Explicit Gamer recently posted an article titled Civilization V: What We Know So Far 2.0. As the title suggests, it summarizes much of what have been revealed about Civ V so far.
The computer players have become much smarter in Civ V. Artificial intelligence (like many other aspects of Civ V) has been redesigned to give a richer, better and less-predictable experience. Computer players now have three tiers of thinking: operational, tactical, and strategic.
Battle at a lake
The operational AI determines how to use the computer’s units on a local level, tactical AI helps determine which battles (and other scenarios) should (or shouldn’t) be perused, and the strategic AI manages the empire as a whole. While the AI in previous Civilization games has always “lived in the moment”, the AI in Civ V will always be working towards it’s ultimate goal, to win the game.
The UI has been streamlined and made much more appealing to the eye. Most of your information will be streamed on an icon-based notification window on the side. The game will include an intuitive and easy-to-use nested menu system to interact with all of your advisers (economic, diplomatic, civil, etc).
There was also some interesting information in the commentary (slightly modified):
Just a few more bits of information that I heard straight from the developers at PAX East:
- Lua will be the scripting language in Civ V.
- You can now purchase tiles as well as gain them by culture. They also mentioned that if you go for a land grab all of a sudden, the other civs will get angry at you.
- I’m not sure I would say the ranged units are extremely weak – they did nontrivial damage to the enemies in the battles that were shown to us. (I believe the article meant that the ranged units are weak in close combat – Grey Fox).
A small empire and its borders
Army in the field
Confirmed Leaders
- America – Washington
- Germany – Bismark
- Aztec – Montezuma
- Japan – Oda Nobunaga
- China – Wu Zeitein
- Arabia – Harun al-Rashid
- Mongolia – Genghis Khan
- Rome – Caeser
- France – Napolean
- India – Gandhi
- England – Elizabeth
- Songhai – Askia
- Russia – Katherine
- Ottomans – Suleiman
- Egypt – Ramesses
- Greece – Alexander the Great
Civilization 5 is to be released this Fall, probably September 1st.
- Civilization V Official Site
- Civilization V Wikipedia Article
- Civilization V: What We Know So Far 2.0
- Lua – Wikipedia Article
- Civilization 5 @ Steam
Fredrik 'Grey Fox' Henriksson is an avid Civilization and StarCraft 2 player as well as a wannabe game designer. When he isn't playing games or working on mods he likes to paint digital art, watch tv-series, a movie or just hang with good company. 
Post bookmarked and stumbled upon, I’ll post my feedback on my profile too