Favorite Civ (G&k and DLC included)

Persia. 60+ turn Golden Ages.

I like Spain's UUs the best. I like Austria's and Carthage's UAs. I like the Ottomans for immersiveness.

England, so far. Very well balanced (the extra spy in G&K is so clutch playing on emperor/immortal since I often find myself falling behind in tech right around the Renascence, and later use it to control one more key city-state so that I can ignore Patronage policy in favor of Commerce). I think overall, I prefer range/movement bonuses on my UUs as opposed to higher unit strength numbers, since it really lets you plan out more advanced military strategies and abuse the terrain. England has both (movement in seas, extra range in longbowmen + upgrades).

Haven't played Mongolia yet (saving it, since historically it's my favorite civ), but I imagine I'll very much enjoy the Keshiks/Khan combo =D.

One Civ I tried and I was surprised that I didn't enjoy was the Aztec. There's just not enough enemy units in the game to truly take advantage of the UA, and so many cities in the way, slow down my progress (lose 2 turns at least to take each city; not to mention the ensuing happiness juggling). Building Jaguars also really hurts your early game infrastructure. Meh =/

adwcta said:

England
One Civ I tried and I was surprised that I didn't enjoy was the Aztec. There's just not enough enemy units in the game to truly take advantage of the UA, and so many cities in the way, slow down my progress (lose 2 turns at least to take each city; not to mention the ensuing happiness juggling). Building Jaguars also really hurts your early game infrastructure. Meh =/

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A good tactic (at least one I use) for avoiding a slow early economy is to not build any scouts at all - instead build a Jaguar straight away. That gives you 2 Jaguars right off the bat (you can always build a few more later on) to explore your immediate surroundings. Yes, you might lose out on goody huts but you save yourself some valuable production time and when you see some barbs you want to take out then you will have 2 Jaguars at the ready to farm that culture. This works well with any early UU but especially the Jaguars for their terrain movement and culture bonuses

my current top five in terms of who I just have fun playing as:

(in no particular order)

England
Netherlands
France
Sweden
Carthage

Honorable Mention to Aztecs

Great question... English for their navy (I love the Navy), Ethiopia for their culture, Korea for their Science...

I guess if I had to pick one it'd be Arabia for their economics... Followed by the USA for their expansionism, then the English for the Navy.

I love Babylon's colors though.... Sexy sexy sexy.

Least favorite Civs are Persia and France and Mongolia.

Overall: Mayans Korea Byzantium
Science: Korea Babylon Mayans
Diplomatic: Greece Sweden Arabia
Culture: Egypt India Aztecs
Domination (Pangaea): China Russia Mongolia
Domination (Water-based): England Ottomans Carthage

Best Unique:
Units:
Melee: Battering Ram (Huns) Mohawk Warrior (Iroquois) Carolean (Sweden)
Mounted: Keshik (Mongolia) Camel Archer (Arabia) Horse Archer
Ranged: Chu-Ko-Nu (China) Keshik (Mongolia) B17 (America)

Best Buildings: Pyramid (Mayan) Stele (Ethiopia) Longhouse (Iroquois)

Best Ability: The Long Count (Mayan), Scholars of the Jade Hall (Korea), Siberian Riches (Russia)

Best Peace Music: Sweden or Byzantium
Best War Music: Huns
Best Aesthetically-Pleasing Unique unit: H'wacha

Favorite Overall: Celtic. Their religion rush, UU and UB make them viable both for tall or wide configurations and any victory type. They're just so well balanced overall that they feel good to play no matter what type of game you want.

Favorite "Early Game" Civ: Maya. Pyramid and Atlatlist give their early game a huge bump, and if you rush Theology, you'll spam out GPs before you ever hit Renaissance.
Favorite "Midgame" Civ: England. If you are anywhere but in the middle of a Pangea, you can absolutely steamroll people between Longbows and SotLs
Favorite "Late Game" Civ: Sweden. Carolean spam will end you up with an army of "free March" GWI/Infantry/Mech Infantry, you'll spam GPs when you need them for big pushes to VCs, and can get any CS ally you want.

Favorite Leader: Montezuma (Aztec). No matter what you think about him, he always puts on a show and makes things interesting.
Favorite UA: Siberian Riches (Russia). It can let you literally "fund" an army even with scarce Strategics, or allow you bonus gold trades.
Favorite UU: Camel Archer (Arabia). Guerilla hit-and-runs.
Favorite UB: Coffee House (Austria). A Windmill and Garden rolled into one that you can build on Hills and without Rivers? Sick.

ekat2468 said:

Carolean (Sweden)

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Wondering why it took so long for this to come up. The Carolean is unstoppable.