Conversely, if I had weak culture competition when I played Canada, then I never would've gotten to the Diplomatic Victory, but won a Cultural Victory in a comparable amount of turns to those previous games.
In my only diplomatic victory game, also playing as Canada, I had to deliberately buff another civ's cultural strength by giving them paintings. Otherwise I also would have reached a CV before the DV.
Maybe now that I know more about how the Diplomatic Victory works I could optimize that path, but the danger of an accidental Cultural Victory looms large.
Indeed. I'm finishing my first GS playthrough as Canada (after a failed attempt with a disastrous start as Canada on Emperor, and a sneaky loss to a japanese religious victory as Kupe). I'm playing on King, which is too easy of course, I could win Diplo, Culture or Science at this point. It will most likely be Culture though, thanks to the rock bands huge tourism output that I keep spamming with all the faith I have piled up since the ancient times.
So you're better off saving your faith for the later ages to rock out like there's not tomorrow.
Canada is made for cultural or diplomatic victories, but they do have interesting early abilities that are quietly strong.
One, as mentioned, is the resource boost. Canada can get a nice army up fast if you have the start for it.
The second is the 'no surprise wars', often overlooked for its potential. This baby means even if you start next to a powerful early warmonger, like the Aztecs, you don't have to waste that very important early production on a military safety net - it can go into food and science.
Then the synergy kicks off, because you also can get a couple of more scouts out, and be well positioned with a decent army and many contacts by the time emergencies and aid roll around.
With Canada, I'm less likely to dof the house, so I can join an emergency, and yet I'm not cautious of the surprise war - particularly those nasty stab-you-in-the-backs while your army is off freeing a city.
Canadas strengths are for sure more sublime, you aren't getting fancy ui's or ud's. But there is strength there to be taken advantage of, even fairly early. Remember, an emergency is still a war - even when the emergency is over. Backdoor surprise wars.
Their big handicap is not being able to settler snipe.
Canada is made for cultural or diplomatic victories, but they do have interesting early abilities that are quietly strong.
One, as mentioned, is the resource boost. Canada can get a nice army up fast if you have the start for it.
The second is the 'no surprise wars', often overlooked for its potential. This baby means even if you start next to a powerful early warmonger, like the Aztecs, you don't have to waste that very important early production on a military safety net - it can go into food and science.
Then the synergy kicks off, because you also can get a couple of more scouts out, and be well positioned with a decent army and many contacts by the time emergencies and aid roll around.
With Canada, I'm less likely to dof the house, so I can join an emergency, and yet I'm not cautious of the surprise war - particularly those nasty stab-you-in-the-backs while your army is off freeing a city.
Canadas strengths are for sure more sublime, you aren't getting fancy ui's or ud's. But there is strength there to be taken advantage of, even fairly early. Remember, an emergency is still a war - even when the emergency is over. Backdoor surprise wars.
Their big handicap is not being able to settler snipe.
One thing I noticed, and you hit upon it, is Canada has to be pretty shrewd diplomatically to get the most out of their Emergencies bonus and play semi-peacefully. You can't be friends or allies with the most likely offenders or else you can't participate.
But if you are angling for a diplo victory, you want allies for the alliance Favor, so you end up allying with the weakest civs on the map. Thus you get dragged into wars against the strongest civs. I call those opportunities. For pillaging and for territorial gains.
Conversely, you can be the biggest jerk in the world and intentionally instigate military and religion emergencies with yourself as the target. You're going to tick everyone off, so that protection from surprise wars comes in handy.
Canada's bonuses are not as weak as they seem, but they are nuanced and you have to be skillful to get a good game out of them.
I recently realized that even if you have more favor than the rest of the AI combine, they can still out vote you, since the votes are progressively more expensive. That's a good feature, in my opinion. (I mention here as I noticed it in my Canada game, and saw one of Eagle's posts on the previous page).
Cannot declare Surprise Wars or war on a city state. Gain +1 additional favor for every friendship and alliance declared. Open Borders with all City States with at least 1 envoy and not denounced by the CS's suzerain. Gain tourism equal to twice to your favor/turn once the World Congress is established. Completing an emergency or competition results in 100% favor for the next 30 turns.
The Last Best West
Can build farms on Tundra Sites. Building a farm, hockey rink, or a district on a tundra tile causes a culture bomb. +100% extraction rate of accumulated resources on Snow, Snow Hills, Tundra Hills, and Tundra tiles.
So I started my first game on GS today as Canada (I didn't have time until now).
