Feb 14, 2019
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm marches into stores today
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Jay Castello)

Conquer em up turn-based strategy game Civilization VI adds a flood of new content today with the Gathering Storm expansion including literal floods. Climate change is here, it’s bringing natural disasters, and it s probably your fault for getting too greedy with the factories while trying to outpace Pericles.

Luckily, new diplomatic solutions are also arriving, so everyone will agree to work together and save the planet. Right?

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Feb 13, 2019
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm AVAILABLE NOW
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI - Hinkle2K

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm is now available on PC, Mac and Linux! The choices you make in the game will influence the world ecosystem and could impact the future of the entire planet.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/947510/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI_Gathering_Storm/

To see the full list of changes to the base game and Rise and Fall click here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/289070/announcements/detail/1742234241889076456

Looking for more info on the second expansion to Civilization VI? Watch our New Features Explained video below:

https://youtu.be/EZ8XRJNitCE
You can also learn about all of the new civs and leaders with this playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-lTq9LJCHpQQnhVN-zAHfWXV0UglZ1mr

If you encounter any technical issues, please contact 2K Support here: http://2kgam.es/helpme2k

Follow the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #OneMoreTurn, and be sure to follow the Civilization franchise on social media to keep up to date with the latest news and information on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.

           
Feb 13, 2019
Gathering Storm Launch Update for Civilization VI + Rise and Fall
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI - Hinkle2K
Hello, Civilization fans!

With the launch of Civilization VI: Gathering Storm drawing near, we wanted to take a moment to share some info on the update coming to the base game experience and Rise and Fall. We’re adding in a few new features like Play by Cloud and the Hall of Fame, as various tweaks and balances - all of which will be available in the base game and Rise and Fall expansion when the new Civilization VI: Gathering Storm expansion launches tomorrow.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube ► http://2kgam.es/CivilizationYT
https://youtu.be/EZ8XRJNitCE
Here is the full list of changes:

[AI]
  • AI now builds and uses aircraft more effectively.
  • Weaken AI garrisoning if they can use it to take an enemy city.
  • Don't send more than one unit to capture a given unescorted civilian.
  • In non-emergency situations, AI will not trade away more gold per turn than they make excluding trade deals.
  • Improve AI ability to garrison ranged units during city attacks.
  • When AI takes a city, automatically assign a defender.
  • If an AI can take a city this turn, don't try to defend your units first in the process
  • Increase value of picking up resources for unit maintenance.
  • Digging up artifacts in an ally's territory counts as an incursion.
  • Barbarian raid timer now starts as soon as the first unit arrives in range, instead of waiting for the final unit.
  • Allow barbarians to go through unexplored territory as part of an attack.
  • AI will protect units assigned to defend a city from attack while they are trying to get to the city.
  • Increase weighting for Naval Superiority AI trees to focus on building sea units.
  • AI tries to figure out if a city is on the periphery before taking it, avoids jumping into the center of the Empire unless it needs to.
  • Allow AI to levy for defensive purposes.
  • AI now simplifies/focuses trade deals when requesting trades, rather than asking/offering a smorgasbord of items.
  • Correct an issue that was preventing the AI from properly theming artifact collections.
  • Don't warn or get angry if partner converts target city of religious emergency.
[UI]
  • New Features
    • Front End: Hall of Fame – Victory and defeat tracking with detailed statistics and graphs for each.
    • In-Game: Build Queue and Multi-Queue, along with tabbed interface to toggle between modes.
    • Lens: Empire Lens – When toggled, displays owned territory, as well as district locations and base yields from districts.
    • World Resources Report: Breakdown of how many strategic and luxury resources each major civ possesses that you’ve met.
    • Mini-map: New mini-map that is easier to read, and a new full-screen mini-map mode that you can toggle in-game.
    • Map Labels: In-world text labels on Natural Wonders and National Parks. (Gathering Storm ruleset games only)
  • Game Setup/Options additions
    • Multiple Colorblind Accessibility options available.
    • Touch Input Enable checkbox available
    • Cloud Shadows Graphics option available.
    • Mouse Wheel Speed slider option available.
    • Warning about Mod Compatibility checkbox available.
    • Gathering Storm Benchmark options (requires Gathering Storm) available.
    • Civilization “Jersey” System: Automatically adjusts Civilization color schemes if they are too close in color range to each other.
    • Scalable resource and yield icons with high-resolution textures available (can be modified via XML).
    • Automatically hide the city ranged attack interface when selecting a unit.
    • Automatically hide ranged attack arrow if a selected unit is out of moves.
    • Automatically adjust the positioning of unit flags covering the city range strike button if an enemy unit moves in range.
    • Add recommended target tile highlighting for the Archaeologist.
    • Unit cycling logic improvement, reducing the instances of the camera getting pulled away from where the user intends to go.
    • Pop-up and advisor queue ordering updates and progress.
    • Additional misc. UI and text fixes, tweaks and updates.
[GRAPHICS]
  • New particle system increases performance and allows many more particles to be visible at the same time (much less likely to see effects flicker or fail to play correctly in complex scenes).
  • Slowly moving cloud shadows (can be toggled via graphics options).
  • New terrain/model reflections (previously only ocean/rivers had reflections).
  • Sub-pixel filtering for floating UI elements (fixes ‘jitter’ on unit flags and city banners as camera moves).
  • Improved shadow quality on leaders, obsolete 8K shadow map option removed from ‘ultra’ settings.
  • Further performance and memory usage improvements in DX12.
  • Visual fidelity improvements and sharpness of culture borders and overlays at all graphics quality levels.
  • Various improvements to city and road layouts.
  • Various graphics performance optimizations.
  • Multithreading performance improvements.

