Civilization V: Gods and Kings Expansion Launches Tomorrow at 10AM

2kGames Forums said:

Please help us fully flesh out this list!

$29.99, June 19th in America
Pre-order is now available on Steam! Game unlocks 10AM PST on June 19th in America.
Game launches internationally on June 22nd; prices will vary outside of the US.

Lets Play G&K link (starts Monday, June 18, 1PM PST)
http://www.twitch.tv/2K

New G&K Developer Diary
[video=youtube;cWmUvmeJg6s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWmUvmeJg6s[/video]

PAX Interviews and Demos
Dennis Shirk interviewed by our own 2K Greg (starts at 00:55) and followed by the PAX demo narrated by Dennis Shirk (at 01:22)

9 New Civs

• Austria (Maria Theresa)
  Diplomatic Marriage allows you to pay gold to puppet or annex an allied City-State
  Unique Cavalryman the Hussar
  Unique building the Coffee House
• Byzantines (Queen Theodora)
  Patriarchate of Constantinople allows you to choose an extra bonus Belief upon founding a Religion
  Unique Trireme the Dromon can shoot fire
  Unique Horseman the Cataphract is slower but stronger
• Carthage (Queen Dido)
  Phoenician Heritage grants a free Harbor in all Cities and, once a Great General is born, allows units to pass through Mountain tiles (though they take 50 damage for STAYING on top of a mountain)
  Unique Horseman the African Forest Elephant generates GG's faster and strikes fear in enemy ranks
  Unique Trireme the Quinquereme
• Celtica (Boudicca)
  Druidic Lore grants +1 Faith in Cities that are next to an unimproved forest, or +2 Faith if near 3 or more forests.
  Unique Spearman the Pictish Warrior gains a Combat bonus outside friendly territory, produces Faith when they kill an enemy and pillages at no movement cost
  Unique Opera House the Ceilidh Hall provides additional Happiness and Culture
• Ethiopia (Haile Selassie)
  Spirit of Adwa grants +20% Combat Bonus vs Civs with more cities than you
  Unique Rifleman the Mehal Sefari is stronger depending on how close they are to the capital
  Unique Monument the Stele
• Huns (Attila the Hun)
  Scourge of God grants free Animal Husbandry tech at the start of the game, +1 Production from Pastures, and Raze cities at double speed
  Unique Spearman the Battering Ram is a pre-Catapult Siege unit
  Unique Horseman the Horse Archer is (most likely) similar to Arabia's Camel Archer
• Mayans (Pacal the Great)
  Long Count grants free great people on specific turns in the game, and changes your year date to Mayan (cosmetic)
  Unique Archer the Atlatl
  Unique Shrine the Pyramid generates Science as well as Faith
• Netherlands (William of Orange)
  East India Company retains 50% Happiness from Luxuries that are Traded away to other Civs
  Unique Improvement the Polder gives +Food to Wetlands, and later +Production and +Gold as well
  Unique Privateer the Sea Beggar can convert enemy ships to your side
• Sweden (Gustavus Adolphus)
  Nobel Prize allows you to gain 90 influence when gifting Great People to City States. Also, Declarations of Friendship confer +10% Great Person generation to both parties.
  Unique Lancer(?) the Hakkapeliitta interplays with Great Generals in an as of yet unrevealed unique way
  Unique Musketmen(?) the Carolean specialize in long marches

People who have not bought the Spain + Inca DLC will be getting Spain for free with Gods & Kings, as they are featured in a Crusades-themed scenario. They will have to go buy the DLC to get Inca, the New World scenario and the New World Natural Wonders.

It's been confirmed that Songhai's UA will be reworked and that England now gets a bonus Spy at their disposal, which means that pre-G&K Civs are being rebalanced. We don't know to what extent this rebalancing goes, but it's been intimated there have been more changes than just England and Songhai.

9 New Wonders

• Alhambra
• CN Tower
• Great Firewall
• Great Mosque of Djenne
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Neuschwanstein
• Petra
• Terra Cotta Army

It's unknown what any of these do just yet, or where they unlock, but it's seen in one of the screengrabs that Colossus was moved to Ironworking so it seems Wonders are being shuffled around a bit. Some preexisting wonders are being rebalanced, such as Stonehenge which now produces Faith.

