Alright boyz, here we go!!! Civ 5 first impressions & tips thread!

[cartman]

Once you get the barbarians taken care of, trade routes are pretty lucrative. It seems that they also keep down random wars from breaking out, since being in a war cancels any trade routes you might have with that Civ.

I'm into the 1900s with my initial Venetian experiment. We seem to be holding our own. It will be interesting to see how the late game changes affect things from here on out.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by cartman

It seems that if you want trade routes, you have to focus your military on barbarians. Forget about trying any kind of conquest.

Or else keep your trade routes short.

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

1 - Happiness seems much harder to come by.

I haven't noticed that yet, but that's probably because of the Shoshone city sprawl on foundation (and I place my cities near luxury resources, so...)

2 - I'm thus far underwhelmed by trade routes.

I think for me it's a matter of not quite understanding how one earns them. I played a game last night where I had cities within the appropriate distance of three civs and two city states and I only had two trade routes available to me.

3 - I think it's kinda neat that certain wonders can only be built if you pick a certain social policy.

Yep, although I confess I don't quite understand how they decided which civs to pair with which policy tree. Liberty + Pyramids?

4 - It's extremely minor, but I like the fact that iron is revealed with bronze working, instead of iron working.

Yeah, the tech tree seems to have changed, and for that reason alone I'm regretting having gotten the digital edition instead of buying it at Best Buy. Yes, I'd have had to download the game anyway, but new tech tree dammit.

Certain dependencies have changed, both for researching techs and for the reward for those techs. Hell, some wonders have changed. Terracotta Army doubled my military size last night. That caught me off guard.

[kcchief19]

The iron with bronze actually works for me. It makes more sense to me to discover the resource, mine it, then research the uses. I think it was too much of AI advantage to simultaneously discover the resource and the units.

I do agree trade routes are a bit underwhelming thus far. Maybe will make more sense when I understand them more. If you're fortunate enough to get in a scenario without barbarian disruptions, they are a gold machine. If barbarians keep screwing with you, you are hosed.

Playing my second round with Shoshone ... they are fun. The larger cities off the get go are fantastic advantage. Your cities just grow like crazy. The Pathfinder unit is awesome as well, it's basically a scout that fights like a warrior.

I'm entering the 1800s now, we just had our first World Congress vote. Not really pleased with how that's implemented so far. There were two measures up for vote, but I could only pledge my delegate once. You have to have more than 1 delegate to vote on both measures.

On the vote, I voted no against banning incense because I had incense, and the measure failed by wide margin. The vote to ban gold was 5-5, and if I had voted to ban gold, it would have hurt my opponents.

I'm really perplexed about happiness. I'm having a much easier time maintaining happiness than usual. I had one minor bout of unhappiness with Shoshone, but that was because I'm on an archipelago map and there were no other Civs in my area I could reach without crossing oceans. Once I met other civs and could trade, it was all good.

I was a bit surprised by the changes in how unhappiness affects your production and military. It's incremental now instead of absolute, so there's a penalty for even the slightest unhappiness.

Having fun so far, but waiting to see what the game is like once I get the 20th century.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Some of the Yogscast gang take on Brave New World-one as the aforementioned Shoshone-another as France, and the third as Venice who makes some rather unfortunate decisions

Civ 5: Brave New World - Part 1 - Gotta have Faith - YouTube

those guys crack me up with some of their minecraft videos, too

[Qwikshot]

Shoshone are definately interesting...I had an interesting thing occur at the start of my game...Right before I settled my first city, I noticed a settler unit a little north of me, it was the city state Yerevan. I guess at the start of the game, City-States have a settler unit. I managed to capture it and Yerevan did not exist further in the game.

[Coffee Warlord]

Has anyone else noted a bit of a decrease in performance as well? I expect the game to be sluggish in the later game (I play ginormous maps), but it seems to me that the usual bouts of lags and slowness are rearing their heads earlier.

On the flipside, my computer is starting to get a little long in the tooth, and is due for one of the dreaded 'big' upgrades - so it could be me.

