Little things you'd like to see in Civilization VII

[Bonyduck Campersang]

This is a thread for stuff that's not game-changing mechanics. I mentioned some of these in the Civilization 7 thread, but they got lost in the midst of the Great Ukraine War. These are my suggestions:

I would like greater diplomatic interactions with city-states (or Independent Peoples, as I've heard them lumped together with 'barbarians' on this forum, which is an idea I like) such as being able to negotiate passage through their borders, or demanding tribute.
Also, CiVII should fix the stupid 'first encounter' mechanics, where the civilization initiating the meeting with a second civilization has the option to 'visit' the second civ's city and get visibility, but the second civilization cannot see their capital. And if the first civilization missed the chance to 'visit' the second civ's city, they have to wait until embassies are unblocked to discover the other's location. I'd like to see a return to exchanging embassies the way it was done in Civilization V.

 

[Henri Christophe]

I would like a game who don't crash, just that.

And they should add Haiti, for sure.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Bring back naming geographical features for each civ.

I also like the timeline. I don't necessarily think we need the idea of era score back, but just some sort of way to record what has happened.

Basically, I want to keep the better immersion elements.

 

[Zaarin]

I'd like to see seasons and weather as cosmetic details like Civ6's day/night cycle.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I'd like to see seasons and weather as cosmetic details like Civ6's day/night cycle.

To implement that in the future game without Sean Bean saying "Winter is Coming" would be a little disappointing though.

 

[Zaarin]

To implement that in the future game without Sean Bean saying "Winter is Coming" would be a little disappointing though.

Only for GoT fans.

 

[FishFishFish]

Caravans that originate from desert cities should continue to use camels. Otherwise, they should use horses.

Or maybe caravans could calculate the amount of desert tiles they have to go through. If the majority are desert, they use camels. Otherwise, they use horses.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Caravans that originate from desert cities should continue to use camels. Otherwise, they should use horses.

Or maybe caravans could calculate the amount of desert tiles they have to go through. If the majority are desert, they use camels. Otherwise, they use horses.

That reminds me that I wished they would have changed to steam engine trains if they traveled on railroads in Civ 6. Maybe that would have been a good incentive to actually build railroads. I also wished settler graphics would have changed before the Modern era. I would have loved a covered wagon at least in the Industrial Era. The Medieval and Renaissance could have their own as well.

 

[Henri Christophe]

Caravans that originate from desert cities should continue to use camels. Otherwise, they should use horses.

Or maybe caravans could calculate the amount of desert tiles they have to go through. If the majority are desert, they use camels. Otherwise, they use horses.

I would like to see Caravans with Llhamas

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

A jukebox system where you can:

• Skip songs
• Filter out certain songs or certain Civs (You'll never have to hear Waltzing Matilda or Fairy Tale Girl ever again!)
• Potentially even choose what song is played next

Civ has wonderful music but isn't the best at playing it.

Depending on how the next game's music is structured (peace and war themes, era themes, or something new), the jukebox might be made more or less useful.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

Religious schisms, family marriages, revolutions, having ideological/religious reasons for an alliance, civil wars (that other powers can dabble into), cold wars, etc.
also more Sean Bean!!!

 

[Caesar of Bread]

A jukebox system where you can:

• Skip songs
• Filter out certain songs or certain Civs (You'll never have to hear Waltzing Matilda or Fairy Tale Girl ever again!)
• Potentially even choose what song is played next

Civ has wonderful music but isn't the best at playing it.

Depending on how the next game's music is structured (peace and war themes, era themes, or something new), the jukebox might be made more or less useful.

Me playing the Russia Atomic theme, Hungary Industrial theme, Mongol theme, English theme, and American theme (Civ 6 ones) 24/7...

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

Me playing the Russia Atomic theme, Hungary Industrial theme, Mongol theme, English theme, and American theme (Civ 6 ones) 24/7...

My choices wouldn't be too dissimilar, though I've always been a sucker for Greece's theme.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

My choices wouldn't be too dissimilar, though I've always been a sucker for Greece's theme.

Nice. On Greece's note, I wouldn't mind Alexander returning for Greece


Also, bring back alt leaders!

 

[InsidiousMage]

Some kind of power line feature, maybe have railroads doing double duty, so I don't have to build horribly inefficient power plants just so I can power all of my buildings.

 

[Zaarin]

My choices wouldn't be too dissimilar, though I've always been a sucker for Greece's theme.

Civ6's Greece theme loses major points from me for not being Civ5's Greece theme. With a few exceptions, I prefer Civ6's soundtrack to Civ5's, but Civ5 really nailed its arrangement of "Epitaph of Seikilos." I wouldn't mind seeing "Gao Shan Liu Shui" return as China's theme, either.

On the topic of music, I think evolving music was a neat idea that didn't pan out well. Instead I'd like to see more ambient music so we hear more variety that's more relevant to the civ that's being played. (I also heartily endorse the idea of a jukebox, which has been done in other strategy games. I know Stellaris has it, for example.)

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

On the topic of music, I think evolving music was a neat idea that didn't pan out well. Instead I'd like to see more ambient music so we hear more variety that's more relevant to the civ that's being played.

I would also like to see more ambients to break up the monotony of the main themes (especially during later areas when everything is orchestral and roughly similar in style).

I used to strongly love the evolving music (mostly for the Industrial and Atomic themes), but that's a passion that's dimmed with time and repetition. I respect all of the effort that goes into the Industrial themes, but many of them follow a formula. I used to love that formula when it was still fresh to me. 50 Civs later... it's certainly lost its impact a little.

There were flaws with the era-based music, but I'd like to see it given another try with a different, less formulaic approach. I think it's fine to orchestrate all of the themes at some point, but the Medieval themes cannot be done the same way. No offense to Knorr, Rizzo, or Niccolo Seligmann (the musician you hear on every Medieval track), but the vielle and bass viol get old. The arrangements don't help matters. If this unnecessary uniformity were dropped in a larger ensemble of more Civ-specific instruments, I would be so very pleased.

The idea of evolving music is such a cool one to me, and one that feels like it has more potential left in it.

 

[AffineConstant]

"Africa" conintent type caravan gets camels, "Americas" gets Llamas, Europe or Asia type gets horses. Australia type gets uhhh... Kangaroos, and the people ride in the pouches. Maybe that wouldn't work...

Really I'd love to see the pull back spherical map from Civ 4 return, I loved that bit. An evolving map/fog of war in general would be very cool. From "here be dragons" all the way to the sphere and space depending on the current age.

Also the Mongol music should be an evolving track entirely done by The Hu

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

Also the Mongol music should be an evolving track entirely done by The Hu

I second this

 

[Zaarin]

The Hu is great, though so is what Geoff Knorr did with the Mongolian theme in Civ6 so I think we're good either way. (I hope The Hu drops in to do another song for Jedi: Survivor.)