Sid Meier's Civilization

[Endless Torment]

He states that it's illegal to cover a product that you've received some form of compensation (or benefits) for without disclosing it. He follows this up by saying that if he received a free key, he would have to put "#AD" in all of his videos about Civ VII. This is why he then bought a copy of the game himself - so even though he did receive a free key he wouldn't have to disclose it. He then says that he used the version with the free key only for pre-release content and research.

This seems like it's gaming the system and using retarded technicalities that I don't even think a child would fall for to justify his actions.
ACG does a similar thing, but he never had to go out and make I'm not a shill video probably because he isn't ever sponsored by companies to make gameplay videos.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

Potato McWhiskey, a Civ VII shill, released a video (archived below) today telling people that he is not a shill. The video mostly consist of him boasting about fucking our mothers, and how moral and righteous he is for not taking fishy sponsorships. Here's a quick bullet point list of him coping and acting like an early stage lolcow. I've put it in a spoiler so it doesn't take up half a page.

Spoiler: Sperging

• He states that it's illegal to cover a product that you've received some form of compensation (or benefits) for without disclosing it. He follows this up by saying that if he received a free key, he would have to put "#AD" in all of his videos about Civ VII. This is why he then bought a copy of the game himself - so even though he did receive a free key he wouldn't have to disclose it. He then says that he used the version with the free key only for pre-release content and research. IMO, this is a gray zone, but it still reeks of shillery.
• People who call him a shill are ignorant and dumb, and there is no evidence that he has been paid to make content about Civ VII. But poor little him, the people who are calling him a shill are changing their argument in real time! He says the most common argument against him now is that he is in a quid pro quo situation with 2k where, indirectly, in exchange for making positive coverage about their products, he will get benefits down the line. According to him, this isn't true because "I don't give a FFFFFUCK", and that it doesn't even matter because he makes loads of money on YouTube, and he turns down sponsorships (unless ad revenue is low, then he accepts it anyways).
• ETHICS IN GAME JOURNALISM MENTIONED!!!! Guys, he loses hundreds of thousands of dollars because he doesn't shill Raid Shadow Legends! He could scam us with crypto! Don't call him a shill for Civ!
• He admits he's retarded because all of his retirement money is in tech stocks.
• He then says he has actively turned down money from the Civ VII team, citing an example where he accepted an offer to take money but failed to deliver his end of the bargain because he was depressed and anxious, causing him to turn down the money. He includes a screenshot and this confrims two interesting things:
  • the Civ VII team was running "paid campaigns" through content creators
  • He's willing to promote the game for pay

• He acknowledges the Civ team has paid him in the past, namely for the "Civ World Summit". IMO, this is the main point people are harping on him for; it's a conflict of interest. The Civ team may not pay him to write positive reviews, but they will pay for a trip, give him exclusive content access, pay him money to make "informational" (aka free advertising) content, and possibly other benefits with the intention of swaying his opinion. This happening doesn't mean everything he says is shillery, but it should be clearly disclosed to his viewers who see his content and use it as a factor in whether or not they'll purchase the Civ team's product.
• He says that the people calling him a shill are just doing it to say "boo". He then follows this up by saying he's been studying emotivist philosophy recently - meaning that ethical claims aren't actually logical coherent arguments, but just expressions of emotion. So clearly under this fascinating philosophical theory, any argument detracting from his shillery are just emotional outbursts. Absolutely unhinged.
• Calling him a shill is unfair, damaging, and inflammatory. Don't point out the fact the Civ team has given him preferential treatment, and he gets money from affiliate links, thus inclining him to give a skewed review in favor of the game. Instead give him an apology because it hurts his feelings.

Here is an archive of one of his Civ VII videos' description with affiliate links.

• He says it would in fact be more profitable to make negative content about the game. Again, he has affiliate links. People won't buy the game if he gives negative content. This is a point of speculation on my part, begging the question would he make more money through affiliate links or ad revenue?
• He's made of hard stuff and won't crumble. That's why he's made a video about how he is depressed and calling him a shill is mean.
• He says he doesn't tell people to buy the game. He only puts up videos glazing it and leaves an affiliate link in the comments.

