Apolyton Civ4 PREVIEW (By Solver) - Part 1 online

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

I did say slightly underwhelmed NYE ! My only real beef is what sounds like a need to all but sacrifice your siege weapons in order to get the benefits of collateral damage, wheras I feel it should be dealt as a first strike prior to the actual battle. Of course, if someone DOES throw their siege weapons into direct battle, then they DO deserve to lose them in most cases-but when they are part of a 'stack', they should be able to serve a 'support' defense/offense function.
If that IS how they work, then I will be deliriously happy !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

[Willem]

Originally posted by notyoueither


I'm not sure of the tile counts, but they 'felt' plenty big for the important aspects of the game (unit movement, space between continents and ship speed, etc).

Tile counts might be misleading if you focus only on those, as the mechanics of the game could make a 'small' map large or a 'huge' map tiny. Does that make sense?

Sort of. By the sounds of it, I'm going to have completely change my way of playing the game. I've always tried for large empires, but it doesn't seem like that will necessarily be the right way to play. It looks like empires in Civ 4 will be considerably smaller, though just as effective as before.

[Lorizael]

Regarding siege weapons, it sounds as if a strategy will need to be developed where the first thing you do is send in your more experienced fighters to take out the best defenders, then send in your siege weapons to deliver collateral damage without being killed, then lastly send in your front line men to do the actual business of conquering.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Willem


Sort of. By the sounds of it, I'm going to have completely change my way of playing the game. I've always tried for large empires, but it doesn't seem like that will necessarily be the right way to play. It looks like empires in Civ 4 will be considerably smaller, though just as effective as before.

Bigger can be better, but can also kill you. The key is getting development and growth in the right proportions.

You have to plan and build, and then your can proceed to expand. Then develop, and then expand.

Just as empires the size of Russia, the US, Canada, China... would fall apart a thousand or two years ago, today countries of that size thrive.

[Lorizael]

The Roman Empire, for example, fell apart. Too big.

[asleepathewheel]

dp

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Lorizael
Regarding siege weapons, it sounds as if a strategy will need to be developed where the first thing you do is send in your more experienced fighters to take out the best defenders, then send in your siege weapons to deliver collateral damage without being killed, then lastly send in your front line men to do the actual business of conquering.

What I would do is to just suicide the catapults first and not worry about them surviving. then send in my least promoted units and then the veterans when I know they will survive and get more xp. Cultivate the vets.

Think about it this way.

Say I have 8 melee units and 2 cats, defender has 4 units of equal strength. If I use your method, I would have to send out 4 units first to weaken the defenders to the point that the cats might survive. Looking at possibly 4 killed units. If I send the cats first, they willl likely die, but possibly all of the units defending wll be injured, thus making it more likely that all of my melee units survive. And personally I would rather the melees survive than the artillery.

[Lorizael]

I've been DanS'ed. The shock and the horror.

Well.

It depends on what the goal of the combat is, really. We don't know, because there is no context here, if the artillery will be needed later. For example, if I'm on the defensive here, trying to protect a city, I'd much rather keep the siege weapons alive throughout the offensive, to ensure the survival of my city. I'm not really going to care if my units level or not.

You are right that if they have four units of equal strength it doesn't really matter. But from what we've been told, the AI is going to try to used combined arms.

[asleepathewheel]

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Lorizael
I've been DanS'ed. The shock and the horror.

Well.

It depends on what the goal of the combat is, really. We don't know, because there is no context here, if the artillery will be needed later. For example, if I'm on the defensive here, trying to protect a city, I'd much rather keep the siege weapons alive throughout the offensive, to ensure the survival of my city. I'm not really going to care if my units level or not.

Urgggh... I'd like to hear your opinion after a game or two.

It's really hard to discuss outside of hands on experience. You can read about piece A and piece B, but then how do they fit, along with C, D, and E?

[Lorizael]

Dude, speculation is fun. I'm sure my opinions will change once I've played the game, but I think it's good to get those brain juices flowing early.

[notyoueither]

Carry on then.

[asleepathewheel]

Speculation

beta testers telling us how it "really is"

[Lorizael]

I'm just glad there's going to be some thinking involved with combat now.

[Willem]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Bigger can be better, but can also kill you. The key is getting development and growth in the right proportions.

You have to plan and build, and then your can proceed to expand. Then develop, and then expand.

Just as empires the size of Russia, the US, Canada, China... would fall apart a thousand or two years ago, today countries of that size thrive.

Yes that's the impression I'm getting. No more steadily building/conquering new cities to add to your empire. You have to stop and develop them some before you can continue on. Gone are the days of steamrolling your way into a colossus. I like what I'm reading so far, it seems a more realistic way of developing an empire than ever before.

So what is trading/resources with other civs like? Is it still one resource fits all for your empire, or will you need to have more of a certain type as your empire grows? For instance one resource is enough for 5 cities, but you'll need 2 for 10. I'm hoping this the case. Nothing has been mentioned so far as to how resources work.