So, what are everyone's first impressions?
I just played my first game with the expansion. I tried a peaceful game on Emperor difficulty with The Netherlands. That is, I did not attack other empires, but attacking city states was on the table. I was aiming for a spaceship victory but lost to Saladin, because I didn't bother to get a religion of my own, and Pericles didn't care enough to spread his to me. (Tiny map, so there were only two religions.)
Some observations:
Keeping up with Korea in beakers per turn is tough, or maybe I'm just too bad at the game. Relatedly, does anyone know if the base +4 beakers from the Seowon counts as an adjacency bonus? If not, the nerf to Rationalism really screws them over.
Dark and Golden Ages: I think it could be interesting. During normal ages, you choose a dedication that boosts your era points. During a Golden Age, you choose a bonus, but don't get any extra era points, which leaves you at risk for a Dark Age afterwards, which is exactly what happened to me. The Golden Age dedications are pretty neat, for example, I picked the science dedication which gives you the old 50% Eurekas back and makes harbors and commercial hubs get gold and science adjacency bonuses. I'm not sure I like the way era points work though. It feels like a Congratulations for playing the game! thing. I picked a normal-age dedication in the Classical Era that would give me points for every Eureka. It gets more interesting in the later eras, though. In the Renaissance (ironically a Dark Age for me) I picked a dedication that gives points for completing trade routes, so the length of trade routes became more important. I think overall, I would like it if you needed fewer era points, but had to put in more effort to get them. (Also, if you play without goody huts and barbarians, will the Classical Era just be a Dark Age for everybody?)
EDIT: I mean, putting in more effort per point, not more effort overall.
I didn't see too much difference between a dark and normal age, though. In fact, I hardly noticed the loyalty mechanic. Maybe that's different if you conquer cities.
About The Netherlands: I'm confused about the polder placement rules. It has to be on a cost adjacent to 3 flat land tiles, but it seems that tiles with a city don't count towards that. But other polders do seem to count, even though they're technically still coast tiles. Commercial hub style river adjacency bonuses for campuses, theater districts and industrial districts are pretty neat!
Next up I'll try warmongering with the Zulu. Maybe I should play a duel map with Rome*?
* Yes, I know Trajan is not Julius...
I just played my first game with the expansion. I tried a peaceful game on Emperor difficulty with The Netherlands. That is, I did not attack other empires, but attacking city states was on the table. I was aiming for a spaceship victory but lost to Saladin, because I didn't bother to get a religion of my own, and Pericles didn't care enough to spread his to me. (Tiny map, so there were only two religions.)
Some observations:
Keeping up with Korea in beakers per turn is tough, or maybe I'm just too bad at the game. Relatedly, does anyone know if the base +4 beakers from the Seowon counts as an adjacency bonus? If not, the nerf to Rationalism really screws them over.
Dark and Golden Ages: I think it could be interesting. During normal ages, you choose a dedication that boosts your era points. During a Golden Age, you choose a bonus, but don't get any extra era points, which leaves you at risk for a Dark Age afterwards, which is exactly what happened to me. The Golden Age dedications are pretty neat, for example, I picked the science dedication which gives you the old 50% Eurekas back and makes harbors and commercial hubs get gold and science adjacency bonuses. I'm not sure I like the way era points work though. It feels like a Congratulations for playing the game! thing. I picked a normal-age dedication in the Classical Era that would give me points for every Eureka. It gets more interesting in the later eras, though. In the Renaissance (ironically a Dark Age for me) I picked a dedication that gives points for completing trade routes, so the length of trade routes became more important. I think overall, I would like it if you needed fewer era points, but had to put in more effort to get them. (Also, if you play without goody huts and barbarians, will the Classical Era just be a Dark Age for everybody?)
EDIT: I mean, putting in more effort per point, not more effort overall.
I didn't see too much difference between a dark and normal age, though. In fact, I hardly noticed the loyalty mechanic. Maybe that's different if you conquer cities.
About The Netherlands: I'm confused about the polder placement rules. It has to be on a cost adjacent to 3 flat land tiles, but it seems that tiles with a city don't count towards that. But other polders do seem to count, even though they're technically still coast tiles. Commercial hub style river adjacency bonuses for campuses, theater districts and industrial districts are pretty neat!
Next up I'll try warmongering with the Zulu. Maybe I should play a duel map with Rome*?
* Yes, I know Trajan is not Julius...
insane. Monumentality allows you to rushbuy Builders and Settlers with faith, and makes them cheaper to rushbuy with gold AND gives them two extra moves. Pop a monumentality at the right time (say after you have both pyramids and the Serfdom policy for 6 charge Builders) and you have every tile in the empire improved in about thirty turns and enough chops to also all but finish building everything else as well! And this last for 40-ish turns.
