I bought it Day 1 (or close to it). Despite having played it for only 6 hours, I like it, but it’s a tough game to win (that’s a plus, IMO!).
Oh also, I’m thrilled for this era of a historical 4X competition to Civ! Hoping it can really refresh the whole 4X genre.
Some preview build impressions:
Well, it’s certainly a game.
Here are the highlights from the dev diary. Looking at the screenshots - I thought the UI looked a LOT like Old World…
There are ten Ages in a “normal” game, ranging from the Stone Age to the near-future. Each Age provides the experience of the Age – the Iron Age has Iron Age technologies, Iron Age units, Iron Age buildings, and rules specific to the conditions of the Iron Age.
If you keep things within “normal” parameters, you might progress through 10 “standard” Ages, each delivering historical gameplay.
However, Millennia allows history to go off the rails. If you make some different decisions, you might steer your timeline into alternate Ages. These Ages are still historically themed, but explore some “what-if” territory. The Age of Aether is based on a history where the internal combustion engine doesn’t come about as soon as it did and steam-power develops further. The Age of Blood is based on a war raging out of control and spreading across the world.
Millennia features a system called “National Spirits.”. Mechanically, each National Spirt is a technology tree. You get to pick National Spirits from a set at different points in a game. Doing so makes the technologies of the National Spirit available to you.
Old World has a system a lot like this with separate mini trees available for government/civic characteristics you choose.
Not all resources in Millennia are the same. Cutting down trees for Logs can provide Production, much like mining Copper. However, with the right Improvements, you can create a chain where your Logs are made into Paper which is then made into Books, getting you Knowledge (or Religion or Government or Wealth) instead of Production.
The best military for you to field changes based on your economic design (and the Age you have moved into and the National Spirits you have selected). You might be better with more Production to train troops, or more Warfare Domain to support them, or more Wealth to pay the upkeep on expensive elite troops or…You design your Armies by assigning multiple Units to fight together, allowing you to create different Army types for different needs.
in two weeks, we’ll talk about the building blocks of your nation, Regions, Towns, and Outposts, and also cover a bit of the World Map itself.
Civ done the Paradox style? Intrigued.
PartyElite has played the game too and he gives a deep dive on some of the existing mechanics:
I’m always up for another try at a Civ-like game. After I spent just an ungodly amount of hours on Civ2, I really thought that was it, lightning in a bottle, never to be hit like that again, but then someone showed me Master of Orion 2, which was unique enough and different enough from Civ2 to be lightning in a bottle all over again. So after that I was always open to another game that will be unique but similar and capture that kind of 4X energy again for me.
No, pretty standard turn-based 4X setup. As noted, this is just being published by Paradox.
But I’d love a Paradox GSG that went in this direction. Maybe something inspired by the Rhye’s and Fall mod for Civ4.
Yeah I adjusted the title a few hours ago. It actually don’t seem that different from the last attempts to ape this formula, at least that’s my first impression.
I really, really would like for someone to a Civilization type of game, but slightly more ‘realistic’, more Paradoxian?, in how depicts society evolution, kingdom formation, etc. Like, actually hiring historians and anthropologists as consultants. I think it can be done, and without even having to substantially increase the complexity of the game by a lot.
Civ Revolutions is my preferred flavor of Civ, so this might end up being too heavy for me (since when has Paradox done a “lite” anything?). But I am excited for someone to take a different tack on the genre.
Intrigued by this, but going to keep hopes low, as it’s rare for a new IP to be good in this genre. So many things have to go right.
Old World-level games are like a once a decade thing.
Domain powers sound like quite the grab bag of magic powers and may be hard for me to adjust to given that I still don’t like the heroes added to Civ 6. OTOH I think I will like the production chains, and it’s interesting that the first player to advance to a new age picks what it will be for everyone.
Systems and systems and systems. If they fit together well, this could be great. But if they don’t…
One key question is how the impact on other civs ages work. It seemed a bit murky, at least in the PartyElite video. But I am thinking that that will have an enormous impact on how the game feels to play.
Devs talking about the deign goals of the game:
I like what I saw/heard! I’m looking forward to this one.
Yeah, I hope the production chains work out. Could end up being the most distinguishing feature.
Also, not really a great thread for this I don’t think, but it looks like Paradox will be announcing yet another game on Monday. Unclear if it’s Paradox Dev or Paradox Publishing. Probably about time for a new Paradox developed game to be announced as it’s been over a year since Vicky 3 launched and nothing else is publicly in the pipe for any of their dev studios. The teaser image is just a tropical forest of some kind which isn’t what I’d expect for new entry in any of their main GSG series.
Interesting. Dan Lind (HOI series) started working on an unannounced project a year or two ago so I’m curious if the new title is what he’s been working on or if it’s something else.
Probably not, as this isn’t developed by Paradox, just published by them.
I was referring referring to the game to be announced on Monday (abrandt’s post above). Has it been confirmed to be Paradox Interactive (rather than PDS) as well?