Best Tall Empires?

Hello. I've recently been trying as many of the new civs as I can but I haven't yet seemed to decide which ones I really like. I generally go for a science/trade focused tall empire but with the BNW changes I'm considering going science/culture. Portugal seemed fairly decent, France seemed good but a little bland, and I haven't tried Morocco and Venice. I used to love the Dutch but I'm trying to play a new civ. Does anyone have recommendations? Have you found success playing any of the new civs tall?

For tall science/culture civs, you could probably do well with Korea, Babylon, Brazil, or even the Swedes (that great person generation works for great scientists and all that).

If you want say 4-5 cities with huge borders, and lots of pop like 20-30 by turn 200/250 I usually go India since the happiness isnt an issue after the cities are founded near luxuries. Than I just Wonder build like a mad man.

It depends on difficulty.

On Prince and below India is a great option, but becomes less and less so as difficulty goes up because starting happiness goes down.

On any level, Korea is quite good for science, with Inca being good for gold and production.

My top tall-civ, however, is the Aztec Empire. Aztecs get the best food-providing UB in the game, plus they quickly get culture in the beginning to help flesh out Tradition. And they are great at any level: on low levels, you will fight less wars and earn less culture that way, but you will grow taller without worrying about happiness, while at higher levels, you will fight more and earn more culture.

Litmus2336 said:

Hello. I've recently been trying as many of the new civs as I can but I haven't yet seemed to decide which ones I really like. I generally go for a science/trade focused tall empire but with the BNW changes I'm considering going science/culture. Portugal seemed fairly decent, France seemed good but a little bland, and I haven't tried Morocco and Venice. I used to love the Dutch but I'm trying to play a new civ. Does anyone have recommendations? Have you found success playing any of the new civs tall?

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I just finished a game as the Shoshone and played a tall empire. I won with a diplomatic victory. By the end of the game I was getting almost 400+ gold a turn generating more culture and tourism than I knew what to do with and I blazed through the tech tree. Was playing on King. I should probably think about moving to Emperor... but this game may have just been a fluke... we'll see.

But, I found their UA to be very helpful in getting my city pop up high enough when I needed it that I was never in shortage for the specialists that I needed to get whatever yield or great person I needed. That extra land they get really made a difference for me in making my cities flexible throughout the entire playthrough.

It might be worth checking Brazil out because their UI coupled with jungles gives you lots of tourism, culture, and science (+2 culture / science / gold / food with Universities and Acoustics). If you want to play a very money oriented civ Venice would probably be a better choice than Morocco or Portugal because their UA pulls in more cash and being forced into a OCC isn't a major drawback if you were already planning on playing tall.

What would you guys say is a good civ for a tall culture/religion-based empire?

Martinus said:

What would you guys say is a good civ for a tall culture/religion-based empire?

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Ethiopia:

UA helps defend and turtle up against wide civs.
UB helps generate faith immediately.
UU helps defend and turtle up in general.

And the UB is also a cultural building, so you'd normally build it quicker anyways if going culture.

ahawk said:

Ethiopia:

UA helps defend and turtle up against wide civs.
UB helps generate faith immediately.
UU helps defend and turtle up in general.

And the UB is also a cultural building, so you'd normally build it quicker anyways if going culture.

Click to expand...

This. As Ethiopians, aim for Stonehenge, found a religion, then get an enhancer that uses faith to purchase units and religious buildings.

What about France or Byzantium?

Venice is good, food from domestic trade route is insane. (you'll have to puppet some cities though.)

If you want to try one of the new civs, you might want to go for Poland. I had a very successful tall game with them (I won by culture). The Ducal Stables turned out to be really powerful as I spawned around a whole bunch of horses, and the extra social policy with each era is a really sweet advantage for pretty much any playing style I would imagine.

The new France is pretty good. I ended with a cultural victory (really close one) in a game that ended up being a one-city challenge (and I never played OOC). Only on Emperor though.

I was tucked in the very corner of a continent with Arabia and Marrokko blocking any expansion so I went for the OOC, since I got lots of food any many luxury copies.

France is pretty straight forward until the very late game, when you manage the Great Works, and the generation of Great Wirters/Artists/Musicians per era. Be prepared for a lot of swapping. But I think it is very rewarding. I could get theming bonuses in nearly all my wonders (incl. Louvre The late game is much more fun.

I like Sweden even more now thanks to the new GWAM and friendliness of the AI +80% GP generation at turn 200 is nothing to scoff at.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the City of Lights and Aesthetics tree finisher means France would get 4x the theming bonus in Paris or just 3x the theming bonus?

Because, I just thought of winning a Cultural Victory as OCC France with Louvre in it.

Seriously, take a look at the Shoshone. It's not immediately obvious, but almost everything they have rigs them to be a great Tall empire. Their UA means that your cities will easily be able to grab the best land they need quickly - and it doesn't add culture cost, either, so you'll still be picking up tiles at the same rate as the others, you just start with more. Never again worry that someone might steal that Iron 3 tiles away from your ideal city site!

Furthermore, the Pathfinders can really easily enable you to get down Tradition quick, which is a huge boon for a tall empire. Just grab Culture in the first ruin you find. This can grant you the Tradition policy as early as turn 1 or 2, meaning you'll be pushing out +4 culture a turn while everyone else is still at +1. In no time, you'll be able to take the policy for a free culture building in every city, reaching +6 culture and getting a free monument while everyone else is struggling to buy their first city tile.

Yes, Shoshone's good for tradition and tall empires.

EDIT: While not nearly as necessary, you can also grab Faith in your second ruin, resulting in a Pantheon at a time that even the Celts would envy.

Aztecs - UB works on total food not only surplus like most everything else .. It can beat multiple hangingGardens lategame ... Nothing else can grow nearly as tall the aztecs ...

Floating gardens FTW ..