Is this a Civilization Clone?

[Sam]

This look like Civilization but missing everything that make Civilization a good game. No mods? No simultaneous multiplayer? Bad graphics? What does this game have?

Paradox is just release a rushed game to make money out of the people who have been waiting 8 years for Civilization 7. If something "won't be ready at launch" then you shouldn't launch yet.

Why does it need different editions and expansion pass anyway? If I have to pay $35 for a game worth nothing compared to Civilization then I want everything. I definitely won't pay for premium battle pass edition, too expensive.

[Oaks]

Read the development diaries and make up your opinion yourself. I find there is a lot the game does differently, enough to avoid being called a "clone".

[CDuque]

Contrary to popular belief, not all games have to compete with the top of the top to be enjoyable.

Civilization is the best, and Civ 7 will be another banger too, no doubt about it. But that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy a few dozen hours with this game. I know I will while waiting for civ 7. (and I have 1200 hours in civ 6 too)

[Sam]

Originally posted by vivas:

Do you genuinly ask this question or did you already make up your mind and are in for a laugh and some easy steam points? They both share the 4X genre, if you can't see the difference , or can't be arsed to look it up i suggest you change the question to: Where can i find a good optician?

bro idk what 4X even means. Civilization 5 and a tiny amount of Civilization 6 is the only 4X game I ever played. This game looks like civ, it doesn't look like the other games i play, tf2, factorio, terraria, it looks like civ clone.

Originally posted by Ch3m:

Contrary to popular belief, not all games have to compete with the top of the top to be enjoyable.

Civilization is the best, and Civ 7 will be another banger too, no doubt about it. But that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy a few dozen hours with this game. I know I will while waiting for civ 7. (and I have 1200 hours in civ 6 too)

if they are not competing with the top can't they be cheaper than the top. like cheaper than civ 5.

[bvrakvs]

layman's civ

[Deadwinter]

Sam Civ V! cost around 150$+ to be almost a good game and still need mods... and yes i play alot of that game... so this game sound nice, a mixt of many games in one type of civ/turn base game, but with no sweet baby ass in it

[Deadwinter]

And later this game will get mods too so a great potential...

[Sam]

Originally posted by Deadwinter:

Sam Civ V! cost around 150$+ to be almost a good game and still need mods... and yes i play alot of that game... so this game sound nice, a mixt of many games in one type of civ/turn base game, but with no sweet baby ass in it

I hope so. I'm going to watch reviews closely.

I got civ VI platinum for i think under $16 on sale. i bought some additional dlc but each was also a $1 or below on sale

[The Former]

Originally posted by Sam:

This look like Civilization but missing everything that make Civilization a good game. No mods? No simultaneous multiplayer? Bad graphics? What does this game have?

Paradox is just release a rushed game to make money out of the people who have been waiting 8 years for Civilization 7. If something "won't be ready at launch" then you shouldn't launch yet.

Why not let the developer tell you why they made the game?

We have carried the concept of Millennia around for a long time (please note my intentional avoidance of a pun there). That is fairly typical of our process. We tend to have a lot of rough game directions percolating and these get worked on here and there until we feel like it is the right time for one of them.

In the case of Millennia, a few things motivated us to make this our next game:

• As strategy game developers, 4X is a cornerstone of the entire genre. It’s something we love and something we want to work on. (Designing alongside Bruce Shelley while at Ensemble certainly provided some motivation in this direction.)
  
  
• As strategy game players, we saw 4X as receiving less attention than it deserved. To us, the amount of obvious player interest was far greater than the number of games being provided and amount of new gameplay being explored. Certainly, we personally wanted more 4X games and we had talked to a lot of fans who felt the same way.
  
  
• Shortly after we started to flesh out the systems that would become the pillars of Millennia, we really felt the spark. Not only did we see how things could fit together, but we also started to see something unique, something we really wanted to play ourselves. (The Age model in particular quickly developed into something that everyone saw potential in and was excited about.)

Also, mod support is coming. As far as how it differs from Civ, I'll just quote myself.

Originally posted by Ärlig, Paradoxriddaren:

There are four broad differences off the top of my head.

1. Economy. It has a huge focus here. It's not as simple as getting an improvement down on a forest tile and "Oh, you have production now." Working a forest tile gives you a unit of wood. You can build an improvement that allows you to churn out more wood per forest tile worked, or one to turn it into paper. That paper can then be used to produce government. Or maybe you'd rather produce religion with it. It's that sort of thing.

This just scratches the surface of the economic depth, as you have things like trade networks whereby one of your cities can send its resources to another and such.

