Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Trading Posts

[anandus]

If there's one thing that has struck many people with the new screenshots is that there's an immense lack of trading posts.
There are hardly any.
They also seem to be missing from the tech tree.

In the Pax Demo video there was something that is to be assumed to be a new trading post graphic:

Although it's not certain.

The mystery remains:
What has happened to trading posts?
Will they work differently? And if so, how will they work?

Any theories?

 

[Bisqit]

Good idea with the new thread . My hope is that we see a return back to Civ4 style where you start with the small cottage and they grow to become towns. Im hoping that maybe this might be the first stages of growth where it is just a small cottage or village. I was never too fond of trading posts I've always preferred the civ 4 style of upgrading as they get worked. I also like how they make the map look more populated especially late game. It is true though that if you look through screens or videos you don't really see trading posts at all. They aren't under pottery anymore either so only time will tell i suppose. I watched the video from pax and actually did see the tooltip that says "trading post" but it's obvious there's a change to them.

 

[Montov]

The new graphic for TP is more modern, and it is no longer available in the early game. I think it is at Economics, and gives 2 gold. No need to start at 1.

After the change to have TP with 1 gold, an later doubled to 2 gold, I hardly build them anyway before that, so it is a logical approach. That should make the pacing of gold more controllable for the devs to balance out.

 

[theadder]

In the Pax Demo video there was something that is to be assumed to be a new trading post graphic:

Although it's not certain.

Assuming that they haven't made a change since the demo that they showed us, my recollection is that this isn't "assumed" but definite; the mouse hovers over the tile and the description displays trading post.

It's possible that they just aren't painting the tiles as trading posts when they make up the games, but I'd like to think that there's been a more fundamental change regarding them.

Good idea with the new thread . My hope is that we see a return back to Civ4 style where you start with the small cottage and they grow to become towns. Im hoping that maybe this might be the first stages of growth where it is just a small cottage or village. I was never too fond of trading posts I've always preferred the civ 4 style of upgrading as they get worked. I also like how they make the map look more populated especially late game. It is true though that if you look through screens or videos you don't really see trading posts at all. They aren't under pottery anymore either so only time will tell i suppose. I watched the video from pax and actually did see the tooltip that says "trading post" but it's obvious there's a change to them.

I'd definitely like to see this.

 

[Bisqit]

I'm thinking (hoping) it might be something like trading post--->village---->town or something of that nature. There has to be something else though in my opinion. They can't just do away with trading posts in the early ages completely. The options will be pretty small then. You can basically just build farms, mines and the improvements for resources. That'd kind of disappointing if they disappeared in the early game. It creates another option.

 

[theadder]

The new graphic for TP is more modern, and it is no longer available in the early game. I think it is at Economics, and gives 2 gold. No need to start at 1.

After the change to have TP with 1 gold, an later doubled to 2 gold, I hardly build them anyway before that, so it is a logical approach. That should make the pacing of gold more controllable for the devs to balance out.

If that's correct, then there might be a bit of a shortage of improvements to build on the non-special [strategic, hills, forest] tiles in the early game. Economics seems to come a bit late for that. That's otherwise a lot of farming going on.

I'm thinking (hoping) it might be something like trading post--->village---->town or something of that nature. There has to be something else though in my opinion. They can't just do away with trading posts in the early ages completely. The options will be pretty small then. You can basically just build farms, mines and the improvements for resources. That'd kind of disappointing if they disappeared in the early game. It creates another option.

I'm not sure that they are going to end up doing staged naming; the original game did after all have increasing yields on the tiles with technology, but they never bothered to rename it. Even if we get different improvement graphics, it is presumably always going to be called a trading post.

Actual growth of the tiles from one type to another doesn't seem like the Civ V style.

 

[Hawawaa]

Coffee House?...

 

[Bisqit]

If that's correct, then there might be a bit of a shortage of improvements to build on the non-special [strategic, hills, forest] tiles in the early game. Economics seems to come a bit late for that. That's otherwise a lot of farming going on.



I'm not sure that they are going to end up doing staged naming; the original game did after all have increasing yields on the tiles with technology, but they never bothered to rename it. Even if we get different improvement graphics, it is presumably always going to be called a trading post.

Actual growth of the tiles from one type to another doesn't seem like the Civ V style.

