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I really like FfH, but one problem is that the differences between the different civs aren't really all that well documented anywhere, so players will have to just experiment to see what each civ's unique strenghts and weaknesses are. So I thought that we could start up a thread where each civ's unique properties could be documented for easy reference. Sure, they get changed by every version, but once we've got a starting document done, it should be simple to incorporate any changes in the following versions by simply looking at the changelogs.
I don't have access to Civ right now, nor have I had the chance to actually play very many games, so I need you folks to help me out a bit. Chime in and give me details on the civilizations that I've missed something about and I'll edit it into the first post. It'd probably be way too much effort for somebody to keep this listing up to date alone, but it shouldn't be very hard if everybody contributes at least a bit.
Most of the information has been taken from the various Design threads, so if something's incorrect here, blame an out-of-date Design thread. Units that didn't have any special abilities mentioned weren't included in the "Special units" listing (since I assumed those were only cosmetic changes).
That being said, the Fall from Heaven 2 Manual: Civilizations.
Contributors so far: vorshlumpf, Grillick, Nikis-Knight, xumio, Deathling, Black Whole, Chandrasekhar, Qthzandra, JuliusBloodmoon, Mahatmajon, Chalid, lorgen, DMN, SchpailsMan, Frozen-Vomit, QES.
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Civilizations in short
Playble civilizations grouped by alignment:
Good: Bannor, Malakim, Elohim, Luchuirp, Kuriotates, Ljosalfar.
Neutral: Ljosalfar, Khazad, Lanun, Grigori, Hippus, Amurites
Evil: Doviello, Balseraphs, Clan of Embers, Calabim, Sheaim
Playble civilizations grouped by play style:
Builder: Kuriotates, Malakim, Khazad, Ljosalfar.
Hybrid: Bannor, Elohim, Luchuirp, Balseraphs, Amurites, Lanun, Hippus, Grigori.
Warmonger: Doviello, Clan of Embers, Calabim, Sheaim
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Civilizations in detail
Bannor (Good, Org/Mag or Ind/Spi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Lawful good crusaders
Palace resource: Law mana
Special units: Enforcer (Warrior replacement - reduces maintenance for the city it's in), Guardsman (Axeman replacement - reduces maintenance for the city it's in), Shieldbearer (Pikeman replacement - will always be the unit defending the stack), Demagog (Crusade only, low cost Maceman), Flagbearer (Crusade only, passes Morale promotion to all living allied units within one tile).
Special world units: Donal Lungh (Gains the ability to recruit after killing a demon or undead, has the Guardsman ability and can cast Hope)
Other specials: Crusade civic (+25% military production, -75% war weariness, -100% great people points, no settler/worker production, limited building production, cannot initiate diplomacy with hostile civ, disciple units gain Evagelist promotion, enables production of Demagog and Flagbearer)
Overview: The Bannor is a pretty generalist, law-oriented civilization. When led by Sabathiel (Organized/Magic Resistant), they are well-suited for warfare, while Capria (Industrial/Spiritual) lends well for a more peaceful playing style. Of the two extremes, however, they're a bit more suited towards warfare - shieldbearers help keep invading stacks alive, and their unique Crusade civic makes it fun to, well, crusade. Their hero makes them especially well suited towards warring with demon- or undead-using civilizations.
Malakim (Good, Cre/Fin)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Desert people
Palace resource: Fire mana
Special units: Lightbringer (Expensive prophet with sentry 1 and no building requirement)
Special buildings: Citadel of Light (Summons a fireball if there is an enemy unit within 2 tiles, requires fire mana).
Special world units: Chalid Astrakein
Overview: Varn Gosam gets the Creative and Financial traits, a powerful combination in vanilla Civ, and useful here as well. Quick expansion yields good results, as money-draining obelisks aren't necessary for Malakim cities to expand. Cottage-spammers will enjoy this Civ, but other strategies are viable as well. The fire mana that they start out with leads to easy fireballs for mages. The desert theme is merely a concept for now, but perhaps future versions will implement this more fully.
Elohim (Good, Cre/Def/Spi or Def/Phi/Spi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Guardians of holy places
Palace resource: Spirit mana
Special units: Monks (Medic 2 national units, good against demons).
Special buildings: Chancel of Guardians (+25% defense, 20% of units built in city start with the Defensive promotion), Reliquary (Units built in the city start with the Spirit Guide promotion).
Special world units: Corlindale (Sacrifices himself to end all wars between his civ and all other civs except the barbarians)
Overview: The Defensive trait helps a Builder style of play as repelling invasions gets easier, while Monks and the Reliquary help in waging an offensive war. Just remember that Defensive is of no help once you've left your cultural borders.
Luchuirp (Good, Arc/Fin or Org/Spi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Dwarven enchanters & builders
Palace resource: Enchantment mana
Special units: Arcane Golem (Spartatori replacement - summons imps), Bone Golem (Immortal replacement - heals when it kills or living units die in the same tile), Clockwork Golem (Berserker replacement - has a chance of breaking down each turns), Iron Golem (Maceman replacement), Mud Golem (Worker replacement - no food cost to build), Nullstone Golem (Shieldwall replacement - starts with Magic Immune), Gargoyle (Pikeman replacement - defensive bonus), Wood Golem (Axeman replacement - vulnerable to fire).
