Civilization IV SDK, Patch
2K Games sends along a new patch for Civilization IV, updating the game to v1.61. The patch includes new scenarios and map scripts, unit adjustments and game enhancements. There is also a PitBoss server file, which allows you run dedicated multiplayer server for online and local games (players will have the ability to log in and continue their progress in a game at any time). And lastly, there is the SDK with the core game DLL source code allowing people to create all sorts of game mods.
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Arcanum
replyIt's about goddamn time they released the SDK. Maybe now someone can code up a better combat system. A SMAC-like one, for preference.
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TBS combat has always sucked, probably always will suck
I've never found a satisfying tb combat system outside tactical combat, and that never seems to work well for world sims, as it just bogs the game down
And even then, it often isn't a lot of fun, since to be done right, it basically needs to be a whole separate game (ie, every fight is a game of FFT or something...)-
I thought Alpha Centauri's combat was pretty good, in the sense that it made sense, units had seperate attack and defense values, artillery actually worked like artillery, and a combination of better technology and training (morale) was as hugely advantageous as they are in the real world.
It may not be as satisfying as full-on tactical combat, but I tend to auto-resolve tactical combats when reasonable anyway. I've got an empire to run.-
shrug, it's boring - I attack, it dies, it doesn't die. even the attempted abilities they added in C4 didn't make it that much more interesting
I hate the lack of ZoCs though, it's just so easy to rampage across improvements, wiping them all out
Not sure what the brilliant solution is though, short of slow real time, which has been attempted a few times, and didn't work all that well
And again, it's really mixing two genres - you're either focusing on the big picture, or the tactical situation, doing both consistently just bogs the game down badly. Something more satisfying than what exists now would be nice though...-
I don't think there's anything you can really do about it. Anything interactive tactically is going to burn up a lot of time and get tedius for people who want to focus on empire management. It also requires different technology and ability balancing to make sure tactical combat isn't completely pointless.
On the other hand, fast non-interactive combat (like the Civ games mostly use) will be unsatisfying for some people who want to see and control exactly what's happening. Slow non-interactive combat (like the "tactical" views in Galactic Civilizations 2) ends up being mildly annoying to both groups, since it interferes with getting on with running the empire, but still doesn't provide any additional control over the combat.
So, yeah, all you can do is grin and bear it, and try to keep to games with your preferred combat style.
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I like combat in Advance Wars more than in Civ. In AW there's only very little randomness in how much damage your units deal against enemies, and how much damage they take. I hate it when some of my bigger unites sometimes manage to get owned by some noob with a club because he had a lucky roll. Also, there are cool anime combat animations in AW. :p
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by very different, you mean almost exactly like civ2 and 3?
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Nope. I don't know about Civ2, but Civ3 is pretty different from SMAC. In particular, in Civ3 all increased experience does is give the unit extra boxes of health. In SMAC, it gives the unit percentage increases in the effectiveness of both their attack and defense values, without changing the unit health. That alone makes for a dramatic difference in gameplay. The Civ3 mechanic effectively eliminates the military strategy of having a smaller number of highly trained, (relatively) high tech units.
I seem to remember artillery working differently as well, but I may be mistaken. It's been a while since I played Civ3.
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