Screenshot stills from the video: more content

[Ahriman]

From the Gamespot video
http://e3.gamespot.com/story/626533...a-first-e3-details?tag=topslot;thumb;1&page=1

Spoiler :

1. Diplomacy screen.
Note diplomacy options: Open Borders, Defensive Pact, Research Agreement, Cities, <other player> options, <strategic resources> options, luxury resources.
Not much clearly new here other than the obvious for limited resources)

Spoiler :

Combat modifiers: great general nearby, adjacent unit, flanking, terrain penalty.

Spoiler :

Anti-tank gun.

Spoiler :

City screen (note: 11 citizens, but city icon says 12 - new city has no citizens?)

Spoiler :

Tech tree 1.
Confirmed techs:
Tier0: ?
Tier1: Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Mining
Tier2: Sailing, Calendar, Writing, Trapping, The Wheel, Masonry, Bronze Working
Tier3: Optics, Philosophy, Horseback Riding, Mathematics, Construction, Iron Working
Tier4: Theology, Civil Service, Currency, Engineering, Metal Casting

Spoiler :

Tier 5: Compass, Education, Chivalry, Machinery, Physics, Steel

Looks very similar to Civ4, except lighter on religion and social, which are presumably in the social policy tree instead of the technology tree.

Does give a general feeling of being quite short though. Physics and Steel only 5 techs in?
Maybe there is a separate industrial era tech for mass-produced steel.
Very weird to have physics so early.

 

[atefcrown]

I think I'm safe in assuming that that's an advisor in the 4th screen.
Link to the video?

 

[Riot_Starter]

Physics early isn't weird at all. Physics is huge in the amount of things it encompasses. Even the basics like how pulleys, levers, and all the other bases for early engineering fall under physics. All these were very important to humans as they developed their pre-industrial inventions.

Then you move onto steam power which brings about serious study into thermodynamics. Even later, there are things studied in physics like electricity, magnetism, nuclear physics, etc. All of these are part of physics, so which one do you call "Physics" in Civ terms?

Seems reasonable to me to have an early "Physics" tech to cover the basics, then have later techs which represent big milestones in our understanding of the universe. So have a thermodynamics (or just be mundane and call it "Steam Power" ), electricity, a nuclear physics tech (or maybe just "Fusion" since all people care about are their nukes ), and later nanotechonology, lasers, etc.

 

[Ahriman]

Physics early isn't weird at all. Physics is huge in the amount of things it encompasses.

Using physical principles is one thing. *Understanding* them is another.
The physics tech in Civ has pretty much always meant Newtonian mechanics. The foundation of the modern understanding of physics.

You don't learn that in the medieval era.

Also; only a single tier for the entire classical era?

 

[Krill]

I'm still surprised just how many people care about the realism in a game.

Standard mantra from Firaxis: Gameplay uber Alles. The names of the techs don't matter.

 

[Riot_Starter]

I think we'll see smaller eras, but more of them. Ancient has 3 columns, Classical has 1, Medieval has 2 (the word is in the center of the bar, so another column wouldn't fit).

Physics at the end of medieval seems ok to me. Sure Newton is 200 years after the middle ages, but the end of medieval era (1500s) is the time of Galileo. Maybe something like Astronomy would have been appropriate, but I'm not big on nitpicking.

 

[Ahriman]

I'm still surprised just how many people care about the realism in a game.
Standard mantra from Firaxis: Gameplay uber Alles. The names of the techs don't matter.

Gameplay is what matters for balance and most mechanics; its what matters

Historic realism is important for general immersion and fluff factors, like techs.
There's no gameplay reason for physics to be medieval. As we've seen in every previous Civ game.

Physics at the end of medieval seems ok to me

Its not, its in the first tier of medieval, along with chivalry, coming off metal casting. Same tier as Compass, which was ~13th century.
Its ~400-500 years too early. Newton's work is mostly 1670s-90s. Looong after medieval.

 

[Shiggs713]

funny, they copied killmeplease and his mod for civ4 with the great general stuff, almost exactly from what I can see there.

tech tree looks kinda sad, lets hope we are missing something...

steel to me looks way more out of place then physics, but still neither belong in medieval times.

the rest looks pretty good.

edit: and i know some rare steel items have been recovered from bc times, but I'm talking when it was starting to be mass produced and used, ie around 1600's. There could even be a more advanced technology allowing for steel framed buildings, steel hulled ships, thats a completely different ballgame then making a sword. I would have preferred metallurgy or something in medieval times, then steel later in industrial but whatever, I'm pretty easy.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I'm going to hazard a guess that the Tech Tree isn't in its final form, though I accept that I could be wrong. Screenies look nice overall though. Thanks Ahriman!

Aussie.

 

[GigaNerd]

If that is, indeed, the final tech tree, I will shoot myself five times.

However, I'm glad to see that Calendar was moved down to Ancient, and Trapping seems like an interesting addition. I am not happy that I can't find Farming, Fishing, or Hunting. Perhaps they just weren't shown in the image?



Seriously: after seeing the evolution of the tech tree from Civ III to Civ IV, I was honestly hoping for more than this. May the lack of techs exist only in the demo!

