MGON Preview - Comments

Jeje2 · July 17, 2001, 02:05

As statd on the Civ3 section MGON has a new preview of Civ3.

I just want to tell a couple of my comments now after reading this preview.

First the most important part, according to MGON Civ3 will be a 2002 release. Hiphip hurraa if this is true...

Second about the winning conditions (Space race, militical, diplomatic, monetary and cultural). IMHO Firaxis should make a end video for each of this winningconditions. In SMAC there wasn't videos and it was considered less good back then. Let's just hope that when FIRAXIS get's to do the videos,they will make also videos for different wining conditions...

Third about resources. How sparse are they really? In the screenshots sofar we have seen quite a lot of silk and iron...
I hope one can adjust the amounst of resources in the startup of a new game.

What if FIRAXIS planning for MP? Still no word, but something special on the way... (Since I don't play MP it doesn't matter somuch, but I'm curious FIRAXIS hype has affected me.)

Alex 14 · July 17, 2001, 02:09

I believe the preview is speculating about some of the things they wrote, including the release date & winning conditions.

Urban Ranger · July 17, 2001, 03:12

Unless Firaxis is having major problems with programming, it's entirely possible that they can get the game out for the Christmas season. Of course, Sid should keep the suits locked up, but that's another story.

LaRusso · July 17, 2001, 03:12

Quote:

Although in CivIII you’ll be engaging in economic warfare as a ‘nation state’. This is something which hasn’t really worked that well in the real world if you look at the intertwined global economy and the fact that the few isolated nation states of any size (China and the former Soviet Union) have eventually wilted under the pressure and joined the multinational economy. That said it will still be a valid option in CivIII and this should prove interesting.

this guy is illiterate. what on earth did he want to say?

LaRusso · July 17, 2001, 03:18

Quote:

Great leaders like Hannibal, Atilla and Caesar are just a few of the legends from history you will be able to recruit to support your cause as you try and eke out a power base for your civilization.

does this mean that
a) we get cartagenians and huns are civs included, or
b) they are given to the 'closest civ' like spanish or mongols (i know this is kinda stupid assumption), or
c) they might lead barbarians, at least atilla...., or
d) you spend some kind of resources to pick any great leader, depending on your cultural or military or god knows what kind of rating?

JamesJKirk · July 17, 2001, 12:40

Quote:

Originally posted by LaRusso

this guy is illiterate. what on earth did he want to say?

A while back Firaxis said they were toying with the idea of having independent actors- Multinational Corporations show up at some point in the game, and the player would somehow use them in order to get an economic victory. (IMO unfortuately) these independent actors were scrapped. So when the writer's talking about nation-states being actors, he's saying economic control and victory is centralised, unlike in the real world

Warm Beer · July 18, 2001, 02:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Alex 14
I believe the preview is speculating about some of the things they wrote, including the release date & winning conditions.

Exactly,

question everything... unless, of course, it comes from the mouth of Firaxis itself (themselves??). I mean I am as hungry for info as the next guy, but have a hard time swallowing "unofficial sources'" information. On the other hand, I lurk this site nearly every day looking for every scrap of detal I can find... as far as "unofficial sources" go, this site is the tops (shameless plug).

LaRusso · July 18, 2001, 03:39

Quote:

Originally posted by JamesJKirk

A while back Firaxis said they were toying with the idea of having independent actors- Multinational Corporations show up at some point in the game, and the player would somehow use them in order to get an economic victory. (IMO unfortuately) these independent actors were scrapped. So when the writer's talking about nation-states being actors, he's saying economic control and victory is centralised, unlike in the real world

that much i gathered but the 'style' used would not get a D on a high school test. he simply lost the plot.

as for the centralised victory and its factor of reality, well, it depends whether you subscribe to sachs' 'capital has no flag' maxim. it seems to me that when push comes to shove, capital does tend to choose a flag and mostly it's the american one.

