Why Even Build?

[Albertan Civfanatic]

Since you lose the bulk of your military units and buildings when you transition into a new era, why even build many of those buildings and units in the first place? Having lost most of my men and buildings, I had this huge feeling of deflation hit me when the Exploration Age began, like everything I had worked for in the previous age was for nothing.

 

[bumpyglint]

Because if you don't build you won't have legacies point, that are necessary to win the last age

 

[Ornen]

Because if you don't build you won't have legacies point, that are necessary to win the last age

to an extent. but once you’re midway through an age, there is very little incentive to build anything that does not directly contribute to your legacy/victory condition. and most buildings do not contribute to it

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

It all feels so...forced....

 

[wesplaysciv]

When I looked at the detailed yields the old buildings still had the same yield? Eg library at 2 science. I thought it was supposed to decline. Anyway the buildings still provide yields.

But really you have ongoing production so you have to use it somehow. Same question could be asked about science, culture, gold etc.

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

If military and buildings get eviscerated because of the so called "change of time", ie the rise and fall of civilizations, why isn't there a corresponding degradation of map knowledge and just utter descent of cities and town into utter ruin, aka Pompeii? I guess I'm just spotting all the inconsistencies and finding more forced components in the game now.

 

[wesplaysciv]

Wouldn’t that make you even more deflated? Likely they needed to strike a balance and decided cities converting to towns was where that balance was.

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

Wouldn’t that make you even more deflated? Likely they needed to strike a balance and decided cities converting to towns was where that balance was.

It would, but the loss of those resources I mentioned seems to beg the question.

 

[TheGrayFox]

Wouldn’t that make you even more deflated? Likely they needed to strike a balance and decided cities converting to towns was where that balance was.

they didn't need to do anything of the sort

we've had 6 civ games up until now where the game wasn't split into three distinct short rounds and 6 games where there wasn't an incredibly heavy handedly rubber banding back to the starting line between rounds.

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

It's an interesting question. Have you tried not building anything (except say scouts), to see what happens?

 

[wesplaysciv]

they didn't need to do anything of the sort

we've had 6 civ games up until now where the game wasn't split into three distinct short rounds and 6 games where there wasn't an incredibly heavy handedly rubber banding back to the starting line between rounds.

Fair enough, I was thinking more in terms of how they could have made these age separations. But of course they could have chosen for it to flow more continuously.

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

It's an interesting question. Have you tried not building anything (except say scouts), to see what happens?

Lol that would be interesting, wouldn't it?

 

[pmarc]

Ages are not that short though. In previous versions the game was often decided by turn 200 on standard speed.

 

[Ornen]

to elaborate a little further — in my playthrough, I basically didn’t have to build science buildings after Antiquity because I was already zipping through the tech tree. I’m sure there’s a balance issue in there, but there’s also a fundamental point: why build when it’s just going away in 50 or 60 turns? not worth the production

this logic has always been in play in the Civ games, except now instead of applying just to the endgame, it applies to like 40% of the game

 

[bumpyglint]

to an extent. but once you’re midway through an age, there is very little incentive to build anything that does not directly contribute to your legacy/victory condition. and most buildings do not contribute to it

Considering how exponential the yield is I definitely think that "midway" can still be a good moment to build. Obviously you should always build something usefull for your legacy path (directly or not).
It would be nice to see if stopping building from half of the age would have any impact on the game

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

Lol that would be interesting, wouldn't it?

For science!

These sorts of funny experiments can definitely help you (and others!) understand the game better, and therefore potential strategies.

 

[AD1730]

This is the kind of thing that makes me feel that the ages mechanic is even more egregious than the civ switching one for me. I could maybe get past civ switching if everything else in the game was to my liking. However, I can't say the same of the ages mechanic. It seems to poison every system in the game.

 

[Gen.Washington]

I get what you're saying, but you keep all military units that can fit in cities and generals. I've never lost the bulk of my units as units without a general and outside of a city seem kinda useless anyways.

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

I get what you're saying, but you keep all military units that can fit in cities and generals. I've never lost the bulk of my units as units without a general and outside of a city seem kinda useless anyways.

I lost all my units inside a generals stack.

 

[TheGrayFox]

e kind of thing that makes me feel that the ages mechanic is even more egregious than the civ switching one for me. I could maybe get past civ switching if everything else in the game was to my liking. However, I can't say the same of the ages mechanic. It seems to poison every system in the game.

I've stood firm that Ages were a worse idea than civ swapping since day 1. Civ swapping is so grating because they designed it poorly and with no concern for historical flavoring/role play immersion for those who care about that. They could've actually designed swapping in a way that satistified most fans where as ages actually actively ruins the entire civ experience (for me anyway). Poison is such an apt analogy.