[Bisbo]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Has anyone else noted a bit of a decrease in performance as well? I expect the game to be sluggish in the later game (I play ginormous maps), but it seems to me that the usual bouts of lags and slowness are rearing their heads earlier.

On the flipside, my computer is starting to get a little long in the tooth, and is due for one of the dreaded 'big' upgrades - so it could be me.

Yes, I've noticed the same thing, but my rig is about three years old.

[cartman]

I've noticed a bit of slowdown compared to G&Ks as well , and I'm on a beast of a desktop.

[kcchief19]

Mine is a little slow but wasn't sure if that was due to the map or the fact that I've been multitasking a lot lately and haven't rebooted recently.

[nilodor]

Mine is slower as well, but it was this way when GaK came out, then the first patch really helped it along. I expect that it will be addressed in the first couple of patches for BNW as well.

Also I'm really digging (pun intended) the new route to culture win. I just hit archeology and I have no idea if I will be able to pull it off. I'm not sure if to win my tourism has to outstrip there culture on a 1:1 basis. If so, I'm in a huge hole and it's going to be tough to get there without some bloodshed.

[kcchief19]

So far I'm generally giving the changes a thumbs up. After getting thoroughly whipped in my first game, I stepped down from Immortal to Emperor level to acclimate myself more.

In my second game with the Shoshone, it looks like a race between me and Germany with Ethiopia lurking. I use random maps, and got an archipelago map that has limited some of the wars. I have two large land masses all to myself with one city state, then there is a third land mass with two of my cities, two Arabian cities and one German city. I think if world war ever breaks out, it will be there. Germany and I are not getting along right now.

Trade routes seem over rated. They generate a crap load of gold so you have to develop them, and they are integral to developing city state relationships. But after a while they seem to just to be one of those tasks you have to do.

The World Congress is pretty cool. Ethiopia keeps trying to shove their religion as the world religion. When I got a chance to offer a resolution, I offered up the World's Fair and won it. The reward is ridonkulous. You basically get a free social policy, a golden age and I believe double culture for 25 turns.

I also kind of like the new social policies and ideologies. There are some very powerful rewards in ideologies. On the bright side is that it's no longer just a race to five policies to win. On the downside, a culture in is going to be difficulty on a big map. I'm absolutely dominating the world in tourism in this current game, and the only civ I'm close to influencing is France, and Germany will have them conquered pretty soon.

So far, I give the changes a thumbs up. Now let's see if it gets too monotonous.

[kcchief19]

Nifty notification just came in ... The people of The Zulus have risen up and forced their leader to adopt the Order Ideology. Interesting. They were listed as being in resistance on the Culture Victory screen. They were the only other civilization that adopted Autocracy just like me.

Now Ethiopia has a Civil Resistance, and they are the only other Civ besides my not to have Order as their ideology. Is the Order Spring coming to The Shoshone next? My people are the second-happiest in the world (90 happiness) and I'm easily the most influential culture. Hope I'm not next.

[Bigsmooth]

Best thing about the caravans/cargo ship's so far is the ability to ship food and hammers to a new city. I've got 4 cities with 20+ pop and just placed a fifth for some aluminum. The new city is rising fast which is pretty cool.

[Thomkal]

I haven't played Civ 5 multiplayer, but this might be an easier way for those of you who do:

Civilization 5's online match-ups made easier with Giant Multiplayer Robot | Mods, News | PC Gamer

[kcchief19]

One annoying flaw remains on the last turn of the game. I was in a nip and tuck battle with Germany for the game score lead. In the last couple of votes for world leader I had over 40 votes heading into the turn, only to have enough coups launched against my allies to take me down short of 40.

Late in the game I began running into a gold crunch, and Germany passed me in the game score. So I launched an attack against Germany hoping to take a city or two and pumped my gold into city states. I made one tactical error, deciding to liberate an Arabian puppet city I recaptured from Germany, which Arabia lost again a couple of moves later. I also started my attack late -- if I had one more turn, Munich would have fallen to me.

