Civilization VI - Now available, so you can sink all your free time into it

[cvv]

How Firaxis Will Redefine Civilization's Art Style in Civ 6

Civilization 6’s Art Director Brian Busatti, a Firaxis veteran who worked on both Civ 4 and Civ 5, told IGN how he settled on a new visual direction for this October’s huge turn-based strategy game. “When we went into this, we looked into how people play the game,” says Busatti. He and his team combed through as many community screenshots of Civilization 4 and 5 as they could find, and the results taught them some important lessons. “Typically in a Civ game you want to see the world as a whole, so you’re pulling out a lot.

That pointed to the need for an art style that looks just as good from far away as it does up close. “You want to make sure that things are readable from that distance.

At the same time, we’re also promised greater detail up close than ever before.

Here, boys and girls, you can see the mind of a programmer at work.

We needed a new style so we approximated it from the aggregation of community screenshots, made an algorithm and that way got an art optimally suited for all playstyles.

THE GAME LOOKS LIKE A BUBBLEGUM MONSTER FROM LEGOLAND YOU FUCKING MORON!

 

[Space Satan]

As a veteran of 1st and 2nd Paradox Counter Wars I can't care more

 

[Zarniwoop]

LOOL day night cycle confirmed. Already bought

Each turn is several years in the early game. How the fuck will they put a day night cycle into that? 365 dark flashes each turn?

 

[cvv]

As a veteran of 1st and 2nd Paradox Counter Wars I can't care more

Oh look the "gameplay is what matters" argument.

Would you watch The Godfather underscored by the soundtrack from Scooby Doo: The Movie? After all it's the story that counts no?

 

[an Administrator]

Assuming it will have a good gameplay at all....

 

[thesheeep]

LOOL day night cycle confirmed. Already bought

Each turn is several years in the early game. How the fuck will they put a day night cycle into that? 365 dark flashes each turn?

It will be like the winter in Game Of Thrones. 20 years of night


To be fair, though, it is a very abstract game, so it's not really that bad.
However, this one strikes me as especially funny.

 

[Jimmious]

Wait they actually said they will have a day-night cycle? In Civ? I thought it was a joke

Why would anyone even think about that in a 4x..

 

[Spectacle]

Wait they actually said they will have a day-night cycle? In Civ? I thought it was a joke

Why would anyone even think about that in a 4x..

Nighttime screenshots with glowing city lights make for great promotional pictures. And marketing is always priority number 1.

 

[cvv]

Wait they actually said they will have a day-night cycle? In Civ? I thought it was a joke

...the time of day in the world changes. So it goes from night to sunrise, so you see all the bricks building up in place until you get to sunset. Or some of the wonders end at night because they’re lit. And it’s all in-game in your world, and you can see all your buildings around it. It makes the world seem more alive, and that’s something we’ve put a lot of effort into.

Good. Without a lot of effort and manpower put into the day/night cycle in a turn-based strategy I would never buy this un-immersive junk.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Wait they actually said they will have a day-night cycle? In Civ? I thought it was a joke

Why would anyone even think about that in a 4x..

Load up your game with superficial shit that sounds cool in marketing campaigns instead of actual features is the way of aaa game dev.

 

[Jimmious]

So we've come to the times where 4x games have day-night cycles and RPGs don't.

In b4 full NPC schedules in RTS

 

[an Administrator]

Whats next? radiant AI? :D

 

[thesheeep]

I have seen an Incan Worker the other day. Terrible creatures, I avoid them whenever I can.

 

[Xzylvador]

I used to be an emperor like you, but then I got an arrow in my knee.


Wonder if they'll put any effort in the Civilopedia this time. It seems to be getting shorter and dumber every iteration, which is sad because I probably learned more about history from playing Civ I and II than I ever did in school and it actually properly used to explain the rules and system behind the game.

Last one, IIRC, had stuff like "Unit Abilities, Blitz: Unit gains blitz."

 

[thesheeep]

Well, it isn't totally bad, but certainly not as good as the last one.
Civ descriptions, for example, include all the special units/buildings, but I could not find the other bonuses gained from the civ anywhere. So it is either well hidden, not there, or I am blind.

