PC Zone preview

[Locutus]

You don't need to go to CFC for that kind of info, we have that right here at Apolyton, and here it's more complete too

[StarBegotten]

Originally posted by alms66


I agree, and I don't think it's a good idea at all, but I know I'm in the minority. I would prefer a game that lasts weeks, and not because of lack of time to play it, or because it takes 30 minutes per turn for the AI, just because I like long, in-depth games that have lots of "history" to them. 1000+ turns would be great , and I'm already in the planning stages for a mod that will achieve this.

You hear that Soren? Don't put a limit on the number of turns possible in a mod this time around! And do your best not to put low limits on anything at all.

I think perhaps "game speed" refers to the number of turns the game lasts, so that the default is 400 turns per game with the "Epic" perhaps being the length of turns we are used to?

[Lemmy]

Can choose attitude on such items as free markets, environment,slavery, conscription, emancipation

Hmm, these don't really sound like things for which you can choose ideologies like you had in SMAC.
For example you're either for or against Free Market, or Slavery, or you're environmently friendly or not.
And it says "on such items as"...so there are more things like this.
I don't really see them fitting in a SMAC-like system where you pick ideologies, but instead it sounds more like a slider system where you can set whether you're for or against a wide variety of issues.

I hope i'm wrong...i'd prefer choosing set ideologies like in SMAC...sliders might be more freeform but they don't give the same feel as picking ideologies.

[alva]

I'm really starting to like this game. Sounds really good.

[Solver]

My guess about "game speed" would be that it doesn't impact any "speed" directly (this is TBS after all), but will impact various values in the game. For instance, the fast game speed could mean tech research and production costs halved, maybe road movement going from say 1/3 to 1/5. If that's the case, the options would even be interesting for some different style, and would certainly appeal to many non-hardcore players who want a faster-paced game.

[Adagio]

From the other thread:

- There will three game lengths: a short one (that can be finished in a few hours), a "normal" one (about 15 to 20 hours to play), and a really big one...

I assume this is talking about the game speed
IMHO they should have used the word "game length" instead of "game speed"

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by Adagio

Civ leaders
28 including Ghandi, Cyrus and Montezuma; traits are associated with leaders
Unclear whether you can choose the leader for your civ

There's 19 Civs but 28 leaders? Does that mean nationX can have two different leaders so nationX acts differently in game1 compared to game2? And by the sound of this there'll be 10 nations with only 1 leader

Game speed
3 levels - quick, medium and epic

Game speed?
Isn't this a turn based game where you (in SP) can have as long turns as you want?

Re: the leaders, I hope it means I can play the different civs in different ways. The best would be if we could choose the leader of out civ completely freely, ie a Genghis Khan of the Egyptians.

Re: gamespeed, perhaps it means number of turns?

[Solver]

As long as we can play the game at the original Civ pacing, I'm happy. 15-20 hours per a game sounds OK, typically being the length of my games. Here's hoping it can still be that way.

[Trifna]

Re: PC Zone preview -lots of new info

Here were my automatic reactions:

Game length
Aiming to reduce to 400 turns from 550 in CivIII

-> Yipi.

Interface
'familiar to anyone who has dabbled with RTS'

-> Any Terran or Protoss speaking in a box, with a Kain-style leader?...

Resources
31

-> Horray!

Governments
No set government styles
Can choose attitude on such items as free markets, environment,slavery, conscription, emancipation

-> God praise Firaxis!! All camping in front of their office!

OVERALL -> Potentially good vintage coming, with some sugar in the wine to make it sell more easily. Not too much content dilution, whattever the gift-package form. Looks like a Porto

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

OK, first up, I do NOT like the fact that they seem to be keeping all the victory conditions the same-and that it seems like culture is going to work in an identical fashion to how it did in civ3 (really felt that this needed to be revamped). Also REALLY don't like the single unit strength-this is too simplistic for my liking (really wanted Firepower back-if anything) and am VERY opposed to both Realworld religions (wanted generic religions which the player could name) and its associations with the tech tree.
Everything else, though, sounds pretty cool. Though, I do hope that the leaders of AI civs will ADAPT to their differing situations in each game-so that each leader doesn't become too predictable.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[Solver]

am VERY opposed to both Realworld religions (wanted generic religions which the player could name)

With all data in XML, you can rename the religions easily.

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker
OK, first up, I do NOT like the fact that they seem to be keeping all the victory conditions the same-and that it seems like culture is going to work in an identical fashion to how it did in civ3 (really felt that this needed to be revamped). Also REALLY don't like the single unit strength-this is too simplistic for my liking (really wanted Firepower back-if anything) and am VERY opposed to both Realworld religions (wanted generic religions which the player could name) and its associations with the tech tree.
Everything else, though, sounds pretty cool. Though, I do hope that the leaders of AI civs will ADAPT to their differing situations in each game-so that each leader doesn't become too predictable.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

I also wondered on the victory part...
As for combat, I am happy as long as it works really.
When it comes to religions, I agree wholeheartly! Oh, if they only had made some random generated religions as in the old List for Civ3...
The single most positive info so far is that SE will be implemented though, that almost does it for me.

All in all, I'm very excited so far.

[Soren Johnson]

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker
OK, first up, I do NOT like the fact that they seem to be keeping all the victory conditions the same-and that it seems like culture is going to work in an identical fashion to how it did in civ3 (really felt that this needed to be revamped). Also REALLY don't like the single unit strength-this is too simplistic for my liking (really wanted Firepower back-if anything) and am VERY opposed to both Realworld religions (wanted generic religions which the player could name) and its associations with the tech tree.
Everything else, though, sounds pretty cool. Though, I do hope that the leaders of AI civs will ADAPT to their differing situations in each game-so that each leader doesn't become too predictable.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

actually, there is firepower in Civ4 (meaning, the amount of damage a unit does (in hit points) is relative to their strength...) I wouldn't say that combat has been simplified - I wouldn't say it's more complex either. It IS significantly different, though.

[Solver]

Hi Soren . Great news on that. So will we really have to use different units this time around, or will huge groups of one unit still work perfectly, as previously?

[Nikolai]

Soren sighting!

Thanks for the input Soren.