After a few weeks of waiting, watching let's play by lucky youtubers and wondering about how good this game would be, I start off my adventure game as Rome.
I come into this game expecting to win, careful about barbarians (everyone seemed to agree that they were a threat early on) and with an extra idea.
Coming from civ 4 it is easy to build a lot of campuses early to boost one's research, but in this case the tech tree has been divided between culture and science trees. My ambition was to maintain a balanced output of culture and science throughout the game so as to avoid falling behind in one of the tech trees. Is it optimal to reach bombers when you just recently researched guilds ? I think not.
The game is very pretty, the music is amazing, Sean Bean is great. All starts well.
I decide to settle in place, and to start with a builder. If need be a warrior can be bought in a few turns. If the barbs remain manageable, no start can be better than a builder first start (NB this only apply to Rome ; monument first may be useful I'm not sure)
I encounter a barb camp to the southeast. It's not a problem : warriors get a bonus against spears.
First city state (a military one, useful if barbs get scary) and first tribal village. Good, those can be useful.
My second city is founded on t44, which is probably terrible. I decided to put it by the mountain (for the amazing campus location), with fresh water, horses and rice. I start with a campus (in hindsight, a mistake : these take too long until you have the production output).
It's turn 54 and I have met no AI civs. It looks like the start is isolated, although both Jakarta and Jerusalem have met someone before me.
T54 is also the turn I change government, into a classical republic. I've decided to play my first game the way I like playing civ : peaceful builder style. Apart from a few warriors for defense I don't plan to have a real military for a while.
Finally I meet someone. It's Japan, just west of Jakarta. It still leaves a large territory to settle between us, so war is probably not going to happen.
Kongo has a unit nearby, but his capital is on the other side of the world (you can see it on the minimap). I prophetize that there will be no wars for a while.
"an unmet player has been defeated". That scares me a lot, but I will learn later on that it's just a city state being conqered.
I meet Arabia, who is much closer than Kongo.
I (finally) meet Egypt, who is very close. As you can see I went around Cleo's cap and would have missed it entirely if one of her units hadn't been wandering in the north. Egypt had met Jerusalem and Hong Kong before me, and Japan had met Jakarta before I did. Case closed.
I found a relic in a tribal village far in the west. Oh well why not.
Then out of nowhere Kongo declares war. He's on the other side of the world and I've seen no unit of his around my borders. Wut ??
And I also declare war on myself ? Uh, sure ? It turns out that this is because England (that I haven't met) also declared war against me. I won't meet them for at least 50t so they make no difference.
On the other hand I have a warrior near Kongo's cap, and meet a settler. They'll regret declaring war on me.
In this screenshot : Hojo died at the hands of Saladin, and my warrior is surrounded, and didn't have the opportunity to take the settler. It will die a few turns later.
They had taken a builder of mine with a scout, but I chased it with a chariot and got it back eventually.
My first great person ! 2 half techs and a half doctrine is ok
Here's my setup. The southern cities are ok, but I think I should have gone into the rainforest (to the NW) earlier. Note the HG in Rome. One of the few wonders that the AI doesn't prioritize, and that is cheap (ish).
Is that the settler from earlier ? Well if you want to keep invading me with settlers that's fine with me.
With the free settler I settle Ostia. I might as well start settling west, Japan is dead and Arabia seems content with his current territory.
Forbidden city and Colossus are done. I like wonders, and a few of them are very strong.
As I decide to push west comes the first encounter with Kongolese forces. I push them back and found my city.
Soon after that I sign a favorable peace. I found another city west of Lugdunum, and find a barb settler near Washington. I assume it belonged to the USA, but unlike in civ 5 I wasn't asked if I wanted to give it back to them. Oh well, there are a few spots I want to settle near the new city.
I'm far ahead of everyone in score, so I get a little bored. If this wasn't the adventure (and my first game) I'd stop and start a new one. But because I want to finish this one I play on. To pass time I start scouting the ocean. What if there's an island to settle out there ?
The appeal of the tile 3S of Antium is breathtaking (because of the coast) so my neighborhood there will give me 6 housing. I think terrain should be a factor for that, living down there in the snow doesn't sound very appealing to me.
Big Ben is a nice wonder, even if it's SUPER EXPENSIVE. To be fair I didn't do anything to speed it up. Having no competition for anything is not a great incentive for doing micro.
I have 3 oils near me. Only one inside my territory. Not great. Also none on land tiles, which is bad (offshore oil needs one more tech to get).
I find a couple 1-tile islands in my random scouting, but nothing worse settling.
In this picture : the stupid Chinese city that is both terribly placed for China (enclaved between Arabian cities and my new one) and annoying for Arabia (it's 5 tiles from their cap !), and a wandering English settler who shouldn't be here either.
Meanwhile Egypt is doing terribly despite being on its own in the north. Here are 2 tribal villages and a barb encampment, a dozen tiles from their cap. I'll gladly take the free stuff.
I revolt to democracy and have a billion policies. Those are nice and even now with so many slots I have to make choices.
My score is now 2x bigger than the second place player.
Who doesn't dream of going to a seaside resort facing a huge oil well ?
I now realize that even though I've been aiming for a science victory I'm approaching the threshold for culture.
Suddenly Saladin declares war. I have a few elite units but nothing to fight a real war
But apparently the war also comes as a surprise for him
I'll take Kyoto then, thanks a lot. That city is so underdevelopped...
As I march on the next city Saladin proposes peace. I accept because my army is not ready for a quick conquest of his cities.
Then Roosevelt declares war for no reason as well. AI is weird.
Before I arrive in Washington I win the game via culture. I didn't even notice that I was getting close...
Here's a shot of Kongo at the end. Yeah the AI on prince is terrible. I'm just mad that they got Chichen Itza, I was about to finish it in Arpinum when they did.
So what do I think about Civ 6 ? It has some obvious flaws (AI, everything costs too much in the late game, annoying unit placement with AI carpets of doom etc...) but has enough good things going for it to compensate. It's polished enough (some bugs, but not more than we'd expect), the music is extraordinary, the graphics are fine, many mechanics are sound (housing + amenities, districts if they weren't so expensive later on etc...)
The best part is that most of the game's problems are solveable in MP via mods, and tweaking a few numbers. TBH I've played 40h of the game already and plan to keep playing.
