The Most Playable Civ Has To Be...

[SlowwHand]

...the Indians.
Yep, that's right. Indians.
Why? I almost liked Japan, then thought China skipping Chivalry might be cool, or maybe even Persia or Romans; but it boils down to no resources required for War Elephants.
I've had it up to here (ok you can't see, but my hand is held up to my eyes) of taking the Japanese, for instance, and then having no iron.
Have hills out the keester. Tough. Too bad. Out of luck.
Illustrates, again, the real-world, as in Mideast oil.

So are we agreed then? Indians ?

[Jaybe]

AZTEC, as in Montezuma.

OTOH, there is so much dependent on your environmental situation (as in Jungle, or LUXURIES), that I rarely play favorites and just set to random.

[Theseus]

Egypt... forget the UU. Rel+Ind provides flexibility for just about any situation, which Jaybe points out.

[FrustratedPoet]

I think the most playable is Egypt, for the reasons Theseus said.

Industrious allows you more freedom to change terrain and Religious lets you build cheap temples and change government more often to suit your situation.

[Jon Shafer]

While it's not my favorite... I'd have to agree with these guys, Egypt.

[Jaybe]

Uh, AHEM! That's Rel+Mil, Theseus.
Actually, if it's got religious, I don't care who it is. Otherwise I get a little anxious about not having the flexibility to switch govs.

[notyoueither]

Rome. Legions. Kill the nearest b*stard who has iron. Problem solved.

[King_Xerces]

Persia is obviously the Best.

Scientific and Industrious. Everybody needs the industrious trait to get ahead of the competitions fast, and Scientific gives you things like Universitites and Libraries at reduced prices. Plus free tech at each new era. With those attributes, I never fall behind the tech race! Perfect for a space victory.

[Theseus]

Jaybe, whaddya mean? Egypt is Rel+Ind.

Are you Arrian in disguise, making a pitch for Japan?

Persia is tempting, I agree. Indomitable UU, and Sci+Ind is nearly as good. I haven't gotten the hang of happiness without Temples yet (esp. as a warmonger), so, as much as I love cheap Libraries and Universities, I've still gotta stick with Egypt for the overall flexibility.

[Thrawn05]

Well, I am a Roman supporter, but my playing style would be best suited if I play as the babs.


As for the Indians, their UU is only good if you don't have any iron, which is rare for me at that stage of the game. If you start a game and find an iron right beside your capital, then you got cheated, except for having a cool looking unit. I should sit down with my edited senario and give that UU an extra something point to give it some value other then not needing Iron.

[Verto]

My heavily biased opinion? Germans!

Persia is probably as good, or even better, but my bias remains.

[Thrawn05]

Originally posted by Verto
My heavily biased opinion? Germans!

What I like to do, is kiss up to bismark then when he gets his panzers in production, I get him into a war with me against someone else.

I get the best of both world, a great Early UU and a great Late UU.

[Theseus]

Nice.

[Verto]

Remind me to never play with you in PtW ya moocher!

[The Pioneer]

I never played the Egyptians in Civ 3. But I will give it a try my favorite Civ is of course my Greek and the Chinese.