What are good civs for Hermetics?

[cain3456]

I tried a Hermetic game as the Cree, but RNGeezus said no. I'm trying to think of a good civ to use. The Korean seowons seem to be at cross purposes. I would think a sea power like Indonesia, Maori, or Norway would be good as they would have better access to ley lines. Any thoughts?

 

[Sostratus]

Ley lines seem to generate in empty terrain beyond the one for each capital.

They also scale very hard with number of great people. For this reason, Russia can be a nice pick with their tundra bias and load of culture great people. Similarly, Scotland for great people.

Hiwever, that bonus comes late and is more dependent on number of districts; the Unique university makes you consider the campus adjacency, so here we have Korea/Dutch/japan.

 

[kryat]

I'd also add Phoenicia and England (both). Great admirals add science and they all dominate those. Mali isn't bad either since they hoard Great Merchants, and can survive in the desert, which is one of the terrain types the leylines spawn in. For similar reasons, Canada and Nubia are somewhat feasible.

 

[chazzycat]

Germany. Ley Lines actually count as resources so they give +2 adjacency to hansas

 

[8housesofelixir]

The effect of the 3rd promotion of the Hermetics depends on the civ's Great People generation ability. So basically, any civ that focus on the Great People generation is a good suit for Hermetics - for science, there are Scotland and Sweden; for culture, there are Russia, Kongo, and Brazil.

Ley lines usually show up in desert, tundra, and even snow tiles. This is a result of world generation rules, as resources are considered as a compensation of features and tile yields, and will only generate after the generation of features, so biomes with least features/yields - desert, tundra, and snow - will have a lot of oil, aluminum, and uranium, so as the ley lines. Therefore, civs that can survive in extreme climates - Russia, Canada, Nubia - are feasible suits for Hermetics as well; Russia is particularly good. Nubia can also benefit from their district building bonuses.
(Australia is not the case here, as they already have a great way of receiving good adjacency bonuses, an extra +1 is kind of lackluster to them.)

For other civs, I would say that naval civs and trade based civs are more fit for the Owls. Great Admirals and Great Merchants will provide ley lines will good yields, but the Gilded Vault will benefit these civs the most - it can provide a lot of culture output, to the point which you don't really need any Theater Square - and kicks in one era/promotion earlier than the Hermetic 3rd promotion.

 

[Pfeffersack]

Stay away from Korea - the synergy is there in theory, but it just does not work out:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/1-0-3-31-hermetic-order-ley-lines-and-seowon-district.661584/

WAI? Not if you strictly follow the Ley Lines description, but maybe it is better that way from the view of balance (Korea does not feel like in needs more boni, especially not science ones).

 

[Datian]

I had a run with Japan and it was quite nice. Settling on a ley line means that districts adjacent to city center have an immediate +2, and that the mystic spots don't mess with your districts blob.
In this game, I was lucky enough to have three coastal ley lines near my capital so I had fantastic harbours.

But it doesn't make up for the scarcity of good spots...

 

[Pietato]

Stay away from Korea - the synergy is there in theory, but it just does not work out:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/1-0-3-31-hermetic-order-ley-lines-and-seowon-district.661584/

WAI? Not if you strictly follow the Ley Lines description, but maybe it is better that way from the view of balance (Korea does not feel like in needs more boni, especially not science ones).

Korea is still good for them. The leyline adjacency bonus is rubbish.

 

[monikernemo]

maybe saladin since one can build both the alchemical society building and madrasa

 

[Wielki Hegemon]

Brazil and Russia. Also Sweden, Scotland, Kongo, Colombia You need a lot of GP to buff ley lines.

 

[Myomoto]

maybe saladin since one can build both the alchemical society building and madrasa

I'm pretty sure the society building overrides the madrasa.

 

[monikernemo]

I'm pretty sure the society building overrides the madrasa.

https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/commen...iety/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

 

[Pfeffersack]

I'm pretty sure the society building overrides the madrasa.

It is probably intended to do so, but currently you can have both (same for Owls /Grand Bazaar):

https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...addition-to-madrassa-grand-bazaar-ubs.661534/

 

[tetley]

Noob SS question:
.
Once I pick a SS, are the governor promotions done? i.e if I pick volks and then discover my first CS, no governor?

 

[cain3456]

Oh no, you still get governor promotions. If you hold off on picking a SS until you met all 4, that's 3 free governor promotions.

 

[tetley]

But I have to hold off. i.e. if I pick volks first and then discover a NW, 0% chance of that second governor. Correct?

 

[Kwami]

But I have to hold off. i.e. if I pick volks first and then discover a NW, 0% chance of that second governor. Correct?

No. You'll still get all four promotions. It doesn't matter if you've already chosen one.

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

I'm playing a current game as Russia with them and it works pretty well. I'm going for an SV so lots of campuses are giving me Great Scientists, and since I have a lavra in every city, I'm still earning GWAMs. Maybe I'm just lucky in this game but I have several ley lines that happen to all spawn in the tundra, which is perfectly fine by me.

 

[enKage]

None, because it is the weaker society.
The real benefit comes at industrial era and to use it you must be able to get a lot of great people, so the only civs that can get any use of it are:

1-2)
Brazil.
The best becaue of 20% GP refund
Russia
it would only mean bonus culture to lay lines, but still. But added benefit - lay lines are more common in tundra. Great faith allows a lot of patronage, but still why choose HO as Russia not Voidsingers?
3-4)
Kongo
same case as Russia but much weaker impact
Sweden a few bonus GP
5) Ethiopia
faith = patronage

enough I think


Hermetic order really needs some buff. It requires constantly working projects.
Mayvbe allowing improving layline with any improvemnt or giving it yields at level1 of adjecent districts? I think if I build a theatre next to layline, it should also get +1 culture. Not a big change but at least would make laylines workable before 3/4 of game passes

 

[Pietato]

Brazil.
The best becaue of 20% GP refund

Also unique projects for GPP.

 

[JesseS]

Hermetic order really needs some buff. It requires constantly working projects.
Mayvbe allowing improving layline with any improvemnt or giving it yields at level1 of adjecent districts? I think if I build a theatre next to layline, it should also get +1 culture. Not a big change but at least would make laylines workable before 3/4 of game passes

Yeah, hermetic order is weaker than the other societies by far. Even the civs with some benefit to hermetic order because of getting many great people see very little benefit until the game is mostly over. Some buffs that I think would bring them up to roughly the power of the other societies are:

• Reveal ley lines when you unlock the society, before choosing hermetic order (they then disappear if/when you choose a different one). This way you can see if they're worthwhile without save-scumming.
• Turn the hermetic order industrial era unlock into an inherent ability of ley lines. Their yields would still take a decent amount of time to scale up as you earn great people.
• Instead, have the industrial era unlock the ability to purchase a special unit with faith (a ley hunter?), who can use a build charge to create new ley lines. If they made them cost in the range of naturalists to rock bands, you'd be able to strategically enhance hermetic order significantly but wouldn't be able to spam them endlessly.