All Quiet on the Civ Front

[Trav'ling Canuck]

If they try to reinvent the wheel again instead of learning from the mistakes of previous versions I won't be hyped much at all.

If they don't try to reinvent the wheel for Civ 7, I'll be disappointed. There's too many legacy baggage mechanics in Civ 6 for my tastes. I think the series could use a re-boot. Not another 1/3 new, 1/3 changed, 1/3 old mash up, but a complete rethink. Go back to the original Civ 1 (or even the prior board game) and re-evaluate, in light of the game design developments in both board and computer games since then, how do I create a compelling and challenging "one more turn" game experience of guiding a civilization from the dawn of history to the future?

There are enough modders who'll continue to improve Civ 6 (especially if they get the DLL). I'll trust them to provide a better AI, better game balance, and new and interesting buildings/districts/units/etc. I'd like to see Firaxis do something truly fresh with the series.

 

[Duuk]

I'm unwilling to make any wagers or hold any bets about XP3, DLC packs, stand-alone Civ6-based games, or any other thing until long after XP2 has been announced, confirmed a few times, shipped, patched a few times, supported to the point we're mostly happy with it, etc.

Then we can begin the process of determining which direction Firaxis/EA/etc is going with the franchise.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

There's a pretty deep history now of there being base game+2xpac--I'd need some pretty compelling evidence to believe it will be anything other than that again this time.

 

[Leathaface]

Hmm, from what I see, once the 2nd expansion comes out, the game would pretty much have reached its end. There's only 2 updates after Brave New World so are we really banking everything on the last expansion?

For me the DLL source needs to be released for Civ VI to be complete. When I played Civ IV for the first time in 2009 the game came with an improved AI that was done by a modder who altered the DLL source. Civ V AI has improved a lot with Vox Populi.

I think Deity is too easy ATM. It's basically survive until mid-game, have around 8-10 cities and coast to victory. The only challenge is if you are going for Culture Victory and Pericles is an opponent.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I think there's a good chance we'll see 3 Expansions this time based on the following assumptions/speculations:
1) XP2 like Rise & Fall will have 8 new Civilizations (we're unlikely to see more due to the art budget for creating and animating 3D Leaders).
2) There are comfortably more than 8 Civilizations from previous Civs that fans will probably expect Firaxis to release (Ottoman, Byzantine, Incan, Mayan, Portuguese, Celtic, Austrian, Assyrian/Babylonian, Ethiopian/Malinese, Iroquois/Sioux/Another Native American).
3) Following the pattern of Rise & Fall There will probably be around 3 curveball Civs that people would NOT expect to keep things fresh and pleasantly surprise fans with new stuff/appeal to commercial markets.
4) Therefore there will need to be two expansions of 8 Civs each to get us to ~10 expected Civs + ~6 curveball unexpected Civs.

And if you add 8 more civs in the second expansion, and 8 more in a hypothetical third, then you get the delightfully round number 50 civs.

If there are only two 8 civ expansions, then the total number of civs would only be 42. Civ V had a final total of 43, so it would be the first time in the series that the number of civs regressed.

 

[acluewithout]

Here’s hoping for three expansions, or two and some great theme based dlc. I’ve no interest in Civ 7 and can’t see the point.

@Trav'ling Canuck I really hope FXS don’t ditch the current baggage and make “something new”. Instead, I’d rather FXS refine what they have, and someone else unconnected with Civ or FXS make something new. That’s the only way to truly ditch baggage anyway. Civ should be Civ - baggage and all. But there is definitely room for someone to try something radically different, and I reall wish they would.

 

[Hakan-i Cihan]

An expansion has:

• new civs,
• new scenarios,
• new units/buildings/wonders,
• new mechanics/systems.

I am especially curious whether they do want add new mechanics/systems after a 2nd expansion. If not it is easier to go the DLC route (small packs) for adding the other content. But I certainly hope for a 3rd expansion.

 

[Myomoto]

I think VI could easily sustain a third expansion, but from a sales perspective I'm afraid expansions sell increasingly worse and worse per iteration, making it more likely they will just jump to VII...

 

[V. Soma]

no announcement today...?

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I think VI could easily sustain a third expansion, but from a sales perspective I'm afraid expansions sell increasingly worse and worse per iteration, making it more likely they will just jump to VII...

Yes. It has to be that way considering you need the base game to get an expansion. Fewer people will buy the first expansion than the base game by definition, and then probably fewer people will buy a second expansion than the first. After that I'm assuming it's more lucrative to just put together a GOTY edition or something.

 

[UWHabs]

I think VI could easily sustain a third expansion, but from a sales perspective I'm afraid expansions sell increasingly worse and worse per iteration, making it more likely they will just jump to VII...

That is true, but expansions also take a lot less effort than a new version. They can churn out an expansion pack in about a year, with a team that's a heckova lot smaller than what they would use for a new version. If we did get XP2 next year, even if they moved right away to working on VII, it's not getting released until 2021 or 2022.

 

[Kimiimaro]

no announcement today...?

Maybe we can riot now...

 

[Deggial]

An expansion has:

• new civs,
• new scenarios,
• new units/buildings/wonders,
• new mechanics/systems.

I am especially curious whether they do want add new mechanics/systems after a 2nd expansion. If not it is easier to go the DLC route (small packs) for adding the other content. But I certainly hope for a 3rd expansion.

New map scripts! Why do people always forget new map scripts?

Seriously though, I totally understand why there are no new Civ-DLCs after the first expansion (because they need to work with both vanilla and expanded version and a pure vanilla civ might be considered uninteresting).

I do not understand however, why there are no interim map script DLCs.
Those "semi-scripted maps with random elements" (for the lack of a better word for them) were such an interesting addition to Civ5!
One of my favorite maps of all times was the "Europe" map script. The other ones were neat too, but I loved "Europe"!

I for one would definitely pay money for such scripts. (If the odd natural wonder would be added too, even better - but not necessary, in my opinion.)

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Maybe we can riot now...

What happened to the "don't expect anything until after the Switch version" mentality? That's where I'm still at.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

What happened to the "don't expect anything until after the Switch version" mentality. That's where I'm still at.

Yeah, they're not going to step on their own marketing

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Yeah, they're not going to step on their own marketing

Exactly. If they announced an expansion now, the marketing campaign would extend through the Switch release, and probably drown it out.

 

[Ma2ge]

What happened to the "don't expect anything until after the Switch version" mentality. That's where I'm still at.

I totally agree. And I'm honestly more concerned about the fact that there has been no action since 4 days on steamdb. What's your opinion about that, Holy Prophet?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I totally agree. And I'm honestly more concerned about the fact that there has been no action since 4 days on steamdb. What's your opinion about that, Holy Prophet?

The pace of updates on 2kqa_a and b have been holding steady. It just happened to occur that one of the two updates for last week landed on the Saturday previous and the second on Wednesday, making them a bit early and leaving a larger than normal gap until this week's updates.

 

[Ma2ge]

The pace of updates on 2kqa_a and b have been holding steady. It just happened to occur that one of the two updates for last week landed on the Saturday previous and the second on Wednesday, making them a bit early and leaving a larger than normal gap until this week's updates.

True. And as the last update has been on Friday and the following two days have been weekend, that is not as bad as it seems. Phu!

 

[WillowBrook]

We could still get a patch this week. But the lack of activity on the steamdb this week doesn't make me super optimistic.

A small DLC in honor of the second anniversary would have been nice, but