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Sid Meier: "I'm not sure even I would play" Civilization today

Sid Meier isn't sure gamers today have the patience for old-school Civilization. In fact, the legendary game designer isn't even sure he could push through the time investment. In a new interview, Meier says that Civ 1 was perfect for its time and place, but that's "not where most gamers are" today.


"I don't think I could make Civilization today," Meier tells The Independent. "I'm not sure even I would play it. It wouldn't fit in the zeitgeist. It asks a lot of the player, and takes a while to work it out. You have to play it once in order to understand what's going on. You have to be willing to spend time with it, and that's not where most gamers are these days.


"Civ came out at the perfect time. The PC had got beefy enough for us to make it, but weren't inundated with so many possibilities. If it had been created two years earlier we'd only have had four colours and it would have been much shallower."


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The Best Civ 6 Mods



While Civilization 6 has had a rough time trying to hold on to the historical 4X crown, it's still one of the most popular strategy games around right now. The secret to the success of a lot of games - past and present - is of course mods. Civilization 6's mod scene is just as robust as the next one, and there are plenty of interesting options for you.

It's worth noting that Civ 6's mod-scene is mainly about smaller UI or quality of life mods. There aren't the sweeping overhauls of say Total War or Paradox games; it's a bit like XCOM 2 Mods where it's mainly about smaller content packs or UI improvements. These things can make all the difference though with a game a big as Civ.

The Best Civ 6 Mods
  • Enhanced Mod Manager (Utility)
  • World Wonders Collection (Content)
  • ...
How to install Civ 6 Mods (Steam & Epic Games Store)

Civilization 6 has had Steam Workshop support since 2017, so thankfully it's relatively simple to mod-up your copy of Civ 6 for the majority of us. Simply browse the Workshop find a mod you like and subscribe. There is an additional in-game mod manager-like area called 'Additional Content' to further manage which mods you have installed by activating/deactivating them.



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An excerpt from Sid Meier's Memoir! on the making of Civilization

Few have made a greater contribution to PC gaming than Sid Meier. Following Nintendo's legendary Shigeru Miyamoto, he was the second-ever inductee into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame, reflecting an extraordinary career in games development.


Meier established his first studio, the recently revived MicroProse, by creating some of the best PC simulation games of the '80s and '90s. After a successful experiment with more flamboyant subject matter in Sid Meier's Pirates!, he released his most famous hit, Sid Meier's Civilization, in 1991, and changed strategy gaming forever.


After leaving MicroProse, Meier founded Firaxis Games in 1996, and has guided it to become a global industry leader in simulation and strategy games. To date, Firaxis has not only done more than any other studio to influence turn-based and 4X strategy through the Civilization series and its superb sci-fi spin-off, Alpha Centauri, but has catalysed the modern resurgence of the squad tactics genre through 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown.


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Civilization 6 August 2020 Patch Out Now



The August 2020 update for Civilization VI is now live. You can read the full August 2020 patch notes here, but a summary of what's expected can be read below in the original copy we published last week. Enjoy!

Original Story: Firaxis are back with another developer update looking at some of the free patch content coming next week on August 27th, 2020. The 'August 2020' update follows hot on the heels of the Ethiopia Pack which was released a couple of weeks ago. This is the second free patch to release since the start of the New Frontier DLC program that launched earlier in the year.

The focus of the update will involves things like better control of Wonders, a new game mode where the tech and civic tree is 'shuffled' as as other tweaks. The Wonder Picker allows players to control specifically which wonders do and don't appear in the game, although the placement of those Wonders will still be random. The new game mode is more of an experiment, and will hide the unlock date of new techs/civics, as well as randomise things like research costs. The only thing that won't change is major prerequisites, like Mining unlocking more mining techs.



