Who else is going to waste their entire Tuesday playing Civilization 5? I’m purposefully making this post now because tomorrow I’m going to be too busy conquering the world.
I’m a huge Civ fan, though I got into the series a bit late. A friend introduced me to Civ3 in high school, so I played that and Civ4. But I fell in love with the game instantly. There’s just something so addictive about taking over the world! And something twisted and entertaining about Gandhi declaring war on you, or Abraham Lincoln adopting Slavery.
So needless to say, I’m excited for the new game. Sure, I’m going to miss sending out my flood of missionaries to convert everyone to Judaism. And I’m a bit sad Montezuma is back – seriously, what an asshole and source of much ragequitting. Go die in a fire, Monty.
*ahem* But I’m really happy about the new way city borders expand, aka logically and not based on a little arbitrary plus sign. And I think I’m going to love how the battle system actually relies on strategy including the map, not just stacks of doom. When I first played Civ, I would strategically place cities by mountain passes, until I realized it didn’t matter. But now it does, woo!
But the new thing I’m geeking out about the most? One of the Policy trees you can research, in addition to things like Tradition, Honor, and Liberty, is Rationalism. I am atheist-geeking out about this so much. The bonuses are great:
- Rationalism – Immediately enter a golden age
- Humanism – +1 Happiness from every University
- Secularism – +2 Science from every Specialist
- Freethought – +2 Science from every Trading Post
- Scientific Revolution – Gain 2 free Technologies
And the cherry on top? You can’t have Rationalism at the same time as Piety, the religious Policy tree. Which is all about increasing happiness, not actually making progress.
lulz
Anyway, I’m super excited. Like I said, I’m going to play as much as possible tomorrow, mainly because I have my departmental retreat Wednesday through Friday. Need to get my conquering in! And classes start the 29th, so I’ll try to squeeze so more in before I have no free time. If anyone is interested in a giant multiplayer Blag Hag reader battle over the weekend, my Steam username is Jennifurret. Friend me!
Now, I’m off. It’s released at 7am here, so I need my beauty sleep. Yes, I’m willing to wake up early for a video game, but I bitch about 9:30am classes. I am a geek.
44 comments
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Seattle_JC
September 21, 2010 at 4:47 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Um, you still are going to make time to hang with real-world skeptics, no?
eebullient
September 21, 2010 at 4:50 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Gah! Classes have already started for me and I don’t trust myself to start on it on a weeknight “for just an hour”, school comes first…maybe this weekend, once I’m done with bike maintenance and reinstalling Linux on both my computers. **self-consciously pushes up glasses**
Rhacodactylus
September 21, 2010 at 5:06 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Lol, for the commenters, when you could replace “video game” with “heroin” it’s time to do some adjusting.
Egoistpaul
September 21, 2010 at 5:22 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
If you want to take over the world, more boobquake campaigning against religion is more hopeful.
Jen
September 21, 2010 at 5:26 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I will attempt to peel myself away from the computer at 7pm :P
Mike Stark
September 21, 2010 at 6:07 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
sorry I missed the sunday fun meet. but I had a crazy sakura-con meeting that went nutty.however, I added you on steam and I pre-loaded steam for tomorrow. I hope I can say hi and play games w/out being strange internet folk. also… we hate spiders too… most of us do in WA. but it’s better than the other side. the trick is to let them settle outside n stuff.
Mike J
September 21, 2010 at 7:51 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hey, good for you!Here in Europe we’re getting C5 on the 24th. The world is truly standing on its head. On the other hand, maybe this way I’ll get a Jen Reviews Civilization 5 video before I download my copy of the game :).On a side note: when around potential Civilization junkies, never mention starting your adventure with the third one ;). Because you know, that kinda implies you liked it. I once made the mistake of publicly having nothing against C3 (any civilization is better than no civilization, right?), which led to a bunch of forum-goers declaring me brain dead and a menace to society. Not a pleasant memory.-Mike J
Carrie Williams
September 21, 2010 at 8:02 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I too started playing at civ3 level..i still have both Civ3 and 4. They can be so addicting that I can start a game about lets say 3pm next thing I know, I realize my room seems to have gotten darker. Look outside mmmm…darkness it is then look at clock it is freaking 2 in the morning. i go to get up and realize i have been in that chair since 3pm and can barely walk. That is when you really know you are addicted to civilization series..i wish i could get the 5 but i got too much other stuff going on i won’t be able to join you guys. Yes I am a freaking geek…
Roki_B
September 21, 2010 at 8:42 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I friended you on Steam. Hopefully we can play worms?
