Civilization

[The Chronicler]

As I said, even though I will no longer be playing any games in this franchise, I'll still be keeping an eye out for any new releases that other people here might be interested in knowing about.

Just recently announced is the first expansion of Civilization VI, known as Rise and Fall, and due to be released on February 8.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/in-civilization-vis-new-expansion-a-golden-age-is-nigh-or-maybe-a-dark-age/

Certainly a lot of interesting new features. I'm honestly starting to get a little surprised by how anyone can manage to keep up with all of it.

[Mumbling]

If anyone is interested in Civilization 6 but does not yet own it, Humble Bundle currently offers it as part of their monthly plan. You get the game straight away through a key you can redeem on Steam, plus 2 DLC packs, for just $12. It is an ongoing subscription, so make sure you cancel it if you don't want to pay the $12 a month (you will still get all the games they make available in February).

If you subscribe through the following link, you'll help me out financially too! Plus we could play together sometime, I'd like to try out this new game.

https://www.humblebundle.com/monthly?partner=claydoodles

Hit me up on Discord if you'd like to play! I've not played Civilization in years, so I'll probably be extremely rusty, but it'd be fun to play with friends again!

[The Chronicler]

Some more information has been revealed regarding the upcoming expansion pack.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/civilization-6-expansion-rise-and-falls-new-featur/1100-6456131/

Among the civilizations being added are Mongolia, Netherlands, Georgia, the Cree, and a second leader for India.

[The Chronicler]

Some more information on the upcoming expansion pack:
https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/22/16911622/civilization-6-rise-and-fall-impressions

Nine new leaders will be included (the five I mentioned previously, along with Korea, though the last three are still unknown). Among other details described in this article, the potential for cities to flip culturally (previously seen only in Civ IV) is introduced, along with a loyalty system to determine how likely cities are to remain with you or revolt, and you can assign governors to cities to affect loyalty.

[The Chronicler]

Been a little too busy lately to really mention it, but the Civ VI expansion pack "Rise and Fall" is now available.

Again, I'm not interested in getting this game myself, though I would be interested to hear what anyone here thinks about.

[The Chronicler]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sid-meier-civilization-vi-gathering-180000470.html

I missed the initial announcement back in November, but the second expansion pack for Civilization VI, known as Gathering Storm, will be released on February 14, so that's less than a month from now. The most significant feature of this expansion pack is the introduction of environmental impacts, where you'll be faced with natural disasters like floods or volcanoes, and of course you'll be faced with climate change in later parts of the game, and the choices you make throughout the game will actually determine how much that environmental impact will be.

Even though I still seriously doubt I'll have enough time anytime soon to actually try this game, I honestly am starting to consider possibly getting Civ VI. I guess this franchise is just too interesting for me to stay away from for too long.

[Compsognathus]

I played Civilization V, I enjoyed especially wars, but I did not spend as much time playing it as Europa universalis III, or IV. I considered diplomacy part better in EU, and I liked AI more in EU games. I played most times as Germans, and I preferred Earth map with as many city states and enemies as possible. I remember, that I won only in smaller maps with few enemies, in huge maps never.

[The Chronicler]

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I last commented in this topic...

Anyway, if anyone still around here is interested in trying Civilization VI, Steam currently has a huge sale on it for the next two weeks. The base game alone is 95% off (from $60 down to just $3), and if you're interested in getting everything, the Anthology Bundle is available for 88% off (from over $200 to less than $25).

Although I still have almost no interest in actually playing that game, I think I may consider making that purchase. Never say never I suppose, especially since I only recently figured out that I could disable any DLC before installing a game so I could enjoy starting off with just the base game while still being able to save money by getting everything at once. A major reason why I held off purchasing any content from Civ 6 is because I wanted to spend as little as possible for such a massive game, which likely meant waiting until after everything had released and was made part of the ultimate bundle, and since the most recent DLC came out nearly two years ago, I think that time may have finally arrived. Even so, there's apparently been "monthly challenges" that have been ongoing for some time. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of gamer, so at this point, even if I do make this purchase, I will definitely not even attempt to play this game until such challenges cease to occur (which I'm hopeful will eventually happen before too long).

