Civilization VI Coming to Nintendo Switch November 16

sadsquid

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https://civilization.com/news/entries/civilization-vi-nintendo-switch-console-november-16-2018/

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, winner of The Game Awards’ Best Strategy Game, DICE Awards’ Best Strategy Game and the latest entry in the prestigious Civilization franchise, is coming to Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018.

Originally created by legendary game designer, Sid Meier, Civilization is a turn-based strategy game in which you build an empire to stand the test of time. Explore a new land, research technology, conquer your enemies, and go head-to-head with history’s most renowned leaders as you attempt to build the greatest civilization the world has ever known.

And now on Nintendo Switch, the quest to victory in Civilization VI can take place wherever and whenever players want.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI for Nintendo Switch includes the latest game updates and improvements, and four pieces of additional content which adds four new civilizations, leaders, and scenarios:

  • Vikings Scenario Pack
  • Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack
  • Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
  • Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack
Key features for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI on Nintendo Switch include:

  • PLAY YOUR WAY: The path to victory is the one you determine. Become the most scientifically advanced civilization, dominate through sheer military power, or become the foremost destination for the cultural arts.
  • THE WORLD’S GREATEST LEADERS: Play as one of 24 different leaders from various countries around the world and throughout history. Build an empire of lucrative trade routes with Cleopatra of Egypt, flex the military might of your legions with Trajan of Rome, or develop a powerhouse of culture with Hojo Tokimune of Japan. Each of the leaders can be played any way you prefer, with unique abilities, units, and infrastructure in their quest for victory.
  • EXPANSIVE EMPIRES: See the marvels of your empire spread across the map. Settle in uncharted lands, improve your surroundings, build new districts, and see your cities – and your civilization – prosper.
  • ACTIVE RESEARCH: Unlock boosts that speed your civilization’s progress through history. To advance more quickly, use your units to actively explore, develop your environment, and discover new cultures.
  • DYNAMIC DIPLOMACY: Interactions with other civilizations change over the course of the game, from primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life, to late game alliances and negotiations.
  • EXCITING AND UNIQUE SCENARIOS: Civilization VI for Nintendo Switch includes four playable scenarios, each with a different setting and style of gameplay inspired by history. Be part of the colonization of Australia in “Outback Tycoon,” defend Poland from invaders in “Jadwiga’s Legacy”, choose a Viking leader to plunder Europe in “Vikings, Raiders, and Traders!”, or conquer the known world in the “Conquests of Alexander.”
  • COOPERATIVE AND COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER: Up to 4 players can cooperate or compete for supremacy via a wireless LAN.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI will be available on Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up by the ESRB, and is available now on Windows PC. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is also available on iPad, Mac and Linux from Aspyr Media.



Kinda out of nowhere news! I wonder how well it will run on Switch, given it's not exactly a powerhouse and Civ VI doesn't run super smoothly in the late game even on powerful PC hardware. Possibly based on the iPad version maybe?

I do also wonder how they'll handle the expansion(s). It's nice it comes with the dlc for free, but playing vanilla Civ VI after having Rise and Fall won't quite be the same.
 
Interesting! I had imagined this would be a possibility since the iOS version was announced, but didn’t expect it so soon.

I’ll wait and see what reviewers make of this port, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t work in principle. Given it already runs ok on iPad (presumably with smaller map sizes), and that the Switch’s own touchscreen is 720p, I think the performance would scale fine. The interface is what I’m wondering about—the Switch has a touchscreen, but is more naturally used with the Joy-Cons, or indeed a gamepad when it is docked. The UI would need to take a few lessons from the old Revolutions game to be good with a controller, I think.

But if it all turns out well, then Civ on the move is a very enticing prospect indeed!

I do also wonder how they'll handle the expansion(s). It's nice it comes with the dlc for free, but playing vanilla Civ VI after having Rise and Fall won't quite be the same.

I think each expansion and DLC needs to be ported separately, similar to how there was a delay bringing them to the Mac and to the iPad (which doesn't have R&F yet either).

But the Nintendo eShop handles DLC for other games just fine, so as and when the expansion and the rest of the DLC is ported, it can be added for purchase on the Switch.
 
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Okay Now this has me interested, I would love to see how it handles on the switch
 
I think the Switch suddenly got interesting, cheaper than an Ipad.
 
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Darn, that game sounds awesome, on paper.
 
I hope VI's 2nd expansion and future Civ games will still be developed with the capabilities of PC at the forefront of Firaxis' thinking. I wouldn't want console/iPad versions to tone down or hold back what Civ has been so far.
 
Darn, that game sounds awesome, on paper.

Actually, this may be a case of truth in advertising. If you read how they're selling the game, some of the game design choices make a lot more sense.


PLAY YOUR WAY: The path to victory is the one you determine.

They're not claiming there will be any difficulty to achieve that victory, or challenges in the way. They're selling an experience where you can choose your own path to victory, varying each game by the way you achieve that victory.


THE WORLD’S GREATEST LEADERS: Play as one of 24 different leaders from various countries around the world and throughout history ... Each of the leaders can be played any way you prefer, with unique abilities, units, and infrastructure in their quest for victory.


Again, the selling point is flexibility in how you win. Gandhi the warmongering? Sure. Genghis the religious disciple? Why not?

Also, they don't mention anything about the various leaders being different to play against. Only to play as.


EXPANSIVE EMPIRES: See the marvels of your empire spread across the map.

