RB Civ 6 Adventure 1 Potluck - Results Thread

[Kobashi]

I was playing China and got my space victory at turn 415, which is pretty embarrassing looking at other people's results.  However, after I looked at my video footage, I realized I started working on a space victory at turn 280, which is still garbage, but I was struck with how long it took to achieve.  It took forever to build the spaceports, which to build three took almost 75 turns on its own.

I am not going to do a report.  Who wants to read a 415 turn mess.  But I do have a few observations.

The map is to overwhelming with all its icons.  Especially when religious units and combat units flood the screen.  And I just don't think 1UPT is ever going to work currently.  Religious units constantly block my military, my Great General can't stack with a Great Scientist and why city states need to shuffle units outside their borders is beyond me.  

Also the scaling of the cost of districts is absurd.  I hate it when RPGs have a scaling enemy because I feel there is no point in levelling if that orc you fight is always going to be the same level as you.  And that's what this feels like to me.  I almost wonder if it's another way to keep the computer competitive since in the four games I have played I always got a huge scientific lead.

The espionage part is tedious too.  Alot of things in this game seem to want to slow you down, and I was pretty bored for the last 100 turns.

I played horribley I admit.  I didn't fully utilize China's strengths, was surprised to find their special unit the Crouching Tiger had only a range of 1 on its bombard and I didn't expand fast enough.  I stopped at ten cities, but after I saw the whole map I probably could have settled 5 more, but that is alot of micromanaging for me.  Incidentally, other than America, everyone else had 2-4 cities.

The AI both militarily and diplomatically is horrible.  They love me.  No, they hate me.  They have never met me and declare war.  I was at war with England for over 1000 years.  I killed two of her units.  They meet you to talk trash, then want 3 of your luxury resources.  Every single one seems schizo.

I could go on but this is probably to long as it is.  Thanks very much for letting me be a late entry BRick, and I look forward to the next Civ VI Adventure.

[Ruined Everything]

Finished. T 216 Domination victory.

Thoughts (who needs originality anyway?):
- Conquest is strong. In civ 4, there was a notable lag between conquering a city and when it became a net positive for my empire. In civ 6, developed districts are so good and amenities easy enough to manage that acquiring a city is an instant gain.

- Trade routes supercharge early city growth.

- Close spacing cities to stack factories/power plants can give you cogs for dayz.

- AI have no sense of self-preservation. I hit the atomic era well before anyone hit the industrial era. They probably should have dog piled me at some point. 

- I was way, way, way too conservative with my battles. I had like 8 cavs and 4 cannons (edit) going one city at time against swordsmen. I could have finished 30* turns earlier had I split my army into 2 or 3.

- I was way, way, way too conservative with my city plants. I wasn't sure how far away I could project my power against AI hostility, and was mildly inclined to close-pack my cities for the eventual factory/power plant overlapping bonus thing. That meant that I settled a whole bunch of marginal city sites in the early game, and left some great city sites unclaimed until it was too late to make much difference.

- Unsurprising that domination seems to be the fastest way to cash your victory. Put together some cavs/tanks, boat 4 or 5 capitals (which instantly get ~65 damage defenses for defence), go home. (edit)

Thanks to Brick for the adventure.

*Uh, maybe not *30*, but you know what I mean. 

[Ruined Everything]

Early observations:

Definitely some exploits (selling units, embarked unit move ranges) that we'll need to know about and ban for official events unless/until they're bugfixed.

Culture seems to be a consensus easiest to casually shoot for. Domination can be pretty quick if you focus. Science takes a while and you might hit Culture accidentally first. No one's tried for Religious yet.

What's the logic behind considering embarked unit move ranges an exploit?  Roads don't do much, it's no fun wading through enemy civs to get to their capitals, and moving around on rough terrain with anything other than cavs can be exasperating. Embarked units move ranges stops domination becoming an exercise in traffic control.

Moreover, I enjoyed the naval based commando warfare in my adventure. Boating AIs with embarked cavs/cannons doesn't seem that much more cheesy than boating AIs with galleons in civ 4. You might not have to invest in a navy (unless the AI has ships), but the principle is more or less the same.

[Ranamar]

Early observations:

Definitely some exploits (selling units, embarked unit move ranges) that we'll need to know about and ban for official events unless/until they're bugfixed.

Culture seems to be a consensus easiest to casually shoot for. Domination can be pretty quick if you focus. Science takes a while and you might hit Culture accidentally first. No one's tried for Religious yet.

