dinosaursBLUE

I feel similar to this, none of the Total War games play extremely differently, I guess that was the major complaint between Civ V and Beyond Earth (though I haven't played BE myself). Although, I think other genres might suffer more from this than strategy games. All of Ubisoft games, for example, have a similar formula; all COD games feature similar scripting; all MMOs follow similar progression; yet for some reason diminishing returns doesn't seem to have affected sales of any of these. I think to some extent it might be a good thing, it gives some stability for companies who work on games.

Oh yeah, you are right, they say "new major IP," so it can't be a sequel. I'm loving all the theories: "Seven and Three are famous as magical numbers but I doubt their next major IP will be a fantasy game. Seven and Three are the months March and July both have very strong connections to Rome. the numbers connection to the Warring states period should also be noted, as it was just before the rise of Rome it could be possible the game includes both. Another interesting fact I have found that have not been mentioned. We know that some paradox employes seems fond of total war games. A quick check on Wikipedia reveals that the Third Total war game was Rome: Total War and if you discount Napoleon Total War as a stand alone expansion, guess what the Seventh game in the total war series is. It is Total war Rome II Both hints seems to point at a GSG set in some time Rome existed, it could very well start in late bc or early ad and end around 700 ad which would in that case be about the rise of the empire and migration eras and thus connect it to the other games."

Total War is strange; they have a basic formula, turn-based map + real time combat, but each game re-shuffles little design concepts and the AI never improves. I'm really excited for Warhammer: Total War though. The fantasy setting will make it easier to enjoy silly AI, and hopefully it will allow them to throw in some interesting mechanics. RPG faff could be thrown in, like fireballs and heroes, it could turn out really fun! As for the cycle of Civilization and other 4X: none of them come out hitting hard, it's always an iterative sequel or spiritual successor. I feel like, for a new or young player, it must be a great time to start playing 4X games, but everybody else is hanging out for something groundbreaking. It's so strange too since, because 4X games abstract so much, graphics are not as big a limitation, yet we only have DW:U and Paradox pushing ahead. Modern 4X and RTS seem to be looking to the past, yet when those classics were released they were forging ahead with exciting ideas. I guess developers (and gamers) are searching for a chess-like formula that stays timeless, but I think modding is essential to achieve that, just look at Counter-Strike! That game never changes, it's like a sport now. I'm happy for a new MOO, but I'd like to see more crazy games like Dominions and new ideas.

Cities: Skylines is great if you prefer real-time games with no combat. Otherwise Clockwork Empires and Rimworld are fun colony\building games with little combat, but they are all Early Access at the moment. Clockwork Empires has you building a steam-punk colony, with cabbages and Cthulhu horrors; Rimworld is also a colony building game but set on new planets.

Paradox are teasing Project Augustus at the moment: they will release a teaser everyday until gamescon. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?forums/project-augustus.900/ I'm hoping for Victoria 3 but it could be anything