[NFP] Zombie Defense Mode Discussion

[Wielki Hegemon]

The concept of the in-game "Zombies" seems to be a nod to historical beliefs of the "undead", which is very common and quite based in a lot of cultures. I'm just not sure why the devs would name them "Zombies"* as I don't see anything related to some Haitian virus in the video.
.

The fact some people believe in something doesn't mean the next day it shows on the street

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Do you take suggestions? Any chance invisible traps could be given to Skirmishers? I wouldn't mind the extra incentive to upgrade my scouts. And it would go pretty well with Sailor Cat's Watchtower improvement.

SC would probably get to it long before I would. I haven't even updated my own mods since December, and probably won't until after the April update. So it's going to be an incredible month-long slog after that before I start working on anything new.

 

[James_Champagne]

well I'm on the fence, I plan to at least try it before I judge...

 

[Pietato]

This looks hilarious. Cannot wait until my zombies are eating the brains of ancient America or destroying Aztec tanks while people whine about history.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

well I'm on the fence, I plan to at least try it before I judge...

Just don't get stuck on the palisade.

 

[Pietato]

Can they cross water?

 

[Linklite]

Can they cross water?

You're thinking of vampires...

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

You're thinking of vampires...

Except if it's holy water.

 

[Manol0]

This looks hilarious. Cannot wait until my zombies are eating the brains of ancient America or destroying Aztec tanks while people whine about history.

You compare 2 completely different things. Having Aztecs in modern era and Americans in ancient is an alternative historical based scenario like what if the civilization of Aztecs had survived to modern era or what if Americans were a nation since ancient; which is the concept of Civ series after all. But having zombies and vampires fighting real life units ; heroes like King Arthur fighting tanks with his knights etc belong completely to the sphere of fantasy and they shouldnt be part of an alternative historical based game. It would be better to make a separate fantasy title as they did for "Beyond earth" and just leave the historical title pure.
In conclusion "Alternative history" and "fantasy" are 2 completely different genres

 

[Albertan Civfanatic]

I think the NFP has run its course. It's now time to consolidate the years worth of material and bug fix, patch and improve existing systems.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

This is definitely the mode I am least interested in trying out. Shame, I was hoping in their last update that they'd do for Tourism or Religion what they did for economics in the Corporations Mode, or for Barbarians in the Barbarian Clans mode. Missed opportunity.

 

[acluewithout]

The more I think about, the more I think Zombies could be really good.

Look, all this vampire comets zombie Cthulhu stuff in Civ isn’t really my jam. I play England Small Continents like 95% of my games. But I’m happy to have the option to play something in a different gear, and vampire comets zombie Cthulhu stuff is fine for that. Indeed, I was pretty keen to get a Zombie Mode simply because, if we are going to have vampires comets and Cthulhu, them yeah I want zombies too.
But leaving that sort of “genre” stuff aside, I think there are two other things to consider.

First, I think some of the game modes are more about how you mix and match them with other game modes. Personally, I think the Zombie mode might work really well with some other modes. Apocalypse is an obvious one, given they sort of fit thematically, but also they both have mechanics for messing with other Civs (soothsayer and turn undead). I think Dark Ages and Zombies could also be another good combo.

Second, Zombie could have a good game loop. If the balance is right, linking zombies to killing units could make for some interesting stuff. eg suddenly Barbarian swarms are extra dangerous, because you have to kill everyone twice - once as barbs and a second time as zombies. Wars could also be interesting, where killing lots of enemy units, or having your units killed, could easily result in uncontrollable zombie outbreaks. Who knows, maybe exploration could get interesting, where you find islands or continents teeming with zombies.

