Civilization 6: Gathering Storm Review
Test: Civilization VI: Gathering Storm: a good extension to the green and diplomatic orientationThe 4X are customary extensions bringing their lot of novelties and with them, a set of new additions and adjustments that is not always happy. Gathering Storm not only intends to rebalance an already successful title, but also to bring back diplomatic victory and the management of the ecological question. Did he do it?
Teased via a few trailers and the successive presentation of its new civilizations, this new extension of Civilization VI brings many small additions, but still focuses mainly on two major innovations: the redesign of part of the diplomatic component and the treatment of the ecological question.
THE FANS 'ECOLO
On this last point, Gathering Storm has put small dishes in the big ones. From your first laps, you will have the opportunity to be confronted with natural disasters: tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, floods and droughts are invited into your games by adding a hint of madness and surprise. Appearances which result in the destruction of facilities and the loss of hit points for huts and units in the disaster area, but which can also, in certain cases, have positive long-term consequences. Thus, volcanic eruptions and floods (whose intensity is also variable) also provide food or production bonuses to the affected huts, making them more interesting to exploit in the long term despite the apparent risk. The distribution between short-term penalties and very useful long-term bonuses is well enough balanced so that the mechanics are neither too frustrating nor too permissive and brings a real plus by energizing your games.The placement of your cities is therefore necessarily impacted by the addition of these potentially risky areas, but also by the presence of a new icon indicating the risks of rising waters. Indeed, a new screen indicates the level of CO2 of the planet and from a certain number of steps crossed, natural disasters are not only more frequent, but the melting of the ice can also trigger a gradual rise in water. The title has the good idea to indicate basic these risk areas (there are 3 possible levels of rising waters) to avoid the player a bad surprise in the long term, but especially to mix this section with a management of polluting energies so precisely reduce your ecological footprint.
A rich idea that has influences on the ground, but also diplomatic. On the other hand, the change of type of energy to be exploited between coal, oil or uranium is done via the tab of the projects and it is necessary from time to time to devote a few turns to the maintenance of the power stations to avoid disasters. A very immersive and appreciable addition, but which would require a better highlight: its placement in a “project” tab generally less exploited than the rest isolates it, it is therefore frequent to abandon this mechanism even to forget it during your first parts.
A REDESIGNED ECOSYSTEM
A few more minor novelties on paper revolve around the addition of this ecological dimension. For example, exploiting a strategic resource box no longer allows you to enjoy it forever, since said resource accumulates each turn and you have a limited stock of it. If you therefore plan to use it as energy for your power stations, you must ensure that you generate enough energy per turn so that your installations do not run out of energy. Likewise, this choice of the accumulation of resources also makes it possible to avoid creating a host of military units from the first exploitation of iron or saltpetre, for example, and therefore rebalances the title better on this point.Similarly, some new technologies and dogmas are added at the end of the game, notably impacting the scientific victory which without fundamentally changing now proposes new stages, add a new military unit, or even new government maps which will support the different options. victory at the end of the game. The addition of these new branches is beneficial since it makes it possible to compensate for some initial defects in the title, such as the difficulty of properly operating the water boxes for coastal cities. Thus, the construction of floating neighborhoods, or the possibility earlier in the game of digging a tunnel to pass under a mountain, or even connecting two seas via a canal or avoiding floods thanks to dams facilitate your control of the natural environment. Even more so than creating maps, an effort is also noticeable.
In addition to a few cosmetic additions such as the names of rivers, deserts, mountain ranges and other volcanoes, the generation of maps has indeed been slightly redesigned to be more credible. Mountain chains - with a “classic” setting, of course - are now more frequent and mark a clearer separation between continents, while stranger constructions of territories are becoming scarce, making the generation of maps more realistic.
GRIEVANCES OF THE NIGHT
The great return of the diplomatic victory is a good thing, bringing a fifth type of victory to those already existing - cultural, military, diplomatic, or religious, not counting that in score - with here too some good mechanics. The most pleasant of them is the introduction of the grievance system. Concretely, each derogatory action carried out towards another civilization (not to respect a promise, to start a war etc.) generates points of grievance which this one can use to in turn lead actions of this type against the civilization concerned without provoke the ire of other AIs.Simple, but terribly effective, this addition makes it possible to offer a more logical vision of diplomacy and avoids the injustices present in the original title, in particular making you pass for a bellicose civilization when you took the city of an adversary in reprisals. of an attack by the latter. Note also that military victory is a bit less simple than in the past because of this addition, since having generated too many grievances brings you big penalties in your relations with other civilizations and hinders your progress more easily than in the past. Finally, grievances diminish over time, still avoiding allowing outraged civilizations to be able to keep their revenge warm for hundreds of years before responding. There is also impeccable temporal consistency, which testifies to the good work done on this frankly convincing grievance system.
