Unique Ability Elimination Thread

[Udey1]

Phoenician Heritage: 9
Art of War: 17 (-3)
Sun Never Sets: 18
Hellenic League: 14
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 5 (+1)
Achaemenid Legacy: 25
The Glory of Rome: 1
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 17

Art of war: Winning wars in civ5 is not hard-at all, I think this is overrated.

DEIC- On hemispheres I often have 1 source of many lux, being able to early trade is extra early gold.

 

[Seabastian Civ]

Seabastian: I haven't thought of doing the GAs stash with Persia - might be because, despite I love this civ, I don't play them much because I end up not having a clue about what to do. Nice idea with the catedral, I might try it out today!

Persia w/ Cathedrals is so strong. Make sure you get the culture buildings in those big cities, too. Getting the Louvre makes fighting that world war so much sweeter.

 

[Tabarnak]

Art of war: Winning wars in civ5 is not hard-at all, I think this is overrated.

Phoenician Heritage: 9
Art of War: 18
Sun Never Sets: 18
Hellenic League: 14
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 2
Achaemenid Legacy: 25
The Glory of Rome: 1
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 17

Winning wars can be hard in mp and deity. The CKN fits well with this UA. Under almost always war pressure, this will be likely better than DEIC.

 

[Udey1]

Winning wars can be hard in mp and deity. The CKN fits well with this UA. Under almost always war pressure, this will be likely better than DEIC.

I suppose that is true for MP, I was considering SP- in which it is totally unnecessary.

 

[SnowKomodo]

Phoenician Heritage: 9
Art of War: 18
Sun Never Sets: 15
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 2
Achaemenid Legacy: 25
The Glory of Rome: 1
Siberian Riches: 15
Nobel Prize: 17

Sun Never Sets: When I look at the remaining civs I see ones that I like because they can be game-breaking (e.g. Scholars of the Jade Hall) or because they do an amazing job at specializing in one area that in turn helps out the rest (e.g. Hellenic League). Sun Never Sets? It's always going to be strong but it's also always more like a luxury than a strategic resource (like, not as in iron or uranium resource, you know what I mean...) and I'm knocking it for that reason. Extra spy? OK, how big of an advantage does it give you really? Some people like to call it the cherry on top but I see it more as a third pillow for your head.

Hellenic League: Just used them last night. Combined with Patronage the game was awesome (I made sure to finish the Patronage tree as soon as possible). Locking up city-states early was important to get the snowball effect and the Hoplites and Companion Cavalry just made it easier. (I really have a new respect for Companion Cavalry, by the way). I was lucky enough to have an early city next to Uluru (faith and I think food) and a ridiculous amount of wine, about 7 between my first three cities (standard resources) so with the wine and incense faith bonus I got my religion first (even before Boudicca who was on the same continent) so that had an impact on my success. Still, I don't buy the criticism that on higher difficulties it's too much of a chore to play the city-state game. Play your cards right and Hellenic League can be as filthy as the rest. I'm glad there is still a diplo civ this late in the elimination and it's well-deserved. Edit: There are three diplo civs still, I don't know what I was saying there haha

 

[woodshadows]

I suppose that is true for MP, I was considering SP- in which it is totally unnecessary.

try Deity standard size pangaea with standard # of players = multiple invasions with unlimited units always at tech parity or above.

 

[Crafty Bison]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 9
Art of War: 18
Sun Never Sets: 15
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 2
Achaemenid Legacy: 26
The Glory of Rome: 1
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 17

AL: Well, it's just a behemoth, isn't it. The list of in game features that it doesnt boost is shorter than the ones it does. I also love puppet empires and movement bonuses.

SR: I just find myself lacking enthusiasm when playing Russia, and I really like their UU. At least with Romes production bonuse there's a way to structure your empire and infrastructure to make it a little out of the norm. I'd like to see it with a Russian bear style UA.

 

[Nukes R Us]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 9
Art of War: 18
Sun Never Sets: 15
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 26
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 2
Achaemenid Legacy: 24
The Glory of Rome: 1
Siberian Riches: 13
Nobel Prize: 17

SR: I REALLY like having a lot of Uranium. Late-game conquering a city is almost impossible on the hard difficulties when the AI have somehow got the city attack strength to 250-350 (top I have seen was around 380.) Having a lot of nukes is the ONLY way to achieve a domination victory.
I also like having Nuclear Powerplants while still having nukes.

AL: I find that having this UA limits a user to going for a TON of happiness or great people, or monuments that create golden ages. I think that this discourages expansion, which is what the Persians tried to to in Real Life

 

[Wabango]

@Nukes, it is -3 and +1 now

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 9
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 15
Hellenic League: 15
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 2
Achaemenid Legacy: 23
The Glory of Rome: 1
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 17

I enjoy Andean road for many reasons previously stated, AoW is flavourless and I find the bonus of great generals is not as important to me as the benefits of other UAs

 

[Princeofnigeria]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 9
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 15
Hellenic League: 16
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 2
Achaemenid Legacy: 23
The Glory of Rome: -2 (KIA)
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 17

Glory: Okay, sorry but since everyone has been dancing around killing off the two lowest votes, I've took it upon myself to make sure Dutch east india company again. Yet again, Flory limits you so much if you want to get any use out of it, and makes you more likely to miss those important early wonders.

