Civilization V Catch-All

syndicatedragon wrote:

My problem with Civ4's religions is that they're totally generic and interchangeable. I realize that it was done in the interest of being politically correct, but in my mind that's even worse; it kind of reduces the implemented religions to a name, nothing more.

There was an interesting discussion on this recently at Three Moves Ahead (Ep. 44, "Religion As A Strategy Mechanic"), Rabbit's other podcast.

for the good of strategy gamers everywhere Codex must procreate next year as well.

We had decided to stop at 2, but if it would guarantee AC2 in 2011, I'd go through the diapers for another couple of years.

@Codexwife: C'mon! It's for the good of strategy gamers everywhere!

Okay, some more possible information. Take it with a grain of salt, since it is a translation from a supposed leak from a future Swedish PC Gamer.

I just clean up the translation a little bit (I am swedish). The source is said to be a leak from swedish PC Gamer that will on march 2 have information about Civ 5.
  • Instead of the previous games quite anonymus realistic design will Civ 5 will move in a stylized Art Deco lines. This includes everything from menus to architectural design.
  • The game engine is brand new and has nothing to do with the previous games.
  • Now you can have only one unit per tile, instead of the earlier parts where you could stack some thirty war elephants in the same tile. This is true both in cities and on the ground. This is expected to make war more strategic and grand. It is not just about standing on a hill outside the opponent's capital.
  • All distance units (catapults, archers, muskets, and everything in between) have the ability to attack something that stands a hexagon from them.
  • Because of these changes will be things such as hills, forests and lakes of much greater importance than in the previous sections, where most were ornaments.
  • To gain control of hexagons is much more difficult and more important than in earlier parts, which always had lots of unnecessary land. In Civ 5 you will take over a tile at a time, although this may be speeded up by investing money in the area.
  • Hexagons that are in a more difficult location (type, in a forest or a mountain) will take much longer to conquer. A swamp area, for example, require that you own almost all hexagons around it before it can be conquered.
  • State Governments will act as a diplomatic hotspots. For example, maybe there is one in an area you want, but it is sponsored by another player. You attack the city, he will probably be mad at you, but it can be an important resource in your civilization's survival.
  • Barbarians will build on its own little town on the map that must be destroyed to make you avoid them altogether, instead of the just disappear after a few thousand years.
  • With the help of money you will be able to team up with other playesrs for research projects, where both of you will research the same thing so that it goes faster.
  • Computer players will plan more long term, instead of just living in the moment.

Seems that culture is more or less out, at least as a mechanic for expanding your territory. I like the babarian part, I hope that you will be able to kill off all babarians at some point of the game, so you dont have babarian longbowmen running around in the modern ages. It also seems like all tiles are "babarian" so that you have to conquer them instead of just claiming them, intresting

Sounds like a more advanced Advance Wars. Yummie.

Keith David! sold.

I was Soooo expecting the Normandy to pop out from behind the Pyramid

If the game doesn't come with near-future units & techs, I plan to mod some in. Anyone else interested?

I need to stop coming to this thread.

Call me Debbie Downer but some of that info really cools down any expectation I had for this game. Sure, I love the new improved combat action, but if culture's really out as a mean to victory, then I won't be as excited for this new Civ. We have plenty of games already where you can shoot and bomb your way to victory, did they need to make Civ V part of that already crowded pack?

Tannhauser wrote:
  • Now you can have only one unit per tile, instead of the earlier parts where you could stack some thirty war elephants in the same tile. This is true both in cities and on the ground. This is expected to make war more strategic and grand. It is not just about standing on a hill outside the opponent's capital.

Seems that culture is more or less out, at least as a mechanic for expanding your territory.

I'd like to hear more about how it plays out in practice, but these two points make me much less excited.

I know the stack-of-doom is a bummer of a mechanic, but it feels like instead of having a stack on the hill outside a capital that we'll just have all the tiles around the capital occupied. If this ends up with me having to solve Chinese puzzles to advance my troops (because all hexes are occupied) I won't be picking it up.

I also feel like culture as a mechanic was a great way to incentivize nonmilitary choices.

Too early to have a great read on gameplay yet, but I'd be really disappointed if this ended up being the first Civ game I didn't purchase.

Must have Culture. Even Civ I you could win mainly through influence and money.

Dimmerswitch wrote:
Tannhauser wrote:
  • Now you can have only one unit per tile, instead of the earlier parts where you could stack some thirty war elephants in the same tile. This is true both in cities and on the ground. This is expected to make war more strategic and grand. It is not just about standing on a hill outside the opponent's capital.

Seems that culture is more or less out, at least as a mechanic for expanding your territory.

I'd like to hear more about how it plays out in practice, but these two points make me much less excited.

Same goes for me. I enjoy the combat as much as the next guy, but I really liked that I could invest in culture to expand my territory, and even overtake some of the opponent's territory.

My guess based on what we've seen is that they'll be transitioning to a more varied approach to determining territorial control that takes into account culture, military control, investing money, and probably a few other things.

