One thing you didn't mention is Japan has a very easy time getting Golden Ages and stringing them together because they have such an easy time getting high adjacencies on their districts and earning era points that way. This ends up being very significant over the course of a game. One missed opportunity I see with Samurai as a unique unit is their placement on the tech tree; they become obsolete really fast and require you to take one of the most skipped techs in the game. I think Samurai would've been much more useful if they were a bit stronger (closer to or equal to musketmen) and unlocked with Feudalism. This would've been incredibly good for the Japanese for a few reasons: 1) It fits the civ historically very well. 2) It would allow Japan to focus on culture instead of science (which they are arguably stronger at) while still being competent militarily through the Renaissance Era (once again historically more akin to how Japan actually developed). 3) It would allow Japan to focus their tech progression on the top line of the tech tree, where they get their most civ-specific bonuses (Better boats, shipyards, Electronics factory etc). I think that change alone would've made the civ alot more synergistic and historically appropriate.
Good call, once more historically accurate is how far behind they were in the Industrial Age (behind in science) would also correlate with them being a culturally progressed civ
Great review again Saxy I found getting a Cultural Victory easy for Japan from all those adjecency bonuses. Hojo's the edgiest leader in this game IMO its actually funny XD
Greetings! Civ vet here, played 2, 4, 5, and recently got 6. I've been binging your vids over the past few days as 6 is more complicated than previous versions. In my current game I'm playong Japan, warly game with two cities adjacent to volcanos for lulz
I think that you should've either given them a B on tech or an S on culture, because I think it's pretty obvious that they have a larger culture advantage. They build theater squares in half the time and gain culture from their electronics factory, whereas they don't have any direct science advantages (only the indirect adjacency buffs which theater squares also get)
Honestly Japan is at least S- tier for multiplayer, Maybe A+ if you're playing on a Pangea map. Flexibility is so important for keeping tech pace as well as denying tourism. Combat-wise, fast encampment --> samurai --> muskets makes it easy to defend as well as providing an optional timing attack for domination games
All A for me. And S overall. This Civ work with every kind of map, every kind of victory type. And you don't have to plan the districts placement so much to be good, so it's perfect for beginners. I like to go with military religion (zen meditation/crusade) in ancient/classical era, go to war in medieval/renaissance, science victory to finish.
The nice thing with Japanese is it is consistent regarding pronunciation. You always verbalize the vowel and the vowels are always said the same way. A like the a in at, E like the e in enough, I like the e in key, o like oh, u like oo. Also they surprisingly used the Japanese name order so his clan name is Hojo and given name is Tokimune. That one I know from playing as the Hojo clan in the Total War shogun games. Thanks a million for these videos Saxy; I am just getting into this game as of last week and these videos have helped even the playing field between me and my friends who have been playing for much longer :)
How long does it take you to get through a game? It takes like a week for me to get through a match. When i played Civ Rev on ps3 it could be started and finished the same day. Hell, could possibly do multiple matches in a day.
Some people play extremely fast, some are more chill. Me for example, all my games are extremely long because I have youtube or twitch on my second screen
This is super late reply, but I just bought the game, playing it for the first time, and playing on online speed on Prince difficulty, I finished a game in mostly 5-6 hours, 2-3 days of gaming, or one long weekend session.
You want to know what bugs me about Hojo? His pre-game description that is told to you while the game loads makes you think that he is a pure religious leader. But his special abilities and unique units make Hojo to be far more of a domination civ.
Also, how the heck is Japan not S tier for religious victory? Any Civ that gets bonuses to founding a religion automatically gets at least an A which Japan has with their increased production to Holy Sites. On top of that, they got increased faith yields from adjacencies due to Meiji Restoration AND their religious units get bonus combat strength when fighting in shallow water tiles and coastal tiles. The strength of their culture and science games also help them get important techs and civics related to Religion so if all this doesn’t make them a top tier Religious Civ I don’t know what does.
@@HenriqueRJchiki They are not just decent at religious victory. They are, in fact, one of the best. I'll explain it again: They get 50% cheaper Holy Sites and better Holy Site adjacency that is not reliant on terrain. They are one of the best Civs in the game at founding a religion in the first place and especially because the AI now picks actually GOOD religious beliefs first now it is actually important to get 1st-3rd religion instead of getting it 4th-5th. Yes, Japan is good at most victory types but it just blows my mind how people are overlooking how good it is at religion.
Historically, it was Japan in the 80s and 90s that was the world powerhouse in knockoff electronics production. The move to China for this labor came after. Made in Japan, then, had a similar reputation to 'made in china' does now.
I like how the Japanese have invented electronics even before electricity was discovered.
They got it after Al Gore invented the internet so they were able to skip the electricity part.
One thing you didn't mention is Japan has a very easy time getting Golden Ages and stringing them together because they have such an easy time getting high adjacencies on their districts and earning era points that way. This ends up being very significant over the course of a game.
One missed opportunity I see with Samurai as a unique unit is their placement on the tech tree; they become obsolete really fast and require you to take one of the most skipped techs in the game. I think Samurai would've been much more useful if they were a bit stronger (closer to or equal to musketmen) and unlocked with Feudalism. This would've been incredibly good for the Japanese for a few reasons:
1) It fits the civ historically very well.
2) It would allow Japan to focus on culture instead of science (which they are arguably stronger at) while still being competent militarily through the Renaissance Era (once again historically more akin to how Japan actually developed).
3) It would allow Japan to focus their tech progression on the top line of the tech tree, where they get their most civ-specific bonuses (Better boats, shipyards, Electronics factory etc).
I think that change alone would've made the civ alot more synergistic and historically appropriate.
