Tweet
Ok, since I started a thread on civ choice for early warmongering, I figured I'd go back to the other side of the spectrum and discuss civs from a builder perspective (which I happen to be better qualified for anyway). "Builder" style tends to be peaceful, although many builders play a hybrid style - some warmongering along with the building.
Again, I am assuming "culturally linked starting locations" is on. Obviously, this whole post carries the disclaimer: IMHO.
First, ranking of the traits, from a builder perspective:
#1) Religious. Cheap temples (right away) and Cathedrals, no anarchy. That's a lot of turns saved, both in gov't switching and building those improvements. Strong culture early helps with cultural defections, and makes ancient era culture bombing possible.
#2) Industrious. 2x worker speed, some extra shields in large cities. The double time workers really help expansion, which is much more important to the builder than the warmonger. The warmonger will take by force... the builder must beat the AI to the good city sites. You also start with masonry, which is a nice bonus.
#3) Scientific. Cheap libraries & universities, 1 free tech per age. I was torn between Ind & Sci for the 2 & 3 spots. This one is a solid builder trait too, and saves a lot of turns building those improvements, not to mention 12 turns minimum from research (3 techs x4 minimum each = 12). Bronze working means you can build spearmen right away... no biggie.
#4) Commercial. Lower corruption (not by much, in my experience) and extra gold in large towns/cities. Not a strong trait, really, but it can be useful, particularly if you have room to expand. EDIT: v. 1.29 has boosted this trait considerably. It could be argued that it challenges scientific for the #3 spot.
#5) Expansionistic. Scouts, nice huts. This can bump commercial from the #4 spot on maps larger than "normal." Free tech, settlers and gold is hard to argue with.
#6) Militaristic. We're talking "builder" here.
The Civs -
Babylon: Rel/Sci, neighbors Persia & Zululand. Well, the traits are awesome for the peaceful builder, particularly on smaller maps. The UU is nothing to write home about. Zululand could present problems, but they are fairly easy to placate. 'Ware the Impi! Oh, and the Immortal too. The key is managing to stave off attack until Chivalry. Grade: A
Persia: Sci/Ind, neighbors Babylon & Zululand. Good trait combo for building, although not being religious hurts a bit. Strong ancient era UU, can be used in a pinch until Gunpowder, after which it is largely useless. Zululand, as noted above, can be a serious nuisance (thank your lucky stars the AI is not Aeson), but placating them is usually not too hard. Also, if you do get attacked, you can throw Immortals at them. Babylon is little threat. Grade: B+
Zulu: Exp/Mil, neighbors Persia & Babylon. Pretty bad trait combo for the builder. UU is great for terrorizing the enemy early on, but doesn't help the builder all that much, though they upgrade all the way. Persia is a potential problem, due to the Immortals. Grade: F
Egypt: Rel/Ind, neighbors Greece & Rome. Great trait combo, especially on larger maps where the 2x worker speed really shines. UU offers cheap mobile defense early on, and is in the horse upgrade path. Rome can be a terror with those Legions, but is often very weak when played by the AI. Greece is often more of a problem, but once you're in the middle ages the playing field is even. Grade: A
Greece: Sci/Com, neighbors Rome & Egypt. Decent traits, strong defensive UU. Rome, as noted above, has a strong UU, but your hoplites (which eventually upgrade to Mech Inf.) can match them on defense. Egypt expands well, so they can eventually be more of a problem than Rome. Grade: B
Rome: Com/Mil, neighbors Greece & Egypt. Terrible traits for the builder. Strong UU in the ancient era... no upgrade path, though. Neither neighbor presents much of an early attack threat, but each can be problematic later in the game. Grade: F
England: Exp/Com, neighbors Germany, France, Russia. Terrible traits, unless playing a huge 'pelago map. UU is largely useless, except for the aforementioned huge island map. Germany presents a threat early, middle and late, so beware. France is largely peaceful... Russia is in between. Grade: D
