Civilization tier list for RFC

[Blood & Thunder]

In your opinion, what is the list of Civilizations for RFC ranging from 'so easy a newfag can beat it' to 'I thin I', going to freaking hang myself, it's so hard'?

 

[blizzrd]

My rankings for Monarch difficulty, patch 1.181:

Very easy:
Japan, Portugal

Easy:
Egypt, Khmer, Russia, Vikings, Spain, Dutch, Germany, Arabia, France, Greece, Turkey

Moderately difficult:
England, Rome, Persia, Carthage, America, China, Mongolia, India, Aztec, Babylon

Hard:
Maya, Inca, Ethiopia

Very hard:
Mali

 

[Norton II]

I agree with most of that, except that I'd rank England as easy, if not very easy, and Arabia as moderately difficult at least (my last attempt failed because Valencia declared independence the very turn after I captured it).

 

[blizzrd]

To elaborate further, I ranked from easy to hard depending on how many strategies were possible to achieve a UHV victory, how much AI pressure opposed these strategies and whether significant luck was required (such as goody huts, key combat results or the random founding of religions) to win.

I only classified England as moderately difficult because of the limited strategies (basically turn into settler farms pretty quickly to colonise everything required) available, rather than because there is much AI resistance to this strategy or signficant luck required. If you deviate from building settlers to try to build a wonder or fight a war, England's UHV becomes quite a bit harder.

Depending on what comes naturally for the individual player (war-mongering, empire building or perfectionist city development) I can see how England could be ranked a bit easier than moderately difficult. I get distracted from settler colonization easily and usually tend to want to improve the terrain and infrastructure of my cities, so for me England wasn't as easy as some of the others.

 

[kbk]

Blizzard's analysis is fairly in line with my thinking.

Mali is the only UHV I haven't yet done on Monarch. I think I'd place Maya easier than Blizzrd has it, and China harder.

Incidently, Arabia is MUCH easier if you load from 3000, unlocked. I had one game where the Christian holy city, and the only other city that adopted it were razed by barbarians, causing Europe to be Islamic.

 

[blizzrd]

Mali is the only UHV I haven't yet done on Monarch. I think I'd place Maya easier than Blizzrd has it, and China harder.

Actually China should possibly be represented twice, because there is difficulty difference between the 3000BC and 600AD starts.

Incidently, Arabia is MUCH easier if you load from 3000, unlocked. I had one game where the Christian holy city, and the only other city that adopted it were razed by barbarians, causing Europe to be Islamic.

The first time I won as Arabia, France was Islamic from the 600AD start. I've done Arabia from 600AD without this lucky situation though a number of times too.

 

[kbk]

Actually China should possibly be represented twice, because there is difficulty difference between the 3000BC and 600AD starts.

Very true about China being different in 3000 and 600.

The first time I won as Arabia, France was Islamic from the 600AD start. I've done Arabia from 600AD without this lucky situation though a number of times too.

Definitely. It can be done in both, and the first 2 conditions are just as easy in either. But you are much more likely to see an Islamic Europe in the 3000 start. Christianity can often get founded in a little crappy city in Antatolia, and never spread properly. Actually, the one game I mentioned, it was founded in Jeuruselum, but then Jeuruselum got sacked, eliminating both Judaism and Christianity entirely. I wonder if you can disable the capacity to sack holy cities to keep this from happening?

 

[dionysos2048]

If you don't go for UHV:
From the easiest civ to play to the hardest:

EASY
1 Rome
2 Germany
3 Turkey
4 England
5 Greece
6 America
7 Spain
8 France
9 Japan
MODERATELY EASY
10 Russia
11 Dutch
MODERATELY DIFFICULT
12 Arabia
13 Persia
14 China (600)
15 Portugal
HARD
16 Mongolia
17 Vikings
18 Babylon
19 Maya
20 Carthage
VERY HARD
21 India
22 Aztec
23 Khmer
24 Inca
25 Ethiopia
26 Mali
27 Egypt

 

[Verily]

If you don't go for UHV:
From the easiest civ to play to the hardest:

EASY
1 Rome
2 Germany
>snip<
26 Mali
27 Egypt

More like:

IMPOSSIBLE
27 Egypt

I would be tempted to say that the Aztecs and Ethiopians, and maybe Malinese, are also impossible to win with short of the UHV, but Egypt is pretty much established as impossible.

