[GS] Rate the civs in the hands of the AI - elimination thread

[The Highwayman]

Amanitore/Nubia [24] [23+1] Impossible to mess up. No map dependency. Who cares about the weak pyramid thing. But the rest...
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [15]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [29]
Lautaro/Mapuche [14]
Montezuma/Aztec [12]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [22]
Poundmaker/Cree [21]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Suleiman/Ottomans [ELIMINATED] [2-3] I'll put them out of their misery. Unless they're conquering, which is so hit or miss even with the AI warmongers, they're not using too much of their abilities.
Teddy Roosevelt/America [25]

 

[bengalryan9]

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [12]
Frederick/Germany [12] (15-3) I wasn't going to downvote Freddy again so soon, but the previous posted sniped my Suleiman downvote so I'm going back to him. AIs don't need a bonus to capturing city states and it's worthless if the map generator isn't kind to him, he doesn't use the hansa well, and you don't have anything to fear in his UU.
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [29]
Lautaro/Mapuche [14]
Montezuma/Aztec [13] (12+1) When is the AI most likely to rush you? Early. Who is perfectly set up to do that very thing? Monty, Teddy, and Genghis. What are you going to do when Eagle Warriors are on your doorstep? You're gonna die.
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [22]
Poundmaker/Cree [21]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [25]

EDIT: fixed totals for simultaneous posting.

 

[The Highwayman]

@bengalryan9 Please update scores The Ottomans have already been eliminated. Nubia is at 24.

 

[Loderingo]

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [9] - The weakest of those left. I have never seen him get close to winning a victory
Frederick/Germany [12]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [29]
Lautaro/Mapuche [14]
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [22]
Poundmaker/Cree [22] - 21+ Another up vote for a great builder civ who often challenges for SV or CV
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [25]
Trajan/Rome [15]

Added back Trajan who dropped off last page

 

[Icicle]

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [9]
Frederick/Germany [12]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [29]
Lautaro/Mapuche [14]
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [19] (22-3) Sneaky Greek, thought he could just skate by. Less of a culture threat than Russia or China, and the envoy bonus just means he uselessly dumps 20 envoys into the same city instead of 12. And even if you end up caring about that, welp less moving around for your scandalmonger. I'd put him below several that have already gone out, definitely below early game aggressive threats like Cyrus or Montezuma.
Poundmaker/Cree [23] (22+1) You know, I agree, my boy Poundmaker just always sorta does better than most others. Got a nice empire built up, lotsa trade, lotsa friends, always seems like the Cree nation is a nice place to live. And if you sleep on him he'll sneak off to space and not invite you. And you won't even be mad about it. What a guy.
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [25]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[enKage]

Lautaro/Mapuche [14] = 17 - 3. I don't think I've ever seen him be a problem for me or anyone in my games. I'm not very warlike though and I don't play Deity so maybe it makes a difference on how often other civs get golden age?

So it looks like difficulty makes a huge difference. On deity always competes for best great scientists and deity AI is pretty good at achieving classical/medieval golden age

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [6] 9-6 When I see, how one of my top10 civs is led by AI, I start to cry. AI is unable to make massive Pingala city with Pairideazas dnd never takes earth goddess to benefit from UI, AI is unable to chain +2 movement, AI is unaware, how to make benefit from improved trade routes. Imortals are weak anyway (lower strength - die from Xbows like flies), but AI even doesn;t spam them. Sometimes develops strong empire based on culture and competes for CV, but the word "sometimes" is crucial here
Frederick/Germany [13] 12+1 I haven't upvote him yet, cause I would never expect Germany in problems before top10 stage. +1 possible district (Frederick doesn't fall behind starting with holy sites) and added military card (unit spam with +50% card!!) is sth what really makes a difference for AI, not necessairly bonus against city states.
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [29]
Lautaro/Mapuche [14]
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [23]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [25]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[TCBB]

