Features we don't know about yet in civ7

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

Yeah only gameplay will tell if THAT ever really happens... I mean for the player of course. For far lands AI civ, if it is confirmed they don't participate in exp but will in modern, then yes maybe it could become a nice option I agree

EDIT: For the record, I'm pretty convinced it will never be an interesting option for the player, unless I grossly misunderstood the stream

I mean, for Exploration, if you decide not to interact with the Distant Lands, Economic and Militaristic Dark Age bonuses are going to be pretty easy to get. Playing incredibly wide will make Scientific avoidable, and Cultural depends on collecting a resource you only gain reliable access to after researching a civic on the Religion tree. I think there are definitely times when it will come up.

 

[Siptah]

And probably with a return of the Great People

I could see France having Great Artists that create unique great works that count as artifacts to the legacy path in the base game.

 

[Isengardtom]

I mean, for Exploration, if you decide not to interact with the Distant Lands, Economic and Militaristic Dark Age bonuses are going to be pretty easy to get. Playing incredibly wide will make Scientific avoidable, and Cultural depends on collecting a resource you only gain reliable access to after researching a civic on the Religion tree. I think there are definitely times when it will come up.

Same with cultural in Antiquity- if you don’t build any wonders (or max 1 wonder) you don’t get a legacy point

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I could see France having Great Artists that create unique great works that count as artifacts to the legacy path in the base game.

Meiji could too, to reflect the Japonisme craze of the early Meiji period.

 

[Jeppetto]

Well, if I understood correctly in the modern stream, using a Dark Age legacy (ONE) will forfeit ALL your legacy points. I fail to see how that can ever be an interesting choice !

I was also schocked by this since it already features a malus of its own. But I also do not understand why I have to spend points on Golden Age. I could understand mutual exclusivity, so only either DA or GA and only one. But like this it sort of kills the desicion making.

 

[moysturfurmer]

I was also schocked by this since it already features a malus of its own. But I also do not understand why I have to spend points on Golden Age. I could understand mutual exclusivity, so only either DA or GA and only one. But like this it sort of kills the desicion making.

Purely in terms of gameplay variety, I feel like it would be better if picking a Dark Age legacy just capped the rest of your spendable points to 1 each. That way you’re still weighing a cost/benefit, but there’s still room for different kinds of builds from game to game. Hard to say whether or not it’d be balanced, but in a game with so much freedom of choice, is feels gross to get railroaded into a single specific bonus across each game.

Have we seen Lenses yet? Like a toggle to see the your territory in distinct colors and such?

 

[Isengardtom]

I was also schocked by this since it already features a malus of its own. But I also do not understand why I have to spend points on Golden Age. I could understand mutual exclusivity, so only either DA or GA and only one. But like this it sort of kills the desicion making.

I imagine this is something where a lot of balancing will be done. I for one would not mind trying the modern age with just a dark age legacy choice and nothing else

 

[Jeppetto]

I imagine this is something where a lot of balancing will be done. I for one would not mind trying the modern age with just a dark age legacy choice and nothing else

Under those circumstances, it would have to be hell of a bonus. The one shown is nice but not worth no Legacy Points AND -50% Influence.

 

[Evolena]

Have we seen Lenses yet? Like a toggle to see the your territory in distinct colors and such?

During the Exploration Age stream, they showed the Continent lense. There were also a Settler one, but that's all (in that build, more could come before launch).

 

[Isengardtom]

Under those circumstances, it would have to be hell of a bonus. The one shown is nice but not worth no Legacy Points AND -50% Influence.

I agree but you could see it as an additional challenge.
Certainly not great for all games but I quite like this kind of potential strategy.

That was the issue with Civ 6 for me: once the snowball started rolling the challenge and fun was often over for me.
In both directions. If some AI and barb attack was killing your progression you’d often not recover anymore because the rest was snowballing.

 

[Krikkit1]

I agree but you could see it as an additional challenge.
Certainly not great for all games but I quite like this kind of potential strategy.

That was the issue with Civ 6 for me: once the snowball started rolling the challenge and fun was often over for me.
In both directions. If some AI and barb attack was killing your progression you’d often not recover anymore because the rest was snowballing.

That’s why they really need to lean in to the Crisis as snowball breaker(adjusted for difficulty)

The Age transition keeps anyone from getting too far behind (everyone starts with the same tech /civic each age, IP suzereins are reset)

But there is a problem with people getting too far ahead in territory.

