Review of Civilization 6 Russian version. Sumerian fascism versus Russian spirituality. Civilization VI overview. And yet she turns

23.10.2016

This year has turned out to be quite mediocre for strategy fans. From what came out, worthy of mention, perhaps, niche, space Stellaris, early-pixel Rim World, and Cossacks 3, to which there are also a lot of claims. That is why the main hopes were pinned on Sid Meier's Civilization VI. Well, whether they were justified or not, we will tell you right now.

Winners write history.

Should you buy Civilization 6 if, for example, you play the fourth or fifth perfectly? Probably worth it, although it all depends on you personally. Are you an ardent fan of this series, or do you just love to feel like the king of the world from time to time? If the latter, then probably not worth it, because there are not very many bright innovations in the game, and, in fact, it has remained the same Tsiva. If the former, then it's definitely worth buying, because the main feature of Civilization 6 is the presence of the corporate atmosphere, the famous spirit of the game, which, in our opinion, was best manifested in the third part.

Caring teacher.

Civilization 6 turned out to be harmonious and very friendly to newcomers. This is not Europa Universalis 4, where it is generally not clear where to start, what to press, and how to move troops. Here, the system will not let you make a new move until you give out all the instructions that are hanging in the air, one by one, very politely, but persistently, poking your nose into your gaps.
Civilization 6 has a teacher who can teach you two methods by first asking if you played Civilization at all, if you played this particular part. It is better to honestly admit that you did not play in the sixth, and then they will help you thoroughly. This help will not be annoying, but at the same time, it will not become a guarantee of your victory. Following the tips of the advisor, it is very easy to lose. Comparing Civilization 6 and, for example, Civilization 4, it is appropriate to draw an analogy between Windows 10 and Windows 98, where there was a minimum of automation, and where it was necessary to manually do what is now done with the click of a button. Although, not everywhere and not always.

Civilization 6's vaunted diplomacy hinges on military superiority. As soon as a neighbor gets a good army, he will attack, despite the age-old friendship

Tricks and features.

In the old Civilization 3, workers could be put on autopilot. By pressing one single button, you sent the worker to eternal hard labor, but then you got drained swamps, built roads, and ennobled areas with rare fossils. Here, each worker, who, by the way, became builders, needs to be dealt with personally. Builders consist of three units. Breaking, for example, a field in a wild meadow, you lose one builder. Having built in two turns, for example, a quarry, you lose another one, etc.
But this is not the main thing. The main thing is that now your city has ceased to be static and grow only in the picture called by the "show city" function. The city now expands depending on the buildings being erected. City development at the expense of districts is an effective and interesting thing that requires extraordinary planning. Almost everyone makes mistakes here. The fact is that there is no point in spending builders on improving the cells closest to the city, because new districts will be built in these cells, therefore, the old improvement will go down the drain. But we will talk about this in a separate article.

The same was true for the army. Now you can fasten individual units together, creating a powerful combat unit. After all, you need to fight. The enemies in Civilization 6 turned out to be extremely insidious, and they need a separate approach.

Civilization 6 can be turned into something like Travian with the click of a button

Graphics.

Civilization 6 looks cartoonish. Moreover, the game has a special button, by pressing which, the picture generally turns into a perfect cartoon, and Tsiva will look like Travian or the War of the Tribes. But do not let the fact of cartoony bother you, because after half an hour of playing you will fall in love with the picture, and you will not pay the slightest attention to the non-Disney faces of heads of state or ordinary soldiers.

Optimization made me happy. For the entire time of testing, we did not record a single slowdown, moreover, we launched the game on a regular gaming, one might say, ordinary PC.

Also, a big thank you can be said for the excellent localization. We did not find a single spelling mistake, although we tried, and when at the very beginning we watched the introductory video, it turned out to be completely dubbed by professional actors, which is generally quite a rare thing.

You can probably also talk about the interface in this section. In short, we haven't seen such a friendly interface for a long time. Despite the abundance of small icons, and a bunch of content on the map itself, nothing is lost, does not hide from view, and everything can be turned on, called and pressed at the first desire. Except, perhaps, when you decide to maximize the distance from the map. Then yes, then some confusion of labels and buttons will take place. But all this is minor quibbles, and in fact there are no complaints about the graphic part of the game.

Sound.

The soundtrack in the game is selected in accordance with national characteristics. For example, when you just start to develop from deep antiquity, you will be pleased with the very slow, barely perceptible, lyrical-meditative Kalinka-Malinka. But when you develop decently, start studying complex sciences, then Kalinka-Malinka will significantly accelerate, acquire new notes and become modern. For analogous peoples, as far as our outlook allows us to judge, the situation is similar.

AI diplomacy and intelligence.

At the pre-release stage, Firaxis Games talked a lot about the fact that diplomacy of unprecedented depth awaits us in Civilization 6, and the representatives of other countries themselves will be cunning, insidious and vindictive. They will remember old grudges, and at the same time, they will help you if you helped them before. So we were told
In fact, we have found almost none of the above. Yes, at the first meeting, neighboring factions send gifts to you, and it will be good if you take the same step, but no matter how you are friends with your neighbor, no matter how you give him gifts, he will still attack you as soon as he receives confident military superiority. For example, you have surrounded yourself with friends. You almost kiss on the gums. All the barbarians were exhausted, and since there is no danger, they decided to develop science and economics. However, as soon as one of the neighbors sees that his military power is many times greater than yours, he will attack without warning, without demands and announcement of notes. Very despicable, I must say. And the good artificial intelligence of the opponent does not remember, in contrast to the evil, which remembers forever. That is why absolutely all your neighbors will be neighbors-hooligans, constantly provoking you into conflict. This monotony quickly tires.

