Civilazation 2 Game

Well, I've gone and done it now!  I found a way to play the old 32-bit Civ 2 Microsoft game on my modern Mac.  Addictive to me as ever.  I LOVE this game.

The World I've explored.  My Part of The World (the gridline places).

 I won a couple nights ago.  I built a spaceship and landed it on Alpha Centuri while the other 3 Civilizations (English, German, and Mongol) tried to join to kill me.  First time I had played in almost a year.  Now I have to try the next level up (where the AI begins to cheat to make things harder).  But I needed one good win to get used to the game again.

Each game takes about 40-100 hours to play.  And I win about 50% of the time.  I say the game "cheats", because it builds military units and city advances faster than it should.  That isn't a complaint; that's just how the game makes things harder as you advance.

When I used to play it obsessively a decade ago, I won 1 game of the 4 I tried at the top level.  I want to get back to that.

It's a detailed game.   If your people become unhappy, that city goes into anarchy and your Government  falls.  But if you build a Temple to make them happy, you are not building a Marketplace to gain gold or a military unit (and there are many from Warrior to Armored Vehicles and Stealth Bombers).  Tech advances go from spears to Nuclear Weapons.  And there are Wonders Of The World to build that provide some advantage to all or some cities. 

The levels are Chief, Warlord, King, Emporer, and Deity (or something like that).  So I won at Warlord.  Next is King.  You have to adjust some strategies at each level because what works best at one level doesn't work best at the next.

It is altogether complicated.  Well, that's why I play it.

I guess I will start a new game at the next level next week. 

Forge Of Empires

'Forge Of Empires'.  The commercial was good, so I tried it.  Its free to play.  On the other hand, it is slow to develop playing free.  You can buy Diamonds (the real coin of the game), but that is sort of like paying every time you put on a pair of shoes.  The obvious commercial strategy of the developers is to sell Diamonds.

OK, let's say you are cheap (like me) and just want to build a village for free.  You can, but you are in a limited space for days (been at this 2 days on and off).  You can.  It doesn't seem to get you anywhere though.

The site offers 50 diamonds for your email address.  I think that says it all.  Can't get much anywhere in the game without them, and you can't earn then (at least at the start).  I can earn gold by the tn, but can't figure out how to spend it.

One neat positive thing is that  you can look at every building and know how long it takes for it to "produce" in real time.  Wealth weapons, culture, whatever.  I did like that part.


They want you to buy diamonds.  That's about it from their POV.

Tried 'Call To Arms'.  Same trick to sell you game-bennies.

I better get my old Windows 98 computer fixed so I can play Civilization II.  You pay for the game, but no add-on sales.  Better game too.. 

OK, I deleted Forge Of Empires...  Suckers game...

A Good Day

Some days you spend all day doing routine work around the house.  Some days you spend all day doing one major infrequent task.  Some days you accomplish a lot of fairly unusual stuff.

Today was the last type...

1.  My online Mac computer had looked stretched out for a couple of days.  Symbols that were supposed to be circles were ovals, the text seemed oddly spaced, some sidebars weren't showing all the information they usually do, and people in pictures looked fat.  I had tried a couple of times to correct that in my settings and window sizes, but nothing worked.

2.  My offline Windows 95 computer (that I bought a month ago for playing some old favorite games suddenly stopped working).  I had just bought cheap speakers for it and there both a typical small round plug and a USB connector on the same speaker wire.  There were no actual instructions in the box, so I made a best guess and plugged in the round plug into each of the several small round port in the back.  Nothing.  So I unplugged that and tried the USB port.  Nothing.  Then I tried both.  Nothing.  So I unplugged the speakers entirely assuming they didn't work with such an old computer.

When I restarted the computer, instead of the usual Windows 95 demand to press f1 for setup or Esc to boot, I got a message saying to insert a bootable disk.  Naturally, in my cleanup campaign last Fall, I had tossed old "useless" software like the original Win 95 and Win 98 disks...  I figured I had shorted something, messed up the installed Win 95 software, or something and would have to haul the tower to the local PC repair shop.

3.  I have never been a dedicated paper filer.  Oh, I'm ORGANIZED.  A file folder for everything.  But I tend to just drop stuff on the top of the file cabinet to file "later".  The stack was 6" high and I needed several things in it.  But sorting the stack out meant I needed space, and my dining table was clutterred.  Recipes, DIY articles, computer and security advice, gardening suggestions, medical articles, etc.  Yeah, I'm a "clipper".  So to de-clutter the table meant I had to file stuff.  Catch-22!

