[R&F] Advice: Dark Age / Loyalty - timing/micro era management!

[BRENT HOWARD]

Hi all,

Long time civ fan and player... can't afford GS ($54 CAD!!!) so consistent R&F gameplay for me,,, I enjoy it and look forward to first GS sale but need R&F advice,,, not sure that anything has changed in GS but I'll ask that too.

--I've been watching a lot of youtube gameplay, reading a lot of guides and doing a whole lot of loyalty study. I love the culture game and feel like I grasp loyalty quite well.
--Loyalty mech study has actually helped me learn the game a lot exploring all the era score unlocks.

My issue I think comes down to the 1.5 golden and .5 dark modifiers. I love those golden ages but the dark ages hurt severely so I do anything I can to avoid them but the problem is now trying to hit normal ages so the next golden isn't too difficult or trying not to overshoot too much and waste era unlocks or ultimately trying to avoid the atomic era, last age as a dark one. The final straw was my last game, immortal difficulty,, everything was great until the last era, all my era score hits dried up, dark age hits, and my game is basically over. So I understand it isn't rise and rise but it's more like rise and die if you don't micro manage era and ages properly... which I don't mind to an extent but it's just slightly out of balance imo. This particular game was enjoyable then basically over,,, right when I was trying to finish a culture race,, it's basically over because the dark age crept up on me. I almost considered building two religious wonders that would have been useless to me just to keep the game going... and really I should have, it's all that would have saved my game.

So my cry is that I feel like I'm playing unnaturally,, instead of civ 6 with intended strategy and personal playstyle,,, it's just what is my era score, what is my next era unlock... do i gold for heroic, do I delay or do I build something I wouldn't otherwise... it's just draining the fun out of it for me.

So I'm wondering:

---is there a text game file where I could edit the modifiers? perhaps 1.25 golden and .75 dark?
---is there a mod that gives some control or balance without disabling loyalty.. I like it, but it just aint right imo
---does anyone else share my concern that gameplay is hindered a bit too much by the micro era management or is it just me?
---does GS change anything that might make my gameplay more enjoyable consider above complaint? (I do look forward to the warmonger improvements and other features but don't see anything that helps the micro management of era)

Thank you

 

[Victoria]

if you don't micro manage era and ages properly..

I think answering this correctly answers your other questions.
You should not have to micronthese, I do not so why should you
Eras are 40-60 turns long, the higher the difficulty the shorter the era.... but deity does require some micro and darks are easier to fall into... one reason not to play deity is it is quite micro while emperor is probably best once comfortable.
Knowing what gives era and how it works is important. Hopefully you already know this, if not let me know.
If you get a lot of early goldens then it is more likely you will go dark eventually as every golden adds +5 era to the next requirement. You can finish a game even on deity before T200 and even get a golden in every era so it is possible and the general rule is... you may have to push for the first one but once you are rolling after that you do not have to micro. This saving era score is not really required, it can help ensure but wiping out a civ gives +4 by itself... you should be doing well by medieval and the era score automatically works fine... the yey is getting to T100 in decent shape. Civ 6 is not as straight forward as building a national library each game but the general matching rule would be get to at least 0 cities by T100 ideally with quite a few Campus, but not vital.
So classical golden you need 24 points. Here are some things
+1 for each civ you meet, yes only +1 but a scout can easily meet 3-4
+3 for each barb camp killed close, +2 for further. This is a big one.
+2/3 for finding a natural wonder
+2 for settling a natural wonder (with 2 tiles)
+2/3 for building a galley, swordsman, horseman.
+1 for each goody hut.
+2 for being suzerain of a city state.
+2/3 for settling a new continent
+3 for first +3 adjacency district
+4 for building a UB or UU or UI. Civs with these early sometimes have trouble avoiding a golden.

I think I have talked enough, play enough and it becomes more natural and less micro,
I can give you files to change the settings but do you really want to play different to others?

 

[Infixo]

Try out Real Era Tracker mod. It will help you find missing points.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1699006932