Whats the target market

[lord of the mark]

Hardcore current civers?
Casual civers?
People who've played Civ heavily but put it aside?
Ditto, but currently play CTP or SMAC?
(BTW, whats the total "installed base" of Civ2 out there?)
People who play TBS games but havent played civ1 or 2 (are there any?)
People who play other genres but might be drawn to a TBS by Civ3.
People who rarely buy PC games but might be drawn to Civ3.

What the game needs to be like depnds heavily on what Firaxis target markets are. Im sure they expect a big seller, but Im not sure where they are expect to find the sales (among the above groups)

Any thoughts?

The "Hardcore" segment is too small to be the main target, and making Civ heavier will turn away the newbie segment which definately was one of Civ2's strongest markets (the subject is, after all, of universial interest). However, the strongest segment is likely to be returning casual civers, who are attracted by the brand name (look at the trouble they went through to get it back) and have positive memories of a light, fun Civ. Non-Civ Gamers are likely to be unattracted by a TBS.

So Casual Civers with non-gaming newbies as a secondary market.

[DarkCloud]

Casual Gamers I believe...