Is America's UA as weak as it sounds?

[kamex]

Okay, so I'll be honest and say I haven't played a game as America yet, and I think the unique ability and late UU are putting me off (even though minutemen aren't that late)

Does the the ability have some synergy with the SP in the tradition tree that reduces land purchasing costs? Because I would have thought the power encourages REXing, which isn't a good match with the tradition tree.

 

[Nunya]

It has synergy with Monarchy, but I never find myself buying more than a few tiles per game and Tradition in general is pretty weak.

The extra scouting is kind of nice, but overall it's still a pretty weak special ability. I think we can safely rank America among the weakest civilizations in the game.

 

[Karstedt]

I concur, America sucks. Plus it seems like Washington is a warmonger, I've run into him twice now in >Prince games and he's gone to early war with his crappy sight bonus while spending all his gold on land. He was crushed both times, once by me and my 3 horseman of the apocalypse.

 

[EverNoob]

After playing many games with America, I find Monarchy and america's UA redundant IMHO. The most important tile purchases are very early in the game, before monarchy. I'd say it has more synergy with protectionism, since it's easier to grab more resources.

America's UA doesn't encourages REXing. It encourages a few spaced cities with large borders, then backfilling later on. At least that's how I see it.

 

[Supp]

Its soooooooooooo useful in war to see what units the enemy has.

 

[stormerne]

America is as close to a "vanilla civ" as the game provides.

 

[E66man]

Its soooooooooooo useful in war to see what units the enemy has.

Usually, but the 3rd ring of visibility is usually blocked off by trees or hills I seldom get to see anything there w/o having to move up anyway.

Awesome on totally flat land though...

 

[EverNoob]

Usually, but the 3rd ring of visibility is usually blocked off by trees or hills I seldom get to see anything there w/o having to move up anyway.

Unless you station scouts on hills. It's usually good idea to station units on hill for the sight+defense anyway.

 

[P-Zombie]

I think both UAs are relatively unexciting, but useful. Both give you a slight edge, to get something good before the other guy does (ancient ruins, or a resource revealed on the fringes of a city).

Not the best, but definitely not the worst either.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

A sight advantage on pretty much everyone for the entire game is a stronger war-time benefit than almost anyone credits, because it's hard to quantify it.

Whenever you're outside of your own territory, the UA is helping you - often you see things that would be problematic that other factions would not see.

America can't touch the likes of greece/china/mongol/france, but it is not nearly as bad as so many here claim.

 

[CultureManiac]

Buying land for cheap, when I've played America, is only saving a little bit of money over the course of the game - if you even have to buy a tile at all. It hardly seems worth writing home about.

The extra sight, though, is incredible in combat situations, as you can see many units before they can hit you.

 

[alpaca]

Extra sight is great. Unless you're someone who reloads when they walk into a trap (like I sometimes do when I play things close to the edge). The UUs kind of stink, though. Minuteman is on a very weak base unit, otherwise he'd be ok but I only once even built a bomber, and that was in my first game.

 

[fuzzynutz]

I have enjoyed the benefits of this for blocking off portions of the continent earlier than would be possible normally (I dont play ICS/REX). You can purchase premium tiles when you are near the AI if you prefer not to just take every city through War.

Not a bad Civ, it has a flavor to it compared to the others and helps keep the game slightly challenging once you have figured out the basic routines.

 

[wurstburst]

Playing America is just like playing Greece. Except without the really cool horsemen or spearmen and without the overpowered CS bonuses. Otherwise, proceed as you normally would.

 

[PJyang]

Extra sight would be much more useful if AI is better at war. But with 1up, it is really difficult to design a good combat AI.

 

[Bandobras Took]

The extra sight is also great for spawnbusting. America's UA isn't as weak as it sounds; it's just easy to forget to notice that you're using it.

 

[kamex]

The extra sight is also great for spawnbusting. America's UA isn't as weak as it sounds; it's just easy to forget to notice that you're using it.

By spawn busting are you referring to help prevent barbarian units spawning?

 

[Rathelon]

By spawn busting are you referring to help prevent barbarian units spawning?

Yes, that is what he means. You know in mid-game when you have expanded your empire out a bit, but that little corner with 2 dark hexes keeps spawning annoying barbarians.

 

[Ashwind]

Yes, that is what he means. You know in mid-game when you have expanded your empire out a bit, but that little corner with 2 dark hexes keeps spawning annoying barbarians.

Sounds like free XP and gold to me. Awesome.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Extra sight would be much more useful if AI is better at war. But with 1up, it is really difficult to design a good combat AI.

If you're going to make that argument, go all the way; pretty much no unique makes a big difference against the AI, because it can't properly fight stock units.

In that light, all UAs/UUs look bad, so it's not a good metric. What does the sight bring to the table in contested games? That's yet to be determined, but I'll wager its better than people on this thread putting America among the worst civs.