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
KevinC
3722
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
Spock
3725
I’m not sure – lots of people in his YouTube channel asked the same questions and he didn’t respond. There are a couple Giant Earth maps in the YnAMP mod I linked a few posts above. But he cautions us that all 42 civs on a Giant Earth modded map is a recipe for lots of crashes. He didn’t get past the early game. That said, he had a much smoother experience with a modded Europe-only map (another fun video).
I’m really enjoying this. There’s just the right amount of stuff happening to keep me engaged. I’m finding the end game much more enjoyable with climate change - I’ve had storms and floods ravage a few cities, taking over some tiles tying up production with repairs, and rising seas nullifying some tiles, all while I’m pushing for science victory. Diplomacy AI is so much better, it’s a fun part of the game, as is the UN. Even spies seem to work better and I was thrilled when I sabotaged John Curtin’s dam and a flood tore through Canberra. That’ll teach him for sending over his Hindu apostles!
It’s an awesome game.
Playing my most satisfying game yet, with the Detailed Worlds mod (with a few others).
The Incan on a New Age Continents map that is Hot, and I also have Machu Picchu… and now I am vastly overpowered. I’m regularly creating science, commercial, or cultural districts with +5 bonuses, and the terrace farms have allowed me to turn the desert into an oasis of Incan cities that are overflowing with people
Spock
3728
Same here. Then again, I crank up disasters to 3 or 4 in all my games. What disaster level do you play on? (And by the way, I agree, I’m really having fun with Gathering Storm.)
Is Detailed Worlds more “detailed” or better organized maps? It seems like deserts are larger, rainforests placed smarter, etc. Is there also more small detail of some sort? Also, I’m curious what other mods you use.
Better designed worlds. So, lets say the normal map has 10 desert hexes. Those might be scattered around the world. This mod groups them much more logically.
I don’t know if it is the same person, but in Civ5 there was a modder who did a similar thing, and ended up with much much much more interesting maps. Large mountain ranges, vast plains… just more interesting terrain. It doesn’t add any new visual elements as far as I can tell.
As far as other mods, the ones that I like are:
- Unlimited barbarian XP
- Starting Builder and Starting Scout (per recommendations in this thread last week)
- Religion Expanded (per recommendation last week)
- Tomatekhs Historical Religions (haven’t really explored this one)
- City Minimum Distance 4 (per recommendation here, this is a really nice one that gives some breathing room on the map)
- RED Modpack - This one just adds units to the unit icons, so the batters seem slightly larger (just a visual change)
I haven’t gone too crazy
Silent
3730
I love mods. The ones I’m currently using with Gathering Storm:
- Pidi’s Religious Border Control
- Extended Diplomacy Ribbon
- Simplified Gossip
- Expanded Initial Vision
- Tomatekh’s Historical Religions
- Religion Expanded
- Strategic forts
- No Barbarian xp cap
- Real Great People
- Speedy Governor - 0 turn
Spock
3731
Cool; thanks to both of you for those mod lists. I really like Extended Diplomacy Ribbon, and tonight I’m gonna try YnAMP and the “Terra” map KevinC and others were asking about. I think I’ll fire up the city minimum distance one too.
Spock
3732
So I started a game with the YnAMP “Terra” map, on Online speed as Dido, just to test whether it works. Certainly the setup screen was reassuring: by default, it has an option for civs starting only in the Old World. Curiously, though, the default for city-states was to permit them to start in either the Old or the New World. I wasn’t sure what to do on that, so I chose no city-states in the New World either. The New World will be terra nullius.
I’m almost through the ancient era, and I’ll probably play far enough to verify that there’s an empty New World. But I forgot to add the 4-tile mod, which I really wanna try, so after finding the New World I’ll probably start a new game.
I’m giving that Detailed Worlds mod a try. I’d like to say I like it but honestly I’m not sure I can tell any difference. That said I got a nice looking map for Egypt after a few restarts and I’m enjoying life down by the river. (Egypt plays quite different now in GS with the different flood plains and immunity to flooding along with the building zones by rivers bonus.)
Oh, and I got the mod that turns Natural Disasters up a notch to “5”. Between the many volcanic eruptions (I now number 4 separate volcanoes (inc. a Wonder) in reach of various cities in my empire) and the near constant flooding (which, as Egypt, does no harm) I have a crazy array of extremely productive tiles.
Hey Spock, I vote to allow city-states in the New World; we wouldn’t remember who Cortez was if he didn’t have the Aztecs to crush.
Spock
3734
LoL, OK, I’ll leave that option “on” when I restart. Also, I’m thinking that instead of Dido, I should play England or the Dutch or Spanish or French – you know, one of the civs that conquered the New World.
I love the look of your map – and I’m gonna run and find that Disaster-5 mod. I think disasters on 4 are nice and frequent, but I want worse. :)
Confirmed, it does work. Although I allowed city states in the New World.
One thing, though. Playing as Victoria, you kind of count on various continents to get your bonus units as you settle. But in my playthrough, the New World was one called one continent (although it looked like more visually) and, in fact, the world only had three continents according to the game.
Spock
3736
Ah, good to know. Thanks for the heads-up. I’m starting to think I’ll try the Dutch or maybe the Spanish anyway. I haven’t really played against Eleanor of Aquitaine yet, and I’m curious how she’ll do.
