[GS] June 2019 Patch Details

[Sostratus]

I love how they are doing these videos. The shoutout to civfanatics was gold.

I recall writing in threads about chopping that bonus resource improvements really didn't pull weight compared to mines, so I'm super happy to see the boosts to quarries and lumber mills in particular. An improvement we can put on jungle!!! The end times are nigh.
The England changes are great.
I have previously posted a few times on england like here

I mean if they even had +100% towards IZ buildings, that would be nice. (See how I differentiated them from germany/japan there?) Even adding that, I would still bump the powered building bonus to like, +4

Then they bump the powered bonus to 4 and give them a bonus to the buildings. Ah. Beautiful.
I think my biggest opinion towards WotW was that it was flavorful but not impactful enough, and they definitely upped the oomf on it.
I'm sure a lot of people felt similarly so i am glad they made it happen.

And then canada- while tundra still sucks, at least they've got something to help them out. I hadn't seriously played canada hoping they'd get buffed. Maybe it is time to try them out, eh?

I used to not know who Anton was but now I want to buy him a drink. Keep up the great work and community engagement, FXS!!

 

[Furycrab]

Buffs to Canada, Buffs to citizens, buffs to production that isn't a hill, buffs to people who don't want to chop the entire world, Buffs to Victoria, and nerfs to knight rushes?

Sign me up.

 

[pkaem]

This will probably have a deep impact on current goto strategys. I am really looking forward to this.

 

[smvalentine]

For those that can't (or don't want to) watch the whole video, here are my notes:

• • Buff production
    • Buff Quarries, Pastures, Lumber Mills to provide as much production as Mines
      (no details given)
    • Build Lumber Mills on Rainforest w/Mercantilism
  • Buff late-game buildings
    • Decrease costs ~20%
    • +1 to citizen yield w/T3 buildings
    • (Research Lab and Nuclear Power Plant were the only examples shown)
  • Buff Food Market
    • Was: +3 Food
    • Now: +4 Food, +2 more Food w/1 power
  • UI:
    • New Power lens
    • New Unit Abilities tool tip details smaller abilities outside of normal promotions
      (e.g. abilities granted by Natural or World Wonders)
  • Civ changes:
    • England's Workshop of the World:
      • Iron and Coal Mines accumulate 2 (was 1) more resource per turn
      • +100% Production toward Military Engineers (no change)
      • Military Engineers receive +2 charges (no change)
      • Buildings that provide additional yields when Powered receive +4 (was +2) of that yield
      • New: +20% Production toward Industrial Zone buildings
      • New: Harbor buildings increase Strategic Resource stockpiles by +10 on Standard Speed
    • Canada w/Wilfrid Laurier's Last Best West:
      • Farms can be built in Tundra
      • Farms can be built in Tundra Hills w/Civil Engineering
      • On Snow, Snow Hills, Tundra and Tundra Hills:
        • -50% cost of purchasing tiles
        • +1 Production for Mines
        • New: +1 Production for Lumber Mills
        • New: +1 Food for Camps
        • +100% extraction rate of accumulated resources
  • Tech and Civic changes:
    • +10% cost for Techs and Civics in Medieval through Atomic Eras to allow Eurekas and Inspirations to be more useful
    • Stirrups now requires Apprenticeship
    • Chemistry now requires Replaceable Parts
  • Diplomatic Victory
    • More points required, but more opportunities to earn them earlier in the game
    • Normal World Congress Sessions now grant +1 Diplomatic Victory point to every player who votes for each winning target/option combination
    • UI now gives more hints about what target/option combo is likely to win
    • Points added to scored competitions
    • New Military Aid Request
      • Send Gold to target civ to fund their defense
      • Gold (highest): 2 Diplomatic Victory points
      • Silver (top 25%): 100 Diplomatic Favor
      • Bronze (next 25%): 50 Diplomatic Favor
    • New resolutions:
      • Espionage Pact
        • Spies executing the chosen operation function 2 levels higher or
        • Chosen operation is not available
      • Military Advisory
        • Units of the chosen promotion class gain +5 Combat Strength or
        • Units of the chosen promotion class lose -5 Combat Strength
      • Public Relations
        • Double grievances for and interacting with target player
        • Half grievances for and interacting with target player
  • New late game Dedication:
    • Automaton Warfare:
      • Golden Age:
        • Gain a Giant Death Robot in your Capital
        • +3 Uranium per turn
        • Uranium mins accumulate +1 per turn
      • Normal and Dark Age
        • +1 Era Score each time you kill a non-Barbarian unit with a GDR
  • New late-game Dark Age Policies
    • Flower Power:
      • All Civilizations not at war receive +100% Tourism from Concerts
      • BUT: The cost of producing and purchasing land units other than Rock Bands is increased by +100%
    • Cyber Warfare:
      • +10 Combat Strength against units from the Information and Future Eras
      • BUT: Grievances against you do not decay
    • Automated Workforce:
      • Your cities get +20% Production toward city projects
      • BUT: -1 Amenities and -5 Loyalty per turn in your Cities
    • Disinformation Campaign:
      • +3 Diplomatic Favor per turn for each Broadcast Center
      • BUT: -10% Science and Culture in all Cities
  • New Map scripts:
    • 7 Seas: Lots of land connected by numerous small seas instead of big oceans
    • Small Continents: More numerous but smaller land masses
  • World Builder:
    • Basic Mode now available on Additional Content menu (without editing config)
    • UI polished
  • Teased that more changes are coming

