What Civilization do you use the most

[Rich]

Scientific is a must for me.
One free tech every era alone is good enough. If you could build a wonder that gave you this (Like Darwins Voyage but betta) it would be like Leonardos Workshop was in Civ2 unmissable. Thats why persians kick ass.

 

[rdomarat]

Originally posted by Rich
Scientific is a must for me.
One free tech every era alone is good enough. If you could build a wonder that gave you this (Like Darwins Voyage but betta) it would be like Leonardos Workshop was in Civ2 unmissable. Thats why persians kick ass.

I think the one free tech per era is a little over-rated. If you've already got the tech lead, then an extra one is nice, but it's not going to put you over the edge. If you don't have the tech lead, then you can buy a tech from a civ, and you get to choose which one you buy. Lots of other traits can generate cash and get you this free tech, as well as delivering other benefits :

1) Commercial : More commerce, less corruption, more cash
2) Industrious : More roads early, more commerce, more cash
3) Religious : Less anarchy, more happy people because of cheap temples, more commerce, more cash.

I'm not saying that any of these ways are better, I'm just saying that if the only reason you choose Scientific is to get a free tech, you should re-evaluate that decision.

 

[Ouchgeddon]

Actually the free tech at start of new era can give you a defining boost in reaching Great Wonders first. With Greece, I always seem to get Monotheism as my free tech when it reaches Middle Ages. This gave me a one tech jump start on Sistine Chapel, followed by Bach's Cathedral, and on and on thru to Smith's Trading Co. Basically every useful GW(and the heavier culture ones) that gives happiness was mine!

This is with China, Japan, India on a continent; a sad little Rome and Egyt shared my smaller continent. Egypt was the only civ to take the upper path of research (lower route is military stuff like Leonardo. Once my Happy Wonders were well on their way, I traded the earlier techs to the weaker of the civs.

I don't mean Scientificis the best, even for researh, but it's good in some cases.

 

[Rich]

Nice points rdomarat.

But scientific also makes librarys, unis and other science stuff cheaper to build. All these increase scientific output by 50% making it easier to get techs. The sooner u get the techs the more likely you are to complete a wonder before your opponents. Obviously certain wonders do as much if not more than civ traits to reduce corruption or make people happy etc. Also i find that switching governments is better solution to corruption than having commerce as a trait. I think anyway you look at it scientific is damn useful.

 

[Black Waltz]

HAS to be the French. Industrius and Comercial allow you much more shields to play around with. Sure, Scientific may get you a tech lead but with the added cash from less Corruption and Comercial adds up for that, you can build roads faster and get more cash from them too which you can put on Science spending. Industirus also means you can build wonders faster.

 

[rdomarat]

Originally posted by Rich
Nice points rdomarat.

But scientific also makes librarys, unis and other science stuff cheaper to build. I think anyway you look at it scientific is damn useful.

Don't get me wrong, I think Scientific is a good trait as well, because of the half price science buildings. Not only do you advance faster in techs because of the cheaper buildings, but I always rush build a library first in newly captured cities since they generate 3 CP/turn and you expand to the full 21 tiles a turn quicker than with temples. Getting a hold of the full 21 tiles is one of the most important things to prevent culture flipping.

My point was that the free techs at the beginning of the era are kind of useless. They're a nice bonus, but nothing to write home about.

 

[Windwalker]

Originally posted by Black Waltz
HAS to be the French. Industrius and Comercial allow you much more shields to play around with. Sure, Scientific may get you a tech lead but with the added cash from less Corruption and Comercial adds up for that, you can build roads faster and get more cash from them too which you can put on Science spending. Industirus also means you can build wonders faster.

Commercial really isn't all that useful, because you get a grand total of 1 (ONE) commerce extra per city over pop 6. Towards the end of the game, that is about 20 extra commerce per turn, which is not significant at that point. The corruption bonus is nice, but I can't seem to notice it (it's very hard to quantify between games).

Industrious is mainly good for the faster workers... the extra 1 (ONE) production often gets wasted because often something that takes 10 turns to build with 20 production still takes 10 turns to build with 21 production... That said, industrious is still one of the best traits because of the 2x faster workers...

- Windwalker

 

[UTmon]

Personally I go for the Romans. My general strategy is to K. O. the other civs on my continent fast, then build a lead in science and population; the Legionaries make taking and keeping cities easier in early stages, giving me more time to build up my civilization's infrastructure and culture.

 

[chiefpaco]

I haven't played twice with the same civ yet so can't vote yet...

