Favorite Civilization in Civ 5?

Who's You're favorite Civ in Civ 5?

  • America

    Votes: 5 4.2%
  • Arabia

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Aztec

    Votes: 8 6.8%
  • Babylon

    Votes: 15 12.7%
  • China

    Votes: 9 7.6%
  • Egypt

    Votes: 7 5.9%
  • England

    Votes: 3 2.5%
  • France

    Votes: 11 9.3%
  • Germany

    Votes: 2 1.7%
  • Greece

    Votes: 2 1.7%
  • Inca

    Votes: 8 6.8%
  • India

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Iroquois

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Japan

    Votes: 4 3.4%
  • Mongolia

    Votes: 2 1.7%
  • Ottomans

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Persia

    Votes: 5 4.2%
  • Polynesia

    Votes: 4 3.4%
  • Rome

    Votes: 7 5.9%
  • Russia

    Votes: 3 2.5%
  • Siam

    Votes: 3 2.5%
  • Songhai

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Spain

    Votes: 4 3.4%
  • Denmark

    Votes: 6 5.1%
  • Korea

    Votes: 5 4.2%

  • Total voters
    118
  • Poll closed .
Okay last question... How about Japan?
Japan's UU and UA are both tied to warmongering. If you can find iron deposits near you when you get to Samurai, you're in luck. They can chew up almost anything the opposition can throw at you, without losing a beat due to the UA.

Do note that Japanese units can still die if left unattended with low HP. That's the Japanese UA's drawback- You might get a shock when playing other civs due to the lack of Japanese UA, so I won't recommend Japan to an absolute beginner- might give him/her the wrong habits with regards to unit management and tactics.
 
@ Poomer I think Rome is far better than average in comparison to all the others. The Legion is one of the best UUs in the game (can build roads/cheaper to upgrade/13-11 stronger combat than swordsman). Their UA is strong as well. I'll agree about Greece, in fact its probably been rendered below average.

I would actually recommend Rome, as well as China as a starter Civ. I agree with your point about getting "spoiled" by playing Civs like Babylon. It great to mix it up and try different Civs.

Another Civ with amazing upside is Persia. I'm a little surprised Persia isn't getting more attention.
 
@ Poomer I think Rome is far better than average in comparison to all the others. The Legion is one of the best UUs in the game (can build roads/cheaper to upgrade/13-11 stronger combat than swordsman). Their UA is strong as well. I'll agree about Greece, in fact its probably been rendered below average.

I would actually recommend Rome, as well as China as a starter Civ. I agree with your point about getting "spoiled" by playing Civs like Babylon. It great to mix it up and try different Civs.

Another Civ with amazing upside is Persia. I'm a little surprised Persia isn't getting more attention.
Okay between France, China and Rome... What should i play? as a beginner? if you guys say china then whats the second option? Rome or France?
 
Those are all pretty powerful civilizations. I already covered Babylon so here are my thoughts on the rest.

China has a three pretty decent uniques. Paper maker is a nice upgrade to library and you want to build it in every city. Cho-ko-nu is a pretty nice ranged unit but it becomes obsolete relatively quickly and it upgrades to riflemen which means its ranged promotions become useless. Upgrading cho-ko-nus to riflemen keeps their 2 attacks per turn promotion though so it is not all that bad. Finally there is the unique ability which enhances your great generals which is another pretty decent ability. Also you get more great generals and you can use the extras for golden ages which is nice. Obviously China is a good warmonger civ but it does not mean you need to rush someone right out of the gate. Just wait for the right time to strike and take advantage of your chokus and great generals.

France has an excellent UA with its extra culture and you can get early social policies much faster than the rest. Liberty is a good choice for rapid expanding with every city producing 3 culture per turn right after the founding. UUs are decent but not that crucial. Foreign legion gives a nice boost for your melee units in the late game but it does not matter that much for the major part of the game. Musketeers look good on the paper but you have to remember that you can't upgrade earlier units to musketeers so you have to hard build them. Given that next tier (riflemen) comes so soon after gunpowder musketeer do not usually see much play. Frances main advantage is to abuse super fast social policies which may snowball into a major advantage later in the game.

