Brave New World - The Final Four

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Good Day Ladies and Gentlemen,

After months of twists and turns we finally know all the Civilizations for Brave New World

So let's go through the last four - trust me, things are about to get interesting!


Indonesia

Spoiler :


Indonesia is a civ whose potential may be difficult to completely unlock, but if you can, you will be a very powerful force in the game. Firstly, they come with the only new Luxury Resources in the entire expansion. The Spice Islanders Unique Ability lets the first 3 cities founded on continents other than where your capital was founded each provide 2 unique Luxury Resources, Nutmeg, Cloves, or Pepper. Depending on the map this could be quite difficult, but if you can do it you will get a powerful happiness bonus and three potential trading hubs which can never be razed. However, the intriguing Indonesia does not stop there, for as well as having unique resources, you can build Kris Swordsman. This 'interesting' unit gets a completely random and seemingly unique promotion after its first round of combat. For example Ambition, which gives you a Combat bonus when attacking but a 20% penalty when defending, or Recruitment, which heals all damage if a non-barbarian unit is killed. Finally, if you still are not sold on the potential of this Civ, you can build the Candi, which replaces the Garden. As well as the usual Garden bonuses, it grants you +2 Faith for every world religion that has at least one follower in the city. So for once, leave those inquisitors at home, Indonesia ain't got no time for that.

Morocco

Spoiler :


Once again the wonderful facial hair of Brave New World is on display with the gloriously bearded Ahmad al-Mansur of Morocco. Morocco is the desert specialist of Brave New World, with both their Berber Cavalry and Kasbah really making use of those frequently ignored lands. Firstly, their Berber Cavalry receives combat bonuses when fighting both in Desert tiles and in Moroccan territory, being quickly able to attack anyone who dares stray into their dunes. In addition, Morocco can build a Kasbah on desert tiles that not only gives a 50% bonus to defense but also grants you one additional Food, Production and Gold on the tile. If you combine this with Petra and Desert Folklore you are looking at a powerhouse of production that only you can fully tap. To go along with this desert power, Morocco also get a bonus to trade through their Unique Ability, Gateway to Africa. For each International Trade route with a different Civilization or City State you receive a +3 Gold and +1 Culture bonus (other civs gets +2 Gold bonus for each Trade Route sent to Morocco, as a nice thank-you we presume).

The Shoshone

Spoiler :


The Shoshone unlike many of the other Civilizations in the Expansion, are not specialists in any one field. However, their various uniques will allow them to be adaptable to the play style of most players. Their first bonus is their Unique Ability - The Great Expanse. This UA grants a combat bonus in your own territory, as well as providing new cities with 12 surrounding tiles instead of the usual 6. Not only can you grab those pesky resources quicker and cheaper than any other civ, but you also will get to expand much quicker than everyone else with your culture head start and who doesn't like a defensive bonus. When it comes to unique units the Bannock-Shoshone get two; the Comanche Riders, which are a cheaper, faster Cavalry unit, and the Pathfinder, one of the best new units in the game (in my opinion). The Pathfinder is an upgraded scout, which not only has the combat strength almost on-par with the Warrior but also comes with the Native Tongue Promotion, allowing you to choose what bonus you get from Ruins. No more 'revealing barbarian camps' 4 ruins in a row, or getting a surprise upgrade to an Archer next to a couple of Brutes. Look out Celts, your reign of always being the first to found a Pantheon may be over.

Venice

Spoiler :


Last, but by no means least, is Venice. Wow! Where to begin. Hold onto your hats, for things are about to become weird ... or wonderful ... well it is really up to you. Firstly let us start with the fact that Enrico Dandolo of Venice cannot build any Settlers. Indeed Venice's Unique Ability Serenissima also means that they cannot annex cities (though you can still capture and puppet of cities). However, while this seems like a real disadvantage, Venice does get some really nice perks. Firstly they get double the normal number of trade routes available, which is a major bonus and which rightly can turn the city of Venice into an economic powerhouse. Also, Venice can buy units and buildings in their puppeted cities. But what makes Venice really interesting is their Unique Great Person,the Merchant of Venice. Not only can you do all of the normal things a Great Merchant can do but a Merchant of Venice can also purchase City-States, bringing them under Venetian control as a Puppet (as a little bonus you will get a free Merchant of Venice when you research Optics). Finally, the Venetians can build a Great Galleass, which as the name would imply, is better than the normal Galleass. Also, props to Forum member Menzies for calling Venice all the way back in April, just off the color of one of the new City States.


So there you have it, we now know all of the 9 Civs for Brave New World. What do you think of the new choices, which Civ is your new favorite, is their truly one with the greatest beard? Come join in on the discussions in the Brave New World Forum.
 
Very disappointed with the decision to add Venice. What is the point of playing as a civ if you can't build cities and expand?! I will definitely change Venice to Italy once I get the expansion. The other civs are OK.
 
I'm really looking forward of doing the Bannock-Shoshone tribe. Their expansionist ability and unit seems right for an expansionist like me. A scout that can fight? Being able to grab 2 tiles around my cities to boot? Sign me up.
 
Very disappointed with the decision to add Venice. What is the point of playing as a civ if you can't build cities and expand?! I will definitely change Venice to Italy once I get the expansion. The other civs are OK.

I, too, would have prefered Italy, or a non-european, but I get the idea. They wanted to have one civ with a very original UA that change the gameplay much more than usual. A City-State seemed to be well-suited for that.
 
