In-House Preview Part 3: "Informing the Pre-Game"

DanQ · December 1, 2007, 21:23

Continuing where part two left off, it's time to choose the difficulty level for our game of Civilization: Revolution and get into it. Players of previous Civ titles are likely familiar with the notion of eras. In the original, it began the series tradition of 'chunking' the Wonders of the World groupings. Later eras would also mark a change in the visual appearance of your cities, units and even terrain improvements. This time, it will also guide the availability of individual civilization bonuses and abilities. I will then touch upon a feature first introduced in Civilization IV that has found a renewed and tweaked lease on life.

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH
There are five difficulty levels in CivRev: Chieftain, Warlord (which I would later test out), King (which Sid and “Padma” played on), Emperor and Deity. When I joked about their being no pre-Settler level Sid Meier, Director of Creative Development at Firaxis Games, asked what that was. Executive Producer Barry Caudill – and Producer on this title – answered it was something I had to convince Soren to do because he was here enough so much for the really, really hardcore guys and [I was like] "Soren, what if someone plays it for the first time?" He quickly added that pre-Settler is still Chieftain for us.

Concepts of support (e.g. unit), corruption, pollution and starvation that have been seen in one or more past Civ titles will not be found in CivRev. [All that you] harvest goes right into making something new, Sid says. Barry notes that the worst that can happen to a city is that it stops growing: its population does not shrink, explaining:

We figure you're always sufficient enough to take care of [the people] you have. But if you have more food, than you can grow -- how much food you have just determines how quickly you're going to grow. It's a 'negative' that you get to choose as opposed to an imposed 'negative'. For CivIV where [players] have invested all this time and really know the game, having something like [starvation] is a very interesting decision because there are these imposed negatives built in. But for new players, we found that people were getting in these death spirals where everybody's starving [in their cities], people are unhappy and they're like "I don't know what to do!" [..] If you can make the right connections, you can get something really cool to happen.

At higher difficulty levels, other factors come into play to differentiate e.g. King from Emperor practically speaking. These factors include but are not limited to production costs and the aggressiveness of the Artificial Intelligence (AI). Sid writes the AI [and] I try to know as little about it as possible because it ruins the fun if I know too much, Barry comments. We don't want the game to kill you, we want your opponents to take you apart.

WHERE ERAS, BONUSES AND ABILITIES GO TO MEET

Julius Caesar waving

Should you or your opponents last long enough, you will experience four eras in Civilization: Revolution: Ancient, Medieval, Industrial and Modern. As you advance through them, the look of your Advisors and your cities change to look more modern to borrow the words of Sid. You get this sense of advancing through time. At the start of each era, every civilization gains a special ability. But each civilization also has a starting bonus. This means as soon as you start a game, you and your people have both a bonus and ability to take advantage of. This may not seem realistic, but gameplay must trump realism in my final analysis (and I know I'm not the only one

). Besides being fun, these bonuses and abilities help build momentum that from the gate allows CivRev to move along at a brisker but still manageable pace when comparing it to earlier Civ titles.

Sid says that while many of the civilizations included here are familiar, [o]ne of the things we really try to do -- we always say that we try to do this, but we really, really try to do it this time -- is make the civs very unique. Every civ is different in its playing style. As a quick reference, below are each of the 16 civilizations in CivRev followed by their leader. There is one leader per civilization in CivRev.

America/Abraham Lincoln; Arabia/Saladin; Aztec/Montezuma; China/Mao Tse-Tung; Egypt/Cleopatra; England/Elizabeth; France/Napoleon; Germany/Otto von Bismarck; Greece/Alexander; India/Mohandas Gandhi; Japan/Tokugawa; Mongolia/Genghis Khan; Rome/Julius Caesar; Russia/Catherine; Spain/Isabella; Zulu: Shaka Zulu

Genghis Khan yelling

Bonus-wise, Napoleon and the French get a Cathedral in their capital which as can be imagined pushes down the accelerator on their cultural output. Tokugawa's Japanese start with knowledge of Ceremonial Burial. Abe Lincoln's Americans begin with a Famous Person which is, yes, a synonym for Great Person. The Romans start with a Wonder of the World! The French Ancient Era ability is possessing the knowledge of Pottery while the Japanese earn +1 food from sea squares. Sid shares his analysis of the latter. [It] doesn't sound like a lot but actually really changes the way that they play: they then tend to start on an island or very close to the ocean and tend to be kind of sea-based. It gives them a special flavour.

Beginning in the Ancient Era, the Americans earn 2% interest on any gold they have banked per turn. Adding up over time, it (re-)teaches players compound interest in the process. At the dawn of the Medieval era, America gets to rush their units at 1/2 the price and the Industrial Era introduces +1 food from plains. Completing their ability profile, their Factories enjoy three times their standard production come Modern.

Ghandi a close talker?

