Unique Ability Elimination Thread

[maurcus]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Ingenuity: 2 (-3)
Phoenician Heritage: 19
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 25
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 12
Achaemenid Legacy: 29
The Glory of Rome: 8
Siberian Riches: 15 (+1)
Nobel Prize: 23

ingenuity, what can i say that hasnt already been said? its powerful, its early, its mind numingly boring, its the only reason you should play babylon, all that and more has already been said by myself and others and when the going gets tough its the lasting bonuses that survive.

siberian riches, production production production it can make a poor city moderate, a moderate city fair, a fair city good, and a good city great. that city you plopped down on the tundra to get that oil now gets one more shield for the buildings that it produces which for an undeveloped city is invaluable.

 

[TM Moot]

Try It please before downvote. 2 spy in deity is invaluable to catch up in science. +2 sea move is just an icing in the cake

Do you know what, i just might (again). I did in Vanilla, but found it to be meh at best...
I'm surprised it has so much love here, so will revisit at some stage

 

[DGDobrev]

2 spies on deity is really nice, assuming you save before each steal. The diplo hit for constant stealing is big, especially if you steal from 2 civs at the same time - even worse if they're friendly. It will lead to many denouncements and probably war with a few civs. That isn't exactly the best way to spend your time on deity...

 

[Gucumatz]

But the amount of tech you get entirely makes up for any diplo hits you may take. And if you aren't tactical enough to defend your land vs bad AI - then use it vs AI far away or unfriendly to you already.

2 Spies allows you to look inside of a city on Deity/immortal and see if specific units are being produced/specific buildings have been made which can alert you to what techs that AI has. You can then plan accordingly and tech on a different path and let your spies catch you up on the other neglected tree

 

[Gucumatz]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Ingenuity: 3 Its powerful. Arguably the most powerful in game - (Not my favorite however) and certainly better than several UAs here. It shouldn't be eliminated this early.
Phoenician Heritage: 19
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 25
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 12 the worst of the remaining UAs in my opinion. It is basically a UA without any function whatsoever in multiplayer. In singleplayer you of course want to sell off your luxes as often as you can. On higher levels it has a slight effect if you go liberty - but you don't need it and doesn't give you a significant edge. If you overexpand on Deity early - Defense may be lacking. And there are many ways to stay above -10 unhappy - the UA doesn't give a big edge in anyway
Achaemenid Legacy: 29
The Glory of Rome: 5
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 23

 

[Princeofnigeria]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Ingenuity: 3
Phoenician Heritage: 19
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 12
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
The Glory of Rome: 5
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 23
For great andean, a lot can be said. It's good for the economy, good for warfare, good for early science (not going into debt means you won't lose beakers a turn). The great andean road is good on a wide array of map types, and is well complemented by the Incas UU.
For Acheamanid legacy, it is okay, but yet again, a self defeating prophecy, and in the long run, the incan movement and gold advantages will outrun that of persia's. Also, yet again +10% combat strength for 15 turns is negligible.

 

[Lordleoz]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Ingenuity: 3
Phoenician Heritage: 19
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 9
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
The Glory of Rome: 8
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 23

 

[Rooftrellen]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Ingenuity: 0
Phoenician Heritage: 20
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 9
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
The Glory of Rome: 8
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 23

Gucumatz copied an old list from somewhere. I am correcting in his and Prince's post, rather than going back and correcting all those posts after the one he copied. That means the blue is adding in the votes made since maurcus's post, which appears accurate from the time it was made.

Bye bye Ingenuity. You're not bad, but the fact you need to work the academy for that extra science early makes it worse than it appears, and Nobel Prize is both more flexible and stronger though the game in most situations. You're not a bad UA, but it's time for you to fall with many of your brothers. Only one will last until the end.

Phoenician Heritage is good for the economy, and money makes the world go 'round. You get a sea resource, hammers. You get the wheel, trade route You get Messenger of the Gods, science. You get railroads, production/money (you decide which, but it is a stretch to say you get both), and after that, you get to move over mountains, which may not often be useful, but when the runaway has his capital surrounded on 4 sides by mountains (I kid you not, this happened once), it's nice. Situational, but nice as a little bonus to an already powerful UA.

 

[Seabastian Civ]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 20
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 6 (-3) I'm of the opinion that this and Glory of Rome are the two weakest left. I do love this UA in single player, but it is completely useless in MP, at least until you get the +2 happiness from Commerce. But by then, your expansion is usually finished.
Achaemenid Legacy: 27 (+1) I don't understand Prince of Nigeria's "self-fulfilling prophecy" downvote. This UA crushes because of the extra move. With Chichen Itza, your army will steamroll your opponent- your seige will move, set up, and attack in one turn. Your crossbowmen will move twice and attack. Your knights will knock out archers from so far behind the fog of war the enemy won't even know you had knights. If you mean the added happiness will reduce your ability to get natural golden ages, then yes, but popping artists and wonders is the best way to get golden ages anyway.
The Glory of Rome: 8
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 23

 

[woodshadows]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 17
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 16
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 6
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
The Glory of Rome: 8
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 23

city states on your side is like having wonders in your cities and allies that will actually fight beside you when you have war declared on you and alexander is probably the best at keeping city states on board, cheaply.

long coastal empires, no thanks, i also hate carthage's UU's, but that's another story I know, still a very weak civ overall and their UA is a big part of that, about the only good thing about them is the free movement over mountains, which isn't super useful but is at least fun at times

 

