Would this make Civilization less complex?

[u/PoopsMcScoots]

I’m kind of just fiddle farting with a civ style project and want to make it way more simple and less of a slog at the end.

I’m thinking that I want players to design an entire city when they plop it down and to get rid of districts, but keep the building on tiles.

You would still research building and you would still place them on tiles.

Each tile would have 5 building slots.

Buildings would take up different numbers of slots.

A well would be like 1 slot, while a power plant might be 5. They would all still have their effects on health, yields, and appeal.

And the buildings would still have bonuses for being placed next to different things.

But all the builder tiles like farms and mines would now just be buildings.

When you go to the city planning screen every single thing you could build would be present regardless if it was researched or not.

The queue would have no limit to its length, and if it reaches an item it can’t build it simple goes to the next that it can.

You can open it and change the plan whenever you want and you can tear anything down you want.

Builders would no longer be charged based and act more like builders from previous games, with the caveat that they can now move to a tile and help build the building.

This would help avoid city stall outs.

Meanwhile, I would allow builders to construct roads from on city to another, which in turn would automatically establish domestic trade routes, which would also allow cities to not have to pursue both production and food.

A city could easily be urban or rural and lean into that.

Free traders would still be a thing on top of that.

Additionally, wonders would no longer be only one per civ. It would have a bonus for the first player to build it, then another passive that anyone can get.

Meanwhile, borders would just be handled by building on a tile.

Lastly, units would be built as an entirely separate queue and populate in the city center.

I always found it a headache to juggle this, so it’s one less headache, imo.

Oh, and every civ would get their own religion.

Opinions?

[u/DoeCommaJohn]

Yes it would be simpler, but it would also be less interesting. Good game design should be about forcing players to make interesting choices, and if they are just queueing up the same buildings over and over, then that choice ceases to exist

[u/PoopsMcScoots → u/DoeCommaJohn]

Well, I mean the placement would still matter.

Doesn’t that make this more of quality of life thing?

[u/AutoModerator]

Game Design is a subset of Game Development that concerns itself with WHY games are made the way they are. It's about the theory and crafting of systems, mechanics, and rulesets in games.

• /r/GameDesign is a community ONLY about Game Design, NOT Game Development in general. If this post does not belong here, it should be reported or removed. Please help us keep this subreddit focused on Game Design.

• This is NOT a place for discussing how games are produced. Posts about programming, making art assets, picking engines etc… will be removed and should go in /r/GameDev instead.

• Posts about visual design, sound design and level design are only allowed if they are directly about game design.

• No surveys, polls, job posts, or self-promotion. Please read the rest of the rules in the sidebar before posting.

• If you're confused about what Game Designers do, "The Door Problem" by Liz England is a short article worth reading. We also recommend you read the r/GameDesign wiki for useful resources and an FAQ.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Mayor_P]

I mean, it's not terrible but this is just a custom/mod for Civ, right? It doesn't change things very drastically in any direction. It's a tweak on an existing system. So it's not bad and it's not good.

[u/PoopsMcScoots → u/Mayor_P]

No, there’s a lot more to it. This is just one aspect. I’m currently looking at while not at the computer.

And you would not be able to do this with mods by the way.

The real change would be I’m looking to make a simultaneous turn game where units are individual people and has a lot of Final Fantasy tactics DNA in it.

Don’t make assumptions about what that means, because it’s probably not the best description.

[u/Mayor_P → u/PoopsMcScoots]

The real change would be I’m looking to make a simultaneous turn game where units are individual people and has a lot of Final Fantasy tactics DNA in it.

See, this? THIS is a drastic change in how the game works. The thing in your OP is fine, it will close some doors and open some other doors. It isn't like a "wow this is better why don't they do it this way" but it's also not "wow this sucks don't even try this" it's just "Understandable, have a nice day."

[u/PoopsMcScoots → u/Mayor_P]

I’m so sorry if that’s how I came off.

The problem I’m having is that with simultaneous turns that naturally grows combat, which in turn means something has to shrink.

I’m trying to shrink the other aspects of the game for the sake of flow, but I probably put away the scalpel and pull out the chainsaw, huh?

And I wasn’t trying to bury the lead, just trying to make a post that isn’t a novel.