Is Rome OP?

[row2infinity]

I finished my first Deity game as them recently, so I've been trying to branch out and try other civ I haven't tried yet, and also try civs I've had success with in the past, and I never seem to have as great of a start, and thereafter as great of a game as when I'm Trajan. Maybe it's a fluke, but yeah...I'm quickly cornering myself into solely playing as Rome...

 

[Leathaface]

I don't think they are OP. Yes, they got lots of early game culture due to the free monuments and free roads is nice too, but the only victory condition they excel at is domination IMO. Nothing special about them with regards to Science or Culture victories.

The twitch streamer TheGameMechanic has a Deity ranking spreadsheet where he ranks each Civ by their ability to win on Deity. He regularly wins Deity games. Here is the spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...FYoatHYrnDrcus1FKEgBeAdPY/edit#gid=1376857320

(Click "Ability Breakdown" on the bottom of the screen to see how each Civ got their points total)

 

[TheDouche]

There are some good things on the list, especially peter and shaka being up there.

But I can't agree with a ranking system that gives both the legion and the U-boat the same 3 points. The deity games I know, legion is way more useful 95% of the time.

OP is right here. Rome is one of the strongest civs there are. OP, try other encampment civs, like shaka or japan. Or the horse ones. You might like those too

 

[BarbarianHunter]

Q: Is Rome OP?
A: It can be early game if you go all in with Oligarchy and legacy. The problem is the oligarchic legacy card doesn't age well. Nor do infantry class units.

If you like Rome, you should also like Macedon. Hetairoi with a great general will chew up enemy units and, quite frankly, chew up legions as well because they can slide in and out of the warzone by ignoring zones of control. This allows almost dead/heavily wounded Hetairoi to retreat and heal when legions in the same spot would be eliminated the next turn. They can also concentrate fire in a cluttered warzone where legions would have to engage a nearby target, again, due to zones of control. Hetairoi can be had as early as legions but you can't upgrade so you'll want to have 3 or 4 builders ready to overflow chop them up in a Basilikoi Paides with the +50% cav policy card and Magnus as soon as horsemanship comes online.
PS, The Game Mechanic ranks Macedon far too low .

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Lots of civs are OP in the hands of the player.

The question is can the AI be programmed to make the most effective use of all of it's special abilities, too? If so, then a lot of OP civs like Rome are suddenly just normal. If not, every civ will basically give the human a bonus. (Well, maybe not Georgia so much, but pretty much every other civ).

 

[Archon_Wing]

Yes they are. I would say they're #3 but I don't have DLCs so I assume stuff like Macedon, Nubia, and Australia are broken as well.

They are faster than most to Oligarchy, are guaranteed legions, and thus can just spam warriors at the start. They can even switch to Autocracy once you get the legacy card. Legions can also chop out more legions.

 

[SephiBBZ]

When I start near Rome, I always try to just kill them before legions, as fast as possible.

 

[Rambo919]

I have always stuck to playing Rome and I'm fine with that, the AI sucks so bad that as long as you can hold em off in the early stages you can focus on a proper economy and eureka's. Rome makes this easy with legions and instant roads between cities which means you can easily use settlers for instant forward bases. One you have a strong economy you can easily achieve any of the victories. Slightly behind in science? Just build a few extra campuses as soon as you notice the trend. AI keeps taking over city states? Just keep whittling their empires down with the lighter warmonger penalties until they pose no threat anymore.... this game REALLY needs proper vassalage.

 

[MonkeyPaw]

Trajan getting the +5 vs. Barbarians at turn 6 can be a game-saver

 

[Leathaface]

Trajan getting the +5 vs. Barbarians at turn 6 can be a game-saver

Are you sure Rome gets this bonus? Are you not mistaking it for the United States getting +5 combat strength on their home continent?

 

[SephiBBZ]

He is just saying that Trajan has the card +5 before other civ cause of the monument.

 

[NukeAJS]

Rome isn't OP but they are the best "all-around" civ imo. There's basically no conditions for them to not be able to exploit their strengths. The only condition I can think of is somehow spawning in an area with no rivers, lakes or mountains which would mean no baths.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

The only condition I can think of is somehow spawning in an area with no rivers, lakes or mountains which would mean no baths.

Spawning in an area with no rivers is a horrible start position for any civ. It almost always means a coastal start without a good position for a city-harbour-commercial hub triangle. It also almost always means no nearby mountain, meaning no good initial campus site (often no good Holy Site spot either).

 

[i_imperator]

What is the most efficiency way to do a legion rush? Build warriors beeline IW and upgrade or expand and attack later?

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

What is the most efficiency way to do a legion rush? Build warriors beeline IW and upgrade or expand and attack later?

Likely Builder (for the Craftmanship boost), Settler (for the Early Empire boost), then a bunch of Warriors and Slingers when you have the production boost policy slotted. A second Builder will likely be useful somewhere along the way to develop a Luxury or two to sell to get the gold needed to upgrade to Legions / Archers.

 

[Duuk]

All Civs are OP. Except for England.

 

[Leathaface]

All Civs are OP. Except for England.

I agree. And Norway is the most OP Civ of them all.

 

[BuzWeaverCiv]

I finished my first Deity game as them recently, so I've been trying to branch out and try other civ I haven't tried yet, and also try civs I've had success with in the past, and I never seem to have as great of a start, and thereafter as great of a game as when I'm Trajan. Maybe it's a fluke, but yeah...I'm quickly cornering myself into solely playing as Rome...

They are great if you're playing your first Deity game because you get a nice push with all the Rome bonuses, but I wouldn't consider them OP. They're just a great choice if you're playing your first Deity game.

 

[BuzWeaverCiv]

When I start near Rome, I always try to just kill them before legions, as fast as possible.

The same could be said for Greece, either Civ, they'll run away with Culture. You also have to keep an eye on Gandhi. I'm finding that Shaka can have a little bit of a runaway game in science of all things.

 

[ShakaKhan]

Rome isn't OP but they are the best "all-around" civ imo. There's basically no conditions for them to not be able to exploit their strengths. The only condition I can think of is somehow spawning in an area with no rivers, lakes or mountains which would mean no baths.

Agree. They have three infrastructure bonuses that give a minor boost to commerce, a major boost to culture tree progression and border expansion, and a per-city (more or less) bump to both housing and amenities. The current meta-state of the game makes it advantageous to have as many cities early as possible, and Rome takes better advantage of this than others, and almost completely passively. They also have a noteworthy unique unit to assist in getting more cities early. And most, most importantly, all of their bonuses come early.

The only other condition that can slow Rome down is if they start on a small landmass and don't have enough room to expand or conquer. But like others have said, this start wouldn't be a Rome-specific bad start, just a bad start in general.