I don’t have VII though, so I can’t say anything about how it feels in practice

I kicked the wheels on release, and can confirm it’s a case of great idea + terrible execution. The game is a wash of them like nothing I’ve seen before or since.

Unfortunately, they went so all-in on the new era model that this “fix” is only going to dig them a deeper hole. They should have gone with a middle-ground option where you pick a base Civ that you stick with, and then get to pick from 2-3 “cultural route” options to upgrade across each era (much like Civ 5 ideologies) — but that ship has sailed.

Copyright holders who believe their IP is being violated by a given mod?