<P>这是英语原文：</P><P>E3 2005: Civilization IV
Senior producer Barry Caudill provides us with our first look at the game.
by Steve Butts</P><P>May 17, 2005 - Long a favorite of turn-based strategy fans, Sid Meier's Civilization franchise has gone through quite a few incarnations since it was first released almost 15 years ago. Each new version of the game and each new expansion built upon the core premise of leading your civilization throughout history, from the founding of its first cities to its eventual colonization of other planets.</P><P>Though we've known about an upcoming sequel for some time now, the folks at Firaxis have been pretty tight with the information. Now, mostly because they're tired of me calling them every day and are probably worried about making me cry again, Firaxis's senior producer Barry Caudill finally consented to answer our questions about the game.</P><P>IGNPC: Sweet Civilization. You realize I have to quit my job once this game comes out, right?</P><P>Barry Caudill: Yes we do, that's why it's good we work here at Firaxis...or we'd all be on the dole J Oh...was that rhetorical?</P><P>IGNPC: Anyway, let's start with the big picture. Will the basic arc or premise of the game change much from previous versions? Are you extending further into the future, for instance?</P><P>Barry Caudill: At its most basic level, this is the same scope of Civilization people have come to know and love. That means we still cover the usual time period of 4000 BC to 2050 AD, but it's how we make the journey that will set this game apart.</P><P>IGNPC: Tell us about the new 3D engine. What's the overall visual presentation like? Will there be a bit more life and animation on the map? Can we expect a variety of perspectives here?</P><P>Barry Caudill: As with Sid Meier's Pirates!, we are using the Gamebryo engine and that allows us to really open up the visuals in Civilization 4. One of our main goals was to really bring the world to life. So you will see rivers flowing, resources like horses, cattle, or elephants animating, and different animations when those resources are being "worked", etc. In addition, unit movement and combat will be much more interesting and exciting than ever before. We are also shooting for a WYSIWYG approach where you will know what city a wonder is in because you can see it in the world, along with many other aspects previously relegated to menus and screens.</P><P>IGNPC: What else can you tell us about the basic interface? What types of information will the player be able to take in on the main game screen?</P><P>Barry Caudill: In addition to what was listed previously, we are also including tons of tool tips and pop-up help. We feel like you should be able to play the whole game from the main map view and you should only have to get into some of the screens if you are a true power user.</P><P>IGNPC: Tell us about some of the new civs. I imagine we'll have the usual suspects from the European and Mediterranean sets but are there other, less obvious choices in store? Will we be seeing a return of the civ traits?</P><P>Barry Caudill: We will definitely have the usual major powers like France, Germany, England, America, China, Japan, etc. We will also be including many Civs that are either new or usually saved for expansions like the Incas or the Aztecs or the totally new Mali. In all there will be 18 Civs in the shipped version of Civilization 4.</P><P>IGNPC: Culture was a pretty new concept when it was introduced in Civilization 3. Has that mechanic found its way into the sequel? Have there been any changes to it?</P><P>Barry Caudill: Yes, culture is alive and well in Civilization 4 but it has been tweaked a bit. One of the ways is somewhat mechanical in nature. In Civilization 3, you were always guaranteed a minimum level of cultural expansion when you planted a new city. That is not the case in Civilization 4. You will have to develop your culture or risk being enveloped by a larger neighbor. This leads to the interesting possibility of creating a Luxembourg or Switzerland completely engulfed by another Civ's borders. We also tweaked Civilization 3's luxury slider and turned it into a culture slider. Raising the culture level makes people happier and helps produce more culture for your entire Civ.</P><P>IGNPC: One aspect of the cultural game in Civilization 3 that really aggravated players was the lack of respect the AI showed for your borders. Are you planning to address this issue at all?</P><P>Barry Caudill: In Civilization 4, the AI will have to respect your borders or declare war but you will be able to negotiate Open Borders to allow travel.</P><P>IGNPC: The resources concept from Civilization 3 was also great addition to the series. Are you expanding this system at all? Are you using it in the same way?</P><P>Barry Caudill: The system has been greatly expanded with the addition of many more resources, all of which are tradable. Some of the new resources, like marble, help to increase wonder production, some are food resources (these help with the overall health of your cities), and some, such as iron or copper, allow you to build certain types of units.</P><P>IGNPC: I always seemed a bit miffed that you weren't able to trade food, even to your own cities. I mean it's not like the largest cities in the world are those that produce the most food, right? Are there considerations for trading and sharing food?</P><P>Barry Caudill: You will have the ability to trade food resources but these affect the overall health of your cities, not the growth potential.</P><P>IGNPC: While we're on the subject of the previous game, were there any features from the last game that you felt the need to scale down or eliminate altogether?</P><P>Barry Caudill: We no longer have static eras so it's more like versions of Civilization prior to Civilization 3 in that respect. We eliminated armies but created more customization and countering with the units. We also changed the way bombardment units work in the game so they are now like a hybrid of previous games. </P><P>IGNPC: How do governments work this time around?</P><P>Barry Caudill: There are no set governments anymore. In Civilization 4, you can choose from various civics and combine them to make the type of government you want. For example, you may have a Theocratic Police State that also has Universal Suffrage or you may have a Pacifist Slave State with Hereditary Rule. The Civics are divided into five major areas - Government, Legal, Labor, Economy, and Religion - and each of those has 5 possible choices depending on what you have researched. In addition, AI leaders will have certain favorite Civics and they may ask you to either switch to theirs or stop using the one that offends them.</P><P>IGNPC: What about the new religion system? That sounds really promising. How does it work in the game?</P><P>Barry Caudill: The first Civilization to discover a technology attached to the founding of a religion will establish a holy city for that religion and it will begin to spread, although slowly. To speed up the process, you can create missionaries and send them out to try to convert other cities. Also, just like the Civics, AI leaders may try to get you to convert to their religion.</P><P>IGNPC: With as much depth and accuracy as there is in the Civilization franchise, there are some other general historical themes -- things like slavery, civil wars, epidemics, ideological conflicts, etc. -- that either weren't present or were heavily abstracted. Naturally, you have to remain extremely sensitive on some of these issues but are you planning to incorporate mechanics to highlight previously neglected historical phenomena?</P><P>Barry Caudill: Well we aren't trying to alienate anyone out there but we are paying more attention to some of the more serious issues where it makes sense. As I mentioned, slavery is a Civics option but so is emancipation. Epidemics aren't directly modeled but the idea of tying a city's health to available food and resources helps to simulate this. Ideological conflicts are a definite possibility as a result of the AI leader personalities and their ties to certain religions or civics.</P><P>IGNPC: What can you tell us about great leaders?</P><P>Barry Caudill: We have expanded on this concept a great deal. Now, there are different types of great people like Great Prophets, Artists, and Scientists. When you get one, you will be able to use them for things like automatically researching a technology or helping to build a wonder.</P> |
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