A new Civilization game has been announced.

[Lorenzo_H]

Civilization V already? http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/c...om_clk=mostpop

What do you think? I haven't even had time to play Civilization IV that much yet, and now that I just got Warlords, I'm like "whoa there, slow down."

Yeah, granted I love Civilization (I think it is the best series of games so far), but I think that its too soon for a Civ 5!

I genuinely hope now that I can resist the temptation to buy it when it does come around, since I have studies to get to! PC games and life are not the best mix.

[sapi]

One day I'm going to find the time to play a civ game - but it hasn't happened yet

[Lorenzo_H]

Man, you really should play at least one in your life. There are numerous reasons. Its incredibly fun, clean and educational (a great excuse to play it - "mom, I'm researching the Roman tank invasion of the Incas"). It is also very accesible, ie anyone can get into a game, unlike Total War where some depth knowledge is required. If you play a Civ game once, you'll feel like every other game you've ever played were a series of distractions where the devil was trying to keep you away from Civ.

[Bob the Insane]

@Sapi - Classic "it is what time in the morning!???!!?!?" gameplay...

[English assassin]

As i haven't got round to CIV 4 I may not be the best person to comment, but whether this is "good news" depends on (1) if they are just churning the franchise or not and (2) whether Econ21 has mastered his CIV addiction yet.

If you ask me the trouble with CIV is, we've done it. Multiple times, in fact. There is only so much "start with a settler and end up in space" you need. CIV 4 didn't seem to me to offer enough of an advance over CIV 3 to be worthwhile, and unless they can add something really NEW to CIV 5 I will feel the same way. And I mean new new, not just a few more parameters to micromanage.

My prediction: it will be the same old game with fancier graphics.

OT did anyone ever do a CIV type game (or mod for CIV) in a fantasy setting? That might be mildly diverting for a change. Suppose Civfanatics would know...

[BDC]

Combat seriously needs to be improved. I don't know what they did in Warlords (name suggests they improved things), but in vanilla it was simply tagged on. Plus technological advance was so fast and unit movement so slow that everything tended to be horribly obsolete by the time it got half way across a continent.

[Geoffrey S]

OT did anyone ever do a CIV type game (or mod for CIV) in a fantasy setting? That might be mildly diverting for a change. Suppose Civfanatics would know...

Not sure if it counts, but Alpha Centauri springs to mind. Easily my favourite game of all time. The expansive backstory and futuristic setting allowed the makers to fit in game mechanics and create a believable world with unique societies and technology, rather than forcing this world onto artificial game mechanics.

Another feature I love is the fact that basically all factions are the same, with the same customizable units, but they are distinguished by the character of their leaders and the way the act on the map. There really is a clear difference between the behaviour of for instance Gaia's Stepdaughters and The Human Hive, with regards to military behaviour, policies persued and implemented, and their tone of diplomacy. Much better than differentiating factions with unique units in my opinion.

Those aspects and the developing story during the campaign made for a very rich game.

[Lorenzo_H]

As i haven't got round to CIV 4 I may not be the best person to comment, but whether this is "good news" depends on (1) if they are just churning the franchise or not and (2) whether Econ21 has mastered his CIV addiction yet.

If you ask me the trouble with CIV is, we've done it. Multiple times, in fact. There is only so much "start with a settler and end up in space" you need. CIV 4 didn't seem to me to offer enough of an advance over CIV 3 to be worthwhile, and unless they can add something really NEW to CIV 5 I will feel the same way. And I mean new new, not just a few more parameters to micromanage.

My prediction: it will be the same old game with fancier graphics.

OT did anyone ever do a CIV type game (or mod for CIV) in a fantasy setting? That might be mildly diverting for a change. Suppose Civfanatics would know...

I wholly agree with this statement, though I faintly hope your prediction is wrong, though I doubt it. They should, under pain of an EA-type reputation, bring some big new features to impress. Maybe incorporate the Space Colonization SMAC type area?

[screwtype]

If you ask me the trouble with CIV is, we've done it. Multiple times, in fact. There is only so much "start with a settler and end up in space" you need. CIV 4 didn't seem to me to offer enough of an advance over CIV 3 to be worthwhile, and unless they can add something really NEW to CIV 5 I will feel the same way. And I mean new new, not just a few more parameters to micromanage.

Yup, that pretty much sums up my feeling about the game too. In fact I prefer CivIII, there's something claustrophic and antiseptic about the CivIV map and interface that turns me off. What little changes they made to the gameplay from CivIII were mostly gimmicks, and many of the other changes they made actually worsened the gameplay instead of improving it.

My prediction: it will be the same old game with fancier graphics.

I might have been prepared to dispute that, except that after the disappointment of M2TW I can no longer blame a company's move to 3D (as in RTW) for an accompanying lack of gameplay.