Civilization 5 - Filthy's Civilization Tier Guide 2.0

[@FilthyRobot]

KZbin requires that to add chapters to the video playback you need the timestamps in sequential order. I've edited that in the description but figured some of you might want to still be able to search by topic, so here are the civilizations in alphabetical order with timestamps as well. America 3:39:35 Arabia 1:59:26 Assyria 0:12:34 Austria 2:28:44 Aztec 2:33:49 Babylon 2:39:25 Brazil 2:59:37 Byzantium 3:34:27 Carthage 0:52:37 Celts 0:34:33 China 3:58:04 Denmark 1:52:32 Egypt 3:06:59 England 0:59:45 Ethiopia 1:46:19 France 2:36:25 Germany 0:28:00 Greece 0:08:03 Huns 0:20:36 Inca 2:55:10 India 1:19:31 Indonesia 1:10:17 Intro 0:00 Iroquois 2:06:54 Japan 2:43:23 Korea 3:14:04 Maya 2:50:53 Mongolia 1:25:29 Morocco 0:04:54 Netherlands 3:49:44 Ottomans 3:24:37 Outro 4:01:18 Persia 0:49:01 Poland 0:38:31 Polynesia 2:18:59 Portugal 2:23:07 Rome 0:24:57 Russia 0:44:20 Shoshone 3:03:53 Siam 3:09:57 Songhai 0:18:01 Spain 2:14:17 Sweden 1:34:20 Venice 1:07:59 Zulu 3:18:18

[@niallmcdonald7774]

Thanks

[@noosan_]

please play civ 5 lekmod

[@FilthyRobot]

@@noosan_ Negative

[@noosan_]

@@FilthyRobot why :( ur civ content was the best

[@thenazzarow5789]

Thanks for staying active around here. Always loved your civ content, and will always enjoy it!

[@SkullMaster1993]

"You cant defend against Camel Archers because cities cant run" -Filthy 2015

[@SoulerVids]

+SkullMaster1993 Maybe some day we'll have a pirate civ with a mobile capital.

[@lucrayon4182]

+SoulerVids would have been a great idea for beyond earth

[@SkullMaster1993]

+SoulerVids And that's how you started playing Endless Legend ;)

[@Deledi2000]

SkullMaster1993 Roving Clans FTW

[@felipewerner6670]

endless legend is amazing, civ 5 too, i love the heroes 3 too, very good games indeed.

[@Umamaahoe]

-getting ready to play civ 5 -what civ to choose? -watches 4 hours of a whole detailed tier list on every civ in the game

[@nitpicker9406]

Venice: A broken piece of shit in single player, but just a piece of shit in multiplayer.

[@genestarwind928]

+Nit Picker Wouldn't a broken piece of shit be worse?

[@famguy2101]

+Gene Starwind In single player it's brokenly good

[@genestarwind928]

famguy 210 Every damn time I play venice the other civilizations aren't close enough to trade with.

[@Trinity0809]

i think you should prefer to trade with city states anyway. an island map is of benefit for that. i had a single player game as venice, got koloss and petra(trashed the caravan since i was on an island alone). i had 20 trade routes in the endgame, there were not enough city stated for that many :( it was pretty fun to play. with the tier3 freedom thing i won diplomatic w/o much afford. well, patronage did a thing or two too

[@x1g5dj7dh4]

I just won a singleplayer game as Venice, and you definitely need to build caravansaries and seaports to extend trade range.

[@cameron8019]

One day I will finish this video and then I will be the master of Civ 5

[@cameron8019]

Ok finished it, great vid!

[@emiljorgensen5340]

This comment is so fun to me, I have watched this and all his other guides 4-5 times, still not a civ 5 master

[@cinderknight7297]

you've han't watched it hard enough.

