Official Site Update - Page 3

Jaybe · October 19, 2001, 15:52

Quote:

Originally posted by sekong
Wait a minute. It reminds me something. Dan run the game all the way to industry age, without a Great Leader?? Boy is it that hard to get one??

Probably just a lot QUICKER to cheat it in than to wait for it to occur naturally. We wouldn't want Dan to have to save-screen on every turn he plays on every (gold-version) game, would we? He'd have no time to post here!

Peter Triggs · October 19, 2001, 15:56

Quote:

Jeff was explaining why lots of ideas they had about the editing tools were not done since they werent sure that that was the stuff mod-makers want. or something like that

Mark, I read more into it than this. What Jeff said, in more detail, was:

Quote:

The editors in Civilization III are only the beginning. Based on feedback from the mod and scenario community we will make additional improvements and incorporate new features. The editors are just tools, ones that the fan community needs to make meaningful by creating new scenarios with. As those in the 'trenches' of creating new content run into limitations, we'll work on eradicating those barriers. Firaxis is very interested in Civilization III having an active mod community, but need to know where our efforts are best spent. Together we can make Civilization III a potent platform for not only exploring factual history, but also your creativity and interests.

Now consider the following from the 'Conflicts in Civilization' instruction manual:

Quote:

Building scenarios with the original Civilization II tools, the designers ran into several limitations that frustrated their creativity. Their reaction was to install a primitive - but rather useful - macro language that allowed them to add "events" to the game.

I hope I'm drawing the right conclusion.

Jaybe · October 19, 2001, 15:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Stuie
... my question as to the size of the world map in the screenshot of the week. Someone guessed 100x100 - can this be verified by a Firaxian?

I am having a problem visualizing how these world maps are of equal dimensions -- they 'look' WAY too long, and this would not be due to the grid orientation.

dennis580 · October 19, 2001, 16:08

Dan can you confirm if we can blockade oversea trade routes.

Jason Beaudoin · October 19, 2001, 17:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Dennis:
Dan can you confirm if we can blockade oversea trade routes.

I always thought the blockades were in.

SteveJH · October 19, 2001, 18:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Jason Beaudoin

I always thought the blockades were in.

I haven't heard anything about blockades... but I know trade embargos are in.

The diplomat · October 19, 2001, 18:28

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan Magaha FIRAXIS

Once you have nationalism, you can draft population (effectively converting population into soldiers). Depending on your technology level, you'll get anything from a Spearman to an Infantry unit when drafting.

How many times you can draft in a city each turn depends on your government type: Republics can draft 1 per city per turn, Democracy 2, Communism 3. Anarchies can't use the draft.

Your citizens aren't too keen on being drafted, though, so this causes unhappiness. The turn penalty setting in the editor determines how long they'll stay mad at you for using the draft.

Dan

Wow. "Draft" sounds like a variation on my "recruitment system". This is incredible news. Thank you Firaxis! I think you made my civ dreams come true.

SerapisIV · October 19, 2001, 19:43

Quote:

Originally posted by sekong
Wait a minute. It reminds me something. Dan run the game all the way to industry age, without a Great Leader?? Boy is it that hard to get one??

Dan's been known to play the peacenik (damn hippies

), winning through expanding culture and diplomacy. Can't get a great leader if your winning through peaceful means.

Takeshi · October 19, 2001, 20:28

Hey, I want to send to Dan & Firaxis a *real* box of cookies. Does anyone know the address?

ml_4da3 · October 19, 2001, 21:51

Quote:

Originally posted by drake

Since you mention that theres such a large map being used.....

Does anyone know the city limit? Hope its not at 255 as in 2.

huge maps are rendered worthless without a more liberal number of cities allowed.

..he he..

(btw; hi drake!)

Yes, too bad if the civ III MP games on gigamaps will end up like our civ II MP gigamap game did [1].. ..

...

-----

Anyway, this is my guess:

Biggest "official" map in Civ II: 75*120 = 9000 (sq.)
Biggest "official" (AFAIK) map in Civ III: 180*180 = 32400 (sq.)

The city limit in Civ II: 255
The city limit in Civ III: Unknown

If we assume the creators of Civ III make the game in such a way that it is possible to play on the biggest "official" map without the city limit beeing too much of a trouble, one can rougly calculate an "theroetical" "minimum-maximum" number of cities:

9000/255 ~ 35.3
32400/numberOfCities ~ 35.3

->

32400/35.3 ~ 917.8

(advaced mathematics, huh?).

My guess is that the citylimit will at least be around the thousand (1023 perhaps?). (10 bits).. ..or perhaps they make it 2 bytes ? (65535) (but that would use waaay too much RAM?)..

..Anyway, with the biggest map beeing 180*180, we can probably safely assume the city limit will be higher than in Civ II..

(Now, the only thing that worries me is the extremely low RAM-requirements of the game)..

/magnus

[1] after only a few thousand years, i think it was around 480 AD, the city limit was reached, while most of the map was "uncolonized".. Also, one civ managed to "take" the most of the "cake".. (i wonder who...?).

..the limit made the game unbalanced, and ..booring.. (for the most of the players).. so the game was put on hold.

