Hardest Civ to play

[Unimatrix11]

Well, to me it´s certainly the aztecs and then the spanish. I never whip, so the aztec´s UB is a total waste to my style and i hardly ever build walls (and thus castles) ever, thus the spanish have little to offer for me.

But generally, as others have pointed out in the course of the last 3 years, it is ultimately a none-matching starting-position-leader-combo that makes games hard: Like you get some aggressive, protectionist with an early era UU when you start on a landmass all alone, for example... Or you have a spiritual leader, but have all the religious guys in the game, but on another continent, and dont manage to get any religion or at least too few, to make your trait truely be worth it. Or if you are philosophical, but your land can barely feed those who work it. Or industrious with neither stone nor marble...

[rah]

Yeah agreed, starting with a mounted UU and not having any horses, or the romans or japs and no iron.

It's not that the some civs are the hardest, it's just that they make you alter your strategy from an optimal path.
Any civ that doesn't have at least financial or organized, you have to worry a tad more about your economy. Of course if you have lots of floodplans, rivers, gold, that may not make a difference. If you're industrious, do you also have marble or stone nearby. Its the combinations of civ and land that will determine if you have to really pay attention or you can just do what you want. In MP that would be eliminate neighbor. I guess that's the usual goal in SP also, but it's usually harder and more satisfying in MP.

[Blaupanzer]

I suspect the urgency is much greater in MP, both in terms of time to get to neighbor and the fact that he was born to kill you. In SP, the player can wait, the game will end when the player says so for the most part, and the AI is born to compete/survive. I doubt that many MPers capitulate!

[rah]

Yes, it's a game of chicken, if you don't hook copper or horses right away. Do you waste those precious early turns researching archery while you're waiting to hook or do you risk getting caught basically defenseless?

And we play no vassals.

[Krill]

You guys must hate it when I play, just 'cos I like to kill you even when it ain't the best plat

[rah]

Yes, you do have to take into account people's tendencies. I'll play it differently depending on the tendencies of my neighbors. I've changed build orders and what science I'm researching many time after discovering that I'm right next to one of the more aggressive players. It's good to have that reputation because if your neighbor think he has to worry about an early rush or choke, you don't always have to do it and their growth will be slowed down regardless preparing for it.

[martin mcmartin]

where's the "banana" option?

BTW, hardest for me: Russians and Japanese.

Mc

[Blaupanzer]

Martin, agree. Late UBs, unusual traits from the money/research point of view, and midgame UUs (if you make it that far) complicate their use in SP. Are you more of a builder? I am told Tokugawa is pretty cool if you are a warmonger, especially in the era of gunpowder. The only Civ that lets me think and act as a warmonger so far has been the Aztecs.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
The only Civ that lets me think and act as a warmonger so far has been the Aztecs.

Skaka's very good for a warmonger as well. Barracks that also reduce maintenance is a pretty good combination for that style of play.

[joncnunn]

Unimatrix has a strong point about mismatched map with UU / UB / traights. I agree so much I go into the map editor in 4000 BC on computer generated maps and if it's a bad mismatch either make minor resource corrections or hit regenerate map.

[joncnunn]

I've succesfully executed the Incan Q rush, contributing factors besides the Q and being on Monarch (so the AI would have Archer defenders) was there was only one AI on the landmass, their capital lands were better than mine, and they were the proper distance for a Q rush.

I've also exceuted as the Dutch a Chariot rush on the AU game; there just wasn't enough room on the small starting landmass for both me and that other civ. In addition horses were really close to me.

Originally posted by Willem

Skaka's very good for a warmonger as well. Barracks that also reduce maintenance is a pretty good combination for that style of play.