i started another with Ada/Maya, taking only the +1 exploration +1 diplomatic cards (my standard ones), to see if the previous game was a fluke or if I started it on the wrong difficulty. It was apparent that it was not a fluke, this time I started in the center east of the map with Frederic/Egypt directly north of me, Tecumsah/Maurya to the SW, and Lafayette/Rome to my NW. This time I had iron working before they attacked me, so the war went about as well as could be, took one city from Frederic, everything except Tecumsah's capital (multiple walled tiles on an island, impossible really in Ancient Era), was building my 7th and 8th wonder when the age ended, but got all the other paths, and ended on 13 settlements because I settled 3 on the last turn for a +1 culture point quest. 4 cities with Maya's unique building, so that will result in domino during ensuing ages. Did both Future techs (2) and a Future civic. Same basic start with civics, got discipline late then mysticism but it didn't seem to hurt, could defend against city states with 2 hulche. The nearby friendly scientific city state helped, as well as getting Layfette on my side with 2 cities having gold, I had 2 more so purchases were very cheap. I can see how the rest of the ages will go, so I will stop this game and try something else next time.
One thing I have noticed is that the AI settles their cities much later now, the second city is pretty quick, but they are very late to cities 3 and 4.
13 settlements, wow, unhappiness must've been rife!
I'm not sure you'll experience such smooth sailing after transitioning to Exploration when so far above the cap, unless you've got some serious happiness boosts from somewhere...
Did you do all this on Deity? It almost sounds too easy!
Its only 13 settlements with a 11 city cap at the start of exploration, thats not very much at all. When I ended the war with Techumsah that got me to 92% with 10/10 settlements, and I settled at 100% the last 3. And start with such excellent income will get Feudalism in no time then its only 1 short. And I am so far ahead in techs and civs and production that the 10% penalty in then is irrelevant. In my previous game city cap was meaningless I had so much happiness, I think I was 40 settlements with a 27 city cap by the end. The max is -35 happiness per city but there are so many buildings and policies that I still was +70 happiness in my cities net.
Yes its on Deity. I think for Ada/Maya I've found the magic sauce. My other games aren't quite so easy.
...and there we go, Military victory on turn 57, in the year 1816! Talk about rewriting history
The modern age was way too easy this time. Most likely because I started it with 17 commanders and 77 military units ! If it hadn't been for my OCD-like tendencies ( ) to get my army perfectly set up for an invasion after the age transition, which took me 28 turns (!), I could've finished it much earlier.
Will post a full report tomorrow! And then start the next game with Carthage/Isabella, as per @Suicidekills ' instructions
@Suicidekills what are your other thoughts/recommendations regarding the next game? I haven't played with neither Isabella nor Carthage, so would like to hear some opinions.
You mentioned Huge map, but what map type? I reckon with all the naval advantages from both leader and civ, an archipelago map could be fun! I took the map generator for a spin, which produced the following:
Interestingly, on a Huge map you get 7 NWs most of the time, but a couple of times it was only 6. So some luck involved there!
I'd say Deity, 10 total players, normal rules (although I'll be disabling the Plague!).
My last two games have been with Long ages, which gives you more time to achieve the legacy paths and a lot more visibility into when the age will actually end. As this is a Huge map I might continue with this setting, as I want plenty of time to explore!
What about mementos? Corona Civica would be really useful in this game, it gives +1 settlement limit at the expense of +50% cost for upgrading towns to cities (which is irrelevant when playing Carthage). Unfortunately I haven't unlocked it yet...
Scouting is going to be important to find those NWs, so Imago Mundi (+2 sight instead of 1 when using Lookout) would be great too.
I'm also considering Groma (1 expansionist attribute point) + Gold & Sapphire flowers (100 food in capital when you spend an expansionist attribute point), by using this combo you could potentially have two settlers ready around turn 12!
It's time to sum up the Exploration Age of my City States-focused game! For the Antiquity summary, go here.
Time played: ~8 hours City States obtained: 15 (5 militaristic, 4 cultural, 3 economic, 3 scientific). City States obtained by AI: 0. IPs not converted: 0. Settlements: 17, 16 cities and 1 town. The reason I had 1 town was because the unrest after conquering it ended on the final turn of the age, and as I didn't complete the Economic legacy path, there was no point converting it! Final yields per turn: 3676 gold / 231 influence / 879 science / 2662 culture. I could've achieved considerably higher science yields, but avoided building science buildings in order to not trigger too many future techs. Best opponent final yields per turn: Xerxes KoK (Inca), with 1885 gold / 44 influence / 502 science / 572 culture. Shoutout to Himiko as well for her 1219 culture output. Legacy paths: Culture 17/12 (Toshakhana Golden Age), Economic 0/30 (Economic Dark Age), Military 0/12 (Militaristic Dark Age), Science 36/5 (Enlightenment Golden Age).
SpoilerHere's a list of which turns I got the city states - and what bonus I chose :
* 17 scientific, Free tech per CS
* 17 cultural, +1 social policy slot
* 17 militaristic, +1 combat bonus for ranged units per CS
* 17 economic, +1 on gold buildings per CS (+40)
* 17 economic, +5% gold per CS (+36)
* 18 militaristic, +1 combat bonus for infantry units per CS
* 21 scientific, +1 science on science building for each CS (+23)
* 21 cultural, +1 culture on culture buildnigs for each CS (+42)
* 22 cultural, +1 culture on warehouse buildings
* 24 scientific, +5% science for every CS (+39)
* 25 economic, +1 gold on warehouse buildings (+31)
* 26 militaristic, +1 settlement limit
* 29 cultural, +1 culture on specialists
* 29 militaristic, commanders in distant lands earn double experience
* 45 militaristic, +1 war support
In Exploration, the AI has zero interest in befriending IPs early on, they focus on razing them to have more space to expand. This is a big shame, as I missed out on 5 IPs who got dispersed...
