Firaxis, Will We Be Able to ADD Custom Civs to the Built-In 16 and Play Them In Game?

[Arator]

The infocenter says:

<font color=blue>"Civ3 will include a "very robust" civilization editor. You will be able to create new civilizations and share them with other players.</font>


But, there are ambiguities left unresolved here. In Civ II, if one wished to create a custom civ, it would either be confined to the ghetto of some SCENARIO and, therefore, UNAVAILABLE to play with or against in a regular game OR one would have to REPLACE a pre-existing built-in civ and LOSE the option of playing with or against that built-in civ ever again.

SO, I'm asking for an answer to a critical question, especially in light of the fact that we know now that we will ONLY have 16 built-in civs, and that question is this:

Firaxis, will we be able to use these promised "robust editors" promised to ADD our own CUSTOM CIVS to the built-in 16 and then may we choose to play with or against any of the of the civs -- BOTH our own added CUSTOM CIVS AND the built in 16 -- up to the maximum number of civs allowed/game in a normal NON-SCENARIO game?

I truly hope the answer to this is YES. If it is, Civ III will be game of my dreams.

If not, then I will chafe at being limited to only 16 built-in civs (even less than the 21 in Civ II!) and pray that you will come out with add-ons later to expand the number of playable civs beyond the original built-in 16.

But wouldn't it really enhance the game for everyone to give players the power to add their own CUSTOM CIVS to the regular game-playable NON-SCENARIO mix? Then everyone could play with and against whatever ethnic-national affiliations they wish and not be limited to just the built-in 16.

I really hope you answer to my question above is YES! But be it YES or NO, I'd really appreciate an answer. The suspense of not knowing is killing me. LOL.

[This message has been edited by Arator (edited June 09, 2001).]

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

Originally posted by Arator:
Firaxis, will we be able to use these promised "robust editors" promised to ADD our own CUSTOM CIVS to the built-in 16 and then may we choose to play with or against any of the of the civs -- BOTH our own added CUSTOM CIVS AND the built in 16 -- up to the maximum number of civs allowed/game in a normal NON-SCENARIO game?

-This is exactly the way it will work out, according to Dan Magahas answers in these forums. Naturally the custom tribes will replace the built-in tribes in a given game, but otherwise, there should be no problem choosing between the different tribes. I'm sure that Firaxis isn't going thru with all this graphic attention to making these tribes different, AND let players design their own tribes, only to let these replace those built-in. This seems no-sense to me.

-Try browse some of the threads in this forum, for more info. I remember reading it quite clearly, from Dan Magaha, that he expected players to design and exchange custom civ's -for the purpose you describe.

 

[Matrix]

Originally posted by Morten Blaabjerg:
-This is exactly the way it will work out, according to Dan Magahas answers in these forums. Naturally the custom tribes will replace the built-in tribes in a given game, but otherwise, there should be no problem choosing between the different tribes. I'm sure that Firaxis isn't going thru with all this graphic attention to making these tribes different, AND let players design their own tribes, only to let these replace those built-in. This seems no-sense to me.

Oh? I wonder. Won't it be more logical to be able to pick a built-in Civ and that there will be a button "custom Civilization" <u>in addition</u> with which you can browse and choose another Civ from some file? (e.g. Dutch.civ

)

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[Morten Blaabjerg]

Yes, I suppose you're right. But I guess it all comes down to the number of tribes in a given game. A custom tribe will surely replace one of the built-in tribes in a single game, but it would be ridiculous if you then lost that built-in tribe forever, as Arator suggests.

-The context is multiplayer games, as I understood it from Firaxis' viewpoint (I don't have the time to find the source, but it was somewhere in these forums). If Arator meant if someone could pick a custom Norwegian tribe, and then play against other players with their own custom tribes and/or built-in ones, then the answer is yes.

This resembles pretty much other multiplayer/internet oriented games, where players can design their own characters etc. and then take it on with each other. So it is a natural path to follow for Firaxis, I think.

 

[jp]

I cannot see why it couldn't be done. You could build up a sizeable archive of civs (perhaps each with its own folder or set of files) and the program should recognise extra sets just like many other programs face similar additions. As for colours, they should be either completely randomised or perhaps, giving a preferred colour and changing if it clashes. Just like a football game. You could use the latest in scrolling technology

to choose the civ of your choice from your vastly enlarged list of tribes.

 

[Cedric Greene]

I am going on the assumption that there will be 7 playable civs at a time. Anyway I think it will be a button like Matrix said, that maybe pops up a Window's file selection screen allowing you to pick whatever tribe you want. This would make trading the tribes much easier and the game much more enjoyable as a whole I think. Wouldn't it be coll to play an MP game with a host you've never played with but have your tribe available because he got it from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who got it from you. <IMG SRC="http://forums.civfanatics.com/ubb/wink.gif" border=0>
Oh yeah I believe that the colors used will be (optionally) random for both the built in and custom civs, but I hope you can give each civ a default color so in essence you could "replace" the existing civs for non-random color games.
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[This message has been edited by Cedric Greene (edited July 11, 2001).]

 

[SlowwHand]

Welcome to Civfanatics, Arator.

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[Papa Lazarou]

so long as i can change romans to italians and vikings to norweigens i'll be happy