Answers to our Civ questions

[robertdd]

Here's a great player aid you should print out, Andy: www.headlesshollow.com/downloads/games/Civilization_v1.pdf

I found the "unofficial FAQ" for Civ that explains a few things we had questions on. The answers ome didrectly from Kevin Wilson, the designer. Here's the whole thing:
www.bgg.cc/thread/597735/unofficial-faq-v2-was-unanswered-questions

Can you Nuke (i.e., use Atomic Theory's movement resource ability) a city while under Democracy (it is not technically "attacking" the city)?
Yes - attacking a city is specifically using a figure to move onto that tile

So we played that right (sorry Arun)


Does Himeji Samuari Castle add to the number of wounds units can take? Does it apply to total strength when determining the victor of the battle after all cards have been played?
Yes and yes

So we played that right too


How does Writing interact with resource abilities (e.g., Animal Husbandry) and/or trade used to increase production?
The player gets back any resources and trade spent, but cannot take any other action in that city. This is a reversal of an earlier ruling I made, but the updated FAQ will reflect this.
If this cancels production, resources/abilities/cards spent are not spent, are returned to their owners where applicable, and may be used again. This includes culture cards and the ability to use, e.g., Animal Husbandry, in a different city this turn.

3 for 3. We did well!



On nuking the following remarks were made by people that I thought were relevant:
Nuking a city is not an attack, it is a resource ability fueled by Uranium. An attack is moving an army into the same space as a village or an enemy city, capital or army.

Given that a democracy is the only country to date to use a nuclear weapon on a city, it seems thematically appropriate to me.


What else were we unclear on?

[concierge]

I'm not sure what thematically has to do with it. Democracies have been known to attack the occasional city.

But good work on getting this information and I'm glad we played correctly. Fun game indeed.

One point about the game. A lot of time investment (3+ hrs) in building cities to get more than 2/3 of my value destroyed in 2 game actions (< 5 min each) . That uranium is very limited and is found essentially by chance (and occasionally by sacking + luck), seems to make Atomic Power highly asymmetrical (balance-wise) and definitive in an otherwise tightly contested game.

Having said that, I was only one tech away from tying for victory with all the other players (or perhaps winning as per the Advanced Tiebreaker Rules) even though I had been nuked twice. So maybe it plays just fine.

Can't wait to play again! And now that I've been nuked twice, maybe it won't hurt so bad the next time.

[Concierge]

A lot of time investment (3+ hrs) in building cities to get more than 2/3 of my value destroyed in 2 game actions (< 5 min each).

Sorry for the sentence fragments, especially that one. I'm on my phone.

[robertdd]

At first I tended to agree with you that nukes seemed somewhat overpowered, but then I realized that instead of taking the nuclear tech, which really only does something for you once or twice in the whole game, you can take level 4 techs that work for you all the time. And your opponents have the chance of sacrificing resources to prohibit you from even getting the uranium in the first place. Uranium doesn't even have to be available as a resource (remember that the villages setup is random)

So, powerful? Yes.
Overpowered? Not so sure.
Painful to loose a city to a nuke? Absolutely.
Seeing Andy nuke you twice? Priceless...

[concierge]

" Rejoice not when thine enemy
falleth , and let not thine heart be glad when he
stumbleth : Lest Andy see it , and it displease
him , and he turn away his wrath from
him ."

Then again, Schadenfreude is the best Freude for
those who live in glass houses.

[concierge]

Of course the last post was meant (mostly ) in jest. I forgot to sprinkle liberally with :)s.

[andyp]

LOL at this thread...

Yeah I did feel bad about nuking you twice Arun. In retrospect the second nuke should have headed Robert's way - but it honestly felt like the best move at the time.

There is a level 4 tech "Mass Media" that has the ability to spend a spy token to cancel a resource ability. The person also loses the resource token they would use. All of the other level 4 techs (Computers, Ballistics, Combustion, Replaceable Parts, Flight, and of course Atomic Theory) have some sort of military application. Mass Media seems like the way to go for a player playing not playing an militarily aggressive strategy.

There are also level 3 culture cards that will stop a nuke, so I don't think they are overpowered. Of course that's easy for me to say not being on the receiving end .

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Thanks Robert, for the unofficial faq link. Since the answers are from the game designer I think I will use those until the official faq is released.

One rule we played wrong was stacking armies in cities. The rules actually state that friendly armies actually cannot end their movement in friendly cities. That definitely changes the complexion of pursuing a military victory.

Unfortunately I don't think there is enough time to play this with 3-4 players on Wednesday night. What about a Sunday game on March 6th? Any takers? Bueller?....