Civilization VII first look and impressions through Let's Play

Big love to 2K for the invitation to the Preview and Review program for Civ VII.
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[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Post any and all questions and I will try to get to as many as I can. Much love.

[@tlarson5422]

Does settling on freshwater/housing work the same?

[@PaulRees77]

Bravo sir. More, more! Your delivery is great. A joy to watch and listen to. Looking forward to more civ7 content from yourself. Happy new year!

[@bigturboweenie]

What I really like about this video unlike the others that have been posted by other KZbinrs, is that you talk-aloud and explain to us what you're thinking and your strategy. It helps me to have a better understanding as to how this game works and what differences there are between this CIV and prior ones. For example, your explanation of the influence points makes such more sense now.

[@agitatorjr]

Best video on civ 7 I've seen so far. Straight and to the point. Love it!

[@TheJQuon]

You do these "Let's play" videos very well! I'm glad I found your content!

[@moochcat8439]

This has been one of the best explanation videos that I have seen. You sir got a new sub.

[@JulieanGalak]

I like that we once again have "we love the king day"

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Having happiness back in the game does make me happy.

[@JumpDaddy70]

Echo, how does it feel knowing you're the chillest dude

[@mrsaeedali]

Best explanation so far... I'm watching civ7 videos for the past 3 days but this is the best one. Hats off bro.

[@GuyWithAMug]

I second this, very informative and doesn't feel rushed

[@Guyinthecommentsection]

This feels like a fever dream.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

You and me both.

[@Adam-z3g9y]

🙏🏽🙏🏽🥹just couple more days till I can play to

[@37earc]

Hey, I watched several civ7 intro videos. Yours is the best. You take the time to explain the ui and gameplay with the viewer in mind.

[@torstenwinkler8610]

Could not agree more with this! By far the best first hour gameplay video.

[@Mattchaby]

I concur

[@m1st3rt4c0]

I have never played a Civ game but this Quick Look has me excited to try it. Great job explaining some of the mechanics!

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Thanks Taco!

[@YangShaoqing778]

Bruh... 👀

[@Kr0noZ]

Do yourself a favor and look at Civ 4 or 5 as well, this one really doesn't seem to play like the Civ games of old that made the series as well known as it is. I started with Civ II and a derivative called "Call to Power" and followed the series until now, but this new entry gives me very different vibes...

[@Lefers94]

Have to say I am exited about the age transition resetting a lot of things. Might make midgame and lategame civ more focused on the things you want to achieve vs managing a dozen cities that aren't really important and just building something to be able to hit the next turn button.

[@jampine8268]

Agreed, half the time anything after 200 turns was maintaining your lead, unless you where going for domination, was very little point in expanding, unless you got unlucky with oil/aluminum

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

This is a great perspective.

[@jimm9776]

Jumping on the, "it was all so sprawling it started to feel like work" bandwagon! From, "maybe I'll just start a new game" to, "oh, it is starting a new one for me!"

[@tw7998]

Late game could get tedious for sure, i wonder if resetting makes it pointless playing well in the early ages however?

[@GadBoDag]

​@@tw7998 We still don't know a ton about the final Victory system, I don't think. But it does seem like doing well (getting wonders, settlements, leader upgrade points, Golden Ages) does help you out a lot in the following she.

[@robertcrow3006]

I really like the soft reset. Will be interesting to min / max it.

[@JulieanGalak]

I didn't realize there was a time skip during age transition. I agree, I dislike that. I wonder if their plans for future development is to add more ages to fill the "gaps".

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I’ve wondered the same thing.

[@bennettbottero3352]

From early previews it looks like Influence is one of the harder resources to gather without innate abilities so bifocals seem pretty strong, even if it only applies to mastery.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

From my experience, I would agree.

[@Gryphonau]

Holy moly the mechanics are insane so far! Thank you for sharing this Mr echo :) I started playing civ from civ v, but played the whole way through civ vi, so this new setup is gonna take some time for me to learn and figure out how to play….. it worries me a little lol

[@Anondod]

Thanks for being so thorough with your explanations! This has given me more insight into the core systems than any other video I've watched.

