Deconstruction of IGN article

Not from the IGN article, but I haven't seen this commented on, and this seems like the best place for it, so..

In the interview with Dennis Shirk on the German site, he mentions that "There will be events in the game, the actual historical roots and friendship between peoples historically easier or more difficult." ("Es soll im Spiel Ereignisse geben, die tatsächliche geschichtliche Wurzeln haben und Freundschaften zwischen Völkern historisch erleichtern oder erschweren.")

Can any German speakers shed any light on this? Was he just talking about normal game events, or are there going to be Civ4-style, capital-E Events added?

I wish the original interview was available.:sad:
 
Not from the IGN article, but I haven't seen this commented on, and this seems like the best place for it, so..

In the interview with Dennis Shirk on the German site, he mentions that "There will be events in the game, the actual historical roots and friendship between peoples historically easier or more difficult." ("Es soll im Spiel Ereignisse geben, die tatsächliche geschichtliche Wurzeln haben und Freundschaften zwischen Völkern historisch erleichtern oder erschweren.")

Can any German speakers shed any light on this? Was he just talking about normal game events, or are there going to be Civ4-style, capital-E Events added?

I wish the original interview was available.:sad:

Unfortunately, my German is so rusty I couldn't even read about 98% of that line. What I am assuming it is referring to is the CS quests as they have commented that they have expanded on those. They stated that they wanted to make the CS diplomacy more than just whoever is the economic powerhouse wins the CS's. In a way, the CS quests took the place of the Random Events from Civ IV: BTS.

(I still think that they should have incorporated the CS diplomacy mod into the game. ;) )
 
Civilizations with conflicting policies (I.e. Freedom & Autocracy) will have diplo hit

So we are back to the AI make choices based on things that have nothing to do with there own interests. Sad.
 
Es soll im Spiel Ereignisse geben, die tatsächliche geschichtliche Wurzeln haben und Freundschaften zwischen Völkern historisch erleichtern oder erschweren

There should/will be events in game that have historical roots and friendships/relations between peoples will become better or worse from these events (Sounds like more to me between major civs there may be random events/modifiers).

Thats my rough translation. Not sure if it helps you.
 
I made a rough back translation of the interview from ComputerBild Spiele

Disclaimer: my english could be improved. And the german interview is already pretty messy anyway. So please don't shoot me for any things lost in translation (or english grammar ;) )

[Interview Starts]

CBS: The expansion is named "Gods&Kings". Is religion back in the game?

DS: That’s the case. But the fans will see, that we use this element totally different than in the previous installment. (FYI: Religions were last included in "Civilization 4")

CBS: Different in what manner?

DS: At the beginning each player builds a kind of pantheon - an early religion. With this he can archive up to three "believes", which are one time bonuses. If a player settles in a highland terrain, he would choose a "believe" which leads to each quarry being a place of religious worship. In this manner he earns faith.

CBS: What can I do with faith?

DS: Sooner or later the player will receive a great prophet which will announce a world religion. With this you receive two additional "believe"-slots, which will be mighty. The 30 pantheon believes are good, but the 20 world religion "believes" are much more powerful. The five which the player chooses are only available to him. Each "believe" is unique and after being taken it is locked for the other players.

CBS: Does a religion disappear if the founding civilization is destroyed?

DS: No, it doesn't work this way. World religions spread without boarders. There is even one "believe" which allows the player to tax every believer - even the population of foreign countries.

CBS: What additional changes are included in the expansion?

DS: The diplomacy changes considerable. There shall be events which have their roots in the real history and will make friendships between the peoples easier or harder. The religion will also play a role in this. Starting at the age of renaissance spies with amazing capabilities will be available for the use against opponents.

CBS: Which capabilities do they have?

DS: The coolest ability is option to see the basic direction another reign will take and to see, what the leader wants to build and what troop movements he plans for the next 20-30 moves. With this knowledge you can counteract a war or prepare for it. For this however you need a superspy.

CBS: And how do I get one?

DS: With experience. Spies level up, each successful action gives points and the spy will get better. If he dies, one starts with a new one having no experience. So you should deploy them carefully.

CBS: The city states were a new element in "Civilization 5". Is there some enchantment for this feature ?

DS: Yes. There are new types of cities, e.g. a religious. And we will hinder the simple improvement of the influence through gold payments. The cooperation with the city and the accomplishment of favors will be more in the focus. You have to play harder to turn a city into a friend or an ally.

CBS: Usually there is no expansion without new civs and military units. Are you keeping this tradition?

DS: Certainly! Nine new civilizations are included in the expansion, e.g. the Maya, the Kelts and Carthage. Regards military there will be a lot going on at the sees. We got the impression that we had to improve here. There are melee-naval units, siege from the sea is possible and with the admiral there is a new leader in the game.

CBS: You have excluded spies and religion from "Civilization 5" - core elements in "Civilization 4". Now they are coming back. Why?

DS: The fans have decided. In the new installment they praised the differences of the civilizations, e.g. that India can be played pretty well with just a few cities, while Russia goes for rapid expansion. This differences, this individuality is what we want to increase with the addition of religions and espionage. But like I said at the beginning, both elements are used differently than in "Civilization 4".
 
