Civilization V

[Starwars]

This game... I love it.

 

Also, not completely sure but I think only allied city-states will go to war with any civilization you're having a war with, and not the city-states who're just friends? Not completely sure there.

[Maria Caliban]

Also, I miss religion.

 

With less cities and space, it feels like there's less of a buffer against hostile nations.

[Enoch]

I think I've been getting different maps than you have, Maria. No shortage of space, and my neighbors (Native Americans; Arabs) not particularly eager to expand.

 

@Calax, I could have sworn I was getting bonus food from City States at merely "friendly." I could be mistaken, though.

[Maria Caliban]

You get bonuses at friend and they increase at ally. The resources you get when they join your trade network.

 

I agree about the Americans - they're great neighbors. I wish they'd release the leader personality matrix.

 

I think Rome is expansionist. I assume that Montezuma and Oda are aggressively expansionist as well. Has anyone interacted with Cathrine of Russia?

[Calax]

Alexander is flat out aggressive.

[Starwars]

Persia are my neighbours at the moment, our borders are clashing. He starts up a war every now and then, but when I manage to defend against his attacking forces I can go on the offensive and burn down one of his cities without too much trouble, bwaaha.

Playing on a large map, with everything else randomized, it took a fairly long time before I started getting into wars myself. And I wasn't deliberately playing diplomatically (though I do tend to lean towards that kind of playstyle). But I really enjoy that the game feels kinda slower-paced, and individual units are more important.

 

Loving the game (and the warfare is superfun) but the Prince difficulty (Normal) is a bit too easy.

[Calax]

I'm in love with the fact that city defenses are now actually worth it given they don't go obsolete and can often make the city hold out long enough for you to wipe out their units.

[Enoch]

Related:

[Deraldin]

I think Rome is expansionist. I assume that Montezuma and Oda are aggressively expansionist as well. Has anyone interacted with Cathrine of Russia?

 

Can't speak for Catherine as I'm playing with Russia, but Oda is definitely aggressive and expansionist. He's been pounding on France and swallowing city states in my game. He tried to do the same to me, but he hasn't spent any money on upgrading units. Horsemen, Swordsmen and Pikemen were all no match for my great general supported Longswordsmen. I don't think I've lost a unit yet, but I've come real close a few times.

 

He's got more cities than I do and he's done it in about 2/3rds of the space. Any open area around him and he'll plop a city in it. He was also the first to expand beyond 1 city on the continent.

[Enoch]

Gold-to-Hammer ratios need to be tweaked.

 

Build Warrior: 40 Hammers (H) or 200 Gold (G)

Build Swordsman: 80H or 410G

Upgrade Warrior to Swordsman: 90G.

 

Why would anybody ever build/buy a Swordsman directly, unless they absolutely needed one in a single turn?

 

 

Again: Gold rules all. Have one Hammer-heavy city to build wonders (which can't be bought). Other than that, focus on bringin in the cash.

[Deraldin]

Only another 25 turns till my atomic bomb is ready! Then I need to transport it across half the continent to get it to Oda. My front line forces are in the process of being upgraded from riflemen to Mech Infantry. I also have a destroyer half way around the world that's picking off Songhai crossbows from offshore just for fun. :D

[Calax]

I've been playing multiplayer with friends and I am annoyed because one of them (phoenix who der knows) won't stop griping because he says that the german racial is overpowered (basically you kill a barb, you have a chance to get it as yours).

 

That said, I think some of the racials kinda suffer because of their necessity of terrain features (like the indian one).

[Thorton_AP]

Just to be clear:

 

You get food from "Maritime" City-States. 1 in non-capital, 2 in capital (these numbers go up as you reach later eras). Cultured just gives you culture (only for the sake of getting policies), and militaristic gives you military units periodically. The bonuses they provide scale with era as stated, and they double when you reach allied status. An allied city state will fight with you in any wars you do (and will vote for you in elections as well).

 

To get a City-State's resources, that city state must build the improvement, and you must be allied with them. The city itself need not be a part of your actual trade network.

 

 

Enoch, did you have any policies/abilities that gave you a discount on upgrading your units? (like in the honor tree)

[Raithe]

Hm, I've been playing as Ramses.... and by 1940 Catherine and the Russian Empire has around 20 cities minimum... She really seems to be pushing the expansion..and the conquering other nations.

 

It's odd considering we started as neighbours.. she tried invading me once.. i stopped her cold..and since then she keeps offering me research pacts while stomping around the rest of the world...

 

I must say, getting all the social policies that offer defensive bonuses within your own territory can be very worthwhile...

[Maria Caliban]

To get a City-State's resources, that city state must build the improvement, and you must be allied with them. The city itself need not be a part of your actual trade network.

 

I dropped 1000 gp to make Copenhagen my ally but my capitol didn't love me for getting their silver until I built a road to them.

[Calax]

Yeah, trade networking can be... interesting.

[Thorton_AP]

To get a City-State's resources, that city state must build the improvement, and you must be allied with them. The city itself need not be a part of your actual trade network.