   ----------------------

So, today I decided to tackle those annoying problems...

1.  I tried another round of correcting the setting on the Mac, to no success.  For those who don't have a Mac (and having used both Macs and Windows, I make no judgement).  But I use a Mac online, so you can tell which I prefer.  And to those of you who use a Mac and have experienced the Finder App, you understand why.  The other joy is the way Macs can stay in sleep mode without problems.

But it occurred to me that some problems can be solved just by restarting a computer.  So I actually went a step further and SHUT IT OFF!  First time in months...  After a few minutes, I started it back up.  Problem solved!  Everything looks normal again.  I concluded it was one of those "cats on the keyboard" things.  Macs have loads of keyboard shortcuts, and the cats frequently (randomly) activate some and I have to admit some of them take time to figure out how to undo.

One problem solved...

2.  Encouraged by that, I sat down at the bewly-purchased old Windows computer.  I tried restarting it.  No luck.  I tried shutting it down.  No luck.  I tried unplugging it from the surge protector for a few minutes.  No luck.  Same message demanding a bootable disk.  Considering that a visit to the PC repair shop was sure to cost at $200, I was about to but Windows 95 from Amazon or eBay, but them I recalled the stacks of game disks on the bookshelf.  I recalled that when I switched form Windows to Mac I had copied all my Windows folders to writable CDs.  Mac apps can read most standard Windows formats like .doc, .xls, .jpegs, etc.  And I had saved those (and in fact I think there are old pic and docs and even emails that I should retrieve, having deleted some trying to solve a storage proble. 8 years ago, but that is a future project).

What I recalled having ALSO done was copy the entire old Windows C drive the last time I bought a new one (on advice from a clipped article - that's why I clip stuff).  And sorting through about 30 jewel case of disks, there it was!  A CD labelled "Original From Store Basic Win 98 Configuration" dated 4/23/99... 

I hoped the Bootable File would work.  I slipped it into the CD drive, restarted the computer, and "Lo And Behold", up came the desired request to choose setup or boot.  I chose setup, which means the computer wants you to establish the date and time, display resolution, etc, just like the first time I started it after purchase.  It opened Win 95 again, and sure enough, the few files I had added since purchase where there.

When that was done, I took out the old CD copy of the Win 98 program, slipped in the game disk (Civilization II - Best non-real-time play-at-your-own-speed strategic fighting and city-building game of all time...  And I could play it again!

Two problems solved...

3.  The paperwork filing was in no way tricky, just unbelievably tedious.  To make room om the dining table, I sorted out all the clipped articles and set them on the kitchen counters (at this point do I really need to tell you that I had to clean the kitchen first, LOL!)?  So after that, I had an empty table to sort out the bills.  It's amazing how many types of them there were.  Some are monthly or quarterly, so I knew they needed their own spots.  Some come in a bunch at once (like vet bills).  Some are nearly one-offs (stuff that isn't regular).  Those got their own stack.  Some were tossable (like the 2017 recycling pickup schedule and my 2018 Health Care Insurance Plan summary).

Iza wanted to help, so that meant rearranging a few stacks.  But I eventually got them all sorted out.  Which them meant arranging each group by date.  Finding the dates on some bills can be hard (companies that keep rearranging the layout on their bills should be penalized). 

But I started with the smallest stacks and arranged them on the floor by date (Iza was happy to help again).  I filed those.  That finally left some space on the table and I got through all the stacks, filing as I went.  What a relief.  And I found a few of the documents I was looking for.  I even had some letters and poems that had stayed on the bottom of the stack the previous time I had sorted and filed stuff.

I think I should end this post and discuss those next time...

But today had some good endings and that doesn't always happen.  So I'm pretty pleased with the day's work.  And of course that doesn't count the routine stuff.  I'm celebrating getting the odd stuff done.

The New Old Computer

I meant to post pictures of the new old Windows computer with the previous post, but I had over 100 various pictures to process (and I do a lot of resizing, cropping, and light/color adjustment*).  Feeling lazy, I didn't.  Now I have.  Mainly, I took the pics to document the unboxing process in case of damage, but since I had them...

The box was perfectly sized.  I mention that only because it seems to be a generic box.

It was very carefully enclosed in bubble wrap.  

For an old Windows 95 machine, it was in very good shape.

