[GS] Civilization VI is boring me lately.

[CivAddict2013]

I don't know about you, but lately Civ VI is seeming like a waste of time to me. It seems like no matter what you do the AI always does better. No matter how fast you rush Writing some AI on the other continent has 3 great scientist points. No matter how much you rush Astrology, some AI beats you to religion. Just seems boring.

You just put so much effort in to making sure you're the first guy to Writing and some AI on the other continent STILL beats you to the first great scientist. That's boring.

I think the problem with Civ VI is it just has so many features that don't translate to fun.

Loyalty for instance is just no fun. Half the time the AI starts so close you can't even found a second city on a standard map without the game yelling "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY". Loyalty could work but because the game spawns everybody so close it seems like a broken mechanic. If you can settle more than 3 cities without getting "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY" that's rare.

Barbarians too. Just a mechanic that's not fun. I mean, who at Firaxis thought it was a good idea to have Barbarians running around on turn 10 with 3 horsemen? Just boring. I can handle it, but it's just boring.

The game also loves to spawn you in areas with no food, no production and no resources.

Overall, Civ VI just isn't fun anymore to me lately. It seems no matter what you do the AI is just always ahead. You rushed writing? Doesn't matter, SOME AI is somehow already producing 3 Great Scientist points.

You rushed Astrology? Doesn't matter some AI is already producing 4 Great Prophet points.

It just seems like a waste of time and effort. No matter what you do some AI is always doing better than you.

 

[Bibor]

Loyalty for instance is just no fun. Half the time the AI starts so close you can't even found a second city on a standard map without the game yelling "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY". Loyalty could work but because the game spawns everybody so close it seems like a broken mechanic. If you can settle more than 3 cities without getting "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY" that's rare.

The current mechanics were created to stop AI forward settling, which was even less fun, and loyalty mechanics work great on lower levels like King. I think your troubles stem from the fact that the Deity AI spawns with 3 settlers, and I don't think the loyalty mechanics got playtested enough to account for this.

Barbarians too. Just a mechanic that's not fun. I mean, who at Firaxis thought it was a good idea to have Barbarians running around on turn 10 with 3 horsemen? Just boring. I can handle it, but it's just boring.

The barbarian clans mode hands you some control over barbarians, and this is probably the best thing coming out of the Pass. Or just turn them off in the settings completely.

The game also loves to spawn you in areas with no food, no production and no resources.

I feel you. Nothing new there, unfortunately. Maps are truly random. Just restart till you get a decent start. I really miss the "Move capital" feature of previous civs, because that would make it "okay" to start in Crapland™.

Overall, Civ VI just isn't fun anymore to me lately. It seems no matter what you do the AI is just always ahead. You rushed writing? Doesn't matter, SOME AI is somehow already producing 3 Great Scientist points.

There's a bug in the latest patch that makes the AI overemphasize science in the early game. Can be fixed by editing the XML manually. Here's the thread:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/ai-crazy-about-science.671039/

 

[Leyrann]

Are we playing the same game?

I don't know about you, but lately Civ VI is seeming like a waste of time to me. It seems like no matter what you do the AI always does better. No matter how fast you rush Writing some AI on the other continent has 3 great scientist points. No matter how much you rush Astrology, some AI beats you to religion. Just seems boring.

You just put so much effort in to making sure you're the first guy to Writing and some AI on the other continent STILL beats you to the first great scientist. That's boring.

If anything, I feel like no matter what I do, the AI always does worse. I usually mess around for at least a hundred or a hundred and fifty turns before I start thinking about my victory condition, and still easily beat the AI to it. Usually by dozens of turns.

I will admit I can't catch up to the AI in terms of great scientists early, but to be honest I've never really tried. Spamming campuses that early just isn't a good strategy unless you have insane adjacencies. Much better to build up your infrastructure with harbors, commercial hubs and civilian units.

Loyalty for instance is just no fun. Half the time the AI starts so close you can't even found a second city on a standard map without the game yelling "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY". Loyalty could work but because the game spawns everybody so close it seems like a broken mechanic. If you can settle more than 3 cities without getting "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY" that's rare.

Can't say I recognize this at all. I easily get a continuous 10+ city empire in every game (playing on Deity for the record). I do prefer maps that are heavy on land, but it's not that much harder on a balanced map like continents or pangea.

