Civilization Rankings! Part Two: Downloadable Content Civs

[djpigeon]

8.5 - Babylon:
Amazing civ for science victory, good for the others since science is king. the UU, whilst not great, seems underatted in my opinions. The wall is good for defense which can reveal useful at time. I find playing them a bit boring though...

4 - Denmark:
I personaly really like the danes, and harald is my favorite leader of all, however they don't get much of use from their uniques... The berserker rocks but is being obsoleted as soon as he pop up, if at least the +1 mov carried over The norvegian and the UA are just ok

9 - Korea:
Very strong civ, and also very versatile. Yeah the UU's are a bit lackluster, especially if you intend to go agressive, but the science is going fast enough to not be bother too long with them.

9 - Mongolia:
Oh my god the Keshiks ! Not only the mongols are insane at warmongering (on land), but it's incredibly funny too! Like many I don't conquer much the city state but when you attack an AI who is ally with CS next to your border, the UA comes quite handy.

4 - Polynesia:
Ok I give them a 4 for the sake of giving a mark and because I don't see anything really game breaking with them, but that's also because I don't like playing them. I find them boring as hell, and I completely dislike archipelago style map. I don't know what BNW change to their moai, and I will not check that anytime soon

6.5 - Spain:
If you find a wonder, they can become pretty ugly, especially if you get the great barrier reef. If not they are still decent.

9.5 - Inca:
This is one hell of a civ ! The only reason they don't get 10 is because of the slinger. That's actually the only UU that I'd would gladly exchange for the unit it replace, they basically don't do the job that I expect from my early archer, ie protecting my workers !

 

[Tachii]

Was just playing with Spain earlier. I think they're less random then you'd think.

Even in a worst case scenario, where you don't settle near any Natural Wonders, you can still use the happiness/gold bonus (you receive +2 happiness instead of +1 happiness when discovering a new Natural Wonder) to settle quick in the early game.

In the best case scenario, settling near any natural wonder makes you a religious powerhouse. Instant +8 faith in less than 20 turns guarantees you very good beliefs. Pretty much any Natural Wonders breaks the game as Spain. The +8 faith can only be matched by Ethiopia/Maya, while the tile benefits can't be compared at all. Even bad natural wonders like old faithful (just +2 science/+2 happiness?) means +faith/+4happiness/+4 science.

And of course, their UUs always give you the chance to go warmonger if you wanted to. I like Tercio better than France's Musketeer considering the 50% mounted unit get carried over.

Even better I think is how Spain gives you strong incentives to go for war. Lots of natural wonders provide happiness bonuses. Giving you UUs that further enhance this experience, and you have a very good early/mid game. Probably one of my fav games now due to how different each game can be.

In my most recent game, Spain got such a good early start (discovering 3 Natural Wonders, settled near one that produced +4 hammers/+8gold/+8 faith), and it made early warmongering (which is not encouraged for most civs due to gold issues) a really viable one. Pretty much CB/catapult rushed Babylon before he got his walls up - the dude wonderhogged Petra/Hanging gardens, lol.

In conclusion, while I still see them as a bit random, I'd consider the devs to balance their legendary starts. Make it so that receive 50% bonus instead of 100% bonus from natural wonder tiles. +6 faith is still really good, +9 hammer/food from solomon/victoria is still ridiculously good.

 

[dodzylla]

1 - Denmark : useless UA, and UU i pray for a huge rework for them, with unique building and with a new warmonger UA.

8 - Korea
super strong science civ but UU's are weak.

8,5 - Babylon
fine but a little bit weak in the mid game

10 - Mongolia
Keshik and Khan... best

4 - Polynesia
very good for fast expansion on continents after good trading cities but nothing more.

5 - Spain
Luck country, lot of wonder = win , no wonder = lose

9 - Inca
Very good for every play style one of the best in the game.

 

[Guandao]

4-Denmark

9-Korea

9-Babylon

5-Mongolia

6-Polynesia

5-Spain

10-Inca

 

[Archerinho]

I play deity, so here's how it goes for me:

Babylon - 7
It is a good civ, I've played it many times. However, things are very straightforward, I guess. However, bowmen can give a good early advantage if you plan to go conquering. Sometimes I do get bored, however. One of the greatest advantages they have is the ability to construct early wonders (I've seen the same with the new Morocco as well, as most civs are willing to trade with you)

Denmark - 3
Never really tried to play with it but seems a civ that has nothing worthy to mention.

