Easiest and Hardest Civs to play on Earth, 18 Civs?

gregh87

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I started playing a game with Julius Caesar on earth, 18 civs last night. I can win with some difficulty on immortal, but I played on emperor because I thought it would be really hard to keep up with people far away. Man, is it easy! (It really helps, though, getting a random event promoting all your melee units to cover:D. What a game-breaking random event!) Europe is so ridiculously crowded with non-aggressive civs, you can catch them all with axeman when they only have 1 or maybe 2 cities.

In my game, it's 350 bc and I now control all of Europe with 13 cities, having destroyed 6 different civilizations: Greek, German, French, Spanish, Russian, and English, in that order. I've built the Pyramids and Great Lighthouse by myself, and Louis built Stonehenge and the Great Wall for me. Isabella founded Buddhism for me and built lots of nice missionaries to spread it to a bunch of cities, and I just built the buddhist shrine. I'm making about 110 beakers/turn, and that's without currency or code of laws. My army is marching east now, and I can actually afford to take more cities because Europe is so rich in resources.

That said, I obviously think that Julius Caesar is the easiest. I think I could run away with a conquest victory early, like maybe 1300 or 1400, and score something ridiculous like 300,000, but I think I'm going to try for my second diety win (my first one was really cheap, just a praet-rush conquest win on a small pangaea map; this map is also very cheap, but it will be fun).

Who do you think is easiest and hardest to play? I'm guessing the hardest would be Tokugawa because he starts on a small island, or Mansa Musa because he practically starts in the Sahara, but I haven't played them to find out.
 
Easiest:

Egypt
China
Persia
India
Russia
Rome


Hardest:

Inca
America
Aztec
Arabia

So-So:

The rest. I have managed to almost get a domination win as Tokugawa on the Earcth map (prince or monarch difficulty can't remember), I just have to continue the game. I am also doing a story about the French on the Earth 18 map and the French are pretty easy to play as well. Even Mongolia with their crappy land can do well in the hands of a human if you quickly eliminate china.
 
The hardest are definitely the new world civs. No more contacts until Optics makes for a difficult start, plus there is alot of sub optimal land in the new world.

IMO the easiest are Rome for a early Pretorian rush (as you said), France for a wonderspam in your capital (you have marble and stone and are industrious and have nowhere else to build a city) and China for a nice starting spot and lots of good land to build cities. In my experience China is always first or second on the scoring list.

England, Germany and India all have reasonable starts, I am not keen on Egypt as they are extremely hammer poor, a more avid wipper may have better luck :)
 
I always found Japan pretty easy on this map. Then again, I'm a beast with Toku when I play him no matter the map. It's one of my strongest civs. It also helps that your enemies can only attack you from the sea. If you stick to the islands in the Pacific you can have a pretty nice, although costly island empire.
 
In Europe, I think it comes down to whichever Civ traits are best for your game. Any one of the civs on the continent can wander into and destroy or capture just about all of the other civs in the area and then settle their land at the ruler's leisure.

If things go right, my standard opening as the Spaniards is to destroy Rome, capture Paris, capture Berlin, and destroy Athens. In a good game, I'll go on to destroy or capture Moscow and/or Thebes and/or Mecca.

Admittedly, I could probably be playing the game on a harder level, but I bet I could pull off that opening on Monarch or Emperor just because the AI still isn't that bright and will go exploring rather than defend cities.
 
Playing as Incas is IMPOSSIBLE! Has anyone actually ever won a game with them? Massive mountain range cuts you off from the mainland so you have to sail round, and to what? A barbarian ravaged jungle.
The Romans are indeed the easiest to play, you can wipe out Europe easily in 200 turns, and then it just becomes too easy. China also seems pretty good, and for some bizarre reason I don't mind playing as Egypt, placing Memphis over in Syria to piss off Saladin, and then attacking the Greeks and possibly the Romans after a while.
 
Incans are kinda funky, as soon as you place a city on the other 'half' of SA all the barbs rush it, providing a few 10 exp quechas.

Sometimes I find it best to get a couple of wonders (prince level) sometimes not, but I think as long as you get to the other 'half 'of SA befor the continentals get astronomy you ok, I thinks theres all the late games res's there.

The real question for me is to place your first city up north or down south.

Also you move your capital to the coast, yeah?
 
