All Quiet on the Civ Front

Status
Not open for further replies.

Duuk

Doom-Sayer
Supporter
Joined
Dec 16, 2005
Messages
1,977
Location
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Is it just me...

or is it remarkably quiet on the Civ front? Llike Firaxis isn't releasing any teasers, any hints, not even any goofy marketing "hey we're still alive and Civ6 is still a game" things, even if they don't have any actual news to tease us with.

It actually kind of bothers me, because when you couple that with the fact that Eagle Pursuit hasn't been reporting anything from the Steam depots, the Mac people haven't reported any movement from Aspyr on any movement on the cross platform functionality, and the fact that we're entering the time of year when many Americans schedule summer vacations, and I suspect we're about to enter a long period of dead air, which scares me quite a bit because Civ 6 is in a relatively "polished" state right now.

...is there even going to BE a second expansion? How well did Rise and Fall sell, exactly?
 
Ed "Open the Civilopedia" Beach said in an interview right before R&F was announced that they have 3 years of support scheduled, so it's safe that we will get more stuff. He also talked about the possibility of a world congress in a way that made it clear they will work on more content after R&F, so I would say a second expansion is a pretty sure thing, unless something bad happens. The only thing I'm not sure about is if we'll get more DLCs or if it's only the expansion and patches from now on...
 
A few knowledgeable people here have suggested +1 expansion and some patches.

Maybe also +1 additional expansion or dlc after the next expansion, but that that’s unlikely based on past practice and Ed’s comments above.

...so, let’s assume that’s right...

Why doesn’t (or is that wouldn’t) FXS have a similar release model for Civ VI to say Paradox and EU4? That seems like a pretty profitable model - basically, sell a solid base game, then sell a few big dlcs and heaps of small dlcs which expand particular mechanics, plus sell some “splat packs” with some unit reskins or expanding particular nations?

That’s particularly expensive for consumers I know, but presumably quite profitable for FXS and means long term support of the game.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d certainly buy the following DLC

- England: Rule the Waves
- Military Doctrine: Anti-Cav Expansion
- Barbarians at the Gate: Viking and Raiding Expansion (pt 2)
- Cold War: spy and espionage expansions
- etc., etc., etc. ...


Or would FXS want to get to Civ 7 as soon as it can?
 
Last edited:
Or would FXS want to get to Civ 7 as soon as it can?

I do think Civ VI can be used as a great groundwork for Civ VII (keep districts, dual tech trees, get rid of scaling and formulaic production costs, improve unit system through the game, etc), but at the same time Civ VI is also a really good game that certainly deserves a second, maybe even a third expansion.
 
Frankly, I don’t really see what “Civ VII” would “do” differently to Civ VI.

Civ V seems to have been a complete revamp of Civ IV - hexes, 1UPT, focused “board game” design. Basically, it seems to have been a massive modernisation of the game.

Civ VI equally seems to have been a complete revamp of Civ V - keep the above, unpack cities (and obvious and game changing mechanic), remove arbitrary penalties for expansions, and maximise flexibility (eg civics tree and governments / policies rather than social policies). This time, it wasn’t a modernisation, but instead a “fix” of a number of really broken mechanics and a few missed opportunities.

There’s lots in Civ VI that could be tweaked. And a few things that could be expanded (although not that many after you get a world congress). But in Civ VI needs to be “revamped”?

I mean, maybe Governors and Government Plaza from R&F need a revamp / rework? Maybe trade, but actually trade is now a lot better after R&F anyway. But that’s really it, I think.

Civ VI is a very, very solid base game. And most of the new mechanics in R&F are solid (even if some are a little bland). I’d rather see - and would pay for - more expanisons or dlc which flesh out specific mechanics, rather than buying a “new” version which I think would likely just repeat a lot of existing mechanics or have to take Civ into a very new direction (which I’m not really interested in).

That’s my point. Given how solid the game is, wouldn’t FXS be better with an EU4 model, basically making everyone pay for expanding existing core mechanics and fleshing our “colour”?

