Civ Discussion - Aksum

[Krikkit1]

I think the gold issue could be improved with increased unit maintenance. both as a base
(instead of 0-1-2. 2-3-4, 4-5-6 it could be 0-1-2, 2-4-6, 6-9-12 (base maint modifiers would have to be per age))
And as a % bonus
Military units > 5 tiles from a friendly settlement: +50%
Military units in enemy territory or adjacent to enemy unit: +50%
+100% if it get both of the above categories

enemy meaning at war

So modern units could cost 30+ gold per turn in an active war.

 

[Leucarum]

And Aksum doesn't get any settlement cap bonuses in its civics. In its current form, +settlement cap is a really strong trait that, imo, isn't compensated for by other benefits in most civic trees.

I think this is a really good candidate for balance passes. Maya for example could stand to lose their +1 Cap...

 

[UWHabs]

I hate unique trade ships, you just don't know what kind of bonus they give.

I did one game, and the Hawilt was good. Especially since I had one city that got Serpent Mound, and I had a ring of Hawilts around a volcano. Spend a lot to repair them all, but those were some spicy tiles.

Their traditions were solid. The culture on resources was nice to keep around in the future, and bonus gold never hurts. Otherwise, there wasn't too too much special about them, and I didn't really use their boats to the fullest.

 

[ColdPR]

I think they are a pretty middle of the ground civ and fairly well balanced.

I agree the lack of settlement cap is a drag, but I don't mind the civs being different from each other and some having less... But yeah they probably need a little buff somewhere to help make up for it.

 

[Calcifer]

I feel like one less settlement cap is a huge downside, especially since it makes even more difficult to get 9 points in the military legacy path, which often translates in effectively losing 2 settlement cap in exploration (because you can’t unlock the fealty legacy card).

 

[Sostratus]

I feel like one less settlement cap is a huge downside, especially since it makes even more difficult to get 9 points in the military legacy path, which often translates in effectively losing 2 settlement cap in exploration (because you can’t unlock the fealty legacy card).

I think settlement cap is backwards - you should get bonuses while under the cap, rather than penalties for going over.

Otherwise everyone is going to want to be at the cap at all times and the cap becomes a proxy for your strength. And I concede that this type of thing is really tricky to do well in 4X. (Not trying to come off as a critic, there's plenty of that on the forum already.) And it leads to breakpoints like with Fealty.

 

[MutilationWave]

I think settlement cap is backwards - you should get bonuses while under the cap, rather than penalties for going over.

Otherwise everyone is going to want to be at the cap at all times and the cap becomes a proxy for your strength. And I concede that this type of thing is really tricky to do well in 4X. (Not trying to come off as a critic, there's plenty of that on the forum already.) And it leads to breakpoints like with Fealty.

I have literally never had a game where I didn't take Fealty. Even my first one, settlement limit was just obviously that powerful.

 

[sixty4half]

I find it weird that yall are obsessed with settlement cap. Im usually at or near cap in Ant but half way thru Exp I'm done expanding and usually sit around 10-12 for the rest of the game. Maybe 1 or 2 during Modern to grab a resource I need.

 

[user746383]

Maybe the easiest way to put it.. I can win the game without pushing settlement cap, but if I push settlement cap I dominate the game.

 

[MutilationWave]

I find it weird that yall are obsessed with settlement cap. Im usually at or near cap in Ant but half way thru Exp I'm done expanding and usually sit around 10-12 for the rest of the game. Maybe 1 or 2 during Modern to grab a resource I need.

I just finished exploration with 27/24 settlements (four of those were razing) and nobody could begin to challenge me. I haven't learned exactly how to get the 40 turn modern military victories yet but if I did this would be perfect. I have 12 full army commanders and four full naval commanders at the beginning of the age. Instead I'm going to go for my first and probably last domination win.

 

[Calcifer]

I find it weird that yall are obsessed with settlement cap. Im usually at or near cap in Ant but half way thru Exp I'm done expanding and usually sit around 10-12 for the rest of the game. Maybe 1 or 2 during Modern to grab a resource I need.

It’s the fealty card specifically that I find especially powerful, because it allows a faster expansion at the beginning of exploration age.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Maybe the easiest way to put it.. I can win the game without pushing settlement cap, but if I push settlement cap I dominate the game.