[@flockofwingeddoors]

Fantastic and informative video! Looking forward to seeing a full series someday soon

[@Disposable_hero1970]

Looping forward for a yt civilization 7 series from you.

[@benpauls7851]

I havent played a civ game since the 4th one but I might have to give this a try it looks really fun!!

[@DanielKlein23]

1 to the power of infinity is still one

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

You’ve broken me. Well done.

[@qpangfreak]

its undefined

[@yutterh9153]

Hence why it's one more turn, not two, not three, not five, not ten, not a hundred more turns but for now and forever will be ONE more turn hehehehe

[@ArcherPippin]

I really liked your video and play-through and thought you were pretty fair in your comments until the end. I do think you need to play through all 3 ages before you critique the transition and the change to a new age … there are things you could have done to save your units and keep your cities but you have to know how and plan to do so - like everything else it will take getting used to but after more than 10k hours playing every version of Civ released since ‘91 (including AC) this looks like a great addition to the franchise and I can’t wait to play it! Thanks for taking the time to put together an excellent “first look” vid!

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Oh don’t worry, I plan on putting much more time into it, and always keep an open mind. I’ve never been afraid of Civ mechanics changes and don’t plan to start now :) But in fairness, this was supposed to be an impressions video, and it is a good thing to warn players that it does feel jarring. Thank you for the thoughtful comment and feedback.

[@NoMusiciansInMusicAnymore]

So what role do you have at 2K?

[@justgame5508]

Love the generals concept, they play such a pivotal role in war and the outcome of battles throughout all of history. They 100% deserved their own gameplay mechanic, instead of the old “+5 combat strength” or whatever it was

[@colewarner4954]

"Just 1^infinity more turn" gotta be the best description of civ ever

[@JaxCarpenter-uz1pr]

I do think the civ change does do one thing well, in old games if your civ had an early game unit then it was gold at the start and then you fall off, and if you had a modern day one then you can’t do anything till the

[@BiNumLi]

Bravo. Super gameplay/tutorial. Surprised you didn't get an early settler. But clearly your intention was expansion by acquisition. And it worked. C7 is a 3 games for 1 deal.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I’ve noticed in 4-5 playthroughs, you are not as rushed to settle as you were in past Civs. Remember, there is a settlement limit (that is expandable) so you are much more reserved on settling new towns.

[@CryptoRaiderGaming]

im very excited for this, ill have to get this when it comes out

[@Alabrexas]

Wait... Civilization is actually your favorite game? *gasps in Duplicant*

[@nazgu1]

:)

[@DavidSmith-mt7tb]

From what I've heard it often makes sense to only really have a few cities with other settlements being towns supporting them. But you may set up certain settlements as cities early game and then conquer or found new settlements that would be better cities. So maybe you wanna downgrade a city in later eras and use a new settlement as the city because it has better adjacencies for buildings of that age or is better for helping with certain victory conditions or more suited to your new civ. In exploration age coastal cities are important for instance. So it makes sense to move the capital to the coast and maybe turn a fishing town that was a food town into another coastal city using another prior city as a town to support it. hopefully those strategies will become more clear later. This lets you create cities where you want them for the next era without killing your growth by reducing how many towns you have.

[@5eunhye]

Never watched a single Civ vid in my life nor have I played the Civ games… time to start 🐐

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Wow. Thank you.

[@andersros01]

Great first look and I am hoping for more!

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Thank you.

[@MotocampingMutt]

Echos voice, so soothing

[@TheHyunuklee]

great intro vid. the civ transition from an era to another really pulls me off. can't imagine a known civ in Europe somehow transition to another known civ in East Asia. completely breaks the emotional immersion. they should've just not mention the civ name but call it like "economic-driven civ" or something than calling it "Ming", which we already have known as an "Asian civ".