Easiest
1. Rome: wipe out France or Germany on the first few turns before they have a defender, then conquer Europe with Praetorians. Once you control Europe, attack Egypt and the Middle East, and Russia if they don't become a vassal. Mali should also join you because you are the most powerful civ. Once you rule the whole of the western world, begin the conquest of the east, or possibly attack the Aztecs to open the Panama, giving you a way to the weak Incas.
When the east is defeated you should be near the modern era. You will need powerful weapons to defeat the huge stacks that Monty has been building, so tanks, bombers and nuclear weapons are certainly a help. Just go in there and pound Monty into rubble. Also take out Roosevelt if they have not become your vassal or have already been killed by Monty.

2. Germany: The Germans are like the Romans, only they start with a scout rather than a warrior, and have copper nearby. This means that whilst it is impossible to do the dirty trick of beating nearby civs before they even build their first warrior, it is possible to do an axe-rush and just kill off Europe that way. Again, once you control Europe you can go on a world-conquering rampage like the Romans.

3. France: Louis is industrious, so you can easily build lots of wonders. But France also starts with agriculture and the wheel, meaning that you are just one tech away from a chariot rush! This crushes Europe even earlier than Praetorians do, but is not quite as effective. As with Germany and Rome, Europe will become the core part of your empire, and with all that good land you have basically won already.

Moderately easy
1. China: China has very good land, plenty of room for more cities and one of the best unique units. It is full of resources too, though lacking in modern strategic ones. Qin Shi Huang is industrious and starts with mining, so you can build wonders pretty fast as well. China is a good builder civilisation and has few challenges compared to crowded Europe, isolated America and the bad land of the middle east.
The problem with China is that your neighbours are mainly jerks. You have Genghis Khan to the north who is a physco warmongering traitor completely obsessed with his Keshiks. You have Tokugawa to the east as well, a shifty character who is probably just grouchy because there is no closed borders agreement deal in the diplo screen. And to the south there is Asoka who rapidly expands to take over Indonesia and eventually resource-rich Australia, all places which you would rather have yourself. There is also a risk of barbarians coming down from Siberia or out of the deserted Tarim basin to the west, but that can be stopped with the Great Wall which is pretty easy to get if you are industrious and start with mining.
There is also the problem of China's isolation. you are miles away from the usual religion-founders (Saladin and Isabella), and as such religion takes a long time to get to China if you don't found one yourself. But at least your isolation means that it's harder for unscrupulous characters like Ceasar or Catherine to try to boss you around!

2. Persia: This civ is at the crossroads of the world, the Middle East. You may not start with a particularly brilliant combination of techs, and Cyrus' traits are nothing special, but you have the blessing of being able to snag the most goody huts of any Civ, and you have early, cheap scouts to do it for you! First, go to the one in Iraq and begin work on another scout, then get the one in Israel, followed by Anatolia. When you get about half way to this last hut your second scout should be finished, which you should send up to Afganistan to grab the hut there. After this sucession of huts, there are even more which you might get as well. Send your scout in Turkey straight up through Europe and into Scandinavia and Sweden to get the goody hut there, whilst sending the Afgan scout through India into Indochina. This last hut may already be taken, but at least it gets you into the far east, which can be hard to explore sometimes because of Qin Shi Huang's refusal to open borders.
Another advantage of Persia is its proximity to other Civs, combined with its very good UU, the Immortal. You can conquer Arabia to take the holy city they probably have, Egypt for another one, India for rich land and luxury resources and Greece for a good gateway into Europe. You can basically conquer roughly the same lands as the Islamic Caliphate did, minus central Asia which is not worth settling if you are going for conquests in other countries.
That being said, beware of the north! Barbarians like wild, remote deserts like Kazakhstan, and the Russians also want to settle there. Catherine is either a close ally or a nasty traitor and she should definitely be watched. Another problem is bad land. The middle east is full of plains and deserts, not really much good for anything. There are a few hills around Persepolis and Anatolia, but that's it. Try to establish a millitary city in anatolia before Greece does, as it is quite rich in resources and productive tiles.

England: Britain is a very good land, much like the rest of Europe. It has things like iron, stone, wheat and even a bit of off-shore oil. Liz is financial, so she can make the most of all the gold from rivers and the sea, which can be worked earlier as England starts with fishing. But the main advantage over the rest of Europe is the fact that England can fit more than one city in. As well as England and Wales, which are good growth/economy areas, there are also Scotland (a good production site with iron) and Ireland (not all that good, but its better than no land) to be settled. If you get your galleys in there quickly enough, there is also a good chance of getting control of Scandinavia as well. Such a big land advantage over the rest of Europe means that you can tech faster than them, and therefore outmatch them millitarily as well. Which brings us on to our next point.
As well as being good for growing peacefully, England is a bit of a monster at war too. France is just across the channel, and with all those industrious wonders in a single city, its a prime target. They can't hit back because you are on an island, and by the time you land it is too late for them. Go to Spain, Rome or Berlin next. Spain has the holy city of either Bhuddism or Christianity (on choose religions), Rome has Praets which might ruin your day if Ceasar gets them, and Berlin is probably choking out Paris with an annoying cloud of German culture.
The problem with England is that it does take quite a while to get a decent amount of territory in Europe as you can't early-rush from an island, and London isn't a very good production city.

