Stuck on one continent for 150 turns?

[Brufus]

HI guys,

First of all, I'm sure I'm bad at the game as it's brand new. I just wanted to state that I'm aware of this. That being said, I'm finding that it takes so long to be able to actually do anything in the ocean that my games pretty much all amount to being stuck on one continent with whatever land grab I got early on (barring any wars of course).

If this is intended I'm actually fine with it, but it seems so dull and non-interactive that I feel like I have to be doing something wrong.

Should every game just be rush to the ships that can go to the ocean? Even "rushing" will take a long time right?

I don't know, but it seems really weird that I can't expand, I can't move and unless I go to war, there's nothing much for me to do until I can actually travel on the ocean.

Any tips, advice, or thoughts are appreciated. Thanks everyone!

[Dead Goat]

You can always island hop through shallow waters and units do survive a turn in deep water if I remember correctly.

[The Doctor]

That's a hazard of playing on any random map set up. I've had some real stinkers in every 4X game I've played and this is no different.

What really needs to be improved is the amount of busy work involved in embarking and waiting and more waiting before disembarking. It's not a lot of fun at all. Old World does it far better.

[Ninj]

the phoenicians in the ancient era get a ship that only takes damage from consecutive turns in deep water, so you can navigate to continents that are maybe 3-4 turns away from your closest shallow water; all civs get this with quadrireme in classical era, but you cant found any cities over there. norse in medeival era can cross oceans with land units. otherwise yeah the earliest you can get over is early modern era, so about half the game you'll be stuck on your main continent

[Ninj]

Originally posted by The Doctor:

That's a hazard of playing on any random map set up. I've had some real stinkers in every 4X game I've played and this is no different.

What really needs to be improved is the amount of busy work involved in embarking and waiting and more waiting before disembarking. It's not a lot of fun at all. Old World does it far better.

if you embark and disembark at ports theres no waiting time

[Brufus]

Originally posted by Ninj:

otherwise yeah the earliest you can get over is early modern era, so about half the game you'll be stuck on your main continent

I'm actually somewhat relieved to see someone say this. I'm happy to adjust my playstyle/expectations of the game for being very "small" for awhile. I just feel like it's so jarring compared to other 4x games I've played (mainly Civ games of course) that I was sure I was missing something.

[Ninj]

Originally posted by Brufus:

Originally posted by Ninj:

otherwise yeah the earliest you can get over is early modern era, so about half the game you'll be stuck on your main continent

I'm actually somewhat relieved to see someone say this. I'm happy to adjust my playstyle/expectations of the game for being very "small" for awhile. I just feel like it's so jarring compared to other 4x games I've played (mainly Civ games of course) that I was sure I was missing something.

it is dependent on map gen because you can start on a huge continent with 4 or 5 other empires and have tons to do for that first 150 turns or you can end up on a smaller one and then you're thinking about colonization a lot earlier than you can get it
i think the biggest reason that later colonization works in this game as opposed to civ or other 4x where you get it earlier is that with tech in humankind you can make a settler that forms a pretty fully functioning city from the get-go whereas in civ especially you're building that place up from a 1 pop tiny city with maybe some bonuses to help you along

[Umbrul]

Yeah, I just also learned about the early modern thing in a recent game. I had spent a good amount of time building naval stuff just to land grab in a recent game...

Found some islands, found the tip of the 'new world' landmass. Realized my boats being able to reach it didn't mean my units could, after investing lots into that effort. Let's just say that entire game was another learning moment lmao