BNW Leader List: What They Are Biased To Be Best At...

[JohnYoga]

Hello Folks,

I am asked, and I wonder whenever starting up a Civ game (now BNW): "What Civilization(s) should I pick if I am wanting a.......victory?" And, I end up guessing, and telling them so.

Now, I do come here and ask about my bias (expansion), and folks answer me (thanks!), but, I don't want to come hear and ask the same question for each bias out there (cultural, diplomatic, expansionism, science...). Therefore, is there a Civilization Leader list somewhere on CivFanatics which tells you what they are optimized to be best at, or at least biased toward? And, if a particular civ has multiple biases or really strongly biased towards no one area, that is fine, too.

Thanks,

Marc

 

[bokaj]

It depends on your playstyle. You can win any victory condition with any civ. With that being said, here is my opinion on what the civs are best suited for:

- Assyria: Science, Domination
- Brazil: Culture
- Indonesia: Diplomatic (not really sure)
- Morocco: Diplomatic, Culture
- Poland: Cultural
- Portugal: Diplomatic
- Shoshone: Domination, Science (though they are good for all victories)
- Venice: Diplomatic, Domination
- Zulus: Domination

Updated Civs:
- France: Culture
- Arabia: Diplomatic
- Iroquois: Domination, Diplomatic
- India: Culture

Haven't played most of the new civs so I could be wrong.

 

[Tyrvos]

Bokaj has them all pretty much right. Most new teams are focused on diplomacy, money-making civs usually are. Shoshone and Indonesia can really go anyway it looks like.

 

[Talcove]

With Portugal, a diplomatic victory is good, but so is a science victory. With the tenant in the Freedom tree that allows you to buy spaceship parts with gold, any civ that can make a lot from trade (Portugal, Venice, Morocco) will be good at getting a science victory.

 

[bokaj]

With Portugal, a diplomatic victory is good, but so is a science victory. With the tenant in the Freedom tree that allows you to buy spaceship parts with gold, any civ that can make a lot from trade (Portugal, Venice, Morocco) will be good at getting a science victory.

Good point, I haven't thought about that.

 

[Morningcalm]

I will add that right now, Diplomacy is much easier to win with than Culture.

Which is why even though Brazil has lots of tourism bonuses, you want your gold up.

 

[HeraldtheGreat]

The Civ5 Guide in the strategy subforum is good for info on Civs and empire types, though right now it would be kind of outdated.

 

[Enrico Swagolo]

Poland is not for Cultural. You get a lot of powerful free policies, Hussars are powerful, AND Ducal Stable is insane. No upkeep +1 gold +2 production per stable creatures? Yes please. It can be great for Domination, Science, Diplomatic AND Cultural depending on policies you choose.

 

[Bagi]

Many of the new civs are trade-oriented, which really means they are suited for all types of victories except maybe domination. Trading gets difficult when everyone hates you and puts you into an embargo. Morocco/Venice/Portugal get more gold, Indonesia gets extra luxuries.

Assyria and Zulus and the obvious domination-civs. Brazil and Poland lean towards culture.

 

[Morningcalm]

Poland is not for Cultural. You get a lot of powerful free policies, Hussars are powerful, AND Ducal Stable is insane. No upkeep +1 gold +2 production per stable creatures? Yes please. It can be great for Domination, Science, Diplomatic AND Cultural depending on policies you choose.

Agreed. Though Poland gets a free social policy, Cultural Victory does NOT rely on the number of social policies you have now. Poland has no tourism bonuses at all, so cannot be said to go for Cultural.

 

[msawchuk]

Poland is great for any type of victory. If you are going for a science victory, Poland lets you open rationalism as soon as you enter the renaissance era. If you want a domination victory, Poland lets you fill honor while still getting tradition or liberty and rationalism or piety. Their UU is also very good with their UB. If you want a diplomatic victory, you can get both patronage and either commerce or exploration depending on the map type. If you want a culture victory, you can have aesthetics completed quickly and you ideology tourism boni faster.

 

[Morningcalm]

Poland is great for any type of victory. If you are going for a science victory, Poland lets you open rationalism as soon as you enter the renaissance era. If you want a domination victory, Poland lets you fill honor while still getting tradition or liberty and rationalism or piety. Their UU is also very good with their UB. If you want a diplomatic victory, you can get both patronage and either commerce or exploration depending on the map type. If you want a culture victory, you can have aesthetics completed quickly and you ideology tourism boni faster.

Fair enough, but I think their cavalry unit really helps for Domination. You can wipe out at least one AI with them.

 

[bokaj]

Poland is not for Cultural. You get a lot of powerful free policies, Hussars are powerful, AND Ducal Stable is insane. No upkeep +1 gold +2 production per stable creatures? Yes please. It can be great for Domination, Science, Diplomatic AND Cultural depending on policies you choose.

Yes, you're right. I was mistaken.

 

[ptoss1]

Indonesia isn't good at anything except maybe fast expansion on a map with lots of islands.

 

[Bagi]

Indonesia isn't good at anything except maybe fast expansion on a map with lots of islands.

What's not good about having 3 extra luxuries, 6 if you trade?

 

[Morningcalm]

Indonesia is good for Diplomatic, I think. Their Kris swordsmen can make for a strong offensive push, but I don't think that alone makes them qualified for a Domination victory (but yes, do take a few cities here and there).

 

[JohnYoga]

Thanks folks. I will share the above with my MP family.

Also, here is a thread regarding those leaders which have an expansion (domination) bias:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=12602529&posted=1#post12602529

Regards,

Marc

 

[Thuellai]

Playing around with Indonesia right now, you have two big options I see

One is the (iron-dependent) swordsman spam, using their UU to get lots of unique bonuses - things like Ruthlessness are crazy good and continue to be good as the unit is promoted.

The other is to go wide for gold or science purposes, aided by Spice Islands - extra luxes means more happy AND more gold extorted from other civs for your spare, not to mention more resource diversity for trade routes. Indonesia can make serious bux and turn that into a diplo victory or use it to buy what they need.

 

[JohnYoga]

Thank you, Thuellai, for your comment.

Regards,

Marc

 

[seancolorado]

Diplomatic is Indonesia's best bet. You can rake in more gold from the unique luxury resources, and it forces you to trade them and keep friendly nature with other civs. Remember, the resources have a +2 base, in addition to the gold you get from trading your extra copies. Also, being friendly fosters trade routes which fosters bringing in foreign religions from those routes - which can give your candi +10

Domination is also viable. Remember, if you conquer a city on a foreign land before actually settling on a different continent then you get the unique luxury resource. If you get favorable Kris Swordsman upgrades, that is something to consider if you don't mind dealing with the repercussions.