ATTN: LEONARD NIMOY FANS!!!
Leonard Nimoy does the narration...

...And the diplomacy is better than Civ V. The tech tree is more or less how it had always been in Civ, up until V. The various civilizations each have their own personalities, not just in diplomacy, but in how you can expect them to behave and expand (or not expand).

The only problem is that there is no limit to how many units you can stack in one space. It's a problem because it makes battles mostly about who can produce more instead of about strategy. Production is much quicker than in Civ V. Landscape and unit experience go into determining outcomes of battles - but this could be appreciated more if production and space had limits. Whereas Civ V uses hex, Civ IV like its predecessors use a grid. You may like the extra emphasis on production, you may prefer the grid.

It's a solid, quality game, as you would expect when Leonard Nimoy put his voice into it. There are many fascinating mods and scenarios. If you want to mod, then the world is at your fingertips.

Because the game is one or one and a half generations old, and not too many generations old, it's in a kind of technological goldilocks zone where it runs more streamlined, tight and solid - easier to run and to mod, it lost nothing with time. The diplomacy and civics systems and AI are all arguably better than the later Civ's... One thing that makes the AI better is that civilizations' behaviors are determined by not one but two factors: 1) the particular civilization, AND 2) unlike Civ V the particular leader - which is one more level of complexity to add more variety to AI behavior.

And don't even get me started on the fun and flexible civics system. Just go play it, study the techs to get what civics you want, and then experiment, revolutions galore!

This game has elements which future games should incorporate (e.g., Paradox games of grand strategy could benefit from becoming more Civ-like). The only reasons Civ IV is not better than Civ V are not any complicated or technological reasons, it's just that Civ V uses a hex map and sets limits to production and to space for units. Civ IV's graphics are reminiscent of Civ VI. But Civ IV is cheaper and probably more stable. If you're tired of Civ V, play Civ IV while waiting for Civ VI's price to go down.

ATTN: LEONARD NIMOY FANS!!! Leonard Nimoy does the narration... ...And the diplomacy is better than Civ V. The tech tree is more or less how it had always been in Civ, up until V. The various civilizations each have their own personalities, not just in diplomacy, but in how you can expect them to behave and expand (or not expand). The only problem is that there is no limit to how many units you can stack in one space. It's a problem because it makes battles mostly about who can produce more instead of about strategy. Production is much quicker than in Civ V. Landscape and unit experience go into determining outcomes of battles - but this could be appreciated more if production and space had limits. Whereas Civ V uses hex, Civ IV like its predecessors use a grid. You may like the extra emphasis on production, you may prefer the grid. It's a solid, quality game, as you would expect when Leonard Nimoy put his voice into it. There are many fascinating mods and scenarios. If you want to mod, then the world is at your fingertips. Because the game is one or one and a half generations old, and not too many generations old, it's in a kind of technological goldilocks zone where it runs more streamlined, tight and solid - easier to run and to mod, it lost nothing with time. The diplomacy and civics systems and AI are all arguably better than the later Civ's... One thing that makes the AI better is that civilizations' behaviors are determined by not one but two factors: 1) the particular civilization, AND 2) unlike Civ V the particular leader - which is one more level of complexity to add more variety to AI behavior. And don't even get me started on the fun and flexible civics system. Just go play it, study the techs to get what civics you want, and then experiment, revolutions galore! This game has elements which future games should incorporate (e.g., Paradox games of grand strategy could benefit from becoming more Civ-like). The only reasons Civ IV is not better than Civ V are not any complicated or technological reasons, it's just that Civ V uses a hex map and sets limits to production and to space for units. Civ IV's graphics are reminiscent of Civ VI. But Civ IV is cheaper and probably more stable. If you're tired of Civ V, play Civ IV while waiting for Civ VI's price to go down.