How would you rate the New Frontier Pass so far?

[salty mud]

I am sure if you asked same questions in November of this year (i.e when November patch has dropped so probably late November) everyone's score would have increased... that would be interesting.

Make a note to open a new thread then and compare. I was just interested in gauging opinion now because to me, as an outsider looking in, I'd be pretty disappointed with what I've got so far. If some actual meat is added to the bones in the form of extra late game content, I'd reconsider purchasing however.

 

[tedhebert]

4/5 for my part... I appreciate everything except apocalypse mode, to be honest. Even if I don't always all use them, I appreciate having them available.

Would I like more ? yes, of course. But that question would almost always sollicit a YES response anyways.

I would say that the only thing really annoying me is the opacity of the patch notes so far. They are definitely not providing enough information on what has been
worked on, and I do feel that a lot of work has been but into making the AI play more intelligently. Why they don't provide more info is a mystery to me, unless they've
come to the conclusion that we (at civfanatics) would too easily find workarounds to the changes they make if they described it in too many details ;-)

 

[pokiehl]

I think it has been really great so far.

I'm pleased with all of the paid DLC as well as the free updates. I hope they continue with models like this in the future.

Well worth the money.

 

[Amrunril]

Maya Civ: One of my personal favorite civs. The focus on organizing cities within six tiles and the prioritization of farms and luxury adjacencies over fresh water make for a highly distinct play style.

Ethiopia and Gran Columbia Civs: While the Maya are my favorite of the pass so far, more civs are always welcome, and I'd rate both of these in at least the top half of the game's civs with regard to providing distinctive gameplay.

Catherine and Teddy Persona Packs: I would have preferred this effort to go into actual new civs, but Bull Moose Teddy's new ability is definitely fun, albeit probably overpowered.

New City States: Another great way of bringing game to game variety. I've particularly enjoyed Caguana and Vatican City, and while I haven't yet gotten to make good use of Lahore, the idea of a city state based UU is really interesting.

Diplomatic Quarter: A simple but effective district addition. I do think it was a mistake to put this in an individual civ pack, though, as this makes it much more difficult for it to interact with future wonders and other game elements.

Apocalypse Mode: Some fun ideas, but they don't really fit together very well. Why are civilization ending asteroid impacts triggered by CO2 emissions? Why are their effects so localized? The soothsayers do add some interesting gameplay, but there's no way of using them without this extra weirdness.

Secret Societies Mode: This adds a lot of potential for unique strategies and interactions. It's far too over the top and fantastical for me to want it as part of my normal setup, but its well worth playing when I want to shake things up.

What does this add up to in terms of the pack overall? Really that's a question of what your baseline for comparison is. Personally, I've been thinking of this as a series of civ packs like those between vanilla and Rise and Fall. By that standard, the new civs and the small main game additions are great, and anything beyond that is just an added bonus. In contrast, for someone who needs an expansion's worth of content to justify the pack's price I could definitely imagine coming away disappointed.

 

[Revanchist]

I think September will be the turning point for those who decide to buy or drop the pack. Personally, I want to see more classic iterations return, but I think it has been better than RF but worse than GS

 

[bbbt]

For me the test will be if it 'freshens up' Civ and gets me playing Civ a good bit versus other options for my time. That will mostly come in November, cause I do the lions share of my gaming in the winter.

It has gotten me to play games with the 3 new Civs though, which is something. Though Ethopia is likely the only one I'd play again.

It's definitely been an better investment than my Netflix subscription which I have literally not watched in like 4 months but am paying $10 a month for. Speaking of which, let me go cancel that now.

 

[Linklite]

Whether it's worth it will always be highly subjective. No matter how rubbish it is, some rich fool with more money than sense will proclaim it worth ten times the cost, and no matter how good it is, some entitled pratt will poo poo it.

My impressions, though:

1. While new Civs are a must for any pack, they can't carry the pack. We have so many already that a handful more won't have a massive impact on an already crowded game. Now, as I said, new Civs are still a necessity, but they can't rest their laurels on them; they have to bring some.good mechanics in like they did in R&F and GS to justify the money.
   1. Apocalypse mode is meh. It has a few new disasters, but the needed to pointlessness soothsayer unit doesn't do much for me. That also makes the new competition worse than useless.
   2. Secret Societies is interesting and reasonably good. I do have to say that I feel that my prerelease concept of them being autonomous groups that spread in your (and other) Civs and that you interact with indirectly would have been better, but the current mechanics work.
2. The Civs themselves are fine.
   1. Ethiopia seems like a strong faith and culture/science combo Civ, I felt that we needed a Civ like that.
   2. Gran Columbia is another Dom Civ. Perhaps for the overall feel and dynamic it could be a wise choice, but not someone I'm excited to play as.
   3. Maya just seems to be a "I need yet another challenge" Civ. Not for me just yet, but I can see that niche.
3. The new building interesting, I build it every game. The Diplomatic Quarter really helps me in the Diplo Favour aspect and really helps me perceive the Diplo aspect of the game as a concrete and definite part of the play style rather than just something that passively happens as a result of things that occur in game.
4. Personally, I feel that the Natural Wonders, CSs and resources are over rated. They're nice and better to have them than not, but they don't really change gameplay. The fantastical ones like Bermuda Triangle may have actually been a negative, but with the Wonder Picker, they're interesting inclusions.