[@tw7998]

As a long time civ player (from civ1) this is the first time i have not ordered as soon as possible, i am trying to decide if the random leaders/civ switch in age transition and lack of earth map is a deal breaker. With that in mind i am really grateful for this video- so many feel like a paid advert.

[@rift8966]

I started out on Civ 2 and have played every one since then, and I agree... I'm very hesitant about even bothering with Civ 7. There's just too many things I don't like...

[@tw7998]

@@rift8966 if the modding community manage to somehow do TSL maps, and if some civs i am interested in playing are added i will eventually buy it i guess. I suspect this will sell very well, so the game will keep moving towards pure board game mechanics and feel.

[@Renny2077]

The UI really needs some work when compared to Civ 6. The civics and production tree pages look so empty.

[@TheJQuon]

Ben Franklin for the Biofocals momento for sure!

[@brewtal85]

Great video . Really enjoyed the insights into new mechanics etc .. quick question re; new settlements. Is there still a housing cap, if not, what benefit does settling near fresh water give ?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

No housing cap. The fresh water impacts settlement happiness.

[@Slappist_Cast]

Playin this with my friends will be fun

[@blaaaghy8300]

Please watch your health and take care.

[@gunnergoz]

Great video, good job overall, Kudos! Can't say, however, that I agree with you on the issue of age transitions as a negative. The forced setback replicates what historically happens during such historical events. Having to deal with them plays an important role in keeping the player engaged and invested in digging out of the hole he/she is put into, and thus equalizes the start of the new age for all players. If you did the preceding age well, you should have some benefits that carry over anyway. I can't tell you how many C5 and C6 games I quit halfway through because the snowball effect (positive or negative) led into a game that was no longer fun. This version of Civ seems to address that phenomenon. We'll see how well once I get to play it, but I'm hopeful. I also look forward to trying out all the new combinations of leaders and civs as that seems like a bold and refreshing change that Civ 7 had the guts to try out.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I think you are spot on and I appreciate the discourse. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it.

[@thyghostridder]

Love the Civilizations games. I cant wait to be able to play 7.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Soon Ghostridder, soon!

[@mihaipuscasu7357]

Echo got the slimeling from them 100 dupes he been spending his time with.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Bingo.

[@egastar37]

Hi! In Civ 6 it was often not a good idea to settle on woods as it would destroy them thus discarding the chance to chop or place a lumber mill on them. Are there any similar cases in Civ 7? Another question is, I have seen that they have the overbuilding mechanic allowing you to destroy(?) old urban(?) buildings by building new age ones on top but it was mentioned that, although old ones lose their adjacency bonus, they still have their base yields. My question is why would you substitute one for another instead of just building on another tile while leaving those base yields of old buildings be?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

As there are no workers, there are no chops. But the real meat of your question is remember, you only unlock a new tile up to the max of a 3 tile radius, on every population growth. So it will most likely make sense to overbuild to save tiles for more important things, like wonders.

[@egastar37]

@ thanks! Got it

[@Kr0noZ]

Regarding the Bifocals memento: I'll guess Benjamin Franklin is a leader option, he's often credited with inventing them so it'd be a reasonable reward for playing him.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Correct!

[@squidapple9662]

Does anyone happen to know if the black map fog of war hexes with the yellow glyphs on them is the Founders Edition version skin from all this early footage? I've not been able to find an answer if this is the default one or the skin enabled for the early game previewers

[@abramdodge2183]

Wasn’t aware of the time jump between ages, that is a little annoying but if I think about it the year counter is purely cosmetic. The time jump between ages isn’t going to bother me any more or less than a scout taking centuries to cross my empire or whatever

[@gymlife408]

Every Civ 7 video I’ve seen the AI aggressively forward settles - not sure I want to play until after the first patch

[@brewtal85]

What makes you think they will patch that? It’s actually a good tactic from the AI, eg Something a more advanced/powerful human player might do

[@devonceleon]

The age skip is kinda jarring but I guess I’ll get use to it. Thanks for this breakdown and I wish you had 3 hours 😂

[@guillaumebriere3119]

can't wait the 6th !

