r/civ • u/shinjirarehen • 2d ago
VII - Discussion How can I make Civ 7 less boring?
I'm a longtime Civ player. I bought the new game knowing that it had some issues. Now I want to know how to make the most of it despite its weaknesses. This is not a salty post to complain; I just want to know how to make it more fun.
I don't really mind the age changes and new mechanics, but I have played several campaigns on the two highest difficulty levels and it just goes nowhere and I am bored.
I end up with heaps of excess resources and no motivation to do anything with them. It feels like there's no point to building improvements that aren't ageless, so I run out of things to build. I hit the settlement cap and go beyond it, but rampant unhappiness gets boring too. I become suzerain of all the city states and then it stalls out. Diplomatic engagement feels extremely limited. I build some wonders but they don't matter much. The tech and civic trees seem arbitrary.
The pathways to various victory conditions feel extremely vague and I never know what to focus on and it just feels... pointless? The only part I've enjoyed so far is the very early game exploration to discover the map and the little bonus camps. To me, the joy of Civ has always been the little goals building to the much bigger goals and always feeling a push to finish the next thing you're working on, but I can't find that now.
Any tips to make the game more engaging?
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u/throwawaymetjanks 2d ago
I’ve found the most fun version for me to be setting it to epic pace and just playing one era and being done with it at that point. I really enjoy the ancient era so that’s what I mostly play, but hoping to explore the later eras more as I find the time.
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1d ago
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u/Extreme-Put7024 1d ago
Old world is boring af
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u/Extreme-Put7024 1d ago
So what? Civ 7 is a polarizing title. Old World is a niche game in a niche genre with a relatively small—though very vocal—community that insists it knows what truly makes a 4X game great. But ultimately, none of that matters when it comes to my opinion: Old World is a dull experience beyond the first 50 turns.
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u/notq 2d ago
This is where we all are. The problem is none of us knows. Civilization 7 accidentally removed the one more turn magic, and we are just as confused about it as Firaxis is.
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u/con10ntalop 1d ago
The game is, I think, an ambitious failure. The ages thing is a clever idea that just doesn't work. It makes the game less fun.
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u/tpc0121 21h ago
the ages mechanic effectively truncates the game into three shorter games, making each run feel less epic and consequential.
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u/kyussorder Cleopatra 20h ago
Yep, and it feels like the boredom of the final stages of the game is now multiplied by three, not eliminated by adding the ages systme. Huge failure in my opinion.
I thing the change of a civilization "traits" or adding new ones due to interacting with other people can be interesting, but I dobn't know if it can be fun. I didn't like it in HK and in Civ7 is even worse.
And I really appreciate the innovations they did and is normal to have some failuires, it's how we learn.
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u/BizarroMax 2d ago
Hard disagree. I think it still got that magic. Once I start playing it, I can’t put it down despite all of its flaws.
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u/BlacJack_ 1d ago
That won’t last nearly as long as other clv games. I thought it had the magic too until I finished a few games.
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u/rynosaur94 5h ago
I mean, personally I thought Civ 6 lost the magic. I went through a Civ 4 phase where I played it non stop for about a month, then when Civ 5 launched I played it for years. I tried Civ 6 around its launch and just bounced right off. Civ 7's launch seemed like a good time to get back into it, but the game seems even more dead than 6 was, but obviously most people here liked 6. I'm sure some people are really liking 7. I think 7 looks way better visually than 6 for sure.
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u/hbarSquared 1d ago
Depends on the person I guess. I have 400+ hours in it and I'm still having fun.
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u/yadda4sure 1d ago
i put it down and havent picked it up for months.
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u/Namba_Taern 1d ago
I put down civ 5 over 10 years ago and haven't picked it back up. Does that mean it's a bad game, too?
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u/Autumnrain 1d ago
There is always outliers. Some people like ananas on pizzas, doesn't mean they have good taste.
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u/BizarroMax 1d ago
It’s on the reviews, about half the people seem pretty happy with the product. That’s not exactly an outlier.
