Newbie - Do I want Civ V or should I start with III or IV first?

[FTLOSM]

I am a complete newbie to pc gaming, I tried civ rev for ps3 and loved it, so was thinking i would jump into a pc game version but wasn't sure being so new to all of this should I go right into Civ V or should I just try to find an older version III or IV for sale on craigslist or something...

I noticed there are SO many different options and types of Civ, are there any that are a particularly good value I should look for a deal on?

Do they have any trials of any of the versions where i can download and try it a bit to see if it's what I want to do (pc is probably different than ps3).

Is there a learning curve to this that playing earlier versions would be helpful or a version that is easier or harder overall to get the concepts and basics down?

My computer is a quad core 1.6 intel chip with 4 gig ram and dual geforce 8600 graphics cards (i have 4 monitors and do video and photo editing), dunno if those specs help or not in determining which would be best but hopefully I would be ok on even Civ V in terms of playing on the pc due to requirements.

Bill

[Equisilus]

Civ4 is likely the most polished and "best" choice right now for a newbie to try out the game, especially if you can get a complete package with the expansions (especially Beyond the Sword) for cheap. Civ5 is great, but still needs some tweaks to get it working perfectly and it has some major gameplay changes over Civ4. Still, if you want to get a feel for how Civ games work, you can't go wrong with the critically acclaimed Civ4.

[Fenhorn]

Why not Civ1 (or just Civ). I still remember the feeling when your Battleship sunk when it attacked a Spearman.

A little bit more serious, Civ IV is one of the best game I have ever played, especially with the BtS expansion.

[aeligos]

Definitely go with Civ IV.

Civ V is too buggy so its best to give the patch-makers time to patch it up.

I highly recommend getting the "Complete Edition" of Civ IV where you get the main game plus all expansions for it for about 40.00 USD. Avoid the "Game of the Year" edition as it comes with a lame DVD depicting the creation of Civ; also avoid the stand-alone version because you will ultimately want at least one expansion (trust me).

Welcome to Civ PC-style.

Enjoy the ride.

-.-

[Ash_F]

Having played them all including the original, I would say start with 5. It may be really buggy right now but it is the best. You should play Civ1 at some point just for faux nostalgia.

[FTLOSM]

Thanks guys i think i will give civ IV a chance here, i did find one called Civ IV the complete edition on craigslist for $20, says it includes all 4 versions of the game
Sid Meier's Civilization IV,
Civilization IV: Warlords expansion pack,
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword expansion pack
Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization

and manuals, figure its worth $20 to check it out see if i like the pc side of gaming (actually never played a single game on the pc ever) but after trying civ rev on ps3 thats SO my kinda game, wish there were more of them vs the 90000 shooting games ps3 offers each year.

Bill

[IamaROCKetscientist]

Well.. I am a newbie to the Civilization series and I've bought Civ V. I really enjoy playing it. It took a while before I understood the game a little and probably I am not using all features of the game at the maximum but I just want to say that I really enjoy playing the game and I can't see why someone shouldn't play Civ V as their first Civ

[Hemi420th]

You can't go wrong with Civ IV + BTS for $20. The game is tons of fun. CiV is a different game altogether (still fun) and you should consider getting it also, maybe after the 1st expansion.

[Veshta]

If you loved Civ:Rev then you will probably like Civ5 as they have far more in common than with earlier iterations.

Civ4+ can be very complicated to get started with as there is a lot of stuff you need to figure out, it is part of the charm and why it has such a rabid following, so few games these days offer gameplay to make more than one neuron fire at a time.

If you haven't bought Civ5 yet, then hold off until first expansion or until the forums catch fire from whichever full-conversion mod hits the spot first.
Then again, if your only exposure with the franchise has been Civ:Rev then you may not see the game with the eyes of us Civ4 maniacs and you might actually enjoy it.

PS: Civ5 is a resource hog compared to Civ4. I run Civ4 on an ancient laptop when on trains/planes with very little hassle, but have problems cranking up the map size/quality in Civ5 on my continueously upgraded home desktop

[MaleciteV]

Absolutely purchased 5.

It is without a doubt the stupidest and most depthless incarnation in the series and you will likley find it approachable and entertaining for those reasons. Becuase you haven't played any of the previous ones you wont be annoyed/dissapionted when the AI and core mechanics are nothing like what your used to.