I think you may be underselling the UUs - depending on your tech path and victory condition, both crossbowmen and (less so) musketeers can be fairly long-lived. Crossbows can appear fairly early in the medieval era, and are valuable until the late Renaissance. Unless going for straight domination (which is obviously good with China, but not critical), rifling can be a pretty late tech.

I think they both are pretty average civilizations.

Rome can be powerful but they depend so much on iron that if you don't have any iron deposits near you when you discover iron working you might as well start a new game. With a good Rome start you can wipe out your neighbours with legions/ballistas and later take advantage of their UA for a peaceful building game. I personally don't like Rome that much but each to their own.

Greece was once the best civilization before it was nerfed to oblivion with patches. Now it has 2 early units which are not that good at taking cities but maybe can be used for super early all in rush for the enemy capital. Greece's UA is decent if you want to make allies with a lot of city states but obviously useless otherwise. It may be fun to take full Patronage social policy tree with Greece and ally with every city state in the map but that is hardly optimal play nowadays.

I think it spoils the Civ experience to think of it as having a 'metagame'. I don't check the strategy forums and am happy to be wholly unaware of what constitutes 'optimal play'. My experience is that city-state play is powerful right through Emperor and, yes, a whole lot of fun (which is surely the point?). Agreed the UUs aren't terribly good, but Companion Cavalry are one of the fastest units in the game and make good scouts. That said, I hardly use them when playing as Greece since I very rarely take the Horseback Riding path until I need it as a prerequisite for Chivalry (and it has the advantage of researching in a couple of turns), by which time horsemen are long obsolete since the AI will generally have pikemen. As for the UA, however, Greece with Patronage basically makes it impossible to lose CS favour, which can lead to somewhat dull games but can also lead to dynamic ones where the AI civs are trying to kill your allies left right and centre (depending on difficulty level). Personally I don't find Greece fun to play as a civ, but playing as Greece can certainly land you as the protagonist in some fun diplomacy-centred games.

Okay last question... How about Japan?

Very strong, but very much a one-trick pony - none of their abilities/units benefits from anything other than domination attempts. For me, the best reason to play Japan is so that the AI can't, since it has a UA pretty much designed to be played by the AI rather than a human. Samurai are fine, but without the bushido bonus would be pretty so-so, and Longswords are too late an iron unit to usefully replace with a UU (they'll be obsoleted by musketeers in no time, especially since Japan is all about domination). I've never used or seen the Zero used, but fighters generally only exist for bomber defence and I'm not sure there's a lot of value to having a fighter UU.
 
Okay last question... How about Japan?

Japan is an another average civ. It has a one good unit (Samurai) which can be pretty powerful if you manage to get them promoted and keep them alive. That way you can upgrade them later and keep the promotions. Bushido is a decent ability but not that great imo. It is better to move wounded unit in the back ranks to heal than risk them in battle even with Bushido. I think Japan ranks in the same level with China as a warmonger but instead of useful Paper Maker it get the pretty much useless Zero.

There is a article about Japan in the war academy: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=438476. You should check other articles there as well if you are interested in learning more about CiV strategies.
 
Japan's UU and UA are both tied to warmongering. If you can find iron deposits near you when you get to Samurai, you're in luck. They can chew up almost anything the opposition can throw at you, without losing a beat due to the UA.

Samurai scare me (having never played as Japan, and knowing Oda's temper), but they're still basically just longswords with Bushido, and unless they catch you in open ground will often to their non-UA counterparts. As has been mentioned, bushido is a good ability for killing things, but as most players actually want to keep their units alive, it's not nearly as useful to a player as it is to the AI. As a unit per se, it's not as strong as the Berserker, I feel.

