Unique Ability Elimination Thread

[DeathwatchBob]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 33
Brazil - Carnival - 21
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 11
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 8
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 13
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 23
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 20
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 16
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 14
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 20
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 26
Venice - Serenissima - 11

GL is better not to rely on, but the Korean UA is still boss. It is even compatible with the AI's deranged specialist control.

On the other side of reliability, Germany's barb conversion. It can give you a really strong boost early on saving you tons of hammers. It can also give you jack just as easily.

 

[njmfff]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 21
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 11
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 5
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 13
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 23
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 20
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 16
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 14
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 20
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 26
Venice - Serenissima - 11

Germany - Furor Teutonicus - because it's ability is rather useless in BWN.

Babylon - Ingenuity - UA comes very early into play, and +10 science from first GS is just awesome. UA ability stays useful during the entire game, plus it can get even more boosted with Rationalism and World Congress and many other buildings. It means constant flow of GS and constant tech advantage.

Korean UA is on the same level as Babylon, but can't vote for both.

 

[ilik]

Egypt was my favorite, now I like Mayans better. Early great scientist is super useful.

Too lazy to do all this numbering How do you people stand it?

 

[Princeofnigeria]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 16 meh. Once you actually get a tech lead the ability become moot, and that comes quickly.
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 21
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 11
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 5
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 13
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 23
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 20
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 16
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12 it's a dang slot machine. I'll take a bad constant ability than a random boon once in a while
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22 always useful, easy to play with, very fun and able to be manipulated both in war and peace
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 26
Venice - Serenissima - 11

Also, people seem to keep saying "and with the UU" or "it shines with the UB", I think this is ONLY about UA.

 

[Workman]

Egypt was my favorite, now I like Mayans better. Early great scientist is super useful.

Too lazy to do all this numbering How do you people stand it?

All you do is copy+paste the most recent voters stat block, take out their comments and add your own, along with calculating your votes of course.

 

[jacer21]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 16
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 21
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 - Might get you 1 or 2 additional wonders, but that's about it. A wonder heavy strategy is a killer on higher difficulties.
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 5
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 15 - 24 extra happiness (if you trade lux for lux) or 5760 gold every 30 turns if you sell them all. Better than most people give it credit for.
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 23
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 20
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 16
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 26
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[redwings1340]

Also, people seem to keep saying "and with the UU" or "it shines with the UB", I think this is ONLY about UA.

My logic is that because UAs are designed to be used with specific UUs or UBs, I want to take in to account how they actually play in the game versus how they sound on paper. The hunnic UA, for example, is pretty bad by itself, but becomes very strong once you realize it gives the Huns a huge advantage in early game conquest, which is what their civ is built for. This and the Mongol UA would be two of the first eliminated if it were assigned to a random civ, and they still aren't amazing, but I give them extra points because in game, they work very well with the civ they're on.

The Byzantium UA, as a counterpoint, is really powerful, but the UUs of Byzantium are terrible and don't do anything to make the UA better. This one forces you to go heavy religion and gets you even further behind in the early game, so I would take points away for not playing well in the game.

I can see both sides of the argument though. It's not an overly scientific thread, so vote however you want. Hopefully you can understand why I'm referencing these tough.

 

[Sake]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18 - Since AI starts with so many techs in advance, you're going to be behind for quite lot of time, until you can catch up. Assyria can catch up quickly and cripple their enemies at the same time. You beeline military techs and steal civil techs, on higher difficulties, there will always be someone that has a tech that you don't (unless you've already crushed everybody). I really don't get dislikes to this UA, as it allows focusing on warfare and still being near tech lead.
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 21
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 5
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 15 -
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 23
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 20
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 12 - Really map dependent warmonger UA. Unless you are landing, who would attack from water anyway? Triple gold from barb camps and cities is ok, but nothing game changing (Venice gets a lot more gold from trades than Songhai from pillaging).
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 26
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[Jernfrau]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 21
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 5
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 15 -
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 23
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22 Always surprising how much extra dosh I make with this.
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8 Meh, that is my only thought when I read their UA
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 26
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17 kind of boring in general. Makes some pretty strong great musicians at the end but still just Ho Hum in my opinion.
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 5
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 15 -
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 23
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28 Really works well with their UB. Getting all three buffalo promotions doesn't really slow you down on getting the other important promotions much at all with this.
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[Lights]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 15
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 1 I'm not a warmonger so i don't use this UA so much. If you are turtling the UA will save you 5 gold more or less. It's not my style.
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 15 -
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 25 Only for the 1 movement during GA it's enough for me for upvoting them. Free Chichen Itza and powerful GA. With some great artist you can start a Perma gold age.
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[JimBobV]

Hope I'm doing this right.

