Australia

[Dracosolon]

I didn't know that additional anarchy was tied to number of cities, I figured it happened past a certain date to reflect the slower timeline.

How early did you get Totalitarianism? That's what I was worried about.

 

[AOS9001]

I tried Australia last night and spawned in with only a freshly-settled Sydney. Needless to say I lost the mine goal...

 

[Hickman888]

I don't remember what was the city threshold that made you increase the anarchy turns, does anyone know?
...
Anyway, fun civ, fun UHV and great addition overall!

I didn't know that additional anarchy was tied to number of cities, I figured it happened past a certain date to reflect the slower timeline.

How early did you get Totalitarianism? That's what I was worried about.

Nice, congratulations on the Australian win!

I believe 17 cities is the threshold for increasing anarchy turns. Increasing from one turn = two civics, to one turn = one civic, two turns = two/three civics.

 

[Zalfos]

I don't remember what was the city threshold that made you increase the anarchy turns, does anyone know?

First, well done on the win !
As said Hickman, 17, and this post details how. A bit on the generous side, but about right to impair the imperial suspects.

The unique building is a bit meh, the ability to build it comes a bit too late (you need to build observatory, factory and coal plant first, while having to do many other things in the meantime), and that free scientist doesn't make that much of a difference for the final push in tech in the short timeframe you are going to have it.

Replaying the opening tech moves many times, I found the CSIRO quite good. Sure, it's mostly just a free Scientist, but you would want a Laboratory anyway and that one free Scientist scales massively off the civics you want post 1940, especially Egalitarianism. I often found myself going Factory > Coal Plant > Observatory > CSIRO, and getting 4-5 of them up and running before switching to the ANZAC goal.

For unique unit it would maybe have been more useful to have maybe some sort of transport with extra movement, a worker with extra movement, improvement speed or even mobility, or a worker you can draft like a military unit with Nationhood.

A draftable Labourer UU would be a fun idea, though I'd say it would get more mileage in Canada, where you both have more to build and where immigration and food allow for more drafts. Could be called the Navvy (they were quite instrumental in building the trans-continental railways), and either replace or be on the side of the rarely-useful Corvette. Mobility (or an extra Movement) is good, but it might be too similiar to the Madeirero, so another bonus could be found somewhere (or an availability at Railroad) if the draft is not strong enough.

 

[1HammerCitizen]

How early did you get Totalitarianism? That's what I was worried about.

I don't remember exactly, I was a bit anxious about it, so I used Adelaide to train missionaries to spread to a few cities so I could pump units from all of them, just in case. In the end I had plenty of time to train the units (I trained them out of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Cobar, Perth and even a couple from Onslow and Derby).

Nice, congratulations on the Australian win!

I believe 17 cities is the threshold for increasing anarchy turns. Increasing from one turn = two civics, to one turn = one civic, two turns = two/three civics.

Thanks! That information will be very useful to optimize the run. I vaguely remember a video from Henrik where he had this issue and I thought the number was 13, but that didn't make sense here.

Btw, big fan of your videos

Replaying the opening tech moves many times, I found the CSIRO quite good. Sure, it's mostly just a free Scientist, but you would want a Laboratory anyway and that one free Scientist scales massively off the civics you want post 1940, especially Egalitarianism. I often found myself going Factory > Coal Plant > Observatory > CSIRO, and getting 4-5 of them up and running before switching to the ANZAC goal.

Certainly, the CSIRO is not bad, but I tend to look at the value in things also in terms of opportunity costs. If I didn't need the observatory as a prerequisite for the CSIRO, I would've preferred to build a university first since it provides the same science output, plus some culture that would've been nice to have earlier for a few spots (Perth, Brisbane, Cobar and Cairns come to mind), while you don't really have enough pops to take advantage of the scientist slot from the observatory. Factory and coal plant you need anyway to pump units, but once you do that, and finally get the CSIRO, you'll take advantage of the free scientist for about 10-20 turns max.