I got the "Free tech per CS" bonus already on turn 17 (along with 4 other CS), so I didn't build many science buildings as I didn't want a repeat of what happened in Antiquity, where the future civics ended the age too early.
After starting the age with -34 GPT, bazaars helped me get into a positive gold return by turn 9.
By turn 15, my army was lined up on the shores from Baak (I won't get any sleep until I take "my" Weyiang Palace from Catherine!!), and on turn 16 they all jumped into the water to start the move towards her borders. The plan was to declare 2 turns later, when I would have 7 city states, including 2 militaristic ones, giving all my infantry and ranged units a healthy +7 combat bonus.
22 units, 4 commanders, surely this would be enough to conquer her ex-capital?
While my troops were swimming across, my neighbour, the backstabbing Himiko declares war on me! I did not see this coming (not this early in the age!), in fact I had moved my entire army to Baak, and so I had zero defense back home. An absolute rookie mistake, but that's what happens when you're over-obsessed with an objective (the Weyiang).
There was no chance of moving any units back, it's around a 10-turn journey considering they're all swimming at the moment. No point even trying to call them back, I'd rather lose a city than lose out on the Weyiang Palace again!
What's worse is that I'm only making 29 GPT and have a measly 1200 gold in the bank - that'll only get me 2 units... At least I've got +3 war support. Will I now lose a home city? I'm in serious trouble!!
I immediately buy a unit in my capital and in Olympia, hoping I can keep her at bay. Her invasion force isn't frightening, but I've got only 2 units to defend, no walls, and no realistic way of getting any more units for 2-3 turns:
The IPs came to my rescue, 5 of them became my city states on the same turn, which resulted in 5 free technologies - and two of the IPs were economic IPs. My GPT went from 29 to 223! For some reason I also got a scientific attribute point, which enabled me to activate a bonus of +97 GPT and +118 happiness! Incredible luck!
On the next turn, up north, Jose Rizal also declares war on me - what's his problem?! We were friends! Judging by his troop movements, it's clear that he's after my city states, not me:
At this stage there were no more IPs to befriend, so I spend influence to boost my war support to +7 against Himiko and +4 against Rizal.
On the next turn it becomes obvious that Himiko is going for my city state, not my cities. Phew!
A few turns later, Rizal gets his 2 city states, Himiko gets hers - but now she's coming for me! I've managed to purchase more units by now, and coupled with my war support, I'm no longer worried.
8 turns later I make peace with Himiko, she actually offers me the CS she conquered in the peace deal, but I reject it, I don't want to waste my settlement cap on such a poor settlement.
The next turn I can finally approach Rizal for peace, and what do you know, he's happy to offer me back both the CS settlements he conquered! I gracefully accept - but it makes you wonder why he went to war in the first place then! And certainly brings some doubts over Firaxis' claims that the AI is now smarter during peace negotiations...
But wait... We're forgetting something, what happened to my swimming soldiers going for Baak? Let's rewind;
On turn 18 I declared war on Catherine, with a +3 war support. I was planning to boost this further, but due to Himiko's advance, I panicked and spent all my influence on that war instead...
Anyway, my initial wave of attacks on Baak were successful, I quickly conquer 3 out of 6 districts, but then somehow she regroups and hits me with a wave of Tier 2 troops! While I've now got the tier 2 technology, my units are all still tier 1, and so she completely decimates my army... From the initial attack, to me swimming back with my tail between my legs, I have to give up on Baak again:
4 commanders and 22 units swam towards Baak - only 1 commander and 6 units returned
On turn 28, exactly 10 turns after declaring war on her, I worryingly approach the negotiation table to ask for peace. What is going on here, she crushed my advance and army, yet she's willing to offer me either of her 16-pop cities for peace? Not Baak though, of course not, that would've been too easy... I put on my negotiation hat, and find that she's actually willing to give up Baak if I give her my nearest city Phokaia! I'm not one to give up my cities in peace deals, especially not a more than decent 21-pop city with great production.
But wait, what is that I see - Baak doesn't just have the Weyiang Palace, it's got eight wonders! Well that made the decision an easy one, we make peace, Phokaia goes to Catherine, and Baak is mine - and I can finally move into the Weyiang Palace, which I've been waiting 3430 years for!
Look at those ridiculous Deity-boosted yields - which obviously didn't transfer to me:
On the next turn, turn 29, I complete the Enlightenment legacy path!
On turn 39 I get Gunpowder, so now I'm just waiting for my killed Commanders to return, before I'll hit Catherine's Phokaia with all my might.
On turn 56 my army, with all its commanders back, is in place outside Phokaia. It's not a great army, mind you, but she hasn't built any walls there, and I haven't seen any units roaming around.
I'm worried she'll hit Baak hard when I declare, so I've built out a decent defense of Tier 3 units there, and I've got 10k gold to spare, just in case:
I declare, I get +3 war support, I've got 2.5k influence points so I boost it to +9 just in case.