Special buildings: Blasting Workshop (Gives golems the ability to cast fireballs), Armament Molds (Armorer replacement - increases golem strength), Velox Workshop (Weaponsmith replacement - decreases golem strength but increases movement), Gridlines (Gives golems the City Defense promotion), Sculptors Studio (Barracks replacement).
Special world units: Barnaxus (Barnaxus gaining any of the Combat I-V promotions automatically gives *all* the golems in the empire those promotions as well, for as long as Barnaxus is alive).
Other specials: Some units have the Dwarven promotion (Double movement in hills and peaks, gives adepts the ability to cast 'Repair' with enchantment I).
Overview: Golems gain no experience, but a combination of the different golem-boosting buildings and Barnaxus will make them pretty mean anyway. Combine this with the fact that they're slightly more powerful than the units they replace, and you'll get a tough army, equally useful for defense and offense.
Kuriotates (Good, Exp/Phi/Spr)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Enlightened supercities
Palace resource: Nature mana
Special traits: The sprawling trait has two effects. It allows the first (2 on Duel maps, 4 on Large, 5 on Huge and 3 on the rest) Kuriotate cities to work the third plot ring, helping them become super cities. In exchange, all of their other cities are Settlements which cost no maintenance but can only build Memorials and City Walls, as well as producing no science or commerce.
Special buildings: Memorial (Obelisk replacement, no maintenance cost and +15% GPP), Tailor (+1 happy and +5% gold income from sheep, silk and dyes), Jeweler (+1 happy and +5% gold income from gems, gold and pearls).
Special world units: Eurabatres (Gold dragon)
Other specials: Kuriotates are one of the two civilizations that can found the Cult of the Dragon religion. 20% of units produced in cities with the CotD religion will have a 3% chance of converting to the civilization owning the CotD holy city when in tiles owned by that civilization. Any cities infected with the CotD religion and not belonging to the Kuriotates or the Sheaim will have their culture production reduced by one.
Overview: Playing as the Kuriotates, you will have a group of big cities producing everything in your empire. All the rest will serve mostly as buffer zones and as ways to grab resources. Consider a Great People strategy, as you're one of the few civilizations best suited for it (having both the Philosophical trait and the Memorial building), and be sure to found the Cult of the Dragon to hinder your enemies a bit. When waging a war, you may want to raze cities a lot, since otherwise they'll become Settlements - and you can't build units in them to help hold them.
Ljosalfar (Neutral, Def/Exp/Rai or Arc/Sum), (Good, Cre/Spi)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Elves!
Palace resource: Nature mana
Special units: Elven worker (Worker replacement, can't remove forests, can build improvements on top of forests), Rider of the Ljosalfar (Knight replcement, +25% forest/ancient forest defense), lots of units with the Elven promotion.
Special world units: Gilden Silveric
Unavailable units: Cannon, Catapult, Arquebus, Chariot, War Chariot, Camel Archer, War Elephant, Crossbowman, Heavy Crossbowman, Berserker, Shield Wall.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Bear Totem, Armorer, Machinist's Shop, Siege Workshop
Other specials: Many units have the Elven promotion (Double movement in forests and ancient forests, +10% forest/ancient forest defense).
Overview: The Ljosalfar are very strongly a Builder civilization - after all, they can't build siege any weapons. Instead, the Light Elves are capable of effectively mounting a war of attrition, using their forested infrastructure to overwhelm the opponent with units and pillage his lands until he's as good as dead. There are alternative methods as well - getting the Baron from the Feral Bond tech and unleashing a horde of Werewolves is an effective way of taking down enemy cities, and mages always exist. With their ability to build things in forests, the Elves have a good synergy with the Fellowship of the Leaves' forest bonuses - but a Fellowship strategy isn't strictly necessary, and following an aggressive religion like the Octopus Overlords will give good early attack units in the form of the Drown.
Khazad (Neutral, Ind/Org or Agg/Fin)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Dwarven money-hoarders
Palace resource: Earth mana
Special units: Dwarven Druids (Druid replacement, learn Earth Sorcery and Summoning spells instead of Nature Magic), Dwarven Catapult (Catapult replacement - extra 10% city defense removed on bombardment), Dwarven Hammerfist (Maceman replacement - can build mine, quarry, fort, starts with the Guerilla II promotion), Dwarven Soldier (Axeman replacement, starts with the Guerilla II promotion).
Special buildings: Dwarven Smithy (Forge replacement - gives bonus production if Copper, Iron or Mithril is available to the city).
Special world units: Maros.
Unavailable units: Conjurers, Mages, Archmages, Summoners.
Unavailable buildings: Grove
Other specials: The Dwarven Vault specialty gives all Khazad cities modifiers based on the amount of gold in the treasury - from -2 to happy (<49 gold per city) to +25% GPP, +3 happy and +40% hammers (499> gold per city), some units have the Dwarven promotion (Double movement in hills and peaks, gives adepts the ability to cast 'Repair' with enchantment I).
