Best unique ability?

[CrimsonEdge]

The Aztec UA usually ends up only being worse than a single monument, sadly. I love it too but it's just weak.

Their real UA is the Jaguar, which I now think is the best unique unit. Get -50% upgrade costs, and never build anything but them. Longswordsmen with +50% jungle and healing after each win is just scary.

I don't think it's weak at all. Instead of building a monument during your first few turns, you build Jaguars (or a Jaguar in place of it). You'll make up the culture lost while having a larger army and, generally, a large enough army to take out an enemy civ early on, at least on Immortal.

From there it becomes redundant but early on it's very powerful.

 

[Spark026]

1) Askia: River Warlord -- The best super early rush in the game. All that money gives them 2 extra horseman, for a truly unstoppable horde. Also a good increase in loot for cities you raze further feeds the horde.

2) Alexander: Hellenic League -- Can afford to ally with 3x as many city states for the same price others can ally with one over time. Large boost across the board.

3) Cyrus: Achaemenid Legacy -- On high lvls (Emperor+), you can parlay this ability to stay in a constant golden age for for around 60 turns, which can allow you to get over the hump of finishing off the second continent.

4) Wu Zetian: Art of War -- You get extra 15% from the generals and more golden ages from the spare generals that pop at higher rates. You can save the generals to string together an extended golden age the same as Cyrus, and for the same purpose.

5) Oda Nobunaga: Bushido -- You'll seldom take a lot of dmg taking over the first continent, but on the second bushido can really really help! The downside is that it works better if you rush swords instead of horses to take advantage of the UU, which is harder to pull off.

Honorable mentions:

Ramesses: Monument Builders -- If your going to waste time building a monument these are your guys. Can use GL for beeline strategies.

Bismarck: Furor Teutonicus -- Good early defense with extra units from barb pops, so you don't have to worry while you build horseman. Little extra gold helps too early.

Somewhat Honorable mention:

Napoleon: Ancient Régime -- Quicker SPs.

Ramkhamhaeng: Father Governs Children -- Essentially 1.5x the city state for the price of one.


Dishonorable mention(utter rubbish):
Gandhi: Population Growth -- Good for late game expansion, but late-game is soo unimportant...
Augustus: Glory of Rome -- Their UUs are good, but horseman are better, so...
Washington: Manifest Destiny -- Saves a descent bit of gold, but not enough to matter early on.
Catherine: Siberian Riches -- Selling resources brings a bit of small coin. Horses are to common to be an issue 90% of the time, so resource limitations rarely come into play with other civs.
Elizabeth: Sun Never Sets -- AI rarely builds a navy
Harun al-Rashid: Trade Caravans -- +1 gold per trade route...really...thats it?; gameover before oil makes impact
Montezuma: Sacrificial Captives -- Has to kill a unit every turn to get half of what the French get for doing nothing.
Suleiman: Barbary Corsairs -- Waste time building a boat to get units I will disband for small coin. Um...no thank you...
Hiawatha: The Great Warpath -- They're kidding right...it doesn't even work outside your own territory

 

[cembandit]

I voted china. You get a huge general bonus to combat, and plenty of generals for golden age pops.

The city state bonus types are very nice but you can also befriend them easily with patronage. They would still be very close to the top in the way I play.

 

[Celevin]

I don't think it's weak at all. Instead of building a monument during your first few turns, you build Jaguars (or a Jaguar in place of it). You'll make up the culture lost while having a larger army and, generally, a large enough army to take out an enemy civ early on, at least on Immortal.

From there it becomes redundant but early on it's very powerful.

How often do you kill a unit and gain 2-3 culture? I can tell you it's not every turn. I can tell you it's not every second turn either. Yes it's true the culture gains grow in the later game, but they're still puny compared to the culture gained from your empire.

Let's say your France ally expands to 3 cities in the early game, very feasible. Can you get 6 culture worth of kills to match his culture gain? Even if you did, his borders are popping at a much faster rate as well.

 

[Celevin]

The city state bonus types are very nice but you can also befriend them easily with patronage. They would still be very close to the top in the way I play.

I am completely boggled why people think Greece has a better UA than Siam. You said it, with Patronage, you can easily grab most if not all the city states anyway. Siam just gets a lot more of a benefit.

 

[rune42]

I am completely boggled why people think Greece has a better UA than Siam. You said it, with Patronage, you can easily grab most if not all the city states anyway. Siam just gets a lot more of a benefit.

Keyword here is with patronage. Greece doesn't need patronage. Patronage reduces the relationship decline by 25%(0.67% becomes 0.5%). Hellenic League reduces it by 50%(that 0.67% becomes 0.33%).

This doesn't mean Greece is better than Siam. But the point is its a lot harder to pinpoint which one is better, as they both have their ups and downs.

 

[Godclone]

Well aside the fact that i end up warmongering most of the time , and its not a choice on Deity , considering the fact that your army size is vastly inferior especially towards the last AI superpower on a standard+ map , and i am not fond of losing units i would say .

Japan UA is the best .

Most memorable moment was 1 swordsman defend vs 20+ ai jaguars and about 5 archers ( first attack wave) . ( sure he was in a citadel, next to a city with a medic, but still ) . I was waging war on multiple fronts and that swordsman held the line for a century or so (marathon speed) .

 

[Lyoncet]

Honestly surprised at no love for Furor Teutonicus. Personally I find some of the popular ones (especially Ancien Régime) to be mildly good to mediocre, but while FT's impact is usually short-lived, it's a huge hammer boost at the most important part of the game – the very beginning. It does pigeonhole you into an early rush strategy, but pretty much every ability makes you go one route to capitalize on it.

Basically, you can conquer your entire continent pretty much effortlessly (at least up to immortal, haven't tried on deity) while not gimping yourself economically which you have to do with pretty much every other very-early-game rush. Just get a couple warriors and sustain your army with barb spawns. Although I'll admit that if you come up on the bad side of the coin flips a bunch of times, it can be really useless/aggravating. Plus, it's not really even an exclusively domination-oriented ability, since you can use it to put yourself at a great empire advantage early on and then go any victory you want, aside from culture I suppose. That's how I got my first Emperor win; knock out Napoleon with barbarians, then just run away in the tech race.

I suppose I could be overvaluing it since the terribad war AI can probably be crushed with any early attack (and hence I only did one horseman rush ever before swearing off of it as it trivialized the game), but it does have the added advantage over a standard rush strategy of letting you build up your city/cities while maintaining a pretty overwhelming military. Some people call it the zerg rush ability, but a zerg rush would be nothing but bad units while nerfing your economy. FT rush is more of a zerg rush with Protoss units while simultaneously double-expanding, if I may indulge in torturing the metaphor a bit.

 

[Celevin]

Honestly surprised at no love for Furor Teutonicus. Personally I find some of the popular ones (especially Ancien Régime) to be mildly good to mediocre, but while FT's impact is usually short-lived, it's a huge hammer boost at the most important part of the game – the very beginning. It does pigeonhole you into an early rush strategy, but pretty much every ability makes you go one route to capitalize on it.

Basically, you can conquer your entire continent pretty much effortlessly (at least up to immortal, haven't tried on deity) while not gimping yourself economically which you have to do with pretty much every other very-early-game rush. Just get a couple warriors and sustain your army with barb spawns. Although I'll admit that if you come up on the bad side of the coin flips a bunch of times, it can be really useless/aggravating. Plus, it's not really even an exclusively domination-oriented ability, since you can use it to put yourself at a great empire advantage early on and then go any victory you want, aside from culture I suppose. That's how I got my first Emperor win; knock out Napoleon with barbarians, then just run away in the tech race.

I suppose I could be overvaluing it since the terribad war AI can probably be crushed with any early attack (and hence I only did one horseman rush ever before swearing off of it as it trivialized the game), but it does have the added advantage over a standard rush strategy of letting you build up your city/cities while maintaining a pretty overwhelming military. Some people call it the zerg rush ability, but a zerg rush would be nothing but bad units while nerfing your economy. FT rush is more of a zerg rush with Protoss units while simultaneously double-expanding, if I may indulge in torturing the metaphor a bit.

I absolutely abhor Furor Teutonics, even if it was balanced to be in line with the other civ abilities. I abhor it because it's horribly weighted to the early game, and if it fails, you're stuck with an ability-less civ for the rest of the game. It would be another story if barbarian encampments actually stuck for longer than the first era.

 

[Guardian_PL]

Unquestionably China. Their GG's put all the other generals into shame, and they're popping out like there's no tomorrow. After warfare you can burn them for GA's, so China's UA has even economical aspect (since GG's can induce Golden Ages then China has like Philosophical trait ;P).
Also, because in Civ5 everyfrickingthing is about war, so on Immortal+ you don't do anything else through the entire game.

China rocks.

 

[Vordeo]

I voted for Suleiman because I felt bad for him and his craptastic UA.

Also, because he looks so damn jolly in his leaderhead.

Seriously though, it's between China (for warmongerers) and Greece/Siam (for city state abuse).

All that said, Furor Teutonicus is probably the most fun.

 

[qyll]

Askia's UA is excellent. If you kill 3-4 barbarian encampments early on, you can get a horseman by turn 40.

 

[delra]

Why are so many people voting on France? Their UA sucks... Same pretty much goes for Elizabeth.

 

[cembandit]

Unquestionably China. Their GG's put all the other generals into shame, and they're popping out like there's no tomorrow. After warfare you can burn them for GA's, so China's UA has even economical aspect (since GG's can induce Golden Ages then China has like Philosophical trait ;P).
Also, because in Civ5 everyfrickingthing is about war, so on Immortal+ you don't do anything else through the entire game.

China rocks.

The generals Golden Age (get the wonder that doubles GA) are also very nice for making puppets build stuff a lot faster. Why is this a good thing? Because they get those darn coliseums and circuses out so you can get on to your next conquest.

In my last game I took out japan and he submitted, giving me a bunch of cities. I puppeted them all, went to -40 happy. Since this ain't my first rodeo I didn't panic. I adopted freedom (puppets like specialist), got a nice 12 or so off so -28. Then fired off a few general golden ages. 15 turns latter I was back to +10 and ready to rock, with a lot more tech and GPT then I would of had if I didn't take the cities.

 

[Zechnophobe]

France with 10 to 15 cities gets 20 to 30 culture from them. Their social policies also cost many times as much. I'm not sure what the point is.

The real advantage of france is being able to easily acquire territory early on. They work slightly better tiles, and are a little ahead on culture compared to other civs that expand at about the same rate.

I think Ghandi is a little underappreciated. His ability gets to Parity at size 4 cities, and is pure prophet after that. Also, as far as I can tell, his specialists don't cost any happiness if you get freedom. This allows you to treat unhappiness as a hard cap if you want to by turning workers into specialists and/or citizens.

 

[Bibor]

Dishonorable mention(utter rubbish):
Gandhi: Population Growth -- Good for late game expansion, but late-game is soo unimportant...
Augustus: Glory of Rome -- Their UUs are good, but horseman are better, so...
Washington: Manifest Destiny -- Saves a descent bit of gold, but not enough to matter early on.
Catherine: Siberian Riches -- Selling resources brings a bit of small coin. Horses are to common to be an issue 90% of the time, so resource limitations rarely come into play with other civs.
Elizabeth: Sun Never Sets -- AI rarely builds a navy
Harun al-Rashid: Trade Caravans -- +1 gold per trade route...really...thats it?; gameover before oil makes impact
Montezuma: Sacrificial Captives -- Has to kill a unit every turn to get half of what the French get for doing nothing.
Suleiman: Barbary Corsairs -- Waste time building a boat to get units I will disband for small coin. Um...no thank you...
Hiawatha: The Great Warpath -- They're kidding right...it doesn't even work outside your own territory

You obviously have no clue how these abilities actually work and what is their importance.

Siberian riches gives also give you +1 on str. resource tiles and there always use for extra iron.

Gandhi's ability is not population growth, it's reducing unhappiness.

If you play it as it should be played, Rome's ability is 25% discount on all buildings, which is huge.

Elisabeth's sun never sets: +2 for embarked units as well. You obviously never did an intercontinental invasion to understand its importance.

Arabian unique ability is extra income through out the game (oil is rare and can be sold) and it's lackluster because of the insane unique building.

The great warpath saves you a TON of money in the early game as well as helping you INSANELY in the first two-three inevitable wars that happen after you settle your 2nd to 4th city (depending on difficulty level).

etc.

 

[xcaine]

I voted for China, but did anyone stop and took notice of how well thought out some of these UA names are?

 

[delra]

As far as CIV goes, I try to not stop and think too much about real history because it might lead to some really awkward conclusions, like for example where's Spain or why is Alexander representing a league of city states. ;-)

 

[Spark026]

You obviously have no clue how these abilities actually work and what is their importance.

Siberian riches gives also give you +1 on str. resource tiles and there always use for extra iron.

Gandhi's ability is not population growth, it's reducing unhappiness.

If you play it as it should be played, Rome's ability is 25% discount on all buildings, which is huge.

Elisabeth's sun never sets: +2 for embarked units as well. You obviously never did an intercontinental invasion to understand its importance.

Arabian unique ability is extra income through out the game (oil is rare and can be sold) and it's lackluster because of the insane unique building.

The great warpath saves you a TON of money in the early game as well as helping you INSANELY in the first two-three inevitable wars that happen after you settle your 2nd to 4th city (depending on difficulty level).

etc.

You do realize this thread is about who has the best UAs right? So you really think these UAs aren't crap compared to the above ones.

Secondly, you can read me the print of the Civ manual if you want, its not making them any better.

+1 hammer is better than nothin, but hardly helps when it matters, which is before you ever even know where iron is...; so +1 from a horse resource that happens to be in your city circle isn't helping much.

So reducing unhappiness has nothing to do with growth...huh? Go play the game and see how much your civ grows while in the red...; the ability is actually a negative when it matters, which is the early game. So India's UA is actually worse than nothing.

Yes I've done a intercontinental invasion...it took 3 turns, one of them getting in the water. have you played the game at all? The AI hardly builds ships, much less use them correctly...

The Arabian ability needs no further comment. Even you couldn't make a real argument for it.

 

[delra]

You should play more Gandhi.