Haven't gotten too far with the new patch, but impressions anyway!
Stone/stoneworks are awesome. A fantastic addition.
The AI has had some real improvement, it seems, even if only in unit production. Alexander attacked me with a really strong and concerted combined-arms attack force focused on Companion Cav doing hit-and-retreat backed with swords who seemed to be buddied-up with archers (mostly) behind them. It was certainly not a half-hearted attempt, and I might have really struggled to hold him off if I wasn't Rome with a 6-iron and a terrain advantage.
Also, the AI seem to be hooking up their extra luxuries at a better rate now, which is nice given that you really need to trade with them now.
Making friends and working on those friendships seems worthwhile now as well. I think the diplomacy is really starting to get there.
Honour is Back. The culture from barbs is of course not as strong as the Tradition or Liberty equivalents, but it's enough to propel you to the garrison policy in reasonable time. And the garrison policy is great with the extra culture, it really does help honour keep a bit of pace culture-wise now. The 15% melee production was enough to make a noticeable difference as well. And if the AI actually is fighting (or even just producing) better, then those combat bonuses will be a lot more handy.
Interestingly, honour now seems to be a viable choice for a much less aggressive/more defensive game (particularly the right-hand path).
- You don't need to be a warmonger to get the barbarian culture (and the vs barbs bonuses can help a builder defend their lands more easily/cheaply).
- Formation tends to favour the defender holding the line.
- Garrison is primarily a peacetime bonus, and is very useful for peaceful early expansion as well, since it's just about the fastest way to get culture pumping in a new city and lets you delay a monument for something else (and keeps new-city happiness in line with pre-patch).
- With archers much cheaper and stronger now, it's also an obvious choice to build a bunch of these to fill the garrison role (and to fight barbs for easy culture/gold/citystate love), and they're exceptional city defenders.
- Professional Army gives all that extra happiness to those who build walls etc - which is more the hybrid players/more peaceful defenders rather than the momentum warmongers using their huge armies to defend.
- And the free great general is really going to help in your first war and only your first war, however early or late it may be, so it's good even if you're delaying war rather than rushing in right from the start.
It's still a sub-optimal choice if you're planning to minimise your fighting, but it doesn't feel like a waste of a whole bunch of policies to take it and then not spend the whole game at war. I took it, had one big war and then settled down for some buildering and didn't regret taking it. Then when Alex came knocking at my door, I had some decent bonuses to help me boot him away. There's enough in there for the hybrid player, or even the builder who feels that they're in a situation where defence is a primary concern.