[GS] GS impressions/random observations thread.

Why indeed?
Incidentally, have you ever played Civ1? The transport ships there suit the purpose just fine.

 

Yeah, I really wish land units had transport ships in newer civ games. Like an aircraft carrier for swordsmen and cavalry. They should be required for moving across deep ocean.

 

All hail Turkish Gundams marching under the Ottoman Atomic theme.

Some observations (sorry if already discovered):

1. I was able to place Seasteads on fully submerged tiles - even though Seasteads only mention Coast, Lake, and Ocean as fitting tiles (both tooltip and Civilopedia entry). In theory, this should mean that all other improvements with similar rules should be able to be placed on submerged tiles as well. Most notably: Kampungs and Polders.



2. GDRs have unique "jerseys"? I got some with a green back armor, and some with white. I know for sure that I built some of them in the original Ottoman cities, while a couple were built in the captured Greek cities. Could that determine the armor color? I tried to fast-buy a GDR from a Persian city to confirm, but it ended up being white as well... So not sure how exactly it works.

 

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Thanks to the ever-popular map RNG the city of Buda ended up with three rivers that flood and therefore an opportunity for three hydro electric dams. Power plus!

 

Hmm. People should be able to buy excess power off you

 

I'm pretty sure it's random. A variety of units have such variations in the models, some using one or the other teamcolor.

 

I started with Civ 2 and played it more than any since. For fun at the time, I liked it best of all. Somehow I don't think it would be satisfying any more. ICS, anyone?

 

Ok, starting an Eleanor game for the chance to get a pink GDR.

 

No one laughs at a pink GDR . . . not twice, anyway.

 

eh, purposeless micro. It was one of the good decisions they made going into 5.

 

Plus it just doesn't blend well with 1UPT (regardless of your preference for the system, the change has been made for now).

Imagine having to unload 20 units with 1UPT.

 

The Great Bath needs to have its placement moved to a higher tech. I don't see how it's possible to build it on higher difficulties with the AI starting off with the tech to build it (not always but there's a strong chance), having free improvements, and percentage increases to production. While Stonehenge is in a similar placement, the stone requirement is very limiting. With how frequently civs spawn on rivers that have flood plains, the Great Bath barely suffers from limitations.

 

Pericles was making good use of his governors in my game last night. I really wanted Athens, but he had Magnus in there with the promotion that doesn't allow it to be put under siege. I think I'll have to settle with pillaging and not capture.

 

2kqa_b updated half an hour ago. Second test branch update of the week, as expected.

 

Has anyone checked if Magnus prevents pop reduction when producing janissaries in native cities?

 

The Provision promotion for Magnus says Settlers, specifically, so likely the answer is no. Also that seems a pretty cheap exploit to avoid one of the Ottomans' main new mechanics. I'd ...hope they would check for that before releasing the GS expansion...

And so, finally, my second GS victory, as the Inca. An Emperor Science Victory on turn three-hundred-and-way-too-long. Some observations:

I have issues playing Civs that are not focused on a specific victory type. It takes me many restarts to get a game I actually want to play through to the end, and victory seems to take a lot longer than with more focused Civs. I am thinking of the Cree in particular - they seem good on paper but they take forever to get the steamroller running. The Inca fit into that mold, at least for me. That probably doesn't bode well for any potential Mali games I will play.

I must have restarted 10-15 times. I chalk this up to my impatience, and having only recently moved up to Emperor difficulty. I am sure several of those games were winnable, I just made a lot of mistakes.

Terrace Farms are interesting. They are incredible in the early game, and then around the Renaissance Era, they start to lose their luster. However, this isn't because they get eclipsed in their raw yield, it is that food becomes much less valuable around this time, when a lot of important Districts need to be built. There isn't much the Inca can do about this except replace Terrace Farms with mines, but now, they are just an average no-bonus Civ because their other bonuses aren't spectacular or don't help with the production deficit.

That is, unless you build Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu I'd say is borderline required for the Inca. Appropriate, I suppose. Anyway, Machu Picchu allows the Inca to create some ridiculous, Germany-level Industrial Zones thanks to their start bias for Mountains. This wonder alone helps the Inca power through the rest of the game.

Climate Change and Costal Flooding happen too fast. Confirmed. You can't really counter this after the fact - by building Flood Barriers, etc. You have to prevent it by planning out your builds instead. Factory production boosts to neighboring cities might need a buff to help with this. It is not that annoying or game changing, though (just don't build Neighborhoods on flood tiles).

The new Science Victory. I was starved for Aluminum so it took forever. Tamar had a bunch, and I couldn't see if she had any Aluminum tiles, so I obliterated her with nukes and GDRs to find out. Apparently there was only one under one of her cities. I like that research matters longer while still keeping production very important for the SV.

Magnus is still king of the Governors, I'd say. I don't think his chop is as important, but Provision is still strong, the new Black Marketeer is better IMO, and of course Vertical Integration is incredible for SVs.

I've never been too interested in seeing just how fast I can win a SV, but this game just dragged on and on. If anyone has advice for winning maybe just a *little* faster, it would be appreciated.

 

Heh, I want my games to go longer. In my Egypt game I switched focus from cultural victory to science victory just to make it longer. I enjoy the information and future eras. If you want a shorter game don't go science victory, it is the longest victory. And as you said, Incas aren't well suited for any one victory. Mali aren't as bad as you think, you can just buy great works to fill up your theater squares. Cultural victory can be fast if you focus on it early.

 

I do like the longer games, I just don't like them when I'm pretty sure that I could have won nearly 50-100 turns earlier. I don't know if there was really anything I could have done to speed it up. China gobbled up a lot of wonders, and now that I realize how powerful IZs are for a Machu Picchu setup, I will probably beeline them a bit more. I conquered Saladin pretty late, but I'm still getting the hang of the grievances system and when the best times to rush are. I stalled on a bunch of games because I tried to rush at a bad time. He was fairly far away too, even though he was my closest neighbor.

I'm trying Elanor/England next, because I am a masochist.

 

I still have no luck (or better: I am still not able) playing as Hungary. Mostly no city states at all near my starting region, or they are captured by the AI before I could meet them or even levy their military. So I was never able to use that special ability (playing on level emperor).