Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword - Expansion no2!

[redifederal]

Well, I'm sure that the citizens of Germany are eagerly awaiting feedback from Civ Fanatics on how they should reform their laws. I'll rush this news on to them, right away.

Thank you so much!!

 

[redifederal]

Says he whose country hardly acknowledges the attrocities done to the natives, the enslavement of the black people and their crimes against many nations in South America and Asia.

I admit that my country was (and still is) founded and gets all of its power from the people it has taken advantage of (slaughtered, raped, used, etc) in the past (and present).

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Evidently not if they are outlawing symbols just becuase of the past. Why they are at it they should outlaw the Christain Cross because there is no way anyone (including Hitler) has caused more death then religion (crusades, inquisitions, etc). Like I said learn not mute.

A popular misconception, and yet so very very false.

 

[weasel77066]

This thread went down-hill really fast... This morning it was great, now? Well, read the last 20 crap posts. I guess the kids got out of school.

 

[Julian Delphiki]

I agree with Modern/Ren Italy but with the Pope it does make sense: you can think to the medieval Papal States to be somewhat a residual of the Roman State (think to the city list: in the first slots there are mostly Roman Colonies from Latium and central Italy).

You can take for instance an early times pope (e.g. Gregorius Magnus) who lived during a time where Roman Empire had not completely disappeared at all.

It is general consensus that western Roman Empire ended AD 476. Last emperor was Romulus Augustus (Became emperor 31 October AD 475. Abdicated 4 September AD 476. Date of death unknown)

Pope at the time was Pope Simplicius.

Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great (ca. 540 – March 12, 604) was Pope from September 3, 590 until his death.

This is about the first time that someone i hear someone thinking Papal States as Roman empire. Personally i disagree.

Btw, where are moderators when you need them? Even if this post is off-topic too, this thread could use some cleaning before it gets completely off.

 

[the Intricacy]

OMG, I stop playing Civ and wean myself off the game by posting in these forums for little while, then go off on vacation without checking the forums for a week, and look at this s#!$! Just when i thought I was out, they PUUULLL me back in!!!

LOL!

Well done Firaxis, nicely played!

Regarding some prior posts:
- Agg/Cre is Kublai. C'mon, dude, get a clue.
- Underwater cities? Alien life? Oh, I hope not! IMO, those were the game mechanic killer of SMAC-AC, as the Sea Pirates would claim way more territory than they deserved and the alien civs were just too disruptive to the competition between factions... well, I just hated them.

That said, it would absolutely rock if Firaxis allowed Civ to flow between 4000BC to the end of Alpha Centauri. But does that REALLY make sense for Firaxis? Probably not. They'd be better off making a new game of it, or at the very least, making a third expansion pack for it. Call to Power proved that this could be a bloated proposition anyway.

As to the MSRP and SKUs of this expansion, I would suspect that this expansion would be installed over both Civ IV and warlords. Also, perhaps, they would sell a separate package called "Civ IV 2007" or something and have it all in one package for about $70 (with extras that'll make us fans shell out the $$$ all over again, no doubt). This would be the same strategy as Civ III: conquests" and then "Civ III complete". I can't see how Civ IV + Civ IV:BtS would work online (or even off) without the Warlords material, and they need to keep a backdoor open for new players.

edit: Come to think of it, I think it'll be smart of them to sell "Civ IV 2007" without Warlords scenarios for around $60 ($30 for vanilla, $30 for BtS). It gives new players a way in, and still creates an incentive for the completists to go buy Warlords.

Anyway, I agree with Sid. Real world conflict detracts from the escapist attraction of a game, and I think Firaxis' tendency to shy away from controversial topics such as differences in religion, Hitler, and contemporary politics is a wise one. (I'm going to make the wild prediction that we won't see George W, Saddam, or Osama, make it as leaders either!)

My guess is that the "biodome" shown in the concept art is city art in the endgame, when global warming becomes a more fleshed out "event" instead of merely stripping tiles of resources. I wonder if we'll see the return of sea levels from SMAC? That'll screw over coastal cities like, say, New Orleans. Maybe "Biodome" is a late-game improvement, restricting city size but making it less vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Again, Firaxis, you're my heroes, even if you cause me to lose huge chunks of my real life!

 

[Shadowhal]

now, this sounds nice, especially the corporation idea and the additional techs / units / buidlings for late game.

also, the inclusion of a more customized start is an interesting multiplayer option as you can get to the more interesting portion of the game quicker. civ is hard enough in mp already (timewise speaking).

uh, almost forgot: earlier UN with more resolutions sound nice as well.

 

[JBConquests]

Forgive me if this has already been asked but I wonder if the new UN will allow me to rebel against world opinion at some kind of cost. (e.g., they UN votes to implement Free Religeon and I refuse...)

 

[Julian Delphiki]

Forgive me if this has already been asked but I wonder if the new UN will allow me to rebel against world opinion at some kind of cost. (e.g., they UN votes to implement Free Religeon and I refuse...)

Most of the discussion about BtS is just speculation - there is no enough info out. Only those working on expansion know at the moment and they cannot tell us.

 

[Red Threat]

It is general consensus that western Roman Empire ended AD 476. Last emperor was Romulus Augustus (Became emperor 31 October AD 475. Abdicated 4 September AD 476. Date of death unknown)

Pope at the time was Pope Simplicius.

