The Civilization thread

[Beefy]

Is anyone playing the new Civ VI?

I'd planned to buy it as a birthday treat but then Bank Holiday came along and I bought it a month early. Had struggled getting it to boot up for the first time so only got to play it last night for the first time.

My first game lasted an hour before Barbarians wiped out all my troops and my second settler. I wasn't happy with my city location anyway so restarted. Put a couple of hours into the second attempt. I feel remarkably similar to how I was a couple of hours into V which is underwhelmed and slightly confused but I ended up sinking hundreds of hours into V and I'm sure VI will go the same way.

I'm trying to get my head around the new amenities and housings system and I've no idea if I'm placing sectors in the right way. In fact the in-game hints, tips and feedback seem to be a bit of a step-back from what we've seen before. V was giving advice and feedback (possibly annoyingly so) on basic gameplay features but with VI last night it seemed like the game was leaving it for me to work out myself or delve into the help section and do my reading. Which is fine but I think it will make this a daunting prospect for new players.

I don't like the new fog of war system although I'm guessing that the map becomes more visible as you develop more technologies and advance through the eras.

[Ozanne]

Yeah Im playing it mate. I assume it's because it's new but I;m not enjoying it as much as Civ 5, which turned into a great game in the end.

The district building is becoming a pain, but I guess it does open different avenues of game play. Production is my biggest issue, it just takes so long to build anything! The fact you can now play very wide and build lots of cities with little to know penalty is annoying as I;m one of those that likes to sit with a smaller empire. Amenities is taking a bit of getting used to as well and Im not sure if I have 2 of a luxury item does that mean it spread to another of my more unhappy cities or should I trade it away?

Have you tried multi-player yet?

[Beefy]

I'm in the same boat with amenities. I've loads of citrus and China wanted to trade for some last night but I don't understand if I'm supposed to be hoarding them for my various cities. I'm finding it takes forever to build anything but I am at the point where I'm rapidly building units as I've a paranoid and aggressive France on my doorstep. To be fair I'm churning out archers and horsemen in a single turn.

It does look like they've given each leader a more distinct personality this year but I don't know if that will get repetitive considering that there's a relatively small number of leaders. Unless it randomises?

I've never played multiplayer. It takes me 20 hours to play through a single player game so I've always guessed multiplayer wouldn't work well?

[Ozanne]

I like watching a group of people play Civ on Youtube, that can be hilarious but also very time demanding as you say.

The leaders have 1 set personality, then 1 additional random one. I never really pay attention to that as if I'm strong enough already there's no need to listen to them. Also there's no diplomatic victory anyway so what's the point.

I'm finally getting somewhere but production is still a pain, I think the key is to having industrial districts in your cities with factories. Slap down farms to add housing then go from there really.

[Beefy]

I think where I'll struggle is city planning early. Placing districts is key - I love having coastal cities and whilst the game was suggesting settling cities on the coast I'd think that would massively cut back on what you can do with your city. I'd think you'd want your big industrial cities and military builders inland with loads of tiles around to build districts. I don't know, I've a couple of Youtubers whose Civ vids I often watch for tips and think I really need to do that before I start my next game.

If you were to fancy an online game sometime then let me know. We'd have to book out a Sunday or an evening or something.

[Ozanne]

Have you heard of the Yogscast? They've played a lot of Civ 5 multiplayer games, it's more for entertainment than top tier plays but it's really fun.

Noooo don't settle on the coast, from what I've seen ships are so powerful and your cities health would fall really quickly. Settle adjacent to a river, preferably with a mountain within range too, the river is vital for growth and housing. I know what you mean about early planning, in my current (first game) mines been poor.

I'd be up for that mate, let me know when you are about.

[Beefy]

I just love coastal cities - maybe because I grew up near the sea :cool: I like to build big armadas and take over the World that way. We've all got our way of playing like you and your small Empires.

[Ozanne]

I loved going 4 cities - tradition into rationalism on Civ 5.

I'm not sure if you know but you can build ships through the harbour district without being on the coast on Civ 6 now.

War weariness is a new and interesting addition, it screwed up my cap for a while!

[Pablo Diablo]

I'm strongly debating getting this game. But I'm shite at Civ.

[Alf]

Beefy, is it different enough to Civ5?

[Dave]

Civilization is my biggest binge addiciton of computer games. I'm at 250 hours on Civ 5, but they've all come in short bursts before a few months away. I'm planning on getting a new computer so that I can play this.

The graphic changes look like they'll take some getting used to, but the big changes in gameplay have me very intrigued. It's a sizeable step from the previous games which while amazing felt more like a few new features from the previous ones rather than any massive innovation. The high reviews (90%+ in most places) definitely make me want it.

What level are you guys playing at? I could usually beat the AI at King (5) on Civ V, with Emperor (6) giving me a decent challenge. I didn't attempt anything beyond that though.

[Beefy]

I was playing at 5 on Civ V and beat the AI fairly handily in the last game I played. I started at 4 on this one but got almost wiped out by Barbarians so have stepped down to 3 just for this first game whilst I get a hang of the gameplay. Weirdly, although I feel like this game is going well and think I could win some wars handily now I am massively behind two Civs in tech. It is the 18th Century and China and France are both in the Modern Era.

The graphics I think will end up with me getting used to them. I hate the new fog of war system. Anything outside of your vision currently is blacked out so my map is still almost unrevealed. I usually prioritise naval technology so that I can wipe the map clean but that doesn't work now.

Alf - it is still Civ so there are obviously similarities but it is definitely a very different game to the last couple. Maybe watch a few 'Lets Play' videos on YouTube to see what you think.

[Morrison]

i played civ 4 and loved it, but my laptop is shit ay running games due to age so i never got civ 5. one of the driving forces behind getting a new pc geared towards gaming was so i could get this game, but have hit a few snags with vet and mechanic bills so i havent upgraded yet.

[virms]

Watched a few youtube videos on this and it looks pretty fun. However, most of the youtube videos I seen were more about nuking the fuck out of everything. Can someone link a video or two that really lays the game down to more of how it would be played in real time vs just seeing highlights of victory?

[Ozanne]

How's this:

https://youtu.be/YDcfppKeDmE

[virms]

Awesome. Thank you

[virms]

So I ended up getting civilization 5 via steam for cheap to see if i would like it and I am now pissed at beefy for introducing this :lol:

So I watched about 20 or 30 minutes of The link ozone posted before I jumped in. 1st go around I did fairly well and pretty much did a lot of war mongering mainly to keep my Capitol going. I got to about the 1800 before I went bankrupt. I made a lot of mistakes in on how i invested and learned a lot from my first try.

2nd venture into the game I did much better having 98 gold being paid in each turn with 5 powerful cities and a giant navy. The game glitches out and I lost everything.

This go around is even better. I have 7 cities with 5 being giants, 1 about midsize and 1 I just discovered. Also figured out an easy way to make some money was killing scouts or warriors early on. This would start a war but I left it alone and after a while they would negotiate a peace treaty which usually ended up with me getting a good chunk of gold or supplies. No threats from other nations or warmongering penalties. As of last look I was raking in 279 per turn in gold so I have been buying up land and investing in banks and stuff to keep people really happy. Been playing as America and around 1100 ad I already developed gun powder so I am pretty far advance over everyone on my continent. Just developed boats that can run the ocean so i am now searching the rest of the world.

This game is so addicting.

[Beefy]

Anyone playing?

I'm still not sold on VI but I have tried going back to V and just struggle to get into it now.