Share Your First BNW Experiences Here

[ahawk]

Already back up to playing as high as Emperor. Spent two games messing around on Prince just to see what was new.

Mid-way thru that game right now on Emperor, playing as Japan, I encountered what is normally a pretty lousy start: heavy jungle, and on a coast.

The key to saving bad starts now is trade-routes. I fed Kyoto, the capital, with food and production (whichever I needed at various times) from Tokyo, and was able to keep from having to cut tile after tile of jungle. Found some iron, got some Samurai, and just took over the whole continent before saving and quitting for the night. Still wasn't a good start, but rather than being an upward struggle, I managed to get out of it alright.

And before anyone asks, it wasn't the sort of start where I could have re-positioned the starting settler; to get all three luxes workable, I needed to have the city where it was, as anywhere else, one lux was out of the workable tiles. And we need raw-gold now more than ever now.

 

[DeutschDachs]

Just finished up my first game with Casimir/Poland on Noble with a cultural victory. Strange game I had... I ended up with my own continent, with none of the other 9 new civs I had turned on. My only trading partner was a single CS so I was strapped for cash early (thank you Ducal Stables). Didn't encounter anyone until astrology so I feel like I kind of missed a big part of the opening game.

I went Piety to get a lot of faith to purchase GWAMs later and since I was alone I was able to focus on cranking out buildings instead of defending against Assyria or Zulu. I amassed a huge culture lead which translated into tourism that would have been a game over by about 1800... if it wasn't for bloody Morocco. They went culture intensive and to make matters worse, on their continent they were completely landlocked which made getting influence on them a pain as I could not conduct trade routes with them. Being by myself also meant my strong religion was a waste for tourism... None of the civs were close enough for my influence to counter inquisitors.

As expected, the Shoshone were the big leader for the AI. Everyone hated Shaka and DOW'd on him constantly. Venice was the bottom feeder of the civs that did not lose cities. He actually expanded pretty well so I'm not sure why his score was so low. But he almost surprised the crap out of me because I forgot that the UN is now triggered by the tech leader (aka me) and so he almost snuck in a diplomatic victory at the very last instance. I might have been able to counter him with money, but it would have been close. I thought it was actually really cool that the second to last Civ almost ended up beating all the Civs that warred and cranked out wonders all game. Guess it's a lesson not to get too cocky in BNW.

Anyway reacton... Solidarity is awesome. My ideology tree filled up incredibly fast and Morocco taking Order meant I got a tourism bonus against him as a fellow Order member. I am sad that I never really got to use the Winged Hussars... built one for the heck of it, but I didn't really feel like invading with an army of seahorses. Definitely a different game than G&K. Much slower paced I feel... yet the beginning is frantic with trying to settle cities, setting up trade routes, getting a religion, starting up culture. Almost not enough time in the day.

Anyway... definitely hooked again although I hope going past 1990 doesn't become the norm...

 

[pilot00]

Seems with the new trade system, that lousy starts can be saved, once you settle cities and start sending food and hammers to the capital.

 

[Odans]

just finished a game on difficulty 4 as France.

I started on a map with about half the CS, and Atilla, Gengis, and Denmark
Atilla was... oddly out of character, and just build wonders and heavily defended his capital. Gengis Khan took city states, and Denmark fell after a failed attempt to invade me.
Truffles were plentiful in my lands, so the world congress banned them. rest of the game was trying to build back up, eventually getting enough gold to buy out CS, made myself host and forced resolution after resolution in congress to my favor. my one city religion became the world religion, truffles ban was repealed, and order instated. slow build up until i won a diplomatic victory. Gengis fell to the point i left him with a former occupied city in the middle of nowhere
on the other continent Persia was nigh unstoppable taking out Indonesia, most of America, and most of Portugal.(Lisbon fell a bit after i secured a foothold in Persia's old capital).

In a word, I like how much the congress can affect things when i'm not being screwed over.

 

[blackcatatonic]

So everyone's coming to notice this now. Yes, the barbarians don't attack unprotected AI settlers, which make for some absurd displays of showmanship by the AI... say, a settler dance around a barb camp for 10+ turns unescorted.

IIRC, Dennis Shirk posted in here (or another thread) to say that this is definitely a bug. So hopefully it's something they'll be looking into.

 

[salty mud]

How's the AI looking in the game? Is the diplomacy still broken and war AI still atrocious?

 

[Kennan]

Venice is actually doing OK in the hands of an AI. In my two games they have turned out in the middle.

Barbarians everywhere. They use higher tier units and are more aggressive.

The reformation belief where you can convert barbarians is absurdly powerful and fun. It is done automatically the as soon as they are next to a barbarian. You can just send your missionaries into the fog unprotected. Very useful for completing barb camp quest: you get their fast, you get a unit or two, you then convert the city state. I expect this to be nerfed in the next patch to an active ability that cost one of your spread religion uses.

Pathfinder is as awesome as exacted.

Plundering trade routes is very profitable and the AI is crappy at protecting them. You get 200 gold and the AI just keep making new ones so you can easily milk one AI for 1000+ gold quite early in the game. Many AIs trade with City States so there is no diplomatic penalty for you against a third party. I hope this get nerfed so the gold plundered is less early in the game, maybe it could scale with how profitable the trade route is. You should also get an influence penalty with city states connected to the trade route.

All in all a fantastic expansion and I'm having great fun!

 

[GhostSalsa]

All in all a fantastic expansion and I'm having great fun!

Arrrgg, I'm jealous. So far I'm being settled too far away from neighbors and said neighbors are destitute and helpless. There's no strong neighbors to trade with or war with. The AI struggles (this is on Emperor). It's like playing every game on a sparse resources setting. Medieval wonders are going unbuilt until 1500AD. After 150 turns on two games I still haven't had anything to do.