[@brandonwong8169]

Emil Jörgensen watch it in deity thank me later haha

[@tombriscoe9023]

Cameron lmv

[@Romergreg17]

Dude had no idea when he ended the video and took off his headset after talking for four straight hours that he'd made the most popular video of his life 😅

[@ofuck6537]

4 hours vid, 2 ads 10 Minutes, 4 ads in a Dude Perfect video wat

[@MrDanno2]

please don't or turn them on for some channels. For channels you like turn off ADblock as it helps your favorite youtubers. something tells me you know this already.

[@wobbenbuffet3286]

Adblock blocks everything tho

[@MrDanno2]

Wobben Buffet i just have it turned off for youtube but to each his own

[@infintittie]

eh, my time isnt worth the extra buck they get from me having it enabled

[@funnyjuk]

Yes the WAT is a good building

[@nicholaschan4481]

It takes massive confidence and patience to film a 4 hour video explaining stuff in one sitting, and I saw no editing. You could be a Civ 5 professor, and a good one.

[@druidcitycomic5426]

Favorite part of the video was the sunlight going out over the course of the whole thing.

[@FilthyRobot]

+DruidCityComic It was a monster!

[@razhmazh]

1:23:00 - "I'm gonna put some elephants down your throat, and you're not gonna like that" - FilthyRobot, 2015.

[@cainballer9745]

Yeah, he said exactly that

[@cainballer9745]

@@razhmazh wdym

[@holdthemayo7836]

Filthy is tier 1.

[@PerfectAlibi1]

Filthy isn't a Civ... XD Any Civ Filthy plays as is instantly bumped up two tiers and sometimes even up to 4 tiers (see his Venice game). ^^

[@CarlosValenzuela-sx9xb]

+Radicaldanny no filthy is tier 0!!

[@PerfectAlibi1]

Carlos Valenzuela That doesn't even make sense! :\

[@CarlosValenzuela-sx9xb]

:P

[@ratcomedy]

+Radicaldanny hi I'm Radicaldanny welcome to the no fun zone

[@leeshepherd834]

Years later the value of your videos can not be understated. 1500 hours under my belt and this was incredibly enlightening to no end

[@FilthyRobot]

Thanks!

[@mojus2890]

@@FilthyRobot I affirm his sentiments.

[@plasmawolf55]

I have 3,500 hours in singleplayer and find myself watching all of these guides and even a few of the full games to prepare. I am looking forward to going into it with some outside knowledge and theory to back me up.

[@InterloperBob]

A sneaky bonus England has in multiplayer - you don't need to use a spy to defend your capital because no one in there right mind tries to steal from England, since you're the most likely to be able to defend it.

[@jamesperryii9994]

I see your point, but it may still be safe to just keep one. I feel like it may be too risky.

[@bmxguy418]

Didnt you get bored of looking at the select a civ screen for 4 hours?

[@ashra8281]

It's his kink

[@famguy2101]

Venice is hilarious, because it goes from being one of the most OP civs in single player (especially if you play on Archipelago or tiny islands) to garbage tier. in multiplayer the AI doesn't ever really mess with trade routes, so late game when you've bought 5-6 city states you can use your extra trade routes to feed population growth to venice itself and bring it to 45+ pop

[@doncorleole2356]

You also can make about 1000 gold per turn in single player and buy the most ridiculous of navys

[@trequor]

@@doncorleole2356 Not to mention that those city state gifted units really stack up by the late game

[@doncorleole2356]

@@trequor true, I once exceeded my supply limit (I didn’t even know something like that existed up until then)

[@trequor]

@@doncorleole2356 Haha nothing funnier than getting "Attila is Afraid of You" messages as Venice because your military score is so high haha

[@DiscusvissenRocken]

Ai players might not care about trade routes... barbs however love them, especially sea trade routes

[@moepskie]

Over 4 hours of explanation IN A ROW! Respect man! I've watched the entire video (but 1 hour each day instead of 4 hours straight :p) and I must say it has helped me out a lot. Not only because I know more about pros and cons about the civs now but also because of several tricks you have talked about during this video. Great job man, I love CIV5 and your videos/stream made me love CIV5 even more as you have taught me even more about the game :) Keep it up!!!