JellyDonut · July 19, 2001, 15:03

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeje2

Second about the winning conditions (Space race, militical, diplomatic, monetary and cultural). IMHO Firaxis should make a end video for each of this winningconditions. In SMAC there wasn't videos and it was considered less good back then. Let's just hope that when FIRAXIS get's to do the videos,they will make also videos for different wining conditions...

A way to win for each Civ 2 council member...

TVA22 · July 19, 2001, 17:31

So, the military leaders mentioned... Do we get to name them ourselves or are they pre-programmed in as specific people? What does everyone think? I mean, Patton (I think) has also been mentioned as a possible leader to be in the game... so, wouldn't it seem kind of stupid if you were playing as the germans, and you got a great tank commander, but because this is a game made by Americans, you get *Patton*, rather than just getting a generic guy with special abilities that you could name *Rommel*. Has anything been said on this?

Warm Beer · July 19, 2001, 19:10

Quote:

So, the military leaders mentioned... Do we get to name them ourselves or are they pre-programmed in as specific people?

I have heard both: the MGON Preview mentions the "Historic" leaders and on this board, I believe, that units that serve well in battle will get promoted to leader status.... Can't think of the thread, tho, so take it for what it's worth.

KrazyHorse · July 19, 2001, 19:29

TVA, they almost certainly have programmed in sufficient numbers of leaders from each civ so that you'll have Russian commanders for Russian forces. I'm sure it'll work according to the same method that city-naming works; each civ gets a list, but you can change the name if you want to. You will probably also be able to change the lists (a la cities.txt) for scenarios/mods.

Swissy · July 19, 2001, 20:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeje2

I just want to tell a couple of my comments now after reading this preview.

First the most important part, according to MGON Civ3 will be a 2002 release. Hiphip hurraa if this is true...

This is an article that should have been written months ago. So all we have here is the opinions of a writer who couldn't get his stuff posted when it would have been revelent. I trust more the marketing department at Infogrames than this article, and all indications from Infogrames is an Oct 2001 launch.

Anoher question that arises from this article and all the others that hint at a 2002 release is this:

Firaxis used the private E3 demos to do a litle pre-release CYA. They would have certainly known that Infogrames was shooting for 4Q 2001. So why not cover themselves by not puttng on full game demos and in private saying they were shooting for early 2002 release. That way if we, the civ community, don't like the product, they can point to the articles saying they wanted more time.

Urban Ranger · July 20, 2001, 00:15

I am aware of Infrogrames' purchase of MicroProse, but not Firaxis. Don't seem to be on their list of news, either.

tniem · July 20, 2001, 01:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I am aware of Infrogrames' purchase of MicroProse, but not Firaxis. Don't seem to be on their list of news, either.

They didn't, Infrogames is the publisher. They control the money flow, advertising, and everything other than game developement. If they say, "We don't care how bad the game is right now, we want to sell it this quarter to protect our earnings report ," they can. I hope they don't.

Swissy · July 20, 2001, 01:39

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I am aware of Infrogrames' purchase of MicroProse, but not Firaxis. Don't seem to be on their list of news, either.

More importantly, Infogrames bought Hasbro Interactive. Hasbro Interactive owns the "Civilization" name for computer games. They got that when Hasbro bought The Avalon Hill game Company. The Avalon Hill Game company owns the rights for the "Civilization" name in all games. Hasbro Interactive contracted Firaxis to develope Civ3, Infogrames inherited the contract. Firaxis has never published a game, most of their work has been published by EA. Which is why you aren't seeing much in the way of updates on Civ3 site at Firaxis. Infogrames is gearing up for the release, thus has taken full marketing control of "their" product.

The "Civilization" name is a very hot property in the computer game industry. I am most certain Hasbro Interactive wrote some very tight restrictive language into the Firaxis contract, and Infogrames is most likely holding Firaxis to that contract. Thus the dribbling of info we are now getting.