The settlement limit helps that somewhat…but the crisis needs to have a serious chance of taking away some settlements if you have a lot. Whether that is due to rebels, invaders, or some small towns completely dying from plague/being abandoned from economic collapse.

 

[Zaarin]

I was also schocked by this since it already features a malus of its own. But I also do not understand why I have to spend points on Golden Age. I could understand mutual exclusivity, so only either DA or GA and only one. But like this it sort of kills the desicion making.

The thing that surprised me is that they said the Dark Age policy was a major bonus in exchange for all your points and a malus...but the actual bonus seemed fairly underwhelming for the tradeoff.

 

[thecrazyscot]

So here's the Cultural Dark Age for reference:

I guess the idea here is that this is how you can catch up for the Cultural Victory specifically as this allows you to progress along the Modern Age Cultural legacy path essentially 50% faster:

You need 15 artifacts, and your explorers can get to them significantly more quickly AND unearth them way faster than other players. That's...pretty impactful. Remember, they said that the final victory projects go faster based on how many legacy points you've gained in that path throughout the game, so this is a way for someone who hasn't banked much progress to start the project earlier as they won't be able to build it as quickly.

The question, of course, is whether being able to catch up for and stay competitive in the Cultural Victory is worth the opportunity cost of giving up all this:

EDIT: Thinking on it further, it could potentially be a strategy to purposefully trigger a Dark Age in the Exploration Age because it allows you to unlock a specific victory project much faster, potentially triggering an early win if your infrastructure is sufficient to build it without having those Exploration legacy points.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

So here's the Cultural Dark Age for reference:

View attachment 712911

I guess the idea here is that this is how you can catch up for the Cultural Victory specifically as this allows you to progress along the Modern Age Cultural legacy path essentially 50% faster:

View attachment 712912

You need 15 artifacts, and your explorers can get to them significantly more quickly AND unearth them way faster than other players. That's...pretty impactful. Remember, they said that the final victory projects go faster based on how many legacy points you've gained in that path throughout the game, so this is a way for someone who hasn't banked much progress to start the project earlier as they won't be able to build it as quickly.

The question, of course, is whether being able to catch up for and stay competitive in the Cultural Victory is worth the opportunity cost of giving up all this:

View attachment 712913

That Dark Age Legacy only costs 1 Cultural Legacy point (somehow?), so I don't think it prevents you from taking all kinds of other Legacies. You're in a Cultural Dark Age, not a total Dark Age.

 

[Krikkit1]

That Dark Age Legacy only costs 1 Cultural Legacy point (somehow?), so I don't think it prevents you from taking all kinds of other Legacies. You're in a Cultural Dark Age, not a total Dark Age.

He said it costs All the legacy points (since you don’t have any cultural legacy points)

It does seem like they need to be balanced…but I think it may only be worthwhile if you didn’t get a lot of legacy last time….it does probably need a better balance though.

 

[thecrazyscot]

That Dark Age Legacy only costs 1 Cultural Legacy point (somehow?), so I don't think it prevents you from taking all kinds of other Legacies. You're in a Cultural Dark Age, not a total Dark Age.

Currently it takes all your points:

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Currently it takes all your points:
View attachment 712915

Weird that the first picture you showed only indicated a cost of 1 Cultural Legacy point. Must be a bug.

 

[thecrazyscot]

Weird that the first picture you showed only indicated a cost of 1 Cultural Legacy point. Must be a bug.

Note that the Dark Age option has a unique crescent moon icon for its cost while the Cultural icon is musical notes.

 

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

Currently it takes all your points:
View attachment 712915

That feels weird and unnecessary when there's already an opportunity cost (don't interact with one of the big mechanics in a previous age.) It has to be a complete 100% pivot, no Cultural gameplay for the entire Age until you decide to pick a Cultural Civ (Qing? France?) for Modern and it becomes the only thing you invest into. Either the legacy bonuses aren't that strong, or these are going to have to be really powerful.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Note that the Dark Age option has a unique crescent moon icon for its cost while the Cultural icon is musical notes.

Ah yes.

So, to enter a Dark Age you have to pull a Thanos and snap your whole legacy in order to double down on one victory that you completely neglected in the previous Age.

Baby Gamora: "What did it cost you?"
Thanos: "Everything."

That's a heck of a risk/reward profile. Since this is the last Age, you only really need to focus on one Victory instead of trying to get a portfolio of Legacies, so I suppose it's okay, as long as you don't mind ignoring your core goal in Exploration.

Now, going from Antiquity to Exploration, that Dark Age card is not going to look good at all.