It’s expensive for consumers, but that also means potentially profitable for FXS, but for EU4 it seems to have resulted in a very polished and rich game with ongoing support over many years.
 
Let's not be spoiled. I love the game as is. We just got an expansion. The AI is getting better.

Surely good things to come in time. If they did only patches until Civ 7 I will be playing for years....
 
Pls, no EU Paradox scheme! I very much prefer the Firaxis model with decent sized expansions vs. micro-dlc!
And how on earth can any customer be interested in the splitting of a product into tiny bits with the sole purpose of selling the same amount of content for 300% of the price? What's the benefit for the customer? If you get big expansions on a sale even the argument that you buy stuff you don't want which raises the overall price doesn't work...

I also like the patch policy of collecting stuff and delivering in bigger bulks instead of cranking out small patches that crash mods ^^.
Keep up the good work, Firaxis and I'll happily wait for the next expansion. ;)
 
Oh, and btw, if XCom2 truly gets another expansion after there was silence for such a long time after WotC I'm completely unconcerned about the CivVI future development...
 
A few knowledgeable people here have suggested +1 expansion and some patches.

Maybe also +1 additional expansion or dlc after the next expansion, but that that’s unlikely based on past practice and Ed’s comments above.

...so, let’s assume that’s right...

Why doesn’t (or is that wouldn’t) FXS have a similar release model for Civ VI to say Paradox and EU4? That seems like a pretty profitable model - basically, sell a solid base game, then sell a few big dlcs and heaps of small dlcs which expand particular mechanics, plus sell some “splat packs” with some unit reskins or expanding particular nations?

That’s particularly expensive for consumers I know, but presumably quite profitable for FXS and means long term support of the game.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d certainly buy the following DLC

- England: Rule the Waves
- Military Doctrine: Anti-Cav Expansion
- Barbarians at the Gate: Viking and Raiding Expansion (pt 2)
- Cold War: spy and espionage expansions
- etc., etc., etc. ...


Or would FXS want to get to Civ 7 as soon as it can?
Didn't we already have a discussion in a post a long time ago that DLC like this would not be in the consumer's best interest? Every DLC you mentioned above would be fine as patches or part of an expansion but by themselves it seems kinda scummy.
 
@Stilgar08 @Benzombie Well, I don't necessarily disagree. I'm not sure that model is "scummy", but I get the objections. And I'm conscious people have different levels of disposable incomes and or sense of fairness etc.

So, I'm not really advocating the EU4 model. I genuinely wonder though why FXS don't have that model. Perhaps it's just because they are both such different games.

I just want to see the game supported over the long term, fleshed out and balanced. I can't say I'm really all that impressed by recent experience since R&F was announced.

But I'm also aware that people got cross when Civ V replaced Civ IV, and VI replaced V, so perhaps me being sore about R&F is just a new version of that.
 
The Aspyr guy on Steam forums said cross-platform is a no-go for the next patch. He actually cited a specific problem that they were having with it and programmer types were all agreeing that it was a tough issue. Aspyr has stopped doing Mac QA updates and has been focusing on Linux, so I imagine their next patch isn't too far off.

If the next expansion for Civ follows the R&F schedule, then we should see it enter the SteamDB to begin QA testing sometime in June. The R&F app was created May 25th 2017 and began testing on June 28th.

Otherwise, there is no patch or DLC getting QA tested that I can see.
 
Otherwise, there is no patch or DLC getting QA tested that I can see.
That's kind of the thing that bugs me. There isn't anything visibly going on right now. Literally nothing in QA at all. Which means if the next milestone is an xpac it's still in the very early alpha design phase, meaning it won't even be announced until likely spring. Which also means there isn't even a patch in the works for any of the issues in the game right now (admittedly, none of the issues right now are "game breaking", apologies to @Victoria ).

I guess that's what bugs me, there is a complete lack of ANYTHING to even discuss right now. Not even a hint, a tease, a "what might be down the road", nothing.
 
