Share Your First BNW Experiences Here

[flairin]

I can't believe that I got 10 ruins with Shoshone Pathfinders!!!

 

[HeraldtheGreat]

Yea, he wasn't a pleasant fellow in my game.

I ended up next to him on my first BNW game as Brazil. Needless to say I started another when he refused to negotiate after losing his main invasion force to my four archers and walled city in frint of a wide marsh on a hill.

 

[atahop]

I finished a game after an awesome 15 hours strait (shh I know, I'll be running a mile tomorrow) I played a 10 civ 20 city-state continents map with all the new civs and France.
Big borders are nice, four cities effectively shuts off an entire corner of a continent allowing for peaceful expansion of you place the cities right. Also the pathfinder kix butt! picking ruin bonuses is the perfect way to get that snow ball rolling. social policy at turn 5! comp bow at 7 and pantheon at 20. I had the first religion, and a stack of gold from all the barbarians I killed. (I'm new at explaining strategy so be patient)
It is possible to easily be the richest civilization in a game before any caravans or cargo ships come online, first monument, then use your pathfinder to find a ruin and pop for culture. This should get you policies around turn 5, then pick honor to start off. Make another pathfinder and upgrade one into a comp bow. Then go barb hunting, I not only got 200+ gold, I also got enough culture to get a nice start on liberty (I never finished honor, I only took the opener, very doable now with reduced costs) also if you are lucky with CS quests this can get you very early allies. I had Jerusalem allied by T 50. (I might put up a more advanced guide in the proper forum, but for now more experiences and opinions)
As the game progressed my UU and UA were less useful the Shoeshone will get a player set up in the early game, its up to you to take advantage of the push.
In my game I had the new Mt Kilimanjaro right next to me, its bonuses are not to be ignored, pathfinder with altitude training (the bonus Kilimanjaro gives) are game breaking, a hill I was became a road for my scouts and mounted units, but the combat bonus is nothing special.
The new culture is extremely good with one exception: the inability to swap different types of art (ex my MONA LISA for your THE RAVEN) with archaeology I could always keep my musieums filled and themed, so that part of the swap gets an A +, but then I had all these empty opera houses and broadcast towers, so maybe a way to trade paintings for books or books for songs. Maybe even gold for them (like 400-600, lots). But I say that the culture side is now so flavorful seeing the theme bonuses increase I felt like I was making super popular museums, if only we could make museums of science.
And The trade and Ideologies feel some much more real and engrossing, the last person to pick sides was super rich, venice (he also had the most delagates) who was equally friendly with me (freedom) and Portugal (order) and his choice effected the whole game. That is the first time an AI has made a decision that affected me other than dows, and it was great! Speaking of AI's they now understand bombers and how to use them, Shaka targeted my artillery and then played it safe when I had interceptors, maybe Japan got a buff of the zero now being usefull and needed? well see, after all this one only one game. but what I saw, this is civ as we have always wanted it, and after the balance patch, civ V will be done in my eye...missing nothing, this is the full package .

 

[dowd001]

Do you have a save you could attach showing the behavior? Would love to take a look. This is obviously not by design if it's occurring.

Apparently, barbs are not taking settlers. Here is a save.

 

[GreenThings]

Hey all! Between a scouring dentist appointment and lack of sleep I've been playing the new expansion pack, and I'd like to throw out a few things I've noticed up to this point.

I play primarily Mongolia, mostly because I found out I'm part Mongolian and that gave me inspiration to play them. I've been playing since Vanilla, and I also like to dabble in Egypt, House Atreides (mod), and random. I had a hiatus for a while after G&K, but I've gotten back into it recently. At my prime I played on Emperor difficulty. Here are some thoughts I've had.

Animal Husbandry got a whole lot better due to trade, however I'm still in the habit of rushing Great Library ASAP for extra Science and tech. I'm not quite sure why but Libraries don't seem quite as important anymore. Culture victories are different now, and I'm disappointed by the new culture output of the Culture buildings. How can I fit in the mass amount of Great Artists I get when all of my slots are for Writers and Musicians? Social policies seem less important, especially now that every tree only does one thing.

