Unique Ability Elimination Thread

[Jigzaw]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 50
Greece: Hellenic League - 28
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 52 + 2 = 54
Poland: Solidarity - 49 - 4 = 45
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 48

+ Science is king. EDIT: I choose Korea over Babylon because Ingenuity cannot outrun Scholars of the Jade Hall.
- This ability is similar to Maya's The Long Count that it does not contribute much. Early game boosts, that's all.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 50
Greece: Hellenic League - 28
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 54
Poland: Solidarity - 41
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 50

I really dislike the Polish UA. I think it is overpowered and its really boring. Ooh you advanced an era, get a free thing... *yawn*. Also it takes the strategy and satisfaction away from successfully timing entering into a new era with hitting a social policy on the same turn (I'm thinking mainly opening Rationalism upon entering renaissance)

Incan, well it makes them master of the hills, and the hills are already a very good defensive terrain type. It also takes away some of the advantage your opponents have from building in hills.

 

[jlim201]

I still don't understand how france UA is the 8th one out, imo they should be the first one out.

Its still better than several UAs. The Mongols basically want you to destroy CSs, one of the worst ideas in the game. The good part about their UA is +1 movement for mounted units. Other ones are America, Morocco and India. France's UA is actually pretty good for culture victory, while its previous wanted you to expand, which is not as good for culture vic, and expired.

 

[jlim201]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 50
Greece: Hellenic League - 26
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 56- This is better than Babylons because it dosent rely on GP as much.
Poland: Solidarity - 41
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 46- I don't see how this kept up so long. It dosent give you science, free policies or extra gold (which you get by bribing CSs less). it gives you movement on hills and free hill tile improvements.

 

[Væringjar]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 52- Great UA which gives you many scientists very fast.
Greece: Hellenic League - 22- I hate when I play against him. he's ally of all CS'
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 56
Poland: Solidarity - 41
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 46

 

[bbbt]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48- Same reason I said before
Greece: Hellenic League - 24- Same reason I said before
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 56
Poland: Solidarity - 41
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 46

 

[NoOneImportant]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 24
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 56
Poland: Solidarity - 43 - I concede that is not exactly the most interesting UA on paper, but it can be quite fun in-game if you use it in unorthodox ways - not "faster policies, wow", but opening trees that you normally wouldn't even look at. Makes for some very refreshing and entertaining gameplay.
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 42 - We are judging the UA alone - it's not particularly impressive anyway, but without Terrace Farm it'd be just meh.

 

[redwings1340]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 24
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 52 I'm going to not downvote the Incas for a day. I really like Korea, but think it has a few too many votes right now. I wouldn't choose it over Poland or Babylon. It just takes a bit too long to develop, even though it is insane once it does.
Poland: Solidarity - 45 Beeline Radio. Get 3 free social policies from being the first empire to open freedom (1 from modern era). Take Arsenal of democracy as your free level 2 policy. Gift all of your weak units to city states across the map (and start training more immediately for more gifting). Have all the city states allied in the next 20 turns. Propose freedom as the world ideology in the next world congress. Pass it and dominate the ideology wars before they even start!
This UA isn't just powerful, it has some amazing combos too.
The Inca: Great Andean Road - 42

 

[fuzzatron717]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 24
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 48
Poland: Solidarity - 47
Inca: Great Andean Road - 42

I can't think any new reasons that haven't been posted on the previous trillion pages.

 

[Memoryjar]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 24 -3 = 21 : Great on paper. Boring to play.
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 48
Poland: Solidarity - 47 + 1 = 48 : Free doctrine for playing piety or honor without handicap.
Inca: Great Andean Road - 42

 

[Merciorum]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 16 Again, it's just completely redundant now, with Venice, Morocco and Portugal around. I have no idea how it got this far. It should have been one of the very first to go.
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 48
Poland: Solidarity - 49
Inca: Great Andean Road - 44 The free money is very nice. Very nice indeed. This civ is a powerhouse for the diplo or military games.

Memoryjar did -3/+1, which I corrected.

 

[sendos]

Greece: Again, it's just completely redundant now, with Venice, Morocco and Portugal around. I have no idea how it got this far. It should have been one of the very first to go.

I don't really see your reasoning. Yes, Venice does undermine the diplomatic durability of Greece's UA, but how does Morocco and Portugal undermine Greece's UA? You could have mentioned Austria as undermining Greece's UA by grabbing one ally, holding it for 5 turns and then buying it. Greece was the very first civ I played as and its ability is very useful, especially later in game. You basically get more benefits from CS's for a longer period. However, considering the current list, I still think it's the weakest one left.

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 12 - as I said, worst one left.
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 48
Poland: Solidarity - 49
Inca: Great Andean Road - 46 Already stated my reasons for loving this UA.

 

[Navelgazer]

Not to speak for someone else, but I think the idea is that financial superpowers like Portugal or Morocco make Hellenic League irrelevant because the money is a better diplo bonus and more versatile anyway.

 

[Navelgazer]

And in that spirit:

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 9 - Honestly should have gone down before Mare Clausum, at the very least.
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 48
Poland: Solidarity - 49
Inca: Great Andean Road - 47 - Everything mentioned already. Money, production, speed and defense rolled into one little package.

 

[Memoryjar]

Memoryjar did -3/+1, which I corrected.

Thanks. I missed the switch.

 

[bbbt]

Not to speak for someone else, but I think the idea is that financial superpowers like Portugal or Morocco make Hellenic League irrelevant because the money is a better diplo bonus and more versatile anyway.

As I stated when I bumped it originally, when used properly, the power of Greece's (and Siam's) UA is it's early and mid-game boost more than winning the DV. You send a few military units out killing barbarians/rescuing workers for city state missions, and you're getting boosted with culture/food/happiness/faith far before the bulk of the money kicks in to start buying the CS's. Plus, the bonuses can help you win later CS quests and the whole thing feeds on itself.

Edit: This is in comparison to Portugal et al as you listed. It'd be hard to argue it surpasses, say Solidarity, even if I find it a more interesting/'interactive' UA.

 

[msawchuk]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 5- I really have no idea how this got so far. I never thought of Greece having a top tier UA. It is not bad, but it doesn't dominate like the others.
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 48
Poland: Solidarity - 51 -this UA is insanely powerful because of its versatility. It can be used for any thing that you can think of because of the great variety of social policies. It's enough to make Poland my favorite overall civ.
Inca: Great Andean Road - 47

 

[DreadMuffin]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 1
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 48
Poland: Solidarity - 51
Inca: Great Andean Road - 49

I have not played Greece since vanilla where they seemed cheesy, but their UA damn well cannot stand up against the remaining ones.

The last four can go down in any order, but I really hope that the Inca won't be dropping hard and fast once Greece is gone.

(Is it +2 and -4? People do not seem to agree)

 

[jlim201]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Greece: Hellenic League - 0- Diplo victory is easy, and this is boring.
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 50- Science is really important for anything.
Poland: Solidarity - 51
Inca: Great Andean Road - 49

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Babylon: Ingenuity - 48
Korea: Scholars of the Jade Hall - 50
Poland: Solidarity - 47
Inca: Great Andean Road - 51

Close between these 4!

Voted down Poland because its really boring. Its too powerful as well, makes Poland too easy to play as.

Incan ability on the other hand, really good fun.