Good call, once more historically accurate is how far behind they were in the Industrial Age (behind in science) would also correlate with them being a culturally progressed civ
And it happened with the samurai
When the Japanese theme starts playing with that long flute note
I felt that
Great beginner civ. First deity victory was with Japan.
Hell my very first victory was with them as well
Germany user here.
I had my first culture victory as Japan by ACCIDENT! I was going for science and it sucked
Great review again Saxy I found getting a Cultural Victory easy for Japan from all those adjecency bonuses. Hojo's the edgiest leader in this game IMO its actually funny XD
Thanks! He is comically edgy sometimes lol
Greetings! Civ vet here, played 2, 4, 5, and recently got 6. I've been binging your vids over the past few days as 6 is more complicated than previous versions. In my current game I'm playong Japan, warly game with two cities adjacent to volcanos for lulz
This dude once defeated me in a religious victory on turn 150 because I was careless fml
great video i suggest you make full beginners guide how to play the game in-depth unit , tech , civc ,etc
Thanks! I'm slowly piecing that stuff together with the tips and in-depth series, so eventually we'll have a full guide haha
I think that you should've either given them a B on tech or an S on culture, because I think it's pretty obvious that they have a larger culture advantage. They build theater squares in half the time and gain culture from their electronics factory, whereas they don't have any direct science advantages (only the indirect adjacency buffs which theater squares also get)
Honestly Japan is at least S- tier for multiplayer, Maybe A+ if you're playing on a Pangea map. Flexibility is so important for keeping tech pace as well as denying tourism. Combat-wise, fast encampment --> samurai --> muskets makes it easy to defend as well as providing an optional timing attack for domination games
Wow. Thanks for this! I was actually looking for this on your channel awhile ago.
All A for me. And S overall. This Civ work with every kind of map, every kind of victory type. And you don't have to plan the districts placement so much to be good, so it's perfect for beginners. I like to go with military religion (zen meditation/crusade) in ancient/classical era, go to war in medieval/renaissance, science victory to finish.
yes the Mecha robot
Great vid as always. Just in case you reference Hojo is future vids his last name is pronounced Toe-K Moo-Nay.
Thanks! Pronunciation always kills me haha
The nice thing with Japanese is it is consistent regarding pronunciation. You always verbalize the vowel and the vowels are always said the same way. A like the a in at, E like the e in enough, I like the e in key, o like oh, u like oo. Also they surprisingly used the Japanese name order so his clan name is Hojo and given name is Tokimune. That one I know from playing as the Hojo clan in the Total War shogun games.
Thanks a million for these videos Saxy; I am just getting into this game as of last week and these videos have helped even the playing field between me and my friends who have been playing for much longer :)
How long does it take you to get through a game? It takes like a week for me to get through a match. When i played Civ Rev on ps3 it could be started and finished the same day. Hell, could possibly do multiple matches in a day.
A week is a bit short in ky experience, but thats what I like about civ games! :D
Some people play extremely fast, some are more chill. Me for example, all my games are extremely long because I have youtube or twitch on my second screen
@@josephzanes7334 I usually go through a whole game on standard speed in around 4 or 5 hours.
This is super late reply, but I just bought the game, playing it for the first time, and playing on online speed on Prince difficulty, I finished a game in mostly 5-6 hours, 2-3 days of gaming, or one long weekend session.
Japan is the civ I always advice to play first. Since they are so versatile and have next to no weakness at all.
hes soooo good. OP for me.
You want to know what bugs me about Hojo? His pre-game description that is told to you while the game loads makes you think that he is a pure religious leader. But his special abilities and unique units make Hojo to be far more of a domination civ.
Really? I thought he was always a pretty cultural civ from his abilities
Every civ have unique units but there not all dom leaders lol hes 100% religious/culture civ
Hojo Masako(Yoritomo's wife) became a nun and took over the Hojo clan with here brother.
That's why there is the religion undertone.
Also, how the heck is Japan not S tier for religious victory? Any Civ that gets bonuses to founding a religion automatically gets at least an A which Japan has with their increased production to Holy Sites. On top of that, they got increased faith yields from adjacencies due to Meiji Restoration AND their religious units get bonus combat strength when fighting in shallow water tiles and coastal tiles. The strength of their culture and science games also help them get important techs and civics related to Religion so if all this doesn’t make them a top tier Religious Civ I don’t know what does.
They're decent, that's it.
@@HenriqueRJchiki They are not just decent at religious victory. They are, in fact, one of the best. I'll explain it again: They get 50% cheaper Holy Sites and better Holy Site adjacency that is not reliant on terrain. They are one of the best Civs in the game at founding a religion in the first place and especially because the AI now picks actually GOOD religious beliefs first now it is actually important to get 1st-3rd religion instead of getting it 4th-5th. Yes, Japan is good at most victory types but it just blows my mind how people are overlooking how good it is at religion.
Good video! I agree that Hojo is an excellent Civ.
Can someone help me how to get the meiji restoration achievements?
I always thought "Divine Wind" was a euphemism, for farting ...?
Divine Wind is the Anti fart!
It's probably a referrence to the two hurricanes that destroyed the invading Mongol navies.
Has there been a Civ game where Japan wasnt strong af?
Civ 5.
Aparently it is low tier in revolution
If you give Japan an A in science Korea deserves a B in my opinion. Using holy sites and getting monumentallity golden ages is super OP
Korea is literally the best science civ in the game and one of the best overall, are you on crack?
Uhh you need to build atleast 3 other districts in the same city to get a +4 campus while korea builds it half time and gets instant +4 adj
The electronics factory should have been for China, for obvious reasons
Historically, it was Japan in the 80s and 90s that was the world powerhouse in knockoff electronics production. The move to China for this labor came after. Made in Japan, then, had a similar reputation to 'made in china' does now.