Game Modes: must-use

Kataklysm

Chieftain
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
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58
Location
Quebec
Hi all,

I'm a seasoned Civ VI player but I don't have as much time to play as I used to to. I've tried some bits of the latest expansions, which bring much needed novelty to spark my interest.

My question is as follows : which of the new game modes do you consider to be musts for all new games? I tried all of them to some extent but I find that some sure add flavor and cool mechanics, but tend to make the game unbalanced. For example, I was trying my luck on Immortal with Gaul, but I felt that using (not to say exploit) heroes gave me an unfair edge. Also, my Vampires (combined with Siege Towers) literally STEAMROLLED my way to a Domination victory without breaking much sweat. On the other hand, Apocalypse made sure I was basically spending all my gold buying Builders to reconstruct damaged tiles to vocanoes. Felt more tedious than anything else.

For this reason, I tend not to use Apocalypse, SS and Heroes modes. They are fun, but for a "legit" game (to test my mettle VS Deity) I feel like they're OP and that if I win, it will be thanks to them only.

Corporations I haven't tried yet but I feel that this one I'll be using.

Random Tech and Civic trees... meh, it makes it harder for you but no big impact on the AI I guess.

So... is there anyone who feels the way I do about game modes?

Cheers!
 
I use heroes mode almost every time, societies about half the time (used to be more, but I'm getting tired of how I want to do the same thing with societies each time) and the others pretty much never. This post does not count corporations mode; I haven't tried it yet so I'm not sure.
 
I kind of feel the same way. Now, I do find some of them fun to shake the game up but they kind of throw a lot of things "out of whack" so to speak. I wish the idea of them hadn't been to sort of overpower and crank it up to 11, but it is what it is.

That said, at this stage in the game's life, I still tend to play with Secret Societies and Heroes mode on. Corporations will probably be something that I might play around with a fair bit as well but I had the same experience described in another thread, that the AI seemingly didn't improve its resources. I didn't really look at the AI's land but I was a bit miffed when I looked through the trading windows and saw that the AIs had very little to offer in terms of luxuries compared to before the patch.

Apoc, shuffle techs and Dramatic ages are not fun for me at all, even though I like the idea of them doing something with the ages mode.
 
I always use Dramatic Ages mode, since it punishes mindless city spam somewhat. I'll likely always be using Corporations mode, but with culture victory turned off until the insane tourism modifiers are fixed. Tech shuffle is also something I'll use whenever I'm not playing a specific civ for the first time.
I don't really use the Apocalypse mode since I don't like the idea of my cities being razed from asteroids, but I might change my mind at some point.
 
I usually do Shuffle Techs and Dramatic ages, as they feel the most 'balanced' to me. Secret Societies on and off. Heroes seems the most wildly unbalanced of the too me and I've gotten tired of it quickly.
 
I'm usually playing with Secret Societies turned on and trying different tacks/strategies with them. Heroes is interesting but so imbalanced. Shuffle is good for a change if I play a Civ I'm very familiar with since it forces a rethink in strategy (especially with Babylon's UA). Not interested in Apocalypse or Dramatic Ages.

I am interested in the new Corporations mode. It's a shame they didn't introduce some sort of Economic victory with it but c'est la vie.
 
I haven't got to play with the new pack yet but I can't see me playing without the new monopolies and corporations game mode now.

SS and Heroes are my other go to ones though I don't need them on all the time. I will be looking forward to playing an Owls of Minerva game with corporations after I try the new game mode solo.
 
I play with Shuffle every time as it keeps the games varied and interesting. Most of the time I have SS on and will probably do the same for Corporations. Heroes and Apocolapyse occasionally for a bit of variety. Dramatic Ages - used it once and never again, totally kills the enjoyment of building up your Empire.
 
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I really like the secret societies and the tech/civic tree shuffle. I like role playing and having the semi-arbitrary secret societies set you up with natural alliances and enemies is pretty fun, or at least it's an emotional roller-coaster.
The tech/civic shuffle is a lot of fun because it sets up unanticipated opportunities. One game I had built the Venetian Arsenal while I still could make quadriremes, spammed them out like you wouldn't believe. The other thing I like about the shuffle mode is that I feel it gives me a fighting chance in the faith/religious facet of the game; in the "normal" tree I am always crushed by the AI whereas in the shuffle it might take a weird development path to get to holy sites.
 
