Civilization V Upcoming Patch Details Updated

[Moss]

2K Greg posted on our forums earlier today an updated list of changes to expect in the upcoming Civilization V patch:

Update 11/10/2010: The first batch of changes are now available! Here they are:

AI

• Worker AI improvements .
• Update to tactical AI pillaging code. Additionally, always check to make sure it’s not trying to pillage in an enemy dominance zone.
• AI victory emphasis improvements (more efficient end-game when focusing on Science and Diplo victories).
• AI should colonize other continents regularly.
• AI will emphasize production of an Ocean going explorer unit when the time comes.
• Adjust Napoleon to make him more likely to go for culture.
• More aggressive second wave expansion (mostly off shore) after initial empire building and consolidation has occurred.
• Optimization when finding routes (pathfinder improvement).
• Multiple tweaks and bug fixes.
• AI will now build ranged and mobile units more in line with the flavor settings.
• Multiple defensive AI tweaks.

GAMEPLAY

• Cities heal more quickly.
• Only allow one upgrade per unit from a goody hut.

UI

• Tweaked the single-player score list to hide the civs of unmet ai players.

DIPLO

• AI's attitude towards you is now visible in the diplo screen and diplo drop-down.
• Added info tooltip for an AI leader's mood. Lists things that are making an AI player happy/upset.
• New diplo system: Declaration of Friendship (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
• New diplo system: Denounce (public declaration with diplomatic repercussions).
• New custom leader responses (Serious Expansion Warning, Aggressive Military, Luxury Exchange, Borders Exchange, Gift Request).

MODDING

• Parent category counts now include counts of child categories.
• Selecting/deselecting a category now automatically selects/deselects it's children and its parent.
• Tweaked category name truncation to better fit names.
• Hide categories w/ no children and a count of 0.
• Added support for fallback languages (if mod is not translated, fall-back to English so text keys are not showing).

MISC

• Fixed save format which causes saves to increase the memory footprint of the game drastically when loading frequently over the course of the game.

Join the discussion and share your thoughts on the changes here.

 

[mikeemike]

Woooooo! This sounds like it could go a long way to making the game more playable.

 

[El Caballerion]

Thumbs Up regarding AI wanting to colonize other continents.

Thumbs Down as there's no mention of AI improving at naval invasions. As of now, if you have your own island separated by ocean, you're pretty much never going to be invaded.

 

[El Caballerion]

also, any idea when the patch will be coming out?

 

[Moss]

No ETA yet on the patch, unfortunately.

 

[great.taurus]

Diplomacy changes sound like a good improvement.

 

[Thor Macklin]

Well this shows GREAT promise.

Thank goodness they have already seen the errors of diplomacy and
have begun the long road of fixing it.

 

[Beef Hammer]

looks like the diplomacy system is actually finished now,

 

[frozenwings]

Yay diplomacy.

 

[Le Sage]

The AI stuff sounds pretty good, but they need to make the AI want to embark and perform seaborne invasions as well. He needs to start invading England.

 

[Riker13]

It all sounds good to me

 

[Jonathan]

It sounds good as far as it goes, but I think the game will need more fundamental changes than this.

I like a number of the individual innovations in Civ 5, but as a whole it seems rather slow and unexciting. The terrain attributes have been criticized. I don't feel enthusiastic about pursuing any of the victory conditions. The city states seem to be merely another way of spending money.

It is attractive to look at. The hex grid and the new combat system are improvements, despite the weird use of tactical elements in a strategic-level game.

The problem with all versions of Civ is that war, war, war is boring, but sitting within your own borders building things in cities for ages is also boring. The exploration stage of the game is best, but that can't go on for ever.

 

[Dragonlord]

Seems like one big issue, the opaque diplomacy, has been adressed -

Now, if only they can fix the combat AI, I'll be happy!

 

[Kaygee]

This is great and all, but until they fix the fact that there are some of us that cannot finish a game after we get up in the 550 turn area beause the game crahses, this still does nothing for me.

 

[Praetor Gaius]

This is indeed good news

 

[Drawmeus]

Another round of good changes. If they keep this up, Civ V has a bright future.

 

[Grape Flavor]

Well I'll be. They've actually decided to show you what the AI attitude is and why. Diplomacy is no longer completely opaque.

I think that this is massively encouraging. Firaxis has shown that not only are they willing to make minor AI/bug/balance improvements, they're willing to do an almost 180° on design decisions if the community widely condemns them.

I think with a few more patches, Civ V will be in such a state where it would have provoked a much more positive reaction had it been released like that.

Now nerf the imbalances such as ICS and Maritime food, and we're looking at a pretty solid game here.

 

[Ribannah]

Double the cost of a Settler, case solved.

 

[CaesarSneezy]

So... still no hotseat?

 

[Picard42]

This is a big improvement to diplomacy. Hopefully, it's the start of a serious of patches, each fixing one major component of the game that needs improvement. It's nice to see the developers care enough to fix these things now instead of waiting for the first expansion.