The A drive (the minidisk) doesn't seem to work, but since I don't have any of those it doesn't matter right now.  I could get it replaced if I needed to.  It makes a lot of noise when booting up, and I don't remember if that is normal.  But it gets quiet again afterwards.

I love the way old Windows towers label the basic ports.  It was nice to see ports labeled for the mouse, the keyboard and the monitor.  Unfortunately, I didn't have those old mouse and keyboards, but it did have ports for the newer mouses (mice?) and keyboards.  An old monitor (I keep stuff) did work (one of those funny old multi-pin plugs).

So I plugged a mouse and keyboard in the USB A style ports right below the labeled ports.  And rebooted it.  Neither worked, but the monitor did, so at least I got messages about that.

I mentioned I keep stuff.  Well, sadly, I had gone on a moderately serious decluttering binge a few months ago and threw out most of my "old never useful again" cables.  I bet I tossed a few adapters that would have worked! 

So I visited a computer store, a Best Buy, and a Walmart.  None of them had the adapters OR any mouse or keyboard with those old PS/2 input cables**.

I went to Amazon.  Bless Amazon, they had adaptors.  Anxious to play the old Civ2 game, I ordered a pack of 2 adapters AND a dedicated old PS/2 mouse (just to be sure).  I could have ordered a PS/2 keyboard, but after I dug around in the computer room closet I found an old one.  It was large, it was complicated by dozens of specialized buttons, it was dirty, the letters on the keys are faded.

But it worked... 

So the adapters and the PS/2 mouse arrived in a week (3rd party seller).  The mouse works perfectly.  I cleaned the old keyboard ***.  I loaded the game and started at the easiest level (its been a while).  After about 16 hours, I am WAY ahead (and only about 1/2 way through).  I guess I still remember the basics. 

It is like being addicted to some uncommon game (like Stadium Checkers) and meeting a new friend who also loves the game and has it (I do).

Can you guess I love games?

* I don't mean like Photoshopping them, but Mac Preview allows some pretty good fast adjustments.  I routinely crop all my pics first, then increase the "definition" to 90 of 100, then increase the lighting (brighten the pics) and lower the color (so Marley doesn't look Neon Orange, LOL).  But it is still 1 picture at a time.  I wish I could do the settings in groups.

** I don't want anyone to think I just know all the hardware stuff.  I had to look up  all the kinds of ports to figure out what I needed.  Searching "computer port images" was very helpful.

*** I spend a lot of time outdoors so I sort of live around dirt.  I learned the best way to clean a keyboard is 1) Unplug it.  2) Vacuum it with a brush nozzle.  3)  Turn it upside down and tap the back gently several times.  4) Then spray a glass cleaner on a soft cloth and WHILE holding the keyboard upside down, (so no cleaner gets into the keyboard innards) wipe the keys in all directions.  Works for me.

Old Computer Game, Replayable

This is long, and the last parts are more important that the early parts...

In 1998, bored with discussion boards and playing old established games like Monopoly and chess and scrabble and backgammon, and missing complex strategic games by Avalon Hill like Gettysburg and WWI Origins, I went searching for a good computer game to play.  I finally read about a game called Civilization 2.  There was a Civilization game where you build cities with buildings and military, etc, but the sequel was more highly rated and complicated.  There were competing civilizations, more buildings, economics, and military units and even spaceships to land on Alpha Centuri toward the end.  Players raved about it.  So I gave it a try.

I bought it on a Friday.  I played it 36 hours by Sunday night.  I was addicted.  I was near the top of my career then, and while there were challenges and problems to solve every day, I was bored.  The only step up was into management.

Quite frankly, I don't like having to tell other people what to do (Forgive me, but self-starters like me don't quite understand why anyone needs to be told what to do).  Management had long before stopped bothering me with instructions and I thought we good worker types needed fewer managers.  So I didn't want to go into management.

It's like the old observation:  Those who can't DO, teach.  Those who can't TEACH, administrate.  Those who can't Adnimistrate, join the School Board.

The money would have been nice, but I had more than I needed.  So I enjoyed my little kingdom getting "outstanding" ratings each year and wasn't bothered by anyone.  All that Management cared about was that everything I did worked.

But I digress...

Civilization 2 was addictive.  It was like chess on steroids.  Many more possibilities and the game was far more varied.  You never saw the whole board unless you got a spaceship near the end of tye game (and most games did not get to spaceships).

