[NFP] Tech and Civics Shuffle Mode: your impressions and screenshots

[SammyKhalifa]

So sailing leads to Astrology, which is a dead end tech. Makes a fair amount of sense actually.

Also, Pottery>Masonry>irrigation and writing. Also pretty easy to justify.

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

Honestly, I don't care for it. It just makes things more RNG-dependent, which I don't really like in the game. I'm so used to knowing where everything is in the tree and know when I can pop Archery or know where Political Philosophy is that I realized I kind of rely on it. I don't mind the map being new every time and going blind there, but with the tree, I like being able to reliably strategize. It's just less personal control over the early game and it's not for me.

This is probably a game mode I'll never touch again. At least I can see myself using Apocalypse or SS in the future.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Honestly, I don't care for it. It just makes things more RNG-dependent, which I don't really like in the game. I'm so used to knowing where everything is in the tree and know when I can pop Archery or know where Political Philosophy is that I realized I kind of rely on it. I don't mind the map being new every time and going blind there, but with the tree, I like being able to reliably strategize. It's just less personal control over the early game and it's not for me.

This is probably a game mode I'll never touch again. At least I can see myself using Apocalypse or SS in the future.

I won't do it all the time but it's something different. Makes you think on your feet more instead of those tried-and-true opening moves.

I'm probably the opposite of you where I'll likely never play Apocalypse mode more. Why do I want a bunch of comets to blow up all my stuff?

 

[bengalryan9]

Confession time - despite hundreds of hours winning on deity I never bothered to actually learn where things are on the default tech/civics tree... I basically just blindly guess my way through both of them as it is. People in strategy related threads will always say stuff like "Obviously you want to stick to the top of the tree to research XXXX as soon as possible...", and I'm just like "uh, yeah, totally, sure". I'm such a noob.

I get the feeling I've been preparing myself for this mode for months now, lol.

 

[hhhhhh]

Confession time - despite hundreds of hours winning on deity I never bothered to actually learn where things are on the default tech/civics tree... I basically just blindly guess my way through both of them as it is. People in strategy related threads will always say stuff like "Obviously you want to stick to the top of the tree to research XXXX as soon as possible...", and I'm just like "uh, yeah, totally, sure". I'm such a noob.

I get the feeling I've been preparing myself for this mode for months now, lol.

You don't have to master everything but at least you know where the Tier 1,2,3 governments are and where Industrialization is? It's fine if you don't know where Astronomy is.

 

[Sostratus]

Firaxis! Help save the planet! Let us save our shuffled trees for future generations!

If it depends on the game seed (probably does) you should be able to write down your game seed in the setup before a game to get a particular tree again. This is independent of the map seed.
Only downside is I think you will generate the same batch of random Civ’s- but you can just set a few of them manually to throw it off. Or maybe we will get a Civ picker to complement natural wonders.

Could be neat if we have a thread with some really cool trees’ seeds.

 

[GoneFishingX]

Having a great time so far. I love how important techs can become dead ends where researching them is an opportunity cost. Apprenticeship and Political Philosophy were dead ends for me. Political Philosophy also required Theology as it's prereq. So if I hadn't gotten a religion I might have just bypassed it and gone straight for Monarchy.

Also it can make garbage techs actually matter. In the same game the entire Medieval Civics tree was locked behind Naval Tradition of all things.

Spoiler :

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Apparently the Ancient Era is a harsh and unforgiving time and only the strong make it out alive . . .

 

[bengalryan9]

You don't have to master everything but at least you know where the Tier 1,2,3 governments are and where Industrialization is? It's fine if you don't know where Astronomy is.

I know where the governments are, yeah. No clue where Industrialization is lol.

 

[hhhhhh]

I know where the governments are, yeah. No clue where Industrialization is lol.

Oh OK. It's good to know where Apprenticeship and Industrialization are, since they are the ones give +1 to mines.

 

[tiamats4esgares]

I only briefly started a game as Kupe before I went to my friend's house but I had a hidden tech locked behind Pottery at a dead end. Seems interesting. How long do I go before unlocking it? Lol

And Kupe's 2 free techs help show part of the tree which is cool.

 

[xaiviax]

Confession time - despite hundreds of hours winning on deity I never bothered to actually learn where things are on the default tech/civics tree... I basically just blindly guess my way through both of them as it is. People in strategy related threads will always say stuff like "Obviously you want to stick to the top of the tree to research XXXX as soon as possible...", and I'm just like "uh, yeah, totally, sure". I'm such a noob.

I get the feeling I've been preparing myself for this mode for months now, lol.

This is just a testament to how Deity is not hard enough. Not for everyone I know, but that's why there are difficulty levels.

 

[bengalryan9]

This is just a testament to how Deity is not hard enough. Not for everyone I know, but that's why there are difficulty levels.

Maybe I'm just really good at everything else!

 

[xaiviax]

I don't doubt it!

 

[oedali]

@oedali I played maybe 100 turns with shuffle mode and Real Eurekas. So far so good.

This is awesome. Just fired up a new game with Real Eurekas and Shuffle Mode and it feels like a brand new game and challenge, wow!!! And where the hell is Astrology hiding??? I have >2,600 hours of game time since release and had to switch up my starting moves for the first time in 4 years. Thanks to this mod and shuffle mode a new era of Civ 6 gaming has begun

 

[AriochIV]

One thing I've noticed is that the tech shuffle wreaks havoc in unit upgrades. Having several key unlocks move back a tier and be hidden behind unknown prerequisites that you might normally ignore has a surprisingly large impact on the flow of the game.

 

[AntSou]

With shuffle mode on I don't think I'll be using anything below Standard speed. Quick just doesn't give you enough time to feel the pain of taking a wrong turn .

 

[oedali]

So I'm not sure whether this bug is related to shuffle mode only or shuffle + Real Eurekas mod combo, but it looks like Drama & Poetry is hidden BEHIND Military training in the civics tree... (it shows as if I'm researching military training but I'm actually researching Drama & Poetry.. they are prereqs to different unknowns and go thru the same box which is how I figured it out). Has this happened to anyone else yet?

 

[AntSou]

snip

I like how you can literally read Drama and Poetry under Military Training.

Hasn't happened to me yet.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I like how I get excited every time I get a Eureka or Inspiration now, like, Oh! Where's that?

I'm irritated that some resource unlocking techs sometimes are leafs.