Mongolia - 7
Really very fun to play. However, it is hard as going tradition with Mongols is not common and I think it's not such a good idea (I've never seen an AI do it). While playing liberty is a bit hard for me, I find to be outteched too much sometimes, to the point where my Mangudai (Keshiks I mean ) don't make any sense. Their UU is THE MOST POWERFUL one in the game (maybe Ashurbanipal can match it now) and their second UU (Khan) is way too cool to ignore, with his HUGE healing bonus. One of the best civs to play with, at least in terms of fun.

Korea - 7
I know they are good and stuff, but never really bothered to play with them. Seems too boring.

Polynesia - 6
It is a strong civ, but for my only game with them I didn't really get the map they needed. I however could go for science with them. They seem to be versatile, you can play many styles with them. However, not so interesting for me.

Spain - 6
Not such an interesting civ for me as it is VERY situational.

Inca - 9
The greatest game I've had was with the Incans. I managed to win on T 265 (That's even faster than MaddJinn's tech game with Babylon). I did get a very good start next to mountains and a river, the region was hilly and I even managed to build a Petra. In the game I was lucky enough to have only one big war in the later game, where I defended without trouble. For me it is very interesting to play with them, as your start will generally give you a clue about the style you can take in the game.

 

[MarshalN]

Babylon: 7. I like the civ, but Korea is better. The better archer doesn't last very long.

Denmark: 4. I never figured out how to use the UA properly - probably because it's really not that useful. Berserkers are nice, but the ski infantry is crap. Heck, I'd take Askia over Denmark - the extra gold is really useful.

Korea: 8. Science boost is awesome, and in the long run better than Babylon. Only downside is the turtle ship not being able to cross oceans.

Mongolia: 8. Great UUs, but if you DOW two city states you're toast diplomatically, so it's really not that wise, especially if you want to keep trading with somebody mid or late game when your warmongering earns everyone's eternal hate.

Polynesia: 6 (situational). On Pangaea this civ is like a 2, on archipelago it's a 9. So.... hard to rate, really.

Spain: 6. Pretty luck dependent, this one. If you end up near some good NWs, great. If you don't find one close by (or if it's in a location that is otherwise absolutely horrible for a city) then your UA just went out the window (yes, you get gold, but lots of people get gold). The UUs are nice, but not really groundbreaking.

Inca: 8.5. I like the slingers, I like terrace farms, and I like the ability to walk through hills. Great civ to play. Obviously less great if you're in a really flat part of the world.

 

[Keirador]

Seriously can somebody make the case for the Inca being a top-tier civ for me? Like walk me through it? They seem pretty universally highly-regarded and I don't get it.

 

[MantaRevan]

Seriously can somebody make the case for the Inca being a top-tier civ for me? Like walk me through it? They seem pretty universally highly-regarded and I don't get it.

To be fair, part of it is that the first posters gave them high rankings. Most people have made cases for the Inca, from saved food or hammers from terrace farms to much lower maintenance from Andean Road. There's a military advantage to being able to ignore hills, and workers can build faster without having to stop on hills, meaning you can shave off a few turns improving hills or getting to them. It provides an exploration advantage as well, which may lead to more ruins in the early game, or a slightly better chance at founding the WC in the late game.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Seriously can somebody make the case for the Inca being a top-tier civ for me? Like walk me through it? They seem pretty universally highly-regarded and I don't get it.

(1) UA: The "free road" aspect of this ability allows you build roads in as many hill provinces as you desire (and paying 1/2 elsewhere means that its even useful without having hills). Not only does this allow you to get a significant strategic advantage during defensive wars, but it also means your city connections become profitable much earlier, resulting in more early game cash.

Secondly, ignoring the movement penalty in hills is a fantastic ability throughout the game (and btw, also negates the movement penalty for forests and jungles if they are on a hill tile). Your armies will move much faster and being able to place a unit on a hill AND attack at the same turn is a pretty big military advantage. Workers will also save a few mvoement points with this ability, allowing you to build improvements faster.

