[NFP] Poll: Always on Game Modes?

[Stilgar08]

I personally like many aspects of the NFP game modes, others are just not my cup of tea or I think they have been too broken to use.

Furthermore I'm interested in possible synergies or obstacles when combining modes. Since I'm playing slower than the average Fanatic (so it seems at least) I'm sure you guys have more experiences with this.

So my question is: Now, after the April patch, which game modes would you consider turning always on if you had to / want to?

I've got some I have mixed feelings about and don't have enough experience with them to judge, so please help me out.

Spoiler I start :

Just for info: I seldom Min/Max. I'm more of a role player guy not always going for the direct win, but nevertheless want "some" AI competitiveness. I like emperor level but can beat deity. Deity is just not just as much fun for me...

Always on :
I think the Barbarian Clans mod adds flavor and with the now patched stuff would go into my always on section. (played it before April patch and it was fine)

Secret Societies is fun and as another layer of diplomacy it's good, too. AI not able to handle voidsingers is a big bummer I overlook, because I like this mod so much. (it should be addressed though!!!)

Tech and Civics Shuffle is and will remain always on for me. No brainer

Mixed / undecided:
Dramatic Ages: I have a feeling, AI can't really handle this good enough, though I love the higher stakes of this mod when it comes to Ages. What do you think? (played it once, liked it but had an easy win)

Same with Heroes & Legends. I fear AI is too clumsy with this mod making the game easier which is nothing to aim for. But I looove the idea and would want to put it up into the always on section. (didn't use it yet)

Monopolies and Corporations seemed broken even after the March patch. Is it good enough to go up or still broken? (never played it yet)

Nope / only on special occasions:
Zombies and Apocalypse is either not fun or I'm just not interested. If I want zombies I play the last of us, thank you

Edit: multi choice enabled for poll

 

[kotpeter]

Multi-choice please

 

[McKeu]

I can only pick one, which makes the poll quite obsolete. I like clans and tech/civic shuffle a lot.

 

[Stilgar08]

Sorry, multi choice is on now!

 

[HiRezAudio]

I like the Monopolies one myself.

 

[racha]

Everything except random techs. I like the idea, but I become displeased when peasant NPCs steal my wonders.

 

[McKeu]

Techs and civic shuffle is so great to also make the established civilizations act in completely new ways.
A religious civ has no more straight path to Astrology, etc. Their old ways cease to function. It adds so much surprise to the game, I love it.

 

[Deadly Dog]

It's looking like a lot of the issues with Clans mode got attention so I would likely consider that one. And Dramatic Ages is a hard one for me to pass on but unless something changed I will continue to refrain from using it on continents/pangaea maps. But I don't play those often.

Won't be able to try the changes out until much later today though.

 

[iammaxhailme]

I have Heroes and Legends, and Secret Societies on in most games. I would consider monopolies too but I'm not sure if the tourism boosts are so enormous; I know they got nerfed a but but I don't know how much.

 

[Siddharth Venkatesh]

I have Heroes and Legends, and Secret Societies on in most games. I would consider monopolies too but I'm not sure if the tourism boosts are so enormous; I know they got nerfed a but but I don't know how much.

You should try it out now. The tourism boosts are relatively reasonable now. You can get 100% modifiers with small monopolies and only get huge modifiers of 600%+ if you have a monopoly on a resource with large quantities. I think it works ok now, it does speed up tourism by about 20 turns a least but it's not dominating to the point that you can't try other victory types or other methods of tourism.

I think Heroes and Legends is a completely broken mode. It's fun, and I still play with it on once in a while, but Sinbad, Hercules, Himiko and to a lesser extent Anansi completely trivialize the game. Sinbad in particular is really overpowered, even after the nerf he got and it makes settling a coastal and spamming out heroic tales till you find him the best way to play early. Still, you can choose not to get these heroes and still have some fun from the mode, but the other heroes aren't nearly as interesting.

Secret Societies I have on in 75% of my games. Voidsingers are a bit too strong but you can just pick a different society.

Barbarian clans is enjoyable. Being able to cheaply buy military is very strong but I do enjoy the interaction of which clans to kill, which to farm for gold and which to let convert into city state. I have this on in every game for now.

