Civilization Ratings! Part Four: Brave New World Civs

[Stonecutter9]

Borrowing from the ideas from kaspergm's Rate the Beliefs and sonicandffan's Rate the Wonders/Policies threads (and a big thank you to those two ), the Civilization Rankings thread comes to you!

This thread asks you to rate what is easily the most fundamental aspect of the game; who you play as. So think carefully!

The list of the nine expansion civilizations is 'spoilered' below (it's a sizable bit of text) so if you wish to vote, please copy and paste the text and put your ranking in front of the blurb for each civilization, like so:

9 - America (Washington):
UU: B17 [Bomber]; The B17 Bomber is an American Unique Unit, replacing the bomber. It is similar to the bomber, but it is more difficult for enemy anti-aircraft and fighters to target. The B17 also receives a bonus when attacking enemy cities. Like the bomber, the B17's range is 10. See the rules on Aircraft for more details.
UU: Minuteman [Musketman]; The Minuteman is the American unique unit, replacing the Musketman. The Minuteman can move through difficult terrain as though it were clear (all tiles cost 1mp per hex) and receives a bonus when fighting in rough terrain.
UA: Manifest Destiny; All land military units have +1 sight. 50% discount when purchasing tiles.

A rationale for your votes is not required, but is always appreciated and interesting to read through!

Whilst voting, you should primarily weigh the outright strengths of the civ, but balance that with weaknesses as well (including your own!).

RANK YOUR VOTES ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10, WITH 1 BEING WORST AND 10 BEING BEST!

PREVIOUS TOPICS: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=506596, http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=506870, http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=507361

NOTE THAT THE RATINGS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE UNTIL ALL FOUR THREADS RUN THEIR COURSE. Ratings should be available by the end of the month if not sooner.

THE LIST:

Spoiler :

- Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
UU: Siege Tower [Catapult]; This melee siege unit must move next to an enemy city to be effective, but once it has, it is devastating. It not only has a powerful city attack of its own, but also confers a bonus to any of your nearby units also attacking the city. Complement a Siege Tower with melee or ranged units, and make sure it reaches its target before getting killed, and cities will fall much more quickly.
UB: Royal Library [Library]; In addition to the Science output of the Library it replaces, the Royal Library also has a Great Work of Writing slot. Once filled with a Great Work, it provides extra XP to Units trained in this city, so place a Great Work here as soon as possible for the maximum benefit. Only the Assyrians may build it.
UA: Treasures of Nineveh; When a city is conquered, gain a free Technology already discovered by its owner. Gaining a city through a trade deal does not count, and it can only happen once per enemy city.

- Brazil (Pedro II):
UU: Pracinha [Infantry]; This melee unit earns points toward starting the next Carnival for Brazil when it defeats an enemy. Use them to fight wars in foreign lands to push Brazil toward a Culture victory.
UI: Brazilwood Camp [N/A]; A Brazilwood Camp can only be built on a Jungle tile, and generates +2 Gold. It will also generate +2 Culture once Acoustics is researched.
UA: Carnival; Tourism output is +100% during their Golden Ages. Earn Great Artists, Musicians, and Writers 50% faster during their Golden Ages.

- Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
UU: Kris Swordsman [Swordsman]; Indonesian unique unit which replaces the Swordsman. Classical Era Melee unit that has a mystical weapon whose abilities will be discovered the first time it is used in combat. May only be build by Indonesia.
UB: Candi [Garden]; In addition to the regular abilities of the Garden, the Candi also provides +2 Faith for each World Religion that has at least 1 follower in the city. Only Indonesia may build it, and the city must be located next to a River or Lake.
UA: Spice Islanders; The first 3 cities founded on continents other than where Indonesia started each provide 2 unique Luxury Resources (and can never be razed).

- Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
UU: Berber Cavalry [Cavalry]; This mounted unit replaces Cavalry and is a fierce warrior in the deserts of Morocco. Receives combat bonuses for both fighting in a Desert tile or fighting in Moroccan territory (these bonuses do stack).
UI: Kasbah [N/A]; A Kasbah can only be built on a Desert tile, and yields one each of Food, Gold, and Production.
UA: Gateway to Africa; Receives +3 Gold and +1 Culture for each Trade Route with a different civ or City-State. The Trade Route owners receive +2 Gold for each Trade Route sent to Morocco.

- Poland (Casimir III):
UU: Winged Hussar [Lancer]; The Winged Hussar is the Lancer replacement, and only the Polish may build it. Faster and more powerful than the Lancer, the Winged Hussar forces a defender to retreat when it inflicts more damage than it receives. A defender who cannot retreat instead takes extra damage.
UB: Ducal Stable [Stable]; In addition to the regular abilities of the Stable, the Ducal Stable increases Gold on Pasture tiles and +15 XP for Mounted Units. Only the Polish may build it.
UA: Solidarity; Receive a free Social Policy when you advance to the next era.

- Portugal (Maria I):
UU: Nau [Caravel]; This melee naval unit replaces the Caravel and is skilled at exploration. When it is in a tile next to land owned by another Civilization or City-State you are at peace with, it may perform a one-time trade mission to earn Gold and XP. The further the land is from your own capital, the greater the bonus, so it is best to use on distant players. Use this unit to explore the map and uncover the locations of other players.
UI: Feitoria [N/A]; A Feitoria can only be built in a City-State's lands, on a coastal tile without a resource. It provides one copy of each Luxury Resource type that the City-State has connected, regardless of your status with that City-State, but that copy cannot be traded. It also provides the same +50% defense bonus as a Fort. Can only be built by the Portuguese.
UA: Mare Clausum; Resource diversity grants twice as much Gold for Portugal in Trade Routes.

- The Shoshone (Pocatello):
UU: Comanche Riders [Cavalry]; The Comanche Riders replaces the Cavalry, and only the Shoshone may build it. Cheaper and faster than the base unit.
UU: Pathfinder [Scout]; The Pathfinder is the Scout replacement, and only the Shoshone may build it. It explores as well as a Scout and fights almost as well as a Warrior. It allows the player to choose the benefit when uncovering an ancient ruin. Costs more than a Scout.
UA: Great Expanse; Founded cities start with additional territory. Units receive a combat bonus when fighting within their own territory.

- The Zulu (Shaka):
UU: Impi [Pikeman]; Before engaging in melee, the Impi performs a spear throw attack that can damage or kill the enemy unit before making contact. Only the Zulu may build it.
UB: Ikanda [Barracks]; In addition to the regular abilities of the Barracks which it replaces, the Ikanda grants a unique set of promotions to pre-gunpowder melee units created within the city. These include faster movement, and greater combat strength. Only the Zulu may build it.
UA: Iklwa; Melee units cost 50% less maintenance. All units require 25% less experience to earn their next promotion.

- Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
UU: Great Galleass [Galleass]; The Great Galleass is the Galleass replacement, and only the Venetians may build it. Has a stronger ranged attack, is more resilient in battle, and is more costly than the base Galleass.
UGP: Merchant of Venice [Great Merchant]; The Merchant of Venice is a unique Great Merchant replacement. Aside from the normal Great Merchant abilities, the Merchant of Venice can acquire a City-State outright, bringing it under Venetian control as a puppet. The Merchant of Venice is expended when used in this way.

 

[ahawk]

As a preface, I have played as all the BNW civs:

8 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal): Siege Tower is a slightly later Battering Ram that buffs the escort party sent with it, basically, which is a tremendous boost to early war. And the UA makes early war more profitable by helping to boost science. The Royal Library is a nice boost, but not a bee-line sort of unique since it requires Great Writings to gain anything beyond the basic library functions. But Assyria is a great civ for catching up tech-wise while still waging war.