I may also be undervaluing it a bit because I ended up not switching out of Totalitarianism into Egalitarianism, and preferred to train a few cannons and steamships before getting to Psychology instead of pursuing the CSIRO, with the idea of softening up defenses in Indonesia + do some collateral to avoid getting screwed in combat as much as possible (I have some serious 99% loss PTSD).

There's definitely room for optimization here, I appreciate your perspectives, you're helping me look at things differently

 

[great.taurus]

For unique unit it would maybe have been more useful to have maybe some sort of transport with extra movement, a worker with extra movement, improvement speed or even mobility, or a worker you can draft like a military unit with Nationhood.

For unique building it would be more useful perhaps if the CSIRO replaced the observatory instead of the laboratory.

Since this civ represents colonial era Australia, I think a suitable UB would be the Convict Gaol to replace the Jail. When complete it could spawn a free Convict Worker (or two, or periodically, or whatever is balanced). This would be thematic and very useful for UHV 1 which requires a lot of worker spam.

 

[Dracosolon]

Current UB seems fine, even if it does require another building. I think previous discussions mentioned something like an "Immigration Office" as a Customs House UB. Could have a bonus to help all these desert cities, but it’d probably be redundant if Australia gets immigration mechanics applied to it.

 

[Tigranes]

The starting ("loading") map visibility of Australia should have included the British Isles and basically the tiles which would have been revealed by the passing of the First Fleet:

 

[Hickman888]

I tried Australia last night and spawned in with only a freshly-settled Sydney. Needless to say I lost the mine goal...

I think Australia would benefit the most from a new 1800 AD scenario. It is completely unsettled and undeveloped at the start of 1700 AD, and relying on the AI English to get the ball rolling for you as Australia is just not too reliable.

 

[AOS9001]

I think Australia would benefit the most from a new 1800 AD scenario. It is completely unsettled and undeveloped at the start of 1700 AD, and relying on the AI English to get the ball rolling for you as Australia is just not too reliable.

Yeah, I tried a few different starts last night, even on monarch/epic Australia was still unsettled. Building a civilization from the ground up like it's 3000 BC just does not cut it in 1850, you will be catastrophically behind by 1900.

 

[AOS9001]

Suggestion: Manus island, New Britain, and Bougainville should be added as historical for Australia, as Australia controlled the former German colony of New Guinea for over half a century.



New Zealand also has some islands in Oceania if your goal is to make NZ part of the Australian civ.

 

[Zalfos]

The starting ("loading") map visibility of Australia should have included the British Isles and basically the tiles which would have been revealed by the passing of the First Fleet:

A British Galleon sailing south on a two-tiles loop with an instrumental rendition of The Shores of Botany Bay playing in the background.

Yeah, I tried a few different starts last night, even on monarch/epic Australia was still unsettled. Building a civilization from the ground up like it's 3000 BC just does not cut it in 1850, you will be catastrophically behind by 1900.

While an empty Oceania might be more daunting, I think it also opens new opportunities, as with New Zealand you have 18 non-Aluminium mines, which means that you might tech Engine before Electricity, an order that fits better the buildings you want. With the changes to Stratocracy, you should also be able to cut more corners early on, by skipping on military entirely until Psychology.

In general, I think Australia gets a lot of value from looking around the first few turns, checking on open land and wonders yet unclaimed. If you need to go to war for some mines, then you can start working towards the ANZAC early. If there's no good wonders left, you can switch to Monarchy to speed up your civilian units and use the Advanced Gold elsewhere. I believe there's also a build somewhere implying a fast Pentagon and two Great Generals, that would skip Totalitarianism altogether and keep high tech output all game long. I might be tempted to replay it soon, these UHVs are fun — akin to a late-game puzzle with many variables and multiple solutions.

 

[Temujin8k]

Australian civ theme suggestion:

 

[Dracosolon]

Speaking of which - where does the current theme come from?

 

[Temujin8k]

The current one is the vanilla Roosevelt theme.

 

[1HammerCitizen]

While an empty Oceania might be more daunting, I think it also opens new opportunities, as with New Zealand you have 18 non-Aluminium mines, which means that you might tech Engine before Electricity, an order that fits better the buildings you want. With the changes to Stratocracy, you should also be able to cut more corners early on, by skipping on military entirely until Psychology.

