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[smokeandmirrors]

In my England game, Rome was giving me lip and pissing me off. Was buddied up with Poland after helping him defeat The Shoshone and he attacked. I was a middling empire at the time. It was 1850 and I managed to jump to flight and had 6 oil in my territory. Took all of Rome's 5 cities with 6 great war bombers and longbowmen turned gatling guns (1 + strike distance is awesome).

Turns out he had build the Great Lighthouse. All my Ship Of The Lines' upgraded into battleships not long after and with all the movement bonuses (England +1, Exploration +1, and now the Great Lighthouse +1) all my ships were getting 9 or 10 movement per turn. Made it hella easy to blockade and go after those pesky cargo ships.

I just won by science victory after Babylon was being a dick and secured the 37th vote 3 turns before the UN Leader vote.

Also of note, I love when you're the first one to get nuclear bombs and people lose their shit in your game. I also ended up with 2 of the few uranium supplies, so my entire army at that point were 6 Giant Death Robots, 6 nukes, 12 Xcom, and a bunch of bazookas, plus all my warship and several submarines filled with cruise missiles.

Also Germany decided to be grumpy and denounce every single person in the game from about 1880 onward till the end of the game. It was interesting.

 

[marvelharvey]

I was thinking, it'd be cool if the game took snapshots of the mini-map every 10 turns to show the growth and evolution of the world at the end of the game.

When you finish a game, choose Map on the Replay tab and you'll get an animation of the world's history.

 

[AnotherNils]

When you finish a game, choose Map on the Replay tab and you'll get an animation of the world's history.

…and now I like this game even more.

---

Coupla noob questions:

Is there any reason to improve tiles that show up in the '"dark" area of your cities screen? (Outside of luxuries or strategic resources)

When roads get built outside of civ territories does the civ who built the road pay upkeep or is there none?

Finally, I have no idea why but achievements haven't popped for me last two games. I don't have any mods installed.

 

[Sneaky Gato]

Does any one have any tips for playing against an early aggresive ai as Venice? My first time playing them and Babylon has already set up 2 cities right on my borders.

 

[Human_Shield]

Does any one have any tips for playing against an early aggresive ai as Venice? My first time playing them and Babylon has already set up 2 cities right on my borders.

I would say strength in numbers, followed by strategic unit placement. Ranged units won't scare them away, but chewing up his units will make him back off. What's the terrain around your city look like? Is it surrounded by hills and forests, or a river? What side of the river are you on in relation to the enemy? Don't over-engage your units, just keep whittling his numbers down to give your breathing space. I'm in the middle of a game where Caesar dropped a city right next to me, and proceeded to dig in right away. Archers and a river gave me enough time to recover and counterattack. I took Atium, and was immediately back stabbed by Alexander. Once again, a few ranged units and the river saved my newly captured city. Alexander is now a smoldering pile of ashes on the pages of history, and Caesar is pouting quietly in the corner.

 

[jaundicejuice]

The Shoshone are so incredibly powerful early-game with their increased border size on city founding, scout units that are as strong as the early-game warrior units and ability to choose their ruin discovery bonus. Without even trying I've managed to cover half the world with the Shoshone brand of Tengrism. I just wish Pathfinders (and Scouts) weren't a technological dead-end. They fixed that for virtually every other unit in the game back in Gods & Kings.

 

[Jintor]

The Shoshone are so incredibly powerful early-game with their increased border size on city founding, scout units that are as strong as the early-game warrior units and ability to choose their ruin discovery bonus. Without even trying I've managed to cover half the world with the Shoshone brand of Tengrism. I just wish Pathfinders (and Scouts) weren't a technological dead-end. They fixed that for virtually every other unit in the game back in Gods & Kings.

If you're lucky enough to get enough ruins seperated by enough timeframes you can grab yourself some hella composite bowmen and ride that all the way to bazooka troopers with no movement penalty!

 

[marvelharvey]

Coupla noob questions:

Is there any reason to improve tiles that show up in the '"dark" area of your cities screen? (Outside of luxuries or strategic resources)

When roads get built outside of civ territories does the civ who built the road pay upkeep or is there none?

Finally, I have no idea why but achievements haven't popped for me last two games. I don't have any mods installed.

Sometimes building a fort in areas outside of the city radius is good preparation for a perceived incoming war but yes, farms/mines etc are pointless.

