When do you expect next patch fall and what could be it's priorities?

[Leyrann]

-stop making iron being rared than diamond

In my opinion strategic resources just need a re-think:

Horses: Ever heard of breeding? One resource of horses should be enough for your entire empire no matter what.
Iron: Literally the most abundant element in the earth's crust after oxygen (from oxides), silicon (from silicates) and aluminium, easy to process.
Aluminium: Literally the most abundant element in the earth's crust after oxygen and silicon, and before iron, easy to process once you have the required technology.
And the gunpowder resources ("niter") aren't too rare either... Arguably sulfur is the rarest (seriously, animal droppings are not rare, certainly if you have domesticated animals, so that's where you got your saltpeter) and well, sulfur is still more common than, say, nickel, zinc or copper. Let alone tin which is waaaaaaay down there in abundancy.

So yeah, coal, oil and uranium are the only strategic resources that make sense...

 

[acluewithout]

As I have said, I am categorically not going to get excited about another patch.

...

But if I were going to get excited (which I’m not), then these are three thoughts. First, the last patch, other than stuffing England, added a lot of good tweaks and polish. Second, the next patch would likely be in anticipation of the next expansion, so you’d expect it would be a good patch. Third, the patch before the last expansions was likewise very good, polishing religion a lot in particular.

All reasons to think the next patch could be very good (other than I assuming nerfing England again - maybe their naval units still get +1 movement but only on land? Or maybe Redcoats only get +10 if on a foreign continent and standing in a RND and only if you’re fighting georgia?).

 

[Hakan-i Cihan]

In my opinion strategic resources just need a re-think:

Horses: Ever heard of breeding? One resource of horses should be enough for your entire empire no matter what.
Iron: Literally the most abundant element in the earth's crust after oxygen (from oxides), silicon (from silicates) and aluminium, easy to process.
Aluminium: Literally the most abundant element in the earth's crust after oxygen and silicon, and before iron, easy to process once you have the required technology.
And the gunpowder resources ("niter") aren't too rare either... Arguably sulfur is the rarest (seriously, animal droppings are not rare, certainly if you have domesticated animals, so that's where you got your saltpeter) and well, sulfur is still more common than, say, nickel, zinc or copper. Let alone tin which is waaaaaaay down there in abundancy.

So yeah, coal, oil and uranium are the only strategic resources that make sense...

We have had several approaches for strategic resources from civ 3 up to civ 6. All of them restricted the access to strategic resources for some (strong) units. This mostly had a negative impact on the AI having than on the players.

So together with the facts you present another approach should be better for a more competitive AI too. Instead of penalizing (AI) players to not having access to (some) of the strategic resources, give bonuses for having them.

Bonuses could be substantial production bonus (less purchase cost in faith or gold) for units requiring these resources, or less upkeep, or combined with one of the previous give some extra strength to those units. In case of upgrading units which require strategic resource, upgrade should cost substantially less if the player has access to the resource.

Probably others could think of even better bonuses or solutions. But unfortunatly such a rework would not come in a patch, probably not in an expansion either but we could hope for it.

 

[Duuk]

So together with the facts you present another approach should be better for a more competitive AI too. Instead of penalizing (AI) players to not having access to (some) of the strategic resources, give bonuses for having them.

I have always preferred this approach to resources instead of the Civ style of "oh well you're screwed."

On a planet-sized game, it is literally not possible that any nation-state would not have access to ANY of a strategic resource that would prevent them from creating a unit. Now, from running them efficiently or for extended operations, YES (see also: rubber, Germany).

I'd much prefer if the base build time of iron-required units was increased by 50%, the iron requirement was removed, and a production bonus of "+100% build speed with iron" was added (yes, this would reduce the actual build speed by about 25%, but I think most units take too long anyway ). I'd do the same with oil and coal etc.

 

[acluewithout]

I think whatever the current strategic resource system loses on realism it gains more from simplicity and strategy.

 

[AvianBritish]

I think whatever the current strategic resource system loses on realism it gains more from simplicity and strategy.

Indeed. In multiple games when fighting foes who harness Swordsmen, Musketmen, Cavalry and other resource-required units; if I see where they are getting their Iron, Niter or Horses, I will strike and pillage those plots, and then make sure they cannot heal those units traditionally without having to trade for it.

 

[Ferocitus]

Aluminium: Literally the most abundant element in the earth's crust after oxygen and silicon, and before iron, easy to process once you have the required technology.

Huh? Aluminium might be very abundant but it is definitely not easy to extract
economically, except from very specific minerals like bauxite.