(2) UI: The Inca terrace allows you to build a farm on any hill. That might not sound like a fantastic advantage during the early game, but *if* you find a hill next to mountains, you can easily end up with a 3-5 2 tile before fertilizers or civil service - thats not too shabby.

Once you have fertilizers, the terraces will help your cities in bad terrain locations, like arctic, desert or tundra. The Inca can more or less settle anywhere and still grow decent sized cities if at least a handful of hills are nearby. The possibility of internal trade routes has diminished this ability a lot, but it is still nice to have.

(3) UU: The slinger is certainly not the most powerful unit, but the ability to dodge enemies instead of taking damage can be quite powerful (even more with increased hill movement from the UA that often allows the reposition or disengage).

(4) Their starting bias is fantastic, probably the best in the game. Unlike other Civs that may suffer from lack of production in grassland/jungle or lack of food in desert/tundra, the inca can only benefit from their hills and mountains. In addition to the fantastic synergy with their UA and UI, you also receive superb defensive terrain that makes offensive wars against you very, very difficult.

So the Inca have a wide range of unique abilties that might not be too powerful alone, but the combination of everything creates a fantastic package that is highly adaptative and useful for every victory type.

 

[pyroflare77]

9 - Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar II):
SCIENCE! You're not getting much use out of the UU and UB, but the UA is really good and will have you racing through that tech tree.

5 - Denmark (Harald Bluetooth):
Berserkers last far too short. I don't know it's was intended, but in my Denmark game my units got more movement points for disembarking, which was cool.

9 - Korea (Sejong):
Great turtle civ. They were kind of nerfed a bit with the lack of culture-themed specialists, but I still like them a lot.

8 - Mongolia (Genghis Khan):
Very effective. Nothing like a squad of keshiks led by a khan to utterly wreck other civilizations.

8 - Polynesia (Kamehameha):
Wayfinding is really useful and can nab you a lot of bonus ruins. Moai are alright, but hotels later on make them better. Pretty neat cultural civ.

9 - Spain (Isabella):
I love Spain. They're so fun. The only problem is their UA is a gamble. But boy does it pay off if you can nab a natural wonder.

10 - The Inca (Pachacuti):
The UA and the UI are really, really good. The UU is alright, and the promotion carrying over is nice. The best part is that all the uniques can support any kind of victory type. The Inca are one of the best civs.

 

[Keirador]

(1) UA: The "free road" aspect of this ability allows you build roads in as many hill provinces as you desire (and paying 1/2 elsewhere means that its even useful without having hills). Not only does this allow you to get a significant strategic advantage during defensive wars, but it also means your city connections become profitable much earlier, resulting in more early game cash.

Secondly, ignoring the movement penalty in hills is a fantastic ability throughout the game (and btw, also negates the movement penalty for forests and jungles if they are on a hill tile). Your armies will move much faster and being able to place a unit on a hill AND attack at the same turn is a pretty big military advantage. Workers will also save a few mvoement points with this ability, allowing you to build improvements faster.

(2) UI: The Inca terrace allows you to build a farm on any hill. That might not sound like a fantastic advantage during the early game, but *if* you find a hill next to mountains, you can easily end up with a 3-5 2 tile before fertilizers or civil service - thats not too shabby.

Once you have fertilizers, the terraces will help your cities in bad terrain locations, like arctic, desert or tundra. The Inca can more or less settle anywhere and still grow decent sized cities if at least a handful of hills are nearby. The possibility of internal trade routes has diminished this ability a lot, but it is still nice to have.

(3) UU: The slinger is certainly not the most powerful unit, but the ability to dodge enemies instead of taking damage can be quite powerful (even more with increased hill movement from the UA that often allows the reposition or disengage).

(4) Their starting bias is fantastic, probably the best in the game. Unlike other Civs that may suffer from lack of production in grassland/jungle or lack of food in desert/tundra, the inca can only benefit from their hills and mountains. In addition to the fantastic synergy with their UA and UI, you also receive superb defensive terrain that makes offensive wars against you very, very difficult.

