[PC] [MAC] Sid Meier's Civilization V

[Nybble]

Hexes? More like Heck Yes.

Official site:
http://www.civilization5.com

Newspost with quotes from Sid himself:
http://kotaku.com/5474750/





Also, it was mentioned that there will be more long range weapons and deeper diplomacy.

It appears they are also making "Sid Meier's Civilization Network, a Civ game for Facebook." - I'm glad they are creating an alternative product, instead of neutering their main product for "accessibility".

[Confucius Rex]

Looks like my calender for 2011 is booked.

The hexagonal map seems reminiscent to older table-top wargames. With the inclusion of more long range weapons I'm hoping the warfare aspects will be a lot deeper now, especially since the battle system in Civ IV could be frustrating.
Anyway, it's still a little early to begin speculating wildly.

[icycalm]

Banned for not knowing how to separate paragraphs.

Edit: Also for posting unsubstantiated fagotries:

especially since the battle system in Civ IV could be frustrating.

[icycalm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxMUjyxv9Q

My god I love this game.

[icycalm]

For those wondering who said each quote:

1. Jawaharlal Nehru
2. General MacArthur
3. Admiral Themistocles
4. Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen
5. Mao Zedong
6. Eleanor Roosevelt

It's really an awesome trailer.

[MrPattywagon]

With the release imminent, the developers were kind enough to play some of the game on a live stream today. The 2-hour replay of that stream is up.

Part One: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9553042

Part Two: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9553920

The first part has the German player settle his first city and explore some of the map, fighting barbarians and meeting opposing civilizations. The new game concepts and mechanics are introduced, like social policies and city-states. It's a little slow, though, and not much happens.

The second part is the more meaty of the two, as the developers loaded a saved game in which the player's samurai are locked in combat with Napoleon's riflemen at a pretty steep tech disadvantage. The battles really were impressive to watch - I wish I had a computer here that could play the game at maximum settings. It's a joy to see volleys of riflemen and cannon shells cut swaths through the ranks of charging Japanese soldiers. Combat feels good, I can tell you. And of course the rest of the game will likely turn out great as well.

I've already pre-ordered the game. I can't wait for this, much like any number of people. I've even been playing some games of Civ IV in anticipation, heh.

[icycalm]

Fuck me. Most amazing thing I've ever seen on a computer screen.

[sand]

The "Active Overlay" view (shown at about sixteen minutes in the second video) promises to be very useful. This is the first footage I have seen of that screen yet I can immediately garner plenty of information. The graphics are gorgeous but they have not sacrificed an ounce of utility for beauty.

[icycalm]

Civ IV and V haven't been dumbed down. They've been streamlined in some areas, and then "dumbed up" or "dumbed sideways" in others. If the goal is to make the game more manageable, so that real human beings can finish it in sane amounts of time, then curtailing the number of cities is a step in the right direction. However, one should also reduce the number of buildings and units.

That didn't happen in Civ IV. Instead, they put in this religion system, which now has all sorts of new buildings per city, and for 6 different religions to boot! Holy City Chrome Batman do you think they could have given the production baubles a rest? Oh, and Corporations on top of that, if you didn't want to mess with religions earlier in the game because you're an atheist or whatever. Also they added a "unit promotions" system straight out of RPGs or "wargame lites" like the Panzer General series. So now instead of taking 1 mouseclick to get your unit operational, it takes 5. Now when stacks of units tromp around, you have to deal with 10 different offense + defense + buff + counter-buff permutations. It means that you usually have to sit around saving up for everything, lest all your elephants die on the points of spearmen spears or whatnot. Bor-ring! This is "dumbed sideways" because they took a system that works fine at a certain scale of game, like the relatively small hex Panzer General series, and glommed it into a game which already had far too much extraneous crap.

Civ V got rid of stacks, so now the buff / counter-buff is only between 2 units at a time. That's sane, and welcomed. Religions are gone; thank God. Like Civ IV, you still have "less cities than Civ III," but you've still got a Civ II / III level of different buildings to choose from. Which has always been too many. The game is still going to take forever, which is why I played the demo for 83 hours and then deleted it. I know how this is going to end up, I played enough Civ IV to know that there's nothing new. I've gone back to Freeciv, which at least offers me the same-old same-old for $0, and I've got it customized for a different play mechanic, namely "popping huts."

Oh, and Civ V now adds city-states, increasing complexity instead of decreasing it. They can't help themselves. They can only churn the complexity of the game in sideways directions, they really can't improve it.

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?t ... #msg438851

[MrPattywagon]

Expansion pack announced.

Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings is currently slated for a late Spring 2012 release.

