New to Civ - Looking for some answers.

[Comp1844]

Hello!

I'm brand new to the Civ franchise, but it's always looked exciting. Now that I've got some time to play, I decided to pick up Civ 5 (no expansions). While I've been having fun with it, there are a few questions I had. While I understand a decent amount of "what" and "how" you can do things, there's a few "why" questions that I'm still unsure of to help me wrap my head around the game. I've looked at guides and videos and such, and they've helped in a lot of areas, but I've still got some questions that I was hoping you guys could help out with!

1) This is going to sound like a stupid question, but I'm hoping to get the "why" so I can understand more deeply the reasons here so I can make my own decisions instead of just suggestions from random guides, etc. Why make more than one city? Guides make suggestions on when, how many, etc. but they never explain the question of "why". For instance, if I've got a city going, happiness is fine, everything "seems" to be going well, why would I found another city? Sure, I could go get another luxury resource, but if I've already got one, why expand? What benefits does it bring overall? Why have early rushes when all it does is put stress on your empire and make things harder to manage? I guess I'm asking... What benefits do I get out of having multiple cities that I can't get with just the one city?

2) This ties in as well to the first question: If empire's happiness is fine, what's the point of having more than one luxury resource tapped that would warrant making a second city to get that resource? Is there any reason apart from trading for gold?

3) This ties into #2 as well I think and is a two part. A) Is there any way to see what another civ has and or wants for trade without opening each of their trade windows individually? B) Is there any reason to trade with other Civs apart from Gold or other resources? I.e., do I get any sort of diplomatic benefit? Because it never seems to change what they think about me (or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place).

4) Upgrading tiles: If a tile is upgraded, but not worked, then it's basically useless, correct? Would you suggest micromanaging tiles? Because that's pretty much what I do now.

5) I notice that I always see the "nearby resource" when I open City State screens. Since I can't trade with them, what's the point of this? Is it just to let me know it's there incase I want to take them over?

I'm sure these all seem like awful questions, but I'm looking for answers that I think will make a lot of my decisions in game feel more deliberate rather than random. For instance, as of now, the only reason I expand a city is because A) I got a free settler or B) my first city has no resources or C) my empire demands a resource I don't currently have access to (and can't trade for). I have a hard time believing a game with this much of a following is really that simple in it's reasoning.

I just feel like there's a lot of answers to the game I'm looking for, but I don't even know what the questions are. For example, when I first started, the game seemed absurdly simple, but the more I played I saw the deeper things in the game. And while I've learned a lot, this whole question of "why expand" is really killing me.

At any rate, I appreciate the help, and I hope these questions don't make me look like a complete jackass.

 

[Hot_spur]

I'll try to address some of your questions.

I always play for a science victory. I need multiple cities in order to generate the huge amounts of research I need in order to play this strategy. When I get near the end of the game I need multiple cities building space ship parts in order to beat the deadline. So far, (and I am a beginner too) the best I've done is beat the game by 2026.

As to the City/States, if you make them an ally, they will grant you their resources. If they have a resource in their territory that you want, which they haven't developed, you can give them a gift of developing a resource. Then you click the tile with the resource they have. I often have to do this when I have no oil, aluminum, or uranium in my territory (which seems like all the time).

As to upgrading tiles, I upgrade all my territory. That way I can pick and choose what that city is doing. Sometimes I want them focussing on production, sometimes science, sometimes gold, etc. Yes, I micromanage in order to develop at the fastest rates possible. There's no way you can produce the army and navy you might need to fend off an attack with only one city. And I'm sure you've discovered that other civs will attack you if they feel you are getting ahead, or if you have something they want.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hot_spur]

Or sometimes they attack just because they're pricks.

*cough* Montezuma *cough*

 

[Comp1844]

I'll try to address some of your questions.

I always play for a science victory. I need multiple cities in order to generate the huge amounts of research I need in order to play this strategy. When I get near the end of the game I need multiple cities building space ship parts in order to beat the deadline. So far, (and I am a beginner too) the best I've done is beat the game by 2026.

As to the City/States, if you make them an ally, they will grant you their resources. If they have a resource in their territory that you want, which they haven't developed, you can give them a gift of developing a resource. Then you click the tile with the resource they have. I often have to do this when I have no oil, aluminum, or uranium in my territory (which seems like all the time).

