Unique Ability Elimination Thread

[Petiscator]

Seasnake, the thing is, I preffer to spend my money on other stuff, like archer upgrades, for eg. I know the tiles are cheap, and I understand its purpose, but I often find myself waiting to get enough gold to buy an archer/settler/worker instead of investing in those not so expensive tiles. If it is really a good tile, it won't take that long to get it through culture - that's why I solely prefer the Krepost instead of this part of the UA, as it helps with culture acquisition as well. This is specially less worth it when I follow the tradition policy tree (most of the time).

I know how to use it, I just dislike spending money on tiles when I could be saving for more important things. If it gave a bonus on culture acquisition as well, I wouldn't complain, but right now, it seems not so good for me.

 

[Rooftrellen]

Sacrificial Captives: 23
Ingenuity: 15
Phoenician Heritage: 25
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 5
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 21
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 29
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 23
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 30
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 12
Nobel Prize: 24
River Warlord: 20

I just don't see a massive advantage in Ingenuity. It's good, very solid, great for science, but as the price of GP goes up, the bonus dies off hard. I can't help but to compare it to Nobel Prize, which gives more GP but its a choice of which, and gives another way to use those GP.

Harbors are just great buildings in any coastal situation. If you find that your lands are too hard to defend, likely you've simply spread yourself too thin. Not every Carthaginian city should be coastal any more than every Spanish city should be by a NW or, using a recently eliminated example, every American city should see all it's tiles bought.

 

[Snoopaloop]

Sacrificial Captives: 23
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 5
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 21
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 29
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 23
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 30
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 12
Nobel Prize: 24
River Warlord: 20

-2 Phoenician Heritage: Excels only on water heavy/archipelago maps. Not powerful or very useful on any land based maps. Land is better to settle than empty coast, not getting those free harbors there. Harbors are not great in all coastal cities either. See my previous posts. p20, p22 as well.

+1 Ingenuity: One of the strongest science abilities. Being able to keep pace with early AI research is quite a nice change of pace. EDIT: I also don't have to rely on declarations of friendship with incredibly unreliable AI enemies. I much prefer getting my flat 50% while crushing my neighbors.

 

[Crafty Bison]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 5
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 21
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 29
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 23
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 30
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 12
Nobel Prize: 24
River Warlord: 18

Askia: It's been removed by accident twice for long periods an noone cared.
The initial gold can be good but I find usually not more than the average Spain early advantage. The rest is mediocre at best - Embarked units bonus? Just put them under ships. The amphibious bonus is only of any real use over rivers, and there, ranged does it best anyway.

Montezuma: Great flavour adding bonus which works great with the rest of the civ, and is super powerful early on, as well as pretty decent throughout the game. I suppose I like it best cos with Montezuma I don't have to worry about building ToA or CI (or even SC so much), I can just take it from the builder by force. Puppet empires were always my fav empire style .

 

[ShockWaveSix]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 5
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 29
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 23
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 30
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 10
Nobel Prize: 24
River Warlord: 18

I love the culture bonus without having to do anything to get it. Jump out to a significant policy lead, useful regardless of map type or strategic situation.

Bonus from Natual Wonders? Big deal? In an average game, you're lucky to have one or two inside your territory.

 

[Wabango]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 3
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 23
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 30
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 10
Nobel Prize: 24
River Warlord: 18

Andean: I really enjoy a civilization with sprawling/connecting roads, so obviously I would enjoy this ability, but the military bonuses from the terrain movements is just an ever so delicious icing on the cake.

Monument Builders: It really loses its draw once you get on/past Emperor, so personally, I don't see it holding a candle to some of the other abilities here.

 

[crawf0rd]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 3
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 23
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 30
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 10
Nobel Prize: 24
River Warlord: 18

Andean: I really enjoy a civilization with sprawling/connecting roads, so obviously I would enjoy this ability, but the military bonuses from the terrain movements is just an ever so delicious icing on the cake.

