[NFP] Poll: Always on Game Modes?

[Menocchio]

Dramatics Ages is one I really want to have always on because it's exciting, but it hits the poor AI really hard no matter the difficulty because they are not so good at dealing with Free Cities, as mentioned above. I often see AIs get defeated outright by losing their capitals to loyalty, which I think ought to be a lot more difficult in Dramatic Ages.

 

[The Civs 6]

I am kind of surprised at the love for barbarian clans. It actually feels like a lot of pressure to fight the camps in your settlement spots so that you don't have to deal with an inconvenient city state. I get that part of this game is clearing barb camps. But there is territory far away that I have my eye on, it feels bad to have to send guys out just to preserve them (and maybe even rush shipbuilding to get over water). I played a game with it for a few turns and I'm just going to leave it turned off.

Dramatics Ages is one I really want to have always on because it's exciting, but it hits the poor AI really hard no matter the difficulty because they are not so good at dealing with Free Cities, as mentioned above. I often see AIs get defeated outright by losing their capitals to loyalty, which I think ought to be a lot more difficult in Dramatic Ages.

I wish I could love dramatic ages. People say that corps are broken, but dramatic ages is actually unplayable (unless you enjoy facing an enormous blob of free cities).

 

[Dotsworthy]

Another one here who likes dramatic ages but the AIs inability to take back their cities or prevent losing them in the first place means I tend to avoid using it.

That said, it's incredibly fun to play as Eleanor as she causes absolute chaos.

 

[timmychompchomp]

I want to vote Monopolies and Corporations and Barbarians, but the Monopolies issue regarding the improvement of resources prevents me from choosing it. So Barbarians is it.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Can't vote, since it's none for me.

 

[Abaxial]

I might vote for some MOSTLY being enabled, but not ALWAYS enabled. Depends what I want of a particular game. Also, I haven't seen what the April patch does to barbarians yet. Might be interesting to poll on which will NEVER be enabled. I've never tried the tech shuffle and have no intention of trying it.

 

[tedhebert]

I voted Heroes, SS and Shuffle. I would love to vote Corps, but it hasn't been fixed yet, so NO... Also, I'll wait and see on barbarians... ATM it's a no because of the floods of CS if you don't manually control the number and the fact that no barbs after medieval... But I'm willing to wait and see because the patch notes mention that some of that has benn adressed, so I might change that vote in the future. Apocalyse, Dramatic and Zombies are resounding NOs for me... But I'm quite all right with them existing and me not loving all of them !

 

[cain3456]

Must have: Shuffle, Corporations
Most of the time: Secret Societies, Heroes
Meh: Barbarians
Once: Zombies
NEVER: Apocalypse, Dramatic Ages

 

[Amrunril]

I'll echo the sentiment that "always on" game modes are not synonymous with the best game modes. I think Heroes and Secret Societies are the most interesting of the game modes, but I wouldn't want them on every game- partly because of the fantastical flavor, partly because they add a lot of power and tend to overshadow other game elements. In contrast, something like Barbarian Clans is a much smaller addition to the game, but that small addition is always nice to have.

 

[FenrisWolf456]

I went with Secret Societies, Barbarian Clans, and Monopolies and Corporations ... though even then it wouldn't be an always thing.

I like Secret Societies a lot, but a recent game where I got swarmed by 36 cultists at my new colony area has turned me off it some. The AI seems to think the cultists are missionaries ... sends them off to 'convert' a city, then get there and then sees it can't do that, and then just sort of mills about, taking up space so I could barely move in my own lands. So given the AI's complete inability to use Voidsingers, I am finding myself debating whether I want to bother with the mode. It seriously needs to be addressed, either revamping the society, or all but turn off the AI's desire to pick them.

Barbarian Clans is a lot more fun, though I just played a huge TSL Earth game, and again finding two many city states appearing on pure snow ice sheets. There are a couple of mods that seem to fix that, so will re-instate those and see how things go.

