New patch 20 December

[ThERat]

I thought the stacking bonuses were super neat. I loved placing a ring of 5 industrial zones that would transform a central city into an industrial colossus. I really think this mechanic was a winner--it called for tougher decisions in district placement (do I place this IZ where it can affect a fourth city, or do I place it where I get the best adjacency bonus?) and was very satisfying when you got a good grid of industrial zones. It was also fresh and unlike anything a previous Civ game had ever had, as far as I can recall anyway. I'm sad to see it go.

seems to me that they got scared of this mechanic and quickly reverted back to the hated Civ5 model of few cities. If you combine this new nerf with the amenities model of 4 cities for your whole empire, you can tell what their intention seems to be

 

[Jeckel]

So, did they or did they not fix the previous built bug?

I had no idea that industrial zones stacked for multiple cities (yet another piece of information that isn't displayed anywhere). However, any nerf to production is a terrible idea as building anything in this game is extremely annoying as it is. That said, what I'm most surprised by is people talking as if they don't put IZs in every city. It takes long enough to build anything with them, I can't imagine letting it take even longer by not building them.

 

[darkace77450]

Hmmm - anyone know which unique districts now require population? It says most, so I'm assuming one or two have been spared this nerf.

I would imagine it's the bathhouse and the mbanza.

 

[Marlowe65]

I had no idea that industrial zones stacked for multiple cities (yet another piece of information that isn't displayed anywhere).

I am certainly not going to defend the Civlopedia--which is awful compared to past Civs, or the vague lousy manual--ditto, or the inconsistent tooltips. But either the tooltips, Civilopedia entries, or both for the advanced Industrial and Commercial district buildings state that their bonuses apply to other city centers within 6 tiles of the districts in which they are built.

 

[CaiusDrewart]

seems to me that they got scared of this mechanic and quickly reverted back to the hated Civ5 model of few cities. If you combine this new nerf with the amenities model of 4 cities for your whole empire, you can tell what their intention seems to be

We're not there yet, because they still don't have anything like global happiness or the BNW science penalty. But you're right, this was a small step towards nerfing ICS. I think we'll probably see more in the future. I'd be OK with something like light city maintenance--in fact, I think that could make the game better--but if this game ends up having the same 4-city meta that Civ V did, I will not play it, that's for sure.

 

[Gigaz]

I think the Toronto ability just went from totally OP broken to completely useless.

Patch strengthens Harbor, Campus, Theatre district, Commercial hub and Holy site vs. Industrial zone. Encampment likely doesn't gain because it still makes most sense to combine it with an IZ. On the other hand, the Encampment production bonuses might become more relevant...
Entertainment was weakened by not spreading the effect anymore, but when the patch strengthened tall as opposed to wide, people might end up building more entertainment districts.

England, Russia and Germany are of corse weakened and at least the last two really needed it.

 

[CaiusDrewart]

England, Russia and Germany are of corse weakened and at least the last two really needed it.

I think Germany and Russia are still above-average. Germany might even still be top 5; Free Imperial Cities is really good with the way district price scaling works, and the Hansa is still half-off and still has better adjacency bonuses than the typical IZ. The Cossack and the land grabbing are probably enough to keep Russia relevant, but I'm not sure the Lavra is going to be still worth building in Domination or Science games, especially when building it now means not building a Commercial Hub/Harber/IZ.

England is now bottom-tier, right? I don't see a way around that. The reduced cost of the harbor is still nice but it's just not much compared to what other Civs in this game get.

 

[Magil]

While proper mod tools were not given yet, it does appear we can now modify art assets (and perhaps audio?) with mods without needing to change the base game files anymore, which is very much appreciated.

 

[grandad1982]

Return of alert (should have been in day 1) and attempts to re balance production and tech. These are good. The rest of the patch leaves me wondering what the hell they were doing for 30 days.

So many ui and balance changes needed along with serious ai work. Still won't be returning to play for some time it seems.

I really feel they released this game 6 months early.

Oh well Rimworld has a new alpha out so I'm off to play that.

 

[player1 fanatic]

People overestimate how much can be done in 30 days.

 

[LDiCesare]

No AI combat patch = useless patch.
I also think nerfing production is a bad idea because everything costs way too much. Wonders will be less expensive, but the game will end up having less of everything because of less production. Looks like hte game became more boring.

 

[kaltorak]

Increased research costs of Technologies and Civics progressively

• From the Industrial era (about +5%) to the Information era (about +20%).

Nice. Now reduce eurekas bonus to about 20-30% and we're good to go

 

[The Economy]

Does the Earth map have TSL?

