Power ranking the civilizations
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Photi
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as one who enjoys playing Persia, the problem i have with linking up the warriors with the immortals is that your opponents usually have walls up before you can hit them with immortals. i'd rather have horsemen or heavy chariots. i'll go with either one depending on resources and tech goals, and if i was more in the habit of building an early encampment i'd probably always go with horsemen. but then again early enough knights are no joke, so it remains a toss up. i will say it is easy to get down on the immortals due to their melee/ranged androgyny and is the reason i agree with people who do not place them top tier.
Jewelrunna
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And y'all thought I was gonna let this thread die: not on my watch. I do apologize for the long gap between this part and the last, as real life has a way of getting in the way. But here we go, the Great Civs!
Great Tier
8. Macedon
Macedon is a bit like India in terms of its design, in that both Civs are designed to focus on one thing; the core difference being while India is merely good at their niche, Macedon excels in theirs. All of Macedon’s bonuses are oriented around conquering cities and then continuing to snowball from via their militaristic exploits. Hellenistic Fusion embodies that design philosophy to a T, and it’s a stellar bonus. Every time Macedon captures a city, they receive a Eureka or Inspiration depending on the districts present there; this is really powerful because it allows Macedon to prioritize their cities to build a military and the districts that allow them to support it, and not fall behind in the tech and civics tree. In the same vein, we have the Basilikoi Paides: this barracks replacement gives you 25% of the production cost of a military unit back in the form of science upon that unit’s completion. That is a significant amount of science towards early techs (16.25 science if you build a spearman, for instance), where the tech costs are fairly low. Much like their civ ability, this building allows Macedon to move down the tech tree while prioritizing conquest, garnering access to more advanced units to crush their opponents. Alexander’s ability, To World’s End, prevents his cities from accruing war weariness while his army is off gallivanting in foreign lands. This is really handy, as it allows Alexander to do what he does best – be in a constant state of total war – without any of the consequences besides a poor international reputation, which he frankly doesn’t care about. Additionally, if the bonus that if he captures a city with a wonder restoring all his unit’s to full HP is really powerful, and comes into play more often than you’d think, since in Civ 6 wonders are more often spread throughout cities than concentrated in one, a-la Civ 5. Before I get into Macedon’s unique units, it’s worth mentioning that among the Civs that have multiple unique units, they tend to be spread out across the eras. Both of Macedon’s come in the classical era, meaning that when Macedon enters the classical era, they hit a power spike that no Civ can compare to, allowing them to faceroll any opposition that dares stand in their way. The Hetairoi is a really strong Horseman replacement, which makes the already fearsome Horseman even better with a great general nearby. You shouldn’t have much of a problem getting great generals as Macedon, since you’ve already been building a ton of Basilikoi Paides, and due to the fact that the Hetairoi also generate great general points from kills. The Hypaspist also gains 5 combat strength when besieging a district, which I imagine means encampments and city centers. This synergizes really well with Alexander’s abilities, since he will be conquering cities faster, activating his abilities. The 50% bonus to support units that the Hypaspist really only comes into play with the Battering Ram, but allows them to take cities that much faster. Taken as a whole, Alexander is possibly the single best domination civ in the game, but their abilities only come into play once you get off to a good start. Once that ball starts rolling though, Macedon’s strengths will make any opponent quake with fear.
