Ahhh - you scoundrel!
I did the same thing in Civ5, where the AI would start with I think 2 warriors and a scout
Does that Jams difficulty mod take away all those free units? I need a high difficulty level to keep things interesting, but it’s incredibly annoying for the AI to start with a stack of units and crapping out cities before you even have a monument built. Especially when you’re wedged between a bunch of civs.
Yes, Jam’s mod removes the bonus settlers and warriors. It’s designed for higher difficulties only.
AI players no longer get free units, settlers, builders, techs, or civics at the start of the game based on difficulty. AI combat buffs and barbarian camp gold scaling have also been removed. Instead, AI players get a boost to food, production, and gold that scales with difficulty level. As each AI player progresses through the eras, their boosts grow, allowing them to keep up a little better throughout the game.
Is there a map script out there that mimics the Terra map from Civ4? That was my favorite map type in the game, because if I got heavily boxed in or was losing badly, the era of exploration and colonization presented a second chance to try to get ahead.
The Earth map type doesn’t fit the bill in Civ6, because the idea is to have civs start in the “Old World” with a “New World” open for colonization.
I’ve yet to find one. Like you, I miss that map script immensely especially in the world of Civ VI where within the first 15 turns I can stumble across 3 AI opponents and witness myself being squeezed in by those same AI nations within the following 20 turns thanks to their starting bonus. Mid game exploration and colonisation is pointless. Terra maps always filled me with excitement when I could send my caravels either East or West to discover the new world, and the bountiful resources and space they offer.
I like the idea of Jam’s mod, I haven’t gone down that path yet only because I like the idea of that come from behind and claw my way up the charts. However, I really should try it largely to spice up the end game and make space victory have some tension about it.
As I’m playing the game, the gripes I have towards it keep on piling up, yet I keep coming back for more. It’s much the same feeling I had towards Stardock’s Gal Civ 2 (I’ve yet to play 3). The tech tree for Civ VI is terrible after the medieval era in my opinion. Unit progression is off in a way that I have no idea how to describe. I suppose one example would be the position of Computers where it should be a prerequisite for many of the information era techs, yet it only leads to Robotics and Telecommunications, neither of which contribute much with tech discovery. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that the later eras don’t really give much in the way of toys to play with.
Another gripe is the global warming mechanics. CO2 accumulates too quickly. There is a mod that slows it down, and seemingly increases the disaster intensity when CO2 levels rise. I don’t know if the amount of CO2 required to cause increasing sea levels is based on map size, though I sure hope it is.
I’m struggling a bit with the chop strategy, after a few games. I feel like I end up with barrenl, low production cities.
What rules do you typically follow (or do you know of a guide) for city development? Chop all forests and jungles, and bonus resources? Are there exceptions to that rule? Farms on every plains tile and mines on every hill?
I know that top players rave about chopping, but in my experience moderation is the key. How useful is that resource or woods going to be down the road? (Which varies depending on the civ you are playing). And how valuable is the shorter production time right now?
In general, I am quicker to chop for additional population (marshes and jungle) than for production, unless there is something very specific to rush.
A really high priority, though, is to notice ahead where stuff is going to have to be removed anyway – for a district, or for mines to set up a powerful Industrial zone – and get the benefit of those at an opportune time. But I’m not going to be clearing out things like woods by rivers.
On a totally different note, I am finding the Gathering Storm has made some notable changes. One is that maps routinely clump up the city states, which has a weird effect on games. Not sure if this is good or bad, but I tend to either find lots of city states in the opening turns, or practically none until much later.
And I have found that neighboring civs start further off, and I have more room to breath, yet maps are generally designed to hem you in in other ways. Often by means of mountain ridges.
And, although I did not hear this stated in public, the Cree have been significantly nerfed. They cannot build their mekewaps on flood plains or flood grasslands, and that is a significant percentage of the ideal spots for mekewaps. You can still spam enough mekewaps to take care of housing, but you cannot count on pretty much every city having extra excellent tiles to work.
