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gridloreGot my first victory in Civilization: Rise and Fall, the game's first major expansion. Rome won a Cultural victory in 1955 as the world suffered under a near global dark age and the endless war between the Netherlands and Mongolia finally went nuclear. Luckily, that was on the other side of the world. I only fought one war, and because I waited until he was occupied with another enemy I was able to roll thing right up.
Overall, I really like the expansion. They've cleaned up a lot of problems, like the barbarians, thank Crom, and the AI is a bit smarter. The look of the game is nicer. Several natural and man-made wonders have been added for you to find and build.
The big thing for me is the added options you get right from the early game. There's a new special district that enhances your government. The Government Plaza is where you place special buildings that affect how your state grows and also unlocks a Wildcard policy card for the government type you have. As your empire grows, new buildings unlock for this district, allowing you to fine-tune your government as you go.
The other big change in governing your state is Governors. These guys are so amazingly useful. There are seven of them, and each has a specialty. Placing them and curating their development can yield amazing bonuses. I placed Reyna, otherwise known as The Financier, in a coastal city that met the requirements for building Great Zimbabwe. After a few promotions, and building the infrastructure, the money was rolling in. This one city was providing almost a quarter of my per-turn income, almost 200 gold each turn. I built the Hermitage in her city as well, as one of her promotions grants a major bonus to tourism to her city.
Loyalty now plays a vital role in the game. Unhappy cities can slip out of your grasp and declare themselves free cities, open for any good offer. This came up when I took Ur, Gilgamesh's last stand ("I'm sorry, but we have to kill you, as there is no evidence that you actually lived." "It's a fair cop, but Early Bronze Age society's to blame.") Ur was way too close to two Polish cities, so I was fighting to keep loyalty high for much of the game. When you activate Settlers, the game gives you not only the water map/best location layover, it also shows how hexes are affected by a nearby city so you can avoid planting a city that's just going to rebel in 45 turns anyway.
Ages are fun. Rather than each civilization entering new ages on their own based on technological achievements, it's now a turn-based thing. Each age has a score bar, shown as a blue track on the screen. Fill that track before the age ends, and you're fine. Fail, and you enter a Dark Age, which isn't all bad. However, if you earn enough era points to fill the track twice and your next Age will be a Golden one. This gives plenty of benefits, like extra loyalty and the ability to choose a track for your civ to follow to try to keep the good times going.
It's a pity you can't move your capital. Rome was not in the best location, and hard to grow. Uruk, on the other hand, was at the confluence of three rivers in a broad grassland. Uruk ended up being my greatest city, with great temples; parks; Oxford University; and right down the river from the Taj Mahal, the Portola Palace. I actually built two entertainment facilities in Uruk, an Entertainment district, and the new Water Park district you can build in non-reef coastal tiles. I mention this district because on close examination, you can see sea lions swimming around and basking on floating platforms. The Water Park is so toatally San Francisco's Pier 39.
I do have one or two nits. I miss being able to scroll out to a god's eye view. That's pretty minor, I admit, but it's something I enjoyed with IV. Also, the ending movies are still a bit weak. Again, I miss the dynamic animations from IV. Finally, and this is the big one, I am already tired of the game switching units after I've already clicked on the one I want to use. It's annoying as hell.
All in all, they did a good job. I'm going to play a few more games with civilizations I'm more familiar with to get a better feel for the new bits, then I'll start exploring some of the new leaders and civilizations.
Overall, I really like the expansion. They've cleaned up a lot of problems, like the barbarians, thank Crom, and the AI is a bit smarter. The look of the game is nicer. Several natural and man-made wonders have been added for you to find and build.
The big thing for me is the added options you get right from the early game. There's a new special district that enhances your government. The Government Plaza is where you place special buildings that affect how your state grows and also unlocks a Wildcard policy card for the government type you have. As your empire grows, new buildings unlock for this district, allowing you to fine-tune your government as you go.
The other big change in governing your state is Governors. These guys are so amazingly useful. There are seven of them, and each has a specialty. Placing them and curating their development can yield amazing bonuses. I placed Reyna, otherwise known as The Financier, in a coastal city that met the requirements for building Great Zimbabwe. After a few promotions, and building the infrastructure, the money was rolling in. This one city was providing almost a quarter of my per-turn income, almost 200 gold each turn. I built the Hermitage in her city as well, as one of her promotions grants a major bonus to tourism to her city.
Loyalty now plays a vital role in the game. Unhappy cities can slip out of your grasp and declare themselves free cities, open for any good offer. This came up when I took Ur, Gilgamesh's last stand ("I'm sorry, but we have to kill you, as there is no evidence that you actually lived." "It's a fair cop, but Early Bronze Age society's to blame.") Ur was way too close to two Polish cities, so I was fighting to keep loyalty high for much of the game. When you activate Settlers, the game gives you not only the water map/best location layover, it also shows how hexes are affected by a nearby city so you can avoid planting a city that's just going to rebel in 45 turns anyway.
Ages are fun. Rather than each civilization entering new ages on their own based on technological achievements, it's now a turn-based thing. Each age has a score bar, shown as a blue track on the screen. Fill that track before the age ends, and you're fine. Fail, and you enter a Dark Age, which isn't all bad. However, if you earn enough era points to fill the track twice and your next Age will be a Golden one. This gives plenty of benefits, like extra loyalty and the ability to choose a track for your civ to follow to try to keep the good times going.
It's a pity you can't move your capital. Rome was not in the best location, and hard to grow. Uruk, on the other hand, was at the confluence of three rivers in a broad grassland. Uruk ended up being my greatest city, with great temples; parks; Oxford University; and right down the river from the Taj Mahal, the Portola Palace. I actually built two entertainment facilities in Uruk, an Entertainment district, and the new Water Park district you can build in non-reef coastal tiles. I mention this district because on close examination, you can see sea lions swimming around and basking on floating platforms. The Water Park is so toatally San Francisco's Pier 39.
I do have one or two nits. I miss being able to scroll out to a god's eye view. That's pretty minor, I admit, but it's something I enjoyed with IV. Also, the ending movies are still a bit weak. Again, I miss the dynamic animations from IV. Finally, and this is the big one, I am already tired of the game switching units after I've already clicked on the one I want to use. It's annoying as hell.
All in all, they did a good job. I'm going to play a few more games with civilizations I'm more familiar with to get a better feel for the new bits, then I'll start exploring some of the new leaders and civilizations.
