Metaliturtle plays Civilization 7

[Metaliturtle]

Turn 7 has me able to grow the city again, I build a chicken farm and the border expands around the Elephants.  Hopefully the food will help me grow.  I get a narrative option with 100 gold for killing the scout... why one guy with a dog would have more money than my entire empire is beyond me, but I'll take it.  My second Hoplite is finished, I decide to start production on a Granary, and I'll buy a scout for 120 gold in addition to sending the hoplite out on an adventure.  After the granary I'll worry about defense, being a tutorial I imagine I'll be pretty safe.

[Metaliturtle]

The attack doesn't go as well as I had hoped, defenders have an advantage, but I'm going to press on.

[Metaliturtle]

First Tech researched, Animal Husbandry should improve my pastureland, it also unlocks the Slinger unit.

[Metaliturtle]

Turn 9 sees me bombarded with a BUILDING YOUR LEGACY screen, and I have to pick from Economic, Military, Cultural, or Science advisors.  I am going to pick military for now. The Hoplite hordes cannot be stopped!

[Metaliturtle]

For my next tech I'm going pottery as it should stack with my granary and other food-related stuff.  Scout moves north and discovers a fertile land alongside a desert.  Hoplite 2 reveals a "Discoveries" site... The goody hut I was hoping for.  I choose to withdraw Hoplite 1 from Combat as the defenders fully healed and there appears to be penalties for lower hit points.  I'll see if fortifying for a turn will heal them.  Pretty eventful turn 9.

[Metaliturtle]

Turn 10 begins, I can rest Hoplite 1 until fully healed.  I get another Narrative Choice, Humanism giving 3 options, I choose the science option as the other two have quests I don't think I can complete.  The civic tree also opens up, I choose discipline to align with my military pursuit, looks like it will gain me a free commander.  I'm also prompted to choose my government, between Classical Republic, Despotism, and Oligarchy.  I choose Oligarchy for the bonus to food production.  Next I get prompted to pick a social policy, either Charismatic Leader or Tool Making, I pick Tool Making because it increases production and Science at the palace.  The goody hut provides Votive Figures, I can leave them for happiness and culture points, or take them to the capital for gold... I pick gold.

[Metaliturtle]

Turn 11 and I find a natural wonder, Zhangjiajie.  Neato rock spires.  No idea if I get anything beyond a small cutscene zoomed in onto the map.

[Buster's Uncle]

SO - any feedback on the theme?  I wouldn't be that adverse to some low-pressure fiddling/customizing now that I've got a good basic up.

I could replace the Atlas and spaceships in the postbit background, for instance, and might should...

Reduce your screenies to 800x and save as .jpgs, and anything under 100kbs ought to attach fine.  Recent attachment problem that has us stumped so far, but wilkes is on the job...

I'll look for avatar material if you can post...

Somehow this reminds me of my sister playing her first SMACX as the SupahNewbs.

Hey - I should badge you as a faction modder on the strength of they were your idea and you contributed to the design, come to think of it.

Done.

[Metaliturtle]

Turn 13 opens with Pottery unlocked.  Next tech, writing, I always like the science and since I haven't encountered any other civs I'm worried about falling behind in tech.

Turn 14 lets me grow the city again, I expand to the elephants gaining 1 food, 1 production, 1 culture, 1 happy face, and 1 ivory.  Ivory gives a bonus to wonders in tropical or desert places.  Scouting has revealed that our capital is on the eastern edge of the continent, my scout unit is pressing N-NW to try and find the opposite coastline.  We find our second village, Kutai Martidipura, and they have IRON.  I am assuming it's an OP resource based on my experience with other Civ games.  Apparently it's on a new continent we just discovered and the scout named it Baltica.

Turn 15 after finishing the Granary I have the option to build a settler, I plan to do so and push northwards to claim a good chunk of the continent for myself.  The Izirtu warrior has followed Hoplite 1, I move to a forest adjjacent to them, they will feel the wrath of my armies.  In between turns, Izirtu attack my hoplite, and they get the worst of the battle.

Turn 16.  Hoplite 1 attacks the Izirtu warrior getting an advantage over their damaged unit.  Hoplite 2 moves towards City Site #2.  Scout finds a northern shore of the land mass in the continent of Baltica.

Turn 17.  Xerxes is here!  I want to see if I can trade anything with him. I propose "Reform" an option that gives me an additional social policy slot in 10 turns.  It costs me all my influence.  Xerxes is west of my main city, definitely need to rush that settler now.  I send the scout east along the northern coast as the west is blocked by the hostile village and mountains.

Turn 18. Just units moving, not much else.  Hoplite 2 moves towards Xerxes' city.

Turn 19. More moving.

Turn 20. This will be my last turn for now. Discipline unlocked.  Ben Franklin walks out of the FOW to the north of Athenai.  We get a military leader and I'm instructed to build 4 units for an army.  I start talking to Ben Franklin.  Friendly greeting of course.  I don't have enough influence to do anything else at the moment so I leave the talks.  Now studying Tactics at the request of my military advisor.  I send the commander to the edge of my territory to be on the look out for enemies. 

