Civ VI Lead Left Firaxis - Final Nail In The Coffin?

[Alaindor]

... very easy to blame 2K greediness with no evidence at all...

Evidence I see is that devs have massacred the game balance and introduced bugs during each NFP release - include the infamous typo for "AI-crazy-about-science". I don't see how allegations of corporate greediness explain such a gross error from the devs and the associated lack of playtesting and basic QA.

 

[Thormodr]

... very easy to blame 2K greediness with no evidence at all...

Evidence I see is that devs have massacred the game balance and introduced bugs during each NFP release - include the infamous typo for "AI-crazy-about-science". I don't see how allegations of corporate greediness explain such a gross error from the devs and the associated lack of playtesting and basic QA.

They did introduce bugs. That's normal, sadly.
Greedy 2k games probably told them that there is no budget to fix them. The shareholders want increasing profits every year.
Do I have proof? No. Is 2k games greedy? Yes.

 

[Alaindor]

Always easy to blame a system, a concept or an abstract entity such as a corporation... however, humans make the concrete mistakes. Hence it's up to humans to correct them. Or to communicate and say: "hey, we stopped all work on Civ6, sorry". Not correcting a typo? Come on, that doesn't require a lot of effort (nor playtesting nor QA since we're in known territory), nor should it be difficult to convince management that this low effort is good for public image.

 

[aieeegrunt]

Take Two left Civ Rev2 in a broken state. I won’t be surprised if the outstanding list of issues is either fixed by modders or not at all

 

[Thormodr]

Always easy to blame a system, a concept or an abstract entity such as a corporation... however, humans make the concrete mistakes. Hence it's up to humans to correct them. Or to communicate and say: "hey, we stopped all work on Civ6, sorry". Not correcting a typo? Come on, that doesn't require a lot of effort (nor playtesting nor QA since we're in known territory), nor should it be difficult to convince management that this low effort is good for public image.

Never underestimate bureaucracy.

2k games is run by bean counters. They decide what gets approved in the budget and what doesn't.

 

[The_J]

You shouldn't forget though that they managed to get $25000 for the Civ charity drive (still a stickied thread here) from 2K, so it's probably not only about that .

 

[trythis]

I believe Civ 6 will get one more patch. The patch will be to generate interest again for those who have moved to other games and not long after the release of the patch they will introduce the next game in the series (civ 7 or the next spin off game). If that happens then I will have bought my last Civ game and or DLC at launch or at full price period. I will wait for the next game to be completed and buy it at a discount price, if I even buy it.

 

[Thormodr]

You shouldn't forget though that they managed to get $25000 for the Civ charity drive (still a stickied thread here) from 2K, so it's probably not only about that .

Did they get a tax write off? That probably helped convince them. Some good PR that won't cost them anything.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I am glad people got help. It's for a good cause.

 

[pokiehl]

Did they get a tax write off? That probably helped convince them. Some good PR that won't cost them anything.

Charitable giving doesn’t mean you don’t pay taxes or get a 1:1 recoupment. “Writing off” something for taxes means you reduce your taxable income, not a straight subtraction from what you have to pay

 

[Thormodr]

Charitable giving doesn’t mean you don’t pay taxes or get a 1:1 recoupment. “Writing off” something for taxes means you reduce your taxable income, not a straight subtraction from what you have to pay

Sorry, yes. I should have wrote, "It wouldn't cost them very much."

 

[aieeegrunt]

I believe Civ 6 will get one more patch. The patch will be to generate interest again for those who have moved to other games and not long after the release of the patch they will introduce the next game in the series (civ 7 or the next spin off game). If that happens then I will have bought my last Civ game and or DLC at launch or at full price period. I will wait for the next game to be completed and buy it at a discount price, if I even buy it.

I hope they at least patch the AI science typo

I got Civ6 heavily discounted which is good, because I hate all of the expansion stuff

 

[Alaindor]

I hope they at least patch the AI science typo

After one year? We should be so lucky!

