Little things you'd like to see in Civilization VII

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I play with a lot of mods, so there definitely is overlap for me. And if they introduce the Timurids or Italy, or any other civilization that shares city names with another civilization, they definitely will need to.

Well, that makes sense. In the case of the Timurids I'm sure they're would be enough cities in Central Asia that maybe they don't have to use ones from Persia?
I really want the Mughals in Civ 6 and figured a way around the city-list would be to just use the Arabic/Persian names of the Indian cities, anyway.
As for Italy, I guess there is an argument that you don't have to use Rome if you are using a leader from the Renaissance, or even a modern leader considering the first capital used was Turin. And if you use the whole "Risorgimento movement" Rome was essentially the last part, so plenty of other cities to use.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Well, that makes sense. In the case of the Timurids I'm sure they're would be enough cities in Central Asia that maybe they don't have to use ones from Persia?
I really want the Mughals in Civ 6 and figured a way around the city-list would be to just use the Arabic/Persian names of the Indian cities, anyway.
As for Italy, I guess there is an argument that you don't have to use Rome if you are using a leader from the Renaissance, or even a modern leader considering the first capital used was Turin. And if you use the whole "Risorgimento movement" Rome was essentially the last part, so plenty of other cities to use.

Mali and the Songhai practically have the same city list. As for Central Asia, lots of polities had Samarkand and Bukhara as capitals or important cities.

My main reason for asking is mods, so that there is no city-name clash for civilisations that existed very closely in geographical terms or where one succeeded the other. Also because there are several important city-states in the Ancient Near East and Mesopotamia that were also at some point part of also important empires, and I would like the possibility of both in the game.

 

[Gori the Grey]

As for an actual little thing I would like. I would like all of the specifics of a city to be in a special city screen (like Civ III), so that when one is looking at the big map, cities don't take up such a disproportionate amount of space. This was already bad in Civ V, but is worse with Civ VI's districts. Other players maybe do like looking at the specifics of their city on the global map even though it's way out of scale. Maybe it could be a toggle in game settings to accommodate both kinds of players.

But if it were made a special screen, here's my extra idea. In Civ III, there was an overall graphic and as you added buildings or wonders, there was a predetermined place they could go on that one graphic. So your city always ended up looking pretty much the same. What I'd like to see is a range of city sites, based on the geography of your city hex and the six hexes that immediately surround it (even though your city is still just on that one central hex). Let's say all one factors in is hill/non-hill elevation. You would have 2 to the 7th power, 128 different possible city layouts. Then all the buildings would have a predesignated spot that they went in in that graphic, but different from all the other 127 possibilities. Lotta work for some graphic designer, but not hard work. Probably rivers would factor in too. Anyway, the point would be to give each city more character.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I'm going to stick with the OPs premise of 'Little Things' I'd like to see, because I've been posting for Years about Big Things I'd like to see . . .

Graphical Nuances.
Reflect the continents on the map.
This would, in a way, hark back to the differentiation of the continents in Civ 5, but with a major difference: it would not be limited to color of foliage, but include actual landform appearance. This would be a much more variable map visually, but the actual effects on game-play would not necessarily be that much more than in Civ currently.
Examples:
Mountains
Chinese steep tree-covered mountain peaks
Rocky Mountain hanging valleys, box canyons, granite peaks
European Dolomite-like rocky cliffs
Deserts/Desert Mountains
Sand dunes like the Sahara
Rocky plains like the Gobi
Dramatic Mesas as in the American Southwest
Frequent bright colors in cliffs and peaks.
Forests
Division into Coniferous, Deciduous, dryland, Rain Forest, Taiga.
Dryland could be coniferous ‘lodgepole pine’ as in the American West OR
Deciduous scrub oak as in Tunisia/North Africa
High latitude deciduous would combine marsh, massive oak and hemlock and maple
High latitude Coniferous would segue into Taiga
Rain Forest would be mostly heavily-vined tropical with perhaps one example of a Temperate Rain Forest of giant trees (red cedar, Redwood, Sequoia)
Forests next to or near Cities would automatically be ‘cleared’ or cut down early in the game unless stopped by building a Special Something on it, like a Sacred Grove, Hunting Preserve, etc.
Prairie
The new “grassland/plains’ of Civ: Tall Grass, Short Grass, Savannah (scrub)

