Updated Traits Ranking (C3C)

[Artifex]

I play on Emperor level.

These rankings can differ greatly depending on map size and difficulty level. So please list your map preference and difficulty setting you play on when ranking the traits.

Here is my trait ranking now:

1. Seafaring

2. Religious

3. Industrius

4. Agricultural

5. Militaristic

6. Scientific

7. Expansionist

The first trait IMO is far and away the best.

Traits 2-4 are close and depending on your playstyle and preference any one of these can be #2 for you. It is almost a tie between 2-4 depends on your preference.

There is a big droppoff and traits 5-6 are much worse than 2-4 IMO.

Trait 7 is far and away the worst (for reasons I explain below).

1. Seafaring is basically like getting the great library for free..you get an epoch of tech and cash for free...unbelievable. I love this trait. You are first to contact the civs..the amount of cash and tech this trait generates for you on higher difficulty levels is unbelievable.

2. Religious. This has been covered in many posts. This trait is great for higher levels Emperor-Sid. Less useful on low levels. I like the convenience of switching between war-time and peace-time govs in 1 turn.

3. Industrious. Many think this is the best trait, it's good but I can get by without it..still a strong trait. I enjoy it and there are many good threads on this (read The Virtues of being Industrious).

4. Growth is good so Agricultural is a great trait. It would be higher but on the high levels a ton of fast growth just leads to happiness problems. It can be good for rexing and icsing. If you like rapid expansion many might make this the #2 trait and I really cant argue with them.

5. I used to like this trait but I haven't been able to get MGL's with Elites with C3C. Either this is a bug or MGL generation has been greatly curtailed for C3C. After 2 games with no MGL Gen I am convinced I can;t generate them anymore. One game I fought over 150 battles with an Elite unit (counted) and as germany (militasristic) NO MGL. I kinda gave up on this trait after that. It used to be #1 for me.

6. Scientific is weak on high levels. You will be trading for your techs until well into the middle ages..you will not be outresearching AI on emperor or above.

7. This trait is map dependent and opponent dependent. If you play smaller maps and get alot of expansionist opponents (highkly likely since large # of civs are expansionist) this trait is very, very bad. I play standard maps with random opponents. I hate Expansionist. Always have, always will. A total waste for a trait and sadly Firaxis gives this trait to most of the civs in it's 2 expansions. So I won't get to play most of them. I stopped playing civs with this trait.

Some argue you can find oppnents early with this and explore the map for resources. If you want to do that get seafaring or research the wheel and get chariots. A very weak argument for using this trait IMO.

This trait can be powerful if you play larger maps and select non expansionist opponents (which I don't, thats almost like cheating and cheesy to me) So for standard maps with random opponents this is a very bad trait. Other expansionist civs will beat you out of huts anyway. You will be lucky to get a handful of huts on Emperor with this. On smaller maps with other expansionist oppoennts you will get bery few huts other expansionist civs will pop them before you (AI knows were they are).

So if you want to pick your opponents, and/or play with a small number of opponents and play on large maps. This trait can be #1 in that case.

For the maps I play it is dead last. I just don't like this trait.

[Inverse Icarus]

i tried seafaring and i can't stop using it now. that bonus trade in the capital alone gets you a first tech 5-10 turns quicker. it's insane.

[Theseus]

I was screwing around with a Scandy game over the weekend, pre-BETA.

Seafaring is indeed awesome. And militaristic DOESN'T SUCK, you just had a bad run, Artifex, but Armies are now too important not to shoot for. I missed both industrious and religious in a big way, though (REL, especially, as I am specifically trying to play games with 2 government changes due to some AU considerations).

[smellymummy]

i personally find all the traits just as good, well nearly.

seafaring is really nice, being able to contact most civs early on is a big plus.

I also like scientific, just for the cheaper library/university build (cheaper culture!), and that free tech at each age. ever notice how dearly the AI holds nationalism? Getting it for free is a great way to enter the industrial age.