Yup. You can (and should) do this in Civ 6. No mention about creating the marvels of giant mega cities (which you can also do, but which has less impact than investing the same amount of resources in conquering or settling a new city).

ACTIVE RESEARCH: Unlock boosts that speed your civilization’s progress through history. To advance more quickly, use your units to actively explore, develop your environment, and discover new cultures.

Accurate.


DYNAMIC DIPLOMACY: Interactions with other civilizations change over the course of the game, from primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life, to late game alliances and negotiations.

A bit more subjective here, but what they've said seems fair. Two things to note:
  • "primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life": wonder why every civ you meet Warrior rushes you at the beginning of the game? (okay, per the other thread, maybe not Gandhi, but everyone other than Gandhi.) That may be more of a conscious game design feature than I realized. Rather than simply an AI evaluation of the possible benefits of going to war, it may be intended as part of the game experience. In which case, the tendency of the AI to then ignore you in the later part of the game may be the other side of that same game experience.
  • At no point do they suggest that this diplomacy will vary based on who the other leaders are. Variety is being sold as variety in how you play the game, not variety in how the other leaders respond to you.


So all in all, I'd say Civ 6 provides the game play experience it's being sold to provide. My personal disappointment with the game comes from it not providing the experience past iterations of the series provide. That's on me, for making assumptions based on "Sid Meier's Civilization" being in the title. Civ 6's been designed to provide a different experience. And based on the number of people who love it, I'd guess it does a good job of that.
 
"primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life": wonder why every civ you meet Warrior rushes you at the beginning of the game?

Don't get me started on advertising... ;) But I just want to comment on this line since I had an amusing game the other day. Playing China I find the Mongols (and Scythia) as my neighbors, last time I had Mongols as my neighbor didn't end well but I had a reasonable defensive bottleneck with two separate mountains between us. So I set up a Maginot Line with great wall tiles and an encampment, even b-lined for the pikemen to hold of his cavalry and everything.
He never attacks me, only Scythia, and was a soon an ally which held for the rest of the game. :lol:
 
Don't get me started on advertising... ;) But I just want to comment on this line since I had an amusing game the other day. Playing China I find the Mongols (and Scythia) as my neighbors, last time I had Mongols as my neighbor didn't end well but I had a reasonable defensive bottleneck with two separate mountains between us. So I set up a Maginot Line with great wall tiles and an encampment, even b-lined for the pikemen to hold of his cavalry and everything.
He never attacks me, only Scythia, and was a soon an ally which held for the rest of the game. :lol:

Funny you say that. One of the things I observed in my deity test games, but didn't have enough data points to confirm was really a thing or not, is that one of my neighbours would attack me (usually twice, a Warrior rush and then a subsequent Knight rush, because I wouldn't take cities from them during the first war) while the others didn't. It almost seemed like the game would pick one of your neighbours to be the early aggressor, while the others left you alone.

Like I said, this was consistent for the deity test games I ran, but I didn't have enough situations with multiple early neighbours to draw a strong conclusion on this.
 
damn this would have been amazing in that direct that was going to happen yesterday. damn earthquakes and you love of japan.
 
one of my neighbours would attack me (usually twice, a Warrior rush and then a subsequent Knight rush, because I wouldn't take cities from them during the first war) while the others didn't

I play on emperor. But in this game both Mongolia and Scythia were steadfast allies even as Mongolia was pushing the Scythia into the sea.
 
I guess I'll be the curmudgeon that has to say it: this is an embarrassment for what was a formerly proud franchise. Score another point for those that said this game has been dumbed-down; now it's on the platform for toddlers. Any pretense of this as a strategy game is long gone. Thankfully there's always Civ IV to remember.
 
I guess I'll be the curmudgeon that has to say it: this is an embarrassment for what was a formerly proud franchise. Score another point for those that said this game has been dumbed-down; now it's on the platform for toddlers. Any pretense of this as a strategy game is long gone. Thankfully there's always Civ IV to remember.
You mean like killing the whole world with three tanks in CivII?
 
I've been expecting this announcement for ages! Civ 6 is a perfect choice for a console like Switch, but I won't buy it until Rise and Fall is released.
 
I hope VI's 2nd expansion and future Civ games will still be developed with the capabilities of PC at the forefront of Firaxis' thinking. I wouldn't want console/iPad versions to tone down or hold back what Civ has been so far.

If Civ VI is proof of anything, it's that the full depth of a PC strategy experience can be brought to multiple platforms without much compromise.

I guess I'll be the curmudgeon that has to say it: this is an embarrassment for what was a formerly proud franchise. Score another point for those that said this game has been dumbed-down; now it's on the platform for toddlers. Any pretense of this as a strategy game is long gone. Thankfully there's always Civ IV to remember.

That you think the Switch is a platform "for toddlers" speaks only about your prejudice. The idea that something cannot be a strategy game on a handheld or console is nonsense.
 
I guess I'll be the curmudgeon that has to say it: this is an embarrassment for what was a formerly proud franchise. Score another point for those that said this game has been dumbed-down; now it's on the platform for toddlers. Any pretense of this as a strategy game is long gone. Thankfully there's always Civ IV to remember.

These days the toddler platform is anything with fortnite & CoD, so pretty much anything. Nintendo has been the nostalgic choice for late teens/early 20s, not the kiddie choice, for about 3 gens, kids don't even like nintendo anymore
 
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