Unique Ability Elimination Thread

[woodshadows]

Woodshadows: I use the double horses/iron to trade away for gold to other civs - each horse = 45, if I have 4 to spare = 180. The production bonus is nice early in the game, when you think that working that horse-grassland-tile might be a good idea (2 food, 1 prod. With stable: 2 food, 2 prod. Adding Siberian Riches bonus: 2 food, 3 prod, an awesome tile early in the game). Also, the production bonus is not only for iron and horses (which can be enhanced by forge and stable) but for all strategic resources, so those nice tiles with oil/aluminium/uranium/coal/horses/iron are even more useful. With Russia, bulding forges and stables is a nice strategy to "enhance" the bonus, but think about it: an early city from a regular civ, working a horse tile, gets 1 prod. That means, with one pop, a scout every 5 turns. With Russia, you get 2 prod from that tile, so, your scouts come out faster, and so does the buldings/units/whatever you wanna build. Using strategic balance is great for Russia, and the Krepost helps you get those strategic tiles faster while giving an early boost to the units produced.

yeah.. it still seems minimal lol.. i didn't bother including the aluminum oil etc, because by the time those are revealed the extra hammer isn't going to make much of a difference. i contrast though the extra production hammer to the extra production hammer that the huns get - +1 per pasture, a tile which is far more common and you often have every city with one or two of them. the selling thing isn't bad, but doesn't compare to civs like arabia or the dutch. i also rarely ever build barracks and the games in which i do build them i often regret them, just an extra expense/time waste to build, for a promotion i could earn in battle. i have a soft spot for the cossack though, much as it isn't extremely good, but i loved it in civ iv i guess.

 

[Genghis.Khan]

Manifest Destiny: 17
Trade Caravans: 3 + Few GPT, Double Oil. One of the Weakest
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 20
Great Andean Road: 26
The Great Warpath: 9
Bushido: 13
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19 Probably the best UA. Yes, it does increase your next GP points but you guarantee whatever you want with it.
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 14
Nobel Prize: 22

 

[Petiscator]

About the Hunnic bonus, I agree it is more common, but you first have to improve the tile, on the other hand, Russia gets it immediately, improved or not. It is hard not to find some of the strategic resources in your territory, but if you can, you have a reason to found a new city there. The krepost is not necessary, it just synergizes well. I don't know if Siberian Riches' double-horse/iron/uranium includes CSs strats, but, IIRC, it does, so it is even cooler. Of course, it doesn't compare to trading civ's bonuses, but you get some nice money in here without sacrificing happiness. Not the best bonus, but I like Russia and wanted to tell you what worked out with them for me

 

[Crafty Bison]

Manifest Destiny: 17
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 20
Great Andean Road: 26
The Great Warpath: 7
Bushido: 13
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 24
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 14
Nobel Prize: 23

This time I voted on most and least interesting, and which enhance the game naturally.
Warpath: Don't like and is very fiddly. Also not very interesting in general.
Nobel: One of the very few civs which actually makes you think about diplomacy, which is the remedy of CiVs biggest weakness imo. It also implies a lot of war, religion, CS use and some wonder building for GP, making it super interesting.

 

[Tabarnak]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 20
Great Andean Road: 26
The Great Warpath: 7
Bushido: 13
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 22
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 14
Nobel Prize: 23

Manifest Destiny : Buy these 3rd ring cow tiles! Buy everything you want to help grow your cities. Instant bonuses are nice. Add +1 sight for a better view of the situation and ruins.

Dutch East India Company : Not that useful in mp. There is enough happiness available in the game to not make it worth. Give me Manifest Destiny instead.

 

[HeraldtheGreat]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 20
Great Andean Road: 26
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 13
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 22
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 14
Nobel Prize: 24

Nobel Prize: Fits my play style, and encourages diplomacy. Of course, it also has it's religious benefits, and who hates Great People?
The Great Warpath: Underwhelming UA. The Great Warpath ends in oblivion and failure.
________________________________
Stupid truth always resisting simplicity.
-John Green

 

[Rooftrellen]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 20
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 7
Bushido: 13
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 22
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 14
Nobel Prize: 24

I'll up and down vote by comparison again.

