[R&F] Top 5 Favorite Civs Post R&F?

[Zaarin]

I, Karpius Maximus Augustus have decreed it to be so!

Pfft, a true Roman would know that K is only used by those barbarians. Spell it "Carpius" like a civilized person.

 

[Karpius]

Pfft, a true Roman would know that K is only used by those barbarians. Spell it "Carpius" like a civilized person.

But...but..........

Alas, I have been revealed. I am but a barbarian at heart. But as a barbarian, perhaps I should spell it.... Karpius Maksimus!

 

[Kryxal]

And being such a barbarian, I wouldn't be surprised if you were to pronounce "si" more like "tsi"...

 

[riddleofsteel]

Argh! So hard to narrow it down. In no particular order, my recent favorites:

Nubia - Good all rounders for style / victory types, early ranged madness.
Australia - Yikes. They can be stupidly powerful in just about everything.
Rome - Did I hear sword UUs got a nice boost? Either way, I've had some absurdly strong games as Rome even when I'm not trying hard.
Germany - Production, awesome UB, extra district, extra military policy, bonus vs CS. Need I go on?
China - Never really gave them the time of day in vanilla but they're fun to play and the Crouching Tiger is a blast (no pun intended) to use.

 

[agonistes]

Cool to see so many enjoying France and Russia.

 

[Draehl]

4. Scotland. Amenities make sense, and I just love their music.

Agreed. I love their music so much overall. Though reluctantly, I must say I like the ancient/classical age music from Norway & Rome better though. Scotland is consistently the best across all eras.

 

[MP | Moongazer]

Poland is surprisingly powerful with Culture Victory. Australia is good at anything, honestly, except for religion I guess...
How good is Chandragupta's India? Better than Gandhi? When I included both civs in TSL Gandhi's India usually got wiped out by Chandragupta.

 

[Jewelrunna]

1. Scotland - I have so much fun with this Civ, it’s crazy. The Civ is very well designed overall, and the connection between amenities & great people/science/production is so well thought out. It’s like the game is rewarding me for playing Civ the way I like to play it. Maybe it’s a bit weird for a Scottish Civ to be more Enlightenment-UK themed but have Robert the Bruce as a leader, but I won’t nitpick. Love them.

2. Nubia - Still think they’re the best Civ in the game. Stupidly good unique Archer, help getting cities up & running from a district bonus that lends to a versatile play style, and a UI that only adds to that versatility? Sign me up. Nubia lets me Zerg rush my neighbors in the ancient era, and then transition to any other victory type I want. Nubia are great.

3. Norway: So yeah, Norway is pretty bad, I’ll admit, but they’re still fun! The raid & run pkaystyle is pretty interesting, and incentivizes war without necessarily trying to conquer things. The stave church production bonus is also an interesting incentive to play religion and get rewarded with successful coastal cities. Not as good as Kampungs, but it’s a bonus that other Civs would lack. And Norway peaks in coastal war earlier than any other Civ, which is also interesting. Sure, the Berserker is pretty bad due to its cost & weird tech placement, but I think the actual unit itself is underrated; it becomes really strong once you get the first promotion in that gives +10 strength.

4. Cree - The Civ has a lot of cool, unique bonuses that are very different from other Civs, and are super versatile. Not much else to say except that I LOVE mekewaps.

5. Germany - I like production, early war, and versatility. Germany has all these in spades. The only bad thing is the U-Boat, which is pretty lame. But everything else is so strong that it doesn’t affect my opinion too negatively. If it were just a more useful unit, Germany might be my favorite Civ of the bunch.

Runners up to the Netherlands, Aztec, and Scythia. England WAS in my top 5, but Firaxis decided to gut a mid-tier Civ and make them garbage for some reason. Very disappointing.

 

[acluewithout]

Hear, hear for Norway. My second favourite ‘slightly underpowered Civ’. I like to think of them as Water Gilgamesh. (Gilgabro and Harold Horrendous Haddock the III should totally get their own ... uh... show? Meme? Joint War and Alliance?)

If they ever fix Unique Medieval Melee Units, Military Tactics and Pikes, then Norway, along with Japan, would be just awesome. (And Georgia would maybe just less rubbish.)

As for Germany - I love all their bonuses, including the U-Boat. No real reason for U-Boat love. I just love the complete randomness of it.

“Production! Gold! We turn it into Miliatary! And we have a Miltary Card for our Military! And we use our Military to kill City States!!! ... and also we have a teeny-tiny underwater pirate boat! For reasons. Huzzah!”

The U-Boat is like Brazil’s UU, but somehow feels even more random and adorable.

The only actually bad Naval UU in the game is the Sea Dog. Which is, indeed, a dog.

