[R&F] First Look: Georgia

[GoodSarmatian]

Yeah, I'm in a game right now where I went monarchy for the first time in just about ever, and actually making walls because I usually don't. The cost usually makes them not worth it.

I guess you need the Limes policy to make it worth it.
My biggest issue with Monarchy (and Communism) is that there are too many useless military policy slots. I don't need more than one or two at a time.
Incidentally, military policy slots will be more useful thanks to the Limitanei policy which adds loyalty to cities with a garrison and the extra amenity from Retainers will also help a bit with keeping and flipping cities.

 

[AbsintheRed]

Am I the only one who thinks Georgia is an awful choice?
Even at the current point, there are 50+ civs which should have definitely come before it.
Also, from the region, Armenia would have been way better. Now it has 0 chance basically.
I curse the day when the stupid Georgia/Tamar meme was born... resulted in another strangeness in the civ roster in the end

 

[Guandao]

Here's my comments on Georgia's Uniques/Abilities:

Civ Ability-Strength in Unity: When changing eras into a golden age, you receive an additional bonus on top of your golden age bonus.

Not very interesting as others have mentioned. It reminds me of the Byzantine ability in Civ5. The name refers to the official motto of Georgia, Dzala ertobashia. It reminds to be seen how powerful the additional Golden Age bonuses are.

Leader Ability-Glory of the World, Kingdom and Faith: +100% Faith for 10 turns after declaring a Protectorate War. Each envoy you send to a City-State of your majority religion counts as two envoys (must have a majority religion).

“Queen of Kings and Queens, Glory of the World, Kingdom and Faith, Champion of the Messiah, may God Increase her victories.” - Inscription on 13th-century Georgian coins

I'm not surprised to see her ability involving faith. I'm not familiar enough with Medieval Georgian history to know if Tamar fought wars to protect her allies, but she probably did. The two envoys is similar to Diplomatic League, but with a limitation, Georgia and the City-State must share the same religion.

Unique Unit-Khevsureti: melee unit, gains a combat bonus on hill terrain, ignores all hill movement penalties.

As a poster pointed out, the name refers to a region. No unique Georgian hand ring weapons? A shame....The hill bonuses are nice to have. I wonder if it's a Medieval era unit.

Unique Building-Tsikhe: a replacement for Renaissance Walls, built at a lower production cost and provides faith, also tourism with the Conservation Civic.

Tsikhe means "fortress" in Georgian. These Georgian fortresses are not usually protecting cities/settlements though based on what little I know. Most players don't bother to build Renaissance Walls....

Conclusion: Many Civfanatics are underwhelmed or disappointed by Georgia's uniques and abilities. Some even say this is a reason why the Civ shouldn't have been included in the first place. But it's the game designers' fault for choosing these abilities/uniques in the first place, not the fault of the Georgian people/history/civilization. I'll play them at least once when I finally buy the expansion.

 

[dc1215]

Coming from a guy who wasn’t the happiest at Georgia’s inclusion, I like the civ a lot. The ablities/unit/building seem historically appropriate, and I don’t really have too big an issue with strength. Not every civ can be OP. I appreciate a real Tall civ and like cultural victories as well — so i like the walls. She’s not bad looking either...

 

[Thormodr]

Well, well, well...Tamar of Georgia is finally here. Well done Firaxis.

I really, really like her. She looks great! In spite of people wanting her to look lighter. Good grief! *Shakes head.*

I like the fact that they will be good in hill terrain and have the cool unique walls. Wish it was +1 faith for ancient, +2 faith for medieval and +3 for renaissance walls, though. Still, I like the idea of building a Civ that will be an impossible nut to crack.

Looks like a fun Civ to play. Get a few city state allies and hunker down. Stand up to bullies and be able to withstand the unslaught. Fun!

 

[dc1215]

Although I agree that there are about 10-15 civs I’d rather have. But that’s separate from how firaxis did with this one

 

[Guandao]

Am I the only one who thinks Georgia is an awful choice?
Even at the current point, there are 50+ civs which should have definitely come before it.
Also, from the region, Armenia would have been way better. Now it has 0 chance basically.
I curse the day when the stupid Georgia/Tamar meme was born... resulted in another strangeness in the civ roster in the end

Please list me the 50+ Civs that should come before Georgia...
Does it include many post-Colonial nations like Canada or New Zealand?