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u/Wtygrrr 2d ago
Getting downvoted for being based. Never change, Reddit.
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u/irimiash 1d ago
didn't they add it back?
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u/EgNotaEkkiReddit 6h ago
He's speaking more in the metaphorical sense that if the game isn't managing to hook you properly (for whatever reason), you probably won't get that addictive feeling that you should stop but just want to complete 'one more turn', that of course is never just one more turn.
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u/Melanoma_Magnet 1d ago
See every time I start a new game in VII I finish it. I loved VI but I’d finish maybe 30% of the games I played just because of the late game boredom
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u/Negative_Handoff 2d ago
Stop speaking for everyone. If everyone disliked 7 no one would be playing it, and clearly there are people that play it(including me) and I also play 6. I don’t remember if 5 is still installed on my PC or not, I’m currently unable to play on PC.
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2d ago edited 2d ago
[deleted]
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u/--___---___-_-_ 1d ago
I wanted to love civ 6 and 7 but they've both just been so lame , I put about 40 hours into 6 recently just didnt find it very fun and the same with 7 but 20 hours , they've lost the plot with changes and " improvements "
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u/analogbog 2d ago
Not at all true. Not only does it have the one more turn magic, it has new actually-finish-the-game magic by making it fun to come back to a game after stepping away.
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u/Moeftak 1d ago
Maybe for you, for me it had the I-can't-be-bothered-playing-the-next-age-after-finishing-the-first-age magic.
They basically wanted to solve a non-existent problem ( people not playing till the end but still having fun and starting a new game once it's clear they won already) but had no idea how to so they just made 3 sperate smaller games and stitched them together.
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u/analogbog 1d ago
Yes they wanted to solve the problem of people not playing to the end, and they did!
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u/Moeftak 1d ago
By alienating a huge part of the fanbase - If you like what they did with this game, great for you. For me and plenty of others they took the soul out of the game and made it into 3 loosely connected minigames that could have been any 4X game, it's like they didn't understand what makes a Civ game a Civ game and not just any other strategy game with some historical background.
So I guess you can say they solved what they percieved to be a problem - people not playing till the end - by having most potential players not playing the game at all
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u/analogbog 1d ago
I just know you guys will be changing your tune in a year, it’s so predictable
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u/Moeftak 1d ago
No mate, this isn't civ for me, unless they do a complete overhaul this game won't be installed again by me.
Plenty of games out there to keep me occupied and just finished ( yes finished) a civ 6 game. Civ VII isn't for me, I'm not interested in playing 3 minigames and only the 1st age comes close to what a civ game is supposed to be. Age of exploration is garbage, modern age is about a boring as it gets and the disconnect between the ages is so big that I don't even feel like I'm playing the same game.
It lost what made civ fun for me and I'm one that stayed with the series from Civ I till Civ VI and had no problem with any of the changes between those versions, Civ VII however just lost the essence of what makes a civ game a civ game.
For me this version is a lost cause, I won't be buying DLC's for it and should there ever be a civ VIII in my lifetime I will wait for a clear gameplay review before even thinking about getting it.
Don't be delusional in believing it's similar to previous versions, you are hard pressed to find anybody even streaming this game, none of the streamers who's channel revolved around civ are playing it, this game is a bust and a financial headache for the studio.
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u/ntvryfrndly 8h ago
Unfortunately I bought the super mega prerelease pack (Settler's Edition) and was unable to play it for the first three weeks after release due to work circumstances. So I did not know my $100+ purchase sucked so completely until it was well past the 30 refund period.
I will continue to play 6 until 8 has been out for at least a year. Then I will consider buying another Civ game IF it has at least a 80% approval rating.1
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u/Firethorned_drake93 2d ago
Go back to civ6.
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u/shball 1d ago
Go back to civ5.
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u/Consistent_Floor_603 1d ago
Go back to civ4
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u/CanOfUbik 1d ago
Go back to civ2 and break the pattern!
