Strategic View!! Screenshots!

[Calouste]

Nice job

Looks also to be very good playability for people with lower spec machine. When Civ5 is released I think we should start a "Race to the bottom" to find out what is the lowest spec machine that you can still play it on. I have a Pentium III somewhere I might try it on

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I don't agree that these graphics look like they're out of the 1990's. Sure its 2D, but the quality of it is definitely on a par with-if not slightly better than-Civ3. Also, even if they were 1990 style graphics, its not like this is the main game. Strategic view serves a *very* specific function!

Aussie.

 

[Calouste]

cue people
1) claiming they need new pants
2) asking for higher res versions and finding what size map that is so they can figure out the number of tiles that maps size is

Looks to be about 50 by 80 hexes, which is pretty much the same as a Standard map in Civ4.

 

[PieceOfMind]

The first thing the graphics reminded me of were civ rev on the DS - not that that's a bad thing. I also found it amusing using "Civlization" banner over the undiscovered minimap.

 

[sumit1207]

What do the red improvement icons mean? First I saw a red farm, and figured it meant not irrigated, though that feels a bit extreme, but there's a red trading post too.

 

[White Elk]

Nice. No clouds to interfere with the view this time.

Can the game be played from Strategic View? I didn't see this stated in the article.
But a previous teaser tid-bit make me think it was so.

 

[playshogi]

I was hoping 'strategic view' would confirm play on a globe rather than a flat map or cylinder (flat map with east-west wrap).

 

[Snoopaloop]

Awesome info! Its sad that its the middle of summer, and i'm wishing it away for the release of this game.

and to complain just for a second..I don't like the looks of the mini-map, its to much flat green/blue. I hope its cleaned up a bit, as the one in IV was quite sharp and showed the different type of land well.

 

[mjs0]

Looks to be about 50 by 80 hexes, which is pretty much the same as a Standard map in Civ4.

84x52 would be my guess.

Game speed appears to be exactly the same as normal speed on Civ4

Turn 029 = 2849BC - Check
Turn 229 = 1595AD - Check
Turn 291 = 1842AD - Check

Although, given...Turns 29, 229 and 291...I have to ask if there is a subliminal message in the number 29.

A few more observations...

Still no sign of copper as a resource.
Fewer roads, no doubt about it!
I get the impression resources are more plentiful than in IV, but I could be wrong.
Minimap/Borders color scheme: The inner border color is used for territory color on the minimap, with the outer border color for the city dots. City state inner border line is always black.
2840BC - What is that icon in the forest (bottom left of the screen), it is on the left side of the hex and all resource are on the right. I thought it might be chopping, but the same icon is on the 1595AD screen on a plains hex (bottom left)
1595AD - It is interesting how the city state of Vienna is pushed right up against the Greek city of Knossos.
1595AD - Tough to see, but on the minimap it looks like 8-9 civs, and 11-12(!) city states.
1842AD - In the bottom left area south of Calixtlahuaca there is a hex in which a road is drawn red?
1842AD - CE looks alive and well in Kyoto
1842AD - Different shapes of unit icons - triangle=civilian, circle=military, shield=military fortified??, Large circle near Satsuma=????
Same Q as sumit1207 re: the red improvement icons. Maybe under construction??

Give me a few more minutes and I think I'll be able to tell you what Greg had for breakfast!

 

[brianshapiro]

strategicky

 

[tom2050]

I like it! And look at all the cities! The more the better!

The graphics are 3d overhead view, I don't get what is expected in that they look from 1990's? Perhaps that person can explain what they mean or what they are looking for.

 

[j51]

That's cool lookin'. But why do Greece and Japan both have the same primary color (white)? If they were next to each other, you could only tell on the world map whose cities are whose, and what of military units once the modern era happens?

 

[Shurdus]

There is a chance, and it's very high. I'd say it's somewhere between 94.6% and 100%, considering it's in the build I'm playing right now

Now wonder you are posting so little... You are too busy playing civ5 already!

The strategic overlay makes civ look like a board game and it looks so useful... It makes you wonder why no previous civ ever had anything like this. The more I see of civ5, the more I think I will like this game as one of the best ever made. I think civ4 is the best game I ever played so far, but this game has me thinking that BtS was just a warm-up to something waaaaay better.

 

[AriochIV]

Thanks for the screens, Greg.

As you can probably guess -- but I'll say it anyway -- we're hungry for any screenshots we can get, even if they don't demonstrate a formal feature. We're trying to get a taste for the game and don't have much to go on at this point.

 

[V. Soma]

What can be that blueish long shaped mineral resource
that appears so many times on the Middle pic? Some metal? Gem?

 

[Calouste]

84x52 would be my guess.

Game speed appears to be exactly the same as normal speed on Civ4

Turn 029 = 2849BC - Check
Turn 229 = 1595AD - Check
Turn 291 = 1842AD - Check

Although, given...Turns 29, 229 and 291...I have to ask if there is a subliminal message in the number 29.

A few more observations...

Still no sign of copper as a resource.
Fewer roads, no doubt about it!
I get the impression resources are more plentiful than in IV, but I could be wrong.
Minimap/Borders color scheme: The inner border color is used for territory color on the minimap, with the outer border color for the city dots. City state inner border line is always black.
2840BC - What is that icon in the forest (bottom left of the screen), it is on the left side of the hex and all resource are on the right. I thought it might be chopping, but the same icon is on the 1595AD screen on a plains hex (bottom left)
1595AD - It is interesting how the city state of Vienna is pushed right up against the Greek city of Knossos.
1595AD - Tough to see, but on the minimap it looks like 8-9 civs, and 11-12(!) city states.
1842AD - In the bottom left area south of Calixtlahuaca there is a hex in which a road is drawn red?
1842AD - CE looks alive and well in Kyoto
1842AD - Different shapes of unit icons - triangle=civilian, circle=military, shield=military fortified??, Large circle near Satsuma=????
Same Q as sumit1207 re: the red improvement icons. Maybe under construction??

Give me a few more minutes and I think I'll be able to tell you what Greg had for breakfast!

I think your mysterious icon might be a barbarian camp. The fact that in the 1595AD screenshot it is in a rather remote location would account for its late survival.

Large circle, my guess is a Great General.

 

[Wezqu]

What do the red improvement icons mean? First I saw a red farm, and figured it meant not irrigated, though that feels a bit extreme, but there's a red trading post too.

It might mean that its been build.

 

[Thyrwyn]

What can be that blueish long shaped mineral resource
that appears so many times on the Middle pic? Some metal? Gem?

I thought it might be Iron (looks kinda like an anvil), but then thought not - since it isn't in the first screen shot. It occurs to me, however, that maybe it was too early (ie: no Iron Working). I think the jar with the purple liquid is dye, maybe?

 

[aziantuntija]

This strategic view is a great idea and it looks absolutely great!

Almost like Civ1 with hexes and with more detailed graphics

 

[V. Soma]

I thought it might be Iron (looks kinda like an anvil), but then thought not - since it isn't in the first screen shot. It occurs to me, however, that maybe it was too early (ie: no Iron Working). I think the jar with the purple liquid is dye, maybe?

The blue anvil is surely Iron ,
but what I ask is the light blue one,
like one under Argos in the "Middle" pic (middle, up on the pic)