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$29.99, June 19th in America
Pre-order is now available on Steam! Game unlocks 10AM PST on June 19th in America.
Game launches internationally on June 22nd; prices will vary outside of the US.
Freshly Updated Civ 5 Gods & Kings Handbook for Despots & Dictators
Please help me fact check it!
Lets Play Gods & Kings With 2K Greg
Greg crowdsources decisions while playing as the Celts, against the Aztecs and Incas.
New G&K Developer Diary
Dennis Shirk and Ed Beach talk about new game mechanics in G&K.
PAX Interviews and Demos
Dennis Shirk interviewed by our own 2K Greg at 00:55, and followed by the PAX demo narrated by Dennis Shirk at 01:22.
9 New Civs
- Austria (Maria Theresa)
Diplomatic Marriage allows you to pay gold to puppet or annex an allied City-State
Unique Cavalryman the Hussar is faster and gains a large bonus while flanking
Unique Windmill the Coffee House boosts Great Person generation- Byzantines (Queen Theodora)
Patriarchate of Constantinople allows you to choose an extra bonus Belief upon founding a Religion
Unique Trireme the Dromon is an early-game ranged Naval ship and has a large bonus VS other naval units, but is expensive to build
Unique Horseman the Cataphract is slower, but stronger, has a smaller penalty VS cities, and benefits from defensive bonuses- Carthage (Queen Dido)
Phoenician Heritage grants a free Harbor in all Cities and, once a Great General is born, allows units to pass through Mountain tiles (though they take 50 damage for STAYING on top of a mountain)
Unique Horseman the African Forest Elephant is stronger, generates GG's faster and strikes fear in enemy ranks, but is also slower
Unique Trireme the Quinquereme has a higher base strength- Celtica (Boudicca)
Druidic Lore grants +1 Faith in Cities that are next to an unimproved forest, or +2 Faith if near 3 or more forests.
Unique Spearman the Pictish Warrior gains a Combat bonus outside friendly territory, produces Faith when they kill an enemy and pillages at no movement cost, but has no bonus VS mounted units
Unique Opera House the Ceilidh Hall provides +3 Happiness- Ethiopia (Haile Selassie)
Spirit of Adwa grants +20% Combat Bonus vs Civs who have more cities than you do
Unique Rifleman the Mehal Sefari starts with Drill I and is stronger depending on how close they are to the capital
Unique Monument the Stele provides +2 Faith- Huns (Attila the Hun)
Scourge of God grants free Animal Husbandry tech at the start of the game, +1 Production from Pastures, and Raze cities at double speed
Unique Spearman the Battering Ram is a melee Siege unit that actually upgrades to Trebuchet
Unique Horseman the Horse Archer starts with Accuracy I and has no rough terrain movement penalty- Mayans (Pacal the Great)
Long Count grants free great people on specific turns in the game, and changes your year date to Mayan (cosmetic)
Unique Archer the Atlatl techs with agriculture, not archery, and is slightly cheaper
Unique Shrine the Pyramid generates Science as well as Faith- Netherlands (William of Orange)
East India Company retains 50% Happiness from Luxuries that are Traded away to other Civs
Unique Improvement the Polder gives +Food to Wetlands and Flood Plains, and later +Production and +Gold as well
Unique Privateer the Sea Beggar starts with Coastal Raider II and Supply- Sweden (Gustavus Adolphus)
Nobel Prize allows you to gain 90 influence when gifting Great People to City States. Also, Declarations of Friendship confer +10% Great Person generation to both parties.
Unique Lancer the Hakkapeliitta gains an additional bonus when sharing a tile with a Great General
Unique Rifleman the Carolean starts with March
People who have not bought the Spain + Inca DLC will be getting Spain for free with Gods & Kings, as they are featured in a Crusades-themed scenario. They will have to go buy the DLC to get Inca, the New World scenario and the New World Natural Wonders.
Songhai's UA now grants +1 sight and double defense to embarked units. Their Mandekalu Cavalry are slightly cheaper. Their Mud Pyramid Mosque now produces Faith, as Temples are now Faith buildings. Egypt's Burial Tomb both now also produce Faith, not culture, and has its usual Happiness bonus. England now gets a bonus Spy on top of their naval movement bonus. Ottomans now grant the Prize Ships promotion to all their naval units, so they can steal ships that aren't Barbarian-owned; they still get reduced maintenance on naval units. Jaguars have a smaller CS bonus now, but they get it in both jungles and forests.
