Pirates, Really?

[Evolena]

Can we turn off the pirates specifically or do we have to disable the whole dlc?

Each collection is in fact a bundle of individually selectable Civ/Leader/Wonders DLC.

 

[GeneralZift]

Seems completely stupid but it's free I suppose you can't complain too much.
I suppose what people want is a free addition that actually fleshes out the lacklustre base roster.

When we all talked about this last time, we all said pirate republic is like a late late type of addition, one you throw in at the end of a frontier pass when there's basically nothing else to throw in.

But given the much better options, just feels like padding. Obviously not to mention how terrible it is as a choice.

 

[Calico Jack]

Avast, arr, matey, etc.

 

[UWHabs]

Seems completely stupid but it's free I suppose you can't complain too much.
I suppose what people want is a free addition that actually fleshes out the lacklustre base roster.

When we all talked about this last time, we all said pirate republic is like a late late type of addition, one you throw in at the end of a frontier pass when there's basically nothing else to throw in.

But given the much better options, just feels like padding. Obviously not to mention how terrible it is as a choice.

Everyone else in the pack should be good and fill some niches and roles. I'm sure the pirate civ aren't going to be my favorite, but they might make for some interesting roleplay when you meet them in the distant lands some games.

 

[Yzman]

Seems completely stupid but it's free I suppose you can't complain too much.
I suppose what people want is a free addition that actually fleshes out the lacklustre base roster.

When we all talked about this last time, we all said pirate republic is like a late late type of addition, one you throw in at the end of a frontier pass when there's basically nothing else to throw in.

But given the much better options, just feels like padding. Obviously not to mention how terrible it is as a choice.

It is a great choice if you are concerned with interesting gameplay. Or we could have another civ that is just some small deviation of an existing civ that doesn't fundamentally play any differently. It makes sense to introduce now because it sounds like pirate attributes also go to the other leader a bit.

 

[fantsu]

Let me guess, female leader?

 

[Siptah]

Even if they are just there as an AI civ that‘s always at war with everybody or that can do naval attacks/pillaging without declaring actual war, they‘d be a valuable addition to the game to shake things up a bit.

I‘ll play them for sure, but how often depends on their kit and probably also on the maps.

 

[Siptah]

Let me guess, female leader?

The pack has two famous „pirates“ as leaders, one of them is indeed female. But I don‘t think that someone would conclude that she of all persons would be not a good fit for a civ game leader… if you can tolerate Theodora, Tomyris, Genghis Khan, Alexander, or Xerxes, Sayyida Al Hurra should be right up your alley. It‘s legitimately a better choice than Barbarossa at this point, even though he might be better known, but both fill the same niche of rulers that were famous privateers from the Maghreb.

 

[Kwami]

Let me guess, female leader?

Not unless Blackbeard was secretly a woman.

 

[ehecatzin]

Not unless Blackbeard was secretly a woman.

He is a surprisingly curvaceous pirate.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Not unless Blackbeard was secretly a woman.

I think Black Seals have female character named Blackbeard

 

[GeneralZift]

I like Edward Teach for a Leader choice but definitely not Pirate Republic.

They are adding Pirate mechanics to the game, which is interesting, and good, but why do we need one Civilization that is only pirating and not a real Civilization? Sounds counterintuitive.

Now here is what I think. They want to make the middle of the game more interesting. Then the Pirate Republic and Pirates in general should "replace" Barbarians as a midgame threat, sort of like Creeps in Warcraft.

Declaring war on everyone, plundering and causing a bit of chaos, but also being a diplomatic character that you could reason with and buy out to attack your enemies.

Just giving the player an option to be the pirates feels a bit like selling out. It's like risk adverse. Why not try something a bit strange? Maybe because they've been getting so much backlash on new and strange mechanics.
Well, I think Pirates as a Civilization strikes me as more strange than if they were a chaotic mid-game mechanic.

 

[Vandlys]

Firaxis is not committed to any facsmile of historicity. their priorities are totally off.

Regarding their "commitment"; have they ever been? I remember an Elvis, a GDR, Zombies, Steampunk..

Also, their priorities are off according to your opinion and desires. You state a goal in your mind, and say their priorities are off. That's not how it works. They have their own priorities.

I might or might not agree with you, but these arguments are nonsensical.

 

[fantsu]

Regarding their "commitment"; have they ever been? I remember an Elvis, a GDR, Zombies, Steampunk..

Also, their priorities are off according to your opinion and desires. You state a goal in your mind, and say their priorities are off. That's not how it works. They have their own priorities.

I might or might not agree with you, but these arguments are nonsensical.

All the fantasy ones are from latest games.
Elvis was real and has a lot of political memory still going on, so as an advicer it was the right choice.

