Whoa, I've been quoted! Wish I'd been more careful with my grammar - "they've been" would be better than "they're".
Funny how they both take the name Vesuvius as the actual name of the expansion. I'm pretty sure that the internal name. Of course, I've been wrong before.
The Switch version coming out in a bit really rules out any big news coming out for the PC version in the very near future. As people have said, Firaxis won't say anything about the PC version until the Switch version is released and likely for at least a week afterwards.
Though Steamdb updates are in this thread, which is good enough.
I wasn't paying close attention then; @Eagle Pursuit will know better. But here's what I know or guess about the current set of branches.
The 2kqa_[x] branches are the usual test branches.
I'm pretty sure there was no separate marketing branch for R&F - they may be trying to protect against premature leaks in the first look videos (edit: and live streams) this time.
I'm guessing that the compat branch has to do with cross-platform multiplayer and that it's focus is not the expansion.
Likewise, I think that ltest relates to the iPad version. And macinternalqa and linuxinternalqa are related to their respective platforms.
That leaves pdreview, which I'm guessing is for non-testing review of the expansion, and smoke, which is a complete mystery to me (and hasn't been touched since the flurry of activity in early October).
I wasn't paying close attention then; @Eagle Pursuit will know better. But here's what I know or guess about the current set of branches.
The 2kqa_[x] branches are the usual test branches.
I'm pretty sure there was no separate marketing branch for R&F - they may be trying to protect against premature leaks in the first look videos (edit: and live streams) this time.
I'm guessing that the compat branch has to do with cross-platform multiplayer and that it's focus is not the expansion.
Likewise, I think that ltest relates to the iPad version. And macinternalqa and linuxinternalqa are related to their respective platforms.
That leaves pdreview, which I'm guessing is for non-testing review of the expansion, and smoke, which is a complete mystery to me (and hasn't been touched since the flurry of activity in early October).
The rate of updates is on par for where they were a year ago despite the late start.
2kqa_a and b are the main test branches. 2kqa_c, d, and g are also testing what we assume is Vesuvius, but updating intermittently and out of sequence. I assume they are some kind of tangential builds. Compat is probably focused on testing on PCs with oddball hardware, eg compatibility.
LTest has something to do with Aspyr's ports, but it's hard to say which one exactly.
Pdreview is probably something for internal approvals. Smoke may be similar.
The marketing build is probably for First Looks and livestreams. Maybe even the ones for youtubers.
Someone on Reddit posted "Yeah I'm Maori myself, it definitely has a Poly vibe, but definitely not Maori", and lots are saying he looks Tongan and not Maori...I really hope he is Tongan! I'm still worried he could be Maori however, even without that distinct face tattoo.
It is likely that this is still a WIP (assuming it is real) and face tattoos would likely be the last thing they added as all the other things (model/skin texture/lighting) have to the checked off first.
It is likely that this is still a WIP (assuming it is real) and face tattoos would likely be the last thing they added as all the other things (model/skin texture/lighting) have to the checked off first.
Ok, so did a little digging...
Here we have one of the pictures of the new Polynesian leader:
Trying to find a comparison, the closest I was able to find were actually Maori...
As you can see, they have a similar cape-like piece, and similar necklaces. There is a difference with the cape however, and that is that it is made out of plant matter, and the traditional Maori piece was actually made from bird feathers (which is what it appears to be in the leader pic). Here's a couple of examples of feather capes from New Zealand...
The first one is made from kiwi bird feathers, and the second from kakapo bird feathers.
As much as I'd rather a Tongan or Samoan civ, it does appear that there's a good chance it is Maori after all. I don't believe they will give them the wayfinding ability, and it is certain that a Maori civ will be heavily militaristic, so it really isn't the Polynesian civ that I had wanted. This is disappointing, as I wanted a specific kind of Polynesian civ more than any other civ from the start, and I had been advocating for it a lot..
Hopefully there is either two Polynesian civs, or two different leaders of a blob civ, but I think this is unlikely.
First looks and livestreams version/versions is one and prelauch demo for press is second. They are different. In BNW for example you could only play as far I remember 50 turns with Morocco but you had a full acess to Civpedia for example. So if you had access to press demo you knew for example there will be Shoshone and Venice in a game while forums was speculating
PS but press demo come later. After official annoucement. So lately added builds are not press demo for sure.
I'd wish they change the way loyalty works. Now its basically just big populations that do the trick. I'd rather lessen loyalty with distance to the capital and have different cultures (occupying other civs' cities) like RFC in CIv4 did it with the stability mechanism. That worked really well. Small civs with maybe one or two cities shouldn't fall to big civs' population pressure. In fact, the other way round. Small, compact civs should exert more loyalty pressure on big, bloated warmonger civs. In the Revolutions DCM mod of Civ4 warmongering on a big scale was really difficult because conquered civs were always prone to independance.
