Sid Meier's Civilization Series (Main Titles)

Ooh. The game could stand a bit of polish yet, so I'm curious to hear about this.

My one hope is that they turn the whole Mali free military ^note Mali can get zero initial gold cost military units thanks to the combined cost reductions of a Suguba, a military academy, Democracy, and being a suzerain of Ngazargamu into an Ascended Glitch.

Edited by tclittle on Mar 28th 2019 at 11:39:55 AM

D Ouble post. Here's the video of the changes:

• Reduced damage from Blizzards and they will occasionally add food.
• Dust Storm yield decreased.
• Vague wording on timing of climate change adjustments.
• Disaster intensity setting no longer tied to climate change.
• CO 2 generation from military units cut in half, further reduced by Power Cells.
• Number of floodable coastal tiles up to 45%, from 35%.
• Climate change increases storm even further.
• Tile yields will decrease if you let climate change get out of hand.
  • At phase IV and above, storms no longer improve yields.
  • V plus, storms start stripping bonus fertility from previous storms.
• Maori
  • Marae culture yield down to +1 from +2
  • Toa strength down to 35 and war dance no longer stacks.
• Hungary
  • Levied unit upgrade cost reduction down to 75% from 100% from both gold and resources.
• Canada
  • Mines now give +1 production in snow and tundra tiles
• India
  • Missionaries now get 5 default spreads instead of the standard 3.
  • Gains an amenity for each religion in a city.
  • Additional religious pressure along trade routes.
  • Varu debuff no longer stacks, but their maintenance is now down to 2.
• China
  • Great Wall improvement can longer be remove by natural disasters.
• Netherlands
  • Production bonus to flood barriers and dams
• Unique improvements Great Wall, Chateau, Sphinx, and Mission are stronger.
• Climate accords now add decommissioning power plants projects.
• Excessive CO 2 reduces your favor per turn and your score in aid requests.
• Too many grievances reduces your favor per turn.
• Being at war with a target of an aid request reduces your score in that request.
• Improved jersey system.
• better AI deals.
• More evened barbarian camp distribution.
• City-states have higher defenses at higher difficulties.
• Play by cloud lobby now filters out completed games.
• Panama Canal now adds +10 gold.
• Mahabodhi Temple now provides a Diplomatic Point.
• Naturalists are cheaper.
• Upgrading unit costs have increased.
• Halved the effectiveness of the Raid and Total War policies.
• Pillaging improvements no longer provide science and culture, just gold, faith, and healing, except for Norway who still gets them from Harald's Leader ability.
• Map Tack mod integrated into the map system.
• Map search added.
• Map editor added.
• Additional changes can be found on the upcoming patch notes.

Those changes sound good. I'll be looking forward to the detailed notes. Making upgrading units more expensive, though... they're already pretty costly. Shouldn't it be roughly equal to the difference between the gold cost of purchasing the units?

Edited by Fighteer on Mar 29th 2019 at 11:02:07 AM

Antarctic Late Summer update full notes; patch out now.

Also, the Switch version got its own update with cross-platform saves.

Edited by tclittle on Apr 2nd 2019 at 3:41:29 AM

They weren't kidding about the length of the patch notes. But I can't help but notice this one at the end:

• Add beards to all remaining leaders that did not previously have beards.

A little April Fools humor?

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 2nd 2019 at 6:09:58 AM

...I didn't realize they called the color-coded unit uniforms "jerseys". That's pretty funny.

Great works and trade update.

The Great Works drag-and-drop thing could be fine if the interface were only a little better. For example, why can I not organize the UI by building type, or filter it to show only slots for specific kinds of works? Why does it scroll horizontally instead of vertically? It's so unnecessarily clunky. I develop applications for a living, and these aspects of interface design (sorting and filtering) are among the very first you implement after getting it working to begin with.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 11th 2019 at 2:37:34 PM

Everything Civilization related on Steam except for VI's Gathering Storm expansion are 75% off.

Edited by tclittle on May 6th 2019 at 2:01:00 PM

Sorry, Civ VI, still hate your art style and decompressed cities, and I'm having too much fun with Civ V.

I decided to stop worrying about cheevos and just go nuts with mods, and I've got so many new civs added to the game that I've lost count. The bigger thing is that I'm trying out the Community Patch, which while not on the scale of the Vox Populi mod still makes some pretty big changes to the game, from the return of random events to a reworked warscore and warmonger reaction system.

My first game was as Morocco with vanilla civs, and was just me being nice and friendly while pursuing a cultural victory, but I was still struck by just how busy my workers were repairing farms that kept getting destroyed by floods and blights. Also, I was making so much gold I was basically Mali. And no one denounced anyone the entire game, even after Bismarck suddenly devoured Ethiopia near the end of it.