7. Arabia
Science-oriented civs are always potent in any game of Civ, and they don’t get more science focused than Saladin’s Arabia. As an aside, I do think that it speaks volumes about how more well-rounded Civ 6 (at least in base design philosophy) than Civ 5 in that a science Civ doesn’t automatically become top 3 in the game. Moving onto The Last Prophet, there are two main ways that you can think about this bonus. You could view it as a sort of null bonus, since if you do want to pursue founding a religion, you would want to prioritize getting it early so you can get the beliefs that you want. If you gun for a religion, that sort of makes Saladin’s ability irrelevant. Or you could look as a way to be guaranteed a religion while prioritizing other things in the early game, such as growing an army, building encampments or campuses, or simply settling more cities. There are arguments to be made for both sides, but regardless of your opinion on the religious side of the ability, the additional science for each city following your religion is pretty beneficial if you’re spreading your religion around effectively. Righteousness of the Faith is a great unique ability, because it not only increases the viability of your religious buildings, but it makes them substantially better in the late game. A 10% increase in culture, science, and faith isn’t significant early on, but once a city starts churning out 50 for one yield, now you’ve got a notable increase on your hands. The Mamluk is incredible, being one of the strongest unique units in the game. Knights are the dominant unit of the medieval era, so getting one that heals itself at the end of each turn is amazing. Using Arabia’s science advantage, you can realistically beeline Stirrups and plow through your neighbors’ armies with your invincible knights. Speaking of a science advantage, the Madrasa is quite possibly the best unique building in the game. The bonus faith is nice and all for religious spread and the other applications of faith we’ve discussed, but what makes the Madrasa interesting to me is when you unlock it. Compared to the normal tech of Education, you actually unlock the Madrasa via Theology – a civic in the classical era. This means, depending on your cultural yields, that you actually unlock the Madrasa much earlier than a normal university, giving Arabia a scientific head start over other civs, leading to more advanced militaries and garnering core techs much earlier. Arabia is a potent military force in the Medieval era, and are incredibly strong religious and scientific civs even without their amazing unique unit; overall an excellent civ.
6. Aztec
I’ll be the first to admit I heavily underrated the Aztec when the game first launched; my initial opinion of the civ was that of a mid-tier. Then I played as them and found out how incredibly wrong I was: the Aztecs are an amazing civ. With Gifts of the Tlatoani, the Aztec can expand much farther earlier, since the early amenities you get will become that much more impactful. The real calling card of this ability, however, is the bonus strength all your units getting from having amenities. If you get a really strong start, you could potentially end up with roughly 3-4 amenities, giving your units an equivalent amount of strength; that strength bonus might seem small, but minute differences in strength have a much greater impact on combat in Civ VI than Civ V. This gives Montezuma a big edge in combat early on, and one that only increases as the game goes on. Speaking of edges in early game war, we have the Eagle Warrior. This unit has a combat strength of 28, which is higher than the 25 on a Spearman, completely dwarfing the warrior it replaces. Now, it does have a far higher production cost than the warrior – about a 60% increase to be exact – but if you manage to get your hands on a few on these bad boys, you can destroy nearby opposition when they’ll be meddling with warriors, slingers, and archers. Additionally, the Eagle Warriors sort of pay for themselves by way of getting free builders for kills on enemy civs (sorry guys, it doesn’t work on barbs – that’d be too ridiculous). This also synergizes beautifully with the Aztec unique ability, Legend of the Five Suns. For me, this is the main attraction for playing the Aztec, and it is one hell of an attraction. Being able to rush districts is amazing, allowing you to churn out districts in 5 charges of a builder. This allows the Aztec to, with admittedly extra input into a city, have them come online faster than any other civ. If you’re warring early on with Eagle Warriors, you won’t even have to put too much extra input into a city, since the free builders you’ll be getting can go directly into districts. Another fun trick with this ability is that you can use builder charges to get a spaceport online in 5 turns, which is handy for a science victory. The tlachtli is, admittedly, a pretty irrelevant. The Aztecs don’t have much of a use for the bonus faith, but the bonus great general points is pretty handy, though not too impactful. As a Civ overall, the Aztecs can use their Eagle Warriors to power up their cities to a ridiculous level, and their amenities to beat down on all their rivals. An excellent Civ that is always a blast to play.