 

[Frostburn]

Russia is my favorite. Good music and use of Tundra land, great for playing peaceful religious or cultural. Great UU even though its a bit later.

Australia. Another good civ for peaceful play. Pretty OP but its fun getting rewarded when the AI declares war on you. Its usually annoying when that happens but Australia makes that fun.

Indonesia. Favorite naval civ.

France. For when I want to sim-city style and build a ton of wonders. Spy game is fun too

Warmongering isn't really my preferred style, but every once in a while I like to be a complete conquerer. It's a tie between my 3 favorite warmonger civs: Mongols, Macedon, Aztec. All 3 are pretty unique, its fun trying to max out the combat bonuses for mongols and aztecs, and I like the science/military relationship with Macedon... plus the need to not worry about horses

 

[Liufeng]

The Khmer - I love those population and faith boni, and send my missionaires to death ! More seriosly, I love the harmony of the civ, despite the fact they have a powerful UU that could rampage its enemies.
Sumeria - Although I don't like the civ's design in a historical point of view, those war carts worlk really well with barbarian hunt. The early game with them is super amusing and I have lots of fun.
Russia - It's a polyvalent civ, and I love to spam lavras more for the GW/GA/GM rather than for the religion itself, although it's huge bonus. And that early big territory : miam !
Norway - I can't deny I had a very good time with Norway, especially chasing goody huts with their knarrs roaming early on.
Mongolia - For the simple fact that I love to see my horse units roaming the battlefield and destroying everything in their path !

There are many more I really like and have tons of fun playing with, but I believe this would be the top 5.

 

[agonistes]

Playing on a giant tsl really warps preferences, so I'll try to list them as if I were playing a random map.

1) Russia
2) France
3) Egypt
4) Cree
5) Germany/Khmer

Mostly its about flavor/personality. The Cree are really fun to play with their ui and trade routes. If I were basing it just on the fun of the mechanics, Cree might be my top pick.

 

[KayAU]

It is quite hard to make a rating, but this is how I feel about it on this particular evening:

1. Kongo
With Kongo, there is no religious game, beyond using my vast number of Apostles to block someone else from getting a religious victory if necessary. To me, this is mostly a good thing. I also like the unique district a lot, and tend to spam it for its great yields, which I will get without having to work the tile, and which will help my cities grow super tall. I also like the free yields from Archeological museums, which can generate up to +12 food, +12 production and +24 gold, all for free without having to work any tiles. I love the economy of Kongo. Also, playing them means I don't have to encounter them as an AI civ, which spares me the extremely annoying leader agenda.

2. Norway
I like to play Norway on an Island Plates map, with sea level set high. They are not super powerful, but potent enough with these settings, especially after they got the production bonus for Naval Melee units. I like the music and overall flavor of this civ, and their maritime focus, which leads me down a quite different path in terms of research and settling preferences. With Norway, it is mostly coastal cities, maritime techs (I often choose Sailing first), Longships and Stave Churches, and God of the Sea to get the most out of coastal locations. Get to Shipbuilding and get those Longships into the deep oceans to explore and claim goodie huts. I might be biased, since these are my own ancestors, but Norway is usually quite fun to play.

3. Cree
I love the flavor of this civ, and how every bonus comes into play early, and feels meaningful and beneficial. Getting that early trader is great, and the land grab ability is excellent, pulling my cities together and consolidating my territory. The unique scout is hard to get the most out of, but I enjoy it for its flavor and flexibility. The unique tile improvement is excellent, and fun to place.

4. Indonesia
Another wonderful naval civ, which can prosper on small landmasses and make great use of coastal locations. The Kampung is great, as are the various bonuses for coastal adjacency.

5. China
The ability to boost wonders means a lot for me. I also like the extra builder charge and boost to Eurekas and Inspirations. China is fun and flavorful to play.


Honorable mentions:

Khmer
Not a very powerful civ, but a fun and novel one, flavorfull and interesting to try to make the most of. With the Khmer, I focus on Aqueducts and Holy Sites, and end up with different city layouts compared to most other civs.

Nubia
Another one I appreciate for its flavor, as well as its potent bonuses. I like ranged units, and the Pitati Archer is just amazing in combination with Nubias other bonuses. Nubia is good for peaceful building as well, with its mine yield bonuses and increased district build speed.


As you can see, these are not necessarily the most powerful civilizations in the game. I like my civs to be somewhat potent, but at the end of the day, I favor flavor and originality of playstyle over power. I also have a preference for:

• Early bloomers
• Naval civs

...and don't care for:

• Warmongers
• Religious civs

 

[GAGA Extrem]

My top 5 in terms of playstile (not necessarily power level):

(1) Korea: I love their focus on tall gameplay and the fact that their unique district goes completely opposite to the usual cluster-style approach. On top of that they have a fantastic mid game UU for defence.