Currently playing as Spain in full conquistador mode... well, not quite, all the overseas real estate is taken by city-states, so sucks to be on the same continent as me. Wiped out Turkey and the Chola as soon as I got Tercios and Conquistadors, then while I settled that newly-vacated half of the continent Egypt suddenly attacked the other side of my border. I really like how now the AI "barely notice"s it when you raze trash cities, except for peaceniks like Haile Selassie and Robert the Bruce... and they also notice that you've got the most powerful military on the planet and have wiped out three rival civs, so they actually become afraid of you without nukes. And it's also a lot easier to get into a war, since now the "Get over it" or "You'll pay for this in time" diplomatic responses may make the other leader declare war, even if they're spooked. I ended up fighting Alexander and burning half of Macedon after he called me a city-state, and had a similar spat with Scotland.

I just wrapped up a war with my onetime buddy Ramkhamhaeng, who got pissier and pissier as my borders expanded. Ahmad al-Mansur actually warned me that Siam was building up for a sneak attack, but I think what eventually triggered the war was me bribing Ramkhamhaeng's last two city-states to join me - the next turn, bam. So the mod accurately modeled someone's anger getting the better of their judgment, because Pikemen and Trebuchets fare poorly against Riflemen and Artillery.

And meanwhile Boudica of the Iceni is just chill, doesn't care how many cities I burn. She even kept trying to bribe me to attack her erstwhile ally Siam with offers of furs, well before things between me and the prick got heated.

One of the devs fixed one of your problems with VI thanks to this official mod by the art director which reskins the game to make it look like V.

A start, I suppose. But if they'd just take the new civs for Civ VI and convert and port them as a little DLC pack for Civ V, I'd probably buy it. From what I've seen, the main Khmer mod for Civ V is blatantly OP, and I like what Civ VI did with the Cree, Aussies and Canadians more than what the community has made on Steam Workshop.

Spain game update: betrayed. After 900 turns of good relations and trade, Boudica suddenly denounces me, claiming that the lands I've taken (presumably recently conquered from Siam?) are rightfully hers, while the diplomacy screen says she "finds your behavior intolerable!" Then Robert the Bruce declares war out of the blue, despite being Afraid of me and having no navy or army to speak of, but that makes his courage all the more impressive. Then, one turn later, Boudica declares war, and I get a notification from my spy that Babylon on the other side of my borders is plotting against me and preparing for a sneak attack.

I think what's happening is the AI noticing I'm on the verge of an (accidental, I got an event that boosted Tourism) Cultural Victory and making a last-ditch effort to stop me. With Pikemen. In 1820-something. And the only reason I don't have Tanks on the field is because, despite having over 10k gold, I'm too cheap to upgrade my army until the Pentagon gets built in 40 turns.

Good news is, I'm one world war away from having total control over my home continent and hemisphere. And it'll be in self-defense, too! That'll make two campaigns of "they're the wrong religion and have nice real estate" and four cases of "they started it."

Just out of curiosity, you guys familiar with Civ V Vox Populi (also known as the Community Patch Project), and some of it's dedicated modmods? Just want to know if there are fellow players of that mod here lol

And I low-key want to make a page on this site for Vox Populi, but would like confirmation if it can work out

I'm using just the basic Community Patch at the moment, getting used to that before I move on to Vox Populi. I like the idea of the Mongols having a non-sucky ability and the return of corporations and all that, I've just read horror stories in the comments section about trading being broken in the latest version of the mod, and I've got a ton of extra civs downloaded that may or may not be compatible with it.

But I can't think of any reason why we can't have a page for Vox Populi when we already have entries for the Civ IV mods Fall from Heaven and Caveman to Cosmos. Hell, we've got a page for Vault 1080 and it's literally a demo for a video card.

Smart approach! Vox Populi changes so much about the base game, it takes quite a learning curve lol Best to get used to the much better AI first

Haven't personally noticed anything about trading being broken (though one player did manage to win OCC as Ottomans on Deity...), but indeed you'd have to verify if the Mod Civs are compatible with VP. This thread has quite a few made specifically for VP- https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/mods-repository.549/

And indeed, VP really gives Mongolia a big buff! Some players have actually called it a Game-Breaker, but I think it's more an example of AI efficiency. My own attempts at a successful Mongolia game is more hit and miss, mainly because the stupid City-States refuse to be intimidated by me -_-

Indeed! And Vox Populi has plenty of its own material to make into tropes. For sure, the changes to the many Civs have to be accounted for, and with it some light guides on how to play them

Edited by KaoticKanine on May 17th 2019 at 10:42:37 AM

Is it me or is VI still pretty hard on Settler difficulty? I started a Settler game just to explore the climate mechanics, but I got crushed by a surprise war from the India guy with war elephants, who took my capital in two turns. I was building walls, but still, that didn't seem very fair to me.

tough luck!

