So what's the new meta, Greta?

[Horizons]

My observations

1) Build campuses asap or lose the game
2) It's far easier to ally with everyone and build up peacefully and prosperously. Diplomatic victory isn't easy because the AI goes out of its way to strip you of points (which it doesn't do to other AIs), but you can get there by becoming rich and helping everyone out during disaster emergencies (I usually just do a large lump-sum payment or two instead of wasting city production on aid projects).

Apropos of which, build the Statue of Liberty or lose the game.

3) Militarism is seriously non-meta. If you warmonger too much you are pretty much assured to lose unless you have a pangea or other map type that is suitable for a quick military stomp
4) Expansionism is nerfed? I seem to have completely crippling unhappiness if I build too many cities now

So it's basically a peace, love, 'science' and BLM game now... lol

 

[Cherenkov]

Warmongering is easier now than ever especially with Heroes and Secret Societies and/or monopolies game modes. Deity domination is still a joke and with heroes and vampires even more so. That said there are still lots of fun ways of doing things peacefully like quick culture victories. The game modes really make for some insanely fast CV victories even on deity.

You don't have to build campuses asap to win a domination game. One good one is enough to get you going, maybe sometimes you need two but one good +5 one is usually enough and you can catchup later. Check out the Vietnam GotM. Most of us built just one campus, one guy didn't build a single one and had the fastest win of us all. Pillaging and the raid card is really OP and a good way to make up for culture and science as you roll your opponents.

Want some early fun? Try Aztec and hope to find Sanguine society early. Throw in Himiko a GG, some luxes worked and now your eagle warriors are like musketmen and your vamp a one shotting machine. Or try some Babylon godliness and either do the sub T80 bombard rush or sub T100 Calvary rush. Or roll Basil and try to get a religion and snag crusade and watch walls melt with your horses. Lots of fun ways to do things with so many OP civs and game modes. Work Ethic is another OP belief and turns those holy sites into industrial zones with the right bonuses and holy card.

Lots of ways to approach things in this game nowadays.

 

[Siddharth Venkatesh]

Campuses are only essential for scientific victory and late game domination. They are also very useful for culture victory to get to computers and flight. Early domination games don't really need it and early domination is probably still the easiest way to win the game. Pillaging supplements science really well.

Statue of Liberty is rarely relevant unless you are playing with mods that make diplo victory easier. The AI should not be close to diplo victory before you win via some other method.

Warmongering is insanely strong. Taking out one or two neighbors is a guaranteed win. You don't need to keep warmongering, you simply rush them with a timing push (or very early in the game horsemen) and then you have great land. The AI has no idea how to be efficient in the mid game onwards, so if you get out of the early game with good land, you've already won. Additionally, early war means acceleration via pillaging.

Faith in general is very strong. Monumentality is as strong as ever, though the Earth Goddess nerf hurts a little. In Secret Society mode, Voidsingers are thus basically the best society for most civs. The obelisk provides faith for settlers, and then any other faith gains you have convert efficiently into science, culture and gold. In Heroes and Legends mode, Himiko is also busted for this reason. If you can pull off Classical Monumentality and get suzerain of a nearby city state, Himiko gives you 8 more envoys in that city state along with 600 faith, which is approximately 1.5-2 settlers. Faith is also very strong for culture victories.

Expansionism is still the most efficient way to play. Infinite city sprawl is still very effective, even with the amenities changes. You can definitely play tall and win, but wide is easier.

Probably the best indicator for your game is how fast you can get to Political Philosophy. It's the most important civic milestone in the game, it unlocks your best expansion options, it unlocks extra production via policies and autocracy. Autocracy is probably my preferred government choice, unless I need the Oligarchy military bonus, since the +3 to all yields you get is very strong.

 

[Vargas1]

Agree with Siddharth that wide play and expansion is still the most effective way to win. Also high faith generation - monumentality for rapid expansion, Grand Master's Chapel if you want to build a military, Rock Bands/Naturalists if you want to go cultural.