6 - Brazil (Pedro II): The Brazilwood camp is very useful for culture, but comes a little later (and is less effective) than Polynesia's Moai chains, and, worse, can only be built in jungle tiles (which are not good to start in as far as early yield, especially so now that rivers don't increase gold yield on tiles). Where Brazil really stumbles is in the other two uniques, however: a very-late UU that boosts Golden Ages and synergizes with the UA but is otherwise a plain unit, and a UA that boosts GWAM generation. The whole civ is geared towards winning the new cultural victory, and is fairly well synergized toward that end, but suffers from a UA that doesn't do anything for early Golden Ages (since you might have only a Writer's Guild up for the first one or two) and from a late UU that only really helps if you've had very few Golden Ages to that point.

3 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada): This is a low-light of BNW for me when it comes to civs. The only part of Indonesia I like is the UA, and even the UA is quite limited, working best only with Archipelago and Island-centric maps. The UU is my least favorite new UU, and the explanation is simple: requiring iron already limits how many I'm going to build in some cases, but, worse, I may actually have to rebuild Kris Swordsmen commonly as at least a couple in every game will end up with all-negative or half-and-half promos that may not fit my needs. Further, the UB, the Candi, is a reasonable boost, but it's not always easy to both: 1) place my first two cities on islands, and 2) place them on an island and next to a river or lake. So the UB synergizes quite poorly with the UA in some regards, and only really synergizes with it insofar as settling on another continent usually means settling next to a different religion. Indonesia is not a civ I like to play.

7 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur): Early trade routes for them can boost both science and culture, which is nice, and the UA even goes beyond that by boosting the gold, too. Unfortunately, the culture boost is minimal and only really helps in the very early going. The UI, the Kasbah, is a good means of making Morocco the one civ that can stomach settling in open desert if they have to, even without Desert Folklore or Petra. With Desert Folklore and Petra, however, open desert and hill desert tiles become amazing once Kasbahs are in place. The UU is good for turtling, but nothing spectacular. I like Morocco because early trade routes can be very useful for catching up in science on higher levels, and getting early culture can have a compounding effect. A decent civ, and one that makes me feel confidant in being able to expand (since AI's tend to shy away from desert, understandably).

8 - Poland (Casimir III): The UA adds up to be over an entire free SP tree (including opener). That is no little boost. And the UB is great if you can get multiple pastures in a city, which is not too uncommon. But the real boost is the UU: a lancer that actually matters! The Winged Hussar is the one unit that justifies holding onto pikes for upgrading (other than one notable and soon to be mentioned example ). It's a beast, and rounds-out a very good selection of uniques.

4 - Portugal (Maria I): I'd sum up Portugal as: Feitorias come too late. Amazing on paper, until taken into consideration as far as teching demands, the Feitoria is only useful for late-game warmongering without unhappiness and for freeing up your own luxes for trading away. In the mean time, you'll still suffer unhappiness if you grow too tall or too wide, and the mean time can be a long time depending on how things go. The Nau is a fun UU at first, but becomes tedious as you spam them, send them out, sell goods, bring them back, delete for cash, and repeat. Since you have to wait 5 turns between gifting them, this adds up to more headaches while you sort which CSes can be gifted them, should you go that route. And the UA is okay, but entirely passive other than encouraging you to do the obvious: connect luxuries. Not a fan of this civ.

9 - The Shoshone (Pocatello): You start with a pathfinder. Say no more! You start with a free scout, but not just a free scout, an uber-scout! And extra land from the UA! And all your units can defend that land better with a 15% bonus to defense inside your borders! And, oh yeah, something about a Comanche UU that replaces cavalry (and has a promo for extra movement that sticks upon upgrading). The only downsides are that you can't pick the same Ruin bonus twice in a row, and the pathfinders can't be upgraded normally via gold (although a Ruin option is to upgrade them). They are so front-loaded that they may struggle later on should they not make good use of their early bonuses, but that's unlikely given how large those bonuses are and how easy to use them.

9 - The Zulu (Shaka): Absolutely ridiculous civ. The UB can turn early-game units into killing machines with extra movement. The UU is already a killing machine. And the UA is just silly and probably not as noticed as the other stuff. The UA makes promotions for all units, not just melee, cheaper. So Autocracy Zulu (with the Total War tenet), combined with the Brandenburg Gate wonder and every possible military experience-yielding building (Barracks, etc) can churn out Logistics Artillery right out of the box. That alone is frightening, and is enough to make the Zulu a powerhouse. But add to this that the UU, which is eligible for the special UB promotions, upgrades from pikes into Riflemen, and you get probably the best warmonger civ in the entire series of 5 games (though Civ 4 Vanilla's Cossacks were a monster). Really, while Keshiks make Mongolia a great warmonger and Battering Rams make the Huns amazing in the early game, the Zulu are the best all-game-long for war, as going the right path will allow even late-game siege and gun-powder and armor units to start with just silly promos. The only downside is that the AI can play as them!

6 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo): Talk about a gambler of a civ. Spain isn't so bad in comparison, as far as being a gambler, because Venice depends entirely on the start: you absolutely need to be on a coast, while at the same time you will want several CSes to be nearby (for trade-routes, or for buying outright, or for using your uber-powerful trade-mission ability). And you will want multiple luxuries nearby. And, preferably, a faith mountain. All because you can't settle a second city. Ever. The UA is the most complex of any in the series, and the corresponding strategy needs to be tailored carefully to the new BNW mechanics with trade-routes: enough internal routes to boost new puppets and Venice itself, with enough external to catch up in science and earn gold. When things go right as Venice, having double the number of normal trade-routes via the UA is amazing. When things go wrong, you may have no one to trade with anyways. There's nothing more frustrating than being Venice and not having another CS or civ nearby for +100 turns and seeing all that land you can't settle. What redeems Venice is that buying a CS is exactly like Austria buying a CS, just that you can't annex it: you gain all the units the CS had along with the city. So, that alone means you always have some chance. But spawning the Unique Great Person, a Great Merchant replacement, isn't simple despite getting a free one at Optics and a free one via Liberty (replacing the free settler). Overall, a fun civ for a different style of play, but not necessarily a reliable one much of the time. And the naval UU of theirs is an afterthought to some extent compared to the other stuff, but I must admit it helps to have a more powerful ranged naval unit that doesn't require iron.

 

[Teaf]

x - Assyria (Ashurbanipal): I have not played these enough to rate them properly, but at the moment I'd say a 7 or 8. The UU can be very powerful if used well. The UB is pretty decent but I sort of wish the GWW slot didn't have to be worked as the bonus XP doesn't pay off early enough to matter. It does save you having to build an Amphitheatre though. By the time you fill that slot you'll also have an army out and it'll only come into fruition around Renaissance, and even then it's only 2/3 of a barracks. The UA can be "meh" or exceptional, it just needs some luck.

6 - Brazil (Pedro II): I find them a little over rated. Jungle starts can be horrific half the time and you're forced into Bronze Working very early to get some hammers. Their UU is way too late to make a difference and most people would have won or nearly won a CV before they get it. The UA is very good but only after turn 150 or so. UB/UI is good but it's a little late and you need to keep those jungle tiles up. The UB, UA and UU all synergise well together which is nice. It's just a case of trying to make it through the first 100 turns successfully before you can really start making some head way.