I also really like the Monopolies mode, other than the tourism effect. It is way too out of whack to be enjoyable. Even 'fixed', it's ridiculous to have a 550% bonus to tourism for them.I did find it more reasonable with Abundant resources on, but then it's also nearly impossible to get an actual monopoly. The AI actually built tons of industries themselves, though not sure if that was aided by a mod.

Most of the other modes are an "if I feel it" kind of thing. Heroes can certainly be fun, but are overpowered (as heroes should be, I agree, but I don't always want that). Dramatic Ages I haven't really played much yet. Shuffle mode can be fun too, but sometimes I just want a game where I know the path I want to take.

Apocalypse mode maybe the rare odd game. I find solar flares just make things too much of a grind near the end. Pillaging and damaging things would be fine, but all to often it's an outright destruction and half the time I can't even rebuild an industrial zone before another flare just wipes everything out again.

Zombies, likely never again. I played once. It was boring, and basically just felt like constant Recruit Partisans, and who ever found that fun?

 

[Stilgar08]

You know what's funny? Here and elsewhere it's stated (and it seems to be accurate) that the monopolies mode is still broken. Nevertheless it received most votes so far.

Is it like with me and SS? I like the mode so much I don't care, Voidsingers are utterly broken AI wise?
Monopolies are so much fun it doesn't matter AI fails?

 

[Futumch]

I chose just Monopolies. I like tech shuffle every now and then, and I don't mind the occasional apocalypse mode game. The rest are not interesting to me.

 

[Pfeffersack]

ATM, Barbarians only (my vote). I like the idea, the problems it has are now fairly minor and I don't feel that it has any detrimental aspect - it just fits in nicely in any game.

C&M could be such a mode, but sadly the AI luxury improvement issue ruins it. As long as it unfixed, I will only start game with it to further produce save reproducing the problem - or if I want increase my chances on purpose to win on high levels...

Secret Societies is another close one. I see myself now enabling it in most games, though I probably don't want to have the infusion of extra goodies in any game. Another minor aspect is still the AI - Cultist use has improved, but it is still probably not a mode making the AI more of a competitor.

Tech Shuffle is great addition I don't want to miss as option, but I just don't want it in every game - so this is the perfect case of an occasional use mode for me.

DA is thematically great, but the implementation is too rough and extreme for my taste for permanent enabling; also it greatly hits the AI. I see myself enabling it from time to time, if I really want to have drama in my games - but surely not always.

The rest ist just not my cup of tea (Apokalypse, Zombies) or the absent AI (Heroes) is preventing me from trying it at all - and the question I'm faced with when it comes to playing those modes, is whether I will ever do so. Apokalypse and Zombies are least likely (just don't like the concept/gameplay); Heroes are borderline. I could probably accept the fantasy in some games and would like to explore the features attached to the heroes...but the AI not using them is unfortunately a complete showstopper, IMO.

---

Is it like with me and SS? I like the mode so much I don't care, Voidsingers are utterly broken AI wise?

I think it is combination of the AI problem here only hitting roughly 1/4 of your opponents (and even those have received at least a slight fix in one of the last patches) and even then, it just doesn't feel as serious as with C&M. Sure those AIs will sink some faith in useless Cultist purchasing/squandering, but it doesn't completely lock them out of the competition.

So, yes I'm also surprised how popular C&M is in its current shape.

 

[mrwho]

Zombies I played with once. Due to the map I didn't even get that many, but when I did, it was just annoying, no fun involved. So Zombies always off. Dramatic Ages were a good idea poorly executed. Just too frustrating having your cities rebel all the time, and it also removes cool features like Heroic ages. Tech and Civic shuffle mode I'll usually keep off, but can be fun to have on sometimes to mix things up and add a little more challenge. Apocalypse Mode is just way too much in the late game with all the meteor strikes, which is a shame because it's fun in the early and mid game; instead I usually have the disaster intensity up high. The rest are always-on for me. They're quite poorly balanced and make the game a fair bit easier unfortunately, but they're also a lot of fun.

