Another Gamespot article

[DiamanteLouco]

Oh, sorry, the religion bit isn´t on this article, is that I´ve read it today and tought it was on this article, but it was on another.

 

[general_kill]

North King really asking for the impossible/rediculous if he wants everything to scale. Although the idea of a scaled 3d world is very very inticing as long as it is not part of civ4.

 

[North King]

It's still the same problem. If you made the people to scale with the houses, they'd be absolutely tiny. And then what about resources like fish in the sea? Do you make those to scale with the people? As it is now, nothing is to scale with anything else so that you can see everything and be able to tell what it is.

If they weren't utter giants, then it would be fine. But when they get taller than mountains, and, for that matter, when the elephants are the same size as horses, it just gets ridiculous. There are better ways to do it. And besides, they advertize this as "The most alive game of Civ yet", the "best graphics ever"... Tell me, do you really have *that* hard of a time imagining how the units could be scaled down.

Of course, now I'm getting private messages from Firaxian fanatics who are calling me 8-9 years old, so this debate is looking fairly ridiculous by now. A shame, really.

 

[North King]

North King really asking for the impossible/rediculous if he wants everything to scale. Although the idea of a scaled 3d world is very very inticing as long as it is not part of civ4.

It's not impossible, and it would be much nicer than the current system. To have about one thousand tiny figures charged down by a few dozen elephants, to see tiny figures get slammed into the air--sure, it's hard to distinguish, but it's much nicer than seeing 3 or 4 gigantic units on an otherwise superb game.

 

[joethreeblah]

If they weren't utter giants, then it would be fine. But when they get taller than mountains, and, for that matter, when the elephants are the same size as horses, it just gets ridiculous. There are better ways to do it. And besides, they advertize this as "The most alive game of Civ yet", the "best graphics ever"... Tell me, do you really have *that* hard of a time imagining how the units could be scaled down.

Of course, now I'm getting private messages from Firaxian fanatics who are calling me 8-9 years old, so this debate is looking fairly ridiculous by now. A shame, really.

I don't think the question is whether or not it is possible... it just mostl likely wouldn't be better.

 

[North King]

I don't think the question is whether or not it is possible... it just mostl likely wouldn't be better.

It would look less ridiculous, more realistic, more epic, and more immersive. I fail to see how it wouldn't be better.

 

[vbraun]

Of course, now I'm getting private messages from Firaxian fanatics who are calling me 8-9 years old, so this debate is looking fairly ridiculous by now. A shame, really.

Thats pathetic...

 

[Slax]

It would look less ridiculous, more realistic, more epic, and more immersive. I fail to see how it wouldn't be better.

Except for the fact that when I look at the screen, I wouldn't be able to tell what kind of units are there. Yeah, thats great!

 

[joethreeblah]

It would look less ridiculous, more realistic, more epic, and more immersive. I fail to see how it wouldn't be better.

True but I'm bored of Sim Ants

 

[North King]

Except for the fact that when I look at the screen, I wouldn't be able to tell what kind of units are there. Yeah, thats great!

I already suggested a way around it: standards bearing the type of unit upon them... besides which, they really wouldn't be *that* small, you would be able to easily tell the difference from a horsemen or an infantry, elephant or horse, and the stance would be able to tell you if it was a spearmen, swordsmen, axemen, or archer.

 

[joethreeblah]

I already suggested a way around it: standards bearing the type of unit upon them... besides which, they really wouldn't be *that* small, you would be able to easily tell the difference from a horsemen or an infantry, elephant or horse, and the stance would be able to tell you if it was a spearmen, swordsmen, axemen, or archer.

Maybe they should make everything else in the game bigger instead.

 

[vbraun]

Maybe they should make everything else in the game bigger instead.

NOOO! The cities and improvments are perfect.

 

[joethreeblah]

It's not impossible, and it would be much nicer than the current system. To have about one thousand tiny figures charged down by a few dozen elephants, to see tiny figures get slammed into the air--sure, it's hard to distinguish, but it's much nicer than seeing 3 or 4 gigantic units on an otherwise superb game.

Ok, I changed my mind.

I think your idea is good, if they changed it from 3-4 units to a lot more. But maybe just like 100 or something. That would be pretty neat.

 

[North King]

Maybe they should make everything else in the game bigger instead.

It wouldn't be feasible due to screen size. Though I wouldn't really object.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I think Civ4 should be life sized

 

[vbraun]

Ok, I changed my mind.

I think your idea is good, if they changed it from 3-4 units to a lot more. But maybe just like 100 or something. That would be pretty neat.

The only problem is then the models have to be made really really simple (maybe a cube for head, and body, and another for legs) becasue then you would have to render all 100 units.

I'm not saying its a bad idea, I'm just saying that the quality would have to go way down inorder for it to be played on a normal computer.

 

[playshogi]

On the other extreme...
I think civ units should be abstract like chess diagrams. Do I really need to see a worker hammering away?

 

[North King]

The only problem is then the models have to be made really really simple (maybe a cube for head, and body, and another for legs) becasue then you would have to render all 100 units.

I'm not saying its a bad idea, I'm just saying that the quality would have to go way down inorder for it to be played on a normal computer.

100 small figures is achievable, isn't it? Even a huge amoun like a few thousand from a whole bunch on the screen at once; I've seen Rome Total War handle that many easily enough, even on rather bad computers.

 

[joethreeblah]

The only problem is then the models have to be made really really simple (maybe a cube for head, and body, and another for legs) becasue then you would have to render all 100 units.

I'm not saying its a bad idea, I'm just saying that the quality would have to go way down inorder for it to be played on a normal computer.

What about characters that are about the size of Civ III? Remember the squares in Civ IV look pretty huge up close

 

[Melendwyr]

I have to agree: while I'm excited about the graphics of Civ IV in general, I don't like the disparity between the sizes of certain icons.

It's a very minor issue, though, and likely to change as the graphics are finalized.