Civilization, et al

[mjmjr25]

My son is hooked on Civilization 5 - he played the base game this past week and was absolutely loving it. He is asking for the base game and the expansion.

I showed him the first games and he wasn't digging the graphics of the first 3, but would like 4 with the expansions.

1: Amazon has Civilization IV The Complete Edition for $14 - questions:
It says it runs on pretty much every windows system but what Windows 8 / 8.1. Would this run on a newer OS? I'm thinking it might? It doesn't list 8 as it was released before 8 was out...

2: The Alienware Alpha PC/Consoles - are they primarily for GOG/STEAM or do they run CD-Rom games like this as well?

3: If I install the game on one PC; can I install it on another? Or is there like some encryption that prevents it from being installed more than once?

4: Do I need the discs in when I play?

5: Are the first 3 games worth it as well? He's pretty sure the graphics are too much of a turn off, but if the gameplay is quick and fun it'll probably make up for older graphics; on the other hand if IV and V are just that much better all around - he may not be interested in them at all.

[Opa Opa]

If it's the same as the Civ IV copy I have then it is Drm free. You should be able to install it and not worry with the disc. No clue if it works on Windows 8 and up...

[Tanooki]

If you don't have a problem with Steam they have it all on there, but it's currently $30 for everything so you'd need to wait for one of their fairly often 50% off sales.

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/4323/

At least you'd be sure it would work on Windows 8

[MrPopo]

I'd say Civ III is probably the farthest back he'd be willing to go; the number of feature additions in III is pretty huge. But I don't think III is worth playing over IV.

[mjmjr25]

Alrighty - thanks for the replies.

As far as STEAM; we saw it on there, but for $13 to have a nice boxset it's worth it - even if we rebought on STEAM too - obviously the big thing is will it work on the current OS's I have on my PC's.

I'm gonna order IV for his birthday and if it turns out to not work on Win 8 or higher; then it is what it is and it'll hopefully be worth it just for the stuff in the complete box edition - maps and booklest and whatnot.

[fastbilly1]

Ask around, someone might have a spare copy of IV on Steam via the Humble Bundle.

Personally its Civ2 with Fantastic Worlds or bust for me, but I did have a heavy Civ3 phase last year. Civ 4 and 5 never clicked with me in the two games I gave each of them.

[Ack]

I'd say Civ III is probably the farthest back he'd be willing to go; the number of feature additions in III is pretty huge. But I don't think III is worth playing over IV.

Probably, but Civ II is my personal favorite in the series.

[MrPopo]

I'd say Civ III is probably the farthest back he'd be willing to go; the number of feature additions in III is pretty huge. But I don't think III is worth playing over IV.

Probably, but Civ II is my personal favorite in the series.

Same here, but that's probably because it's the one I spent the most time in. Once III hit I was in the phase of my life where I was on a fast connection and pirated tons of games, so I never devoted the time to III that I did to II. And then IV and V were after I graduated and had a job, so I was instead purchasing tons of games.

[noiseredux]

1: Amazon has Civilization IV The Complete Edition for $14 - questions:
It says it runs on pretty much every windows system but what Windows 8 / 8.1. Would this run on a newer OS? I'm thinking it might? It doesn't list 8 as it was released before 8 was out...

older (like much older) Windows games *can* be fussy on newer OS's but there's often workarounds. However, you *shouldn't* have any issue w/ a Win7 game on 8/8.1/10.

2: The Alienware Alpha PC/Consoles - are they primarily for GOG/STEAM or do they run CD-Rom games like this as well?

You'd need to plug in an external optical drive to use a disc.

3: If I install the game on one PC; can I install it on another? Or is there like some encryption that prevents it from being installed more than once?

Assuming it uses Steam as the DRM, it will be linked to your Steam acct and accessible from any PC you have Steam installed on.

4: Do I need the discs in when I play?

I'm guess no. Some much older games did this, but nowadays discs are just installers. You install it once and then don't need the disc anymore.

[mjmjr25]

My son just got the Civ III and IV set for his birthday.

Question - will a factory $300 PC play this ok? Or should I install on my more powerful rig?

Ideally it will be on the cheap factory PC as that's in the living room - but if it's going to hobble along - then i'll put it in the bedroom.

Specs on the cheap PC:
Intel Celeron J1800 2.41 GHz Processor
4 GB DDR3 RAM
500 GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive