Previous game features that should be put into a future expansion.

[Aussie_Lurker]

As great as I feel Civilisation 6 is, I definitely feel that a future expansion should look to bring back some of the better features of the previous 2 iterations. These are the ones that would be at the top of my list:

State vs Non-State Religions: I think this would be a great feature to have back, as both an impetus for Diplomacy (both with AI Civs & City-States) & internal stability within an empire. You could also have a range of Social Policies that alter how your Civilisation deals with population of State & Non-State religions.

Civilisation 4 Culture System: I really loved how border tiles could belong to multiple civilisations in CIV, & how you'd vie for control over certain parts of a shared border.I also loved how some cities could contain citizens of differing nationalities I believe these concepts could be expanded into a more fully-realised Migration system (certain governments & social policies, as well as economic/cultural factors could factor into net migration rates) & tile-based culture could play a role in acquiring border tiles diplomatically or monetarily.

Golden Ages & We Love the "_______": It's an obvious one, but stuff I loved from the previous iterations of the game. It would be great to see these make a return. Golden Ages could trigger due to some "global" factor-like in Civ5-or be triggered by certain types of Great People-as in Civ4.....or even a mixture of the two systems.

More uses for Spies: As good as I feel spies are in Civ 6, they are missing some functionality from their Civ 5 days. Like them picking up on attack plans that you could relay to a 3rd party Civilisation, or using them to alter the allegiances of City States. It'd be nice to also have the ability the sabotage more parts of a city.

More Diplomatic Options: There were some diplomatic options in Civ 5 that should make a come-back in an expansion. Even though it was dropped in early Civ 5, a Pact of Secrecy option could really work in a game with a fully functioning Espionage System. The ability to bully or offer protection to City-States would be excellent too. Existing Diplomacy mechanics could also be further expanded upon-like Friendship, Alliances & Open Borders having an impact on trade route yields, tourism & the like.

Anyway, those are the most obvious things I'd like to see making a comeback. Does anyone have anything else they'd like to make it back into the game?

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

State vs Non-State Religions:

Yes.

Civilisation 4 Culture System:

Eh. I really like the idea of ethnicity being a factor in the game, but it also does seem like it could be kind of obnoxious if you're losing tiles like you could in Civ4. It'd be cool if factors like amenities and appeal affected growth in the sense that if determines if people are moving into or out of the city, and if trade routes could be used to move population, etc. Not that essential though.

Golden Ages & We Love the "_______":

Eh. I haven't actually missed them, to be honest. It took me a while to notice Golden Ages were gone.

More uses for Spies:

More Diplomatic Options:

Agreed wholeheartedly. City State diplomacy was a lot stronger in Civ5, and introducing spies back into the mix with them would be great.

Anyway, those are the most obvious things I'd like to see making a comeback. Does anyone have anything else they'd like to make it back into the game?

World Congress and the Apostolic Palace.

Unrestricted leaders.

Uh...not being terrified of barbarian horsemen.

 

[Art Morte]

I would not bring back the ability to capture your neighbour's tiles through higher culture. It was fun in a way, but felt kinda OP and unrealistic. I wouldn't be opposed to culture having a slightly increased role, some added benefit. Like, if your city has high culture, your trade routes from there get added rewards.

I also would not bring back Golden Ages. Again, sort of fun, but again, OP and unrealistic. I think my longest Golden Age in Civ5 was almost 50 turns or some silly number like that. I just think it made too big a difference at certain points of the game.

Off the top of my head, ability to gift units to city-states would be a thing I'd bring back. I'd like that major civs could support city-states under attack without having to declare war on the aggressor.

 

[Temppu]

Not exactly sure if it existed in any earlier iteration, but bonuses and penalties to population growth according to tourism rates (to simulate migration) sounds a pretty neat mechanism to make tourism more integrated to other aspects of the game.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

When I speak of shared border tiles being impacted by culture, a la Civ4, I didn't necessarily mean it should be liffed 100% from Civ4. I guess I just miss the greater fluidity we had with borders, but I agree that it should be more developed than it was in Civ4. I would argue that forts & encampments would be one way of helping to keep neighbouring tiles from flipping, & the option should also exist to purchase back lost tiles-at a discount-which is something we lacked in Civ4. Diplomatic & Social Policy decisions should also play into it.