 

[senturus]

Is an egyptian cultural victory so impossible?

I have'nt played Egypt after UHV limit, but I think it should not be too hard.

 

[Lone Wolf]

5 Greece

12 Arabia

I find Non-UHV Greece much harder then Arabia.

 

[jessiecat]

I find Non-UHV Greece much harder then Arabia.

I would agree. I find a non UHV Greece much harder, being cramped from the
start and late game instability due to so many overlapping strong cultures.

 

[jsweeney]

i dont see Babylon as dificult, all you need to do is tech zip first to a religion with only Babylon as your city, that would take care of culture, then zip tech to writing, monarchy, and code of laws and your set. you can try to add in hanging gardens but just keep babylon focused on food and you can get to like 8 or 9 pop which is usually good.

 

[Verily]

Is an egyptian cultural victory so impossible?

I have'nt played Egypt after UHV limit, but I think it should not be too hard.

Yes, it is basically impossible. Egypt has major stability penalties that kick in not long after the UHV, and I have never seen a game where a human-led Egypt could survive later than 1500 or so. The "solution" to the stability problem is to found as few cities as possible (ideally just your capital, three cities for a cultural victory definitely being too many), but good luck on your highly unstable, heavily inflated economy OCC spaceship attempt.

 

[Sanguivorant]

I remember playing one game as Egypt where I continued playing even after UHV. I'd say I lasted quite a bit, up to 1900AD, without losing a city. The problem with that is while you are fighting with riflemen and frigates, Europe is fighting with infantry and dreadnoughts. I had Spain, Germany, France and Portugal teaming on me, but for some reason they didn't execute an invasion, they just kept their dreadnoughts at bay (Inefficient AI).

The other huge problem is stability. I felt it after 1300AD, and that's when I started selling my techs away to others in order to boost my economy a bit. I don't know what's with the stability penalty though, I mean, I was getting negative on expansion when I only had three cities in Egyptian soil.

All in all, I definitely don't think it's possible to win anything other than a UHV with Egypt.

 

[Wessel V1]

Since 2008, there have been a few changes regarding Egypt's stability. A major bug has been repaired so it is now possible to achieve another victory than the UHV.

 

[Gem Hound]

This is my thoughts:

Spoiler UHV :

Very easy:
Babylon(1), Maya(2), England(1)(1), Portugal(2), Japan(3)

Easy:
Inca(4)(1), Egypt(3)(1), Khmer(1), Vikings(5), Spain(4), Dutch(1), Germany(4), Arabia(6)(1), France(1), Greece(7), Turkey(4)(1)

Moderately difficult:
Rome(1), Persia(2), Carthage(1), America, China, Mongolia, India, Aztec(1), Russia(1)

Hard:
Ethiopia

Very hard:
Mali

Spoiler Non-UHV :

I've only beat these ones Non-UHV:

England(1)(1) - Domination
Inca(4)(1) - Domination(I managed to create a Golden Age near the end, swarmed the USA and won, had nearly all of the Americas, only failed on the gold UHV on this one because of a glitch.(Nearly ragequit when that happened) Solid before the Golden Age with Central and South America.)
Arabia(6)(1) - Domination(Conquest, Conquest, Conquest. putting down rebellions, more conquest. Persia fell in 6 turns, They were very, very thinly spread with most forces fighting barbs in Egypt or in the Northern chokepoints. A true Persian Empire. Egypt to Greece to the Indus River)
Turkey(4)(1) - Domination
Egypt(3)(1) - Cultural(Wonder Spam! with 3 cities)

5 most favorite:
Inca, Arabia, Carthage, Germany, Turkey
Note: I only raze cities when they are insanely bad.