[@Vhailor_Mithras]

I'm guessing it was Benjamin Franklin for Bifocals? He's the only kind of leader that comes to mind that was also an inventor.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Bingo.

[@christopherg.6282]

it's interesting you mention the loss of army as a negative point in the end. Tbh, this is historically way more accurate than any civ game before. It just doesn't make sense to keep one slinger from ancient times and boost them up to mech infantry all the way in modern times (which was what happened in all prior civ games). Now due to a new age starting, you get to keep the benefits of the past but a new era starts anew. Historically speaking, this is way more accurate than the fictional set-up of former civ games.

[@wurzelbert84wucher5]

This doesn't make sense to me, how is this realistic? The whole era/age concept is super abstract, not a reality of the people of these times at all. I don't get it.

[@markos50100]

​@@wurzelbert84wucher5it's a board game in the end man, not perfect historical accuracy. This is the best way to implement a cultural shift in a game compared to something like a natural disaster wiping a whole civ out, getting conquered by neighbors, or a massive change of the ruling power.

[@SteinerNein]

@@wurzelbert84wucher5 you should probably study history and anthropology a little bit more before coming to that conclusion.

[@wurzelbert84wucher5]

@ This is the best you can come up with? A childish ad hominem attack?

[@YangShaoqing778]

​​@@wurzelbert84wucher5 CIV was never supposed to be a historical game. It's a "what would happen" sandbox with historical leaders. That's what Sid said. If you wanna play a history simulator play something like Europa.Unversalis.

[@larkendelvie]

Thanks Echo - 5 minutes in and I've downloaded this vid for reference when I actually get the game and I'm guessing you are familiar with how Benjamin Franklin plays. Edited to add - for Exploration age do you have to use Navy? Or can you explore on land to find another continent? Can't wait to see Modern Age but honestly how modern will it be since it ends in the cold war? Thanks for letting us know the date -- I've been waiting to purchase until I see all the ages. One other question - on average how long is it taking you to play each age -- round about estimate.

[@brookselder9854]

I think that you need to use naval units to discover the "distant lands" in the Exploration Age, but there are certain civilizations, like the Mongols and the Songhai, which can still get some of the associated bonuses just by staying in their homelands, so depending on which civ you are playing as, you might be less incentivized to send a huge navy across the seas.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

You are going to have to employ a Navy. With that being said it isn’t the only way to play. You could just go scorched earth on your own land mass, but there are A LOT of incentives to traveling to the “New World” per se.

[@knarkelark732]

About the thumbnail: 1 raised to infinity is still 1 ;)

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Yes, but a lot of 1's ;)

[@RayHikes]

Would be nice if the age transition didn't delete your units. If I spend the time to make a big army to do some fighting in my home continent, I want to be able to immediately start sending them overseas in the next era, not taking the time to rebuild. Even if it's a militaristic legacy you'd need to select, it would be nice to have an option to keep your units.

[@Richard-zw9sl]

I thought you could only have one warehouse building per city, like Granary, Brickyard etc. Is that not the case?

[@Khaim.m]

Nope. You can build all of them. It's a little inefficient though, since each tile can only benefit from one of them.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

You can build all of them if you would like, but as Khaim states, probably inefficient unless it is a very large town/city.

[@DraganAlves]

Are there vegan cheeseburgers on the tech tree?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I have not found any.

[@brianmccarthy1440]

Not sure who the available leaders are, but I’m guessing Teddy Roosevelt for the bifocals unlock. However, I just looked it up and learned he was nearsighted so he didn’t actually use bifocals!