Barbarians too. Just a mechanic that's not fun. I mean, who at Firaxis thought it was a good idea to have Barbarians running around on turn 10 with 3 horsemen? Just boring. I can handle it, but it's just boring.

You mean the 20 strength horsemen you can easily kill with warriors if you have the right card in? Barbarians in Civ 6 are pretty well-designed, imo, they can actually be a threat unlike in earlier games. The main reason for me to turn them off is actually that the AI can't handle them well on higher difficulty levels (note that barbarians spawn more units on higher difficulty).

The game also loves to spawn you in areas with no food, no production and no resources.

Uh, no?

Overall, Civ VI just isn't fun anymore to me lately. It seems no matter what you do the AI is just always ahead. You rushed writing? Doesn't matter, SOME AI is somehow already producing 3 Great Scientist points.

You rushed Astrology? Doesn't matter some AI is already producing 4 Great Prophet points.

Okay, so perhaps you don't get the first Great Prophet. Does it matter? You can still get the second, or third.

It just seems like a waste of time and effort. No matter what you do some AI is always doing better than you.

In the first 80 turns, maybe. But that's because the AI's bonuses are pretty heavily front-loaded. Just keep playing, and by the renaissance era you're caught up, and by the modern era you're miles ahead.

 

[CppMaster]

Overall, Civ VI just isn't fun anymore to me lately. It seems no matter what you do the AI is just always ahead. You rushed writing? Doesn't matter, SOME AI is somehow already producing 3 Great Scientist points.
You rushed Astrology? Doesn't matter some AI is already producing 4 Great Prophet points.
It just seems like a waste of time and effort. No matter what you do some AI is always doing better than you.

Have you tried lowering a difficulty? The AI doesn't play better on higher difficulties. It just gets more stuff for free to compensate and that is by design. Prince difficulty is the most fair. You could also try multiplayer.

Also, this is a weird assumption, that if you are not ahead in sth, you're wasting your time. You are supposed to catch up.

 

[Ordnael]

Play Skyrim in between sessions of CIV VI

Started a Immortal game (I haven't tried Deity yet) playing with the Cree against 5 other civs on a continents map setting. Who do I get for immediate neighbor? The Aztecs that's who. Who decided to parade a bonus settler in front of my scouts? The Aztecs that's who? Who thought "Well I'm gonna have problems with them anyway so let's get to business right now"? Me that's who and snatched another settler with Hippolyta later on. Life's give's you lemons, you squeeze them real hard (and get Sanguine Pact to let that juice burn the eyes of your enemies). Montezuma got friendlier some (many, many) turns later.
If I lose this game is because I couldn't be bothered to focus on winning, got a religion and all but I'm just using it defensively.

 

[aieeegrunt]

I don't know about you, but lately Civ VI is seeming like a waste of time to me. It seems like no matter what you do the AI always does better. No matter how fast you rush Writing some AI on the other continent has 3 great scientist points. No matter how much you rush Astrology, some AI beats you to religion. Just seems boring.

You just put so much effort in to making sure you're the first guy to Writing and some AI on the other continent STILL beats you to the first great scientist. That's boring.

I think the problem with Civ VI is it just has so many features that don't translate to fun.

Loyalty for instance is just no fun. Half the time the AI starts so close you can't even found a second city on a standard map without the game yelling "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY". Loyalty could work but because the game spawns everybody so close it seems like a broken mechanic. If you can settle more than 3 cities without getting "YOU ARE LOSING LOYALTY" that's rare.

Barbarians too. Just a mechanic that's not fun. I mean, who at Firaxis thought it was a good idea to have Barbarians running around on turn 10 with 3 horsemen? Just boring. I can handle it, but it's just boring.

The game also loves to spawn you in areas with no food, no production and no resources.

Overall, Civ VI just isn't fun anymore to me lately. It seems no matter what you do the AI is just always ahead. You rushed writing? Doesn't matter, SOME AI is somehow already producing 3 Great Scientist points.

You rushed Astrology? Doesn't matter some AI is already producing 4 Great Prophet points.

It just seems like a waste of time and effort. No matter what you do some AI is always doing better than you.

The AI is hilariously dumb so to compensate higher difficulty just gives it stupidly broken amounts of resources. Because a good AI takes actual work. It’s far more satisfying to play at a lower difficulty and not abuse broken mechanics like chopping

Play the basic game at a lower difficulty and a lot of the issues with this game go away. It’s worth it just to never see the World Congress again, as well as all the other broken/poorly implemented stuff like govenors, loyalty, era score etc.

