Civilization V Catch-All

VEM seems to be the mod-to-have right now. Lots of rebalancing on the tweaking level and on conceptual levels. Lots of players swear that it's CivV-as-it-was-meant-to-be.

LarryC wrote:

VEM seems to be the mod-to-have right now. Lots of rebalancing on the tweaking level and on conceptual levels. Lots of players swear that it's CivV-as-it-was-meant-to-be.

Thanks LarryC, that looks interesting. I'll give it a shot. Mostly looking forward to the Religion and Espionage expansion! Note to Publisher, mid-June is not "late spring".

Thurgrim wrote:

Note to Publisher, mid-June is not "late spring".

Or is it?

clever id wrote:
Thurgrim wrote:

Note to Publisher, mid-June is not "late spring".

Or is it? ;)

By God... everything I've been told is wrong!

IMAGE(http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/288/653/844.jpg)

I fired this game up for the first time in a long time today, and Steam said it was "updating it to a new and more efficient format", and then there was much churning and downloading. Still waiting for it to be ready - anyone know what that's all aboot?

It's free this weekend on Steam!

My wife got it a while, ago, but I played it for the first time today. Five hours later - yep this is Civ! I don't know if I would play it again though. I just like going through and stomping on the computer, getting the win, and never looking back. Yes, that's not a challenge, but since I've played the series so many times before, I'm not really into learning a new system.

Thurgrim wrote:

Just started picking this up again thanks to a lull in new games I want to play. There are a crap ton of mods that have been made since I last played and I'm wondering if anyone here has a "must have" or top list of mods to recommend?

NiGHTS is also a decent mod. It's kind of a "Civ4 BTS" mod for Civ 5; it makes the tech tree more tree-like and adds a lot of new units and buildings. I've just scratched the surface of it so far. It really makes being a "builder" fun again.

Looks like the expansion is available for pre-order on Steam and elsewhere with a release date of June 19th. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but $30 seems like a lot. (Though it's 10% off for now.)

Key Features:
Expanded Epic Game: The core game experience has been greatly expanded with the addition of new technologies (like Combined Arms), 27 new units (like the new 1-hex ranged unit Machine Gunner), 13 new buildings (like the Bomb Shelter), and 9 new Wonders (see below). Additionally, there are even more new units and buildings included in the three new Scenarios for modders to use.

New Civilizations: The expansion will deliver 9 new civilizations, such as Carthage, Netherlands, the Celts, and the Maya (it is 2012, after all), along with their unique traits, units and buildings. The expansion also includes 9 new leaders including William I, Prince of Orange, Boudicca and Pacal the Great.

Religion: A righteous people will seek out Faith to found a Pantheon of the Gods. As your Faith becomes stronger, you can cultivate Great Prophets who build on these simple beliefs to create a religion that you can customize and enhance as desired. Are you tolerant of other religions or is this the one true faith? Are you focused on Gold, Arts or Military? Beliefs can even unlock custom buildings that only people of your religion can construct. Great prophets, missionaries and inquisitors help you spread your beliefs to other lands and gain the alliances of City States, and like-minded civilizations.

Enhanced Diplomacy and Espionage: Establish embassies at foreign courts for closer ties (or clandestine operations). As the religions of the world start settling in, and the world moves into the Renaissance, you unlock your first spy (with more to come). Send them out to establish surveillance of foreign cities, steal advanced technologies from your strongest or wisest competitors, or interfere with city-state alliances. All of your actions can have a diplomatic impact if discovered, so always tread carefully.
City-States: Two new city-state types have been added (Mercantile and Religious) to bring all new advantages to the table. The city-state quest system has received a complete overhaul to decrease the importance of gold and add a whole range of new quests that further the narrative of the game, as well as make the diplomatic victory a more varied option. Ally with Marrakech to get access to their unique luxury resources! Vatican City and Jerusalem are holy cities that play key roles in the religious struggle.

World Domination: The fight for world domination is now more dynamic than ever before. The Gods and Kings expansion features a reworked combat system and AI that puts more emphasis on a balanced army composition. The new system allows your lines to stand longer than they could before, so you, as a player, can make smarter tactical decisions without worrying about a single unlucky roll of the dice.

Naval Combat: Your navy is now split into two different ship types, melee and ranged. This means that no coastal city should be considered safe, and can now fall to a surprise naval attack. Additionally, all embarked units now have Defensive Embarkation, and can stack with a naval unit for extra protection. Add to this the new Great Admiral, and the high seas have become a much more dangerous place.

