I LOVE Polynesia. They're my second favorite DLC after the Incans. I'm a big believer that civilizations should be unique and add to the replayability of a game. I think DLC in particular should emphasize flavor and originality over increasing power (I'm looking at you, Babylon, the most powerful and blandest DLC). They type of game you play as Polynesia is entirely different than anything you get from a vanilla ci, which makes this civ a big success, IMO.
Polarizing Polynesia
- Thread starter SnowKomodo
- Start date
thegingerninja
Warlord
What difficulty were you on? If you were so far back in tech you should of been wiped out easily by the AI. And the thing with the maori warrior is that it is easy to slaughter them with ranged units. The bonus they get does nothing to protect them from that
MaximusK
Warlord
As they stand, they don't quite convince me to play them. I've tried and gotten bored. If I want a island map civ I usually go for Brit or Netherlands, even Ottomans sometimes.
My suggested changes and I'm sure have already been thought up and suggested elsewhere.
My suggested changes and I'm sure have already been thought up and suggested elsewhere.
- Add +1 faith to the cultural bonus of the Moai and have it stack the same way the culture does with adjacent tiles.
- Give their scout +1 sight when embarked or +1 movement.
El Caballerion
King
In the end, I think POLY is a civ with the biggest effectiveness early game, allowing you to really exploit certain maps (i.e., moving to new world on turn 1 on Terra map). You can literally grab all the faith ruins from the map which will give you a huge boost (similar to Askia's triple encampment grab), and even though the ruins are limited, we all know that if you have a strong foundation and early lead, the rest of the game will be a cinch.
It's also a good CIV for early worker kidnapping as someone mentioned before. I just attack two civs in the first 20 or so turns, grab their workers, head for the ocean, and bring them to my new city far far away from their reach, which again enables early growth.
The culture from Moais are great too, especially if you're going for a culture game and are on a landmass away from enemies. Just stack up those policies!
In short, their spark is lost fairly early, but by that time, you've already set up the game to be in your favor. As I said before, they're a civ that plays by certain rules and are not meant for every map, but I do like their colorful UA and wish more CIVS had unique UAs like them versus a Civ that only gives you +1 production or +2 culture per city.
It's also a good CIV for early worker kidnapping as someone mentioned before. I just attack two civs in the first 20 or so turns, grab their workers, head for the ocean, and bring them to my new city far far away from their reach, which again enables early growth.
The culture from Moais are great too, especially if you're going for a culture game and are on a landmass away from enemies. Just stack up those policies!
In short, their spark is lost fairly early, but by that time, you've already set up the game to be in your favor. As I said before, they're a civ that plays by certain rules and are not meant for every map, but I do like their colorful UA and wish more CIVS had unique UAs like them versus a Civ that only gives you +1 production or +2 culture per city.
What puts me off is the UI, I don't understand it or how to use it optimally.
First of all, I get an inconsistant amount of culture from them. The 'pedia says you get +1 culture, but I usually get 2 or 3 and I don't know how to tell which I'll get before I build it.
Second of all, I'm not clear about when and on which tiles it's best to build them. Even in a culture game I'm not sure when or if the culture is worth more than food or production.
It's great that you can have a different strategy when using them, but I just don't know when that strategy pays off to be able to use it, so I just stay away altogether.
First of all, I get an inconsistant amount of culture from them. The 'pedia says you get +1 culture, but I usually get 2 or 3 and I don't know how to tell which I'll get before I build it.
Second of all, I'm not clear about when and on which tiles it's best to build them. Even in a culture game I'm not sure when or if the culture is worth more than food or production.
It's great that you can have a different strategy when using them, but I just don't know when that strategy pays off to be able to use it, so I just stay away altogether.
Mrdarklight
Warlord
How I play Polynesia:
1) The first unit I build is a Maori, and I send him and the first Maori out exploring. I get a lot of huts that way, and meet a lot of city states. If I meet a city state that has a barbarian problem, bang, I have a unit there to deal with the barbs and get me an early CS friend. I get several of these each game. As an added bonus, sometimes the barb encampment has a worker they stole, and when I liberate him, I either get a free worker or, even better, give it back to the CS for an instant ally. Other civs are probably exploring more with triremes and scouts. Triremes can't take barb camps and scouts suck at it (but can be used in a pinch, it just takes forever). So in the early part of the game I already have an advantage in CS friends/allies and huts.
2) I build cities in the best locations I can find, but trying to keep them close to home. Finding wonders is pretty easy if you want to build next to them.
3) I usually turtle up and work my CS's.I don't build the statues immediately, but once a city has a good food supply I will build maois if I can group them, or if I want the defense bonus. Grouping the Maois is critical. Adding 1 culture to a tile isn't worth it for what you lose usually, but if you can get a group of three connected coastal tiles (in a triangle pattern), that bumps it up to 3 culture per tile, which is worth it. Under ideal circumstances you can get 4 or 5, or technically even 6 culture on some tiles, which can be a huge deal. Remember you don't have to work all the tiles, so later on when your borders have expanded, you can build Maois in tiles you will never work, but they add culture to the ones you do work.
4) Build other culture buildings, and hopefully the Sistine Chapel to crank out culture.
5) ??
6) Profit!
1) The first unit I build is a Maori, and I send him and the first Maori out exploring. I get a lot of huts that way, and meet a lot of city states. If I meet a city state that has a barbarian problem, bang, I have a unit there to deal with the barbs and get me an early CS friend. I get several of these each game. As an added bonus, sometimes the barb encampment has a worker they stole, and when I liberate him, I either get a free worker or, even better, give it back to the CS for an instant ally. Other civs are probably exploring more with triremes and scouts. Triremes can't take barb camps and scouts suck at it (but can be used in a pinch, it just takes forever). So in the early part of the game I already have an advantage in CS friends/allies and huts.
2) I build cities in the best locations I can find, but trying to keep them close to home. Finding wonders is pretty easy if you want to build next to them.
3) I usually turtle up and work my CS's.I don't build the statues immediately, but once a city has a good food supply I will build maois if I can group them, or if I want the defense bonus. Grouping the Maois is critical. Adding 1 culture to a tile isn't worth it for what you lose usually, but if you can get a group of three connected coastal tiles (in a triangle pattern), that bumps it up to 3 culture per tile, which is worth it. Under ideal circumstances you can get 4 or 5, or technically even 6 culture on some tiles, which can be a huge deal. Remember you don't have to work all the tiles, so later on when your borders have expanded, you can build Maois in tiles you will never work, but they add culture to the ones you do work.
4) Build other culture buildings, and hopefully the Sistine Chapel to crank out culture.
5) ??
6) Profit!
