I know realistically, Civilizations are supposed to change with history...

But I'd rather stick with mechanized Sumerian War Cart tanks, thanks.

I've bought my wife each Civ from 1 on, until 7 was available. She did not want 7 in any way, shape, or form. In fact, she recently reverted to Civ 3, as that is her personal favorite version. She plays Civ 3 a lot!

My personal favorite Civ? FreeCiv.

Yes, I'm old. My wife is older but much cooler than me.

I think it's a nice vision. But hard for an established audience to accept and it's not implemented well in the fantasy of be any civ based on how you develop.

Speaking as one:

Sometimes, the creative director is wrong.

It's good to "have a vision" with a game...

But limiting players freedom is always bad. Paradox does a good job of it, an absolute mess of toggles and options for how you want the rules/requirements, and an easy to access cheat menu while in game.

If people want the game as devs intended, it's right there nice and easy. If you want to change something tho, just go for it