This was the best of the bunch (although I miss some of the III scenarios and I miss the WW1 style infantry that just looked and sounded deadly).
But it still stacked units and that is necessary for the PC to be an actual threat. When you don't stack... wars are sort of boring and void of all challenge when you face off against the AI.
So the stacking was still here and they made cultural victories so difficult that you no longer had to disable them to avoid an accidental win (which actually makes cultural victories a little more respectable).
The space-race is an actual race this time (but, again, it works better when you play against a human than when you play against the AI).
And the introduction of religion makes for a fun turn. It aids in alliances, it makes the game feel more like there are linked cultures.
IV is where Civilization hit it's high water mark. Despite it's short comings this is the best of the series. It's almost a decade old and this is still the game I fire up when I have a long wait on my hands and want to kill time.
But it still stacked units and that is necessary for the PC to be an actual threat. When you don't stack... wars are sort of boring and void of all challenge when you face off against the AI.
So the stacking was still here and they made cultural victories so difficult that you no longer had to disable them to avoid an accidental win (which actually makes cultural victories a little more respectable).
The space-race is an actual race this time (but, again, it works better when you play against a human than when you play against the AI).
And the introduction of religion makes for a fun turn. It aids in alliances, it makes the game feel more like there are linked cultures.
IV is where Civilization hit it's high water mark. Despite it's short comings this is the best of the series. It's almost a decade old and this is still the game I fire up when I have a long wait on my hands and want to kill time.