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Civilization V

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ENikolai

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I've just purchased the new strategy game Civilization V, and was pleasantly surprised by the main background image. It features the Atlas monument, and part of an Art Deco skyscraper. In fact I might like to use it as my Windows wallpaper, if I can find a version without the menu table.

Civ5Screen0000.png

I hope I'll be able to enjoy this game, without being too annoyed by any negative political or economic aspects. If you've played it, please share your experience of it.

Edited by ENikolai
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I haven't played Civ 5, but I can comment on 2 and 4. Since the premise is that you are an immortal, totalitarian dictator, it's natural that your politics transition from tribalism to socialism/communism to "democracy", with environmentalism as the capstone ecomnomic policy. It's an admission of the nature of statism. I play with a realistic Laissez Faire government by turning on all the cheat codes and winning in two turns.

The new one looks amazing visually. I'm waiting for an expansion to come out before I buy it though.

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I didn't like how Civilization II, Civilization III, and the Call To Power games never took free market industry into account much at all. Even in Republic, businesses and entrepreneurs never did anything. Caterpillar Construction Tycoon offers a better simulation of how civilization is built!

Oh another thing, it would take 400 years to move an army! It's sense of time is so incredibly unrealistic.

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I agree with the criticism you've made, though the thing that annoys me the most is probably the inconsistency of the wonders that may be created. As an example, if I'm running the U.S. government and am in the process of building the Hoover Dam, I might suddenly get a message that the Russians have completed it, thus nullifying my efforts. Similarly, seeing Germany build the Great Wall of China is very annoying. Due to issues like this, I vastly prefer strategy games to be set in fictional settings (like Alpha Centaury was).

Civilization V has implemented a new major feature which seems interesting. Now, you make your civilization more distinguished/diversified by specializing in a number of social policies. As an example, you can unlock scientific revolution, freethought, secularism, civil society, constitution, mercantilism, sovereignty, republic, meritocracy, etc. You can also unlock more reprehensible things like communism, protectionism, police state, theocracy, etc. However, there are some irrational bonuses associated with each of them. As an example, communism increases the production of each city, a planned economy reduced the unhappiness in each city, and socialism reduces the cost of buildings.

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I played it I think that with the social policy features and the fact that you can make get around bad ideas (like "build a public school +2 culture or whatever) and if you play by being a diplomat and defensive war only strategy then you can win it sans tyranny.

But the real question is---it's a video game for crying out loud! It's nice to build a pretty civilization and try to make friends through diplomacy but sometimes you would like to just go around and shoot people and beat a hooker with a purple womans second best friend! (a la Grand Theft Auto)

Why would you think that you ought to bring real ethical values into fantasy game land? Ever play "Destroy All Humans"? Go Grey, man!

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Civ4 is good because the free market exists in it has a civic and has the greatest virtues. Typically I win by staying ahead in science and trading my technology for immense sums of gold. I dislike the game economy and no longer have the time to play it. It gives the leader regardless of civic choices too much control over the economy and I imagine since this game was written by a worshipper of Statism - a highly unrealistic view of command. Still this game entertained me through my youth. The last strategy game I can remember with realistic economics, finite gold, and generally sensible price mechanisms has got to be Age of Empires II.

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