I think this second addon is bad (at least for multiplayer). I cant really understand where the people that give it 10/10 etc are coming from. Here is why i think its bad:
1. Issues with stability and crashes remain the same, game freezes etc are the same as in G&K. Multiplayer Lobby and Options have been improved, but actually only very minor changes compared to what we should have been getting.
2. G&K added Religion and Espionage, which both where completely new mechanics that gave the game more depth. BNW did not add any meaningful mechanics. Caravans dont add anything to the game at all for multiplayer. They are just your +gold or +food now and as a mechanic offer next to no depth for the game.
3. World Congress: World Congress is the only halfway descent feature, but unfortunately it made all multiplayer games exept for FFA games unplayable. Whoever gets to it first (alone or as a team) has automatically won the game since they can select themselves as World Leaders which cannot be stopped by the other player/team. Compare that go G&K, where you would have to build the united nations, but couldnt vote for yourself, which made it a non option in 1vs1/team games etc, but atleast it wasnt broken.
4. almost no new Units: G&K revamped the combat a big deal and added nice new units. BNW did nothing. IT feels like barely anything changed. And its not like there was no room for new units, there was PLENTY of room for new units and Unit strenght reworks which could have improved the balance and add more depth to the game.
5. No revamp of tech tree: G&K revamped the tech tree a good deal, while BNW revamped almost nothing. And in some cases revamps were really needed.
6. Culture victory got even worse for multiplayer: in G&K other players couldnt stop your culture victory easily, they had to fight you over it. With BNW the problem is Tourism is fighting vs Culture. Tourism should be fighting vs Tourism. The way it currently is in multiplayer, the mechanic is absolutely ignorable and useless.
7. No Balance adjustments: Neither the ranged vs melee, nor the Civs, nor the broken Wonders, nor the underpowered useless ones got any fixes. Nothing got any fixes. Half the Civs are still useless, the top 10% are still miles ahead of all others. Spain is still broken, The great wall is still ******ed etc etc.
8. Social policies are still as dumb as ever later in the game. While the early game is now somewhat fixed, the later social policy trees still suffer from the same problem as they did in G&K. No point getting more culture than to finish 1 tree since the later trees offer so little its not worth spending any production on culture buildings. This approach was actually made even more viable now that you get free policies when you choose an ideologie.
So for Multiplayer ,why is it good? No new units, no new techs, Civ balance as bad as always, Culture even worse, Civs and Tech tree as unbalanced as ever, Caravans add no depth, World Congress is broken. Netcode and stability as bad as always. Why is BNW good? Because of pitboss? thats not a BNW feature, it was promised for launch.
Am i missing something? G&K was really a nice addon and it rekindled my love for Civ5 in Multiplayer a big deal, but with BNW i already have no interest in playing anymore because it feels like absolutely nothing changed. We bought it with 4 people, played it once and havent touched it since, its just not interesting at all.
1. Issues with stability and crashes remain the same, game freezes etc are the same as in G&K. Multiplayer Lobby and Options have been improved, but actually only very minor changes compared to what we should have been getting.
2. G&K added Religion and Espionage, which both where completely new mechanics that gave the game more depth. BNW did not add any meaningful mechanics. Caravans dont add anything to the game at all for multiplayer. They are just your +gold or +food now and as a mechanic offer next to no depth for the game.
3. World Congress: World Congress is the only halfway descent feature, but unfortunately it made all multiplayer games exept for FFA games unplayable. Whoever gets to it first (alone or as a team) has automatically won the game since they can select themselves as World Leaders which cannot be stopped by the other player/team. Compare that go G&K, where you would have to build the united nations, but couldnt vote for yourself, which made it a non option in 1vs1/team games etc, but atleast it wasnt broken.
4. almost no new Units: G&K revamped the combat a big deal and added nice new units. BNW did nothing. IT feels like barely anything changed. And its not like there was no room for new units, there was PLENTY of room for new units and Unit strenght reworks which could have improved the balance and add more depth to the game.
5. No revamp of tech tree: G&K revamped the tech tree a good deal, while BNW revamped almost nothing. And in some cases revamps were really needed.
6. Culture victory got even worse for multiplayer: in G&K other players couldnt stop your culture victory easily, they had to fight you over it. With BNW the problem is Tourism is fighting vs Culture. Tourism should be fighting vs Tourism. The way it currently is in multiplayer, the mechanic is absolutely ignorable and useless.
7. No Balance adjustments: Neither the ranged vs melee, nor the Civs, nor the broken Wonders, nor the underpowered useless ones got any fixes. Nothing got any fixes. Half the Civs are still useless, the top 10% are still miles ahead of all others. Spain is still broken, The great wall is still ******ed etc etc.
8. Social policies are still as dumb as ever later in the game. While the early game is now somewhat fixed, the later social policy trees still suffer from the same problem as they did in G&K. No point getting more culture than to finish 1 tree since the later trees offer so little its not worth spending any production on culture buildings. This approach was actually made even more viable now that you get free policies when you choose an ideologie.
So for Multiplayer ,why is it good? No new units, no new techs, Civ balance as bad as always, Culture even worse, Civs and Tech tree as unbalanced as ever, Caravans add no depth, World Congress is broken. Netcode and stability as bad as always. Why is BNW good? Because of pitboss? thats not a BNW feature, it was promised for launch.
Am i missing something? G&K was really a nice addon and it rekindled my love for Civ5 in Multiplayer a big deal, but with BNW i already have no interest in playing anymore because it feels like absolutely nothing changed. We bought it with 4 people, played it once and havent touched it since, its just not interesting at all.
