Ask The Civ Team - 09/14/01 Edition

[Stuie]

Three things:

1. They left out the Space Ship in their summary of victory conditions (under "Smells like... victory!"). I hope this was just an erroneous omission.

2. We get yet another non-answer to a question about multiplayer.

3. The Top Five Cities screen looks cool - tons of info as to how the ranking is arrived at. Then again, I always thought that looking at that screen was sort of like cheating, as it contained information that I could not obtain through any other more legitimate means (like info on cities I hadn't even discovered).

[Slax]

Here is the MP question and answer:

Hello,

Let me first say that my wife and I are really looking forward to Civ 3. I introduced my wife to Civ 2 and CTP2 and she absolutely loves turn-based strategy style of game play. Not a week goes by without her asking me when Civ 3 is going to be released!

The only difficulty we've discovered with turn-based games like Civ & CTP is that multiplayer games can be slow and cumbersome, especially at later stages in the game. I've always envisioned the next great Civ-style game to introduce simultaneous turns in multiplayer. I'm sure this would introduce quite a few technical challenges though. So my question would have to be how is Civ 3 going to address this issue?

Best regards,

Joel Dudgeon


Joel,

Thanks for your email! We're working on some cool multiplayer concepts that will take a fresh approach to the challenge of making multiplayer for a turn-based game fun. We're not yet ready to give details, but stay tuned. When we have more to report, the site will be updated and our fans, as always, will be the first to know!



And the game is to be released in October ??

[ixnay]

It only seems to summarize the brand new victory conditions; I think they assume everyone knows what the conquest and space victories are.

Also, knowing that you will be able to place resources on maps is good news for scenario makers.

[tniem]

Originally posted by Kyller
It only seems to summarize the brand new victory conditions; I think they assume everyone knows what the conquest and space victories are.

Concur.

The Top Five Cities screen looks cool - tons of info as to how the ranking is arrived at. Then again, I always thought that looking at that screen was sort of like cheating, as it contained information that I could not obtain through any other more legitimate means (like info on cities I hadn't even discovered).

Yeah, I hope that you don't start seeing other cities and nations info in the Demographics before you come into contact with them. But I don't know if this will be the case or not.

We get yet another non-answer to a question about multiplayer.

I know it is almost as bad as not hearing anything. Instead we keep hearing we are not ready to talk about it. Well why not? We are a month and a half from release for goodness sakes. When will you be ready to talk about it?

[Steve Clark]

It was amusing that the first question they chose to answer was from some doofus who never played Civ2 or SMAC and wanted to know about an inconsequential feature such as the Top 5 Cities?!? I think any one of us here could have asked a much better question (or is Firaxis purposely ignoring our questions? ).

[monkspider]

They are being extremely frustrating about MP, why even bring it up in "Ask the Developers" if they aren't going to say anything? On a good note, the very thought that they did bring it up could bode well for the future of MP

[Gramphos]

Quote from the answer.

As you mentioned, the traditional military (defeat all your enemies) and spaceship victories are of course back in Civ III, but we've also come up with some new ones. Here's a quick primer on them:

Spaceship victory is in the game (as said before).

[Rhysie]

Originally posted by Steve Clark
It was amusing that the first question they chose to answer was from some doofus who never played Civ2 or SMAC and wanted to know about an inconsequential feature such as the Top 5 Cities?!?

He had played SMAC, that was the whole point, the top 5 wasn't in SMAC.

Why is he a doofus for asking a question? That seems a very rude attitude to take.

[Tventano]

They integrated F8 and F11. The resulting overview showing the top 5 cities to the left and the denmographics to the right, looks finished.
No unnecesary semi-funny images, but good colors, easy readible, for the cities clear images, just as on the map with the indication of the wonders by added icons.

I hope the calculation bug for the pink nation is no longer in the game.

Having both views integrated is good, it makes it easier to check these global parameters

[Lemmy]

Originally posted by Steve Clark
It was amusing that the first question they chose to answer was from some doofus who never played Civ2 or SMAC and wanted to know about an inconsequential feature such as the Top 5 Cities?!? I think any one of us here could have asked a much better question (or is Firaxis purposely ignoring our questions? ).

the doofus did play SMAC

and i sadly discovered that this feature is not available in Alpha Centauri ( i have not had the pleasure of playing Civ II, so i dont know if it is still present there).

And i noticed you can set your governors per continent, i don't think this has ever been done before. Looks like the maps will be more realistic than ever.

The governors in Civ III can be instructed on what to produce as well as what NEVER to produce, and these can be set on a city-by-city basis, or on a continental or global level

[Gramphos]

They have combined the Demographics page with Top five cities
They have always been my favorite screens in CivNet while waiting for my turn. Now I don't have to decide what screen to open. , I can open both. This opens new abilities

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Rhysie
Why is he a doofus for asking a question? That seems a very rude attitude to take.

He is not a doofus, but what I (and apparently some people) are frustrated here about is that they seem to be deliberately avoiding answers to material questions (like types and number of governments; more info on great leaders; minor wonders etc.) while answering in great detail questions which are either inconsequential or answers to which are already known/presumed.

It is irritating

[tniem]

Originally posted by Martinus
but what I (and apparently some people) are frustrated here about is that they seem to be deliberately avoiding answers to material questions (like types and number of governments; more info on great leaders; minor wonders etc.) while answering in great detail questions which are either inconsequential or answers to which are already known/presumed.

It is irritating

But this is not the fault of those asking questions. It is the fault of the developer and the publisher. So there is no reason to call they person asking the question a doofus. Plus, I am interested in that screen although I wish they would answer the MP question but it appears they won't.