All era-specific abilities are cumulative through the entire game: they do not expire when you move from one segment of time to another. Applying that to the American example then upon reaching the Modern era, they will enjoy all from compound interest to sped-up Factory production. In addition to streamlining gameplay, an underlying current in CivRev is that the player is not subjected to any artificially penalizing rules. This characteristic alone demonstrates that in practice. You will find five more complete civilization profiles in Appendix A: Alexander's Greeks, Cleopatra's Egypt, Ghandi's Indians, Catherine's Russia and Shaka's Zulu. Again, as a still in-development title the particulars may change prior to release.

POWER TO THE GREAT PEOPLE
Earlier I mentioned America's starting bonus in Civilization: Revolution is having a Famous Person, also known as a Great Person. At present there are five Great People in the game – more could be added in addition to those already present which themselves are continuing to be tweaked. Each Great Person (GP) has two capabilities to choose from, one whose benefit is short-term but instantly realized while the other is more long-term and progressively tangible. The short-term option for GP is to rush the production of any city they are currently in or active research to completion depending upon their type. They can otherwise settle in the city they find themselves in which directly benefits that city every turn and your civilization as a whole in the process. I do not know if CivRev has a Golden Age concept akin to CivIV’s or not; if so and it’s anything like what it was in CivIV post-BtS I am not interested; pre-BtS, I am really not interested.

Saladin gestures in greeting

What GPs make-up this roster is worth noting as there are changes from CivIV which is where this team was first put together. There are two cuts to start. Thankfully the Great Prophet from CivIV is one of them, though that has likely more to do with the fact that there is no religion system in this game than the fact that this GP was all but useless save the early(ier) game. More than that, I can think of no way to have kept this GP and made it more useful without upsetting gameplay balance. I am missing the Great Spy somewhat. That said, as a later series arrival through the second CivIV expansion Beyond the Sword and - in my opinion - the minimal likelihood it would appear in-game anyway, it could be argued that this loss is minor. While that may be, I would have preferred to see the Great Spy's role and usefulness expanded here… and maybe it'll happen just yet.

The Great Engineer is now the Great Builder. It can complete the construction of what is being built in a city immediately or halve the production cost of all buildings built in the city over the longer-term. The Great Merchant is now the Great Tycoon; although all I know is that in the short-term it can give you a gold infusion that is instantaneous, it is a blessing. Depending upon the circumstances of a given game, no longer do you have to wait for it to conduct a trade mission leaving it less vulnerable to enemy interception. The Great Scientist is the only one of the Great People whose name has not changed but unfortunately all I know is its rush job too: immediately reaching whatever advance on the technology tree you're currently researching. As with rare exception I found this an unattractive option to use its CivIV cousin for, I hope its settling option is appealing. This leaves the Great Leader and Great Humanitarian to profile.

Introduced in the first CivIV expansion Warlords, the Great General keeps its spot though it too has gone through a name change: Great Leader. What seems familiar are it short and long-term options. It can either make itself a Great General (GG) unit instantly or give units built in its settled city +50% experience by acting as another Barracks a la CivIV's Military Academy. Here that +50% experience is cumulative with the Barracks so it is then possible to have a city that can construct units with +100% experience. I am not certain how exact the GG here is to being a replica of what was found in CivIV but I anticipate that it is comparable.

The Great Humanitarian (GH) is CivRev's Great Artist (GA). Its instant option is the one that I believe has more value in the early game than its CivIV counterpart. Instead of the GA's static culture boost in the city it’s popped in, the GH flips a city to your empire through accelerated cultural conversion. Indeed, the flip is not automatic: the assimilation takes several turns to complete. During this time you will not be able to take over that city's production, just as if you had captured it by force. The GH’s longer-term benefit is adding to your city's culture but exactly how much of an addition is a point I did not learn.

What to do with this Great Builder? (Great Person)

The inherent disadvantage to rushing completion with Great People is as in CivIV: the act consumes them and is gone. The inherent disadvantage to settling is that the payout takes a longer term to realize. A secondary disadvantage to settling a Great Person that is mentioned later is that they can be stolen by enemy Spy units which -- as Sid says -- gets to be fun... if you're the one doing the stealing, of course.

Not just that, Barry adds, but if you capture a city that has [them] then you get them. Yet he also reminds us of how the long-term option has second benefit that is not obvious: having that GP be one of the (currently) 20 required elements discussed earlier to achieve a Culture Victory.

To short or long term commit your Great People was a question that hardly had a straight answer in CivIV. The biggest change of all in comparing the Great People there with those now to be found in CivRev makes settling GP more attractive than ever before. In watching and listening to Sid explain their general constitution, a passing qualification caught my attention: he referred to settling a Great Person for the moment. After mulling that over for a bit, I asked for clarification on what he meant by that. Settling a GP in a city is not a permanent assignment in this game. At any time (other than the turn settled in), you can re-activate that settled GP to 'rush and consume' in its home city… or even re-locate it elsewhere to rush or settle there.

