Civilization V announced!

[Terina/Sinaroc]

Fall 2010 can't come soon enough.

www.civfanatics.com/

www.civilization5.com/

2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc, today announced that Sid Meier's Civilization V, the newest entry from the genre-defining strategy-based franchise, is currently in development at Firaxis Games for PC. Civilization V reinvigorates the classic turn-based strategy genre with an astonishing new engine built from the ground-up for this flagship edition of the Civilization franchise. Players are introduced to an entirely new combat system, deeper diplomatic interactions and a cavalcade of expanded features that deliver a fully immersive experience providing hours of entertainment as players build and defend their empire on their quest to become the greatest ruler the world has ever known.

Civilization V takes this definitive strategy game series in new directions with the introduction of hexagon tiles allowing for deeper strategy, more realistic gameplay and stunning organic landscapes for players to explore as they expand their empire. The brand new engine orchestrates a spectacular visual experience that brings players closer to the Civ experience than ever, featuring fully animated leaders interacting with players from a screen-filling diplomatic scene and speaking in their native language for the first time. Wars between empires feel massive as armies dominate the landscape, and combat is more exciting and intense than ever before. The addition of ranged bombardment allows players to fire weapons from behind the front lines, challenging players to develop clever new strategies to guarantee victory on the battlefield. In addition to the new gameplay features debuting in Civilization V, an extensive suite of community, modding and multiplayer elements will also make an appearance.

"Sid Meier's Civilization franchise has been recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all time with millions of units sold worldwide," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "Civilization V takes the franchise further by offering players a more immersive experience with deeper strategies; heightened tactical combat; vast, realistic landscapes to explore, battle over and claim as their own; and an in-game community hub where Civ fans can share content and compete against each other without leaving the game. This marks a new era that will forever change the franchise responsible for sleep deprivation and reduced productivity for nearly two decades."

"Each new version of Civilization presents exciting challenges for our team," said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games. "Thankfully, ideas on how to bring new and fun experiences to Civ players never seem to stop flowing. From fully animated leaders and realistic landscapes, new combat tactics, expanded diplomacy and shared mods, we're excited for players to see the new vision our team at Firaxis has brought to the series."

In addition to Civilization V, Firaxis Games is also currently developing Sid Meier's Civilization Network, a Civ game for Facebook. With Sid Meier leading design, Civilization Network will offer yet another option for world domination to both the casual gamer and the biggest fans of the series. It's another way to access the famously addictive world of Civilization.

There's pictures at both sites

[Wizul]

I'm looking forward to it. Should be good stuff.

[Terina/Sinaroc]

Release date has been announced- September 21st in the US

The civilizations were also announced
www.civilization5.com/#/civilizations/

Kind of a neat page, all the leaders are animated and speak in their native tongue, check it out.



* CIVILIZATIONS
* America
* Arabia
* Aztec
* China
* Egypt
* England
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* India
* Iroquois
* Japan
* Ottoman
* Persia
* Rome
* Russia
* Siam
* Songhai

Yep, no Mongols or Zulu (no Ethiopia,Maya and Inca as well). Siam and Songhai are the replacements. Also noticed Native Americans are gone and replaced by the more specific Iroquois.

[Terina/Sinaroc]

This includes a "Making of Civ5" video and an interview with Jon Shafer, the game's designer.
e3.gamespot.com/story/6265330/civilization-v-qanda-first-e3-details?tag=topslot%3Bthumb%3B1&page=1