The Great Warpath can give you free or nearly free cit connections once your boarders expand a bit. You can get a good number of cities connected as well, though, admitted, if you start going to war you'll likely end up with cities that don't fit your needs quite as well. Still, it gets those vital first cities set up quickly and saves a massive amount when it's most important.

Great Andean Road is a good UA, and not the worst on the list, but when compared to the great warpath, it's just not as good. Your roads still need to be built, which doesn't make up for the off-hill roads being half price.

I'm not sure I understand the hate for the great warpath at all.

 

[Crafty Bison]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 20
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 13
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 22
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 14
Nobel Prize: 24

Herald downvoted by 1.

 

[Lordleoz]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 13
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 20
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 14
Nobel Prize: 24

Hellenic League: A nice bonus that doesn't need very special tactics. Just focus on the requests of city states and the game will be played out well.

Dutch East India Company: Under most circumstances, I don't have chance to sell the last copy and the happiness bonus isn't very significant.

 

[Crdnl Richelieu]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11 (-2) - Not a very sexy UA, and I was having a game (not with the Japanese) yesterday and severely damaged units seemed to fight with almost as much vigour as a full-strength unit.
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 20
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 15 (+1) - I know it's luck of the draw, but if I don't get any nearby Natural Wonders, I just restart! Nothing quite beats the frisson of excitement one feels when you encounter Eldorado or the GBR. I found both in one game and although it was ridiculously overpowered, it was fun nonetheless.
Nobel Prize: 24

 

[TM Moot]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 19
Dutch East India Company: 20
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 15
Nobel Prize: 22

(i corrected the score to show Seven Cities at 15)
Persia - decent benefit which becomes game-changing bonus if fully utilised
Sweden - doesn't suit me or my gameplay

 

[Largio]

Dutch East India Company: Under most circumstances, I don't have chance to sell the last copy and the happiness bonus isn't very significant.

I use this to trade my last copy of a lux to another lux. Basically means I get +6 happiness from 1 luxury resource. I find this ability pretty useful when fighting early unhappiness from expanding.

 

[woodshadows]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 17
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 17
Dutch East India Company: 20
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 16
Nobel Prize: 22


seven cities of gold - not the 'best', but i think it's hugely underrated. assuming you are exploring (which you should be anyways) you will be making a good amount of early game gold, even without being the first to find the natural wonders. combined with this is the prospect of some extremely powerful tiles, which through luck or conquering you will be able to exploit for some really great bonuses. also, the extra happiness never hurts.

the long count really strikes me as one of the most boring ua's - who thought up this uncreative ability? i prefer a ua that makes you have to work for it a bit, otherwise it seems really dull.

 

[Mesix]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 3
Diplomatic Marriage: 15 (-2)
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 13 (+1)
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 17
Dutch East India Company: 20
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 16
Nobel Prize: 22

Babylon's Ingenuity is the most game changing UA in the game. Planting an early Academy allows for a very early tech lead which snowballs throughout the game as more GS are generated. Do you want to win by Domination? build the most advanced units. Do you want to win by Culture? Build the necessary wonders and building before anyone else. Do you want to win by Science or Diplomacy? Both require a fast paced research. In short, Ingenuity allows you to get a leg up on any victory condition in the game.

Diplomatic Marriage gets a big thumbs down from me. Is it powerful? Sure. It is broken though, and IMHO, the upcoming patch isn't likely to fix it very well. CS add a lot of flavor to the game, and eliminating the CS from their role in the game is not a well designed game mechanic.

