Interview with Alex Mantzaris about BTS

[scooter]

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/civil...rview.html

I have to admit, when Beyond the Sword was announced I was somewhat skeptical, Warlords seemed to be a bit overrated to me, and was overall weak on content and to me didn't have much of a draw when it comes to making you want to buy and play the game. This interview just released is actually very encouraging, and if this stuff he talks about is balanced and fully implemented (not vassal states all over again), then I think we've got some stuff to be excited about. Here's a few things that were news to me:

One of my favorite leaders is Queen Boudica of the Celts. Not only was she impressive in real life (she almost kicked the mighty Romans out of Britain), but in terms of gameplay her charismatic and aggressive traits have an awesome synergy. In terms of units, the coolness factor of Privateers and Paratroopers has finally returned to Civilization, only this time the AI knows how to use them. Beware!

Sounds like at least a few of the "forbidden" trait combos are no longer forbidden...

One option that I think will prove popular in multiplayer is the ability to select any leader-civilization combination. Not only is there something fascinating about using Gandhi to lead your Mongol Keshiks into battle (!), but with this new option Civilizations and leaders that were previously unpopular in multiplayer will receive new attention. Another feature that may revitalize the traditional sequential turn play mode (as opposed to simultaneous turns, which seems to be more popular in multiplayer) is the fact that now all players on the same team take their turns simultaneously. That way you can combine fast online play with traditional game mechanics.

First half of this quote sounds slightly iffy, but it will all depend on how it plays out in the MP world, there's no way to know if this is fair or not until it's tried, so this could be good or bad. As for the second half, I might actually start playing MP again consistently because of that, so that's a great addition IMO.

Thanks to our fans, we knew the shortcomings of the game and we have worked hard to address them. My personal favorite has to be the fact that the AI has now been transformed into a formidable opponent who no longer needs hefty bonuses to compete with a smart human.

I hope this does mean they enlisted Blake to help them on this, as what he was doing (before he suddenly disappeared) was progressing greatly. I definitely hope that the game backs up this statement...


I left out many things, I just threw in a few things that I thought would have the most discussion, so what's everyone's thoughts?

[Clovis]

Does anyone want to explain what privateers are? I don't think they were in Civ2, the only other version I've played.

[Sullla]

I'd like to see a nice expansion for Civ4, but Firaxis is going to have to convince me from a position of skepticism after some less-than-stellar recent offerings. (In particular, Civ4's Warlords and Civ3's Play the World expansions.) From my own personal experience, Alex always seemed much more interested in adding "cool stuff" than paying attention to game balance... but we didn't exactly get along, so take that with a grain of salt.

Random events sound somewhat dubious, but I will withhold judgement until hearing more about them.

I can't say I really understand some of the late-game additions either. One of the major goals in developing Civ4 was to cut out superfluous late-game units (e.g. paratroopers, nuclear subs, helicopters) that served no purpose in Civ3. There's a pretty wide consensus that Civ4 drags badly in the later stages of the game, one reason why a lot of players often stop playing once the outcome becomes clear. Yet with Beyond the Sword, the designers are piling on MORE units, MORE buildings, MORE technologies... isn't that going to make the game drag out even further?

I guess we'll find out. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

[Gyathaar]

Does anyone want to explain what privateers are? I don't think they were in Civ2, the only other version I've played.

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

[sunrise089]

Personally I find those quotes deeply worrying.

I know the ultimate goal is to sell more copies, but I'm still hesitent about hearing how cool a certain combination of traits is. Most of all though, I think that change in allowing any civ+any leader is terrible. MP will now simply be about grabbing whatever set of traits you want, and then attatching it to a civ with a UU for the era you're playing. Not exactly more balanced or diverse play.

The one good sign may be that they recognize BetterAI adjusts the reletive difficulty of the game, and so they may tweek bonuses to compensate.

[TheArchduke]

It does sound a bit like more-more-more to me, too.

Especially Corporations, Space Ships being more complex and diplomatic victories being more complex sounds like a bad idea to me.

[Galileo44]

Wow, can anyone say broken game, when you can choose Rome with Agressive and Charismatic traits.

[Clovis]

Thanks for the link, but I know what real privateers were. I'm wondering what their function is in Civ. Are they different from other ships somehow?

[Gyathaar]

Thanks for the link, but I know what real privateers were. I'm wondering what their function is in Civ. Are they different from other ships somehow?

In civ3 they are hidden nationality (you cant see what nation they belong to, and can attack any boat even if not at war) and they also have 1/3 (1/6 on defense) chance to enslave boats they beat in combat and turn them into privateers.

As for what they do in BtS, you will have to wait and see I guess..

[T-hawk]

Random events sound somewhat dubious, but I will withhold judgement until hearing more about them.

Civ 4 has always had random events: Barbarian unit and city spawns, goody hut pops, resource pops, espionage, and to some degree combat itself. And Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri also had random events. A typical example would be +1 hammer or -1 economy per square in a city for 10 turns. There's precedent in Civ for interesting and flavorful but not game-breaking events.

That said, I'll also reserve judgment on random events for BTS; I rather agree with your assessment of Alex. Rewards for quests? When did this turn into Final Fantasy?