When comparing Frozen Synapse vs Civilization V, the Slant community recommends Civilization V for most people. In the question“What are the best Top-Down games on Steam?” Civilization V is ranked 15th while Frozen Synapse is ranked 32nd. The most important reason people chose Civilization V is:
From the players cities and armies to the lush landscape, Civilization is quite a beautiful game for those with systems powerful enough to push the graphics to the limit. Even when on lower graphical settings the game looks lush and well animated.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Good selection of multiplayer
There are 5 different online multiplayer gametypes (Secure, Exterminate, Charge, Disputed & Hostage). There is also a hotseat mode where local players can swap turns on the same PC.
Pro Randomly generated maps
Each game has a randomly generated map, which keeps the game fresh being that it is a different layout each time payed.
Pro Multiple game modes
There' s a campaign, that takes you through a cyberpunk style story where you assisting a resistance faction in a struggle against a corporate government regime; there is a skirmish mode that randomly generates a map based on a number of criteria you can set; and a multiplayer mode with 5 different gametypes.
Pro Play multiple games at once
Since the game is turn-based you can have multiple games running simultaneously. You can even play a game over e-mail.
Pro Watch replays of games
You can watch your own games or multiplayer games of other people.
Pro Great tactical depth
Frozen Synapse has deep tactical possibilities. You have to take into account your environment (there's even destructible terrain), strengths and weaknesses of each squad member, position and viewing angles of every man on the field while developing a coherent plan of action by setting waypoints, aim directions and stance of your squad members to overcome your enemy. You can even run simulations to see how things might play out before committing to action.
Pro Beautiful graphics
From the players cities and armies to the lush landscape, Civilization is quite a beautiful game for those with systems powerful enough to push the graphics to the limit. Even when on lower graphical settings the game looks lush and well animated.
Pro Endless scenarios and replayability
Civilization V has a large assortment of nation leaders to choose from that have an even bigger assortment of scenarios that are able to play out for said leaders. Each game can be quite unique in this way as each leader allows for a different nation to be controlled.
Pro Customization through policies
Policies are used as a tool to gain a variety of customizations that benefit ones society. There is a branching tree of policies that will allow the user to pick certain aspects that will suit them best such as adding law or religion to ones society which will give gains in certain aspects.
Pro Fantastic tactical combat
Civilization V has a great combat system that feels very tactical over previous versions as there is no stacking of troops, but with the new hexagonal grid players can surround enemies as well as allow for better tactics when planning attacks.
Cons
Con Story is forgettable
The story in Frozen Synapse is generic sci-fi.
Con One unit per tile
Civ 5 restricts you to having one unit per tile, but has an AI unable to handle that restriction well, and doesn't even have decent pathing for units. Late game becomes a slog of ordering each unit individually due to poor pathing.
Con Most victories won by timed or military victory
It can be pretty difficult to win by diplomacy or culture which does add some challenge to the game but it can get tiresome if one keeps winning by only military or timed victories.
Con No stats on other Civ attitudes
Unlike past Civilization games there are no longer stats on the attitudes of the players surrounding Civilizations. This allowed one to see how each other nation felt about the player, but now that it is gone one has to guess, which is definitely not as helpful.
Con No steam workshop support on Linux
The Linux port currently does not support steam workshop, and as the mac port made by the same developers has not received workshop support despite having been out for several years, it is unlikely that it ever will.
Though there are unofficial workarounds to get the mods working.