Yuris125 and a fancy headdress. Aztecs in Civ6 PBEM

[yuris125]

A number of quiet turns. I finished my builder and improved the three tiles I planned to improve first. Met TheArchduke




Then found another city state (which TheArchduke already found, so no free envoy for me)




Note the faith yield on the tiles in the bottom left corner of the revealed area. I moved the Jag in that direction and found Mount Everest

The Jag is going to start moving home now, as attack on Lisbon is not far away - I will finish the Jag I'm currently building, buy another, and 3 Jags should be enough to attack

Researchwise, I finished Pottery, Irrigation, and Animal Husbandry - the three techs I needed to improve the tiles. Thought for a while about the next research, nothing felt particularly pressing. Eventually decided to go for Archery, I have no plans to build a Slinger, so not boosting it, and you never know when you might need Archers

This is one problem of Civ6 mentioned in various discussions. Normally in Civ, you want to get all the early game techs, asap, because they help to start snowballing, and every choice will push the snowball in a different direction. It's the case even in much maligned Civ5 - ancient era techs all give significant advantages, and every research choice matters a lot. Here... it's T20, and I didn't feel any urgency in picking any particular research choice

I may be extremely wrong, but I actually feel replacing Workers with Builders is contributing to this problem. Yes, it reduces tedious Worker micro, and Civ may be better without it. Problem is, the need to get the maximum out of your Workers also often dictates early game research. It's yet another decision point - when do you get a tech to improve certain tiles? Is there anything more important? How to make sure Workers always have optimal tasks available to them while advancing the primary game plan? It was an interesting choice. Here, I could only improve 3 tiles, and I don't know when I will get the next opportunity. So while Mining would've been a high priority tech in Civ4 and especially Civ5, here researching it wouldn't give me any immediate benefits. If my war against Lisbon is successful, and if I convert some of their units into Builders, then I would like to have Mining available. Right now.. it would do nothing. There's no real incentive to research anything - no obvious incentive at least

Anyway, enough rambling. Worth noting that I also have boosts for Sailing (from coastal capital) and Writing (for meeting TheArchduke)

In terms of civics, I finished Code of Laws and picked Craftsmanship next, just because I knew I was going to be able to boost it quickly. By now, I have boosts for both Craftsmanship and Foreign Trade - the land where Stockholm is is another continent. Using standard policies at the moment - +1gpt +1faith and +5 xp for recon units (I don't have recon units, but the policy which gives bonus against barbs is useless in this setup as well)

[Molach]

Thanks for report and plans. I'm globally lurking, am very interested in seeing how Civ6 turns out in MP, so ideas, plans and such is interesting to see.

Did you get an easy quest from Stockholm?

What city states do you think would have been optimal for your game?

[yuris125]

Stockholm wants me to get a great merchant. With quests changing upon entering the new era, it's not gonna happen. I will transfer envoys from Lisbon if I can, just before the attack. I actually should try to transfer one now, as the second envoy gives no benefits, and I won't get the third one. Not quite sure how exactly envoy transfer works, so will try next turn and find out

Commercial city state early on is perfect for me, as it's funding the purchase of the Jag which is going to attack them. My preference for the next one is Scientific or Cultural, not too bothered which one - if I can get hold of Stockholm, that will be exactly what I want once again. Don't have a preference for which particular city state, as suzerain bonus won't come into play for a while (not that I know all suzerain bonuses by heart)

[RefSteel]

Did you figure out how envoy transfer works? (And has the battle for Lisbon begun yet?)

Speaking as someone who's never played V or VI, I'm really curious about the way this opening plays out with your Jags!

[Singaboy]

I read that there is no way you can transfer envoys in Civ6. I am curious what your play will show. It would be nice for us lurkers, if you could show your current progress. You chose Aztecs for that particular reason, I assume, so info about your early warfare would be great.

[unaghy]

Researchwise, I finished Pottery, Irrigation, and Animal Husbandry - the three techs I needed to improve the tiles. Thought for a while about the next research, nothing felt particularly pressing... 

