[GS] GS impressions/random observations thread.

Also Civ "fish" can't just swim away. They're anchored to a space on the map;

 

I had some bananas and stone wiped out by a catastrophic eruption of that volcano I posted earlier in this thread. Since the resource icons were gone I didn't even bother trying to rebuild the plantation and quarry. Thanks for the info, next time I'll experiment and see what happens.

Edit: Based on what I've noticed before, there might be three levels of destruction depending on the severity of the disaster and RNG:

1. Tile improvement is pillaged but can be repaired
2. Tile improvement is completely removed and must be rebuilt
3. Underlying resource is removed from the map

Not sure about #3, needs experimentation.

 

The harvest able resources being gone was mentioned in the streams. Basically it is forest, jungle and bonus resources, as the terrain gets "changed" to volcanic soil.

 

Anyone notice if the Great Merchant who improves diplomatic visibility no longer allows you to do listening post operation? I find my spies no longer able to do listening post operation, and I'm not sure why. Unless it's not available later in the game for some reason.

On the bright side Vesuvius erupted a few turns after the previous screenshot and lowered Rome by 6 population. Sweet.

 

I've had a volcano fertilize some Tea several times in the same game. Mmmmm Volcanic Tea.

Also, it had a gentle eruption two turns in a row. Only on setting 3

 

I'm not an expert on tea, but I do know that volcanic soil in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Central America is wonderful for coffee.

 

Lava rock isn't an ideal construction material, though tufa can be pretty good after a few thousand years!

 

Or alternatively, ready-grown lapsang souchong

 

Perhaps you're already at the maximum possible level of visibility with the target civilization?

 

Serious answer ?
Sulfur compounds in the lava that acidify coastal waters for a time.
Of course the effect should be relatively short term irl, unless it's a lake.

 

yeah I've made a habit of harvesting all bonus resources/ chopping all around volcanos. I watched a lot of potato leading up to GS release and he loves chopping absolutely everything so I've been doing a lot more of that. I thought I was chopping a lot before I watched him and realized that some people do not leave any natural land around even on CVs, they just plant trees later lol.

 

Then there's my favorite oolong: Iron Goddess of Mercy.

Sounds like a pantheon.

 

The change to Science Victory seems pointless to me. The 50 lightyears thing is just adding turns on for no real reason. If you get to the stage where you're chasing lightyears then you've probably won already.

Am I wrong?

 

It's an excuse to drag the science victory into the Future Era, but I can't say it adds anything enjoyable to the experience.

 

Agreed, it feels like a pointless drag-out. I would say "it gives other civs the opportunity to kill you before you go to space", but even in human vs human games if you are that far ahead in tech, it'll be quite hard to do that.

 

It seems unrealistic that they can kill you before you get to space.

You are going to have multiple space ports, so spying is only going to get them so far, and that's assuming you don't have the usual counter-spy measures in place.

You can crank out the space projects pretty quickly to make victory come faster. Every single turn, by default, you progress toward the victory.

War seems like the only option, but the AI is terrible at war. And even then, they'd need to have bombers or nukes for it to really be effective.

 

Has anyone noticed Hungary's levied units not working with battering rams? Not a big deal since they are pretty powerful already. Just seems like they can't take down walls like my regular units. I wasn't paying close attention and had a levied infantry just suicide against the walls because the ram didn't work. And they still haven't hit Steel, so I know my ram still works (it works with my units).

 

Random observations...
Canada: Can be stupidly greedy with your opener, not sure how to rate it though. Tundra farms almost exactly as bad as advertised.
Eleanor: Busted.
Kupe: Game variance is insane. Probably also busted.
Mali: Posted this elsewhere, definitely busted if can get the right start, but standard settings often don't give you a desert.

Pingala is really strong.

Pillaging feels realllllly good especially with double yield card, but it also can feel a bit random. I think it's relatively fine, but I'm sure someone better will abuse the living $#%$# out of it to slash 50 turns off some win.

Policy cards that are retroactive to every unit of that type... Loving the simple change.
Battering Rams are still dumb and the AI still doesn't know how to use them leading me to seriously want a rework of siege in general.
AI does know how to use ranged units a lot more and it's a lot harder to go casualty free while attacking.
AI do sometimes get resource screwed though and it's pretty sad.

World congress can be pretty hit and miss. Had the AI vote to stop Great Writer points in an Eleanor game, so the AI doesn't seem completely oblivious to how it votes and it works. Outside of the Emergency sessions though, it feels a bit too random which is leaning me towards selling Diplo favor. =/

Haven't played much late game yet though.

 

You can't use a religious rock band to convert a city state!

I let my founded religion get wiped out in order to pursue the Rock God achievement. I was lucky and got the right promotion with my first band, and then successfully converted a neighbor's city. Achievement unlocked!

Then I thought I'd fulfill a city state quest for religious conversion with my famous band (whose name was not very memorable, I'm afraid), but I couldn't! Even though they have a holy site. Apparently, you can only perform in the cities of major civilizations.

 

I think i'll move back to Civ IV for now. I was really expecting GS to make the game more challenging but the AI is still very bad. If you survive the first 100 turns you are very likely going to win, no ifs ands or buts about it.

I was playing as Kristina going for a Culture victory, the AI didn't have a fifth of the tourism output that I had. Now this is on Immortal, the second highest difficulty. I could move up to Deity but the only difference there is the AI getting 3 settlers which feels very cheap to me. Why THREE settlers? In Civ IV the AI only gets a single settler yet can still be very challenging.