And since I got curious about why this sale is happening now, I suspected that might be because the next Civilization game is currently in development. Sure enough, there's already a Steam page for Civilization VII, albeit there's currently not much available to see:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1295660/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VII/

In fact, it seems the first official teaser trailer for Civ 7 was just released literally hours ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pygcgE3a_uY

By the way, while I still do not have any desire to actually play Civilization VI for the foreseeable future, I did purchase last year the game Civilization: Beyond Earth, along with its Rising Tide expansion pack as well as the lesser game Sid Meier's Starships. Now that it's been several years since I last played Civ 5, I've decided to try out those games this year. Starships turned out to be a very quick and simple game, taking me only less than 20 hours to unlock every achievement (except for the one that has been technically impossible to acquire since 2019 due to some online feature quietly going obsolete), so if you don't have much time to spare, it might be worth checking out. Civilization: Beyond Earth, on the other hand, I am currently at over 200 gameplay hours, and thus far I've played only the base game just eight times (one for each of the eight playable leaders), though I did get nearly all of the base game achievements along the way without too much difficulty (the only base game achievements I have remaining are for downloading a mod, playing a mod, playing a multiplayer game, and winning a game on the higher difficulty levels (I am currently making an effort on that last one, but I have no desire to mess around with any mods or multiplayer games)). What I plan on doing next is installing the only DLC (a map pack) to check out its six different maps, then I will install the Rising Tide expansion pack to try getting the remaining achievements. As time-consuming as this game has proven to be (and thus justifying my reluctance to play Civ 6), I'm confident I'll have all of my intended progress completed before the end of this year.

[Belmont2500]

I've watched that trailer at least five times now. Regardless if the game itself proves to be a worthy successor or not, I've no doubt the trailer will remain an immaculate, moving work of art.

Also, Chronicler! I've missed you.   

I've been playing Civ VI for the last year or so now, especially since V mysteriously stopped working on my PC. So far, I think I've come around to it (having three Hellenic Civs certainly doesn't hurt) though still coming to grips with the newer mechanics.

[The Chronicler]

I've watched that trailer at least five times now. Regardless if the game itself proves to be a worthy successor or not, I've no doubt the trailer will remain an immaculate, moving work of art.

Also, Chronicler! I've missed you.   

I've been playing Civ VI for the last year or so now, especially since V mysteriously stopped working on my PC. So far, I think I've come around to it (having three Hellenic Civs certainly doesn't hurt) though still coming to grips with the newer mechanics.

Wow, I honestly wasn't expecting any replies.   I thought everyone who used to be active in this topic has long since moved on to other things, with me being the only one stubborn enough to stick around.

Anyway, good to hear you seem to be enjoying Civ 6, for the most part. I've already explained my reasons for why I'm unlikely to start trying that game anytime soon, though I did ultimately decide to take advantage of that aforementioned sale to purchase it with all of its additional content. Besides, I'm currently busy having fun with the game Civilization: Beyond Earth. Have you ever tried that game? If so, what did you think of it?

[Belmont2500]

Wow, I honestly wasn't expecting any replies.   I thought everyone who used to be active in this topic has long since moved on to other things, with me being the only one stubborn enough to stick around.

Anyway, good to hear you seem to be enjoying Civ 6, for the most part. I've already explained my reasons for why I'm unlikely to start trying that game anytime soon, though I did ultimately decide to take advantage of that aforementioned sale to purchase it with all of its additional content. Besides, I'm currently busy having fun with the game Civilization: Beyond Earth. Have you ever tried that game? If so, what did you think of it?

Admittedly, even before it came out, I've avoided Beyond Earth like the plague. Even after its been out for years and the expansions had their run. I don't feel like I've missed much, the outer space setting really strips away the historical aspect of Civ, which was what drew me to it to begin with, and the elements added in its place didn't feel substantive enough.

I'm sure Beyond Earth has its high points, I've listened to the soundtrack on and off for example and it is solid, As are the opening FMVs.  On the other hand though, I can always get Alpha Centuri and its expansions for a fiver and end up with a similar, if not deeper, experience.

So I guess, Beyond Earth is for me, what Civ VI is for you.