Who's your favourite Civ?

[EdwardTking]

I play Huge, Island, Large Land area, Wet, Warm, Worlds
with max numbers of AI at Monarch or Emperor level

I usually lose. But to win, it is necessary to grow very fast

I find traits:

Expansionist (most useful, for free Settler or City and also techs)
Agricultural (very useful for growth)
Religious (culture helps prevent too early war, cheap temples)
Seafaring (gamble: sometimes critical, sometimes not)
Commercial (game prospects usually strategically decided before Currency)
Scientific (at Emperor level, you have to trade, scientific boost is inadequate)
Military (with 15 other civs, simplistic chirn them out and militaristic bashing doesn't work, a strong productive economy is much more important)

I therefore tend to like either an Agricultural or an Expansionist

Inca (A,E)
Americans (E,I)
Arabs (E,R)
Portuguese (E,S)
Hittites (C,E)
Maya (A,I)

Playable are

Celts (A,R)
Mongols (E, M)
Zulus (E, M)

 

[Longasc]

The Celts are Agricultural, Edward.

 

[EdwardTking]

The Celts are Agricultural, Edward.

Very true - correcting above.

 

[Mei]

I like the Babylonians. On lower levels you get to flip just about every city on your border and on higher ones you don't get flipped yourself, which is nice. And scientific bonus means that I get a free tech- useful, especially since it's usually one giving better units or opens up a useful tech branch early, giving a lead over other civs, meaning I can attack them (or bankrupt them) easier.

 

[rysingsun]

ok sometimes a man just has to take a stand and lay down the difference between truth and error.

the indians.

ok here are some reasons:

1) religious trait. im into republic 5 turns before eveyone else. over the next 100 turns i will have an average of 5 percent MORE production and gold than the non religious civs. furthermore i can make the move to democracy and gain another 5 percent and i only have to lose one turn to do it. ok so thats 10 percent so far ...

2) religious trait. (yup! 2 good reasons) those cheap temples can quickly expand my culture area and i can get a quick jump on the opposition in culture for rush building with only one pop a temple after spending only 10 shields on it. so even in deity games i have a time during that critical expansion phase when cities flip to me more often than they flip the other way. one good flip can up my production by 5 percent so we are up to 15 percent now. even cathedrals are more or less affordable if i need them.

3) commercial trait. this should be good for another 10 percent to overall production once ive reached the OCN that MOST civs get and 5 percent before that.

so commercial and religious together increase production and gold by 25 percent for the 100 critical turns after the discovery of republic. WOW! and about 18 average over the game.

4) the uu is excellent. any uu with a movement rate of one is to me a bit of a shame. it might be good but not great. but a uu with a movement rate of TWO is right where it needs to be, on the offensive units which are THE units of choice for war. and when i get cavalry i can upgrade my elephants so cheaply i hardly notice the cost.

what we lose:

1) militaristic .. never did me much good. it may increase military power by 15 percent, but since only a third of my total spending in a typical game is military the total economic benefit of this is more like a third of this - 5 percent. barracks are cheap but all but a few can be built way down the line anyway. coastal fortresses are cheap but ... ... ive never built one and probably never will
2) scientific .. i cant afford to research until late in the game when the victor has long since been decided. if im not researching then i dont need libraries and the reduced cost of them is more a tease than anything. the free tech each age saves me some gold.
3) industrial .. this one is good. its the only one of the latter 4 i would seriously recommend substituting for commercial or religious. the fast workers are the biggest draw here. this is only important in the first half of the game though.
4) expansionist.. has its greatest value in games that need it the least .. those on huge maps and those on low levels. goodie huts are a bit overrated.

so religious and commercial are the winners! indians

disclaimer: i dont have conquests. agriculture sounds great but ive never been able to use it. so i cant really comment on it.

 

[Mad2rix]

Inca: If I'm the only civ with Agricultral and Expansionist on Pangea maps.
Iroquois: Powerful UU, along with Agri trait.
Celts: same thing, being religious
Arabs: Cheap cultural buildings and UU.
Persia/Ottomans: Decent UUs.

