Chapter 169: First Discovery

Frank frantically shook his head, and only then did he finally figure out what this [Civics Tree] was all about. It was like the Technology Tree, except it leaned more toward the cultural side. 

"Oh, man. My brain's getting overloaded." 

Frank was finding it harder and harder to hold on.  

So, this was what a next-generation game was like? The amount of stuff they had crammed into it was insane! They had been in the game for nearly half an hour, and he still hadn't even finished the first turn. 

When he saw that the option activated by pressing A had finally changed to [Next Turn], Frank finally breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Okay, okay. We finally made it through the first turn, so then..." 

"Hey, wait." 

Mike suddenly stopped him. "Look at these Civic boosts. They give you bonuses to your progress. So don't you think the Technology Tree might have something similar..." 

Frank fell silent for a moment, then found the button and reopened the Technology Tree. Sure enough, aside from the first three technologies, every subsequent technology had its own boost condition. 

Things like "Meet another civilization" or "Kill 1 unit with a Slinger"... 

"So... when we're researching technologies, we also have to keep an eye on these... uh... 'Inspirations'?" 

"Looks like it." 

"Okay, okay, so that's how we're playing it?" 

Frank took a deep breath and silently pressed Next Turn. The new wave of information he had expected didn't happen, instead, there was an extremely stark contrast with before: complete silence, as nothing happened. 

Aside from the number of turns remaining until Washington's population grew and the number of turns remaining to produce the Scout both decreasing, there was no additional content whatsoever. 

During the second turn, Frank did nothing except move his little stick around a few more steps. 

"At least now I finally have a chance to catch my breath." 

It seemed that what had happened before was simply because they had just entered the game and a huge set of mechanics had been thrown directly in their faces, leaving them struggling to process it all 

As long as they temporarily put all that stuff aside, it didn't seem quite so complicated. Wasn't it just controlling characters and exploring the map? Wasn't that basically how a tactical strategy game worked? 

On the third turn, Washington's territory automatically expanded one tile to the west, toward a [Perfume] resource. Other than that, there were still no unexpected events. 

Until… Frank moved the Warrior across another river called the "Missouri River." 

A unit suddenly appeared at the edge of his field of vision. It was a Scout, except its color was completely different from Frank's own dark blue; it was a combination of red and black, symbolizing danger. 

[Barbarian — Scout] 1

"??" 

Although Frank had no idea what was going on, judging from his experience with Fire Emblem, when you encountered a unit like this, you either ran or fought. 

Barbarians... 

Come to think of it, it actually made sense. After all, according to the setting, they were still in the Ancient Era. Wasn't it perfectly normal to run into some barbarian tribes in this era? 

But surely once his technology advanced, he would be able to crush them effortlessly with next-generation units, right? Mm-hmm, that had to be it.  

After all, they were just Barbarians spawned around the map. How advanced could their equipment possibly be? 

"Huh? The Scout only has 10 combat strengths, while my Warrior has a full 20. Looks like I can actually beat it?" 

Thinking about it carefully, that made sense too. Scouts, after all, must have sacrificed combat strength in exchange for greater movement and vision. Unfortunately, the Warrior's movement was too limited. Even though Frank wanted to beat the crap out of that guy right now, he couldn't do it. 

"Doesn't matter. I'll chase him down next turn." 

Frank sounded relaxed. The easy and pleasant few turns had finally allowed him to recover from the shock of the first turn. This was more like it. Things needed to be this simple, that made the game much easier to play. 

Unfortunately, Civilization was destined not to be a casual game. Before he could enjoy a few more relaxed turns, the first Civic, [Code of Laws], was completed. 

At the same time, he received one red and one yellow Policy Slot, along with two corresponding cards for each. So, this was how it was, there was no end to learning. 

"Hey, Frank, look at this. This card gives all your cities +1 Production. What does that mean?" 

"Not just that, this one gives +1 Gold and +1 Faith." 

"I know what these two are. Look at the top bar on the screen." 

In the upper-left corner were four different colored icons arranged in order. 

A blue glass bottle, a purple musical note, a white... wing? And a golden coin. Clearly, the bonuses provided by the card called [God King] were the final two things on the bar. 

Faith and Gold. 

"Right? Oh, yeah, yeah... Wait, no, no..." 

Frank nodded, then shook his head, becoming increasingly confused. There was no doubt that this was how things worked, but the problem was, where the hell did those whole numbers for Science and Culture come from? 

Even if they ignored those, what the hell was Production supposed to be? 

"..." 

Frank suddenly realized that he hadn't actually been given a break earlier. He simply hadn't noticed all these mechanics that hadn't been explained directly.  

After searching around for a while, Frank finally figured out where all those precise numbers were coming from. 

Washington. 

He opened the information panel for the capital, Washington. In the detailed information bar at the bottom, there was a list of values similar to those in the top bar, except there was also an additional icon depicting corn. 

No need to ask. That had to be Food, right? 

"Let's see... Science is 6. Four comes from improved tiles, and two comes from buildings." 

What? What was all this supposed to mean? What were improved tiles? And what did buildings have to do with it? 

Frank had only just relaxed when another wave of information suddenly came crashing down on him.  

After another painstaking search, he finally found a checkbox in the options menu called [Show Yield Icons]. 

Once he checked it, corresponding icons appeared on the tiles, telling players exactly what kind of yields each tile provided. 

"This cow tile has 3 Food, 2 Science, and 2 Culture. What the hell? Is this an alien cow?" 

It made sense for the capital's tile to have Science and Culture, but why did this cow have bonuses too? The other tiles were practically dirt-poor, and most of them didn't even provide more than two points of either Production or Food. 

This cow didn't provide any Production, but it sure as hell wasn't lacking in the other yields. 

"Wait, wait! I remember now. It's Roosevelt!" 

Mike suddenly shouted, startling the other two into looking at him. 

Seeing their confused expressions, Mike's eyes lit up as he explained, "Oh, come on, it's Roosevelt! You guys forgot? Roosevelt's ability says that tiles with Breathtaking Appeal adjacent to a Natural Wonder or Mountain gain +2 Science, while tiles with Breathtaking Appeal adjacent to a Wonder or Woods gain +2 Culture." 

They took one look at the cow tile. It was adjacent to mountains on two sides, while a forest tile sat directly across the river. 

Wasn't that a perfect match for the description of the ability? 

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