I tend to think of many resources more broadly than the icons given to
represent them on the map. For example...
Your "Aluminium" is my "exotic metals", including titanium, hafnium etc.
Your "Diamonds" are my "precious and semi-precious gemstones".
YMMV on whether that makes resources in Civ simpler to comprehend or not.
Not that I really care, because everyone has a different narrative going on in
their head, i.e. where the game really takes place.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

Put an end to the overflow exploit. I'd like to engage in some multiplayer, but dislike overflow, utterly refuse to plan my production/warring schedule around it, and am 100% positive the other people in MP will. So I play vs. the AI.

 

[Leyrann]

Huh? Aluminium might be very abundant but it is definitely not easy to extract
economically, except from very specific minerals like bauxite.

It's easy to extract once you have access to the proper technology. That's why aluminium was more expensive than gold for a very long time and is (relatively) extremely cheap now.

 

[Tuvok694]

My biggest hope for a possible patch: Prevent the AI immediately conquering every single city state it can reach. I want to play WITH city states, losing them so quickly every time is less fun.

 

[Ferocitus]

It's easy to extract once you have access to the proper technology. That's why aluminium was more expensive than gold for a very long time and is (relatively) extremely cheap now.

But you can't extract it from all of the available minerals economically.
Cheap electricity makes it so for bauxite, but there is no tech available
with which we can do it with the majority of aluminium locked up in
other minerals.

 

[Timothy001]

As stated in another thread, I'm tracking the randomly assigned Player, AI, and City States. In 5 of the 9 games I've started, at least 1, and sometimes 2 City States are conquered before I meet them. I've had to check city names to discover who was conquered. In one of the games, Geneva was captured by an AI, Liberated by me, and destroyed by Toronto a few turns later. I think city states are still to fragile early on in the game.

 

[Leyrann]

But you can't extract it from all of the available minerals economically.
Cheap electricity makes it so for bauxite, but there is no tech available
with which we can do it with the majority of aluminium locked up in
other minerals.

Even then the sheer amount of aluminium you can find in daily life shows that it's quite abundant.

 

[Ferocitus]

Even then the sheer amount of aluminium you can find in daily life shows that it's quite abundant.

Nobody is arguing that it is not an abundant element. It is.

I'm saying that what you claim, i.e. "with the right tech..." is wrong. There is
no tech available to extract Al economically from anything except minerals like
bauxite, which is the main source of aluminium for use in products we use.

Bauxite is mainly forms of hydroxides of Al, and they are far, far easier for Al
extraction than oxides, sulphates and many other Al compounds which are, by
a large margin, most of the ways Al is found in the world. Triple bonds can be a
real pig to break, which is why, for example, the Al oxide skin that forms
almost immediately on exposure of pure Al to air protects the purer Al
underneath that skin so well. Aluminium sulphates are not an easy path to
pure Al either. (And I'd rule out using rubies, sapphires, beryls and the rarer
forms!)

Sure, there is a lot of Al in products all around us, but the difficulty of
extraction is the main reason why Al is a such a sensible metal to recycle. It's
a lot cheaper to melt down and re-use than mine and use huge amounts of
electricity to split bauxite.

Saying that Al should not be in isolated deposits in Civ, which is what I think
you are implying is wrong. I'm happy to be corrected if I have misinterpreted
what you were angling at.

 

[Flaxton]

-give walls to citystates. (so incorporate the mod)
- more diplomatic options to counter the AI when thy attack your city states, even when you are allies
-stop making iron being rared than diamond

I don't think I ever get iron, horses yes, but never iron. Across a wide range of civ's.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

In my opinion strategic resources just need a re-think:

Horses: Ever heard of breeding? One resource of horses should be enough for your entire empire no matter what.
Iron: Literally the most abundant element in the earth's crust after oxygen (from oxides), silicon (from silicates) and aluminium, easy to process.

I just took that as why later units didn't need it. The "Iron Resource" in the game I figured just meant the iron that was easy to recognize and use.

A Horse resource (or cattle or pigs or wheat or most of the plantation resources for that matter) existing as a spot on the map doesn't really make much sense from a RL perspective. The whole reason why horses are useful in the first place is that you can gather them up and take them where you need them to be.

 

[Timothy001]

@Eagle Pursuit
Has there been any further updates?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

@Eagle Pursuit
Has there been any further updates?

Only Linux stuff and random undocumented changes. Nothing revealing.

 

[Kruos]

I don't think I ever get iron, horses yes, but never iron. Across a wide range of civ's.

Then your game is probably seriously bugged. Never seen something like that in more than 500hrs.

Check your mods. Or maybe you are playing with very special settings (which diminish Iron occurence)?

 

[Flaxton]

Then your game is probably seriously bugged. Never seen something like that in more than 500hrs.

Check your mods. Or maybe you are playing with very special settings (which diminish Iron occurence)?

I tend to play modless, never have the game crash etc. Must just be unlucky, or the turtles eat iron?