Civ5 GMR 12: Imperialism, ho!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I'd better not find that the AI has used all of my Settlers already...

[Narkis]

The AI has managed to disappoint me. Seriously, how difficult is it to sail directly west?

[The_Snark]

I can confirm that our starting locations are different.

For fun, here's a shot of my starting location from the first attempt - it promised to be... interesting. Feel free to take a look at this one, since it's no longer applicable to the game:

Spoiler: Starting Location #1

Show

Yes, that is Cerro de Potosi, one of the most lucrative resources in the game... to the Europeans. It's one of this scenario's few sources of Treasure units, which grant Victory Points to the European civilizations - the only other way to get Treasures is via razing cities (obviously somewhat difficult and expensive) and from the similar natural wonder El Dorado (I'm not sure if this is on every map, I've never found it).

To me, it's just 10 gold; not bad at all, but not a game-changer. I was going to settle it anyway, of course, to deny VP to my enemies, but figured this was going to make me a target for any Europeans who managed to find the place (it's right next to the eastern coast)... like I said, interesting. I'm not sure it was a good starting location but I'm a little sad I won't get to see how it turns out.

And here's my start location this time around:

Spoiler: Spectators only

Show

I like this city quite a lot: multiple sources of Salt (one of the best luxuries), a nearby mountain range with some promising locations for terrace farms, a large deposit of Iron... Nice. This city is going to be huge someday. Haven't explored much of the nearby area, but there's already some promising-looking spots.

My only complaint is the AI's choice of pantheon, which gives a) +1 food from Camps, b) +1 faith from Bananna, Citrus and Wheat, and c) lets me buy Temples with faith. Urgh. I don't have any of those resources nearby, I don't have anywhere to build camps, and in order to get enough faith to afford Temples I will probably need to build some first. I don't think this scenario has any beliefs that would have been amazing for me, but I wish the AI had managed to pick one that wasn't dependent on stuff I don't have.

Oh well. I guess my scouts will be on the lookout for Bananna, Citrus and Wheat.

[DodgerH2O]

Spoiler: Spectators

Show

The Mayan civilization began in a fertile river valley and the nearby foothills. A strange blend of customs emerged, a warrior-culture that prided itself on stone idols. Sites of victory were made into temples, the first and greatest of which forms the center of the city of Palenque.


The priesthood observes the motions of the stars, and foretell of a time of conflict to come. For now though we must focus on exploring and settling our lands.

OOC: So... not a terrible start, but I sure wish my pantheon was better. I'm not a warmonger in general and I'll be competing with the Aztecs for barbarian kills. The purchasing of units with faith could be a big deal though, later on. My second pantheon belief is dictating my playstyle... quarries and Wonders are what will net me Faith. I need to quickly get a production city and build at least one Wonder before the other Americans beat me to it. I always seem to choose the wrong one or lose out because of turn order, so it'll be hard to decide, but I can put that off for a little while yet.

[OrcusMcP]

Well, aside from the AI making some questionable choices, is everything working properly? All the Americans should have pantheons, are the Europeans getting their bonus faith?

Also...

Spoiler: Europeans

Show

Though I'm pretty sure everyone was on board, just wanted to make sue people were agreed to the Rules of Conduct we discussed:
-Don't proselytize the European capitals.
-Don't fight in Europe
-Everything else is fair play

Did I miss anything?

[Narkis]

Well, aside from the AI making some questionable choices, is everything working properly? All the Americans should have pantheons, are the Europeans getting their bonus faith?

Also...

Spoiler: Europeans

Show

Though I'm pretty sure everyone was on board, just wanted to make sue people were agreed to the Rules of Conduct we discussed:
-Don't proselytize the European capitals.
-Don't fight in Europe
-Everything else is fair play

Did I miss anything?

Bonus Faith?

Spoiler: Europeans

Show

No one objected to those, yeah. Though I would have liked a couple more Rules in there. Oh, well, those should do.

[OrcusMcP]

Bonus Faith?

The Europeans get a base amount of faith every turn (I think it's around 50 or so, I forget exactly) that is independent of what their faith production is.

[Illven]

The Europeans get a base amount of faith every turn (I think it's around 50 or so, I forget exactly) that is independent of what their faith production is.

I do not believe I have that. I'll check on my turn.

[Magentawolf]

The Europeans get a base amount of faith every turn (I think it's around 50 or so, I forget exactly) that is independent of what their faith production is.

That's.. a hell of a lot of free faith.

On the American end, everything seems functional, even if the AI and myself disagree on proper city placement.

[OrcusMcP]

That's.. a hell of a lot of free faith.

