[NFP] Secret Societies Speculation

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

My guess would be that Secret Societies mode has something to do with loyalty, but ties with governors or the era system could also be possible.

Loyalty makes the most sense. Hopefully tie in loyalty mechanics with religion more.

 

[bbbt]

The new frontier announcement mentions that the gamemode in the Ethiopia pack requires either Rise and Fall or Gathering storm to play. This would mean it depends on mechanics from Rise and Fall.
My guess would be that Secret Societies mode has something to do with loyalty, but ties with governors or the era system could also be possible.

Loyalty makes the most sense. Some sort of 'religionish' mechanic where you have the headquarters of a secret society, and establish 'followers' etc in other civ's cities that increases loyalty towards your civ maybe. Also that increases espionage chances and the like.

You could have alt-governors, even ones that go in other Civs (like the Ottomans one), though that does seem more suited for a espionage.

Apparently Anton did say that Secret Societies was more 'fantastical' ala apocalypse mode. So we could get some more 'magical' type of abilities/units related to them. Or it could simply mean the names/existence of secret societies is fantastical (i.e. if there's an 'illuminati' secret society and the like).

 

[Bechhold]

I just wish they would just introduce some way to from merchant companies that enriched trade routes etc. then allow them overtime to become Corporations. Secret Societies seems to be some form of religious buff.

 

[AntSou]

The new frontier announcement mentions that the gamemode in the Ethiopia pack requires either Rise and Fall or Gathering storm to play. This would mean it depends on mechanics from Rise and Fall.
My guess would be that Secret Societies mode has something to do with loyalty, but ties with governors or the era system could also be possible.

I think the reason it needs R&F is because loyalty effects are a big part of it, but I expect the focus to be on Religion or Espionage.

Religion has tiered beliefs. You can build up your secret society.

Espionage has agents and missions.

Either seem likely. Maybe there's even a way to make them work together? A "belief" system like Religion tied to an Agent/Mission system from Espionage.

The new District and buildings must work with vanilla. I believe this makes Espionage more likely.

 

[acluewithout]

I just wish they would just introduce some way to from merchant companies that enriched trade routes etc. then allow them overtime to become Corporations.

Yes please.

 

[bbbt]

I just wish they would just introduce some way to from merchant companies that enriched trade routes etc. then allow them overtime to become Corporations. Secret Societies seems to be some form of religious buff.

That's top of my wish list, along with significant changes to late game economics. But given they explicitly said 'no new systems' I've accepted that it's unlikely to come in NFP. Or if it does, in a much more minor implementation than I'd like.

 

[Navelgazer]

I imagine it'll be something unlocked by a mid-game-era civic, which boosts certain specific victory strategies based on which one you choose (or are able to choose, as like religious tenets, they'll be first-come-first-serve) so there might be a Mercantile Guild sort of thing that gets you bonus gold from trades and/or trade routes, or a Knights Templar sort of thing that boosts religious warfare. Maybe a Stonemasons thing that ties production boosts to faith and/or specialists. And I think that there will be some way to discern (through spies, probably) which Secret Societies your competitors have founded, which can give you a good clue as to how they're planning to win.

 

[NukeAJS]

I'm guessing that it's more or less like Civ4's Apostolic Palace mechanic. I don't know how you would qualify to be either in or out of the secret society, but once you're in you get a separate WC that has different resolutions.

Or (or maybe in addition to), the secret society votes up a possible resolution before it heads to the normal WC. This would give some control over WC resolutions back ot the players instead of being just randomly selected.

There will almost certainly be some spy stuff. It could be cool if there were a whole "mission" of sorts where your spies had to do various things to complete it. Once you do, you get a very nice end-game victory bonus like "recovered the Roswell alien craft" and get a +50% space mission project production bonus. Or "alien asteroid orbital weapons platform activated" and get a big nuke to drop every 5 turns for free. Or "alien mind-control device acquired" and get +30% all tourism. I dunno why I'm focused on aliens, but you get the idea. Powerful end-game bonuses that require many, possibly impossible steps to compete. I first mentioned spies, and they could be a part of it, but so could archeologists, your religion, your military, city-states, controlling certain world wonders. There are a ton of different possible steps you would have to take to complete the whole quest.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

There will almost certainly be some spy stuff. It could be cool if there were a whole "mission" of sorts where your spies had to do various things to complete it. Once you do, you get a very nice end-game victory bonus like "recovered the Roswell alien craft" and get a +50% space mission project production bonus. Or "alien asteroid orbital weapons platform activated" and get a big nuke to drop every 5 turns for free. Or "alien mind-control device acquired" and get +30% all tourism. I dunno why I'm focused on aliens, but you get the idea. Powerful end-game bonuses that require many, possibly impossible steps to compete. I first mentioned spies, and they could be a part of it, but so could archeologists, your religion, your military, city-states, controlling certain world wonders. There are a ton of different possible steps you would have to take to complete the whole quest.

Defend the secret location of the Holy Grail!

 

[Josephias]

I'm guessing that it's more or less like Civ4's Apostolic Palace mechanic. I don't know how you would qualify to be either in or out of the secret society, but once you're in you get a separate WC that has different resolutions.

Or (or maybe in addition to), the secret society votes up a possible resolution before it heads to the normal WC. This would give some control over WC resolutions back ot the players instead of being just randomly selected.

