I'd go by competitive MP winrate after large sample size. Non trivial data to acquire so any tier list is an estimate at best of course.
This is probably the only legitimate way to really determine how good a civilization or leader is; other than that, it's just opinions.
Speaking of opinions, here are my thoughts on what I consider to be the middle of the pack.
Mid Tier
17. Egypt
Egypt have a set of pretty good bonuses, but don’t have one bonus that particularly stands out as amazing. Iteru isn’t as strong of a wonder-spamming bonus as France’s or China’s, but it lasts for the entire game and applies to districts. It does only apply to river tiles, so the ability’s application is a bit limited, but remember that many of the most coveted wonders in the game - like Big Ben or the Hermitage if you’re going for a culture victory - need to be built on rivers. Not to mention that you’re going to be building commercial hubs and aqueducts on rivers anyways, so this bonus will help getting those out. The removal of floodplain restrictions is nice, but unless the adjacency bonuses are too juicy, you’ll probably want to farm those tiles regardless (or capitalize on Lady of the Reeds & Marshes). Mediterranean’s Bride is a pretty nice ability, and guarantees Egypt a good source of income. The fact that it gives extra food to your trading partner is a bit of a drawback, but since you’re getting extra gold in a situation that no other civ can, it outweighs the cost. The sphinx isn’t a game changer for Egypt, but it’s a nice augmenter for the wonders you’re already going to be gunning for. The extra faith is nice for religious victories, and they contribute surprisingly well towards culture victories. It’s worth mentioning that if you’re Egypt, you can pretty reliably get your hands on Petra if you really want it, and sphinxes become amazing when paired with that particular wonder. The Maryannu Chariot Archer is the most underwhelming of Egypt’s bonuses. You might look at the ridiculous combat strength (33 ranged strength, the highest in the ancient era) and correctly assume that it eats units for breakfast. However, your expectations should be tampered by the astronomical production cost and the penalty when attacking cities. Therefore, it’s best used as a defensive unit, but the high cost means you could still be building one when an angry Montezuma starts banging at your palace doors. Overall, Egypt’s a pretty decent civ, but one that’s pretty dependent on an optimal start.
16. England
In my rankings for when the game first came out, I had England much lower on the tier list. However, seeing how their bonuses interact in game and getting buffed in a few major ways, they now sit comfortably at about the middle of the pack. British Museum is a pretty solid boost towards a cultural victory, since the extra tourism from artifacts is impactful, but not to the same extent as the film studio. It really only effects the culture victory (outside of extra culture to move through the civic tree), so it’s a welcome bonus but not an exceedingly great one. The Sea Dog is an acceptable unique unit, which in the right circumstances can get you a huge navy basically for free. The two problems with the Sea Dog are that the AI doesn’t build a whole lot of navies in the first place and that the mechanic of capturing ships is percent based: it’s not guaranteed to fire every time. Combined with the fact that getting a large navy isn’t as impactful as you’d like and that the Sea Dog has no other extra strengths from its privateer counterpart, and you end up with a UU that can be really good, but often times is just ok. With those two bonuses out of the way, let’s talk about the ones that make England strong. Pax Britannica is an ability that once you start conquering/settling cities on other continents, you really start to amass a huge standing army. This ability also gives you access to the Redcoat, which I would describe as the strongest unit of the Industrial Era. If you’re going for a domination victory, you’re probably fighting off your continent by this point, which brings the unit’s 10 bonus strength when fighting off your home continent into play. This is stronger than an infantry from the modern era, never mind anything in the Industrial Era. You’d be correct in looking at the unit’s production cost and thinking that they’d be unviable to build, but remember the free melee units from Pax Britannica. This means that all you have to do is research Military Science, start conquering, and you begin to amass an army of Redcoats for free. They do come into play late in the game, and you need to start the initial process of conquest to use this strategy, but once you get the ball rolling, you’ll sweep like a crimson tide across your enemies. The free movement when disembarking is nice as well when moving across the ocean. And finally we arrive at the best asset England has to offer: the Royal Navy Dockyard. The extra gold on other continents, extra great admiral points, and extra movement for naval units are all solid, but what makes it good is the extra trade route it offers. Ok, so it’s not technically a true extra trade route, but most civs will only get one trade route when building a commercial hub and a harbor in a city as opposed to two. England does not has this limitation, getting both trade routes without missing out on the other. This means England will get more trade routes than any other civilization in the game, and all the potential growth/production or gold – depending on how you use them – associated with that. All in all, England are a really solid civilization with a lot of really cool applications in game. I just think the 15 civs that follow are better.