About the French, as I'm completing my 1st game with them. Both traits are hard to see the immediate benefit but:
+ Commercial, I agree, isn't the best, but the gold does add up over time. 20/turn not much? I disagree. That usually trades for a luxury.
+++++ Biggest benefit is probably the starting techs. You get Masonry and the Alphabet to start, which means you're the only one who can research Mathematics right off the bat. Then you can go for Currency right after without getting anything else. That's 2 techs you should be able to nab (and trade or sell) in the very beginning at a time when it's hard to get techs the opponents don't have.

 

[Windwalker]

Originally posted by chiefpaco
I haven't played twice with the same civ yet so can't vote yet...

About the French, as I'm completing my 1st game with them. Both traits are hard to see the immediate benefit but:
+ Commercial, I agree, isn't the best, but the gold does add up over time. 20/turn not much? I disagree. That usually trades for a luxury.
+++++ Biggest benefit is probably the starting techs. You get Masonry and the Alphabet to start, which means you're the only one who can research Mathematics right off the bat. Then you can go for Currency right after without getting anything else. That's 2 techs you should be able to nab (and trade or sell) in the very beginning at a time when it's hard to get techs the opponents don't have.

20/turn at the end of the game, typically when the game's already in hand. For the ancient ages (where most games are decided, IMO), it probably works to about 4-6 a turn, which is nice, but isn't a ballbuster

- Windwalker

 

[brody]

Originally posted by rdomarat


Don't get me wrong, I think Scientific is a good trait as well, because of the half price science buildings. Not only do you advance faster in techs because of the cheaper buildings, but I always rush build a library first in newly captured cities since they generate 3 CP/turn and you expand to the full 21 tiles a turn quicker than with temples. Getting a hold of the full 21 tiles is one of the most important things to prevent culture flipping.

My point was that the free techs at the beginning of the era are kind of useless. They're a nice bonus, but nothing to write home about.

Heh, I was gonna point out that culture boost as well. I found a small (3 squares) island the Germans had planted a city on. I HATE the Germans (they're the only civ that's really outdoing me), so I put a city there just 2 squares away from theirs. At first they got to control the only hill square on the island, but because of my scientific bonus I was able to afford rushing the library and slowly get more culture than them. Now they only get their city's square and coastal/sea squares. Considering that hill is about the only source of shields, I think they're screwed

About the 1 tech per era, I actually found it very useful. I got to the end of the middle age era and immediately got nationalism. Because of that, I was able to sell techs to all the other civs without giving up my tech lead. This generated over 350 gpt for me, allowing me to pump up science and still make a ton of cash and further my lead. Before the middle ages, me and Germany were right on top of each other, techwise. Now I truly lead and am about to get the Darwin wonder. The Germans are still two techs away from that wonder

 

[jimmytrick]

The Japanese are the best Civ, period. The game requires conflict and a military civ has an edge because their unit gain experience more quickly. The game requires leaders to rush wonders and the very important Forbidden Palace. A military civ will produce more leaders.

The Japs are better than the Aztecs because it has a great UU. The Samuri has sufficient defense so that you will never build pikemen or musketeers. Just keep building samuri and upgrade to cavalry.

The samuri will generate a Golden Age at a very good time for you as well.

Being able to switch governments without penalty is a much larger deal than some people think. Once you get the hang of handling corruption you will truely want to go Despot-Monarch-Republic-Democratic.

And you can bail out of Demo if you need to.

Edit: Forgot to mention the cheap temples and cathedrals. Very good.

Clearly the Japanese will rule the world.

 

[Sparhawk]

I haven't won a game yet at regent's level with all other civs. I'm trying with Iroquois now so that's whom I voted for. Perhaps that'll give me some luck. Anyway, the worst civ I'd vote for will be the americans, they're the easiest to destroy!

 

[Bruinesian]

JAPAN! I started playing this game using the Germans and then the Americans, I lost every single time simply because their UU is way too late in the game. They don't have that certain uniqueness as civs for most of the game that inspires me to play them. I find the Japanese combo of Religious/Militaristic excellent for my style of play. I like tons of culture and earth-shattering wars before industrialization. The Samurai alone doubles as my scout, defender, and ass kicker. I also like the Samurai animation and sounds.

In Marla's World Map being the Japanese insulates me from having to compete against so many Euros. In addition, my capital is damn near impregnable against any sort of invasion being so isolated. I also get around the fact that I'm stuck in an island by ramping-up my offenses to capture Chinese and occasionally Indian cities in China/SE Asia, sparing me the loss of pop. (also meaning power) due to settlers. These civs do the city building for me. City names are never a problem for me, there's a website www.japan-guide.org I believe, that has a thorough list of Japan's large cities. But who cares?! I like it when Delhi, Nanking, and Beijing celebrates the Shogun Day, and my summer palace at Lahore!