There will almost certainly be some spy stuff. It could be cool if there were a whole "mission" of sorts where your spies had to do various things to complete it. Once you do, you get a very nice end-game victory bonus like "recovered the Roswell alien craft" and get a +50% space mission project production bonus. Or "alien asteroid orbital weapons platform activated" and get a big nuke to drop every 5 turns for free. Or "alien mind-control device acquired" and get +30% all tourism. I dunno why I'm focused on aliens, but you get the idea. Powerful end-game bonuses that require many, possibly impossible steps to compete. I first mentioned spies, and they could be a part of it, but so could archeologists, your religion, your military, city-states, controlling certain world wonders. There are a ton of different possible steps you would have to take to complete the whole quest.

Did not want to speculate that much, as Apocalypse was a bit meh! and don’t have very high expectations, but this could be neat. Multi-step missions a la Civ:BE requested by some of the secret societies you patron (Culper Lodge anyone), with easy low-reward first steps that increase in complexity and price as you progress trough the quest.

 

[bengalryan9]

My prediction is that Secret Societies will be a somewhat watered down version of corporations from previous Civ games, available a lot earlier than corporations ever were.

 

[acluewithout]

My prediction is that Secret Societies will be a somewhat watered down version of corporations from previous Civ games, available a lot earlier than corporations ever were.

I really hope not. With Portugal probably in NFP, and people repeatedly asking for Corporations mechanics, I’m quite hopeful we’ll get a game mode that finally does trading companies well. Something where you form trading companies in the Medieval and Renaissance era, and later on they become modern MNCs. No “Sid’s Sushi”, bizarre “monopoly” mechanics and “executive” units.

Indeed, if I was a betting man, my guess is we’ll get one dlc focused on plagues, one focused on colonialism and or trading companies, and one dlc focused on war / combat units. I’m hoping one dlc will maybe focused on ideologies and Cold War too, but other contenders would be something focused on Future Tech.

It’s also possible we may get things along these lines as part of the various game updates. Maybe not likely, but not impossible either.

It will be really frustrating if all the dlc just focus on peripheral stuff people didn’t actually ask for.

 

[Deggial]

It’s interesting to read, how diverse hopes and expectations regarding the secret societies are.
I am afraid, somebody will be disappointed...

I for one hope, that secret societies won’t play too similar to religions (spread, effects, use of faith, ect.). Because, you know, we already have this sort of game play with ... actual religions!

 

[oSiyeza]

It’s interesting to read, how diverse hopes and expectations regarding the secret societies are.
I am afraid, somebody will be disappointed...

I for one hope, that secret societies won’t play too similar to religions (spread, effects, use of faith, ect.). Because, you know, we already have this sort of game play with ... actual religions!

Here is a prediction:

• There will be a new unit type, something like the Soothsayer which will remain constant and anachronistic after a while. Maybe a cultist or something.

• The main mechanic of the new unit will be something like the rock bands, but with charges like the Soothsayer. And we will need to spam units or to repeat till tedium the same mission / dice roll. The main rewards will consist on promotions or some bonus / modifiers.

• There will be a new competition type.

• There will be a new WC/Era-like new thing, where some bonus based on points will be selected.

• There will be some new building in the city center or a new district, or both.

• There will be some new policies or new policy types.

• The new systems will have no progression.

• A new exploit or seriously unbalanced issue will appear.

• The AI will not be able to handle the new mechanics properly or will focus on them too much to its own detriment.

I just thought, what could be the most easy to implement uninspired lazy new mode that can happen, and how it would result?

Lets hope I'm wrong.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I think it would be fantastic if, in the preview, they say nothing at all about the secret societies. After all, if someone went blabbering on about them for a half hour on a public youtube video, they wouldn't be so secret, would they?

 

[AntSou]

It’s interesting to read, how diverse hopes and expectations regarding the secret societies are.
I am afraid, somebody will be disappointed...

I for one hope, that secret societies won’t play too similar to religions (spread, effects, use of faith, ect.). Because, you know, we already have this sort of game play with ... actual religions!

I think the last thing we need are more units to move about almost mindlessly like religious units.

BUT:

- The religion overlay has a lot of potential for other applications;

- The unit could be akin to the Spy in regards to movement/placement, avoiding the nuisance of moving units about.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

- The religion overlay has a lot of potential for other applications;

- The unit could be akin to the Spy in regards to movement/placement, avoiding the nuisance of moving units about.

Ninjas could definitely use their own overlay.

 

[kaspergm]

I just wish they would just introduce some way to from merchant companies that enriched trade routes etc. then allow them overtime to become Corporations. Secret Societies seems to be some form of religious buff.

That's top of my wish list, along with significant changes to late game economics. But given they explicitly said 'no new systems' I've accepted that it's unlikely to come in NFP. Or if it does, in a much more minor implementation than I'd like.

Yeah, that was pretty much my #1 wish for a third expansion, but I think it's pretty safe to say that this hope died with the statement that they don't want to add more features to the core game.

 

[Leucarum]

I think it would be fantastic if, in the preview, they say nothing at all about the secret societies. After all, if someone went blabbering on about them for a half hour on a public youtube video, they wouldn't be so secret, would they?

Why stop there, don't mention them in the civilopedia, patch notes, or have any gameplay popups to tell you what's happening! What do secret societies do? It's a secret!

 

[Hans Castorp]

Why stop there, don't mention them in the civilopedia, patch notes, or have any gameplay popups to tell you what's happening! What do secret societies do? It's a secret!

I think a mysterious symbol above random cities, but with no discernible impact on gameplay, would be the way to go. It would certainly save on balance fixes, and give people on this forum hours of fun running tests to see if it actually means something.