Civilization 4

Playing Civilization since Civ 2, i had to buy the new version. Civ 3 did not have any multiplayer posibilities so i just played it once or twice. But with Civ 4 they have really made a multiplayer Gamers Dream come true. Not even the Hot Seat Function is a ingenious old fashion Idea, which nowadays is very rare, but also the Email and LAN Game Possibilities are good.

And they really made a good Job with the LAN Option. In CallToPower2 we always had Problems at some time where we had to save and all had to load it again becouse the LAN mode was collapsing from time to time. But in Civ 4 we had no Problems at all.. even when somebody touched the Windows Key in Error... no Problem. That's a big THANKYOU!

The new Animations are also quite nice as the Idea not having one scout, but a scout unit. That shows how much work they put on it. The new Startmusic is great and also generating a new World when you start a new game.

What i am not able to understand is the diplomatic part. I am searching for threats and so on, but can not find anything. There is also no trade part as in CallToPower, where you built camels and trucks to ship goods through the continents.

And what they completely fucked up are spies. All they can do is show you were all Units of a country are or you can sabotage the current production of a city. Wow.. really.. where the hell are the features like steel technology?
Why isn't there an option to spread false information somewhere? Why can't i start a demostration in a foreign city so they begin a revolution and join me?

I really would like to spread false information to foreign countries so they start a war against each other and i just help one of them.... that's what i am missing... more possible options on spies and foreign affairs.

In war when you are winning, you can not force a surrender so they join you, no way, you have to fight until the last man.

And one more thing about the Mulitplayer Mode: In Singleplayer you get a Window with a Video when producing a Worldwonder, but in Multiplayer there is nothing like that. I miss an option for that.

Last but not least i want to talk about Religions. I think it is good to have the Religions now, but why do i have to invent them all to get throught to the end of technology? Why can't i just find one and be like that for the rest of the game, if i wish it?

I think Civilization 4 is a great game when it comes to Grafix, stabilitiy, Mulitplayer. But they have to work more on the diplomatic and spy part again. Hopefully a new addon will make some adjustments there.