Apolyton CIVILIZATION IV PREVIEW (by MarkG)

[Kataphraktoi]

[skipped thread]

about time someone half competent gave a preview

and I almost always had (have) my workers automated in Civ3(4)

but defintely HALF competent

We have hundreds of MBs of music of varying genres to listen to

can you elaborate on that? what genres? rock,pop,r&b ?

5) C++ SDK coming early 2006

lastly,what system did you use to run it?

[yin26]

Originally posted by CyberShy


Another feature that's in civ3 as well.

Hardly played Civ 3.

[MrFun]

My initial reaction to the game setup screenshot:

1) Civ 4 apparently will not include a visual of your choice when it comes to continents/water ratio, and type of land mass(es) such as islands or pangaea -- makes it a little tricky to see ROUGHLY what you're going to get

2) What is the shoreline option all about?

[Robert]

Originally posted by yin26


Hardly played Civ 3.

I know, you gave up on it already, weeks before it's release

[yin26]

True. I did give up on Civ 3 almost on sight. Guilty.

[Solver]

For all of you who want more info: don't worry, me feature is big. It won't be posted all at once, but it's significantly bigger and more detailed than Markos's. And yes, I am very fond of our features now because they actually are written by fans.

It is, of course, possible to save and resume Direct IP and normal MP games.

1. Did drafting and mobilization make it from civ3 into civ4?
2. Does civ4 have three different types of ocean terrain like civ3 or does it go back to a single type of ocean terrain like civ/civ2?

1. Draft is in.
2. Uh... look at any screenshot . I think it's pretty easy to see that there is not just one terrain type. BTW, even Civ1 technically had two different levels - Coast and Ocean, as Triremes could only travel in those Coast tiles.

There appears to be some confusion regarding closed borders. Closed borders means you can not enter each other's territory and that your cities do not establish trade routes with each other - you can, of course, still trade resources. Generally, though, you will have open borders with friends.

# One of the things that really s*cked in Civ3 opposed to civ2 is the Espionage stuff. Is this improved in civ3? (and will we have that nice spy unit back?).

The Spy unit is in. Whether Espionage in Civ2 was good is questionable, in Civ3 it certainly sucked. Admittedly, I can't say much here about Civ4, as I've used Spies very little.

# Have you noticed any of the infamous phalanx vs tank problems?

Wait for my article for full coverage of the combat system, but a Spearman will not beat a Tank. I did, in fact, run probability calculations on that, and the probability of a Spearman being a Tank is negligible.

# How is bombarding going? Are you able to bombard things to pieces or will one (like in civ3) need land units to finish things off?

Bombarding is different. Again, more covered in my article, but the point is, one of the Civ3 exploits no longer exists - no longer bring 20 Artillery, bombard all defenders, conquer a civ without losses.

# How is negotiating going? Like in civ3 (improving your offer with on gold at the time until the "probably acceptable" is spoken by the advisor) or does it feel more natural now?

I love the new diplomacy. That advisor is gone, too. Generally, you can find out what the AI would accept quickly.

# the issue of quick city scattering is said to be addressed. could you tell a bit more on this? Is quickly founding more cities turned into a disadvantage instead of an advantage? Or does it just give another type of game(strategie)

That's the first section in my article, ICS, well, it's not a good way to play, for sure. In fact, it's extremely hard, if possible, to pull off. There's much more strategy involved in building new cities now.

# Are other civs now really respecting your borders? (Had it yesterday in civ3, russia enters my zones, I contact and tell her, catherine, to leave. sure she says,but no movement. Second time the same thing. Third time she has to move 'em. AND THE UNITS, INCLUDING A SETTLER ARE MOVED TO THE OTHER SIDE OF MY AREAS, JUST WHERE I DID NOT WANT THEM TO COME So instead of
holding them back, I actually helped them to cross my land even quicker.

If you do not have Open Borders, they can not enter without a declaration of war. Don't want someone settling through your land, keep your borders closed.

[Solver]

Originally posted by MrFun
1) Civ 4 apparently will not include a visual of your choice when it comes to continents/water ratio, and type of land mass(es) such as islands or pangaea -- makes it a little tricky to see ROUGHLY what you're going to get

That's a screenshot of the custom game setup screen with all the advanced options. There is also a less advanced / easier to use / more newbie friendly / whatever view that also shows you roughly what you're about to get.

[alva]

Will your feature be posted quicker than one of your interviews, I mean, chances are Civ5 will be out in about four or five years.

[Solver]

My feature is actually ready, so nothing for me to do with it anymore . Hmm, Civ4-related interviews, now there's a good idea... .

[Drakan]

Originally posted by Solver

That's the first section in my article, ICS, well, it's not a good way to play, for sure. In fact, it's extremely hard, if possible, to pull off. There's much more strategy involved in building new cities now.

Yiiiiiin, wheeeere are you ?

I hope she gets used to her cardboard diet ...

[Sava]

Markos, what do you mean when you say Civ4 is an upgrade instead of an update?

[prscormier]

keyboard shortcuts

Thanks for all the new info guys.

Is there a chance you would be allowed to release the Keyboard Commands list early so that the geekier among us can start learning them?

[Solver]

That's Markos-speak for it being a significant improvement and not a small one.

[Sava]

Originally posted by Solver
That's Markos-speak for it being a significant improvement and not a small one.

ah okay... thanks...

I figured as much, just wanted to make sure

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Cataphract887
lastly,what system did you use to run it?

i didnt have any comments on perfomance so i didnt include system info

anyway i'm running an athlon64 3200+ with 1gb ram and a nvidia 6600 with 256mb