Best civilization to choose from
- Thread starter Bridog7
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Rancid Sushi
Last year's catch
Whatever fits your tastes/style of play. All civs are well-balanced, having their own strengths and weaknesses. You should read Sisiutil's guide on leader traits. It's near the top in the sub-forum, I think.
obsolete
Deity
I am doing a lot of experimentation with Egypt lately.
Funny how this sort of threads continually turns up in any sort of game forum even though the answer is consistently 'it depends' or 'there is no single best so-and-so' 
Firaxis would've done a very poor job in the game balance department if there were a single civ/leader that clearly dominated others in any and all departments, no?
So as always the answer is: there is no single best civ or leader; the relative quality depends on your type type of game, goals and playstyle.
Firaxis would've done a very poor job in the game balance department if there were a single civ/leader that clearly dominated others in any and all departments, no?
So as always the answer is: there is no single best civ or leader; the relative quality depends on your type type of game, goals and playstyle.
scy12
Deity
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Funny how this sort of threads continually turns up in any sort of game forum even though the answer is consistently 'it depends' or 'there is no single best so-and-so'
Firaxis would've done a very poor job in the game balance department if there were a single civ/leader that clearly dominated others in any and all departments, no?
So as always the answer is: there is no single best civ or leader; the relative quality depends on your type type of game, goals and playstyle.
That isn't a very informative answer . Considering that it is possible he is a newb , he may not know what Civ/Leader fits his idiosyncrasy , hence why he asks for advice .
Well, here are my favorites in no particular order:
Augustus is very powerful if you plan to just bonk heads. He relies on early production, and fast research to Iron Working to crank out Praetorians. Plan to drop lots of cottages early on so your economy doesn't hit the pits when you capture some cities. He's creative, so you get to be a bit choicy when dropping your strategic cities, since there is no real worry about losing the resource tile.
Alexander has been one of my most recent favorites, for much the same reason. He, however, is good for running a fast Specialist economy. With a good food city to start with, he can rip through some techs. Crank axes early and grab a city or two from your neighbor before you finish him off. After that it's just steady conquer and reserch. Alex is pretty well balanced to me. If you use an SE, plan to pop philosophy with your first GS so you can run Pacifism. Then use the next ten or twelve (I'm not kidding) GS's to build an academy, and then settle. If you do it right (especially if you get representation) you can get ages ahead.
Ghandi is good for the above strat as well. With Ghandi though, you can swap your civics around like nobody's business. I like that freedom of choice, so I use Ghandi a lot too.
Catherine is pretty mean
And Vicky or Liz are beasts too. IIRC Vicky is the Financial one, so drop a good strong cottage start and watch her rip when she gets redcoats.
Augustus is very powerful if you plan to just bonk heads. He relies on early production, and fast research to Iron Working to crank out Praetorians. Plan to drop lots of cottages early on so your economy doesn't hit the pits when you capture some cities. He's creative, so you get to be a bit choicy when dropping your strategic cities, since there is no real worry about losing the resource tile.
Alexander has been one of my most recent favorites, for much the same reason. He, however, is good for running a fast Specialist economy. With a good food city to start with, he can rip through some techs. Crank axes early and grab a city or two from your neighbor before you finish him off. After that it's just steady conquer and reserch. Alex is pretty well balanced to me. If you use an SE, plan to pop philosophy with your first GS so you can run Pacifism. Then use the next ten or twelve (I'm not kidding) GS's to build an academy, and then settle. If you do it right (especially if you get representation) you can get ages ahead.
Ghandi is good for the above strat as well. With Ghandi though, you can swap your civics around like nobody's business. I like that freedom of choice, so I use Ghandi a lot too.
Catherine is pretty mean
And Vicky or Liz are beasts too. IIRC Vicky is the Financial one, so drop a good strong cottage start and watch her rip when she gets redcoats.
Elkad
Emperor
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If you are more of a builder, Huyana Capac is pretty nice as well. Cheap wonders and financial. Quechas are a nice UU until axe barbarians show up (and they are great for workerstealing too).
Cottages are an easier strategy to play than specialists, though possibly less flexible.
I got my first Monarch win with HC (and my second one as well).
Cottages are an easier strategy to play than specialists, though possibly less flexible.
I got my first Monarch win with HC (and my second one as well).
dragomaster
Warlord
have to agree, HC is a great leader to play. you get a superb shoot on hinduism and bonus on wonders. I like cyrus to, nice to war with imperialistic and charismatic is a nice combo indeed
Curys is fun if you have horses and you play with warlords...Immortals are great and amount of generals you get is insane Before rifles in stantard I got 7 so far...
