Modern Age discussion/speculation

[SupremacyKing2]

Now that we know what the antiquity age and exploration age are about, I thought it might be fun to discuss and speculate about what the modern age will be about. What new game mechanics will we see in the modern age?

Decolonization
I think Ed mentioned that there is a loyalty-like mechanic in one of the crisis. I think the exploration age ends with a decolonization crisis where your settlements on the distant lands revolt and try to split off (like British colonies revolting and becoming the US). So I imagine the modern age will have new civs in the distant lands that represent your former colonies. It is also possible that we might see a loyalty-like mechanic in the modern age that cause settlements to form new civs, to represent the emergence of new nation-states after the world wars.

Industrialization
The industrial revolution was a big part of the modern age. I am sure there will be buildings like factories and policies that give huge boost to production. Also, policies that increase units in army commanders to represent increase in military sizes from industrialization. I wonder if we will also see unhappiness effects tied to certain buildings or policies to represent the worker revolts that happened from over industrialization.

World Wars
I would like to see new alliance mechanics that allow for big alliances like in WW1 and WW2. I would also like to see the possibility of big world wars between all the civs.

Cold War
I would like to see espionage and cold wars play a role in the modern age. Basically, I would like civs to be able to "wage war" without using direct military power, like using espionage or trade embargoes, encouraging revolts in other cities, etc....

Ideologies
I hope to see big ideologies that divide the world, like capitalism/democracy vs communism during the Cold War. Not sure how they could implement this. Maybe through policies? But I would like to see big diplomatic effects where civs of opposing ideologies would hate each other and civs of similar ideology would band together in alliances.

Corporations
I would like to see a corporation mechanic where you build corporations in settlements with resources and then spread your corporation (like religion) to other settlements to get gold. Controlling corporations of the same resource could create monopolies for extra gold.

Weapons of Mass Destruction
Obviously there will be nukes in civ7. I do hope to see a good deterrence mechanic. There should be an ability for a civ to launch their retaliatory strike before they get hit so that there is that risk of mutually assured destruction. I would also love a DEFCON mechanic where you have to raise your defcon level over a couple turns before you can launch a full nuke strike. This would create that cold war tension like the cuban missile crisis where things are ratcheting up and you try to de-escalate to prevent all out nuke war. Will we also see other WMDs like chemical or biological weapons?

UN
I definitely hope we see a world congress/UN type mechanic. Please make it better than civ6. I would like something like the planetary council in SMAC. I hope to see the UN mechanic allow for more diplomacy between the civs. Also, get rid of the weird multiple choice, rank choice, voting in the world congress in civ6 that was confusing. Proposal should be simpler: one proposal that you vote aye or nay.

Disease
I wonder if civ7 will have a disease mechanic where pandemics can happen and reduce population. I suspect one of the possible crisis at the end of the modern age will be a global pandemic.

Legacy Paths

Culture: could the culture path relate to archaeology where you have to collect relics from the past? Or maybe it will relate to great works of art and music? I hope civ7 does not bring back rock bands as that was tedious.
Science: I think it is probably a given that the science path will relate to the space race with build rockets and launching them to the moon or Mars or beyond.
Military: It could relate to conquering capitals, like old domination victory. Or maybe it could relate to building certain number nukes to get nuclear dominance?
Economic: this could relate to building international trade routes or maybe building corporations?

 

[gdr_willter]

I realized the fact we can still have fundamentally same Victory conditions from the previous titles with the Civ 7 milestone system. "Take control of the all Capitals of this Age (0/n)", "Build 5 Space Rocket Components (0/5)", "Be popular in all other Civilizations (0/n)"... IDK what will happen with Economic Victory tho. Anyway I'll not expect so much special requirement for each VC.

But the other speculations sounds very exciting and reasonable. I want to see some of them in the base game, but I'll not be surprised when they are pushed back to the expansion contents.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Yeah, I'd say the victories will reflect previous victories, mostly.

Science: Moonshot
Military: Conquer all capitals
Culture: Something like Tourism, using Rock Bands

Although the Economic Victory is new, and I'd hazard that it involves manufacturable resources and the reverse of Treasure Ships where you distribute them instead of collect them.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Although the Economic Victory is new, and I'd hazard that it involves manufacturable resources and the reverse of Treasure Ships where you distribute them instead of collect them.

Yeah and think that could fit well into a corporation mechanic. You build corporations based on certain resources and have to spread those resources to other civs for profit.

 

[Krikkit1]

Yeah, I'd say the victories will reflect previous victories, mostly.

Science: Moonshot
Military: Conquer all capitals
Culture: Something like Tourism, using Rock Bands

Although the Economic Victory is new, and I'd hazard that it involves manufacturable resources and the reverse of Treasure Ships where you distribute them instead of collect them.

I think Military win is build the UN.
-It (and its predecessor) were built after WW 1&2
-The winners of WW are the permanent members
-good nuclear weapons means you can’t take another civs capital
(no one will ever conquer Moscow, Washington, Bejing, Paris, Dehli, etc.)