[Davor]

I am a complete newbie to pc gaming, I tried civ rev for ps3 and loved it, so was thinking i would jump into a pc game version but wasn't sure being so new to all of this should I go right into Civ V or should I just try to find an older version III or IV for sale on craigslist or something...

Get Civ V, this way you will have no biased issues from previous games. To me, Civ V is what I wanted Civ Rev to always be.

My computer is a quad core 1.6 intel chip with 4 gig ram and dual geforce 8600 graphics cards (i have 4 monitors and do video and photo editing), dunno if those specs help or not in determining which would be best but hopefully I would be ok on even Civ V in terms of playing on the pc due to requirements.

Bill

Why don't you download the demo. Do Not play on DX 10/11 but play on DX 9 only.

If yoiu have trouble with the demo you will have trouble with Civ V. You can only play on small or tiny maps because you maybe be below specs. 1.6, but being a quad core, I am not so shure.

So download the demo off Steam and try it out and good luck.

[aeligos]

So download the demo off Steam and try it out and good luck.

I don't recommend the demo.

It is not a good representation of the real deal.

It might be just me, but playing the demo made me not want to get the game.

I got the game anyway despite my intuition against it.

And aside from the bugs, I do rather enjoy it.

-.-

[nAssailant]

If you're new to Civ, Civilization V is, from what I've heard from most, the best Civ to start with.

I really enjoy Civ V, but, if you are absolutely unsure, you can't go wrong with Civ IV.

[dar25]

If you loved Civ:Rev then you will probably like Civ5 as they have far more in common than with earlier iterations.

Civ4+ can be very complicated to get started with as there is a lot of stuff you need to figure out, it is part of the charm and why it has such a rabid following, so few games these days offer gameplay to make more than one neuron fire at a time.

+1

If you liked Civ Rev (which i did too) then Civ5 will be your best bet.
After playing Civ Rev for a while, going back to Civ 4 made it feel slow and complicated (even tho i spent years playing Civ 4 and consider it in top 10 best games of all time)

[Kevik]

To find out what other people think the best civ in civ 5 is go here http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97001

[Fantasy]

I can't see why someone shouldn't play Civ V as their first Civ

Maybe they don't want their brains to shrink.

And LOL at the guy who said he finds Civ IV complicated after playing Civ V! Good thing I stopped playing Civ V, it may have a detrimental effect on my cognitive abilities.

[Kevik]

CIV 4 is proboly the better game but I really like the graphics for Civ 5 better. CIV2 is way complexed but was a good game.

[dip22]

IIRC you don't need CivIV, just BtS which is standalone and includes all the other stuff anyway.

[rrhal]

Pick up a copy of Civ 2; this will give you a feel for where Civ came from. Then go for Civ 4 (BTS).

[FTLOSM]

I downloaded steam, gonna take a good 2 hrs it says to grab the demo of civ 5, will mess with that just to see how it is and did email the person on craigslist with civ 4 to try and setup a time to get it..

Thanks everyone.

[Jazzterisk]

To be honest, Civ IV is probably overall a better game but it is more difficult to pick up and play so Civ V may be a better game for the first-time player.

[Kevik]

IIRC you don't need CivIV, just BtS which is standalone and includes all the other stuff anyway.

Thats what I meant to say but didn't. BTS is what I play now, and it is an awsome game.

[Hormagaunt]

Thanks guys i think i will give civ IV a chance here, i did find one called Civ IV the complete edition on craigslist for $20, says it includes all 4 versions of the game
Sid Meier's Civilization IV,
Civilization IV: Warlords expansion pack,
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword expansion pack
Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization

and manuals, figure its worth $20 to check it out see if i like the pc side of gaming (actually never played a single game on the pc ever) but after trying civ rev on ps3 thats SO my kinda game, wish there were more of them vs the 90000 shooting games ps3 offers each year.

Bill

(Note that I don't like Civ5 and adore Civ4; keep this in mind.)

If you like CivRev then you'll also likely like Civ5. A lot of people have described Civ5 as CivRev2. (I've never played CivRev, so I've got no idea.)

To me, Civ4 has much more complexity than does Civ5; the tech tree in 4 is about 20 entries larger than in 5.

One of the devs of Civ5 has stated (it's around here somewhere) that Civ5 is intermediate between CivRev and Civ4. The idea is that you'd play CivRev, like it, then play Civ5, then eventually advance to Civ4.

