I'm very excited for the new GP system

[stiiknafuulia]

Won't this mean that on a map that has many Civs (say, a TSL world map), the cost of the next GP may balloon to such heights that the last few civs will be left in the dust when it comes to getting their GPs? Thus having the effect of kicking them while they're down... Doesn't seem like very fair or balanced to me (though it may be somewhat historical).

 

[JtW]

EDIT: also, if the next GP in line is not known in advance, there's little room for planning. Say there's a very beneficial Great Engineer available after the previous one was snatched up. If you don't have some GE points accumulated already, it doesn't matter if you want him - other players are likely already en route to getting him. So the knowledge of what the GE does has very little bearing on your decision to accumulate GE points. Unless there's a way to catch up easily with players who are already in the race, which I can't imagine how it would work.

I failed to mention that the article says you'll be able to straight up buy GP with gold and faith. So I think this will be a way to snatch that special GP if you don't have a chance to otherwise win the race.

 

[oddtail]

I failed to mention that the article says you'll be able to straight up buy GP with gold and faith. So I think this will be a way to snatch that special GP if you don't have a chance to otherwise win the race.

Oooooh, that's actually pretty great, and it does address some of my worries =) thanks for the info. I guess I need to dust off my mediocre German skills and read the article (or use Google Translate and pray).

 

[mitsho]

Giving the GP unique effects may mean you can't save them up anymore which I guess is good, as it means less micromanaging? But I am curious what those special effects will be, as I can't really think of any examples at the moment. The process of getting them seems fine just because it's a different new one. In the end, it's a balance question for when the game is released

 

[Seek]

As I mentioned in the other thread* I could see the power rating of each GP to be comparable with the unique effects being more map dependent when settling them (eg, Galileo gives a bonus to campuses near mountains while Pasteur gives a bonus to cattle). I could also see techs getting assigned classes like in civ 4, and the GP grants a free eureka moment to a specific class. I'm sure there are many other better ideas along these lines, but I'm sure they can be scaled and balanced so that the whole pool could be randomized and not divided by era or arranged into a set order.

*http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=568006

 

[Ikael]

Really intriguing system, I would love to know more about it. Still, from what we have been able to gather so far:

- The good:

- It forces the player to take interesting decisions
- It simulates very well the whole "competing for talent" dynamics of the real world
- It adds more competitiveness and player interaction in the cultural area outside of wonders
- It adds a ton of flavour and replayability due to unique bonuses for each GP

- The bad:

- You will need to mantain a very careful balance between every GP in order to don't make the choice between them meaningless (ex: "Always try to get Leonardo Da Vinci ASAP")
- It offers greater chances of a civilization snowballing due to its "the winner takes it out" type of mechanic, with some civs never able to snatch a GP in the entire game
- Pool of GP will probably be quite limited and / or eurocentric, at least initially

In short, it reminds me to Civ 5's social policies: It seems like a good mechanic at its core, but with a chance of being (partially) botched up due to its execution. Will probably need lots of balance patches in order to work properly

 

[Haig]

Like I wrote in another thread, I think Great person's Unique ability fits great generals really well.

Gen. Sherman gives bonuses to pillaging, Guderian to mobile units, McClellan cant move but looks manly.

 

[thecrazyscot]

Moses will be pretty useful on Archipelago maps.

EDIT: I'd say once you come from the initial hype (wohoo, more features!) and think about actual bonuses, they look rather silly from realism standpoint even more than they look pointless for gameplay.

Eh...the Civ series has never been about realism, so that worry doesn't really hold water.

As long as the system is fun and balanced and fits within the context of the game it should be good. But as you have said, we do need to wait for more details.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Nixalo]

It would be cool if certain government and religion beliefs let you buy specific GP with faith or gold. Like a Military government lets you buy Cao Cao with gold. Or a religion let's you by Michelangelo with faith which add Culture to your Religious buildings.

If they let's you snatch generic ones it's okay too.

This also makes a limit on going wide willy nilly too early as the time you spend hammering out settlers puts you last on the GP race.

