[NEWS] Ask Sid Meier - Civilization IV

[Mr.Guvernment]

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| Ask Sid Meier |
| from the why-do-i-lose-at-civ-so-much dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Monday September 26, @14:54 (Interviews) |
| http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1611231 |
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[0]Sid Meier is a household name in gaming. Titles he's designed, such as Railroad Tycoon, Pirates!, and Civilization, are pillars in the history of PC gaming. This year the fourth chapter in the Civilization series of games is being released, and we have a great opportunity. Today we're asking for questions about design and philosophy to pass on to Mr. Meier.
On Wednesday, we'll be asking for questions to give to the Civilization IV development team. That day you'll have the chance to ask technical questions about the moddability and design concepts that went into the game. For today, here's your opportunity to put questions to one of the most respected game designers in the industry. Keep them topical, and one question per post please. We'll pass on the ten best questions, his responses will go up as soon as we get them back.

Discuss this story at:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=05/09/26/1611231

Links:
0. http://www.gamespot.com/features/sidlegacy/

WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO i love these games!!! been playing Civ since i can remember!

 

[deathman20]

Havn't played Civ in ages. But i remember playing Railroad tycoon, the older version of it, if it was the first or second one. Also didn't he have a theme park one also?

 

[infinitevalence]

civ is the one of the best games ever, i played civ1 right up until 2001 and now still play civ3

 

[H4Z4RD0US]

The game really that good? I may pick it up

 

[TheGreySpectre]

Bah, I want alpha centauri 2

 

[FrEaK44]

i want it

 

[Dracknem]

The game really that good? I may pick it up

Don't get Civ 3, wait like a month for Civ 4. lol

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

Get Civ 3 to practive - even when i had civ 3 i still played Civ 2

maybe the multiplayer will improve, they are getting there with "same time" turn in Civ 3 but you have to wait for everyone to take their turns and then go.

 

[infinitevalence]

and the performance was very poor when you were playing multiplayer

 

[TheGreySpectre]

IMO turnbased games are all about hotseat games

 

[>HyperlogiK<]

i love civ 3 and alpha centauri, but civ 4 must be something pretty special to compete with the campaigns in 'rome: total war', because the management/diplomacy options in that pretty much equal those of civ 3.

 

[deathBOB]

I hated the Civ 3 interface. Always felt like there was a layer between me and the actual running of my civilization.

If they can take Civ 2 and add nice graphics and multiplayer I will be happy.

 

[9mmCensor]

I hated the Civ 3 interface. Always felt like there was a layer between me and the actual running of my civilization.

If they can take Civ 2 and add nice graphics and multiplayer I will be happy.

hell yeah. I loved the simplicity of Civ 2. I pretty much just played the WW2 sim.

 

[Dracknem]

Civ IV apparently fixes many of the problems of Civ III, returning to a more simple game. Also, according to ign.com the multiplayer is actually. . .**gasp**. . .fun

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

^^ that would be nice, simple can be good and i dont find Cvi III to be hard at all - i hope they keep the side of it that allows more control, perhaps just make it flow better... ?

 

[Dracknem]

You still can have lots of control, but you can automate tedious things, like workers. Like, in the old game you used to have to send your worker to every tile in your city to build a road to get the extra commerce. Now roads are automatic, I believe, and workers can be automated. There are also a lot more things that workers can build, dependent on the tiles they're on.

Every preview I've read of people who have played it says it plays faster, but is also a lot of fun, by faster they mean smoother.

Also, units make sense, no more spearmen defeating tanks! And units earn experience and can get upgrades, like to make them better at city defense or assaulting.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

You can automate your workes in Civ III wich is nice as i build as many as i can!

Smoother will be nice - i can imagine the CPU usage of this one! since the game is purely CPU power really at a set resolution, i hope they allow better graphics tweaking for the user.

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

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| Ask The Civ IV Dev Team |
| from the historically-accurate dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Wednesday September 28, @13:00 (Programming) |
| http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/28/1522210 |
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On Monday, we asked you for [0]questions for industry legend Sid Meier.
Today, we're asking for question to put to the folks behind the technology of Civilization IV. Besides the actual coding and development that went into the game itself, the team has made [1]Civilization IV infinitely moddable through technologies such as XML, Python, and a fully developed SDK. Led by lead designer Soren Johnson, the team will answer your questions about the creation of the fourth chapter in one of the most influential game series out there. So, fire away with your questions. One per comment, please, and keep them topical. We'll pass the ten best questions to Johnson and the team, and the answers will be posted as soon as we have them in our hands.

Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=05/09/28/1522210

Links:
0. http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1611231&tid=11
1. http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/26/1737256&tid=206

 

[>HyperlogiK<]

You can automate your workes in Civ III wich is nice as i build as many as i can!QUOTE]

yeah civ 3 and alpha centauri both became a real hassle as you came close to winning the game, i didn't want to give orders to every last terraformer/worker.

 

[Lat]

i played civ1 for yeeaaaars. such a classic. then i hopped straight into civ3, which i played lots too, but not to the extent of civ1. i'm totally looking forward to civ4