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

If flexible tiles are introduced, you could us military presence to try and flip tiles without technically declaring war. Sort of like the Nazis occupying that Rhineland. It'd probably give your opponent incentive to attack you though, and perhaps a Casus Belli.

I would like to see tourism more involved as well, yes. Not nearly enough trading Great Works for Great Works or theming bonuses or way to influence how much tourism you send to others civilizations, like sending musicians on tour. Can you imagine the achievement for having David Hasselhoff tour in Germany?

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

If flexible tiles are introduced, you could us military presence to try and flip tiles without technically declaring war. Sort of like the Nazis occupying that Rhineland. It'd probably give your opponent incentive to attack you though, and perhaps a Casus Belli.

I would like to see tourism more involved as well, yes. Not nearly enough trading Great Works for Great Works or theming bonuses or way to influence how much tourism you send to others civilizations, like sending musicians on tour. Can you imagine the achievement for having David Hasselhoff tour in Germany?

Those are some fantastic ideas, very much along the lines of what I'm thinking of. Yes, I want to see more Great People, of each type, per era-so there are many more opportunities to create Great Works......as well as bringing back the special abilities of Civ5 BNW, like the tour of the Great Musician, or the Golden Age created by the Great Artist. Or the Political Treatise of the Great Writer (basically provides inspiration towards Civics).

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

While not a mechanic from previous games, I'd really like it if Great People weren't "skipped over" because of changing eras. Even if it meant cutting the Great People per era to two, it'd still be more Great People across the whole game. On that note though, being able to recruit Great Prophets throughout the game is a mechanic I wouldn't mind seeing again.

Not sure if I'd want the Great Writer and Great Artist to regain their effects from Civ5. I don't think I'd want that for the Great Artist, at least, Golden Ages seemed like such an odd fit.

City State influence being individual to the City State, as in Civ5. That's another mechanic I'd like back.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

While not a mechanic from previous games, I'd really like it if Great People weren't "skipped over" because of changing eras. Even if it meant cutting the Great People per era to two, it'd still be more Great People across the whole game. On that note though, being able to recruit Great Prophets throughout the game is a mechanic I wouldn't mind seeing again.

Not sure if I'd want the Great Writer and Great Artist to regain their effects from Civ5. I don't think I'd want that for the Great Artist, at least, Golden Ages seemed like such an odd fit.

City State influence being individual to the City State, as in Civ5. That's another mechanic I'd like back.

Yep, I agree with you on the very first point (no skipping of Great People). Not sure what you mean by City-State Influence though?

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

Well, in Civ5, every civilization had a certain amount of influence with each city state. By completing quests or paying gold, you increased your influence with the city state. Envoys kind of do this, but because they're much more permanent and your ability to get them is pretty limited, City State diplomacy ends up being a lot less dynamic and involved.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Well, in Civ5, every civilization had a certain amount of influence with each city state. By completing quests or paying gold, you increased your influence with the city state. Envoys kind of do this, but because they're much more permanent and your ability to get them is pretty limited, City State diplomacy ends up being a lot less dynamic and involved.

Ah yes, that's what I thought you meant. Yes, a more dynamic City-State diplomacy system would be much better IMHO.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Well, in Civ5, every civilization had a certain amount of influence with each city state. By completing quests or paying gold, you increased your influence with the city state. Envoys kind of do this, but because they're much more permanent and your ability to get them is pretty limited, City State diplomacy ends up being a lot less dynamic and involved.

I actually think the opposite with city states. I believe the system is way better now.

Anyhow, I miss building roads. I really like the option of building "Road TO" with a worker or other unit. Don't get me wrong, I really really like the trade route road building mechanism, but sometimes you want to connect another area too.

