Are Eurekas Making Every Game the Same?

[CoconutTank]

I'm happy to get eurekas and inspirations wherever I can, but I'm also happy to not let myself get roped into them just because.

Printing's eureka for example requires 2 Universities, but I tend to prioritize other districts over Campuses (Comm Hubs, Industrial Zones and Ent Complexes for example). No I don't think my new city is in any good position to be hosting a Campus while it has low population and low productivity, let alone building up to a University.

Drama and Poetry's inspiration is to build a wonder, and well sometimes there's an early wonder that you don't mind slaving your captial on for while, other times you might want to use that time to build districts, buildings and units instead. I might not even get Mysticism's inspiration when it is relevant, because I might not have the faith generation to get a pantheon early on (and no I don't highly prioritize Holy Sites either).

This isn't to say that Es/Is are inconsequential, because I'm pretty happy the system exists, and it encourages greater map interaction. If there's a tech that I care about enough, and fulfilling its E/I is not an awful tangent, I will absolutely go and try to fulfill that E/I. I don't plan on getting every E/I in the game, as that seems like a fool's errand. The worst one is to establish an alliance with another civilization, and well, let's say I haven't had much opportunity to ally with the jokers in my games (I don't really want to either, so there's that).

I do agree that I have a fairly standardized early build at this point. Slinger/Slinger/Builder/Slinger tends to be my most common build, mostly to maximize my chance to get Archery's eureka (and subsequently Machinery's) and State Workforce's inspiration. But that's not really a problem with Es/Is, that's a problem with Archers being really dang good, so I want lots of Archers anyway, and with Political Philosophy being such an important milestone that I need to reach asap. Even absent of Es/Is, I probably still want Archery even if it's a dead end tech, and I still need to get out of Chiefdom gov't if I want to stay relevant.

 

[Roxlimn]

The short answer is no. It was just like this in Civ IV. "Are cottages making the game the same every time?" Then Civ V "Is the lack of whatever making the game play the same very game?" It's not the mechanics. It's you. You're playing the game the same every game because that's what you're comfortable with, and because it's what you know. You have to be comfortable doing insane things and things which may not work. Back in the day, some of us were saying that creating Specialists instead of cottage economies was viable. Shot down. Obsolete suggested that wonder-whoring was a viable strategy. Shot down.

You want a different game? Go wonder-whoring in Civ VI. See if that works. Instead of conquering, go Eureka-hunting with Sumeria. Go Science with Sumeria. See if that makes a difference. Can't get a religion as Spain? Get someone else to spread to you and then spread that religion. See if that works.

If you can't try insane things in your Civ game, then you're playing above your skill level. Dial it back until you can do something like a one city challenge. Then try doing something different.