Phokaia falls in 2 turns, and a couple of her Bolyaks bang their heads against the walls of Baak, only to die a quick death.
At this point I'm building my nation's wonder Forbidden City, and would you believe it, Catherine beats me to it in her new capital Preslav!!! What else is there to do than move my troops there and get that Forbidden City asap?
On turn 64, at 62% age progress, I complete researching Future tech...
On turn 69, after 5 turns of fighting, Preslav falls, and the Forbidden City - along with 3 other wonders - is mine!
Catherine begs for peace, but is only willing to offer me one settlement. She's got 4 more settlements, my army is blitzing her troops, so I reject and decide to erase her completely. With these match-ups, it's a breeze:
9 turns later, Catherine's last city falls, and she's gone for good. I bet she'll think twice about building the Weyiang Palace in the future, eh?
Benjamin Franklin's capital Roma is right next door from Catherine's last city. He's only got 2 cities left, and while my army's hot, I decide to take his capital and raze his other settlement:
I was planning to move on Catherine's neighbour to the west (Trung Trac), and conquer her old capital Pataliputra, but for some reason, out of the blue the age progress went from 224 to 237 points, so I only had 3 turns left! I had to cancel those plans, and instead find out what to do with my gold reserve, which was getting out of hand - I had over 70k in the bank!
I bought units and commanders over the last 3 turns, and ended the age with 90 units. Unfortunately I didn't have enough commanders to bring them all over, but at least my 17 commanders managed to bring 77 of them along, which made the Modern Era, quite frankly, a joke!
One more interesting tidbit from the Exploration era was the Crisis - which turned out to be the religious one. As usual, I had ignored all aspects of religion during the age, hadn't trained a single missionary, and that really turned out to be a blessing! What others experienced as a crisis, was more of a golden age for me :
So, we roll over to the Modern Era, where due to my lack of legacy points, I went for the Militaristic Dark Age. Essentially that gives all your commanders 2 promotions (and for some reason, they all also got 1 more promotion, meaning 3 each), at the cost of +25% expense for buying military units.
It's the first time I select a Dark Age, and found out something I wasn't aware of before: When you pick a Dark Age, you can't choose anything else (such as attribute points or other bonuses). The only other option you have is to move your capital (which I did).
The less said about the Modern era, the better. My military might turned it into smooth sailing, at least after turn 28 (it took me that long to re-arrange my army and move it to Pataliputra - this is one aspect I really detest from the age transitions!).
I guess it's worth noting that 16 IPs spawned, I managed to befriend 10, the other 6 were dispersed.
My army on turn 38:
...and 19 turns later Operation Ivy was completed and I got my military victory.
My final conclusion after playing a City State-focused game: They're way overpowered when combined with influence-centric leaders and civs as well as the two mementos.
Ah, one last observation, how do you like this attribute point?
Phew, that write-up became a lot longer than planned! But the Exploration era was absolutely fantastic, one of the most entertaining games of Civ7 for me so far, so I had to share the best bits
So I've set up my game as Isabella and Carthage, this will be interesting as I've got zero experience with both! Not to mention that I've never specialized a town before - instead I always focus on upgrading them all to cities ASAP.
Difficulty: Deity. Map: Huge Archipelago. Civs: 10 civs (9 + myself). Rules: Standard rules, except for Long ages and no Plague.
For Mementos, my "early Settler" combo was tempting, however it's only really beneficial in the very early game, and seeing as we're on a huge map with long ages, I went for Imago Mundi for increased sight, and Merchant's Saddle for +1 movement for Scouts, Settlers and Merchants.
I've scoped out the wonders I feel will be most beneficial for this game, unfortunately it's impossible to get them all (e.g. good luck getting Great Stele AND Pyramids on a Deity game):
* Byrsa, Sailing (T). Not great, but we get a 30% bonus towards building it, and I always like prioritising my own civ's wonder.
* Great Stele, Writing (T). 200 gold when constructing a wonder.
* Pyramids, Masonry (T). +1 gold and production on minor and navigable rivers (in case those are present).
* Petra, Code of Laws (C). +1 gold and production on desert terrain.
* Gate of all nations, Discipline II (C). +2 war suppport.
* Colossus, Skilled trades (C). +3 resource capacity & economic attribute point.
* Monks Mound, Commerce (C). +4 resource capacity.
While the Carthage civics are more than useful, one of the big strengths here is trade, so I feel I'll have to go Mysticism -> Discipline -> Code of Laws to get Merchants out ASAP.
Then Discipline II to get the Gate of all nations, and after that I'm unsure. Would love to then beeline Skilled Trades and Commerce, to get the wonders that give +3 and +4 resource capacity in the capital (those Numidian Cavalries will be wild!), but I fear it'll be impossible on Deity - those civics are really expensive, and I don't want to ignore the Carthage civics either!
When it comes to techs, Sailing is a no-brainer. I'd love to build the Byrsa as it's Carthage's own wonder, but it'll be really hard to beat the AI to it.
After that I'd like to go for Writing, in hopes of building the Great Stele, but it depends on the terrain in the starting position, I might have to prioritise Animal Husbandry and possibly Masonry instead. If it's the latter, I like the idea of Bronze Working to start pumping out the Numidian Cavalry and overrun a neighbour! If not, I reckon it'll be a peaceful game.
@Suicidekills what are your other thoughts/recommendations regarding the next game? I haven't played with neither Isabella nor Carthage, so would like to hear some opinions.
