The Culling System and Its Impact on Gameplay

[romanense]

As much as I enjoy the game, I can’t say I’m a fan of the current culling system. It feels like it takes the fun away from seeing a civilization naturally evolve and face different types of challenges. When 10 members of a civilization die all at once because of a scoring system, it breaks the immersion and doesn’t allow for the dynamic, unpredictable growth and decline that would make the game more engaging.


After playing for a few more hours, I realize this is something that really dampens the experience for me. I hope that in future updates, the developers introduce more options, allowing for civilizations to face a wider variety of challenges rather than being cut down all at once by a system like this. It would keep the gameplay more interesting and reflective of real-world scenarios, where decline often happens in waves, not in one big, sudden event, this only work for multi player

[Astasia]

I don't like the culling system and I hope there is an option to remove it entirely in the future, however, I don't think it has any real effect on gameplay. The civs that are "removed" are typically already crippled by neighbors, they are boxed in or suffered losses from wars. An AI civ in these types of games generally does not turn situations like that around, at least without player involvement. I understand the concept of basically putting them out of their misery and cleaning them off the board a bit for perhaps performance reasons.

That said, I do find it very immersion breaking, and I'd rather have the performance hit than see civs I like to see on the map just kicked out arbitrarily. I don't like "gamey" mechanics in the types of games I play, I think sometimes devs try to solve a problem while forgetting to add in-game logic to their fix, resulting in something that feels very out of place and immersion breaking. Other games handle this situation through vassalization which makes a lot more sense.

[romanense]

I agree !!!. While it’s true that the civs being “removed” are often already weakened or boxed in by neighbors, it still feels abrupt and disconnected from the natural progression of the game. I think the real issue is that it takes away from the storytelling aspect of a civilization’s rise and fall. Instead of letting them die out organically, the system just wipes them off the board, which doesn’t sit right with me, especially when I’m invested in watching the map evolve.

[SpaceToast]

I absolutely despise the culling system, it's so jarring to see an entire city just up and vanish.

I would much rather see a way to peacefully annex weaker neighbors or just conquer them outright rather than them just get thanos snapped away.

The culling mechanic needs removed imo or atleast have the ability to turn it off. I want to be the one to remove or uplift smaller nations, not a stupid score system.

[JayKay1910]

I would wager that the system was introduced for performance reasons. A disaster for immersion.

[VoiD]

Not a fan either

[Fast Pooper]

What happens during a cull? All cities simply get razed? Or is it like they were never even on the map?

[romanense]

Every time a nation gets eliminated if they don’t have points. We need an option to turn this off.

[Mackintosh]

This was the main reason I elected not to buy the game. Hopefully, they will get rid of it, and I will reconsider.

[romanense]

Horrible idea for single player . That only works for multiplayer .