I am glad that religions are fully represented. Orthodoxy is also available

Therefore, unfortunately, there can be only one recipe for victory - create a powerful army. And there, when the army is ready, you can start to delight and conquer the enemy with cultural victories. Then you can, so to speak, by right of the strong. Without the army, you will not achieve any progress.

But those who liked them were the barbarians, who became noticeably smarter. First, the barbarians began to develop with you. And if their first attacks are carried out by slingers and ordinary warriors, then chariots can come to you. Moreover, it is not easy to come, but to do it quite tricky. Barbarians will try to attack undefended areas. If everyone is protected, then to those where your troops simply stand, and do not stand in a fortified position. If they meet with resistance, they will retreat, giving the opportunity to attack another, more recent and suitable by the method of "rock-paper-scissors" comrade. Therefore, be ready to immediately pick up your legs and go, bring down their camp.

But speaking of the intelligence of the barbarians, the intelligence of your neighbors is extremely low. For example, if you are besieged by barbarians, and the troops of a neighbor may be nearby, then they, even to their own detriment, will come to your aid, destroy all the barbarians, then think a little and declare war on you - why walk twice. After the declaration of war, they will attack hesitantly, as if in the dark, feeling each new meter with their feet and hands. In general, there is a sense of pretense and unnaturalness. Therefore, whoever wants the utmost realism, he needs to play exclusively on the Web.

As you progress, you will be able to recruit Great People

Epilogue.

Summarizing all of the above, I must say that Civilization 6 has returned to itself a fairly spent spirit of the past. The game turned out to be very pleasant, superbly optimized, without any technical problems, with a clear interface and visual training. Cities are now growing in breadth, armies can also be linked to each other. You will enjoy the opportunity to hire outstanding personalities who can significantly accelerate your cultural development. Different factions look different. The churches and the Kremlin in the campaign for Russia are pleasing to the eye, as is the sound design.

But the intellect of the rivals, as well as the vaunted diplomacy, did not like at all. We were promised almost a full-fledged interlocutor, but we got a primitive enemy who is friends with you if your army is stronger, and an attacker in any case if your army is not able to provide a worthy rebuff. So, that, all the same it all comes down to a showdown on the battlefield.

excellent music, great optimization, friendly interface, big maps, dangerous barbarians, interesting construction.
weak diplomacy and predictable intelligence of rivals.

Our assessment is 8.5 points. By far the best strategy game, and simply one of the best games of 2016.

“You are the evil that has penetrated this world. Your name will be cursed for centuries! " He considers me a militarist! Let's rewind time several centuries ago. The great leader Mwemba noticed that there was only one swordsman in my three cities. Therefore, he crosses the ocean, lands on my shore, founds a city on my border and immediately attacks with huge forces.

But Mwemba is weak. Not only because my scientists have already invented pikes, but he still relies on clubs and works the ground with digging sticks. No. The key problem with Mwemba is that it is being controlled by the AI ​​in Civilization VI. For this, in a couple of dozen moves, he will be mercilessly beaten, he will lose his idiotically located city, which is why he will begin to hate me until the end of time.

Everything you need to know about the diplomacy of the new "Civilization" was sung almost thirty years ago by Viktor Tsoi. Two thousand years of war, war for no particular reason. It may seem that starting a story about a long-awaited novelty with an AI abuse is strange, but what can you do if an artificial idiot is the main impression after more than 50 hours of playing? Fortunately, at high levels of difficulty and crowded with the whole crowd, computer opponents can create some problems. Well, at least so!

Firaxis has given each leader a “preference”. Some people like the world on their home continent (a good-natured person will gladly stick a knife in your back), another - big empires (he will attack at the first opportunity). A few moves ago, the Scandinavian was crawling on his knees, begging to leave him at least one city, and now he laughs again at the size of your fleet. This AI is simply impossible.

Unsurprisingly, there is no diplomatic victory in Civilization VI, although there are just enough diplomatic options. Probably for playing with real people. On the other hand, city-states have become noticeably more useful. Now we are sending ambassadors, the number of which directly affects the amount of bonuses received from them. Having got a small ally, you can even hire his army for a while! Small nations are once again deprived of real AI, but they can really be relied on.

The main question, of course, is simple: is this "Civilization" so new? Veteran players will remember that the release of each license plate Civilization was a real treat, because these games have always been noticeably different from each other. Remaining a step-by-step strategy about the struggle of different cultures for a place under the Sun, the next "Tsiva" was sure to try it on - first of all! - new visual style, updated interface and game rules.

In part, Civilization VI does the same, but it is simply impossible not to recognize the fifth part in it. Revolutionary - I'm not afraid of this word! - there were the third and fifth parts, and the sixth only speculates on the legacy of a successful predecessor. The design of the world again gravitates towards cartoonishness and some kind of luridness. For some reason, Civilization IV and the terrifying Revolution immediately come to mind. And then you move the camera further away - and it seems like "five" again! Almost. I admit, I liked the old leader screens much more. The new rulers are good in terms of animation, but their endless antics ...

