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#4562655 - 04/05/21 06:16 PM Civ 6  
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I feel compelled, it seems, to write a thread about any game I get in to. And the latest to hit my PC is the five year old Civ 6. I was a big fan of Civ 5, actually liking it better than those that came before. Long-time players mostly howled at the changes Civ 5 brought, but I liked it better. The biggest change was one unit per tile (1UPT), which had a drastic effect on combat. In the older games, you could combine all of your units in to a doom stack, all occupying the same hex square. Another change was moving from a square-based map grid to hex. Many more changes -- too many to detail here. But while the player base complained, I saw Civ 5 as a big improvement, and I put a hell of a lot of time in to it. Set-up options give a massive amount of replayability. Dozens of Civs to choose from, all with their attendant unique bonuses, and tons of maps options -- type, size, resources, city states and on and on.

So you can play a small, quick game, or a sprawling one with many other Civs on the map. A number of difficulty settings alter the challenge level, and victory types can be toggled on and off. If you don't want to be beaten by a religious Civ while you're going for a science or culture win, you can just disable it. Maybe you want an all-out brawl, and can turn all off aside from domination as just one example. You can tilt the table toward you, like choosing an archipelago map for a seafaring Civ, or do the opposite, to raise the challenge. You can start with everyone on the same landmass, or set it up to give yourself early elbow room for a more peaceful opening. These are only a few examples of the flexibility, and this keeps it interesting as you try the different leaders.

Civ 5 came out in 2010, and when Civ 6 came out in 2016 I gave it a pass. Not only was I still enjoying the last one, but Civ 6 had Redshell tracking software. I don't know enough about Redshell to say how benign or invasive it might be, but these things never sit well with me, and on top of that there was no indication to the player it was included, nor was there an opt-in/out. These things, combined with the fact I still liked playing Civ 5 meant that Civ 6 was not a compelling purchase. But here we are five years later, Redshell is gone, expansions and DLC have added content, and crucially, it's on sale. Until April 8 you can get Civ 6 and all the extras for US$40 (Platinum Edition) on Steam. That's a good deal, and I jumped on it. So what do I think of it? Is it a better game than 5? That's hard to answer. It is different, with some fundamental changes, but it is hard to make the claim that it is better. Even so, I'm digging having a new Civ to play. By waiting five years I begin with the game seasoned and expanded, and that's a good thing. One thing to note, and that's the fact that there is one more update planned, for this month, where the devs say they will re-balance 2/3 of the Civs. So after 5 years it looks like there will be sweeping changes to the unique abilities, units and buildings of the various Civs you can play. We will see how well the changes are received, and soon.

There are too many changes to list for Civ 6 but I'll touch on a few of them. Perhaps the biggest change is in city planning. There is now a district mechanic. A district occupies one tile and then houses all the buildings of its type. For example the industrial district is where the workshop, factory and power plant are built. Others include theater (culture), campus (science), harbor, holy site (religion) and so on. The district system uses adjacency boosts, increasing their yield if placed beside the right thing, which could be another district, a river, a natural wonder, a mountain, and lots more. It s both more simple and more complex than before. Terrain and city planning are more important than ever before, and a player will need a run or two to get a feel for what is available as the eras tick by, and leave space for future improvements. It's no longer just a matter of building it within the city limits, but to get the most out of your buildings you must plan it out well, and even leave a prime tile empty for thousands of years for that late-game wonder or improvement you want to build.

One example of this is a new national park mechanic that is useful in a culture victory. It requires 4 tiles in a diamond shape that all have charming or above appeal (new tile attribute). To designate a national park you need to recruit a naturalist. These don't become available until late in the game. So if you've chopped down the trees or otherwise made improvements to these tiles in the preceding 3000 years then you won't be able to build that park. These sorts of things take both being aware of how it works (and when), and planning it out so that you don't find you've built over the possibility. So for these reasons and more city planning is more important than Civ 5.