It will come as no surprise to those of you who are familar with expansion packs for previous Civilization games that Gods & Kings will add more techs, units, buildings, Wonders, and playable Civilizations. But what about the big brand new game elements that will change the way you conquer the world? Let me lay it out for you:

Tons of New Stuff. I know I just mentioned it, but I want to draw attention to just how many new things we've got here: 27 new units, 13 new buildings, 9 new wonders, and 9 new playable civilizations. Among the new civilizations are the Netherlands (William I, Prince of Orange), the Celts (Boudicca), and the Mayans (Pacal the Great).

Religion. That's right; quite possibly the most requested major addition to the game is coming in the Gods & Kings expansion. Using the new "Faith" resource, you'll be able to found your own religion and grow it from a simple Pantheon of the Gods to a world-spanning fully-customized religion.

Reworked Combat System. The expansion has a reworked combat system along with an AI that places more emphasis on balanced army composition. Among the changes to the combat system is the addition of melee naval units, which will force you to really rethink the way you execute your naval assaults.

Enhanced Diplomacy, with Espionage. In addition to being able to establish embassies with your rival civilizations, spies will now be an important part of how you conduct your foreign affairs. Surveilling foreign cities, stealing advanced techs, and garnering influence with city-states are some of the things you'll be able to do with this new powerful mechanic.

New City-States. With religion being added to the game, it only made sense to introduce Religious city-states which will interact with your religion in special ways. In addition, Mercantile city-states will be attractive for those of you who love to grow your civilization's treasury. All city-states will use the greatly expanded quest system, making city-states more dynamic and diplomatic victories more challenging, while decreasing the importance of gold when dealing with city-states.

New Scenarios. Three new scenarios will be coming in Civilization V: Gods & Kings. Experience the fall of Rome, explore the medieval era, and my personal favorite: a unique scenario in a Victorian science-fiction setting.

http://www.2kgames.com/blog/civilization-v-expansion-pack-announced

[movie]

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/15/civiliz ... announced/

Civilization 5 developer Firaxis has announced the game’s next expansion “Brave New World”. We’ve also been sent a new image to go along with the reveal.

Civilization-5-brave-new-world-600x419[1].jpg (97.96 KiB) Viewed 28229 times

In a statement sent to VG247 today, Firaxis announced the expansion for a Summer release. It will add a wealth of new Civilizations, units and structures into the mix.

Here’s a check-list of all the new additions:

New Civilizations, Units and Buildings: The expansion features nine new civilizations, each with unique traits, units, buildings and all-new leaders, including Casimir III of Poland.

New Culture Victory: Spread your culture across the globe, dominating all other cultures. Create masterpieces with Great Artists, Writers, and Musicians that are placed in key buildings across your empire, like Museums, Opera Houses and even the Great Library.

Use Archaeologists to investigate sites of ancient battles and city ruins for priceless cultural artefacts. Become the first civilization with a majority influence in all other civilizations to achieve a Culture Victory, becoming the envy of the world.

World Congress: The importance of diplomacy is intensified and city-state alliances are more important than ever. Change the diplomatic landscape through a new World Congress that votes on critical issues like implementing trade sanctions against rogue nations, limiting resource usage, designating host cities for the World Games and the use of nuclear weapons.

Game-changing resolutions, vote trading, intrigue, and a new lead into the Diplomatic Victory ensures that the end of the game will be more dynamic than ever before.

International Trade Routes: Build your cities into hubs of international trade by land and sea, creating great wealth and prosperity for your people, while also spreading religion, cultural influence, and science. The number of trade routes increases through the advancement of economics and technologies, the creation of wonders and the unique abilities of your civilization.

Will you connect to a closer city for a lower payoff and a safer route, choose a longer route with more risk for the bigger payoff, or perhaps point your trade route inward, sending vitally important food and production to the far corners of your own empire?

New Wonders: Eight new Wonders are introduced, including the Parthenon, Broadway, the Uffizi, and more.

New Game Scenarios: Two new scenarios let gamers fight the “War Between the States” and embark on the epic Scramble for Africa. Fight the American Civil War from either the Union or Confederate side, as you focus on the critical action in the Eastern theatre of operations between the capital cities of Richmond and Washington.

In “Scramble for Africa”, the great colonial powers of the world are racing to explore the Dark Continent and extend their reach into its interior. Search for great natural wonders in the heart of Africa, as you explore a dynamically-generated continent each time you play.

[movie]

http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/12/civiliz ... -explored/

Trade routes

Initially, trade routes can be established between your capital and any city belonging to another player or city-state. Trade routes last for 30 turns before being eligible for renewal and unlike the more formal trade agreements that often involve negotiation (or flat-out refusal from certain sullen AI opponents) it is not necessary to obtain consent from another player to establish a trade route between your city and theirs. A small amount of gold, science, resources and, later, religious influence will be funnelled both ways depending on the particular strengths of each side of the trade.

