3937

Did anybody here take up the frontier pass?

3938

Sorry, I know I’m coming in way late here but this:

This cracked me up because what was Civ originally but a historical skin on Empire?

(Anyway, Civ VI is trash, wake up sheeple, sorry I’ll bail out on the thread again ;) )

3939

If it gets cheap enough, sub $20 I may buy it. I enjoyed playing around with Civ VI for several games, it just didn’t have staying power. They also need to add a game mode I’d be interested in.

3940

I did. Whether it’s worthwhile or not is debatable, but if it gets me a few dozen more hours into the game, it’ll cover the cost.

3941

Have you gotten anything worthwhile yet?

3942

I also got it, and I get the feeling my money will be well-spent. However, I’d warn it’s not likely to make a Civ VI lover out of someone who isn’t already.

3943

Free weekend and 75% off.

Edit: On Steam

3944

I got it. And I’d say it feels worth it. I’m not crazy about this move toward dribbling out content month by month – I’d rather have big, jam-packed expansions. But there are some welcome additions so far. The Mayans are a great (maybe the great) turtling faction with some well-balanced advantages and disadvantages. Gran Columbia’s fun if you feel like racing about clobbering everyone in sight. I was a little underwhelmed by the newest civ (Ethiopia) on paper until I tried it out this morning. Whew. A real powerhouse if you make smart decisions (and luck out in your map). I’m not sure how excited I am by the leader variations, but I did try out the Bull Moose Teddy R., and it I did like how it requires a very different strategy than normal, fightin’ Teddy.

I’d say the highlight so far is the secret societies mode in this update, which I’m still experimenting with, but which is a lot more interesting and better integrated into the game systems than the dumb apocalypse mode in the last update. I won’t go into detail because a lot of the fun is gradually figuring out the mysteries, but it does add some welcome flavor.

3945

Well, what @mutait said is applicable, but I think I like more variety and that’s what the content delivers. Now, if you don’t care for the game up to this point, the new content is probably not going to do anything for you. For me, I like it just fine, and mainly because I play a peaceful, builder game where the AI flakiness doesn’t bother me.

3946
3947

Still nothing about the AI. I wonder why they refuse to fix it.

3948
3949

Randomized tech trees with blind research, finally. Better late than never!

3950

Because it’s not a priority with their customer base.

(I mean…clearly it’s a priority here, but we’re in pretty …either stale or rarefied air here aren’t we.)

Seriously, I have no trouble losing games at deity level and I’ve been playing versions of this for 30+ years now.

3951

I agree @dfs. It’s time to let go. Move on. You’re not a fan of the franchise, period. They’ve found an audience. Their audience gives them money with easy-dumb tactics and bad AI. That’s all they need to know, that’s all we need to know. People here with endless complaints are not the customer base.

I mean geez. I’ve stopped begrudging people or companies that found a way to make a buck, as long as its harmless.

Worst thread on QT3.

3952

Because it isn’t possible, at least not within any conceivable budget for a company of that size.

The game design is what it is. Lots of systems cobbled together. All these different factions. It’s the poster child for a game that AI would struggle with.

In truth, they have done many things during updates to try to mitigate the problem. Barbarians are a lot more effective now. And they have played around with map generation with an eye to helping the AI compete. (In my view, this harmed gameplay, but I recognize that they were trying to address the complaint.)

There are also some things that players can do to try to mitigate the problem:

  1. Don’t create a map specifically to play to your faction’s strengths. (And of course do not use mods that do this, either.)
  2. Let the game start you in a sub-optimal location. Don’t restart until you begin in an ideal spot.
  3. Use the advanced settings to choose the AI opponents, and choose those that compete most effectively. The A list would include Alexander (Macedon), Amanitore (Nubia), and Qin Shi Huang (China). The B list would include Pedro (Brazil), Mvemba a Nzinga (Kongo), Peter (Russia), Seondeok (Korea), Frederick Barbarossa (Germany) and Cyrus (Persia). Don’t select opponents that are a poor fit for the type of map.
  4. Don’t save scum.

These things will help in the sense that games will be somewhat more competitive, but don’t expect too much, the AI will not really be going about its business effectively. Anyone who wants a decent AI really needs to look to games designed in a simpler, cleaner fashion, so that AI is practical.

3953

Yep, the AI is fine as it can be in a game like this, I think.

You might be having problems with difficulty balance. Like higher difficulty supports only specific kind of gameplay due to the initial setup - as in all the AI has more tech and starting units than you, that kind of thing.

3954

Thing is that most complaints like this are from people who are great fans of the franchise, up to at least Civ IV. Seeing the latest iteration of a much-loved game be so weak in an area that is so fundamental (in the view of a lot of people) is a huge disappointment. It does get a bit wearing though, especially now the fans of that side have Old World to play.

I suspect that if they ever get around to opening up modding, we will see a fan AI mod that manages to improve it from useless to sort of vaguely competent.

Anyway, I do agree that there’s no chance that Firaxis will ever fix it, so there’s little point discussing the AI any further until such a mod shows up.

3955

The most recent (free) update has changed things a bit. For builder-type players, it may be of interest.

  1. You now have the option to shuffle the tech and civic trees. In which case you have very limited information as to how things are further on in the trees.

I am liking this a lot. Especially the civic tree, which was structured for maximum staleness. It’s surprising how much the shuffle leads to more interesting decisions.

  1. Amenities and citizen happiness has been tweaked. I saw a video explaining the details, but have not yet internalized it all. Bottom line, it’s tougher to keep them all happy, especially if you are going wide.

  2. I did not see this documented, but it seems to me that something has changed with barbarians. They seem more numerous, later into the game. And they also seem more varied. I have seen groups of them coordinate an attack, implying that their units waited until others were created to move on me. And some have been very aggressive, while others have passed on chances to attack – like they are individuals and not totally predictable.

This is not going to fix the game for those who have not been liking it. But for those of us who do, it freshens things up a bit.

3956

Byzantium and Gaul coming in the next DLC.