What do you think is the DLC release plan?

[ComradeDavo]

It's now late March. While it might have felt rather slow after Civ 6 came out, we're now at four Civs/leaders compared to the seven that were released for Civ 5's cycle, five if you count the Aztecs.

Do you think we're going to see more DLC released this year before the first expansion, or ever again?

I think the first major expansion will be this year. There just seems to be some things missing from the main game...units, techs and diplomacy that patches haven't really dressed much. In particular I think progression though the era's is too fast and whilst they did slow it down a little in last patch it makes me think they are gonna add a bunch of techs in (and some civics too) that unlock new wonders and units...perhaps a couple more city centre buildings too and I wouldn't be surprised to see a new district pop up.

The DLC's so far have been quite Eurocentric and I feel rather than drip feed they will boost Africa, Asia and South America with expansions then the odd couple of scenario based civs in future.

 

[HF22]

In the past, with III, IV, and V, I played for about a week and then took a year or two off while I waited for mods and extras to make the games more suitable to my preferences. While that may be an extreme example, I believe a number of folks are waiting in the wings for VI for similar reasons.

But I'm sure it won't double the number of actives, too.

Such people certainly exist. As do those who play it for a week and then never come back (my experience of Civ 5, for example).

But will it be given the time previous versions were in days past? And will that time make it a better game than older versions, or will Civ be the next SimCity?

 

[Leyrann]

Such people certainly exist. As do those who play it for a week and then never come back (my experience of Civ 5, for example).

But will it be given the time previous versions were in days past? And will that time make it a better game than older versions, or will Civ be the next SimCity?

I wouldn't mind it being the next SimCity. That means that, in a few years, the 4X version of Cities: Skylines comes along, and we have a better game than we would have ever dreamed of (except for traffic; that's a permanent headache in the game).

 

[bbbt]

I wouldn't mind it being the next SimCity. That means that, in a few years, the 4X version of Cities: Skylines comes along, and we have a better game than we would have ever dreamed of (except for traffic; that's a permanent headache in the game).

I'm not sure I want a civ-sized game where I have to manage every city like in simcity. I'd like to do other things with my life occasionally

I'd love a return of the 'historical' city builders, ala Caesar. I know firaxis tried one ages ago, but I don't think it was huge success. A game where you manage one city from pre-historic settlement to modern era would be pretty amazing as well.

 

[Leyrann]

I'm not sure I want a civ-sized game where I have to manage every city like in simcity. I'd like to do other things with my life occasionally

I'd love a return of the 'historical' city builders, ala Caesar. I know firaxis tried one ages ago, but I don't think it was huge success. A game where you manage one city from pre-historic settlement to modern era would be pretty amazing as well.

CivCity Rome is quite a fun game imo.

Anyways, "the next SimCity" was meant as in "being a flop just like SimCity", and then I referred to a very good game by another designer that has been described as "the game that SimCity should have been".

Or at least, that's how I took the "the next SimCity".

 

[bbbt]

CivCity Rome is quite a fun game imo.

Anyways, "the next SimCity" was meant as in "being a flop just like SimCity", and then I referred to a very good game by another designer that has been described as "the game that SimCity should have been".

Or at least, that's how I took the "the next SimCity".

Oh gotcha. I guess "No Man's Sky" has the notorious flop association for me these days (though obviously not a series killing one!). Yeah there's not an indie competitor/replacement to Civ with the same scope. There definitely are a lot of 4x indies that are either scifi or fantasy. There's a decent amount that are historical games as well imho, but they all seem to be set in a specific time period. And a lot of them just seem to be missing the 'something' that keeps me hooked in Civ.

2k doesn't have the reputation that EA does for company killing though (at least not yet), or forcing boneheaded decisions like "You must be always online in this primarily solo game, and by the way, our online thing we're forcing you to use won't work properly".

 

[Leyrann]

Oh gotcha. I guess "No Man's Sky" has the notorious flop association for me these days (though obviously not a series killing one!). Yeah there's not an indie competitor/replacement to Civ with the same scope. There definitely are a lot of 4x indies that are either scifi or fantasy. There's a decent amount that are historical games as well imho, but they all seem to be set in a specific time period. And a lot of them just seem to be missing the 'something' that keeps me hooked in Civ.

2k doesn't have the reputation that EA does for company killing though (at least not yet), or forcing boneheaded decisions like "You must be always online in this primarily solo game, and by the way, our online thing we're forcing you to use won't work properly".

Yeah, I've been looking for other 4X games too, but almost all of them are science-fiction oriented, while a major part of why I like Civilization is because you're basically re-enacting history. The only other 4X game out there I really play (of the turn-based variants, that is, I don't like real time nearly as much) is Age of Wonders III, and one of the major things that feels lacking there, to me, is that there is much less advancement.

 

[psychoneirik]

Do you think they will be releasing alternative leaders soon? I was quite excited when they first announced that the game would have multiple leaders for some civs, but I haven't heard anything since then. Do you think they might be waiting to pack several of them in one DLC?

 

[Leyrann]

Do you think they will be releasing alternative leaders soon? I was quite excited when they first announced that the game would have multiple leaders for some civs, but I haven't heard anything since then. Do you think they might be waiting to pack several of them in one DLC?

I think, now that the Deluxe Edition DLCs are (about to be) out of the way, we'll get one soon. Some Deluxe Edition purchasers would probably feel cheated if a pack contained just leaders, but now they're free to do so, and I could very well see something like a 3-leader pack or a 4-leader pack or something.

And I suppose they'll have a bunch in the first expansion too.