I don't need any more districts and I would like to see air units be buildable and usable without so much infrastructure. That's really hampering the AI. Aircraft should play a big role in the Atomic era, currently its nonexistant. A district is fine to improve the quality of your aircraft but it shoudn't be a necessary condition.
What we know:
- A new expansion is likely under way. Eagle Pursuit pointed out it's unlikely to be a DLC due to the code name.
- Inclusion of a new male leader. The styling of the hair and clothing suggest polynesian origins, specifically Maori.
- The new leader leads a new Civ. None of the current in-game civs match the style of hair and clothing (see above), so he's not an Alt.
- New aquatic improvement, district or wonder. I personally *think* it's a tile improvement and not a district or wonder, but who knows.
Unconfirmed so far: - Unknown Blonde Queen ("Waifu.pgn" aka "Queen Doe") art posted by the same FourChan user who leaked the Polynesian leader. Through our collective efforts, tentatively identified as Eleanor of Aquitaine, thought some believe she might be Æthelflæd. Lack of context means this new female leader could technically still be a hoax.
- Possible release date of 14/02/2019. I've seen this date parroted around, but where are the receits exactly? - Name of the expansion. Its codename is "Vesuvius", which is an unlikely name for a Civ XPac.
Idle Speculation (don't believe unless proven otherwise):
- Potential Environmental or aquatic theme (spawned by the screenshot of the new aquatic tile improvement and the code name. We still have to see any concrete indication towards either)
- Possible inclusion of Italy as a Civ (based on the codename "Vesuvius". Same thing, no concrete evidence pointing towards that either)
Still seems strange to me. Can they really not do 2 things at the same time? And isn't the switch version developed by someone else and marketed by someone else? I know they probably think advertising PC stuff may hurt Switch sales, but is that really going to happen? It's 2 types of players. And even the ones that play both may end up buying on both platforms. I just can't see sales of one hurting the other that much.
I totally agree with you and, I know is going to sound like joke, but I would love to see a total revamp of the fishing mechanic. I think it would be great to have a new civil unit called Fishing Boat, that would work in a way similar to the merchant. It would travel to a sea resource, work it for a few turns WITHOUT CONSUMING IT, and then it would go back to the its origin city and give a good amount of food and other yields that the worked resource would has. The sea luxury resources would be available for a period of time still to be determined. The Fishing Boat could be upgradeble throught the tech tree, giving it the possibility to improve its movement and working speeds (to reduced the period of time between its departure and its arrival) as well as its load capacity to bring to the city more yields.
Imagine the gamplay possibilities with this change!!!! More piracy, diplomatic policies to adopt like sharing sea resources...
I totally agree with you and, I know is going to sound like joke, but I would love to see a total revamp of the fishing mechanic. I think it would be great to have a new civil unit called Fishing Boat, that would work in a way similar to the merchant. It would travel to a sea resource, work it for a few turns WITHOUT CONSUMING IT, and then it would go back to the its origin city and give a good amount of food and other yields that the worked resource would has. The sea luxury resources would be available for a period of time still to be determined. The Fishing Boat could be upgradeble throught the tech tree, giving it the possibility to improve its movement and working speeds (to reduced the period of time between its departure and its arrival) as well as its load capacity to bring to the city more yields.
Imagine the gamplay possibilities with this change!!!! More piracy, diplomatic policies to adopt like sharing sea resources...
I totally agree with you and, I know is going to sound like joke, but I would love to see a total revamp of the fishing mechanic. I think it would be great to have a new civil unit called Fishing Boat, that would work in a way similar to the merchant. It would travel to a sea resource, work it for a few turns WITHOUT CONSUMING IT, and then it would go back to the its origin city and give a good amount of food and other yields that the worked resource would has. The sea luxury resources would be available for a period of time still to be determined. The Fishing Boat could be upgradeble throught the tech tree, giving it the possibility to improve its movement and working speeds (to reduced the period of time between its departure and its arrival) as well as its load capacity to bring to the city more yields.
Imagine the gamplay possibilities with this change!!!! More piracy, diplomatic policies to adopt like sharing sea resources...
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And isn't the switch version developed by someone else and marketed by someone else? I know they probably think advertising PC stuff may hurt Switch sales, but is that really going to happen? It's 2 types of players. And even the ones that play both may end up buying on both platforms. I just can't see sales of one hurting the other that much.
