What would you like to know from the dev team?

[2K Greg]

Greetings forumites,

I am currently on a plane to Firaxis to spend the next couple days recording podcasts for Civ V GAK.

I've got a list of topics I'd like to do, but I want to make sure I cover the topics you guys are interested in! To that end, use the read to propose topics or questions for the dev team.

But please keep in mind that I'm not looking for things like "what is the ninth civ" or "name all of the new units". I already know that you guys want every last detail about what exactly is in the expansion ;P

Instead what I'm looking for is questions for the devs about what they do. "How did you decide which civs to include" is a great example (and already on my list!)

So please reply to this thread with your proposals and I'll be sure to read them before we start rolling tomorrow

[mandead]

Will there be future DLC civs / packs?

[lietkynes]

Go talk to the team who is working on Pitboss and give us updates !

p.s.
Also it would be great if, after talking to an AI leader or City State, the music would resume the track that was playing before instead of skipping to the next track. Hell, I would pay for a DLC that does just that.

edit:
Oh and when I rename a city because I don't like its name, the next city that I found will be given that same name, don't they hate that as much as I do ? Can they fix it maybe in one of the next patches ?

[MadDjinn]

how about finally answering the questions that got asked (via Dennis/Firaxis) from CFC/Apolyton/weplayciv (around 30 Qs in all submitted and answers promised) a few weeks ago?

[luciferkid]

Does Civilization V mods are a source of inspiration for them for choosing dlc's and finding solutions to game's problem?

[WaveOfDoom]

I am really interested in knowing more about new techs and how they were adjusted for rebalancing, especially in the Ancient and classical era's.

[acpraider6]

How often do the devs read the forums and do you guys actually take our ideas and incorporate them?

[shadowxavier]

How will the multiplayer experience be improved with the expansion? There are still issues with connection and game freezing. Over 6 players in a match and you need a 100+ mbit line.

Will the AI be more adapt at handling air units?

[SamBC]

I'm most interested in progress on the DLL, pitboss, and also whether there's any intention to produce a network MP mode that's fully turn-based (not simultaneous turns). Some people want it, and I'm given to understand CivIV game a choice between the two.

[Pouakai]

Greg, on a plane and on the internet! Fancy


As for questions, I'd like to know how the civilizations were designed, for example did the team go "We should do Ethiopia, they fit a defensive style" or "We should do a defensive civilization, Ethiopia fits this"

Also, is there any way to switch between the Art Deco UI of Vanilla and the Baroque UI of G&K?



Cheers Greg!

[moysturfurmer]

What's the name of the new era? Is oil used for any building (new or old) this time around? How have the Piety and Rationalism trees changed with regard to religion?

[jpbar81]

Which game settings does the dev team most often design and balance around (speed, size, etc.)?

Most popular map type(s)?

Different combinations of settings when creating a game can have a profound difference on the gameplay and its experiences.

For example, it's often futile to boast about or compare difficulty levels played at or to discuss game topics and balance thru personal experiences without including a list of all the settings used since Civ is so wonderfully customizable.

It's comparable to discussing PC issues and things without listing your specs to give others a better perspective.

[istry555]

Do they consider Civ V finished with G&K? (Tentative plans for future DLC/expansions?)

Do the developers look at the forums when choosing new civs (i.e. do all these polls we do have any influence at all)?

Did they consider adding old features like corporations and health?

In terms of more gameplay specific questions...

Are mixed MP + AI games finally being fixed? MP AI doesn't engage in diplomacy or try to contact human players. Options for notifications and AI leaderheads in MP. Full G&K espionage in MP against AI. (In one interview a developer said they just turned off the intrigue system completely in MP games, even against included AI slots? Why? Why not let us have a comparable AI SP experience when using those slots in MP games?)

[stethnorun]

Do the devs regret the choice to treat the AI like "human-lite" players and do they now apprieciate the "immersion" aspect of Civ better? This seems to be the case, given the whole "You are trying to win the game like we are" diplo-hit being removed from the game, but it would be nice to hear their thoughts on the matter.