Do note that Japanese units can still die if left unattended with low HP. That's the Japanese UA's drawback- You might get a shock when playing other civs due to the lack of Japanese UA, so I won't recommend Japan to an absolute beginner- might give him/her the wrong habits with regards to unit management and tactics.

Also, as a warmonger civ and especially when relying on bushido, a Japan player is likely to get an unpleasant surprise when playing multiplayer rather than single player, due to the AI's difficulty in using ranged units well. Bushido isn't a lot of help against players who know to take down every damaged Japanese unit before it gets a chance to attack.

Another Civ with amazing upside is Persia. I'm a little surprised Persia isn't getting more attention.

Persia is probably not a good starter civ. Like Siam it has a UA that relies on management to work, and the civ is most effective when managing happiness not just to reduce unhappiness and expand, but to maximise the rate at which you get Golden Ages without expending GPs. I suspect it's overlooked because people prefer expansion and city-development strategies over those that maximise excess happiness and spur Golden Ages. Much like Siam, indeed: the UA's great, everyone knows it's great, but for the most part they don't play with CSes so it doesn't really register.

Okay between France, China and Rome... What should i play? as a beginner? if you guys say china then whats the second option? Rome or France?

My vote would be for France, due to the flexibility of its UA, the simplicity of its UUs (they're just the standard version with a strength bonus, that don't require much special use or attention), and the fact that they get social policies quickly - which allows you to experiment with that aspect of the game. I think you probably want to avoid being tied to a particular style of play as a beginner, simply so you can explore more of what the game has to offer and decide, once you've settled on a playstyle, which other civs might complement it better.

Having said that I've only played China once for the achievement, and haven't yet played Rome; both seem fairly flexible civs as well. I would say that having a moderately early, strong UU (like the Roman Legion) is probably less important as a beginner, because you're unlikely to be playing either for very rapid domination, or needing to defend against early attacks at the lower difficulty levels.
 
What is the play style of the Aztecs? I've read the Civ 5 Guide but I want to know more about how to play them. I start with getting Tradition policy just for the starting +3 culture then fill out the Honor policy.
 
What is the play style of the Aztecs? I've read the Civ 5 Guide but I want to know more about how to play them. I start with getting Tradition policy just for the starting +3 culture then fill out the Honor policy.

Tip number 1:

Never open a policy tree unless you intend to finish all of the policies in that tree. You're better off going straight for Honor instead of wasting a policy on opening the Tradition tree for a paltry 3 culture per turn.
 
What is the play style of the Aztecs? I've read the Civ 5 Guide but I want to know more about how to play them. I start with getting Tradition policy just for the starting +3 culture then fill out the Honor policy.

Aztechs are great for warmongering and are the one civilization I think is justified in taking the whole honor tree. Basically you just spam Jaguars and go barbarian hunting. With Honor you get double culture for barbarian kills and can fill the rest of the honor tree reasonably fast. Try to keep your jaguars alive and upgrade them through the game to keep their unique promotions. When you run out of barbarians to kill it may be a good time to conquer your nearest neighbour. With some archer support and free great general from honor tree you should be able to take the enemy capital relatively early. You should be in war with someone most of the time to get your culture (and after you finish honor also money) kills but when not garrison your troops for extra culture and happiness with the help of mililtary caste. Aztechs also have a pretty sweet unique building so try to settle your cities near rivers or lakes to be able to build it. Generally speaking Aztechs are well suited for a huge puppet empire. Just watch your happiness and don't be afraid to raze crappy enemy cities.
 
I played Aztecs at the recommendation of a Deity player, on Raging Barbarians/Lakes map, and it worked out very well. Farm the barbarians. What I did was train Jags and send them out to the corners of the earth, farming barbs and defending city-states in the process.

The unique building is much sweeter next to a lake than by a river by far. Get the lake. But do confirm that you aren't settling next to a "Coast" tile. I made that mistake: you think it's a big lake, but the computer says it's an ocean.

