Civ Bonuses--is Rome clearly the best?

[gamemaster3000]

Would anyone agree that Rome has the best one hands down?

There are a few that would be better situationally, particularly Gandhi, Iroquois, river defense if you were doing archipelago, and whoever has 20% hammers for wonders, but it seems like Rome's bonus is always solid.

 

[gunburned]

Babylon is hands down.
Until they get patched, or if Fraxis feels they need to.
Heres a fun link> http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=380899

 

[Lyoncet]

Rome's bonus has gotten a lot of discussion, and the general consensus is that it's all right. A nice bonus to any playstyle, but you'll find a lot that, even if they only help you in every other or every other game, will be way more than twice the payout. Take Greece or Babylon for example. Essentially twice the city-state allies, or a huge number of extra Great Scientists, is way more useful than having a free workshop in all your cities. Even if it's a slightly better workshop.

 

[Slayergnome]

Would anyone agree that Rome has the best one hands down?

There are a few that would be better situationally, particularly Gandhi, Iroquois, river defense if you were doing archipelago, and whoever has 20% hammers for wonders, but it seems like Rome's bonus is always solid.

Not only do I not agree with this statment in ANY way but I do not at all like the Glory of Rome ability to be honest. It does nothing if the building in not in your capital and all spamming buildings will do is drain your tresuary.

Personaly one of my fav abilities is the Germans because you have a constant armory, but the Indians could also be very useful. Also I am play as the aztecs right now and since I am constantly in war there ability is giving me quite a bit of culture. And the Americans manafest destany is also hands down better.

To be honest if I had to rate to Romans ability the only civ's i find more useless is the Iriqous with that stupid trees are roads thing but ony inside your cultral boundry.

 

[Wulf38]

I'd actually rank Rome's UA pretty low. I agree with the above that Babylon's is very good. City states are very powerful, which puts the Greek and Siamese UAs near the top. India's ability is supposed to be tailored to smaller empires, but I've yet to see an empire where the anger from cities is more than twice the anger from population, so it looks like a bonus regardless of your empire's size. For pure battle strength, Japan and China have big advantages.

 

[SirSaab]

I think it depends on your strategy, for sure. In my first game with Germany, I really came to appreciate the German UA. I had a marauding force of converted barbarian Brutes which I used to rush nearby Egypt, and I was able to leverage those units into a very well-promoted force of swordsmen later on, which I used to assist Greece in laying the Ottomans to waste.

It was a bit of a drain on my early economy because I was supporting a LOT of Brutes, but it was a major early-game advantage. Oh, and YES, you can get units besides Brutes. I also gained more than a few spearmen and archers, and I'm sure that later I will get Riflemen or whatever is guarding the barbarian encampment.

As a bonus, you can totally focus on your cities without having to "waste" production building military units!

 

[gamemaster3000]

I normally played Civ 4 without barbarians, so the barbarian bonuses are much better than I thought.

You know what I'm also thinking might be more important than previously thought? +1 sight for land units from Washington. At first I thought that was a terrible bonus, but in the last game I played I would have saved multiple units had I known what was in store.

Although, arguably I could just be more careful/sensible about moving my units.

 

[qyll]

Rome's UA is good, no doubt, but I love France's UA. I don't feel the pressure to build monuments as much, and it encourages me to go out and make a big empire, which is exactly my playstyle.

 

[TheJayde]

I feel France is better. You can expand much quicker because of the free policies you get.

 

[Jimbo30]

Does that +1 sight count as a unit upgrade (for American units)? If so you can probably take +1 movement after it? If that's the case, it must be extremly imba.

On civ traits, the Siamese might be a lot more powerful than it looks. I haven't seen them have a bad game yet. Don't diss the barbarian ones either, Askia gets 225 gold per camp on Marathon for example, and I've seen enough of Bismark in every game to suggest their bonus is good too.

The only ones I've been dissappointed in so far is the Aztecs and Egypt. 3 culture per barbarian killed isn't good enough, and I think it's even less for a civ's unit (at least in the early era). 20% faster wonder production is all good and well, but if I have to play Emperor level to get a challenge then chances are wonder building opportunites will be scant.

 

[GreyIago]

The Culture bonus for France is awesome.

 

[tpg0007]

I think they did a good job in balancing the civs and giving each interesting traits. Before in IV I was always tempted to pick India due to the fast worker but now I've a hard time picking a favorite.

 

[bhavv]

Babylon is the best, and the culture boost for France is very very useful.

 

[Revenant27]

If you play egypt and take the Tradition social policy you get a +55% to building wonders.

 

[Abraxis]

I'd actually probably say Rome is the worst, of all the Civs. It discourages wonders in your capitol (if you aim to maximize it), and building maintenance is a huge drain.

One thing I am going to try my next game is do a one city challenge with Ghandi with max city states. Befriend every maritime city and build and unreasonably populous metropolis. Shredding through the social policies as well, as i will only have one city, and they will pop often.

 

[civhawaii]

France here. Being able to snag Liberty and its policies way in advance fits my playstyle.

 

[PimpyMicPimp]

I think it's kinda meh. 50% or would make it a "wow" (but probably over powered). I think 20-25% bonus to buildings and cheaper roads would be better amd better fit the Roman 'feel'.

 

[DanPMN]

I'd actually probably say Rome is the worst, of all the Civs. It discourages wonders in your capitol (if you aim to maximize it), and building maintenance is a huge drain.

I think this may be a bit too strong of a statement.

Even if you build a bunch of wonders in your capital, you'll still have plenty of time for other buildings, and there are a lot of buildings you're not going to not build in your capital.

You'd think that at the least you'd get something along the lines of (I'll admit I don't usually build lots of military buildings):

25% off all libraries, save one.
25% off all monuments, save one.
25% off all universities, save one.
25% off all markets, save one.
25% off all banks (?)
25% off all harbors, if applicable.
25% off all granaries, save one (?).

Not to mention happiness and/or cultural buildings.

 

[Alexfrog]

I think Rome's bonus is one of the worst.
Babylon is best, and the city state bonuses of Greece and Siam are probably next.

 

[CrimsonEdge]

Haven't tried it yet.

I will say that I'm loving Arabias. It encourages lots and lots of cities. Couple that with a few choice civics and it's rather nuts.

India's is actually fairly powerful. Get a few cities (say, 3 or so) and put them near high production, high food areas and you've got some crazy going on.