Alright boyz, here we go!! Civilization IV first impressions...

[jbmagic]

I notice the AI likes to go for Space victories only.

I was reading in other forums that if you disable space victory, it hurts the AI.

It hurts the AI because it is the only victory condition it is any good at pursuing.

It hurts the AI so much that it pretty much cripples any hope it could have of winning, since the AI is only programmed to win a space race victory, and if it achieves any other kind of victory, it's by pure chance and not even on purpose.

I've noticed that when I play with space victory turned off the AI follows a much different tech strategy. You'll see them go for more militaristic techs sooner, which will make it harder for you, but they're still not aggressive enough to pull off any other kind of victory.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

I've noticed that when I play with space victory turned off the AI follows a much different tech strategy. You'll see them go for more militaristic techs sooner, which will make it harder for you, but they're still not aggressive enough to pull off any other kind of victory.

They've been aggressive enough to keep me in second place so they win by a score victory when time runs out...

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

I notice the AI likes to go for Space victories only.

I was reading in other forums that if you disable space victory, it hurts the AI.

It hurts the AI because it is the only victory condition it is any good at pursuing.

It hurts the AI so much that it pretty much cripples any hope it could have of winning, since the AI is only programmed to win a space race victory, and if it achieves any other kind of victory, it's by pure chance and not even on purpose.

I've noticed that when I play with space victory turned off the AI follows a much different tech strategy. You'll see them go for more militaristic techs sooner, which will make it harder for you, but they're still not aggressive enough to pull off any other kind of victory.

I've read (and noticed) the same thing. So I've started puting the annoying space race victory back.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

I've read (and noticed) the same thing. So I've started puting the annoying space race victory back.

Yep

Hopefully one day someone with knowledge of the SDK and xml files will make the AI go for different kind of victories.

This game is still fun. I like it way more than civ 3 conquest.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

Yep

Hopefully one day someone with knowledge of the SDK and xml files will make the AI go for different kind of victories.

This game is still fun. I like it way more than civ 3 conquest.

I'm going to go ahead and agree with you for the second time in this thread. don't tell anyone. The Movies has been stealing all my laptop attention lately, but I've been itching to get another Civ game started up.

[jbmagic]

Civilization IV: Warlords Expansion News

Warlords Preview on PC.IGN

posted by Thunderfall at 04-28-2006 19:10 | comments: 1

PC.IGN has also published a preview of the upcoming Warlords expansion pack. Lead programmer Alex Mantzaris (aka alexman) provided some good info about the Warlord unit and the vassal states option, revealed the six new civilizations and their leaders, and gave several examples of civ-specific buildings. Now all 10 new leaders are known.

Here is a summary of the new info:

• The new Warlord unit emerges as your civilization gains combat experience. You can use them just like other Great People to discover technologies, start golden ages, and join cities as Great Specialists. The real special ability of a Warlord though is to venture out into the field and attach themselves to military units. The units attached to these leaders gain combat advantages.
  
• The six new civilizations and their leaders are the Zulus (Shaka), the Celts (Brennus), the Carthaginians (Hannibal), the Vikings (Ragnar), the Ottomans (Mehmed II), and the Koreans (Wang Kon). The new civilizations have the same unique unit as in Civ3, with the exception of the Ottomans. The Ottomans's unique unit is the Janissaries (in Civ3 it was Sipahi). Rameses II is confirmed as the new leader of Egypt.
  
• Some of the civ-specific buildings are the American Mall, the German Assembly Plant, the Roman Forum, the Greek Odeon, the Spanish Citadel, the French Salon, the English Stock Exchange and the Aztec Sacrificial Altar.
  
• Vassal states is like an "asymmetric alliance." Basically, one civilization serves as the master in the relationship and collects tribute from the weaker, vassal nation. The vassal nation is automatically at war with any of the master nation's enemies. Most importantly, the vassal's land counts as the master's land for domination purposes. You can get a nation to be your vassal if you can get them to "trust you enough to protect them or if they're scared enough of your power."

Five new screenshots from the Alexander's Conquests and Genghis Khan scenarios are included. In two of the screenshots, there is a unit carrying a golden shield and a longsword. Could that unit be the new Warlord (Great General) unit?

Screenshots: Alexander Conquest, Alexander's Army, Greek City, Mongol Horde, Still more Mongol Horde.

Thanks to arkammler for posting about it.