So I think the UN is like stage 2 of the military win (the final version being a global hegemony)

 

[Evie]

I would also love a DEFCON mechanic where you have to raise your defcon level over a couple turns before you can launch a full nuke strike.

Ah, Defcon, ye of the confusing terminology, where increasing is lowering and decreasing is raising.

(Defcon alert level lower their number as the alert level increase, so increasing alert level means lowering the defcon value, and vice-versa - Defcon 5 is full peacetime and Defcon 1 is imminent nuclear war).

But that said, defcon represent war preparedness of your troops - it might limit how much of a full attack you can immediately launch, but there should be some ability to use nuclear weapons at any defcon.

Actually I would reverse the idea - defcon is not what allow you to launch a nuclear strike, but what allows you to make nuclear strikes mutual assured destruction. The higher your defcon the higher your maintenance costs are, but the more of your forces will survive sn opponent nuclear strike, and allow you to retaliate (with yournown nukes)

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

So far the Exploration Age preview video shows that at the dawn of new age. there will be default 'entirely new' units for every classes available earlier, all of which are 'modernized' selves that has some semblances to the Final Tier of previous Age.
Modern Age Initial Units will be
- Infantry Class: Fusilier (uses flintlock musketry)... so far my conjecture is that Ranged units will be upgraded to Infantry (convergence, something prevalence in previous Civ games but absence in Civ6 (only available with moddings, and so far I don't see anybody else made converged class mod so I have to to do it, and I have to finish it before Civ7 is released).
- Siege class: Bombard at the End of Age II becomes Cannon (no more silly 'Field' and 'Siege' lines maybe?, but this distinction is NOT that silly until recoil mechanism artillery made distinctions between 'Siege' and 'Ranged' redundant (and ridiculous))
- Cavalry Class: 'Gothic Knight' becomes 'Cuirassier' here. eventually Cuirassiers lost armor and becomes (Carabinier) Cavalry.

Naval Line (So far I don't see any distinctions between 'Melee' and 'Ranged' yet. There might be in this age now.
- Galleon becomes either Frigate or Ships of the Line
(it is possible that SoTL can become entirely new class of warships at the beginning of Age III, since BB exists as a naval unit alongside lighter ships like Destroyer (or Cruisers, i think .. CL to me. though this class might only end at BB or can be upgraded to Aircraft Carrier (initially specially built as separate class, but upgrade with different techs)... OR BB can have technical upgrade perks to become even deadlier since its big hull is open to more modern weapon systems like Iowa Class. which ultimately equipped with modern CIWS and Tomahawk Cruise Missiles. also AEGIS compatible! though these upgrades didn't last long as all remaining Iowas are retired and became floating museum.)

I don't know whether will Rifleman be the first upgrade of Fusiliers? (and will Riflemen wear 1860-1910s Uniforms with team colors?) and what will the first 'Artillery' upgrade be? Rifled Cannons? (like Armstrongs, Parrots, Krupp, and more)

 

[Xandinho]

Attempting to speculate:

Cultural Victory: dominance through pop culture, like artists, movies, and things of that sort.

Scientific Victory: space race (though I’d prefer it didn’t rely solely on that).

Military Victory: conquering the capitals of leaders who follow other ideologies.

Economic Victory: something involving corporations.

 

[Inhalaattori]

Ideologies. I wouldnt be surprsided if we would have same type of ideologies that we had in Civ V. It seems that in the Antiquity Age and in the Exploration Age governments only affect your celebrations.

In the Exploration Age we have religion as a unique game system. It comes with its own civic tree called Theology.
In the Modern Age we probably have ideologies. It would make sense that we would have unique civic three for each different ideology.

It does seem that the Antiquity Age doesnt have unique game system.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

It seems that in the Antiquity Age and in the Exploration Age governments only affect your celebrations.

That is correct. I am not sure how I feel about it. I get that the devs wanted to tie governments in with the happiness system, but it seems odd that your government bonuses only trigger at certain times. I feel like governments should have passive abilities too.

In the Exploration Age we have religion as a unique game system.
In the Modern Age we probably have ideologies.

It would be interesting if ideologies were like a religion system where you can found an ideology and have to spread it via culture. Spreading your ideology to a city with a different ideology could cause unhappiness that could trigger city revolts.

It does seem that the Antiquity Age doesnt have unique game system.

I think Antiquity Age is meant to be like the intro to a book or movie. It sets the pieces. So you explore and settle your first towns and cities to get your empire up and running. There is a reason why the game has 3 ages. Each age works like a segment of a story: antiquity age is the intro, exploration age is the middle of the story and the modern age is the conclusion.

 

[chaosprophet]

Legacy Paths

Culture: could the culture path relate to archaeology where you have to collect relics from the past? Or maybe it will relate to great works of art and music? I hope civ7 does not bring back rock bands as that was tedious.
Science: I think it is probably a given that the science path will relate to the space race with build rockets and launching them to the moon or Mars or beyond.
Military: It could relate to conquering capitals, like old domination victory. Or maybe it could relate to building certain number nukes to get nuclear dominance?
Economic: this could relate to building international trade routes or maybe building corporations?

