'Civ 6': New 'Civilization' Game Features Big Changes

[Unorthodox]

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/civ-6-new-civilization-game-features-big-changes-warfare-diplomacy-and-even-victory-535457

Beach revealed that between the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum, the Forbidden City and the Pyramids, “You have just seen two civilization-unique improvements and two World Wonders. But it’s not obvious what’s what.”

Maybe Forbidden City and Colosseum are civilization-unique, and the Pyramids and Great Wall are World Wonders? It’s hard to say, as all are such icons of their respective cultures. Having more wonders that are only accessible to a certain civilization provides a lot of motivation to play as different civs, as well as giving each civ even more of a unique feel. Playing as China should feel different than playing from Rome, and keeping some wonders restricted to certain civs helps to maintain that distinction.

The Great Works system also makes a return in Civilization 6. Beach said, “A lot of that very interesting cultural victory that we introduced in  Brave New World, we have the same elements of those here.”

The development team for Civ 6 includes many of the team members who worked on  Civ 5’s expansions, including  Beach himself.  Gods & Kings and  Brave New World introduced elements that deeply changed the way Civ 5 played, systems such as international trade routes, religion, the World Congress, espionage, and tourism and Great Works.

“We were huge fans of those systems and we didn’t want to see them go away. So we decided, well, we’re just gonna keep it all for when  Civ 6 comes, right out the gates,” said Beach.

Shirk notes that the Great Works system is presented in an especially appealing way. “In  Civilization 6, the presentation, the way you interact with it, is gorgeous and beautiful and everything the system deserves. It’s gonna surprise everybody, it’s just amazing.”

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The victory conditions have also seen significant changes. “There’s one victory type that’s gone from Civ 5, one brand-new one that has been added, and a number of them, including the Space Race, where the steps and process you go through to get there will be new and interesting,” said Beach.

Is diplomatic victory the one that’s been axed? The mention of Space Race seems to indicate that a science victory is still valid, and the pride with which Beach and Shirk discuss the Great Works and related systems seem to indicate that cultural victories remain valid. There’s no way domination victory is going anywhere, either. As for an entirely new type of victory, I’m drawing a blank. XCOM victory?

Diplomacy has been adjusted to change as eras unfold. At first, warfare will be the normal condition of foreign relations, and as time progresses, war will become a more formal affair. “You’ll have to formally declare war, you’ll establish embassies and so forth,” said Beach. Beach pointed to a Theodore Roosevelt quote to frame the changes to diplomacy: “As civilization grows, warfare becomes less and less the normal condition of foreign relations.” (Maybe diplomatic victory hasn’t been axed, after all.)

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Warmongers take heart: it also means you can choose to strategically cripple your enemies’ cultural or scientific districts if they seem too close to the appropriate victory. There are other changes to warfare, too:  Civ 6 splits the difference between Civ 4’s stacks o’ doom and and  Civ 5’s single-unit-per-tile by introducing limited unit stacking.

“Two like units will be able to combine into a more powerful corps. There will also be a new class of support units that can be embedded in other units to supplement their power, such as assigning field medics or anti-tank artillery to a squad of infantry, or formally linking up warriors with vulnerable settlers for protection out in the wilderness,” said Beach in an interview with  DigitalTrends.

"Limited stacking will also restore the relevance of unit composition that many players missed in V, leading to a generally more robust wargame," he added.

More at the link.