Civ4 : info & screenshots !

[Socrates]

My go at those important elements. I won't comment on the pictures (Shabba, I get red crosses from CFC ), because it is damn too early to have an intelligent comment, and the pics are too blurry, and we don't even know what they mean.


- Development is being headed by creator Sid Meier himself.
Welcome back Sid ! Good news, but I seem to think he'll just do like in Civ3 : wander in the room and have a comment or two with the designers or graphics freaks from time to time. I don't mind, this will guarantee quality, and I have faith in Soren Johnson anyway.

- Civ IV has been written entirely from scratch.
The best news so far. Period. I started to get a little understanding of the game industry when I joined CFC, and I now think that rewriting a game that started more than 10 years ago can only be good. This will allow more flexibility to make real changes, and they'll be able to forget about stuff that couldn't be properly fixed (maybe like how the turns are sequenced...).

- The 3D engine will allow you to zoom smoothly from a global view all the way down to a single city.
Quite nice, though it's not a real requirement from my part. I hope it will run smooth in every case.

- Individual units will gain experience and acquire new upgrades such as bonuses against specific enemy types and the ability to use enemy roads.
I think it is good news, if we get some simplicity in other combat areas, otherwise fighting will become a mess and time-consuming ! It will surely not be RPG-like, I think it will be a extension of what happened with Civ3's conscript-to-elite path and its leaders system.

- No more spearmen defeating tanks.
Wondering what it really means, maybe we'll get some unit classes at last ? Don't know, I was rather OK with Civ3's RNG, it pushed you to build a far greater army to gain an advantage (something I'm shit at), but it might lead to an even better combat system. Wait and see...

- Besides incorporating new technologies, the tech tree has been changed to allow radically different research paths to the same high-level technologies. Now you won’t have to follow a strict research path to be competitive later in the game – a design that opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
I have to see what it really means once again, but it seems that the tech tree will get a radical change from the previous versions. If it leads to no more no-brainers such as the Republic slingshot or the ToE-Electronics thing (at least in solo games), this is nice. If it helps making the different tribes look more different, all the better (either per se or in a different way each game).

- Civilization IV has been designed to fully support the mod community. The game is written using flexible XML data files and the Python scripting language so that modders will have no trouble at all creating their own personalized worlds, units, technologies, and historical events. Advanced modders will even be able to control the AI.
Once again good news. I'd like to mod myself but I'm so lazy, maybe it will help me to get something done ? I put this news into the same category as "the game is written from scratch". Events were missing in Civ3. Changing the AI can extend the lifespan of the game like no other thing !

- Civ4 has been designed from the outset to include the multiplayer mode. You will be able to team up in co-op mode against the AI or other teams of players, and a random-map generator ensures an equal start.
Great, great, great !!! Or to be honest : I'm relieved we'll get multiplayer immediately. To say the truth, I won't buy Civ4 until it gets a decent multiplayer option. I'll crack it instead, period. I can't imagine myself not playing the game in PBEM anymore, so that is THE one requirement. An intelligent random mapmaker (or so it seems) sounds very nice. We'll see if it is as good as our own mapmakers (I doubt it).

All in all, I have quite a strong faith in Civ4 at this stage. We'll see how it turns out. I for one don't mind (and even is pleased with) the radical changes that Soren seems to be doing. I'd like Civ4 to be more different from Civ3 than #3 from #2, and #2 from #1. The "rewriting from scratch" and "XML + Python" thingies make me think Civ4 will meet this dream. Hopefully it won't include thousands of new bugs and "wrong features", and hopefully we'll still have the original Civ feeling, at least Sid being there makes for it.

Good luck to the dev team !