5. Russia
Closing out the second-best tier of Civs, we have Russia. When I saw the First Look for Russia, my gut reaction was that they looked terrible. I couldn’t have been more wrong for Peter’s sake, because their bonuses are extremely potent. Let’s get the weakest of Peter’s abilities out of the way, The Grand Embassy. If it were more than +1 science/culture for every 3 Techs/Civics you were behind, it might be kind of useful, but realistically you’re not going to be behind players that much in an equal playing field. That is, unless you’re playing on deity. This ability transforms from pretty weak to actually pretty useful when dealing with an AI with absurd bonuses, making Russia one of the best deity civs. Also beneficial in that area is Mother Russia. Getting more extra land when settling a city made the Shoshone a great civ in Civilization V, and it’s even better in Civilization VI when the extra tiles can be used for wonders & districts. Not only that, but the bonus production and faith turns tundra tiles – ones that are pretty unappealing for other civs to settle – into useful land for Russia, particularly tundra forest & hills. Also, as I alluded to early, getting a bunch of extra land early on means claiming extra land that the AI or human opponents can’t snatch from you (barring culture bomb civs); particularly useful for the deity player that has to deal with quick-expanding opponents. And then we get to the Cossack: a unique unit so absurdly strong, that were it not for a soon-to-be discussed even crazier unique unit, it would easily be the best unique unit in the game. In addition to a preexisting extra five combat strength over the cavalry it replaces, it gets an extra five strength for fighting in Russia’s borders (which, remember, should be pretty extensive), allowing it to triumph over even England’s Redcoats on the defense. If that weren’t ludicrous enough, it can move after attacking, essentially making it a Civ V-era mounted unit. That means that all the hit-and-run tactics that made mounted units the gold standard in that game are back, and all the more potent in Russia’s hands. I could gush all day about how good the Cossack is, but there’s another game-breaking asset in Russia’s hand. That asset is the Lavra, and man oh man is this district a thing of beauty. First, the best thing about the Lavra comes from the fact that it is a unique district, allowing it to be built in half the time of a normal holy site. For most other civs, you don’t want to prioritize holy sites early on, as the net benefit they garner the player is outweighed by the opportunity cost of everything else you need in the early game. Russia doesn’t share that same opportunity cost, meaning they can build holy sites earlier than other civilizations, and start earning great prophet points earlier than their opposition. This, when combined with Russia’s bonus faith from tundra (and quite likely, the Dance of the Aurora pantheon) makes Russia unequivocally the best civilization in the game for the Religious Victory. The Lavra also gives great writer, artist, and musician points at a point where no other civilization can get them, making them another strong contender for a cultural victory; though maybe not as strong as a civ like the Kongo. The extra tiles for expending great people isn’t to be ignored, but since you’ll already have a surplus of tiles, it’s more of an icing on the cake type of bonus. Russia is an amazing civ to play around with, but I think it’s just shy of being ludicrously overpowered; unlike the four civs remaining.
Great Tier
8. Macedon
Macedon is a bit like India in terms of its design, in that both Civs are designed to focus on one thing; the core difference being while India is merely good at their niche, Macedon excels in theirs. All of Macedon’s bonuses are oriented around conquering cities and then continuing to snowball from via their militaristic exploits. Hellenistic Fusion embodies that design philosophy to a T, and it’s a stellar bonus. Every time Macedon captures a city, they receive a Eureka or Inspiration depending on the districts present there; this is really powerful because it allows Macedon to prioritize their cities to build a military and the districts that allow them to support it, and not fall behind in the tech and civics tree. In the same vein, we have the Basilikoi Paides: this barracks replacement gives you 25% of the production cost of a military unit back in the form of science upon that unit’s completion. That is a significant amount of science towards early techs (16.25 science if you build a spearman, for instance), where the tech costs are fairly low. Much like their civ ability, this building allows Macedon to move down the tech tree while