 

[CultureManiac]

Yes I hope the space race speeds up a little, I have been shooting for a Science victory a few times now, only to have a cultural victory with half a dozen turns left to go on my 3rd Mars rocket part. The 40% reduction in space race projects hopefully winds things up faster. Bear in mind that the AI will have the same conditions so it's conceivable that people could be beaten to the punch by good late-game AI civs.

The AI is very good at researching the techs for the space race, but bad at building the projects. Often they have all necessary techs and maybe only one project completed. Hopefully this improves the situation. I wouldn't mind a good space race.

 

[Ikael]

The game is moving into a good direction, but by God, it is moving slowly. Some thoughts:

• Coastal Raids can now pillage districts in addition to the buildings within

You will need far more than that in order to make navies relevant.

• Cities can no longer receive yields from more than one regional building per type; they take the highest (ex. production from multiple Factories)

I am ambivalent on this. One one hand, I get that they want to avoid ICS spamming and the whole "mandatory industrial zone in every city" approach that makes every city the same. In the other hand, we do need more production, not less. Still, I do dislike overlapping strategies, as they completely destroy the whole "play with the terrain" ethos. It might be an interesting strategy, but it is too "Minmax-y", so I am verring more towards "good change". Also: No bonus in order to compensate Toronto's being nerfed into the ground?

• Decreased production costs of Wonders progressively
  • From the Industrial era (about -10%) to the Atomic era (about -40%).

Too little, and too late (wonder costs are still ridiculous in the earlier eras).

• Decreased production costs of all Space Race Projects by 40%.

Thanks God for this. Absolutely necessary, space race production costs were ridiculous.

• Increased research costs of Technologies and Civics progressively
  • From the Industrial era (about +5%) to the Information era (about +20%).

Once again: Too little, too late. Early game civics and techs fly by.

• Increased Faith from Mission
• Increased Culture from Chateau

Much needed buffs, but I would like to see the concrete data about these. Also, both Spain and France need to be buffed areas other than their unique improvements.

• Most Civilization unique districts now require population to construct (like normal districts)
• Spaceport district no longer requires population to construct

These are superb changes. No popullation requirements for unique districts made every city and unique district far too similar, while devaluating housing and food in favour of production, and it also made Germany's Unique Ability be more of a footnote.

So far, good changes overall, but I expected a far more extensive, in depth rebalance, Firaxis has clearly focused into the DLC instead, and it shows. There's still a huge list of changes pending to do: Different layer for religious units, production / adjacency bonuses in order to compensate for the loss production, water tiles not sucking, trade routes not being overpowered, far, far costlier civics / techs and far cheaper wonders, too, cultural gameplay... well, lots of things left to do.

Thanks God the modders are doing that work for Firaxis, because as of now, the progress has been bood, but far too small for what is needed.

 

[kamex]

[AUDIO]

• Added sound effect for Quick Save hotkey

Thank god they are focusing on the important things!

 

[Jabulani]

Is now factory and power plant radius somehow highlighted ? If not does it mean we have to calculate it counting each time the radius tile ??

 

[Siptah]

I like the district changes. It nerfs unique districts and makes the UB civs much better. Maybe the Madrassa is the best unique now? Also Germany's Free Imperial Cities ability is incredibly useful now (while nerfing the Hansa in two ways). I like that stacking is gone. Gives you more choices what to build, since you don't go for IZ in all cities asap. Also much more need for entertainment districts. Now we just need to reduce science and culture from population, and all districts seem to be super important.
I don't think Toronto is broken now. It was op before - now it is kinda situational. But still, the first six envoys sent to every industrial CS are clearly worth it.

I also like all the new CS from the DLC. That new Fjord that grants promotions seems a bit strong on Inland Sea or Island Plates if you can control it, though.

 

[nzcamel]

What's wrong with pressing Enter or clicking the icons on the lower right or using the comma and period keys (that, since the Fall Patch, now do the exact same thing as in Civ5 - move to the previous or next unit in the game's queue of units awaiting orders). it's not 'w' but it's pretty close!

Have you used said keys? As soon as you give a command to the unit you skipped to, it skips back to the original unit that you passed on! You have to keep skipping away from it! Which is very annoying! I skipped past it for a reason...but I keep getting dragged back to it. Either they change that...or a wait command is very needed.

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

Is now factory and power plant radius somehow highlighted ? If not does it mean we have to calculate it counting each time the radius tile ??

Precisely.

And now that you get only the highest bonus, how is the UI going to meaningfully present that restriction to the user?
Stinks of desperation fixes for an underlying flawed/broken design; the implications of which haven't been completely thought through.