Maybe my biggest gripe about the game is...

[Taefin]

So people complain about the +7 ferocious event?

On 30 units no less! I thought for sure the +7 was only if you had a small army, since I’ve seen a +1 ferocious elsewhere. What is that, crossbows fighting at the level of line infantry, one shotting everything in sight?

 

[Siptah]

On 30 units no less! I thought for sure the +7 was only if you had a small army, since I’ve seen a +1 ferocious elsewhere. What is that, crossbows fighting at the level of line infantry, one shotting everything in sight?

Most of the 30 are musketeers, and most have some experience as well. So they are 68 CS units fighting against Draftees... fair battle. I've never seen that particular event before.

But it's nice that this happens in a larger war in EM. I had a lot of demands pressed (7), and I wonder if that is the reason why the event happened. Almost 400 war score in the end to take things... also quite nice.

 

[PenngwynXVII]

The changing of empire names just kills me. Every era it's like I've just woken from a coma... Wait, why are the French at war with me??? Oh, the French are really the Egyptians, who I invaded 100 years ago.

 

[Disgustipated]

My biggest gripe is I appear to suck at this game. Just got it today and on my first game. How is the AI so good in getting fame? It seems like once someone gets on top, they will always have the advantage of getting higher fame (since they are unlocking stars first). I'm not a big fan of the fame system.

It's embarrassing that I'm playing below normal and still losing (in 2nd place). I'm not sure how to get on top other than build a bunch of troops and stomp. Which is what I'm doing now. I've run out of room to expand, and I just don't think I have enough territory to get fame faster than the top AI.

And should I be keeping these outposts around or try to convert them into cities? I feel like my bigger cities depend on them now for food. How many outposts should I have per city? I have no clue what I'm doing apparently. I might need to check if there's a manual to the game.

Overall I feel like Civ6 is a far superior game. The only thing this game has over Civ6 is the AI can actually compete for winning the game.

 

[fortydayweekend]

My biggest gripe is I appear to suck at this game. Just got it today and on my first game. How is the AI so good in getting fame? It seems like once someone gets on top, they will always have the advantage of getting higher fame (since they are unlocking stars first). I'm not a big fan of the fame system.

It's embarrassing that I'm playing below normal and still losing (in 2nd place). I'm not sure how to get on top other than build a bunch of troops and stomp. Which is what I'm doing now. I've run out of room to expand, and I just don't think I have enough territory to get fame faster than the top AI.

And should I be keeping these outposts around or try to convert them into cities? I feel like my bigger cities depend on them now for food. How many outposts should I have per city? I have no clue what I'm doing apparently. I might need to check if there's a manual to the game.

Overall I feel like Civ6 is a far superior game. The only thing this game has over Civ6 is the AI can actually compete for winning the game.

I'm not sure if all the AI gets fame bonuses (some of the personas do). It's possible to catch up a lot in the last 2 eras so as long as you're not too far behind you should be good. You can hang out in eras for longer to pick up more stars too (especially good if you still have some spots to build the EQs, and aren't worried about missing your next choice).

Outposts should all be attached to cities eventually. How many territories per city and when to attach/merge is complicated, balancing influence, stability, and industry. Some of the end-game buildings that provide multipliers only seem to pay off in huge cities (10 territories or more?) so I think the intention is that you should be merging some megacities. You can play any way though and I don't know if it's hugely consequential in terms of getting more fame, as it's so late in the game.

You don't need to keep expanding, unless you've run out of room to build more districts?

 

[Taefin]

I’m not that good at this, but I think the key to competing with AI for fame early is to grow your empire through a focus on money, food and/or influence, since each helps get other stars, but also give you stars in their own right. I usually play more production/military tech which is really only useful for staying alive and gaining cities through war. I finally played with influence and taking 12 territories in a single war is the first time I really picked up meaningful district and expansion stars from conquest. I find military is more helpful for directly impeding the leader, since the leading AI will gobble up their neighbors as fast as you do and pick up other AI boosted stars along the way. But even at highest difficulty, the AI never has any yields snowball, and will progress linearly from start to finish, so if you keep the game going without ending on pollution, you will probably pass them eventually, I’ve never played that long.