A massive change comes from the Gathering Storm expansion. This introduces natural disasters, things like floods, volcano eruptions, droughts, sandstorms, and one of the most interesting to me, global warming and a rise in sea level. This puts any improvements you made on the coast in jeopardy of later becoming submerged. There are ways to mitigate these such as dams or coastal barriers, but no way to protect from a volcano! The warming comes from the power plants of the Civs. Coal is bad, and nuclear is good (unless it leaks) At the same time these disasters can have benefits, such as increased fertility along a flooded river basin. It adds a neat risk/reward aspect to where you choose to settle a new city and where you build improvements.

There are two tech trees now, or more accurately one tech tree and one culture tree that unlocks 'civics', mainly wonders and policies. Trade routes now automatically build roads, no need to do it manually with a worker. Religion is now a victory type. And lots more. I had a few aborted starts as I learned the new mechanics, which is standard fare for me. I did get one victory, as Teddy Roosevelt and America. Won a culture victory through my impressive art and archaeological museums, a national park and spamming ski and seaside resorts everywhere lol. I also used rock bands, yes that's a thing. These bands can tour other civilizations and improve your tourism. One band in particular, the legends of rock called Silent Sushi, had a huge hand in getting this one over the line. Culture victory has changed too, but is still mostly the same.

This post is long enough and I've just scratched it, but if you liked Civ 5 you will like Civ 6, if you didn't, you won't. If you like 4X games there are few better. With the DLC and expansions the game is full of content (and you can play with, or disable these rulesets) and with the current sale being 75% off it is a great time to give it a go.





No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4562839 - 04/06/21 11:46 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I've been a longtime fan of the Civ series, all the way back to Civ 1. I think the only one I haven't played is III. I was playing Civ V pretty heavily when VI came out, so of course I had to get it. I didn't spend much time in it because a few things turned me off. The new "cartoonish" look of the game in general really disappointed me, and the fog of war I found to be a really bad implementation. I don't recall exactly WHAT was bothering me about the fog of war, but I do recall hating it quite a bit. But I played a bit anyway hoping I'd learn to love it, and of course I never did. I wound up uninstalling it and playing V a bit more.

I haven't touched it since it was release, and Firaxis is a little like Paradox in how they upgrade and update the game to the point of almost being a new experience. I've also been looking for something different o play, and Civ has been one I've been considering. Maybe I'll give it a reinstall and a try. The sale on the Platinum version might be worth looking at as well.


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
-Robert Heinlein
#4562869 - 04/07/21 10:41 AM Re: Civ 6 [Re: JohnnyChemo]  
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Originally Posted by JohnnyChemo


and Firaxis is a little like Paradox in how they upgrade and update the game to the point of almost being a new experience..


Heh, absolutely! This very thing happened to me recently with Imperator: Rome by Paradox. The most recent update was so major that it fundamentally changed the game but at least in this case it was certainly for the better.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4562878 - 04/07/21 11:22 AM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I will agree with DB that some monumental changes to Civ happened in Civ V - hex maps instead of square made movement easier, but 1 unit per tile made war logistics much more complicated. I remember some warmongering games where I spent more time figuring out my routing so all my forces got where I wanted them WHEN I wanted them than actually fighting. It was good though, the doomstacks of previous games were a little ridiculous.

OH and I remembered what I didn't like about the fog of war - when your visibility over the tile expires, the tile fades to almost the same color scheme as the undiscovered areas of the map. That always made at-a-glance tile evaluation more annoying than it needs to be.


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
-Robert Heinlein
#4562895 - 04/07/21 12:42 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I completely agree about the map fog. I want it to work like it did in Civ 5. Units are invisible when out of sight range, but the fog is gone wherever you've rolled it back. Maybe there's a mod that changes it back. This is one reason I said I can't claim Civ 6 is better, but it is different, and that's worth a couple points right there haha.

I've had a couple more aborted starts since the cultural victory as America. One civ I tried is Indonesia, who get some nice maritime bonuses. Their unique building is a water tile improvement that is supposed to increase housing, but it didn't for me. And because I played on an archipelago map I really needed the housing. I had set it to use Rise and Fall expansion rules, but I guess in that version the Kampung as it is called had no housing bonus, so my cities struggled to grow.

