IGN Hands-on Preview

[joncnunn]

In Civ II, before I discovered Fundamentalism, I ran luxaries mostly at 20%.

In SMAC, I ended up running Psych mostly at 10%.

In Civ III, I tried to keep it locked at 0% as much as possible. (This is much more difficult to do in early game at Emperor+ with Conquests than standard.)

Originally posted by Nikolai
It seems like the happiness slider finally will have a use In older Civs, I mostly had it on minimum.

o begin, the happiness slider from the previous games is now a cultural slider. It still provides happiness for your people, but it also pushes your borders out.

[LDiCesare]

1) frigate's special abilities: can bombard city defences (-10%/turn). what does that mean?

I think since defense(fortify) is supposed to become more effective as you spend more time, the frigate must be countering that, like removing one turn of fortification per bombardment till it gets down to 0.

[MattPilot]

Originally posted by sabrewolf
3) what are all these icons above the city name:
a) the 3-way-arrow for nearly every city

Most likely indicating that this city is accumulating trade points/cash or something.

If you look at the Bottom right corner where it lists all the players and score, you can see the same symbol next to each player - unless you are at war.

So this is where i'm correlating this (un)educated guess from

[Imran Siddiqui]

2) Rock'n'Roll: how can you actually BUILD that? is this a culture improvement?

Same as how you can BUILD a "Cure for Cancer"

[Solver]

Upon further review, looks like the IGN reviewer was playing on a very low difficulty and (surprise) probably doesn't really know Civ. As such, take everything with a grain of salt.

We can correct them when we get the game .

[Addled Platypus]

Did an archer take out a calvary unit?

SAM Infantry....anyone ?

Tank vs canon.......3-1 odds guess who wins

tanks for the link

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

I definitely believe that the Frigate reduces defensive bonus of units by 10% each turn-making a land invasion much more successful-though I see no reason why this shouldn't extend to ANY fortified unit. I also wonder whether this also damages units still, and whether or not frigates and other naval vessels can destroy terrain improvements?

The 3-way arrow, I believe, indicates that you have a trade route running through the city, and the Chinese symbol on the paper is, I think, Confuscianism.

Lastly, with the -2 for closed borders and +1 for open borders, what I think this means is (a) One side has their borders open, whilst the other sides borders are closed (suggesting you can have 1-way 'right of passage' agreements, of a sort) and (b) That the impact of the various diplomacy factors might change over time (so, for instance, the open border agreement is only quite recent, wheras the Closed Borders has been going on for quite some time). This is just speculation, of course.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

Hey guys, does anyone want to try and speculate on what the function of the Pentagon will be-now that Armies are out of the picture. I am personally laying odds on it being related to promotion of land units-which works fine for me!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[sabrewolf]

regarding the triple arrow: MattPilot pointing out that the same symbol is on non-war oponents leads me to believe that it has to do with trade and this could maybe indicate a marketplace in a city?!


Solver: indeed it must be very easy level. with so much gold surplus, so early era changes, etc.
i'm nonetheless surprised about the quality of the analysis. most civ-beginners who wrote reviews so far think that the 3D-engine and the assisted worker management is the best about the game while we care more about the game mechanics

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker
I definitely believe that the Frigate reduces defensive bonus of units by 10% each turn-making a land invasion much more successful-though I see no reason why this shouldn't extend to ANY fortified unit. I also wonder whether this also damages units still, and whether or not frigates and other naval vessels can destroy terrain improvements?

so nobody else believes that firing the cannons of frigates may weaken the boat?
i mean... 10% damage to the fortifying units on the coast makes sence, but that should be different for various defenders. a well fortified infantry (who will build bunkers and trenches, etc) can surely withstand bombardment better than spearmen who might just set up some palisades or so.
and if you think back to the time of frigates, those cannons were pretty vicious. not just few of them blew up on the boat. imho it only makes sence that a frigate can only bombard a limited amount of time before having to go to repair in the docks...

Lastly, with the -2 for closed borders and +1 for open borders, what I think this means is (a) One side has their borders open, whilst the other sides borders are closed (suggesting you can have 1-way 'right of passage' agreements, of a sort) and (b) That the impact of the various diplomacy factors might change over time (so, for instance, the open border agreement is only quite recent, wheras the Closed Borders has been going on for quite some time). This is just speculation, of course.

1-sided? maybe... it would be pretty close to reality (eg. US is allowed to be in usbekistan, but not the other way round )
otoh, why should you get a +1 if YOU are allowed to enter someone's borders but he isn't allowed to enter yours?

[sabrewolf]

Hey guys, does anyone want to try and speculate on what the function of the Pentagon will be-now that Armies are out of the picture. I am personally laying odds on it being related to promotion of land units-which works fine for me!

speculations, speculations... isn't that what this forum is all about?

well, the pentagon could mean a free upgrade for all units (additional to the militaristic trait).
or maybe more stealthy spies? or in fact just able to build spies in the first place?

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

I am merely relating my perception of the Frigates ability to the context of the Civpedia reference. It says 'Destroys City Defenses (-10%/turn). When you couple that with the fact that the pillar with the +x% refers to the defensive bonus enjoyed by units within the city, then it becomes fairly clear that the frigate is softening up the city's defenses-making a land-based invasion much more likely to succeed. Given that this ability is also enjoyed by Stealth Bombers (judging from the screenshots) then it is clear that this is one of the new functions of bombardment (though, I hope, not the ONLY one!)
The +1 to diplomatic ratings from closed borders represents the fact that his opening of the border has strengthened their mutual friendship, but that the players refusal to do the same has eroded any benefit. I am guessing that, if the borders were open from both sides, then the bonus of +1 would be counted twice-for a combined bonus of +2 (and a loss of the -2 penalty). Its all about swings and round-abouts.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[ajbera]

Originally posted by The_Aussie_Lurker
The 3-way arrow, I believe, indicates that you have a trade route running through the city, and the Chinese symbol on the paper is, I think, Confuscianism.

I thought the 3 arrows on the scroll/parchment indicated a trade agreement.

[Verenti]

Originally posted by sabrewolf
1-sided? maybe... it would be pretty close to reality (eg. US is allowed to be in usbekistan, but not the other way round )

Sir, It says "Close" boarder, Not Closed boarder.


Edit: Opps, This is a product of a hung-over mind. Excuse my repeat of information.

Edit2: Okay, did anyone notice that the We love the X Day had a Malinese Player Called "Prime Minister"? Mansa Musa was never anything but a King, so titles are back to gov't choices now? So like Repersentation gets you the title of "Prime Minister" prehaps?