Sid Meier's Civilization V: let's talk about how hexes are the way shape o future
 

Well, after 5 very enjoyable years with Civilization IV, an announcement was made not too long ago that numero V would be dropping in the fall of 2010.

http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/p...lization-5.jpg

Though details are still rather slim with regards to most aspects of the game, there have been a certain number of new features that have been talked about by members of the development team in various interviews. A hands-off game demo was also presented at PAX East, so there are a certain number of impressions that have been posted online, a number of screenshots are available in different places.

A list of features that have been discussed include:

- Hex shaped tiles to replace the traditional squares of the first for entries
- One hex one unit: this is basically giving the boot to the traditional Civ Stack of Doom
- Ranged units can now attack from more than one hex away
- City States will be present in the game world, conferring bonuses to helpful civs while also being possible targets for takeover
- Leader traits will be replaced by flavors, which are to be unique to each leader and represent different aspects of their character
- Said flavors will be assigned a certain weight at the beginning of a game, meaning playing against the same civilization many times in a row will yield a different challenge
- Strategic resources will now be finite, which means individual units will gain a much greater level of importance


This article contains an interesting reflection upon aforementioned aspects of the game, as well as a few I may have missed.

So, anyone as anxious to know more as I am?

way shape o future?

Good threadmaking, Mo0, jesus

Also I'm not entirely sure why but hexes actually do sound like an interesting change of pace for Civilization.

Ya I'm good with titles. :(

I am endlessly pleased to see the Age Of Stacks come to an end. Just churning out units one turn after the next was by far the most boring part of any playthrough.

When you say "finite", do you mean that they only spawn a certain number of a given resource on the map or do you mean that the resources can literally be exhausted? Because if it's the latter that just adds an amazing new layer of depth. Imagine scrambling to empty out that crucial iron mine as the enemy approaches to seize it, finding nothing but an empty minecart and a rude note.:3333:

Not to mention prevent you from turtling next to a ridiculous amount of resources for a monetary win, you'd actually have to go out and find shit.

I think the finite thing means that one resource can support only one unit that it gives access to. For example, if you control 1 iron, you can only have 1 swordsman. No more, till he croaks.

I always play a peaceful Diplomatic game, and usually it's me who busts out the gigantic stacks o' doom. The joys of suiciding catapults and cannons against 20 city defenders is over :(

As for hexes, I'm ambivalent about them. Certainly they're pushing you towards less units (finite resources plus 1 unit per hex) so ... I guess letting cities be surrounded by less units (6 against 9) is their adjustment for the inability to defend cities with stacks of doom.

I await for the successor to Baba Yetu, and am eagerly waiting to hear an epic song that will knock my socks off.

No, not quite. From my reading of the article, strategic resources are now more akin to Starcraft's supply depots/overlords/pylons: each instance (such as an iron mine) allows you to field X units that have it as a prerequisite. Keep in mind that it is possible that some high-end units might count double or triple for these purposes.

Honestly, I think the transition to hexes is long overdue given their gameplay benefits (such as better modeling of radial effects), and am surprised that most tactical RPGs (Operation Darkness, for example) haven't switched over yet. The reason for the persistence of grid maps in this setting puzzles me.

Well, in reality it's only been stated that resources will be limited, so it could go either way or even be something completely different. I seem to recall an interview I watched with one of the designers where there was mention of being able to field a given number of units with one resource and having to wait for one of them to be offed before you could produce another which requires this specific resource after the cap is reached. I'd have to look for that interview video again.

What I'm most curious about however is the way in which these so-called leader "flavors" will affect the players choice of civilization. It is one thing to say that it will give the AI more personality, but leader traits were a big part of what made your choice of leader important to any given strategy (along with the Unique Units and Buildings).

Will the player be able to attribute points to to the chosen leaders different "flavors", or will the Civilizations themselves be better differentiated from one another with regards to their production and unit/building types? What's more is that each leader is supposed to have a unique set of these, so it would add quite a bit of customizing freedom to the player should he be given the chance to select which has more weight for his own chosen leaderhead.

New info on Civ V has it launching on september 21st in NA and on the 24th internationally!

The games official website has also been updated and contains info on all 18 civs that will be included in the game, including animations for some of the leaders, speaking in their native tongues.