In my opinion, at least. How good? Try "call in sick, play the game all day, get my wife pissed off at me" good.
It's my second game, the first one I got my butt handed to me. I learnt real quick that if you expand too slow, the AI will swamp you. They spawn cities like roaches- they'll seek out every scrap of arable land and plop a city down. With the scarcity of resources, you have to secure at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the continent you start on in order to land a decent supply of goods.
The trading system is just great. This time around I lucked into massive saltpeter deposits. I gave away the Gunpowder advance to every civ not on my continent, and then turned around and made them pay through the nose for saltpeter. I'd start the Gunpowder exchange by saying, "OK, the first hit's free..."
After setting up the Greater American Co-Prosperity Sphere, I set about building up my infrastructure. I wasn't too concerned with the Aztecs/Iroquois on my continent, as I had saltpeter and they didn't.
Well, that didn't sit too well with the Aztecs. The minute I changed my government to Democracy their darn Jaguar Warriors poured over my borders. I was in Anarchy so I couldn't build anything, and I swear the AI took advantage of that. I got a little nervous and ordered them out of my territory.
Then they declared war.
There were pitched battles all over my southern regions, which just happened to hold my saltpeter deposits. When I finally emerged from Anarchy, I enacted Democracy and set about building a War Machine to teach those Aztecs a lesson. The Aztecs did a fine job of cutting my road networks and almost cutting me out of my saltpeter supply, but the first wave of Knights stopped their advance and then my Cannons bludgeoned them back.Gradually my superior technology and industry ground the Aztecs down, but it was by no means a foregone conclusion. In fact, it was a stalemate until I allied with the Iroquois and gained Cavalry units.
The war ended with me reclaiming the two cities I lost, and a couple more- with many Aztec slave workers (UberKrux would be proud ). I also seized a key wine making region I'd had my eyes on for a 1000 years.
Oh, and War Exhaustion in Democracy is brutal. By the end I had my Luxuries jacked up to 70% to quell the unrest. If I hadn't really wanted those wines, I'd have quit long before, the Exhaustion was killing me.
Sure there are some things wrong with the game, but luckily for me the lack of MP, Scenarios, an accurate World Map, etc. don't bother me a whit. In fact the only thing that bugs me is the "learning AI" for builds constantly prompts for Military units, if it perceives that you are weak compared to your neighbors. I guess my advisor dislikes the fact that I never build military until I'm at war. My empire's lack of an army must make her nervous.
I'm going to bed. Hmmm.... maybe I'll call in sick again tomorrow.
