IGN Interview With Sid Meier

[mitsho]

And if you want to play a certain age especially, you can always start in the (or the era before that one) wanted era. Does anyone know if that info is still correct? We haven't heard a lot on this lately.

mitsho

 

[alexchunha]

If Great Artists only contribute 1000 culture using great works and the borders expanded that much, does this mean that borders in general would be much wider now?

Only 1000 culture? That's quite a lot, in Civ III terms, especially if the city receiving the culture has none to start out with. Think about it, in Civ III, a no-culture city has borders extending one tile away. When it gets to ten culture, its borders expand to two tiles. One hundred culture extends to three tiles, and 1000 culture extends to four tiles. If you look at the video again, you'll see that the two cities that expanded their borders went from one-tile cultural radius, and expanded to a four-tile radius upon receiving the cultural boost (same as in Civ III). Since cities in Civ IV are no longer guaranteed the tiles immediately surrounding them, it was enough to completely enclose the green city. So, actually, borders do not appear to spread farther than in Civ III.

It seems boarders spread much furthur than in civ 3.

See above.

Did anyone notice that scene in the video interview the Cultrual Rape, they just replaced RoP rape with that. I sense the ai is going to do that crap on mass. Think about it, you get a bunch of great people collected then rape the border the outer cities surronded by you, take em, then pull great people to the new cities, rape the border, move in take the surrounded cities, and so on. Its a new form of rape.

First of all, there is no comparison between what we see in the video and RoP rape in Civ III. First of all, RoP rape is a completely dastardly tactic that should be frowned upon because it is an exploit that takes advantage of the nature of a turn-based game and the AI's inability to recognize human intentions. Second, the strategy you described in your post hardly seems viable to me, for several reasons. Great people, first of all, are supposed to be rare. It would probably take a while just to get two of them at the same time. And once you do get several of them, you have to decide between their various functions (golden age, super citizen, one-time bonus). I hardly think the AI is going to be "doing that crap en masse".

Plus, surrounding a city with your cultural borders only works if the enemy cities have little to no culture. Along a stable border, most cities will have a fairly large amount of culture already, so using a great artist for a cutural boost will probably just give that city the cultural lead along the border (very useful if there's a contested resource in the area and your city is a bit behind the cultural race).

Thus, cultural boosts from great artists doesn't even come close to RoP rape in Civ III. I don't even know what prompted the comparison.

 

[eaglefox]

Civ 4 is looking like a combination of Rome-Total War, Civ 3, and a few other strategy games like Age of Empires. I guess Sid meant what he said to that extent at least. As far as I am concerned, I don't put too much emphasis on graphics (not to say that they aren't important), but on the gameplay itself. To me, the real improvement in the Civ franchise will come when the AI becomes a smart and worthwhile opponent. When the AI can plan its assaults, and calculate the risks and the rewards of an attack, instead of just fighting blindly. This is what I wanna see.

 

[Jaybe]

I think what is most important for the AI is to NOT BE TOTALLY PREDICTABLE. If a given situation will always result in a particular AI response, then it will be exploited. If the AI will sometimes (15-25% chance) do something different, it will be okay.

 

[GoodGame]

Don't worry,

The middle ages were a special case, technology-spoiling military alliance attack by the Goths, Scandinavians, and Mongols civs (check the War Academy article).

lol.

FWIW, shouldn't Feudalism/Chivalry be a non-requisite tech, realistically (Go Republican all the way to Printing Press).

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.

 

[CustodianV131]

Good read.

Really Sid-like.

Anyway I like the idea of a faster paced Civ. The reason is simply... I've less and less time to devote to gaming. And having the feel of real progress if I only play for an hour or two sounds sweet to me.

Also really like that you can chose which era to start in. In Civ3 I hardly reach the modern times, like many around here it seems. Having a fun Civ game in the modern era sounds sweet.

Maybe they can also put era/science limits in? Like in Rise of nations where you restrict the science progression to gunpowder era only for instance? Then you could have your long medieval, ancient and so on battles. Would be a solution that works for many I think... or for me ay least

 

[searcheagle]

Only 1000 culture? That's quite a lot, in Civ III terms, especially if the city receiving the culture has none to start out with.

Yes it is in Civ3 Terms. However, we don'tknow what it will be in Civ 4 terms. As of now, any comparisons of numbers, would be premature.

 

[alexchunha]

Yes it is in Civ3 Terms. However, we don't know what it will be in Civ 4 terms. As of now, any comparisons of numbers, would be premature.

From looking at the video, is seems cultural points and borders will in essentially the same manner as in Civ3.

 

[Ilspana]

I know he wasn't the lead dev in the game, but I'd love to see a remake of Sword of the Samurai. One of the best strategy/variety games ever. Check it out if you can find it.