Official announcement: Hot off the presses. Next Civ game in development!!!!!!!

[Gorbles]

So good, you can still run those games via emulation from GOG

You do realise this has nothing to do with the quality of, or available exploits for, the games you're talking about, right?

Many games can be emulated. Many, many games. I can run Tomb Raider (it uses DOSBox, I think), via Steam. Do you think Tomb Raider doesn't have any bugs? Any exploits? Old games are famous for them

 

[Patine]

You do realise this has nothing to do with the quality of, or available exploits for, the games you're talking about, right?

Many games can be emulated. Many, many games. I can run Tomb Raider (it uses DOSBox, I think), via Steam. Do you think Tomb Raider doesn't have any bugs? Any exploits? Old games are famous for them

Oh, yes. In the great classic of Single-Player Fantasy RPG series - Origin's Ultima series - it had nine official numbered iterations and four tangential titles. Only Ultima 9, the last, officially recieved a patch - because patches were not at all common in '80's and very early '90's computer games, and were prohibitive to easily distribute and disseminate. I don't BELIEVE Civ1 had an official patch, either, nor the original Colonization.

 

[GIO888]

Civ I did have a patch; I got a 3.5" floppy disc by post from Civ, in 1993 I think, saying it was an update;

Was UBER excited about it, uploaded the files, I think I spent an entire Sunday trying to find what was different and gave up around suppertime!

Maybe someone out there knows?

 

[vorlon_mi]

Yes, I'm very interested in the gameplay changes that will come with Civ7. The trends over the last 30 years have moved to finer granularity and specificity: some civs in Civ4 had multiple leaders, with many more getting multiple leaders and personas in Civ6. Religion was just a category of building in Civ3; a diplomatic concern in Civ4, and grew into customizable pantheons and beliefs in Civ5 and Civ6... what's next?

I'm also very interested in the *business* model that Civ7 will use. All the games before (and including) Civ4 were sold directly to consumers on media. Patches could be downloaded from web sites. Civ5 was the first to use Steam as a distribution channel, as well as allowing off-line / non-networked single player games after the initial activation.
Civ6 was designed and born in an integrated online marketplace. How many of us play Civ6 "off line"? Expansion packs and incremental DLC are planned into the product release strategy. Later passes (both NFP and LP) can be added to the release plan. I received the Leader Pass content for "free", since I had spent less money buying the NFP and later DLC on sale. What lessons has the company -- and the studio -- learned from releasing the game this way? How long is the time horizon for releasing content for Civ7?

 

[blackbutterfly]

Re: Will Miller

Just completed Marvel's Midnight Suns "new game+" mode run and grabbed the credits.

For base game he's listed as:

For the excellent Season Pass:

Perhaps less meaningful for Civ fans are the departures from the "other half" of Firaxis but Will Miller was an engineer (and Co-Lead Developer) of Beyond Earth, a Civ game.
IDK what else he may have worked on in the Civ franchise.

Still, in my eyes it is a loss for Firaxis

 

[Patine]

Yes, I'm very interested in the gameplay changes that will come with Civ7. The trends over the last 30 years have moved to finer granularity and specificity: some civs in Civ4 had multiple leaders, with many more getting multiple leaders and personas in Civ6. Religion was just a category of building in Civ3; a diplomatic concern in Civ4, and grew into customizable pantheons and beliefs in Civ5 and Civ6... what's next?

In Civ1 and Civ2, it religion was also based on a number of buildings and Wonders, and, in Civ2, a form of Government with a special unit attached. However, what I would like to see with religion in Civ7 is something that gives a sense of credence to the role religion has played (for better and for worse) in world history, and realistic views, not deconstructionist stereotypes (such as, for a hypothetical example, religious advancement is always inversely antagonistic to scientific advancement), and using real world religions from the get-go (not wonky, D&D-eque, "pantheons"), and without bizarre arbitrary limits on founding and state religion mechanics. I would like to see them show respect to religions, but not have them take over the whole game, with no cartoonish lightning-throwing Apostles and such, and Age of Reason Deism/Agnosticism/Atheism would, loigcally, show up late in game.

 

[Planktonic]

I would like to see them show respect to religions, but not have them take over the whole game, with no cartoonish lightning-throwing Apostles....

A lot of people comment on this, as though it were a ridiculous feature in a game that is supposed to be rooted in history.

I actually think it is a clever way to deal with the issue for game play reasons. Historically religions do try to convert other peoples, and there is a basic contest of religions. How do you depict that contest of ideas in a gameplay manner that is simple and visually interesting? I think they arrived at a reasonable compromise. I don't take the lightning throwing as literal magic, but as a metaphor for the competition of ideas between different religions as expressed by their Apostles.

I don't ever play for Religious Victory, which is really a rather one dimensional Domination victory of sorts. But overall I quite like the way religion is handled in Civ 6, although of course there is a lot of room for improvement....

 

[Hellenism Salesman]

I don't take the lightning throwing as literal magic, but as a metaphor for the competition of ideas between different religions as expressed by their Apostles.

I can also respect it as a visual shorthand, especially because they're attacking each other from above. At a greater level, it's kind of a literal depiction of "let's see whose god is stronger."

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I actually think it is a clever way to deal with the issue for game play reasons. Historically religions do try to convert other peoples, and there is a basic contest of religions. How do you depict that contest of ideas in a gameplay manner that is simple and visually interesting? I think they arrived at a reasonable compromise. I don't take the lightning throwing as literal magic, but as a metaphor for the competition of ideas between different religions as expressed by their Apostles.

The alternative would probably be each apostle whacking each other with their holy texts, which might be worse or hilarious, depending on your preference.