[Princeofnigeria]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 20
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 6 (-3) I'm of the opinion that this and Glory of Rome are the two weakest left. I do love this UA in single player, but it is completely useless in MP, at least until you get the +2 happiness from Commerce. But by then, your expansion is usually finished.
Achaemenid Legacy: 27 (+1) I don't understand Prince of Nigeria's "self-fulfilling prophecy" downvote. This UA crushes because of the extra move. With Chichen Itza, your army will steamroll your opponent- your seige will move, set up, and attack in one turn. Your crossbowmen will move twice and attack. Your knights will knock out archers from so far behind the fog of war the enemy won't even know you had knights. If you mean the added happiness will reduce your ability to get natural golden ages, then yes, but popping artists and wonders is the best way to get golden ages anyway.
The Glory of Rome: 8
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 23

I did not say it was a self fulfilling prophecy, it's a self defeating prophecy. You WILL crush an enemy, you will take his cities, and thus, lose happiness, and thus have less golden ages. I will give you that chitchen itza and taj mahal are perfect for persia, but that's assuming the AI doesn't whore them.

 

[JFM2796]

I did not say it was a self fulfilling prophecy, it's a self defeating prophecy. You WILL crush an enemy, you will take his cities, and thus, lose happiness, and thus have less golden ages. I will give you that chitchen itza and taj mahal are perfect for persia, but that's assuming the AI doesn't whore them.

That is kind of what I see with Persia. When I play as them aggresively I have trouble staying in positive happiness, let alone being able to consistently get golden ages. And then there is the "forever golden" strategy (a golden age for the entire game) which I am not even going to get started on. Maybe its my own skill, luck, or something but I just don't see how people manage to pull this off. I'll have to try them again in Gods and Kings, as religon should make hapiness easier.

 

[swishizzle]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 17
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 16
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 6
Achaemenid Legacy: 27
The Glory of Rome: 5 (-3)
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 24 (+1)

Again, up-voting Nobel Prize. It perfectly fits my playstyle (friendly and diplomatic) and allows for a lot of variety. Easy food, culture, faith, happiness, units and science? Yes please.

I like Rome, but I feel that their UA isn't as good as many of the others mentioned. If you get a bad start, the ability can become nearly useless. While it can definitely be powerful (especially in the late game), it's not something I get excited about.

 

[kamikazees]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 17
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 16
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 7
Achaemenid Legacy: 24
The Glory of Rome: 5
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 24

Dutch East India Company: So much hate... This is a great UA. You can get 4 cities up and running faster with a tradition opening faster than any other civ. I understand the catch is that you need trading partners (which is harder on an island map and not so great in multiplayer), but I would take this UA over a bunch of others.

Achaemenid Legacy: This is a good UA, but ranked way too high. You need Chichen Itza for it to shine, and AI prioritizes that wonder. Also, I don't like trying to time wars with golden ages. I rarely have a huge happiness surplus and almost never get great artists.

 

[Gucumatz]

Thats kind of the problem though. It only really is useful for rushing a few cities quickly. And most people can do that already on every civ and find ways to make up for the few happy probs to stay above -10 unhappy. Its such a limited UA and really only shows up the most on higher levels in specific situations. And for a UA to survive this stage - if it neglects multiplayer entirely then it has no right belonging in the remaining top - unless its amazing in singleplayer - Which its not compared to the others

 

[Snoopaloop]

the fact you need to work the academy for that extra science early makes it (ingenuity) worse than it appears

Phoenician Heritage is good for the economy, and money makes the world go 'round. You get a sea resource, hammers. You get the wheel, trade route You get Messenger of the Gods, science.

Ingenuity is bad because you have to work an amazing academy tile incredibly early.
Pheonician Heritage is great because you can possibly found a religion with a benefit that every civ has access to.

Science would tell you gravity and momentum makes the world go 'round, but I guess you don't know that tech yet. Maybe if you're lucky your spy can steal it from the Babylonians.


Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 14
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 16
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 7
Achaemenid Legacy: 24
The Glory of Rome: 6
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 24

PH -3: it's boring to me. i don't like its flavor (really though. p20, p22 and 24? are my main reasons)
Glory of Rome +1: I'de take reduced hammer costs on any building, in ANY city, already in my capital, compared to 1 or 2 extra hammers in a few coastal cities.

 

[Wabango]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 14
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 13
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 7
Achaemenid Legacy: 24
The Glory of Rome: 6
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 24

Hellenic doesn't belong here at this point in time, others are much better, even Glory of Rome is fantastic compared to this!

Andean Road, need I say more, I have up-voted before and explained in depth.

 

[CanaDutch]

I wonder how the Netherlands got voted higher than England in the 'Civilization elimination thread' when everyone is loving everything that England has, while the Dutch are too situational. I think playing with the Dutch is more fun though.

 

[Lordleoz]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 14
Art of War: 19
Sun Never Sets: 20
Hellenic League: 13
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 4
Achaemenid Legacy: 24
The Glory of Rome: 7
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 24

+the Glory of Rome: I always welcome production bonus and +25% is really a big deal.

-Dutch East India Company: the name is cool, but this UA is pretty useless in my games, especially in MP. I just don't always have chance to sell luxury until the last copy.

 

[Rooftrellen]

Ingenuity is bad because you have to work an amazing academy tile incredibly early.
Pheonician Heritage is great because you can possibly found a religion with a benefit that every civ has access to.

Ingenuity loses some of it's luster.

Phoenician Heritage gets free trade routes in coastal cities to help anything that requires a trade route.

It works a lot more to their favor than, for instance, Maya and Messenger of the Gods, as the Maya get no advantages in trade routes.