As to upgrading tiles, I upgrade all my territory. That way I can pick and choose what that city is doing. Sometimes I want them focussing on production, sometimes science, sometimes gold, etc. Yes, I micromanage in order to develop at the fastest rates possible. There's no way you can produce the army and navy you might need to fend off an attack with only one city. And I'm sure you've discovered that other civs will attack you if they feel you are getting ahead, or if you have something they want.

Hope this helps.

The only victory I've had was a science victory, and I think I had 3 cities (other than the ones I pup/anx). It was an easier difficulty so I didn't get much resistance. It's my only victory because it's the only game I played through until the end. I usually get frustrated midgame by doing so many different things and feeling like none of it really matters. i.e., my science victory was initially just a tech build to have better units to dominate with, but I ended up developing so quickly that I got my space ship built before I was able to make my way around the map and finish the last few civs.

After that win, it just felt like it doesn't really matter what I do (since I could have won two ways with little effort), so it makes it hard to figure out which decisions matter and which decisions don't. I've started a couple games on Prince or above this past week just to see if maybe the game will pressure me a bit more and cause me to make some more deliberate decisions (I've also been playing around with different speeds, etc). I've learned a couple little tricks by doing this, but ultimately I'm still at a loss as why to expand and such. I keep getting about 150 turns into a game, and then realizing I should have done something different and starting over. Maybe I should just continue and see what happens. I'm just afraid that I'm going to get 400 turns into a game that was handed to me apart from any decisions I made, or that I'm going to get 200 turns in and get completely smashed because I missed something big.

I do understand your point of expanding to get the higher research and parts built (something I can wrap my head around), but, for example, is that something you would do immediately, or would you wait until later in game? Or is that just a play it by ear type thing? I've just not understood the early spreads I see people do, or is that just planning WAY ahead?

I'm not used to playing a game that takes this long to know if you're doing it right or not. I'm enjoying it, for sure, I just wish I could get my head wrapped around it a bit better to actually get through another game again.

 

[EgonSpengler]

My thoughts...

1) Multiple cities allows you more stuff.

Each city generates research, production, culture and wealth. Two cities, each with a library, generate more research than 1 city.

Cities that have a trade connection to the capital, by road or by harbor, generate more wealth. There's also a religious tenet that also produces more research in cities that have a trade connection. You'll find other "per city" bonuses out there.

You can only ever build one thing at a time in a city. If you need to raise an army, for example, with 4 cities you can build 4 units simultaneously.

Your country can only support a certain number of units (military units, but also workers & settlers, iirc) that is based largely on your total population. As with generating research and production, 1 city only grows 1 population at a time.

Finally, more territory and cities makes it harder for the AI to conquer you. If you're playing on a low difficulty setting, the AI may not have a very tough army, and may not be attacking you at all (iirc, the AI literally will not launch an attack when you're playing on the lowest difficulty setting). On higher difficulty settings, you may well have a city taken away from you, and if you only have 1 to begin with, it's game over, man, game over.

2) Multiples of a given Luxury are mostly only useful for trading. If you're looking for a spot to found a new city, you're better off looking for a Luxury you don't have yet.

3) There is a diplomatic benefit to trade.

4) I always micromanage my population.

5) When you ally a City-State, they give you their Luxuries and other resources. Mercantile City-States have Special Luxuries that you can't acquire any other way (if you conquer a Mercantile City-State, its Special Luxury vanishes).

 

[Fish Man]

Hello!

I'm brand new to the Civ franchise, but it's always looked exciting. Now that I've got some time to play, I decided to pick up Civ 5 (no expansions). While I've been having fun with it, there are a few questions I had. While I understand a decent amount of "what" and "how" you can do things, there's a few "why" questions that I'm still unsure of to help me wrap my head around the game. I've looked at guides and videos and such, and they've helped in a lot of areas, but I've still got some questions that I was hoping you guys could help out with!

1) This is going to sound like a stupid question, but I'm hoping to get the "why" so I can understand more deeply the reasons here so I can make my own decisions instead of just suggestions from random guides, etc. Why make more than one city? Guides make suggestions on when, how many, etc. but they never explain the question of "why". For instance, if I've got a city going, happiness is fine, everything "seems" to be going well, why would I found another city? Sure, I could go get another luxury resource, but if I've already got one, why expand? What benefits does it bring overall? Why have early rushes when all it does is put stress on your empire and make things harder to manage? I guess I'm asking... What benefits do I get out of having multiple cities that I can't get with just the one city?