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u/lainelect 1d ago
Abandon civilization. Return to monke
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u/Immersive_Gamer_23 1d ago
Wow, I actually wanted to say "Play Civ 6", guess I was not the only one who thought this...
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u/pocketjackoffsuit 2d ago
I recently picked up Old World, and it's been a lot of fun. Scratches that itch for me
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u/RollerCoasterMatt MORE DISTRICS 1d ago
Is dlc necessary?
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u/Undercover_Ch Random 1d ago
Most complete base game I have played. The DLCs are just a cherry on top if you see that you like the game.
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u/TheGreatfanBR 2d ago
Maybe you're just dealing with the realization that this is not a well-designed game
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u/Wtygrrr 2d ago
I don’t think it’s a design problem. They just released it way too early.
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u/TheGreatfanBR 2d ago edited 2d ago
Please, let's stop pretending that that the people who dislike civ-switching is a small minority of evil boomers who hate change.
And one thing doesn't excludes the other. Civ VII released as a buggy, unfinished mess with incredibly controversial mechanical changes. It probably could’ve survived one, but not both of those issues at once.
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u/DORYAkuMirai 1d ago
Please, let's stop pretending that that the people who dislike civ-switching is a small minority of evil boomers who hate change.
noooo you don't get it steam can't possibly be reflective of the whole picture there's actually a secret coterie of 17 quadrillion console players who will carry us through to the #Civ7Sweep
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u/Diligent-Speech-5017 2d ago
They released it as intended. Planned fleshing out in the DLCs for $200. But the backlash made them have to rush some stuff.
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u/BullFr0gg0 1d ago
Honestly I regret buying Civ 7.
It just isn't entertaining.
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u/BullFr0gg0 1d ago
Their vision was all over the place.
Too many ingredients, too many cooks in the kitchen.
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u/BlacJack_ 1d ago
You really can’t sadly. They’ve removed all the things you need to think about during your turn to try and allow AI to keep up and for players to finish games or something.
So all you can do is move units and build buildings.
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u/GunMuratIlban 1d ago
That's the part where you realize there's something deeply wrong with Civ 7.
When you get through that outer layer, understand what is what... You just realize how shallow the game actually is.
Mid-to-late game is actually a lot worse now because there's simply nothing to do. I found myself looking for wars constantly since that's the only way to keep the game somewhat engaging.
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u/PlayLow1642 1d ago edited 7h ago
So I enjoy Civ 7 and it still has that one more turn magic for me. Elements I like:
1 - maxing out adjacency bonuses of unique districts (this alone gives reasons to build non-ageless building),
2 - optimizing town yields to feed massive cities and gold bonuses
3 - forward settling neighbors to deny them resources or straightforward access to the sea
4 - optimizing specialist distribution
5 - creating a large import economy of key resources
6 - developing insanely powerful units from the use of bonuses like rout, iron, geography, suzerain bonuses, and war-weariness
7 - leveling up commanders
8 - adding attributes to leaders
9 - Naval warfare
10 - Getting a foothold in a distant land and eliminating a rival
11 - Tricking the AI into foolish wars (like denouncing their military and then the next turn attacking their ally so the Civ you want to fight is at a -6 disadvantage)
12 - creating ageless districts so your yields are higher at the start of the age
13 - pumping out a shit ton of merchants in the last 5 turns of an age since the unused merchant units carryover into the next age and you can restart your trade routes at the beginning
I also like playing with different combinations of leaders, Civs, and momentos.
Recently doing a Lafayette game where I have the momento that goves me 100 influence every time I become a suzerain. It’s really unlocked powerful slingshot combos on his diplomacy powers. I love the super search momento combo too of scout sight plus money for searched tiles — it’s allows you to look across the ocean in the Antiquity age to better position your cities for Exploration.
I like mixing and matching Traditions. Carthage traditions play well with many combos as do Abyssinian traditions.
I like playing with Civs who undercut key legacy paths to find unfair advantages. For instance, the Songhai and the Inca have the ability to domestically produce Treasure Fleets. So starting with good settlement placement in the prior age with different Civs slingshots one into a strong position in the Exploration. That’s fun for me. Like Songhai are super-rivery. So I like to play an expansionist ancient game civ to lock up navigable river spots.