In general, I think Australia gets a lot of value from looking around the first few turns, checking on open land and wonders yet unclaimed. If you need to go to war for some mines, then you can start working towards the ANZAC early. If there's no good wonders left, you can switch to Monarchy to speed up your civilian units and use the Advanced Gold elsewhere. I believe there's also a build somewhere implying a fast Pentagon and two Great Generals, that would skip Totalitarianism altogether and keep high tech output all game long. I might be tempted to replay it soon, these UHVs are fun — akin to a late-game puzzle with many variables and multiple solutions.

Agreed. Also, when I was testing the civ I used the same save every time which included Auckland settled by the British, taking away 2 potential mines, which forced me to settle 2 additional spots. If I had access to it I probably would've chosen to avoid New Guinea, Onslow, Katherine/Darwin or Dunedin/Christchurch for the 1st goal, since they only provide access to 1 mine each. So if you decide to still tech electricity, you can skip training 1 settler + transport it, which may not seem like much, but it can make the difference in the tight deadline you have, especially if the rest of Australia is unsettled and don't flip anything form the British.

Monarchy seems a good option if you find it unsettled, otherwise I think you might benefit a bit more from the 100% GP and additional happiness from Democracy, especially considering most of your cities won't even have a garrison before you get the 1st goal and happiness can be a bit tight.

The Pentagon gamble most likely requires keeping Democracy, you'll need to rush it with an engineer to have it on time, and maybe another one to rush National College for tech early, or a Scientist to bulb/Academy/settle, not sure which would be best.

Changes to Stratocracy definitely open up tons of possibilities, I'll try and explore a few when I have time.

 

[Zalfos]

"It is natural, therefore, that, in this crisis, the Labor Party should give its uttermost to maintain representative government and to ensure that the principles of social progress ; of liberty ; and the rights of citizenship shall not be swept away in a maelstrom of militarised might."

1950 finish, no Totalitarianism. True to Curtin.

 

[Tigranes]

Did you go to war with British to get NZ and, if yes, when and how it happened?

 

[Temujin8k]

Anyone here pulled off UHV1 on Regent/Normal while starting with no settled cities? Need tips.

 

[Zalfos]

Did you go to war with British to get NZ and, if yes, when and how it happened?

No, I rolled for an empty Oceania, it's surprisingly more reliable. Putting the cities down yourself ensures you get the rest of the build going smoothly.
Speaking of, Hobert could be slightly reduced on the English settling map, to a 8 or a 5. It's fine to start with it from time to time, but I saw it often and Melbourne is the objectively better spot.

Anyone here pulled off UHV1 on Regent/Normal while starting with no settled cities? Need tips.

The easiest way out is to put as many Mines as you can with the Advanced Start, as they will both spare you working turns, but also speed up the production of the cities you're going to put there. Of note, you can get one extra Aluminium mine by using the Advanced Start to clear the one in the jungle on Cape York, which will get you to 17 — the last one can come from either New Zealand or New Guinea, or any close-by city you can reasonably take with your starting army.

You start with 4 Settlers. You want Sydney, either Adelaide or Melbourne, Perth and, if possible, Auckland, and each of these cities should start with a Settler > Worker build (though there are variants, don't be afraid to experiment around). The rest is natural settling over the island, trying to get to 18 mines in time. Have your cities work Culture to get mines in range (especially important for Perth and Wagga Wagga) and don't be afraid to go to 15 Workers or so. Forget making units, they're not going to be useful, you can draft city defenders a bit later. Forget buildings too, but you might get a wonder with your Great Engineers if luck is on your side : Bell Rock Lighthouse and Statue of Liberty are the two big ones.

Also, mind the Worker use ! Start by cutting woods to get faster production, don't let them waste turns if they are in a stack, and don't keep them idle ! Your Steamships can balance them out across, moving half of them out of an area that is almost complete.
For the technologies, start with Electricity to ensure Aluminium is available by the end of the UHV. Collectivism is better, but it can be difficult squeezing them both while you're still figuring out the ropes.