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***Set Your Expectations***

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 351 / 376
Date: November 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've only been playing this expansion for a few days, but I'm disappointed. Mostly by one thing: there's some misleadin' goin' on. For one thing, this expansion includes both the features from Play the World and the new items. This is OK; this was explicit in the product description. Unfortunately, it didn't differentiate between what is from PtW and what is in Conquests, so "five new Wonders" means "four new wonders--oh, and the one from PtW."

Fair enough. It isn't that big of a deal. But it also lists all kinds of things: you can trade salt! And exotic birds! And you can switch to the Tribal Council government! Except for one thing--whoops!--these are only available in the specific campaigns in the game. They do not show up on the normal game. This infuriates me, because quite frankly what's left ain't worth the thirty bucks I knew I'd regret putting down for this. The non-campaign specific features that are added aren't even close to being anything more than what should show up on a patch.

Firaxis has done this to me before, and I'm starting to feel like a punching bag. They do put out an excellent product, but they rake you over the coals with crap like this. (The Civilization III Gold pack--which had Civ III + PtW, but not this product--conveniently came out about a week before Conquests was announced. Thanks, guys!)

I'll be the first to admit that there's a handful of good things to come out of this. Two new government types (Feudalism and Fascism) are nice, though they don't seem to be much of an alteration of existing governments. New civilizations keep things interesting but are by no means all that impressive. The new civilization attributes (Agricultural and Seafaring) are kind of cool. I think the new specialists (Policeman and Civil Engineer) will be helpful, but I haven't been able to use them to their full potential yet. But that's it. Everything else that's new are just refinements and settings. The few things that are wrong with Civilization III are still wrong (lousy alliance AI, dragging end game, impossible-to-please diplomacy, inherent bias against any type of victory except bloodlust). I like the new additions. I don't like being fooled.

How To Screw Up A Really Good Thing

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 133 / 136
Date: February 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a GREAT expansion pack. Particularly if you skipped "Play The World" (as I did). There's more, more, MORE of everything, and enough interesting gameplay tweaks that it makes Civ 3 feel like a brand new game.

What makes it so good?

* New tribes to play. Or, perhaps more importantly, new tribes to play against. The Mayans can be a terror.

* New tribe attributes. Seafaring! Agricultural! OK, that doesn't sound that exciting, but it definitely has an impact on gameplay and strategy. Agricultural favors the AI such that the new Killer AI tribes are almost always those with the Ag trait, like the Celts.

* Boosted navy! Combined with the Seafaring, navy is still underpowered, but way better than before. On an archipelago map, seafaring can mean the difference between a breezy success and a slow slog.

* Boosted airforce! Bombardment in general is boosted, so everything from catapults to stealth bombers feels a little more useful.

* Fewer resources! Wait, fewer resources? Well, not fewer KINDS of resources. Just fewer all around. You either have to learn to play very nice with the AI or very mean.

* Entertaining scenarios! From the cradle of civilization to the 20th century, you can have your turn (sorta) re-enacting historical events. These can be fun, fast, intense, changes of pace from the epic game.

* New techs/wonders/governments! The unit-producing Statue of Zeus and Knights Templar are a hoot. The Temple of Artemis is amazingly powerful (but very short-lived). The Internet--well, like all the modern wonders, it seems a little too late. But it ain't bad. Fascism is a blast to play if you want to live out your Great Dictator fantasies, but you can see the AI self-destruct with it, too, unfortunately.

So, how was this Really Good Thing screwed up? Bugs! Bugs o' plenty! If you're a casual player, playing particularly on Chieftain or Warlord levels (maybe even Regent), you might not notice the bugs. Not at first, anyway. There are patches, oh, yes, there are patches, unofficial though they may be. But the situation seems to have arisen because the game was yanked out of public beta toward release-time, then tweaked and re-tested internally. Unfortunately, this game is too deep and often too subtle to be effectively tested by any in-house crew. Result? They managed to break trade, corruption and resource-distribution in the final release.

An official patch will eventually be released. Probably before the summer. Until then, you have the choice of living with bugs, or living with a beta patch (which might introduce its own bugs), or simply waiting to get the game.

There's an even more serious problem, really, underlying these changes. Trade is absolutely vital with the resource reduction. Either you find a way to trade, or you find a way to conquer, which may not be a play style you want to be forced into Every Single Game. The problem is, the trade and diplomacy systems are not sophisticated enough to meet this increased need. If you need iron, but it's all being traded, you can't offer the AI any incentive to trade it to you when the current deal is up. Those deals get made in-between turns, so you often don't have a shot.

