[GS] Most OP Civ?

[kb27787]

Well, to be honest I did use your guide! The updated one, I mean.. it really helped me on the part with the aqueducts, it did not come to me that their +2 adjacency could count towards hansa.
I couldn't place canals or a dam and that's why I went with aqueducts.

...

As for runaway civs, yeah... Mali. Nobody beats Mali on the gold game. I mean, you can try if you like. You're welcome to fail. Ever tried being economic allies with AI Mali and sending a trade route?
Basically, if Mali is in the game, send spies there to siphon gold.

Kongo actually does pretty well in gold... If anything due to not having a production malus they can easily make more gold than Mali due to getting more cities up and overall having better early game infrastructure in place with some great merchant bonii. Mali does have that purchase discount going for them though... As well as being able to purchase districts without Reyna.

I've played both and will say they are close but after removal of harvest pantheon I'd say Kongo is easier to win with. The early faith only is useful if you get classical golden age and that is so hard to do with Mali (production malus really, really hurts now that deity barbs are as they are... Your routes are easily plundered and you take forever to get 3 archers)

 

[Troy Bruckner]

I am currently preparing an in-depth report, full of previously unacknowledged but perceptive insights, to show that Tamar of Georgia is by far the most OP civ. Loading, please wait...

At least in my avoid war strategy Georgia is by far not the worst Civ.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Kongo's absolutely hilarious if you get suzerain of Kandy and the GS that reveals the map for you. Insta-get 8 holy relics.

 

[kb27787]

Kongo's absolutely hilarious if you get suzerain of Kandy and the GS that reveals the map for you. Insta-get 8 holy relics.

It takes the exact perfect setup, but if Cree is in the game with Kandy surviving, Kongo can get a whole bunch of relics all at once come civil service (if Kandy is in the game, avoid exploring until you have suzerainty). I've only managed it once in my civ career though.

 

[paxis]

I'm playing now Australia on online speed. Turn 80 and I had 3 times DoW so 30 turns with 100% production. It is awesome and in my opinion realy OP.

 

[Bechhold]

Korea.

 

[ezzlar]

There are two aspects with Germany that I really like. First, the risk is minimal to not being able to use their abilities. Most of the other civs, even Korea, depend on some more specific conditions. Secondly, once up and running the bonus is also 100% OP with those adjacency bonuses, bonus card and Coal plant. You can do anything that requires production.

Then on the other hand, waging war is an OP strategy so civs that facilitate war are therefore also "OP".

 

[DubiousSquirrel]

Everybody disregard Incas even though their early game is incredible. Ancient era rush units or Korea science is all well and good, but with Inca hill/mountain bias and terrace farms you are guaranteed at minimum 2 and often 3 3 production / 4-6 food tiles in your capital on turn 15 or so. Thats an incredible start you can turn into anything you want - cities, conquest, districts.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Sumeria is pretty good pick here due to being able to do pretty much Everything well with science not particular worse than Korea (with more flexbility), early Culture not far from Rome while having access to warcarts, cheap levy, barbarian camp rewards and better Alliances. Probably a civ that is well above average in all victory conditions, except maybe religious (probably still above average due to the Culture advantage).

There is Little ifs with Sumeria, starting with warcarts basically make you immune to early aggression and barbarians while allow you to do wars early on. Ziggurats allow you to keep good Tech and Culture rate for a pretty low price and is easy to spam which works pretty well with an aggressive strategy. Extra barbarian rewards makes a strong early game even stronger, better Alliances keep your mid game strong and cheaper levy can be useful in certain cases.

Most other civs have to get atleast past a small part of the game, Sumeria is basically a 1 turn win which is pretty good.

Germany may have a stronger late game than Sumeria but it have more ifs and the more ifs a civ have the weaker it probably is and it is the early game that is the most important part.

Aztecs can maybe be even stronger but if you start on a map that don't allow you to make good use of your eagle warriors, Sumeria is probably going to be the stronger civ due to its all around advantages. Being super great at one thing is not Always the best if that advantage can somehow be nullified.

 

[iammaxhailme]

Kongo's absolutely hilarious if you get suzerain of Kandy and the GS that reveals the map for you. Insta-get 8 holy relics.

Yeah. Mont St Michel or Yerevan work too, since you get Apostles basically free.

 

[Civ Chemist]

Interesting how no one has mentioned Hungary. I've gotten by far the fastest Domination and Science victory with them. It is pretty easy to get an early suzerain (first meet + quest + mysticism; first meet/quest + amani or worst case mysticism + amani) then rush swordsmen and you can quite easily conquer your first neighbor without even having to invest in any military. This allows you to quickly expand and develop your cities as in any other peaceful game and let your levied units do all the fighting. Additionally, with some smart city placement you can get so much free production from cheaper districts and its buildings.

