At the start of an age, AI leaders will follow the player’s lead—if the player decides to stick with their existing civ, the others will stay, too. If they decide to switch to a new one, the AI will be able to do the same.
The idea is that this allows for players to not only pick which approach suits their preferences, but to change their mind mid-game, without a lock-in from the game settings at initialization.
Victories and triumphs
The update will also rethink both how victory works in the game, and the controversial legacy paths system, which saw players trying to achieve linear, prescribed goals within each age to gain bonuses for the following one (or in the case of the modern age, to win in the end).
Whereas the base game delayed any direct work on victories until the third and final age (modern), Test of Time will let players begin making progress toward a victory from the very first age (antiquity), and if they manage to take a very strong lead, it will actually be possible to win the game outright in the second age (exploration).
Credit:
Samuel Axon
In a few months, this legacy paths system will be a thing of the past.
Credit:
Samuel Axon
As before, there will be four victory conditions, but a few will be rethought for this new context. The cultural victory will be achieved through a custom combination of wonders, great works, celebrations, and more. Military will remain focused on conquering cities and towns. Economic will, like culture, add up a bunch of things, including resources, gold buildings, factories, and treasure convoys. And the scientific victory will remain a space race.
Additionally, Firaxis is removing the concept of legacy paths from the game completely. It will be replaced with a new system called “triumphs.”
Firaxis’ goal here is to make the gameplay more of a sandbox like prior titles, with less rigidity in how players work their way toward success.
Instead of following a preset sequence of goals, the player will pick and choose from a large menu of possible accomplishments, each of which is associated with the six leader attributes: cultural, military, economic, scientific, diplomatic, and expansionist. Completing a triumph will either give players an immediate reward or a card they can use to set themselves up at the start of the next age.