Ages wayyy too short

[Devilbound]

Hey there have played the series since 1991 but can't even recall when I would have last posted on the forums. Ok so here goes; I started a marathon game as soon as the game became available for download (Founder's edition here), with the age length being the maximum under custom settings.

To my horror the first age started the end crisis under 150 turns! Only player that has reached any thresholds is me with 2 wonders - yet the game triggers the age to end even with maximum length age. So if exploration is of the same length and modern being twice the length, they have cut half, or two thirds of the game length away. This is a disaster, nothing short of it. The age ending comes wayyyyy too fast and with wayyyy too little in the way of triggers.

Surely this can't be intentional? Surely this will get a major overhaul? Having watched a lot of the pre-release videos of content creators as well as yesterdays streams (PotatoMcWhiskey and VanBradley), it also seems no one likes how the ages end. On the contrary; the age ends seem to be universally disliked among players and viewers.

Just a horrible disappointment. Why neuter the game length like that? Also worth mentioning is the continually diminishing map sizes. I truly hope they will add large maps to the game. Overall the newest addition to our series feels very nice, but it sure needs a lot of polishing (especially the ages). As is usual in this day and age.

Thoughts?

P.S: Also we really need a restart (with different seed) -option for maps on at least the first turn like we have had. Starting new games is just as tedious as it ever was trying to get a nice looking starting spot.

 

[Lord Shadow]

There's an Age Length setting which can be configured within a submenu in the last step of game creation: Abbreviated, Standard, Long.

Is age progress too quick even on the Long setting?

 

[Krikkit1]

Marathon speed Age length is bugged (it should be set at 400?600 turns instead of 200)

 

[Devilbound]

Yes sir, I set it to the longest possible as stated in the original post. It was still way, way too short. Age starts to end with the first trigger event milestone.

 

[Nineliveslost]

10 hours in. I am trying to be optimistic BUT, I dislike the ages. You work towards the Civ feel and build your empire and then SLAM reset. The UI is very consolish, almost like this game is Civ "7evolution". That is not a compliment. There are also so many things that come up that it makes the player turn into WTH? It is not intuitive. Eliminating workers is meh, having scouts not auto explore is cumbersome, the lack of feel of YOUR empire, the odd interactions with other civilizations, losing troops on the map , mountains are displayed oddly, The "one more turn" is diminished because you are on a weird timer for the ages and then the game soft reboots. More frustrating than fun. This game seems to not be built for the single player, which is disappointing because that's why I have always liked civ. I just wanted to chill, enjoy and fantasize about crafting my own history. This game feels like it forces you down certain paths, odd. Would much rather prefer them give me civ and turn me loose.

Right now, I feel I waaaay overpaid almost $150

Hopefully it improves like Civ 6

4 out of 10 for me and that's being nice

 

[Noble Zarkon]

10 hours in. I am trying to be optimistic BUT, I dislike the ages. You work towards the Civ feel and build your empire and then SLAM reset.

It is highly recommended to set the age length to long in "Advanced Settings". In other versions of the game I tend to play Marathon or Epic but with this setting Standard speed seems fine to me.

 

[Nineliveslost]

It is highly recommended to set the age length to long in "Advanced Settings"

View attachment 718351

I did, and man it just seems like it made it worse because I invest more time and effort in the old age only for the soft reboot to come up. I don't want the game to force me down history. Let me decide and rock and roll down the river of time. I don't need the game to say "times up", I am building a civilization to stand the test of time !!!

 

[Noble Zarkon]

I am building a civilization to stand the test of time !!!

I get it, I'm loving the game so far but am just about to hit my first transition - really not sure how I'm going to feel.

 

[Devilbound]

It is highly recommended to set the age length to long in "Advanced Settings". In other versions of the game I tend to play Marathon or Epic but with this setting Standard speed seems fine to me.

View attachment 718351

It is still way, way, wayyyy too short even on marathon and long age setting. That's what I did and was astonished how incredibly short the age was. I'm currently trying it out on epic and long ages as Krikkit1 said it is bugged so I am giving it a go. Think he might be right.

