For the Strategic Game Lovers!!

[abhijit_reddevil]

OK, when is Civ4 and AOE3 supposed to release in India?

[sumitava_b]

AOE3 will be released around Nov-Dec 2005. Long wait....Phew.....

Dunno about Civ4....

[raasm287]

Here are some details about civ 4:-

By Adam Pavlacka

As the granddaddy of turn-based strategy games, the Civilization series has come a long way since the original version first shipped on floppy disks nearly 15 years ago. While the core game concept has remained the same, the developers have tweaked the play specifics from iteration to iteration. Now, with the upcoming release of Civilization IV, the game has gone through its biggest overhaul yet.

We recently sat down with Firaxis and looked at what's in store for players who pick up the game this fall. The first new aspect is religion. Based on seven major religions of the world -- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism -- religion allows you to indirectly influence other civilizations while offering bonuses to any civ with a declared state religion. By sending your missionaries into other cities, you can try to convert your opponent's citizens.

"It's like culture without borders," said producer, Jesse Smith. "You can send missionaries to other civilizations and start seeding your religion to other nations."

It's a sneaky way to gain an advantage, but promises to add more depth to the already competitive gameplay. Borders can be closed to prevent foreign missionaries from proselytizing, but that only works in the short term. After all, if your borders are closed, you can't trade with other civs.

Combat has been changed with the addition of artillery. A major annoyance in Civilization III was the ability to "stack" a large number of units and roam the globe pillaging the opposition. A well stacked force was nearly unstoppable because only the lead unit suffered damage. With artillery, the whole stack will receive damage so players are forced to fight strategically.

The world itself is also more varied, with a random map generator that ensures a new play experience every time you start the game. Input your preferred settings and the game spits out an appropriate map to play on, along with natural hazards like random animals roaming the land, posing a danger to unprepared settlers in the early game. That said, all civs begin with an equal set of nearby resources, so any early foraging is at your own risk.

"Don't send your settlers out without protection," said Smith.

In addition to wild animals, players also have to worry about the ever present barbarians. Although barbarians can't develop a full culture like competing civilizations, they create independent cities and small militias. Smith described them as a sort of "mini-civ" that can cause trouble at any time.

All of the 18 "proper" civs in the game have historically based leaders, with roughly half having two to choose from. Each leader has a different personality and offers the player a different set of bonuses. Because of the modeled personalities, how you deal with the AI will vary from civ to civ. For example, Julius Caesar will be quite expressive during negotians, while Genghis Khan will offer little more than a raised eyebrow.

"We're really interested in revealing the personalities of these leaders," said Smith.

Leaders are not the only famous figures to be appearing in the game. Civilization IV also introduces the concept of "great people." Falling into one of five classifications -- scientist, merchant, engineer, prophet, and artist -- great people can have a major impact on the development of your empire.

"Throughout time you'll get people like Plato, Einstein, and Michelangelo that will appear and affect history," said Smith.

Each great can either be turned into a "super citizen" and give a city an ongoing bonus or use a one-time-only special power. For example, a great engineer can instantly finish production on a building while a great artist can give an instant 1,000 point culture bonus to a city. Used strategically, these bonuses can turn the tide of battle instantly.

Managing your cities can now be done entirely from the world map view, though drilling down into the individual cities is still possible. This streamlined interface is possible due to the new 3D engine that powers the world. Players can simply zoom in or out at their leisure, while city improvements, such as wonders, are visible from the map view. Individual commands are given by clicking on a city or group of cities, making mundane tasks trivial. Building an army is as easy as highlighting a group of cities, issuing the train command, and setting a waypoint.

The multiplayer component of the game is a priority for the development team. Players can compete via e-mail, LAN, and over the Internet via pit boss servers. The pit boss is a small application that runs independent of the game and keeps track of its state. You can start a multiplayer match on a pit boss server, stop it mid-game, and continue as a play-by-email match. If all players have the time to get together, you can switch it back to a live competition.

"Right out of the box we'll support up to 18 players -- every civ being in a match," said Smith. "We're also going way over the top with modability."