9 New Wonders
- Alhambra
+1 Great Artist Point, +1 Culture, +20% Culture, all Land Military units produced by this city gain Drill I, Free Castle- CN Tower
+1 Great Merchant Point, +1 Happiness per City, +1 Population in each city, free Broadcast Tower in each city- Great Firewall
99.9% reduction in enemy Spy effectiveness in the city in which it's built, +25% elsewhere- Great Mosque of Djenne
+1 Great Engineer Point, +1 Culture, +3 Faith, Missionaries born in this city can spread religion 3 times (not 2), free Mosque- Hubble Space Telescope
+1 Great Scientist Point, 2 free Great Scientists, +25% production when building Spaceship Parts, Free Spaceship Factory- Leaning Tower of Pisa
+1 Great Artist Points, +1 Culture, +25% Great Person generation, 1 free Great Person of your choice- Neuschwanstein
+1 Great Merchant Point, +2 Happiness, +4 Culture, +6 gold, and +3 Gold/+2 Culture/+1 Happiness from every Castle; must be built in a city within 2 tiles of a Mountain that's within your borders- Petra
+1 Great Engineer Points, +1 Culture, and +1 Food/+1 Production/+1 Gold from Desert tiles (not including Flood Plains), free Amphitheater; must be built in a city on or next to a Desert- Terra Cotta Army
+1 Great Artist Points, +6 Culture
It's unknown what any of these do just yet, or where they unlock, but it's seen in one of the screengrabs that Colossus was moved to Ironworking so it seems Wonders are being shuffled around a bit. Some preexisting wonders are being rebalanced, such as Stonehenge which now produces Faith.
27 New Units
- Civilian Units: Missionaries (spread your religion) & Inquisitors (prevents spread of foreign religion)
- Great People: Great Prophets & Great Admirals (can be expended to heal your boats, even outside friendly waters)
- Classical: Composite Bowman
- Medieval: Galleass
- Renaissance: Privateer
- WWI Era: Biplane Bombers, Triplane Fighters, Land Ships, WWI Infantry, & Gatling Guns
- Industrial Era: Machine Gun
- Modern Era: Marine
- Unique: African War Elephant, Atlatl, Battering Ram, Carolean, Cataphract, Dromon, Hakkapelliita, Horse Archer, Hussar, Mehal Sefari, Pictish Warrior, Quinquereme, Sea Beggar
G&K introduces Melee-type Boats that can capture coastal Cities. For instance, Battleships are ranged units, while Destroyers are melee and may therefore conquer Cities. All Embarked Units can now defend themselves and can stack with Naval units as if they were Civilian units. Siege units will be almost necessary to take Cities, especially those who've built Walls and Castles. They have a 200% bonus VS Cities and a lower base strength, meaning they're even worse when used VS units.
Great Admirals can be expended to heal nearby ships. Great Prophets can create Holy Site tile improvements which yield +6 Faith.
Great Artists are now the only Great People who can start a Golden Age; they no longer have the Culture Bomb ability. Great Scientists do not grant a new tech outright, they give a lump sum of Science equal to the amt of Science your Civ produced during the previous six turns. When Great Generals create a Citadel, it has a Culture Bomb-type effect; also their Combat Bonus has been reduced to 15%.
Units now have 100 life, not 10. This is mean to make combat unfold more slowly, allowing for more time for strategy. For instance, killing a unit with a similarly-strengthed unit will take 3 or 4 hits. Also, Embarked Units can now share tiles with Naval Units, allowing sea invasions to be a bit easier.
13 New Buildings
- Faith: Shrines (early Faith-producer)
- Beliefs: Cathedrals, Pagodas & Mosques (unlocks via Follower Beliefs; paid for with Faith)
- Culture: Amphitheater (replaces Temple, which will has been re-purposed as a Faith-producing building)
- Espionage: Constabulary & Police Station
- Atomic Era: Bomb Shelter (protects population VS nukes) & Recycling Center (provides Aluminum)
- Uniques: Ceilidh Hall, Coffee House, Pyramid and Stele
And 1 new National Wonder- National Wonders: National Intelligence Agency (grants a 5th spy, requires Police Stations?)
Cathedrals, Mosques and Pagodas are buildable only by taking a corresponding Founder Belief and must be 'bought' with Faith, in the same manner as Missionaries and Inquisitors. The Monastery has been reworked to similarly now only be buildable with the Monasteries Follower Belief.
New Techs
- Drama & Poetry (classical) (replaces Aesthetics, to alleviate confusion with the Policy)
- Architecture (renaissance)
- Guilds (medieval)
- Ballistics (modern)
- Industrialization (modern)
- Combined Arms (atomic)
- Telecommunications (information)
- Mobile Tactics (information)
- Advanced Ballistics (information)
The Classical Era is now thick enough to be two 'columns' wide. Eras now run as Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Industrial, Modern, Atomic, Information. Here's the full tech tree, albeit in low rez.