4 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada): I have a love/hate relationship with their UU. I love when I get some nice promotions and I have a good amount of iron, but more often than not it's 0-2 iron and evil spirits. I really do like the Candi and it is the best part of Indonesia for me but I'd prefer if they removed the fresh water requirement for better UA synergy. The UA is good but limited depending on the map type. The fact they can't be razed however is just fluff to me and it makes no difference. On a random note, Indonesia is my favourite leader screen

x - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur): I have not played these enough to rate them properly. So far I'd say about a 6 or 7 though. The Kasbah makes deserts not suck if you lose Petra and the UA is nice for gold. I find their UU quite forgettable, but I've not really been in many wars with Morocco so haven't really used it to its full potential.

9 - Poland (Casimir III): Extremely good UA which is not only very powerful but flexible. They are on par with Arabia in my opinion as the best all-around leader in the game. Their UB is very nice but does need some luck with pasture-able tiles, it is free though and synergises well with their UU. Being a hater of the melee unit line that requires iron until Riflemen appear, I normally always roll with Pikes which is probably why I love their UU (and Zulu's). The Winged Hussar unique promotion is very nice. It's also, in my opinion, the best looking UU in the game (also love the icon ).

6 - Portugal (Maria I): Portugal are massive money makers, and I find as good as Arabia at doing it. I really like their UA, it's passive and it really helps with money - which in turn just pretty much helps everything you do. I love their UB but I hate where it is. I normally get Navigation when I'm pushing for the Louvre in a CV, but generally it's after I get Scientific Theory and generally after Fertilizer too. I normally try to steal a tech to get Navigation earlier as I don't like delay ST or Fertilizer. I find the Nau very tedious.

7 - The Shoshone (Pocatello): I originally when I started playing had these down as the best new leader as the extra territory bonus is excellent and Pathfinders are amazing, plus the bonus damage in your territory is very nice (If I remember right it's 15%). You can gobble up loads of goody huts, plus Pathfinders upgrade to Composites which is just awesome but I wish they allowed you to upgrade them via gold too. They cost a little too much to produce at 45 hammers compared to 25 for a Scout, but you do start with one rather than a Warrior. Although most of their benefits are in the first 100 turns the benefits you normally get echo for the whole game, unless you get a bad start and only 1 or 2 huts. Good leader though and fun to play.

10 - The Zulu (Shaka): I'm rating these 10 because not only is this is by far the most fun leader in the whole game for me and also my favourite overall, but they are the best Domination leader. I love their colour scheme. Their UB is borderine overpowered. I love that Impi's upgrade to Riflemen since I never bother with iron based melee (minor downside: 280 - 290 gold per Impi which is rough). Impi's are terrifying. I love the Impi icon. I love how much I panic when I'm not playing them and Shaka has 8 Impi on my border. Their UA, UB and UU all have perfect synergy. Everything flows so nicely together with the Zulu. Everyone gets mining, it unlocks Bronze. Bronze shows Iron for hammers, unlocks Spears which turn into Impi, also unlocks Ikandu which boosts spears. Everyone gets Civil Service, which unlocks Impi.

6 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo): I really do like Venice but I get so sick of bad placements that they sorely rely on. It's not just your capital either, you need good City-State placement or things just get so messy later on. You can still win you CVs with them (which are you most likely doing with Venice) but the difference between have nice capital and CS placement to bad capital and CS placement is like adding another 70-80 turns on to your win turn. Also those starts where you think you're on the coast and later find out on turn 100 that it's a large lake is infuriating. I love how unique their gameplay is though and I find it very fun to play them, when the map is right. I also like that they can buy stuff at their puppets.

 

[evilcat]

9- Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
Everything in Assyria is perfect. It has UA which does something, and it is science. Generally war is at cost of development but not this time. UB is also great, since it is science, barrack and aphiteater all in one building. And UU is sweat, better than counterpart, also unlike orginal catapult this one works well with CB spam. The only thing which undermines its effectivness is that there may be less opponents nearby.
The main disadvanatage is if you specific do not war at all. Also early war can be undermine by long distance to next civ, or said civ not being specifcly valuable to conquere.

8 - Brazil (Pedro II):
Again great civ. Very useful UA, if we are aiming for CV. Very solid UI. UU is also ok, however i havent found a lot of occasion to use it. But infantry is good UU. The only disadvantage is that this civ is very focus on CV. Also jungle bias may make it harder to build anything (liberty helps a lot), but on the other side is nice with sacred path, and pays off with Universitets.

4 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
Extra Unique luxies have a lot potencial, since both gold and hapiness are great for UA. However its very map dependand. And settling far away may result in someone claiming your land. Not to mention that best spots will be taken. So Indonesian are more fun on archipelago maps. At least you could alter your chance. Kris are fun, but there is again a lot of luck in it, and it is not like we are going to have 10 of swordsmen to avarage odds. Candi is nice, however at theology this faith bonus does not have such impact as Stelle.

9 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
Again solid civ. Extra gold is great, and also atracts AIs. Kasbah is crazy UI giving a bit of edge in everything. And berbers is very solid UU exept maybe coming in time when cavalery is even less important (not that there is anytime in game when cavalery is good). Desert start could be a greater boni if you manage to grab both desert folklore and Petra. Generally i like Morocco for mix of gold, hammers, culture. And good odds for some religion.

10 - Poland (Casimir III):
ELEVENT! Poland just should get its own tier. Ok, that is extragacion. Nevertheless, dat UA! Allows to do all kind of crazy things, like opening collective rule, and still get full Tradicion in resonable time. Or mix with Piety. Or just go full science, and just pick fill Aesthetic or Patronage by accident. And that is just UA.
After that we have stables, which are just ok, however it synergize well with UU, and with have big chance to come to play. UU is one of best in game (since most are crappy not a big advantage). Since it gives control over battlefield, and is very good with hit and run.

7 - Portugal (Maria I):
Golden Maria. I like her since we begin with extra gold from trades, then we get either gold or hapiness from UI. And Naus allow to scout whole map fast, and get some gold from the other side. Possibly find world congress first. From the other side, Naus are not so powerful outside scouting, gold, and spaming them isnt fun. And with o bit of patronage you can get the enought of bonus luxies.


8 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
We can really tailor our start, scout a lot, and get all sweet huts, culture, faith, pop, tech, gold, upgrade into composite. Can a little suck if we spawn very close and no huts for us. :-( But then spam some cities, and instantly grab best land. And since we have bonus to defense we can keep it (a little more). Comanche Riders in it are litte behind.

8 - The Zulu (Shaka):
So fun for warmongels. If we are after warmongering then everything is here. Useful promotion, gold, good and each to spam UU. The only problem is that Zulu has it five minutes in medieval, and if for example our conquest buddy is greatter gimp it will not set us for future. Also at some point this melee discount matters less and less.


5 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
Interesting since we can do a lot of things from extra gold from routes. And diplo victory is specific easly for us. Also it offers a totally different civ experience. However... all others are less cool. Since just one city will generally be behind in tech. So if opponents will know whats up, will just conquere us since why not. And we can always get unlucky with placment.

 

[Enrico Swagolo]

8 - Assyria (The Pokemon Master) - Siege Tower I choose you! And a Library replacement that offers a great writing slot. Granted, you're unlikely to ever lack writing slots, but it gives free XP or something, I forgot. Cool.

5 - Brazil (Huehue gibe moni) - Brazilwood camp is cool, but I kinda hate jungle starts. Didn't even get to Pracinhas, because I got bored of my BR games before Industrial/Modern era.

