Snoopy (thumbs up). He's a fun guy... though I'm so going to school him in our fantasy league ;).

Oops... nevermind, he was in the OTHER Poly Fantasy Football league... my bad.

Snoopy, that's it. At least I had most of the letters right.

Gameplay Footage


Roman and Greek knights battle it out for medieval supremacy.





Civilization IV is a game about being able to shape history your own way. You'll take charge of one of 18 different civilizations from world history, and, starting in the Stone Age, you must build and expand your empire to survive the passage of time. You'll research new technologies, establish new cities (or conquer someone else's), and flourish. So who are these civilizations? We've been able to go through Civ IV's built-in Civilopedia to get the details regarding the game's civilizations, their unique units, as well as the various leaders to give you a peak of what's in store for you. Just keep in mind that the details are subject to change, as the game is still in the final stages of development. Civilization IV is scheduled to ship late next month.




Alexander leads the Greeks. Just don't let him become great.


Leader Traits:

Each leader has two traits that help define their behavior and strategies in the game. The available traits are listed below.

Aggressive: Free promotion of melee and gunpowder units. Double production speed of barracks and dry dock.


Creative: +2 culture per city. Double production speed of theater, coliseum.

Expansive: +2 health per city. Double production speed of granary and harbor.

Financial: +1 gold on plots with 2 gold. Double production speed of bank.

Industrious: Wonder production increased 50 percent. Double production speed of forge.

Organized: Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent. Double production speed of lighthouse and courthouse.

Philosophical: Birth rate increased 100 percent. Double production speed of university.

Spiritual: No anarchy. Double production speed of the temple.



Factions and Leaders:

Americans: The Americans start with fishing and agriculture. If the Americans can survive to the late stages of the game, they can take advantage of their unique unit, the Navy SEAL, which replaces the Marine unit. Washington and Roosevelt are the two possible American leaders. Washington's traits are financial and organized, while Roosevelt's traits are industrious and organized. Both favor the universal suffrage civic.

Arabians: The Arabians start with mysticism and the wheel. Their unique unit, the camel archer, appears in the Middle Ages and is a replacement for the knight unit. Saladin is the only leader for Arabia, and he is philosophical and spiritual. His favorite civic is theocracy.

Aztecs: The Aztecs start with mysticism and hunting that is already researched. The unique Aztec unit is the jaguar, a replacement for the regular swordsman unit early in the game. Montezuma is the sole Aztec leader, and he is aggressive and spiritual. His favorite civic is police state.




Mansa Musa leads the Malinese. He likes free markets and puppies.
Chinese: The Chinese start with agriculture and mining. Their unique unit is the Cho-Ko-Nu, which replaces the crossbowman. Quin Shi Huang and Mao Zedong are the two possible Chinese leaders. Quin Shi Huang favors the police state civic, and his traits are industrious and financial. Mao Zedong favors the state property civic, and his traits are philosophical and organized.

Egyptians: The Egyptians start with agriculture and the wheel. The Egyptian unique unit is the war chariot, which replaces the regular chariot. Hatshepsut is the sole Egyptian ruler. She favors the hereditary rule civic, and her traits are spiritual and creative.







English to Spanish

English: The English start with fishing and mining. Their unique unit is the redcoat, which replaces the standard rifleman unit. Elizabeth and Victoria are the two possible English leaders. Elizabeth favors the free religion civic, and her traits are philosophical and financial. Victoria favors the representation civic, and her traits are expansive and financial.




Tokugawa is the Japanese leader. You'll always know you're standing with other leaders in Civ IV.
French: The French start with agriculture and the wheel. The French unique unit is the musketeer, which replaces the standard musketman unit. Louis XIV and Napoleon are the two possible French leaders. Louis XIV favors hereditary rule and is creative and organized. Napoleon favors representation and is aggressive and industrious.

