I noticed somethings in the new screen shots that I thought I would note to everyone.

1) Many of the units look much more realistic.
2) Stacks appear to be able to consist of 11 units instead of 9 now.
3) I have noticed some new trade goods as well. Specifically the bear, cotton, and some kind of glass thing on desert hills.
4) You can now see what the coral reefs look like.

Anybody notice anything else, or have some comments or observations to make? I look forward to reading them.

- some units have 'V' or 'A' next to them

- improvements?
a) strange little tower or bottle in field next to Delphi
b) little buildings next to Antium

some units have a health bar (and an A) and some only have a flag...noticed that the screen with the health bar and the A also has teh info & options tabs used at top - does this mean it is an optonal feature? hmmm, what other options do we have??? i sure hope there is a key that can be bound to turn the map grid on/off

also noticed the kelp in the seas...but i think that was mentioned in a post awhile back.

Perhaps its just something that appears while the land is improved to an irrigated field.

Thats it for now...

The download is too much for my 28.8 modem at BTs telephone charges.

Until it comes out on a cover disk, I could make do with a description, or your thoughts on its merits

There are some more screen shots on the new preview that Mark has linked to. They show some more new stuff. Go check them out.

I think Slax may be right. I think the trade good that looks like a bottle and a glass may be water. Very useful in a desert, yes? Also, I think the thing next to Delphi may be a trade good as well. It looks a lot like one of those old style griders for black pepper.

Since this thead was started my me, I think I will expand it to include some observations about the new screen shots in the preview mentioned before. Since, as anyone who has been in these forums for a while knows, trade goods are my thing, I will start out with some observations about those.

In the preview screen shots, I noticed that while some of the old trade goods such as oil, crab, pearl, elephant, grapes, and coffee are still around, there are some new ones as well. Those are Emerald, Spices, Jalepino Peppers, Tea, and Lumber. Combine these with the ones in the IGN screen shots and it looks like Activision is giving us a much larger variety of trade goods. I am all for that.

I also noticed that they have copied some of the trade goods from Nordicus's Trade Goods Mod such as Tea, Peppers, Spices, Emerald, and Cotton. You think this may just be a coincident?

On to another topic. I noticed in the new screen shots that you can see a catapult and a bombard type weapon in there. Seems that Activision was listening when people said that CTP needed some kind of Ancient/Medeval artillary unit.

Please continue to post your observations in this thread, I really enjoy see what other observe that I miss.

The A next to a unit indicates that it is an army.

There are a lot of new trade goods- you guys have figured out many of them: cotton, tea, lumber, glass, (medicinal) herbs.

Stacks can have up to 12 units now.

Little buildings outside of a city are tile improvements- trading posts- that increase the city's trade income.

http://www.cdmag.com/articles/029/087/shot12.html

Bring it on! I was so hoping for this...

Activision - what can you tell us about it?

BTW Did anyone see that screenshot of of the stealth bomber with a red line to a tile in computer gaming online preview? It looked like the stealth bomber was "above" the tile the red line pointed to. Different altitude levels? And what's that two swords crossed thing mean?

Also the modern city style city icon has been modified to look less cartoony. Anyone know if there will be more city styles? I would really like a medieval city style at the very least...

And the best screenshot of all goes to the one with the single city screen!!! Hurrah this is the first look at the single city screen. However it appears there is still a need to flip between tabs to see what I have in the city and what I can build. There is a build queue tab and an inventory tab that alternates the screen. I'm guessing inventory is what the city contains? It's still too early to say if the interface is better Also in the screen we see the new "unassignable" worker model. Although some people will miss the ability to place workers on specific tiles, I'm all for it if it means less micro management and it won't make my cities less efficient.

Edit: Found it myself. Here 'tis.

It's certainly something different to look at. I didn't know what to make of it at first. What's the verdict, everyone?

This is the stealth fighter screen that Monkey was talking about.

We also get a look at the City Info Screen (Previously F1) where you manage all your cities at once. Doesn't seem to look that much different.

I prefer it over the previous method, but It still doesn't show you everything at once, which i'd prefer. You know expand the city screen, put statistics below the people and resources section, place inventory next to or below the queue section.
IMO it's fine to cover almost the full screen with the city view as you don't do anything else when your managing your cities. I like the arrows to switch between cities, and the advice button, and switching between two screens aint to bad.

The Msgs tab:

Im assuming that this is what will be used for chat? If so I don't like it. The chat window should be visible at all times (like in CTP) as chat is often a backround activity in mp. If the Msgs is replacing the slic boxes. I don't like that either.

- arctic and desert terrain next to grass - its up to your own interpretation, but I don't think that should happen.

- what are the boards in the woods?

quote: - arctic and desert terrain next to grass - its up to your own interpretation, but I don't think that should happen.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Besides the map generator in these screenies looks pretty bad to me. I really really hope they havent touched it yet!
Large areas of swamp and desert may be realistic BUT you cant settle them - you cant use them!!!!

Regarding the repercussions of a retreat- I believe that the surviving side gets a free attack on your units before they can withdraw. Let me check and confirm.

E.g.: Small battle:
blue with 3 archers and 3 Legions
red with 3 archers an 3 Legions

blue is attacker.

3 Blue archers attack
3 Red archers attack
3 Blue Legions attack
3 Red Legions attack

How many rounds have that been? 3 (IIRC non-ranged fight both at the same time) or 1?

First off I would like to thank Lt. John for taking the time to answer questions posted in this tread. I really appreciate it and I am sure a lot of other people do to.

I have been following these post with intrest. You guys have spotted a lot of things I missed. It is amazing how people with different intrest will spot different things.

I have looked at that Stealth Bomber screenshot now, also. I noticed that under the Bomber is another stack of the blue military, that stack contains at least one Stealth Fighter.

I think what is happening is either the blue military with 9 units, with atleast one Stealth Fighter is attacking the orange military with 5 units containing atleast on Stealth Bomber or vice versa. I think it is more logical for a stack of 9 containing a Stealth Fighter to attack a stack of 5 containing a Stealth Bomber, but you never know with how the AI has worked in the past.

Keep the comments and answers coming! They are really appreciated!