The least unique civilization in Civ6

[IronfighterXXX]

As many people here I'm gonna to start my first Civ6 game soon.

I want to choose the least unique civ to concentrate on game mechanics and features in this first game.

I have an idea, but I'm curious what other players think.

My question is - which civ is your opinion the most neutral, the least unique?

 

[stealth_nsk]

Amerca. You need to check which continent you're settling and plan your governments deeper for advanced game, but other than this it's generally basic.

 

[ptoss1]

Probably America. Passive ability, slightly better late game air unit, tourism structure in the late.

Essentially you'll go through most of the game and might even finish it without ever using any of your active uniques.

India also has a passive ability which requires you do nothing basically, generic elephant unit, and a UB that gives faith.

Greece and China also have passive abilities that just give percentage or hard bonuses like in Beyond Earth, but require more specialization since their UB have requirements.

 

[Sprenk]

I've thought about the same thing.

For example, if I choose Rome first I get used to the timing of having a strong culture flow in the early game from having a monument at T1. I'd have to re-calibrate my timing when I play another civ. I'm suspecting civs with later-game bonuses might be the way to go for the first game?

Germany might be a possibility. The Hansa comes later in the game, and the extra military card is not super-useful if you're not an especially aggressive player. Also, you can just ignore the combat bonus versus city-states. Japan is another civ that could easily be played in a "vanilla" fashion.

But there's something to be said for reveling in the most exotic civs on game one, too. I'm sorely tempted to go Norway on a island map, just for the novelty

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I obviously follow the news here, but don't watch the "Let's Plays" or memorize the new rules or want to learn new strategies online--would rather flub through it myself. I'll probably start game one on a very easy level (maybe even with the tutorial on), just to get a feel of the mechanics and what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll likely do that with someone like America, then I'll start a "real" game.

 

[Wolle68]

Amerca. You need to check which continent you're settling and plan your governments deeper for advanced game, but other than this it's generally basic.

But it might lead you to underestimate barbarians with the +5 to fighting on your own continent.

 

[ptoss1]

I obviously follow the news here, but don't watch the "Let's Plays" or memorize the new rules or want to learn new strategies online--would rather flub through it myself. I'll probably start game one on a very easy level (maybe even with the tutorial on), just to get a feel of the mechanics and what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll likely do that with someone like America, then I'll start a "real" game.

I always start a civ game with China because I'm Chinese regardless of the abilities or whatever, and then whatever civ i think is the coolest. That would be Sumeria and Gilgamesh in this case.

 

[Cerilis]

I will play the first game with whatever leader is revealed last...so... Gorgo... for now.

 

[Martinus]

I've thought about the same thing.

For example, if I choose Rome first I get used to the timing of having a strong culture flow in the early game from having a monument at T1. I'd have to re-calibrate my timing when I play another civ. I'm suspecting civs with later-game bonuses might be the way to go for the first game?

Germany might be a possibility. The Hansa comes later in the game, and the extra military card is not super-useful if you're not an especially aggressive player. Also, you can just ignore the combat bonus versus city-states. Japan is another civ that could easily be played in a "vanilla" fashion.

But there's something to be said for reveling in the most exotic civs on game one, too. I'm sorely tempted to go Norway on a island map, just for the novelty

Germany also gets an extra district above the cap - I'd imagine this to be quite game changing.

 

[gohuskies]

France is pretty vanilla: extra diplomacy visibility, a boost to midgame wonders, and the Chateau (which looks kind of cool). They'll be my first game because I think the increased diplomacy will get annoying after a few games but will be interesting in my first game.

 

[Martinus]

I would say a civ that is most vanilla would have neither unique infrastructure (as it requires some adjusting to map placement strategy) nor an unique district (as it changes the dynamics of a cost and limit of districts). On this basis, the most vanilla civ would have to have an unique building.

Of those that do, Arabia, Aztecs and Norway all have very unique playstyles, so I would say it's a toss up between America and Japan.

 

[blackcatatonic]

France is pretty vanilla: extra diplomacy visibility, a boost to midgame wonders, and the Chateau (which looks kind of cool). They'll be my first game because I think the increased diplomacy will get annoying after a few games but will be interesting in my first game.

Interestingly I'm avoiding France because while I do agree that a lot of their bonuses make them seem like a good starting point, I don't want to get used to the increased level of diplomacy. When I play as them I'd like that to be something I look at as a nice bonus, rather than feeling like I've lost out whenever I play another Civ because I don't have the same level of access. I know one could make the same case for any Civ, but I can sense that for me personally, it's going to be something I want to look forward to using when I've already got a handle on the base mechanics of the game.

In response to the OP's question, I'd probably say America as others have - not only because their bonuses are fairly straightforward but because they don't kick in until towards the end of the game.

 

[RohirrimElf]

I would pick a late game civ like america as others said. Or maybe England.

 

[Siptah]

Greece. True, the extra wildcard has a lot of different uses and may lead to a different play style. But it seems to be the most 'neutral' ability to me. Egypt and England seem other good candidates.

 

[Cyberian]

Use England they don't get much that is relevant if you don't go for a culture victory explicitly or do massive sea conquest.

With America it changes the game a lot because you get +5 CS almost everywhere in the beginning. That is massive for example your scouts with barb policy have CS 20 that is that of a normal warrior. Also mid game stronger legacy bonus kicks in so I would avoid that.

 

[RohirrimElf]

Cyberian,

Haven`t thought about that. Might be worth picking the scout card instead of the Obvious bonus against barbarians. If you stay on the same continent.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Use England they don't get much that is relevant if you don't go for a culture victory explicitly or do massive sea conquest.

With America it changes the game a lot because you get +5 CS almost everywhere in the beginning. That is massive for example your scouts with barb policy have CS 20 that is that of a normal warrior. Also mid game stronger legacy bonus kicks in so I would avoid that.

I still think this bonus is less than unique district. You can get combat bonuses/penalties with difficulty level, so it's not that strategy changer.

 

[Vaclac]

Greece. True, the extra wildcard has a lot of different uses and may lead to a different play style. But it seems to be the most 'neutral' ability to me. Egypt and England seem other good candidates.

I'm already gaming out my first game, with Greece/Gorgo. Plan is to use the extra wildcard and early mysticism to get the policy for +great prophet points to get a religion without having to build an early holy site (I suppose I would have to build one once I actually get a great prophet in order to found the religion). I don't think any other civ should be able to do this prior to getting political philosophy since chiefdom has 0 wildcard slots? If this works I think it will be pretty cool and change play significantly - hope I'm not then disappointed when I try another civ.

 

[Siptah]

I'm already gaming out my first game, with Greece/Gorgo. Plan is to use the extra wildcard and early mysticism to get the policy for +great prophet points to get a religion without having to build an early holy site (I suppose I would have to build one once I actually get a great prophet in order to found the religion). I don't think any other civ should be able to do this prior to getting political philosophy since chiefdom has 0 wildcard slots? If this works I think it will be pretty cool and change play significantly - hope I'm not then disappointed when I try another civ.

Yes, you can do such things with Greece that you won't be able to do with other civs. But if you don't use the wildcard slot like that (as in a strategy), but merely as a extra policy later in the game things are different. You just make your decision which policies to chose a bit easier and the game as a whole easier, too.

 

[criZp]

I feel people are blowing things a bit out of proportion here tbh, it won't be THAT difficult to adapt to the lack of certain special abilities after playing just one game.