Rather than raze enemy cities, it might be better to gift them to an AI. Lots of diplomacy ramifications in doing your little white elephant gifts, but also if your beneficiary is going to be your next victim, you can farm a little experience out of that. There's no 30xp cap, because they're not barbs.

Another trick: when you make peace with an AI, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to make peace with the CS's it was allied with, too. They're going to be angry for a long time anyway--why not go kill off all his units and pillage his improvements first? No 30xp cap there, either--and you get to farm their culture. It's a good way to keep your military busy in peacetime. And you know what's hilarious? If he has no units to defend against barbs, you can turn around and defend him and reverse the -60 influence more quickly. The barbs don't last that long if the CS has units; you don't really get a chance to kill them yourself. If you take down all his units (for the culture) and then make peace, that lets the barbs get closer to town allive; gives you a chance to knock the barb off and get 12 influence while you're already there.

I had excellent relationships with all the city-states when I played Aztecs.
 
Tip number 1:

Never open a policy tree unless you intend to finish all of the policies in that tree. You're better off going straight for Honor instead of wasting a policy on opening the Tradition tree for a paltry 3 culture per turn.


Aztechs are great for warmongering and are the one civilization I think is justified in taking the whole honor tree. Basically you just spam Jaguars and go barbarian hunting. With Honor you get double culture for barbarian kills and can fill the rest of the honor tree reasonably fast. Try to keep your jaguars alive and upgrade them through the game to keep their unique promotions. When you run out of barbarians to kill it may be a good time to conquer your nearest neighbour. With some archer support and free great general from honor tree you should be able to take the enemy capital relatively early. You should be in war with someone most of the time to get your culture (and after you finish honor also money) kills but when not garrison your troops for extra culture and happiness with the help of mililtary caste. Aztechs also have a pretty sweet unique building so try to settle your cities near rivers or lakes to be able to build it. Generally speaking Aztechs are well suited for a huge puppet empire. Just watch your happiness and don't be afraid to raze crappy enemy cities.

I played Aztecs at the recommendation of a Deity player, on Raging Barbarians/Lakes map, and it worked out very well. Farm the barbarians. What I did was train Jags and send them out to the corners of the earth, farming barbs and defending city-states in the process.

The unique building is much sweeter next to a lake than by a river by far. Get the lake. But do confirm that you aren't settling next to a "Coast" tile. I made that mistake: you think it's a big lake, but the computer says it's an ocean.

Rather than raze enemy cities, it might be better to gift them to an AI. Lots of diplomacy ramifications in doing your little white elephant gifts, but also if your beneficiary is going to be your next victim, you can farm a little experience out of that. There's no 30xp cap, because they're not barbs.

Another trick: when you make peace with an AI, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to make peace with the CS's it was allied with, too. They're going to be angry for a long time anyway--why not go kill off all his units and pillage his improvements first? No 30xp cap there, either--and you get to farm their culture. It's a good way to keep your military busy in peacetime. And you know what's hilarious? If he has no units to defend against barbs, you can turn around and defend him and reverse the -60 influence more quickly. The barbs don't last that long if the CS has units; you don't really get a chance to kill them yourself. If you take down all his units (for the culture) and then make peace, that lets the barbs get closer to town allive; gives you a chance to knock the barb off and get 12 influence while you're already there.

I had excellent relationships with all the city-states when I played Aztecs.

Thanks for the answers!
 
What is the play style of the Aztecs? I've read the Civ 5 Guide but I want to know more about how to play them. I start with getting Tradition policy just for the starting +3 culture then fill out the Honor policy.

I think there are exceptions, unless going for cultural victory - the Honor bonus is good for most civs, but most of the policies in that tree aren't. Tradition just isn't one of them; you're right that that +3 culture a turn, while it looks good early, is trivial - and is less than you'll get from the Liberty opener after settling a fourth city.
 
