Best Civ in a TSL Earth Map?

[Yzman]

What civ do you think would be the best to play as? Worst to play as? Or how about if all AIs were playing, which civ would do the best?

Remember that all civs would be in their actual starting locations, which should be optimal to most of them ( maybe not crowded Europe)

Thoughts?

I think the Americas and even East Asia would be the easiest. Lots of room to expand and grow.

Europe seems to probably be the hardest. It will very quickly run out of space and you will probably have as many wars as the real Europe.

 

[comatosedragon]

In a TSL Earth Map (Which I have admittedly not played), it seems to me that the Inca have probably the best chance of becoming a runaway. Polynesia could be interesting as well, because of all the unsettled islands (and Australia).

 

[Yzman]

In a TSL Earth Map (Which I have admittedly not played), it seems to me that the Inca have probably the best chance of becoming a runaway. Polynesia could be interesting as well, because of all the unsettled islands (and Australia).

In the one I played ( in G&K not BNW) Polynesia never expanded beyond Hawaii and Australia was basically left unsettled for all of time. I feel that civs do best with lots of open land available to them. This made Aztecs very powerful as they could expand north with basically no restriction, but now the Shoshone should get in the way a little bit.

 

[cpm4001]

Spain's pretty darn good because you spawn right next to the Rock of Gibraltar and can easily settle near most of the other Natural Wonders with your Conquistadors in the mid-game. Otherwise, in the TSL games I've played, Egypt is good because they get the massive food boost from the flood plains along the Nile, while Arabia and Morocco both get starts that (unsurprisingly...) mesh well with them.

 

[Glassmage]

yea Polynesia doesn't do well. They usually settle Siberia or 1 island in South Pacific or Australia.

 

[Greizer85]

It depends on the map and the starting location (resources, geography). On some maps Inca are da beast, on others they lack any food until they can access their Terrace Farms, meaning that you'll fall drastically behing before getting there. Etc...

Imo this thread is pointless unless you specify which map. On the one map that I've played a lot (Legendary Earth Mod), China and India are imo the best locations because they're rich in resources, roomy and very defensible. India also has a faith source nearby in Mt Kailash. Inca are also good on this map (or were until the author removed all New World civs), although those tight mountain chokepoints played a number on my trade routes in the game that I played with them (couldn't assign route although I had a Granary and the road was seemingly clear).

 

[Blitz Spearman]

If Inca has access to food tiles, it is really hard to think of another contender for best civ. Even with Brazil there now to duel for the control of South America, we are talking about the two civs with the extreme opposites in terms of production at the starting location.

Mongolia definitely has more space than anyone else, but if the map is realistic with resources, most of it should be useless dry hills and tundra to the north. There is a reason old Genghis wanted to conquer everyone else.

Gajah Mada can settle Australia almost as fast as Kamehameha, provided any of them can get rid of the mighty Australian barbarians (that sounds really racist lol) that will crowd the land before anyone arrives. And remember that Indonesia's UA will be working at its full potential in TSL. Also, whoever gets Australia gets Uluru.

Ethiopia is an already powerful civ, and they will spawn somewhat close to Lake Victoria AND Kilimanjaro. This should be more than enough for them to hold off Shaka.

China is also already powerful and should have a resource-rich start, but having Siam that close doesn't seem good.

And everyone forgot the funniest of them all. VENICE! Enjoy swimming in gold with 5+ capitals in the range of your first cargo ship and no space for barbarians to spawn and plunder your trades.

 

[copperred]

What civ do you think would be the best to play as? Worst to play as? Or how about if all AIs were playing, which civ would do the best?

Remember that all civs would be in their actual starting locations, which should be optimal to most of them ( maybe not crowded Europe)

Thoughts?

I think the Americas and even East Asia would be the easiest. Lots of room to expand and grow.

Europe seems to probably be the hardest. It will very quickly run out of space and you will probably have as many wars as the real Europe.

I've played using Gedemon's Yet (not) Another Earth Maps Pack, which is amazing and updated for BNW. I have to say, since there are no other civs south east of you, Indonesia is pretty good, though the resource placement can be wonky, esp in the latter part of the game. Having no iron for the Kris swordsman can really suck. Otherwise I'd say the Americas because in S America you have a chance of finding either the Inca or Brazil and if you're one you may find the other or you may have the whole continent to yourself. I have one game now, as Indonesia, and the Shoshone are slaughtering the others. So far he's killed off The Maya and is almost done with America. He's also killing it in core.

 

[Glassmage]

Current Indonesia game on Gedemon YNAEMP and Cookie map lol

Domination victory here I go. Killed Malacca and Singapore CS already yay!

Spoiler :

Also Siam is now my puppet

Spoiler :

DoF with Mongolia and we go for China. Wu has Great Wall though.

Spoiler :

Colonize Australia for Reefs and Uluru.

