[NFP] How satisfied are you with NFP (So far - Updates included)?

[Zegangani]

It's been 9 Months now since we got the 1st NFP Pack, The Maya-GrandColumbia Pack with Apocalypse Mode, and now, so far, we got 7 new Civilizations, 10 new Leaders/Alt-Leaders, 7 new Game Modes, 1 new Scenario and plenty of other Stuff (Bug and Balance Fixes, New Features, improved AI...etc).

So how do you like it (Gameplay, replayability, Leader Designs...etc)? Does it satisfy you? Does it include someting (or everything) that you really wanted to have in the Game (a Civ(s), a Mechanism(s) (Mode), AI improved in some way...etc)?

From what I can tell, the major things this Community wanted to see in the Game or see them improved (excluding Civs/Leaders), are (correct me if I forgot something):
- Improved AI,
- Improved Diplomacy,
- Balance/Polish and Bug Fixes,
- Civ/Leader Picker,
- City-State Picker,
- Industry/Corporations,
- Currency Systeme,
- Colonization/Vassalization,
- Deseases/Plague,
- Ideologies Systeme,
- Dynamic City-States,
- Dynamic Barbarians,
- Amanety/Luxury Resources Overhaul,
- Governments/Policies Overhaul,
- World Congress Overhaul,
- Specialists Overhaul,
- Larger Maps,
- And last but not least, more Modding Possibilities with these new Add-ons.

So, how are you satisfied with the things we got? And if you could pick Two Things, that aren't added with NFP so far, to have included with the Last Pack and Update, which ones would they be?

For me:
I'm overall happy with NFP. I'm not the Player who loves to see new Civs/Leaders added to the Game (but I welcome them, though), but new Mechanisms. So I don't mind the New Civs/Leaders being too OP or unbalanced.

- Apocalypse and Heroes Modes are fun to play with, but they are the Modes I rarely play with.
- Secret Societies Mode is a really good Mode IMO, but it needs a little balance and, more importantly, (much) better AI handling. Otherwise, I can't play with it anymore.
- Dramatic Ages and Tech/Civic Shuffle Modes are great Modes I really enjoy playing with. Nonetheless, I prefer to have the Normal Age not excluded from Dramatic Ages Mode, or at least have an option in the Setup-Menu to include it.
- Monopolies/Corporations Mode? Perfect, just needs to have the too OP Tourism Issue fixed and Strategic Resources Included. Although, I would love to see Bonus Resources as stackable goods that can be traded with (Food for Cities/Imergencies that need them, Fossil resources to be used for producing something (Buildings, Projects, consumed by Buildings to produce Products or other resources)), and consumed by Industries/Corporations.
- The Natural-Wonder, CS and the Civ/Leader Pickers are neat features.
- The upcoming Barbarian Mode: Although we haven't got to try this yet, but it seems to be a wonderful Mode that makes Barbarians dynamic and it's good to see that they got a diplomacy too. (Thank you Devs!)

I think that AI has improved a bit since NFP, especially since the January Pack, When AI started to use more of it's Air Units. I would like to see more of such AI enhancements, such as for Naval Combat, City Building (improving resources, better District placement...etc), City Attacks/Razing...etc.

The Pass added a lot of new Modding Possibilities for Modders, and that's what I like the most about it. With the new Opportunities we can be more creative with mod Ideas and they open a bit more Possibilities to alter some existing ones (but there are still too much limits). (More of this Please!)

What I personally wanted to have with NFP are (excluding improved AI, which is obvious): Better Diplomacy, dynamic City-States, a Currency Systeme along with Corporations and Monopolies, Colonization/Vassalization, an Ideology Systeme, Larger Maps fix, Amenities/Luxuries Overhaul and more importantly, more modding Possibilities, so we could eventually add new mechanisms ourselves and/or alter a little bit the existing ones (Specialists, WC, Diplomacy...etc).

Well, if I could pick 2 Things for the remainung Pack and Update, I would pick Colonization/Vassalization (which I think would somehow refine CS aswell) and an Ideology Systeme (maybe in the Free Update? Perhaps very likely because the existing Civs are getting polished exactly for that? Hey, One can dream!). That would be the icing on the cake for Civ VI IMHO.

 

[Duke William of Normandy]

Your opinion is basically mine with the only difference being I like more Leaders and Civilisations in the game rather than more mechanics. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the NFP.