It really is luck, both the combination of being near another civ that early in the game and near a warmonger leader as well.

Your best bet is to either spend precious early production on military and make sure you have anywhere from 2 to 4 warriors and slingers, or increase the size of the world and decreasing the number of civs so you have a better chance of being far away from another civ.

I think there might be mods which increase the spawning distance between civs.

Although, if you know there's a more peaceful civ nearby (Mansa Musa, Ghandi, or Gilgamesh if you immediately and constantly friend him, or fucking Mvemba a Nzinga if you rush religion and push it on him), you might be able to keep your military low for a time.

Edited by tclittle on May 28th 2019 at 1:57:23 PM

Yeah, usually you can get away with low military through the classical era, but not this time, it seems.

• Production
  • Quarries, Pastures, and Lumber Mills now have Production similar to Mines.
  • Mercantilism can let you bill Lumber Mills on Rainforest.
  • 20% decrease in costs for late game buildings.
  • Citizens working on District tiles now increase in effectiveness with late game buildings.
  • Many mid and late game buildings will have their effects buffed.
  • New Power lens.
  • England's Workshop of the World now boosts Buildings when powered by +4, and their Iron and Coal mines will extract an additional 2 resources each turn. +20% Production to Industrial Zone buildings, and Harbor buildings increase Strategic Resource Stockpiles by 10 on Standard speed.
  • Wilfrid Laurier's leader ability adds +1 production to Lumber Mills and Camps +1 food.
  • Slightly increased costs of Techs and Civic from the Medieval to Atomic Eras by about 10%.
  • Apprenticeship is now required for Stirrups and Replaceable Parts is required for Chemistry.
• Diplomatic Victory
  • EVERY PLAYER WHO VOTES FOR THE WINNING OPTION FOR DIPLOMATIC POINTS NOW AWARD ONE POINT REGARDLESS OF IF YOU WIN
  • New World Congress UI elements to help you figure out what is more likely to pass.
  • Diplomatic Points have been added to all WC Competitions
  • New aid request: Military request: Gold sent and send aid increases score, being at War with target reduces score.
  • New resolutions
    • Spy Pact: Either increase the level of all spies by two on a specific Operation, or remove a specific Operation from play.
    • Military Advisory: Target unit class gets +5 combat Strength or Lose 5 Combat Strength.
    • Public relations: Double or halve Grievances toward target.
• New Ways to Rule
  • New Information and Future Era Dedication: Automaton Warfare
    • Golden Age: Gain a Giant Death Robot in your Capital. Receive +3 Uranium per turn and Uranium Mines give +1 additional Uranium.
    • Neutral or Dark Age: +1 Era Score each time you kill a non-Barbarian with a Giant Death Robot.
  • New Dark Age Policies
    • Flower Power: +100 Tourism from Concerts with Civs you aren't at war with, but 100% increase in producing or purchasing units other than Rock Bands.
    • Cyber Warfare: +10 Combat Strength against Information and Future Era units, but Grievances do not decay.
    • Automated Workforce: +20% production towards city projects, but -1 Amenities and -5 Loyalty per turn.
    • Disinformation Campaign: +3 Diplomatic Favor per Broadcast center, but -10% Culture and Science in all cities.
  • Added a unit abilities tooltip showing all the bonuses a unit has outside of promotions.
  • New map types:
    • Seven Seas: A bunch of smaller seas instead of big oceans and lots of land.
    • Small continents is back.
• Worldbuilder
  • Worldbuilder will be finished and will be under additional content.

Edited by tclittle on Jun 3rd 2019 at 9:41:17 AM

Summary of changes?

Just did. Was going through them and typing them up after embedding the video.

Yeah, I watched the video after you posted it. These changes are all welcome, although I would still particularly like the following:

• The ability to queue district buildings with dependencies... for example, Library, University, Research Lab. Similarly, the ability to queue sequential repairs to pillaged districts and their buildings.
• Cities automatically continue to produce the last military unit or district project without having to constantly requeue them. (Toggleable)
  • There's a mod for this but, at last check, it doesn't work with the queue system. Maybe it's fixed.
• A military unit list that is larger and shows their health and other stats.
• The ability to set routes for Military Engineers to construct Railroads, rather than managing them one hex at a time.
• Some sort of "auto-repair" setting for workers and engineers, that has them run around the map repairing pillaged improvements within your territory.
• The game not to sometimes interpret clicking an alert bubble with queued unit actions as clicking End Turn.

Edited by Fighteer on Jun 3rd 2019 at 10:45:44 AM

That last one sounds more like a bug.