pre-release info New Civ Game Guide: Buganda

[Cyon]

This will fit very well mechanically with Egypt > Songhai > Buganda, with all the boni to Navigable Rivers and lakes.

First a wonderbuilding turtle civ, then a river trader and top it off with a river and lake loving warlord.

Thematically it makes little sense though. 3500 km between Kairo and Gao, then 4000 km between Gao and Mengo (Kampala). They don't even belong g to the same language families (Songhay language is Nilo-Saharan, Lugandan is a Bantu language of the Volto-Congo family and and Coptic is Afro-Asiatic).

I hope they add a handfull or two African civs so we can get some more logical transitions.

Kilwa Sultanate to Buganda would feel more close for example. Or even Kongo to Buganda, or Mapungubwe to Zimbabwe to Buganda for example. Also really hoping for Ashanti Empire, Oyo and BaTswana in the modern age.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

This will fit very well mechanically with Egypt > Songhai > Buganda, with all the boni to Navigable Rivers and lakes.

First a wonderbuilding turtle civ, then a river trader and top it off with a river and lake loving warlord.

Thematically it makes little sense though. 3500 km between Kairo and Gao, then 4000 km between Gao and Mengo (Kampala). They don't even belong g to the same language families (Songhay language is Nilo-Saharan, Lugandan is a Bantu language of the Volto-Congo family and and Coptic is Afro-Asiatic).

I hope they add a handfull or two African civs so we can get some more logical transitions.

Kilwa Sultanate to Buganda would feel more close for example. Or even Kongo to Buganda, or Mapungubwe to Zimbabwe to Buganda for example. Also really hoping for Ashanti Empire, Oyo and BaTswana in the modern age.

Yeah, it's clear they wanted to try to geographically spread out the civs for Africa in the base game first, and then fill in the gaps later.
You also have Aksum as another naval and trader civ as well.

 

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

Napoleon's extra movement will probably be big with getting into position for pillaging. But hear me out on this one... Machiavelli leveraging city state units anywhere on the map to go pillaging the most distant AI empires that can't effectively counterattack? That sounds fun to me! Unless they changed how levying works and I missed it...

Levying just generates a single unit of your choice to control, but I don't know where it appears...

 

[TheSpaceCowboy]

I fail to see how the second point could be seen as a negative. I personally love when devs are forced to do some actual research, rather than rely on skimming off of the first page googling results

If 99% of players have never heard of a Wonder (civ, or leader, etc.), it doesn't come across as "well-researched"; it comes across as lacking historical flavor.
There's a reason why games like Beyond Earth have a much more narrow appeal than Civilization proper, despite sharing so many of the same mechanics.
Even with 4X games that I enjoy nearly as much as Civ, such as Age of Wonders 4, there's a very different feel to constructing some big beacon or whatnot as opposed to building the pyramids, or the Statue of Liberty.
An oil terminal near me was recently torn down. It's a place that really existed in the past. But it's inclusion in a game like Civilization would be less appropriate than somewhere like Atlantis or Camelot.
Renown matters.

 

[Zaarin]

Levying just generates a single unit of your choice to control, but I don't know where it appears...

The nearest city, I believe.

If 99% of players have never heard of a Wonder (civ, or leader, etc.), it doesn't come across as "well-researched"; it comes across as lacking historical flavor.

Such a lack of knowledge and unwillingness to acquire knowledge is on the player, not the devs.

 

[Daigotsu Max]

OK I like the lake building aspect. That's really cool and unique.

I agree the African civ transitions look rough at the moment, due to distances as mentioned above, but I'm hopeful future DLCs will fluff it up. The ages divide means more Civs than ever will be needed, but this could also mean 1 or 2 years down the lime we get wonderful diversity and great transition. Keep'em coming, Firaxis!

 

[Ebon-Hawke-]

If 99% of players have never heard of a Wonder (civ, or leader, etc.), it doesn't come across as "well-researched"; it comes across as lacking historical flavor.
There's a reason why games like Beyond Earth have a much more narrow appeal than Civilization proper, despite sharing so many of the same mechanics.
Even with 4X games that I enjoy nearly as much as Civ, such as Age of Wonders 4, there's a very different feel to constructing some big beacon or whatnot as opposed to building the pyramids, or the Statue of Liberty.
An oil terminal near me was recently torn down. It's a place that really existed in the past. But it's inclusion in a game like Civilization would be less appropriate than somewhere like Atlantis or Camelot.
Renown matters.

This really doesn't make much sense, they are real historical buildings unlike beyond earth. "Lacking historical flavor"?? That's exactly what these bring, actual places corresponding to the civ. Lastly, I don't know how bringing in lesser known wonders could possibly come across as LESS research on the devs part. And personally it has inspired me to look up each wonder that has been revealed that I don't know of.

 

[chaosprophet]

I do hope we continue to get non-associated wonders in addition to the perfunctory associated wonders, though.

Maybe a few but probably better not. The wonder bloat will happen with the addition of more civs, so adding even more than the ones necessary will just increase that problem. At least, with the more civs they add, the more wonders that won't be associated on a game because that civ isn't on that particular playthrough.

 

[Zaarin]

Maybe a few but probably better not. The wonder bloat will happen with the addition of more civs, so adding even more than the ones necessary will just increase that problem. At least, with the more civs they add, the more wonders that won't be associated on a game because that civ isn't on that particular playthrough.