Overview: Overview here.
Lanun (Neutral, Cre/Exp or Fin/Rai)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Sea pirates
Palace resource: Water mana and +1 food per sea tile globally.
Special units: Pirate (Privateer replacement - takes gold when defeating a ship), Boarding Party (Macemen replacement - melee unit that can attack ships in adjacent tiles, must fight cargoed units, if they win the battle they gain the ship), Lanun Galley (Galley replacement, increased cargo).
Other specials: -1 farm food production, +1 ship movement. Only civilization that's able to see and harvest the Pearl resource.
Overview: The Lanun are a sea people, capable of dominating the seas in any map with water present. Though they're somewhat more oriented towards warmongering, they also have viable hybrid strategies. Led by Falamar (Creative/Expansionist), they'll grow quickly thanks to rapid border expansion and cheaper lighthouses. Led by Hannah (Financial/Raider), coastal tiles with their three food & commerce will be increadibly profitable for them, not to mention their extra income from pillaging.
One strategy for playing the Lanun is getting the Octopus Overlords, then building a large Arcane Barge force protected by Pirates and The Drown. The Drown keep their Water Walking promotion when promoted to Stygian Guards, effectively giving 7 STR "ship-like" Melee units that can also attack cities from the coast after the Barges have loaded them with fireballs. Finally, the Slavery Civic allows turning low-hammers coastal cities into heavy production centers just by playing the whip. The same way, slaves are easy to capture and may be sacrificed for immediate hammers. OO allows the Lanun the overcome their weakness of raw production AND gets along well with their theme of sea domination.
Grigori (Neutral, Agn/Ind/Phi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Forsakers of the gods
Palace resource: +2 adventurer points
Special traits: Agnostic prevents the adoption of a state religion. Cannot build Temples.
Special units: Dragon Slayer (Maceman replacement, starts with the Dragon Slaying and Courage promotions), Grigori Medic (Cures disease), Grigori Inquisitor (Removes religion).
Special buildings: Memorial (Obelisk replacement - no maintenance cost and +15% GPP), Adventurers Guild (+2 Adventurer points), Grigori Tavern (Tavern replacement - acts as a normal tavern but grants Adventurer points instead of Great Artist points).
Special world units: Adventurers (Spawned with Adventurer GPP, can upgrade into nearly any unit).
Unavailable units: Disciple units.
Overview: To get the most Adventurers you should avoid early wonders in your capitol - though you can also gamble and trust that the increased amount of GPP will compensate for a lower probability to spawn Adventurers. The Memorial building will boost your Great People production, but Pacifism will do you no good - after all, you don't have a state religion. Later on also the Grigori Tavern. It's easier to go for a certain tech branch and get your Adventurers to national unit level as fast as possible. Treasure your Adventurers! They are the units with the most potential in the game. It's quite normal to get tier 4 units with Combat V, Heroic Strength I and II by the time your opponets get their avatar units which don't have the Hero promotion and need to fight to get their XP.
Hippus (Neutral, Agg/Rai or Exp/Fin)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Mercenary raiders
Palace resource: Horses.
Special units: Hippus Settler (Settler replacement - increased move), Raider (Horseman replacement, move 4 strength 4), Hippus Summoner (Summoner replacement - can summon air elementals), Hippus Camel Archer (Camel Archer replacement - 55% Withdrawal Chance instead of 45%), Hippus War Elephant (War Elephant replacement - 35% Withdrawal Chance instead of 25%), Wind Knight (Knight replacement - ignores terrain costs, can cast Dancing Blades).
Special world units: Magnadine (converts every defeated Barbarian unit to the cause of your civilization).
Unavailable units: Arquebus, Cannon, Shield Wall.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Armorer
Overview: Overview here.
Amurites (Neutral, Arc/Org or Mag/Phi)
Play style: Hybrid.
Theme: Magicians
Palace resource: Enchantment mana.
Special units: Wizard (Mage replacement - starts with a Spellstaff promotion), Firebow (Longbowman replacement - starts with Fire 1 and Sorcery 1).
Special buildings: Cave of Ancestors (Grants +1 xp for each different mana resource the city has access to).
Special world units: Govannon (Can train living non-animal allied units to cast Dance of Blades, Escape, Haste and Raise Skeleton).
Overview: Overview here.
Doviello (Evil, Agg/Bar or Ind/Rai)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Iceland barbarians
Palace resource: Chaos mana
Special units:: Beastman (Warrior replacement - increased city attack), Battlemaster (Expensive maceman replacement - can upgrade units on the field, no building requirment, +50% on tundra), Doviello Axeman (Expensive axeman replacement, no building requirment, +50% on tundra), Doviello Pikeman (Expensive pikeman replacement, no building requirment, +50% on tundra), Witch Doctor (Expensive adept replacement, no building requirment).