15. Rome
This might be one of the more controversial placings on the list, since some people in the community think Rome might be top five, while others argue that they belong in the bottom five. At release I thought Rome was in the top five, but with a bit more experience seeing them in action, my opinion of them has been tempered. I still think they’re good, but other civs are better in my opinion. Let’s start with what’s perceived to be their weakest bonus, All Roads Lead to Rome. I agree that it’s their weakest asset, but the ability is getting severely underrated. Free roads immediately after settling a city (if in range) is quite handy, allowing you to mobilize armies and move around builders much faster than you’d otherwise be able to. The extra gold from trading posts (which applies to both domestic and international trade routes, if I’m not mistaken) isn’t game breaking, but extra gold is never to be frowned upon. Moving onto Trajan’s Column, free monuments whenever founding a city is quite powerful, and is the main attraction for playing as Rome in my opinion. This bonus gives you free culture (at a time where moving through the tech tree to get to Political Philosophy is very impactful), an increased rate of border expansion, and it frees up your production queue at the start of the game. Not to mention the bonus is multiplied whenever you found a new city. The ability falls off as the game progresses, but is very strong at the beginning of the game. The Legion is a really powerful unit, as they have the same strength as a Varu (technically the Varu is stronger because of the strength reduction, but I digress) and do not require iron. Yes, they’re more costly in terms of production, but it can be upgraded into from warriors, partially alieving that burden. The builder charge is kind of handy for clearing land, but is more a niche asset than anything else. Once Rome unlocks Legions, they become one of the biggest military powerhouses in the classical era, and can expand via conquest quite rapidly. What also helps their expansion is the Bath, an aqueduct district replacement. The district gives an extra source of amenities that would otherwise be unavailable, which is nice, but for me the real draw of the Bath comes from the mechanic that all unique districts have: that it has half the production cost of normal. What this means for an aqueduct replacement is that potentially, you could settle a city as Rome in an otherwise unviable location for any other civ, quickly build a Bath, and now you have a full-functioning city. This may be some theorycrafting that doesn’t really amount to much, but it’s a possibility. So in Rome, we have a civ that has some very strong expansion opportunities, and is overall pretty good. But much like England, I find the following civs to simply be better.
14. Persia
And so we arrive at our first DLC civilization; spoiler alert: I think they’re all pretty damn good. But back to Persia, their unique ability is Satrapies, which is a really solid one. A free trade route once you get to Political Philosophy, a tech you should be beelining regardless, is great. In the early game, you’re going to be using those trade routes internally to promote growth & production, so the extra culture & gold from those domestic trade routes is really helpful. The gold won’t compare to what you’ll be able to get from external trade routes later on, but getting gold where you otherwise wouldn’t be is nothing to scoff at. The advanced roads is ok, but there’s not too much of a difference in roads from one era up to the next. Fall of Babylon lets you go full blitzkrieg mode, powering through enemy territory and arriving at the city gates before you know it. If you’re going to be met with heavy resistance, this ability has less of an impact than otherwise, but is still nice for positioning. The occupied cities isn’t too impactful, and the warmongering/war weariness changes are nice, but not game changing. The Immortals, to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of. They synergize nicely with Fall of Babylon to get some fast, sturdy archers, but you’re left without much of a strong force to capture cities, relying on outdated spearmen & heavy chariots or horsemen to break through the walls. I just find the unit to be somewhat redundant, since you’re probably going to have archers regardless, and I’d prefer a standard melee unit, but perhaps I’m making a misjudgment here. And then we have the pairidaeza, or as I like to call them, “good châteaus.” Good châteaus give all the bonuses that the château does, but more reliably and better all around. More culture, more gold, more appeal, and is all around really good while making France’s countryside look like an Alabama trailer park (Firaxis pls buff France). I could be underrating Persia’s military strength via the Immortals, but even despite that I think they’re a quite solid civ, and deserving of 14th place.
13. Greece (Pericles)
Rounding out the mid-tiers, we have Greece under the leadership of Pericles. Let’s start off with Plato’s Republic, because sweet Jesus, this ability is amazing. Having an extra wild card policy slot is ridiculously strong at the start of the game, allowing you to take both God King and Urban Planning to have faith, gold, and production gains at the same time. This continues to be relevant as the game progresses, letting the player adapt to almost any situation. It’s powerful, flexible, and I love it. Surrounded by Glory isn’t too impactful at the start of the game, but your wildcard slot will let you take an extra diplomatic policy early on to establish your city state hegemony. 5% per city state suzerainty isn’t great early on (say you have 25 culture per turn and are suzerain of two city states – that’s only a 2.5 cpt increase), but once you get more city-states and more culture, this can let you plow through the later civics, arriving at the advanced governments quickly. Speaking of additional culture, we have the Acropolis. The Acropolis gives a major adjacency bonus (+2 culture per turn) when built next to the city center; this is pretty impactful because the adjacency bonuses for the theater district are fairly hard to come by, giving Greece an extra culture edge over other civs. Unfortunately, it can only built on hills, which is an unfortunate constriction on the district. Essentially as Greece, you have to settle next to hills to reap the benefits of the district. This can often times mean you have to settle in awkward locations to capitalize on an Acropolis, or not be able to use its adjacency bonuses at all. In the Hoplite, the Greeks have the opportunity to build a wall of units to use offensively or defensively; they’re not the most flexible units formation-wise, and once the wall starts to crumble they get significantly weaker, but they’re a solid unique unit. Overall, I think Pericles’ Greece is a solid, mid-tier level civ. His bonus is pretty good, the Hoplite is ok, the Acropolis is good when it’s viable, but Plato’s Republic is one of the best abilities in the game. The only major problem for Pericles is the (in my opinion) greater appeal of his Spartan counterpart.
