Buffs/nerfs you think should be made to civilizations

[ImperialSteeze]

So, lets hear what suggestions you have regarding what buffs or nerfs some, or all, civilizations could use.
I haven't played all civilizations yet, and some of them I've only played once or twice. But I'm gonna try to get around to trying them all. Therefore, I will add my thoughts on all of the civilizations little by little.
Overall I want the UAs to feel as historically correct as possible.

What does everyone think? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

Heres a Civilizations leaders guide if you need one:http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/938528-sid-meiers-civilization-v/faqs/61095

America
Now, I've only played one short game as Washington, but I do think their UA needs a buff. The free sentry upgrade and the reduced cost of buying land is nice. It means you can quickly scout out good locations of land to settle and then get the tiles you need fast.
I'm not really sure if this would be too much but, one idea I have is that America could get some sort of production boost UA. Maybe have their factories add more production % boost, a production boost that only applies to military units.
In any case, it would be a production boost that would kick in during the industrial era. I feel this would be suitable to represent the USA's military industrial complex.
OR, some sort of general boost to the spawning of great people.
"The country accounts for 43% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world."
- Wikipedias page on the United States

So, my suggestion is to remove the free sentry upgrade, keep the 25% discount for purchasing tiles and add either a boost to their factories that only applies to military units or a boost to the spawning of great people.

Arabia
Aztecs
China
Egypt
England
France
Germany
Greece
India
Iroquois
Japan
Ottoman
Persia
Rome
Russia
Siam
Songhai
Babylon
Mongols
Spain
Inca
Polynesia

 

[OrsonM]

America is alright, I mean the minuteman is sort of an offbeat unit, but it does allow one major exploit, which hit and run siege!

It kinda works like this, attack with a group of minuteman, now the minute that one of the sieging minutemen is in danger (in the yellow zone), swap him for another minuteman you have on his back. The tactic works in the way that the swaped minutemen that just took the place of the one you swaped can attack right away, no matter the terrain (troops can be a bit finnicky about it). Keep those minutemen long enough and upgrade them, their skill becomes even more awesome with extra moves (+4 if upgraded to mechanized infantry).

The UA is not bad, it doesn't allow any major exploits, it's just nice to have.

The flying fortress however is an unimaginative unit, it's just a beefed up bomber.

Edit: this is on my assumption that people have issues with the minuteman, not the UA.

 

[Smokeybear]

My suggestion would be that *every* civ have one unique building... especially the ones who currently have two forgettable unique units that come and go without being missed at all. I can't think of one civ that has two UU's where I would be heartbroken if one of them just disappeared and got replaced by an effective UB. I seldom play any of the civs which lack a good UB.

 

[Thry]

The minuteman is a meh unit. Yeah it can move 2 moves every turn, and that's nice, but it needs something more. We're falling into the same Civ IV problem where musketmen are useless or become obsolete quickly. I think the minuteman should be somewhere along the lines of 20% cheaper than the musketman. You have to be careful with this, you don't want the minuteman to be too cost-effective, but you don't want it to be useless.

 

[Stormbolt]

Here are my thoughts on a few of the abilities.

Aztecs: Either more culture from kills, or make building military units also provide culture.
England: +1 Naval movement and +25% naval unit production. Their UA has always seemed extremely bland to me.
Ottoman: Higher conversion rate for barbarians, or scrap the ability completely for something else.
Songhai: Fighting near a river should give a small bonus
Spain: Tiles with natural wonders cost less culture or gold to obtain

 

[Teagen]

I think the musketeer is in more need of help then the minuteman...at least the minuteman has it's upgrades it gets to keep....the musketeer is just plain screwed once rifling comes along.

I'd say a "one for all" buff that increases combat str by 10% or something when a friendly unit is nearby...stacking with the honor SP upgrade.

 

[Gallean88]

Most of the civs are fine as they are. I say musketmen and their corresponding units could be made far more effective by making machinery and perhaps some other techs additional prereqs to rifling. Muskets were in use a fairly long time before rifles came along and this should be reflected. Otherwise, Germany and the Ottomans need new UAs. It was a decent and original idea, but honestly it's a bit of a failed concept in practice. Germany's UA could have to do with border expansion perhaps, or something industrial or cultural. For instance,

-GP spawn rate increases by 1% per point of culture produced in a city.
Something like that could be interesting. The ottomans should get some gunpowder related bonus, or perhaps something related to puppets.

-Ability to select growth focus for puppeted cities (food, production, etc). Puppet cities produce 30% less unhappiness and can periodically spawn units.

 

[Drawmeus]

Musketmen-based UUs (except the musketeer itself) would be just about fixed if you could just still build musketmen after the advent of rifling. An army of Rifles/Infantry with the Minuteman promotion is terrifying, its just that you often have to hold off on teching to rifling to build em, which would give you a stronger overall military.

