With the first modern age reveals just around the corner what is your big wish / hope?

[Boris Gudenuf]

I like Militaristic France. They were the most militarised country in Western Europe for most of their existence and pretty much the universal antagonist to all of the neighbouring empires.

If anything Militaristic France is a take on France that is long overdue (in both its chivalrous Charlemagne + Normans form, and it's imperialistic Napoleon + French Empire form). I hope we see more of those twisty designs across the European Civs, like an agricultural Russia, a scientific Netherlands or a cultural Britain.

There's a very good reason why military terminology in English, German and Russian include a lot of French words: the French used all the military terminology first. Between 1650 and 1800 French armies invaded Germany 150 times. The 'aggressive' Germans since then haven't even made it to parity with their 'cultured' French neighbors.

To do it right, though, France would almost have to be geared towards the first half of the Modern Age: 19th century cavalry, the superb French artillery that led the way technologically right up to WWI - French WWII tanks are best described as 'quaint' - would make great graphics, but the characteristics would have to be, shall we say, 'interpreted' to make them useful in-game.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

I just wanted Le bon roi Henri IV. (In general I hope we get a random pool in Civ7 much sooner than in Civ6 because the current assortment of warmongers sounds miserable to play with; I'll probably permaban Amina unless I'm playing as someone with a cold start bias.)

My thoughts about modern age are related to this...

With the age split, you can now fall behind a bit in the first 2 ages and not worry because you could set yourself up to smash the last age.

However, if you've fallen further behind and don't think you can be competitive, or if that becomes clear early in the modern, you could pivot to basically wartime economy and try to smash those ahead of you or possibly everyon, and on a par technologically because of the age reset. I could see every game potentially ending world war style if the AI is programmed this way.

I think it has to be to fix the endgame boredom bit, otherwise you created more data points about the player speeding ahead, but the player is still speeding ahead. The AI needs to interpret that info and do something about it, and I think that thing is war. I have a feeling that's why we have more warmongers than expected too - the end of the game becomes interesting by forcing you away from your peaceful winning strategy into a defensive last gasp to fend off those trying to thwart you.

 

[Black Gate]

I hope domination isn't just the military victory. Because honestly, conquering your neighbours is the best option for every victory condition, so it should fall in a similar position for domination (of being assistive, but not necessary) as well. The closest the real world has gotten to a military victory was one military alliance conquering another and then establishing the world diplomatic order, for the most part, for the next century. An interplay between alliance and war (especially when so far it's been possible in the other ages to win just by settling a lot) would be far more interesting.

 

[Verified_Confection_Being]

I hope domination isn't just the military victory. Because honestly, conquering your neighbours is the best option for every victory condition, so it should fall in a similar position for domination (of being assistive, but not necessary) as well. The closest the real world has gotten to a military victory was one military alliance conquering another and then establishing the world diplomatic order, for the most part, for the next century. An interplay between alliance and war (especially when so far it's been possible in the other ages to win just by settling a lot) would be far more interesting.

I hope there's something more to military victories too, or maybe they pivot to become "expansion" victories?

But you will still win by default by being the last man standing, and give yourself the biggest leg up by crippling those ahead of you.

The tech reset each era is going to flatten the military differences resulting from peacetime more than in any other game, so militaristic activity in Civ 7 is going to be more viable and competetive late game than in any previous iteration in the series. I expect to see it more often as a consequence, not least because the AI won't feel so disadvantaged.

 

[anemo]

There's a good amount of evidence that there will be some in-depth mechanics tied to resources, from references to units requiring them in Modern to UI implying manufacturing of them and even the apparent importance of factories (getting them cheaper is a whole Town specialization.) My one hope is that there's a major mechanic that ISN'T that to go along with it, similar to how there's an Economic mechanic and a Cultural mechanic in Exploration (Treasure Fleets and Religion.) Ideology seems a popular idea, but I'd also be interested in how an Archeology or Tourism system would interact with the whole "history built in layers" mechanic. The idea of cultural dominance as a win condition is so fascinating to me, and I think the Civ game focused on the development of cultures throughout history should play around with it a bit more. How would archeology interact with Overbuilding? Would unique Quarters and Tile Improvements drive additional tourism? Then again, the game is designed for the Ages to work as individual games, so mechanics tied to the fact that you've played multiple Ages might not work...

Maybe one way that archaeology interacts with overbuilding is that you can choose to not overbuild a tile and make it an inside city permanent archaeological site.

 

[j51]

Maybe one way that archaeology interacts with overbuilding is that you can choose to not overbuild a tile and make it an inside city permanent archaeological site.

That would be cool

 

[moondog385]

Some kind of colonial breakaway mechanic would be cool, where some of your own cities — if you don’t look after them well enough — have a chance to become independent people.