[MULTIPLAYER]
  • New Features
    • Play By Cloud (requires a network connection)
  • Multiple desync and stability fixes
[BALANCE]
  • Barbarians
    • Make Barbarian camps spawn recon ranged units in later starts.
  • Unit and Unit Combat
    • Scale pillage rewards by era (except healing).
    • All healing rewards are now 50 HP.
    • Adjust pillaging rewards of science and culture improvements to be a base value of 15 instead of 25.
    • Update the Machine Gun to have a range of 2.
    • Add Mobile Ranged tags to spawn different units other than Horse Archers late in the game.
    • Air Unit Combat Strength increase to more appropriately match corresponding land Army formations. (Gathering Storm ruleset games only)
    • Anti-Air Unit Combat Strength increase to match new Air Unit balance, and lower maintenance. (Gathering Storm ruleset games only)
    • Players can now start with unique units even if they are not direct replacements.
    • Make the Missile Cruiser the same movement range as the Battleship.
  • City and City Combat
    • Combat balance – double wall hit points for all three tiers. Outer defense strength modifier increase for all 3 tiers to 3 (was 2).
    • Update the Government Plaza to have the same base plunder value as other districts.
    • Audience Chamber government building down to 3 Housing (was 4 Housing).
  • Tech and Civics Tree
    • Oil Well improvement now unlocked with the Steel technology. This is consistent with other resource reveals and the improvements that extract them
  • Policies and Governments
    • Total War Policy now gives +50% more Gold from pillaging.
    • Remove the double dipping of Huey Teocalli, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and Apadana Wonders from Policy Cards.
    • Update Strategic Airforce Policy to include all aircraft.
    • Civil Prestige Policy now only requires a Governor with 2 promotions and provides 2 Housing.
    • Policies that give increased production now continue to operate on old units.
    • Policies now apply to all wonders prior to the Policy era. (i.e. now Gothic Architecture applies to Ancient, Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Wonders before it just applied to Medieval and Renaissance).
  • Civs
    • Tamar now has a Faith preference.
    • Sphinxes can now be built next to each other.
  • Religion
    • Defender of the Faith reduction from +10 down to +5
    • Add faith to late starts.
  • Espionage
    • Counterspy and Listening Post missions are now renewable on the mission completed popup
    • Spread out all Civilization and City-State starting positions where possible when generating the map.
 [PERFORMANCE]
  • Many performance updates to Trade Route calculations, pathing, and reports.
  • Significant improvements to turn/AI processing times, especially late-game.
  • Multiple UI performance improvements across different panels and screens in-game.
[GENERAL BUGS]
  • Units and Unit Combat
    • Heavy Cavalry promotion prerequisite connections now fixed.
    • Allow players to deploy aircraft in allied territory.
    • Air units can now attack a defensible district with a civilian unit garrisoned there.
    • Multiple additional aircraft Rebase and Deploy bug fixes.
    • Paradrop should not consider a City Center to be an airfield.
    • When changing ownership of a unit (from a levy in most cases) the unit's experience and experience level was not being transferred. This is now working properly.
    • The Garrison promotion is now working properly.
    • Units joining a corps or army could receive build charges improperly. This is now working properly.
    • Units are now forced to relocate if they are in an invalid location after a settlement is placed.
    • Constructing a Roman fort improvement building now properly ends that unit's turn.
    • Alliance combat modifiers are now displayed properly in the UI.
    • Units with build charges are now able to be trained even in cities that have contaminated fallout.
    • The Defense strength modifier for terrain was incorrectly showing the cumulative amount in the preview text instead of the itemized amount. This has been corrected.
    • Fix for an issue that could disallow an attack on an enemy city if it had a friendly unit inside.
    • Fix for an issue where aircraft could get disconnected from the carrier when it passed through another unit.
    • Assume the WMD combat is always in the camera view, it can easily be skipped if it is partially off screen.
    • Fix for an issue that was causing odd movement queue paths when they had long unit paths set.
  • Cities and City Combat
    • Fix for multiple production overflow issues.
    • Fix for Urban Defenses Policy not properly granting 400 hit points to city defenses.
    • Minor adjacency bonuses should not apply when placing districts next to a pillaged district. This has been corrected.
    • Fix for city centers not getting additional production and food from modifiers.
    • Fix for Pillaged districts still providing amenities.
    • Prohibit Free Cities from building palaces which was allowing duplicate (forged!?) copies of Great Works to get into the game.
    • If a city is razed, all National Parks are now properly removed.
    • The correct players' units will be properly expelled when a city is transferred by trade.
    • Fixes for multiple issues with fallout contaminated plots in cities
