With E3 drawing to a close for yet another year, I thought I’d take a little time to talk about a series and well, a man, very close to my heart. Sid Meier is responsible for perhaps the worlds best turn based strategy games, the Civilisation series. Not to mention the awesomely fun Pirates! and a whole slew of theme park and railroad games. I played almost every installment of Civilisation to death, not counting Colonization and Alpha Centuri.
The man, the Myth, the Legend!
It’s been 5 years since Civilisation 4 first graced our screens and now we have the pleasure of Sid’s next installment, Civilisation 5. So, what can we expect for this new installment before the big E3 reveal? Let’s take a look at what’s already been announced:
For one, we have a whole new game map with a hexagonal grid, taking a break from the normal format seen in previous games. Gone as well is the religion feature, which could be seen as an improvement by those who thinking whipping out a religious group could be seen as a tad risqué. So what other new features are going to available? Well, for one all the faction leader are now going to be actually talking to you instead of showing simple text boxes. Though it’s going to be interesting to hear the Babylonian leader Nebuchadnezzar (try saying that 5 times fast, heck try saying it at all!) insulting you in a dead language…though I wish they’d kept Hammurabi as the leader, he was always my favorite leader.
Fear my beard dreads!
So, there a total of 18 Civilisations in this particular incarnation (although Babylon is only available via digital download) each with 2 specialist units, specialized building and unique powers. There’s also the addition of city states, these act like small weaker civilisation which you can either outright conquer or simply extend your influence over to gain, military, maritime or cultural benefits. Your own and other active playing faction cities have also changed. You no longer have to keep a city garrisoned at all times to avoid it being taken over as the populous as it grows will arm and train its own defenders.
Look ma, no garrison!
The cities themselves will also start with the ability to grow 3 hexes externally instead of 2, but will have to have aid in order to use hexes further from each other. So, that’s most of what we know so far. Hopefully in the next few days we’ll hear more about what we can expect from Civ5 when it arrives in September.
-That bloke in the beanie
Thanks for the extra info Bob, I can’t belive I missed some of these in my post! Esp as Babylon is onlya avalible via digital download on steam.
No probs!
I have had a slight obsession with the Civilization series since the age of 13 (when I got my first computer) and follow release announcements/forum discussions very closely indeed.
Also, on Steam it states in the last 2 weeks I’ve spent 32 hours playing Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, which says it all really! lol
What I would say though is that you haven’t truly played Civilization until you’ve played it online with real-life human players. The AI is very good but after a while you learn to manipulate and beat them in a predictable manner. Against human players negotiations are much more realistic, and it makes the game harder and less predictable. It is also quite amusing when you find yourself negotiating trade deals that include when the next scheduled tea break will be with someone the opposite side of the world…!
Oh yes, and the UI also sees an overhaul. The blue panel at the bottom will be abolished for something much more inuitive!
And almost forgot – the new ‘city states’ will also change the game dynamic. It’ll be interesting to see how this works out
The parts I’m really looking forward to are:
a) combat (now unit stacking will be a thing of the past as artillery and naval vessels will have ranged attacks and you can only have one unit per hex
b) the use of regional governors/micro managing workers in and around cities
c) the ability to install puppet governments in annexed cubs rather than just vassals
d) the new ‘Utopia’ wonder which means you can now win the game for having an awesome society.
Pre-ordered on Steam the same day it became available for pre-order, and looking forward to 23rd September (digital download). Actual boxed go on sale 21/09 in the US and 24/09 everywhere else.