[PC]Civilization V coming!

[Martinus]

So it's the US release date today. Tell us what it is like when you get it.

try FlyVPN. you need to download it, then you can get a free trial password from their site.Turn of Steam before connecting to a US proxy, turn Steam back in, have the game activate, finish the download (should be able to turn off the proxy so it goes faster), then switch Steam to offline mode, and play.

Do it fast so I know if it gets you banned from your Steam account Altough it shouldn't, I understand people do this regularly

[Martinus]

Also, it appears that the Mac version is already available. 

[Tamas]

Also, it appears that the Mac version is already available. 

that is discrimination against straight people!

[Camerus]

Most reviews seem at least somewhat positive, but they seem to be split between saying "it dramatically revolutionizes the game!!1" vs. "it don't change much".

I never did play the vanilla Civ5, due to its poor reception, which is a shame considering it's probably my favourite franchise... 

Someone hurry up and give us a Languish Review (TM).

[DGuller]

It's good, and it has more depth.  Then again, I loved the vanilla as well.

[Martinus]

There are 21 reviews on Metacritic, out of which 16 are positive and 4 mixed, so it seems like the general consensus is positive.

Like DGuller I also like the vanilla, and this expansion expands on the original concept of amassing a resource on a civilization level (as opposed on just a city level) to unlock new abilities so I'm pretty sure I will like it.

[Kleves]

There's some nice new options. Doesn't fix my main problem with the game: every civilization is so damn generic.

[Tonitrus]

I cannot recall a Civ in which they weren't. 

[Grey Fox]

I started a 1 city challenge last night. It's an interesting.

[Maximus]

There's some nice new options. Doesn't fix my main problem with the game: every civilization is so damn generic.

Yep, this is the problem I had with it.

Of course it was the same in unmodded Civ4, but there were some nice mods that fixed that. I never played 4 unmodded. I haven't seen anything similar for 5

[Martinus]

Ok, so first of all, for all the Euros out there, the expansion pack is already available on Steam. I managed to play for two hours today before work and loving it.

I chose Byzantium to try the religion (they are I think one of the very few Civs that get a religion-related UA - allowing them to choose an extra trait for their religion from all lists which is kinda awesome), Duel Pangea, Quick speed, on Warlord.

Funnily enough the random neighbour I got was Turkey, with Ragusa, Venice and Tyre as city states.

I founded the great city of Constantinople, with a plan of building a small, tall empire and winning with culture or diplomacy. As Constantinople was founded amongst gold-rich hills and my scouts discovered more gold in the vicinity (this is where the other two cities - Adrianople and Nicea - the empire's only port were founded), the Pantheon founded centered around the worship of Sacred Idols (+1 to Culture and Faith from each worked Gold and Silver mine). Suleyman quickly followed with God of the Open Skies (faith from Pastures).

With Stonehenge and later on Hagia Sophia wonders, I managed to be the first to found the true religion - Christianity - as two prophets quickly appeared in Constantinople. Already bent on Diplomatic victory, I chose Papal Primacy as my founder belief (increasing the "resting point" of influence with city states sharing your religion) and Monasteries as the first Follower belief, and Choral Music as my "bonus" Byzantine belief (+2 Culture from Temples - btw, Temples are now Faith-generating buildings, and they added Amphiteatres as the same level Culture-generating buildings); and with my second Prophet I added second Follower belief (Divine Inspiration - each wonder gives +2 Faith - as I'm a wonder whore), and Messiah as the Enhancer belief (more prophets and they are stronger). Adrianople and Nicea soon fell to the sway of the new faith and gave up their old Pantheon belief (although it gets incorporated into Christianity when you found a religion, so I still got the bonuses from gold mines - I guess with Sacred Idols, we didn't really get that big on Iconoclasm ).

My prophets started to pop up and I used them to spread religion to the city states and the Turkish empire - this caused him to get angry with me and declare war on me when he founded Islam (it seems that when there are only two civs on the map, each can found a religion - if there are more, the number of religions that can be founded is always less than a number of AIs). This is when his catapults and later cannons started rolling. Near the end I was pretty much in constant war with him, but thanks to getting three great generals, I placed three citadels on my Turkish border (which, fortunately, was not that long) so I managed to keep him at bay.

I managed to get Tradition, Piety, Patronage and Commerce trees filled before I had to go to work (btw, with Patronage and Papal Primacy, and Christianity dominant in all city states, my influence with them actually never deteriorated, as the resting point bonuses stacked to keep it at the top level ).

Today when I get home, I'm planning to play a game as Babylon, with Zoroastrianism as a religion with lots of science bonuses.

[Syt]

Ok, so first of all, for all the Euros out there, the expansion pack is already available on Steam.

Yeah, I turned on Steam on a hunch and found that the expansion had downloaded 10 minutes later.

[Tamas]

What I am hoping for, based on my short-ish tests with the trickstered version yesterday (did download my proper copy this morning, so can't wait to get home!), is that now the game has more life to it.

Religion can add personality to your civ. Like, I was playing Carthage, and I founded the world's first religion (on King) without building a single religious building. How? I settled my second city next to that whatit'sname Australian mountain, a Natural Wonder which gives 6 faith when worked.
So there was my young civilization in awe of the strange mountain, building an entire religion around it.
Cool.

Also, I am not sure about the AI because in the only war I have had, a desperate, locked-in AI civ attacked me with only slightly more numerous, but technologically inferior troops, but I sure hope it is (or will be) decent because I just can't go back to the lackluster stacks of doom warfare of Civ4.

I mean, these Warriors and Archers of the enemy were coming at my capital through a jungle. I had spearmen and archers, but due to the defensive bonuses I imagine, my counterattacks weren't so effective on the Warriors. So what I did was to retreat back behind a river near my capital with a spearmen unit, and an archer position behind it on a hill, while the rest of my guys flanked the enemy archer units on the pplains south of the jungle.
To the AI's credit it didn't attack my heavily defense-bonused superior unit even once, but rather tried to flank from the north, along the ocean coast. but that also meant coming into the firing range of my capital, and was quickly repulsed.

So nothing special in terms of AI performance, but do note how that kind of warfare-ing is just completely superior to the joke system in Civ4 (funny how people diss Civ5's war AI to be worse than Civ4's. Sure it is, but that is because the combat system in Civ4 is retarded, so a retard AI could use it efficiently).

[Martinus]

Yeah, the AI kept destroying my units/concentrating fire quite well. Suleyman's second assault had I think cannons, archers and pikemen properly lined so I could not reach his ranged units except with my ranged units.

[Grey Fox]

My game keeps crashing around the 80th turn. Damn it.