums within the first few weeks, then endless waiting and begging to get more patches... and seeing each patch introduce more bugs than it fixes (OK, I'm exagerating a bit here

). We'll be waiting forever for SMAC5 and SMAX3 I suppose...

Like you Yin, I'm hoping for a great game that will surprise and challenge me behind a nice UI. But call me pessimistic, but I don't think that will happen.

Aredhran

Steve Clark · January 10, 2001, 11:58

Hmmm...

Greatest Fear: That there won't be a plethora of custom scenarios and modpacks to keep the game exciting and interesting after the initial buzz wears off.

Greatest Hope: Keeping expectations low.

Yog-Sothoth · January 10, 2001, 11:59

Greatest hope:
An AI that will chrush me utterly

, so that I have to sit down and actually think again. No more auto-pilot like yin said.

Good diplomacy

Total Customization

The ease of use and speed that the civ 2 interface has. I like the city view, not clicking through a bunch of tabs to get anywere. A lot of customizable screens where you can f.e. change productions in several cities at once depending on some criteria.

Something totally new, like "the rise and fall of empires" idea.

Greatest fear:

Useless 3d graphics that bogs down the game, that after an initial "wow this looks great", becomes more and more annoying. I don't care about unit animations when it makes moving units a drag.

Poor AI

The only thing that has been enhanched is the combat system, when everything else is what really should be made better.

Stefu · January 10, 2001, 12:20

My greatest hope: I open the package and it contains Civ3.

My greatest fear: I open the package and it contains Civ2 masqueraded as Civ3.

DaveV · January 10, 2001, 12:40

Greatest hope: a game with many equally-appealing paths to victory, and an AI strong enough to keep up with me.

Greatest fear: a completely unbalancing wonder, unit, or feature that forces me down a particular path.

Koyaanisqatsi · January 10, 2001, 14:22

Fear: A slow game. Civ, CivII, and SMAC were just the right speed for me, and although I don't really expect the Firaxis crew to screw it up, games like CTP(II), BOTF, and the plans for MOO3 make me wary about lots of pointless factors slowing down the game. Micromanagement is nice...picomanagement is not.

Hope: That all of those pointless factors will be in the game, but they will feel important, and have an interface that makes handling them simple, quick and easy. Note to Firaxians in the audience: You should avoid the CTPII interface like it had ebola.

airdrik · January 10, 2001, 14:46

Fear: Hmm, I haven't been playing many civ-type games lately so I don't know what exactly what to fear.

I just thought of one: Having more cities is always better, even if you are constantly working on most of your cities. Also, a score which is mostly dependant on the number of happy/content citizens in your empire.

Hope: That I will be able to maintain a military and be able to skirmish with my unruly neighbors WHILE I work down my path to be the costantly most advanced player in the game.

You can beat it with about 5-10 initial cities and any cities that you conquere over the ages, even on the hardest level (though it will be very difficult) and still get an excellent score because you had the best economy/military, were most advanced, etc.

EnochF · January 10, 2001, 15:42

Greatest Fear: Obvious choices for city improvements, wonders, technologies, terrain resources, and units will be ignored because "they were already in Civ II." Instead they're replaced by off-brand stand-ins, as in Call to Power. There will be no Pyramids, no Destroyers, no Temples, no Coliseums, no City Walls, no Statue of Liberty, no Gunpowder, no Masonry, no Navigation, no Great Wall, no Metallurgy, no Cavalry, no Apollo Program, no Literacy, no Howitzers, no Coal, Iron or Gold deposits, no Galleons, no Cruise Missiles, no Corn, Grapes or Whales, etc. Instead, we get stuck technologies like Advanced Tank Design and Log Cabin Making; Wonders like Mohammed's Quill Pen and Napoleon's Horse; city improvements like the Dojo, the High School, and the Body Exchange; resources like Crab, Cactus, Alligator and Henbane; and units like the Samurai, the Fire Ship, the Battle Mech, the Fluyte, and the Cuirassier. Yech.

Second Greatest Fear: Peaceful expansion will be impossible despite an enhanced Diplomacy system. All rival civs are warlike, betray all their treaties, and attack the player even when it's not in their best interest. Designers say this "shows off the improved combat system of the game" and makes warfare "an essential part of the gaming experience." My small numbers of high-tech units are still routinely defeated by phalanxes and pikemen.

Greatest Hope: The game incorporates every good thing about ever Civ game ever made. The replay of history and newspaper reports from Civilization. The playability and excellent menu design of Civ II. The graphics of Call to Power. The diplomacy of Alpha Centauri. It leaves in my favorite stuff, like random goodie huts, and even gives me a kick-ass evolving Throne Room and the High Council to keep me amused while I'm learning the game mechanics. Plus, it's customizable enough for me to casually go in and fix things that I might not like.

Fiera · January 10, 2001, 17:19

Greatest fear:

Again, Civ3 offers only 7 civs to play with at a time, plus a demi-civ called the Barbarians. All this seven civ are dumb, and the barbs are the dumbest.