 

[BuzWeaver]

Heh.. It's a details update without the details of when it will update.

 

[Bibor]

Those famous industrial zones of Inner Mongolia that led to stirrups

 

[leandrombraz]

I will withhold judgment on the diplo victory changes until I see how they play out - not sure if adding diplo points to congress resolutions is the best option. But we'll see. I'm glad they are trying to improve it.

It's a good solution to solve the problem where you feel like you have to hoard favors to win later instead of using the congress on your diplomatic game. Now you don't need to hoard favors to get diplo points when you can get diplo points in normal resolutions. It also allow a Civ that isn't getting tons of favors to remain competitive, including the AI. You just need to vote for the winning combo to get the point, so even if you didn't invest a lot of favors you can still get that point. It helps the AI and create the possibility for the player to try to win not by "brute force" (large amount of favors) but by trying to figure out how the vote will go. With some adjustment to the AI behavior on the congress and more ways for us to try to piece together the AI intention on the congress, that change have a lot of potential. On top of that, it add to the victory's flavor, being more interesting for a diplomatic leader to vote for what benefit others than what benefit himself.You want to be counted among the most influential leaders.

 

[criZp]

Your own musketmen?? Or hide behind your renaissance walls unless they have cannons.

whoa so, like the counter to unit x is unit x, what great design

ps. "hiding" behind walls won't stop the enemy from pillaging all your territory and breaking you through starvation or amenity-induced rebellion while slowing your cultural and scientific progress.

 

[Chocolate Pi]

I'm confused about the musketmen vs. pike & shot conversation. Of course rock beats scissors; does anyone want anything different?

 

[tedhebert]

Thanks FXS for keeping the contents coming... And for the acknowledgement of your fan base here and on Reddit !

Really appreciated.

I like the general contents of the patch. Like others, I'll hold judgement on the diplo stuff until I see it in action. But happy to see they're trying to make it better...

Finally, any improvement to Canada can ONLY BE GOOD ;-)

 

[criZp]

I'm confused about the musketmen vs. pike & shot conversation. Of course rock beats scissors; does anyone want anything different?

to put it in your terms, nothing in civ6 beats rock

 

[Karmah]

For those that can't (or don't want to) watch the whole video, here are my notes:

