I am curious if there are many people here who feel similar to myself about these civilization games?

If i was to put the games in order of preference (1 being the best game) it would look like this:

1) Civ2 (freaking awesome game)
2) Civilization call to power 2
3) Civ3
4) Civilization call to power 1
5) Civ4
6) Civ5

I should point out that the attributes landing civ4 and civ5 so low are such a tiny small part of the overall game but for me, that is the impact those attributes had.

Cool, but what are you reasons for ranking them like this? I've only played Civ 5, so I am missing out on the history and details.

I like Civilization III and had a demo for Civ. IV, but never could really get into it. Sometimes I play a relatively quick game for around three hours and watch my civilization fall to a huge alliance of my former allies.

Actually, I'd like to see GOG get some Civ. games, so I could experience this Civ. II everyone goes on about.

I've been playing since Civ III, and I think Civ V is my least favorite. I played a lot of III and IV in their days - all great.

I ranked them based on how much i have played them and how much enjoyment i got out of playing them.

Civ4 is very aggravating, first it shines this wonderful unit promotion system at me then forces me to reload constantly for that promotion system to be relevant in the game. Without the reloading the game will quickly turn into a green unit or a 'cheated' promoted unit slugfest. What i mean by 'cheated' promotions are those earnt by means other than through combat experience.

Civ5 i actually loved it at first, the unit tile limit an interesting strategic element. But i did not count on that same tile unit limit slowly wearing down my patience over time, i cannot stand the game anymore.

Edit: what is good about Civ2? It is just the way the game flows, the way it feels, its atmosphere, its perfect balance between complexity and simplicity, ,,, that's just what i can say for starters!

Started with Civ 1 and have to say i still like it very much because it reminds me more of the board game. I won't do a ranking here, but I probably played Civ IV most from the newer ones because it has best atmosphere and is lots of fun with a good piece of complexity. Owning Civ V, too but never really played it just watched the intro, but then I don't really play much anymore.

I played 2 a lot, but the thing I always hated, and it was hate enough for me to rank 2 as the lowest of the Civs for me, was how the AI would build anywhere there was a free tile, like always right in the middle of my cities. It just ruined the "feel" of an empire for me, to have these little opposing cities right in the middle of "my country." It drove me nuts to the point I would try and spam units just to put on tiles just to keep the AI from doing it.

Culture, which started in Civ 3, put an end to that, thank God. But the thing that drove me nuts about 3 was the waste and corruption, which was absurd. Yeah, there are mods and fixes for it, but IIRC if you used the "fix" or a mod it was reflected in your score at the end, which also pissed me off.

Civ 4 to me was far and away the best of the bunch, I still play it frequently. It had the same "one more turn" addictiveness that they all had, and fixed the biggest problems of 2 and 3 in my mind. Civ V, for whatever reason, despite starting at least a dozen games, just never, ever hit me with that "one more turn" feeling, and I never even came close to finishing a single game on V.

Oh, I will say the one thing that 3 had that four doesn't that was too bad IMO was Armies, man that was so cool when you got a great general and could make an army of three (and sometimes four) units together that would just mow down the forces of that asshole AI country that's been on my nerves for the past 1000 years. LOL I did like the Armies, but Civ IV's experience promotions can make some individual units so good they're like an Army, but still not quite as overwhelming as a 4 unit modern Armor Army unit running over hapless AI's and their riflemen or infantry. Fun times was had with those Armies in 3.

Shoving cities 'up my ass' i call it.

Ironically, i found that more annoying in Civ4 where they slip in between my two cities on the boarder and pop a city somewhere in behind! Also seen in many other games including Alpha Centauri - usually an ally will do it. In Civ2 i never had that problem? Probably because i always edit the maps and make sure all the starting points are spaced well apart from each other because the random map generator doesn't know how to do it.

Edit: Yes now that i think of it, i do owe a large part of my enjoyment of civ2 to the map editor and having mastered its use.

Heh, I don't think I ever played a game in 2 that it didn't happen, LOL. And it doesn't seem to happen to me in 4 at all. Oh yeah, they'll build right up to "my land" but maybe because I generally build "close"???? Meaning my cultural borders are usually quick enough to join up that the AI can't get into the middle like it did in 2. But it will build right up to where my borders end once we get close enough.

I never knew how to do edit maps or whatever in any of them LOL, so I'm always at the mercy of the random starting points, and yes, sometimes they do suck. I wish I could build the biggest world there is, and have 5 or 6 total countries, and have them all separated by a great deal. That is my ideal game, or style I guess. That's how I love playing. But usually within the first 1000 years I'm already fighting over territory despite the world being big enough I shouldn't have to yet but the AI insists on placing an AI starting point close to mine.

Since this is a thread about Civilization type games, is there anyone out there that would like a Steam copy of Civ IV Complete??? Civ IV complete is Civ IV, Civ IV Warlords and Betrayal of the Sword, which are add-ons to Civ IV, AND Civ IV Colonization, which is a stand alone remake in the Civ IV engine of the 90's classic Colonization, which is available here at gog. Civ IV Colonization is really a fantastic, fun game on it's own, and I've already spoke about how much I love Civ IV itself, so this is really a great package.

If anyone is interested, I have one Steam copy (you must have an active Steam account to redeem) and will PM the gift to the first person below this post who asks for it.

If there are any Civ fans out there who forever reason never tried IV, I really think you'll be happy if you do, and you can't beat free!!!

ADDED IN EDIT: I will say though, it's 2:11 AM where I'm at, so I will hopefully be getting to sleep soon, so if you post below saying you want it, it may not be until tomorrow before I PM you.

I'd like to try Civ IV if you don't mind, so far the only Civilization game I've played is Civ V and I've really enjoyed it, but apparently it's the worst in the series haha.

Edit: Thank you very much kind sir!

I played a bit of civ 4 a while ago, but my main problem with it was that I just couldn't get into the enemy's fortified city on a hill, even though I had superior troops and more of them. When I had them attack the city they just died without doing a thing to the enemy. Anyone got any tips for that? I wish that there was a sort of siege mechanic, where you could starve out the enemy to either force them to surrender or force them come out of their fortress and to attack you .

Freeciv!

http://play.freeciv.org/

Multiplatform, DRM-free, open source, freeware with multiplayer mode.

Original Civ1 all the way.

I played an earlier version of Civ, either 2 or 3, and when I played Civ 4 I felt like it was a substantially improved game also. I like building more than fighting, and Civ4 makes that kind of gameplay fun. I loved building up culture and having it flip neighbors. The religion aspect was interesting too.