So I went with Pangea because I like that everyone starts on the same landmass, and I've just been exploring the map sizes. Archipelago does sound like fun, and if you haven't tried it, give it a shot. Based on your map generation, Terra Incognita seems like an interesting option as well. I'm disappointed in Shuffle. I'd expect crazier maps.
Very interesting the amount of NW's varies. I've never tried a different length other than standard, maybe I'll try a marathon run one of these days. I'm sticking to most of the default settings otherwise except I turned Disaster Intensity up to moderate. I forgot to do momentos, but I would have went with the scout one you mentioned and the one that gives you gold after you've discovered a certain amount of tiles.
I'm also considering Groma (1 expansionist attribute point) + Gold & Sapphire flowers (100 food in capital when you spend an expansionist attribute point), by using this combo you could potentially have two settlers ready around turn 12!
This is an interesting thought. I definitely would be missing the early scouting on a huge map with Isabella though.
I actually got through my antiquity age already. My capital was founded right next to Torres del Paine. On top of its yields, it also provides +1 food and +1 prod to tundra tiles, so I didn't mind the tundra start. To my south, I found Mt Fuji and settled it with one of my first two colonists. To my east, I got Catherine the Great getting too close for comfort, oh and what's that? She's got the Hoerikwaggo in her empire? As someone who comes from Polish heritage, I have no problem wiping her off the planet. The AI actually made a really smart decision. While I was close to taking their capital, she offered me a peace deal that included the settlement with the NW. Since I still had a few more turns to go before taking the capital, I figured taking the settlement was the way to go. Don't worry, she didn't last much longer anyway.
Jose Rizal had beef with me too. He was to my South, and he had a NW of his own. It got pretty close but I was just able to grab the NW settlement. When I made peace, I grabbed the other settlement bordering the NW. I found two more NW's, so I got at least the 6 that you mentioned. They were further away. I attempted to incorporate one of them through a city-state, but I ran out of time in the Age. That will definitely be a priority in the next age.
The AI kind of played me diplomatically at the end of the age. My military campaign was over and I didn't want to get involved in any more wars in antiquity. My neighbor and ally Machiavelli decided to go to war with Amina to the East of me, so I broke the alliance with him. Five turns later, he declared war on me.... along with Himiko and Harriet Tubman. Should be really fun next age with half the remaining civs not too thrilled with me
Overall, I thought playing as Isabella on a huge map helped to overshadow some of Carthage in my game. While on my search for NW's, I found that I was sticking more inland than you'd want as Carthage. I ended up with only three settlements on the coast, so only got three of the UQ's. It didn't help that Catherine settled in a way that all her settlements were one tile away from the coast . I did, however, appreciate the military aspects of Carthage. Saving money and buying as many Numidian Cavalry as you need worked very well for me versus Catherine. I had some silver near my capital so I leaned into the purchasing of units. With their civic and Isabella's ability, I got the galleys down to 80 gold to buy, but my capital was beefy and it only took one turn to build a galley at that point anyway. I do see this combo being useful in building a navy next age.
I chose the Incans as Exploration Civ since most of my settlements had mountainous terrain. I plan on working on my empire while I wait for my enemies to make their move. We'll see how it goes!
While the Carthage civics are more than useful, one of the big strengths here is trade, so I feel I'll have to go Mysticism -> Discipline -> Code of Laws to get Merchants out ASAP.
This was my initial thought except I went Discipline first. Did not work out too well as my trade route range was weak, and was using influence on claiming IP's. Didn't affect me too much. I was able to focus on the Carthage civics after that. Was disappointed to not get two free merchants but fine... My game was definitely more war focused. The only wonders I built were my go-to's... Gate of Nations and Emile Bell. My focus was claiming as much Natural Wonders and rightfully so, but it required a decent investment in military.
Decent start it looks like you got there. Silver is good for Carthage and is that the Redwood Forest I see??! For an archipelago start though, you'd expect to see some ocean lol
So I went with Pangea because I like that everyone starts on the same landmass, and I've just been exploring the map sizes. Archipelago does sound like fun, and if you haven't tried it, give it a shot. Based on your map generation, Terra Incognita seems like an interesting option as well. I'm disappointed in Shuffle. I'd expect crazier maps.
Pangaea for a naval civ and leader, that's an odd choice! But those weird choices often provide some really interesting games, cause it forces you to adapt your strategies in very different ways...
I personally like Pangaea maps the most, mainly because the uninhabited islands in the distant lands are typically bigger and way less predictable. It makes the Exploration age a lot more fun!
Agree with you on Shuffle, it seems it's essentially just Continents Plus. All in all, I don't understand how they messed up the map generator so bad in this game, and how they still haven't made big progress on it after 5 months.
I actually got through my antiquity age already. My capital was founded right next to Torres del Paine. On top of its yields, it also provides +1 food and +1 prod to tundra tiles, so I didn't mind the tundra start. To my south, I found Mt Fuji and settled it with one of my first two colonists. To my east, I got Catherine the Great getting too close for comfort, oh and what's that? She's got the Hoerikwaggo in her empire? As someone who comes from Polish heritage, I have no problem wiping her off the planet. The AI actually made a really smart decision. While I was close to taking their capital, she offered me a peace deal that included the settlement with the NW. Since I still had a few more turns to go before taking the capital, I figured taking the settlement was the way to go. Don't worry, she didn't last much longer anyway.