There were some surprises. Now a decent city occupies more than one square, because if this is not the case, then there is no financial or scientific center in this settlement, there is no place to have fun and nothing to look at. It is necessary to leave such a city. The new possibilities create many pleasant problems. The university complex can look very good on a farmland site. And in 500 years your civilization will discover the secret of a new miracle, which, by the way, can only be built on this very cell. As Sid Meier said, the game is a series of interesting solutions, and in Civilization VI there are even more such solutions than before.

A city cannot properly defend itself as long as there are no walls around it. But in the event of an invasion, it is stupid to sit behind them: of course, until the enemy has captured the center of the region, everything around the fortifications still belongs to you. But enemies can damage your universities and markets, and that too can be a very painful blow. Especially for a young nation.

The construction detachments ceased to be in indefinite state slavery: they erected a couple of improvements, repaired what was broken by the barbarians - and disappeared. Roads are now being laid by merchants (there is a second way, but you still need to live to see it), so the logistics will also make you think. Of course, many decisions and nuances became possible due to the fact that the developers sacrificed logic for diversity. After all, there are no games without conventions in principle.

Culture has officially received the status of a second science. A real scientific tree was noticeably plucked, and a new cultural one was collected from its twigs and leaves. These discoveries can also please, say, miracles or even units, but they were created primarily for the socio-economic development of the state.

Each political system now allows you to activate a certain number of political course cards. Democracy, for example, allows you to activate more bonuses for the economy, and the monarchy for military affairs. The result is an excellent constructor: discover new social institutions and assemble the government of your dreams!

However, profitable combinations are easy to find. This also applies to urban planning and government. There is no point in trying to keep up with the requirements for a cultural victory (the most difficult in the game - as the hint says when creating a new party), when you can ... reduce them a little. Collect the already familiar set - powerful industrial centers and huge profits from trade - and by force of arms to tear the "extra" pieces from the most serious competitors. Thus increasing their own chances for this and any other peaceful victory.

But such mockery of the mechanics of Civilization VI is nothing compared to its second most important flaw. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but Firaxis managed to ruin almost the most important non-game component of any strategy game. Civilization V has all sorts of legitimate claims to it, but in terms of the interface it was great. Unsurprisingly, she has become a role model for many competitors.

In the sixth part, they even managed to make the choice of a unit from the city garrison inconvenient. Or shelling from the city walls. And much more - in such a game without buttons, icons and lists - nowhere! Sometimes the map is very difficult to read, and the stylization of the fog of war is certainly nice, but not particularly practical. And you need to look for a strip of experience of the detachment with a magnifying glass. Not TBS, but some kind of hidden object. And, in order not to get up twice, I note that many quotes could be changed for something better, and there are a lot of different mistakes in localization. Including "They want rumors that England" ... Wait, "they want"? Seriously?

This is all the legacy of Beyond Earth. That offshoot of Civilization also resembled the fifth part, but surprisingly had nothing to do with its convenient control. By the way, her AI was also weak, but in its own way: it was (surprisingly) passive. Although the ideas of that game were good in their own way. What can I say? It seems that Firaxis has forgotten how to make a user-friendly interface and stopped trying to create a successful AI, but other than that, the games definitely do not stand still. Although the background "Kalinka" frankly interferes: if I have a mouse in my right hand, and a nesting doll in my left, then how can I play the balalaika?

Civilization VI certainly isn't bad. Against. Minor flaws will be fixed with patches, AI (maybe) will also be corrected. Unlike its competitors, the game doesn't look like a blueprint for future expansions. Think of Stellaris - chic at first, tiring towards the end. "Civilization" is not like that. It has to be a hit. It's in her DNA: the games of this series cannot be bad if the authors do not deliberately try to simplify or curtail them. It's even scary to imagine how the sixth part will be transformed after a couple of solid add-ons, but it's interesting to play it right now.

pros

• City planning
• New system of political systems
• Many small nuances
• Pleasant music

Minuses

• Terribly goofy AI
• Weak interface

Verdict

Only in Civilization can Sumer, Congo and Scythia compete for the right to be the first to launch an artificial Earth satellite. In that particular time, the Germans won in the end, but this is already an unnecessary detail. Civilization is a generator of endless stories about how the Russians or the French appeared in the mountains or forests, and then fought their way to the ocean for a hundred years. How the only iron deposit was discovered in the very heart of an enemy state. About how there was one more move left before the opening of space flights. And one more. I'll turn it off now. Already. Oh, I'll launch a new vessel in a couple of moves. Yes, now I am. Already. One more move. Just.

• The game will be released October 21 2016 year.
• Lead Designer - Ed Beach. Known for being the designer of the Gods & Kings and Brave New World add-ons for the fifth Ziva, and also worked on AI.
• The main artist is Brian Busatti. He was also an artist on Mobile Civilization Revolution. Therefore, in the sixth Tsiva there is such a "cartoon style"
• The main producer is Dennis Shirk.
• And where, in fact, is Sid Meyer himself? And he, as always, is in the name of the game!