Pope Gregory I or Gregory the Great (ca. 540 – March 12, 604) was Pope from September 3, 590 until his death.

This is about the first time that someone i hear someone thinking Papal States as Roman empire. Personally i disagree.

Btw, where are moderators when you need them? Even if this post is off-topic too, this thread could use some cleaning before it gets completely off.

I know I know.

We need to be open-minded.

Remember that in the Dark Ages people did not think to live in different times than the pre-476AD Romans did. It's just a modern convention - dates, ages, all that stuff.

In the Middle Ages some believed the HRE to be a direct continuation of Rome, some others believed that Byzantium was. And the Papal States were (legally) under the rule of Byzantium, although they were de facto independent, until the times of Charlemagne.

Again, let's be open-minded, mine was just an idea.

 

[Gaius Octavius]

What happened to this thread? When I left this morning it was such a nice neighborhood!

 

[T.A JONES]

Hitler in Civ = >T.A says: great smily!*

I know man(Gaius Octavius).
Yaaay! new expansion. What a great time for another Hiltler thread! ...

when the same guy posted 3 times in with "Hitler should be in the game" it was like he was fumbling with the lighter before it finally caught fire

Edit ontopic: Im happy the wrap date has been released for this chapter. Im hoping we get a new slate in late 2008

 

[ww2commander]

Does anyone know what the implications of this expansion will be on the modders currently working on Warlord scenarios?

- Can people with BtS simply plug in a warlord scenario and play it with no probs?
- Will existing DLL changes in mods need to be recompiled or will they work fine?
- Will maps in warlords or vanilla break if ported into BtS?

Whilst most people enjoy playing the new scenarios that may come with BtS, most of the excitement will fade away after the release and everyone will then turn back to waiting for modders to finish mods/scenarios that were started in vanilla, developed in warlords and now have to be completed in BtS

 

[big Deezy]

Does this expansion come with divorce papers?

 

[the Intricacy]

regarding the biodome drawing:

On 2nd thought, I think what that sketch looks like is a whole city taking off out of the ground, ala acropolises from SimCity (2k, don't know about the latter versions).

Perhaps you have to select a city that will be making a trip out to alpha centuari, build the launching components elsewhere, and then: lift-off, ciao Rome, or wherever...

Maybe if two civs launch cities within a close enough timeframe, the better city wins, therefore multiple good cities are important because you need to do all the things you need to do with your civ post/pre launch, but launching your best city is also to your interests...

 

[darkedone02]

I am so getting this expansion set, screw oblivion, cause that game lag like hell all the time, and hell it crashed everytime I add in a new mod and crash when I got out of the tutorial.

 

[the Intricacy]

Come to think of it, I think all of that artwork is intended to be part of the "expanded space victory". My guesses:

-Top left: Fusion plant/industrial complex
-top middle: SS casing (or something similar) plant
-Top right: Colony Pod (launching it subtracts from pop of city)
-Bottom left: Thruster Plant
-Bottom center: Surface to Space rockets
-Bottom right: Launching Pad

Speculated implications:

-All components need to be moved to a city with a launching pad. Maybe this will give your workers something to do in this era...

-Certain components need special buildings to manufacture (TopLeft, TC, BL)

-RE: Inter-stellar travel, most scenarios require using the earth's orbit as a "shipyard". Maybe the Colony Pod needs to go up first, and then everything else added on in orbit. What I suspect this means is that between the time everyone can see you have a Pod in space, and the time it gets you to attach all the interstellar components on, they can try to shoot you down!

-Maybe the amount of pop you launched in your colony pod is the amount of damage that pod can sustain. (if you launch all of Huntington, AL they might shoot you down faster than part of New York City, but subtracting 6 from your financial city will hurt you in the short term, what to do...)

-Probably Pod production would work similar to settler and worker production, but much more costly.

-Perhaps launching components also has a production cost (san-space elevator, I guess), or maybe just one launch per turn... this would mean that you'd want multiple launching towers if you want to get everything up there at the same time.

All this together would mean that if you made everything first, then launched everything in a close window, you might be more successful than launching everything ASAP... but then you might get beat to the victory in the process... Likewise, if you're pursuing other victories, maybe building multiple surface to space launchers counters it, assuming you can afford to go to war...

Just my thoughts, what does every1 think?

 

[TopDog]

I am almost certain that the future game art will be for a scenario and not an addition to the core game, at least i hope so. 2050 is far enough. Extended space race sounds good, not just the generic fallback victory option.

 

[Vael]

I am almost certain that the future game art will be for a scenario and not an addition to the core game, at least i hope so. 2050 is far enough. Extended space race sounds good, not just the generic fallback victory option.

I agree. Something like "underwater cities" as some people are suggesting would pretty much amount to a major feature which they would have had in the list. It's got to be something for one of the scenarios.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Look, I won't lie that-though I bought Warlords-I was slightly underwhelmed, at first, by what was offered in there (especially when you consider the modding tools at their disposal). It is still a good expansion though, & the fact that I have never gone back to Vanilla Civ is testament to that. Based on all the official news I am hearing so far, though, I reckon that Beyond the Sword is going to be the best iteration of Civ (alone or expanded) ever created!!! Guess I just have faith in the developers!!!

Aussie_Lurker.