It offers a great scn editor tool as well, but no one is able to consistenly modify the beatiful and animated units, or to create new ones that go together well with the default ones.

Greatest hope:

We will have the ability to play with, say, 16 major civs at a time, plus 16 minor civs, all of them with their own agenda and their own military. The players who still want to play with 8 civs at a time, or even with only 4, are free to do it. Civ3 is highly customizable!

More elaborated diplomatic status.

Clever AI, that know how to raise and use a navy...

------------------
Rather be first in a village than second at Rome

Grrr · January 10, 2001, 18:49

Greatest Fear

SLOWNESS!!

Crappy AI, ones which build a navy and put them in a 1x1 lake, ones who trespass ever 2 turns (CtP), ones who attack without any defence in their cities.

To few civs / To small map (I want to be able to play against 1000 major civs, and maybe another 9000 minor civs.

Incustomizabity: I don't want to have to abandon my WWII scenario (details on 3rd page of thread 1893) until I know the most complex programing language and must write the game myself.

No bugs!

That it takes several months after the game is realeased to get a copy, as it is SO popular.

Greatest Hope

FAST CLEAR GRAPHICS!!! (No mowing the lawn while the computer computes the next turn (aka CtP).

Abilty to make my desired scenario.

Ability to play 1000 player multiplayer games.

No ICS and BAB!

More winning parameters.

Expansion packs which don't cost twice as much as the game itself.

AI able to win!

Ablity to win without wonders!

Warriors can't kill Stealth bombers!!!!!!

I can get the first copy in New Zealand

Thats about all I can think of for now!
[This message has been edited by Grrr (edited January 10, 2001).]

New Yorker · January 10, 2001, 22:09

Greatest Fears:

the AI military tactics being so bad that u find the barbarians more of a danger(like in CTP & even CTP II)

to get anywhere in diplomacy u need to be a oppressive most powerful empire making threats(like in CTP 2)

useless wonders(i am sure all civ games had this problem)

overpowering wonders(i am don't have to tell u)

no mayors

Greatest Hopes:

AI's military tactics can kill u & barbarians r not the only thing that r a danger to u

complex diplomacy that combines the best diplomacy parts of SMAC & CTP 2(like counter-proposals & planetary councils)

balanced wonders

mayors manage better

-------------------------
if at first u don't succeed, skydiving ain't 4 u

- Groucho - · January 10, 2001, 23:40

Greatest Fear:

A peaceful diplomat can't win. (I'm not saying that you should be able to win without ever investing in an army. But you should be able to win without ever having to annihalate an opponent. Too many of my CivII and SMAC games have ended with me rolling over all the other Civs because I got to frustrated with doing it the peaceful way.)

Greatest Hope:

That I find myself, 12 months after release, still thinking the wonder movies are pretty cool (despite having seen them every day for the last 365 days due to my overwhelming addiction to CivIII).

Vrank Prins · January 11, 2001, 01:21

I’m going to repeat a few things which others before me have said here.
It’ll only make the call louder.

GREATEST FEAR
the game, like being somesort of sci-fi-game, running halfway into the future like in CTP
no real challenging AI
a UI (a bit like in CTP) that’ll make you do click, click, click, click, click, click, click, before getting anywhere
beautiful graphics getting in the way of simple & smooth playability (a bit like in CTP)
little customization

GREATEST HOPES
NO SCI-FI NONSENSE LIKE IN CTP (those who want that, buy SMAC or CTP !!!!!)
a AI that will turn me into minced meat
basically the same clear and convenient UI as in CIV-II improved with new handy features
beautiful graphics combined with simple & smooth playability
complete customization
a complex, with several "intertwining" branches, tech-tree with lots of new units, city-improvements, things adding to the concepts of governments, diplomacy, waging war, etc.
structural setbacks

Grrr · January 11, 2001, 01:21

Hope
Opening the box and finding the best game I have ever played.

Fear
Opening the box and finding an overprised frisbee (like CtP)

Imran Siddiqui · January 11, 2001, 01:58

Greatest Hope A totally engrossing game, which keeps me saying "just one more turn", with AI enemies actually seeming like you are playing multiplayer against humans (at least in diplomacy). A emphasis on peaceful solutions.

Greatest Fear CtP.... ugh...

Cannes · January 11, 2001, 05:12

Greatest fears :

unbalanced game with poor AI (Have I read this very same thing somewhere previous to this).

No future tech.

Greatest Hopes :

A great multifaceted game, with lots of interesting advances, wonders and improvements. Ages that don't wiz by in a microsecond (Ctp) but rather ages where it is actually possible to build an army of units and move them against the enemy before they are obsolete (Wes' Medieval mod for Ctp).

Jeje2 · January 11, 2001, 08:34

Greatest Fear:
That my own expectations are over the edge. I mean that I expect so much that it is totally impossible to reach what I demand/expect. (And if nothing happens to me bofore the release, this will be my case... Somebody, please drop my expectations down to reasonable standards soon)

Oh, no refugee unit

Greatest Hope:
That I discover the reason for Civ3 being so good is the "JUST ONE IDEA…" that made it to the game. I want to be able to proudly say that CivIII is the greatest game ever. (Yin26 + many ohers have worked so hard for free ... I want to be able to see that the work was worth it)
[This message has been edited by Jeje2 (edited January 11, 2001).]