Unavailable units: Archery units.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Archery Range, Bowyer, Libary, Machinist's Shop, Mage Guild
Special world units: The War Machine (capturable).
Overview: Overview here.
Balseraphs (Evil, Cre/Phi or Cre/Sum)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Evil jesters
Palace resource: Mind mana
Special units:: Acrobat (Hunter replacement - can withdraw, built with a Carnival instead of a Hunting Lodge), Gypsy Wagon (Travels in rival territory, leeches money and culture from other civs cities, increases culture in its own civilizations cities), Harlequin (Ranger replacement - can cast Confusion), Taskmaster (Assassin replacement - no first strike, has a chance of converting defeated units into slaves).
Special buildings: Freak Show (+2 great artist points, allows Human cages, Dwarf cages, Elf cages and Orc cages).
Unavailable buildings: Obelisk, Hunting Lodge
Special world units: Loki (As a gypsy wagon with a few mind and chaos spells. Runs away when attacked, meaning he has to be cornered or surrounded to be killed).
Overview: The Balseraphs give a whole new meaning to the term "culture war". Their Gypsy Wagons can weaken the culture of enemy cities, making them easier to overwhelm with their own culture.
Balseraph Catapults (or "cowtapults" as they are sometimes called due to their unusual ammunition) have a high withdrawal rate, allowing them to cause collateral damage multiple times with near-impunity, and Harlequins can utilize low-to-mid level Chaos and Mind spells.
The Balseraphs also enjoy the benefits of slavery, with the Freak Show building providing extra culture for each slave cage you build in that city. For these reasons, you should consider founding the Octopus Overlords when you play as the Balseraphs, though you can make do with Taskmasters, the Balseraph replacement for the Assassin, which can enslave enemies regardless of civic options.
Clan of Embers (Evil, Bar/Exp/Sco/Spi or Agg/Bar/Mag/Sco)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Barbarian civilization
Palace resource: Fire mana
Special units:: Goblin (Cheap scout replacement - can't upgrade to Hunter), Orc Axeman (Axeman replacement - can't upgrade to Pikeman), Pitch Wagon (Catapult replacement - increased strength), Orc Witch Doctor (Expensive adept replacement - no building requirment), Worg Rider (Horseman replacement - can be created out of wolves), many units with the Orc promotion.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Library, Mage Guild, Stables
Special world units: Rantine (Can convert barbarin cities to his empire if he is the strongest unit in that city).
Other specials: Many units have the Orc promotion (Orc promotion info here).
Calabim, the Order of Blood (Evil, Agg/Phi or Exp/Org)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Vampires!
Palace resource: Body mana, one free Vampiric Governor
Special units: Vampire (Has the Vampire promotion), Moroi (Axeman replacement, can cast Burning Blood on himself and become a vampire on level 4), Blood Pet (A vampire consuming the blood pet regains 1 move and the ability to attack along with the normal consumption benefits).
Special buildings: Breeding Pit (+20% growth, +2 food, -1 health), Governors Manor (-25% war weariness).
Special world units: Losha Valas (Gains immortality each time she kills a living unit).
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Elder Council
Other specials: Vampire promotion (+5% healing rate, +10% strength, can use Feast, Feed and Gift Vampirism), Vampiric Governor (Specialist, +2 culture, +1 production, +1 gold). The unit abilities Feast (Usable in cities, sacrifices a point of population for experience), Feed (Sacrifices a unit in the same square for restored health, see also Blood Pet's description) and Gift Vampirism (Gifts vampirism to all other units in a square that are level 6 or higher - the Moroi are an exception, as they can be vampire'd on level 4).
Overview: Your vampires can be fed either through building a couple of big farm cities, or simply by taking over enemy cities and gobbling up their entire population (bon appetit). Spread the gift to as many of your units as you can and take over the world. With their unique Breeding Pit building, the Calabim also have synergies with the Octopus Overlords and the Slavery civic - whenever your citizens aren't being used for vampire food, they can be whipped away for production. (Your citizens may feel a bit unhappy, but they'll be dead soon enough anyway, so it's not like they'd matter.)
Sheaim (Evil, Arc/Sum or Spi/Sum)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Arcane destroyers of the world
Palace resource: Dimensional mana
Special units: Eater of Dreams (Summoner replacement - can sacrifice population to regain the ability to cast), Pyre Zombie (Explodes when killed).
Special world units: Abashi (Black dragon).
Other specials: The Sheaim is one of the two civilizations that can found the Cult of the Dragon religion. 20% of units produced in cities with the CotD religion will have a 3% chance of converting to the civilization owning the CotD holy city when in tiles owned by that civilization. Any cities infected with the CotD religion and not belonging to the Kuriotates or the Sheaim will have their culture production reduced by one.
Overview: They're evil and they want to destroy the world. Cool, huh?
Somebody improve my write-ups. The Overviews need work, for one...
So get on it, I'll edit your additions to the first post as they get done. With some luck, we'll manage to make a great resource for new players, and why not slightly more experienced ones as well.
