King Flevance
Deity
I have been organizing my thoughts recently on different aspects of Civ VII's design to have more focused constructive feedback. I have a few concerns in multiple areas but I think the most blatant offender is that legacy points snowball the game a LOT more than the Age system could ever hope to stall it.
If you achieve these legacy points in multiple areas, you are already leading. You probably have more cities than those who didnt get as many. Military path ensures that you will have plenty of cities. Science path ensures you have a lot of science output to get codex's and cities to house them. Economic means more cities to assign resources to. This all means you are already going to start the next Age strong naturally by the very nature of what it takes to achieve these points. Even if you got no reward at all for achieving them, you would still have an edge in the next age. But then, they reward you with even more powerful bonuses on top of your empire already producing a higher base yield than your opponents.
Plus, remember getting these legacy points have the benefit of boosting you to victory at the end. (So they are kind of their own reward) But I would argue these immediate benefits do more for your victory than the end bonus.
This entirely blows any "catch up" idea out of the water at age transition with a system where "the rich get richer". However, there is a fun factor here. A while ago, there was a post about legacy points all being wildcard points essentially. I have mentally revisited this idea and think it would work well if the cost of everything went up. Essentially every legacy point is just a point to spend at the end of an age.
Solution Idea: Every legacy point gained would not unlock anything new except for the 3rd legacy point would still unlock access to a Golden Age. Rather everyone goes for as many points as they can achieve to help them toward the goal of end game victory. (They still count towards their specific victory project in the modern age.) Then on Age transition, all points are "wildcard" points for spending purposes. This way you can either double down on your preferred path, or perhaps shift focus this age into a weak point in your strategy last age. So everyone will have access to the options:
The most points you can earn on legacy paths is 12. I also somehow tend to get 1-2 wildcard points per age in my games but have still yet to figure out how. So, I am not sure the maximum number of possible points here. In all my games I tend to have anywhere between 6-10 points on Age transition. So, a Golden Age under this system is expensive but doubles down and is very strong in that 1 lane - but it does require you to put almost everything into it.
The biggest problem I could see people not liking about this system is unlocking a Golden Age and not having enough points to buy it. However, this would mean that you did well in 1 aspect of the game and failed miserably at all the others. I could see lowering the cost to 6 for a golden age but I feel like the point of the golden age is to eat into the powerful player's points so that the players lagging behind can catch up. But the Golden Ages need to be worth that point investment. The downside to the Golden Ages is it almost locks you into 1 lane. You can't have 3 Golden Ages at once anymore. You may unlock 3 and can only afford 1. But you have 3 legacy points for end of game victories still. If you did unlock the Golden Age and couldn't pay for it, most of these options would allow you to either fill in some weaknesses or play to your strengths with what you can afford. And the 4 point options aren't bad and buying 1-2 attribute points can be valuable if prioritized correctly.
There are also those weird legacies that unlock through gameplay too that I would put at 3 points or something for an odd number. But I am not as familiar with those so I can't really speak to them without knowing what they do.
That's the idea. I wanted to float it to an open discussion to see what others thought of the idea. Curious to see what other think of this idea, or maybe another. I feel legacy points, as is, are a snowballing mechanic though.
If you achieve these legacy points in multiple areas, you are already leading. You probably have more cities than those who didnt get as many. Military path ensures that you will have plenty of cities. Science path ensures you have a lot of science output to get codex's and cities to house them. Economic means more cities to assign resources to. This all means you are already going to start the next Age strong naturally by the very nature of what it takes to achieve these points. Even if you got no reward at all for achieving them, you would still have an edge in the next age. But then, they reward you with even more powerful bonuses on top of your empire already producing a higher base yield than your opponents.
Plus, remember getting these legacy points have the benefit of boosting you to victory at the end. (So they are kind of their own reward) But I would argue these immediate benefits do more for your victory than the end bonus.
This entirely blows any "catch up" idea out of the water at age transition with a system where "the rich get richer". However, there is a fun factor here. A while ago, there was a post about legacy points all being wildcard points essentially. I have mentally revisited this idea and think it would work well if the cost of everything went up. Essentially every legacy point is just a point to spend at the end of an age.
Solution Idea: Every legacy point gained would not unlock anything new except for the 3rd legacy point would still unlock access to a Golden Age. Rather everyone goes for as many points as they can achieve to help them toward the goal of end game victory. (They still count towards their specific victory project in the modern age.) Then on Age transition, all points are "wildcard" points for spending purposes. This way you can either double down on your preferred path, or perhaps shift focus this age into a weak point in your strategy last age. So everyone will have access to the options:
Culture
4 Points: Wondrous Heritage (+1and +1
on Wonders you control)
2 Points: Cultural Attribute Point (*)
2 Points: Diplomatic Attribute Point (*)
(Unlock) Golden Age:
8 Points: Amphitheaters become Golden Age Amphitheaters. +1
Military
4 Points: Fealty (+2 Settlement Cap)
2 Points: Militarist Attribute Point (*)
2 Points: Expansionist Attribute Point (*)
(Unlock) Golden Age:
8 Points: Gain 1 Infantry unit for every settlement you captured in Antiquity. Gain +2 Settlement Cap. May not purchase Fealty.
Science
4 Points: Collector of Knowledge (+1for every Codex in Antiquity.)
2 Points: Militarist Attribute Point (*)
2 Points: Expansionist Attribute Point (*)
(Unlock) Golden Age:
8 Points: Academies become Golden Age Academies. +1
Economic
4 Points: Master Caravanner: (+5 Gold for every trade route in Antiquity)
2 Points: Militarist Attribute Point (*)
2 Points: Expansionist Attribute Point (*)
(Unlock) Golden Age:
8 Points: All of your cities from the previous Age remain cities. +5 gold for every trade Route in Antiquity. May not purchase Master Caravanner.
General
1 point: Settler (May only be purchased once.)
1 point: Move Capital (May only be purchased once.)
(* Attribute Points can only be bought 2 times each on Age transition. So, you can't buy 3 militaristic Attribute points. But you can buy 2 Militaristic and 2 Expansionist Attribute Points.)
The most points you can earn on legacy paths is 12. I also somehow tend to get 1-2 wildcard points per age in my games but have still yet to figure out how. So, I am not sure the maximum number of possible points here. In all my games I tend to have anywhere between 6-10 points on Age transition. So, a Golden Age under this system is expensive but doubles down and is very strong in that 1 lane - but it does require you to put almost everything into it.
The biggest problem I could see people not liking about this system is unlocking a Golden Age and not having enough points to buy it. However, this would mean that you did well in 1 aspect of the game and failed miserably at all the others. I could see lowering the cost to 6 for a golden age but I feel like the point of the golden age is to eat into the powerful player's points so that the players lagging behind can catch up. But the Golden Ages need to be worth that point investment. The downside to the Golden Ages is it almost locks you into 1 lane. You can't have 3 Golden Ages at once anymore. You may unlock 3 and can only afford 1. But you have 3 legacy points for end of game victories still. If you did unlock the Golden Age and couldn't pay for it, most of these options would allow you to either fill in some weaknesses or play to your strengths with what you can afford. And the 4 point options aren't bad and buying 1-2 attribute points can be valuable if prioritized correctly.
There are also those weird legacies that unlock through gameplay too that I would put at 3 points or something for an odd number. But I am not as familiar with those so I can't really speak to them without knowing what they do.
That's the idea. I wanted to float it to an open discussion to see what others thought of the idea. Curious to see what other think of this idea, or maybe another. I feel legacy points, as is, are a snowballing mechanic though.
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