What civilization do you think will be the most powerful?

What civilization do you think will be the most powerful? I took the time to create a list of all the civs in order from what I think is the most powerful to the least powerful. Now, the most powerful doesn't mean the most fun. That award, in my mind, belongs to the Axtecs. Going around killing things for culture is defidently incredibly fun, but not the most useful. By the most powerful, I mean the civ that you think would be the most easy to win a game with. Without further delay, I give you my list:

1. Rome. Epic special ability. Having 25% production on all buildings that exist in the capital is huge. Plus the fact that they have 2 unique units in the same era would make Rome a beast in the ancient era. The legion and the ballista go great together. The ballista drops down a city's defense enough for your legions to mop up. Then, after you initial "waring period", your ability will help you recover faster while your legions help build roads and forts.

2. Arabia. Their special ability gives more gold per trade route, so that'll lead to an early economic advantage, which leads to more land, which leads to more research. Plus, getting twice as much resorces from oil ain't to shabby either. More oil means you can build more powerful ships, such as destroyers and battleships. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if your navy is stronger than England's. Their unique building also seems to increase trade, and this also goes great with your unique ability. Their unique unit has ranged attack, and if used properly, this could also be rather powerful.

3. Aztec. Straight forward strategy; just go around and kill barbs, use the culture generated to buy social policies that give an advantage in fighting, use this to kill more units, repeat until you win a cultural victory.

4. America. Gives you an early advantage in expanding, which gives you an edge on the competion. Not to0 much a fan of the Minutemen. Units that have a bonus defending aren't as valuable as attacking units.

5. Egypt. Build nearly every wonder, win a cultural victory. Their unique building seems to aid with that.

6. Siam. Good for dimplo victory. You'll be befriending city-states anyway, why not recieve an increased bonus for that?

7. Japan. I really, really like their special ability. Healing a unit is what slows down your warring the most, and this allows you to build less units and fight wars earlier.

8. Greece. Shoe-in for a diplo victory. Befriending city-states are now easier, so this civ is the best when going for that victory type.

9. England. 2 + movement for every naval unit will allow you to get a huge advantage on island maps before combustion. Just make sure you have enough oil; try to go after Arabia sooner rather than later.

10. France. Allows for culture to generate from turn 1. Spam cities everywhere and delay steam power and you'll have an early advantage. But I asume the Aztecs will outpace you culture-wise eventually, seeing as how they usually are a warlike civ.

11. Russia. Allows for a huge army and who doesn't like more production.

12. Persia. I'm not sure how golden ages will work this time around, but they are most likely rare in appearance and Persia will make the most out of them.

13. China. Great Generals will now be much more frequent and much more useful, leading to an advantage when fighting.

14. Songhia. Recieving triple gold from pillaging cities would help pay for your war effort. Not much else to like.

15. Germany. If you go barb hunting early, you might pick up a few more cities. But a 50% chance isn't a lot. But if your the first to discover the tech that gives tanks, you can easily bully all the other civs and win a late domination victory.

16. Iroquois. Having double movement in forest is nice, but there is no strategy to go along with it. Maybe a longhouse is better than it sounds, but I doubt it.

17. Ottomans. In order to get a free barb ship, you would have to have your own navy in the first place, so it's not very valuable. The Janissary isn't terribly good, it just heals after winning a battle. I'd rather have a unit that is better at fighting so it won't lose much health, rather than having a unit that heals if it lives.

18. India. I'm more of a person that would spam a bunch of cities with low population than the opposite. There are better canidates for an OCC. Overall, blah.

How do you have Russia and Persia in the middle and India last?
These along with Japan, Rome, and Siam seem to have the most useful abilities.

I don't think the Aztec ability will contribute so much to a culture victory. I think Siam and France have them beat for such a path.
And the trade route bonus for Arabia doesn't seem all that great.

Rome, followed shortly by Egypt. I think it's a good sign I was conflicted between these two, and another 3-4.

I think the developers benefit from seeing "best/worst" threads, despite our lack of playtesting. At least they find out what the community feels.

Azzazel said that Songhai was a beast in some games he played. Of course triple money from capturing cities means that you could pay for (most of) a happiness building in the city with the money you gained from capturing it, which could make for really rapid expansion.

There was a screenshot that showed that France's bonus had gone up to 2 per city. That would make them get Social Policies really quick early on (5 turns until the first one).

And I think people overrate Rome's ability (but not their UUs). City specialization is going to be stronger than in Civ4 with building limited by maintenance, resources and hexes that the city works (can't build a Garden if your city is not next to a river, nor a Mint if you don't have Silver or Gold in your city radius), so you will be building quite a few buildings that Rome can't build or won't gain enough benefit from to afford the maintenance.

