Civ4 first details!

[Zeekater]

http://www.gamez.nl/content/nieuws.phtml?id=8012

This Dutch gaming site has some of the first details on civ4; here is the translation of the details:

The biggest change seems to be of graphical nature. The game will be in a 3D world. To make the game go smoothly the interface will be totally reworked.
Some stuff will be added or will be more important in CIV4. Pollution and maintenance of buildings and units can cause a lot of trouble in your world empire. Also, you are no longer the untouchable leader. Uprisings and corruption can stagnate parts of your empire. Religion is also an element that has a lot of influence on your population. During warfare a lot of RPG-elements will occur. Units can gain experience and thus upgrade certain statistics.
Civ4 is expected beginning 2005.

If anybody else can provide a better translation, please do

 

[Rik Meleet]

Conquering the world is still a topic that fascinates many people. One of the games which has become huge by this concept is Civilization. The 4th series of the game is coming. However until now it stayed terrible quiet at Firaxis, the studio behind the range. Soren Johnson, a designer of Civilization 4 now breaks the silence. The largest change seems be of a graphic nature. The game will be played in a 3D-world. The interface is completely redesigned, to keep the game clear.

Some parts are added or made important in CIV4. Pollution and maintenance costs of both buildings and units can give your empire a lot of problems. Also: you are no longer the untouchable LEADER. Rebellions and corruption can paralyze parts of your empire. Religion is also an element that influences your citizens greatly. In warfare; RPG-elements come into play. Units can gain experience and upgrade in several abilities.

 

[Zeekater]

Thx, I had some trouble with some words

 

[warpstorm]

There is nothing in that article that wasn't in Soren's GDC presentation. (See the home page of this site).

 

[sabo]

I hope they do somthing with the AI and how it conducts battles. It always turns into a bloody slug fest with the AI since it can't fight with imagination, it fights with numbers.

 

[Masquerouge]

Geez I can't wait for screenshots !

However, I find it very strange that in Sorensen's presentation, pollution and rioting were dumped out of the game because it was thought as unfun ; now this article says it's back again ? Where's the Truuuuth ?

 

[thestonesfan]

Rebellion sounds good!

 

[warpstorm]

The truth is that the implementation of pollution and corruption was un-fun, not the concept.

 

[Blackbird_SR-71]

man that is awesome ideas and i'm happy that corruption and pollution arent gone for good

and rebellion sounds awesome

 

[dmanakho]

I can only dream about having first GOTM in Civ4
I wonder if they will add any civilizations to the list...
or may be some futuristic technologies

 

[Masquerouge]

The truth is that the implementation of pollution and corruption was un-fun, not the concept.

I really should read all the words carefully

I'm glad these features will remain.

However, the whole part about "maintenance costs of both buildings and units can give your empire a lot of problems"... I hope they won't go back to CIV2... In fact I'm sure they won't, but I'd be really curious about that one !

 

[Zeekater]

The one thing I'm wondering about are the RPG parts in combat, could someone explain a bit please?

 

[user37852]

Am I the only one worried about the inclusion of a third dimension from a graphics point of view?

 

[IceBeast]

Well I'm hoping if it is true 3d that you may be able to go to a "globe view" which might answer everyones questions about a spherical world.

 

[dmanakho]

Well I'm hoping if it is true 3d that you may be able to go to a "globe view" which might answer everyones questions about a spherical world.

Yeah, and start saving money for the new computer to play that game!

 

[warpstorm]

Come on, X-Com had a globe view of the world. It's not like this hasn't been done before. In fact, some of the DirectX tutorials involve globe rendering.

 

[truckingpete]

3D world!! Now that is going to be cool....

I wonder how much the new game is going to cost?? 40 - 50 dollars??

Eould be worth it...

 

[Longasc]

I think you have all gone crazy. There are few STRATEGY games that do well on a 3D Engine. Even Medieval Total War has some 2D-parts, but all 3D-strategic gameplay?

I am not a hexfield fanatic, but 3d graphics have the fatal tendency of

- "aging" faster
- limiting gameplay!
(e.g. Ultima Online is not as immersive as Everquest perhaps, but the interface allows you a lot more of things to do)
- appealing to the 3d mainstream and sacrificing complex concepts for simplicity

I like complex yet simple things... but I have a bad feeling about Civ4. Hope to get more reports as the work progresses, the general direction is dangerous imo!!

 

[IceBeast]

Yeah, and start saving money for the new computer to play that game!

I've rendered many things in 3D on a wide arrange of computers and with the right preprocessing and optimizations, it is usually pretty quick. The HUGE advantage civ has is once the world is create, it is basically a static object. If units and cities are treated as objects on the world, and not part of the world, you only need to render the world ONCE, and allow the graphics hardware to do all the interpolations, rotations and translations the user wants to do with the view. This in graphics terms, is a huge time and computational saving measure (making the world "static"). So I think it is quite plausible for it to run on most machines. Another key is to make the Globe view smaller and then once you zoom in return to a 2d view. Also they could do this and then include a partial 3D isometric view and still maintain the same feeling of the game without actually giving full camera manipulation. This allows for the game to use graphics 3d hardware and still play very similar. May even allow for some speed increase. I think 3D provides them with many plans without going as far in depth as many of you think they may go. Dont let me get misinterpreted though, it is ENTIRELY possible for them to go overboard and make the game unplayable.

 

[Chieftess]

http://www.gamez.nl/content/nieuws.phtml?id=8012
During warfare a lot of RPG-elements will occur.

Something tells me they studied the demogame for this. (some of the most exciting and creative RPG-elements in the demogames were when the civ was at war with another civ, usually being invaded). (I just hope I don't start seeing PIs.. (Python script --> "if player.name == donsig..." -- inside joke)

As for the 3D world, I wonder if it'll be so that subs can actually go under units. I recall a "3D terrain" suggestion way back in the pre-Apolyton days...

AI - I think there will be editable AI (sounds like edible! ) scripts with Python.

Corruption - Maybe it's more of a civ-wide, or regional-wide thing than per city. I'm still curious to see how this works. I really think that everything just might be scripted. (perhaps why it seems to be coming together pretty quickly -- the artists, on the other hand...)