More Civ IV Screenies?

[Civrules]

I was lurking when I found out some more cool screenies (2 new ones) of Civ IV on this site. It was originally posted last year in late December, but I guess we missed it.

The resolution is not that big, but the screenshots were unseen by most of us, and I think they were scanned from some magazine, as the other ones we already saw.

This also comes with a "preview." If you can translate it, go ahead!

From the preview when you tranzlate it, there is basically no new info.

 

[Zeekater]

Using babelfish, here's a translation:

by white

Game does not exist that consummates more hours of its life of that the series Sid Meier's Civilization ! E hours not only playing, but you are thinking the entire day which strategy or movement will make when to arrive in house to continue playing. Although it is a type of game that does not attract new players easily, a fisgado time, you turns slave the game, with countless hours without sleeping, to only play "only plus this phase", is impressive!

E when you it thought that already it was cured of this "vice", appears new features on Civilization IV in the horizon.

The game comes being developed for the proper Sid Meier, creator of the series, in contrast of Civilization III, that it was developed by its teams of the Firaxis. The return of Meier to the direct development of the game alone can bring good new features.

Civilization IV comes being developed of the zero, something that did not occur since 1991, when the original game was launched. Everything is being rethink, part for part, what it functions and what not. E new engine 3D will be used, providing to the player the one possibility zoom of a global vision to the one of a simple city.

The combat system is being total reformulated, stimulating the player to use different combinations of units, as terrestrial and aerial units for a bombardeamento. Individual units will gain experience and adquirão upgrades as bond against units specific and ability to use enemy roads. E a very requested care: an inferior or very very old unit will not be able more to earn of a much more strong or modern one, as for example, the celebrity case of "spearmen X tank".

The conhecimentos/tecnologia line (tech tree) is being total reformulated. Instead of going incorporating more technologies, you it will be able to follow distinct ways to reach advanced technologies. Now you do not need more to follow a specific way of "teck tree" to reach its objectives and to be competitive in the phase most advanced of the game (she barks game), what she opens a new world of possibilities.

Between as many new features, some that call the attention: World Religions and Great People that will affect its empire all. The developers have heard per years the fans of the series, and are looking for alternative to reduce the "micron management" that tédio cause when you already have dozens of cities to manage all in the world.

Civilization IV will come with way to multiplayer enclosed, different of the previous version, where the way to multiplayer lode through an expansion. It will have a way of fast game, where you it will be able to finish a departure in only few hours or the normal way, "hardcore", where a game will be able to take months to finish. You also it will be able to play in cooperative way against the game (Artificial Intelligence) or against other teamses of players.

Following the new world-wide trend, Civilization IV will be developed to give complete support to the community of mod's.

An advice to the fans of the game: he uses to advantage its last months of sleep. The 2005 remaining portion will belong to CIVILIZATION IV!

(bolding mine)
I hope it's clear what is meant, although some words haven't been translated

 

[sennomulo]

Well, I don't speak Portuguese but it's pretty closely related to Spanish and French which I do speak, and with my knowledge of linguistics (my major here at university) I can read it with the help of a dictionary and hopefully provide something better than Babelfish can:

There is no game that consumes more hours of your life than Sid Meier's Civilization series! And not just hours spent playing, but entire days spent thinking what strategy or movement you will do when you get home and continue playing. Although it is a type of game that does not easily attract new players, once you're hooked, you become a slave to the game, with uncountable sleepless hours just to play "just one more turn", it's impressive!

And when you thought you've been cured of this "vice", news about Civilization IV emerges on the horizon.

The game is being developed by Sid Meier himself, the creator of the series, as opposed to Civilization III, which was developed by a team at Firaxis. The return of Meier to the direct development of the game can only bring good news.

Civilization IV is being developed from scratch, something which hasn't happened since 1991, when the original game was launched. Everything is being rethought, piece by piece, what works and what doesn't. And a new 3D engine will be used, giving the player the ability of zooming from a global view to that of a single city.

The combat system is being completely reformulated, giving the player the incentive to use different combinations of units, like terrestrial and aerial units for a bombardment. Individual units will gain experience and will acquire upgrades as a bonus against a unique unit and the ability to use enemy roads. And one much-requested detail: a unit that is particularly inferior or ancient will not be able to win against a much stronger or more modern unit, as for example in the famous case of "spearman beats tank".

The knowledge/technology tree (tech tree) is being completely reformulated. Rather than going around incorporating more technologies, you will be able to follow different paths to reach advanced technologies. Now you no longer need to follow a specific path of the "tech tree" to reach your objectives and to be competitive in the most advanced phase of the game (late game), which opens a whole new world of possibilities.

Among this news, some things which call for attention: World Religions and Great People which will affect your entire empire. The developers have listened to the fans of the series for years, and are looking for alternatives to reduce the "micromanagement" which becomes tedious when you have to manage dozens of cities across the world.

Civilization IV will come with multiplayer mode included, as opposed to the previous version where the multiplayer mode came with an expansion pack. It will have a quick-play mode, where you will be able to end a game in a few hours, and a normal "hardcore" mode, where a game might take months to complete. You will also be able to play in a cooperative mode against the game (Artificial Intelligence) or against other teams of players.

Following the new global trend, Civilization IV will be developed to completely support the modding community.

Some advice to the fans of the game: take advantage of your last months of sleep. The rest of 2005 will belong to CIVILIZATION IV!!

