What 5 Civilizations Should Always Be In Civ?

[dpaajones]

Open for debate? I'll sign! GB and France are equals! O-oh...

Of course England/Britain and France are equals... hence why they're also rivals!

 

[DaveR]

Id say

China
English
India
Egypt
Greece

Because they seem the oldest, although I may be wrong.

 

[Canterbury]

Based on the types of victories in Civ IV:

Time: China -- more for longevity than 'highest score at 2050'
Conquest: Romans -- runners-up: Mongols, Vikings
Domination: America -- could also go elsewhere
Cultural: Greece -- debatable!
Spaceship: Russia -- 'first to build a (manned) spaceship'
Diplomatic: ... don't know (and don't care, already picked five)

For a good Civilizations game, you'd need exemplar civilisations for each aspect IMO.
Which civilisations serve as the best examples of each is, of course, debatable (I must say, I'm no history buff).

Cheers.

 

[Newbunkle]

1. Egypt
2. England
3. China
4. Japan
5. Rome

 

[Swedishguy]

1. Liechtenstein
2. Vatican State
3. Corrected: Faroe Islands
4. Thailand
5. Sibiria

 

[cthom]

3. Färöarna (Whatever it's in english)

Faroe Islands?

 

[Swedishguy]

Faroe Islands?

Ah, there it is! I was looking in an Atlas the other day, but I couldn't remember it.

 

[Xineoph]

Hmm..

China, Egypt, Greece, Israel & Rome. If I had to only narrow it down to 5.

 

[Mongolia]

In order of necessity:

1. Mongolia

2. Egypt

3. Rome

4. Britain

5. France

 

[Boris Godunov]

Roman
Indian
Arab
English
Chinese

 

[Joxer]

China
America
Greece
Mongolia
Germany

 

[Mango]

I have a hard time putting England in there since they were never a great civilization until recent times, much like America. I always considered the greatness of England, France, Germany, Spain, etc. to be as nations rather than civilizations.

1. Rome - The most influence on Western civilization.
2. Greece - The most influence on Roman civilization.
3. China - The most influential civilization.
4. Egypt - Greatest acheivements of any ancient civilization.
5. India - One of the cradles of civilization, and earliest city structures.


I really wanted to include Arabia in there too, but I feel Persia, Arabia and Babylon all overlap too much.

 

[TylerDurdon]

How do you contend that the Romans have continued to today?

This is an old post but I had to put my 2 cents on it!!!


Roman civilization survive thru Christianity and the Roman Church (and all religion that comes from it!) Constantine put down the basis of the religious power when he realize in 400 that he's empire was going to crumble!!!!And succeeded!

Even in "recent" history examples can be found almost eveywhere, most of the imperial (hmm maybe warring!!) occidental state beared the Eagle as a symbol, Nazis, Napoleon, had himself crown like a Roman Emperor. Even America has an Eagle (We dont really consider America as an Empire, but some may "argue"* so)!!!! plus the building in Washington are Roman architectural kinda like! (not just in america, almost everywhere in Europe too).

Even if u look at the age of enlightment, its somehow a rediscover of our Roman roots! (greek too) but mostly Roman! And SSSOOOO much of our culture (occidental) is roman!!! That you have to say that they have survive threw!!!!

 

[Civilicious]

Let's break this down for some analysis and try and leave out the tribalism and America hating lunacy, though I confess these days I hate it more than some of you.

First some categories

Military/Conquest
Science/Invention
Culture
Commerce
Philosophy/Knowledge/Ideas
Religion

Military
1. Mongols (greatest warriors in history bar none)
2. America (nuclear weapons, aircraft carrier, nuclear missile sub, WWI,II,etc)
3. England (seapower, ruled an empire on which the sun never set)
4. Rome (roman legion, nuff said)
5. Arabia just edges Germany(not particularly fair as Arabia is a conglomerate 'civ' but Islam spread mainly through conquest over a large area plus the Germans got rolled both times and hitler was a flash in the pan)

Science
1. China (gunpowder,fireworks,crossbow,plow,cast iron, many many more)
2. Arabia (Arabia is sort of a conglomerate for islamic world but lets give them their props for science while Europe was in dark ages)
3. America (rank 3 is exceedingly stingy for the only nation to put a man on the moon, invented the bomb, internet (thanks Al), computers, the automobile, sequenced the genome, space shuttle, I would continue but it would grieve you America bashers too greatly I fear, plus a large number of the inventions are warfare based which grieves me a bit.