This is one problem of Civ6 mentioned in various discussions. Normally in Civ, you want to get all the early game techs, asap, because they help to start snowballing, and every choice will push the snowball in a different direction. It's the case even in much maligned Civ5 - ancient era techs all give significant advantages, and every research choice matters a lot. Here... it's T20, and I didn't feel any urgency in picking any particular research choice..

I may be extremely wrong, but I actually feel replacing Workers with Builders is contributing to this problem. Yes, it reduces tedious Worker micro, and Civ may be better without it. Problem is, the need to get the maximum out of your Workers also often dictates early game research. It's yet another decision point - when do you get a tech to improve certain tiles? Is there anything more important? How to make sure Workers always have optimal tasks available to them while advancing the primary game plan? It was an interesting choice.

On the other hand I like that choices in research are based on current situation in the game (resources inside borders, time required till next resource will be workable, etc). In Civ4 it was the fact, that worker would be idling otherwise dictating research decisions as you have mentioned. This opens opportunity in Civ6 for each player to do different opening and invest in research depending on his mid/long term planning and situation on map without worrying to fall too much behind.

"How to make sure Workers always have optimal tasks available to them while advancing the primary game plan?" In CIV 4, worker was build early as you had to count with X turns its build time, time for each tile to be improved, X turns for moving there and X turns for its next steps. That often took more time than researching all respective techs themselves, so incentive was to focus on worker techs exclusivelly . In Civ 6, one simply count with X turns to complete builder and movement there, which is often half time for researching all respective techs. And you dont need to think about what to do with it after all available tiles are improved (and all charges used). Even if you wont be able to use last charge, there is no worker time lost, as it was in Civ4.

[yuris125]

Pretty sure I saw envoys being transferred in a video, but did not have an option to do it so far. Maybe it has to be done at the point when you're assigning a new envoy?

I'll post a new update in a few turns, there's nothing new at the moment, I'm still building those Jags

[yuris125]

I haven't been updating as regularly as I should, but here's what's been happening over the last 10 turns or so

If you remember, I originally intended to slowbuild two Jags and buy the third to attack Lisbon. The way timings worked out, I didn't have anywhere near enough gold by the time the first two finished. So I ended up building the third one as well, and instead saving up gold for a Settler

Here you can see the two Jags hanging out looking menacing, with the third one close to completion, and gold reserve close to 320g required for a Settler




Three turns later - Jags are on their way towards Lisbon, settler bought




I decided to found the city on the northern coast first - it's a faster starter, and it being close to Lisbon meant if I managed to convert one of their units into a Builder, it wouldn't have a long distance to travel

In position to attack




Attack under way. The Lisbon Warrior did get converted into a Builder




Lisbon kindly completed a Builder before falling. Very helpful




And here's the position on the last played turn. Lisbon should fall next turn. I might lose a Jag if they attack out, but this being Civ6 AI, I don't expect it to happen




Frankly, city attack may be too strong in Civ5, but capturing a city with three level 1 units without losses should not be possible...

[yuris125]

Oh, I also picked up the pantheon last turn. I don't plan to focus on religion this time, and unlike Civ5 you can't see what others picked and make your choice based on that. I briefly toyed with God of Forge (or whatever its name is, bonus production towards ancient and classical units). Ultimately wasn't sure how many more units I would build in the early game, and obviously it does nothing beyond the early game. So ultimately decided that Religious Settlement (15% faster border growth) was the least useless option

[RefSteel]

Thanks for the update! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with Lisbon, your two gift Builders, and those Jags!

Frankly, city attack may be too strong in Civ5, but capturing a city with three level 1 units without losses should not be possible...

Why not though? A defenseless Settler wandering the map can be captured by a scout! If no move is made to bring up defenses, why should that same defenseless settler be able to suddenly turn into an Invincible Fortress just by putting down roots and putting up some houses?

(If your complaint is about the AI not attacking out or otherwise using sane tactics, such that three L1 units can capture a city without losses even when it does have a couple of L1 units on defense, then yeah, I'm with you.)