They seem pretty dull/weak in my opinion. I think their tundra bonuses are actually cool, since they do not depend that much on your luck (they have tundra start bias) and I would say that having a few middle-late cities on tundra is always better than having zero, even if they are weaker than normal cities.
I'm not sure I have understood the bonus about having +1 diplomatic favor per 100 tourism earned. Like 1 diplomatic favor does not seem very difficult to earn, and +100 tourism is a lot if your not actively pushing for CV and even then I don't think that is nearly rewarding enough.
I fail to see what they intended to do with this civ or how I should be playing it. Their only cultural bonus are hockey rinks and maybe tundra appeal, which are very weak compared to almost anything else in the game. Their diplo bonus of emergencies is only situationally good. Hmmph.
Canada’s diplo bonuses are nerfed by the game mechanics more than the bonuses themselves. Yea their weak but when most people say that they have to actively avoid a victory (culture) so they don’t achieve it before a diplo victory speaks to the issue.
Patch the world congress and diplo victory game mechanics and Canada’s bonus becomes much more apparent
I played a canada diplo victory game this morning as I was determined to actually do it... some observations
1. Diplo victory is better for immortal or deity. You need civs to be able to put up a fight. I had China run away with the wonders game which stalled a culture victory.
2. Canada has nuts tourism output. Hockey rinks and national parks synergize so well together. I had 9 parks in the end and could have squeezed in more if I'd actually tried to optimize. Beelining flight is super important. On a lower difficulty I would have won easily.
3. Planning ahead is important for a diplo victory too. Getting the apadana, kilwa and the orszaghaz is really helpful.
4. I'm not sure why people are rating sweden so much higher than canada. The two seem very comparable to me... Late culture boosting UI, UU comes too late to make much difference except era score. Auto theming is nice but without a bonus to generating GWAM until the nobel prize kicks in Sweden is probably better at lower difficulties where there is less competition.
5. I still have only seen one aid emergency ever out of around 10 GS games... People talking of 3 in a single game is filling me with aid envy
I played a canada diplo victory game this morning as I was determined to actually do it... some observations
1. Diplo victory is better for immortal or deity. You need civs to be able to put up a fight. I had China run away with the wonders game which stalled a culture victory.
2. Canada has nuts tourism output. Hockey rinks and national parks synergize so well together. I had 9 parks in the end and could have squeezed in more if I'd actually tried to optimize. Beelining flight is super important. On a lower difficulty I would have won easily.
3. Planning ahead is important for a diplo victory too. Getting the apadana, kilwa and the orszaghaz is really helpful.
4. I'm not sure why people are rating sweden so much higher than canada. The two seem very comparable to me... Late culture boosting UI, UU comes too late to make much difference except era score. Auto theming is nice but without a bonus to generating GWAM until the nobel prize kicks in Sweden is probably better at lower difficulties where there is less competition.
5. I still have only seen one aid emergency ever out of around 10 GS games... People talking of 3 in a single game is filling me with aid envy
Sweden is like Canada easy mode. You can just play Sweden as you normally would for a Cultural Victory and it's super good at both that and accruing Favor. Canada can do all that too, but it takes a better sense of timing, diplomacy, and preparation.
I've gotten four or five aid emergencies in one game. Larger maps, higher disaster intensity, and knowing everybody early all contributes to these opportunities.
I've gotten four or five aid emergencies in one game. Larger maps, higher disaster intensity, and knowing everybody early all contributes to these opportunities.
Makes sense. I usually play standard sized maps but I have had disaster intensity at 4 on several games... I must either up my scouting game or just be having bad luck
Sweden is like Canada easy mode. You can just play Sweden as you normally would for a Cultural Victory and it's super good at both that and accruing Favor. Canada can do all that too, but it takes a better sense of timing, diplomacy, and preparation.
Yeah, they are very easy to misplay. And misplace a few rinks or parks and that lovely tourism output is gone. I enjoy how four faces of peace lets you game the AI, but it clearly isn't everyone's cup of tea.
"Travelling in a frosted-out combie
On a pioneer trail, head full of zombies
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said
Do you come from the Last Best West?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the blizzard?
You better run, you better take cover
Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six-foot-four and full or muscles
I said, "do you speak my language?'
He just smiled and gave me some maple syrup
And he said
I come from the Last Best West
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the blizzard
You better run, you better take cover, yeah
Lyin'in a den in Bombaby
With a slack jaw, and not much to say
I said man, "are you tryin'to tempt me?
Because I come from the Last Best West?"
And he said
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