Review of the (danish) Gameplay Magazine review

Got interested in the magazine and decided to skip down to the local gas station to buy the magazine to get a bit better grasp of whats up and down, and its based on an interview they have done with Jon Shafer.

1. from the pictures it appears that Elizabeth, Stalin and Napoleon all got a new update (hence in the game) ... and the other pictures suggest Japan, Rome and India, though much less specificly

2. the allready (im)famous "one-per-tile" is only one military unit, civil units aren't a part of it

3. Ranged Weapons (archers, seige, gunpowder) all get something remotely similar to the bombardment ... and appearently cities and forts act as an (not futher explained) immobile bombardment unit

4. The Computer is going to be smart enough to whine at you (or at least telling you that it's noticed it) if you're building cities up front, or if you're stacking military forces next door ... and are appearently also able to do longterm planing faking an friendship with you ( ... sounds a bit like how Galactic Civilization works)

5. You're able to enter joint venture research with the AI, throwing some of your cash into the pool, but if one of the actors in this 2man pool declares war or in an other way makes a forceful halt on the argeement the money is lost

6. The AI no longer cheats with Fog of War in terms of moving

7. the game is going to be based more on "controled randomity" from the AI's (what the heck lies in that i'm sligtly more uncertain of)

8. Religion is killed as a game mechanic on the alter of improved Diplomacy

9 Resouces is going to be limited though the exact details is explained a bit unforfilling (my bet is that its an unsastisfying translation from english to danish)

10. Major Vassels is as far as i understand killed ... Minor nations/city states (AI's playing OOC it appears) is the new black, with bonuses for being friendly towards them which gives certain bonuses

11. Civics (Social Policies) is going to be some kind of Civictree

12. roughly same number wonders, roughly same techtree and Great people

13. Leaders get certain bonuses (1 leader may have 2 UU and a UB, while another have 1 UB and a unique trait

14. With the game comes a new tool to mod and scenariobuild with

That actually sounds kinda cool. What exactly did they say about the one-unit-per-tile? Is it confirmed that it works like that?

twice translated qoute so keep that in mind

Jon Shafer said:

"one of the first changes we made was to remove the possability to 'stack' units. Now that you can only place one Military unit at each tile, there would be created large fronts between the players that battle each other"

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What does #8 mean?

Would there be any way to see the pictures of Elizabeth, Stalin and Napoleon or is it out of question?

at 8 ... what i mean is that the developers killed the Religions since it went against their new 'improved' way to tackle Diplomacy

as of the pictures ... haven't got a scanner and aren't able to get to one anytime soon so ...

Too bad for the pictures.

As for #8... That sounds like a lame excuse to take out religions. They better really have an improved diplomacy.

Well, nice ... WW I fronts in ancient eras

About religions... well, they probably wanted to avoid the issues related to religion in diplomacy that Civ IV has. Too bad ... I like religion in Civ IV, except the sometimes wierd effect it has on diplo.

well ... from the article it sounds like the diplomacy and AI would 'borrow' parts from Gal Civ ... one of the things they have done is to give Shaka (or his lookalike) a brain knowing when its a bad idea to start a war

But that is a contradiction: if they made Shaka-lookalike smart enough to know when to start a war or not, religion would make no diference. So, why take it out?

Sian said:

well ... from the article it sounds like the diplomacy and AI would 'borrow' parts from Gal Civ ... one of the things they have done is to give Shaka (or his lookalike) a brain knowing when its a bad idea to start a war

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My experience must be different. Shaka always played very aggressive and warlike, but I never noticed him going looney. Monty was always the one who would have "wheel of fortune war declarations". In fact, I always found Shaka dangerous and Monty so backward that he just gave GG points.

Anyway, on topic. It's hard to tell how that one-unit-per-tile rule will word out. My predicition, worth every penny you paid for it, is that most of us will like Civ V better but there will be a significant minority who thought they took the wrong turn and IV was better. Something like III vs IV now. There are a number of posters who like III and dislike IV.

It sounds great, but quite different from IV. Any game I play has to be turn-based, I need to have the ability to turn away from the game to pay attention to my wife at odd times.

The new AI sounds likt it's gonna play like a human. Bad. If I want to play a human, I'll play multiplayer. I've already posted my responses to more of these in the civ 5 announced thread.

saying that the AI is going to play as a human might be pushing the ticket ... they're just learned how not to blatantly ignore a massive Military buildup within view ... and also actually smart enough not to let you know that its WHEOOHRN ...

I'm going to miss the religions. I really hope they'll still be in somehow.

Anyhow, I was wondering whether the article indicated or hinted at all whether there could be more than one leader per civ? I think that'd give the civs each more variety.

Minor nations interests me a lot! Should help facilitate a more thorough Modern Day scenario.

cybrxkhan said:

I'm going to miss the religions. I really hope they'll still be in somehow.

Anyhow, I was wondering whether the article indicated or hinted at all whether there could be more than one leader per civ? I think that'd give the civs each more variety.

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neither any solid hint for or against, expect the part where its appearently Leaders and not Civs which get UUs, UBs and UTs (UT = Unique Trait)

Then what do the civs get? You might as well get rid of them at this point and just use leaders.

counterquestion ... what did the different civs get in Civ I and II?

i'm certain they get something ... the cat just aren't out of the bag yet

deanej said:

The new AI sounds likt it's gonna play like a human. Bad. If I want to play a human, I'll play multiplayer. I've already posted my responses to more of these in the civ 5 announced thread.

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I'm not exactly sure why more intelligent/dynamic AI is a bad thing for single player. Can you explain your argument further?

Sian said:

5. You're able to enter joint venture research with the AI, throwing some of your cash into the pool, but if one of the actors in this 2man pool declares war or in an other way makes a forceful halt on the agreement the money is lost

Click to expand...

Very interesting. Depending on how strong their diplomatic options are this could have some very cool uses, especially if you can see when two other Civs have made this agreement.

MSTK said:

I'm not exactly sure why more intelligent/dynamic AI is a bad thing for single player. Can you explain your argument further?

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I can't speak for deanej, but while I want an "intelligent" AI, that's not necessarily the same as "playing like a human."

Put it another way, in a multiplayer game if one of your opponents were preparing to launch a space ship what would you do? You'd get an army, some ships, maybe a few nukes and you'd try to burn his capital.

But...would any "real" nation behave this way? Probably not. Is it reasonable for your 3000 year allies to suddenly turn on you because you might "win"? I would argue no. Human players are playing a game, but there's an argument that the AI should attempt to behave like real rulers would.

I think that a lot of people who play single player aren't looking for a cut throat do-anything-it-takes-to-win AI, they're looking for a structured challenge. A suitably nice hurdle in their way before they win. If you really want cut throat, multi player will give you that.