[NFP] Civilization VI: Maya & Gran Colombia Pack Discussion Thread

[Nassim]

Also playing my first Maya game. They seem rather overpowered on science - I'm at about 180 per turn, with the next highest being about 77 - but wow it's hard work. Constantly worrying about builders and housing with them. I feel like the game also needs a tool to see where radial effects end. Is it 6 tiles from the border or from the city itself? I didn't realise how limiting it would feel, either. I've got four cities and don't feel like there's anywhere to go now, plus I'm now hemmed in by city-states and another civ..

I got a nicer start, with all the space 6 tiles around my city center free, there's a bit of desert which was perfect for Pyramids, and coast for Kilwa. Science is snowballing fast now, even without much luck on plantations availability, but it was a very slow start indeed, mostly because production was a big issue (and still is at around turn 150). I got a Kilimanjaro city, so I know where Ruhr and my space district are going but getting all my cities up has been slooooow, especially before you can get to Ancestral Hall. I like on betting on faith and golden age for settlers spamming but this wasn't an option here (first golden age is fairly easy though) as I don't have much faith (and I got lucky with a relic early).
Culture output isn't great, but I manage with a bunch of theater squares.
I tried a first game earlier, got stuck between Arabia and Brazil and got wiped out before settling my 3rd cuty. (both games in Immortal by the way)

 

[Potworny]

They added these. There are still 10 STK achievements in the other achievements section.

This makes me think that the Maya and Gran Colombia pack was not supposed to be the first DLC released originally and that these achievements are for the pack that was planned as the first before. Perhaps the pass was meant to be introduced alongside the plague game mode?

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Also playing my first Maya game. They seem rather overpowered on science - I'm at about 180 per turn, with the next highest being about 77 - but wow it's hard work. Constantly worrying about builders and housing with them. I feel like the game also needs a tool to see where radial effects end. Is it 6 tiles from the border or from the city itself? I didn't realise how limiting it would feel, either. I've got four cities and don't feel like there's anywhere to go now, plus I'm now hemmed in by city-states and another civ.

I got mine from GMG too, blackcatatonic. -14% didn't seem like a lot but I'll take it.

It would help if you, or anyone else posting, included the turn times and game speed when referring to some benchmarks. I won't be buying the pass anytime soon, but I am super curious about how you guys are doing with Maya and would like to hear more!

So, something like this: My last Maya game was really good. Had 180 science per turn at T111 on standard speed. Otherwise the numbers are quite meaningless, I've gotten 4000 science per turn towards the endgame, but also have had games where I sit at 20 science per turn until t80 (standard).

 

[MrRadar]

I got climate change phase I on turn 2. Apocalypse mode on. No mods. Is that some sort of handicap or did my scout's dog eat some peculiar beans?

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Also, what triggers Appease the Gods? I got one randomly in the Ancient Era, and there was something mentioning a decision of World Congress. Which it wasn't.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Yields? Effects?

Caguana's Batey Improvement & Pedia (leaving these unspoilered)

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Lahore's Nihang Unit, Promotion Tree, & Pedia (also leaving these unspoilered)

 

[KayAU]

For anyone interested, I had an amazing start as the Maya, and have put my first observations and thoughts here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...so-what-do-you-think-of-my-maya-start.658240/

Frankly, even though I said they would likely be A- or B-tier, I think I may have underestimated them. The Observatory is potentially incredible, and the Mayan bonuses seem to go together really well.

 

[Pfeffersack]

Nice! The [AI] is using their scouts now offensively! Not only did Victoria kill of my heavily wounded worriers with one (yea, that was a bit like the Spanish inquisition ...), barbarian scouts also snatch unprotected workers (something they didn't do unless their camp was destroyed prior to this patch (IIRC)).

Yes, I learned that the hard way by losing a warrior to a barb scout.

Also, the AIs don't seem to go out aynmore and hunt down every city state they met (playing on a huge map, Deity, Epic Speed, a bit beyond T100 - and I didn't even get a single notification of an AI attacking a CS). I suspect that this might be because of this change:

Players now lose Favor per turn for each occupied Original Capital.

AFAIK, city states count as capitals as well - and that would mean that annexing them will hurt any attempt for diplomatic victory.

 

[acluewithout]

Downloaded and played. Really want to like this DLC. But just not feeling the love.