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [6]
Frederick/Germany [14] (13+1) Since one poster is repeatedly voting Frederick down, I see no reason why I can't repeatedly vote him up. Sure, the map generator 'could' be unkind to him and put him away from city states. But thats purely academic. What actually happens is he destroys every darn city state anywhere near him, and even those miles away which he stands no chance of holding onto. He's an absolute pain in the a*s who will repeatedly scupper your plans by eating up whichever state you had invested precious envoys into. And he never falls behind if he decides to go religion, because his extra district capacity lets him build campuses anyway. As for this claim that Frederick can't use Hansas properly, where has this come from? Even if he can't get awesome +6 or more adjacency on them like a human player, he still consistently gets +3 or 4 adjacency. Plus, you're forgetting a really important point. Every AI is programmed to spam their unique infrastructure or district; so as uniques go, spamming an industrial zone is probably the best thing an AI could do because production is king in 4X. It sets him up as one of the deadliest challenges to science victory in the game.
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [29]
Lautaro/Mapuche [11] (14-3) It's a nice theory @enKage, but it doesn't really work. I play exclusively on Deity and I think Lautaro is s**t. All his bonuses are terrible apart from his '+10 combat strength against golden ages'. But 1.) he can't control when this bonus comes into effect, so it's complete luck whether the AI gets to use it, and 2.) it's almost redundant against a human because Lautaro is very easy to befriend: if you don't lose any cities to loyalty, he'll be your friend, and then he's lost the chance to declare war on you. So apart from his mountain start, he is 100% vanilla. I've been trying to spread my votes elsewhere, but since people are still defending him I just had to chip in.
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [23]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [25]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Drivingrevilo]

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [6]
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [29]
Lautaro/Mapuche [8] (11-3) I've been holding off voting him down, too. In my opinion, its either Pericles, Monty, or Lautaro at this stage, but the first two appear to be particularly popular. So Lautaro it is. Never seen him do as well as he supposedly does.
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [24] (23+4) Its refreshing to see a genuinely 'nice' AI get the applause they deserve. I love spawning next to Poundmaker, because he is (generally) very peaceful, he jumps at the opportunity to make alliances, and he loves trading. The shared visibility is also neat for exploration. And on the flip side these traits all benefit Poundmaker too, so he actually poses a decent challenge. I think i mentioned it earlier, but he also got to 18/20 diplomatic victory points in one of my games, which is pretty darn impressive for the AI – and that was without building Statue of Liberty, too, which I only built in order to deprive it from him. All in all, a solid and consistent challenger.
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [25]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Leucarum]

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [6]
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [26] (29-3) Australia is a good civ but they don't seem to be played particularly well by the AI in the games I've played. They tend not to be overly close to any victory condition, and while not as bad as indonesia don't settle anywhere near optimally to use their bonuses. Great in the hands of a human. OKish in the hands of an AI, wouldn't have downvoted but 2nd is not where they end up in my experience.
Lautaro/Mapuche [8]
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [26] (25+1) A civ that can take you out quickly if you happen to start next door. That is the main reason you lose games. Essentially domination victory since you don't live to see who does win.
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[bengalryan9]

Hey @TCBB , maybe before accusing someone of "repeatedly voting Frederick down" you should go back and count how many times that person has actually downvoted them? In 12 pages of this thread I've downvoted Frederick a whopping three times, and the last time he didn't even get my original downvote - I had to change it because someone eliminated Suleiman right before I did. I'm hardly targeting him.

Amanitore/Nubia [24]
Cyrus/Persia [3] (6-3) Should certainly do a lot better than he actually does.
Frederick/Germany [14] How many times have you taken a city from the AI only to see they haven't reached their district cap? It happens all the time. How useful is that extra district then? I think he's AT BEST the second worst left on the list, but apparently I'm not allowed to give my opinion.
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27] (26+1) I agree he shouldn't be second. He should be first. I don't think I've *ever* seen him struggle in 30+ games unless I go after him myself.
Lautaro/Mapuche [8]
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [26] Sadly for Teddy, taking you out early or being hard to conquer is about all he does... but that's enough to keep him around for a bit longer. Everything else he has is bad.
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Connor_CivFan]

Amanitore/Nubia [25] The archers are horrible. Starting next to Nubia you want to pray that Nubia like you or you are doomed.
Cyrus/Persia [3]
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27]
Lautaro/Mapuche [5] 8 - 3 Sometimes (if not most of the time) waits out my golden ages to attack when I have left them.
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [30]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [26]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Arithmion]

Amanitore/Nubia [25]
Eliminated: Cyrus/Persia [0] 3-3 Figured I should just clean the results up a little. He's not going to win, and I find him so-so myself, even though his Surprise War advantage "should" make him great.
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27]
Lautaro/Mapuche [5]
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31] (30+1) Throwing a point Mvemba's way. He's such a good civ in anybody's hands. Plus the whole "AI gets to ignore religion" thing. (Though I do get the reasoning there. If AI didn't chase religion, it would be so stinking easy to rush a quick, powerful religion and convert the world before they cared enough to start their own. You'd have games where even at T200 there would still be prophets left.)
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [26]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [26]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Loderingo]

Amanitore/Nubia [25]
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27]
Lautaro/Mapuche [2] - 5-3 - Similar to Georgia in that his ability helps him avoid being rolled over but unlikely to actually challenge for a victory
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [27] - 26+1 - Think she should be number 1. Consistently a difficult opponent and very difficult for the AI to mess up
Teddy Roosevelt/America [26]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