>> Discuss this preview on the forum

Civ4 Warlords Q&A on GameSpot

posted by Thunderfall at 04-28-2006 13:01 | comments: 1

Yesterday GameSpot posted a Civilization IV: Warlords Q&A with producer Jesse Smith. Some questions asked and answered include why Firaxis chose the warlords topic for the expansion, the time period of the scenarios, new leaders, unique scenario features, vassal states, civ-specific building, and when Firaxis started working on the expansion. Here is a summary of the more interesting info:

• There are 10 new leaders in the expansion. Four of the existing civilizations will each have a new leader and the six new civilizations will each have a leader as well.
  
• An example of special scenario feature can be found in the Genghis Khan mod. "In that scenario, the Mongols build new units from a unit called a 'settler camp.' This is a mobile unit which can travel with the Mongol armies as they advance. This makes it feel more like you are a leader of a nomadic tribe of people, allowing you to pillage and destroy captured cities rather than being forced to hold onto them to increase production."
  
• Firaxis began the plan for the expansion prior to the release of Civ IV and design work began a couple of weeks after the release. Production of the art assets began in January.
  
• Vassal states feature: "This diplomatic option allows you to let opponents that you have beaten down to just a few cities become your vassals. They pay you money and provide you with support. "
  
• Each civilization will have a unique building.

Six new screenshots are included. They are the Great Wall wonder, Hannibal, Chinese city graphics, Roman cities, Greek city, and Greek city buildings.

The Warlords expansion is expected to come out in the summer. For a list of Warlords features and scenarios, check out the previously released Warlords fact sheet.

Thanks to xxaaaxx for the news tip.

>>

[Schmidty]

Question - how does one play this game without having the CD in the drive? I've been people mentioning, but I have no idea how to do it.

If this is something that's considered bad, I apologize.

[Qwikshot]

Yes, but how is the AI?

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

Yes, but how is the AI?

Huh?

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Question - how does one play this game without having the CD in the drive? I've been people mentioning, but I have no idea how to do it.

If this is something that's considered bad, I apologize.

I, uhh, have a thread on this over at SportsDigs.

Not trying to plug the site... but we don't worry too much about that sort of thing over there.

You can just PM me here if you prefer.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Huh?

Wasn't that the running joke courtesy of jbmagic?

[Buccaneer]

I just started a new game tonight but then I remembered that there's an expansion pack coming out. I saw it's gone gold so when is the actual release date?

I will play the game I started since I hadn't played SP with 1.61 patch yet and it's been a little while. I'm doing an Archipelago world of snaky continents with 12 civs on Noble. Nothing like going old school in Civ.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I just started a new game tonight but then I remembered that there's an expansion pack coming out. I saw it's gone gold so when is the actual release date?

July 24th.

[ISiddiqui]

If you want indepth knowledge on all the changes to Civs/Leaders/Wonders:

http://pc.ign.com/articles/717/717727p1.html

Or get to Apolyton .

I guess you can also find all the info on Great Generals and Vassel States from other previews or other 'Poly threads.

[WVUFAN]

The expansion looks really interesting. Already have it on pre-order at Amazon. Only costing me 11 bucks with my employee discount and Prime Membership.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I just started a new game tonight but then I remembered that there's an expansion pack coming out. I saw it's gone gold so when is the actual release date?

Yeah, uh... had this on SportsDigs a week ago...

http://www.digitalstadium.org/smf/in...58.msg1966#new




I'm so sorry...

Ok... not that sorry... but kinda sorry... the way a masochist is sorry...

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by WVUFAN

The expansion looks really interesting. Already have it on pre-order at Amazon. Only costing me 11 bucks with my employee discount and Prime Membership.

So, hook me up.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

So, hook me up.

That's what I'm saying. The accountant would like this...

[Buccaneer]

For what it's worth, the current SP game I've been playing has - for the first time ever - been riddled with crashes and graphics problems. This is the first SP game I've played using 1.61 and I can't believe that I can't go very long without graphics going weird or simply crashes out. The error report points to nv4_disp.dll or d3d9.dll so what I have done are:
1. upgrade to the latest nvidia driver - 91.something
2. turn some of the graphic options lower
3. set the d3d9 option in the .ini file to 1
4. set the dynamic anim paging to 0
5. turned off my virus checker et al before starting
and still problems, sometimes after loading and starting to move around, to when the leader screen appears, but mostly at random times.

Why am I having these graphic problems all of a sudden with 1.61?

[Passacaglia]

Hey guys...I already posted this in a different thread, but I'm posting it here as well. I'm getting a new laptop, and I've got a copy of Civ4 I'm unable to play -- I want to be sure I can play it on this machine. I can either get an Intel 950, an ATI Radeon Mobility x1300, an ATI Radeon Mobility x1400, or an NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache. I'd like to spend as little as possible, and still be able to play it. Thoughts?

