SuperFly47
Chieftain
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2010
- Messages
- 20
What are your favorite civilizations to play and why?
Your Favorite Civilizations to Play
- Thread starter SuperFly47
- Start date
Duke William of Normandy
King of England & Unofficial Welcoming Committee
Now, I use the Civilizations Expanded mod, so this won't be true for everybody.
1: Maori
Just the fact that they start in the Ocean makes early exploring have so much more meaning as them.
2: Korea
Their Science and Culture game is just so... mwah. It's perfect.
3: America
Two alternate Teddy Roosevelts are two big wins. Bull Moose Teddy is amazing when it comes to Culture and Science, where Rough Rider Teddy is far more militaristic.
almughavar
Political commissar
Hungary, Ottoman and Roman Empire. Needless to say I'm a warmonger.
Navelgazer
King
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2012
- Messages
- 876
Not much of a warmonger, more of a builder, love building up gold and faith, and owning the naval side of things, and get a kick out of playing the diplomatic game, so...
Georgia: Not a powerhouse, but not the joke they used to be either, and every new piece of NFP seems to be helping them out more. The focus on walls helps them turtle, which generally isn't my cup of tea, but helps them to survive while the rest of their package is just very interesting to play and can really snowball once you get it going.
Byzantium: Similar, but actually a powerhouse (though with a nerf coming soon). Also, with a good naval UU, which is always a plus for me.
Indonesia: Very likely to get the first pantheon, great naval UU, broader use of Faith Economy that plays into their strengths, and the Kampung, which is a straight-up game-changer in the way you think about viable cities and where you can place them.
Ethiopia: Bonkers faith generation and a fun way of playing the terrain. Plus the rock-hewn-churches are just pretty. On those lines...
Phoenicia: Not "good" but interesting, with a potential for great riches, and the Cothon is maybe my favorite UD in the game.
Mali: Just awesome, and a very different game from normal.
Georgia: Not a powerhouse, but not the joke they used to be either, and every new piece of NFP seems to be helping them out more. The focus on walls helps them turtle, which generally isn't my cup of tea, but helps them to survive while the rest of their package is just very interesting to play and can really snowball once you get it going.
Byzantium: Similar, but actually a powerhouse (though with a nerf coming soon). Also, with a good naval UU, which is always a plus for me.
Indonesia: Very likely to get the first pantheon, great naval UU, broader use of Faith Economy that plays into their strengths, and the Kampung, which is a straight-up game-changer in the way you think about viable cities and where you can place them.
Ethiopia: Bonkers faith generation and a fun way of playing the terrain. Plus the rock-hewn-churches are just pretty. On those lines...
Phoenicia: Not "good" but interesting, with a potential for great riches, and the Cothon is maybe my favorite UD in the game.
Mali: Just awesome, and a very different game from normal.
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TreVor_ish
Prince
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2020
- Messages
- 338
Poland - Winged Hussars!!! // My Relics, are better than Yours (unless You Mvemba) // Oh, Im's sorry. Did my Encampment just steal Your luxury?
Egypt - Oh, Cleo. // Floods are no more! // build, Build, BUILD!!! // Sphinx, good Sphinx.
Mali - All that not glitters is now gold.
Phoenicia - Oh, Im's sorry. Did I forward settle You? Shame we are on the same Continent. // Greatings, mate. You mind if I Bireme, Your coast?
Maya - Farm and Plant! FOR SCIENCE!!! // If You come closer than 9 tiles of my Capitol, I will kill You!
Byzantium - Hippodrome going brrrrrr. // For Crusade!!
Gaul - This is a very cultured Mine. // My Industry going Pew Pew. // Four on One? I like those odds.
Babylon - Ska-badabadabadoo-belidabbelydabbladabbladabblabab-belibabbelibabbelibabbelabbelo-doobelidoo....oh is that Mars?
Egypt - Oh, Cleo. // Floods are no more! // build, Build, BUILD!!! // Sphinx, good Sphinx.
Mali - All that not glitters is now gold.
Phoenicia - Oh, Im's sorry. Did I forward settle You? Shame we are on the same Continent. // Greatings, mate. You mind if I Bireme, Your coast?
Maya - Farm and Plant! FOR SCIENCE!!! // If You come closer than 9 tiles of my Capitol, I will kill You!
Byzantium - Hippodrome going brrrrrr. // For Crusade!!
Gaul - This is a very cultured Mine. // My Industry going Pew Pew. // Four on One? I like those odds.
