Recently, I acquired the new triumph studio release, age of wonders 3. While not without its flaws itself, it did make me notice a very glaring one after returning to a round of civ:
CIV 5 is not a strategy game, it is a puzzle. A puzzle with the solution "emphasize science techs".
For pretty much every strategy game I know, the basis of making your decisions interesting is weighing short-term versus long-term benefits. Do I build units or hope tech/expansion pay off in the long run? And that decision is always based on interaction with your opponent - use his weaknesses and do not leave yourself vulnerable.
By essentially eliminating warfare, civ has also essentially eliminated strategy. One sign of how little the actions of other players matter is e.g that you never use scouts or spies to actually gather information on an opponent; Playing a good game boils down to "find good tech order", and even that is pretty much "focus science", independently of victory or map type. There is no variety. Which seems somewhat logical-if in SC2 everyone started behind 5 layers of boulders, strategy would also boil down to "fast tech battle cruisers". It just does not make for a long-term interesting game.
CIV 5 is not a strategy game, it is a puzzle. A puzzle with the solution "emphasize science techs".
For pretty much every strategy game I know, the basis of making your decisions interesting is weighing short-term versus long-term benefits. Do I build units or hope tech/expansion pay off in the long run? And that decision is always based on interaction with your opponent - use his weaknesses and do not leave yourself vulnerable.
By essentially eliminating warfare, civ has also essentially eliminated strategy. One sign of how little the actions of other players matter is e.g that you never use scouts or spies to actually gather information on an opponent; Playing a good game boils down to "find good tech order", and even that is pretty much "focus science", independently of victory or map type. There is no variety. Which seems somewhat logical-if in SC2 everyone started behind 5 layers of boulders, strategy would also boil down to "fast tech battle cruisers". It just does not make for a long-term interesting game.