[R&F] Cree First Look

[Thormodr]

Eh, I love the music. Mind you, I lived in a number of small towns with significant aboriginal/First Nations population, so I grew up being familiar with it. Perhaps it is an acquired taste.

 

[steveg700]

Don't alliances already provide shared visibility? I guess we're to assume that mechanism will change with the expansion?

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

https://twitter.com/EdBeach23/status/948300617679884289
Here is Poundmaker's agenda.

Iron Confederacy: likes civs with multiple alliances. Will try to have multiple alliances

 

[Ondolindë]

https://twitter.com/EdBeach23/status/948300617679884289
Here is Poundmaker's agenda.

Iron Confederacy: likes civs with multiple alliances. Will try to have multiple alliances

Very fitting. I like it.

 

[steveg700]

https://twitter.com/EdBeach23/status/948300617679884289
Here is Poundmaker's agenda.

Iron Confederacy: likes civs with multiple alliances. Will try to have multiple alliances

Well, that indicates an all-around peaceful civ. Even the UU isn't really incentivizing aggression.

 

[Disgustipated]

otherwise the Matterhorn then confirms either Italy or Switzerland since it's on the border.

Seeing as there's a very good chance at Italy this expansion, I don't think that disproves the chances of the Inca this expansion.

immigration and cultural diversity.

I know a lot has changed the past 20 years up there, but there isn't nearly the amount of cultural diversity the Unites States has. And all the Canadians I've seen come down to visit here have all been white as ghosts.

 

[Thormodr]

Seeing as there's a very good chance at Italy this expansion, I don't think that disproves the chances of the Inca this expansion.



I know a lot has changed the past 20 years up there, but there isn't nearly the amount of cultural diversity the Unites States has. And all the Canadians I've seen come down to visit here have all been white as ghosts.

Canada is regarded as being much more culturally diverse than the USA, actually.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...st-culturally-diverse-countries-in-the-world/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_ethnic_and_cultural_diversity_level

 

[NegativeZero]

The Cree look very interesting and fun to play.

I feel the strength of this civ comes from little details and quickness their abilities come online.

This can clearly be seen with the Cree's scout replacement ( the Okihtcitaw) which makes the Survey (double exp with recon units) a viable choice early game. Survey would be viable for doubling the bonus exp recon units gain from triggering natural wonders.

If the UU retains its 30 production cost, it can be cheaper to produce the UUs then building a warrior with the Agoge policy active.

The goal with slotting Survey would be to gain early HIGHLY promoted UUs to reach Ambush (+20 combat str.) super early in the game. It would be neat to rock 40 combat strength 3 move units that can move after attacking in the classical era.

The classical era Terracotta Army promotes land units which makes it super powerful for the Cree as they should take advantage of their UU.

A player my not get too many of these highly promoted UUs, but the ones they do will automatically trigger a ranger rush in the industrial era.

edit: corrected info

 

[KayAU]

My summary and first impression follows:

Leader ability - Favorable Terms

• All alliance types provide shared visibility
• Trade routes (to foreign cities) grant +1 food per camp or pasture in receiving city. Receiving city gets +1 gold per camp or pasture

First of all, it is not at all clear how this works based on the First Look. The narration, text and in-game description all seem to be contradicting one another, so well done there. My best guess is that it works only for external trade routes, and that it gives +1 food per camp/pasture for the Cree, +1 (possibly +2) gold for the recipient.
This seems somewhat underwhelming to me, although it does synergize with the civ ability.
The shared visibility is okay, but not very important.
I rate this ability "better than nothing".


Civilization Ability - Nihithaw

• +1 trade route on Pottery
• Free trader on Pottery
• Traders claim land within city range

This ability, however, I absolutely love. It comes into play very early, providing an effect similar to a free Colossus wonder, and that is before considering the land grab. The free tiles will save you a good amount of money, and may give you access to some nice tiles earlier than normal. Very nice indeed.


Unique Infrastructure - Mekewap

• Unique tile improvement
• +1 Housing
• +1 Production
• +1 Gold when adjacent to luxury resource
• +1 Food when adjacent to bonus resource
• Unlocks at Pottery

I base the yields above on what I can see in the video. Depending on placement, the yields can be decent, although there is no mention of it scaling throughout the game. This would make it much weaker than some of the more powerful unique tile improvements in the mid to late game. It comes into play very early though, making it a pretty good improvement overall.