So these fabulous changes are not only marred by bugs, the whole game creaks under them. And it's a long way to Civ 4.

Solid with a few minor flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 34 / 35
Date: November 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I will start off by saying this is a solid expansion pack. Is it worth the money? I say, "maybe." It is definitely worth it if you don't already have PTW. Otherwise, I'd knock off 10 dollars. But anyway, on to the review!

The additions to this game are very nice indeed. The new civilizations are well balanced and very well thought out. They have their strengths and weaknesses of course. Two new civilization bonuses are now here: seafaring and agricultural. In my opinion, these SOUND weak on the surface, but they are very useful underneath; they are self-explanatory as well; one helps your ships and gives you extra commerce in the water, and the other lets you produce more food.

There are a few new units in the main game, the greatest addition being the TOW infantry in the Modern Age, with an attack of 12 and defense of 14. The best thing about them? This unit is in the Warrior-upgrade line; meaning, your swoardmen/med. Infantry/guerillas can be upgraded to units that humble the 16.8.2 Tank. (Note: they have a bonus against armored units, but Modern Armor still outclass them when the MA attacks).

I have a few complaints: The AI still cheats. Those who play the game know what I'm talking about. Also, new wonders (and a few other ones), and new city improvements do not show up when you take a bird's eye view of an individual city. The maximum allotted time to research techs has been increased from 34 to 50! That's insane. There's nothing worse than researching a tech in the first age and waiting now sometimes 50 turns. Spearmen are still too powerful. I can't explain this, but Civ III vets will agree: I have never seen a unit with such a lousy defense rating destroy so many good offensive units as the damn Spearman. I swear I've had more Tanks destroyed by spearmen than infantry. I understand the paper/rock/scissors for determining who wins each "round," but you'd think Firaxes would include modifiers for units that are, say, 2 complete ages ahead of the other.

But the main complaint I have is the lack of information regarding the new units, buildings, wonders, resources, etc. I was really excited to hear there were about 10 new resources to trade. Unfortunately, these are limited to the scenarios and are even very difficult to add into your own scenarios. In scenarios, whether a pre-created one or one you create, you no longer can build your palace, and the bird's eye view is completely gone. These are oversights that are annoying at most, but still...

Overall, this is a great game. Hopefully they will have a patch soon that will address some of the minor annoying things that can get in the way of an overall enjoyable playing experience.

Gives new life to the old formula

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 24
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Buy Conquests if you've played Civ3 to death (can such a thing happen???) and are looking for a new twist -- namely, professionally-made scenario packs that evoke major eras of history.

I'm a Civ3 addict, but sometimes the "Epic" game goes on way too long. Conquests offers 10 scenarios that focus the game on specific objectives / limits that let you sit down and finish a game in "only" a couple of hours. This solves a major problem for me -- once I pause an epic game (you know, when you need to sleep, go to work, whatever), I sometimes can't get back into it.

The scenarios each offer custom units, techs, rules, and even music to set the right mood. For example, the Mesoamerican conquest (Incas vs. Mayans vs. Aztecs) encourages warfare by rewarding players with culture points for enslaving and sacrificing the enemy; treats jungle terrain as grasslands for production purposes; allows you to build cities on mountains; and features its own, vaguely Andaean/tribal, music track. I've found the first conquest, where you must build the Seven Wonders, most fun because it's the smallest, and I like shorter (less tedious) games.

If you're looking for exciting expansions on the original or PTW game, let your budget tell you whether it's worth $20 to get a handful of new civ's and Great Wonders. But if you're looking to breathe new life into the game, definitely get this.

(This hardly bears repeating, but the new scenarios also make great templates/inspiration for the beefed-up scenario editor, for all you modders).

New Improvements for Grand Old Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 26
Date: November 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

CIV3 Conquests is the second expansion pack for the original Civ3 game, and the improvements are welcome. In addition to some intriguing new scenarios (not yet tried by this reviewer) Sid and the gang have tweaked the game play, and added new civilizations, bringing the total up to 31. Two new civilization characteristics have been added, agricultural and seafaring (note that the English from the original game are now seafaring), and several new resources have put in appearance in the main game: I have noted the presence of bananas and tobacco. And as if those endless jungles are not sufficiently maddening, players now have marshlands and volcanos to deal with.

There are two new, even harder game levels for the maschoists. And there are several new wonders. The tech tree has been made more logical, too. Now you can't trade maps until you research navigation, and to trade communications you have to have the printing press (also logical). Best of all, perhaps, watercraft appear early in the game with the curragh. Although you can't load units into these, they can still map out a lot of territory for you before you can build galleys (which these upgrade to). Maybe now you'll not be so quick to throw up your hands when you discover your civ. is alone on an island and reroll.

