No more turns...
June 15, 2005 9:05 AM   Subscribe

"By the time I got to the industrial age, I was a full blown junkie." (Quicktime MOV) Sid Meier's Civilization IV is coming. Civ addicts everywhere now have a place to turn for help. Your recovery is only 12 steps away...
posted by afx114 (60 comments total)
 
So...are there selfhelp groups for SimCity or the Sims?
posted by jb at 9:17 AM on June 15, 2005


Oh, fuck me.

Please don't port it to the Mac. I've just started getting a life again.
posted by eriko at 9:17 AM on June 15, 2005


I've already begun bracing my girlfriend for what is to come. Assuring her I love her, but that there will be times she won't see me for days at a time. I would buy her a copy as well, but once she figures out she can compete against me, my desire to play would be minute in the face of her desire to beat me.
posted by herting at 9:19 AM on June 15, 2005


So... conflicted... hate advertising... loved... that ad

*brain explodes*
posted by gurple at 9:21 AM on June 15, 2005


I got a GTA ad. What gives?
posted by u2604ab at 9:28 AM on June 15, 2005


Nevermind. Gotta watch an ad before watching the ad. The fact that the first ad was also for a video game threw me off.
posted by u2604ab at 9:32 AM on June 15, 2005


I think that says it all about western history since the Enlightenment:

"I wanted Civ4, and I got GTA. What gives?"
posted by freebird at 9:34 AM on June 15, 2005 [1 favorite]


Kidding aside, I'm pretty amazed at Civ's capacity to take over my brain. If I start a game, I have a lot of trouble thinking about anything else for days. I usually end up dreaming Civ.

It seems a little soon for IV to be coming out. I still think of III as "the new Civ." But that's probably just me.
posted by COBRA! at 9:37 AM on June 15, 2005


Oh, fuck me.

Ditto that.

I just downloaded this huge mod for Civ 3 Conquests (Rise & something) that just fills the tech screen with new options, loads you up with extra civs and new units, and totally takes the game to a new level.

That was 3 or 4 weeks last month I'd like back, please.
posted by thanotopsis at 9:38 AM on June 15, 2005


That's the lamest piece of viral advertising I've ever seen.

(But I still can't wait for Civilization IV)
posted by sveskemus at 9:47 AM on June 15, 2005


That was good viral advertising or not. Love that J Lo and have blocked out a couple months later this year for what will be lack of sleep and focus to life.
posted by mss at 9:50 AM on June 15, 2005


yum, lame.

what is it about hackety-hack writer/directors that makes them think showing old people cursing is funny???
posted by drgonzo at 10:03 AM on June 15, 2005


CivIV?

Oh man. Damn that biological requirement for sleep, anyway.
posted by Fozzie at 10:03 AM on June 15, 2005


I haven't been following Civ3 developments recently - has anyone found an OCC (One City Challenge) strategy for 3? In the last months before Civ3 launched I was playing just OCC in Civ2, since it brought a whole new dimension to a game that had already been solved. But in Civ3 the common knowledge was that OCC was not possible due to the culture factor and the AI level of aggression.

I wonder how many weeks I will be losing later this year on this game.
posted by nkyad at 10:08 AM on June 15, 2005


thank god/sid for cheat codes. they provide my only escape from the grip of these games.
posted by senor biggles at 10:13 AM on June 15, 2005


But WHEN..WHEN..OH WHEN?
posted by briank at 10:18 AM on June 15, 2005


The GW candid was well done. "Latin"
posted by Peter H at 10:19 AM on June 15, 2005


COBRA! it's not just you. i still haven't beaten conquests in my preferred manner, so i'm not ready for the next civ and still think of III as new.

BTW anyone know how to completely turn-off game parameters in conquests. you know, the ones that force retirement, whether you're interested or not
posted by crush-onastick at 10:51 AM on June 15, 2005


Here's the screen shots from IGN. (slideshow).

