Loyalty to specific civs.

[JustinianIV]

Okay, so I've been playing civ for about 11 months with around 700 hours of gameplay. It occurred to me that I have only used a small fraction of the civs available. Some I have played only once, yet there are others that I have never played.

Civs I've played regularly (more than once):
Byzantium
Celts
Ethiopia
Egypt
Babylon
Mongols

About half of all my games have been with the first 3. I have some concern over this since there are many others that look amazing. I end up becoming so attached to these civs that I feel strange trying out new ones.

There are some civs that I don't play again because they feel like they were designed for beginners (i.e. OP), yet there are really unique looking civs out there.

I don't know why I haven't tried France, Polynesia, Maya, Inca.

Anyone else feel they might be too loyal to a specific civ? Perhaps it's something to do with role play.

 

[Rob5000]

EDIT: OP adjsuted text, deleted

Polynesia, China, Japan, definitely - all were easy victories for me.

Right now I'm trying to play with as many civs as I can. Currently playing Siam on a Fantasy map script (nice script, btw, generates some cool landmasses w/ interesting configurations) - not really a fan of them but I'm trying to play as civs I wouldn't normally play as to break out of my comfort zone.

In general I just put my civ on random - if I've beaten the game with them before I usually restart to try to get someone new, unless I'm trying out something specific. I feel you'll get more out of the game and also learn more this way.

 

[SicklyAlbatross]

There's nothing wrong with having favorite civs and a preferred way of playing, it's all just for fun. But occasionally using another civ' to broaden your horizons is never a bad thing.

 

[Chiatroll]

I want to love Byzantium but the AI will get all the religions before I get a chance so often that I can't seem to get into her. I mostly end up swearing about the AI taking everything and leaving me with a couple UUs.

I love Assyria, Suleiman, Korea, and Brasil best I think. I hadn't played as everyone though. It's a lot of people.

 

[JustinianIV]

I want to love Byzantium but the AI will get all the religions before I get a chance so often that I can't seem to get into her. I mostly end up swearing about the AI taking everything and leaving me with a couple UUs.

I love Assyria, Suleiman, Korea, and Brasil best I think. I hadn't played as everyone though. It's a lot of people.

Ha, yeah Byzantium seems to be among the most polarizing of the civs. Either you love them or hate them. I love them because I know I really need to work to get big benefits. I guess that's why I'm so loyal; I love this civ!

 

[pawelo]

I'm less inclined to play with the warmonger civs.

My favourites so far are:
Vanilla & DLC: Arabia, Persia, Babylon, Corea, Inca (although I never won with them)
G&K: Maya, Ethiopia, Byzantium
BNW: Poland, Portugal, Brazil (have yet to win with them also)

However, when time comes for a domination victory, I like to pick Huns or Rome

 

[Chiatroll]

Ha, yeah Byzantium seems to be among the most polarizing of the civs. Either you love them or hate them. I love them because I know I really need to work to get big benefits. I guess that's why I'm so loyal; I love this civ!

Problem is I like to play with a full 22 civs on marathon on a huge map in game which means religion will get taken FAST and I am probably not going to get one which makes them kind of suck. Anything else though just feels less epic.

 

[JustinianIV]

Problem is I like to play with a full 22 civs on marathon on a huge map in game which means religion will get taken FAST and I am probably not going to get one which makes them kind of suck. Anything else though just feels less epic.

Yeah, though I love Theo, I can completely understand how Byzantium is not the right civ in such large maps. I tried playing on Epic once with them, but really couldn't get the timing and costs down. At least when you do find success with them, it doesn't feel hollow.

 

[veljko]

@JustinianIV

It seems to me you really like the benefit at the game start

Byzantium - great religion (most of the time much more important in the beginning and mid game)
Celts - great religion
Ethiopia - great religion
Egypt - bonus for building wonders, so why not to open the game with The Great Library
Babylon - early science boost, and great early unit and universal building
Mongols - relatively early (before mid game, at least in time spent in game, if not when considered by turn) you get chance to conquer the world with best universal unit of the game

If that is the case other civs you mentioned not to prefer would give you similar benefits, except France, which is now really good close to the end game. I strongly recommend you to play Polynesia, they are fun with every map (less on Pangea, of course) and every game style, as you will meet all civs and city states first, which is a great start!

Personally I find most fun in playing random maps and always with a different civ. I just do not like to play with Denmark, but if played on a suitable map, they are fun too.

