I don't think I can agree with with the point that ICS is necessarily a problem: it is a strategy that is based off game mechanics that make per city boni too strong compared to the tile output. City overlap isn't something that is in itself "wrong", "bad" or "unwanted", when it is another choice that needs to be considered in the context of that individual game. Sometimes cramming cities together, in one part of the map, is a good idea. In others, even in the same game it might not be.
I suppose the point is that ICS is just one extreme in a single game mechanic, and when ICS is always the right more, it means the mechanic is broken and ought to be adjusted. I can't accept that a game developer can sit there and say "I can't balance this mechanic, so the player will have to play with house rules to balance it for me". That's just incompetence.
I suppose the point is that ICS is just one extreme in a single game mechanic, and when ICS is always the right more, it means the mechanic is broken and ought to be adjusted. I can't accept that a game developer can sit there and say "I can't balance this mechanic, so the player will have to play with house rules to balance it for me". That's just incompetence.