DS: At the beginning each player builds a kind of pantheon - an early religion. With this he can archive up to three "believes", which are one time bonuses. If a player settles in a highland terrain, he would choose a "believe" which leads to each quarry being a place of religious worship. In this manner he earns faith.

I wonder if the symbols shown are selectable from a larger group that you can use to represent your religion? Or if there are more religions than are shown. From the way the above statement sounds, each religion is created at the start of the game and each Civ has its own religion. With only eleven religions shown, what would that mean for playing games with more than 11 Civs?

Also, I did notice that it looks like you can rename the religion in the one screenshot.

Edit: I just read the rest of the above interview and I think I am more confused.
 
Everyone has a generic pantheon. However, you can found an organized religion. The organized religions give better bonuses, but there are fewer of them. In some cases, you might only be a follower of an organized religion instead of a founder.
 
He mentions the idea that some people will get along others will not. Does religion have a fundamental say in all this? Or is it that some people are just too different in their deep seated roots, which will make them not be friendly to each other, or certainly test their relations? An interesting thought. Worthy of all the speculation.

"There shall be events which have their roots in the real history and will make friendships between the peoples easier or harder." So some relationships are going to influenced by real history. I wonder what these events are? Hmm!
 
Yeah I don't get it....

So you get to choose one of 6 categories or pantheons with 5 beliefs each and you build off that for your unique "ancient" religion? Or can you select from any 30 beliefs???

And for the major religion. Let's say I get a Prophet first and found Buddhism or Hinduism. What bonuses would I be getting from that? Is that a pool of 20 something bonuses that I can choose from to customize that religion? Or can I only choose from one of five categories (and 4 respective traits) comprising those 20 custom traits?
 
As I understood it the very first belief is the Pantheon, a primitive form of religion, which you can choose from a pool of twenty pantheon beliefs (according to IGN). These will be tied to resources or your environment and suc.
Then after a while you will get your first prophet, which will allow you to choose your religion and another two beliefs. After even longer you'll get a second prophet to allow another two beliefs.

It is as of yet unknown of the different type of beliefs (founder, follower and enhanced) share the same pool of beliefs to choose from or if they'll have their own pools.
 
As I understood it the very first belief is the Pantheon, a primitive form of religion, which you can choose from a pool of twenty pantheon beliefs (according to IGN). These will be tied to resources or your environment and suc.
Then after a while you will get your first prophet, which will allow you to choose your religion and another two beliefs. After even longer you'll get a second prophet to allow another two beliefs.

It is as of yet unknown of the different type of beliefs (founder, follower and enhanced) share the same pool of beliefs to choose from or if they'll have their own pools.
The small size of the scrollbox available for the Founder Belief choices (looks like 8 or 9) does imply that Founder, Follower and Enhancer Beliefs are pulled from separate pools.
 
The small size of the scrollbox available for the Founder Belief choices (looks like 8 or 9) does imply that Founder, Follower and Enhancer Beliefs are pulled from separate pools.

I'd say it indicates the opposite since which ones are available is probably filtered based on the religion you've created. If you go with Christianity, you don't get the same options as if you go with Hinduism.
 
If you go with Christianity, you don't get the same options as if you go with Hinduism.

I disagree completely! Im totally convinced, that firaxis will *not* fall into the trap of religious prejudice! In fact, they will avoid this like... well... hell!

So, being able to pick your own benefits out of a common pool - based of *your own* perception of a religion (or maybe just needs gamewise) - is fine. But there will *not* be any "typical" benefits for different religions.

And for good reason!
 
I'd say it indicates the opposite since which ones are available is probably filtered based on the religion you've created. If you go with Christianity, you don't get the same options as if you go with Hinduism.
That would make no sense at all, the whole point of a game like civ is to play different hypothetical scenarios.
I think it'll be a 'create your own religion'-thing and tha the religion names are there more for show.

I don't think there are a lot of people that'd like the religions to mimic true religions.

Also the fact that beliefs are unique (once you choose a belief no one else can take it) definitely implies the beliefs are spread out over all religions.

Besides it would be too much work. say 8 beliefs, times 11 religions, then they'd have to make 88 beliefs, next to the 20 or so for the pantheon.
 
What would the point of having a set number of religions be if nothing differentiate those religions from each other?
 
Just an aside note, I went to IGN and was a bit disturbed by something. While some may not consider it a big deal, I noticed that the "Buzz" ratings for Civ 5: G&K and X-COM: EU were very low (What? and ZZZ respectively). The FPS X-COM was even higher than both with a solid and that has been pushed back to infinity.

I just want to encourage members here who have an IGN account to be sure to go over there and follow both G&K and EU so that we can show the IGNers and gamer wannabees the whatfor! ;)

Long live strategy games!

Back to the previous topic, I think that there will be some differences that seperate the religions, even if it is just special buildings (like the Shrines from Civ IV). There could even be some simple bonuses that help differentiate the religions a bit. They don't necessarily have to be stereotypical, but can relate to the accepted differences between the religions.
 
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