Found a new preview...

Check it out at http://www.techtv.com/xplay/previews/story/0,24330,3491715,00.html
Lots of new info...! Still reading...!

Originally posted by Tech TV
"Conquests" also uses the new rules concerning naval units to encourage the player to get out there and mix it up. All ships attacked while in port receive double damage. All the more reason to go out and get them before they get you.

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I hope this isn't the ONLY new rule. But I'm encouraged by the use of the word "rules", as in plural, more to come.

If I don't start reading about new naval warfare, I'm going to be......... :rocket:

BTW, the only new things I caught in the core game, are the Mausoleum of Maussollos wonder (whatever it does) and the Tribal Council.

Here is an article about this (New for C3C) wonder: The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

And a picture of it:

Yesssssssssssss. I just had digital cable installed in my house a couple months ago. One of the 215 channels that I now get is tech tv. If there is a god I don't think he hates me 2:00 am here I come.

I particularly like this part found in the article:

All of these new elements will be rolled into the "Civilization III" editor, letting amateur mapmakers take advantage of them.

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This is good news for all of us who mod our game to suit our style.

Combat bonuses are popular.
Civ2 modders loved using the 2vsHorse flag --too bad it didn't work very well.
I'm sure the Shogun scenario could use the advantages of 2vsHorse (e.g. Yari Samurai has 100% Defense vs. Cavalry = 2vsMounted flag). And in the WW2 scenario: MG has 100% Defense vs. Infantry = 2vsFoot, or Anti-Tank has 100% Attack bonus vs. Tanks (2vsWheeled).
Of the previews I've read, there has been no mention of any more combat-modifying unit flags beyond the Amphibious Attack flag. "X+A/DvsX" modifiers seem to be commonplace in most strategy games. Any word from Firaxis/Atari reps. concerning this?

The new information offered by the Tech TV Conquests preview essentially states that most of the changes in Conquests are designed to get players into combat quickly. As I understand it (also based on other previews/interviews) this is in part to pick up the pace in Multiplayer games, which up to now have been excruciatingly slow.
Based on the list of features previewed on TTV and other sites, Combat seems to be the main driving force behind C3C.
Adjustable AI Aggression levels will definitely give modders more flexibility when pre-setting AIs for scenarios (or even for the regular game), but that's about all I've read concerning AI modification --so one can assume player modification of the AI won't be to the degree of the "AI" text file in Call to Power).
There are to be some changes to the Combat System. I think this is refering to a new preference that when selected, deactivates the pre-set outcome of combat in Civ3 (outcome is exactly the same each time you reload); i.e. outcome will be different each time you reload (same as Civ2).
Re-base limits (based on air unit's range I assume).
x2 damage to ships in port (as well as air units in base, I think) will force players to keep their ships at sea or risk the side-effects of 'turtling.' Civ2 already had a feature like this which allows for a 'Pearl Harbour'-style air raid.
The 'x2 Amphibious Attack' flag given to Marines will make beach landings worthwhile, which they weren't in Civ2 --thus giving an advantage to civs with good sea power. Hopefully they will have made equivilant adjustments to the AI which will ensure that it exploits this new unit ability.
Naval transports will be able to cart around Msl. units instead of having to use a Sub to do this. I don't see that this will make a big difference strategically in the regular game, but it certainly has applications in modern-age scenarios (a Cuban Missile Crisis scenario perhaps).
The new victory conditions will give human players the incentive to conquer before the AI builds a wonder and ends the game (ala Age of Empires) --although it's not like most of us don't pulverise the AI civs the first chance we get already.
The change concerning Bombardment is interesting: craters appear after heavy bombardment of a tile. I assume that craters prevent the tile from being improved and eliminating the tile's output, thus essentially creating a dead tile. That has the potential for being very strategic, especially when air power comes into the picture.

It also is on sunday at 2 am

I saw it on TV, they had a picture of the civ selection screen.
The Byzantines were on it. (Along with the dutch)

Regular screen?

There goes my hope of Assyria.

I'm sure Xen is happy

Yeah, it was real quick, but is was the regular random map civ selection.

Originally posted by yoshi
There are to be some changes to the Combat System. I think this is refering to a new preference that when selected, deactivates the pre-set outcome of combat in Civ3 (outcome is exactly the same each time you reload); i.e. outcome will be different each time you reload (same as Civ2).

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I think you misunderstand how a PRNG (Pseudo-random number generator) works.
First, combat outcome isn't pre-set any more than the outcome of a bridge match is pre-set when the deck has been shuffled.

Assume in bridge, that in the middle of a bridge match, the players decide that they didn't like the hands and wanted to start a new game. But they carefully put each card back in the deck the order it was dealt, so that the full deck becomes identical to after the first shuffle. The dealer then gives the cards out agaian, and if all players bid and do the same, they end up with the same match as the previous, since they hadn't shuffled the cards.
Does this mean that bridge matches have pre-set outcome, because it is possible to play to identical games if you have identical decks? If you think so, then you can say that CIV3 combat outcomes are pre-set as well.

If you want a new shuffle in CIV3 each time you reload, then you have that option. Its on the game set-up screen when you start a new game, and is called "Save random seed". Turn this option off, and CIV3 reshuffles your deck each time you reload. The combat outcome isn't pre-set any more than the result of a bridge match, but you can select whether to reshuffle to get a different result or not, whenever you reload. You don't need conquest to do this, since this feature was intoduced in one of the CIV3 patches, so its been there for more than a year already.
So the new combat options in Conquest is something different.

Wait, the Byzantines were (basically) spawned from the Roman empire, does that mean the game will have them both?

Cos it would make no sense to have a civ that was part of another civ conducting diplomacy or fighting against it

even though the Byzantines were basically Romes' little sprog, it was differnt enough by the fall of the western empire to justify being called a seperat culture- which is one of several criteria for a good civ choice to have in my veiw

Will they have the famous Cataphracts?

Originally posted by JACq1
Wait, the Byzantines were (basically) spawned from the Roman empire, does that mean the game will have them both?

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Yes

Originally posted by JACq1
Cos it would make no sense to have a civ that was part of another civ conducting diplomacy or fighting against it

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What about America fighting Brittain?

I guess its a little different, but they could have fought each other (If Rome hadn't fallen).

They did fight eachother in many "civil wars" before the western empire fell.

Originally posted by yoshi
x2 damage to ships in port (as well as air units in base, I think) will force players to keep their ships at sea or risk the side-effects of 'turtling.' Civ2 already had a feature like this which allows for a 'Pearl Harbour'-style air raid.

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What exactly will this accomplish? Unless they allow ships to fight while in port, which will promote more ships in port!

EDIT: I have made this post slightly clearer on the next page - I was in a hurry when I wrote it

Xen, why arent you jumping for joy?