Congrats Firaxis!!

So far, this BNW is exactly what was missing and I feel compelled to post about it.

I've put in over 1000 hours now on the game and after about 500 I rarely finished games anymore. Things would end up boring once I'd executed all my plans so I'd end up just starting afresh (this game's replayability is, of course, epic! lol).

G&K added faith as a dynamic but to be honest I was more interested in the new civs. I did however (as always) appreciate the new resources and tile improvements.
So I need not knock G&K cus it was worth every penny, much like the game itself.

But BNW (granted I haven't played too much yet) seems to be exactly what was missing: a mid-late game strategy element which actually makes it worth playing through the slowness of the late-game.

I can't comment on military aspects, as I'm not that sort of player (I chase science mostly) but the cultural and diplomatic victories have been a joke so far, and although one can still quite easily 'buy' CS allies just like before, at least now there are options in the World Congress to address this as an enemy and various other ways of using spies and ideologies to create lasting peace, or ensure it never happens.

Whatever kind of game the AI is playing you with, now it seems we all have something with which to stifle their plans!

Kudos to the devs for a job well done, I say!

Yes, yes, Firaxis, great job! It's great, it's inspired and it again explains why I have been buying civ games since 1993.

Now, while we marvel at your recent "great work of entertainment", don't waste any time and start working on that Alpha Centauri 2 already!!

yep congrats i m having loads of fun with this ! Things aren t perfect but hey that s what fall patch is about , all n all nice work !

It's a great expansion and it amuses me how everyone is posting complaints here, despite the apparent universal love for it .

Yep they've certainly done good with this one.

Must admit, 3 years ago I was like Ugh, WTF. Everything in the World gets worse as it gets newer - Civ vanilla for example and couldn't hold a torch to BtS. Now in all honesty I cannot see me playing IV ever again.

Shall we go ahead and officially declare this CIV the best one ever?!?!?!?

I'm not convinced, I've played 1500 hours of civ5 now but only 40 of BNW, and already instead of just 1 more turn, I'm actually struggling to do 1 more turn with BNW. 4 immortal wins with the new victory conditions, and a couple of games i couldn't be bothered finishing ( which isn't normal for me )

My last game i went Poland and got a great starting location then skilldorado on turn 5, instead of playing i just quit.

Maybe I'm just burned out, but this didn't happen with G&K for me.

spfun said:

I'm not convinced, I've played 1500 hours of civ5 now but only 40 of BNW, and already instead of just 1 more turn, I'm actually struggling to do 1 more turn with BNW. 4 immortal wins with the new victory conditions, and a couple of games i couldn't be bothered finishing ( which isn't normal for me )

My last game i went Poland and got a great starting location then skilldorado on turn 5, instead of playing i just quit.

Maybe I'm just burned out, but this didn't happen with G&K for me.

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I had the same thing happened, played two games of Warlord (France for Freedom/Culture, and Poland as Order/Science) and when I went for Brazil I was just meh... take a break for a day or two, and the fire might come back.

Vasire said:

Yes, yes, Firaxis, great job! It's great, it's inspired and it again explains why I have been buying civ games since 1993.

Now, while we marvel at your recent "great work of entertainment", don't waste any time and start working on that Alpha Centauri 2 already!!

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It's funny that you mention AC2. Last night it occurred to me that BNW's trade routes to domestic cities brings into CIV5 one of my favorite elements of AC, the supply convoy. This feature opens up some vital strategic opportunities (grow your new city, rush a wonder, etc.) that I really enjoy.

I also second your vote for a new Alpha Centauri!

With BNW this is now the best Civ of all time!!! ;-)



Only thing I could possibly want more right now is a "unit workshop" ala alpha centauri (not a fan of the promotion system).

BRING ON AC2!!!!

Diplomacy victory seems a bit too easy, but if you're not going for it, it becomes an inevitable ticking clock - which can be pretty fun

I end up diverting spies off to major city states to arrange a coup - there's nothing better than flipping one of those city-states that the AI has poured 200+ influence into with a Secret Agent.

I feel I can 'RPG' my game a bit more now lol, especially with Ideologies (I smell a lot of Ideology mods comin soon lol)

Personally if there's one BNW mod I'd like to see right now it is one which modernises the graphic of the caravans as new eras are reached, because right now I'm in Modern era watching camels roaming around my gatling guns and riflemen lol

Thuellai said:

Diplomacy victory seems a bit too easy, but if you're not going for it, it becomes an inevitable ticking clock - which can be pretty fun

I end up diverting spies off to major city states to arrange a coup - there's nothing better than flipping one of those city-states that the AI has poured 200+ influence into with a Secret Agent.

