18 replies to this topic

[Doubler]

So, a remake of Colonization has been announced. Good? bad?

[Blood-Pigggy]

Looks like it's using the same engine.
I can't imagine anything bad, Civ IV was a big improvement over III so the engine is up to snuff.

Knowing Firaxis they won't mess with the formula too much, so there's probably no worry about them changing the economy and expansion focus (my favorite part of 4x games).

Overall I feel pretty indifferent, if it's good, I'll get it when it comes out.

[Juni Ori]

I'm awaiting horrified.

[BeefontheBone]

Vaguely excited, I think

Col was my favourite (except maybe SMAC) until Civ 4 came along, but they did do a number of things wrong there. It'll be interesting to see where they go with this - certainly if anyone had actually gotten round to producing a Colonisation mod for it instead of just talking about it I'dve downloaded it in an instant, so I'm hoping they don't disappoint on this. The second expansion for Civ 4 was pretty damn good all told, even if the first was a bit rubbish, and they've had plenty of time to think about it so with any luck they should be able to produce something decent.

[Eagle of Fire]

I am also waiting, horrified.

Colonization is NOT a Civ clone! I am profoundly disturbed by the thought it will use the same engine...

Locomotion, the sequel to Transport Tycoon, is one of the most boring game I ever played. MOO3, the sequel which supposedly "renewed" the franchise, is one of the most boring game ever. UFO: Aftermath, which was supposed to be the best sequel of UFO: Ennemy Unknown, is also one of the most boring game I ever played.

All those games have one thing in common: they tryied to bring a 2D concept to life on a 3D engine.

They all failed. Miserably.

[Docktor_Worm]

bout friggin time! in response to EOF, i dont see how the 3d engine changes anything since the games themselves are only on a 2d plane. what i am afraid of is that building it on the civ engine will make it too much like civ 4, which it looks exactly like from the screenshots. btw, civ revolution looks like nothing but a definite step backwards no matter how you phrase it.

[Juni Ori]

Civ Revo is only a conversion to consoles. 3d engine is cool thing, if it isn't about all. I have personally disappointed several times badly, when developers have clearly focused too much to the graphics. But that doesn't mean it is doomed to failure. Reason I'm afraid is that this game has potential, but Firaxis has wasted potential before.

Worst case scenarion: buy it, disappoint, buy expansion, disappoint again, buy second expansion, feel like you can play it and feel like you're being screwed.

[Japofran]

If you've played Colonization (or Freecol ), you'll know that a remake that uses the Civilization engine must be compared to the dozens of already existing Civilization (II, III and possibly IV) fan-made scenarios in colonial settings, and not to the original "Sid Meier's Colonization". As I said in my Freecol review, the dynamics in Colonization were completely different from all the Civilization series, Master of Magic etc. etc.

[Doubler]

You do realize the engine does not dictate gameplay mechanics, right?

[Japofran]

That depends on what you call engine. (I haven't even played Civ4.) But in Civ population is only a figure, whereas in Col population is people that can be inside or outside a city, equipped with weapons, horses, tools... In Civ units are produced accumulating shields, in Col guns and ships are made this way but the rest are those equipped (or not) people. I doubt they plan to implement these characteristics from Col into this game, and if they were I doubt they would say it's "based on the Civ4 engine". I may be wrong of course. Some of the existing scenarios for Civ, at least Civ2, change gameplay mechanics heavily, but they can't get beyond the food/trade/shields/cities/units dynamics.

[Doubler]

It just refers to the technical qualities
Civ IV uses the Gamebryo engine. Also used for Oblivion, for example. It's what you do with an engine that makes a game.

[BeefontheBone]

Looking at the few screenshots, one of them features a colony building a "master trapper" or something like that, which suggests it's definitely not going to be the original Colonization mechanics at work here - probably closer to a Civ 4 TC than anything else. Off the top of my head, I'd expect that you'll be able to sacrifice that unit to build an encampment improvement in a tile, providing the city with access to furs. And I'd expect the corporations mechanics from BtS to be used to convert those furs into coats or other clothing like in the original, which will be more profitable. Either your cities will spawn units representing loads of cargo to be sold or traded periodically, or there'll be a mechanism for taking things from warehouses in cities to put on ships or in caravans. I'll be surprised if the statesmen aren't tied to the great people spawning, either with a single flavour of liberty bells (GPP) for all of them or with a couple of different types of statesman available.

[Juni Ori]

So it sounds like they are taking the short-cut. Unfortunately. I guess I'll have to take a look at those screenies and stuff what is revealed.

[Eagle of Fire]

Quote

Looking at the few screenshots, one of them features a colony building a "master trapper" or something like that, which suggests it's definitely not going to be the original Colonization mechanics at work here - probably closer to a Civ 4 TC than anything else. Off the top of my head, I'd expect that you'll be able to sacrifice that unit to build an encampment improvement in a tile, providing the city with access to furs. And I'd expect the corporations mechanics from BtS to be used to convert those furs into coats or other clothing like in the original, which will be more profitable. Either your cities will spawn units representing loads of cargo to be sold or traded periodically, or there'll be a mechanism for taking things from warehouses in cities to put on ships or in caravans. I'll be surprised if the statesmen aren't tied to the great people spawning, either with a single flavour of liberty bells (GPP) for all of them or with a couple of different types of statesman available.

Then it will be uber crap.  

[Doubler]

Actually, none of those are colonies. They're all native settlements having the 'expert this-and-that' in the screenshots. All the colonies have buildings.

Some gameplay details.