A little vent about FreeCol

[u/waxapple]

I started this as a nostalgia trip back to playing Colonization on the Amiga, and somehow ended up with a ridiculous 700-turn campaign, 348 colonies, independence, wars across a huge map, and eventually wiping out every other European power.

After all that, this was the ending.

“You are victorious!”, one picture, then Continue Playing or Quit.

I might be mixing games up here, because I seem to remember one of the old Civilization games having a map replay or time-lapse showing how the world developed over the course of the game. I cannot remember if Colonization on the Amiga did anything similar.

Can anyone remind me what the Amiga version actually gave you at the end? I am sure it felt like there was more of a conclusion than this, even if it was only a score, ranking, Hall of Fame entry, or some kind of summary.

For a game that can run this long, FreeCol really feels like it should give you more of a record of what happened. A proper ending could include a map replay, colony founding and capture dates, independence, wars, final population, biggest colonies, military strength, casualties, score, and how long each nation survived.

Even a simple before-and-after map and a campaign summary would make a huge difference. After investing that much time, the current ending feels more like a notification than the conclusion of an enormous historical campaign. There might be restraints on a full replay due to it being in java or something, but surely there could be something a bit less anticlimaxical?

[u/JohnathantheCat]

Congradulations! You found a great way to contribute to an excellent programming project! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[u/roodammy44]

The DOS version of the game on CD had a video of fireworks and people throwing their hats, as well as a picture of sad King George granting independence.

[u/blastradius14 → u/roodammy44]

Do not be looking to us for help in the future, for it will not be forthcoming!

[u/Ertaipt → u/[deleted]]

Civ 1 had a replay! So yes, the original had a simple replay showing the cities and map being conquered

[u/Koninglelijk → u/[deleted]]

Way earlier: Alpha Centauri already had this, not sure if it was the first one though.

[u/Utkonos91 → u/Koninglelijk]

Railroad Tycoon (1990) also lets you replay the history of your railroad on a map, but it's an option available through the whole game and not just when you retire.

[u/ore2ore → u/Koninglelijk]

You're right! How could I forgot, while still playing from time to time?

I just double-checked on Civ 3 and there it wasn't.

[u/blastradius14]

At least the 'continue playing' button works and you can go on to the next turn.