 

[Askia Muhammad]

Overall, I am mostly satisfied but I was let down by the basicness of a few of the modes.

My favorite modes are Dramatic Ages and Tech/Civic Shuffle (Barbarian Clans is looking like another always on for me.

The only mode I really can't stand is Secret Societies.

I like/enjoy all of the new civs/leaders.

I am still hopeful we get some more maps and an update to the stock TSL map (that includes rivers and more size options - yes, I know about modded maps - all of them are way too big).

The AI has been very marginally improved in my opinion - there still needs to be a metric ton of work done not just adjusting a few numbers behind the scenes. I fear we will have to hope for DLL to be released to ever get a working AI though.

 

[Zegangani]

I am still hopeful we get some more maps and an update to the stock TSL map (that includes rivers and more size options - yes, I know about modded maps - all of them are way too big).

We'll get a New Map with the Last Pack, so one wish is fulfilled. For TSL Maps, I think because Humankind is not going to support those (The Devs said that because as Civs start as Tribes there are no Plans to make that possible(yet)), it's up to Civilization to take that Niche and specialize more on it.

 

[_hero_]

We'll get a New Map with the Last Pack, so one wish is fulfilled. For TSL Maps, I think because Humankind is not going to support those (The Devs said that because as Civs start as Tribes there are no Plans to make that possible(yet)), it's up to Civilization to take that Niche and specialize more on it.

I think the lack of a truly satisfying TSL Earth map in the base game is the main thing that's driven me to play Paradox games. There's a certain appeal to playing out an alternate history that randomly generated maps are incapable of capturing. If the new map in the March update fills that void for me, then my vote for this poll will change from it's ok to I'm enjoying every turn of it.

 

[kaspergm]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't really care a lot about new leaders. I mean there are some new leaders that really add some fun gameplay to the game, but generally speaking that's not my main priority - of the leaders added over the entire scope of the game, I think it's less than 1 in 5 that have something unique about them that makes them really stand out for me, and there are many leaders in the game I've only ever played as once, if ever, to get the achievement.

For me, the core game content that goes across playthroughs and civilization is much more important. Which is also why I'm very disappointed with NFP, because all the game modes added so far feel shallow in their implementation, poorly balanced internally and furthermore wreck overall game balance and scaling. I'd much rather have had an expansion that added some serious care for late game content in terms of ideologies, industries and corporations that's something more than just handing you cultural victory (of all things?), and a reworked world congress and diplomacy system.

 

[Askia Muhammad]

and a reworked world congress and diplomacy system.

Don't get me started on this. The World Congress in 6 is so bad I wish it was a mode. 5's iteration of it had its problems but i'd take that any day.

 

[blackbutterfly]

I think I would've liked getting both R&F and GS like NFP as DLC packs in a season pass. That way you have time to digest and play stuff.

Also they made the civs playable in standard rules where possible. Many civs in both R&F and GS could've been made more compatible with earlier rulesets.

 

[Zegangani]

I think the lack of a truly satisfying TSL Earth map in the base game is the main thing that's driven me to play Paradox games. There's a certain appeal to playing out an alternate history that randomly generated maps are incapable of capturing. If the new map in the March update fills that void for me, then my vote for this poll will change from it's ok to I'm enjoying every turn of it.

It will most likely be a Scripted Map (randomly generated), perhaps suited for a Colonisation Mode?

For me, the core game content that goes across playthroughs and civilization is much more important. Which is also why I'm very disappointed with NFP, because all the game modes added so far feel shallow in their implementation, poorly balanced internally and furthermore wreck overall game balance and scaling. I'd much rather have had an expansion that added some serious care for late game content in terms of ideologies, industries and corporations that's something more than just handing you cultural victory (of all things?), and a reworked world congress and diplomacy system.

I think that the Playthrough and diversity in the elements of the different Mechanisms that add Bonusses but also have malusses are enough to make each Civ/Leader feel Unique each Game. So just altering and improving/deepening the existing Mechanics could have been enough to make that possible.

And Yeah, Corporations/Monopolies could have more niches to fill, like Science for Technologies for example.

 

[Shibooyeah]

Personally I think the new modes sucked up a lot of bandwidth that could have gone to just improving the base game. In general I also would like more Civs always.