prioritizing conquest, garnering access to more advanced units to crush their opponents. Alexander’s ability, To World’s End, prevents his cities from accruing war weariness while his army is off gallivanting in foreign lands. This is really handy, as it allows Alexander to do what he does best – be in a constant state of total war – without any of the consequences besides a poor international reputation, which he frankly doesn’t care about. Additionally, if the bonus that if he captures a city with a wonder restoring all his unit’s to full HP is really powerful, and comes into play more often than you’d think, since in Civ 6 wonders are more often spread throughout cities than concentrated in one, a-la Civ 5. Before I get into Macedon’s unique units, it’s worth mentioning that among the Civs that have multiple unique units, they tend to be spread out across the eras. Both of Macedon’s come in the classical era, meaning that when Macedon enters the classical era, they hit a power spike that no Civ can compare to, allowing them to faceroll any opposition that dares stand in their way. The Hetairoi is a really strong Horseman replacement, which makes the already fearsome Horseman even better with a great general nearby. You shouldn’t have much of a problem getting great generals as Macedon, since you’ve already been building a ton of Basilikoi Paides, and due to the fact that the Hetairoi also generate great general points from kills. The Hypaspist also gains 5 combat strength when besieging a district, which I imagine means encampments and city centers. This synergizes really well with Alexander’s abilities, since he will be conquering cities faster, activating his abilities. The 50% bonus to support units that the Hypaspist really only comes into play with the Battering Ram, but allows them to take cities that much faster. Taken as a whole, Alexander is possibly the single best domination civ in the game, but their abilities only come into play once you get off to a good start. Once that ball starts rolling though, Macedon’s strengths will make any opponent quake with fear.
7. Arabia
Science-oriented civs are always potent in any game of Civ, and they don’t get more science focused than Saladin’s Arabia. As an aside, I do think that it speaks volumes about how more well-rounded Civ 6 (at least in base design philosophy) than Civ 5 in that a science Civ doesn’t automatically become top 3 in the game. Moving onto The Last Prophet, there are two main ways that you can think about this bonus. You could view it as a sort of null bonus, since if you do want to pursue founding a religion, you would want to prioritize getting it early so you can get the beliefs that you want. If you gun for a religion, that sort of makes Saladin’s ability irrelevant. Or you could look as a way to be guaranteed a religion while prioritizing other things in the early game, such as growing an army, building encampments or campuses, or simply settling more cities. There are arguments to be made for both sides, but regardless of your opinion on the religious side of the ability, the additional science for each city following your religion is pretty beneficial if you’re spreading your religion around effectively. Righteousness of the Faith is a great unique ability, because it not only increases the viability of your religious buildings, but it makes them substantially better in the late game. A 10% increase in culture, science, and faith isn’t significant early on, but once a city starts churning out 50 for one yield, now you’ve got a notable increase on your hands. The Mamluk is incredible, being one of the strongest unique units in the game. Knights are the dominant unit of the medieval era, so getting one that heals itself at the end of each turn is amazing. Using Arabia’s science advantage, you can realistically beeline Stirrups and plow through your neighbors’ armies with your invincible knights. Speaking of a science advantage, the Madrasa is quite possibly the best unique building in the game. The bonus faith is nice and all for religious spread and the other applications of faith we’ve discussed, but what makes the Madrasa interesting to me is when you unlock it. Compared to the normal tech of Education, you actually unlock the Madrasa via Theology – a civic in the classical era. This means, depending on your cultural yields, that you actually unlock the Madrasa much earlier than a normal university, giving Arabia a scientific head start over other civs, leading to more advanced militaries and garnering core techs much earlier. Arabia is a potent military force in the Medieval era, and are incredibly strong religious and scientific civs even without their amazing unique unit; overall an excellent civ.
