Sid Meier’s Civilization series has always demanded some suspension of disbelief. The game is fun despite this, even though the immortal Teddy Roosevelt never led a group of American horsemen to victory over those heathen Shinto Australians in the jungles of Africa next to the Colossus of Rhodes. Cultural Madlibs aside, the “Gathering Storm” expansion pushes this suspension of belief vastly beyond my limits, at least, with its World Congress mechanic.
In Civilization VI, every so often the leaders of the world gather together to discuss important issues such as who to be more or less aggrieved by, and what type of district should be quicker to build. These meetings occur in every era of the game, including the ancient and classical eras, and they occur regardless of what civilizations have even met each other. When voting commences, civs you haven’t met are represented with a question mark. In my mind, I imagine all these vast delegations arriving in a stone amphitheater reminiscent of Stonehenge. Nobody knows who anyone is, or how the delegations from the other side of the planet got there. Everyone is wearing hooded cloaks to not reveal their identities, and nobody is kind enough to introduce their mutuals. Nobody speaks the same language. Despite all this, there’s an established, informal system of diplomatic favors, where everyone leans on a non-existent or minimal shared history to determine how much sway everyone gets. And out of this comes a set of rational, enforceable global policies that everyone respects.
I think that this system could be better. Currently, we have than this mysterious Illuminati wearing UN helmets governing humanity since the dawn of time, Instead, maybe the first civilization that knows everyone sets up a World Congress, gets a few diplomatic victory points and a unique wonder. That way, if everyone truly does hear of each other by the invention of the wheel, the diplomacy mechanics can still happen that early. But we have the added benefit of everyone closing their eyes and saying “no peeking” while voting.
What about you? Do you think Civilization VI’s world congress mechanic makes sense? Are there any other parts of Civilization that stand out as strange to you? Let us know on our Boss Rush Facebook Group or our Boss Rush Discord.
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