Civics

[KrikkitTwo]

Anyone willing to guess what these are going to be?

A 'faction' system allowing parts of your society to make demands on you?

A SMAC-like government system?

New specialists? [ugh]

"Buildings" that don't require production but some type of 'social production cost' instead?

Just though it might be fun to speculate a bit as opposed to making ideas for CivX?

 

[Lockesdonkey]

Or all of the above? That would probably be the best-case scenario, with modification of course.

 

[Vael]

The article mentioned Slavery and Freedom of Speech as 'Civic Options.' That suggests to me very strongly that they will be like 'mini' Civ 3-governments... perhaps in different categories like SMAC?

Either way, should definitely be better than how governments worked in any previous version of Civ.

 

[dh_epic]

The big things floating around right now are:

1. It might have something to do with branching or seperate tech trees, where players choose to go down one path, thus determining their country's social policy.

2. It might be a SMAC style social engineering mechanism, where new concepts get unlocked as the game progresses.

3. It might be several "laws" that players can flick on or off.

4. It might be a random issue that players have to deal with every several turns.

5. It might be a new word for the will of your people, and all the tools you have to deal with your people. Of course, the tools could be any of the 1-4, or all of the above.

 

[REX GRACCHVS]

well i hope its SMAC style gov't...

 

[searcheagle]

2. It might be a SMAC style social engineering mechanism, where new concepts get unlocked as the game progresses.

It said in the preview that this these civics would be unlocked as the game goes along, and I would assume by techs.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Well, it is pretty safe to assume that the tech tree is an integral part of the civics system, but my feeling is that it might be based around the SMAC 'Social Engineering' sliders, but that the techs 'open-up' these sliders to ever greater manipulation by the player.
Of course, this could tie into both a faction and 'specialist' system, but that I am MUCH less certain about !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Vael]

It doesn't sound like it will have sliders to me. Do you think the game would have a 'Slavery' slider and a 'Freedom of Speech' slider?

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

No, I don't think those two will be different sliders, but both of these elements are part of the broader civic concept of LIBERTARIANISM. So, I could see improved understanding of the broad concept giving you greater freedom to manipulate it, from allowing or outlawing slavery up to the allowance or denial of Freedom of Speech.
I don't deny that I could be wrong, but it just seems to WORK for me !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Vael]

I haven't really thought about the kind of governmental system I would like for Civ 4. I like the idea of having different categories of things to choose from, like Economics, Religion, and so on so that you can basically mix-and-match your own government. I suppose sliders could fit into that system as well, but my only issue with that is how I would like to see fairly different types of government in the game, while sliders only really allow a range of things from one extreme to another on different issues. For example, having Slavery could impact your civ in a number of important ways that would be completely unique from other possible choices... something that isn't so easy to accomplish with sliders by themselves.

 

[dh_epic]

True, searcheagle. But I was just clarifying that it wouldn't be exactly the same as SMAC because of the "unlocking" concept. Unlocking features through the tech tree would likely be a part of the other possibilities, too. It's a question of what it is you're unlocking, and how it relates to the big picture of the game.

 

[rhialto]

Actually, it sounds remarkably simialr to SMAC with that unlocking. In SMAC, a lot of the government options required a specific tech to unlock.

 

[dh_epic]

I didn't realize. Things people could tell me about a game I never played (but maybe should)

I think what turned me off about SMAC, looking at the box in the store as far back as I could remember, is it featured a bunch of different "races" or "civs" that all had unique abilities and personalities. I didn't want to play a game like that. I wanted to play a game between a bunch of equally matched players, where I had the flexibility to mold my own identity. (I also found that none of the identities they offered suited my "style".)

It seems like such a trivial reason to not buy a game. But I guess that's how people shop, a lot of the time. I'm usually quite cautious.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I think what turned me off about SMAC, looking at the box in the store as far back as I could remember, is it featured a bunch of different "races" or "civs" that all had unique abilities and personalities.

..and here you are doing Civ3
They used to have a demo, which I liked, I didn't like some of the overall feel of the game, in the sense that it seemed to make things highly artificial... In this case you actually Were the X-thousand year old emperor with a wierd immortality treatment, and Governmental change only cost money (that and energy was money..which you collected from solarpanels even though your units were supposed to have nuclear power plants, etc. (too much strain on my believability) but the randomized tech tree was interesting, and the options for government were good

 

[dh_epic]

It's easier to forgive the sins of the ones you love

I don't mind traits, especially if you can turn them off or mod them out or emphasize them in scenarios. But I do mind if they spend weeks of time designing new ones and balancing them.