Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

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South Africa xhuggels
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Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by xhuggels »

Hey guys. so I used to play way back in 2008-9, and have been playing a game here and a game there once in a while, like maybe 15-20 games a year. I've decided that ill give this game one more serious shot, but im lost as to where to begin. I figured starting out learning just 2 or 3 civs is a good idea, as picking up all 14 is just too overwhelming to me, which is where i hit the brick wall.

Im pretty much set on French, as they are just overall well...the perfect civ. Great eco, awesome shipments and a very easy to understand one deck fits all set of cards, skrims, goons, musks, huss, great tanky cav in fortress, good upgrade cards, and vills that play a big part of the game winning fight half the time.

I also pretty much decided on India, as they have one of the largest rosters in the game, not to mention access to all troop types in colonial, and a fort you dont actually have to spend a card on. They are also very versatile in the stuff they are good at, as they can rush, play colonial, have great shipment pops in fortress and and the list goes on.

That is where my likes stop, as most other civs have stuff i really hate. Brits cant kite with skrims, dutch are too predictable, ports need too much time to setup, ottos are too TP reliant, Russian units are weak and spammable, which against artillery or cav just means weak, i dont like WC civs, and i know literally nothing about china.

The only ones that remain are Germans and Japan.
Japanese have strong troops and amazing upgrades, but their roster is somewhat limited, and on low hunt maps they can have problems, however flaming arrows are pretty much my favorite thing in the game.

Germans dont have goons(WW are more like howdah to be honest, they dont play like goons do), they also dont have a musk unit or a 2 cannon shipment, however their merc shipments are amazing and black riders more than make up for the lack of goons when it counts. Their shipments in general are amazing to be honest, but they are very gold dependent.

im just not sure which of these two would be better, and is it worth skipping both to learn china from scratch instead?
as a player im not a fan of games that last longer than 30 minutes, and so i am not one to just sit back and wait for my opponent to come hit me, no kynesie as it were. i also dont really enjoy doing the same thing over and over again, i like having my options open to change things up a bit, in a viable way of course.

Any insight would be welcome, as i may have missed a lot on many of the civs. Thanks!
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by Gendarme »

What's your PR? I don't think you need to focus on more civs. Focus on one civ and you'll automatically learn about the other civs as you play against them, and you'll eventually develop interest enough for some of them to begin playing them as well. France is a great civ to start with. In terms of versatility India is great too, but they are a lot more difficult to play than France so keep that in mind.
Pay more attention to detail.
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by pecelot »

Hm, that's a literal definition of a „/thread" response :D

You seem to get discouraged by pretty trivial issues. Longbowmen, for instance, can't kite, you're right, but with their awesome range it's rather unnecessary, especially in the Fortress Age with the Yeomen card. The British in general are quite versatile, as they have many options in the Colonial Age with top-tier units, eco boom and possible third-age agenda. Portuguese may need some time to set up, but once they're done and you've defended yourself well enough they excel with a high number of settlers and rather-powerful army in Fortress. Russia has a lot of ways to be played, too, as you can opt for either immediate aggression, timed pressure or even tech race to still get decent military potential in later stages of the game. You skipped Spain — apart from their strong FF, of which there are many variations, you can surprise your enemy with a Colonial build, like quick xbow+pike spam.
The Japanese are actually one of the best picks on low-hunt maps, as far as I'm concerned, as they're less hunt-dependant than others and it doesn't distract their regular build order that much, especially if it's a water map. The Germans, on the other hand, don't really need war wagons or musketeers, as they have uhlans with blackriders or doppelsoldners, respectively, making their composition strong on its own.

Overall, I'd say that you shouldn't necessarily be daunted of trying out old-new stuff, as you can quickly realise your initial prejudices were wrong. That said, France is a pretty good starter, as mentioned above, whereas India has a lot of things to pick from, as you rightfully pointed out. I'd say you could then move to the British; the Portuguese kind of play out somewhat similarly to the French, and by that time you will be familiarised with the FF agenda — then you can move on to the Spanish, and so on. :smile:
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by NyxAchlys9 »

French are a very versatile civ with many strategies, for instance a solid bow/pike rush or perhaps a semi-ff. It is however quite an easy civilisation to play and much easier to learn.

I think that you seem to be afraid to explore options that you have just not worked on before. Even though you have mentioned some weak points about certain civilisations I fear you have underrated them. The Portugese, for instance, if played well can have a very solid rush and can beat almost any civilisation if they are unprepared. Russian units, whilst being relatively weak to their counterparts are also cheap and still useful for what they do. The classic Russian "5, 4, 13" strategy is still powerful and will allow you to win many games.