I believe you pay the upkeep for roads outside your territory. However, if the enemy's borders advance and swallow up your road, the upkeep becomes their responsibility. Hmm, I suppose you could cripple a Civ's economy if you have open borders, by walking into his territory and building roads everywhere. Anyone tried that?

 

[Sneaky Gato]

I would say strength in numbers, followed by strategic unit placement. Ranged units won't scare them away, but chewing up his units will make him back off. What's the terrain around your city look like? Is it surrounded by hills and forests, or a river? What side of the river are you on in relation to the enemy? Don't over-engage your units, just keep whittling his numbers down to give your breathing space. I'm in the middle of a game where Caesar dropped a city right next to me, and proceeded to dig in right away. Archers and a river gave me enough time to recover and counterattack. I took Atium, and was immediately back stabbed by Alexander. Once again, a few ranged units and the river saved my newly captured city. Alexander is now a smoldering pile of ashes on the pages of history, and Caesar is pouting quietly in the corner.

He is directly north of me by about 9 tiles. Between us is about 6-7 tiles of forest stretching from one end of the narrow and tall continent. To the left I have a river and a bunch of hills on the right. I didn't see the settlers due to all the forest. His capital is right at a point where the continent narrows. He has already got the left side down to only a 1 tile strip of open land and the the right side is almost as bad. I'm near the southern part of the continent with only two city states lucky that are my allies. Unfortunately they are a mercantile and faith city so not much in the way of military units. Due to his position I had already planned to got to war but it looks like he wanted to force the issue first.

 

[Jintor]

So I forgot about this until just then but I actually had the weirdest dream last night which I think is becoming increasingly influenced by playing Civ V under 2 in the morning. It was some bizarre mix of the aesthetics of Animal Crossing, particularly the stuff seen in the CG stuff for the Wii U Plaza and the Smash Bros trailer, with the slug-it-out I-goddamn-hate-you leaders of Civ V.

I'm pretty sure at some point I attempted to execute someone for aggressive territorial expansion, but my axe broke.

 

[Sibylus]

Fuuuu, came within two techs and one spaceship part of winning on Immortal on my first attempt.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

I finally found this again

Confirms why I deplore Atilla.

 

[AnotherNils]

Sometimes building a fort in areas outside of the city radius is good preparation for a perceived incoming war but yes, farms/mines etc are pointless.

Ok, cool

I believe you pay the upkeep for roads outside your territory. However, if the enemy's borders advance and swallow up your road, the upkeep becomes their responsibility. Hmm, I suppose you could cripple a Civ's economy if you have open borders, by walking into his territory and building roads everywhere. Anyone tried that?

The reason I ask is I played a game where a couple of the AI were aggressively building roads across the continent to my city (I assume to aid invasions) but also because later on an ally had a meandering horde of workers who were upgrading every out-of-border road in the area to railroads, including mine. I was curious who got stuck paying for them then.

 

[Jintor]

Fucking Rome's on a monster warpath. 400 points ahead of me, got the entire continent to himself and has been busy kicking Atilla and Catherine around while William cowers in a corner. Octavian's freaked out cos I have nukes, but his culture generation is so massive it's going to be years before I put a dent in him. May as well hoof it to Alpha Centauri while I can, I guess.

I would go for a domination victory but Alexander is probably going to make a move on one of my colony cities soon and I don't particularly want to get out of this holding pattern.

Kind of funny how you always end up in a Nuclear standoff near the 60s.

 

[Fragamemnon]

I think they definitely need to tweak some things. Victory via diplomacy seems too easy right now, victory via culture seems to take too long compared to the other ways and is a bit too clunky.

I won a 260-ish Deity culture game this weekend w/ France. Had 780 tourism per turn and that wasn't with International Games going. It's not too bad.

Culture is just so non-intuitive. One of the guilds should never be built until very late game (Musician guild) and culture victory is really a different sort of tech victory where you crush people with beelined Internet before someone can stumble into building the Great Firewall.

It's way way better than it used to be, but it's got some needed tweaks, especially for higer level play.

 

[AnotherNils]

I feel like the diplomatic victory is a misnomer (at least in G&K). It's really an economic victory because all you're doing is buying yourself votes in the UN.