Hellenic league: I HATE GREECE!!! ALEXANDER IS AN ANNOYING WHINNING MANCHILD WHO MAKES THE AI GOLD BONUS EVEN MORE OVERPOWERED!!!... But I love playing as him! Having 0 influence drop is very satisfying, and allows a human to keep up with crazy money AI (though spies become rather problematic).
I would have voted Dutch, but since I would have voted up one next person would have killed it making my vote meaningless.

 

[Snoopaloop]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 6
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 15
Hellenic League: 16
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 21
Dutch East India Company: 3
Achaemenid Legacy: 23
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 17

-3 PH: This ability has incredibly diminishing effects the less water there is. Barely helpful in anything but archipelago or island maps. This is the only UA left which needs you to choose your landmass type to cater towards it. EDIT: didn't see Sun Never Sets. Still. I'de rather the extra spy. One extra early spy = 2/3 free mid game technologies.

+1 DEIC: The ability to more freely trade your beginning luxuries and experience less of an unhappiness hit, especially when that 240 gold is the most important.

 

[Lordleoz]

damn, I am 90 minutes too late. hmm... two of my three personal favorite UAs are dead

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 6
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 13
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 18
Dutch East India Company: 3
Achaemenid Legacy: 23
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 17

+Sun Never Sets: extra spy can do so many works and faster movements make amphibious invasion much more interesting. Double movement for embarked units is great.

-Hellenic League: it's a nice UA, but isn't very game changing.

 

[Sidor1982]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 6
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 13
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 19 (+1) Great ability for basically all strategy types and all maps. Doesn't limit You to a specific strategy.
Dutch East India Company: 0 (-3) One of the most useless UA. Don't really know why it's still here.
Achaemenid Legacy: 23
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 17

 

[Lordleoz]

I made a mistake, SotJH should be 21, not 18.

We've got top 10 now

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 6
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 13
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 22
Achaemenid Legacy: 23
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 17

 

[swishizzle]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 6
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 10 (-3)
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 22
Achaemenid Legacy: 23
Siberian Riches: 12
Nobel Prize: 18 (+1)

I'll continue to beat the dead horse and say Nobel Prize. Even if you don't get the bonus GP generation on MP, you can still focus on making GP the old fashioned way. On SP it's pretty easy to play a peaceful game, so having +60% GP generation is just fun.

Despite the fact that I love CS, Greece is just kind of underwhelming for me. I think the major issue I have with it is that it's a very passive ability. Sure combining it with Patronage and Religion makes your influence stagnate, but it's still boring. Now that I think about it, everything about Greece just bores me...

 

[TM Moot]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 6
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 10
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 22
Achaemenid Legacy: 24 (+1)
Siberian Riches: 9 (-3)
Nobel Prize: 18

Ach Legacy is wonderful and is game winning if utilised fully
Sib Riches is ok, but not the best

 

[Rooftrellen]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 7
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 10
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 19
Achaemenid Legacy: 24
Siberian Riches: 10
Nobel Prize: 18

For some reason Nukes's upvote of Siberian Riches was nullified when his downvote was corrected.

Phoenician Heritage is marked for death. I know one person has relentlessly downvoted it every day and it is now unlikely to see another day, but it's the best UA on the board. It allows you to get a few trade routes up fast, your first few cities to get extra production as if you had invested on a pantheon (and you still can for more production if the map is right, God of the Seas).

The advantage of letting workers do something else other than build roads early (even if you want to build them later) is better than 2 or 3 of the other UA's up here alone, and when you add in all the other advantages of free harbors, from hammers saved in coastal cities, the fact you get a medieval era tech's building in your first city (and all other coastal cities) without upkeep, hammer investment, or tech requirement...all of that just makes it better.

Now, downvote, Scholars of the Jade Hall is pretty darn solid (I mean, it's on a civ with a UU sea exploration ship that can't get into the ocean and a UU siege engine without a bonus to cities (in theory)), but it's rather dull, just some extra science (not as dull as Ingenuity mind you). And that's really the only bad thing I have to say about it, that it's dull, but there is only one UA left that I feel I can say anything bad about more than that, so the dull gets the downvote.

 

[Skibbi]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 4 -3 Weakest of those remaining. Trade routes have minimal affectiveness and going over mountains, well if you attack a unit from a mountain but don't kill it, you will take 50 more damage, making it useless!
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 11 +1 Having city state allies is impressive! FGC is nothing when Greece gets the ally before you!
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 19
Achaemenid Legacy: 24
Siberian Riches: 10
Nobel Prize: 18

 

[maurcus]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 4
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 16
Hellenic League: 11
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 19
Achaemenid Legacy: 21(-3)
Siberian Riches: 11 (+1)
Nobel Prize: 18

AL, good but my least favorite ability as on the higher levels i have trouble getting enough either GA or for it to be useful so you would have to get the polocies that give free golden ages restriting policy options

SR, more is more, more is more efficient, more is better, more is more more is more , more is good

 

[Grubnessul]

Sacrificial Captives: 20
Phoenician Heritage: 4
Art of War: 15
Sun Never Sets: 13 (-3)
Hellenic League: 11
Great Andean Road: 27
Scholars of the Jade Hall: 19
Achaemenid Legacy: 22 (+1)
Siberian Riches: 11
Nobel Prize: 18

SNS is too situational for my taste, not sure how it ever survived this long, especially since GoR is killed already. Yet it is at least a bonus you can count on and do not depend on water. Until navies are as important as they were IRL, I see little point in picking the Brits for this UA.

AL is superior to the other remaining UA's. It's a killer.