Peculiarities

According to the developers, the "engine" of the sixth Tsiva is completely new and created from scratch, and not cosmetically improved from the fifth. Unlike most previous initial ("Vanilla") versions of the game, Civ VI will immediately include ALL game mechanics that were previously added only with paid DLC. That is trade routes, religion, archeology, espionage, city-states, tourism and works of great people will be available immediately. How will poor Firaxis make money on us? Judging by the fact that there are 18 civilizations in the game initially, they will sell nations for the price of a hamburger;) Well, although all game mechanics have been redone for the new engine, the gameplay will still be mostly similar to that of the fifth Tsiva.

« Everything that players liked in the fifth Tsiva, we moved to the sixth and added a new gameplay“, - Dennis Shirk.

“The most important thing you need to know is that Civilization VI does not use the previous engine. All mechanics, all gameplay are completely rewritten and redone. We made a special effort to make the gameplay flexibly changeable. Artificial intelligence rewritten from scratch using the data that we got from the fifth version of the game. Therefore, many problems with combat will be resolved. "- Ed Beach.

Cities

Cities are now not tied to one cell, but I can spread over the entire radius of the city (as in Endless Legend). Some buildings can be built in the central area of ​​the city, while for others it is necessary to build specialized areas. In addition, all wonders are now also built on separate cells (again, as in Endless Legend). For detailed information on the cities in the sixth Tsiva:

Technologies

In general, science works the same as in the previous version, but each technology has a so-called "Eureka", a goal or mini-quest - by reaching which you can accelerate the discovery of this technology. For example, "meet another civilization" or "build a career." As soon as the condition is met, you immediately get 50% of the science needed to open the technology (I bet that this will be one of the first parameters that will rule the patches after the game is released)! It doesn't matter whether you research this technology or not. As in the fifth civ, you cannot exchange techs. For more detailed information, you are welcome to.

Civics (Social Policies)

Social policies are now very similar to a technology tree: each new Civic gives the opportunity to adopt the next, when enough culture has accumulated. Within each new Civic there may be several additional features: social policies, districts, buildings, wonders, and government types. Each type of government has several different colored policy slots and you can decide for yourself which policies to put in these slots. The initial type of government - Chiefdom - has only one military and one economic policy slot. With the opening of new types of governments, you will be able to get more slots. At the moment, four types of slots are known: military, economic, diplomacy and wildcard. For more detailed information, you are welcome to.

Religion

Apparently, religion in the new Tsiva will work in the same way as in the fifth. First the pantheons, then the prophet founds a religion. You can name your religion in different ways, choose an icon, as well as various beliefs and bonuses. It is known that you can choose different buildings for your religion: a mosque, cathedral, synagogue or just a prayer house. Religion will spread via pressure, just like in the fifth civ. All details - tables of pantheons and beliefs - can be found at.

Diplomacy

During the game, communication with other civilizations will change from primitive first interactions, where conflict is a fact of life, to the intricacies of alliances and negotiations.

Civ VI uses the Casus belli principle. In other words, you will have fewer diplomatic penalties if you have reasons to go to war. If you declare war before denouncing, it will be considered a “surprise war” and will incur additional diplomatic sanctions.

There will be no world congress in the sixth Ziva. This is one of the few mechanics of the fifth Tsiva, which they decided to get rid of in the sequel.

« We have completely overhauled the way computer opponents interact with the player. In previous versions, they acted in much the same way. Now AI has VERY different key behaviors that we call Agendas. The agenda for each leader in the game is based on the historical paths of development of a particular civilization. Some "agendas" will be clear to you immediately upon meeting with civilization. Others, secret, you can find out only through espionage. Thus, the diplomatic landscape becomes much more diverse,"- Ed Beach.

« The hidden agendas may be something like "Industry Lover" or "Culture Aficionado". These are the basic things. For example, you generate a lot of science and this is what a hidden science lover likes. Or vice versa, you build too many miracles and your opponent does not like it,"- Dennis Shirk.

Gossip

Traders, ambassadors, and spies are gathering rumors. About the same as it was in the fifth Tsiva, when we put a spy in a foreign city. Thus, we can find out the intentions of another civilization and its activity.

« Eventually you will receive rumors about all the AI ​​activities in your civilization. Even if you have a wonderful relationship with him, you still need to keep your finger on the pulse.“, - Dennis Shirk.

Diplomatic delegations

Sending a delegation (worth 25 gold) may slightly increase relations with other civilizations. The number of delegations and ambassadors (are they different things?) Is limited.

Espionage

Spies in the sixth Tsiva will be real units on the map. However, they can still be sent to the opponent's cities.

Agenda (Agendas)

AI leaders now follow Agendas to help influence their behavior. Each leader has a fixed historical agenda (see the Civilizations section) and a randomly generated hidden agenda. Some examples of random hidden agendas:

• The leader wants to have the largest fleet in the world.
• The leader wants to focus on culture throughout the game.

Trade routes

The trade route system in the sixth Civa is similar to the one that appeared in Civilization V: Brave New World. A merchant can create permanent trade routes between two cities. Income will depend on the resources processed by the city and the number of districts.

However, there are also a few extras. Most importantly, merchants now create roads along the trade route! In addition, it was noticed in the interface that traders now have a strength parameter. Apparently, now it will not be so easy to "rob cows" as in the top five.

