While I think it is one of the best games ever, it's not perfect. I'm interested what people think the problems with the core ruleset of the game are (rather than implementation problems like bad optimisation, barbarian galleys appearing every three turns, unbalanced starts, UI or AI problems).
From my point of view things I don't like as much are:
Clearly superior strategies at the start, such as going for agriculture/animal husbandry/mining/bronze working being a better bet than hunting/fishing/mysticism the vast majority of the time. Or worker first apart from occasional seafood starts when it is often still marginal.
It might be interesting if slavery and the ability to chop/reveal copper were on different tech paths so you had to choose one over the other.
Also on higher levels it is hardly ever worth going for a religion at the start of the game. It also bugs me that three of the religions are on exactly the same part of the tech tree rather than a bit more spaced out.
I'd also like if it was more viable for smaller peaceful civilizations, conducting mostly defensive wars to compete over the course of the game, although this is probably a personal preference. In addition games are often decided very early on, not often allowing come backs from last place to win.
I don't like a lot of the later additions to the game such as espionage, vassals and corporations as they feel a little too much like add-ons rather than things the game was designed around.
Also I feel the happiness cap is set too low early on in the game. I assume this is partially to help players with a bad start not get far behind too quickly as other civs hit their happiness cap, but it feels like an artificial barrier that without getting lucky with gold, gems or a hunting resource there isn't a lot you can do about it until monarchy. It also makes slavery much more of a non-decision as well.
Historically health was probably more of a concern in early civilizations than happiness, but the game has this the other way around. I think each population causing two unhealthiness instead of one would make the early game more interesting as you might hit the health cap before the happiness cap a lot of the time.
What else do people think is wrong with the game?
From my point of view things I don't like as much are:
Clearly superior strategies at the start, such as going for agriculture/animal husbandry/mining/bronze working being a better bet than hunting/fishing/mysticism the vast majority of the time. Or worker first apart from occasional seafood starts when it is often still marginal.
It might be interesting if slavery and the ability to chop/reveal copper were on different tech paths so you had to choose one over the other.
Also on higher levels it is hardly ever worth going for a religion at the start of the game. It also bugs me that three of the religions are on exactly the same part of the tech tree rather than a bit more spaced out.
I'd also like if it was more viable for smaller peaceful civilizations, conducting mostly defensive wars to compete over the course of the game, although this is probably a personal preference. In addition games are often decided very early on, not often allowing come backs from last place to win.
I don't like a lot of the later additions to the game such as espionage, vassals and corporations as they feel a little too much like add-ons rather than things the game was designed around.
Also I feel the happiness cap is set too low early on in the game. I assume this is partially to help players with a bad start not get far behind too quickly as other civs hit their happiness cap, but it feels like an artificial barrier that without getting lucky with gold, gems or a hunting resource there isn't a lot you can do about it until monarchy. It also makes slavery much more of a non-decision as well.
Historically health was probably more of a concern in early civilizations than happiness, but the game has this the other way around. I think each population causing two unhealthiness instead of one would make the early game more interesting as you might hit the health cap before the happiness cap a lot of the time.
What else do people think is wrong with the game?