best civ for a desert

[NaSMaX]

Looking for a little more a challenge so I want to try the sandstorm map. which civ is best for a desert? Going more toward and cultural/ science win.

 

[FeiLing]

There are only two civs that somewhat can benefit from desert.
A) Arabia, because the Bazaar grants +2 gold from Oases (which only spawn in desert).
B) the Netherlands, because they can build Polders on Flood Plains (which should be a bit more frequent in desert areas than on regular grassland maps).

 

[Harv72b]

Pretty much what he said, although you can be a beast in the desert with any civ now if you can manage Petra & the Desert Folklore pantheon.

 

[DGDobrev]

In my opinion, the best civs for desert are Babylon and Egypt, as it is in their start up bias. They can both rush the Petra wonder early, which is game-breaking. If you get +1 Faith/desert tile and Petra, and you have the upper hand by a mile even over a Deity AI.

 

[animalguy]

In my opinion, the best civs for desert are Babylon and Egypt, as it is in their start up bias. They can both rush the Petra wonder early, which is game-breaking. If you get +1 Faith/desert tile and Petra, and you have the upper hand by a mile even over a Deity AI.

How is Petra game breaking? It provides a powerful bonus, but only for one city.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

It would vote for Netherlands.
Polders on flood plains and Petra for the rest - should be the most productive city you can imagine.

 

[DGDobrev]

Precisely. If you want to play tradition game with a strong Capital and grow tall, Petra works wonders. Even on Deity, you can crank out wonders and every few turns, and planting GP on tiles already improved by Petra is awesome. I haven't really seen a better tile than a one that gives 2F/2H/2G/10 Beakers - even better if you have a strategic resource and you plant the GS on it.

This tactic is tested and proven - Deity OCC with Petra is almost a guaranteed win by turn 240 at most.

 

[Mesix]

@ the OP. If you are looking for more challenge, picking a civ which is good in the desert on a desert map will not provide this. You will have the benefit stacked against the AI who do not benefit by the desert.

If you really want a challenge, take someone like Polynesia or Denmark on a desert map, and make your AI opponents Egypt, Babylon, Arabia, etc. Then you will give the AI the benefit and you will have more of a challenge to overcome.

 

[Halcyan2]

Incans can be quite good, since other than oases (which are rare) the best desert tiles for Petra are desert hills. They have a hill start bias (which works super well on maps like Sandstorm). Terrace farms are also quite nice and can lead to ridiculously powerful tiles. With their reduced movement on hills, it also means you don't lose a turn moving a settler on to a hill, which usually gives you an extra hammer (or turn of production) which helps out in the early game.

 

[Lord Kid]

Incans can be quite good, since other than oases (which are rare) the best desert tiles for Petra are desert hills. They have a hill start bias (which works super well on maps like Sandstorm). Terrace farms are also quite nice and can lead to ridiculously powerful tiles. With their reduced movement on hills, it also means you don't lose a turn moving a settler on to a hill, which usually gives you an extra hammer (or turn of production) which helps out in the early game.

My thoughts exactly. Incans are so beastly at the best of times, and only become more so when dealing with inhospitable terrain other civs would choke and die on.

 

[Tomatekh]

In my opinion, the best civs for desert are Babylon and Egypt, as it is in their start up bias. They can both rush the Petra wonder early, which is game-breaking. If you get +1 Faith/desert tile and Petra, and you have the upper hand by a mile even over a Deity AI.

Neither Babylon nor Egypt have a desert start bias.

Egypt's bias is simply to avoid jungle and forest, probably to accommodate the rough terrain movement penalty of their early game chariot. They have no preference to start on or near desert tiles.

Babylon doesn't have a start bias at all.

The only civ with a start bias for desert is Arabia. And the only two civs that can get any sort of extra benefit from desert tiles is Arabia or the Netherlands.

 

[Buccaneer]

@ the OP. If you are looking for more challenge, picking a civ which is good in the desert on a desert map will not provide this. You will have the benefit stacked against the AI who do not benefit by the desert.

If you really want a challenge, take someone like Polynesia or Denmark on a desert map, and make your AI opponents Egypt, Babylon, Arabia, etc. Then you will give the AI the benefit and you will have more of a challenge to overcome.

