Choosing the right civ for my play style

[FishOnTheFly5]

I have 175 hours of playtime in Civ V, countless hours on Civ IV, so I have had time to determine how I like to play the game. However, I am really having a hard time picking my mainstay civ and I was hoping that you all could help me!

I like to play TALL.

I don't like warmongering, so domination victory doesn't appeal to me at all. However, I do want to be able to raise a powerful military if I can. So a high income is a must. I don't mind taking out a capital if I have to, and if there is land that I REALLY want/need, I don't mind taking it.

Diplo victory is boring. Mainly because I hate having to manage my relationship with all the city states. I don't mind having a few allies among them, but I generally don't pay them too much attention. But I typically go for diplo if I am behind in science. That's why I make sure to have alot of gold.

Faith I honestly ignore. Maybe I overlook it, but I don't particularly like it.

Science for me if my priority. It is what wins you games. When in doubt, science!
I love sea trade routes and I love being able to control the sea. However, I played England and I didn't like the longbowman. It is super awesome of course, but I wish they had a UB or UI instead.

Culture is kind of meh. It doesn't get me steamed up

So my play style is lots of science, lots of gold, lots of trade, turtling, being friendly, but being able to raise a powerful military so that nobody will mess with me.

The dutch have been the closest thing to what I've liked, but I get the feeling that there is a civ that I could do better with. They seemed to be aimed more at diplomacy than science.

Last thing, I really do not want to play with a god tier civ (Babylon, Korea) which are science based civs. Are there any others that might be better that AREN'T god tier?

 

[Acken]

Play a science civ if you like science. Or neutral civs (those having bonuses good for all victories).

(not complete list just some ideas)

Science focused:
Babylon
Korea

Neutral bonuses:
Poland (god tier though)
Maya (bonus in science and free GP + good religion)
Arabia (lot of trade possible, best medieval unit of the game with keshiks)
Ethiopia (easy religion good at defense)
Incas(food is everything if you have a map with a lot of mountains)

 

[KingKong76]

well... 1st religion shouldnt be overlooked, especialy when you talk about high incomes tu support large army.

If you like to play tall defensive with a few needed expaansion here and there, weirdly I would say ethiopia, despite being a faith based civ really fits your needs...

Not only having low numbers of cities will most likely provides you 20% fight bonus most of the time (no matter defending your territory or attacking that capital you were talking about), but since you dont like to take care of religion, there unique building will take care of it for you and will almost garantee tithe belief wich can end up in beaing sh*tt load of gold!

If not... if you really like to play pure Science... I would say Babylon or Korea are hard to beat at it...

 

[phillipwyllie]

Isabella, with the right NW she's god tier(spotted first/settle-able). With no NW(spotted first or otherwise) she isn't. Find eldorado or GBR first and that's 2 free settlers right there an then.
Poland: an Autocratic Poland who snags both Alhambra and Brandenburg Gate scares the bejesus out of me. Add in the fact Casimir is the only leader to guarantee opening Rationalism the turn he reaches the Renaissance era.
Polynesia: not a science civ per say but if you are playing a watery map you have the advantage from turn0 to until someone researches Astronomy. Triremes and embarked settlers/workers/units go in a straight line where everyone else's must follow the coast.

 

[KingKong76]

Isabella, with the right NW she's god tier(spotted first/settle-able). With no NW(spotted first or otherwise) she isn't. Find eldorado or GBR first and that's 2 free settlers right there an then.
Poland: an Autocratic Poland who snags both Alhambra and Brandenburg Gate scares the bejesus out of me. Add in the fact Casimir is the only leader to guarantee opening Rationalism the turn he reaches the Renaissance era.
Polynesia: not a science civ per say but if you are playing a watery map you have the advantage from turn0 to until someone researches Astronomy. Triremes and embarked settlers/workers/units go in a straight line where everyone else's must follow the coast.

SO true... Polland fits every playstyle...
You dont have to do anything special to benifit of their UA... no much to maximize it...
Their UU is a bit weak and comes late, or maybe I just suck using it...
And if you are a bit lucky, UB can provides tons of early Hammers! Had a city with 4 sheeps tile - 1 cattle - and 1 horse tile!! Its freakin 12 prod bonus (6extra) at a time your cities produce from 10 to 20 on average!

In that game I think I buit 3 ducal-stable that brought me 25+ prod!
Once you throw the miltipliers in the mix, it can be nasty!

Been so long I played Poland, because its almost boring since they are o dominant that I almost forgot how powerfull they can be!