7 - Indonesia (The Fat Knight Rises) - there's no words for how insane Kris with Invulnerability is. It can tank nearly ANYTHING of it's era, and then later eras (with upgrade to Longsword/Musket/etc). Candi is cool. UA is useful-ish, because typically there'll be 1-4 tile islands on Continents. Settle there and enjoy free Luxuries.

3 - Morocco (The Overly Enthusiastic Guy) - UA that becomes unnoticeable later and is not too good even early on, Kasbah is meh, Berbers are cool, but I really hope Firaxis buffs all horsies and tanks, and melee in general.

10 - Poland (Kasbahimir) - Insane UA allowing you to do everything. Ducal Stable can be between useless and great. Winged Hussar is just cool. It's an OP civ, but not Arabia/Zulu tier. Camel Archer/Impi are things that really, really need to get strong nerfs-

7 - Portugal (Mad Max) - not-bad UA, nice UI, Nau's that are not really a military replacement (they're just as strong as Caravels) but are very nice, giving you some money back.

8 - The Shoshone (Pikachu) - a lot of starting tiles you got there. Pathfinders kinda depend on luck, but so does every Scout.

9 - Zulu (Shaka) - Impi's are the annoying kind of OP. Barracks are the annoying kind of OP. UA is good. Nerf them.

5 - Venice (Dandy Dandy) - I don't know how to rate it. Fun? 10. Otherwise? Ehh... I mean, it's dependant on too much - depends on AI to build good city locations for you so you can... acquire them with your army, depends on puppets to build stuff well and hope they acquire right tiles (ignoring a NW on their neighbouring tile? Will happen constantly. Can't buy tiles for puppets for some weird reason). MoV is a good Great Person that actually makes up for the fact Great Merchant is horrible (and needs buffs so you no longer feel "ERH" when you see it lost you a Scientist/Engineer).

Galleass (or Rapeass) is... good, but I'd really, really appreciate if it was better. I mean, you can only produce in Venice, which costs more production too (making it not really a great unit...), and buying units only becomes gold-effective after you get Commerce's -25% on purchases, which can be too late for Galeass to shine. And it needs your nearby opponents to have enough coastal cities/units/ships to make it even worth buying/producing. I'd buff it because of how situational it is, and it's not really much better than regular Galeass, while Venice has it much harder to create a fleet of those (only 1 place to produce units).

Prepare for sadness when you see great places for expansion and know AI won't ever settle in that area, or will ignore the perfect, ideal spot to settle 2 tiles away in a place which is horrid. I'd really love if Venice could be allowed at least ONE Settler to get another city. Dunno, Zara, Ragusa?

Also, puppets are heavily nerfed because of -5% Science penalty. As Venice, you'll reach the point where getting another city slows your research down much faster, because puppets unfortunately give you less of everything.

 

[Xandinho]

7 Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
UU: Siege Tower [Catapult]; This melee siege unit must move next to an enemy city to be effective, but once it has, it is devastating. It not only has a powerful city attack of its own, but also confers a bonus to any of your nearby units also attacking the city. Complement a Siege Tower with melee or ranged units, and make sure it reaches its target before getting killed, and cities will fall much more quickly.
UB: Royal Library [Library]; In addition to the Science output of the Library it replaces, the Royal Library also has a Great Work of Writing slot. Once filled with a Great Work, it provides extra XP to Units trained in this city, so place a Great Work here as soon as possible for the maximum benefit. Only the Assyrians may build it.
UA: Treasures of Nineveh; When a city is conquered, gain a free Technology already discovered by its owner. Gaining a city through a trade deal does not count, and it can only happen once per enemy city.

8 Brazil (Pedro II):
UU: Pracinha [Infantry]; This melee unit earns points toward starting the next Carnival for Brazil when it defeats an enemy. Use them to fight wars in foreign lands to push Brazil toward a Culture victory.
UI: Brazilwood Camp [N/A]; A Brazilwood Camp can only be built on a Jungle tile, and generates +2 Gold. It will also generate +2 Culture once Acoustics is researched.
UA: Carnival; Tourism output is +100% during their Golden Ages. Earn Great Artists, Musicians, and Writers 50% faster during their Golden Ages.

6 Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
UU: Kris Swordsman [Swordsman]; Indonesian unique unit which replaces the Swordsman. Classical Era Melee unit that has a mystical weapon whose abilities will be discovered the first time it is used in combat. May only be build by Indonesia.
UB: Candi [Garden]; In addition to the regular abilities of the Garden, the Candi also provides +2 Faith for each World Religion that has at least 1 follower in the city. Only Indonesia may build it, and the city must be located next to a River or Lake.
UA: Spice Islanders; The first 3 cities founded on continents other than where Indonesia started each provide 2 unique Luxury Resources (and can never be razed).

6 Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
UU: Berber Cavalry [Cavalry]; This mounted unit replaces Cavalry and is a fierce warrior in the deserts of Morocco. Receives combat bonuses for both fighting in a Desert tile or fighting in Moroccan territory (these bonuses do stack).
UI: Kasbah [N/A]; A Kasbah can only be built on a Desert tile, and yields one each of Food, Gold, and Production.
UA: Gateway to Africa; Receives +3 Gold and +1 Culture for each Trade Route with a different civ or City-State. The Trade Route owners receive +2 Gold for each Trade Route sent to Morocco.

7 Poland (Casimir III):
UU: Winged Hussar [Lancer]; The Winged Hussar is the Lancer replacement, and only the Polish may build it. Faster and more powerful than the Lancer, the Winged Hussar forces a defender to retreat when it inflicts more damage than it receives. A defender who cannot retreat instead takes extra damage.
UB: Ducal Stable [Stable]; In addition to the regular abilities of the Stable, the Ducal Stable increases Gold on Pasture tiles and +15 XP for Mounted Units. Only the Polish may build it.
UA: Solidarity; Receive a free Social Policy when you advance to the next era.

9 Portugal (Maria I):
UU: Nau [Caravel]; This melee naval unit replaces the Caravel and is skilled at exploration. When it is in a tile next to land owned by another Civilization or City-State you are at peace with, it may perform a one-time trade mission to earn Gold and XP. The further the land is from your own capital, the greater the bonus, so it is best to use on distant players. Use this unit to explore the map and uncover the locations of other players.
UI: Feitoria [N/A]; A Feitoria can only be built in a City-State's lands, on a coastal tile without a resource. It provides one copy of each Luxury Resource type that the City-State has connected, regardless of your status with that City-State, but that copy cannot be traded. It also provides the same +50% defense bonus as a Fort. Can only be built by the Portuguese.
UA: Mare Clausum; Resource diversity grants twice as much Gold for Portugal in Trade Routes.

7 The Shoshone (Pocatello):
UU: Comanche Riders [Cavalry]; The Comanche Riders replaces the Cavalry, and only the Shoshone may build it. Cheaper and faster than the base unit.
UU: Pathfinder [Scout]; The Pathfinder is the Scout replacement, and only the Shoshone may build it. It explores as well as a Scout and fights almost as well as a Warrior. It allows the player to choose the benefit when uncovering an ancient ruin. Costs more than a Scout.
UA: Great Expanse; Founded cities start with additional territory. Units receive a combat bonus when fighting within their own territory.

7 The Zulu (Shaka):
UU: Impi [Pikeman]; Before engaging in melee, the Impi performs a spear throw attack that can damage or kill the enemy unit before making contact. Only the Zulu may build it.
UB: Ikanda [Barracks]; In addition to the regular abilities of the Barracks which it replaces, the Ikanda grants a unique set of promotions to pre-gunpowder melee units created within the city. These include faster movement, and greater combat strength. Only the Zulu may build it.
UA: Iklwa; Melee units cost 50% less maintenance. All units require 25% less experience to earn their next promotion.

