Thoughts on these playstyle descriptions for our revealed civs?

[Ornen]

Hey all, I've been drawing up a list of the revealed civs with the playstyles they seem to inclined towards. So far we've been given a lot of bonuses, but I wanted one quick doc I could look at with the one line synopsis of how the civs are expected to play in-game.

I wanted to run it by you guys and see what you think. It can be hard to tell exactly how these will play out in game, so there's some guesswork involved. Let me know what you think of this list of civs with playstyles. Here's a web version I'll be editing periodically.

• USA: Late game culture with bonus to fighting close to home.
• England: Expansive naval civ with late game culture bonus from archaeology.
• Egypt: Wonder-focused, with boosts to trade, faith, and culture.
• Japan: Coastal city-builder. Bonuses to lategame culture and production.
• China: Turtles, techs, and builds wonders into a strong culture lategame.
• Aztec: Bigger, happier cities via amenity boost. Fast early development through warfare.
• France: Midgame wonder builder into CV via tourism. Bonuses to espionage.
• Brazil: GP focused civ with rainforest bonuses.
• Scythia: Cavalry army civ. Early conquerors.
• Germany: Production civ with military bonuses.
• Spain: Religious warfare, with bonuses to navy/trade.
• India: Food and faith. Grows fast with religious bonuses. Peaceful playstyle.
• Kongo: Early growth with general bonus for artifacts. Bonuses to adopted religion.
• Norway: Coastal raider. Early faith bonus.
• Greece: Cultural civ with flexible government. Boosts from city-states.

 

[stealth_nsk]

No. Just some samples:
USA main ability is Founding Fathers, which works throughout the whole game. The key here is "Flexible".
Egypt is less wonder-focused civ than China or even France.
Aztecs are focused towards larger empire with standard ciies, not standard empire with bigger cities.
India is not peaceful. Actually gaining religions through conquest looks like one of the very viable strategies for them.

and so on

 

[Abraxis]

I think Japan will be more themed around density, with coast being a minor consideration at best.
Egypt seems pretty open in what they can pursue, the only real consistent distinction being their hyper reliance on rivers and flat land.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Hey all, I've been drawing up a list of the revealed civs with the playstyles they seem to inclined towards. So far we've been given a lot of bonuses, but I wanted one quick doc I could look at with the one line synopsis of how the civs are expected to play in-game.

I wanted to run it by you guys and see what you think. It can be hard to tell exactly how these will play out in game, so there's some guesswork involved. Let me know what you think of this list of civs with playstyles. Here's a web version I'll be editing periodically.

• USA: Late game culture with bonus to fighting close to home.
• England: Expansive naval civ with late game culture bonus from archaeology.
• Egypt: Wonder-focused, with boosts to trade, faith, and culture.
• Japan: Coastal city-builder. Bonuses to lategame culture and production.
• China: Turtles, techs, and builds wonders into a strong culture lategame.
• Aztec: Bigger, happier cities via amenity boost. Fast early development through warfare.
• France: Midgame wonder builder into CV via tourism. Bonuses to espionage.
• Brazil: GP focused civ with rainforest bonuses.
• Scythia: Cavalry army civ. Early conquerors.
• Germany: Production civ with military bonuses.
• Spain: Religious warfare, with bonuses to navy/trade.
• India: Food and faith. Grows fast with religious bonuses. Peaceful playstyle.
• Kongo: Early growth with general bonus for artifacts. Bonuses to adopted religion.
• Norway: Coastal raider. Early faith bonus.
• Greece: Cultural civ with flexible government. Boosts from city-states.

This is how I see them too. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees Germany as something other than a pure warmonger. However, nearly all the civs have some flexibility that doesn't pigeonhole them into a specific playstyle.

I add that France's espionage bonus is also a minor synergy with their Tourism game, since they can steal Great Works. Also, I see the Aztecs as a luxury-fueled dominator. The more luxuries they control, the stronger they get, in order to gain control of more luxuries.

 

[Gintoki89]

Egypt seems pretty open in what they can pursue, the only real consistent distinction being their hyper reliance on rivers and flat land.

I'm wondering if this will prove particularly strong for Egypt, if only because of how important rivers are in general, it seems like you're gonna be aiming for a river city at every opportunity regardless of civ, and if so that would make that production bonus pretty helpful.

 

[Thormodr]

That's a pretty good summation. Thanks Ornen.

 

[Ornen]

No. Just some samples:
USA main ability is Founding Fathers, which works throughout the whole game. The key here is "Flexible".
Egypt is less wonder-focused civ than China or even France.
Aztecs are focused towards larger empire with standard ciies, not standard empire with bigger cities.
India is not peaceful. Actually gaining religions through conquest looks like one of the very viable strategies for them.

and so on

I'm familiar with the Founding Fathers – 'main bonus' or not, it doesn't seem quite as pronounced as their cultural bonuses, and I'm more interested in listing flexible bonuses if they're big ones, like Greece's. Faster legacy bonuses might end up being huge in practice, but right now it looks like a few extra turns of bonus roughly 3-4 times a game.