Babylon - Ska-badabadabadoo-belidabbelydabbladabbladabblabab-belibabbelibabbelibabbelabbelo-doobelidoo....oh is that Mars?
Hungary: I personally love doing short wars and I have city-state oriented playstyle. I also like the music!
Indonesia: While I always try to find religion and Indonesia is decent at it, I actually like the kampung aspect of their playstyle. (I once made a joke city which had space only for harbour, and it got about 40 pop before game ended thanks to kampungs.) I also like the music!
Russia: I typically don't like culture games. I find them are slow and tedious, but Russia is an exeption. My normal playstyle doesn't fit to Russia which I very much welcome. As stated before I always try to find religion and Russia is propably the best religion civ so they have that going for it. I aLsO lIkE tHe MuSiC!
Honourable mentions for Mali and Mongolia. They are fun, but not as fun other three. I don't own NFP (yet), but I think Byzantium would be a fun civ to play as.
Indonesia: While I always try to find religion and Indonesia is decent at it, I actually like the kampung aspect of their playstyle. (I once made a joke city which had space only for harbour, and it got about 40 pop before game ended thanks to kampungs.) I also like the music!
Russia: I typically don't like culture games. I find them are slow and tedious, but Russia is an exeption. My normal playstyle doesn't fit to Russia which I very much welcome. As stated before I always try to find religion and Russia is propably the best religion civ so they have that going for it. I aLsO lIkE tHe MuSiC!
Honourable mentions for Mali and Mongolia. They are fun, but not as fun other three. I don't own NFP (yet), but I think Byzantium would be a fun civ to play as.
LMT
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2013
- Messages
- 245
I like playing civs that have some truly unique aspect to them.
Maori--for the ocean start, ability to accrue science and culture before settling the capital, and immediate water exploration.
France with Eleanor--for the city flipping ability. My highest scores have been with her, and my highest score was with her...as a defeat!
Canada--I'm sure not many like playing with Canada, but no surprise wars allows me to build whatever I like without needing much of an army.
The only civs I really don't enjoy are those focused almost solely on military aspects. I prefer to play peaceful.
Maori--for the ocean start, ability to accrue science and culture before settling the capital, and immediate water exploration.
France with Eleanor--for the city flipping ability. My highest scores have been with her, and my highest score was with her...as a defeat!
Canada--I'm sure not many like playing with Canada, but no surprise wars allows me to build whatever I like without needing much of an army.
The only civs I really don't enjoy are those focused almost solely on military aspects. I prefer to play peaceful.
Kmart_Elvis
King
Russia and Ethiopia. They are very similar civs: both are terrain based (tundra/hills), are defensive in nature with light cavalry UUs, both leader abilities give free science and culture, can generate a ton of faith easily, have a strong focus on religious/cultural victories but are generalist enough to pivot to other victories if needed, terrific at getting a classical/medieval golden age and thus can take advantage of Monumentality with their huge faith pool.
With Russia, I love starting each city with all this extra land. The cheap lavra + tundra bonuses + dance of the aurora synergy means I will always have enough faith for RV, rock bands, or buying units with grandmaster's chapel.
Menelik's leader ability is probably my favorite leader ability in the game. Literally free science and culture just from generating faith. It's so easy to build faith as Ethiopia: rock-hewn churches, good synergy with Earth Goddess, and faith from resources.... All before even taking holy sites into account. And with all this faith, that extra science and culture means I'm always at the top or near the top of the science/culture race and can stay competitive.
Both civs just really fit my playstyle and all of my fastest games in my HoF are with either of those civs.
With Russia, I love starting each city with all this extra land. The cheap lavra + tundra bonuses + dance of the aurora synergy means I will always have enough faith for RV, rock bands, or buying units with grandmaster's chapel.
Menelik's leader ability is probably my favorite leader ability in the game. Literally free science and culture just from generating faith. It's so easy to build faith as Ethiopia: rock-hewn churches, good synergy with Earth Goddess, and faith from resources.... All before even taking holy sites into account. And with all this faith, that extra science and culture means I'm always at the top or near the top of the science/culture race and can stay competitive.
Both civs just really fit my playstyle and all of my fastest games in my HoF are with either of those civs.
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Duke William of Normandy
King of England & Unofficial Welcoming Committee
Do not lie, William. We all know you love the Netherlands so much you started a revolt to give it independence.
Russia for sure since they are good for everything.
