What Civilization Should We Be?

[Sparthage]

NOTE: This is not the official poll (or at least, not now), just a discussion thread with a poll.

********************​

As we are limited in our choices by what the traits are and when their UU is in play, we have a fairly limited number of civilizations. The ones we can choose are…
-China
-India
-Arabia
-Japan
-Mongolia
-Germany
-Ottomans
-Spain
-England
-Russia
-America
-Scandinavia
-Portugal
-France
-Korea

Spoiler Detailed Civilization List :

-China (War Academy Article)
Traits: Militaristic and Industrious
Unique Unit: Rider (4/3/3) Replaces Knight (Requires Iron and Horses)
-India (War Academy Article)
Traits: Religious and Commercial
Unique Unit: War Elephant (4/3/2) Replaces Knight (No Resources Needed) +1 HP
-Arabia (No War Academy Article)
Traits: Expansionist and Religious
Unique Unit: Ansar Warrior (4/2/3) Replaces Knight (Requires Iron and Horses) -10 Shields
-Japan (War Academy Article)
Traits: Religious and Militaristic
Unique Unit: Samurai (4/4/2) Replaces Knight (Requires Iron)
-Mongolia (War Academy Article)
Traits: Expansionist and Militaristic
Unique Unit: Keshik (4/2/2) Replaces Knight (Requires Horses) -10 Shields, Mountains and Hills are Grassland
-Germany (War Academy Article)
Traits: Militaristic and Scientific
Unique Unit: Panzer (16/8/3) Replaces Tank (Requires Oil and Rubber)
-Ottomans (War Academy Article)
Traits: Scientific and Industrious
Unique Unit: Sipahi (8/3/3) Replaces Cavalry (Requires Horses and Saltpeter) +20 Shields
-Spain (No War Academy Article)
Traits: Seafaring and Religious
Unique Unit: Conquistador (3/2/2) Replaces Explorer (Requires Horses) +50 Shields, All Tiles are Roads
-England (War Academy Article 1 and War Academy Article 2)
Traits: Commercial and Seafaring
Unique Unit: Man-o-War (3/2/5) Replaces Frigate (Requires Iron and Saltpeter) +5 Shields, Enslave Ability, +1 Bombard
-Russia (No War Academy Article)
Traits: Scientific and Expansionist
Unique Unit: Cossack (6/3/3) Replaces Cavalry (Requires Horses and Saltpeter) +10 Shields, Blitz Ability
-America (War Academy Article)
Traits: Expansionist and Industrialist
Unique Unit: F-15 (8/4/Range=6) Replaces Jet Fighter (Requires Oil and Aluminum) Bombard: 4, Rate of Fire: 2
-Scandinavia (No War Academy Article)
Traits: Militaristic and Seafaring
Unique Unit: Berserk (6/2/1) Replaces Longbowman (No Resources Required) +30 Shields, Amphibious Assault
-Portugal (War Academy Article)
Traits: Expansionist and Seafaring
Unique Unit: Carrack (2/2/4) Replaces Caravel (No Resources Required) Carries 3, Safe Ocean Travel
-France (War Academy Article)
Traits: Industrialist and Commercial
Unique Unit: Musketeer (2/5/1) Replaces Musketman (Requires Saltpeter) Defensive Bombardment
-Korea (War Academy Article)
Traits: Scientific and Commercial
Unique Unit: Hwach’a (Bombard=12, Range=1, Rate of Fire=1) Replaces Cannon (Requires Saltpeter) Lethal Bombardment Ability

My personal order is...
1. Germany- The starting military techs, leader bonus, and scientific perk make them my second favorite civilization to play (I love the Greeks)
2. Japan
3. Ottomans
4. Mongolia
5. Korea
6. Scandinavia
7. America
8. Arabia
9. England
10. Russia
11. France
12. Portugal
13. Spain
14. Arabia
15. India

What do you guys think of our civilization choices?

 

[Cyc]

I'll go with Japan, but I'm open for discussion.

 

[EvilConqueror]

Scandinavia is standing out to me. Berserks are powerful units and especially dangerous in the hands of a human player. The other teams would have to constantly worry about amphibious assaults which would likely force them to spread out their forces more than they normally would. And even if they heavily defend their coastal towns, we might still be able to pick off units from the safety of our ships.

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

I believe that archers and upgrades have been modded to have amphibious abilities, but they can't attack cities- though I only saw this once. Is this correct? Scandinavia would normally be pretty high on the list for me, but not if that's the case.