But Muh Forward Settle!!!

Having defined and secured borders makes this a non issue. If the AI is settling “inside” you that means you got greedy and spread yourself out too fast by spamming settlers

But God Forbid the AI plays the same game at you

In effect you want to be able to forward settle yourself but not suffer the reverse. Live by it, die by it

 

[Socrates99]

Play Skyrim in between sessions of CIV VI

Started a Immortal game (I haven't tried Deity yet) playing with the Cree against 5 other civs on a continents map setting. Who do I get for immediate neighbor? The Aztecs that's who. Who decided to parade a bonus settler in front of my scouts? The Aztecs that's who? Who thought "Well I'm gonna have problems with them anyway so let's get to business right now"? Me that's who and snatched another settler with Hippolyta later on. Life's give's you lemons, you squeeze them real hard (and get Sanguine Pact to let that juice burn the eyes of your enemies). Montezuma got friendlier some (many, many) turns later.
If I lose this game is because I couldn't be bothered to focus on winning, got a religion and all but I'm just using it defensively.

I second this.

Or just anything else every once in a while. I'm enjoying CKIII right now myself. Fought off the Vikings as The kingdom of Alba to create a Gaelic Britain. Ivar and Hvitsirk we're a PITA. I've taken major chunks out of France and Denmark. Curious to see how far I can go before time runs out.

Every time I take a little break I enjoy civ when I come back.

 

[Ordnael]

I second this.

Or just anything else every once in a while. I'm enjoying CKIII right now myself. Fought off the Vikings as The kingdom of Alba to create a Gaelic Britain. Ivar and Hvitsirk we're a PITA. I've taken major chunks out of France and Denmark. Curious to see how far I can go before time runs out.

Every time I take a little break I enjoy civ when I come back.

Played the excellent complete version of XCOM2 for the Switch before (too bad the game doesn't run smooth...hum just like CIV VI...I see a pattern with Firaxis here!) and then NMH 3...also great. After being done with CIV VI (might play another session or not after tackling this one) for the time being, I think I'll go for Metroid Dread or maybe... Skyrim

 

[tedhebert]

Sniper Elite 5 is launching this thursday Gonna be fun playing some other kind of game, because the other games I'm playing once in a while lately are Old World and GalCiv 4
Did play a real nice CRPG for a long while, but since it's a russian product, I stopped playing it... too bad, it was a great game... but just couldn't support them with DLCs and stuff...

Civ still remain the only game I come back to, when I'm through with the other games... The replay value is out of this world, no matter how we b**** about CIV VI.

 

[Linklite]

I'm a little confused by the repeated use of "boring" by the OP.

Boring is best used for things that lack. The AI isn't providing competition, there is no challenge to settling such that you can settle anywhere. You might not like the mechanics, but that doesn't mean they're boring. You're just being challenged too much, by the sounds of it, and not liking it. Thats5not boring - boring would be setting up your first campus in t150 and still getting the first GS because there is no challenge. The phrase you're looking for is "too hard". To which problem the solution is evident - play an easier difficulty until you can get the first GS etc. If getting then first GS is what your fun is contingent upon.

 

[Naokaukodem]

The current mechanics were created to stop AI forward settling

Well, that must be kind of untrue, since it's more simple to say the AI stop forward-settling you. (if the AI did it unintentionnally, just add a "don't settle 10 tiles away the player or less" or something)

As to forward-settling being unfun, it depends. If the AI forward-settle 5 tiles away from your capital in turn 20, that means that you can have a free city with basically warriors. Who's getting fun of who already ?

It's even more obvious in multiplayer. Often I don't settle too close to other players because the time I build walls and an army to defend it that's basically throwing a settler away.

I'm a little confused by the repeated use of "boring" by the OP.

Boring is best used for things that lack. The AI isn't providing competition, there is no challenge to settling such that you can settle anywhere. You might not like the mechanics, but that doesn't mean they're boring. You're just being challenged too much, by the sounds of it, and not liking it. Thats5not boring - boring would be setting up your first campus in t150 and still getting the first GS because there is no challenge. The phrase you're looking for is "too hard". To which problem the solution is evident - play an easier difficulty until you can get the first GS etc. If getting then first GS is what your fun is contingent upon.

