And what does any of this have to do with Civ4 and favorite civs? 
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Favorite Civs?
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LKendter Wrote:And what does any of this have to do with Civ4 and favorite civs? Nothing. However, we're not as prickly here about Off Topic stuff or which forum a discussion belongs in. UNFORTUNATELY, our forum is not defaulting to Fully Threaded, so a lot of you (maybe even most of you) are reading it sequentially. Gris and I, and most other old timer RBers, have changed the forum views to Threaded, where sidebar discussions can occupy their own subthreads without disrupting the flow of other subthreads. When our forums were at N54, everybody saw them as fully threaded. ... I am not sure what the answer is. We may need either to switch to fully threaded views as default (not sure if that's possible) or else... Heck, I don't know what other alternatives there are. Certainly is not healthy for the community to be divided on forum viewing arrangements. Having (for instance) half of us on fully threaded view, and conducting precise discussions in various subthreads, and the other half seeing all replies sequentially with everything jumbled together, is going to cause some problems. People with fully threaded view, who take advantage of it, are going to confuse or irritate other people who are reading sequentially. Those who read sequentially often end up "posting in the wrong subthread" according to how the thread displays to fully threaded viewers. ... It's a bad mix! Our tolerance for Off Topic arises from the fact that it provides little disruption to a conversation (unless it grows too large). Gris?  Griselda to the rescue! Save us from this madness!  2: *Crosses Fingers*  - Sirian
Fortune favors the bold.
LKendter Wrote:And what does any of this have to do with Civ4 and favorite civs? Sorry for the off topic discussion, but the fantasy genre is..... well back on topic. I am actually quite fond of FDR, I like to chop settlers at my second city and build wonder after wonder in the Capital, my third city produces exclusively miltary, all the other cities work infrastructure, I really like this strat  , but in fuels my already overfeed addition to wonders  . -Atlas
Back off-topic,
 , I think the greater role of Arwen in the movies than in LotR itself, while perhaps done for commercial reasons, also happened to give the movies a taste of the wider Tolkien milleu (i.e. Silmarilian, et. al.), where elves like Arwen who struggled with the question of mortality vs. immortality (most particularly Luthein) play a central role.
Elessar Telcontar.
Expansive/Philosophical. Starts with Hunting/Mysticism Unique Unit: Periannath (replaces scout).
Favorite Leader: ... ... not Montezuma? ... A close tie between Cathy, Liz and Mansa... Liz is probably one of the more powerful leaders (Fin and Philo- Gold and GP), with a marvelous UU, but I played my first Civ 4 game as the Mali, so... Julius Caesar is nice too.
The Best Fantasy Author Ever: A little, British man by the name of Terry Pratchett. Period. Why? He combines humor with a richness for storytelling and an excellent character creation and development. Why? Read Night Watch or Small Gods... actually, just read any book he's written that is NOT Eric (apparently it's supposed to be illustrated...) He combines the inspiration for fantasy (real life) with the best writing I have ever seen. I never tire of reading his books (except Eric). I highly reccommend it. And, in other News, the Daily Bruin is the best effin' College Newspaper. Don't believe me? Then why don't you check this out. Still fasting from Civ until the celebration of Salvation, Zalson Atlas Wrote:Robert Jordan is the I'm surprised that no-one in this entertaining diversion has yet mentioned the author who would be my pick as Tolkien's successor; George R. R. Martin. For depth and breadth of world and intricacy and unpredictability of plot I believe that "Song of Ice & Fire" currently unrivaled ... this coupled with his willingness to turn all your expectations on their heads and allow characters to grow in unexpected ways. Atlas Wrote:Robert Jordan is the Dragonlance (Weis/Hickmann that is, along with their other good works - Death Gate, to some degree that one about the sword, and crap....) was great reading to grow up on when I was 9-10, but it doesn't really stand the test of time. I'll enjoy re-readings for nostalgia sake, but beyond that, it isn't really in the top class of fantasy writing. Those two do win the award for the silliest looking writers in the genre, which is a DAMN tough achievement in the area of fantasy authors!!! The Wheel of Time is clearly the most complex, impressive, interesting, multifaceted, piece of fantasy writing ever. It isn't as impressive as the LoTR just by sheer fact that it came afterwards, but minus historical comparison/influences it is infinitely superior.
Hi,
Dreylin Wrote:For depth and breadth of world and intricacy and unpredictability of plot I believe that "Song of Ice & Fire" currently unrivaled ...I fully agree! That, plus his spare use of magic, has made it my personal fantasy favorite right behind LotR so far - but I'll reserve my final judgement until the saga is complete. I only hate it that 1) he took so long to write his latest book (makes it hard to follow such a complex storyline), and 2) that he decided to split up the plot into two lines, leaving half of the characters out of his latest book for the next book. That's a break of style mid-story that feels wrong. Other than that (and point 1 isn't a complaint about the story itself of course), it's outstanding and highly original! -Kylearan
There are two kinds of fools. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." - John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider
Wow. Can't believe I managed to stay out of this for so long.
Xenikos hit the nail right on the head about Weis and Hickman. I first read the Dragonlance saga in Junior High and I really liked it. The books are fun to read, but they just don't provoke much thought. GRR Martin - I have purposely avoided this series. Many of my friends love the series, but the last thing I need right now is another series that is in progress. And that brings me to Jordon. The first 6 books were awesome. The next couple ok, the next to last was just plodding and pointless, but he seems to be back on track with "Knife of Dreams." That was one of the funnest reads I've had in years. Pratchett never really did it for me. The ideas were good and made me laugh, but the writing just didn't engage me. And finally I have to apologize, but given the subject of this OT thread, I have to give a little plug for my friends. A pair of friends just had their first Fantasy Novel published and I may be a bit biased, but I thought it was pretty darn good. So if you get a chance check out Heir of Autumn by Todd Fahnestock and Giles Carwyn |
of fantasy. Of course the most recent book just came out this past Fall, so we can expect the next about 18-24 months from Oct. 05.'