How has your opinion changed regarding what you thought would be your favourite Civ?

[Abraxis]

I'm sure many here have been following the game for some time. Looking at all the Civs, and imagining which one would be your favourite. Now that the game has been out for a weekend, and most of you have probably played at least one game with what you thought would be your Civ of choice, how has your opinion of them changed from your expectations of them? Are they still your favourite? If not, and you've played other games as well, who is, and why? How do they compare?

The poll is for your current favourite Civ, just to compare to the pre-launch polls about who we'd start with Civ to see how things have or haven't changed from our expectation to reality.

 

[LanguishViking]

I like germany, why? two free districts. (one free from ideas and the industrial district which I want every city to have). I can put 4 districts in a pop 4 city.

 

[Perl]

Arabia at the moment because those religious bonuses are nice. However, I almost always choose a civ for the music, so . My difference in opinions from prerelease are entirely influenced by civ music.

 

[Disgustipated]

Too soon to tell. Certainly not America. Another Civ game where America is lackluster at best. It's all good though. Never did build the Mustang, but I did build one rough rider. I also played as India, but that was just an achievement grab against Kongo. I didn't get far enough into the game to really tell how well India is.

I'm about to play Aztecs I think. I have a feeling them and Germany may be my favs. We'll see.

 

[agonistes]

Well, I haven't played them all yet.

I really enjoy Russia. The special district looks nice. And they are a powerhouse. Just a beast. Under Theocracy, if you use the card that doubles your faith output (or both of them), you can buy units very quickly. Probably once a turn at least, if you go wide. If you get lucky you can get that city-state that allows you to build the faith heads (I started one game on a fairly large island with just me and that city state. Huzzah! +2 faith right off the bat, +3 with the policy card, and I crushed out a +7 adjacency holy site pronto.)

You can play Russia using the faith for gold, from tithe, or you can grab the religious buildings that add food, and make industrial ports all over the tundra coast, stacking up lumber mills and industrial districts. Or you can take the belief that gives +10 combat strength, either the defensive one or the offensive one, and toss in the card that gives +4. That's +14 combat strength! Or you can use the faith to purchase great leaders.

I haven't tried an early military push with Scythia, but I can't imagine there is a stronger Civ then Russia. And the holy site just looks so good.

Germany is pretty strong, starts out slower than Russia though. The bonus district is only okay, I think. You start to run out of room to place them. The beauty of the unique industrial district is that the cost stays low, so you can get them up relatively fast. And don't overlook the combat bonus against city states, if war mongering is your thing.

On the reverse side, France is kind of boring. But I didn't play her deep into the game.

 

[glaivemaster]

I thought Arabia would be amazing fun, but played them and they didn't feel quite as outrageously good as I expected. Then I played Germany.

 

[Pico 22]

Scythia and its horse archers are great in the early game. I had Trajan as a neighbour and he backstabbed me as soon as he felt he had enough military. He was wrong. It took four archers (I built just two - every time you make one you get an extra) and a soldier to make Rome ancient history.

I also tried out France and I started on a nice place by a river, with lots of truffles. I wanted to compare this game with Civ V so I started a game with France there. I got a nice place by a river, with lots of truffles. Obviously a historical fact.

 

[teamoldmill]

Scythia,

the healing and horse archers...... barely ever lose a unit. That healing continue in later eras/units?

 

[esoba]

Aztec....by a wide margin.

I really thought I would love Rome (whom I'm currently playing as), but Aztecs are just so freaking awesome. Especially on Epic and Marathon games. Their abilities just synergize so well and are so powerful. Tons of builders popping out tons of districts and an early game unit able to wreck some stuff. Plus the combat bonuses with having luxury resources is epic if you have a good starting spot and a few cities.

 

[Matthew.]

Before launch, I said Germany would be one of the stronger empires because of the lower district cap and cheaper industry districts. From what I've played so far and have read from others, Germany is one of the stronger empires... for that very reason

I didn't have much of an opinion on Russia, but I tried a game as them as well. Wasn't that impressed.

 

[Disgustipated]

Just finished my game with the Aztecs. I played one difficulty level higher, but my score and game went much better. Although to be fair I learned my lesson and built more campus and industrial districts. But I didn't have nearly as many amenity problems as my America game which is nice.

Aztecs are way cool. Too bad I only got one builder off of the Eagle Warrior ability, but they served me well when I was attacked by Gorgo.

 

[TheRaven476]

Japan is so much fun. They were in my top few going in but they are even more enjoyable than I thought, especially on island maps.

I find the "District Puzzle" to be the best part of this version and Japan has the best version of the District Puzzle. I really enjoyed planning out districts close together. Divine wind is also a blast. I love trying to strategize my combat around the cost.

I played Germany my first game and while it was powerful never having to worry about districts, I found that it takes away one of the fun challenges.

 

[deltahawk5]

I already miss Korea and that sweet, sweet science bonus

 

[Jabulani]

It seems that players tend to prefer the civ which they consider the most powerful but not the one which is most funny to play.

 

[Disgustipated]

It seems that players tend to prefer the civ which they consider the most powerful but not the one which is most funny to play.

For me it's about what best fits my play style. Aztecs were nice to grow my cities big without as many amenity problems, although I had the advantage of having lots of rivers in my game.

Where as my current game as Norway I started in Tundra on the island plates map with no rivers whatsover where I could settle. It's been a tough game for me. You think Norway would do good on this type of map, but I'm not doing great at all. The other civs are keeping up with me in tech and civics. Or at least England is. I'm not sure if the problem is with Norway or just the map. But right now I'm not particularly impressed with Norway.

Before that I had a Germany game. They were pretty good, but I may like the Aztecs better. I'd have to play with both of them again to form a final opinion.

Part of the problem with Civs like Norway is their uu comes at a bad time. I got musketmen shortly after getting the tech for Bezerkers, and I wasn't looking to war at that time anyways. Civs with early uu's always have the advantage, at least they have in the last few Civ games. Although the Aztecs uu may be too early for my play style, Romans uu is about right for me, although I haven't played them yet.

 

[isau]

I want to love Arabia, but it seems like they're being punished by Science being too easy at the moment. If they slow down Science I think they'll be much more popular.

There's the added issue though of being the last to receive Religion and getting absolutely flooded with Missionaries who instantly wipe it out. I guess you can declare war to prevent this, but, I wish when a religion first got founded it had a lot more strength. Just a handful of missionaries can wipe it out in its infancy and make it impossible to resurrect it.

 

[redwings1340]

England isn't the best civ in the game, but their bonuses are great, and firaxis did an amazing job of pulling off a very strong overseas colony feel. Everything in the civ works together so well, and with my overseas colonies and royal dockyards, im pulling in 1000 gold per turn through 37 trade routes. Its amazing.

 

[Atlas627]

I had no idea which Civ I'd like most, but its definitely China. Its just my playstyle <3