 

[Devilbound]

Okay, for the record; it does seem Krikkit1 was exactly on point with his statement about the marathon speed age length being bugged; I am currently trying/playing it out with epic speed, and even though more triggers have been reached it still hasn't procced the end of the age.

So, currently it most strongly seems that marathon speed is borked.

edit: Yea been playing the whole day now on epic (turn 227) and the age end still hasn't started so it is definitely marathon game speed that is bugged.

 

[Devilbound]

So here's a screenshot of the age end rankings screen which shows how badly broken the marathon game speed currently is. Utterly unplayable. Weird that Firaxis wouldn't include a fix for it in the 1.01 patch. I hope they at least know of it. If Firaxis still had forums I would definitely post this there but since computer says no this will have to suffice.

Oh dear. It is going to take years for this game to be ready at all.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

If Firaxis still had forums I would definitely post this there but since computer says no this will have to suffice.

They have a Discord and a contact page:-

Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games

Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.

discord.com

https://support.civilization.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

 

[Devilbound]

Yea thanks I did submit a bug report on it. Sorry for not posting this over at bug reports on these forums, when I made the thread it was unclear to me it was a bug and not just bad design.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

when I made the thread it was unclear to me it was a bug and not just bad design.

You can use the bugs forum for that then report it once confirmed, if you like.

 

[Devilbound]

Thankfully they fixed it in the previous patch. The ages are still too short for my taste, even on long age setting you have to gimp yourself so the age won't progress prematurely to get all the buffs from the previous age you want.

 

[Devilbound]

Okay after a hundred hours I can now say pretty honestly, the ages suck. The idea really is great but even on longest settings the ages are way too short (as is the whole game for that matter, marathon is easily half the length it was in Civ 6), and they take away way too much player agency by forcing you to manage your civ in a certain way if you want to remain competitive in the next age - not necessarily win but even to avoid getting steam rolled by the AI civs. The ages take away players freedom to develop their civ in their own terms, and even civs with great foundations can get to the bottom of the litter because the age ends. There is also way too little in regards of what is being carried over from your work in the previous age. Man this sucks and gets me down.

I like the idea, a lot. But it is implemented exceedingly poorly, in my brutally honest personal opinion. No more chill playing and developing your civ peacefully for the long run. Now you have to "win" three times in order to keep your civ enjoyable even at leisurely game play. Unless one enjoys getting steam rolled - not a favorite for too many I dare proclaim. Not cool at all. And I don't think they are going to change it for Civ 7, too much work. Hope I'm wrong though.

What a bummer

 

[Nineliveslost]

The strangest thing they used to justify the ages was people not completing the game.

I have played for over 4k hours and finished far fewer games than I played. Most of the games I didn't finish I have loved more than the ones I did finish. It was always the journey for me, not so much the destination. Dreaming of building a civilization and changing your mind about the direction and sometimes stopping a game because you realized your "civ fantasy " would be cooler with another civ. Dragging out a great game to savor every little detail or discover new tricks was always a blast. One big, long sandbox and it was my choice what game to finish and what to linger out. Maybe Civ 7 has it but it sure doesn't seem so to me. Now it seems like its hurry up and finish but follow these guidelines.

I don't mean to be overly critical with 7, I have only played 20-30 hours . I might chill and see what changes they have made and how they have fixed some of the pain points.

 

[GeneralZIft]

I reckon the new systems might get old. Like most new systems in Civ games, they tend to be overtuned and central of the game then they get refined via expansions or sequels.
So Happiness was overtuned in Civ5 so they made Amenities which felt undertuned in Civ6.
Districts (or the adjacency bonus) felt overtuned in Civ6 so they went with more simplistic system for Civ7.
Anyway, the Ages system might get feel unpolished or overburdening, but they will adjust it with patches and then the next game they'll either scrap it or reduce its impact on the player experience. Or do nothing to it, if the player reception is good.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Agreed. The only reason I ever played marathon was to draw out the "ages" in the previous games. The production and growth delays were just inconveniences. Now they have the opportunity to make the only setting the age length one. If the current long one is epic, I can't wait for the marathon!