So... it's been over a month since they've announced the July release of the BtS xpack, and with a little over two months to go before the proposed release date, Firaxis has yet to release any additional info on the game beyond the handful of concept artwork pieces and a vague laundry list of new features.

Now, I know the modus operandi of game companies (including Firaxis): release only enough info to keep them interested until the release date, but with such a short interval between the announcement and the release date, I would have thought they would have at least updated the game site at least once. With the previous Civ games, they updated their website regularly with a "civ of the week" and few in-game screenshots here and there. This began many months before the game was actually released. But with the recent shakeup at 2K, I am getting worried that either nobody is around to update their site, or (horror of horrors!) the xpack is not going to be released until much later, if at all.

I hope this post reaches the eyes and ears of the Firaxis team (of whom I've known in the past to scour these forums). Please, just a screenshot! Or another confirmed civ! Please!:please::bowdown:

There will be more information soon, but I can't spill anything right now. Sorry for making you wait... it's not up to me. ;)

And thus why I made this post in the "Anti-Wonders of the World" topic:

Beyond the Sword Website - "Beyond the Sword Website" takes only two turns to complete, regardless of the :hammers: within the city. The turn immediately before completing "Beyond the Sword Website" a large, yellow-colored and all-caps block of text appears slightly below the middle of your screen "OFFICIAL WEBSITE COMING SOON". When this happens, add a turn to the amount of time it takes to complete "Beyond the Sword Website", regardless of the city's :hammers:.

It seems like it will always say "OFFICIAL WEBSITE COMING SOON". I know, of course, that it will eventually be updated, but it has been some time. I realize, however, that Firaxis and its programmers are hard at work on the game, so I am very willing to remain patient for as long as possible. Regardless, I am extremely eager to hear any sort of news from the team. Everything comes in due time...

Lol... I was about to ask for the same thing! I'm getting bored of Warlords now because all I can think about is BTS... I need some new information to keep my Civ addiction alive!

Please think of the consumer! We need our fix before we find some other game to catch our attention:lol:

One more thing!

Make sure it isn't postponed any later! I've planned my summer around BTS coming out in July... Early July too! Hurry!

Thanks :D

If it gets delayed then it gets delayed, I say. It is far better to wait longer for a finished product than receive a half-made product early. Patience is key to all things in life, and this is certainly no exception. So I am quite willing to wait for however long it takes for the game to be fully completed rather than rushed out in a hurry.

Agreed, but it would nice to be fed a few tidbits of info about the xp on a semi-regular basis until we can finally play it. :)

There's absolutely no harm in telling us all the civs that are in. They are bound to have made final decisions on that long ago. No harm in telling us all the scenarios either unless they're choosing which ones to put in ....

I was also wondering if there would be any new updates soon, considering it's been a third of the time between announcement and release. But, I suppose they're making sure they don't announce anything before it's certainly going to be included, so it's just as well :).

I wouldn't mind knowing at least a few more of the new Civs.

I'm trying to remember if we actually knew all of the extra Civs in Warlords before it was released.

I wouldn't mind knowing at least a few more of the new Civs.

I'm trying to remember if we actually knew all of the extra Civs in Warlords before it was released.

Yes we did, I remember knowing which civs were going to be included, but just waiting to see pictures of their leaders.

Not sure if this has been posted before, but here you can see the boxart:

http://www.2kgames.com/index.php?p=games&title=civbts

Not sure if this has been posted before, but here you can see the boxart:

http://www.2kgames.com/index.php?p=games&title=civbts
Thanks for the link, ive been waiting to see that :goodjob:

Thanks Rakers, I hope that they don't include those extremely futuristic war machines in the standard game. I wouldn't mind in a scenario, but I don't want the standard game tainted with sci-fi machines like the two on the cover.

The final box art better not come with that yucky 'Games for Windows' border on it.

Thanks Rakers, I hope that they don't include those extremely futuristic war machines in the standard game. I wouldn't mind in a scenario, but I don't want the standard game tainted with sci-fi machines like the two on the cover.
I do, but i doubt it will... i think it would be cool if it had future era's like in empire earth.

There will be more information soon, but I can't spill anything right now. Sorry for making you wait... it's not up to me. ;)

not even a tiny little hint ;) we won't tell anyone, I promise... :D

I want to know which scenarios are in. If they are good scenarios I will be more likely to buy the expansion sooner. If they are all sci-fi garbage and of the same quality as Omens then I will wait a long time for the XP. ;)

I want to know which scenarios are in. If they are good scenarios I will be more likely to buy the expansion sooner. If they are all sci-fi garbage and of the same quality as Omens then I will wait a long time for the XP. ;)

Agreed. It's not a coincidence that the only sci-fi-ish game I have is Age of Mythology and I have a lot of history-based games. I'm hoping the Afterworld one is the only non-historical scenario :please:

I wish they would give us information we didn't know, not a useless release date...

Actually Firaxis seems good with releasing info, at least compared to other game companies coughPandemicGamescough....

That cover box scares me. Civ is about history, not mechanized things.

I am speechless!

The boxart is AWESOME!!!


I see a Fantastic Worlds/Test of Time like EP....

Is it mech warrior or civ4 game?

Regards,
Arto.

