New Expansion Speculation Thread

[WillowBrook]

Just had a thought: what if Eleanor of Aquitaine is appearing in a scenario added with the new expansion? Can't think what it would be - perhaps something Crusades-y, or around Henry II's wars with his sons and the French - but it seems a bit more plausible than her being an out-and-out leader.

While I continue to believe that the picture was thrown in as a red herring, if it is genuine expansion material, this sounds like the most plausible explanation I've heard so far.

 

[Leyrann]

While I would prefer that case, I doubt it. It would be hard to find another Medieval Great General of the female persuasion to replace her in that capacity. And being that there are so few female Great Generals to begin with, it would not do to replace her with a man.

Let's not rewrite history as if there was equality in the medieval era. Rewriting history is the best way to not learn from past errors.

If we wanted a modern Italian political leader I'd suggest Cavour or perhaps Mazzini rather than Mussolini, although I quite like the idea of having several renaissance leaders to choose from for Italy.
That is if we have to have more European civs.

Why not just Victor Emmanuel II?

I don't see anybody demanding that the AI be gods at the game, people just want a competent AI that is capable of winning in a timely manner. As things stand, as soon as you make it to mid-game without getting wiped out you are very, very likely going to win.

Diety isn't a challenge past mid-game.

All those people who "just want a competent AI" are ignoring the fact that the AI has seen (often significant) improvements in every single patch. That's why I was commenting on the magical fix; it seems that's the only thing that will satisfy people.

 

[Zdarg]

Why not just Victor Emmanuel II?

Because he wasn't great either?

 

[Zaarin]

What about Eleanor herself? Didn't she lead a crusade?

She accompanied her husband on Crusade. She and her ladies in waiting wore armor (to the mockery of Anne Komnene). But there's no evidence she ever actually fought. She certainly didn't lead a Crusade.

Let's not rewrite history as if there was equality in the medieval era. Rewriting history is the best way to not learn from past errors.

It's double-edged sword IMO. One side of feminist revisionist history would have you believe that women have been running the show from the shadows from day one, which is simply not true. Another side of feminist revisionist history would have you believe that women were wilting flowers crushed under the mighty heel of the patriarchy, which is also not true. Reality is a lot more complicated than either of those simplistic views.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Enough of the Mayan Calendar 2012 nonsense!!!!

That was meant as a joke, I don't really want that to be the ability.
On a more serious note Eleanor becoming a Great General is more of a last resort instead of making her a leader, but I guess her being a Great General would be worse.

 

[Stamson]

So will we get a reveal this week? The anniversary week was a huge let down.

 

[Kimiimaro]

So will we get a reveal this week? The anniversary week was a huge let down.

Probably not. We're expecting Firaxis to focus on expansion after the Switch release (16th November).

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

All those people who "just want a competent AI" are ignoring the fact that the AI has seen (often significant) improvements in every single patch.

Has it? For the post Vanilla patches, I would agree. But the AI took a significant step backwards when R&F was released, and I don't believe the post-R&F patches have improved the AI the way the post-Vanilla patches did.

Which could reflect a number of different things. First, it may indicate that Firaxis is satisfied with the current quality of the AI, as on a cost-benefit analysis it may be optimal in terms of sales-vs-development costs. Second, it may indicate that Firaxis has decided that investing in the AI is something that should wait until the rules are finished, as interim AI improvements risk being overwhelmed by the impact of new mechanisms in future expansions.

 

[Leathaface]

Has it? For the post Vanilla patches, I would agree. But the AI took a significant step backwards when R&F was released, and I don't believe the post-R&F patches have improved the AI the way the post-Vanilla patches did.

Which could reflect a number of different things. First, it may indicate that Firaxis is satisfied with the current quality of the AI, as on a cost-benefit analysis it may be optimal in terms of sales-vs-development costs. Second, it may indicate that Firaxis has decided that investing in the AI is something that should wait until the rules are finished, as interim AI improvements risk being overwhelmed by the impact of new mechanisms in future expansions.

