CaiusDrewart
King
After playing for another month since I last made a tier list, I'd now tier the Civs like so. I'm assuming no unit selling, no harvesting or chopping outside one's borders, no trade exploits, etc. For Deity, Continents map, other setting standard.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that early conquest makes any game easy, even on Deity. With that in mind...
Overpowered
Scythia--The Leader UA is the strongest in the game, and the Civ UA is also the strongest in the game. Ridiculous.
Sumeria--The War-Cart alone makes this Civ top tier.
Germany--The best builder Civ in the game. Germany's economy will dwarf that of any other comparably-sized Civ.
Great
Russia--Free land is very powerful, free holy sites are very fun, and the Cossack is very good as late-game UUs go.
Rome--The free roads are mostly cosmetic, but the free monuments are great. The Legion is a useful conquest unit, albeit a very slow one.
Greece (Gorgo)--Hoplites aren't good for much, but the policy slot and the boatloads of free early game culture combine very well.
Aztec--This civ's amenity bonuses are overrated and redundant. But farming builders from the AI is easy, and rushing districts is quite powerful. Probably not very good against other humans, because free builders won't be so easy to come by.
Good
China--Very close to Great tier. Love the extra builder charge. A couple early wonders can be very powerful (Petra, Pyramids), but that's terrain dependent. It's hard to get much out of the Great Wall or Tiger Cannon.
Kongo--Some quality economic bonuses here. You can't count on finding relics but you can count on the Mbanza making a big difference. Not being able to found your religion is no great loss.
Arabia--The terrific Mameluk unit and a handful of decent economic bonuses make Arabia pretty effective. Religion isn't very powerful in this game, and that's even more true if you're picking beliefs last.
Greece (Pericles)--His ability typically generates culture later, and in smaller amounts, than Gorgo's. Still decent because of the policy slot.
England--The Royal Navy Dockyard is extremely impressive. The rest of this Civ is not.
Mediocre
Japan--The adjacency bonuses are nice but not all that important, and the construction bonuses are to the wrong districts. Bad unique unit. Still an okay economic Civ.
Brazil--More or less the same story as Japan.
America--Useful early combat bonus (though occasionally the map will screw you over), substantial late tourism boost. Everything else about this Civ is bad.
Poor
Egypt--A decent if expensive unique unit, but not much else.
India--More or less the same story as Egypt.
France--The tourism bonus is not as strong as America's or England's, and the rest of this Civ is unimpressive. The Chateau is clearly underpowered.
Underpowered
Spain--Every bonus is negligible except the Conquistador, and even that is a slow-moving unit that comes late.
Norway--This Civ has no redeeming qualities. The Berserker and Stave Church in particular are just pathetic. I don't think this Civ is that great even on a water map. On any map with a decent amount of land, it's clearly the worst.
While I don't mind some imbalance among the Civs (and making them all equal all the time is obviously impossible anyway), I would definitely nerf the top three Civs and buff the bottom two. I'd make all unique districts take up a population spot (nerfing the Hansa, among others), make the War-Cart unlock at Wheel and cost maintenance, and cut Scythia's healing from kills in half. I'd seriously consider nerfing the double cavalry ability, too. I'd also give Spain a boost towards founding a religion, substantially buff the Mission, and greatly increase the continental trade bonus (which is just inconsequential right now). Every aspect of Norway needs to be overhauled.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that early conquest makes any game easy, even on Deity. With that in mind...
Overpowered
Scythia--The Leader UA is the strongest in the game, and the Civ UA is also the strongest in the game. Ridiculous.
Sumeria--The War-Cart alone makes this Civ top tier.
Germany--The best builder Civ in the game. Germany's economy will dwarf that of any other comparably-sized Civ.
Great
Russia--Free land is very powerful, free holy sites are very fun, and the Cossack is very good as late-game UUs go.
Rome--The free roads are mostly cosmetic, but the free monuments are great. The Legion is a useful conquest unit, albeit a very slow one.
Greece (Gorgo)--Hoplites aren't good for much, but the policy slot and the boatloads of free early game culture combine very well.
Aztec--This civ's amenity bonuses are overrated and redundant. But farming builders from the AI is easy, and rushing districts is quite powerful. Probably not very good against other humans, because free builders won't be so easy to come by.
Good
China--Very close to Great tier. Love the extra builder charge. A couple early wonders can be very powerful (Petra, Pyramids), but that's terrain dependent. It's hard to get much out of the Great Wall or Tiger Cannon.
Kongo--Some quality economic bonuses here. You can't count on finding relics but you can count on the Mbanza making a big difference. Not being able to found your religion is no great loss.
Arabia--The terrific Mameluk unit and a handful of decent economic bonuses make Arabia pretty effective. Religion isn't very powerful in this game, and that's even more true if you're picking beliefs last.
Greece (Pericles)--His ability typically generates culture later, and in smaller amounts, than Gorgo's. Still decent because of the policy slot.
England--The Royal Navy Dockyard is extremely impressive. The rest of this Civ is not.
Mediocre
Japan--The adjacency bonuses are nice but not all that important, and the construction bonuses are to the wrong districts. Bad unique unit. Still an okay economic Civ.
Brazil--More or less the same story as Japan.
America--Useful early combat bonus (though occasionally the map will screw you over), substantial late tourism boost. Everything else about this Civ is bad.
Poor
Egypt--A decent if expensive unique unit, but not much else.
India--More or less the same story as Egypt.
France--The tourism bonus is not as strong as America's or England's, and the rest of this Civ is unimpressive. The Chateau is clearly underpowered.
Underpowered
Spain--Every bonus is negligible except the Conquistador, and even that is a slow-moving unit that comes late.
Norway--This Civ has no redeeming qualities. The Berserker and Stave Church in particular are just pathetic. I don't think this Civ is that great even on a water map. On any map with a decent amount of land, it's clearly the worst.
While I don't mind some imbalance among the Civs (and making them all equal all the time is obviously impossible anyway), I would definitely nerf the top three Civs and buff the bottom two. I'd make all unique districts take up a population spot (nerfing the Hansa, among others), make the War-Cart unlock at Wheel and cost maintenance, and cut Scythia's healing from kills in half. I'd seriously consider nerfing the double cavalry ability, too. I'd also give Spain a boost towards founding a religion, substantially buff the Mission, and greatly increase the continental trade bonus (which is just inconsequential right now). Every aspect of Norway needs to be overhauled.
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