[@christopherg2347]

My remarks: 3:11 It says "Ageless" on those buildings. I am guessing some buildings loose their bonuses as you go through the ages? 21:45 Here it say Ageless + can be build in every age. So I guess the unique ones are limited to that age? 33:45 I would call it "marching Formation". Because I think that is what it is based upon. 44:07 I think it simulates events like the Bronze Age collapse, 3rd Century crisis, year of the 4 emperors and similar turning points in history. All those times _between_ the great leaders.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Ageless buildings stay through the ages with their bonuses intact. At least as far as I have seen.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I have not scene a unique ageless building in my play through yet. But what I have seen is that, if you missed building a saw mill in the first age you will be able to unlock it again in the next age.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I can definitely see the alignment in history, the jump still feels a bit jarring imo. Who knows. I might just need to play more for it to feel more natural.

[@christopherg2347]

@@EchoRidgeGaming Kinda ironic that it is the leader sticking around, while civilisations change. Normally leaders are shorter lived than civilisations.

[@christopherg2347]

@@EchoRidgeGaming I actually wondered if it should be called "Leaders" - because you play the leader primarily. But then you also play several civilisations. So "Civilisations" actually fits more than before.

[@nazgu1]

Well, I think I'll wait till you, Potato and Ursa publish a bunch of initial playthroughs, before I decide whether I want to play the new version myself or just keep watching YT videos.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I will def be uploading more content soon. The game definitely has the hook.

[@lolkingftw4804]

i just started playing civ6 because it was on a 95% discount on steam, what an awkward time to start since all the youtubers will be moving onto civ 7 😂

[@TheLoops73]

Look at it this way, you have 8 years worth of how to play civ 6 videos to watch.

[@Lanaris99]

Why? Civ 6 is a quality game and you'll get many hours of enjoyment from it.

[@bonnieamof7033]

I miss the loyalty mechanic, I hope they bring it back to prevent such agressive forward settling. It also just makes more sense IMO.

[@donbemont7901]

Of course I won't know how I really feel about the age transitions (or other changes) until I've played for a while, but I have a positive first impression. The hop, skip, and jump through history feels offset by the fact that during a particular age, you are playing a civ that was was strong at that time, with its advantages such as unique units, and those units will be relevant throughout the era -- not outdated by the time they get to the war on the other side of the map. In my mind, a good story depends more on compelling chapters than on having the chapters cover all the time continuously, with no gaps. Maybe more importantly, I am optimistic that they have (or will soon have) a reasonable compromise between rubber banding and snowballing. It looks to me as though they have systems in place to give successful civs in one era very significant advantages in the next era. But not to the point that they are beating on an army of two slingers with an army of ten knights. If I have any doubts about the game personally, those doubts revolve around how much I will miss the sandboxy feel of all the earlier civs. Up until now, I could play mostly to build up my empire into a power too strong to mess with. Then decide on a victory path (or quit and start over). But it was very free form. Civ 7 looks to be far, far more focused on earning points in four areas, and as such seems to have stronger board game roots. At the expense of simulating the role of a world leader -- I really doubt that Augustus was counting up points! With the simulation aspect covered over with graphics to make the player feel immediacy. Since I am not much taken in by graphics after a first playthrough, I'm not sure I'll like that tradeoff. But overall, I am still optimistic. Probably the biggest reason why is the diplomacy. Wow, what an upgrade! Both in the kinds of things you can attempt to do with diplomacy, but also in the sacrifices you have to make to be effective diplomatically.

[@JacekUW]

Gov type also matters in relations with other civs.

[@flowergurl1009]

so, I personally like hearing the voices from the civics and science upgrading, but I understand not doing it in a time limited video to save time for other things

[@grosserjo673]

Quick Question: What happens when you transition into a new age while you didnt unlock previous techs? will you never be able to use those techs, even if they contain essential buildings/mechanics?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Some of the buildings reappear as variants in the next ages. IE. Librarys to universities. Each age seems to be able to stand on its own regardless of previous tech.

