Easiest/Hardest UHVs

[austin745]

Curious who are typically thought of as easy/hard civs in the current iteration. I like to stop in and redownload/play this every once in a while, and I'm deciding who I should be playing as. Tried a couple Egypt games and just tried 1700 AD Prussia but couldn't get any industrial techs.

 

[AOS9001]

Civs I can figure out a strategy with on my own are what I'd call easiest civs:
Egypt
Carthage
Polynesia
Khmer
Java

Civs I'm still bashing my head against the wall with are what I'd call hardest civs:
Persia (post-nerf)
Turks
England
Prussia
Brazil*

*I legitimately don't think it's possible to win as Brazil right now, I've tried so many times.

 

[Hickman888]

I'd consider Babylon the easiest civilization. The only tricky part is working out the tech path to take, but after a game or two of trial and error, you should be able to work it out, no problem. And since Babylon is also the fastest game, you'll be able to quickly restart it to try again.

In 1.17, Brazil was the hardest civilization, followed by Argentina. And it sounds like Brazil is still the hardest to play here in 1.18; maintaining that tech lead to grab those wonders in time is next to impossible.

 

[Dracosolon]

I haven't played enough to rank them all, but I'd distinguish between different types of difficulty:

- Puzzle UHVs that require precise and sometimes unorthodox gameplay to win. They become much easier once you get the trick. Babylonia is a classic example.
- On the opposite end, you have UHVs that are flexible but require good strategy in many aspects to get them, typically because they're ambitious but with a long time window, like England.
- UHVs that are luck-dependant at crucial points. Wars, disputed wonders and techs, great people, timing of other civs (like the Maya)... You either have to try again and again or find a strategy that minimizes risks of failure.
- Civs whose UHV is largely dependant on how much Leoreth has been nerfing/buffing them lately, like Arabia.

 

[Kott]

I have played through civs in the chronological order up to Ethiopia and I still wait for Europeans to acquire 12 cities in Africa. By now I see 4 on the turn 400 (it was 2 before the last changes).

Babylon, Assyria, Hittities and Polynesia are easy. Persia, China and Maya are hard, but in different ways.

I have also played a few freestyle Italian games and I can say that two first goal are just automatic even with the latest changes (4 cities instead of 3).

 

[Apple111111]

All I can add is that the Turks are the worst; borderline impossible without adjusting the speed setting.

I agree with Persia, Prussia, Brazil being difficult, though I don’t think England is that hard if you know what you’re doing.

 

[Orbii]

I think Britain, USA, Canada, Russia, Prussia, and Japan, and any of the post-1700 spawns, are on the harder end. Basically anything that balances a conquest goal with a tech goal that needs to compete with the Euros, or the Latin Americans.

I also think HRE is quite challenging, and agree that Turks and Brazil are nigh-impossible.

I also haven't been able to complete the Iranian open borders UHV on the big map, and half the time there aren't enough Europeans even alive for it, and struggle with the conquerors on Incans.

Korea, Netherlands, Moors, Mali/Mande, Ottomans, Poland, Dravidians, Nubians, Java, and the aforementioned 'puzzle civs' are easy. I think Korea, Netherlands, or Italy are probably the easiest UHVs.

 

[Hickman888]

What got nerfed with Persia recently that made them so hard? They were about a 6.5/10 difficulty-wise when I played them, just required some concerted effort.

 

[Apple111111]

I think Britain, USA, Canada, Russia, Prussia, and Japan, and any of the post-1700 spawns, are on the harder end. Basically anything that balances a conquest goal with a tech goal that needs to compete with the Euros, or the Latin Americans.

I also think HRE is quite challenging, and agree that Turks and Brazil are nigh-impossible.

I also haven't been able to complete the Iranian open borders UHV on the big map, and half the time there aren't enough Europeans even alive for it, and struggle with the conquerors on Incans.