I also agree that the Zulu are absolutely amazing. I think the key to their success is to rush horsemen (ignoring impi) and conquer your first neighbor. By the time you reach castles to upgrade into coursers you should also have reached mercenaries for cheap upgrades and free courser corps from taking weak cities. Those beasts have 59 CS (+5 with general) and can stomp everything in their way, even melting through walled cities without any siege support.

 

[Pietato]

Hungary is the best domination civ.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

Korea. I still remember the MP game. when my neighbor try to rush me with a dozen archers and horsemen at T50, I break his dream with knights, muskets and Hwachas.

 

[Tabarnak]

Korea. I still remember the MP game. when my neighbor try to rush me with a dozen archers and horsemen at T50, I break his dream with knights, muskets and Hwachas.

Turn 50? That's bad from him. Usually people attack with these units around the turn 30! Either rush knights and/or xbows at that point.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

The basic story is that civs that have strong early game bonuses such as Korea is going to be considerably stronger than civs who get their stuff later such as Sweden. Past let say the mid game, the game should be under Control so having strong late game bonuses have no actual value other than making you win a bit quicker, while having strong early game bonuses make the hardest part of the game easier.

Playing someone like Sweden is pretty much like playing a civ that have nearly no unique abilities while playing some like Sumeria is a whole different story.

 

[enKage]

Sincerely only Macedonia give you the feeling of playing 1 or 2 lower difficulty. Luckily AI don't utilise its potential. Every eureka and every inspiration in the game + effectively 2 campuses per city. Top 1 scientific civ and nearly top in domination ( why go for domination if on large map you are in space before taking last capital?).
Played right Macedonia is the most OP civ in all civ franchises.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Sincerely only Macedonia give you the feeling of playing 1 or 2 lower difficulty. Luckily AI don't utilise its potential. Every eureka and every inspiration in the game + effectively 2 campuses per city. Top 1 scientific civ and nearly top in domination ( why go for domination if on large map you are in space before taking last capital?).
Played right Macedonia is the most OP civ in all civ franchises.

Being good at conquest make you pretty much good at Everything due to raw Power of having alot of cities, wonder and resources. A good conquest civ is probably going to be better at Culture or religion than a Culture or religious focused civ without Tools to make easy early game conquest.

 

[Tabarnak]

MP op civs often enumerated by hosts: Sumeria, Kupe, Korea, Tomy. But rarely Sweeden(almost never, in fact), Macedonia, Zulus, etc.

At some point we don't want to eliminate half of civs from the game it's kinda lame. That's why mods like the wonderful CPL Balanced mod comes handy for mp games.

 

[Socrates99]

I still say early rush civs trump everything. Currently revisiting Aztec on deity. I got early DoWs from my neighbors. I spammed nothing but Eagles early on and converted a horde of units into workers which I used to crank out holy sites and campuses. I captured two settlers during the war and from those three cities I got a religion up and running, got my classical GA and mopped the floor with the aggressors. Faith bought settlers using monumentality and claimed a massive empire. My only other neighbor was Mapuche and headed into another GA in the medieval when he often rushes his UU I switched to peaceful builder mode. I can now choose any VC except maybe culture since I used religion rather than theaters for culture. This is with almost no real planning.

Germany, Korea, Inca, whatever, doesn't matter, none of them are so...just plain effortless. Doesn't matter what bonuses you get. If you're playing with the same skill set the early snowball crushes competition.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Germany, Korea, Inca, whatever, doesn't matter, none of them are so...just plain effortless. Doesn't matter what bonuses you get. If you're playing with the same skill set the early snowball crushes competition.

Yes, the game is so rewarding for rushing, it don't have any mechanic to limit expansion and the ai is not smart enough to see aggressive civilization as a big threat and lack the ability to use units effectively no matter when defending or attacking. Everything about warfare is so rewarding, conquer cities also make the enemy weaker while pillaging have yields comparable to chopping and it can be done multiple times and give stuff such as science and Culture.

As settlers increase in cost and one setter give just a basic city compared to an army which can give several well developed cities and it is quite clear which is the better investment.

In terms of yield, even the best focused civs can't beat quantity, a civ that have twice the amount of cities will likely be ahead in Everything even if it is generic in Everything, civs like Sweden or American can't simply do nothing and wait for their late game stuff because they just like Everyone need an empire and the end result is the civs that have the easiest time to build an empire will probably be the strongest in all victory conditions even if they should be weaker if you simply look straight at the bonuses because the context is so important.

For example Aztecs who may not have any direct science or Culture bonuses can become a monster in both just by doing what they are good at and far out eclipse the civs that should be good at Culture or science (if they even manage to survive the early game).and the later the game pull the more and more ahead the aztecs will be due to snowballing.

The later a civ gets its bonuses, the more likely it is going to be behind and the more behind it is the harder it will be to catchup.