This screenshot really makes the RH church seem... large. Like, really large. Maybe it's just the perspective, but I find it amusing nonetheless.Capital building in this screenshot? (Grabbed from civ website of Ethiopia Pack)
[NFP] Ethiopia First Look
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SammyKhalifa
Deity
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I don't know. For me, getting a bunch of archaeologists alone will make them play pretty uniquely.
PhilBowles
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Really? They get them for faith, but most culture games I play I go for archaeologists anyway.
Was a release date announced? A First Look on a Thursday is unusual - are we expecting a release early next week, perhaps Tuesday?
Steam says release July 23
SammyKhalifa
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Yeah, I've just never concentrated on them, even in culture games. At most I'll make one or two museums. I'm sure that's my shortcoming and not theirs.
Leucarum
Emperor
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I like it... There's a lot of synergy here! I think I'll probably prefer to use their faith engine to support a culture game, but that's my personal bias.
It looks like these guys will explode once you hit archaeological museums, as you can slingshot yourself up the civics tree to rock bands once you get those museums running...
It looks like these guys will explode once you hit archaeological museums, as you can slingshot yourself up the civics tree to rock bands once you get those museums running...
Sostratus
Deity
Normally I am not one to get into theories about how things are worded, but there is no reason to say “...for each copy of the resource”
When they could have just said Improved resources get +1 faith and left it at that.
Maybe they didn’t word it correctly but I have no idea why they would describe things that way if they meant a flat +1.
Lord Lakely
Idea Fountain
I like this Civ. Strong, but not overpowered. Good synergies with the massive faith economy they are bound to persue. The mechanics are well-designed even if it doesn't *FULLY* scream Ethiopa to me.
I was JUST about to post "they had better not give Menelik a STUPID terrain-based agenda" and lo and behold, they did. Are you seriously telling me that THE most iconic anti-colonial leader in African history, who fought off the Italians, broke the treaty of Wuchiale who founded Addis Ababa, who brought stability after The time of Princes... will get mad at you when you settle on top of a hill, on the other side of the map???????? Another agenda being the equivalent of the "use CB and gain +2 movement" LUA's????? When there are so many alternative options (voting on the same resolutions, anti-colonialism, anti-aggression vs smaller civs/CSs, faith per turn, possessing many resources) that would've fit the glove more?
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okay, firaxis.
Probably a secret society bonus or maybe the Arabian religion's worship building. Either of those could give +20% in the city.
I was JUST about to post "they had better not give Menelik a STUPID terrain-based agenda" and lo and behold, they did. Are you seriously telling me that THE most iconic anti-colonial leader in African history, who fought off the Italians, broke the treaty of Wuchiale who founded Addis Ababa, who brought stability after The time of Princes... will get mad at you when you settle on top of a hill, on the other side of the map???????? Another agenda being the equivalent of the "use CB and gain +2 movement" LUA's????? When there are so many alternative options (voting on the same resolutions, anti-colonialism, anti-aggression vs smaller civs/CSs, faith per turn, possessing many resources) that would've fit the glove more?
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okay, firaxis.
Probably a secret society bonus or maybe the Arabian religion's worship building. Either of those could give +20% in the city.
DWilson
Where am I? What turn is it?
I think that it is to distinguish between bonuses that only count once per city or civilization.
Jewelrunna
Prince
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Ethiopia seems pretty good at first glance! Not as obviously broken as Gran Colombia, but seems in the upper-half of the cast compared to Lady Six-Sky.
AKSUMITE LEGACY: I do love getting bonuses from playing the game normally, and Aksumite Legacy fits nicely into that archetype. Extra Faith in the early game means a super quick pantheon; depending on your start, you're probably not going to beat Mali or Indonesia to it, but you could be on par with Russia's quick pantheon. Extra Faith from international trade routes is good, but not incredible, since in the early game you're going to focus mainly on internal trade routes. But given Ethiopia's Culture-through-Faith design, that synergizes nicely with needing Faith to buy Archeologists, Naturalists, and Rock Bands. And since that Faith is added directly to cities, that also works great with...
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS: So to lay this out on the table, this isn't necessarily an insane infusion of Science and Culture. Looking at Ethiopia's capital at 0:26 in the video, they've got about 8.5 of each from that faith yield. But hey, it's still free Science and Culture, which you might need if you're going to prioritize Holy Sites early on as Ethiopia. So any extra bonus to those yields in any Civ, especially a Religious one, is really good. And if you stack on a toned down amount of faith from five other Cities, that's a really nice amount of Science and Culture empire-wide. It reminds me a lot of Righteousness of the Faith, except you have to put in a little extra work to get that faith going. It will probably be better than RotF early on, but isn't going to scale as well. This is a very nice ability.
