Am I the only one playing America?

[Ahriman]

I would also like to point out that 25% discount isn't all that big of a discount either. Now, if it was a 75% discount you might be able to make a strategy out of it...

I find it highly amusing that Washington's ability has strong synergy with the Monarchy social policy.

I can see the sight bonus being useful for warfare, let you plan your positioning a bit better, but you can already do that pretty well with an upgraded scout.

 

[Rathelon]

I typically only buy tiles when I first settle a city to get resources that are in the second ring. I'm finding even that gets expensive once you hit the industrial age.

 

[Common Sensei]

I typically only buy tiles when I first settle a city to get resources that are in the second ring. I'm finding even that gets expensive once you hit the industrial age.

I buy tiles at a choke point or to chain city territories together to pen other civs in. Not enough time for a monument and waiting to culture to grab tiles in some situations. If another civ plonks a city down close to me, I'll buy tiles to keep that city from growing in my direction and reduce its effectiveness.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

I find it highly amusing that Washington's ability has strong synergy with the Monarchy social policy.

I mentioned this in a earlier thread and it is very funny and ironic. Overall America's abilities are weak. I did play a game with them and the B52 is not bad, but I normally finish my games before I get that far. Overall across all Civ games America has alway been a weak civ, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see that V is no different.

I always thought (going back to Civ III) that the minuteman should be America's UU, but I would have implemented it differently. If you look at what a minuteman was better fit for the minuteman should be 1/2 the hammers to build, 1/2 the maintenance, but only 3/4 strength of a normal musketeer. Historically this would be a better fit for the minuteman, and would greatly strengthen the unit.

 

[Matth3w]

I just played about 1.5 hours more on my lunch. Still only have three cities, but they're really strong cities. I'm trying to surround a city-state to take it out. I'm in a great area, but just outside of the area of my three cities there is desert, water, and tundra. Only great place left without declaring war on Germany (which I'm not ready yet) is occupied by a city-state.

I want to take it over ASAP. I actually tried to attack it over lunch but ended up restoring an early save point. I tried to attack entirely from the south when I should have surrounded it a little more strategically.

 

[Martin Alvito]

The B17 is fairly useless, because games are usually decided before the Modern Era.

A buff to rough terrain movement isn't terrible, but I'll take the strength bonus on the French UU if given the choice. Even half price and full strength isn't that great, given this game's punitive unit upkeeps. Ask a German player. Fewer, better units beat a horde under 1UPT, resource caps and heavy upkeep.

Cheaper tile purchases is a joke compared to other civs' abilities. The only real asset is +1 vision, which has its moments.

If you're playing America, you're giving up a lot to do it. Which isn't atypical in Civ.

 

[Erik_3E]

I am playing my first game as america on a pangea map with 28 city states and 17 other civilizations other than my America, im in the medieval times and have 8 citys and have had no problem with anything realy and especialy money becous money is just flowing in like a golden river. America is by no means a week civ in CIV V

 

[skallben]

Sadly, IMO many of the civs are lackluster to play due to their poor abilities, in my eyes America is one of them. It's to motivate oneself to play civ just for it's flag when it means you get an uninteresting ability...Possibly I will play America in the future and opt for a minutemen campaign but it's waaay down on the list currently. I guess modders will adress this soon enough though

 

[tissue]

My first game was with America. Was pretty fun, allthough i had germany conquered far before 1945. I played on Prince difficulty.

Won by domination, just 1 turn before I should have won the diplomatic victory (i was allies with all city states). Also my spaceship was almost finished.

I was learning the game, so I didnt focus on one victory. I did buy some tiles. Must agree having more culture you don't need to buy tiles.

Didnt need the minuteman because I rushed to rifling with some scientists. Also didnt use the b17's because I had acces to jets same time.

 

[Common Sensei]

Actually, the movement bonus gets lost with Mech Infantry. It's kept from Minuteman through Riflemen and Infantry.