Lucky you! I had 1 NW next to my starting position (Redwood Forest) and then it was slim pickings. On our whole 'continent' there was only 1 more NW, and it was controlled by our old pal Rizal.
I didn't manage to assemble an army big enough to take it until very late in the game, in fact it was too late and I missed my chance before the age ended (2-3 more turns would've been enough to take it!)
Overall, I thought playing as Isabella on a huge map helped to overshadow some of Carthage in my game. While on my search for NW's, I found that I was sticking more inland than you'd want as Carthage. I ended up with only three settlements on the coast, so only got three of the UQ's. It didn't help that Catherine settled in a way that all her settlements were one tile away from the coast . I did, however, appreciate the military aspects of Carthage. Saving money and buying as many Numidian Cavalry as you need worked very well for me versus Catherine. I had some silver near my capital so I leaned into the purchasing of units. With their civic and Isabella's ability, I got the galleys down to 80 gold to buy, but my capital was beefy and it only took one turn to build a galley at that point anyway. I do see this combo being useful in building a navy next age.
Yeah the Numidian Cavalry is awesome, I loved that aspect of Carthage!
I was not thrilled about being restricted to towns though, and while I did learn a lot more about how to utilise them properly, I still prefer cities with actual buildings rather than throwing a lot of specialists at my capital.
That being said, I now definitely see the value of keeping some towns around, but it's very situational - I've no idea how they came up with the seemingly arbitrary 50/50 town/city recommendation!
Also, I specialised the towns too late, because I wanted to snatch all available resources with them first - which I learned later on in the age is pointless because you won't be able to allocate them all anyway! Lesson learnt for my next Carthage game!
For some reason I didn't have too much fun playing Carthage, perhaps because nobody declared war on me the entire age? But also because I really do like the micro-managing of cities to produce the very best yields. It's one of my favourite aspects in the game! So only being able to do that in 1 city made it a bit less engaging than I would've liked.
In Exploration I went with Majapahit, figured I'd give the whole religion thing a go.
And I found it incredibly tedious, build missionaries, send them away, click to spread religion, watch as settlements get converted to other religions - rinse and repeat. There's very little dynamics involved... I actually ended up abandoning that game about 30% into the age because it just wasn't much fun playing this way.
I see in the patch notes that Firaxis admitted Religion could use some work, so I hope they revamp this system and make it more engaging!
I started a new game with Himiko and Maya (never played with either), and wow, what a combo that is! I've actually been ahead of nearly all the other civs in Science yields the whole age so far. Her ability to support endeavours at a cost of 0 influence means you get a lot of friends quickly, and a +4 science for every friendly AI is massive! Not to mention the incredible Unique Quarter that Maya has... Exciting stuff!
For some reason I didn't have too much fun playing Carthage, perhaps because nobody declared war on me the entire age? But also because I really do like the micro-managing of cities to produce the very best yields. It's one of my favourite aspects in the game! So only being able to do that in 1 city made it a bit less engaging than I would've liked.
In Exploration I went with Majapahit, figured I'd give the whole religion thing a go.
And I found it incredibly tedious, build missionaries, send them away, click to spread religion, watch as settlements get converted to other religions - rinse and repeat. There's very little dynamics involved... I actually ended up abandoning that game about 30% into the age because it just wasn't much fun playing this way.
I see in the patch notes that Firaxis admitted Religion could use some work, so I hope they revamp this system and make it more engaging!
I'm as sick as a parrot to hear that. I actually didn't specialize my towns at all in antiquity age, although putting a resort town down would be more than acceptable (forgot those existed somehow). Since you're focusing on one city, you don't need help from the towns. I chose to build them up for exploration age.
Oh, yeah religion is meh. I was just surprised you haven't tried it out yet. The bonuses are decent and pretty easy to get. The culture legacy path is one of the easiest things to do in the game. O and if your only two options for a reliquary belief are the urban one or rural one....always go urban.
My Exploration Age has been a blast! I was intrigued by the Carthage tradition that provides 20% food to farming/fishing towns and 20% gold to mining towns. I was towards the top on gold per turn, but after I specialized my towns with this tradition, my gpt doubled. This was a huge boost to start. I ended up mostly stashing the gold for later when all my enemies declared war on me. It wasn't just the gold though, the food helped as well. I changed my capital and because I was Carthage in the previous age, my new capital was about half the strength. Luckily, my one town had the Hoerikwaggo, which provides crazy food, and when I specialized the town, it provided double the amount of food the capital was producing itself. Really helped my new capital get up and running. I turned one of the settlements I took from Jose Rizal into a city too. It had Machapuchare, and after I got the two other NW's, the three tiles provided 72 production. Not to mention the culture the NW also provides.
Speaking of getting more NW's, I managed to Suzerain the IP with the Great Barrier Reef and incorporate it. The other NW was far away but I settled on top of it anyway. No AI seemed to interested in the area, and out of the eight AI remaining, the three surrounding civs were the only ones that didn't absolutely hate me. There was Lafayette to my South but he was a distance and some coastal waters away, and I easily repelled his attack by just buying up some units with my gold stockpile. I did eventually convert the town to a City though, since it was so much further away. Don't worry if I take out Harriet Tubman, I should be able to properly connect my empire.