• • Buff production
    • Buff Quarries, Pastures, Lumber Mills to provide as much production as Mines
      (no details given)
    • Build Lumber Mills on Rainforest w/Mercantilism
  • Buff late-game buildings
    • Decrease costs ~20%
    • +1 to citizen yield w/T3 buildings
    • (Research Lab and Nuclear Power Plant were the only examples shown)
  • Buff Food Market
    • Was: +3 Food
    • Now: +4 Food, +2 more Food w/1 power
  • UI:
    • New Power lens
    • New Unit Abilities tool tip details smaller abilities outside of normal promotions
      (e.g. abilities granted by Natural or World Wonders)
  • Civ changes:
    • England's Workshop of the World:
      • Iron and Coal Mines accumulate 2 (was 1) more resource per turn
      • +100% Production toward Military Engineers (no change)
      • Military Engineers receive +2 charges (no change)
      • Buildings that provide additional yields when Powered receive +4 (was +2) of that yield
      • New: +20% Production toward Industrial Zone buildings
      • New: Harbor buildings increase Strategic Resource stockpiles by +10 on Standard Speed
    • Canada w/Wilfrid Laurier's Last Best West:
      • Farms can be built in Tundra
      • Farms can be built in Tundra Hills w/Civil Engineering
      • On Snow, Snow Hills, Tundra and Tundra Hills:
        • -50% cost of purchasing tiles
        • +1 Production for Mines
        • New: +1 Production for Lumber Mills
        • New: +1 Food for Camps
        • +100% extraction rate of accumulated resources
  • Tech and Civic changes:
    • +10% cost for Techs and Civics in Medieval through Atomic Eras to allow Eurekas and Inspirations to be more useful
    • Stirrups now requires Apprenticeship
    • Chemistry now requires Replaceable Parts
  • Diplomatic Victory
    • More points required, but more opportunities to earn them earlier in the game
    • Normal World Congress Sessions now grant +1 Diplomatic Victory point to every player who votes for each winning target/option combination
    • UI now gives more hints about what target/option combo is likely to win
    • Points added to scored competitions
    • New Military Aid Request
      • Send Gold to target civ to fund their defense
      • Gold (highest): 2 Diplomatic Victory points
      • Silver (top 25%): 100 Diplomatic Favor
      • Bronze (next 25%): 50 Diplomatic Favor
    • New resolutions:
      • Espionage Pact
        • Spies executing the chosen operation function 2 levels higher or
        • Chosen operation is not available
      • Military Advisory
        • Units of the chosen promotion class gain +5 Combat Strength or
        • Units of the chosen promotion class lose -5 Combat Strength
      • Public Relations
        • Double grievances for and interacting with target player
        • Half grievances for and interacting with target player
  • New late game Dedication:
    • Automaton Warfare:
      • Golden Age:
        • Gain a Giant Death Robot in your Capital
        • +3 Uranium per turn
        • Uranium mins accumulate +1 per turn
      • Normal and Dark Age
        • +1 Era Score each time you kill a non-Barbarian unit with a GDR
  • New late-game Dark Age Policies
    • Flower Power:
      • All Civilizations not at war receive +100% Tourism from Concerts
      • BUT: The cost of producing and purchasing land units other than Rock Bands is increased by +100%
    • Cyber Warfare:
      • +10 Combat Strength against units from the Information and Future Eras
      • BUT: Grievances against you do not decay
    • Automated Workforce:
      • Your cities get +20% Production toward city projects
      • BUT: -1 Amenities and -5 Loyalty per turn in your Cities
    • Disinformation Campaign:
      • +3 Diplomatic Favor per turn for each Broadcast Center
      • BUT: -10% Science and Culture in all Cities
  • New Map scripts:
    • 7 Seas: Lots of land connected by numerous small seas instead of big oceans
    • Small Continents: More numerous but smaller land masses
  • World Builder:
    • Basic Mode now available on Additional Content menu (without editing config)
    • UI polished
  • Teased that more changes are coming

you made someone at fireaxis in charge of writing the patch note very happy , just copy/paste and enter details and voilà

 

[darkace77450]

Some solid looking changes.

• Hurray for a semi-usable Food Market!
• Am I reading that wrong, or is it saying T3 buildings boost the yield by 1 per population? That's fantastic if that's the case.
• It's shame Dark Age policy cards are nigh impossible to use, as they're some of the most flavorful aspects of the game.

 

[xxhe]

Very nice changes. Can't wait for the full patch notes. Hope to see some fixes to Rock Bands (no more Indie conversion)

 

[tekjunkie]

Hello boys, I'm back

Saw this when I was scanning my twitter news feed.. Damn looks like I may have something to look forward to very soon.

 

[darkace77450]

I like the diplo victory changes. Presumably though getting the info on who is voting for what will be really important. That's via diplomatic visibility, right? Makes Catherine a nice diplo victory leader which I like... Though presumably also Genghis(?!?)

It would make sense if it's tied to Diplomatic Vision.

 

[WillowBrook]

Am I reading that wrong, or is it saying T3 buildings boost the yield by 1 per population? That's fantastic if that's the case.

No, per citizen working the district. I would have preferred additional great person points, but this is something.