I really like FfH, but one problem is that the differences between the different civs aren't really all that well documented anywhere, so players will have to just experiment to see what each civ's unique strenghts and weaknesses are. So I thought that we could start up a thread where each civ's unique properties could be documented for easy reference. Sure, they get changed by every version, but once we've got a starting document done, it should be simple to incorporate any changes in the following versions by simply looking at the changelogs.
I don't have access to Civ right now, nor have I had the chance to actually play very many games, so I need you folks to help me out a bit. Chime in and give me details on the civilizations that I've missed something about and I'll edit it into the first post. It'd probably be way too much effort for somebody to keep this listing up to date alone, but it shouldn't be very hard if everybody contributes at least a bit.
Most of the information has been taken from the various Design threads, so if something's incorrect here, blame an out-of-date Design thread. Units that didn't have any special abilities mentioned weren't included in the "Special units" listing (since I assumed those were only cosmetic changes).
That being said, the Fall from Heaven 2 Manual: Civilizations.
Contributors so far: vorshlumpf, Grillick, Nikis-Knight, xumio, Deathling, Black Whole, Chandrasekhar, Qthzandra, JuliusBloodmoon, Mahatmajon, Chalid, lorgen, DMN, SchpailsMan, Frozen-Vomit, QES.
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Civilizations in short
Playble civilizations grouped by alignment:
Good: Bannor, Malakim, Elohim, Luchuirp, Kuriotates, Ljosalfar.
Neutral: Ljosalfar, Khazad, Lanun, Grigori, Hippus, Amurites
Evil: Doviello, Balseraphs, Clan of Embers, Calabim, Sheaim
Playble civilizations grouped by play style:
Builder: Kuriotates, Malakim, Khazad, Ljosalfar.
Hybrid: Bannor, Elohim, Luchuirp, Balseraphs, Amurites, Lanun, Hippus, Grigori.
Warmonger: Doviello, Clan of Embers, Calabim, Sheaim
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Civilizations in detail
Bannor (Good, Org/Mag or Ind/Spi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Lawful good crusaders
Palace resource: Law mana
Special units: Enforcer (Warrior replacement - reduces maintenance for the city it's in), Guardsman (Axeman replacement - reduces maintenance for the city it's in), Shieldbearer (Pikeman replacement - will always be the unit defending the stack), Demagog (Crusade only, low cost Maceman), Flagbearer (Crusade only, passes Morale promotion to all living allied units within one tile).
Special world units: Donal Lungh (Gains the ability to recruit after killing a demon or undead, has the Guardsman ability and can cast Hope)
Other specials: Crusade civic (+25% military production, -75% war weariness, -100% great people points, no settler/worker production, limited building production, cannot initiate diplomacy with hostile civ, disciple units gain Evagelist promotion, enables production of Demagog and Flagbearer)
Overview: The Bannor is a pretty generalist, law-oriented civilization. When led by Sabathiel (Organized/Magic Resistant), they are well-suited for warfare, while Capria (Industrial/Spiritual) lends well for a more peaceful playing style. Of the two extremes, however, they're a bit more suited towards warfare - shieldbearers help keep invading stacks alive, and their unique Crusade civic makes it fun to, well, crusade. Their hero makes them especially well suited towards warring with demon- or undead-using civilizations.
Malakim (Good, Cre/Fin)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Desert people
Palace resource: Fire mana
Special units: Lightbringer (Expensive prophet with sentry 1 and no building requirement)
Special buildings: Citadel of Light (Summons a fireball if there is an enemy unit within 2 tiles, requires fire mana).
Special world units: Chalid Astrakein
Overview: Varn Gosam gets the Creative and Financial traits, a powerful combination in vanilla Civ, and useful here as well. Quick expansion yields good results, as money-draining obelisks aren't necessary for Malakim cities to expand. Cottage-spammers will enjoy this Civ, but other strategies are viable as well. The fire mana that they start out with leads to easy fireballs for mages. The desert theme is merely a concept for now, but perhaps future versions will implement this more fully.
Elohim (Good, Cre/Def/Spi or Def/Phi/Spi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Guardians of holy places
Palace resource: Spirit mana
Special units: Monks (Medic 2 national units, good against demons).
Special buildings: Chancel of Guardians (+25% defense, 20% of units built in city start with the Defensive promotion), Reliquary (Units built in the city start with the Spirit Guide promotion).
Special world units: Corlindale (Sacrifices himself to end all wars between his civ and all other civs except the barbarians)
Overview: The Defensive trait helps a Builder style of play as repelling invasions gets easier, while Monks and the Reliquary help in waging an offensive war. Just remember that Defensive is of no help once you've left your cultural borders.
Luchuirp (Good, Arc/Fin or Org/Spi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Dwarven enchanters & builders
Palace resource: Enchantment mana
Special units: Arcane Golem (Spartatori replacement - summons imps), Bone Golem (Immortal replacement - heals when it kills or living units die in the same tile), Clockwork Golem (Berserker replacement - has a chance of breaking down each turns), Iron Golem (Maceman replacement), Mud Golem (Worker replacement - no food cost to build), Nullstone Golem (Shieldwall replacement - starts with Magic Immune), Gargoyle (Pikeman replacement - defensive bonus), Wood Golem (Axeman replacement - vulnerable to fire).