Victory conditions

There are five options for winning in Civilization 6:

• Military: you must capture the capitals of each opponent.
• Scientific: three conditions must be met:
  • Launch satellite
  • Land on the moon
  • Establish a colony on Mars
• Cultural: you must attract more visiting tourists than any other civilization will have domestic tourists at home.
• Religious: more than 50% of cities in all civilizations must be followers of your religion.
• By points: Whoever has more points at the end of the game (500 moves at normal speed) wins!

I will note once again that there is no world congress in Civilization VI, and accordingly there is no diplomatic victory.

Interface

It is known for sure that the beloved 2D map mode will remain in Civ VI! So is the data overlay called Lenses. If you do not know what it is, then, apparently, you have not played in 2D mode in the fifth Tsiva. These lenses were included in the lower right corner near the mini-map.

The top panel shows counters for science, culture, faith, money, trade routes, all resources (not just strategic ones), turn number, real time clock, civilopedia and settings menu. The second row of buttons is on the left side: research, social policy, government, religion, great people and masterpieces. On the right side there are four small icons: diplomacy, city-states, espionage, and trade. Center right: Leader icons (the one whose turn is slightly lower), and on them - indicators for the current relationship (war and peace for Cleopatra and Teddy, respectively).

The mini-map (bottom left) includes controls for overlaying data, switching map settings (yes, this is where what I will be asked about under each video in the next few years: where can I turn on the display of resource icons on the map? ), “Map pin function that allows you to place markers on the map, as well as switch to 2D mode, similar to what was in the fifth Ziva. The multifunctional screen (bottom right) includes action buttons for the selected unit, information about the city, a preliminary summary of the battle, etc.

Day-and-night cycle

Yes, the engine now supports changing the time of day. True, apart from visual joy, we will not get any influence on the gameplay from this. In the settings, you yourself can set: after how many moves the day will change to night. In general, this option may not be disabled.

Fog of war

Uncharted territory and fog of war (territory that is not "exposed" by your units) is now rendered in the video of an ancient map drawn on parchment.

Map rotation

I don’t know how convenient it will be in a turn-based strategy and whether it is necessary at all, but - yes, now the map rotates freely!

Civilizations

V Sid Meier's Civilization VI initially 18 civilizations... Another one - the Aztecs - will be available immediately after the release of the game to all who pre-order, and to the rest - after three months. In addition, at least four more nations are known to appear in future add-ons.

Each civilization has five unique properties: fixed historical goal(and also a second hidden randomly generated one), unique ability, unique unit, leader bonus(which could be an ability or other unique unit) and unique infrastructure(this could be a building, an improvement, or a district). More details:

Barbarians

They play the same role as in the fifth part. However, the algorithm of the attack of the barbarians has been changed: they send scouts. If the scouts discover your cities and return to the barbarian camp, then after a while the barbarian attack will follow.

« Barbarians can create scouts. If you don't touch their camp for a while, he creates a scout. The scout explores the territory just like you. But he is looking for suitable targets. If the scout gets close to your suburbs, then he knows that you are here, and he will go back to tell his leaders about the new goal. It's important to keep track of this in-game. You might think, "Ok, if the scout has gone from his camp in 4 turns, then he will not get back earlier, and then they will spend another 5-6 turns on preparing the army." But in fact, after 10-15 turns, this scout report can turn into problems for you. On the other hand, you can prevent this from happening. You can send some fast intercept units and block his way home. The barbarians didn't just get more powerful. It is more a matter of strategy. Barbarians are not what they used to be, they no longer wander aimlessly around the world. They're a little smarter. If they return, they bring an army of melee and ranged units with them. Barbarians can give you hard times“, - Ed Beach.

Output Civilization 6 surprised us a little. Beyond Earth with a single addition, I did not have time to cool down yet, but here is a continuation. However, if you count Civilization: Beyond Earth as a fork (by analogy with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri), then everything falls into place ...

A good six years have passed since the release of the fifth part. But over the years Firaxis they did not invent any revolutionary ideas: the sixth part seems to be tuning the fifth, not daring to cross certain boundaries.

"The sound of progress, my friend"

Firaxis did the most courageous thing with the structure of the cities. Perhaps their appearance is inspired by the redrawn cities from Total War: Rome 2: there, cramped heaps of buildings were turned into delicious saucers, much more similar in texture to real settlements. However, the essence is still completely different.

Districts not only create a new building depth, but also increase the external similarity of virtual cities with real ones. Let that campus be Oxford!

Here the squad of settlers stops and chooses a place to rest. A new city appears. Everything that is in it now is the center. And the list of buildings that are allowed to be built is very short: a barn, a water mill, a sewer, several types of walls. Other architectural excesses require special areas, built by the forces of the townspeople.

It is quite obvious that zoning is a direct consequence of the specialization of cities, which has been pursuing Civilization for many years: in the capital we assemble an industrial machine for building miracles, in another city we provide a surplus of food and breed settlers there one after another, and we lay the third in the middle of the jungle to arrange a scientific boom two hundred years later.

A military camp is able to greatly slow down the enemy's advance - it snaps no worse than a single city. It's good that Liverpool doesn't have that.

This paradigm is now legalized and, in general, inevitable: only the fastest growing city will master the creation of all districts. And there are a lot of them: a science campus, an industrial town, a military camp, a commerce center, a theater square, an airfield ... For example, the library will open only on the campus, and since the area requires a lot of production points during construction, some kind of warlike nation (such as equestrian Scythians ) runs the risk of not seeing a single library at all, except for those that will be in the captured enemy cities.

