The American Civil War Scenario Discussion

The preview code I was given access to also included one of the two scenarios that will be available in the final expansion: The American Civil War.



It features modified units to fit the conflict and a simplified set of mechanics to allow players to focus on the military aspect of the scenario (after all building wonders and researching the wheel wouldn’t be exactly appropriate to the war between the Union and the Confederate states).

You can only research a limit amount of technologies to improve your troops: Rifled Artillery allows to build Rifled Cannons with better range, Military Science that lets you upgrade infantry divisions to stronger Infantry Corps, Engineering lets you train Military Engineers that can build railroads and bridges, Repeating Rifles lets you train Carbine Cavalry, Ironclads (this one is self-explanatory I believe), Cavalry Raids let your cavalry pillage enemy improvements, Field Hospitals speed up healing rate, Balloon Reconnaissance increases the sight range of Great Generals, Military Railroads halves the construction time of railroads and doubles movement on them (which becomes really crucial later in the campaign), Scorched Earth allows infantry to pillage as well and Entrenchment doubles the combat bonus of fortified units. That’s pretty much it in terms of tech tree.

City management is also a lot more rigid, as each city can only produce specific types of units, and many are dedicated only to churning out money. Resources are also limited to iron, horses and manpower necessary to build cannons/ships, cavalry and infantry. Advanced mechanics like religion, trade, tourism and policies have been turned off (for obvious reasons). This is balanced out by the extremely high number of cities and by how close they are packed together.Unit progression is also quite interesting. All infantry units start as “green”, suffering from a 20% penalty to their battle strength, but after their first battle a named commander will join the division/corps bringing along a random bonus, giving a sort of “personality” to every unit, which is very appropriate to this sort of very condensed and closely-fought scenario.

All these elements together create a very pitched situation with sudden turnarounds and counterattacks that offers a very different kind of experience compared to the rest of the game. It may not be as deep, but it’s definitely enjoyable, especially if you want to get away from the micromanaging for a while.

The scenario-specific limitations mentioned above are actually a positive element for the gameplay, as they shift the focus from the “build, research, build more!” rush of the original game to a more strategic and balanced approach. It’s very tempting to just try to rush and overpower the enemy capital, but you’ll soon find yourself pushed back and defeated.

Ultimately I can definitely say that my experience with Civilization V: Brave New World left me wanting for more. A lot more.

Not only the expansion restores trade caravans and their micromanagement, that were victims of excessive streamlining in the original game, but it also adds several new levels of complexity that improve on the formula of the series quite radically. It may not be a completely new game, but it’s definitely a quite fresh Civilization experience.