Patch Information & Plans

[warpstorm]

I paid $125US so far for Civ3 its expansions with money that I worked for and don't regret it.

[snipped comments]

I will agree that an updated electronic manual should have been included.

 

[player1 fanatic]

The thing is that for patch 1.15 in its state, it needs a month to change from beta to final status.

But, as some rumors say, there is a 1.18 patch in the works, so it's obvious why they didn't met a "deadline".
Instead of giving us same old 1.15f, they decided to change a couple of more thing and then to release it.

 

[warpstorm]

The rumors are that beta testers are currently testing the massive sweeping changes that 1.18 brings about.

 

[Commander Bello]

Originally posted by warpstorm
The rumors are that beta testers are currently testing the massive sweeping changes that 1.18 brings about.

Wouldn't it be nice if things like that would be stated on the CivIII site, instead of telling us some nice stories about localization?
Of course, just under the assumption that those rumours would be true....

 

[Gogf]

What do the rumors say will be in 1.18?

 

[Commander Bello]

*If* there were really a 1.18 patch under construction, then it won't offer too much, I guess. (1.18 - 1.15 = 0.03)

Maybe the correction of the sub bug?
Or a slight adjustment to the corruption calculation. Diagonal tiles now count for 1.6 distance, while orthogonal tiles count for 0.9?

 

[Margim]

My computer's finally been cleaned up after months of not working... Civ conquests is up and running... Just wondering for thoughts on whether its worth installing the beta patch, or waiting for the supported version? Is the corruption so buggy I won't be able to cope?

 

[player1 fanatic]

1.15 is worth it.

 

[gen.dragolen]

Cmdr Bello,

Well hopefully there will be some fixes and add ons from the threads.

Part of the problem seems to be that Firaxis just doesn't let us know what they are up to:
- what elements are they working on ?
- how big is the beta testing group
- how long is the beta testing group given to beat up the changes ?
- how often do they plan on putting out patches to confirmed problems until they have Civ4 ready to go ?

Just like Micro$oft has found at long last, secrecy is not a selling point when your market is highly educated and particular about the product.

So how about it Firaxis ?


D.

 

[Slax]

I really hope they are not wasting their time balancing a new combat system.

 

[Harrier]

Originally posted by gen.dragolen
Part of the problem seems to be that Firaxis just doesn't let us know what they are up to:

I think you will find that Firaxis/Atari/Breakaway are about the only companies that give an insight into their plans. Most other companies hide under commercial confidentiallity.

We have been told we can expect an interim patch soon and a final patch in quarter two - for a game that has already been released. It is a game that in SP works (i.e. it does not CTD all the time), the only problems are gameplay and balance issues, which they could ignore if they wanted too. The MP problems are what are being tested at the moment.

I am sure the final patch will contain not just bug fixes but also a few other minor game improvements - at least I hope so.

We know they read the forums and respond accordingly, that is why they have announced their commitment to Civ4.

 

[Commander Bello]

Originally posted by gen.dragolen
Cmdr Bello,

Well hopefully there will be some fixes and add ons from the threads.

Part of the problem seems to be that Firaxis just doesn't let us know what they are up to:
- what elements are they working on ?
- how big is the beta testing group
- how long is the beta testing group given to beat up the changes ?
- how often do they plan on putting out patches to confirmed problems until they have Civ4 ready to go ?

Just like Micro$oft has found at long last, secrecy is not a selling point when your market is highly educated and particular about the product.

So how about it Firaxis ?


D.

From Tavis' posting which may be found here


Currently Targeted Items:
Planting Forests not returning shields, AI Pathfinding War Declarations w/ Invisible Units, infinite bombard, Anarchy Limited to 8 turns (weighting the roll for 3-5 turns), Religious requiring only 1 End Turn for gov't switch, Stealth Attack hitpoints listed & canceling possible, Tile Info displaying Terrain Defensive Bonus & ManMade Defensive Bonuses, Bombard Collateral Damage, load popup showing remaining movement points, worker gangs, conquest updates, civilopedia updates

Editor: setting max length of anarchy, setting combat rolls, enslaving to same unit, Debug Command for in-game reloading of Civilopedia/Scripts/Labels.txt, missing assets allowing continue into game, government-specific units, obsolete flag fixes, toggling palace popup, allowing civs existence without cities

Art: I am not going to be able to get an artist assigned. If any of the creators are interested in submitting City View artwork for the new Epic Game Wonders or packaging a Conquests City View Artwork, please help! That goes for these assets too: 2/3/4/5 unit Worker Gangs (full anim set)

MP: PBEM Reveal Map/Cheat, MP Specific Map Generation for more competitive maps (including tiny/small maps w/8 players), MPTournament Update, Aircraft Bombardment Messages displaying, Balance Adjustments (??? necessary - Enkidu 15??)

Translations: Full localizations for all of the Holiday Beta Patch text and as much of the new text as possible.

This sounds rather promising.
As I've stated somewhere else, I have the impression that the current game engine has already been squeezed out to the max.
So I for my person don't expect not too much changes in the future.

 

[Chieftess]

yeah, it *IS* a 10 year old engine after all. Plus, bugs can be reintroduced, or new ones pop up when you make changes (especially to the AI).

I'm just concerned about OOSs with regards to things like worker gangs, and enslaving the same unit.

 

[Gogf]

The 1.20 thread got closed, so I thought I should ask here:

1. About how long away is "soon"?
2. Why are they getting rid of radio?

If this is restarting a flame war, I'm really sorry.

 

[Sleepy Eyes]

The 1.15 beta works on some machines, like mine . But on some it seems to ask for the CD even if the original CD was in the drive. So I let him test my C3C (North American same as his) and it still said the same thing. It will be real nice to see the official patch come out because I cant even use the beta on network play because one machine wont take it even with two distinct bought CD's. Must be because it is beta. I look forward to the new patch

 

[Gojira54]

I REALLY do not like the Radio deletion. I think I may just stay with 1.15.

Why would the make such a major an unnecessary change in a patch?

 

[Gogf]

Why are they getting rid of it?

 

[Civrules]

Originally posted by Gogf
Why are they getting rid of it?

I would answer that but I don't know either.

Why did they?

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

Right around the time radio gets discovered by one or more civs is when the late game map trading bug shows up... just a thought.

 

[Pawel]

Don't you think that once they cut the Electronics requirement for Motorized Transport it made little sense to have just another tech in that chain? Increasing the cost for Electronics would have the same effect...