Your browser is not able to display this video.

TL;DR: He's a crybaby shill whining about how he's not a shill, and calling him a shill is wrong because of emotivism, philosophy, and logic. Just because he gets exclusive benefits from the Civ team doesn't mean that it'll influence his content. Also he'll ban you for pointing this out.
I'm actually quite surprised that there is this kind of drama from the Civ community. Regardless I felt posting this would add to the thread.

The thumbnail is funny too.

 

[Fig Kommandant]

Doesn't Spore have a Civ-like phase?

The civilization phase is the same as the tribal stage, they're both a mini RTS segment but one has tribesmen and the other has cars and planes.

 

[The Big A]

Before Civ VII the only poor reviewing Civ game was V do to a very buggy release that was unpolished and lacked many basic features. Even the console spinoffs still had good reviews at launch.

Both Civ Rev games were good, I played through one of them and blasted out a space race victory in 3 hours while killing multiple civs. I had fun. I get that it's they're the least prestigious of the games but it's not like they were bad. Kind of like hating Halo Wars for not being as good as Age of Empires 3.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I like the civilization simulation in SimEarth. Direct involvement is lacking, and it also looks really simple compared to Civ vidya (all that player can see are population centers and "traveling populations" that are sort of like Settler units). But "under the hood" a lot goes on with civilization, like energy productions, energy allocations, and food production. Instead of "ages", there are these "time scales", but all that changes with a time scale is how much time passes per a moment. Also if a certain factor goes away, that reverts the time scale to the previous one. Like if technological cities all go, the time scale reverts from "Technology" time scale to "Civilization" then.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

It seems most people here prefer 5 over 6, when it comes to the hex ones at least. I'm curious to hear what people think makes 5 superior, as I always enjoyed both of them.

Civ 5 has more appealing aesthetics (The art deco) and UI (everything is a lot more simpler and easy to learn).
It had better late game, micromanaging was easily fixable and was not a problem, I prefer it's usage of Great People and the civs were more balanced.
While Civ 4 had the bigger modding scene, Civ 5's modding scene was more focus on adding more civs to the game. Any country/tribe/empire or faction you can think of from human history probably has a civ 5 mod. Even fantasy civ v mods exist.
Civ 6's modding scene is a lot smaller and seems more focus on land improvements and wonders (makes sense since how civ 6 presents them)

It has inspired me to reinstall Civ 5 so in a certain way it's bring legacy players back to Civ.

I think I might get back into playing Civ 5 as well, it's been like 10 years? Man, time has gone by.

 

[los pepes]

Civ7 has made it easy for me to cut the cord on and filter out any and all shill accounts surrounding strategy gaming which is a niche of mine. Any account posting Civ7 hype content/let's plays or basically anything other than a "civ7 is dogshit here's why" review gets an insta unsub and block from me. I watch(ed) Montu who does mostly Stellaris content, and even he popped up a few days ago out of the blue with a civ7 let's play. Nice knowing ya... Anyone that can look at a product as objectively dreadful as slop7 and shill for it in any way is either too retarded to take seriously on anything else, or a paid liar.

 

[Catboy Ranch]

Civ7 has made it easy for me to cut the cord on and filter out any and all shill accounts surrounding strategy gaming which is a niche of mine. Any account posting Civ7 hype content/let's plays or basically anything other than a "civ7 is dogshit here's why" review gets an insta unsub and block from me. I watch(ed) Montu who does mostly Stellaris content, and even he popped up a few days ago out of the blue with a civ7 let's play. Nice knowing ya... Anyone that can look at a product as objectively dreadful as slop7 and shill for it in any way is either too retarded to take seriously on anything else, or a paid liar.

This is the way.

