Civilization VII Gameplay Showcase August 20

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

"Natural evolution". Age of Wonders and Heroes of Might and Magic have been doing this for almost three decades.

this is exactly the system what ingame army should be organized--limited stackings.

 

[nakzox]

The last thing I want from a 4X is for it to turn into XCOM when it comes to battles. I love XCOM, don't get me wrong, but that is not why I am playing Civ.

Also from what I gather, a game like AOW doesn't take as long as Civ. When you're playing a 300+ turn game, do I really want to make it longer by going even deeper into combat when I'm at war?

Finally, Civ is supposed to be the more "approachable" 4X. It's where pretty much everyone starts with this genre. I don't think putting something like that into a game like Civ is a good call.

 

[Leyrann]

Also from what I gather, a game like AOW doesn't take as long as Civ. When you're playing a 300+ turn game, do I really want to make it longer by going even deeper into combat when I'm at war?

It has fewer turns but I would say individual turns are longer. Overall, I'm not sure which game takes longer to complete a single play-through. I'd say it's roughly equal, in fact. At least with my playstyle - other playstyles may lead to different experiences.

 

[Leucarum]

The big problem I find with battle mini-games is that it means players effectively have to enjoy two separate games to get maximum enjoyment out of the title.

This gets compounded by the question of how much emphasis goes into the combat mini-game. Too little and you end up with something superficial which begs the question of whether it added much (e.g. humankind) Too much and you end up with what is effectively a separate game (like age of wonders I think, though I struggled to gwt into it) or something which is the real game and the 4X component the side-show (like total war)... And then you had better hope the player is into the 2nd game you're offering - which inevitably isn't going to be universal.

I'm sure there will be a reply that combat as it is in Civ is by definition a minigame, even if it stays on the same map and that's absolutely true. But civ's heavily abstracted style is one which feels seamless, and players are familiar with - so they'd usually know if they like or not going into civ. The combat minigame is more of a mystery box which I've yet to open and be happy with - total war comes closest for me.

Also on my bingo card for this thread: something something 1UPT angry gnashing of teeth something something.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1823417719641006461

A new blurry video to analyze

 

[pokiehl]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1823417719641006461

A new blurry video to analyze

I wonder if that is in-game/in-engine footage. Maybe a unique zoomed in camera angle we can use?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I wonder if that is in-game/in-engine footage. Maybe a unique zoomed in camera angle we can use?

I think it is in-game footage, but I doubt we can zoom in that much at that angle. It wouldn't be a very useful perspective except for a photo mode anyway.

 

[Xandinho]

It wouldn't be a very useful perspective except for a photo mode anyway.

I think they could make great social media screenshots and video thumbnails.

 

[TempusFugit]

I love tactical battles in the Heroes of Might and Magic and Age of Wonders series, and even the opaque and non-intuitive battle system in the old Master of Magic can be a lot of fun, if you understand the mechanics behind it. But I hope tactical battles never enters the mainline Civilization series.

Civilization as it is today is time-consuming enough. Having a separate battle screen for every encounter could potentially increase the time spent on each game by a lot. Moving units around, already takes up way too much time in Civ 5 and 6 when you are playing a larger map, and also have some imperialistic ambitions.

Waging war and taking the cities of your enemies, is some of the most fun you can have in these games. But it can also become a slog and a damper when it becomes too repetitive and time-consuming. I think Civilization 3 had the best battle system so far. It was quite simple, but the combination of the basic stats of the units, the advantages of certain terrain and cities, the good use of randomness and the AI actually being able to put up a fight, gave the game a good balance between tactics, speed and the feeling of warfare taking place.

 

[The_J]

I think we can savely conclude that the next Civ game will include ships. And water.

 

[Nikolai II]

I think we can savely conclude that the next Civ game will include ships. And water.

So, so much water.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

There's something on a snow tile on right just at the end. I can make out some trees, dirt, and what might be a box or hut.

My best guess is a Tribal Village.

 

[ButtBillionaire]

With this and the previous blurry screenshot, I'm getting the gut feeling that they're making a point of being able to zoom in that far. I assume they could've done the same with Civ6 for marketing purposes, but the original pre-release screenshots for that game were all at standard levels of zoom.

 

[TempusFugit]

Giving out tiny, blurry appetizers like this, is definitely a nice and clever way of increasing hype among the fans before the great reveal.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

ARA, due out about a month after Civ VII's 20 Aug date, makes a point of allowing extreme Zoom In to show all the details of their map and battles. Civ VII might be doing the same thing for both aesthetic and practical reasons, allowing you to examine, for exmple, a city tile to see what buildings it has in it or 'expand' a battle in a single tile - just guessing here, since we know absolutely nothing about game mechanics yet.

Being typically obscure, the shot shows a single-masted roundship with high stem and stern castles, which makes it certainly a Nef, Caravel, Cocha, or developed Cog or Hulk. That narrows it down to practically any European sailing vessel from 1000 to 1400 CE. Given what Civ has used for that period before, I'd bet on it being a relatively early Caravel.

 

[Haig]

On the left side there is some ice like there is on the far corners of map in Civ VI.

I think on right side we see a city on the distance.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

ARA, due out about a month after Civ VII's 20 Aug date, makes a point of allowing extreme Zoom In to show all the details of their map and battles. Civ VII might be doing the same thing for both aesthetic and practical reasons, allowing you to examine, for exmple, a city tile to see what buildings it has in it or 'expand' a battle in a single tile - just guessing here, since we know absolutely nothing about game mechanics yet.