Now I have a run going as Australia (Gathering Storm). They have a very cool bonus that grants +100% production for ten turns whenever someone declares war on them. But I cannot get anyone to declare on me. I'm religiously converting their cities, forward settling, refusing all demands and basically doing everything I can to make them hate me, but I think as long as I have a strong army I will struggle to be an attractive war target. I'm on course for either a science or religious win. Maybe I should attack a city state and see if that does the trick.

Governments were added for Civ 6 and I like it. Gives me something else to agonize over, and the policy cards too, which allow me to further fine-tune the nation. City state bonuses are fun to compete over, and some of them are absurdly strong. Diplomacy isn't really a thing in this game, but the city state game is fun to play.

JC, the game has expanded a lot since release, might be worth a revisit. The Platinum edition has both expansions and most DLC, but there are four or so DLC packs not included. Still, it must be around 40 civs to play even without those and I think Gathering Storm adds a lot of interesting twists. Few games have more 'just one more turn' appeal than this one.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563019 - 04/07/21 08:00 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I may just do that. I've been looking for something different to play, Civ might just scratch that itch. The platinum pack will cost me about $30 since I've already got the base game, so I may have a go at that as well.


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
-Robert Heinlein
#4563146 - 04/08/21 12:53 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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That was my thinking too. Something very different from what I had been playing lately, which was a lot of Elite and a few other titles. And when I saw this sale I thought it was a great deal, and would fit the bill nicely, which it has. Sale ends today.

I put the Australia game on hold. I was doing fine and was generating insane amounts of faith. Was the first to get a religion and all beliefs so had the pick of the best ones. I was proselytizing my way through the other civs. Flipping cities and even an entire nation (Rome). But this is a tedious way to play, using my army of missionaries and apostles to convert. Another civ was competing hard with their religious pressure and I decided that I'll save religious victory for later. The fact no one would declare war to trigger my cool +100% production ability made me think I'll save Australia for a higher difficulty when the AI might be more aggressive (I'm playing on King).

So I started yet another run, this time as Persia on a small continents maps. Persia gets a bonus to internal trade routes and roads, has a unique building that grants culture, gold and appeal, which is increased by district adjacency. I also get a great classical period infantry unit called Immortal. It is both a good melee unit and has a ranged attack equal to the archer. But because it is classical, I needed to start the run differently, gearing up for war straight away, so that by the time I could recruit them I would be in position to go on the offensive. Wait too long, and by the time you are ready, your UU is obsoleted. Poland shared my continent, and close, so close that we each forward settled the other with our second cities.

And since this is small continents this would not do, so they became the first target for my Immortals. I needed to wait until I could recruit a catapult, which takes a while, since it is so difficult to reduce a city's defenses without one (or you can use battering rams or siege towers). Once the catapult was built I declared war immediately since the rest of the army had already been built. Two Immortals, two horseman, three archers and the catapult were the invasion force. We took their capital and second city without much trouble, and only their third city, built in the center of a large desert, remains.

The other unique ability Persia gets is really quite awesome for warfare, called Fall of Babylon. They can declare a surprise war for no additional diplomatic penalties, and these bonuses

-- Declaring a surprise war has 33% reduced warmonger and war weariness penalties
-- All units gain +2 movement for the first 10 turns after declaring a surprise war.
-- Occupied cities have no penalties to growth and yields.
-- Occupied cities with a garrisoned unit gain an additional +5 loyalty per turn.

That's really nice, the additional movement is awesome when invading, and the effects on occupation negate the biggest penalties for taking cities that don't belong to you. Persia would be a good civ for a culture victory, but having done that already I'm thinking of going for domination this time. Internal trade route bonuses synergize well so I am not risking them getting plundered traveling to other lands. And the Fall of Babylon ability means I can mass on a border, declare surprise war, and quickly get in position on the first target city. The main challenge I think will be because of the map I chose. After Poland is gone all future wars will be seaborne invasions.

Which brings up deciding on whether I should just kill them, or let them live. I think because it is so early I'd be wise to just kill them off. Warmonger penalties are lowered in ancient and classical eras, and besides, I've only met one other civ so far, America. Kill Poland, take control of my continent, and have a secure homeland for a long time. I really like the warfare in this game. It's simple, but it's fun. So far I've gone the culture route for a victory and the religion and science routes to restarts. Peaceful play has its charms, but going to war is the most engaging for me. And anyway, if I am successful, reducing or eliminating the competition means I'll be able to win whichever way I want since the other civs will either be gone or weakened, if it all goes to plan.



