TheSpaceCowboy
The Gangster of Love
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2013
- Messages
- 305
Civilization V had Hexes and One Unit Per Tile. Civilization VI had Districts. My proposal for the Big Idea to innovate Civilization VII is Cultures, Citizens, and Counsels. This would expand the scope of the game at levels both above and below that of your civilization. Over the next few posts I’ll elaborate on my ideas for the mechanics, but I’ll give here a brief overview of the core concept of each.
Just as cities belong to civilizations, civilizations belong to Cultures. You’re still playing as a civilization, not a Culture. You share a Culture with several other civilizations in the game.
Culture
At their heart, Cultures are all about asymmetry and flavor. Playing two different civilizations from the same Culture would be about as different as playing two different civilizations from Civ VI. But playing as civilizations from different Cultures would almost be like playing two different 4X strategy games altogether. The goal is not just varied gameplay, but for the distinct flavors of the civilizations in actual history to be more evident.
Each Culture will have a unique:
These are all in addition to the unique Leader Abilities, Civilization Abilities, Units, and Buildings/Districts/Improvements of each civilization.
With respect to the singular Hero and Wonder, civilizations of the same Culture would be competing to produce each. They’d also be competing to assimilate Tribes and Nations (replacing Barbarians and City-States, respectively) that belong to the same Culture. Tribes that belong to the same Culture as the player would act like Barbarians in New Frontier, in that they can be dealt with diplomatically. Tribes from a different Culture will always be hostile to the player.
Sharing a Culture benefits relations between groups. Envoys sent to Nations of the same Culture are more effective than to ones of a foreign Culture. After conquering a city of a different civilization or Nation, it is easier to assimilate the Citizens of the same Culture than a different one. Loyalty pressure is greater on cities whose Citizens belong to your Culture and lesser on those of different ones.
Each Culture has a defining idea that radically differentiates them from other Cultures. For example:
Each and every Citizen is an individual. Your population, instead of being a mere quantity, is all of these individuals, each with their own religious and political beliefs, and their own strengths, and weaknesses.
Every time a City, Nation, or Tribe gains a population point, a new Citizen is randomly generated. This individual will have a numeric value for skills in the following categories:
Citizens can also be born with rare traits. One with a Green Thumb might produce more food on a farm, while one that’s a Tactician might have a greater combat buff on advantageous terrain.
Certain buildings can make Citizens born in that city have better skills in a certain category. A campus with a Liberal Arts College would give all new Citizens of the city a higher Creativity, whereas a Military Academy would improve Fitness. The new Campus District (no longer the Science District) would have an Elementary School and High School that improve all scores, and one of the following tier three buildings:
Though Citizens cannot be moved around, in addition to their job, they can also be appointed to a position in their government’s Counsel.
Counsel
Instead of filling policy cards, Governments are now differentiated by how many members of their ruling Counsels there are and what job functions they have. These Counsels are very similar to those found in Crusader Kings III, except for the fact that everyone is more or less immortal.
For the earliest government of Chiefdom, the only Counsel member is the Leader. Early governments like an Ancient Republic or a Monarchy might only have one spot on their Counsel, consul or spouse, respectively (yes, your Leader can get married, but not have children), but these would have different functions. A consul might have the options to Lobby for Legislation (reducing the cost of a certain Civic) or Drum Up War Support (gaining a casus belli and temporary combat bonus) whereas a spouse might have the option to Appease the People (lowering the penalty for low Amenities) or Provide Moral Support (giving the Leader a bonus to his stats).
A late game government like a Democratic Republic would have the Leader, Vice President, Speaker of the House, Chief Justice, and a whole slew of Cabinet Secretaries. A retired Great General would have stats that make him a particularly good choice for Secretary of Defense, whereas a Great Engineer would make a better Secretary of Labor, but either could fill any position.
There is now a new currency called Political Capital that is used to purchase Policies. Depending on the Government, some policies cost more Political Capital than others. In a Democratic Republic, it costs more Political Capital to enact Censorship than Free Speech. Governments also have different means of generating Political Capital. In a Democratic Republic, every Citizen with a positive approval rating of the Leader generates Political Capital. For a Fascist government, Political Capital might be gained by a combination of Soldiers’ approval and through conquest.
Just as cities belong to civilizations, civilizations belong to Cultures. You’re still playing as a civilization, not a Culture. You share a Culture with several other civilizations in the game.
Culture
At their heart, Cultures are all about asymmetry and flavor. Playing two different civilizations from the same Culture would be about as different as playing two different civilizations from Civ VI. But playing as civilizations from different Cultures would almost be like playing two different 4X strategy games altogether. The goal is not just varied gameplay, but for the distinct flavors of the civilizations in actual history to be more evident.