27 New Units

• Civilian Units: Missionaries (spread your religion) & Inquisitors (prevents spread of foreign religion)
• Great People: Great Prophets & Great Admirals (can be expended to heal your boats, even outside friendly waters)
• Classical: Composite Bowman
• Medieval: Galleass
• Renaissance: Privateer
• WWI Era: Biplane Bombers, Triplane Fighters, Land Ships, WWI Infantry, & Gatling Guns
• Industrial Era: Machine Gun
• Modern Era: Marine
• Unique: African War Elephant, Atlatl, Battering Ram, Carolean, Cataphract, Dromon, Hakkapelliita, Horse Archer, Hussar, Mehal Sefari, Pictish Warrior, Quinquereme, Sea Beggar

G&K introduces Melee-type Boats that can capture coastal Cities. For instance, Battleships are ranged units, while Destroyers are melee and may therefore conquer Cities. All Embarked Units can now defend themselves and can stack with Naval units as if they were Civilian units. Siege units will be almost necessary to take Cities, especially those who've built Walls and Castles. They have a 200% bonus VS Cities and a lower base strength, meaning they're even worse when used VS units.

Great Admirals can be expended to heal nearby ships. Great Prophets can create Holy Site tile improvements which yield +6 Faith.

Units now have 100 life, not 10. This is mean to make combat unfold more slowly, allowing for more time for strategy. For instance, killing a unit with a similarly-strengthed unit will take 3 or 4 hits. Also, Embarked Units can now share tiles with Naval Units, allowing sea invasions to be a bit easier.

13 New Buildings

• Faith: Shrines (early Faith-producer)
• Beliefs: Cathedrals, Pagodas & Mosques (unlocks via Follower Beliefs; paid for with Faith)
• Culture: Amphitheater (replaces Temple, which will has been re-purposed as a Faith-producing building)
• Espionage: Constabulary & Police Station
• Modern: Bomb Shelter (protects most of the city's population from a Nuclear Strike)
• National Wonders: National Intelligence Agency (grants a 5th spy, requires Police Stations?)
• Uniques: Ceilidh Hall, Coffee House, Pyramid and Stele

Cathedrals, Mosques and Pagodas are buildable only by taking a corresponding Founder Belief and must be 'bought' with Faith, in the same manner as Missionaries and Inquisitors. The Monastery has been reworked to similarly now only be buildable with the Monasteries Follower Belief.

New Techs

• Drama & Poetry (classical)
• Architecture (renaissance)
• Guilds
• Ballistics
• Combined Arms

An unnamed new era centered around the Great War is being added to provide better pacing and room for a new line of Great War units. The Classical Era is now thick enough to be two 'columns' wide. Techs for espionage will likely be included in the Renaissance and later eras.

New Natural Wonders

• Mt Kailash (Tibetan mountain considered holy by Hindus)
• Mt Sinai (Egyptian mountain considered holy by the Abrahamic religions)
• Sri Pada (Sri Lankan mountain considered holy by most religions)
• Uluru (Australian rock formation considered holy by Aborigines)

New Resources

• Crabs (Luxury, Fishing Boats)
• Salt (Luxury, Mine)
• Truffles (Luxury, Hunting Camp?, marked by Pigs)
• Citrus (Bonus?, Plantation)
• Copper (Bonus?, Mine)

We haven't heard of more buildings like the Granary or Stables which boost these new resources, so probably pre-existing buildings will boost them. Some more new Luxuries have been confirmed and are tied to the new Mercantile City-States. More on that below.

Religion
The Faith ticker is colored in white, symbolized by a white dove holding a green olive branch. This gives passive benefits similar to Policies called Beliefs which can be beneficial for pursuit of any victory. Religions are like Wonders in that they can only be founded once. In any game, only about half the players will be founders. Religions spread on their own to neighboring cities (within 10 tiles). Missionaries are used to spread your religion to foreign Cities and Inquisitors are used to prevent the spread of others' religions. There are three kinds of beliefs: Pantheon, Founder and Religious. The full list of Pantheon beliefs:

