What do you think is on the Horizon for 2020?

I think that Civ VII is at least 2 years away and will be a massive update to gameplay and style. Because of this, I feel that they'll milk Civ VI for all they can in the time... whether that's retooling the engine to give a sci-fi/steampunk/fantasy version that's not our bog-standard pseudo-historical game, giving us another iteration of Colonization with the upgraded assets and hex maps with bits from the very popular mod from Civ 2 Col, or giving us additional leaders/scenarios/content for Civ VI via DLC.

They want our money and will do what they can to make us part with it, so we will definitely get SOMETHING more with Civ VI this year and the next.
 
Maybe the delay is due to a huge shift in focus? Maybe something towards the 'future'? A baked Earth scenario, interplanetary scenario/map, units, leaders, Space-Interplanetary-Nano age like C2C or Orions Arm?
 
There are a few areas / mechanics where I'd be very surprised (and, you know, disappointed) if FXS didn't add something.
  • Ideological Pressure. Just seems crazy to me that having kept Tourism from Civ 5, and then implementing Loyalty, that FXS wouldn't then introduce Ideological pressure. Again, just seems like a total no-brainer, particularly when they could also leverage mechanics like Alliance and World Congress etc. That might also be the way to lead into more conflict in the mid to late game, something where the game is very lacking and people have been quite vocal about that lack of conflict.

  • Governors. Governors are essentially the Civ 6 version of Civ 5's Social Policies (e.g. Victor=Honour, Magnus=Liberty, Liang=Tradition, Moshka=Piety, Reyna=Commerce, Amani=Patronage, and Pingala=Rationalism). Assuming that's right, I'd find it amazing if we didn't get mid to late game Governors that sort of mirror Civ 5's Ideologies. It would be pretty easy to implement too - just have certain Governors unlock with the Tier 3 and 4 Government Civics.
  • Future Tech. The only Future Tech unit is the GDR. Seems like an obvious place for FXS to add some welcome content. Then there is the Future Techs themselves. Currently, most of these only boost the GDR (except for that one tech which "boosts" normal units by removing their CO2 cost). Again, just seems like a non-brainer for FXS to have Future Techs have more impact on the game by buffing other units, buildings etc.

  • Religion and World Congress. It's clear a significant number of people are a bit unhappy with these. I can't see FXS really changing how these work, but I could see them keeping the current mechanics and rebalancing things a little and maybe expanding mechanics in a few places. Having more Religious Beliefs unlock unique units (not just Monks) seems like an easy one to implement. Having the World Congress triggered by building a unique Wonder (or just having a Wonder that buffs your votes in the WC or something) or upgrading the World Congress into the UN all seem like easy wins.

  • Other Low Hanging Fruit. There's plenty of other stuff that would be pretty cool that FXS could put into the current mechanics. Certainly, the addition of all the cool maps via Patches last year strongly suggests some desire to add cool stuff to really fill out the game. Obvious things to me (beyond units, buildings, wonders etc), would include an Economic Victory, More Unique Units for Barbarians and or City States, More "Unique" Districts like the Government Plaza and / or late game Districts that obsolete Campuses, Commercial Hubs etc.
Like I said, I'd be quite surprised if FXS didn't tackle most or all of the above mechanics (particularly the first three). But does that mean I'm expecting an Expansion?

Well, they certainly could have a Third Expansion if they wanted to. If FXS really wanted to go to town on Ideology etc, then I think there's enough material that they could stitch together into something cohesive, and there's clearly enough appetite for a third expansion in the market.

But if FXS instead decided to keep any new mechanics fairly narrow, and just focus on obvious gaps or other "low hanging fruit", then I could see them maybe dealing with those mechanics purely via DLC or Updates. They could maybe have DLC with just introduces new Leaders, Wonders and or Units etc., and then add mechanics for free via updates (with the DLC in effect funding the content - a bit like EU4's model); or it's possible some particular mechanics would require DLC (e.g. Late Game Governors and Ideological Pressure). If they took that approach, I think that would result in mechanics being less deep and or more modular, but it could be done.

My best guess? I think given the Survey, and just how things have been travelling, I think DLC with Leaders / Civs, Wonders, Units and maybe some other stuff, and then FXS maybe tweak / expand mechanics and or fill gaps via patches, but it would be really quite limited and narrow.

If they did that, I could maybe see a small expansion maybe even next year, but it would be pretty cheap and narrow, and maybe just focus on something like War or Colonization which then gets folded into a "Complete" addition.

I guess I'm okay with DLC or whatever, provided FXS do fill in some of the "gaps" the game still has. But, you know, I still find it odd that FXS haven't just gone down the Third Expansion route. There's a lot of appetite for something like that, and the game has room for that, and I think FXS could still do DLC and season passes and whatever money making things they want to after that. But it looks like that's just not the way forward.

I'm still giving FXS the benefit of the doubt, just because the base game was so good, and the last year with GS and the free updates was just amazing, and because on the live streams and when they post FXS seem like good guys that are real enthusiasts. So, yeah, cross-fingers, whatever's coming.

TL;DR. DLC with Leaders, Wonders and maybe units / buildings. Additional mechanics via updates released with the DLC. Maybe later on a DLC / small expansion which will also have discreet and very modular "additional" mechanics (e.g. new late game Governors and Ideological pressure), but nothing as big as RnF or GS.

[edit: reordered bullet points.]

[In the interests of not posting these points again ad nauseam, I’ve created a separate thread for Brave New World for Civ 6 - see link.]
 
