Civ 5 demo

[Darkness]

Who else has been playing the demo (or the real game) these last few days?

I wasn't really sure about buying the game (and if my computer could run it), so I downloaded the demo tuesday night.

Technical:
My old PC (2.8 ghz, 3 GB RAM, 2600 XT graphics card), with the graphics card at the bare minimum, and the rest well above minimum requirements, can handle the game fairly well. It runs fairly smoothly, with only the diplo screens being clearly "wrong", having all leaders blacked out. And I am sure that the map would look far prettier with a better machine and graphics card.


Gameplay:
I've played the 100 turn demo with all three available civs now and this is what I got from it:
- It's definately civilization, although it "feels" a bit different. Much like Civ 4 "felt" different from Civ 3.
- Great Library to Civil service slingshot is ridiculously powerful. A real MP game-breaker, IMHO.
- Population is still equal to power in civ, no matter which version you play. Especially now in Civ 5 where research is linked directly to population points. No population really means no new shiny weapons.
- Workers are key in the early game. But they don't stop growth in your cities when you build them (as opposed to settlers).
- The AI is still crazy for wonders. Even on warlord level, by the time turn 100 came around, the AI has built a handful of wonders.
- I love the "embarking" option. No more stupid transport ships needed...
- River starts are key to early game domination.
- The unit upgrades from city ruins are very powerful. I upgraded my starting warrior in the Egypt game first to a spearman and then to a pikeman due to good goody hut results. Needless to say he then was all the military I needed for a peaceful game for 100 turns.
- I like the implementation of the strategic resources. That you can only build so many swordsman from a single iron source feels very natural to me.
- City states are naggy whiny babies. But keeping them happy has great benefits.

And many more things of course...


So, the questions of this Steam demo experiment for me were: Can my PC run it and will I like it enough to buy it?

The answers: yes (within certain limitations), and yes! :)

So, Shabba, I'll be joining that Steam group that you've been promoting so diligently soon...

[Rik Meleet]

I'm downloading the DEMO right now.

Specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2,0 GHz; 2x 2 GB Ram, Radeon X1950 vid card. In a couple of hours we'll see what it does.

[Rik Meleet]

Oops, according to Can You Run It (http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/) I fail...

[killercane]

Oops, according to Can You Run It (http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/) I fail...
That site gave my regular vista pc 2 below recommended marks but it runs much better on that than my 6g RAM win 7 laptop! So pretty video card dependent.

[killercane]

Who else has been playing the demo (or the real game) these last few days?

I wasn't really sure about buying the game (and if my computer could run it), so I downloaded the demo tuesday night.

Technical:
My old PC (2.8 ghz, 3 GB RAM, 2600 XT graphics card), with the graphics card at the bare minimum, and the rest well above minimum requirements, can handle the game fairly well. It runs fairly smoothly, with only the diplo screens being clearly "wrong", having all leaders blacked out. And I am sure that the map would look far prettier with a better machine and graphics card.


Gameplay:
I've played the 100 turn demo with all three available civs now and this is what I got from it:
- It's definately civilization, although it "feels" a bit different. Much like Civ 4 "felt" different from Civ 3.
- Great Library to Civil service slingshot is ridiculously powerful. A real MP game-breaker, IMHO.
- Population is still equal to power in civ, no matter which version you play. Especially now in Civ 5 where research is linked directly to population points. No population really means no new shiny weapons.
- Workers are key in the early game. But they don't stop growth in your cities when you build them (as opposed to settlers).
- The AI is still crazy for wonders. Even on warlord level, by the time turn 100 came around, the AI has built a handful of wonders.
- I love the "embarking" option. No more stupid transport ships needed...
- River starts are key to early game domination.
- The unit upgrades from city ruins are very powerful. I upgraded my starting warrior in the Egypt game first to a spearman and then to a pikeman due to good goody hut results. Needless to say he then was all the military I needed for a peaceful game for 100 turns.
- I like the implementation of the strategic resources. That you can only build so many swordsman from a single iron source feels very natural to me.
- City states are naggy whiny babies. But keeping them happy has great benefits.

And many more things of course...


So, the questions of this Steam demo experiment for me were: Can my PC run it and will I like it enough to buy it?

The answers: yes (within certain limitations), and yes! :)

So, Shabba, I'll be joining that Steam group that you've been promoting so diligently soon...
Agreed with all points, especially starting city location. You can get really screwed if you dont have multiple resources nearby. Im not sold on the effectiveness of the worker early yet since he only provides +1 whatever to most tiles (other than luxuries).

The AI loves building wonders.

[Matrix]

I didn't expect my computer would handle Civ5 so well! I'm very happy with that! :) I have only played a few turns though, so I can't make much of the gameplay. But my first impressions are above expectations!

[Rik Meleet]

It's on the limits of my videocard. Since I cannot afford buying a videocard upgrade I'll postpone buying ciV.

[Shabbaman]

Rik, I got a broken 9600GT that you can get for free. Chances are high that it will run troublefree unless you play FPS games.

[Rik Meleet]

Thanks. Appreciated. :)

[Samson]

I think it will grow on me, but a few things iritate me about it:

The One Unit Per Tile seems like you really need to micro manage combat. Even in this 100 turns you can build a large enough army that you need to think about how you can efficently move it down a penisular and end up with you swordsmen in front of your archers when you get to the city. What it will be like in the industrial age I do not know.

Are you missing tools in the demo? Can you find out which civs are protecting which city states?

Is healling random? Or do they just not bother telling you how long a unit will take to heal?

[Beorn]

Healing is 1HP/turn outside of home, medic heals all adjacent units and I think you heal faster at home and in garrison.

2 things to help out with unit movement management: you can move through units and you can swap 2 units, provided they each have at least 1 move left. Also, after some tech you can embark units at sea - although sea movement is just as cumbersome once you're in the water, it can allow you to have a "wider" front on which to put units.

[akots]

... Can you find out which civs are protecting which city states? ...

F4 screen should tell that info.

[Darkness]

What I didn't run into in the demo games I played: Negative cashflow.

What happens when the treasury is empty and you're still losing money per turn? [confused]

Because there are no longer any research or culture sliders you can adjust...

[grahamiam]

Try it and let us know :)

From the manual (page 106)
If your treasury is at zero and you’re running a negative budget, the difference is deducted from your Science. Beware: this can seriously slow down your acquisition of new technology, which can leave you extremely vulnerable to attack by more advanced neighbors. Get your budget in order as quickly as possible!

If you are in full warmonger mode and well ahead of your opponents scientifically, it may not matter!

[Darkness]

Thanks grahamiam. :)

I haven't read the manual, obviously... ;)

[Samson]

you can move through units and you can swap 2 units, provided they each have at least 1 move left.

I have to say, this feature really irritated me. If you accidentaly ove a unit with the arrow keys onto another unit it swaps, and uses up the move points of both. I think it shoudl require shift to be held down of something to swap units.

I am sure I will get the hang of it though.

[Furiey]

Yes, I've also fallen foul of that, it can be really annoying.

[BCLG100]

can you download the demo without installing steam? I don't fancy extra useless crap on my system if it doesn't work!

[Furiey]

No, you still need steam.

[BCLG100]

Balls

[Furiey]

At least you can easily un-install steam afterwards if you don't want it, unlike SafeDisc or SecurRom or other DRM I could think of.

[Shabbaman]

Unfortunately Steam installs the same version that's on a disc, so if the disc comes with securom, even the steam version comes with securom. A bit weird.

[Furiey]

Yes I heard that, bit of a pain (I'm trying to keep my new PC clear but the stuff is everywhere), but as Civ only comes with steam...