I get that military engineers can do that too. I remember the first time I made one of those and found out that they could build two (!) road pieces. Is there something I was missing there? That could be the most worthless unit in Civ history.

 

[Amrunril]

I'd agree that the current city state system is better that V's. It forces you to focus on quests or expend a specific limited resource, whereas in Civ V you could really monopolize the city states by spending large amounts of money. I do think envoys should "fall off" somehow (perhaps naturally, perhaps related to spies or a world congress system) as you get into the mid-late game, though. As things stand, envoy numbers get a bit on the high side, and it's too easy to get level 3/6 bonuses with all the city states you're at peace with, instead of having to be selective.

I also don't see any particular reason to bring back golden ages or "we love the king days", unless there's a specific new implementation that makes sense in VI. They simply weren't that exciting in V, except when they interacted with civ abilities. As for Civ IV style culture battles, they made sense in IV, when culture was all about borders. In the Civ V/VI world, though, where culture controls the civic/policy system, border growth is more of a legacy function that doesn't need the same focus (I think its even worth entertaining the idea of divorcing border growth from culture entirely). That's not to say I don't like the idea of tile swapping outside of city capture, but I'd rather see new systems for this than try to build them around Civ IV's.

This isn't to say I don't want any old mechanics to return, though; here are some important ones I'd very much like to see back:

Ideological Pressure: One of Civ VI's most bizarre design decisions was to keep the tourism yield while removing nearly all of its effects. Ideological pressure made tourism matter in non-culture victory games (this is especially important when you consider the number of civs that have unique tourism bonuses) and, even in culture games, made it do something before the final turn. It provided another form on non-military conflict, and it served as an actual gameplay-based reason for civs with different ideologies to come into conflict. Every bit of was would be just as beneficial to Civ VI as it was to Civ V.

World Congress: This is a mechanic that's somewhat tricky to get right flavor-wise, but it does add some very interesting dynamics to the diplomatic game. The fact that city states are harder to monopolize now would make CS-based a bit more balanced, and the trade-offs between investing delegates in high value city states, spreading them around for level 3/6 bonuses, and investing in unpopular city states for easier delegates would be very interesting.

Interchanegable/Unrestricted Leaders: This was an option in Civ IV, but it would be so much more compelling in a game where civs and leaders actually have unique abilities. In fact, I recently started a thread specifically about why this would be a good idea and some of the specific possibilities it wuld enable.

Finally, there are a couple of mechanics that I really miss, but that might not fit well into Civ VI. In this category are Civ V's policy system (which provides opportunities for long term specialization and customization that don't really exist in VI) any Beyond Earth's Diplomatic Agreement system, which provided a lot of unique gameplay, despite the massive issues with the game's overall balance.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I agree, BE introduced some really neat ideas that just didn't get fleshed out nearly enough.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I actually think the opposite with city states. I believe the system is way better now.

Anyhow, I miss building roads. I really like the option of building "Road TO" with a worker or other unit. Don't get me wrong, I really really like the trade route road building mechanism, but sometimes you want to connect another area too.

I get that military engineers can do that too. I remember the first time I made one of those and found out that they could build two (!) road pieces. Is there something I was missing there? That could be the most worthless unit in Civ history.

I don't mind the mechanic for winning over city-states.....I would just like to see it be more dynamic, so that adopting a "set & forget" mentality towards City-States might cause your relations to degrade.....especially once espionage comes into play. Of course, additional ways to increase your progress towards new envoys would be great.

 

[Xandinho]

I would like to have corporations back (whatever improves the end of the game), corporations may be associated with economic victory.

Colonialism could return, I wish I could declare independence to colonies.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Something for the end game sure, but I thought corporations as they were implemented were kinda tedious.

I also like the idea of vassal states but not sure how to do it so that it would fit in neatly to the new game.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Railroads
World Congress

 

[Zaarin]

I too wouldn't mind seeing the return of corporations.

While I'm sure it will return, I'm none too eager for the return of the world congress unless it's better implemented than in Civ5, where the AI seemed to do nothing but try to arbitrarily ban luxuries.

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

#BanCrabs