I bought Civ 6 when it came out (before, actually), but it turned out my computer couldn't run it. That sent me into a distinct sulk at the game that only wore off when I upgraded the computer at Christmas... long after the Single Player events here on RB had dried up.
For the past few months, I've been mulling over ideas for more games, and I think I've found one: I call it THE MOST (caps obligatory).
(I'm assuming this tournament would be played in the base game with no DLC (except Aztecs); that's all I've got. I'm open to the possibility of buying the Vikings DLC, as it features two City States that are relevant to the concept.)
Concept
The basic idea is to try and get (say it with me) THE MOST of certain things - luxury resources, tile improvements, and policy slots. I've selected these three for two reasons. First, they have a hard cap: there are only so many unique luxuries and improvements in the game, and only so many policy slots available.
Secondly, that hard cap isn't where it looks like at first glance.
Resources
Score 1 point for each Luxury Resource available to you (ie, shown as tradable on the Trade screen). (Base Game max: 30)
There are 24 Luxury resource tiles in the base game, plus 3 added in the expansion (plus Gold, but that's scenario-exclusive). In addition to that, there are two (Cinnamon and Cloves) which are obtained by being Suzerain of Zanzibar, and another four (Cosmetics, Jeans, Perfume, Toys) which are granted by Great Merchants.
The big issue with maximizing the number of luxuries in your civ is that while the map can be cooked to ensure Zanzibar exists, so far as I know the Great Merchant order-of-appearance is random, and will be different for different games. With the 4 GM luxuries spread across three eras, one player could get 3 easily, while another has to pump out five non-Luxury GMs in order to get any.
Tile Improvements
Score 1 point for each unique Tile Improvement found anywhere in your empire. Identical improvements on different resources do not qualify. (Base Game max: 16, +2 with Vikings)
There are 14 basic Tile Improvements in Civ 6 (15 if you include Roads), coming in everywhere from the very beginning of the game (Farm) to Rocketry (Missile Silo) and Plastics (Offshore Oil Rig). There are also a whole host of improvements obtained in unique ways: the base game has 1 for City State suzerains, plus a staggering 8 specific to certain Civs (7 if you discount the Roman Fort as just being an earlier Fort). There are four more Civ improvements in the DLC (and 2 CS ones), plus another four in the Expansion (and two from Governors). With all 3 CS present, plus 7 opposing civ Improvements, you end up with 25 (counting Roads) possibilities in the base game.
EDIT: Per Japper, you can't actually capture the enemy UIs... which is fairly daft, but sure. So this is cut down to just the base improvements, plus any you can pick up from City States.
Two ways to fix this: firstly, insist on the Vikings DLC. Secondly, make it 'score 1 for each unique TI in a single city'; that puts you far more at the mercy of the terrain, but luckily every player will be playing the same map.
Policy Slots
Score 2 points for each Policy Slot available to you. (Base Game max: 13x2 = 26)
Obviously this pushes you towards the more advanced governments, but there are also 4 extra slots (one of each type) available from Wonders, plus one from Adam Smith (in the base game). Doubling the score for this brings it up on par with the other two above.
Scoring
As described, there are three figures to be scored together, and they need to be recorded at multiple check-points. I don't know what the best setpoints are; Adventure 5 used T100, 150, and 200, but depending on map size (see below) something more spaced out might be better (T100, 200, 300?). I'm torn over whether to include extra points for speed of finishing, but in any rate we shouldn't have a 'score at victory' checkpoint: that's an invitation to pointless milking. Perhaps winning before the last checkpoint nets you [your end-of-game score] + 5, and winning before the second one gets you [your end-of-game score] x 2 + 15 (ie, 5 for the 2nd checkpoint, 10 for the 3rd).
Map Design
The scoring requirements for THE MOST dictate a lot of the map design. It needs to be large enough that most, if not all, of the resources spawn (I'm actually not sure if they always do?), and to let the game continue to actually be... y'know, interesting up to the checkpoints.
Assuming we're allowing the highest possible score in all the categories, the map would need to include Zanzibar (for its luxuries) and La Venta (for Colossal Heads) (plus Granada and Armagh if we use the Vikings DLC). That shouldn't be too hard to reroll with just two, but pulling all four may take a while; so be it, though.
Opponent-wise, the Tile Improvements victory condition suggests seven:
-France (Chateaus)
-China (Great Wall)
-Scythia (Kurgan)
-Spain (Mission)
-Egypt (Sphinx)
-India (Stepwell)
-Sumeria (Ziggurat)
I don't have a terribly good feel for how well that shakes out, but... y'know, Scythia.
