New IGN info (May 23, 2007)

[Methos]

I was refering to the same picture, i am hoping its a future era, not just scenario... if not then i'll simply mod it in myself.

I wondered about that pic myself. At first I thought possibly Afterworld, but Afterworld is not supposed to have cities. I'm thinking maybe another scenario than? It would be odd to see the addition of mechs in civ4.

 

[Catharsis]

The mechs are worrying, to say the least. I really don't see the point of mechs. Given the choice, would you rather ride into battle in an all-terrain armoured tank, or a bipedal robot that falls over whenever it goes up a steep incline?

(<- is still holding out hope for the inclusion of Empress Wu)

 

[sneaky]

@Bakuel

we viets aren't as well known for using elephants... and i'm not even sure if we used the canon-mounted elephants or huge ballista mounted elephants, but i'm pretty sure we owned those little mongol riders with our elephants...

but that, i must agree, is the most awesome unit i've seen...

also, judging from the other screenshots of the units, i see a Babylonian Bowman, a Sumerian (Enkidu?) Warrior, possibly a Byzantine Cataphract/Katapractoi... so if my assumptions are correct, we can assume that Sumer, Byzantium, and some southeast asian civ are in the game!

I think you got them all right.
Babylonia - Bowman
Sumer - Enkidu
Byzantium - Cataphract

The elephant unit will probably be the UU for the Khmer

So far it sounds like a great expansion. Visible trade routes, civil war, Vermeer references with Willem of Orange what more do you want?

 

[r_rolo1]

It is just me or there aren't no roads on the pictures ( just railroads) ?

 

[mjs0]

The new units look cool but I think the parachute texture is too low res. Btw is that "dirt" terrain in the spy picture new?

I think that is just plain old tundra, and tundra with oil.

What is interesting to me in that picture is that there are two oil so close together. I wonder if, with the new corporation feature, we are going to see some strategic resources grouped together, as they often are in the real world, rather than spread evenly over the map.

 

[bds]

It is just me or there aren't no roads on the pictures ( just railroads) ?

Maybe the display of roads gets disabled once you can build railroads? it wouldnt effect gameplay in the slightest as you would no longer be building roads anyway.

 

[Onagan]

But i would see where the roads are, because the faster movement.

 

[Lacaixa]

I hope those robots thingys are just a scenario and don't polute the main game.

 

[Chemtech]

Down with the haters

While I understand the sentiment (I dont want to play with dragons and unicorns either - at least in this game) BUT - the tech tree clearly carries out past the current level of technology, and yet all of the military units stop at what would be considered, at best, 1990's technology. Some minor extensions to the military units would be, imho, welcome. Although to be honest (playing only on prince so...) its never mattered to me to have even modern planes/bombers - although I usually upgrade just for visual effect

 

[PeanutBomb]

Arrrgh!

Not futeristic units in the standard game!

Please?

Well, we already have SDI and Space Elevator in Vanilla

 

[Danielos]

Well, I must agree that this expansion seems to be utterly awesome, and is likely to enhance and expand the game to epic heights and a complexity never before seen in a Civ game. Im grateful that the developers seems to listen to its´fans and incorporate so many of the features we have been yearning for.

My only worries is that the AI will have trouble handling all these new concepts in a satisfying manner, and that Beyond the Sword will make the system requirements even steeper, and make my 512 MB obsolete.

 

[ChrTh]

It is just me or there aren't no roads on the pictures ( just railroads) ?

Sometimes the screenshots in articles are from a worldbuilder mod for playtesting purposes, so they may have just built railroads instead of roads. Or it could be the 'Advanced Start'

What about this line:
"There is a reworked late-game technology tree"

They've reworked the tech tree?!?

 

[Danielos]

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/896/896712/img_4571442.html

That vehicle to the right, is it a Tank Destroyer?

 

[mostly_harmless]

I wonder will you be able to actually build colonies are does colonies just refer to regular cities that are overseas/far away from the capitol. Call to Power may have gone rather over the top but I wouldn't mind a bit of sensible near future extrapolation as we already have space elevators and spaceships to alpha centauri after all. (sensible of course includes giant killer robots)

It all sounds good apart from the espionage feature. Generally when espionage is implemented in games like this I set it full to defense and try to forget it's there.

 

[rabidveggie]

I was getting bored of advancing 2030 and still only possessing modern armor. Its probably not to much of a stretch to include mechs since we could probably make them now if they wouldn't be unreliable, and probably lack any sort of advantage over tanks at the moment. I'm stoked about all the new upcoming expansion.

 

[Paideia]

In continuation of the previous image comparison between the "Oranje" picture and period painting of Willem of Oranje, I found this image of Suleiman the Magnificent

 

[Virulent]

What about this line:
"There is a reworked late-game technology tree"

They've reworked the tech tree?!?

This was known back when the expansion was first announced. What we don't know is how much is being reworked.

They could be just shuffling things around (we already know they are pushing back calvary) or they might also be adding new techs or even a new age past modern depending on how futuristic they want to go.

 

[bonafide11]

I'm really surprised how many people dislike the Ottomans getting a second leader. In my opinion, the Ottomans definitely deserve one since they were such a large empire for so long. Though I also would like to see some other Civs with only one leader to receive a second (Japan, Spain...)

 

[marioflag]

From what the preview says there will be an Apostolic Palace for every religion or am i wrong?We can even call for Holy War...great!
If you see the picture where there is the Paratroopeer you can see that Apostolic Palace is really the Duomo of Florence, so it wasn't just an assumption.

 

[Lars_Domus]

Yesss! I'm all for Suleiman! I've been rooting for him ever since the Ottomans were anounced for PtW. And his leaderhead for BtS does indeed look Magnificent I can't wait to see what other surprises Firaxis has in store in the leaderhead department. Hammurabi, Pacal, Suleiman and Abraham Lincoln are plenty already - dare I hope for Justinian, Meiji and Harun al-Rashid?

There are corporations that can cause the productivity of your cities to skyrocket, and your economy to flourish. There is a new way to win the game through religion and diplomacy. There are on-map ocean trade routes that enhance the importance of your navy. There is a reworked late-game technology tree and a more exciting space race. There are colonies splitting from their motherland to form new civilizations. There are random events and quests that give each game a unique flavor.

After my previous rant about the lack of new information, this paragraph alone has gotten me all geared up. Now I really can't wait for late July!