I dislike Apocalypse and Dramatic Ages...

Secret Societies is closest to a mandatory one for me. I really like it.

Tech and Civic Shuffle is fun but I don't always feel like it.

Heroes and Legends I really enjoy but the power level is off the rails... It can introduce a lot too much wackiness.
 
all of them
 
Honestly I've played each once or twice on release but then go back to having them off. Corporations might be the exception as it feel more like a traditional expansion feature.
 
Funny how different people's preferences are.

For me, it's Dramatic Ages every time, and I'm liking Monopolies so far. (Though it does perversely encourage you to expand to capture resources you already have in abundance i.e. the opposite of what drove the Spice Trade.)

Everything else was use once and put away, except for Shuffle which I haven't even tried.
 
None of them before Coorporations. Way too imbalanced.

Coorporations have potential, although I’m afraid that before a mod balance pass it will just be another game-on-steroids mode, but at least this one comes into play later in the game where more content and incentive is needed.
 
Currently none. Don't get me wrong - that doesn't even mean that I consider all of them bad...just for differing reasons none of them qualifies to me as interesting, balanced , flawlessly implemented and so "non invasive" that I want to have it in any game. In detail:

Apokalypse: Never played with it. The direction is just not my cup of tea. I see it as a sudden-death mechanic and I don't want to have that in my civ game

Secret Societies: I like the idea, the diplomatic implications and the additional layer to shape your civ (closest to something like ideology). What prevents ii from making a constant entrance in my games is the yield inflation is brings (taking out the extra gov tiles was at least a strong step in the right direction) and the seemingly missing AI for Voidsingers/cultists ( Does the AI know how to use their cultists? | CivFanatics Forums ). I hate it, when the AI does fail so big in using features and cultist carpets blocking movement is something annoying me really.

Tech Shuffle: Probably closest. Passes largely my criteria for being "interesting/balanced/bug-free"; here it is just the randomness I don't like to have in any game. Also I often start my games with the intention to try out strategy X with civ Y - and then this mode appears like the best method to mess up my intentions :lol:

Dramatic Ages: Another close call. I like the idea and the boni/mali it offers being fairly balanced, so that this one for sure does not suffer from "modes just making the game dull by pumping in more and more yields". I also take my hat for implementation of Dedications as Golden Age Policies and the extra dark age cards. Especially the latter feel like something I would want to have in base game. So what stops me from using it? The complete absence of normal ages is a tad too much drama to me, but the bigger reason is the AI failing with and the power free cities have because of the general OP-ness of static city defenses. Minor things are the strict rules for defecting cities in Dark Ages (I would have prefered a more "organic" way here, like greatly reducing loyalty overall) and side-effects like your gov plaza getting auto-razed, when a city defects ( [NFP] - [1.0.5.11] Government Plaza razed when city flips independent | CivFanatics Forums )

Heroes: I haven't tried it yet and I doubt it will be something I want to add in any game because of the topic. But for a real judgement I will have to try it at least.

Corporations: This is probably thematically the one I want to have in every game. The general implementation seems ok (though I hoped for a slightly different direction, like e.g. processing strategic ressources like Iron/Coal into Steal or Niter into Fertilizer), but balance, bugs and the AI appear currently as too big issues which have to be rioned out first. So ironically I don't see it in decent shape yet, but still will heavily use it to help getting it right ASAP ;)
 
I have a love hate relationship with Dramatic Ages

I love that it potentially punishes mindless city spam and is a hell of a lot more historically accuate than the standard Civ model of “endless mindless snowball blob”

I hate the stupid gamey mechanics around era score, where once you hit the threshold you are actually penalized for getting more points till the next era hits. I hate doing things like deliberalty delaying a wonder or popping a goody hut or building my first UU because it would happen on the “wrong” side of the era changeover
 
I have a love hate relationship with Dramatic Ages

I love that it potentially punishes mindless city spam and is a hell of a lot more historically accuate than the standard Civ model of “endless mindless snowball blob”

I hate the stupid gamey mechanics around era score, where once you hit the threshold you are actually penalized for getting more points till the next era hits. I hate doing things like deliberalty delaying a wonder or popping a goody hut or building my first UU because it would happen on the “wrong” side of the era changeover
Atleast you do get even more loyalty pressure from those extra Era points.
 
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