Still with warlords, Ramses 2 is good and Gandhi is great
Peter is really good for specialist economy also in Vanilla, but warlods even better with with their UB....wich comes relatively late, but is still very useful.
As you can see I play Specialist Economy mostly so I don´t recommend you any Financial...
But Wang kong is propably the best financial, IMO, or at least only one I have achieved succesfull game in Immortal level...
I guess England should be strong, but somehow I never have play them well...
Togugava is good for samurai domination...Economy might be difficult in warlord, but in vanilla no problems.
Before rifles in stantard I got 7 so far...Still with warlords, Ramses 2 is good and Gandhi is great
Peter is really good for specialist economy also in Vanilla, but warlods even better with with their UB....wich comes relatively late, but is still very useful.
As you can see I play Specialist Economy mostly so I don´t recommend you any Financial...
But Wang kong is propably the best financial, IMO, or at least only one I have achieved succesfull game in Immortal level...
I guess England should be strong, but somehow I never have play them well...
Togugava is good for samurai domination...Economy might be difficult in warlord, but in vanilla no problems.
madscientist
RPC Supergenius
I play warlords routinely at the Prince level, marathon speed, largest map with the rest random including leaders (until I win a game with someone who is then retired). If I lose with that leader then I can restart a new game with them. Overall there leaders I have won crushingly with in the following order
Ramses II : Gets any wonder (stonehenge + oracle, see obelisk below), never goes into anarchy, dominating early war chariots, early priests with obelisks which I use to get 2 great profits (one to lightbulb theology the other for the shrine), usually gets the colossus. Overall, a great lead to dominate in any fashion the map dictates.
Washington: The charismic (+1 happy) and expansive (+2 food) allows faster growing cities early. A very non obvious warmonger. The only game I have won by destroying everyone else without getting the domination/UN win on a huge map, with his late UU and UB being vital. Best leader for total destruction.
Louis XIV: Best way start if you do not want or care about an early religion (He usually just steals the holy cities). The culture expansion and early forges work great together.
Hyuana: Best at the cultural victory if you can beeline for early religions (at least 2), get the great wall (so you can live in peace from barbarians), delay archery (UU), an an essential early UB that turns you into a cultural Civ.
Montezuma: No anarchy, awesome UU and UB (which can be used all game), agressive CIV, but get code of laws early for the alters. The UU allows you to start early war-mongering while absorbing conquered cities fast (slaving to get an alter in new cities) which can then proceed to slave more (only 15 turns unhappy on marathon speed) to build troops or citites while depleting unwanted excess population to cut costs and cutting city maintenance. Ends up being a viscious cycle although I found he can tend to stagnate when not expanding by warfare.
Some civs I thought would be excellent but I tend to struggle with, so please suggest
Hannibal
Agustus
Catherine
Churchhill
Overall, none of the traits are particularly bad if used correctly except Imperialistic is rather useless if you do not embark in many wars.
Ramses II : Gets any wonder (stonehenge + oracle, see obelisk below), never goes into anarchy, dominating early war chariots, early priests with obelisks which I use to get 2 great profits (one to lightbulb theology the other for the shrine), usually gets the colossus. Overall, a great lead to dominate in any fashion the map dictates.
Washington: The charismic (+1 happy) and expansive (+2 food) allows faster growing cities early. A very non obvious warmonger. The only game I have won by destroying everyone else without getting the domination/UN win on a huge map, with his late UU and UB being vital. Best leader for total destruction.
Louis XIV: Best way start if you do not want or care about an early religion (He usually just steals the holy cities). The culture expansion and early forges work great together.
Hyuana: Best at the cultural victory if you can beeline for early religions (at least 2), get the great wall (so you can live in peace from barbarians), delay archery (UU), an an essential early UB that turns you into a cultural Civ.
Montezuma: No anarchy, awesome UU and UB (which can be used all game), agressive CIV, but get code of laws early for the alters. The UU allows you to start early war-mongering while absorbing conquered cities fast (slaving to get an alter in new cities) which can then proceed to slave more (only 15 turns unhappy on marathon speed) to build troops or citites while depleting unwanted excess population to cut costs and cutting city maintenance. Ends up being a viscious cycle although I found he can tend to stagnate when not expanding by warfare.
Some civs I thought would be excellent but I tend to struggle with, so please suggest
Hannibal
Agustus
Catherine
Churchhill
Overall, none of the traits are particularly bad if used correctly except Imperialistic is rather useless if you do not embark in many wars.
I personally recommend Peter and Bismark
Peter's Gp and healthy cities can slingshot you ahead, my fa.v strategy is building great wall early then stonehenge or the oracle to get more Great people points and then using the GE to rush the pyramids, use representation throughout the game. Using GE's again and again to rush more wonders, and using expansive to keep health up, and using early workers for a good early infastructure. Then comes the cossack, which i beeling to, and steamroller over opposition, Cossack vs. Longbow? no contest.
