FINDING RELIGION

Via experimentation, continuous rage-quitting, and cheese.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been so determined to enjoy a video game. Over six weeks, I started (probably) 30 games of Civilization VI, and abandoned almost all before the atomic age. I loved it at release and there’s lots of “new stuff”, but I’m engaging inconsistently; opening strong, getting bored. This is not to say I haven’t had fun, but it’s been a stoic, oppressive kind of fun, like I imagine it would be to get a beehive, then have to actually learn how to take care of bees, wear rubber clothing, and read beekeeping blogs, honey notwithstanding.

Former PC Powerplay editor, David Wildgoose, once told me that he strategises a win as early as when he is choosing a leader. What? I’ve always played the Civ series with more of a wondrous, exploratory, “Wow, humanity is amazing,” approach. Winning was incidental. Playing Settlers of Catan with my family, and beating them, even with the most unfair of starts, has reminded me that I actually do like to formulate a winning strategy, however. Civ VI is incredibly intricate, so maybe it’s just taken some time to feel satisfied with any kind of “long game”.

My favourite Civs are the outliers; those with such extreme qualities that they force (or invite) creative play. The Maori, for example, begin with the ability to move through the ocean, so on an archipelago world, you can settle ten cities while opponents are still stuck on their little islands. (Not to mention the early production boosts and culture bombs from fishing boats.) I got sick of Kupe surprisingly fast, however. I had so many cities, I just stopped caring about them when I couldn’t imagine life among individual campus districts, I guess.

It also didn’t help that I forgot to boost the difficulty, especially for Kupe. Civ is no fun on Prince. Conversely, Immortal and Deity just endlessly lead to the worst end-game FOMO. “Oh, so you’ve all got your fancy sea walls up before the ice caps melt, have you? How nice.” There’s only so much Forbidden Island I want in my Civ - And “losing” climate change is distressing. The harder difficulties did encourage me to scrutinise the UI, however. Did you know Lautaro (as neighbour) gets +10 to all of his military units when you are in a golden/ heroic age? I did not.

Mostly, I maintain an army for defence. Experimenting with offensive war is challenging, but sometimes very rewarding, once you learn the minutiae of units and fortifications. Thanks to unfolding real world events, I lost my taste for it. So, I started playing with another outlier, Mansa Musa. I was wary of the fact that mines generate more gold and less production, because building quickly is the whole game (isn’t it?), but my treasury was constantly overflowing. I just purchased every building, from libraries to research labs, as soon as they were available.

In one game, on a small map, Eleanor of Aquitaine’s religion squashed another, as early as the mediaeval period, then came for mine. I can appreciate the goodies provided by religion, when you have lots of followers, but I dislike having to remember to buy religious units. (Especially because I already had to keep lists of what to buy when playing as Mansa, who literally built nothing except districts, projects, and wonders.) Faith can seem like a waste of effort, unless you’re committed. Clawing back my religion, however, taught me that religious combat is actually pretty great.

And so, thanks to my entire populace being rich and having the luxury of not having to work, with endless time for prayer, I created debaters, pilgrims, chaplains, and the incredible proselytiser and translator, over maybe three consecutive eras. They painstakingly spread my turtle religion to 50 percent of cities in every other civilisation. There was some light combat, and I discovered how to use gurus. Amazingly, I planned all of this from near to the start of the game. What’s next? Saving land for a National Park approximately 10 hrs of play before I can build it?

Civilization VI is wonderful and infuriating. I’m going to have to stop playing for a bit, though, because I need to review several more games for A Collection Aside. Interestingly, although I loved carefully implementing my religious Mansa victory, I enjoyed the game even more after I’d won and the pressure was off. Sandbox Civ, if you will. I definitely need to learn more about rock bands and secret societies. And have you seen what they’ve done to the science victory? I finally feel like I have the early game covered. The end game is next.

Meghann O’Neill is concerned that her husband has been raising bee ownership in conversation a lot, recently. Could be sweet, or just painful.