Civilization Online will launch in Korea “very soon”, according to 2K senior producer Garrett Bittner, but since most updates via English language media have been infrequent or shared only on social media, there’s a lot we’ve yet to find out. Fortunately, we have learned quite a bit from the recent G-Star 2014 convention.

Civilization Online is a cooperative MMORPG in the truest sense. Unlike traditional MMOs, emphasis in this game is on each individual civilization’s success, rather than the player’s. 2K Games has been heavily involved in the production led by XL Games.

There are a total of four civilizations players can choose from at this point. 2K Games has clarified that while there are no individual classes, players are still valued for personal contributions rather than achievements, as in traditional MMORPGs. To help players give back to their cities, there will be over 50 player careers, with an average of over eight careers for each of the six available eras.

As for earning rewards, a player who has contributed more to a losing civilization will get more rewards than another player who only logged in for a few battles in a winning civilization. At the hands-on demo at G-Star 2014, I was also able to choose from a variety of pre-set character models, ranging from the strapping Roman hunk to the generic, broad-shouldered craftsman.

Players will need to work together in order to fight off invaders and get cities set up. This involves chopping trees and smashing rocks for wood and stone building materials, and performing simple quests. From there, they’ll be able to work together to ensure their civilization’s dominance.

How things will work

Having a massive bunch of people running around the map, setting up their own little towns would be chaotic, to say the least. So XL Games and 2K have decided to allow only guild leaders set up cities. Guild leaders are the only players who can put down special buildings like Wonders, but anyone belonging to the city will be able to place basic buildings like watch towers, barracks, and hospitals as long as they have the resources for them. 2K Games has told us that Wonder blueprints will cost gold to build, so there is likely going to be a premium currency available only to guild leaders. After this, everyone need to make like peons and start mining stone and chopping down trees to get these buildings up and running. During this layout stage, the camera view switches from third-person to top-down, and the city planning UI comes into play.

Anyone can be a guild leader, but since these cities have to literally be built brick-by-brick, each will need a minimum of 20 players to progress at a playable rate. There is no limit on the number of players who can join, and subsequently, no limit on the number of people who can go to war! These cities, or guilds, in Civilization Online will also be more fluid compared to traditional MMORPGs, with players being able to join at will depending on each guild’s settings.

See: Warlords of Draenor is one of the best World of Warcraft expansions yet (review)

Guilds will have to work together within their respective civilizations to do battle with the other three battling for dominance. War will take place within server-initiated sessions – which can last anywhere from 30 minutes to three months. It appears that a standard game session will last for a week. These sessions will have victory conditions straight from the boxed Civilization game: domination, culture, and science.

If we’re going by the week-long session, then progression through each era in history (ancient, classical, industrial, et al) will take about a day. Unlike that famous Civilization II game, Civilization Online won’t last forever. If victory conditions are met before the end of a session, the game will simply continue until its server-stipulated end. There won’t be an automatic reset, so players will have time to finish up things like moving items earned into their session transcendent inventory. At present, players can’t vote to end a session. However, each time a session ends, the map will pretty much be wiped clean as well.

XL Games acknowledges that the potential knowledge of losing all one has built can be demoralizing, and even game-breaking, to a hardworking user. However, lead game designer Kim Ji Liang and art director Ki Choul Cho doesn’t think it will make the game any less satisfactory.

“When you think about building a sandcastle along the seashore, you know it will be destroyed. But you still want to make one,” he says. “We want to give users that sort of pleasure.”

In its current build, Civilization Online allows players to retain citizen levels and karma cards. Citizen levels are similar to character levels in traditional MMORPGs, and higher citizen levels will give players more access to passive skills. Karma cards – basically skill cards – are doled out according to actions performed during a session, and at the end of each session depending on victory conditions. These provide active and passive boosts to players, and borrow a little from the gacha monetization system used in mobile games. Karma cards have individual levels, and can be combined with one another for new cards.

2K Games has also clarified that it will be possible for players to earn karma points, and that there will be session-transcendent items. More session-transcendent systems are expected to be available at launch.

So that’s how Civilization Online will work, but there are a ton of unanswered questions, such as why the venerable strategy game series has been turned into an MMORPG. That’s coming up real soon, so check back in on Games in Asia shortly!

Edit: The article has been updated with more information from 2K Games. Hopefully this gives a clearer impression of Civilization Online!