4 Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
UU: Great Galleass [Galleass]; The Great Galleass is the Galleass replacement, and only the Venetians may build it. Has a stronger ranged attack, is more resilient in battle, and is more costly than the base Galleass.
UGP: Merchant of Venice [Great Merchant]; The Merchant of Venice is a unique Great Merchant replacement. Aside from the normal Great Merchant abilities, the Merchant of Venice can acquire a City-State outright, bringing it under Venetian control as a puppet. The Merchant of Venice is expended when used in this way.

 

[Merciorum]

3 Assyria (Ashurbanipal):Worthless. The Siege Tower is the only thing which bumps them up. Otherwise, they are just awful. Their UA requires a lot of effort for little payoff, their UB is totally useless. The UU is good, but limits your strategy.

8 Brazil (Pedro II): Probably the most effective culture civ in the game. You can't be passive, though; you need to actively pursue golden ages while at the same time keep enough Great Artists to

9 Indonesia (Gajah Mada): Yes, they're somewhat situational, but why does everyone think that's a bad thing? Besides, they're still good on any map. On a small-continents and an archipelago game, they're lethal. On a continents game, they're good too. And even on a Pangaea or a non-water map, they still have the Candi, as well as the best UU in the game by a long way. And they're just so much fun. One of my very favourites.

10 Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur): My absolute favourite of the whole game. Build up a massive gold base in the early-game, and when that bonus begins to diminish, the Kasbah is there to pick up the slack. The only possible problem is a lack of desert, but their UA alone will thrust you in the lead in the beginning, and has enough of a bonus to keep you going (and you should have a couple of desert tiles anyway). They aren't overpowered, but tough.

8 Poland (Casimir III): A dull civ. The Winged Hussar is the only thing that makes it interesting. Still, I can't deny that it is powerful, so I have to begrudgingly give it an 8.

7 Portugal (Maria I): Haven't really played them much, but they seem pretty good. However, they are somewhat dice-tier, as you have to have a large resource diversity.

7 The Shoshone (Pocatello): UA is middling, but the magnificent Pathfinder more than makes up for it.

8 The Zulu (Shaka): Not a warmonger fan, but they are basically Germany on steroids, so I have to concede that they are good. Their UU is pretty cool. (And it's nice to see some more African representation, but that's by-the-by).

N/A Venice (Enrico Dandolo): Far too overpowered. Gamebreaking, so I refuse to score it. Fun though they are, they are just too easy. I had an empire of 6 cities with every building built and about 700 GPT on Prince, with every single non-taken city state allied, the largest army, population, etc... Too easy. Way too easy.

 

[cpm4001]

9Assyria - Wow, Assyria's GOOD! I was expecting them to be bland, but their UU, UB, and UA synergize so well to let you do some warmongering early game to overcome an early tech disadvantage and then start raking in the science mid to late game. I like 'em!

7 Brazil - Brazil is good overall. I like the UA very much, Brazilwood Camps are a great UI, and the Prachinas are great but come a little late. So, a well done Civ, but not the best in the game.

6 Indonesia - Indonesia feels like a "It's So Close" Civ. The Kris Swordsman is a good concept but needs to be balanced, the Candi is a good concept but needs to have its construction criteria changed, and the UA is good but could be greatly improved by allowing all units to embark (but not cross over oceans) from the beginning of the game.

9 Morocco - I like Morocco. They're just about the only Civ where it can actually pay off to send trade routes to City-States late game, and thus the only Civ which can take full advantage of the "Treaty Organization" tenet in the Freedom tree. Also, Kasbahs are great.

9 Poland - Winged Hussars are one of the best UUs in the game. That's all you need to know. Oh, and their UB and UA are great too. And Winged Hussars are fantastic.

7 Portugal - I wish Portugal had a more fun UA. It's good as it stands, but a little dull. Otherwise, the Nau is a great UU and the Feitoria is a wonderful UI.

9 The Shoshone - If only the Comanche Riders were a little less bland (sorry, extra movement isn't really that exciting), the Shoshone would be a 11/10 civ. The Pathfinder's great, and I really enjoy founding a new city and seeing it snatch up all that extra land. The bonus when fighting in your own territory fits in with how I like to play, to boot.

9 The Zulu - Wow, the Zulu are GOOD! (Yes, I copied that from my description of Assyria...I'm lazy.) I love big armies made of the same unit, and so I love using Impis. A surprisingly good civ.

10 Venice - I love Venice. It's fun to steal other people's City-States, I like not having to mess around building settlers, and they're just overall fun.

 

[Loucypher]

6 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
Early game warmonger and thus hampered by BNW's new setup. That said though, Assyria has a few amazing tricks at its disposal, mostly involving slingshotting through the tech tree and picking up a few leftover techs from neighbors. Its siege engines are on par with the Hun's Battering Rams when it comes to Scary Stuff, but otherwise, the civ kinda falls flat when dealing with politics. Fun to play, not THAT strong.

6 - Brazil (Pedro II):
A 3 for the early game, a 9 for the late game. Brazil takes some time to get started and Jungle bias doesn't help. If they survive the early game however, they become cultural juggernauts. Stronger Golden Ages help as well, making them the best Culture civ IMO. The camps ensure a nice GPT counter as well, mid-game. Fun to play once you get going.

5 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
Best peace theme in the game. Indonesia gets an 8 on Archipelago but a 2 on Pangaea. Those luxes ensure a lot of bonuses for Indonesia, not just trading but also trade routes and happiness, of course. Their uniques however are lackluster and while a Kris with the right promotion will be a terror, the wrong promotions will make them horrible. Somewhat diceroll tier, just with lower payoffs then, say, Spain.

7- Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
Morocco has one of those UA's that dwindles in usefulness over time, but it's still decent to say the least. Thing with them is that they too take some time to get going except they have a pretty powerful money-crutch early game. Defensively they're probably the strongest civ, too, what with their special forts. Fun to play, just takes some terrain planning to get where you want.
And Petra.

9.5- Poland (Casimir III):
Hooooleeeee crap. That UA is amazing, even without the "fill policies for insta-win" culture victory. It just enables so much flexibility. Add to that a rather powerful UB that helps you with any gold issues you may have, and you got a winner with Poland. Their UU is their only "Meh" point given what it replaces, but even then you got BNW's only contribution to the absolute top-tier right here. Monster of a civ.
Kinda ironic how Poland is everything Russia wishes to be...

7 - Portugal (Maria I):
Portugal is another one of those civs that need a bit of time to get going. Their gold bonus from trade routes isn't as big early game but grows (and quite rapidly too around Classic), and the Feitora will later on ensure you won't get unhappiness issues. The Nau is cherry on the cake, most maps you'll want one of those anyway, pumping them out for gold missions isn't a bad idea either. Not a true powerhouse civ but one of those flexible ones that thrives on good relations much like, say, the Dutch.

8 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
Best early-game civ in the game, now that warmongering early on is nerfed. The extra territory may seem poor at first, until you realize just how much reach this gives early cities. Grabbing better initial tiles is never a bad thing. Pathfinder start instead of lolwarrior is crazy, especially with the pick-what-you-want from ruins they got. After that it's smooth sailing, they can set themselves up for anything they want. Great civ.

