Most annoying civs to play against...

[Dom Pedro II]

Yes, I did forget to mention the Chinese. I never had trouble with them until recently, but they're quite annoying in the early years. They build up an army of about 300 warriors and then just send them all in at the same time! They are weak, but they don't have to be strong to wreak havoc on terrain improvements... Even if you have a few dozen of the latest units, they can't handle all of that before it come back around to bite you.

And Catherine is ugly like Lizzie, but Liz iz more duplicitous by far...

[Blaupanzer]

Frankly, it's the Germans and the Aztecs in the first two periods because they are so wildly aggressive. Later, it's the English, who won't keep treaties and will settle on any open square on the map. The Zulus are generally backward scientifically and their best unit is really defensive, not very useful past the expansion stage. The most condescending, besides the English, are the Greeks, who still address me as a backward, junior state even when I own half the map and they have only four cities. Best neighbors, in my experience to date are the Irroquois and the Persians, as both keep their word. Of course, I always suck up to them in the early game because of their very dangerous UUs.

[Arrian]

It's the Germans and English for me.

The Germans are led by a guy I call the mean, nasty, demanding Bismarck man, because that's exactly what he is. Especially if you have the misfortune of starting next to him. I HATE seeing dark blue in ancient times. As the Croc Hunter would say, "Dangah, Dangah, Dangah!" Cut 'em off, and kill 'em at first opportunity, I say.

The English are more annoying than dangerous. Elizabeth wins the "most frequent nonsensical backstabbing" award. Thankfully, the English are usually weak in my games (normal size maps, which don't go very well with the English traits).

The Zulu are somewhat annoying as well, but because I'm often in their cultural grouping (Babylonians), they're not all that hard to keep happy until I'm ready to deal with them at gunpoint. I am more likely to cave in and give Shaka what he demands early on, because Impi are a real pain until Knights, and even then I don't like 'em. If I can, I avoid dealing with the Zulu until I have Cavalry.

-Arrian

[Ironikinit]

Germany is the only civ that has wiped me off the map before I even had a chance to build spearmen. Clever of them.

Zulus haven't been much of a problem. That's mostly because I don't discover them until late in the game. They always seem to end up on another continent.

Persia can be very bossy in the early game, but if I get past that they seem OK.

The best defense against Germany is to be Germany.

I couldn't believe it when France backstabbed me. I don't know if it was because of the patch or just coincidence. It didn't just hurt my civ, it hurt my heart. And then I took half her cities. She's stayed in line since.

[star mouse]

For me, it's definitely the Russians.

In four different games I have had run-ins with them. The first game, they anoyed me simply by being too close to me and taking MY resources, so I wiped them out before the end of the Ancient era.

Bad move. This only made them angry.

In the next three games with the Russians as an opponent, they seemed hell-bent on making lots of trouble. In two of the games, they were huge brown empires by the time I found them and they gave me a lot of trouble. In the third game, they were neighbours, and they decalred war when I refused their demand for 21 gold. I took or razed four cities including Moscow by the time they would talk to me. They declared war again sometime later, so i wiped them out.

[Shaka II]

Shaka wants 1 gold for music theory.

Well, it all depends so much on a particular game and particular Civ chosen by human player, but here are some general experiences:

I think the Germans present the biggest problem, although they have been good allies in several games (better to make him an ally then an enemy). He is a real early threat with Swordsman and of course later with Panzers.

The French are generally quite advanced and usually friendly. I have allied with them frequently. Recent game, I was Aztec and had to remove them (nearest neighbors) in the early game to expand, as well as the Indians, who attacked me after I got rid of the French.

Catherine is pretty fair most of the time. She is usually a bit weak, but not always. I like it when she says "Russia knows how to deal with bullies".

The Aztec can be a real challenge, especially if they on your continent.

I do not have any warm feelings for the English. Most recent game, I was Iroquois, and was a bit over extended in wiping out the English (a bit behind the technology curve, 4,000 year war, etc.), when Elizabeth managed to convince the Germans to ally against me, and the German MPP partners were drawn in as well. The AI gangs up on the weaker player and in that game, I think I was it.

My favorite Civ is Babylonian, but I have played about half of them and like the different stategies, etc.

I have not really had a problem with the Zulu, but I know what they can be like. I guess their CIV II war like nature endures.

[Flight]

id agree with everyone above, the germans and zulus are the hardest to deal with early on, and require some serious bashing to stay in line (or some serious asskissing).

I dont like the english at all because elizibeth is ALWAYS polite and will either declare war or trade for everything very nicely, you cant really tell sometimes.

