Yeah, yeah, arrogant as all get-out for me to pop up (what, fourth post?) and put my name on a ranking system. But I'm doing it.
I'm rating each Civ on three categories- the two advantages, and the Unique Unit. Each category is rated one through five, with five being best and one being worst.
First, the advantages:
Scientific- 5 points. Three free techs during the course of the game; that's more than the Theory of Evolution. Very nice. Now, add in cutting in half the costs of *three* buildings, two of which produce a bonanza of culture. Keep your population happy through luxuries and growth control, and a library may be all you need for the first 4000 years.
Religious: 4 points. It'll save you about eight turns in revolution, assuming you do the Despot-M/R-C/D path. More if you switch governments like popping candy, but what non-Religious civ *does*? You only get bonuses on two buildings in this one, but Temples and Cathedrals tend to be must-haves, especially if you don't get many luxury resources.
Industrious/Commerical: 3 points each. Extra shields, extra commerce. Nice. Not *great*, but nice. And it doesn't kick in for a while.
Expansionist: 2 points. Early mapping and nice goody huts *are* nice, but past 1 AD there are no gains (unless it's a huge map with one other civ or something).
Militaristic: 1 point. Half-cost barracks and walls. Except walls don't matter past size 6. And get the Art of War, and free barracks means half-cost is useless. Yeah, you get faster promotions and- theoretically- more leaders. But that's all luck, anyways. Besides, don't go to war, don't get GLs even if you're militaristic; go to lots of wars, get GLs even if you aren't.
Okay. Now, each UU.
America's F-16: 3 points. Great! Your air defenses are better! Hopefully, with the patch that'll mean something. Not a bad unit, but not getting to your UU until real late in the game is a bit of a disappointment. If you don't get a Golden Age through Wonders, you might not get one at all.
Aztec's Jaguar Warriors: 2 points. A fast warrior. Okay, it's good for exploring early on. And if you run into a Civ that hasn't learned Bronze Working, you might be able to rush them. Of course, then you get your Golden Age in 2750 BC, which is pretty damned pathetic. At least they upgrade to Swordsmen.
Babylon's Bowmen: 1 point. It's an archer that defends like a spearman. Big freakin' whoop. It's not powerful enough to really do well against spearmen- the mainstay defender of the era- and you don't want to build them for defense because they upgrade to Longbowmen, not Pikemen. Bleh.
China's Riders: 4 points. A knight with better movement, meaning real rapid runs over your enemy. Very nice, though it still can only attack once a turn.
Egypt's War Chariots: 2 points. Cheap horsemen, nothing more. And since they're equal in attack to spearmen's defense, you'll lose as many chariots as you kill in defenders. Bleh.
England's Man-O-War: 1 point. A fleet, quickly made useless and obsolete. Can't upgrade to it, can't upgrade from it, can only build one and then move on. Why bother?
France's Musketmen: 2 points. An extra attack, making them as good as Swordsmen on the attack. Except that, by that point, you *should* have Knights, which have a better attack value and *should* be your mainstay of attack. In addition, you can't upgrade Spearmen or Pikemen to Musketmen, so you're stuck with some old defenders until you get to Riflemen. Yuck.
Germany's Panzers: 5 points. The extra move is incredible. This unit can atcually attack more than once in a single turn, meaning a rain of death to enemies. And it'll upgrade to Modern Armor when you're ready for it! Only the fact that it doesn't show up till late in the game is a real strike against it.
Greece's Hoplite: 4 points. The best defender of the Ancient era, and available from the get-go. And they upgrade to Musketeers. The only lack is a complete inability to attack, but when you've got the best defenders, you don't need the best attackers.
India's War Elephants: 3 points. It's a Knight, but it doesn't need resources. Not bad if you need to conquer to get Iron. But Iron isn't *that* uncommon, and if you don't have Iron by the time Railroads show up, you're SOL anyways. But still, it's a Knight, and you don't need to be connected to the Capital to build it.
Iriquois' Horsemen: 5 points. The best fast unit in the Ancient era. 3 points of attack is great against Pikemen; only the Greek Hoplite is a real threat. And unless your opponent has chariots or Horsemen to reply with, you can retreat from counter-attacks. *And*, they upgrade to Knights. Great unit.
Japan's Samurai: 5 points. Moves fast. Best defense until Gunpowder. As good offensively as a Knight. Doesn't require Horses. Great unit.
Persia's Immortals: 5 points. *The* best attack unit of the Ancient Era. And as good at defending as a spearman. Only a lack of speed is a weakness, and at this point there aren't many fast units anyways. The real downside is that you can't upgrade them to anything... but they don't really become useless until the Modern Era, so why worry that much?
Rome's Legions: 3 points. It's a standard swordman, except the extra point of defense allows you to stand the counter-attack much better. Heck, they're half-decent as defenders and attackers until you enter the Modern Era.
Russia's Cossacks: 2 points. Extra defense on a unit designed for attack? See France's Musketmen for why that's stupid. And even the extra defense doesn't do *much* good- by that point, you've better defenders out there. Worst of all, you can't upgrade *to* them, so you only see them if you build them.
Zulu's Impi: 2 points. Fast spearmen. Whose brilliant idea was *that*? They can't attack worth crap, and if you're defending a city, being able to retreat is useless. At least they upgrade to Pikemen.
Final rankings:
Romans: 7
Greeks: 12
Germans: 11
Chinese: 8
Japanese: 10
Indians: 10
Aztecs: 7
Iroquois: 11
Egyptians: 9
Babylonians: 10
Russians: 9
Americans: 8
French: 8
Persians: 13
Zulus: 4
English: 6
Your comments are always appreciated.