New Natural Wonders
- Mt Kailash (Tibetan mountain considered holy by Hindus)
- Mt Sinai (Egyptian mountain considered holy by the Abrahamic religions)
- Sri Pada (Sri Lankan mountain considered holy by most religions)
- Uluru (Australian rock formation considered holy by Aborigines)
New Luxury Resources
- Crabs (Fishing Boats)
- Salt (Mine)
- Truffles (Hunting Camp, marked by Pigs)
- Citrus (Plantation)
- Copper (Mine)
We haven't heard of more buildings like the Granary or Stables which boost these new resources, so probably pre-existing buildings will boost them. Some more new Luxuries have been confirmed and are tied to the new Mercantile City-States. More on that below.
Golden Ages now last longer, and provide their bonus to Culture output as well as Gold and Production. Also, all Building-derived Happiness, no matter what, is always considered Local. Wonder-derived Happiness is still considered Global.
Religion
The Faith ticker is colored in white, symbolized by a white dove holding a green olive branch. This gives passive benefits similar to Policies called Beliefs which can be beneficial for pursuit of any victory. Religions are like Wonders in that they can only be founded once. In any game, only about half the players will be founders. Religions spread on their own to neighboring cities (within 10 tiles). Missionaries are used to spread your religion to foreign Cities and Inquisitors are used to prevent the spread of others' religions. There are three kinds of beliefs: Pantheon, Founder and Religious. Examples of Pantheon Beliefs include:
- Dance of the Aurora: +1 Faith from Tundra Tiles (without Forests)
- Faith Healers:+33HP healed per turn if adjacent to a Friendly City
- Fertility Rites: 10% faster Growth Rate
- Gods of Craftsmen: +1 Production in Cities with 3 or greater Population
- God of War: +Faith from battles won within 4 tiles of your Cities
- Goddess of Festivals: +1 Culture and +1 Faith from Incense and Wine
- One with Nature: +4 Faith from Natural Wonders
- Religious Settlement: +15% faster border growth
Eventually, your fledgling religion blossoms into 11 possibles: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, Tengriism and Zoroastrianism. These real world religions are only lending their symbology; the beliefs behind your religion will be completely customizable, even their names. The Founder beliefs, of which you will choose one, will benefit only your Civ and the City in which the religion was founded will become that Religion's "Holy City". If you lose your holy city, you lose your founder belief until you can win back your city. The conqueror of the Holy City does NOT gain your Founder Belief while they are occupying it.
- Initiation Rites: +100 Gold when each City first converts to this Religion
- Interfaith Dialogue: Gain Science when a Missionary spreads this religion to cities of other religions
- Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
- Papal Primacy: +15 to Influence ranking point with City-States following this religion
- Peace Loving: +1 Happiness for every 5 followers of this religion in non-enemy foreign cities
- Pilgrimage: +1 Faith for each foreign city following this religion
The follower Beliefs, of which you will choose three (one upon founding the religion when your first Great Prophet spawns, and two more later when a second Great Prophet spawns), will benefit any City that follows your religion, e.g.:
- Cathedrals: Use Faith to purchase Cathedrals (+1 Faith, +3 Culture, +1 Happiness, Artist Specialist slot)
- Divine Inspiration: Each World Wonder provides +2 Faith in city
- Guruship: +2 Production if city has a Specialist
- Holy Warriors: Use Faith to purchase pre-Industrial land units
- Peace Gardens: Gardens provide +2 Happiness in city
- Swords into Plowshares: 15% faster Growth rate for city if not at war
"The religion game kinda happens through the first two thirds of the game and then kinda naturally tapers out," lead designer Ed Beach said. Founding a Religion creates a 'Holy City'. You lose the benefit of your Founder Belief if this city is captured (not sure if the city can be razed). The conqueror does not steal these belief. You will get them back if you reclaim the city.
City-States
Religious city-states have been added, which give you +Faith per turn. The new Mercantile City-States have solitary access to unique luxuries, such as Porcelain or Jewelry, which can give a marked Happiness boost to your Civilization. The quest system is greatly expanded, allowing Civs to offer up to 3 quests at once, and offer new kinds of quests as well, such as denouncing other Civs for them. The Influence Points that Gold can buy has been greatly reduced.
City-States can be 'bullied' without outright going to war with them. Give a show of force and make demands, and perhaps they'll give in to avoid war. This will lower your standing with them, and possibly other City-States as well, and might trigger requests for Declaration of Protection against you. New City-States include:
The new full list is thus:
- Cultural: Brussels, Bucharest, Florence, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Milan, Monaco, Prague, Warsaw, Yerevan
- Militaristic: Almaty, Belgrade, Budapest, Hanoi, Sidon, Valletta
- Maritime: Cape Town, Jakarta, Lisbon, Manila, Mombasa, Quebec City, Ragusa, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Venice
- Mercantile: Antwerp, Cahokia, Colombo, Genoa, Hong Kong, Marrakech, Singapore, Tyre, Zanzibar, Zurich
- Religious: Geneva, Jerusalem, La Venta, Lhasa, Vatican City, Whittenberg
Espionage
Spies are unlocked during the Renaissance. They are not represented on the board. You get 1 Spy per Era, starting with the Renaissance (meaning 4 Spies by the Modern Era) and one for building the National Intelligence Agency national wonder, meaning 5 Spies in total, and England with 6. Spies gain promotions like other units for successful missions. If a spy is killed, you have to wait a predetermined amount of turns for a new Spy to take its place.