The building may not do much good in Rome itself but it will allow you to build it faster in all your other cities. For example Rome is deep in the heart of the empire and will probably never be attacked so city walls and castles don't make much sense, but the boarder cities (which have low production) could benefit immensely from that bonus.

The Ottomans seem to have been shafted big time. Hopefully their UUs are twice as good.

I think Arabia and Rome both sound strong.

Whichever one I'm playing as.

Iroquois.

Every unit having basically the civ 4 equivalent to Woodsmen 2 is awesome.

Mango Elephant said:

The Ottomans seem to have been shafted big time. Hopefully their UUs are twice as good.

I think Arabia and Rome both sound strong.

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We do, and for me atleast they're pretty good. Nothing to make up for the ability, though.

sipahi

Janissary

Greece. 2 good early units and the ability to gain many allies and resources with city states should boost them to the top tier of Civs in my opinion.

Cull said:

Iroquois.

Every unit having basically the civ 4 equivalent to Woodsmen 2 is awesome.

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But as I said before, "Having double movement in forest is nice, but there is no strategy to go along with it." Not losing a movement point in forests helps, but since there is no strategy to go along with it, it isn't great. Take the Aztecs, for example. Their ability might win the game for you if used good enough.

Thormodr said:

Greece. 2 good early units and the ability to gain many allies and resources with city states should boost them to the top tier of Civs in my opinion.

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I'm quite glad Greece got a good deal this time around. They certainly wern't a powerhouse in Civ4 or Revolution.

Mango Elephant said:

The Ottomans seem to have been shafted big time. Hopefully their UUs are twice as good.

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They are. The Ottomans are going to own Renaissance combat.

Bobbtjoe said:

But as I said before, "Having double movement in forest is nice, but there is no strategy to go along with it." Not losing a movement point in forests helps, but since there is no strategy to go along with it, it isn't great. Take the Aztecs, for example. Their ability might win the game for you if used good enough.

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Thinking again, I can see a huge advantage in this. If, say, 10 trees are connected, you could travel ten hexes without spending a single movement point. This is something I haven't thought about. Battling an opponent across a continent would be much easier.

Well, Siam has the bonus of a sweet UB, giving them a bonus for a potential science victory as well as the obvious route towards a Cultural or Diplomatic victory, making them the ultimate Jack of all trades. Still, Japan seems to be the best in raw military strength. Depending on how certain game mechanics play out, Sully could conceivably be a great dark horse.

I think Japan, Rome, and Russia have the best abilities. Though, I don't know that stats on the unique units/unique buildings so I don't have a clear idea which one is the "easiest" to play with. Though I lost on Settler Difficulty due to an English Time Victory on my 1st game so maybe I'm not the person one would ask for such an analysis.

It's a hard call as to which one's the best. The Aztecs have the most clearcut strategy - attack everything, use the culture to buy social policies that improve your military - but that doesn't make them the best. Same is true of Greeks, Siam, France, Egypt. Rome, England, America may turn out to be amazing.

The Iroquois however are pretty clearly the worst. One of these days the Civ people are going to get the Native Americans right, but this is not the time.

India seems to me, instead of having an advantage, they just have a different flavor. With the penalty from number of cities increased and offsetting the population bump, well, I'm not sold.

Bobbtjoe said:

Thinking again, I can see a huge advantage in this. If, say, 10 trees are connected, you could travel ten hexes without spending a single movement point. This is something I haven't thought about. Battling an opponent across a continent would be much easier.

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Are you sure that's the Iroquois ability? Quoted from that awesome website -

The Great Warpath (Iroquois): Units spend only 1 Movement Point entering any tile with a Forest.

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http://well-of-souls.com/civ/civ5_civilizations.html

I interpret that as you simply don't lose a movement point if you move through a forest, so if you use a regular unit you can only move through 2 forest tiles a turn.

And the Siamese don't get a bonus befriending city states, they get an extra bonus for city state tributes/gifts. I personally think that paired with their cultural UB that they'll be quite adept at a Cultural victory.

Bobbtjoe said:

Healing a unit is what slows down your warring the most, and this allows you to build less units and fight wars earlier.

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Bobbtjoe said:

The Janissary isn't terribly good, it just heals after winning a battle. I'd rather have a unit that is better at fighting so it won't lose much health, rather than having a unit that heals if it lives.

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Contradicted yourself a bit there.

Bobbtjoe said:

Having double movement in forest is nice, but there is no strategy to go along with it.

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I'm sure there are a lot of war tactics you could use to take advantage of that ability.