[GS] Your first Gathering Storm game

[pgm123]

Just finished my first game. Eleanor, France, Medieval start. I was just trying to culture flip an Aztec city, but my first four Great Artists produced three themed museums. I was hoping to use Kandy's bonus to collect some relics. Unfortunately, Tamar converted Kandy to her religion, so I could only get one relic. The game ended as a fairly comfortable culture victory.

I could not get Monty's cities to flip until the World Congress resolution came up that gives bonus population and negative loyalty. I put a lot into that one to tank the Aztecs. Flipped about four cities and even got a City State by the end. Another was about to flip, but it's 2 in the morning and I'm working tomorrow.

 

[avguy2]

I'm getting swarmed with barbarians. I've had bad games before but this is a whole new level. There are two camps near my home, one a bit further away and there's no stopping them. If I kill a camp they spaw again the very next turn! I'm about to abandon this sesssion.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

Game 1 of my write up can be found here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/gs-impressions-random-observations-thread.641998/page-3

------------------------------------

This is Game 2

Suleiman
Deity
All Standard Settings
No Reloads/Replays
7 Random AI Civs
Pangaea Map
Disasters 3

I didn't even see turn 1 and I screwed up the game.
I wanted to play this Civ next instead of just going down the line as planned.
The reason was that I played the first game as Dido and when I took Istanbul I renamed it Constantinople.
So logically I wanted to play as Istanbul this game and get some revenge for the Ottomans.
However I forgot to pick the Civs and just went Random AI.
Since I had started the game I decided to just play it out.
I hope Dido made it into the map but I doubt it.

I also took turn 1 pictures but seem to have lost them.
You will have to suffer through a brief write up and turn 95/96 pictures instead.

On turn 1 I didn't like it because of the Tundra and overall start.
I moved over the River to the NW and settled on turn 2.
I was going to shoot for Oracle this game with Pingala First since I forgot Oracle last game.
I planned on not chopping much or none at all this game but the Map kinda forced me into that as well.
I never chopped anything as of yet which is a first for me in any Civ game.

The basic plan was to Wonder it up a little bit and build an Army eventually and get to killing.
I notice now with this new expansion Wonder Whoring is a thing on Deity.
I still don't like that flavor or agree with it.
Seems better to just take them with force.
Certainly has to be safer to build troops instead of Wonders/Buildings.
Multiplayer is such a different animal LOL.

Build Order: Builder, Slinger, Scout, Monument, Rush Buy Settler
Tech Order: AH, Mining, Pottery, Archery with a delay for boost, Writing
Civic Order: Rushed down to to open the Oracle Build, Bounced around to boosted Civics,

Missed two Golden Ages because I wasn't focused.
Settled for Normal which is better than Dark to me.

Barbs gave me just enough trouble to hamper my scouting.
Very poor scouting this game.

Played the usual DoF till later game with the AI
Especially with Monty.
Hate when he is so close to me so early.
Got him to go to War with Brazil with me twice now.

I was gonna play peaceful but the Maori started to plop cities around me.
One of them flipped and I decided to use my Horses against him.
He countered with 7 or so Chariots but I used my Gold to buy Horses and write him out of History.
I could of Liberated Yerevan but since I had no cities once again with ugly land I decided to keep them.
I didn't get up a Religion so no big deal to me.
I like keeping the CS's anyway when I conquer them.

I didn't get Harvest this game and settled for Pastures.
Nothing wrong with extra Culture.
I am playing a 3 or 4 promotion Pingala game again.
Course I forgot to upgrade him for about 10 turns... too focused on War.
That cost me a good amount of Early Culture 50 to 60.

I built the Oracle first and was able to get the ToA next.
This was without chopping so it was slow.
It messed me up for building districts.
After the ToA I hard built the Entertainment District and the Arena.
Currently Hard Building the Colosseum which should end around turn 100 to 106.
Maybe I can get up some districts after that mess.
That is a lot of Wonders for me and not sure it is worth the investment.