Amanitore/Nubia [26] (25+1) Always one of the top civs in my games, especially in science. She's never beat me, but she keeps me on my toes still.
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27]
Lautaro/Mapuche [ELIMINATED] (2-3) - The Golden age combat bonus can be quite nasty to deal with, but that is all he has going for him. He can easily be dealt with by yourself (or other AI) in dark/normal ages. And he's a real pushover as a friend since his agenda is so easy to meet. Finally, I often seem to find him alone up against other civs, for some reason. He's always the odd one out.
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [19]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [27]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [26]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Icicle]

Amanitore/Nubia [26]
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27].
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [16] (19-3) Second verse, same as the first. I think he's worse than Fred, Monty, Saladin, maybe around the same level as Trajan, most deserving of a downvote atm.
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [18]
Seondeok/Korea [27]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [27] (26+1) Genuinely terrifying neighbor in the warrior rush phase, which is when AI is scariest.
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Dotsworthy]

Amanitore/Nubia [26]
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27].
Montezuma/Aztec [13]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [15] 18 - 3. I never see Saladin do anything other than get mad at everyone.
Seondeok/Korea [27]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [28] 27 + 1. A big ol' bully.
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[zandermander]

Amanitore/Nubia [23] -- 26 - 3: I'll toss another "overrated" downvote, this time Amanitore's way. Solid civ, and the archers are scary, but as a previous poster noted, if she focuses too much on archer-spam she won't ever conquer your cities. Furthermore, the desert start bias often leads to her building her second/third/fourth cities in unproductive locations. Yes, she gets the pyramid to improve deserts, but it's heavily reliant on adjacency bonuses that the AI struggles to optimize. A good civ, just IMO not worthy of top five.
Frederick/Germany [14]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27].
Montezuma/Aztec [14] -- 13 + 1:Upvoting Monty, as I don't understand him being last on the current list. The strong start and the attack bonuses for luxuries make him a formidable military snowball -- waging war against him once he's conquered the other continent (which I've seen on multiple occasions) and has tons of unique luxuries is a death wish. I don't think he's the #1 civ on this list, but I'll be sorry to see him go.
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [16]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [15]
Seondeok/Korea [27]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [28]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Drivingrevilo]

Amanitore/Nubia [23]
Frederick/Germany [15] (14+1) Some more kudos for Freddie. He's mightily aggressive against city states. He has probably the second best unique district in the game (behind the Seowon), even if he doesn't realise its full potential (but nor does Korea with hers either). And – uniquely of any AI – if he decides to build an early holy site he doesn't get disadvantaged, because his extra district capacity lets him build something else. I've seen him pose a challenge to science victory several times, and he recently sniped me with a religious victory too.
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [27].
Montezuma/Aztec [14]
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [13] (16-3) I've been waving an 'overrated!' banner on-and-off for several weeks. Surely it's time for him to go? For example: imagine it was an AI-only, Huge size, Pangaea map with these 12 civs. Pericles would get absolutely mauled. And even if he somehow managed to survive beyond, say, the medieval era, the other 11 civs would gobble up his precious little city states, leaving him with nothing to stand on. That's my main bugbear about him: his best bonus (5% culture per suzerainty) can be countered very easily by the human, or by another AI, by simply destroying his city state(s), especially since he loves to smash all 20 envoys into only one state (looking at you, Yerevan).
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [15]
Seondeok/Korea [27]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [28]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[Leucarum]

Amanitore/Nubia [23]
Frederick/Germany [15]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [24 (27-3) I'm not going to deny that in the hands of the human Australia is one of the most powerful civs out there. But in the hands of the AI? It doesn't settle to best take advantage of its bonuses and inevitably attacks the player if it can putting itself in the firing line.
Montezuma/Aztec [15] (14+1) If you are unlucky and get attacked right away by these guys...
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [13]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [15]
Seondeok/Korea [27]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [28]
Trajan/Rome [15]

 

[enKage]

Amanitore/Nubia [23]
Frederick/Germany [15]
Genghis Khan/Mongolia [22]
John Curtin/Australia [24]
Montezuma/Aztec [12] 15-3 If Montezuma uses any of his uniques, it is usually unique building. At least noone attack him early. I saw him at early offensive war maybe once. How did he survive so long?
Mvemba a Nzinga/Kongo [31]
Pericles/Greece [13]
Poundmaker/Cree [24]
Saladin/Arabia [15]
Seondeok/Korea [27]
Teddy Roosevelt/America [28]
Trajan/Rome [16] 15+1 free monument, strong UU = Trajan is someone who indeed expands