IGN Offers Its First Civ5 Preview

Ginger_Ale

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A few days ago, IGN published an early preview of Civ5 in which they discuss some of the influences of the current build, including Civilization Revolution and Panzer General. We also get a sense of lead designer Jon Shafer's impact in shaping the game.

Here is an excerpt, focusing on diplomacy and moddability:
Naturally, it's not all about making war, so diplomacy has been overhauled as well. Diplomacy has a wider focus but has also been streamlined a bit. In terms of focus, the team wanted to create a game where the player's main interactions weren't always driven purely by competition. The inclusion of unaligned city states that can be used as leverage against larger powers helps move diplomacy in a new direction. By removing the religion and espionage systems, Firaxis hopes to focus diplomacy more on specific strategic situations and less on the exploitation of more arbitrary game elements. [...]

It's not surprising given Jon's background that the new version of Civilization will be even more moddable than Civ IV. All the tools have been taken to a whole new level, so the more you know about XML and programmable DLL, the more you'll be able to achieve with the game. More importantly, the game itself will contain a browser for full community interaction, so you can search for, discuss, install and rate mods all from within the game shell. Firaxis will maintain a small bit of control over this and will rely on player flags to evaluate objectionable content.
 
"The game has obviously also been influenced by Civilization Revolution for the consoles"

A little bit worrying :/
 
I agree. I've played Civ Rev and I must say that I greatly prefer Civ on my pc than that blasphemous bastardization of the great game we know of as Civ.
 
I agree. I've played Civ Rev and I must say that I greatly prefer Civ on my pc than that blasphemous bastardization of the great game we know of as Civ.

The elaboration mostly speaks of interfacing changes, which can always be made more natural... and also it says that it wasn't a compromise of depth. Wait to hear more. :)
 
Let's just hope we won't have to have another BUG mod need to be made for Civ V. It isn't that I don't appreciate what the BUG/BAT team has done for those of us that play BTS, but I want to see Firaxis do it right on the official and first release this time.
 
Religion AND espionage is gone? :cry:
 
Well it says the interface will be more streamlined as per civrev (I havent played CivRev, so I don't know if that's neccecerily a good thing though) but by the sounds of things they're not going to make it any less serious, or remove complexity. Probably it'l do what civ4 did, but more, i.e. (generally) making the basic stuff easier to access for more casual games whilst still leaving all the underlying technical goodness underneath in tact for those of us willing to dive in a bit further. I hope anyway...
 
Religion AND espionage is gone? :cry:

I hope something representing both will be present in civ5, but at least for religion (I didint use esponiage much) I'm glad they're getting rid of the current system; made the game too narrowly focused and predictable, for diplomacy, as well as if you managed to found a religion and get the shrine, you're pretty much financially okay for the rest of the game. I'd often find myself restarting a game over and over just to make sure I got a religion at the beginning...
 
The religion and espionage news is truly depressing. On the interface bit, the Civ Rev interface is so basic a braindead monkey could use it. In my opinion it makes me feel as though Firaxis thinks I'm stupid. I would like them to incorporate some of the things added in BUG and BULL but not dumb it down to Civ Rev standards. At any rate we still need to wait until the 9th to get some real true info.
 
The religion and espionage news is truly depressing. On the interface bit, the Civ Rev interface is so basic a braindead monkey could use it. In my opinion it makes me feel as though Firaxis thinks I'm stupid. I would like them to incorporate some of the things added in BUG and BULL but not dumb it down to Civ Rev standards. At any rate we still need to wait until the 9th to get some real true info.

They didn't say they were dumbing it down (ala CivRev) but instead streamlining it, so that you would 1) Get a larger view of the playing field and 2) make it easier and simpler to access critical information.

