Is Civ VII most boring version?

[aelf]

I did a test on deity where I shift-entered the first two eras. Survived to the modern era and then won modern militaristically. Now was this intended? I have to assume not, but it’s certainly possible at least in the current version - hopefully that will change. For a simpler version (haven’t tested this) you should be able to start in modern and not spend any starting points, and see how easy it is to win.

You got a save or recording?

 

[Taefin]

Finishing games on modern is the main thing that saps my energy for my next game. When playing with the illusion that the AI is rushing toward its own victory, the urgency makes every decision exciting. Then the AI completes a legacy path (or the tech tree) and just sits without starting the victory projects.

My last game I had a slow T101 military victory, which I rushed when Augustus completed the culture legacy on T80. My economic victory stalled when global relations soured due to ideology, and my gold income wasn’t fast enough to beat out the military victory from stopping Augustus. Yet I gave Augustus more than enough time to complete the victory project before I DOWed him to interfere.

 

[aelf]

I don't remember ever feeling threatened by an impending AI victory in Civ6 either. I guess if I didn't feel like I could win, I simply abandoned games much earlier, so it never came down to that. For games that I felt I could win, my goal was simply to win as early as possible.

It's still the same in Civ7.

 

[reddishrecue]

I don't remember ever feeling threatened by an impending AI victory in Civ6 either. I guess if I didn't feel like I could win, I simply abandoned games much earlier, so it never came down to that. For games that I felt I could win, my goal was simply to win as early as possible.

It's still the same in Civ7.

That's what happened to me the last time I played online. I couldn't trade with 5 trading opportunities with the civilization I was adjacent to and being adjacent to cities that wouldn't turn green for trade for some reason. Smh. I spent all my expansion towards that civilization too. It was a hard time. I just couldn't trade.

 

[Leucarum]

When we talk about the first two eras, a lot of what you are encouraged to do is what you would do in a standard Civ game - albeit exploration makes you do it in the distant lands. And I find I don't feel pigeonholed or bored by those two eras in the slightest. I honestly think antiquity in particular is the best that Civ has ever been. It is as close to perfect as I've seen.

But then comes modern - and I honestly have never wanted to avoid the end of a civ game more than in Civ7. The complaints about being railroaded and pushed down specific paths really do apply here, and it's incredibly repetitive, especially since the victory conditions do pull you away from what you want to do in a Civ game.

I love Civ7, but I am stopping almost all of my games after exploration. Antiquity gets 10/10, and has yet to get boring for me, exploration is very solid. But modern... I prefer to pretend it doesn't exist for now. And the problem with that is that I paid for a game with 33% less civs.

I do think what makes modern the most boring are the very repetitive and beeline-inducing victory conditions. So I can see an easy stopgap solution. Just remove the victory projects and force a score victory every game. The modern legacy parhs could use work to be less repetitive, but we can get part of the way there pretty painlessly.

 

[StargazingDog]

since the victory conditions do pull you away from what you want to do in a Civ game.

You do not have to complete the victory conditions to finish the game or even win. Unlike the previous games in the series, ending via time/score is actually viable. In previous games, it was just a way to force an end if you couldn't "win". Now, thanks to the age system, modern age can simply be treated as another age to play. I find it much more fun that way. Why intentionally make the game less fun for yourself?

I play all my games by virtually ignoring the legacies completely. I just play the game as I would any other. The game ends when it ends. If I happen in a position to claim instant victory, so be it. Otherwise, the game plays out. It's much more exciting to me since I have come close to actually losing due to score (AI only 1 point behind). As a bonus, you get to use all the techs and civics.

 

[Leucarum]

You do not have to complete the victory conditions to finish the game or even win. Unlike the previous games in the series, ending via time/score is actually viable. In previous games, it was just a way to force an end if you couldn't "win". Now, thanks to the age system, modern age can simply be treated as another age to play. I find it much more fun that way. Why intentionally make the game less fun for yourself?