To support player-created content, Civilization IV will ship with a complete world builder application. Additionally, all of the data files in the game are stored in the popular XML format, while the scripting engine and interface are built in Python. All of this information will be exposed to the player from the start, allowing for any number of mods and total conversions to be created.

Shortly after the game's release, Firaxis plans to offer a software dev kit (SDK) for the game AI. This will contain the complete AI for all of the characters in the game, so modders can tweak things to their heart's content.

Civilization IV is feature complete and on track to ship this fall. The team is currently focusing on polishing the gameplay and stamping out remaining bugs. The next four months can't pass by quick enough for series fans, who haven't seen an update in four years -- and it's looking like the this installment will top them all. Look for more updates when we get our hands on a playable build.



courtesy: yahoo games

[raasm287]

and here are some of its screenshots:-

http://us.games2.yimg.com/download.g...ladin_high.jpg

http://us.games2.yimg.com/download.g...enshot0016.jpg

http://us.games2.yimg.com/download.g...enshot0010.jpg

http://us.games2.yimg.com/download.g...enshot0012.jpg
moroever check this out yourself:

click here

Edited by Nemesis: IMG tags removed. Please think about dial-up users!

[sumitava_b]

@raasm287: Please give only links for those big big screenshots. For me it is ok. But hell will break down for dialup connection users. Please modify it.

[QwertyManiac]

hey AOE3 ????
wonder what'll that contain ?
after all they have explored all ages in thier previous games ?? havent they ?????

[raasm287]

c'mon sumitava_b i hv given the link below the screenshots

[abhijit_reddevil]

Wow, can't wait...seems like a great experience for strategy games is coming this fall for the PC. Any news of the specific hardware requirements for playing these two? I have a GF5200 128MB with 512MB RAM and P4 1.7Ghz.

[sumitava_b]

Recently saw the CDs of stronghold 2. Online review seemed interesting. Havnt played yet. Any comments on this game?

[abhijit_reddevil]

Well, stronghold2 has only a rating of 5.9/10 on gamespot. So I think it is not a recommended buy. Gamespy has 2.5/5 and IGN also has 6.7/10. I personally would not prefer it.

[raasm287]

Originally Posted by digitized

Well, stronghold2 has only a rating of 5.9/10 on gamespot. So I think it is not a recommended buy. Gamespy has 2.5/5 and IGN also has 6.7/10. I personally would not prefer it.

I agree with you, mate. Stronghold 1 wasn't that good either

[AGENT_SMITH]

I want aom: the titans expansion & ron :thrones and patriots expansion

[siriusb]

Go buy it then.

[raasm287]

ha ha nice one siriusb, I was about to give the same advice to agent_smith

[escape7]

Hey dudes, does any one here knows how to set triggers in Empire Earth's scenario builder???

[moshel]

Originally Posted by raasm287

I agree with you, mate. Stronghold 1 wasn't that good either

I like the stronghold series. stronghold 1 i completed full. stronghold 2 i am trapped in one mission dont know what to do. there is no place for me to build anything. and i have to feed another village, which in turn is feeding another village. so no matter how much food i send, it always gets over until my carraiges come back to their sheds to take more food.

anyone have any idea about this mission.

any'o'u playing EE2? its a gr8 game. i hated EE1.

[sumitava_b]

Ok, I have got the stronghold2 from my friend an dplayed it a little while. In the first look, the game didnt attract me due to its poor graphics quality as I always expect strategy game with stunning eye-candy. Especially during attack with many soldiers, the scene got clumsy and 50 infantries got overlapped annoyingly to show image of only 4/5 infantries. However I played it for some time and liked the idea of estates and all. Her you can own an estate by using ur honor. Thats cool. No need for bloodshed always. Also the concept of controlling crime by punishing the criminals is funny and new to me.

@moshel: although I amvery new to this game I am giving some walkthrough. Create carter shop as many as possible and build them just beside the estate boundary and nearest to the estate's stockpile. This will help u to send the food quick and fast. And stop consuming the particular type of food in ur town which u r sending to the neighbouring town.

