[Brazen Assumptions and Rampant Speculation]

[Woodreaux]

My dog's groomer's sister's boyfriend who knows some dude that used work at Firaxis says there are going to be narwhal resources in ciV. It's a lock. Bank on it.

 

[Randomness]

Awesome. I want to meet your dog's groomer's sister's boyfriend who knows some dude!

 

[Tusked]

My dog's groomer's sister's boyfriend who knows some dude that used work at Firaxis says there are going to be narwhal resources in ciV. It's a lock. Bank on it.

Yeah, well my cousin's aunt's proctologists' mortician knows Sid, and he said specifically that we'll be able to play as the Commonwealth of Virginia in ciV. 'cause it's a Commonwealth. Not a state. Commonwealth.

 

[Dale]

I just spoke to some chick I just met on a dating line and she said that Firaxis will release each era separately, and that we'll have to pay for each era as a new install. Oh, and that the game only comes with 5 Civs installed and we'll have to pay $10 for each extra Civ we want. And that to unlock new units we need to research a tech, then buy the unit as DLC for $3.50 each.

 

[Tarmac]

Pffffttt...

I've actually BEEN to Hunt Valley Md (like 20 years ago), and I heard that the 1st Civ that "pops" Britteny Spears wins.

 

[apenpaap]

I was praying to Sid just now, and then I heard His mighty voice in my head saying "There will be Giant Death Robots in Civ V."

 

[Steenberger]

I have dreamt that Civ V will be featuring a new way to start your civ. Instead of the nonsential "Settler" concept, your Civ will start with an alien pod landing and unfolding itself, complete with a particular civ-specific pre-built wonder, such as the pyramids, some mayan tample, the animal figures of Anglia or the plaza of (pehaps-to-be-lost-depending-on-your-actions) Atlantis.

Did I mention that I have a near-perfect tele-mental-ish connection to lead game designer Brian Murphy's psyche? Hence, since I dreamt it, it must be true. YEP.

 

[Izmir Stinger]

http://www.firaxis.com/news/news_detail.php?id=761

Civilization V reinvigorates the classic turn-based strategy genre with an astonishing new engine built from the ground-up for this flagship edition of the Civilization franchise.

We do know something.

Oh, indeed. They have confirmed that it is turn based. Thank you Bob. That press release is several paragraphs longer than the one on the Civ V site. I see they are going to give us the run around where different information is released in different places. Perhaps the main page of this site will be the best place to get Civ V news in the upcoming months.

Having read now read that press release, which is a few paragraphs longer than what is on the Civ V site, reveals several things about the game:

1) Turn based (thank you bob)
2) Hex grids (we'd already sussed that out with our awesome detective skills)
3) Ranged Bombardment (seems apparent from the screen shots)
4) Fully animated leaders interacting with players from a screen-filling diplomatic scene and speaking in their native language (revealed on CivV.com)
5) an extensive suite of community, modding and multiplayer elements elements (revealed on CivV.com)

But there is also a wealth of other info about the game such as:

• Genre-defining
• Exciting
• Invigorating
• Classic
• Astonishing
• Built from the ground-up
• Flagship edition
• Cavalcade of expanded features
• Fully immersive (sic) experience
• Definitive
• Deeper strategy
• More realistic
• Stunning organic landscapes
• Spectacular visual experience
• Brings players closer to the Civ experience than ever
• Wars between empires feel massive
• combat is more exciting and intense

That press release is just a wealth of new information, isn't it?

I don't think we will really know anything until we read the article about it in the upcoming GamePro magazine. This is most likely intentional. I am willing to bet Firaxis agreed not to have any substantial press releases before the issue came out. Why? So we'd buy it.

 

[Tlalynet]

I wouldn't count on 3 as a guaranteed thing since concept art (even generated from the game engine as it exists) can be misleading or inaccurate. Even if it (or anything else) exists now it can be scrapped before the release.

But speculation is fun, and it gives me modding ideas if the game is as modding as its purported to be.

apenpaap's prediction is 100% guaranteed, There will be Giant Death robots, because you know someone is going to mod them in for a near future thing.

 

[Izmir Stinger]

I wouldn't count on 3 as a guaranteed thing since concept art (even generated from the game engine as it exists) can be misleading or inaccurate.

It is also in the press release, it is not merely inferred from the screenshot. I agree, what we see in the screenshot is not sufficient to conclude that there is a ranged bombardment feature. The two together are convinving, though.

Even if it (or anything else) exists now it can be scrapped before the release.

That is of course true of any ongoing design project but we have good reason to believe that anything that has in-game screenshots is likely going to make it into the final product in some form as it has been developed to the point of near completion. For example, I am 99.99% certain the game will have hexagonal grids. I am 98% sure it will have ranged bombardment - less sure because there are more reasons this might be scrapped, such as a play tester determining it is an easily exploitable unfair-advantage type mechanic, but still pretty sure.

