SMAC-style UN Council confirmed on GameSHOUT

[Martinus]

Originally posted by CyberShy
Maybe that was in one of the SMAC expansions? (never bought those)

Nope. I never bought the expansions and all those options were there.

[Nikolai]

There was only one SMAC expansion, and all the options was in the original game AFAIR.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

Cybershy, the funny thing here is that you are thinking of Civ3-not SMAC ! Everyone's main complaint with Civ3 was how the UN was not only worse than in Civ2 (at least it gave you a rep boost and a way of declaring war in democracy), but that it also didn't include the features of the Planetary Council of SMAC. Instead Civ3 UN only allowed you to vote for Secretary General (i.e. diplomatic victory!) In SMAC, there wasn't even a diplomatic victory!!

Anyway, if the UN leader is elected before the end of the game, then does this mean that the diplomatic victory conditions have changed as well? I, for one, certainly hope so !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[Robert]

Ah, that's true. it was civ3 that ended with the diplomatic victory that way! I turned diplomatic victory off ever since I laughed off my head after seeing that

[Nikolai]

In SMAC, there wasn't even a diplomatic victory!!

Yes it was. I won that war a few times myself in SMAC. "Unite behind me as supreme leader", remember? Now, the way it was done wasn't good, you had to reduce the other powers to a minimum to get the 2/3 of the votes you needed for yourself, as few would vote for you, but it was there.

[Locutus]

It would probably be good to mention for anyone who missed it that the interview is available in MP3 format here. Some interesting stuff in there.

[MarkG]

SMAC-style UN Council confirmed

but you'll have to built the UN wonder first (so it will be late-game oriented)...

[conmcb25]

This is great news! I love SMAC, and Im glad this element is getting into CIV.

Lets keep our fingers crossed for a SMAC II

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by Nikolai

In SMAC, there wasn't even a diplomatic victory!!

Yes it was. I won that war a few times myself in SMAC. "Unite behind me as supreme leader", remember? Now, the way it was done wasn't good, you had to reduce the other powers to a minimum to get the 2/3 of the votes you needed for yourself, as few would vote for you, but it was there.

Not to mention that factions could actually decide to defy the UN decision under certain orders.
This are excellent news.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

OK guys, here is a little more detail for you-from the 'horses mouth', as it were.
Apparently the UN is still tied to the diplomatic victory-though how this will work now is not certain.

There are apparently around 10 'Resolutions' which the Secretary General can call a vote on (though I wouldn't be at all suprised if this gets expanded in Mods and XP packs).
Some of the ones Soren-or Sid??-mentioned were:

-Single Currency.
-Free Trade Agreement (Open Borders for all nations).
-Global Emancipation.
-Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

So, it sounds like it will work a LOT like SMAC-council but, if anything, the amount of things you can vote on has been expanded.
Other info provided in the interview was:

-AI civs can be randomised via changing AI aggression levels or via 'Randomised Leader Personalities'-in the game setup, or through the XML files.

-Caste System (Labour Civic) allows unlimited specialisation in all categories.

-A Naval unit can apparently halt all production coming to a city-from all sea squares-by placing itself in front of said city. They can also destroy sea-based tile improvements and prevent harvesting of sea-based resources (whales, fish, oil for instance). So navies are slightly more important, but still not enough IMO (unless there is still more stuff they aren't telling us-which is very likely).

-Spies are invisible units which you can 'plant in enemy cities' to get regular updates on what that city is doing.

-Spies can also be used to steal plans (get 2-turn LOS to that city), destroy improvements (tile and city, I think) and destroy production-amongst other things.

-Confirmed that there is a largely expanded table of things which can be traded/negotiated.

-Confirmed that Agendas are MUCH more important to AI civs than ever before. Also, some civs will simply follow the lead of the nation with the strongest militaries, some will follow the wealthiest or most culturally/technologically superior nation. Others will be more 'idealistic', with the AI civs following the nation(s) with the right civic choices and/or religion.

I know that a lot of this info is not new, but I hope you find it enlightening.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[Martinus]

Speaking of which, I hope the "unconditional surrender" option a'la SMAC (aka vassalage) is also part of diplomacy model - I loved keeping Zaharov around as my "*****" after beating him up.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

This is all looking superb, everything that was missing from civ 3, cant wait now

Id best start penning a letter to the Wife

[Jaybe]

It was-though in SMAC it was called the Planetary Council-but you had voting on key issues, and lots of bribery/schmoozing to get a favourable vote on an issue you felt strongly about ...

Now I have never played SMAC, but from what I remember of the gameshout podcast is that the AI will be much less subject to effective bribery, being more loyal to their own interests (e.g., religion & civic choices). I do NOT remember if this was directly tied to the UN statement.

[GAZ082]

Now I have never played SMAC, but from what I remember of the gameshout podcast is that the AI will be much less subject to effective bribery, being more loyal to their own interests (e.g., religion & civic choices). I do NOT remember if this was directly tied to the UN statement.

That only means that we will have to spare a few extra gold coins. Everybody has its price.

[Philotas]

-A Naval unit can apparently halt all production coming to a city-from all sea squares-by placing itself in front of said city. They can also destroy sea-based tile improvements and prevent harvesting of sea-based resources (whales, fish, oil for instance). So navies are slightly more important, but still not enough IMO (unless there is still more stuff they aren't telling us-which is very likely).

I think this is a huge change. I was always disappointed with the naval power in the previous Civ's.