Civilization IV Preview

Mod-tastic

The Civ games have always been pretty mod-friendly and this latest incarnation takes this to the next level. Firaxis are touting three levels of modability, based on the level of competence.

At the bottom level, there's the World Builder. This is your standard map editing fayre, with the added option of including scenario options - such as who is at war with whom, who has the most money, what Civs are researching and the like.

Moving to a more in-depth level, events in the game can be edited and built using Python and XML. The rules of the game can be altered, and units created, using XML - all the game rules are stored in this format. Python, the popular scripting language, can be used to create in-game scripted events and to alter the map generation characteristics in-game.

If you want to move to the most hardcore level, Firaxis are releasing the SDK for the game to would-be modders. This should mean that gamers can do pretty much anything with the game, short of changing the graphics engine and the network code.

Winning is everything

As always, there are multiple ways to win at Civ. Here's a run-down of the methods, both old and new:

• Time Victory: This mode basically comes down to whoever has rocked the world most by the end of the year 2050.
  
• Conquest victory: If you can take out all your rivals, including some of the greatest leaders of all time, you can win this way.
  
• Domination victory: Using military might and cunning negotiation, conquer a large percentage of the world's population.
  
• Cultural victory: Awarded if you develop a culture so powerful that three of your cities become 'legendary'.
  
• Diplomatic victory: Awarded to the player the most skilled at promoting good things for the benefit of the world. Become the Secretary General of the United Nations, and win big.
  
• The Space Race: The classic mode of victory - if you're the first to launch into space, you kick butt.

A new dawn of Civilization is almost here...

The game itself is out on Friday, and you can play it for yourself then. In the meantime, if you're hankering after even more Civ4 data, you could do worse than point yourself towards CivFanatics.com, which is rather what you would expect.

For those who have always been intimidated by the high-strategy required for Civilization, Firaxis promise that this will be the most accessible Civ yet. We've barely talked about the kick-ass new graphics engine, or the insane amount of multiplayer features... but you can talk about all these things amongst yourselves in our Article Discussion forum.

Here are the official System Requirements:

MINIMUM

• Windows 2000/XP with SP1 or higher
  
• 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor
  
• 256MB RAM
  
• 1.7 GB free hard disk space

RECOMMENDED

• Windows XP with SP1 or higher
  
• 1.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or higher
  
• 512 MB RAM
  
• 128 MB graphics card with DirectX 8 support (pixel- and vertex shaders)
  
• 1.7 GB free hard disk space

Civilization IV is due to be released this Friday, 28th October by 2K Games (Take 2 Interactive). The RRP is £34.99, but you can pre-order from places like Amazon.co.uk for £24.99. The best deal we found was Play.com, which has the game available for pre-order for just £17.99 - that's virtually half price! Quality strategy gaming was never more affordable.