 

[stealth_nsk]

All the fantasy ones are from latest games.
Elvis was real and has a lot of political memory still going on, so as an advicer it was the right choice.

Pirate republic isn't fantasy either. If Elvis could be an adviser, why Pirate republic can't be a civ?

Also, what's the problem with latest games? You can't just remove the last 15 years of Civ history.

 

[Head_North]

Yes, it is. No Republic of Pirates or Edward Teach was promised when you purchased the game. This is additional free content.

I just pointed out the notion of "free" content as not being free because I think statements like "well I´m not sure I like Pirates but since its free its ok" misses the point of weather the pirates are a good addition or not.
Why is it not free?
Lets consider another situation. Lets say they almost finished the game and is about to release it (for say 100 $). But they push it out a little bit to early and not including content originally planned for the game (lets pretend Great Britain as a civ was cut to rush the game) and still charge 100 $ for it. When they then at a later time release Great Britain as a "free" DLC, is Great Britain then "free". You could argue, it was not in the base game and so the content is free.
Havent this happened with civ 7 by the way? Havent peopled done data mining finding perhaps cut content from the game (including the pirates)?

But I´m not going to continue arguring about what is free and not, since that is not what the thread is about, but as the saying goes there is no such thing as a free lunch...


Anyway, weather you regard the pirates as "free" or not is irrelevant. The point is, Firaxis have used resources (weather you regard the resources as something provided by the consumers or given "freely" by the company to create the pirate civiliztion. If we rephrase the question as:

Do you think those resources where well used creating the pirate civilization or would you rather have seen them adding some different content? Be that a different civilization or adding/improving game mechanics,

I for one really dislike the addition of pirates as a civilization:

Firtsly: It is not a civilization in the same vein as the other civilizations in the game. They are more to be regarded as a offspring or some aspect/facett of human civilization. If they can add loosely tied criminal organizations as a "civilization" then there is no limit to what can be added as a "civilization"/leaders. East india company? Tech conglomerates? Banking consortiums? The Hanseatic league? Mercenary companys?

I think that if they wanted pirates as a "playable faction" they should have added it as a mechanic to a civilization who have been known to harboring alot of pirates. And maybe added Edward Teach as a great admiral for those who want him in the game.

Secondly: The resources could have been used better. Including other classical civilizations and or leaders. Or perhaps adding QoL features.

Anyway that was my two (or perhaps three) cents about the addition of pirates as a civilization.

 

[Leucarum]

Different strokes for different folks. They're free and I can turn them (and Edward Teach) off.

Hopefully Tonga's fun so there's actually something I want to try coming in the first installment. Glad to heard some people are looking forward to the priates.

 

[ombak]

I guess my problem with Pirates isn't that they're fictional, as lots of posters have provided context and ideas about how they might be implemented and make sense historically, it's really more about the worry that in past games they were seen more along those lines, as a sideshow, and if they are now in as a "main" Civ, you start to wonder if other optional modes that ventured into actual fantasy might seep in later.
(I also could've done without the Bermuda Triangle as a wonder, especially with a teleport effect, with so many other options available)

I don't think I'm too concerned about, say, vampires and zombies being introduced as a Civ just because we have pirates. I'm just glad to have an option to customize and select, like I did in Civ 6, and hope to get that option back for natural wonders eventually too.

 

[Kwami]

I just pointed out the notion of "free" content as not being free because I think statements like "well I´m not sure I like Pirates but since its free its ok" misses the point of weather the pirates are a good addition or not.

Regardless of whether it's a good addition, it is free.

Why is it not free?

It is.

Lets consider another situation. Lets say they almost finished the game and is about to release it (for say 100 $). But they push it out a little bit to early and not including content originally planned for the game (lets pretend Great Britain as a civ was cut to rush the game) and still charge 100 $ for it. When they then at a later time release Great Britain as a "free" DLC, is Great Britain then "free". You could argue, it was not in the base game and so the content is free.
Havent this happened with civ 7 by the way? Havent peopled done data mining finding perhaps cut content from the game (including the pirates)?

If you're suggesting that anything that was a work in progress should have been in the base game and not sold as DLC, then I entirely disagree. The developers were very clear about what you got in the base game and they delivered precisely that.

 

[fantsu]

Pirate republic isn't fantasy either. If Elvis could be an adviser, why Pirate republic can't be a civ?

Also, what's the problem with latest games? You can't just remove the last 15 years of Civ history.

You say pirate republic, of thousand people at best, is a civilization?
Then why it was released before civfanatics as a civilization? We are quite many more.
Id say its fantasy civ. And Elvis was never a base game civ.

Problem with civ V is things like GDR or steampunk? I cannot think much bad of VI.
I just made the point that later civ development silliness (even a optional zombies game mode) is used as an leverage against more historical 4X earlier. More and more prominent, it seems.