Anyone else tired of plantation luxuries?

[Rpger29]

Minor rant.

I seem to get plantation luxury starts at least 8 of every 10 starts. The other starts are archipelago or the lucky 1/10 mining luxury start. Almost half the mining starts are unlucky enough to get marble as the luxury.

Does anyone else have this experience? I know I shouldn't be so down on plantation luxuries, but it's such a non-optimal research order to have to take calendar before or immediately after mining.

 

[PhilBowles]

Minor rant.

I seem to get plantation luxury starts at least 8 of every 10 starts. The other starts are archipelago or the lucky 1/10 mining luxury start. Almost half the mining starts are unlucky enough to get marble as the luxury.

Does anyone else have this experience? I know I shouldn't be so down on plantation luxuries, but it's such a non-optimal research order to have to take calendar before or immediately after mining.

There are more plantation luxuries than any other single type, including almost all the ones you find in forest, so it's not surprising plantation luxes are the most common. And yes, I notice it too.

 

[Torvald]

What's so bad about getting marble?

Marble gives your city a boost towards building Wonders, after all, and Wonders provide bonuses to your Civ for the rest of the game.

 

[That nerdy kid]

What's so bad about getting marble?

Marble gives your city a boost towards building Wonders, after all, and Wonders provide bonuses to your Civ for the rest of the game.

it is killer with egypt and the tradition policy that boosts wonder production. you can build a wonder in like half the time.

 

[CoolLizy]

I'd place marble starts right up there with gold starts. It's really one of the better luxuries to have at your capital.

 

[NotSure]

Marble and stone are great now and apparently will become even better in the expansion. One of the early religion pantheons is "stone circles" (or something like that) which appears to provide +2 faith per resource. For perspective on how good this could be, in our SG game we have 4 or 5 stone & marble sources in our capital alone. The terrain (or terrain improvement) pantheons appear to be the strongest (stone/marble and gold/silver are probably the best) and might make those heavy calendar starts better.

I'm not a big fan of calendar resources either, but the tech is along the Education route and you can sometimes get a chop here and there.

 

[wannabewarlord]

I think it really depends on what level you play. Yes, Deity and maybe Immortal you would want a mining ressource as you are probably going for Iron to be able to put up a defense.

However, even on Immortal I often make education my priority, going for a science victory, and trying to hold my own with pikes and whathaveyou, so I am actually glad to have calendar luxes out there.

 

[animalguy]

Ivan tolerate them as long as they are not in marshes and combined with a trapping resource. It just requires so many techs that it ends up taking for ever to get them improved unless you're Babylon in which case you could get your free GS first which would allow you to reaserch the techs faster

 

[prince_caspian]

It's a little sad how some luxs are more equal than others, calendar luxs the least of all. I mean with marble you get the wonder production bonus, mining luxs often have the same hammers but more gold than other hill tiles, with ivory you get an extra 2 which makes it the best happiness lux, with organized religion you would get another 1 and extra from wine/incense, harbors add hammers for whales, etc. So sad for sugar and cotton.

 

[Rpger29]

Man I missed that marble bonus somehow. I've been playing since early last year and I never picked up on that. My opinion of marble is now much higher.

My gripe with the calendar luxuries is how often they are in forests or marshes. So you have to research mining or mining+masonry just to access them. It's just part of the game though. Fortunately when I get screwed with a marsh luxury, it seems to often be on a river. The extra long-term gold is nice.

The thing for me is how hectic the early game can be. When you get a terrible start, you just know you're going to be behind the top AI until at least the start of medieval.

 

[PhilBowles]

It's a little sad how some luxs are more equal than others, calendar luxs the least of all. I mean with marble you get the wonder production bonus, mining luxs often have the same hammers but more gold than other hill tiles, with ivory you get an extra 2 which makes it the best happiness lux, with organized religion you would get another 1 and extra from wine/incense, harbors add hammers for whales, etc. So sad for sugar and cotton.

Plantation luxuries are usually the best for gold generation, both because of the income you get from spices and sugar, and because they cluster in the landscape a lot more than silver and gold (probably because forest can grow on both flat lands and hills, while mining resources are restricted to hills). If I want a commerce city, these are the ones I seek out. As for wine and incense, I rarely find the monastery worth the investment - it's got no maintenance, but takes quite a lot of hammers to build for little return (rarely more than a Monument).

 

[Atlas627]

It's a little sad how some luxs are more equal than others, calendar luxs the least of all. I mean with marble you get the wonder production bonus, mining luxs often have the same hammers but more gold than other hill tiles, with ivory you get an extra 2 which makes it the best happiness lux, with organized religion you would get another 1 and extra from wine/incense, harbors add hammers for whales, etc. So sad for sugar and cotton.

Wait what? Extra happiness from Ivory? I don't think so...unless you mean circus. In that case, I probably got it from horses anyway, so no big deal.

Also they are still balanced because of where they spawn. Sugar and cotton are much more likely to be on a river, and incense could very well be in the middle of useless desert.

 

[prince_caspian]

Hmmm all luxs are quite the gold mine I think not just sugar and cotton. You can build circuses from horses and ivories sure but horses aren't luxs, ivories are the only lux where you can gain a potential +6 happiness without any SPs.

Monasteries, yeah they do need some hammers to build, like you said they are maintenance free and +2 culture is not negligible. If people make it a point to build +1 monuments and even temples why not monasteries when they're available? Most warmongers will branch out Piety -> Organized Religion anyway.

I definitely love sugar and cotton but I think they should get some special little bonus too.

 

[Hpuk]

...(probably because forest can grow on both flat lands and hills, while mining resources are restricted to hills)...

Mining (and masonry) luxuries can spawn on more than just hills. Flat desert and grasslands are at least possible (probably tundra and plains too, but I don't remember).
The civilopedia and all the wikis seem to claim they can't though, odd.

 

[PhilBowles]

Mining (and masonry) luxuries can spawn on more than just hills. Flat desert and grasslands are at least possible (probably tundra and plains too, but I don't remember).
The civilopedia and all the wikis seem to claim they can't though, odd.

Stone and marble most often turn up in flats in my experience, but neither is as good for gold as spices, sugar or cotton.