Fun without dlcs?

[Svante.]

Yes - No?

[Lady MacBeth]

Yeah it is. Though I am of the mind its better with them overall as they each add some nice changes. We aren't talking Civ 5 without expansions to civ 5 with expansions improvements, but still nice changes in my opinion.

[MrSogard]

I have really enjoyed the addition of the DLCs especially in the New Frontier Pass. Now I never play without using the Barbarian Clans Mode, Heroes and Legends Mode, Monopolies and Corporations Mode and Secret Societies Mode. Use pretty much all the new Leaders found in the DLCs. They add spice and variability to the game.

And played MultiPlayer with a friend last night for four hours without any issues. Game ran exactly as advertised and expected.

Good Gaming!

[That Crazy Squirrel]

The base game is fine, it's Civ as it is meant to be.
The smaller DLCs also add a few gimmicks that can be fun to play with.

The same can't be said about the two bigger DLCs, Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm, they add mechanics that are fine but each of them have ONE major downside that basically make it so they're not worth getting.

Rise and Fall adds a loyalty system that virtually castrates you from being aggressive with your expansion, I've played with this for a long time before I finally had it and just installed a mod to remove this stupic mechanic, it's just designed to punish you (and the AI on RARE occasions) if you get a little too creative.

Gathering Storm adds global warming... say goodbye to modern units that use resources like coal and oil or else risk losing chunks after chunks of territory to rising sea levels because somehow that one infantry you have (human infantry, not mechanized) is SOMEHOW consuming too much oil and contributing 50% to global warming and now everyone is denoucing you.

Also... the world congress in this game is annoying as all ♥♥♥♥, I dunno why cos Civ V also had a congress but I don't remember if it pulled your arm and forced you into the congress screen with no way to close it until you vote on everything there.

[Synavix]

I think Loyalty is the single best mechanic added in any of the last 3 Civ games. It takes a bit to get used to but once you understand it it's amazing. Global Warming is a neat mechanic that's okay. If anything it's a bit underwhelming at most levels. I think World Congress has always been a bit dumb, but I think the global emergencies and competitions are neat, so I'm okay with it. Never had a problem with having to vote or anything.

To answer the original question: I agree that the game is fine/good without DLCs. But it's definitely better with them, and once you have them I never play with them turned off unless it's for a scenario.

[Oaks]

My must-have would be Gathering Storm. It has new mechanics and includes the mechanics of Rise and Fall as well. I wouldn't go back to vanilla civ after playing with Gathering Storm.

[Catalytic]

This is all my own opinion of course, but I think the game is really incomplete without most if not all of the DLC. Yes, the original is playable as a stand alone. If you're new to the series and just want to try it out, get the original on sale and give it a go. If you're enjoying yourself and enjoy the turn-based strategy, you'll want the DLC.

The Rise and Fall expansion adds some key mechanics with dark/golden ages, loyalty, governors, and alliance types. The casus belli also makes warmongering less punishing. And I'm half Dutch, and this DLC adds them to the game. The only major downside to this one for me is Mapuche. I hate playing against them because they're the only civ in the game that penalizes you for playing well. I do consider this one a "must have."

The Gathering Storm expansion adds random natural disasters which are really fun and it fleshes out the end-game tech tree. The World Congress is honestly an annoying mechanic, since it rarely offers you strategic choices you actually care about and voting is difficult to predict or control. The climate change mechanic is annoying as well. If you're ahead, it's easy to manage. If you're behind, it just messes up your tiles and effectively prevents you from fielding a modern military which is all fossil-fuel dependent. And you'll probably want to turn off diplomatic victory since you can walk into it almost by accident. The new civs were really focused on being unique and quirky. Some are fun. Some are really difficult to adjust to. I bought it because I'm a long-time civ fan, but I wouldn't give a strong recommendation for it.

The New Frontier Pass adds a bunch of fun civs to play and a bunch of wonders and scenarios that really offer a lot of ways to focus your civilization, as well as some flexibility to change victory conditions if you need to. There are a bunch of optional game modes that get added and a lot of them are fun. Your experience is definitely going to vary. I like some. I don't like others, but everyone seems to have different lists of each! This one is another I'd consider a "must have."

There are a few other DLC that give specific civs. I've found most of them to be enjoyable, but they can obviously be skipped if you're short on cash. Personally, I loved the Aztecs, Vikings, Aussies, and Indonesians, but was less impressed with the others.

[SurerFever]

YES!!!!!

[Heau]

It depends on how hardcore you may have been in previous titles and whether you dig complexity in 4x games or not.

Most players that were really hardcore into civ5+DLCs felt like vanilla civ6 was too simple, with too few game systems, compared to the full civ5 version. I was one of them that got bored of vanilla civ6 quickly but every expansion and dlc added and got me increasingly appreciative of the game.

I forget if my steam profile is public or private but anyway, 7400 hours into civ6 yet I had only booked 2400 total in civ5 although I think I had vanilla civ5 outside Steam early on. I still consider I've had my money's worth from vanilla civ6 alone but I'm the perfect audience for such 4x games and usually get waaaay more than my money's worth from such games.

The game really shaped together with complexity to my liking with rise and fall + gathering storm. Governors(RnF) added a lot of depth to early game strategy and disasters(GS) a lot of situational decision-making for early settlements as well as some risk vs reward (vs rng) decisions.

Subsequent content added some civs and wonders which are enjoyable but not actual game systems that really reshape the game. Actually, not quite true, new frontier added a few game modes that can shape the game, but they break the balance of the game a lot and are never played in the multiplayer community so I haven't really played them more than once or twice. So there are no new game systems in the default/base settings from NF.

[Yoshizawa-san]

Kinda complicate for me
Yes - There are hella of mods which are available in steam workshop
No - y'know official contents

[zxcvbob]

The base game is good all by itself. I sometimes play it even tho' I have Rise & Fall and Gathering Storm. I have never tried GS yet, I just bought it on sale; I play R&F a good bit.

Mostly I play Civ 5 with all the DLC and no mods except the enhanced user interface. I'm just getting where I can sometimes win at Immortal.

[grognardgary]

That is a tough question to answer, There are after all people in this world with some awfully strange ideas as to exactly what fun is. i may be one of them. I find the game to be rather tedious on any level not because it doesn't work right but because it works exactly as designed

[ranger]

I would say it is definitely worth it without DLC as you can mod it. Though I feel with neither DLC nor mods it will become boring very fast. If you want to get a DLC by far the most worthwhile one is Gathering Storm and is the only one I would recommend. Though I would say get the game and if you do get Gathering Storm, get it on sale. It’s over priced normally.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by ranger:

I would say it is definitely worth it without DLC as you can mod it. Though I feel with neither DLC nor mods it will become boring very fast. If you want to get a DLC by far the most worthwhile one is Gathering Storm and is the only one I would recommend. Though I would say get the game and if you do get Gathering Storm, get it on sale. It’s over priced normally.

Everything is overpriced these days and getting worse/