Visual/Graphic Improvements: Atmospheric Evolution & Readability

[jolly valley]

Don’t get me wrong, the game is gorgeous AF. Prolly one of the best-looking strategy games ever.

But several hours in, the map starts looking pretty monotonous. By Exploration/Modern, everything becomes this grey/brown-ish blob of buildings that all look the same across all cities/settlements.

Here’s how we can keep the campaign interesting throughout the entire run and make the world feel more atmospheric and immersive overall:

Age-Based Saturation: Bring back those subtle saturation shifts from Civ 6 for Golden/Dark Ages. It’s a lowkey great way to boost the atmosphere and immediately tell how a Civ is doing. Not sure how it could work with the current Ages and Legacy Path systems, but it'd be nice to have nevertheless.

Population-based Urban Sprawl: Tie building density to Population. New settlements should look sparse; they shouldn’t hit that full "sprawl" look until they actually grow. It makes progress feel more rewarding, and add a very impactful visual distinction betweel Wide and Tall empires.

Towns vs. Cities: This is a big one for function. Towns should have noticeably less sprawl than cities. It helps visually distinguish them at a glance and makes converting a town to a city feel much more impactful.

Antiquity Atmosphere: Make the oceans in Antiquity darker, foggier, or "more mysterious."

Pre-Modern Atmosphere: Add faint Civ 5-style clouds overlaying the game world in early ages that "dissolves" in the Modern Age once you get Flight.

Worked Mountain Tiles: These are the only workable tiles with zero visual feedback. Adding tiny graphics like mining camps or terraces would be huge for knowing if a tile is actually active.

UI: Add toggles for Empire Borders and Unit Flags to clean up the view. Also, change the "Trophy" graphic in the Age meter to vary by Age so the UI doesn't stay static.

[molten night]

Great suggestions. I'd also make the ancient mines look less modern. I don't think they had carts and tanks back then.

[exotic heath]

Cool! The houses of the Antiquity and Exploration is so gorgeous. The scaling is perfect eventhough too much sprawl. But when transitioning to the Modern Age, the building scale is whack. The houses are too big.

[exotic heath]

And in addition, when a settler is about to settle, can it be a Hamlet first. Then after a few growth events it then evolves into a Village and finally into a Town?

[haughty laurel]

Yes, this sort of flair would genuinely be transformative once the core of the game finds a good equilibrium. Love your ideas!!

Some others:

I would love some more presence between cities and towns. Maybe have features that fill in around roads slowly based on either: population of settlements they're between, trade routes on them, etc

For example: tiny settlements around the road, traffic, tollbooths/guard posts (especially near borders of civs)

I feel like maintaining some antiquity into the modern age would be really cool. Ie things like small ruins and more older buildings in city sprawl in settlements that were settled earlier (maybe a gradient of this antiquity flair in explo and modern based on a years since settlement value)

[tender marsh]

Really great suggestions 💯♥️