Sure, Stellaris has its own flaws (looking at some of the AI Planet Management videos on youtube makes Civ AI look smart), that's why I wrote "and learn from the mistakes they made in their first attempt to create a 4x-ish game". I do however think with their own fanbase, and the portion of Civ Players who would be interested in a "Paradox-Version of the Civ Formula", they could easily outdo Firaxis if they delivered a good product. At least temporarily of course, one would hope that Firaxis counters with a much better developed Civ VII and regains the throne, but that sort of competition is what I think makes Civ lag behind other 4x games, all of which aren't direct competitors because many people play Civ for its theme.
I get your point. Competition is always good. John Madden football is a perfect example of what monopolies do. Repackage same game every year, add arm hair pre-rendered graphics, and instant-million+ game sales. Sigh.
What I liked about Stellaris was the "role-playing" elements they added via the galactic events and that the diplomacy had some complexity to it. The whole slavery thing / xenophobia concept was genius and I am not sure why Civilization can't effectively add something like that to the game. I mean practically all of human history / conflict had a racial / cultural "flavor" (euphamism) to it, so why can't Civ 6 do this.
I know the game designers all live in the socialist paradise of California where all races exist in perfect harmony, but I don't see why Civ 6 can't actually add a feature to the game that makes managing a global empire actually different to managing a small homogenous empire. Sun Tzu was full of beans when he said" management of the few is the same as the management of the many; it is just a matter of organization". He never had to manage a place like the Middle East with 24/7 cable news coverage.
I think this would really solve the end game blandness part, because if you are really a sprawling massive global civilization, why can't you have the
actual problems of a global sprawling massive civilization. I mean why can't they add a civilizational self-loathing SJW unhappiness factor once you get so rich / powerful that all other civs can't catch up? Recent game, I completely conquered half of another continent and all the pop was happy as clams within 15 turns of me destroying their native civilization. That ain't right.
I can't imagine a more interesting late game management struggle where you have to independently manage different regions of the world you've conquered because of their respective racial / cultural heritage. I mean really, in today's date, who in Western Civilization is actually trying to colonize Mars? What about managing massive population movements from ruined failed civs to successful, rich civs like today's Germany / EU?
The possibilities are endless with this, are very interesting, and entirely possible to do with the current game mechanics.
Just think of all the free earned advertising Firaxis would get by all the NYT, BBC, National Review hot takes of this new game concept?