Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Interview @ Strategy Informer!

[JamieCiv4Files]

Catch your breath and start reading the answers given to us by Alex Mantzaris, lead programmer and lead designer for Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword.

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

Interesting read!

 

[Artosoft]

Nice info.

Thanks!

Regards,
Arto.

 

[Thedrin]

My favorite new Wonder is the Apostolic Palace. This Wonder allows you to leverage your diplomatic standing to manipulate the world like never before. Build it and civilizations sharing your religion can vote on resolutions you put forth, like stopping and starting wars, enforcing trade embargos, or even assigning cities to their “rightful” owner!

Sounds good.

One of my favorite leaders is Queen Boudica of the Celts. Not only was she impressive in real life (she almost kicked the mighty Romans out of Britain), but in terms of gameplay her charismatic and aggressive traits have an awesome synergy.

Scratch that from the list of potentially forbidden trait combinations.

One option that I think will prove popular in multiplayer is the ability to select any leader-civilization combination.

Boudica of the Romans, anyone?

 

[bds]

Catch your breath and start reading the answers given to us by Alex Mantzaris, lead programmer and lead designer for Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword.

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

Interesting read!

Alot of it sounded like sales pitch, but its good to finaly hear something new about it.

 

[marioflag]

Apostolic Palace seems alone the greatest addon, if AI is really able to exploit advantages which AP will give, the game will be really expanded by this game feature.I suppose also that there will be a trade embargo diplomatic option.It would be interesting to see what will be the usefulness of UN in BtS.About events these seems also to have got some love

 

[NYHunter]

It also answers the never ending debate over what Beyond the Sword means. Turns out both views were right.

 

[NYHunter]

From what I read, the game is becoming more realistic. Which I am greatly happy for. I didn't buy Warlords because I did not think it added enough, but I will be buying Beyond The Sword once it's been all patched up.

 

[Olleus]

Apart from being able to choose any leader with any civ, sounds great!

I mean seriously, Boudicca of the Romans is simply a garanteed win, just like Churchill of the Mali or Philiosophical Egyptians (build Stonehenge -> assign to priests -> get GP -> get all the mid-late religions).

 

[SkippyT]

Boudica of the Celts!
Agg/Cha!!
I can't wait
And paratroopers and privateers, this is gonna be awesome

 

[sneaky]

Also, the space race has received some major attention, allowing you to customize your 3D spaceship before you send it off to Alpha Centauri.

Does that mean you can choose the color of your spaceship or something?

In terms of units, the coolness factor of Privateers and Paratroopers has finally returned to Civilization, only this time the AI knows how to use them. Beware!

Paratroopers! Privateers! Finally!

 

[Andy_Candy]

Better AI he says too, that would be the greatest feature of them all, if that turns out to be correct!

 

[Thedrin]

Does that mean you can choose the color of your spaceship or something?

Probably similar to the CivII space ship (or CivII: ToT at least) where the space ship could be built with more than one of each part. For example, a succesful ship could contain between 1 and 4 living quarters. Since the game ended when your craft reached alpha centauri and the ship's journey time was determined by the number of components added, it was possible to win a space race despite not being the first to launch.

 

[sneaky]

Probably similar to the CivII space ship (or CivII: ToT at least) where the sapce ship required multiple of each part to be built. You could either choose to build the entire thing or only parts of it. For example, there were a maximum of 4 habitat units but you only needed 1. The game ended when your craft reached alpha centauri - not when it was launched - and, since the speed of the ship was affected by the amount of components added, it was possible to overtake a ship that had been launched earlier.

Oh right, I remember. That could certainly give another dimension to the space race.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Aggressive and charismatic Roman legions? That is disgusting.

About the better AI: an easy "shortcut" to making a competitive AI is to look at competitive multiplayer games, and then simply program the AI to copy the order straight. Like a tech tree for each civ, or a certain build order; the maximum point of each civ (calculus analogy). Used to play Starcraft for a while, occasionally with AI, and with each patch the build orders looked more similar to the ones I see on Korean TV channels.

 

[Chemtech]

No mention of a naval overhaul - I hope they put some effort here - it just seems kind of empty now - you either totallyt dont need it or its a complete necessity - no where in between.

Was happy to see the July '07 release - that was sooner than I was expecting.

 

[Drakan]

As a long-time fan......My personal favorite has to be the fact that the AI has now been transformed into a formidable opponent who no longer needs hefty bonuses to compete with a smart human.

If this turns out to be true it would be amazing.

 

[scooter]

I have to admit, I'm actually pretty excited now, I just have the feeling that they might have nailed this one, now I guess the only thing to do is sit back, wait, and hope that this is the case.

 

[sneaky]

By the way, who was surprised with Queen Boudica of the Celts as a new leader? I certainly didn't expect the Celts would be awarded another leader.

 

[scooter]

Better AI he says too, that would be the greatest feature of them all, if that turns out to be correct!

Definitely agreed!

 

[bds]

Used to play Starcraft for a while, occasionally with AI, and with each patch the build orders looked more similar to the ones I see on Korean TV channels.

I hope to hell the AI is nothing like the AI in starcraft.

The AI was good in starcraft, but the problem is that once your able to beat it once, you can pretty much beat it every time as it never does anything differently and only uses the one strategy.