 

[Windwalker]

Originally posted by jimmytrick
The Japanese are the best Civ, period. The game requires conflict and a military civ has an edge because their unit gain experience more quickly. The game requires leaders to rush wonders and the very important Forbidden Palace. A military civ will produce more leaders.

The Japs are better than the Aztecs because it has a great UU. The Samuri has sufficient defense so that you will never build pikemen or musketeers. Just keep building samuri and upgrade to cavalry.

The samuri will generate a Golden Age at a very good time for you as well.

Being able to switch governments without penalty is a much larger deal than some people think. Once you get the hang of handling corruption you will truely want to go Despot-Monarch-Republic-Democratic.

And you can bail out of Demo if you need to.

Edit: Forgot to mention the cheap temples and cathedrals. Very good.

Clearly the Japanese will rule the world.

Yep, the Japanese rock all right The one thing that isn't so great about them is the militaristic trait (as the difference in promotion chance is not very large). In fact I generally view it as the worst civ trait. However, in my recent regent/continents game, I used the Japanese to conquer the world, using a combo of samurai and then Cavalry... By the end of the game, I had 162 cavalry, 65 infantry, and about 40-50 of those cav were elite! I generated 5 leaders that game, which is more than I usually do... I suppose that "militaristic" is a pretty good trait if you're going for conquest/domination, as the marginal benefit from it will be used so many times that the effects become significant.

- Windwalker

 

[lawren8]

I started with Iroquois due to religious and their dominant UU.

I moved to egypt when it became clear that industrious was
a critical feature for early civ growth as well as provide
a clear advantage when RR showed up.

Now with 1.17 goody huts give out way too much good stuff
to not have expansionist. (I got 4 - thats right 4 settlers in one game) and now that I'm used to industrious workers, I can't go back.

So I stuck with the Americans even though their UU's suck and I
hate their starting neighbors (Aztec and Iroquois).

Funny, I started playing based on one of the best UU's in the game and now I'm playing with the worse.

 

[Park Ranger]

Hi all! I'm new to this forum and have only been playing civ3 for a week, but I'm an old civ2 hound and am adapting to the new rules (1.17 patch) quickly.

Voted Japanese, just because after trying Iroquois and Babylonians got nowhere. Still don't know if I'll win this one, because the Aztecs (same characteristics) are taking out the Americans and it's far for my frigates to get involved. But with the Samurai I was able to ignore the whole engineering-invention-gunpowder track and focus on the cultural wonders.

First impulse was to take expansionist so as to make sure i cleared out the goodies first....but I only once got the extra settler, and having a scout seems a high price to pay for no bonuses on city improvements, etc.

On the other hand, since i went for the militaristic civ I've startd getting way more elites and ultimately leaders.

Just my early impression, but also "religious" seems a must for the reduction in anarchy and the cheap cathedrals.

Final question: does anyone like having the Golden age early (say, in ancient times?). Seems to me this would be bad because you're trying to build settlers like mad so your cities aren't suited to benefitting from the GA bonuses.

 

[Alphons Rodulfo]

You people make me laugh! Obvisously the Romans are the best all-round civ. Great in the early ages because of the legions and the easy leaders. Sustained benifits from the commercial trait, although this is hard to quantify. Maybe it's because I prefer lage maps, but the Romans have given be the easiest games by far.

I try to take as much land as possible at first, staying friendly with the neighbours until I've build enough legions to go out and conquer. Nobody can resist my elite legions! True, they are slow but with a good road network this is no problem. A huge benifit of the legion is that they can be both defender and attacker, there is no need for other military units apart from bombard units. This means that you always the right units at hand. Promotions earned while defending can be used attacking and vice versa.

 

[Allemand]

The legionary is a tough unit, all right, but it doesn't survive against my American knights. The Romans are usually the first civ to go down in my games (Persians took them out in my latest game).

Industrious workers seem to give the biggest bonus, so I always play industrious civs. The 1.17f patch improved the expansionist trait a lot (got 6 settlers from goody huts in my last game). I play huge maps, so industrious workers/expansionist works best for me. No wonder the Americans are favored in the poll.

Japanese are good, too, but I hate those lazy Japanese workers.

The low building costs for religious/scientific buildings is a big plus in the early game, but by mid-game the honeymoon is over. By the time the modern era comes around, I have about 60-100 cities. With the Hoover Dam, my production is awesome.

The bottom line is, play the one you like. None of the UUs are strong enough to make a big difference, and the other traits tend to balance out.

 

[Panda]

Resistance is futile - prepare to be culturally assimilated by the Pyramid Builders from the Nile