7 - The Zulu (Shaka):
Sure, they only do one thing. But they do that one thing so terribly well. Germany is crying itself to sleep. A Zulu army at war will stomp any other army, those unique promotions are just that powerful. But aside from war, they fall rather flat on their faces. Too one-dimensional for my tastes, but eh. They're powerful.

8 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
The weirdest civ in the game. They're undoubtedly powerful, but they're also rather boring to play as you can only manage 1 city rather then a few at once. That said though they can get national wonders with ease and make Venice into a juggernaut of a city without troubles thanks to the extra trade routes, which also ensure a nice gold stream...they're high-tier despite their settling handicap, that's for sure.

 

[Botswana]

6 - Assyria
Assyria has the siege towers, which make early wars a cake walk. You can pretty much steam roll over any neighboring Civ with these guys. And then you get the science bonus, which is great. But once you get out of the early game and into later eras, Assyria's weaknesses begin to show and they end up not being very good. Unless you plan on playing expansionist and gobbling up neighboring civs at the very beginning of the game, they're not really that useful.

6 - Brazil
The cultural bonus for Brazil is good, but I'm not too fond of playing as them for some reason. I hate the jungle starts, because your production is automatically at a disadvantage until you get the Brazilwood camps. But they're great if you're going for a tall empire with a cultural victory in mind.

5 - Indonesia
Unless you play on Archipelago or a water based map, these guys aren't very good. The bonus resources don't really help too often in my honest opinion, since the happiness they provide is negligible in the long run. The Kris Swordsman is powerful enough, but I find that they're just too situational a civ and if you get the wrong map you can easily fizzle out.

9- Morocco
I love Morocco. A desert start, coupled with desert folklore, piety, Petra and the kasbahs can easily turn you into a massive, wonder horsehockyting powerhouse. I think Marrakech got to size 50 in one of my games. The Kasbahs are great improvements, and make playing in the desert a lot of fun. The trade route bonuses also help. Morocco is incredibly diverse, and you can really go any way with them. The Berber Cavalry is also a good mid-game unit.

8.5 - Poland
Poland is a great civilization, mainly because of the free social policies you get by entering every new era. The Ducal Stables usually turn Poland into a production powerhouse and it's very easy to win either a cultural or a military victory with Poland. A solid civilization for sure.

8 - Portugal
Portugal is one of my favorites simply because I enjoy playing with economic civs. Portugal's Feitoria comes in pretty late, but once you do get it, you'll be swimming in so much gold and happiness that you'll never have to worry about either ever again. The Nau is also fantastic, and gives you an easy exploration and gold advantage. It does lack in some ways though, but overall it's one of the better civs in the game.

8 - The Shoshone
The Shoshone are another solid civ, especially early on. The extra border bonus plus getting to choose which bonus you want from ancient ruins makes it easy to become a powerhouse very early on. Plus the unique unit makes exploring and winning early battles very easy. They do falter later on, since their bonuses run out, which prevents them from scoring higher, but they're one of my favorites to play. They also have the most appealing color scheme.

10 - Venice
My favorite civ to play, for sure. I love starting off small, and slowly forging a large mercantile empire through your large amounts of trade routes. When I play as Venice, I'm usually building so many wonders and swimming in so much gold that I almost always win either diplomatically or culturally. Their UI also makes naval battle a breeze. They're just a lot of fun to play, and offer a unique twist in gameplay.

4- The Zulus
The Impi is incredibly powerful, but the Zulus are pretty boring to me. They offer nothing unique and are basically just another warmonger civ added to the game. Not a terrible civ, but I don't really enjoy playing as them either.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

8 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
This is basicially Attilla 2.0. Their siege towers are one of the most powerful units in the game and allow you to kill several civilations during the early game. I am usually not a warmonger, but oh my, this CIV allows me to be a "bad boy" every once in a while. The UA fits this theme perfectly, while their UB is kinda *meh*.

6 - Brazil (Pedro II):
Brazil is a weird CIV. The jungle bias can be a double edged sword and their UA isn't too useful before the later stage, so it doesn't offer too much during the early game. But if you reach the late game, your cultural victory is more or less certain.

6 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
This CIV is one of the most map dependened ones. I recently played them on Shuffle and got an archipelago map - oh boy are they awesome. Their UA allows you to settle your first cities whereever you want - found a ont-tile island with 4 fish? Go for it! They actually play a bit similiar to the dutch in G&K - get four cities up and then trade your ressources to make some money. However, the UU is way too random for my taste and their UB is quite "meh". Certainly worth 8-9 on the right map and 2-3 on the wrong one.

5 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
I consider their UA to be rather weak. Maybe its because I am usually playing with "only" 7 other CIVs, but I never seem to get that much money from it. Plus: naval trade routes are still way more powerful. Their UI is decent if you get desert hills (great if you can grab Petra), but improved flat desert tiles are rather *meh*. If there is a lot of desert they are certainly cool because you have more freedom to expand later, but overall I consider them to be the weakest CIV in BNW.

8 - Poland (Casimir III):
Fantastic UA that supports any playstile, good UB and interesting UU. Overall a great CIV for whatever you want to do.

6 - Portugal (Maria I):
Their UA better than Marocco's, thbut not great. Feitoras are a very interesting UB, but it comes rather late and takes even more time to set them up. The UU is very interesting for exploring, but doesn't really match the power of Sea Beggars or Ships of the Line. Overall this CIV is good for mid game expansion (so maybe some maptypes are better than others?), but imho it doesn't offer anything great.

8 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
The UA allows amazing expansion during the early game and the UU is also great. A bit depending on huts, but nowhere near as bad as Spain. The other UU is okay, but nothing spectacular. Still, their UA makes them a top tier CIV in the game.

7 - The Zulu (Shaka):
If you are a warmonger and don't like siege tower rushes, this is your wet dream. Certainly nothing for me, but I can see how more aggressive players will love them.

9 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
Having played OCC regularly in G&K, this is my obvious CIV of choise. Their UA is really powerful and turns the colossus into a superb wonder for them. Merchants of Venice are a cool way to expand (I actually like that mechanic a lot more than Austria), but their UU is, imho, *meh*. They are also very depending on map geography - a single tile of ice can ruin the first half of your game. Still, this is my favorite CIV and I think they are extremely powerful in SP games.

 

[pyroflare77]

8 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
Pretty neat ability they have. Siege Towers are a beast.

7 - Brazil (Pedro II):
Effective, but rather plain. The Brazilwood Camps are nice.

9 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
I like them a lot, although a lot of their effectiveness is up to chance.

7 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
Looks like a pretty effective turtle civ, and kasbahs are super. The ability is pretty weak, though.

10 - Poland (Casimir III):
That ability is awesome.

8 - Portugal (Maria I):
The feitoria is cool and supports the ability. Though they don't really get going until the naus come in so they can start exploring for city-states to place feitorias in.

9 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
A great ability, but they are there to get a strong early game and snowball from there.

7 - The Zulu (Shaka):
Simple but effective. Impis are beastly.

10 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
Their ability is really only a penalty in the early game. Double the trade routes means that you're drowning in cash for the entire game, which means you can do whatever victory type you want easily. The enhanced trade missions from the merchants of Venice is just unfair factoring in everything else.

 

[leadtothehead]

8- Assyria (Ashurbanipal):

A warmongers delight, the UU is likely the best early game UU and the UA gives you the ability to constantly be at war and not fall behind in technology, and the UB while not great is useful, actually in the hands of a human player they are likely a 10 but the issue is the AI is pretty terrible when playing as them mostly due to a lack of early game aggression.


