[R&F] Civilization Ability Elimination Thread

[BarbarianHunter]

Australia - Land Down Under [22] (21+1) --- Strongest.
Greece - Plato's Republic [24]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [15]
Kongo - Nkisi [8]
Nubia - Ta-Seti [6] (9-3) --- Weakest remaining.

Note: The top 5 seem properly ordered, Australia #1...Nubia #5.

 

[Human Crouton]

Australia - Land Down Under [22 + 1 = 23] The extra housing on coastal cities gives you so many choice pieces of land that it's almost obnoxious that this ability also gives district bonuses.
Greece - Plato's Republic [24 - 3 =21] Exceptionally great near the beginning of the game, but does not have the cascading effect that the remaining abilities do.
Japan - Meiji Restoration [15]
Kongo - Nkisi [8]
Nubia - Ta-Seti [6]

 

[civviefan]

Australia - Land Down Under [23-3= 20] The extra housing on coastal cities makes settling coasts attractive but the civ does not benefit from any other maritime mechanics and I end up losing with this civ, I’m probably missing something as others seem to love it.
Greece - Plato's Republic [21+1=22] since Nubia is gone I think this should be the winner, I like the flexibility it gives as no two games are ever the same.
Japan - Meiji Restoration [15]
Kongo - Nkisi [8]
Nubia - Ta-Seti [6]

 

[Leucarum]

Australia - Land Down Under [20]
Greece - Plato's Republic [22]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [12] [15-3] It's too slow to set up, and too constrictive in how you build your civ for me to enjoy it.
Kongo - Nkisi [9] [8+1] I'm going to give Nkisi a bump. I don't think it should be the winner but it single handedly makes Kongo not trash. It's a bit random but very powerful.
Nubia - Ta-Seti [6]

 

[Josephias]

Australia - Land Down Under [20]
Greece - Plato's Republic [22-3=19] Altough upvoted due to flexibility in the previous post, as said there, not many of the policy cards are a match for a standalone CUA, not to say the strongest ones.
Japan - Meiji Restoration [12+1=13] Compared to Australia: Every tile next to your city center is equivalent to Charming Appeal. Once you have some triangles in place, its next to breathtaking. And you Will not lose yields inadvertently due to chopping/replacing some forest...
Kongo - Nkisi [8]
Nubia - Ta-Seti [9]

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

Thanks @Hans Castorp for catching that mistake!

Australia - Land Down Under [20]
Greece - Plato's Republic [19]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [13]
Kongo - Nkisi [8+1=9] An ability so powerful upon launch, it was nerfed right away. This is a great Ability to run away with GWAMs for cultural victory. And food and production from art is a nice unique bonus to them.
Nubia - Ta-Seti [9-3=6] this sounds really good on paper, but the usefulness of this Ability seems lacking compared to the others remaining, offering wildcards and adjacency bonuses.

 

[Disgustipated]

Australia - Land Down Under [20]
Greece - Plato's Republic [20] [19+1=20] Others have said it's useful only early, but I find there are some powerful cards you can run later in the game that can produce some significant yields. Colonial taxes is one of them (if you are split between 2 continents). Often I don't have room to slot this in, but with this ability I can. Rationalism, Grand Opera, Simultaneum are all useful abilities you may not have room to run without this ability, and obviously help you with various victory methods. These cards will produce significant yields (with the appropriate infrastructure of course)
Japan - Meiji Restoration [13]
Kongo - Nkisi [9]
Nubia - Ta-Seti [3] [6-3=3] Very awesome in the early game during (and before) your initial archer rush. But after that? Do you really need to build more archers? Unless you are careless with your uu, no. The promotions are useful, but unless you are going full on domination (in which case cavalry units will take over in usefulness), they aren't necessary. I like something with a little more staying power. The mines bonus is useful, but doesn't apply to all mines.

 

[Leathaface]

Australia - Land Down Under [20-3=17] If you think Australia gets better district bonuses than Japan you're plain wrong. You rely on breathtaking appeal tiles (which you can't place mines to) and then the bonus is max +3. With Japan you can get an absolute minimum +3 bonus in every district you place in every single city easily, you can put +4 production mines next to those districts without killing off the district adjacency, plus you don't destroy National Parks or Seaside Resort spots when you place your districts.
Greece - Plato's Republic [20]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [13+1=14] A post above said Japan's bonus is too slow to set up? Eh, Theatre Squares and Holy Sites get 50% production when you play as Japan, it is very quick to set up Japan's ability. Plus you can use mines to place your districts quicker rather than rely on Outback Stations which arrive as far along as guilds and by default provide a meager +1 production. Or if you're lucky +2 production if the outback station is next to a pasture (meanwhile i'm putting down +4 production mines at Industrialization all over my empire without killing off the extra adjacency of my districts)
Kongo - Nkisi [9]
Nubia - Ta-Seti [3]

 

[Wingednosering]

Australia - Land Down Under [17]
Greece - Plato's Republic [20]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [14]
Kongo - Nkisi [10] (9 + 1) Gonna make this a four vote elimination. This ability is so powerful that it justifies an entire victory condition being taken away from its civ. It singlehandedly makes its civ not only playable, but a powerhouse both for the player and for AIs.
Nubia - Ta-Seti [Eliminated] (3 - 3) - This ability is alright, but I'm really surprised it even made it this far. I don't think it belongs this high and I don't think it's the best militaristic ability in the game. It has an almost non-existent effect past the Medieval era and Nubia's UU is far more valuable than this production boost that you shouldn't even need.