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 17 Since the AI isn't very good with naval battles, I like to mobilize a large navy quickly and go rambo on coastal cities.
Germany - Furor Teutonicus - 0 I'm going to have to go for this as well. Just not that useful as barbs don't tend to have units stronger then you once you enter the classical era
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 15
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 25
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 34
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[sendos]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 17
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 11 Highly dependent on map type to make good use of the UA, similar to Spain.
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 25
Poland - Solidarity - 35
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 36 An excellent land-grabbing civ.
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[jlim201]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 17
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 7- Much too map specific.
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 25
Poland - Solidarity - 36- Extra SP are very useful.
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 36
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28
Venice - Serenissima - 11

 

[Smote]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 17
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 7- Much too map specific.
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 25
Poland - Solidarity - 38- Extra SP are very useful.
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 36
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28
Venice - Serenissima - 7 This UA is a drawback, not a benefit

 

[Princeofnigeria]

My logic is that because UAs are designed to be used with specific UUs or UBs, I want to take in to account how they actually play in the game versus how they sound on paper. The hunnic UA, for example, is pretty bad by itself, but becomes very strong once you realize it gives the Huns a huge advantage in early game conquest, which is what their civ is built for. This and the Mongol UA would be two of the first eliminated if it were assigned to a random civ, and they still aren't amazing, but I give them extra points because in game, they work very well with the civ they're on.

The Byzantium UA, as a counterpoint, is really powerful, but the UUs of Byzantium are terrible and don't do anything to make the UA better. This one forces you to go heavy religion and gets you even further behind in the early game, so I would take points away for not playing well in the game.

I can see both sides of the argument though. It's not an overly scientific thread, so vote however you want. Hopefully you can understand why I'm referencing these tough.

I can understand your logic, but when a lot of people voted polynesia last time because "without maoi's there ability is half useless" or how they decreed the China's ability as "excellent in conjunction with the chu-ko-nu"I find it odd that we are now including the other things. I am perfectly fine with going one way or the other, I am however against people cherrypicking the rule when they find it useful. Note: I am not accusing you personally of doing this.

 

[greygamer]

I can understand your logic, but when a lot of people voted polynesia last time because "without maoi's there ability is half useless" or how they decreed the China's ability as "excellent in conjunction with the chu-ko-nu"I find it odd that we are now including the other things. I am perfectly fine with going one way or the other, I am however against people cherrypicking the rule when they find it useful. Note: I am not accusing you personally of doing this.

The problem with these threads is that they can boil down to which Civillization is the best because of the synergies between UA/UU/UB. Probably it is better to ask if you are picking a civ just on the basis of it's UA (or UU/UB) which would you choose (and why?)

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

I can understand your logic, but when a lot of people voted polynesia last time because "without maoi's there ability is half useless" or how they decreed the China's ability as "excellent in conjunction with the chu-ko-nu"I find it odd that we are now including the other things. I am perfectly fine with going one way or the other, I am however against people cherrypicking the rule when they find it useful. Note: I am not accusing you personally of doing this.

I felt the same way too but I've kind of decided I'll join it rather than fight it. I guess you justify it however you want in the end. I think we know Casimir already has this in the bag anyway. Poland's borderline op whether there's a single pasture on the entire map or not

 

[householder]

There are some really good UAs on this list. It makes choosing between them difficult. However, there are some surprisingly bad choices too, and picking between them is requires a throw of the dice.

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7 -
England - Sun Never Sets - 17
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 4 Three luxury resources, even if unique, are a waste of an interesting UA. There should be a larger quantity.
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 26 Longer Golden Ages are good in themselves, but the +1 movement during them is especially useful for wars, whether offensive or defensive.
Poland - Solidarity - 38-
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 22
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 36
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28
Venice - Serenissima - 7

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

Arabia - Ships of the Desert - 10
Assyria - Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon - Ingenuity - 34
Brazil - Carnival - 17
Carthage - Phoenician Heritage 28
Egypt - Monument Builders - 7
England - Sun Never Sets - 17
Greece - Hellenic League - 25
Indonesia - Spice Islanders - 4
Korea - Scholars of the Jade Hall - 33
Persia - Achaemenid Legacy - 26
Poland - Solidarity - 38
Polynesia - Wayfinding - 27
Portugal - Mare Clausum - 24 Really underrated economic UA probably second best but without any weird limitations and fewer trade routes to build and defend.
Russia - Siberian Riches - 20
Siam - Father Governs Children - 26
Songhai - River Warlord - 8
Spain - Seven Cities of Gold - 12
Sweden - Nobel Prize - 24
The Aztecs - Sacrificial Captives - 22
The Inca - Great Andean Road - 33
The Maya - The Long Count - 23
The Shoshone - Great Expanse - 36
The Zulus - Iklwa - 28
Venice - Serenissima - 3 forces your military to be spread extremely thin early on and bad luck can make for a very frustrating game and your only option to change that luck is by puppetting a CS who'd probably make a better ally in the long run which is what I always thought was the real strength of economic UAs.