But I had bumped up to 46 world leader votes, and old suffered three coups leading up to the vote in turn 500 ... only for the vote to never take place. Game over. I would have won the game with 40 votes, but Germany had the higher game score. I don't know why the game still tells you there will be a world leader vote on turn 500 if it never takes place.

[Bigsmooth]

Just wrapped up a game on King that I was absolutely dominating in culture and science. Had a game score about 400 higher than the next civ. I thought I was cruising to an easy victory and wasn't really paying attention to City States as it's such a pain in the arse. Needless to say Alexander became allied to all 20 City States and won via Diplomacy in about 1950 despite being about 800 behind on game score. Lesson learned I suppose.

[Buccaneer]

BNW is making people pay more attention to a lot of things. My current Immortal game is playing like Deity+; just struggling on a challenging map, except for gold.

[Flasch186]

I just got all of the addons and BNW and I loaded it up today. It did a very big DL before starting and then when it did I started the game using the windows 8 configuration since thats what the startup recommended. Well in game Im constantly crashing. So much so that its unplayable. Any suggestions??

[Tigercat]

I get crashing on the windows 8 mode on my gaming laptop as well. I just play it on the best non-windows 8 version and it runs with no problems. But I personally don't care about not having touch screenesque controls.

[Flasch186]

Ok, I dont even have a touch screen so I only picked it because it was recommended....

I just tried the DX 10/11 version and it didnt make it past the loading screen before a CTD

Wow and DX9 looks terrible. argh

[Mike Lowe]

Is the latest expansion worth getting?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Is the latest expansion worth getting?

Absolutely. Adds a lot more to the game. World Congress/UN is much more important and the religions/culture parts of the game become more useful and relevant than they were before.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Is the latest expansion worth getting?

100% agree with Mizzou. The new expansion helps create a complete experience that was lacking after G&K. It's a big jump in my opinion.

[SackAttack]

BNW is incredible.

[Buccaneer]

BNW is incredible, as long as you go for anything other than Diplomacy Victory (which is extremely easy). I've only had a chance to play a few long games and playing at Immortal, the other victories (esp. Cultural) are challenging as long as you don't roll all passive AI opponents.

[SackAttack]

Speaking of BNW, Amazon has it for $14.99 right now (you get a Steam code for redemption) : Amazon.com: Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World [Online Game Code]: Video Games

If you don't have any Civ V, you can get Civ V Complete + the BNW expansion for $29.99: Amazon.com: CIV V COMPLETE GOLD [Online Game Code]: Video Games

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Speaking of BNW, Amazon has it for $14.99 right now (you get a Steam code for redemption) : Amazon.com: Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World [Online Game Code]: Video Games

If you don't have any Civ V, you can get Civ V Complete + the BNW expansion for $29.99: Amazon.com: CIV V COMPLETE GOLD [Online Game Code]: Video Games

Thanks Sack (or should that be Curse you Sack?)-been waiting on a good deal on Brave New World.

[SackAttack]

I accept thanks and curses equally.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

$12 for Brave New World.

Newegg.com - Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World [Online Game Code]

[Qwikshot]

Playing CIV with BNW is dangerous to my free time. I played Venice last weekend and never had so much fun (I liked the Shoshone as well) but it is such a time consumer when I have so much else to do...too addicting.

[Buccaneer]

Yep, given my usual meticulous style of play, BNW games are taking even longer - into the 30 hour range - but enjoy every minute of it. Been playing a science-centric game on immortal all weekend because I really wanted to learn how to focus on food and growth to get high bpt. Now if I can get the last techs and build the parts before my long-time nemesis, Greece, wins diplomacy. I've done well in Civ5 against most opponents but I really love/hate having Greece in my game, they are one of the few good AI opponents. My first BNW game was with the Shoshone and liked them a lot; I will try Venice sometime as well.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Yep, given my usual meticulous style of play, BNW games are taking even longer - into the 30 hour range - but enjoy every minute of it. Been playing a science-centric game on immortal all weekend because I really wanted to learn how to focus on food and growth to get high bpt. Now if I can get the last techs and build the parts before my long-time nemesis, Greece, wins diplomacy. I've done well in Civ5 against most opponents but I really love/hate having Greece in my game, they are one of the few good AI opponents. My first BNW game was with the Shoshone and liked them a lot; I will try Venice sometime as well.

I don't know how some of you manage to play the game at that level. I have a blast with the game, but usually play at the middle level or one above and find it to be plenty difficult for me. I'm obviously not very good at the game.

[Buccaneer]

Practice and lots of studying, like anything else you want to get good at. While BNW is much more involved (having to pay attention to everything constantly), deity and immortal do play easier at times if you have a majority of passive AI opponents.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I don't know how some of you manage to play the game at that level. I have a blast with the game, but usually play at the middle level or one above and find it to be plenty difficult for me. I'm obviously not very good at the game.

+1

[Butter]

Yeah, I'm with Stupids. I can't play at Immortal or Deity at all. I can barely manage to win on Prince difficulty most of the time.

[Fidatelo]

+3

[RainMaker]

Diety is kind of silly and if I ever reached a point where I needed to play on it to be competitive, I'd quit. At that point the AI is cheating so hard that you have to utilize as many exploits as possible to defeat them. It ceases to be a strategy game at that point and more about who knows what cheats to use and when.

[RainMaker]

And while I love the game, I do wish more effort went into the AI. It's improved and they've eliminated some of the more well-known exploits, but they still do some dumb things that I think could improve the game dramatically and increase difficulty without having to resort to cheats.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Diety is kind of silly and if I ever reached a point where I needed to play on it to be competitive, I'd quit. At that point the AI is cheating so hard that you have to utilize as many exploits as possible to defeat them. It ceases to be a strategy game at that point and more about who knows what cheats to use and when.

I have intentionally steered clear of any Civ communities for this reason. As frustrating as the game can be at times because I feel I've never fully mastered it, I still enjoy my struggles trying to figure out ways to win as opposed to finding ways to micromanage the game and feel like I'm working more on manipulating the game.

[Honolulu_Blue]

While I have already logged 230+ hours or so on Civ V and, very likely, multiples of that on Civ IV, I am by no means an expert. I have mastered "prince" level, but my record on "king" is spotty at best.

I would never call my playing style meticulous. Every once in a while I venture into the Civ communities, but I never really understand all of their exploits and methods. I'm fine with that. I still love the game and enjoy playing it.

[kcchief19]

I have tried Immortal level but never played Deity. Emperor gives me the most challenge I can handle. My win rate is low on Emperor, but I'd rather get my ass kicked 90 percent of the time than pile up less satisfying wins.

I'm like MBBF, I sometimes research rudimentary strategies for how to play with a specific Civ I've never used before, but I've never looked up cheats and exploits.

[Buccaneer]

I will give you an idea of what a good science strategy would be that has nothing to do with "cheats and exploits". Growth is the key to science which is the key to everything. Are you getting Education (which has universities that allow you to run your first two science specialists) researched by turn 120 (roughly) and getting 250 bpt shortly after that? Are you getting Scientific Theory (public schools) by turn 170 and Plastics (research labs) by 220?

To do all this, are you quickly growing your cities so you have 3 cities size 7-8 (with National College) by turn 80-95? Or are you not settling good food sites or are you wasting time building early wonders apart from Pyramids or Oracle? Are you only choosing Tradition or Liberty and not both (except for openers)? I hope you are not wasting time with Honor or Piety in the early game.

It doesn't matter if you are going for space, cultural or domination - getting and increasing the tech lead by mid-game is critical so you have the first shot at key wonders or military superiority or to the ending techs. That's what the higher levels demand and it all starts with growth.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I will give you an idea of what a good science strategy would be that has nothing to do with "cheats and exploits". Growth is the key to science which is the key to everything. Are you getting Education (which has universities that allow you to run your first two science specialists) researched by turn 120 (roughly) and getting 250 bpt shortly after that? Are you getting Scientific Theory (public schools) by turn 170 and Plastics (research labs) by 220?