 

[comatosedragon]

Australia - Land Down Under [17]
Greece - Plato's Republic [20]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [15] (14+1) Told you this was top 3.
Kongo - Nkisi [7] (10-3) Has only survived so long by luck, I think.

 

[Icicle]

Australia - Land Down Under [14] (17-3) The weakest left mainly because building mines weakens it. I've seen a few people mention Outback Stations, those aren't part of this ability.
Greece - Plato's Republic [21] (20+1) Yes it shines brightest in the early game, but honestly the early game matters the most.
Japan - Meiji Restoration [15]
Kongo - Nkisi [7]

 

[Legacy of Smiles]

Australia - Land Down Under [14+1=15] +6 campuses everywhere puts the Seowon to shame. You shouldn't need to build mines (Outback Stations) but if you do for some reason there's still a lot of good spots for your ridiculously strong campuses. Woods, coast, mountains - these are abundant and a source of high appeal.
Greece - Plato's Republic [21]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [15-3=12] Honestly, if you actually play Japan for a bit this isn't really that helpful.
Kongo - Nkisi [7]

 

[Weraptor]

Australia - Land Down Under [15]
Greece - Plato's Republic [21]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [12+1=13] Amazing longstanding adjacency ability without awkward appeal fluff
Kongo - Nkisi [7-3=4] The GPP are great, but not enough to save this ability in face of much more substantial early game bonuses Greece, Australia and Japan have. The next part of it comes late.

 

[civviefan]

Australia - Land Down Under [15-3=12] I prefer Japan’s adjecency bonus
Greece - Plato's Republic [21+1=22] simply the best
Japan - Meiji Restoration [13]
Kongo - Nkisi [4]

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

Australia - Land Down Under [13=12+1] Housing + pretty consistent adjacency bonus rule.
Greece - Plato's Republic [22]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [10=13-3] The one I like the least in the four remaining, should not be this high anyway
Kongo - Nkisi [4]

 

[Beethovania]

Australia - Land Down Under [10] (13-3) Not that useful to me, compared to the others.
Greece - Plato's Republic [23] (22+1) Very versatile in my opinion.
Japan - Meiji Restoration [10]
Kongo - Nkisi [4]

 

[AmazonQueen]

Australia - Land Down Under [10]
Greece - Plato's Republic [23]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [10+1=11] I prefer this to Land Down Under
Kongo - Nkisi [4-3+1] Only useful for CV, the other abilities left are good for all victory types

 

[Hammurabbit]

Australia - Land Down Under [10]
Greece - Plato's Republic [23+1=24]: This bonus starts working for you (almost) from turn 0 and is incredibly useful in the early game, when you need to be super meticulous about your policy cards. In the end game it can be that "lazy" policy card you never switch out, e.g. unit maintenance reduction, 50% cheaper upgrade, or 25% faster spies. Hard to beat.
Japan - Meiji Restoration [11]
Kongo - Nkisi [1-3= -2] ELIMINATED. Very CV centric.

 

[Disgustipated]

Australia - Land Down Under [11] [10+1=11] One last vote for me. I haven't found it hard to get mines and great districts down despite earlier comments. How many districts are you guys placing? And really only a few of them really matter for adjacency yields. I think you guys are placing your cities so close together. And to me, that's what's great about Australia. You don't have to cram your cities together like Japan. I know that's the play style that is considered optimal, but aesthetically it is not optimal.
Greece - Plato's Republic [24]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [8] [11-3=8] Opposite of Australia to me. You want your cities close together so you can cram districts together. It's a play style I have trouble with. It's too restrictive, therefore gets the downvote.

 

[kingofsealand]

Australia - Land Down Under [11] [11+1= 12) this is powerful as others have said it allows you to take advantage of a wider swath of land, and production is not much of an issue thanks to the UI. Yes the UI is relevant to this discussion, because the synergy of its presence makes this ability much stronger by the virtue of not needing mines thus saving appeal.
Greece - Plato's Republic [24]
Japan - Meiji Restoration [8 - 3 = 5] in my japan games I have never consistently got bonuses comparable to Australias (or even nerherlands) at the same point in the game. The strict demand of this ability for tightly packed cities ignores the map, and takes much longer to have the same effects than other adjacency UAs