Is there an implied setting for civ 5?

[Obrien Xp]

I tried to search but it won't work on my touch.

So, after starting to play more than just Rome and Germany; I've noticed a clear emphasis in the intro speeches on "once more/once again" leading your people to victory/glory.

Is there some sort of implication that civ 5 takes place in a post-apocalyptic/cataclymic world? Perhaps quakes, floods, volcanoes, etc.

Is it like that for a reason or do they just want to make it seem like I'm in the ancient game room/social experiment room of Atlantis? (Gotta love Stargate).

 

[smallfish]

Yeah I always wondered about that.

Finding "Ancient ruins" and "discovering advanced technology" were clues pointing to that direction, I think. I would have loved if they had incorporated some of their cheesier bits of CivRev, like "the French have found an ancient artifact: Tesla's Peace Ray!" to add some gonzo-ness to the game.

Then there are times when after you totally finished off a civ or two, the defeated would utter in text "the ____ will return once again!"

 

[Junuxx]

Yeah, it's weird, I don't like it. It's as if the same leaders are forced to be your puppets again and again and again dragging along past games and lives and memories, instead of restarting meaning a fresh, new start at the beginning of history. It makes it feel very artificial and not Civ-like to me.

 

[Ellye]

Yeah, it's weird, I don't like it. It's as if the same leaders are forced to be your puppets again and again and again dragging along past games and lives and memories, instead of restarting meaning a fresh, new start at the beginning of history. It makes it feel very artificial and not Civ-like to me.

Civ is extremely artificial. There's nothing in the game that aims it to be historical in any way at all. You just have simplified, stereotyped well-known apparently-immortal leaders for a handful of well-known civilizations in a random or semi-random map, and the only nice civ-specific detail are the city names.
And that's perfectly okay, actually. It's just the way I like my Civilization games. For historical games, there are more focused options (Paradox Interactive, I'm looking at you).

For Civ5, it's funny, but I kinda like to imagine it as an actual board game. And the leaders are literally players, sitting around a table playing the game. It's interesting, because each leader fits very well in some kind of player stereotype that you're likely to come across if you play board games regularly. I've met my fair share of Montezumas, Agustus and Catherines, for example.

(Perhaps we managed to somehow revive all great leaders that this world has ever saw, and put them to ultimate strategy test - a fun little board game.)

@OP
I'm going to play my next game of Civilization with that idea in mind. It will be interesting.

 

[Carnifaux]

Is there some sort of implication that civ 5 takes place in a post-apocalyptic/cataclysmic world? Perhaps quakes, floods, volcanoes, etc.
.

Yeah I sort of like the 'tournament of champions' feel it seems to have - especially with the new UAs. I'd like a scenario to sort of develop on this feel and maybe add some fantasy elements.

"The ghost of Gandhi greets you; "

 

[Junuxx]

Civ is extremely artificial. There's nothing in the game that aims it to be historical in any way at all. You just have simplified, stereotyped well-known apparently-immortal leaders for a handful of well-known civilizations in a random or semi-random map, and the only nice civ-specific detail are the city names.
And that's perfectly okay, actually. It's just the way I like my Civilization games. For historical games, there are more focused options (Paradox Interactive, I'm looking at you).

It is artificial, but the pretense, the 'story' if you will, has always been that you're in command of the actual civilization, not some imitation of it. It places the game within a game, emphasizing its simulated nature. It's a breaking of the fourth wall that's -for me- detrimental for immersion.

 

[Bamboocha]

I tried to search but it won't work on my touch.

So, after starting to play more than just Rome and Germany; I've noticed a clear emphasis in the intro speeches on "once more/once again" leading your people to victory/glory.

Is there some sort of implication that civ 5 takes place in a post-apocalyptic/cataclymic world? Perhaps quakes, floods, volcanoes, etc.

Is it like that for a reason or do they just want to make it seem like I'm in the ancient game room/social experiment room of Atlantis? (Gotta love Stargate).

I guess there's really no explanation for it, but if you really, really want to have a reason for it, I have a weird, science-fiction-y explanation for it.

I guess that for some unknown reason the greatest leaders in history are granted immortality and sent back in time to each prove they're the greatest?
In a sense, it gives Napoléon a chance to prove he can defeat all of his enemies this time, to give Bismarck some more time to lead Germany to greatness (because such a thing takes time and you have time to spare when you're, you know, immortal) etc. Perhaps they also function in a way simmilar to how the antropomorphic countries in Axis Powers Hetalia work, in the way that their immortality is linked to the prosperity of their nation?
I don't think it's a post-apocalyptic setting because the era's are measured using BC and AD, and the fact that Alexander the Great being alive after the apocalypse, at least 2300 years after his death, is at least somewhat odd.

 

[smallfish]

It's a digital simulation at the end of the universe, and the leaders are all sociopathic avatars thanks to the increasing breakdown of reality.

 

[Aristos]

For Civ5, it's funny, but I kinda like to imagine it as an actual board game. And the leaders are literally players, sitting around a table playing the game. It's interesting, because each leader fits very well in some kind of player stereotype that you're likely to come across if you play board games regularly. I've met my fair share of Montezumas, Agustus and Catherines, for example.

