I wanted to get in to games like Civilisation and similar titles like Mega-Lo-Mania and Powermonger but I didn't put in the time to work out how to play them properly. Now I'm older I like the challenge of learning complex strategy games inside out and getting my monies worth from them.
Civilization, even the first one, is complicated enough that it helps to have someone explain it to a newcomer. I was lucky enough to have three people in my SCA group who were also into computer gaming, and they taught me how to play both Civ I and II.
Or at least the original Civ II. I took a wander by the computer game store one day, saw Civilization II: Test of Time, bought it, played it, and have loved it ever since. That was over 20 years ago.
I've dabbled a little with Civ III and SMAC (Sid Meiers' Alpha Centauri), and I have V and VI (got them in a Steam sale at something like 90% off, and figured it would have been insane to turn down a deal like that, even if I never ended up doing much with them). Once I get IV, I'll stop. VII just came out, but it's so new that there are lots of people on my Civilization forum who are finding bugs and other issues with it. It's best to wait with complicated games like that, to let the worst of the problems get identified and fixed (and to let the price go down) before thinking about it.
All in all, though, Civ II: Test of Time is my favorite of the Civ games. Two of the scenarios are played on a map with 4 levels, which means you have to think 3-dimensionally so you get the best use of your resources and can best strategize how to interact with the computer opponents.
I once had a
very short game in the fantasy scenario because I'd just established my capital city and hadn't built a defensive unit in it yet. Next turn, up popped a Goblin unit from underground - turned out
their capital city was just a square away from mine, but one level lower. Goblin miners can dig holes to allow access between the Underground and Surface levels. So up he popped, took over my city, and that was it. My civilization was conquered, game over.
My first gaming passion was Pac Man, and I hope I wouldn't end up in that universe. I'd be eaten or wilted within the first half-hour. And even if I wasn't, pretty sure those glowing dots are radioactive.
I never played Pac Man, but I loved Speedy Eggbert. I'd hate to spend any time in that setting, given that you can barely go more than two or three spaces without having to jump up or down a step (or several), risk falling into a pit of lava, fall into water and have to swim for safety before you either run out of oxygen or get eaten by a shark, or get killed by bombs, trapped by Evil Speedys, attacked by bluebirds (they are
vicious), run over by a bulldozer, fall in front of a giant fan and blown into a wall, fall more than 4 squares, which is fatal, or cut up with a saw... Come to think of it, that setting would be the stuff of nightmares.
Must have been fun being a fly on the wall for that one
I think it would have been. He just couldn't fathom players cooperating to the extent we did. I don't think any of us cared who won - we just didn't want the Nazis to win, so we helped each other in every way possible.
And since I not only don't smoke, but am deathly allergic to smoke, this resulted in one of the weirdest gaming conversations I've ever had: "Can I trade you wire cutters for cigarettes?"
You might have liked to be a fly on the wall for a 6-player game we had of Mille Bornes. I know that game isn't meant for more than 4 players, so what we did was divide up into three teams of two players, and shared our hands (this is a card game, for anyone unfamiliar with it).
Two of us hadn't played it before, so they each teamed with someone who had. My partner and I... she'd point to a card and say, "Should I play that?" I'd say yes or no, or "No, one of these would be better, doesn't matter which one."
Soon our conversations, when it was our turn, consisted of:
"One of these?"
"No, one of those."
"One of those?"
"Yeah, or you could go for one of
those."
"This one?"
"Yeah, that one."
"Or maybe one of these? Or how about one of those?"
All the while we were pointing at cards in each other's hands, and finally everyone else was about ready to kill us.
I've not played the board game so will have to give it a try it sounds like good fun. The Amiga game seems identical as you control four prisoners (English, American, Polish and French) and can toggle control of them using the F1-F4 keys and the aim is to discreetly collect all the items needed for the prisoners to escape such as guard uniform, spade, pickaxe, papers and different types of keys without being shot or put in solitary confinement if you're found in a restricted area. The locations of all the items and the patrol routes and times of the guards never changed so it was a case of trial and error but I was never patient enough to complete it by escaping all four prisoners. It was my first isometric game and I loved the graphics.
My first computer was an Amiga, but I hadn't known about this game.
