An Early Look At Civilization V

c0mpliant writes "IGN and Gamespot have each released a preview of the recently announced and eagerly awaited Civilization V. Apart from the obvious new hexagon shape of tiles and improved graphics, the articles go on to outline some of the major changes in the game, such as updated AI, new 'flavors' to world leaders, and a potentially game-changing, one-unit-per-tile system. No more will the stack of doom come to your city's doorsteps. Some features which will not be returning are religion and espionage. The removal of these two have sparked a frenzy of discussion on fan-related forums."

Civ4 with mod FFH2 is plenty enough

[AceJohnny]

I've recently discovered the Fall From Heaven 2 [civfanatics.net] mod for Civ4. It's the most sophisticated and complete mod for Civ4 out there. It's a fantasy mod set in a deep and well fleshed out universe [wikia.com]
It brings much more new concepts and content than both commercial extensions, Warlords and Beyond the Sword (although it requires these to work).

I expect it to keep me busy enough well past Civ V enters the discount bins. Having the mod ported to Civ V, however, will make me switch in an instant. Hint hint, Firaxis.

More previews

[Eraesr]

They've got a preview up on Eurogamer [eurogamer.net] as well.

Re:Tech tree to return to Civ 1 state

[Ailure]

There is no time-constraint to the tech tree in Civ IV. Civ IV simple made it harder to tech really quickly (especially since SmallPox/ICS was majorily nerfed). I play FreeCiv with friends at times, and it's almost ridiculous how fast you can go through the tech tree in a 1 vs 1 game.

Unfortunatly Firaxis have already stated there's licensing issues regarding Alpha Centauri due to the rights being owned by EA Games.

Re:Tech tree to return to Civ 1 state

[T Murphy]

I've only played Civs 3 and 4 (civ 4 is nice for a change, but 3 is better), but I know in Civ3 there is an accelerated production option which lets you finish the tech tree before 1300 AD on a large, full game. You can make a map and remove the 4-turn minimum, which would probably allow you to start nuking by 1000 AD if you lead in GNP.

Re:New AI

[Brownstar]

You're right for most people, they probably don't care, which is why the Game presents it in basic terms.

But, if you're on of the ones that truly cares, all of that information is in plain text format (marked up in XML) in the /Assets/XML/GameInfo directory. (You can even change it if you want).

The file that addresses the changes in difficulty specifically is: CIV4HandicapInfo.xml

But also realize that some of these factors are also modified based on world size, and turn speed as well. (Possibly some other things that I've forgotten as well).

I know Civ3 and Alpha Centauri had similar files, and If I remember correctly, I beleive even Civ2 stored all of this information in text files that could be modified.

Which is one of the reasons that the various Civ's have always been so modable.

Re:I was never good at Civ

[Anonymous Coward]

I am pretty much in the same position. I love the Civ games and have done since I first played the original on the Amiga 500 - but I am quite hopeless at it and always have to play it on one of the lowest skill settings.

Once I get beyond about six cities I tend to lose track of what I was doing and I find building armies up waging war a bit boring.

Re:I'm already excited

[SteveFoerster]

Well, if you're going to put princesses and swords, you might as well throw in religion. In what universe is a meter long "light-sabre" preferable to a handheld particle weapon?

So, then what you're saying is that hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side?

Re:Obligatory atheist flamebait

[SuiteSisterMary]

That could work. It's only relatively recently that 'religion' and 'culture' wern't pretty much inextricably intertwined.

Hell, most offshoots of religions come from taking a 'foreign' religion, and changing bits of it to fit your culture.

So,if in, in Civ5, instead of spreading 'hinduism' or 'buddhism,' I'm spreading 'aztec culture' or whatever, great.

Re:I'm already excited

[Anonymous Coward]

How about Dune, then? Does that work for you?

Re:I'm already excited

[An ominous Cow art]

Yeah, and it doesn't take a Kwisatz Haderach to foresee that religion will be around for a long time...

Dwarves dig deep

[HeckRuler]

"Advanced" is a rather subjective term for games. Dwarf fortress [bay12games.com] (DO IT!) is a revolutionary game due to it's depth. It is a civ-like game that drills down to the individual left-pinky finger that holds the gem-encrusted ring (that menaces with spikes of iron) which makes the noble dwarf more confident in his finances so he drives a harder bargain bartering for the weapons traded to the Elves which ultimately causes their raid on the orc stronghold to fail and changes the political currents of the region.
DEPTH.

CPU crushing depth. Even if it dealt with mutli-cores better, it still wouldn't skip right along.

Re:New AI

[Lunoria]

Stardock is releasing Elemental: War of Magic later this year. It is in a similar vein to Masters of Magic.

Not sure if serious...

[Blakey Rat]

I have no clue if you're serious or not. There are about a billion games that meet your requirements, so I suppose by your logic they're all Wesnoth clones. Of course, since Wesnoth itself is a clone of the Warlords series of games, maybe you should just shut your trap, eh?

And if I got trolled-- sorry all.