abhijit_reddevil
Manchester United
OK, when is Civ4 and AOE3 supposed to release in India?
For the Strategic Game Lovers!!
- Thread starter sumitava_b
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sumitava_b
In the zone
AOE3 will be released around Nov-Dec 2005. Long wait....Phew.....
Dunno about Civ4....
Dunno about Civ4....
Here are some details about civ 4:-
By Adam Pavlacka
As the granddaddy of turn-based strategy games, the Civilization series has come a long way since the original version first shipped on floppy disks nearly 15 years ago. While the core game concept has remained the same, the developers have tweaked the play specifics from iteration to iteration. Now, with the upcoming release of Civilization IV, the game has gone through its biggest overhaul yet.
We recently sat down with Firaxis and looked at what's in store for players who pick up the game this fall. The first new aspect is religion. Based on seven major religions of the world -- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism -- religion allows you to indirectly influence other civilizations while offering bonuses to any civ with a declared state religion. By sending your missionaries into other cities, you can try to convert your opponent's citizens.
"It's like culture without borders," said producer, Jesse Smith. "You can send missionaries to other civilizations and start seeding your religion to other nations."
It's a sneaky way to gain an advantage, but promises to add more depth to the already competitive gameplay. Borders can be closed to prevent foreign missionaries from proselytizing, but that only works in the short term. After all, if your borders are closed, you can't trade with other civs.
Combat has been changed with the addition of artillery. A major annoyance in Civilization III was the ability to "stack" a large number of units and roam the globe pillaging the opposition. A well stacked force was nearly unstoppable because only the lead unit suffered damage. With artillery, the whole stack will receive damage so players are forced to fight strategically.
The world itself is also more varied, with a random map generator that ensures a new play experience every time you start the game. Input your preferred settings and the game spits out an appropriate map to play on, along with natural hazards like random animals roaming the land, posing a danger to unprepared settlers in the early game. That said, all civs begin with an equal set of nearby resources, so any early foraging is at your own risk.
"Don't send your settlers out without protection," said Smith.
In addition to wild animals, players also have to worry about the ever present barbarians. Although barbarians can't develop a full culture like competing civilizations, they create independent cities and small militias. Smith described them as a sort of "mini-civ" that can cause trouble at any time.
All of the 18 "proper" civs in the game have historically based leaders, with roughly half having two to choose from. Each leader has a different personality and offers the player a different set of bonuses. Because of the modeled personalities, how you deal with the AI will vary from civ to civ. For example, Julius Caesar will be quite expressive during negotians, while Genghis Khan will offer little more than a raised eyebrow.
"We're really interested in revealing the personalities of these leaders," said Smith.
Leaders are not the only famous figures to be appearing in the game. Civilization IV also introduces the concept of "great people." Falling into one of five classifications -- scientist, merchant, engineer, prophet, and artist -- great people can have a major impact on the development of your empire.
"Throughout time you'll get people like Plato, Einstein, and Michelangelo that will appear and affect history," said Smith.
Each great can either be turned into a "super citizen" and give a city an ongoing bonus or use a one-time-only special power. For example, a great engineer can instantly finish production on a building while a great artist can give an instant 1,000 point culture bonus to a city. Used strategically, these bonuses can turn the tide of battle instantly.
Managing your cities can now be done entirely from the world map view, though drilling down into the individual cities is still possible. This streamlined interface is possible due to the new 3D engine that powers the world. Players can simply zoom in or out at their leisure, while city improvements, such as wonders, are visible from the map view. Individual commands are given by clicking on a city or group of cities, making mundane tasks trivial. Building an army is as easy as highlighting a group of cities, issuing the train command, and setting a waypoint.
The multiplayer component of the game is a priority for the development team. Players can compete via e-mail, LAN, and over the Internet via pit boss servers. The pit boss is a small application that runs independent of the game and keeps track of its state. You can start a multiplayer match on a pit boss server, stop it mid-game, and continue as a play-by-email match. If all players have the time to get together, you can switch it back to a live competition.
"Right out of the box we'll support up to 18 players -- every civ being in a match," said Smith. "We're also going way over the top with modability."
To support player-created content, Civilization IV will ship with a complete world builder application. Additionally, all of the data files in the game are stored in the popular XML format, while the scripting engine and interface are built in Python. All of this information will be exposed to the player from the start, allowing for any number of mods and total conversions to be created.