[Metaliturtle]

SO - any feedback on the theme?  I wouldn't be that adverse to some low-pressure fiddling/customizing now that I've got a good basic up.

I could replace the Atlas and spaceships in the postbit background, for instance, and might should...

Reduce your screenies to 800x and save as .jpgs, and anything under 100kbs ought to attach fine.  Recent attachment problem that has us stumped so far, but wilkes is on the job...

I'll look for avatar material if you can post...

Somehow this reminds me of my sister playing her first SMACX as the SupahNewbs.

Hey - I should badge you as a faction modder on the strength of they were your idea and you contributed to the design, come to think of it.

Done.

The game feels darker compared to the theme, beautiful though.  I might see if I can't upload the pics to imgur or something similar so I don't have to reduce the quality. 

Impression after 20 turns.  Some interesting choices, but the game feels both overcomplicated and dumbed down simultaneously.  I'm not sure which goals are worthwhile to pursue and which ones just sound good, but I'm going into it mostly blind.  I don't have the 'one more turn' feeling that I had with earlier versions of the game, maybe it's because I'm old.  The leader options are intersting, but I'm disappointed in feeling like the ones I really want to play as will be part of a DLC, and after dropping $100 on the deluxe edition it will be a huge letdown if I have to pay more money for Alexander the Great.  For 20 turns in, I really had to push to get units into combat, although it's reassuring that the other AI players seem to be less developed than me at this point.

I see a lot of potential for a great game but until I understand the mechanics better it will be hard to decide.  Right now I might play another 20 turns on this save sometime, but it isn't calling me to dive in.

I find myself disappointed with the change of Civ at the end of an age even though I haven't gotten there yet, like all my work is going to be pointless after a time.  That still remains to be seen but it doesn't make me want to push through the age I'm in.

The hex setup is just like Civ 5 and 6, and I imagine similar strategies will work for 7 that did for 5 and 6. 

I liked the choices for the goody hut pop, but I'm not sold on the villages, I may see if there's a way to either exploit them in the meta, or turn them off in the options menu.

That being said, I'm probably going to do a little stroll through youtube and see if there's some meta strategies people are using.

[Geo]

Starting the first game now, lots of reading about the Ages Mechanic, not sure how I feel about that, at some point I pick a new Civilization at the end of the age?  This could be jarring if done wrong, really cool if done well.

A friend of mine bought the game bundle at a discount early this Summer, and we played it a bit on my desktop during a visit. We did get to the beginning of a new era, and changing to a new civilization doesn't seem that bad. It felt more of a change of skin then anything else.

While the map may look similar due to the hex setup, there's more terrain obstacles now due to elevation.

[Metaliturtle]

Starting the first game now, lots of reading about the Ages Mechanic, not sure how I feel about that, at some point I pick a new Civilization at the end of the age?  This could be jarring if done wrong, really cool if done well.

A friend of mine bought the game bundle at a discount early this Summer, and we played it a bit on my desktop during a visit. We did get to the beginning of a new era, and changing to a new civilization doesn't seem that bad. It felt more of a change of skin then anything else.

While the map may look similar due to the hex setup, there's more terrain obstacles now due to elevation.

That's good to know, please keep sharing your .02 here, I'm willing to stick with my game if there's more participation.

[Geo]

I merely half-played an age several weeks ago.
I do remember some frustration with the UI buttons for moving units. Their function wasn't always clear to me.
Those Commander units I did like, especially their ability to collect a number of other units under their 'wing'. But that might have been the UU for the empire I was co-playing with (Persians?).

[Metaliturtle]

I got one with the greeks so I think every nation can pop them.  Mine came with researching discipline.

[Metaliturtle]

Back at 'er today, gonna play to 50 turns and try and keep it 5 turns per post.  Might try and fiddle with the screenshots too.

Turn 21: New settler is finished.  Time to run for resources.  Settlers have no defense like earlier versions of CIV I've played.

Turn 22: I was wrong about the scouts, they have special abilities that let them build a lookout tower so they can see further.

Turn 23: Izirtu brings out a slinger to attack my army commander, time to end these whippersnappers.  Settler 2 turns away from founding my next town.

Turn 24: Discover Writing.  Time to look at the tech tree and see what I can do about getting some horsey boys.  Looks like Chariots are the best bet, Irrigation then Masonry then The Wheel is my tech path.
New Narrative choice, blind poet, 25 culture or 25 science... I go science.
DANGER - Ben Franklin has a jaguar warrior in the vicinity of our undefended Settler.

Turn 25: Korinthos is settled. 
Franklin and Xerxes are -20 towards me for forward settling another Civ, and Franklin is an additional -20 for being a butthole
Korinthos gets to grow so I put a quarry on the limestone resource... probably should've gone a masonry path but oh well.
Athenai begins work on a library, complete in 10 turns.
Hopelite 2 now sentry of Korinthos, with 2 jaguar warriors prowling around it needs defense.
Hoplite 1 is attacked by Izirtu, time to begin the trek towards the army commander.