Here are 5 things I'd like to see added to Civ 7.
0:00 Five things I want to see in Civ 7. Better AI is first
0:38 Lesser warmonger penalty in defensive wars
1:11 World Congress goes away
1:49 Claim land with military units
2:13 Bridge districts like canals
2:49 Bonus 6th feature!
First, there are very few people that thing the AI in Civ6 is good. From poor usage of units to ridiculous trade offers, the AI is one of the weakest parts of the current game and could use an overhaul. For example, these ranged units continue to move into range of my ranged units but don't attack me even though they could. It would be great to see a more meaningful AI that can actually play the game even a little bit.
Second, wars can cause significant reputation damage with other civs, even in a defensive war. Sometimes, an aggressive enemy needs to lose a city or two to put them in their place and weaken them so they don't attack again in the near future. Sometimes taking a city is the only way to not fall behind yourself as there's no sufficient way to be compensated when ending a war.
Third, The World Congress should go on permanent recess. These votes are more of an annoyance than anything, and I hate when they pop up. So many times, they don't materially affect the outcome of the game but the popups get annoying quickly and take time to click through. Diplomatic victories in general have never been a favorite, so I wouldn't mind seeing the whole mechanic drop off.
Fourth, I'd like to be able to claim land with military units ahead of settlers arriving. It would have to come with some cost somehow… maybe a per turn gold cost to have land claimed, or the military unit doing the claiming is locked up while the land is unsettled, but it would give an interesting dynamic to expansion and maintain historical accuracy.
Fifth, I'd like to see bridges get the same treatment as canals. Now bridges are not all that common on many maps, but sometimes there are several clustered islands, especially if you play on an island specific map, where several bridges could be built. In these situations, it would be great to build bridge districts to span a single hex of water similar to a canal spanning a single hex of land. The San Fran (or new) bridge wonder could then be used to span 2 hexes with a bridge, giving it special qualities.
And a bonus sixth one. One of the biggest complaints about Civ6 is the potentially boring late game when you've secured a significant lead such that your victory is assured. The game becomes a monotonous click fest, trying to burn out the turns needed to achieve victory conditions. I've fallen into this myself at times, where a victory is all but assured, but dozens or even 100s of turns depending on game speed, needed to complete a victory. Now the rules on this would have to be clear and significant, but I'd love to see an "auto resolve" option where you've created such a lead that your victory is guaranteed in time.
What things would you like to see? Drop a comment down below.