 

[Tlalynet]

Ah, the press release is much more solid evidence, and I would say 99%+ certainty of hex grids is reasonable. Its something so integral to the game that re-designing it would have an incredible resource\time cost.

 

[Tarmac]

[Demand argument over your hypothetical features cease and discussion of my imaginary yet purportedly real features resume] {optional: hypocritically praise or criticize your ham-fisted kludge despite my demands, effectively demanding that you let me have the last word}

[Opine additional reasons why my imaginary feature is a great|terrible idea] {optional: contradict an example given in the OP}

[thinly veiled threat of physical violence] {optional: implication that your parents are 1st cousins/siblings}

[compare previous poster with German government circa 1933-1945]

 

[MrBanana]

What is so funny is that so many people have taken it as holy writ. And people are getting all hot and bothered about it. Somebody saw a screenshot and did not see anything indicating the familiar Civ 4 concept of multiple units per tile or "stacks." He inferred that stacks must not exist in Civ 5. Even if you accept the premise that this game is very similar to Civ 4, this is not a valid logical inference - it is an appeal to ignorance which is fallacious. Given what we know, there is no justification for believing his conclusion is true.

We don't even know if the concept of a unit exists in the game. For all we know those formations of soldiers we see in the screenshot are generated for a special "battle event" based on the warring civilization's technology level, productivity and other factors. Maybe you fight one such battle per turn while at war and never interact with "units" in a traditional sense otherwise. The amount we don't know about this game is staggering. We don't even know that the game is turn based.

Let that sink in. We don't know if this is a turn based game. I think it very likely is - no reason for Firaxis to jump genres on us - but they haven't actually told us that it is as of the date of this post.

"One unit per tile" is the most egregious example of this type of thinking so far, but it is not the only one. The idea that religions have been removed from the game is also floating around, as is the idea that there are no longer any civilization traits, and some other zany facts based on idle speculation or poor reasoning skills.

I predict this will happen with every substantial press release from 2K about this game. Any of these "facts" about the game such as "no religions' and "one unit per tile" that are contradicted will fall into obscurity and be ignored, with the occasional new forum goer who hasn't seen the new press releases reading them and getting confused, then bringing them up and being called a n00b. Anything that isn't contradicted will be considered confirmed (yet another kind of fallacious reasoning) and treated as true until it is contradicted in a future press release or the game release. Meanwhile, any new information that comes out will blossom into a whole new field of speculation like daisies in .

Basically this entire sub-forum is one giant critical thinking FAIL. The only thing we know about civ 5 is that the world map is divided into hexagons rather than squares and that Washington and Bismark are returning in Civ V. We have also seen examples of the graphics for the world map and diplomacy screen. That's it. I'd like more info, but I don't have it.

Um, I don't think an rts can use a hexagron gird like that.

Oh, and

[Insert plea for so me obcurse African kingdom to be playable.]

 

[Tlalynet]

[Agree that obscure African kingdom must be playable, and assert it would be 'Eurocentric' if it was left out]

[Add that even more obscure Native American tribe should be playable because of the vast land area they covered that is actually tiny by todays standards]

 

[Tusked]

[Agree that obscure African kingdom must be playable, and assert it would be 'Eurocentric' if it was left out]

[Add that even more obscure Native American tribe should be playable because of the vast land area they covered that is actually tiny by todays standards]

[insist Palestine is playable and mutter borderline-racist diatribe about Israel]

 

[Tlalynet]

[Agree they should be in the game, but inflame previous poster by commenting that they should be a barbarian tribe]

[Assert that 'I don't really care about the issue' in attempt make my obviously bias statement appear dispassionate and objective]

[Bring up features of Civ II or Civ III that I happened to like, baselessly assert that it has 'not been Civ' since those features where removed. Make the false claim that I will not buy the game if those features are not in, inacurately infer that me not buying the game will cause firaxis to go bankrupt]

 

[Dale]

[Insert random obligatory derisive remark about Civ3 and how bad it is]

 

[Tlalynet]

[Restate my claim in bold as if that made it more persuasive rather than less]

[Clam opponent is 'not a real fan', claim once again that it is 'not civ' without this feature, and continue to ignore that it was not in Civ 1]

 

[Dale]

[Troll poster by stating that even Call to Power was better than Civ3]

[Finally, Godwin thread]

 

[Tlalynet]

[Gross misunderstanding, praise for Call to Power, a new suggestion involving a Call to Power mechanic and a n00bish statement mistaking Call to Power as an actual Sid game]