• Maya are cute but also a bit of a mess. Got a coastal start - disaster, because unless you send your Settler out scouting, any settle near (not even on) coast basically stops two or three additional cities. Getting resources is tough, because you don’t want to settle far from your Cap. Floods are a nightmare - pillage all your Farms and then you need to rebuild them for the housing. And you need a tonne of Builders anyway, because without Farms and Plantations you have no Housing and your Campus has no adjacencies. Overall, I think they’re fun. But fun sort of like Mali or Kupe. Just a totally different way to play.
  
  
• Pedro Mark 2. I haven’t played Gran C. Too much early movement for me. Seem fine. Hoping the AI plays them well.

• Meteors. Getting a Heavy Cav is powerful but feels very gamey. Seems likely the reason Meteors don’t create an actual Iron Resource is that the game can’t create Resources after the map is made. I guess a Heavy Cav is an okay compromise, because just awarding Iron would be useless late game and might not work if you’re already at your Iron capacity, but yeah Heavy Cav feels weird.

• Soothsayers. What am I meant to do with these? Haven’t really played with them, but seems like nothing strategic here. Everyone has them from turn 1 - no tech to research, no building to unlock, just faith and bang you’ve got one. And then what? You use them to create disasters which... pillage some improvements and stuff? They don’t see, to really do much. And even if they did, there’s no way to defend, so nothing really tactical here. I can’t even see anything which increases or decreases their abilities, or do I need to play with them more?
  
  
• Apocalypse. I’m not really loving just having more disasters generally either. I mean, it’s okay, but if feels like when you dial up disasters on Sim City and Godzilla or the SpaceMecha kills all your cities. This just doesn’t really feel like it adds anything to the game. There’s no new choices, really. You just get smashed with more volcanoes and floods, randomly get a Chariot, randomly get more yields on no wait your farm is pillaged maybe move your builder, and then you can cause the AI to flood more but it’s really just for memes. Oh yeah, there’s also some random emergency that does... what?

• Maize. I’m calling it. Maize is the best thing in the pack. Gold from Farms. And they look cool. Not sold on the Bees, although I used one to build TOA which felt really weird. But yeah. Maize.

Oh well. It’s just the first one. They’ll be a patch next month that’ll hopefully be more fun. And then another DLC which I guess might have more interesting stuff?

 

[DST1348]

• Meteor Showers: Pummels unowned land tiles pillaging improvements and damaging units. Exploring impact sites grants players a free Heavy Cavalry unit with no resource upkeep.

Eh, we get a cavalry units from an impact site So, it's more like a crashed UFO site? I could have understood some Science, Culture or Resource yields, but this...

 

[yung.carl.jung]

• Meteors. Getting a Heavy Cav is powerful but feels very gamey. Seems likely the reason Meteors don’t create an actual Iron Resource is that the game can’t create Resources after the map is made. I guess a Heavy Cav is an okay compromise, because just awarding Iron would be useless late game and might not work if you’re already at your Iron capacity, but yeah Heavy Cav feels weird.

ruins can give you 20 diplo favor / horses / iron instantly, why not just use that script?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

• Meteor Showers: Pummels unowned land tiles pillaging improvements and damaging units. Exploring impact sites grants players a free Heavy Cavalry unit with no resource upkeep.

Eh, we get a cavalry units from an impact site So, it's more like a crashed UFO site? I could have understood some Science, Culture or Resource yields, but this...

Historically, fallen meteors were one of the first sources of usable iron. Giving you a free heavy cav reflects turning that iron into weapons.

 

[pokiehl]

Got it and I'm thrilled. Awesome job Firaxis!

I particularly love that, in Apocalypse mode, disasters now seem to be able to "stack" on top of each other for maximum chaos. The "1 active disaster per turn" limit from before was quite disappointing to me Overall, Apocalypse mode is a HUGE hit with me. Keep interesting game modes like this coming!

The new resources, city-states, disasters, and wonders are awesome. I took both civs for a quick spin and they were really fun to play and the music was excellent.

The patch changes are greatly appreciated too - mountains feel much better and it's great to be guaranteed 1 volcano per continent. City-States no longer hoarding natural wonders is great.

Regarding the meteors, I'd prefer it if they gave a random bonus like a goody hut but the heavy cavalry makes sense as Eagle Pursuit above stated.

