New DLC: Polynesia

[Sneaks]

I also love how they actually lay out visibly along the coast. Its like having a wall of stone heads

 

[Zyxpsilon]

did terrace farms fly over your head?

Yes.... it is indeed another, i stand corrected.
But i figure Polynesia's gets the cultural edge (GA_landmarking) rather than Inca's city growth.
Aren't you the nit-picky observer?
Scrutinizing even our worst typos just as "some" teachers did in school.
Always questioning, is it just by curiosity... or a stalking habit?
Please, allow me for having read plenty.

 

[Linkman226]

To Solo:
Yes, it will always be an interesting debate. Polynesia was never a huge unified empire, although Tui' Tonga had it's day. Essentially Polynesian culture is comparable to uh, European, Western Christian civilisation or Islamic/Arab civilization. And look that that, I just compared culture to civilisation, cos what is the difference really?

Personally I always had a problem with 'America' being included because it's a purely modern invention. Why are they hanging out with Egypt in 3000BC? And here I am celebrating Polynesian inclusion even though Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the like was only settled in the 1400s. I am a little concerned this Polynesian civ might be a little Hawaii centric, it's be nice to see the full city list. That's what I really want to see.

At the end of the day we should just stop treating Civ as a history simulator, it's not. It's a game that champions all the diversity and uniqueness of humanity, the way we look, the way we build and the way we fight.

True it is. What will always be remarkable about their exploration though is that they manged to settle such remote islands as Easter Island and Hawaii? I mean, sailing out form Spain it's pretty easy to hit America at some point but sailing from French Polynesia how the hell would you find Easter Island without knowing it was there? Did they just send out hundreds and hundreds of exploration crews, most never to return? Or did they somehow know, some romantic spiritual affinity with the sea? This is actually where the bird and ocean current theories fit in.

It's a fascinating culture and history and I'm so glad it has received official treatment.

The Polynesians' methods of navigation are absolutely fascinating. Basically, they were such ingenious seafarers that they could tell if an island just a few square miles big was in the vicinity from 200 miles away. For example, they had a detailed knowledge of bird species and how far out they fly; some birds will go out as much as 500 miles from land, while others will rarely go more than a mile or two. So by identifying the birds in the sky they could figure out how far land was, and even what direction, by observing the movement of the birds. Another one: they could navigate via the color and temperature of the water. These are, apparently, ways to tell if land is near.

Take a map of the Pacific, and around every island draw a circle 200-400 miles around. Suddenly navigation seems easier, right? That's how it felt to the Polynesians.

 

[Valkrionn]

The Polynesians' methods of navigation are absolutely fascinating. Basically, they were such ingenious seafarers that they could tell if an island just a few square miles big was in the vicinity from 200 miles away. For example, they had a detailed knowledge of bird species and how far out they fly; some birds will go out as much as 500 miles from land, while others will rarely go more than a mile or two. So by identifying the birds in the sky they could figure out how far land was, and even what direction, by observing the movement of the birds. Another one: they could navigate via the color and temperature of the water. These are, apparently, ways to tell if land is near.

Take a map of the Pacific, and around every island draw a circle 200-400 miles around. Suddenly navigation seems easier, right? That's how it felt to the Polynesians.

They also used wave direction, btw.

 

[Linkman226]

They also used wave direction, btw.

Right, I know. I was just listing a few examples.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

The most fascinating principle of their navigation "instinct" is Solar Rays reflection at specific dawn or sunset for about 15 minutes worth of variable shadowing effects.
This allowed them to detect land or object in as much as 250+ miles away.
With accuracy beyond a simple prediction -- without Binoculars!
It took them more than just vision, experience & knowledge of reproducable conditions.

 

[NukeEm]

OP: Looking forward to grabbing this Civ. I always get excited when non-western Civs get added. Civ has a nasty habit of focusing on Western cultures and societies and completely ignoring other part of the world.

Also for those jokingly saying Canada as a DLC... I would snag that in a heartbeat... A civilization doesn't need to be great to be in Civ, it just needs to be a Civ. As far as I'm concerned the real world history adds to the experience... but let's face it.. isn't Civ about rewriting history? In which case... I have zero issue with "less known civs" being included..

 

[chrissifniotis]

You don't understand. If it's not Europe or Western Civilization it doesn't count.

While I personally also question placing Polynesia in the Civilization Pantheon, Are you serously willing to put that on record? Because I can recount a few Eastern nations that can rival your Europe. Aside from the obvious single largest continental empire in history; good 'ol Mongolia, China, Japan and India hold places in the world as influential countries.

