its up, im not kiding!! CIV3.COM GOES LIVE - Page 2

Seeker · August 9, 2001, 20:58

Look at the second screenshot in the gallery on the second page of the gallery (Babylonians 4000BC)...

look closely at the mountains and roads....yes, right next to each other there is a road going BEHIND/around a mountain, and right above it a road 'hovering' above a mountain..............

.......well at least we know it should be easy to fix.......

javascript:MM_openBrWindow('previewwin.cfm?mode=sc reenshot&img=images/screenshots/citymgt2.jpg&width=800&height=600','Screenshot','width=900,height=700')

yin26 · August 9, 2001, 20:59

Quote:

...waits yin to come up and say that Dan should even resort to protest outside infogrames's offices if they dont allow the game to be playable without the cd

Naw. Somebody will release a crack, I'm sure. If Dan wants to protest anything, I'd suggest the release date, but he'd probably have better luck trying to walk on water...

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · August 9, 2001, 20:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Sirotnikov

Quote:

WHERE ARE THE HEBREWS!!!!!????!?!??!!??!?!

Quote:

I know some folks are disappointed that their civ didn't make it into the game

Let's just see what Sharon has to say about this ....

Now, great site... but why did you go with CFM?

I mean, AFAIK PHP is much better, and ASP is more widespread (and buggy and insecure

)

And if you did decide to sue CFM, why are the pages static?? No DB queries, no includes or anything....

I'm a Cold Fusion junkie, what can I say. ASP is terrible IMHO, and I don't know enough about PHP to do a site.

And as for your second question, we don't really need a DB for anything, so hence no queries (keeps things zippier anyway), but the entire thing uses includes. Every piece, from the header to the little sidebars, to the gallery frames, is a self-contained component, and they're all included as need be.

Viva l'Allaire.

Dan

MarkG · August 9, 2001, 21:00

Quote:

And if you did decide to sue CFM, why are the pages static?? No DB queries, no includes or anything....

actually, they probably use cfm for the random screenshot that appear on the right and almost certainly(well, i would) for the layout

Colon™ · August 9, 2001, 21:04

"look closely at the mountains and roads....yes, right next to each other there is a road going BEHIND/around a mountain, and right above it a road 'hovering' above a mountain.............. "

You know, I saw a shot where a road was going over a sea-tile... very Jesus-like.

yin26 · August 9, 2001, 21:04

Ah, how sweet. Dan continues to ignore me.

Old grudges, eh? That's fine. I still say the work you did is good if way overdue...as for future site maintenance...?

Alantus · August 9, 2001, 21:06

ASHBERY76, the topic of skin color and Cleopatra is open to debate according to the information I have been exposed too.

What will all these posters do now that they can't post about guessing which Civs are in and which Civs are out? Maybe now the hot topic will be about golden ages or whether its better to be expansionistic and industrious or religious and something else. Cool chart

Nice site, I enjoyed it very much.

Alantus

MarkG · August 9, 2001, 21:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Seeker
look closely at the mountains and roads....yes, right next to each other there is a road going BEHIND/around a mountain, and right above it a road 'hovering' above a mountain..............

i dont think it's "something to fix"
in other words, it's a "feature", not a "bug"

from the last one on the first page

Seeker · August 9, 2001, 21:09

"You can trade goods with another civ as long as you have a road, harbor, or airport that connects your civilization with theirs. "

This is thing I like...he who builds the best transportation network, rules.

EDIT: WHOA!! Just saw civ-specific abilities chart....some interesting ideas but lets not go overboard here! This isn't age of empires....specifically,

"free tech at beginning of each era'

Philosophy wasn't bad enough but imagine the dude with this in an MP game...generally better productivity is also a little unbalancing, I mean why should player A have what is, in effect, X % more free howitzers than I do?

I will wait and see but they had better be doing some major play-balancing here to make this work.

Some of the individual things are cool little frills though I like 'improved ship promotions' or whatever (Brits I guess)

EDIT 2: I see there will be a 'Classic Civ' mode so we can turn off 'Civ of Empires'. Ochen khorosho.

EDIT 3: I can see how 'distinctive civs' can make the game more challenging though....playing as the Babylonians will be more difficult than playing as Russians, USA, Germans, etc. If your 'special unit' was only top of the line for the Bronze Age...(vs. opponents with modern era specials) that's good for SP.

About the whole site, nice picture of wonders, advisors....but I hope there will be some multi-player news soon (at least a good hotseat)

Bereta_Eder · August 9, 2001, 21:24

woho! no anarchy during gov changing in religious civs??!!