6. Aztec
I’ll be the first to admit I heavily underrated the Aztec when the game first launched; my initial opinion of the civ was that of a mid-tier. Then I played as them and found out how incredibly wrong I was: the Aztecs are an amazing civ. With Gifts of the Tlatoani, the Aztec can expand much farther earlier, since the early amenities you get will become that much more impactful. The real calling card of this ability, however, is the bonus strength all your units getting from having amenities. If you get a really strong start, you could potentially end up with roughly 3-4 amenities, giving your units an equivalent amount of strength; that strength bonus might seem small, but minute differences in strength have a much greater impact on combat in Civ VI than Civ V. This gives Montezuma a big edge in combat early on, and one that only increases as the game goes on. Speaking of edges in early game war, we have the Eagle Warrior. This unit has a combat strength of 28, which is higher than the 25 on a Spearman, completely dwarfing the warrior it replaces. Now, it does have a far higher production cost than the warrior – about a 60% increase to be exact – but if you manage to get your hands on a few on these bad boys, you can destroy nearby opposition when they’ll be meddling with warriors, slingers, and archers. Additionally, the Eagle Warriors sort of pay for themselves by way of getting free builders for kills on enemy civs (sorry guys, it doesn’t work on barbs – that’d be too ridiculous). This also synergizes beautifully with the Aztec unique ability, Legend of the Five Suns. For me, this is the main attraction for playing the Aztec, and it is one hell of an attraction. Being able to rush districts is amazing, allowing you to churn out districts in 5 charges of a builder. This allows the Aztec to, with admittedly extra input into a city, have them come online faster than any other civ. If you’re warring early on with Eagle Warriors, you won’t even have to put too much extra input into a city, since the free builders you’ll be getting can go directly into districts. Another fun trick with this ability is that you can use builder charges to get a spaceport online in 5 turns, which is handy for a science victory. The tlachtli is, admittedly, a pretty irrelevant. The Aztecs don’t have much of a use for the bonus faith, but the bonus great general points is pretty handy, though not too impactful. As a Civ overall, the Aztecs can use their Eagle Warriors to power up their cities to a ridiculous level, and their amenities to beat down on all their rivals. An excellent Civ that is always a blast to play.
5. Russia
Closing out the second-best tier of Civs, we have Russia. When I saw the First Look for Russia, my gut reaction was that they looked terrible. I couldn’t have been more wrong for Peter’s sake, because their bonuses are extremely potent. Let’s get the weakest of Peter’s abilities out of the way, The Grand Embassy. If it were more than +1 science/culture for every 3 Techs/Civics you were behind, it might be kind of useful, but realistically you’re not going to be behind players that much in an equal playing field. That is, unless you’re playing on deity. This ability transforms from pretty weak to actually pretty useful when dealing with an AI with absurd bonuses, making Russia one of the best deity civs. Also beneficial in that area is Mother Russia. Getting more extra land when settling a city made the Shoshone a great civ in Civilization V, and it’s even better in Civilization VI when the extra tiles can be used for wonders & districts. Not only that, but the bonus production and faith turns tundra tiles – ones that are pretty unappealing for other civs to settle – into useful land for Russia, particularly tundra forest & hills. Also, as I alluded to early, getting a bunch of extra land early on means claiming extra land that the AI or human opponents can’t snatch from you (barring culture bomb civs); particularly useful for the deity player that has to deal with quick-expanding opponents. And then we get to the Cossack: a unique unit so absurdly strong, that were it not for a soon-to-be discussed even crazier unique unit, it would easily be the best unique unit in the game. In addition to a preexisting extra five combat strength over the cavalry it replaces, it gets an extra five strength for fighting in Russia’s borders (which, remember, should be pretty extensive), allowing it to triumph over even England’s Redcoats on the defense. If that weren’t ludicrous enough, it can move after attacking, essentially making it a Civ V-era mounted unit. That means that all the hit-and-run tactics that made mounted units the gold standard in that game are back, and all the more potent in Russia’s hands. I could gush all day about how good the Cossack is, but there’s another game-breaking asset in Russia’s hand. That asset is the Lavra, and man oh man is this district a thing of beauty. First, the best thing about the Lavra comes from the fact that it is a unique district, allowing it to be built in half the time of a normal holy site. For most other civs, you don’t want to prioritize holy sites early on, as the net benefit they garner the player is outweighed by the opportunity cost of everything else you need in the early game. Russia doesn’t share that same opportunity cost, meaning they can build holy sites earlier than other civilizations, and start earning great prophet points earlier than their opposition. This, when combined with Russia’s bonus faith from tundra (and quite likely, the Dance of the Aurora pantheon) makes Russia unequivocally the best civilization in the game for the Religious Victory. The Lavra also gives great writer, artist, and musician points at a point where no other civilization can get them, making them another strong contender for a cultural victory; though maybe not as strong as a civ like the Kongo. The extra tiles for expending great people isn’t to be ignored, but since you’ll already have a surplus of tiles, it’s more of an icing on the cake type of bonus. Russia is an amazing civ to play around with, but I think it’s just shy of being ludicrously overpowered; unlike the four civs remaining.