@Strato @KevinC Indeed there is; it’s part of the larger “YnAMP” (Yet (not) Another Map Pack) mod. The author of the mod has made a dozen updates for GS already, but I’m not sure if the Terra Map is included in the updates. I might take one for the team and try it, as this mod sounds great! If you try it, use the Steam version:
You can look at the Terra Map thread on civfanatics here, but again, Steam (or Github) is the place to go for the latest version of the mod:
I never chop! Or almost never. I like looking at the pretty trees. :) It’s also just habit from the earlier Civ that penalized one for pollution and deforestation. (Maybe not such a bad habit in GS, especially with Civs like the Maori, who like their forests.)
Does anyone know whether there is a way to reveal the entire map right at the start?
I ask because this Terran map sounds interesting, but before I commit to a giant game with it, I would want to test out the settings and see what kind of maps I get using the various settings. Particularly how many civs to start with in the old world.
Something like this? There’s a debug command.
I have used this before and I can say what they don’t warn you about when you do this. It’s going to ‘reveal’ all of the natural wonders and do that big animation for each one. Good or bad depending on if you want to be spoiled for them; you can kind of ‘avert your gaze’ while you toggle through. Plus if you’re determined you can see all the AI Civs and the CSes in addition obviously to all of the geography.
What I’m saying is it’s hard to do this and only focus on the “new world” or something and not see all this other stuff. Also I’m not positive but I think being in “debug” mode also cancels any achievements you might earn during play while it’s on.
Actually this mode, with a revealed map might be interesting to see how the AI actually plays in the early game.
Thanks!
I do not mind the spoiler, because i would not use the particular map I revealed. I would just use it to figure out the settings to use.
Exceptions, sure. Definitely it’s a judgement call but here’s how it plays out for me anyway.
The first city’s job is to kick off the next 2 or 3 settlers to expand. To that end, and until I have 3 or 4 healthy cities, I will sacrifice anything around the first city to expedite this.
The 2nd and/or 3rd and/or 4th cities; these are going to be your greatest cities if you have scouted well and you put them in the best spots to maximize their futures. Chopping here will be more of the judgement call. Someone suggested they typically chop jungle but not forest; that’s pretty sensible. Also, chopping for me is as much about growing cities faster (chopping marshes, sheep, jungle gives both production and food) as a shot in the production arm. More populous city can cover more tiles with workers and will raise production as well.
It’s little things too like two bonus farm tiles next to a grassland forest. Might as well plow up the trees and make a farm triangle to take advantage of the bump for adjacency. Or, go the other way, chop the wheat or rice for the population bump and THEN chop the trees and make regular farms out of all three.
After that, well, hopefully everything is coming along and you can spend gold or faith to ‘build’ many things and I would probably only chop at a captured city to quickly get walls back up, etc. stuff like that.
Thanks for the tips.
Some other quick questions - are there are wonders you feel are ‘must have’ that you might rush in your typical game? (I used to rush Great Library and Petra in Civ5 to slingshot up the tech tree)
Is that a modded map he’s playing? If so what one?
Also, I purchased the expansion today, and now when I create a new game, I have almost zero barbarians spawn. Wondering if anyone else has noticed that? Could perhaps be related to the Detailed Worlds mod or another I’m running as well
No there’s something buggy with the barbarian spawns. Sometimes they just don’t spawn on an entire landmass, I’ve had that happen multiple times.
Thanks for confirming. Hurts my units exp gain and gold income :(
“must have wonders”
I usually make the effort to build the Pyramids for the free Builder and +1 charges if at all possible.
I might be the only one who likes Hanging Gardens but it’s early, it’s cheap and +15% growth is nice.
I, too, like Petra; but as with Pyramids you have to get the right geography. And it can be a risk setting up a city to have so much usable desert and fail to get it.
My money maker is Great Zimbabwe.
Outside of Wonders…
I try to get the 25 Faith quickly to get a good Pantheon. Hard not to go with Earth Goddess if available but something that will get me some extra Culture or Food right out of the gate is always desirable. The +10% Fertility Growth one is good but I hate having nothing obvious to show for it. At least with Hanging Gardens I get a Wonder.
To get a shot in the arm for Science (and Culture) fast, got to go with Gov. Pingala, then use that first and second promotion