I really think people are being a bit glass half empty. Yeah, I wish we’d got different stuff in NFP and this last dlc. I’m pretty happy with corporations, but was really wanting ideology etc type stuff. But I think what we’ve got is potentially pretty cool, even if a bit niche, and there’s really no reason other stuff people are more interested in might not appear in a future season pass or dlc. I mean, FXS haven’t promised or even really hinted at more dlc etc., and anything could or could not happen, but NFP seems it has mostly been a success by in terms of sales, people are still interested in Civ, and FXS have been really good delivering content for this 2016 game, so do we really think FXS is just going to go “yeah, ok, we done”. Pfft. Seems unlikely to me.

Which reminds me. What has Ed been doing lately?

Anyway. I, for one, welcome our new Zombie overlords. I think it’s worth giving this mode a go before everyone casts to much shade on it.

 

[Pietato]

You compare 2 completely different things. Having Aztecs in modern era and Americans in ancient is an alternative historical based scenario like what if the civilization of Aztecs had survived to modern era or what if Americans were a nation since ancient; which is the concept of Civ series after all. But having zombies and vampires fighting real life units ; heroes like King Arthur fighting tanks with his knights etc belong completely to the sphere of fantasy and they shouldnt be part of an alternative historical based game. It would be better to make a separate fantasy title as they did for "Beyond earth" and just leave the historical title pure.
In conclusion "Alternative history" and "fantasy" are 2 completely different genres

The US in the ancient era is far more fantasy than zombies.

 

[TreVor_ish]

The US in the ancient era is far more fantasy than zombies.

Same as Hammurabi in year 2k, but that's the level of abstract civ games where always based on. Adding things like zombies in this matter is another story.

 

[Abaxial]

I'm getting the feeling that the devs would rather be working on a fantasy game, but have been put onto Civ VI instead.

 

[Deggial]

This all might have been our own “fault”!

Do you guys remember the survey before the NFP launched?
‘SciFi’ or ‘Fantasy’ was one of the questions, IIRC.

Personally, I answered ‘Fantasy’, because I assumed the question was related to a stand-alone Civ6 spin-off and I still would prefer a new MoM rather than a BE 2.
And I assume, many answered the question with the same in mind.

But what, if this question never was asked in regard to a spin-off?
What, if it always was meant to fathom the options for the NFP?

Did “we” reject more or less scientific futuristic units (XCOM-style) and undeliberately voted for zombies?
Are vampires and ley lines a consequence of a misinterpreted survey?

 

[Gedemon]

This all might have been our own “fault”!

Do you guys remember the survey before the NFP launched?
‘SciFi’ or ‘Fantasy’ was one of the questions, IIRC.

Personally, I answered ‘Fantasy’, because I assumed the question was related to a stand-alone Civ6 spin-off and I still would prefer a new MoM rather than a BE 2.
And I assume, many answered the question with the same in mind.

But what, if this question never was asked in regard to a spin-off?
What, if it always was meant to fathom the options for the NFP?

Did “we” reject more or less scientific futuristic units (XCOM-style) and undeliberately voted for zombies?
Are vampires and ley lines a consequence of a misinterpreted survey?

I don't blame myself, I've answered "customization" (aka modding) to almost every questions, unless it was AI related

But as it seems they've decided to do the exact opposite of what I'd like for the game since the start, ok, maybe it's my fault for the Zombies and Vampires, because of course I chose "SciFi" for that question.

 

[blackbutterfly]

Did “we” reject more or less scientific futuristic units (XCOM-style) and undeliberately voted for zombies?

XCOM mode is a missed opportunity, it's something I would've preferred over zombie mode

 

[Lord Lakely]

This mode sounds leagues better than Dramatic Ages at least. Dramatic Ages is literally the most unfun, unplayable, imbalanced thing they've put in this game. SCREW YOU GAME, I AIN'T GIVING UP MY CITIES!!!!!!

I will probably play this once and then never touch it again. Oh well.

 

[thecrazyscot]

I think it sounds fun. I hope the zombies scale in strength throughout the game so they stay a major threat into the endgame.

I also wish the results of the spy mission (spawn a zombie on every worked tile) would happen randomly throughout the game, spreading from city to city like...well, a pandemic. I may remove the project to take control of the zombies when playing.