PC Gamer BTS preview

[JtheJackal]

Any chance of a scan of this pic?

Sorry I'm unable to do that, and i'm pretty sure magazines don't like thier scans of thier pages being posted on websites.

 

[Horizons]

Corporations might finally make settling cities in the artic surrounded by nothing but fars and ice more tempting. Maybe fur can be traded for food through corpoations instead of going obsolete in the late game.

 

[bonafide11]

I really want to know if this means the AI will still not go for a domination or conquest victory. If that's true, I'm really going to be disappointed with BTS... I mean, it really makes no difference to me if the AI goes for a culture victory or a space race victory, I wanted to see the AI actually make an attempt to win by force... If the AI still does not seek domination or conquest victories, it is by far the most disappointing news of BTS yet as far as I'm concerned...

 

[Gaius Octavius]

Rest assured, the AI will still seek those victories. This looks to be an implementation of the BetterAI mod, where the AI will seek ANY kind of victory. So it's an improvement.

 

[winddbourne]

This should be a GREAT expansion for us peaceful players though. Spreading a corporation I've founded is going to be a much harder choice than spreading religion was. I may need the money from my corporate headquarters; but do I really WANT to give the mongols access to OIL?

Plus a peaceful player no longer has the issue of getting stuck in the modern era with no Oil and no way to take the resource. Especially in multiplayer this made the late game a war mongers dream. I'm actually looking forward to the modern era for the first time since civ II. (I loved the spies in that version)

 

[Gaius Octavius]

I absolutely hate the ethanol bit, and I think it's utterly ridiculous. It basically "nerfs" the importance of oil, since corn is a pretty common resource (unless they changed that, too). And it's unrealistic.

First great spies, now this... BtS looks to have lots of good things, so I really hope these two features aren't as ridiculous as they seem. I guess we always have to take the bad with the good.

 

[TheLastOne36]

4 more posts and your at 700 Octavius!

And your right this is completely ridicules and unrealistic. Maybe you can get oil from either one, not just one.

Also maybe the importance of oil has increased or corn has another important use of which we are not aware yet.

 

[Joe Harker]

Why is it just corn you can turn into oil, why not wheat! Whiskey is flammable!

 

[Chrispy]

I absolutely hate the ethanol bit, and I think it's utterly ridiculous. It basically "nerfs" the importance of oil, since corn is a pretty common resource (unless they changed that, too). And it's unrealistic.

First great spies, now this... BtS looks to have lots of good things, so I really hope these two features aren't as ridiculous as they seem. I guess we always have to take the bad with the good.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but that will also depend on how many corn resources are required to make one oil. If it's 1:1, that seems unrealistic and overpowered as a way to nerf oil. If it's 2:1, then you'll need at least 2 corn (3 if you want to keep your health bonus) which is a little more realistic.

Another idea: would the corporation only make oil available in a city it has a presence in? That would balance it out; you can build tanks but only in a city with the corporation while someone with oil can build tanks in any city.

 

[Virulent]

I absolutely hate the ethanol bit, and I think it's utterly ridiculous. It basically "nerfs" the importance of oil, since corn is a pretty common resource (unless they changed that, too). And it's unrealistic.

First great spies, now this... BtS looks to have lots of good things, so I really hope these two features aren't as ridiculous as they seem. I guess we always have to take the bad with the good.

We don't fully know how Corporations work yet but it sounds like you would have to have access to the ethanol corporation in order to use it and if another Civ controls it you would probably be indirectly giving them money by utilizing it. As well you couldn't run state property if you want to convert corn to oil.

So I don't think oil has been "nerfed" but the Standard Ethanol company gives a Civ who has no access to oil a chance to stay in the game.

 

[TheLastOne36]

I think BtS is mainly to balance things out. Let's hope it doesn't end up the other way.

 

[winddbourne]

I have to completely disagree with Octavius. Oil in civ III and IV has been a vastly over-valued resource and it is likely to be available long before ethonal is, so players who do have oil will still gain an early modern advantage. Just not such an overpowering one.

