Strategy fans have been taking one more turn in Sid Meier's Civilization 6 for five years now, and the next installment of the series is surely on the horizon. With every new entry, Firaxis likes to introduce a slew of new features to shake up the formula and innovate the classic turn-based gameplay. Civilization 3 introduced culture victories to the series, Civilization 4 introduced the series to government civics, and Civilization 5 brought with it a hex-based map and religion. Each entry has tried expanding the Civilization franchise in different ways, and the seventh entry will no doubt continue this trend.
Sid Meier's Civilization 6 brought with it a lot of new features that had not been present in previous entries. It not only redid how cities were built and introduced a separate culture tree, but each expansion pack has also added loads of new features to the franchise. Rise and Fall introduced the concept of Dark Ages and a new Loyalty system while Gathering Storm added climate change and natural disasters. Almost every DLC pack in the New Frontier Pass added some experimental feature like Secret Societies, Barbarian Clans, and Industries. While some of these features could be left behind, a majority of them should be expanded upon when Civilization 7 rolls around.
Expand the City Districts Feature
One of the biggest changes that Civilization 6 brought to the series was the introduction of city districts. Previously, cities in Civilization sat on one tile and every building that the player built was squeezed in. Save for a few cosmetic changes, the cities were pretty bland and only offered a place to produce things. Civilization 6 made it so that players had to build city districts around the city center, and this made cities fill up multiple tiles, with each tile serving a specific purpose. It made cities feel alive and worth the effort, and Firaxis should expand upon it for the next entry.
Currently, the majority of city districts serve as a place to plop certain buildings in and gain bonuses. Aside from the encampment, which can attack nearby units, the rest of the districts just sit there. In Civilization 7, Firaxis should make it so that these districts can produce their own units or buildings. An encampment could build certain military units while the religious district could produce missionaries. The production would have to be slowed in these districts to balance the game and make players want to build the majority of their stuff in the city center, but it could go a long way to making the districts feel even more alive and serve more of a purpose.
Develop the Barbarian Clans More
The New Frontier Pass introduced an optional mode where barbarians can form their own city states after a certain amount of time. While this mechanic makes barbarians interesting and may convince the player to attack them faster or let them form a city, the clan can only do so much. It would be a lot of fun in Civilization 7 if the barbarians could form their own nation, allowing the clans to form up into a new competitor instead of just a city state. This could significantly shake-up the mid-game as a brand-new civilization could crop up next to the player. It would give them more of a reason to either attack the barbarians before they get to this point or stay on their good side so that they have a potential ally later on.
Keep the City State Envoys and Government Features
In Civilization 5, players could befriend city states by plunging gold into them which could put a considerable strain on their treasury as they tried to gain allies. Civilization 6 replaced that feature with city state envoys that the player would gain just by progressing through the years. While this helped the player spend their gold in other places, it created a new problem. Now, a player will just mindlessly put their new envoys into city states, especially in the late-game. Firaxis needs to figure out a way to make this feature more engaging no matter how difficult it may be.
Civilization 6 also made the government management a card-based system. Each government type has a certain amount of card slots split up into four different categories; military, economic, diplomatic, and willdcard. Players have to fill these slots with policy cards that they collect through various cultural research. Some of these cards have an expiration time while others will last for a little while. It forces players to constantly rework their government to improve their resource gain and military strength. The feature could be expanded upon with new cards, new government types, and maybe another category focused on social policies. This would make it even more engaging, and possibly even a little harder.
Make Industries More In Depth
The New Frontier Pass also added a new concept to Civilization 6 called industries. When a player owns two or more tiles of the same resource they can form an industry around them which will grant some bonuses. Once they research Economics, the player can form a corporation that produces products which give bonuses and helps the player get closer to the culture victory. When a player controls the majority of a certain resource, they form a monopoly, which gives them extra gold and tourism. These features help make luxury tiles a little more interesting, but the player can only do so much with these industries. Giving them more control over the inner workings of the industry would help differentiate them from every other tile.
Do More With Natural Disasters
The Gathering Storm expansion for Civilization 6 added natural disasters and climate change to the game. While these are interesting mechanics, they only cause so much destruction. When the game reaches the highest tier of climate change, tiles get submerged and there is a higher frequency of disasters, but that is it. Reaching the highest tier of climate change should result in even more destruction, possibly world ending. It would force players to make concessions as they try to get to the science victory. Firaxis should also add new disasters to the mix like earthquakes or tsunamis or even tornadoes. These may be a nuisance, but they make the world feel more realistic and alive.
Civilization 7 is most likely on the way, and it will surely innovate the franchise even more. While some features can be left behind in Civilization 6, there are many that could be expanded upon. Doing so would add an extra layer to the game and make it more challenging, which would help set the title apart from previous entries and draw more strategy fans in.
Sid Meier's Civilization 6 is available now on iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.