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jglidewell
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manassas va usa
Feb 2001
time: 00:12
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Kwel
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jglidewell
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manassas va usa
Feb 2001
time: 00:12
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Does any one have the magazine yet?
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shuttleswo
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What is the second screen shot? my guess is a wonder movie, but for which wonder? Maybe the apollo program?
[This message has been edited by shuttleswo (edited April 26, 2001).]
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jglidewell
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manassas va usa
Feb 2001
time: 00:12
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In terms of color I can not tell? compare to the CGW screenshots.
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Fintilgin
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Looking interesting... 
I don't think those are swamps by the way, they look like irrigation. Look how they overlay the tan `plains' in the lower right corner. I agree with those who think they look awfully boxy and artifical. The hills and forests and coastlines are very nice looking though. I'm kinda upset with the `boxy' look though, overall, as with the snowy terrain and dryer terrain. The squares look big enough that they could put smoothing diagonal `fill' to round off the squares and still have be clear what terrain your unit was on. The ninty degree angles need to be smoothed off a lot more.
And honestly, I hope we get flags and not little colored circles. They make it look more like a computer game then a picture of a mighty empire, and seem really unnatural and unattractive. Europa Universalis has these wonderful little waving flags for all the units of all 90 odd nations. I think CivIII can do that or better. I really want flags, even if they're colored flags instead of national ones. National ones would be best though. They could fly over every unit and city, and be as clear, if not more so, then colored flags or circles ever could be.
Actually, it makes me wonder. Everyone keeps saying they're going to change these a lot, but are they? I wonder if they'd even BE releasing screenshots if they weren't /fairly/ close to the final product. Now, my impression of the graphics is a mixed bag. Some parts look very nice, and some look a little iffy. On the other hand, this is not a game I'll be buying because of the graphics, I'll be buying it for the gameplay. The truth is 2D tile-based graphics can only look so good, and these are fairly up there. I think Firaxis might have been better off going with a true 3D map which then had artifical `square' zones of movement superimposed over it.
Here's a thought though, I hope Firaxis sees this. If the advisors are featured so prominently on the interface, they presumbably they're being designed to be very useful. I'm sure you can see lots of info and tweak lots of things with them. However, may I suggest using symbols instead of faces on the main screen? The advisor heads would still appear once you opened them, but they strike me as counter-intuitive on the main interface.
In other words, the military advisor should be crossed swords, economic a pile of coins, diplomacy crossed flags, science a lightbulb and so forth. Then it would be /extremely/ easy to know where you're going immediately. Advisor access should be as intuitive as possible. We shouldn't be guessing which guy is the science advisor, and which is the economic advisor.
Wow. That message sounds much more critical then I intended, I'm actually very enthusastic about the game and seeing more screenshots.... I think there were some funny compression blurriness/scaling issues with that shot. I'll wait until I see some offical Firaxis shots before coming to any final judgements on the graphics.
Joe
[This message has been edited by Fintilgin (edited April 26, 2001).]
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SerapisIV
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Hartford, CT, USA
Feb 2001
time: 00:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Fintilgin on 04-26-2001 02:30 PM
Here's a thought though, I hope Firaxis sees this. If the advisors are featured so prominently on the interface, they presumbably they're being designed to be very useful. I'm sure you can see lots of info and tweak lots of things with them. However, may I suggest using symbols instead of faces on the main screen? The advisor heads would still appear once you opened them, but they strike me as counter-intuitive on the main interface.
In other words, the military advisor should be crossed swords, economic a pile of coins, diplomacy crossed flags, science a lightbulb and so forth. Then it would be /extremely/ easy to know where you're going immediately. Advisor access should be as intuitive as possible. We shouldn't be guessing which guy is the science advisor, and which is the economic advisor.