Korea, Netherlands, Moors, Mali/Mande, Ottomans, Poland, Dravidians, Nubians, Java, and the aforementioned 'puzzle civs' are easy. I think Korea, Netherlands, or Italy are probably the easiest UHVs.

Polynesia is unquestionably the easiest IMO, with Korea in second, also incredibly easy.

Polynesia has some of the simplest gameplay so you don’t really need to know civ and they got several dozen extra turns they didn’t have in 1.17. You can complete the goals several hundred years early.

Korea, likewise, can be completed several hundred years early, but at least you need to actually know how to do basic things like research the right tech and building units to defend against barbarians.

The single change I’d make to Polynesia is chuck a few barbarian/native boats in there that only spawn if the Polynesia civ exists.

 

[Orbii]

What got nerfed with Persia recently that made them so hard? They were about a 6.5/10 difficulty-wise when I played them, just required some concerted effort.

I agree on this - 6 to 7/10. I haven't even tried them since the bulbing-buffs but can imagine that'd help enormously with the tech goal. On the flip side, I think starting improvements on the 1700AD scenario were nerfed recently?

Edit: I can't read and thought this said Prussia.

 

[AOS9001]

What got nerfed with Persia recently that made them so hard? They were about a 6.5/10 difficulty-wise when I played them, just required some concerted effort.

Modifier/expansion penalties severely impacting your ability to research and expand at the same time, and the continued lack of wonder-building in the Near East on regent/normal.

 

[NL13]

Hi everyone,

first of all great mod, i‘ve been playing it on and off for some years now and really enjoy it.

Most of the civs that i felt were easy have already been mentioned (Java, Korea, Polynesia, etc.).
However i also didn‘t feel like Prussia is too difficult. The main challenge, in my opinion, is to be the first to research 8 industrial techs. The rest is doable with 10+ turns spare, once you get rolling.

A Civ I struggled with recently is Portugal. I think the first and second goal‘s time frame is very tight and quite challenging.
I also felt like the Arabs were borderline impossible, but maybe i just didn‘t look into it enough.

 

[Magryfile]

Personally, among the most difficult I've completed are: the Moors, the Ethiopian 3UHV (before the update, now it's impossible), Colombia (before the update), the Japanese 3UHV (I'm definitely doing something wrong with my strategy), and the Mayan 3UHV.
Then there are the ones I haven't managed to win at all: Turks, Congo, Malaysia, Arabs, Burma, and Portugal (I haven't tried the new 2UHV yet).
Incredibly easy ones, in my opinion, are: Babylon, Spain (personally, one of the most fun), Netherlands, Korea, and France.
there are also many that I haven't tried yet
I've only tried Brazil once and won; in fact, I don't understand the previous comments. Maybe I was just lucky... I'll try again in the next few days.

 

[AOS9001]

Then there are the ones I haven't managed to win at all: Congo

I have won as Congo, and the strategy is literally "get lucky." Get lucky that Catholicism spreads to you before 1600, get lucky that Portugal is late on their TC conquerors so you have enough pombos to defeat them, get lucky that the Europeans crater their populations with warfare and getting plague, get lucky there's no runaway France or England or Netherlands blazing a row or two of techs ahead of everyone else.

 

[Apple111111]

Personally, among the most difficult I've completed are: the Moors, the Ethiopian 3UHV (before the update, now it's impossible), Colombia (before the update), the Japanese 3UHV (I'm definitely doing something wrong with my strategy), and the Mayan 3UHV.
Then there are the ones I haven't managed to win at all: Turks, Congo, Malaysia, Arabs, Burma, and Portugal (I haven't tried the new 2UHV yet).
Incredibly easy ones, in my opinion, are: Babylon, Spain (personally, one of the most fun), Netherlands, Korea, and France.
there are also many that I haven't tried yet
I've only tried Brazil once and won; in fact, I don't understand the previous comments. Maybe I was just lucky... I'll try again in the next few days.