 

I dropped 1000 gp to make Copenhagen my ally but my capitol didn't love me for getting their silver until I built a road to them.

 

I randomly plop down huge sums of money to city states clear across the world and they give me their resources all the time. These are landlocked civilizations long before they could possibly be building harbours.

[TheHarlequin]

Playing as rome... huge earth map.. started out where modern day spain is. Moved eastward and settled as far as modern borders of russia where I met greeks. started colonizing north africa until I meet the US mid continent. I met scouts from russia, and native americans but not there borders yet. Alexander decided to go to war with me when our borders got close.. that was a mistake send my pikemen and legions to wipe out his forces then took one of his cities and made it a puppet state. Which I think works well and that makes one less city I have to manage. After I took the city I asked for a truce and gold which he gave without any fuss. Since then he has ignored me and let me do what I want. America seems pretty uninterested in me even though our borders in africa are pretty close. And cathrine seems pretty *issy with me even though border wise were not near each other. She starts off nice but then turns on you pretty quickly it seems. None the of the other civs seem to like her either. Finally napolean is here too.. though somewhat close to me seems to respect me due to my military might and does not want to suffer alexanders mis-step on that level.

 

Late middle ages currently, very interesting so far to say the least...

[Maria Caliban]

Russia

Legendary Start

Standard Earth

 

Started in North America. Strangely enough, near where Las Vegas is.

 

I had the entire continent to myself along with three friendly city-states. Covered it and then headed to S. America and met Mr. Washington. I set up open borders, research pact, and exchange of luxturies. This last for about 60 turns and suddenly he's calling me 'bloodthirsty' and refuses to do any business with me. I wait another 15 turns for him to relax, but he won't budge so I send my army down to smack him around. After I take over New York, he crumbles and offers me Atlanta, Phily, Boston, and some gold, leaving him with only Washington DC. Sounds good to me. I now effectively control all the Americas.

 

Next I send my ships out to explore and come upon the old world: Oda, Alexander, Gandhi, Ramses, and al-Hadin. Alexander had taken all of Europe, the Middle East, and has successfully pushed into Asia. Ramses has Siberia and is fighting Alexander. Oda and Gandhi are trying to stay alive in SE Asia, and al-Hadin is just hanging out in Africa.

 

I immediately set up open borders with everyone (al-Hadin refuses) and research agreements with Oda and Alexander. Alexander is the only one with resources that are useful for me.

 

Right now, it's the 18s, Gandhi is gone, Oda has two cities left, and it looks like Alexander will take all of Europe and Asia. My tech, wonder, and military is better than everyone else's, and I can't do any more research pacts because no one else has money.

 

In addition, I've become allies with 13 of the 16 city-states. The majority of them are cultural, but I'm not even half-way to my utopia project.

[Malcador]

Keep getting really crappy starting locations on the world map, Rome in South Africa this last time, hah. Missing adjustments to tax/science as well, hm.

Edited September 26, 2010 by Malcador

[Maria Caliban]

Use Legendary Start.

[Malcador]

Well that helped a bit with resources, although now I'm in North India Ah well, I guess it's Civ 3's world map all over again (should look into/for a mod about that, maybe).

 

Right now I have a North and South empire, the North one is one of my cities and about 5 Arabian cities I took rather easily, AI's army was 3 warriors and a Spearmen. Was funny to see my worthless ally, Ghandi, jump in and take the last city after the Arabians were broken.

[Starwars]

I usually randomize map type and all that and ended up on the one with lots of smaller islands (whatever it's called). I never liked this type of map particularly much before but it's a real blast now. Especially since having a smaller empire is very viable and having a strong navy can be extremely useful.

[Calax]

I usually randomize map type and all that and ended up on the one with lots of smaller islands (whatever it's called). I never liked this type of map particularly much before but it's a real blast now. Especially since having a smaller empire is very viable and having a strong navy can be extremely useful.

Archipeligo. And actually, it's quite viable to have a solitary city as your empire given that you can focus on gold and field a pretty good army as well as easily defend yourself (one ranged unit in your city and you're set, add in some cav that run in and kill guys on the edges and you've just stopped any offensive cold) and it's MUCH easier to culture at that point.

[Enoch]

So, what are we all doing with conquered cities? Annexation? Puppet states? Burn baby burn?

 

The Puppet State concept is neat, but the AI-controlled building in puppeted cities generates some inconvenient decisions-- mostly buildings that do me no good and that I have to pay the upkeep on forever. Annexation is similar in that you've pretty much got to build a 5-gpt-maintenance Courthouse in annexed cities. It's looking like, in a lot of cases, the best option is to return to the Civ III practice of razing most cities and sending a squadron of settlers along behind your invasion force. (Or, more insidiously, annexing a city, having it build a settler, disbanding the city, then settling a new one on its old location.)

 

Also an underdog strategy: Ignore happiness entirely. Take even the most extreme happiness penalties as a cost of doing business, and instead pour everything into keeping your war machine running. The penalties can be pretty bad, but they don't seem to be game-stoppers. Merits further investigation.