Looks pretty impressive, thanks for the heads up. Of course my old computer will probably not run it, and I will have to play Civ III to cope.
posted by nervousfritz at 10:53 AM on June 15, 2005


Oh, fuck me.

Please don't port it to the Mac.


Ditto to the Nth degree. My wife is gonna kill me. And let's just freely admit that when it comes out I'm gonna have a 5-day flu as far as the office is concerned.

Kinda a shame the support group isn't real. I need help.
posted by Mr Pointy at 10:57 AM on June 15, 2005


freebird: Awesome.
posted by elderling at 11:14 AM on June 15, 2005


Too bad they "begged the question", I was starting to get excited about the game. And I think they overused the quotation marks.
posted by Balisong at 11:16 AM on June 15, 2005


I can't decide if I want Civ IV ported to Linux, should be grateful to avoid it or should actually set up one of my computers to dual boot into Windows so I can play it.

Gal Civ III is coming out this fall, as well as Civ IV. This is the first time I've been tempted to install Windows since 1998.
posted by QIbHom at 11:37 AM on June 15, 2005


Does anyone else hold grudges against other civs that last hundreds of years? No constant warfare, just a steady building and building, waiting for that tech advantage so I can roll over those damn Iroquois with modern armor (Oooh! You have regular tanks. How cute!) just because they whacked one of my cities in round twenty.
posted by Cyrano at 11:49 AM on June 15, 2005


Before installing the game, I'll need:

1. A cooler by the computer stockpiled with sandwiches and Red Bull.
2. Adult diapers and/or a bedpan.
posted by Gamblor at 11:56 AM on June 15, 2005


My recovery from (serious) Civ-addiction only took two steps, though:

1. Deinstall
2. Throw CDs into trash

I just needed to realise that 20-hour long game sessions couldn't be healthy...
posted by Skeptic at 12:01 PM on June 15, 2005


For once, I'm grateful for the horrendous delay in porting to macs.

Truly truly horrible advert 'though, makes me think: am I that sad, am I really in a demographic where that's funny?
posted by blindsam at 12:01 PM on June 15, 2005


Umm, my name is Jane, and my husband is a recovering Civilization addict. It's just so hard sometimes *sniff sob* and I just don't know what I'll do if this starts all over again! We just got our lives back *sniff sniff*... what about the children?
posted by slimslowslider at 12:02 PM on June 15, 2005


Best. Post. Ever.

When does it come out?

I guess I'll know it's out when Metafilter gets really quiet...
posted by dness2 at 12:14 PM on June 15, 2005


Comes out Nov. 2005
posted by herting at 12:16 PM on June 15, 2005


There are actually some things about Freeciv that I like better than CivIII. For example, Modern Armor is no longer totally unbeatable, and true combined arms is required; and the map can use hexes. But I still play CivIII almost every time I boot up Windows.

Those screenshots show a "Jewish Cathedral" being built. ???
posted by jiawen at 12:43 PM on June 15, 2005


"If you are like most Civilization addicts, your story began innocently enough way back in 1991 with the discovery of Sid Meier's Civilization by Firaxis Games."

No, Firaxis was founded in 1996. Civ was by Microprose. Damn viral marketeers.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:55 PM on June 15, 2005


Hah! The blatant misuse of "begging the question" made this into nothing but GARBAGE. Begging the question... mumble... kids today...
posted by Justinian at 1:02 PM on June 15, 2005


Well, there goes my future social life. Thanks a lot, Sid!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:22 PM on June 15, 2005


metafilter - "i said i didn't get up"
posted by pyramid termite at 1:37 PM on June 15, 2005


Sid should bring out a new version of Alpha Centari. Spiffy up the units a bit but mostly leave it alone except for better AI. That would be awesome.
posted by Mitheral at 1:44 PM on June 15, 2005


Just two more turns...oh shit, the sun is coming up, my girlfriend left me and the dog is dead from starvation...ok...ok..just one more turn...I mean it.

Just. One. More.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:57 PM on June 15, 2005


The awesome mod for civIII mentioned above was Rise and Rule.

It rocks my world hard
posted by Mick at 2:01 PM on June 15, 2005


Does anyone else hold grudges against other civs that last hundreds of years? No constant warfare, just a steady building and building, waiting for that tech advantage so I can roll over those damn Iroquois with modern armor (Oooh! You have regular tanks. How cute!) just because they whacked one of my cities in round twenty.

Oh hell yes.

I will have my terrible armies burn everything before them, venting a thousand years of wrath upon the unsuspecting heads of my foes, on some level not accepting that they're just pixels and data.

The sheer sadistic glee of stomping on some puny civ with an elite army of modern armour cannot be overstated.
posted by Grimgrin at 2:08 PM on June 15, 2005


Civ III came out for the Mac on the very day I started grad school. Thanks a lot, Sid!

I wonder how many days of my life I have spent playing Civ since 1991. I suppose I don't really want to know.
posted by litlnemo at 2:09 PM on June 15, 2005


The sheer sadistic glee of stomping on some puny civ with an elite army of modern armour cannot be overstated.

Or, conversely, out-generaling a modern-armor-armed AI civ with well-used cavalry/artillery/infantry combined forces. There's something satisfying about kicking ass with inferior tools.
posted by COBRA! at 2:11 PM on June 15, 2005


No, no, no, no. I can't. I can't. I am just starting to date again. Oh, shit, sign me up.

And as for grudges, I will be one step away from completing my Space Ship and will switch production just so I can wipe out a civ that took one of my cities. Even if it lowers my score.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:17 PM on June 15, 2005


The original Civ was addictive. I can't tell you the number of times I wandered into the comp sci lab to find people I knew had exams or papers due (because they were in my class) and they were there, playing Civ (to be joined by me).

But later incarnations... I've fought hard to take a city by military might and somehow lost it to the former empire's culture? Meh.

Now Alpha Centauri I loved.
posted by dreamsign at 2:22 PM on June 15, 2005


litlnemo writes "I wonder how many days of my life I have spent playing Civ since 1991."

If you're anything like me and AlphaCen probably enough to take over a real empire.
posted by Mitheral at 2:51 PM on June 15, 2005


The current Minimum Computer Specifications for Civ IV are: 1 GHz Pentium 3 with 256 MB Ram and a video card that supports hardware T&L.

From http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/
posted by jopreacher at 2:56 PM on June 15, 2005


Civ 3 tarnished my regard for Ghandi as that murderous hawk insists upon attacking me without provocation every damn time I stretch myself just a hair too thin.
posted by herting at 3:02 PM on June 15, 2005


"It's like any other addiction," Elizabeth Woolley said last week. "Either you die, go insane or you quit. My son died."

Given that video game accition is a real thing, isn't this commercial a bit insensitive? The comments in this thread certainly suggest that the game will cause actual negative disruptions in at least some peoples' lives. *Runs away from approaching reply armies*
posted by VulcanMike at 5:24 PM on June 15, 2005


I strongly, strongly recommend installing Linux. It is the only thing that has saved me from Civ >1 and SimCity >2...
posted by louie at 6:02 PM on June 15, 2005


Heading over to the marketing website allows you to skip the ad. You'll also get to see an angry Tiberius and an even angrier spouse.
posted by infowar at 6:11 PM on June 15, 2005


granted that old people cursing is a cheap laugh, but i would have laughed at that joke even absent that.

