My main criteria when deciding which civ to play as next is "does their kit encourage an interesting or novel way to play?". Civ already has a lot of replayability built in but furthering that with interesting civ UA/UU/UBs really makes for novel experiences. With that in mind I wanted to rank all of the civs in the game into different tiers in terms of how novel/interesting/unique their kit is.
Of course, this ranking is my opinion only but seeing where others agree or disagree might encourage me to give a new civ a try. I don't expect any changes to leaders at this point- this is primarily a fun exercise to see what others might think about each leader's kit.
Without further ado, my tiered ranking:
--------------------TIER 1: Most unique/novel--------------------
Japan – their whole kit is just a bundle of interesting synergy that makes generating great generals/admirals and getting promotions for your units a satisfying mini game
Polynesia – Maori are a cool UI and making super Maori in weird peninsulas is really unique. Most of all, their UA allows super early exploration of the seas and expansion to remote areas of the map
Venice – Every aspect is unique. Their settling restrictions and dependence on trade/money, their UU might be the most unique in the game, and their UBs are interesting
--------------------TIER 2: Very unique/novel--------------------
Arabia – Makes historic events the absolute focus of your game whereas other civs mostly just see them as happy bonuses to what they were doing anyway
Assyria – Interesting synergy with science and conquering and a cool UU as well as mini game with great works of writing and unit experience
Brazil – Golden ages are never more important than with Brazil as well as a unique UU and a UI that really promotes jungle/forest settling
Byzantium – So many fun synergies to explore with super religions
Carthage – Can rapidly expand like no other civ can with a UU that loves to explore.
Denmark – Pillaging is never as important as with Denmark with a UA/UU/UB that are all tailored to make it the focus of your game.
Egypt – The best civ for wonder chasing with an interesting production on kill UU and interesting unique artifacts for free from the UB.
England – A spy right off the bat can make for some very interesting strategies, like crippling a neighbor with spying alone.
France – Great synergy between war and great artists/writers/musicians with a fun to use UI.
Greece – Interesting synergy between war, CS alliances, and culture
India – Capable of the tallest of tall cities with an interesting twist on the religion game
Morocco – Trade war mini games
Portugal – Interesting interaction between a satisfying UU and the UI
Spain – Promotes rapid early expansion for a powerful religion along with a UU that doubles as a pioneer and a UB with a fun population growth mechanic
The Celts – Their own set of pantheons, a twist with how to spread religion, and a super early UU that is critical for its religious game
The Dutch – Creates a mini game with collecting luxury monopolies all over the place and a UU that can recruit the enemy
--------------------TIER 3: Somewhat unique/novel--------------------
America – The relatively simple tile purchase = production mechanic can make the early game feel very unique as cities can blow through their early buildings and become productive very fast or speed build early wonders if you have the cash
China – A mini game of trying to maximize the passive city bonuses from settling/conquering for as long as possible before entering a new era
Russia – Lends itself to the “border blobs” strategy which is a fun set of synergies
Songhai – Promotes a mini game of settling along interconnected rivers
The Aztec – A fun mini game of farming your neighbors for culture
The Inca – Songhai but mountains/hills
The Iroquois – Songhai/Inca but forests/jungle
The Maya – An interesting UA whereby you can get very early, critical great people, maybe for a guaranteed early wonder of religion
--------------------TIER 4: Marginally unique/novel--------------------
Austria – Mostly benefits from going for a normal diplomatic victory, though the marriage mechanic at least puts in an interesting twist to get there
Indonesia – A somewhat generic UA/UB that gives some unique luxuries, though the UU does get its own set of interesting promotions
Korea – Play tall and benefit hugely from doing so, but not much in the way of interesting mechanics to encourage anything beyond that
Mongolia – Can gobble up some CSs just by moving a big army nearby (though if you went through that trouble you could just take the CS by force…), but the UU is fairly interesting especially with the healing mechanic
Persia – A fairly typical warmonger with a mini game of using golden ages to make it easier
Siam – Mostly just benefits from playing a normal diplomatic game, however, very much rewarded for exploring and finding every CS ASAP for those automatic friend bonuses so is pushed to explore like no other civ
The Huns – Another fairly typical warmonger but at least has a mini game of capturing enemy barbarians/units which is cool
The Ottomans – Heavily rewarded for trading so a mini game of having as many trade routes as possible but not much in the way of interesting mechanics beyond that
The Zulu – A typical warmonger but with an added wrinkle of being encourages to demand tribute which is an often overlooked part of the game. Some powerful promotions for its melee units as well but they don’t necessarily encourage very unique tactics
--------------------TIER 5: Barely unique/novel--------------------
Babylon – Basically gets rewarded for working scientist slots and playing defensively. Not much there beyond just making tall/defensive/science play easier to pull off
Ethiopia – Gets free tech for doing things you would do anyway
Germany – Rewarded for allying CSs and trading with them, both of which are normal parts of diplomatic victory games
Poland – Gets free policies for doing things you would do anyway, so Ethiopia but policies
Sweden – Benefit from warmongering about sums them up. Though I could see strategic generation of great generals as a fun mini game as well as the Carolean’s aggressive area of effect damage when killing enemies
Rome – Just benefits from conquering cities more than others by having them come online and be productive sooner than anyone else but not much in the way of unique mechanics to go about conquering
The Shoshone – I like the synergy between the extra land, defensive UU that withdraws, and the UI that damages enemies in your lands, but there’s nothing in the way of interesting mechanics or focus on a novel part of the game
Of course, this ranking is my opinion only but seeing where others agree or disagree might encourage me to give a new civ a try. I don't expect any changes to leaders at this point- this is primarily a fun exercise to see what others might think about each leader's kit.