That's kind of the thing that bugs me. There isn't anything visibly going on right now. Literally nothing in QA at all. Which means if the next milestone is an xpac it's still in the very early alpha design phase, meaning it won't even be announced until likely spring. Which also means there isn't even a patch in the works for any of the issues in the game right now (admittedly, none of the issues right now are "game breaking", apologies to @Victoria ).

I guess that's what bugs me, there is a complete lack of ANYTHING to even discuss right now. Not even a hint, a tease, a "what might be down the road", nothing.

That means it's time to slow your roll. Spend less time on the forums, go outside, see movies, check out other games, etc. Once the expansion stuff hits SteamDB for QA testing I will be hanging up my tea leaves and taking a long forum vacation.
 
@Stilgar08 @Benzombie Well, I don't necessarily disagree. I'm not sure that model is "scummy", but I get the objections. And I'm conscious people have different levels of disposable incomes and or sense of fairness etc.

So, I'm not really advocating the EU4 model. I genuinely wonder though why FXS don't have that model. Perhaps it's just because they are both such different games.

I just want to see the game supported over the long term, fleshed out and balanced. I can't say I'm really all that impressed by recent experience since R&F was announced.

But I'm also aware that people got cross when Civ V replaced Civ IV, and VI replaced V, so perhaps me being sore about R&F is just a new version of that.
Well, before the latest patch we were thinking about the "fact" :cooool:, that fxs makes the impression there might be a longer pause before anything happens again. That's obviously the slack period we are experiencing right now. Fxs has a very good reputation when it comes to long time support of their games, so I'm not bothered by this.
If you wonder why they don't use the EU4 model I'd say if they would they just would go out of the frying pan into the fire: Now we wonder why there seems to be nothing going on. Then we would be bothered why they just won't come up with something bigger... And if you look into steam-forum posts (I know, I know, you should never do that) you see many people are not big fans of Paradox' dlc policy. And when Fxs brings out an expansion they get the "this is sooo expensive" complaint. Game companies lose either way... :shifty:

...
I guess that's what bugs me, there is a complete lack of ANYTHING to even discuss right now. Not even a hint, a tease, a "what might be down the road", nothing.
E3 is just around the corner. They either might not want to refract from their announcement of the 2nd XCom2 expansion or, if we lucky, they'll use that stage for news about CivVI ongoing development, too...
 
I'm pretty sure we'll get another expansion, they did have a pretty intense year after release with frequent DLC releases then Rise and Fall as a surprise. I guess if Rise and Fall's sales weren't all that great then it's possible there wouldn't be another one. I don't think there will be 3 though. After 2 I'd expect there'll probably be a pause and then announcements about Civ 7.

A new entry in the franchise is always going to generate a lot more excitement than an expansion, so it seems like more than 2 might eat into that a bit. I think Civ 6 is great for modding, it can really open up a lot more content that is free and can be quite awesome.

I would be disappointed if another expansion doesn't come out, the game is in a great state but I feel we need more to enhance the late game and I'd love to see more new civs and natural wonders, as well as any new mechanics that come up.
 
No idea what that's for but I forgive you anyway.
I'm just writing up a loyalty guide as we speak, maybe I create a thread for questions.
But the bottom line is when nothing changes things do quieten down... GOTM is a nice little thing to visit and there are always the odd complaining thread to get fired up over but yep, "stuff" happens, life moves on etc.
I certainly am not bored though, still things we do not know to keep me busy as well as lots of games I want to play ... I noticed the other day I have never won with Tomyris... I checked gilga because I never play OP ones but realized I was forced to in a GOTM.

From my perspective I see any team now as having a lot of artists, you either have to keep pumping stuff out, sack people or move them to a different game. I wonder what they have done with them.

On the positive side maybe they will release the code soon? Then I can relax and just ask others.
 
I guess in this thread we see the two different types of game company fans. Obviously I'm a Paradox fan. I want 7000 $10 DLCs so there is always something to talk about :D
 
I don't think they will abandon it like BERT since it is the flagship, but have you seen the steam review ratings? ...about on par with BERT.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom