Favourite civ

[Gwenwyn]

I enjoy playing the Incans - it's great being able to move quickly through hilly terrain, cheaper roads never hurt, and the unique tile improvement is cool.

Rome fits my play style nicely as I tend to want to build everything in all my cities, and the Roman UA is ideal for this.

England are starting to grow on me - I enjoy playing water-based maps, and the extra movement always comes in handy. Also, longbows

 

[The_Quasar]

I like to play random, or I pick one I've not played in a while. A bit of variety is good. When a new DLC comes out, I'll play them... all are possible to win with, although some are harder than others, especially on the higher levels. So I've not got a favourite.

 

[Civ'ed]

Probably Inca for early, China for Mid, and Germany for late game.

 

[KevinJK]

Aztecs are my favorite.

Want to go for science? Because they can be built near lakes or rivers, Floating Gardens are available in nearly every city. Each one carries the normal powerful bonuses of a water mill, plus adds 15% food - not growth, but actual base food. This is one of the best unique buildings any civilization can get and helps Aztec cities grow faster and potentially larger than anyone else's cities. Large populations make for lots of science.

Want to go cultural? Turn on raging barbarians, take Honor, and slaughter the savages. With raging barbarians on, Aztecs can do well without fighting other civilizations. Even without it, the only civilization that should be able to generate more culture is France.

Want to go to war? You've got the only unique unit that can be used for the entire game. Build an army of Jaguars at the start of the game and they'll keep all of their powerful bonuses as you upgrade them. Aztecs often start in jungle, making Jaguars powerful defenders. Their free Woodsman means you'll never need scouts and your can explore well right away. Their most powerful ability is the heal-on-kill promotion. With this, there's a lot less downtime for healing between fights.


Timed and Diplomatic are both way easier to achieve than the other victory conditions so I think they're cheap and I turn them off.

 

[Civ'ed]

Aztecs are my favorite.

Want to go for science? Because they can be built near lakes or rivers, Floating Gardens are available in nearly every city. Each one carries the normal powerful bonuses of a water mill, plus adds 15% food - not growth, but actual base food. This is one of the best unique buildings any civilization can get and helps Aztec cities grow faster and potentially larger than anyone else's cities. Large populations make for lots of science.

Want to go cultural? Turn on raging barbarians, take Honor, and slaughter the savages. With raging barbarians on, Aztecs can do well without fighting other civilizations. Even without it, the only civilization that should be able to generate more culture is France.

Want to go to war? You've got the only unique unit that can be used for the entire game. Build an army of Jaguars at the start of the game and they'll keep all of their powerful bonuses as you upgrade them. Aztecs often start in jungle, making Jaguars powerful defenders. Their free Woodsman means you'll never need scouts and your can explore well right away. Their most powerful ability is the heal-on-kill promotion. With this, there's a lot less downtime for healing between fights.


Timed and Diplomatic are both way easier to achieve than the other victory conditions so I think they're cheap and I turn them off.

*coughchokonucough*

 

[Civciv5]

China,led by glorious Empress Wu Zetian
For their UB,the paper maker,it provides 2 gold an 1 science for every 2 citizens.
For their UU,Cho-ko-nu,may attack twice.
And for their UA:The Art of War,Great general effectiveness and birth rate are increased

 

[KevinJK]

*coughchokonucough*

I said the Jaguar was useful because it could be used for the entire game and all the promotions remained useful the whole time. The Chokonu is a great unit, but it's not available until halfway through the game and its unique promotion isn't very useful for the melee units it upgrades into. If crossbowmen upgraded into siege units, the Chokonu would be much better.

 

[OrsonM]

There is a great degree of adaptability with the Aztecs, their bonus is by far the most original in the game and it'll always reward you, specially since War is inevitable in Civ V.

On their unique unit and building, they'll certainly be something you'll at least build and use, though not entirely game changers at all. There are a lot of "Uniques" within the game I don't even get to use, let alone find something useful to do with them. You'll at least build these in every game.

 

[vonbach]

Are we talking most effective civ or just the civ we like the best.
My favorite is the Germans it has a decent UA and..... thats about it
really. The most effective civ I've seen I'd have to go with the Iroquois
with the forest roads a longhouses and swordsman that don't need iron
that civ is frankly broken.

 

[Teagen]

Probably France as you can take advantage of their perks throughout the game.

The +2 culture per city is useful in the beginning especially

Then the Musketeer is useful for a sudden, planned war when the AI is still using longswordsmen and pikemen.

Then the Foreign legion is a great unit in the full late game.

From beginning to end there is always something to look forward to with France.

 

[MantaRevan]

But I agree. The Iroquois and Spanish could be toned down, and perhaps England or Inca could use a boost.

 

[fat_tonle]

England needs a buff.... maybe intercontinental trade routes with civs with open borders and such. Or cities, so that spreading the empire leads to massive gold buffs. Just a thought...

 

[vonbach]

The Iroquois and Spanish could be toned down

Spanish need a buff I'd say their UU are good but the UA is hit or miss.
England, Germany and the Danish could all use buffs. Not to mention the Ottomans.

England needs a buff.... maybe intercontinental trade routes with civs with open borders and such.

Thats a great idea.

 

[Morningcalm]

Inca, Polynesians, Koreans or Arabs are my personal faves. They all play very uniquely, whereas England is only truly uber in its longbowman, for example, and therefore is never going to be a favorite of mine.

 

[basta]

Far and away, Babylon. I always start a game thinking, 'What civ will I play other than Babylon?'

Otherwise, Rome, Korea, Persia, France, Russia in that order. And Mongolia for the keshiks

 

[Glassmage]

Siam: because I am southeast-asian.

 

[James T]

Mongolia with a bullet. A horde of keshiks on or around turn 90 is so much fun, on any difficulty.

 

[comatosedragon]

My favorite civilization to play as are the Iroquois. The reason for this is because it is almost a different game using them, as many tried and true early strategies are not well suited for them. Well, that is not entirely true, but I like to try different strategies with them, getting ironworks out ASAP (before NC even) and just building a production powerhouse.

 

[Furyofposeidon]

Lol I just made a thread on this and said with it "I know this is probably the most overused topic in the forums, but.."

 

[Capt Ajax]

ALWAYS Carthage in CIV IV but since they are not yet available I tend to play the Persians and Darious.

To be honest I bounce around and have used almost all of them at one point or another, but I tend to stick to the more ancient civs. This is my favorate era of the game.