Bad civs to play
Arabia: They may be able to get an early religion, but they have rubbish land, no stategic resources but a single horse and one of the most boring unique units in the game.

Aztecs: Aztecs have lots of land and plenty of resources, but that land is pretty rubbish anyway, consisting lots of plains, peaks and deserts. Their UU is a joke, given that it is actually worse than the normal unit, and to top it all off they are almost completely isolated, leading to a lack of good trade routes and a stifled economy. But they do have a chance to found an early religion, given that they start with mysticism.

America: America's land is a bit better than the Aztec land, but they still suffer the same problems of no good early UU (America's UU is the latest in the game) and a rather isolated start. The real danger though is monty, who is even more of a psycho than Genghis Khan when controlled by the AI. Expect to get war-decced for no good reason at least once.

Mongolia: You start in a dry plains/desert area. There is mainly tundra to the north and desert to the west. There are powerful civs nearby you who will probably attack when they see how weak you are. Trade routes are virtually nonexistent. And to top it all off there are hordes and hordes of barbarians on all sides but the south.
Mongolia's only redeming features are its decent UU and UB, and the fact that it starts with hunting and the wheel, making some kind of an early chariot rush possible. But otherwise, this civ is not for the faint hearted!

Inca: This civ is confined to a narrow strip of rubbish along the coast of south America with next to no good resources or production tiles. When you finally manage to get past the mountain range all you will find is a massive jungle full of barbarians. This jungle is over good land, which may be useful in the later game when you clear it away, but for the early and and middle game there are only two words to describe the Inca: epic fail.
 
Rome: wipe out France or Germany on the first few turns before they have a defender, then conquer Europe with Praetorians.

rome is definatly easy on noble and prince, but on monarch and above it quikly gets more annoying to whipe europe clean as Ai starts with archery and a free archer, and builds and expands fast. on emperor the map is quite a challenge imho.

still, you wont find a beter starting lokation and the prets will eventuelly get europe for you.
 
rome is definatly easy on noble and prince, but on monarch and above it quikly gets more annoying to whipe europe clean as Ai starts with archery and a free archer, and builds and expands fast. on emperor the map is quite a challenge imho.

still, you wont find a beter starting lokation and the prets will eventuelly get europe for you.
Killing France first isn't really a necessary tactic, I think its rather cheap. But at least it works well quite often.
 
Easiest
1. Rome: wipe out France or Germany on the first few turns before they have a defender, then conquer Europe with Praetorians. Once you control Europe, attack Egypt and the Middle East, and Russia if they don't become a vassal. Mali should also join you because you are the most powerful civ. Once you rule the whole of the western world, begin the conquest of the east, or possibly attack the Aztecs to open the Panama, giving you a way to the weak Incas.
When the east is defeated you should be near the modern era. You will need powerful weapons to defeat the huge stacks that Monty has been building, so tanks, bombers and nuclear weapons are certainly a help. Just go in there and pound Monty into rubble. Also take out Roosevelt if they have not become your vassal or have already been killed by Monty.

2. Germany: The Germans are like the Romans, only they start with a scout rather than a warrior, and have copper nearby. This means that whilst it is impossible to do the dirty trick of beating nearby civs before they even build their first warrior, it is possible to do an axe-rush and just kill off Europe that way. Again, once you control Europe you can go on a world-conquering rampage like the Romans.

3. France: Louis is industrious, so you can easily build lots of wonders. But France also starts with agriculture and the wheel, meaning that you are just one tech away from a chariot rush! This crushes Europe even earlier than Praetorians do, but is not quite as effective. As with Germany and Rome, Europe will become the core part of your empire, and with all that good land you have basically won already.