2) This ties in as well to the first question: If empire's happiness is fine, what's the point of having more than one luxury resource tapped that would warrant making a second city to get that resource? Is there any reason apart from trading for gold?

3) This ties into #2 as well I think and is a two part. A) Is there any way to see what another civ has and or wants for trade without opening each of their trade windows individually? B) Is there any reason to trade with other Civs apart from Gold or other resources? I.e., do I get any sort of diplomatic benefit? Because it never seems to change what they think about me (or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place).

4) Upgrading tiles: If a tile is upgraded, but not worked, then it's basically useless, correct? Would you suggest micromanaging tiles? Because that's pretty much what I do now.

5) I notice that I always see the "nearby resource" when I open City State screens. Since I can't trade with them, what's the point of this? Is it just to let me know it's there incase I want to take them over?

I'm sure these all seem like awful questions, but I'm looking for answers that I think will make a lot of my decisions in game feel more deliberate rather than random. For instance, as of now, the only reason I expand a city is because A) I got a free settler or B) my first city has no resources or C) my empire demands a resource I don't currently have access to (and can't trade for). I have a hard time believing a game with this much of a following is really that simple in it's reasoning.

I just feel like there's a lot of answers to the game I'm looking for, but I don't even know what the questions are. For example, when I first started, the game seemed absurdly simple, but the more I played I saw the deeper things in the game. And while I've learned a lot, this whole question of "why expand" is really killing me.

At any rate, I appreciate the help, and I hope these questions don't make me look like a complete jackass.

You need more cities up to a certain extent to increase research, production, gpt, faith, culture, tourism, great people, etc...which leads to much faster win times. The optimal number is 4, but 3 excellent/godly ones will do as well. In the endgame, you want about 1000-1200 research per turn, and able to build spaceship parts in 10-12 turns or less.

Happiness can contribute to golden ages and also to culture once you take a social policy. It's best to keep a 10-20 happiness buffer for growth.

Trading gives a slight diplo benefit, and also happiness/gold/strategic resources for units. You can see what a civ wants/how much they like you with "what do you think of this deal?" button.

Improve all tiles in the workable area, and all resource tiles in your territory. Improve any flat land and riverside tiles with farms, non-riverside hills with mines, and jungles with trading posts. There's a magical button called "food focus"; click it. Then when you want to build important science buildings, click "production focus." Don't build wonders yet, except Oracle and Hubble.

If you ally with a city-state you get all its resources. Ally/befriend city-states by taking some policies in patronage, completing quests, and giving them money.

Always take tradition. Liberty domination is hard to master, but 4-city tradition always works. Then take full rationalism. If you're going for SV take order.

You should get education on turn 125, scientific theory on turn 185, plastics on turn 225, and build all appropriate science buildings immediately. That way your research can keep up with exponentially increasing tech cost and you won't find yourself taking 15-20 turns to research next tech. If you have cash buy the buildings, and work specialists in them full time if you have food. Don't forget your culture, either, and build NC by turn 100. Remember: the most important advice for any victory is to grow, grow, grow.

Plant all GS before scientific theory (2 at most) but after that save them to bulb at the end of the tech tree.

Just following these basic strategies you should get sv by t350, on some maps even by t300. That's 1850-1950 for the yearly inclined.

 

[Hot_spur]

I sense your frustration, and I agree with you, this game has a steep learning curve. When I say I'm a beginner, so far according to my Steam account, I've played 270 hours. (God, if only I was getting paid), and I still feel like I'm just scratching the surface. The only time I abandon a game is if it's clear that I really got gypped on the starting location. Otherwise I play them out.

I usually build four cities, and try to grow them like crazy. Eventually someone declares war on me, but after I've fended off their invasion, I go into their territory and start pillaging, picking off workers, and picking off the occasional easy troop. I won't settle with them until they are willing to grant me a city. Then I leave it a puppet until the resistance dies down.

I rarely build a settler after my first four cities this way.

I always race to build frigates so I can open up the map, dominate at sea, and meet all civs for a diplomatic advantage. The world council stays in my capital after that. Then I make city/state allies to dominate the voting. If someone starts to threaten on progress, I embargo them. Also, I use my spies to rig elections to keep allies.