To begin with, trade routes are limited in both the number that can be established and the distance over which the caravans can operate. Later on, cargo ships become available that can travel further and reap bigger benefits for both parties, but with the greater distance comes the danger that they might be intercepted. Perhaps the most useful element of trade routes is that they can also be directed internally, within your own empire. This allows for newly formed cities that so often struggle to get up and running due to the relative dearth of food and construction material to be given a helping hand by your larger, more established cities.

Archaeology

One of my favourite things to do in Civilization is strike out to explore the land around me, rolling back the fog and stumbling upon ruins. Of course, as we move out of the dark ages those ruins dry up and take with them some of the excitement of exploration. This is where the new role of archaeology and sites of antiquity come in. Opened-up around the early mid-game period, you have the option to train archaeologists archaeologists (whose units look more like this than this team) in order to uncover sites of antiquity, which are revealed dotted around the map in a similar way to resources such as oil and uranium.

Excavating antiquity sites reveals lost trinkets that can be used to create a landmark that provides a small but permanent stat bonus or they can instead be assigned to the new Great Work slots of many Wonders. This latter is important for generating tourism, which is the new culture-based stat that’s required in abundance to secure a long-term Cultural Victory. As a neat touch, antiquity sites leverage the game’s stat-tracking ability and so the trinkets might consist of weapon shards from a battle fought many hundred of in-game years prior and thus lend a further note of authenticity and consistency to games.

Furthermore, because Firaxis know it’s fun to stir things up, it’s also possible to conduct archaeological digs inside the borders of any civilisation with whom you have an open borders agreement, just don’t expect them to be happy about it.

World Congress

Currently, unless you’re eyeing-up a Domination or Diplomatic-based victory, there’s little reason to trouble yourself with making contact with every other civilisation in the game. Well, that’s set to change. Be the first to make contact with all other leaders and then research printing press to establish the World Congress, which allows you to propose resolutions for all leaders to vote on.

Resolutions won’t win you the game, but they will facilitate the opportunity to instigate collaborative projects that can aid the many or punitive measures that will burden the few, such as a standing army tax to help deter an aggressive. World Congress resolutions also instigate periods of tough negotiation as there are 30 turns between the proposal of the resolution and voting on it, which gives you time to make promises in exchange for votes from fellow leaders

Resolutions can also be useful for making up short-falls in your own game, so if you find yourself lagging behind in the science department, you can propose a resolution that makes researching technologies that others have already discovered quicker for those that have not. Other options include proposals that nations desist their nuclear weapons programme (though it does not disarm those already stockpiled) or to ban city-state trade. Each resolution also highlights those leaders that will be happy with you for proposing it and those that will be peeved by your meddling.

[Masahiro9891]

Civilization V Brave New World Featurette 1: Culture & Tourism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY39ljSkVQQ

Civilization V Brave New World Featurette 2: Policies & Ideologies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xt_pOK0Cw4#!

[MrPattywagon]

Brave New World Featurette 3: Trade Routes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7hEiMiOzos

International Trade Routes replace the extra gold previously earned from working river or coast tiles. You can now build special Trade Units such as the Caravan and Cargo Ship, and set them up so that they automatically follow a route back and forth between two cities. You start the game with two available routes, and more can be unlocked as the game progresses (typically at least seven or eight by the end of the game). Certain technologies, Wonders and civilization Unique Abilities increase the available number of International Trade Routes.

Note that the existing Trade Routes formed by road and rail connections to the Capital appear to still exist. Hence the "International" designation of the new Trade Route system. Dennis mentioned that these old trade routes are now called "City Connections."

bnw_trade_route_ui.jpg (233.57 KiB) Viewed 28078 times

Clicking on a Trade Unit in a city brings up a list of possible routes for that unit type from that city. Trade with one of your own cities can transfer food (if you have a Granary) or production (if you have a Workshop). Food or Production from an internal Trade Route are bonus; they are not drained from the source city's own output. Trade with a foreign city brings gold to both parties, the amount of which depends on a number of factors. Sea routes appear to be twice as lucrative as land routes (with an explicit "2x" modifier). Trade routes from cities next to a river gain +25% Gold. The per-turn gold value of the Trade Route increases with the distance of the route, the difference in local resources between the two cities, and the existence of Markets and other trade-related buildings in your city. In addition to gold, trade routes can also transmit religion, and cultural influence, and this transmission can go both ways. Trade with a partner who is ahead of you in technology can yield science for you. Trade Routes generate a positive diplomatic modifier with the trading partner.

