God. I tried to resist posting. I really did. But just can't help myself. Sigh.
England are more fun than they were in RnF, but yeah, they're pretty weak overall. They may get better if some of the mechanics they leverage get buffed in patches or another expansion (colonialism, military engineers, and resources / power).
But even then, they'd still be really underwhelming, particularly compared to Civs that riff on the same ideas (Phoenicia in particular).
They've basically gone from being trash / super boring, to just sort of thematically fun but totally bottom tier. I more or less agree with
@Victoria 's summary of their abilities.
I think the +2 yields to powered buildings is underrated.
Yeah, I've been pondering this and Tier 3 buildings generally.
I think the powered yields for Tier 3 buildings and England's additional +2 yields might be underestimated once you factor in cards like Rationalism and Opera which double building yields.
These yields are still not actually that strong, because these yields come so late in the game (which is maybe more about game pacing) and the underlying buildings are so, so, soo0 expensive.
So, "underestimated"? Yes. Actually good? No.
And that's only gold, culture and science yields. Hammers from factories are just totally rubbish. An extra +2 hammers are a joke, and you can't double those with any cards.
WotW needs a bit of a buff, if you ask me. England should get a lot more out of having factories.
I'm really hoping the next couple of patches really tweak stuff, including England and a bunch of other mechanics. Guess we'll see.