PCGamer GDC article

[turingmachine]

Most competitive MP is played without AI, so 'intrigue' would be somewhat useless..

Well, obviously if I was talking about a mixed AI/MP game I wasn't talking about competitive MP. Nor should competitive MP be the only style of MP catered to. MP AI, and its deficiencies, is something that comes up quite a few times on the board and its current state is game breaking for people that play that way. Besides, the way the quote was phrased was that they were deliberately turning it off. Competitive MP would play all Human players, so having it on or off wouldn't affect them in the least. It only affects people who like to play with AI in MP and it seems a conscious choice not to have MP AI comparable to SP AI (which again would not interfere with the competitive scene at all as they wouldn't play games with the AI slots).

 

[anandus]

PCG: You mentioned spy’s intrigue system, which lets us peek at what the AI is planning. How will that work in multiplayer?

Beach: Yeah, intrigue doesn’t work in multiplayer. You picked up on that.

PCG: Is it completely turned off, or could we use it on AI opponents?

Beach: I think the current plan is just to have it turned off.

So does this only mean the intrigue-system or is espionage totally turned off for MP? That would be a shame.

 

[PSPSoldier534]

I certainly there are more than a "few" extras. Much like I prefer to have 40 natural wonders but only see 5-6 per game, I would like to see a similar ratio for beliefs - to the extent that we could see a completely different set of religions and beliefs from game to game. This was one of the biggest negatives of religion in Civ4 - the same set of generic religions coming at about the same time and in the same order with their identical buildings.

+1. This system seems to be shaping up to allow just that. Especially on smaller games, where only around 1/2 of the civs actually will have religions, completely new ones will be possible, and even after many games, the wide variety of beliefs would still allow for fresh new religions.

 

[cuc]

As per the community thing, the Frankenstein groups existance is no secret (it's been around since at least Civ 4).

"Frankenstein groups"? That's the nickname for Civ community testers?

As far as I know, they have been involved since Civ3. However, wasn't one of Sulla's complains regarding Civ5 being that "this time Firaxis didn't ask for community help"?

If community help is part of the reason of Civ4's success, and lack of it reason for Civ5's problems, then community involvement in G&K is definitely the best news possible.

 

[Trias]

So does this only mean the intrigue-system or is espionage totally turned off for MP? That would be a shame.

From the context, I gather that they mean just the intrigue system. (I see no reason why the rest of the espionage system should be disabled in MP. (Although, I guess an option to turn it off would not hurt.)

 

[donald23]

"Frankenstein groups"? That's the nickname for Civ community testers?

As far as I know, they have been involved since Civ3. However, wasn't one of Sulla's complains regarding Civ5 being that "this time Firaxis didn't ask for community help"?

If community help is part of the reason of Civ4's success, and lack of it reason for Civ5's problems, then community involvement in G&K is definitely the best news possible.

According to the manual, the Frankenstein Test group did help with Civ 5. All the (nick)names are listed in the manual: http://www.2kgames.com/manual/civ5/ (page 197)

 

[anandus]

However, wasn't one of Sulla's complains regarding Civ5 being that "this time Firaxis didn't ask for community help"?

I believe Sulla's complain was that he wasn't asked for help

 

[WillBill]

The Huns confirmed. Spy out of multi-player games. Just bad news IMO.

 

[Camikaze]

According to the manual, the Frankenstein Test group did help with Civ 5. All the (nick)names are listed in the manual: http://www.2kgames.com/manual/civ5/ (page 197)

So people don't have to download the manual, here's the list of those in the Frankenstein test group:

Spoiler :

Abyss
ainwood
AlazkanAssassin
arcan
bernie14
Bob Thomas
bobT
C.Roland
ChrisWithers
claudelu
colonelmustard
dacole
Dale
DanQ
danthrax
Dominae
ekmek
freakmon
GeneralMatt
Gogf
Grey Fox
Gyathaar
Hugin
Impaler[WrG]
jdog5000
jmoskie
jobe
Kael
karadoc
KillerClowns
Locutus
loki1232
Lord_Phan
magnus333
Meredith
Ming
monoha
Nikis-Knight
Nikolai
Nolan
notyoueither
OgreBG
Opera
Peachrocks
Pfeffersack
Primax
rah
robin-uiowa
Scott-DTA
seZereth
SirPartyMan
snafusmith
snoopy369
Solver
TheMeInTeam
totallycres
Valkrionn
Velociryx
vondrack
WarningU2
Wilboman
xienwolf
yin26
Ztaesek

I should probably relisten intently to Polycast...

 

[anandus]

Spy out of multi-player games.

Intrigue is out of MP-games, not espionage perse.

 

[MadDjinn]

So does this only mean the intrigue-system or is espionage totally turned off for MP? That would be a shame.

Good Q. Civ 4 had the ability to turn off the 'whole' espionage system, so I guess it's a Q of 'do they make it so that only parts of it are turned off'?

"Frankenstein groups"? That's the nickname for Civ community testers?

As far as I know, they have been involved since Civ3. However, wasn't one of Sulla's complains regarding Civ5 being that "this time Firaxis didn't ask for community help"?

If community help is part of the reason of Civ4's success, and lack of it reason for Civ5's problems, then community involvement in G&K is definitely the best news possible.

Apparently, yes, that's what the name of the group is. As others have already jumped in, the community was involved in Civ 5 as well. Sulla complained that he specifically wasn't part of it, not that there wasn't involvement. But then again, that let him complain even more about the game.

I believe Sulla's complain was that he wasn't asked for help

yup, and I suspect that's part of the reason he dislikes Civ 5 (for real, not the stuff he actually complains about).

Intrigue is out of MP-games, not espionage perse.

possible, but we'd have to wait and see.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I think it's a mix of both. He felt the game, at first, was a bit contradictory with directions strategic options gave. Firaxis actually did a good job of listening to him and improving things. But there does seem to be a bit of a more personal bias towards the game too.

 

[Scarpa]

So people don't have to download the manual, here's the list of those in the Frankenstein test group:

Kind of strange to see Impaler[WRG] in there, I guess it explains why he tried to destroy Dwarf Fortress.