Civilisation choice for beginner

[Pinchak]

MAybe next time we can organise two lists. one for the weaker and one for the better players.

Well, FIN civs were banned from what Ozzy considered "expert" players in BtP. Even with this handicap he insisted an "expert" would win the game. I assured him nobody in his list of "experts" was going to win.

And none of them did.

[Rasputin]

yes wasnt much left to choose for beginers from the list we had for planned game...

MAybe next time we can organise two lists. one for the weaker and one for the better players.

[St Jon]

damn some other beginner took them...

They're not just good for a beginner.

[rah]

They are good to toy with to get your troops up to 10 exp points. I'll send green troops out to the frontier for experience then rotate them back home when they reach 10.

[Pinchak]

Didn't know barbs don't generate GG points. Also didn't know the double points inside boarders only applied to the GW. Looks like I have been toying with barbs this whole time unnecessarily.

[Rasputin]

If the Dutch are the best civ for a beginner who would be second best?

damn some other beginner took them...

[Rasputin]

choking is allowed in Diplo, in fact it is used a lot by some people

[OzzyKP]

Yea, not much choking.

[rah]

Are you not allowed to choke people in diplo games. A dog warrior combined with a promoted archer is a killer combo for choking a neighbor. You can screw them over for centuries.

[Heraclitus]

I'll add the Native Americans, mainly since they're my favorite civ, but also b/c their UU is available very early and quite useful in both SP and MP. Since the AI civs will have warriors defending their cities early, and barb cities warriors for a long time, 2-3 Dog Soldiers (that don't need copper to build) can add quite a few cities to your empire. Against humans with chariots your protective archers will further benefit from the totem pole bonus, and with a little practice those extra Great People will boost your tech and money.

In SP on higher levels, Dog Soldiers are best used as defense vs. barbarians. I prefer either Woodsman II/III for an early armed scout and combat 1, cover, and medic 1 for the ideal defender vs barbs.

We're talking primarily MP here.

NA are a hard civ to play in Diplo. Like Japan they have a problem of being too geared for war (albeit a defensive war in their case, though I have seen strong cases made for an archer rush).

[Theben]

I'll add the Native Americans, mainly since they're my favorite civ, but also b/c their UU is available very early and quite useful in both SP and MP. Since the AI civs will have warriors defending their cities early, and barb cities warriors for a long time, 2-3 Dog Soldiers (that don't need copper to build) can add quite a few cities to your empire. Against humans with chariots your protective archers will further benefit from the totem pole bonus, and with a little practice those extra Great People will boost your tech and money.

In SP on higher levels, Dog Soldiers are best used as defense vs. barbarians. I prefer either Woodsman II/III for an early armed scout and combat 1, cover, and medic 1 for the ideal defender vs barbs.

[OzzyKP]

You don't get free specialists, you just get to place specialists. It can be very useful, but I wouldn't at all describe it as newbie friendly. Same thing with the spiritual trait.

[Rempedaalops]

Egypt is also not bad, because of the obelisk giving you free specialists, and because of the early more powerful chariots, which makes defending a bit easier. Also, the combination of Ramesses spiritual and industrious traits is quite handy if you want to get things built quickly and change civics without anarchy. Hathshepsut also has the +2 cultural bonus, which is nice at the start. Not to mention having the Wheel already at the start. But, yeah, the Dutch and the Ethiopians are probably even better choices

[rah]

Or you could just post scouts out in the borderlands since barbs only appear in areas of fog. No fog areas near, very few barbs.

[Black Knight 427]

If that was your problem I would have just B linged to the Great Wall.