Civilization 5 'Brave New World' new cultures, ideology system detailed

Firaxis has detailed a few more of the changes coming to Civilization V's "Brave New World" expansion, including additional cultures, a revised trade route system, and ideologies.

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Firaxis is slowly unwrapping Civilization 5's next expansion, Brave New World, as we approach its July 9 release. Today the company revealed a large increase to the number of available civilizations, along with details on the new trade routes and ideology systems.

This expansion will bring the number of civilizations to 43. New civilizations include Poland under the rule of Casimir III, Assyria with Ashurbanipal, Brazil with Pedro II, Portugal with Maria I, and the Zulu under Shaka. The trade system is getting major revisions, becoming less abstract and letting players determine their own precise trade routes to pick who they trade with.

"So imagine you're building one of the wonders of the world in Krakow," Firaxis' Ed Beach told Polygon, "you could have all your trade units channeled internally to get that extra production out there and build that wonder faster than someone else and finish it first."

The game will also introduce a new ideology system, which will open up as players reach the Industrial Age. You'll be able to choose from the ideologies Freedom, Order, and Autocracy. Each one comes with its own perks, and can either enhance the victory condition you're currently aiming for, or switch it up completely to try for a new one even that deep into the game.

These additions join a host of other changes like revisions to the cultural and diplomatic victories.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 12, 2013 8:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Civilization 5 'Brave New World' new cultures, ideology system detailed.

    Firaxis has detailed a few more of the changes coming to Civilization V's "Brave New World" expansion, including additional cultures, a revised trade route system, and ideologies.

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      April 12, 2013 8:12 AM

      Seems to be a substantial expansion akin to gods & kings. Glad to read trading will get an overhaul, it never felt fleshed out to me.

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      April 12, 2013 8:15 AM

      needs more ways to interrupt or set-back wonder production instead of speeding them up

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        April 12, 2013 8:16 AM

        like in age of empires where you can outright attack it or kill the workers

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          April 12, 2013 8:52 AM

          Spies should be able to, I agree.

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            April 12, 2013 9:03 AM

            does no good to anything pre-renaissance (when Civ5's spies first show up), unless espionage is available from the very beginning

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      April 12, 2013 8:17 AM

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      April 12, 2013 8:47 AM

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      April 12, 2013 10:46 AM

      [deleted]

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        April 12, 2013 10:58 AM

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          April 12, 2013 12:48 PM

          G&K made virtually no difference to the game, for me. I like the direction it went in, more complexity... but the overall effect on the experience I felt was almost not even there.

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        April 12, 2013 11:04 AM

        It's had me up until 3am twice this week. So I'd say so, though this is my first Civ game, I'm no expert.

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          April 12, 2013 2:12 PM

          Just go play Civ4 plz.

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            April 12, 2013 2:52 PM

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              April 12, 2013 3:34 PM

              Not a chance. I don't think it's about hexes and stacking at all. I like both hexes and grids, and I think no stacking was not a bad change, though not without its own problems. There are a myriad more problems I have with Civ 5.

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                April 12, 2013 5:43 PM

                Such as?

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                April 12, 2013 6:00 PM

                It's been too long so the specifics elude me. In general, utterly shoddy multiplayer, lack of personality, worse music, boring buildings, and dumbing down of the game across the board. The civics system is replaced with the much less interesting social policies system.

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                  April 12, 2013 6:05 PM

                  The Civics system and multiplayer are obviously better aspects of Civ IV, but I think your other criticism are unfair. The music is different in Civ V, but still good. The buildings are good, I don't understand that criticism.

                  How else is the game dumbed down?

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                    April 12, 2013 6:46 PM

                    Buildings don't feel unique. There are multiple buildings that just give you flat +happiness or +culture or whatever. Global happiness. One unit per tile introduces a ton of problems. Diplomacy is inscrutable. Civ5 felt like a simple boardgame.

                    As for the music:
                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-jk6Ftx7o
                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot4ddU5ZD_w
                    One of these is generic and dull, the other I could listen to all day.

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                      April 13, 2013 9:49 PM

                      Oh come on, Baba Yetu is one of the best video game songs of all time. It's a menu theme though. I'm talking about in-game music though, which is what you listened to 99% of the time.

                      There are buildings in Civ IV that give you flat +culture or +food.

                      Diplomacy is fine in Gods & Kings.

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            April 12, 2013 5:43 PM

            Naw, I'm happy enough with the one time sink!

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      April 12, 2013 12:15 PM

      I like most of this expansion, but I'm very concerned about this World Congress bit, which sounds massively annoying. Who the hell wants the whims of the AI to impose all these arbitrary restrictions on the game? Seriously, take a look: http://well-of-souls.com/civ/civ5_bravenewworld.html#diplomacy

      Look at that list, do those resolutions sound like fun to you? Would they make the game better?

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        April 12, 2013 12:26 PM

        Eh, maybe I'm just being grumpy, Firaxis isn't dumb. But I'll be eager to find out in the reviews how well they've implemented this.

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          April 12, 2013 12:33 PM

          I imagine it'll work like Civ 4's UN voting system.

          In fact I wonder why this isn't just an improved UN. Maybe they've been in touch.

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        April 12, 2013 12:30 PM

        Sounds interesting. I'll probably be buying this when it comes out, or at least soon after.

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          April 12, 2013 12:59 PM

          Yeah, I'm buying this for sure, I've been a Civ addict since 2. I shouldn't worry too much, Firaxis knows what's up.

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        April 12, 2013 1:40 PM

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      April 12, 2013 12:47 PM

      I don't understand why the previous expansion got such high reviews or cost so much. It didn't change the feel of the game much at all for me, and the experience I had was basically the same as the base game. I'm gonna wait for a big sale with this one to offset the price I paid for the first.

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        April 12, 2013 1:42 PM

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        April 12, 2013 2:26 PM

        Espionage is an awesome mechanic. Religion has a subtle, but important effect on the game - as it did in Civ IV, but it's implemented better here. Religion feels like an actual competition. The rebalanced tech tree is an improvement. Diplomacy is slightly better.

        I dunno, it addressed a lot of flaws in the base game.

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        April 12, 2013 7:11 PM

        I picked up the last the first time I could for under $10 ... I'll probably do the same with this one, though with how busy I am now a days skipping it is not that hard to do either.

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      April 12, 2013 1:50 PM

      Just started playing civ 4 a while ago after having played a ton of civ rev. I'm hoping civ 5 goes on sale soon. Can't wait to try it.

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