Civilization V Catch-All

New preview:

http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/03...

Heres a write-up about the new info (which I have shamelessly stolen from "Robert Plomp" at Apolyton.net)

The game section of VentureBeat posted a preview based on the same Firaxis session yesterday on GDC.
They offer some details from the demostration that were unknown so far.
To start with, there are special 'flaming arrow' archers, apart from the usual archers. Now the firework we saw in some screenshots makes suddenly sense!
VentureBeat continues to explain that armies are more expensive to build and to maintain, but will also last longer.

Cities will defend themselves on a fixed number of defense points. And most important, territories now have capitols, and if you take them, the entire territory will be yours. It's unknown yet if this is a different way to phrase the already known way to achieve a domination victory by only capturing the capitals of all civs, or if Civ 5 indeed includes something like state capitals.

article wrote:

VentureBeat continues to explain that armies are more expensive to build and to maintain, but will also last longer.

Last longer eh? This would either mean that technological advancement obsoletes units less quickly, that it is cheaper and easier to upgrade obsolete units to new units, or that armies usually won't die in a single battle. I wonder which one(s) it will be, and I think that's a good replacement for the stack.

jbavon wrote:

Cities will defend themselves on a fixed number of defense points. And most important, territories now have capitols, and if you take them, the entire territory will be yours. It's unknown yet if this is a different way to phrase the already known way to achieve a domination victory by only capturing the capitals of all civs, or if Civ 5 indeed includes something like state capitals.

Dang, now I can't remember but I was going to say I think in Warlords2 (Deluxe edition; One of my favoritist games ever) once you captured the capital the civ was yours. But now that I am thinking about it, I think the civ kept going but lost the bonuses the cap city gave you. Someone really needs to make a Warlords2 clone asap.

GDC interview about Civ V at Giant Bomb.

I will edit into this post any new things I hear as I watch it. Okay, done. Pretty short, not much meat.

0:00-1:30) Yay, hexes!

1:40-1:55) Panzer General explicitly mentioned as an inspiration for the switch to hexes and one unit per tile.

2:10-2:55) CivRev taught them a lot about how to make a user interface that shows more information and is easier to control. (Sounds like it's not going to be reduced in complexity like CivRev was, but that they're hoping new players or players coming from CivRev will have a lot easier time understanding everything.)

That's about it.

There's no CivNet thread, so I'm putting this here. From the Facebook page:

Sid Meier’s Civilization Network[/url]]From Sid: It's been a while since we posted, and I think we have Civilization Network to blame for it! We've got a prototype version that we're playing here at Firaxis almost every day now as we refine how the game plays. I'm pleased to report that the game is lots of fun and we're all blissfully addicted to this new way to play Civ.

In order to facilitate lots of daily play-testing we play on an accelerated time frame, so we can finish a game in hours. This lets us test balance across the whole epic span of the game, so if something needs fixing I can update the game and have it ready for the next day's test. This iterative approach to game design has been the Firaxis way of making games since the start of the company and it always leads to good things. We're working towards launching an open beta as soon as it's ready and will keep you posted on our progress.

In the mean time, we'll start introducing you to the team working on Civilization Network and giving you some reports from our gameplay sessions here at Firaxis. Stay tuned for more very soon and thanks for your patience!

Civ 5 Keynote from Game Trailers

Queueball wrote:

Civ 5 Keynote from Game Trailers

There really isn't anything in that talk that is Civ 5 related. It's almost all about game design.

I kept on watching, just waiting for something about Civ 5, but I was deceived.

I got to see a live demo (not hands-on) demo of Civ V at Pax East this weekend. It was fairly light on the in-depth details, but gave a nice impression of the "feel" of the game. However, there were about 8 people in the room and Ken Levine was one of them, so I was busy trying to see if he betrayed anything about their secret project through his body language. I'm pretty sure it is going to be a demo-watching sim.

My first impression is that is is gorgeous, and it looks like Civ. The hexes scale out beautifully, so you get a nice impression of your cultural/city boundaries without seeing a bunch of block hexes. The unit animations are also fantastic. Combat looks a bit like a miniature Total War sequence, and you get a great sense of the damage you took based on the number of units remaining. Positioning is going to be really important - the combination of high ground, ranged attacks, mountain passes, rivers at your back, etc., combined with the hexes and the non-stacked units are going to make combat a totally different beast. That is really a welcome change in my opinion.