Animate more of the map. Railroads should have trains, and the trains should start out as little wooden cars and steam locomotives, progress to steel cars and big steam locomotives, then to big steel cars and diesels in 'unit trains'. Caravans should, as others have posted, reflect their geographical/climactic origin: mules and donkeys were the most common pack animals, then camels one and two-humped, yaks and lhamas in high mountains. Have carts and wagons on the roads around the cities, later upright chugging Model-T-type cars, finally big trailer trains and SUVs.
Don't be afraid to show the Dark Side of cities: smog and soot overhead, grimy run-down buildings around the Industrial/warehouse/harbor areas, maybe even people moving out as refugees when things get Really Bad.

Individualize My Game:
Let me name Everything on the map: Mountains, Volcanos, Mountain Ranges, Rivers, swamps, bays, marshes, lakes and seas, etc.
- And then rename them later if I control them.
- And that should include Wonders and even Districts: why can't I have the Detroit Arsenal or Vickers Armstrong Works in a city, or the Helios instead of the Colossus?

Let me change the name of the Civ and Leader. If I want to play as Asterix the Gaul instead of Ambiorix or play as Greater Slobbovia instead of Armenia, that should be My Choice.

And from the start, be able to name/title any and all Units, from Tribe to Battleship.

 

[Evie]

I mean Ambiorix is more of an Obelix, really...

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I mean Ambiorix is more of an Obelix, really...

But alas, they didn't give either Ambiorix or Gaul a Menhir UA, UB or UI. . .

 

[Evie]

Nor a bonus to building stonehenge, I know.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Nor a bonus to building stonehenge, I know.

Just as well: Stonehenge (and all the little Henges) predates even the earliest Hallstadters by a thousand years or more - contemporary in Civ game terms, I suppose, but a bit of a stretch otherwise.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

I would like to see the option to trade for individual tiles, instead of having to declare war just to get control of a resource or to connect your territory.

 

[Krajzen]

I would like to see the option to trade for individual tiles, instead of having to declare war just to get control of a resource or to connect your territory.

I agree, although I think this should be quite expensive and difficult to negotiate, as historically speaking countries tend to hate willingly giving up territory, especially one containing valuable resources

In fact, I could imagine peace negotiations interface sending you to the campaign map, where you can choose (by 'painting') whether you take the entire cities or just certain tiles (with some sensible restrictions, such as 'cannot take tiles close to city centres without taking the city as well', 'negotiated tiles must border each other'). This would not only enable us to grab individual tiles, it would be a great quality-of-life upgrade in general. Now you can directly choose from the map what exact land do you get.

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

I would like to see the option to trade for individual tiles, instead of having to declare war just to get control of a resource or to connect your territory.

Wholeheartedly agree. Also, make it so city trading isn’t impossible. It exists currently but I don’t think the AI will EVER trade a city except when ceding it during war.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

historically speaking countries tend to hate willingly giving up territory, especially one containing valuable resources

Of course the AI's willingness would be weighted depending on tile yield and whether the tile contains a resource and how much of that resource does the AI already have and how important the resource is (less important if it's a luxury resource and empire is happy, more important if luxury resource and empire is unhappy), as well as how strategically important the tile is (not sure how this could be coded, but I think it should be doable).

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Wholeheartedly agree. Also, make it so city trading isn’t impossible. It exists currently but I don’t think the AI will EVER trade a city except when ceding it during war.

I can see that happening if the AI is in financial ruin and desperately needs cash. That could lead to an another strategy of peaceful conquest where you can try to economically ruin another civilization and then bring them to the negotiating table.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I would like to see the option to trade for individual tiles, instead of having to declare war just to get control of a resource or to connect your territory.

