Insane Beelines (maybe Russia isn't so bad?)

[CaiusDrewart]

Beelining techs and civics is also attractive as Russia since the more of them you have, the more expensive your districts are. You definitely don't want to backfill cheap but unnecessary techs. (NB: I hate this feature of the game.)

With all that said, I think in most situations internal trade routes are the way to go. You can't buy districts and internal trade routes offer the production needed to get them set up.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Isn't it great that we are all back together again?

Very much so. Love the new avatar. Though I feel a little bad that I got you to go to the bother of changing it.

 

[budweiser]

You should absolutely feel bad. However, this new avatar is boss.

Here is a screen shot of my city locations on a low level (3) game.

 

[rpgalon]

I don't know where you're getting that from. After a certain point you don't really need food and the gold you can get into the midgame can become insane. My current game I'm getting +20 gpt from london, that's production I can put anywhere.

It's my gameplay style, I don't build farms, all my builder charges go to harvesting/mines/lumber mills/resource improvement. So all my food comes from trade routes, this way I can control growth better and give food to the cities that need it, I use it to grow new cities, conquered cities and to keep growing my cities over 20 pop when neighborhood is available.

 

[Furycrab]

I'm like 90% convinced Russia is top 5 if not top 3 material. The leader ability is a bit of a wash and hard to use unless you seriously fall behind, but the Lavra and Land grab is insane. Had Peters ability been more proactive, and they still could with future leaders, I think I'd put Russia as number 1 barring some really broken stuff being left in the game.

Districts costs get locked when you plant them... So basically all your cities get a free super cheap Holy site, just plant it the minute you settle the city in a good spot (maybe wait if you need to chop a forest down first), and then you have all this land grabbed and ready so you can probably immediately lock the price for the second district that city is going to build as well. You almost always get the Tundra Faith option to go fairly crazy on the religion front too.

Just remember to not neglect getting a reasonably early TS, or you'll be floating great writers/artists early. Definitely one of the best for a peaceful game. Even better if the super cheesy stuff like Scythia horse selling gets nerfed.

 

[rpgalon]

I'm like 90% convinced Russia is top 5 if not top 3 material. The leader ability is a bit of a wash and hard to use unless you seriously fall behind, but the Lavra and Land grab is insane. Had Peters ability been more proactive, and they still could with future leaders, I think I'd put Russia as number 1 barring some really broken stuff being left in the game.

Districts costs get locked when you plant them... So basically all your cities get a free super cheap Holy site, just plant it the minute you settle the city in a good spot (maybe wait if you need to chop a forest down first), and then you have all this land grabbed and ready so you can probably immediately lock the price for the second district that city is going to build as well. You almost always get the Tundra Faith option to go fairly crazy on the religion front too.

Just remember to not neglect getting a reasonably early TS, or you'll be floating great writers/artists early. Definitely one of the best for a peaceful game. Even better if the super cheesy stuff like Scythia horse selling gets nerfed.

I agree, I think Russia +10 extra tiles when you found a city bonus, single-handedly makes it a top tier Civ.

 

[CaiusDrewart]

I agree, I think Russia +10 extra tiles when you found a city bonus, single-handedly makes it a top tier Civ.

The intricacies of district placement, the agonizingly slow rate of border growth, and the really high cost of tiles definitely makes Russia's ability really valuable. (Side note: I also love how it looks on the map. I wish every city started with 10 more tiles.)

With most Civs I don't build too many Holy Sites, and in fact I kind of ignore the faith game. I typically don't think Holy Sites are really worth delaying the Commercial Hub/Industrial Zone/Campus/Theater Square set. But super cheap, easily spammable Holy Sites that also give great person points? That's really good.

 

[agonistes]

I agree, I think Russia +10 extra tiles when you found a city bonus, single-handedly makes it a top tier Civ.

And conquer cities. Just realized this last night. Took a city from Normandy and I blew its border up.