 

[xenist]

I feel like the diplomatic victory is a misnomer (at least in G&K). It's really an economic victory because all you're doing is buying yourself votes in the UN.

When I got my diplomatic victory the only time I outright bought a city was because Egypt made a move on one of my allies. Doing quests is so much more efficient than throwing gold at them.

 

[Architechnophile]

When I got my diplomatic victory the only time I outright bought a city was because Egypt made a move on one of my allies. Doing quests is so much more efficient than throwing gold at them.

I particularly like giving gold to a CS that's offering bigger rewards for it, in order to link a resource that another CS wanted me to connect. Bonus!

 

[SaskBoy]

I particularly like giving gold to a CS that's offering bigger rewards for it, in order to link a resource that another CS wanted me to connect. Bonus!

C-C-C-COMBO

 

[AnotherNils]

Did/doing an archipelago game this weekend (on this forums recommendation). I can see the allure. You have a good long time to stretch your legs and settle in before having to worry about getting attacked. Actually, it'd be nice if there was a slider to control island size, because just a little bigger and they'd be like a better version of continents which seems to be more like two mini-pangeas the couple of times I played it.

So anyway, meet Alexander early on he takes a boatload of shit about my military but doesn't do jack because islands. As things progress the world starts to divide up into to factions - Ethiopia, Spain and America versus Sweden, The Netherlands and France. Greece stays kind of solo. The latter three all take over a city-state, which is a big no-no for me. Further, the Netherlands invades Ethiopia and Sweden invades Spain, each taking a city. Seeing as I've been on good terms with the first alliance most of the game I decide I will be their benefactor.

Ethiopia makes peace with the Netherlands after losing a second city, leaving him only his capital. I start manufacturing my first subs as Alexander comes around to our side. I declare war on William, sending my first subs to Ethiopia's territory. I start one-shotting his sea beggars with ease. Realizing I have an unprotected city near William in the north I rush buy one sub and send another there. My fears are confirmed as I spot a medium sized fleet 6-8 ships and military units making their way there. My two subs clean them up in three turns, decimating his fleet. William sues for peace. I take one of his cities and return it to Ethiopia. As I sign a defensive pact with him and start realigning subs outside Netherlands territory William declares was on Ethiopia again with Napoleon joining in and me getting dragged in.

This is how World War III begins.

Thanks to how DPs work, I'm only at war with William. I decimate a second fleet of ships as they start to invade one by one into Ethiopian territory. Napoleon invades by land and see so I blockade the city he's attacking with Frigates while I mull going in against him. Alexander, who is close proximity to William decides he's had enough and declares. He rips away the other occupied Ethiopian city before my city-taking ironclads can arrive. The stakes raise. Sweden invades Spain again and I so happen to have a sub stationed off their coast for just such an occasion. I go full bore, declaring on Gustav and Napoleon. A few turns later Washington will join in. I diligently put down Sweden's force while shelling the spanish occupied city with a lone artillery. I conquer it and return it to Spain. In the north, Napoleon has done an lone hex island land grab which I drive into and take. At this point I start manufacturing planes. No one else has even gotten to iron clads.

In Ethipia, they drive back French forces, but there's no headway as my subs can't really take the offense and he's too weak. In Sweden I transfer the artillery to the main island that houses Gustav's capital and second city and begin working slowly. Planes in the north I transfer them to my first annexed French city and use it bomb another. Wash and repeat, razing each city the planes leave behind. I free a city-state Napoleon owns and push into his capital. Two turns more and I'm bombing another CS he owns bordering Ethiopia. I liberate that one as well. France relegated to a tiny city god knows where, I make peace redirect my focus on the Netherlands. Meanwhile, I've upgraded my Frigates to Battleships and have enough forces to make a simultaneous attack on Sweden.

When I left last night, I had taken both capitals, freed another city-state which Sweden owned, and finally made peace. My alliance, which had been inhabiting the bottom three spots of the scoreboard before hand was now near the top. Roles had reversed; My biggest threat is likely Alexander, who has now secured second place and is competing with me for city-states. I'm hoping I can stay at peace for the rest of the game. Aiming for a diplomatic victory, given all the CS liberation I've done.