This is the way I like to play, but as I said, I'm just learning.

 

[Comp1844]

My thoughts...

1) Multiple cities allows you more stuff.

Each city generates research, production, culture and wealth. Two cities, each with a library, generate more research than 1 city.

Cities that have a trade connection to the capital, by road or by harbor, generate more wealth. There's also a religious tenet that also produces more research in cities that have a trade connection. You'll find other "per city" bonuses out there.

You can only ever build one thing at a time in a city. If you need to raise an army, for example, with 4 cities you can build 4 units simultaneously.

Your country can only support a certain number of units (military units, but also workers & settlers, iirc) that is based largely on your total population. As with generating research and production, 1 city only grows 1 population at a time.

Finally, more territory and cities makes it harder for the AI to conquer you. If you're playing on a low difficulty setting, the AI may not have a very tough army, and may not be attacking you at all (iirc, the AI literally will not launch an attack when you're playing on the lowest difficulty setting). On higher difficulty settings, you may well have a city taken away from you, and if you only have 1 to begin with, it's game over, man, game over.

2) Multiples of a given Luxury are mostly only useful for trading. If you're looking for a spot to found a new city, you're better off looking for a Luxury you don't have yet.

3) There is a diplomatic benefit to trade.

4) I always micromanage my population.

5) When you ally a City-State, they give you their Luxuries and other resources. Mercantile City-States have Special Luxuries that you can't acquire any other way (if you conquer a Mercantile City-State, its Special Luxury vanishes).

Wow, that actually helped a lot, thank you.

I've noticed a guide or two say (on standard speed) they start figuring out what victory route they'll take around turn 150 or so. Is it better to get into the game a bit, see what's at your disposal and play it out, or is it better to have your plan in mind ahead of time? Or does it matter?

I think I'll work on some of this when I get home this evening, messing around with expansion and such.

Thanks!


EDIT: These are all very helpful, and have me pumped to play some more tonight with a little more of a "plan". I think I'm going to go on Prince (or one above that) and get a feel for a full game at that difficulty now that I understand what's at my fingertips a bit more.

Thanks again.

 

[Comp1844]

What would be the suggested difficulty for a new player that would keep me from being overwhelmed too easily, while making my decisions actually matter at the same time?

For instance, my first victory was difficulty 2 or 3, and it honestly felt like I could have just auto piloted the entire game and not lost, which made it feel (as I mentioned) like my choices didn't really matter.

Now, since I'm still new, I don't want something that's going to just steamroll me, but I also don't want something that I can just steamroll. Basically, I want to be forced into difficult decisions so that I can know whether or not I'm making the right decisions and see the outcome thereof. In my first victory, I had no idea if I was even making good decisions, because basically every decision was a 'good one'.

I guess I'm looking for something that will make me feel like I'm actually interacting with a grander scale world, rather than just making new things until the game is over.

Any suggestions? Also, what specifically changes with the AI with each difficulty increase?

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[justaquestion]

more cities. more gold,science production. you just get more. one city wont get you 1000 science. unless its like level 100 by the time you get done. happiness is only necessary to make cities. it isnt a large part of winning the game, aside from helping you make cities.

its best to ally city states not attack them. the resource list is there bc theres no other way to see what resources they have apart from looking in their land.

and naw, u cant see another civs resources beside looking in their land on the map

 

[Merciorum]

What would be the suggested difficulty for a new player that would keep me from being overwhelmed too easily, while making my decisions actually matter at the same time?

For instance, my first victory was difficulty 2 or 3, and it honestly felt like I could have just auto piloted the entire game and not lost, which made it feel (as I mentioned) like my choices didn't really matter.

Now, since I'm still new, I don't want something that's going to just steamroll me, but I also don't want something that I can just steamroll. Basically, I want to be forced into difficult decisions so that I can know whether or not I'm making the right decisions and see the outcome thereof. In my first victory, I had no idea if I was even making good decisions, because basically every decision was a 'good one'.

I guess I'm looking for something that will make me feel like I'm actually interacting with a grander scale world, rather than just making new things until the game is over.

Any suggestions? Also, what specifically changes with the AI with each difficulty increase?

Thanks again, everyone!