The point of legacy paths are to give you bonuses to be used for the next age. As the last age, modern likely won't have legacy path but instead just victory conditions. Albeit they could be formatted like legacies paths instead of what we were used to in other games (in a way the science one in previous civs are kinda like legacies paths in this game with specific steps to them).

Industrialization
The industrial revolution was a big part of the modern age. I am sure there will be buildings like factories and policies that give huge boost to production. Also, policies that increase units in army commanders to represent increase in military sizes from industrialization. I wonder if we will also see unhappiness effects tied to certain buildings or policies to represent the worker revolts that happened from over industrialization.

The resources screen having a show factories (not on the build of the latest stream, but possibly because they made it now it only appears as an option in modern) indicates that the resource game will likely be strongly tied to industrialization on the modern age.

 

[gdr_willter]

It would be interesting if ideologies were like a religion system where you can found an ideology and have to spread it via culture. Spreading your ideology to a city with a different ideology could cause unhappiness that could trigger city revolts.

Well, but the most of ideological powers did not allow the local governments to choose their own ideology preferences. Democracy allows it with the local autonomy, but only when they follow the rule.

And the most of ideological rebellions were ignited in their Capital or the critical regions, mostly by the urban intellectuals. Local rebels are kinda nationalistic separatists rather than ideological revolutionists in many case.

 

[Krikkit1]

Well, but the most of ideological powers did not allow the local governments to choose their own ideology preferences. Demicracy allows it with the local autonomy, but only when they follow the rule.

And the most of ideological rebellions were ignited in their Capital or the critical regions, mostly by the urban intellectuals. Local rebels are kinda nationalistic separatists rather than ideological revolutionists in many case.

It seems more of a way to spread unrest
if a city in a Democracy has communist or autocratic sympathies then there will be unrest (terrorism, sabotage, protests, etc.)

Add typical nationalist/separatist sympathies onto that and you either have a breakaway region or your whole government collapses

 

[gdr_willter]

It seems more of a way to spread unrest
if a city in a Democracy has communist or autocratic sympathies then there will be unrest (terrorism, sabotage, protests, etc.)

Add typical nationalist/separatist sympathies onto that and you either have a breakaway region or your whole government collapses

I just prefer the ideological dissatisfaction as a empire-wide feature, and want that their result will mainly affect the Capital or the government itself.

 

[AriochIV]

Industrialization seems the most logical mechanic, especially given that the Age starts right at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The others involve assumptions or forced narrative... decolonization requires colonies, world war requires that empires be hostile with each other, etc. I'd prefer that they keep the forced narrative to a minimum... there's already more than enough of that in the Crisis system. (Although one does wonder in there will be Crisis in the Modern Age...)

An option you didn't mention is Climate. I hope they don't go down that route.

 

[Siptah]

I can see „legacy paths“ still being a thing, but instead of being rewarded at the end of an age, you can choose/gain your reward (a bonus to help with the respective victory or, maybe more interestingly, another victory, or simply attribute points) right away.

Otherwise: ideology, corporations, industrialization. I think these will be the major themes. The actual victory conditions will be similar to 5 and 6. Great works will make a return for tourism. Economic victory will be interesting - I hope it‘s not a mere resource or production victory.

Independence movements in colonies seems more like a end of 2nd age crisis to me than a third age core theme.

 

[AriochIV]

I assume that Legacy Paths are the mechanism through which victory conditions will be achieved, or at least they are very similar.

 

[gdr_willter]

Independence movements in colonies seems more like a end of 2nd age crisis to me than a third age core theme.

I doubt this, because a lot of colonies in the world were freed after the end of WW2. Independence of the states based on European settlers like USA is special case rather than the trend of the Age.

 

[Siptah]

I doubt this, because a lot of colonies in the world were freed after the end of WW2. Independence of the states based on European settlers like USA is special case rather than the trend of the Age.

While you are correct from a historical point of view, I stand by my guess: the of exploration in civ 7 is about exploring and settling the distant lands. It's just fitting that one of the respective crises is about the cities in the distant lands wanting their independence. It will require you to send off troops from the mainland and keep the cities happy against all odds. I guess the other two crises of the age of exploration are a plague and a revolution.

We don't even know whether age 3 has a crisis at all (I kind of doubt it).

 

[Evie]

I doubt this, because a lot of colonies in the world were freed after the end of WW2. Independence of the states based on European settlers like USA is special case rather than the trend of the Age.

A special case that covers nearly the entire American continent, and the vast majority of the "early"' colonies (ie, colonies founded before the eighteenth century). It's the later colonies - the one claimed during the scrambles for India and Africa - that made up the bulk of post-World War II decolonization, and they're not relevant to the Age of Exploration.

Having a crisis involving colonial indepdendnce around the 1700-1800 time frame, when the United States, Haiti, and almost all of Latin America became independent is perfectly reasonable.