Civilization 6

[rbj2001]

I think I threw up in my mouth a little

To be fair, it looks quite good from the promo video. If they made a few small changes like not making it MM or O or real-time, and changed its name to Civ 6, they could be onto a winner.

 

[lymond]

and changed its name to Civ 6

Oh gawd no..I would die (well..maybe not die...not like I expect much from 6 either)

anyway, no interest in that stuff. Looks like civ+warcraftIII+wow+final fantasy, with "civ" being the least of it

 

[Macksideshow]

I'll try to sum up some of my thoughts. I theorycrafted quite a bit on a simultaneous turn-based Civ-game back in 2011. I was so disappointed by Civ5 that I considered leaving my job and start making a game myself

First thing first: As you pointed out, this is not simultaneous turns the way Civ4 and a lot of TBS does it. That's just a really bad compromise to speed up multiplayer.

Some advantages:
+ You get one model that works in both SP and MP.
+ Adding more players (humans/AI) doesn't increase time between turns.
+ You can potentially make really cool combat animations since planes, infantry, cavalry is on the move at the same time rather than the 1v1 unit fight "Archer vs Swordsman"

Main disadvantages:
- More complex and difficult rules. There's a lot of situation where its not clear what will happen. Here's just a few of the most obvious scenarios, do these units fight or not?

Spoiler :

- Clarity on the map. You need to show where a unit is ordered to move. This can become a mess on the map.
- Less precise feedback. When you order a unit to attack in sequential turns you get the result immediately. This seems very minor, but its all about the feeling of satisfaction for the player
- Even though you don't have "time between turns" in the sense that you wait for other players to finish, you still need to show where units moved etc. This makes the player sit idle, often for longer than what just waiting for the AI to take its turn would have.

Then there's quite a few neutral differences. Simultaneous turns offer a less clear gamestate. You need to think "what will the other player(s) do?" on a whole different level.

To me the crucial point is that you need to succeed in making the resolve phase engaging and fun to watch. It also needs to be 100% clear what happened so it doesn't feel like some random stuff the player can't control.

Thanks. I actually think your first disadvantage is it's main advantage. It's a way of changing up combat to make the game new and interesting. To answer your rhetorical question about whether those units fight; Yes (no defensive bonuses to either side), No, Maybe/unsure (that one is complicated).

I think you are right about the lack of immediate feedback being a significant drawback. And I think your neutral difference about the gamestate being less clear is a huge plus although I suspect the AI programmers would disagree with both of us.

And I very much agree with your final point about the resolve phase being critical. I hadn't thought that far into it but I think you are spot on in that. If done well it could be awesome but is it something a player will want to go through 500 times in a game of Civ?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It's going to be particularly hard for the player to sit through when they aren't actively engaged with other civs.

I'm peacefully turtled and building and can only see a few AI units that are passing close to my border...but the time required to resolve the turn is dictated by the war on the far continent where two aggressive unit builders are throwing troops at each other like there's no tomorrow. Problem.

 

[ThorHammerz]

If there is a Civ 6 then my prediction is that it will

- have a cut-down single player mode since everyone wants to play MMO games these days

Have you seen the state of MP in Civ 5? It's absolutely disgusting how many re-sync's and bugs/glitches are present.

 

[Funky]

Civilization Online is not a joke, that's official: http://www.civilizationonline.com

Holy sh*t. I don't know what to say, I'm in a state of complete shock. All my hopes that Civ could recover after the Civ5 disaster and be brought back on track have just been brutally annihilated. Cope with it guys. Civ, as we once knew it, is history.

 

[scyt4l3]

Damn. I consider myself a kind of pessimistic guy. I took it for granted that the civ franchise was screwed since civ 5. However this civ online thing... I finally clicked on it... only to be greeted by a side boob of what must be Cleopatra or her cousin or something. Looked at the screenshots... it seems way worse than everything I could have imagined. It's going downhill, very fast. Not that I dislike side boobs, it's just we're talking about Civ goddamnit!

I'll try to do as suggested by Funky and cope with it.

 

[civbone]

Is civilization online a joke? It seems like it. Is it really supposed to be the followup to civ 5?

 

[Windsor]

Civilization Online is not a joke, but it's not a sequel to Civ5. It's just a side project like CivWorld and CivRev. CivOnline isn't even being developed by Firaxis.

I don't care at all that 2K tries to make more money on the Civilization IP by making different games. I have no interest in playing them, but I don't see how they affect the main series.

 

[s.bernbaum]

CIV remains wonderfully replayable. I don't really care if they come out with a sequel. I am still happy with CIV and expect to be so for many years more.

 

[LyricalAssassin]

I could honestly wait another five years before another Civ title released. I want Firaxis to take their time and craft a decent launch game (for once). I loved CivIV, but it wasn't until the first expansion that it went from good to great. A rushed, early 2015-16 release, or even a 2017 release, would only leave us in the same position as CivV and CivBE's launch debacles...

 

[lymond]

CIV remains wonderfully replayable. I don't really care if they come out with a sequel. I am still happy with CIV and expect to be so for many years more.

Word up!

 

[Timsup2nothin]

CIV remains wonderfully replayable. I don't really care if they come out with a sequel. I am still happy with CIV and expect to be so for many years more.

I'm so not in a hurry for Civ 6 that I have yet to try Civ 5.

 

[Tatran]

I have yet to try Civ 5.

You should do that, you'll get a whole new civ experience, one you won't forget.

 

[rbj2001]

You should do that, you'll get a whole new civ experience, one you won't forget.

You're evil.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

You should do that, you'll get a whole new civ experience, one you won't forget.

Now that there is a Civ 5 Complete version I do plan to pick it up, and I will try it even though my expectations are remarkably low for some reason.

 

[Tatran]

@Tim
Some tips : look out for 50% or better 75% discount and what to expect from civ5
watch some of Marbozir's let's play Immortal and Deity videos.

I don't expect much from future civ iterations, I don't think it will ever be as good as civ4.
Civ4 isn't perfect, but the mechanics and the AIs are much more fun to play with than in civ5.
No more buy at release and certainly not at full price, mainly because of Steam.
I want to keep the risk very low when buying games that require DRM like Steam.

 

[civfanchambers]

I have no faith in the future of the Civilization series. The game as been dumbed down for mass appeal. Also you can expect that future versions of the game will include both 1upt, and hex grid maps. I've been playing since Civ2 and for me personally Civ4 is as close to perfection as we'll ever get. Here we all are roughly ten years after its release and we still discuss the depth of Civ4. Civ5 no thanks, Civ6 no thanks. I'll stick will 4.

 

[plasmacannon]

I agree with the pessimism of future Civ6+ games, so I won't dwell on that further.
The AI needs to improved.
Why is it I can offer techs to get an AI to go to war, but the AIs never offer me any?
I want at least an option of "What will make this work?", preferably I could suggest which techs would convince me to get involved in someone else's war.
Rework what causes the AIs to stop trading techs. I can see how some would stop trading, but all on the same turn. Unrealistic.
I've given away techs and still seen no improvement in relations. I'd like to see a number (0, +1, +2...) next to the tech in the trade screen showing how much it will benefit my relations to trade it.

 

[Seraiel]

CIV4
+Graphic overhaul
+fixed Bugs
+better AI
= absolute win

I hope at least some of the Devs are reading these boards.

[EDIT]

+ competetive games must be played on a hosting-server, so they need online connection and are verifiedly as played without using Bugs, Exploits, Cheats, Reloading, whatever.