Special buildings: Blasting Workshop (Gives golems the ability to cast fireballs), Armament Molds (Armorer replacement - increases golem strength), Velox Workshop (Weaponsmith replacement - decreases golem strength but increases movement), Gridlines (Gives golems the City Defense promotion), Sculptors Studio (Barracks replacement).
Special world units: Barnaxus (Barnaxus gaining any of the Combat I-V promotions automatically gives *all* the golems in the empire those promotions as well, for as long as Barnaxus is alive).
Other specials: Some units have the Dwarven promotion (Double movement in hills and peaks, gives adepts the ability to cast 'Repair' with enchantment I).
Overview: Golems gain no experience, but a combination of the different golem-boosting buildings and Barnaxus will make them pretty mean anyway. Combine this with the fact that they're slightly more powerful than the units they replace, and you'll get a tough army, equally useful for defense and offense.
Kuriotates (Good, Exp/Phi/Spr)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Enlightened supercities
Palace resource: Nature mana
Special traits: The sprawling trait has two effects. It allows the first (2 on Duel maps, 4 on Large, 5 on Huge and 3 on the rest) Kuriotate cities to work the third plot ring, helping them become super cities. In exchange, all of their other cities are Settlements which cost no maintenance but can only build Memorials and City Walls, as well as producing no science or commerce.
Special buildings: Memorial (Obelisk replacement, no maintenance cost and +15% GPP), Tailor (+1 happy and +5% gold income from sheep, silk and dyes), Jeweler (+1 happy and +5% gold income from gems, gold and pearls).
Special world units: Eurabatres (Gold dragon)
Other specials: Kuriotates are one of the two civilizations that can found the Cult of the Dragon religion. 20% of units produced in cities with the CotD religion will have a 3% chance of converting to the civilization owning the CotD holy city when in tiles owned by that civilization. Any cities infected with the CotD religion and not belonging to the Kuriotates or the Sheaim will have their culture production reduced by one.
Overview: Playing as the Kuriotates, you will have a group of big cities producing everything in your empire. All the rest will serve mostly as buffer zones and as ways to grab resources. Consider a Great People strategy, as you're one of the few civilizations best suited for it (having both the Philosophical trait and the Memorial building), and be sure to found the Cult of the Dragon to hinder your enemies a bit. When waging a war, you may want to raze cities a lot, since otherwise they'll become Settlements - and you can't build units in them to help hold them.
Ljosalfar (Neutral, Def/Exp/Rai or Arc/Sum), (Good, Cre/Spi)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Elves!
Palace resource: Nature mana
Special units: Elven worker (Worker replacement, can't remove forests, can build improvements on top of forests), Rider of the Ljosalfar (Knight replcement, +25% forest/ancient forest defense), lots of units with the Elven promotion.
Special world units: Gilden Silveric
Unavailable units: Cannon, Catapult, Arquebus, Chariot, War Chariot, Camel Archer, War Elephant, Crossbowman, Heavy Crossbowman, Berserker, Shield Wall.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Bear Totem, Armorer, Machinist's Shop, Siege Workshop
Other specials: Many units have the Elven promotion (Double movement in forests and ancient forests, +10% forest/ancient forest defense).
Overview: The Ljosalfar are very strongly a Builder civilization - after all, they can't build siege any weapons. Instead, the Light Elves are capable of effectively mounting a war of attrition, using their forested infrastructure to overwhelm the opponent with units and pillage his lands until he's as good as dead. There are alternative methods as well - getting the Baron from the Feral Bond tech and unleashing a horde of Werewolves is an effective way of taking down enemy cities, and mages always exist. With their ability to build things in forests, the Elves have a good synergy with the Fellowship of the Leaves' forest bonuses - but a Fellowship strategy isn't strictly necessary, and following an aggressive religion like the Octopus Overlords will give good early attack units in the form of the Drown.
Khazad (Neutral, Ind/Org or Agg/Fin)
Play style: Builder
Theme: Dwarven money-hoarders
Palace resource: Earth mana
Special units: Dwarven Druids (Druid replacement, learn Earth Sorcery and Summoning spells instead of Nature Magic), Dwarven Catapult (Catapult replacement - extra 10% city defense removed on bombardment), Dwarven Hammerfist (Maceman replacement - can build mine, quarry, fort, starts with the Guerilla II promotion), Dwarven Soldier (Axeman replacement, starts with the Guerilla II promotion).
Special buildings: Dwarven Smithy (Forge replacement - gives bonus production if Copper, Iron or Mithril is available to the city).
Special world units: Maros.
Unavailable units: Conjurers, Mages, Archmages, Summoners.
Unavailable buildings: Grove
Other specials: The Dwarven Vault specialty gives all Khazad cities modifiers based on the amount of gold in the treasury - from -2 to happy (<49 gold per city) to +25% GPP, +3 happy and +40% hammers (499> gold per city), some units have the Dwarven promotion (Double movement in hills and peaks, gives adepts the ability to cast 'Repair' with enchantment I).