In modern times, settlers change to a nice minibus. What other city would they be able to found if not San Francisco?

Is it logical? Perhaps, otherwise, even the wild unbridled Huns were not built without libraries before. But this makes it not easier for the player, but much harder. Now, when there is a chance to build a new district, the question arises - where to stick it.

Following, like a snowball, problems grow, and almost all are generated by new gameplay reservations. So, workers will no longer improve your terrain cells from antiquity to nuclear war, because the number of their manipulations is finite. At first, there are three actions available, and then, thanks to technology and miracles, a little more. And all right, if the builders "fell in price" at the same time, so no. Thus, the processing of the landscape (farms, mines, plantations, etc.) also rests on urban production. The settlement is forced to be regularly distracted by the release of fresh workers, otherwise the new townspeople will have to process the "unkempt" cage - consider it almost empty.

One-story Pangea

By the way, about the townspeople - they need to be lodged somewhere. Most likely, the rapid growth of your city, surrounded by "deposits" of wheat and livestock, will run into the population limit: there are no new dwellings - therefore, there is no need to give birth to new parasites. Three people live, a fourth is born, and the growth of the city slows down by half, because the population limit is five people. If you reach the fifth point, you will reach the limit, and growth will continue anyway, but with a penalty of 75%, which is leveled out only in the fattest city, where the sidewalks are already paved with rolls.

The level of happiness or health common for the whole country is no longer there: every unhappy city grieves in its own way.

At the beginning of the game, solving the housing issue is not easy. You can add living space by improving the cells: farms, for example, provide half of the living space. Some buildings will shelter townspeople: two in the barn (don't ask how), one at the university, and two more will fit in if the sewers are installed. These are all half measures, and the only effective tool for settlement is suburbs, districts, which are not suitable for anything other than living. But the density is amazing: up to six citizens, if the area is of high prestige (something like the "elite" cells, and primarily this affects tourism).

But what if you have already improved the area where the suburbs are asking for? And what if there were deposits of priceless uranium right under the elite village? And if I tell you that the productivity of farms increases when they are next to each other, and it would be better not to delete them in vain?

IT IS IMPORTANT: Firaxis has worked hard on the overall style of the game. The fifth part looked back at Art Deco, and the sixth tends to the era of great geographical discoveries. First of all, this is reflected in the appearance of the game world: white unexplored spots are stylized like old maps, as well as places that are covered by the fog of war. Graceful is not the right word, but it makes the map difficult to read.

Spies should be protected and not assigned to failed operations: if he is not killed immediately, then you will have to pay a ransom.

By the way, for the wonders of the world, separate plots are also needed - as a rule, with draconian conditions: Great Zimbabwe requires a nearby center of commerce (and a market in it), and on the other hand, a pasture. If you manage to build a commercial district far enough from the cattle, your Zimbabwe will cry.

And sometimes the game forces you to overpower yourself and do not improve the territory at all - in order to establish a national park there. The park is generally the absolute opposite of everything we've ever done in Civilization. First, we buy a naturalist for points of faith (oh, did you give a damn about religion right after the pantheon? Then breathe smog, dear), then we look for a site in the shape of a diamond and four cells in area - and so that the prestige there was of the highest level. And all cells must belong to the same city.

You also need a mountain or something equally picturesque. And without a single improvement! Then, and only then, will the naturalist discover a national park in this wonderful place. What for the sake of such sacrifices? The park attracts an abyss of tourists, which is critical for a cultural victory: yes, the victory by tourism has remained almost unchanged.

Firaxis once again ditched artistic landscapes with wonders in favor of accelerated construction animations. Together with the change of day and night, it looks very much even nothing.

Land and development planning has never mattered so much in Civilization.

Soul architects

There has not yet been a Civilization in which the system of culture has not been reinvented. And here it is again! For the first time considering its importance on a par with science, Firaxis singled out all humanitarian ideas, discoveries and achievements in a separate tree. And next to it there is a scientific one, only a little "tattered". The conquest of cultural peaks differs little - instead of points of science, points of culture are spent, in the same way all sorts of buildings and wonders of the world are opened. But there are also policy cards. Civilization also changes its policy with enviable regularity.

Be careful with great writers! Their countless masterpieces are simply nowhere to be placed until the middle of the game, and the poor fellows languish in anticipation of a new era.

Now artificial limiters have appeared: there are ten control schemes, and the closer to modernity, the more cards are allowed to be used. Some kind of fascism allows you to hold three military cards, but only one economic one. Democracy, on the other hand, is one military and three economic.

And the cards are not "cosmetic" at all. Some speed up the training of different types of troops, sometimes as much as half. Others provide special advantages from trade routes or from city-states. Still others are the glasses of great people, or additional actions for workers, or you never know what else.

Cards literally flutter in skillful hands. They took one - hired an army, took another - built a fleet, took a third - saved on re-equipment.

The cards are not in short supply, they are given out in the course of cultural development, so the "solitaire" laid out depends on your strategy of the game, and not on your preferences. More importantly, the course is easy to change almost at any time, which the addon could not boast of. Brave new world for Civilization 5, where they also implemented the policy. There, each chosen "perk" remained with you forever ... or until the revolution, if the pressure of other ideologies turns out to be too strong. In Civilization 6, all the pressure is the dislike of communist Spain, which your trade republic is not happy with.