Monument Builders: It really loses its draw once you get on/past Emperor, so personally, I don't see it holding a candle to some of the other abilities here.

My god. Do my eyes deceive me? Wabango giving a reason for his posts? Finally!

 

[SnowKomodo]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 1
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 30
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 10
Nobel Prize: 24
River Warlord: 18

Monument Builders: Should have been gone a long time ago. I'll say the same thing I said last time: Flavorless, uninspiring, marginally helpful on higher difficulties (if even at all), overkill on lower

Scholars of the Jade Hall: Whether it's choosing Messenger of the Gods or signing every research agreement possible I always like to milk what I can when it comes to science. Korea just makes it that much smoother and allows for versatile play and is suitable for different strategies, certainly my own

 

[mdm]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: 1
Sun Never Sets: 25
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31 +1
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 10
Nobel Prize: 22 -2
River Warlord: 18

Careful planning of golden ages makes Persia practically broken. Not to mention the unique building adding two happiness for a building that should be in every city anyway, but that's besides the point. The extra movement is surprisingly handy too if you're able to chain golden ages the whole game.

Close second to Andean road, situational but ridiculous if you're lucky.

Nobel prize... I'm never DoF with more than two Civs ever, the 90 influence might be useful if i don't successfully avoid great merchants and admirals, or if i'm in a long war of attrition and I have like six great generals, but this is way too weak and situational.

I can't believe The Long Count, Patriarchate of Constantinople and Trade Caravans went down so fast, they can be so powerful if played correctly.

 

[Skibbi]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Monument Builders: -1 DEAD It can give you a boost but compared to many others, it is complete rubbish!
Sun Never Sets: 26 +1 Excellent for surprise attacks and quick surroundings with the navy.
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 22
Seven Cities of Gold: 10
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18

 

[black213]

Saving promotions and allowing policy saving are probably really fun to play.. though I never choose them because I suspect it might provide too large an edge to the human player and thereby detract from the value of any achievement one might experience. Imagine skipping the early policies, waiting for modern era and filling out an entire tree, like order, or freedom.

I did this once; filled tradition and piety (going for cultural) and then saved the rest culture once freedom opens up. Filled the whole tree in one turn.
Sure it might sound a bit cheesy but I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to CiV... I want the earliest victory time possible, best start location, etc etc. The game still remains challenging and fun though.

 

[Lordleoz]

+Seven Cities of Gold: Guys, listen up. This UA shouldn't be considered as a lottery because even if you do not appear near a NA, you can still explore the map and find them, which is a very interesting to do. It's not too difficult to be the first discoverer of a NA if you explore more. What if you are so unlucky that you can't even find a NA first? No.1, in early games, even when NA on your continent are all discovered by other civs, you should still explore the map and spot them. 100 gold is still a nice bonus and you can enjoy +2 happiness from each natural wonder (even if they are not in your borders). It's a nice early game happiness bonus and I'm usually not good at getting happiness. No.2, If NA are not ridiculously far away from you, it's great to send settlers and settle there. Getting those tiles is wonderful. No.3, beeline to astronomy. Astronomy is the key. If you send out conquistadors and caravels early, you'll surely find a few remote NA. So overall, it's a great UA that shouldn't be underestimated. 1 incredible and 9 great in every 10 games.
In spite of being a powerful UA, it's also interesting. In my last game, although my civ didn't appear near a NA, I found it interesting to explore and try to spot them. Once I found one, I felt successful and once I discovered one, I felt excited.

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Sun Never Sets: 26
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 16
Father Governs Children: 20
Seven Cities of Gold: 11
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18

+Seven Cities of Gold: I still use my previous reason, because that's all what I want to say. It really isn't a gamble and I'll keep upvoting it until its point returns to average.

-Father Governs Children: To get that bonus, you first should be an ally of friend with city states, which is not a very easy thing to do. Also, FGC adds little flavor to the game.