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I actually use most my spies now as Diplomats, even if i'm not going for diplomacy win. The more votes the better. The resolutions can help any kind of player and also, if your enemy is going for the Diplo win then if you can get enough allies and strike deals with other civs to vote your way then you control what your enemy is and isn't able to do. Remember as host you can select a proposal you are against instead of one you want, and then vote Nay with your delegates to make sure it doesn't happen (might be wasteful but just an option)

O ye and one new thing I like about BNW are some of the tenets bonuses like buying any land unit from faith, for small cultural civs with little time to build units. And the Foreign Legion tenet is cool as well.
At the moment I'm Brazil and I lucked into a map with loads of jungle tiles for my Brazil camps, but playing as Brazil (diplo) is about golden ages ('Carnival!') so I took the tenets for 50% longer golden ages and my happiness is 61 lol

I'm lovin' congress too but my rivals the Shoshone beat me to the Forbidden Palace before I knew they'd even changed it and that is still hurting me even as Host.

Anyways everyone i'm glad people are sharing their praises here and I think the reason most people are seen to be b*tchin is because rarely do folks feel the need to praise, only criticise (that's just always the way)

I figured i'd take a few mins to make a post cus I've put in many more minutes than that actually playing so.... lol

Yeah, I'm really having a ton of fun with this expansion. I'm generally in the 'if your game is running smoothly you don't have enough mods' camp; but I have to say I'm enjoying BNW more than I did G&K with any of the available mod packs. And there are some times I've noticed the AI doing things only a human player would do in the past.

Most notably in one game Songhai charged his whole army across the map to try and take some of Khan's land(Khan being pillaged by 2 other civilizations at that time, he was easy pickings). What Songhai didn't expect was me launching a sneak attack when I noticed his armies had left the area, and even ruder I paid Assyria to DoW on him(his forces having moved through Assyria to reach Khan and having no other way to return.) Later on Assyria asked me to DoW Germany(who had cities where Khan's were many a century ago). I started moving my whole force in that direction when it hit me, that would be a real ironic way to lose the game. It's a good thing I didn't fall for it either as Assyria started piling units on my border as soon as my units were all embarked. When I had a few retreat to Gao his units crept back into the fog.

RedFuneral said:

Yeah, I'm really having a ton of fun with this expansion. I'm generally in the 'if your game is running smoothly you don't have enough mods' camp; but I have to say I'm enjoying BNW more than I did G&K with any of the available mod packs. And there are some times I've noticed the AI doing things only a human player would do in the past.

Most notably in one game Songhai charged his whole army across the map to try and take some of Khan's land(Khan being pillaged by 2 other civilizations at that time, he was easy pickings). What Songhai didn't expect was me launching a sneak attack when I noticed his armies had left the area, and even ruder I paid Assyria to DoW on him(his forces having moved through Assyria to reach Khan and having no other way to return.) Later on Assyria asked me to DoW Germany(who had cities where Khan's were many a century ago). I started moving my whole force in that direction when it hit me, that would be a real ironic way to lose the game. It's a good thing I didn't fall for it either as Assyria started piling units on my border as soon as my units were all embarked. When I had a few retreat to Gao his units crept back into the fog.

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Haha! Yeah, I've seen some great stuff out of spy intrigue with that

'Washington is planning a sneak attack on you!'
Move a few units over to my border with America and watch him slowly back away.

It is cool to see that the AI considers to some degree the position and strength of your army, and that it's willing to do things like pay you to get involved in a war so it can backstab you while you're busy

It does still occasionally invite you to wars halfway across the planet, though, which can be quite profitable - nothing like declaring war against a guy on the other continent, doing absolutely nothing, then watching him fold and offer you a couple free cities (and since you didn't attack him, you're not even hit with warmongering)

Sequitor said:

It's funny that you mention AC2. Last night it occurred to me that BNW's trade routes to domestic cities brings into CIV5 one of my favorite elements of AC, the supply convoy. This feature opens up some vital strategic opportunities (grow your new city, rush a wonder, etc.) that I really enjoy.

I also second your vote for a new Alpha Centauri!

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The WC is also almost the same thing as in Alpha Centauri.