 

[AntSou]

If I had to put it on a scale, I'd say 7/10, though I can see it being more of a 8/10 by the time the last April patch comes out.

 

[ehecatzin]

I just hope that if they do another NFP they focus more on modes that improve existing areas of the game, corporations and barbarians are great in this .

BUT

Considering this NFP had a mix of gimmicks, fantasy and expanded mechanics as modes...if we get another pass I expect:

-a couple of gimmick modes: full shuffle (random leaders and civ combos),
-expanded mechanics: pops with culture (and better pop managment), expanded diplomatic options for idiology blocks and CS interaction, rebels with clear goals. Improved science and religious victory.(make use of existing modes)
-New eras as modes: prehistoric and Enlightment could be added as optional modes
-Sci-fi modes: Alien invasion and Kaijus...because why not we had the fantasy ones and people seem to love secret societies (I dont want it...just predicting it) worship your kaiju (or build a mecha) and grow it to fight others and defend earth

-personally I'd love to see a full ravamp of the graphical aspect of cities, take a cue from what City Sprawl is doing and expand on it, I wish we could get cultural graphics for all districts and do something for the samey look of cities from industrial onward, maybe even tie the sckyscrapper city center graphics to population.

and I hope a whole bunch of rebalancing and AI fixes.

 

[blackbutterfly]

I just hope that if they do another NFP...

I guarantee there will not be another expansion or season pass for Civ VI.

The developers have been working on Civ VI for 5 years. Like half a decade. It's seen a US president come and go. They must be tired of it.

I'm personally hoping for Beyond Earth 2!

 

[Linklite]

My opinion has improved over the last few updates. I was very skeptical, and my major criticism (that the term "game modes" was misleading) remains, but I feel better about NFP. My thoughts:

• The game modes have improved, but some I'll probably never touch, unlike the mechanics of R&F and GS.
• The content approaches that of R&F and GS, but since they are so different, I'll never have all of them active simultaneously, NFP will never have the impact that the XPs did.
• Due to the DLC nature, the interactions are poor between game modes and civs, which further weakens the impact.
• The civs are pretty good and often very unique. While I wouldn't say they were my favourite, they are often fundamentally different to other civs which is a massive plus for me.

Overall, I don't regret the money I spent on NFP, but it's not what I was hoping for. I'm divided on whether I would buy another Season Pass, but I probably would buy an XP.

 

[acluewithout]

Overall pretty good.

Much happier since Secret Societies got rebalanced, the Amenities change got reworked, and we got a few more “crowd favourite” mechanics via game modes.

As I posted elsewhere, I think the balance changes have been a mixed bag - I’ve got the point that I sort of dread the balance updates because there’s usually some Mechanic I like that gets borked, which is a bit sad. I also agree with @kaspergm that some of the modes lack a little depth.

I also think there’s a tonne more left that FXS could do. See here, in a thread that I expect will die in obscurity born of mediocrity.

But yeah, overall, pretty good. Hope we get another season.

 

[Zegangani]

I also agree with @kaspergm that some of the modes lack a little depth.

I also think there’s a tonne more left that FXS could do. See here, in a thread that I expect will die in obscurity born of mediocrity.

I think FXS will still offer some Free Updates after the NFP, especially because the Devs need more than a Month to balance/fix Bugs from the Last Pack released ((probably)No NFP Pack 6 Balance/Hotfix update in April). So, I do expect/hope for some NFP refinement Post-NFP.

And since they barely touched Stuff from the two Expansions, I do hope that they will make some Updates especially for them to interact with NFP Stuff, like including Strategic Resources for Corporations/Monopolies (Need another approach than Luxuries because they are stackable with XP2), but also to expand them a little bit further, Like introducing some National Governors (Not assignable, you can only Pick one but changing with each Era), Loyalty not Affecting Cities only but Civs as whole if most of your Cities are disloyal which leads to Rise and Fall of Nations (like the Barbarian Clans that turn into CSs, they would need Civs(not in the Game) that were reserved a slot), WC Overhaul, Bridge Improvements, expanding Power range of Cities with Techs...etc. Ideally in a Final Frontier Pass, with just a few Packs.

The Last NFP Mode doesn't require neither of the Expansions, so it probably builds on Base Game Mechanics that weren't used in previous Modes. What comes to mind are: City-States, Government(with Espionage), Religion and Trade-Routes. CSs and Trade-Routes would be an indecation for a Colonisation Mode, Government for an Ideology Systeme,.. and Religion? I have no clue.