    • Fix for pillaged districts when transferring a city.
    • Fix for District model visuals not updating properly from a pillaged state when repaired.
    • Restore district combat if the building that gives combat strength is completed mid-turn.
    • If a district is pillaged, update the stats on its banner, if it has one, and on the parent city, so the Garrison Strength will update.
  • Great People
    • Fix for Great Generals and Admirals not being able to activate on opposing units.
    • Allow a Great Person to be activated immediately if a required building is purchased underneath him or her.
  • Loyalty
    • When a conquered city is kept, update some figures related to its Loyalty per turn, to ensure that the displayed UI data is correct and consistent
    • When a city is locked at full Loyalty due to a game effect (Statue of Liberty, Phoenicia unique ability), show the Loyalty per turn as 0 and stable in the UI, and show "Always fully loyal" in the panel's math breakdown.
  • Policies and Governments
    • Fix for Praetorium Policy not correctly applying unless the Governor was established.
    • Democracy's government bonus shouldn't apply if the district is pillaged.
    • The Classic Republic government Amenity and Housing bonus should only count if the city has an unpillaged district.
    • Fix for issue that was allowing Dark Age policies to remain slotted beyond their appropriate era.
  • Trade Routes
    • Fix for many trade route bonuses that were only designed to apply to the owner (origin) of a trade route applying to recipients (destination) of a trade route as well.
    • Trade Route Capacity is now correctly reduced when buildings are pillaged.
  • Civs
    • Fix for Alexander's preferences not working properly.
    • Fix for Sumeria and Foreign Ministry building not properly working together.
    • Ensure that Mvemba doesn't receive the Devout agenda.
    • Fix for issue where City-State Protector agenda was cross-wired with the Civilized agenda and one leader could care about both at same time.
  • Techs and Civics
    • Apprenticeship now functions properly when repairing an improvement.
  • Espionage
    • Add details to text for Rise and Fall spy missions.
    • Disable the Skip Turn and Sleep buttons when spies are on a mission.
    • Outlaw Listening Post mission vs. Allies.
    • Don’t let bonuses to Spy “Establish” time in city exceed 100%.
    • Historic moments based on making tile improvements (ex. on a tile with extra yield from a natural disaster, first Mountain Tunnel) will no longer trigger when the improvement is gained by conquering or otherwise gaining ownership of a city where the improvement already existed.
    • Correct an error in Archipelago that was causing it to not generate tiny Islands.
    • Allow joint and 3rd party wars immediately after denouncement if a Golden Age war is available.
    • Fix for order of operations bug preventing governor effects to re-apply when a governor is re-assigned to a city they are already established in.
    • Pillaged Districts should not appear in the “purchase” menu when players are allowed to buy Districts with Gold using the Financier governor.
  • Exploits
    • Players can no longer swap tiles FROM an occupied city. Prevents exploit of "conquer, raid it for tiles, return it in peace.”
    • Correct production overflow calculation so multipliers (like policy cards) get backed out of overflow.
  • Additional misc. Gossip corrections and streamlining.
  • Additional misc. crash fixes.
[ART]
  • Environment
    • Brazil city set and palace updated.
    • City Center art adjustments to include Canals for coastal cities. Granaries and Monuments are also updated.
  • All model updates and optimizations.
    • Material polish pass to brighten materials to match visual style.
    • Update geometry of base models for performance.
    • Completely remodel all female characters.
    • Skin tones for all units appropriate to their civilizations.
    • Team color embedded in the textures.
    • Update tint color on all vehicles to match their historical origins.
    • Setup tint color for all modern uniforms: Infantry and vehicle crews.
    • Model variety within the same units (various attachments, etc.)
    • Extensive polish pass on all Great People; new models and new geometry.
    • Adjust scale and count of air units.
    • Adjust scale and count of sea units.
    • Adjust siege unit crewmen and defenders to match the appropriate era.
    • Adjust embarked ships to closer match the number of unit members on the field. Example: One transport for scouts and great people.
    • Many additional misc. tweaks and updates.
[SCOUT CAT]
  • Alternate skin for Scout unit that replaces the Scout’s dog with three cats. Available to players who have linked their 2K Account.
[MODDING]
  • Add tagging for mod compatibility. Mods not tagged as compatible with the latest build will be disabled at start-up as well as have a warning dialog displayed when they are enabled.  This behavior can be disabled on a per-mod basis or completely in the options dialog.  Mods can be tagged as compatible by either adding "<CompatibleVersions>2.0</CompatibleVersions>" to the properties section of the modinfo or by marking compatible versions in the project page of ModBuddy.
  • WorldBuilder updates, including “painting” mode, auto-coastlines, importing from “Tiled”, and more. We’re not done.
 
