Occasionally steamy weather while our creators have been laboring away to present you a new set of items - featuring steampunk-flavored offerings from several of them.
CITIES
Joseon Dynasty in a new simplified style, by Ogedei_the_Mad
The Epic Mod of Epic Proportions by Meteor Man is available for beta testing with a re-done tech tree, new units, flavor units, culture-specific wonders, etc.
- 02m23s | Introduction
Informing who is Jon Shafer and Pete Murray of Firaxis Games: what does a typical workday for each of them entail.
- 05m09s | Definitions
Definition of a game designer, favourite part of the task and working relationship between departments developing Civilization V.
- 09m56s | History
Looking back at previous Civ titles to inform design decisions, and then all about the hex-based grid system: decision to use, progression through and getting oriented.
- 16m21s | Policies CiVV's Social Policies mechanic: particulars within variety, choice benefits and consequences, and overall balance.
- 25m49s | Religion
The reimagination of representing religion in the Civilization franchise, and good -- as well as bad -- relations with other civs in-game.
- 31m12s | Modding
First, future and inception of the CivV in-game Modding browser, quality review within and installation of Mods. Then, influence of CivIV's BUG Mod, and transition from that game's Python to Lua programming language in CiVV. Finally, evolution of Civ's modding capabilities and its furthering, CivV's World Builder, ability to add data to specific objects and personal preferences for content.
- 43m52s | Legacy
Challenges and comforts in designing a successor title in an established gaming franchise as compared to one that is new and untested.
- 45m17s | Comparison
Comparing CivV to CivIV on terrain and maps, and barbarians.
- 53m06s | Advisors
Setting CivV's advisors apart from those found in Civilization: II and Civilization: Revolution.
- 55m39s | Realization
Three words: Giant Death Robots.
- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Disembodied voices, getting certain medal figurines, adding a certain resource to CivV, exotic protein, and a couple of unmentionables.
PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; this is the seventh in its "Focus" series highlighting a particular Civ or Civ-related title. Sibling shows ModCast and RevCast focus on Civ modding and Civilization: Revolution respectively.
- 02m26s | Senate
Five Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword strategy tips from "obsolete" based on community forums' observations, panelists' self-identified weaknesses in gameplay and going after smaller or larger empires in consideration of vassalization mechanics.
- 21m20s | Forum Talk
What no technology trading, as set in the up-and-coming Civilization V, means to gameplay with comparison to its applicability within CivIV.
- 28m51s | News Allabout cities, happiness, gold and strategic resources in CivV according to thegame'sofficialwebsite.
- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Memories of some early Digital Rights Management efforts, voice actor for CivVrevealed and what else that may be revealing, and treading softly.
PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding and RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution.
Erkon follows up Gyathaar's SGOTM 10 Armageddon scenario with his post-apocalyptic vision of recovery from a nuclear winter. This Emperor level game will be played in BtS 3.19 with a customized BUFFY Mod to add a little spice .
The start files will be released on September 17 - narrowly beating Firaxis to some launch they have planned . So ... visit the Signup Thread to read all about it .... and then sign up to join a team for this game as soon as possible.
2K Greg announced today that the demo for Civilization V will be available at the 21st of september.
Please discuss here about the new info.
The original announcement can be read here.
The Civilization IV Hall of Fame has been updated. 114 games were accepted since the previous update.
Congratulations to iggymnrr for the highest score of the update with a Small Monarch Domination game for 1,515,324 points.
adrianj was the most active player during this update, submitting 15 games.
Only 1 player was brave enough to take on Deity this update
shulec submitted a 475 AD Large Deity Religious game for 24376 points
Gauntlet Info: G-Major 80 - Conquest, Monarch, Standard, Quick on Hemispheres with Suleiman (No Vassel, No PA, Barbs on)
1stThe-Hawk 1856 AD
G-Minor 102 - Space Colony, Prince, Small, Marathon (Barbs, Huts, OCC, and PA off)
1stKaitzilla 1170 AD
2ndLexad 1392 AD
3rdiggymnrr 1496 AD
** New Gauntlets Starting ** G-Minor 103 - Conquest, Noble, Small, Quick on Pangaea with Gilgamesh (See settings for 7 required opponents) G-Major 82 - Domination, Deity, Large, Normal
The Civilization III Hall of Fame has been updated. 9 games were accepted since the previous update.
Congratulations to Bartleby for the highest Firaxis score of the update with a Huge Deity Conquest game for 21869 points.
Ozymandius was the most active player during this update, submitting 2 games.
del62 was the most active player during this update, submitting 2 games.
templar_x was the most active player during this update, submitting 2 games.
Only 1 player was brave enough to take on Sid this update. templar_x submitted a 30 AD Standard Sid Domination game for 18305 points.