What worries me is that because it's a season pass rather than an XP, the various pieces won't synergise and we'll end up with Civ VI with R&F and GS, plus a bunch of disparate and random things tacked on.

We'll see.

 

[Codeblue009]

I hadn’t played Civ 6 since March. I just started to play Civ 6 again after I saw the New Frontier Pass was released the other day. So I updated with the NFP and won my first deity game without really understanding the new societies. I am on my second Deity game now and I got the Sanguine Pact (Vampires) somewhere around turn 200. I wish it would have come much sooner, but overall I am enjoying the new civs and content. Not sure I like the annihilation bit, but glad I bought NFP.

 

[Sostratus]

I’m just happy they are still working on adding some QoL content to the game and getting to flesh out their design a little more.

Given that the cost of Civ6 per hour to me has been cheaper than the electricity used to run the computer, I can’t really be upset.

 

[Askia Muhammad]

To be entirely honest, I would have purchased it if it was nothing but the new civs.

In terms of the modes: in principle I like apocalypse mode but I really wish they would have went with random solar flare/asteroids (very infrequent) and once you hit apocalypse the chance goes up. The current mode isn’t fun at all to me especially if I’ve carefully made a comeback in Diety.

Secret Societies: Well... the name was really interesting to me but I’m not a fan, it just seems like insane power creep in terms of yield and they are quite fantastical. I was hoping it was some expansion on spies and religion.

I’ve enjoyed all the civs so far and the tech shuffle had actually been really fun.

I guess 2.5/5 thus far but with new civs and more down to earth modes coming and potentially new maps/scenarios (would love to see American civil war again). My score could go up a lot.

 

[AriochIV]

The three new civilizations are good, but the game modes thus far are kind of throwaways. The only thing that's been said about the forthcoming game modes is that some of them will be less fanciful than the first two, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be any better in terms of integration with existing systems or in adding to replay value.

You can buy each pack separately, so if the current three civilizations don't light your fire, I don't think there's anything to be lost by waiting. The two leader variants you get from the full pass are a complete waste of time.

 

[SirWill90]

Overall 3/5. I like the new stuff on the whole. Apocalypse Mode isn't for me, I get annoyed enough with the constant 1000 Year Floods every 100 years in the same spots and the Withering Droughts that seem to last centuries. SS I like but as others have said they need badly to be balanced - i.e. vampires are silly overpowered, so this ruins SS mode and I don't play it even though I like it.

Overall I am glad I bought it. If things are balanced better and more good content is added I could see my overall satisfaction with it being high, so no regrets yet.

Edit: Also it's just nice to see the game being maintained and improved on a regular, frequent basis... really nice. One could get used to this... and one might be willing to pay for it periodically.

 

[Haig]

4/5 really like it but I think its time for some historical game modes too - then my score will rise!

 

[PlayAsPericles]

Pretty happy with it so far. The thing that really makes me happy is there is a true science based civ that was added. I love civs that are heavily and obviously science based as it is BY FAR my favorite play style. The other two civs so are are nice but not my play style. Really enjoy the random tech/culture trees. Apocalypse mode is bleh. The secret society mode i haven't really gone beyond the early game on that so not sure yet. The new districts, buildings and wonders seem ok so far. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Red Adept]

I've not purchased it thus far because I do not want to pay money for content that remains hidden. I do like the sound of the new civilisations but the additional content, such as vampires and apocalypse, just seems very gimicky. One time play and then turn off. I'm really hoping out for some meainful content, such as ideologies and corporations. Do you think this will come? What are your thoughts on the pass so far?

So far 4/5 for me. I like the new modes and would end up buying all the new civs anyway. I am not a historical stickler, so I have no problems with Apocalypse and Secret Societies.

I don't think ideologies or corporations will make it into the game.

 

[Bibor]

1/10
There's nothing intriguing for me in Frontier Pass, with the exception of forest fires.
The downsides include constant meddling with game files that may or may not break addons every month.
It's pretty safe to say Gathering storm was the high point of Civ6.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

I don't think [.....] corporations will make it into the game.

I'm pretty certain you will be proved wrong in January based on the files someone on here found!!

 

[salty mud]

I'm pretty certain you will be proved wrong in January based on the files someone on here found!!

Can you provide more information on this?

 

[Noble Zarkon]

I don't have time to go looking right now but in the previous update (before the most recent one) there were files left in for a short while that indicated we were getting Vietnam, Kublai Kahn and a new Economics mode.

Maybe @Eagle Pursuit has the link to hand?

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Can you provide more information on this?

See here.