What BtS feature are you most looking forward to?

[Underseer]

I stayed away from the second expansion for Civ3 because it included things I wasn't crazy about (e.g. increased corruption effects). Once again, the second expansion to Civ4 includes things that will make me cringe (e.g. espionage, expanded space race, etc.), but I am getting it mostly for one long-due change: the improved worker AI that consults with the city to determine what actions to take in that city radius.

What feature has your interest?

[Kuciwalker]

Being able to play as the Holy Roman Empire.

[Sarxis]

The ship to AC. Added gameplay features, techs, units, etc.

[Kloreep]

AI as a whole. I'm very excited to see what Blake has done. I haven't played enough SP recently to have checked out his Better AI mod, but from what I've heard, I think I'll definitely be moving back down to Regent in BtS.

The new space race also sounds great. I always preferred Civ2's space race to 3's or to the old system of 4.

I have to agree with you, Underseer, that I'm a bit skeptical of the new espionage system. But I'm willing to hold my prejudices until I can play the actual game.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Underseer
Once again, the second expansion to Civ4 includes things that will make me cringe (e.g. espionage, expanded space race, etc.), ...

Why would you cringe at an expanded space race? It was alot more interesting in Civ 2 when you could pull off a victory by the skin of your teeth by building a faster space ship and reaching AC first. I'm glad to see that will be back in the game. As for the espionage changes, having played GalCiv2-Dark Avatar I see alot of similarities to that system and I don't mind it one bit.

[Kloreep]

As regards comparisons to Dark Avatar, one complaint I've seen about the revamped espionage in that game was that the very sabotage-oriented nature of it essentially forced players to invest in defense espionage, potentially driving a spiral in which everyone invests in an espionage armrace at the cost of other investments. (I have Dark Avatar, but haven't played it enough to form my own opinion on this. I certainly did feel the need to ramp up spy spending after an enemy spy shut down a facility of mine for the first time, though.)

Of course, I don't know how the Civ4 system will play out. Its role may be expanded, but it may be quite different from

[OliverFA]

The Apostolic Palace. It may very well add an additional diplomatic layer to the early game to make it even more interesting.

[Methos]

Corporations

[Jaybe]

Corporations, but also Events & Espionage (providing another distraction from research expenditure, which is GOOD).

-- Oh! And TRADE ROUTES!!

[Willem]

Originally posted by Kloreep
As regards comparisons to Dark Avatar, one complaint I've seen about the revamped espionage in that game was that the very sabotage-oriented nature of it essentially forced players to invest in defense espionage, potentially driving a spiral in which everyone invests in an espionage armrace at the cost of other investments.

I didn't find that to be the case at all. I almost always kept my espionage spending at a minimum and usually never had a problem with getting swamped by alien spies. I'd always keep one in reserve and that was usually enough to fend off any incursion by the other races. Occasionaly I'd get a few of them at one time which would prompt me to increase my spending for awhile, but once those were taken care of I could drop my spending back to minimum again.

[ZEE]

The Final Frontier Scenerio

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[Zinegata]

The scenarios excite me the most.

Which is actually not a very good endorsement of the expansion :/

[Underseer]

Originally posted by Willem


Why would you cringe at an expanded space race? It was alot more interesting in Civ 2 when you could pull off a victory by the skin of your teeth by building a faster space ship and reaching AC first. I'm glad to see that will be back in the game. As for the espionage changes, having played GalCiv2-Dark Avatar I see alot of similarities to that system and I don't mind it one bit.

I find the old Civ2 style of space race to be more tedious. The late game is a lot less interesting than the early game, and the expanded space race only serves to make the most boring part of the game last longer.

[Blaupanzer]

Corporations, principally. Also a more savvy AI and espionage. I strongly suspect the AI will not do sabotage/spying well -- after all, the setup provides them more info than it does the player anyway. We'll see.

More civs and leaders (and therefore trait combos) is icing on the cake. A couple of the scenarios do sound intriguing, but I haven't been a big scenario guy in the past.

[korn469]

1) Improved AI
2) The possibility of Partisans
3) cORPORATIONs
4) Improved Espianoge
5) Better Spaceship
6) Paratroopers