Last night I was about 50 turns into the Modern Age and was still deciding whether I wanted to pursue a Science or Culture victory. I was also preparing for all out war, because every other civ had the opposite ideology from mine.
I was ahead technologically and militarily, and I hadn’t been at war since Antiquity, so I was pretty excited for it!
Then, boom, the victory threshold dropped to Momentous and I was suddenly 5 turns away from a Culture victory.
And then I just… quietly crossed the finish line.
It was a little disappointing because I had been having a really fun playthrough, experimenting with different strategies, and the game essentially decided that I was finished before I felt finished.
What I’d love to see is the victory score threshold simply unlock the final victory condition, rather than automatically putting you on a countdown.
Science already basically works this way: you can meet the requirements, but you still have to launch the spaceship to actually win.
I wish the other victory types had a similar final project:
- Military: Complete Operation Ivy
- Culture: Build the World’s Fair
- Economic: Deploy a Banker to every capital and/or build the World Bank
Once you cross the required victory score threshold, that final project becomes available. If you want to win immediately, start it. If you want to keep playing for another 30–50 turns, fight a giant war, finish developing your empire, or just mess around with your technological advantage, you can.
That’s probably the thing I miss most from older Civ games: getting ridiculously far ahead and having those completely lopsided late-game situations where you’re rolling tanks up against archers. (I.E. Civ Revolution)
I don’t necessarily want the victory conditions to be harder. I just want the player to decide when to cross the finish line once they’ve earned the ability to win.
It seems like a relatively small change that could give players a lot more control over how they want the end of their game to play out.
Does anyone else feel like the Modern Age victories can sometimes end the game right when things are getting interesting?