Much has been discussed here about how the legacy paths of the Exploration Age are easy and not very fun. I find them quite scripted and not very dynamic. The Cultural and Scientific victories, in particular, can be achieved with little effort. I’d like to share my suggestions for improving all of them, with the intent of making them more enjoyable and less monotonous.
Cultural Victory: Toshakhana
There’s no doubt this is the one most in need of rebalancing, as it’s not only unfun but also extremely easy to complete the legacy path by obtaining 12 relics (I’ve managed almost twice that without even trying—and imagine if you play as Majapahit). There’s no real strategy involved here: just found a religion, build a few missionaries, send them to convert a few settlements, and you’re done. On top of that, tons of civics already grant free relics. Below, I propose a series of changes and additions to make this legacy path at least somewhat more challenging and engaging.
We all know how dull Religion in Civ VII currently is—it’s the weakest religious system in the entire franchise. But perhaps these changes could make the Cultural Path more enjoyable to play.
Scientific Victory: Enlightenment
This victory is also very easy to achieve and involves almost no real strategy. However, I don’t think there’s much that can be done to make it more dynamic or fun, but it’s perfectly possible to make it at least more challenging.
Military Victory: Non Sufficit Orbis
This one is slightly more challenging, but with a bit of effort you can still complete it, especially since foreign towns on islands in distant lands are often poorly defended. Some balance adjustments could help here.
Although the focus here is on the Exploration Age, I would definitely make some adjustments to military victories in other eras as well. It’s important to distinguish the points gained from conquering towns versus cities, since cities are clearly better defended and require greater effort to take.
Economic Victory: Treasure Fleet
This is without a doubt the most challenging path to complete. It definitely requires some effort—and even then, you might not finish it. However, I find it very scripted: research a few technologies, colonize in strategic locations, build Fishing Quays, and generate treasure fleets. There are ways to make it more dynamic.
With these changes, I believe the Economic Victory would become a bit more engaging. I still support the idea of introducing an alternative economic victory tied to guilds, allowing players to grow wealthy without necessarily colonizing distant lands.
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Well, these are my proposals to make the Exploration Age more enjoyable, challenging, and dynamic. I'd also make some adjustments to the scientific and economic victory paths of the Antiquity Age, since those are also too easy to achieve—but that’s a discussion for another topic.
What do you think? I’d like to know your opinions.
Cultural Victory: Toshakhana
There’s no doubt this is the one most in need of rebalancing, as it’s not only unfun but also extremely easy to complete the legacy path by obtaining 12 relics (I’ve managed almost twice that without even trying—and imagine if you play as Majapahit). There’s no real strategy involved here: just found a religion, build a few missionaries, send them to convert a few settlements, and you’re done. On top of that, tons of civics already grant free relics. Below, I propose a series of changes and additions to make this legacy path at least somewhat more challenging and engaging.
- Increase the number of relics required to complete the legacy path from 12 to 18.
- Make missionary production costs scale up: the first costs Y, the second Y × 1.5, the third Y × 2, and so on. Additionally, add a 5% cost reduction for each of your settlements converted to your religion, up to a maximum of 50%. The purpose is to make missionary costs more dynamic while giving you an incentive to maintain your religion in your own cities.
- Add a new religious civic: Inquisition. Theology unlocks both Reformation and Inquisition.
- Add a new city project called Remove Heresy, available through the Inquisition civic. This project automatically converts the city (as long as it has a Temple) and all of your settlements within X tiles to your religion. However, it consumes a reasonable amount of Happiness per turn. The intention is to allow you to convert your own settlements without having to micromanage missionaries—since their cost now scales, they become more valuable, and you’ll want to use them mainly for converting foreign settlements.
- Move the additional belief bonus from Theology to Reformation.
- Remove all free relic bonuses from civics and technologies; only religious civics should now grant relics: Theology, Reformation, and Inquisition, each granting one relic.
- Add a new type of relic called a Special Relic. These relics are rare and limited in number. When you convert a foreign settlement, there’s a 25% chance of obtaining one. They count as normal relics for the Cultural Legacy path but provide significantly higher Culture and Happiness yields. In addition, each comes with a unique narrative event. Examples could include the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Shroud. Special Relics cannot be displayed in ordinary temples—only in wonders with Great Work slots.
- Include a Legacy Point that allows you to retain the bonuses from your Special Relics into the next era.
We all know how dull Religion in Civ VII currently is—it’s the weakest religious system in the entire franchise. But perhaps these changes could make the Cultural Path more enjoyable to play.
Scientific Victory: Enlightenment
This victory is also very easy to achieve and involves almost no real strategy. However, I don’t think there’s much that can be done to make it more dynamic or fun, but it’s perfectly possible to make it at least more challenging.
- Increase district yields from 40 to 50.
- Raise the number of high-yield districts required to complete the legacy path from 5 to 7.
Military Victory: Non Sufficit Orbis
This one is slightly more challenging, but with a bit of effort you can still complete it, especially since foreign towns on islands in distant lands are often poorly defended. Some balance adjustments could help here.
- Increase the number of points required to complete this legacy path from 12 to 18.
- Settlements founded in distant lands count as 1 point. Towns conquered in distant lands count as 2 points. Cities conquered in distant lands count as 4 points. Conquering cities will now be more important, since they’re better defended than towns. Whether or not the foreign city follows your religion will make no difference.
- Towns conquered in your homeland count as 1 point, and cities conquered in your homeland count as 3 points. I included this to ensure the system isn’t entirely focused on overseas expansion, while still making conquests in the homeland meaningful—after all, many great medieval empires weren’t overseas.
- There will now be more ways to increase your settlement cap. Certain wonders, such as Erdene Zuu, Forbidden City, and White Tower, would now increase the settlement limit.
Although the focus here is on the Exploration Age, I would definitely make some adjustments to military victories in other eras as well. It’s important to distinguish the points gained from conquering towns versus cities, since cities are clearly better defended and require greater effort to take.
Economic Victory: Treasure Fleet
This is without a doubt the most challenging path to complete. It definitely requires some effort—and even then, you might not finish it. However, I find it very scripted: research a few technologies, colonize in strategic locations, build Fishing Quays, and generate treasure fleets. There are ways to make it more dynamic.
- Increase the number of points required to complete this legacy path from 30 to 50.
- Add a new building called Colonial Administrative Council, available only with the Colonialism civic and buildable/purchasable only in distant lands. It provides gold, influence, and production, but its main bonus allows treasure fleets from that settlement to be generated 100% faster. The goal of this addition is to make this legacy path interact more with culture and civics, rather than being just about researching certain technologies and founding distant settlements. It would also increase the number of treasure fleets on the map, enhancing the piracy and plundering mechanics, which I’ll address next.
- Add a new social policy called Piracy, available in Mercantilism. This policy allows your regular naval units to steal treasure fleets and conduct coastal raids with higher yields. However, it consumes a moderate amount of influence.
- Allow the city-state’s unique naval unit, the Corsair, to steal treasure fleets without declaring war on the other leader.
With these changes, I believe the Economic Victory would become a bit more engaging. I still support the idea of introducing an alternative economic victory tied to guilds, allowing players to grow wealthy without necessarily colonizing distant lands.
-
Well, these are my proposals to make the Exploration Age more enjoyable, challenging, and dynamic. I'd also make some adjustments to the scientific and economic victory paths of the Antiquity Age, since those are also too easy to achieve—but that’s a discussion for another topic.
What do you think? I’d like to know your opinions.
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