I plan to try to kill Brazil and Monty in the future.
Although I DoFed Monty a second time so gonna have to wait for that to expire.
I will just use him and attack Brazil first.

I just looked at my screenshots and realized how ugly this land is lol.
Many of you would of just Re-Rolled I imagine.
Only 2 cities are actually mine.
The other 5 have been assimilated.
Look how bad the Maori had to start and I thought I had it rough!

Last game I hardly had any Grievances and I know why now.
No Surprise Wars.
I was Denouncing First and waiting.
This game has been all Surprise War so F the AI.
Gonna burn the map down as usual

Spoiler Turn 95/96 :

 

[blue heron]

Just did first ~150 turns with Inca on Continents map. For some reasons, no barbarians in my game also. Only taken out America so far, so everyone has grievances against me. Had a couple of natural disasters, killing population and changing tile yields.

In medieval era, world congress starts happening with only knowing about half the civs - this is really weird and seems to be at least one era too soon. Like the new maps graphics and yields on hills near mountains are very fun with the Incas.

 

[anightowl]

I'm midway through my first game, playing as Canada. I like the climate, I love the river naming. Two problems for me: World Congress starts in Medieval, I had only met two other civs. An emergency was declared and I ended up meeting all the other civs and revealing pretty much the whole world map in on in about 1300. This definitely needs tweaking.

Also I've had similar experiences to others with barbarians. I started close to two camps and they had a spearman, and *three* galleys along the coast already.

 

[Red_warning]

Mountains!

 

[kb27787]

Finished... Kongo deity Pangaea CV t204...

My impressions: Early relic from a hut made me think of an early finish... until I met Pericles (200+ cpt at end game) and Peter (196 cpt and end game)
Fortunate enough to get one 60 GPP writer

Barbs are easier... and harder at the same time. Easier because now barb units suicide in and no longer try to run away after pillaging a tile at the edge of your empire... easier to kill.. Harder because they spawn more often.

Deity AI still early jerks, but it seems the "oomph" of their early attack has been reduced somewhat... perhaps its because of the increased barbs? They will still kill city states without remorse though (and early game CS emergencies no longer a thing since WC is not found),

AI seems to like spearmen a lot, wonder why? Is it because I spawned with horses? (even though I did not build a horseman all game)...

UU of Kongo still weaker than a standard swordsman by 1... still not fixed.

Tech tree almost the same, but a bit longer. Civic tree pretty much the same except ideology now gives a lot of stuff.

Computers have been nerfed severely! (from 100% to only 25%)

Pingala + ToA combo though! Size 10 capital with 1 culture per citizen makes sure you reach theatre squares and +2 writer card super fast! Never mind Magnus for the pop loss as if you are at housing limit losing one pop to make sure food doesn't go to waste makes sense.

Magnus still good for rushing wonders... best to deploy him in newly settled cities with lots of choppable stuff

Ancestral hall still great... but no longer any chop overflow--makes for noticeably slower progress.

You can now see what your ally is building and how many turns left (great!) makes wonder races easier to win. AI no longer has that "omniscience" where they beat you to a wonder by 1 turn despite you never having met them... still they now exactly when to finish a wonder... this is now gone with GS.

Kongo relics haven't changed much.. still darned powerful. Noticeable increase in AI religious unit spam all game which is great because martyrs find easy places to die. With the nerf to overflow, getting a city with good production is essential if you want to hard-build wonders

No point in building national parks beyond the first one anymore... rock bands are where its at. Make sure you always perform on wonders.

Indie rock will never reduce a city's loyalty beyond 10 (sorry!) so using 2 indie bands will not make a city rebel instantly.

Disaster setting was on the default 2... and I find them annoying enough! Dunno why people want more natural disasters. Liang can only protect one city.

Spies now have a bunch of nice new upgrades

WC has some interesting proposals, but overall game ended right after industrial so never really got a chance to try those world fair or global projects...

