The Maya

[MerchantCo]

I personally love the Maya for their powerful UA (which can be used in any situation), excellent UB (+2 faith and +2 science), and spammable UU.

It's an all-rounded yet powerful civilization, with a cool theme to boot. I love the Mayans. Thoughts?

 

[Ximixanga]

I like them too. I always build shrines first thing in my cities. Atlatlists can be very powerful in large numbers and the fact you don't need to research archery to get them is excellent. Their UA is pretty okay, nothing too special. It slows down somewhat in the later eras as the times between the long count mean that you won't be able to get more than one of each great preson in a single playthrough unless it drags on for a very long time. They're definitely suited to players pursuing late-game vics like science or culture. They're good, but not necessarily great. Not a bad choice.

 

[ahawk]

Maya in BNW:

You can essentially get 2 GE's quite early with the Maya. One for going Liberty (to maximize the UB) and one from the UA (assuming you pick GE with the first choice). That often makes a tremendous difference. It allows you to pick up wonders you'd normally have to sacrifice in order to get something slightly more important.

The UU is okay. I imagine it's a nice boost on Marathon, but I play Marathon so infrequently that I don't notice the UU as anything too special.

One thing I would say is that Maya got at least slightly nerfed in BNW, because early trade-routes, at least on Emperor and up, are going to be yielding more than 2 science, and along with that you'll also get gold. So, the UB is now good, but not phenomenal like it once was, because early caravans now yield more science in early game at some levels. UB is still good for quick faith, however, and because it combines faith and science, it's still a pretty good UB, just not one that I'd pick only for science yield anymore.

Edit: Thought I was still in BNW threads... ignore the part about BNW if you don't have it. And if you don't, let me add, I'd recommend it!

 

[MerchantCo]

I usually beeline Theology when I'm playing as the Maya. I'll get Theology in about 1200 B.C, and then there'll be about 3200 years of getting great people. That's eight more great people than you would normally get!

 

[joncnunn]

Free Great Enginners / Merchants / Scientists from Maya UA / Liberty / Leaning Tower aren't really free; they increase the cost of the next natural born in that group. (Thus delaying your first academy, which given how powerful those are, could slow you down more than your UB helps)

For the Mayan UA in BNW, I'd suggest first picking (in any order) Prophets/Writers/Musicians/Artists since each of those have separate counters; specifically to keep the first two academies on schedule.

 

[Browd]

Actually, Great Prophets from the Mayan UA increase the cost of subsequent Great Engineers, Merchants and Scientists: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=503139

As noted above, the Mayan Long-Count, Liberty finisher and Leaning Tower of Pisa are still glitched, in the sense that taking a Great Prophet from the Long-Count, Liberty finisher or LToP still causes the cost of GEs, GMs and GSs to rise to the next increment of 100. In G&K, they also caused the cost of Great Artists to rise, but in BNW they do not cause the cost of GWAMs to rise (some thanks for small favors, I guess).