 

[maurcus]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Sun Never Sets: 26
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 17 (+1) this is one of the best abilities out there because you can have tiles like a iron on hills by a river (0,1,6. better than a manufacturer)
Father Governs Children: 18 (-2) while it can be good it doesn't give any bonuses to the acquisition of CS allies
Seven Cities of Gold: 11
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18

 

[crawf0rd]

+1, -3 now.

 

[Cowhead]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Sun Never Sets: 27 (+1)
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 17
Father Governs Children: 18
Seven Cities of Gold: 8 (-3)
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18

Sun Never Sets - Suits my play style the best, fast embarked movement. Plus the extra spy helps keep all my prescious technology safe from prying eyes.

Seven Cities of Gold - It's too hit and miss for my liking.

 

[BrotherInJah]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 24
Sun Never Sets: 27
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 18 (+1)
Father Governs Children: 18
Seven Cities of Gold: 5 (-3)
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18

Siberian: Just build stuff faster. And x2 quantity.

Seven: No Natural Wonder near me, never! Even if i'll explore for them, they'll be taken by CS. But still loving spain for great UU.

 

[woodshadows]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 25
Sun Never Sets: 27
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 18
Father Governs Children: 15
Seven Cities of Gold: 5
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18


art of war - probably the best ua, so good i havent bothered to vote for it yet. that combat bonus is huge but even nicer is getting quicker great generals, for even more citadels! i find the way the current combat mechanics are, if you want any chance of holding onto units when attacking a city, the best way of doing it, is to be attacking while in friendly territory, so you can use the road(s) and can heal 20pts/turn or more. I really dislike losing units in this game, I love being able to hold onto them, but with cities turned into giant death robots with super powerful attacks, holding onto units while attacking a city under normal circumstances is nearly impossible. So, enter the citadel push, throwing up citadels right beside the enemies capital, which kills anything in the city and gives you a nice safe spot to attack from. Cheesy? absolutely, but until they fix the giant death robot cities to tone them down a bit, I'll continue abusing the also overpowered citadels.

Father governs children - on Deity or Immortal it's hardly useful, early game you'll get some nice buffs, because you'll inevitably complete some quests for some cs's, but by about medieval the other AI's will begin to start caring about cs's and pour infinite gold at them, be building all the wonders for them, getting all the 'faith leader' 'culture leader' 'science leader' quests for them and having multiple top rate spies to ensure that no matter how much money you pour into that city state, it'll always be coup'd on you the next turn - extremely frustrating.

 

[woodshadows]

I did this once; filled tradition and piety (going for cultural) and then saved the rest culture once freedom opens up. Filled the whole tree in one turn.
Sure it might sound a bit cheesy but I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to CiV... I want the earliest victory time possible, best start location, etc etc. The game still remains challenging and fun though.

I reload map for starting location also. But my only caveat is that I must start on a river, or only require one missed turn to move my settler to a river. Starting anywhere other than a river start always means I am broke in the early game, unable to afford an army large enough to defend myself and chronically short of funds until around banks.

As to policy saving, maybe I'll give it a try and so long as it doesn't feel completely overpowered (since you are sacrificing early game strength afterall), it could be fun. Filling out autocracy in one turn then going to war would be neat.

 

[kamikazees]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 26
Sun Never Sets: 27
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 18
Father Governs Children: 15
Seven Cities of Gold: 2
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18

Art of War: China's armies will kill you.

Seven Cities of Gold: No one should "win" the game on turn 5.

 

[Seabastian Civ]

Sacrificial Captives: 24
Ingenuity: 16
Phoenician Heritage: 23
Art of War: 26
Sun Never Sets: 27
Ancien Regime: 22
Hellenic League: 23
Great Andean Road: 30
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 24
Dutch East India Company: 25 (+1) Free happiness? Yes please. Flood Plain Polders? Thank you, I'll have 6.
Achaemenid Legacy: 31
The Glory of Rome: 28
Siberian Riches: 18
Father Governs Children: 15
Seven Cities of Gold: 0 (-3) Good night, and good riddance.
Nobel Prize: 22
River Warlord: 18