France: Ind/Com, nieghbors Germany, England, Russia. Good traits, particularly on larger maps. Herr Bismarck is a problem, Lizzy can never be trusted, and Cathy is often ornery. And you wonder why French is the language of diplomacy? Oh, yeah, almost forgot about the UU... wonder why? Grade: B
Russia: Sci/Exp, neighbors Germany, England, France. Ok traits, better on larger maps. The English are usually weak, the French are usually peaceful (at least in the beginning), but Bismarck is very aggressive. Grade: C
Germany: Sci/Mil, neigbors England, France, Russia. So-so traits. English are normally weak but meddlesome, France solid but passive, Russia difficult. No militarists in the bunch, all have Middle Ages UU's, but none of them are anything special. Your UU comes late and is fantastic. Grade: C+
India: Rel/Com, neigbors China and Japan. Solid traits. The Japanese are militaristic and aggressive, so they are a concern. China, while militaristic, is fairly docile. Each has a very strong Medieval UU, while you have a knight that needs no resources. You'll love it if you lack iron and/or horses, but otherwise you may as well not have a UU. Grade: B-
Japan: Rel/Mil, neighbors China & India. So-so traits. Your neighbors are usually peaceful, though watch out for those Riders. Your UU is well-balanced and concurrent with your neigbors'. Grade: C
China: Ind/Mil, neighbors Japan & India. Poor traits. One peaceful neighbor, one aggressive one. Your Riders vs. Japan's Samurai = bloodbath, so avoid Medieval war with them. Grade: D+
America: Ind/Exp, neighbors Iroquois & Aztecs. Poor traits, though better on Huge maps. The Aztecs are a major concern early, but the threat lessens with time. They remain dangerous, though. The Iroquois are less aggresive, but can do much more damage if they come for you in ancient times. Beware both. Grade: C-
Aztecs: Rel/Mil, neighbors Iroquois & Americans. So-so traits. Both neighbors can be problematic. Abe can be quite aggresive, and the Iroquois have the Mounted Warrior. Your jags are a warmongers dream, but don't really help a builder. Grade: C
Iroquois: Rel/Exp, neighbors America & Aztecs. Ok traits, good on large or huge maps. Your UU is powerful, but ancient. If attacked, however, you can open a serious can of whoopass. The Aztecs are always a concern, and America can be even more troublesome. Watch your back. Grade: B-
Gather, discuss.
-Arrian
Again, I am assuming "culturally linked starting locations" is on. Obviously, this whole post carries the disclaimer: IMHO.
First, ranking of the traits, from a builder perspective:
#1) Religious. Cheap temples (right away) and Cathedrals, no anarchy. That's a lot of turns saved, both in gov't switching and building those improvements. Strong culture early helps with cultural defections, and makes ancient era culture bombing possible.
#2) Industrious. 2x worker speed, some extra shields in large cities. The double time workers really help expansion, which is much more important to the builder than the warmonger. The warmonger will take by force... the builder must beat the AI to the good city sites. You also start with masonry, which is a nice bonus.
#3) Scientific. Cheap libraries & universities, 1 free tech per age. I was torn between Ind & Sci for the 2 & 3 spots. This one is a solid builder trait too, and saves a lot of turns building those improvements, not to mention 12 turns minimum from research (3 techs x4 minimum each = 12). Bronze working means you can build spearmen right away... no biggie.
#4) Commercial. Lower corruption (not by much, in my experience) and extra gold in large towns/cities. Not a strong trait, really, but it can be useful, particularly if you have room to expand. EDIT: v. 1.29 has boosted this trait considerably. It could be argued that it challenges scientific for the #3 spot.
#5) Expansionistic. Scouts, nice huts. This can bump commercial from the #4 spot on maps larger than "normal." Free tech, settlers and gold is hard to argue with.
#6) Militaristic. We're talking "builder" here.