My go-to victories were either Science or Culture, but sometimes it turned into massive puppet empires and conquest when Keshiks and Khans rolled around. For a Mongolia specific gripe, early game conquering of CS's only ruins my trading and reputation with everybody now. I noticed that now the AI places his ranged units behind melee units consistently, which is good, and makes me step up my game.

Now I find it harder to specialize my empire in one thing.

As for the new Social Policy system, I went crazy when I saw that Piety is now a starting tree. However, I didn't go crazy that a CS is normally my first trade route in the games that I've played, so my +30% bonus is useless. Since rivers and seas no longer give money I ALWAYS go for Liberty, that free Settler is essential when one has no money in the beginning.

I used to play on Emperor okay, now I'm struggling in Prince

As I play more I'll drop off more comments, but I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Cheers!

Moderator Action: Merged with the main "first impressions" thread.

 

[PhilBowles]

Hey all! Between a scouring dentist appointment and lack of sleep I've been playing the new expansion pack, and I'd like to throw out a few things I've noticed up to this point.

I play primarily Mongolia, mostly because I found out I'm part Mongolian and that gave me inspiration to play them. I've been playing since Vanilla, and I also like to dabble in Egypt, House Atreides (mod), and random. I had a hiatus for a while after G&K, but I've gotten back into it recently. At my prime I played on Emperor difficulty. Here are some thoughts I've had.

Animal Husbandry got a whole lot better due to trade, however I'm still in the habit of rushing Great Library ASAP for extra Science and tech.

I tend to avoid this route, mostly because by now I'm used to playing on Immortal where going for the GL tends to be a losing tactic - the AI will nearly always beat you to it except on the smallest maps, so all you achieve is wasting time you could have been using to build a library and gain its gpt bonus for the 10 extra turns or so the GL takes to complete compared with a Library. You need to rush GL to get it at all, which means you're only ever going to get one of the cheapest techs from it anyway.

So, in that context, Writing for the GL is not all-important. Writing for libraries and embassies is moreso, but can be delayed since with BNW libraries are probably not among the earliest things you want to build. I'm leaning towards generally going for an early settler instead to open up the prospect of domestic trade. Both Animal Husbandry and Bronze Working now seem viable in the right circumstances.

I'm not quite sure why but Libraries don't seem quite as important anymore. Culture victories are different now, and I'm disappointed by the new culture output of the Culture buildings. How can I fit in the mass amount of Great Artists I get when all of my slots are for Writers and Musicians?

A lot of people are suggesting that the Works system actually favours Artists more than the other two because most Wonders have art slots, and the art buildings mostly have 2, which means that theming bonuses are mostly associated with art. Musicians don't actually have much except the Opera House and Broadway.

As for the question, you can trade art for other types of Great Work in the culture trade screen. You will also often want to use Artists for Golden Ages instead of GWs, while the GW and GMusician abilities frankly seem on the weak side. So you probably shouldn't have as many artworks.

Social policies seem less important, especially now that every tree only does one thing.

The bonuses still seem very important - my gripe is that you no longer seem to have to work or specialise heavily to get them (though I'm finding on my second playthrough that Piety is only really valuable if you complete it quickly).

As for the new Social Policy system, I went crazy when I saw that Piety is now a starting tree. However, I didn't go crazy that a CS is normally my first trade route in the games that I've played, so my +30% bonus is useless. Since rivers and seas no longer give money I ALWAYS go for Liberty, that free Settler is essential when one has no money in the beginning.

Domestic trade will often be the best first trade route, to get food sent to a new city to have it up and running (in theory, I've yet to have this happen - was planning it for this game, but ended up setting the second city too far away to grab King Solomon's Mines). Off a river, I've found, you get a grand total of around 2 gold for a very early CS trade route, which isn't going to be much of a bump to your finances.

 

[MaDaZi]

Anyone having trouble with SHaka's achieve?