 

[Trengilly]

It reminds to be seen how powerful the additional Golden Age bonuses are.

They have shown us at least some of them - and they are pretty darn powerful.

Monumentality: +2 move for builders. May purchase civilian units with faith. Builders and Settlers cost 30% less faith or gold. And +1 Era score toward future golden ages for every district.

Exodus of the Evangelists: +2 movement for religious units. New religious units get +2 charges. +4 Great Prophet points per turn if you don’t already have a religion. +2 Era score for each city you convert.

Hic Sunt Dracones: +3 starting population in new cities founded on a different continent. +2 move for naval and embarked units. +2 loyalty for cities on other continents. +3 Era score for every non-barb naval unit you kill.

Reform the Coinage: I don’t know . .

And others depending on what era things are in.

You get one of these free anytime you are in a golden age. They are very powerful and make is much easier to continue with future golden ages.

 

[Yordinul]

Firaxis confirmed on Twitter that livestream will be on Thursday!

 

[Thormodr]

Please list me the 50+ Civs that should come before Georgia...
Does it include many post-Colonial nations like Canada or New Zealand?

No need to insult Canada, thanks.

Georgia is a great choice. Let’s leave it at that.

 

[Thormodr]

Georgia should be fun in TSL. They’ll be sandwiched between Persia and Scythia, I suspect. They’ll need any defensive bonuses they can get!

 

[Guandao]

No need to insult Canada, thanks.

Georgia is a great choice. Let’s leave it at that.

No offense to Canadians meant in my comment. But I don't find your country's history interesting in any way, it's too similar to mines. I find America to be rather bland in the Civ games I've played. Maybe they should have replaced America with Canada in the vanilla. I actually wouldn't mind that.

 

[Thormodr]

No offense to Canadians meant in my comment. But I don't find your country's history interesting in any way, it's too similar to mine. I find America to be rather bland in the Civ games I've played.

Well, Canadians study Canadian and American history in school. We do have a unique character, believe it or not.

 

[pgm123]

Huh, so it is. I was under the impression that Georgian Orthodoxy was Oriental Orthodox like the Armenian Apostolic and Syriac Orthodox churches. Okay, now I am a little disappointed we didn't get Armenia.

I'm ok with this because we don't have other Eastern Orthodox civs other than Russia (off the top of my head).

 

[Duuk]

Firaxis confirmed on Twitter that livestream will be on Thursday!

More proof there was supposed to be a livestream last week that the controversy sank.

 

[Trengilly]

Georgia should be fun in TSL. They’ll be sandwiched between Persia and Scythia, I suspect. They’ll need any defensive bonuses they can get!

Yep - surviving long enough to get any of their bonuses is going to be "problematic" !

 

[Gabhar]

(anyhow, I'm done with this topic now. not nearly as important as the ink it's getting.)

I have to wonder about the use of dark skin in some religious images. Another example

 

[Wingednosering]

Interesting that the blog post still refers to 'Pride Moments'. That thing was written a LONG time ago.

I will reserve judgement on her strength until I've played with Golden Ages. Honestly though, this isn't as unique as I expected it to be from Anton's tease. I think the Cree still remain the most unique and well-designed civ for R&F. It is strange to me that Tamar is best suited to a DV (no religion founding bonuses, no culture, minor tourism, no science). I suppose that's why they went with walls as a unique, to try and make them seem defensive instead of Theocracy unit spammers. I suppose the golden age boosts could help you get pretty much any victory type, but the main focus is clearly faith + units.

 

[Guandao]

I think it's time to give the skintone debate a rest. I actually don't mind if Firaxis doesn't change Tamar's look.

 

[Sagax]

Georgia should be fun in TSL. They’ll be sandwiched between Persia and Scythia, I suspect. They’ll need any defensive bonuses they can get!

You forgot the land-grabbing Russian in the north and the KHAAAAAAAAN in the East