Jewelrunna
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Those are fair points, but my main problem with the Maryannu is still its ridiculously high production cost in an era where that production can be quite hard to come by. Opportunity cost is the name of the game in Civilization, where you have to ask yourself when you choose to build something, what else could you be doing or what do you need to be doing. The sad fact of the Maryannu is that even though the unique unit is admittedly super strong for the era it arrives in, it has a really high opportunity cost, and in the ancient era you have so many things you need to be doing (building builders, settlers, monuments, early districts, and in the case of Egypt, those early game wonders). That's a huge limiting factor for how many of these guys you can churn out. If you can afford it though, which some of the time will be the case, yeah, they're amazing, but those situations aren't guaranteed, which for me limits their application.
Also all fair points, but what I was getting at with the floodplains bonus is that its a handy bonus, but somewhat niche, and not game-breaking like a UA in the vein of Nkisi.
Why is that a surprise? I think these top 4 are more or less accepted, no? Sumeria's War Carts and the goodies from Barbarian Camps are both incredible abilities. The Ziggurat is a nice to have and I don't get much out of Gilgamesh's ability - but still, a top 5 (even 4) position seems not surprising. Ok, maybe someone would argue for the Aztecs to be in the top 4, I can imagine that.
Abraxis
☮
Well it is certainly an all or nothing commitment, but when you need it you need it, and it works. No reason to be building wonders and settlers if you're surrounded by folks forward settling you, you'll be boxed in and just slowly lose no matter how efficiently you're developing your infrastructure. So, Maryannu. if you're not boxed in and have room to expand, obviously, no Maryannu.
Ive got to tell you though taking 5 or so cities from neighbour more than pays off your opportunity cost.
The key is in identifying early whether you need them or not. Send your units out to sniff out AI and get a sense of whether you can hold back their settlers with just scouts and other basic units or if you need to just let them come close and unleash tsunami of Maryannu to take everything.
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Don't get me wrong, they're good, but I wouldn't place them so high, because I think that Adventures with Enkidu is one of the weakest abilities in game. War Carts are one of the best units, hands down, combined with Sumerian UA, it's even better. But how many of barb camps do you wreck in a regular game? 10-20 (or at least I do). That's not so much. Anyways it's a great bonus. Ziggurat is great, of course, because of Science and Culture early game gain. As I said, it's a good Civ, but I wouldn't place them so high.
What people seem to not realize with the sharing XP is that allied city-states count towards that. So if you ally with a city-state, and let them suicide units against a common enemy, you can really rack up the XP. Heck, you don't even need to be allied with them - last I played, every time a city-state battled a barbarian I was gaining XP from that. It was just about a free promotion for every unit.
So no, it's not the best ability in the game, but I don't think it's the worst.
Arent11
King
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The main advantage of EwE is probably that you can fight late game/high tech wars, especially pillage or liberation wars. You can thrash the enemy, gain money & come out virtually unscathed by warmonger penalties. Heck, if you liberate some city states you can even *take* enemy capitals & still be considered the good guy.
But the thing that really makes Sumeria shine are the Ziggurats & Warcarts.
