PhilBowles
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- Joined
- Nov 20, 2011
- Messages
- 5,333
The issue with Ancient civs (and this is why I'm not particularly desperate for Assyria) is that early game bonuses (particularly strong units) can easily make for overpowered early snowballs. Just look at Gilgamesh and his War Carts...
I agree in principle that it would be nice to see some more truly ancient civs (and an ancient leader for Egypt, please...), but their abilities need to be carefully managed. I don't want the return of the Civ 5 Assyrians and their Siege Tower rush .
That's a good point, but Civ VI hasn't been overly fastidious with tying civs' uniques and abilities to their eras - look at Macedon, a Bronze Age civ that unlocks a unique with Iron Working. Nor are bonuses like Egypt's production boost to ancient Wonders exactly overpowered.
The ancient era is fairly short and unlike Civ V uniques don't retain their abilities through the upgrade tree in Civ VI, so there's scope for making fair units. It's a bit tricky with ranged units, such as a Babylonian bowman, but warrior, scout, galley or spearmen upgrades would be relatively harmless. We're missing unique counterparts for the granary and ancient walls, neither of which would lead to early snowballing as ziggurats can - and again Egypt shows that improvements with sufficiently minor bonuses can be safe.