Games@lemmy.worldbyAnimalsDream@slrpnk.net
9 days

I am only now discovering the sheer addictiveness of Sid Meier's Civilization.

English

Pic relevant. I’ve tried playing the new Civ games several times, and quickly end up quitting because I find them too overwhelming and find it hard to want to deal with the learning curve.

It occurred to me that part of the problem might be that I was jumping into a very old franchise that has been getting increasingly complicated over the years. Had a hunch I would have better luck with the original, so I went onto one of those play-dos-in-your-browser sites, dove in, and sure enough I am hooked!

Do I know what I’m doing? Not really, but stuff is happening and my civilization is growing, and it’s a good time.

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    • Ascendor@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      6 days

      Most people don’t know: There’s a multiplayer variant of Civilization 1: CivNet. Barely playable today, as it’s a Windows 3.1 game. I loved it till late in the 2000s.

      • AnimalsDream@slrpnk.netEnglish
        6 days

        Yup, CivNet seemed the most popular for a while. Somebody also put together a mod archive for WinCiv. I also found there’s an open-source decomp project that is “playable”, but I haven’t looked at how mature that one is.

        I’ve been leaning more toward UnCiv and FreeCiv21 with a Civ 1 style tileset. Think I prefer the Civ 2 ruleset though.

    • fierysparrow89@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 days

      Never too late to dicover a classic.

      By sheer chace I came across Alpha Centauri (wikipedia) a sequel to the original Civilization on gog.com. Best purchase ever. Exceptional gameplay. The best 5$ I remember spending.

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.todayEnglish
        9 days

        Alpha Centauri is a game I’ve had since release. Ended up building a dual P3 1Ghz box so I could play without experiencing extreme slow downs during end game when the whole world is visible.

        I still do a playthrough once a twice a year.

      • Nighed@feddit.ukEnglish
        9 days

        “Don’t go, the drones need you”

        Sequal to civ2 though I think?

    • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 days

      I’ve been playing since 1991. My friend had a copy and I was so into it I’d go over to his house to play it when he wasn’t home. Then I got my own copy and I haven’t stopped playing since.

      Well, except that one time where I had to have my wife hide the Civ V disc from me because I couldn’t stop myself.

      I guess what I’m saying is take breaks and go outside, but I know your life will be “just one more turn…” from here on out.

    • Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      9 days

      Had to uninstall Unciv from my phone.
      Having a Civ-like app 24/7 available in my pocket isn’t something I can handle…

    • West_of_West@piefed.socialEnglish
      9 days

      I was babysitting the neighbours kids one night and their dad was like “kids are in bed feel free to play civ (III) until we are back”

      I had no idea what he was talking about and he delayed his date night to give me a tutorial. Gave me the CD rom after because it wasn’t needed to play. Great times.

    • chunes@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 days

      I really love this approach and find myself employing it more the older I get. The second game has the best simplicity/fun ratio imo but 4 is also pretty good in that regard.

    • Wojwo@feddit.onlineEnglish
      9 days

      I’ll add my vote for Sid Meyer’s Alpha Cebtauri, it is a masterpiece. If you want to branch out Master of Magic is also quite fun and adds some interesting twists. Though it’s not a Sid Meyer game. There’s even a remake of it.

    • ivanvector@piefed.caEnglish
      9 days

      If you enjoy the original Civilization, be sure to try out Freeciv. Basically the original game but with expanded gameplay and updated for compatibility. It’s OpenTTD to Transport Tycoon, if you’re familiar with those games. It also has multiplayer features, and there are sites that run turn-per-day MMO events.

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
      9 days

      Civ 2 is my favorite, plus it has a large collection of fan-made scenarios that cover almost every single sci-fi franchise with some fantasy mods as well, plus lots of historical scenarios that are fun to play.

      There’s even a mod that lets you play mafiosi in a SC2K-like NY:

      It is also a time capsule in who we were twenty odds years ago.

      • Just__FF@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9 days

        Any pointers on how I can play Civ 2? I have a physical copy I inherited from my dad when he passed but I haven’t found it on Steam or GOG and don’t even know where to begin to try and get the physical copy to work.

        • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
          9 days

          I too have the original box with a CD that can’t be read. Maybe hypothetically one could search for it using the word abandonware and find it. It’s true though it hasn’t yet made available at any of the online stores.

    • Tynan@lemmy.mlEnglish
      9 days

      I’ve played the first five Civ games and I have fond memories of buying units with diplomats! There’s also FreeCiv which is an open source project that’s very similar to Civ2 but probably supports modern hardware better. It’s been built for android but from what I understand they’re built by third parties so if you’re tech savvy or feeling adventurous you could build it yourself. I played it many years ago in a really rough state where nothing was explained and my own knowledge of Civ 2 was the only thing that made it playable but from what I have heard it’s much better now.

      Fun fact, Civ1 was ported to the SNES and Civ2 was ported to the PlayStation.

    • nullptr@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 days

      I remember hitting “next turn” and going to eat, because it d take 30min to compute all AIs lol. I d save literally every turn

    • MrNesser@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 days

      Civ 2 is still and always will be the best civ Boat stacking armies for an invasion was the bomb

      • meathappening@lemmy.mlEnglish
        9 days

        Getting pulled into nonsense by the war hawks was so frustrating yet so peak

      • brsrklf@jlai.luEnglish
        9 days

        FMV advisors best advisors.

        Especially culture dude. Those anarchy councils were hilarious.