Aztecs

[Starrynite120]

So I keep seeing people saying that the Aztecs are amazing. I can see how they're good, but not amazing. Can someone explain to me why everyone thinks they are top tier, and how to play them to their strengths?

Also, feel free to mention other civs you think are top tier and answer the same questions. The Aztecs just popped out to me as they were one of my favorites in Vanilla.

 

[Strigvir]

Because two people on the forum play Aztecs exclusively, and thus they think they are awesome. The same two people also say Authority is an OP tree, completely ignoring that only Aztecs can use it effectively due to life on kill stacking and the gold from UA.

 

[CrazyG]

I think it might come down to what speed you play, Aztec is really good on Epic (I'm not familiar with Marathon but I imagine Aztec do really well there as well). On standard I would call them good, but they certainly have flaws.

Because two people on the forum play Aztecs exclusively, and thus they think they are awesome. The same two people also say Authority is an OP tree, completely ignoring that only Aztecs can use it effectively due to life on kill stacking and the gold from UA.

Authority certainly works for other civs as well.

 

[tu_79]

So I keep seeing people saying that the Aztecs are amazing. I can see how they're good, but not amazing. Can someone explain to me why everyone thinks they are top tier, and how to play them to their strengths?

Also, feel free to mention other civs you think are top tier and answer the same questions. The Aztecs just popped out to me as they were one of my favorites in Vanilla.

I don't know if they're so great, but the game I tried it was rather easy. For instance, you get faith on killings, so it's not difficult to found a religion for yourself just by fighting barbs. Your warrior is a good explorer, too, since the promotion it gets helps moving through the trees, so you can effectively fight archers. It gets tougher against horseman, but by then you'll have enough fast units. You need to expend some extra gold if you want improved spearsman (upgraded Jaguars).
Once your religion is secured, your UB comes into play. Floating gardens gives more food and more production to every city, not only cities on rivers (but you must not build the well, or need to sell it before). If you faith-purchase your units, spend your gold investing on buildings, your enhanced production means that you can get your cities well developed quite soon, even while fighting non-stop. Culture isn't a problem once you conquer a capital or two. Science isn't a problem as long as you keep fighting. Tithe helped me to stay in black numbers (since you get so many buildings running, you have high maintenance), but I could have passed and just develop my cities a little slowlier. Happiness was a problem, but I didn't mind to fight the revolters, since they rewarded me with more culture, science and faith.
What I forgot to do in my game was to ask for peace more often, as it rewards with golden ages. I just cannot stop a fight until the capital has been captured (too greedy, I know).

 

[Funak]

For once I have to echo Strigvir, I've mostly seen the same two people talking about how strong the civ is. But that's not really anything exclusive to the Aztecs, there are a lot of people with different opinions about most civs.

Imho the aztecs are decent enough, their UB is great and their UU is fine. Their UA I still feel is probably the weakest one in the game, end-result of it is a watered down version of the celt or the byzantine UA, 'guaranteeing' you a religion and then underperforms for the rest of the game.

 

[ElliotS]

For once I have to echo Strigvir, I've mostly seen the same two people talking about how strong the civ is. But that's not really anything exclusive to the Aztecs, there are a lot of people with different opinions about most civs.

Imho the aztecs are decent enough, their UB is great and their UU is fine. Their UA I still feel is probably the weakest one in the game, end-result of it is a watered down version of the celt or the byzantine UA, 'guaranteeing' you a religion and then underperforms for the rest of the game.

I mean it's like 500+ gpt mid to late game and is the ultimate Zealotry synergy.

I hardly think they're the best civ in the game, but I think they're very good. I don't think anyone's asking for a change.

What I forgot to do in my game was to ask for peace more often, as it rewards with golden ages. I just cannot stop a fight until the capital has been captured (too greedy, I know).

Did you know killing a city state counts as winning a war? I ended my last game with 116 turns left on my golden age, having been on a GA for over 200 turns. I only peaced out via vassalage or genocide.

Also note I'm not an Aztec only player. I've played him 2ish times, but he's a fun logo.

 

[tu_79]

Did you know killing a city state counts as winning a war? I ended my last game with 116 turns left on my golden age, having been on a GA for over 200 turns. I only peaced out via vassalage or genocide.

Also note I'm not an Aztec only player. I've played him 2ish times, but he's a fun logo.

No, I didn't. I rarely take on city states. Wish I had known before.

 

[CrazyG]

Did you know killing a city state counts as winning a war? I ended my last game with 116 turns left on my golden age, having been on a GA for over 200 turns. I only peaced out via vassalage or genocide

This is a very useful option, thanks for sharing

 

[Funak]

I mean it's like 500+ gpt mid to late game and is the ultimate Zealotry synergy.

I hardly think they're the best civ in the game, but I think they're very good. I don't think anyone's asking for a change.

Think Spain got better Zealotry synergy, to be honest, in general I prefer that kind of mechanic as there are more synergies to it and it feels more controllable, I mean the guy you're fighting definitely have cities, why else would you be fighting him?

Did not consider that City-state thing however, feels kinda cheesy.

 

[Der_Zorn_gottes]

So I keep seeing people saying that the Aztecs are amazing. I can see how they're good, but not amazing. Can someone explain to me why everyone thinks they are top tier, and how to play them to their strengths?

Also, feel free to mention other civs you think are top tier and answer the same questions. The Aztecs just popped out to me as they were one of my favorites in Vanilla.

The thing is, they get stronger the more enemies there are. Thus, they are better at higher difficulties ans benefit a lot from raging barbarians.