[Hells_Fury]

Did anyone actually like Lord of the Rings - Battle for middle Earth?
I personally found it quite boring. Part 2 has also been anounced recently.

[QwertyManiac]

But middle earth has a good game engine of emotions and more realism...

[aceman]

I am more Intrested in Star Wars:Empire at War, i just coudn't wait to blow up planets using the Death Star, or Kill Darth vader .......capture planets.........fight space ship battles..........., Also waiting for the expansion to Rome Total war.

[sumitava_b]

Aceman: I doubt that Star Wars:Empire at War is strategy game? Is it?

Anyway, has anyone played 'cossacks II'? Recently I played the demo version which I found in one of the recent Digit DVD (Possibly June version). I found it quite good to play. The game depicts the napoleaonic time when soldiers had to fill their long gun after firing every shot!!! Here u can create troops containing 120 infantries and 1 officer. Then u can order them as a whole. In the limitations in demo, the war is fought in numbers and if your side has much more soldiers than other then their soldier (with drooping morale) will flee away just seeing ur huge troops.

The grafix of the game is also quite nice to keep u on. Although the game did not give me much option to explore all the features. But in nutshell, the game is worth a try. In gamespot.com it got 7.9 which is a nice score for a strategy game indeed.

[cybershastri]

Must read for the strategy game lovers..

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The third instalment in the mega-popular Age of Empires series is to get a special Collector's Edition.

Ensemble have revealed the Collector's Edition will come in an "over-sized beautifully embossed box" containing:
· A hardbound 210 page "The Art of Empires" Book
· The "Making of Age of Empires III" DVD with behind the scenes video and commentary
· The Age of Empires III Soundtrack
· A 43inch * 27 inch full-colour poster of concept art by artist Craig Mullins
· An exclusive Age of Empires III Player's Guide
· Collector's Edition Game Manual

The Collector's Edition is priced $69.99 and is available to pre-order now.

The game is due for release on PC on the 25th of October, and has been described as "graphically the most ambitious RTS ever developed".

*************************

[QwertyManiac]

yea the screenies say for themselves so...
Waitin with a waterin mouth...
hopin the sound trac to be good....
AOM was the best in sound...

BTW - Does this ame deal with europe as i hear ?

[aceman]

Originally Posted by sumitava_b

Aceman: I doubt that Star Wars:Empire at War is strategy game? Is it?
.

Yep it is a strategy game based on the Star Wars universe, with the player being able to play as the Empire or the Rebels, along with Vader,Death star..........etc.
Not fair you migtht say by playing as the Empire but the empire being big and powerfull cannot see the movements of the republic but the rebublic can see the Empire movements, thus having a element of suprise, expect space and land based battles and more of star wars in one package.This october release i believe.

[anubhav_har]

no man not played syberia

[sumitava_b]

I am planning to buy some sports management games. I am open for both cricket and football Suggest me some real good game(s) in both areas.
Thanx in advance

cia
Sumit

[Hells_Fury]

For football management you have to check out Football manager 2005. It is the best football management game out there currently (ie till FM 2006 comes out in november). The game is also called Worldwide Soccer Manager in the US. The level of detail in the game is truly spectacular. You can also try out Total club Manager 2005. It can be played in conjunction with Fifa 2005. Haven't tried it out personally, but i have heard from reliable sources that its not so good.

As for cricket, i have no clue as i am not at all interested.
One warning though, FM2005 is an extremely addictive game

[sumitava_b]

Oops, I forgot to mention one thing. I need them as PC version only.

Hells_Fury, thanks for ur suggestion and warning . Is FM 2005 available in PC version? I heard that they r in PS2 version. I heard about one more game called Total championship manager. How is it?

[Hells_Fury]

FM 2005 is available for the PC too. Havent heard of Total Championship Manager, only Total Club Manager.
Check out http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/fo...05/review.html for a review of FM2005. They have called it a perfect sports management game.

[sumitava_b]

Thanks Hell_fury, I will add FM2005 soon in my game inventry.

Anyone please give some suggestion for cricket manangement.