A DIPLOMATIC WORLD
The rest of the novelties related to diplomacy unfortunately prove less successful, the fault of some questionable choices. In the first place, the victory in question is achieved through the World Congress, which allows all civilizations to vote for different laws using diplomatic favors. The latter, whose accumulation depends on several parameters (suzerainty of city-states, adopted government ...) act as currency and means of voting during these famous assemblies. The more you use it to support one of the measures, the more your voice counts. To obtain a diplomatic victory, you will have to accumulate 10 diplomatic points which are obtained in two ways: either by accomplishing the “emergencies” aiming to help civilizations affected by war or by a climatic catastrophe, or by voting for the measure giving 2 of the points concerned with one of the civilizations. However, the measure only appears in the modern era, making victory clearly more difficult in the short term.The whole looks complete and pleasant on paper, but suffers from a few disappointing choices. The first of them is the appearance of the world congress which is systematically held in the Middle Ages, whatever the situation of encounters between civilizations. It is therefore common for you to find yourself participating in a congress without knowing half of the existing leaders, still marked with a question mark. The idea is frankly not very credible and not immersive, cutting with that of Civilization V in which the congress appeared once a person had met all the other civilizations. As certain measures also only concern civilizations which are unknown to you, it is also common to see a voting session take place without your having the right to speak. An understandable choice, but one that turns out to be particularly confusing on your first games, especially since the measures are offered automatically by the game and therefore leave you no freedom on this subject.
The lack of control over the proposed measures hurts the implication, but is fortunately compensated by the variety of proposals over the ages and a more dynamic voting system, which implies a real long-term management of your diplomatic favors. On the other hand, we regret that the diplomatic victory depends more on the votes of the modern era (granting the points in question) than on your actions vis-à-vis other players, especially that the emergency system proves a bit more varied than when it was introduced during the last extension. Too bad, because the victory ultimately lacks fluidity and naturalness, its obtaining being done via a set of springs that are too mechanical in their operation.
ALIENOR, IT WASN'T THE CORONS
A quick note is needed on the new leaders of the extension, who are undoubtedly one of the strengths of this extension. 9 in number, including Alienor d'Aquitaine which can be played with France or England, these have, as is the custom, trumps mainly linked to the novelties of the expansion. This time, Firaxis still seems to have pushed the concept further by offering more original gameplay mechanics: we are thinking in particular of the Maori, who start in the water and benefit from navigation technology at the start, Canada, strongly advantaged with the Tundra huts that it can develop into farms, even Phenicia which can partially override the loyalty system. Let us note all the same that Hungary appeared to us particularly powerful on our parts because of its asset with the city-states which makes a formidable adversary of it for the military and diplomatic victories.ALL IN A LINE
Out of these two diplomatic and ecological aspects, Gathering Storm also rethinks several elements of the title by introducing a host of small novelties. Some stand out, such as the introduction of production queues - generally done by mods before that - which finally allow you to chain several constructions without being notified each time one of them ends. The set comes with a very useful multi-file screen, which allows you to see at a glance all the productions in progress in your different cities. Visually, the new wonders of the world are once again proving successful and very useful, but the natural wonders are even more astonishing by their diversity and their beauty which contribute to making the playing field more pleasant to look at than ever.Some regrets still remain on other choices: we are thinking in particular of the introduction of the Nobel Prize system which launches competitions between nations, but is unfortunately only present when Sweden is in the game. Too bad, because this asset would have further contributed to strengthening the emergency and competitive system, pleasant, but still underused. Another more general regret this time, despite a very fair rebalancing on a few points - like the grievances mentioned above - the difficulty in the upper levels is still just as artificial, favoring other civilizations at the start of the game. A point which makes almost impossible the construction in divinity difficulty of certain marvels such as the large bath or Stonehenge. Seasoned players will therefore once again find their happiness in multiplayer games.
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