Updated Trait Rankings for C3C (Emperor)

[Artifex]

On lower diffs Religious is much less useful and the rankings change between the low and high diffs. Here are my rankings for Emperor level I play on.

1=Religious (Anarchy now 2 turns instead of 1 turn but still better than 7-9 turns). Cheap temples and cathedrals are a big plus on the high diff levels.

1=Seafaring (Alphabet, early contacts, can cross ocean successfully even in curoghs most the time. I usually have all the civs contacted and w/embassies by the mid-ancient age if I'm lucky). I have become addicted to this trait and I play island maps so it is great. Ealry contacts and trading on high levels is indispensable. Also the beeline to CoL, then Philosophy, Early Republic for free. This trait fits my playstyle perfectly.

2. Scientific. SGLs are good and I just love having the tech lead this and seafaring are a powerful combo. Agricultural might be better but I personally love cheap libraries, universities and a free tech each age.

3. Agricultural (Growth=Power and I love cheap aqueducts).

4. Industrius (workers nerfed +50% instead of +100%, no bonus to slaves, it drops. I tend to get by without Industrious well and usually struggle to find jobs for my NON industrious workers by the mid-middle ages).

5. Militaristic (I tend to get plenty of MGLs without it, cheap barracks are nice but Sun Tzu's can be had with an SGL). That said, It's a decent trait and many Elite Units never hurts.

6. Commercial (It's not powerful until the very late game by that time the game has been won or lost). It starts with Alphabet but so does Seafaring which is a way better choice. Still Alphabet at start makes it a decent trait.

7. Expansionist (Map dependent, # of opponent dependent, I never liked it on the standard archpelago maps with max civs I always play on). The fact it is not useful on many types of maps and settings makes it a bad trait IMO. Can be great on certain maps and diff levels though.

 

[Michael York]

Before Conquests, for me:
1) ind
2) com
3) mil (drops in Conquests)
4) relig
5) scien
Expansionist varied from best to worst, map dependent.

I haven't played conquests enough to compare.

 

[doubtsalmon]

Hi, I am thinking that Agricultural may be the best now (assuming you start on a river). The extra population growth is huge in the games I have played. Getting settlers and workers faster in the early game can pretty much decide the outcome of the entire game (see some of the articles in the War Acadamy about the first 50 turns to see how much of difference one food can make in the game). I agree with your ordering except for seafaring and expansionist (if you play on pangea these should switch positions so they are really too map dependent to compare with the more general traits).

 

[lbhhh]

Originally posted by doubtsalmon
Hi, I am thinking that Agricultural may be the best now (assuming you start on a river). The extra population growth is huge in the games I have played.

The extra food sure is a help but you can still have effective settler factories without it. I don't think you can have a definite list of traits, it all depends on the map and your playing style. I adapt my strategy to the civ I choose which allows for different games.

OTOH Babylonians, who are scientific and religious are always a good choice

 

[Artifex]

I guess since I play archepalago maps I am partial to seafaring.

It is true on Pangea Expansionist is probably good. I'll have to play the Russians on Pangea..Expansionists and Blitzing Cossacks...MGL generations must churn out fast with those blitzing cossacks.

Pangea is a hard map at higher diffs because the contacts make the AI trade like crazy and get huge tech leads..also you have to warmonger from the getgo.

 

[Comraddict]

commercial made difference for me - I'm full of cash all the time. basically it allowed me to increase funding for science. you can look it that way - it improves your science research

 

[gamemoth]

in conquests, in sid, here is my opinion:
1)religious
2)expansionist
3)militaristic
4)scientific
5)industrious
6)seafaring
7)commercial
8)agricultual

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

I never play without commercial. I find that it boosts my science far more than scientific does, and I get filthy rich. Combined with Seafaring you get silly commerce points, especially with London having the Collosus, Copernicus and Newton. The only downside is that you can't see how many luxuries you have because the commerce box is too full.

 

[stachnie]

I HATE Anarchy and I LOVE cheap Temples & Cathedrals so almost always I play Religious (still on Regent).

About the second trait: in the Vanilla Civ3 it was either Militaristic (cheap Barracks, Walls, Harbors & Airports, many elites -> many GL's) or Commercial (lower corruption). Scientific was fine but as building the Great Library is an important part of my strategy, it could trigger GA too early if I had captured/built a Religious wonder like Colossus or Pyramids. Industrious was great but I don't like War Chariots and... to be next to Greeks and Romans too early. Expansionist was nice (if properly used), Mounted Warriors are great but it means either keeping out of early wars or unwanted, early GA.

In the C3C things have changed. Now I regard Expansionist trait as one of the best ones so Arabs and their Ansar Warriors rule Up to now in all of my C3C games I was playing Arabs.

Scientific is better than before because of SGL's.

Agricultural is interesting but there is a problem with Gallic Swordsmen: they are great but GA is too early and their upgrade path sucks.

Seafaring may be interesting, I will need to test it. Perhaps I wouldn't need to build/capture the Lighthouse to make my suicide galleys to contact other continents

Commercial is nice and now the War Elephants with an extra HP are the best attackers and among the best defenders of the early Medieval Era.

Industrious and Militaristic are a waste now. Industrious because usually I have a lot of captured workers (either directly or by producing them in newely conquered cities until they have size 1) and AFAIK now their speed is the same as for non-Industrious civs. Militaristic because MGL's can't rush Great Wonders now


Best regards,

Slawomir Stachniewicz.