But no, this expansion is pretty sweet and changes up the vanilla game a lot. Also adds spies, new artwork, new wonders, new buildings and changes up the tech tree a bit so it makes more historical sense.
The one-per-age thing is kinda weird, too.
Faith, however, just might be one of the most overpowering things, but they took out the Culture Bomb! 
Or at least, put it somewhere I can't find it again.
Great Generals can also not begin Golden Ages now.
I've not yet discovered the downside to not having your religion being the dominant one. Minus the bonuses you pick when founding a religion.
Here's another thing I hate:
1. Catherine and Suleiman both declare war on me within a few turns of each other.
2. By some miracle(s), my woefully understrength and under-teched army managed to fight them both off, giving them heavy losses.
3. They contact me to end the war... but even though my troops have kicked their asses seven ways to sideways, and even though THEY contacted ME, I can't end the war without paying THEM gold, luxury resources, etc.
4. I gave up on that game because stupid me didn't listen to Hiawatha when he said "Dude, Suleimen is building up an army to kick your ass," no less than twice.
It'll also re-route armies to where they're most needed, which it didn't really do before as it was dumb as a brick.
Gatling/Machine guns are fantastic units for sieging if you have a landship/tank or two to back them up. I hardly bother using infantry anymore since those units just own so much.
Religion is awesome, and it's fun to experiment with the different kinds of bonuses it gives you - some of the city bonuses are good enough you don't WANT to spread the religion around, as it would empower your enemies 
In my latest game I picked up a religious bonus where I get science boosts every time one of my missionaries preaches to a city following a different religion than mine. I want them to preach but I DON'T want them to convert the majority of the city because then I have to find a new city to get the bonus from. Thankfully Isabella created Judaism and is a warmongering bitch, so I send shit after her cities and she immediately inquisitions the christians (me) away. I repeat and she becomes my science bitch.
Though the AI is much, much smarter. After a few centuries of whoring science with Isabella she finally surrounded her cities with units so my missionaries couldn't physically get in there
Spies are great. True, there's no sabotage but the diplomatic boosts you can get for sharing intrigue are fantastic, as is the ability to perform coups. If you're england and you build a national intelligence agency then you end up with a ridiculous amount of the bastards and pretty much become the Shadow Broker from Mass Effect.
I'm really loving all of the changes they've made so far to the game. Religion is vital for early-to-mid game but then it starts to suck end game, so what do they do? They let you purchase great people with faith. FUCK YEAH.
Great people can't start golden ages anymore. Culture bombing is still there, but it's now an ability of the great general - his citadel is what triggers it. The great scientist isn't an instant free tech anymore, just a big science boost (Which makes sense because the great engineer was always just a big production boost).
Oh, and my favorite change of all : Warships capturing cities. A big armada of battleships and destroyers can just fuck every coastal city up and snap them up left and right. Frigates and Caravels can too, albeit slower and take more damage. Submarines are so much more important now that navies can do more than just harass your coastal cities.
I could gush on and on about all the awesome new changes but I'll stop now because I'm tired as hell. Khyron fucked around with this message on 06-24-2012 at 04:27 AM.
City-state quests. They are varied, they expire, you don't get screwed out of being able to do a quest because the city-state you want to ally with wants you to conquer another city state you want to ally with.
Militaristic city-states grant unique units now (As long as the civ that has those UU's isn't one of the civs you're playing with/against on the current map), mercantile city-states are a HUGE help on the higher difficulties where happiness is a major issue, and you can 'bully' city-states for a free worker or some gold.
In short, the city-states are a much bigger part of the game and that owns
nem-x fucked around with this message on 08-08-2012 at 10:15 PM.
Bonus dumb destroyer
(I always play as Rome 
)
quote:
Mortious had this to say about Pirotess:
That's what you get for picking on Rome.(I always play as Rome
)
Rome is awesome, in its way. I've found Byzantium to be pretty excellent but I accomplished the most profound ass-kicking with Alexander; seriously, you wind with all of the city-states essentially perma-allied if you use religion right.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java the thoughts aquire speed, the teeth acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
First game in a long time where some steam achievements range from fucking hard to almost impossible.
I like Rome because if you're playing a marathon game and have early access to an iron deposit, your Legions and Balista steamroll pretty much everything. Also Legions can build roads, so no need to divert precious workers from improving cities. Mortious fucked around with this message on 08-09-2012 at 09:10 AM.
Playing as Kahn I managed to get a city next to and annex a Natural Wonder. Rome was pissed, started attacking that city. I held him off for quite a while with 3 Crossbow units and the city's bombardment. Then I got pissed and made some Trebuchets. He offered peace several times but refused to give the city that was launching these attacks up. So I finally decided to steamroll that city. His next peace offering was 3 cites and gold.
Later I took the surplus of Artists I had and Culture Bombed Rome into an island in my territory. Welcome to Vatican City, bitch! 
Romans marching through Russia and bombing Japan.
