Start getting sleep in advance — 2K Games today announced that Sid Meier’s Civilization V is officially being developed at Firaxis Games. The engine for this entry in the series has been rebuilt from the bottom up to provide better combat and more features.

Civilization V introduces hexagon tiles (as seen to the left) allowing for deeper strategy and more realistic gameplay. The brand new engine brings players closer to the Civ experience than ever, with fully animated leaders interacting with players from a screen-filling diplomatic scene and speaking in their native language for the first time. Combat is more exciting than ever before. Ranged bombardment allows players to fire weapons from behind the front lines, challenging players to develop new strategies to guarantee victory. In addition to the new gameplay features debuting in Civilization V, an extensive suite of community, modding and multiplayer elements are also present to take your Civ experience beyond your desktop.

In addition to Civilization V, Firaxis Games is also developing the next thing to take over your News Feed, Sid Meier’s Civilization Network for Facebook. Civilization Network will offer yet another option for world domination to both the casual gamer and the biggest fans of the series.

For more information on Sid Meier’s Civilization V, please visit www.civilization.com. To find out more about Sid Meier’s Civilization Network visit www.facebook.com/civnetwork.