Organizing my thoughts about Japan's new UA (from Sep 7th patch), just for feedback. No particular issue so far that would require much attention.
For those that don't know the details of the UA, here are the related posts about the patch:
Japan - new UA: +1 Science and Faith (typo: is Culture and Faith) from Defense and Military Training Buildings. When a Great Admiral or Great General is born, receive Great Artist, Writer, and Musician Points in your Capital.
- UB - regains Yields from leveling ability
- Old UA was creating weird strategies, and scaled poorly at higher difficulties. The Trade Route idea, while interesting on paper, never really came into play (and was usually just frustrating for both sides). New UA is a blend of the prior one and a static buff on some buildings, giving Japan a reliable (small) steroid, a wartime steroid, and an incentive to focus on small, highly-trained armies.
The Dojo did not get the slot back, no. I'm monitoring it, as I want to make sure Japan isn't too synergistic and thus OP.
Fealty still has a lot going for it. Definitely stronger than previous Piety.
Industry is now a little better for tall empires than the other industrial branches, thus complimenting the policy branch system we've created:
Tradition, Statecraft, Industry -> 'taller' branches
Progress, Artistry, Rationalism -> 'thicker' branches
Authority, Fealty, Imperialism -> 'wider' branches
France keeps the GWAMs - they spawn for different reasons, and they're both culture/war hybrid civs, so I don't see the problem. Besides, they build very different armies, and have different goals - Japan is much more defensive, whereas France is much more offensive.
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Details:
- Defense buildings: Wall, Castle, Arsenal, Military Base
- Military buildings: Barracks, Dojo, Military Academy
- Yields on leveling formula: max {1, (Level-1)² * 4}
- UA grants 50% of the required points for GWAM upon Great General or Admiral birth.
The return of GWAM on GG/GA birth is welcomed, and feels stronger than before due to a prior change in GWAM bulbing: they scale with the number of the related great works in the empire. Since Japan is a strong warmonger, it's feasible to adquire a great number of great works with the UA, guilds in the capital and conquests, then bulb your lategame GWAM (with help of GG/GA faith purchases; Authority and Imperialism remain solid trees for Japan) for massive yields. I once got 44 turns of Golden Age from a single Artist, with help of a golden age monopoly (buffed by Imperialism) and a conquered Chichen Itza.
The +1
/
on military and defensive buildings isn't particularly strong on its own, but stacks with so many buffs to these buildings that the civ gets quite a lot of value for what it pays in production. Military buildings are already a high priority for Japan and already provide some science yields (plus Dojo's stats and abilities), so the +1
/
is convenient enough for these.
The UA feels a bit underwhelming when it comes to defensive buildings, since these don't provide actual yields on their own, nor unit experience. For Japan to actually want to build them (outside wanting faith in Ancient/Classical to found a religion), the civ needs to stack a lot of extra buffs (Fealty's Nobility, Neuschwanstein, Defender of the Faith, Military-Industrial Complex); the +1
/
alone isn't enough to justify them, as their priority doesn't increase by much compared to the new buildings of the respective era.
And, in that sense, Japan doesn't feel more defensive than France. Japan mostly prioritizes military infrastructure, rather than actual defenses, and the civ doesn't have bonuses that are specifically tailored for defense. Sometimes, you find less defensive civs having better city defenses than Japan due to a UB (e.g. Acropolis), UI (Feitoria, Chateau, Encampment), or simply because they had more immediate need for defenses against an aggressive neighbor.
This is notable when it comes to puppets. Japan has incentives for puppeting: the yields on leveling doesn't scale with the number of cities owned, and the extra GWAM are more valuable if your tourism penalty remains low. But puppets tend to neglect military and defensive buildings (except Dojo, probably because it's an UB), even if you stack all the said buffs to those buildings. As such, Japan may end having to choose between the +1
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and the GWAM+leveling, and the latter is currently more important. That leaves the +1
/
as an early boost, rather than a constant benefit throughout the game.
As an early boost, it is working well, and synergizes perfectly with Goddess of Protection; Japan gets to focus on military benefits and pushes forward culture and religion in the process. Very efficient in terms of benefits from your production. I don't struggle to found a religion with this UA, and the civ is well positioned in terms of social policies advancement. It feels slow compared to many early faith uniques, but does its job well enough to net a religion.
About suggestions, if the civ has room for improvements, I'd consider only an adjustment to the yields on defensive buildings, as they require more incentives to be built by Japan than military buildings. Also, if the puppet AI logic can be tailored, check how it evaluates the buildings when it comes to buffs. It shouldn't take the Modern Era for an old puppet to decide to build a castle in an empire with Fealty, Neuschwanstein and yields from its UA.
very early on. If you get more, great, but Japan is a viable civ without getting cheesy amounts of yields from scouts. If you do get some really yields from scout XP, its just a bonus
Capital whenever a Great General or Admiral is born" from Japan; if the civ is giving up those two bonuses, then this extra culture and science should feel strong on its own, not just a bonus reliant on cheesy moves.
, alongside the 15 XP, feels really good. Walls with 2
