What Game Modes Do You Use

[King William I]

I use everything except Apoclolypse mode (I'm strictly a disaster level 3 player). It's not balanced, but it's just too dang fun!

 

[alancsilver]

I have tried

• Heroes and Legends
• Monopolies and corporations
• Barbarian clans

Heores seems OP to me. It can be certainly be fun, but I think it also becomes a balance issue to the game itself

Monopolies are wildly unbalanced as we know and I hope this gets rebalanced soon because it could be a very interesting way to play

Barbs seems the best for playing civ a little harder without being game breaking. If you don't stay on top of barb camps early that are near you, they can be devastating.

 

[Eva-kun]

I like Heroes, Monopolies, Secret and Barbarian modes and played with them, but they're just not fun if AI has no clue how to use any of them. While AI doesn't interact much with Barbs, that game mode doesn't feel like a massive bonus. They still fight you for control of a CS at least.

Once Monopolies issues are fixed, I can see it being fun. Heroes likely won't be fix since AI just suicide it's hero units and likely doesn't know what to do with Himeko. Secret Society is infested with non-usable cultist. If they were at least suicide them, it help them build up relics. Not sure how they do with the other bonuses given.

 

[Phoenix1595]

I love Monopolies and Barb modes— they add a little more depth to the normal Civ6 mechanics and infrastructure without changing the game completely.

Likewise, I never use Secret Societies because it does the opposite, and I have no interest in adding vampire and Cthulu worshippers to a history game. At least with Heroes mode, the heroes are more grounded to real cultural and mythological underpinnings, and the mechanics don’t greatly tilt the game like Secret Societies does.

I will have to try Dramatic Ages, given the responses above. I generally have too much anxiety about avoiding dark ages as it is, but I am up for the challenge if it is fun!

 

[Haig]

Always or almost always: Monopolies mode, Barbarians mode, Secret societies


About every third game: Apocalypse, Shuffle tech tree

Rarely: Heroes, Dramatic Ages


Monopolies, Barbarians and Secret Societies are really cool and pretty much core features for me now.

Heroes is fun every once in a while but a bit too unbalanced. I love the punishing nature of Dramatic Ages but it's sometimes a bit too punishing!

 

[MisterBoomBoom]

If they fixed the soothsayer...I would play it so much more. I really like the concept. But it is broken as is and is totally unplayable.

 

[Haig]

What is broken about soothsayer Mister BoomBoom?

I rarely use soothsayers for the appease the gods event, but I like to use them like some sort of covert operation unit, where I cause havoc in enemy lands like forest fires. Soothsayer could fit very well within the Societies game mode too.

 

[tedhebert]

I use SS, shuffle and heroes all the time. I WANT to use barbarians, but its results are just bad... too many CSes, no barbs from medieval on... I also WANT to play monopolies, and I'm I will when they fix it. But not now...

Dramatic ages and Apocalypse are total no go for me.

 

[Dantesedge]

Apocalypse: Nope. Is it any good?

Secret Societies: I did for a while after it came out. Owls of Minerva and the Sanguine Pact were pretty fun, but the other two were either too powerful or too weak. I really wanted Hermetic Order to work since the concept was interesting. I stopped using it and don't have a desire to go back unless they add more.

Tech and Civic Shuffle: Doesn't appeal to me.

Dramatic Ages: Only as Georgia. Once you play DA Georgia it's really hard to go back to the regular version. Regardless of which civ you play though, this is the most anxiety boosting mode in the game.

Heroes and Legends: Some of these were pretty fun! I liked the randomness of it too. Would like to see how Sumeria's new leader ability works in this so I should fire that up sometime.

Monopolies and Corporations: I found this interesting for a while but in the end haven't activated it recently. The massive gap between Currency and Economics sometimes made me forget I was even playing it.

Barbarian Clans: Tried it once and I will try it again. It seemed pretty fun.

Overall, I just don't use the modes that often - I like the normal game as is. I'm glad these modes exist though because it is nice to have the choice to spice things up once in a while.

 

[Navelgazer]

At this point, I like to use Secret Societies, Heroes, Dramatic Ages and Monopolies and Corporations. Honestly, it makes the game a bit silly - every new mechanic layered on is more that the AI can't handle very intelligently, and the AI seems particularly bad at taking advantage of Monopolies Mode, which is weird to me as it would seem to me to be the simplest one to program in for their behavior, but I'm sure there's a lot about that that I don't know.