On the other end... Isabella is the most map dependant MF in that game.
Yeah if you find 2-3 NatuW... be 1st on 2 of htem and they happened to be the right ones, placeed in spots that you can get: Stop right now, you WON the game!!

That said, Its also possible that you find your 1st NatuW once you can cross the freakin ocean!
Dont get me wronk, I love to play them... 1st civ I ever played, and my most epic win on Emperor level... but they fit only one playstyle, Las Vegas Style! Being a poker player, I like it!! but I wouldnt sugest to pick them...

 

[LordBalkoth]

Don't forget the Aztecs, Floating Gardens are amazing if you settle on a river or lake.

 

[claudiupb]

If you like money and trade routes, try Portugal. They earn more money from trade routes, and the Feitoria let's you have luxuries form city states without having to ally them. It does not have any science bonuses but you can grow very tall (since you have all those luxuries) and probably rush buy all science buildings the turn you research them since you will have an insane amount of money mid/late game.

 

[mokyo24]

If you like money and trade routes, try Portugal. They earn more money from trade routes, and the Feitoria let's you have luxuries form city states without having to ally them. It does not have any science bonuses but you can grow very tall (since you have all those luxuries) and probably rush buy all science buildings the turn you research them since you will have an insane amount of money mid/late game.

Those Feitorias are insane. A Feitoria in a Friendly Mercatile CS and you get maximum happiness they can give like they are Ally. Not to mention, planting Feitorias in City-States with same luxuries like you would allow you to trade away your last copy and still retain the 4 Happiness. I think of the Portuguese UI like a clone of the Dutch UA that comes later but much better.

 

[Sessy]

feitorias are really good when I first saw them, but I started playing plus maps that throw CS out in the water, so not much chance for that. they do have a ton of money though, but I don't think the resources from feitorias count in trade routes (I feel they should)

OP can try indonesia or siam. candis are awesome, so are kris swordsmen, and wats are also fun.
to be honest there's only very limited science oriented civs (they're all really good though), but playing neutral civs can give you decent science regardless. you might want to try faith civs and reform jesuit education.

on a totally irrelevant note, I really like the dutch, especially the moment after I hit economics. XD

 

[MCthunder]

Korea would probs be ur best fit but u need to focus on more things than just science and gold yes sometimes u can ignore religion but don't completely overlook it same goes for culture you say ur going for science having a lot of culture can help u fill out rationalism and ur ideologies to help with your science

 

[FishOnTheFly5]

So I played with a few of the suggested civs, and I am really enjoying the Inca. However, I am a little confused with the terrace farm. If it isnt placed by a mountain, isn't it just a regular farm..?

 

[Browd]

Essentially yes, except it can be built on a hill that has no access to fresh water.

 

[beetle]

feitorias are really good when I first saw them, but I started playing plus maps that throw CS out in the water, so not much chance for that

I also like the plus maps -- and used them for Portugal. I remember being able to built a Feitoria in every single CS territory. Sure, the tiles were sparse for some of them, but why do you think the plus maps make things particularly difficult? Portugal also has the Nau, and the plus maps ensure that the UU can be used to good effect.

I will say the AI Portugal seems to rarely build Feitorias.

 

[lefuet]

SO true... Polland fits every playstyle...
You dont have to do anything special to benifit of their UA... no much to maximize it...
Their UU is a bit weak and comes late, or maybe I just suck using it...
And if you are a bit lucky, UB can provides tons of early Hammers! Had a city with 4 sheeps tile - 1 cattle - and 1 horse tile!! Its freakin 12 prod bonus (6extra) at a time your cities produce from 10 to 20 on average!

In that game I think I buit 3 ducal-stable that brought me 25+ prod!
Once you throw the miltipliers in the mix, it can be nasty!
...

doesn't the ducal stable just grand more gold and no extra production over a normal stable? And the 15xp to mounted units of course.

 

[Sessy]

I also like the plus maps -- and used them for Portugal. I remember being able to built a Feitoria in every single CS territory. Sure, the tiles were sparse for some of them, but why do you think the plus maps make things particularly difficult? Portugal also has the Nau, and the plus maps ensure that the UU can be used to good effect.

By throwing them on islands, CS rarely have empty tiles you can build in. I had workers waiting outside Ragusa for 10 turns waiting for their XBs to move. Even tempted to DOW and clear the tiles so I can build feitorias.
I'm not sure what your reason is for saying the Nau is better on say, a continents plus map compared to continents. The ability to sell goods is only for reaching AI waters far away.

doesn't the ducal stable just grand more gold and no extra production over a normal stable? And the 15xp to mounted units of course.

