Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Hands On

IGN's Steve Butts has provided a hands on article as promised during the Firaxis chat. The article goes into more detail in regards to advanced starts, the Apostolic Palace, espionage, corporations, colonies, events, and updated combat features. It's an excellent article with a lot of great screenshots!

Thanks to Algan for posting it.

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>> Civ4 BtS Screenshots

Did you see those screenshots? How cool does that look?!?! With better AI, navy, and these screenshots, I am really f'ing exciting about BTS.

lou said:

Did you see those screenshots?

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I saw them and believe me when I say it took a while uploading them too! Ah, but it was worth it. Now to go back through them and look for any little clues as to what's new that they haven't mentioned!!!

It says in the apolistic palace (spelling?) section that it become obsolete after Mass Media but i've heard before that it become obselete after Communism, does anyone know who is right?

Rule Brittania said:

It says in the apolistic palace (spelling?) section that it become obsolete after Mass Media but i've heard before that it become obselete after Communism, does anyone know who is right?

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From my understanding Communism only rebuffs the AP, it doesn't make it obsolete.

I just read the article and looked over all the new pics. Looks greeeeat!

rebuffs? what do you mean by this?

Rule Brittania said:

rebuffs? what do you mean by this?

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Communism counters, or blocks the AP's affects. BTW, I'm going off the article and it's use of the word "rebuff", so who knows if their choice of words is correct or not.

In case your curious, here's the definition of rebuff.

Methos said:

Communism counters, or blocks the AP's affects. BTW, I'm going off the article and it's use of the word "rebuff", so who knows if their choice of words is correct or not.

In case your curious, here's the definition of rebuff.

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maybe less resolutions then before Communism

I think they mean this. Communism rebuffs sanctions/resolutions from AP. Mass Media rebuffs diplomacy rewards/penalties.

thenooblet22 said:

I think they mean this. Communism rebuffs sanctions/resolutions from AP. Mass Media rebuffs diplomacy rewards/penalties.

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or nomore full mebership

First reactions, in no particular order:

--Apostolic Palace looks as if you needed 80% or higher approval for Diplo win. If you're that high up that early, chance are you were going to win anyway. Does make the religious leaders a little more attractive, though, as you'll get more than just money (and highly variable diplomatic bonuses) for your efforts.

--Corporations. I hope there are some earlier editions that you can build right after Corporation. The game, from this early point, is shaping up to have a whole bunch of neat stuff in the late game-- but that's when Civ4 has been least competitive, so far.

--When does all this neato keen Espionage stuff start? If it's at the same time as the current game, it's a welcome expansion, but it would be really hand if it happened a lot earlier. Around Liberalism, say, even Education.

--Random events sound more benign than previous games, so I might actually play with them on more often than not. Sounds nice that there's more ways to get better relations with your neighbors, because that's just what every Civ player wants is more excuses for the AI to get ticked off at you, right?

--Colonies. Anyone else think they should never be more than one or two cities? At least with the current info?

When you allow a colony to separate, I wish there was an option to take over the colony as the player and let the computer take control of your civ. That would be a lot of fun.

some of this stuff they are writing about that palace wonder is pretty confusing, but I'm sure it's just because we haven't played the game yet. this business about full-voting members vs. other types of members...

the option to vote to give cities to certain civs must be inspired by Rhyne and Fall mod, although I never understood the concept: when in history have civilizations ever decided to "give" a city to another civ/nation? it's a weird premise

Methos said:

When you allow a colony to separate, I wish there was an option to take over the colony as the player and let the computer take control of your civ. That would be a lot of fun.

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couldn't you just move your palace over to where the colony will be and send off the bigger chunk to be a 'colony' after its finished? or will there be size restrictions?

overall reaction: hoooooooooooly crap. My beef with Civ 4 for a while now has been that the most interesting thing that happens after about the industrial era is war, and unless i'm going for a conquest/domination victory that just means theres not really anything to do and i cruise to the finish line. now there's soooo much to do! corporations and espionage alone will make the industrial and modern eras really vibrant. I really like that they made your late game great people worthwhile (it gets depressing when you can only bulb 1/4 of a tech with a scientist ), which in turn makes specialist economies a bit more viable later in the game.

Things not mentioned in the article but in the pictures:

Great people spawned from random events!!! as well as production bonuses
Espionage slider appears to be present as early as the Classical Era
Return City to Rightful Owner added to UN resoultions?
Turn number included next to date (was an option for this already there?)
Corporations give bonuses to production, culture, and (espionage?)
Total commerce per turn allocated to each slider shown next to slider
espionage effected by religion and trade
roads appear to get paved sometime around the industrial era. (probably just one of those bits of graphic polishing)

did I miss anyhting?

I WANT IT NOW!!!

I'm excited to see all this too, but I have to say some of it's pretty troubling, I just wonder how well the AI can handle all these new options, it seems to be getting a little unwieldy, even for a Sid game. it sounds like the espionage slider is just a wash if everyone is using it. and the article says you still have to spend money to conduct spy missions; it's just that the slider affects how much it will cost. there's nothing inherently "fun" about doing this. anyway I really hope the game provies me wrong.

also I notice they said in their games that the AI's colonies never break away from the motherlands and keep a good relationship... already sounds like the AI is having trouble dealing with some of these features.

IMO espionage will come before liberalism, the early spy unit is a ninja after all.

WOW...There's a actual streets now! instead of the railroad tracks...THIS GAME SOUNDS...GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGREAT!

uncarved block said:

--When does all this neato keen Espionage stuff start? If it's at the same time as the current game, it's a welcome expansion, but it would be really hand if it happened a lot earlier. Around Liberalism, say, even Education.

--Colonies. Anyone else think they should never be more than one or two cities? At least with the current info?

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Since we have been told that the early spy will look like a ninja, espionage may be around at a quite early date.

I don't think colonies should be that limited in size.

I don't think colonies should be limited in size either, I don't see why they need always be over overseas though.

I really hope I get to name the colony and its leader name/pic. If I'm going to give away a whole chunk of my empire I want to retain at least some kind of feeling that it's my baby. At the very least we should be allowed to choose which civ is going to represent it.