Be Excellent To Each Other

I don't have a desktop, I have two laptops. One is awesome, the other not so much. It's the not so much one I was trying to run it on, because I'd taken it over to Matt's for some LAN play.

OIC.

Still, waiting for the graphics to keep up would take precisely 0% more time than it would take for him to do a move anyway.

Your card might not support the pixel shader version required by them? Check!

Ello. Yeah, the pixel shader version just be the only real difference in spec requirements between Civ IV and Col II.

I've been playing this quite solidly since it came out. I can't win, even on the easiest setting. Basically, my army is never more than a fifth of that of my King's. I never played the original at all.

HAYLP PLZ

Unfortunately the game has yet to grab me. The reason why I was such a big fan of the first one was down to the atmosphere. You'd get little pop-up coloured wood-carvings as you did stuff, like finding the pacific, or the fountain of lost youth, or founding a colony. It made me really involved. You don't get any of that in this version and the maps seem smaller, and the game a lot more strong-armed in hurrying you through. There also doesn't seem as much flow. After years of happy PC game purchasing, this is the second disappointment in a row. (After Spore) *Sigh* These problems may be fixed by future mods though.

As for your woes, CUS, I fared a little better when I held off liberty bell production until right at the end. The King doesn't seem to respond to the size of your army, rather to your rebel sentiment.

Hmm, so it's maybe a good thing then that I've not played the original, I see. I hadn't played any of Sid Meir's games much until I happened to find the Linux version of Railroad Tycoon II in a charity shop. Then a bit of Civ III, LOTS of Civ IV, and now this.

Yeah, you're right about the liberty bells prompting it, rather than the size of your army. I'm just rubbish at avoiding it though. And the AI has a tendency to put any idle workers into producing liberty bells if you don't check every bloody turn i.e. a Privateer moves into a sea square, so your fisherman is moved onto producing liberty bells.

Without wishing to co-opt this thread overmuch, there's a new release of the Rise Of Mankind mod for Civ4 BTS, and it's fucking brilliant.

I'm afraid I feel the same way, nervouspete. I was hoping for more atmosphere, but I think it could just be nostalgia. 3D graphics seem to detract from things in my experience.

I'm in CUS's shoes on this one. I utterly love it, it's being a proper life-stealer. I am, however, totally shit at it - the king comprehensively kicks my arse every time.

Unless you have lots of great generals, don't build an army.
Also: Try not to produce lots of liberty bells to early, as they're the _only_ factor that determines the REF.