New Q&A session

[MadDjinn]

I love it when you talk strategy.

 

[bcaiko]

GAAAAH! Kate is not the person responding to the questions. the questions are answered by the BNW dev team and the Q&A is posted by Kate. it says so at the top of each Q&A.

Kate does coordinate the Q&A, though, and we can (and should) thank her for that. We're (mostly) polite people here.

there no need to change Germany UA why? just because the Zulus UA uses part of Germany UA just because one Civ/Civs uses another Civ/Civs UA does not mean it need to be changed

I agree that Germany will need a UA tweak. And I assume they're getting just that: a tweak and not an overhaul.

I've mentioned before that I believe the Mughal Fort will be replace due to it depicting the Red Fort in its icon. It's possible such a discrepancy will be overlooked, but the opportunity is there to replace the rather weak UB with, let's say, a faith oriented UB.

The Q&A said no Civ is getting the type of overhaul that France is getting. I'm betting that means no new UBs, UUs or UAs for any other existing Civ. India's UA is what most players insist needs changing. The Mughal Fort could have its culture changed to tourism.

I love it when you talk strategy.

Oh, go make out already!

 

[baptismbyfire]

No, not really. The tulip fields can only been seen for a couple of months in the year. Besides the majority tourists never leaves Amsterdam due to weed and the red light district. With the exception of Belgians, Germans and the French I've almost never spoken to a foreigner that visited the Netherlands and saw more than just Amsterdam.

The only exception would be Japanese tourists which in huge masses go to the 'Zaanse Schans', where they had constructed a sort of old-Dutch mini town with a bunch of windmills a couple of decades ago. I still remember them hoarding the place 18 years ago. I wouldn't even dare going there now, not even their divine pancakes can convince me.

Anyway: Perhaps the production boost could be swapped for a culture boost but they work fine the way they are right now.

I didn't spend any time going to the windmills or tulips. For me, Amsterdam was all about the fantastic Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Hals, Vermeer and Mondrian in its art museums and the Anne Frank museum.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I didn't spend any time going to the windmills or tulips. For me, Amsterdam was all about the fantastic Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Hals, Vermeer and Mondrian in its art museums and the Anne Frank museum.

Liar (sarcasm in case one might miss it), we all know why you went there

 

[Hulking Lummox]

You could think of it this way.

You could also flip it around and have caravans leaving Rome to new cities, giving them a hammer boost via the trade route that may or may not be boosted by the Roman UA. It'll mean that those newly founded 'later' game cities get the % boost and a bunch of free hammers to quick build all of the basic buildings. Assuming you're just buying all buildings in Rome by that point ofc.

Yeah, ITR's to cities other than the capital are essentially worth 25% more production (assuming you have the building in Rome). Pretty nice. Also Rome is getting a huge religion boost from Piety being available at the start. You can get your faith buildings out of the way super fast now and maybe even (dare I say?) compete with the Celts!

 

[Ulthwithian]

Hulking Lummox: You can dare to say it, but it won't make it true, at least to Pantheon. The Celts, for all of their limitations, are still the only Civ that get a Faith bonus from turn 1 of the game.

I should think that for Religion, the Ethiopians will be your biggest competitor as always.

 

[codepoet]

So the issue about Indonesia... looks like it is separate landmasses to maximize the bonus (my interpretation of what was said anyway).
I wonder if this means they have added a start bias of island somehow. This would help a bit, no?

 

[VainoValkea]

An island (small landmass) start would mean they'd have to build another city on another continent sooner. The bonus would probably kick in sooner.

 

[Hulking Lummox]

Hulking Lummox: You can dare to say it, but it won't make it true, at least to Pantheon. The Celts, for all of their limitations, are still the only Civ that get a Faith bonus from turn 1 of the game.

I should think that for Religion, the Ethiopians will be your biggest competitor as always.

Haha I know, thanks for keeping me in my place with my speculations If you spam enough cities, shrines and temples though.. Opening Piety as a third or 4th policy means the Romans can now get a religion at a really good clip that should be fairly consistent between games (as opposed to the celts who might only be getting a small handful of bonus faith if they city spam - conditions are not always optimal for Celt city placement). That and the celts can't build their religious buildings quite as fast a ferociously focused Rome

I wonder if this means they have added a start bias of island somehow. This would help a bit, no?

I've been hoping for these kinds of map script changes to pangaea and continents. I would like for several civs to at least have a chance at an island start on those maps.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Nothing we've seen yet has had Indonesia on an island rather than a continent. All they seemed to have in common was a coastal start. However, what we've seen could have all been fabricated, so that's not definitive.