Early wonders, which expire before ye hardly knew them now play a part later in the game too, as they become tourist attractions.

There are two new governments, feudalism and fascism, when turn up at appropriate places on the tech tree, and you'll probably want to experiment playing some of the new civs--especially if, like so many people, you decided to skip the "Play the World" expansion pack. All of its civs are included here, as are the improvements introduced in that expansion pack, among them the ability to move all units in a stack with one mouseclick.

Enjoy!

Solid upgrade for single player

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 21 / 21
Date: January 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When I originally reviewed the Civilization III game it was a lying, cheating, money-stealing demon, this expansion fixes all of that. The game has received some very substantial interface, mechanic, and aesthetic improvements in this newest expansion. The new interface options, like advanced (formerly keyboard only) controls and renaming individual units, have made vast strides in relieving the original interface's crippling minimalism. As far as game mechanics go, the greatest increases in game playability have come from new science advances and new citizen abilities. The addition of the policeman/woman and civil engineers in the city screen has given the game vastly more flexibility in terms of building improvements and units. Most of all, the police powers of the policeman/woman allow the long-term use of governments like monarchy, despotism, and republic without the hobbling effect of corruption. The addition of new Civs and new special units also allows players who have become bored with the game to re-ignite their enthusiasm for the game by exploring new cultures, units, and advances. Aesthetically, the game's addition of unit naming, something originally added in the Play the World expansion, allows nerds like me to name each unit individually and create a sense of continuity in the advance and upgrade of units. There haven't been any major changes to the graphics, sounds, or system properties of the game so if that's all you want you'll have to wait for civ4. The inclusion of the Play the World expansion pack will allow people wanting the multiplayer experience to gain that without shelling out extra cash for two expansions. It is important to note that if you already have the PTW expansion, you need this expansion to get most of the upgraded features and all of the new techs and Civs. I'm not a fan of multiplayer games, so I'll leave that up to someone else to review, but if you're looking for a good way to squeeze more play time out of the Civ III you already have the Conquests expansion will do it. Oh, one more thing, the conquests and other miscellanea added with this expansion are essentially more scenarios. So, if that's your thing, well, it's there and it's new.

Extremely addictive, and it makes CIV 3 complete

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 22
Date: June 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Although I am a long time fan of Sid Meier's games, I was somewhat disappointed with Civ 3 when it came out. However, this expansion pack more than makes up for it. If you've got Civ 3 I highly recommended that you get this, as it adds many more civilizations, scenarios, units, goverments (feudalism and fascism) and building options, and other things that probably should have been in the game in the first place.

The only negative things about this are that it doesn't allow palace building in the scenarios, and the "events" from civ 2 that made the scenarios so exciting are absent. Had these been included the game would have been a lot better. Also, the game does slow down on bigger maps, even on a fast computer.

Concerning the January 10, 2004 review, I hardly think CIV 3 compares to GTA Vice City in terms of violence and depravity. I'd much rather have young kids playing this and learning about history, world cultures, and science than running around shooting people and stealing cars. (Not that I have anything against GTA Vice City, which is a game I also happen to enjoy; GTA & CIV are different games for different audiences, and it's not fair to compare them) The Meso-American cultures practiced HUMAN SACRIFICE. If you don't like it, don't practice it. In the game, if you want to you can use democracy to usher in a new era of global peace and freedom, or you could be a fascist dictator and destroy your enemies with nuclear weapons. How you play Civ is up to you, and that's part of what makes the game so much fun.

Civ III Conquests: A Big Improvement

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: December 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When the original Civ III came out, I was a little bit down on it. There were a number of features that I thought should have been carried over from the old Civ II game, and I also thought that there were a lot of cool features that could have been used from Alien Crossfire as well. The thing I hated most, however, was the ridiculous "cultural conversion" feature that, in my opinion, detracted from gameplay.

Civ III: Play the World corrected most of these problems, added new units and tribes, and was a much better game overall. Civ III: Conquests has continued this upward path. I love the new tribes (especially the Incas) and techs, as well as the new wonders (such as the Temple of Zeus and Knights Templar) and the wide variety of new units, including the more numerous barbarians. These new features improve the regular game, making it both more enjoyable and harder to win.