 

[Aristos]

My biggest gripe is I appear to suck at this game.

Overall I feel like Civ6 is a far superior game. The only thing this game has over Civ6 is the AI can actually compete for winning the game.

Contradictions do not exist. One of the assumptions must be false.
Francisco D'Anconia

 

[reddishrecue]

I agree with some of you guys in here, this game really has been a challenge.

 

[Victoria]

How is the AI so good in getting fame?

It’s not really, you just need to work out how to do better. It is like stating civ and building districts first and not knowing how the AI can be good at science.
Read tips and tricks I guess.

 

[snakeboy]

The ai really is not that good. You just have to learn the ropes, the game is more complex and subtle than at first sight. And you can be several thousands of points behind and still win rather massively through collecting fame in the final era (on Empire level at least).

 

[Disgustipated]

And you can be several thousands of points behind and still win rather massively through collecting fame in the final era (on Empire level at least).

Really? And I'm concerned being 200 points behind.

I should note I'm playing on slow speed. Not sure how much difference that makes. Maybe the AI is better on slow speed?

Contradictions do not exist. One of the assumptions must be false.

I don't see a contradiction. Just because a game is easy (civ6), doesn't mean it's bad. You are more playing against yourself in that game, it's more of a sandbox builder. The AI in that game just doesn't try to win.
In this game, the AI seems to exclusively go for era stars and fame.

Well my war didn't go so well. I took a city with a lot of adjacent territories, but eventually lost it. Another gripe is it's hard to see what's attacking you when you are on defense in between turns. Reloaded and razed the city and several outposts. I did knock them down a couple pegs, only to see 2 other AI's gain top spots and I move down to 4th place.

Even worse, despite me winning the war, my only option is to surrender? I don't get it.

I'll just try a new game with more expansion in the beginning.

 

[snakeboy]

Really? And I'm concerned being 200 points behind.

I should note I'm playing on slow speed. Not sure how much difference that makes. Maybe the AI is better on slow speed?

200 points is nothing lol. They hand out fame points like confetti in the final era Don't know about slow speed tho, I only played normal.

 

[Victoria]

Even worse, despite me winning the war, my only option is to surrender? I don't get it.

You needed to wait another turn, their war support has to be 0 at the beginning of the turn I think. Before then you can only surrender. The AI ‘seems’ to go for era stars but it needs era stars to progress to the next era and that’s what it is really trying to do. If you wait in an era until you have say 10-12 stars before progressing you should be fine.

I had an epiphany moment last night and now realise it is a fairly straight forward game with some pretty crazy mechanics. Just took me a while to get there.

 

[PSG]

It’s not really, you just need to work out how to do better. It is like stating civ and building districts first and not knowing how the AI can be good at science.
Read tips and tricks I guess.

I disagree. The game is too good at fame and not good enough at other things. This is fine since fame wins one the game, but is Kim Kardashian really superior over Neil Armstrong?

Heading into the final era in a game last night I was in second place with about 8,500 fame and the Mongol Ai was at 12,500. I build every single modern era wonder, finished the tech tree and still lost by about 1,500 fame.

 

[Siptah]

I disagree. The game is too good at fame and not good enough at other things. This is fine since fame wins one the game, but is Kim Kardashian really superior over Neil Armstrong?

Heading into the final era in a game last night I was in second place with about 8,500 fame and the Mongol Ai was at 12,500. I build every single modern era wonder, finished the tech tree and still lost by about 1,500 fame.

Reading that, it sounds to me that you advance too quickly for ramping up a lot of fame. Every consecutive star per era is worth more fame. So the first aesthete star is 100, the second 200, the third 300. It's very much worth it to stay longer in an era to get at least 2-3 of the level 3 ones. If you stick to eras until you've got 10-15 stars, you'll usually win, because the AI advances too quickly all the time. The only reason to advance quicker is during wars imho, when the AI is on superior tech level and you cannot beeline to the counter units because they are in an era ahead.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Reading that, it sounds to me that you advance too quickly for ramping up a lot of fame. Every consecutive star per era is worth more fame. So the first aesthete star is 100, the second 200, the third 300. It's very much worth it to stay longer in an era to get at least 2-3 of the level 3 ones. If you stick to eras until you've got 10-15 stars, you'll usually win, because the AI advances too quickly all the time. The only reason to advance quicker is during wars imho, when the AI is on superior tech level and you cannot beeline to the counter units because they are in an era ahead.