2. Combat. Armies are comprised of multiple units per "stack" and battles are completely out of your hands. The scope is strategic. Once you've put your people in the best position to succeed, the battle plays out in simulation and it's just a matter of hoping you put them in the best position possible. Tactical combat isn't within the scope of this game.

But it's not all bad. Your units won't always be wiped out from a defeat. They have a morale track as well as health, and often your units will simply retreat. The battle will be lost and your army pushed back, but your units will live to fight another day.

3. Ages. Each age has certain traits that apply to the whole world once ONE person enters that new age, even those who've yet to enter an age. Depending on certain circumstances, alternative history ages can be triggered by the first one to enter the new age. For instance, the Age of Aether explores what would've happened if steampunk became a reality: Viable steam power pursuing technologies like airships and such.

There are three types of ages:

• Historical Ages, which are your standard fare Age of Stone to Age of Information spread. There are eight of these, if I remember correctly, and absent all else the world will go through them in sequence.
  
• Variant Ages, alternative history that ask "What if...?" questions and let the playthrough answer them. Like the Age of Aether above ("What if steam power were viable long-term?"). These need to be triggered and may or may not appear in a given game.
  
• Crisis Ages, which are generally bad things but have their own perks... These are things like the Age of Plague, where a lack of sanitation leads to a bubonic plague sort of scenario. If I remember right, everyone is at war with everyone during this time, so it's really chaotic stuff.

Then there are "ending ages" that take you to the endgame. Some "off-ramp" ages come with win conditions earlier than the Information Age and are options for those way ahead who don't wanna sit through 200 turns just to see the end screen. Regardless of when your ending age triggers, it has a win condition. The first civilization to achieve it wins the game.

In other words, you're not spending the game amassing points to compare to your opponents like in Humankind, but rather you're spending the game positioning yourself to make a strong run of the victory goal when it reveals itself.

All said, because technologies and many units are tied to ages, this mechanic hopes to provide varied experiences with each playthrough. Each save, you'll likely have a slightly different array of units and technologies floating about in the world.

4. Government and national spirit trees. These are chosen at certain points during a run and are somewhat akin to choosing your next culture in Humankind, but it's not that simple. Both come with a sort of "research tree" of their own that provide various rule changes and benefits that affect the culture who has them, and together, they're a big way you define what your society looks like.

For example, one Bronze Age National Spirit is... I believe it's called Wild Hunters? It allows you to train a unit that can go outside your borders to gather meat from any animal tile in the world. Later upgrades let you discover big game like elephants that give you more than just meat, and your hunters can also work these tiles outside your borders. Another, Raiders, spawns two Raider units alongside every upgrade you take along the tree.

Governments work a similar way but I haven't studied them in depth.

[Deadwinter]

@ Sam, yea with special Civ is lower, but i get it at starts and at first all dlc at start too so cost more, for this one will not get the 2 dlc right at start will see... but like say sound a different game that Civ but in the same ( almost ) era/style... so will wait like 1-2h after launch just to see, but almost want to get it at 1pm lol.

[Sam]

Originally posted by Deadwinter:

@ Sam, yea with special Civ is lower, but i get it at starts and at first all dlc at start too so cost more, for this one will not get the 2 dlc right at start will see... but like say sound a different game that Civ but in the same ( almost ) era/style... so will wait like 1-2h after launch just to see, but almost want to get it at 1pm lol.

It's reviews were at less than 40% but now they're mixed at 55%. It's probably not a bad game but they do need to add simultaneous multiplayer.

I think people are expecting a lot because it's paradox that's publishing it but if you look at the actual developers other game, this one looks waaaaaaaay better but maybe that's just me.

[Deadwinter]

Yes Sam reviews now mixed but if you use the reviews for 1h+ or 2h+ you will see it is ok,i dont trust reviews under 1h, and yes need to works some mech/bugs, but will say the game got a potential to be great for what it is.

[Mohreb el Yasim]

Originally posted by vivas:

bro idk what 4X even means.

4X meaning: Explore, Expand, Exploit and Exterminate. (category that might oposed to other type of strategy games where one of the "X" is missing, for example "panzer general" where you are focused on exterminate without exploring or exploiting or a "europa universalis" where you expand exploit and exterminate, but will not expolre as the map is known)
Borders are, as often blured by misuse and many games will try to claim the most attractive term of the moment. 4X, Grand Strategy etc.
You could also make categories as RTS or TBS (real time and turn based strategies) on an other axe, but those can be sometimes fuzzy too (for example total war series having both elements)

[Jyggalad]

It's certainly Civ adjacent but I would not call it a straight up clone.