• Ancestor Worship: +1 Culture from Shrines
• Dance of the Aurora: +1 Faith from Tundra Tiles (without Forests)
• Desert Folklore: +1 Faith from Desert Tiles
• Faith Healers:+33HP healed per turn if adjacent to a Friendly City
• Fertility Rites: 10% faster Growth Rate
• Gods of Craftsmen: +1 Production in Cities with 3 or greater Population
• God of the Open Sky: +1 Culture from Pastures
• God of the Sea: +1 Production from Fishing Boats
• God of War: +Faith from battles won within 4 tiles of your Cities
• Goddess of Festivals: +1 Culture and +1 Faith from Incense and Wine
• Goddess of Love: +1 Happiness in Cities with 6 or greater Population
• Goddess of Protection: +33% offensive bonus to City Combat Strength
• Goddess of the Hunt: +1 Food from Camps
• Messenger of the Gods: +2 Science in Cities with an established Trade Route
• Monument to the Gods: +15% Production bonus towards Ancient & Classical Wonders
• One with Nature: +4 Faith from Natural Wonders
• Oral Tradition: +1 Culture from Plantations
• Religious Settlement: +15% faster border growth
• Sacred Path: +1 Culture from Jungle Tiles
• Sacred Waters: +1 Happiness in Cities next to Rivers
• Stone Circle: +2 Faith from Quarries

Eventually, your fledgling religion blossoms into 11 possibles: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, Tengriism and Zoroastrianism. These real world religions are only lending their symbology; the beliefs behind your religion will be completely customizable, even their names. The Founder beliefs, of which you will choose one, will benefit only your Civ and the City in which the religion was founded will become that Religion's "Holy City". If you lose your holy city, you lose your founder belief until you can win back your city. The conqueror of the Holy City does NOT gain your Founder Belief while they are occupying it.

• Church Property: +2 Gold for each City following Religion
• Initiation Rites: +100 Gold when each City first converts to this Religion
• Interfaith Dialogue: Gain Science when a Missionary spreads this religion to cities of other religions
• Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
• Papal Primacy: +15 to Influence ranking point with City-States following this religion
• Peace Loving: +1 Happiness for every 5 followers of this religion in non-enemy foreign cities
• Pilgrimage: +1 Faith for each foreign city following this religion
• Tithe: +1 Gold for every 4 followers of this religion
• World Church: +1 Culture for every 5 followers of this religion in other civilizations

The follower Beliefs, of which you will choose three (one upon founding the religion when your first Great Prophet spawns, and two more later when a second Great Prophet spawns), will benefit any City that follows your religion:

• Asceticism: Shrines provide +1 Happiness in Cities with 3 followers
• Cathedrals: Use Faith to purchase Cathedrals (+1 Faith, +3 Culture, +1 Happiness, Artist Specialist slot)
• Choral Music: Temples provide +2 Culture in Cities with 5 followers
• Divine Inspiration: Each World Wonder provides +2 Faith in city
• Feed the World: Shrines and Temples provide +1 Food each in city
• Guruship: +2 Production if city has a Specialist
• Holy Warriors: Use Faith to purchase pre-Industrial land units
• Liturgical Drama: Amphitheaters provide +1 Faith in cities with 3 followers
• Monasteries: Use Faith to purchase Monasteries (+2 Faith, +2 Culture, more with Wine or Incense)
• Mosques: Use Faith to purchase Mosques (+3 Faith, +2 Culture, +1 Happiness)
• Peace Gardens: Gardens provide +2 Happiness in city
• Religious Art: Hermitage provides +5 Culture in city
• Religious Community: +1% Production for each follower (max +15%)
• Swords into Plowshares: 15% faster Growth rate for city if not at war

"The religion game kinda happens through the first two thirds of the game and then kinda naturally tapers out," lead designer Ed Beach said. Founding a Religion creates a 'Holy City'. You lose the benefit of your Founder Belief if this city is captured (not sure if the city can be razed). The conqueror does not steal these belief. You will get them back if you reclaim the city.

City-States
Religious city-states have been added, which give you +Faith per turn. The new Mercantile City-States have solitary access to unique luxuries, such as Porcelain or Jewelry, which can give a marked Happiness boost to your Civilization. The quest system is greatly expanded, allowing Civs to offer up to 3 quests at once, and offer new kinds of quests as well, such as a race to be first to generate 50 Faith. The influence gold can buy has been greatly reduced.