Or, more rarely, when there is a Faction in the next Era that you really, really want to get for strategic, aesthetic, or whatever reasons - then you will want to advance as fast as possible. This is usually not a 'best strategy' though, and I've found that there are almost always alternative choices/strategies that will also work for almost whatever you want to do (unless it's 'field a specific Emblematic Unit': then you have no choice at all)

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I disagree. The game is too good at fame and not good enough at other things. This is fine since fame wins one the game, but is Kim Kardashian really superior over Neil Armstrong?

Heading into the final era in a game last night I was in second place with about 8,500 fame and the Mongol Ai was at 12,500. I build every single modern era wonder, finished the tech tree and still lost by about 1,500 fame.

Armstrong = superior at going into space.
Kardashian = Superior at spacey self-promotion.
Apples and Oranges.

There was considerable discussion of the speed of getting Fame Stars in the game development process, and I don't thing the proper 'balance' is there yet. In several post-release games I consistently find that I'm ending the game 30 - 60 turns before nominal End of Game (300 turns) with a Mars Mission, achieve All Possible Fame Stars in Last Age or Research All Technologies victory. Also, I am consistently up to half an Age behind in Tech until the Industrial Age, and then reach the Contemporary Age by Turn 150 (the half-way point, supposedly) and whip out the remaining Techs at a rate of one every 1 - 2 turns for the rest of the game. It seems that both the overall Star progress is too fast, and the Tech progress is out of synch with the Fame Progress in the first 4 - 5 Ages.

There's definitely more work to be done to get the overall balance right.
On the other hand, Civ VI started with Technology progress too fast, and still hasn't fixed the balance all these years later: at least the Humankind development team have already recognized that they have a problem. It remains to be seen if they can come up with a good, playable solution(s) for it.

 

[Siptah]

There was considerable discussion of the speed of getting Fame Stars in the game development process, and I don't thing the proper 'balance' is there yet. In several post-release games I consistently find that I'm ending the game 30 - 60 turns before nominal End of Game (300 turns) with a Mars Mission, achieve All Possible Fame Stars in Last Age or Research All Technologies victory. Also, I am consistently up to half an Age behind in Tech until the Industrial Age, and then reach the Contemporary Age by Turn 150 (the half-way point, supposedly) and whip out the remaining Techs at a rate of one every 1 - 2 turns for the rest of the game. It seems that both the overall Star progress is too fast, and the Tech progress is out of synch with the Fame Progress in the first 4 - 5 Ages.

And here comes the hard part to balance pace: when I play for fun (that is not to end fast), I always have all techs in each era before advancing, and quite naturally so without waiting much for it. But then my games obviously end later (around turns 250-70). So, who's right? It's a very difficult balance to strike, especially as the game gives you so much freedom of how to play it.

 

[Aristos]

I disagree. The game is too good at fame and not good enough at other things. This is fine since fame wins one the game, but is Kim Kardashian really superior over Neil Armstrong?

Heading into the final era in a game last night I was in second place with about 8,500 fame and the Mongol Ai was at 12,500. I build every single modern era wonder, finished the tech tree and still lost by about 1,500 fame.

Neil Armstrong would go to Mars centuries before Kim Kardashian and end the game. Fame is a score keeper, if you want to consider that a victory, then that it is. If you value Neil more than Kim (who in their right mind wouldn't, except for... you know), then by your standards you won by being first to Mars (and the game ends).

If you are not in Mars by the time history ends, and Kim has accumulated more fame than you, well...

And besides all that, Fame in this game has nothing to do with the shallow "fame" that western societies decided to adjudicate to shallow, useless "personalities". So, comparing HK fame achievements with Kim's fame "achievements" is a fallacy.

I don't see a contradiction. Just because a game is easy (civ6), doesn't mean it's bad.

A strategy game that lets you win no matter what you do or don't, is really really bad.

 

[Victoria]

I am confused, when I play for stars I get practically all the techs before advancing.