 

[CivCube]

Do you think they will be releasing alternative leaders soon? I was quite excited when they first announced that the game would have multiple leaders for some civs, but I haven't heard anything since then. Do you think they might be waiting to pack several of them in one DLC?

It suggests that the game will have more content released this cycle. I can see Ed going for a Paradox-style rollout with new mechanics bundled with civs, leaders, and a scenario alongside a free patch.

 

[HF22]

Anyways, "the next SimCity" was meant as in "being a flop just like SimCity", and then I referred to a very good game by another designer that has been described as "the game that SimCity should have been".

Or at least, that's how I took the "the next SimCity".

Yes, precisely.

 

[bite]

I'm surprised there were no alternative leaders in the DLC, but overall bar the disappointing viking scenario DLC I think they have all been pretty good, but I think they will be skirting the line when it comes to the promises made in the Digital Deluxe Version

 

[MantaRevan]

Hopefully Firaxis doesn't focus too much on the DLC model and still remembers to come out with 2+ beefy expansions for filling in the game's extensive gaps in the UI, diplomacy / diplomatic victory, religious victory, district production cost scaling and sparse late game tech tree and wonders.

The game has a really solid foundation and will need to rely on expansions to fix some of the game systems that aren't quite there yet.

 

[nzcamel]

I too think that it will slow down and probably make a break in summer. So maybe one more DLC in May/June and then one in September/Oktober and one or more or a larger one before christmas.

We're on down under time now (so my game reminds me at the bottom of the screen each time I log in), so I believe you're talking about a winter break!

Im really hoping for native americans again, they were sweet in V, but I don't know if they were popular or not the first time around.

I'm thinking the Iroquois, and at least one other eventually... (I take it we're talking north of the Rio Grande natives here )

Am I the only fanatic hoping for Carthage? What the heck.

Oh hella yeah! And a Roman Consul to take them on, rather than another Emperor (though I suspect we'll get Constantine so he has a different capital to Rome).

As long as it's not Dido in charge this time around, at least to begin with. She seemed to turn up in like 80%+ of my Civ V games and I am sick to death of her popping up. It's Hannibal's turn again!

Hell, in V I get Monty 80% of the time! I'd take Dido any day of the week over him n his flames! No, I get ya...it often felt like I'd have 66% of the same leaders as I had in the last game. Then I typically play on huge maps, so that will come with the territory I guess.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

As long as it's not Dido in charge this time around, at least to begin with. She seemed to turn up in like 80%+ of my Civ V games and I am sick to death of her popping up. It's Hannibal's turn again!

I'd prefer Hanno the Great.

 

[God of Kings]

CivCity Rome is quite a fun game imo.

Anyways, "the next SimCity" was meant as in "being a flop just like SimCity", and then I referred to a very good game by another designer that has been described as "the game that SimCity should have been".

Or at least, that's how I took the "the next SimCity".

...or even the next "RollerCoaster Tycoon"!

Note how much better Planet Coaster is as compared with RollerCoaster Tycoon World (and Frontier, which developed the first three RollerCoaster Tycoon games, developed Planet Coaster).

 

[Kyro]

Milking. That's what the DLC plan looks like. They're probably gonna rake up the full cost for the entire game well over 200 dollars and say something like "you can still play the game without dlcs." It's starting to look like EA.

 

[Photi]

Data:

Civilization: 15 civs

Civilization II: 21 civs

Civilization III: 16 civs vanilla/31 civs final (16 vanilla, 8+7 in two expansions = 31 civs final)

Civilization IV: 18 civs vanilla/34 civs final (18 vanilla, 6+10 in two expansions = 34 civs final; 52 leaders final)

Civilization V: 18 civs vanilla/43 civs final (18 vanilla, 7+9+9 in DLCs and two expansions= 43 civs final)

Civilization VI: 18+1 civs vanilla/23 civs so far (18+1 vanilla, 4 in DLCs = 23 civs total after soon-to-be-released DLC)

Using pre-DLC and pre-expansion era of first two Civilizations as the standard, DLCs and expansions clearly add to the game and do not dilute initial purchase.

 

[Leyrann]

Milking. That's what the DLC plan looks like. They're probably gonna rake up the full cost for the entire game well over 200 dollars and say something like "you can still play the game without dlcs." It's starting to look like EA.

That IS actually the idea behind DLC's. You don't buy the whole game, you buy only the parts that you like. And if you want them all, you wait for a bundle sale so that you don't pay as much as every single DLC as it's just released.

And I think that the post above me shows quite well how much stuff we're going to get in expansions still (we had 15, 16 and 18 civs in the last expansions, and the one with 16 included leaders too, so we can probably expect 15-20 civs and who knows how many leaders still to come).

 

[nzcamel]

Data:

Civilization: 15 civs

Civilization II: 21 civs

Civilization III: 16 civs vanilla/31 civs final (16 vanilla, 8+7 in two expansions = 31 civs final)

Civilization IV: 18 civs vanilla/34 civs final (18 vanilla, 6+10 in two expansions = 34 civs final; 52 leaders final)

Civilization V: 18 civs vanilla/43 civs final (18 vanilla, 7+9+9 in DLCs and two expansions= 43 civs final)

Civilization VI: 18+1 civs vanilla/23 civs so far (18+1 vanilla, 4 in DLCs = 23 civs total after soon-to-be-released DLC)

Using pre-DLC and pre-expansion era of first two Civilizations as the standard, DLCs and expansions clearly add to the game and do not dilute initial purchase.

BOOYA!!

To the dlc neagtive nancy's

I'd actually go as far as 18.5 +1 (Gorgo being the .5) for the Vanilla release of VI.