And last but not least.... the wars For some reason they declared war on me one turn at a time. Machiavelli to my East wasn't much of a threat. He decided to use the coast to attack for some reason. Made easy pickings for my Warak'aq. The real problem was the geography of his capital. So many mountains and cliffs, took longer than expected to maneuver just to attack. I'm currently on turn 40 and am working on getting Machiavelli's old capital Roma. Probably make peace after getting those two settlements. Lafayette and Himiko were insignificant. They threatened settlements that were further away from my empire, but their attempts were pathetic. Harriet Tubman, on the other hand, is not so easy. While other wars came and went, I've just been constantly going back and forth with her. Good thing she declared war on me. If she had the extra war support, I'd be in trouble. She had a mixture of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Xunleichong. Again, good thing she didn't upgrade all the tier 1's because I would be in trouble. I'm able to survive, but I'm at a stalemate right now. Seems like every time I kill a unit, she comes back with a replacement immediately. We'll see how it goes. Having an absolute blast with this game!
I started a new game with Himiko and Maya (never played with either), and wow, what a combo that is! I've actually been ahead of nearly all the other civs in Science yields the whole age so far. Her ability to support endeavours at a cost of 0 influence means you get a lot of friends quickly, and a +4 science for every friendly AI is massive! Not to mention the incredible Unique Quarter that Maya has... Exciting stuff!
Oh yeah Himiko (the science one I'm assuming) is great! Diplomacy is one of my favorite aspects in this game. Have had a lot of fun with Harriet Tubman, Benjamin Franklin, and Himiko. I will eventually try Napoleon, Emperor, as I am intrigued by the idea of using Diplomacy to piss people off. But first, after my Isabella game, I must try Charlamagne/Maurya because I MUST HAVE ALL THE ELEPHANTS!!!!!
Maya is just sick with the science. I played them in a Diety game with Batutta using his momento The Rhyla (which obviously helped too) and I was ahead of the Diety AI in science the entire game.
Also, I specialised the towns too late, because I wanted to snatch all available resources with them first - which I learned later on in the age is pointless because you won't be able to allocate them all anyway! Lesson learnt for my next Carthage game!
I'm as sick as a parrot to hear that. I actually didn't specialize my towns at all in antiquity age, although putting a resort town down would be more than acceptable (forgot those existed somehow). Since you're focusing on one city, you don't need help from the towns. I chose to build them up for exploration age.
Oh, yeah religion is meh. I was just surprised you haven't tried it out yet. The bonuses are decent and pretty easy to get. The culture legacy path is one of the easiest things to do in the game. O and if your only two options for a reliquary belief are the urban one or rural one....always go urban.
Well, even if I ended up abandoning it, it was still well worth trying it out!
In my current game I actually specialised a couple of towns in Antiquity, and in Exploration I specialised even more! I actually ended the age with 12 cities and 5 towns. That Carthage game made me learn to really analyse a town (I spend quite a bit of time analysing terrain, potential yields, current yields, and not just production - but also gold), to really evaluate if it's worth upgrading it.
In this current game I also actually planned on trying to send some missionaries around to complete the cultural legacy path (since you claimed it can be so easy!), however due to other priorities, I didn't complete researching the Piety civic until around turn 45, and then there were only two available Reliquary Beliefs available, for first-time conversion of foreign cities with at least 3 specialists - or a natural wonder. It wasn't that easy then!
My point is, I'd say that Carthage -> Majapahit game - even if abandoning it - was time well spent, as I learned some new dynamics in this game!
And last but not least.... the wars For some reason they declared war on me one turn at a time. Machiavelli to my East wasn't much of a threat. He decided to use the coast to attack for some reason. Made easy pickings for my Warak'aq. The real problem was the geography of his capital. So many mountains and cliffs, took longer than expected to maneuver just to attack. I'm currently on turn 40 and am working on getting Machiavelli's old capital Roma. Probably make peace after getting those two settlements. Lafayette and Himiko were insignificant. They threatened settlements that were further away from my empire, but their attempts were pathetic. Harriet Tubman, on the other hand, is not so easy. While other wars came and went, I've just been constantly going back and forth with her. Good thing she declared war on me. If she had the extra war support, I'd be in trouble. She had a mixture of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Xunleichong. Again, good thing she didn't upgrade all the tier 1's because I would be in trouble. I'm able to survive, but I'm at a stalemate right now. Seems like every time I kill a unit, she comes back with a replacement immediately. We'll see how it goes. Having an absolute blast with this game!
Sounds like an intriguing game, I love reading these stories!
I agree it can be so hard to navigate and eventually capture those mountaineous cities. But so rewarding when you actually manage!
Isn't it weird how the AI can't really use a navy properly? I remember all the way back in Civ2, I was being overloaded by naval invasions from the AI, I really don't understand how this has regressed so badly over the years. Only 1 game in Civ7 did I have some troubles on the waters, and that was because the enemy had Corsairs, and kept stealing my units Which ended up being great fun!
Oh yeah Himiko (the science one I'm assuming) is great! Diplomacy is one of my favorite aspects in this game. Have had a lot of fun with Harriet Tubman, Benjamin Franklin, and Himiko. I will eventually try Napoleon, Emperor, as I am intrigued by the idea of using Diplomacy to piss people off. But first, after my Isabella game, I must try Charlamagne/Maurya because I MUST HAVE ALL THE ELEPHANTS!!!!!
Well, yes, and I did build it in all my towns. I also had the masteries that allowed max. resources in my capital, along with FOUR camels - but still I couldn't fit all the resources.
One of my towns had TEN resources in it's radius, I couldn't get all of them throughout the whole age (this town remained unspecialised for that reason).