Each Culture will have a unique:
- Ability
- Unit
- Building/District/Improvement
- Great Persons list
- Wonder
- Hero
- Spy
- Tech Tree
- And means of making technological progress
These are all in addition to the unique Leader Abilities, Civilization Abilities, Units, and Buildings/Districts/Improvements of each civilization.
With respect to the singular Hero and Wonder, civilizations of the same Culture would be competing to produce each. They’d also be competing to assimilate Tribes and Nations (replacing Barbarians and City-States, respectively) that belong to the same Culture. Tribes that belong to the same Culture as the player would act like Barbarians in New Frontier, in that they can be dealt with diplomatically. Tribes from a different Culture will always be hostile to the player.
Sharing a Culture benefits relations between groups. Envoys sent to Nations of the same Culture are more effective than to ones of a foreign Culture. After conquering a city of a different civilization or Nation, it is easier to assimilate the Citizens of the same Culture than a different one. Loyalty pressure is greater on cities whose Citizens belong to your Culture and lesser on those of different ones.
Each Culture has a defining idea that radically differentiates them from other Cultures. For example:
- Amerindians - They start on the New World continent(s) isolated from the other Cultures.
- Colonial - They cannot be chosen at the start of a Standard game. Only once an Old World Culture has three cities on the New World continent(s) can they choose to abandon their original civilization and play as a Colonial
- Occidental - They’re the standard, vanilla way of playing the game, most similar to past versions of Civilization
- Oriental - They’re isolationists with huge buffs inside their territory and huge debuffs outside of it. They cannot have international trade routes until the Industrial Era.
Each and every Citizen is an individual. Your population, instead of being a mere quantity, is all of these individuals, each with their own religious and political beliefs, and their own strengths, and weaknesses.
Every time a City, Nation, or Tribe gains a population point, a new Citizen is randomly generated. This individual will have a numeric value for skills in the following categories:
- Creativity
- Enterprising
- Intelligence
- Fitness
- Productivity
- Zeal
- Improve a Tile - Good for Citizens with low skills, building Farms, Pastures, etc.
- Construct a Building/District - The Citizen will work in the Building once it's constructed. A Citizen with high Productivity but low Zeal will take fewer turns to build a Temple, but that Temple will produce less Faith or Great Prophet points. A Citizen with low Productivity but high Zeal will take longer to construct a Temple, but it will produce more Faith and Great Prophet points.
- Military Duty - Good for Citizens with high Fitness. You select a specialization such as Warrior or Archer, and the Citizen becomes that unit after several turns of training. More advanced military specializations require resources such as Iron or Oil, in addition to the Citizen
- Specialize - Becomes a Trader, Missionary, Rock Band, etc. Restrictions apply to some specializations.
Citizens can also be born with rare traits. One with a Green Thumb might produce more food on a farm, while one that’s a Tactician might have a greater combat buff on advantageous terrain.
Certain buildings can make Citizens born in that city have better skills in a certain category. A campus with a Liberal Arts College would give all new Citizens of the city a higher Creativity, whereas a Military Academy would improve Fitness. The new Campus District (no longer the Science District) would have an Elementary School and High School that improve all scores, and one of the following tier three buildings:
- A&M - Farming and Mining traits
- Business School - Enterprising
- Institute of Technology - Intelligence
- Liberal Arts College - Creativity
- Military Academy - Fitness
- Seminary - Zeal
- Vocational - Productivity
Though Citizens cannot be moved around, in addition to their job, they can also be appointed to a position in their government’s Counsel.
Counsel
Instead of filling policy cards, Governments are now differentiated by how many members of their ruling Counsels there are and what job functions they have. These Counsels are very similar to those found in Crusader Kings III, except for the fact that everyone is more or less immortal.
For the earliest government of Chiefdom, the only Counsel member is the Leader. Early governments like an Ancient Republic or a Monarchy might only have one spot on their Counsel, consul or spouse, respectively (yes, your Leader can get married, but not have children), but these would have different functions. A consul might have the options to Lobby for Legislation (reducing the cost of a certain Civic) or Drum Up War Support (gaining a casus belli and temporary combat bonus) whereas a spouse might have the option to Appease the People (lowering the penalty for low Amenities) or Provide Moral Support (giving the Leader a bonus to his stats).
A late game government like a Democratic Republic would have the Leader, Vice President, Speaker of the House, Chief Justice, and a whole slew of Cabinet Secretaries. A retired Great General would have stats that make him a particularly good choice for Secretary of Defense, whereas a Great Engineer would make a better Secretary of Labor, but either could fill any position.
There is now a new currency called Political Capital that is used to purchase Policies. Depending on the Government, some policies cost more Political Capital than others. In a Democratic Republic, it costs more Political Capital to enact Censorship than Free Speech. Governments also have different means of generating Political Capital. In a Democratic Republic, every Citizen with a positive approval rating of the Leader generates Political Capital. For a Fascist government, Political Capital might be gained by a combination of Soldiers’ approval and through conquest.