Will there be another expansion after C3C?

Personally, I don't think we should have to wait for the fabled Civ4 to come out (let alone begin development) in order to get a few changes/additions made to our favorite game.

Just take a look at the large number of threads in this forum on some topic involving some feature in Civ3 that has never been addressed (i.e. not in the vanilla release, PTW, C3C or any of their numerous patches).

Many things that were requested all around were not included in Conquests for reasons that designers alone can explain (but won't). Things like Unit-Trading. Remember that one? Or Diplomacy settings for the Editor --these two being but a few of the top requests in the C3C Request forum.

Some stuff got in, but were really mere details for the most part.

It would be nice to know if C3C is the last step in Civ3's evolution and all we can look forward to is more patches, or that there is talk of a third expansion.

If the latter is the case, then it could be the opportunity to consider changes/additions to the game that many of us have been requesting for quite a while now (considering that after two expansions we're still waiting, that last comment seems a bit contradictory...but bare with me).

Hopefully Firaxis will come out with a new expansion and will not have to deal with break-neck deadlines thus being able to dedicate more time to considering the possible implementation of some of these requests....if so, I have a whole list that I'm just itching to post.

I doubt it, but you never know.

I don't think so. Firaxis is focusing on Civ4 and Pirates right now. I think they said they have another secret game in the works (or planning stages).

They said not but I hope so. I don't want to wait for civ4 to come out to do more things. Civ4 probably won't be for 5 or more years while an XP could be in 1 or 2. There's lots of things they could add without changeing the core game. And if they add enough and don't require DX 8.1 instead of 8.0 I'll buy it. I only didn't buy PTW because most of the stuff added was for multiplayer which I don't use. But Conquests had many more moding capabilities so I got that. If they don't put out another XP maybe they could open source the code like CTP 2. I doubt it but if it needed to be bought I might even do that. They might lose some money with open source but if it needed to be bought that would be minimal and their credibility would skyrocket. Even opening only part of the source would be good. That would be similar to a scripting language which probably would be added normally.

One (slight) problem is that a lot of the code in Civ/PTW/Conquests has a hard-coded limit on the number of civs, resulting in a max of 31 civs + barbs. The reason for this is that they use a lot of Long datatypes (long int to you C people ) that are 32 bytes long -> one byte for each civ.

To allow more than 32 civs would require a major code re-write. Best just to wait for Civ 4.

Originally posted by slothman
Civ4 probably won't be for 5 or more years

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WHAT? 5 years? I think they can be a bit faster, don't you? Note: I am far from an expert on this matter, but still...

Making another expansion for Civ3 could take 1.5 to 2 years. I would rather they put this time into Civ4.

Originally posted by Thunderfall
Making another expansion for Civ3 could take 1.5 to 2 years. I would rather they put this time into Civ4.

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ditto! I was kinda hoping for Civ to be out in 2006. I believe I've read that somewhere, don't remember where tho. I'll check and edit, should I find it...

edit1: here it is... don't know how reliable it is...
http://www.the-battlefield.com/civ3/forum/index.php?showtopic=32

edit2: anyone any ideas how to obtain more reliable data 'bout this? Prolly not huh, other wise it would have been posted here about 1 million times...

No. Conquests was definatly the last XP for Civ3, that is either a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. I for one know, I'll be perfectly content with Conquests for another year or so.

My prediction for Civ4......... they'll rush the testing proccess to get it out by the Nov 05 deadline(just in time for the holiday season!), and it will be packed full of bugs. I'll buy it anyways.

Originally posted by Gengis Khan
I'll buy it anyways.

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I'll but three if I have to

edit: did I say three? I meant ten!

2005. Are you sure you don't mean 2009. I don't think civ4 will be coming out that soon. I would say no earlier than aught-7

I don't think they will get the budget from Atari to make it take more than 3 years, but I really don't know.

The expansions were each done in about a year. Civ3 itself took about 2.5 years.

Civ 4 will be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 2 only platforms in 2006 after Atari is bought out by Microsoft. It will be an RTS featuring anime characters and a maximum of 2 players. It will be mission based instead of an epic game (see Conquests).

Originally posted by Greyhawk1
Civ 4 will be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 2 only platforms in 2006 after Atari is bought out by Microsoft. It will be an RTS featuring anime characters and a maximum of 2 players. It will be mission based instead of an epic game (see Conquests).

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funny but probably partly true, turn based games lose more and more audience

RTS isnt strategy in my opinion. RTS is just "lets see how fast we can click a mouse". Completely unrealistic and no joy at all to play. Only when there is pseudo real-time like Imperium Galactica 2 or Star Wars Supremacy does real-time begin to be strategic.

Rise of Nations is another case in point. Supposedly based on civ yet is a fraction of the scale and complexity that civ affords.

RTS works on consoles because it suits the physical makeup of the machine itself but with a full PC, RTS seems like a waste of potential.

Originally posted by Greyhawk1
Civ 4 will be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 2 only platforms in 2006 after Atari is bought out by Microsoft. It will be an RTS featuring anime characters and a maximum of 2 players. It will be mission based instead of an epic game (see Conquests).

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Bwahahaha...

You forgot the first person shooter mode so you can fight each spearman on tank battle yourself. And that when you get to the Age of Sail it drops you right into the middle of a game of Pirates!. And hey, let's make it 3D and pack some blue and red glasses with each box.

Oh, and be careful never to give a marketing guy bad ideas.

Best,
Jeff Foley
Atari

^ I'm already scared!!!

I think Firaxis should switch governments to Fascism and pop rush Civ 4. Dead programmers and Beta testers all over the place, but it would be ready for a holiday release...

Only if Firaxis are religious. Otherwise changing governments would waste some years.