Bismarks's early health and wonders are fantastic if you use them effectively, getting the good early wonders, Oracle (monarchy to keep cities healthy and happy), perhaps great wall if you have raging barbs as i do, keping a big advantage over opponents and warring occasionaly relying on superior technology. Then waiting to get Panzers, (in my last monarch game i got Panzers against rifleman *evil laugh*).
Qin Shi Huang is also excellent (UU is fab.), i also recommend Augustus, advanced Praetorians followed by advanced culture!
Play to your strength, if you're falling behind in tech start your next game as Elizabeth (Fin/Phi good at tech no matter what).
Peter's Gp and healthy cities can slingshot you ahead, my fa.v strategy is building great wall early then stonehenge or the oracle to get more Great people points and then using the GE to rush the pyramids, use representation throughout the game. Using GE's again and again to rush more wonders, and using expansive to keep health up, and using early workers for a good early infastructure. Then comes the cossack, which i beeling to, and steamroller over opposition, Cossack vs. Longbow? no contest.
Bismarks's early health and wonders are fantastic if you use them effectively, getting the good early wonders, Oracle (monarchy to keep cities healthy and happy), perhaps great wall if you have raging barbs as i do, keping a big advantage over opponents and warring occasionaly relying on superior technology. Then waiting to get Panzers, (in my last monarch game i got Panzers against rifleman *evil laugh*).
Qin Shi Huang is also excellent (UU is fab.), i also recommend Augustus, advanced Praetorians followed by advanced culture!
Play to your strength, if you're falling behind in tech start your next game as Elizabeth (Fin/Phi good at tech no matter what).
futurehermit
Deity
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- Apr 3, 2006
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- 5,724
There is of course no "best" but some are stronger than others.
I think the strongest are:
-Hatty (Creative + her UU is great for early powerful warfare)
-Mansa (Good starting techs, good UU for early REXing, financial)
-Gandhi (Best UU in the game imho, philosophical + spiritual rox)
-Augustus (Creative + his UU is great for early powerful warfare)
-Shaka (UU + UB is great for early powerful warfare)
-Cyrus (UU + ag/ah starting techs is great for early powerful warfare)
-Elizabeth (Phil + Fin rox and strong UU)
-Frederick (Phil + Org rox and strong, if somewhat late UU)
-Hannibal (Char + Fin rox)
-H. Capac (Ind + Fin very good and UU a bit op vs. the AI; good starting techs)
-Napoleon (Char + Org very good and ag/wheel is my fav starting techs)
-Rameses (Ind + Spir amazing if you can land pyramids; uber UU; ag/wheel)
-Wang Kon (Fin good plus superduper UU)
I think the strongest are:
-Hatty (Creative + her UU is great for early powerful warfare)
-Mansa (Good starting techs, good UU for early REXing, financial)
-Gandhi (Best UU in the game imho, philosophical + spiritual rox)
-Augustus (Creative + his UU is great for early powerful warfare)
-Shaka (UU + UB is great for early powerful warfare)
-Cyrus (UU + ag/ah starting techs is great for early powerful warfare)
-Elizabeth (Phil + Fin rox and strong UU)
-Frederick (Phil + Org rox and strong, if somewhat late UU)
-Hannibal (Char + Fin rox)
-H. Capac (Ind + Fin very good and UU a bit op vs. the AI; good starting techs)
-Napoleon (Char + Org very good and ag/wheel is my fav starting techs)
-Rameses (Ind + Spir amazing if you can land pyramids; uber UU; ag/wheel)
-Wang Kon (Fin good plus superduper UU)
Eddie81
Chieftain
If I had to pick, it would be Isabella. Her traits don't appear to be particularly strong at any one thing, but they are VERY flexible, and along with her UU/UB, makes her a candidate for any victory type.
xfactor99
Warlord
- Rome is generally regarded as the most powerful civilization, because of the awesome Prateorians
- After the Caesars, Alexander, Cyrus, Elizabeth, and Hannibal seem to be big favorites. Really depends on what you're shooting for.
- After the Caesars, Alexander, Cyrus, Elizabeth, and Hannibal seem to be big favorites. Really depends on what you're shooting for.
futurehermit
Deity
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- Apr 3, 2006
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Egypt's war chariots are nothing to sneeze at ^^^
RogueFighter
Chieftain
Inca's quechas are pretty fun to rush with. Rome, of course, is a very good civ. Persia is good, especially after warlords. Russia is good (IMO Catherine is slightly better). And Tokugawa is a good war civ. But really, it is up to personal preference and your gamestyle.
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