 

[AlpsStranger]

China is probably my favorite in Civ5:BNW.

"China will grow larger."

EDIT: And the UA, UU, and UB for china are almost perfect fun-factor and power level wise. ( Well, OP really )

 

[HappyBuilder]

I most often play as the Maya or Egypt. Just because I find them fascinating in real life.

 

[Babri]

China is probably my favorite in Civ5:BNW.

"China will grow larger."

EDIT: And the UA, UU, and UB for china are almost perfect fun-factor and power level wise. ( Well, OP really )

"We have big plans".

The civs I have played most are Arabia, Mongolia, Polynesia & maybe the Aztecs.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I don't have go-to civs because I try to play different civs each game. And since I play Marathon, and it takes me better than a week to complete a game, it takes me a while to get through them all. I do, however, have several civs who I tend not to play. Germany, Japan, Denmark, and others with primarily Domination-flavored uniques. I don't mind a good war, but I don't want to win the game by war.

 

[MantaRevan]

I've played as Korea more than any other civ, although this appears to be a byproduct of Civ 5's amazing Asian soundtrack, but also the fact that Sejong is a bamf. I also tend to return to the Incas more than once, but that's based more on my liking of them IRL.

I try to get wins with every leader, but obviously I avoid some. For example, I'm waiting to do Japan until after they get remade.

 

[saboteur_]

I don't find it easy to name a favorite civ, or even a few that stand out above the rest. Maybe easier to name ones I don't like or find as interesting as the rest. I'll admit that I'm yet to play the huns for example.

I'm trying to get a win with all civs eventually, and when I start a game my primary selection criteria for a civ is "one that I haven't recently (or ever) played".

 

[JSMCAG]

I have yet to play with a Civilization more than once! (Well, actually, I think I played Rome twice, once in Hot Seat and one in Single player, but that was it)
Partly because I wanted to do things differently from Civilization IV (where I would almost always play as The Dutch), partly because THERE ARE SO MANY CIVILIZATIONS!!1!oneeleven
And partly because time was scarce this last year for me...

Since I am not a warmonger, I have yet to play as... pretty much any of them! I played once as Askia to try out a Domination Victory, was really boring!

These are the ones I've played as up until now:
Vanilla: America, England, France, Russia, Rome, Greece, Songhai, Arabia, Persia, India, Siam, The Iroquois, Egypt
DLC: Babylon, Spain, The Inca, Polynesia, Korea
G&K: Carthage, The Celts, The Maya, Austria, Ethiopia, Sweden
BNW: Portugal, The Shoshone
The bolded ones were the ones I enjoyed the most (thus I am more inclined to play them again), though there a few games I don't remember if I enjoyed it or not (Like for America or Siam, for some reason I don't remember anything from those...)
Persia would probably be bolded if the game had gone better... It was my worst game so far, but not because of the Civilization itself... (Never lose your settler to barbarians, specially for your second city... I don't think I fully recovered from that in my Persia game...) I should play as them again!

 

[sonicandfffan]

I've not played any Civ more than once yet, but when I do I imagine my first repeat will be Poland.

 

[ahawk]

There are several civs I've played far more than all the rest:

1) Old France (new France's UA is a bummer for me, though, and I've only played them once since BNW)
2) Aztecs (Floating Garden is amazing to pump up a city, UA is great for culture, UU is good for scouting)
3) Korea (UA is possibly the best in the game, and Hwacha is very useful for defense)

And Shoshone I've already played multiple full games with, so they may get on the list as well in time.

Part of why I play these a fair amount more than others is that they fit my play-style well: stay relatively small, get either early-game or long-lasting bonuses, and only fight offensive wars once I have an advantage. On the other hand, there are some civs I almost never play as, including
- Songhai
- Denmark
- Germany
- Spain
and these I don't like because they get little benefit other than their UU's (Spain's UA is too much based on chance, the other UA's are based on barbs and amphibious assaults, and the only thing I really like of any of these civ's uniques is the Mud Pyramid Mosque for the Songhai UB).

 

[Xichael]

My default civs are China and Japan. I'm a fan of asian themes civs. I still regularly play other civs, usually at random.

 

[Uncle_Joe]

My 'usuals' are:

England
Russia
Spain

But that isn't just Civ, that's any 'world stage' type of game that I play from Civ to Total War to EU etc.