(2) Germany: Mostly because I love the consistency of their Hansa+Commerce Hub diamonds. That and that their extra military policy slot is suprisingly useful for peaceful gameplay. Really flexible.

(3) Kongo: Probably the most unique of all the CIVs in terms of playstyle. No religion on your own and no Neighborhoods unless you have jungle.

(4) Netherlands: Frankly just because I love the Polders. I hate coastal territory in CIV6 with a passion, and their UI is the only real way (outside of not settling close to the shore) to fix that.

(5) Rome: I love how their bonuses convey the strength of the actual historical Roman Republic/Empire. They are good at developing infrastructure, with both their trade and military assets and they provide better living conditions for their citizens than most other civs at that point in time.

 

[liv]

1) Norway. Just love those longships. When I play them I try to "right" a historical wrong and take over the world with longships before the Renaissance.
2) Indonesia. I like boating civs and their abilities are fun.
3) Gorgo. I just love to try to win a domination game starting with building acropolises.
3) Nubia. Overpowered but good civ for me on Deity
4) Astecs (or Gilgamesh or Scynthia etc) for beginning rushes on Deity which are fun

 

[LMT]

In no particular order...

Rome: Their UU comes at the perfect time and is so good at taking cities when many of then aren't walled. Plus, those free monuments save so much production.

Korea: I feel like I'm cheating by going for a SV with them.

Australia: Because the AI declares wars so frequently and many times, so stupidly, the production with them can be crazy.

Nubia: Because I look forward to getting archery, they make it even more special with their UU.

Arabia: Getting a religion for essentially doing nothing is a great bonus.

 

[LobstaBoy]

Mongolia because domination
Scythia see above
Sumeria. ...
Germany because they get the cogs
Aztec for "peaceful" play

All 5 civs are forgiving of the mistakes I'm guaranteed to make.

Honorable mention are Gorgo and Rome for me. Rome may be the most noobie friendly civ I've played.

 

[Draehl]

1) Norway. Just love those longships. When I play them I try to "right" a historical wrong and take over the world with longships before the Renaissance.
2) Indonesia. I like boating civs and their abilities are fun.
3) Gorgo. I just love to try to win a domination game starting with building acropolises.
3) Nubia. Overpowered but good civ for me on Deity
4) Astecs (or Gilgamesh or Scynthia etc) for beginning rushes on Deity which are fun

I also love Norway, but too often it feels like there's not enough stuff to pillage and fight- especially early.

 

[Ever Adrift]

If it matters, I play Emperor difficulty, and never have played higher than that. Moreover, I play 'epic' length with a few mods that have clear impacts: 8 Ages of Pace which significantly extends the length of the eras (and which I've modified further to tweak the length of each era); the abundant resource mod - I always play with 'plentiful' resources; and a mod that both gives every player an extra scout, extra builder and makes sure that you have the same number and type of starting units as the other players. That last one means I begin with 2 builders, 2 settlers, 3 warriors and a scout (and so does the computer). I also play with no goody huts.

I have R&F as well as all the DLC. My top five are:

1. Poundmaker - Cree

I have found the game to be both more enjoyable - and somewhat more easy - playing as Poundmaker compared to any other leader. I believe it has to do with (a) the mekewap, as I love unique improvements more than any other type of unique civilization ability, and (b) the trade routes bonus, which ended up being much more lucrative throughout the middle part of the game than expected.
The Cree have it all for me. The Mekewap is probably the most powerful unique improvement in the game, unless going for a culture victory. The trade route expansion of cities has proven more useful than I anticipated. This is due in part to incoming foreign routes also adding to your territory (unless I'm sorely mistaken). I've found it easy to 'cut off' peninsulas or other chunks of land quite easily just by sending a couple different, strategically aimed trade routes early on - something made easy by the free route and trader at pottery. I've also found that my cities' owned tiles expand much more rapidly than when playing as most other civs, which I hadn't expected to be so noticeable when I read the ability. Beyond that, the ability encourages many early commercial districts and founding more distant cities while rapidly expanding - it's important to remember to keep yourself well armed as you'll be spread thin. Fortunately, the Cree tend to stack up trade routes fast and that means a decent amount of gold through the early eras replaced by tons of gold by the time the medieval period has arrived so you can often either leave an army un-upgraded and suddenly upgrade them all in a couple turns or you can buy yourself an army in a couple turns.The ability to gain an allies map upon first becoming allies is also surprisingly powerful now - especially if used strategically. Gaining a map by becoming allies with distant players and neighbors will likely give you a bunch of era points unless you've really done your exploring. You may end up meeting a new player or two, gaining 2 era points for each - same with natural wonders. You may meet new city states which might include that one you happen to be looking for (Granada! La Venta!). This is even better on a continents map as you'll likely be able to control the reveal of each continent (assuming the map generates 3+ continents, which it often does) so you may want to become allies with someone on one continent in one era then hold off and do it again for someone on the other continent the next era. Conclusion: best unique improvement in the game, allowing you to grow production very early on while also growing your cities faster and providing all the housing you'll ever need (Indonesia's Kampung, but more useful since it is built on land). This is especially useful now given how city size affects loyalty. The trade routes/territory ability is better than I expected allowing faster, easier and more controlled expansion while filling your coffers and the allied ability not only provides decent era point improvements, it also provides some mild but noticeable improvements to the new alliance system.​