A number of players gained number one positions on harder difficulty levels: ignas with a 1320 AD Tiny Demigod Cultural 20k game for 8051 points. templar_x with a 850 BC Standard Demigod Conquest game for 18018 points. Ozymandius with a 170 BC Huge Emperor Domination game for 13733 points.
Congratulations to Svar for rising from 12th to 11th, to Aerinon for rising from 24th to 23rd and to Pacioli for rising from 28th to 26th in the Quartermasters competition.
Commiserations to Marsden for falling from 11th to 12th, to Scratcher for falling from 23rd to 24th, to zerksees for falling from 26th to 27th and to Sandman2003 for falling from 27th to 28th in the Quartermasters competition.
- 03m53s | News Civilization developer Firaxis Games has 20 of its employees laid off.
- 11m41s | Research Lab
Looking for a new way to expand one's empire, and incorporating United Nations peacekeepers in the Civ series.
- 29m11s | Forum Talk
Should farming be possible on hill tiles.
- 33m04s | Miscellaneous Dissecting the announced 'Special Edition' of Civilization V.
- Intro/Outro | Assorted
Name dropping not needed, a co-host cherry picking from fan-written CivV poems, substantiated -- or just wishful -- thinking based on a photo, call to a convention meetup in Germany, and feigning regret.
PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding and RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution.
A lengthy interview with Civ5 lead designer Jon Shafer has been posted on Gamasutra, offering a chance for readers to gain some insight into the logic behind Firaxis' decisions. It is an excellent read that reminds me of some interviews with Sid Meier that discuss the philosophy of game design. With that said, an excerpt:
Quote:
How long has the development cycle been now? About three years?
JS: We started at the very beginning in the summer of 2007. That was back when it was just myself and our lead artist Dorian [Newcomb]. It was a very small team at the time.
We were making big design decisions and exploring the rough art style for the terrain in particular. It was a little while later until we had a full team. It's 52 people now.
Dustin Browder, the lead designer of StarCraft II, told me they instituted the rule, "Every time we add a unit, we take a unit out," to keep the complexity from ballooning relative to StarCraft I. With all your new features, do you have that kind of balance in mind?
JS: Yeah. We felt comfortable with the level of complexity that Civ IV had, and we didn't want to change that dramatically, either more or less. It's been one of our goals to kind of keep it at the same level. Obviously, not all the features are going to be the same, but we wanted it to be the same amount of depth. We didn't have the literal "one for one" rule, but that's the idea.
How did you decide to remove religion, for instance?
JS: The main reason is that we wanted to go a different direction with diplomacy. Instead of having specific modifiers and numbers on the screen that affected relations between different players, we wanted a little more mystery and even more rationality behind the AI players. Religion was something that we think didn't really fit with that, because you could just send your missionary somewhere, convert somebody, and then they would be your ally forever.
We wanted you to have tools to affect diplomacy, but not so directly. It was just a completely mechanical system. We wanted something that was a little bit more mysterious. That was the main reason.
RC is the second spin-off of the Civ strategy-centric PolyCast; the modding-centric ModCast was the first such spin-off. Unlike either of its older siblings, RevCast has no defined segment categories; its second season is ongoing throughout the 2010 calendar year.
The Civilization IV Hall of Fame has been updated. 130 games were accepted since the previous update.
Congratulations to iggymnrr for the highest score of the update with a Small Immortal Domination game for 1,125,322 points.
EGJ was the most active player during this update, submitting 10 games.
Only 4 players were brave enough to take on Deity this update
Kaitzilla submitted a 1758 AD Small Deity Space Colony game for 129479 points, a 1305 AD Standard Deity Diplomatic game for 48525 points and a 1670 AD Small Deity Cultural game for 40107 points shulec submitted a 1857 AD Small Deity Space Colony game for 69705 points Sun Tzu Wu submitted a 1700 AD Small Deity Cultural game for 50544 points veryhard submitted a 170 AD Duel Deity Conquest game for 294424 points
Gauntlet Info: G-Major 79 - Space Colony, Emperor, Standard, Marathon with Washington on Oasis (See required settings)
1stLexad 1586 AD
2nderikthecelt 1763 AD
3rdiggymnrr 1798 AD
** New Gauntlets Starting ** G-Minor 102 - Space Colony, Prince, Small, Marathon (Barbs, Huts, OCC, and PA off) G-Major 81 - Diplomatic, Immortal, Standard, Marathon on Archipelago with Victoria (Barbs on)
A recent Civ5 preview on Stuff.co.nz offers a few new items of note and also some commentary on the extent to which Civ5 differs from Civ4 (indeed, some forum members, noticing the reintroduction of per-turn maintenance for city buildings, have claimed the game seems to incorporate some Civ3 elements).
