Civilization V Announced. Autumn 2010 Release

[Gilghamut]

2K Games has announced Sid Meier's Civilization V for release on PC this autumn.

We popped over to Baltimore-based developer Firaxis recently to check on the game's progress and will have a full preview and interview to present in a few weeks.

In the meantime, you can check out the first Civilization V screenshots on Eurogamer now.

We can also reveal that Civ V (or "Civvy" if you like) puts you back in the role of a world leader, guiding one of 18 civilisations from the dawn of man to the space age, and that you will be doing war, diplomacy, research and reality TV in between. Most of those.

You will also pit your wits against some of the greatest and most notorious leaders of this or any age, although full details are still to be announced.

We do know, however, that City States will present a new diplomatic battleground, and that you will continue to manage relationships with other leaders by bribing them, trading and kicking their heads off.

When all else fails war will take place on "vast, realistic and diverse landscapes", and this time you will be able to fall back on ranged bombardment, too, loosing off rounds from behind the front lines.

Perhaps adopting from the BAFTA-winning successes of Civilization Revolution on consoles, the developer is also promising a more intuitive interface suitable for veterans and newcomers alike, with a range of "trusted advisors" to walk you through things if you get stuck.

Interestingly, Firaxis also mentions "new ways to play and win, new tools to manage and expand your civilisation, extensive modding capabilities, and intensely competitive multiplayer".

Modders and multiplayer fans will be able to take advantage of an in-game community hub for playing via internet or email, and for sharing scenarios, comparing scores and achievements and accessing fan-sites.

Unlike a lot of modern PC games, Civ V also promises LAN and hotseat multiplayer support, so you really can fill your boots.

Look out for more on Sid Meier's Civilization V in the next few weeks when we report on our Baltimore adventures. So that's Civ V, autumn 2010. Nobody tell Iain Banks.

Civilization V (http://civilization5.com/) <- Official Page

Sid Meier's Civilization V Screenshots & Images | Eurogamer (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/first-civilization-v-screenshots-screenshot-gallery) <-- Screenshots

[I Took the Red Pill]

welp, there goes the next decade of my life

[qwertysaur]

welp, there goes the next decade of my life
Pretty much this. :p

[Moon Rabbits]

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love::mad::love::love:

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I think I just wet myself...

[demondude]

I don't think my computer will be powerful enough to run this and my increasing dependence at that time will mean I will have less money. :( This still rocks though.

[Madame Adequate]

I'm not close to done with Civ IV yet :(

On the other hand, hooray!

[Dignified Pauper]

oh no... Not another... I'm doomed.

[Yeargdribble]

Well s**t...

[Raistlin]

Awesome. http://www.thegamersalliance.net/forums/images/smilies/pimp.gif

[Skyblade]

Not really looking forward to it. For me, Civ 3 killed the series. Didn't even bother to try Civ 4 after it.

[Madame Adequate]

Wait what? Civ III is the best in the whole series in my opinion :p I'm interesting in knowing why you felt so strongly otherwise.

[demondude]

I never played III, but damn IV is good. :colbert: If I ever see somebody that bears the slightest resemblance to Isabella, I'm slapping them until they convert to my religion. 4realz.

[Iceglow]

I do want!

[Madame Adequate]

I never played III, but damn IV is good. :colbert: If I ever see somebody that bears the slightest resemblance to Isabella, I'm slapping them until they convert to my religion. 4realz.

Quoted for truth. I have only two rules when I play Civ IV: Convert Izzy and wipe out Shaka.

[demondude]

In one game I fondly remember she was all buddy-buddy with Tokugawa, but when he discovered a religion and converted she kicked his ass so hard it was quite worrying. He then capitulated and stayed incredibly weak for a very long time. I tried to save him from his cruel master but she was too strong for me. :(

I'm sorry Tokugawa. ;_;

[qwertysaur]

Challenge. Found all 7 religions. Isabella must be a rival.

one time Isabella was being extra bitchy and mean so everyone hated her so when I declared war on her she decided to declare war on the English as well because they were my friends. Elizabeth being the smart leader she is had 7 defensive pacts with every other person. including the Ghengis Khan and Julius Ceaser. She was completely destroyed about 10 turns later. It was beautiful. :p

Also once barbarians managed to destroy the entire Greek civilization. I wasn't too surprised when the message that the Greeks have been vanquished appeared, but was really shocked when I saw Athens and Sparta under control of the Barbarians. I then captured them and they were two of my best cities :D

[Yeargdribble]

I remember being obsessed with Civ I on SNES. I had to borrow it and was always looking for a copy. My friend wouldn't sell it to me used even for full price. I eventually got the DOS version. Eventually Civ II took over. It was the most amazing thing ever to me.

Civ III took some getting used to. The manual may as well have been a text book. Civ IV was more similar to III than III was to II and I had no problems with it.

Funny thing, being the non-religious type, I used to never do any religious style stuff until I realized what a powerful tool religion was. Critias seems to have gotten it right and when I started using it to my advantage I always found the allegory to real life humorous even if it made me ill inside.


I rarely ever won, across the entire series, by brute force. I was super diplomatic. Unless someone had an attitude or outright went after me against treaty I wouldn't attack. Hell, sometimes even then I would give in a bit. But usually, due to being so trustworthy, I'd have lots of allies and if someone crossed me my friends and I would quickly wipe them off the face of the Earth.

I also remember the early days when I was try to play epic isolationist. I'd make a nation that started on a small island and go to town making a perfect, self-contained civilization. Of course, when you see an F-22 flying over your trireme you suddenly realize how important making friends is.

[Madame Adequate]

I love to isolationism. It can lead to a lot of tech problems though, yeah. Unless you keep defense to an absolute minimum vs. barbarians and completely commit everything to tech and money.

Civ IV has an epic mod/moc compilation called Rise of Mankind. It is amazing, I played a game last week where the number of civilizations in the world doubled because so many of the computer players had civil wars and rebellions and such. I was more cautious in expansion so I was pretty secure, but it was very neat to see my position go from fifth, to third, to second, to first over the course of a century because every single one of my rivals collapsed :D

[Yeargdribble]

I used to be so obsessive. I would build all structures in all towns, insane road/rail systems and feel defeated anytime I was beat to building a wonder.

It seriously never occurred to me until I was much older that it was better to not waste my resources on silly things like building everything but rather to have each city focus on specific things suited to its own strengths.

[Madame Adequate]

Ahaha I'm fully aware of that logic but damned if I can implement it. Every city must have everything, or I have failed as a leader.

[Yeargdribble]

The same thing used to lead me to either spread my cities into perfect grids or spend forever looking for perfect spots. If I captured an enemy city that didn't match my grid... burn that sucker down and build my own.

[Skyblade]

Wait what? Civ III is the best in the whole series in my opinion :p I'm interesting in knowing why you felt so strongly otherwise.

It got too in depth on the bureaucracy. I loved Civ when it felt like you were actual in control of your empire. In Civ III, it felt too much the other way around, you were at the mercy of the systems.

A similar problem plagued Master of Orion 3, which is a shame, because MoO2 was a truly incredible game, and the series is probably dead after how much MoO3 bombed.

[Loony BoB]

I've loved every game so far, includng Alpha Centauri. I can't wait for Civ V. I might download Civ Revolutions for the console, too, but probably not. I have the demo, anyway, so we'll see if I enjoy it enough... but for me, it's all about the PC. Danielle and I both have a copy of Civ IV Complete, and we've never really left it alone for longer than about four months (if not three, if not two) since we got them years ago.