That's incorrect. Gatling Guns were used a lot during the American Civil War and Machine Guns are still used today.
The reason their range is only 1 is because bullets don't really travel that far.
The period of the using of Gatling guns were pretty short,compared to other units . The Machine Guns that is represented in the game is the WW1 version.which got obsoleted in WW2 by air units .
I'm also kinda worried about Cultural victories. Already the most difficult of the conditions, it seems to be getting harder with the expansion. Stonehenge losing its Culture bonus is a big hit. I may be wrong but isn't Freedom moving to Industrial Era? With the possibility of a new Era being squeezed in between Reinassance and Industrial, seems it's getting pushed back pretty far. The changes to the Piety tree also seem to give Culture a hit, so it makes me wonder what's going on here.
It might not become harder as it seems to be . One thing they are making is to diverse the paths for Cultural victory,which is way too restricted by these one:
- Get Cultural/Scientific Buildings ASAP;
- Get Tradition/Piety/Freedom and choose 2 remaining SP from these options: Liberty/Honor/Patronage/Commerce;
- Avoid war at all cost;
With the Changes,Culture can came from other sources,like Religion,Pantheons and it is a lot easier to get culture from City-states now,thanks to the reducing importance of gold to get friendly/allied status . Also,with the "Tech stealing" option from Espionage system,you can keep up the technology pace with other Civs who focus on Scientific victory . And let's not forget that there are more world wonders to build .