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Thats a great idea !! Simple and efficient. That or maybe the symbols behind the face, with the faces smaller. The faces do kinda add character to the advisors
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Fintilgin
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quote:
Originally posted by SerapisIV on 04-26-2001 02:36 PM
Thats a great idea !! Simple and efficient. That or maybe the symbols behind the face, with the faces smaller. The faces do kinda add character to the advisors
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Oh, well, I suspect those little faces are just a sample of a larger one we'll see when we actually access the advisor. As such, they really shouldn't be on the main screen I don't think. I /know/ I'd be confused by having to pick between a bunch of faces to get info on my diplomatic relations. I'd probably end up messing with my economy instead!
It's interesting to note that the team working on Master of Orion III is trying very hard to add a `Fifth X' to the tradional 4X Civ style game genre (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate). That of eXperience. As such, Firaxis should ask themselves if having the faces up there adds to the experience and feeling of ruling a mighty civilization or detracts from it. I think dramatic symbols would do the job better.
Of course with my luck, they're just place-holding pictures right now, and they've always fully intended to put appopriate symbols up there in time.
Joe
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Hundred Waters
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Canada
Jan 2001
time: 05:12
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Sid is on the far right.
Can someone in the UK run out and get the issue?
Pretty please with sugar on top***
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Ilkuul
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of Thame (UK)
Mar 2000
time: 05:12
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Great to see these screenshots. The green sea is fine by me - makes me think of tropical beaches!
I must say I don't like the heads - I prefer Fintilgin's suggestion of crossed swords, coins, etc. Much clearer, and adds a touch of serious purpose to the game. The symbol represents the office, which happens to be held by a particular person. We wouldn't be too happy to receive a letter from the Treasury whose letterhead consisted of a photo of the current incumbent! That would reek of hubris. The office, represented by the symbol, is more enduring than the holder. In Civ2, though the face remains the same - a pleasant fiction to match the fact that the ruler remains the same over 60 centuries! - the costumes change, representing changing times. I'd like to see that continued in Civ3.
I guess the 2 unmarked buttons at the bottom are for functions yet to be decided... If the selected unit is a settler, there should be plenty of functions to choose from!
I like the look of the mini-map window; but isn't it rather small in comparison with the rest of the screen? Seems you'd be hard put to see the location of cities on something that size. Maybe it can be enlarged? That would be cool.
I disagree with airdrik that the cities look like piles of rubble! If you look at them at a larger resolution (or print the pic out to fill a sheet of paper), you'll see clearly that they consist of a series of single-storey buildings around a central circle (marketplace? forum?) - which presumably is the appropriate style for size 2 cities in 120 AD. I must say, tho', that I would have preferred more colour - they look rather drab. But maybe that's still to come...
It's noteworthy that both the Americans and the Aztecs have the same style of city: does that mean civ-specific city styles are out? A pity if so.
I can only assume there's a lot still to be tweaked, e.g. the font in which the city names appear. These are almost unreadable, even on the large printout I have in front of me.
But these are minor points: overall this looks really good - keep it up, Firaxis! (I specially like the mountains!)
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Ug-lee, very placeholderish, but at least we can see a bit more of the interface here. Ugly map/unit
windows, I must say, but other than that very nicely scaled back. I like the command buttons. The
"Standing Unit" under St.Louis is probably the tall dark shape in the old Baltimore screenshot; what the
hell is it? Nice-looking advisors, and some interesting units...
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Kaak
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GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR............if i wanted to play ctp, or a game with that type of visual interphase, that's what i'd play. I PLAY CIV2 AND I LIKE THAT INTERPHASE. this sucks. I am VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED
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the map thumbnail is very ctp-ish
the way the cities appear though and the borders are "copy-paste" from smac, as well the resolution of the units(this last one being pretty bad)...
BUT they are EARLY screenshots, so lets not rush into any final judgements
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26-04-2001 19:10
? i have never seen that magazine in the states, but if they do sell it here, can someone let me know which nat'l chain store sells it? thanx
WHERE'S ELVIS?????? 
and in whole the game tiles are too squarish to my taste. I don't like the colours either; e.g. the grassland & sea has too much yellow mixed in. I must say that I was shocked when I with great expectations downloaded the 1. screenshot. I could hardly believe my eyes. I'm having hard time to say anything good about that screenshot. Only thing I like are the mountains with a river flowing down on them. 
No offence intented to anyone. 
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