Interface Change?

wotan321 · September 21, 2001, 11:49

Whoa? Did I miss something, or has the interface changed on these views of the continents? Up in the top left corner, on the borders of the small map in the bottom left, and the unit info on the bottom right, the buttons are different? What are they? Are there different views of the gameplay screens?

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · September 21, 2001, 12:00

The earlier buttons were placement art. The buttons at the top are the Prefs, Civilopedia, and Advisors buttons, respectively.

As far as the status panel in the lower right, the previous interface had icons for diplomacy and espionage, but we wanted to add the histograph/score screen, the palace screen, and the spaceship screen to those, so that's what you have now.

Dan

Gramphos · September 21, 2001, 12:03

The new look mush better

for the Firaxis artists.
(Dan, make sure they get it)

Oh, and Mark didn't make a news item of the promised screens.

wotan321 · September 21, 2001, 12:12

Wow, thanks, it looks great.

So.... the D,E,P,H on the lower right is diplomacy, espionage, ? and histograph? What about the G on the map window in the lower left?

...oh, and what do you mean by Prefs?

Thanks again.

ixnay · September 21, 2001, 12:14

The P is for palace, and I think that an S for spaceship will appear under those.

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · September 21, 2001, 12:19

Quote:

Originally posted by wotan321
Wow, thanks, it looks great.

So.... the D,E,P,H on the lower right is diplomacy, espionage, ? and histograph? What about the G on the map window in the lower left?

...oh, and what do you mean by Prefs?

Thanks again.

The "G" toggles the minimap between showing geography or territory. Prefs = preferences: quit game, audio settings, etc.

Dan

SerapisIV · September 21, 2001, 12:40

You didn't say no to the espionage. Is espionage a new large game concept? Has espionage been removed from the unit level of diplomat/spy units and placed onto advisor level? Is espionage controlled at more of a macro level now?

wotan321 · September 21, 2001, 12:56

Thanks Dan.

The game is looking great, as is the website.

okay, since I'm here, I'll ask.... are the maps we recently received large, small, or what..... comparitively speaking.....?

Thanks again for the info you provide.

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · September 21, 2001, 13:32

Quote:

Originally posted by wotan321
Thanks Dan.

The game is looking great, as is the website.

okay, since I'm here, I'll ask.... are the maps we recently received large, small, or what..... comparitively speaking.....?

Thanks again for the info you provide.

Those were on a large map (140 x 140), standard is 100 x 100, and you can go up to 256 x 256.

Dan

Gramphos · September 21, 2001, 13:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
Those were on a large map (140 x 140), standard is 100 x 100, and you can go up to 256 x 256.

Dan

How big will a 256 x 256-mapfile be and how mush may it be compressed using zip?

Steve Clark · September 21, 2001, 13:35

256 x 256 ?!?!? Boy, if someone would design a world map at that scale, you would have alot of civs REALLY growing in isolation (or there would have to be alot of ocean tiles).

lockstep · September 21, 2001, 13:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
Those were on a large map (140 x 140), standard is 100 x 100, and you can go up to 256 x 256.

Dan

I´m sure this is going to be a news item soon.

SerapisIV · September 21, 2001, 13:42

Come on Dan, just say yes or no to whether the E stands for espionage. Beyond that, I'll wait till the next Ask-the-Team or Development update for more info.

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · September 21, 2001, 14:04

Quote:

Originally posted by SerapisIV
Come on Dan, just say yes or no to whether the E stands for espionage. Beyond that, I'll wait till the next Ask-the-Team or Development update for more info.

Sorry, I thought that was clear in my earlier response, the "E" does indeed stand for espionage. 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

Dan Magaha FIRAXIS · September 21, 2001, 14:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Gramphos

How big will a 256 x 256-mapfile be and how mush may it be compressed using zip?

When you make a map of that size in the editor, it saves out at about 940Kb, but a lot of that is uncompressed "air" from blank data structures. On maximum zip I compressed it down to about 63Kb.

Dan

ixnay · September 21, 2001, 14:05

Quote:

Come on Dan, just say yes or no to whether the E stands for espionage. Beyond that, I'll wait till the next Ask-the-Team or Development update for more info.

Maybe you should read his 1st post:

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan
As far as the status panel in the lower right, the previous interface had icons for diplomacy and espionage, but we wanted to add the histograph/score screen, the palace screen, and the spaceship screen to those, so that's what you have now.

Gramphos · September 21, 2001, 14:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS
When you make a map of that size in the editor, it saves out at about 940Kb, but a lot of that is uncompressed "air" from blank data structures. On maximum zip I compressed it down to about 63Kb.

Dan

Good, that way they aren't as rooming as many map files I know, and they can be attached to Apolyton if they are zipped. That was exactly what I wanted to know

Tventano · September 21, 2001, 14:14

I noticed that the shown maps display some real continents, with lot of ocean around it. Quite more realistic than in earlier versions

SerapisIV · September 21, 2001, 15:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Kyller
Maybe you should read his 1st post:

I worded it poorly, I was trying to figure out if the espionage was with spy units or espionage like the infiltrated datalinks of SMAC.

Jarouik · September 21, 2001, 15:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Tventano
I noticed that the shown maps display some real continents, with lot of ocean around it. Quite more realistic than in earlier versions

I agree - it seems they have really improved the map generation algorithm from Civ 2, where you would always get scattered and squiggly continents and islands all over the map with no large oceans between.

As for the interface, while it seems very simple, I think it might take a moment to find all the options that in Civ 2 were available in the various menus now that there is no central location for all the items... I take it right-click menus are implemented, though? But still, I believe the interface will be better than Alpha Centauri, which had an overwhelming amount of menu commands.

PGM · September 21, 2001, 17:16

Great info Dan, thanks.
It's just getting better and better.

And sooner too.

Inverse Icarus · September 21, 2001, 17:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

Sorry, I thought that was clear in my earlier response, the "E" does indeed stand for espionage. 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

hahahah told you esp. would be a kingdom wide menu

ancient · September 21, 2001, 18:17

So no more spys running around planting nukes in city's with SDI's?
Damn im gonna miss that.
Of course it was awefully cheap but then again i am cheap.

saracen31 · September 21, 2001, 20:12

Hopefully they'll be a lot more espionage options now as well. I'm guessing there will be.

Juggernaut · September 22, 2001, 02:27

The irrigations still look like swamps.

Ralf · September 22, 2001, 04:19

Quote:

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.

You guys have learned your CTP-lessons. Great!

Instead of tie too many important civ-functions to a growing number of CTP-style civil warfare-units (and by that, be constricted by AI unit-navigation limitations), you instead put it away in appropriate advisor-screens.

Inverse Icarus · September 22, 2001, 09:38

again, i just got a used copy of CTP a few days ago for $5 and the first thing i thought was "ew, those damn hebrews are converting my damn cities".

hardjoy · September 28, 2001, 22:26

I'm gonna miss that diplomat.. He was a classic icon along with the wagon settler and the caravan..

Hope we don't lose that "hands on" feeling Sid has been talking about. I always thought that using diplomats in combination with military units was a supreme strategy. I was never any good at it, but it was very effective against me! I guess those two things are separated now?

JellyDonut · September 28, 2001, 22:54

What screenshots is everybody talking about? Could someone give me a link?

Ralf · September 29, 2001, 01:02

Quote:

Originally posted by JellyDonut
What screenshots is everybody talking about? Could someone give me a link?

Check out the map-screenshot: http://www.civ3.com/gallery.cfm?startimg=19. 3 buttons in the upper left corner of the main screen and several tiny letter-buttons on the 2 mini-screens, bottom left and bottom right.