City-States can be 'bullied' without outright going to war with them. Give a show of force and make demands, and perhaps they'll give in to avoid war. This will lower your standing with them, and possibly other City-States as well, and might trigger requests for Declaration of Protection against you. New City-States include:

• Antwerp (mercantile)
• Colombo (mercantile)
• Genoa (mercantile)
• Hong Kong
• Jakarta
• Jerusalem (faith)
• Lisbon
• Manila
• Marrakech (mercantile)
• Milan (cultural)
• Mombassa
• Prague (cultural)
• Sri Lanka (mercantile)
• Valletta (military)
• Vatican City (faith)
• Zanzibar
• Zurich (mercantile)

Re-classified City-States include:

• Geneva (switched to faith)
• Kathmandu (switched to faith)
• Lhasa (rumored switched to faith)
• Tyre (switched to mercantile)
• Venice (switched to mercantile)
• Dublin (reclaimed by Celtica)
• Edinburgh (reclaimed by Celtica)
• Vienna (reclaimed by Austria)
• Helsinki (reclaimed by Sweden)
• Stockholm (reclaimed by Sweden)

Espionage
Spies are unlocked during the Renaissance. They are not represented on the board. You get 1 Spy per Era, starting with the Renaissance (meaning 4 Spies by the Modern Era) and one for building the National Intelligence Agency national wonder, meaning 5 Spies in total, and England with 6. Spies gain promotions like other units for successful missions. If a spy is killed, you have to wait a predetermined amount of turns for a new Spy to take its place.

Note spies are NOT represented on the board as a unit. You assign spies to the City of your choice and put them to work doing various tasks: rig elections in City-States (which occur every 12 turns), create unrest, steal technologies and run surveillance. Spies can also be stationed in your own cities to work counter-intelligence and safeguard Technologies from being stolen.

Gathering information via surveillance can give you pieces of Intrigue regarding AI Civ's activities, such as Netherlands planning to invade the Huns, which you can choose to share if you like in order to make friends with rival Civs (Intrigue is turned off in Multiplayer).

Diplomacy
Religion will greatly determine who you can deal with early on in the game, as those who don't share your religion will be less likely to deal with you. Later in the game, diplomacy is most influenced by Policies, specifically Order, Autocracy and Freedom. The "is trying to win the same victory as you" diplomatic penalty has been removed from the game. Also, you won't get blamed for wars you didn't start. Furthermore, the AI is more forgiving and will not hold a grudge against you as long as it used to.

You can offer to adopt an Embassy for a friendly rival Civ starting in the Classical Era, which allows you to see each others' Capitals. Research Agreements can only be made with Civs you have a Friendly relationship with and cannot be made until Education. You may also sell advanced technologies to rival Civs.

You may negotiate to renew treaties before they expire. Civs have a chance to renegotiate the treaty during this process.

Computer Player AI
The AI is much more intelligent now in combat maneuvers and it's been stated specifically that the AI builds and deploys armies more intelligently, so hopefully there will be less zerg rushing and more proper use of ranged units. We're told that the AI can plan a betrayal 15 turns in advance now, and they have been programmed to intelligently plan amphibious invasions. Until we get to play it, it will be difficult to know exactly how much tougher the AI is.

User Interface
You'll be able to skip the opening cinematic, which will take you to a loading screen (confirmed to be rolled out to Vanilla as well.) The UI has also been redecorated slightly to look a little less Art Deco and a little more Baroque.

Multiplayer
You'll be able to have animations in multiplayer, either move or attack animations, or both. This change will be rolled out to owners of Vanilla Civ 5 as well.

3 Scenarios
"Fall of Rome," a Classical attack/defense scenario: "Play as either Eastern Rome or Western Rome trying to fend off the barbarians, or as one of the barbarians themselves." Rome and Byzantium are forced to take Policies that negatively impact their empires, while the Celts in the west, Carthaginians across the Mediterranean and Huns in the east all push to be the Civilization that took down the mighty Roman empire.

"Into the Renaissance," a Religion-centric Medieval scenario: "Grow your medieval kingdom into one of the great nations of Renaissance Europe, fending off outside invasions from Mongols and Ottoman Turks and fighting the religious wars of the Crusades and Reformation!" Almost certain to be greatly influenced by the Thirty Years' War: Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, France and Spain will vie against the Ottomans and Mongols.

