Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy computer game in which one or more people fight against desktop AI competitors to evolve their Civilization from a tiny tribe to total control of the globe over numerous generations. A turn-based strategy game (TBS) is a strategic multiplayer game that means it takes in turns (Newn et al., 2017). This differs from real-time strategy (RTS), in which all people compete at the same time. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy 4X computer game developed by 2K Games and distributed by Take-Two Interactive (Mol et al., 2017). This work was written in order to study the gameplay of the sixth part of the game Sid Meier’s Civilization.
The player’s goal, as in previous games, is to grow a civilization from an initial settling through many in-game thousands of years to become a global superpower and accomplish several of the final win circumstances, such as military superiority, technological prowess, or cultural relevance, over human and computer-controlled adversaries. Traveling the world, starting to build new cities, improving cities, launching military forces to fight and protect against others, conducting research on technological advances and civics breakthroughs, continuing to develop an influencing culture, and trade and agreements with other global leaders are all ways that players accomplish this.
Several civilizations that have not appeared in previous Civilization games are included in the game, while many recurring cultures have new cities or emperors. A key design goal was to keep the player from following a pre-determined route of advancement towards their Civilization, as shown in previous games (Bugter, 2020). The usage of neighborhoods outside of the downtown area to house the majority of the structures is unique to Civilization VI. To house science-based institutions, for instance, an university area must be developed. Research on the game’s science tree depending on adjacent geography, a comparable technology tree for cultural upgrades, and a good government typical core architecture for those who play on the culture triumph route are all new additions (Martino, 2021). For computer-controlled adversaries, additional artificial intelligence features such as personal objectives and randomized encounters have been added to destabilize an otherwise steady game.
A game mode is a setting option in Civilization VI that provides a variation to the regular experience. Game variations change the rules of the main game, which may include new units, structures, and advancements. All game modes are interoperable with one another, and players can choose to play in numerous modes at the same time. Each DLC adds a new gaming experience, and significant community upgrades have included more gameplay modes as well.
The Maya & Gran Colombia Pack includes Apocalypse, which adds a new degree of intensity to existing Disasters, as well as a unique unit that interactions with Disasters, a new scoring contest, and the namesake Apocalypse climatic phase. The Ethiopia Pack’s Secret Societies adds four particular hidden organizations for players to join, each with additional units, structures, tile upgrades, initiatives, or supplies. The Byzantium & Gaul Pack’s Dramatic Ages improved on the current Age and Era principles and provided a slew of new Dark Age Policy and Golden Age Policy cards.
The Babylon Pack’s Heroes & Legends adds new Heroes for gamers to battle for and acquire, each with distinct and match powers. Monopolies and Corporations, which were featured in the Vietnam & Kublai Khan Pack, improved the macroeconomic environment by enabling a team to take economic control and construct Industries, Corporate entities, and Monopolies. Barbarian Clans offered additional levels of intricacy to Barbarians, as well as new methods for players to engage with them. The Portugal Pack’s Zombie Defense mode turns the game into a survival mode against infinite legions of Zombies, who may continue rising from the lifeless anytime a unit on the battleground is slain.
Players can stack a limited number of troops to avoid map overcrowding; however, only comparable unit kinds or symbiosis units can be stacked together. In the early stages of the game, for instance, a building unit may be assigned to a warrior unit to shield it against barbarians, and a wrecking ball can stack with a bannerman to take over towns. If the player has access to confidential upgrades or funds, the game’s technological tree, now known as the active research model, has been changed to aid enhance research and technology. Sailing and other water-based technology would be restricted if the player started in the center of a country. After performing particular activities, a platform called Eureka Moments might accelerate the player’s progression toward specific innovations; for example, creating a minefield adds to the army tradition technology.
If the player chose to seek a Cultural triumph in previous incarnations of the game, it was deemed burdensome to win. A new Civics tree has been added to the game to make it more balanced in favor of Cultural triumphs. The Civics tree separates cultural advances that were formerly part of the Innovation tree in previous Civilization games. Cities’ cultures are used to develop the Civics tree, just as cities’ knowledge is used to construct the Technology tree. After completing specific Civics, the player’s administration will have access to policies or strategy decks. The government in Civilization VI is created by slotting acceptable and accessible programs into different groups such as Military, Economic, Diplomatic, and Wildcard; practical management whether the Civilization receives a lift or a setback. Policies can be altered for free after finishing a single Civic or for a modest fee at any time, letting the player adjust to changing circumstances as needed.
More developed cards can reveal upgrades that provide the player seeking a Cultural win edge over its competitors, such as lowering the time or cost of generating new troops, which can only be obtained by considerable development in the Civics tree. As in earlier games, the player’s decisions might generate discontent in their populace, but in Civilization VI, many of them were confined to the city in question rather than the whole inhabitants, assisting Cultural final win gamers even more (Majewski, 2021). The Religion system, which was first featured in Civilization V’s Gods & Kings expansion, is expanded in Civilization VI, with new units and upgrades that can lead to religious tolerance warfare. Players’ interactions are influenced by AI opponents’ evolving intentions. Some of these objectives are distinct to each lead, and they are based on significant events, characters, and legislation. Each AI personality has a secret goal that can only be discovered via espionage.
Nonetheless, right now, Civilization VI’s most significant flaw is that the AI has a terrible propensity to beginning unjustified conflicts and is therefore not particularly adept at winning them. Even at the highest difficulty levels, it battles by trying to overwhelm opponents with troops and technically superior troops; thus, using methods and support troops like as Great Generals and anti-air artillery, the aim is to outmaneuver them. Winning is not easy since people may slow down the process until it is tough to do so, but because of the AI’s disorganized attacks, humans are likely to retain cities unless they are severely outclassed or left unprotected (de Wynter, 2021). Some army triumphs appear to be underserved since the opposing army appears to have no idea what it was doing.
To summarize, Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy computer game in which one or more players compete against computer AI opponents to grow their Civilization from a small tribe to complete care of the government over many generations. As in previous matches, the player’s objective is to build a civilization from a single settlement over thousands of years to become a worldwide powerhouse and complete many of the ultimate victory conditions.
The game includes several cultures that have not been featured in previous Civilization games, as well as new towns and monarchs for several of the game’s recurrent cultures. A primary design aim was to prevent the player from pursuing a pre-determined path to Civilization progress, as seen in previous games. Civilization VI is the first game to employ neighborhoods outside the city center to house most of the constructions. The AI in Civilization VI’s most serious issue is that it has a lousy proclivity for starting unwarranted battles and hence is not very focused on winning them. Victory is difficult because individuals may delay the process until it is difficult, but due to the AI’s haphazard assaults, humans are likely to keep cities if they are badly outnumbered or left defenseless.
References
Bugter, O. T. (2020). ‘Can you build a civilization that will stand the test of time?’Participatieve geschiedschrijving in de videogame Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (Master’s thesis). Web.
de Wynter, A. (2021). Turing completeness and Sid Meier’s Civilization. arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.14647.
Mol, A. A., Politopoulos, A., & Ariese-Vandemeulebroucke, C. E. (2017). “From the Stone Age to the Information Age”: History and heritage in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 5(2), 214-219.
Martino, S. (2021). Might, culture, and archaeology in Sid Meier’s Civilization. Near Eastern Archaeology, 84(1), 32-43.
Majewski, J. (2021). What do players learn from video games? Historical analysis and Sid Meier’s Civilization. The Public Historian, 43(1), 62-81.
Newn, J., Velloso, E., Allison, F., Abdelrahman, Y., & Vetere, F. (2017). Evaluating real-time gaze representations to infer intentions in competitive turn-based strategy games. In Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. 541-552.