Catch up with Einstein

The undercover struggle has moved to a different level, where it was not expected - into a race for great people! For the first time in the series, they ceased to be unified superunits, and each, depending on the type of activity, is gifted with their own skills. Well, perhaps great artists, writers and musicians simply fill amphitheaters and conservatories with the products of their creativity.

Engineers are different! So, one instantly builds a workshop and a factory (the latter with increased emissions) in an industrial area, the other speeds up the construction of wonders of the world. And they are all included in the table, where every world leader sees how close he is to getting a new genius. How close his competitors are is also evident. Needless to say, in Civilization 6, the fight for bright minds is almost as intense as for the wonders of the world?

An alternative to the race for geniuses is to buy them with giblets. Just a few thousand gold or faith - and a brand new Alfred Nobel is yours today!

THIS FLATS: Although there are not so many Russian greats in Civilization 6, the choice of wonders of the world that represent our country in the game pleases. The Hermitage and the Bolshoi Theater - we will consider that this is a tribute to Russian culture. Or they could return the Kremlin, which is portrayed as the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed. Or some kind of GULAG. But Civilization tries to bypass the black pages of history.

Diplomacy is a perennial problem in all solid strategies. Civilization 6 ignores achievements for some reason Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide, where it was possible to somehow get out of this existential crisis. Here, they try to tie interstate relations to certain variables.

What does it mean? Thus, Japan follows the bushido code - in the language of the game, this means that the Nippons respect a strong army, backed by faith and culture. Without these, a solid military force seems offensive to Japan. Vikings (formally - Norway, but we know something) will instantly stop loving a neighbor who does not control their waters (read - deprived of a strong fleet).

Queen Victoria picks up the award for the most sour face in Civilization 6. Her Majesty has managed to quarrel with all known nations. Bravo!

What does this lead to? You do not have time to keep up with everyone and please everyone - perhaps that is why there is no diplomatic victory in the game. And most of those around you quietly begin to hate you. Even if you are armed to the teeth, the war is still inevitable. Even those who are in good mood will not accept the terms of friendship (this is reflected by a smiley next to the interlocutor's pictogram). But if you encroach on the lands that the AI ​​"reserved" for itself ... In short, once the Japanese had enough of one city founded by me to immediately - without the standard threat "Sit away from me"- declare war and lose it shamefully.

It has been a month and a half since the release of a new version of the great Civilization, already number VI. I think that many have already played themselves, but certainly not all. I suggest those who have not yet had time to play, but want to get acquainted with the innovations (compared to the V version).

So let's start from the very beginning ...

Settlers

The game begins with the fact that we are given settlers and a warrior, everything is traditional here, when managing a settler, places are shown that are favorable and not very good for the founding of a city. Everything is clear, the change is purely evolutionary, for convenience.

City building

Having founded the city, we immediately begin construction. And so, great changes have taken place with the development of the city. There is a small set of buildings that belong to the "city center", such as a monument, a barn, a sewage system, but most of the other buildings are erected in specialized areas, which must also be built first by assigning a square on the map to the area.





There are a lot of such areas in themselves:

Religious

Scientific

Military (can serve as an additional line of defense in case of war)

Commercial (affects the number of trade routes)

Cultural

Entertaining

An airport

Spaceport

Residential quarters

Aqueduct

Wonders of the world also occupy a separate cell on the map.

Each district can receive its bonuses from nearby resources and terrain features, and wonders of the world have their own requirements for location near the districts and for the landscape. Do not forget also that farms, mines, sawmills, plantations with resources must be placed somewhere else on the same cells of the map.

In general, it is very, very, very difficult to build a city with all-all-all buildings, and the construction of a mega-capital with a bunch of wonders of the world becomes a non-trivial task. Throughout the game, you have to think and choose which districts you need to build, and which you will have to do without.

Builders

Another big innovation: Builders take actions in one turn, whether it's building a mine or clearing a swamp ... cool? Cool! But the number of actions is limited, after the actions are over, the builder simply disappears. The number of actions can be changed by pyramid building, social policy, etc. Builders also process marine resources, i.e. no need to build separate units - fishing boats. When playing as Chinese, builders can help build wonders in the early stages.

Roads

And then again everything changed radically. First, the good news: you don't have to pay for road maintenance. Second news: roads do not need to be built, they appear on their own. However, for the road to appear, a caravan must pass through the area. Such deeds, traders trample roads, this process cannot be controlled directly, but you can set the direction of trade and thereby influence the construction of roads.

In general, in the later stages, a special unit, a military engineer, can also build roads, but you still have to live up to that time ...

Great people

The system for generating great people has changed. Points of great people of each type are added to the common piggy bank of the empire, this progress is visible to everyone, i.e. you can see which empire has accumulated how much and who will soon receive the next great scientist, for example. With a great desire and great opportunities, you can hire a great personality out of turn, spending a large pile of gold or faith points.

The effects of the realization of these personalities are very different (even if they are both great scientists), since all this is written in advance and you can choose - take this person or wait for the next one.

Science, social order, governments

In science, there is a minimum of changes - we choose a technology, we study using the science points generated by the empire, but now you can accelerate the study, or rather create a prerequisite for the accelerated study of almost any technology, by fulfilling a certain condition (fortunately, this condition is again known in advance and is indicated in the description of the technology) ... This phenomenon is called here "eureka" and at once reduces the study time by 50-60%! And what is remarkable, great scientists and wonders of the world can also only activate these "eureka", you still have to spend time studying.