2. Cyrus - Persia

Cyrus is clearly extremely powerful because of his war-related ability affecting unit movement. However, I tend to be defensive (though I'm getting more feisty lately!) and am much more interested in a cultural victory than domination so this is less important to me than most. The Pairedaeza is another amazing unique improvement. Plaster Pairedaeza and you will find yourself generating enormous amounts of culture and gold. Once flight hits, they help push a cultural victory along nicely even in a smaller empire (say, one focused on great works and wonders). The immortal is also very useful for quite some time and is easy to make early on. And it gets better over time! They can generate enormous amounts of gold and culture early on. Persia can move through the culture tree faster than most anyone (except, say, Pericles) because of this improvement. If you can ally with Granada or La Venta (which both allow for improvements that produce culture if you are suzerain) you can use those improvements to fill in the spaces between your Pairedaeza at which point you'll rip through the culture tree and be virtually impossible to beat once flight rolls around. The immortal can help Persia focus on building up improvements and districts by providing quick, strong and early protection.​

3. Lautaro - Mapuche

I am beginning to enjoy more offensive games as I feel the loyalty mechanic made it more enjoyable. Mapuche is perfect for this given their ability to produce units that gain experience faster, their strength bonuses when close to home and their ability to quickly whittle a city's loyalty down thus allowing one to take more powerfully guarded cities with relative ease. Mapuche are great at playing a game comprised of a long series of short expansionist wars where you quickly take down the closest bordering cities while sending units ahead to both raise havoc with loyalty in more 'internal' cities and plunder, plunder, plunder. End the war as soon as the option is available (assuming you have taken the border cities. Wait a short while, building units and districts while your neighbor(s) rebuild all the plunder damage you caused. They will be weakened and fallen behind due to the city losses and the improvement damage. Rince, repeat. Finally, the Chemamull is an interesting unique improvement. It can be quite powerful, though it can be hard to place (especially early on and/or if you tend to have lots of mines). However, a handful placed early on is enough to provide a decent culture boost (though not one as strong or reliable as Persia's). If you can get the Eiffel Tower, the Chemamul can become a powerful component of a cultural victory as you can place many more, and these will produce large amounts of culture).​

4. Robert the Bruce - Scotland

Scottish Enlightenment is really great. Production, science, great people all come faster, stronger and earlier. The golf course is more fun than I thought and can provide a nice, quick boost to culture and gold if you've planned your cities properly. However, it is one of the weaker unique improvements because (a) it can only be built once per city so no spamming it, thus rendering it's overall output much lower than other unique improvements, and (b) it comes later than many unique improvements. The other aspects of Scotland don't interest me much (though love the bagpipes until the sound glitch begins!).​

5. Catherine - France

I'm learning to like spies and France allows me to play with that aspect of the game more (an aspect of the game that I hope the next expansion fleshes out, btw). France also received a good boost in R&F. Not only is the increase in diplomatic visibility much more powerful on its own than it used to be, it is further strengthened by the added combat power France gains from having a higher diplomatic visibility than its opponent. France also encourages wonders and their ability to increase tourism from each wonder makes the somewhat overall weaker power of wonders in VI much more valuable. This makes racing for and building many wonders especially useful. The unique improvement is one of the weaker in the game, especially given that it comes later, however it does provide decent culture and can provide exceptional culture output if planned correctly. Unfortunately, it is a much poorer version of Persia's unique improvement.​

 

[hum4n_err0r]

1. Greece - Pericles/Gorgo
Love getting an early Great Writer to help with my usual peaceful victory conditions. Extra policy slot is always helpful.
Not much has changed for Greece in R&F but they’re still great for how I like to play

2. Russia
Again early Great Writer, plus the bonus of being able actually get a religion at higher difficulties. Again no big chance with R&F.

3. Mongolia
I don’t normally play aggressive. But wow, these guys were fun! Absolute monsters of domination. Great Civ.

4. France
The extra level of visibility is great now in R&F and has made a fairly weak civ into a fairly strong civ. Well balanced and good flavour.

5. Egypt.
I just love Cleopatra. Slight boost to getting higher level alliances quicker in R&F helps play her how they wanted.