Massive PTW Preview Update @ GameSpot

wow, i want this game NOW!

the turnless mode just sounds too good to be true, it will be a complete new game :) amazing...
 
Originally posted by Lemming
maybe the game pauses when you are in one of the menus (preferences,...)

The review says that the time goes on even when you are at the diplomacy screen.., the way they discribe it, the counter won't stop running no matter what screen u're at.

That's why the reviewer says it needs a Pause option.
 
Does anyone lnow if there's somewhere I can get the video for free? I've had a major grude against gamespot since they started the how membership deal. It used to be my favorite gaming site but I'm not going to pay for it.
 
I'm actually a little concerned about turnless mode, since I for one do not want to have to apply "real-time strategies" to a turn-based game: if I'd wanted to, then I would have logged onto the Age of Empires Fanatics Centre this morning.

Me, I'm looking forward to a PBEM mode, which is rumored, but I hear little about. In my mind, that will create the effect of a diplomacy game (as in Avalon Hill's Diplomacy) with all the intricacies of government built in.

E.g. A sedate, thoughtful, epic story instead of a frantic rush to scroll your screen west to see if that's really a Bablyonian cavalry unit that just crossed your border. To play a game of this scale in real time would both waste the game resources, and take the game one step further into the land of meaningless wargames.

R.III
 
In fact, it gets worse. Read this offensive crap (Gamespot):

"Firaxis also told us of some rather humorous tactics involving diplomacy as misdirection. In one strategy, at the moment you would begin a real-time attack against an opponent in turnless mode, you can distract the opponent by continually asking for a diplomatic meeting, which pops up a dialogue box, and the opponent must decline the invitation each time. Of course, nations do just this in the real world, attempting to flood diplomatic channels to tie up the nation's government."

Yeah, but the truth is, it doesn't work in the real world, because governments in even the tiniest countries have more than one person to take phone calls, read the mail and wait in the lobby for diplomats. Do you think Churchill was tied up when Italy made offers to mediate in WWII? Or - gosh - did he just read about it in a briefing note like the 40 other issues that day before making a decision later that afternoon?

Count me out of turnless mode MP. Sounds like a "clever" game players paradise, not a Civ players paradise.

R.III
 
The review says that player-to-player trade negotiations can be very difficult (in the sense of annoying, not challenging) because you don't know what they have. You can see luxuries (and roads) on the map if you have a map of those tiles, but you don't know what techs they have (except indirectly by seeing what they are producing) and how much gold they have.
 
Originally posted by sumthinelse
The review says that player-to-player trade negotiations can be very difficult (in the sense of annoying, not challenging) because you don't know what they have. You can see luxuries (and roads) on the map if you have a map of those tiles, but you don't know what techs they have (except indirectly by seeing what they are producing) and how much gold they have.

One of the strategies that I've been contemplating is to not trade my map or sign any ROPs. So, if everyone does this it's going to be a real pain in the @$$.

And flooding the diplo screen??? Yuck. There needs to be an anti-spam thing like some IM programs have where you have a limit to the amount of messages or the speed. :nospam: :nospam: :nospam:
 
I read that you can refuse messages from a certain player for 20 turns (or its turnless equivalent) at a time.
 
Originally posted by Richard III
I'm actually a little concerned about turnless mode, since I for one do not want to have to apply "real-time strategies" to a turn-based game: if I'd wanted to, then I would have logged onto the Age of Empires Fanatics Centre this morning.

Me, I'm looking forward to a PBEM mode, which is rumored, but I hear little about. In my mind, that will create the effect of a diplomacy game (as in Avalon Hill's Diplomacy) with all the intricacies of government built in.

E.g. A sedate, thoughtful, epic story instead of a frantic rush to scroll your screen west to see if that's really a Bablyonian cavalry unit that just crossed your border. To play a game of this scale in real time would both waste the game resources, and take the game one step further into the land of meaningless wargames.

R.III
Sounds like you would like the simultaneous turnless mode they are talking about, with a LONG time interval. Or maybe a time interval that ends when the last player ends his or her actions. I hope that is one of the possibillities

What does PBEM stand for? And does someone know what a 'hotseat'-game would be. I've heard something about that, but I couldn't find what it is.
 
Originally posted by Plux
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What does PBEM stand for? And does someone know what a 'hotseat'-game would be. I've heard something about that, but I couldn't find what it is. [/B]

PBEM = Play by e mail.

Not so different from just sending a save game backwards and forwards.

Hotseat - each player takes turns to sit at the computer and make their moves. Only useful for 2 or 3.
 
I'm happy that you can't see what your opponent has available for trade. When dealing with the AI, it's necessary since the AI isn't smart enough to come up with good deals. However, humans are.

I don't want my smart human opponents to know that I don't have iron. I certainly use the info from the diplomacy screen to my strategic advantage when playing the AI. It'll be interesting to bluff your way through not having resources (of course, you'll also need to be careful not to reveal your map).
 
I cannot actually look at any screenshot beyond number 9, a shot of the editor with one city and a minimap in the upper right-hand corner. When I click "Next", it opens a small box advertising paid membership, and the picture of the editor is shown again. When I click on a thumbnail of, say, picture 10 in the screenshot index, it does the same.

Has anyone encountered the same problem?
 
Nope, it let me look at all of the new screenies. But when I tried to view any of the older ones, it just kept spitting me back to the screenshot index again.

:confused:

The new European terrain and the improved resource icons look great, though. I can't wait.

:D
 
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