I dont mind any of the other civs, although the egyptians attacked me on teh firaxis world map (they had all of euro-asia, i had africa) right at the end of the game while i had 1 last spaceship component to go. I tac nuked a stack of about 70 units but then still kept coming. Then the german panzers from overseas finished off my southern cities and wasted my chance of victory that was a couple of turns away

[dnassman]

If I start next to the Babs and let them get to their bowman quickily then I know that in every case they go for an attack that can actually take some of my cities.They can be very annoying. Also the Germans, as most other people have suggested, can be a real nasty civ to have against you if you are at the same stage of development. I mostly play the Persians so I don't have to deal with their Immortals.

[bogatir]

That darned Bismarck...

While the Zulus may be insanely suicidal at times, at least you can usually judge what their intentions are. They seldom declare war on me when their attitude is ‘polite’, and it takes a while for their attitude to descend from ‘polite’ to ‘annoyed’.

On the other hand, the Germans are a bonus pain in the butt. By putting up with their occasional tech demands in my current game (and submitting to that aggravating "you’re a good boot-licker" comment), I managed to keep them polite through the Ancient age while my Aztecs knocked out my nearest neighbor, the Americans. But in the Middle age, two turns after one of those ‘polite’ boot-licker interchanges with the Germans, they showed back up with an ‘annoyed’ attitude, demanding my latest tech (chivalry). I gave them the finger and they declared war. After I razed two of their cities with my brand-new knights, they paid me off for a peace treaty, but I’m sure they’ll be back.

The Zulus in this game, however, are still playing nice with me at the ‘cautious’ level (I guess they’re a little leery of the city-razing Aztecs right now…). At least I managed to round up the last of Abe Lincoln’s little tribe and grind their bones to make my bread.

German civs always seem to need an ‘attitude adjustment’ when I play the Aztecs. I figure it’s basically a programmed negative reaction to another ‘militaristic’ civ having some success (even though I was still ‘boot licking’). I noticed that their attitude went sour very quickly (from ‘polite’ to ‘annoyed’) as soon as I started producing technologically superior military units (knights).

[Blaupanzer]

If you look in the editor, the Germans have the highest aggressive level available (5 out of 5). So their demands and quick reaction to negative turns in the game is at least predictable. I'm not sure what drives the English to their duplicity. (At least in game terms I'm not sure; this fits my personal prejudice in regard to their history as an empire -- a treachorous ally and an amoral attitude to their supporters and opponents.) All of the military civs have a high aggression level. Additionally, it appears that all of the AIs are clearly programmed to attack any significantly less powerful neighbors. So, sneak attacks should not be quite as surprising as they sometimes are.

[Arrian]

Blaupanzer,

About militaristic civs having high agressiveness ratings... I think China is an exception. I think they are (or at least were originally) a 1. I have played many games with the Chinese as one of the AI's, and I have to say I have grown to sigh in relief when I find out that the light blue border on my map is Chinese, not American (Abe's a warmongering jerk). Mao seems much more willing to trade with me, and I don't recall EVER being sneak attacked by them.

-Arrian

[Blaupanzer]

We can look up the numbers, so it may be less than 4 for China. (Don't have game with me here.) However, I have been playing Japan in recent games, and China attacks fairly regularly, even though I leave the other civs alone during the expansion phase. You are right about Abe. His troops invariably follow me home once my warrior on exploration makes contact, and attack when they get there, whatever the power ratios.

You are right that light blue borders (the Chinese default color) have generally been a relief to see in exploration in the ancient era. However, in my most recent game that color turned out to be the Americans. Here we go again.

[Windwalker]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
We can look up the numbers, so it may be less than 4 for China. (Don't have game with me here.) However, I have been playing Japan in recent games, and China attacks fairly regularly, even though I leave the other civs alone during the expansion phase. You are right about Abe. His troops invariably follow me home once my warrior on exploration makes contact, and attack when they get there, whatever the power ratios.

You are right that light blue borders (the Chinese default color) have generally been a relief to see in exploration in the ancient era. However, in my most recent game that color turned out to be the Americans. Here we go again.

Hehe yep... It seems as if all of the new world civs are pretty aggressive... Light blue is not really much of a relief for me, light pink is, though! France is the best friend you can have in the game, or at least that's what I've found in my games... I often go out of my way to attack someone other than france to expand, even if france is my closest neighbor. Il y a un accord entre nous

- Windwalker

[kmill25]

The Germans. I can't stand Bismark. He is a warmongering fool! He always causes international incidents. One time had the nerve to declare war on me after I reduced him to one city, that was surrounded by my nation.

Foolish.

[belchingjester]

Originally posted by kmill25
The Germans. I can't stand Bismark. He is a warmongering fool! He always causes international incidents. One time had the nerve to declare war on me after I reduced him to one city, that was surrounded by my nation.

Foolish.

You've got to love when you accede to his demands for 17 gold (just b/c you don't feel like dealing with him attacking), and THEN he declares war. When I've played the Babylonians, however, he was attacking Bowmen with Archers. He lost. Triggered an early GA, but he was soon no more
-belchingjester