Who is the strongest in each route now?

[halfhalfharp]

After the great changes and new civ addition in R&F, I wonder which civs are the best in pursueing each of the 4 victory routes now?

Personal thoughts:
Religious: Spain (together with the golden age exodus dedication), India, Indonesia in sea maps
Science: Korea, without doubt
Culture: Arguable, but I think Greece, Kongo and China are still among the top tier
Domination: Aztec, Rome, Mongol, or maybe Sumeria

And a few thoughts on the new civs:
-Mongolia is definitely conquest base, but under the new loyalty system, domination seems to be more difficult without well planning.

-Netherland and Cree seem to focus more on a general bonus of food and production, without any leaning towards any particular route.

-Korea is straight into space. The science output is unstoppable.

-Georgia has a religion based UA, but the CS bonus seem to provide her a bit of flexibility towards anything.

-Scotland is like a mixture of Aussie and Aztec on top of a science bonus. I still cant figure out other possible routes apart from science.

 

[Pythakoreas]

Glad to see someone see the light in Gandhi's Satyagraha faith bonus. +35 Faith early game is a pretty big deal.

Don't forget Japan's discounted Holy Site. Does the Russian one come at discounted price as well?

For Culture I had endless fun with British Museum pre-R&F.

 

[Portinou]

Religion: Russia (Lavra)
Science: Korea (Seowon)
Culture: Khmer (Religious tourism)
Domination: Macedon (No war weariness + Instant heal).

 

[Esperr]

The best science civs are always the best domination civs. AUS and Korea pull ahead fast enough that you get to key units first, making dom easy.

 

[isau]

I think Domination may be best addressed by the Zulu. Their ability set almost borders on ludicrous to me. Capturing a city gives you what is essentially a fully promoted unit in the form of the Corps bonus. Like if you take the city with a level 5 Infantry, you in essence get a second promoted unit for free. That on top of bonuses to Loyalty for garrisoning units to address Loyalty concerns of war mongering puts the Zulu in a class of their own, IMO.

I don't mess with the Religious victory much but I've always considered Arabia to be a frontline power there, in part because it is the only civ that no matter how bad it's luck is with founding the religion can't be locked out of that victory type. The real power though IMO comes from the huge Faith generation from Madrasas and ability to buy tier 3 religious buildings at a tiny Faith cost, which springboards to return on investment for the building much faster than most other buildings do. Since Arabia buys its Tier 3 buildings for 1/10th the normal cost basically you get a 10:1 return on investment compared to everyone else on Faith, which is kind of crazy, but balanced by needing to build up to it.

 

[halfhalfharp]

Glad to see someone see the light in Gandhi's Satyagraha faith bonus. +35 Faith early game is a pretty big deal.

Don't forget Japan's discounted Holy Site. Does the Russian one come at discounted price as well?

For Culture I had endless fun with British Museum pre-R&F.

I am not sure why people despise Gandhi's bonus, they seem nice to me too, as I went smoothly for a couple of times without warring.

yeah Russia should be on list too. I think Japan isnt too good at religion, as it has a less powerful bonus in everything.

Ohh archeologic items are nice for cultural victory. They are easier to obtain but they lack a theming bonus that great work has. Thats why I think best civ for cultural victory is an always arguable issue.
(and I am all ready to steal all your art piece as France)

I think Domination may be best addressed by the Zulu. Their ability set almost borders on ludicrous to me. Capturing a city gives you what is essentially a fully promoted unit in the form of the Corps bonus. Like if you take the city with a level 5 Infantry, you in essence get a second promoted unit for free. That on top of bonuses to Loyalty for garrisoning units to address Loyalty concerns of war mongering puts the Zulu in a class of their own, IMO.

I don't mess with the Religious victory much but I've always considered Arabia to be a frontline power there, in part because it is the only civ that no matter how bad it's luck is with founding the religion can't be locked out of that victory type. The real power though IMO comes from the huge Faith generation from Madrasas and ability to buy tier 3 religious buildings at a tiny Faith cost, which springboards to return on investment for the building much faster than most other buildings do. Since Arabia buys its Tier 3 buildings for 1/10th the normal cost basically you get a 10:1 return on investment compared to everyone else on Faith, which is kind of crazy, but balanced by needing to build up to it.

Yeah Arabia is a faith powerhouse too, on top of its powerful UU and science.

But is it really that op compared to bonus from other religious civs, like India, Indonesia, Russia? They all have different ways to generate a lot of faith.

Unlike science, which is really straightforward in victory. Religion involves theological combats and conversions, that makes me think that raw power in faith generation does not directly reflect religious strength.

And oops I forgot Zulu, another domination civ.

The best science civs are always the best domination civs. AUS and Korea pull ahead fast enough that you get to key units first, making dom easy.

Arguable. Being advanced in technology needs a lot of investment, sacrificing unit building. Many civs possessing a powerful early UU (e.g. legions) can flood into your lands and ruin everything.

 

[isau]

Yeah Arabia is a faith powerhouse too, on top of its powerful UU and science.

But is it really that op compared to bonus from other religious civs, like India, Indonesia, Russia? They all have different ways to generate a lot of faith.

Unlike science, which is really straightforward in victory. Religion involved theological combats and conversions, thats make me think that raw power in faith generation does not directly reflect religious strength.