Overview: Overview here.
Lanun (Neutral, Cre/Exp or Fin/Rai)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Sea pirates
Palace resource: Water mana and +1 food per sea tile globally.
Special units: Pirate (Privateer replacement - takes gold when defeating a ship), Boarding Party (Macemen replacement - melee unit that can attack ships in adjacent tiles, must fight cargoed units, if they win the battle they gain the ship), Lanun Galley (Galley replacement, increased cargo).
Other specials: -1 farm food production, +1 ship movement. Only civilization that's able to see and harvest the Pearl resource.
Overview: The Lanun are a sea people, capable of dominating the seas in any map with water present. Though they're somewhat more oriented towards warmongering, they also have viable hybrid strategies. Led by Falamar (Creative/Expansionist), they'll grow quickly thanks to rapid border expansion and cheaper lighthouses. Led by Hannah (Financial/Raider), coastal tiles with their three food & commerce will be increadibly profitable for them, not to mention their extra income from pillaging.
One strategy for playing the Lanun is getting the Octopus Overlords, then building a large Arcane Barge force protected by Pirates and The Drown. The Drown keep their Water Walking promotion when promoted to Stygian Guards, effectively giving 7 STR "ship-like" Melee units that can also attack cities from the coast after the Barges have loaded them with fireballs. Finally, the Slavery Civic allows turning low-hammers coastal cities into heavy production centers just by playing the whip. The same way, slaves are easy to capture and may be sacrificed for immediate hammers. OO allows the Lanun the overcome their weakness of raw production AND gets along well with their theme of sea domination.
Grigori (Neutral, Agn/Ind/Phi)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Forsakers of the gods
Palace resource: +2 adventurer points
Special traits: Agnostic prevents the adoption of a state religion. Cannot build Temples.
Special units: Dragon Slayer (Maceman replacement, starts with the Dragon Slaying and Courage promotions), Grigori Medic (Cures disease), Grigori Inquisitor (Removes religion).
Special buildings: Memorial (Obelisk replacement - no maintenance cost and +15% GPP), Adventurers Guild (+2 Adventurer points), Grigori Tavern (Tavern replacement - acts as a normal tavern but grants Adventurer points instead of Great Artist points).
Special world units: Adventurers (Spawned with Adventurer GPP, can upgrade into nearly any unit).
Unavailable units: Disciple units.
Overview: To get the most Adventurers you should avoid early wonders in your capitol - though you can also gamble and trust that the increased amount of GPP will compensate for a lower probability to spawn Adventurers. The Memorial building will boost your Great People production, but Pacifism will do you no good - after all, you don't have a state religion. Later on also the Grigori Tavern. It's easier to go for a certain tech branch and get your Adventurers to national unit level as fast as possible. Treasure your Adventurers! They are the units with the most potential in the game. It's quite normal to get tier 4 units with Combat V, Heroic Strength I and II by the time your opponets get their avatar units which don't have the Hero promotion and need to fight to get their XP.
Hippus (Neutral, Agg/Rai or Exp/Fin)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Mercenary raiders
Palace resource: Horses.
Special units: Hippus Settler (Settler replacement - increased move), Raider (Horseman replacement, move 4 strength 4), Hippus Summoner (Summoner replacement - can summon air elementals), Hippus Camel Archer (Camel Archer replacement - 55% Withdrawal Chance instead of 45%), Hippus War Elephant (War Elephant replacement - 35% Withdrawal Chance instead of 25%), Wind Knight (Knight replacement - ignores terrain costs, can cast Dancing Blades).
Special world units: Magnadine (converts every defeated Barbarian unit to the cause of your civilization).
Unavailable units: Arquebus, Cannon, Shield Wall.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Armorer
Overview: Overview here.
Amurites (Neutral, Arc/Org or Mag/Phi)
Play style: Hybrid.
Theme: Magicians
Palace resource: Enchantment mana.
Special units: Wizard (Mage replacement - starts with a Spellstaff promotion), Firebow (Longbowman replacement - starts with Fire 1 and Sorcery 1).
Special buildings: Cave of Ancestors (Grants +1 xp for each different mana resource the city has access to).
Special world units: Govannon (Can train living non-animal allied units to cast Dance of Blades, Escape, Haste and Raise Skeleton).
Overview: Overview here.
Doviello (Evil, Agg/Bar or Ind/Rai)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Iceland barbarians
Palace resource: Chaos mana
Special units:: Beastman (Warrior replacement - increased city attack), Battlemaster (Expensive maceman replacement - can upgrade units on the field, no building requirment, +50% on tundra), Doviello Axeman (Expensive axeman replacement, no building requirment, +50% on tundra), Doviello Pikeman (Expensive pikeman replacement, no building requirment, +50% on tundra), Witch Doctor (Expensive adept replacement, no building requirment).
Unavailable units: Archery units.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Archery Range, Bowyer, Libary, Machinist's Shop, Mage Guild
Special world units: The War Machine (capturable).