You start on a randomly-constructed world of land and sea.  You can choose 2-6 other AI competitors (and they are very good).  You choose to face "no barbarian tribes" to "Raging Hordes".  You can play at 5 levels of difficulty.  The game starts and all you see is a Settler and 10 squares of about 10,000.

You build a city at first in a square you choose.  There are valuable land squares scattered around, and the terrain is grass, plains, forest, hills, jungle, etc.  Then you choose how to construct a civilization with more cities, technical advancement, military units, useful buildings, etc according to your choice.

Eventually, you come in contact with other civilizations.  You can deal with them with diplomacy, war, trade, etc.  The other civilizations have their own personalities.  Some are militaristic, some peaceful, some traders, some diplomatic, etc.

There are also Wonders Of The World to be constructed (more than the traditional 7).  Some provide storage for food in all cities, some increase military strength, some increase technology discovery.  It can get maddeningly complicated.

The goal is to either get to Alpha Centuri first or destroy the other civs or at least be more advanced of all the others at the end.  The game goes from 4000 BC to around 2100 AD (I forget).  But like I said, It is a long complicated game.

A typical game view:


It was just what I wanted.

And then the awful day came!  As Windows computers advanced, Civ 2 was no longer playable (bitspeed complications).  I tried Civ3 and hated it (it introduced "spheres of influence" where adjacent civs could just absorb your city into their civ, and I hated the loss of control.  And my old Windows computer literally fell apart and stopped working.  In hindsight, I should have just brought it to the local Windows repair shop.  Sometimes, the blinding obvious escapes one...

Several years ago, I tried playing Civ V (said to be similar to Civ 2 but with better graphics).  All I found were choices that were SO complicated they were nearly random, and enemy units that could be reduced be almost never eliminated.

I tried hard to "get" the game, but I never did.  And my own units FOUGHT me in the direction they would move (apparently, the AI was over-ruling my decisions).  I gave up on Civ 3.

So I searched for ways to play Civ 2 on newer Windows and Mac computers.  There were a lot of suggestions.

One was to partition a Windows drive to act like that part was an old Windows 98.  I couldn't make that work (and I am good at following computer instructions).  Another was "How to play abandonware games".  I couldn't make that work either.   A few other suggestions on Civ 2 discussion sites were no more successful (most comments were "that doesn't work" so I was not alone in my lack of success).

2 weeks ago, I went to Civ 2 discussuon site and someone said her Dad loved the game so much she bought an old Windows workbook for him to play it on and he was thrilled.  DUH!  Why didn't I think of that before?

So I went to the local PC repair shop and asked about an old Windows PC and showed him the requirements on the game box.  His look was of disgust...  But he said he might be able to find the parts in a week, but had I checked eBay?

I checked eBay.  Bought one (no returns allowed).  It arrived.  Took some work to find old cables, but I eventually had everything I needed.  Turned it on.  It rattled for a few minutes, and told me there was no keyboard.  Of course there was.  It just was recognizing it.

I have a junk closet.  Stuff I want to keep for possible future use.  I found an old Windows keyboard WAY back in there.  Ugly thing with command buttons all over it.  Close to this but worse (a series of dedicated buttons on a curve over the top). 


I had an old mouse but needed a USN to round port connector and got one from Amazon in 2 days.  I connected both and turned the computer on again.  It got me to

It worked!  I loaded the old Civ2 dick into the drive and continued.  It recognized the disk.  I went to "escape" to boot to install, and that worked.  The game loaded!

I played it briefly to make sure it worked and shut everything down...

Now, if you will forgive me, I have a game to play.  You might not see me again for a while...

Bad Day

I'm not sure if I sure mention this, lest you all think I'm a crazy person.  But I'll type it out and decide whether to post it afterwards.

I get frustrated sometimes by inanimate objects.  The computer develops a problem that takes time to solve, the car doesn't want to start, old equipment doesn't want to work,  doors suddenly stick, etc.  I'm tenacious about solving problems, but that doesn't mean I don't get angry about them sometimes.

Recently, I'm been trying to download software that claims to let you play old games on modern computers.  By which, I mean that some old games programmed to work on old computers don't work on new ones.  Its usually that old games are in 16 bit processors and new ones work at 64 bit so the old ones just can't can't work fast enough.

My favorite game of all time is Civilization 2.  I understand the game.  There are versions up to Civ6 now that work on new computers.  I don't like them.  Why I don't like them doesn't really matter.