 

[hypersheep]

Finished a game as Austria on Emperor. Played Continents but ended up on an island all alone. Didn't hurt me too bad as I got to be friends with everybody and stay out of all their wars. In the end Austria, Sweden and Songhai all ended up on different islands while everybody else got bunched up on one continent. One thing I realized as Austria is that while Venice can make you feel rich, Austria can make you feel really poor. Buying city states for ally status and then buying them for diplomatic marriage is a very expensive endeavor. In the end I only bought one city state and just relied on my three main cities to power me to a science victory.

 

[Geido]

Austria probably got nerfed. The one game I played as Austria back in Gods & Kings I bought every single Citystate out there.

 

[Jintor]

I seem to always get bored of culture victory halfway through and seemlessly transition to science victory.

 

[SRG01]

I think they definitely need to tweak some things. Victory via diplomacy seems too easy right now, victory via culture seems to take too long compared to the other ways and is a bit too clunky.

It's even easier if you're playing Autocracy... I was desperately fighting against Greece one game because their military was massive and just accumulated so much influence points.

 

[Geido]

Quick question guys. When using mods, like one that fixes the spawnplace of krakatoa or a map script. Or even a custom map, does that affect your ability to gain achievements?

 

[Jintor]

Nope

/edit oh wait... maybe. I don't have my Shahone achievement :T

 

[Myomoto]

Quick question guys. When using mods, like one that fixes the spawnplace of krakatoa or a map script. Or even a custom map, does that affect your ability to gain achievements?

Yes.

 

[Jintor]

Damnit. I'm only using UI mods and a reset Krakatoa and I got shafted out of my hard-earned Shahone sprawl cheevo? Bah!

 

[Geido]

Too bad, saw some epic looking map scripts out there.

 

[pilonv1]

I feel like the diplomatic victory is a misnomer (at least in G&K). It's really an economic victory because all you're doing is buying yourself votes in the UN.

It's like that in BNW too. I'm finding I have more gold than I know what to do with and dropping 1000 on a CS to get allied right before voting is too easy.

Which probably means it's time to step up a difficulty level.

 

[marvelharvey]

The problem with diplomatic victory is that I keep accidentally stumbling into it when going for scientific/cultural. I then have to deliberately lose the vote once or twice to give me enough time to clinch my intended victory type.

 

[Jintor]

I would perhaps mod diplomacy to actually perhaps require some diplomacy. Maybe you have to get the other leaders to initiate the world leader vote or something first, i don't know.

 

[pilonv1]

I'm thinking of turning it off for my next few games to ensure I don't accidentally trigger it. Probably doesn't help I always go for Patronage.

 

[marvelharvey]

I would perhaps mod diplomacy to actually perhaps require some diplomacy. Maybe you have to get the other leaders to initiate the world leader vote or something first, i don't know.

Yeah, I think their standard vote and their UN leader UN vote should be separate. To gain their UN leader vote, you'd have to complete challenging quests. These quests would be a step up from the norm and have political/happiness/financial repercussions. Something along the lines of...

-Capture an Arabian city
-Capture a city with a natural wonder
-Settle 3 new coastal cities and keep 30 turns
-Donate 5,000 gold
-Donate 10 Infantry units
-Steal 2 new luxuries from an opponent using 2 great generals
-Steal 5 techs
-Kill 5 spies
-Grow a city to size 40
-Have a trade connection with every civ
-Have more than 40% or more of the world's cities worshiping your faith
etc

 

[Acorn]

Shosone are so good. It just seems that with that extra land grab sets you up for whatever sort of victory you want.

 

[AnotherNils]

When I got my diplomatic victory the only time I outright bought a city was because Egypt made a move on one of my allies. Doing quests is so much more efficient than throwing gold at them.

As far as I can tell quests are bullying, luxuries, faith, and science, right? I do the first one pretty rarely, and the unless you're crushing it, you'll only get one of the last three. I definitely couldn't maintain ally status with just that.

 

[FormallyFamicom]

As far as I can tell quests are bullying, luxuries, faith, and science, right? I do the first one pretty rarely, and the unless you're crushing it, you'll only get one of the last three. I definitely couldn't maintain ally status with just that.

Demanding tribute from another city-state, generating culture or faith, researching techs, straight up paying them (bonus influence), gifting units, providing protection, spreading your religion to them, building a road to them, opening a trade route, killing a nearby barb or barb camp, generating a great person of their choice, and maybe more I'm forgetting. Many of them very easy to do, and 3-4 of them for one city-state pretty much means they are your allies for life.