Campuses are not that critical early unless you're going domination (beyond the early game). Honestly, even if you're going for a science victory you're better off focusing at first on expansion and production then building campuses, especially on higher difficulties where the AI is going to be ahead of you at first no matter what. The only reasons I've found to spam early campuses are (i) if you have great adjacency spots for them, or (ii) if you're trying to rush Hypatia, since if you eventually build 10+ campuses that +1 for libraries will come in handy.

 

[Casualty of war]

Statue of Liberty is how you rocket past the point of the AI noticing you're trying to win Diplomatic Victory to actually winning before they can do anything about it. Also good for holding onto conquests and resisting Loyalty pressure.

New Meta is that now the game has so many options that unless you specify exactly which, if any, modes you have activated you are virtually playing different games. Talking apples and pineapples.

 

[tsf4]

High yields are always best.

 

[HiRezAudio]

Diplomatic Victory is really easy to do - I have even done it a couple of times by accident.
I still struggle in the mid game - I think I have the hang of staying alive now, but my mid game needs work.

 

[Horizons]

Hmm, well surely this is all terrain-dependent, gents.

I like to march onwards like a good Christian soldier on any map type. Sometimes I get dealt such a bad hand that I have to keep a-conquering because my homeland is so bad.

Comes a time when diplomacy is no longer an option and one gets slowed down scientifically (because no alliances) and diplomatically that it can be difficult to kill everyone before they vote themselves the winner.

 

[Yzman]

To me, and I am not a great player, Diplo is the easiest limited effort victory. I usually win it before the first vote for taking votes away from people even happens...or very shortly after. Win competitions but mostly, vote with the majority. Suzerain city states, which you should do anyway.

I honestly suck at military in the game and am trying to get better at that because that is the best option on higher difficulties.

 

[jehtro777]

I don't really agree with the war. I always love a little razzle-dazzle in the ancient or classical era. I don't find the grievances are that bad if you just take a city or two. I almost get disappointed if I don't get into a scrap in the early game. Most of the time the AI initiates it I might add.

There is nothing wrong with many cities. To me an extra city is another trade route so...

No, the new meta is hit monopolies and corporations mode. Take as much land and luxuries if you can (Add Maui). And win a culture game around turn 200 or less every time.

 

[McKeu]

I tend to play rather peacefully & science focused right until gunpowder units, like bombards, are available to me. Normally I am the first one to field those, which then makes me go on a rofl-stomping rampage, razing every city that is either too close to another, or has no strategic/resource value, racking up lots of grievances, but diminishing the AI's points in lots of areas with every city I flatten. After taking ownership of a continent or two, it is just a matter of time racking up a cultural victory, while hindering the others to get too many diplomacy points. A good religious defense around your cities, should also prevent anyone from getting too close to a religious victory. Being permanently at war also helps, as you can simply destroy their religious units and boost your own religion. Your war efforts should have given you enough income to simply buy you a victory in any aid request, as well.
My government district is trained for war and espionage, and my policies early on are towards science/production and cash. Later I switch policies to full on war mode (less upgrade cost, unit maintenance, war unrest, etc.).
Being the suzerain of the right, strategically well located, city state at the right time is essential for warmongering through later stages, I find.

P.S. Playing constant war only really is feasible on marathon, in my book. Long term military strategies work out better and you won't face the problem that your army is already ridiculously outdated, by the time they reach the battlefield.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Khmer is OP.

 

[Victoria]

There is no new meta in the base game and all these additions provide a myriad of OP opportunities.
It is still all about your victory condition, your surroundings and your civ and combining them with optimal play which is still growth, high yield tiles early and making the most of civic cards and chop as well as understanding game inflation, era cost changes, beelining, adjacency and eureka/inspirations.
The biggest meta change since the beginning in my view is pillaging which made war even more superior given the right circumstances. Hell you can milk civs without causing too much animosity and the milking just gets better every time you do it.