"Civilization IV"... Confirmed?

[bayraven]

i feel better about backing out of Diety level Civ3

[SSBLoveU]

Originally posted by techtedg
does anyone actually have any idea how long it will be until we can see IV in the stores?

At least there are more hits when I do a web engine search, nothing firm from what I can read.

[Addled Platypus]

from the pages of PC gammer 2005

other games had more specific dates (summer 2005)

they gota keep us jonz'n

[Robert]

Is the article in pc gamer already 'public' ?

[Jon Shafer]

Yes, it's the "January" edition (meaning it's released a few weeks before January ).

[JonahFalcon]

Salient notes from the PC Gamer preview:

a) Being made directly by Sid Meier
b) Being made from scratch, from the ground up
c) Lush 3D zoomable graphics
d) XML data files will allow complete modding on all levels, including AI
e) Flexible tech trees allow different paths to later, more advanced techs - no more single paths
f) Advanced multiplayer -- ranging from quick games to advanced games that can last for months.

[Vince278]

If that all pans out then I'll need a cigarette after I'm done playing.

[Patroklos]

You probobly would have researched "Cure for Cancer" by then.

[Vince278]

Originally posted by Patroklos
You probobly would have researched "Cure for Cancer" by then.

[Addled Platypus]

would'nt that be a neat thing to plant as a spy


selling cigs to kids, money goes to your treasury..

[Vince278]

That idea sounds too much like state-sponsered drug trafficking.

[Max Sinister]

Not that this doesn't exist in reality (Iran-Contra, Ollie North...)

[Toby Rowe]

Hi all,
Thoughts whilst playing on Monarch level:

1)
If the game is tile based in Civ 4, can we please all have the "select all units" (for movement) again please. (like Civ 2)
2)
Can we have a decent AI Diplomacy for SP please? Even a button gently warning the AI that "You will soon ceast to exist if you don't sign this treaty now" would be good.....I've currently been listening about my "unprovoked attack on Russia" for roughly 1,000 years now each time I try a mutual defence pact, in fact Russia declared war on me.

If we do have 3D graphics, then meaningful AI diplomacy will be critical as you simply can't see all borders in the way the AI, governors or 40,000 garrisoned soldiers can!

3)
Pre-set combat results:
Please use the att/Def of a unit. I dislike knowing that each time my Cavalry army attacks a conscript Infantry unit it will die, If the AI has deemed it so- I can re-load a million times, but I will always have the same result, simply as the AI has tagged the defender unit to win the next battle, my only option is to sacrifice a weak unit on that attack, and then see what the AI has tagged (win/lose) for that defending unit on the next round.- Just try it yourself if you don't believe me. (You can get around it by attacking another unit instead- I'm trying to work out how the tagging by the AI occurrs- anyone looked at the code?)

4)
Absolutely no more AI cheating- amazing how if I put a single worker just in range of an enemy city, if an Cavalry can reach it, one troop will go out and commit suicide by capturing it- utterly bonkers- but how did they know it was there in the first place? I've heard of the Charge of the Light Brigade, but this is even more silly, as they'll repeat the same disaster, time after time, if they have a single Cavalry unit and a Railway system.

5)

Submarines; Player Sub's are viewed as surface ships by the AI (cheating) thus the player must watch his fleets be destroyed by the AI until the AEGIS is invented, as we can't see his submarines.
In CivII destroyers correctly "saw" submarines using ASDIC/SONAR. Lazy programming or perhaps they thought it funny I dunno!

6) On a personal level,

I'd like no AI cheats at all, unrealistic I know, especially as many programmers are producing games for humans to play against each other on the net, thus allowing them to not have to deal with such complex issues as a decent AI!!

Sid Meiyer has provided me with all my favourite games- hopefully he'll put Civ3 to shame in 4 if the chap really is finally looking back to his original masterpiece.

Toby

[Vince278]

I just read PCGamer and I am not really all that impressed with the screenshots. It looks a little more difficult to see whats going on. What does everyone else think?

[Nikolai]

Those screens are 1) alpha and 2) old now.