[@kokorochin01]

I don't even think the devs are aware that the vast majority of the community doesn't like the UI

[@MeatsOfEvil]

Curious what the upside of those soft resets are. With these 4x games I always feel like there comes a point where the snowball has rolled too far to be interesting, and the game is only fun to play while the outcome is undecided. Maybe this is to readdress that? Add in some new challenges while keeping some momentum?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I believe this was the intent. There is a dev diary that discussed it as well.

[@thefury770able]

Is the build you got to play the final one?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

It hasn't been said yet, but I highly doubt it. We still have a couple weeks until soft launch, so I am confidant there will be a day 1 patch.

[@ravingodd]

Man, I had hoped they would have moved away from districts. Having played Civ 3-6, I spent the least amount of time in 6 because I didn't like some of the bigger changes they made

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

They have in a way. It is sort of a meld between no districts and districts. The adjacencies are there, but there is no "science district" or "industrial district" per se. I believe it to be the best of both worlds, but will take some time to get a solid grasp on min/max strategy. For example, I played my last game on Diety, and didn't really think about districts other than when I selected the new building "which tile gave the best yields". I did fine by doing just that.

[@Lupo-1994]

There will be updates untile the release of the game? mosty important, the UI one? because as for now it sucks alot to be a modern civilization UI

[@wurzelbert84wucher5]

I don't know, most changes feel unnecessary, just for the sake of changing something. It doesn't make sense anymore, gamey, overcomplicated, but without offering new depth (from the looks of it). I am not that hyped as for now.

[@marciotoste]

Can you play civII on victory war mode

[@bmrigs]

I absolutely hate the AI forward settling. I knew that was going to happen. That area to the east of Roma with horses and iron should of been a priority to place a town.

[@BiNumLi]

The forward settle plus the chain of mountains cut off Rome from the whole NE side. Good move. But if AI forward settles they should back it up with a strong garrison.

[@SpazzyMcGee1337]

Is there any system akin to loyalty that dissuades forward settling?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Not that I have seen.

[@bonnieamof7033]

I miss the loyalty mechanic, I hope they bring it back to prevent such agressive forward settling. It also just makes more sense IMO.

[@Lgaard1]

What was the difficulty level you were playing?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Sovereign. 2 Below Deity. I have two playthroughs in Deity so far, but wanted to be able to highlight gameplay for the purposes of the video without too many “distractions”.

[@keithandrewsfineart3417]

i know we will get a patch before release, but my biggest concern is the AI. It always seems to be ignored. Any thoughts on how it looks so far from an experienced player?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

I need more time to really see. AI is tough to judge over just a few gameplays.

[@keithandrewsfineart3417]

Thanks for the quick reply!!! Subbed ❤

[@Fiffelito]

Yeah, this is a skip for me as a long term civ player (a fair few thousand hours in civ 1 alone). If the leader changes and is disconnected to your civ and your civ changes aswell... what's the point really? This looks more like "Humankind". They were already testing my patience with the DLC spam with civ 6 and the blaze bug fixing... how long did the pantheon bug exist before it got fixed? And you can still queue unique buildings with no fix in sight. Now if they took a step back to take a look and streamlined a bunch of stuff instead of bloating the game with blantantly imbalanced things... we could have a proper civ game again. We don't need these many progression trees/lines/unlocks etc.

[@DrPooks]

The Civ6 console release sat for 2+ years unpatched when they sold gamebreaking bugs in their own Season Pass paid DLC. The final version is mostly fixed and playable, but Firaxis stopped communicating and essentially abandoned half their playerbase late in the game's support cycle.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Just an FYI, your leader does not change.

[@ChristianSamsel]

I agree that the government type needs more mechanics and flavors

[@monkeytime9851]

Can you pet the dog or is that gonna be a DLC?

[@andrewmonarez2268]

Which civilization game would you recommend for beginners, and whid game do you prefer?

