Poll; How many versions of Civ 5 will there be by Game Release?

The number cannot be measured with current technology.

Ridiculous...joke...is what I pretty much agree with.

It's sad to see what 2K are doing to firaxis and civ. Sad. Even sadder still to see people somehow think it's ok? C'mon.

It's all about the benjamins, baby. 2k is going crazy milking civ, its loyal players, and its potential new players.

Extra sad is knowing that civ owns and tons of people will buy it without one shred of advertising or promotions, and instead of putting out one killer version of the game everyone would love they're fragmenting and doing all kinds of gimmicks.

I guess they're banking on most people being sheep and either blindly supporting this idiocy or being oblivious to it entirely and just buying whatever.

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS 11 TO 15 VERSIONS.

16.

Ok, not really, but I really hate this whole "multiple versions/preorder bonuses" (preorder bonuses are stupid to begin with) fad that has consumed the game industry, and unfortunately hit the Civ series as well. I shouldn't have to consider where I'm gonna preorder the game because there's so many versions/bonuses. Either make one universal preorder bonus (again, I hate them, but whatever, I know they're not going away) and one special edition (or 2, 1 online and 1 in store that contains all the online stuff like it should) or don't make any at all and just put it all in the game.

If you buy the game and they haven't released the additional content as dlc at a reasonable price, what's stopping those civs and maps from being illegally downloaded?

Civilization V is becoming Howard Johnson's ice cream: there are over thirty flavors, but none of them are good.

It feels like Civ is being turned into the "Sims" of the strategy game world - small gamepacks (maps, units, buildings, civs) for $9.99 per pack that could have been in one big expansion.

My most recent experience with this was with Empire: Total War...wherein we had a special edition with six special units that cost USD 69.99 vs. 49.99 for the stock version. Pre-orders at Gamestop got you the USS Constitution, while Amazon and another site got you an Amazon unit and the Death's Head Hussars, respectively. Six months after release (around October of 2009, they released all of these units on Steam (whole thing ran through Steam) as DLC, along with two other DLC unit packs (all sold separately) for less than USD 4.00 a pop.

My feelings upon seeing this were mixed, because I had purchased the special edition at Gamestop, so I had seven of the nine units already, and had them at release. But for that extra six months of game play with said units, I paid USD 16.00 extra over those people who had bought the stock version originally.

But, really, what does this mean? Civ V is going to involve probably half a dozen different deals on different sites/stores. Besides boycotting the game, which I'm nowhere near ready to do, there's not much that can be done (and even that action may well be specious). This is merely the lay of the land now, and those who believe consoles are any different are in error, look at all the map packs for MW2, or player boosts for NHL 10. DLC rules now, and like many of you, I fondly remember the time when I could buy...say, Panzer General, Myst, or Sim City 2000 intact right away (three games that nearly cost me sixth grade). But I also think that Steam's prices on their DLC for Empire: Total War have been fairly reasonable under the circumstances, and unless there ends up being some problem playing online between those who have the DLC and those who don't, there's nothing forcing anyone to buy any of it.

That being said, I'd like to ask if we could get a stickied thread with a complete and accurate list of each offer and its origins, so we can keep them all straight. It seems like a good idea.

crismac said:

This has become a joke.We still have over two months to go until release date,and we have more versions than I can think of,and I'm sure there is more on the way.This is prime example that more is not better.

I have not complained about steam or any of the other changes by 2K or Firaxis to date,but I posting this to let them know that enough is enough.The person in charge of marketing this game is turning there loyal fan base away.How hard is it to put out two versions for DLC(Reg and Col)and two versions for box(Reg and Col).I have no idea what to get now,and not sure what I'll do.

2K,if trying to confuse your customers is your goal you have accomplished this task

Sorry for the rant.I don't ever do that here,but I felt I needed to

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Don't apologize. I can understand your frustration. It used to be only cell phone providers who tried to confuse their customers with weekly updated billing plans, but Civ5 seems to be going in a similar direction. I'd hate for Civ5 to become the Sims of the strategy world as 501st Legion just observed.

MajorDisaster84 said:

... That being said, I'd like to ask if we could get a stickied thread with a complete and accurate list of each offer and its origins, so we can keep them all straight. It seems like a good idea.

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MajorDisaster84, as per your suggestion I've created such a thread, and Ori has deemed fit to merge it with Bite's thread on confirmed features. Both now live in one stickied thread with the confirmed configurations as second post.

In German language I prepared a Civ5 version list here:
http://www.civilized.de/www/content/index.php?cat=civ5_versions

btw: Amazon German just lowered the Civ5 price again to 42.94 EUR, the price currently goes down for about 1 EUR per day. It looks like the presale market really suffers, because customers are too unsure about which version to buy and prefer to wait for the release to see which versions will be best.

2K should better start to build a version list itself vor civilization5.com ...
Customers expect a clear announcement about all available versions.
Hint: The Civ hardcore fans expect a COMPLETE Collectors Edition.
The fans want to spent their money! But not for crippled versions...

It looks like the presale market really suffers

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doesn't surprise me one bit. Why on earth should I preorder a game that comes in so many different versions. Top that with the fact that we don't even know how many more versions they will offer. In my mind a complete marketing disaster.

ThERat said:

doesn't surprise me one bit. Why on earth should I preorder a game that comes in so many different versions. Top that with the fact that we don't even know how many more versions they will offer. In my mind a complete marketing disaster.

