Sid Meier’s Civilization The franchise has been growing and expanding in many ways since the first game was released in 1991. With Civilization 7 Coming in just a few months, it’s interesting to compare some of the game mechanics revealed with the familiar gameplay systems. Civilization 6 and previous titles. Although some ideas in the games were eliminated entirely, such as the throne rooms from the first Civilization games, many of the features have been tweaked and improved with each new entry in the series.
Civilization 7 It is already expected to have numerous changes compared to its predecessors, with the new concept of working through three ages being the biggest difference so far. For the most part, though, much of the game is simply evolution of ideas that have been tested in the past and are now being brought back in new and improved versions. Of these, Perhaps the most promising change is the idea of Independent Powerswhich could completely revolutionize the way early-game diplomacy and warfare are handled in the first few turns a player takes to lead their people.
Civilization 7’s standalone powers could be great
Barbarian clans and city-states will be treated very differently
Simply put, the Independent Powers in Civilization 7 will take the Barbarian Clans and the city-states of Civilization 6 and give them more of a gray area for good or bad mechanics. Instead of a player seeing a barbarian in the overworld and immediately attacking, they will see these Independent Powers and choose whether to try to talk to them and make an alliance or join the battle. It appears that attempting a diplomatic approach in these camps of independent powers may not always be successful, leading to some bloodshed even if the player is trying to make an alliance.
Unless destroyed in battle, these Independent Powers will eventually become a city-state. Similar to mechanics in Civilization 6they will then declare a suzerain relationship with an allied country and give them exclusive bonuses.
Independent powers built into Civ 6’s barbarian clans
Civ 7 gives greater weight to strategy over first neighbors
In a February 2021 update to Civilization 6the game introduced the Barbarian Clans game mode. Similar to the idea of new Independent Powers, this Civilization 6 The mode paved the way for barbarian tribes to have some peaceful interactions with players, even allowing for attempts to civilize the barbarians so they could become city-states. Having the possibility of Barbarians as alliances rather than annoyances opened up new strategic possibilities for players, but many found it easier to just kill them all.
While it is a good concept at its core, Civilization 6 failed to incorporate the idea in a way that resonated with most playerswhich led to the fight against the Barbarians as it would have happened without the new mode. Many players were frustrated with how expensive and difficult it was to try to work with Barbarian Clans, while others were disappointed with how the Barbarians continued to kidnap settler units or attack troops, even after peaceful negotiations.
It is not yet known whether Civilization 7The adjustments will resolve any issues players have had with the Barbarian Clan game mode. Civilization 6but changing the units to Independent Powers instead of calling them Barbarians seems to suggest that the resource has undergone many more transformations in the underlying game mechanics.
Each civilization game paves the way for the next
Systems that didn’t work well in one game can be great in the next
Every new game on Civilization franchise has undergone some important adjustments to some of the game systems from previous titles. Civilization 6 saw a huge improvement in the way religion was handled in the game, having just been a DLC addition in Civilization 5. It also introduced many important features around the idea of climate change and related policies, as well as introducing the controversial aspect of Districts and Special Districts into the urban planning aspect of the game.
Civilization 7 is already making a big change to how Ages will alter gameplay and allow leaders to grow and evolve their civilizations in different directions when an Age ends. Many changes, big and small, will require an adjustment period for players who have put in countless hours Civilization 6 or previous games and you might expect things to be more similar than they are.
Regardless, turning the Barbarian Clans into what appears to be a redesigned Independent Powers system looks very promising. If it works well in practice, it has the potential to make the first turns of a game much more interesting and full of new possibilities for alliances, or war, and offers a unique form of strategic planning for Civilization 7 players.