New Wonders: There will be 9 new Wonders with all new effects including Neuschwanstein, the Great Mosque of Djenne, the Terracotta Army, the Great Firewall, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Three new Scenarios:
Medieval: Grow your medieval kingdom into one of the great nations of Renaissance Europe, fending off outside invasions from Mongols and Ottoman Turks and fighting the religious wars of the Crusades and Reformation!

Fall of Rome: Play as either Eastern Rome or Western Rome trying to fend off the barbarians OR as one of the barbarians themselves.

Empires of the Smoky Skies: Build flying airships and huge tractor-like tanks from the unique tech tree of this Victorian science-fiction scenario, and use them to spread your empire across the pre-industrial world.

Interesting naval additions.

Bought'd! Although my wife will probably put more hours into it than I will, ultimately.

Empires of the Smoky Skies: Build flying airships and huge tractor-like tanks from the unique tech tree of this Victorian science-fiction scenario, and use them to spread your empire across the pre-industrial world.

I approve of this!

Really looking forward to this, I felt like Civilization V was a worthy successor to IV, but I really did miss religion, which was a bit part of my game in IV, looking forward to its return!

$50 here though... even expansion packs aren't immune to the Australian price hike!

Our money tastes better, so they want more of it. Must admit, the concept of spies sounds awesome. I always wanted that back when I was playing multiplayer.

Sinkwater wrote:

Interesting naval additions.

Yeah. Will have to see how they work. Naval combat has always been a weak point in the series, imo.

Have to wonder if they'll add another expansion eventually to expand and improve the idea of corporations from the second Civ 4 expansion.

This expansion sounds pretty damn solid! I hope they have it all nicely tuned before release. I'd like to avoid the proverbial bad Civ experience when playing before the first patch

Definitely interested, but for $30 I think I'll be waiting for them to work the kinks out of it.

syndicatedragon wrote:

Definitely interested, but for $30 I think I'll be waiting for them to work the kinks out of it.

Same here, waiting for it to go a bit cheaper. Looks like a lot of nice features though.

whispa wrote:
syndicatedragon wrote:

Definitely interested, but for $30 I think I'll be waiting for them to work the kinks out of it.

Same here, waiting for it to go a bit cheaper. Looks like a lot of nice features though.

Day one purchase for me.

Spoiler:

When it goes on sale this summer or Christmas.

Cowards. I preordered. Looks like my 494 hours of Civ V are going to be extended soon. Reckoning squeaked by it with 516 hours, but it won't hold its spot in my Steam obsession list for long.

BadKen wrote:

Cowards. I preordered. Looks like my 494 hours of Civ V are going to be extended soon. Reckoning squeaked by it with 516 hours, but it won't hold its spot in my Steam obsession list for long.

Good Lord! And I thought I was a serial mono-gamist! I've put a lot of hours into Civ V. Looking forward to airships! Yeah, baby.

Steam workshop is coming to civ: http://www.2kgames.com/blog/civiliza...

I'm at 798 hours played. This is a day one for me.

I can't stress enough though, the Vanilla enhanced mod + Tectonics pack makes is a different feeling game and more evenly paced. Definitely try it out if you havent!

Seems like an awful lot of dollars for not all that much content.

Crockpot wrote:

Steam workshop is coming to civ: http://www.2kgames.com/blog/civiliza...

That's pretty awesome. The whole Steam Workshop idea works so well, IMO. The Portal 2 shop is so clean and easy to use.

Michael wrote:
Crockpot wrote:

Steam workshop is coming to civ: http://www.2kgames.com/blog/civiliza...

That's pretty awesome. The whole Steam Workshop idea works so well, IMO. The Portal 2 shop is so clean and easy to use.

Yeah, the Portal 2 one is excellent. The Civ V one will really depend on what it offers, at least for me. I've never been big on pre-made maps and scenarios really only interest me when they offer something really different than the basic game.

Malor wrote:

Seems like an awful lot of dollars for not all that much content.

I love this game a lot, but that's a big ask.

Also, I'm slightly worried about this xpack since the lead designer of Civ V left. I don't think that Civ V is without its flaws, but it's got to be somewhat challenging for his replacement to step in and just take over the reigns.

Malor wrote:

Seems like an awful lot of dollars for not all that much content.

I'll buy it, but I'm not sure that the expansion will be worth it because I feel they didn't fully balance the original game. Even today, the endgame of every Civ 5 game feels the same :p

So adding a bunch of units and systems when the original design is not very balanced, well...

But still, it's Civ, so

Nevermind, this was a post about the 10 year Civ game...I see it's got its own topic.

Rather good dev introduction to the Moms & Kings expansion. Looks very cool!

Shawnosaurus wrote:

Moms & Kings expansion

Wonder why they didn't release this in time for Mother's Day.