What I think you should do is just try out a new civ each time you play - and read about them beforehand in the strategy guide :!:. This should allow you to find the basics of each civ and figure out which one you like best. Each civ can be played a different way and appeal to different types of players. Take your time and see which one is right for you - but remember to read up on them to explore their versatile options :flowers:
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by momuuu »

The best civ to start with is the civ that tickles your mind, the civ that makes you wonder how each and every scenario should be handled, the civ that challenges you, that intrigues you. Because getting better happens then you play something that you enjoy and when you're driving by the desire to solve a civ.
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by Asateo »

Jerom wrote:The best civ to start with is the civ that tickles your mind, the civ that makes you wonder how each and every scenario should be handled, the civ that challenges you, that intrigues you. Because getting better happens then you play something that you enjoy and when you're driving by the desire to solve a civ.


He means India. :love: ;)

No seriously. That's only what I like...


Play whatever civ you like best (exept otto, you'll learn nothing :dry:). They all have their strengths.
To see a world in a grain of saind, A heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of you hand, And eternity in an hour
- William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by pecelot »

NyxAchlys9 wrote:French are a very versatile civ with many strategies, for instance a solid bow/pike rush or perhaps a semi-ff

It should be swapped: perhaps a bow/pike rush or a solid semi-ff :!:

Jerom wrote:The best civ to start with is the civ that tickles your mind, the civ that makes you wonder how each and every scenario should be handled, the civ that challenges you, that intrigues you. Because getting better happens then you play something that you enjoy and when you're driving by the desire to solve a civ.

I mean, sure, but the guy most likely seeks for direct tips what such civs are :D
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by aligator92 »

xhuggels wrote:... so i am not one to just sit back and wait for my opponent to come hit me, no kynesie as it were. i also dont really enjoy doing the same thing over and over again, i like having my options open to change things up a bit, in a viable way of course.


This kinda rules out both jap and ger I am afraid
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by NyxAchlys9 »

pecelot wrote:
NyxAchlys9 wrote:French are a very versatile civ with many strategies, for instance a solid bow/pike rush or perhaps a semi-ff

It should be swapped: perhaps a bow/pike rush or a solid semi-ff :!:


Let's agree to disagree :!:
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Poland pecelot
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by pecelot »

No, it's not the way to go!
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by deleted_user »

Japan is one of the more one dimensional civs in the game. Germany on RE are borderline OP despite not having a true goon unit. Not a bad pick there. Brits are strong but can suffer hard on low hunt maps like most of RE qs maps. Longbows are one of the more frustrating units in the game. Not bad, just frustrating.

I disagree with pecelot. You pretty much listed bad civs and said why they were bad and you were generally correct. There's nothing wrong with wanting to play strong civs (just don't play op civs like iro/otto).

You should learn China though. Super fun civ with a few options and tricks up their sleeve.

Mostly just play to have fun. The largest factor in your ability to win games will be your mechanical skill and theoretical game understanding (i.e. timings). As you play more these will increase too.
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by pecelot »

Bad civs? It's very subjective, for one, may be irrelevant at the author's level, and is actually pretty opposite on EP.
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by deleted_user »

Assuming RE here.

Obviously civ tiers change based on patch >.>
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by pecelot »

Right, but do you really think civs matter at that point? It's about perspective, not their weaknesses >_________________>
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by deleted_user »

pecelot wrote:Right, but do you really think civs matter at that point? It's about perspective, not their weaknesses >_________________>

Which is why at the end I said the most important aspects of ones ability to win games is not their civ but their knowledge of the game and ability to consistently practice.
>_____________________________________________>
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by purplesquid »

Going right from your post I would recommend Germans. A 5 (really 9 with the shipments) uhlan semi-ff works in almost every matchup so a great civ to practice just one build and really nail it. Also a strong civ overall. . .
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by pecelot »

deleted_user wrote:
pecelot wrote:Right, but do you really think civs matter at that point? It's about perspective, not their weaknesses >_________________>

Which is why at the end I said the most important aspects of ones ability to win games is not their civ but their knowledge of the game and ability to consistently practice.
>_____________________________________________>

Which is why, in turn, you initially gave it to me straight that I picked bad civs.
[spoiler=spoiler]>_>[/spoiler]
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by deleted_user »

I concede, I concede!
>.<
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Re: Old player coming back to play. Which civs to start with?

Post by pecelot »

No problem — it's very nice of you to have a nice discussion! :smile:

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