The Struggle Is Real...

Entroputor

Chieftain
Joined
Jan 8, 2020
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7
So I've been playing Civ VI for a long time, but I can't seem to settle on a particular Civ. Condition-skewed Civs seem particularly nice, however, throwing your weight into one area doesn't suit my tastes. Geographically-skewed Civs aren't as bad even though I play mostly on Fractal Maps.

I'd prefer a flexible Civ; but for the life of me I can't settle on one.

There's the Cree, which is extremely trade focused.
There's Ghengis, which despite the obvious Domination theme, sports bonuses to my favorite unit type.
There's Brazil, which I'm not sure how to feel about. Pedro just seems to be there.
There's Victoria and Trajan, which kind of encourage City Spamming.
There's Wilhelmina, which looks pretty micro-intensive.

I'm just spinning wheels at this point being able to settle on one, decisive pick.
 
You don't have to pick just one... Though I guess a lot of people have a go-to civ.

There's quite a lot of generalist civs. My personal bet would be on Japan though, their district bonuses are just so reliable and tuneable for whichever victory you want...

Personally my go-to civ has changed each expansion. Going from Mvemba to Robert to Wilfred. Wondering who it will be next (assuming there is a next).
 
So I've been playing Civ VI for a long time, but I can't seem to settle on a particular Civ. Condition-skewed Civs seem particularly nice, however, throwing your weight into one area doesn't suit my tastes. Geographically-skewed Civs aren't as bad even though I play mostly on Fractal Maps.

I'd prefer a flexible Civ; but for the life of me I can't settle on one.

There's the Cree, which is extremely trade focused.
There's Ghengis, which despite the obvious Domination theme, sports bonuses to my favorite unit type.
There's Brazil, which I'm not sure how to feel about. Pedro just seems to be there.
There's Victoria and Trajan, which kind of encourage City Spamming.
There's Wilhelmina, which looks pretty micro-intensive.

I'm just spinning wheels at this point being able to settle on one, decisive pick.
The cree's real bonus is that they can 1) combine their start bias for pastures into domestic trade routes for tons of yield early and 2) the mekewap can bring production and housing to otherwise lacking areas. They are very nice as a generalist civ.
Rome is also really flexible, and for those who don't mind some district play, Japan is also supremely flexible. You don't have to plan around meiji restoration - you just play normally and all your districts are just better. City Center-harbor-CH triangle, common coastal city stuff, is very powerful with that. IZs next to AQ/Dam/Canal get a boost. Better campuses and theaters. It's great- and you can help ensure more districts get to +3 to qualify for the +50% from buildings card.
I don't think the dutch are really in the same class of generalist as Cree/Rome, though. The river bonus is super easy to use- just put campus/theater next to a river when you can and collect your yield.

I'm assuming you are trying to steer away from the S tier civs like korea/Straya/sumer/etc.

If I was told I would be playing a random fractal map, choose one civ to handle whatever comes at me - I would pick germany. Why? Because I know that as long as I have physical tiles I can crank out great Hansas and then steamroll everyone with my production. I don't need resources, i don't need rivers (although they are very nice to have) and i don't need specific terrain. I'll use the tundra if I have to. You can see links in my signature to mastering the IZ & hansa - once you learn the very basic templates, it requires almost zero planning to actually build really strong cities.
 
I've never been able or really wanted to pick just one to settle down with. I do have several "favorites" that I play more often than others. But it's like chips, you can't have just one. That being said, I tend to pick the civ to play as for a new game by asthetic or RP potential. I may be in the mood to play a Nordic / Germanic kind of civ. Or maybe I just watched a movie that put me in the mood to play an Asian civ. To me that's more fun that just picking a civ for its abilities.

But that's just me. If you want to pick one overall civ, like previous poster have pointed out, Japan and Rome are pretty good in many situations. Rome's free city center monument helps boost that early culture which is pivotal in the early game, in getting to a better government, especially if you can't get an envoy at a cultural city-state. So with that in mind, any civ that boosts your early culture or science can put you in a strong position for the rest of the game. Basically, any civ that's strong in the ancient or classical era will be a good all-around civ if you play it right.
 
I don't really have a specific go-to civ. I try to pick a favorite from each phase of development.

Vanilla: formerly England. Currently Norway
DLCs: Persia
RnF: Mapuche
GS: Mali
 
If you want a flexible civ, try the Inca (if you have Gathering Storm). Their bonuses are very general and powerful in a way that allows you to decide which direction you want to play.
 
If you want a flexible civ, try the Inca (if you have Gathering Storm). Their bonuses are very general and powerful in a way that allows you to decide which direction you want to play.
There’s always a chorus of “but what if I don’t have mountains?!”
Yes, mountains are a plus, but the core power of the terrace farm is that you can put food on hill tiles, and combo that with production from water or aqueducts. That means you can make grass hills into growth tiles immediately, or make plains hills food neutral.
As an aside, the Qhapac Nan, their early Mountain Tunnel, is a huge trade route boon- for foreign trade routes because mountain tunnels give the same kind of bonus to international route gold that sea tiles give. Except it’s a huge modifier, so you often get the max +100% gold just for going through one of these. Free money!
 
I prefer to play different civs every time (although still haven't played them all since the HOF was introduced). If you like a nice generic civ, I'd second @Jkchart : the Inca have a great start bias for mountains (rivers as well I think?) and almost always can make great cities very early on. More food and production is the easiest way to get your empire going. From there on you can try any path you like. It's one of my personal favorites, have probably played them 5 times or more, there's something very satisfying about those terrace farms. :)
 
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