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563177 - 04/08/21 03:25 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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Took the plunge and picked up the platinum pack. Ran through about 60 ish turns as Teddy Roosevelt (my usual first civ back into the game). Still not a huge fan of the cartoonish art - looks a bit like a mobile game to me. Play seems pretty cool so far.
Nothing major to report - I'm on a smallish continent, close to Germany and a couple of City States. I'm not sure of the map - I just basically started a game to see what's what.

So far it's just been basic exploring with the odd destruction of barbarian units thrown in. I like the pace of these turn based games - you can leave it running and play a few turns in between other things. I also remember liking the district idea as I get into the game a bit more.
It makes you have to plan things out a bit more, as well having to specialize your cities a bit more.


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
-Robert Heinlein
#4563179 - 04/08/21 03:30 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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NooJoyzee
I'm using this to make it look more like Civ 5

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1702339134

Steam Workshop makes it easy. I'm also using this UI mod

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=939149009

You are right about city planning. It is much more important now, and then in conjunction with whatever unique bonuses the civ you are playing gets. I am also fully in accord about turn based.

Germany is a #%&*$# with their production. Keep an eye on that guy! smile

I'm happy you took the plunge JC. I'd be interested in any updates you care to share. My only win is as (Rough Rider) Teddy, so if you need any info, feel free.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563201 - 04/08/21 05:12 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I was looking at that Civ V mod, I'll give it a whirl.

I've been using this UI mod myself:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2115302648&searchtext=community

Here are a couple of other mods I've added.
Global relationship indicator:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1753346735

Tactical camera (zoom out farther)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=871412359

You're right - Steam Workshop makes modding super easy!


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
-Robert Heinlein
#4563202 - 04/08/21 05:12 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I also picked this up, just 10 minutes before the sale ended, lol.

However, I may not get a chance to play it right away, as I also just purchased WOFF's BHaH2. So many games, so little time....


“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”
#4563222 - 04/08/21 06:34 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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Thanks for the mod links JC. Let me know if you come across any others that make your game better please.

Hey Bob, good work to get it on sale. If you get around to giving it a go let us know who you're playing and how it's going if so inclined.

This is probably not required, but just in case.... there is an 'advanced options' button on the game setup screen that lets you fine tune the start. Don't know why I am mentioning it because it is so obvious, but the ability to change so many parameters is gold and I don't want someone to somehow miss it.

Like if you want a peaceful start with elbow room you could play say a large map, then eliminate four of the civs to give everyone more room to grow. Or if you play archipelago, but want fatter islands set sea level to low. Or one start I did was to pick Earth True Start Locations, and I was France. Then I put everyone else close to each other by selecting the civs instead of random. That gave me all of Europe and Africa with no neighbors, while those I put close together banged heads like Japan and Mongolia. I almost always go for random civs because that is half the fun, but the latitude exists to fine-tune it more for specific starting conditions.

In Civ 5 I won my only Diety game by setting it up with just me and one other civ on an islands map. I played for a couple hundred peaceful turns, then when I had subs, carriers and battleships I went to war. He was strong too of course, but it's AI, so the advantage was with me. I couldn't win a Diety match against a normal number of civs. But this worked great haha.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563233 - 04/08/21 07:58 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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Thanks for the tips! i have played Civ 2, 3, and 4, but never got around to 5 or 6. Looking forward to see what has changed, besides the obvious stuff.


“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”
#4563239 - 04/08/21 08:24 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I think if Civ 4 was your last then you will be thrown askew biggrin

It's way different. Better, for me, as I said in the OP. But many long time players railed against the sweeping changes Civ 5 brought, and while Civ 6 is different still, it's way closer to 5 than 4. I'd be interested in your thoughts after you've played 100 turns or so. It would be an interesting perspective having skipped Civ 5 and to see what your reaction is to what has changed.

Just about done with my work day and even though I was busy, I thought about my Persia run a lot, formulating plans. Love that. When a game gets in my head like that it's a good thing.