OROMO CAVALRY: Coursers are good, so a better Courser by association is also good. Extra Combat Strength is nice, but the extra sight sounds really, really handy to have on a super-mobile unit. On top of that, hills are usually the thing that hamstrings Mounted units a bit, so having a Mounted unit that is as fast on hills as in flat-land is super good. This is quite a strong unique unit.
ROCK-HEWN CHURCH: This obviously gives you a lot of Faith, which is really good considering that you also have Council of Ministers to translate that Faith into Science and Culture as well. Its extra Faith from mountains and hills also means you're going to inclined to build this in places where you'd like to build Holy Sites, which means Ethiopia can sort of build extra Holy Sites within a city, which is pretty neat. The asterisk to this improvement, however, is that this improvement will conflict with where you'd like to build Mines, which means you have to make a decision between Production and Faith. However, this is probably reconcilable in-game, and shouldn't take away from how much faith this improvement can generate. Oh, and they give free Tourism at Flight, probably tied to how much Faith they generate. Which should make Ethiopia even better at Culture victories.
Obviously a heavy gearing towards Religion and Faith, so they'll be quite good at Religious Victories. What I'm really thinking Ethiopia will be good at, however, is Culture Victories. They're like a mix of the Khmer, Mali, and the Mapuche, in that Ethiopia gets a lot of Faith super early and benefits a lot from Trade Routes like Mali, have a unique route to translate Religious gameplay into a Culture win like the Khmer, and have a unique improvement that's tied closely to mountains that will pay off big dividends in the late-game Culture race like the Mapuche. This is probably my favorite Civ in the NFP so far, and I'd estimate them to be either high B-Tier or low A-Tier on first glance.
Oof. Well, if it's any consolation, Tamar's still really good at a Diplomatic Victory!.. But other than that, yeah their niche has kinda been overshadowed a lot by Ethiopia. Hoping for significant buffs or a rework come next patch.
AKSUMITE LEGACY: I do love getting bonuses from playing the game normally, and Aksumite Legacy fits nicely into that archetype. Extra Faith in the early game means a super quick pantheon; depending on your start, you're probably not going to beat Mali or Indonesia to it, but you could be on par with Russia's quick pantheon. Extra Faith from international trade routes is good, but not incredible, since in the early game you're going to focus mainly on internal trade routes. But given Ethiopia's Culture-through-Faith design, that synergizes nicely with needing Faith to buy Archeologists, Naturalists, and Rock Bands. And since that Faith is added directly to cities, that also works great with...
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS: So to lay this out on the table, this isn't necessarily an insane infusion of Science and Culture. Looking at Ethiopia's capital at 0:26 in the video, they've got about 8.5 of each from that faith yield. But hey, it's still free Science and Culture, which you might need if you're going to prioritize Holy Sites early on as Ethiopia. So any extra bonus to those yields in any Civ, especially a Religious one, is really good. And if you stack on a toned down amount of faith from five other Cities, that's a really nice amount of Science and Culture empire-wide. It reminds me a lot of Righteousness of the Faith, except you have to put in a little extra work to get that faith going. It will probably be better than RotF early on, but isn't going to scale as well. This is a very nice ability.
OROMO CAVALRY: Coursers are good, so a better Courser by association is also good. Extra Combat Strength is nice, but the extra sight sounds really, really handy to have on a super-mobile unit. On top of that, hills are usually the thing that hamstrings Mounted units a bit, so having a Mounted unit that is as fast on hills as in flat-land is super good. This is quite a strong unique unit.
ROCK-HEWN CHURCH: This obviously gives you a lot of Faith, which is really good considering that you also have Council of Ministers to translate that Faith into Science and Culture as well. Its extra Faith from mountains and hills also means you're going to inclined to build this in places where you'd like to build Holy Sites, which means Ethiopia can sort of build extra Holy Sites within a city, which is pretty neat. The asterisk to this improvement, however, is that this improvement will conflict with where you'd like to build Mines, which means you have to make a decision between Production and Faith. However, this is probably reconcilable in-game, and shouldn't take away from how much faith this improvement can generate. Oh, and they give free Tourism at Flight, probably tied to how much Faith they generate. Which should make Ethiopia even better at Culture victories.
Obviously a heavy gearing towards Religion and Faith, so they'll be quite good at Religious Victories. What I'm really thinking Ethiopia will be good at, however, is Culture Victories. They're like a mix of the Khmer, Mali, and the Mapuche, in that Ethiopia gets a lot of Faith super early and benefits a lot from Trade Routes like Mali, have a unique route to translate Religious gameplay into a Culture win like the Khmer, and have a unique improvement that's tied closely to mountains that will pay off big dividends in the late-game Culture race like the Mapuche. This is probably my favorite Civ in the NFP so far, and I'd estimate them to be either high B-Tier or low A-Tier on first glance.
Oof. Well, if it's any consolation, Tamar's still really good at a Diplomatic Victory!.. But other than that, yeah their niche has kinda been overshadowed a lot by Ethiopia. Hoping for significant buffs or a rework come next patch.
