Civilization 5 Announced

[Speaker]

Confirmation from a 2k rep that Civ V will have limited multiplayer support on release:

- Only supports simultaneous turns.
- No PBEM/hotseat/pitboss.
- Can't turn on combat animations.
- Can't manually save the game (but there are autosaves)


They already said earlier that they'd only support online/lan MP on release and would add support for other modes later, but this confirms they have actually put no effort whatsoever into it so far. They probably haven't even tested sequential turn MP. This means all sequential combat has been against AI, which makes it more likely there's abusable stuff. For example, someone has pointed out that naval combat might be somewhat silly as every unit moves multiple spaces and has a ranged (no return fire) attack, so that could favor the attacker too much. If the AI is bad at that aspect of play, the mechanic could be broken without their knowledge.

Btw, I'm really excited about the game regardless - I think the overall mechanics are very good though the details are unknowable - but it's looking a bit more like they won't have the details right on release. So for it to be a truly excellent game will probably take a couple patches and/or a mod.

[Dr. Nomadic]

Mechanically there are a number of ways Civilization V has changed from before, and based on what people in the office here at IGN have played so far they're all good changes.

This was funny to read, considering the reaction here.

Anyways, a lot of you should probably wait for a month or two if you don't like what you're hearing. I mean, take a look at this poor game's reception:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_Other_M

In the few months before release my hype here was building up, because I had played through Metroid Fusion (which this game was supposed to be similar to) due to it being "high" on some Best Game Ever lists, then got Super Mario Galaxy 2 and loved it, increasing my hype for a game that ended up being a comparative critical bomb. Then again I was reading previews before release and I did like what the features they exposed.

I'm receiving an American import copy of said game in a few days, and I don't regret the purchase, if only because this is the first time Nintendo is delving into the realm of cinematic storytelling (my first console game that emphasizes such, too). As for Civilization V, new PC games are so fickle that I'm taking a pass there. The Wii is the only system where I can actually anticipate something.

(probably an off topic post, oh well. Speaking of which, has anybody here played SMG2?)

[Sullla]

Man, I hope that IGN review of Civ5 comes out soon, so that they can tell you what to think about the game.

Seriously, do you ever have your own opinion about anything (?)

[pindicator]

Decided to pre-order it, and I'll try to post some initial reactions when i get to play on Tuesday or Wednesday. Sure, it may not be as good as CIV 4 and they probably are going to botch the multiplayer, but perhaps that is their homage to the earlier versions of Civ. Kidding, I'm honestly too much a Civ fanboy to not buy it.

And slightly off topic...

I think gamespot found the worst possible person to sit along on that walkthrough. Constantly interrupting the guy from Firaxis, constantly clearing his throat and saying 'yup' -- it was like he just wanted to get out of there or talk the entire time. I watched less than 5 minutes before he annoyed me enough to close the stream.

[Txurce]

I don't want to hate on this game.

Having read all 35 pages of this thread recently, I'm surprised that I'm the first person to say that you are indeed hating on this game. In just about every post, with plenty of hyperbole such as "beyond stupid," and so on. This doesn't mean that none of your issues have validity, by the way - just that you're hating. Your critiques would be much more effective if you'd focus more on the specifics, and less on the pejoratives.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

I've been checking for the past couple weeks expecting someone to leak the Civ V manual to the interwebs, and 2K went and did it themselves:

http://www.civilization5.com/#/community/feature_manual

I know what I am doing with my Friday night. Hopefully this answers a ton of questions.

More reviews:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/17/civili...-5-review/

http://g4tv.com/games/pc/57652/Sid-Meier...-V/review/

[Selrahc]

Btw, I'm really excited about the game regardless - I think the overall mechanics are very good though the details are unknowable - but it's looking a bit more like they won't have the details right on release. So for it to be a truly excellent game will probably take a couple patches and/or a mod.

That's an interesting point. In the past the RB community has been very much against minor game altering mods for Civ IV. I wonder if this time around will be different and we'll institute some sort of community mod for Civ V.

[Dr. Nomadic]

Man, I hope that IGN review of Civ5 comes out soon, so that they can tell you what to think about the game.

Seriously, do you ever have your own opinion about anything (?)

I wouldn't have ordered Other M if I was only into stuff with gobs of critical acclaim. Though to be fair I slot myself too well for its release.

Of course I have my own opinions on the games I play. Maybe I didn't earlier but now there's no question.

[Jowy]

Civ5 got an average rating of 96/100 in Metacritic atm. That's 3 higher than even Starcraft 2. Not too shabby!

[Aretii]

Looking at the manual, we have an answer to the multiplayer player limit question from before - the number of players is limited by the size of the map. That's still a little silly, but it's not as out-and-out ridiculous as a hard cap of 6.

It's on page 193. I will reproduce the numbers here for those who don't care to open up the manual, or can't for whatever reason.

Duel - 2
Tiny - 4
Small - 6
Standard - 8
Large - 10
Huge - 12

The manual goes on to say that AI players will fill any slots not filled by humans, which seems... bizarre (though there's a "by default" tossed in there in such a manner as to obscure the issue - do they have a copyeditor?). However, reading the section closely implies that *custom* maps (you know, like the ones people from this community tend to make for the pitboss and PBEM games in order to ensure balance) can have the number of player slots manually set. It remains to be seen what the upper limits are there.

The World Builder isn't set to be out until an unspecified short time after release, though.

Okay, time to take this manual from the top and see what it's all about. I already preordered it, because they pretty much had me by the gamer-nads the moment they said the magic words "hex tiles" (I adore tactical combat, and Stacks of Doom were always my major grouse about the Civ games), but it remains to be seen if this will eclipse Civ IV in other aspects.