 

[mjs0]

I am not happy that I can't find Farming, Fishing, or Hunting. Perhaps they just weren't shown in the image?

If you look at the scrollbar in the screenshot you will see there appears to be space for more techs off the left side of the screen. This is almost certainly where you will find the techs you list, except maybe hunting which may have been replaced with trapping given that the various camps for (fur, deer, etc) appear to be available with that tech now.

I always thought having to discover hunting was a little strange given humans had been hunter-gatherers for thousands of years before 4000BC.

 

[Thyrwyn]

1) Does anyone have any idea what the last worker/improvement icon under Masonry is?

2) I assume that the axe icon under Mining & Bronze Working represents chopping. Does this mean that you need Mining to chop, and BW increases yield?

3) It also looks like they merged Fishing into Sailing and swapped Harbors and Lighthouses (the latter appears to be under Optics).

4) Since Steel comes before Gunpowder, I think we can safely assume that it represents a something other than the Civ IV tech did: which seems appropriate to me.

 

[Commissar_Yari]

There seems to be way less technology, I don't like the look of the tech tree. I hope its just an early version that still has plenty to be added. Because the way it looks now, it looks like its going to make for real short games.

 

[Lillefix]

There seems to be way less technology, I don't like the look of the tech tree. I hope its just an early version that still has plenty to be added. Because the way it looks now, it looks like its going to make for real short games.

Not necessarily. Perhaps they have increased research time.

 

[need my speed]

Just look at the slider beneath the techs, there is around as much tech as Beyond the Sword had. Perhaps even more, as the Medieval Era starts after only half a slider...Perhaps there is a real Future Era now instead of Future Tech?

 

[civ_king]

funny, they copied killmeplease and his mod for civ4 with the great general stuff, almost exactly from what I can see there.

tech tree looks kinda sad, lets hope we are missing something...

steel to me looks way more out of place then physics, but still neither belong in medieval times.

the rest looks pretty good.

edit: and i know some rare steel items have been recovered from bc times, but I'm talking when it was starting to be mass produced and used, ie around 1600's. There could even be a more advanced technology allowing for steel framed buildings, steel hulled ships, thats a completely different ballgame then making a sword. I would have preferred metallurgy or something in medieval times, then steel later in industrial but whatever, I'm pretty easy.

That's quite Eurocentric thinking, Wootz Steel was invented in India ~300BC, you probably know it as Damascus Steel...

If that is, indeed, the final tech tree, I will shoot myself five times.

However, I'm glad to see that Calendar was moved down to Ancient, and Trapping seems like an interesting addition. I am not happy that I can't find Farming, Fishing, or Hunting. Perhaps they just weren't shown in the image?



Seriously: after seeing the evolution of the tech tree from Civ III to Civ IV, I was honestly hoping for more than this. May the lack of techs exist only in the demo!

1) There is space to the left for other techs
2) those "technologies are thousands (in the case of hunting and fishing maybe tens-hundreds of thousands) of years old...

If you look at the scrollbar in the screenshot you will see there appears to be space for more techs off the left side of the screen. This is almost certainly where you will find the techs you list, except maybe hunting which may have been replaced with trapping given that the various camps for (fur, deer, etc) appear to be available with that tech now.

I always thought having to discover hunting was a little strange given humans had been hunter-gatherers for thousands of years before 4000BC.

this is true

1) Does anyone have any idea what the last worker/improvement icon under Masonry is?

2) I assume that the axe icon under Mining & Bronze Working represents chopping. Does this mean that you need Mining to chop, and BW increases yield?

3) It also looks like they merged Fishing into Sailing and swapped Harbors and Lighthouses (the latter appears to be under Optics).

4) Since Steel comes before Gunpowder, I think we can safely assume that it represents a something other than the Civ IV tech did: which seems appropriate to me.

I'm pretty sure Steel in Civ IV represented Bessemer process steel, while this steel represent the original steel

There seems to be way less technology, I don't like the look of the tech tree. I hope its just an early version that still has plenty to be added. Because the way it looks now, it looks like its going to make for real short games.

probably is an early version

 

[CTH]

I agree with the tech tree... too small... I am generally a bit worried about the possibility for a dumber civ with much more focus on war... THe city screen looks a bit empty also, however in the interview a more advanced menu mode was mentioned (it is not clear if this was for the cities or something else)

Btw Granary is "free" in Rome... could that be the effect of the pyramids? Free granaries in every city?

 

[I tech faster]

I assume that the axe icon under Mining & Bronze Working represents chopping. Does this mean that you need Mining to chop, and BW increases yield?

I assume it let's you chop jungles.

 

[Thyrwyn]

I assume it let's you chop jungles.

Ah, that sounds reasonable, too.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Just look at the slider beneath the techs, there is around as much tech as Beyond the Sword had. Perhaps even more, as the Medieval Era starts after only half a slider...Perhaps there is a real Future Era now instead of Future Tech?

They have indicated that there will be that.


One important point... no distinction between prerequisites (no prerequisites in the corner)

It seems like all prerequiites are AND
Green=Researchable techs, have ALL their prerequisites Yellow (researched)
Black=not researchable (might have some prerequisites, ie Chivalry is not researchable even though Horseback riding has been researched.)