Moderately easy
1. China: China has very good land, plenty of room for more cities and one of the best unique units. It is full of resources too, though lacking in modern strategic ones. Qin Shi Huang is industrious and starts with mining, so you can build wonders pretty fast as well. China is a good builder civilisation and has few challenges compared to crowded Europe, isolated America and the bad land of the middle east.
The problem with China is that your neighbours are mainly jerks. You have Genghis Khan to the north who is a physco warmongering traitor completely obsessed with his Keshiks. You have Tokugawa to the east as well, a shifty character who is probably just grouchy because there is no closed borders agreement deal in the diplo screen. And to the south there is Asoka who rapidly expands to take over Indonesia and eventually resource-rich Australia, all places which you would rather have yourself. There is also a risk of barbarians coming down from Siberia or out of the deserted Tarim basin to the west, but that can be stopped with the Great Wall which is pretty easy to get if you are industrious and start with mining.
There is also the problem of China's isolation. you are miles away from the usual religion-founders (Saladin and Isabella), and as such religion takes a long time to get to China if you don't found one yourself. But at least your isolation means that it's harder for unscrupulous characters like Ceasar or Catherine to try to boss you around!

2. Persia: This civ is at the crossroads of the world, the Middle East. You may not start with a particularly brilliant combination of techs, and Cyrus' traits are nothing special, but you have the blessing of being able to snag the most goody huts of any Civ, and you have early, cheap scouts to do it for you! First, go to the one in Iraq and begin work on another scout, then get the one in Israel, followed by Anatolia. When you get about half way to this last hut your second scout should be finished, which you should send up to Afganistan to grab the hut there. After this sucession of huts, there are even more which you might get as well. Send your scout in Turkey straight up through Europe and into Scandinavia and Sweden to get the goody hut there, whilst sending the Afgan scout through India into Indochina. This last hut may already be taken, but at least it gets you into the far east, which can be hard to explore sometimes because of Qin Shi Huang's refusal to open borders.
Another advantage of Persia is its proximity to other Civs, combined with its very good UU, the Immortal. You can conquer Arabia to take the holy city they probably have, Egypt for another one, India for rich land and luxury resources and Greece for a good gateway into Europe. You can basically conquer roughly the same lands as the Islamic Caliphate did, minus central Asia which is not worth settling if you are going for conquests in other countries.
That being said, beware of the north! Barbarians like wild, remote deserts like Kazakhstan, and the Russians also want to settle there. Catherine is either a close ally or a nasty traitor and she should definitely be watched. Another problem is bad land. The middle east is full of plains and deserts, not really much good for anything. There are a few hills around Persepolis and Anatolia, but that's it. Try to establish a millitary city in anatolia before Greece does, as it is quite rich in resources and productive tiles.

England: Britain is a very good land, much like the rest of Europe. It has things like iron, stone, wheat and even a bit of off-shore oil. Liz is financial, so she can make the most of all the gold from rivers and the sea, which can be worked earlier as England starts with fishing. But the main advantage over the rest of Europe is the fact that England can fit more than one city in. As well as England and Wales, which are good growth/economy areas, there are also Scotland (a good production site with iron) and Ireland (not all that good, but its better than no land) to be settled. If you get your galleys in there quickly enough, there is also a good chance of getting control of Scandinavia as well. Such a big land advantage over the rest of Europe means that you can tech faster than them, and therefore outmatch them millitarily as well. Which brings us on to our next point.
As well as being good for growing peacefully, England is a bit of a monster at war too. France is just across the channel, and with all those industrious wonders in a single city, its a prime target. They can't hit back because you are on an island, and by the time you land it is too late for them. Go to Spain, Rome or Berlin next. Spain has the holy city of either Bhuddism or Christianity (on choose religions), Rome has Praets which might ruin your day if Ceasar gets them, and Berlin is probably choking out Paris with an annoying cloud of German culture.
The problem with England is that it does take quite a while to get a decent amount of territory in Europe as you can't early-rush from an island, and London isn't a very good production city.

Bad civs to play
Arabia: They may be able to get an early religion, but they have rubbish land, no stategic resources but a single horse and one of the most boring unique units in the game.

Aztecs: Aztecs have lots of land and plenty of resources, but that land is pretty rubbish anyway, consisting lots of plains, peaks and deserts. Their UU is a joke, given that it is actually worse than the normal unit, and to top it all off they are almost completely isolated, leading to a lack of good trade routes and a stifled economy. But they do have a chance to found an early religion, given that they start with mysticism.

America: America's land is a bit better than the Aztec land, but they still suffer the same problems of no good early UU (America's UU is the latest in the game) and a rather isolated start. The real danger though is monty, who is even more of a psycho than Genghis Khan when controlled by the AI. Expect to get war-decced for no good reason at least once.

Mongolia: You start in a dry plains/desert area. There is mainly tundra to the north and desert to the west. There are powerful civs nearby you who will probably attack when they see how weak you are. Trade routes are virtually nonexistent. And to top it all off there are hordes and hordes of barbarians on all sides but the south.
Mongolia's only redeming features are its decent UU and UB, and the fact that it starts with hunting and the wheel, making some kind of an early chariot rush possible. But otherwise, this civ is not for the faint hearted!