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

While every Civ game in the series is similar in overall style, they all differ in mechanics slightly. So the best Civ game is the one you start playing today. My current personal favorite is probably Civ V. With that being said, the older ones frequently go on deep discounted sales, so pick the one that best fits the budget. Also, DLCs aren't really required, but I highly recommend the expansions when you start. There's a common saying, that Civ games aren't really finished until they have had to expansion packs. Play the tutorials, go slow and enjoy it. Warning: You will lose concept of time for a bit.

[@rookooful]

@@EchoRidgeGaming I disagree that the expansions are not really required. The game is completely overhauled and usually for the better. Take civ 5 for example. Once you have the brave new world and all the others its a complexly different game. Base civ 5 feels unfinished not to mention like half of the mechanics of the game are locked behind the expansions.

[@ZekeRaiden]

@@rookooful I don't think there's too much difference between you. ERG seems to be saying, more or less, "you CAN play without any DLC at all...but the 'expansion' DLCs tend to be really, _really_ important for making the game feel great." Your position seems to be, "because the game doesn't generally feel great until you get at least a couple expansions, expansions are kinda required." That is, his position is a very strong form of "not required" as in not _absolutely mandatory_ but generally pretty important, while yours is a very soft form of "required" as in not actually mandatory, but so highly recommended you can't in good conscience say it's just fine to ignore them. Not that it makes that much difference anyway. You should definitely buy old games when they're on sale, and at this point if they don't include all the Civ V expansions in the sale, they're being idiots.

[@benabaxter]

​​@@ZekeRaiden I think it's also worth mentioning that Civ V and Civ VI were uniquely sparse at launch for the franchise. That's not nothing, that's upwards of what, 15 years of releases? However the previews of VII tend to suggest it is a complete game at launch for the first time since IV. There will be DLC, and DLC is usually great from Firaxis, but the movement this time seems likely to be "from great to GOAT" more than "from salvageable to salvaged." Both BNW and Gathering Storm make their games truly excellent, so at this point you can't go wrong.

[@davidsprenkle2641]

@@ZekeRaiden I appreciate your level of rhetorical nuance--so rare on the internet these days :)

[@moondog548]

The UI looks a little unfinished, but it's already lightyears ahead of 6's barely-usable over-stylized UI. LOVE the map graphics too compared to 6's "looks great but nothing like a cohesive world" style. And I'm very appreciative of your actual-play style and explanation. Already the mechanics look a lot less convoluted than 6's which was my other concern. The fact that they have sprinkled a couple system nuggets from Beyond Earth is a nice surprise!

[@bronson1955]

3:50 Niccolo Machiavelli

[@skrie]

I only have one hour so please sit back and allow me to explain the minutia of every move I make, in excruciating detail. Oh shi.. I ran out of time.

[@davidsprenkle2641]

He's got an hour of GAME PLAY he can show. But his videos themselves can be as long or short as he wants :)

[@Tatuzka]

I really would just hope that after you transition to a new era that you would not lose your old military units, it makes NO SENSE to me why we gotta lose our old military units and not spend gold for example or another resource to upgrade them to more "modern" units of that era. Thats a HUGE bummer to me.. I really hope someone mods this part of the game as a soon as possible, cause that's really off putting as an idea to me :

[@conrad3066]

I've been playing since Civ 2, 5 was my favorite, and I HATED 6 until the expansions came out and made it more interesting. I cannot wait for this game.

[@Richard-zw9sl]

It is a shame that the Palace is seemingly the same regardless of what civilisation you choose.

[@Killerkwoi13]

There will be mods to make the palace more thematic very quickly I reckon

[@Khaim.m]

That's apparently a preorder bonus. I don't know why everyone had it enabled (maybe they didn't notice) but by default I think each civ has an appropriate style of palace.

[@YangShaoqing778]

​​@@Killerkwoi13I doubt you'll need them. I think this is simply a preview version and the different palaces are absent on purpose.

[@brookselder9854]

Yeah, every civilization has its own distinct palace, but there are palace skins that you can apply, one of which comes with the Founder's edition, and seemingly every content creator with an early access build has enabled that one.