The AI will go for Heroes, of course, but I'm not clear yet on how random their choices are, nor how actively they chase after them. Hercules and Sinbad are usually open for the taking in my games, when I'd expect them to be snapped up by anybody able to do so.

Similarly, I don't know whether the AI has a preference for certain Secret Societies, or just picks the first one offered, and has a perferance for certain actions that make them more likely to trigger one than another.

As for Dramatic Ages, I can totally see why some people wouldn't like it, but the rebelling cities around the globe, and greater stakes involved in keeping your score up, make it way too appealing to turn off.

 

[Futumch]

I quite like the Monopolies, Tech Shuffle, Barbarian Clans and Apocalypse modes. I'm not really a fan of the other modes (and truth be told Heroes and Legends interests me so little that I haven't even tried it).
Currently playing a game with Apocalypse, Clans and Monopolies on, and culture victory off. It's quite an enjoyable combination.

 

[Wellfooled]

As for Dramatic Ages, I can totally see why some people wouldn't like it, but the rebelling cities around the globe, and greater stakes involved in keeping your score up, make it way too appealing to turn off.

I really love the idea behind Dramatic Ages, but the problem I have is that the AI can't handle it well. In both games I completed with that mode, the AI's were completely decimated by it. They would frequently lose cities and never be able to get them back, which resulted in huge portions of their empires permanently lost to them. Sometimes entire Civs were consumed by the Free City's loyalty pressure. I don't think there was even a single Civ in my games that didn't have their legs cut out from underneath them because of this mechanic.

In this case, I wish I could apply the city rebelling portion of the game mode only to me and not to the AI as a way of giving myself an extra kind of challenge while not having to worry about it destroying my competition.

 

[InsidiousMage]

the problem I have is that the AI can't handle it well.

I feel like that is the fundamental problem with all of the game modes, the AI just can't properly deal with them. Speaking to the DA mode, the one time I used it two out of ten civs dead by the Medieval Era and like half of the continent I was on was just Free Cities, which is just unfun to play. The game modes have a lot of cool and interesting ideas that the AI just can't handle and therefore they often feel like cheating.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Except for Apocalypse (too situational within simulated "disasters" that inflict silly boost to an already adjustable feature with GS/Global Warming tricks ) & Dramatic Ages (minor impacts but still complex swapping Policy events that didn't really feel "dynamic" enough for me).. i always play with all others.

::Cross-Fingers:: ... they'll patch/fix the Monopolies+Tourism flaw(s) & other fine-tuning CS conversion steps (far too many and crazily rushed through Classical Era ending at most -- but a Mod properly came to my rescue!) for Barbarians Clans before (or very soon after) the whole NFP packs are finally fully released around the end of March or early April.

Once march update comes out I am thinking of putting all if them for a one game. It would be a fricken chaos!

--CHAOS-- truly is the perfect word for such a complex scramble of the "default" ruleset.
Gotta give much credits to Firaxis staff for stirring up those kind of innovative strikes over the proverbial Win/Lose Balance. It's ingeniously twisted for sure.

 

[Margaret I of Denmark]

My first post disappeared for some reason so i will repost. The first one can be deleted if it ends up being a double post.

I always use these modes in all my games, but only due to the fantastic efforts of some modders:
1) Secret Societies (with this mod https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2406253078 to fix AI and rebalance everything)
2) Tech and Civics Shuffle
3) Monopolies and Corporations (with this mod https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2408529837 to fix AI. And culture victory disabled of course. I might disable this if the tourism bug is not fixed soon)
4) Barbarian Clans (with these two mods to fix a bug and generally improve the mode https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2412130013 + https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2412920721)

Those modes (with those mods) feels like a natural part of the civ6 experience to me, without breaking the balance or AI. It's not perfect but what is?

I think i will like Dramatic ages if it got a few tweaks (hint hint modders), but right now im not using it. Heroes and Legends are fundamentally broken since AI cant use the heroes at all as documented in other threads, so i wont buy/use that. Apocalypse seems like a bit too low effort mode without much impact so i wont buy/use that.

