Civilization 6

A patch went live and it's huge.

Among many fixes, adjustments and new stuff, these two feel as most important:

- Units may no longer be deleted when they are damaged.
- Deleting a unit no longer provides gold.

I didn't study the whole log yet, but already can't wait to return home and start a new map!

Think I will get this around Christmas for some cold winter nights

Yep, seams to be a great patch. The changes I think are most important are:

-Culture Growth in Cities is now displayed (looks very amateurish though)
-Cavalry production policies reduced (it's down to 50% now as with other unit types)
-units may no longer be deleted when they are damaged
-deleting units no longer provides gold
-AI should now upgrade units
-AI should now escort settlers
-Balloon Range bonus doesnt stack anymore
-Option to reduce tooltip delay
-Option to deactivate auto unit cycle

Two and a half year's later, I finally get into the game thanks to a Humble sale…

JEEZ! The game has really changed a lot from Civ 5! Sounds like it's changed quite a bit since release, too. It's been a long time since I read the reviews so I'm really getting blind sided. Plus the guides were mostly written back when the game first showed up so can't really be trusted.

Big changes:

• Your roving bands of workers that build roads and upgrade tiles from the dawn of history up through space flight are gone. Now, a builder will update (normally) 3 tiles then vanish.
• Roads would be all but impossible with that sort of system so now roads are built by traders when they establish a trade route.
• Cities without walls can't shoot at enemies - the ancient era can be pretty brutal.
• Districts are a huge change. Your city starts with just a city center but only a few buildings can be built there. If you want to build a temple, you'll need a holy district. If you want a factory, you'll need an industrial district. This takes up space around your city.
• Districts get bonuses for being next to other districts. This includes districts from other cities! Urban sprawl for the win!
• There's now TWO tech trees: the normal one and a civics tree, which is powered by culture. Culture still expands your city borders, too.
• Each government type has "slots." Your civics advances provide bonus cards which you put in the slots. More slots mean more bonuses. You can switch out bonuses whenever you advance your civics.
• Cities' populations are limited by housing and amenities (much like happiness). Various buildings provide extra housing or amenities. Luxury goods give amenities, too, but differently than before. The first one you exploit will add 1 to (typically) 4 cities. The second of the same type will do nothing - you can only trade it away.
• Looks like there's no limit to how many cities you make this time, though amenities will keep a lid on going crazy.
• There seems to be a lot more minor civs. The ones around me laid waste to the bandits in pretty short order. You woo them now via envoys - yet another new mechanic.

So far the changes seem like good ones but it's really too early to tell.

P.S. I'm only playing the base game with no expansions.

The main issue of Civ5 and now of Civ6 is the horrible AI and the rather broken balance.

The bad AI makes Singleplayer games not really challenging, and the broken balance is making multiplayer games rather bad if you know what you are doing.

And apparently this hasn't improved with the expansions either (these I didn't even play).

I bought it on Steam and then promptly asked for a refund. Between the UI of the base game and the fact that Civ6 CONSTANTLY sends information to a server even in offline mode (and even denying it access wouldn't stop the packets). Couldn't figure it out and didn't have patience.

Well the AI is plenty tough for me on Chieftain - but then I'm clueless right now.

A few days before the first expansion released I wanted to get in the mood again, started up a game, and after two very short tries where I started over pretty much right away, I already won…on deity. And I made so many mistakes that I simply shouldn't have won (also on video: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis…R_mtURYqqEqk8e ).

This for me basically killed the motivation to then play the expansion which, according to reviews, made it even worse.

I have to say that the features in the latest expansions are sounding quite cool though. But without a challenging AI…meh…

Originally Posted by Kordanor
The main issue of Civ5 and now of Civ6 is the horrible AI and the rather broken balance.

The bad AI makes Singleplayer games not really challenging, and the broken balance is making multiplayer games rather bad if you know what you are doing.

And apparently this hasn't improved with the expansions either (these I didn't even play).

Yeah, the AI on the 'normal' difficulty is really bad. I don't enjoy playing on super hard difficulties, because all they do is give AI more bonuses. So after one game, I stopped playing.

The issue I have with Civ 6 is that it is almost impossible to have a peaceful nation. In Civ V I could quite happily turtle my way to science/diplomatic/cultural victories, but because Civ VI forces you to land rush, conflict is inevitable.