Prince or King is what you need, I think. With Warlord and below the player has advantages, with King and above the AI gets advantages. Prince is where everyone is on a level playing field, and is good once you've got the hang of it and can win easily.

Basically, if you can win easily, go up a level I still muddle around on Prince/King, but that's just because I suck .

 

[Walter R]

Hello!

I'm brand new to the Civ franchise, but it's always looked exciting. Now that I've got some time to play, I decided to pick up Civ 5 (no expansions). While I've been having fun with it, there are a few questions I had. While I understand a decent amount of "what" and "how" you can do things, there's a few "why" questions that I'm still unsure of to help me wrap my head around the game. I've looked at guides and videos and such, and they've helped in a lot of areas, but I've still got some questions that I was hoping you guys could help out with!

1) This is going to sound like a stupid question, but I'm hoping to get the "why" so I can understand more deeply the reasons here so I can make my own decisions instead of just suggestions from random guides, etc. Why make more than one city? Guides make suggestions on when, how many, etc. but they never explain the question of "why". For instance, if I've got a city going, happiness is fine, everything "seems" to be going well, why would I found another city? Sure, I could go get another luxury resource, but if I've already got one, why expand? What benefits does it bring overall? Why have early rushes when all it does is put stress on your empire and make things harder to manage? I guess I'm asking... What benefits do I get out of having multiple cities that I can't get with just the one city?

2) This ties in as well to the first question: If empire's happiness is fine, what's the point of having more than one luxury resource tapped that would warrant making a second city to get that resource? Is there any reason apart from trading for gold?

3) This ties into #2 as well I think and is a two part. A) Is there any way to see what another civ has and or wants for trade without opening each of their trade windows individually? B) Is there any reason to trade with other Civs apart from Gold or other resources? I.e., do I get any sort of diplomatic benefit? Because it never seems to change what they think about me (or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place).

4) Upgrading tiles: If a tile is upgraded, but not worked, then it's basically useless, correct? Would you suggest micromanaging tiles? Because that's pretty much what I do now.

5) I notice that I always see the "nearby resource" when I open City State screens. Since I can't trade with them, what's the point of this? Is it just to let me know it's there incase I want to take them over?

I'm sure these all seem like awful questions, but I'm looking for answers that I think will make a lot of my decisions in game feel more deliberate rather than random. For instance, as of now, the only reason I expand a city is because A) I got a free settler or B) my first city has no resources or C) my empire demands a resource I don't currently have access to (and can't trade for). I have a hard time believing a game with this much of a following is really that simple in it's reasoning.

I just feel like there's a lot of answers to the game I'm looking for, but I don't even know what the questions are. For example, when I first started, the game seemed absurdly simple, but the more I played I saw the deeper things in the game. And while I've learned a lot, this whole question of "why expand" is really killing me.

At any rate, I appreciate the help, and I hope these questions don't make me look like a complete jackass.

Hi,

Firstly please never worry about 'looking a complete jackass' - I still ask some noob questions and the other guys are never anything less than helpful.

I'll try and answer your 'why' question; two thoughts that spring to mind:

Your capital would be absolutely outstanding if it had access to all the strategic resources required throughout the game, so you will need to get access from other areas.
Your civ will eventually top out in pop with just one city, whereas the AI civs will not; population=beakers so you will fall behind in tech - sooner or later they will out-tech you to such a significant extent that they will be able to remove the weak civ (i.e. you). Even a 'peaceful' AI civ will not ignore a really soft target.

The 'when' is a bit more subjective and game/map specific; however, I think most people would look to have two cities pretty much a.s.a.p. and 3-4 before Education has been researched. After that many people don't found any others, but may get others through conquest.

I think the salient point is that Science is paramount in the game, regardless of the victory condition you are pursuing, and you just don't get enough from one city.

Hope this helps.

 

[A.J.K.]

1) This is going to sound like a stupid question, but I'm hoping to get the "why" so I can understand more deeply the reasons here so I can make my own decisions instead of just suggestions from random guides, etc. Why make more than one city? Guides make suggestions on when, how many, etc. but they never explain the question of "why". For instance, if I've got a city going, happiness is fine, everything "seems" to be going well, why would I found another city? Sure, I could go get another luxury resource, but if I've already got one, why expand? What benefits does it bring overall? Why have early rushes when all it does is put stress on your empire and make things harder to manage? I guess I'm asking... What benefits do I get out of having multiple cities that I can't get with just the one city?