Spoiler :

 

[householder]

As Greizer85 mentioned, the best civ for a TSL map ultimately depends on which map you use: the topography and ecology, distribution of resources, etc. often determine what is best.

What is best also depends on which civs you include in the game, and how cramped you are. The size of the map is a related factor. The bigger the map, the more distance between civs.

Generally speaking, being in an isolated location allows for a great deal of expansion, and the ability to build without being pressured, except by barbarians. However, if you plan on founding a religion and spreading it widely, isolation will work against you. Your religion will not spread naturally, and your missionaries will have to travel far.

Being near Europe, but not in it, works well for a religious hegemony game. Once you convert a small handful of cities in Europe, there is a kindling effect and your religion will spread naturally throughout that region. The Celts, however, could eat your lunch before you have a chance. Still, I like North Africa or Middle East civs for religious spread.

 

[Talcove]

Venice on TSL maps has a ridiculously defensible starting locations. In terms of land access, there are three small (One tile) mountain passages into the land around the city, and they're all hilly, while two are covered with forest on the invading side. I managed to hold off the entire German army (Which was pretty big at the time) with just three units.

In terms of sea invasions, any ships that want to go up to Venice have to travel all the way up the boot of Italy, which, when patrolled by Archers/Venetian ships, is no easy task.

The location, of course, is also a prime one for trading with the other Civs in the region.

 

[Luziadus]

Portugal will make a huge amount of money and resources in earth

 

[Talcove]

Portugal will make a huge amount of money and resources in earth

As long as Morocco isn't also in the game.

 

[Luziadus]

As long as Morocco isn't also in the game.

if theres any desert.

 

[Yzman]

I am playing as Korea on the latest game I had ( did random civ) and it is working out well. I have no competition.

Meanwhile Germany is taking over Europe civ by civ. ( He took Portugal and Austria already, plus the one city state near him. He is now going after Spain which is likely to fall as well.)

 

[Talcove]

if theres any desert.

Morocco starts right near the desert, and directly south of Lisbon... They're practically right next to each other!

 

[DudewiththeFood]

Poland. Not for any particular reason other than they are amazing. Specifically for TSL maps - Indonesia/Shoshone/Ethiopia/Morocco/Spain

 

[Edgehopper]

Morocco is my first thought, except it's going to have to spend a lot of resources defending against the Zulu and Songhai invasions. Other than that, though, with so many European capitals on nearby water (especially Portugal and Venice), Morocco's going to be swimming in gold on a continent where there's not too much nearby competition.

Indonesia gets the fun boost of being most able to colonize empty Australia. Not sure how valuable that is...

The Shoshone should end up in control of most of N. America, being stronger than America and the Iroquois, and that's a pretty powerful chunk of land (and they can hold off the Aztec invasion very well)

Korea's always strong, and gets a really defensible location. Always a contender.

 

[copperred]

I've played using Gedemon's Yet (not) Another Earth Maps Pack, which is amazing and updated for BNW. I have to say, since there are no other civs south east of you, Indonesia is pretty good, though the resource placement can be wonky, esp in the latter part of the game. Having no iron for the Kris swordsman can really suck. Otherwise I'd say the Americas because in S America you have a chance of finding either the Inca or Brazil and if you're one you may find the other or you may have the whole continent to yourself. I have one game now, as Indonesia, and the Shoshone are slaughtering the others. So far he's killed off The Maya and is almost done with America. He's also killing it in core.

Same here. Indonesia is nicely set up although with all that jungle production can be an issue until Industrialization. The absence of iron is unfortunately rather reliable . That said there's usually plenty of coal, which I use to my advantage, and proximity to Australia is nice. It does suck to be forced to beeline for Optics so you can get off the island but once that's done you're good. Also if Siam isn't in it you're good. If I'm not playing with 22 civs I can sometimes make India or Indochina mine.

Otherwise I'd say Shoshone (Hawaii has gotten better in BNW but it's still pretty useless), Brazil, or Morocco or Ethiopia. I've found Europe very cramped though I currently have a game with Poland that is going better than I thought.

I occasionally stack the deck so the game doesn't put 8 civs in Europe/near Europe.

 

[copperred]

Morocco is my first thought, except it's going to have to spend a lot of resources defending against the Zulu and Songhai invasions. Other than that, though, with so many European capitals on nearby water (especially Portugal and Venice), Morocco's going to be swimming in gold on a continent where there's not too much nearby competition.

Indonesia gets the fun boost of being most able to colonize empty Australia. Not sure how valuable that is...

The Shoshone should end up in control of most of N. America, being stronger than America and the Iroquois, and that's a pretty powerful chunk of land (and they can hold off the Aztec invasion very well)

Korea's always strong, and gets a really defensible location. Always a contender.

Korea does very well unless both China and Japan are in the game. Then it can get messy, unless there's no Siam and then China expands south.