• Soothsayers. What am I meant to do with these? Haven’t really played with them, but seems like nothing strategic here. Everyone has them from turn 1 - no tech to research, no building to unlock, just faith and bang you’ve got one. And then what? You use them to create disasters which... pillage some improvements and stuff? They don’t see, to really do much. And even if they did, there’s no way to defend, so nothing really tactical here. I can’t even see anything which increases or decreases their abilities, or do I need to play with them more?
  
  
• Apocalypse. I’m not really loving just having more disasters generally either. I mean, it’s okay, but if feels like when you dial up disasters on Sim City and Godzilla or the SpaceMecha kills all your cities. This just doesn’t really feel like it adds anything to the game. There’s no new choices, really. You just get smashed with more volcanoes and floods, randomly get a Chariot, randomly get more yields on no wait your farm is pillaged maybe move your builder, and then you can cause the AI to flood more but it’s really just for memes. Oh yeah, there’s also some random emergency that does... what?

I think you're missing a crucial detail between these 2 items. The soothsayers don't just summon disasters randomly. You use them to interact with the Appease the Gods emergency and whoever wins is able to use the soothsayer to summon a disaster.

 

[acluewithout]

Lahore's Nihang Unit, Promotion Tree, & Pedia (also leaving these unspoilered)

Loving these guys.

For anyone interested, I had an amazing start as the Maya, and have put my first observations and thoughts here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...so-what-do-you-think-of-my-maya-start.658240/

Frankly, even though I said they would likely be A- or B-tier, I think I may have underestimated them. The Observatory is potentially incredible, and the Mayan bonuses seem to go together really well.

Can’t comment on the Tier. But yeah, they’re fun.

 

[riddleofsteel]

Got it and I'm thrilled. Awesome job Firaxis!

I particularly love that, in Apocalypse mode, disasters now seem to be able to "stack" on top of each other for maximum chaos. The "1 active disaster per turn" limit from before was quite disappointing to me Overall, Apocalypse mode is a HUGE hit with me. Keep interesting game modes like this coming!

The new resources, city-states, disasters, and wonders are awesome. I took both civs for a quick spin and they were really fun to play and the music was excellent.

The patch changes are greatly appreciated too - mountains feel much better and it's great to be guaranteed 1 volcano per continent. City-States no longer hoarding natural wonders is great.

Regarding the meteors, I'd prefer it if they gave a random bonus like a goody hut but the heavy cavalry makes sense as Eagle Pursuit above stated.

Great to hear! I'll probably buy it this morning. Should I or do I have to disable all my mods to play?

 

[Zane White]

I am absolutely most excited for the possibility of actually getting to have warrior monks in my religion.

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

Everyone playing Maya and GC... Thanks for the updates! Keep it coming! I'm stuck at work all day so I can at least have something good to read in the meantime. Plus, i want to have some good knowledge going in when I play later this afternoon.

 

[pokiehl]

Great to hear! I'll probably buy it this morning. Should I or do I have to disable all my mods to play?

Most mods are fine but I know stuff that alters the UI may be broken, like Extended Diplomacy Ribbon. They updated the resource generator script so I need to update Truly Abundant Resources but any mod that simply adds resources is fine.

 

[riddleofsteel]

Most mods are fine but I know stuff that alters the UI may be broken, like Extended Diplomacy Ribbon. They updated the resource generator script so I need to update Truly Abundant Resources but any mod that simply adds resources is fine.

Thank you!

 

[AntSou]

Meteor Showers are fine, another addition to encourage exploration. You'd use the metal from the site to make weapons, most likely. Wouldn't make sense to be equivalent to an iron mine.

Forest Fires are a nice addition as well.

Happy about the new City States.

As for the negatives:

- I'm surprised I don't actually care much about the increased intensity of events in Apocalypse mode. It's just boring and repetitive, since you constantly need builders to rebuild and fix stuff and the yields just get ridiculous. Comets might be fun but I haven't got there yet. What I really need is increased amount of floodable tiles. Haven't noticed if this has changed.

- Soothsayer: Meh. Tried it. Not my thing. I like the idea of sacrificing units to the volcano however, but getting a Relic or some other bonus would be better.
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Actually haven't managed to meet the Maya or Colombia in my game yet .