Spain's Natural Wonder Bonus

[Brew God]

Hello Fellow Die Hard Civ 5 Fans:

I read up on a thread last week or so about going with Spain and moving around 10-15 hexes before settling a city when you find a NW. Well that's great but I just started a game on small continents plus and I have looked all around the continent and no natural wonder exist. Yet there are great resources all around me.

Would most of you start over on a new map...game to find the NW or stick it out. Find a NW on another continent when you get to move across the water etc. If you can't use Spain's UA...meaning double the goods on faith and gold for NW then does Spain have other benefits of playing?

Also I tried Austria last week just to see how annexing CS goes. Don't see the benefit of this unless you don't plan on building settlers and just want to annex CS to grow your empire.

Any Thoughts would be great.

Brew God

 

[MarauderCH]

Start over and find a better map!

 

[amphreded]

I'd restart since when I'm playing Spain, I'd like to at least find one NW before other Civs to get 500G. If that NW is too close to another Civ or CS, and I can't settle there, I'd still play that game since that early 500G is good enough.
Spain still earns 100G for each NW you discover that had been discovered by other Civs already first.


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[phillipwyllie]

You should settle your capital then build 2 scouts and a shrine. If you haven't found a NW(or weren't the first) within say t40 consider restarting. You have a good chance that a NW is in close proximity but you never know where as this screenie shows:

 

[reddishrecue]

If you didn't find a natural wonder with Spain in the beginning of the game then you could still stay and tryout the conquistadores along with the tercios to see how that goes but if you want to take it easy then go ahead and restart to see if you land next to a natural wonder.

 

[LoneRebel]

You should settle your capital then build 2 scouts and a shrine. If you haven't found a NW(or weren't the first) within say t40 consider restarting. You have a good chance that a NW is in close proximity but you never know where as this screenie shows:

That screenshot causes me physical pain.

 

[jlim201]

Its not smart to move your opening settler 15 turns away. Wait for your second city to settle the closest natural wonder.

 

[Matthew.]

Also I tried Austria last week just to see how annexing CS goes. Don't see the benefit of this

Allows you to conquer a city with 1.) no population/building loss, 2.) no diplomatic penalty, 3.) get to keep the CS's military units. Way better than settling or conquering a city yourself. Of course you need to settle a couple of your own or OCC it until marriage is plausible. Also make sure you have a good chunk of happiness set aside before the marriage, as since there is no population loss, you need to account for a sudden jump in citizens.

Meta-game is basically to not expand at all in the mid to late game, as you are better off just sitting on what you have and pumping more population growth. Austria is one of the few where not only is it beneficial to expand, but it is extremely easy to do so.

 

[reddishrecue]

Austrias diplomatic marriage makes other civilizations not be able to liberate cities as well. So for example, if Maria t were to marry Ur, then the other player that conquers it or what not will not be able to liberate and has to keep the city state as a city instead.

 

[Dr. D]

If I can't find any natural wonders, I restart. No UA = no fun for me.

As suggested, I'd definitely settle quickly and get those scouts out. I also like to stick close to the city-states because you'll quite frequently find the natural wonders nearby. Use that gold to rush buy that settler and snag the natural wonder before the city-state's cultural borders eat it up.

 

[phillipwyllie]

Remember to check all the coast as this other screenie(as Babylon) shows. 10 hexes away from my capital and I find the GBR on t98, doh!

 

[topresch]

Posted this in another thread, but that may have been misplaced:

This is an amazing spot for Spain. I had to move the settler three turns first and subsequently of course had to eliminate the Dutch adjoining with their capital to the southeast, but otherwise than that: Great spot! Not convinced?

The Sri Pada gave me 500 gold to buy up land toward the Dutch, itself providing 4 food, 8 faith and 4 happiness. Then we have 4 wheat around it and one deer, making an early Granary worth it. Additionally, there are 4 Flood Plains within reach and 2 Cotton as well. Not too many Sea Resources, but at least one Fish. Quite a lot of Plains make somewhat up for only 2 Hills, and the Salt helps as well. Finally, there are 4 Grasslands.

