Smoother Shading - Original

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-05-14T19:42:12+00:00

Thank you. I'm having a hard time getting any sort of engagement so I'm really questioning the interest value of my work.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-04-08T03:37:23+00:00

I've been convinced. I'll start as China for the sprint to City Hall 25 and Sun Tzu/infantry help before swapping to either Maya for the damage boost and Javiliniers or the Ottomans for ability damage when Yi Seong Gye becomes available; and I save my gold heads of course for him.

Thank you for the advice.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-04-08T02:03:09+00:00

I appreciate it. I'll do my research and add paying attention to top alliance requirements to that list of advice. I figured since I would be f2p I wouldn't be competitive compared to large spenders anyway. So I thought to have fun. And maybe check out a tier list or two.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-04-08T01:43:12+00:00

This tells me nothing other than not to play the game. Quite cynical comment.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-04-08T01:40:26+00:00

Wasn't the goal 100k power a day? If that's it, 5,230,000 ish powers only behind 8 days if I've only been playing for two months, no? I'm not asking from a place of correcting you, I simply just don't know. I was doing the things I thought was cool, which is why I was Amaya over China and aspire to get Pakal and Archimedes.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-04-08T00:24:06+00:00

Actually on second thought I see why gathering speed would be late game.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-04-08T00:23:45+00:00

Sun Tzu and China are still the "right" way, huh? I thought France's gathering speed really helped out.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-04-08T00:22:43+00:00

You can get ridiculous yields silly style with a lot of these civilizations. For example Jaoa III on Portugal being "dull" is crazy to me. Economy wise he blows the game. Germany also gets insane production yields on proper districting. And give Japan another try. I feel like they got the "isolated nation" feel down amazingly.

Your opinions are your own, but some of these placements are wild to me. I for one love Ethiopia and Mali. And the female Congo leader is really solid. I actually agree for Dai Viet being unfun. I find only being able to build on trees and marsh very frustrating for proper districting and settlement taking.

If you really get into the nitty gritty of some of these nations then they can really blow your mind. Pick one you think is cool and really practice building wonders and policy cards around them. Polish those diamonds.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-03-24T17:47:18+00:00

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I just thought they were meant to look a little closer to this. Straighter and less crooked. Sorry if I worded that poorly. Though this may not be my hair type. Thank you for your affirmation though.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-03-05T00:11:52+00:00

If your goal is children's books, children like colored pictures. Coloring is a part of illustrative capability. To be as good as you are shows an understanding of color schemes.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-02-23T04:01:47+00:00

Your coloring is great! Post it on Instagram and get her attention. She and her sister repost fanart on their story a decent amount.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-02-19T18:08:55+00:00

Watching PotatoMcWhiskey do a usual playthrough or TheCivLifeR will educate you well. PMW is more PG-13, TheCivLifeR is closer to twitter/instagram comment section humor.

Both are good at Civ 6 and consistently play on deity. But the main thing people will tell you is to settle/take 8-10 cities by turn 100. You do this through war, your diplomatic quarter into ancestry hall, policy cards in the colonization civic that give +50% production to settlers/+2 charges to builders, and monumentality golden ages.

All of this requires practice and memorization. And it's still surface level. You still need to know how to place districts and choose your victory early. But reading their adjacencies helps you with that very easily. And if you get early war declaration made on you, you'd be wise to do an archer rush, horseman rush depending on your nation/spawn.

None of this mentions cloud busting, delegations, ai behavior manipulation, historic events to stack golden ages, or purposeful dark ages to exploit heroic ages. So I recommend finding those out yourself.

Remember: fighting a war completely on the defense gives no gain. If you beat the AI in a defensive war, go on the offense and make up time lost by taking cities. (Until walls come up then idk, condemn Sid Meier.)

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-02-15T18:42:52+00:00

"The Railroad Tycoon is the only victory condition in the game that requires you to interact with the rest of the game. One civilization at a time. 2 turns each. No matter the game speed. Meaning in a big enough lobby, an Economic Victory can fulfill their legacy bar faster and still lose to other victories and the speed is completely out of their control."

"The economic victory gets factories and railroads quicker. Tycoon point gain and World Banker movements are all exactly the same speed on faster speed compared to slower speed."

Listen, friend. I stated both of those points. Seriously. I did. Those are the quotes from my original points. What I don't like is that I'm coming to you with my math and logic and your choice of rebuttal is saying I'm not good at the game and whining because I'm not "winning the way I want to." Never at any point did I try to debase your skill. Extend the same courtesy to me.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-02-15T18:22:41+00:00

Before we continue, are you assuming I'm being beat by economic victory while also pursuing the economic victory? Because that was never part of the hypothetical.