 

[ggalindo001]

I agree with most of the original poster. Of what I would have wanted to have in this pack, there are three items that are missing:

1. Improved diplomacy -- the "improvements" to date have really been weak. I think diplomacy as a whole needs to be overhauled -- and would hope in a next content pack, this gets addressed. It is too formulaic, and needs strong elements of real random ness. I also think a "world market" should be introduced for strategic resources as well -- with forced selling of strategic resources in abundance (or destruction of such) so that buyers and sellers of strategic resources can sell without controlling who it is sold to (except if embargoed in a world congress type action). This would make diplomacy a bit more spicy as and leveled.

2. Alliances -- I really think Alliances are broken - once you have one, you can have it forever. I really think the number of active alliances needs to be limited by the number of civs in the game (so if 8 civs, only 2 active alliances allowed, etc.) and I would really like to see alliances harder to come by and more fragile in maintaining. Harder to come by meaning that you cannot get an alliance the moment you research the correct technology, it takes a long time of active participation and friendship, and trading, and supporting the friend (so joining joint wars, voting the same way in the world congress, etc.) -- and more fragile in maintaining -- meaning that if you have different idologies, or refuse to trade certain strategic resources, etc. etc. I really think there is an opportunity here to buff this significantly.

3. Idologies -- I would like to see a return to Civ V BNW in this regard, and was really thinking that they were going to go here with the loyalty system. Pressure around neighbors to become communist, democratic or facist.

Let's see what the new patch notes say.....

Overall, I have been pleased with NFP -- I'd give it an 8/10, mostly because of the diversity of new civs and the last few game modes. I could do without secret societies and apocalypse mode, but random tech/civics tree, barbarians (hopefully) and the dramatic ages have been really good to play with.

 

[CromulentRomulan]

I've voted undecided for my satisfaction level, though honestly I'm somewhere between 'Yes! I really enjoy every turn with it.' and 'It's Ok. Could be better, but it's better than getting nothing.' (mostly because 'better than getting nothing is a low bar).
The Civs have all been really well designed and enjoyable play, of comparable calibre to the Gathering Storm roster, and having picked up NFP at a discount I'd say that they alone are almost worth the price of admission, so I'm pretty satisfied there. I've loved all the city state additions and the new great people. The wonders have been really nice additions. The diplo quarter is great, the preserve not so much.
The game modes have been more miss than hit for me. Apocalypse Mode feels underrealised and blighted by the lack of a 'repair district and all buildings' button. Heroes and Legends cheapens the game experience considerably and I'll never touch it again. Secret Societies also cheapens the challenge of the game but it feels like there is more to salvage from that than there is in Heroes & Legends. Monopolies mode has been soured by it being released without any QA or playtesting. I can't pass judgement on Dramatic Ages.
The best game modes look to be the two free ones, Shuffle and Barbarian Clans.
I'd echo what someone else stated - I'd have WAY preferred an expansion that focused on monopolies and corporations and barbarian clans as expansion content rather than modular game modes. Game modes are marginally better than scenarios but it feels like a real missed opportunity not to have the aforementioned two game modes more integrated into the game. Of the two game modes these are the two that feel like they'd open up ways to play towards victory differently and I guess that's what I'd look for from expansion content
Every single game mode would have benefitted from having GS/R&F as prerequisites. I'm really dissatisfied with the decision taken to make these game modes accessible to people without expansion packs.
The increasing level of slipshod presentation is also something that makes the NFP dissatisfying as someone who bought the whole pack up front.

 

[TreVor_ish]

It's Ok. Could be better, but it's better than getting nothing.
Apart from Civs that I like, most of game modes are either not what I was looking/hoping for, or bugged with addition of AI's inability to find itself around them, or just underdeveloped rushed, however good ideas.
Overall: disappointing.

 

[leandrombraz]

I liked the content a lot, but there are a few things that bother me on how Firaxis approached it:

• The modes are incredibly unbalanced;
• The AI can't deal with most of the game modes mechanics, which makes the balance issues even worse;
• With monthly updates, Firaxis is adding new bugs to the game faster than they can fix it, since they take 2-3 months to fix something. Bimonthly updates would be better.