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Wow, thanks for the replies to this thread! I see the other thread rating the various incarnations of Civ is locked. While I love all in the series and IV is an awesome game, I cant help but notice the reason why the ai is so much better.
Infinite unit stacking. There is no strategy to Civ IV, just get a death stack and march around. For that the ai was and is very good. It could do the math much faster than us and if it needed 'one more unit' on its stack to beat ours, it would build it.

To that end, I too would love to see a way to vastly improve the strategic thinking of the ai in Civ VI. I love the game. Its beautiful. It engrosses me for weeks. However about 2/3rds in its obvious the Ai cannot beat me. Personally I'd like to see the ai 'favor' certain scripts that it follows based on its civ flavor. > Ai Korean ardently follows a science victory but will change to war if attacked. France goes espionage first to disable all opponents and than pursue a culture victory.
 
Maybe it's just that I'm personally allergic to the idea, but moving Civ to a subscription model seems like it would be a terrible plan. Unless the game was the most amazing thing ever or the subscription fee was quite modest, doing this would be the surest way to encourage players to stick to the Civ(s) they have rather than buying the new one. Or jump ship to Humankind.

My understanding is that by "subscribe" they do not mean a literal subscription, but rather support the game by buying the yearly DLC's they would launch. Kinda like what Paradox does.
 
To the best of my knowledge they can not remaster Alpha Centauri as they do not own the rights.

Which is why we got Beyond Earth instead
 
To the best of my knowledge they can not remaster Alpha Centauri as they do not own the rights.

I had no idea they didn't own the rights. I don't remember what publisher they used back in those days. I do still have my SMAC manual around here somewhere, though I ditched the box when I moved back to my current location after the military.
 
Perhaps there will be another Civ VI expansion. Perhaps I will even buy it if it gets good reviews here, however I suspect my long journey with Civ has ended with GS; at this point it would take unrealistically excellent improvements to keep me as a paying customer. Either way, I suspect one thing is definitely in the future for me in 2020: Humankind.
 
Perhaps there will be another Civ VI expansion. Perhaps I will even buy it if it gets good reviews here, however I suspect my long journey with Civ has ended with GS; at this point it would take unrealistically excellent improvements to keep me as a paying customer. Either way, I suspect one thing is definitely in the future for me in 2020: Humankind.

Same here - really looking forward to Humankind and expect it will be the true successor to Civ IV BTS that I've been waiting for.
 
Perhaps there will be another Civ VI expansion. Perhaps I will even buy it if it gets good reviews here, however I suspect my long journey with Civ has ended with GS; at this point it would take unrealistically excellent improvements to keep me as a paying customer. Either way, I suspect one thing is definitely in the future for me in 2020: Humankind.

Sadly, I agree.

I do wonder if Civ is now like that fantastic series on television, you know, the one that has you watching each and every week, but it is beyond obvious that it now needs to end due to...well, just having run it's course.
Civ, much like the monumental series "Lost", is in it's sixth season and is probably at the end of it's time.
 
I'm astonished why so many of you are hyped about Humankind vis a vis Civ? We know next to nothing about the gameplay systems of humankind or the AI. Could very well turn out that it turns out underwhelming. Why write off civ so quickly? This seems to be a pattern even when talking about new civ iterations: the less is known the bigger the hype. When everyone knows that certain fundamental flaws of the civ genre can't be overcome. The ai will always be sub par against a human player, the increasing returns after the early game will always make the later game less challenging.
 
I really hope that they will do nothing with Civ6 in 2020 : I am fed up with mods broken during months and games in progress good for the trash.
 
I'm astonished why so many of you are hyped about Humankind vis a vis Civ? We know next to nothing about the gameplay systems of humankind or the AI. Could very well turn out that it turns out underwhelming. Why write off civ so quickly? This seems to be a pattern even when talking about new civ iterations: the less is known the bigger the hype. When everyone knows that certain fundamental flaws of the civ genre can't be overcome. The ai will always be sub par against a human player, the increasing returns after the early game will always make the later game less challenging.
I can speak only for myself of course. I wouldn't say that I am either writing off Civ or doing so quickly. I certainly still watch this forum for news and am hoping for improvements to VI and an expansion that provides more content. With that said, as far as the "quickly" part, I do feel that the last two iterations, V and VI, have both been steps down from the peak, which was IV BTS. I think V is only as respected now as it is because of mods and the comparison of V to VI. So, avoiding a general and for this forum a redundant discussion of the specifics, I don't think that the decline in overall quality of the gameplay from IV has been quick.

To be sure, I will be checking out any new expansions or say a Civ VII, but I will never again buy until I see some very positive responses on this forum. As far as Humankind, I think many including myself are just hopeful for something that gives that certain feeling of not wanting to stop playing again... like the older versions of Civ. For me that has been missing past mid game for both of the last two versions.

Also, buying Humankind would of course not preclude one from remaining a Civ fanatic.
 
Studio that makes Humankind has made Endless Legend, and having played that it makes me less hopeful for Humankind. Not expecting a good AI or interesting late game based on that game. Great UI and good art though.

Not happy that Humankind has the separate tactical combat and the province system, and I dont think switching nation for each era is fun but we'll see

Currently Endless Legend has only 700 players on Steam so it hasnt been replayed by other people that much as well..
 
Surely a sci fi version of regular Civ (e.g. BE2 or SMAC2) is a licence to print money?
Or did those games not sell that well?
 
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Surely a sci fi version of regular Civ (e.g. BE3 or SMAC2) is a licence to print money?
Or did those games not sell that well?
They do not own the rights to SMAC so Firaxis will not be releasing a new version. BE1 was trash so, I for one will never buy a second version, wish I had known BE1 was going to be abandoned as quick as it was and saved my money, but that's 2K (take the money then fail to fulfill their promise of bringing a good game to you).
 
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