 

[Civrules]

This is basically the same PC Gamer preview, they just scanned all four screenshots.

 

[AndrewH]

Its going in the RoN direction i think. Not Good.

 

[dh_epic]

I'm definitely most interested by the tech tree -- which allows you to take multiple paths to advanced techs. I hope this isn't just their fancy way of saying "we're getting rid of eras". I hope this really means you can choose between a pro-democracy branch that empowers your people, versus a strongman branch that empowers your generals, and ultimately cross paths again by the time you hit the industrial age.

But overhauling combat is important too. Right now, the game has too much of "build as much of the best unit as possible and outnumber/outpower the enemy". A little more "try to figure out what the enemy has and use their weakness against them" would be a lot more strategic.

 

[Gogf]

Looks a lot like Rome: Total War.

 

[AndrewH]

It looks like Rise Of Nations...

 

[Hyronymus]

Bah, all those people that go by a poorly translated text and no official news. Things are never what they look like and you can't get always get what you want. There are 6 billion people on planet Earth, to think all your desires will be satisfied is pretty naieve. Before it's October, 17th we will be 6 months further and have more detailed and trusted previews. I suggest we wait before we start complaining.

 

[poolking]

They look "cartoony" to me.

 

[Civrules]

But overhauling combat is important too. Right now, the game has too much of "build as much of the best unit as possible and outnumber/outpower the enemy". A little more "try to figure out what the enemy has and use their weakness against them" would be a lot more strategic.

Exactly. And I think that is exactly what they are going to do. It's one of the biggest changes.

As for the screenies, remember still, they are many months old. So today, or when they release new ones, they might be very different.

 

[dh_epic]

On that note, I actually think paper-rock-scissors (intransitive combat: A > B, B > C, but C > A!) is way way underrated. It beats the hell out of transitive combat, where one move/unit/strategy always beats everything else.

Paper rock scissors is already a complex game based on psychology. You can do better than 50/50 if you try to understand how a person thinks and approaches "combat". Once you implement that into a game like Civ, reconnaisance becomes highly important, where you need to know what your enemy is up to in order to exploit their weakness.

Mind you, I leave it to the designers to figure out some atransitive relationships. Just because they're rewarding players for using "combinations" of units doesn't mean there's isn't an ideal combination. If there IS an ideal combination, combat might just be more complex without adding much of a gameplay benefit. That's why I'm crossing my fingers that different combinations have different strengths.

 

[Sirian]

Soren's GDC presentation touched on rock-paper-scissors gameplay. I'm not sure it's clear in his notes what his exact points were intended to be, but certainly we know that he has not only thought about it, but lectured on the subject at least once.

- Sirian

 

[dh_epic]

I got the impression that for all he spent on it, he walked away from it generally sour. Or maybe he was sour on the fact that the game he was looking at (some Age of... game) did this recursive meta-PRS thing with multiple layers of the tri-lemma.

Regardless, if I could put my combat goals for Civ down to a simple phrase, it would be that I'd like to be able to beat the "best" unit with more than extremely twisted luck. Another way of putting it is that I'd like there to never be a best unit.

 

[AndrewH]

So paper rock scissors would be like
A=Warrior
B=Archer
C=Spear


Archer beats warrior

Spear beats archer

Warrior beats spear?

 

[dh_epic]

Yeah, that's the concept. Except that it would have to take place over a long period of time. So it would have to be like: Paper = Range Solder, Rock = Mounted Solder, Scissors = Foot Solder.

Intransitive combat means that you can't just blindly build "the best" unit. It means that you need to either build a variety of units and cover all the bases, or figure out what your opponent is building and build the weakness.

It may sound so-so by itself. But when you combine it with other strategies, the whole game changes.

For example, you might pursue a different tech, and let your opponent get the jump on you by upgrading his "Paper" to "Paper 2" (Horsemen to Cavalry?), because you have "Scissors" anyway, which might still be strong enough to take out the next level of "Paper".

Another example, you might find yourself with a very small amount of resources against a huge superpower... but you send a few explorers/scouts over to their borders and notice they seem to be going very "Rock" heavy. Hence, you build a few "Paper" units and outsmart them.

Or you might find one of your cities with "paper defenders" confronted with "scissors attackers". So you bring in refinforcements from a nearby cities with lots of "rock units". Or have your scissors units retreat from the paper, and pursue the enemy rocks!

Or you might find yourself cornered by "Scissors" units against your "Paper" units... and suddenly call in a favor from a neighbor who went "Rock" heavy. Suddenly the tables have turned, with their "rock" helping you push back the "scissors".

In a game that already has as much going for it as Civ, making combat "instransitive" wouldn't just add a new strategy... it would multiply the current military strategies by 2.

 

[Pentium]

It yould emphasize tactics, rather than strategy. Placement would be crucial. I don't like this since Civ is a strategy game.

 

[dh_epic]

I've heard that one before, and I'm not sure I grasp the difference between tactics and strategy.

And I'm not convinced that this is the wrong direction for Civ to take -- moving combat away from a race to build bigger and better, and towards building with awareness and opportunism.

 

[AndrewH]

lol....Nor do i epic.... nor do i. But whenever i play paper rock scissors, i usually say god. That way i always win.

 

[Admiral8Q]

Thanks for the screenies, dispite what others have said, I actually like the look. The only thing I don't like is the multiplied units.