New civ : Australia

What I have an interest in and wonder about is the reasoning for choosing Australia. As I said, I am TSL GEM. Are they choosing 'filler' civs, or 'marketing' civs? Or was Australia a no-brainer because it is both. I would like to believe that someone is paying attention to a TSL map, and thinking... "hmm, nothing over here for ten thousand miles... let's put a civ there."

According to Pete Murray in a Reddit thread, he says that Australia is usually high on the list of community requested Civs, so that's probably true.
 
I knew something was up when they did the Brazilian civ before the Portuguese civ and the Polish before the likes of the Persians or Mongols..... It seems they are going for the bigger market nations first, which is both smart and disappointing.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a Canadian, Dutch or Korean nation announced after this

Justin Trudeau leads Canada in Civilization VI !
Perk: Selfie maniac > +10 bonus likeability from other civs
UU: Hockey player
Unique building: Tim Hortons

(i'm canadian) :p
 
No, we just happen to be living in a period of human history where Western Civilization is dominant, and because we are in said nations, our perspective is skewed to presume old civilizations that are our progenitors are more important. Western civ is dominant NOW because of World War I and II coinciding with the advent of American industrialization and dominance in said wars. So we view all things that came before that, British colonialism, the European Renaissance, the Roman Empire, as more important. If you live in China which is making its own push towards global dominance, they'd view Japan, Mongolia, etc. as more relevant to their development. From what I can tell, the idea of a Civ game is supposed to be a world-wide and history spanning clash and competition. favoring one branch of history and geography is antithetical to that premise. There was a time when the city of Angkor in modern day Cambodia was possibly the most populous city on the planet. Mongol and Hunnic conquests were enormously consequential in the development of human history on the planet, it just ultimately didn't affect western civilization to near the same degree that it did others. I get the argument that technology advantage has been Europe > Britain > America, and Civ is made in a country mainly for an audience of this European background. So I expect that there will be leanings in representation, of course. But there is a line somewhere between acceptable overrepresentation to reflect historical advantage and disregard for non-western/non-white contributions to human history

Western civ has been dominant ever since the age of exploration, not just because of WW1 and WW2. Once Spain, Portugal, England, France and the Netherlands started expanding over-seas, they together conquered most of the world, wheter you like it or not. Only Ethiopia, the Ottoman Empire (if you don't consider them European or Europe centric), China, Korea, Japan and part of South-East Asia have not been colonized and conquered by European nations. Before the age of exploration, world power was indeed a lot more fairly divided. But there's a reason that the age of exploration falls in the 3rd-4th era of this 8 era game. Because technological advantage has kept speeding up ever since the dawn of man like it still does today, on a for-the-game-interesting scale Europe has been dominant for more than 50% of the time. If we'd put in, say, 3 civilization for every 1000 years of game time, we'd end up with, well, probably something like this:

4000-3000 BC: Ur, Indus Civilization, ?
3000-2000 BC: Egypt (would be kinda early though), Sumeria, ?
2000-1000 BC: Mesopotamia, Minoan, ?
1000-1 BC: Greece, Persia, China
1-1000 AD: Rome, Byzantium, Huns
1000-2000 AD: America, England, Mongols.

I think you can see the problems with that. Nearly all civilizations fall in the last 2000 or even the last 1000 years, the ancient Middle-Eastern civilizations excluded. And Europe's been freaking dominant for a large part of that. Wheter you (and me) like it or not. I'd love if there'd be an equal amount of civilizations from all over the world, but powerful countries simply haven't formed everywhere.

I mean, the Netherlands (where I am from) aren't in the game, and I agree with that. Still, the Netherlands have been so powerful that they could fight off England, France, Sweden and two German states at the same time and come out ahead in the 17th century (one generation after winning an independance war against 16/17th century Spain, btw), which I suppose qualifies for "the most powerful country in the world" at that point in time. Good luck finding a state in pre-colonial America or any time Africa that you can call "the most powerful country in the world" at their point in time.
 
According to Pete Murray in a Reddit thread, he says that Australia is usually high on the list of community requested Civs, so that's probably true.

They are the 5th most subed civ from CiV (that is real and not just an alt leader). And if you want to get to TSL (which is the goal by end cycle) then they are a must have.
 
Very cool! New civ! Excited about the prospective changes!

I've got a 3 day weekend this weekend and no plans... C'MON THURSDAY PATCH AND DLC RELEASE!
 
Very cool! New civ! Excited about the prospective changes!

I've got a 3 day weekend this weekend and no plans... C'MON THURSDAY PATCH AND DLC RELEASE!

Please today patch.
 
Well, as an Australian I am surprised. People have modded Australia in prevous Civ versions but I never installed it. Different, ok!

Strewth mate, throw another prawn on the barbie. Crack open a tinnie of beer. Watch the sheilas in their bikinis on the beach. Our Koalas are not bears. Our kangaroos can box. We don't carry guns. We are proud of our bridge. It is summer here. Fair dinkum!

Bob Hawke with his beer drinking ability should be the leader.
 
I knew something was up when they did the Brazilian civ before the Portuguese civ and the Polish before the likes of the Persians or Mongols..... It seems they are going for the bigger market nations first, which is both smart and disappointing.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a Canadian, Dutch or Korean nation announced after this
Yeah, pretty sure Korean will be released soon.
 
Western civ has been dominant ever since the age of exploration, not just because of WW1 and WW2. Once Spain, Portugal, England, France and the Netherlands started expanding over-seas, they together conquered most of the world, wheter you like it or not. Only Ethiopia, the Ottoman Empire (if you don't consider them European or Europe centric), China, Korea, Japan and part of South-East Asia have not been colonized and conquered by European nations. Before the age of exploration, world power was indeed a lot more fairly divided. But there's a reason that the age of exploration falls in the 3rd-4th era of this 8 era game. Because technological advantage has kept speeding up ever since the dawn of man like it still does today, on a for-the-game-interesting scale Europe has been dominant for more than 50% of the time. If we'd put in, say, 3 civilization for every 1000 years of game time, we'd end up with, well, probably something like this:

4000-3000 BC: Ur, Indus Civilization, ?
3000-2000 BC: Egypt (would be kinda early though), Sumeria, ?
2000-1000 BC: Mesopotamia, Minoan, ?
1000-1 BC: Greece, Persia, China
1-1000 AD: Rome, Byzantium, Huns
1000-2000 AD: America, England, Mongols.

I think you can see the problems with that. Nearly all civilizations fall in the last 2000 or even the last 1000 years, the ancient Middle-Eastern civilizations excluded. And Europe's been freaking dominant for a large part of that. Wheter you (and me) like it or not. I'd love if there'd be an equal amount of civilizations from all over the world, but powerful countries simply haven't formed everywhere.

I mean, the Netherlands (where I am from) aren't in the game, and I agree with that. Still, the Netherlands have been so powerful that they could fight off England, France, Sweden and two German states at the same time and come out ahead in the 17th century (one generation after winning an independance war against 16/17th century Spain, btw), which I suppose qualifies for "the most powerful country in the world" at that point in time. Good luck finding a state in pre-colonial America or any time Africa that you can call "the most powerful country in the world" at their point in time.
To add to that, Age of Exploration is kinda supposed to be the theme of civ6 vanilla, isnt it?
 
I'm happy of course as an Australian that my country is getting some representation in the game. I would still like to see the Zulus, Khmer, Dutch (they were a pretty big maritime power in their heyday) and either the Incas or Mayans at some point.

Heh - we have a Kangaroo as our civ symbol.
 
The Age of Exploration was a real life FFA 4X match, so is it ever a wonder why its plays so well in a 4X game?

And on a Terra map script on top of that.

EDIT: Well okay, not really, but the "European" countries were so far ahead technologically they might as well have been.
 
Australia seriously?

I guess it's a pure marketing decision.

Hey. I understand your thought. But I think it is smart. Australia as far as I know has never been in Civ. So this is a long overdue addition.

But I am waiting as well for more / better additions. Like some rough riding civs to knock these pretty little civs like Kongo off the map.