Germans: The Germans start with hunting and mining. Their unique unit appears relatively late in the game, as the Panzer replaces the tank unit. Frederick and Bismarck are the two possible German leaders. Frederick favors universal suffrage and is creative and philosophical. Bismarck favors representation and is expansive and industrious.

Greeks: The Greeks start with fishing and hunting. The Greek unique unit is the phalanx, which replaces the spearman. Alexander is the sole Greek leader. He favors the hereditary rule civic, and he is aggressive and philosophical.

Incans: The Incans start with agriculture and mysticism. The Incan unique unit is the Quechua, which replaces the warrior unit. Huayna Capac is the sole Incan leader. He favors hereditary rule and is aggressive and financial.

Indians: The Indians start with mysticism and mining. Their unique unit is actually the fast worker, which replaces the standard worker unit. Asoka and Gandhi are the two possible Indian leaders. Asoka favors universal suffrage and is organized and spiritual. Gandhi also favors universal suffrage and is industrious and spiritual.

Japanese: The Japanese start with fishing and the wheel. The Japanese unique unit is the samurai, which replaces the maceman unit. Tokugawa is the sole Japanese leader. He favors mercantilism and is aggressive and organized.

Malinese: The Malinese start with mining and the wheel. Their unique unit is the skirmisher, which replaces the standard archer unit. Mansa Musa is the sole Malinese leader. He favors free markets and is financial and spiritual.

Mongolians: The Mongolians begin with hunting and the wheel. The Mongolian unique unit is the Keshik, which replaces the horse archer. Genghis and Kublai Khan are the two possible Mongol leaders. Genghis favors the police state and is aggressive and expansive. Kublai favors hereditary rule and is aggressive and creative.

Persians: The Persians start with agriculture and hunting. Their unique unit is the Immortal, which replaces the standard chariot unit. Cyrus is the sole Persian leader. He favors representation and is expansive and organized.

Romans: The Romans begin with fishing and mining. The Roman unique unit is the Praetorian, a replacement for the swordsman. Julius Caesar is the sole Roman leader. He favors representation and favors creative and expansive.




Cyrus leads the Persians, and he's a fairly expansive and organized guy.
Russians: The Russians start with hunting and mining. The Russian unique unit is the Cossack, which replaces regular cavalry. Peter and Catherine are the two possible Russian leaders. Peter favors the police state and is expansive and philosophical. Catherine favors hereditary rule and is creative and financial.

Spanish: The Spanish start with fishing and mysticism. The Spanish unique unit is the Conquistador, a replacement for the knight. Isabella is the sole Spanish leader. She favors the police state and is expansive and spiritual.

want to play now.

how is the MP done - you handle it all in one sitting or is it like multi-staged thing where it can take like a week or two per campaign?

Quick, someone put my mind at ease. I would love to preorder this game, but after the clunker that was Civ3 I have doubts.

My biggest fear is there will be no AI for the single player. I have seen to many games in the past that forget about the single player and use the MP as a crutch for a bad AI. Since this game was programmed from the start to be a mutltplayer game I am a little worried.

Now, after reading the reviews from people who were brought in to play the game in multiplayer mode only, this has me wondering if all my fears are correct. If you notice all the site reviews posted here are for multiplayer mode, none are for the single player mode; I wonder why?

Anyone know anything about the game in Single Player mode only? I don't generally player MP games on the net, so this looks this game will not be a preoder for me untill I learn more about the Single Player experience.


BTW--This reminds me a lot of Railroad Tycoon 3

Please, please tell me that the leader traits (which is a great idea) are not static for a civ throughout the whole game? In other words, new leaders take over a civ that could have completely different traits.

And please tell me that the starting techs can be randomized.

These might be game breakers for me (as far as regular game play) if they are making these static and the same with every regular game.

I don't understand your beef with this. Wasn't this the case in Civ2, just that they were hidden? Help me out here.

That being said, traits and starting techs could be turned off in Civ3. I'd imagine they will be in Civ4, too.

