Best Civ of All

[IvoryPavane]

In terms of the poll, I would say Greece or Korea are probably good picks because their abilities are fairly straightforward and often yield teachable moments in efficient Civ play

I think Civs which don’t promote a specific win (Cree, Inca, Phonecia etc) are slightly harder for newcomers because you need to make stronger choices in district and tile management

 

[Sostratus]

EDIT: Also surprised that people think of Inca as very strong. They are B tier in my book.

I don't think their power is as in your face as the premier warmongers or korea. You could literally play them like any other civ but also have these crazy super farms giving production from aqueducts, and early tunnels that give most trade routes the full double yield. It's just more fun to go full mountain man. But like Germany, to get the most from them you need to do a lot of planning that other civs don't really need as much. Germany is actually a great example: they have several very accessible abilities; a free red card slot, bonus vs CS units, extra district.
But the Hansa, where their power is, is best maximized with a very specific play-style which can reward you massively, but isn't obvious to new players at all. Like so:

Spoiler :

Not everyone wants to play simcity when they boot up civ6.

 

[ShunNakamura]

I am not sure who to vote in this one, but in the other one I went all in on Sumeria. Gilgamesh is a good friend to a newbie.
++War Carts have at least 3 move and 30 STR. You can generally get away with using them for scouting and defense.
+Tribal rewards from clearing barbs. Rather random, but can be very helpful and helps push the player to remember to clear barb camps. A new player not targeting them enough could easily end up swamped. This gives them a good push that way and makes it feel less tedious(to me anyways).
=Ziggurats can help push science though I am not sure how well a new player would use them.
-His alliance ability can be useful, but it is the weakest of the lot you get from him.

Seems everyone is using this one for commenting so here is my top pick.

As for this threads batch. Maori are pretty easy since you don't need to worry about improvements if you have a wooded start. And the Toa are great. But the ocean start can complicate things drastically for a new player so I don't feel confident in throwing them at a newbie. Incas are production and size masters, but again I am not sure how fool proof they'll be. My start with them was REALLY lucky so I am not sure if they go all that well if they can't spam a billion and half of their farms. You also don't get a super powerful early game unit to help you survive.

However, in the end I picked Egypt here. Strong, fast, early UU that can easily patrol multiple cities. If I am anything to go by new players likely won't build enough military units early on. So a fast ranged unit is a good defense. Flood immunity is nice and buildable flood plains frees up tile constraints a bit. The sphinx is finnicky to me, but few of the newbie friendly civs are 'perfect'. All that said I don't think Egypt really competes with Sumeria. Their chariot archer is far too expensive to really compete. I'd rather have three war carts than one chariot archer. Ziggurats are better than sphinxes and I don't really think her leader ability trumps Gilgamesh's, though it is probably a little bit better.

That said I can easily see why folks are flocking to Aztecs. I just think many newer players would fail to be aggressive enough with them. But I am using myself as a baseline and I am a builder at heart. So that no doubt skews things, but honestly if you are a war gamer you probably don't need to play a 'best civ' since war is so heavily in the players favor even if you are newish. So I think using a builder baseline is just fine.

 

[Sostratus]

I am not sure how fool proof they'll be.

I think the best civ for a new player who has never played civ6 is easily Rome. Rome is a strong civ in their own right, but free roads+free trading post+free monument+bath (helps fix any city growth planning oopsies) + legion (a very strong early unit to help you fight or defend) are just amazingly helpful for new players. You don't really have to do anything for them to work, just play the game. At new player difficulties, when they first start turning it up, they'll be facing warfare in the classical, not a turn 40 warrior rush; hence I think the legion is better than a unique ancient unit.

 

[ShunNakamura]

I think the best civ for a new player who has never played civ6 is easily Rome. Rome is a strong civ in their own right, but free roads+free trading post+free monument+bath (helps fix any city growth planning oopsies) + legion (a very strong early unit to help you fight or defend) are just amazingly helpful for new players. You don't really have to do anything for them to work, just play the game. At new player difficulties, when they first start turning it up, they'll be facing warfare in the classical, not a turn 40 warrior rush; hence I think the legion is better than a unique ancient unit.