Well, I understand it the way "it's too hard therefore it's not fun (boring)", he simply omitted a step, because "too hard" is unpopular everywhere I see a gamer. Obviously, nobody is a fool, but that would be still giving the stick to be beaten. (and frankly, that might not even be his point, maybe he is looking for systems that can allow you to build wonders early even in Deity for example, even if that may the worst example possible since it might still happen in Civ6 due to wonders requirements, but again, it's random)

As to me, I'm almost in the same case in vanilla : science, science, science, and you're still behind. That's just because the AI puts too much time to build the spaceship that I can catch up and skyrocket in science when it's too late. I win, but that's such a hard course everytime and everything goes so fast. Science victory, and it's probably my bad, is the easiest I can conceive. I hardly build theater squares in my games. (no more than holy sites, since despite my efforts I can't seem to be able to get a prophet)

So yeah if you are like me and always goes for SV, it can be boring eventhough you're still winning.

 

[steveg700]

It just seems like a waste of time and effort. No matter what you do some AI is always doing better than you.

Well, I do sometimes get annoyed that by the time I get a pantheon, the choice ones were taken. No Desert Folklore or its ilk, certainly no Religious Settlements. Basically the only hope for baseline civ's is to hit a goody hut or maybe be the first to find multiple religious CS's. It'd be nice for the diff settings to have some granularity, so maybe one game there's no extra faith or no extra settlers. That sort of thing.

Bear in mind that once the player makes his way past the early vexations of the ancient era (like watching the first half-dozen GS's before they can get one library going), the what you're going to hear from most folks is that the game snowballs in their favor and they're the ones winning the world's fair or nobel prize with no effort. Boring in a different way.

As for barbs, the trick with them is remembering the AI will obligingly attack at extreme disadvantage. Get that +5 policy, then simply to go sit in some woods or hills and they will grind themselves down while the player heals in place. The camps are good for early era score. I sometimes find myself regretting *not* having camps. Or for that matter, CS's being too fast to clear the camps for me.

The major gripe I have for barb is that they can spawn anything that any player has researched. That's not very barbaric. In particular, those quads that can spawn in the early era are obnoxious.

 

[steveg700]

Well, that must be kind of untrue, since it's more simple to say the AI stop forward-settling you. (if the AI did it unintentionnally, just add a "don't settle 10 tiles away the player or less" or something)

Well, in many cases the AI is looking to settle near resources. Playing on higher diffs means they can often spawn settlers faster, and that lends itself to "forward settling". It's not as if their motivation is wrong. Grabbing amenities is a component of expansion. Sometimes those amenities are within ten tiles of someone else's capital. It's no less than I've done many a time. Then again, I bother to look at the loyalty penalty to know whether I can get away with it, whereas the AI seems not to.

 

[Linklite]

Well, I understand it the way "it's too hard therefore it's not fun (boring)", he simply omitted a step, because "too hard" is unpopular everywhere I see a gamer. Obviously, nobody is a fool, but that would be still giving the stick to be beaten. (and frankly, that might not even be his point, maybe he is looking for systems that can allow you to build wonders early even in Deity for example, even if that may the worst example possible since it might still happen in Civ6 due to wonders requirements, but again, it's random).

There3s a key part that is missing though, "[I find it] boring". It's his perception, not a statement about the game, really. If something is boring, it lacks the ability to engage. Watching paint dry is boring because nothing happens. Endgame Civ 6 is also boring for much the same reason. Something that is hard is not boring, because something that challenges you is not boring. Now, he may have his standards that render it boring for him, but that's on his part. I'm not saying it's invalid, but it's important to recognise that it's not a universal truth anymore - it's not really about Civ 6 per se, whether it is a fun game or not, it's about the mindset of the declarant. He's perfectly allowed to still find it boring, but it isn't something that is true outside of his experience if it's because it's too difficult. It's just that he's losing interest in the game when he's not achieving his personally set objectives. His assessment is not reflective of the game. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of games I find boring because they're too hard for me. But it's not that they are boring - the problem (if there is a problem with not enjoying a given game) is with me, not the game. I wouldn't enjoy Elden Ring or Dark Souls because they're probably too hard for me and I'd find it boring. Not because they're boring, but because of my own standards that I have to find a game fun.

In this case, it's also potentially fixable - play an easier difficulty. Maybe that will bring the difficulty window such that he can have fun because he can achieve his objectives.