 

[Earthstrike]

The diplomatic victory is actually very good atm, as it is actually functional in Multiplayer. People actually fight for CS alliances in multiplayer and so it makes achieving diplomatic victory harder, but still feasible under some circumstances. People won't do stupid things the a.i. does like giving people world religion or world ideology for free. Forbidden Palace is also often a wonder people have to compete for.

 

[xenist]

Demanding tribute from another city-state, generating culture or faith, researching techs, straight up paying them (bonus influence), gifting units, providing protection, spreading your religion to them, building a road to them, opening a trade route, killing a nearby barb or barb camp, generating a great person of their choice, and maybe more I'm forgetting. Many of them very easy to do, and 3-4 of them for one city-state pretty much means they are your allies for life.

Yup. There's a ton of stuff to do besides outright buying them out. I always go for an archer/warrior combo first thing so I can go around taking out bandit camps even if they are not bothering me. Easy early game rep.

 

[GungHo]

As far as I can tell quests are bullying, luxuries, faith, and science, right? I do the first one pretty rarely, and the unless you're crushing it, you'll only get one of the last three. I definitely couldn't maintain ally status with just that.

Ways to positively influence city states are:
Gift Gold
Gift Gold for Tile Improvement (you must have the technology that allows improvement)
Gift Units
Pledge to Protect
Kill barbarians in/near their territory
When another civilization shows up to say "I bullied your ally city state", say "kiss my ass"
Liberate a conquered city state (influence will decrease over time, but you will be their ally and they will vote for your propositions in the World Congress)
Return captured workers
Complete Quests



Quests are:
Destroy a specific Barbarian encampment
Bully another city state (note, this was destroy in the original game, but now destroying a city state carries some pretty big penalties, so they backed off of that)
Construct a world wonder
Find a new natural wonder (there's sometimes a bug on this where they'll ask for natural wonders after all have been found)
Acquire great people (they'll ask for a specific person)
Find a specific civilization
Connect a road to their city
Connect a resource (through trade, tile improvement, etc)
Spread your religion
Help them with infrastructure works by gifting Gold
Help them in a war by gifting gold, gifting units or killing opposing civ's units
Amass more culture/faith than any other civilization they know within 30 turns (note, that's normal speed... because I usually play on epic, it's 40 turns for me)
Discover more technologies than any other civilization they know within 30 turns (note, that's normal speed... because I usually play on epic, it's 40 turns for me)



In addition, when they are bullied and cry about it this starts a quest where you can gain influence by:
Pledge to Protect
Gift Gold
Denounce the bully


Ways to negatively influence city states are:
Ask for tribute (i.e. bully)
When another civilization shows up to say "I bullied your ally city state", say "yeah, that's cool I guess"

 

[Vio-Lence]

I've played about 110 hours of Civ 5 Brave New World, I've managed to win games via Diplo, Science, and Culture with Poland on Emperor. I think I'm going to try bumping it up a difficulty level and see how it goes.

 

[pilonv1]

Many of them very easy to do, and 3-4 of them for one city-state pretty much means they are your allies for life.

If you go even slightly into Patronage as well it's nearly impossible to lose multiple city states. You might lose one, but most of them will stay yours.

I can't speak for Immortal/Diety, but on the difficulties lower than that there's very little fighting for their allegiance.

 

[hypersheep]

If you're talking about keeping city states as allies, the game I'm playing right demonstrates how difficult it is when Greece is in the game. This game as Sweden on Emperor I've been playing has been incredibly frustrating.

I spawned on a continent with Genghis and Gajah. Everything is fine, I eventually go to war against Gaja for his Petra/Colossus/Great Lighthouse capital. I explore with Caravels, find the other continent with Greece, Shaka, and Bismarck. Bismarck eventually falls to Shaka. But as I climb up the tech tree I realize that I don't have any coal, or oil, or aluminum in my territory. So I buy a city state. But WAIT, Greece is in the game and he's grabbing my city-states! Over the course of a hundred turns we coup each other until I finally manage to buy him out and get spies in the city states.