Yeah Rome was definitely a contender. I don't know why I forgot to mention them. Probably because most of my thought process of Sumeria vs. Rome occurred before I say this thread where all the discussion was occurring.

Part of our difference is the 'new player difficulties' you bring up. Since I used my behavior on new game as a baseline that means I am assuming Prince at the very lowest. Most likely King. I can't think of the last time I played a new game on a 'lower than hard' difficulty setting. As such my first games in Civ VI had me facing foes before swords came online. Or just as they were. That said Rome is one of them I haven't played since vanilla so I am not as sure on them as I am Sumeria(who I tend to use for Deity clears). I have been meaning to play them since the expansion, but are kinda low on my list given I want to play with the new guys first. I think Legions requiring Iron sours me a bit though. I never seem to have Iron in my games. But yeah, best overall should definitely be between Rome and Sumeria if you ask me. Both are newbie friendly to a degree that is hard to match.

Though speaking of ancient era units. About the only one I really like is the War-Cart and the Nubian Archer. The others just seem a bit situation, too expensive, or finnicky to use. Though I haven't played the Cree since the skirmisher introduction, so I might need to rethink them.

Off topic, but I have a funny story difficulty wise. In the Fire Emblem games I actually find the lower difficulties harder than the hard difficulties. Pretty funny. But it makes sense. On the easier difficulties it is VERY easy to accidentally over extend your forces and then lose a unit you thought was safe. Basically the foes attacking you die rather than survive with low hp which allows a large stream of new units to rush in and suicide kill you. Civ's lower movement ranges make that less of a problem here, though I have used it to bring a city down more quickly(War-Carts again, I had to take their capital before they got their walls up or that war would have likely gone south).

Edit- Forgot to mention, but I am surprised Russia is leading in that other thread. They are certainly solid, but beating Rome and Sumeria?

 

[MarigoldRan]

I don't think their power is as in your face as the premier warmongers or korea. You could literally play them like any other civ but also have these crazy super farms giving production from aqueducts, and early tunnels that give most trade routes the full double yield. It's just more fun to go full mountain man. But like Germany, to get the most from them you need to do a lot of planning that other civs don't really need as much. Germany is actually a great example: they have several very accessible abilities; a free red card slot, bonus vs CS units, extra district.
But the Hansa, where their power is, is best maximized with a very specific play-style which can reward you massively, but isn't obvious to new players at all. Like so:

Spoiler :

Not everyone wants to play simcity when they boot up civ6.

Inca IS the premier warmonger of Civ 6. Their ability to dominate militarily with their UU exceeds any other civ in the game (against the AI). The Incan is a builder civ that warmongers better than Scythia. Their UU is utterly broken OP-wise.

 

[IvoryPavane]

Inca IS the premier warmonger of Civ 6. Their ability to dominate militarily with their UU exceeds any other civ in the game (against the AI). The Incan is a builder civ that warmongers better than Scythia. Their UU is utterly broken OP-wise.

I think their UU is very strong, but in a multiplayer setting it’s quite easy to deal with. (At least that has been our experience). The 1 range can be quite painful against a competent human.

Against braindead AI though it possibly is the strongest UU indeed

 

[MarigoldRan]

In multiplayer the Incan UU is primarily defensive. But it's such a good defensive unit that once you get it, I doubt anyone will want to attack you. Which means that you can leverage your massive Incan econ bonuses for booming.

In single player vs AI, the UU singlehandedly wins games.

 

[Weraptor]

I don't think their power is as in your face as the premier warmongers or korea. You could literally play them like any other civ but also have these crazy super farms giving production from aqueducts, and early tunnels that give most trade routes the full double yield. It's just more fun to go full mountain man. But like Germany, to get the most from them you need to do a lot of planning that other civs don't really need as much. Germany is actually a great example: they have several very accessible abilities; a free red card slot, bonus vs CS units, extra district.
But the Hansa, where their power is, is best maximized with a very specific play-style which can reward you massively, but isn't obvious to new players at all. Like so:

Spoiler :

Not everyone wants to play simcity when they boot up civ6.

