Sostratus
Deity
I decided to play a quick game as japan to really try and attune myself to the industrial+ side of the game.
The Hammers side of the coin:
The major changes were in Apprenticeship and Guilds. It was nice to pick up the electronics factory, and later power plant, but comparatively getting IZs up and craftsmen slotted were much, much bigger boosts - both worth about 5-7 hammers/city (I played a very efficient and dense game!) at a time when things cost much less, vs electronics factories and power plants giving +4/city each when things cost a lot more. But with everything else piling on - buffed communism, late game amenities surge from stadiums, Amundsen Scott - actually producing things wasn't too bad.
The gameplay side:
Japan has a very heightened emphasis on district placement over other civs thanks to their civ ability; but I found myself really obsessing over planning my IZs in the early/mid game. That was serious impact. Then I found myself beelining to guilds to pick up Craftsmen, and kept it slotted through the game. The rest just kind of trickled in.
Japan's unique factory gives regional +4 production instead of +3; but it also grants a local bonus of +4 culture at electricity. Boy, did I notice that kicking in! That's an extra broadcast tower in every city! Since I already had IZs and workshops, it was very easy to pick those up. Here's a snip of the greater Kyoto-Tokyo megalopolis, I felt proud:
I've been pondering some of what has been written here in the past couple days, and the original civ6 blueprint of how the industrial era was supposed to go, and I think the big missing piece to make it feel substantive beyond yields lies in the dearth of policy cards tying these things together. For empire productivity, the only choice is Craftsmen. There are no other IZ cards until Five Year Plan replaces craftsmen. Some cards get industrial extensions, like Levee en Masse, skyscrapers, and public works; these just continue what was going. The late game "powerhouse" cards all come with the ideologies in the modern era. This means that once you hit the industrial age, you can continue business as usual, just queue some factories in a few cities.
I think that's where the hole is: in Civ5 BNW, ideologies were effectively the result of your society becoming industrialized. Suddenly, those prior social policy trees were all competing with the very strong tenets of your chosen ideology. You want to keep filling out rationalism? It'll cost you progress in your ideology tree - the deep tiers of which were often game winners.
But in Civ6, you can keep running your science card, you can keep running your gold card, etc. If they add some more substance to the late game - like building out a railroad network, for example- they should tie it into the game via forcing you to consider your policy cards. You'll have to unslot republican legacy to take advantage of that new card letting you place rails twice as fast. Is it worth sacrificing a diplomatic slot to get bonus production towards that contested World Congress project? Beyond the yields changing, you will feel the effects of the revolution on your civ because you have to make very hard choices about embracing the "new ways" to get the most out of the revolution. I'm not saying these new tools won't be attractive to use: just that you can't do everything at once. I think the Industrial age is a great time to add in a lot of new policy cards that aren't tied to the long running lines that span the ages. Like giving factories interplay with local bonus resources (aka raw materials) or extending how many cities a luxury resource can reach for some gold cost. A large district construction bonus card at civil engineering, to help get new cities up.
Anyways, let's remember our history: in the release of civ6, things were roughly structured like this -
Ancient-Medieval: you grow and develop in your corner of the world. As long as you claim a few luxes nearby, you'll be okay.
Medieval-Renaissance : Cities can't grow much beyond 10-13 pop in most cases; there just isn't the housing or amenities to support it in more than the occasional capital. Often, your biggest cities didn't grow at all - not that you wanted them to: you were straining yourself at 0 surplus amenities in most cities!
Industrial: neighborhoods suddenly gave you the ability to get unlimited housing. Better mines and factories gave an explosion of production. Stock exchanges (under the old free market card) meant +14 gold in every CH. Zoos could finally get your amenities under control- they stacked too.
Modern: almost straddling the industrial era is replaceable parts, boosting farms from +2 to potentially +6. Your cities begin to explode with population. The research lab, broadcast tower, and tier 3 governments all come into play.
Atomic+ :nothing happens
While this was bad for game play diversity (since tall was neutered by this soft cap) it did lead to a very obvious change at the industrial era in being able to have neighborhoods. Now, with some of the governors and legacy cards and other perks of R&F, there isn't near as much of a hard cliff as there was before. You can pretty much keep growing a city the entire game without much trouble.
We allow industrial civs to generate massive amounts of food, production, and gold - it's okay to have "more hammers" be a consequence of the revolution - but to make it feel more engaging and balanced, we need to add policy/government & and possible new mechanic reasons to get those big yields in the first place. In engineering terms, we need to have (active, engaging) sinks for those new sources. We have dedications and the era system too- perhaps, as some have mentioned, there should be an 'industrialization' event or emergency that really highlights what's going on. A world's fair that ties into industrial advances. There's a whole bunch of ways to make your nation's booming business, everyone else's business.