 

[Rellin]

I played my first game as America. I lost to Rome who invaded and rolled me. I played next game as Egypt and raped without using their OP UU. I had something like 20 out of 26 first wonders.

 

[rune42]

Yea, after finishing a game as America on emperor, i feel they're sorely lacking compared to other Civs. I still won easily enough, but I couldve done what I did with any other civ.

I think at one point during Civ5 development, barbarians were supposed to be more of a threat and the visibility bonus was supposed to help them out a lot in the early game. Barbarians have a maximum radius from their encampment that they can't go past, so extra visibility helps keep their spawns far away from your cities. That bonus, however, doesn't really pan out since barbarians are pinatas filled with XP and gold in Civ5. Infact, their ability is deterimental since you WANT barbarian camps to spawn close to you.

Minutemen are a joke of an UU. The B17's are really nice, but they don't play any factor whatsoever in helping the US achieve victory. As someone earlier said, games are "won" before the modern era.

I think giving them a +50% settler production bonus, along with +1 settler movement speed, on top of everything else, would help them out immensely in the early game(and early game advantages leads to a snowball effect which can be very powerful in the hands of a good player... see france, germany, and songhai as an example). They'd be a rapid expansion civ, just like they are in real life. The Liberty SP would then be better than the Tradition SP for America. As it should.

 

[GlobularFoody]

I bailed out on my game with America due to being massively in debt, I guess my bad habit in previous Civ games of building every building in every city has to end with Civ 5.

I think the UU's and "Manifest Destiny" are pretty terrible. The minuteman is bugged and can't get road benefit, for one, and it's not really any better than a normal musketman. This version of Civ is falling in line with all previous games and all late-game UU's are just plain pointless. No one is going to start winning in the modern era just because they can finally build a B-17, unlike the ancient/medievel era UU's. The game has been decided long, long before that and the unit is just there for show.

It's too late to change a Civ's special traits now, I'll bet. It's not a big deal really, Civ is more fun if you play as of the ancient civs anyway, for me anyway.

 

[taltamir]

The game has been decided long, long before that and the unit is just there for show.

its not even for show... I have yet to see the americans manage to field their UU... I recently annihilated them with my swordsmen (the str 18 ones, the ones that legioneres upgrade into) vs their basic archers and club wielding fighters (from their "age" I can tell they didn't have the tech... but they also didn't have the iron).

but even ancient UU aren't all that... Even on marathon you have your UU for a very short period of time before it is obsolete... and if playing on standard then you can end up obsoleting them without having even the time to build a single one.

 

[QuixotesGhost]

America is my favorite civ - I think Manifest Destiny is extremely underrated.

 

[Rathelon]

Actually, the movement bonus gets lost with Mech Infantry. It's kept from Minuteman through Riflemen and Infantry.

Another thing I noticed in my current game; Minutemen and units upgraded from Minutemen dont get road movement bonus. They just move 2 tiles no matter what. I had riflemen that I built who could move along the roads, but the riflemen who were upgraded from Minutemen could only move 2 tiles, even on a road.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

its not even for show... I have yet to see the americans manage to field their UU...

I recently won a game as America, but in order to be able to build a B17 I had to play "Just a few more turns" since I was already researching flight, just so I could get the achievement for bombing a city with a B17.

 

[Rathelon]

Was just looking at the global achievements on Steam, and Washington currently has the most 'win a game as' of all the leaders. Doesnt mean he's the best leader, but there are people playing America.

 

[Matth3w]

I'm doing pretty well now, but it took until midnight to start kicking Siam's ass.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

Was just looking at the global achievements on Steam, and Washington currently has the most 'win a game as' of all the leaders. Doesnt mean he's the best leader, but there are people playing America.

That doesn't mean he's the best. I'm going to win as all the countries in alphabetical order so America came first. Also, while I do think they are a crappy Civ I do still like to play as them just because. In the end the Civ you choose don't make a huge difference in your ability to win, it just makes it easier/harder.