Germany because of the extra distric slot. Man I love these puzzels. Also your production is super nice once your Hansas are up.
Maori, Mali, Gaul, Babylon and Maya since they change the way you play the game the most. At least it feels like this for me.
Germany because of the extra distric slot. Man I love these puzzels. Also your production is super nice once your Hansas are up.
Maori, Mali, Gaul, Babylon and Maya since they change the way you play the game the most. At least it feels like this for me.
Leucarum
Emperor
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2018
- Messages
- 1,485
Depends on the type of game I want:
Mali and Ethiopia are both my go-to civs for faith based games. Pericles for a culture game. Phoenecia for a naval game.
Kongo will always have a place in my heart as the first civ I ever played though the updates have not been kind to them.
Canada is the ASMR of civs - you get to relax, ignore the AI and focus on your inner self.
Mapuche I always enjoy, despite their bonuses being all over the place.
And Gaul are my favourite warmongers by far. Their abilities/malus make for a more intricate combat game than usual...
Mali and Ethiopia are both my go-to civs for faith based games. Pericles for a culture game. Phoenecia for a naval game.
Kongo will always have a place in my heart as the first civ I ever played though the updates have not been kind to them.
Canada is the ASMR of civs - you get to relax, ignore the AI and focus on your inner self.
Mapuche I always enjoy, despite their bonuses being all over the place.
And Gaul are my favourite warmongers by far. Their abilities/malus make for a more intricate combat game than usual...
GunsGermsandSteel
Warlord
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2020
- Messages
- 148
I'm pretty open to playing a variety of civs, in general I like civs with unique tile improvements as that is the most visually obvious differentiation for a civ. Fortunately there are lots of those! I also tend to prefer civs that have unique things to help get that critical classical golden age. Civs that support early aggression into empire building are also on the shortlist. I won't rule any civs out though.
Favorites: .
Egypt - I love building wonders and they have a natural boost for it. They also have good appeal manipulation with Sphinx, and solid options for faith generation (sacred places/divine inspiration to double down on wonder spamming). I also like how they are represented in the game.
Cree - I surprise favorite for me. The shared visibility is a very powerful/interesting feature. It's also nice having unique scouts in the early game.
Sumeria - An interesting civ to play in general. War Carts are fun to mess with in the early game (if the terrain is favorable). They are very early aggro, but Ziggaurats can help make up some lost science/culture from committing production to early units.
Aztec - If I had to name a favorite civ this would probably be it. All of their bonuses dovetail very neatly into a civ that is extremely powerful for super early warmongering, but is no slouch with spitting out districts either. Of start-of-game unique units Eagle Warriors are my favorite as they upgrade well (melee tree line) and gain benefits from 'God of the Forge' and 'Agoge'.
Favorites: .
Egypt - I love building wonders and they have a natural boost for it. They also have good appeal manipulation with Sphinx, and solid options for faith generation (sacred places/divine inspiration to double down on wonder spamming). I also like how they are represented in the game.
Cree - I surprise favorite for me. The shared visibility is a very powerful/interesting feature. It's also nice having unique scouts in the early game.
Sumeria - An interesting civ to play in general. War Carts are fun to mess with in the early game (if the terrain is favorable). They are very early aggro, but Ziggaurats can help make up some lost science/culture from committing production to early units.
Aztec - If I had to name a favorite civ this would probably be it. All of their bonuses dovetail very neatly into a civ that is extremely powerful for super early warmongering, but is no slouch with spitting out districts either. Of start-of-game unique units Eagle Warriors are my favorite as they upgrade well (melee tree line) and gain benefits from 'God of the Forge' and 'Agoge'.
Earl of Pembroke
Chieftain
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2020
- Messages
- 44
Rome! The beginning of the game is fun for any civ, but I like the pressure for Rome because any/all of your advantages are gone by the end of the Classical Era. Rome is also not that great at science or religion so you really have to work hard at those.
Australia, Indonesia, and Cree - as you might guess, I like building massive cities and playing a fairly balanced game. With any of these civs I can generally get to turn 150 or later without having decided which victory to go for (and often, can have a viable shot still at any victory path, though I often skip religion with Cree).
Australia - stupidly overpowered, but that's kind of what makes them fun. Get work ethic and a couple 5-9 adjacency holy sites, and once you research theology you're riding a production and faith economy train. The coastal city bonus lets you settle more locations (and can get you a crazy Mausoleum city), outback stations let you have productivity from flat land, and the pasture culture bombs mean you get lots of land pretty quickly. The theater square adjacency lets you keep up with culture, and once you get to a point where there are some cities/city-states that have been conquered, you can go a-liberating to get some incredible production bonuses and build all the mid-late game wonders. Or, if science is more your bag, just build high-adjacency campuses in all your high-population cities, slot in rationalism, and race to the stars.
