Did CIV mail it in RE: late stage empire development

[duddyz_dad]

First off, I'm not a CIV hater although I'm generally frustrated by the corner cutting and numerous PC crashes, especially in late stages. I just feel like one sign that Firaxis rushed this out the door is the lack of meaningful gameplay in late stage development. Here are some examples:

1) No screenshots for Apollo Program and Manhattan Project
2) Hardly any strategic use for oil (coal, horses, iron, much more important)
3) Why bother building railroads given that any city connected to a harbor gets the production bonus (assuming you're playing on a water map)?
4) No victory movies (I know they get annoying after a while but at least the initial victory didn't feel so anti-climatic)
5) Fewer wonders (Sydney Opera House??? Really? Not the Hoover Dam or Suez Canal? Who remembers Cure for Cancer from CIVIII?)
6) Not even a shout-out for the internet? Cultural spread ends with the broadcast tower?

Yeah, these are minor and don't really impact overall gameplay, but irritating nonetheless.

Now if you like warfare, you probably have no problem with late game play especially when you get to choose between a nuclear submarine vs a battleship vs an anti-tank gun vs a mechanized infantry vs a modern armor etc etc).

Overall I think CIV plays great up until the modern era and then it falls flat.

 

[SpearMan153]

1) none of the other NW have screens why should these? - maybe they should all get screens

2) oil is needed for tanks and air power (kind of important) - I agree more uses for oil would be nice though

3) you still need to connect your capital to a habour city via railroad (unless the capital is coastal). if it helps imagine the cities have a local rail network for loading unloading the boats that arrive in the habour full of building materials

4) a conscious decision was made to go with water colour style painting with voice quote over videos whether this is a good thing for not is a matter of taste/opinion

5) wonders have always come and go in the various civ releases and expansions - plus Sydney Opera house rocks (about time Australia got some civ love)

6) meh doesn't bother me - wouldn't internet decrease culture (facebook, twitter etc) - joke

Actually in civ5 you don't get decent production until late game (industrial revolution / modernisation) this is when you big core cities really come alive.

But yeah the late game could use some more spice

 

[geewcee]

Agree with most of your points OP, but am I the only one who has never had ciV crash?

 

[Babri]

Little use of oil in vanilla is really annoying.

 

[forty2j]

Of all these, the most annoying for me is 4) .. I always enjoyed all the late game stats, looking at the growth charts, doing the replay, etc..

Txt from Firaxis: "Grats!" just isn't cutting it.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Late game in Civ has never been any good.

 

[duddyz_dad]

1) none of the other NW have screens why should these? - maybe they should all get screens

2) oil is needed for tanks and air power (kind of important) - I agree more uses for oil would be nice though

3) you still need to connect your capital to a habour city via railroad (unless the capital is coastal). if it helps imagine the cities have a local rail network for loading unloading the boats that arrive in the habour full of building materials

4) a conscious decision was made to go with water colour style painting with voice quote over videos whether this is a good thing for not is a matter of taste/opinion

5) wonders have always come and go in the various civ releases and expansions - plus Sydney Opera house rocks (about time Australia got some civ love)

6) meh doesn't bother me - wouldn't internet decrease culture (facebook, twitter etc) - joke

Actually in civ5 you don't get decent production until late game (industrial revolution / modernisation) this is when you big core cities really come alive.

But yeah the late game could use some more spice

RE: #1, I didn't realize AP and MP were National Wonders. I still miss the special screenshots or videos that went with those.

RE: #2, you're right on airpower but why bother with tanks when you can load up on mech infantry and anti-tank guns?

RE: #5, I'd consider Men At Work and Midnight Oil as more significant Aussie achievements vs Sydney Opera House - joke

RE: #6, I still have a hard time accepting broadcast towers as the final pinnacle of cultural disbursement.

 

[forty2j]

RE: #6, I still have a hard time accepting broadcast towers as the final pinnacle of cultural disbursement.

Honestly I think that's a gameplay/balance thing.. once you get broadcast towers, you have more than sufficient cultural output to go ahead and win the game if that was your plan. Allowing Internet to grant additional culture might require a 6th completed social policy or something.

 

[Fizpez2]

I have to agree - the early game is kind of fun, exploration, settling, those first 2 wars or so. By the mid game you have a really good idea if youre going to win or lose (badly) - the end of the game presents no drama - its a spiritless slog to the victory condition.

About the only "stressful" time is going for a cultural where someone else might get Diplo or Space - theres nothing you can do really to speed up those last 20 turns of a cultural so you just have to ride it out.

 

[code9]

I agree with the OP except for the videos. I don't really care about those, and the drawings have a cool art style this time.