Civ IV vs Civ V -- which should I buy?

[DeadPoolX]

This isn't a "such-and-such sucks" thread, so please, don't attack. :)

I don't own either game and the last Civ title I played was Civ1 in DOS back in 1993. At the time I was either too young or too impatient (perhaps a little of both) to handle a strategy game like this one.

That said, I've played some other strategy games, ranging from XCom (the original ones) to GalCiv2 to the Total War series. I tried Victoria 2, which was fun, but the interface seemed clunky to me.

So anyway... now I'm looking to buy a new Civ game and Steam has both Civ IV and Civ V. I've heard good and bad things about both. What I'd like to know is why should I or shouldn't I purchase Civ IV or Civ V? I'm not buying both.

I only plan on playing single player only and mods aren't a huge deal for me; they're nice if available, but I'm not buying a game purely for the mods themselves.

Thanks ahead of time!

[BulletMagnetEd]

Personally, I prefer Civ5 since they added the "Gods & Kings" expansion pack. IMHO, Civ4 is great, but Civ5 with G&K is a little bit better.

[Uncanny Mr. Spalk]

Depends. Civ IV doesn't look as fancy, but I feel it has more content. Beyond the Sword has a LOT more civilizations to choose from.

[Agent Orange]

Your gaming history sounds a lot like mine. Personally I'd get CivV if I were you. I did anyway. I like it a lot. Granted, there are some annoyances but then I like it better than Civ4. Granted I only had the base Civ4 game though and I liked Civ3 a lot.

[-=[DARK]=-Lt.Patx]

Civ IV is a great game...you definetly cant go wrong with any of them, but I always hated "Unit Stacking" in IV so I mainly played Part 5 (since Gods & Kings made it so much better)

Referring to the Greenman Gaming Sale ,with the Exp. for only 3.15 €, you should buy (Normal/Goty) Civ V at Steam and G&K over at GMG = cheapest way (dont forget to add the 30 % off Discount Code, visible at the Homepage)

(Civ 1 is still my favorite...by the way...^^)

[bloodyen]

Civ 4 IMO is the best Civ Game, it has the most content and the best experince, plus more mods then you can ever imagine! (Rhye, Revolutions, WWII, Guilds, UCES, ect.)

[ganndarusonn]

both game are low price. i mean, play them :)

[DoubleJumperz]

If you are in the US or Canada, you won't have to make a choice if you are ready to spend 20$. Amazon has the 2K Strategy Super Pack for 19.99$ and it includes Civ V game of the year edition + Gods and Kings Expansion, Civ IV: The Complete Edition and The Stronghold Collection, all redeemable on Steam!

[timtheterrible]

What DoubleJumperz said.

[DeadPoolX]

The 2K Strategy Super Pack isn't available for Canadians. In order to buy it off Amazon.com (as opposed to Amazon.ca, which doesn't offer it) I need an American billing address to match my credit cards, which all have Canadian billing addresses.

Aside from that, however, it's a very good deal and one any American strategy fans shouldn't pass up.