I got the Magazine! Preview, First Impressions, Screenshots forthcoming!

[Lawrence of Arabia]

We know that there are 7 major civs, but has Firaxis said anything about minor civs? And the barbarians have cities now, so that could counter-balance the lack of major civs. maybe when you take a barbarian city, you get some sort of gold like 50 or something.

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Its okay to smile; you're in America now

[ASHBERY76]

Only seven civs what are they thinking, i think moo3's the game im
looking foward to most now.

[Ceci n'est pas Snapcase]

Phases of the game or phaes of game development? In fact, looking at it again, the tiles are completely different in the three graphics screenshots showing map tiles in the magazine (The Baltimore Screenshot in the previous preview, plus these two).

• The forest tiles are different, flecks of mossy nonsense in the Washington Screenshot, Big, dense leafy things in the Baltimore screenshot, and slighty less mossy nonsense in the Detroit screenshot. The corresponding Jungle tiles are also different.
  
• The Irrigation tiles are different in all three, with those Teal streaks in Washington, and two different amounts of cyan canal irrigation in Detroit and Balitmore.
  
• The road tiles are different (this might push for an era hypothesis, actually), with squiggly roads in Washington, straight dirt roads in Detroit, and modern asphalt roads in Baltimore.

One thing I can't make heads or tails of now that I see the Baltimore screenshot clearly is why some roads and structures and irrigation tiles and workers are faded out while others can be seen clearly. Also, why is there no city in that screenshot? Is the city radius not connected to the city? What are there small houses (they look like Size one roman cities) up in the hills? Why are all improvements listed twice? And who the hell is Queen Amanda of the Wise Pandas?

[Adm.Naismith]

quote: Originally posted by Ilkuul on 04-27-2001 04:49 PM I think you're getting confused by the shape. It's actually a stadium (modern equivalent of a colosseum) - see earlier posts in this thread.

My opinion: no way!
Inside city walls= city buildings
Outside city walls=Wonders

quote: The main map view is very similar to the CGW one - but I also wonder about the red circle around Detroit: just indicating that it's selected?

ZoC of the Horse mounted Unit is another option, IMHO, but a "rounded" city area is another, too.

[Ilkuul]

You have a point there about Wonders being outside the walls...

But I have another question: In both this and the CGW city view screenshots, it's been a coastal city. I do hope we aren't going to see the same view and the same coastline for inland cities as well!

[venus]

ah, now that's a decent screenshot. whew, i was worried that ugly one they had on the PC Gamer website was the latest one.

my only major gripe: borders. it looks like they're only the size of the city radius. that bites. :| i think SMAC's system of border expansion was well implemented. it always gave me very logical and effective borders.

[Kull]

"Seven Civs" Bah!!!!

Yes, adding civs probably has an impact on turn length and AI competence, so go ahead and keep them at seven for the basic game. But if they don't give scenario designers the option to raise the number (even 10 would be acceptable), than this will be a MAJOR disappointment. More like Civ2.5 than Civ3.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

The picts on the website have a lot brighter terrain than the ones in the magazine. Is this just due to the scanning, or is it really like this?

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Its okay to smile; you're in America now

[Chris 62]

Hey snap, instead of another peice of info on how freakin good it is, could we have some clarifacation on the number of civilizations in the game?!!? This a major concern to a lot of us, including the entire Scenario League, and a lot of Scenario Designers! If the number is locked in at 7, it is a major disapointment to a lot of us, and my faith in civ-3 will have hit an all time low. Please give us more info on this point.

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All knowledge begins with the phrase: I don't know.

[yin26]

quote: There are two types of nuclear weapons. We have ICBMs that can hit anything on the map (yin26, Infinate missile range, eh - transcribers comment)

Hmmm. All I can say is that there MUST be a viable defense, of course, otherwise the game is already ruined without question. But with a balanced defense available, this should be fine.

[- Groucho -]

quote: Originally posted by yin26 on 04-27-2001 09:43 PM Hmmm. All I can say is that there MUST be a viable defense, of course, otherwise the game is already ruined without question. But with a balanced defense available, this should be fine.

Huh? What would that viable defence be, Yin? In real life the US, Russia, Britain, Japan and France all have the tech to build ICBMs that can hit anything on the planet and no one has a defense. Does that mean life isn't worth living?

Of course not. And the game isn't ruined either. In fact if ICBMs came along at the exact same time as a defense to them I would think the game was flawed as it is far easier to build a decent ICBM attack system than to build a defense to one.

[Lord_Davinator]

great great news. Civ3 seems to be dancing to our tune.


[This message has been edited by Lord_Davinator (edited April 27, 2001).]

[MrFun]

Only seven civilizations -- how boring.

I know, I know -- there are minor civilizations in addition to those seven main civilizations. Well, whooopppeee!

I know, I know -- we cannot add too many civilizations in one game because that would strain the AI. So let's be reasonable then -- let's not set it at a mere 7, and not skyrocket the number up to 20.

I think Firaxis should seriously reconsider the maximum number of civilizations to CHOOSE from for every new game from 16 to 25, and set the maximum number of civilizations IN each game from 7 to at least 12.

But all the rest of it sounds great!

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"I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, making exceptions to it -- where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why does not another say it does not mean some other man?"
-- Abraham Lincoln's quote, and his anti-racist ideals

[Roman]

I love the way in that nukes are going to be implemented. ICBMs with unlimited range and tactical nukes. Yupeee!!

[Roman]

quote: Originally posted by Ceci n'est pas Snapcase on 04-27-2001 09:57 AM Jeff Briggs: "Wonders of the World are as important as ever. We have all the Civ2 ones, a couple of new ones, some that are old and function in new ways and a brand new set that we call "small wonders". While you can only constuct one of each Wonder of the World, small wonders can be built by every civilization, such as the Strategic Defense Initiative, Apollo Program and Manhattan Project.

Hurray to "big" and "small" wonders!

quote: The Great Canal is one of the new Wonders in the game. When you build that, you can chose a place on the map and connect two oceans, so it's like the Panama Canal. We also have the Great Wall, which is an old wonder, but now you can chose a section of your border and you get a wall that is really hard for someone to get through.

IMO, this is an excellent way to implement wonders.