I would just like to play Civ2 again.  There are sites that claim to "upspeed" the old program to 64 bit compatibility.  I can follow instructions, but I have never been able to make those work.  There are some that claim to make it work on a Mac.  I can't get those to work.  And there are sites that discuss how to partion a part of a modern Windows computer to operate in older Windows versions to play old games like Civ2.  I can't get those to work.  Some of the suggestions involved connecting a Windows computer to my Mac (or vice versa) and those didn't work either. 

And apparently, I'm not alone.  While some posters at thge sites claimed to have made the changes work, most said they couldn't in spite of having a decent level on computer experience.

But I made a 2 day try at following the various instructions this past weekend.  I discovered that the options mentioned in the instructions didn't exist or that the options did exist and had no affect or that the downloads (loaded into partition files) were not accessible, etc.

The people who write the instructions might actually be correct, but leave out steps that they consider "obvious".  Or they might be just making stuff up to look smart on a site and never visit there again.  Who knows?

The best suggestion was from a Gen Xer who said he just bought a cheap old Windows laptop that matched the Civ 2 requirements and his Dad was successfully and happily playing Civ2 every few nights.  I'm the age of that guy's Dad...

After several years of fighting about this with the modern computers (because I would really rather not have more computers), I think I will visit the local Windows computer store and see if they have an old one that will play Civ2.  I thought of that a year ago and never followed up on that.

So what does all of this have to do with my anger?  Well, with all the rewiring I had to do connecting and changing connections between my Mac and Windows computers and an old Windows (but not old "enough"), I had this telephone cable that kept getting in the way.

Given the level of frustration I was feeling at the time, I suddenly started yanking on it to get it loose.

It eventually came loose and I lost my telephone signal!  I didn't realize that immediately, of course.  It was only 2 days later when I tried to place a call that I discovered a problem.  I tried to track it down another day.  Then I looked at the end of the ripped-out wire and saw a dozen small frayed wires all tangled.

I was getting ready to email my ISP and request a service visit.  But then a took a pair of scissors and snipped the cord clean.  My telephone service worked again immediately.

It was SO EMBARRASSING!  I'd shorted my wires...

Maddening Games

One of the games I play on the computer is Civilization 2.  You have to build a spaceship from a start of a few primitive Settlers against 3-6 AI bots.  Well, you can play against other people, but that takes a lot of computer work). 

The game is designed to defeat you.  You build various units and city parts, the AI builds them cheaper.  The better you do, the more the AIs cheat.  But I love a challenge.

I've been struggling with it for years.  I thought I knew all the formulas for building a fast spaceship.  Last week, the computer found faster ones.  I launched one to land at Alpha Centuari (the goal) in 2000 and the AI built one afterwards to land in 1999. 

So I went back some turns and managed to build one that would land in 1992.  The computer made one that would land in 1991.  Built one to land in 1985, they computer built one to land in 1983. 

It's crazy.

I even build one to land in 1965!  The computer built one to land in 1964!  And that was after I used spies and aircraft to destroy all the spaceship parts of the AI civilization every late turn!!!

But I'm persistent.   I finally went back and revised my construction to land one in 1960.  And won...

Overall, it took 5 all-nighters, 5 bottles of wine, and a carton of cigs.  So who won?  Well, the company that sold me the game, of course (they aren't to blame for the wine and cigs).  I was so angry after all that cheating and time that I took the disk out of the drive and broke it.  Only to find it was all loaded onto the hard drive anyway.

I bet ya I'll do better next time, LOL!...

Blast From The Past

I got my old PC up and running in order to play Civilization 2 (aka Civ II), which I haven't played for about 10 years.  I knew I would be rusty at it, so I started he game at the lowest level. 

For those who are not familiar with the game, you and several players (human if online, computer bots if not) each start with  their own single barely historic settler and decide where on a random map to create a first city.  You slowly work up to modern times by learning weapons, governments, and knowledge advancements.  There are politics involved.  The goal is to be the one who launches a spaceship reaching Alpha Centuri.  It is wicked tricky and complicated.

I reached a point in my first new game where I was getting to build a spaceship.  And when I say "build" I mean you really had to construct your spaceship from parts you built/bought/stole in your own constructed cities or your opponents.  You needed some various precise combinations of "structural components", "propulsion units",  "habitation units",  "fuel",  and "energy".  Different combinations had different consequences.  Some made the spaceship fail.  Some caused the inhabitants to die.  Other combinations affected the likelihood that the ship would arrive, and others affected the years of the flight.

It is an AWESOME game!

