Australia

[mccp77]

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.


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.

Do you think that you could consistently beat the Australia game in <100 turns or was this a really lucky situation?

 

[Zalfos]

Do you think that you could consistently beat the Australia game in <100 turns or was this a really lucky situation?

75 turns. 100 turns would be going to 1975 and that would be generous. In truth the UHV says "2000", but it is decided by the tech race and the tech race is decided by 1965 at the latest.

And no, it was mostly the start that allowed me to get a fast time to Ecology, though it could always have been better : I did not avoid the third plague pandemic, I did not get any notable tech trade, I did not roll any of the strong events (mostly an early Gold Rush or that one with the Coal Plants). But I am a very average Civilization player, and I'm sure someone better than me could make it consistent, especially with the changes to the second UHV. It's a different beast, and there could be many new ways to go about it, the interesting part being balancing the Great Generals with the unit gifts, as you have incentives to do both early, but can't do them both at once.

 

[mccp77]

75 turns. 100 turns would be going to 1975 and that would be generous. In truth the UHV says "2000", but it is decided by the tech race and the tech race is decided by 1965 at the latest.

And no, it was mostly the start that allowed me to get a fast time to Ecology, though it could always have been better : I did not avoid the third plague pandemic, I did not get any notable tech trade, I did not roll any of the strong events (mostly an early Gold Rush or that one with the Coal Plants). But I am a very average Civilization player, and I'm sure someone better than me could make it consistent, especially with the changes to the second UHV. It's a different beast, and there could be many new ways to go about it, the interesting part being balancing the Great Generals with the unit gifts, as you have incentives to do both early, but can't do them both at once.

I would suggest if the UHVs can regularly be completed in 75-100 turns that the spawn be pushed back to 1901 after the British 1880 settlement UHV from a game design perspective and after Australia became a sovereign state with agency from a real-world perspective. That removes UK-Australia 19th century friction and makes them more likely to be allies. It also (hopefully) consistently gives the Australian player 1 or 2 more cities on spawn.

No Australian UHVs change, so it's minimal game design work. It would just push the existing UHVs back to alternative historical dates or fun game-design ones.

Some historical dates that might be too easy for gameplay but would make sense could be:

ANZACs (currently 70 turns; 1945) -> Vietnam War entry (65 turns; 1965), Gulf War (91 turns; 1991), Afghan War combat entry (101 turns; 2001) or Iraq Invasion (103 turns; 2003)
(Australia is the only ally to send troops to every major U.S. war post-1945, so alliance contributions do not end with the British Empire)

Mines (currently 39 turns; 1914) -> 1960 (60 turns; iron ore embargo on Japan lifted & start of the resource boom) or 1964 (64 turns; publication date of The Lucky Country)

5 Global Era techs -> 5 techs of any era (just to make sure UHV3 is still possible) with a 100-turn limit (year 2000).

 

[Leoreth]

I would suggest if the UHVs can regularly be completed in 75-100 turns that the spawn be pushed back to 1901 after the British 1880 settlement UHV from a game design perspective and after Australia became a sovereign state with agency from a real-world perspective. That removes UK-Australia 19th century friction and makes them more likely to be allies. It also (hopefully) consistently gives the Australian player 1 or 2 more cities on spawn.

No Australian UHVs change, so it's minimal game design work. It would just push the existing UHVs back to alternative historical dates or fun game-design ones.

What do you mean? The first UHV goal is on your proposed new spawn date.

 

[Dracosolon]

Talk about increased difficulty...

 

[mccp77]

What do you mean? The first UHV goal is on your proposed new spawn date.

Sorry, you're correct, and I apologize for the sloppiness. The bigger point I was trying to convey is that I think everything maybe could just be pushed back to eliminate some historical inconsistency and smooth British-Australian gameplay.

Talk about increased difficulty...

Sorry, I don't follow. If the current UHVs are being completed in under 100 turns (~1950--1970), how would pushing the start date affect difficulty?

Also just to be clear, I'm sorry I don't mean to be a pain in the butt, I'm just floating the idea because I would expect flipping an extra city consistently would make things easier in addition to the other gameplay and historicity benefits.

 

[lethrgy]

i think Dracosolon was just joking about how UHV1 condition date = spawn date would be difficult lol

 

[mccp77]

Talk about increased difficulty...

i think Dracosolon was just joking about how UHV1 condition date = spawn date would be difficult lol

Sorry, I'm dense

 

[Winter8035]

Has anyone playtested for AI Australia? I’ve noticed AI Australia is not expanding at all in my game. I’m roughly 62 years past their spawn in however many marathon turns and they have not settled outside of their core, with only 3 cites: Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland

 

[AOS9001]

Now that you mention it, yes, I have... Their other starting settlers are just sitting in Sydney, doing nothing.

 

[urbestfriend]

Have you seen the Australian wildlife? I wouldn't want to go out there either.

 

[banzay13]

In one game they didn't even settle capital. So England's cites didn't flip.
Then I wia wb created Sydney and moved settlers to others spot - settlers came back in capital.

 

[AOS9001]

In one game they didn't even settle capital. So England's cites didn't flip.
Then I wia wb created Sydney and moved settlers to others spot - settlers came back in capital.

I've checked some of my Manchu saves and I can confirm the Australians are not settling cities in that one. They lost their settlers in my "for fun" game and they're just a few military units hanging around near British cities now.

 

[great.taurus]

Have you seen the Australian wildlife? I wouldn't want to go out there either.

Its the ones you don't see that get you.

 

[AOS9001]

I rolled a Canada start and saw Australia had settled its core plus Brisbane. The git update is definitely working!

 

[civcivcivcivciv]

is this playable in 1.18 or new version ? thanks

 

[Leoreth]

Not in 1.18, only on the develop branch.

 

[Winter8035]

Has anyone figured out the new Great General goal? I’m kind of stumped. The 1st UHV and military gifting are pretty straightforward, but I don’t know how to progress with any military conquest in SE Asia.

 

[lethrgy]

you can try sniping independent cities in SE asia or sending units elsewhere to grab some. ideally you would "liberate" them to other civs that will take em. or you can bully some of the lesser civs in the area. or you could set up some alliances and start whopping on hostile civs when you get pulled into world wars

 

[Dracosolon]

Do you have to gift units in Europe/America or would doing it in a colony work?