What's the logic behind considering embarked unit move ranges an exploit?  Roads don't do much, it's no fun wading through enemy civs to get to their capitals, and moving around on rough terrain with anything other than cavs can be exasperating. Embarked units move ranges stops domination becoming an exercise in traffic control.

Moreover, I enjoyed the naval based commando warfare in my adventure. Boating AIs with embarked cavs/cannons doesn't seem that much more cheesy than boating AIs with galleons in civ 4. You might not have to invest in a navy (unless the AI has ships), but the principle is more or less the same.

So, uh, I exploited the hell out of the modern embarked move range, because it didn't feel like an exploit in the same way that converting production and gold back and forth does.  With that out of the way, here's the bug, if you will: units get allocated movement at the beginning of the turn.  Sea units get a lot of moves.  Transferring sea/land or back takes "3 moves".  In the modern era, you've got 2-move infantry in a 6-move boat, so, when you land the boat, you can actually go farther than you could if you had already been standing on the landed square.

In any event, it has nothing to do with the fact that sea transport is faster than land transport, which is a classic feature of Civ and generally reflects reality.  it has everything to do with the act of landing a unit rapidly becoming a superior way to move relative to starting on the square where you would land things.  At least, IMO.

In the late game, I started doing things like portaging units across canals because it gave me more tactical flexibility to sail them onto the lake than to leave them on the land in between, for the next turn.

[Dp101]

It is even more insane with redcoats, because they have no disembark cost you can move up to 8 hexes in one turn.

[BRickAstley]

It is even more insane with redcoats, because they have no disembark cost you can move up to 8 hexes in one turn.

This was the main instance I was referencing

[Ruined Everything]

Early observations:

Definitely some exploits (selling units, embarked unit move ranges) that we'll need to know about and ban for official events unless/until they're bugfixed.

Culture seems to be a consensus easiest to casually shoot for. Domination can be pretty quick if you focus. Science takes a while and you might hit Culture accidentally first. No one's tried for Religious yet.

What's the logic behind considering embarked unit move ranges an exploit?  Roads don't do much, it's no fun wading through enemy civs to get to their capitals, and moving around on rough terrain with anything other than cavs can be exasperating. Embarked units move ranges stops domination becoming an exercise in traffic control.

Moreover, I enjoyed the naval based commando warfare in my adventure. Boating AIs with embarked cavs/cannons doesn't seem that much more cheesy than boating AIs with galleons in civ 4. You might not have to invest in a navy (unless the AI has ships), but the principle is more or less the same.

So, uh, I exploited the hell out of the modern embarked move range, because it didn't feel like an exploit in the same way that converting production and gold back and forth does.  With that out of the way, here's the bug, if you will: units get allocated movement at the beginning of the turn.  Sea units get a lot of moves.  Transferring sea/land or back takes "3 moves".  In the modern era, you've got 2-move infantry in a 6-move boat, so, when you land the boat, you can actually go farther than you could if you had already been standing on the landed square.

In any event, it has nothing to do with the fact that sea transport is faster than land transport, which is a classic feature of Civ and generally reflects reality.  it has everything to do with the act of landing a unit rapidly becoming a superior way to move relative to starting on the square where you would land things.  At least, IMO.

In the late game, I started doing things like portaging units across canals because it gave me more tactical flexibility to sail them onto the lake than to leave them on the land in between, for the next turn.

I see. I remember seeing something like this with my infantry but I assumed it was a feature of modern age warfare that I was missing. (It helped that the AI capitals I was boating were by the sea so I didn't really see how far a unit could move.)  Thanks for the explanation.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

I got bored around t80-100 of playing barbarian whack a mole which upticked hugely with the destruction of Rome. I wasn't really enjoying it either. Also I lost the file with the new laptop so I cannot finish it now. Thanks for setting it up though Brick!

[Ichabod]

Turn 197 domination win as China for me.

[Toaster]

I played a terrible game and ran out of enthusiasm to continue at T111 with America.  I stupidly let barbs run rampant on me, crippling my ability to get anywhere, and leaving me unwilling to continue.  I feel obliged to at least check in, though.

It's not a total loss, though; I learned quite a bit about the game and to take the barbarian threat seriously.  I never played Civ5 despite at least some experience with all the priors (especially 4), so the accumulation of changes and rustiness with the genre got to me.  I will be back for the next event and I'll do my best to see it through!