AI now tech much more slowly for some reason. However, they now specialize a lot more towards their VC. Pericles for example built Acropolis in every single city and AI which want to go for religious victory now have holy sites in every city. They no longer build one of each district here and there.

War has not changed much... more units make it a bit harder to keep track of what unit is stronger than what (courser, cuirassier, etc.) the new horse units have rather ridiculous combat strengths. Best to stay at peace with deity AI unless going for domination.

Trade routes now insanely powerful, esp. water ones. Still, coastal cities suck a lot early due to no housing buff.

AI now will no longer offer gold for lux... (they just give a single gold) unless the proposal is coming from their end.

Monumentality dedication with harvest pantheon is still as broken as every bit in RnF. In fact rock bands make it much worse. This also makes relics really good for Kongo as they need a steady faith income once everything has been chopped.

Basically now going to try some of the new civs and see how they do.

 

[jozef57]

i am playing my first game as pachacuti, i really like rising storm untill now, it needs tweeks but this is normal. only anoying thing was that i was flooded but unbeatable and strong apostles from both christina and japan. they converted my city's including holy city in one go/charge, where undeafetable in combat at any given time at least 5 of them in my empire from 1 other empire, and than some from another, my faith whiped out lol, was this just the way the game turned out this time or have more players this problem, i know many ignore fath at all, but it is part of the game i like to play with it but this was insane and anoying lol calling in a emergency on this did not had a change in hell lol. i stopped will start other game

 

[bladex]

played my 1st game scotland IS A CHEAT they are in the info era while me and the other guys are still in the atomic age. yeah right BS cheater

in the meantime

- AI still sux at trading
- ai can't build an army to defense themselves properly
- floods are really annoying
- the world votes need tweaking it's too easy to get my own way every single time what i want is passed
- giant death robot needs to not jump
- it's good to build railroads again
- tunnels are awesome
- canals seem pointless or maybe i never found a decent spot to use them?
- turn times have decreased in wait time dramatically finally
- ai still a backstabber is your friend one turn than declares war the next
- ai won't shut up about units near their border even though they are IN MY HEX!
- game is really dark in dx12 mode??
- natural wonders having their names on the map very nice touch no more needing to use pins.

 

[esoba]

First game was going to roll Mali, but that starting with Maori was just too cool to pass up. They are a powerhouse, and holy cow the pillaging upgrades. In some ways it pushes me - although I'm typically not a warmonger - into engaging in more conflict than I typically do. However, the new material strategic resource thing is still taking me a bit to get used to. Overall, it's turning out to be a really fun first game.

 

[CPWimmer]

Sweden (Part 1 of ?)
Continents, Everything Standard, Disaster Level 2, Random Opponents, King Difficulty (Emperor is my pre-GS standard, I can beat Deity but don’t like the game play)

The Plan:
Play a peaceful game, settle all 5 biomes (snow, tundra, grass, plains, and desert) build some wonders, recruit great people, and win either a culture game based on Sweden's abilities or a Diplo game based on collecting Great People and Nobel Prizes.

The story so far (as of Turn 105 - 275BC – Classical Era):
I had a crappy start location, I don't ever re-roll starts - but I have been second guessing that decision most of this game: Coastal, no river within 2 tiles, 1 lux within 2 tiles, 1 hill within 2 tiles, 0 Mts within 2 tiles.

Met Persia and Hungary as my first 2 neighbors - that made me nervous. And they both decided to settle towards me - sigh.
Only 1 City State is nearby and I didn’t meet them first.
I settle City #2 north up the coast along a river, with Horses, Gems, Iron and a great +4 Campus site - a little farther from Stockholm than I wanted, but I really like the location.
Hungary and Persia both settle the 2 inland city sites I was looking at, on the closest river to my capital.

At that point (roughly turn 55) I am friendly with Hungary. I have met 5 city states, but only have 1 envoy with any of them. I have also met Russia far to my south and have made friends with them. Persia - not so much. So as I am worrying about Cyrus surprise warring me - my scout stumbles upon a lone unescorted Persian settler headed my way...