That a settled Great Person can be re-activated to rush something or re-settle altogether is a welcome change to gameplay. It is understandable that a specialist created from a city’s population point cannot be rushed or re-located: the first could be considered tantamount to lethal whipping – think the Slavery Labour Civic in CivIV -- and the latter as gameplay unbalancing as it is unrealistic. This specialist is attached to the city it came from: it is only a specialist because it was assigned as one. That status can be taken away. But Great People are specialists in their own right and more versatile at that. They should only be consumed when players choose to use their rush, short-term option. Settling GP is a longer-term strategy and part of that longer-term strategy should be having choices. As settled specialists, GP should be able to come and go between cities as they (you

) please and CivRev is realizing that. As a player, this affords you greater flexibility in devising your strategy. For example, you want to build a particular Wonder but you haven’t quite reached that level of technology yet. A Great Builder is generated some turns before then and you want to put it to good use in the interim.

THERE MUST BE MORE
If you're thinking that there's more to talk about when it comes to Civilization: Revolution, you would be right -- and plenty at that. In the next edition of my preview, my focus will be on the game’s units.

DanQ · December 2, 2007, 02:20

EGYPT
STARTING BONUS
Egypt may produce Wonders at half price, making them a cultural force to be reckoned with!

Ancient Era
Once they have reached the Ancient Era, Egypt is able to produce 2 Food from Desert squares. This means that Egyptian cities can be built - an thrive - in locales where no other Civ could.

Medieval Era
In the Medieval Era, Egypt receives free access to the Irrigation tech, allowing them to harvest a plethora of food from the "Wheat" resource.

Industrial Era
Once Egypt has reached the Industrial Era, all their Riflemen units receive a bonus movement point.

Modern Era
Egyptian Caravans in the Modern Era provide an additional 50% gold when they reach a city, making them an excellent source of wealth to spur an Egyptian player towards an Economic Victory!

GREECE
STARTING BONUS
At the start of the game, the Greek capital receives a Courthouse building, allowing its citizens to work more regions.

Ancient Era
Upon reaching the Ancient Era, the Greeks receive the "Democracy" tech for free, allowing them to increase Trade in all their cities.

Medieval Era
Medieval Greek cities produce more Great People, making it easier for them to win a Culture victory!

Industrial Era
Once they have reached the Industrial Era, the Greeks may build Libraries at half price, greatly increasing their technological research.

Modern Era
Coastal Greek cities will grow faster than ever, for once they have reached the Modern Era, all Sea regions produce a food bonus.

INDIA
STARTING BONUS
Indian cities are able to use any resource, even if they have not researched the tech normally required to utilize it. This means the Indians can out-produce (and out-science, out-gold and out-culture) just about any other Civilization at the start of the game.

Ancient Era
Indian cities grow more quickly once an India player has reached the Ancient Era.

Medieval Era
India receives the "Religion" technology for free upon entering the Medieval Era. This can be used to bolster their Culture with the Cathedral building or wage a holy war by adopting the "Fundamentalism" religion.

Industrial Era
Starting in the Industrial Era, India receives Settler units for half price, allowing their nation to grow faster than ever.

Modern Era
In the Modern Era, Indian cities may build Courthouse buildings for half price, allowing their cities to work more regions.

RUSSIA
STARTING BONUS
The Russian Empire sees all! Or at least, more than most. This is thanks to their starting bonus, which reveals a significant portion of the map.

Ancient Era
Plains regions worked by Russian cities provide extra Food, allowing them to take root in places the cities of other Civilizations would flounder.

Medieval Era
Upon reaching the Medieval Era, all newly-constructed Russian ground units receive the "Loyalty" upgrade, making them formidable foes when defending in their own territory.

Industrial Era
After reaching the Industrial Era, Russia may produce Riflemen at half the cost. And since these new units will automatically receive the "Loyalty" upgrade, this makes them some of the finest defenders in the game!

Modern Era
Once the Modern Era has been reached by the Russians, they may produce Spies at half price. Russian players can then throw monkey-wrenches in the clockwork plans of their enemies at a greatly reduced cost!

ZULU
STARTING BONUS
Zulu units are able to "Overrun" their foes more easily, meaning if their forces have significantly more strength than their opponents', they automatically win combat and receive experience points for their victory.

Ancient Era
Zulu Warrior units receive a bonus movement point once a Zulu player has reached the Ancient Era. This turns normally plodding Warrior units into cheap and quick recon units.

Medieval Era
Starting in the Medieval Era, Zulu cities grow more rapidly than cities of other Civilizations.

Industrial Era
Zulu Cities producing Gold in Industrial Era will produce 50% than usual.

Modern Era
Once a Zulu player has reached the Modern Era, they may produce Riflemen - some of the game's finest defenders - at half price.

waab · December 2, 2007, 04:38

Great read... what wonder does the romans start with?

DanQ · December 2, 2007, 10:59

Originally posted by waab
Great read...

Thanks!

what wonder does the romans start with?

A good question. I don't have an exact answer for it, but I suspect it's not the same Wonder all the time. The reason for this theory of mine is because America starts with a "Famous Person" which is not specified (e.g. Great Builder).

waab · December 2, 2007, 12:45

Originally posted by DanQ
A good question. I don't have an exact answer for it, but I suspect it's not the same Wonder all the time. The reason for this theory of mine is because America starts with a "Famous Person" which is not specified (e.g. Great Builder).

Ok, I don't know if I am happy about that part. Don't like the idea that a wonder will be used up.