Corporations and monopolies, with the tourism mostly fixed now, is on every game. This makes playing around luxuries way more interesting and also makes merchants other than the trade route merchants actually useful.

Tech Shuffle is fun but I can't have it on every game. Sometimes, I just want to explore some strategies on the standard tech path.

 

[LMT]

Tech and civic shuffle is the best one. I always thought it was kind of odd how you could plan out your path to rocketry from turn 1. As you progress through scientific discoveries, you have no idea what that will lead to in the distant future. Good job on that one!

Dramatic ages is my next favorite. Since I play peaceful, it has forced me to pay attention to military more. And, funny enough, delay building walls in at least some cities. Most importantly, it makes era score really important. I never much paid attention to it before.

Apocalypse mode could be good it it wasn't for those annoying solar flares.

 

[Uberfrog]

Monopolies and Barbarian clans I would like to have on most games, but depending on how the April patch has fixed their balance issues, this might be problematic. I’ll have to play around with them first.

Dramatic Ages, Apocalypse and Shuffle are fun to have on every so often.

Secret Societies and Heroes skew the game too much for my liking. They are fun but certainly not going to feature regularly.

Zombies I have yet to try. I’m sure it will be fun but I don’t see myself playing it often. It probably pairs quite well with Apocalypse.

 

[blackbutterfly]

Always on, doesn't necessarily mean the best mode.

IMO Zombies is the best mode of NFP, though I don't have it always on.
It's basically a Tower Defense mode for Civ VI.

Had Firaxis been a little more transparent about this I think it would have been well received by civ gamers.

 

[Stilgar08]

Always on, doesn't necessarily mean the best mode.

IMO Zombies is the best mode of NFP, though I don't have it always on.
It's basically a Tower Defense mode for Civ VI.

Had Firaxis been a little more transparent about this I think it would have been well received by civ gamers.

Exactly. Tech shuffle is surely not the best mode but one to have always on IMO.

The Monopolies mode would be a sure always on mode if AI improves resources making it harder to "exploit" or favorize human player too much.

It seems I also receive mixed responses to heroes mode so far...

 

[Haig]

Always on:

Barbarians - Love the interraction with the clans, hiring units from them and paying them to harass enemy empire.

Corporations - Fun to hunt resources and the new map improvements are cool.

Secret Societies - Lots of content, love it

The rest are on occasionally, like picking sone of them about every third game. Zombies and heroes are fun but I dont want them all the time!

This thread made me definately to pic shuffle tech tree for next game.

 

[pokiehl]

All except Corporations. That mode is really banal and boring compared to the rest and exists solely to pump up yields and wreck the game’s pace even more than it already is. Plus the AI can’t use it at all.

 

[CromulentRomulan]

include a 'none' option in the poll

 

[Shadowstrike]

Right now, none of them. I would probably do Corporations (if the tourism bonus was more reasonable) and Dramatic Ages (if free cities formed new civs). Tech shuffle is fun too, but it doesn't feel very realistic.

 

[Caprikel]

Barbarian Clans - This is an easy always on for me, it's a fun mode that makes Barbarians much more interesting. Also having some control over where city-states will be is really nice.
Dramatic Ages - Always on, but it would really benefit from the AI being better at retaking their cities, and a slight adjustment to Free city loyalty pressure. Other than that, I really like the golden age policies being made into cards, and the extra importance of era score.
Monopolies and Corporations - Always on for me, but it suffers from the AI being broken from not improving their luxury resources properly. In my opinion, fixing that is way more of a bigger issue than the absurd tourism yields.
Tech Shuffle - Sometimes use, I like that it is more flavorful and realistic, but usually I want the more standard tech path.

As for the others, I'm not much of a fan of the fantastical nature of them, so I don't use them. I would really love the zombie mode if it were Barbarians instead of zombies, since I've always wanted a proper tower defense mode of Civ similar to the Poland Scenario, but unfortunately the fantastical aspect is too off-putting for me. A mod that changes the mode to be historical would be really great though.

 

[tsf4]

I like exchanging them each game to keep things fluid. Zombie is a whole other scenario because it changes the usual build an empire into have fun shooting zombie barbs for 100 turns.

But the rest definitely get a chance for each game! I use a dice roller for if I play with first, second, etc