Choosing Your Civilization

[seanwel]

Hey...does choosing one civilization over another determine game play, aside from the catch-up logic involved in comparing the supreme civilization to the purple civilization and so on? One often sees the enemy civilization leader described as "Rational and Expansionist" etc., but does that affect the user in anyway when the he/she chooses the said civilzation? (Assuming randomized starting locations and/or random map).
Unrelated, but how do you guys get civilization units and such under your name in forum posts?

 

[kmad]

I'm pretty sure there's no advantage, except your starting location on the Earth map. You always want to be Aztecs, Sioux, or Americans. I'm probly missing 1 or 2

 

[ArmOrAttAk]

Aztec starting location pretty much sucks. I like being any European that land is so fertile! Chinese too. English or Japanese because their pretty much unreachable, you can just build a buff vet military and check top 5 cities to see where to send them mwahaha
seanwel> Check the "usercp" button at top for options.

 

[floppa21]

I play random and I prefer purple, BUT, white sure shows up nicely on maps... I have no World map... I play on Playstation so it is random EVEYTIME... But the maps are good, not spaghetti-like which I've heard people say...

 

[seanwel]

Thanks for the information and thanks ArmOrAttak for telling me about "user cp."

 

[kmad]

I was thinking over on the North/South america chunk of land, because whenever I play I just like building a huge democracy without interference and get giant wads of cash to subvert when I feel like it

 

[Montezuma419]

ArmOrAttAk, yu don't seem to understand how much the Aztec's rule? ALL OTHER CIVILIZATIONS will bow before the Aztec's!!! THE AZTEC's do not need a go starting location because they can dominate anyone wo stands before them. Especially those damn Zulu's, Seanwel knows what i am talking about... Watch out for them Greeks too. AZTEC'S are the bomb and they will RULE UR PUNY CIVILIZATION ArmOrAttAk

 

[Titi]

Originally posted by kmad
I'm pretty sure there's no advantage, except your starting location on the Earth map. You always want to be Aztecs, Sioux, or Americans. I'm probly missing 1 or 2

I'm not so sure.
I usually play CiC, and I suppose that doesn't change with other versions.

Anyway, the reason why I think there is a difference is that I discovered that when two or more civ are about to land on AC, it's the first in the list that lands first. I suppose it has to do with the turn-based system.

I don't remember if the same applies when two civ are about to complete the same WoW in the same turn (does the higher in the list get the WoW ?) I'd say yes : in other words, if you're purple you'll have to RB the WoW (even though it will be completed the next turn). But if you play the Romans, you'll get it.

 

[duke o' york]

Yeah floppa, on the PS version it's damned hard to see the cities of the green civ on the World map. So I, er, just don't play them.

 

[Marlos]

This is a strange discussion, I must admit. I have typically (a la floppa and duke) chosen civs solely based on their color so that the cities are easily seen on the map. It's much easier to find a city with the crosshairs if you can see it! I played the Vikings for several games, but got tired of not being able to see where I was. Same for the French, etc.

I haven't lost a game in years, but still love playing. I never paid much attention to my starting location vis a vis the civ I have selected. Just always felt it was a roll of the dice. I (kind of) understand the purple civ thing, but still, does it really matter?

 

[duke o' york]

My mate swears that he is more likely to get two settlers at the start on other levels than Deity if he chooses to play as the Americans. Not even the Chinese or the Persians, but only the Americans! Weird.

 

[Sodak]

Originally posted by Marlos
I have typically (a la floppa and duke) chosen civs solely based on their color so that the cities are easily seen on the map.

Me too, so I never play dark blue!

Over at Apolyton, the SGs did a looong test to see if there is a difference in techs at startup, depending on the civ you choose. The Egyptians have a much higher chance of masonry (Firaxis wanted them to have the pyramids, it seems). The purple civs tend to get more techs, as they are placed last and will thus have less fertile land. IIRC, light blue civs also do well with starting techs.

 

[floppa21]

I haven't used Americans in a long time due to color scheme and ease of seeing on the map... Maybe I try it... As for purple civs and placement, I usually am the Sioux for good city names and it seems to me like they get great placement! Many times on a small island that can fit 8 - 12 cities, with a mixture of specials and lots of grassland... Maybe that's just PS...

 

[MajorGeneral2]

I don't think any civ has a consistant advantage, though some do tend to be more likely to start out with extra techs or settlers. Starting position is entirely random, unless you play on a premade world which defines them specifically. The only difference is color and city names.

 

[Sodak]

Originally posted by MajorGeneral2
I don't think any civ has a consistant advantage, though some do tend to be more likely to start out with extra techs or settlers.

Extra techs or settlers sounds like a peachy advantage to me!

 

[starlifter]

One often sees the enemy civilization leader described as "Rational and Expansionist" etc., but does that affect the user in anyway when the he/she chooses the said civilzation?

No.

As for the starting locations/starting tech questions, I don't think that is related to the leader types. The programming would be more complex to do it, and Civ 2's coding is farily basic and minimal in general. It would take lots of of tests to fully validate (statistically) this, probably even more than Apolyton folks would do.


The only tendencies about starting techs are of secondary effect based on the remaining choices of suitable starting locations for the later civs, like Purple. Purple itself does not have any built-in bias, but since it is always the 7th civ to "get a choice", there is likely a very slight bias to a less advantageous starting location and hence a slightly higher odds of additional techs. Depends on the map type and map size, though.

 

[rysingsun]

start with the zulus chinese or mongols so you dont have at least one of these pests to play against.