I also don't like the layout at all - wastes too much space without need.

 

[MoLAoS]

I used to be an emperor like you, but then I got an arrow in my knee.


Wonder if they'll put any effort in the Civilopedia this time. It seems to be getting shorter and dumber every iteration, which is sad because I probably learned more about history from playing Civ I and II than I ever did in school and it actually properly used to explain the rules and system behind the game.

Last one, IIRC, had stuff like "Unit Abilities, Blitz: Unit gains blitz."

I one won my team a game of Latin Quiz Bowl because of the Civ entry on the library of Alexandria and the Ptolemys. I learned even more history from EU4. And geography holy crap.

 

[cvv]

 

[Mazisky]

Even if the game is crap, they put day night cycle only to show Larian how they are lazy.

Btw i never played a CIV, dunno if trying this or buy some old one

 

[poocolator]

Whats next? radiant AI? :D

Your workers will pathfind to the pub during the night and then return to work during the day. ("The pub" will be a city-wide improvement that will show up on the campaign map and will upgrade its graffix with each new tech age.) You can change this behaviour by adopting certain religions or social policies. For example, if you adopt Wahabbi Islam or Bible-thumping kwamurrican Christianity, then your workers will spend 9/10 of their time at the temple. Oh wait, is that even PC? Sales will plummet and litigation will follow Firaxis for the rest of their days.

Instead it seems like what they're doing is everything is still 1upt but you can 'attach' support units that don't take up space, which is better than Civ5 but still not ideal.

No, they're making both capped stacking AND support units. Details are unknown yet, but stacking will probably be research locked. Research corpse and you get 2 stacks, research army and you get 3 stacks, something like that. So it actually makes sense, and should hit a nice balance between doom stacks and 1UPT.

Why not allow unlimited stacking with heavy penalties that can be mitigated with some research techs?

 

[JarlFrank]

Any combat system that relies on something different than doomstacking is better than goddamn boring fucking doomstacking.

I'd love to see a civ game that has a Total War like system, don't even care if the battles are TB or RT, just make it so that when two stacks attack each other you get a battle between the full stacks rather than single unit vs unit fights. It can be a zoom in into a tactical map, or just an autocalculation whatever, anything would be better than the way Civ4 did it. And if there were a smaller battle map with two armies facing off we could have Civ5 combat without the ridiculous scale.

 

[Kane]

How Firaxis Will Redefine Civilization's Art Style in Civ 6
...
THE GAME LOOKS LIKE A BUBBLEGUM MONSTER FROM LEGOLAND YOU FUCKING MORON!

After the death of mobile games the devs are being herded back onto real games and it shows.

Any combat system that relies on something different than doomstacking is better than goddamn boring fucking doomstacking.

1UPT was worse.

 

[an Administrator]

Only noobs complain about doomstack

 

[cvv]

I'd love to see a civ game that has a Total War like system, don't even care if the battles are TB or RT, just make it so that when two stacks attack each other you get a battle between the full stacks

That would completely change the dynamics of the game tho. In Civ-likes I actually prefer the combat to be just symbolic, without any tactical element.

But yeah, CIV4 doomstacks were retarded. Problem is they went too far to the other extreme in Civ5. Maybe some compromise would set things right, like allowing us to stack ranged units with infantry to protect them. Or mounted units with artillery for higher mobility or some such. Maybe allow stacking but with some limit (max 4?). Just my half-assed ideas.

 

[Inspectah]

just make it so that when two stacks attack each other you get a battle between the full stacks rather than single unit vs unit fights. It can be a zoom in into a tactical map

Endless Legend then?

 

[Mr. Pink]

just make it so that when two stacks attack each other you get a battle between the full stacks rather than single unit vs unit fights. It can be a zoom in into a tactical map

Endless Legend then?

good system, but the AI was just too dumb to handle it.

I don't think civ games should have tactics and player controlled battles. A deeper focus on strategy and logistics would be more appropriate. Imagine supply lines going from your army to the closest city, that can be cut off by enemies, or attrition in hostile environs, or loyalty and morale mechanics.