Patch Lottery

[Capt Dizle]

Okay, no prize but now that Civ4 is gold we should have a contest on the release date of the first patch.

Okay, lets see, based on past experience with Firaxis, I'd assume that they are already working on the first patch.

Seems that the release date is just a bit to pat. Two months before Christmas. Sounds like a marketing decision. That'll mean some nasty bugs are pretty much guaranteed to come in the box.

I'll expect a patch on November 22nd, which will get the guys out of the office for Thanksgiving.

Anyone else want to guess?

[Cookie Monster]

There's no doubt that there will probably be a patch for this game. I think I agree with your prediction. Sometime at or near Thanksgiving.

[Solver]

Of course there will be a patch - it's impossible to release a bug-free game. Plus, if beta testers can play a thousand games, then the public can play ten thousand in the same timeframe, which gives a ten times larger chance to notice any obscure bugs.

[Harovan]

I expect a patch around December 15th. Thanksgiving (can't you yanks talk in normal dates as the rest of the world does? ) seems way premature.

[Capt Dizle]

If the bugs are only obscure I will be very pleased.

[uberloz]

I'm going to guess two weeks after it's release.

My money is on November 8th.

[Cookie Monster]

Sorry Sir Ralph..."at or near the fourth thursday in November"

[Fried-Psitalon]

Originally posted by Capt Dizle
If the bugs are only obscure I will be very pleased.

It's this kind of understanding, considerate optimism that warms a Firaxian's heart.

[TheDarkside]

It might depend on how critical of bugs they may find. If they find something critical I'm sure they will want to get a patch out asap. If there's only cosmetic type bugs it can wait until December

[Ninot]

My money is on December 2nd.

[Aro]

Next year.

Yeah, I'm optimistic.


Edited:

In fact, I have a reason to be so optimistic. A lot of good (and bad ) players have been testing this game for the last two years. There are bugs, for sure. But in my opinion, they aren't major ones. Or, at least, not so obvious. We'll need time to find them, IF they exist.

[Harrier UK]

I'd say the first patch will be March 2006.

Forever an optimist.

[alva]

At the same time as the release of the SDK or Pitboss, that gives them an excuse not to mention several bugs that were fixed but not noticed.
"Nonono, this patch is because of Pitboss/SDK, not bugs!!!Noooo sirree!!!"

[Nimitz]

January 5
A present for my birthday.

[Kinjiru]

The more interesting question is WHAT will the first patch address?

My top three guesses:

1) Worker AI routines (revolving around what happens when you automate the lil' guys)

2) Save/Reload file corruption

3) "Multiplayer game drop/connection issues"