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Maniac
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Gent, Belgium
Jul 1999
time: 06:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Nikolai
But, religion first when it's researched? What do Firaxis think the humans believed in before that then?  Religion has always been present in human society... |
While religion or at least moral systems have always been present in human society, it used to be in the form of magical and mythological thinking. The religions were also very localized. One tribe could have their own gods to worship, while a tribe a few kilometers further could have a set of others. This didn't cause problems. It was considered normal for everyone to have their own different gods.
This all starts changing in the first millennium BC. In the great cultural areas of those days (Middle East, India, China) large empires started forming. In that setting of increasing complexity and interaction, the tribal beliefs no longer succeeding in streamlining behaviour of all the geographically and culturally different peoples in the empires. New religions arose, who all to a certain degree had some characteristics that could appeal to the people living in those new society surroundings, and bind them together. These characteristics are:
1. Claim to universality: "Our religion is the one truth, and it applies to ALL peoples, not just the Greeks/Germans/Egyptians...  "
2. Revelation: "These truths are given to me, the holy prophet, by God/The Highest Reality, and I have written them down in these books, which should not be doubted or changed!! " This gave the prophet's words a higher authority than those of a tribal religion.
3. Dogmatism: As said above, if the words come from God, you can't change them anymore after writing them down. Opposed to mythology, which was flexible.
4. Salvation: "Man is in a sad situation here on Earth. However by joining our One True ReligionTM, you can escape from this misery!  "
Thus you get Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, the world religions that still exist today. Or Zoroastrism & Manicheism, to give two who didn't make it.
So actually, I'd say it's pretty realistic that you could "research" an "invention" called "Universalist Religion" or so, which makes it easier to keep people happy in a growing empire. 
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Maquiladora
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Well at least it doesnt all look like desert island terrain, although it looks a bit too colourful and whats up with those seemingly random pyramid mountains that have popped up out of the ground again like in civ3? Where are the mountain chains... Ill wait to see how modern screenshots look though.
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Maquiladora
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The mountains look like coneheads grown from the ground with magic beans with no obvious signs of formation at all. They arent surrounded by hills, there are a few scattered away from the mountain.
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Maquiladora
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I also see 3 hills in different directions, none of which are "surrounding" the mountains. Theyre close to one mountain, the other mountains dont fit.
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Max Sinister
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Looks good so far. The new 3D look (with a real perspective!) is great. The borders look a bit boring, but oh well. Tile borders not clear enough? I only play with grid switched on. OK for me. Now I wonder about new gameplay...
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Maquiladora
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I dont think the terrain are placeholders, or at least screenshot 2 doesnt look like something you knock up, thats not to say its perfect, just you can see the work. Then again i havent seen Pirates or whatever else its used in so i dont know what theyve taken from that.
There seems to be 3 or 4 different types of tree grouped together, the pines, the broadleafs (some are brown), the palms in the desert areas and some other, not sure if its one of the others again or jungle.
And maybe theyre re-using the civ3 units except rendered in 3D this time.
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Alex
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Brasil
Mar 1999
time: 02:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Solver
quote:
Also, I am afraid I might have to get a better computer just to play CIV4... this is going to be a very expensive game. |
Yes, another downside. I'm certain my computer will run it very well, but in the past, Civ games have had very low system requirements, while Civ4 might have requirements along the lines of 1GHz and 256 MB RAM to play nice. Which is way more than a Civ game should require. I think a Civ game now should be content with, say, 700 MHz and 128 MB RAM - so that it would run on what is a low-end machine now. |
Firaxis is using the Gamebryo engine to power Civ4 graphics, and AFAIK they used the same engine in Pirates. I have bad news for those with low-end machines: if we take Pirates in consideration, then Civ4 will require a powerful machine to run with all options maxed out.
I have an Athlon 1.7 with 512 MB RAM and a Geforce 2 MX videocard. Pirates runs very sluggishly on my system if I try to run it on anything above 800x600 screen resolution. If I put "world detail" and "object detail" on max, the game is barely playable, even using a low res such as 800x600. I have to play it in 640x480 and medium options if I want any sense of fluidity.
Now, I'm not saying that things will be as dramatic with Civ4 as they are with Pirates (for those with low-end machines such as mine), especially because I think that the bigger scale in Civ games is not that 3D intensive, but the fact that the same engine is used in both games really worries me... 
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07-04-2005 16:53
I rest my case.
).
.
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