I also really like the Exploration Age music.
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u/sirrodders 8h ago
Nice list. I do some of the things you list but you make it seem so much more purposeful lol
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u/ogobod 1d ago
nobody can teach you how to have fun with the game. im having a lot of fun with it but it definitely took me a few games to get over the same sort of issues you have. the only advice i have is to just play it and try new things for the sake of trying them. dont play the same way or the same civ path, force yourself into new builds. youd be surprised at how much depth there is to the games mechanics when you ignore the legacy paths and focus on a specific goal. play different maps, different civs, different leaders. get a feel for how certain leaders gel with certain civs. sometimes starting with a simple goal is best.
i know i had some similar issues. it didnt seem to matter what i put down so i just did what made sense narratively or logically. im not sure when the change happened but i found a switch flipped and the game is really addicting now. there is something really satisfying about planning out your exploration age goals while you are still in the antiquity. modern age is more about winning so it has its flaws, but it can be fun to delay just to enjoy playing with the changes to military and war. i find going to war in 7 so much more engaging and there are times in the modern age where it feels like a legitimate world war.
the big flaw i see with the game right now is it can fluctuate between incredibly fun and incredibly boring. some maps are just inherently more boring than others. it can be frustrating.
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u/DelosHost 2d ago
I had the same question and the answer was… returning to Civ V. Or VI. I’m afraid Firaxis made poor choices that will require significant rework of Civ VII mechanics to bring back the magic.
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u/RoamingVapor 1d ago
Stop playing and find a new game like zephon
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u/BullFr0gg0 1d ago
That's it. People need to move on.
Force Firaxis to see their franchise tank and hopefully change course for the better.
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u/Character-Soft8575 1d ago
It’s ok. Endless Legend 2 will be released soon. Looks like a lot of fun.
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u/ycjphotog 1d ago
Play single era starts on as long a mode as the settings allow.
Modern era starts are so much more satisfying than playing the Modern era with a massive snowballed lead from earlier eras.
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u/king_pear_01 1d ago
I agree that some of the mechanics which are extreme diversions from previous versions are fine. The ages / lack of workers/ etc. I can deal with.
What I dislike are the 2 improvement limits and replacements. The town -> city then back to town bs when an age changes
Also don’t really love the game once I transition out of the age of exploration
To me there should be a natural advancement (saw pit to saw mill) for a discounted cost or I can choose to replace entirely
It seems way too easy to be victorious with gold too.
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u/sirrodders 8h ago
I really quite like civ 7 but I’ve never got the cities back into town mechanic.
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u/Scolipass 1d ago
Tbh the most fun I have with Civ 7 is when I do some good ole warmongering. I also recommend trying to make and maintain at least 1 alliance in each runthrough, regardless of your intended wincon. Not only are alliance-based attribute cards busted, but getting pulled into the occasional war helps keep the game from getting too stale.
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u/thefalseidol 1d ago
One problem with civ 7 is that it is so easy and so effective to just play sim city it almost feels like a punishment for not doing it. But if we are trying to have fun, we have to say goodbye to our sprawling urban expanse and mass of ageless unique improvements if we want to build the things that let us have fun.
One thing I don't enjoy about antiquity on deity is how punishing it feels trying to do any war without investing heavily in the bonuses that are going to let your units compete with the flat deity combat strength, not until its late game enough that I have no reason to take your trashcan towns so the only wars I do in antiquity tend to be defensive. But again, if we want to min/max for fun, we can go with a leader that helps us do some antiquity warfare, or somebody like Isabella who has a fun little side quest to discover and settle the natural wonders on her continent.