I'll definitely give Carthage a try again in the future, with the added knowledge I now have, I believe it can be a fun game!
In this current game I also actually planned on trying to send some missionaries around to complete the cultural legacy path (since you claimed it can be so easy!), however due to other priorities, I didn't complete researching the Piety civic until around turn 45, and then there were only two available Reliquary Beliefs available, for first-time conversion of foreign cities with at least 3 specialists - or a natural wonder. It wasn't that easy then!
I'm so confused. Are you still playing long ages? Every single time I waited for the last second to get a religion, the two options were the 10 urban districts or 10 rural districts option, and they added more beliefs. Maybe because it's on huge? Maybe turn 45 for Piety is too late? And now they added an indicator for which settlements qualify for the reliquary belief so it's even easier. I still stand by the cultural exploration legacy path as the easiest. The Natural Wonder one would be good if you don't have any (and if the AI isn't hopeless and actually settle them). On a huge map you can complete the legacy path in only 6 conversions.
I agree it can be so hard to navigate and eventually capture those mountaineous cities. But so rewarding when you actually manage!
Isn't it weird how the AI can't really use a navy properly? I remember all the way back in Civ2, I was being overloaded by naval invasions from the AI, I really don't understand how this has regressed so badly over the years. Only 1 game in Civ7 did I have some troubles on the waters, and that was because the enemy had Corsairs, and kept stealing my units Which ended up being great fun!
Rewarding indeed! Yeah, in one instance in my game, Harriet Tubman just kept sending cogs to attack my navy. So I just chilled on my coast in my borders, took shots at her ground units, and then had her hit me over and over again for experience. I would have two outside, two inside my fleet commander. By the time the two outside ones were injured, the inside ones were healed. Later on though, Himiko definitely put up a fight. She would match my navy with her navy. Since it's on Diety, she could do a lot more damage to me than I could do to her. This is when I came to the realization that the Spotter promotion (+1 Range for naval units within the Command Radius) is the most important one to get. With the spotter promotion, I was able to fire three tiles away at enemy ships, and since they didn't have the range, they were unable to return fire. Absolutely obliterated her navy after that. I imagine future navy battles will also be a breeze with this knowledge.
Additionally, being able to use your navy for battle and then healing by pillaging the shores of your enemies, can give you an advantage also. Unfortunately, this is something the AI has trouble understanding as well. I love how you're not able to explore deep oceans in the game until Exploration Age. It gives everyone a chance to have navy at a level playing field, instead of something you can achieve right from the beginning but be able to beeline to be a navy power-house. I share the same sentiment towards religion. But, this is most likely why the AI are struggling, since they don't have the usual headstart potential they've had in previous iterations. Also, I don't think this is just limited to the navy, they're struggling in all aspects militarily.
I'm so confused. Are you still playing long ages? Every single time I waited for the last second to get a religion, the two options were the 10 urban districts or 10 rural districts option, and they added more beliefs. Maybe because it's on huge? Maybe turn 45 for Piety is too late? And now they added an indicator for which settlements qualify for the reliquary belief so it's even easier. I still stand by the cultural exploration legacy path as the easiest. The Natural Wonder one would be good if you don't have any (and if the AI isn't hopeless and actually settle them). On a huge map you can complete the legacy path in only 6 conversions.
Rewarding indeed! Yeah, in one instance in my game, Harriet Tubman just kept sending cogs to attack my navy. So I just chilled on my coast in my borders, took shots at her ground units, and then had her hit me over and over again for experience. I would have two outside, two inside my fleet commander. By the time the two outside ones were injured, the inside ones were healed. Later on though, Himiko definitely put up a fight. She would match my navy with her navy. Since it's on Diety, she could do a lot more damage to me than I could do to her. This is when I came to the realization that the Spotter promotion (+1 Range for naval units within the Command Radius) is the most important one to get. With the spotter promotion, I was able to fire three tiles away at enemy ships, and since they didn't have the range, they were unable to return fire. Absolutely obliterated her navy after that. I imagine future navy battles will also be a breeze with this knowledge.
Additionally, being able to use your navy for battle and then healing by pillaging the shores of your enemies, can give you an advantage also. Unfortunately, this is something the AI has trouble understanding as well. I love how you're not able to explore deep oceans in the game until Exploration Age. It gives everyone a chance to have navy at a level playing field, instead of something you can achieve right from the beginning but be able to beeline to be a navy power-house. I share the same sentiment towards religion. But, this is most likely why the AI are struggling, since they don't have the usual headstart potential they've had in previous iterations. Also, I don't think this is just limited to the navy, they're struggling in all aspects militarily.
Are you using land bombardment commander ability to fire at other ships? I thought they patched this. It's been my understanding and experience that ships always have to melee fight.
I always go for range over anything else when it's offered for anything so I always have that promotion.
Are you using land bombardment commander ability to fire at other ships? I thought they patched this. It's been my understanding and experience that ships always have to melee fight.
I always go for range over anything else when it's offered for anything so I always have that promotion.
Nope, this was naval vs naval combat and I was able to shoot at them from a distance. If they're within their range of 2, they'll shoot back, but if you have Spotter, you can shoot at them from a 3-range distance and they can't retaliate. I assume if their commander has Spotter, they can return fire, but fat chance the AI figures this out. I think after the new update something changed with the naval combat because when you're next to an enemy ship it will still initiate melee naval combat as well.