To do all this, are you quickly growing your cities so you have 3 cities size 7-8 (with National College) by turn 80-95? Or are you not settling good food sites or are you wasting time building early wonders apart from Pyramids or Oracle? Are you only choosing Tradition or Liberty and not both (except for openers)? I hope you are not wasting time with Honor or Piety in the early game.

It doesn't matter if you are going for space, cultural or domination - getting and increasing the tech lead by mid-game is critical so you have the first shot at key wonders or military superiority or to the ending techs. That's what the higher levels demand and it all starts with growth.

Yeah, I must suck.

Do you use the new caravans to enhance that growth or are you just very focused on finding food-rich locations? I tend to look for locations that are focused on resources/luxuries regardless of food, but maybe that's not the best idea. I do tend to have slower growth than most civs.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Are you getting Education (which has universities that allow you to run your first two science specialists) researched by turn 120 (roughly) and getting 250 bpt shortly after that? Are you getting Scientific Theory (public schools) by turn 170 and Plastics (research labs) by 220?

To do all this, are you quickly growing your cities so you have 3 cities size 7-8 (with National College) by turn 80-95? Or are you not settling good food sites or are you wasting time building early wonders apart from Pyramids or Oracle? Are you only choosing Tradition or Liberty and not both (except for openers)? I hope you are not wasting time with Honor or Piety in the early game.

It doesn't matter if you are going for space, cultural or domination - getting and increasing the tech lead by mid-game is critical so you have the first shot at key wonders or military superiority or to the ending techs. That's what the higher levels demand and it all starts with growth.

blegh - sounds like the recipe on how to make playing a game not fun anymore.

[Buccaneer]

Those are good questions. Up through G&K, I would settle sites depending on the number of luxuries in the 2nd and 3rd rings. But in BNW, I learned that food sites (rivers, grass, cows, wheats) are more important.

As far as your first or two caravans, some do send food to the 2nd or 3rd cities to help them grow quickly. Alternatively, if you don't have the big gold luxuries, it may be better to send the caravans off to trade. One of the advantages of doing that early is that you can pick up an additional 3-6 science, which is huge in the early game.

[Buccaneer]

The fun is in the challenge because there are tons of variables and conditions that you have react to. But that's why there are easy levels,

[albionmoonlight]

Stupid question. In BNW, if I send a caravan to one of my cities, and it says that it will send 4 food. Does that transfer the food from one to the other, or does it create 4 food out of nothing?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

As far as your first or two caravans, some do send food to the 2nd or 3rd cities to help them grow quickly. Alternatively, if you don't have the big gold luxuries, it may be better to send the caravans off to trade. One of the advantages of doing that early is that you can pick up an additional 3-6 science, which is huge in the early game.

Yeah, this is the part I'm having a hard time balancing right now. I get along pretty quickly and then suddenly hit a wall with gold or unhappiness issues. Last night, I was Baducca (sp?). Got piety early and really focused a lot on faith. Was able to buy a couple of buildings with faith for my cities really quickly (think it was padogas and mosques). I went to war to take over a weak Ottoman civ and had some real issues because I started the war with only around 12 happiness. Had a big civ, (8 cities by turn 160 or so) but was really struggling to keep happiness above zero.

[Buccaneer]

Here's an example of a challenge that's fun. In my current game, which I have been working at a lot since Friday, I'm trying to get the last few techs to quickly build the last two parts. Then there is Greece, who has always given me trouble in civ5, trying hard to win diplomacy. World leader votes are coming up every 20 turns and twice before, they have had a commanding lead in delegates. In addition keeping my tech rate high (around 850), I also have amass lots of gold during those 20 turns so I do not lose. I've done it twice but not sure about the third time, going to be a tight race. All this with 3 cities, two which are relatively small.

[Buccaneer]

Albion, out of nothing as long as you have required buildings (granary, workshop).