With more than nine million copies sold, Sid Meier’s Civilization series is one of PC gaming’s biggest success stories. Those kind of numbers put it in league with Half-Life and Starcraft—impressive company for an old-school, turn-based 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) strategy title. Since its 1991 launch, the empire-building series has fashioned four distinct releases—as well as countless expansion packs and compilations—and its much-anticipated fifth chapter is set to hit retail channels this fall. 

Developed by Maryland-based Firaxis Games (who’s been onboard with the series since 2005), Civilization V will take some evolutionary leaps from previous editions. Chief among these is an all-new graphics engine; upgraded combat dynamics; improved diplomacy options; and—perhaps most importantly—a dramatic change from square tiles to hexagonal tiles.

“Hex tiles offer a lot of advantages to gameplay, especially in terms of movement,” explains Civilization V producer Dennis Shirk. “With hex tiles, you radiate out from your starting point through the landscape, and the cost of movement is much more equitable over the long term.”

“Hexes also let the artists create really organic terrain, which is important for delivering a believable world,” he continues. “Now, we have mountain ranges that sprawl across the land, rivers that wind through the landscape, and forests that turn into massive plains. When you turn off the hex grid, it looks like the kind of landscape you see when you’re flying in an airplane.”

Turn-based eye candy
Scenery this realistic is possible because of Civ V’s completely overhauled graphics engine. “Our new engine takes advantage of DX11’s advanced multi-threading features,” states Shirk. “It also uses advanced compute-shading abilities to offload compute-intensive tasks from the CPU, as well as for new cutting-edge texture-compression technology. We use the GPU computing abilities to offload complex blending operations that previously could only be done on the CPU, and are quite processor-intensive. This allows DX11 [players] to pan around the map without any hitching.”

What does this mean for appropriately equipped PC gamers? “This engine lets the artists create something that is not limited by technology, so we can have maps that look pre-rendered, even though they’re random,” Shirk replies. “The closer you zoom, the more detail that comes out. Real-time shadows and stunning-looking water are all possible because of this.”

Great graphics certainly help magazine screenshots look snappy, but what of the gameplay mechanics? How will the new combat and diplomacy twists change the core Civilization playing experience? “The changes to the combat system in Civilization V take the battles out of the cities and onto the landscape,” says Dennis Shirk. “We’re bringing true tactical warfare to Civilization for the first time. You’ll create strong lines of defense or attack, backed up by your ranged supporting units. If you’re attacking, you’ll be able to concentrate on breaking through an enemy’s line where it’s weakest, or get around his flank if you can trick him. Even if your opponent has a huge advantage in production, you’ll be able to defend your civilization by occupying strategic points with a handful of solid troops, holding off a huge wave of invaders.”

“We’ve changed the game to emphasize having an efficient, modern force because keeping a huge, outdated one will strain your civilization. Unit upgrades and increased costs to production mean that you’ll focus on keeping your armies alive and upgrading them over time, rather than churning out more obsolete units.”
Shirk practices what he preaches. “I found myself playing a game that was late in the Industrial Age, moving a unit of riflemen that started out as spearmen in the Classical Age. It was the final push in a long war with another civilization, and I remembered I had first built this unit specifically to defend my people in an earlier war with this same civilization. Over the course of this one game, my army had acquired its own history and I had gotten quite attached to them.”

Deeper Diplomacy
Equally game-changing is Civ V’s deeper diplomatic interaction and the introduction of City States. “They serve to really stir things up between the major civilizations,” Shirk explains. “The City States aren’t ever going to win the game, so you can nurture a relationship with them knowing there’s no risk that they’ll ever compete with you for victory. Since [they] are going to offer powerful benefits to your civilization, you’ll want to maintain your friendly relationships over time.”

“When you add City States into the mix with a robust, goal-driven AI, you get all sorts of interactions rising out of the game,” Shirk continues. “How do I keep good relationships alive if two of my City State friends are at war with another player? What if I have access to a key resource a powerful civilization needs? Can I lead a coalition against a ruler who threatens us all? Each game offers a series of interesting choices and decisions to make.”

Modders will also be heartened to learn that Civ V will expand the series’ long-standing support for third-party add-ons. “For the hard-core modder, we’ve switched our scripting language to Lua, opening up more access to things like the UI controls,” says Shirk. “For new modders and scenario designers, we’re going to include tools like the World Builder, which will let anyone create a map to play on.”

Multiplayer details are still somewhat hazy but Firaxis promises to deliver everything Civ IV offered and then some… including Internet, Email, Hotseat, and LAN matches. Combined with Civ V’s new single-player mechanics—ranged combat units, expanded diplomacy options, no more “stacked” military units—the overall gameplay experience looks to be every bit as compelling and challenging as the series’ earlier chapters.

Will Civilization V wow critics and garner the same type of honors and accolades as its predecessors? It’s too early to tell, but the signs look encouraging. That Sid Meier fellow seems to know what he’s doing.