My three favorites are China, Egypt and Babylon. China is great if you are war monger. The libraries support your army earning you two gold each, the great generals are frequent and improved and the UU is one of the better in the game giving you two shots.
Babylon is a science god. The initial great scientist at writing lets you lay down an acadamy and their increased frequency let you race up the tree and build that spaceship
Egypt is good for culture. you can beat the AI to key wonders and crank out the culture.
 
I tend to go tall, so I like India and Inca etc

Actually voted for Polynesia for the challenge, Maori statues given something different. Absolutely useless on maps with limited water though
 
I voted Denmark. England is my second favorite, followed by the Iroquois.
 
Honestly i only have played as america from all the original civs so i voted for them.Then got bored after a while with the crash issues and the feeling that thet where a bit to overpowering.

Downloaded a civ mod the one you can play as the U.S.S.R.Had alot of fun with that one but the -50 unhappiness penalty was a killer problem for me.

So i started over once more after a year of not playing and downloaded the LOTR civ mod and was having a blast playing as gondor but alas i was struck by the unholy turn 250 crash bug.Campaign ruined!!!

So now i am debating whether to even attempt another campaign or just give up playing civ 5 and return to playing skyrim once more.Is frustrating to have invested so much into a game and not ever get to finish it because of a bug that should have been fixed along time ago.That is why i stopped playing for a year.And then i search all over the web for a fix and no one has an answer.I only have played 66 hrs since i bought this game on the first day it was released.

If i decide to give another campaign a go which civilization would you guys recommend me playing with? I am very experienced player considering the little time i have spent playing and know all the in's and out and how to survive.My play style is to build my my economy up by working and improving every square inch of my lands to is maximum potential at the same time keeping a precise balance of researching one military tech and or economy or culture tech while building as many wonders as possible.

At the same time keeping a small but elite army to protect my lands.Basically it normally takes me about 200 to 225 turns to finally feel like my military will have the upper hand in just about any battle meaning during that time i like to be left alone and keep to myself.

And when i am ready i either strike out on my own against somebody that has been annoying me or strike a deal with some civ looking to start a war with someone else.I play the diplomacy game alot.Based on what i just wrote which civ would fit my playstyle?

Thank you all in advance for any suggestions.

P.S and if someone can so kindly please tell me how to fix this god forsaken turn bug if it rears it's ugly head again i will gladly buy them a beer or two.Cheers...
 
Honestly i only have played as america from all the original civs so i voted for them.Then got bored after a while with the crash issues and the feeling that thet where a bit to overpowering.

Downloaded a civ mod the one you can play as the U.S.S.R.Had alot of fun with that one but the -50 unhappiness penalty was a killer problem for me.

So i started over once more after a year of not playing and downloaded the LOTR civ mod and was having a blast playing as gondor but alas i was struck by the unholy turn 250 crash bug.Campaign ruined!!!

So now i am debating whether to even attempt another campaign or just give up playing civ 5 and return to playing skyrim once more.Is frustrating to have invested so much into a game and not ever get to finish it because of a bug that should have been fixed along time ago.That is why i stopped playing for a year.And then i search all over the web for a fix and no one has an answer.I only have played 66 hrs since i bought this game on the first day it was released.

Play it on DirectX 9. Graphically it's basically the same except the fog of war is a black slate rather than, well, fog. That's how I've got around the constant crash issue. It can be slow if you get bogged down in a heavy military game where everyone has a lot of units (my current game being an example, although the Babylonians should now have a few fewer units...) And yes, it should have been fixed.
 
Play it on DirectX 9. Graphically it's basically the same except the fog of war is a black slate rather than, well, fog. That's how I've got around the constant crash issue. It can be slow if you get bogged down in a heavy military game where everyone has a lot of units (my current game being an example, although the Babylonians should now have a few fewer units...) And yes, it should have been fixed.


Hi and thanks for the response.I already tried what you suggested and unfortunenatly no luck.:( Still crashes on turn 250 no matter what i try.
 
egypt, burial tomb=more income=more cities=more armies=Full Victory=Very Enjoy ( love to make a lot of nuclear / atom ... oh yeahhhhh :D
 
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