New PC Gamer UK preview

Haphazard · September 22, 2001, 07:02

In the November (yes already) issue I got today, there is a 5 page preview. Most of it is old screenshots, and a collection of news we've seen here, but a couple of new bits of info (I think):

Smart weapons: When attacking open up the city screen and pick an improvement (or Wonders?!) to destroy!

Culture: Age bonus comes into effect after 1000 years apparantly.

Roads/Railroad: Need a passage treaty to use other civs roads. (not sure if that is new)

Wonders: 32 total, including the 'small' ones buildable by all, of which the Apollo program and Battlefield Medicine are ones. (probably needs 5 hospitals, and improves the heal/armour rates of units I guess)

Spaceship: The winner is the first to launch the ship, not land it.

Zones of control: Looks like only movement 2 units have them, although I could be interpreting 'only certain units, like a knights or a tank exert a ZOC' wrong.

Units: Cannon/workers can be captured (captured workers needing no maintenance), although this has already been mentioned. Battleships can 'blitz' ie bombard once for every point of movement they have (4)

saracen31 · September 22, 2001, 07:26

I like the smart weapons idea - to bomb factories or temples in another city. Good options.

Also like the spaceship launching, not arriving. It always drove me nuts when I'd launch a big spaceship, only to have some other Civ launch a smaller one 6 years later & beat me to Alpha Centauri.

SerapisIV · September 22, 2001, 08:24

I wonder if that age bonus is for 1000 game years, or 50 turns. Kinda sucks if all the improvements you build after 1000 AD don't get extra culture. 100 game turns sounds much more reasonable.

jsw363 · September 22, 2001, 08:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Haphazard
Zones of control: Looks like only movement 2 units have them, although I could be interpreting 'only certain units, like a knights or a tank exert a ZOC' wrong.

Looks like it will be much harder to hold mountain passes with fortified phalanx. You'll actually have to mount a realistic defense.

d_dudy · September 22, 2001, 08:55

i think the culture bonus meant you get some extra culrure for just being alive

battlefield medicine? some of their wonders are funny sounding

smart weapons-awesome, but their better be a defence

great news, i hope an editor picks it up soon.......

Inverse Icarus · September 22, 2001, 09:11

Quote:

Originally posted by SerapisIV
I wonder if that age bonus is for 1000 game years, or 50 turns. Kinda sucks if all the improvements you build after 1000 AD don't get extra culture. 100 game turns sounds much more reasonable.

yea... in the BCs you wait 2-4 game turns, and in the late ADs you wait 1000 turns.

care to clarify dan?

isaac brock · September 22, 2001, 09:15

Quote:

Originally posted by d_dudy
smart weapons-awesome, but their better be a defence

of course theres a defence. kill that unit

PGM · September 22, 2001, 10:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Haphazard
Smart weapons: When attacking open up the city screen and pick an improvement (or Wonders?!) to destroy!

I think it's been said that Great Wonders are never destroyed, while Small Wonders can (in fact they are always destroyed when you capture a city where they're in). Love the idea of targeting specific city improvements.

For example, the destruction of enemy temples or cathedrals can force a revolution, an easier conquest and better cultural assimilation.

Haphazard · September 22, 2001, 13:25

I'd say most of this was reliable (the feature came from an interview with Jeff and Sid) but the writer's interpretations could be wrong, ie only minor wonders destroyable, 50 turns instead of 1000 years. So don't blame me if Dan comes and contradicts most of this!

shum00 · September 22, 2001, 17:21

Quote:

Originally posted by Haphazard
Smart weapons: When attacking open up the city screen and pick an improvement (or Wonders?!) to destroy!

This thought just crosses my mind... how do you get to choose what improvement to destroy if you don't know what improvements the city has, like in Civ II?

PGM · September 22, 2001, 17:27

Quote:

Originally posted by shum00
This thought just crosses my mind... how do you get to choose what improvement to destroy if you don't know what improvements the city has, like in Civ II?

Civ2 is completely different from Civ3 in this aspect, there is no way to compare. I think this is where espionage will play its key role.

shum00 · September 22, 2001, 18:33

Well yes I know you could find out the improvements through espionage, but does this mean that you have to find out what improvements a city has before you can use these weapons?

shum00 · September 22, 2001, 18:39

sorry dp

PGM · September 22, 2001, 18:46

Quote:

Originally posted by shum00
Well yes I know you could find out the improvements through espionage, but does this mean that you have to find out what improvements a city has before you can use these weapons?

Probably, I don't see any other way around it, you can't target a cathedral without knowing if it's there.

Acemo · September 22, 2001, 19:02

By the time that one is able to build these weapons, I think some sort of satellite surveillance system would be able to give an indication of what improvements are built in a particular city.
Whether this system would need to be built or is implied (i.e. free), who knows?