Not even going to continue with this category, after the first 3 no one else can come close, the renaissance pretty much has to be divided among several european countries and I suppose you could argue for Russia or Germany having one of the spots.

Culture
1. America (love it or hate it you know its true)
2. England (English is the world language of business for a reason)
3. Arabia (Arabia makes the list here as well as religion)
4. France (can't think of a good reason...but anyway)
5. Spain (sort of a stretch as they mostly only left a language behind)

Commerce(getting tired of typing, reasons should be self-evident)
1. England
2. America
3. China
4. Rome
5. Arabia

Philosophy/Ideas
1. Greece (philosophy, birthplace of democracy)
2. India
3. China
4. Arabia

Again you have to divvy up the renaissance too much among Europe and can't give it to one particular country.

Religion
1. India
2. China
3. Arabia
4. Rome (give them credit for Christianity)
5. America (for good or ill, modern protestant evangelism originates here)

So to sum up, it looks like we have

1. America
2. China
3. England
4. Arabia
5. Rome

While the near future may see china rise and america continue to decline, America narrowly beats out china atm. England edges Arabia, because again 'Arabia' is not a civ per se. And the perennial favorite Rome, squeezes in to number 5.

To those of you who would say that I am slanted towards Anglo-Saxon countries, I would say that is sour grapes. I personally don't consider the reasons countries are considered 'great' to be especially honorable or noble things. America may not have stood the test of time but it is a country like the world has never known and remains for now the 'greatest' nation to ever exist, that is just the cold hard facts.

I will admit to being biased against ancient nations however. I don't see how anyone can say Egypt should always be included, it is a dead culture. They worshipped the stars and left some monuments, now they are dust and nothing else remains of them. Same can be said for the Inca, Maya, Babylonians, etc. I do have a soft spot for the Persians who get rolled over and they always come back but hardly a reason to make the top 5 at 5.

Edit: I guess I could have read the poll first and saw that Arabia wasn't included, but hey Civ does so I am sticking by my rankings!

 

[shivute]

I feel that the greatest civs are those that have had the most effect on the world for the most time.
Therefore America certainly isn't included. How long has it been in existence. Nuff said without going any further.


Not in any order
Arabia (major effect on the world + long history)
Rome (still has a major influence today)
China (still going strong + long history)
Spain (Major influence in Europe and the Americas for longer period than England)
England (due to international language and effect on the world)

 

[Swedishguy]

This is an old post but I had to put my 2 cents on it!!!


Roman civilization survive thru Christianity and the Roman Church (and all religion that comes from it!) Constantine put down the basis of the religious power when he realize in 400 that he's empire was going to crumble!!!!And succeeded!

You're saying that the civilization of Romans as such has survived through cristianithy? That's like saying that because one country has one state religion, everybody follows that religion!

 

[Mongolia]

3. China - The most influential civilization.

I don't see how China was the most influential Civilization, it was definetly the most influential in Asia, but I don't think it was the most influential in the world, for most of it's history, it remained isolated, fighting amounst itself.

 

[TylerDurdon]

You're saying that the civilization of Romans as such has survived through cristianithy? That's like saying that because one country has one state religion, everybody follows that religion!

Well... not the whole thing... Roman empire is long gone!!! But in a way Roman where responsible for a lot of conceptual ideas in which we define our world today! Republics, Roman Church,etc.... but Italy today merely dominated itself The "powers" are elsewhere!!! but we carry a LOTS from them even today! no doubt!

 

[Loki cdn]

1) Canada

2) Bikini Atoll

3) Nunavat - igloo's as UB's would just be too cool

4) Orlando - Disney is a civ unto its own

5) And what the Hell, I'd keep Russia as well. I like it when the Catty one slaps me.

 

[spartacosothrax]

Egypt,Greece,Rome,France,Germany

Even if u look at the age of enlightment, its somehow a rediscover of our Roman roots! (greek too) but mostly Roman! And SSSOOOO much of our culture (occidental) is roman!!! That you have to say that they have survive threw!!!!

Either reconaissance or a.o.enlighttment were based on greek ideas