If you don't do it, and worse if you keep opening your wallet for slop, you wind up with the CoD franchise with its tranny badges and everything-trying-to-be-Fortnite and just general laziness because you're no longer demanding quality... and quality means fun. The shops are going to burnout the devs either which way anything goes, so it would be nice again for the industry to go back to devs who give a shit about videogames and think their employers are dogshit and hold them for ransom by threatening to exit 1-2 quarters before the release date, rather than these YASSSKWEEN troons and woke designers who just pump out dogshit and don't care if you're happy or not loading the game.

A third of the shops active in 2024 are already so far gone it's better for the whole industry if they are just buried and never come back. They shouldn't be releasing games, they should go away.

 

[Fig Kommandant]

or basically anything other than a "civ7 is dogshit here's why" review

To add onto this, it was mentioned earlier in this thread but the term "access media" should really be part of the general consciousness where some videasts and influencers rely on being nice to studios to gain access to betas or early copies then they never dare to criticize the product and further entrench themselves into the industry they were meant to be critical of.

 

[412-L]

It seems most people here prefer 5 over 6, when it comes to the hex ones at least. I'm curious to hear what people think makes 5 superior, as I always enjoyed both of them.

I've played Civilization since Civ 3. I really wanted to like Civ 6, but I could never bring myself to even finish a single game. I always just ended up losing interest half-way through and just going back to Civ 5. I really don't know what it is about Civ 6, but it just doesn't resonate with me like the other Civ games I've played. Reading this thread has gotten me interested in revisiting Civ 4, especially with some of the mods. But I think I'll be sitting out Civ 7. The whole civilization swapping thing seems like a huge misstep to me. Half of the reason I play a Civ game is to bring some civilization from nothing to greatness. I don't want to swap part way through a playthrough to some other civilization.

 

[Slap47]

Civ7 has made it easy for me to cut the cord on and filter out any and all shill accounts surrounding strategy gaming which is a niche of mine. Any account posting Civ7 hype content/let's plays or basically anything other than a "civ7 is dogshit here's why" review gets an insta unsub and block from me. I watch(ed) Montu who does mostly Stellaris content, and even he popped up a few days ago out of the blue with a civ7 let's play. Nice knowing ya... Anyone that can look at a product as objectively dreadful as slop7 and shill for it in any way is either too retarded to take seriously on anything else, or a paid liar.

The game seems to have a handful of interesting new features, but even the most optimistic guess is that this game will need many years to not be ass.

 

[Fig Kommandant]

but even the most optimistic guess is that this game will need many years to not be ass.

This sentence alones rings true since like 2012 and deserves its own thread.

 

[Willie B. Hardigan]

Civ 5 has more appealing aesthetics (The art deco) and UI (everything is a lot more simpler and easy to learn).
It had better late game, micromanaging was easily fixable and was not a problem, I prefer it's usage of Great People and the civs were more balanced.
While Civ 4 had the bigger modding scene, Civ 5's modding scene was more focus on adding more civs to the game. Any country/tribe/empire or faction you can think of from human history probably has a civ 5 mod. Even fantasy civ v mods exist.
Civ 6's modding scene is a lot smaller and seems more focus on land improvements and wonders (makes sense since how civ 6 presents them)

I think I might get back into playing Civ 5 as well, it's been like 10 years? Man, time has gone by.

This video perfectly explains my experience with Civ 5. When it was released in 2010, it was a decent game that left a bit to be desired but what was there seemed promising. I had forgotten about the franchise for a couple of years as other hobbies and interests consumed my free time but when I came back in 2014 after all the expansions had been released, I was floored by how much they managed to improve the game. This was probably one of the last times in gaming history that the DLC made the game itself better to the point that playing without them is gimping yourself. The good foundation it was built off of like IV also let people easily mod in anything they wanted and its integrated connection to the Steam Workshop just made that easier.

It also helped that in 2014, the Vox Populi: Community Patch Project started and then became the unofficial definitive edition as it basically fixed up all the remaining negative aspects of the gameplay like balancing all the Civs, policies, technologies, etc while making the AI one of the most competent in recent memory. Civ IV will always be the historic golden child for good reasons, however, I'd highly suggest anybody returning or new to the series to try out V (Vox Populi) if you haven't already.