Being typically obscure, the shot shows a single-masted roundship with high stem and stern castles, which makes it certainly a Nef, Caravel, Cocha, or developed Cog or Hulk. That narrows it down to practically any European sailing vessel from 1000 to 1400 CE. Given what Civ has used for that period before, I'd bet on it being a relatively early Caravel.

It's a cog to me. a 13th Century variants I think. with axial rudder.

So will this be the first time Cog is used in Civ series as combat naval unit? this design of vessel did shown up in Civ5 as trade ship.
But replacing 'Medieval Galley' with cog in the middle ages isn't really a do. since two units did coexists as combat unit. to the North Carracks replaced galleys, in the Mediterranean, galleys were phased out much later, and likely by bigger galleon or tall ships of derivated designs of the 18th Century. (though Danish Kingdom did replace a fleet of longships with highside cogs by 14th Century )

*this Medieval Galley (of the Northern Style) could be 5-8 meters wide and nearly 40 meters long, (Nearly the same dimensions as Olympias Trireme but wider hull with long, movable rowing benches (rather than 'built in planks') ) especially the English Galleys of 1295 ordered by King Edward I 'Long Shanks' to response with French Naval Base just sprung up at the very opposite site of the Channel, one that's also a shipyard to build Mediterranean style 'Sweeps Galley' with totally different construction techniques to the North Atlantics), with this English Royal Fleet has to consists of similiarly big galleys. However since England at that time has no centralized naval base, and King of England didn't yet getting a hands on any Italian shipwrights, they instead turned towards local shipbuilding guilds and had to either replicate Viking or Norman designs or adapt with local Nef designs which shipwrights at that time are already known, and write specifications with comparable dimensions to italian galleys.

Holy Ghost 1227 by Ferrus Manus - FINISHED - Revell - 1/50 - PLASTIC - English Nef

I'm sure you have heard of this kit before, as it is pretty common. This is the Revell 1/50 Viking Ship, intended to be loosely based on the Gokstad ship. However, my copy of this model is a lot more special than the ordinary thing, because it has a great backstory. You see, the pastor of my chur...

modelshipworld.com

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

While it's not a literal caravel (it really looks more like a carrack to me), it does fit close enough to the early renaissance ocean-going vessel type that Firaxis will call it by their traditional name for these units: caravel.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

While it's not a literal caravel (it really looks more like a carrack to me), it does fit close enough to the early renaissance ocean-going vessel type that Firaxis will call it by their traditional name for these units: caravel.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. it's too fat to be a caravel. and it has a single mast. and Caravel as per original Portuguese definition (since Caravel is originated there.) began with two masts, lateen rigged, and NEVER has fewer than two masts (for a good reasons, to tap more winds for faster or steadier navigations. this due to a lesson learned by Gil Eannes who beat Cape Bojador back in 1434 using simpler vessel referred only to as 'Barca' or 'Barcha' (and possibly have oars, similiar to 'barges' of 13th Century as per ship construction order given by King of England in 1295.. see my previous post, there's a YT clip which i'm reallly analized it to death while making medieval warships models for Civ6 modding.)
@raen will fill us more on this. especially how should caravel looks like and how not (or even if everyone else mislabled a sailer with similiar size and hull type, same build (flush smooth sided plank rather than clinker builts). He's a reeeeeal expert of Earlymodern Naval history particularly when it comes to Caravel and Portuguese Carracks (Naus).

^ A Working original caravel in action. REAL action. crewed by REAL men. and a very manpower efficiency sailers are compared to galleys when it comes to explorations. a galley of any kind only have about a ration lasts for half a month, (or one month. or a little more, since Vikings sailed all the way from Baltic to Italy and Constantinople through west Atlantic route using their Longships (of either Sneckjarr or Drekkar types, i think latter since it can hold more supplies that could last about a year or so). Harald Silgurson came to Miklingrad (Constantinople) and got a merc job there through his longship full of fighting men (whom also rows as oarsmen when ship captain orders to do so) and a handful of sailors.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. it's too fat to be a caravel. and it has a single mast. and Caravel as per original Portuguese definition (since Caravel is originated there.) began with two masts, lateen rigged, and NEVER has fewer than two masts (for a good reasons, to tap more winds for faster or steadier navigations. this due to a lesson learned by Gil Eannes who beat Cape Bojador back in 1434 using simpler vessel referred only to as 'Barca' or 'Barcha' (and possibly have oars, similiar to 'barges' of 13th Century as per ship construction order given by King of England in 1295.. see my previous post, there's a YT clip which i'm reallly analized it to death while making medieval warships models for Civ6 modding.)
@raen will fill us more on this. especially how should caravel looks like and how not (or even if everyone else mislabled a sailer with similiar size and hull type, same build (flush smooth sided plank rather than clinker builts). He's a reeeeeal expert of Earlymodern Naval history particularly when it comes to Caravel and Portuguese Carracks (Naus).

^ A Working original caravel in action. REAL action. crewed by REAL men. and a very manpower efficiency sailers are compared to galleys when it comes to explorations. a galley of any kind only have about a ration lasts for half a month, (or one month. or a little more, since Vikings sailed all the way from Baltic to Italy and Constantinople through west Atlantic route using their Longships (of either Sneckjarr or Drekkar types, i think latter since it can hold more supplies that could last about a year or so). Harald Silgurson came to Miklingrad (Constantinople) and got a merc job there through his longship full of fighting men (whom also rows as oarsmen when ship captain orders to do so) and a handful of sailors.

The point was that it doesn't have to look exactly like a caravel. It just has to have approximate designs common to vessels in the time period, and Firaxis will use the name Caravel because it is Civ tradition.