Is there a bug with the game duration here?

[Adoelrome]

I saw the game in walkthrough videos and I really liked the card controls, the game looks great as a card version of Civilization and it is very interesting. But I noticed something very strange - all games are artificially limited in some unclear way, and the game is so short that it ends without really starting. None of those I watched even reached half of the technologies, let alone be able to use them.

Imagine, you do a lot, deal with minor neighbors, build up your state to finally meet a huge opponent - and at that moment everything ends!

Disappointment and irritation are hard to describe, it's like inviting someone to a restaurant and kicking them out afterwards.

Nevertheless, if you look at the overall technology tree and implemented capabilities, they are roughly 2-3 times more than you can achieve, so this behavior looks more like a bug. Only once did a player manage to go beyond swordsmen, most of the time the player or AI opponent reached the limits even before gunpowder. In other words, the game is realized at best a third of the way.

What's even worse is that the game resources are closed and cannot be fixed with mods. In Civilization, I could describe practically any rules, from global variables and progression to individual units. Here, the situation doesn't seem like modders can fix it. And the fix seems very simple - just set 1500 victory points instead of 150 and increase the number of turns significantly. So you just need to change a couple of numbers, and that's it.

I really like the game and I would buy it, but for now, it looks more like a 15-minute demo rather than a full game. I would really like to have the opportunity to play it, rather than "try to play it".

[low_apm]

its more like, youre not usually supposed to research everything in this game, nor build everything. Burning cards gives you extra resources, but also streamlines your deck so that you can pick and deploy your more useful cards more often. Sometimes I will not research certain technology even if I could because i dont want the extra stack of cards into my deck.

[⎝⧹Quirken⧸⎠]

This is definitely a full game, but victory is VP based, not based on accomplishments directly. You're not expected to gain access to everything, by design. This keeps games short enough to complete in ~45-60 minutes.

It's possible the game is just not your thing, but think of it as a board-game-ish Civ-like rather than a Civ-like. It's a point race.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Hexarchy is not a traditional civilization building game. I think you could argue it's a civilization-themed deckbuilder. The thing you are really building is your deck. Rather than seeing the cards as a way to build your civilzation, you might consider your civiliation as the way to fuel your deck.

Once you step away from the notion that the game should play like typical civilatzion builders, then you might better appreciate its unique design.

[Fishi]

Looking also for some more rounds.