The fairly popular Influence Driven War mod for Civ4 already ties winning battles to culture where some amount of culture accumulated in each square of a combat area is transferred from the losing player to the winning player. Must say that it works pretty well.

I'm willing to say that speculation at this point on game mechanics isn't going to be very valuable. Non-violent options have always existed in civ, and I see no reason for that to change based on the small pieces of information they have released.

The translations don't say anything about culture one way or the other. It seems a bit premature to assume that this means it's gone as a game mechanic. That was just one guy's supposition, with no evidence presented to back it up.

One unit per tile? Now that's a hell of a change.

I want them to eliminate the "useless tile" problem of Civ4. Desert tiles not next to a river are unusable. Mountain tiles are unusable. At all tech levels? I've been to Vegas. I've been to Palm Springs. Do not tell me desert the is unusable if you have the tech and the resources!

A new, non-gameplay trailer here. Can anyone recognize the different voice actors? After Keith David, I'm not too sure.

Certis wrote:

A new, non-gameplay trailer here. Can anyone recognize the different voice actors? After Keith David, I'm not too sure.

*ahem*

Tannhauser wrote:

Filthy skimmer, Tannhauser'ed, take your pick, Chief. And I too want to know who the rest of the voice over folks are. The second guy sounded a little like Eric Bana.

Rat Boy wrote:

And I too want to know who the rest of the voice over folks are. The second guy sounded a little like Eric Bana.

I thought he sounded like Peter Coyote. I'm pretty sure the "Blood and Iron" guy is Sully of Uncharted fame. I'd like to know the origin of their lines.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

And I too want to know who the rest of the voice over folks are. The second guy sounded a little like Eric Bana.

I thought he sounded like Peter Coyote. I'm pretty sure the "Blood and Iron" guy is Sully of Uncharted fame. I'd like to know the origin of their lines.

I imagine they're historical quotes like Leonard Nimoy's narration from Civ 4.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

The translations don't say anything about culture one way or the other. It seems a bit premature to assume that this means it's gone as a game mechanic. That was just one guy's supposition, with no evidence presented to back it up.

One unit per tile? Now that's a hell of a change.

Sure it's premature, let's hope it's only sneak-peeker doesn't know any better.

Rat Boy wrote:
SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

And I too want to know who the rest of the voice over folks are. The second guy sounded a little like Eric Bana.

I thought he sounded like Peter Coyote. I'm pretty sure the "Blood and Iron" guy is Sully of Uncharted fame. I'd like to know the origin of their lines.

I imagine they're historical quotes like Leonard Nimoy's narration from Civ 4.

The 'Blood and Iron' one is Bismarck, I seem to recall.

feeank wrote:

Call me Debbie Downer but some of that info really cools down any expectation I had for this game. Sure, I love the new improved combat action, but if culture's really out as a mean to victory, then I won't be as excited for this new Civ. We have plenty of games already where you can shoot and bomb your way to victory, did they need to make Civ V part of that already crowded pack?

I'm also getting less excited the more I hear. These new ideas don't really interest me. One unit per tile? I can't imagine that feeling "right".
I need to not read this thread any more and just check some reviews when it releases.

Cautiously hopeful but worried.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

I'd like to know the origin of their lines.

Someone put together this list, don't know how accurate it is.

"A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance." -- Jawaharlal Nehru

"Build courage when courage seems to fail. Gain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith. Create hope when hope becomes forlorn." -- Douglas MacArthur (paraphrased)

"I never learned how to tune a harp or play upon a lute. But I know how to raise a small and obscure city to glory and greatness, whereto all kindred of the earth will pilgrim." -- Themistocles

"The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions, but by iron and blood." -- Otto von Bismarck

"I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation, it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever." -- Mao Zedong

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Who cares where the quotes come from, who are the voice actors?!

The first quote is from Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the first Prime Minister of India. The speech was made on the eve of Indian independence from Britain. It's called the Tryst with Destiny.

The second quote, about hope and courage, is from Gen. Douglas Macarthur after receiving an award when he was older.

The third quote, about taking the city and making it great and glorious, is from Themistocles. The Athenian General who defeated the Persians in the Battle of Salamis.

The fourth quote, about matters of the day being decided by iron and blood, was a speech made by Otto Von Bismark to the Prussian Parliament used to justify his expansion of the army and desire to unify Germany.

The fifth quote, about the energy of the masses, is a quote from Chairman Mao Zedong.

The last quote, about beauty of dreams, is from Eleanor Roosevelt.

EDIT: Damn... Tannhausered

Prozac wrote:

EDIT: Damn... Tannhausered :(

Seven hours later. That's got to be a record.

Rat Boy wrote:

The second guy sounded a little like Eric Bana.

I take it you don't meet many Australians

cyrax wrote:
Prozac wrote:

EDIT: Damn... Tannhausered :(

Seven hours later. That's got to be a record.

It's a pretty impressive effort.

I give it 2 thumbs up