First Civ 4 Screenshots!

[doc mabuse]

@ mongoloid cow i think the grey bit is road.
So, one unit would consist out of four member or more?
I wonder if they can perform different tasks within a turn (f.i. attack and pillage)
The grey bar, under the city, would that be the production advancement?? (would be a little step back IMO).
The zooming in and out sounds wildly fantastic and... no more spearman killing tanks YAY.

 

[Dragonlord]

Too bad, it seemed like a cool way to represent unit strength.

My feelings exactly - like in Master of Magic *sighs nostalgically*

 

[aaglo]

They say, that Civ4 will be easily moddable. Does anyone have any ideas of the file format of the units?

 

[Dragonlord]

Individual units will gain experience and acquire new upgrades such as bonuses against specific enemy types and the ability to use enemy roads.

Sounds great! Almost role-playing!

No more spearmen defeating tanks.



Besides incorporating new technologies, the tech tree has been changed to allow radically different research paths to the same high-level technologies. Now you won’t have to follow a strict research path to be competitive later in the game – a design that opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

Wonderful!

Civilization IV has been designed to fully support the mod community. The game is written using flexible XML data files and the Python scripting language so that modders will have no trouble at all creating their own personalized worlds, units, technologies, and historical events. Advanced modders will even be able to control the AI.

Get's better and better!

I agree the graphics loók cruddy, but since they're probably only placeholders I'll reserve judgement... and I don't really want 3D, but I guess it was inevitable - and I'll get used to it...

My only problem: it's so loooooooong to wait!

 

[Notech]

I hope the terrain will be slightly animated.

 

[Zeekater]

Anybody notice how the spearman are standing in a circle instead of facing the same direction?

About the warriors, the two units on the left both have 3 men in front and one behind, so the one on the left has to be different somehow, since it doesn't have 3 men in front but only one.

 

[Dragonlord]

Anybody notice how the spearman are standing in a circle instead of facing the same direction?

Yes - I wondered whether that's a defensive formation.

Edit: Taking another look at the second screenshot, you can see all the units in the cities are in a circle facing outwards - so yes, it looks like a defensive formation (status fortified, I'd guess).

 

[Chieftess]

No visible national borders? Ugh, so Civ2-esque, even if the graphics are much better.

They're there. You can see the green city border (barely) on the green grass.

 

[Chieftess]

Development is being headed by creator Sid Meier himself.
Civilization IV has been designed to fully support the mod community. The game is written using flexible XML data files and the Python scripting language so that modders will have no trouble at all creating their own personalized worlds, units, technologies, and historical events. Advanced modders will even be able to control the AI.
I hope there will still be possibilities for amateur mods, like me. I've seen it happen so often in games that the more complicated the program becomes, the more complicated it becomes to make your own levels. Best example is Doom and it's successors.

That is, of course, one of my concerns. One argument is, "There'll be resources on the Net!". However, for someone who likes to make minor changes, they don't want to go out and buy a several hundred (or thousand!) dollar piece of software to say, make the grass look less flourescent or something, or make the borders standout more so that they can see it. Not everyone has access to the Internet.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

The graphics look pretty good, even for placeholders; they look a bit less realistic than Civ3's, but that'll probably change, so they're fine by me. If they have a grid, that'd be great...in the beginning, I'll need it. The Buddha looks pretty interesting as well.

@Sims: Like CT said, there is one. Look to the left to see green contrast against the yellow of desert/plains..

 

[V. Soma]

where I can see that Buddha and on which picture?

 

[Roland Johansen]

What would the windmill represent? A terrain improvement that adds production (like mines in Civ 1-2-3)? I would like it if there is a change in look of the production increasing terrain improvement in ancient times and modern times. It would also be nice if the production increasing terrain improvement had a different graphic in mountains than in grasland (mines in mountains, windmills in grassland).

Not that the above is very important to me, the fact that the game will be very moddable is the best thing to me. The flexible techtree also sounds very good.

 

[Dragonlord]

where I can see that Buddha and on which picture?

In the first picture to the left of the city name Cologne.

I didn't get it at first either, I thought it was a sack of gold...

 

[V. Soma]

Cologne as a buddhist settlement

 

[The Last Conformist]

3D makes zooming much smoother. If you'll notice, when you zoom out in Civ 3 it looks kind of pixellated and distored. That's because you're basically blowing up or shrinking the pixels that already exist. With 3D, all of the graphics are created AFTER the game determines how large everything is supposed to be.

Um? That sounds like vector vs bitmap rather than 3D vs 2D to me; am I missing something?

 

[Gen]

They say, that Civ4 will be easily moddable. Does anyone have any ideas of the file format of the units?

from the article:

Civilization IV has been designed to fully support the mod community. The game is written using flexible XML data files and the Python scripting language so that modders will have no trouble at all creating their own personalized worlds, units, technologies, and historical events. Advanced modders will even be able to control the AI.

So, XML for all kind of data (something like bic file written in plain text format) and Python scripts for events/actions. As for graphics, I don't know.

 

[warpstorm]

this does pose an interesting new question. Do we stop posting here and start making a "what we want in Civ 5" thred?

It's not a new question. I started that thread a few months ago when I realized just how far Civ4 was along.

 

[warpstorm]

Um? That sounds like vector vs bitmap rather than 3D vs 2D to me; am I missing something?

3D == vector; 2D == bitmap

 

[warpstorm]

As for graphics, I don't know.

In the Gambryo work I've done in the past we imported models and animations from 3DS files. I assume that Firaxis will have a somewhat similar setup.

 

[Aravorn]

Assuming the release date is November 2005, Firaxis still has lots of time to polish the graphics, so I wouldn't worry too much about it yet. At this stage lots of stuff are placeholders.

I am impressed that Firaxis made the game (including MP) playable so early.

PS: I have the full scan of the article, but can't post it yet. The folks at PC GAMER wouldn't be too happy if I do.

When is this issue of PC Gamer supposed to be at the news stands? Does anyone know?