Is this expansion any good? Review Brave New World

Rate Brave New World (10 being the best)

  • 1: Very bad, unplayable bad

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • 2 bad

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3 somewhat bad

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • 4 below average

    Votes: 2 0.6%
  • 5 average

    Votes: 3 0.9%
  • 6 above average

    Votes: 6 1.8%
  • 7 somewhat good

    Votes: 13 4.0%
  • 8 good

    Votes: 62 19.0%
  • 9 very good

    Votes: 117 35.8%
  • 10 exceptional- a must buy/play

    Votes: 122 37.3%

  • Total voters
    327
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
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Location
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Forgive me, but I don't see a sticky thread, or a thread on the first 6 pages about reviews for this expansion. So I'll make my own.

I am kind of excited for this. But I am one of those people that enjoy Civ4 (with Rise of Mankind mod) much more than Civ5. But I am interested, and I have put in a couple hundred hours with Civ5 (mostly after the first expansion came out). I still don't like 1 upt, but it doesn't break the game for me (I just hope they get rid of such nonsense for civ6). Like I said, a couple hundred hours is a worthy time investment for the price. So is this expansion as good as Gods and Kings?

I'll include a poll as well. And feel free to write your own reviews here. I'm leaning towards buying it, but if lots of people say it breaks improvements Gods and Kings made, then I'll pass. I still play Civ4 over Civ5, but there are a few things in Civ5 I like.
 
9/10.

Would have been 10/10 if the MP AI could contact human players (still not fixed!).
 
I am not the biggest fan of 1upt either, I hope they'll add an army system like call to power in Civ 6, but BNW is a lot better than gods and kings and finally adds some decision making. If you liked Civ5 (with or without G&K) at least a bit, you should buy it ;)
 
8/10. Solid, delivers mostly what I expected. I'm a bit disappointed by a few things, though. Wideness and warmongering have been punished too much, and the AI is not aggressive enough. I like the fact they declare stupid wars less, but they should actively pursue their interests and not just let me grab diplomatic victory without any opposition.

I also hate the fact that Civilopedia is out-of-date. A simple sign of devotion would be to keep that piece of junk up-to-date.
 
I voted 10/10 if only that it's a must-buy if you have (and like) Civ 5 in the first place. I can't imagine going back to vanilla or even G&K ever, now.
 
I've enjoyed Civ 5 since vanilla and its done nothing but get better with each expansion...10 out 10 from me. :)
 
8/10. Solid, delivers mostly what I expected. I'm a bit disappointed by a few things, though. Wideness and warmongering have been punished too much, and the AI is not aggressive enough. I like the fact they declare stupid wars less, but they should actively pursue their interests and not just let me grab diplomatic victory without any opposition.

I also hate the fact that Civilopedia is out-of-date. A simple sign of devotion would be to keep that piece of junk up-to-date.

Yeah I'm disappointed by these things as well, because I do like large empires. And you're serious they aren't keeping the civilpedia up to date? That's a shame. What's the point of having it then?

I'm worried about this warmongering thing, because this is what I use to expand and get the edge over the ai. I'm not sure how I'll when if I can't take over ai cities.
 
I'm worried about this warmongering thing, because this is what I use to expand and get the edge over the ai. I'm not sure how I'll when if I can't take over ai cities.

things arent that scary really.
wide empires tech little bit slower than in gnk, but they now take policies much faster.
diplomatic penalty is bigger for taking cities but theres less or no penalty for declaring war or killing a civ completely off (afaik).
so buffs and nerfs are quite balanced. you have just become used to the new rules.
 
And you're serious they aren't keeping the civilpedia up to date? That's a shame. What's the point of having it then?

Why of course I'm serious. That's supposed to be the primary online help for Civilization, but in its current shape it can't be trusted.
 
8/10
It brings nice perks with the World Congress, archaeology and trade routes. Some of the new civs are quite different to play.
I like a lot of what's been added, but I do wish I'd get my empire chopped down when all I have for an army is a warrior and 2 ranged units. And I'd also wish for the diplomatic victory to be changed (when having problems, cut down expenses, start the most profitable trade routes and buy all city states)
The African scenario though does offer some very difficult challenges.
 
I gave this expansion a 10/10. I always play single player, and feel its unfair to grade BNW on MP features anyway, because they were not a part of this expansion (coming in a patch just before its release.)

BNW has added much to the game that makes it feel complete, more engaging throughout the entire game, and much more strategic now that gold has become more scarce and much more related to an actual economy based on trade.