Yeah, i'd really hate to see TPs completely disappear in the early game. I like to have options. I know the devolopers said in interviews that they wanted to add more depth into the game which is obvious with religion and espionage. Adding a growth over time tile would add more depth in my opinion. Just a small dose.

 

[ShahJahanII]

Coffee House?...

That is an Austrian building. The icon for it was in color, which is never the case for Unique Improvements.

 

[Camikaze]

I looked at the German screenshots and the only ones I could see a trading post in (same as the artwork in the OP) were this one (and the same bit of land here) and this one. Should be noted, though, that there was a lack of any improvements in a lot of them. Perhaps it's just that if these are mocked up screenshots, they might think that the terrain is more attractive when it's not cluttered by trading posts (though if they have new artwork, you'd think they'd show it off).

 

[Louis XXIV]

There's a money tech after Currency for the Middle Ages. I don't know what it is, but it could be there.

 

[MadDjinn]

they aren't going to turn around and drop in a Civ 4 mechanic for something that is in Civ 5 (post-launch). Gotta burst that bubble as there's too much 'hoping' for Civ 4 to encroach on Civ 5.

New graphic + missing at Trapping does suggest something though. If that is a money tech post Currency, then it's likely there, given that if they appear any later in the tech tree, we'd likely be broke (unless trade routes or other gold yields go up to compensate).

They can improve TPs in other ways though, to make them 'more beneficial later', just like civ 4 (but in a civ 5 way). The +beakers from Rationalism is one way they already do that.

 

[Bisqit]

I suppose they're probably not going to add in the growth over time cottage from Civ4. I'm just curious how much later they'd have trading posts come. That takes out an improvement for my workers to do in the early game. Is that good or bad? I could see it being kinda bad but at the same time honestly not a huge deal.

 

[Buccaneer]

they aren't going to turn around and drop in a Civ 4 mechanic for something that is in Civ 5 (post-launch). Gotta burst that bubble as there's too much 'hoping' for Civ 4 to encroach on Civ 5.

You got the right. Civ4 used to be my favorite game (just like Civ2 was) but I have learned to accept and adjust to new ways of playing civ. About half of the things from Civ4 were bad ideas to being (but apparently have achieved a mythological status among some) and not only should they have not have been in the early version, they certain are not candidates to be included in later version (e.g., espionage, corporations, health, growing TPs).

After an earlier patch, we (thankfully) have stopped spamming TPs in our cities but we still do so in every available hex in a puppet city. I wonder if that's going to change and what mechanism would have caused for such a change?

 

[Bisqit]

I agree with that. I had a hard time adjusting into Civ 5 from Civ 4 but once you accept the differences you can see that Civ 5 is the better game. After some thought it is probably honestly more historically accurate to have trading posts coming in in the later game. A 3000BC trading post doesnt make much sense.

 

[yellowdartfrog]

There's a money tech after Currency for the Middle Ages. I don't know what it is, but it could be there.

Presumably with Macchu Pichu, which has been moved and is currently missing from the other techs.

 

[theadder]

I agree with that. I had a hard time adjusting into Civ 5 from Civ 4 but once you accept the differences you can see that Civ 5 is the better game. After some thought it is probably honestly more historically accurate to have trading posts coming in in the later game. A 3000BC trading post doesnt make much sense.

I don't think that Civ V is the better game yet, but it is probably coming.

Ideally, there would be some other improvement added to the game to compensate for the lack of the early trading post. That seems unlikely, though.

 

[AriochIV]

We're not making it up; the tooltip in the PAX video really did say "Trading Post."

 

[Diego Havoc]

I looked at the German screenshots and the only ones I could see a trading post in (same as the artwork in the OP) were this one (and the same bit of land here) and this one. Should be noted, though, that there was a lack of any improvements in a lot of them. Perhaps it's just that if these are mocked up screenshots, they might think that the terrain is more attractive when it's not cluttered by trading posts (though if they have new artwork, you'd think they'd show it off).

I can't help noticing that those shots are from the Steampunk scenario. Perhaps this new trading post is unique to the scenario? Are there any shots of that tile from a regular game?

 

[AriochIV]

I can't help noticing that those shots are from the Steampunk scenario. Perhaps this new trading post is unique to the scenario? Are there any shots of that tile from a regular game?

Yes. The shot in the post directly before yours is from the PAX video, in which they were playing the regular game, not a scenario.