[Akinaba]

Can we hope on any review or maybe reevluating of Modern Era or border between Modern and Future eras in futher DLCs or expansions?

Have you ever thought of any reworking of a tech tree besides that you just did in upcomming expansion?

What should we expect of further DLCs, expansions?

How much time does it takes from developers to go from the very idea of some feature to the final implementation?

Who is responsible in your team for developing and working out the new ideas like religion, espionge, etc.?

[jpbar81]

Do the devs regret the choice to treat the AI like "human-lite" players and do they now apprieciate the "immersion" aspect of Civ better? This seems to be the case, given the whole "You are trying to win the game like we are" diplo-hit being removed from the game, but it would be nice to hear their thoughts on the matter.

Ooh, that's a good one, steth. I'm curious about that as well and hope they respond to it. A similar question crossed my mind back when I was first hearing about the GAK news.

I agree, it seems like Civ is shifting closer to the immersive, role-playing AI side of the spectrum, and away from the play-to-win, gamer-mentality AI. I feel a fine balance of both would be optimal; perhaps GAK will find a better balance of them.

----

Also, I guess I'll refer to the expansion as GAK now since that's what Greg is using. Instead of using acronyms like GK or G&K. (Although, it does remind me of someone going "gaaak!" after tasting something disgusting, lol.)

[oddtail]

Are mixed MP + AI games finally being fixed? MP AI doesn't engage in diplomacy or try to contact human players. Options for notifications and AI leaderheads in MP. Full G&K espionage in MP against AI (In one interview a developer said they just turned off the intrigue system completely in MP games, even against included AI slots? Why? Why not let us have a comparable AI SP experience when using those slots in MP games?

This has been mentioned before, but this is what makes me more curious than anything I could come up with on my own, so I think this bears repeating.

That being said, I also have a few of my own:

1) How much of the work on the expansion will directly influence the vanilla game? Specifically, will any major changes in e.g. civilization skills and bonuses be included in vanilla?
2) In a similar vein, apparently the diplomacy system is getting heavily reworked. Will any of this find its way back into the basic game?
3) If not (regarding 1 and 2), is there any effort to make the game experience between vanilla and expansion remotely similar, or is he goal to make G&K its own game? If so, how will that influence further development of vanilla? Will it be abandoned completely, kept to a minimum (patches), or given its own attention and constant polishing?
4) Is any thought being given to making the MP games moddable? If so, would it be around the time the expansion is released, or further down the line?

[Xur]

1. (Replay)Will the replay map be fixed, so that it behaves similar to the minimap (currently sea-tiles are being drawn with bordercolors which turns out to be a big blob of useless colors - especially annoying on Earth maps).
2. (Menu)Will previous game settings be saved as default for next game (map size, civ, opponents etc)?
3. (Combat)Any chance that air combat could be done faster, or easier when multiple bombers have to be used on 1 target? Perhaps a queue system?
4. (Worker automation)Can we get more options concerning worker automation? F.ex; disallow watertravel, disallow tradeposts, farms, mines etc?
5. (City automation)Can we get "city automation"? Sort of like puppet cities without the advantages? In some games with a lot of cities it can get tiresome to manage non-important cities, but on the other hand you don't want to neglect them either.
6. (Game play)Any chance that the UN could be a little bit more interactive (opposed to wait X turns for Y event)?

[zephyrtr]

We saw Crabs and Pigs at PAX, as well as perhaps a few other resources, so obviously there's been some work going on there. How have you been changing or adding Resources to get them to where you want them to be?

Could you talk about how you choose leaders? I'm really glad for the new ladies we're getting with G&K.

[RedRalph]

Whic is the Civ you would like to add that you know will never, ever make an iteration of Civ?

[Gedemo]

I remember when Civ V was launched, they said it would be "the most moddable civ ever".

I would like to know if it would be possible to have a dlc panel of generic 3d customizable leaderheads to allow us to create mods easily?

