Wondering if this has already been tried/thought of yet?
Yesterday, thanks to the new Mac patch, I finally have access to all the new civs. Bought them all to test em out and bring some freshness to my games...
First game I tried was Polynesia. As I was selecting the Civ, I decided to try THIS kind of game just for kicks:
1 - Polynesia
2 - Terra
3 - Marathon (to remove a bit the disadvantage of what's coming next...)
When the game started, the first thing I did was embark both my units and move away from the known world. Basically went in search of the New World right away in order to found my first city there and grow my civilization over there, away from everyone.
Reason I went Marathon is that the amount of turns it takes to find the New World (around 30 turns for me, on Small map size) would have a smaller impact than a Standard/Quick speed game.
Disadvantages:
- later start
- no trading/research agreement partners unless you accidentally bump into some AI while on the way to the New World (more useful for getting ahead, but has less of that isolated flavor of being a civ in the New World meeting the Old World later on)
- lots and lots of barbarians
- many city-states means probably wasting a lot of money trying to ally them, maybe not such a good idea and I'll focus less on CS in the future if I do this kind of game
Advantages:
- apart from barbs, lots of peaceful development
- lots and lots and LOTS of ancient ruins ripe for the taking, with NO competition
- lots and lots of barbarian camps to pillage
- so far, both times I tried this, El Dorado was in the New World, ensuring an early 500gp within 50 turns of starting the game, again no competition to finding it
- first to meet MANY city states therefore some extra cash early on
Haven't finished any game yet - first one, I expanded too fast and collapsed myself under unhappiness and negative GPT, second one I just started recently and am expanding more slowly.
In my second game I sent my settler and my maori in opposite directions, exploring more of the world and proving the world is round pretty early in the game. Haven't encountered anyone doing so, so it was pretty cool, in a way. It's safe to do so IMO because the AI barbarians do not yet have galleys within the first 30-50 turns in my experience.
I also discovered it's ok to enter ruins before having your capital, even though the bar at the top of the screen will not show anything (no city = no gpt, cpt, etc), you will still accumulate culture points, gold, etc. Not sure about free techs though, but when I founded my capital, both times I had some nice culture/gold boost right from the start. In fact in my latest one I could adopt a policy as soon as I founded my capital and was well on my way to my next policy!
Peaceful coexistence with CS and only having to deal with barbs has allowed me to build some nice wonders, though I have a lot less cash than usual and science isn't advancing as quickly.
Also, with the start bias, it's tough to find a good spot to settle as there are a lot less luxuries in the New World (again basing this on 2 games), so it's a bit more challenging than starting the game in a spot with wheat, cows, cotton and gems, and some nearby iron and horses.
Anyone tried this? Thoughts, strategies, comments?
Yesterday, thanks to the new Mac patch, I finally have access to all the new civs. Bought them all to test em out and bring some freshness to my games...
First game I tried was Polynesia. As I was selecting the Civ, I decided to try THIS kind of game just for kicks:
1 - Polynesia
2 - Terra
3 - Marathon (to remove a bit the disadvantage of what's coming next...)
When the game started, the first thing I did was embark both my units and move away from the known world. Basically went in search of the New World right away in order to found my first city there and grow my civilization over there, away from everyone.
Reason I went Marathon is that the amount of turns it takes to find the New World (around 30 turns for me, on Small map size) would have a smaller impact than a Standard/Quick speed game.
Disadvantages:
- later start
- no trading/research agreement partners unless you accidentally bump into some AI while on the way to the New World (more useful for getting ahead, but has less of that isolated flavor of being a civ in the New World meeting the Old World later on)
- lots and lots of barbarians
- many city-states means probably wasting a lot of money trying to ally them, maybe not such a good idea and I'll focus less on CS in the future if I do this kind of game
Advantages:
- apart from barbs, lots of peaceful development
- lots and lots and LOTS of ancient ruins ripe for the taking, with NO competition
- lots and lots of barbarian camps to pillage
- so far, both times I tried this, El Dorado was in the New World, ensuring an early 500gp within 50 turns of starting the game, again no competition to finding it
- first to meet MANY city states therefore some extra cash early on
Haven't finished any game yet - first one, I expanded too fast and collapsed myself under unhappiness and negative GPT, second one I just started recently and am expanding more slowly.
In my second game I sent my settler and my maori in opposite directions, exploring more of the world and proving the world is round pretty early in the game. Haven't encountered anyone doing so, so it was pretty cool, in a way. It's safe to do so IMO because the AI barbarians do not yet have galleys within the first 30-50 turns in my experience.
I also discovered it's ok to enter ruins before having your capital, even though the bar at the top of the screen will not show anything (no city = no gpt, cpt, etc), you will still accumulate culture points, gold, etc. Not sure about free techs though, but when I founded my capital, both times I had some nice culture/gold boost right from the start. In fact in my latest one I could adopt a policy as soon as I founded my capital and was well on my way to my next policy!
Peaceful coexistence with CS and only having to deal with barbs has allowed me to build some nice wonders, though I have a lot less cash than usual and science isn't advancing as quickly.
Also, with the start bias, it's tough to find a good spot to settle as there are a lot less luxuries in the New World (again basing this on 2 games), so it's a bit more challenging than starting the game in a spot with wheat, cows, cotton and gems, and some nearby iron and horses.
Anyone tried this? Thoughts, strategies, comments?