I also like militaristic, if i get a random civ that has it (like rome for example) I take advantage of the cheap barracks and pump out units. is that extra mobility point for armies a C3C feature only?

and the commercial trait is really good too! corruption is so much lower, which is great when you conquer lots of cities, if you play a military/commercial civ.

[Sarxis]

I like them all- I can't decide.

[Generalissimo]

Seafaring Rules Indeed.
I’m playing with the Spanish right now.
The quick access to other civs and their technologies combing with the all-powerful religious trait makes a very comfortable civ
Too bad they have a useless UU

[Tarquinius]

Artifex, where is the commercial trait in your rankings?

I play on Monarch, with the same map specifics as you do, random standard, and I truly love the agricultural trait. Just having so much food early on is so good.
My ranking would be:
1. Agricultural
2/3/4/5 Commercial, Seafaring, Militaristic, Religious
6. Industrious
7. Scientific
8. Expansionist

[ducki]

I'm addicted to Carthage right now. I know a lot of folks have a hard time with the extra shield-cost of the Merc, but I just love seafaring + industrious. Careful with your wonders, though.

[WarpStorm]

Originally posted by Generalissimo
Too bad they have a useless UU

Not hardly. This is the best pillager in the game. An army of them can pillage 9 tiles in a turn.

I know I am in the minority, but I rank Expansionistic up in the top traits category (maybe not number one, but in the top 3).

[asleepathewheel]

Frankly at this point I'm not sure I can rank the traits, I find all of them obscenely useful. My least favorite are commercial and scientific but I play with those civs now and again.

I used to use religious and expansionists as a crutch, but no longer. (maybe if the Iroq's were the same then....)

[Brundlefly]

I play Emperor and above and I like rapid production and expansion. So Mayans Agr + Ind were natural best combination for me. Also Carthage Sea+ Ind another excellent choice. I agree with observations on diminshed power of Militaristic. Commercial does not seem to have the same effect as it did pre-c3c either. I'm only interested in a civ that has Agr, Sea, or Ind as one or more of its traits.

[ducki]

Commercial does not seem to have the same effect as it did pre-c3c either.

Are you talking pre-beta-patch or post-beta-patch?
Pre-beta patch, corruption was so messed up that I don't think you can judge Commercial just yet.

[Generalissimo]

Not hardly. This is the best pillager in the game. An army of them can pillage 9 tiles in a turn

It really depends on game style, the whole warfare thingy in civ3 is so one-dimensional that is quite pointless to waste shields on pillagers when you can route those shields to knights and cavalry.
Besides, im going to conquer the city anyway, the resistance and the possibility of culture flipping is bad enough, Rebuilding the infrastructure is a major waste of time IMO.

[Enriquillo]

Seafaring is dead last imo.

As said, it all depends on playstyle.
I just don't think getting one extra gold at the start really makes seafaring that hot. Ofcourse you can research faster at the start. But after a shortwhile it becomes a useless trait IMO.

I think most traits are about equal, with expansionist and seafaring being situational traits, great on certain maps and settings, but in most cases ... crap
I've gotten tons of free techs with expansionist before, but on most maps, the AI gets to the goodies before you do.

Great leaders are fairly common in my experience, I've gotten tons of 'em in my last game with Ottomans. Had 4 armies of ancient cav, knights and sipahi running around, awesome!
I also had several sgl's, one of which I used for a tech golden age which helped me research several techs at 4 turns while raking in the cash, awesome as well.

[WarpStorm]

Originally posted by Generalissimo
It really depends on game style, the whole warfare thingy in civ3 is so one-dimensional that is quite pointless to waste shields on pillagers when you can route those shields to knights and cavalry.

Since you choose to make it one dimensional by not building pillagers, I guess it is for you. My play style involves removing their strategic resources and luxuries in the first turn or two of combat if at all possible and then go for the cities.