Skanky Burns · October 19, 2001, 21:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Takeshi
Hey, I want to send to Dan & Firaxis a *real* box of cookies. Does anyone know the address?

LOL

Nice try!!

Dan, thanks for all the info

Excellent update too

BorderPatrol · October 19, 2001, 22:18

Excellent! Glad to see that screenshot. Would it be possible to also post screenshots showing the other tabs besides the general settings? I am particularly interested in seeing what selctions are available under diplomats and spies. In Civ II multiplayer games it is very common to have a rule of no bribing cities and units or just no bribing cities. It would be really cool if this were something you could just turn off with the editor. Thanks for the update!

FrostyBoy · October 19, 2001, 23:44

ahem, i don't see New Zealand on the map, isn't that a bit ridiculous? our land mass is bigger than all of UK combined. Come on, we ARE a country, and a good one at that too.

SITS · October 20, 2001, 00:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Takeshi
Hey, I want to send to Dan & Firaxis a *real* box of cookies. Does anyone know the address?

Er, that might not be a good idea in the current climate....

Fiil · October 20, 2001, 04:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Sn00py
ahem, i don't see New Zealand on the map, isn't that a bit ridiculous? our land mass is bigger than all of UK combined. Come on, we ARE a country, and a good one at that too.

I see your point!
But it was in civ2 and this map is bigger, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be there.

Rasbelin · October 20, 2001, 04:42

Quote:

Originally posted by SITS

Er, that might not be a good idea in the current climate....

Headlines tomorrow: "Anthrax from Canada?",
"Anthrax - typical Canadian joke?", "Crazy Canadian sends
Anthrax cookies to US", "All the bad things come from Canada", ...

Gramphos · October 20, 2001, 07:51

I don't know if this already have been said, but it is an error on the main page. The Impi unit is linked to "civofweek.cfm" and not "civoftheweek.cfm". Dan, fix the bug :doitnow:.

Gramphos · October 20, 2001, 07:59

And the Ask the Civ team dropdown box can't take you to the current edition.

*Separating civ3.com to pieces*

Grim Leaper · October 20, 2001, 12:34

Quote:

ahem, i don't see New Zealand on the map, isn't that a bit ridiculous? our land mass is bigger than all of UK combined. Come on, we ARE a country, and a good one at that too.

I don't see why New Zealand should be on the map. So what if it's bigger than UK, who wants an island which doesn't have any native mammels anyway. Poor excuse for an country, i say.

PS
Thankyou Dan, and all of Firaxis. Don't stop now, your nearly there.

BorderPatrol · October 20, 2001, 16:13

Quote:

Originally posted by SITS

Er, that might not be a good idea in the current climate....

Kinda like the sample box of laundry detergent that I was sent in the mail today. I was like, grrrrrr, poor timing.

Deathwalker · October 22, 2001, 07:23

So there still saying the UK will get Civ3 at the same time as the US, but how come none of the shops are saying that?

Adm.Naismith · October 22, 2001, 09:49

Well, it seems we get more game info from this post alone than from a regular AskTheCivTeam edition on official site.

Thanks Dan Magaha, very nice explanation of new game features and rules; now, how about a new area of the www.civ3.com named "AskTheDan" ?

It will be greatly appreciated (highest hit rate of the site, probably). Dan, you should ride this horse before the game release will spoil you of most of your "info power"!

Oerdin · October 22, 2001, 15:58

Here's a quote from the latest "Ask the Civ Team" update on the civ web site.

"The foreign advisor screen will only display eight civs at a time, however, so you can hold shift & right click on any of the eight slots on that screen to select another known civ to display."

am I just reading to much into this or do other people find the term "known civ" to be a little leading? It seems to imply that there might be a few unknown civs included that we can some how activate latter. So what do you think folks? Will there be hidden civs?

Stuie · October 22, 2001, 16:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Oerdin
Here's a quote from the latest "Ask the Civ Team" update on the civ web site.

"The foreign advisor screen will only display eight civs at a time, however, so you can hold shift & right click on any of the eight slots on that screen to select another known civ to display."

am I just reading to much into this or do other people find the term "known civ" to be a little leading? It seems to imply that there might be a few unknown civs included that we can some how activate latter. So what do you think folks? Will there be hidden civs?

I'm pretty sure that meant "known" as in you've already encountered them in the game you are currently playing. Civs that you have not yet had contact with in a single game are "unknown".

Fiil · October 22, 2001, 16:11

Nah, I think it's because only civs you have encountered in the game will be displayed. In the beginning of a game no other civs will be displayed, and as you meet them they become (known)visible in the diplomacy screen.

lockstep · October 22, 2001, 16:14

I guess 'known civ' just means 'a civ you are already in contact with', not 'a civ that has been confirmed by Firaxis so far'.

OTOH ... just a 'shift-click', and the Spanish, Mongol and Viking leaders appear on the screen ...

8Jon8 · October 24, 2001, 09:01

Now about that Draft thing.. I´d like to know if it´s possible once a unit was drafted, to undraft it again (returning the lost pop to its city), and if yes, does this make the unhappy citizens happy again?