With regards to Civ 5 I've found that the Gods and Kings expansion makes it eminently more playable (although I'm not totally convinced by the new espionage system). For a start you aren't guaranteed to loose an embarked unit if it's attacked while at sea.
Having said that, letting 'anything' cross sea/ocean without a suitable transport ship still strikes me a truly stupid idea (but that's probably because I liked playing on island maps where the other Civs couldn't get at you until later in the game).

Never had the original Civ but one of my mates did. Civ 2 was fantastic and I was somewhat gutted when support for the Classic environment was dropped from OS X. Civ III didn't really make much of an impact as I played it a couple of times, got immensely cross when my tanks kept getting squished by pikemen for some reason, then went to Civ IV. Beyond the Sword in Civ IV is awesome. Mate gave me Civ V for free via Steam (he'd been given a free copy of the Mac edition despite having a PC). Upgrade to Gods and Kings was £10 or there abouts so not too shabby.

I have bought the gods and kings upgrade as well. Playing as the Carthaginian on islands is great as you get the free harbours, and trade bonuses. The new option of capturing ships is great. I must have captured a couple of dozen ships during my last game. It makes capturing coastal cities easier, rather than have to move infantry with shipping protection. With so many captured ships I was able to capture entire civilisations within 5 turns even on eight islands. Like you I cannot see the benefits of espionage so play with it turned off.


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Re Maplin - the staff might not have a clue where stuff is, but it's a great store with little competition...

There's usually an old guy hidden in the darkness behind the components counter who can find anything. He's probably been there since creation.

They have the occasional bargain but the prices for the small stuff are crazy (often over 10x the price of Rapid), but like you say - no competition if you want something now. What ever happened to Tandy? Not that I miss them - they were much worse.

I'm assuming the small stuff is where the real profit is, the sorta customers like me who only really go in when they need a line filter or have spied some curio online

The Bath branch didn't even have a component counter. I wanted to rip the store name from the facade, as it seemed an imposter to my eyes.

Though if you know exactly what you want and can wait then internet is cheaper. Maplins are great if you need it now. You just pay for that convenience.

News CLICKY
Given that there was no dropped kerb and that she had a wall there when the council installed it, this is a contractor fail of epic proportions. Sounds like the greedy bugger just wanted the money and did teh job anyway.

Agreed - most small side roads round here have dropped kerbs (which makes it a PITA to visit relatives and friends) and the council makes £1000 off each one. She should have sorted the kerb BEFORE sorting the driveway out.

Spotify's 'who needs piracy?' ads - nothing like continually hearing the word 'piracy' throughout the day to make you consider it

I pay for Spotify. I listen to very different musics depending on my mood, from Soul to EBM to pop and Spotify caters for that.

I don't need to with nearly 4000 CD's ripped into iTunes I could play the lot non stop over many months without repeating tracks. Though even so I do have gaps in my collection.


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Going at the going rate last time I bought a CD, that would be for 4000 months of spotify, over 300 years.

I think I got the better deal .

Yes but I support artists by buying directly when I can, especially for new acts, and the royalty rate for new acts on Spotify is pitiful. If necessary I could sell my collection and get my money back, so effectively free music for years, as opposed to renting it at £120 a year. It is just a choice.

Fun times installing memory in my Mac (see this thread in the Mac Hardware forum for details).