[R&F] Is there anything Civ should ‘borrow’ from other 4X games?

[acluewithout]

Title says it all, really. Is there anything people have seen in other 4X (or maybe strategy games) that they’d like to see in Civ VI?

I think one tricky bit about borrowing from other games is that Civ has a sort of ‘boardgame’ design. So, some things I don’t think would ever quite fit. But there’s lots of stuff otherwise that might work.

One thing I’d love to see is something like Catan’s ‘longest road’ or ‘biggest army’ mechanics, which give you victory points for having (sort of) the most of certain infrastructure and most ‘military’. (Okay, Catan’s a boardgame, but that’s okay I think.)

 

[acluewithout]

One think I’d like to see from EU4 is National Disasters. These are certain political or economic disasters triggered by certain events.

I think something like this would fit really well with the government, era and or emergency systems, although they’d probably have to be a little more generic. You could have particular sorts of disasters that could potentially be triggered in each era based on your economic, military, diplomatic and government choices.

A disaster would run a random number of turns, but you could shorten it by achieving certain objectives. Surviving a disaster would award Era score.

 

[awesome]

One think I’d like to see from EU4 is National Disasters. These are certain political or economic disasters triggered by certain events.

I think something like this would fit really well with the government, era and or emergency systems, although they’d probably have to be a little more generic. You could have particular sorts of disasters that could potentially be triggered in each era based on your economic, military, diplomatic and government choices.

A disaster would run a random number of turns, but you could shorten it by achieving certain objectives. Surviving a disaster would award Era score.

Civ4 kind of did that with its random events, but they just gave small benefits, instead of points.

 

[DC0]

Custom unit designs. It was first introduced in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
To make it viable, custom civilization builder should be introduced, too.

 

[Robo-Star]

Custom unit designs. It was first introduced in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
To make it viable, custom civilization builder should be introduced, too.

Why wouldn't it be viable without custom civilization builder?

 

[SupremacyKing2]

I think an "army design workshop" would work better than a unit design workshop. Basically, you would design the composition of your army, like picking the units in a stack. For example, you might compose an army unit that is 2 archers, 1 horseman, 1 swordsman. Then on the main map, you would just have 1 unit that would represent that custom "stack".

I always thought that Endless Legends combat could be applied to civ. In EL, you have stacks on the main map but when it is time to fight, the game zooms in and your stack spreads out and you do 1upt tactical combat with your units. After combat, your units combine back into a single stack. This idea would allow you to have the best of both worlds, stacks on the main map and 1upt combat.

 

[Morningcalm]

More modes of play would be nice--not just new maps and scenarios, but unique win conditions that can be uncovered ingame, so that each game isn't just a long slog to one or two victory conditions that don't change.

 

[DC0]

Why wouldn't it be viable without custom civilization builder?

It will certainly work without customs civilizations. But with them it would be more sort of "complete" game design feature. In Galactic Civilizations 3 it works like a charm.

I think an "army design workshop" would work better than a unit design workshop.

This would be even more awesome. But I'm afraid to much to dream of It took developers 2 titles to move from squares to octagons. So maybe some a decade later...