Overview: Overview here.
Balseraphs (Evil, Cre/Phi or Cre/Sum)
Play style: Hybrid
Theme: Evil jesters
Palace resource: Mind mana
Special units:: Acrobat (Hunter replacement - can withdraw, built with a Carnival instead of a Hunting Lodge), Gypsy Wagon (Travels in rival territory, leeches money and culture from other civs cities, increases culture in its own civilizations cities), Harlequin (Ranger replacement - can cast Confusion), Taskmaster (Assassin replacement - no first strike, has a chance of converting defeated units into slaves).
Special buildings: Freak Show (+2 great artist points, allows Human cages, Dwarf cages, Elf cages and Orc cages).
Unavailable buildings: Obelisk, Hunting Lodge
Special world units: Loki (As a gypsy wagon with a few mind and chaos spells. Runs away when attacked, meaning he has to be cornered or surrounded to be killed).
Overview: The Balseraphs give a whole new meaning to the term "culture war". Their Gypsy Wagons can weaken the culture of enemy cities, making them easier to overwhelm with their own culture.
Balseraph Catapults (or "cowtapults" as they are sometimes called due to their unusual ammunition) have a high withdrawal rate, allowing them to cause collateral damage multiple times with near-impunity, and Harlequins can utilize low-to-mid level Chaos and Mind spells.
The Balseraphs also enjoy the benefits of slavery, with the Freak Show building providing extra culture for each slave cage you build in that city. For these reasons, you should consider founding the Octopus Overlords when you play as the Balseraphs, though you can make do with Taskmasters, the Balseraph replacement for the Assassin, which can enslave enemies regardless of civic options.
Clan of Embers (Evil, Bar/Exp/Sco/Spi or Agg/Bar/Mag/Sco)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Barbarian civilization
Palace resource: Fire mana
Special units:: Goblin (Cheap scout replacement - can't upgrade to Hunter), Orc Axeman (Axeman replacement - can't upgrade to Pikeman), Pitch Wagon (Catapult replacement - increased strength), Orc Witch Doctor (Expensive adept replacement - no building requirment), Worg Rider (Horseman replacement - can be created out of wolves), many units with the Orc promotion.
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Library, Mage Guild, Stables
Special world units: Rantine (Can convert barbarin cities to his empire if he is the strongest unit in that city).
Other specials: Many units have the Orc promotion (Orc promotion info here).
Calabim, the Order of Blood (Evil, Agg/Phi or Exp/Org)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Vampires!
Palace resource: Body mana, one free Vampiric Governor
Special units: Vampire (Has the Vampire promotion), Moroi (Axeman replacement, can cast Burning Blood on himself and become a vampire on level 4), Blood Pet (A vampire consuming the blood pet regains 1 move and the ability to attack along with the normal consumption benefits).
Special buildings: Breeding Pit (+20% growth, +2 food, -1 health), Governors Manor (-25% war weariness).
Special world units: Losha Valas (Gains immortality each time she kills a living unit).
Unavailable buildings: Alchemy Lab, Elder Council
Other specials: Vampire promotion (+5% healing rate, +10% strength, can use Feast, Feed and Gift Vampirism), Vampiric Governor (Specialist, +2 culture, +1 production, +1 gold). The unit abilities Feast (Usable in cities, sacrifices a point of population for experience), Feed (Sacrifices a unit in the same square for restored health, see also Blood Pet's description) and Gift Vampirism (Gifts vampirism to all other units in a square that are level 6 or higher - the Moroi are an exception, as they can be vampire'd on level 4).
Overview: Your vampires can be fed either through building a couple of big farm cities, or simply by taking over enemy cities and gobbling up their entire population (bon appetit). Spread the gift to as many of your units as you can and take over the world. With their unique Breeding Pit building, the Calabim also have synergies with the Octopus Overlords and the Slavery civic - whenever your citizens aren't being used for vampire food, they can be whipped away for production. (Your citizens may feel a bit unhappy, but they'll be dead soon enough anyway, so it's not like they'd matter.)
Sheaim (Evil, Arc/Sum or Spi/Sum)
Play style: Warmonger
Theme: Arcane destroyers of the world
Palace resource: Dimensional mana
Special units: Eater of Dreams (Summoner replacement - can sacrifice population to regain the ability to cast), Pyre Zombie (Explodes when killed).
Special world units: Abashi (Black dragon).
Other specials: The Sheaim is one of the two civilizations that can found the Cult of the Dragon religion. 20% of units produced in cities with the CotD religion will have a 3% chance of converting to the civilization owning the CotD holy city when in tiles owned by that civilization. Any cities infected with the CotD religion and not belonging to the Kuriotates or the Sheaim will have their culture production reduced by one.
Overview: They're evil and they want to destroy the world. Cool, huh?
Somebody improve my write-ups. The Overviews need work, for one...
So get on it, I'll edit your additions to the first post as they get done. With some luck, we'll manage to make a great resource for new players, and why not slightly more experienced ones as well.
Woot! Fantastic idea, this is awesome work!