The Food Production of this city is insane in mid-game. It hit 32 at least by the Renaissance with a surplus at that point of 38,75 Food, and I have handily settled 6 Great Prophets on the Grasslands/Flood Plains. With full Piety and of course easy access to early Desert folklore provide 2 Food, 3 Culture, 4 Gold and 8 Faith each. Production is not top-notch compared to the other ones, but I have 55 in late mid-game at least.

edit: At size 33 and after Fertilizer, the Food surplus is actually 46,5 and Faith 102. Not too shabby that!

 

[Calouste]

Remember to check all the coast as this other screenie(as Babylon) shows. 10 hexes away from my capital and I find the GBR on t98, doh!

That's a reason why you want to research Sailing ASAP with Spain if you don't find a Natural Wonder quickly. You start coastal and Triremes are better at exploring coast than Scouts.

 

[CraigMak]

There is no need to hold off on settling your capital. Just use the free gold from discovering the wonder to buy a settler and put that city on the wonder. Whoever told you to wait 15 turns to settle is crazy.

 

[Brew God]

Thanks for all the updates. Will start again with Spain and play on large continents and hopefully get lucky on land and if not then search coastline and use earliest boats possible.

Brew God

 

[TurboJ]

I've been playing a lot with Spain and one thing I can recommend is building an early shrine and taking the Pantheon 'One with Nature'. That +4 faith per natural wonder also gets doubled by Spain's UA bonus. So, even if your NW doesn't provide faith per se, every one of them will still provide at least 8 faith. This means, it is quite rarely worth it to take any other Pantheon (even DF only trumps One with Nature quite late in the game).
Unless of course, you don't find a close by NW, in which case IMHO you should restart anyway.

If you get to find Mt.Sinai early, you will be able to enhance your religion before turn 50!
Although that wonder is usually in otherwise useless territory, it will be easily worth it for the faith alone. With OwN Mt.Sinai will give you 24 FPT.

 

[TamirLenk]

If you put Madrid next to GBR, One with Nature will put out +17 faith from that city (2x8 for GBR and +1 for the shrine).

AMHIK

 

[Brew God]

I wonder how many restarts it might take to find a map with GBR while playing Spain. 18 faith per turn early on in the game. WOW.

One thing I noticed which all of you guys surely know is I found a NW with Spain and I was suppose to get the UA giving me 12 faith per turn. I was not getting much at all like 2-3 per turn. Well I usually set my city to production most of the game for building units and more importantly World Wonders. I saw Faith as an option which I usually never do and wa lah. I am now getting 15 Faith per turn. But then my number of turns to finish a WW sky rockets up. I guess you way the good with the bad and the victory path you are shooting for. OR am I missing something here.

Thanks

Brew God

 

[LoneRebel]

I wonder how many restarts it might take to find a map with GBR while playing Spain. 18 faith per turn early on in the game. WOW.

One thing I noticed which all of you guys surely know is I found a NW with Spain and I was suppose to get the UA giving me 12 faith per turn. I was not getting much at all like 2-3 per turn. Well I usually set my city to production most of the game for building units and more importantly World Wonders. I saw Faith as an option which I usually never do and wa lah. I am now getting 15 Faith per turn. But then my number of turns to finish a WW sky rockets up. I guess you way the good with the bad and the victory path you are shooting for. OR am I missing something here.

Thanks

Brew God

It seems you don't micromanage your citizens, but shouldn't you at least make sure that one citizen is working the Natural Wonder tile at all times? Those times you were getting 2-3 faith per turn, the NW tile was not being worked at all. It's a waste of Spain's UA.

 

[Carmack]

I've always wanted a Lake Victoria or Solomon's Mines start for Spain. But alas, I never get one. Usually when I play Spain it's always the same ol' wonders like Barringer Crater or Mt. Sinai.