Anybody found 'hidden' features?

[ulyanov]

Originally posted by dconner


A bit ahistorical for her to be the game's turbo-hottie, but I'm not complaining much....

Remeber that Catherine was a turbo-hottie, when marrying (Peter?) and he died not long after. She pretty much wrested the throne on her ability to charm the men around her...

[DeepO]

Originally posted by snoopy369
If you get to the Modern era, in the announcing screen, it shows a watch ...

... the Soren brand watch.

The opening screen has Jeff Brigs, and I think Sid Meyer on the map shown on the table. I'm not sure of Sid, but Jeff's shiny head is rather easy to recognise.

DeepO

[CWatkins]

Personally I think Isabella is hotter than Elizabeth, but thats just me. Maybe its because that firey spaniard always declares war on me.. but anyways

some tucked away features I've noticed (or were pointed out to me)

1. There's a Strategy layer you get by zooming out a certain distance. This lets you draw lines and make signs on the map for strategic purposes

2. With a unit selected, click and hold the right mouse button and hover over an enemy unit. The odds and a breakdown of bonuses is displayed.

3. Monarch and harder difficulty levels are HARD! AI opponents get a huge head start thats nearly impossible to recover from and then they declare war on you because they figure you're weak, which is true. Im sure Ill find some way, but for now its too much for this veteran civver.

[Arrian]

Originally posted by dconner
Yep, no fooling! They'll pass underneath any "Ice" tile. Found this out by accident when giving my sub a "Goto" command that would be completed in far fewer turns than I expected, because the captain took a North Pole shortcut.

SWEET. I hadn't noticed that yet. I've only built one sub, and hardly used it.

-Arrian

[alva]

Yup, that would be my favourite little or hidden feature, absolutely brilliant.

[RobC]

Originally posted by Hamdinger
I cracked up the first time I saw the tip "Never start a land war in Asia."

I like the 'never bring a sword to a gunfight" one.

Oh, and if you go to the credits screen, you can see a 'slideshow' of photos, concept art, and some pre-production in-game graphics.

[Byelotsar]

Not exactly "hidden", (not necessarily "actually in the game" either, since I haven't been paying attention to it enough), but it seems to me that the units of different nationalities give responses in the correct language for that nationality. I don't know enough to recognize the "correct" sound for an Indian or Egyptian unit, but when playing as the Germans, the "jawohl!" is quite clear, and when playing as the Americans (these being the four civs I've played), the units say "yes sir!"

I was also poking around in the music files today, and was thoroughly impressed to find that not only does every leader have his/her own unique music, but there are three pieces for each leader (labelled "early" "middle" and "late") which essentially "evolve". It's the same piece, starting out with more ancient sounds and becoming more modern. with each iteration. It's a bit difficult to describe. You can find the music I'm talking about here in your civ4\assets\sounds\diplomacy folder. Choose a leader, and listen to the three tracks for him or her back-to-back. It's really neat! (I think so, anyway.)

[sittingsparrow]

Originally posted by Byelotsar
Not exactly "hidden", (not necessarily "actually in the game" either, since I haven't been paying attention to it enough), but it seems to me that the units of different nationalities give responses in the correct language for that nationality. ...

Yes, I know for a fact that the Mansa Musa dude speaks Farsi, a friend of mine is Persian and tested the game. He also said that they do full sentences as opposed to another game (can't remember which one) where they only spoke a word or two.

Seems that the devs has taken an effort in this and it's a cool feature for those that can understand it.

How many Civ languages can you speak? 1...

I know some French and German, but not able to speak it.

[Martinus]

Also, it seems Catherine swings both ways - I was playing as Victoria once and still Catherine was hitting on me.

[Lancer]

"Snacks are good in moderation"

While I can agree that snacks are indeed good, it has been amply evidenced to me that moderation is, in fact, evil.

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by sittingsparrow
How many Civ languages can you speak? 1...

I know some French and German, but not able to speak it.

well, you speak 2 CIV languages: english and american

for me it's 6.5, if you are willing to say italian is latin (uhm.. well... russian only counts half)

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by Martinus
Also, it seems Catherine swings both ways - I was playing as Victoria once and still Catherine was hitting on me.

no wonder... you... crossdresser

[sophist]

Originally posted by sittingsparrow
Yes, I know for a fact that the Mansa Musa dude speaks Farsi, a friend of mine is Persian and tested the game. He also said that they do full sentences as opposed to another game (can't remember which one) where they only spoke a word or two.

I hope you mean Cyrus.

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by snoopy369
If you get to the Modern era, in the announcing screen, it shows a watch ...

... the Soren brand watch.

Shiit, I was just going to write that when I saw you beat me by a day... I should be more on the forums and not be 50% social and 50% Civ4 addict.

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by sabrewolf
for me it's 6.5, if you are willing to say italian is latin (uhm.. well... russian only counts half)

A teacher once told me that if you were to go to Italy and speak in Latin, everyone would understand you but at the same time wonder where the grave you have risen from is