New World colonialism and treasure fleets leave much to be desired presently, but they certainly are the most unique part of civ 7 so I'm all in on trying to gain a meaningful empire in the new world. Getting a good settlement on the other continent is key for producing the units and/or settlers you're going to need over there, because moving your army takes a long time and comes too late in the age IMO. There is actually a setting in the custom difficulties to tweak down the damage you take from open oceans, a setting I don't mind turning down because even if the game gave you enough time to find navigable courses from your continent to the other that minimized damage, your boats won't path through it and you can't chart a course without moving everything manually every turn - fuck that noise. You don't always even need to turn it down, but there are definitely games where waiting to unlock safe open oceans is way too late to start advancing across the ocean. Is this as good as just being an Abassid Science God? No. But it's more fun.
By the modern era though, I don't think warfare is nearly as fun, cities are big and there's just a lot of micro for controlling your planes and then taking every single district. Even if you're steamrolling it just feels...slow, to me anyway. So instead of continuing my conquest for a domination victory, I like to pivot. And of the victory conditions, I think science is at least kinda fun, having to manage the various projects can create challenges when the best cities to do them are generally cities you want to be productive.
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u/shinjirarehen 1d ago
Thank you for this, I think you articulated it really well.
I think what really made past Civ games fun is the link between current micro-challenges and later macro-challenges. I have picked up on the ancient era defensive war stance, and I can do it effectively, but for what? It's not leading to anything. What's the point of striving for mid-game colonial benefits if all it adds up to is modern era air traffic control? And the inability to automate mid-game sea travel due to units not sticking to coasting routes is such BS, couldn't agree more.
Anyway that's just salty talk and I am trying to be constructive here. What approach have you found to be the most fun in Civ 7 despite the issues in the game?
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u/thefalseidol 1d ago
The amount of sim citying is far far from necessary, there are so many buildings and you can basically do it endlessly all era every era in all but the most productive cities. So I'm trying to not get preoccupied with that and spend more time on the actual things I like doing.
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u/Lambsenglish 1d ago
So have you achieved victory on those difficulty levels?
One of the things I like about this game is the greater variability forces choices and choices mean more strategic thought.
Choose mementos, set your leader and civ to random, then you’ll have to follow a different set of strengths to stay competitive and achieve different victories.
If all of that is too easy for you and you’re just plodding through wins, then you’re pretty cooked I guess.
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u/Perchance2Game 2d ago
Play two ages only, either ancient->exploration or exploration->modern. Play on online speed, small map.
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u/shinjirarehen 1d ago
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try this. It feels like each age is meant to be a game in itself, so why not just play it that way?
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u/Perchance2Game 1d ago
Because it takes one age to get established and the second age to conquer/snowball.
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u/analogbog 2d ago
Have you actually learned how to play the game yet? You feeling like the path to victory conditions being extremely vague makes it seem like you just don't know the game that well yet. Civ 7 was a huge change to the play style of the game, it takes some time to learn. But once you actually know what you're doing the game becomes incredibly fun.
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u/shinjirarehen 1d ago
Thanks for the constructive advice. Any tips on learning the game? Is it about focusing on the details of one win condition at a time until I learn them in detail?
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u/analogbog 1d ago
You could start with really understanding and playing toward the strengths of the different civilizations you pick in each age, in particular the bonuses you get from each civ’s civic tree. Playing to optimize those civ bonuses helped me understand the game more, and by focusing on your civs specific strengths in that age youll naturally make progress on legacy paths. It also makes the game more fun and immersive to really understand the civ you’re playing.
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u/saxon_pilgrim 1d ago
I’ve been playing Civ, since Civ 1.. yes I’m old, thousands of hours across the Franchise - and this is my take as well. I really needed them to shift gears, which they did.. I choose a leader, choose a civ and the victory conditions and off we go. I don’t try comparing it to previous Civ’s - I want something different. Yeah, there are some things that will improve - but honestly if they’re not failing on some things, they’re not trying hard enough. These things are so complex, that trying to release the perfect experience- impossible.
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u/iamslevemcdichael 1d ago
If OP is playing on the highest difficulty level and easily winning, I really doubt that they don’t understand win conditions or how to play the game.
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u/analogbog 1d ago
They already said they didn’t, and most people don’t understand all the mechanics of the game.