 

[Sargon of Agade]

I never played a game aswell as i have with the Mayans, I think think the A,I triats mesh so well, and the unique that produces slaves is very nice.

 

[Sobassis]

Japan because of Samurai

Samurari + more Samurai = good

Is there a problemwith my logic?

 

[DementedAvenger]

1) religious trait. im into republic 5 turns before eveyone else. over the next 100 turns i will have an average of 5 percent MORE production and gold than the non religious civs. furthermore i can make the move to democracy and gain another 5 percent and i only have to lose one turn to do it. ok so thats 10 percent so far ...

This is only true if your economy doesn't grow at all. 5 turns when youi're making 400 gold a turn isn't the same as 5 turns when you're making 1000 a turn.

 

[The Dragon]

Dutch, Celts, Chinese, Byzantines, Iroquois, Mayans

The Mayans can easily avoid despotic GA if they have iron available, btw.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

The Mayans can easily avoid despotic GA if they have iron available, btw.

...especially since you can completely avoid to build that crappy UU at all on Monarch .

Personal preferences aside, the strongest Civs for Monarch non-archipelago maps are Mayans, Celts and Incans. Then Sumeria, Iroquois (their second trait doesn't shine below DG), and the warmonger Civ of your personal taste. Anyone not agreeing with this is IMHO biased, or didn't play all Civs so far.
Now, if you ask me "What is your favorite Civ?", I'd say England and Byzantium. Dutch and Spain. But that's just me .

 

[baboonfan]

Hmm.

Greece
Sumerians
Rome
Scandinavians (just because I feel like home)

 

[citizen001]

Reconsidering... mayans are the best as agricultural and industrious are the two best civs.

 

[ThePrankMonkey]

mayan, hands down. that agricultural trait is the stuff! never thought i'd like it but i do!

i also like japan. i like no periods of anarchy between governments and i like the increased chance of a great leader (i LOVE to make armies and mow down the AI like grass)

i've played other civs but i like these two the best.

 

[Kietharr]

1. China, industrious workers+quick barracks= a horde of veteran archers right in my enemy's face very quickly, also great UU
2. Iriquois, awesome UU, 1 turn anarchy, cheap temples, and scouts, what's not to like?
3. Babylon, great UU, good traits, although i do shy away from them because hammubari looks so darn............dumb.
4. Aztecs, 1 turn anarchy, good UU for pilaging early on, cheap barracks, cheap temples, pretty good.
5. Persians, scientific which is a plus

the rest all suck in my eyes.

 

[Vostos]

Maybe I'm biased, but my fav are the Celts, cheap temples and agricultural as well as a great UU

 

[Raw is War?]

I'd probably say i play Egypt most. But most of the time it depends who i fancy playing at that perticular time. Whether its because of traits, or because i'm just in the mood for playing that civ.

 

[nullspace]

I think Sumeria is my favorite. They have a strong start with the agri trait and their enkindu warriors. Plus, they're a good culture/research civ with the sci trait. You can do just about any strategy with them (thoughs some civs are better at pure warmongering).

India has been mentioned before, but they're a fun builder civ for me. You can make a super-efficient empire in the medieval age. Quick change to republic + cheap cathedrals = large, happy cities with the commercial trade bonus. You can defend this empire with relatively few units and pay very little unit support, since war elephants are so powerful.

 

[ottawan]

Though I'm a relative newcomer to the game(still playing Chieftan ),
I find that I have learned a lot by switching to huge archipelago maps. I was playing pangea. I have tried several Civs with the archipelago and find that my favourite is the Dutch due to their civ traits of agricultural and seafaring.
Agricultural gives me an easier early expansion capability and with seafaring I beeline to map making in the ancient era and send curraghs in opposite directions from my first coastal city to map out the rest of the world.

I am playing my third game like this and think I will attempt to move up a level after this game.

I must admit that this is an excellent forum and that I have learned a great deal from the veteran Civers that post their insights here

You have my gratitude!

 

[dgfred]

Maybe I'm biased, but my fav are the Celts, cheap temples and agricultural as well as a great UU

Not biased a bit , they are probably my favorite too .