Civ 5 Will Let You Import and Convert Civ 4 Maps

bbretterson writes "From an interview Bitmob conducted with Civilization 5 Lead Designer Jon Shafer: 'You can import Civ 4 maps into the world builder and convert them into Civ 5 maps, including all the units and cities and stuff on it — the conversion process will just do that for you automatically. We're hoping that the first week Civ 5 is out, people will use that function and port all of the Civ 4 stuff over to Civ 5, so everything will be out there already.'"

Comments

THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM !!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a good thing for all concerned !!

Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, this new game must offer a lot compared to the old game..

Re:Wow

[atrain728]

i did play civ 4. it seemed identical to civ 3 but with slightly better graphics. in fact the only reason i bought it was on the hope that the AI was better. i was disappointed.

You really missed out on Civ 4 then. It wasn't at all "Civ 3 with slightly better graphics." I mean, first off, the graphics were alot more than "slightly" better. Second, it introduced a slew of game mechanics, games inside of the game, customizations. To say that it built upon Civ 3 would be an understatement.

On the other hand, Civ 3 really was Civ 2 with slightly better graphics. The same cannot be said for Civ 4. Not at all. I played both Civ 2 and Civ 3 extensively, and I can't describe how much I had to reprogram my way of thinking about the game to be successful on any of the higher difficulty levels. Diplomacy is crucial as is prior planning. Civ2&3 just meant pumping out the best units you could achieve and sending them into battle. Very linear. If you played that game in Civ4, you didn't play very long.

In fact, I can remember reading that exact sentiment in several strategy guides. "If you play this game like Civ2/Civ3, you will lose."

I'm not sure what you would have wanted from the AI. Yeah, difficulty level often meant a reduction in bonuses for the player while giving other advantages to the AI, but that's pretty similar to just about every game ever. However, I thought the AI was pretty impressive. AI leaders frequently gathered up massive armies and "sprung" attacks on you, and even cooperated with one another. Taking out strategic resources was commonplace, as was using tactics to weaken your stack.

Furthermore, combat wasn't the only place that AI was influencing the game. You'd frequently see other leaders brokering technologies and attempting cultural victory (all based on the leaders personality, of course.)

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that with a comment like that, you really didn't play the game.

Re:Square to hexagon conversion

[Anonymous Coward]

Every previous Civ game has allowed modding pretty much every detail including units, what makes you think this one would be different?

Re:Square to hexagon conversion

[Tridus]

Making it so that moving in every direction uses the same amount of movement to go the same distance. Unlike the diagonals on squire tiles in Civ 4.

The real question is why hexes weren't in use all along.

Re:Square to hexagon conversion

[Yvanhoe]

I wholeheartedly agree with you but :

Sheeze, just because it's not perfect, doesn't mean it's worthless. If you really want to play the old maps, stick to Civ IV.

Sheeze, if you don't want to see people notpicking on algorithmic and graph theory questions, don't read slashdot ;-)

Alpha Centauri II

[metamatic]

I've never been into the Civ games, but I'd buy Alpha Centauri II. I wish Firaxis would develop it.

The Alpha Corollary to Godwin's Law

[twoallbeefpatties]

As a discussion about Civilization increases in length, the probability that someone will suggest a sequel to Alpha Centauri approaches 1.