Contains an interview with Jon Shafer.
pc.ign.com/articles/109/1096888p1.html


3) New Info Summary

* Status Update: Firaxis has nearly finished the art, and is finalizing the game text. Programmers are finishing up a few features, working on bugs, and improving performance.
* Social Policies System: As players accumulate culture over time, they're able to spend it to adopt social policies. There are 10 branches to select from, most of them requiring the player be in a particular era to utilize. Each branch is themed around a different aspect of the game. For example, the early-game "honor" branch provides bonuses to one's military, while the later "commerce" branch improves one's gold output. Players are able to mix and match the policies to construct one's government. Rather than having to switch out of one policy to adopt another, you build upon the policies already unlocked. Firaxis wants players to ask "What cool new effect do I want?" rather than asking "should I swicth?". The cultural victory is now tied to unlocking a certain amount of the policies tree.
* Advisors: The advisors serves as a tutorial for the game.
* Notifications: These allow players determine when they want to make decisions, at any point in the turn. The notifications also shine a spotlight on important events.
* Ranged Attacks: All warships are now ranged units with the ability to hit land targets. Siege units are powerful but as a trade-off, they must be set up prior to firing.
* Diplomacy: Diplomacy victory requires winning the UN election. Every player in the game has one vote, including the city-states. Should a city-state be conquered, it can be liberated, and if this happens, that city-state is guaranteed to vote for the liberator in the UN election.
* ZOC: Units have zone of control that slows enemy units (must be at war) to 1 hex move/turn.
* City States: Three types of city states: maritime, cultured, and militaristic. Befriending one provides bonuses relating to their type. While city states can be friends with any player, they can be allied to only one at a time. City states grant all of their resources to their ally and will join that ally in war.
* Border Growth: Border growth now takes place one tile at a time. Players may choose which tiles are obtained with money, but the price will depend on how easy or hard it would be for the city to claim the tile by culture. Cultural accumulation still provides a long-term method for expanding one's territory. The order in which tiles are claimed depends on the geography. For example, nearby tiles with resources will be first in line, while others across a river will be picked up later.
* Economics: The "slider" has been eliminated. Gold and science have been completely split up and come from different sources now. The new system requires less turn-to-turn management and better rewards long-term planning. Most science now comes from your population, though specialist populations and unique tile improvements also contribute. Resources are now quantified, so a single source of oil is no longer able to fuel an entire fleet.
* Unit Movement: Units can move through one another as long as they don't end up on the same tile.
* Unit promotions are now more tailored to the particular unit class. Additionally, a promotion opportunity can be "spent" to fully heal a unit, providing an interesting trade-off between long and short-term benefits.


10 new screen shots hitting next image you'll see all the new screen shots (the one with the galley and Great Lighthouse is the last new one, the one following is an April fools joke)
www.civfanatics.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=2908&original=1

[Terina/Sinaroc]

There's going to be a demo released before the game is shipped .

Also

==========
All About Cities
Quote:
With the single exception of the monument, which has no prerequisites and is available to build at the start of the game, you need knowledge of a specific technology to construct a building. For example, you must learn bronze working before you can build a barracks.

Some buildings have resource prerequisites as well -- for instance a city must have an improved source of horses or ivory nearby to construct a circus. Also, some buildings have building prerequisites. You can't build a temple in a city unless you've already constructed a monument there.

There's one downside to buildings: most of them cost gold to maintain. The price depends upon the building in question, and can range from 1 to 5 per turn. The gold is deducted from your treasury each turn.
Happiness
Quote:
When your happiness is negative and your happiness icon is looking sad, your population is "unhappy." An unhappy population's growth rate is significantly slowed, but there are no other ill effects.

When your happiness is negative and your happiness icon is looking angry, your population is "very unhappy." If your population is very unhappy, your cities stop growing altogether, you cannot build any Settlers, and your military units get a nasty combat penalty.
Gold
Quote:
You can extend your civilization's territory by purchasing individual tiles. The cost of each tile will vary based on a variety of factors, such as how rough the terrain is and whether it's across a river.

Units and buildings both have "maintenance costs" that must be paid every turn. These maintenance costs are dependent upon the difficulty level at which you're playing.

[celebriana]

THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!

[Terina/Sinaroc]

Bumping cause today is the release date.

Check back later for a demo link. You'll have to go through Steam for it.


Demo link after you install steam

store.steampowered.com/app/8930

[celebriana]

Yep got the demo today! Looks great

[jim]

Civilization V GPU & CPU Performance In-depth

www.techspot.com/review/320-civilization-v-performance/