Note spies are NOT represented on the board as a unit. You assign spies to the City of your choice and put them to work doing various tasks: rig elections in City-States (which occur every 12 turns), create unrest, steal technologies and run surveillance. Spies can also be stationed in your own cities to work counter-intelligence and safeguard Technologies from being stolen.
Gathering information via surveillance can give you pieces of Intrigue regarding AI Civ's activities, such as Netherlands planning to invade the Huns, which you can choose to share if you like in order to make friends with rival Civs (Intrigue is turned off in Multiplayer).
Diplomacy
Religion will greatly determine who you can deal with early on in the game, as those who don't share your religion will be less likely to deal with you. Later in the game, diplomacy is most influenced by Policies, specifically Order, Autocracy and Freedom. The "is trying to win the same victory as you" diplomatic penalty has been removed from the game. Also, you won't get blamed for wars you didn't start. Furthermore, the AI is more forgiving and will not hold a grudge against you as long as it used to.
You can offer to adopt an Embassy for a friendly rival Civ starting in the Classical Era, which allows you to see each others' Capitals and gives a boost to diplomatic relations. Research Agreements can only be made with Civs you have declared Friendship with and cannot be made until Education. You may also sell advanced technologies to rival Civs.
You may negotiate to renew treaties before they expire. Civs have a chance to renegotiate the treaty during this process.
Computer Player AI
The AI is much more intelligent now in combat maneuvers and it's been stated specifically that the AI builds and deploys armies more intelligently, so hopefully there will be less zerg rushing and more proper use of ranged units. We're told that the AI can plan a betrayal 15 turns in advance now, and they have been programmed to intelligently plan amphibious invasions. Until we get to play it, it will be difficult to know exactly how much tougher the AI is.
Policy Trees
The Policy Trees have had a full balance pass. For all the changes, above is a video courtesy of our very own MadDjinn
User Interface
You'll be able to skip the opening cinematic, which will take you to a loading screen (confirmed to be rolled out to Vanilla as well.) The UI has also been redecorated slightly to look a little less Art Deco and a little more Baroque.
Multiplayer
You'll be able to have animations in multiplayer, either move or attack animations, or both. This change will be rolled out to owners of Vanilla Civ 5 as well.
3 Scenarios
"Fall of Rome," a Classical attack/defense scenario: "Play as either Eastern Rome or Western Rome trying to fend off the barbarians, or as one of the barbarians themselves." Rome and Byzantium are forced to take Policies that negatively impact their empires, while the Celts in the west, Carthaginians across the Mediterranean and Huns in the east all push to be the Civilization that took down the mighty Roman empire.
"Into the Renaissance," a Religion-centric Medieval scenario: "Grow your medieval kingdom into one of the great nations of Renaissance Europe, fending off outside invasions from Mongols and Ottoman Turks and fighting the religious wars of the Crusades and Reformation!" Almost certain to be greatly influenced by the Thirty Years' War: Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, France and Spain will vie against the Ottomans and Mongols.
"Empire of the Smoky Skies," a Victorian 'steam-punk' science fiction scenario: "Build flying airships and huge tractor-like tanks from the unique tech tree of this Victorian science-fiction scenario, and use them to spread your empire across the pre-industrial world."
Screenshots
Religion
Espionage
WWI Era warfare
Great Prophet
Industrial Era
Netherlands
Ethiopia and Huns
Civs by continent:
- America America, Aztec, Inca, Iroquois, Maya
- Europe Austria, Byzantium, Celts, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Rome, Russia, Spain, Sweden
- Africa Carthage, Egypt, Ethiopia, Songhai
- Near East Arabia, Babylon, Ottomans, Persia
- Asia China, Huns, India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Siam
- Oceania Polynesia
Civs by 'era':
- Ancient Aztec, Babylon, Celtica, Egypt, Huns, Inca, Maya, Polynesia
- Classical Byzantium, Carthage, Greece, India, Iroquois, Persia, Rome
- Medieval Arabia, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Siam, Songhai
- Renaissance America, Austria, Ethiopia, France, Netherlands, Ottomans, Russia, Spain, Sweden
Hey, who are the:
- Shintoists Japanese
- Sikhs Indians (Punjabs)
- Tengriists Mongolians & Huns
- Zoroastrians Persians
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Machturbo
Carthage
New AI's Improvement is Comparable to the Jump in IQ from a Gorilla to a Human.
