"Cool multiplayer concepts"

[Alexander's Horse]

When I saw that in one of the "ask the team" Q and A sessions, I KNEW multiplayer was in trouble.

Couldn't they just give us tried and true Smac or civ II MP and then introduce the "new concepts" in a later version of the game?

That way, we get multiplayer support and they also get the chance to stiff us for a new version next year. Everybody is happy

[Christantine The Great]

That sounds dangerious. The patch/expansion would have to "rip" the other, temp MP version out. Plus it would have to be tailored to culture, UUs, etc. That would be worse than waiting for MP.

[Alfonsus71]

The question is if they will "give" an MP patch to all CIv3 SP buyers, or if they will "sell" an MP version + expansion pack, like in Civ 2 "Multiplayer Gold Edition". I´m afraid it could be the second one, but I don´t care if the new MP features are really cool.

[Sarxis]

To be honest, even though I don't want to wait or have to pay for MP, a retailed MP XP would probably be of a higher quality than just a downloadable patch.