I'll exploit THAT one to the fullest! democracy - communism swifts until no other civ is standing next to me without loosing on science and money.

And all that without building the statue of liberty wonder (worthless in civ 2 INMHO- no offence

)

Sirotnikov · August 9, 2001, 21:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
I'm a Cold Fusion junkie, what can I say. ASP is terrible IMHO, and I don't know enough about PHP to do a site.

I don't know PHP that much either

Yet...

You could have stilll called me. I'm a good webmaster. Just need that opportunity to find a good gig .. err... respectable job

Quote:

And as for your second question, we don't really need a DB for anything, so hence no queries (keeps things zippier anyway), but the entire thing uses includes. Every piece, from the header to the little sidebars, to the gallery frames, is a self-contained component, and they're all included as need be.

That's what I thought, but then, there's shtml for that... but then again, it's your choise

I just have only seen one other site other than this which uses CFM. I think it was Firaxis

Quote:

Viva l'Allaire.

yep, I've got their software and HomeSite Rules baby

Now all the crapware is trying to be like it, Starting with 1st Page 2000 and dozens of others.

Atleast 1st page is free

Oh, well, just promise to call me for the Civ IV site, that is, if i'm not in your developement team by then

Or hacking you for the Mossad

EDIT: I gotta learn how to type slower but right.....

Colon™ · August 9, 2001, 21:47

Hey Firaxis folks, there were things I noticed nothing about. Firstly the civ1 style replay feature and secondly those heaps of statistics, graphs an pie charts I'm having wet dreams about.
Could you please tell us (me, when it comes to the latter) anything about that?

MarkG · August 9, 2001, 21:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Colon
the civ1 style replay feature

in of the "ask the team" features they have confirmed that this feature will exist

Colon™ · August 9, 2001, 21:59

Ah I missed that one... that's great really, but what about those statistics I promised myself?

The diplomat · August 9, 2001, 22:07

WOW. The official site looks great. No wonder it took so long to put up.

Civ3 looks AMAZING. Firaxis: Keep up the good work!

The screenshots look so much better than the ones we've been looking at from previews. They have such a cool "painting" look, and they so well organized.

-Did anyone notice how borders roll over hills?

-The advisors seem to give really cool advice.

-I love the advisor screens. They are so well organized. Notice the diplo screen where you can see the relationships between all the civs at a glance. The trade screen is great too.

-I noticed in one screen, you can actually accept or refuse when a city rebels to come to your side. small detail but it adds a lot to the game feeling.

-The civ specific abilities look really cool. I think they really will add a lot to the game.

-the Golden Age feature is very cool.

Just lots of cool stuff.

Locutus · August 9, 2001, 22:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Eli
Great site!!!

It's 03:23 AM and I'm busy in downloading stuff.

My sentiments exactly!
Dan, I'm very happy with the new site and all the new info but did you really have to post it at such an awkward time? I mean, my boss is really gonna be pissed off when he finds out in about three hours that I didn't have any sleep whatsoever tonight and will have to catch up in his time?

Kautilya · August 9, 2001, 22:24

Great Stuff!!

The city screens are truly awesome and whoever designed them deserves a prize.

The map shots are OK ; the sea and terrain colours still look rather bad. I wish a bit more effort had been put there but they are tolerable.

The interface looks very good and it appears that Civ3 will present us lots of information in a convenient and aesthetic way.

I wish there was more information on the AI but I have more or less accepted the fact that the AI is going to be crap and as usual players will have to find ways of handicapping themselves to get an interesting game.

I am in two minds about Civ-bonuses because it seems to run counter to the concept of building your civilization from scratch. But from the point of view gameplay they definitely add interest. And since they can be turned off no one can complain.

Overall I am pretty impressed.

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · August 9, 2001, 23:48

Quote:

Originally posted by Locutus

My sentiments exactly!
Dan, I'm very happy with the new site and all the new info but did you really have to post it at such an awkward time? I mean, my boss is really gonna be pissed off when he finds out in about three hours that I didn't have any sleep whatsoever tonight and will have to catch up in his time?

Well, Civ has always had that addictive quality... I'll take it as a huge compliment if the website has even a fraction of a molecule of that magic.

Seriously though, thanks for the compliments. I had a lot of help. Especially big props go to Zach, our uber-web/art intern who did all the cool desktop art and the screensaver.

Dan

Kenobi · August 10, 2001, 00:03

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

Well, Civ has always had that addictive quality... I'll take it as a huge compliment if the website has even a fraction of a molecule of that magic.

