GamesCom Impression

[Seven05]

Giving out penalties at lower levels is the same as giving out bonuses at higher levels. Don't ever expect to fight an amazing AI in a game like Civ. It won't happen, it's too complex of a game.

The two methods are quite different, especially in a game like Civ. The handicap should always be imposed through penalties, never through bonuses and one side (either players or AI) should always be at the baseline, never above that point.

Take science for example. A science penalty will make research projects take longer, this can be overcome by putting more effort into research at the expense of something else (production, gold income, etc). A science bonus will make research projects easier, putting more effort into research at the expense of something else (production, gold income, etc) will result in accelerated research. In Civ this translates to things like having tanks on the battlefield in 1400AD.

Penalize the player at higher levels, penalize the AI at lower levels and you'll preserve that game balance and the pace of the game. Give either of them a bonus and you run the risk of breaking things. I dislike the stock handicaps in Civ 4 because higher levels tend to result in shorter games (fewer turns) that take longer (more units for the AI to move back and forth for no reason).

 

[KrikkitTwo]

The two methods are quite different, especially in a game like Civ. The handicap should always be imposed through penalties, never through bonuses and one side (either players or AI) should always be at the baseline, never above that point.

Take science for example. A science penalty will make research projects take longer, this can be overcome by putting more effort into research at the expense of something else (production, gold income, etc). A science bonus will make research projects easier, putting more effort into research at the expense of something else (production, gold income, etc) will result in accelerated research. In Civ this translates to things like having tanks on the battlefield in 1400AD.

Penalize the player at higher levels, penalize the AI at lower levels and you'll preserve that game balance and the pace of the game. Give either of them a bonus and you run the risk of breaking things. I dislike the stock handicaps in Civ 4 because higher levels tend to result in shorter games (fewer turns) that take longer (more units for the AI to move back and forth for no reason).

I think it depends on what the Penalties and bonuses are too... some speed up v. slow down the game (AI ones in particular) and Tech ones in particular.

 

[The_J]

Maybe "horrible" was the wrong word here. I'm sure most of the longer texts like the civilopedia entries will be alright. It's the smaller things that really irked me, like after finishing a research it said "Beendet: Das Rad", which sounds clunky. Same thing with the combat calculations: "unbedeutender Sieg" doesn't tell me that it's going to be a close battle, but it should.

Didn't see both .
I guess most stuff we'll only detect after a while (unless they put in the "electricity graph" again).

 

[Venereus]

Why don't developers ever make decent translations of their games? Is it really that hard?

 

[Ituralde]

Didn't see both .
I guess most stuff we'll only detect after a while (unless they put in the "electricity graph" again).

Well Steam makes it quite easy to choose the language you want to play in. Just select the game and under Settings choose your language. It will probably have to download a couple of files, but after that you can play in the original English or even French/Italian if you prefer.

 

[Buccaneer]

You realize that was pointless as "excess" beakers were transferred to the next technology you researched. Nothing was wasted.

I imagine the same principle will be at work in Civ 5.

Except for those situations where you needed an infusion of cash for 1+ turns, which outweighed the need to advance to the next tech as quickly.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Except for those situations where you needed an infusion of cash for 1+ turns, which outweighed the need to advance to the next tech as quickly.

In which case you set your science to 0% or whatever will give you enough cash asap, and then restore it to maximum.

 

[Patch61]

Good info, thanks. But, it is very hard to take a person too seriously that doesn't know the difference between the words lose and loose. It's very sad that so many kiddies make this same mistake nowadays. Do kids really not learn basic words in school anymore?

Moderator Action: We have no patience for Spelling police
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Zhahz]

It's possible to design AI that can be dumber or have less AI available at lower diffs and I doubt it's that tough to pull off. It's been done, as with GalCiv2, for ex. GC2 has a broader range of difficulty settings with varying degrees of AI and then resource type bonuses on top of that at the extreme ends of the scale.

Well Steam makes it quite easy to choose the language you want to play in. Just select the game and under Settings choose your language. It will probably have to download a couple of files, but after that you can play in the original English or even French/Italian if you prefer.

I really don't think Steam has much to do with language. It has to be something the developer or publisher setup. Steam just allows language selection vs installing in a particular language, which is nearly the same thing, and then you don't need to download/install every possible language. It's more of a publishing decision if software is available in multiple languages.

 

[Ituralde]

Good info, thanks. But, it is very hard to take a person too seriously that doesn't know the difference between the words lose and loose. It's very sad that so many kiddies make this same mistake nowadays. Do kids really not learn basic words in school anymore?

While I always strive to improve my English there really are nicer ways to go about it than insulting me between the lines. This seems to be a pet peeve of yours, but I can assure that no harm was intended. I do know the difference between those two words as well and I always try to write to the best of my abilities, which isn't that easy in a foreign language.

I really don't think Steam has much to do with language. It has to be something the developer or publisher setup. Steam just allows language selection vs installing in a particular language, which is nearly the same thing, and then you don't need to download/install every possible language. It's more of a publishing decision if software is available in multiple languages.

You're right, but with Steam, having access to all languages is a given, while before you had to hope that the publishers would ship a multilanguage version, which was rarely the case in Germany.

 

[Zhahz]

Good info, thanks. But, it is very hard to take a person too seriously that doesn't know the difference between the words lose and loose. It's very sad that so many kiddies make this same mistake nowadays. Do kids really not learn basic words in school anymore?

You do realize that civfanatics features visitors/contributors from a variety of nations and that English isn't the OP's first language?

Ouch.

 

[MisterBarca]

You do realize that civfanatics features visitors/contributors from a variety of nations and that English isn't the OP's first language?

Ouch.

Indeed. Moderator Action: <snip> it's obvious from the original poster's signature that he is from Germany.

Would we be better off if the original poster didn't bother to post any information, because his English is not perfect?

 

[Oberon Blade]

I don't agree at all - firstly I like that you have to make a choice and stick with it, and secondly some of these social policy bonuses are one shot things like triggering a golden age or spawning a Great General - how would you take something like that away if they pulled points out of a social policy to put them in a new one? What would stop you from doing that repeatedly to get multiple free reruns of abilities like that?

One way could be like they did with religion in Civ IV. First one to discover the tech, gets the religion. everyone else just gets the tech. So you get the bonus the first time to take the SP, then nada if you switch.

As for switching. Not sure if you (The OP) tried it, but what if you have one SP and just click another, would that allow you to switch? Did you try that, or were you looking for a button that would reset, so you could make a new selection?

 

[Txurce]

While I always strive to improve my English there really are nicer ways to go about it than insulting me between the lines. This seems to be a pet peeve of yours, but I can assure that no harm was intended. I do know the difference between those two words as well and I always try to write to the best of my abilities, which isn't that easy in a foreign language.

I am always amazed by the fluency in English of the CFC for whom English is not a first language - especially when dealing with relatively sophisticated subject matter like those discussed here. In fact, I'm deeply appreciative of the effort, and embarrassed by my own knowledge of only one other language (Spanish), where my grammar would definitely not pass email muster.

 

[Ituralde]

As for switching. Not sure if you (The OP) tried it, but what if you have one SP and just click another, would that allow you to switch? Did you try that, or were you looking for a button that would reset, so you could make a new selection?

I was looking for ways of interaction in general. If I just clicked on another SP tree that would unlock the new tree. The problem was that I never got far enough into any game to actually have two conflicting SP trees available to me so I couldn't check any of that in my games.

You have to keep in mind though that the interface is very well done now and important options are always pointed out to you or made visible, so my impression is that there was no reset button in the version I played. As to the conflicting SP trees we'll just have to wait til release.