More luxury resources = more Happiness. More Happiness = more growth. More growth = more science, gold, culture. Also more Population = less Happiness, so if you just keep one city your population will keep going up, causing your happiness to go down. Also, more cities = more Research and more Gold, as others have pointed out. And more Culture. Another thing is that multiple cities allow you to "specialize" each city. For example, you can use one city for Culture buildings, one city for Military buildings, and one for Science buildings. I believe the point of this is that it allows you to not have to build all buildings in one city and keep the cost of buildings down to the point where the gold output of each city is enough to cover them (I'm got about 80 hours into the game, but I'm still learning too). Most of the strategy guides I've read recommend city specialization.

Here's another thought - a strategy I've recently embraced is to not focus too much on producing military units in cities - instead develop growth and gold, then just BUY the military units when you need them. If you have 2 or 3 cities that are fairly close to each other and one is under attack, you can use all of the cities to quickly purchase multiple military units, whereas if you just had the one city you're limited to purchasing 1 per turn.

2) This ties in as well to the first question: If empire's happiness is fine, what's the point of having more than one luxury resource tapped that would warrant making a second city to get that resource? Is there any reason apart from trading for gold?

You can never have too much happiness. And the more resources you have, the more you have available to trade, which ties in well with your next question...

3) This ties into #2 as well I think and is a two part. A) Is there any way to see what another civ has and or wants for trade without opening each of their trade windows individually? B) Is there any reason to trade with other Civs apart from Gold or other resources? I.e., do I get any sort of diplomatic benefit? Because it never seems to change what they think about me (or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place).

A) I don't think so. B) The biggest reason I do it is to meet a city's demand. You will occasionally get a message saying "City X demands Resource Y!" If you obtain that resource, the city enters "We Love the King" mode for multiple turns, which gives you a growth bonus. The quickest way to do this is typically through trading.

4) Upgrading tiles: If a tile is upgraded, but not worked, then it's basically useless, correct? Would you suggest micromanaging tiles? Because that's pretty much what I do now.

I usually just use the "Focus" check boxes. I haven't much tried micromanaging.

5) I notice that I always see the "nearby resource" when I open City State screens. Since I can't trade with them, what's the point of this? Is it just to let me know it's there incase I want to take them over?

As others have pointed out, when you are "friends" with a City-State (most easily accomplished by giving them gold, but also achievable through completing missions like clearing nearby barbarian encampments), they will share their resources with you, which can be extremely helpful (for example, if you don't have access to certain resources within your territory, you will be unable to build certain units - like if you don't have Iron, you can't build Swordsmen. If you don't have oil, you can't build Fighters. This can sometimes be fairly crippling to your military.) And yeah, if you need the resource you can always just conquer the City-State as well. Although if you're going for a Diplomatic victory you may want to avoid conquering City-States.

This is my first post here, hope it was helpful.

 

[beetle]

No one has said it, but Tradition gives you 4 free cultural buildings and 4 free aqueducts. So it feels like a waste not to have 4 cities. Likewise, Liberty provides more benefits with the more cities you have.

There is a whole OCC (one city challenge) genre, but if you are not playing that way, then you need cities! That said, people are coming from Civ II/III/IV tradition where the whole point is empire building, and it’s hard to feel like an emperor with only one city.

The “nearby resource” when I open City State screens is not an invitation to capture them, but reason why you want to become friends or allies with them. CS get more resources as the game progresses and their territory grows and they improve tiles.

 

[JonnasN]

What would be the suggested difficulty for a new player that would keep me from being overwhelmed too easily, while making my decisions actually matter at the same time?

For instance, my first victory was difficulty 2 or 3, and it honestly felt like I could have just auto piloted the entire game and not lost, which made it feel (as I mentioned) like my choices didn't really matter.

Like it was said before, Prince is the best for this. When I first got started (around last year), Prince was when I first felt like I earned my victory.

Also, after getting used to the basics, try out different Civs, play up their strengths, go for different victory routes, and you'll end up learning more about the weight of your decisions, and the intricacies of the game. For example, I learned how to best use Liberty after using it in both an Archipelago map with Denmark, and a Continents map with Rome.