Is Everyone Having As Much Fun With Preserves As I Am?

[AmtrakQuebec]

Other than monopolies, this is my favourite thing of late. I particularly like surrounding wonders with them. My best one was where I had four Preserves fully upgraded around the Chocolate Hills wonder... it was freakin' awesome!!!

This one was pretty good as well...

 

[8housesofelixir]

It would be a much bigger fun if the tile yields view is open.

 

[AmtrakQuebec]

It would be a much bigger fun if the tile yields view is open.

Yeah, I'm 2 lazy for that... I just uploaded whatever I had happened to capture

 

[iammaxhailme]

I like them if I get passable natural wonders, otherwise I usually skip them

 

[Aurelesk]

Yes, I did have some fun with it.

Spoiler Maoris do what maoris do best :

It was at the time where you could have +2 Faith from breathtaking tiles.

To be frank, it has some use:

• It is niche, but if you start near a Woods + River area with at least 2~3 tiles with 3+ appeal overall, it can be worth it to go for a premature Mysticism for an early Preserve + Groove. It allows to have up to 3 Housing, save Gold from tile purchase with the Culture Bomb, and recover the wasted time with the additionnal Food / Culture from the new tiles for more Population and catching back to Political Philosophy.
  • Same thing can be said for riverless coastal start. Preserve can be used for Housing purpose, while tiles near Coast tend to have high Appeal. But it also have some drawbacks: you are wasting precious land tiles in the early game that can be problematic in the late game.
• Tourism victory througth National Parks: the Preserve allows to have at least some decent tiles to work, including passable wonders.
• It allows to make use of Tundra (has Woods and Rivers, but no Rainforest, Marsh or Floodplains → high Appeal from unhospitable place).
• To people like me who spread their city and tends to build up Population, you will end up to have room for it, and not have many districts to build anyway. It is more like a last resort choice.

 

[Yzman]

I don't think I have ever even build a preserve...what do they do exactly?

 

[Aurelesk]

I don't think I have ever even build a preserve...what do they do exactly?

A Preserve does many things:

• It grants Housing, up to 3. It depends on the tile's Appeal. I believe it is 3 for breathtaking (4+), 2 for charming (2 to 3), and 1 else (1-).
• It iniates a Culture Bomb, claiming adjacent unowned tiles. It cannot claim those further than 3 tiles away from the City-Center.
• It gives 1 Appeal to adjacent tiles (important for later).
• It can have 2 buildings:
  • Grove: it gives 1 Food and 1 Faith to unimproved charming tiles next to the Preserve. If breathtaking: it gives 2 Food, 2 Faith and 2 Culture instead.
  • Sancturary (unlocked at Conservation): it gives 1 Science and 1 Gold to unimproved charming tiles next to the Preserve. If breathtaking: it gives 2 Science, 2 Gold and 2 Production instead.

Basically, it allows you to build a somewhat natural Wonder. Somes like it. Somes do not find anything useable consistently out if this, except some specific and tailored gameplay. They are some downsides to it:

• It costs a district slots.
• It does not help toward any Great People point generation.
• It does not increase Trade Route yields, either domestic or internationnal.
• Appeal management is not a fun thing to many. It is for me. But for the Chopping masters and the Mines aficionados, it would be quite a dilemna between Appeal and Production.

 

[Pietato]

Amazing for the Maori.

 

[Disgustipated]

I often forget about them. But in my Spain huge Earth TSL game I did built one in North African on the coast next to that Saharan natural wonder (sorry I can't think of the name right now), and also adjacent to the tiles adjacent to Delicate Arch in North America. I also had a 3rd one in North America in the Western Great Plains area (just using forest for appeal). The coastal one does appear to buff the water tiles, but not by much. I don't think the appeal was breathtaking, but I forgot to check.

In my current Khmer game in the Mediterranean map I'm only building one so far. So far I've been concentrating on districts on the river and farms, so haven't had much chance to think about preserves. I started in Western/central Europe which is just lots of flat plains. And yeah, it's obviously not TSL or I wouldn't be able to play Khmer on that map.

 

[Tech Osen]

It's a sure fire way to spawn coal/oil/aluminium in adjacent tiles.