 

[Duuk]

Added more production sources AND buffed specialists, that's fantastic!

Yeah, I would have enjoyed it more if IZs or workshops buffed lumbermills, or something like that. I do like the change though.

Unless I missed something along the way...

...did they really focus a patch on buffing production, but not rework IZs being terribly bad wastes of time?

At least England didn't get nerfed. But they DID add two whole new maps full of coasts to drown in global flooding.

 

[darkace77450]

I recall writing in threads about chopping that bonus resource improvements really didn't pull weight compared to mines, so I'm super happy to see the boosts to quarries and lumber mills in particular. An improvement we can put on jungle!!! The end times are nigh.

All that's left is trading posts for tundra and desert tiles and we'll be in good shape.

No, per citizen working the district. I would have preferred additional great person points, but this is something.

So a district with 3 citizens assigned will produce +9, where it used to be +6? That's a modest buff. I too would have preferred a boost to GPPs, but at least it's something.

 

[acluewithout]

Still loving the changes.

That said. There are some issues that weren’t discussed and are still “gaps” in my opinion. Hopefully these will get tackled in the patch notes - otherwise, this’ll be for a future patch or failing that mods.

Coastal Cities. Coastal Cities are probably too weak in GS. There are a million suggestions in these forums on how to fix them, and I’m sure FXS could think of cool ways to buff them too. But yeah, they need love because currently it’s hard to justify building Coastal Cities.

Colonial Cities. Colonial Cities are in a weird place. They do have buffs via cards, and there are plenty of mechanics to make them easier to settle (eg Ancestral Hall, Dedications, Governors). But they still suffer from a key issue - they are not rewarding enough for the effort required to build them. FXS should maybe make Colonial Cities a little easier to establish (I think that would be best done by just tweaking the map scripting a little to create a few small islands on continent style maps), and more importantly make Colonial Cities more valuable (probably requiring more than just a flat “moar goldz and hammerz”, ie they need to give you a more unique boost like additional diplomatic favour).

Repairing damaged districts. I’m okay with disasters, but it’s a bit dull what happens after you’re hit by a disaster. For strong inland cities it’s irrelevant, you can easily rebuild districts etc and damaged improvements can be repaired instantly by a spare builder. For all other cities, particularly coastal cities, it’s game over. There needs to be some mechanism that allows you to get these Cities working again, ideally by actually having to pull on your wider economy. Repairs via gold (which would tie into the Foreign Aid project) or Military Engineers speeding repairs are all options.

Unit balance and Resources. Too many units use Niter and Oil, not enough use Iron. And the actual power levels, costs and modifiers need work, eg Light Cav need a nerf v cities, Seige need a buff v ranged. AA needs to be looked at too.

Military Engineers. These guys need to be more useful.

Buildings. There are some good buffs to buildings in this patch. I think the IZ and Workshop and Factory maybe still need love, and I’m not convinced Tier 3 buildings are worth building although they’re definitely moving in the right direction and glad FXS gave them more dynamic bonuses than just flat bonus yields. We maybe need to see how stuff plays out.

“Bugs”. There are a few bugs I hope have been fixed. The big one for me is England’s Naval units losing their +1 Movement when upgraded. I’m going to be a really sad panda is that’s still broke. I still think it should apply to units built or upgraded in a city with a RND so it actually works with the Sea Dog. I’ve also recently read that if England first conquers a City on another continent, and then later settles its own City, it doesn’t get a free unit or trade route. If that’s true, that’s really rubbish. AA also need some work as I mentioned; minimum, naval AA needs to be buffed and AA needs to scale with Corps / Armies etc.

@Victoria Yeah, I think the whole free units thing is a bit silly now. Particularly given it’s not for conquered cities (as it was in Vanilla), and given England also gets free units with the Sea Dog. It’s not game breaking for me - it’s “fine” - but I think they should have maybe just got rid of the free naval and melee unit, and maybe just given something straight forward like flat production bonuses on another continent. But I guess FXS see the free unit thing as “distinctive” and more dynamic. It’s pretty low in my list of things I care about. Improving coastal and colonial cities, fixing repair and sea wall costs, and tweaking AA seem a much bigger deal to me.

It’s still a really good patch. Really cool. The game mechanics are getting a lot closer to optimal balance and fun, and that is very welcome. Good job FXS!