Jewelrunna
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One thing I should've been more clear about early on is my criteria for how I'm valuating the Civilizations. I'm not only looking at how powerful the bonuses are, but how viable and consistent they are: that is, how good the bonuses are, and how often you're going to get the full potential out of them. The Maryannu Chariot Archer, to me, falls into the category of a bonus that when it's good, it's great; a lot of the time though, it's just not going to be as useful as it could be because of that opportunity cost. All your points about its strengths are super valid though.
Eliminator_Sr
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@Jewelrunna
I like the write ups and you have an interesting perspective with a lot of good points, but I still think you are underselling the Aztecs so just for a counter point my ranking would look something like this:
Civ Ability: 10/10 - probably the best overall civ ability in the game shaving tons of turns off your production times and districts are down early in the game when they matter most. This sets them up well for any victory type including religion. The ability to rush spaceports basically makes SV a formality. This is even better than Germany's extra district. Also this has major synergy with Eagle Warriors since they will be throwing workers at you faster than you can build districts.
Leader Bonus: 10/10 - Personally I don't think amenities are as strong as most people rate them here but it's nice to have extra and it helps with war weariness. The extra amenities by itself though is still better than a fair number of other civ abilities. The +1 combat strength for each amenity, however is huge. Eagle warriors already have a built in +8 strength compared to warriors so add in a few luxuries and you are at 30 making them as strong as war carts. This ability also ensures your army will be superior to the AI at all times making warfare comically easy. Civ 6 already encourages wide play so more often than not you are going to be getting at least +6 combat strength and probably 10+ if you are playing aggressively. Armies and Corps become ridiculously strong and your old units will be relevant for an era longer so domination is still a breeze even if you are behind in tech (which you sure as hell won't be for long because of the above ability).
Uniques: 8/10 - I'll dock them a few points because the Tlachtli is sort of useless not because it's effects are bad, but because you really don't have much of a reason to build entertainment districts with the Aztecs. Eagle Warriors are course insanely good so in all honesty you could still give them a 10 here (I'd put them second only to War Carts). If you manage to get a bunch of luxuries then you can keep these guys around until the industrial era and basically not have to build any workers. Just build Eagle Warriors and send them out for blood - they are great for capturing cities too with that combat boost.
Victory Type Rankings: Domination: 10, Science: 10, Culture: 7, Religion 8 (Overall 8.8)
Early Advantage (Snowball Impact): Clearly a 10 - Early districts, plus free workers, plus a boosted UU that's available immediately easily puts them in the top tier for early advantages.
Final Rank: 9.4/10 (giving everything equal weight) They are sort of a runaway #1 in my book - in a class of their own. Scythia is close for overall power, but they are a little too domination focused to be on equal footing. I'd probably have Russia (top 10 worthy) at about 7.5 ranking well below the Aztecs in every category except maybe uniques.
I like the write ups and you have an interesting perspective with a lot of good points, but I still think you are underselling the Aztecs so just for a counter point my ranking would look something like this:
Civ Ability: 10/10 - probably the best overall civ ability in the game shaving tons of turns off your production times and districts are down early in the game when they matter most. This sets them up well for any victory type including religion. The ability to rush spaceports basically makes SV a formality. This is even better than Germany's extra district. Also this has major synergy with Eagle Warriors since they will be throwing workers at you faster than you can build districts.
Leader Bonus: 10/10 - Personally I don't think amenities are as strong as most people rate them here but it's nice to have extra and it helps with war weariness. The extra amenities by itself though is still better than a fair number of other civ abilities. The +1 combat strength for each amenity, however is huge. Eagle warriors already have a built in +8 strength compared to warriors so add in a few luxuries and you are at 30 making them as strong as war carts. This ability also ensures your army will be superior to the AI at all times making warfare comically easy. Civ 6 already encourages wide play so more often than not you are going to be getting at least +6 combat strength and probably 10+ if you are playing aggressively. Armies and Corps become ridiculously strong and your old units will be relevant for an era longer so domination is still a breeze even if you are behind in tech (which you sure as hell won't be for long because of the above ability).