Shortly after the game's release, Firaxis plans to offer a software dev kit (SDK) for the game AI. This will contain the complete AI for all of the characters in the game, so modders can tweak things to their heart's content.
Civilization IV is feature complete and on track to ship this fall. The team is currently focusing on polishing the gameplay and stamping out remaining bugs. The next four months can't pass by quick enough for series fans, who haven't seen an update in four years -- and it's looking like the this installment will top them all. Look for more updates when we get our hands on a playable build.
courtesy: yahoo games
By Adam Pavlacka
As the granddaddy of turn-based strategy games, the Civilization series has come a long way since the original version first shipped on floppy disks nearly 15 years ago. While the core game concept has remained the same, the developers have tweaked the play specifics from iteration to iteration. Now, with the upcoming release of Civilization IV, the game has gone through its biggest overhaul yet.
We recently sat down with Firaxis and looked at what's in store for players who pick up the game this fall. The first new aspect is religion. Based on seven major religions of the world -- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism -- religion allows you to indirectly influence other civilizations while offering bonuses to any civ with a declared state religion. By sending your missionaries into other cities, you can try to convert your opponent's citizens.
"It's like culture without borders," said producer, Jesse Smith. "You can send missionaries to other civilizations and start seeding your religion to other nations."
It's a sneaky way to gain an advantage, but promises to add more depth to the already competitive gameplay. Borders can be closed to prevent foreign missionaries from proselytizing, but that only works in the short term. After all, if your borders are closed, you can't trade with other civs.
Combat has been changed with the addition of artillery. A major annoyance in Civilization III was the ability to "stack" a large number of units and roam the globe pillaging the opposition. A well stacked force was nearly unstoppable because only the lead unit suffered damage. With artillery, the whole stack will receive damage so players are forced to fight strategically.
The world itself is also more varied, with a random map generator that ensures a new play experience every time you start the game. Input your preferred settings and the game spits out an appropriate map to play on, along with natural hazards like random animals roaming the land, posing a danger to unprepared settlers in the early game. That said, all civs begin with an equal set of nearby resources, so any early foraging is at your own risk.
"Don't send your settlers out without protection," said Smith.
In addition to wild animals, players also have to worry about the ever present barbarians. Although barbarians can't develop a full culture like competing civilizations, they create independent cities and small militias. Smith described them as a sort of "mini-civ" that can cause trouble at any time.
All of the 18 "proper" civs in the game have historically based leaders, with roughly half having two to choose from. Each leader has a different personality and offers the player a different set of bonuses. Because of the modeled personalities, how you deal with the AI will vary from civ to civ. For example, Julius Caesar will be quite expressive during negotians, while Genghis Khan will offer little more than a raised eyebrow.
"We're really interested in revealing the personalities of these leaders," said Smith.
Leaders are not the only famous figures to be appearing in the game. Civilization IV also introduces the concept of "great people." Falling into one of five classifications -- scientist, merchant, engineer, prophet, and artist -- great people can have a major impact on the development of your empire.
"Throughout time you'll get people like Plato, Einstein, and Michelangelo that will appear and affect history," said Smith.
Each great can either be turned into a "super citizen" and give a city an ongoing bonus or use a one-time-only special power. For example, a great engineer can instantly finish production on a building while a great artist can give an instant 1,000 point culture bonus to a city. Used strategically, these bonuses can turn the tide of battle instantly.
Managing your cities can now be done entirely from the world map view, though drilling down into the individual cities is still possible. This streamlined interface is possible due to the new 3D engine that powers the world. Players can simply zoom in or out at their leisure, while city improvements, such as wonders, are visible from the map view. Individual commands are given by clicking on a city or group of cities, making mundane tasks trivial. Building an army is as easy as highlighting a group of cities, issuing the train command, and setting a waypoint.
The multiplayer component of the game is a priority for the development team. Players can compete via e-mail, LAN, and over the Internet via pit boss servers. The pit boss is a small application that runs independent of the game and keeps track of its state. You can start a multiplayer match on a pit boss server, stop it mid-game, and continue as a play-by-email match. If all players have the time to get together, you can switch it back to a live competition.
"Right out of the box we'll support up to 18 players -- every civ being in a match," said Smith. "We're also going way over the top with modability."
