Civ4 Interview @ Strategy Informer

[Thunderfall]

There is a new Civ4 interview at Strategy Informer:

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/civilizationiv/interview.html

- One of the questions asked about the system requirements:

What system will the game require in minimum and what in full graphics setting?

The current min. spec. is a 1 GHz Pentium 3 with 256 MB Ram and a video card that supports hardware T&L. We haven’t really worked out a recommended spec. yet, but I imagine having 512 MB of Ram, a P4, and a recent graphics card like a Radeon 9800 would probably do the trick.

- Civ4 units don't automatically get the fortify bonus the first turn. Instead, the unit needs to stay fortified to slowly build up its defenses.

No new screenshots are released in this interview.

 

[King Alexander]

Thanks for the info, TF. I can't wait to play Civ4.

 

[Pascal]

Si: Release date?
2k Games: Holiday 2005.


They must mean Christmas 2005 here

 

[TVA22]

What does T&L mean? Anyone know what that means as to how many megs our video card has to have? Cause I've got all the rest of that easy, but I'm not sure about my video card.

 

[Civrules]

What does T&L mean? Anyone know what that means as to how many megs our video card has to have? Cause I've got all the rest of that easy, but I'm not sure about my video card.

It is short for "Transform and Lighting." Newer video cards (except Intel) should have that.

What is your video card?

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

It would be great if the release date were December 4, as that would make it the greatest birthday for me ever

 

[yannoche]

Thanks dude !!
read the bit about city tiles? Now you can have a 1-tile city!!!

 

[Urederra]

I was checking over the internet whether my Radeon all-in-wonder 8500DV has the texture and lighting thing and I have found this:

"ATIs new SMARTSHADER technology takes advantage of the DirectX 8.1 features to enable more complex and realistic texture and lighting effects" (It is about the radeon 8500 chip)

Does it mean that my video card has the T&L thingy that I need to play Civ IV?

Sorry for the off topic question. Thank you for the answer, specially if the answer is "yes".

 

[Civrules]

I was checking over the internet whether my Radeon all-in-wonder 8500DV has the texture and lighting thing and I have found this:

"ATIs new SMARTSHADER technology takes advantage of the DirectX 8.1 features to enable more complex and realistic texture and lighting effects" (It is about the radeon 8500 chip)

Does it mean that my video card has the T&L thingy that I need to play Civ IV?

Sorry for the off topic question. Thank you for the answer, specially if the answer is "yes".

It should be... yes.

Remember, Pirates! also requires you to have T&L. But many, many players still have no problem with it even if they do not have T&L. The only difference with that game is eye candy.

Hopefully Civ IV is the same.

 

[thetyper]

Does anyone else think that not having Fortify on first turn will be a big change in some strategies? It seems to me we will likely need to concentrate at least a little more on defense. I usually only keep 1 or 2 units fortified in cities once I have railroads. Then just keep a small stack to rush in to those cities being threatened.

If I can't fortify in one turn though - I may have to consider upping the number of permanently garrisoned units in a city.

 

[Urederra]

many thanks civrules, you rule!

BTW, I have changed my avatar, hope you guys like it.

Edit: Are you sure that T&L means Transform and lighting? Texture and lighting sound more logical to me.

 

[Civrules]

many thanks civrules, you rule!

NP.

BTW, I have changed my avatar, hope you guys like it.

Ahh, but animated avatars are not allowed on the forums. Sorry.
You can still keep it, but it can't be animated.

 

[Urederra]

I'll remove it. sorry.

 

[rychan]

The first thing you might notice is that there are no longer separate attack and defense values for units. Instead, there is a single Strength indicator to make combat calculations less ambiguous.

Are people really content with this? It seems to be MORE ambiguous, to me, since people will have to estimate how good the unit bonuses are instead of just comparing numbers. 6 cav attack is greater than 5 musketeer defense seems easier than strength 4 cav versus strength 4 musketeer... now how good is that cavalry bonus, hmmm....

 

[Stilgar08]

These are good news IMO: Fortification doesn't really work like before so you will have to change your habits (always a good thing! ) using it and you can't take advantage of fortification as easy as before.

@rychan: I think it will make come out of combat less predictable and it will raise the value of specialized units and diverse units/armies...

I haven't heard anything about railroad movement, yet. I very much hope it won't be infinite... I know, I know, off topic...

TF: Thanx for the info! Not a bad read. BTW, sorry for the thread about the OLD report...

 

[Gangor]

- Civ4 units don't automatically get the fortify bonus the first turn. Instead, the unit needs to stay fortified to slowly build up its defenses.

Wow...this is getting more and more like Panzer General all the time...

 

[Avayaman]

can't wait for cIV to come out!!!

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Wow...this is getting more and more like Panzer General all the time...

Actually, PG1+2 had the perfect combat system for a turn-based game. Trying to come up with something better is like trying to reinvent the wheel.
Unit specific promotions? Leaders? Entrechment levels?
Wonder if we also see the "Initiative" and "Hard/Soft" target differentiation returning...

Guess it's only about waiting until PG is completely forgotten...the frachnise is dead anyway.

 

[Tidiazuron]

Guess it's only about waiting until PG is completely forgotten...the frachnise is dead anyway.

Panzer General can die, but it will survive in our memories and in my P100 24Mb RAM. What a great game it was.

 

[ComradeDavo]

Intresting interview, thanks for posting it Thunderfall

What system will the game require in minimum and what in full graphics setting?

The current min. spec. is a 1 GHz Pentium 3 with 256 MB Ram and a video card that supports hardware T&L. We haven’t really worked out a recommended spec. yet, but I imagine having 512 MB of Ram, a P4, and a recent graphics card like a Radeon 9800 would probably do the trick.

Hmmm...seems like my computer might just make the minimum specs....but screw it i'll buy a new one near the time anyways, i'll need one for moving out (if I ever get a decent full time job....hah!) and I want a new one for playing other games anyways.

One interesting difference is that you don’t automatically get the fortify bonus the first turn. Instead, the unit needs to stay fortified to slowly build up its defenses

Thats a good move I think.