In many posts I make about games I always mention if the game has high opportunity cost, as these sorts of decisions make for good gameplay. Civ is nothing but opportunity cost, weighing what you won't get against what you will by making any decision. By building a granary you are not building a monument. By building a warrior you're not building a building. It really does make for compelling play. Having a great time with this and glad this sale came up and I caught it.



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563250 - 04/08/21 08:51 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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I agree - the jump from 4 to 6 will be much, much more than from 4 to 5.

I loved Civ V right from the start, I'm still getting along in Civ VI, but it hasn't been too bad. At the end of the day, it's Civilization, and therefore will have a certain gameplay. Which I find enjoyable.

I agree with your opportunity cost statement - you are balancing the needs for now vs the needs for the future; and when you do finally build whatever you have to be sure it won't be obsolete shortly after being built, or if the effect/bonus it provided was something that would have been better to have earlier. It is really a game with no perfect solutions or "right" answers for the most part.


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
-Robert Heinlein
#4563372 - 04/09/21 12:45 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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Yes, many new things have been added, such as housing and amenities which give you another thing or two to think about and manage.

One change that I think is bad is how diplomacy victory works now. The world congress is poor and uninteresting. Civ 5 had it much better, with votes from city states you controlled and good things to vote for, like the world games. I enjoyed competing for that stuff. Now it's casting votes for double luxuries or whatever. They should have not changed this.

I resumed my game as Persia and did indeed eliminate Poland to gain sole control of my continent. Their cities were weak, but still it added three more that I didn't have to build a settler for. The city in the desert has come good as I got Petra, and that makes a sand city viable. Civ 5 favored taller empires with big cities. Civ 6 though seems more suited to wider empires, as there is no penalty for number of cities. No corruption mechanic, or distance from capital type stuff, no increasing costs for having a lot of cities and with district adjacency you can gain yields by having more, smaller, closer cities.. I think six cities is enough for many victory types, but more is better. In Civ 5 I tried to stick to a six-hex distance from one city to the next, but in Civ 6 closer may be better for the adjacency. I still try to do six hexes from the capital, because in most cases my capital will be the biggest city, and is certain to fill out all three rings. But after that, five, or even four hexes works well. You get fewer tiles to work, but end up with higher yields it seems due to the district system.

I've now met all the other civs in my run. America, England, Norway, Khmer and of course Poland is gone. It's a standard sized map with two civs removed for less early crowding. I've not launched a second war yet, but am gearing up for it, troops are on the move. Khmer will be the target, as he is aggressive religiously, and would then bring me up against Norway as I work counter-clockwise around the map. That's the plan anyway. I'm ahead on tech, have a strong economy and the Poland war earned my core units quite a few promotions to give them an edge. Government is war-minded too, so I get a few stacked bonuses to combat strength and that sort of thing. But it's a chore to both build the invasion army, get it halfway across the map at two hexes per turn, and still build enough units to protect my homeland while the expeditionary force is away. The AI likes to hit you while you're already at war, so have to protect against that.

Oh, and build a bigger navy too. The economy is key so I can afford unit upgrades. I run the 50% off cost for upgrades card which saves a ton of money when you have a large standing army and are rolling through the techs. So when I resume play I expect to go back to battle. Not familiar with Khmer and their bonuses, so I had better look that up smile


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563375 - 04/09/21 12:57 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
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NooJoyzee
Looks like a good target, Khmer. They are a religious civ with no imposing unique. Their UU is the Domrey, a stronger catapult. But since I'm already on field guns I'm not going to worry about those. They may be a strong opponent, but that will come from numbers or tactics (ha!), not from unit abilities. England's navy will be a test, and America gets combat bonus on their home continent, so that invasion will be harder if I get there. I could win another victory type before taking all the capitals, or the AI could too. Teddy is leading on culture. War with Norway could prove a pain if they start raiding my coasts. I'll take it in stride.

