Civ IV: Colonization

Maximilian

Review over at Eurogamer.

Another game to sink time into it looks like. Hope there's PBEM!

Sephiroth_dude

Is it standalone or and expansion?

Pyr0

Its a standalone version.

Rev Hellfire

Well I'll be wandering down town today to pick this up.
I'm assuming its a safe bet to say we'll be starting a pbem for this in the near future.

Maximilian

Definitely Rev. I started downloading it this morning. FYI you can buy it online from Gamers Gate, a Steam type site.

Gummy Panda

whats a PBEM?

nesf

Gummy Panda wrote: »

whats a PBEM?

Play by email.

Maximilian

check out the Civ IV threads at www.darkkeep.com where we play them, to see how it works.

Rev Hellfire

Picked it up in game stop for 25 smackers, not a bad price.

Maximilian

not bad

Pyr0

Its real different how it works though, ya don't actually have your city grow by its self, you have to add citizens yourself that specialize in certain things like Master lumberjack, Master Weaver. They all take up a slot on your production tiles around your city too, then you need farmers to take up spaces to produce food to help accomodate all the new citizens. Its quite good but can be a tad annoying !

quarryman

Anyone playing this?

I started into it last night but was completely lost. The game mechanics are a lot different. Also, it still feels more like a Civ4 mod.

Is it worthing plugging away? I've been looking for a Civ fix recently, or should I go back to Civ4 (which i haven't played in a year or so)?

Rev Hellfire

Well I've been looking at it. If you're interested we'll be starting a new pbem in the near future. The more the merrier.

Spear

I've found it very hard to get a game started decently. The map seems very small, and the native tribes are already well spread and fairly densely packed making it hard to fine a decent startup spot.

quarryman

Sure, i'd be interested in PBEM.

Once i stop being crap at it.

Rev Hellfire

Right we're starting another game in the next day or so, once we've determined the game stylie.
If the numbers are capped at 4 then I'm sure there'll be a second started. If you're interested stick your name down quick-ish on the link max gave.

quarryman

How does it work? Does everyone make 1 move a day?

Rev Hellfire

Basically each person takes there turn one at a time and posts it onwards to the next person. Rather than mail, we just post the file as an attachment on the forum. Turns typically arrive every 1 to 2 days depending on how many people are playing and their availability.

You'll get a good idea of the times involved from the last game played

http://forums.darkkeep.com/forumdisplay.php?f=32

As you can see these are long endeavours, but the time per turn is quite short.

Rev Hellfire

Game starts on friday, stick your name down on the site if you're interested.

Gonzovision

Well wasn't really what I was expecting. Still don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. And haven't got a clue what to do with all the different people. Any tips?

Pyr0

Try at least have 2 lunberjacks in a city and 2 carpernters (they decrease build time). Best way to play it is to have a city focus on one resource and trade back to a port city for you to send off and sell. Keep in mind to build most of the structures you need tools, which need raw materials (mining), which need Blacksmiths to process them, you can one city focus heavily on tools and trade with the othere cities. Its tricky to get going but when it does you'll be looking at a very high income figure.

I found that the computer sold excess materials I had later in the game every turn which brought in constant income instead of big leaps of money.

quarryman

gonzovision wrote: »

Well wasn't really what I was expecting. Still don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. And haven't got a clue what to do with all the different people. Any tips?

i'm with you. It took me about 3 attempts before i started understanding the mechanics a bit better. I can see now its a completely different game to Civ4 and less of the mod that i first thought it was. It requires a whole new thinking.

But i think i've made my decision. After 4 or 5 games I loaded up Civ4 again and had much more fun. I just found i was completing turns in Colonization not really knowing what i was doing and letting the game pass me by.