Civilization 6 Leader Pass: Duel of the Devs – 4/13 Livestream Event

By | April 4, 2023
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Announced during the 3/28 Rulers of England livestream, there will be a special event on 4/13 where Ed Beach (Civilization 6 Leader Designer) & Carl Harrison (Civilization 6 Junior Gameplay Desginer) will go head-to-head once again in a rematch for the ages.

Details are somewhat scant at the moment, however it was stated that the match would most likely be played on a small world with four civs total – two human, two AI. It appears that there will be an online fan vote to determine who amongst the Leader Pass leaders Ed & Carl will play as. A pool of four leaders was selected for both players from which the fans will vote on. The specific time and method for voting was not elaborated upon.

The first leader of each pull was decided by a blind draw of the hat from the Rulers of England pack. The second, third, and fourth leaders were then chosen by each player for their opponent in a back-and-forth selection process.

Ed drew Varangian Harald (Norway). Carl then chose Sundiata Keita (Mali), Ramses II (Egypt), & Julius Caesar (Rome) as the other three possible leaders for Ed.
Carl drew Elizabeth I (England). Ed then chose Ludwig II (Germany), Abraham Lincoln (America), & Age of Steam Victoria (England) as the other three possible leaders for Carl.

More information can be found as it becomes available here.

Racing the Darkness: A Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri Fan Fiction Photoessay

By | April 3, 2023
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Anyone who played Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri back in the day probably remembers the excitement they felt when they first landed on planet, not knowing anything about what laid beyond the shroud of darkness on this strange alien world, different to anything they’d seen before on Earth. While constructing your first base you ventured out into the darkness and started exploring the surrounding area finding strange pale blue oceans, huge mountains, scattered wreckage of your spaceship, ancient ruins, creepy moving fungus, hostile alien wildlife that could tear your mind apart, and other rival colonies made of former friends turned enemies.

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While exploring and discovering these things trying to survive, your mind possibly imagined all sorts of images of amazing alien vistas and landscapes, likely fueled by not just the game’s own cool art but also all the great scifi film and art you’ve seen over the decades. Well CivFanatics and AlphaCentuari2 forum user Axis Kast has taken those moments so many of us had and made them more real, creating a beautiful photoessay fan fiction story of life on Alpha Centauri covering the alien landscapes, the discoveries, the technology, the factions, their people, their eccentric leaders and the back stories of how they rose to power. If you love your scifi art, films, tv shows and games then you’ll see plenty of familiar images here while seeing how Axis Kast cleverly works them into the SMAC universe and his story creating a beautiful visual novel.

You can see his work in this thread:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre…alpha-centauri-fan-fiction-photoessay.682276/

Thanks to blake00 for this news item :).

April Fools’: Firaxis announces Civilization 2K23

By | April 1, 2023
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The Civilization franchise has long been one of the most beloved and enduring in gaming history. With each new iteration, developer Firaxis has managed to add new features and mechanics while still maintaining the addictive gameplay loop that has kept players coming back for more for over three decades.

Initially announced as “the next civ game,” many media outlets had dubbed the title as Civilization 7, given the franchise’s history of incrementally numbered sequels. However, in a surprising move, Firaxis opted for the number 2K23 instead, similar to 2K’s NBA 2K23 basketball series. Civilization 2K23 will come with an accompanied mobile game, Civ2K mobile, a 2K-sponsored esports league, and an extended support including a season pass and regular events to ensure a long-lasting multiplayer experience to fuel the esports league.
In-game purchases have become a common practice in games-as-a-service, allowing players to buy additional content and items to enhance their gaming experience. However, Firaxis will have to be careful to balance the implementation of microtransactions with fair gameplay practices to avoid alienating their dedicated fanbase. Only time will tell how this aspect of Civilization 2K23 will be received by players, but we’ve been told that “Meier-coins” would mostly be used for cosmetic items, giving even more variations to leaders outfit or units skins.
It is not yet known if other current hypes as e.g. dance moves, similar to Fortnite, possibly accompanied by a TikTok integration are planned by Firaxis.

In keeping with the franchise’s tradition of adding new features, Firaxis plans to apply a motto of “1/3rd established, 1/3rd improved, and 1/3rd new” to the leaders in Civilization 2K23. Players will see household names like Gandhi and the return of past leaders like Napoleon, as well as leaders never before seen in the series, such as King John of England or Emperor Nero. In a nod to the past, Civilization 2K23 will also feature the return of the changing leader clothing during eras, a feature first introduced in Civilization 3.

