Unique Ability Elimination Thread

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 20
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 21
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 22
Druidic Lore 20
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 19
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 20
Ancien Regime 20
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 20
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 9
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 20
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 21
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 20
River Warlord 20

heheh... ooops. Added River Warlord.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 21
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 22
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 19
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 20
Ancien Regime 20
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 20
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 9
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 20
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 21
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 20
River Warlord 20

Diplomatic Marriage: Very nice ability, lets you expand without fighting wars and gives you a nicely build up city with and army most of the time.
Druidic Lore: I just don't find it to be all that great to have +1 faith from unimproved forests.

P.S.: It seems Diplomatic Marriage got downvoted once and nobody noticed.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19 (-2)
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23 (+1)
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 19
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 20
Ancien Regime 20
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 20
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 9
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 20
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 21
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 20
River Warlord 20

Ingenuity just won't add up to that many more GS over a game than any other civ. Getting them earlier is nice, and tech makes the world go round, but it just doesn't make the cut in my book.

Maybe it has a lot to do with my play style, but I normally expand along the coast anyway, building roads to inland cities from nearby coastal cities, just because harbors are such efficient buildings for trade routes. Getting them for free is massive.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 19
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 20
Ancien Regime 20
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18 (-2) Was overwhelming in Vanilla, but doesn't do too much in G+K. Religion really took the wind out of Greece's sails.
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 9
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 20
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 21
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21 (+1) Love it, love it, love it. Maybe the most versatile ability. By midgame you can have +150% Great person generation!!!!! Plus, 90 culture is HUGE and easily worth a lackluster great person (e.g. 3rd admiral, 5th general, great merchant, unwanted great prophet...).
River Warlord 20

My post from yesterday wasn't counted just correcting

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 20
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 20
Ancien Regime 20
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18 (-2) Was overwhelming in Vanilla, but doesn't do too much in G+K. Religion really took the wind out of Greece's sails.
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 7
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 20
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 21
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21 (+1) Love it, love it, love it. Maybe the most versatile ability. By midgame you can have +150% Great person generation!!!!! Plus, 90 culture is HUGE and easily worth a lackluster great person (e.g. 3rd admiral, 5th general, great merchant, unwanted great prophet...).
River Warlord 20

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 20
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 20
Ancien Regime 20
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 5
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 20
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 22
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

Population Growth : happiness is not much of a problem in G&K especially when going tall.

The Glory of Rome: really helps those new cities become productive faster.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 20
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 20
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 3
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 20
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 22
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

Population Growth : Bashing continue...i mean the next UA going off the list after this one is at least 3x better

Ancient Regime : The ole fast culture civ is always one of the best. Finish that tree ASAP!

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 20
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 18
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 3
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 21
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 22
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

Adwa: Excluding high level early rushes, this UA is not only negative and backward looking but, worse, 100% at odds with the Stele UB, which is the best part of the civ.

Archaemenid: All of this bonus is amazing, but my absolute favorite (apart from all the gold you'll be swimming in and the more powerful units and better production and culture for longer) part is the increased movement, which is really, really useful for warmongers (a.k.a me), and is also really fun.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 20
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 18
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth 1
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 22
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 22
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

Dutch East India Company (+1): The skill gives you the option to expand faster than any civ which will, in turn, be helping you gain more production/lux/resources/gold without stunting your population growth.

Population Growth (-2): G&K made this UA useless. it will be hard to think of anything to say that will give this ability a nod above all the other abilities.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 20
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 18
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
Population Growth -1 (bye)
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 22
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 23
Siberian Riches 20
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

The glory of Rome: The +25% bonus is huge and really makes Roman cities develop quickly. Also suits the style of Rome.

population growth: this UA contradicts itself. The use of happiness is allowing you to expand or conquer, but population growth doesn't allow this. Population growth is just ridiculous.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 20 (-1)
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 23
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 20
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 18
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 22
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 23
Siberian Riches 22 (+2)
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

(I hope I am allowed to vote in my own thread)

Trade Caravans: I never really expand much, and if you really think about it, each city gives 1 additional gold. 1. So if you have a wide empire, with say, 15 cities, thats 15 additional gold. Sure, oil is useful, but not enough to make this UA a mediocre one.

Siberian Riches: You can get more Strategic Resources, for either your own use or to trade away. Then you get additional production from these, for the lolz I guess.

Seabastian Civ said:

Hellenic League 18 (-2) Was overwhelming in Vanilla, but doesn't do too much in G+K. Religion really took the wind out of Greece's sails.

Click to expand...

I would say the opposite. In G&K as Greece it's possible to have no influence drop with City-States whatsoever.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 24 (+1)
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 18 (-2)
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 18
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 22
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 23
Siberian Riches 21
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

Free...trade...routes. Not every trade route will be free, of course, but the fact that coastal cities will be connected, without cost or hammer investment, is insane.

Viking Fury, meh. Not impressive now and where everyone else sees a buff coming I see a potential problem. There are only so many improvements, so you won't want one unit taking down everything, least of all on one turn. Most of the time you'll be pillaging and attacking an adjacent unit anyway, so still not good, pre or post patch.

Corrected the above vote. I'd say it's ok to vote in your own thread, but you can't trade downvote power for upvote power

black213 said:

I would say the opposite. In G&K as Greece it's possible to have no influence drop with City-States whatsoever.

Click to expand...

True... Greece can hold City States indefinitely with religion. But ALL civs got better with CSs via religion. Greece isn't that unique anymore. Plus, completing quests is the name of the game now, especially early. Nothing says Greece will hold onto its CS when another player pops a great artist or kills some barbs nearby.

