Guess what I found on youtube ? Rising Tide gameplay

[GAGA Extrem]

Yeah, I suppose it is hard to convey time progression without an era system.

I wonder: What if you could expand the palace with special wonder-like buildings (and unlock new slots via techs / after X techs / each X beakers invested in science)?

 

[Westwall]

That would be nice. And just speaking from an aesthetic point of view, it would also be neat just to see individual structures in our cities like we could for Civ 5. It really gave a sense of nuance and life to our civ to see things like lighthouses and broadcaster towers among our cities.

Meanwhile BE seems to think you don't even deserve to have visible perimeter defenses (walls) around your cities. You can argue the logistics of it obviously, but that's yet another thing that makes this game feel so rushed without any real passion invested in it. Civ 5 designers actually took the time to help build upon all these little details, including seeing smoke rising from your buildings when your cities are under attack.

BE meanwhile seems to find all of those things superfluous and not worthy of emphasizing. And that may be true. But over time all those details have a way of adding up... which is why reviewers often use words like "lifeless" or "soulless" to describe the gameplay experience.

 

[Ryika]

Well. Many Possibilities lie in the Quest System, too.

First Quest: Choose between genetic selection or letting things go the way it naturally goes
<You choose option 1> (+10% Growth)

<20 turns later>

Second Quest: Genetic selection has changed your society, new Problems have shown up because the genetic variance was too low. How will you handle them? "Kill all the mutants!!!" or "Try to integrate them into your society." (-10% Energy, +10% science)
<You choose option 1>

<20 turns later>

Third Quest: Mutants have fled into the underground and are now poisoning your water supply. (-20% Health) Produce Soldiers to defeat them!

<20 turns later>

Ending: Soldiers have killed all the mutants and Leela is mourning the death of her parents.

But your Civilization has survived the Mutants! (+20% Culture)

Obviously the example was nonsense, but the quest system could still be used to actually make progress more visible. Of course, introducing new features during the game instead of just developing the existing features would also help.