Is there any direct benefit to meeting other Civs?

[General Tso]

Is there any direct benefit to meeting other Civs?

I'm current playing on the earth map and I'm the only Civ in America. I was wondering if there was any reason to hurry my effort to explore the rest of the world.

By direct benefit I mean something other than trades and diplomacy. Something like techs being cheaper if other Civs that you met already researched them.

 

[Leyrann]

As far as I am aware, not really. You also won't know if someone gets miles ahead though, so you could get surprised by someone's strength or culture or maybe they converted all other civilizations.

I'd say, just expand so you cover all the americas, you'll probably have the largest amount of cities then, which should give you an automatic advantage. If you want you can of course build a navy and then do a reverse colonization.

 

[General Tso]

Cool. Thank you for the reply. Great minds think alike - I'm already doing the strategy you suggested. According to the in game rankings, I'm first in science, upper-middle of the pack with culture, and last in domination. Fortunately there's a ocean between me and everybody else so I still have some time to build my army.

I wouldn't want to do every game like this but I'm currently enjoying the peace and quiet resulting from having my own continent(s).

 

[Leyrann]

Well, I tend to win wars while being close to last in domination, and then take first place once I capture captials... I tend to not worry about domination ranking.

Sounds like you're doing fine, so yeah, time for some isolationist policy.

 

[gfeier]

You don't get tourists from civs you haven't met. In my current game, I have my hands full trying to stop Greece from getting a culture victory.

 

[Amrunril]

You don't get tourists from civs you haven't met. In my current game, I have my hands full trying to stop Greece from getting a culture victory.

This is an important point. In most games, it doesn't really matter in the stage of the game where you're still meeting new players, but with a few focused strategies, like Kandy + Reliquaries, it can make a huge difference.

 

[aegis_23]

I'm fairly sure all tech costs are independent of other civs having researched them (unlike civ 5), aside from the few instances where your interactions will give you a boost you'll not suffer from being isolated.

 

[Disgustipated]

According to the in game rankings, I'm first in science, upper-middle of the pack with culture, and last in domination

If you are talking about science in what displays on the tech tree, that won't show civs you haven't met yet. Or are you talking about on the score screen? (that I do believe shows civs you haven't met yet). I wish they'd have a proper demographics screen, I always forget you can look some of that stuff up on the score screen, but it isn't very intuitive.

 

[isau]

There is a big benefit to selling off your early Luxuries. The AIs (particularly on higher difficulties) will pay bank for them. You have to meet them first to do that.

Beyond that it's nice to know no one is out there in the world is snowballing toward a huge victory. This is less important in Civ 6 than it was in 4, but still a thing.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

On a diplomatic note, any allied civ shares the map with you and vice-versa. It's good to have an ally in another landmass to take a peek on the progress other AIs.

 

[General Tso]

Thanks for all of the good points. I think I'll stay isolationist for a while yet. I'm currently researching the tech for caravels. Once that done I'll slowly start exploring. I currently have almost no army so I figure that needs to be increased as I explore so that I'm ready when other Civs start sizing me up.

@Disgustipated: I was using the score screen. It doesn't give any details about Civs you haven't met. But I still find it handy and use it a lot. It lets me know roughly where I stand compared to other Civs.

 

[Galbias]

Yeah, exploring (beyond your immediate area) doesn't tend to be terribly rewarding, and if you plan to do some conquest then you may be better off waiting to explore further until you're done so you can avoid eating huge warmonger penalties with those last few Civs.

Though really, I feel like there aren't enough upsides to meeting and maintaining friendly relations with other Civs, mostly just luxury trades. Something like Civ 5's research agreements would help with that.

 

[Southern_Hunter]

Since nobody has mentioned it yet, I will just add the obvious point that you get a Eureka for writing when you first meet them.

 

[Leyrann]

Since nobody has mentioned it yet, I will just add the obvious point that you get a Eureka for writing when you first meet them.

If you've scouted the whole American continent you probably already discovered writing.

 

[Manifold]

Is there any direct benefit to meeting other Civs?

a lot: make demands, make war, looting, cheat them at the peace conclusion...