Asset file hinting at future and/or cut content

[moondog385]

If there is a pirate civ and that civ is based on the Caribbean “Pirate Republic,” I’ll probably be jumping ship (pun very much intended) from Civ 7 for the foreseeable future. That is not going to help this game’s PR or would exacerbate its very poor representation of a number of regions. I would really question Firaxis if they prioritized something like that in the first year of the game’s life cycle.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I mean, such a civ would just be an obviously indulgent reference to Sid Meier's Pirates!.

 

[Barbarian King]

If there is a pirate civ and that civ is based on the Caribbean “Pirate Republic,” I’ll probably be jumping ship (pun very much intended) from Civ 7 for the foreseeable future. That is not going to help this game’s PR or would exacerbate its very poor representation of a number of regions. I would really question Firaxis if they prioritized something like that in the first year of the game’s life cycle.

It might help their PR. Caribbean Pirates are a relatively popular subject for media. It's probably a more popular subject for games than every other civ not yet present in Civ 7, except feudal Japan. The civs that the Fanatics want to see do not necessarily reflect the civs that the wider fanbase of the game wants to see.

 

[magicq99]

That would be a plot twist.
Though why not use the name Republic of Salé, instead of Pirate Republic, which refers to the 6 year period when Nassau was controlled by pirates in the Caribbean?

Good point. But for all we know, the name "Pirate Republic" could at this point be nothing more than a placeholder for internal playtesting.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Original post goes back to February. It could be just left over concepts that never materialized (I dislike the idea of "cut content" which implies it was made already and just removed, which not how games development works).

That's totally true

That said it is interesting to note the parallel development that Civ7 had with Humankind which also added its own Pirate Republic based civ. This imho is further evidence that the devs between these two companies have worked together and swapped notes over the course of their development and releases.

Firaxis specifically declined that they knew about HK while working on era change. I assume they knew about Pirate Republic in HK, because it existed there since Sep, 2023 and that's likely before Firaxis started working on DLC content, no inter-dev communication needed here.

Also, the number of historical things known in popular culture is quite limited, so repetitions are unavoidable.

 

[notNamed]

Firaxis specifically declined that they knew about HK while working on era change.

Also, the number of historical things known in popular culture is quite limited, so repetitions are unavoidable.

Just a note since you're not aware, but a corporate developer must always deny any inspiration from anything that's not public because of lawsuits.

It's the same reason why all big games and movies start with that "All the characters here are fictional, all resemblances a mere random chance." Setting up defense for both real and imagined resemblances in their work to some other already existing one, or perhaps a real person/their life story.
Even if they don't expect SEGA to try and copy Nintendo's rabid dog approach over common inspiration... copyright laws are sufficiently fudged up to make it perfectly possible. If you haven't heard, Nintendo has patented the whole concept of characters riding on animals recently to win their case.

Hence the need to deny even stupid things, such as ignoring the only game in the entire industry that civ has any reason to care about, and then coming out with a game that has truckloads of mechanics, civ choices and what-not which repeat with too high a frequency to not have been a case of "Oh, that's actually pretty cool, can we do something similar on our end?" Though saying they had some sort of secret cabal to develop both games in parallel is obvious nonsense.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Just a note since you're not aware, but a corporate developer must always deny any inspiration from anything that's not public because of lawsuits.

First of all, it's not that simple. I often see corporate developers acknowledging inspiration. And that's the area there lawsuits are generally impossible.

Second, it's not just about the fact of denial, it's how they denied it. They described a particular presentation where they shown the age switching prototype to 2K officials before HK announcement. It's way out of regular denial.

 

[j51]

Either way please don’t do this pirate republic nonsense firaxis! Give us a real civ that fills in a gap!

 

[Menocchio]

It might help their PR. Caribbean Pirates are a relatively popular subject for media. It's probably a more popular subject for games than every other civ not yet present in Civ 7, except feudal Japan. The civs that the Fanatics want to see do not necessarily reflect the civs that the wider fanbase of the game wants to see.

On top of that, what abbreviates Pirate Republic? PR, of course.

In all seriousness though, put my hat in the ring for being actually interested in the pirate civ. I think so long as this isn't the norm and an occasional outlier to test things out, that's perfectly fine; I'd rather the devs experiment on a civ-level rather than with whole game systems... ahem.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I have mixed feelings about the Pirates.

On the one hand, it's probably going to be really hard to immerse myself in the position of leader of a collective of pirates after having been the effective god-king of a classical empire and have all the proper assets that a civ should have (traditions, wonders, etc) without seeming corny. And how does it feel to be a pirate king while ordering construction of civilian buildings and units like universities and traders? Off the cuff, it seems like an ill fit for a Civ game. And I don't even care about the "XYZ deserves to be in the game before pirates" argument. I don't recognize chronology of introduction reflecting importance as being a thing.

On the other hand, it's probably going to have really fun mechanics, and if it's done really well, it could be fun to immerse myself as a pirate king or play in a world where you have the misfortune of needing to negotiate with pirates.

