Unique Ability Elimination Thread

[redwings1340]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14 If you can get the tech lead using a perfectly vanilla civ (as Assyria kind of is with regards to tech without using the UA, as the siege tower will only slow you down in tech in the short run, while the Royal Library won't effect things here), you can definitely go up a difficulty level, and don't need a UA to win. This is an awesome UA when you don't have the tech lead. It makes the world hate you though, which is awesome in concept but also frustrating since peace deals don't count.
Babylon: Ingenuity - 41
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
England: Sun Never Sets - 8
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24 I found this one to be a bit frustrating and difficult to time when I played it. Getting golden ages is easiest in a peaceful game, which runs counter to the UA. It's good, but I don't know if it's as good as its rank. Is it?
Poland: Solidarity - 39
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 12
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 23
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 40
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 37
The Zulu- 28

 

[redwings1340]

-3 I don't *hate* this UA, I just feel that it doesn't do England nearly enough justice, especially given the lack of a decent UB.

Ordinarily I dislike civs without a UB or UI, but England does have 2 of the best UUs in the game (a frigate that's better than a frigate and 3 range before artillery). The UA is pretty good, not the best, not the worst, but the civ itself is quite powerful, even with 2 UUs, which I usually hate in civs.

 

[jlim201]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 42- 8 science early game means a lot. If the Ai knew how to place academies, AI Babylon would be one of the best.
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
England: Sun Never Sets - 8
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 39
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 12
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 20- It is strong, if you are not going for culture, so u can give GWAM to CS but to get any culture at all, I find that I need to create great works or pop GW/GA.
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 40
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 37
The Zulu- 28

 

[sendos]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 42- (note) I have seen AI's build academies, especially Babylon, so I assume you mean they don't build them in good spots?
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
England: Sun Never Sets - 4 I consider this one the worst UA left so far. It is epic on archipelago and continents maps but UA is a tad situational.
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 39
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 12
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 20
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 40
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39 Combat bonus in friendly lands also makes this civ a bit dangerous to attack unless you have a decent army. Add himeji castle and patriotic war and Shoshone have a 45% combat bonus in their own territory. Use GG's as Shoshone for citadels, put them on hills, put drill units on them, and you got yourself an impenetrable spiky wall.
The Zulu- 28

 

[HerrDoktor]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 42
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
England: Sun Never Sets - 1 Everything is actually awesome by now, and I quite like it, but this is the worst on the list.
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 39
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 12
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 20
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41 - jumping on the bandwagon, this is the most reliable, funny and interesting.
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28

 

[eisforeccentric]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 42
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
England: Sun Never Sets - 0 - I'll go ahead and kill it off. It works well, but it's not as exciting as many of the remaining abilities.
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 41 - I can't argue against free policies
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 12
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 20
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28

 

[Arilian]

England: Sun Never Sets - 0

This also includes 2 spy-s. In deity thismake this UA into top 5 at least....

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 42
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 43 - overpowered, not sure how it can be nerfed though...
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 12
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 16 - I don't like to give away GP! 10% bonus is nice, but there's better.
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28

England: Sun Never Sets - 0

This also includes 2 spy-s. In deity thismake this UA into top 5 at least....

I thought it was 1 spy? I haven't played England since spies got introduced so what am I missing here?

 

[Browd]

England gets 2 spies when everyone else gets their first spy (when the first player enters Renaissance).

 

[DeathwatchBob]

England only gets you one extra spy. You can get another with the National Intelligence Agency.

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 43
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 8
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 16
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28

One fun thing to do as Babylon is to pass Arts Funding since it pretty much cancels out with your UA, but still screws everyone else over.

Wayfinding can be useful sometimes. Even then it is not a huge bonus.

 

[Ajay Sabharwal]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 8
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 16
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28


Poland lets you decide your own track of victory (and be brilliant at it) while Assyria demands that you be a warmongering menace to the world. It also only makes sense when you are not in the tech lead, which happens mostly happens at the highest levels only.

 

[vibe96]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 24
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 10
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 12
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28

The polynesian ability is truly awesome on tiny islands. Go for liberty and settle all good spots before no-one else even finds them. I don't like to give advantages to my competitors, that's why voting down our lovely neighbor sweden.

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 16 Perfect UA for rushing dynamite early.
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 20 I like all the ones left but this one never fit my playstyle so I'm voting it down. To really get good effect from it you need to run a healthy happiness surplus but every time I get a big surplus I feel compelled to expand or go to war. It's a bad habit but I can't seem to help myself. Sitting on the same cities the whole game clicking build this and next turn gets boring.
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 10
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 12
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28

 

[whyidie]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 16
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 20
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 7
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 13
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 39
The Zulu- 28

Up to Sweden. Its completely counterintuitive, and takes some getting used to. My first rolls with them I knew how you were supposed to use them, but just couldn't bring myself to gift GP, at best maybe a great general/admiral. It was torturous and bland, but thats because I didn't commit to the playstyle and it was before BNW introduced more great people types to gift.

On my last game I used artists, musicians, generals, admirals and it worked beautifully. I had a couple of DOF, so great people were spawning at a nice pace, got in a couple of wars so the generals were coming easy. The money I would have used for city states was used for buildings. Yes I ended up winning diplomacy, but I just as easily could have won by domination or science. Very different play style that requires a commitment to the strategy, but once you do it makes for a fun game.


Down to Polynesia - Not terribly beneficial on most maps. Its a nice thing to have but doesn't give as significant of an advantage as other UAs.

 

[jacer21]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 18 - Gonna upvote this one again. Simply beeline all of the militaristic techs and backfill the rest as you take cities. The biggest drawback against this UA is that it runs out when you're the tech leader, but I think at that point you're likely to win anyway.
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 20
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 7
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 13
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 35 - This one seems a tad overrated to me. The extra territory is nice, but not really unique; any civ's borders can grow to that size eventually. The combat bonus in friendly territory is nice but situational. This UA is good, just not this good.
The Zulu - 28

 

[whyidie]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 18
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 20
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 6
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 13
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 41
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 35
The Zulu - 28

Corrected Polynesia, I subtracted 3.

 

[ense7en]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 18
Babylon: Ingenuity - 44
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 14
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 20
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 6
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 13
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 43
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 35
The Zulu - 28

More & better Great Generals isn't bad, but it's not nearly as good as most of the remaining.
Inca UA = win for economy and scouting, and war!

 

[Merciorum]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 46
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 14
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 20
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 6
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 13
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 43
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 35
The Zulu - 28

 

[jlim201]

Assyria: Treasures of Nineveh - 14
Babylon: Ingenuity - 46
Carthage: Phoenician Heritage - 29
China: Art of War - 14
Greece: Hellenic League - 27
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 37
Persia: Achaemenid Legacy - 20
Poland: Solidarity - 45
Polynesia: Wayfinding - 6
Portugal: Mare Clausum - 24
Russia: Siberian Riches - 19
Siam: Father Governs Children - 30
Sweden: Nobel Prize - 10- Unless its an Admiral, you wouldn't give it away.
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 43
The Maya: The Long Count - 29
The Shoshone: Great Expanse - 35
The Zulu - 29- Double the melee army, which is usually half your army. A bigger army means more cities.

 

[jlim201]

These abilities are all good.