Adventure Two: Let's Send Pindicator to Space

[Ranamar]

Regarding happiness, a single zoo in the middle of my core saved my bacon as far as happiness went in the mid-game. I think that one entertainment district plus two buildings was worth 8-10 amenities right there! (The change at Professional Sports was less marked. I had three zoos up by then in that zone.

[fluffyflyingpig]

So is   The one right answer for fast science finishes or is the peaceful route at all competitive?

[pindicator]

So is   The one right answer for fast science finishes or is the peaceful route at all competitive?

Well, captured cities don't increase your future settler costs like peaceful ones so. And repairing districts is a lot cheaper than building new ones yourself -- though the AI makes poor choices in which districts they make.

So yeah, combine that with just how awful the AI is at defending and how you don't tend to lose units, I think is far and away the fastest way to grow in this game.

[Ranamar]

So is   The one right answer for fast science finishes or is the peaceful route at all competitive?

I did only rather than and regret not taking more land. As I noted at the end of mine, taking the marginal city is never a negative unless it spreads your amenities too thinly, and entertainment districts can help with that.

Meanwhile, diplomacy is kind of useless when expanding: I got 40 warmonger points for conquering about half as much population when I colonially-invaded Norway, and then I got 30 more when I took their last city. I was literally denounced by everyone for the rest of the game. I might as well have just conquered them and not bothered worrying about warmonger penalty.