After years of waiting for news about the strategy game franchise’s next entry, fans finally got confirmation from 2K Games and Firaxis Games earlier this year thatCivilization 7is in development. The announcement promised thatCivilization 7will take the franchise to new heights, and one way that Firaxis could do this is by focusing more on the ocean depths. By giving players of the usually land-focused strategy game some nautical new gameplay options, and taking cues from another classic Sid Meier game, the developers could add exciting new twists to the series.
Even though players could engage in a variety of oceangoing activities inCivilization 6, from creating maritime trade routes to raiding coastal cities, the focus of the franchise has always remained squarely on terra firma. Giving players a reason to exploreCivilization 7’s oceans rather than just slightly adapting land-based gameplay mechanics for the wetter setting would open up the game world in new ways. Bringing some elements of the classicaction strategy gameSid Meier’s Pirates!toCivilization 7could even add a new layer of strategic depth to the series.
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Civilization 7 Should Take Gameplay Cues from Sid Meier’s Pirates!
One easy source of inspiration for adding new ocean-based gameplay options toCivilization 7would be to look toSid Meier’s Pirates!The first title to bear the prolific game designer’s name, the 1987 action strategy game let players live the life of a pirate during the Age of Sail, capturing vessels and playing the various naval powers of the time against each other.Civilization 6had a scenario inspired bySid Meier’s Pirates!included as part of a free content update that could serve as a foundation for incorporating the classic game into the franchise.
A potential pirate civilization could let gamers select a leader like the legendary Blackbeard or Pirate Queen Ching Shih and feature gameplay that embraces the swashbuckling lifestyle. Taking some cues fromCivilization 6’s pirate scenario, pirates could be restricted from building settlements, relying instead on raiding, capturing coastal cities, and plundering trade ships to grow their empires. The ability to capture ships to add to a fleet or pillage for resources would make playing as a pirate inCivilization 7slow-going at first, with the ability to rapidly grow their civilization as they took control of more enemy ships and cities.
Players Need a Reason to Take to the Seas in Civilization 7
Even without bringing pirates into the mix,Civilization 7would still benefit from giving players more incentive to explore the game’s oceans. One way to do this would be by adding valuable resources to ocean tiles that were unobtainable on land. Theexpansion packCivilization 6: Gathering Stormadded the concept of Power to the franchise, and this could be expanded to include aquatic energy sources.
Ocean tiles could join existing buildings like the Hydroelectric Dam as another source of renewables inCivilization 7. Advanced structures like thermal energy converters or wave power generators added to ocean tiles could let players generate massive amounts of energy without disrupting the in-game climate. This gives gamers a reason to explore the deep sea and offers a new way to mitigate theclimate-related disasters introduced inCivilization 6: Gathering Storm.
To keep the strategy series feeling freshCivilizationneeds to finally let gamers answer the call of the sea.Adding new leaders toCivilization 7with a pirate theme would add new strategic options and pay homage to another Sid Meier classic, and introducing ocean-based resources could expand on systems introduced inCivilization 6. No matter how it gets players’ feet wet, though, Firaxis would be breaking new ground just by stepping away from it.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7is currently in development.
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