i mean, c'mon, it's an inevitability -- you get nuclear weapons, you save the game, build a bunch of ICBMs, and blow the planet back to the stone age. then you reload from the save and continue as normal. we've all done it.
posted by spiderwire at 7:08 PM on June 15, 2005


as a lad i was introduced to pong

as i grew up they presented me with space invaders, asteriods and pac man

in junior high i worked on defender

in high school i got atari

in college they gave me weed, chicks, and something... cant recall, oh yeah, a college edjumacation, and sega and nes

through the years ive enjoyed the rise of video games and have felt fortunate to watch them develop into whatever they are now, which to be honest, isnt what it should be

with that said, the only game that i was ever addicted to worse than seeing those Tetris blocks in my head, was Civ

ive never done crack or heroin but i feel i know what that experience is like

so i read this post with mixed emotions cuz, well, how does one resist The Next Big Fix?

p.s. i hope it comes packaged with a bucket to piss into and a setting that Makes you drink water every hour.
posted by tsarfan at 7:58 PM on June 15, 2005


Now hold on . . . Since overcoming the insidious Civ. III, I have married, had a kid, and bought a house. I have had a life, with all its ups and downs . . . You know: a regular existence. It's been a quiet life, some might even call it dull, but it's been mine. I have enjoyed it, and have done my best to be a good person every day.

But now Civ. IV is coming out, huh?

Well . . . I suppose all that other stuff has been nice. I'll miss 'em, though. The smiles, the good times . . . holidays and such, and birthdays . . . I'll miss seeing the little guy grow up, and miss having a home, I guess, but . . .

Well, you know.

Sigh.
posted by Absit Invidia at 8:42 PM on June 15, 2005


ah, crap... after reading these comments i just reinstalled civilization 3... this is gonna work out well.
posted by cusack at 8:49 PM on June 15, 2005


Alrighty then. Unabashed Civ-membrance.

I had created a green empire. we were democratic, peaceful, and environmentally clean. Our few enemies were cowed and marginalized and all looked upon our Wonders with awe.

Then came the French.

They appeared one year off our west coast (in ironclads! how quaint). They took a city and held it for just a moment before disappearing back into the fog. They steal one tech: nuclear.

*years later* hmm hmm-hmm hmm hmm OH MY FRICKIN GOD!!!! *nukes obliterate half my cities, sea levels rise, radiation blights the land*. And thus began my quest to kill every last Frenchman.

(sigh) Those were the days...

On preview: but you know, they really should make a third Starflight.
posted by dreamsign at 9:48 PM on June 15, 2005 [1 favorite]


You guys all know that Civilization isn't really a game, right? It was put here by aliens, and the person who gets the highest score will be taken to a far-off planet to become the last emperor.
posted by hammurderer at 10:51 PM on June 15, 2005


Man, I haven't played Civ in weeks.

There goes that.

My husband often complains of being a "Civ Widow" - especially since I started my übernerdy quest of playing one game as each Civ (I started in March and I only have one more to go). It's his fault though. He's the one who bought a PC. And the game.

I won't put games on my Mac as I like to see daylight every once in a while. Snood was bad enough. If I had 24 hour access to Civ without someone getting cranky and demanding their computer back... well, there goes bathing.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:04 AM on June 16, 2005


priorities, grapefruitmoon, priorities...
posted by dness2 at 7:50 AM on June 16, 2005


Oh, woe...Well, I can always quit after just one more turn....

I have this horrible feeling I'm gonna' need to upgrade my machine.
posted by croctommy at 10:49 AM on June 16, 2005


Last year, while unemployed, I lost about a month to Civ3. But I had two machines on my desk with a KVM switch then, so getting between Linux and Windows was easy.

Now that I have just one dual-boot machine, and it'd be such a pain to boot into Windows just for a game, I could have Civ installed easy. It wouldn't be a problem. Nope, none at all.

For no-joke versions of computer game addiction: Everquest Daily Grind.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 11:22 AM on June 16, 2005


I *cough* received Civ3 and the Gold Edition of Age of empires as a Valentines Day present from my then husband. oh..did I mention I'm now divorced? Terrible, really :P
posted by infini at 6:51 PM on June 17, 2005


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