Interview with Dennis Shirk @ Shacknews

Are these - for lack of a better term - spells to be cast or are they passive bonuses?

Not just passive bonuses. The Roman Legion, for instance, can build roads and forts, things previously just given to the worker [unit]. As the Romans, your legions are going across the landscape and paving their own roads at the same time. There are a lot of unique units like this. They don't just look different; they do different things.

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Will any of these policies or choices you make impact diplomatic relations?

Diplomatic relations, not so much. That's the one place that it doesn't touch for major [civs]. For city-states, yes, there are policies that can really dictate the relationships and yields you might get from city-states. For the diplomacy game, this actually has an impact, because city-states have a diplomacy vote [in the United Nations] at the end of the game.

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A lot of the early game in Civ IV ended up being a rush to specific tech or research: founding religions was particularly powerful. Is there any of that in Civ V?

We have one or two rushes in place, but not on the level [of founding religions in Civ IV]. In the early game, we still want to have some minigames going on, but nothing that is going to alter the landscape of the planet. With religion, it was really fun, but extremely powerful. If you didn't go for it right away, you were out of the race.

There are little races going on. There are some natural wonders in the game now placed on the map like a mysterious crater or volcano here or there - that kind of thing. If you discover those, it will increase happiness within your civ. If you found cities next to them it's a huge boon in gold and other odds and ends. There's going to be a rush to find [natural wonders] and ruins because they give multiple benefits, but nothing that's going to be earth-shatteringly game-altering.

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What multiplayer options will be available?

We're going to have the basics out of the gate. About a month after release, we're going to add Pitboss. Pitboss will be accompanied by two extraneous modes that we weren't originally planning, but the fans keep asking for: play-by-mail and hot-seat.

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darkedone02 said:

natural wonders like patra and the pyramids? or will it be random wonders where I found the statue of liberty in the ocean in the medieval era?

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darkedone02 said:

natural wonders like patra and the pyramids? or will it be random wonders where I found the statue of liberty in the ocean in the medieval era?

Click to expand...

darkedone02 said:

natural wonders like patra and the pyramids? or will it be random wonders where I found the statue of liberty in the ocean in the medieval era?

Click to expand...