I'm rating each Civ on three categories- the two advantages, and the Unique Unit. Each category is rated one through five, with five being best and one being worst.
First, the advantages:
Scientific- 5 points. Three free techs during the course of the game; that's more than the Theory of Evolution. Very nice. Now, add in cutting in half the costs of *three* buildings, two of which produce a bonanza of culture. Keep your population happy through luxuries and growth control, and a library may be all you need for the first 4000 years.
Religious: 4 points. It'll save you about eight turns in revolution, assuming you do the Despot-M/R-C/D path. More if you switch governments like popping candy, but what non-Religious civ *does*? You only get bonuses on two buildings in this one, but Temples and Cathedrals tend to be must-haves, especially if you don't get many luxury resources.
Industrious/Commerical: 3 points each. Extra shields, extra commerce. Nice. Not *great*, but nice. And it doesn't kick in for a while.
Expansionist: 2 points. Early mapping and nice goody huts *are* nice, but past 1 AD there are no gains (unless it's a huge map with one other civ or something).
Militaristic: 1 point. Half-cost barracks and walls. Except walls don't matter past size 6. And get the Art of War, and free barracks means half-cost is useless. Yeah, you get faster promotions and- theoretically- more leaders. But that's all luck, anyways. Besides, don't go to war, don't get GLs even if you're militaristic; go to lots of wars, get GLs even if you aren't.
Okay. Now, each UU.
America's F-16: 3 points. Great! Your air defenses are better! Hopefully, with the patch that'll mean something. Not a bad unit, but not getting to your UU until real late in the game is a bit of a disappointment. If you don't get a Golden Age through Wonders, you might not get one at all.
Aztec's Jaguar Warriors: 2 points. A fast warrior. Okay, it's good for exploring early on. And if you run into a Civ that hasn't learned Bronze Working, you might be able to rush them. Of course, then you get your Golden Age in 2750 BC, which is pretty damned pathetic. At least they upgrade to Swordsmen.
Babylon's Bowmen: 1 point. It's an archer that defends like a spearman. Big freakin' whoop. It's not powerful enough to really do well against spearmen- the mainstay defender of the era- and you don't want to build them for defense because they upgrade to Longbowmen, not Pikemen. Bleh.
China's Riders: 4 points. A knight with better movement, meaning real rapid runs over your enemy. Very nice, though it still can only attack once a turn.
Egypt's War Chariots: 2 points. Cheap horsemen, nothing more. And since they're equal in attack to spearmen's defense, you'll lose as many chariots as you kill in defenders. Bleh.
England's Man-O-War: 1 point. A fleet, quickly made useless and obsolete. Can't upgrade to it, can't upgrade from it, can only build one and then move on. Why bother?
France's Musketmen: 2 points. An extra attack, making them as good as Swordsmen on the attack. Except that, by that point, you *should* have Knights, which have a better attack value and *should* be your mainstay of attack. In addition, you can't upgrade Spearmen or Pikemen to Musketmen, so you're stuck with some old defenders until you get to Riflemen. Yuck.
Germany's Panzers: 5 points. The extra move is incredible. This unit can atcually attack more than once in a single turn, meaning a rain of death to enemies. And it'll upgrade to Modern Armor when you're ready for it! Only the fact that it doesn't show up till late in the game is a real strike against it.
Greece's Hoplite: 4 points. The best defender of the Ancient era, and available from the get-go. And they upgrade to Musketeers. The only lack is a complete inability to attack, but when you've got the best defenders, you don't need the best attackers.
India's War Elephants: 3 points. It's a Knight, but it doesn't need resources. Not bad if you need to conquer to get Iron. But Iron isn't *that* uncommon, and if you don't have Iron by the time Railroads show up, you're SOL anyways. But still, it's a Knight, and you don't need to be connected to the Capital to build it.
Iriquois' Horsemen: 5 points. The best fast unit in the Ancient era. 3 points of attack is great against Pikemen; only the Greek Hoplite is a real threat. And unless your opponent has chariots or Horsemen to reply with, you can retreat from counter-attacks. *And*, they upgrade to Knights. Great unit.
Japan's Samurai: 5 points. Moves fast. Best defense until Gunpowder. As good offensively as a Knight. Doesn't require Horses. Great unit.
Persia's Immortals: 5 points. *The* best attack unit of the Ancient Era. And as good at defending as a spearman. Only a lack of speed is a weakness, and at this point there aren't many fast units anyways. The real downside is that you can't upgrade them to anything... but they don't really become useless until the Modern Era, so why worry that much?
Rome's Legions: 3 points. It's a standard swordman, except the extra point of defense allows you to stand the counter-attack much better. Heck, they're half-decent as defenders and attackers until you enter the Modern Era.
Russia's Cossacks: 2 points. Extra defense on a unit designed for attack? See France's Musketmen for why that's stupid. And even the extra defense doesn't do *much* good- by that point, you've better defenders out there. Worst of all, you can't upgrade *to* them, so you only see them if you build them.
Zulu's Impi: 2 points. Fast spearmen. Whose brilliant idea was *that*? They can't attack worth crap, and if you're defending a city, being able to retreat is useless. At least they upgrade to Pikemen.
Final rankings:
Romans: 7
Greeks: 12
Germans: 11
Chinese: 8
Japanese: 10
Indians: 10
Aztecs: 7
Iroquois: 11
Egyptians: 9
Babylonians: 10
Russians: 9
Americans: 8
French: 8
Persians: 13
Zulus: 4
English: 6
Your comments are always appreciated.
Hence a miserly 1 for militaristic isn't ok IMO.
You havent's played the game yet.