Quote:
It would be unfair to claim that Civilization V is an outright amalgamation of Civilization IV and Civilization Revolution. The DNA is obvious, however many gameplay elements are clearly incorporated to extend the complexity of the gameplay, rather than simplify it, as was the case with Revolution. [...]
No matter the level of zoom, the world is a finely detailed entity, with subtle DirectX 11 lighting effects and clever placement of game assets complimenting your march through the ages.
It's a deceptive facade. Underneath the new hex layout and the fancy graphics beats the heart of a ground-up remake. The developer Firaxis, with the sweep of a pen, have managed to achieve what the real world has singularly failed to do - namely the abolition of religion. Temples simply add happiness and culture.
Gone too, any form of espionage. You can't even rename your cities. Indeed, it may appear from the outset that most of the changes introduced with the massive overhaul that was Civilization IV have been removed, or at least modified in a substantial way.
GameInformer has published an interview with Civilization V art director Dorian Newcomb about the art deco style of Civ5. Dorian Newcomb explains the reason for the style choice, and also sheds light on two of the new leaders in Civ V, what role classic LucasArts adventure Grim Fandango played in the game's early development, and how he and lead designer Jon Shafer "don't want to make a game for dumb people."
Quote:
Why is Civilization V so art deco?
It stemmed from a conversation I had with the interface artist on the project, Russ Vaccaro. I was describing how much I liked New York, and how New York had the feeling of the most important American city, and the sense that there's a lot of art history in the city. When you walk around New York, you can't help but see a lot of art deco influence in a lot of the Rockefeller Center area as well as midtown and downtown. I'd gone to school in New York, and I said, "Why don't we start off in New York, in the way that New York feels like a city of history, and a city that we're really familiar with?" Russ played a lot of Grim Fandango, a LucasArts game from back in the day, and that was very influenced by art deco and the Day of the Dead stuff. So my love of New York and his love of Grim Fandango pretty much took us down the first step in going toward an art deco look and feel.
Thanks to the author Adam Biessener for posting about it on the forums!
PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding and RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution.
Greg has been so nice to release the official requirements for Civilization 5, read them below:
Quote:
Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: Windows® XP SP3/ Windows® Vista SP2/ Windows® 7
Processor: Dual Core CPU
Memory: 2GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 8 GB Free
DVD-ROM Drive: Required for disc-based installation
Video: 256 MB ATI HD2600 XT or better, 256 MB nVidia 7900 GS or better, or Core i3 or better integrated graphics
Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
DirectX®: DirectX® version 9.0c
Recommended System Requirements
Operating System: Windows® Vista SP2/ Windows® 7
Processor: 1.8 GHz Quad Core CPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 8 GB Free
DVD-ROM Drive: Required for disc-based installation
Video: 512 MB ATI 4800 series or better, 512 MB nVidia 9800 series or better
Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
DirectX®: DirectX® version 11
Other Requirements: Initial installation requires one-time Internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client, Microsoft Visual C++2008 Runtime Libraries and Microsoft DirectX.
Internet Connection and acceptance of Steam™ Subscriber Agreement required for activation. See www.steampowered.com/agreement for details
Software license terms available in game manual and at www.take2games.com/eula. Non-transferable access to special features such as exclusive, unlockable, downloadable or online content, services or functions may require single-use serial code, additional fee and/or online account registration (13+). Access to special features may require internet connection, may not be available to all users, and may, upon 30 days notice, be terminated, modified or offered under different terms.
Joining IGN and the Escapist with their recent Civ5 previews is GameSpot, who published its latest article earlier today. The three page update includes a variety of screenshots from a gameplay session, as well as a video interview with Firaxis' Marketing Associate Pete Murray.
Quote:
Civ V now has a handy pre-battle assessment system that lets you, as an attacker, mouse over a potential defender to see how a battle would stack up. If the comparison between your forces and the defenders suggests a decisive victory on your part, you may want to go full speed ahead. But, if you're looking at a potential stalemate or worse, you may instead want to hang back until you can bring in some support units.
In addition, invasions have become at least slightly tougher to pull off because cities now have automated defenses (regardless of whether they're garrisoned with stationed units inside). If any hostile units are in range of a city, that city has the option to open fire on the enemy, and the city's tech level, size, and garrison will affect how much firepower the city has to use. Mounting late-game invasions of heavily fortified cities will require a large, organized, powerful army that can sustain taking fire from whatever arrows, catapults, or cannon are installed at the target.
Tantalizing temptation to treat. "
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The Civilization IV Hall of Fame has been updated. 114 games were accepted since the previous update.
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The Civilization III Hall of Fame has been updated. 9 games were accepted since the previous update.
A blast of select mistakes from the past. Then RevCast regular co-hosts 