Easy to edit in the xml files, but does someone know of a mod which takes care of this? Or maybe @Infixo in your next release of Real AI strategy you could take care of it (even though balance issues may not be the focus of your mod)?

 

[pokiehl]

After one year? We should be so lucky!

Easy to edit in the xml files, but does someone know of a mod which takes care of this? Or maybe @Infixo in your next release of Real AI strategy you could take care of it (even though balance issues may not be the focus of your mod)?

it’s already included in Real Strategy and there is also a standalone mod someone else made to change that value. Just search the Steam Workshop.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Easy to edit in the xml files, but does someone know of a mod which takes care of this?

April AI Science changes reverted

Or maybe @Infixo in your next release of Real AI strategy you could take care of it (even though balance issues may not be the focus of your mod)?

Infixo has already adjusted the "YIELD_SCIENCE" "ClassicalYields" from 150 to 15, and deleted from "AiFavoredItems" "ClassicalDistricts" "DISTRICT_CAMPUS", in the last update of RS back in June.

 

[Linklite]

Great, if Firaxis could just do the same for the actual game, then maybe people like aieegrunt and myself can have the fix too and stop feeling like we've been screwed.

 

[Alaindor]

Thanks @pokiehl and @Laurana Kanan , I hadn't realized @Infixo has already corrected this (didn't see it documented but maybe I read too fast).

 

[uhu]

…What? I have no idea how that relates to anything I said.

Sorry for not being here clear enough. I'll try better hint:

You’re taking it way too personally if you feel it’s personal contempt towards the fans.

Yes indeed, I agree 100%. But the code of silence imposed on Firaxis is also 2k's floccinaucinihilipilification of "own" products.
The quality of civ6 evidently suffers from the radio silence. But the game quality per se isn't very important as long as the quantity of sold copies keeps/develops enjoyable ...

Furthermore perhaps those, who decide that and the budgets, think open communication between company and fans about real game improvements is counterproductive to control efficiently marketing (hype).

Great, if Firaxis could just do the same for the actual game, then maybe people like aieegrunt and myself can have the fix too and stop feeling like we've been screwed.

Now that's again the point with "Never underestimate bureaucracy."
We have learned, "A typo is one small step for a man, one giant leap for bureaucracy."


Still it would help very much, if modders could know the current status (one more patch or not) in order to coordinate attempts to give civ6 last fanatical rites. (Holy Band-Aid or Collection of first aid)

 

[Alaindor]

floccinaucinihilipilification

Thanks, I learned a new word here, I actually thought at first you made it up!

 

[Zegangani]

Still it would help very much, if modders could know the current status (one more patch or not) in order to coordinate attempts to give civ6 last fanatical rites. (Holy Band-Aid or Collection of first aid)

Yeah, this also got me thinking if there was some kind of cooperation with Modders, like Modders signing an NDA so that they get access to the DLL, but can't use anything from the Engine for personal/commercial use or even talk about anything in the Engine (like how the the modifier system is set up), that would be very neat.
I think that would solve the assumed issue of 2K not wanting to release the DLL because of: 1) everyone could use/steal the good systems that Firaxis implemented, 2) 3rd Parties that might have something against the release of their code with the DLL, 3) Spaghetti Code...etc. They could even just handpick the (renown) Civ Modders they trust to have access to the DLL (like the Vox Populi Modders). There is always a Solution for any kind of Problem, except if they don't care at all. It might be too late for Civ6 for that, but they should at least consider it for Civ7.

 

[pokiehl]

Snip

I guess I’m unclear on how Firaxis not being as open in their communication hurts the quality of the game. What does that have to do with the development of the game?

Still it would help very much, if modders could know the current status (one more patch or not) in order to coordinate attempts to give civ6 last fanatical rites. (Holy Band-Aid or Collection of first aid)

Modders know the game is done save for a final bug fix patch. There’s not some coup de grace project waiting in the wings. We’ve done with Civ 6 what we can and want.