Thomas Jefferson says yes.

 

[Mudokon Pop]

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

Donkeys surely for the default caravans. Donkeys were the earliest domesticated pack animals before horses or camels. A largely overlooked animal - they fare better in deserts or on mountains than horses. Can be crossbred with horses to produce a sturdier animal so perhaps a boost to your donkey (mule) caravan with access to horses.

Camels could be a resource on the map like horses that need an improvement but I don't mind if it's just a graphical change for the same unit.

 

[Leucarum]

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.

I don't have enough like buttons for this message!

 

[GoRniC]

I would like to see bigger maps. And better performance. I like to load the biggest map and lots of civs. I have a decent laptop and comp, but the game performance in terms of lag and turn time becomes too bad.
So I would like it to be more viable to use bigger maps and lots of civs.
I know there are mods that greatly help with capping the number of units the ai spams out. But there should be no need to use mods to enjoy the game like this.

 

[Caesar of Bread]

No DLCs/expansions. Cram it all into the game, or make them just updates.

 

[AffineConstant]

I'm going to stick with the OPs premise of 'Little Things' I'd like to see, because I've been posting for Years about Big Things I'd like to see . . .

Graphical Nuances.
Reflect the continents on the map.
This would, in a way, hark back to the differentiation of the continents in Civ 5, but with a major difference: it would not be limited to color of foliage, but include actual landform appearance. This would be a much more variable map visually, but the actual effects on game-play would not necessarily be that much more than in Civ currently.
Examples:
Mountains
Chinese steep tree-covered mountain peaks
Rocky Mountain hanging valleys, box canyons, granite peaks
European Dolomite-like rocky cliffs
Deserts/Desert Mountains
Sand dunes like the Sahara
Rocky plains like the Gobi
Dramatic Mesas as in the American Southwest
Frequent bright colors in cliffs and peaks.
Forests
Division into Coniferous, Deciduous, dryland, Rain Forest, Taiga.
Dryland could be coniferous ‘lodgepole pine’ as in the American West OR
Deciduous scrub oak as in Tunisia/North Africa
High latitude deciduous would combine marsh, massive oak and hemlock and maple
High latitude Coniferous would segue into Taiga
Rain Forest would be mostly heavily-vined tropical with perhaps one example of a Temperate Rain Forest of giant trees (red cedar, Redwood, Sequoia)
Forests next to or near Cities would automatically be ‘cleared’ or cut down early in the game unless stopped by building a Special Something on it, like a Sacred Grove, Hunting Preserve, etc.
Prairie
The new “grassland/plains’ of Civ: Tall Grass, Short Grass, Savannah (scrub)

Animate more of the map. Railroads should have trains, and the trains should start out as little wooden cars and steam locomotives, progress to steel cars and big steam locomotives, then to big steel cars and diesels in 'unit trains'. Caravans should, as others have posted, reflect their geographical/climactic origin: mules and donkeys were the most common pack animals, then camels one and two-humped, yaks and lhamas in high mountains. Have carts and wagons on the roads around the cities, later upright chugging Model-T-type cars, finally big trailer trains and SUVs.
Don't be afraid to show the Dark Side of cities: smog and soot overhead, grimy run-down buildings around the Industrial/warehouse/harbor areas, maybe even people moving out as refugees when things get Really Bad.

This is what I mean when I say "Civ needs an actual art director". This is the sort of idea, and detail, a good art director can go into. Civ VI had awful art direction, looking worse all around than V despite technical advances. Because the thought wasn't "what art would support the overall gameplay goal of making the player feel like they're directing an entire civilization to glory throughout all of human history" but "people should be able to read the map well".

I fully support all this and would mention that the americas didn't have the rolling thick massed grasslands we see now. Those were grass imports that took over from native more shrublike grasses like below. Historically accurate representation of such differences would be a really cool detail.

 

[pineappledan]

The ability to SHIFT+CLICK multiple units and issue commands to several units at once.