Roki_B
September 21, 2010 at 8:45 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Also, consider Dwarf Fortress :D
bildungsroman
September 21, 2010 at 9:26 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Not me, because Civ5 isn’t coming out for Macs yet =(
Rollingforest
September 21, 2010 at 9:40 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
When my family got our first computer, Civilization II was the first game I ever got. I now have every Civ game except number one (which looks like an arcade game and probably wouldn’t work on my computer anyway because it’s too outdated). I’ll have to get Civ 5 to make my collection complete once more.The second game I ever got was Age of Empires, another series of which I have bought all of the games.
bildungsroman
September 21, 2010 at 9:50 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
But I will befriend you on Steam, in the hopes that when the day comes that Sid Meier considers us Steve Jobs-heads worthy of playing his precious, addictive game, I can join in on the fun. Until then, I guess I’ll be satisfied with my Civ4 and Starcraft II.
Rbray18
September 21, 2010 at 9:51 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
i couldn’t get into civ,i tried civ 4 on game tape and well,i suck big time at that game and all games like it.i’m not very good at strategy much more of a button masher/lite rpg type,real time is preferred in rpg games.
Rollingforest
September 21, 2010 at 9:56 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Has anyone ever played Alpha Centauri? It is made by the same people who make the Civilization games. The civilizations on it are organized by ideology not by nationality. You have the environmentalists, the businessmen, the militarists, the communists, the UN peacemakers, the scientists, and the religious believers. Jen would probably have fun fighting the age old religion vs science battle using space age technology!
Frothsloth
September 21, 2010 at 11:33 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Love all the Civ games, but never tried playing on-line head-to-head. Just started a new game of Civ4 yesterday, and now five is out? Looks like a trip to the store after work is on the agenda.
Lou Doench
September 21, 2010 at 12:02 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
OK, I wasn’t really hyped about Civ 5 because Civ 4 was a little disappointing for me (My taste in games changed, nothing really wrong with 4), But now you have my curiosity piqued!
Carl Viñas
September 21, 2010 at 12:37 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m putting off playing Civ5 for right now. I have a backlog of stuff to play right now, including my fourth playthrough of Mass Effect 2. On the masochistic Insanity (the hardest difficulty level). My girlfriend beat it on Insanity, so I need to man up and follow suit. Maybe eventually I’ll pick it up, hard to find the time to fit in a turn-based strategy game right now. I’ve got you on Steam already, so I can at least yell at you to do real work and stop playing Civ. :P
Andrew Hall
September 21, 2010 at 12:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I played a lot of Civ 2 back in the day and when Civ 3 came out I wasn’t as happy with it (I don’t think Sid Mier was on board for that version). Meh, I’ll take a look at Civ 5. http://www.laughinginpurgatory…
Livingonsteak
September 21, 2010 at 1:22 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m old school, started with the original Civilization on an old Windows 3.1 computer. It would often crash upon opening a city. Ah the days of instability.I’ve lost much of my Civ skills. I used to be able to have tanks when everyone else still only had archers. I never was very good at waging war, so even if I had marines and tanks, I’d be outnumbered 12 to 1 with their knights and longbowmen.Anyways, Civ5 looks great. Shame I don’t have any money at the moment or I’d join you all online!
Ryan Schneider
September 21, 2010 at 1:51 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It’s times like this I regret listening to my university when they recommended MacBooks for all the non-science majors. This marks probably the fifth game or so that I can’t play because I don’t have access to a PC. And this is after installing Windows 7, which means it’s some kind of hardware bullshit and BLARGH.I haven’t played any of the Civ games yet but I think 5 sounds like a pretty good place to start.
bildungsroman
September 21, 2010 at 1:55 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
That sounds pretty cool! Is the gameplay pretty similar? And is it available for Macs?
Dragatus
September 21, 2010 at 3:40 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Aw, come on. Monty is awesome! He’s so adorably aggressive. And this time he gets culture for killing enemy units so he’ll be more aggressive than ever. :D
Fox Spy
September 21, 2010 at 3:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Damn it, I was trying to avoid buying Civ 5 and doing a damn good job of it, was actually going to reinstall Civ 4 until I read this. Now it’s become a lot harder to resist because I greatly approve of a lot of those changes.
Friday
September 21, 2010 at 3:59 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
no mac version.. fail!!