7 - Brazil (Pedro II):

A very unique playing style, you want isolation and as much jungle as possible, because all the bonuses come in the late game, but the mix of UI, UA, and UU makes them the most dangerous civ to achieve culture victory if left alone and even when the AI plays as them the ideological pressure they sometimes generate can cause problems for everyone else.

4 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):

The oddball colonization civ, the UA makes them a coastal civ and a interesting mid game of exploration and settling, the UU I find really fun I build quite a few killing off the bad promotion ones and keeping the good ones, but overall the niche nature of the civ makes it difficult for a human player to use and when the AI has it I find they are always in the bottom third or even completely wiped from the map.

9 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):

Great economic civ for the UA and with a UU that is great at defending your ideal territory, UI that makes a useless tile into something very useful, and you can always find desert tiles even if they didn't have a start bias.

10 - Poland (Casimir III):
If all they had was the UA that alone would be a 8 rating IMO, the UU is very fun to use, and the UB is not amazing but is still icing on the cake, great from early game to late use all the extra policies to fit your civ to your territory and situation, flexible and powerful.

3 - Portugal (Maria I):

Not unlike Indonesia you need to look to the mid game exploration and settlement phase, the UI allows you to milk any luxury resource you want without being a ally of the CS, the UU gives you a good shot at world congress and also gives you great vision of your competition, and the UA makes sea trade that bit more productive, not unlike Indonesia and Venice it puts you is a vulnerable position to be able to use all your bonuses but IMO the bonuses are not as good as Venice and not as fun as Indonesia.

9 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):

A very good UU first off in the pathfinder allows you to be less hindered by the barbarians of the early game and find the best settling places where your UA will allow you to grab lots of land and breathing room to keep other Civs away from them, the other UU nice also giving you a powerful cavalry unit to help patrol your large borders. As AI they are very annoying to have as a neighbor sprawling between your and against your borders and just daring you to be branded a warmonger.

10 - The Zulu (Shaka):

Amazing early-mid game war machine that so long as you manage units correctly give you a professional army unmatched for the rest of the game, the UA allows you to build a larger army, the UU is one of the best in the game and the UB give you the choice of great unique promotions, yeah its completely centered on war but its fun and they are the best in the game at it, your neighbor has a nice wonder?, go take it, need a luxury resource you get the idea.

7 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):

So very unique in play style, on the one hand you are given the UA of double trade routes which makes your economy instantly good and makes peace advantageous, but on the other hand you will have other Civs settling all around you capital and thus make you want to go to war to give you breathing room, the ability to puppet CS allows you to cherry pick some of the best resource spots in the game. Its that weakness of proximity of other Civs to your capital that keeps them from the higher rating, get placed near the Zulu, Mongols, or a Civ with a large army can make your life very difficult. I would also add as a AI I hate them more then any other Civ due to them always eating my favorite CS.

 

[Tinker]

Like G&K, BNW had mostly very good civs, so high marks all around.

8 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
Very enjoyable domination civ. Siege towers are insane (especially when you let them float in the water!), while the Library and the UA make for some interesting unique mechanics. Unlike theorized before BNW, ignoring tech and going for just a bunch of techs stolen doesn't work as well as it would due to the large science nerf with a lot of cities, but still, a free stolen tech to support the sieges rolling is not bad at all.

7 - Brazil (Pedro II):
Probably the most single minded culture civ in here, Pedro is a nice civilization for a peaceful blue jeans game. His UA is in the end not that interesting as it's a rather passive ability, but the UU makes good use of it and I'm a big fan of UIs anyway, with Brazilwood Camp being a good use of jungle that no-one else gets.

3 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
Bleh. I was hyped for this civ when it was announced, but it's just too much of a diceroll to play. You need to have a good map for your UA, a decent religion spread for your UB which for some bizarre reason still needs fresh water, and your promotions are purely random on your UU. He can be fun, I'm sure, but I haven't seen it happen yet due to the rolls of fate.

9 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
Very interesting desert/trade civilization to rival Arabia, Morocco is just strong all around. You're going to get those trade routes up and running anyway, and as you're in a desert, you might as well get those kasbahs up and running, and hey, maybe throw in Petra for the extra route and desert bonuses. Woops, you made an insane city.

10 - Poland (Casimir III):
Between Poland and the Zulu, the civs I was least excited for in BNW both ended being up being the ones that were the best. A free policy seems boring, but makes Poland one of the most incredibly versatile and adaptive civs out there, and releasing a huge amount of crazy strategies. Add on top of that a really silly UU and a decent UB, and you got a beast.

7 - Portugal (Maria I):
While sadly a little more situational than I initially thought, Portugal is a decent civ that has some good synchrony and very interesting uniques, although nothing to write home about. I do love seeing Maria, though, she is a fun AI.

8 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
Very unique bonuses, and while they become a little less interesting as time goes on, that start is incredibly fun and worth playing the civilization for. Beautiful leaderscreen, too.

10 - The Zulu (Shaka):
Ended up being my favourite in BNW, and that's saying something, as someone who prefer to go tall and peaceful. Not only is Shaka a hilariously fun and emotive AI to play against, the Ikanda Impis also feel like a Zerg swam crossing the landscape to take your sheep and your towns. Fun to play and fun to play against, Firaxis did Shaka's legacy proud.

7 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
In the end, the out of the box civilization here is good fun, but I think it only lasts so long - Venice is fun and has a love of money, but it can lead to rather passive gameplay.

 

[TheWaffleTaco]

7 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
Solid for a dom victory by being able to keep up in science WHILE warmongering. Overall a very good civ.

7 - Brazil (Pedro II):
I haven't played too much Brazil, however they are very good at making use of those pesky jungles once camps come online.

4 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
A very 'meh' civ. The UU is just so random. It could be your saving grace, or your downfall.

8 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
A moneeeeeeey civ. Very strong economically, which in the end can allow you to win any victory.

9 - Poland (Casimir III):
The social policies are just so strong. You are so versatile and can pull off nearly any victory with relative ease.

5 - Portugal (Maria I):
I was expecting another economic powerhouse after playing morocco. Unfortunately Portugal fell a little short of my expectations. While happiness is not really a problem b/c of their UI, you aren't really making huge amounts of money like say, morocco or arabia. It really did feel like America's "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none" play-style all over again.

9 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
Too strong nerf plox. That pathfinder is so unbelievably powerful once you find a few ruins. Plus the extra land that your cities start with can be so game changing at snagging those resources first.

9 - The Zulu (Shaka):
Another op civ in my opinion. Impi spam is just soooo difficult to deal with. although they do lose a bit of steam mid-late game, they are just so strong early that finishing the game shouldn't be too far off by that point.

7 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
This is a very hard civ to rate. I'll start off by saying that you have so much money that any victory is basically up for grabs. However you are so EXTREMELY vunerable early. I just finished as a game as Genghis in which I killed off venice before composite bowman. And you are also limited on your placement. You better pray that there are some good city-states around you or else, your screwed. However the Venice machine is near impossible to stop once it gets going.

 

[KKeys]

7 Assyria (Ashurbanipal):

I like Assyria a lot, refreshing for a warmonger civ. Their UU lets you conquer cities early with a small specialized force, just have to watch out for hitting your diplo too hard. I don't like nor dislike the UB, by the time I had a great work of writing to throw in there I already had my early army out though more experience was always welcomed. Their color scheme was one of the more appealing ones to me of the BNW civs.

