Critical Play: Game Balance in Civilization VI

Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy video game, and the first version of this series was released in 1991, by Sid Meier. This article analyzes 3 types of game balance and their relations with its game experience in Civilization VI, according to the definition of game balance in Game Design Concepts.

Balance in Single-Player Mode

For the single-player mode, there are apparently some settings to balance the challenge level. For example:

1. For each level, players can choose the level of difficulty fully by themselves. Levels 1,2,3 indicate a relatively easy starting point, with the opponent (the game AI) having less population and lower level of development. Correspondingly, skilled players would choose to start with level 6 or 7 out of 8, and the opponent would be much more difficult to deal with.
2. Although the level of difficulty would increase, there are game balancing strategies in Civilization so that players can pass after a certain amount of efforts. For example, in the higher levels, the players’ opponents at the beginning often have more population and higher degree of economic development. But by appropriately launching wars and focusing on development, players still have the opportunity to achieve population overtake after multiple rounds. More population will bring better development conditions, and players will thus realize a virtuous cycle.

Balance between Strategies

As mentioned above, population is an important indicator in this game. In order to achieve population expansion, the common strategies and the balance among them are as follows:

1. Players can choose the “boutique” small country strategy, which is to build fewer cities, but attach importance to the development of these cities. But in this way, the speed here will be relatively slow, and the total area will obviously be affected.
2. Players can choose to build a large number of cities to achieve territorial expansion. But this will result in a relatively small population in each city, and another important indicator, overall national happiness, will also be affected. Once the national happiness becomes negative, it will have a huge impact on the GDP of the player’s civilization.

There are many similar strategies, but they all have their pros and cons. Players need to weigh these pros and cons to make their own choices.

Balance Between Game Objects

As a strategy game, there are not many game objects in Civilization that affect the overall goal, and more often there are the attributes of each civilization. Here, developers achieve balance by designing and adjusting different attributes of each civilization.

1. Not all civilizations can be conquered by war. Some civilizations have their own advantages in technology, culture, religion, etc. If you blindly use a certain strategy without making adjustments to the civilization, you will not be able to win. For example, players who are accustomed to winning through wars may give priority to launching wars, but after a few rounds, they find that their opponents have successfully developed rockets and conquered outer space. This is victory through technology.
2. As each civilization develops, their attributes will also change. For example, some civilizations have greater advantages in launching wars in the early stages, while others are suitable for developing science and technology in the early stage and developing capabilities in war in the later stage. There are also many delicate balances that require players to explore patiently.