[GS] Mods that should be in the base game [2020]

[acluewithout]

Are we getting another update? DLC? Expansion? WHO KNOWS!

Anyway. Cross-fingers, we may get one or two more updates this year for Civ 6. If we do, are there any Mods on Steam that people think FXS should look to implement in the base game?

Here's my list.

• Aircraft Carrier Promotion Tweak. Gets rid of promotion tree for Aircraft Carriers, and instead makes them upgrade based on research like the GDR does. Brilliant idea, and totally gets around the problem of Aircraft Carriers being hard to upgrade because they're rarely involved in direct combat.
  
  
• Key Unit Balancing. Some good ideas here, like Heavy Cav getting a bonus v Pre-Gunpower Melee Units, Seige getting a bonus v City Defences. @Sostratus Balance Mod is also excellent. Of course.
  
  
• Exclusive Policies for Tier 4 Governments. Lets T4 Governments use the Policies which are otherwise exclusive to T3 Governments. This is a must change.
  
  
• Engineers Build Roads without Spending Charges. I did have this Mod, but can't find it now. Like the one above, this is a must.
  
  
• Better Report Screens, Real Era Tracker and Global Relations Panel. I really like the Civ 6 UI (crazy, I know), but these Mods add some important clarity to the game. GRP really brings diplomacy to life, and I can't recommend it enough.
  
  
• Better Walls. Buffs Walls. Particularly like adding +1 Housing to T3 Walls. I also use another mod with changes the name for T2 and 3 Walls to Castles and Renaissance Fortress which I like better for flavour.
  
  
• 8 Ages of Pace.
  
  
• Encampment Expansion. Just adds a bit more crunch to Encampments and Harbours.
  
  
• Progressive Power Consumption. Adds increasing power demands for Cities. I've said before the game needs a bit more empire management in the late game, and I think this Mod is a good example of how that could work.
  
  
• Renewable Energy Complexity. Adds a bit more crunch to late game green tile improvements.
  
  
• Oasis give adjacency to Commercial Hubs. Says it in the name.
  
  
• Elizabeth I. So, this isn't really a thread about Alt Leaders. But I like that this Mod adds Lizzie I, and love that it makes the Sea Dog her unique unit (rather than have it as the Civ's UU), and gives England the Dreadnaught instead which I think works better.
  
  
• Better Coastal Cities and Water Tiles. This mod goes a bit far in my opinion, but I like that it makes shipyards add production to all tiles, not just unimproved ones.

 

[AntSou]

Social Policy End of Turn Reminder.

Edit: I agree Oasis should provide +2 to Commercial Hubs.

 

[Sostratus]

@Sostratus Balance Mod is also excellent. Of course.

It may not have the "new abilities" razzle dazzle of many mods, but it was designed to be as true to vanilla as possible while being more balanced. When they announce they are done with Civ6 development i intend to make a "complex balance mod" to supplement the "simple balance mod" for you nerds.

and gives England the Dreadnaught instead which I think works better.

I have been saying they should swap the UU for a long time, finally, the dreadnaught pokes it's armored bow into the game!

Oasis give adjacency to Commercial Hubs. Says it in the name.

I have been considering this myself and think some variant of this is a good idea.

The aircraft carrier change is a good principle too. Especially since making fleets and armadas doesn't increase their aircraft capacity, and ACs are very unique and special units. They fit well for that type of upgrade. I also really think wholesale embracing that philosophy of tech tree upgrades for most units could be a viable mod concept...

 

[acluewithout]

It may not have the "new abilities" razzle dazzle of many mods, but it was designed to be as true to vanilla as possible while being more balanced.

This is what I really like about your mod. It's laser focused on cost and combat values, and making the kind of changes that should have been made by FXS as part of a patch. It's a really, really good mod. Can't recommend it enough.

Some of these other mods suffer a bit from putting too much "other" stuff in. I'm mostly looking for mods which just make changes to the base game that "should" have been made by FXS (which is very subjective). It's not that I won't use Mods to do more than that, but those wider Mods I feel turn the game into something different.

On that front, JNR has been very good in breaking out his various Mods into separate components. Some of his stuff does go pretty far beyond the base game, but his latest more narrow Mods are an excellent foundation for someone just wanting a more polished base game.

The aircraft carrier change is a good principle too. Especially since making fleets and armadas doesn't increase their aircraft capacity, and ACs are very unique and special units. They fit well for that type of upgrade. I also really think wholesale embracing that philosophy of tech tree upgrades for most units could be a viable mod concept...

