Favorite Civs?

[Elric445]

There are probably other threads like this, but anyways. What are your favorite civs to play? Going for a wide strategy (Science or Domination) I would choose Japan Going for a tall strategy (Cultural or Dilpomatic) I would choose Sweden. Playing a culture game as Sweden is crazy, especially now that GP are more important than ever, I mean who doesn't like a 100%-200%+ bonus to GP generation? I'm curious as to what civs everyone else likes now that BNW has been out for a little bit.

 

[msawchuk]

I like Poland for every victory type. The free social policies are always useful, unlike some civs boni that only help on certain terrain and towards certain victory types. For example, the Iroquois only get a bonus in forest. If you are Poland you can choose social policies based on the terrain. If there is a lot of ocean, get Exploration. If you are going for a science victory, get Rationalism.

 

[Abraxis]

I have always liked Carthage the best, now with BNW released, and the harbors changed, I am trying to look for another civ that offers the same kind of versatility Carthage did, that early production bonus from the harbors meant viable wonder rushing in immortal, with that gone, so is the versatility, now it's just build coastal cities and trade with people all day.

I've tried Indonesia and Poland, thinking they might give me my fix, but I always find myself going back to Carthage anyway... those instant connected coastal cities with no roads needed messenger of the god (+2science each) and that +1 happiness from liberty for a connection... it's great. Every other civ I feel quite a bit of hesitation from founding new cities unless I find a god-like spot. Carthage, I'll found a city on a one tile island in the ice-caps I don't even care.

 

[Merciorum]

Persia, Byzantium, India, Inca, Venice, Brazil, France (the new one). In no particular order.

Can you tell my preferred victory type?

Persia is probably my very favourite. Maybe India or Byzantium.

 

[Byzantine Bomb]

Carthage captivated me in G&K and now Morocco has done the same with BNW!
Can't go wrong with Persia either though

 

[superliminal]

I just played a domination with Zulu. I had kept around 5 Impis with the unique improvements and they were juggernauts of destruction. The UA+ Honor, makes the Zulu army incredibly formidable. The benefits apply to naval action too, and by the end I had a fully-upgraded battleship+submarine armada tearing up the seas.

 

[Enrico Swagolo]

Lately I'm playing a lot of Venice. In fact, since BNW I only played Poland (once), Byzantium (once) and Venice the rest of the games.

I also love Byzantium, Rome, Egypt, Persia, Celts, India, WOULDYOUBEINTERESTEDINATRADEAGREEMENTWITHENGLAND.

But I'm waiting for the fall patch, hoping the aggression will be back to pre-BNW status. SERIOUSLY, starting between Shaka and Atilla, having nothing but warrior and scout while spamming most valuable wonders and they didn't declare war on me despite them having more units than I had tiles around my two cities? 'Tis unholy.

 

[sarah_aus]

Im enjoying the new civs but my favorite will always be Arabia. The music is awesome (i know, a stupid reason to love a civ but it really is!), The camel archer is fun and kicks butt, the double oil is great for me late game because i love to use tanks, and i love to have desert tiles to build petra.
Its a win win win win

 

[aljung]

Portugal, Poland and Byzantium

They all lean towards 1-2 victory types, but are still allround enough to do something else. Also, they have very different playstyles.

I don't like civs that add little to no flavor to the game (e.g. USA) or ones that force you into a victory type/playstyle (e.g. Venice, Mongolia).

 

[Byzantine Bomb]

Oh yeah, forgot about Arabia. Great civ! You can certainly win with them multiple ways.

 

[OmniPotent42]

I absolutely LOVE Indonesia, both for their music and their somewhat random unique attributes. Poland is probably second (both for music and play style), then the new France/Brazil.

I had a multiplayer game where I had 4 whole policy trees filled out, as well as all but 4 freedom tenets, partially the ks to Poland's UA.

With a lot of these civs you don't even need to use all of the unique attributes, if you can utilize at least one you're pretty much solid.

 

[Abraxis]

I'm surprised to see no love for Shoshone yet, they were the last BNW civ I tried, and I have to say I was amazed at how radically different to anything else their early game is. Especially if you go honor, stagnate your capital city to pump out pathfinders as quickly as you can, grow it by adding population from huts and grab the bonuses that help you to whatever victory you're after, upgrade weapons for instant army of fast composite bowmen (can kite on hills like the inca + home territory bonus), if you had a desert start, grab piety and get desert folklore for pretty much guaranteed first religion even on an immortal 22 civ map.