Sure there are some hitches that came with BNW (toned down AI aggression, a likely side effect of the early gold game, and trade all together) but, the mechanics that BNW has added are what "complete" the game and matter most. It's hard to imagine any world without intricate trading such as those added with trade routes and completely "blow away" it's predecessor of luxury trading. And what kind of world would it be without some sort of world congress? This addition is really great! Too focused on city state allies, but reasonably so. -wonders tied to certain policies makes a lot of sense as well and I love that addition. -forcing you to choose an ideology upon becoming modern, another great addition. Tourism and culture victory, archaeology, great works, all of these things make this VC so much more engaging.

There's not really anything to dislike about this XPac, I mean they will need to make a few tweaks here and there, but overall 10/10, absolutely must buy!
 
I gave it a 9 on account of some fairly obvious oversights, balancing issues and continuation of some objectionable mechanics (e.g. Venice/Austria) but it's certainly a must-buy.

The good is pretty much everything you might expect; the bad is the stuff you didn't.

- Everybody expected the AI to be about the same or slightly improved. What actually happened was that the AI seriously improved in some areas and took a sharp turn downhill in others. What's most surprising is that they took a downhill turn in stuff they were doing fairly well in up until BNW, like declaring wars with abandon and conquering stuff; which was (and is) the primary means of the AI doing well and posing a significant threat to victory. Now they struggle with that but do pretty well in the new mechanics or at least sufficiently well as you might expect the AI to have done pre-release.

- Trade routes are awesome but clearly in need of adjustment.

- Each game now feels much more drawn out, especially the later eras. An unfortunate side-effect is that tech progression on the slower game speeds is now too slow; to the point where it isn't unsurprising if you don't finish the tree before 2050.

- Hardware load has stayed fairly constant (I'm convinced that it's dropped slightly but that could just be me) despite the obvious increase in computing demand, but turn times have increased. They don't feel long, like they did at times in Vanilla and G&K, but they do feel much more deliberate.

Definitely have to comment on the barbarians too, those buggers can be seriously troubling in a way that they simply weren't until BNW. The music is, also, top notch stuff. On the whole though, playing Civ 5 without BNW is a serious disservice to the game. Should it have taken two expansions to get it to this point? Probably not, but frankly I'm pleasantly surprised that Civ 5 made it to this point at all. It now feels like a complete and fully rounded out game and the Fall patch will, hopefully, fix the worst of the balancing issues.
 
Thanks for all the comments. I've made my decision (the game is downloading as I type this), but keep the comments coming. This thread may be useful for others returning to these boards after a long hiatus such as I did.

I may have to check out some strategy threads. So much to learn. It seems I'll have to employ new strategies, and learn how to properly use caravans. Although I may not check strategy threads until after my first game. So I go in fresh, and experience everything for the first time without spoiling it too much. It looks like the game is shaping up, unlike What Civ5 was when first released (I did not like the initial release).
 
8/10
Some balancing issues, some AI issues, and some tedium issues kept me from saying 10/10.
 
8/10. The new mechanics don't feel like they change the game so dramatically as was stated and the World Congress and Tourism feel shallow at times (if not most of the time for the latter) - I would have liked resolutions to force peace between members, or to ban a specific civ from attending the World Congress during a voting session. Although the attributes of some of the new civs feel too specialised or late-coming, I am especially pleased with the inclusion of Venice and praise the addition of Indonesia and Brazil, even if I couldn't play them unmodded. But it is International Trade, Ideologies and Archaeology thatt stand out to me, for they fit so remarkably seamlessly into the game and evolve it into sometime more real and dynamic.

The typical things like AI wackiness - in my case the games of eternal peace - and dubious balancing are present, but I haven't played enough to let it influence my decision upon the content of the expansion.
 
9/10

Yes, AI is more peaceful on early eras compared to GnK, but it is good that you dont have always to deal with a DoW from your neighbor before turn (immortal PoV). It was annoying that no matter the war/peaces bias of your AI, he would attack you. That said, I still see a lot of wars going on mid/late game, cities being take and etc.

On the other hand, I think some civs need to be adjusted (looking at you Germany, Japan, America, etc), and minor adjustements overall (improve exploration finisher, trade routes give aton of gold, honor shoul receive a buff to be at same level of other starting trees, autocracy needs a buff and freedom lv 3 space victory tenet is meh)

And please, more civs DLCs!
 
9, so much it almost destroyed my marriage. I can't stay awake till 7 am anymore. Better said, I can, I'm just not allowed to.
 
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