I'm just starting a new game of Call to Power 2 (CTP2), in which I'm the Vikings. In this game, I sent out my hoplite to explore the world. Yes, that technically left my capital undefended... but... shhh. It's still around. At first, I tell myself I'll only explore this one river. It turns out to be a very long river... and then I encounter another river. That eventually leads me to Washington, D.C. A hoplite (note: in the Sid Meier's series, this is a "Phalanx") is not really a good attack unit. It's great at city defense, but that's it. Knowing this, should I risk sending my unit to attack the Americans?


( The Battle of Washington, D.C. )

I'm playing Civ 4 right now instead of doing anything productive. In this game, I am the Arabs. I have the vast majority of the land (~70%) and 59% of the population. I am very close to winning... without war. I haven't gone to war once in this game. For some reason, in Civ 4, I find myself worrying most about culture and domination (cultural domination and the largest civilization) instead of military power.

I'm also very close to converting another Mongol city to joining my civilization. One city already insisted on being apart of the Arab empire... another one is close. I hope. There's strong resistance, however. I've been trying to bring it into my empire for a while now (without military force)... but it's stayed with the Mongols. In the screenshot, my empire (the Arabs) is in green and the Mongols are the brown color. Notice where the boundary for our two empires is, relative to Beshbalik.

Do you like every Civ game there is? Then you'll love Civilization Chronicles, which includes Civilization I, Civilization II (gold edition), Civilization III, both Civilization III expansion packs, and Civilization IV. Also included are some specials, such as a a 96-page book on the history of Civilization, a DVD explaining the creation of Civ, and an original Civ card game.


Photo Source: http://www.civfanatics.com/

I had a dream I was not only playing my most recent Civ 2 game, I was telling people about it. I don't remember much from the dream, except that I was explaining how my area was the orange on the map- and it covered the majority of the map. After I explained that, whoever it was to, said, "Wow." Also, I think my maps were shown with Thiessen Polygons. I completely blame the GIS lab I should have been working on yesterday for that... although it did produce a very cool (and orange) looking map in my head. Much better than just the usual dots on a screen. I guess it was similar to the way area is portrayed in Civ 3, Civ 4, or even CTP (1 & 2). I decided to turn my game into an icon to show my addiction.

I'm literally caught in the middle of the war between the Russians and the Aztec.
( In the middle of war... )

I guess maybe I should try working on my applications instead of playing Civ 2 (but it's just so much fun!)

I'm playing a game of Civilization 2 using a small world... an extremely small world: 20x50 squares, which is just about as small as you can get in the game (seriously- it has a minimal requirement of 1000 squares)

What makes this world so tough? Single land squares between ocean squares. Lots of mountains. Few inhabitable places. There's a plains square southeast of Veii that's starting to look good. It's between two ocean squares and otherwise surrounded by mountains and hills... but two mountain squares have iron- which would make it a very productive city (although very small).
( Image of the world )

Being the addict that I am, I made civ4. It's a small group so far, but I'm trying to make it into an active community. Also, if you want to see the problem with the graphics I was having, I have links to screen shots in this post.

Hmm... this morning, I had some great philosophical question I wanted to write an entry about... but I forgot. Hopefully I'll think of it while I'm not paying attention in biogeography.

It's a... a... (gasp) quiz. Yes, but with Civilization 4 being released on Tuesday, I felt this one was very appropriate.

Civilization IV will be released on Tuesday. I've heard it's addictive. (How addictive is it?) It's so addictive the game has a built-in clock... complete with an alarm.

Official Site (Note: Flash plugin might not work with Firefox)
Civilization IV @ Apolyton
IGN Civ 4 Review
Civilization 4 @ Gamespot
CivAnon- get the help you need.

For some reason, I thought Civ 4 would be released Monday. No. Wrong. TUESDAY! I will pick up my pre-ordered copy on Tuesday sometime. I won't get to install it until that night, after my last class ends at 6:30. I'll probably buy it in the time before that class... and during the class, I'll read the manual. I don't really need to pay attention during biogeography, right? *cough* *refers himself to CivAnon*

I just pre-ordered Civilization 4 at EB Games (free shipping if you pick it up in-store!). I was originally planning on waiting to buy Civ 4, but there is a special "Pre-order Edition" (which includes a CD-soundtrack, a spiral-bound manual instead of the usual-type, tech tree, and keyboard laytout. It's all pretty trivial, but it does come in a special box. More importantly, it doesn't cost any extra.).

In my city's newspaper, people have been calling in to the "Sound off!" section saying that if anyone's offended by the city logo (with the crosses on it), they should move. I think that is completely ridiculous. Most people in the city probably agree that the crosses on the logo aren't religious- but rather, put on for a historical context (not to mention the name of the city means "the croses"). I do see, however, that having three crosses could potentially be seen as a religious act. I think those who are [considering] taking the city to court over it have merit. I think it's great that instead of just being offended, they're doing something they believe is right. They see a potential injustice and are trying to change that. Why should anyone live in a place they are offended by? They shouldn't. Should they move? I don't think that would solve anything. The potential injustice would still be around. I, therefore, applaud those individuals because they are standing up for their beliefs- even though I don't agree with them.

Marriage is love.

Yeah. I'm just like everyone else, except for those daRned straight supremists... and "family protection" advocates (despite the fact that the "typical American family" exists in smaller portion of the population than they'd like to think... one that probably makes less than half the population)... hmmm... yeah. I made my point. Go away. It's Civilization time. [I have my cavalry and marines... and cannons... Watch out, s0rr0w]