Bring on the Mongols , Khans, etc. They can be in every game with suttle changes as the Devs always ensure a twist. Culturally I am opposed to these Civs. But for the game and for history they are great fun!!!

But you have to have your Civs where. Look. just build an army and start attacking. Great balance for the game. True history. Build your nice little Civ and not protect it if you want :D
 
I don't mind 'odd' choices either, but not before some essential gaps are filled first.

I like Australians, and I don't mean no disrespect for Australia, but I don't see it as a more important civ in the history of mankind than, say, the Persians, the Ottomans, or a lot of other civs.
Firaxis first ought to fill those missing gaps, before starting to throw around 'fun' civs.

They do sing on the Eurovision Song Contest, though :p

Do you remember when you waiting for Christmas or your birthday as a kid. And you were waiting for the special gift that you always wanted. You let your parents know. And You looked all over the house looking for clues. But you saw nothing . You were upset and hurt. Only on Christmas/ birthday morning to unwrap your gifts and see that your parents got you that gift. Super!

Well who knows what the Developers have in mind. Maybe they are just laying the ground work. We are dealing with a very complex Game and Seriies that have not disappointed too much. The Developers have a lot on the line themselves I bet. I am sure they want to give us the best game and.... they do not want to be remembered as the ones who messed up the series.

I am waiting for a better Ai . Until then it does not matter who they add on as much. So we just need to patiently wait I feel. It will all come together with the patches and Expansions. Man the Expansions are so fun. From Civ 4 and 5. They rocked!
 
Hey. I understand your thought. But I think it is smart. Australia as far as I know has never been in Civ. So this is a long overdue addition.

But I am waiting as well for more / better additions. Like some rough riding civs to knock these pretty little civs like Kongo off the map.

Bring on the Mongols , Khans, etc. They can be in every game with suttle changes as the Devs always ensure a twist. Culturally I am opposed to these Civs. But for the game and for history they are great fun!!!

But you have to have your Civs where. Look. just build an army and start attacking. Great balance for the game. True history. Build your nice little Civ and not protect it if you want :D

To be fair, I was playing a game a while ago while a friend of mine (who only plays civ 5) was watching, and when I met civs I was like "this one's agressive, that one's agressive, that one's agressive" up to the point I started thinking every civ we have is agressive (not quite true, but still). For the record, I came across agressive civs Sumeria, Scythia, Rome and Germany (while playing Gorgo) while only coming across Japan as sorta non-agressive civ (but even he has a military-focused agenda). And there's also civs like the Aztec, China, Spain etc still out there. I don't think we lack agressive civs in this game. No true blood knights except for Montezuma and Gorgo, but still.
 
When I first saw this thread title, I ignored it thinking it was someone's proposal for a new civ. Then my phone got a notification from the Civ youtube channel and I did a double-take.
 
Do you remember when you waiting for Christmas or your birthday as a kid. And you were waiting for the special gift that you always wanted. You let your parents know. And You looked all over the house looking for clues. But you saw nothing . You were upset and hurt. Only on Christmas/ birthday morning to unwrap your gifts and see that your parents got you that gift. Super!

Well who knows what the Developers have in mind. Maybe they are just laying the ground work. We are dealing with a very complex Game and Seriies that have not disappointed too much. The Developers have a lot on the line themselves I bet. I am sure they want to give us the best game and.... they do not want to be remembered as the ones who messed up the series.

I am waiting for a better Ai . Until then it does not matter who they add on as much. So we just need to patiently wait I feel. It will all come together with the patches and Expansions. Man the Expansions are so fun. From Civ 4 and 5. They rocked!

I think you raise a very good point here. Right now, while getting a new civ or two is nice, it fades immediately when compared with some game mechanics and UI problems, mostly the AI being bad. The good news is that upgrading units and AI improves have both been explicitly mentioned in the announcement.
 
When I first saw this thread title, I ignored it thinking it was someone's proposal for a new civ. Then my phone got a notification from the Civ youtube channel and I did a double-take.

Not sure what you mean here. You didn't realize it until now, or you were surprised Australia was the new civ?

(also, I just realized, we're gonna get nice confusion if/when Austria is added)
 
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