General_W
Councilor & Merlot Noble
Radically New Technology Tree
I think that one of the primary reasons Civ games tend to get less interesting as you progress in the game is due to how technology is handled.
By the mid-game, a few Civs are usually so far behind in tech, they’re just taking up space on the map until someone can conquer them – which leads to the late game problems of generally just 1 Civilization with such a huge tech advantage that it can become a tedious game of clean-up. I think that all of the games in the Civ series have been more fun in the earlier eras when things tend to be more competitive.
So how to fix this?
My idea: Global Technology Level
What if technologies were “discovered” at a pre-determined pace, and became accessible to all civilizations at the same time? 4000 BC – everyone has Farming and Animal Husbandry. 3800 BC – everyone gets Astrology. 3500 BC – everyone gets the Wheel… etc. [This could obviously vary on game speed settings/scenarios/etc. Minor variations in the early game with coastal civs getting sailing and inland civs getting mining at different times is also possible]
Instead of using research/beakers/science to acquire technology, that game mechanic would be used to produce “applications” of technology. Each tech would have 4+ applications that could be discovered. Applications would be Cultural, Economic, Military, or Special.
When the world gets the Wheel in 3500 BC, players would decide to purse Economic applications like the Water Mill, Military applications like Chariots, Cultural like Pottery, Special applications like the wheelbarrow (that allows harvesting of resources). Details would have to be worked out and balanced obviously. But the goal would be that you couldn't easily get all of the applications for any given technology before the next global technology is available. This would require interesting choices on getting an older application that you're missing or jumping to a more modern application.
A fun (I think) extra mechanic that would work well with this kind of model would be to have Cultural building produce points each turn to help research cultural applications. Banks and Markets could produce extra Economic application points, Military buildings or maybe even certain military battle victories could produce extra points towards military Applications. Your science buildings (Libraries and universities, etc) would produce the more flexible “beakers/science” that could be directed by the player towards whatever their priority was. If the Cultural/Economic/Military application points just automatically accrued towards the cheapest application in their category, this would give the player a 'base level' of points to add their science research towards getting the application more quickly - or if they just ignore a category, development will still slowly accrue over time in those areas.
Why this would be more fun:
Even civs that are far behind in technology could still have at least some “current era” technology. Civilizations that prioritize technology will still have an advantage in that they will be able to fully exploit each era’s technology – but they won’t be guaranteed to be safe from their less developed rivals. Advanced culture and economies didn’t save many nations from the Mongolian invaders… because their military tech was much closer to equal. Ditto for the Economically more developed French being overwhelmed by the German’s tanks in World War 2. etc.
A model like this would also open up options for more differentiation between Civilizations- both in starting bonuses, as well as in how they develop over the course of a game. Economic Civs could have bonuses to getting the economic applications of technologies… or even access to some unique economic applications that only they can learn.
Finally, as a protection against locking players into one play style (ie, they get so heavy into military applications, that it’s hard to switch to a more peaceful route) I think a couple era-specific projects could be introduced to provide an ‘escape hatch’ for players wanting to change tactics in mid game. For example, a ‘Swords into Plowshares’ special project could mass-convert players barracks into libraries, or their stables into theaters, or something like that. Conversely a “Mobilization” special project could convert libraries into barracks! Just brainstorming on that one!
Anyway – just my ideas for a fresh take on Civ7 that might help to address one of, I think, the Civilization series biggest shortcomings – which is the runaway nature of most late games.
Your thoughts?
I think that one of the primary reasons Civ games tend to get less interesting as you progress in the game is due to how technology is handled.
By the mid-game, a few Civs are usually so far behind in tech, they’re just taking up space on the map until someone can conquer them – which leads to the late game problems of generally just 1 Civilization with such a huge tech advantage that it can become a tedious game of clean-up. I think that all of the games in the Civ series have been more fun in the earlier eras when things tend to be more competitive.
So how to fix this?
My idea: Global Technology Level
What if technologies were “discovered” at a pre-determined pace, and became accessible to all civilizations at the same time? 4000 BC – everyone has Farming and Animal Husbandry. 3800 BC – everyone gets Astrology. 3500 BC – everyone gets the Wheel… etc. [This could obviously vary on game speed settings/scenarios/etc. Minor variations in the early game with coastal civs getting sailing and inland civs getting mining at different times is also possible]
Instead of using research/beakers/science to acquire technology, that game mechanic would be used to produce “applications” of technology. Each tech would have 4+ applications that could be discovered. Applications would be Cultural, Economic, Military, or Special.
When the world gets the Wheel in 3500 BC, players would decide to purse Economic applications like the Water Mill, Military applications like Chariots, Cultural like Pottery, Special applications like the wheelbarrow (that allows harvesting of resources). Details would have to be worked out and balanced obviously. But the goal would be that you couldn't easily get all of the applications for any given technology before the next global technology is available. This would require interesting choices on getting an older application that you're missing or jumping to a more modern application.
A fun (I think) extra mechanic that would work well with this kind of model would be to have Cultural building produce points each turn to help research cultural applications. Banks and Markets could produce extra Economic application points, Military buildings or maybe even certain military battle victories could produce extra points towards military Applications. Your science buildings (Libraries and universities, etc) would produce the more flexible “beakers/science” that could be directed by the player towards whatever their priority was. If the Cultural/Economic/Military application points just automatically accrued towards the cheapest application in their category, this would give the player a 'base level' of points to add their science research towards getting the application more quickly - or if they just ignore a category, development will still slowly accrue over time in those areas.
Why this would be more fun:
Even civs that are far behind in technology could still have at least some “current era” technology. Civilizations that prioritize technology will still have an advantage in that they will be able to fully exploit each era’s technology – but they won’t be guaranteed to be safe from their less developed rivals. Advanced culture and economies didn’t save many nations from the Mongolian invaders… because their military tech was much closer to equal. Ditto for the Economically more developed French being overwhelmed by the German’s tanks in World War 2. etc.
A model like this would also open up options for more differentiation between Civilizations- both in starting bonuses, as well as in how they develop over the course of a game. Economic Civs could have bonuses to getting the economic applications of technologies… or even access to some unique economic applications that only they can learn.
Finally, as a protection against locking players into one play style (ie, they get so heavy into military applications, that it’s hard to switch to a more peaceful route) I think a couple era-specific projects could be introduced to provide an ‘escape hatch’ for players wanting to change tactics in mid game. For example, a ‘Swords into Plowshares’ special project could mass-convert players barracks into libraries, or their stables into theaters, or something like that. Conversely a “Mobilization” special project could convert libraries into barracks! Just brainstorming on that one!
Anyway – just my ideas for a fresh take on Civ7 that might help to address one of, I think, the Civilization series biggest shortcomings – which is the runaway nature of most late games.
Your thoughts?
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