You might be underrating Egypt's wonder bonus, which applies to all wonders when built next to a river. Unlike France and China, that lasts the whole game. That said, Egypt is hard to describe because they have pretty spread out bonuses, with big ones to trade and wonder-building

Good point on Aztecs, I'm rewriting their description. What are your thoughts on the following two options?

• Focused on acquiring luxuries. Fast early development through warfare, and amenity bonus to support an expansive empire.
• Aggressive civ that gets builders from warfare and an amenity bonus to support a larger empire.

With India that seems like a potentially good strategy, but not the core playstyle the civ has been designed around. We'll see.

I think Japan will be more themed around density, with coast being a minor consideration at best.
Egypt seems pretty open in what they can pursue, the only real consistent distinction being their hyper reliance on rivers and flat land.

I agree on Japan, I was hoping the 'city-builder' part would make that clear but it doesn't seem to. Changing the description to "Builds tight-packed cities, with bonuses to lategame culture and production."

Egypt is a tricky one, I might give them a rewrite. The ability to build freely on floodplains might be a pretty hefty bonus in game as well... How about "River builder, with boosts to trade, wonders, faith, and culture."

 

[MACKA0ili]

These are pretty good. Looks like roleplaying a leader has now become a viable strategy

For America, I think that capitalizing on that home continent combat bonus early before settling into late game culture is the way to go. They would want as much of their home continent under their control to really cram in those national park bonuses.

Spain I can see going two different ways. Either found a religion yourself and use it for your ability or found a city near another religion on a different continent and use the trade bonus to build it up and spread religion homewards. The first would ideally lead to the second where you would spread religion to that colony, but it might be tougher to pull off at higher difficulties.

Either way, spain's strategy will depend a lot on if their neighbors found religions since I don't think they get their combat bonus if they have a religion and the enemy doesn't. (Or vice versa)

 

[mitsho]

Maybe it's easier to frame it with the kind of map puzzle they need to solve. Additionally, one can mention an area they excel in so that nothing gets forgotten. Let me try:

• USA: Own your home continent as fast as possible! (Legacy, Tourism)
• England: Spread across the World and take all artefacts home.
• Egypt: Settle along Rivers, but with enough tiles for your Sphinx and Wonders.
• Japan: Build your districts and cities close together at the coast. (military)
• China: With many early builders, rush Wonders. (turtle)
• Aztec: Build a cycle of growth by conquest as you use the spoils (amenities, builders) to stabilise your own economy.
• France: Place Wonders and Chateaus interspersed with each other alongside rivers. (Espionage)
• Brazil: Balance (time-wise) the unimproved rainforest tiles with your growing economy. (Great Persons)
• Scythia: Rush your neighbours while using a religion (or just Kurgans) to balance your economy.
• Germany: Grow your cities to make use of your extra district while coupling commercial and industrial districts together. (against city states)
• Spain: Get a Religion - your own or another! Be active all over the world - peacefully or not.
• India: Grow your cities, as more population make it easier for several religions to exist in your empire - which means you need to play open. (also works for a conqueror where your farms and stepwells have to somehow pay for your army)
• Kongo: Gain relics et al. to grow your cities alongside hostile terrain (rainforest)
• Norway: Explore and raid near or close from your coast, may have to use pillaging to fuel your economy.
• Greece: Settle along hills and use that defensive bonus to become suzerain of many city states. (flexibility)

I feel that helps me more than your categorizations, but in the end, they may be just the same.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Maybe it's easier to frame it with the kind of map puzzle they need to solve. Additionally, one can mention an area they excel in so that nothing gets forgotten. Let me try:

• USA: Own your home continent as fast as possible! (Legacy, Tourism)
• England: Spread across the World and take all artefacts home.
• Egypt: Settle along Rivers, but with enough tiles for your Sphinx and Wonders.
• Japan: Build your districts and cities close together at the coast. (military)
• China: With many early builders, rush Wonders. (turtle)
• Aztec: Build a cycle of growth by conquest as you use the spoils (amenities, builders) to stabilise your own economy.
• France: Place Wonders and Chateaus interspersed with each other alongside rivers. (Espionage)
• Brazil: Balance (time-wise) the unimproved rainforest tiles with your growing economy. (Great Persons)
• Scythia: Rush your neighbours while using a religion (or just Kurgans) to balance your economy.
• Germany: Grow your cities to make use of your extra district while coupling commercial and industrial districts together. (against city states)
• Spain: Get a Religion - your own or another! Be active all over the world - peacefully or not.
• India: Grow your cities, as more population make it easier for several religions to exist in your empire - which means you need to play open. (also works for a conqueror where your farms and stepwells have to somehow pay for your army)
• Kongo: Gain relics et al. to grow your cities alongside hostile terrain (rainforest)
• Norway: Explore and raid near or close from your coast, may have to use pillaging to fuel your economy.
• Greece: Settle along hills and use that defensive bonus to become suzerain of many city states. (flexibility)

I feel that helps me more than your categorizations, but in the end, they may be just the same.

It's an interesting alternate way of looking at it.