Peter Madsen
September 21, 2010 at 4:55 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
All you kiddies can enjoy Civ 5; the real gamers are all playing Halo: Reach :D
Zachy Teevs
September 21, 2010 at 5:49 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I only ever played Civ 2, then I started trying to take over the world for real. Should have chosen a lower difficulty level…
Falsum
September 21, 2010 at 6:25 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Modern atheist skepticism is not the only possible meaning for the term “rationalism”. When I first read the title of this post, I imagined armies of Cartesian missionaries going out and convincing everybody that their body might not exist. I’m not sure what benefits that would grant.
Dan W
September 21, 2010 at 6:36 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ah Civ. I also got started on Civ 3, and played Civ 4. Hadn’t heard much about Civ 5 until recently, but from what I’ve heard it sounds like I’ll have to buy it soon. I usually neglect my military because I focus too much on building wonders and buildings that add to science and culture in my cities. And I always found Isabella to be more annoying than Monty or Genghis Khan; she’s also pissed at me for the most ridiculous of reasons.
Rollingforest
September 21, 2010 at 7:40 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Here’s the wiki article on the game. The game play is very similar to the civilization series although set in the future.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S…Alpha Centauri is actually older than I thought (it came out in 2000). They apparently don’t make it anymore, but some of the old copies are still floating around. Mac versions are kind of expensive, but Windows versions are a lot cheaper. I’d still check the system requirements thought to see if it would still work on your computer. http://www.amazon.com/Sid-Meie…
Santiago
September 21, 2010 at 8:42 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Man, the one thing I do *loathe* about “Montezuma” is that his name is actually MOCtezuma. I’m sorry but for all us Mexicans “Montezuma” is like another country insisting on calling your first president George Wachington. It’s close, but to people who know, it sounds horrible! It doesn’t help that “Monte” is an actual word in Spanish, so this Aztec emperor with a cool Aztec-language name now sounds like Benchamine Franklin or something. I would be so freakin’ grateful if americans could just agree to call him “Moctezuma” from now on. Ahem, anyway, – end of rant -
Edivimo
September 21, 2010 at 8:52 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Good news: This entry make me realize of an incoming new CIV game.Bad news: System requirements are too high and I’m broke (Thanks, traffic ticket!!)
Edin Villalobos Mora
September 21, 2010 at 8:54 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
“I greatly approve of a lot of those changes.”Yes!, like the death of the “huge stacks of doom”.
jose
September 21, 2010 at 11:00 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I thought religion had been completely removed in Civ 5.
Lou Doench
September 22, 2010 at 12:26 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You can download patch to let you run it on windows xp
Timmy
September 22, 2010 at 5:07 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I would play it, but 1. I am unemployed, and $50 is a lot of money.2. My computer is way too wimpy to run it.3. I am incredibly terrible at Civ.
Jonathan Figdor
September 22, 2010 at 5:33 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Fallout 3 is better.
bildungsroman
September 22, 2010 at 6:44 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I would much rather wait than install Windows on my comp
bildungsroman
September 22, 2010 at 6:45 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Sweet, I’ll see if I can download it to tide me over!
bildungsroman
September 22, 2010 at 6:48 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’ve been playing Civ4 on my Mac and it’s great, you just have to wait a bit longer, it will come out eventually. At least the people at Blizzard got it right: StarCraft II came out on the same day for both systems, I wish more companies would think like that.
Mike J
September 22, 2010 at 1:03 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hell yeah! Alpha Centauri, man. It’s hands down The Best ™. I mean, seriously:- boreholes- building on water- cool plot with “cutscenes”- precipitation and angled terrain- unit builder- awesome music- the Planet as a distinct eighth civilization- first time civics were implemented in the way used later in c4- and finally, the quotes that accompanied finished buildings and research projects! Recycling Tanks, +2 city tile production”It is every citizen’s final duty to go into the tanks (…)”- Chairman Sheng Ji YangHey, it’s still 2 days till Civ5. Time to find that CD.
Andrew Irvine
September 22, 2010 at 7:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Dammit. It doesn’t get released in the UK till Friday and I have no free time till Saturday afternoon anyway. Dammit. More games need this sort of comparison. They should replace the good/evil idea with this for Fable 4.
Peter Mateja
September 22, 2010 at 10:55 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Just… one… more… turn… (slump)
Graham
September 25, 2010 at 5:18 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I sent you a friend request (screen name AzrgExplorers). I thought I’d be able to send a message with it though to identify myself as a BlagHag reader… so I hope this’ll do!