I recalled that I had once worked out many of the best combinations of the spaceship parts, so I googled "civilization II spaceship formulas", figuring someone had posted them.

You won't BELIEVE what I got at the top of the list...

MY OWN LIST.  Still considered part of the Civ II bible after all these years...

In a site for info for Civ II players  by various categories (like how to defend a new city, when to use a spy, and when to break an alliance).  And THERE, in a page of its OWN, was a page titled "Optimum Spaceship Configurations"  by Cavebear.

I blushed...

But yup, that's me, Cavebear.  I even recognize my usual typos and unmatched parentheses.

I'm stunned. 

You don't expect to see anything you did a decade ago still meaningful, especially in a game.  It brought tears to my eyes...

I can't quite get a screenshot, but it is HERE. 

And I sure hope I get to use that decade-old info on the winning spaceship tonight.

Computer Happiness

I dragged the old PC to a local PC repair shop.  I mainly want to use it to play Civilization2.  Its a 90's game.  My Mac is too modern to play even the old Mac versions and my attempts at downloading Mac-to-PC crossover platforms failed utterly.  So I brought my old PC in for cleaning and rebooting.  They said they could do that, though getting a Windows 98 reboot might take some research.

Fine.

But then I casually asked them if they could clean a Mac.  Not work on it, just clean it enough so that the evil Apple Store (who considers a little cigarette smoke a "toxic violation of OSHA working conditions") would repair one.  And I'm not defending smoking here, I hate it myself.  Lets not get into that.

But OMG, OMG, OMG, they will work on Macs too.  They even have "a Mac guy"!  So after I returned home to retreive the Civ2 CD I meant to bring at the start, I brought them the old $3,500 Mac Pro that has been a doorstop for some years.

They said "sure, we can clean and fix that".

THUD!  I'm not kidding.  "THUD!!!"

I think there are the old pictures of Skeeter and LC on that hard drive.  There are old letters to Mom and Dad.  There are old family pictures.  There are old games of Civ2.  There is stuff I don't even know is on there!

And when I pick up the old PC and the original Mac, I will bring them the previous Mac Mini to clean.  I'll sell the old (working) Mac Pro (minus the hard drive) and will add the newly working Mac Mini with a wireless connection (I hope) so that I can visit our cat friends away from the desktop.

Assuming they can really fix Macs.

You have to understand that the nearest Apple Store is almost an hour drive away, AND you need an appointment you dare not miss by a minute (or you stand in a long line), AND its in the middle of a BIG CONFUSING MALL so you have to carry a 20 pound Mac Pro around for an hour, etc...

Man, if these local guys will actually clean and work on Macs, they have a customer for LIFE!!!

But we'll see...

A Blast From The Past

I used to play a complex strategic computer game called Civilization 2 (not an action/shooter game).  There would be a large map (unseen at the start) and you would slowly establish and improve cities with military, civil and science improvements.  You would discover the map as you moved slowly.  You started around 3,000 BC and very gradually moved to launching a spaceship to Alpha Centuri competing with up to 6? 8? other players.  The game took many hours to play.  I was obsessed by it.

But I quit when the new version (Civilization 3) of the game gave less and less control to the player and whole cities would switch sides to another player for no particular reason I understood ("through cultural influence").  And then I switched from Windows to Mac and my CD didn't work any more anyway.  So I moved on to blogging.

Well, I suddenly developed a great desire to play the game again.  I still had the old PC around and thought to have it cleaned and upgraded, but then decided that I liked internet multi-player competition, so I simply bought the Mac version of Civ 2.  The CD should arrive in a few days.

But I wanted to review some of the game strategies and looked at the current Civ 2 discussion board.  Its been 7-8 years since I played.

Imagine my surprise when the very first post I saw was advice FROM ME.  LOL!  And it was quoted by someone else as "from veteran player xxxxxxx", ME.

THUD!

It is going to take a while for me to get back into the details of the game.  This rejoining the game is going to be VERRRY INTERESTING...  I'm going to get KILLED at first until I remember the old strategies and catch up on the new ones.  But that's the kind of thing that keeps the brain working, you know?

I could die of many causes.  But brain boredom ISN'T going to be one of them.  LOL!

[Update:  The Civ 2 CD arrived today.  I am devastated.  The CD is too old to load on my up-to-date Mac...  My anticipated thrill at playing Civ 2 again is stomped by technology failure.  It looks like I will have to get the old Windows computer cleaned and working if I want to play Civ2.