Unique Unit - Okihtcitaw

• Replaces the Scout
• 20 melee strength (twice the strength of a normal Scout, same as Warrior)
• 3 movement
• Free promotion when created

It is not quite the Pathfinder from Civ 5, but I find this unit very, very interesting. Equal to a Warrior in base strength, but much faster (especially with the free promotion). It is not as strong offensively as a Warrior, and its promotion tree doesn't provide a strong combat bonus early on. If you could get it to level 4, though, which may be fairly achievable due to a combination of the free promotion, the Survey policy card, and the Scout's inherent ability to gain XP from discovery, it becomes roughly equivalent to a Swordsman in strength. This could make it relevant for offense in the first 2 or 3 eras. It will also be a good early game mobile defender, and of course a great reconnaisance unit. Like the Scout, its usefulness decreases in the mid game, but you may find that your highly upgraded Recon units become relevant again once you reach the late game, when they can be upgraded to Rangers, and later Spec Ops (new to Rise and Fall).
A very interesting unit, which will make me rethink parts of my early game strategy.


Overall, I like the Cree. They seem interesting and fairly powerful, although I don't think they are in the top tier in terms of raw power. Their abilities don't grant many advantages in the middle or late game, but they seem geared towards getting off to a really good start. They gain the full benefits of their powers at the discovery of Pottery.

This is a strong contender for being my first Rise and Fall civ.

 

[Guatenadian]

I know a lot has changed the past 20 years up there, but there isn't nearly the amount of cultural diversity the Unites States has.

Actually no, after a quick google search you can see that according to pretty much every single study out there Canada is much more culturally diverse than the US.

Moving on to the actual First Look, I'm really liking the Cree and I actually really enjoy the music. That said my musical preferences does include listening to a Tribe Called Red so Im pretty accustomed to this type of music.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

The classical era Terracotta Army promotes all units on the board which makes it super powerful for the Cree as they should take advantage of their UU.

Without Terracotta you need 75 exp, which is nearly nonsense even with the double experience card.

With Terra-cotta, at that time you already your 48Strength 4Move Knights built, this scout is only 40 Strength 3 Move.

 

[Thormodr]

Agreed. Good post, NegativeZero. I am intrigued about the possibilities of Uber scouts.

 

[Thormodr]

Without Terracotta you need 75 exp, which is nearly nonsense even with the double experience card.

With Terra-cotta, at that time you already your 48Strength 4Move Knights built, this scout is only 40 Strength 3 Move.

Yes, but the scouts will likely be able to move through hills and/or forests with ease. Not so much with the Knights.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Civ Ability-Nîhithaw: receive first trader when researching pottery.

Free trader on Pottery

It's a free trade route not a trader isn't it??

 

[AvianBritish]

It's a free trade route not a trader isn't it??

I believe it's both; +1 capacity and free trader; when the turn ticks over in the video you see a flash behind the Pottery pop-up suggesting the trader appears; and this is gained before Foreign Trade is "developed".

EDIT: And it actually states "+1 Trade Route capcity and a free Trader with the Pottery technology. ..." in the diplomacy screen at 0:57

 

[Ogro]

Yes, but the scouts will likely be able to move through hills and/or forests with ease. Not so much with the Knights.

They are most likely cheaper too.

 

[NegativeZero]

Without Terracotta you need 75 exp, which is nearly nonsense even with the double experience card.

With Terra-cotta, at that time you already your 48Strength 4Move Knights built, this scout is only 40 Strength 3 Move.

Yes, the amount of exp required for achieving Ambush early is quite an amount. However, these scout UUs will be produced much earlier with cheaper cost/maint. then heavy cav. which also doesn't obstruct a Cree player from hitting a knight rush as well.

The Cree may not get too many UUs highly promoted that early, yet they will aid in combat due to movement after attacking (allowing a player to cycle the tile), flanking bonus (with military tradition), higher combat str., and the ability to keep up with cav. units.

A handful of Okihtcitaw at promotion lvl 2 would make the Terracotta army attractive for an already war oriented start.

Aside from the great scouting opportunity the free promotion grants, I feel the free promotion is a down side for the Okihtcitaw because it is so easy to achieve with barbs. Additional or early flanking/support bonuses would have been nice to see instead.

 

[Arent11]

Unique Infrastructure - Mekewap

• Unique tile improvement
• +1 Housing
• +1 Production
• +1 Gold when adjacent to luxury resource
• +1 Food when adjacent to bonus resource
• Unlocks at Pottery

I base the yields above on what I can see in the video. Depending on placement, the yields can be decent, although there is no mention of it scaling throughout the game. This would make it much weaker than some of the more powerful unique tile improvements in the mid to late game. It comes into play very early though, making it a pretty good improvement overall.

I actually like the early production most. Compared with the much later available outback station & the German Hansa, this seems to be one of the strongest general production bonuses. You can turn lots of plains into ~2 food/2 production tiles. Of course I also would like to see how they scale throughout the game.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

EDIT: And it actually states "+1 Trade Route capcity and a free Trader with the Pottery technology. ..." in the diplomacy screen at 0:57

Thanks - that wasn't clear from the commentary itself, wow that's very powerful.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Thanks - that wasn't clear from the commentary itself, wow that's very powerful.

Especially considering that you will have to build markets and lighthouses to get additional trade routes. Persia's Satrapies UA is likewise more powerful.