I play all my games by virtually ignoring the legacies completely. I just play the game as I would any other. The game ends when it ends. If I happen in a position to claim instant victory, so be it. Otherwise, the game plays out. It's much more exciting to me since I have come close to actually losing due to score (AI only 1 point behind). As a bonus, you get to use all the techs and civics.

Awesome, very glad you're enjoying the game in this way. I also know myself and how competitive I get. I would get very frustrated playing while ignoring the legacies.

 

[Yzman]

I did a test on deity where I shift-entered the first two eras. Survived to the modern era and then won modern militaristically. Now was this intended? I have to assume not, but it’s certainly possible at least in the current version - hopefully that will change. For a simpler version (haven’t tested this) you should be able to start in modern and not spend any starting points, and see how easy it is to win.

What does that even mean? You didn't build anything or expand?

 

[reddishrecue]

You do not have to complete the victory conditions to finish the game or even win. Unlike the previous games in the series, ending via time/score is actually viable. In previous games, it was just a way to force an end if you couldn't "win". Now, thanks to the age system, modern age can simply be treated as another age to play. I find it much more fun that way. Why intentionally make the game less fun for yourself?

I play all my games by virtually ignoring the legacies completely. I just play the game as I would any other. The game ends when it ends. If I happen in a position to claim instant victory, so be it. Otherwise, the game plays out. It's much more exciting to me since I have come close to actually losing due to score (AI only 1 point behind). As a bonus, you get to use all the techs and civics.

I guess it could be fun when there are a competitive players all racing to meet achievements.

 

[Tanel]

Interesting. I'm finding Civ 7 to be the most interesting one at launch so far. Sure there are issues that need fixing but they don't get in the way of my enjoyment that much because the mechanics are great.

Yeah the AI is not good at winning but that was the case in 6 as well. In Modern age I focus on winning on as fast as possible so I'm aiming to beat my own score not the AI.

 

[Pfeffersack]

I wouldn't use the word boring, at least not yet. However, I'm only right about to end my second game with Civ7 and already feel railroading, rigid restrctions, randomness and repetitive stuff putting a dent on longterm motivation. The game is still good for some more playthroughs and I don't regret having bought the base version of it...it has a couple of cool ideas and concepts, but I'm yet not convinced that it will ever become on of the sandboxes which where Civ3-6 for me, each being a black hole of its own in regard to playing time.

 

[user746383]

What does that even mean? You didn't build anything or expand?

Yes, start a new game and keep pressing shift-enter for every turn in ancient and exploration. You don't need to do anything, all dialogs are skippable - just keep holding down that shift key and pressing enter. It takes about 140 turns. I never moved my settler but I did have to found my first city on the last turn of antiquity. If you don't do this you start the next age with no units and no cities and are stuck. Then do the same for exploration.

You can also save yourself a lot of time and boredom by just doing a modern start and not picking any benefits, but you will get your capital city with a few buildings and pop in it if you think that makes a huge difference.

 

[ThomCNTV]

Absolutely yes. Not just the most boring CIV, but one of the most boring strategy games ever made.


I already wrote a huge post here about how bad CIV7 is. Last week, a new patch came out, so I decided to test it. It's unbelievable how they managed to make such a bad game. It really feels like the devs don’t even play their own game. I’ve been playing CIV since CIV2, probably have around 10,000 hours across all of them, and I have NEVER been able to win on deity. In CIV7, you can win on deity with no effort at all.. The AI is no threat at all—it’s pathetic.


But that’s not even the worst part. Even if you ignore the AI and just "play against yourself," the game becomes insanely boring halfway through every era. At that point, you have so much money and production that your cities can buy and build everything instantly, and all that’s left to do is spam units or research. So you get to this point where you’re like: "The only reason I’m not wiping out my neighbors is because I don’t feel like it." And since that would be even more boring (because, again, the AI is pathetic), the game just feels empty and pointless. There’s nothing left to build that actually matters. You just keep hitting "next turn" until it’s over. And when you reach the modern era—the absolute worst one—it’s literally just pressing "next turn" until you win with whatever victory type you chose. And if you pick domination, it’s the worst of all, because you’ll spend ages moving dozens of units every turn, knowing for a fact that the AI won’t put up any resistance. It doesn’t matter what units you build, it doesn’t matter how you move them—do it in the dumbest way possible, and you’ll still win.