I chose Ottomans due to SCI + IND, and their UU is, well, awesome, and will come in handy if we need it. My next choices would be England and Portugal for naval UU (two continents with plenty of water, correct?), followed by China. Russia's UU can be useful for taking on larger, backward armies, but that's not necessarily a situation we'll see, and EXP is probably not worth it.

Japan would be good, but I find the likely lack of a UU with Germany too hard to swallow. There's a reason we're not allowed a UU in the ancient era, then can decide a lot in a game. Although you could take issue with my slant for cavalry UU, it could turn out they are too late as well.

How are we going to solve conflicts if two teams pick the same civ?

 

[Cyc]

I'm not sure about the Scandinavian modding. Do you have a rule number or posted statement? I never use them, so I'm unaware of this. Ottomans are great, been using them in the MTDG for a couple of years now. I'm ready for something that's not orange.

I like Germany, but mainly on SP. They are slow to start, but can come on strong later if they are played right. Japan has that Chivalry UU that's right on time if you need a powerhouse UU and a GA to even things up. The Samurai is a tough defensive unit that can attck and move like a Horse. I also like the cheap Temples and no Anarchy when switching governments.

 

[Calis]

As this is just an unofficial thing, I point out my preference of Russia.

But that depends on the map settings of course. (barbs especially)

Russia has pottery right in the beginning, which is great for an early granary.

Their Cossacks are also a great unit.

Ottomans are always great, but as team SABER is playing as the Ottomans, I would not prefer them. but that is only me.

 

[Bowsling]

I like Arabia.

But that's probably because I'm kicking butt playing higher than I normally do after a mediocre start.

I popped huts to get a tech lead, bough polytheism for some of my extra techs, researched philosophy, and got monarchy.

 

[Calis]

But that was against AI, right?

 

[CommandoBob]

Do we expect this to be a mostly military game?

At the moment I slightly favor France, since their UU is defensive and we can expect nasty human counterattacks with artillery.

 

[Sparthage]

As there is still no result on this matter, I once again listed all civs, except for AGR civs. I added my own evaluation +/O/- (with tendencies) of each civ. And I think there are several good options:

China (+)
India (+)
Arabia (+0)
Japan (+)
Mongolia (+0)
Germany (+0)
Ottomans (+)
Spain (-0)
England (-)
Russia (+)
America (-)
Scandinavia (+0)
Portugal (-)
France (-0)
Korea (+)
Persia (+)
Carthage (+0)
Rome (+)
Greece (+)
Egypt (+)
Babylon (+0)
Zulu (-0)
Hittites (-0)
Byzantines (+)

On top of this, the proposed pot of civs could be used as follows:

Each team choses four civs from the above mentioned options. The four most often mentioned civ get into the pot and will be assigned to the teams randomly.

To avoid irritations after the assignment the pot could be disclosed to all teams, so we can be sure all teams agree to all four civs. Then afterwards nobody can complain.

This is expecially meant as a proposal to the conference of four.

I thought that it might be good to post this here too.

If we can choose AA UU civs my top 4 would be...
1.) Greece
2.) Persia
3.) Germany
4.) Japan

 

[Cyc]

Well, it looks like it will entail a lot of navy building, also. Continents with 70% water appears to be the setting. 4 Tribes splitting 2 continents with some resource islands spread around.

I do like France for the Industrial/Commercial combo. But is the Musketeer better than a Samurai?
Perhaps. 4/4/2 vs 2/5/1. But we'd have to wait for Gunpowder then hook up the Saltpeter, as opposed to having already securing Iron and Chivalry a shorter tech race. But Musketeers are upgradeable to Riflemen/Infantry, so that's a plus.

So many good choices. A wide array of votes. This could get difficult.

 

[Cyc]

Thank you Sparthage.

Right now, we narrowed this down to 7 Tribes. All are great picks. I even considered Arabia before Bowsling suggested them. So should we run another quick unofficial poll using the selected picks above?

 

[CharlemagneXLII]

A good idea. The next poll should give everyone two votes. We can probably exclude Ottomans if you've been playing them lots, we have plenty of good civs to pick from and that lets us eliminate one.

If we're sharing continents, then naval advantage won't necessarily be that important in the beginning, since our rival will be our land neighbours. Man-o-wars are just so tempting though, at least when playing humans.

 

[Sparthage]

Current Poll HERE