I would like for this to be true.

 

[Proclo]

Second, it may indicate that Firaxis has decided that investing in the AI is something that should wait until the rules are finished, as interim AI improvements risk being overwhelmed by the impact of new mechanisms in future expansions.

For me, makes total sense

 

[Rayyy]

If there's a enviroment system coming I hope it interacts with the loyalty system.
Looks like a nice way to hold back the more advanced civs in a game, penalizing those who try to win by any means (destroying the enviroment).

 

[The Kingmaker]

And for those who don't know "the Unready" is actually a poor translation: "the Poorly Counseled" would be more accurate (if less concise).

As for those objecting to random events because it's a 4X game...random events have been a part of 4X games for a couple decades now. Anyone here play the 1999 game Star Trek: The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite 4X games to this day)? It had random events. (I usually turned them off because, while a lot of them were cool, there was also the Borg. Fun anecdote: in one game, the Borg wiped out every civilization except me and the Romulans. The Romulans and I were both down to one system and there were several Borg cubes wandering both our erstwhile territories. I thought for sure the Borg were going to win the game for me by offing the Romulans...but they got me first. ) The Endless games also have (very well implemented) random events. I for one thought Civ4's random events worked pretty well, too.

BOTF? Heck yes I played it. That game was awesome, if a somewhat incomplete experience. Some of its amazing diplomatic options have yet to be reproduced in a proper Civ game.

 

[bbbt]

If they add a world congress and diplo victory, it's quite unlikely, IMO. I'd love to see a third expansion that adds corporations and an economic victory related to corporate monopolies. But I'm not counting on it.

I'm hoping for a sort of 'bare bones' implementation of corporations in this expansion that then snow balls into a fuller implementation and an economic victory with a third of expansion - what I assume (or hope) they've been doing emergencies.

My only optimism that there might be third expansion is that per the Civ 5 schedule, there should've been a 'Civ 6 gold edition' with R&F and the DLC by now, but that's of course reaching for straws (that it isn't coming, or that it simply didn't sell well and they are just waiting for the complete when everything is done).

Granted, maybe even assuming emergencies was part of a larger game plan is optimistic on my part.

Which could reflect a number of different things. First, it may indicate that Firaxis is satisfied with the current quality of the AI, as on a cost-benefit analysis it may be optimal in terms of sales-vs-development costs. Second, it may indicate that Firaxis has decided that investing in the AI is something that should wait until the rules are finished, as interim AI improvements risk being overwhelmed by the impact of new mechanisms in future expansions.

I think it just boils down to they appear to have just one person working on the AI (at least from the credits), and he has to implement the ability for the AI to even recognize/use the new mechanisms (never mind even use them competently) as well refine the existing ones, and that might be simply too much on one persons plate.

 

[durfal]

As for those objecting to random events because it's a 4X game...random events have been a part of 4X games for a couple decades now. Anyone here play the 1999 game Star Trek: The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite 4X games to this day)? It had random events. (I usually turned them off because, while a lot of them were cool, there was also the Borg. Fun anecdote: in one game, the Borg wiped out every civilization except me and the Romulans. The Romulans and I were both down to one system and there were several Borg cubes wandering both our erstwhile territories. I thought for sure the Borg were going to win the game for me by offing the Romulans...but they got me first. ) The Endless games also have (very well implemented) random events. I for one thought Civ4's random events worked pretty well, too.

I absolutely adored that game. Played it for hours and hours. Unfortunate the developers abandoned it almost immediately as it didn't sell as well as they had expected.
While I was heavily invested in the mod community that tried to revamp it and make it more accurate. But because the source code never got released, it took way to long to adjust the game, so people lost interest in that too and it never really came of the ground. The empire building and the diplomacy were great but the "live" starship fights were really underwhelming.