EDIT: Again per Japper, the opponent TI thing doesn't work. So that opens up a lot of options.
Outstanding Issues
The scoring conditions for THE MOST do predispose it to being a military game; you'll want to capture cities both for luxuries and for improvements, and the Great Merchant chasing (assuming you care about the... six whole points you can get from them) means you'll have lots of money to do it. I'm, uh... not sure if that's a bad thing or not?
EDIT: Without the improvements to capture, trade is an option for luxuries (do traded luxuries still show up on your trade screen? If not... where do they?); that's good, because it means there are two viable paths through the game.
One issue with the scoring is that the 'extra' points are fairly insignificant compared to the base-game points. If your choice is between capturing a city to obtain Tobacco and Jade (2 points), or powering through to grab all three Industrial Great Merchants before they drop off (3 points, for Adam Smith (x2) and John Spilsbury)... well, I know which one I'd go for. ^_^ On the other hand, it's not exactly easy to gather up 24 luxuries, and the Tile Improvements require a lot of research to pull off, so maybe the Merchant, Wonder, and City State-garnered points are a sort of bonus.
I don't know who would be the best civ to play this as. Previous Adventures and Epics (discounting the Potluck) have used Arabia, Scythia, Kongo, Spain, France, India, Rome, and Germany; ruling out both them and the nations we need as enemies, base civs remaining are America, Brazil, England, Greece, Japan, Norway, and Russia. Thematically, Pericles' Greece works quite well - he's already got a +1 policy slot from Plato's Republic, plus the extra envoys from the Acropolis...es, plus Pericles is designed around getting 'THE MOST city states'. The fact that he focusses on culture, rather than military or economy, could be an issue... but on the other hand, aiming to conquer (bits of) the world with a civ that isn't designed for it might make things more interesting for those of you thoroughly spoiled by multiplayer and 'enemies that can actually fight'!
I don't have a good feel for what would be appropriate regarding map settings and difficulty level. I don't know whether this would make a better Epic (no-spoilers) or Adventure (reported while playing) game; like I say, I was sulking at Civ the entire time those were being played, so I didn't really look too closely.
So... thoughts? I know I've put a lot of words here, but that's no guarantee any of them are worth the pixels they're written on...
hS
For the past few months, I've been mulling over ideas for more games, and I think I've found one: I call it THE MOST (caps obligatory).
(I'm assuming this tournament would be played in the base game with no DLC (except Aztecs); that's all I've got. I'm open to the possibility of buying the Vikings DLC, as it features two City States that are relevant to the concept.)
Concept
The basic idea is to try and get (say it with me) THE MOST of certain things - luxury resources, tile improvements, and policy slots. I've selected these three for two reasons. First, they have a hard cap: there are only so many unique luxuries and improvements in the game, and only so many policy slots available.
Secondly, that hard cap isn't where it looks like at first glance.
Resources
Score 1 point for each Luxury Resource available to you (ie, shown as tradable on the Trade screen). (Base Game max: 30)
There are 24 Luxury resource tiles in the base game, plus 3 added in the expansion (plus Gold, but that's scenario-exclusive). In addition to that, there are two (Cinnamon and Cloves) which are obtained by being Suzerain of Zanzibar, and another four (Cosmetics, Jeans, Perfume, Toys) which are granted by Great Merchants.
The big issue with maximizing the number of luxuries in your civ is that while the map can be cooked to ensure Zanzibar exists, so far as I know the Great Merchant order-of-appearance is random, and will be different for different games. With the 4 GM luxuries spread across three eras, one player could get 3 easily, while another has to pump out five non-Luxury GMs in order to get any.
Tile Improvements
Score 1 point for each unique Tile Improvement found anywhere in your empire. Identical improvements on different resources do not qualify. (Base Game max: 16, +2 with Vikings)
There are 14 basic Tile Improvements in Civ 6 (15 if you include Roads), coming in everywhere from the very beginning of the game (Farm) to Rocketry (Missile Silo) and Plastics (Offshore Oil Rig). There are also a whole host of improvements obtained in unique ways: the base game has 1 for City State suzerains, plus a staggering 8 specific to certain Civs (7 if you discount the Roman Fort as just being an earlier Fort). There are four more Civ improvements in the DLC (and 2 CS ones), plus another four in the Expansion (and two from Governors). With all 3 CS present, plus 7 opposing civ Improvements, you end up with 25 (counting Roads) possibilities in the base game.
