New to Civ 6 and have some thoughts and questions

Was pondering when to get Civ 6 and whether PS4 or PC. Amazon had PS4 for $19.99 so jumped on it.

Am in my first game on easiest difficulty. It's ok, but can already tell has major flaws, just like Civ 4 and 5 did, before the Buffy and Vox Populi mods fixed them, respectively.

Chiefly for me was how vanilla Civ 5 had no alerts when cities grew or expanded borders. The addition of this by Vox P mod improved the game immensely.

The graphics and imagery on the PS4 don't seem too good either. From screen shots I've seen the PC looks much more crisp and eye pleasing.

Steam has a big sale now, so what I'm getting at is I'm seriously thinking of purchasing. But, I had read that Civ 6 isn't really moddable like the prior versions were. So, I want to know if there is a mod that fixes the vanilla game flaws?

I think the AI is pretty horrible too, and I know the mods always dealt with that aspect as well.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

Thanks for all the input. Wow.

Went ahead and bought the Steam full package for 6 for $48. Seemed like not that bad a deal, after paying the $20 for the PS4 version. It is worlds better than PS 4 version. The console version I suppose isn't bad. It's certainly far advanced as a strategy game than the fairly simplistic Revolution of years back.

I went ahead and started out using the CQUI mod to improve the game. But, sadly, it still doesn't alert when borders or cities grow. Is there some mod that does that, like they did for Civ 4 and 5? That is SORELY LACKING. It really makes Civ 6 pale in comparison to 4 and 5, in my estimation.

The other thing I'm noticing in my early hours of play is the AI is moronic. Every single trade offer I get is laughable. This is not how any prior Civ game was. They'll offer some gold and open borders for a vital resource.

Those are my chief complaints so far I guess. Just learning beyond that. Just not sure it's a game I'll play like I did 4 and now 5, unless there is a better mod.

Edit: Wanted to add, the AI is so annoying with the ignorable trade offers constantly coming in, I almost wish you could turn off trade with AI in Civ 6. It's just a complete waste of time.

 

@billybgame what you say is correct. I guess we have seem a few similar posts where these things made the game too negative for the poster. You are 100% correct in them but the game has positives as well. It’s like the tone of the post implies responses will be quite negative.
There are other things I dislike worse but I play and the game is fine for me up until about T150.
I am not sure what response you are asking for, it seems like a rant post more than anything.

 

I don't know if there's a mod to alert you on population/border growth. But yeah the AI trade/diplomacy is a joke that I would like to turn off as well, and there's no mod to fix that.

 

'Custom Notifications' mod on steam alerts the player when city borders expand, city population grows etc...

The current version of CQUI now too has in-game options for similar alerts.

For fewer trade offers you can check 'Zee's Fewer Trade Deals' mod.

 

Why use a sledgehammer when you can finetune it to your liking?
UPDATE GlobalParameters SET Value = 27 WHERE Name = 'AI_TURNS_BETWEEN_TRADES';

 

I don’t have issues with “annoying” trade deals. Im not sure what the problem is. I often forget to trade so it’s nice of them to remember me trade is possible!
I do notice that if you have just improved a duplicate lux, all AI players want to trade it. And if you are the first player to improve niter, oil etc, they offer big money for it. I don’t see this as being a problem, though.

The fact that the tile to which the border will grow can change randomly, I think is an annoying mechanic

 

Thanks for the replies. I will see about those mods.

The thing is, I'm trying to decide if I even want to play this version of Civ. That's what I was looking for. Have yet to finish a game. Started the one on the PS4, and now this one on PC. But, the negatives make me lose interest, really.

I haven't fully played 5, so I am sure will return to that. But, having played since Civ 1, I'm just not sure about 6 yet. Maybe these mods and if one of them alters the dumb ass AI, it will help me decide

 

It sounds like you don't even try to find a challenging and rewarding experience?!
You've tried the lowest difficulty level and then complain about the AI? That doesn't make any sense. Before you give up on the game, at least try to play on Emperor, Immortal or Deity to get a better feeling for what you are gettting. Otherwise the AI doesn't even have the resources to create any sort of story or personality. Of course, trading is also affected by this. If anything, Deity AIs give you way too much stuff in exchange for your "vital resources", not the other way round like you said (unless I misunderstood you).

 

None of those difficulties make the AI any better (as I'm sure you know). Prince is what shows the AI for what it is.

 

You're literally hobbling the AI by having it on Settler. I mean, if that's what you find fun, then crack on, I'm not judging, but you can't complain that the AI is bad when you're literally giving it all those handicaps.

 

It depends on what we are talking about. If we talk about pure intelligence, then you are right - Deity AI is as dumb as on Prince.
But give the AI more resources and they are able to pass a lot more "if .... then" checks and execute a plan and show some of their decision making. On settler, the AI just sits there and cannot do anything. It's like putting Skynet in an Atari and expect it to destroy humanity.

 

On higher difficulties the AI is much more involved and thus arguably making them perform better. Or at the very least, making your game harder.
I started playing Civ V when R&F was released for VI, and honestly the game (V) was boring and silly on difficulties lower than king. Although admittedly, V has the better AI overall. AI in Civ games are just not very good in general.
Playing on settler difficulty is just a bit silly. It is like playing chess with a 3 year old toddler

As for the border growth popup issue you are having, though not ideal, you could place a pin within the city borders with the number of turn written on which the next border will expand