Fall 2017 Update Info

[masda_gib]

https://civilization.com/news/entries#religion-gets-a-reboot-in-the-civilization-vi-fall-2017-update

From Firaxis themselves!

 

[Haig]

Happy for religion changes, but what I'm most excited is the AI enchancements for them building bigger fleets, armadas, launching coastal attacks etc.! Finally!

 

[masda_gib]

We get:

- 2 new pantheons
- new beliefs
- a warrior monk combat unit and a "guru" religious unit which heals other religious units
- Religious units exert ZOC and gain flanking/support bonusses

- UI improvements
- better naval AI

- a hint that the coming new Civ will be naval focussed?

 

[TomKQT]

The religious combat would also be more fun if the units could get promotions from it.

 

[Art Morte]

I'm sure I'm not in the spirit of things, but sounds horsehocky to me.

AI going to be better with its naval units? Yeah, for the AI to be actually efficient with its naval units would require a miracle. What about the AI being better with its basic units? Yeah, nothing about that. The AI being "better with its naval units" sounds shallow if the best we can expect is land-unit level... Which is the biggest thing that's holding the game down.

No more laughable gossip messages as in "Civ x just received a delegation from.. you". When You just send them a delegation. And this is called an improvement? That I'm no longer notified when I've just sent a delegation somewhere? What a mind-blowing update...

 

[WorldWarIV]

Since the last patch I kind of lost interest and I'm not sure this patch will help any.

 

[54teltakt]

Didn't rel. units have flanking bonuses before?
i doubt that naval ars will be better the ai will just build them like they do with planes but wont attack propper anyway. but id be happy to be correceted....

 

[spfun]

I rarely go for religion and tend to play Pangaea most of the time, so probably won't effect me to much. Everytime they say they've improved the AI the improvement turns out to be nearly unnoticeable, hopefully this will be different though i'm not optimistic, Naval AI badly needs to be improved since 1UPT... But all combat AI has needed improvement since 1UPT.

Hopefully they actually test this patch for bugs... Last patch was awful.

 

[TomKQT]

So far I'm also not very excited about this patch, but we will see. Religious combat requires some work, but adding more religious units isn't really what I would ask for. Changing the religious lens? Hell yea, that current one is annoying as hell. Making the combat more similar to the standard military combat? Yes. But as I already said, I would REALLY welcome if religious units could get promotions from combat.
Adding more religious units will just complicate this already "secondary" and "extra" combat layer, I'm not sure it will really improve it.

Better naval combat? The game needs this, but will it really happen?

 

[Victoria]

If the fundamental religious rush has not changed the update will likely suit lower immersion levels and have little change on immortal deity where the AI is already wasting time on religion.
While I welcome AI fleets and armadas that does indicate less land units for Pangea players and a general strat of stay away from the coast and you will be better off. Head on a navy can be daunting but does it understand first strike?
UI and diplomacy I can only hope for... significant artwork changes is not something that gets me excited.
... hopefully they have cleared up the uselessness of ceding cities.... not convinced.

 

[Kataklysm]

I have to admit I'm not over enthusiastic about this one. A religion overhaul sounds good but playing on the higher levels means you almost never found a religion, so...
Also, it looks like the new units and religious combat will only make it less historically accurate. Warrior monks flanking, let's say, swordmen? Mmmh. Not sure.

New naval civ... could it be the Ottomans? Or Polynesia?

Let's wait for more details, but i'm not too optimistic.

 

[RohirrimElf]

I`m liking the gossip changes. Makes me want to try france for the first time and really focus on espionage. I`ve never bothered to read my neighbour building a shrine.

Hoping the AI changes to naval combat will make naval invasions happen. I`ve yet to see the AI capture one of my cities in a coordinated land battle when i`m half prepared. So i remain hopefull but sceptical.

 

[Victoria]

To clarify.... religious units use the normal combat table. Support and flanking will be only vs other religious units.... sort of a monks dancing around the maypole in formation before whipping in for a good tongue lashing.

As realistic as a rubber horse

 

[RohirrimElf]

I have to admit I'm not over enthusiastic about this one. A religion overhaul sounds good but playing on the higher levels means you almost never found a religion, so...
Also, it looks like the new units and religious combat will only make it less historically accurate. Warrior monks flanking, let's say, swordmen? Mmmh. Not sure.

New naval civ... could it be the Ottomans? Or Polynesia?

Let's wait for more details, but i'm not too optimistic.

I`m not having to much trouble founding a religion on immortal while not playing Saladin. I tend to get it on the first or second prophet if my holy site gets a production bonus as a nations trait (Russia for example). I`m choosing divine spark for prophet point as pantheon.

 

[Art Morte]

To clarify.... religious units use the normal combat table. Support and flanking will be only vs other religious units.... sort of a monks dancing around the maypole in formation before whipping in for a good tongue lashing.

As realistic as a rubber horse

I think it's a mistake to build around this religious combat. It's so simple and unexciting. We have some monk units now? Does nothing for me. How many players are seriously excited about religious play? Religious combat? The fundamental problem is that religion isn't a matter of a handful of people (missionaries and apostles) "fighting it out" between themselves. The devs trying to enhance this part of the game just doesn't feel exciting to me. Religion is made out to be so simple in this game. I wish the AI was as aggressive with its military, but it all sounds like the useless religion game has been given even more attention.

 

[Amrunril]

It will be very interesting to see how this turns out. The game could definitely use more religious beliefs, especially follower beliefs, which lack a lot of variety compared to Civ V. I don't small tweaks to the religious combat system will be much of an improvement though. The fundamental problem with this system is that it will almost never happen between competent players, as fighting and losing sets you much further back than simply not fighting.

As for UI changes, improvements are always welcome, but its impossible to draw any real conclusions without actually seeing what the changes are. Balance improvements would also be welcome (especially regarding district costs, specialists/tall cities, and the timing of difficulty bonuses) but since nothing specific is mentioned, I suspect we'll just see some of the smaller sort of changes we've gotten in recent patches.

 

[Gort]

I’m Sarah Darney with the dev team

It's like they know we actually want to hear from the game devs, but they still shove a marketing manager out to say the words.

 

[Kyro]

Religious combat is nothing more than a reflection of military combat termed differently. It doesn't speak well of religions and does nothing to add variety in the game. Instead of trying to improve on something dead I rather they revamped it entirely. We get it wars have happened in the name of religion that doesn't mean you lump the two together; as if to say Religion and War are inseparable. This is insulting really, to take advantage of what is historically meant for good and turn into an excuse for combat in the game.

Religion doesn't cause wars. It is the politicizing of religion that leads to war. How about making a Religious Victory completely devoid of killing people which is a fundamental moral principle behind the majority of religions in the world?

When people envision a religious victory, do they really see it built on heaps of corpses and rivers of blood? At least provide a functionally powerful alternative where that isn't the case but alas no, the fastest way to spread religion is to kill and destroy. Disappointing.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

It's like they know we actually want to hear from the game devs, but they still shove a marketing manager out to say the words.

She was the Associate Producer, now she's the Marketing Manager.

 

[Gort]

She was the Associate Producer, now she's the Marketing Manager.

Like I said, she's a marketing manager, not a developer. I'd like to hear from the dev team at Firaxis, which is presumably why she introduced herself as "with the dev team". She is not with the dev team, she's in marketing.