Geeky Info

Engadget links up some new information from E3 regarding CIV4.

The highlights include:

• faster pace: remember how the early years of a Civilization map tend to blow by, but the years approaching 2050 can take what seems like hours? Firaxis promises “streamlined” gameplay for a “faster” experience.
• easier interface: Firaxis promises an interface that will be familiar and easy for veterans and newbies alike. The screenshots we’ve seen look a little chaotic, but they’re not showing the city interface yet.
• more flexible tech tree: Flexibility and “open-ended gameplay” are the buzzwords of the moment, so there’s no surprise that every game is touting this.
• new multiplayer options: There will be a persistent, turn-based server option, and it could be huge. It’d be great to be able to line up a game with someone over the net and have some trusted server somewhere store the information. Saving game information client-side (with the players’ machines) exposes it to shenanigans.
• team-play: “team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options”