So war happens

I got lucky, because as soon as I grabbed that settler my scout was hit by 2 Persian warriors who were loosely escorting the settler just out of my line of sight. My scout escaped with less than 10 health, but thanks to the river and some rough terrain I was able to make it all the way home, where my recently upgraded archers pin-cushioned the pursuing Persian warriors!

The war raged on for quite a while:
I took the Persian city blocking up MY river. I declared peace (with extra Grievances for keeping the city). I lost the city to loyalty. I recaptured then razed the free city. I had Russia join me in a new war vs. Persia (mostly to see how the diplomatic relations would be – it helped some, but not as much as I hoped). I then proceeded to wipe Persia off the face of the map, capturing their 2 remaining cities. Of course during the war Mathias (that smug bastard) decided to settle basically the same city spot that I had cleared away from Persia… sigh.

So at this point I now have 6 cities, only 2 of which I really like (my 2nd city, and Persia’s capital). I am declared friends with both Hungary and Russia, but secretly desire 2 of Hungary’s cities. Both of which are on my side of the SW-NE continental dived we have on our land mass (nice map generation). I have no grievances with Russia, but built up 76 Grievances with Mathias due to “Final City Captured” when I wiped out Persia.

Spoiler :

What’s Next:
The big decision at this point is peace or war with Hungary. In an ideal situation I’d be able to loyalty flip his 2 nearby cities – but I really don’t think that’s in the cards. We are roughly equals in Tech, Culture and game Score. My standing army is a bit bigger than his, and at the moment he is not Suzerain of any City States. While all 3 of us are all on friendly terms, Peter and Mathias are headed towards a religious conflict against each other, with my lands as the willing battle ground.
I really need to focus on my District infrastructure and start working on Great People (GWAM/Scientists/Merchants). Of course Russia is going to be a problem on this front with his Lavras all over the place... sigh.

Gathering Storm Notes:
At Disaster Level 2 there have been 10 events (that I am aware of) over 105 turns: 2 Thousand Year Floods & 1 Moderate Flood (all on different rivers), 2 Major Droughts, 2 Tornado Families, 1 Gradient Dust Storm, 1 Significant Blizzard and 1 Crippling Blizzard. This feels about right for level 2 to me. There is one dormant volcano near my territory, and most of the flood plains I am interested in are currently in Hungarian control. I will almost certainly kick it up to Level 3 next game.

I am still trying to get a handle on the change from Warmongering to Grievances. I did notice an impact on negative loyalty in captured cities related to Grievances. The tool tip implied that a garrisoned unit in the city would counter that, but it didn’t seem to be true when I did that.

Sweden doesn’t have much early game bonuses (I think I have +1 GS point/turn and earned +50 Diplo once so far) but I am looking forward to seeing Kristina’s reign over the following millennia. Clearly it is too early to really see this in action yet.

I'm having a great time, and looking forward to a long weekend of Civ6:GS!

 

[slyone14]

My first game was with Phoenicia, King, Epic speed, earth map. Randon AI Civs.

So my first 50 turns were great and productive. I managed to get up 3 cities, with Science districts/libraries in them all. My starting area was nice, lots of Luxury resources and strategic ones, which i got all worked. I had good ole Shaka to the north but alittle distance away,also have Rome directly northeast of me, so I tended to ignore them due to Shaka declaring war on Rome.

I had only an archer in two cities and third was defenseless but far south. Thankfully, I had 680 gold, I was just saving. So suddenly, on turn 51, I see a good 14 Units from Shaka and 2 catapults. It was a brutal 20 turns, and most of my cities were in red and all my resources were plundered, I mean my districts, farms, they got everything plundered. I did lose one city but saved my capital, which was down to one or two hits left.

When the battle ended Shaka had 4 units left. What really saved me is he divided his units and attacked two cities at once, instead of my capital, which was defended by my archers. I bought enough units and just so happen to have a good Governor in my capital. It will take me awhile to rebuild and get back going. I spent so much time during those 20 turns pushing out units, that my productivity was shot. But I didn't die. and it was lots of fun.