Let's see if I can figure out where I'm coming from. In Civ2, the AI civs were all laughably inferior - except when we play with house rules (like OCC) or in a scenario where events can make the AI challenging. The AI civs, while stated they had "traits", in the end they all looked and acted the exact same way. Now from what I understand in Civ3, the traits are more defineable and hardcoded so when you see the Chinese - you know what to expect from them. It doesn't matter if it's 2500BC or 1940AD, they stick with the same global strategy. You say that there is the option to turn it off but that adds another bad solution (where they have no strategy).

My point is twofold: first, when we see an enemy civ for the first time, we should not know their traits. It is very good that they would have a leader with measureable traits but we wouldn't know how he/she would respond in the many ways we could interact with that civ. Second, those traits must change over time as leaders change so that when we interact with them again, we will get a different response.

I love the bonuses that a leader can bring - just like they do in MTW. But it cannot remain static throughout a civ's history. Same thing with starting techs, why should we always know the technological direction an enemy civ will start with? Once we start trading upon first contact, we will know then but let that be random. For example, let the Indians start with fishing and hunting. Nothing wrong with that.

If I want to play a game to where the civs act according to history, then I would play a historical scenarion. In the regular game, it should be about gameplay (re: unpredictableness) and re-playability.

I heart Buccc.. I appreciate the historical tendencies, but they shouldnt not be hard coded, and I worry if the paths are pre-defined in each game. In fact, that's bloody awful.

Hmmmm...I'm not sure that is accurate. IFor example, the Mongols were always aggressive and the Babylonians always went the scientific path, I'm fairly certain. I found that when I turned it off in Civ3 (the "Complete" version), they had a balanced strategy overall, and were pretty solid.

I understand where you're coming from overall, but I thought that was what the "random" settings in Civ3 were.

I can't fathom how you could play a game of Civ (mp or sp) in a single sitting.

Even though they's supposedly done everything they can to streamline multiplayer, I can't fathom it taking any less than a week (if not more, depending on how much people play) to *finish* a big MP game.

And I frankly look forward to setting up an epic scale multiplayer game where we can play a little bit every so often. It screams dynasty. :)

word

I never found the Civ 3 ai to be that easy, especially on the tougher levels. I've played the Civ series for longer than any other game barring the OOTP series. I'm pretty sure, from what I've read, that the leader traits will be hard coded and so will the countries various benefits. However, like Skydog said, you should be able to turn them off. I agree that I would like these qualities to change through time due to new leadership but I think that won't occur in this version of Civ. Nevertheless, I'm excited about the game and some of the new features it has. I am not necessarily excited about multiplayer as I rarely play any multiplayer game. Playing an entire Civ game in one sitting seems like it would be rushed.

i'm not interested in MP, as it applies to total strangers. my interest is competing against other FOFCers. i've long given up playing MP against total random people.

Btw, on another forum, Soren Johnson confirmed that Gamespot got something wrong. Philosophical means 100% Increase in GREAT PERSON birth rate, not population.

Oh, and Bucc, I'm sure it'll be exactly the same as CivIII with traits. If it was shifting traits, it'd be advertized with everything else. Of course, shifting traits would mean many, many more leaders. Perhaps there is a 'randomize' option.

one thing with MP in the past is the games are very long. they can go over 2 hours + to complete a game.

Yep...killed Monopoly's popularity...

To me, if strategy game in SP doesn't take 20 or more hours, then it's not worth the time to play. "One sitting" games are for console freaks. Most Civ2 MP games (and esp. PBEM games) that I know of have lasted dozens and up to hundreds of hours.

So...is this out yet?

I don't believe it comes up until late October, but I could be wrong. Something like the 24th or 25th of October is the date I keep thinking for some reason.

Ok - my bad. I got my months mixed up.

I'm looking forward to this, I got Civ III and was pleased but ran into many of the issues others have already mentioned.

