Suggestion for next civ to play?

Been playing Civ off and on for about a year now. I have both expansions, have some essential mods (namely RED, Smart AI, some of JFD's custom civs, among other minor tweaks). Today I just finished playing as Arabia and won a scientific victory on prince difficulty, small Pangaea. Very satisfying, but now I'm kind of wondering what civ to play next. Not aiming for any new victory type, since I've won all four types.

Currently I'm trying to decide between the following:

1. Ethiopia for culture victory
2. America for domination or diplomatic
3. China for science or domination

I've played through these civs:
England (dom), Rome (dom), Greece (diplo), Japan (dom), France (cul), Russia (dom).

Any ideas?

China is my favourite of the three.

2 gold from librarys, crossbows that fire twice and so earn extra xp towards those strong Generals.

Mahasona said:

China is my favourite of the three.

2 gold from librarys, crossbows that fire twice and so earn extra xp towards those strong Generals.

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I take it China is better for a war-wager like me. haha

Some other civs I thought of were the Ottomans, the Aztecs or the Songhai for domination.

China is pretty good.

Other good civs for domination are the Mongols and the Zulus.

China it is, then. For extra fun, going to add in the Mongols, Zulus and Songhai as other players. In my Arabia game, I had Morocco, Songhai, Ottomans, Ethiopia and the Mongols as other civs. Askia and Genghis Khan were the most aggressive out of everyone, and I had to come to the defense of my CS allies and the Ottomans. Askia wouldn't leave him Suleiman alone. lol

If you want to advance your play and enable yourself to be successful at higher difficulty levels, I'd advise not picking a victory condition before starting a game. How the map is set up, both in terms of available resources and your position on the map, as well as the composition of your neighbors, the way that diplomacy develops, and city-states that are near you (and what quests they prompt) often can make one victory condition easier and another victory condition the equivalent of banging your head against a wall.

Conversely, if you're happy at prince and just want to rock on, try tradition Egypt with monuments to the gods and roll up a good production capital. Then slingshot yourself a few eras ahead of everyone else and you can win any way you want.

That's the same thing I've been reading from a lot of Civilization vets. You have to be flexible and sometimes go for a different victory if one becomes untenable. I'm not ready to move onto King yet, since I've only won 2 games (Rome and aformentioned Arabia) on prince. I guess once I've done China, I'll move on to King.

Incidentally, I've heard some horror stories about higher difficulties. Figured that it's better to just stick to King for a workout and not move up if you want to avoid frustration. Thoughts?

historyman101 said:

Incidentally, I've heard some horror stories about higher difficulties. Figured that it's better to just stick to King for a workout and not move up if you want to avoid frustration. Thoughts?

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If you're getting comfortable victories on one difficulty level, you won't have too many problems with the next one. I didn't find too much difference in difficulty between Prince and Emperor, but I played a few games at each difficulty to ease myself up the ladder. I found it was easier to improve my play by playing on a higher difficulty than sticking with the same one.

With that being the case, I figure China will be my last game on Prince, then. May also be my last game on a "small" map as well.

When I get to King, is there a good civ to help me introduce? I was going to try Ethiopia on King, since I don't really know what to expect.

I would encourage to play standard size maps. They are a little harder, but each games means getting exposed to more of the AI personalities. So you have a chance to get a feeling as to what aspects of each AI personality is pretty consistent game-to-game.

historyman101 said:

..
When I get to King, is there a good civ to help me introduce? I was going to try Ethiopia on King, since I don't really know what to expect.

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Maya:
- can build archers(atlatists) from start. Good for defense and for hunting barbarians
- Pyramid: shrine replacement that gives science. This building makes you as good as ethiopia for religion and babylon for science combined
- you get free great persons. Can never go wrong with that.

If you decide to play America, I would recommend to play a fast tech start with a beeline to Education first (for Universities) and then to Gunpowder. Delay Rifling (especially if you are ahead) so that you can build as many Minutemen as possible. They keep their bonuses when upgrading, so warfare in the second half of the game can be a lot of fun...especially on larger maps.

China is another good choice for all of the reasons mentioned already.

If you decide to play the Maya as suggested above, make sure you beeline Theocracy. You want to get the maximum benefit from your UA, and your Long Count doesn't start until you research Theocracy.

Best of luck and have fun!

Absolutely. China is a great domination Civ

historyman101 said:

Incidentally, I've heard some horror stories about higher difficulties. Figured that it's better to just stick to King for a workout and not move up if you want to avoid frustration. Thoughts?

Click to expand...

First, I'd advise against going up a difficulty level and simultaneously changing the map size. It's similar to the scientific method; by testing one variable (change in difficulty or change in map size) against a control group (your previous experience) you can identify the effects of the variable, whereas if you add two variables (change in difficulty and map size) you don't know which variable is the cause of the new data. Or more simply, don't overwhelm yourself.


More to add, but have CPR class tonight. Check in later

I'll be honest, historyman101:

I played quit a bit at Prince level and went up to King. After a game or two, I said the heck with it and moved right up to Emperor. And I've been playing it since. I've tried a few Immortal games, but I admit I'm not quite ready.

But part of the problem is that I usually play pangea, standard map, and epic speed. And I only play a few hours a night. A full game could take me a week or more to finish.

Update: Currently playing China in a "small" Pangaea, prince difficulty, and having a lot of fun. Right now, I'm aiming (albeit slowly) for a domination victory. I'm currently at 880 AD, have a good-sized army, three cities and a weak neighbor ripe for the picking (the Zulu, surprisingly). Mongols are right above, so will have to make a diplomatic deal with them before going in for the kill. I also have a friend in Siam and Japan. Japan and Songhai are at war, though on the other side of the continent.

When I have a free moment I will post a screenshot of the map.

Given what everyone has said, I'm definitely switching to King after I win this game, whenever that happens. Will NOT switch map size until I'm comfortable with King.

The next civ on my list will be America, since I'm itching to try out the minuteman. May try it with the Native American civs, seems fitting haha.

^^I'm playing as Washington righty now. And it's going pretty good.

I rushed education and am now rushing gunpowder (minutemen). And very early in the game (epic speed).

I figure that the minutemen will hold off any attacks from their pikes or swordsmen

The salt start helped. My production is fanstastic, and even with only two cities I'm leading everything. And I haven't even hit the Renaissance yet.

You will love playing America.

Docbud it sounds like the best strat for America is to hold off on warring until you get the UU. I've only played on Standard speed, so that brings up another question I have: say I only wanted to play in one era. I myself like the Renaissance and Industrial eras, right when gunpowder units are coming into play. (I'm a sucker for Napoleonic warfare ). Would it be possible to stick to those eras if I played on epic?

Anyway, moving on. I know that by this point I'm getting a little off-topic, but here are the screenshots as I promised. There are three.

Currently at 1200 AD, and the war was short and victorious. The Zulu are no more, but insodoing I've pissed off everyone else (except Mongolia, since they wanted me to join them). Right now I have a choice to make. Of course, it's too early to start a new war, but I feel like I have to decide who to take off next.

Siam has only two cities, and I could easily flank him through the desert you see. Alternatively I could embark my entire army and sweep up Songhai and Japan from the south. I could also just wait it out a little bit (happiness is dipping right now), and maybe start again when I get the first gunpowder units. However I want to still make use of my Chu-Ko-Nus.

Thoughts?

Mongolian UUs are the far best in entire game. If you want to go for DV, just pick the Mongols and trample entire map with Keshik+Khan armies.

Aztecs, Arabia and Incas are also very fun to play