 

[ombak]

I am not a fan of the idea of a pirate civ, but I do see ways in which it could be done well. To me, if it feels more like a Civ6 optional mode than a fully fleshed out Civ that fits in the game as is, that's where the line might be, but that's highly subjective.

That said, where are we getting the idea this is imminent from? Are these assets still in the current build? Are there more assets now? Are there assets for other unused ideas now? As another poster pointed out, this was all noticed a while ago. But even if they're still there, there's 0 indication of when they might be used or repurposed.

 

[Leucarum]

I am not a fan of the idea of a pirate civ, but I do see ways in which it could be done well. To me, if it feels more like a Civ6 optional mode than a fully fleshed out Civ that fits in the game as is, that's where the line might be, but that's highly subjective.

That said, where are we getting the idea this is imminent from? Are these assets still in the current build? Are there more assets now? Are there assets for other unused ideas now? As another poster pointed out, this was all noticed a while ago. But even if they're still there, there's 0 indication of when they might be used or repurposed.

The dev video had a viking and a pirate hat. Sounds a lot like Iceland and Pirates

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I am not a fan of the idea of a pirate civ, but I do see ways in which it could be done well. To me, if it feels more like a Civ6 optional mode than a fully fleshed out Civ that fits in the game as is, that's where the line might be, but that's highly subjective.

That said, where are we getting the idea this is imminent from? Are these assets still in the current build? Are there more assets now? Are there assets for other unused ideas now? As another poster pointed out, this was all noticed a while ago. But even if they're still there, there's 0 indication of when they might be used or repurposed.

The Ottomans were spotted in a recent First Look, which means that they exist in some kind of playable state at Firaxis and not just latent code, and they will certainly be part of some broader pack when they are released.

As for timeframe, I expect it could be as early as late November but more likely sometime in Q1 2026.

 

[AD1730]

Between the lack of an English civ, making pirates one of the first add ons, and numerous other major gaps in civ chains, they must have been hyper-confident that the civ switching mechanic would be well received. Whoever did their market research missed horribly, if they did any research at all.

Pirates should be the type of “civ” that comes very late in the life cycle. There is no universe where Pirates should be one of the first add ons. It shows that this team doesn’t understand their audience.

 

[Leucarum]

I've resolved that I won't buy XPACs in their current format until they're heavily discounted. R2R was a really big disappointment - I only like Assyria from it - and Crossroads wasn't much better. Neither felt like good value due to Civ Switching. I would have paid happily if I could play Assyria and Carthage all game!

If the 1st big XPAC is a 4th age I'm also out until there's a big sale. I really want to buy into Civ7 but there are some red flags which will cause me to walk away. I'm not going to pretend "He can change" if the signs go in the other way... Especially since I got EU5's number at a bar...

 

[thecrazyscot]

If it's something that was already planned and worked on (which it appears to be), there's no point in sitting on completed content.

Also, maybe it's ok for the devs to have some fun designing the odd "wacky" civ?

Given how civilization DLC is structured, even if a Pirates civ comes along as part of a pack you'll be able to simply disable just that civ from the Additional Content page. Hey presto, no more Pirates.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Between the lack of an English civ, making pirates one of the first add ons, and numerous other major gaps in civ chains, they must have been hyper-confident that the civ switching mechanic would be well received. Whoever did their market research missed horribly, if they did any research at all.

Pirates should be the type of “civ” that comes very late in the life cycle. There is no universe where Pirates should be one of the first add ons. It shows that this team doesn’t understand their audience.

I do agree that they could have totally made Exploration England a "pirate" civ by giving them unique Sea Dog Great People.

 

[ehecatzin]

I'm hoping the Pirate republic is more a "mode" you choose. Sort of like that one legacy that leaves you with only 1 city and turns you into a horde?, you choose the Pirate republic BUT, you only get to keep an island settlement, the rest goes independent. or maybe scenarios are making a comeback?

The only way I can see some worthwhile addition from this is if it's to experiment with really left field mechanics for civs, and also better treasure mechanics for exploration. with all that said, poor Caribbean, consistently getting the short end of the stick in civs and natural wonders. Pirates and a magical Bermuda triangle...*sigh*

But man, that exploration timeframe is so wonky.

 

[ehecatzin]

I do agree that they could have totally made Exploration England a "pirate" civ by giving them unique Sea Dog Great People.

IF the Pirate Republic is a thing, yes, maybe mods could turn that one around and just make it England, and it would be fine.

 

[Xandinho]

with all that said, poor Caribbean, consistently getting the short end of the stick in civs and natural wonders. Pirates and a magical Bermuda triangle...*sigh*

The worst part is that the Caribbean is so neglected in the franchise that we’ll very likely never see another civ from the region in Civ7, since they might think the Pirate Republic is enough to represent it.
“Taíno? Haiti? What for? We already have Pirates there.”