This is exactly right. A challenging game is not stacking the decks more in your favor against the AI. To pick a challenging civ, choose the settings (including map and difficulty level) that does have any biases toward the civ. Let's say, hypothetically, a civ's UU/UA/Ux have bonuses for water/naval, barbs and mountains. Chose a map with no seas, no mountains and turn off barbs. Also, don't forget to turn off Starting Bias.

 

[Yzman]

I would say people are going a bit far in this thread. Picking a naval civ on a desert map is not a good idea. Would it make it harder? Sure, but it will make it harder for the wrong reasons. I don't find getting rid of the benefits of a certain civilization to be a fun challenge.

If he is actually looking for a fun game that is still challenging, pick the civ that you want. Arabia, Inca or Netherlands would be best as people have said. Their bonuses are not so great that the AI is going to stand no chance against you. Keep in mind that Inca and Netherlands do well on wet maps as well. Arabia is also a powerful civ regardless of the terrain.

For immersion purposes, I would choose Arabia so you can play them how they were meant to be played.

 

[Ozzy88]

I was trying to find an all desert map a few days ago but I couldn't find anything like that in my list. Is it DLC or a mod perhaps?

 

[Yzman]

I don't believe it is. Try going under advanced options and selecting the maps from there. There should be a sandstorm map.

 

[Mesix]

I would say people are going a bit far in this thread. Picking a naval civ on a desert map is not a good idea. Would it make it harder? Sure, but it will make it harder for the wrong reasons. I don't find getting rid of the benefits of a certain civilization to be a fun challenge.

If he is actually looking for a fun game that is still challenging, pick the civ that you want. Arabia, Inca or Netherlands would be best as people have said. Their bonuses are not so great that the AI is going to stand no chance against you. Keep in mind that Inca and Netherlands do well on wet maps as well. Arabia is also a powerful civ regardless of the terrain.

For immersion purposes, I would choose Arabia so you can play them how they were meant to be played.

I would agree with this, except the OP said that his stated purpose was to have a more challenging game.

Is the game more fun when your civ benefits from the terrain which dominates a particular map? Sure. Is the game more challenging? Absolutely not.

It is fun to play a small islands map as Polynesia with the Mongolians and Huns as your opponents. It is certainly not as challenging as playing the same civs on a duel sized Pangaea map.

 

[Buccaneer]

Additionally, it is actually fun when you have to make in-game decisions that could effect short- and long-term outcomes, as oppose to making lots of mistakes (or cheesing) and still come out ahead. A simplistic hypothetical example would be the direction I move a group of key units to attack, If I go one way, I would be successful; if I decide to go another way, it could cost me the game. Then it either becomes a well-earned victory or a lessons-learned defeat, both are very much fun.

This would only be achieved if the game is set up to where you have small margins for error.

 

[Babri]

I would agree with this, except the OP said that his stated purpose was to have a more challenging game.

Is the game more fun when your civ benefits from the terrain which dominates a particular map? Sure. Is the game more challenging? Absolutely not.

It is fun to play a small islands map as Polynesia with the Mongolians and Huns as your opponents. It is certainly not as challenging as playing the same civs on a duel sized Pangaea map.

Well u can still pick a civ which don't benefits from desert terrain but also won't suck in those maps. Playing as a naval civ in such map would simply kill the fun factor. Why not try a balance civ like France, Babylon, Egypt etc who won't actually be super powerful in deserts (unlike Netherlands or Arabia to some extent) but would still fare well. About the AI enemies strong desert civs would be a nice touch. And u can also make teams, putting yourself at disadvantage. Atleast that would be better than taking away your civ advantages. There is a reason why on diety AI gets insane bonuses instead of u getting insane penalties. ;-)

 

[El Caballerion]

There are only two civs that somewhat can benefit from desert.
A) Arabia, because the Bazaar grants +2 gold from Oases (which only spawn in desert).
B) the Netherlands, because they can build Polders on Flood Plains (which should be a bit more frequent in desert areas than on regular grassland maps).

Kinda funny that a European power should be good on a desert map, but this is so true. On my current map as the Netherlands, I have 6 polders built around my desert capital and if it weren't for the unhappiness, my capital would be more large than 26 pop in the Renaissance!