Well, I’m not going to argue it’s either a well written or well researched article - it isn’t. “Pandering” is the right word - it’s just reporting a bunch of things said in threads.
But it does highlight three things to me.
First, a few things went backwards in the last patch. The article unfairly ignores a lot of good stuff in the Patch [0], and how responsive FXS has been to the community [1], but it’s right that production got less interesting (I really hope that gets tweaked next patch). Personally, I’m still really unimpressed with the changes to Harbour and Encampment Specialists. It’s not a big thing, but again it’s just making mechanics more bland.
Second, yeah, the pace of balancing is tedious. If someone asked me “would you rather FXS take longer to patch but you get better changes, or have FXS rush and mechanics are less balanced?”, then yeah I’d take longer and better. And that’s still my answer. But man, it is taking a long time. I think it’s worth the wait, but I feel like I’m still waiting. Always waiting. [2]
Third, the World Congress is a bit flawed, even after the most recent rework. I don’t actually think it’s a big deal in the scheme of things. The WC mostly sort of pulls its weight as a Mechanic, more or less. And it’s better than the Civ V version overall. But it feels very similar to Religion - a cool Mechanic but it doesn’t quite work in practice, doesn’t quite matter enough. I suspect World Congress has the same problem as Religion too - it’s slightly hamstrung by also having a related Victory Condition. As a result, FXS can’t just let the Mechanics breath / expand because they have to be balanced with other Victory conditions. I don’t think the WC is make or break mechanically in terms of enjoying the game, and it’s the kind of thing that might get a lot better in a Third XP. But it’s a bit lacking at the moment.
Hmm. Well. Anyway. It looks like we’ll get another decent patch before year end. I still think we’ll get another Expansion too, or at a minimum some decent DLC. And that means they’ll be even more patching. FXS are generally making good decisions in these patches and post GS are now slowly addressing issues and tweaking balance, and increasingly I’m seeing more and better balanced mods / tweaks on the Steam Workshop as well. So, I’m confident the game will get better. And I’m confident when it does it’ll be awesome. It’ll just take some time. And at the end of the day, it really is just a video game, so it’s not a big deal either way.
In the meantime, I just bought EU IV in the Steam sales.
[0] I do think it’s worth reflecting on just how much work has gone into the game over the past six months. GS was itself massive, and while it had a lot of new toys, it also had a lot of content that was directed at improve some core game mechanics - eg resources which significantly improved unit balance and has made war harder. There have also been multiple patches, and each one has massively improved the game, even if in a few places some things that don’t work still haven’t yet been addressed. And there has been a huge shift in QOL stuff, like pins, lenses, map tacks, names, better maps etc. Post RnF it felt like there was a very long list of stuff that needed more work and polish, and maybe here are still a few things on that list, but FXS have really been crossing stuff off that list at a ferocious rate lately.
[1] Big shift. It’s not just the cheery videos, which are very welcome. It’s also the replying to tweets, posting on Twitch channels, posting on forums to clarify things, and answering questions during live-streams (even if a bit obliquely). I think we’re getting about the right level of communication - not all the time or overtly pandering etc., just the occasional FYI and heads up about what’s going on.
[2] That’s kinda why I’m someone that would like to see FXS continue supporting the game long term. People have invested over three years in waiting for the game to feel “complete” and balanced - it would be a shame when we finally get there for FXS to then move onto other projects.
