Civilization 7 Expectations from An Economist Plays

I've played Civilization games for 33 years now, so what are my thoughts on what Civilization 7 be like? Well, it's a bit of a ramble, and I consider the history of the franchise along with recent game successes and flops and I think that helps my crystal ball get a bit of a peek at what the future holds.

[@sdl1ishappy]

I loved Civ V, but I took to unstacked cities like a duck to water and there was no going back. I couldn't give a hoot about cartoony graphics - in fact, I grew to love them as I found the brightness easy on the eyeballs. I am looking forward to seeing how they will innovate Civ 7.

[@jukeseyable]

Civ 4 was by far the best of the series, and one of the greatest games of all time

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

Based take. I’m 27 though, I got into Civ 5 heavily so I’m biased. But I can only imagine my bias of Civ 5 is the same you got for Civ 4. Mad respect.

[@iamspamus8784]

Nah. Wasn't that the corruption game? Where the bigger you got, the more corruption there was? That killed it. That may have been Civ V. I do remember stopping play of Civ IV for some mechanic.

[@jukeseyable]

@@iamspamus8784 it wasnt civ 4 mate, that im sure of

[@icecreambaker]

I wonder the landowners will approve of this??

[@An_Economist_Plays]

Radicalism +5% and IG approval -3. :-D

[@MrJayjayhawker]

I loved the cinematic videos for wonders in Civ II

[@monkeytime9851]

I miss the arguments between the advisors. I don't recall if that was civ 2 or 3, but it was great.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

@monkeytime9851 Civ 2. There were times it got old, but then there was the anarchy period that was always worth a laugh.

[@LCMHUNG]

I was also almost the same age as you at 22 when Civ I came out. It impacted us the whole generation. Thanks for the video. It made me feel not being alone.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

Gen X UNITE!!! :-)

[@abelharainha7709]

I think that the Turn Based Strategy games show the point of view of the generals, the same way that Real Time Strategy shows the point of view of the captains

[@collinmarlow8167]

I strongly recommend trying Civ 5! Best game I have played by a mile. There is a group that likes realism (not everyone) but when it does look more realistic or less cartoony I find it to be much more enjoyable. I've always said Civ 6 with Civ 5 graphics would have been perfect.

[@RobertLey60]

That's why I want a mix of Dorfromantik and Civ 6 - just combo maxxing for points. :)

[@Swolf]

Hello! I stumbled upon your channel with this video and after checking out your other videos, i love your style of narration and how relaxing it is. Have you thought about playing civilisation games and uploading them to your channel?

[@An_Economist_Plays]

That is about to happen. Anything in them you'd like to see?

[@Swolf]

@@An_Economist_Plays Brilliant! I can't think of anything in particular. I look forward to when you upload them!

[@tbone2646]

I just want an AI that is competent enough to actually play the game, I think it's impossible to lose a game of Civ 6

[@An_Economist_Plays]

When I first started, it was plenty possible. :-) But, yes, a well-trained human can roll over the AI - so I try to do things that tie my hands like religion-only or conquest via culture flipping only. That or try to beat the game in X turns or less.

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

Difficulty is a strange topic in the civ games. Since map settings and choice of civ can massively impact difficulty. The player determines difficulty tbh. Or are you just such a massive chad that diety 1 city challenges are child’s play to you? If so, I’m sorry I questioned you, master.

[@tbone2646]

@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 its not a question of just giving the computer teams economic advantages so they can fail more efficiently than you can succeed its the fact that AI literally doesn't know how to play - have you ever seen the cities they build? there no logic to them ever seen the armies they build or how they deploy them? same applies, it's just random I've played every edition of civ and IMO it peaked with civ 4. Since they went 1UPT the AI can't manage, and they now increase the complexity of the game without the AI even able to do the basics

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

@@tbone2646 makes sense, yeah I see it.

[@channdler]

I love your channel keep it up, the little player count graph was great. I would love to hear some old game stories from maybe the 90s or 2000s if you have any. I really think cities skylines 2 is not that bad. i play it like a city painter just building the type of fake city i would want, the highways are fun definitely needs work though. Agree on vic 3!

[@An_Economist_Plays]

Old game stories is an idea there...

[@InfinitySquared1]

Civ 4 definitely had great modding potential. I played a Star Trek total conversion mod as a kid. I kind of want to buy a copy of the game and see if I can find that mod.

[@TheBestMCScavenger]

Civilization Revolution was the first strategy game I played on the PS3 when I was like 8 and then I played civ 4 on pc when I was like 12. I played the hell out of civ 5 but never played civ 6 because I was playing paradox games by that point. Once I got EU4 I don’t think I ever played a game of civ again.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

I was like that and then got back into Civ6 when I got done with EU4. :-)

[@TheBestMCScavenger]

@@An_Economist_Plays 2500 hours and a decade later and I’m still not done 😂

[@An_Economist_Plays]

4564 hours for me. :-)

[@arthuralpaca]

15:00 you were on point.