 

[Disgustipated]

It's a sure fire way to spawn coal/oil/aluminium in adjacent tiles.

Yup, coal spawned right on top of my preserve I was currently building in my Mediterranean Khmer game. I still seem to be getting the coal from it which is kind of hilarious. Not much of a preserve ehh. Those sneaky mining corporations must be sneaking in at night to grab the coal.

 

[kaspergm]

I'm not going to deny I've had some fun playing with the preserve, but like pretty much everything else in NFP, it feels more like a gimmick than something that really has a natural place in the game. Maybe I'd have an easier time accepting them in the game if they unlocked 5 or 6 eras later than they actually do, which is basically the point where I'll start putting them down anyway.

 

[AmtrakQuebec]

OK, so I decided not to be completely lazy and post a screenshot of my latest Preservation with yields, as requested...

... not bad for a bunch of unimproved woods.

 

[Vargas1]

I'm not going to deny I've had some fun playing with the preserve, but like pretty much everything else in NFP, it feels more like a gimmick than something that really has a natural place in the game. Maybe I'd have an easier time accepting them in the game if they unlocked 5 or 6 eras later than they actually do, which is basically the point where I'll start putting them down anyway.

This is basically my thinking too - unless you spawn by a natural wonder or are playing as Bull Moose Teddy or Inca, there's really not much benefit to building them early even though they unlock in the ancient era.

 

[Linklite]

I've never even built one. The major issue for me is that they consume a District Slot, which is a big drawbacks for buffing unimproved tiles. I almost always wouod rather Campus/TD/HS/CH/Harbour for yields, or an IZ/Aerodrome/Encampment/Aerodrome for production to crank out later Wonders or whatever later. Preserves seem to be a significant investment into an avenue that is inherently inferior.

 

[Leucarum]

I feel like the price could be lowered somewhat. They are a lot of fun and I love seeing those yields rack up but they aren't often as competitive as other options unless you're a civ that can really take advantage of some extra appeal or national parks.

 

[Buktu]

I've never even built one. The major issue for me is that they consume a District Slot, which is a big drawbacks for buffing unimproved tiles. I almost always wouod rather Campus/TD/HS/CH/Harbour for yields, or an IZ/Aerodrome/Encampment/Aerodrome for production to crank out later Wonders or whatever later. Preserves seem to be a significant investment into an avenue that is inherently inferior.

They are quite nice for national parks though since there are no other options to increase the yields on those tiles. Perserves are also great for dessert/tundra to get some food in those cities and make those bad tiles actually workable (especially in these low food and pop cities the preserve will pay for its district slot pretty quick).

 

[Socrates99]

I worry less about a district taking up a slot when it provides both food and housing. For me it's making sure it pays for itself. I'd like at least 3 breathtaking tiles adj to it before considering it worthwhile.

I've seen Maori, Inca and Bull Moose Teddy mentioned but there are other civs that can benefit from them. Persia and France's UI can help get good yields. Canada's parks are synergistic with preserves. Vietnam's early tree planting and the fact that she doesn't remove forest when placing a district worked great for me. It's a great source of faith for Kongo.

I also like them next to volcanoes so I can get good tile yields without constantly repairing or replacing improvements.

They're also good replacements for theater squares and holy sites when not playing for culture or religion. Great when going on a wide dom game since it reduces the number of builders you'll need.

 

[Leucarum]

They're also good replacements for theater squares and holy sites when not playing for culture or religion. Great when going on a wide dom game since it reduces the number of builders you'll need.

I'd say one point very much in their favour is the variety of yields they generate, they might not generate as much of any one yield as their respective districts, but getting both from one is a nice bonus, especially when you get more and more yields tacked on later in the game. The cost of the buildings inside though is the one thing which for me makes it a bit more of a specialist strategy.

 

[Socrates99]

I'd say one point very much in their favour is the variety of yields they generate, they might not generate as much of any one yield as their respective districts, but getting both from one is a nice bonus, especially when you get more and more yields tacked on later in the game. The cost of the buildings inside though is the one thing which for me makes it a bit more of a specialist strategy.

Yeah, I think the building costs could be reduced. They're garbage without at least a grove.