[Franklinnoble]

You need hardware t&l for Civ to work best.

Sadly, I have to recommend anything but the Intel. I'm guessing the others are a step ahead of my Mobility 7500, which works, but doesn't render the animal resources properly.

[Passacaglia]

Figures, the intel is the free one. Can you elaborate? From reading the civfanatics site, intel 9xx supports TnL -- but it also has no discrete memory (it does beat the others in shared memory, though).

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Figures, the intel is the free one. Can you elaborate? From reading the civfanatics site, intel 9xx supports TnL -- but it also has no discrete memory (it does beat the others in shared memory, though).

Really?

I was under the impression that the intel didn'd do tnl at a hardware level... it was "virtual."

But the CivFanatics guys might know better. I don't actually own one - I'm just speaking from the research I did about 9 months ago when I first got the game.

Intel cranks out these chipsets pretty cheap - and for most applications, they're fine - but more intense gaming requires a more robust graphics set, and I don't know that the Intel one will give you the full Civ effect.

Might wanna see if there's someone who owns one and plays Civ, and see what there experience is.

If it'll work for you, go for it. I got kids to feed.

[Passacaglia]

Here's what the civfanatics forum says:

intel latest 9xx - support TnL and shader 2.0 but in software acceleration, i.e. CPU will do the math. This card is story for itself; it could run, I'm waiting for somebody to confirm whether it does or not. It is known that this card runs some games that require TnL. EDIT. *confirmed in other threads that game works*

I guess it'll work, but I'm just wondering if it'll be crappy.

[Franklinnoble]

Well, all I can speak authoritatively from is my experience with the Radeon Mobility 7500 that's in my ThinkPad. The game wasn't playable at all out of the box. But with the first patch or two, it's definately playable. All I miss is the renderings of the animal resources, but that doesn't impede the game at all for me.

This card doesn't do hardware TnL. I don't know if you'll have better luck with the Intel, but you probably won't do any worse.

[Draft Dodger]

I have the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (at least a generation behind the ones listed), and it's always worked pretty well with Civ4 - newest patch introduced some weird graphical glitches for me (certain parts of the map being darker than others), but overall very workable.

[Buccaneer]

newest patch introduced some weird graphical glitches for me

I think that's what I have come to accept. It's funny that 1.09 and 1.54 would work great at high/high/high but 1.61 would not. I've become more stable by going to med/low/low and turning some stuff off in the .ini.

Anyway, at the risk of jbmagicing, what would be your greatest interest for playing the expansion pack?

[Flasch186]

Im playing "Total Realism" and its the best Civ experience Ive ever had. Went half the game with Me (russia), America, and Japan sharing the same continent and finally became able to explore the oceans and found "the New World" where Barbarians had created a whole nother world. My first attempt to conquer the new world led to a humiliating defeat so now I've secured an island nearby to launch attacks and eventual conquering. Loving it!!

[twothree]

I picked up the Civ IV: Warlords expansion today. I won't be able to play it until tonight at the earliest. But, it does come with a decent sized manual for an expansion pack.

About 25 pages devoted to the new stuff (minus scenarios), about 65 pages on the new scenarios, about 5 pages on what was patched from the original version, about 5 pages on PitBoss, and about 25 pages of appendix/reference charts.

[Franklinnoble]

Where'd you get it? I might try to find a copy today.

[Flasch186]

got mine from Gamespot...just installed and I have to freaking go to Karyoke tonight!!! Fuck I dont want to go.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Where'd you get it? I might try to find a copy today.

i got mine at BestBuy....needless to say, i wont be getting too much work done tonight.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by twothree

I picked up the Civ IV: Warlords expansion today. I won't be able to play it until tonight at the earliest. But, it does come with a decent sized manual for an expansion pack.

About 25 pages devoted to the new stuff (minus scenarios), about 65 pages on the new scenarios, about 5 pages on what was patched from the original version, about 5 pages on PitBoss, and about 25 pages of appendix/reference charts.

That is so cool.

[Ben E Lou]

Excellent. 2 significant digits added in several calculations!

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by saldana

i got mine at BestBuy....needless to say, i wont be getting too much work done tonight.

I just got it from Best Buy myself .

[Flasch186]

karaoke!!!

[duckman]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

karaoke!!!

I wouldn't be going around bragging about that.

[jbmagic]

CIV 4 is a great game. I can't wait to get Warlord soon.


The only problem I have with CIV4 is the AI only goes for one type of victory (Space race).

[saldana]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

CIV 4 is a great game. I can't wait to get Warlord soon.