Uniques: 8/10 - I'll dock them a few points because the Tlachtli is sort of useless not because it's effects are bad, but because you really don't have much of a reason to build entertainment districts with the Aztecs. Eagle Warriors are course insanely good so in all honesty you could still give them a 10 here (I'd put them second only to War Carts). If you manage to get a bunch of luxuries then you can keep these guys around until the industrial era and basically not have to build any workers. Just build Eagle Warriors and send them out for blood - they are great for capturing cities too with that combat boost.
Victory Type Rankings: Domination: 10, Science: 10, Culture: 7, Religion 8 (Overall 8.8)
Early Advantage (Snowball Impact): Clearly a 10 - Early districts, plus free workers, plus a boosted UU that's available immediately easily puts them in the top tier for early advantages.
Final Rank: 9.4/10 (giving everything equal weight) They are sort of a runaway #1 in my book - in a class of their own. Scythia is close for overall power, but they are a little too domination focused to be on equal footing. I'd probably have Russia (top 10 worthy) at about 7.5 ranking well below the Aztecs in every category except maybe uniques.
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Noble Zarkon
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I agree, even though I disagree with a lot of what you write I'm glad you have put a detailed argument together for why you rank each one where you do and enjoy reading your arguments
Arent11
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I read somewhere this ability is capped? At +3 combat bonus? Is this true?
http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Montezuma_(Civ6)
"Montezuma's leader ability, Gifts for the Tlatoani, causes luxury resources in Aztec territory to give an Amenity to two extra cities. Military units receive +1 Combat Strength for each different luxury resource improved in Aztec lands (capped at a mere +3)."
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Kyro
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I read somewhere this ability is capped? At +3 combat bonus? Is this true?
http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Montezuma_(Civ6)
"Montezuma's leader ability, Gifts for the Tlatoani, causes luxury resources in Aztec territory to give an Amenity to two extra cities. Military units receive +1Combat Strength for each different luxury resource improved in Aztec lands (capped at a mere +3)."
I've hit over +30 combat strength on Aztec units before I don't remember seeing that nerf. Would be very disappointed if that was the case. Aztec exemplifies the very meaning of ICS. City Spam + District Rush + potentially disgusting combat strength makes Aztec top tier.
On a side note the number of people who underestimate Kongo is too damn high. The most challenging opponent in AI games is definitely Kongo. On higher difficulties he's just ridiculous if you don't take him out early. He's aggressive, snowballs from conquering early and beelines both Science and Culture simultaneously. His only other downside besides the lack of Religion is AI's reluctance to build Commercial Hub Districts ever since the last patch. The strongest Team Play combination is England and Kongo in my opinion.
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Arent11
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It wouldn't be the first time that the civ wikia is wrong. I'm not an Aztec player, so I can't judge it. If I have lots of time, I may look into it.
But no matter whether it's capped or not, Aztecs are top tier.
There's an achievement asking you to attack someone with an Aztec unit having +16 strength from luxuries, so the +3 is not true. And I had +10 myself.
DizzKneeLand33
Fall from Heaven 2 still rocks
The +3 is absolutely not true -- all it takes is playing the Aztecs to see that. Welcome again to the Misinformation Era....
Quick question...
From what I can tell, there is a 'hidden' defense to cities if the owner is in an erea more advanced than the era the attacking unit is from, beyond the added strength from the advanced units the defending ai might have.
From my observations, as my units scale up from promotions (shells, etc), they should be keeping pace with the tech upgrade of the defender, but are not, by a huge margin - a margin I find unexplainable except by an era v. era penalty.
Am I wrong about this?
Will the Aztec amenity buff make an eagle+ram feasible in the medieval age?
Because the very moment a civ advances eras, my units are doing 95% less damage, and melee will almost insta-die on attack.
Arent11
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Thanks for the feedback. It is really aggravating that there are so many errors in the civilization wikia.
If aztecs can grow beyond +10 they would truly be very good.
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