Where do you rate Poland as a Civ?

I dont think Polands free social policies are THAT awesome. There arent many eras. And its UU is not much to brag about compared to for example the very useful english longbowmen>upgrades to even more awesome gatling. Having a lot of cavalry is just a waste when its time to upgrade them. I have played a dozen games with poland as an ai civ and he never joins the top civs. I havent played him myself though because i think the other new civs are much more appealing. ( I have gotten into an obsession about winning a scientific victory with Venice on immortal. That is really hard when all civs denounce you and declare war on you so you loose all your trade routes)Yes, that is MY experience and it might differ from other players experience totally, but anyway. At least Poland has the coolest banner ever and the most hilarious achievment....

POLAND STRONG! Granted that I'm only on my sixth or seventh game of CIV5 and I've tended to try to play civs that appeared to be on the weaker side of the spectrum, but I feel that Poland may be the best civ I've used to this point. That includes a start with Spain where I was able to found Barcelona within 10 tiles of the capital next to two luxuries and Uluri. Being able to found almost every city near ponies helped, but in spite of solid REX, we would have no other strategic resources without going to war. Solidarity is a definite advantage, but a UA should be an advantage. The fact that some UA are a bit weak doesn't make this one OP. I do like that it's allows for adaptability. Ducal stable has definitely been the backbone of the empire. It comes nice and early; it's maintenance free, and gives a boost to and . Faster building and more experienced mounted troop creation is just a bonus. Winged Hussar is the icing on the cake. It's possibly the best unit of the renaissance. The additional strength, speed, and promotions will keep them relevant into the Industrial age if your adversaries use cavalry. Pushing an enemy without a hex to retreat into destroys it! It's just a very nice package: strong economy with great mobile units to back it up.

It's comparing apples and oranges IMO. Also probably slightly overating free social policies in the new BNW.

Shoshone is probably one of my favorite new ones I didn't expect, really great land grab and they can fight off aggression really easily. Not having RNG when picking up Shrines lets you explore build orders quite a bit too.

I'll be honest I've never liked "You get a free...." as a game mechanic. It never feels 'fun' to me. I hated playing the Maya as a result. Getting a free goody for no reason (and multiple times!) made it feel excessively gamey to me.

Allround first tier with Maya, Russia, Korea and Aztecs

I haven't played them yet but I will note that for my style of play, I struggle when I don't have a civ with a preferred victory condition. This is a reflection on my lack of ability as a player rather than the strength of the civ (I played Emperor in Vanilla and later in G&K and King in BNW up until yesterday when I moved up to Emperor again) but I do think it makes it a bit more difficult when you don't know early how you're going to try and win -and what you're back up plan is likely to be.

I find the strongest civs to be the ones which are really specialised - i.e. Germany - Domination-backup science; Korea - Science, Bablyon - Science, Brazil - culture, France - Culture/backup domination.

Most players would rate these civs I have listed as being lower tier and yet I find them easier to win with because I know exactly what Im going to do with them. I wouldn't know what to do with Poland.

That's the power of flexible jack-of-all-trades and their curse. You'll have to really pick-up certain nuances to get the victory type in a not-so straightforward way.


But I think they're great for beginner players and experimenters, and a few hours playing them has really eased my worries. Got Zulus next to me who REX, and Maya beat me Potosi. All I got is the snowy wastelands to the Nort....so...ya....fun game .

I've been shying away from these guys because honestly I didn't think they were that good when I read them on paper. I think policies are easier than ever to fill thanks to World Fair and GW spam, so the UA to me seemed good but not amazing. The UB reminded me of the Hunnic UA which you basically start with the production bonus immediately as opposed to wasting turns building a stable and getting a little extra gold and experience. The UU seems pretty good but alas I think lancers in general are kind of weak. But instead of being all negative I'll give these guys a shot since I think the balance between civs is pretty decent or at least they have their niche.

the UA really shines in the early game. it doesn't take long to get to the classical and medieval eras...two free policies that early is really flexible. Combine with the Oracle and your'e half an entire tree ahead of everyone else by turn 100.

The free policies are crazy good and the UB is a nice buff as well. I rate them sixth for pangaea (rarely play anything else). Babylon, Maya, Korea, Inca and Ethiopia are still better.