= Babylon, Korea, Mayans, Poland.
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Upper Tier: these civs are great, they are either guaranteed good starts and/or can salvage bad situations.
= Arabia^, China^, Inca^, Venice*, Austria, Celts, Ethiopia, Shoshone, Siam.
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Upper-Mid Tier: these civs are good, they can be as good as top tier civs in certain circumstances.
= England*, Brazil, Egypt, Persia, Rome, Morocco".
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Middle Tier: these civs are good, although they may be significantly affected by factors outside of their control.
= France^, Mongolia^, Portugal*, Assyria, Aztec, Russia, Spain, Netherlands".
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Lower-Mid Tier: these civs are good, however, they take some work to get going and will only rarely perform at the level of upper tier civs.
= Germany^, Huns^, Zulu^, Ottoman*, Greece, Sweden, Songhai".
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Lower Tier: these civs are decent, their bonuses are unspectacular, extremely particular, and/or difficult to manage, but on average they work well enough to be considered "balanced".
= Indonesia*, Japan*, Polynesia*, America, India, Carthage".
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Bottom Tier: these civs are underpowered, they are rather challenging to play, require uncommon starts outside of their control, and have mediocre benefits even at their best. These civs should probably be buffed in future patches.
= Iroquois^, Byzantium, Denmark".