The fourth installment of the Civilization IV series, dubbed Colonization, was released last week (stay tuned for the review on Tom's Games). Colonization is essentially a reboot of Sid Meier's 1994 title Colonization, which is now blended with the tried and true Civilization formula. The game puts strategy fans in control of European nations bent on colonial expansion of the New World during the 15 Century to the 18 Century. The trick is, players must build up their colonies and eventually break off from their home countries. To find out more about Civilization IV: Colonization, Tom's Games asked Firaxis producer Jesse Smith about the making of the new title, the challenges of tackling history, and the future of the Civilization franchise.

TOM'S GAMES: What inspired the Firaxis team to take a break, and revisit the classic Colonization after close to 15 years had passed?

JESSE SMITH: We've received lots of fan requests over the years to bring back Colonization. The opportunity to build a new Colonization using the Civilization IV engine was really exciting, so we decided now was the right time to make the game.

TG: After the announcement of Civilization 4: Colonization, several heated debates sparked up on Web sites and forums across the Internet about controversial realities of the era such as slavery and genocide. When Colonization was in the design phase, did the Firaxis team find it difficult to deal with any game related content inclusions or exclusions tied to the very same topics that fans were arguing about?

SMITH: Colonization allows the player to relive the American Revolution. As with all Sid Meier games, the player has the ability to create their own story out of history. We provide the setting and the player makes the decisions. It is in the player's best interest to establish strong relations with the native tribes, so they can work together to trade and fight. Certain specialists like the Expert Sugar Planter, can only be obtained by having your citizens train with a native tribe. When I play the game, I often establish defensive pacts with native civilizations, so that when I go to war with the crown, I'll have a powerful ally on my side.

The recently released Civilization IV: Colonization from Firaxis reimagines the 1994 title Sid Meie'rs Colonization.

TG: Civilization 4: Colonization uses a slightly upgraded Civilization 4 engine which some say is now beginning to show a little bit of age compared to current generation technology. Is the Civilization 4 engine capable of creating a more detailed world via the use of higher resolution models and current shader engines, or is the engine beginning to run into limitations that it cannot get past without a significant overhaul?

SMITH: We are very proud of the graphical enhancements the programming team was able to make to the Civilization IV engine for Colonization. We took some risks with the engine and the end result was worth it. We've added specular highlights to the water and real-time shadows to the units. We've also greatly enhanced the texture quality for all of the terrain and buildings. To accommodate these additions, the min spec of this game was slightly upgraded to require Shader 1.1. And, while we made a number of enhancements to the engine, we also removed a significant amount of code to optimize the engine and make it perform better.

TG: We understand that random events are not a part of the Colonization sequel. At any point were random events in the game such as plagues, famines, and fires, or even myths of the era like the Fountain of Youth?

SMITH: We did try them out and reviewed the possibility of having them in the game, but ultimately we decided they would detract too much from gameplay. When you are playing the game, you will find it's already challenging enough to win, without your cities suddenly being wiped out because of a poor roll of the dice. We wanted the player's decisions to have an impact on the core game. For example, I can choose to stir up a large amount of Rebel Sentiment early in the game to try to acquire the Founding Fathers I want, but if I do, then I run the risk of facing an immense army of the King's forces when I declare independence. I make my choices and the game responds.

TG: How much effort was put into Colonization's multiplayer experience, and what sort of scenarios do you anticipate players will find themselves in when matching against others to take over the new world?

SMITH: From the moment we played our first game of Colonization multiplayer, we knew we had a hit. It's incredibly fun to do things like send a merchant fleet to meet with the natives surrounding an opposing player's territory, sell those natives muskets and horses for cheap, and watch the havoc. Privateers are in the game and allow players to attack other players' ships without declaring war. They even allow players to steal goods from opponents' merchant ships. This is a great way to destroy your foes or eliminate the king's forces. One of my favorite modes is the cooperative team game where you and a friend work together to declare independence on the hardest difficulty level.

TG: While the Civilization 4 series had everything from ancient warriors to modern tanks to play with, Colonization is bound by the limitations of the era. Has anything been done to spruce up combat compared to the original?

SMITH: We've made a number of improvements to warfare in Colonization to make it both more strategic and a bit more forgiving. One of our major improvements was giving the promotion tree a significant update. Promotions can have a huge effect on how your units are able to be used during the game. Also, cities defend themselves automatically now, as long as you have guns stored. Lastly, your ships do not automatically get destroyed when losing in naval combat, but can return to your closest city to be repaired.

TG: Assuming that Colonization is successful on the PC platform, is Colonization a game that the Firaxis anticipates creating expansions for, or are there simply too many limitations of the era to do so?

SMITH: It's a bit too soon to answer that question. We'll wait and see what happens once we release the game.

TG: As we understand it, Electronic Arts owns the rights to the Alpha Centauri IP - have efforts been made to purchase the rights with the hope of revisiting Alpha Centauri once again? If there is not a foreseeable sequel due to lack of ownership, is there any chance that Sid Meier will branch off to a new space Civilization themed game in the near future, such as Beta Centauri?

SMITH: You are correct that EA owns the rights to Alpha Centauri and we really don't know what they intend to do with it. Sid has endless ideas for games and has some time now to think about his next project. We'll update you as we have news to share on that front.

TG: In terms of strategy games on consoles, did Civilization Revolution meet sales expectations? Should console gamers expect to see more Sid Meier games down the road?

SMITH: We're very happy with the success of Civilization Revolution. Our intention is to create each of our games on the platforms that make sense for the game and deliver a fun experience to players. We have some terrific teams at Firaxis who are well versed in making games for a wide variety of platforms, so it's safe to say you'll be seeing more games from us in the future on the PC, consoles and handhelds.

TG:Finally, are there any significant updates that Sid is planning for the Civilization series, assuming PC gamers will see a Civilization 5 down the road?

SMITH: There's no news to report at this time, but we'll keep you posted.

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