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Civilization VI - August 2020 Game Update Available Now

We’re excited to announce the August 2020 Game Update is now available to all Civilization VI players.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Included in this update is the new Natural Wonder picker, which lets you customize the Natural Wonders that will (or won’t) show up in your game, and the Tech and Civics Shuffle mode, a new way of playing that randomizes your path forward on the Tech and Civics trees. Read on for the full list of what’s in today’s free game update.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/289070/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI/


While we were testing the August game update, we encountered an issue that was causing PC and Mac/Linux cross-play to become desynced around the mid-game point. For now, we’ll be turning off cross-play while we work with our partners at Aspyr to investigate a fix and we’ll be sharing updates as soon as we get them. Everyone will still receive the update tomorrow and Mac/Linux users will still be able to play with each other; we wanted to make sure this didn’t come as a surprise and really appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding here.

[NEW FEATURES]

Tech and Civic Shuffle Mode

This new game mode adds variety to the tech tree, as it shuffles techs and civics within their historical eras, leading to different costs and prerequisites than normal. The resulting trees are the same for all players. Techs and civics are also hidden until a prerequisite is earned, preserving the mystery of discovery all the way until the end of the game.

Natural Wonder Picker

Sick of the Bermuda Triangle? Want to break the Delicate Arch? In Advanced Setup, you can now bring up a new menu to choose which Natural Wonders you would like to include in your next game. Wonders checked are not guaranteed to be in your next game, rather, they are part of the pool of Wonders that will then be randomly selected and placed.

[GAME UPDATES]

Items in the list below apply to the Gathering Storm ruleset only.

[BALANCE/POLISH]

Amenities
  • Removed the free population amenity.
  • Added an amenity to the palace.
  • Increased the Golf Course amenities by 1.
  • Decreased all negative amenity level thresholds by 1. Increase Happy and Ecstatic’s minimum by 2.

o   New city thresholds:
  • Ecstatic at 5+
  • Happy at 3 to 4
  • Content at -1 to 2
  • Displeased at -3 to -2
  • Unhappy at -5 to -4
  • Unrest at -7 to -6
  • Revolt at -8

o   Negative amenities non-food yield decrease changes:
  • Displeased -10%, was -5%
  • Unhappy -20%, was -10%
  • Unrest -30% (stays the same)
  • Revolt -40%, was -60%

 
  • The Theater Square now gains a major adjacency bonus with the Entertainment complex and Water Park.

Government Plaza Buildings
  • Grand Master’s Chapel provides +5 faith.
  • +3 Diplomatic Favor from the Foreign Ministry.

 
    • The Naturalist unit now initially costs 600 Faith and will increase by 100 Faith after each purchase.
    • Fixed issues that prevented Apostles from receiving all available promotions.
    • The Appeal stat has been added to the trait section of the Districts, Terrains, Improvements, and Features Civilopedia pages.
    • The text for the Acropolis district now correctly shows major adjacency bonuses for adjacent Wonders.

Apocalypse Game Mode
  • Reduced volcanic activity.
  • Reduced frequency of Aid Requests.
  • Added CO2 production to Soothsayer actions (50 for causing a disaster, 30 for sacrificing a unit).

Forest/Jungle Fires now remain in the burnt state longer.

[AI]
  • Added some bias towards getting governments with lots of wild card slots.
  • Fixed an issue where the AI was overvaluing bonuses from governments for cities with governors.
  • Increased desire for civics that unlock new governments. Capped desire for Theology for high Faith income civs (ensures they can move on to tier 3 or 4 governments).
  • Various AI improvements.


  • Governors assigned to a City-State are now displayed in the City-States panel.
  • Fixed an issue that caused map selection to break.
  • Various UI bug fixes and polish.
[MISC]
  • Fixing balanced start positions choosing invalid placements.
  • Added bias for starting in the center of a continent the player does not share with other majors.
[CRASH]
  • Fix crash when forming a Corps and the unit that is joining is not on the map.
  • Additional crash fixes.




Thank you all for your continued support and feedback across our social media channels, the Civilization subreddit, Steam forums and elsewhere. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #OneMoreTurn, and be sure to follow the Civilization franchise on social media to keep up to date with the latest news and information on Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.