Good Civs for Small Empires

[SRG]

I enjoy playing small empires. Babylon and India are by far my favorite for this type of game. I usually aim at science or culture, obviously. I do not plan on playing this above Prince for now, because I like to drink while I play and I expect to be sloppy here and there.

But lately I have wanted to try something different from Babylon and India, and I have puttered around with a few other civs. Now, I am not stupid and I understand how to Warmonger and usually I can play most Civs to their unique strengths... but I am having a hard time finding another Civ good for small empires.

So, I will have a small list of goals here... and I would really appreciate any suggestions on a new civ to try.

1) Not Babylon or India
2) I want to focus on a small empire, maybe 5 or so cities on a huge map, 3 on a standard.
3) Not looking to do a OCC, though I do enjoy those!
4) I would rather not focus on City States as a central strategy for this. Again, I will be drinking.
5) I am open to trying ANY victory condition, I just want to spend most of my time with a small set of core cities.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CV-110]

How about Persia? The increased happiness from fewer cities and extra happiness from Tradition (for obvious reasons) and Piety (to buff GAs even more) go well with a smaller, well-developed empire focused on taking maximum advantage of GAs.

 

[SRG]

I have tried Persia, and the relentless 150 turn Golden Age was pretty awesome. I only did one game with them though, and it was almost too easy. Maybe I will crank it up to King and give them another go around.

Any more unconventional ideas out there?

 

[Wir0s]

lately i enjoy playing with Arabia, the bonus for trade routes, UB, etc... Generate tons of money what allow u to "choose" what to do next.

 

[I_qua_I]

I've found that a lot of civs that appear to be ideal for managing large empires are also pretty good (if not better) with small ones.

My suggestion would be to try Arabia (probably on standard size, 3 cities). Their UB allows for some serious free cash. If you can stay on friendly terms with most of the other civs you will almost always be able to trade away your extra luxuries. This money can be used to purchase everything you would otherwise be building in your 3 cities. In the meantime, use those saved turns to crank out the wonders. Also, since the other civs will usually always be low on cash due to your constant trading, research agreements between the AIs will be much less common thus making it that much easier to stay ahead of the pack with technology. I've said it before on these forums but Arabia really is one of the most overlooked civs in the game.

 

[SRG]

Arabia seems interesting.

A quick question on the Bazaar...

If I have a city with say, 2 gems, does the Bazaar offer 1 extra gem or 2 extra gems?

 

[spider1]

Drinking while civ'ing is something I'm familiar with.

So, from experience, try Egypt for a focased tall empire for your drinking pleasure. You get a 20% UA for building wonders, add in another 20% from Aristocracy and if you're lucky enough to score some marble, it's wonder building time. And if you play on Prince level, you'll build a lot of wonders. That's fun and enjoyable. Take a shot of Jack for every wonder you build and you might not finish the game.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Aztecs are really good...(flat culture from kills, food boost from Watermill UB)

Siam/Greece would be good (small= more benefit from CS)

Mongolia might work for a raze fest (healing, fast, highly promoted army)
Russia might also work for a raze fest (more resources+more territory=bigger army)
Germany..similar(can recruit your army from the barbs)

Persia... the Golden Ages and the Movement+Healing bonus can be useful.

 

[blac]

Drinking while playing civ makes me as irrational as the AI

I would try Arabia, and you would get 4 gems. Its every LR you have that doubles. I've had into the double digits before for some resources. Its pretty awesome to be getting 30-40 GPT early on, makes the game so much easier

 

[chazzycat]

Seconded Arabia in general, but maybe not on Prince. Their strength is selling luxuries, and the AI doesn't tend to have enough money at that level to buy them all. Egypt is cool for their wonder building, which is great for small empires. On Prince you should be ablet to get TONS of wonders. Get marble and aristocracy, and you can probably build almost all of them.

 

[I_qua_I]

@SRG - I'm pretty sure you would get 1 for each token resource (so if you have two gems nearby and build a bazaar you will have 4 total available for trade. I once was able to claim every gold resource in the game with not one AI settling near any and had something like 16 gold to trade (more than i needed but still...)

And I always play on prince and never really have had a problem with the AIs not having the gold. I usually play without city-states, however, so it may just be the case that the AIs aren't able to sink all of their gold into them. If it is as chazzycat says with city-states though then Arabia might not be the best civ to try out first afterall (as raking in the mountains of gold really is the most fun part.)

 

[seasnake]

Just had a good game with Hiawatha and a small empire, settle in forests and build Longhouses, your cities will be productive powerhouses and easy to defend, every unit will be slowed by the forests except you and you're road maintenance costs will be next to nothing.

I just maxed out Tradition and Piety with a selection from Commerce, Freedom, Honor and Order. Space Race victory win, a lot of fun game, a few small wars but only took three puppet cities.

 

[Civsassin]

@OP

India is built for a small empire based on their UA.

Siam's UA and UB make them great for small empire culture wins.

Songhai is also a very good small empire civ. Fund your economy with city razing. Destroy every one in your path.

On a lakes map, the Aztecs are awesome with their UA.

 

[black213]

With Arabia, you really should take Tradition now as the trade route modifier is based on Capital's size. Arabia is good as small empires but also with larger empires.

 

[Teperi Blaze]

If you want a culture win, my easiest ones tend to be France...you pick policies like apples from a tree. As long as you stay at 2-3 cities only, which I do on archi maps, it's quick fun.

Pick large archi map with all CS, drop a couple of AI's and you're set. 2-3 hrs of fun.

And a win, of course, works easily up to Emperor.

Edit: If you want that fast victory, buy all CS you can, first culture, then maritime.

 

[CYZ]

Polynesia is great for small cultural empires. And exploring is extremely fun on any islands or new world maps.

If you want unconventional, try Spain on a continents/terra map. Your strategy could be to spread your cities accros the globe, next to the natural wonders. So perhaps you have only one city next to your capital. Then explore heavily and tech for astronomy. As you find the natural wonders build another settler (or conquistador!) and find the sweet spots. You could have perhaps 4-6 cities, and have all cities besides your capital close to a natural wonder!

 

[Save_Ferris]

I'd go for Siam or Greece- small empires rely on CSs.