The site just updated. Screenshots and Aztecs

[aebbeka]

Originally posted by donarumo
Does it not look like this Egyption worker is playing a guitar? I know he isn't but it looks that way.

The Egyptians discovered the guitar technology long before anyone else did. Is Elvis still going to be one of the advisors?

[Gramphos]

Originally posted by donarumo
Does it not look like this Egyptian worker is playing a guitar? I know he isn't but it looks that way.

No, it does not. It does look as if he is digging, and he may also be animated, we don't know.

[ixnay]

I'm sure he is animated and is in the process of digging a road. But it does sort of look like he has a guitar.

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

That, of course, is the special "Rock Star" unit, that when built, causes teenage girls from other civilizations to defect to yours.

Or not.


Dan

[Gramphos]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
That, of course, is the special "Rock Star" unit, that when built, causes teenage girls from other civilizations to defect to yours.

Elvis is in Civ3 in disguise as a worker.

[Shiva]

Got to say I love the replay screen.

[Steve Clark]

Originally posted by aebbeka
Here are two items that really stood out to me in these new screenshots:

Mountain Rages, you very rarely saw those in Civ2. It was either a small wad of mountains or one standing alone.

You must not have been playing Civ2 with the HiRes (or several others) custom graphics, as thousands of others have been playing with.

[d_dudy]

actually, i think it is a guitar

[jsw363]

The forests look MUCH improved. I also really like the mountain ranges. However, the shallows still look too acqua for me as does the irrigation.

I wonder if you can capture other units besides workers? I bet that you can since it didn't say "workers captured." That makes it kind of risky sending in workers to connect roads with another civ doesn't it?

[Skanky Burns]

Just a question about the mountain ranges. Ive noticed that they are now joined together, which looks good. What i was wondering was when you have 4 mountain tiles together forming a square, does the middle still form a 'valley' or will it have a bigger 'peak' than normal mountains??

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by jsw363
The forests look MUCH improved. I also really like the mountain ranges. However, the shallows still look too acqua for me as does the irrigation.

I wonder if you can capture other units besides workers? I bet that you can since it didn't say "workers captured." That makes it kind of risky sending in workers to connect roads with another civ doesn't it?

Any unit with a defensive rating of zero is captured automatically when an enemy unit moves onto their square (unless there is another unit with a nonzero defensive value also on that square for defense)


Dan

[Slax]

Things are looking good. I like the detail of having a delta where a river empties into the sea!

Two requests:

1. A few more screenshots at the actual screen resolution.

2. Improve the look of irrigated tiles.

[jsw363]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS Any unit with a defensive rating of zero is captured automatically when an enemy unit moves onto their square (unless there is another unit with a nonzero defensive value also on that square for defense)

Thanks Dan! Wow, so many posts today.
So now we are left to speculate what other units have defense ratings of zero besides the worker. We know that there is a modern worker unit that will have no defense rating. Settlers also most likely have no defense. Leaders have no defense. (I read that somewhere). I've also read about the possiblity of some sort of manned catapult unit, implying perhaps that the manning unit has no defense. I've read speculation that there aren't any diplomats, so who knows about them. There are no caravans. Spies probably have some defensive capacity, but who knows if they're even in the game. Anyone else have any suggestions?

Capturable units:
Settler
Worker
Leader
Diplomat?
Spy?
Catapult manning unit?

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
...And you might as well know that Diplomats and Spies have gone the way of the caravan as well; this is all abstracted to advisor screens and game interfaces.

Dan

Seems like there wont be any diplomats/spies any more... so you wont be able to capture them

Im guessing that any sort of artillery type unit will also be capturable...

[kaminwx]

The screens are looking pretty good, but I just don't like the new irrigation look. It looks like there is swamp all over the land mass. The farmland look of civ2 is much better. Any comments on this, Dan?

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by kaminwx
The screens are looking pretty good, but I just don't like the new irrigation look. It looks like there is swamp all over the land mass. The farmland look of civ2 is much better. Any comments on this, Dan?

Not really... I'm not an artist, so I can't really add much to the "I don't like the way X looks" threads...