But there's a problem. Greece has nearly every other single city-state on his own continent in the palm of his hand and he's going to win a diplomatic victory if I let him. I barely prevent him from winning the first go around by expending most of my treasury, but I know it can't last. So I ally what city states I can and declare war on him. At the same time, I'm also engaged in a war with Shaka at the moment. My current plan is to remain in a state of permanent war with Greece and kill all his city-state allies so that he loses the votes while I keep my city-state votes alive. Or I just kill Greece. Hopefully it pans out.

 

[Jintor]

Greece is a dickbutt.

Fuck you, Alexander.

 

[Geido]

I'm playing a game as Rakmakmehmmam or something on Immortal and haven't been anything other than WC host.

In my game, Alexander is annoying with the city states, but he's also my best friend. Together we are conquering the world.

 

[Firebrand]

Weird. Was playing multiplayer the other night and both of us got the "Greed is Good" achievement (colossus, caravansary, harbor etc in one city) at the same time. Might be due to me having a trade route to that city but probably a bug still.

 

[Architechnophile]

If you're talking about keeping city states as allies, the game I'm playing right demonstrates how difficult it is when Greece is in the game. This game as Sweden on Emperor I've been playing has been incredibly frustrating.

I spawned on a continent with Genghis and Gajah. Everything is fine, I eventually go to war against Gaja for his Petra/Colossus/Great Lighthouse capital. I explore with Caravels, find the other continent with Greece, Shaka, and Bismarck. Bismarck eventually falls to Shaka. But as I climb up the tech tree I realize that I don't have any coal, or oil, or aluminum in my territory. So I buy a city state. But WAIT, Greece is in the game and he's grabbing my city-states! Over the course of a hundred turns we coup each other until I finally manage to buy him out and get spies in the city states.

But there's a problem. Greece has nearly every other single city-state on his own continent in the palm of his hand and he's going to win a diplomatic victory if I let him. I barely prevent him from winning the first go around by expending most of my treasury, but I know it can't last. So I ally what city states I can and declare war on him. At the same time, I'm also engaged in a war with Shaka at the moment. My current plan is to remain in a state of permanent war with Greece and kill all his city-state allies so that he loses the votes while I keep my city-state votes alive. Or I just kill Greece. Hopefully it pans out.

I'm leaning towards Greece being a little overpowered now. I haven't played as them myself in a while, but every single game with Greece as an AI opponent, you have to consciously remove him from contention - otherwise he will roll largely uncontested towards a diplomatic victory.

I haven't come across another civ that's anywhere near as consistent a threat.

 

[AnotherNils]

Ways to positively influence city states are:
Gift Units
Pledge to Protect
When another civilization shows up to say "I bullied your ally city state", say "kiss my ass"
Complete Quests



Quests are:
Construct a world wonder
Connect a road to their city
Connect a resource (through trade, tile improvement, etc)
Spread your religion
Amass more culture/faith than any other civilization they know within 30 turns (note, that's normal speed... because I usually play on epic, it's 40 turns for me)
Discover more technologies than any other civilization they know within 30 turns (note, that's normal speed... because I usually play on epic, it's 40 turns for me)

Good list. 'Course, I narrowed it down by removing anything involving gold and or is not likely late game (like barbarians).

On a side note, can you not gift great people? I find Great Admirals useless but I couldn't gift them last game I played.

Still I don't see how its so easy. In my current game I have at least three or four civs staging coup every few turns to kill my influence. Considering its late game and several are using more than one spy, we're talking there are turns where I lose influence in 4-5 CS.

 

[GungHo]

On a side note, can you not gift great people? I find Great Admirals useless but I couldn't gift them last game I played.

I don't think so. Generally the only influence you have with GP for a city state is when a city state wants to see a given type of GP.

And Great Admirals are only useful if you're going to have a "pod" of 3~5 ships floating around to bombard units and cities in preparation for a capture. No one usually builds navies like that except in the late game when sending a bunch of artillery over might be risky. However, I'm not sure if missiles/aircraft will benefit at all from the attack bonus provided. If they do, that'd be great. Otherwise, my experience is the same... the Admirals are crap. If they could build offshore installations of some kind or fight on their own, that might be cool.

 

[SaskBoy]

On a side note, can you not gift great people? I find Great Admirals useless but I couldn't gift them last game I played.

You might be only able to gift GP with Sweden. It's their UA, +90 influence with a GP gift.