On fully unlocking Indonesia's unique ability; just select Tiny Islands on a standard (or smaller) map size and enjoy those luxuries.

Now as to the UB; if they still have the standard restriction of the base building (Garden requires fresh water); that will be considerably more difficult to get in all your cities.
Particularly since I've found on the tiny island script having to re-roll three times in a row just to get a start that does have fresh water.
 
Not Jewish myself, but the continued absence of Isreal coupled now with Venice's unique Great Person, the Merchant of Venice, which clearly alludes to Shakespeare's play and Shylock the Jew, seems to be troublingly anti-Semitic.
 
Not Jewish myself, but the continued absence of Isreal coupled now with Venice's unique Great Person, the Merchant of Venice, which clearly alludes to Shakespeare's play and Shylock the Jew, seems to be troublingly anti-Semitic.
Personally, I find using terms like "anti-Semitic" to be troublingly rash if you're not 100% sure that you're not slandering good people.

Israel could be a country choice, I suppose, but there are many other countries that are bigger and older and haven't been selected yet.

Yes, the Shylock figure in Shakespeare's play has anti-Semitic dimensions (though Shakespeare, being Shakespeare, makes Shylock a much rounder character than the usual "Hebrew" stereotypes of his day.) But the Merchants of Venice unique units in BNW are representations of the Merchant Princes of Venice's heyday. They're not Shylock. If anything, historically, they would be Christian--and anti-Semitic. Perhaps a nice ironic twist was intended? Or perhaps the developers just wanted to show off their educations with a literary allusion?
 
Not Jewish myself, but the continued absence of Isreal coupled now with Venice's unique Great Person, the Merchant of Venice, which clearly alludes to Shakespeare's play and Shylock the Jew, seems to be troublingly anti-Semitic.

The term 'anti-Semitic' is so overused these days that noone even cares anymore.
 
Not Jewish myself, but the continued absence of Isreal coupled now with Venice's unique Great Person, the Merchant of Venice, which clearly alludes to Shakespeare's play and Shylock the Jew, seems to be troublingly anti-Semitic.

Well, I am Jewish, and I have to say I am not surprised at all by the absence of Israel. Israel was a pretty small kingdom that didn't last long enough. After Solomon it was torn apart. There were periods of unity and independence later, but, again, they were pretty short.
And modern Israel is way too young to become a civ.
Still, I would have liked to see Israel in the game instead of Venice.
Actually, there are a lot of civs I would've like to have instead of Venice: there's Hungary, Georgia, Armenia, Madagascar, Kongo, Uzbekistan, Australia (hey, if they have Brazil, why not?), the Haida nation.
I am happy, though, we finally get Portugal, Zululand, Indonesia and Poland. Morocco, Shoshone and Brazil are also welcome additions. Venice, however, will become Italy in my game.

Moderator Action: Please don't ignore moderator warnings. The one above made clear that the Israel discussion should cease. Return to discussing the civilizations that actually are in the game.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
 
This is disappointing. I am actually about to cancel my pre-order and wait for a large price drop. I don't know what they were thinking when they added Venice and the Shoshone (who I've never heard of until now). The logical choice would've been Italy and the Souix, respectively. What a shame.
 
This is disappointing. I am actually about to cancel my pre-order and wait for a large price drop. I don't know what they were thinking when they added Venice and the Shoshone (who I've never heard of until now). The logical choice would've been Italy and the Souix, respectively. What a shame.

Cancelling your pre-order because you don't like two out of nine new civs?! There are seven other civs in there, new features, and you can always mod your game to change the Shoshone into the Sioux and the Venetians to Italy.
 
I'm really looking forward of doing the Bannock-Shoshone tribe. Their expansionist ability and unit seems right for an expansionist like me. A scout that can fight? Being able to grab 2 tiles around my cities to boot? Sign me up.

+1! I really like the sound of this one more than any of the others (I think!). I've already pre-ordered of course. Just need to finish my current game and then wait till BNW arrives.

I think it wouldn't hurt to reevaluate some of the existing nations and change them if needed. I think everyone is agreed that say Denmark for instance has pretty awful benefits for one.

Cancelling your pre-order because you don't like two out of nine new civs?! There are seven other civs in there, new features, and you can always mod your game to change the Shoshone into the Sioux and the Venetians to Italy.

+1. Im not sure about some of the new civs (and some of the existing ones Ive yet to play!) but that's the beauty of choice isn't it?
 
I must be the only one who read Venice and thought this would be the first new Civ to try out. It adds a whole new dimension to a OCC style game. Sounds better than both India and Austria which tried to promote tall strategies and unique use of CS respectively.
 
Sounds better than both India and Austria which tried to promote tall strategies and unique use of CS respectively.

India is actually kind of hilarious for OCC. With Monarchy, citizens in Delhi don't cause any unhappiness, and the Forbidden Palace only provides 5% unhappiness reduction per citizen :lol: Well done, Firaxis, well done :p
 
This is disappointing. I am actually about to cancel my pre-order and wait for a large price drop. I don't know what they were thinking when they added Venice and the Shoshone (who I've never heard of until now). The logical choice would've been Italy and the Souix, respectively. What a shame.

Well the positive of it all is that at least you're not overreacting to the situation. That would have been unfortunate to watch.
 
I like the different game mechanics of these. It's not like the previous ones, where you could play all civs pretty much in the same manner. Escpecially with Venice, but I do feel their occ+pseudo-puppet mechanic should've come 1st with Attila (maybe he could only conquer).
 
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