 

[Patine]

A lot of people comment on this, as though it were a ridiculous feature in a game that is supposed to be rooted in history.

I actually think it is a clever way to deal with the issue for game play reasons. Historically religions do try to convert other peoples, and there is a basic contest of religions. How do you depict that contest of ideas in a gameplay manner that is simple and visually interesting? I think they arrived at a reasonable compromise. I don't take the lightning throwing as literal magic, but as a metaphor for the competition of ideas between different religions as expressed by their Apostles.

I don't ever play for Religious Victory, which is really a rather one dimensional Domination victory of sorts. But overall I quite like the way religion is handled in Civ 6, although of course there is a lot of room for improvement....

I can also respect it as a visual shorthand, especially because they're attacking each other from above. At a greater level, it's kind of a literal depiction of "let's see whose god is stronger."

The alternative would probably be each apostle whacking each other with their holy texts, which might be worse or hilarious, depending on your preference.

I would rather see an alternative form of cultural zones speicifically for religious spread, but with allowances for underground practiced religions (which could resurface to dominance), syncretism, sectarianism schism herterodoxy, and heresy, entrepot cities, and, later on, coming into Enlightenment-style religious tolerance. Missionaries would have a part, but not quite to the degree of Civ6 Apostles.

 

[Nikolai II]

Re: Will Miller

Just completed Marvel's Midnight Suns "new game+" mode run and grabbed the credits.

For base game he's listed as:
View attachment 663477

For the excellent Season Pass:
View attachment 663478

Perhaps less meaningful for Civ fans are the departures from the "other half" of Firaxis but Will Miller was an engineer (and Co-Lead Developer) of Beyond Earth, a Civ game.
IDK what else he may have worked on in the Civ franchise.

Still, in my eyes it is a loss for Firaxis

He’s only been on BE of the Civ games. And Starships.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

? Civ4 had plenty of exploits.

 

[pokiehl]

A lot of people comment on this, as though it were a ridiculous feature in a game that is supposed to be rooted in history.

I actually think it is a clever way to deal with the issue for game play reasons. Historically religions do try to convert other peoples, and there is a basic contest of religions. How do you depict that contest of ideas in a gameplay manner that is simple and visually interesting? I think they arrived at a reasonable compromise. I don't take the lightning throwing as literal magic, but as a metaphor for the competition of ideas between different religions as expressed by their Apostles.

I don't ever play for Religious Victory, which is really a rather one dimensional Domination victory of sorts. But overall I quite like the way religion is handled in Civ 6, although of course there is a lot of room for improvement....

I don't have any issue with religious combat from a conceptual standpoint, but I think it's really tedious and dull and I want to see far fewer civilian units in Civ 7. I hope there aren't any religious units, actually. It just makes religion require more annoying micromanagement.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I don't have any issue with religious combat from a conceptual standpoint, but I think it's really tedious and dull and I want to see far fewer civilian units in Civ 7. I hope there aren't any religious units, actually. It just makes religion require more annoying micromanagement.

If they kept missionaries being able to spread religion and gave everything else to Great Prophets, making them more useful, I think that would work.

 

[pokiehl]

If they kept missionaries being able to spread religion and gave everything else to Great Prophets, making them more useful, I think that would work.

Eh, I disagree. Not sure what shifting responsibilities around the units would do to improve the tedium. Units being the primary way to spread religion is precisely why Civ 6 religion is so dull in the first place.

 

[SemiLazyGamer]

I was wondering about this and double checked the discussion to see if it was mentioned and it wasn't, but I have to wonder:

With GTAVI likely releasing next year, likely being a November title, and definitely being a black hole in terms of marketing, do you think VII might be an even earlier in the year release than what is expected? Maybe a spring or summer next year release?

 

[vorlon_mi]

I have mixed feelings about religious units and the religious victory. All of the recent Civ games (4, 5, 6, not BERT ) allowed the player to buy religious units to actively spread the desired religion. Both Civ5 and Civ6 allow "inquisitors" to remove unwanted religions from the player's cities. All of the main franchise games also had passive ways to spread religion, using variations on the idea of religious pressure or natural spreading. The perception / opinion about whether one finds directing religious units fun or tedious will vary from person to person.

It makes sense to me that since Civ6 added a Religious victory condition, that a player (either human or AI) would need to take active steps to pursue that VC. It further makes sense that a player (human or AI) might need to take active steps to defend against another player who is pursuing the VC. It's analogous to what we need to do when pursuing a military victory or science victory -- be active, either on offense or defense.

Here's where my mixed feelings come in: I'm not yet sure if I find the RV to be a fun victory condition. I'm not sure if I want Civ7 to have an explicit Religion victory, or whether religion should play another role, e.g., diplomatic modifier from Civ4 or source of faith yield to be used for other things as in Civ5.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Eh, I disagree. Not sure what shifting responsibilities around the units would do to improve the tedium. Units being the primary way to spread religion is precisely why Civ 6 religion is so dull in the first place.

Getting rid of essentially the Apostles, and probably the Guru, and giving all those abilities to Great Prophets is essentially what I meant, considering they would most likely stay in the game.
They are also part of the Great People category and wouldn't technically be considered one of the religious units.

 

[sonicmyst]

More bad news on dev team....

XCOM And Marvel's Midnight Sun Developer Firaxis Hit With Layoffs

Around 30 developers are reported to have been let go.

www.thegamer.com

 

[pokiehl]

Getting rid of essentially the Apostles, and probably the Guru, and giving all those abilities to Great Prophets is essentially what I meant, considering they would most likely stay in the game.
They are also part of the Great People category and wouldn't technically be considered one of the religious units.

Yeah, I know what you meant. My complaint is using units to manage my religion—changing which units do that doesn’t fix that.