Civilization IV: Warlords
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| Civilization IV: Warlords | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Developer(s) | Firaxis Games |
| Publisher(s) | Take Two Interactive |
| Distributor(s) | 2K Games |
| Engine | Gamebryo |
| Release date(s) |  July 24, 2006
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| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Macintosh |
| Media | CD 1 |
| System requirements | Copy of Civilization IV, 1.2GHz Processor, 256MB RAM, 64MB Video Card (DirectX 8 support needed), sound card, 1.7GB HDD |
Civilization IV: Warlords is the first official expansion pack of the critically-acclaimed turn-based strategy video game Civilization IV. [1]. Current version is 2.08, released in November 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Features
Warlords added many new features [2] to the original game. These include:
- A new category of Great People known as Great Generals;
- The ability to institute vassal states;
- Eight[3] new scenarios
- Six new civilizations playable in single-player and multiplayer;
- Ten new leaders (Including new leaders for existing civilizations);
- Three new leader traits (Charismatic, Protective and Imperialistic);
- Unique buildings for each civilization;
- Three new wonders;
- New units, resources, and improvements;
- Core gameplay tweaks and additions;
- Inclusion of all patches released for original Civilization IV.
[edit] Great General
The game introduces a new type of "Great Person" unit, known as a Great General. This unit appears unlike other Great People, based on the amount of experience that your civilization's military units earn instead of the number of Great Person points generated by your cities. It can be used in a manner similar to that of other Great Persons: it can be used (with other Great Persons) to trigger a Golden Age, or can join the city as a "Super Specialist", or more specifically, as a "Military Advisor", which will add experience points to any unit created in the city. It can be used to create a Military Academy in a city to permanently boost unit production there, and may also be attached to a military unit as a Warlord, giving all units in that square experience points and giving the unit it is attached to free upgrades and exclusive access to certain promotions. A destroyed Warlord unit is lost permanently.
[edit] Vassal States
The new Vassal States feature allows players to take up other empires as "vassals". When an empire becomes a vassal, it must pay money, research and technology as tribute to its "master" state in return for the promise that its master will protect the vassal. Players can use Vassal States to achieve a Domination Victory, since half the vassal's land and population count towards a domination victory for the master, but not vice-versa. Similarly, if the master goes to war with another civilization, the vassal too has to go to war.
During peacetime, civilizations can offer their vassalage in return for protection from an enemy. These agreements are subject to renewal every 10 turns. However, vassal agreements signed in a state of mutual war are considered capitulation, and bind on both parties unless the vassal grows above one-half the land or size of the master. In that case the agreement must be renewed every 10 turns as with peacetime vassalage. Also, if the vassal loses half of the land or size it had when the agreement was signed, the agreement can be canceled. Lastly, if the vassal state ever refuses a demand from its master for a land resource, a state of war automatically ensues.
[edit] Unique Buildings
In order to make the civilizations more unique, every civilization has received a "Unique Building", a building with special advantages. These unique buildings replace existing, standard buildings.
[edit] New content
[edit] New leader traits
| Trait name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Charismatic | +1 happiness per city, -25% XP needed for unit promotions, +1 happiness from Monument and Broadcast Tower |
| Protective | Archery and Gunpowder units receive Drill I and City Garrison I automatically, Double production speed of Walls and Castle |
| Imperialistic | +100% Great General emergence, +50% production speed of settlers |
[edit] New civilizations
Six new civilizations have been introduced:
| Civilization | Starting Technologies | Leader | Leader Traits | Favored Civic | Unique Unit | Replaces | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carthage | Mining, Fishing | Hannibal | Charismatic, Financial | Free Market | Numidian Cavalry | Horse Archer | Carthage |
| Celts | Hunting, Mysticism | Brennus | Spiritual, Charismatic | Organized Religion | Gallic Warrior | Swordsman | Bibracte |
| Korea | Mysticism, Mining | Wang Kon | Protective, Financial | Caste System | Hwacha | Catapult | Seoul |
| Ottoman Empire | The Wheel, Agriculture | Mehmed II | Expansive, Organized | Vassalage | Janissary | Musketman | Istanbul |
| Scandinavia | Hunting, Fishing | Ragnar Lodbrok | Aggressive, Financial | Hereditary Rule | Berserker | Maceman | Nidaros |
| Zululand | Agriculture, Hunting | Shaka | Aggressive, Expansive | Police State | Impi | Spearman | Ulundi |
[edit] New leaders
Apart from the leaders of the six new civilizations, there are four new leaders in Civilization IV: Warlords.