 

[steveg700]

It's not even necessarily difficulty that translates into boredom. It's the monotony of gameplay that feels samey. Whether it's the early game, that makes players feel boxed-in to beelining certain techs or certain bold orders or knowing they'll likely get stack with a booby-prize pantheon, OR the late game where the AI throws a half-dozen spaceports and then somehow never gets to completing all the projects needed to get to Mars.

 

[Ordnael]

Well, in many cases the AI is looking to settle near resources. Playing on higher diffs means they can often spawn settlers faster, and that lends itself to "forward settling". It's not as if their motivation is wrong. Grabbing amenities is a component of expansion. Sometimes those amenities are within ten tiles of someone else's capital. It's no less than I've done many a time. Then again, I bother to look at the loyalty penalty to know whether I can get away with it, whereas the AI seems not to.

In my sessions I find that the AI utterly sucks at settling near resources and worse than that if, for some star alignment, they find luxury resources in the vicinity they won't start exploring them until after the middle ages (with some exceptions). And mid to late game they settle just because reasons...totally ignoring water resources. I make a killing at selling extra luxury...so keep at it

 

[Linklite]

It's not even necessarily difficulty that translates into boredom. It's the monotony of gameplay that feels samey. Whether it's the early game, that makes players feel boxed-in to beelining certain techs or certain bold orders or knowing they'll likely get stack with a booby-prize pantheon, OR the late game where the AI throws a half-dozen spaceports and then somehow never gets to completing all the projects needed to get to Mars.

To be honest, whenever s game offers a list of choices (like pantheons), it always seems like there are a small handful of must-haves while there is a long list of mediocre ones. I'm into D&D at the moment, and feats are the same. There are one or two that are top picks for your class, then the rest are boring or marginal. Everything I get to an ASI I don't need or the DM offers me a feat, I get excited, look at the two dozen or so feats on offer, and consign myself to the same feat I always get because none of the others are particularly good. It sucks when only a few are particularly good for youm and it does such the fun out of it.

One of the things I'm hoping for the next Civ I get is that they'll make the techcand civic trees more diversified. You actually make choices which change what happens later. They kind of had it with 6, but youvalways end up researching Al,post everything anyway because everything requires almost everything else. I'd prefer to have a bit more pick 'n' choose, with consequences for which ones you actually choose. At the moment, it feels a bit samey.

 

[tedhebert]

One of the things I'm hoping for the next Civ I get is that they'll make the techcand civic trees more diversified. You actually make choices which change what happens later. They kind of had it with 6, but youvalways end up researching Al,post everything anyway because everything requires almost everything else. I'd prefer to have a bit more pick 'n' choose, with consequences for which ones you actually choose. At the moment, it feels a bit samey.

Without completely addressing this, I must say that one of the very few things NFP DID get right is the tech/civic shuffle mode. I always have it on, and it really has an effect on games I'm playing. Hope they learned a little with this mode

 

[steveg700]

One of the things I'm hoping for the next Civ I get is that they'll make the techcand civic trees more diversified. You actually make choices which change what happens later. They kind of had it with 6, but youvalways end up researching Al,post everything anyway because everything requires almost everything else. I'd prefer to have a bit more pick 'n' choose, with consequences for which ones you actually choose. At the moment, it feels a bit samey.

Two different deals tho. With pantheons, it's a race to get a desirable pantheon. With D&D, the choices are all available.

It's reasonable to say that the reward for first place is better than that for last place. The big problem with the pantheon race is that it's a race with no real way for a player to accelerate. Maybe the player will find a tribal village that will give them +20 faith. So Religious Settlements basically amounts to giving one of the AI civ's yet another free settler.

With D&D, the designers don't really want to provide a wealth of choices. Two good choices is plenty as far as they're concerned. They want the choices to be straightforward. They offer the other weaker choices for those who want options to create the character they envision. Those players don't make choices solely on the consideration of what's optimal. The person who creates a vampire slayer accepts that there will be a lot of time spent *not* fighting the living dead.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Definitely agree with @Linklite above -- boring can come in multiple dimensions.

The "grind" that comes with many video/computer games is not very engaging. Performing many repetitive tasks, such as intercepting barbarian scouts again and again, can be boring.

Digging oneself out of a hole, such as a bad starting location or fending off a DOW before you're prepared, can be un-fun. Some people relish the challenge; others say to themselves, "I'm working too hard. Again." If one perceives that they have to dig out of a hole 2, 3, 4 games in a row, it feels boring.

I deliberately play at lower difficulty settings, since I don't like digging myself out of a hole very much.