For example, by building a city on the coast, we reduce the required number of scientific points for navigation. For the first time, having become the object of an attack by another empire, we suddenly realize the need for fortifications. Etc. RPG elements are already obtained - what you use is pumped up.

Social policies are still tied to culture, but the scheme of development is similar to the development of science. Only pumping comes at the expense of culture points. And the rest - the same "insights" tied to the fulfillment of conditions, the same choice of the next policy being studied, as well as new opportunities for social structure, new buildings and units as a result of mastering a new policy.

New possibilities of the social device are realized in the form of "cards", the current set of which is determined by the player, which can be changed quickly, adjusting his policy to changing external conditions. Let's say at first we fight a lot with barbarians, activate a card with bonuses against them in battle, later, when wars start with neighbors, we can replace it, for example, with a card with a discount on the maintenance of the army, etc.



Governments now define a couple of basic goodies (like bonuses for producing or generating great personalities) and a possible set of social policy cards.



As a result, the variability and ability to fine-tune the social structure has grown significantly.

City-states

The system of interaction with city-states has changed a lot. Relations are governed primarily by the number of ambassadors sent. For 3-6-9 ambassadors, you receive bonuses in the form of gold, science points, etc. The one who sent the most ambassadors can become a "suzerain", receiving an additional bonus in the form of resources and military support.

Where do ambassadors come from? Firstly, they are generated on their own, the amount is determined by the current government, the frequency of generation is determined by the accumulation of special points, this can be steered a little with the help of social policies.

And the city-states also issue quests that are, in principle, quite feasible, for example, build a certain unit, study technology, fulfill the conditions for "eureka", pave a trade route, etc., for completing the quest they put themselves an extraordinary ambassador. When you change the era, the quests are updated.

The process of "submission" cannot be accelerated with money, gifts, and the like. There are few ambassadors, there are not enough for all, it is not easy to stay as a suzerain. On the other hand, the influence of city-states on the course of the game is greatly weakened, military support from them is weak, and the cities themselves are much worse defended, other empires conquer them without apparent difficulty.

War

In principle, everything remained as it was. One unit-one cell, but support units have appeared that do not fight themselves, but can stick to the main units in order to increase the effectiveness of siege weapons, increase the radius of action, healing, etc.

In addition, around the middle of the game, it becomes possible to combine units into corps, armies (land), armada and fleets (sea), the connection has increased power.

The process of using nuclear weapons has changed somewhat. First, you need to create a vigorous bomb and it is available to the state. And then it can be launched from a suitable plane or submarine.

The consequences of using a thermonuclear bomb

Diplomacy

The process of diplomatic negotiations has become more transparent, if it is clear that the neighbors do not like you, then you can see why: you are squeezing cities, you are building next to them, you have a different government or a very weak army.

In other respects, the diplomacy process differs little from the previous series, before us are all the same psychos, who first need to be crushed by troops and only then come to an agreement. Although there are special thugs, I had a chance to play against the Japanese, as their emperor, until his last breath, made a prerequisite for a peace treaty to be reparations in the amount of my entire budget and a tribute for 30 moves in the amount of 100% of my current income. Mysterious so ...

Personally, I was glad that there are no more games in world democracy. There is no such thing as "let's impose an embargo on city-states" or "stir up the world games", so now there is no diplomatic victory either. By the way, that's also why there is no particular reason to cling to all the city-states at once.

Religion

Religion has not changed significantly, except that it has evolved further. The presence of religions in cities has become more evident.

A religion can be founded by a great prophet, the number of prophets is limited to 4. Without your own religion, it is very difficult to influence the spread of others. So, have time to disassemble the prophets, otherwise there is a non-illusory chance to suddenly blow through the opponent who has struck religion.

Trade

There have been no significant changes. We train merchants, send them to cities and villages, and they bring us all good things and do some of the work of spies, providing all sorts of information about foreign empires.

As in the case of builders, now merchants are not divided into sea and land - they go everywhere indiscriminately.

Espionage

The sense of espionage is now tied to the areas of enemy cities. For example, we steal technology from science campuses, we pick up art objects from museums, we carry out sabotage in industrial zones, we squeeze money out of commercial areas. Well, or we just put him in prison as a diplomat. There is no direct protection against spies (at later stages there is a social policy that only reduces their effectiveness). Putting a spy in your city in the hope of protection will also fail. Again, spies do not work with city-states now (everything became different there, too)

Victory

There are only four options for winning:

Domination (conquer all capitals)

Cultural (amaze everyone with your art, attract more tourists)

Religious (convince more than half of each opponent's cities that your kung fu is better)

Scientific (complete space project)

AI

Artificial intelligence in the current versions does not yet shine with intelligence and ingenuity, allowing for the time being to study the subtleties and innovations better. But this is a common thing for newly released Civs, later this situation is corrected by patches

Eventually

Personally, I am glad to see that the game is developing, something new appears in each version. I do not like? Would you like "as in the old"? So take a play in the old one, what's the problem then? It was only the first one that was very similar to the second one, differing mainly graphically. All subsequent ones were noticeably different from each other not only in graphics.