Seriously though, thanks for the compliments. I had a lot of help. Especially big props go to Zach, our uber-web/art intern who did all the cool desktop art and the screensaver.

Dan

Dan,

Bless you and the Firaxis Pixies for the update. It looks great and you've made my weekend. Now just give us the game already!!!

Warm regards,

Kenobi

May the Schwarz be with you...always.

Colwyn · August 10, 2001, 00:08

I checked civ3.com not a few hours back and though I'd be the first to post the news.

Hmm we must be addicts.

yin26 · August 10, 2001, 02:25

Quote:

I'll take it as a huge compliment if the website has even a fraction of a molecule of that magic.

...for a moment...and then:

Quote:

Seriously though...

Whew. Good save!

tniem · August 10, 2001, 02:37

Nice work Dan, looking for more in the coming weeks.

And what about SM's Sim Golf? I know every one here on ACS is looking forward to it

Or is Maxis handling all of that?

August 10, 2001, 02:45

If Firaxis shows all 16 Civs before release, than the release date will be Nov 30 weekend. However Activision was still releasing CTP 2 info after the game was release. We'll see.
A real nice site.

Zanzin · August 10, 2001, 03:03

If it's november 30, that's great, because then my HSC (final high school exams) will be over, and I'll be able to buy civ3 and not worry about exams at the same time!

I noticed when I went back a second time that the roads now go behind mountains - one comment on that note - THANK GOD!!

I'm wondering when we're going to see screenshots of some differnt types of terrain though - ala jungle, snowy mountains etc

MarkG · August 10, 2001, 03:04

Quote:

Originally posted by joseph1944
However Activision was still releasing CTP 2 info after the game was release. We'll see.

they did that cause they didnt have a dedicated webmaster for the site, but rather several ones for the entire site, which was rather big....

effendy · August 10, 2001, 04:59

I don't see world map in gallery or mentioned in civ3.com website. Please clarify. Thanks.

- Effendy

Quote:

Originally posted by MarkG
a short summary

Quote:

Ok so it has a totally new look. Beyond that, what new information does civ3.com bring?

- Pillaging exists and is considered an act of war

- The city view changes according to the cultural group of the civ and the time era

- A world map will be included, and a "rules.txt" editor is confirmed once again

- Units are supported by your entire civilization(CtP1/2 way), not by your cities(Civ1/2 way)

- The 16th civ are the Aztecs

- The special abilities of each civ are devided in 6 categories: Militaristic, Commercial , Expansionistic, Scientific, Religious, and Industrious

- Each civ has one special unit, but they may come at different times: Zulus have the Impi(early one), the Americans have the F-15(late)

- Golden ages: During a "golden age", all worked tiles in your empire contribute one additional trade and shield per turn. Golden ages only occur once, last twenty game turns, and are triggered when any one of your civ-specific units wins its first combat against another civ

- Special abilities, special units and the golden age feature are optional

Beyond all this insignificant stuff, there are screenshots, videos, screensavers, etc, as well as the "Civ of the Week" feature where one of the civilizations is presented. The babylonians is the first.

MarkG · August 10, 2001, 05:11

Quote:

Originally posted by effendy
I don't see world map in gallery or mentioned in civ3.com website. Please clarify. Thanks.

http://www.civ3.com/asktheteam_080801.cfm

Quote:

We do plan on shipping with a premade "world" map

Mahdimael · August 10, 2001, 05:22

Tres bon on the civ specific bonuses too...I think they were overdone slightly in AC, especially Zhakarov. This time around, scientific civs don't get a bonus to research directly. Good thinking

It is a very beautiful site, though, Dan. Well worth the wait. I even like the new mountain roads in the screenshots

Tingkai · August 10, 2001, 05:23

The site looks great. The only thing I wonder about is why the gallery pop-up windows are designed for a 1024x768 setting. Seems to me, 800x600 is more standard. But this is a minor point.

I don?t know if this has been mentioned before, but the tech tree shows horseback riding requires warrior code and the wheel. That makes sense in terms of military history, but it could mean a big change to my standard opening moves.

As for Cleopatra, I saw a newspaper article recently about a researcher who looked at what people back then considered beautiful and then used computer graphics to modify our image of her. Man, did she ever look bad.

Zanzin · August 10, 2001, 07:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Tingkai
As for Cleopatra, I saw a newspaper article recently about a researcher who looked at what people back then considered beautiful and then used computer graphics to modify our image of her. Man, did she ever look bad.

People were easier to please back then!

I hate to think of what their definition of an ugly woman was!!