In the run up to my review, I'll be writing short impressions on very specific things I observed in Civilization V. Today, let me draw your attention to the new hex based tile system. Now many people have written that the hexes are probably the most minor change in this Civilization entry, but taken as a whole, it changes how units move around the map quite a bit.
There is definitely a huge improvement visually, as the land isn't square looking and perhaps the least talked about effect of hexes, is how you actually have less direction to move your units about. The previous four sided tile system allowed you to move diagonally leading to 8 movement direction. Hexes only allow you to move in 6 directions. This may seem like a step backwards, but I hardly noticed it once I got used to the new system.
What I really love about Civilization V is how all this and the fact that you can't stack units add to combat and unit management. It is for once, fun to control your units. Which I couldn't say the same for Civ 4 as I have always felt managing units and workers(the strategic decisions on what to improve were fun) were a chore. It adds a whole new tactical element to the game.
Lets talk a little about the one unit per hex system. It's an inspired move which I think is a huge improvement to the series. But there are minor problems though. I found it frustrating early in the game when I couldn't move workers to build roads in a specific hex because a foreign unit was parked on that hex(early game before your cities borders had enough culture to overlap your other cities, leading to gaps of neutral territory).
Your workers can go through your military units and vice versa(but they still can't move to a hex with a military unit, only through it), making it easy to move you workers around your cities and not get bogged down by your defensive military units. Anyway, I've rattled on long enough. These are supposed to be short. I'll cover combat for another day.
PS : The strategic view looks a lot like Catan in it?
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