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.