So the Inca have a wide range of unique abilties that might not be too powerful alone, but the combination of everything creates a fantastic package that is highly adaptative and useful for every victory type.

Thanks man.

How are you figuring a Terrace Farm could be producing 3-5 2 ? Does the Mountain bonus stack for each additional adjacent mountain? It's been a while since I've played them and I don't think I ever had one tile that was adjacent to multiple mountains. If so, it seems like that UI has a serious trade-off in that the more it's boosted from nearby mountains, the fewer workable tiles around your city.

Assuming most Terrace Farms are going to be producing 1 - 2 food, it seems to me that for the most part, the Terrace Farm would really be a production buff, because a 2 - 3 food tile ain't hard to find. It's more about being able to put more citizens on hammer-yielding tiles without starvation. Is that misguided?

I get the Start Bias thing, but I should disclaim that I usually play on Legendary Start, so all players, human and AI, get pretty dope starting locations (I just consider this reasonable: the cradles of civilization have always been in really great locations, because why else settle there when pretty much the whole Earth is available?)

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

7 - Babylon:
I like the science aspect of the civ, but turtling up gets dull. The UB is especially uninteresting.

3 - Denmark:
Comparable to my remarks on Germany, civs who are only good at warmongering feel particularly one dimensional in a game where every civ gets a UU.

7 - Korea:
I like Korea's science UA better than Babylon's. The Turtle Ship is secretly a very nice offensive weapon. The Hwacha is kind of tedious as a defensive weapon.

5 - Mongolia:
I'm not a big warmonger, so Mongolia isn't really for me, but I think they are probably the best at what they do. They have the best synergy of all the warmongers.

7 - Polynesia:
I like to play as them and hate to play against them. The UI is an interesting thing that can blow borders out very quickly. I haven't tried them since BNW, but I can see their predilection for cultural victories.

10 Spain:
Even when you don't start near a NW, they are still good. The gold and happiness from just discovering NWs fund early game expansion. If you can actually settle a NW, they break the game. The Conquistador is my favorite UU because of the expansionistic utility, and the Tercio is good too. Spain is one of my favorites.

7- The Inca:
The Inca are another civ with strong synergy. The weak link is probably the UU which is effective, but dull. Because their terrain-based synergy is for hills rather than forests, they have more capabilities than the Iroquois, allowing them into hills plains and deserts.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

How are you figuring a Terrace Farm could be producing 3-5 2 ? Does the Mountain bonus stack for each additional adjacent mountain?

Yes, it stacks. +1 per mountain. And thanks to the bias a mountain is usually not alone.
The thing is: You will rarely work all tiles in a city anyway - and even then you can still utilize mountains within range 4 to boost range 3 hills and a well placed mountain can support severak adjected terraces.

It's more about being able to put more citizens on hammer-yielding tiles without starvation. Is that misguided?

That and a great food source in arctic, tundra and desert hills. Before internal traderoutes from BNW you could settle in artic terrain and still get the city up to decenz size.

 

[BAshley]

I'm shocked that some people think Denmark is stronger than Babylon.

Babylon - excellent at doing what it does best and good at doing many other things. On all levels the free early academy is absolutely awesome, and the +50% is also great for spaceship victory. UB is pretty good, UA is ok but gets upgraded too quick 8

Denmark - movement-free pillaging is retty sweet since you started healing when you pillage, but other part of UA only occasionally useful. both UUs are fairly standard imo 4

Korea - better UA than Babylon but Turtle ship can be limiting and I never really use H'wachas THAT often 8

Mongolia - Keshiks. But not really useful for anything but domination. And given the nerfs war got in BNW, 7

Polynesia - on water maps, 8. Never played them on anything else

Spain - UUs are both ok. UA too luck-based 5

Inca - movement on hills is useful in war and scouting. UU, helpful, UI can be very powerful if you find some appropriate spots. solid 7

 

[Keirador]

7 - Babylon:
I like the science aspect of the civ, but turtling up gets dull. The UB is especially uninteresting.

7 - Korea:
I like Korea's science UA better than Babylon's. The Turtle Ship is secretly a very nice offensive weapon. The Hwacha is kind of tedious as a defensive weapon.

So you like all of Korea's Uniques better, but rate the two civs the same?