I think my next game I might set it to epic game speed. At standard my units are obsoleted too fast. But then again it would take longer to build them, so not sure it would have any real effect on this. I think too, that I should tie game speed to map size. The reason is that game speed does not change movement points. You still get two points for land units no matter what the speed is set to. So larger maps would be better with slower speed. And I feel on standard that I am going through the eras too quickly. Even on a run like this Persia one where I am not focusing science, I am still pretty far ahead. And on the civic tree I stop getting any inspirations because it may require say two banks, and I have just one market built so far. Maybe a slower speed would help this align. I'll give it a go for sure in my next game. Maybe run standard on tiny and small maps, and epic on standard and large maps. I'll play one huge map for the achievement, but those are a little too big for me.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563394 - 04/09/21 03:10 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,618
JohnnyChemo Offline
Member
JohnnyChemo  Offline
Member

Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,618
Buffalo, NY
Good stuff, DB, sounds like Persia is well on the way to taking it all!

I'm still less than 100 turns in (around 70-80 or so). I've discovered I'm playing on a standard sized continent map. I've explored most of the continent save one peninsula with a barb settlement on it - can't get my scout through. So I'll send a warrior & archer to clear it out and let the scout through. My continent is has just Germany and I, along with 3 CS's. I'm suzerain of one now, and working on another one. At some point I'll probably end Germany, but I want to build up my military tech a bit first. I've just settled my 3rd city - I tend to play wide not tall - and put it on the ocean shore by the mouth of a river. It's maybe a little farther out than I would have liked, but I wanted the sea access and it was within reach of copper and amber, so I figured it was worth it.

The other two cities are still in their infancy, but each now has a campus (I tend to favor science heavy runs), and I've founded a pantheon. So far it's going pretty well, but there's no real competition other than the barbs which are really more annoyances than anything else.


Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
-Robert Heinlein
#4563413 - 04/09/21 04:41 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,199
DBond Offline
Strategerizer
DBond  Offline
Strategerizer
Veteran

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 13,199
NooJoyzee
City placement is such a struggle lol. I spend all the intervening turns between settlers evaluating it. I'm looking for hills and fresh water, and then which resources I can get within the third ring. Those are the driving factors. Then I need to consider distance from my closest city and how it fits strategically in comparison to the cities of my neighbors. Mountains and lakes, and so on and thereforth. Proper city placement is vital for a strong run.

One thing I noticed is that in Civ 6 you can still have a harbor district even if the city itself is not on a 'coastal' tile. As long as that water tile is within the three rings it can still be built. That gives you some latitude to make port cities and still get the fresh water or resources a couple tiles from the ocean. I put coastal in quotes because technically it is the water tile that is coastal, not the land tile, in Civ terms.

As I've played a few runs now, but mostly aborted I have a few milestones I look to hit. I want to have my fourth city down by turn 100. In this Persia run I was well ahead of that due to conquering, and had my sixth city at 112, but only three of those were settled. As a result I've opened a gap at the top of the score chart which is a useful gauge of how you are doing compared to the other civs.



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4563417 - 04/09/21 04:52 PM Re: Civ 6 [Re: DBond]  
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 1,523
BuckeyeBob Offline
Member
BuckeyeBob  Offline
Member

Joined: May 2016
Posts: 1,523
Ohio, USA
I'm fairly chill regarding major changes from one version to another, so I don't think I will mind most of the changes from Civ4 to Civ 6, although i do agree that the new look appears to be more "cartoony," although that is certainly a relative term for all Civ games.

I am keen to see how the move from squares to hexes affects game-play, although I assume it will mostly be positive, particularly with the elimination of unit stacking. Seems to introduce a more strategic and tactical element. I am also interested to see how diplomacy and interaction with other civs have changed, although the World Congress thing, as reported, is somewhat discouraging.

The District management concept will also take getting used to, I expect!

I am fully onboard with what you said about the opportunity cost element of the game. indeed, that is one of the main things that sets the Civilization series apart from so many other strategy games out there and is the main reason why I am drawn to the game. So many different options and choices--no two games quite play the same--at least until you get to the late game stages.

Another thing I like, which is fundamental to all Civ games, is the "just one more turn" phenomenon. Although you can play the game at your leisure, picking it up and then putting it down for days or months at a time, you can pick up pretty much where you left off, and then find yourself playing well past midnight, long after you should be asleep! BTW, does Civ6 still have that alarm clock feature? I will probably need it if I want to get any sleep!


“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”
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