[@erez87xp]

too bad the "goodie huts" don't stay on the map in some way. could be cool to get to a rich market, that becomes a minor market settlement.

[@Avatar1946]

I think I will appreciate the Age progression as it solves one of my biggest complaints of CIV6: it was very boring toward the end of a long, single civ game.

[@nazgu1]

[@jrrd4069]

UI made me cancel my preorder.

[@veselinmarkov]

Nice demo, thanks. But what is the tumb nail supposed to say? 1 to the power of infinite is still a 1 😅

[@Alchemikazz]

1 to the power of infinite is 1*1*1*1*1.... Maybe it is when you say to yourself "one more move and I go to sleep" and that goes for almost infinity.

[@mikesmith6838]

Well, crap. They kept districts. Guess I'll keep playing Civ V and hope for the best in DLC's or Civ 8.

[@nazgu1]

So.... watched both Ursa and Potato. Sorry to break it to you Echo, but you might just have to switch gears to Civ 7 full steam once it's out. You video was a MUCH better intro to Civ 7. Sure, I realize Potato and Ursa are not really your entry-level Civ channels, but still.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

They are both pros for sure. Thank you for the compliment.

[@SatiricalStocks]

Man I don’t have anything to say, but I’m leaving a comment to help your channel

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Thank you.

[@IamACanadian47]

Looks extremely complex to me, I haven’t won a single game of civ since number 3, for the bifocals bonus I’d guess Teddy Roosevelt (edit: should have said Ben Franklin).

[@Padsoldier]

In the unexplored areas there are tiles that are marked with a golden VII text. Does that have any mechanical relevance (for example, do those tiles have a resource on them), or is it just a reminded that you're playing Civ 7?

[@daruddock]

It's just an aesthetic choice.

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Like @daruddock says, it is just a graphic. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see map tile DLCs or unlockables in the future.

[@vojtechsejkora1554]

bifocal - i think could relate to Columbus? I do not know, if he is in possible leader in Civ VII :)

[@CurlyStuffing]

Happy to see you getting early access Echo! I've never really got into civ V or even touched Humankind, so I can't really feel the growing pain here, but I'd like to think that gamers can always keep playing what they loved, there's no need to hold the franchise hostage from trying new things. 😅

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Oh def not. I’ve been around for all the Civ mechanics changes and will be embracing Civ VII just like I did to all the rest. Just wanted to make sure I was honest with my general feeling from the first few playthroughs. This way I’ve done my best to inform the community.

[@apandrei100]

What I wonder is what happening if you are faster then the AI and you move to exploration age and they are still in the cave age is that possible or even more faster to move to modern ahhahahaa in civ 6 I age quick some of the ai were still behind me fighting each other

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

It is not possible. The world advances at the same time.

[@iam1hobbit]

Civ endgame has always been my least favorite part of the game (by a lot) and felt like a slog - to the point that I would mostly play only the first half of games before starting a new one. So for me, age transitions are a godsend (from what I can see of them) - They help keep things fresh and not unwieldy.

[@stevedaytona]

Don't know if you read the first of the Game Dev articles - their data indicated that 50% of all Civ VI players didn't complete even ONE game!. That's one of the main reasons for this change to Age's and almost 3 separate but connected games. I didn't like the sound of the "civ swapping" at first but I'm coming round to the idea.

[@dawsonemmett2837]

Oh echo how could you I can't watch this now I'm "at da club" as these young people say singing karaoke how dare you release a new video now and not 5 hours ago? Smh sigh* I will watch later

[@EchoRidgeGaming]

Who says people "in da club" don't appreciate quality 4x strategy content lol

[@dawsonemmett2837]

@EchoRidgeGaming you know good point echo but it's loud and I can't really hear you so I'll make a deal, I watch it when I get home and again when Im sober so I actually retain the vid. And you look out for my comment with my question regardless of if it's about this game or not. (It'd be about ONI if not this.) DEAL???