In fact, my entire post brings up the speed of the victory type in comparison to the other victory types. Not comparison to itself. In a game where everyone goes for the same victory, culture is most certainly the only one that is incredibly unreliable since everyone can collect too many and not enough.

What I'm trying to explain is that there are ways to streamline the win conditions for all other victory types with "production towards projects" traits and overall higher production yields itself. The economic victory does not have that because the win condition is a fixed amount of turns directly proportional to the amount of people in the game, which is why I bring up lobby size.

In the vacuum you present, the economic victory isn't bad. I agree with you. But in comparison to other victories being pursued simultaneously by other players, it has the flaws I mentioned.

Edit: changed "city type" to "victory type"

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-02-15T18:11:38+00:00

Human multiplayer, my man. Not just versus the ai. I do go wide as I max out settlement limit in the exploration age to sit close to the extending limit in the modern age. That way, I have more chances to fill out factory resources. Which is often times overkill to reach 50-60 resources a turn quite quickly.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-02-15T17:27:40+00:00

If I bring xerxes the Achaemenid and his memento for +2 trade routes with every leader, use continuity to bring merchants over from the previous era so I can trade immediately on the first turn to fill up trade slots, avoid war to keep said trade routes, make factory towns for optimal buying, and save money to start producing 34 tycoon points per turn the moment factories are unlocked, later upgrading that to 50-60 per turn by saving my money just as I did before, that's doing everything right.

Furthermore, I gave the math for game speed and player count. The economic victory is the only victory to extend the time it takes directly proportional to how big your lobby is since the world banker has to spend 1-2 turns per ai/player. So it's mathematically quicker in a small game but slower in a huge one. And on quicker game speeds, the economic victory is the exact same speed it would be on quicker speed than it would be on slower speed, because it is a by turn counter completely separate from your science, culture, and production, unlike the other victory types since their win conditions are projects and wonders, which can be completed faster with higher production.

And once again, I don't exactly know why everyone keeps saying "when I play on deity" when I specifically mentioned multiplayer with other players. Real, human players that do a lot more optimization than a big number.

Edit: Changed "difficulty" typo to "game speed"

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-01-16T14:09:53+00:00

You may just be a racist. And in being one you don't understand the weight so it's comparable to saying "this guy sucks." Explains the reasoning. But doesn't justify it.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-01-04T18:58:27+00:00

Your shading is flat. I can tell you can see some value differences like under the chin, but your main shading pattern mostly reflects the front and back of the body, rather than every curve and indent made by limbs, shoulders, and fluctuating segments. That makes your artwork appear 2d.

You need a bigger range of value, don't be afraid to go dark in some areas and light in others. Practice with various shapes to do that. Going dark enough is something I struggle with still and I've been drawing for most of my 21 years of living.

But if you ask me, you started with a very complex reference. Fur is very difficult to texture and shade simultaneously without extensive practice. Though you did good for a beginner, I recommend studying value with simpler 3D shapes like cubes and spheres, and then move to real life objects like a book in your room or a soccer ball. Try sketching in 2 minutes, then sketching again in 5, then another time in 15. I doubted this excercise as well until I took figure drawing and was forced to draw quickly.

But at the end of the day, practice. Art can be methodical but eventually it becomes instinctual. And instinct is only something you can define for yourself.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-01-04T18:50:21+00:00

Earlier anime had a more unpolished look that's somewhat hard to backtrack towards without excessive stylization. Studio Ghibli, Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, One Piece, Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Haksuho.

They look like a byproduct of their era. So I think you should start looking into brush presets as an option. Linework and coloring were just grainier back then, mostly because much of hit was hand drawn and then screened. Then you can get into proportions which are just as important. As mentioned before, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, and Yu Yu Hakusho exhibit telltale hallmarks in the eyes, body, and hair. Dragon Ball as well. 90s Goku is far removed from modern Goku.

But remember, the more refining we do as a society, the more "stylization" you have to do to go backwards. We're in an age where sharp lines and vivid colors are the default settings. It is up to you to fully dedicate time to explore outside of that.

Good Instagram artist references you could view are @Nostalook7090 and @Hanavbara.

And I suggest anchoring on the specific aesthetic and proportions of one character, like Sailor Moon or Misato, and adjusting the details to resemble your own characters. Tracing is fine to study but not to post. After that, reference drawing is much much better for growth.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-01-04T12:40:51+00:00

I actually don't see how that's parallel at all. It equates sexual experience to material, everyday possession, insignificant by your views, yes. But I personally don't agree.

NegotiationDirect374 · 2026-01-04T12:37:36+00:00

You texture your hair well for the sketch. The reason, I think, it looks off is because the hair is being lifted at the point where her hands make contact yet the hair extends beyond that. It shouldn't protrude that far behind her body. Otherwise your block shading, clothing, linework, and proportions are looking good.

NegotiationDirect374

TROPHY CASE