 

[Felis Renidens]

(ex: "Always try to get Leonardo Da Vinci ASAP")

Reminds me Civ2 where Leonardo's Workshop was one of the wonders I always wanted (well, Ideally I'll have all of them but some I wanted more then others). In Civ3 it was also nice. I wonder if his ability will be upgrading your units in some way.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Variations I can see
Sidethought-I'm guessing if they name the Prophets there's a few we won't see. (Founders of the 2 big monotheism faiths-one for threat reasons, the other for the God not prophet argument...and their role can easily be taken by some of their immediate successors)

When settling (first issue where do they settle, on a tile or in the appropriete district?-ie are they a tile improvement or a building)
-fairly easy-adjacency/terrain of that city bonuses, or bonuses to their "off" yield, or slightly different bonuses...on building is gold +50%, +3 gold, the other is +40%, +7

When popping (I really hope "pop value" is fixed like with Great Musicians...so no more storing the GS up to the end)
-bonus specific Eureka moment (if they are tied to eras-giving a second way to get a Eureka)...or just bonus advancement towards a particular tech/civic
-specific beliefs added to your religion (prophets)
-bonus other yield (Merchant Gates provides money and science when popped)
-bonus base yield for certain goverments/policies in place/other conditions

-GGen: different types of bonuses/unit specific ones (ala Khan)

What's really important is how they do the 'wait' feature,,

Do you just keep your points, wait for someone else to buy, and then pay the higher price?
OR
When you get enough, trade your points for a 'choose great scientist' token and the cost goes up for everyone (but it doesn't go up when you trade in your token)

 

[Stringer1313]

The GP system sounds a lot like the system in Civ IV: Colonization. I liked that system, especially because it required you to actually do stuff in the world to get the requisite points.

But I agree there has to be a check against snowballing.

 

[Felis Renidens]

Another option for settling them is a super-specialist with an added attribute. Like a specialist + free building in the city. Or priest with +happiness or scientist with +culture. and perhaps they allow you to insta-build a district for them to work in, if the city does not have that kind of district yet.

I don't think there will be tokens, sounds too complicated.

 

[JtW]

Well, we don't even know if they will be actual units on the map. For all we know, their effect will be activated as soon as you get them, and that's it.

 

[m15a]

I think the idea sounds good. Since some great person points (hopefully a lot) come from projects built in cities, meaning it's an active choice made by the player at a specific time, I think it could work well.

Do we know any example effects yet? I didn't see any, so I don't know if the talk of unrealistic great people is based on examples or just speculation, but I that can be somewhat controlled by how strong the base effect (like founding religions for great prophets) is to the bonus effect. If not, it's just like building wonders anyway. The balance can be improved, or the imbalance can be kept to encourage competition.

Variations I can see
Sidethought-I'm guessing if they name the Prophets there's a few we won't see. (Founders of the 2 big monotheism faiths-one for threat reasons, the other for the God not prophet argument...and their role can easily be taken by some of their immediate successors)

Assuming I'm decoding your sentence right (ie, you're talking about Islam and Christianity), I think they'd leave Muhammad out as to not offend Muslims, not "threat reasons".

 

[kaltorak]

Sounds bad imo. Adds too much randomness

 

[JtW]

Do we know any example effects yet?

No, we don't.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Another option for settling them is a super-specialist with an added attribute. Like a specialist + free building in the city. Or priest with +happiness or scientist with +culture. and perhaps they allow you to insta-build a district for them to work in, if the city does not have that kind of district yet.

I don't think there will be tokens, sounds too complicated.

Thinking about that, I agree. I was thinking about the 'wonder race' aspect...

However, in this case they said you Know how many points everyone else has towards that great person (I'm guessing some are listed as unknown player) so you can plan. (If I pass this GP up and Player #2 takes it, will I still be able to get the next GP in a reasonable amount of time before another player could lap me).

Hopefully they include that info. Cost for this GP AND Cost for the next GP after this one (which you can't buy or see until someone takes the first)

 

[Felis Renidens]

If it will not be on the screen it will at least be figured out pretty soon, I suppose it depends on game speed and perhaps map size and difficulty, things like that.
Still - it's better to have the info in front of you.

 

[Acken]

Ehhh thats actually something im a bit skeptic about that system. It would have to be well balanced and it reminds me of the terrible pantheon system with increased costs depending on what other civs are doing.

I like the added flavor and unqieuness of gps but im worried about the execution.