As mentioned earlier, the cities don't have garrisons, but rather have a set number of HP based on their size and improvements. Conquest victories happen by capturing capitals.

Emissaries are rendered in full-screen settings, which was a nice piece of eye candy. There is a new diplomacy option, which is the possibility to pool resources with another civ toward the development of a technology. It gives you both a bonus to the development, which you lose if you declare war or fall out of favor.

One of the most interesting additions they mentioned is the addition of the city-states. I'm sure this has been mentioned elsewhere, but I hadn't seen it. The city-states are semi-autonomous cities that are basically running their own governments for you to interact with. They might need help with Barbarians, might be ripe for invasion, and might have trade routes to offer. I'm not sure what the end-game effect of the city states will be, but it is an interesting development.

They didn't talk about multiplayer, although I believe it was on the main menu.

All in all it just pour gasoline on the fire of my loins...errr...yeah. It looks awesome. Can't wait.

Good write-up hubbinsd, thanks for that.

Man, if world leaders really could duke it out, my Mongolians wouldn't be in last place right now. A series of devastating MONG-CHOPs and this whole global conflict thing would all be over, right quick.

liquid wrote:

Civilization V Preview

I just realized yesterday that the IGN Command Prompt #78 Podcast (from 03-09-10) discussed Civ 5 as well. From what I've heard so far it seems to cover the same items as the article. I didn't see the podcast mentioned, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

MyBrainHz wrote:

Here's hoping they hire Christopher Tin to do the music again.

MyBrainHz wrote:

Here's hoping they hire Christopher Tin to do the music again.

Yea, they decided to do something really ridiculous and NOT hire Chris Tin to do the music. Have they never been to a VGL performance? They go crazy over that song! Just don't expect the music to be anything fantastic for Civ V. Insane.

maddengamester wrote:

Yea, they decided to do something really ridiculous and NOT hire Chris Tin to do the music.

Aw man.

Hey, look! Its Julian's long lost Gamepro Civ5 article!

Gunner wrote:

Hey, look! Its Julian's long lost Gamepro Civ5 article!

Boo-urns!

Gunner wrote:

Hey, look! Its Julian's long lost Gamepro Civ5 article!

<3

I'm looking forward to this game more every day.

The Chinese empress Wu Zetein, who ruled in the 7th century and elevated the place of women and scholarship in Chinese society, replaces Mao.

Someone isn't going to enjoy being replaced.

Looks like there's going to be Steamworks and a Digital Deluxe Edition. Link to civfanatics.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V players will enjoy the benefits of the Steamworks’ features included in all PC versions such as
auto-updating,
Steam Achievements,
downloadable content,
multiplayer matchmaking and more.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V Digital Deluxe Edition
will expand players’ conquests with the new Babylonian civilization and their ruler, Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 630 – c. 561 B.C.).
As King of Babylon, gamers will be able to expand their empire with advanced Babylonian Bowmen to rightfully earn the title of Nebuchadnezzar the Great. Sid Meier’s Civilization V Digital Deluxe Edition will also include an in-depth “Behind the Scenes at Firaxis with Civilization V” video feature, as well as the game’s epic soundtrack.

Gamers who pre-order any version of Sid Meier’s Civilization V from Steam will receive
the downloadable bonus content, Cradle of Civilization Map Pack: Mesopotamia,
for free when the game is available.
The map pack will let players experience the traditional Western and Middle Eastern “Cradle of Civilization.”
The pack will include the Fertile Crescent with the Nile River valley to the west and extending east down the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys to the Persian Gulf. Leaders will be able to explore new terrain, cultures and conquests

I feel a little weird about this. I've been totally fine with all of the recent Bioware DLC and Collectors stuff lately and such, but it just doesn't quite feel right for Civ. There are supposed to be 18 civs on the slate for launch so I guess withholding one isn't too big of a deal, but each civ is a pretty big chunk of content for this series. Escpecially when its being held ransom for an additional $10.

