How do the recent patch changes impact the game?

[Blue Emu]

I've noticed that the recent patches have changed several game mechanics... most notably, a Trade Depot only gives one trade route instead of two until your city reaches population-10 and receives a second trade route. Also, the Ectogenesis Pod no longer boosts Farm production by +1... instead it adds +1 Food per 4-population (for this city only?), a far weaker bonus.

Any comments on how these (or other) changes impact the game? Has anyone noticed other major changes?

 

[ProphetMaster]

I've noticed that the recent patches have changed several game mechanics... most notably, a Trade Depot only gives one trade route instead of two until your city reaches population-10 and receives a second trade route. Also, the Ectogenesis Pod no longer boosts Farm production by +1... instead it adds +1 Food per 4-population (for this city only?), a far weaker bonus.

Any comments on how these (or other) changes impact the game? Has anyone noticed other major changes?

My comment is that it confused the hell out of me on trade routes. Any other surprises folks have discovered? Does the Australian dude still get 4 trade routes to begin? If so, I think I will switch to him as my new leader.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

The early game got a bit slower because you have less Trade Routes, which translates into ~10-20 extra turns needed to win. The fact that you can set TR to "auto renew" is neat feature that saves quite a bit of time.

As for the wonder changes, I think most of them have become much weaker (and several ones seem to be bugged/non-functional). So you can now skip Gene Vault and Ectogenesis Pod (which, btw, is just 1 food per 5 pop, the tooltip is wrong).

Overall this means little change for my playstile (peaceful Harmony Affinity victory). I still use AU + Artists for rapid expansion (5 cities total), beeline Academies, spam them everywhere and then switch to grab all the Affinity techs. Only difference is that extra 10-20 turns needed to win.

Also:
Nice to see a fellow Paradoxian on the fanatics forums.

Does the Australian dude still get 4 trade routes to begin? If so, I think I will switch to him as my new leader.

He starts with 3 (1 base + 2 perk), but the extra 2 count towards the pop TR limit, so he doesn't get another one at pop 10 and 22. To unlock his 4th TR he needs 34 pop like everyone else.
So his ability is a bit stronger during the early game, African Union is (imho) still way better overall.

 

[Blue Emu]

Nice to see a fellow Paradoxian on the fanatics forums.

I've been here all along, but as a Guest. I haven't logged onto my account in years.

 

[ProphetMaster]

I believe I found another change. In earlier versions of the game, couldn't you have all your settlements near the Exodus Gate? Now the settlers are like colonists -- must settle 4 tiles aways from any city. I am having a problem with that, and may have to destroy a couple of my neighbor's cities just to clear land for the 4 settlements needed. Be advised -- and plan ahead.

 

[I_pity_the_fool]

Now the settlers are like colonists -- must settle 4 tiles aways from any city.

I'm pretty sure it was always like that.

 

[ProphetMaster]

I'm pretty sure it was always like that.

I checked it. You are correct. Interesting that you can also have a Settlement inside the borders of another colony so long as you follow the 4-tile away rule.

I am new to this game, but isn't it difficult to find 4 unclaimed settlement spots late in the game? Looking at my current game, I am way ahead of the others in affinity level, but don't have 4 spots available without going to war. Lesson learned.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Sidenote:
That city distance rule does not apply when there is no land connection between a city and the target location (e.g. islands, other continents).

 

[lilgamefreek]

Has that always been the case (including Civ5)?

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Yes, it was also the case in CIV5.

 

[feniks]

I am not 100% sure, but I think something happened to Supremacy level III and mag-rail maintenance. Last night finished Supremacy victory on Vostok difficulty and mag-rails were definitely NOT free for me (not sure if there were somewhat discounted tho).

 

[CaptMikeP]

My god, I HATE that -1 trade route at the beginning....

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

The early game got a bit slower because you have less Trade Routes, which translates into ~10-20 extra turns needed to win. The fact that you can set TR to "auto renew" is neat feature that saves quite a bit of time.

The AI on Apollo feels weaker post-patch. Did they change the bonuses or did the trade route nerfs also hurt them?

 

[GAGA Extrem]

I don't play Apollo, so I don't know the starting conditions for the AI. But if they drop with two Settlers, the removal of the second TR will certainly hurt them more than you.

 

[nimling]

My usual strategy is to make sure my first 2-3 cities can hit pop 10 sooner rather than later. Trade routes are ohpee.
Basic resources are sorely underrated - getting better than 3 food on a plot early is so good, and the high-end improvements take time to acquire.
Polystralia ain't bad for REXing. Get 3-4 cities up quick, feed a trade route to each of them, and watch the capital grow super big. Station trade is a possibility while waiting for cities to come online.
AU is still better though.

 

[Alkaid]

The AI on Apollo feels weaker post-patch. Did they change the bonuses or did the trade route nerfs also hurt them?

Really? The post-patch Apollo AI seems much stronger to me than before. They get more stuff when landing and seemingly more bonuses. I don't know what the bonuses were for them before or after the latest patch, but they seem to get science much faster and higher than before. Even with all their land full of unimproved tiles/terrascapes/biowells/farms it takes a lot of academy spam of your own to keep up with them. All of that plus landing with an extra settler, 3 workers, 2 explorers, 2 rovers and 1 affinity in each level to start.

That's part of why it seems like cognition rush and academy spam or bust right now for Apollo, imo. Soyuz difficulty feels like a slightly easier version of old Apollo to me. And there is a pretty big gap in difficulty between the two from my experience.