Big global alliances would make sense to have, whether they be trade or military oriented. I think you should be incentivized to form partnerships with other civs in the Modern Age.

No countries that formed in the 20th century preferably.

 

[Deggial]

I'm betting archaeology is in. Beach added it to Civ5 in BNW, and he launched Civ6 with it. It seems to be a thing he really likes. (I like it, too, in theory, but I wouldn't mind seeing it streamlined a little.)

With the whole "history is built in layers" thing going on, I'd be very surprised if we didn't get archaeology. (Probably linked to Cultural Victory (*doh!*), using the reliquary slot system we already know about).
I bet we will be able to excavate sites in our cities and find artifacts from our own ancestral cultures from age one and two.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

1. As far as military victories go, I'm thinking they could combine it with ideological alliances. That is maybe if you conquer the capitals of other civilizations who have different ideologies you will win.

2. I'm sure science victory would roughly stay the same, as far as launching space satellite, moon landing, and space colonization etc.

3. I expect tourism to return as the culture victory. Relics still might play a small part, but I think the new emphasis will be on other types of writing, art, music and archaeology like in previous games.

4. For the new economic victory, I expect corporations to return.

 

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

With the whole "history is built in layers" thing going on, I'd be very surprised if we didn't get archaeology. (Probably linked to Cultural Victory (*doh!*), using the reliquary slot system we already know about).
I bet we will be able to excavate sites in our cities and find artifacts from our own ancestral cultures from age one and two.

This would be super cool, but we do have to keep in mind that the Ages are able to be played individually: you can set up an advanced start with no regional predecessor. As such, I’m not too certain that any mechanics dependent on the presence of previous civs, as interesting and thematic as they would be, will be present.

 

[Deggial]

This would be super cool, but we do have to keep in mind that the Ages are able to be played individually: you can set up an advanced start with no regional predecessor. As such, I’m not too certain that any mechanics dependent on the presence of previous civs, as interesting and thematic as they would be, will be present.

You have point there. To be honest, I hadn't thought about the advanced start possibility.
But it's not an insurmountable problem.
If there isn't a "real" predecessor, nobody is stopping the game from "making one up". Especially as the AI will have preferred civ paths to follow. Why not just imply that the player followed one of them?

 

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

You have point there. To be honest, I hadn't thought about the advanced start possibility.
But it's not an insurmountable problem.
If there isn't a "real" predecessor, nobody is stopping the game from "making one up". Especially as the AI will have preferred civ paths to follow. Why not just imply that the player followed one of them?

It does raise quite a few questions, though. Do you get the traditions, too? Are there unique tile improvements or quarters scattered around? If I had to make a guess in favor of an archeology system like that (which I will, because I’d really like one) it would be that, in the case of advanced start, generic artifacts or antiquity sites or whatever the system requires are generated, and referred to as from simply “Antiquity [modern civ]” or “Exploration [modern civ]”

 

[Nikolai II]

The First World War put an end to the last time modern Westerners have had a remotely palatable sense of aesthetics so offense is duly intended. (That being said, the convoluted mess that is the start of WW1 is actually kind of interesting--especially since post-WW2 a lot of it has gotten glossed over as "Germany did it," which is obviously the cause of the second war but much more dubious of the first, where there's lots of blame to go around.)

As a Middle East historian, post ww2 ME is extremely interesting.

 

[The_goggles_do_nothing]

Don’t you choose predecessor civs on advanced starts?

 

[TheGhostEnthusiast]

Don’t you choose predecessor civs on advanced starts?

From what we saw in the Shawnee stream, no.

 

[Zaarin]

As a Middle East historian, post ww2 ME is extremely interesting.

If you enjoy the history of postcolonial chaos and ideological mania, sure.

 

[Krikkit1]

If you enjoy the history of postcolonial chaos and ideological mania, sure.

Enjoy =\= interesting

 

[Zaarin]

Enjoy =\= interesting

Interesting is subjective. Just because there are many things happening does not mean one will find them interesting.

 

[Citron]

Some kind of colonial breakaway mechanic would be cool, where some of your own cities — if you don’t look after them well enough — have a chance to become independent people.

People always rebelled from bigger countries so why only have it in the modern age?

 

[NickTheGreek!]

I would like to see a progressively increasing cost of using fossil fuel for industry and energy (that is at some point impossible to maintain/continue using) and a couple of realistic alternative paths (each with its own pros/cons) for the player to choose for its Civ to adopt in order to continue being an industrialised nation (a failure would lead to losing your industrial bonuses like electricity bonuses/ extra production/amenities). In other words something related to our current very real predicament(fossil fuel is a finite resource and we are currently very much addicted to it) as a species, with meaningful and interesting alternative outcomes(not just pollution=bad so spamm solar panels and wind turbines).