Good thing is that it'll take approximately 4 minutes after someone has gotten both versions of the game before a mod with Babylon is up. And honestly map packs or whatever the other thing they're offering are a dime a dozen.

Wow. Amazing steam hate over on Civ Fanatics forums.

The extra civ thing does seem a bit... odd. Especially as a deluxe-edition extra. (I could see it having been done as the "first owner freebie" sort of thing, except that this is a steamworks game, so it'll be "first owner only owner" instead.)

I hope that if a Mac version of Civ V comes out it gets the "if you own one version you own both" treatment from Steam.

So many games this year, what am I going to do? Gotta get a second job somehow... I was hoping I could get this off of Impulse or somewhere where they aren't using the damn Euro.

Yeah I don't like them holding back a civilization for the deluxe edition ..... but I'm going to buy it. I'm Sid Meier's whore.

Love the Civ series..I'll get the collectors for the extra civ..

Gunner wrote:

Looks like there's going to be Steamworks and a Digital Deluxe Edition. Link to civfanatics.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V players will enjoy the benefits of the Steamworks’ features included in all PC versions such as
auto-updating,
Steam Achievements,
downloadable content,
multiplayer matchmaking and more.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V Digital Deluxe Edition
will expand players’ conquests with the new Babylonian civilization and their ruler, Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 630 – c. 561 B.C.).
As King of Babylon, gamers will be able to expand their empire with advanced Babylonian Bowmen to rightfully earn the title of Nebuchadnezzar the Great. Sid Meier’s Civilization V Digital Deluxe Edition will also include an in-depth “Behind the Scenes at Firaxis with Civilization V” video feature, as well as the game’s epic soundtrack.

Gamers who pre-order any version of Sid Meier’s Civilization V from Steam will receive
the downloadable bonus content, Cradle of Civilization Map Pack: Mesopotamia,
for free when the game is available.
The map pack will let players experience the traditional Western and Middle Eastern “Cradle of Civilization.”
The pack will include the Fertile Crescent with the Nile River valley to the west and extending east down the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys to the Persian Gulf. Leaders will be able to explore new terrain, cultures and conquests

I feel a little weird about this. I've been totally fine with all of the recent Bioware DLC and Collectors stuff lately and such, but it just doesn't quite feel right for Civ. There are supposed to be 18 civs on the slate for launch so I guess withholding one isn't too big of a deal, but each civ is a pretty big chunk of content for this series. Escpecially when its being held ransom for an additional $10.

Good thing is that it'll take approximately 4 minutes after someone has gotten both versions of the game before a mod with Babylon is up. And honestly map packs or whatever the other thing they're offering are a dime a dozen. :)

Yeah that's just wrong. Flash of Steel addresses this a bit. But to pay extra for Babylon is just wrong. Especially for such a fundamental faction of the Civ series since the very first game. That's like buying Arkham Asylum and having to pay extra for a cape.

Budo wrote:

Yeah that's just wrong. Flash of Steel addresses this a bit. But to pay extra for Babylon is just wrong. Especially for such a fundamental faction of the Civ series since the very first game. That's like buying Arkham Asylum and having to pay extra for a cape.

Well excuse me for trying to prevent you from getting sucked into a jet turbine.

I really like the Steam integration, but I'm of mixed feelings on the DLC aspect as well.

Uh-oh, time for our overseers to excommunicate a certain netizen:

Wordsmythe in the Flash of Steel comments wrote:

Forget Portugal. Why in the name of all that is true and noble would anyone buy Canada and not Babylon?

I'll let Mr. Horse speak for me on this one.

IMAGE(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zENuDflPejY/SS1mK9V63tI/AAAAAAAADSs/tD6OvdyTzUQ/s400/mr__horse.png)

meh...Game Developers, you can't admit liking a game anymore, they'll storm your house eat your cereal and leave a smelly present on your couch.

Wait for a sale. Problem solved.

Vote with your wallet, or this new trend of $60 PC games, and day one stripped out regular game content "DLC" will continue.

Jeff-66 wrote:

Wait for a sale. Problem solved.

Vote with your wallet, or this new trend of $60 PC games, and day one stripped out regular game content "DLC" will continue.

But...what game should I play while I wait?

Oh yeah. Civ IV complete. For $10 this week with Colonization thrown in on Steam.