https://store.steampowered.com/app/947510/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI_Gathering_Storm/
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm will launch for Windows PC on February 14, 2019. Follow the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #OneMoreTurn, and be sure to follow the Civilization franchise on social media to keep up to date with the latest news and information on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.

           
Feb 13, 2019
Link your 2K Account to Unlock the Scout Cat in Civilization VI
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI - Hinkle2K


Fancy yourself a friend of the felines? Sign up for a 2K Account and link it to your copy of Civilization VI and you’ll unlock this free skin for the Scout that replaces his usual trusty canine companion with a clowder of cat explorers!



New 2K Account

Signing up for a 2K Account is easy! Simply go to https://accounts.2k.com/signup and register. Once you’ve completed the sign up, link your Steam account and boot up Civilization VI. Once in the game, log into your 2K Account.

You can also create an account in-game. Boot up Civilization VI and navigate to the 2K Account button in the bottom right-hand corner. Click it, then follow the instructions to register a new account.

Existing 2K Account

If you’ve already registered a 2K Account, first allow us to thank you for your support. Unlocking the Scout Cat is a cinch – all you have to do is boot up Civilization VI, click on the 2K Account button in the bottom right-hand corner, then log into your 2K Account. Once your account is linked, you’ll have access to the Scout Cat.



Enabling the Scout Cat Unit

Once you’ve linked your 2K Account to Civilization VI, you’ll need to enable the Scout Cat skin. Restart Civilization VI and click the Additional Content tab. On the left side, you’ll see a list of all your additional content. Scroll down to “DLC: Scout Cat” and click it, then click on the “Enable” button.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/947510/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI_Gathering_Storm/
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm will launch for Windows PC on February 14, 2019. Follow the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #OneMoreTurn, and be sure to follow the Civilization franchise on social media to keep up to date with the latest news and information on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.

           
Feb 13, 2019
Here's the best price for Civilization 6: Gathering Storm
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI

The latest expansion to the game that burns midnight oil like no other is out tomorrow - so we've gathered up the cheapest Civilization 6: Gathering Storm deals for you to peruse right here.

There really isn't much between all of the major online digital retailers but Green Man Gaming is offering the best price for Civilization 6: Gathering Storm at 27.29/$31.19.

The second expansion to Civilization 6 adds a whole host of new features and systems to the game, including environmental effects, a World Congress to discuss global issues, a new approach to consumable resources, a new era of technology and civics, as well as the usual selection of extra civilizations and leaders.