EDIT: Per Japper, you can't actually capture the enemy UIs... which is fairly daft, but sure. So this is cut down to just the base improvements, plus any you can pick up from City States.
Two ways to fix this: firstly, insist on the Vikings DLC. Secondly, make it 'score 1 for each unique TI in a single city'; that puts you far more at the mercy of the terrain, but luckily every player will be playing the same map.
Policy Slots
Score 2 points for each Policy Slot available to you. (Base Game max: 13x2 = 26)
Obviously this pushes you towards the more advanced governments, but there are also 4 extra slots (one of each type) available from Wonders, plus one from Adam Smith (in the base game). Doubling the score for this brings it up on par with the other two above.
Scoring
As described, there are three figures to be scored together, and they need to be recorded at multiple check-points. I don't know what the best setpoints are; Adventure 5 used T100, 150, and 200, but depending on map size (see below) something more spaced out might be better (T100, 200, 300?). I'm torn over whether to include extra points for speed of finishing, but in any rate we shouldn't have a 'score at victory' checkpoint: that's an invitation to pointless milking. Perhaps winning before the last checkpoint nets you [your end-of-game score] + 5, and winning before the second one gets you [your end-of-game score] x 2 + 15 (ie, 5 for the 2nd checkpoint, 10 for the 3rd).
Map Design
The scoring requirements for THE MOST dictate a lot of the map design. It needs to be large enough that most, if not all, of the resources spawn (I'm actually not sure if they always do?), and to let the game continue to actually be... y'know, interesting up to the checkpoints.
Assuming we're allowing the highest possible score in all the categories, the map would need to include Zanzibar (for its luxuries) and La Venta (for Colossal Heads) (plus Granada and Armagh if we use the Vikings DLC). That shouldn't be too hard to reroll with just two, but pulling all four may take a while; so be it, though.
Opponent-wise, the Tile Improvements victory condition suggests seven:
-France (Chateaus)
-China (Great Wall)
-Scythia (Kurgan)
-Spain (Mission)
-Egypt (Sphinx)
-India (Stepwell)
-Sumeria (Ziggurat)
I don't have a terribly good feel for how well that shakes out, but... y'know, Scythia.
EDIT: Again per Japper, the opponent TI thing doesn't work. So that opens up a lot of options.
Outstanding Issues
The scoring conditions for THE MOST do predispose it to being a military game; you'll want to capture cities both for luxuries and for improvements, and the Great Merchant chasing (assuming you care about the... six whole points you can get from them) means you'll have lots of money to do it. I'm, uh... not sure if that's a bad thing or not?
EDIT: Without the improvements to capture, trade is an option for luxuries (do traded luxuries still show up on your trade screen? If not... where do they?); that's good, because it means there are two viable paths through the game.
One issue with the scoring is that the 'extra' points are fairly insignificant compared to the base-game points. If your choice is between capturing a city to obtain Tobacco and Jade (2 points), or powering through to grab all three Industrial Great Merchants before they drop off (3 points, for Adam Smith (x2) and John Spilsbury)... well, I know which one I'd go for. ^_^ On the other hand, it's not exactly easy to gather up 24 luxuries, and the Tile Improvements require a lot of research to pull off, so maybe the Merchant, Wonder, and City State-garnered points are a sort of bonus.
I don't know who would be the best civ to play this as. Previous Adventures and Epics (discounting the Potluck) have used Arabia, Scythia, Kongo, Spain, France, India, Rome, and Germany; ruling out both them and the nations we need as enemies, base civs remaining are America, Brazil, England, Greece, Japan, Norway, and Russia. Thematically, Pericles' Greece works quite well - he's already got a +1 policy slot from Plato's Republic, plus the extra envoys from the Acropolis...es, plus Pericles is designed around getting 'THE MOST city states'. The fact that he focusses on culture, rather than military or economy, could be an issue... but on the other hand, aiming to conquer (bits of) the world with a civ that isn't designed for it might make things more interesting for those of you thoroughly spoiled by multiplayer and 'enemies that can actually fight'!
I don't have a good feel for what would be appropriate regarding map settings and difficulty level. I don't know whether this would make a better Epic (no-spoilers) or Adventure (reported while playing) game; like I say, I was sulking at Civ the entire time those were being played, so I didn't really look too closely.
So... thoughts? I know I've put a lot of words here, but that's no guarantee any of them are worth the pixels they're written on...
hS
