What do you expect from an Expansion?

[UWHabs]

I would expect:
-One "game-changing" mechanism: either something we've seen before like religion, espionage, corporations, or maybe something completely new (completely revamped diplomacy model? Evolving city states?)
-A few new civs, or possibly new leaders for existing civs
-More balance tweaks, to go along with more wonders/buildings/units/techs
-Global quests/events, like BtS

I think an expanded city-state model would be a great thing for an expansion pack. There's been tons of ideas for elaborating on the city-state diplomacy, so it wouldn't be too challenging to bring a few new types, a few new methods of gaining and losing influence, and a few more quests with them.
Throw in some new balancing, maybe a bit of re-jigging the air and naval games, and overall I think it would come out well.

 

[PhilBowles]

I have many of the things you are saying. Especially when they have a city down to 0 HP but because you destroyed their only melee unit, they just sit there bombarding without another melee unit.

but in my current game for the first time ever in Civ 5 I saw an enemy using its fighter as an Interceptor. I was stunned to watch my AI team launch fighter just to watch them get shot down by the enemy fighter. I only saw one fighter defending and the remaining fighters the enemy had where attacking into my heavily gaurded airspace.

I was playing West vs East on Diety. The only mod I had on was the IGE. I don't know what caused that fighter to intercept but I was happy to finally see it happen.


and I would also like to see the AI annex cities everyonce in a while. So they can use those to build units.

Yes, AI always puppets is annoying. Also, promotions: as far as I can tell the AI almost always uses them to heal, even if it's only taken 1 HP damage, and does it actually build Barracks? Granted I don't pay enough attention to the exact modifiers listed in the combat stats tables, but I can't recall seeing a Drill or Shock promotion bonus for any AI combatant that doesn't have one by default (and even then Oda doesn't seem to exhibit any preference for fighting in open terrain with his Samurai. This isn't necessarily as bad as it looks, since a Longswordsman with bushido is one of the powerful units at that stage in the game whatever the terrain, but if he has the option of fighting in the open you'd hope he'd take it).

 

[NotSure]

Some do build barracks & sometimes armories as well. They usually double up a terrain promotion from what I can tell.

The insta-heal is a guarantee for the AI. Although it can be useful to the human, I'm convinced the only reason it's in the game is to help the AI. If you consider an AI that takes Honor is likely receiving double XP, and the increased opportunities for that AI to insta-heal during skirmishes outside a city and during a siege, it's easy to see how some of them benefit from that feature and start to run away.

As for the expansion, I guess I'd like to see:
1. Fixes for persistent problems like starving cities, the freedom finisher bug, the city center tile bug, ranged damage inflicted on embarked units with defense, etc. I like the game and would like to buy DLC (on sale) and an expansion (if there ever is one), but I've committed myself to not spending any more money on the game unit it's fixed to work as intended.

2. Changes to city states, diplomacy, and the UN that make diplomacy more interesting and reasonable, and less ambiguous. I believe the decision to make diplomacy mysterious is a mistake and the main cause of frustrations you see expressed on this forum. The UN and diplomatic victories in general are pretty weak.

3. More techs and a new research agreement mechanic that's tied to diplomacy and provides even returns for the duration of the agreement.

 

[Necrotaur]

- New (for Civ5 at least) gameplay elements, such as religion, corporations, espionage, disease (I seriously miss the possible health risks of building cities on floodplains).
- reworked happiness system
- Possibly new civs
- Possibly more wonders

Really the first one is all I'm concerned about. But with the release of the "Game of the Year" version the chances of us seeing anything beyond a DLC civ are slim to none.

 

[Bechhold]

Nothing tbh as time passes it seems there isn't actually a xpac being developed. 60 Staff members can only do so much when a new game was just announced.

 

[King of Prussia]

Yes, AI always puppets is annoying. Also, promotions: as far as I can tell the AI almost always uses them to heal, even if it's only taken 1 HP damage, and does it actually build Barracks? Granted I don't pay enough attention to the exact modifiers listed in the combat stats tables, but I can't recall seeing a Drill or Shock promotion bonus for any AI combatant that doesn't have one by default (and even then Oda doesn't seem to exhibit any preference for fighting in open terrain with his Samurai. This isn't necessarily as bad as it looks, since a Longswordsman with bushido is one of the powerful units at that stage in the game whatever the terrain, but if he has the option of fighting in the open you'd hope he'd take it).

Well I was looking at a few AI cities with IGE and I noticed most of the time they only had a few buildings. Even in cities they were constantly building units, they didn't have a barracks. On higher levels it seems they are more concerned about quantity than quality. You would think that if they will be mass producing units, they would build barracks and markets to fund the army. Instead of staying in the negative. The AI gets so many bonuses that it doesn't even need the buildings it seems.

I would also like to see the AI actually upgrade. You have lots of extra gold and you can't upgrade your pikeman to a rifleman or warrior to swordsman when you have plenty of money and iron? I have seen to many times the AI has extra cash and it wont upgrade. In my current game I killed a pikeman while everyone had Mech Inf.

 

[gozpel]

Expansion?

This game is not even polished yet!

How could we expect an expansion then?

 

[Agent Cooper]

I don't care much for expansions with regards to more civs/units/techs/etc. either, when especially diplomacy and the combat system are as broken as they are in Civ V today.

Several patches and promises from the developers to improve upon it hasen't really changed anything and the game will never ever be 'balanced', considering that the AI is playing the game by completely different parameters from the human player, especially on the harder levels. That huge discrepancy between the player and the AI is in large caused by the developers not being able to develop an AI capable of using the game mechanics and combat system to a satisying degree and as such, it has to resort to cheating on a massive scale, making for the most uneven Civ game experience in the series so far.

To add, they should do something about cultural and diplomatic vicory conditions. They are boring as hell and don't leave much room for flexible play styles. The old way of winning a cultural victory with Civ4 was so much better. Remove diplomatic victory until they've found a way to make diplomacy in Civ V actually work and feel as real-life dimplomacy...

 

[chazzycat]

I prefer to set low expectations so as to avoid any potential disappointment

 

[CTH]

For those that think that DLC is more profitable have not taken into account that expansions actually get media attention (reviews and so on) and it is worth it for the company to make PR for an expansion. The number of sold expansion pack would greatly outnumber the number of any DLC. In addition to more sold expansions the original game will see a upswing in sold units also as a expansion will make many more people interested into starting play Civ5 than from any DLC. It would be very stupid not to make an expansion (and there is nothing to stop them from making more DLC in addition to an expansion) as an expansion will seem much more crucial for the game than a DLC and most people (that is still playing) would buy it.