Das Boot (directed by Wolfgang Petersen and Singaboy)

[Singaboy]

So...for this PBEM, I have been given three choices:

Germany, Greece (the worse version as Pericles or Arabia). I do not really fancy Pericles' Greece. However, I have experienced Germany plenty of times to know they are really powerful due to the extra district and incredible Hansa bonus as well as the extra policy slot. I read that Arabia is pretty powerful too (some people rate it top for the standard Civs). I am currently playing around in a test game to figure their strengths.

It will be a tough choice between Germany and Arabia. Luckily I still have some time to decide.

[Singaboy]

Played a few starts with the setting and what I can see is, that the German compounding power of districts seems pretty much non existent due to the lack of rivers and geography. Currently, I lean towards Arabia with my choices.

I like the Madrasa, giving 5 science + faith equal to campus adjacency bonus.

[Singaboy]

After playing a few more teaser games as Germany, I have to say, that it does have a lot of appeal, if there some space to slot in districts. Playing with abundant resources, there are lots of adjacency possibilities for Hansas and the fact that an additional district can be put down, gives a lot of flexibility.

Coastal cities can easily go for Hansa, harbour, campus/encampment etc. The fact that we play with New Age setting, gives rise to more mountains and campus opportunities.

And the fact that one is initially tied to an Island most likely alone, gives ample opportunity for a builder opening propelling Germany ahead. I suddenly does appeal a lot more to me than Arabia.

[Ituralde]

Your analysis makes it sound as if you have never before played Germany in a competitive multiplayer game.
Or was PBEM2 not enough of a benchmark for number of districts?

Not that I would mind seeing you take Germany again, I want to see U-Boats in action!

[Singaboy]

There is a certain appeal to try out Arabia as I have hardly played the religious game. However, Germany is powerful, especially if left alone for it to develop all the districts.

PBEM2 was a kind of benchmark (as was teh's PBEM1), but I feel the real potential has not yet been shown. I actually think, it is one of the most powerful nations in Civ 6. Top that with the fact that pillaged districts still function as per normal except for the ability to stack other buildings on top and the Great Person count.

[Singaboy]

I decided to go and attempt Germany yet again. I do hope to be able to feature its power more prominently than in PBEM2. The Hansa that doesn't even count as a district for the limit and the increased district limits are really powerful.

I played several starts on the setting we have and it seems, if you are on a fairly smallish Island Plate, where you can settle around 4 cities, getting an additional slinger to the starting warrior is enough to fight off barbarians. Hence, you can concentrate on builders and settlers as well as sending out galleys to explore the sea. Gaining access to the Ocean is crucial here and techs need to be prioritized for that. Starting techs can still be animal husbandry or mining depending on the context of the land, but sailing and the following naval techs are crucial. The ability to settle overseas is clearly important here.

Playing Germany, this has to be balanced with bee-lining for apprenticeship. If I could be sure that nobody is assaulting me early on, a bee-line for that would be in order along with the naval techs obviously neglecting the military technologies a little. Once Hansas can be built, those technologies need to be researched too. An early campus or two would help too. Of course, a lot depends on the map. There are some really crappy starts with this sort of setting, but I do hope Sulla can generate a map, that avoids the worst of such pitfalls.

[Quagma Blast]

The Hansa that doesn't even count as a district for the limit

That was patched out, along with all the other pop-limited unique districts.

[Singaboy]

Oops, well never mind. I still find it pretty powerful to have 3 districts with pop 4. The adjacency bonus can be pretty insane as can be seen in PBEM2. If you add the proper civic, it's almost mind blowing

[Singaboy]

As I played a few starts with the settings, I realized how hard naval defense of sea resources and harbors will be. This can be absolutely annoying. If you got a bigger Island Plate with multiple coastal cities, defense is tricky and playing as Germany with no naval power until much later will be tough. I can only hope for a few city spots away from the coast to be able to get German's production power into play.

[Singaboy]

And the journey begins...



That's a lot of resources, clearly a map editing in place  No river though, only a lake. Moving to the coast wouldn't improve anything here, working all those pastures later on seems a good choice. Hill in the north for a campus? Jungles for Hansa? Maybe there will be a river somewhere.
The campus might also be planted where currently the wheat is, harvest that first and plant that campus there for +2 science. Would mean losing the Eureka for Irrigation though.

So, I plant the city where the settler stands.



I am working the rice tile for fast growth in 3 turns to grab then the deer high production tile. From my test games I found that 1 warrior and 1 slinger is often enough to hold off the barbarians. After my nightmare with barbarians at turn 3 in PBEM2, no experiments here. The builder to improve all those cows, horses etc. can wait until after the slinger.

The stones look good for harvesting later on for districts too, but we need to have more intel about the Island. Those stone hills would give 3 hammers, which is not bad. In terms of food and production, this is a really nice spot.

For the Pantheon, god of the open sky would be great for the extra culture. Stone circles maybe better for a religious civ. Maybe faster border expansions as I paid a lot of gold for buying additional tiles? There are a few options which would make losing out on a particular pone less painful. Lady of the Reeds is of course always popular