 

[Sprenk]

First game was the Maori, on easy-peasy Prince Archipelago to learn the new ropes. Was scared I wouldn't find a good settling spot, but found a smallish island (6 tiles) with lots of jungle and sea resources--too tempting to pass up. Chain cultured-popped the fish tiles with my builder. Got God of the Sea pantheon. Grew like crazy. Had settlers out taking all the nearby fishy islands.

Kept my initial warrior (5 move embarked!) at sea pretty much the whole game, and first-built another to help explore, thereby picking up virtually every first contact envoy in the game. Shot through both the culture and science trees as a result. Doubled the score necessary for a Golden Age into classical, and then easily got another golden age into medieval. Got way ahead in every way and got a peaceful culture win way before turn 200, despite messing around with various mechanics and being a mediocre player. (Need to play at a higher difficulty!)

I realized later that I'd settled my capital on a high-risk lowland tile! But since the game never got close to the end, I didn't get to see a recreation of the fate of Atlantis

The Maori are insane in the early game on the right map. So many synergies.

 

[jozef57]

i am playing my first game as pachacuti, i really like rising storm untill now, it needs tweeks but this is normal. only anoying thing was that i was flooded but unbeatable and strong apostles from both christina and japan. they converted my city's including holy city in one go/charge, where undeafetable in combat at any given time at least 5 of them in my empire from 1 other empire, and than some from another, my faith whiped out lol, was this just the way the game turned out this time or have more players this problem, i know many ignore fath at all, but it is part of the game i like to play with it but this was insane and anoying lol calling in a emergency on this did not had a change in hell lol. i stopped will start other game

ij the 2nd game nothing like this yet, i think it was a combination of circustances and setting, now playing c=good old victoria and am on a roll lol , love it

 

[kb27787]

2nd game... Maori deity Pangaea...

Landed and finally settled on t9... double grassland hill woods furs!... ToA complete, Pingala in, once Marae complete the capital city alone was making ~60 culture/turn on t70... not to mention 30 faith/turn insane!

Worst thing... Marae works on 2nd growth woods; meaning once conservation comes you finally get to chop all those tiles for a late game wonder.

However, tourism from flight nowhere near as good as a pair of books... took quite a while to win this time (t210+ or so... thanks to runaway Australia who had eliminated a civ and was making 300+ culture/turn).

Marae too insane... just grow cities to moderate size and then plant woods everywhere... can buy a rock band every three turns without building a single holy site. Went earth goddess instead of harvest pantheon since we wont be harvesting much (Kupe starting with 2 cpt means he will reach god king before everyone else... and no religious CS at all in this game so 1st pantheon). I can image Kupe having the most insane starts (say he lands on t2... gets amazing land and then housing... then amazing culture afterwards)

Toa is indeed a swordsman replacement, contrary to the comments of others pre-release. Not that good TBH... there are plenty stronger units from deity AI... coursers an knights for example.

For the first time, managed to get a rock band to lvl 4, (after having a dozen or so die after their first concert...) those things do 15k tourism damage/concert (full 5 stars) with only 4% disband. INSANE! If you luck out on getting one band like that the game is yours--unfortunately this came much, much too late when I was about to win anyway. Almost as if culture victory is just luck-based... always pick +2 level performing at wonder if possible, then perform nowhere else but on world wonders... for that you need cultural hegemony in the future era and then card the wildcard that allows you to pick whatever promotion.

By the way, finally figured out how to build a ski resort--this is the only improvement where you can put your builder beside the mountain to build it (no need for tunnel as I had wondered how I was going to get the builder onto the mountain)

 

[Fluphen Azine]

Suleiman
Deity
All Standard Settings
No Reloads/Replays
7 Random AI Civs
Pangaea Map
Disasters 3

Barbs are acting weird in my games!
They are not attacking like before.
So far in my 2 games they are much more passive than ever.