 

[Peserwin]

I only use barbarians and sometimes tech shuffle. I don't use the others because the AI can't handle them. And I just don't like OP fantasy units like heroes, vampires and - God forbid - zombies

 

[Linklite]

Heroes and Legends are fundamentally broken since AI cant use the heroes at all as documented in other threads, so i wont buy/use that.

Ironically, from a military point of view, H&L is something that made it harder for me. For the first time, I got my ass handed to me while attacking with a well prepared army.

I had just conquered the Australiams and moved on to their neighbours, the Mayans. Their capital was first up, so I brought my troops to bear and slaughtered theirs. I was about to move my bombard into position when Arthur comes charging out. Before I realise that my advanced troops were barely even denting him, he had slaughtered half my army. I barely managed to get my bombard out (one had like 1hp left) and a single musketeer survived. I brought a second, larger and more advanced army...it survived but mostly because Arthur was playing defensively. I had to wait until his lifespan ran out, capturing the encircling cities, before I could tackle the capital.

That's the first time that an AI has managed to defeat me in battle, with the caveat that I'm only counting when my force was well prepared and looking to fight (I've been rushed or ambushed before, but I'm not counting those).

 

[aenima]

all except dramatic ages.

I played a lot with it, but i contantly go to military victory, since it's the best way i found to stay in golden age (with a religion, convert cities before taken them gives 3 points, or even 4 with taj mahal)

 

[Zegangani]

Ironically, from a military point of view, H&L is something that made it harder for me. For the first time, I got my ass handed to me while attacking with a well prepared army.

I had just conquered the Australiams and moved on to their neighbours, the Mayans. Their capital was first up, so I brought my troops to bear and slaughtered theirs. I was about to move my bombard into position when Arthur comes charging out. Before I realise that my advanced troops were barely even denting him, he had slaughtered half my army. I barely managed to get my bombard out (one had like 1hp left) and a single musketeer survived. I brought a second, larger and more advanced army...it survived but mostly because Arthur was playing defensively. I had to wait until his lifespan ran out, capturing the encircling cities, before I could tackle the capital.

That's the first time that an AI has managed to defeat me in battle, with the caveat that I'm only counting when my force was well prepared and looking to fight (I've been rushed or ambushed before, but I'm not counting those).

I had a similar experience with my Gauls against Grand Columbia (my first Time I used H&L Mode). I settled a City near Grand Columbia, and they really didn't like it, so they declared war and attacked that City and used also a Hero (can't remember who) for that purpose. I tried everything I could to get that City back but I failed every Time, and in the meantime they brought another Hero (Himiko), I even used a Hero (Sun Wukong) but he got beat up, but I didn't succeed till the Heros of Grand Columbia had run out of theyr Lifespans. It drived me Mad, because I wasted so much Time for that, And I Loved it! I really enjoyed it and it was a heck of a Fun.

Unfortunately, the AI seems to only use Heroes defensively and their Abilities not at all (tbt I didn't play much with this Mode to say for sure). And tbh, I like that, since their Unique actions are too OP and unrealistic (yeah, I know they are mystical/miraculous), they just need their Strength toned down a little bit (at least for some), and make them restricted to certain Eras only (Like Arthur in Medieval Only) but with a bit longer Lifespans.

 

[Margaret I of Denmark]

Ironically, from a military point of view, H&L is something that made it harder for me. For the first time, I got my ass handed to me while attacking with a well prepared army.

I had just conquered the Australiams and moved on to their neighbours, the Mayans. Their capital was first up, so I brought my troops to bear and slaughtered theirs. I was about to move my bombard into position when Arthur comes charging out. Before I realise that my advanced troops were barely even denting him, he had slaughtered half my army. I barely managed to get my bombard out (one had like 1hp left) and a single musketeer survived. I brought a second, larger and more advanced army...it survived but mostly because Arthur was playing defensively. I had to wait until his lifespan ran out, capturing the encircling cities, before I could tackle the capital.

That's the first time that an AI has managed to defeat me in battle, with the caveat that I'm only counting when my force was well prepared and looking to fight (I've been rushed or ambushed before, but I'm not counting those).

Interesting. Good to know that you got some fun out of it! I would like to use the mode as well but i dont want to support the development practice of releasing stuff the AI cant use. Just as a matter of principle.