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[SPOILERS] New setting, same RNG. yuris125, Civ6 PBEM26
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Good luck, yuris!
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
While I played some Civ6 games with BBG, it wasn't a particularly effective test. The goal of the mod wasn't to update the AI, and AI doesn't know how to adjust to its extensive changes. So it will be new playing grounds for me, and I expect for most if not all of us
One lesson learned from PBEM25 was that while the MP meta seems to be to rush serfdom and disregard military, it is to a large degree a consequence of playing on online speed, which makes early game units obsolete before they can march to the target. On normal speed, early game military action can be brutally effective, and I definitely don't intend to go full on farmer gambit this time That said, I rolled Simon Bolivar, who cannot earn regular great generals (BBG change). Instead, he has unique great generals, who are earned simply by entering a new era. On one hand, this means one doesn't have to put hammers into military buildings to earn them, and you can get one fairly early, upon advancing to classical era (although a military district may still be required to place it into? need to check). On the other hand, the number of Comandante Generals that can be earned in a game is limited On the plus side, all Colombian units get +1 movement upon researching Political Philosophy (the latter is a BBG change, presumably to remove the advantage +1 movement would give in early game settler races). That's usually pretty powerful in MP. Unit promotion is also not turn-ending - promotion-healing is back on the menu! So Colombia does have options for early warfare - I will need to test them more In later game, Colombia has a unique tile improvement, Hacienda, which unlock at Medieval Faires and gives production bonuses to adjacent plantations among other things. Later still, there's a unique Cavalry replacement, Llanero, which unlocks at Military Science, is cheap to maintain, and gets bonuses for every adjacent Llanero. Will talk about them if the game lasts long enough All in all, this sounds fairly strong, even if BBG nerfs seem significant to bring the power level of this DLC civ more in line with others But, as I said, I'm not an expert on BBG at all, this will be a new world for all of us. With this in mind, I won't make judgements on winners and losers of random civ die rolls - we'll see how things play out The Archduke - Montezuma Ah, RNG just had to place the traditional early game aggressor in the hands of one of the more experienced Civ6 players at RB, who showed last game that when he has means for early aggression, he won't be afraid to use them. Monty is buffed in BBG, getting +50% production to melee units (this is most likely to help him keep up with others in the early game, because his Eagle Warriors are substantially more expensive than normal warriors). Aztec unique ability to use builder charges to speed up district construction has also been buffed, each charge giving 30% of district cost (up from 20%). The other unique is an Arena replacement, and it seems like whatever - does anyone ever build Arenas? Greenline - Vizier Saladin Arabia seems to be largely unchanged from the base game, and Vizier Saladin received a small buff. Vizier Saladin's unique ability is: Quote:The worship building for their Religion can be purchased by any player for just one-tenth of the usual Faith cost. It adds 10% to the Science, Culture, and Faith to the city's outputBBG bumps it up to 20% at Reformed Church civic, presumably for better scaling in the late game All in all, this seems to be a peaceful leader with heavy focus on religion. I tend not to put much focus on religion against AIs, so can't tell much about this leader's strengths and weaknesses Pindicator - Nzinga Mbande Kongo is a civ heavily focused on culture and especially relics. Not sure how much of advantage it gives in MP. It does earn 50% more great merchant points as well - that could come into play, considering how important rush-buying is in Civ6. Nzinga Mbande is one of the leaders whose unique is completely changed in BBM, as her base game ability ("Cities on the same continent as the Capital Capital (including the Capital Capital) receive +10% to all yields, while cities on another continent receive -15% to all yields") really doesn't work in MP. In BBM, her unique is "+10% Gold and 10% Culture in cities with a Mbanza (does not stack with multiples). Mbanza provides +2 adjacency to Theater Squares and Commercial Hubs. Archaeologists are 50% cheaper to purchase.". So sounds like a decently well set up civ for economic development, not much for military Japper007 - Peter the Great Russia is nerfed in BBM, with tundra tiles providing bonus production but not bonus faith, and Lavra bonuses are moved to higher tier buildings (+1 Great Writer point per turn with a Temple, +1 Great Artist point per turn with a Worship building). Peter seems the same as base game. I don't know how strong Russia was in the base game, at a glance this seems fairly weak - but we'll see; as I said, I don't have enough knowledge to judge the RNG 
Went to watch Formula 1 in the middle of writing the overview, and the save arrived during the race. So I have T0 to report
 Not a great start for Colombia - no plantation resources in sight (does BBM/BBS turn off start bias?). Rough terrain prevents the warrior from making a useful 2-tile move as well  The first instinct is to settle 1W of the start, to gain the extra hammer from planting on a hill. Also gives the salt luxury in the first ring, so I don't have to count on RNG to claim it, and puts two 2f/2h sheep tiles in the second ring. Unfortunately no way to check what I would be losing by the move In the end decided to go with the move, even though everyone else did settle on T0  Still debating if I want to go with warrior or scout first, scout wouldn't be very useful, and I probably do need another warrior for barb defence, but scouting with warriors would be painful with rough terrain around the start
Went with warrior. Scout is just too useless when there's no tribal huts to find
On reserach front, decided to go for AH first. Colombia wants to use cavalry units, so it is important to know where horses are. Plus I have two pasturable tiles which I want to work throughout the early game (although not sure how early I will get the first builder)
Realised that sugar actually is a plantation resource. So it's not as bad as I thought. I just had "no bananas = no plantations" in my mind for some reason
There's a named mountain range to my south, and sea to the north, so guess I can just scout east and west for now
T8
 There's going to be a city around that coffee, I marked the tentative location. Don't love mountains in 2nd ring, but this is the best way to get decent production tiles in 1st/2nd ring. There's some merit to settling on the coffee tile itself: while Colombia does want plantations, a single plantation tile wouldn't get any special benefits until Mercantilism, getting instant access to a luxury (especially since salt at the capital requires Mining, and it probably will be a good number of turns before I research that) and 1 culture would be more beneficial in the early game. On the other hand, city settled on the coffee would have no production in the first ring, I would have to spend a decent amount of gold to bring it online All in all, I don't know if would be a good 2nd city. This may be backline as well - the water tile in the east is an ocean, so could be the continent ends here. We'll see if there's anything better in the west Also still deciding if I want to go builder or settler after the warrior. Will depend on where the border expands, tile picker is unsure between the 5f sugar and a 2f2h sheep. If I do get the sheep, I feel builder for 2 pastures would be worthwhile (3rd improvement would be a wheat farm for Irrigation eureka)
Border expanded to the 5f sugar, and the next border expansion is in 12 turns. So a builder wouldn't be very useful atm - going settler next
Warrior ran into tundra to the north of his position, so double-backing to explore southeast now. I did step a bit further that necessary towards the tundra in case there was a city state - but nothing showed up on the settler lense, and one being deep in the tundra seems unlikely. Will need to fully reveal that area later AH due in 2 turns, going for Pottery next to be ready to pick up Irrigation around the time I get the builder. After that will probably go Archery, for barb defence and to have HBR available to research in case I opt for an early war |