[Tw2Brick]

I would like confirmation that Morgan Sheppard is returning as narrator. He's not Nimoy but I like him.

Thanks!

[Putmalk]

Why did the design of the game shift so drastically from when it was released in 2010 to the release of the expansion now? Did this have anything to do with the release of Jon Shafer?

[2K Greg]

I love a lot of the questions so far guys!

Please keep in mind that "is the game improved in X way" aren't the kinds of questions that'll make it in. We'll be talking all of those kinds of details in the coming weeks but aren't really what we like to do for dev podcasts

how about finally answering the questions that got asked (via Dennis/Firaxis) from CFC/Apolyton/weplayciv (around 30 Qs in all submitted and answers promised) a few weeks ago?

Those are being worked on and the answers should be published before too long

How often do the devs read the forums and do you guys actually take our ideas and incorporate them?

I know that a lot of the devs read the forums a ton. Your ideas and feedback are definitely heard, even when nobody official responds to them. Some of those guys are addicted to the forums!

[amenus]

Will the difficulty level of the game increase? (i.e will Prince level difficulty setting be more difficult than it currently is?)

Are land units able to stack with both types of marine units?

Do you plan to tweak the design of the interface? (city screen, diplomacy screen, etc.)

Are there any plans to add unit grouping as a feature? (i.e. binding escorts to workers, settlers, etc., and ordering multiple units to move to a target location, or attack a single unit)

Will MP stabiltiy issues be addressed?

Will the AI be more proficient at waging a land campaign?

My apologies. After posting I realized that all my questions are targeted toward potential improvements, not known quantities.

[stethnorun]

I remember when Civ V was launched, they said it would be "the most moddable civ ever".

I would like to know if it would be possible to have a dlc panel of generic 3d customizable leaderheads to allow us to create mods easily?

We don't use "leaderheads" anymore. They would have to design full body models, along with different throne rooms. I'm pretty sure it takes a good number of man-hours to create even one interactive leader. Creating a bunch just for modding purposes seems....unlikely in the extreme.

[donald23]

Does Civilization V mods are a source of inspiration for them for choosing dlc's and finding solutions to game's problem?

This +1

[lietkynes]

In Civ4 you could queue worker actions pressing the alt key, any chance of seeing this back ? It was quite useful.

[Kukulcán]

Is there any chance in the future that 2K will look at Civs in South America (other than the Inca) in the future for DLC?

This includes several possibilities: Looking into more Modern Nations like Brazil, short lived but idealistic Nations like Gran Colombia, and the most important of the Native American Civilizations which have never been included in a Civ game previously like the Chachapoya?

======================
We know Tibet and Israel are not included because of religious city states already seen/revealed. Is there any chance to see them in future DLC?

======================
How much has 2K worked on Air Combat? Previously in Civ 5 Vanilla the AI rarely if ever used bombers and never set fighters to intercept.

======================
Does 2K plan to have another Expansion later for Civ 5 as well? If not/If so will there still be more DLC at least?

[Kukulcán]

Oh can you at least deny that the last civ is the Zulu?

People at Civ Fanatics believe they caught a leak from you all at Pax that it was the Zulu and currently thats what people believe it is. I know this sounds like asking for the last civ... but its not, just asking so we can keep speculating! Otherwise that will be the dominant theory.

[Pouakai]

One other question, I love the style of the regular interface unit corner, with the icon as a large circle extending beyond the rest of the unit corner, but the interface is too large for my computer. Is there any chance the Small-scale UI could be adjusted to have a similar style of UI, only smaller?

[Kukulcán]

From CivFanatics User: Bonafide11
(He doesn't have an account here, so asking for him)
=====

How will religion and espionage affects the social policy trees?

[Schuesseled]

I'd like to know if there are currently plans on improving the game to make it more user friendly;

Some issues, air combat is quite time consuming, faster animations or an attack queue, would work wonders. This same queue could be used for other units to, to speed up combat, by not having to wait for the current animations to end.