CIV7 has nice graphics and some cool ideas (the civilization change mechanic could be great if the game was actually good, and crises and other concepts are interesting), but the final result is TERRIBLE. If people didn’t love CIV so much, this game’s approval rating on Steam should be below 10%, not 40%. The only reason people give it a higher score is because they hope it’ll get better—which is just insulting to anyone who paid full price for what is essentially a beta.

 

[Yzman]

Yes, start a new game and keep pressing shift-enter for every turn in ancient and exploration. You don't need to do anything, all dialogs are skippable - just keep holding down that shift key and pressing enter. It takes about 140 turns. I never moved my settler but I did have to found my first city on the last turn of antiquity. If you don't do this you start the next age with no units and no cities and are stuck. Then do the same for exploration.

You can also save yourself a lot of time and boredom by just doing a modern start and not picking any benefits, but you will get your capital city with a few buildings and pop in it if you think that makes a huge difference.

I really find this hard to believe. What difficulty was this? I usually have hostile IPs attacking or the AI definitely would have done something unless you completely broke the system by skipping the whole game.

 

[aelf]

My guess is, if anything, the military dark age did a lot of heavy lifting. Not sure how it works in Modern Age, but if it's anything like the Exploration Age, it certainly makes it possible.

Even so, it would be a very tedious game and probably requires a lot of luck to pull off before an AI civ wins. Without a save or a recording, it's hard to say much more.

 

[StargazingDog]

Awesome, very glad you're enjoying the game in this way. I also know myself and how competitive I get. I would get very frustrated playing while ignoring the legacies.

But... you said it was "boring" playing this way. Why play a game that bores you when you can play in a way that doesn't bore you? Give it a try!

Maybe Civ 5 would be more fun.

 

[Taefin]

In CIV7, you can win on deity with no effort at all.. The AI is no threat at all—it’s pathetic.

The AI does decently well on deity, despite starting with no bonus units. For any player who can outpace the deity bonus yields though, especially if this happens during antiquity, it really takes very little time to eclipse them and trivialize the game.

However, if you increase the AI bonuses to ~50% above Deity level, there are mechanics of the game and AI that do I find actually work pretty well at keeping the first two eras competitive at least, and create varied and dynamic gameplay leading into the modern era.

In most games at these settings, giving the AI more unit production, I am pleasantly surprised how often I end up using the city defenses I invest in during antiquity, and leveraging any natural barriers around where I chose to place my border settlements (or suffering the consequences for not doing that). Giving them more gold and constructible production, I find it a good challenge how quickly their yields snowball, as they too now build everything they can as they fly through the tech/civic trees.

Modern still largely falls apart if doing anything other than playing against yourself for the earliest victory possible, since the AI don’t aggressively pursue victory conditions.

 

[Gori the Grey]

if you increase the AI bonuses to ~50% above Deity level

I've heard of demi-gods; this is the first time I've heard of a sesqui-god.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Are you asking if it's more boring than VANILLA civ 5 or 6? Or CivIII?

 

[user746383]

I really find this hard to believe. What difficulty was this? I usually have hostile IPs attacking or the AI definitely would have done something unless you completely broke the system by skipping the whole game.

Deity, though if you don't believe me it's not hard to do yourself. I left the specific instructions and it takes about 30 minutes per era, at least on my computer. Possibly never settling is breaking something, but then exploration is also quiet. So maybe there's a bug in shift-enter skipping declarations of war or something. Either way, starting on Deity in modern and skipping your bonuses while the AI takes theirs and winning anyway is very doable so you can always try that if you think there's a bug or some other shenanigans going on.

For what it's worth, I've never on any Deity game (even normal style, playing through the eras) beat the AIs on yields. You can just win anyway because they don't use their yields effectively, same as in other Civ games.