The Hammers side of the coin:
The major changes were in Apprenticeship and Guilds. It was nice to pick up the electronics factory, and later power plant, but comparatively getting IZs up and craftsmen slotted were much, much bigger boosts - both worth about 5-7 hammers/city (I played a very efficient and dense game!) at a time when things cost much less, vs electronics factories and power plants giving +4/city each when things cost a lot more. But with everything else piling on - buffed communism, late game amenities surge from stadiums, Amundsen Scott - actually producing things wasn't too bad.
The gameplay side:
Japan has a very heightened emphasis on district placement over other civs thanks to their civ ability; but I found myself really obsessing over planning my IZs in the early/mid game. That was serious impact. Then I found myself beelining to guilds to pick up Craftsmen, and kept it slotted through the game. The rest just kind of trickled in.
Japan's unique factory gives regional +4 production instead of +3; but it also grants a local bonus of +4 culture at electricity. Boy, did I notice that kicking in! That's an extra broadcast tower in every city! Since I already had IZs and workshops, it was very easy to pick those up. Here's a snip of the greater Kyoto-Tokyo megalopolis, I felt proud:
Spoiler :
I've been pondering some of what has been written here in the past couple days, and the original civ6 blueprint of how the industrial era was supposed to go, and I think the big missing piece to make it feel substantive beyond yields lies in the dearth of policy cards tying these things together. For empire productivity, the only choice is Craftsmen. There are no other IZ cards until Five Year Plan replaces craftsmen. Some cards get industrial extensions, like Levee en Masse, skyscrapers, and public works; these just continue what was going. The late game "powerhouse" cards all come with the ideologies in the modern era. This means that once you hit the industrial age, you can continue business as usual, just queue some factories in a few cities.
I think that's where the hole is: in Civ5 BNW, ideologies were effectively the result of your society becoming industrialized. Suddenly, those prior social policy trees were all competing with the very strong tenets of your chosen ideology. You want to keep filling out rationalism? It'll cost you progress in your ideology tree - the deep tiers of which were often game winners.
But in Civ6, you can keep running your science card, you can keep running your gold card, etc. If they add some more substance to the late game - like building out a railroad network, for example- they should tie it into the game via forcing you to consider your policy cards. You'll have to unslot republican legacy to take advantage of that new card letting you place rails twice as fast. Is it worth sacrificing a diplomatic slot to get bonus production towards that contested World Congress project? Beyond the yields changing, you will feel the effects of the revolution on your civ because you have to make very hard choices about embracing the "new ways" to get the most out of the revolution. I'm not saying these new tools won't be attractive to use: just that you can't do everything at once. I think the Industrial age is a great time to add in a lot of new policy cards that aren't tied to the long running lines that span the ages. Like giving factories interplay with local bonus resources (aka raw materials) or extending how many cities a luxury resource can reach for some gold cost. A large district construction bonus card at civil engineering, to help get new cities up.
Anyways, let's remember our history: in the release of civ6, things were roughly structured like this -
Ancient-Medieval: you grow and develop in your corner of the world. As long as you claim a few luxes nearby, you'll be okay.
Medieval-Renaissance : Cities can't grow much beyond 10-13 pop in most cases; there just isn't the housing or amenities to support it in more than the occasional capital. Often, your biggest cities didn't grow at all - not that you wanted them to: you were straining yourself at 0 surplus amenities in most cities!
Industrial: neighborhoods suddenly gave you the ability to get unlimited housing. Better mines and factories gave an explosion of production. Stock exchanges (under the old free market card) meant +14 gold in every CH. Zoos could finally get your amenities under control- they stacked too.
Modern: almost straddling the industrial era is replaceable parts, boosting farms from +2 to potentially +6. Your cities begin to explode with population. The research lab, broadcast tower, and tier 3 governments all come into play.
Atomic+ :nothing happens
While this was bad for game play diversity (since tall was neutered by this soft cap) it did lead to a very obvious change at the industrial era in being able to have neighborhoods. Now, with some of the governors and legacy cards and other perks of R&F, there isn't near as much of a hard cliff as there was before. You can pretty much keep growing a city the entire game without much trouble.
We allow industrial civs to generate massive amounts of food, production, and gold - it's okay to have "more hammers" be a consequence of the revolution - but to make it feel more engaging and balanced, we need to add policy/government & and possible new mechanic reasons to get those big yields in the first place. In engineering terms, we need to have (active, engaging) sinks for those new sources. We have dedications and the era system too- perhaps, as some have mentioned, there should be an 'industrialization' event or emergency that really highlights what's going on. A world's fair that ties into industrial advances. There's a whole bunch of ways to make your nation's booming business, everyone else's business.