 

[HildeboltvonBerenreuthe]

I only really play deity when going up against the AI, and for that purpose I have really enjoyed playing with barb clans mode on, as well as dramatic ages. For one thing, the latter has ensured that I have to pay attention to Golden Ages consistently and they both ensure that I am putting production into my army (previously it was too simple to just pretty much neglect this side of the game once you had secured the right alliances as the AI was never going to be able to make a coordinated attack against you if you had walls/a negligible defensive force).

What I have found myself doing in almost every game recently is to turn the number of city states in the game down by like 2/3 (3 on small map instead of 9). This has really made the development of city states feel organic and also stops the AI being able to go round smashing them. All around, these two modes have actually made playing against the AI feel like a proper challenge, compared to before NFP.

I have played with Corporations and Monopolies a couple of times, and in theory I would have it on all the time. But as many have alluded to it just appears to be incomplete/unbalanced and so for that reason, quite unfortunately, I rarely use it..

Literally haven't, and probably wont ever, touch Zombie or Apocolypse mode.. just not my cup of tea whatsoever. SS & Heroes I have played online a few times, but they are kind of just overkill in my personal opinion, and I'm not a massive fan of how they are configured.

Shuffle mode.. difficult one. It is actually quite a good idea in principle and it really does add a significant challenge. But I don't like the idea of not being able to decide civic/research paths depending on the victory type that I am going for and it can just make it hard to strategize properly. For that reason I prefer to up the challenge using dramatic ages and barbarian clans and mostly just avoid using this. Can see why it is popular though and have played a few challenging online games using it.

 

[Hep Roc Heretic]

Always on? None. Monopolies and Shuffle most often. Zombies and Apocalypse, never. The rest are only occasional, and all modes (including "none") are situational depending on the civ I'm playing and the victory type I think I'll pursue.

This brings up a question: Playing a civ that's strong on science and playing for a science victory, shuffle mode on or off?

 

[Euterpe]

I'm new to Civ VI. I don't own any of the Expansion Packs, so a lot of these are unavailable to me. I did get the DLC with the Heroes mode and that is the only one I have played (I plan on turning on the Barbarian one next time, it sounds good), and I really like it because a hero early on allows for easy clearing of Barbarian camps and thus a HUGE nuisance out of the way. However, I rarely play any militaristic games and so their use dwindles after the Barbarian camps are cleared (although there are usually more to discover), and it's really bad news when an aggressive civilization like Rome has heroes while trying to invade.

 

[CromulentRomulan]

I'd like to vote none as there is no mode that I feel confident enabling that will not reduce the challenge of the game.
Mods make the barbarian clans mode just about playable. Corporations mode requires 2 mods to be playable, one mod to make the AI improve resources again.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

1) Too much obvious fun to just ignore == Heroes (OP? Who cares!) + Monopoly + Barbarian Clans (the last two must be manually fixed by us with mods though)
2) Enough challenges to consider most often than not == Secret Societies (Glorious gambit with specific advantages closely related with most AI-agendas)
3) Some twisted impacts that go very far beyond default gameplay rules == Tech/Civic Shuffle (Really love the randomly "generated" AI-behaviors)

The others (Dramatic Ages + Apocalypse + Zombies) haven't proven --appealing-- at all for me if not somewhat Fantasy tricks only for the last two.

** All of which deeply connected with Victory conditions & our goals as they evolve under complex events.

 

[vusalgustav]

1) Barbarian Clans, Tech Shuffle, Heroes, Monopolies, Secret Societies - I cannot imagine Civ 6 without them anymore.
2) Dramatic Ages - might include into the category of those above after being fixed, so AI can handle the loyalty and Free Cities.
3) Apocalypses - tried once and hated it immediately
4) Zombi - never tried and never will