 

[JokerJace]

So after the release of BNW there will be no more reason to play Germany whatsoever. :-(

 

[Yubnub]

Yubnub: What would really 'fix' India is if they replace the Mughal Fort with a UB that adds Happiness to an early-build building that you want to build regardless. Something like, oh, a Granary or Monument.

A UB Granary that had as its bonus +1 or +2 Happiness would completely reverse the perception of India, I think.

It's possible that India's UA will change as well. If they do something as simple as remove the double from founding cities, there will be no need for extra happiness (well, extra happiness apart from the norm). India's leader and UA both reflect a modern/western perspective of India, while the Mughal Fort always seemed like a rather weak attempt at trying to cover another era of Indian history. They should stick to this modern perspective and a faith based UB (perhaps a temple replacement) would be appropriate.

Of course, I'm not claiming to be an expert at Indian culture and history, and I'd love to hear any suggestions for other possible UBs that could replace the Mughal Fort.

 

[VainoValkea]

So after the release of BNW there will be no more reason to play Germany whatsoever. :-(

The German UA changing is not out of the question now, is it?

 

[Loaf Warden]

The German UA changing is not out of the question now, is it?

Not at all. Germany could get an entirely new UA and still not change "as dramatically" as France, because both UUs are intact.

 

[Loucypher]

What people don't seem to realize is just HOW drastic France is changed. Its UA is something COMPLETELY different now, and an aggressive UU switched out for what seems like a defensive/peaceful based improvement...its quite a leap.
Even if they, say, tweaked Germany's UA a bit and swapped the Panzer for something different, it probably still won't change as drastically as France.

 

[Hans Castorp]

The German UA changing is not out of the question now, is it?

I suppose if nothing else Germany will get a minor benefit from the new hand-axe barbarian unit, which is said to be a chariot archer replacement. Assuming it doesn't need horses, this gives Germany access to horseless chariot archers like Egypt. In a way you could say Germany's UA already gave it a 'third UU' in the shape of the Brute - it just so happened that the difference between that and a warrior was purely cosmetic. Now 'UU No.4' has at least a chance of being useful in its own right...

 

[PhilBowles]

Yeah, I was kinda like over here reading that too. The game isn't going to go like "Well, it does say trade route. Better recode myself accordingly."

The issue isn't one of coding - I wasn't suggesting the game would somehow recode itself. The issue is in the UA text, because the function that serves is to tell the player what the UA does.

I said explicitly that if the UA text isn't changed, the Arabian UA would work like Morocco's - not because the game would magically change its code, but because Firaxis is not going to retain wording for the UA and keep the code for a wholly different effect (on the other hand, they have given Indonesia UA text that says something different from the UA effect...) So it would either change the code to give Arabia the new trade routes, or it would change the UA text.

So they could change the wording of the Arabian UA and keep it intact if they wanted.

They could do exactly this, but that doesn't contradict anything I wrote. As I wrote:

if the Arabian UA retained the same wording in BNW, its UA would work with the new trade route mechanic.

This is wholly correct - there is no way Firaxis is going to keep that UA as written and give it a "city connection" ability, which was my only point.

Well, technically the first city is founded on a city where it hasn't founded a city yet, isn't it?

It is, and from Kate's wording this is the obvious interpretation of the UA. However, I understand that we've seen the actual wording of the UA, and it explicitly excludes the starting continent. So either the wording we have is wrong, the Indonesian UA has been changed since the screenshots that provided that wording (which is possible), or there has to be a fourth continent.

 

[Hans Castorp]

So either the wording we have is wrong, the Indonesian UA has been changed since the screenshots that provided that wording (which is possible), or there has to be a fourth continent.

I shall call it Terra Australis Incognita...

 

[God of Kings]

India can have a UA based on gaining faith from riverside cities. After all, the Ganges were (and still are) revered by Hindus.

 

[Kurtbob]

India can have a UA based on gaining faith from riverside cities. After all, the Ganges were revered by Hindus.

I agree with this. Perhaps a bonus to constructing monuments and temples (and a discount to buying faith purchased buildings) in cities built on rivers?

Sorry, but I'm going to be a pessimist. I don't foresee the changes to India, Germany, America, ect that everyone is hoping for actually happening. I really hope for them, but I don't read 'subtle changes' as an indication of UA, UU, or UBs being replaced for these civs. I read it as small changes (tourism for the Mughal Fort instead of gold, rewording of the Arab UA, ect). Again, I hope I am wrong.