Civiliopedia gone horribly wrong..

[Rohili]

You don’t need the civilopedia to understand the bonus for gunship vs. tank. The icon for the bonus is very self explanatory – a yellow triangle. You know, the same icon for almost every other promotion in the game. Duh? How hard is it to figure out?

Yeah, it's like they ran out of budget to design more icons so they just kept using the yellow and red triangles.

Seriously, the Civilopedia is the strongest evidence that Civ V was rushed out. It is clear that many of the game details were not yet firmed up when the Civilopedia was written, which is why the writing staff had to make do with putting down vague and unhelpful information.

 

[MoonFlare]

Even the Civilopedia is streamlined.Good job,Firaxis.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Even the Civilopedia is streamlined.Good job,Firaxis.

Sorry, no. The Civlopedia is not 'streamlined', it's empty. Streamlining is actually a good thing and legitimate streamlining is part of what made Civ4 so good.

If 'streamlining' becomes a dirty word we are lost.

 

[Morningcalm]

Yet another reason to play Civ 4 instead of Civ 5.

I somehow doubt they'll ever fix the Civilopedia in Civ 5. For one thing, it would involve adding on new Main menu options (Where is the option to see Civilopedia from main menu in 5? Answer: NOWHERE). They've also been loathe to add a scenario screen for the Genghis Khan scenario, whereas virtually all, if not all, Civ 3 or 4 scenarios had unique music + background for a scenario title screen).

The whole game of Civ 5 smells of a rushed production and/or laziness--relying on graphics rather than gameplay to sell copies. Ugh.

 

[JudgeDeath]

Hardly ever look at the 'pedia. But this one is bad. Skimped on the writing, flawed design.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Sorry, no. The Civlopedia is not 'streamlined', it's empty. Streamlining is actually a good thing and legitimate streamlining is part of what made Civ4 so good.

If 'streamlining' becomes a dirty word we are lost.

Yes, it would be like removing mouse support for windows and saying it was streamlining. Streamlining would usually refer to removing unnecessary (or also in the case of video games 'unfun') features. Removing features that actually have functionality (like distinguishable promotion icons or hyperlinks in text) are not examples of streamlining.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Well, I guess a specific "+25% vs. Tanks" is a description that is overcomplicated and unfriendly. WTF with all these difficult numbers and that mystifying "%" symbol ? Compare it to a user-friendly description like "Bonus vs. Tanks" - easy and non-confusing

 

[Mutineer]

That remind me about tags in Eve online (I love this game BTW, but do not play it any more, take too mach time).

They were illegal wares, so police would stop you and call you criminal, but there was no penalties.
all other illegal goods carry penalty , like confiscation, fine 500% of good cost , lost of standing with empire. Tags did not had confiscation, fine or lost standing. So police was like hey you carry illegal good, bad boy, carry on..

 

[The_J]

Hey guys, i don't see your problems, at least using the civilopedia does not lead to a game crash like for numerous other users here .

 

[DaveGold]

Hey guys, i don't see your problems, at least using the civilopedia does not lead to a game crash like for numerous other users here

But does anyone use it?

 

[zorven]

But does anyone use it?

I doubt it. As described above, the civiliopedia is a worthless accumulation of generalities that is useless if you want to understand the mechanics of the game (if you can find the subject matter in the first place).

 

[Cordycep]

This is all part of Firaxis's green philosophy. By not printing the manual, trees are saved, by making the civlopedia useless, you're wasting less time (thus consuming less electricity) reading it. It's all to improve the efficient use of current resources.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

To be honest, i enjoyed it at first sight... but, when i clicked on the "Game-Concepts" orb - i went ballistic over the huge list of complex_self-referencing_link_driven_bible_sized sections which lead me nowhere near the exact answer to my silly questions. KISS is a myth when documentation design is handled the wrong way(s).
FIraXis it, somehow. Make it available from the startup menu or externally, at least.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Yes, it would be like removing mouse support for windows and saying it was streamlining. Streamlining would usually refer to removing unnecessary (or also in the case of video games 'unfun') features. Removing features that actually have functionality (like distinguishable promotion icons or hyperlinks in text) are not examples of streamlining.

Thank you PieceOfMind, you've clearly spelled out exactly what I mean. Real streamlining is part of what made Civ4 so great. (Health system instead of pollution, distance upkeep instead of corruption, etc)

 

[Mad Hab]

It is very clear that the Civilopedia was a rush job(...)

I dare to say that the developers knew the game would be unbalanced by release time. They couldn't give specific information on the pedia so they could change it later, with more testing.

"Bonus vs. Tanks" is used because they weren't sure if it would be 100%, 50% or 75%. Maybe they will fill the pedia appropriately the day they fanally balance this game as it should be in the first place...

Cheers!

Mad Hab

 

[MouseyPounds]

The civilopedia is generated on the fly through lua and the DLL; if it is designed properly the actual value of a bonus doesn't matter since it gets pulled from the database and displayed properly regardless. Having a generic phrase instead of reading the actual value from the DB is just sloppy.

 

[lschnarch]

The civilopedia is generated on the fly through lua and the DLL; if it is designed properly the actual value of a bonus doesn't matter since it gets pulled from the database and displayed properly regardless. Having a generic phrase instead of reading the actual value from the DB is just sloppy.

The problem is, even that they did not manage to do right.

Civ4's 'pedia retrieved values from the .xml files.
Civ5's 'pedia even doesn't get the English Longbowman right.

In other words: even if they (Firaxis) has done things right in the past, for unknown reasons they (Firaxis) have decided to skip this feature and replace it with something less valuable.

 

[PieceOfMind]

The problem is, even that they did not manage to do right.

I believe that was his point (note his last sentence). His post was a reply to Mad Hab who appeared to believe the civilopedia would need updating when balance changes were made.

 

[Camikaze]

It would seem not much effort was put into the civilopedia. A lack of useful information, no hyperlinking and no main menu access. It might seem fine if you're not actually using it (and "who needs it anyway?" is hardly a good solution), but if they are going to have it in the game at all, they may as well make it useful or at least usable. I'm not sure whether it's cause for optimism or not that it really shouldn't be all that difficult to fix.

 

[spammikone]

Some problems people have... How is civilopedia accessible from the main menu solving anything? Are you going to read it then? It's still crap after that. Just uh, load or quick start game and then use civilopedia, what does it matter where you do it from? I'm 99% positive if this hadn't been implemented in Civ 4 no one here would've ever thought about it.