Beyond The Sword is Coming!

This is amazing. It loads up Huge maps in literally seconds. Regenerate map takes 11 seconds. It's solid as can be.

- Conspirator
 
If you stop a Safari download you abort it. It's not the same thing as pausing it. I don't think Safari supports a pause/resume option.
 
Is there any information on if the game will require the DVDbe in the drive? It's not a big deal to keep the DVD handy, but it would be nice to not have to.

Thanks,
Ben
 
Marketing geniuses, aren't they?

OK, I'll likely get myself in trouble but here goes: we haven't announced it officially yet because we haven't gotten the clearance to do so from our partners. Yes, it would be awesome if we could have announced it months ago, but that was not to be.

As well, if the next collective thought on this issue is "you should start sooner", then all I can add to that is that we've done this many times before, and BtS has had some unique obstacles.
 
Quick question - I've always played on PC, bought a Mac a year ago. I assume that I need to buy the main Civ IV for Mac to be able to play BTS on my Mac. Do I also have to buy Warlords to have a 'complete' BTS game? Or are all Warlords updates included in BTS? I have no desire to actually play Warlords, but don't want an incomplete (missing leaders/civs, etc.) BTS.

Thanks for any help.
 
One other question - are save games compatible between PC/Mac? Can I take a PC game and run the save file to pick the game up where I left off on the Mac?

Thanks again for any help.
 
On Windows you could buy vanilla Civ4 and BtS without buying Warlords. We don't know if this is also true for the Mac versions yet, but it seems likely. All warlords enhancements are not included in BtS as far as I know. For example, Warlords introduced the Warlord unit, but I don't think it appears in BtS. Note that you could buy Civ4 Gold for Mac and get both vanilla and Warlords. I haven't checked, but this may be almost as cheap as buying Civ4 alone these days.

Yes, save games are compatible between Mac and Windows, unless you run a mod, and lock the assets to that mod.
 
I just want to say I'm always excited to see posts by Brad. Over the years, Brad has been our big Mac advocate in the dessert of pc-focused Firaxis/Take2. I like how you keep us informed and clarify things for us periodically :)

I want to note that I was impressed with how much sooner Civ4 for Mac came out compared to the awful wait and fiasco with Civ3 for Mac. I would also point out that when Aspyr took over the ports for Civ3 Complete for Mac and then Civ4 for Mac & Warlords, they were much faster and higher quality than the first company that did Civ3 for Mac (sorry I forget the name of the company).

I have bought every version of Civ since Civiliation 1 on my Amiga computer. I had *almost* given up hope of getting a Mac version of BTS, and I bought the PC version and played it in Bootcamp and later in Paralells (much smoother in Boot Camp), but stll excited to get it on my Mac.

As for questions about why bother with Mac version instead of Bootcamp/paralells... I always think things run smoother in just OS X rather than any form of Windows!
 
Why bother......
well, I for one don't want to contribute any more to Mr Gates fortune by buying his unwieldy buggy insecure operating system (though unfortunately in business matters there's no viable way to avoid the Office monster.....)
 
All warlords enhancements are not included in BtS as far as I know. For example, Warlords introduced the Warlord unit, but I don't think it appears in BtS.
I'm pretty sure this is incorrect. Back when Warlords came out, I initially didn't get it because I was holding out for BTS. The reasoning was that Vanilla+BTS provided everything Vanilla+Warlords+BTS did except for the Warlords-specific scenarios (Rise of Rome, Vikings, etc.). I can't find any of my references from then, though.

But logically, that's the only way it *could* work. For example, what would happen with the new Imperialistic leaders without GGs? Either they'd have to be redesigned, or they'd be left with one trait lacking a huge chunk of what it does - not credible. For that matter, Imperialistic itself is a Warlords feature. Would civs get the UBs or not? And so on.

Trying to make BTS that didn't include all the Warlords features, yet was actually marginally sensible and playable, would effectively require two completely different versions of BTS. It just builds on top of too many Warlords features.
 
For example, Warlords introduced the Warlord unit, but I don't think it appears in BtS.

Great Generals and Warlord units created with them still exist. I *think* that all the game mechanics changes from Warlords are there in BtS.

One thing that isn't included in BtS is the scenarios from Warlords.

Note that you could buy Civ4 Gold for Mac and get both vanilla and Warlords. I haven't checked, but this may be almost as cheap as buying Civ4 alone these days.

If you're all about cheap then you can get the Windows version (complete edition) and gamble on it working with CrossOver or vanilla wine. BtS patch 3.19 seems to eliminate the DVD check and it works fine on my Macbook with CO. However, it's a gamble, probably slower and all in all I only use the Win version because I got it for my Windows gaming PC anyway. I wouldn't recommend going out and buying the Win version without an actual Windows PC around ;-)
 
I would also point out that when Aspyr took over the ports for Civ3 Complete for Mac and then Civ4 for Mac & Warlords, they were much faster and higher quality than the first company that did Civ3 for Mac (sorry I forget the name of the company).

That's amusing; I was lead developer on both incarnations of Mac Civ3. Perhaps my skills aged like a fine wine...? ;)
 
Thanks guys.

As far as price, I bought Civ IV Mac at the Mac store on the UofI campus yesterday for $29.99. Gold was $49.99. On Amazon they want $49.99 just for Civ IV Mac vanilla, and $59.99 for Gold Mac.

I would have bought Warlords if it had been the latest and greatest when I got my Macbook in May of 2008, but I was already playing BTS on my PC and once you've played BTS, I don't see how you could go back to Warlords. I tried it on VMware Fusion, but on huge maps with 18 civs and marathon pace, it falls apart once you hit the modern era.

So it sounds like Vanilla Civ IV and BTS will be fine, can't wait for it to ship!
 
As a German I'm happy BtS is finally out for Mac end of July. I have asked for the version it will be sold and I got an answer: 3.17
So hopefully they will bring out 3.19, too.
 
Kind of bummed it's 3.17 instead of 3.19. Anyone care to venture a guess as to how long it might be before they get it compatible with 3.19? Will there be a 'user created patch' or something to make the games compatible? This is my first foray into the Mac version of the game, so I'm curious as to how it compares with Windows in this regard.
 
Kind of bummed it's 3.17 instead of 3.19. Anyone care to venture a guess as to how long it might be before they get it compatible with 3.19? Will there be a 'user created patch' or something to make the games compatible? This is my first foray into the Mac version of the game, so I'm curious as to how it compares with Windows in this regard.

I'm glad if they are releasing it now without the latest patch. I'm sure the patch will come out later, they'll have plenty of time to finish it after they ship the product. Better to give us the game now and take the time to port the patch properly than wait another 6 months to have it at all.
 
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