So, civilization is a game about putting your strategic skills against the leaders of other civilization to achieve a particular victory condition before they can achieve theirs.
In Civ 6 these objectives are military, culture, science, and religion.
But the only objective that can be completed at any age is a military one. The rest of the objectives require a very long drawn out game.
Their is an immediacy to Domination victories that allow players to feel the consequences of their decisions as they make them.
The other objectives are not so clear. They require a massive investment of time and micromanaging of your civ's infrastructure. And none of this will pay off for 150 turns or more.
The meaningfulness of your military decisions outweigh all the others and this is what makes military decisions in Civ 6 more fun.
Meaningful decisions in a game is what players are interested in making. That is what is fun.
And to make Cultural, Religious, and Science victories meaningful these objectives need to be achievable early in the game and always weigh on the decisions a player makes.
This especially comes to head in multiplayer games, where these victory conditions are virtually ignored.. which is sad as the multiplayer experience of Civ should be much much more than just a military game.
------
Science Victory
I think it should be possible for a civilization to win a science victory in ANY age (albeit very difficult in the first couple ages).
Each age should have a scientific wonder that if researched and constructed before ANY other civ enters the next era.. is a game winning condition.
A player would need to decide to commit to this structure and research path and feel confident enough to be able to hold back the invading armies of the AI and other players. That is a big choice. They would also need to enough time to complete the wonder before someone else moved into the next era.
Culture Victory
A civ needs to reach a static amount of culture points to win the game. Each artwork, relic, music piece, great writing, man-made wonder, and natural wonder within a civs border would each count as 1 tourist point.
When a player reaches a certain amount, they win. This amount would be visible to other players.
You'd have a culture building competition to attract works of art, a competition to build wonders, and an expansion competition to claim natural wonders.
I see spies playing a much more pivotal role, stymieing other civ's attempts to win by stealing artworks. Soldiers could also steal art works by pillaging museums.
The amount of points needed to win could increase a little every Era that passes to keep the pressure on.
Religious Victory
A player's Great Prophet isn't expended when he or she founds a religion. The prophet needs to be kept alive to keep the religion alive.
The player with the last surviving Great Prophet wins a religious victory if no player has reached the Renaissance Era. If someone reaches this age of enlightenment Religious Victories are no longer possible.
Players would need to keep careful watch on their Prophet's safety. Maybe spies could perform assassination missions, being invisible units like submarines, but on land.
This would also put a particularly interesting twist in the strategy of players that did not found a religion. They'd have to make sure at least two prophets were surviving until someone reached Renaissance.
-----
Anyway, this is my 2 cents. Long ago I used to play a board game from the 80's called Dune, based on the Frank Herbert novel, and each player represented one of the various great houses in the game, each with their own bonuses and abilities, and vie over the planet Arrakis.
It was possible for a player win on turn 1. This meant every turn was high stakes.. and incredibly fun. I think the Civ genre needs to take a lesson from this.
In Civ 6 these objectives are military, culture, science, and religion.
But the only objective that can be completed at any age is a military one. The rest of the objectives require a very long drawn out game.
Their is an immediacy to Domination victories that allow players to feel the consequences of their decisions as they make them.
- What troops do I make.
- Do I dig in and defend this location.
- Should I make an ally of this civ or try to conquer it.
The other objectives are not so clear. They require a massive investment of time and micromanaging of your civ's infrastructure. And none of this will pay off for 150 turns or more.
The meaningfulness of your military decisions outweigh all the others and this is what makes military decisions in Civ 6 more fun.
Meaningful decisions in a game is what players are interested in making. That is what is fun.
And to make Cultural, Religious, and Science victories meaningful these objectives need to be achievable early in the game and always weigh on the decisions a player makes.
This especially comes to head in multiplayer games, where these victory conditions are virtually ignored.. which is sad as the multiplayer experience of Civ should be much much more than just a military game.
------
Science Victory
I think it should be possible for a civilization to win a science victory in ANY age (albeit very difficult in the first couple ages).
Each age should have a scientific wonder that if researched and constructed before ANY other civ enters the next era.. is a game winning condition.
A player would need to decide to commit to this structure and research path and feel confident enough to be able to hold back the invading armies of the AI and other players. That is a big choice. They would also need to enough time to complete the wonder before someone else moved into the next era.
Culture Victory
A civ needs to reach a static amount of culture points to win the game. Each artwork, relic, music piece, great writing, man-made wonder, and natural wonder within a civs border would each count as 1 tourist point.
When a player reaches a certain amount, they win. This amount would be visible to other players.
You'd have a culture building competition to attract works of art, a competition to build wonders, and an expansion competition to claim natural wonders.
I see spies playing a much more pivotal role, stymieing other civ's attempts to win by stealing artworks. Soldiers could also steal art works by pillaging museums.
The amount of points needed to win could increase a little every Era that passes to keep the pressure on.
Religious Victory
A player's Great Prophet isn't expended when he or she founds a religion. The prophet needs to be kept alive to keep the religion alive.
The player with the last surviving Great Prophet wins a religious victory if no player has reached the Renaissance Era. If someone reaches this age of enlightenment Religious Victories are no longer possible.
Players would need to keep careful watch on their Prophet's safety. Maybe spies could perform assassination missions, being invisible units like submarines, but on land.
This would also put a particularly interesting twist in the strategy of players that did not found a religion. They'd have to make sure at least two prophets were surviving until someone reached Renaissance.
-----
Anyway, this is my 2 cents. Long ago I used to play a board game from the 80's called Dune, based on the Frank Herbert novel, and each player represented one of the various great houses in the game, each with their own bonuses and abilities, and vie over the planet Arrakis.
It was possible for a player win on turn 1. This meant every turn was high stakes.. and incredibly fun. I think the Civ genre needs to take a lesson from this.
Last edited:
