"Bests" - which civilizations are the best at certain things?

[MrFeline]

Which civilizations would y'all consider to be the best for different game routes? This can mean different victory types, but it also could mean...

• Which civ is the best for setting up a super-city to flip to a different civilization? (I'd say Greece)
• Which civ is the best for completing the tech tree fastest? (I'd say England, but have also had success with Persia)
• Which civ is the best for an one city challenge? (Korea, Portugal, or the Netherlands I'd say)

Discuss

 

[happysheep]

• Which civ is the best for setting up a super-city to flip to a different civilization? (I'd say that this is too situational to be a useful metric. It depends on where the "different civilization" is. I like to use China for east Asian civs though)
• Which civ is the best for completing the tech tree fastest? I would say China by far. Early starting date, not too bad tech cost, large historical and core areas. This also ultimately depends on the difficulties, as on higher difficulties, earlier Player-played-civs will have a harder time catching up
• Which civ is the best for an one city challenge? (I have no clue, but imma guess America for the low tech cost compared to a not-too-late starting date)

 

[zinedine]

I play a lot of space race games.

• Which civ is the best for setting up a super-city to flip to a different civilization? (I'd say Greece)
  a great people machine like Greece is ideal, everything else is secondary.
  
  
• Which civ is the best for completing the tech tree fastest? (I'd say England, but have also had success with Persia)
  
  For a space race you need to break down tech advance by age:
  - great people for pre-medieval.
  - ancient era +1G/+1H wonders on water means that workers aren't critical for a good economy.
  - a very fast pre-medieval expansion can only supported by shrines.
  - dome of the rock doubles economic potential here, so it is critical for efficiency.
  - renaissance and so on depends entirely on modifiers and rare UPs (e.g. research institute for russians, local governance for english). Most teching civs have access to great land.
  - ancient era research penalties and the associated the inflation are also big negative but time >>> everything else in tech games.
  - the war hammer cost needs to be taken into account. E.g. flips really mess up Persia for my liking (seljuks, barbs, arabs, turks, etc) .. too many hammers lost.
  
  
  In terms of space race efficiency i'd rank them in the following way:
  1. Rome played for space. Own Italy, Greece, Egypt, Levant. Enough cities and all these areas are v. productive and defensible. Fighting barbs is v. easy with some well placed fortifications and with very few units. Italy x2 cities, Constantinople, Athens. That's it.
  If played properly it also will include the shrine cities (orthodoxy, catholicism, islam, protestantism) + dome of the rock.
  That 30% building bonus is also amazing.
  Game plan also covers 2/3 of UHV.
  Don't waste time on irrelevant wonders, just prioritize the economy ones (e.g. great lighthouse, colossus) and because Greece builds a lot of wonders -> they can be had for free with conquest.
  Legions are amazing and cost effective units.
  
  2. Greece is 2nd to rome with worse stability, same problems, more spawns, more war and worse modifiers.
  
  With either, by the time euros start spawning you should be close to industrial era (beeline + bulb metalurgy), so you can then stomp them and blob even more.
  
  3. China is a worse Rome/Greece, without dome of the rock. That's a lot of lost income..
  4. Persia. Rome but with more flips, more invasions, more lost hammers. Can get all shrines though by going India first. Still so many hammers lost on war and so so many wars impacting stability (India, Seljuks, Arabs, Romans, Greeks, etc).
  
  ....
  
  4./5.France / HRE / Arabs / Byzantines. Access to shrines, access to dome of the rock. Can reach industrial by ~1300 if everything falls into place. Requires AI manipulation into wars. Some can benefit from some insane flips e.g HRE (Byzantine, Norse) or Byz so they can power spike very quickly.
  Can't compete with the early ancients.
  
  6. England. Practically a France/HRE with limited expansion opportunity. Let's say it's optimally played (AI manipulation for tech exchanges) and colonization starts at 1100. By that time Rome is pushing late industrial.
  
  
• Which civ is the best for an one city challenge? (Korea, Portugal, or the Netherlands I'd say)
  Greece.
  - Athens is a Great food / hammer city that has to defend a single very defensible tile.
  - All those great people that can be either bulbed or settled
  - running the great people+food civic
  - time on its side,
  - can milk Colossus and the +1 hammer wonder (cothon?).

TLDR: if played to its strengths Greece is quite broken.

 

[Matara]

For tech race I suggest Rome(as classical civ),England(as medieval civ) and America(as modern civ). Rome can always go ahead for an era compared to euro civs, and enter Industrial era before 1550. That's literally enough for an space race victory. England has quite low marginal cost on acquiring cities. America has the best modifier and territory. China is not so good at tech race for higher city cost and inflation cost and limited expansion space. It's progress will be much more slower when entering Industrial era.