Not to say I like simple op civs more than the more obscure ones, but I didn't get a great game out of the Inca, maybe because there weren't enough hills next to mountains

 

[IvoryPavane]

In multiplayer the Incan UU is primarily defensive. But it's such a good defensive unit that once you get it, I doubt anyone will want to attack you. Which means that you can leverage your massive Incan econ bonuses for booming.

In single player vs AI, the UU singlehandedly wins games.

It was nice in the city centre but it ultimately didn’t save them much lol

 

[Naeshar]

Georgia. No joke. Most vanilla civ to play. The ultimate Civ experience.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Not to say I like simple op civs more than the more obscure ones, but I didn't get a great game out of the Inca, maybe because there weren't enough hills next to mountains

How do you NOT get a good game as Inca? All you have to do is get to Machinery and build their UU from all your cities and it's auto win from there.

It's like Nubia.Just spam out their UU and the game is over.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

In multiplayer the Incan UU is primarily defensive. But it's such a good defensive unit that once you get it, I doubt anyone will want to attack you. Which means that you can leverage your massive Incan econ bonuses for booming.

In single player vs AI, the UU singlehandedly wins games.

Your range 1 ranger horde will get bogged down in ZOC's while my range 2 field cannons and cuirassier's/cavalry carry on with the real business of warring .

 

[MarigoldRan]

Right. Except I get my 1 range horde two eras earlier.

Let's test this: We start in the Ancient Era. You're only allowed to build field cannons and cursaissers. I'm only allowed to build the Incan UU and a warrior. Let's see who wins.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

Right. Except I get my 1 range horde two eras earlier.

Let's test this: We start in the Ancient Era. You're only allowed to build field cannons and cursaissers. I'm only allowed to build the Incan UU and a warrior. Let's see who wins.

If I hadn't just finished an Incan game I'd take you up on your offer. Since you were allowed to set the unit parameters, I'd of course choose a huge map. We could have a neutral party roll a random map and we could both play. Maybe the next 6otM that has the Inca we could both ignore victory conditions and just go domination. But they use standard maps, and the smaller the map the more correct your assessment becomes (and visa versa for mine & 6/7 promotion field cannons/cav & large maps).

 

[MarigoldRan]

Since you get to choose the map, I get to set the speed (Marathon).

 

[BarbarianHunter]

Since you get to choose the map, I get to set the speed (Marathon).

What do you have against terrace farms? You want me to build a bunch of campus districts instead of TF's to catch you?

You know, come to think of it, while you're off dickering around training with your scouts, me and my 3 archers+warrior will have rolled the nearest civ on marathon.

 

[MarigoldRan]

No, see as Inca you get to build lots of Terrace farms AND Campuses since you start next to mountains.

And no, it's not about training scouts. It's about training the Waka Rakas. They get 4x the experience of any other unit in the game since they attack twice and get the 100% experience card. They train by attacking cities.

Also, Inca is pretty good at archer rushes, too, because of the insane productive power of terrace farms.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

No, see as Inca you get to build lots of Terrace farms AND Campuses since you start next to mountains.

And no, it's not about training scouts. It's about training the Waka Rakas. They get 4x the experience of any other unit in the game since they attack twice and get the 100% experience card. They train by attacking cities.

Also, Inca is pretty good at archer rushes, too, because of the insane productive power of terrace farms.

So on marathon you should get the ambush promotion around T250 then instead of T500?

 

[MarigoldRan]

On Epic (my usual speed) I get ambush about 6-10 turns after I get Machinery, which shows up in the Classical era due to my multiple +4 or +5 campuses.

Waka Rakas gain 14 EXPERIENCE per turn attacking cities.