Germany is in maybe the roughest shape - it needs some of its UA benefits to carry over into wars with other civs. Askia's gold for conquering cities is one of the absolute best warmonger abilities in the game - capturing a city often gives you enough gold to rush buy a courthouse (and larger cities, a coliseum as well). If Germany got some benefit on city destruction (maybe ancient/classical/medieval only, say) as well as barbarian camp destruction, it'd be in much better shape. Landsknecht are also pretty pitiful - I know you can have tons of them, but frankly Pikes just get mowed down by any decent sized city, or by any 'real' military force. And Panzers come very late AND upgrade a unit which is often skipped even in a late war. They really needed to pick an era for them and focus on it with three decent benefits, or give three stronger benefits in different eras. Right now they have modest bonuses in the ancient, medieval and industrial eras - which makes them crappy at all points in the game.

 

[Babri]

England :-
UA should provide XP bonus/production bonus for ships to make it worthwhile.

Ottomans :-
Scrap the current UA & create a new one.

 

[Save_Ferris]

I don't think the Ottomans need to have a naval UA, what about a science/culture per trade route bonus? Maybe the Germans can have a UA of having a 50% chance of taking a unit garrisoned in a city upon taking the city?

 

[aatami]

The Iroquois should be made so that they are not so situational...

 

[Drawmeus]

The Iroquois should be made so that they are not so situational...

Do you disable start bias?

The Iroquois are one of a number of civs which are balanced assuming start bias. They're not bad, not spectacular either but not bad - but as soon as you disable start bias, they go from decent to practically worthless.

 

[aatami]

I never disable start bias!

 

[King Patrick]

I've experimented a lot with the Iroquois this past week. It's not enough to start in or near a forest - it has to be exactly the right configuration. Too much forest, and your cities can't grow enough food to support a big population, then your science lags and by the industrial era, you're hopelessly behind. Too little or badly separated, and your civ bonuses don't count for much - you end up having to build roads to connect forests, etc., anyway. But if you can get a situation where you can place most of your cities along the edges of a huge forest, where about 50% to 75% of each city's tiles are forest and the rest are grassland or plains, preferably along a river, you'll be unstoppable - big cities, tons of production, lots of trade routes, and great interior lines for defense, letting you move units practically instantly wherever they are needed while your enemies are slowed to a crawl.

But patchy forest or too much forest, you're only slightly less hosed than if you started on the open plains or something.

The other big obstacle I've encountered with the Iroquois is their dependence on forests can really cut down on the available luxuries. I end up with a million silk tiles most games, and little to nothing of anything else within a reasonable distance, especially if I try to stick close to the forest for reasons outlined above. And for strategic resources, if you don't hit it lucky with iron in the forest, which seems to be about 50-50 in the games I've tried, you're pretty much hosed for your UU. That goes for a lot of civs, like Japan, too, but they aren't as constrained as the Iroquois as far as suitable terrain - if Nobunaga wants to settle some deserts, he doesn't lose anything by it.

 

[Omega124]

I really loved a mod that replaced Germany's UA with Blitzkreig. It allows Melee, Mounted, Gunpowder and Armoured units attack twice a turn.

 

[Drawmeus]

No such thing as too much forest. Convert it into production via workers!

 

[King Patrick]

No such thing as too much forest. Convert it into production via workers!

Well, of course! Lumber mills everywhere. The problem comes later on, when you don't have the population to keep your science on pace with those enormous empires out on the grasslands surrounded by dozens of farm tiles. Then you're pumping out 5 muskets for every tank or fighter they produce and still getting wiped out.

 

[Babri]

I've experimented a lot with the Iroquois this past week. It's not enough to start in or near a forest - it has to be exactly the right configuration. Too much forest, and your cities can't grow enough food to support a big population, then your science lags and by the industrial era, you're hopelessly behind. Too little or badly separated, and your civ bonuses don't count for much - you end up having to build roads to connect forests, etc., anyway. But if you can get a situation where you can place most of your cities along the edges of a huge forest, where about 50% to 75% of each city's tiles are forest and the rest are grassland or plains, preferably along a river, you'll be unstoppable - big cities, tons of production, lots of trade routes, and great interior lines for defense, letting you move units practically instantly wherever they are needed while your enemies are slowed to a crawl.

But patchy forest or too much forest, you're only slightly less hosed than if you started on the open plains or something.

The other big obstacle I've encountered with the Iroquois is their dependence on forests can really cut down on the available luxuries. I end up with a million silk tiles most games, and little to nothing of anything else within a reasonable distance, especially if I try to stick close to the forest for reasons outlined above. And for strategic resources, if you don't hit it lucky with iron in the forest, which seems to be about 50-50 in the games I've tried, you're pretty much hosed for your UU. That goes for a lot of civs, like Japan, too, but they aren't as constrained as the Iroquois as far as suitable terrain - if Nobunaga wants to settle some deserts, he doesn't lose anything by it.

You need to keep a good balance between forests & plain tiles. When cut forests provide production. It is like saying that since Babylon gets GS creation boost I can't create other GPs.

 

[ColinTH]

Here are my thoughts on a few of the abilities.

Spain: Tiles with natural wonders cost less culture or gold to obtain

IMO Spain don't need a buff, playing archipelago on higher levels they are a very serious AI competitor.

I agree that the Aztecs need a culture kill buff.

 

[Save_Ferris]

I really loved a mod that replaced Germany's UA with Blitzkreig. It allows Melee, Mounted, Gunpowder and Armoured units attack twice a turn.

Seems a bit overpowered. You could take down a garrisoned city with walls and castles in one turn.