[saracen31]

Hopefully they'll fix the part where it says "1 children" on the Top 5 Cities screen. A minor detail, but the kind of programming I expect from CTP, not Firaxis.

[Rhysie]

Originally posted by saracen31
Hopefully they'll fix the part where it says "1 children" on the Top 5 Cities screen. A minor detail, but the kind of programming I expect from CTP, not Firaxis.

It might not be a bug, some countries do have average family sizes with less than 2 children. If it weren't for immigration then many of these countries would shrink in size, and if I remember correctly there are already some which are shrinking in population.

It does seem unlikely that a country would be shedding half of its population every generation in a game of civ though.

[saracen31]

I meant the pluralization of 1 child. Like I said, a minor but annoying detail.

[Rhysie]

I just thought of another reason they would have posted Edvic's question... Don't forget that a games website is mainly a PR tool, not just there to give you information, but there to foster interest and make people think the game is going to be cool... Edvic's question is almost 50% compliment, and if people see fans complimenting the game producers and having faith in them, those people are more likely to think the game will be cool... So if you want to get your question answered on the page, load it with loads of buttery compliments!

[Steve Clark]

Sorry for my name-calling. It was my reaction to someone not ever having played Civ2 getting prominent space in a limited Ask column. Martinus is correct, there were probably several good questions about AI, gameplay, customization, wonders, governments, etc. asked by us but they chose to take up valuable space on someone who not only was brown-nosing but never played Civ2 (I misread about not playing SMAC), asking about something that is not that important, imo. Just a kneejerk reaction to a frustrating read. On the other hand, the question/answer about the other ways of winning was superb.

[TechWins]

Don't complain about what questions Firaxis answers. There is no need to. Firaxis just can't win with some of you.

The governors should be very useful in MP.

[Rhysie]

Originally posted by saracen31
I meant the pluralization of 1 child. Like I said, a minor but annoying detail.

Ah, sorry misunderstood you. You're right there I guess.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Martinus

He is not a doofus, but what I (and apparently some people) are frustrated here about is that they seem to be deliberately avoiding answers to material questions (like types and number of governments; more info on great leaders; minor wonders etc.) while answering in great detail questions which are either inconsequential or answers to which are already known/presumed.

It is irritating

Maybe they are not releasing info on gvts, great leaders, etc because they don't want to give everything away. For obvious marketing reasons, they want to keep some details a secret so that people can discover the game when they play it. Do you really want the game "spoiled" before you play it?

[tniem]

Originally posted by The diplomat
Maybe they are not releasing info on gvts, great leaders, etc because they don't want to give everything away. For obvious marketing reasons, they want to keep some details a secret so that people can discover the game when they play it. Do you really want the game "spoiled" before you play it?

Actually it makes more sense that they aren't answering AI questions because they are hard to answer. What are you going to say to the question is the AI difficult?

Yes, it beat me yesterday.

Or to the quesiton does the AI cheat?

There just isn't a good sizable answer that you can give. But the question that is burning to be answered about MP still isn't and that isn't good PR or marketing. So no I don't think what your saying is the reason some things are being answered and not being answered.

[jsw363]

It seems odd to me that Rome has less people than Toga Party and yet it has a larger city picture. Is this because it has more structures? Because it is the capital? Or is there some other reason?

[Ilkuul]

Maybe I missed something earlier on, but I thjought there were going to be six victory conditions, one of them trade/commercial. This is not mentioned in Firaxis's reply, so I guess it's been dropped somewhere along the line.

Can anyone throw any light on this?

[Gramphos]

Originally posted by tniem
Actually it makes more sense that they aren't answering AI questions because they are hard to answer. What are you going to say to the question is the AI difficult?

Yes, it beat me yesterday.

Or to the quesiton does the AI cheat?

There just isn't a good sizable answer that you can give.

You could tell all specific rules the AI have for different levels do difficulty.
The AI never cheats, it just plays after other rules.

But the question that is burning to be answered about MP still isn't and that isn't good PR or marketing. So no I don't think what your saying is the reason some things are being answered and not being answered.

What is wrong with the auto-MP-answer function

[Rhysie]

Originally posted by jsw363
It seems odd to me that Rome has less people than Toga Party and yet it has a larger city picture. Is this because it has more structures? Because it is the capital? Or is there some other reason?

It's because its a capital, it was the same in civ2

[TechWins]

I'm actually a little dissapointed about the Demographics and Top 5. I was hoping for a far more extensive demographics and more items for Top 5 (i.e. military, culture).

[Gramphos]

Originally posted by Ilkuul
Maybe I missed something earlier on, but I thjought there were going to be six victory conditions, one of them trade/commercial. This is not mentioned in Firaxis's reply, so I guess it's been dropped somewhere along the line.

Can anyone throw any light on this?

It is not listed on the player setup screen. So if it ever was in it must have been taken out before civ3.com opened.

[Steve Clark]

I can think of several pointed, yet answerable AI questions. One of them would be something along the lines of how do the AI civs take advantage of the attributes assigned to them under certain conditions. For example, if a civ is expansionistic/scientific, what if runs out of room to expand (due to physical or military barriers), does it resort to becoming militaristic to continue expansion or does it just sit and stew? This gets at the key thing about AI acting and reacting according to game situations, and hopefully not on some pre-defined parameters that would be the same each game. But then again, I guess we'll find out for ourselves soon enough in the Civ3-Strategy forum.

[Ilkuul]

Thanks for the link, Gramphos; I missed that one. I think much earlier in the forums people were talking about a commercial victory, but it obviously wasn't 'official'.

By the way, that setup screen seemed to lack a Custom civ option, which is quite a blow! Does this mean you can only have custom civs in scenarios etc.?