If you're going with Civ4, I'd suggest starting off in Settler mode with either the Indians (their workers have an extra move) or the Romans (their legionnaires are great iron-age conquerors).

If you're going with Civ5, it's important to know that right now the game is... rather buggy for a lot of people. These bugs won't be solved quickly; I'd not expect serious improvement for 6 months to a year. (Reread my disclaimer up at the top.)

Other than that, welcome to the jungle, we got fun 'n games. (And arrogance up the yin-yang.)

[Satoru]

Civ4 is definitely worth getting if you can get a deal on it. If you're not in a huge hurry. I'm sure during Christmas, Steam will put on a sale where they will put Civ4 Complete on sale for hopefully 50% off again. It's not a guarantee, but something to keep an eye out for.

[Omuth]

Why not Civ1 (or just Civ). I still remember the feeling when your Battleship sunk when it attacked a Spearman.

A little bit more serious, Civ IV is one of the best game I have ever played, especially with the BtS expansion.

LoooL I remember that too! I was such a beardy player!

[Akerzork]

It depends on how serious a civ player you intend to be. Civ 2&3 are really easy to understand the machanics in the game rather than civ IV which is more user friendly

In civ IV A general feeling that a marketplace increases economy by x% rather than the numbercrunching civ 2&3 can be...and civ IV will be later on... in civ 2&3 the biggest change is the graphics and general gamplay, the stats etc still work pretty much the same.

At least try to review the Civ 2 game files where you can read exactly how the game works, What gives what. to the letter, strength, combat statistics etc, it's all there in a simply reviewable notepad document.

if you are after the feeling of the game then I aswell promote civ IV, it is by far the best and historically accurate civ. a lot of features which have been removed in civ V, rivers acting as trade connections etc

Also, try to play at least one game civ 2 or 3, and notice how the Civics have developed, since knowing the original intent you can very well create similar civics in civ V (even though civics are totally rewamped)

[Azoulix]

Thanks guys i think i will give civ IV a chance here, i did find one called Civ IV the complete edition on craigslist for $20, says it includes all 4 versions of the game
Sid Meier's Civilization IV,
Civilization IV: Warlords expansion pack,
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword expansion pack
Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization

and manuals, figure its worth $20 to check it out see if i like the pc side of gaming (actually never played a single game on the pc ever) but after trying civ rev on ps3 thats SO my kinda game, wish there were more of them vs the 90000 shooting games ps3 offers each year.

Bill

You will be happy, if you want to, after some game you can dowload that mod, and try what should have been CIV5 :
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=344525

[Fantasy]

It depends on how serious a civ player you intend to be. Civ 2&3 are really easy to understand the machanics of the game rather than IV which is more user friendly, dizzy numbers rather than the numbercrunching civ 2&3 can be...and civ IV will be later on... in civ 2&3 the biggest change is the graphics and general gamplay, the stats etc still work pretty much the same, so at least try to review the Civ 2 game files where you get right at you What gives what. to the letter, strength, combat statiscics etc, it's all there in a simply reviewable notepad document.

Am I the only one who finds this text hard to browse and understand?
But I guess I agree. I guess.

[ManOverGame]

Just get Civ V first, it's more modern and it's still pretty fun. Afterwards, you can get Civ iv plus expansions to make your own judgement. Maybe once I completetly exhaust Civ V, i'll get civ 4 myself. Maybe one day, some modder can combine perks from Civ iv and V together, like civ iv wonder animations, resources, and civs plus civ V hexagons and newer civilizations

[psikoticsilver]

Start with Civ 1, then play all the other civs in order of their release date

OR just play Civ5... that way you won't be dissapointed.

Civ4 and AC were the crowning jewels of the Civ series.

[BlindChance]

I have played Civ I, CiV IV with expansion packs and Civ V.

With clean consciousness I can recommend you Civ IV especially with BtS expansion pack. It is a great game with much more game content then Civ V and 1000 % higher game performance. Additionally is not ridden by bugs and AI which can't play its own game.

Civ V right now has been degraded from a strategy game to a waiting game, trust me you will hate "Next turn" button ). It might be playable after few months of constant patching, right now it is not worth even half of its price.

Enjoy Civ IV and buy Civ V later, cheaper and hopefully playable. Otherwise you may actually be turned away from Civ series by it.