To support player-created content, Civilization IV will ship with a complete world builder application. Additionally, all of the data files in the game are stored in the popular XML format, while the scripting engine and interface are built in Python. All of this information will be exposed to the player from the start, allowing for any number of mods and total conversions to be created.
Shortly after the game's release, Firaxis plans to offer a software dev kit (SDK) for the game AI. This will contain the complete AI for all of the characters in the game, so modders can tweak things to their heart's content.
Civilization IV is feature complete and on track to ship this fall. The team is currently focusing on polishing the gameplay and stamping out remaining bugs. The next four months can't pass by quick enough for series fans, who haven't seen an update in four years -- and it's looking like the this installment will top them all. Look for more updates when we get our hands on a playable build.
courtesy: yahoo games
and here are some of its screenshots:-
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/7/120007/civ4_saladin_high.jpg
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/3/120003/civ4screenshot0016.jpg
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/0/120000/civ4screenshot0010.jpg
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/1/120001/civ4screenshot0012.jpg
moroever check this out yourself:
click here
Edited by Nemesis: IMG tags removed. Please think about dial-up users!
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/7/120007/civ4_saladin_high.jpg
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/3/120003/civ4screenshot0016.jpg
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/0/120000/civ4screenshot0010.jpg
*us.games2.yimg.com/download.games.yahoo.com/games/buzz/content/p/1/120001/civ4screenshot0012.jpg
moroever check this out yourself:
click here
Edited by Nemesis: IMG tags removed. Please think about dial-up users!
OP
sumitava_b
In the zone
@raasm287: Please give only links for those big big screenshots. For me it is ok. But hell will break down for dialup connection users. Please modify it.
QwertyManiac
Commander in Chief
hey AOE3 ????
wonder what'll that contain ?
after all they have explored all ages in thier previous games ?? havent they ?????
wonder what'll that contain ?
after all they have explored all ages in thier previous games ?? havent they ?????
abhijit_reddevil
Manchester United
Wow, can't wait...seems like a great experience for strategy games is coming this fall for the PC. Any news of the specific hardware requirements for playing these two? I have a GF5200 128MB with 512MB RAM and P4 1.7Ghz.
OP
sumitava_b
In the zone
Recently saw the CDs of stronghold 2. Online review seemed interesting. Havnt played yet. Any comments on this game?
abhijit_reddevil
Manchester United
Well, stronghold2 has only a rating of 5.9/10 on gamespot. So I think it is not a recommended buy. Gamespy has 2.5/5 and IGN also has 6.7/10. I personally would not prefer it.
AGENT_SMITH
Journeyman
I want aom: the titans expansion & ron :thrones and patriots expansion
moshel
Padawan
raasm287 said:
I like the stronghold series. stronghold 1 i completed full. stronghold 2 i am trapped in one mission dont know what to do. there is no place for me to build anything. and i have to feed another village, which in turn is feeding another village. so no matter how much food i send, it always gets over until my carraiges come back to their sheds to take more food.
anyone have any idea about this mission.
any'o'u playing EE2? its a gr8 game. i hated EE1.
OP
sumitava_b
In the zone
Ok, I have got the stronghold2 from my friend an dplayed it a little while. In the first look, the game didnt attract me due to its poor graphics quality as I always expect strategy game with stunning eye-candy. Especially during attack with many soldiers, the scene got clumsy and 50 infantries got overlapped annoyingly to show image of only 4/5 infantries. However I played it for some time and liked the idea of estates and all. Her you can own an estate by using ur honor. Thats cool. No need for bloodshed always. Also the concept of controlling crime by punishing the criminals is funny and new to me.
@moshel: although I amvery new to this game I am giving some walkthrough. Create carter shop as many as possible and build them just beside the estate boundary and nearest to the estate's stockpile. This will help u to send the food quick and fast. And stop consuming the particular type of food in ur town which u r sending to the neighbouring town.
@moshel: although I amvery new to this game I am giving some walkthrough. Create carter shop as many as possible and build them just beside the estate boundary and nearest to the estate's stockpile. This will help u to send the food quick and fast. And stop consuming the particular type of food in ur town which u r sending to the neighbouring town.
Hells_Fury
In the zone
Did anyone actually like Lord of the Rings - Battle for middle Earth?
I personally found it quite boring. Part 2 has also been anounced recently.
I personally found it quite boring. Part 2 has also been anounced recently.
QwertyManiac
Commander in Chief
But middle earth has a good game engine of emotions and more realism...
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