I'm not concerned about wonder bloat; building wonders is one of the top reasons I play the game. Some civs deserve to have multiple wonders represented, like China and Egypt. I also dislike the "associated wonder" concept, but that ship has sailed.

 

[TheSpaceCowboy]

Such a lack of knowledge and unwillingness to acquire knowledge is on the player, not the devs.

Is everyone here unknowledgeable for never having heard of the oil terminal near me, or ignorant if they don't find it worth learning about?

Dev resources are finite. If they had to choose between representing New York City through the Statue or Liberty or Hudson Yards, as much as I personally prefer visiting the later in person, the former is obviously the more important landmark to include in game.
Would more players learn about Hudson Yards than would learn about the Statue of Liberty? Absolutely! But who cares?

If educating players on things from the past that they're unaware of is the most important consideration, Civ should eliminate the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens, Greece, Rome, Augustus, Harriet Tubman, and most everything else in the game.

 

[Daigotsu Max]

Is everyone here unknowledgeable for never having heard of the oil terminal near me, or ignorant if they don't find it worth learning about?

Dev resources are finite. If they had to choose between representing New York City through the Statue or Liberty or Hudson Yards, as much as I personally prefer visiting the later in person, the former is obviously the more important landmark to include in game.
Would more players learn about Hudson Yards than would learn about the Statue of Liberty? Absolutely! But who cares?

If educating players on things from the past that they're unaware of is the most important consideration, Civ should eliminate the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens, Greece, Rome, Augustus, Harriet Tubman, and most everything else in the game.

They can, and always have, done both. Just as leaders and Civs, the game usually include a mix of the famous and the lesser known, striking a balance between the familiar and the educative. It's not a balance that always satisfies everyone, and clearly veers too far one way for you, but it's always been around, and therefore unlikely to change. Personally, I like having both the Colosseum and someplace in Africa I've never heard of (but is still cool). It's the best of both worlds imo.

 

[Zaarin]

Would more players learn about Hudson Yards than would learn about the Statue of Liberty? Absolutely! But who cares?

If educating players on things from the past that they're unaware of is the most important consideration, Civ should eliminate the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens, Greece, Rome, Augustus, Harriet Tubman, and most everything else in the game.

There should be a balance of staples and new civs, leaders, and wonders. But "is mentioned in sixth grade textbooks" should not be the sole criterion for selecting civs, leaders, and wonders. (Also, I'm all for eliminating Augustus the Boring. Rome has centuries of interesting emperors, to say nothing of non-emperors.) For my part, I haven't had to look up a single leader for Civ7, and Buganda is the only civ I hadn't heard of, and I find that disappointing.

 

[Archanist]

Man made lakes? Like some sort of reverse Netherlands?

edit: aw man Lord Lakely beat me to it a few posts ago

 

[Xyael]

I have trouble projecting myself with this civ.
I would tend to think that it is too late to make culture (or science) and food on improvements. And it does not seem particularly advantaged for any victory.

Does anyone visualize its strategy?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I have trouble projecting myself with this civ.
I would tend to think that it is too late to make culture (or science) and food on improvements. And it does not seem particularly advantaged for any victory.

Does anyone visualize its strategy?

Weaken other civs through raiding and attrition and eventually conquer their cities.

 

[Zaarin]

Does anyone visualize its strategy?

Seems like a very aggressive Culture or Economic civ, I would think. The lack of Settlement Cap boosts makes it a poor candidate for Domination, and it doesn't have any particular bonus to Science.

 

[Archanist]

I have trouble projecting myself with this civ.
I would tend to think that it is too late to make culture (or science) and food on improvements. And it does not seem particularly advantaged for any victory.

Does anyone visualize its strategy?

Seems to me that it can settle more places and quickly build those new settlements up, to build their cities even more. Not to mention being good at pillaging with rivers, so they seem to be versatile for any victory path, but not excelling at any specific one (maybe Domination?)

 

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

I have trouble projecting myself with this civ.
I would tend to think that it is too late to make culture (or science) and food on improvements. And it does not seem particularly advantaged for any victory.

Does anyone visualize its strategy?

Now that I've read about its history a bit more, I think the idea with Buganda is that you make a core of really big cities supported by excessive pillaging. With one of the Traditions, your unique lakes double as combat strength boosters, making them powerful on the defense. Their culture boosts can get them to the civics that help with Artifacts quicker, and big, productive cities will probably be good for the Space Race, but I think they're more a generalist that can go in whatever way you want with internal development boons.

 

[Leucarum]

Seems to me that it can settle more places and quickly build those new settlements up, to build their cities even more. Not to mention being good at pillaging with rivers, so they seem to be versatile for any victory path, but not excelling at any specific one (maybe Domination?)

I have trouble projecting myself with this civ.
I would tend to think that it is too late to make culture (or science) and food on improvements. And it does not seem particularly advantaged for any victory.

Does anyone visualize its strategy?

In Civ6 the equivalent pillaging ability was *checks notes* completely busted as implemented initially. Hopefully not as crazy this time around, but I can see Buganda getting some solid yields from warfare. I suspect pillaging will be the more valuable ability than the lake yields.

 

[Ebon-Hawke-]

Seems like a very aggressive Culture or Economic civ, I would think. The lack of Settlement Cap boosts makes it a poor candidate for Domination, and it doesn't have any particular bonus to Science.

I feel like with the civ designs they are putting a pretty decent emphasis/consideration on advanced start games. In full eras games these will just be high yield generalist civs I guess