Without further ado, my tiered ranking:
--------------------TIER 1: Most unique/novel--------------------
Japan – their whole kit is just a bundle of interesting synergy that makes generating great generals/admirals and getting promotions for your units a satisfying mini game
Polynesia – Maori are a cool UI and making super Maori in weird peninsulas is really unique. Most of all, their UA allows super early exploration of the seas and expansion to remote areas of the map
Venice – Every aspect is unique. Their settling restrictions and dependence on trade/money, their UU might be the most unique in the game, and their UBs are interesting
--------------------TIER 2: Very unique/novel--------------------
Arabia – Makes historic events the absolute focus of your game whereas other civs mostly just see them as happy bonuses to what they were doing anyway
Assyria – Interesting synergy with science and conquering and a cool UU as well as mini game with great works of writing and unit experience
Brazil – Golden ages are never more important than with Brazil as well as a unique UU and a UI that really promotes jungle/forest settling
Byzantium – So many fun synergies to explore with super religions
Carthage – Can rapidly expand like no other civ can with a UU that loves to explore.
Denmark – Pillaging is never as important as with Denmark with a UA/UU/UB that are all tailored to make it the focus of your game.
Egypt – The best civ for wonder chasing with an interesting production on kill UU and interesting unique artifacts for free from the UB.
England – A spy right off the bat can make for some very interesting strategies, like crippling a neighbor with spying alone.
France – Great synergy between war and great artists/writers/musicians with a fun to use UI.
Greece – Interesting synergy between war, CS alliances, and culture
India – Capable of the tallest of tall cities with an interesting twist on the religion game
Morocco – Trade war mini games
Portugal – Interesting interaction between a satisfying UU and the UI
Spain – Promotes rapid early expansion for a powerful religion along with a UU that doubles as a pioneer and a UB with a fun population growth mechanic
The Celts – Their own set of pantheons, a twist with how to spread religion, and a super early UU that is critical for its religious game
The Dutch – Creates a mini game with collecting luxury monopolies all over the place and a UU that can recruit the enemy
--------------------TIER 3: Somewhat unique/novel--------------------
America – The relatively simple tile purchase = production mechanic can make the early game feel very unique as cities can blow through their early buildings and become productive very fast or speed build early wonders if you have the cash
China – A mini game of trying to maximize the passive city bonuses from settling/conquering for as long as possible before entering a new era
Russia – Lends itself to the “border blobs” strategy which is a fun set of synergies
Songhai – Promotes a mini game of settling along interconnected rivers
The Aztec – A fun mini game of farming your neighbors for culture
The Inca – Songhai but mountains/hills
The Iroquois – Songhai/Inca but forests/jungle
The Maya – An interesting UA whereby you can get very early, critical great people, maybe for a guaranteed early wonder of religion
--------------------TIER 4: Marginally unique/novel--------------------
Austria – Mostly benefits from going for a normal diplomatic victory, though the marriage mechanic at least puts in an interesting twist to get there
Indonesia – A somewhat generic UA/UB that gives some unique luxuries, though the UU does get its own set of interesting promotions
Korea – Play tall and benefit hugely from doing so, but not much in the way of interesting mechanics to encourage anything beyond that
Mongolia – Can gobble up some CSs just by moving a big army nearby (though if you went through that trouble you could just take the CS by force…), but the UU is fairly interesting especially with the healing mechanic
Persia – A fairly typical warmonger with a mini game of using golden ages to make it easier
Siam – Mostly just benefits from playing a normal diplomatic game, however, very much rewarded for exploring and finding every CS ASAP for those automatic friend bonuses so is pushed to explore like no other civ
The Huns – Another fairly typical warmonger but at least has a mini game of capturing enemy barbarians/units which is cool
The Ottomans – Heavily rewarded for trading so a mini game of having as many trade routes as possible but not much in the way of interesting mechanics beyond that
The Zulu – A typical warmonger but with an added wrinkle of being encourages to demand tribute which is an often overlooked part of the game. Some powerful promotions for its melee units as well but they don’t necessarily encourage very unique tactics
--------------------TIER 5: Barely unique/novel--------------------
Babylon – Basically gets rewarded for working scientist slots and playing defensively. Not much there beyond just making tall/defensive/science play easier to pull off
Ethiopia – Gets free tech for doing things you would do anyway
Germany – Rewarded for allying CSs and trading with them, both of which are normal parts of diplomatic victory games
Poland – Gets free policies for doing things you would do anyway, so Ethiopia but policies
Sweden – Benefit from warmongering about sums them up. Though I could see strategic generation of great generals as a fun mini game as well as the Carolean’s aggressive area of effect damage when killing enemies
Rome – Just benefits from conquering cities more than others by having them come online and be productive sooner than anyone else but not much in the way of unique mechanics to go about conquering
The Shoshone – I like the synergy between the extra land, defensive UU that withdraws, and the UI that damages enemies in your lands, but there’s nothing in the way of interesting mechanics or focus on a novel part of the game
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