It's a really good solution for Aircraft Carriers. It makes Carriers more of a "prestige" unit like the GDR is, which is something I think the game needs. It also makes techs more valuable and gets around the problem of Carriers coming so late that you rarely have time to upgrade them.

Other units (and buildings) getting boosts from Future Techs seems like a no-brainer to me. We need a Mod for that (ideally one that isn't overly ambitious) or FXS just need to add that via an Update.

 

[AntSou]

I want to try it now! Is it GS and is it on Steam?

 

[acluewithout]

@AntSou It's linked in @Sostratus 's signature. Simples.

 

[AntSou]

Btw, in regards to UI mods, which is what I mostly use, I would rather Firaxis didn't mess with it much.

I'm VERY happy with the UI mods made by sukritact and I don't see how Firaxis could top it, so I'd rather they jusy focused elsewhere.

 

[AntSou]

@AntSou It's linked in @Sostratus 's signature. Simples.

On my phone right now, couldn't see it

 

[Trigan Emperor]

Some more "should be in the base game"-type stuff, not yet mentioned:

Unique District Icons. Gives each civ's special building a unique icon instead of a generic one.

Tomatekh's Historical Religions. Adds a lot more real religions to the base game.

Yet (not) Another Maps Pack. Apart from the maps, it provides a couple of important game setup options: firstly, culturally-linked starts (which starts civs near other similar culture civs); and, secondly, preventing ice from forming in hexes next to land, allowing circumnavigation at the poles (more important on some map scripts than others).

Extended Diplomacy Ribbon. Useful for seeing relative strengths of civs and tradeable items.

Enhanced Mod Manager. Makes it easier to see which mods are active.

Better Trade Screen.

Better Espionage Screen.

More Lenses. Makes it easier to find things on the map.

Sukritact's Simple UI Adjustments.

 

[acluewithout]

Yet (not) Another Maps Pack. Apart from the maps, it provides a couple of important game setup options: firstly, culturally-linked starts (which starts civs near other similar culture civs)...

Yes. I use that mod, and that is a very good change.

 

[AntSou]

+1 for more lenses.

 

[bbbt]

Better Report Screen. It's invaluable for me.

 

[WillowBrook]

Better reports is a no-brainer. The one that shows the diplomatic relationships in a graph is another obvious UI addition.

There are plenty of balance tweaks that would improve the game, but I'm not ready to endorse any particular ones at the moment.

 

[darkace77450]

It annoys me when the perfect spot for a district is blocked by a 5th copy of a luxury resource I already own, so naturally Harvest All Resources is something I'd like to see added to the base game.

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=1883249322.

 

[AntSou]

Given how so much is about city planning, not being able to harvest resources is very frustrating.

At the very least we should be able to build districts on top of strategic resources, losing the tile yield but retaining the +Resource per turn.

 

[Bangau]

For me, the two must haves are: More Lenses (builder and naturalist lenses are great) and Concise UI. The later has a dozen improvements to UI, among which a great adjustment to the trade screen I cannot do without.

 

[blackcatatonic]

I don't use mods most of the time but Better Report Screen is one of the ones where I just can't believe that functionality is still missing in the base game after over three years. I mean, has anyone worked out what the logic is behind the ordering of cities on the base game report screen? As far as I can see, it's just in random order. I can't understand how they thought that would be useful.

 

[tedhebert]

Better Report Screen. It's invaluable for me.

THIS... really ! all the reports are great, really, but the policies one I just can't play without

 

[Chefofrats]

As someone who uses no mods, the sheer number of mods some of you consider indispensable really surprises me, especially considering how little some the mods you list actually change.

The report screen thing seems really valuable. What would you say the REALLY important other mods are? Please try list as few as possible.

 

[CPWimmer]

I am so happy they added Map Tacks, and (an alternate version of) Production Queue to the base game.

I'll add another set of votes for:

• Better Report Screen (Policy Report and data sorting!)
• Sukritact's Global Relations Panel (One screen to understand how everyone feels about everyone else)
• More Lenses (This is actually somewhat less important now that they added Searching on the map)

All three of these bring data to the forefront in ways that help me play the game. They should be part of the base game, in my opinion.

I also always use the following Mods (along with those above), but these modify the game in more custom ways that might not be better for everyone:

• Real Great People
• Extended Diplomacy Ribbon
• Sukritact's Simple UI Adjustments
• Yet (not) Another Maps Pack