Worst Civ

[Squirrel Ninja]

Theres plenty of 'Whats the best civilisation' but I don't see any 'Whats the worst civilisation' so I thought I'd start a thread to find out everbodies opinion on the following two things:-

1. What civilisation do you think is the worst in the game from a game mechanics point of view?

2. Which civilisation do you hate the most from a arch-enemy perspective i.e the one you fight the most wars against and the one who always seems to be threatning you?

Personally I think America is the worst one in the game due to poor UU and Russia is the one I currently dislike from a personal perspective because they are always giving me aggro and they try and steal my land

 

[Cerryl]

For me, it's the Zulu, they're always quick to declare war on me.

One thing I've noticed, is when you play the same Civ, you almost always have the same neighbors.

 

[vulture]

I don't like the americans or the British

I avoid any culture that has expansionist as a trait but they both have nearly useless units for most styles of play. The ships are not useful for very long and the planes come into the game far to late to make a differance.

The german units are almost to late as well. My preferance would be the french due to the muskateers in the mid-game.

 

[Troyens]

You may always have the same neighbors as you have that geographic/culturally thing turned on: Americans, Aztecs, and Iroquois will be together, for example. This is easily rectified by ending the culturally linked civs connection.

 

[Cerryl]

Ahhh, that's what it is. Thankee Sai Troyens!

 

[King]

I dont like Germans they are to difficult make with them business and they always want to get you your lands they are really hostile in almost all the games i have them as opponets.
I think that aztecs are full i dont know why but they have almost all the world against them and they dont have good diplomacy also their armies are not to capable.

 

[Ironikinit]

IMO, the worst ones to play are the English and Americans. This is theoretical because I haven't actually played them. So far in my games they haven't done much as AI players, although expansionist countries do often get off to a good start with an early tech lead. However, that lead is offset because they will typically sell all of their techs for cash.

I don't like how early special units trigger a golden age before I'm really ready. That leaves out the Zulus and Aztecs from being favorites of mine. However, the Babylonians also have an early special unit with the bowman, and I like the Babylonians a lot. I think the excellent combination of religious with scientific overcomes the possibility of a too early golden age. I typically don't use the bowman for exploration because of that problem.

The Zulus, Russians, and Germans tend to be difficult AI neighbors. They are hard to get to a friendly standing, and revert quickly to annoyed.

 

[Agentdenton]

Germans, Aztecs and Zulu on same contient.
War was nearly constant there.

 

[Grey Fox]

The worst Civ is Americans I think... the worst Unique unit, F15 who bombards with those anyway?

My worst enemy is the Russians... there is something they don't like with us swedish vikings...

Although we started that country tousands of years ago...

 

[Troyens]

The reality is LONGBOWMEN should be an English Civ-specific unit, along with the MOW. (They should also have a higher defensive value, to be accurate).

You can try that in the Editor.

 

[Feinder]

The jury is still out on who I think is the worst civ to play.

I do give the "most annoying civ" awards to the Zulu and the Aztecs. I'm usually more advanced than they are (and the only thing I will usually trade for is tech), so I have a "Shut-up and go away." attitude towards them. This seems to p_ss them off, so they eventually declare war on me. That's annoying more than anything else. Their grunts aren't all that great (fast, but with only 1 attack), so their attacks aren't that lethal. What that equates to on my part, is having a couple defensive unitsthat they can suicide into, but it's annoying as h_ll to have have to chase them down (because they run away when down to 1hp).

-F-

 

[Jimcat]

In Civ2, I used to play the Americans a lot. I still play them now, and their relatively "weak" abilities make them an interesting challenge. In fact, I find that with a bit of luck in the early game, the Americans can get a leg up in the tech race and have a good head start on the early-game Wonders. I used to think that the Industrious ability was pretty lame, until I realized that I was under-using my Workers. A good crew of fast Workers and judicious land management can make you a powerhouse.

(My #1 tip for land management: don't waste food. If your city has hit the 6 or 12 population barrier, try to shuffle the laborers around so that you are producing maximum shields and/or trade, with just enough food to keep it at zero growth level until you get that Aqueduct or Hospital.)

As far as the "Most Annoying Neighbors" prize goes, since I'm usually the Americans, it's the Aztecs who tick me off the most. I prefer to drive for Iron Working and Horeseback Riding early in the game, then go on a jaguar (warrior) hunt. If I can't cut Montezuma down to size in the Iron Age, then I wait till the medieval weapons come into play. Nothing slices through the Aztec empire like a good combined-arms force of Longbowmen and Catapults escorted by Pikemen, with a few Knights to mow down the stragglers.

So the Aztecs are rarely a force worth worrying about after the early Middle Ages. My next most hated/feared opponent is the Persians. Their armies of Immortals ensure that they won't get taken down early, and they tend to build up a strong science base and become annoyingly competitive by the Industrial Age. If at all possible, I try to get a Mutual Defense Pact with one or more of the Persians' neighbors, and take them on in the age of Riflemen and Cavalry, when their Immortals have lost their edge.

My second favorite civ to play in Civ3 is the Germans, and their worst neighbor is the Russians. Scientific to compete with me in the tech race, and Expansionist to grab all the goodies in the early game! Ugh! I try to take advantage of German Militarism and hit them early in the game with a few well-placed Archers and Warriors. This checks their expansion and, if I'm really lucky, gets me a Great Leader and the Heroic Epic in the ancient era.