This is an interesting point of view. I never considered that perspective. The only thing that ruins it for me is that when I try to picture your approach for myself, I cannot avoid the feeling that my boardgame came to be with me and a bunch of town idiots that don't know how to play the game, even if they get huge advantages.

But your perspective is interesting. If only they could make the other "boardgamers" a little less idiotic...

 

[Dusk]

Reading this thread, two things come to mind: Battlestar Galactica (All of this has happened before and all of it will happen again) & Mega Lo Mania (Old Amiga game with quasi-omnipotent players around a table/universe)

 

[Cheeseisgood]

I like to think of all the leaders as at their own desks with a copy of the game map in front of them, but all in a large room and able to talk/communicate or hurl insults at each other. I did originally think of the "board game" style that someone has mentioned, but it didn't make sense in my mind as you can't see what everyone else is doing.

With that in mind, I carry on my rivalries/pacts/friendships from game to game depending on who I am playing. Harald and Cathy have a bit of a thing going on, the Asian leaders almost always work together, and Caesar is a pompous jerk who tends to make enemies. I base my friendships and wars within most games off the relationships between the characters. If I am playing Harald and Cathy happens to be in the game, I'll help her out and keep friendly with her, even if it means going to war with other players to gain her trust or gifting her the cities I've captured. I find this is what offers the replayability of Civ for me, the ability to make it into a sort of soap opera!

Perhaps I get a bit too into it, but the roleplay makes it all fun. I'd like to think that after games they all go down to the cafeteria together and sit in their little friendship groups round tables, throwing the odd apple at Suleiman who sits on his own because, let's be honest - nobody likes him anyway.

 

[Valbuena]

I guess that for some unknown reason the greatest leaders in history are granted immortality and sent back in time to each prove they're the greatest?
In a sense, it gives Napoléon a chance to prove he can defeat all of his enemies this time, to give Bismarck some more time to lead Germany to greatness (because such a thing takes time and you have time to spare when you're, you know, immortal) etc. Perhaps they also function in a way simmilar to how the antropomorphic countries in Axis Powers Hetalia work, in the way that their immortality is linked to the prosperity of their nation?

Genius!

 

[OmegaKabob]

I like to think of all the leaders as at their own desks with a copy of the game map in front of them, but all in a large room and able to talk/communicate or hurl insults at each other. I did originally think of the "board game" style that someone has mentioned, but it didn't make sense in my mind as you can't see what everyone else is doing.

With that in mind, I carry on my rivalries/pacts/friendships from game to game depending on who I am playing. Harald and Cathy have a bit of a thing going on, the Asian leaders almost always work together, and Caesar is a pompous jerk who tends to make enemies. I base my friendships and wars within most games off the relationships between the characters. If I am playing Harald and Cathy happens to be in the game, I'll help her out and keep friendly with her, even if it means going to war with other players to gain her trust or gifting her the cities I've captured. I find this is what offers the replayability of Civ for me, the ability to make it into a sort of soap opera!

Perhaps I get a bit too into it, but the roleplay makes it all fun. I'd like to think that after games they all go down to the cafeteria together and sit in their little friendship groups round tables, throwing the odd apple at Suleiman who sits on his own because, let's be honest - nobody likes him anyway.

I like Sulieman <3 ... but on topic, I never really noticed that OP. It seems really weird.

 

[Helmling]

I have an answer:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3916902&postcount=116

 

[HammerandSickle]

I have an answer:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3916902&postcount=116

Amazing... Wow...

 

[Dusk]

It could be that the leaders in Civ V are the survivors from Alpha Centauri, coming back to claim earth after Civ II/Civ III/Civ IV sent them off in the first place. Maybe it's a repeating pattern where civilization continually leave earth behind as it cannot sustain the pollution and nuclear fallout. They escape to Alpha Centauri and only return once earth has reverted to its primordial stage with only a few ruins left standing.

 

[Lexicus]

This doesn't explain how they forget about all their technology, though. A civilization able to traverse the distance between Alpha Centauri (or any other star) and Sol would not need to worry about learning agriculture.

 

[Helmling]

Well, I hinted at a "multiverse" in a lot of the stories that culminate in that link I posed (yes, there are more; I'm a giant geek.), but that was the only time I directly referenced Alpha Centauri.

Since then, I'm thinking every game of Civ (whether it be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, CTP, CTP2, or Rev) takes place concurrently, but in different universes within the multiverse, during a block of time after the events of SMAC.

All of which are hopefully in other universes than ours because I don't want Earth to fail, leaving only our descendants on Alpha Centauri to keep the flame alive.

Is this too much thinking about the back story? Oh well, what else am I supposed to do while "please wait" flashes at me during a game.

 

[Helmling]

Amazing... Wow...

Thanks.

 

[Dusk]

This doesn't explain how they forget about all their technology, though. A civilization able to traverse the distance between Alpha Centauri (or any other star) and Sol would not need to worry about learning agriculture.

I'd hate to beat the Battlestar Galactica horse again (spoiler alert) but maybe they decided it was best to start over and the Civilization games start when the people coming back from AC have died out.