Trade Routes last for 30 turns (on Standard game speed), after with the unit will ask to be reassigned, but it appears that the route can be manually cancelled at any time. The Trade Units operating the trade routes can be attacked, allowing you to disrupt other civilization's trade routes if you go to war with them. This also means your own trade routes must be protected from barbarians and enemy civilizations. There will be a player-toggled map overlay displaying trade routes ... A city may have more than one trade route.

Ed Beach: "Although both parties gain gold from the route, the civilization that the trade route originates from gets a larger sum of gold than the destination civilization. Additionally, other systems hitch a ride on trade routes, like religious pressure, science (science can be gained from more advanced civilization this way), Tourism bonuses, and more. Trade routes can also be created between two cities of the same civilization. Once the origin city has a Granary, it can send food to the destination city, and once it has a Workshop it can send production. This can be powerful if you have a new city that needs to be “pumped up”, or a city that’s constructing a Wonder that could use a production bump.

"A lucrative trade route is going to give you a positive modifier to your relationship with that partner, and if you’re spreading religion then you’re likely to see a benefit from that as well.

"In general, the Trade Route system rewards you for connecting two cities that have very different local resources. So, it lists which local resources are found in one city and not another, and the more of those you have the more gold you'll get out of the trade route."

http://well-of-souls.com/civ/civ5_brave ... ade_routes

Other interesting information:

Ideologies
It is possible to change Ideologies, but not when your people are content (see Public Opinion, below).

If you are the one of the first two civilizations to adopt a particular Ideology, you will be awarded one or two free "Early Adopter" tenets.

Ed Beach: "The different victory types are allied with Ideologies. So each Ideology is good at three out of the four victory types. If I'm going for a Space Race victory, for instance, I have to go either Freedom or Order. I have to go either the Soviet space model or the US space model."

The Ed Beach quote above comes from this dev walkthrough. Note that this apparently is a hard "have to". You must be in Freedom or Order to win in the Space Race; it is not merely inefficient or more difficult to do so through Autocracy. And this ideology-dependence extends to the other victory types as well. This post from a thread on Reddit points out that BNW's Steam achievements do not credit a Technological Victory through Autocracy, a Diplomacy Victory through Order, or a Domination Victory through Freedom. So no fascist space launches, communist United Nations leadership, or freedom-loving world domination.

Public Opinion
There is a new status for each civilization linked to Ideology called Public Opinion, which is displayed in the Culture Victory tab of the Culture Overview dialog. It measures a civilizations' satisfaction with their current Ideology choice. If another civilization with a different ideology begins to overwhelm your culture with their tourism, then your Public Opinion will begin to decline. Possible value are Content, Dissidents, Civil Resistance, and Revolutionary Wave. Some level of Unhappiness will be generated if this satisfaction level is anything other than Content. At an overall Happiness level of -20 or below the civilization will start to lose cities to revolt and may change the public's Preferred Ideology (you can find that preference in the Public Opinion tooltip). If this situation becomes bad enough, you may have to switch Ideologies to placate your public. This would presumably mean losing access to the Tenets that you have purchased. It's not currently clear what "revolt" means specifically, whether cities go into a state of anarchy, or whether they actually change allegiance to another civilization.

Dennis Shirk: "If I choose say, Order, and you’re Freedom, and I’m generating all this Tourism, my influence is going to start pressing on your empire and your people are going to start getting unhappy. If you let it go on too long, you basically have to either declare war on me or switch to my ideology. Your cities might start flipping to my civilization if they riot too much."

http://well-of-souls.com/civ/civ5_brave ... re_victory

Box art with triptych showing off the ideologies. Civ V on the television screens and microphone in the Freedom panel is a cute touch.

[MrPattywagon]

Brave New World Featurette 4: World Congress & Diplomacy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoW-PBdmLno

Nothing in there that hasn't been stated before, but we got to see how the trade screen implements vote-trading on World Congress resolutions.

While with civs we spy on we can see their voting plans, other civs' motivations "are a mystery." So when I devote spies to non-diplomatic goals, rendering me ignorant of their interests and resolution preferences, I can be aware of that ignorance because the game tells me I haven't a clue about other civs' Congress goals rather than tell me something absurd and false just so it can pretend I am making informed decisions in world diplomacy. If I do have a clue because I invested resources into the political game and then the AI votes differently from how my spies predict they will vote, I hope I can infer that their votes were bought by another civ or something rather than have a frustrated feeling that I'm shut out of the political game by the opaqueness of the system. I'd rather I know I misplayed. (This goes for all aspects of Civ V, I think)

[MrPattywagon]

Brave New World cinematic launch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRwDa5OSHtE