GameSpy Civ 4 preview

[Quentin]

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/civilization-iv/617487p1.html

"And there are minor changes, such as the shields being turned into hammers."
"Gunpowder units no longer require saltpeter and Firaxis will probably give players a technology to synthesize oil."
"Cities don't riot anymore, but unhappy workers simply stop working."

 

[sgrig]

I like the idea of oil being synthesized!

It also says that "Factories will decrease health". So I guess now the major production centres will suffer from ill health.

 

[Drakan]

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/civilization-iv/617487p2.html

"The new mod tools are laying Civilization bare. As with some of the previous games, a lot of the data is easily changed from a text file. But now Firaxis is using Python (an accessible scripting language) to do everything from the interface to random map algorithms. They'll even be releasing the source code. "It's way beyond anything we've ever done before," he says."

WTF ?

 

[Colonel]

Just a thought but wont releaseing the source code make it that much easyer for Pirating the game itself

 

[Stilgar08]

There is no way a game company will release source code. 0% chance. Never gonna happen.

They are releasing an SDK. You will be able to overwrite some of their code with your own code, if you so choose, and the fact that they're even releasing some APIs for that is semi-revolutionary. You will compile your own code, built from the Software Development Kit (SDK), and overwrite portions of their code. It will not be a source code release.

I expect most created things (including my own, honestly) to be buggy and probably worse than the default AI. But, with time, and a collaboration, who knows what might be possible. The potential, especially with a community like CFC, is tremendous. It's a pretty sweet deal. But it won't be source code.

Arathorn

I count on Arathorn on this one! I doubt this will turn out to be true!

 

[arkammler]

. . . each religion will offer a unique wonder.

I like it.
arkammler

 

[PriestOfDiscord]

"Gunpowder units no longer require saltpeter and Firaxis will probably give players a technology to synthesize oil."

Most excellent. Though I wonder what gunpowder units will need now.

 

[microbe]

Most excellent. Though I wonder what gunpowder units will need now.

Yeah, I do not see much point if they now just depend some other resource.

"Cities don't riot anymore, but unhappy workers simply stop working."

I hope we still get some kind of notification for this.

 

[Thunderfall]

I hope we still get some kind of notification for this.

Hopefully... Riots may be a pain but they do let you know which cities require your immediate attention.

 

[Mr. Do]

...does anyone know why there were shields in the first place?

 

[Louis XXIV]

Probably made as much sense as Trade Arrows for money

 

[Rhymes]

I dont know..... I've been reading about all this new stuff to be changed in civ4 and I admit I'm not really optimistic. A very interesting aspect of civ3 is the battle for natural ressources.... and I know I dont want to see it fade away with less ressources....

About the shields: They should have been hammers from the start!!! i think the shield expression came from the fact that in civ1 they didn't have enough pixels to make hammers

 

[TheDS]

I'm liking most of what I read about Civ4.

 

[Shaftoe]

Yeah, I do not see much point if they now just depend some other resource.

I think the point is that gunpowder units WON'T require any strategic resource. Or perhaps they'll just allow you to make the more defense oriented gunpowder units like Musketmen without saltpeter.

As far as unhappy workers stopping work but not rioting, I think they refer to every unhappy citizen. A popup or notification for this would be insane, as just about any good sized civ will have it's fair share of unhappy people. It could lead to a slight bit more of micromanagement to make sure that when you get unhappy people in a city that the right tiles are still going to be worked. But from what they've said about improvements animating on the main map, that should be pretty easy to see without jumping into a city menu anyway.

 

[Sirian]

...does anyone know why there were shields in the first place?

Sid doesn't even know. (Seriously!) Didn't he change them to hammers for Colonization? Too late! Like the QWERTY keyboard, it's too darned late to fix it now. It's imprinted on the culture. We'll be dealing with Shields until the end of time.

Anybody calling them hammers in Civ4... Well, maybe they can, but old timers will still say Shields, and then somebody will have to explain why to the newbies. What a mess.

As long as they are blue, though, my brain can process them correctly. Blue shields forever. If they make the hammers red or some other nonsense, there may be civil unrest outside Firaxis headquarters.


- Sirian

 

[NHJ BV]

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/civilization-iv/617487p2.html

"The new mod tools are laying Civilization bare. As with some of the previous games, a lot of the data is easily changed from a text file. But now Firaxis is using Python (an accessible scripting language) to do everything from the interface to random map algorithms. They'll even be releasing the source code. "It's way beyond anything we've ever done before," he says."

WTF ?

Maybe they mean the source code for the editor?

 

[t0mme]

The first thing we should do is mod the hammers back to shields

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

Most excellent. Though I wonder what gunpowder units will need now.

I actually liked the units being depend on resources.

But the synthetisation of oil seems good! This could be the way, there should be alternative ways of getting the resources. If not by trade (as we all know the AI stuborness) there could be a black market where you could get this things at a very high price.

Saddam Hussein didn't stop getting things during the blockade, they were just MUCH more expensive.

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

If there is no pollution what can we do with those million workers????

I kind of liked pollution in the beginning. In small levels was fun and allowed my brain to accept huge number of workers. But to have continuous pollution when you are trying to focus on war just got annoying!

 

[CellKu]

I actually liked the units being depend on resources.

But the synthetisation of oil seems good! This could be the way, there should be alternative ways of getting the resources. If not by trade (as we all know the AI stuborness) there could be a black market where you could get this things at a very high price.

Saddam Hussein didn't stop getting things during the blockade, they were just MUCH more expensive.

Synthesizing oil is an interesting feature, but why should saltpeter not be necessary to build gunpowder units? Unless they provide a good explanation or substitute (I like that black market thing ) that doesn't make sense!