I got all the special Bull promotions on the Impi and nothing

 

[Civking5]

One minor thing that I saw today; barbarians do not attack to unprotected AI settlers. Has any one else also noticed this?

 

[Yzman]

My first game is going pretty well. I decided to try Venice to get used to the trade route mechanics. My continent has been peaceful and I bought 2 CS. I am absolutely rolling in money. It helps that Morocco is my neighbor. I decided I am going for a diplo win since I have so much money and the AI can't compete. Atilla wiped out Brazil on the other continent quickly. Austria is over there too but hasn't bought a single city state.

Even though I have gotten multiple MoV I decided not to use any past the first 2 for buying CS, instead I have been using them for trade missions.

I am fairly sure I will win this game easily. Its only on prince though, as I wasn't sure about the new mechanics, especially as Venice.

 

[PhilBowles]

One minor thing that I saw today; barbarians do not attack to unprotected AI settlers. Has any one else also noticed this?

I noticed it with a barb archer in a camp, but it could be because it was in a camp. Also a Warrior, but that was 2 tiles away and I had a Warrior adjacent to it that the AI may have calculated was a priority target.

 

[Evanescence]

Apparently, barbs are not taking settlers. Here is a save.

So it is a present issue. This is quite absurd, if you ask me. Basically you can just blind rush a settler without a single military unit early on and build wherever you please, all the while barbarians dance around you.

 

[GreenThings]

It feels like high heresy to me, but I might actually try going down the Iron path of the tech tree. Does the AI do this more often now? I've seen Swordsman today, which I feel like have been more scarce since G&K. Better for me, less pokey units to fight cavalry.

 

[Evanescence]

One minor thing that I saw today; barbarians do not attack to unprotected AI settlers. Has any one else also noticed this?

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.

 

[ptoss1]

I play primarily Mongolia, mostly because I found out I'm part Mongolian and that gave me inspiration to play them.

Welcome to the club. You're my cousin number 319. On the male side. That I know of. Now to find my other gabillion relatives.

 

[GreenThings]

A note on Venice: It sure is nice that the cities they get (and I later get) are already fully developed, but it sure is a shame that they don't really have a coherent empire. Part of the Venician Empire is here, part of it is over there, the capital is WAY over there, and I think there might be a fourth bubble of them somewhere across the map.

 

[OmniPotent42]

A note on Venice: It sure is nice that the cities they get (and I later get) are already fully developed, but it sure is a shame that they don't really have a coherent empire. Part of the Venician Empire is here, part of it is over there, the capital is WAY over there, and I think there might be a fourth bubble of them somewhere across the map.

It's a gamble for sure, but I've had maps where the city-states are standard city size apart in strings of 3 or 4. Venice wouldn't be too bad on those maps.

 

[kajillion]

HATE the new trade system on huge maps. Enemies are never close enough before the medieval era(at the earliest) to even be able to make ITRs. Trade route ranges really need to scale with map size.

 

[Bakspatel]

So it is a present issue. This is quite absurd, if you ask me. Basically you can just blind rush a settler without a single military unit early on and build wherever you please, all the while barbarians dance around you.

This is most likely a bug. Just expect it to be fixed soon.

 

[Helmling]

First experiences...

I played through the first fifty turns or so of a random leader pick on Emperor, then started a hotseat game with my son (Prince/King).

Trade routes are interesting. I went for one early, but then lost my caravan to barbarians--which seem to be set to raging by default now. They do make them worth the trouble. By turn 50, my most recent sea route netted me like 17 gold per turn plus some science (on quick speed). I guess that makes up for the river gold.

I didn't get to play with Portugal's special units yet...and probably won't. I feel ready to go back into my default play style: shameless wonder whoring.

The changes to culture are...um, daunting, but I think I can adjust my build order and wish lists to cope.

 

[kaspergm]

HATE the new trade system on huge maps. Enemies are never close enough before the medieval era(at the earliest) to even be able to make ITRs. Trade route ranges really need to scale with map size.

That is actually a valid point. A lot of other things in game scale with Huge map size, so we should probably make sure the developers are made aware of this.