Fun synergies you’re excited to try.

[queenpea]

Well in SP, you would be the one potentially exploiting odd matchups, as the AI by default chooses a "historical" progression. Perhaps they will add an option to make it random for that, but then again that would be your prerogative to use it.

In SP, play whatever way makes you happiest. No one else will be mad if you do or dont do odd matchups.

Yeah, perhaps, but exploits are exploits.

“Trusting the player” to not take advantage of the game systems when combining the combination of leader and civilization is asking the player to handicap themselves. It’s a game, and players should be expected to play to win.

The question of balance is very live in my opinion.

If nothing else, this will be extreme YouTube and Reddit fodder and will factor into how the game is perceived and received.

 

[Siptah]

The question of balance is very live in my opinion.

I respectfully disagree here, as I don't think it's possible to balance this mess. There are just too many combinations between leaders, civs, traditions, attributes, wonders, and suzerain bonuses. It's important that none of these is too strong on their own, but there's hardly a way to make sure that there aren't at least some ridiculously OP options in millions of combinations. And if it requires you to combine civ with , choose leader , suzerain bonus , and build to get an unbeatable +20 CS on cavalry in enemy territory for the first 20 turns of declaring a war, then you kind of earned it in my opinion.

 

[queenpea]

I respectfully disagree here, as I don't think it's possible to balance this mess. There are just too many combinations between leaders, civs, traditions, attributes, wonders, and suzerain bonuses. It's important that none of these is too strong on their own, but there's hardly a way to make sure that there aren't at least some ridiculously OP options in millions of combinations. And if it requires you to combine civ with , choose leader , suzerain bonus , and build to get an unbeatable +20 CS on cavalry in enemy territory for the first 20 turns of declaring a war, then you kind of earned it in my opinion.

I think we are saying the same thing, except that I disagree with your third and fourth steps (suzerain and wonder) — we are only talking about game setup choices here (civ and leader).

Personally, I don’t like when games are easy. Other people feel the opposite way and don’t enjoy challenge or get frustrated by complex systems.

So, I am wondering aloud, when is it synergy and when is it an exploit? I just suspect there will be a lot of nerfing in the future with patches and updates.

 

[evonannoredars]

I have no idea how FXS is going to balance all of this without just nerfing leaders outright. One of the proclaimed goals is to avoid snowballing, but some of these “synergies” feel like they are potentially game breaking exploits.

Tbf a civ/leader synergy will at least only last for one era, so they hopefully won't be too game-breaking to make the entire game a breeze

 

[chaosprophet]

Personally, I don’t like when games are easy. Other people feel the opposite way and don’t enjoy challenge or get frustrated by complex systems.

Other already said it but, if you think a combo is too strong, you can always just avoid it? Just like how if you think the game is easy, you go and change the difficulty level of the AI for the game.

As a non competitive game, while there should be some balance, I don't think they need to go to the point of banning combinations some discovered to be really strong, as long as it is not something completely game breaking.

 

[The_goggles_do_nothing]

Lafayette and different civ seeing how many social policies I can accumulate.

The two things to me that could wind up being OP are commanders and influence. If you are good at using commanders you could overrun the AI. Influence looks like you can do some very powerful and varied actions.

 

[Gen.Washington]

Lafayette and different civ seeing how many social policies I can accumulate.

The two things to me that could wind up being OP are commanders and influence. If you are good at using commanders you could overrun the AI. Influence looks like you can do some very powerful and varied actions.

But there’s also the chance that AI can band against you and cause massive combat strength penalties via influence if you snowball too much, assuming you don’t have more influence than all of them combined.

 

[Gori the Grey]

I have a question that is tangential to the thread (but it bears on the question asked), and maybe it was made clear somewhere and I just didn't pick it up. So I apologize for both, but here it is:

How does the game manage civ-picking in Exploration and Modern, in terms of which player gets priority to pick first (if there are multiple players who "qualify" for a particular civ)?

In single player, does the player always get to go first? Or is it by total legacy points earned during the previous age?

What I'm wondering is how often the human player might get "scooped" by some AI player regarding his or her desired civs in the later ages.

And would this add fun to the game? Or only be a frustration? (I guess that's a separate question)

 

[Evolena]

In single player, does the player always get to go first?

Yes, that has been confirmed.