Slow Game # 2
Two cities added to the empire in 50 turns makes me feel ill.
I planned this game poorly.
I allied up with Monty 3 times but should of attacked him after the second.
So I fought the more advanced Brazil.
Took a city and watched it flip so I took it 7 turns later.
Upgraded to Janissary and Bombards.
Took Rio and decided to make Peace.
Usually I just keep taking the cities out of spite.
Got to control that and now attack Monty since it makes more strategical sense.

He has blocked me the whole game with a Slinger.
This is the only entry point I have found.
Should of got Cartography I guess.
The Maori Capital is useless and using it to build 23 turn builders lol.
We have a huge Mountain Chain blocking us in or out depending on your POV.
So I haven't met everyone but that will change soon.

I denounced Monty this turn and going to build a couple walls just in case.
Plan to take most of his cities.

I slowly hard built most of my districts and bought some military with gold and faith.
The game is over or has been over but I don't see a finish under turn 200.
I blame my poor play along with bad land and Wonder Whoring it up.
Kinda dumb to build Wonders in this game IMO.
That is subjective though.
Here are a couple of pictures.

Disasters on Level 3 have been less active than my first Level 2 game.
I have seen one flood and a couple dust storms that didn't do much to me.
I guess all the explosions and whatnot are on the other side of the map.
The mountain chain has made this a Continents game for me instead of Pangaea.

Normal, Normal and finally in a Golden Age now.
I could of bought more settlers but focusing on Faith Buying Military instead.

I got around to using the special Governor but too late I fear to have serious impact.

Spoiler Turn 142 :

 

[KnightModern]

welp, few turns until highest temperature

reloading autosaves......

 

[kb27787]

welp, few turns until highest temperature

reloading autosaves......

There's a future civic that can help capture carbon to reduce temperature... hopefully you've reached it. Otherwise, bye bye resorts.

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

Finally got a chance to start my first game, have managed about 100 turns as Mali on a standard sized Pangaea, King difficulty.

First thing to say is that the map is nice, much nicer than I ever had previously, nicely complemented by the new mini map. I love the terrain names, I started on the edge of the Tanezrouft basin with delicate arch nearby.

I'm pretty sure I have played very poorly but I am making 300gpt and about 50 fpt so have got to the stage where I am buying most things, aided by consecutive golden ages with monumentality and a fully promoted Reina for districts. I'm hard building wonders (I got Petra, yay) and units, the latter mostly to keep my cities occupied with something because I am friends with literally everybody, never had that before.

It has been a lot of fun, the only thing I'm struggling with is food, I am finding it hard to push much past 5 or 6 pop per city which is putting a big limit on the number of districts I can build. I had been focusing on Sugubas and holy sites but now I want to start cranking out some more science and I haven't got the pop for campuses!

Had a lot of fun anyway, looking forward to cracking on with it over the coming days.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

Suleiman
Deity
All Standard Settings
No Reloads/Replays
7 Random AI Civs
Pangaea Map
Disasters 3

So after peace with Brazil congress passed an Emergency.
Brazil went back to war with me along with Monty.
I was waiting to DoW Monty for 2 more turns.

Long Story Short...
I Liberated Palenque
It took 33 turns (because I pillaged everything) to wipe out Monty.
After I won the Emergency I made peace with Brazil.
20 cities now and the game is over.
I got flooded pretty good in a couple cities but only need about 9 turns to repair everything.
I probably should clear those marshes as well.
Although, I did build the Capital and Expo in a Flood Zone.

It seems you can buy 20 votes every turn for very little gpt no matter if they like you or not.
I spiked up to 500 which seems like enough.
The pic shows Monty but we know he is not with us any longer... RIP Monty... RIP.
Thanks for building that Empire for me though... wish we could of killed you 100 turns earlier.
I did liberate the "Lunch Meat" though because that is a lot of spt.
I chopped far less this game though.
I do want to do some tests where I chop down everything in site.
I want Harvest for that though.

Spoiler Turn 175 :