Seabastian Civ said:

True... Greece can hold City States indefinitely with religion. But ALL civs got better with CSs via religion. Greece isn't that unique anymore. Plus, completing quests is the name of the game now, especially early. Nothing says Greece will hold onto its CS when another player pops a great artist or kills some barbs nearby.

Click to expand...

No other civ got the extra drop in CS influence loss that Greece did. Going to 0 is massive. It means that with continual investment even close to what other civs have to make, Greece can build up enough influence to lock other civs out of coups.

With or without religion, Greece gets more for doing CS quests. While Greece and someone else might both complete two quests quickly, leading Greece to losing ally status for some time, the other civ will see his influence drop more quickly, leaving Greece as the ally soon enough. Even as just friends, Greece will end up keeping those bonuses for longer without any investment. That can actually be big early on, when you might complete quests without wanting or being able to invest gold. The longer friend status lasts, the more you get out of doing that quest. Greece's UA works on CS's that are only at Friends, as well, they do not need to be Allies.

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 24
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 18
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 18
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 22
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 23
Siberian Riches 21
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 18 (-2) With Spain, its all-or-nothing. Find a high quality natural wonder (Fountain of Youth, Mt. Sinai, Cerro Potosi...) near your capital and you've got a massive head start. Don't find much nearby, or don't find El Dorado in the first 40 turns, and you're just a regular civ. I don't like UA's that depend on luck.
Nobel Prize 22 (+1) Fantastic, flexible UA. Fight the good fight with Sweden and you'll have great generals and admirals to burn all game long. I'll vote this up again because I'm sure that the "I never give great people away when I play" downvotes are right around the corner...
River Warlord 20

Rooftrellen said:

. . . Going to 0 is massive. . .

Click to expand...

Unless I'm mistaken, the only way to do this is by getting a religion that has the slower influence loss with religiously alligned CSs (Papal Primacy?), and then getting them to follow your religion, and preventing other religions from taking over majority status.

So this means forgoing the much more powerful enhancers, and even worse, having to face them yourself.

Maybe I'm wrong, and Greece's UA is awesome now, but I guess we won't know until the final standings are decided!

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 24
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 18
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 16 (-2)
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 22 (+1)
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 22
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 23
Siberian Riches 21
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 18
Nobel Prize 22
River Warlord 20

The Great Andean Road is simply awesome. There is nothing like starting in a 90% hill continent or Pangaea, and getting not only massive tactical advantages over your other opponents but also free roads between cities and perhaps even future conquests. Allows you to field an even larger army as result and keep in economic shape with your Immortal neighbors at the same time.

Now Ethiopia is one of my fav new civs, but as someone once put it, their UA doesn't really synergize with their expansionistic-minded UB. Perhaps this patch will change, perhaps not, but currently it isn't well complemented.

Seabastian Civ said:

Unless I'm mistaken, the only way to do this is by getting a religion that has the slower influence loss with religiously alligned CSs (Papal Primacy?), and then getting them to follow your religion, and preventing other religions from taking over majority status.

So this means forgoing the much more powerful enhancers, and even worse, having to face them yourself.

Maybe I'm wrong, and Greece's UA is awesome now, but I guess we won't know until the final standings are decided!

Click to expand...

As far as I know, there is no belief of any kind that slows influence loss of CS's. Them simply having your religion is enough. Papal Primacy gives a +15 resting point, which, due to the slow loss of influence isn't all that great for Greece (however I always take it as Siam). There is another that makes is spread to non-enemy CS's at double the rate, as an enhancer, but other enhancers are likely better for maintaining your religion in a CS.

Now, getting all the CS's on the same page can be an issue. The AI does love to send missionaries and prophets to CS's. You can offset it to some extent by giving tons of units to CS's. Since they rarely leave their boarders, it can clog up the way. I'm not sure if they'll keep an inquisitor in their city, use it to get rid of 1 pop of another religion, or just instantly delete it, but if they keep it, that could be an option (anyone know?) or one could just declare war on fanatical civs. Only a few civs seek to actively spread their religion, and taking an inquisitor to their holy city is generally a major blow for them (even better if you do that, get peace, and use a prophet on their other cities, they'll spend the rest of the game on themselves and not be able to think of CS's.

Rooftrellen said:

Manifest Destiny 16
Trade Caravans 21
Diplomatic Marriage 19
Sacrificial Captives 20
Ingenuity 19
Patriarchate of Constantinople 20
Phoenician Heritage 24 (+1)
Druidic Lore 18
Art of War 21
Viking Fury 18 (-2)
Monument Builders 20
Sun Never Sets 21
Spirit of Adwa 18
Ancien Regime 21
Furor Teutonicus 17
Hellenic League 18
Scourge of God 20
Great Andean Road 21
The Great Warpath 18
Bushido 20
Scholars of the Jade Hall 20
The Long Count 21
Mongol Terror 18
Dutch East India Company 22
Barbary Corsairs 20
Achaemenid Legacy 21
Wayfinding 20
The Glory of Rome 23
Siberian Riches 21
Father Governs Children 20
Seven Cities of Gold 20
Nobel Prize 21
River Warlord 20

Free...trade...routes. Not every trade route will be free, of course, but the fact that coastal cities will be connected, without cost or hammer investment, is insane.

Viking Fury, meh. Not impressive now and where everyone else sees a buff coming I see a potential problem. There are only so many improvements, so you won't want one unit taking down everything, least of all on one turn. Most of the time you'll be pillaging and attacking an adjacent unit anyway, so still not good, pre or post patch.

Corrected the above vote. I'd say it's ok to vote in your own thread, but you can't trade downvote power for upvote power

Click to expand...

Sorry about that, it was early, I was tired, and my brain wasn't thinking. It is -2 and +1, not the other way around