I don't see anything wrong with this change.
 
civ 4 vanilla's spy system was actually quite good, however they should've set the limit at maybe 10 spy's and not 4. for bts i didnt care much for it, made the game too easy, i could see too much information too easily as opposed to building spys and sending them over like vanilla. there was also too much micro-management with bts spy's. vanilla's were simple and you could destroy tiles and production which is enough, i dont like having the ability to steal tech's although it is true in real life and history that SOME techs do get stolen from rivals ect. if they get rid of spy's completely then i wont be playing civ5 til there is a mod with what i above mentioned prefer.

as far as religion, they better not get rid of that. maybe tone down the money generating abilities a bit and keep them historically accurate maybe but to abolish it completely is a step in the WRONG direction in my opinion. missionaires also made good scouts i might add :D
 
I hope that we can make a religion system in civ 5 via modding... it's crucial for sci-fi and fantasy games.

This game is still iffy, and close to the decision of no. I am not a diplomatic guy, and tend to mind my own business and stay neutral, I conquer other people for their resources and to spread my territory in civ 4. I don't got a problem with 1 unit per tile as long as promotions still exist and I won't get my ass beaten by the AI. I don't mind the hexagon tile stuff, and I like the graphics... but I never play any games that deal with hexagonal tiles and see most games that got hexagonal tiles are mostly war-games that is more unit controlled then base building... and I love building cities and bases more then war.
 
Let's just hope we won't have to have another BUG mod need to be made for Civ V. It isn't that I don't appreciate what the BUG/BAT team has done for those of us that play BTS, but I want to see Firaxis do it right on the official and first release this time.
My hope is that they remove the elements of the game that made that mod so helpful. Not having to worry about your city getting larger is a major one I would like. With the removal of tech trading you shouldn't need to worry about grabbing a tech as soon as its available.

Other hopes I have:
Change the way units are upgraded (the AI had to cheat even on the easiest difficulty for this)
Change the way wonders are built (I am sorry your construction of the pyramids cannot continue because an unknown civ has finished building them first).
Change the way resources work (Currently 1 resource is enough for 1 giant civ, while you need 2 resources to supply two smaller civs).
 
I hope something representing both will be present in civ5, but at least for religion (I didint use esponiage much) I'm glad they're getting rid of the current system; made the game too narrowly focused and predictable, for diplomacy, as well as if you managed to found a religion and get the shrine, you're pretty much financially okay for the rest of the game. I'd often find myself restarting a game over and over just to make sure I got a religion at the beginning...

I kinda agree on that...
 
I particularly noted three things:

1. The espionage nightmare is gone, which fills my heart with joy. Dealing with the spies was like costantly trying to clean up a garage infested with rats.

2. "While the new game still maintains a level of complexity that's appropriate for the series and the PC platform, the interface elements have been folded back to reveal more of the playing area. Likewise, the game will help players focus on the information they need to see. Small icons will appear along the edge of the screen to give players notifications of important events or opportunities, and you can instantly snap to any of the relevant locations to get your own appraisal of the situation."

Like others, I hope this doesn't mean they have made the game stupid.

3. "Of course, not all of Civilization's PC fans had a positive view of the broad style or humor of Revolution, so they'll be happy to know that the designers are moving away from the silliness of the console game to create a more somber PC sequel. The game will still have the trademark Civilization personality, but it won't be as exaggerated as in previous installments. The advisors are making a comeback, for instance, but won't be pushing each other aside or shouting over each other."

Hey, I liked the way the advisers bickered! But the main thing is that they are back.
 
I won't miss the Espionage - I mostly disabled that, anyway. Won't miss the present religious system much, either. From the hints we get, religion is somehow incorporated into the civics system, I'm content to wait and see on that one.

What intrigues me most is the reference to Jon Shaffer's being a Panzer General fan - so was I, played the various incarnations as much as I did Civ.

If he actually manages to marry the tactical brilliance and sheer fun of PG with the research and world-building of Civ, I may just never play another game again! Good-bye social life... :D
 
Damn I never played this panzer general and I see people talk about it in a positive way. Hmm... maybe I should look into it before civ5 comes out.
 
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