| Civilization | Leader | Leader Traits | Favorite Civic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | Rameses II | Industrious, Spiritual | Theocracy |
| England | Winston Churchill | Charismatic, Protective | Nationhood |
| Rome | Augustus Caesar | Organized, Creative | Representation |
| Russia | Joseph Stalin | Aggressive, Industrious | State Property |
[edit] Existing leaders
Some existing leaders incorporate the new traits introduced in Warlords, and some have had their traits shuffled. Traits in bold are new traits introduced for that leader. These new traits replace the older assignment of traits for the leader. The older traits are given alongside.
| Civilization | Leader | New Traits | Old trait(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| America | George Washington | Charismatic, Expansive | Financial, Organized |
| Arabia | Saladin | Protective, Spiritual | Philosophical |
| China | Mao Zedong | Expansive, Protective | Philosophical, Organized |
| Qin Shi Huang | Industrious, Protective | Financial | |
| England | Victoria | Financial, Imperialistic | Expansive |
| France | Napoleon Bonaparte | Charismatic, Organized | Aggressive, Industrious |
| Germany | Frederick II | Organized, Philosophical | Creative |
| Inca | Huayna Capac | Financial, Industrious | Aggressive |
| India | Mohandas Gandhi | Philosophical, Spiritual | Industrious |
| Japanese | Tokugawa Ieyasu | Aggressive, Protective | Organized |
| Mongolia | Genghis Khan | Aggressive, Imperialistic | Expansive |
| Persia | Cyrus I | Charismatic, Imperialistic | Creative, Expansive |
| Rome | Julius Caesar | Imperialistic, Organized | Expansive |
| Russia | Catherine II | Creative, Imperialistic | Financial |
[edit] Scenarios
- Peloponnesian Wars (1 to 2 Players): After vanquishing the Persian invasion, in 444 BC Athens and Sparta find themselves competing for ownership of the Greek world at the close of the fifth-century BC. Every move counts in this 100-turn scenario. The Athenians start with a strong economy and mastery of the sea, but their empire is far-flung. The Athenian leader is Pericles (Financial, Philosophical). The Spartans have few overseas possessions but a powerful land army, and are led by Archidamus II (Aggressive, Philosophical). Each side has multiple city-state allies, represented as vassal states. The winner is whoever captures the opposing capital.
- Chinese Unification (1 to 5 Players): Starting in 450BC, this 200-turn scenario sees the player struggling to defeat rival kingdoms to gain control of China. Bloodlines replace religions as a measure of influence that can be spread via emissaries in the same way as missionaries. An "Emperor's Council" wonder that allows a vote-determined victor (similar to the UN in the regular game) provides an alternate method of victory to outright conquest. The scenario is somewhat ahistorical as there were far more than seven states in 450 BC China, and Jin was not split up yet, but offers many new civics in turn that reflect the various political systems of the Warring States Era (e.g. Legalism).
- Alexander's Conquests (1 Player): Alexander's 200-turn scenario has distinct features that are not seen in other scenarios added. In this scenario, the player controls both the Macedonian forces and Alexander himself, who is represented in the game as a special Great General unit who cannot die in battle (and is instead "wounded" for a few turns). The technologies for this scenario are all military and give benefits to units in the field. Finally, the civic menu is replaced with a series of titles (ranging from "Alexander the Upstart" to "Alexander the Great") and will aid the player by giving reductions to war weariness and city maintenance costs. To win, the player must conquer the world.