 

[mandella]

Hopefuly the settler bug will be fixed right on time to coincide with the release in the EU

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I'm playing Marathon/Huge. The early game has been dull so far. Me and my 4 landmass-mates are all so spread out that it has been an inhibitor to trade with each other. And, possibly due to a lack of funds, there has not been one war. I have the largest army at 1 unit per city. At least I've been able to deal with the aggressive barbarians well. Hunting barbs has been my primary income.

We trade with the city states instead of each other due to the distances involved. I have only recently expanded enough (and added Caravansaries) to trade with 2 of my neighbors, so the gold game is starting to pick up. I'm also the only one expanding beyond 3 cities. Not even Russia has done that.

On a side note, I picked a Great Artist as my Liberty Finisher. As Chief Pocatello, I proudly hang, in my palace, a painting of... George Washington. Sigh. I guess I throw darts at it or something.

 

[Emperor Giulio]

I'm currently in the process of eclipsing Venice's control of the World Congress, while trying to imperil Indonesia by means of embargo, lux bans, and standing army tax. I never knew being a "peaceful" civ, could be so nefarious; I like it.

That will teach them for choosing Autocracy over Freedom, Indonesian society is on the verge of anarchy and insurrection. But What i find odd is that despite flagrantly stealing their allies, and aggressively undermining their nation by means of the WC, they are only neutral with me. Could if be that it is because of the difficulty? (Prince)

 

[Light Cleric]

So everyone's coming to notice this now. Yes, the barbarians don't attack unprotected AI settlers, which make for some absurd displays of showmanship by the AI... say, a settler dance around a barb camp for 10+ turns unescorted.

Really? I was playing the Shoshone earlier and I saw not one but two Morocco Settlers that got stolen by Barbs

 

[SammyKhalifa]

i like the nerfs to the "spread religion" beliefs. Made me actually think of what to choose.

Morocco seems pretty cool so far. I have no problem with money even though I have some of my trade routes set to send food. I got beat to Petra which almost made me rage quit (even though this is a test game), but I'm still looking forward to casbah-ing up the joint in a few techs here.

 

[Emperor Giulio]

Really? I was playing the Shoshone earlier and I saw not one but two Morocco Settlers that got stolen by Barbs

My settler was attacked (not killed or captured, just hurt) by a barbarian trireme yesterday, while it was embarked.

 

[Emperor Giulio]

i like the nerfs to the "spread religion" beliefs. Made me actually think of what to choose.

Morocco seems pretty cool so far. I have no problem with money even though I have some of my trade routes set to send food. I got beat to Petra which almost made me rage quit (even though this is a test game), but I'm still looking forward to casbah-ing up the joint in a few techs here.

Even though I wasn't able to find a religion myself, it still came in useful. I'm using the faith collected to purchase great writers/ authors/ etc. ( I forget what is allowing me to do this)

 

[Cymsdale]

The settler "bug" is misrepresented. Some portray it as "the barbarians will not attack settlers ever", when it is really "there are cases where I think the barbarians should have attacked a settler but they did not for whatever reason."

 

[Light Cleric]

The settler "bug" is misrepresented. Some portray it as "the barbarians will not attack settlers ever", when it is really "there are cases where I think the barbarians should have attacked a settler but they did not for whatever reason."

Well, there is an has been an issue for a while where the AI doesn't properly guard their Settlers. This happened in G&K, too. Maybe it's just more egregious here, or maybe it has something to do with Hand-Axes not wanting to capture them.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned it's kind of annoying that, because all the AIs start with The Wheel, Hand-Axes spawn from turn 1 on Deity?

 

[Liegence]

First game: Poland. (Bumped diff down to King for new xpn). Stuck in the far sout of a smaller continent (3+ Civs total) in a rather bad starting zone. I have to expand! To the NW is lush and beautiful rivers cascading with luxuries. I pop liberty and plan my manifest destiny. Then I reveal horses, and they are everywhere. I look at Ducal stables and cackle maniacally.

I get city two and before I can get settler 2 Byzantium wanders down from her spot way N to block me... I am outgunned in pointy sticks b/c I focused Pyramids (which pays off eventually), but I show up at her door in full gusto: don't settle near me! She scoffs. I kill her warrior and enslave her settlers - the land is just too good. I am outmatched but confident I can kite with what little I have. We eventually settle even peace (she wants trade and religion to spread, not war). Morocco then comes along to settle my coveted lands but I body block him with basically all my spare units. All total, I settle seven cities - all with either elephants or horses (and Sri Prada). I build ducal stables and circuses in every city and only in the offset do I lull in the red money-wise and never go unhappy. I never had to buy a worker, and Pyrimids is paying huge dividends as terrain is improved and roads hooked up almost immediately.

Now it's Industrial era and I am well in advance of the other civs, currently robbing them all blind of their precious cultural artifacts. Muahahah!

Amazing, fun, can't say enough good things. Really smart moves on the part of the developers in adj trading for luxuries, etc. Haven't played enough for a full review, but so far 9+!!

 

[Blitz Spearman]

It looks like the best possible starting location now is right next to Venice. You have double the amount of land to settle, because Enrico is not going to use it anyway

 

[Ironmann]

My first experience was looking on youtube and I found a lets play video of BNW.
Thought to myself: But steam doesnt release the game for about 3 days, how is this possible?

Took a little check on the web and found that it was released the 8th of july. Ohhhh the joy that spread through my room was imense! Went on steam and it said 2 days 12 hours to unlock.

Now I'm pissed and wondering if I should cancel and just viking the game since the mods work alot better without steam workshop anyways(except the first week where all the mods worked then it was gone for a month, after that I stopped checking in)