Firaxis has just posted a Podcast for Beyond the Sword!

Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword is almost complete! Join lead programmer/co-designer Alex Mantzaris and producer Jesse Smith for an in-depth overview of what's new, find out why Tim McCracken's Afterworld is going to be unlike any Civ scenario you have seen before, and hear from Liam Collins about what it takes to be an intern at Firaxis.


Check it out at: http://www.firaxis.com/community/pod.php

Could someone post a summary of the details?

I tried listening but every 45 seconds or so it needed to buffer. So I gave up.

Advanced Starts- you get points and use those point to buy cities roads, improvements, units, buildings and population points, the AI does the same thing. They also said that you'd be able to use this feature for scenarios.

Espionage- You can steal and blow stuff of your opponents up with your points.

Thats pretty much the first half, i dont want to go into the Afterworld part

So nothing that we don't already know?

^^ maybe some of the Afterworld stuff was new but yeah all old junk

Why don't you want to go into the Afterworld part? Are you disinterested in it, too? :D

- The Crossroads of the World scenario will showcase corporations ("trade guilds")
- Firaxis' next project will be announced in the next podcast

- The Crossroads of the World scenario will showcase corporations ("trade guilds")

I thought so. Many of the Warlords scenarios were used to showcase some of the new Warlords game features (vassals, GGs, etc.) so I'm not surprised that there is a scenario based on the corporation feature.

That explains why there were Trebuchets in Rise of Rome. :hmm:

That explains why there were Trebuchets in Rise of Rome. :hmm:

When I got Warlords the first thing I did was play the Barbarian scenario. I honestly don't think I would have learned to appreciate Trebuchets so quickly if I hadn't as they are pretty much essential for taking out cities in that scenario.

- The Crossroads of the World scenario will showcase corporations ("trade guilds")

Anyone else thinks this might lead to the last civ being the Swahili? An African trading civilization which traded with the middle East. Like the HRE, they may have saved themselves work by designing the same civ for a scenario and the epic game.

Maybe. Also Aksum is a possibility.

Anyone else thinks this might lead to the last civ being the Swahili? An African trading civilization which traded with the middle East. Like the HRE, they may have saved themselves work by designing the same civ for a scenario and the epic game.

- The Crossroads of the World scenario will showcase corporations ("trade guilds")
- Firaxis' next project will be announced in the next podcast

Very interesting. I wonder what kind of trade guilds. I don't think they were any organized trade guilds outside of europe as build as the hanseatic, medicis, or fuggers but I may be wrong. They may have to be "creative". Which might be simlar to trebuchets in the rise of rome.;) :D

Why don't you want to go into the Afterworld part? Are you disinterested in it, too? :D

quite honestly i am disinterested in most of the scenarios and i was to interested playing around with WB in my current game :D

hey fetchin ur going to update this mod this was one of the cool one in vanilla civ4

They also mentioned Stealth Ships and some sort of Gilgamesh hero.

They did confirm that espionage had to be powerful enough to rival science and culture, and that it would be essential to the game. Which was common sense, but it's good to know for sure. They still haven't said HOW it will be so powerful, but I'm betting that will be something they devote a whole article to at some point.

They will deny you access to some current F8 and F9 info till you pay for it, via Spionage points, isn't it?
Besides tactical nukes, poison water and some stuff from Civ2's Spy unit...

Hope it's a lot more than that. I'd give up a bit of info from the F8 and F9 screen most of the time if it was a choice between that and more technology or money. I'm thinking it has to be a LOT more than that.

They will deny you access to some current F8 and F9 info till you pay for it, via Spionage points, isn't it?
Besides tactical nukes, poison water and some stuff from Civ2's Spy unit...



I said here weeks ago that the guy with a suitcase on the front cover of BtS suggested that terrorism is in the game now. But according to this Podcast, the terrorist is only available in one of those STUPID sci-fi scenarios which no doubt everyone with Asperger's syndrome and fans of Warhammer 40,000 will drool over.

The podcast was very interesting, I listened to it while reading other stuff on the net so it effectively didn't take time. Good to hear from the enthusiastic guys making the BTS. They are clearly excited by the scenarios and the possibilities of the game engine. I don't normally bother much with scenarios preferring to play the "proper" game but who knows? Maybe this time I'll want to play one or more of the scenarios more than the game. This is especially likely as they say that the starting points system will apply to scenarios so you can adopt different strategies. In the past I've found most Civ scenarios to be too linear and scripted to have any replay value, now that might change.

Horizons:
I said here weeks ago that the guy with a suitcase on the front cover of BtS suggested that terrorism is in the game now.

I believe I responded weeks ago that terrorists don't advertise the radioactive contents of their brief cases.