[PC]Civilization V coming!

[Viking]

I just realized the power of caravans transferring production. Using two to transfer prod to my capital in the current game, the capital can build a lot faster that way.

I actually build port cities for the express purpose of running a naval convoy of industrial goods to my capital now. I keep them at 1 population, connect by road and build a workshop and the ship in the goods. Each convoy is basically a manufactory.

Another is to set up cities quickly. So a new city produces 5 food and 3 hammers initially - But gets 18 food and 27 hammers in by convoy. You should have the population up to 7-8, a granary, aqueduct and workshop built by the time the convoys expire - then you build another city.

[Grey Fox]

How many city to you take control of? I've never controled more than 5. Maybe 6 once.

[Solmyr]

I'm turning off diplo victory in my games for now. It's way too easy and you never win any other kind of victory if it's on.

[DGuller]

I'm turning off diplo victory in my games for now. It's way too easy and you never win any other kind of victory if it's on.

I just played a game on a large map (with 10/20 players), and diplomatic victory was not easy there.  Siam adopted Autocracy and basically co-opted all the city-states around them, with that cool bullying bonus autocracies get.  Between that and the large number of other civs, I really couldn't peel off enough votes to get me over the diplo win limit, I just couldn't get enough money to win over cit-states that were +500/60 for Siam.  I was in position to win the next round of voting, but before that could happen, my spaceship was launched.

[The Brain]

Euphemism?

[FunkMonk]

 

[Solmyr]

I'm turning off diplo victory in my games for now. It's way too easy and you never win any other kind of victory if it's on.

I just played a game on a large map (with 10/20 players), and diplomatic victory was not easy there.  Siam adopted Autocracy and basically co-opted all the city-states around them, with that cool bullying bonus autocracies get.  Between that and the large number of other civs, I really couldn't peel off enough votes to get me over the diplo win limit, I just couldn't get enough money to win over cit-states that were +500/60 for Siam.  I was in position to win the next round of voting, but before that could happen, my spaceship was launched.

That's also a problem - either you win a diplo victory or someone else does. In particular, I find it hard to go for a spaceship, as the Atomic Era (and thus world leader voting) comes along well before you get all, or any, of the spaceship techs.

[DGuller]

I'm turning off diplo victory in my games for now. It's way too easy and you never win any other kind of victory if it's on.

I just played a game on a large map (with 10/20 players), and diplomatic victory was not easy there.  Siam adopted Autocracy and basically co-opted all the city-states around them, with that cool bullying bonus autocracies get.  Between that and the large number of other civs, I really couldn't peel off enough votes to get me over the diplo win limit, I just couldn't get enough money to win over cit-states that were +500/60 for Siam.  I was in position to win the next round of voting, but before that could happen, my spaceship was launched.

That's also a problem - either you win a diplo victory or someone else does. In particular, I find it hard to go for a spaceship, as the Atomic Era (and thus world leader voting) comes along well before you get all, or any, of the spaceship techs.

I'm not sure that was the problem in my game.  Their autocracy created an incorruptible block that could veto the diplo win, but they couldn't hold on to the city-states outside of their bullying reach.

[DGuller]

I do agree that the diplo victory condition could be made tougher.  Require 60% + 1 instead of 50% + 1.  If you can round up 60% + 1 votes, you're probably playing it out and waiting for the "You Win!" message to release you.

[KRonn]

I'm really enjoying the game, as I said I just really started playing it and upgraded to G&K and BNW. I find it to be a decent challenge to get going and spread out, to make good progress. Seems the AI has similar issues. Some games I can expand faster, and in others it takes a while, money and happiness being the limiting factors. Need the money to afford enough units to combat barbarians and garrison cities.

In a current game as Rome I didn't meet any AI players except a couple of city states for a long time. I was too busy with my few available units defending my territory from barbarians and struggling with happiness to expand too much. Turns out that I have a neighbor on the same quite large continent who was probably doing the same. We only recently met up, probably as we both became more wealthy, pops happier, and more trade routes going.  I've met all the other main Civs and I'm ahead of all of them by a little bit. With what I figured was slow progress I thought I'd be behind a good deal.

A previous game as Poland and I expanded a lot faster and was well ahead of the AI opponents, even though they were on the same continent.

[Viking]

Unlocking the honor tree seems to be a no-brainer now. The increased barbarian spawn rates mean that

1 - you need that combat bonus against barbarians.
2 - you need to find those barb camps quickly to keep your trade routes un-pillaged.

You might as well be getting the culture and cash related to trashing their camps since you'll have to do so much of it. In my last game as india (Honor opener, then worked on tradition tree until I got masonry when I opened liberty to build the pyramids, then completed tradition and then completed liberty - I built statue of zeus as well btw) I didn't build any ancient buildings in my capital normally I used cash plundered from barbarian camps to build them.

I'm a bit concerned by A.I. passivity now. The A.I. doesn't expand as aggressively and I still haven't seen an attempted A.I. headshot attack on me early in 10 games now (mostly king and emperor level). In one game I actually had the situation where EVERYBODY had a DOF with everybody else. 8 AI plus me. The cause of this comity was actually the Celtic annexation of Cape Town, which caused everybody to denounce the Celts and thus caused them to DOF each other. I got everybody to join an attack on the celts and I took all their land. The from 500 BC until the first ideology everybody was friends - at which point I was bigger than everybody else combined.

[Solmyr]

I don't think Honor is a no-brainer. I take it if I'm playing a Civ that wants to fight early a lot (like the Aztecs) or is otherwise purely militaristic where I'll be building a big army (Japan or Germany). Or maybe if I set Raging Barbarians. On normal barb spawn I haven't felt a need, I still open Tradition and maybe Piety if I get a good religious start.

And about the AI, in two games now I've seen a monster Poland. It was spamming cities all over the globe, while maintaining tech parity, snatching wonders, having huge cash income and the largest army. I actually lost my previous game to Poland after it bought up all the CSs and won a diplo victory, I could do nothing against its huge cash reserves. I have no idea how Poland is doing this - anyone else seen that?

[Viking]

I found myself starting as japan with kyoto on an inland sea without any possible trade links. The map was so constructed that there was a second inland sea near by which I could create a canal to. Still not the ocean, but, closer. On the second inland sea there was a canal link to a long narrow inland lake which then had a canal connection to the ocean. I actually had to fight a war with brazil to be able to place a citadel to steal the land I needed for the canal between the second sea and the lake, but the task is now complete and I have naval trade routes going from kyoto through both seas and the lake to the outside world now.

Imagine starting at Azov with Kerch, Istanbul and Gibraltar being land bridges. I got out, and it was glorious for me (but not brazil, they didn't know when to give up and found themselves reduced to an overseas colony).

[DGuller]

By canals you mean cities on a 1-tile wide stretch, or some actual canal improvement from one of those DLC packs I don't have?

[garbon]

I think the former as Civ 5 doesn't have the latter at all.