IGN Interview With Sid Meier

[Pyrkaige]

IGN published an interview today with Sid Meier, talking about Civ IV and his involvement in it. There isn't any new gameplay info given, but it's always good to read what he has to say.

IGN Interview

 

[Meleager]

We're entering the home stretch I think with Civilization 4. The main features are in place, the look and feel are in place. Now it's a matter of testing, tuning, tweaking and deciding on final features and things like that. We're coming into the home stretch. That's really when things start to come together. Up till that point we have placeholder graphics and not everything works quite right. The last couple of months is when it starts to get to be a whole lot of fun. We're entering that phase right now.

Awesome!!!

 

[Civrules]

Thanks, Pyrkaige.

 

[Trajan13]

I'm curious about the new things Sid and the gang will be moving on to. Maybe we finally get our Colonization 2, or perhaps a SMAC II? They have been extremely hush hush about whats next after cIV.

 

[Sickman]

Maybe we finally get our Colonization 2

You know I could kill to get that game.
(If it would be similar to the first one)

 

[zorven]

And there is a new interview with Jesse Smith there as well. One thing he said that was new to me is that roads do not give commerce any more, they are only for movement. Therefore, he says, we won't see roads and railroads all over anymore.

 

[vbraun]

And there is a new interview with Jesse Smith there as well. One thing he said that was new to me is that roads do not give commerce any more, they are only for movement. Therefore, he says, we won't see roads and railroads all over anymore.

That won't stop people from roading/railroading everywhere. It just might be the last thing your workers would do.

 

[Meleager]

There are already screen shots with roads all over the place (to an extent). Check out here: http://www.civfanatics.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=297&c=2

 

[JBearIt]

Jesse also said that there were 9 civs with 2 leaders. If he didn't misspeak then it means one more civ got a second leader.

 

[kitsquad]

ooohhhh colonization!

 

[eddie_verdde]

IGNPC: Was there anything in particular about the last version, Civilization 3, that you wanted to step away from?

Sid Meier: In contrast to Civ 3, we'd like a game that plays a little more rapidly. Civ games can be epic, and a certain amount of epic is good, but you also want to get a feeling that you're moving forward and getting to the next technology. As with all of our Civ games, we give you a lot of options but I think this game is oriented to move a little faster and take you through the centuries a little more quickly.

More rapidly than in CIV3???? If I play CIV3 in a medium-high difficulty level I almost have to SKIP entire epochs to keep the same pace as the AI opponent...for instance, I've just build my first knights and I'm gathering a bunch of them to attack a rival but suddenly the AI already has riflemen and I have to upgrade all my knights to Cavalry...does this sound familiar to any of you?

take us through the centuries a liitle more quickly? For instance, I can hardly experience the middle ages environment, the game is always unbalanced, the rivals are always a step ahead of you and this takes the fun out of the game. The time you take to form an adequate military force to attack the enemy is the time it takes the enemy to advance to the next age...

Isn't this quick enough??

 

[Lillefix]

I don't mind that the game is a bit quicker. Since I prefer playing on smaller maps, I have never reached the modern age, seriosly. I usually play monarch on standard map size and below, and the game usually ends when I get tanks, marines and bombers.

I din't think you have to worry much by the way. They have said that the game will have three length-options: quick, normal and epic. Normal is sligthly faster than civ3, and epic is longer.

 

[eddie_verdde]

I din't think you have to worry much by the way. They have said that the game will have three length-options: quick, normal and epic. Normal is sligthly faster than civ3, and epic is longer.

yes, I also remember reading that somewhere. I really hope that the epic game is longer than the normal CIV3 game.

I think that every civer that likes History and the ancient times would agree with me on that.

 

[evirus]

i just hope there are no more solid random map options... i like them fuzzier. what i mean i want to see sliders in the game to fine tune some of the start options, i would like the world to start with LESS forests and jungels with out effecting the entire terrain on the globe

 

[TheBB]

More rapidly than in CIV3???? If I play CIV3 in a medium-high difficulty level I almost have to SKIP entire epochs to keep the same pace as the AI opponent...for instance, I've just build my first knights and I'm gathering a bunch of them to attack a rival but suddenly the AI already has riflemen and I have to upgrade all my knights to Cavalry...does this sound familiar to any of you?

take us through the centuries a liitle more quickly? For instance, I can hardly experience the middle ages environment, the game is always unbalanced, the rivals are always a step ahead of you and this takes the fun out of the game. The time you take to form an adequate military force to attack the enemy is the time it takes the enemy to advance to the next age...

Isn't this quick enough??

They mean fast time-wise. A game doesn't take that long to play. It doesn't mean it'll be harder to keep up with the AI.

 

[evirus]

right he means faster for all players... not just ai

 

[Wolfwood]

Crappy news about the technologies coming up even faster... As eddie_verdde said, there's hardly time to feel the middle ages in Civ3 as it is. If it becomes even faster, you will prolly not even notice that such a period ever existed...

I'm beginning to feel that C3C may stay on my computer for years to come... Or at least until someone makes a good mod for Civ4 to remove the more arcade-like qualities of the gameplay.

 

[mitsho]

@wolfwood I also like longer games, especially longer ancient age games, and you need to keep in mind. He was talking about the game types: There is the new fast which allows a 'short game' à la 'I-have-an-hour-time-to-play-before-I-need-to-go-,-let's-play-civ'. Then there is the medium, 'normal-civIV' game which should be the standard length of a game. And finally, there's the epic option: The length like it has been in civ3.
For people like me, to whom this is already not long enough, it'll probably be easy to mod,but at first, you need to try the new thing out (before you judge it).

mitsho

 

[Wolfwood]

Ah, you are, of course, right, mitsho. I got a bit carried away there for a moment. I will naturally buy the game and try it out at all levels & game types before making a judgement of whether it is good or bad.

It is just easy to get anxious when you read words like RTS in Civ4 interview...

 

[IroquoisPlisken]

Hmm, Jessie said Religion still allows for Line of Sight into enemy cities...I thought this was taken out?

I'm really loving the sound of teams in multiplayer though.