The Civs -
Babylon: Rel/Sci, neighbors Persia & Zululand. Well, the traits are awesome for the peaceful builder, particularly on smaller maps. The UU is nothing to write home about. Zululand could present problems, but they are fairly easy to placate. 'Ware the Impi! Oh, and the Immortal too. The key is managing to stave off attack until Chivalry. Grade: A
Persia: Sci/Ind, neighbors Babylon & Zululand. Good trait combo for building, although not being religious hurts a bit. Strong ancient era UU, can be used in a pinch until Gunpowder, after which it is largely useless. Zululand, as noted above, can be a serious nuisance (thank your lucky stars the AI is not Aeson), but placating them is usually not too hard. Also, if you do get attacked, you can throw Immortals at them. Babylon is little threat. Grade: B+
Zulu: Exp/Mil, neighbors Persia & Babylon. Pretty bad trait combo for the builder. UU is great for terrorizing the enemy early on, but doesn't help the builder all that much, though they upgrade all the way. Persia is a potential problem, due to the Immortals. Grade: F
Egypt: Rel/Ind, neighbors Greece & Rome. Great trait combo, especially on larger maps where the 2x worker speed really shines. UU offers cheap mobile defense early on, and is in the horse upgrade path. Rome can be a terror with those Legions, but is often very weak when played by the AI. Greece is often more of a problem, but once you're in the middle ages the playing field is even. Grade: A
Greece: Sci/Com, neighbors Rome & Egypt. Decent traits, strong defensive UU. Rome, as noted above, has a strong UU, but your hoplites (which eventually upgrade to Mech Inf.) can match them on defense. Egypt expands well, so they can eventually be more of a problem than Rome. Grade: B
Rome: Com/Mil, neighbors Greece & Egypt. Terrible traits for the builder. Strong UU in the ancient era... no upgrade path, though. Neither neighbor presents much of an early attack threat, but each can be problematic later in the game. Grade: F
England: Exp/Com, neighbors Germany, France, Russia. Terrible traits, unless playing a huge 'pelago map. UU is largely useless, except for the aforementioned huge island map. Germany presents a threat early, middle and late, so beware. France is largely peaceful... Russia is in between. Grade: D
France: Ind/Com, nieghbors Germany, England, Russia. Good traits, particularly on larger maps. Herr Bismarck is a problem, Lizzy can never be trusted, and Cathy is often ornery. And you wonder why French is the language of diplomacy? Oh, yeah, almost forgot about the UU... wonder why? Grade: B
Russia: Sci/Exp, neighbors Germany, England, France. Ok traits, better on larger maps. The English are usually weak, the French are usually peaceful (at least in the beginning), but Bismarck is very aggressive. Grade: C
Germany: Sci/Mil, neigbors England, France, Russia. So-so traits. English are normally weak but meddlesome, France solid but passive, Russia difficult. No militarists in the bunch, all have Middle Ages UU's, but none of them are anything special. Your UU comes late and is fantastic. Grade: C+
India: Rel/Com, neigbors China and Japan. Solid traits. The Japanese are militaristic and aggressive, so they are a concern. China, while militaristic, is fairly docile. Each has a very strong Medieval UU, while you have a knight that needs no resources. You'll love it if you lack iron and/or horses, but otherwise you may as well not have a UU. Grade: B-
Japan: Rel/Mil, neighbors China & India. So-so traits. Your neighbors are usually peaceful, though watch out for those Riders. Your UU is well-balanced and concurrent with your neigbors'. Grade: C
China: Ind/Mil, neighbors Japan & India. Poor traits. One peaceful neighbor, one aggressive one. Your Riders vs. Japan's Samurai = bloodbath, so avoid Medieval war with them. Grade: D+
America: Ind/Exp, neighbors Iroquois & Aztecs. Poor traits, though better on Huge maps. The Aztecs are a major concern early, but the threat lessens with time. They remain dangerous, though. The Iroquois are less aggresive, but can do much more damage if they come for you in ancient times. Beware both. Grade: C-
Aztecs: Rel/Mil, neighbors Iroquois & Americans. So-so traits. Both neighbors can be problematic. Abe can be quite aggresive, and the Iroquois have the Mounted Warrior. Your jags are a warmongers dream, but don't really help a builder. Grade: C
Iroquois: Rel/Exp, neighbors America & Aztecs. Ok traits, good on large or huge maps. Your UU is powerful, but ancient. If attacked, however, you can open a serious can of whoopass. The Aztecs are always a concern, and America can be even more troublesome. Watch your back. Grade: B-
Gather, discuss.
-Arrian
Comment