Definitely lucky for Brazil. The wonders tend to get built super early. The other goals are reasonable. I personally couldn’t beat Spain so I’m surprised you found it easy. Was the Catholic spread goal nerfed? I found it too difficult and RNG based since India/Russia/ wherever else you spread the religion would end up going Protestant.

 

[Magryfile]

in short, all my fortune from the Congo ended up in Brazil

I personally couldn’t beat Spain so I’m surprised you found it easy. Was the Catholic spread goal nerfed? I found it too difficult and RNG based since India/Russia/ wherever else you spread the religion would end up going Protestant.

for Spain I have always opted to do a scorched earth of Scandinavia and the United Kingdom (the revenge of the Armada Invencible) as close as possible to the year of conclusion of the UHV, so the instability caused by the cities razed to the ground does not have time to make me collapse. you conquer Holland easily, Portugal too. Prevent Italy from rising immediately by quickly conquering Milan, Rome, Naples and Sicily. It has never happened to me that Poland converted. it has happened to me a few times with France or with the Holy Roman Empire and never together, but with war (conquest and use of inquisition) and forced conversions with spies you can do it easily. for the spread of Catholicism, colonizing and catholicizing ALL the historical areas of Spain, plus the fight against the Protestants in Europe and the "crusade" in Morocco have always been enough for me to obtain it.

 

[lethrgy]

vietnam is pretty easy from what i remember

italy is fairly straightforward, get great engineers/artists for wonders/culture UHV and spam lanternas/unique crossbow and snipe weakened cities on the mediterranean

mongols are quite easy, spam keshiks and mangudai and conquer basically the historical mongol empire

i find the tech UHV are difficult if you dont take out the usual tech suspects, which i usually avoid for my own immersion reasons, which is sad because those civs are the ones i usually find most interesting barring the tech UHVs

special shoutout to argentina, which is difficult in a different way, as in pretty boring waiting around, literally just farming culture and doing nothing while the game takes forever to process turns

 

[Zaddy]

so important note for this post is that I play marathon which generally makes the game easier overall. conquest goals in particular are easier.

Burma is fairly straightforward, you build a priest economy using wonders and civics and farm priest GPP for golden ages. You have ages to conquer Indochina (the goal has a very restrictive definition of Indochina, yes?). I don't think the goals would be hard even on normal, I controlled the areas WAY before the goal date. Then it was just playing keep away from China and Netherlands until the goal date. Playing with all the priest buffs was actually super fun though so I didn't mind.

Rus also isn't too bad, elective is very good and has great synergy with your UP, and your UU solves all barb issues. Just a matter of letting your cities grow, and spreading your religion.

Prussia on marathon is pretty easy, immediately attack your neighbors as the opportunity arises, with special priority to England. Basically always have your army doing something unless it's gonna cause stab issues.

I found Japan quite difficult, but I haven't completed a game with the buffs to say. The tech goal is easily failed due to the usual tech suspects as lethargy aptly puts it. Balancing out-teching them with the conquest goal is a tall order, even on Marathon. I profess, perhaps a skill issue.

 

[Maggy_domain]

The sequence for England is fairly similar to 1.17, so I kinda went by muscle memory as it is one of my favorite UHVs. Argentina and Brazil I consider filler civs. The Turks.. I will never make it lol

 

[austin745]

Appreciate all the comments y'all. Lots of good discussion. I ended up starting a 3000BC USA game and got the first UHV by conquering Mexico just in time. I think the spawn ended up being pretty lucky. 2nd one seems straightforward, I'm guessing I'll have to strategically conquer enemies with tanks and marines for the last one. Do civs have to be friendly for the last goal? Hopefully I'll have some time to finish the game this weekend. I'll probably try some of the easier civs mentioned here once thats done. I remember trying Babylon in the past but never figured it out. I always got beat by China for some tech or Egypt/Greece for some wonder.