Alexander's Hetaroi
Deity
Probably more noticeable because it's either on a hill or because it takes up a whole tile as an improvement.
Also I forgot to mention that I'm glad they are at least acknowledging the Aksumite history of Ethiopia with more than just a monument replacement this time around.
tedhebert
Emperor
I like this design. What stands out for me the most is civic card usage. It'll help avoid the difficult decisions on card choices, as I feel you'll be able to go all the way with the faith bonus cards and still get the science and culture bonus ( or at least portions of it). voidsigners+churchs+faith card+monumentality will be totally awesome. Imagine if the RNG lets you have Lahore or Valetta ?
grand master chapel is a must with them.
Finallly, a little underwhelmed with Oromo... only +2 attack strength ? better line of sight ? meh... better movement on hills is ok... anyways
Overall I think this will be fun to play as a Faith Economy game. probably just ok as a RV candidate though.
Lord Lakely
Idea Fountain
I don't think Council of Ministers is that OP? It's similar to Arabia's bonus but easier make use of (since you don't need to build Holy Sites, let alone three levels of temple), but the drop off is that it won't apply to every city you own.
The way to win is, hands down, culture. Strong faith economy into archaeology, national parks and rock bands is the way to go here. Dom's pretty good too with the Grandmaster's Chapel. Not like they can't do science or dip, but since you'll be building Rock-Hewn-Churchers on hills, instead of mines, your production won't be as hot and I see no real bonuses towards diplomacy other than maybe blazing through the Civics tree a littlebit faster.
The way to win is, hands down, culture. Strong faith economy into archaeology, national parks and rock bands is the way to go here. Dom's pretty good too with the Grandmaster's Chapel. Not like they can't do science or dip, but since you'll be building Rock-Hewn-Churchers on hills, instead of mines, your production won't be as hot and I see no real bonuses towards diplomacy other than maybe blazing through the Civics tree a littlebit faster.
BrotherInJah
60% of the time works every time
That lost finger, clearly reskin here..
PhilBowles
Deity
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Thanks. Might have time to finish the game I abandoned in favour of a Total War campaign.
I don't know. I think it feels unique enough without being too unique. It's probably not good if every civilization plays as differently as Mali, for instance. But, using up your hill tiles for cities and churches means less production compared to other civilizations, which means that you need to find ways to spend faith instead. That's kind of neat.
I'm not sure what you mean by the first sentence, though. Pretty much every civ makes good use of faith without a religion!
IvoryPavane
Prince
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It’s a shame because Tamar had just found her niche with city states, so really whatever they do with this new district and city states will either really bolster or hamper Georgia.
Ethiopia has a really nice design, very impressed. But I still think Georgia is underestimated. If she can get a protectorate war, she would likely generate more faith than all those bonuses combined. The problem is that it’s just not consistent enough.
As always, fingers crossed the older Civs get some love with this expansion as the power creep looks to be settling in
Ethiopia has a really nice design, very impressed. But I still think Georgia is underestimated. If she can get a protectorate war, she would likely generate more faith than all those bonuses combined. The problem is that it’s just not consistent enough.
As always, fingers crossed the older Civs get some love with this expansion as the power creep looks to be settling in
ZarduStar
Chieftain
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At first Ethiopia didn't look very interesting but then I realised they match my play style perfectly! I love using faith as a resource, culture victories are my favourite and I build archaeologists all the time. The leader ability is the best, you can just focus on building up your faith engine without worrying about falling behind science and culture.
Although similar to Georgia, this civ looks much more appealing to me. Shame about that agenda though, sounds pretty dumb. I guess I should expect Menelik to be constantly pissed at me whenever I encounter him.
Although similar to Georgia, this civ looks much more appealing to me. Shame about that agenda though, sounds pretty dumb. I guess I should expect Menelik to be constantly pissed at me whenever I encounter him.
Pfeffersack
Deity
They might have been sparse with extra boni for the UU here, because the better hill movement will likely see that unit operating a lot on hill tiles - and there it will get another +4 CS from the leader ability
GunsGermsandSteel
Warlord
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Jumping in the middle here.
Just would like to say Ethiopia looks awesome. Not a one trick civ like so many. I like how they have faith bonuses and then the ability to turn faith bonuses into more science and especially more culture. Faith is also pretty flexible depending, Build Grandmaster's chapter for Faith based armies. Obviously they would be strong contender for religious victory but also has a strong cultural option too. Not directly strong in science but they could go for science enhanced by religion.
Just would like to say Ethiopia looks awesome. Not a one trick civ like so many. I like how they have faith bonuses and then the ability to turn faith bonuses into more science and especially more culture. Faith is also pretty flexible depending, Build Grandmaster's chapter for Faith based armies. Obviously they would be strong contender for religious victory but also has a strong cultural option too. Not directly strong in science but they could go for science enhanced by religion.
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