I was a little sad to see a couple of my favorite tricks go by the board, particularly the ability of a militaristic civilization to build Great Wonders easily by sacrificing a military great leader. The new rules, and the advent of the scientific great leader, make the whole Wonder-building thing a lot harder. I also still think that the AI Civs are cheating too much. Their trade deals are almost always one-sided, unless you are about to wipe them out, and they have total knowledge of the world map, something that the human player cannot achieve until he has discovered navigation. They also seem to have an almost magical ability to manufacture combat units without the necessary resources, to trade techs with each other but not the human player, and to complete Wonders just before the human player does. Of course, this is counterbalanced by the fact that the AI is still capable of immense tactical stupidities. AI development still has a long way to go, and I hope we won't have to wait for the invention of the positronic brain to get there.

Finally, even though I am more comfortable playing a militaristic expansionist civ like the Zulus, I do agree with other reviewers that one problem with the game still is that the royal road to victory lies through conquering one's opponents, not outdeveloping them. This is particularly true at the higher levels, where the AI civs seem to be a lot more aggressive.

All in all, though, I'm pretty happy with the game and would highly recommend it to veteran Civ III players. I have just begun to explore the game, but am looking forward to discovering all its new secrets on my own -- at least until I break down and buy the newest strategy book. Sid level, here I come.

Conquer them all with Conquests

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: April 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This supplement goes a =long= way to addressing some of my complaints about the original Civilization III.

Since Civilization I, this game has always been one of my favorite games to play on the computer, both against the computer and against others. When adding this expansion to Civilization III, Conquests becomes the game for others to beat again when it comes to world building games.

First some bad news - if you already have the "Play the World" supplement, you already have some of the material that's on this expansion. The "Play the World" material is included with Conquests.

Now the good news. This expansion adds a =lot= of new material to a game that sorely needed the boost. There are seven new Civilizations to use. Each civilization now has at least one unique unit - such as the Mayan Javelin Throwers, Portuguese Carracks, Swiss Mercenaries, and Sumerian Enkidu Warriors. There are a few new tech advances. There are a couple good disasters to avoid. The new "locked alliance" feature allows you to team up with another civilization more or less permanently. There are several new resources - a couple of which are pretty strange. There's a couple of new Wonders of the World to build. Several new government types. "Stealth Attack" is a cute way for you to start (or finish off!) wars. The two new civilization types (Agricultural and Seafaring) don't seem to add much at first, but try playing with them to see how much they really do change the outcome of games. Finally, the new levels of difficulty (including "Sid" - the hardest of all) add a couple new levels of complexity.

But the best features of this expansion are the scenarios. There are many to try - each with its own challenges. Almost all of the scenarios have a basis in historical fact - a nice touch. From ancient almost prehistoric men to beyond the present. There's great game play in the World War Two scenario or the Napoleonic Wars. Or try the MesoAmerican scenario to see the most of what the rule changes in this edition did to improve the game.

And the game has been fixed so that you can try to play by yourself. Instead of telling you "you have won" after the first turn, the game now allows you to develop a civilization from its infancy to the stars without any distractions. This is a great feature to try for learning the pluses and minuses for your chosen civilization, and makes for a great teach yourself the ropes mode before challenging online players. But do try to fight the computer first...

Now some bad news again. If playing with the multiplayer option, you =must= trade with neighboring civilizations, or conquer them. This limitation subtracts from some of the luster of the game.

But with that as a given, players of Civ III should get this disc. If you were dissatisfied with the limitations of Civ III, then this expansion will eliminate most of those complaints. This game is now the one to watch until Civ IV.

wait 2 years for future titles to be sure of quality...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 18 / 23
Date: February 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Not to sound like a tight-wad, but I'm seriously disappointed in this franchise since CIV 3 came out. I have been an avid player of the CIV franchise since the first game, and bought the 3rd installment the day it shipped to stores for $60 in the overrated LIMITED EDITION tin. (it was all they had) I was throughly disappointed in the product. It was shipped incomplete, with numerous bugs that required several patches, no multiplayer as was originally promised, and a SORRY modding kit. Then came Play the World. Finally, multiplayer as promised... which required another $30 to have. So the game was up to $90. Bugs, problems, more patches. Then they released the GOLD Edition with CIV3 and PtW. $40. Then comes Conquests a few months later. Great, more stuff! With ANOTHER $30 price tag. I feel sorry for those who shelled out the $40 for Gold Edition, only to have Conquests arrive with PtW included. That brings the total to $120. Thanks Firaxis. I'll remember to buy your games a few years after they come out from now on. That way I get the quality promised when all the bugs are ironed out. Everything included in PtW could have been in a patch, INCLUDING multiplayer, and Conquests should NEVER have had a $30 price tag. Ridiculous.

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