The troops you want to buy with faith are hella expensive, though, so it ends up roughly working out.

[Narkis]

The Europeans get a base amount of faith every turn (I think it's around 50 or so, I forget exactly) that is independent of what their faith production is.

Didn't know that. Does it show up in the faith screen? If so, I'll check it out on the next turn. Otherwise it'll take a screenshot and wait for the turn after.

[Illven]

The troops you want to buy with faith are hella expensive, though, so it ends up roughly working out.

I'm pretty sure my faith is set at approx -99000

[Narkis]

I'm pretty sure my faith is set at approx -99000

That doesn't sound right.

[OrcusMcP]

I'm pretty sure my faith is set at approx -99000

Wait, what? That sounds like a massive problem/bug.

[Illven]

That doesn't sound right.

Maybe I'm misremembering, I'll check when my turn comes up.

[OrcusMcP]

Are you able to test if it's something about England? Are any other Europeans getting weird faith totals?

[Narkis]

I know I could buy a scout with my faith, so I did have some amount of it, though I can't check if it was the correct amount right now.

[Ryuho Tsugu]

I don't have a backup save to check how much I have, so...

[Illven]

Confirmed there's an issue my faith is currently -99736.

My people take athiesm to a whole new level?

[OrcusMcP]

Holy crap. I've emailed support, hopefully they have some ideas.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Drat, foiled again by the technology!

[Nerd-o-rama]

Well, at least the natives seem to be working now? Completely random AI Pantheon choices aside.

Spoiler: Spectators?

Show

Coyote Steals Fire would be a decent Aztec Pantheon, sure, if I'd actually started in a jungle instead of a forest.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Yeah, natives are working right.

[OrcusMcP]

Land ho!

Spoiler: Spectators

Show

Calusa, a city state. Gonna convert it and make a friend. They seem to be on an island.

I decided to go south as well as west, since I figured that France/GB/Netherlands would race for the north.

[Illven]

So any news?

[OrcusMcP]

So any news?

Haven't heard back from support yet, unfortunately. I can pause the game in the meantime, if you like, or the other europeans can donate you some money to help make up for lack of faith.

[Illven]

Haven't heard back from support yet, unfortunately. I can pause the game in the meantime, if you like, or the other europeans can donate you some money to help make up for lack of faith.

Or if I lose, I can just pretend it was that, and not any poor play on my part!

[Illven]

Spoiler: For spectators

Show

Yeah, faith issue isn't fixed.



Hiawatha! Hi!



My settler and worker sail the great seas.



Pikeman will follow shortly




Cargo ship, which is trading with a city-state.



View of Plymouth.



My polices.



Best population and literacy

[The_Snark]

Spoiler: Spectators

Show

State of the empire! And it is an empire rather than a city with big dreams, now, as I've used all my starting settlers.




Both pretty solid. Unfortunately, stables in this scenario have a different effect than they do in the standard game (they give you horses instead of bonus production from pastures/when producing mounted units). Shame, because with six sheep this city would have been amazing... Oh well, it's still not half-bad.

Founding both my cities has sent my happiness into the negatives, but next turn I'll finish my first salt mine, which should buy me enough time to start working the copper/cotton/spices in my territory. My experience with this scenario is that this almost always happens, unless you're really slow to settle - 3 starting cities with 3 pop each, no time to have luxuries worked yet... I think the AI gave me a bit of a head start there by settling right on top of the Dyes, actually. Good work, AI!



Fish and whales suggest that this might be a good spot for a port city. Probably won't be my next settlement, though, seeing as I don't have Optics yet, and you need that to get much out of sea resources.

Also, according to the interface I've met the Spaniards? I can't see them, but I'm guessing one of my units just came in sight of a Great Admiral. That suggests I'm fairly close to European lands. Decidedly mixed blessing, there.



The south, where buffalo roam amidst the salt flats. No luxuries, but if I can get some breathing room on happiness it'd make a good spot for a city or two anyway. I have yet to find any other American civilizations, so I'm thinking that wide may be my strategy-of-choice here.

And even further to the south...



Seriously? Again?

Not that I'm complaining, you understand. I was looking forward to the challenge last time, and I think my position is better overall this time. But it's a strange coincidence.

[Kesnit]

I'm not sure if this is a bug, or if this is normal. But I am literally stuck in my starting area. There's a chain of mountains, but it looks like there is a way out. However, none of my people can actually go through the apparent way out. It isn't that I get a giant red "NO" dot when I try to click on it. I literally cannot click on it, and no one will go to it. I can't see what it is, since it won't show up on the map. (Even if I am standing right next to it, it won't appear.)