Comments on: In Praise Of: Civilization – Call To Power

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 20:46:24 +0000

Call to Power was the first 4X game I played, and I often wonder if much of the criticism came from people who played other Civ games first and had a fixed idea about what Civ should be like, because I never saw any problem with it. Admittedly, I haven’t played CtP in about 20 years, so maybe it had a ton of issues that I just don’t remember. But the first actual Civ game (unless you count Alpha Centauri) I played was Civ V, which I found a bit dull without all the crazy units and future tech. I was disappointed to discover that stuff wasn’t in every Civ game.

As I write this, Civ VI is 90% off on steam, and I have no interest at all in buying it, but if there was a new CtP game with all the wacky stuff from the original kept in, it would go straight to the top of my wishlist.

By: Thoughts: Civilization VI | The Scientific Gamer

Thoughts: Civilization VI | The Scientific Gamer — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 22:06:44 +0000

[…] set up, which strikes me as a more elegant, less spammy version of the Public Works system from Call To Power. The only thing that Builders cannot build are roads; these are now spawned automatically as your […]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 16:50:43 +0000

When I was younger, I always preferred playing the original Call to Power over Civ 2. Can’t remember how far I got in it though, as it was over 10 years ago at this point.

I did manage however to get it installed and working stably on Windows 10 (you have to enable Windows 98 compatibility mode for it).

By: ilitarist

ilitarist — Sun, 07 Aug 2016 17:07:39 +0000

What you say about war being a pain is a still very relevant thing today.

I only learned how to fight a war properly in Civ5 when I was bored and played Diety difficulty. Before that war looked so incredibly tedious I evaded it and was pretty successful at that. Maybe I nuked someone who opposed my cultural superiority but that was it. The war was much more fun in fantasy scenarious like Smoky Skies where it felt not like an overcomplicated sideshow but as the core of the game.

By: bluetemplar85

bluetemplar85 — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 14:00:45 +0000

Last time I played C2C, I abandoned my game because dealing with all these resources and building was just getting too complex. Civ4 UI, even improved, didn’t help.
Civ4 : Rise of Mankind : A New Dawn modmod was more up my alley in terms of complexity.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 19:25:23 +0000

Yeah, after I read it I found they complement each other quite nicely; I deliberately avoided getting involved with the agents or the warfare in my playthrough because they’re such a faff so it’s actually nice there’s something out there that describes how that worked in detail. Boy was I annoyed when I found out about it though.

By: Hentzau

Hentzau — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 19:22:40 +0000

It’s less that they didn’t pose a threat to me, more that I know how much of a pain in the ass fighting a war is in CTP and was doing everything I could to avoid it.

I’ve not played Civ IV in at least five years. I’m a little afraid to go back; I have very pleasant memories of that game and I’m afraid it might not have aged all that well.

By: Darren

Darren — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 12:59:09 +0000

I don’t know, I think the timing here is a bit of a happy coincidence. Zak’s article spends more time honing in on specific quirks (like the evangelists, who sound like they’d be a fun concept to base an entire game on) whereas you’ve taken more of a zoomed out approach that really examines why the game doesn’t work at the macro level while still having a few neat ideas.

By: ilitarist

ilitarist — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:22:02 +0000

The game you describe reminds me of Civ4 mods. Specifically, Caveman2Cosmos. Go, read about it, check out the tech tree. It has techs like Franchises, Paleontology, 3D Printing, Legalized Gambling and Extreme Sports. It’s a game for people who probably want city/empire-builder sandbox, not a strategy game. Because I can’t imagine all this is even remotely balanced.

Judging from your screenshots no empire had posed a danger to you. Kitchensink, you said it. But yes, I’m nostalgic about the times when governments were more just different sets of bonuses in Civ.