New stuff!
Well some should be new for everyone
(I write this more for the benefit of those who cannot/do not want to see the Gamespot videos and screenies.)
- Major upgrade to the Space Race window, a 100% improvement: a 3D environment where you can pick your components, assemble what's ready, and launch your ship when you want. The ship not only blasts off gracefully in the ship assembly screen, but also on the main map you'll see an amazing spaceship launch out of your city and you can watch it leave earth from the global/orbit view - the ship flies up into space leaving a long and epic exhaust trail behind. Really kewl!
- The minimum requirement to assemble a space ship and launch it is one of each type of component. However, the optimal numbers of components (5 thrusters, 5 casings, and 2 engines, and one each of the rest) is cited too so you can decide to launch a barely completed ship or work hard to truly finish it as a masterpiece of space engineering and hope it beats the premature junk other civs might launch! Very interesting to see this in a screen shot and video.
- The Japanese workers, and I assume the other asian civs too, wear the distinctive wide hats and asian-style tunic. Also I see totally diverse art for scouts too! I saw Indian warriors with topknots rather than wild long hair. Thus further confirmation of ethnically/culturally flavoured art work for principle units!
- Khmer flag: solid blue with red silhouette of Angkor Wat.
- Better art for modern towns; a modern city with many adjacent towns will look more like a metropolis (lots of urban sprawl, towers and even some skyscrapers).
- I've also noted plenty of kilts on the ancient european units! (Not just the Gallic Warrior and the workers.) Hawt!
- There are events that offer the chance to add +450 culture points, +1 movement to units, or -40% to inflation.
- There is a random event that can spawn a Golden Age! Thus not all events are bad nor are they all complicated with options.
- Saw this event announced for an AI civ: "The Persian city of Pasargadae took a direct hit from a powerful hurricane". Interesting... Also saw: "English infrastructure was wiped out by a deadly thunderstorm and the violent twisters it spawned."
- You can have a bad event at a resource, like poison gas leak at a mine, or in a city, like vermin infesting a granary or a slave revolt, and you will be given a few options to deal with it. I would not be surprised if these bad events and the costs to resolve them increase with game difficulty level... ! These events can happen to AI civs too - I've seen slave revolts announced for AI cities...
- I've seen some quests. Two I've noted ask you to build a certain number of buildings before a certain era, advising that a wonder could really help the results (if you have it), and you have to beat any rivals as well in order to reap benefits. Benefits unclear. Another quest was announced as completed by an AI civ: the "Indian cities have enough coliseums built to complete the National Sports League quest." Again the benefits were unclear.
- When you make a decision on some events that offer a menu of options, you will see a comment about what happened at the beginning of the next turn (along with other things we are used to already).
- Some events have generous choices, such as developing medicinal tea found near a particular city: +1 gold/turn from resource, 67% chance of +3 health, and +1 free specialist in a city - assuming you can pay 100 gold from your treasury to get the benefits started.
- Castles now generate +25% Espionage Point output in the city its built in addition to previous benefits. (Seems every expansion pumps up castle capabilities a notch!)
- Levees: +1 hammer on river tiles (within city radius); cost 180 hammers to build.
- National Park is a new national wonder: one of its benefits is it eliminates all unhealthiness in the city its built. There is a reference to Forest Preserves implying that workers make/plant them.
- Apostolic Palace decisions are announced, whether you own it, or are part of it's "cabal", or are totally uninvolved.
- Public Transportation (a building): 150 hammers to build, bestows +1 health, +3 health more if you have access to coal or oil.
- Paratroopers: strength 24, move 1, paradrop range = 5, cost 160 to build, can be intercepted by aircraft.
- Cristo Redentor: +5 culture, +2 GE points, no anarchy, no waiting period anymore (whoa!), 1000 hammers to build.
- Advanced Flight leads to Stealth. Mobile SAM has access to a new promotion (don't know what it is - extended range maybe?).
- City citizens can now be turned into specialist spies (just like having artists, engineers, scientists, priests, etc.) The new Security bureau allows you, as one of its 4 benefits, to turn 2 citizens into spies.
- Regarding espionage abilities: there are least 13 missions for spies, and 4 passive global effects from espionage investment.
- An example of a spy mission: a spy poisoning a water supply will cause +8 unhealthy people to a city that lasts 8 turns. Not sure about "8" being fixed or variable.
- The modern Great Spy looks like the 007 type! Complete with white blazer and black bow tie (and pistol?)
(Guy Fawkes is the name of one of them.)
That's it for now from me - time to sleep!
PS: Please excuse typos and gaff's - I am tired now... g'nite all
Got to love the event system!