Read more

Feb 12, 2019
Civilization 6 is free to play on Steam right now, and for the next few days
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI

If you've got a hankering for global domination, but don't particularly fancy leaving the house today, then here's a little thing that might appeal: Sid Meier's Civilization 6 is currently free to play on Steam.

Should you be a 4X fan that hasn't, for whatever reason, given Firaxis' 2016 instalment of the long-running series a go, you've got from now until 6pm on Thursday, February 14th, in the UK to change that. A quick word of warning to new players though: whatever you do, don't pick Queen Victoria as your first leader unless you want to be driven almost completely insensible by the endless repetitions of Scarborough Fair. I barely made it out alive.

Of course, as canny sorts will have realised, this current freebie event isn't just a case of publisher 2K suddenly finding itself in an altruistic mood. Rather, it's all perfectly timed to prime players for the release of Civilization 6's latest expansion, Gathering Storm, which arrives at precisely the same moment the free-play event ends.

Read more

Feb 12, 2019
Play Civilization 6 for free on Steam for the next couple of days
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI

If, somehow, you've never played a Civ game, for the next couple of days you can try Civilization 6 for free on Steam. Maybe you've been holding out with Civ 5 until all the expansions launched (seriously, there are still thousands of you), or maybe you just haven't had the time. Either way, this is a good opportunity to pick up Firaxis's 2016 4X game and give it a go. The game is also discounted on Steam by 70 percent during that time. 

This, of course, coincides with the launch of Civ 6: Gathering Storm later this week. The latest expansion adds global warming as a factor once you reach the modern age, as well as a detailed world congress system that offers a different way to gain control throughout the game. 

Fraser liked the expansion to the tune of 81 percent. "Civilization 6: Gathering Storm bites off a lot, but it proves more than capable of juggling big concepts like climate change and global diplomacy. It turns them into coherent but still complex systems that you'll constantly be interacting with, even before you start noticing that the beaches are vanishing."

Gathering Storm launches on February 14th.

Feb 11, 2019
Launcher Update (2/11/19)
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI - Hinkle2K
Hello, Civilization fans!

As we prepare to launch Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, the largest expansion in Civilization franchise history, we wanted to offer some info on an update to the game’s launcher that will be available alongside the expansion’s launch. This new update will fix a bug causing a process to continue running on some users’ machines after exiting the launcher.

Additionally, Civilization VI: Gathering Storm requires users to be on the latest patch. Any users who enabled the Legacy beta branch for Civilization VI on Steam will need to opt out of it in order to play Gathering Storm.

We are incredibly excited for the launch of Civilization VI: Gathering Storm on February 14, and we can’t wait to hear your feedback as we embark on this journey together. Stay civilized!
Feb 11, 2019
Steam Charts: The Worst Ever Edition
Grand Theft Auto V Legacy - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

I took it for granted. I knew I shouldn’t, I think I even knew I was doing it at the time. But last week, when the charts were filled with new and interesting games, pushing out the tired and bloated titles, I didn’t take the time to recognise what we had. And now, as can only be the direct responsibility of my careless credulity, everything has fallen apart.

This week’s charts are the worst I’ve ever seen. And I’m sorry. I’m… look, I’m just sorry.

(more…)

Feb 5, 2019
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm – Eleanor of Aquitaine Leads England and France
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI - Hinkle2K

For the first time in Civilization franchise history, we have a leader able to lead two different civilizations!

Eleanor, duchess of Aquitaine, was queen consort of France from 1137 – 1152, followed by England from 1154 – 1189. She was one of the most influential figures of the Middle Ages, thanks to her vast land holdings inherited at a young age, making her one of the most sought-after brides of the time.

She was a leader in the Second Crusade and is credited with establishing many of the royal court’s chivalric rituals– the social codes rooted in Christianity that guided the behavior of knights and women of high social standing.

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube ► http://2kgam.es/CivilizationYT
https://youtu.be/qZBzWTmerDE
Eleanor Unique Ability – Court of Love

Great Works in Eleanor’s cities each cause a loss of Loyalty per turn in nearby foreign cities. A city that leaves another civilization due to a loss of Loyalty and is currently receiving the most Loyalty per turn from Eleanor skips the Free City step and instantly joins her civilization.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/947510/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI_Gathering_Storm/
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm will launch for Windows PC on February 14, 2019. Follow the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #OneMoreTurn, and be sure to follow the Civilization franchise on social media to keep up to date with the latest news and information on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.

           
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