stealth_nsk
Deity
I was thinking, based on what developers learned, how they would design ages for Civ8? I assume the core big feature of Civ8 will be in some other area of the game and ages will just take the best from previous games. My vision is:
Civilization
Of course, there's a chance that by the release of Civ8, civilization switching will be accepted by mostly everyone, but it's more likely the negativity will still exist. So, I'd guess no civilization switch in Civ8. Instead civilization have bonuses which apply to the whole game length. For example, instead of having unique infantry unit, civilization may have specific bonus to all infantry unit and civilization-specific unit skin for appropriate era. It's not a perfect solution, but should work.
Age switch
I'd go with the principle - limit snowballing, but respect one more turn (no production, science, culture or gold spent in previous age should be in vain). So:
Since overbuilding is the variation of Civ6 district concept applied to dramatic ages, I assume the game generally needs to revert to Civ6 specialized districts with no buildings being obsolete. Whether to keep Civ7 system of urban districts being adjacent to each other is another interesting question.
Units
The idea of automatically upgrading units was to fight snowballing, but in reality in Civ7 players often keep low tier units to not spend money on upgrades if they can later upgrade all units for free to the next age. I assume upgrades should be paid, but:
Without dramatic gameplay changes it's possible to have more ages than Civ7, but probably with simultaneous unlock of tech/civic trees, they should be less than in Civ6. So, probably around 6 would be fine.
Civilization
Of course, there's a chance that by the release of Civ8, civilization switching will be accepted by mostly everyone, but it's more likely the negativity will still exist. So, I'd guess no civilization switch in Civ8. Instead civilization have bonuses which apply to the whole game length. For example, instead of having unique infantry unit, civilization may have specific bonus to all infantry unit and civilization-specific unit skin for appropriate era. It's not a perfect solution, but should work.
Age switch
I'd go with the principle - limit snowballing, but respect one more turn (no production, science, culture or gold spent in previous age should be in vain). So:
- New age starts at the same time for all civs, unlocking new tech tree, civic tree and units
- No technologies or civics from previous age are locked out, except for "future" ones. The science/culture spent on future tech/civic if you researched one by the end of the age, is transitioned to the first tech/civic of the new age you select
- No buildable things from previous age are obsolete, except for units, which are replaced with newer versions in building tree as usual
- Researching previous age techs should have a discount to fight snowballing
Since overbuilding is the variation of Civ6 district concept applied to dramatic ages, I assume the game generally needs to revert to Civ6 specialized districts with no buildings being obsolete. Whether to keep Civ7 system of urban districts being adjacent to each other is another interesting question.
Units
The idea of automatically upgrading units was to fight snowballing, but in reality in Civ7 players often keep low tier units to not spend money on upgrades if they can later upgrade all units for free to the next age. I assume upgrades should be paid, but:
- For all units which existed in previous ages, new versions should be available immediately on age start, so players who are behind in tech could catch up with military
- Upgrading previous age units probably should have some kind of discounts or somehow else make it easier to catch up
Without dramatic gameplay changes it's possible to have more ages than Civ7, but probably with simultaneous unlock of tech/civic trees, they should be less than in Civ6. So, probably around 6 would be fine.
