Biologist
Emperor
None of this is to ignore things that still need fixing, but I wanted to take a second to list some of the things keeping me hooked on Civ 7 currently.
First off, the incredible attention to detail in many of the unit animations and models. It feels like I'm looking at someone's painted miniatures come to life and I sometimes stop for minutes at a time just to watch all the little details of soldiers patching up after a battle or digging fortifications. A pitched battle between two large armies or navies almost has a cinematic feel when I zoom in. It's a trivial detail, but I was blown away when I zoomed in and noticed that all of my dozen Prussian landships (I was playing as Charlemagne, he gets those things like they're candy at a post-Valentine's Day sale) had unique numbers painted on the sides. Clearly a lot of love out into the unit and map visuals.
Second, I'm really enjoying trying different leaders and seeing how to get the most out of them with interesting civ combinations. Sometimes I find things I didn't expect. Playing on Sovereign difficulty, Standard speed and map size, so far I feel like ibn Battuta is actually one of the best science leaders, simply because all those Wildcard points can be used to unlock the repeating science bonus. By the end of my game with him, I had +35% to total science income from attribute points alone and another +15% from suzerainty bonuses, plus getting constant boosts to science from overbuilding or building naval and air units as Meiji Japan.
Speaking of air units, it took me a little bit to figure out exactly how they work now, but once I did I immediately liked them. The ability to use commanders to set up a land-based airstrip that's not tied to your cities is great. Abilities like coordinated carpet bombing are also really powerful and satisfying to use. Air combat animations feel so much smoother and don't take an eternity to finish. In 5 & 6, air combat was a primary reason for me turning off combat animations. I don't feel the need to turn off combat animations in 7, ever. The fact that each combat doesn't hijack the camera for up to a minute or more is such a fantastic quality of life change.
First off, the incredible attention to detail in many of the unit animations and models. It feels like I'm looking at someone's painted miniatures come to life and I sometimes stop for minutes at a time just to watch all the little details of soldiers patching up after a battle or digging fortifications. A pitched battle between two large armies or navies almost has a cinematic feel when I zoom in. It's a trivial detail, but I was blown away when I zoomed in and noticed that all of my dozen Prussian landships (I was playing as Charlemagne, he gets those things like they're candy at a post-Valentine's Day sale) had unique numbers painted on the sides. Clearly a lot of love out into the unit and map visuals.
Second, I'm really enjoying trying different leaders and seeing how to get the most out of them with interesting civ combinations. Sometimes I find things I didn't expect. Playing on Sovereign difficulty, Standard speed and map size, so far I feel like ibn Battuta is actually one of the best science leaders, simply because all those Wildcard points can be used to unlock the repeating science bonus. By the end of my game with him, I had +35% to total science income from attribute points alone and another +15% from suzerainty bonuses, plus getting constant boosts to science from overbuilding or building naval and air units as Meiji Japan.
Speaking of air units, it took me a little bit to figure out exactly how they work now, but once I did I immediately liked them. The ability to use commanders to set up a land-based airstrip that's not tied to your cities is great. Abilities like coordinated carpet bombing are also really powerful and satisfying to use. Air combat animations feel so much smoother and don't take an eternity to finish. In 5 & 6, air combat was a primary reason for me turning off combat animations. I don't feel the need to turn off combat animations in 7, ever. The fact that each combat doesn't hijack the camera for up to a minute or more is such a fantastic quality of life change.