Dan

[Rhysie]

Looks like Elvis is gone in civ 3 then, replaced by jesters...

[java4me]

If you look at the second Domestic Advisor screen (1st on this page: http://www.civ3.com/gallery.cfm?startimg=19 )

There is something that says Mobilization: Normalcy.

Can anyone tell me what that means?

[jsw363]

Thanks Skanky-

I understand how the caravans got absorbed into the interface, but not the spies and diplomats. I haven't seen any examples of anything treacherous one civ could do to another. I am also wondering how embassies are established. Perhaps you have to pay for them since you can't produce diplomats anymore. I always thought it a bit odd that you could establish an embassy in another civs random outpost and that you didn't have to go to the capital as would be expected.

So then just workers, settlers, leaders, catapults and other unmanned units. It would be sort of weird to cpature another civs leader though and force him to work for you. Perhaps leader when attacked, just die.

The mobilization factor comes after the discovery of Nationalism. This allows you to tailor your economy to be mobilized for war, neutral or peaceful (I think). Not exactly sure what the options are yet however.

[marcuspeddle]

Originally posted by jsw363
However, the shallows still look too acqua for me as does the irrigation.

If you look out of an airplane window while in the air you'll notice that the sea really looks that colour in the shallows. I'm not sure if that's true for every ocean or sea (it probably depends on what the sea floor is composed of) but I've seen that colour while flying.

I like the mountain ranges and forests, too. I wish I could name them with a tag or something. I'll just have to buy a lot of Post-its, I guess.

[PGM]

Originally posted by jsw363
Capturable units:
Settler
Worker
Leader
Diplomat?
Spy?
Catapult manning unit?

The units diplomat, spy and caravan are NOT in the game, they're gone. Trade and espionage are now abstract concepts, with their own specific screen. Which is a good thing IMO.

[jsw363]

Originally posted by PGM
The units diplomat, spy and caravan are NOT in the game, they're gone. Trade and espionage are now abstract concepts, with their own specific screen. Which is a good thing IMO.

Yeah, did you read my second post?

Originally posted by jsw363 So then just workers, settlers, leaders, catapults and other unmanned units.

[ChrisShaffer]

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
Ding ding ding, we have a winner. When your cities are in WLTKD there are fireworks above the city.

Ah, drat, there are still WLTKD.

Please, oh please, tell us that WLTKD does not increase population!

[DonJoel]

QUOTE]Ah, drat, there are still WLTKD. Please, oh please, tell us that WLTKD does not increase population![/QUOTE]

I couldnt agree with you more....

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by java4me
If you look at the second Domestic Advisor screen (1st on this page: http://www.civ3.com/gallery.cfm?startimg=19 )

There is something that says Mobilization: Normalcy.

Can anyone tell me what that means?

I will guess that it is the state of your economy, you know, the ones you get after Nationalism(?); one where the military units costs the half of the normal, one where all costs the same as before(normalcy) and one where peaceful units\buildintgs costs the half of the normal. Got it?

[Comrade Tribune]

Defense of Zero: Not realistic for settlers.
American settlers would always have been captured and enslaved by Indian warriors.

No spies and diplomats: There goes another dimension of the game.
Espionage was one thing that was better done in Civ, compared to Moo. No more.

[Triped]

We pioneers just got lucky

Are you saying that settlers should make a viable early-game unit?

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Triped
Are you saying that settlers should make a viable early-game unit?

Not really. Attack 0, Defense 1 is best, I guess.

[Triped]

I dunno...half the point of early-game military is to defend your colonization attempts...if they can handle it themselves, then what's the point?

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Triped
I dunno...half the point of early-game military is to defend your colonization attempts...if they can handle it themselves, then what's the point?

Well, a settler is much more expensive than a warrior. AND has no attack value. So warriors already do have a large advantage compared to settlers. I believe taking all defense away from settlers AND making it possible to capture them is simply too much. Settlers without a regiment protecting them will never reach their destination, because barbarians will capture them. This is not quite realistic, I think. About half of the settlers would be healthy men, and they would have some weapons, too.