Grumbold · January 11, 2001, 08:40

Greatest hope: It will feel like I am struggling to steer a nation to greatness through natural disaster, military threats and political opposition.

Greatest fear: That I will be endlessly min/maxing individual cities and telling peaceful opponents to get their frikkin diplomats off key sites in my transport network only to see them come back a couple of turns later. There will be no sense of national identity. Each turn will require a hundred clicks just to ensure that there was nothing of any significance that needed doing.

bagdar · January 11, 2001, 14:04

Greatest Fear: System expectations will be so high that it won't work on my computer! [In fact I don't think Sid Meier and his team will produce anything that I'll *really* dislike.]

Greatest Hope: There will be limitless strategies to apply, and countless possibilities to accomplish with your Civilization. Trade, Thought, and maybe even Art (something beyond J.S. Bach's Cathedral and Michaelangelo's Chapel is what I imagine) is intergrated into the game without becoming ridicilous. Each new game -after we've made enough acquintance with Civ3 of course- will be full of completely new excitements, not just an attempt to increase one's civ score. After all, the concept of "CIVILIZATION" is what humans are all about, the possibilities are bound to be endless... The thing is to present them in a game that's fun to play. One more thing: some of the features of the glorious Civ I that were missing in Civ II are back... (not just the replay)

Diablo, Bro. of Mephisto · January 11, 2001, 15:33

Well, my greatest fear is that Civ3 will be a dumb, crappy game that I will have wasted 50 bucks for. And my greatest hope is that I'll love it, and it will keep me dazzled for months.

But of course, that is in way too general terms, so, I'll go deeper:

MY greatest fear is that I'll be stuck with same old stupid AI, diplomacy, and very unrealistic stuff, including: combat, units, nuclear warfare, etc.

And my greatist hope, is that everything will be better: combat, graphics design, units, customizability, AI, and diplomacy.

Sirotnikov · January 12, 2001, 18:37

greatest fear: everything written before + unique smac like civs that intrude and entrap my creativity.

greatest hope:
none of my fears come true and I will love this game!

Jon Miller · January 12, 2001, 18:49

Greatest fear: stupid environment (by environment I mean the feeling I get playing it, Civ1 had it to the max, for Civ2 it was very high, for SMAC (despite the story which I thought was good and put SMAC above most games) this was its greatest weakness and the only reason I like Civ2 better (Civ2 is the best only because its advancements go beyond Civ1's great environment)), for CTP this was very low and oe of the main reasons why it stank): this includes predetermined civs, unreasonable 'hero' characters, stupid units, bad UI, bad feeling to the game I guess, it is hard to explain

Greatest hope: Firaxis will do it one more time (I only own SMAC but would pick up the others if I saw them)

Jon Miller

Shadowstrike · January 12, 2001, 19:14

Greatest fear: Civ3 is RTS!

JosefGiven · January 12, 2001, 20:46

Good idea for a posting, straight to the point.

My greatest fear: Civs I and II made me feel as if I were re-writing the history books. A felt I was up there with the great leaders shaping the future of humanity, and callously waging some of it's most bloody wars! SMAC, Test of Time, and Call to Power all just made me feel like I was playing a computer game. Despite the many superb and relevant suggestions made by the members of this site, I think the greatest threat to Civ III is that it simply won't 'feel' like Civ any more.

My greatest hope: Civ I changed the face of computer gaming forever. Civ II was logical progression, more units, better diplomacy, AI, Etc. etc. My greatest hope is that Civ III will follow this trend, improving, reforming, revamping...but still being, the Civ that we know and love.

All this self-indulgent tosh is all very well, but there is a point here - The developers need to summon the original Civ 'spirit' or all is lost.

DrFell · January 13, 2001, 00:14

Greatest fear - when i first play the game i dont recognise it as a civ game...

Greatest hope - unbeatable ai

bagdar · January 13, 2001, 05:46

quote:

Originally posted by Jon Miller on 01-12-2001 05:49 PM
by environment I mean the feeling I get playing it, Civ1 had it to the max, for Civ2 it was very high, for SMAC (despite the story which I thought was good and put SMAC above most games) this was its greatest weakness and the only reason I like Civ2 better (Civ2 is the best only because its advancements go beyond Civ1's great environment

I know exactly what you mean... Why don't you visit the "civ I features I'd like to see in Civ III" thread? Civ I's unique atmosphere is peerless, not challanged even by Civ II.

[This message has been edited by bagdar (edited January 13, 2001).]

crazBOBy · January 13, 2001, 17:31

I agree with all of ye and most with EnochF and JosefGiven !!!

back to the roots with the techtree!
i wanna realize the manhatten project.
and smooth playable MP games with many civs which dont take too much time to solve it!

go SID go, i believe in u
[This message has been edited by crazBOBy (edited January 14, 2001).]