[@darwinroblox_2022]

Brought back some happy memories playing one of those older Civs on my Amiga! Anyway back to Vicky3…. 😀

[@An_Economist_Plays]

Them were the days...😊

[@monkeytime9851]

I would like to see them include world changing events that actually change the game.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

The catch is if they wreck things, they're not likely to be included as a main path option, as most players would want to bypass events seen as game-wrecking. But if it's game-bending, yes, I think we'd have some winning approaches there!

[@inditsnotdenon922]

I just want beyond earth 2

[@Zarastro54]

They need to somehow develop riverine travel and the use of rivers as trade routes.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

That was in Civ 1, when rivers were in spaces, not on the lines between them.

[@isaacshultz8128]

Civ 5 my beloved

[@eli-la-ceti4318]

civs 5 is my go to game i have that moded out so much the best mod is Advanced Air-Naval-Ground Units Megamod

[@ExpedientFalcon]

The tragedy of CS2 is in Colossal Order and Paradox's management of the release and the post-release. The game did clearly have potential to me on release, as someone who played a lot of the first game, things like the scale of buildings, the road tool, etc. were vastly improved, but the game just had so many bugs at release. The thing that absolutely flopped it is that instead of listening to the players, instead of fixing the bugs and giving us a playable game, they stuck to their slow 1-month patch cycle when the game was in an unplayable state due to the bugs, and stuck to focusing on releasing what may be the most pathetic DLC in the history of gaming, to the point that they had to refund everyone who purchased the DLC and give it to us for free. But we can at least be glad that Paradox seems to have learned some sort of lesson, as they pushed back the future DLC dates on CS2 to focus on fixing the game, and they pushed back the release date on Spheres of Influence to make sure it doesn't suffer the same problems as CS2. But for CS2, it may be too late for a lot of players as there's already that broken trust.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

And that is a fate Civ 7 *definitely* wants to avoid.

[@kenhill5214]

6:40 Civ3 I never got into because I discovered Europa Universalis at the same time.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

EU was a *huge* distraction, and it scratched that "hard history" itch of many a gamer, that's for sure!

[@1Maklak]

There is also freeciv, but it's kind of meh. Honorable mention to Alpha Centauri.

[@StrudelerOfTheTSociety]

Keep expectations low now, be more satisfied later.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

I've got them at moderate, don't want a massive shock in case it's good at launch!

[@sedghammer]

Civ 6 went so far into the "this is just an abstracted board game" and away from "this is a historical TBS game" that it lost me entirely. The expansions only made it worse and so did the terrible art style. In an age where we have so much computing power, they've done so little to advance the genre forward with each release. To the point that they stole ideas for CIV 6 from other titles in the genre, from other studios, rather than innovating themselves. I suspect the same attitude for Civ 7.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

To be sure, that was my first reaction. But the puzzle solving aspects are strong and the district mechanics, for me, are a huge win.

[@RichardPhillips1066]

6 lost focus the last dlc i didn't bother to buy , let's hope they refocus on improving core mechanics and innovative ideas

[@An_Economist_Plays]

That's my next Civ video topic.

[@curtismain995]

I was born in 92

[@An_Economist_Plays]

Now think about how the kids born in 2022 are gonna feel when we talk about old video games... :-)

[@isaacshultz8128]

What event caused the common era to begin?

[@An_Economist_Plays]

That's just it - there is none. But our calendars reach back to mark time from when Christianity *thought* Jesus was born, when we now know it may have been 4-6 years prior to that. Since events of the 19th and 20th century made the European-Christian calendar dominant globally, it's now seen as more accurate to just call it all "Common Era" and not move everything by 4-6 years.

[@isaacshultz8128]

@@An_Economist_Plays I see what you're saying but I think it is a deliberate move away from the religious roots of the calendar and a way of virtue signalling that you are being politically correct. Your video was well done btw

[@An_Economist_Plays]

@@isaacshultz8128 it's actually notation that has origins in the 17th and early 18th centuries. It's now in common usage academically, I see its usage more a key to being understood by a wider audience. If I was doing a geology video, I'd use MYA notation, but that's a bit overkill for a timespan of a few thousand years. 😊 The AD notation itself was a shift from the then-dominant AM system, anno martyri. AM is still used by Coptic Christians. AD prevailed in Roman churches while Greek ones used Etos Kosmou dating. Ethiopian and Armenian churches also have their own calendars. Even among major branches of Christianity we see calendar differences, so "CE" becomes a non-denominational compromise of sorts.

[@Leivve]

Would love to see you narrativizing the trials of immortal god king Ashikaga, and their noble resistance against the vile English.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

Well, that's *one* vote for that activity! :-) I'll keep a running total. :-)

[@jackgurney6961]

Just found your channel, subbed. You should check out civ 5 and share your thoughts in a video

[@Zawiedek]

Maybe your memories cheated on you a little bit, but cultural and diplomatic winning conditions were introduced with CivIII. CivIV made them stronger and introduced religions.

[@An_Economist_Plays]

That is correct! I just liked them better in Civ 4. :-)

[@faerieprincess1232]

10:16 Masters of Orion 2 mentioned 👍

[@An_Economist_Plays]

MOO2! MOO2! MOO2! :-)

[@isaacshultz8128]

I love starbase orion moo2 on ipod