An homage to the greatness of Simcity 4

[A Black Falcon]

I tried SimEarth when I was younger... had no clue what I was doing and gave up and haven't played it in many years.

SC4 doesn't have than many powerplants, but I think it has enough. Wind, fossil fuel, solar, nuclear, fusion.

SC2K had oil, natural gas, hydro, wind, solar, nuclear, microwave, and fusion... SC3K removed the hydro (and maybe microwave) and added the two garbage incinerators. Not a good trade, removing two nearly pollution-free plants and replacing them with a very highly polluting one...

Sorry no waterfalls in SC4, but there are plently of other landform to keep you busy.

So when you edit maps you can't make water go over hills? That's stupid...

No arcos in SC4 either, although they were really cool the arcos were just a little...unrealistic.

Unrealistic, but really cool and since SC goes into the future why not have some 'futuristic' buildings?

SC4 doesn't have the Llama Dome but it does have a "Tourist Trap" which looks like a llama.

It's my favorite bonus building in the series...

I disagree. I actually like Civ III better than Civ 2. I like the idea of requiring resources to build units and the extra fight to secure these assets, I LOVE the bombarding concept (which suddenly makes cannons, artillery and catapults NOT worthless), I love the idea of national borders and culture war (something I've wanted to see since the first game). I love how trade and diplomacy no longer require units. I like the idea of civ-specific units, golden ages, and the diplomacy in Civ III is a hundred times better than Civ II. I love airlifting and precision bombing. I love taking on fifteen opponents at once.

Honestly, with the exception of a few missing units, I don't think anything about Civ II is as good as Civ III. And I'm surprised I think so, after being so terribly disappointed by Call to Power and getting bored so quickly with Alpha Centauri.

Maybe the expansions improve Civ III, but I don't have them, I just have the original game... and it's lacking. Now, part of it is probably just that I haven't played it very much, which is true. I haven't played it enough to really adjust from Civ II, so when I play it I wish it worked like Civ II... I just haven't played Civ III that much. I haven't even finished a game of it... I've started several but find myself playing Civ II by the end of the sitting...

First, I love scenarios. Civ III doesn't have them unless you buy the expansions. Civ II had them in it's expansions too, but I have both expansions so I've been used to having all these scenarios available... I think they're great.

Second, I hate bombardment! Catapults and cannon used to be great units and now they can't even kill a militia! Not useless, but dramatically changed... I liked them a LOT better when they could kill things. They were better.

National borders? You mean showing them on the map, of course. Civ II has them implemented similarly, just without lines... yes, putting the lines on the map was a huge improvement in the series for sure. Nice thing brought from Alpha Centauri.

I also hate how you cannot irrigate from the ocean. I've been in games where I'm surrounded by mountains and ocean with no rivers so I cannot irrigate. That is just idiotic...

I also vastly prefer Civ II's music. Civ III has okay music, but Civ II's is better... that is if you have the Fantastic Worlds disc, which is the only one that actually has all the music on it. Multiplayer Gold Edition is lacking all the original disc's songs, and the first expansion doesn't have the ones added in the second...

Also, the editor. I like Cheat Mode. Oh, sure, with the expansions Civ III lets you create scenarios too, and I admit, Civ II had to have the expansions added to really get the mod-making tools into the interface, but still... they were in Civ II by the end of its cycle! I think I should expect them in the RETAIL Civ III, not in the SECOND expansion... and still you can't do the stuff directly in the game with the Cheat and Edit menus like you could in Civ II. Big loss in the game.

Oh, and the map editor has no minimap! Most idiotic design decision ever!

Several more things. Wonder Movies! I love them! The static pictures are just idiotic replacements for the cool movies.

Also, health. I definitely prefer Civ II's health bars to Civ III's hit points... oh, sure, I know they were trying to get rid of the "firepower" thing where each one had a rating that affected how it would do damage, but still... health bars are better than a crude meter like having three hit points. And I like those little shields... :)