Indonesia - the reason I am excited for the city-state picker. Indonesia with Auckland and Nan Madol on a water map (which I got organically once) is insanely fun - massive water-focused cities with high production and more or less nothing but districts on what little land you have. The faith from cities on coast give you a good shot at the first pantheon, and ends up adding up to a pretty nice faith economy throughout the game - useful when you want to buy your superpowered Jongs to explore (and conquer) the world. My favorite civ for spreading an empire all around a water map and basically just taking over the world.
Cree - one of the most fun early games in my opinion - the extra trader plus land from trade routes means you can put together a pretty substantial early empire (and if used strategically with borders can often choke off a nearby civ from expanding much). The Okihtcitaw is kind of meh but the beginning promotion means you can move a little faster from the get-go, and the increased strength helps with survivability. Two of these can get you good early exploration. The Mekewap gives you early production and housing, and probably most importantly is a major early source of gold (which can be hard to come by). They also scale up nicely to remain relevant throughout the game. The shared visibility helps continue your exploration as you get into creating alliances. Also, somewhat underrated point - I find the Cree to be one of the best civs for chaining together multiple golden ages from Classical on forward. Both the unique unit and infrastructure can be used in ancient (though I've sometimes held off on the Mekewap to get the points in Classical), the scouting bonus means you get goody huts, barb camps, and meet civs/city-states, and the early growth/production can help knock out a few early wonders if that's your style (or a variety of districts). When you hit mid-game, the shared visibility means you're often the first to meet all civs, you discover all natural wonders, find additional city-states, and can scope out a good path for circumnavigation. I've never had an issue keeping golden ages once I get into late game, but the ability to have and maintain large cities I think tends to help there too (remaining adjacency bonuses, wonders, etc.).
Australia - stupidly overpowered, but that's kind of what makes them fun. Get work ethic and a couple 5-9 adjacency holy sites, and once you research theology you're riding a production and faith economy train. The coastal city bonus lets you settle more locations (and can get you a crazy Mausoleum city), outback stations let you have productivity from flat land, and the pasture culture bombs mean you get lots of land pretty quickly. The theater square adjacency lets you keep up with culture, and once you get to a point where there are some cities/city-states that have been conquered, you can go a-liberating to get some incredible production bonuses and build all the mid-late game wonders. Or, if science is more your bag, just build high-adjacency campuses in all your high-population cities, slot in rationalism, and race to the stars.
Indonesia - the reason I am excited for the city-state picker. Indonesia with Auckland and Nan Madol on a water map (which I got organically once) is insanely fun - massive water-focused cities with high production and more or less nothing but districts on what little land you have. The faith from cities on coast give you a good shot at the first pantheon, and ends up adding up to a pretty nice faith economy throughout the game - useful when you want to buy your superpowered Jongs to explore (and conquer) the world. My favorite civ for spreading an empire all around a water map and basically just taking over the world.
Cree - one of the most fun early games in my opinion - the extra trader plus land from trade routes means you can put together a pretty substantial early empire (and if used strategically with borders can often choke off a nearby civ from expanding much). The Okihtcitaw is kind of meh but the beginning promotion means you can move a little faster from the get-go, and the increased strength helps with survivability. Two of these can get you good early exploration. The Mekewap gives you early production and housing, and probably most importantly is a major early source of gold (which can be hard to come by). They also scale up nicely to remain relevant throughout the game. The shared visibility helps continue your exploration as you get into creating alliances. Also, somewhat underrated point - I find the Cree to be one of the best civs for chaining together multiple golden ages from Classical on forward. Both the unique unit and infrastructure can be used in ancient (though I've sometimes held off on the Mekewap to get the points in Classical), the scouting bonus means you get goody huts, barb camps, and meet civs/city-states, and the early growth/production can help knock out a few early wonders if that's your style (or a variety of districts). When you hit mid-game, the shared visibility means you're often the first to meet all civs, you discover all natural wonders, find additional city-states, and can scope out a good path for circumnavigation. I've never had an issue keeping golden ages once I get into late game, but the ability to have and maintain large cities I think tends to help there too (remaining adjacency bonuses, wonders, etc.).
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