Then with honor, run around killing barbarians with your pathfinders for gold and culture, plus all the bonuses you'll accrue from city state allies as you get clear camps for them, getting more culture, growth, and military.

meanwhile, if you've pumped 4 population into your capital, you can mass produce settlers at no growth penalty to snatch all the land ever, each new city only needing a few turns to be able to start contributing as they grow so fast with the extra cultural border, or you can easily rush an early wonder with your superior production instead if you're going tall.

I mean I realize after classical era all they really have is the defense bonus and those cheap horses later, but man do they come out of the gate foaming at the mouth and ready to dominate any situation.

that plus the colour scheme and music mean I am loving them a lot more then I expected, easily my favorite from BNW. Not sure if they'll supplant Carthage as my all time favorite, could just be a honeymoon period, but man have they surprised me with their versatility.

 

[z284pwr]

Lately I'm playing a lot of Venice. In fact, since BNW I only played Poland (once), Byzantium (once) and Venice the rest of the games.

I'm having a terrible time with my latest Venice game. Started too far away from other Civs to effectively utilize the trade routes so I'm stuck with City States. This means the science from them isn't there so I'm struggling to keep up with technology and I'm not producing any Merchants to get city states closer. That and Morocco is ally spamming city states

 

[jpinoniemi]

I like Polynesia, the embark ability is huge IMO

 

[Nivyi]

Morocco is my current favorite, but my past favorites where Carthage and Arabia

 

[kingofsealand]

I also love polynesia and am having a hard time deciding whether i like poland or indonesia better. Polands UU is arguably much more useful for more of the game and the stable bonus will follow you almost anywhere you choose to found a city. Indonesia on the other hand, had such a unique grab bag of features that its a fun civ to play and you can take them nearly any direction as well thanks to the massive amounts of happiness youll be reeling in by trading your unique resources.

 

[i kimchi u]

Korea is still my favorite. Its UA+Rationalism (with some wonders like GL, Porcelain, Hanging Gardens, Pisa) gives crazy amount of scientific boosts. Not to mention the AI's change -- compared to G&K, the AIs are much likely to be friendly, thus making the RA much easier in BNW.

Also I feel like Freedom policies are made just for Korea -- all these specialist & great tile benefits.

Spoiler :

My first Deity victory with Korea

 

[M.Quazum]

I absolutely love playing with the Shoshone!

I'm one of those players that usually doesn't like change. In the previous expansions, I meddled with some of the new divs. Carthage was pretty neat to play with and Atilla was just fun to take over real early on in the game, but I usually always reverted back to playing with England, my all time favorite.

Then came the Shoshone. Firstly, they get extra land every time they settle a new city which means that you never really have to buy new tiles to get a city going quickly. You can claim a lot of territory with relatively few cities; the perfect compromise between having a wide or tall empire.

The pathfinder makes the early game super fun. They are as strong as a warrior, so you can afford to take out some barbarians, plus they upgrade straight into composite bowmen. Having a few pathfinders in the early game makes it super easy to fend off your empire from pesky barbarians, which always plague me because I usually just send all my units off to explore. The bonus for fighting in the home territory + Honor make it easy to pick them off before they start pillaging stuff.

Their homeland fighting bonus is great at all stages of the game. I was able to get lots of horses early on, so i made my little "Homeland security" consisting of horsemen, which later upgraded into super promoted Comanche riders. The Comanche are great (as are any horse units with the Shoshones unique ability) because they can respond quickly to any invader and take them out quickly. The Zulu were my neighbors throughout the entire early and mid game, and they attempted many invasions unsuccessfully.

Their unique ability allows you to keep to yourself and focus on whatever victory you want. I took this one step further and built the Hemji Castle and the Great wall to super protect myself. Eventually, when I adopted Autocracy, I would allow some invaders in, and then pick them off until they were all but defeated, then I followed up with a full scale invasion. Needless to say, there are no more Zulu on my continent.

So yeah. The shoshone rule... I will continue to play with them in all sorts of situations. I must say though, I still feel crippled on the water after having played as England for so long.

 

[Botswana]

Morocco. Kasbah + Desert Folklore + Petra = Powerhouse.

In my current game, I'm raking in almost 950 GPT, 834 Culture PT, 300 Faith PT and a tourism rating of 600.

The next biggest civ, the Iroquois, is not even close.

 

[crawf0rd]

The ottomans, like always. I modded in their old UA. It's still the most fun civ out there.
New civ wise, the Indonesians, as their Kris Swordsman is a very fun unit, and their UA allows ur first few cities to be happiness neutral.