I usually don't push settlement cap in antiquity to have some breathing room in early exploration for settling in distant lands. After this, yes I agree.

 

[Nic@Melbourne]

Aksum-I like the bonus culture on coastal resources. Simple fun bonus that I can see on the map.

 

[UWHabs]

I usually don't push settlement cap in antiquity to have some breathing room in early exploration for settling in distant lands. After this, yes I agree.

Yeah, more often than not, I end antiquity basically just at the cap, maybe one over if I need to, but rarely much more than that. Then when you get the +2 cap in exploration, usually I find one or two spots on my homeland around the edge to get a city on, often as sort of a base of exploration/closer treasure return, or to grab a new resource. And then you can still get another 1 or 2 cities in the distant lands relatively early without going over the cap. In antiquity though I find I have too much to do, that it's not easy to run that far over the limit. Once you hit exploration you can snowball a little more and end up in a place where the limit doesn't matter, but in antiquity every point does come into play.

 

[disjointaccount]

Interesting discussion here; seems like I'm in the minority with how I approach settlement cap in antiquity. I play with a fairly conservative number of settlements while I get my main infrastructure online, then once I have everything I really need city-wise I go conquering and let my cities become miserable, knowing that with fealty I'll be fine once exploration hits. I typically end up at 8-10 settlements.

Granted, I play long ages and am usually trying to hit all 4 legacy paths for leader XP, so having longer before age rollover is maybe why I have the time to develop and then conquer. I imagine on standard age speed, it might be a bit harder.

 

[Leucarum]

I often push over the cap considerably in the last few turns. It takes long enough for unhappiness to matter that a quick final war can often catapult you up the millitary track before any of the happiness consequences catch up with you... And picking Fealty solves any issues you might have for doing it in the next age. Aksum's naval power definitely helps set them up for this too, as some late antiquity Dhows can wreak havoc on coastal towns.

 

[user746383]

Same here, I am often 5, 6, maybe even more over the cap at the end of ancient. Fealty plus the jump gets me close enough, and then I’m well set up for murdering everyone else during exploration. I don’t find any of the distant lands mechanics very fun so it works out great to focus on kicking everyone off my home continent. Nobody has any hope of catching up in modern once that’s done.

 

[Navelgazer]

Hilariously, I've got (according to Steam) 1,745 hours in this game, and I was unaware of the Fealty card prior to this thread, because I've never pushed towards the Military track in Antiquity. I basically always go for 6 settlements in Antiquity (sometimes 5 if I've scored one of someone else's , so I can get the first Military milestone) and then I send out two purchased settlers at the start of Exploration to try to get decent Distant Lands spots before anyone else. Then generally it times out well to buy new settlers in those settlements which are just reaching 5 pop as my settlement cap increases.

I really need to try to push settlements harder in Antiquity to see how much it changes up my game.

 

[MutilationWave]

Hilariously, I've got (according to Steam) 1,745 hours in this game, and I was unaware of the Fealty card prior to this thread, because I've never pushed towards the Military track in Antiquity. I basically always go for 6 settlements in Antiquity (sometimes 5 if I've scored one of someone else's , so I can get the first Military milestone) and then I send out two purchased settlers at the start of Exploration to try to get decent Distant Lands spots before anyone else. Then generally it times out well to buy new settlers in those settlements which are just reaching 5 pop as my settlement cap increases.

I really need to try to push settlements harder in Antiquity to see how much it changes up my game.

You might be surprised. I start building settlers as soon as I hit 5 pop in capital and I generally do not stop, depending on civ.

Fealty every time.

 

[Sagax]

Fealty is the new Monumentality. You can definitely play just fine without chasing it, but once you experience it, that min-maxing part of your brain will never let it go.

That being said, in the larger context of settlement caps, I don’t know if Aksum not having cap increases is that big of a detriment. I’m much more miffed by their unique military unit - you are discouraged from spamming them because of how poorly navy carries over to Exploration, plus I’ve found the application of navy in Antiquity very limited. Not that many settlements are exposed to naval assault even with navigable rivers, and the same goes to the applicability of trade routes.

Maybe I’ll try them one day on the Archipelago map, when we get a bigger civ roster.