Slashdot Mirror

ruebarb writes "At 5pm last night, I proceeded to unwrap my shrinkwrapped Civization III box (purchased at EB) - I had spent the last two weeks broke and playing the old Civ II just for entertainment, so I've got the experience of that fresh in my memory. I went to bed at 3am 8 hours later...yikes." I've attached his review below - I've been playing it, and it is amazing. Not a revolutionary change, but definitely a big evolutionary change. First off, this game is a major change in structure and feel to the Civ. series. Quite honestly, this is probably a good thing. All too often, updates or sequels to a game system are one or two more bells and whistles that justify a $49.95 price tag. Civilization II was such a flexible system to begin with. Dozens of websites with hacks, special units, mods, and changes created a game system that could pretty much be changed into any type of game out there. (I even saw things like X-Com mods where you were soldiers fighting X-Com Aliens) In order for this to maintain it's consistant high level of quality, some changes were required at the fundmental level.

Your cities with the cultural borders now work a lot more like an actual country, and not just a collection of city states. This is nice...I was always less then impressed with having cities and colonies scattered across the globe with no detrimental value. The changes to the Trade system require networks of highways and roads/harbors to cultivate commerce, so it's in your best interestes to keep those things close together...Finally, we're dealing with an entire culture instead of just city-states. And if you're a real monster, you can use the gigantic maps and pull up all 16 civilizations.

Armies can be more decentralized, and wonders of the world are useful, but there are fewer "Killer" wonders that can completely upset the balance of the game. For example, in the previous game, The Sistine Chapel created a cathedral in every city, which made it a prime target for large civilizations...now the advancement simply increases the effects of cathedrals, which forces each city to get off it's butt and develop it's own resources.

Espionage and Trade have been abstracted. Trade and Commerce are now dependant on roads and resources and money comes from trading with other civilizations. And no more of that horribly unrealistic plan of sending the spy in to destroy city walls before the invasion. (I mean, come on...destroy city walls?)

My favorite new aspect is the cultural assimilation of other cities. For example, if you have a strong cultural identity (basically, borders) - and you are close to cities that don't...they may rebel and join your side...much in the way that several cities/territories that once belonged to Mexico joined up with the U.S.

I haven't finished a game yet...I made the mistake of getting my spies busted one too many times...First one country declared war on me...then I attacked and a second one with a Mutual Aggression Pact came at me. Then a couple of them started trade embargos against me, then a couple of turns later the other two guys around me declared war, just like Russia and Germany did with Poland. I got beat up pretty bad and chalked it up to a learning experience...

I have a couple of minor issues....most of the menus are relocated and are kinda hard to find. And I never liked those advisors in the first couple of games..and now they're intergrated...but overall, it's been a long time since I've been pleased with a game like this...This is the game you feel like telling the /. community is worth buying a copy of Win98 for.

Handulschteim writes: "As if nobody could have guessed, the Internet community has continued to circumvent the entertainment industry. According to this Reuters article, HavenCo has joined the action. It might be great marketing for them. But it might also be the beginning of the end if they attract the ire of their closest neighbor and its American buddies." (ruebarb contributes a link to the same story featured on MSNBC.) Since ISPs are going to face increasing pressure from the various 4-letter acronyms, it seems like the obvious next step for the the entertainment factories to lobby for would be a ban on all encrypted traffic for which no key is in escrow for easy policing.

ruebarb writes: "It appears that Osama Bin Laden and the majority of the Slashdot community have something in common - they love that free encryption! Bin Laden has been using chat rooms, bulletin boards, email, and (presumably) PGP to plan his terrorist activities. The article is available at cnn.com -- Expect the usual political outcry and demands for restriction of encryption technology to follow shortly hereafter" And an unnamed correspondent writes: "USA Today has this report about how terrorists are using encryption to distribute secret mayhem instructions via the internet. Gee, you think? What do you think -- is this part of a PR campaign to show John Q. Public how dangerous encryption is in any hands other than gov?" In related news, several of the major news networks are reporting that innocent-looking newspapers and circulars have been employed to form the ransom notes used by notorious kidnappers; calls to ban newspapers on that ground may face some opposition from extremists, but will no doubt soon reach the legislature.

NNland asks: "What's kinda neat is that Red Hat stock prices went up $18 yesterday. The idea that the MS trial has pushed people towards investing in MS's competitors has surfaced, but with a drop in price of merely $1.26, this could be a bit questionable. Though when you take into consideration the fact that there is probably alot more MS stock on the market, it brings up the question of whether or not the amount of money lost on MS stock is close to the amount that Red Hat gained. What do you people think? I tried to get hard numbers, but I was having problems wading through the numbers. " Now that would be one hell of a correlation if it were true (although I doubt it). Does anyone have any hard numbers?

dancomfort sent us the news that Group Bull SA, the French computer manufacturer has joined the Linux group as well. They are setting up some new units, as well as certifying some of their servers with Red Hat 6. They are also planning on porting Common Data Security Architecture, in partnership with Intel.

Boy its Star Wars Hype Monday here as Jim Hall writes "I found the Star Wars Ep. 1 TV commercials They are spoiler-free! But they are very cool. " VH1 is supposedly gonna air Duel of the Fates (the Star Wars video) 6 consecutive times at 6pm EST, so get your VCR ready. I'ce heard the track already- its not the best track on the soundtrack, but its pretty sweet.

Jim Hall writes "I have just completed an interview with the radio program "Future Tense". This interview focused on the FreeDOS Project and on free software in general. On Minnesota Public Radio (where FT is produced) you can hear the interview on Monday 8/24 at 8:20AM. The web site is here You can also hear Future Tense as part of As It Happens, from the CBC. Future Tense appears about 30 minutes into AIH. There will be a Real Audio copy of the interview made available on the web site. It should appear within a few hours after the radio program is on the air, and will stay on the site for about 30 days. "

Jim Hall writes " InfoWorld Magazine reports in their 06/01/1998 edition that UMAX computer has ceased production of its Macintosh clones. UMAX was the last remaining licensee of the MacOS after Apple stopped allowing clones. This is too bad. I think clones were the way for Macs to become accessible to others. Competition among Mac vendors might have made the Mac cheaper to upgrade and to own. Oh well. "