Apolyton Civ4 PREVIEW (By Solver) - Part 2 online

[volcanohead]

Once again have to hand it to Solver and Firaxis... A very interesting preview update AND some insight into some of the really significant changes that will allow vastly different strategies to either fail or be succcessful.

I remember years ago when Velocyrix (where are you by the way) was opining that the real strategy games give you more than one way to win, and is rather a continuous stream of critical choices, that are very different from game to game.

In Civ3 it was usually quite clear what strategies would win, there was always room for refinement, but the general line was obvious -> lots of cities.

Now that has all changed. We need to start from scratch and even then there may be no universal solution, and I dearly hope that is the case.

I really hope there is no clanger, no sting in the tail, it's almost looking too good to be true...

[rickb]

Originally posted by Solver
State religion doesn't give a GP point, though, not sure where you got that from.

I was remembering this screenshot incorrectly: http://apolyton.net/dir/index.php?id...s=5501&cat=346

The 100% GP birthrate is apparently only coming from cities with your state religion. Is that from Pacifism or something else?

[Solver]

"If there is only one right choice, you're not looking at a strategy game".

[volcanohead]

But Solver, can you say there is no spanner in the works, no fly in the ointment, is it really as good as it looks?

[Dominae]

Artists provide both Culture and Commerce.

Golden Ages require an increasing number of unique Great People; you cannot cash in 2 Great Prophets and 1 Great Artist for your second GA.

[Solver]

Rick - the GP birth right is from Pacifism there.

Dominae, so now you know the game better than me, pah .

Volcanohead - well, I can't promise everyone will like it . IMO, though, the game is really excellent.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Solver
Dominae, so now you know the game better than me, pah.

Actually, I'm just guessing. Seems logical enough.

[LordShiva]

If it's a good idea to avoid Citizens, why have them in the game in the first place

[inca911]

Solver:
What are your system specs, and how'd it run for you? I'm figuring out what new computer I need to buy. Thanks!

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by LordShiva
If it's a good idea to avoid Citizens, why have them in the game in the first place

To give 'em something to do in case of tight borders when the city is still small and without specialist buildings?

[Solver]

Because sometimes Citizens are useful. For example, if you want to prevent growth into unhappiness early you may want to make a Citizen. There are also other instances.

[MattPilot]

Originally posted by rickb


The Philosophical trait gives +100%, Pacifism another 100%. I assume they stack, so 200% for both? Meaning if you were producing say a base of 5 GP points, you'd now be producing 10?

You math is a little off. You start out with 100% base value. So if you are producing 5 GP points a turn, you get 5 GP points a turn. So if you were to add the 200% from pacifism and philosophical trait, you end up with 300%. Thats 15 GP points per turn.





And solver, as someone else mentioned, its 'beakers', not breakers

[Freddz]

I don't know if you guys are allowed to answer this.. but to me it sure sounds like if spies would/could be able to assassinate great people which are stationed in cities.
That would make sense. What do the non-beta testers think about this?

Btw, MarkG, thanks for the answers in the previous thread.

[Martinus]

Personally, I love how it all relates to Civic choices being really situational - that is to say they are not equivalent of each other, but still have their uses.

Consider Mercantilism vs. Free Market, for example.

In early game, 1 Free Specialist with Mercantilism seems like a great boon, with cities having relatively few specialists available. Meanwhile, the 1 free foreign trade route (with Free Trade), with foreign cities being not yet very big and developped is not such a big deal.

As the game progresses, and cities become bigger (with many specialists available) it would probably make more sense to turn to Free Trade (unless you were a perfectionist isolated Civ, where having foreign trade routes would make little sense).

It seems that the later civics will be, on average, better for late-game, however it doesn't mean the earlier civics won't work or will always be worse - it is very historically realistic, imo.

[Solver]

You're not going to be running Mercantilism in the very early game exactly . But yeah, Free Market vs. Mercantilism is one of the most interesting choices in the game.

You make a good point. Organized Religion is one of the first available civics, and one I enjoy running in just about any era.