It's a great time. I happened to be on a continental split, so I could expand out to 3 continents pretty quick. Having lots of decent RNDs and then hooking up canals to go from sea to sea feels great.
The new IZ rules feel very potent in capable british hands. Pop out a military engineer or two and slam down all the green infrastructure to get those IZs rolling in new cities. I actually found myself very concerned with strategics much more than mines themselves - although having a pair of say, niter mines would get you +3. I would lobby to include oil wells and oil platforms in their adjacency though, just because it's rare enough to not normally matter but its got flavor, and helps with those out of the way oil cities. If you haven't played yet, try it out. It's fun to plan!
I'll show some examples:
London is a bit isolated but building it out was very fun. In the Northwest you can see a Kilimanjaro based Mining District, the dark soil making it look like an industrial wasteland. Or as the locals call it, Brixton.
But to the south of the city you can see a nice little Aqueduct/Dam setup that was giving +8, until I built Ruhr to boost all those mines. Unprecedented! Previous that was reserved to a dutch river IZ fully surrounded by mines.
The Liverpool Co-Prosperity Sphere:
I messed up the Govt Plaza because I forgot that Dam placement is awkward. But in this example, the dual aqueduct water wheels, the dam, the coal plants... so very aesthetic! Is it as productive as it is good looking? Indubitably!
I'm particularly proud of this IZ, the Preston Waterworks:
Here's a great example of a simple canal city. The different water levels, the V shape... my inner engineer quakes. I do have Machu Picchu, so this IZ would normally be +5.
The only problem I have had is that canals come much later than dams so if you fully plan out a city it can take some time to execute. Although, it really adds to the fun when you just reach the industrial era, and suddenly FACTORIES! COAL PLANTS! CANALS! hit all at once.
The bonus coal is very handy. England can actually sustain a coal power grid,
and battleship fleets +a couple ironclads.
The new rules are going to make my Japan games a dream, and germany games simply ludicrous. Now I can surround
All the Hansas with +2 districts!
Oh yes, I rolled about a dozen seven seas maps and I have seen chains of big lakes, the whole bit. Seven Seas is probably much more suited to the Dutch polder kingdom than England, the lakes are quite interesting.
just check the version number on the start screen in the lower left - 1.0.0.328 and you are fine...