The only problem I have with CIV4 is the AI only goes for one type of victory (Space race).

i agree, so i turn that victory option off when i play. if you are on a hard enough difficulty level, they will go for conquest/domination. i have never seen them go for a diplomatic though

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by saldana

i agree, so i turn that victory option off when i play. if you are on a hard enough difficulty level, they will go for conquest/domination. i have never seen them go for a diplomatic though

I heard that hurts the AI more when you turn off space race victory for them.

[ISiddiqui]

Thumbs up for Firaxis to being the first company I can remember in a looong while to include a 100+ page paper manual in the box for an expansion pack (I think BG: Shadows of Ahm was over 100, but I'm not sure).

[saldana]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

I heard that hurts the AI more when you turn off space race victory for them.

well i cant say this for fact, but in the game i started last night as the vikings on warlord level (i usually play on noble, but wanted to drop down one just to see the new features with a little less challenge), and left all the victory options on, the AI is performing extremely well...the zulu nation is to my east, and we have a very close border with a couple of his cities being right up against my lines. The spanish declared war on me in the north for absolutely no reason, and Shaka waited until i had all my melee units pushed up to fight spain, then declared war on me and even though he didnt take any of my cities, he made me scramble around alot to get defenses into position, and managed to destroy alot of my improvments before i drove him back and went on the offensive (i was able to make peace with Isabella and bring my berserkers back south)

so, IMO, the AI seems to have actually made an excellent strategic attack, but because of a couple of my cities having excellent production capabilities, i was able to not lose any territory.

[Flasch186]

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT


Sevomod still seems like there is more than this expansion pack.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT


Sevomod still seems like there is more than this expansion pack.

sorry, maybe i am a bit behind, but what is Sevomod?

[Buccaneer]

In reading on 'poly some of the changes they made to the core game, I came across discussions about promotions. It seems that some are pretty hung up on them in the way that it makes for key decision making. Huh? In my typical playing style as a warmonger, I really don't care for promotions and think there are too many of them. The reason is that I already have a distinct advantage when going up against civs in combat and whether my Musketmen has +25% something when fighting against Longbowmen I kinda irrelevant. In my current non-xpack game, I have my Cho-Ko-Nu (uber-Crossbowmen) going up against Archers, Cats and Swordsmen. Even if I have to fight a souped-up defensive unit in a fortified city, I just do quantity over quality. Have any of you played a combat-centric game where promotions made the difference?

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

In reading on 'poly some of the changes they made to the core game, I came across discussions about promotions. It seems that some are pretty hung up on them in the way that it makes for key decision making. Huh? In my typical playing style as a warmonger, I really don't care for promotions and think there are too many of them. The reason is that I already have a distinct advantage when going up against civs in combat and whether my Musketmen has +25% something when fighting against Longbowmen I kinda irrelevant. In my current non-xpack game, I have my Cho-Ko-Nu (uber-Crossbowmen) going up against Archers, Cats and Swordsmen. Even if I have to fight a souped-up defensive unit in a fortified city, I just do quantity over quality. Have any of you played a combat-centric game where promotions made the difference?

yeah i actually have...i was showing someone how to play a couple weeks ago, and turned off all the victory conditions except conquest, so we had to fight alot of wars to win, and when i was just making random promotions with no consideration to what i was up against, i was probably losing 50% of the battles and my offensives were stalling...when i started waiting to promote until i was ready to attack, and then tailoring the promotions to fit who i was attacking (i.e., giving axemen the +25 against archers when they were attacking crossbowmen) my overall sucess rate increased significantly, and the damage that my units took in the attacks went down significantly, which let me keep a good pace from one attack to the next, instead of having to wait for a bunch of guys to heal up.

for a little more quantitative example, take two units of the same kind (2 swordsman) and give one the +10 power promotion, and one the +25 vs archers promotion, and click and hold your right mouse button over an enemy archery unit...i would be willing to wager that your % chance of victory goes up 30% or more with the properly promoted unit......when i first realized this, i started cycling through my stacks of units to make sure i get the best matchups possible, and as a result started winning alot more battles.

[saldana]

dola, of course if you are significantly overmatched and have a 99.8% chance of victory to begin with just based on unit strength (tank vs spearman), the promotions are pretty pointless.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've found promotions to be key to winning in some of my games.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT


Sevomod still seems like there is more than this expansion pack.

Is English your native tongue?

[ISiddiqui]

Btw, who are we playing with in our first game(s)? I'm Carthage in mine. Though I usually pick leaders based on coolness rather than their benefits . I would like to play all of them eventually.