PhilBowles
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2011
- Messages
- 5,333
The former is just so far removed from the kind of Civilization that I actually want to be playing, that has been played in every game since 1. It really is a symptom of the worst aspect of 6's game design. At the very least why not use something graphical to show us? This is supposed to be about their subterranean aqueducts or whatever right? Why not give us a visual indicator?
I only got into the habit of using pins after watching a few streams where people seem to do it, in games from Civ IV onwards. I make much less use of them - a couple of optimal district spots on occasion, but usually just where I want a city centre. I've never used them for Civs IV or V, and if the option existed with earlier games I wasn't aware of it while playing them, but since it's a technique commonly used in streams I suspect a lot of players do use it and that Firaxis makes decisions on that basis. I expect a lot of newer players to the series learn the game through watching streams.
I don't know that there's any flavour link to the tile radius - it's seemed arbitrary to me, something that exists just because they wanted a 'tall' civ and not something well-suited to the Maya per se. Setting 6 tiles as the distance makes obvious mechanical sense as it's the same radius as power plants, factories and zoos - but of course you can't use those lenses until much later in the game (and can't place any of those exactly in the city centre anyway, so they won't match the city radius exactly).
The best solution would seem to be to add a Maya overlay to the settler lens, so that it shows the boundary at which you can gain the 6 tile bonus. The fact that they make overlays for the districts and for power indicates that they're aware people find these useful. But if there's one thing that's been a flaw with Civ VI since the start, it's the UI which has always favoured being pretty over being functional.