Now I realise that you do mean to say adding new civilizations into the game, so I'll stick to that; the Maya are a culture centered around both war and legend, dubbed 'the Greeks of Mesoamerica' due to their similar city state in-wars. The Caribs by contrast were a collection of islander tribes that traded heavily with the powers during the Colonial era in their namesake; the Caribbean.

Polynesia doesn't hold any significant standing compared to any of these or most other civilizations, but the Polynesian reigon was once a favorite for the claimed Great Merchant and a patron of Sydney, Capitan James Cook. Discoverer of a number of islands in the region, he became friendly with all the chiefs and was hailed as a god in most of them, his arrival on the islands were considered as the gods descending to earth. My guess is that Firaxis is working along this line.

 

[Michl2602]

I just can say: The szenario is great and almost like playing a new game. It's alone well worth the prize. Many thanks!

PS.: Sorry enough the "almost like playing a new game" doesn't go with diplomacy, that's unchanged. :-(

 

[Mustakrakish]

I'm playing a game against them now just to see how kamehameha's AI acts.

Just as crazy as the others in my game...

 

[awesome]

Yes.... it is indeed another, i stand corrected.
But i figure Polynesia's gets the cultural edge (GA_landmarking) rather than Inca's city growth.
Aren't you the nit-picky observer?
Scrutinizing even our worst typos just as "some" teachers did in school.
Always questioning, is it just by curiosity... or a stalking habit?
Please, allow me for having read plenty.

quit being a little girl.
Moderator Action: Flaming is not allowed here.

 

[radiospace]

While I personally also question placing Polynesia in the Civilization Pantheon, Are you serously willing to put that on record?

He was being facetious.

 

[Mad Man]

OMG REALLY?!? I'm sad to see Polynesia get consolidated in to one civ, but at least Oceania is getting some kind of representation this time.

 

[Morningcalm]

The scenario shows Gandhi etc without any changed graphics, which I find annoying, but I'm personally glad Polynesia itself is in, it was about time the Maori made an appearance as something other than barbarians.

The Polynesian civ's bonuses have a nice synergy and flexibility to them which I see as parallel to the Inca *which has the best traits in terms of pure synergy imo*. A decent DLC I was happy to buy, much as I dislike the idea of DLC since all this will appear in future expacks anyway.

And the scenario is at least challenging. Huge upgrade from a typical random map just in that, imo.

 

[eric_]

the Inca *which has the best traits in terms of pure synergy imo*

On a side note (in terms of the thread topic), in my last game I rolled a mountainous Pangaea map playing as Inca. Hills were everywhere and were adjacent to mountains as often as not. Was tons of fun!

 

[bryanw1995]

I think I'll pass on this one, at least until they have the game fixed to the point where I can play it on a huge map on high-end hardware without being able to read a short story between turns. And, sorry, with Portal 2 due out in, what, two months, the window is closing for them to get this right. I just have so much time for games, and Civ V is going to have to fight for my attention a lot harder.

with the significantly reduced turn times I'm gonna try out some large/huge maps now, probably even on epic speed.

 

[bryanw1995]

The Polynesians' methods of navigation are absolutely fascinating. Basically, they were such ingenious seafarers that they could tell if an island just a few square miles big was in the vicinity from 200 miles away. For example, they had a detailed knowledge of bird species and how far out they fly; some birds will go out as much as 500 miles from land, while others will rarely go more than a mile or two. So by identifying the birds in the sky they could figure out how far land was, and even what direction, by observing the movement of the birds. Another one: they could navigate via the color and temperature of the water. These are, apparently, ways to tell if land is near.

Take a map of the Pacific, and around every island draw a circle 200-400 miles around. Suddenly navigation seems easier, right? That's how it felt to the Polynesians.

this is a very interesting addition imho, especially in light of its previous exclusion from official civ games. other than on a pangea map this civ could really become one of the powerhouses imho.

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

Polynesia is actually a boat load of fun (no pun intended ) when you've got plenty of sailing to do. I've added them to my Earth map and they're certainly a challenge when you start out in the Hawaiian islands and the closest place to colonize is Midway.

The only issue I have is that Kamehameha looks like some ridiculous Abercrombie model doing a Hawaiian photoshoot. Looks nothing like any portraits on his Wiki page...at the very least he shouldn't be so white.

 

[TheDanish]

Wait... so is the leader Kamehameha or Hotu Matua?

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

Wait... so is the leader Kamehameha or Hotu Matua?

It's Kamehameha on a random map, but I believe that Hotu Matua is the leader in the "Paradise Found" scenario. Same leader graphics, they just switched the name for the scenario.