Ask Sid Meier Your Questions

[thadian]

I have three questions.

In retrospect, is there something you would change about the evolution of the series or any elements in the game?

Thank you for making the code open to people to modify! With so many companies against the mod community, what has motivated you to support it?

You have well proven that games can be educational, and can be used to teach important lessons of the growth of humankind. What other facets of history and education would you like to make or see made? Have you thought about branching out into making other games just as educational?

Lastly, thank you for the Civlopedia. This is a good foundation of information for people to learn about our history, where we came from and where we could possibly wind up.

 

[thadian]

One more i thought should be asked. It already was, but could use better words.

While human-like AI is not possible, to what extent in the future do you think that the AI of strategy games will be capable of analyzing and making on the spot decisions that reflect the situation, possible outcomes and means of advancement? A human is always thinking about these things. What do you think can overcome the obstacles in designing this?

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LAST ONE I PROMISE
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Having made so many games on the history of mankind, where do you see mankind in 500 years?

 

[King Flevance]

Well now that makes me think of another one.

Was the depth of the ability to mod in Civ 4 allowing time for Firaxis to explore future ideas and leave the Civization series alone for a little while? Or is modding going to remain open in future versions of Civ?

 

[darkyxinhow]

(1) Since CivII, the historical accuracy of the game has been greatly increased and a much bigger importance has been given to History itself in the game. How does the Civ team does its historical researches, and how do you guys define some uncertain, or even not so historically connected (at least, appearently) issues, such as Chichen Itza's or Stonehenge's effects on CivIV, for example?

(2) Since the release of Half-Life's Counter-Strike, E-sports have been growing as we had never seen before. How do you feel about the E-sports in gaming? Wouldn't you like to see the Civilization franchise in this market, and, if so, are there any ideas to develop a more dynamic multi-player game?

 

[Julian Delphiki]

My question:

Sid, what is your personal favorite Civ game? What civilization do you usually play as? (in any of the games)

Sid is the head of barbs. (too lazy to find that pic from funny pics thread)

 

[r_rolo1]

^^He also was the leader of Firaxis faction in SMAC

 

[CMKMStephens]

Why, as in the case of BTS (most egregiously, but the whole CIV IV series), are the games shipped broken and bug-ridden? It's like the customer is a beta-tester, finding the bugs, posting them, and the fan community comes up with patches before the developers. So what's being done to improve the quality control so that the games can be played as intended "out of the box"? This just seems like a real poor way to run a railroad.

I'd second this question and add to it:

'Are the memory usage issues ever going to be fixed or is Civ4 just going to be left broken. Memory Allocation Errors plague late game on huge maps, and show up earlier trying to reload a save game. The size of the map and the number of civs drives up the frequency to unplayability eventually. People want to play on maps bigger than Huge, and with more than 18 civs.'

Also, 'Why is 1/3 to 1/2 the globe always devoid of civilizations? I am refering to the entire pacific and south east asian region.

 

[Pitboss]

I like that one.

My thoughts:

I think the SMAC2 stuff has been churdled over before in other interviews, right?? It seems to be a matter of ownership outside of Sid's control from memory.

True, but due to recent evolutions that problem might get solved.
I'm talking of course about the probable upcoming merger of EA and Take2.
And as long as stay willing to make an Alpha Centauri 2, those two facts bring some hope.

That's why I'm also adding my nick to the list of people that are asking about the next SMAC(X) ... perhaps a SMAC(Y)

I much rather have that then CIV 5, not that CIV isn't good.
It just feels to much like a boiled down version of SMAC that keeps getting updates from it's features.


On the CIV side of things :

* Could there ever be a way to prolong the gaming by allowing to start a new game through the end-game scenario?

Based upon the moment that you manage to get your rocket ready, you'll start on a new map where you can start over.
The other civs will then appear based upon that building and launching time.

The story for the fact that they have to start reinventing things could be that they passed some anomaly that whipped most of these abilities. Making the artifacts that have been spreaded all over the new planet actual pieces of there past that have survived the journey.


* Will there ever be a way to add to possibility to create your own custom civ?

Straight from the menu.
Leaving you with the choice of the added civ's or the option "make your own".
Those could then be shareable in order to make them playable in a network and to add user value to the game.


* Customizable units?

An option that could also be integrated in the "custom civ".
The main idea is that you could go create your own contraptions, based on what you discovered and the resources that you have.
Let's call that DaVincing Units.


* Will there be future influence added to the game?

Meaning that next to religious and cultural influence you might also add language and ideology as influences.


* Spreading you culture through technology and stopping it through the lack of it ?

Two not adjacent nations should be able to be influenced by each other culture through it.
Which could allow them to get better diplomatic relations or make them more for you influence settings.