 

[Krikkit1]

I have a question that is tangential to the thread (but it bears on the question asked), and maybe it was made clear somewhere and I just didn't pick it up. So I apologize for both, but here it is:

How does the game manage civ-picking in Exploration and Modern, in terms of which player gets priority to pick first (if there are multiple players who "qualify" for a particular civ)?

In single player, does the player always get to go first? Or is it by total legacy points earned during the previous age?

What I'm wondering is how often the human player might get "scooped" by some AI player regarding his or her desired civs in the later ages.

And would this add fun to the game? Or only be a frustration? (I guess that's a separate question)

MP duplicates allowed by humans (humans first)
SP human first,

AIs choose based on their priority (“historical” avoiding duplicates)

 

[Gori the Grey]

In single player, does the player always get to go first?

Yes, that has been confirmed.

SP human first,

On reflection, I guess that had to be the case. In answer to my second question, almost all players would find it frustrating to have their eye on some ExAge or ModAge civ and then be blocked from using it (not least b/c of the synergies that this thread is pre-imagining with eager anticipation).

 

[Xyael]

Lafayette and different civ seeing how many social policies I can accumulate.

The two things to me that could wind up being OP are commanders and influence. If you are good at using commanders you could overrun the AI. Influence looks like you can do some very powerful and varied actions.

Just one. We can see in the description of Benjamin Franklin's abilitie "Can have multiple Endeavors of the same type active at a time". So we can consider Lafayette can use "La Reforme" with only one other civ

 

[GeneralZIft]

If nothing else, this will be extreme YouTube and Reddit fodder and will factor into how the game is perceived and received.

I don't think I'll be playing this game on release, so I will probably enjoying the overpowered combos people come up with on YouTube. Actually, I can't wait for the Yogscast game, that'll be fun

 

[Seek]

Lafayette and different civ seeing how many social policies I can accumulate.

I’m thinking something similar, a max happiness/policy build with Maurya -> Normans -> Mexico.. Shoot for Colosseum, Borobudur, El Escorial, and Eiffel Tower for good measure.

I think Xerxes the Achaemenid has some potential with Mississippians > Inca: just rake in all the gold from all your Potkops and Terrace Farms.

And grab Serpent Mound for extra goodies on them!

Just one. We can see in the description of Benjamin Franklin's abilitie "Can have multiple Endeavors of the same type active at a time". So we can consider Lafayette can use "La Reforme" with only one other civ

It sounds like it could stack, though, as the endeavor is repeated.

 

[PauI]

I’m thinking something similar, a max happiness/policy build with Maurya -> Normans -> Mexico.. Shoot for Colosseum, Borobudur, El Escorial, and Eiffel Tower for good measure.


And grab Serpent Mound for extra goodies on them!

It sounds like it could stack, though, as the endeavor is repeated.

Imagine if Serpent Mound would change its tiles terrain properties (flat, vegetated, wet, rough) into mountain for hidden synergy with inca.
Rather than requiring certain terrain for placement (you can keep adjacent requirements a la "next to a river"), some wonders like the oracle for example could transform the terrain of its tiles.
This would give more agency in planning around bonuses/ adjacencies. Maybe it will give you the one extra mountain tile you would need for unlocking the Inca.

 

[Seek]

Imagine if Serpent Mound would change it's tiles terrain properties (flat, vegetated, wet, rough) into mountain for hidden synergy with inca. Rather than requiring certain terrain, some wonders (oracle for example) could transform the terrain of tiles. This would give more agency in planning around bonuses/ adjacencies.

That’s a fun idea, but I’d prefer a wonder that actually terraformed the surrounding area (perhaps something like the Hoover Dam) instead of a magic effect, personally.

 

[GeneralZIft]

instead of a magic effect,

Pyramids should grant telecommunications bonus with Aliens I think
This is based in reality I won't hear any experts on the matter

 

[Zaarin]

Pyramids should grant telecommunications bonus with Aliens I think
This is based in reality I won't hear any experts on the matter

Daniel Jackson approves this message.

 

[Siptah]

Reiterating on the so far revealed bonuses of civs and leaders I think this is a good synergy for militaristic players:

Charlemagne with Maurya going to Mongolia. The game might as well end there, so no need for a third civ

Spoiler :

 

[CivKirk64]

Of the top of my head Lafayette with Mexico, as they both have bonuses for utilizing traditions. you could build a civ that thrives holding onto its past strategies.