I'd also suggest the Enlightenment Era mod alongside it so you don't just go from Renaissance to the Industrial just like that, along with the In-Game Editor just for funny shenanigans.

Any other small personal gripes can also be fixed by work shoppers since it's highly compatible with many other popular add-ons. In a way, it reminds me of New Vegas where the post-launch effort by the devs and community made it what it is today. Fallout 2 can be the IV since that's the one everyone, including me, considers the best. You even got the few oldheads who think Fallout 1 or in this case, Civ 3 is the best.

Too bad Civ 6 and Civ 7 have combined the worst aspects of each previous iteration into some mega clusterfuck of mechanics that do not work at all together.

 

[Kane Lives]

Too bad Civ 6 and Civ 7 have combined the worst aspects of each previous iteration into some mega clusterfuck of mechanics that do not work at all together.

Civ 6 in particular seemed to have just aped the district mechanic of EL without taking into consideration how it actually meshes with the Civ formula. I found it immensely unintuitive, even after grasping most of the mechanics.

And now, 7 is aping Humankind. Poetry or something.

 

[Willie B. Hardigan]

Civ 6 in particular seemed to have just aped the district mechanic of EL without taking into consideration how it actually meshes with the Civ formula. I found it immensely unintuitive, even after grasping most of the mechanics.

And now, 7 is aping Humankind. Poetry or something.

At this point, they are just throwing anything at the wall just to see what sticks since they are creatively bankrupt. Whatever talent that was at Firaxis in the late 90s and early 2000s has all left. The "Ship of Theseus" scenario that we have become all too familiar with now.

 

[DamnWolves!]

Looks like it to me. The last CIV game i played was V. Bought VI for ridiculously cheap on Steam and then realized that i would need to buy the rest of the DLC for the best experience. Haven’t touch it yet.

Look into CreamAPI. If you can't find it with Google, check the cs.rin.ru forums.

It's a DLC unlocker for legit steam games and it works flawlessly, even in multiplayer if that's your thing. Unfortunately, Civ VI is one of those games where you'll also have to download the DLC files, but those are findable online too.

Or just get the fitgirl repack with all the DLCs if you're just looking to play the AI. Piracy in 2025 is honestly as convenient as it's ever been; the downloads are smaller, you can optionally choose not to install shit like foreign language sound packs, and they come with their own installers.

It's worth it just to be able to push Canada's shit in as Washington, plus Civ VI has the best music. I still listen to America's Industrial theme in my car sometimes.

 

[The Pierrot]

He states that it's illegal to cover a product that you've received some form of compensation (or benefits) for without disclosing it. He follows this up by saying that if he received a free key, he would have to put "#AD" in all of his videos about Civ VII.

He can't even be a pedant about it correctly since this is one of the definitions on Oxford's dictionary. He might as well have admitted it outright with how he stated his arguments.

The evidence is so overwhelmingly blatant when he's an MC for an official streaming event right around release. I'd at least begrudgingly respect it if he owned up to being one.

 

[not william stenchever]

Civ 6 in particular seemed to have just aped the district mechanic of EL without taking into consideration how it actually meshes with the Civ formula. I found it immensely unintuitive, even after grasping most of the mechanics.

And now, 7 is aping Humankind. Poetry or something.

Hopefully this is a portent that Endless space 2 will be a return to form and not have a rocky launch like Humankind.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

Oh yeah, and Spore was sort of a disappointment to me me because the main game had that "product activation" BS (IIRC), and the DS version was just a lame creature creator.

Spore and Sid Meier's Sim Golf need a second attempt. Great potential there.

 

[Sho'nuff]

Harriet Tubman is one of my favorite leaders in this game. Also she is unironically one of the most racist depictions of a black person, this has to be on purpose.

Her whole playstyle is instigating fights, stealing shit, catching people stealing and calling her friends about it, and playing the victim when some shit gets started. Ohh and someone gave her a concealed carry, but i don't know what that does yet.

10/10 based depiction of a black woman.