Once again this post comes after the next Civilization is announced (Mongolia!) but I am going to delve further into The New Dutch Civilization. Much like I did with Korea, I will look at all of their unique benefits as well as how they work on normal randomized maps as well as TSL maps. The Netherlands are led by Queen Wilhelmina, one of their most well regarded leaders. This not only helps ring true to their lead designers goal, but helps get more bad ass ladies into the game. That is all good by me.
You can watch the full release video here.
The Netherlands unique ability is Grote Rivieren, which grants an adjacency bonus when Campus, Theatre Squares, and Industrial Zones are built next to a river. This benefit appears to be a plus 2 addition, which considering no other Civ is gettting that type of bonus, it is a very excellent ability. It also likely means that they will have a river/coastal starting bias. In addition to this bonus, they gain a culture bomb whenever they build a Harbor district. The term culture bomb refers to a situation where you grab tiles adjacent next to something. This ability is also possessed by Civ’s like Poland and Australia. Meaning the Dutch gain an excellent benefit from just about every District type, which is definitely a nice bonus. It’s with their unique improvement this ability really shines. The Polder can be built on specific water tiles with sufficient coastal tiles. The Polder grants production, gold and food. The food output is increased as you progress through the game. Similar to Indonesia, they can make use of water tiles in a way that few other Civilizations can. Their unique unit, the De Zeven Provincien, appears to be a replacement for the Frigate. It not only has more range and combat strength, but gets a specific benefit when attacking defensible districts. Finally Wilhelmina’s leader benefit is Radio Oranje. Internal trade routes gain plus one loyalty, which is one of the new mechanics in rise and fall. This will help keep Dutch cities, Dutch. Foreign Trade routes (including those your opponent sends to you) grant you 1 culture. This is a handy benefit too.
The Netherlands look to be an excellent tool box Civ. They have all the tools to make tall, thriving cities, even with just a few land tiles. Their inclination to be towards rivers will help guide you on where to settle further cities. If you can hit the jack pot with a coastal city with a river near by, you will have one of the best cities in the game. Their trade routes provide excellent utility and help protect against enemy influence. Their unique unit will be one of the most feared units on the sea. The one down side would be advanced settlement by an opponent. Similar to Brazil, who gets a massive benefit from Rain Forest tiles, cutting them off from their tiles is devastating. However, with benefits from both river and ocean, they will find success some where.
TSL is a different story. I expect True Start Netherlands to be a force in games. They will likely have their capital start next to a river and ocean, helping tremendously. Their Districts will be better than those of their opponents, and their Polder will allow them to maximize little space to great effect. You will need to make sure you have some early defenses, or Norway will be a quick adversary in the North. With their unique unit, they will be able to keep up with Britain to the West. It is your land adversaries to the West, East, and South that will be problematic. Germany, Russia, and Poland will be your biggest problems. Germany will be aggressive, but you can cur some early favor with them by avoiding City States. Poland has the ability to cut into your land with their culture bomb ability. Russia naturally grabs more land. You will likely need to either look at early aggression towards them, or hope that they attack each other. Or you will find yourself cut off from the rest of the European Continent. That said, once the Viking Longships are obsolete, you could conversely conquer Norway. It is also very likely that you will have an edge on the fight with England.
Unlike Korea, the utility the Dutch have will allow them to survive a TSL map easily. This same utility will allow them to escape the pitfall’s other resource specific Civilization’s. Their clearest victory option appears to be Culture, but their benefits and strong Maritime focus mean that you could conquer your enemies by sea. I for one cannot wait for my chance to play with the Netherlands, and find out how ridiculously tall I can make my cities. Stay tuned, my look at the Mongolian’s are next.
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