the ZDnet article

[Jon Miller]

Well

I have been reading the article

and I must say, I should have been more trusting of Firaxis

the way they are using leaders and soo on is both interesting/ballanced/historic

I will be more trusting on Unique Civs too (and we get an inkiling for how they will work)

Can I preorder Civ 3 now?

Jon Miller

[yin26]

Do you mean **this article**? In any event, I have always trusted Sid.

[Jon Miller]

No I mean the new link from the site (can be found at apolyton or firaxis site).

Yes, I know Sid makes good games and I was never worried that it would be horrid. But I was somewhat worried by the unique civs and leaders (I was afraid they would change it to something like AoE or Moo/MoM, both great games nut not Civ). Mostly I just think that the way they will have leaders work sounds interesting and makes me feel bad about my worry with unique civs and leaders.

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

This is what I was refering to:

"Then there's the addition of Great Leaders. Any time a unit wins a battle and gets promoted to veteran status, there's a small chance a Leader will be spawned. When this happens, get the Leader back to a city without being captured, and then you can use him for three tasks. He can build an army (essentially a stacked unit that fights all at once), form a Military Academy (which builds armies), or accelerate the construction of one building in your empire. "

Jon Miller

[yin26]

I see. I missed the link until just now. I suppose the jury is still out on the unique bonuses, but Sid is a genius at keeping stuff like that balanced and meaningful...

[Jon Miller]

Well I was worried about the great leaders, and while I of course haven't tried this out it seems interesting. I am now looking forward to seeing how he does unique civs. (I guess maybe I was just afraid that there would be certain parts that were less than the best (only good or great), I now have more confidence that it will all be awesome, not merely great).

jon Miller

[joseph1944]

Does this mean that there will not be stack units unless we find a leader?

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[ajbera]

According to the article, armies (stacked units) may also be formed at Academies, as well as by Leaders. Academies are instituted by Leaders. Perhaps the concept is that while any community can create military units, only those cities with Academies can create armies, representing the resources and effort necessary to convert these units into organized fighting groups.

Just a thought.

[Pintello]

Hi Ajbera,

I like your insight into why you have to have academies to build armies. It makes sense and I think you may have the reason Sid went for it as well.

I have read this article and I think all the information in it has appeared elsewhere, except for one additional piece. That peice is the part about Barbarians having encampments that you have to go out and destroy. I like that addition. I gives a good historical feel to the game too I think. I also like that once you have destroyed a Barbarian encampment that they can go and build another one, but only in un-explored territory. That has a nice historical feel to it as well.

Like everyone else here, I am really looking forward to Sid's new heir to the Civilization tradition.

Timothy Pintello

[MrFun]

After reading the latest article, I am now a little concerned.

Will the requirement for specific resources for specific unit types only increase frustration and decrease the fun factor by limiting unit production too much?

[Jon Miller]

I hadn't heard either the way leaders would be used nor the barbarrian encampments before.

And yes mister fun, I have heard others worried about that too (for the last month I beleive). But since you only need one resource (if your cities are all connected), it shouldn't be bad and should instead add some interesting strategic implications. I am personally excited by it but then I lean more towards complexity. I think it will be a realistic and fun addition to the game.

I think it makes since to use a leader for stacked combat since doing stack combat shows the units know how to work together. This can only be doe well with millitary intellegence. Instaed of having some sort of tech you learn to be able to do this, Sid made it a funciton of leaders.

Jon Miller