 

[Seabastian Civ]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 1 (-2) The plus one gold is not a large bonus at all, and the extra oil is often irrelevant since deserts tend to have the highest concentration of oil deposits to begin with...
Diplomatic Marriage: 15
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 13
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 17
Dutch East India Company: 21 (+1) So, so, so good when expanding early. And to whoever said you can't find a way to trade your last resource- try going 1-for-1, or at least getting gold. If you're not trading you're not playing Dutch right. I will admit this isn't the greatest ability in MP, but it is still top 10. PLUS, you have the ability to build Polders, the single best improvement in the game, bar none.
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 10
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 19
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 16
Nobel Prize: 22

 

[Petiscator]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 1
Diplomatic Marriage: 15
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 13
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 17
Dutch East India Company: 21
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 8
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 20
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 16
Nobel Prize: 22

Siberian Riches: This was on emperor. I was talking to Woodshadows here about this ability and I felt like trying it out. I started a game with Russia and it was awesome. The production from strats is instantaneous, you don't have to improve it, so I was glad I found 2 horse tiles around Moscow (one with 4, the other with 2 = 12, which I sold and got 540 money), so, after trading it, I was rolling in money. With the great amount of money, I used to found St. Petersburg near another horse tile, nice, again. I had a great amount of production in Moscow because of the ability (which I chose to enhance building the pastures and the stable, so, the plains/horse tile was giving me 1 food + 5 production!), so I built Stonehenge, Pyramids and the Great Library. With the GL, I got Iron Working, so I found some iron. With some, I mean at least 7 tiles, one in my capital, other 2 near St. Petersburg and 4! on tundra. I improved the iron source near Moscow, got 12 and sold them. +540 gold for me = free Rostov. It became a huge expansion machine. I built the Kreposts so I could get those tiles faster and found out I was building wonders in a better rate than Egypt would. (This was on Strategic Balance)

Wayfinding: Good ability, for water maps only. It is not very useful on Pangea, as you don't have the "let's colonize the world earlier" feeling, and the moais bonuses become worthless, as they can only be built on the coast. I dislike this ability mostly because it is only really useful in some specific map types.

 

[theguy8882]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 1
Diplomatic Marriage: 15
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 14
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 17
Dutch East India Company: 21
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 6
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 20
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 16
Nobel Prize: 22

Wayfinding is stupid. All it's good for is exploring which while it can be beneficial, isn't enough to make up for it's quick fall into uselessness because, optics is a classical era tech. It is utterly useless on pangea maps making it situational as well. Any argument that it helps you get early ruins is ridiculous since you could just get a bunch crudely drawn maps or barbarian encampment locations

Ingenuity can get you a lot of GSs especially if you have a lot of wonders/specialists.

 

[Mattthew]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 1
Diplomatic Marriage: 15
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 17
Dutch East India Company: 21
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 7
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 20
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 16
Nobel Prize: 22


I upvoted wayfinding because it is one of the most useful abilitys for archipelago. The polynesians become a military power from this ability in mos island maps and on continents for over sea attacks.

I downvoted ingenuity because any civ can make great scientests. Its ok early game but late game there ability starts to become useless. I have played as them and the great scientist generation did not seem that much better than another science focused civ.

 

[theguy8882]

Manifest Destiny: 18
Trade Caravans: 1
Diplomatic Marriage: 15
Sacrificial Captives: 22
Ingenuity: 12
Phoenician Heritage: 30
Art of War: 22
Viking Fury: 13
Monument Builders: 22
Sun Never Sets: 24
Ancien Regime: 24
Hellenic League: 21
Great Andean Road: 24
The Great Warpath: 6
Bushido: 11
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
The Long Count: 17
Dutch East India Company: 21
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
Wayfinding: 7
The Glory of Rome: 32
Siberian Riches: 20
Father Governs Children: 25
Seven Cities of Gold: 16
Nobel Prize: 22


I upvoted wayfinding because it is one of the most useful abilitys for archipelago. The polynesians become a military power from this ability in mos island maps and on continents for over sea attacks.

I downvoted ingenuity because any civ can make great scientests. Its ok early game but late game there ability starts to become useless. I have played as them and the great scientist generation did not seem that much better than another science focused civ.

delete this post. my brother made this post just to annoy me. He's going to reply and say i'm crazy, but don't believe him.

 

[Mattthew]

delete this post. my brother made this post just to annoy me. He's going to reply and say i'm crazy, but don't believe him.

umm.... who are you? i don't have a brother