"Empire of the Smoky Skies," a Victorian 'steam-punk' science fiction scenario: "Build flying airships and huge tractor-like tanks from the unique tech tree of this Victorian science-fiction scenario, and use them to spread your empire across the pre-industrial world."

Screenshots
Religion
Espionage
WWI Era warfare
Great Prophet
Industrial Era
Netherlands
Ethiopia and Huns

Write-Ups
Official 2K Blog Post
Official 2K Greg Forum Post
IGN's Gods & Kings article
Kotaku's Gods & Kings article
Gamespot's Gods & Kings article
Webhallen Preorder Writeup

Civs by continent:

• America America, Aztec, Inca, Iroquois, Maya
• Europe Austria, Byzantium, Celts, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Rome, Russia, Spain, Sweden
• Africa Carthage, Egypt, Ethiopia, Songhai
• Near East Arabia, Babylon, Ottomans, Persia
• Asia China, Huns, India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Siam
• Oceania Polynesia

Civs by 'era':

• Ancient Aztec, Babylon, Celtica, Egypt, Huns, Inca, Maya, Polynesia
• Classical Byzantium, Carthage, Greece, India, Iroquois, Persia, Rome
• Medieval Arabia, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Siam, Songhai
• Renaissance America, Austria, Ethiopia, France, Netherlands, Ottomans, Russia, Spain, Sweden

Hey, who are the:

• Shintoists Japanese
• Sikhs Indians (Punjabs)
• Tengriists Mongolians & Huns
• Zoroastrians Persians

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Ritorix said:

Thats an impressive list. Does the original Civ5 still slow down heavily in large games, taking a minute to load a turn? That pretty much put me off playing it back at release.

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You'll be able to skip the opening cinematic, which will take you to a loading screen (confirmed to be rolled out to Vanilla as well.)

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drako said:

What's a scenario? Is that something you do when the real game is broken?

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geraltofrivia said:

Have they improved the AI?

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The AI is much more intelligent now in combat maneuvers and it's been stated specifically that the AI builds and deploys armies more intelligently, so hopefully there will be less zerg rushing and more proper use of ranged units. We're told that the AI can plan a betrayal 15 turns in advance now, and they have been programmed to intelligently plan amphibious invasions. Until we get to play it, it will be difficult to know exactly how much tougher the AI is.

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pandora's box said:

expansion is unlocked.

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Forceman said:

Did they change the way you garrison units in the city, or is it broken in the expansion? I haven't played in a while, but there isn't a garrison button anymore, and fortifying a unit in the city doesn't increase the city defense like it used to.

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Glyphic said:

Seems like they added alot more depth to the game, can't wait to get this. Currently broke though

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Sn0_Man said:

Money problems, if I had to guess...

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Glyphic said:

Yeah, getting married next month so I am broke. Besides, I still have a Core2Duo so it takes more than a minute or two between turns.

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Glyphic said:

Yeah, getting married next month so I am broke. Besides, I still have a Core2Duo so it takes more than a minute or two between turns.

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Zarathustra[H];1038853697 said:

I just had a big war, and got a bunch of great generals.

Looks like you can't expend great people for golden ages anymore.

I'm not sure what to do with them all. I gifted one of them to a city state. it seems to have liked it, as we became super-bestest-friends-evar

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pandora's box said:

dont forget they changed citadels to expand your territory now.

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Yakk said:

On my oc i7 920 I start getting noticeable slowdowns only lategame on huge maps, but it's not anything I would fuss about. CPU gets fairly loaded, GPU gets it's share of load too.

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Yakk said:

I'm liking this expansion more than I thought I would. Something about founding my own religion...

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Zarathustra[H];1038857884 said:

I haven't looked recently, but back when I had a a Phenom II [email protected], ran the task managers CPU load charts on a separate screen while playing, and it amazed me that there was a lot of between turn time, yet very little CPU load.

I concluded that it must have been some sort of bug, rather than actual CPU load taking time between rounds.

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Glyphic said:

I will check mine as well out of curiosity. I don't really get slow downs until later in the game, but it takes 2-3 minutes at least for a turn.

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