One aspect of Civilization 2K23 that is sure to excite fans is the expansion of the future era. The success of the “Giant Death Robot” in Civilization 6 has prompted Firaxis to expand the future era even further, as evidenced by the leader outfits. This suggests that players will have even more options for futuristic technology and warfare, which could bring a new level of excitement to the late game.

While details about the gameplay and mechanics of Civilization 2K23 are still scarce, the announcements made by Firaxis thus far suggest that the next installment in the franchise is shaping up to be another fantastic addition. If the past is any indication, Civilization 2K23 is sure to be a game that players will enjoy for years to come.

Picture: A current ingame leader model of Mahatma Gandhi. Leader styles will change, depending on era. The top shows the style in the first era in the game, the ancient era. The bottom shows how the style evolves until the last era, for which no name has been given yet.

Discuss Civilization 2K23 with us here.


Source:
https://www.kotaku.com/2023/03/Firaxis-announces-Civilization-2K23/
Other reports:
https://www.pcgamer.com/Firaxis-Civ2K23-official-announcement/
https://in.ign.com/civilization-7/979615/news/civilization-2K23-officially-announced-by-firaxis

Civ IV “Hall Of Fame” Update

By | March 31, 2023
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The Civilization IV “Hall Of Fame” has been updated again! The Hall Of Fame is CivFanatics’ continuous competition for the highest score. You need to play with the “Hall Of Fame” interface mod, and then you can hand in any of your played games, and achieve the high score among all CivFanatics! You can check the thread for the current update here!

24 games were accepted since the previous update.

Congratulations to Furchtbarer Halbmond for the highest score of the update with a Standard, Normal, Immortal, Conquest game for 442,932 points.

tsvyatkov was the most active player during this update, submitting 7 games.

Only 2 players were brave enough to take on Deity this update:

Firmlife – 1125 BC, Huge, Epic, Deity, Religious game for 26,780 points.
Firmlife – 500 BC, Huge, Normal, Deity, Religious game for 27,196 points.
Firmlife – 160 AD, Huge, Quick, Deity, Religious game for 26,237 points.
Firmlife – 320 AD, Huge, Quick, Deity, Religious game for 33,474 points.
garastas – 1496 AD, Standard, Marathon, Deity, Diplomatic game for 39,172 points.

New Number One Entries:

A number of players gained number one positions:

@Firmlife with a 160 AD, Huge, Quick, Deity, Religious game for 26,237 points.
@Firmlife with a 1125 BC, Huge, Epic, Deity, Religious game for 26,780 points.

@Firmlife with a 675 BC, Huge, Epic, Immortal, Religious game for 24,502 points.
@Furchtbarer Halbmond with a 2050 AD, Standard, Normal, Immortal, Time game for 33,768 points.

@ariosto with a 1110 AD, Standard, Normal, Warlord, Space Colony game for 301,492 points.
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A number of players gained a composite table High Score (i.e. Any Condition):

@Furchtbarer Halbmond with a 1280 AD, Standard, Normal, Immortal, game for 442,932 points.
@ariosto with a 1110 AD, Standard, Normal, Warlord, game for 301,492 points.

Humankind Scenario Challenge 08: Rags to Riches

By | March 30, 2023
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Amplitude have posted a new scenario challenge for Humankind!

This time your goal is not to conquer the world by military power, but rather with monetary power. You will be judged by your income by turn at the end of the game, with fame as a tie breaker.

You can read the full description here, or discuss this challenge with us in our forum here.

Thanks to our member Saxo Grammaticus for this news item.

Old World update #107

By | March 29, 2023
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Mohawk Games, the developers of Old World, have released the latest update for their game. This update includes, among other things like a lot of bugfixes, new events, a rebalancing of the families, and a ping system to plan your improvements. Discuss this update with us here.

Old World is currently available in the Epic Store, on GOG and Steam.

Civilization 6 Leader Pass leader pack “Rulers Of England” released

By | March 29, 2023
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The last of the 6 Leader Pass leader packs, the “Rulers Of England” pack, has been released today. It includes Elizabeth I, and two alternative personalities for existing leaders, Victora (Age Of Steam) and Varangian Harald Hadrada of Norway.

For a discussion of this leader pass and its patch notes please see here.

Leader Pass: Rulers of England – 3/28 Developer Livestream with Andrew Johnson

By | March 27, 2023
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Before the release of the last Leader Pass leader pack, there will be another live stream. This time it features Andrew Johnson, who has worked for quite a while on Civ and has researched and written some of the historical background, among other things.

The stream goes live on March 28, 11 AM Pacific Time, 2 PM Eastern Time, 7 PM UK time, 8 PM Central European time. The stream can be found on Twitch and on Youtube, and obviously we will have a discussion in the forum here too.