I don't consider Arabia OP in regard to the religious victory, no. I do consider it one of the strongest contenders though. Russia is in a good spot too and is also a top contender, especially because of the huge synergy between start location, Dance of the Aurora, and cheap Holy Sites. I think Russia is probably more reliable than Arabia in some ways, but also, for me, Arabia more fun to play.

 

[Pietato]

Japan is bad at everything.

What does 'tgt' mean? You used it when you referrred to Spain.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

Religious: Aztec
Science: Aztec
Culture: Aztec
Domination: Aztec

 

[halfhalfharp]

Japan is bad at everything.

What does 'tgt' mean? You used it when you referrred to Spain.

tgt means "together". Emmm maybe its not a popular slang over the world.
Moderator Action: Edited your post to put the full word in, please don't use slang, text speak etc. as it will not necessarily be understood by others, as you have seen. --Noble Zarkon

Btw Japan isnt that bad. He just cant do well. I seriously hope that Japan can get the Anime tourism, as we all know what japan is famous for+good at. That should be a great late game cultural rivalry against USA.

I don't consider Arabia OP in regard to the religious victory, no. I do consider it one of the strongest contenders though. Russia is in a good spot too and is also a top contender, especially because of the huge synergy between start location, Dance of the Aurora, and cheap Holy Sites. I think Russia is probably more reliable than Arabia in some ways, but also, for me, Arabia more fun to play.

Yeah Arabia is a very solid civ in both religion and science. Russia is more religious than other routes. I tend to place Russia higher in the category of religious victory too, for the bonus is more focused on it.

Religion: Russia (Lavra)
Science: Korea (Seowon)
Culture: Khmer (Religious tourism)
Domination: Macedon (No war weariness + Instant heal).

I wonder if Khmer tourism can work well. Never tried to go cultural as Khmer and my foes like to DOW me instead of using inquditors.

 

[Ferocitus]

Btw Japan isnt that bad. He just cant do well. I seriously hope that Japan can get the Anime tourism, as we all know what japan is famous for+good at.

Anime? Nah.
Kawaii and weirdo WTH stuff.

Don't you go changing, Japan, especially before the 2020 Olympics!

 

[Weraptor]

Religion: Russia
Domination: Probably Zulu, haven't played them yet
Culture: I'd say Kongo
Science: Korea

 

[Tech Osen]

Ohh archeologic items are nice for cultural victory. They are easier to obtain but they lack a theming bonus that great work has. Thats why I think best civ for cultural victory is an always arguable issue.
(and I am all ready to steal all your art piece as France)

You do get a theming bonus for artifacts. They have to be the same era but from different civs/cs/barbs. And that is far, far easier than great work of arts.

 

[Frostburn]

I think Russia is the best Religious civ at the moment, with Arabia being #2

Domination I would say: Macedon, Nubia, Zulu, Persia, Mongol, Sumer, Scythia, Aztec are all very good. If I had to pick one, Macedon.

Science: Korea but Germany and Aztec are really good too with their district/production.

Culture: Kongo

 

[Eliminator_Sr]

Science is Aztec for sure - they can rush spaceports in a single turn.

I'd have to go with Sumeria and Scythia as a tie for domination just because of that early mobility - you can steamroll everyone so much more quickly and loyalty is less of a problem.

Religion I'd prob go with Russia, though Arabia gets the nod on high difficulty just for the free prophet.

Culture: tough call - I'll go with England

 

[Giskler]

Aztec have to get the techs first and Korea and Scotland will beat them to it by 2 eras. Scotland can crush any of the victory conditions in the hands of a good player, it's not hard at all to keep your cities ecstatic the whole game, even on the highest difficulties.

 

[Eliminator_Sr]

Aztec have to get the techs first and Korea and Scotland will beat them to it by 2 eras. Scotland can crush any of the victory conditions in the hands of a good player, it's not hard at all to keep your cities ecstatic the whole game, even on the highest difficulties.

I don't think so. More cities = more science and I can get them faster with Aztecs than Scotland or Korea plus free builders to rush all the districts and chop the buildings. Ditto with the victory conditions only even more so with Aztecs. I'm pretty sure you'll find the fastest science victories posted are with Aztecs. Korea might give them a run for their money but I still think the best players will push fastest times with Aztecs.

 

[Esperr]

Aztec have to get the techs first and Korea and Scotland will beat them to it by 2 eras. Scotland can crush any of the victory conditions in the hands of a good player, it's not hard at all to keep your cities ecstatic the whole game, even on the highest difficulties.

Aztecs have all of the fastest science times. Turns out that rushing campus in every city you conquer and settle nets more science in the long run then civs who have to hard build them.

 

[Giskler]

It'll be interesting to see how hard it can be pushed.

 

[Ever Adrift]

Although the Netherlands has abilities that are amenable to any victory route, I think they are now a top-tier culture civ. As long as you've got a few rivers you will find places that will give you +3 or higher theater square adjacencies which is just insane (and better than Greece's acropolis - although those give you a CS envoy too). Also, the extra adjacencies to Industrial districts can make it easier to get more world wonders given how many great engineers contribute to them. I had my best culture game ever as Wilhelmina the other night and I don't think she's gotten enough credit.

Scotland is also a dark horse culture civ. While it is definitely better at science, the golf course gives a bit of culture and tourism and - as with the Netherlands - the boost to industrial districts means more wonders which are just a useful (if not more so) for a culture victory than a science one. Still, stronger at science.