- The Rise of Rome (1 to 5 players): In 300 BC, with Greek power on the wane, the powers of Rome, Carthage, Gaul, Greece, and Egypt rise to compete for ownership of the Mediterranean. This scenario can be won by controlling 75% of the world's population and land area, or by having the highest score at the end of 250 turns. Up to four special victory resources that provide 10 victory points per turn when improved with a "stronghold" are distributed next to each of AI controlled starting capitals. Leaders in this scenario each have three traits instead of two, and multiple upgrades for existing ancient units (such as the Praetorian) can be researched over the course of the scenario.
- Vikings (1 player): In 800 AD, as Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of the Vikings, the player will organize massive, loot-gathering raids on England, Ireland, and Northern Europe. The goal of this scenario is to amass the required amount of gold (which varies according to difficulty level) in the allotted 200 turns. Money can be earned by sacking cities, ransoming captured cities back to their original owners, and by researching the location of treasure and bringing them back (in the form of a special treasure cart unit) to the Viking capitol.
- Genghis Khan (1 player): In 1206 AD, the Mongol hordes are unleashed upon Asia. Without a starting city, the Mongolian civilization have special "camp" units, that are similar to settlers but when deployed will automatically spawn different types of units, depending on terrain type (plains may generate cavalry units, forest may generate siege engines). The goal of this 300-turn scenario is to reach 3000 victory points by capturing or destroying enemy cities, destroying enemy units, and pillaging improvements. Sacking a city provides a large one-time points boost, while gaining vassal states provides points over time. The Mongols begin with 500 points and steadily lose points over time (rate based on difficulty level), so the player must aggressively earn new points to avoid going negative and losing the scenario. The goal of the scenario is not to create a large empire, but to destroy or create vassals of all rival empires. The technology tree for the Mongols in this scenario is radically different from the generic Civilization IV technology tree; instead of a tree, each of the 15 enemy civilizations represents a technology that can be earned by the Mongols by either capturing two of that civiliation's cities, or by forcing that civilization to become a vassal.
- Omens, 1754 (1 to 2 players): In an alternative history portrayal of the Seven Years' War, the player must race to colonize the Ohio River Valley while playing as either Marquis Duquesne (Aggressive, Charismatic) of France, or George Washington in the service of Great Britain. The main conflict is a religious one between the French Catholics and the English Protestants, with the native Lenape civilization caught in the middle; to win in single player mode your side's religion must gain 75% influence within 150 turns. In two player mode, whoever's religion is most prevaliant at that time will win. The scenario also has a supernatural element, in which the forces of Divinity appear at various times to punish the less-pious and ultimately to declare a winner.
- Barbarian Horde (1 player): In a new gameplaying concept, the player takes control of the barbarian state, whose aim is to destroy all other civilizations on a randomly-generated map. In this scenario, cities are rendered uncapturable; instead, if a barbarian unit enters a city it is razed, providing gold with which further units can be produced. The Barbarians have a camp similar to the one in the Genghis Khan scenario, at which purchased units will appear.
[edit] New World Wonders
[edit] New buildings
- Stable
- A unique building has been added for each civilization.
In addition, the obelisk has been renamed to the monument. The obelisk is now the Egyptian unique building that replaces the monument.
[edit] New units
The game includes new units:
[edit] Music
Warlords includes new music and also features older music from Civilization III and Civilization III: Conquests directly. The tracks are explicitly named in the soundtrack directory.
[edit] Technical Problems
[edit] Mehmed II Leaderhead Problem
While in the Game Options select process in Warlords, and choosing the Ottoman Leader Mehmed II, the game has been known to suddenly freeze up, and crash with the system usually telling the player there has been an error. The In-Game Civlopedia's Mehmed II Leaderhead picture also has been known to have a similar glitch, causing the game to do the same.
These problems have been attributed to a few certain mods being used with the program, and certain graphics cards such as the nVidia Geforce4 MX card. Firaxis developer Alex "alexman" Mantzaris posted a downloadable fix for the problem on fansites. [4].
[edit] External links
- Official Civ4 Warlords site
- Civilization IV: Warlords Info Center @ civfanatics.com
- PC.IGN's Civilization IV: Warlords Preview
- Gamespot's Civilization IV: Warlords Preview
- PC.IGN's E3 preview
- Warlords trailer at GameSpot
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