8 Brazil (Pedro II):

Pedro is a cultural monster, but the jungle bias can give him such a slow startup speed. I didn't use his UU much, as I was a very tall peaceful civ thanks to the jungle around me, but the bonus twords carnival just seems underwhelming. Their UI is pretty repetitive looking on my screen when all of my jungle has them, but they are pretty powerful. One hit wonder for me, but very strong.

4 Indonesia (Gajah Mada):

I am just not a fan of Indonesia. I played a small continents map with them, and while expanding was fun and all their Kris Swordsman just unfairly leaned on the horrible promotions for me-making them a waste of my short iron supplies. I also found their Candi underwhelming, mostly making city placement a little more difficult. I dislike their color scheme as well, too bright and the red on top of teal just bothers my eyes.

7 Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):

I've played Morocco the most out of the new BNW civs, and having run into a few maps with little desert their score is a little lower from me then it would have been otherwise. Their UA is awesome early, and late game the AI might be more inclined to send a route to you - making defensive play more viable. On the other hand if you run into diplomatic difficulty the slight bonus to culture doesn't make me feel so bad sending my routes to city states. Their UU is alright, nothing too special outside of your capital. Color scheme, below average in my books.

9 Poland (Casimir III):

Poland feels so strong because of their UA. Their UB is situational... but good for gold where applicable, not much to be said there. I adore their UU though, choice be given I'd rather sell off my iron and buy pikemen. This is especially true when Lancers are replaced by the more powerful, faster, fear inducing, Winged Hussar.

N/A Portugal (Maria I):

Color scheme wise, blue on white is just pretty to look at. Other then that, I've not got much experience with playing Portugal. Playing against her in game, I grew a dislike for her constant chatter and how flippy floppy she is between being my friend at one point and denouncing me the next.

N/A The Shoshone (Pocatello):

The other BNW civ i haven't played yet, though this is because of the color scheme... I just can't get into teal on grey. Just can't do it, looking at the minimap and seeing the grey clusters..... ugh.

9 The Zulu (Shaka):

The Zulu are so fun! The UU is freaking insane, and I already liked Pikemen! I wish I could do the AI mass throw then melee attack, but oh well. The UB is just stupid powerful, and their UA is just further reinforcement that you should have a huge military constantly beating something over the head.

8 Venice (Enrico Dandolo):

Venice is great! You flood yourself in so much cash having double the trade routes. Internal routes between puppets and your cap can also be game changing. Their UU is awesome, little costly but it does a great job on defense. Their great merchant is just crazy! I prefer the extra gold and influence usually though.

 

[Liufeng]

7 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
The siege tower is montruous. Taking down cities in early game is so easy with only two of them that you'll go berserk. The royal library is good, but no more. However, the UA is better on paper than practice : you can't choose the tech you want (among the ones you can afford, like spies) : instantly, you unlock the tech which needs the less cost to unlock. So, it's very frustrating to unlock a tech you one turn to finish.

7 - Brazil (Pedro II):
The pracinha comes late, but is effecient in his own way. The brazilian woodcamp is very strong, and finally makes jungle tiles powerful with university. The UA is insanely strong : you can finish a game before industrial era of you manage to get many golden ages and great works !

7 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
There always ways to set on different continents, even if it's tiny islands. But you get a bonus resource doing so. Happiness and gold may come quickly thanks to the UA. With the UU, you have five bonus against two curses, which statiscally gives you more chances to get a bonus. Powerful bonus (but also powerful cursses ...) The candi, thanks to trade routes, is a great faith provider.

6 - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
Morocco is made to remain peaceful and avoid war, while gathering trade routes. The kasbah and the Berber serve that purpose, while the UA serves the second. Unfortunately, if the UA is useful in early game, it gets weak fast enough ... Morocco is also the king of desert, and getting Petra and desert traditions is a must !

9 - Poland (Casimir III):
The UA seems meh on paper, but is insanely strong in practice ! The UU and the UB synergize pretty well.

9 - Portugal (Maria I):
Gold, gold, gold every where ! The UA allows to quickly amass gold throughout the game. The nau is also a wonder to get : in my game, a mission of one of them got me 390 gold. Do not hesitate to spam them, and get the steam power a bit later than usual. The feitoria is also wonderful, but comes late. It'd be better if it came with astronomy or even compass. If Arabia is the king of gold, Portugal is the queen.

8 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
Comanche riders are bit meh. The pathfinder is powerful, and can allow the player to quickly focus on whatever he wants : early science, culture, faith, ... The UA is land eater. All in all, it's a defensive civ, better for science or cultural victories and mostly grab lands without buying them.

9 - The Zulu (Shaka):
What they do is simple, but they do it effectively. The army reduction cost suits them much more than Germany, mostly thanks to their powerful Impis. And with the bonus the Ikanda gives, their immensily strong ! Certainly THE warmonger civ.

5 - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
Great galleass is made to defend you sole city, Venice. If you're unlucky, you're capital will have the right to be placed an ocean look-alike. If it's the case, too bad. Amass gold with all the trade routes. Buy prosperous CS, but leave alone the militaristic CS and buy their alliances with all that gold. They'll generate easily new units. In all honesty, Venice is for me best suitedd for domination victory. By units with all the gold you. Or science victory with Freedom ideology.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

8 - Assyria (Ashurbanipal):
I'm not a warmonger. However, I utilized the UU and UA to pick at my neighbor's smaller cities to maintain parity in science until I grew big enough to surpass all my rivals. I didn't even get much warmonger hate because the scale of the wars were small. I'd say it's a solid civ in the hands of a human player.

5 - Brazil (Pedro II):
Brazil starts out with no bonuses, but they start to grow from the Medieval Era onwards until Brazil becomes a Culture juggernaut. Unfortunately, Brazil is so focused on that path that they don't do much else very well. At least the BWCs can make you financially independent. I was able to run in the black with 0 trade routes and a large military for quite a while. Still, kind of a boring civ.

7 - Indonesia (Gajah Mada):
I like Indonesia, and I feel they are underrated by many players. The UA is useful, but it works best if you wait till the Renaissance and place the cities on the most optimal locations. The UU is hit-or-miss, but when it gets the good promotions, it is awesome. The UB is their biggest asset. Smart city placement is on fresh water most of the time anyway, so you can use them in many cities.

X - Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur):
I haven't tried them yet, so I can not comment.

9 - Poland (Casimir III):
Poland is a solid civ. every thing about them works well. The UB works with the PLains start bias. The Winged Hussars are the best Lancer replacement in the game. The UA is quite good and versatile.

8 - Portugal (Maria I):
Portugal is pretty ho-hum in the early game. The double resource factor isn't a big deal until you start working with big sums later in the game. The Feitorias are awesome. Once you reach Navigation (a touch too late, imo) you have all the happiness you will ever need to fuel your tall or wide empire as you see fit. The Naus are more of a novelty UU than really useful. The Exotic Trade ability is a nominal boost. Portugal naturally works better on maps with more city-states, so your mileage may vary if you are playing on smaller maps.

7 - The Shoshone (Pocatello):
The Shoshone start very well. Pathfinders are the best ancient era UU in the game, particularly when upgraded to Compound Bows. The UA locks down a lot of territory and makes defending it easier. The only problem is that once you get past your early growth stage, there's not much more interesting about them. The Comanche Riders are fine cavalry replacements, but not spectacular.

X - The Zulu (Shaka):
I've not tried them yet, but I suspect that I will weigh them very low as I dislike most warmongery civs that don't have other utility.

X - Venice (Enrico Dandolo):
I haven't tried them yet, so I cannot comment.