Civilization IV Updated Impressions

Developer Interview

Producer Jesse Smith describes why Civilization IV is a worthy successor to the series.

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With Civilization IV due out by the end of the year, Firaxis and publisher 2K Games are stepping up the publicity efforts for the game, which is the latest chapter in the landmark PC strategy game series. We got our first good look at Civ IV last month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, but we saw the latest developments this week at a press event in San Francisco. On hand was Firaxis producer Jesse Smith to answer our questions, and we had plenty of them to ask.

Much has happened in the past month. Smith told us that the last major piece of the game was being put in place this week. After that, all the features will be in place, and Firaxis will spend the next three or four months on balancing, testing, and polishing. This includes finalizing the interface, which is still something of a work in progress, and so keep in mind that what you see in the screenshots isn't final. And pretty much all the details that were discussed are also subject to change.

Borders are back in Civ IV. Only this time, borders actually work like borders should.

We started the demo by looking upon a randomly generated world. Part of the series' deep replayability comes from the fact that you can never play the same game twice, and this is partly thanks to the random map generator. Smith said that they've been focusing their efforts to make sure that the generated worlds make sense. Once again, you'll have the ability to select certain parameters, and the random map generator algorithm will turn out an appropriate map. For example, he showed a huge landmass with small bodies of water in it. On the flip side, you can then generate an archipelago map, where the landmasses are a string of large islands. You'll probably be glad to know that the game will better balance resources, which was one of the frustrations with Civ III. All civilizations will start with strategic resources close by, so it sounds like the Civ III dilemma where one faction gets few resources while another faction gets a whole ton of them is now history.

Everything you need to know in the game is pretty much presented on the world map, and you could almost play most of the game without leaving this view. In fact, Firaxis had originally removed the city management screen that's been a part of Civ from the beginning. However, the testers complained so much that it was brought back. Still, you'll be able to manage your empire quite a bit just from the regular world map. For instance, you can shift-click on one of your cities, and that will let you manage its production and build queue, modify the behavior of the city governors, and more. You can even shift-click on multiple cities, letting you manage them all at once. This is especially useful if you need to churn out military units. In that case, you can even designate a common rally point, and all the units produced by those cities will converge there automatically.

Once again, your nation will have borders, which are basically colored areas on the map that represent your influence and power. These borders are relative, so the more culturally powerful your civilization is, the further the borders extend from your cities. And if your empire abuts that of a rival, the borders will shift to represent which faction has the dominant culture. The welcome news in Civ IV is that borders are actually useful for keeping other civilizations out of your territory. If you're a Civ fan, then you know from earlier games that rival nations trespassed all over your territory left and right, forcing you to threaten them with violence. In Civ IV, borders can be closed, which means that foreign units cannot enter your territory unless a state of war exists between your two factions. Closed borders will also be an excellent way to keep foreign missionaries out of your territory. However, you will eventually need to open your territory with friendly nations in order to trade and generate wealth.

Wow, the world of Civ is actually round. This view is a first for the series.

And yes, culture is back, though it has been refined from how it worked in Civilization III. Culture basically modifies your borders in relation to the culture of your neighbors, so you can overwhelm your neighbors with a superior culture. If you can isolate or surround a foreign city, it basically becomes a bubble in your territory. The leader of that faction may feel pressure to trade the city to you. If not, the city has a good chance of rioting because it wants to join your faction. You can amp up the pressure by using great artists, which are part of the new "great people" system in the game. If you're familiar with earlier Civ games, great people are sort of like the great leaders from Civ III. If you have a great artist, you can use the artist to provide onetime bonuses (like the discovery of a culture-related technology), kick-start a golden age, and more. This also includes giving a onetime culture boost to a city of 1,000 points, which is a significant number. This translates into a military application for great artists, because in previous Civ games, when you conquered a city with a culture that was hostile to yours, you had to spend a lot of time and effort building pacifying structures, such as temples. Now, simply drop a great artist in a city, and you can change the mood in a city instantly.