Inca: This civ is confined to a narrow strip of rubbish along the coast of south America with next to no good resources or production tiles. When you finally manage to get past the mountain range all you will find is a massive jungle full of barbarians. This jungle is over good land, which may be useful in the later game when you clear it away, but for the early and and middle game there are only two words to describe the Inca: epic fail.

Cyrus' traits are far from rubish there one of the best warmonger combos out there! And I find that Mongolia is not that hard to play as, I guess I am not faint of heart.

300th Post! [party]
 
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At lower levels, Arabia isn't bad as long as you remember to kill your neighbors (Persia and Egypt) and take their nice land. That actually applies to most of the Civs - early rush rules on Earth 18. Aztec and America have a problem of no tech trade partners. Also, don't forget game speed. Since most Civs go on the warpath early, slower speeds are easier for most Civs.

Stoney: On Earth18, AI's don't start with archers. an oddity of this scenario.

I can't believe nobody mentioned the worst CIV to play as - Mali. Floodplains are nice, but not as the only land. Little production. Besides Mansa Musa's personality, the horrible start is why he vassalizes early. I've never seen him do well and I've never done well as him.
 
Mongolia: You start in a dry plains/desert area. There is mainly tundra to the north and desert to the west. There are powerful civs nearby you who will probably attack when they see how weak you are. Trade routes are virtually nonexistent. And to top it all off there are hordes and hordes of barbarians on all sides but the south.
Mongolia's only redeming features are its decent UU and UB, and the fact that it starts with hunting and the wheel, making some kind of an early chariot rush possible. But otherwise, this civ is not for the faint hearted!
l.

I kind of like Mongolia, because you get China anyway (hopefully with a Wonder or two), and best of all, you don't have to worry about those pesky Mongolians.
 
Mali has by far the worst start, to the point of no contention.

All of europe is pretty easy if you rush, and China has amazing positioning + land. Aztec is very easy as well...probably #1 goes to Persia or Rome though as both start in an excellent position with good land + easy targets within reach.
 
Easy:
-Rome. BW --> IW --> Praet spam, take over entire Old World with barely any effort.
-France. Warrior rush (lower levels) or chariot rush (higher levels). Take over Europe and gradually conquer the others.
-Spain. See above.
-Germany. Warrior or axe rush depending on level.
-Greece. See above.
-China. Great land, so just play out a normal game.
-Persia. Hook up horses and go for immortal rush. Lots of room to expand.
-Aztec. Take out Roosevelt and you have the whole continent to yourself to tech and build peacefully. I don't see why everyone thinks Aztec is hard to play. Having more land than almost all of the other civs on the map is a good thing.

As you can see, pretty much every civ in Europe is included. If you take over Europe, you're set for the rest of the game, since Europe has the best land in the map.

Hard:
-Inca. Bad starting land, early settling takes work. It's not too bad later on, as once you clear away the jungle, your South American cities can become very productive.
-Mali. Bad land everywhere. The whole place is a desert.
 
Inca isn't so bad. The initial land isn't great, but they are the only civ on the map that is 100% immune to war pre-astronomy in stock BTS (the peak screws up the AI code, monty will go WHEOOHRN but will not sail around because you're on the same "continent" as him). This means you have a 200+ turn pass to settle your land. Copper is easily available to completely wall the barbs, and as mentioned the jungle land is pretty nice once cleared. One galley is about all you need to shuttle troops around the edge of the mountains, although admittedly that gets old hat after a while.

While still not the cakewalk that a warrior rush in europe tends to be, Inca has it a LOT easier than mali, and also easier than roosevelt (who has to take care of his problem or defend early).

Inca is still among the harder starts, but that's just in relative terms. Most earth18 starts are very very easy vs the AI, and the Incan ability to trade while being immune to war for the first half of the game would be quite favorable compared to a normal map.
 
France doesn't even really need early rushes. Louis, besides Industrious, is also Creative, so as long as some early defense can be provided, France can directly culture flip the Western European rivals. Last time I played on EAR-18 with Louis (on Monarch), Berlin and London both flipped and culture borders went directly next to Rome and Madrid, allowing for easy 1-turn conquests when catapults were available.
 
Mali has by far the worst start, to the point of no contention.

All of europe is pretty easy if you rush, and China has amazing positioning + land. Aztec is very easy as well...probably #1 goes to Persia or Rome though as both start in an excellent position with good land + easy targets within reach.

:agree:
 
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