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Not only this, but disrespectful in every aspect.
It clearly demonstrates that the customer is not taken seriously in the slightest way.

ori said:

I wholeheartedly agree. I at least have the luxury of not caring a bit about multiplayer - but I pity those that have to try to find a balanced way of playing MP with apparently multiple restricted civs out there

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Very sad.
I personally don't play Civ in multiplayer, but it will be very sad to see different categories of MP games depending on which special content you have bought.
It may lead to a factual limitation of availability of MP games.

ori said:

With paid for DLC being a lot more likely (as in almost certain) I also fear that modders will have a hard time figuring out what content is allowed to be released and what may be infringing on Firaxis plans for future releases of DLC - currently no one knows what the policy for hosting of mods through the official mod browser will be - and with mods potentially competing with DLC or planned DLC there is bound to be some policing by Take2 to protect their sales.

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This is indeed a serious problem.
There are two cases in which a modder may "infringe" Firaxis "rights" for Mods.

Case #1: Creating an equivalent version of premium DLC
There is already a Babylonian Civ as additional civ (now in delux edition, later probably as DLC).
As a modder I may create a Civ with original artworks but the same (or similar) name as the premium one, same characteristics too.
In this way player will have a free alternative for the same gameplay.
Firaxis/2K may forbid my Civ because it infringes the copyright (or as they may put it "confuse users").

Case #2: Creating mod content that is planned as premium DLC by Firaxis
Imagine I create the Civ, Spain for example.
It's not yet available as DLC but it's planned as such by Firaxis (imagine just planned just for a couple of weeks after my release).
Obviously I can't sue them for infringing my copyright when they come out with their own version.
Most likely Firaxis/2K will refuse my mod, or remove it from the download (according to what I read so far they take this right for themselves).

Case #3: Editing a premium DLC
Today I can take one of the existing Civs and modify them to create my own version (we have seen in the forum various improvements over existing and new Civs to improve gameplay and balancing).
With the new system this is probably going to be forbidden... I can't imagine Firaxis/2K giving right to modify premium DLC and post it in their system for free download.
Most likely the DLC will be protected and obscured once installed, for "protection"... however looking at the source code, in Civ IV, was so far the best way to understand how to create elaborate mods.


Probably there are even more cases that may arise.
In general I can see that modding may become mush less free, a more controlled experience.
It may lead to more quality content.. may... for sure will lead to more expensive content.

Having a clarification about this topic too would be rather useful and appreciated.

but it will be very sad to see different categories of MP games depending on which special content you have bought.

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I don't like the strategy it sounds like they're using either, but I think its too soon to think that there are going to be different categories of MP games.

Far more likely that either:
a) Bonus civs will be un-useable in multiplayer or
b) Bonus civs will be playable only by people who have the content for them, but can still show up in anyone's game (a la Relic games Dawn of War and CoH).

Ahriman said:

I don't like the strategy it sounds like they're using either, but I think its too soon to think that there are going to be different categories of MP games.

Far more likely that either:
a) Bonus civs will be un-useable in multiplayer or
b) Bonus civs will be playable only by people who have the content for them, but can still show up in anyone's game (a la Relic games Dawn of War and CoH).

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Hopefully they'll enable option 2 (I'm not sure it may work on Civ IV).

*** Fearmonger Alert ***

It's even worse than that... Most companies "OWN" all modded content created by modders. If 2K Firaxis becomes one of them (if they aren't already; unknown here), they could Sell content as DLC that users create! And it would not be required to pay the modder anything, and the modder would no longer own their creation (which they probably didn't to begin with).

Will it happen though? Probably not.

To be fair, there is going to be different exclusives for each countries major store, well not that many but you get my point(amazon UK might get something else compared to the US version so that racks up the numbers of different versions).
While I don't enjoy DLC, I can see why a company would like to take this route, for steam in particular its to try and encourage steam's digital sells which net the company larger profits and at the end of the day, you as a customer aren't valued, your money is.

There also seems to be this whole, lets blame 2k thing going on as if firaxis are helpless victims and yet the chances are that firaxis were as much involved with the DLC option as 2k, after all they aren't going to work for free.

Ahriman said:

I don't like the strategy it sounds like they're using either, but I think its too soon to think that there are going to be different categories of MP games.

Far more likely that either:
a) Bonus civs will be un-useable in multiplayer or
b) Bonus civs will be playable only by people who have the content for them, but can still show up in anyone's game (a la Relic games Dawn of War and CoH).

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Option (b) would be great, wouldn't it?

Imagine playing a Civ4 mp game and somebody shows up with the Romans, directly sitting on iron.
Unfortunately, since you have not bought the Romans, you have not expected such Praetorians to show up at your borders.

Yep, sounds like much fun.

If they properly balance the civs, then this isn't a problem.

The Praetorians problem was just imbalanced design; nothing to do with whether or not only some players can use a particular civ.

Commander Bello said:

Option (b) would be great, wouldn't it?

Imagine playing a Civ4 mp game and somebody shows up with the Romans, directly sitting on iron.
Unfortunately, since you have not bought the Romans, you have not expected such Praetorians to show up at your borders.

Yep, sounds like much fun.

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To make sure that this happens, Steam can auto-download all DLC packages automatically when they come out, and install them.. so they always work in MP games.

Then if you buy it, you magically have it (even though you already had it)!