I would really really REALLY love to see a Fantastic Worlds style exp, full of graphics mods. Alpha Centauri was my favorite Civ game, Fantastic Worlds and ToT were my favorite expansions before that, and CivII's easily modified gameplay and graphics were what made the civilization series a hit, IMOP. Unlimited replay value, for the largest percentage of TBS game lovers. If you want history games, they're there, sci-fi styled, fantasy oriented, etc. They were there with the expansion, and countless more online, growing all the time. We're missing a good exp for Civ4 with great graphics changes and newly coded gameplay. I can't wait.

Don't take too much from the cover art. Look at Warlords. It has an orgy of units on the cover, and what did we get? 2 or 3 if you count Great Generals...

Civ is about history, not mechanized things.
Is that why you can research future tech, build a elevator to space, build SDI, and send settlers off in a spaceship with statis chambers?

I like the fact that they are adding more to the future aspect of the game, the current space race victory is a joke, and history has limited appeal.

One thing i would like to see added to the game, is a way to prevent other players from being able to achieve certain victory conditions, as the only current way to do this is through war... e.g. building a hydrogen bomb production facility prevents culture/diplomacy victories, development of the SDI prevents spacerace victories, voting world unification scheme prevents war... and so on...

One thing i would like to see added to the game, is a way to prevent other players from being able to achieve certain victory conditions, as the only current way to do this is through war... e.g. building a hydrogen bomb production facility prevents culture/diplomacy victories, development of the SDI prevents spacerace victories, voting world unification scheme prevents war... and so on...Nice idea. Instead of preventing, prehaps make it more difficult for others to achieve the victory type, like cultural victory becomes much harder to achieve with the creation of many corporations or something; conquest becomes much harder to achieve with the creation of the UN. spaceship victory becomes much harder with many state religions; domination becomes much harder when there are a lot of small civs, etc.

While having a future era would really be a great addition i just hope they aren't focusing on extending timeline, without making a lot of addition to modern and industrial era.
I'm sure that events, better espionage and corporation will make late game better, but in Civ4 and Warlords later eras are so boring if compared to early eras that they really need a big boost to be interesting, particularly in warfare.
A lot of new units in modern and industrial age are needed like nuclear submarine,paratroops.Mech and other sci-fi things are good but it's better to get a well done modern era than a modern era and a future era which are boring to play.
Among other things if they extend timeline to a future era i hope they also make a new gamespeed i wouldn't like to play a marathon game with techs which cost less just because Marathon game has the same number of turns while there are a lot more techs

I am sorry, I like scifi games, but Civ IV needs to restore some realism and stop focusing on all this other stuff. Scifi should be for the modders. And GDR's, if included in the epic game should be limited to a certain amount because let's not pretend that they would be cheap to produce.

For me the charm of Civ II was actually the realism which is the most realistic Civ edition so far. And Civ III is almost as realistic if a few things were added/modified but Civ IV gets ridiculous. When I first played Civ IV I did not feel as if I was playing Civ, and I feel that all this scifi added garbage may bring in new viewers who see the future aspect and think "cool" in their heads but I am sure many traditional fans will be turned off. Not the majority but a sizable chunk at least. But, that is the business for you, everything is about getting new players. Even though I still think they can do that without adding unecessary things. Maybe I should go play Caesar...

Wish granted ;)

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/civilizationivbeyondthesword/interview.html

Wish granted ;)

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/civilizationivbeyondthesword/interview.html

Ah, so Queen Boudicca is confirmed, then. Honestly, though, I don't particularly like the Celtia unique building or unique unit, so I doubt she'll get any use from me. I will like the Celtic music that will be playing when you meet her, though, heh.

As for combining any leader with any civilization (using Gandhi for Praetorians/Forums in a Indian / Roman combination)... I wonder if that will only be online. In all honesty, I'm not so sure that I like that feature. Obviously people will just pick the strongest leader with the strongest unique building and unit, whereas before a leader with strong traits might have had bad units, or a leader with a good unit might have had bad traits. Now there isn't any real stopping power. Personally, I'd choose Ragnar (Financial / Aggressive) with Rome to have Praetorians that start with Combat I... it already sounds cheap :/. And if a new leader or edited existing leader (we'll say Boudicca) has aggressive and charismatic, then that combined with praetorians would be even cheaper.

:Edit: I was just using Boudicca as an example, but as I reread the article I found that she IS indeed aggressive and charismatic. So yeah... Queen Boudicca with praetorians (ironic) for the ultimate, hacked-up combination. Maybe you can turn that option off... I hope so...

Maybe they have something planned to balance out the traits

Calm down people, the mechs on the box art are most probably referring to one or two scenarios, btw. I am deeply dissapointed by them apparently leaving out a new Middle Age scenario, I mean most of the additions seem perfectly placed for it (Apostolic palace anyone...).
m

i had a look at the boxwork will it add a new era?

i had a look at the boxwork will it add a new era?

That's a question I've been asking myself, will all this extra late game stuff be added to the modern age or will they add a new age afterwards (with a corresponding soundtrack).

sigh... I just said it.

They have announced an "afterworld" scenario (there is also a feature on the firaxis homepage on it) with all the mech-warriors et. al. in it. I seriously doubt (would bet something on it) that this doesn't belong to the main game, also regarding the statement in the new interview that the scenarios bring something totally new to the game and that they differ substantially from the main game.

Agreed?

mick