I hope for small scale natural disasters (vulcano's, earthquakes, tsunami's, etc) that cost small amounts of pop (depending on the age you are in), but that if you want to prevent environmental disasters you need to prepare for them from the atomic age on like the Netherlands did with the Delta Works and its extended Dyke system. And maybe that has to be done by building environmental districts or something. They can also give us a new governor that helps with environmental issues. And the need that with environmental emergencies you need diplomatic cooperation. Maybe they can utilize a UN/World-congress for that.

 

[acluewithout]

I’m not keen on corporations. The way they have been previously implemented was trite.

 

[Lord Lakely]

While I would prefer that case, I doubt it. It would be hard to find another Medieval Great General of the female persuasion to replace her in that capacity. And being that there are so few female Great Generals to begin with, it would not do to replace her with a man.

Any Mongol khatun would fit the bill. Mandukhai or Khutulun are worthy female Great Generals from that time period

 

[WillowBrook]

I think it just boils down to they appear to have just one person working on the AI (at least from the credits), and he has to implement the ability for the AI to even recognize/use the new mechanisms (never mind even use them competently) as well refine the existing ones, and that might be simply too much on one persons plate.

Yep, pretty sure this is the practical issue - they aren't investing in it beyond the minimum necessary to get the game to work.

 

[Leathaface]

I read about that one person AI "team" at Firaxis in the past, but I thought it was just a rumour until now. I didn't know it was confirmed in the credits. This is straight up BS from Firaxis, you may be sure 10+ people were working on graphics and leader scenes.

There should be a team of at least 5 working on the AI, since you are competing against AI civs when playing Civ VI and thus AI development is the most important part of the entire game.

 

[darkace77450]

And for those who don't know "the Unready" is actually a poor translation: "the Poorly Counseled" would be more accurate (if less concise).

As for those objecting to random events because it's a 4X game...random events have been a part of 4X games for a couple decades now. Anyone here play the 1999 game Star Trek: The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite 4X games to this day)? It had random events. (I usually turned them off because, while a lot of them were cool, there was also the Borg. Fun anecdote: in one game, the Borg wiped out every civilization except me and the Romulans. The Romulans and I were both down to one system and there were several Borg cubes wandering both our erstwhile territories. I thought for sure the Borg were going to win the game for me by offing the Romulans...but they got me first. ) The Endless games also have (very well implemented) random events. I for one thought Civ4's random events worked pretty well, too.

I'd kill for a good, modern Star Trek 4x computer game with asymmetric factions.

It would be nice to have diplomatic and economic victories included at some point.

Agreed. I don't feel two more victory conditions would be too many, and the new, varied strategies they'd bring to the table would really breathe some new life into game.

I think it just boils down to they appear to have just one person working on the AI (at least from the credits), and he has to implement the ability for the AI to even recognize/use the new mechanisms (never mind even use them competently) as well refine the existing ones, and that might be simply too much on one persons plate.

On top of this, there's the real possibility that the person programming the AI doesn't understand the game well enough to know the difference between a good play and a bad one. Knowing how to program the AI to build a district, improve a tile, or chop a resource is different than knowing when and why the AI should do these things in the first place. Hopefully the person responsible for the AI knows the ins and outs of the game as well as the most strategic of Civfanatics, but it's entirely possible he or she doesn't even play the game.

I’m not keen on corporations. The way they have been previously implemented was trite.

I trust Firaxis' ability to improve upon ideas that weren't up to snuff in past iterations of the franchise. For example, juxtapose Culture Victories in Civ5 vanilla vs BNW. If they can make those kinds of strides with corporations then I say bring 'em on.

 

[Zaarin]

I'd kill for a good, modern Star Trek 4x computer game with asymmetric factions.

Yes, and don't tie it to TNG this time so we can have the Dominion and all the great assets introduced in DS9 (though, to be fair, BotF had the Defiant-class at least)! A proper sequel to the Armada games would also be welcome...