 

[Drakan]

When will, or will there be another SMAC type game?

Yeah, I'm sorry but I too have to ask or beg this question. I know EA have the rights to it but... a new version !

Please Sid, can I have more SMAC ?

 

[thadian]

* Could there ever be a way to prolong the gaming by allowing to start a new game through the end-game scenario?

Based upon the moment that you manage to get your rocket ready, you'll start on a new map where you can start over.
The other civs will then appear based upon that building and launching time.

The story for the fact that they have to start reinventing things could be that they passed some anomaly that whipped most of these abilities. Making the artifacts that have been spreaded all over the new planet actual pieces of there past that have survived the journey.

The idea of the world being in modern era - then being reset to the first era of techs. You all still have your "artifacts" but doesn't that mean the winner is who already has the most power out?

Whoever he chooses to go for will be crippled by being unable to do better than warriors.

The good part of it is that if you make it so units delete but buildings remain it could get interesting.

 

[Pitboss]

The idea of the world being in modern era - then being reset to the first era of techs. You all still have your "artifacts" but doesn't that mean the winner is who already has the most power out?

Whoever he chooses to go for will be crippled by being unable to do better than warriors.

Agreed the idea needs some tweaking, but I believe that the basic concept is viable.
Perhaps it could be solved by restricting yourself in the first x rounds (depending on the last arrival) to city enhancements instead of colonisation and military. With the post traumatic stress and all ...

The good part of it is that if you make it so units delete but buildings remain it could get interesting.

One of the things I've been saying as well, ... in SMAC that's the case.
Destroying one city enhancement could be understandable ... but more then that is kinda pushing it.

 

[Yolotli_Yaotl]

Do you plan to keep on making Civilization games for XBOX 360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS, and other consoles, or was Civilization Revolution the only game your going to do on console even after knowing that your console Civilization Revolution game was sold out in the US!

And I would like to suggest keeping the Aztecs and add more civilizations from the Americas, another great one would be to add the Mayas along with the Aztecs.

 

[_random_]

Have you or any other Firaxians been snooping around the Ideas and Suggestions Thread? There's this one user called Randomnerd10 who has this awesome idea about relics, not to mention Israel and the Cree as civilizations! Plus city-states, Civil wars and more! You really ought to pay attention to him.

 

[Mivo]

Do you plan to keep on making Civilization games for XBOX 360, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS, and other consoles, or was Civilization Revolution the only game your going to do on console even after knowing that your console Civilization Revolution game was sold out in the US!

The PSP never got a version. That's $40 that I would have loved to spend. I have a DS too, but still prefer playing on the PSP.

 

[Yolotli_Yaotl]

Yeah but I was asking if he would still be making Civilization console games including the PSP.

 

[Mivo]

Oh, it's a good question (especially in light of various studios abandoning the PC market and focusing on the console sector). No disagreement there, I'm curious about his answer to this as well.

 

[Yolotli_Yaotl]

Yeah, hey but do you know if he's going to actually answer all of the questions or ignore some?

 

[King Flevance]

Somequestions will probably be ignored as the show is normally 1 hour long and this will probably only be 1 segment of it. (around 20... maybe 30 mins tops since it is Sid. Although, it would be nice to have this segment span the whole show this once. )

 

[nympholept]

Dear Sid, can the known bugs in CivNet please be fixed?

 

[DanQ]

Thanks to everyone who has submitted questions so far. The response has been higher than to any PC interview announced before hand to date already, but that's not surprising.

There are a few additional pertinent points that we would like to mention at this time given both the volume of questions and some of their content.

Somequestions will probably be ignored as the show is normally 1 hour long and this will probably only be 1 segment of it. (around 20... maybe 30 mins tops since it is Sid. Although, it would be nice to have this segment span the whole show this once. )

The above quote is pertinent and in line with my first point.

Sid is only available to speak to us for an hour. Given his busy schedule, we are most appreciative for any time he is able to give us! That said, if you would like to increase the likeihood that your question(s) will be asked, submit it in audio form with you asking it -- he's going to get to hear enough of us regular co-hosts as it is. :cute: Leave a voicemail or record and submit it as an MP3 (no lesser quality than 64kbps please). If the latter, include a link to the audio version of your question(s) at the end of your post; if you have already posted and would like to do this, update your post to include such a link at the end of it.

Second, we won't be asking questions that we know Sid won't be able to answer at this time (i.e. any announcement about future games not yet public knowledge).

Third, we'll be reserving most any Civilization IV: Colonization questions for possible interviews with developer team members in the months ahead (pre- and/or post-release).

Nevertheless and with these points in mind, please continue to ask away.