As for spies . . . That's the best news I've heard in a long time. It's hard to fight a cold war without spies and the ability to manipulate other nations to fight for you. If it's done right espionage is going to be great.

Sure they could totally screw it up, but for now I have faith. I'll have my privateers and maybe even a terrorist or three, and I'll have my spies to stir up trouble. While trying to defend against your spies without nerfing my science rate.

 

[Grenouille]

I absolutely hate the ethanol bit, and I think it's utterly ridiculous. It basically "nerfs" the importance of oil, since corn is a pretty common resource (unless they changed that, too). And it's unrealistic.

It would be nice if you could transform coal into gasoline, i.e. synthetic fuel production like in Germany in WW2.. it should be costy, but give you the chance to build a few more tanks after you lost your oil supply, hehe.

 

[Gaius Octavius]

Well, perhaps I was a bit premature in my criticism. I forgot that this is only available to one civ, and chances are the civ that gets it will probably have oil. So it doesn't have to be a game breaker.

Crispy mentioned something that really caught my attention: resource ratios. This looks like the very first step toward QUANTITATIVE RESOURCES (here I go again on another tangent) which is sorely needed for Civilization. That sounds like the best option for ethanol, and is much more realistic. Needing 2 corn to make 1 "oil" would balance things out nicely, given corn's relative abundance and oil's scarcity in the game. That way they wouldn't have to change the existing balance and it all works out in the end.

[Post 700]

 

[Joe Harker]

I seem to find corn is found as often as oil on my maps!

 

[cbmclean]

I'm pretty excited about the corporations. However, I've been wondering about the two example companies giver. I wonder how useful the Standard Ethanol company would be. Obviously, it would be a vital strategy f you didn't posess an natuarlly occuring oil, but this would only be useful if the technology allowing the Standard Ethanol company was available soon after you can see oil. As, for the General Mills corp. I wonder what the net benefit will be, since it only gives extra food if it consumes a food-type bonus resources.

 

[chaz1356]

One thing that annoys me is that you cannot destroy the enemies nuclear weapons with your own.... I know it might be unfair with the turn based system but it feels so unrealistic.

 

[Lucky The Fox]

Crispy mentioned something that really caught my attention: resource ratios. This looks like the very first step toward QUANTITATIVE RESOURCES (here I go again on another tangent) which is sorely needed for Civilization. That sounds like the best option for ethanol, and is much more realistic. Needing 2 corn to make 1 "oil" would balance things out nicely, given corn's relative abundance and oil's scarcity in the game. That way they wouldn't have to change the existing balance and it all works out in the end.

This is the theory I also had in another topic, along with the possibility of different corporations requiring different technologies, Standard Ethanol in this case requiring a really late one so it doesn't ruin the value of oil so much.

 

[Martinus]

I'm pretty excited about the corporations. However, I've been wondering about the two example companies giver. I wonder how useful the Standard Ethanol company would be. Obviously, it would be a vital strategy f you didn't posess an natuarlly occuring oil, but this would only be useful if the technology allowing the Standard Ethanol company was available soon after you can see oil. As, for the General Mills corp. I wonder what the net benefit will be, since it only gives extra food if it consumes a food-type bonus resources.

Well, the General Mills corp would be very useful to spread to cities which do not have a lot of food available - especially founded near deserts or arctic/tundra tiles. As it is now, having abundance of wheat, pigs or corn resources does not help such cities grow, since it only negates unhealthiness, but does not add to actual food necessary for growth. Not to mention that having more than 1 of each of these resources is completely useless.

In fact, this seems like a middle-ground implementation of the feature I always wanted to see in Civ - i.e. being able to "move" stuff like food or hammers between your cities.

 

[qwert]

they said that corporations are going to be like religions, it could mean that the founder of a corporation is the first one to research a specific tech (¿Ecology for the standard Ethanol?). This would mean that the advantage of a corporation are limited to some players like that of religion. If you don´t share that religion or corporation you don`t gain the benefits of it.

If this is so i only hope, that you can ask a corporation from another civ to enter your civ without having to wait for his misionaries (i have never received the visit of an AI misionary), maybe through diplomacy or directly calling the corporation.