Cities could do with a governor/automation toggle, so they pick the recommended buildings without having to be spoon fed. Also being able to select all cities at once and issue construction commands would be very helpful.

There is no "you" on the diplomacy overview panels, it would be helpful to see my own policies and relationships and wonders when looking at the other civs info. Similarly with the trade info displayed on the other section.

More worker automation options would be great, such as automate this city only, trade routes and resource improvement only. That kind of thing.

The ability to move both the civilian and military unit on the same tile, would be of help to, reducing the number of commands of founding a new city by half!

[mjs0]

I am intrigued by some of the interface design decisions in Civ5... not the graphical design of the colors and borders etc, but the details of how you interact with the system and get information from the system.
There were a number of key control and visual feedback mechanisms that existed in previous Civ games that were dropped from Civ 5. I am sure there must have been a good reason for designing these out, but given their usefulness, the only sane explanation I can see is a lack of time to re-implement them with the new engine.
For example:

• Highlight a unit to see where it is going.
• Animations on tiles to show they are being worked.
• Actual representation of buildings in a city on the map (not just wonders).
• Strategic overlays that include a simple planning capability (drawing on the map)
• A way to force units with queued orders to move before end of turn (I believe this was ctrl-a on Civ 4)
• Search for a city and center on it.

There are many more...but this is enough to highlight what I mean.
I have no questions about dropping gameplay mechanisms in vanilla and adding them back in, I get that and, without exception, I love the new features as they are now and what I am seeing in the previews of Gods and Kings.

I am however curious as to why the game was made (as I see it) harder to enjoy by excluding these simple control and feedback mechanisms.
Was there a rationale or was it simply not enough time?

[Kukulcán]

Hey, just letting you all know, your post Greg has been used to create a new thread in CivFanatics as well. Some people do not have accounts here so am going to simply link the thread to here

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=458768

[Mythdracon]

How were the voice actors located?

What decisions were involved when deciding what languages each leader should speak (Egyptian-accented Arabic for Ramesses vs. Coptic, for example)?

What is the expansion's design take on diplomacy? How did fan reactions to the diplomacy system of the vanilla Civ V change your approach to development?

When designing a new civ, what elements do you focus on first? How do you decide how to represent a nation's unique identity in an interesting UA? Do you brainstorm ideas on a whiteboard? How long does it take, typically, to make an initial plan for a new civ?

To what extent is the dev team involved in the implementation of new music in the expansion? Did you give general directives to the composers?

[acropolypse]

I have a question :

Did you guy's change the goals you had for the AI when you start creating civ 5. john shaver had the goals to make diplomacy more mysteries and it olso seemed that the AI was playing to win wich means they will not conduct diplomacy but will try to stop you..

It seems that with the pathches you guy's are slowly changing diplomacy to make it less random and more aprouchable.
At the civ 5 god's and king demo it looked like there where actualy a lot of instruments to make friends and to get positif modifiers and I heard that the you are winning the game modifier is removed

Currently some player's don't know wich dirrection you are going with diplomacy

So my question is simple what are you're goals for diplomacy ? for example :
Do you want to make it like civ 4 able to change the attitudes and that that some leaders are backstabbers
Or do you want to make a AI who is cleary out to win the game and diplomacy is out of the question?

and I little side question: will the warmonger penalty be reworked?


I hope I will get a respons I thinx a lot of player's will be exited to know what the goals are because now the AI is currently between playing to win and interacting with them at diplomacy.

I tried to make my question Not about little details as you asked

Thanx you in advance

[istry555]

Can players found more than one religion during a game?

This came up in one of the PAX interviews. Apparently, you can't found more than one religion in a game.

[Radu]

I don't know, but maybe it would be best if people stick to one or two simple questions. A suggestion, only. That might help them to read and answer.

My question is simple: after this expansion, will there be more DLCs with more Civs? Some modern Civs would be nice.

[zephyrtr]

Also, please READ Greg's original post. He's taking questions on what's it like being a Dev and how they go about making design choices -- no questions in regards to specific info on the expansion.