Back in Civ2, I had a fairly long list of civs that I would attack as soon as possible. Mongols were aggressive and the only form of persuasion they understood was cold steel. Greeks were just too darn competitive to allow to survive. Zulus, well, everyone knows it's not a question of whether the Zulus will attack you, but when, so do unto them first. And Indians and French -- well, I just find it fun to kill Indians and French.

 

[DarkwingGT]

It's funny, every dislikes the Aztecs but the only time I've won the game is with the Aztecs (don't laugh at me, I still get my butt kicked at Warlord). In my games, the Americans usually dominate whatever continent they're on.

The worst enemies I have are the Persians and the Iroquois. I can guarentee they'll attack me just because of the phase of the moon.

Then again, I get screwy results. I haven't edited the game at all, I just think I'm jinxed. I'm one of those who has the problem of Immortals being cut down by Spearman who are on open plains and unfortied.

 

[Squirrel Ninja]

I'm also beginning to really dislike the Chinese as well, there I am as the Germans and I've built myself a fairly nice empire, sure it has a desert in the middle of it but you can't have everything and who knows that desert may be oil rich later in the game.

Anyway I'm happily building stuff, I've got the French to east and although we had an early war which was very short and due to them moving settlers through my territory we are now pretty good buddies. The Chinese dynasty lies in the shadowy lands to the north seperated from my lands by a line of mountains which stretch right across the conitient like a spine. Well we seemed to be ok with the chinese, they have a little more and better land than me(its all grassland shields and wheat as far as the eye can see) but I have better luxiouries than they do. We traded a few techs and everything seemed just fine.

The year is 300 BC, my army is a little weak cause I've been concentrating on building improvements, everything looks to be going ok and the we are scientifically advanced. The citizens of Saltzburg awaken like any other day in the great kingdom of Germany to see 200,000 Chinese horsemen come hammering over the mountains. Totally unprovoked the Chinese attacked and in great numbers, my army was overwhelmed quickly and most of them were on the Eastern front anyway, I lose 4 cities in rapid succession, two more are razed by the bloodthirsty chinese and things look bad.

I manage to get some units built quick with a little liberal use of the whip(the fatherland is at sake after all) and I call in the French to help, being the good friends they are they are only to willing to help me and at no cost. Anyway it took the entire French army and everything I could muster to halt the Chinese at Nuremburg, I counter and manage to eventually retake my stolen land and decide to get some much deserved payback on the Chinese scum. Well they must of been hording units because as soon as I enter their kingdom another 100,000 horsemen(they love them horsemen, they use nothing else) destroy my attack force and again rip through my territory before me and the French again halt them in the second battle of Nuremburg. Again I retake my land but this time I fortify in and decide to call it a day, I negotiate peace. The year is 1250AD, over 1500 years of war and god knows how many German and French young dead and for what, we are right back where we started only now we are all behind the rest of the world in tech my cities are behind in infrastructure and the French army lies dead on German soil.

Still have no idea why they attacked, they have more land than us anyway so why can't they just leave us alone, their just being greedy with no care for loss of life in their ruthless attempts to eradicate us. I hate the Chinese and everything they stand for, I shall now not rest until us and the French drive them into the sea where they belong.

 

[Jimcat]

Why did the Chinese attack you? Because they felt they could get away with it. Much as we hate to say so today, that has been a valid reason to go to war for much of human history. It was only in the age of representative government that citizens felt able to protest their country's decision to go to war. (I think that Firaxis did a good job of modeling this with war weariness.)

Since most, if not all, of us were born into nations with representative government, we usually assume that a country has to have a good justification for going to war. Anyone born before the 18th century (and a lot of people born later than that) would make no such assumption.

 

[vulture]

No nation has ever been attack because it's army was to big.

 

[Mapache]

I don't play expansionists. And in my games I feared the Egyptians(they did everything well) and Persians.
Very aggressive Germans and Russians.

 

[Genghis Janeway]

It im in my personal opinion that the worst civ to play against are the British because in the Industrial and Modern Ages they produce a whole lot of pollution. And where does the Global Warming go to? Germany! There's no way to destroy them because they're too powerful.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

IMO the game creators made America the worst civ. They should have had the minuteman as their UU instead of the F-15. The minuteman was what helped preserve america in it's early days and therefore deserves the spot. It could be like a fast musketman. 2.4.2

The persians are the worst to play because they are always wanting stuff and sending their stupid immortals!!!!

 

[Jimcat]

Back in my Civ2 days, I came up with an alternative American civilization called the Yankees (named after the New England colonists, not the baseball team). I've spent some time thinking about how they would translate into Civ3 terms:

Ruler: John (or Samuel) Adams
Attributes: Commercial and Religious
Capital: Boston
Cities: Plymouth, Salem, New Haven, Hartford, Providence, Portsmouth, New Bedford, Bridgeport, Springfield, Norwich, etc.
Leaders: Ethan Allen, Paul Revere
Unique Unit: Minuteman (I called it "Continental Army", but this sounds better) -- a cheaper and more mobile Musketman.

Of course I was specifically concentrating on New England, so all the folks from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the southern states are going to feel left out... well, we'll work it all out at the Continental Congress. (-: