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Age of Empire III or Civilization IV?

J

Joyus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 17, 2009
17
0
Hey Guys,

As above, Im looking for a decent RTS that will keep me occupied. I have seen the two mentioned, (but please offer other suggestions if there are better ones)...I know both have two expansion packs and tbh i havent played many RTS and dont know which is worth going for? Which would you advise?

Thanks
 
Joyus said:
Hey Guys,

As above, Im looking for a decent RTS that will keep me occupied. I have seen the two mentioned, (but please offer other suggestions if there are better ones)...I know both have two expansion packs and tbh i havent played many RTS and dont know which is worth going for? Which would you advise?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Personally i`m a sucker for Age of Mythology, cos i love the god spells. But any Age of `game` is pretty good.
 
After you ever played an "Age" or "Civilization" game? I ask because the game play is very different. Civilization focuses on developing the infrastructure of your country along with turn based combat. The "Age" games are more combat focused and (as a rule), the only infrastructure development is in direct support of combat, plus you have many more units to control requiring, (as a rule) much more micromanagement, requiring a higher level of real-time strategic input on your part.

Because Civilization is turn based, you have lots of time to think about your choices. I could never stand Civilization multiplayer because games drag on FOREVER. It could be argued you micromanage in Civilization too, but there it is on a different level and you can automate infrastructure units. Battles are conducted looking at the big picture, and consist of moving one or several large group of units into another square, where combat commences and based on stats, the game decides who wins. If you want involvement in the battle, "Age" games are better.

Big picture, I'd say both style of games are fun and in some ways Civilization can be more satisfying -if- you are into that style of a game.
 
Huntn said:
After you ever played an "Age" or "Civilization" game? I ask because the game play is very different. Civilization focuses on developing the infrastructure of your country along with turn based combat. The "Age" games are more combat focused and (as a rule), the only infrastructure development is in direct support of combat, plus you have many more units to control requiring, (as a rule) much more micromanagement, requiring a higher level of real-time strategic input on your part.

Because Civilization is turn based, you have lots of time to think about your choices. I could never stand Civilization multiplayer because games drag on FOREVER. It could be argued you micromanage in Civilization too, but there it is on a different level and you can automate infrastructure units. Battles are conducted looking at the big picture, and consist of moving one or several large group of units into another square, where combat commences and based on stats, the game decides who wins. If you want involvement in the battle, "Age" games are better.

Big picture, I'd say both style of games are fun and in some ways Civilization can be more satisfying -if- you are into that style of a game.
Click to expand...


No i havent played either before, i just heard good things about them. Tbh i think i would be more into the combat and conquering side of things...so im thinking that the "age" games will suit me better...Thanks :D
 
Joyus said:
Hey Guys,

As above, Im looking for a decent RTS that will keep me occupied. I have seen the two mentioned, (but please offer other suggestions if there are better ones)...I know both have two expansion packs and tbh i havent played many RTS and dont know which is worth going for? Which would you advise?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Buy Cossacks if you're using boot camp, the game was inspired by age of empires, it's set in the 17-18th century, and you can have much larger armies than in AoE
 
I prefer Civilization personally, but RTS games are a blast and AoE is excellent.

Turn-based vs. real time *does* make a huge difference. And until you get decent skills, a RTS can be much like herding kittens.
 
age of empires was one of the best RTS games in the biz when it was released. I have various versions for mac and PC. I love the stuff :)

I would go with age of empires myself, but thats just my personal feelings :)
 
I still think AoEII was the best.

Civilization would offer more replay value IMO. Mostly because a round takes can take awhile.
 
Joyus said:
Hey Guys,

As above, Im looking for a decent RTS that will keep me occupied. I have seen the two mentioned, (but please offer other suggestions if there are better ones)...I know both have two expansion packs and tbh i havent played many RTS and dont know which is worth going for? Which would you advise?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Rise of Nations Gold
 
Thanks for the input guys :D

I heard that Sid Meier's Pirates is good as well?? Anyone played this?
 
Joyus said:
Thanks for the input guys :D

I heard that Sid Meier's Pirates is good as well?? Anyone played this?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's very good game. I would heartily recommend it, altough my opion is influenced by me being old as Moses and having played the original 8-bit Pirates! on Commodore-64.

Of course, it's also totally different genre and gaming experience compared to the two games you orginally mentioned.
 
I liked AoE3 more than AoE2, but I spent far more time playing the various Civ games than AoE. Completely different types of games. No need to choose, just get both. And yeah, get Pirates too, that's a good one....

--Eric
 
I think Age Of Empires 3 is the best choice, as it has many campaigns in single player mode and offers two expansion packs adding 6 new civilisations and and 6 new campaigns.
AOE3 is about building up your village for military troops if you have none you will lose so you must train up as many units as you can some of these units include:

Calvary: Bowmen, Swordsmen, Lance-men
Infantry: Spearmen, Pikemen, Swordsmen, Long Bowmen, Red coats
Artillery: Great Bombard and a few more cannons.....

theres plenty of buildings and has 5 different difficulty settings. This is a great game and has really addicting gameplay that has you coming back for more every time you turn on your mac!

Although note because the battles are quite nice it may require you to have a decent graphics card if your unsure you should probably check the back of the box for compatible graphics cards just saying.....

anyway I would give AOE3 a 10/10:D
 
Joyus said:
Hey Guys,

As above, Im looking for a decent RTS that will keep me occupied. I have seen the two mentioned, (but please offer other suggestions if there are better ones)...I know both have two expansion packs and tbh i havent played many RTS and dont know which is worth going for? Which would you advise?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Civ IV is not a real time strategy game, it's turn based. And it's extremely complex and very addictive - in my opinion the best computer strategy game that was ever created. I've been regularly playing it since the original Civilization (for DOS) was released and never grew tired of it.

I don't know the "Age" series, but if "Age of Mythology" compares to "Zeus", then it's definitely worth playing.

BUT: If you have the option of playing those games in Windows, I strongly recommend buying the Windows versions. The Mac release of Civilization IV is buggy and slow, and you can also get the game with both expansion packs for less than the price of the Mac version without the expansion packs.
 
aoe3

Dude get Age of Empires 3

and get a game ranger account

tonssss of hours playing

i love the game
 
Joyus said:
Hey Guys,

As above, Im looking for a decent RTS that will keep me occupied. I have seen the two mentioned, (but please offer other suggestions if there are better ones)...I know both have two expansion packs and tbh i havent played many RTS and dont know which is worth going for? Which would you advise?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Age is Real-Time-Strategy while Civilization is Turn-Based-Strategy... you're comparing apples to oranges^^ completely different genre...
 
Go for AoEIII. It is simply amazing graphics + gameplay (plus cheats are hilarious eg, a giant Tommy truck + giant stone head of george "crushington" washington that jumps around crushing enemies)
 
I have both version for mac and i think you will find AOE much easier to get into. The learning curve isn't as steep with this game and i prefer it over Civ 4. But then that could just be me as i find it hard to get into Civ games. I never liked the way the battles are all stat based and random as opposed to AOE where you have direct control over each unit and can employ tactics in combat
 
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