3 weeks today! :D

I read this in the initial interview SkyDog posted at the very beginning of this thread:


I skimmed the rest of the thread but didn't read the entire thing. Has anyone ever heard this mentioned again?

I wish I hadn't read this thread... I don't follow the PC Games world like I used to, I didn't realize we were so close to Civ 4, but I need it *now*!!!

With word that due to Take Two's relative insolvency, they've pushed up Civ IV and features again will be "added in later patches" (read Buy the Expansion Packs, suckers!). This is now off my buy on sight list, and is becoming a wait-and-see

eh - that's worrysome. I think its making the same downward trek on my list now.

Elaborate?

Hopefully this won't be the suck-fest that Civ3 was.

Yes, it's a key component of the game. EVERYTHING will be modifiable. However, it'll be SDK instead of txt files. But the Game Editor looks wonderfully improved.

Excuse my ignorance, but I never played 3. What was wrong with it?

this is gonna hurt...

also, if you do a search for Civ3, perhaps limiting those results to blackies user id, you can find some nuggets. Not a big fan of the game, I tell you.

And one of the biggest fans ever of 1 & 2 as well as SMAC.

Sorry, I just don't like having a random number generator make it so it's impossible to win when I've completed 90% of the game. If you strike out on the endgame resource lottery, you're completely and utterly screwed.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...w_6133927.html

Firaxis will spend the next month finishing the single-player game, and we've learned that some other features will be finished after the game is released. Specifically, the multiplayer pit boss, which will allow persistent multiplayer games of Civ IV, will be released in December. Meanwhile, the software developer kit, which will aid mod makers, will be released in January. While that will undoubtedly create some disappointment, the good news is that the single-player game is looking good thus far. Civilization IV is scheduled to ship at the end of October.

And for the problems at take two, copying a post from the OO Board with links.

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr19260.htm
SEC nailed them hard on illegal accounting. (Second investigation underway now i've heard)

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/g...s_6129836.html
Class Action Lawsuits piling up.

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/breaking-news/index.php
FTC Probe with possible fines incoming.

SO, multiplayer will not be included? Is it still scheduled for the release date of Oct. 24?

Once I heard that the financial difficulties at Take Two had forced an earlier ship date for Civ 4, I gave up hope that the game will be purchase worthy on release.

I'd be glad to be surprised and have a great game at release, but I'm taking a wait-and-see approach to this one, and expect that I'll get it sometime next year, after they finish it and patch up the problems.

If single player is good on release that will be more than enough for me, though I am pretty disappointed to hear that MP and the SDK are being delayed.

Well, in one respect it makes sense. SDK will be released in January it says. They aren't going to hold the game until January. Especially if the single player is already done (and from all reports it has been done for a while). It isn't like Sid Meier is some toady. He'll have a good deal of say on when the game can and can't be released.. even if Take Two has problems financially.

Oh, and its ONE FORM OF MP, not the entire thing. You can play PBEM or just turn based. What is delayed is the pit boss thingy, which allows you to have a multiplayer game that just goes on, even if you are offline. You can log on at anytime and make your move, or do it by email. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it sounds cool. The rest of the MP will be shipped with the single player game.

I'm confused. :(

Ah, I can wait for January then to get the game. More time for The Movies.

this doesn't bode well at all.

if the AI is weak in civ 4, there no way i purchase it. i dont care how many different new features they add.

i will wait for reviews when game comes out.

So,
What exactly is being released, and when?

Here we go again. Exact same thing happened with Infogrammes and Civ3. Three expansion packs later and the game still was not complete. :(

As far as the SDK, I heard that it was Python scripting, which should be really good - if ever they are able to add it in.

Fun news stuff.

First things... you can draw lines on the map:



Secondly:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...hreadid=139479


Oh, and fun thing (same link):

Can you play online with just two people, and use the computer to fill the rest?

I'm sure... you could do that in SMAC.