Yes, ducal stable is +1 and +1 per pasture. also each pasture improves tile by 1 , so maybe he was counting the total. and prolly the multipliers refer to other stuff like workshops, religious community.

 

[beetle]

By throwing them on islands, CS rarely have empty tiles you can build in. I had workers waiting outside Ragusa for 10 turns waiting for their XBs to move.

Yeah, just a few less tiles makes things more tedious, but I think it is unusual to have difficulty with more than a couple CS. It is about the same problem with the “build us a road” requests, but the CS blocking with units. I was more annoyed that late-game resources (like oil) would result in some feitorias getting removed. I started building two per CS!

Even tempted to DOW and clear the tiles so I can build feitorias.

LOL. Kind of counter-productive since the feitorias don’t work while at war! But I guess the Halloween Patch makes this act of desperation a little less desperate? Assuming you could keep him safe, can a worker build a feitoria while you are at war?

I'm not sure what your reason is for saying the Nau is better on say, a continents plus map compared to continents. The ability to sell goods is only for reaching AI waters far away.

Sorry, my bad. I was mis-remembering that the Nau worked on CS as well as AI.

Yes, ducal stable is +1 and +1 per pasture.

I think lefuet's point was regular stables give the same +1 per pasture. Also, regular stables (and Ducal) give a +15% production when building mounted units. But even if no extra hammers, the +15 xp is particularly sweet with the UU. WH, already quite fun, start with 3 promotions!

 

[Browd]

Another important difference between a Ducal sable and a regular stable is that the Ducal stable's bonus only applies to pastured tiles, while a regular stable will provide the bonus to tiles with horses, cows or sheep, whether or not the tile has a pasture. So, if you plant an academy on a cow tile, you get one hammer on that tile from a regular stable, but no Ducal stable bonus.

Also, to build a stable in a city, that city must have at least one cow, horse or sheep resource improved with a pasture (you just need one pastured tile in the city and once the stable is built there's no need to keep the pasture), while IIRC a Ducal stable does not have that prerequisite.

 

[OnceAKing]

It sounds odd but the Aztec sounds good for you.

I build enough Jags to last the whole game. I start out barb hunting and once honor is finished I go take a capital or 2. By this time you have the strongest culture and you can now turtle with your battle hardened army.

Get the pantheon for culture in the jungle and keep your jungle up for when you get Universties.

By the time trade posts come around you have 2 gold 2 science 2 food and 1 culture.

Not including any related religious beliefs that can help snow ball all that. Now that jungle protects invaders. It gives you science, food and culture and you have infantry that can move in the jungle and gain culture and health for kills. It's almost unfair.



Also a special mention for Askia. On paper he's underwhelming. But hear me out.

I know you don't like religion. But if you build the shrine and the mud temple your looking at 1 faith from shrine and 2 faith from his UB the mud pyramid. And 2 culture from the mud temple. Now on top of that you can add a culture pantheon and then get the founder belief that gets you 1 culture per 5 followers. Then get the followerror belief that gets you culture for every mud temple. Then you can get the belief for 2 happiness for temples.

So now your temples give you 3 culture 2 faith and 2 happiness. If you go piety it can net you cash as well.


But wait there's more. They get 75 gold per barb camp pillaged. If you open Honor you get at least 8 culture for every barb killed and 75 gold. And you make friends from city states who targeted those camps. If you get capital hungry you get triple the pillaging and you MIGHT get triple for improvements but I could be wrong. So a couple minor wars can be very profitable early on. There UU the Mandekalu Calvary can raid cities with no penalty so you don't have to waste production and gold on a lot of Melee units. Which is a savings on your war chest.


Overall I will say if you like to turtle there is really no reason to ignore religion. But it can help SO much with culture. I know you focus on science but the social policies you gain can help with happiness, food and science. Plus it protects you against ideological and cultural pressure late game.

 

[KingKong76]

doesn't the ducal stable just grand more gold and no extra production over a normal stable? And the 15xp to mounted units of course.

MAN!! Believe it or not, I had to go and check the WikiCiv5 to confirm that... and you are right... Like I said, been a really long time since I played them, since they are to dominant at emperor level... I will certainly reunite with them when I try Immortal again...

Its not as powerfull, but still it can end up in a lot of golds...

My mistake, sorry..

 

[Sedwick]

Of course, once you're experienced enough, you can challenge yourself by playing as a civ whose characteristics work against your desired victory/style. (No, I'm not there yet)