Skanky Burns · September 22, 2001, 19:42

Also remember that the spy and diplomat have gone the way of the caravan. They are now a menu option thingy, not an actual unit. So you cant really compare this feature to Civ 2

d_dudy · September 22, 2001, 20:24

Quote:

Originally posted by isaac brock

of course theres a defence. kill that unit

no, really?

i mean missile defenses for cruise missiles. and i hope they're good, like a really good one is expensive to build but pretty effective

isaac brock · September 22, 2001, 20:29

Well, in that case, I'm sure there is absolutely no defense for missiles, which makes a giant hole in the game, so it shouldn't be released until the after the fifth coming of christ is well past finished.

mactbone · September 22, 2001, 20:36

Quote:

Well, in that case, I'm sure there is absolutely no defense for missiles, which makes a giant hole in the game, so it shouldn't be released until the after the fifth coming of christ is well past finished.

LOL!!!!

This one goes in my quote document!

Hmmm, I wonder if I could make this an automatic response for whenever someone says that the deadline is making Firaxis "rush Civ3"? Just take out the beginning and it fits all circumstances!

FrostyBoy · September 22, 2001, 22:46

FIRST TO LAUNCH THE SPACESHIP!?!?!?!?!

:

connorkimbro · September 23, 2001, 00:17

Quote:

Spaceship: The winner is the first to launch the ship, not land it.

If this is true, i wonder how easy it would be to change it? I don't like this at all. . this cuts alot of strategy out, especially for peaceful games. Before, you had to make the choice of a small fast ship, a big slow ship. . you had to decide how to make the ship based on how fast you needed it to get there, and how much production capabilities you had, etc. .

now, there's no tough choices involved. simply build the smallest ship possible, game over. blah

hopefully, that isn't true, and if it is, i'd suggest changing it, if at all possible.

Chris_Nightwing · September 23, 2001, 03:05

The spaceship, from what I have seen on the tech tree and the one screenshot of the SS screen, now consists of about 13 different parts, all of which must be built to launch it. That way it doesn't matter how long it would have taken, as there is no such thing as a small or large SS, they are all identical, it is the first to finish that wins!

FrostyBoy · September 23, 2001, 03:11

No its BULLSH!T

america and russia could build the rockets, but they couldn't land on the moon.

it was the race to the moon, not to build the rocket!

Roland Ehnström · September 23, 2001, 03:43

Anyone else feels like this Sn00py fella should be banned from this forum?

To Sn00py: What about finding out the facts of the matter before starting to

? And what about using a language instead of insulting people?

-- Roland

MarkG · September 23, 2001, 04:37

snoopy, the next time i see a similar post from you, you'll find yourself banned from these forums

Skanky Burns · September 23, 2001, 04:52

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris_Nightwing
The spaceship, from what I have seen on the tech tree and the one screenshot of the SS screen, now consists of about 13 different parts, all of which must be built to launch it. That way it doesn't matter how long it would have taken, as there is no such thing as a small or large SS, they are all identical, it is the first to finish that wins!

If thats right, then this is a good thing

No more Bablyonians building a small tin that isnt even space-worthy, thereby winning even tho only 5% of them even survive the trip there...
Not that im bitter

Comrade Tribune · September 23, 2001, 05:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris_Nightwing
The spaceship, from what I have seen on the tech tree and the one screenshot of the SS screen, now consists of about 13 different parts, all of which must be built to launch it. That way it doesn't matter how long it would have taken, as there is no such thing as a small or large SS, they are all identical, it is the first to finish that wins!

But that takes ship construction away. All spaceships are now the same.

And I thought ship construction would become more interesting with more different parts and such, something like a 'spaceship workshop'.
Instead, it´s gone, gone, gone.

lockstep · September 23, 2001, 06:02

I never understood why my spaceship should be forced to return because another civ captured my capital. At least that´s gone, too ...

ancient · September 23, 2001, 06:30

That sucks! First one to launch the spaceship wins? It should be land!

Thats a big error. In civ2 you could build a better ship after someones and land it first. Thats the way it should be.

If this is the way it is going to be I'm disabling spaceships every game..

Jarouik · September 23, 2001, 08:50

Quote:

Originally posted by lockstep
I never understood why my spaceship should be forced to return because another civ captured my capital. At least that´s gone, too ...

I never understood in Civ 2 how my spaceship even could return once it had been launched... considering it's an interstellar spaceship travelling at a significant portion of the speed of light, you just don't have the extra fuel needed to decelerate and turn back once you're travelled far enough - and you most certainly wouldn't even consider trying it

I agree there needed to be a way of preventing a civilization from winning after its spaceship had been launched, but the explanation was somewhat ridiculous. So I guess it is better just to have the first civ to complete a spaceship to win the game.

I wonder, though, how the Civ 3 plot in this case fits in with the Alpha Centauri one, since there you had a United Nations spaceship instead of national spaceships - but then again, SMAC had Earth more or less destroyed in nuclear war as well, and I don't think that will be a required outcome in Civ 3.