Wow, I didn't know! I bought the Deluxe update, and thought everything would be included there, but I see now that Himiko isn't... And there's another Ashoka available to buy as well!
Ridiculous how they charge 4€ for such simple addons. Granted, it's not a lot of money, but it adds up over the game's lifecycle - and I've already spent around 100€ on the game
I'm so confused. Are you still playing long ages? Every single time I waited for the last second to get a religion, the two options were the 10 urban districts or 10 rural districts option, and they added more beliefs. Maybe because it's on huge? Maybe turn 45 for Piety is too late? And now they added an indicator for which settlements qualify for the reliquary belief so it's even easier. I still stand by the cultural exploration legacy path as the easiest. The Natural Wonder one would be good if you don't have any (and if the AI isn't hopeless and actually settle them). On a huge map you can complete the legacy path in only 6 conversions.
Actually, in this game I played with normal age length. And Large map, not Huge (IMO Huge is too big for only 10 players - Firaxis did admit that they want 12 civs on the Huge map, but need to work out some stability issues first).
And yeah, the problem is definitely that I waited too long, so all the "easy" beliefs had already been taken!
NW would indeed be an option, however in this game I still had about a third of the map unexplored. And also note that the 2 beliefs were both for "first-time conversion" of cities, making it even harder. I ended up ignoring religion in that game - again!
Rewarding indeed! Yeah, in one instance in my game, Harriet Tubman just kept sending cogs to attack my navy. So I just chilled on my coast in my borders, took shots at her ground units, and then had her hit me over and over again for experience. I would have two outside, two inside my fleet commander. By the time the two outside ones were injured, the inside ones were healed. Later on though, Himiko definitely put up a fight. She would match my navy with her navy. Since it's on Diety, she could do a lot more damage to me than I could do to her. This is when I came to the realization that the Spotter promotion (+1 Range for naval units within the Command Radius) is the most important one to get. With the spotter promotion, I was able to fire three tiles away at enemy ships, and since they didn't have the range, they were unable to return fire. Absolutely obliterated her navy after that. I imagine future navy battles will also be a breeze with this knowledge.
Yeah the Spotter promotion is awesome! In one game I completely obliterated Señor Bolivar's cities from the sea, he had no chance against my fleet of 23 battleships:
This was the same game as the Corsair battles in Exploration, and I'm happy to say that, as you can see, I got my revenge on him in the following age!
I even brought a bunch of nukes to the table, you can see my Carrier sitting there happily outside his borders
When I took that screenshot, he actually had over 70.000 gold in his coffers - again just highlighting that the AI doesn't know what it's doing...
To be honest, since that game (which is months ago!), I kind of forgot about the Spotter promotion. So thanks for reminding me, I'll definitely be using it more from now on!
Wow, I didn't know! I bought the Deluxe update, and thought everything would be included there, but I see now that Himiko isn't... And there's another Ashoka available to buy as well!
Ridiculous how they charge 4€ for such simple addons. Granted, it's not a lot of money, but it adds up over the game's lifecycle - and I've already spent around 100€ on the game
Actually, in this game I played with normal age length. And Large map, not Huge (IMO Huge is too big for only 10 players - Firaxis did admit that they want 12 civs on the Huge map, but need to work out some stability issues first).
And yeah, the problem is definitely that I waited too long, so all the "easy" beliefs had already been taken!
NW would indeed be an option, however in this game I still had about a third of the map unexplored. And also note that the 2 beliefs were both for "first-time conversion" of cities, making it even harder. I ended up ignoring religion in that game - again!
Yeah the Spotter promotion is awesome! In one game I completely obliterated Señor Bolivar's cities from the sea, he had no chance against my fleet of 23 battleships: View attachment 736099
This was the same game as the Corsair battles in Exploration, and I'm happy to say that, as you can see, I got my revenge on him in the following age!
I even brought a bunch of nukes to the table, you can see my Carrier sitting there happily outside his borders
When I took that screenshot, he actually had over 70.000 gold in his coffers - again just highlighting that the AI doesn't know what it's doing...
To be honest, since that game (which is months ago!), I kind of forgot about the Spotter promotion. So thanks for reminding me, I'll definitely be using it more from now on!
Unfortunately the AI struggles with pretty much everything... The only thing it seems decent at, is sending out missionaries!
Battleships with range promotion are just as busted as they were in 6, partially because the AI generally does not build much of a navy or air force. I am not a coder in the least but at this point I think they need to get some cheated in naval units starting in exploration and air units when they get to the tech and build airfields.
Blowing up cities with battleships is definitely fun, but it would be more fun with resistance.
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! If it hadn't been for my OCD-like tendencies ( 
) to get my army perfectly set up for an invasion after the age transition, which took me 28 turns (!), I could've finished it much earlier.
Thanks for the story time!
(Enlightenment Golden Age).
I gracefully accept - but it makes you wonder why he went to war in the first place then! And certainly brings some doubts over Firaxis' claims that the AI is now smarter during peace negotiations...
What else is there to do than move my troops there and get that Forbidden City asap?
:
. I did, however, appreciate the military aspects of Carthage. Saving money and buying as many Numidian Cavalry as you need worked very well for me versus Catherine. I had some silver near my capital so I leaned into the purchasing of units. With their civic and Isabella's ability, I got the galleys down to 80 gold to buy, but my capital was beefy and it only took one turn to build a galley at that point anyway. I do see this combo being useful in building a navy next age.
Which ended up being great fun!