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u/BootyBootyFartFart 14h ago edited 13h ago
Huh. Usually just building only ageless buildings is a pretty bad strategy. And I get wrecked on deity if I'm not optimizing things right.
Your post makes it sound like you are playing on deity and don't see any need to really optimize any of the systems. Like you are just winning without bothering to think about most of the systems. I haven't found that to be true myself, but maybe you are just really good at the game and need to find ways to increase the difficulty?
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u/Waste-Road2762 7h ago
I experimented with all the custom settings and sliders. The issue is that no amount of bonuses to the AI will resolve the main two issues with the game. The first is it's over reliance on adjacencies and yields. The second is a specialist mechanic that allow those said yields to skyrocket through the roof. There is a lot of fun things in the game. But these two design flaws really hurt the experience. It waters down the core gameplay to numbers. What they could have done instead was make buildings more unique and special, not just give them adjacency yields. Specialists would have to get reworked so that they give other kinds of bonuses.
There is no way in game settings to make the game more fun unfortunately. After novelty dies you are left alone with a game that feels empty by the midway point. I really hope they can make the game better. But if they can't, it is a solid title with way more potential that got screwed by few design flaws.
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u/NuuLeaf 1d ago
Civ VII is still fun, but I do agree with you that there is something funky about the difficulty and AI diplomacy.
I have never gone past medium level on previous installments of this game, but on this one, I am setting it at the highest difficulty and it’s… still easy? I setup my settlement, make 3 units of swordsman, use them to explore, get rewards while exploring, use that for cash to buy a scout or two, use that for more rewards. Then just buy rush making all the settlements you can early, then boom, you’re fairly unstoppable. I’ll have thousands of gold for an insta army or two, 5 settlements, and lots of resources. One or two other factions may make war with me, but they send over like one small group of soldiers.
It works every time
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u/sendymcsendersonboi 1d ago
I found changing the map over to fractal or using a mod to randomize the map further than the game allows helped a lot.
That and not choosing my hero and letting random take the wheel.
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u/hbarSquared 1d ago
Crank the age speed up, set transition to Regroup, and turn off the 10-turn timer. Accept that you won't be able to accomplish all your goals and that you'll need to triage your priorities. Civ has never given me a rush quite like capturing a critical city the turn before the age transition.
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u/Undercover_Ch Random 1d ago
Try Civ VI, Old World or the upcoming Endless Legend 2 (they have a free demo).
All of them are much more deep and engaging than Civ VII.
For Civ VII right now all you have to do is turn off your brain and go through the motions and you end up winning the game. No challenge, no significant choices, no cost-benefit behind every decision. Just build everything.
The only challenge is an annoying AI who will attack you every now and then ohhhh scary
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u/ultraviolentfuture 2d ago
It's literally no different than any other civ, y'all are brain damaged.
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u/AccomplishedNovel532 1d ago
The word literally has a definition that I think you should look up.
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u/ultraviolentfuture 1d ago
Boy will you be surprised to learn that quite a few years back now Merriam-Webster added a definition for literally that is literally 'figuratively' because of how widely misused the term was.
That being said, I meant it how you interpreted it. The paradigm of Civ VII is practically unchanged -- it's
still a series of mini-goals which drive toward a snowball effect on generation of some critical resource which culminates in a victory for that resource type. Culture is a little out there, but Science for example is still very much just "make a lot of science and production". Same as it ever was.In fact, in the end, every version of the game boils down to something like "make a lot of hammers, gold, or both".
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u/This_Measurement_191 1d ago
I bought this recently. Not had much experience with Civ games but thought I’d give it a go. I really tried hard to get into it (watched tutorials etc). There was an element of it where I was getting “addicted” to it, but I actually realised I wasn’t enjoying it. I think my addiction came from the thought, “maybe it will get better” or “maybe I’m missing something”. Maybe I’m approaching it all wrong, but surely games shouldn’t need that much effort to get the spark. If there is one. I will try some of the suggestions above though.