[@UnaGoblin]

+moepskie I love how it gets gradualy darker in the room as the video progresses ;)

[@michaelblankenship1434]

+Kråka I was just about to comment that, this is a real display of true passion

[@moepskie]

+Kråka Lol! True, didn't notice that until I compared the start of the vid with the end xD

[@santiperezhernando4568]

Michael Blankenship f

[@adamgrannell9187]

moepskie i

[@ericshaw6876]

Filthy should be a dev for civilization 6 xD

[@DawidDVD]

or a member of their Q&A team

[@ggcpres]

note: if you have fun playing tier 4-6 civs keep doing so. as long as there is no irl money on the line its all about having fun.

[@mateistoian726]

Ggcpres Winning could also be considered fun

[@ameliafrancks2198]

Matthew Batthew ur mom is also considered fun

[@TheFilipFonky]

Being irrelevant in a 6-player game is not fun at all, stop with this mentality

[@nartin9]

No don't play tier 6 civs in multiplayer unless you are better then the people you play against and just want to have fun

[@nicx6139]

Ggcpres I don’t like me for many reasons that is one of them.

[@flyingsnail6079]

Filthyrobot=The Purge of Civilization 5

[@renanSRSC]

+John Smith they are both like teachers to us all, even veteran players, because they pay attention to a lot of details that i just don't give a fuck.

[@flyingsnail6079]

Renan Agreed.

[@jettiz3703]

Filthyrobot: the B4nny of Civ5

[@HDLumix]

+John Smith Exactly what i was thinking at the very first video i watched from him ^^ I finally move out from Dota2 for something else, and for now it's Civ 5 !

[@xYAFusRoMamaYAx]

+Jett TheDoctor the master of the meta b4nny in tf2 Filthy in Civ5

[@erich3892]

Spent a lot of time making this video and you spoke very well. Thanks for that, you dont see this kind of stuff on youtube anymore

[@FilthyRobot]

Well, when I tackle another project of this size (civ6, perhaps for NQ mod in civ 5), it'll be a playlist with a few civs per video. I was still very new to KZbin when I first released this. Glad you enjoyed!

[@PieInTheSky9]

The full video with the timestamp is great though

[@General12th]

+Da Homie "Anymore"? Did there used to be a golden age of KZbin when creators poured hundreds of hours into their craft -- and did it just because they enjoyed it?

[@amrathpaul2966]

J.J. Shank less commercialisation not sure about effort though

[@BallIsLifeYouKnow]

Of course sips would pick Venice.

[@ferno9979]

Ikr

[@MattDawgGaming]

I still come back to this sometimes just cause I like listening to an expert talk about something they have expertise in

[@renterain8138]

They should make a challenge where everyone has to play as Venice and there are no City-States. See how that pans out.

[@lol70721]

+The Audiosurfer so...one city challange than? lol

[@renterain8138]

lol70721 Sort of but without the advantages some nations have.

[@sizzle5775]

The Audiosurfer Free great Merchant at optics?

[@erenparla3869]

no city states

[@ertridj]

Imagine if it was domination victory only.

[@mitchbluntsworth5942]

Day 3: He has reached the Ottomans. The journey has been long and difficult, but the end is in sight. Great video, very informative. SeemsGood

[@chedsalvia6270]

Iroquois - "Whenever I play him I wish I was Venice, because as Venice I can demand a restart." loool

[@somberbrandon3147]

•√• Venice is secretly god tier

[@F1fan4eva]

Proceeds to destroy yogscast and quill18 with iroquois

[@danielgally6389]

Bro really talked passionately for over 4 hours about civ 5. ...And i listened to the whole thing

[@nn6404]

It's crazy how the iroquois could have been tweaked to be a much better civ and they never even bothered to touch it over the two EP's. They could have just applied the Inca hill upgrades to forests and turned the longhouse into a unique lumber mill replacement and it would be a tier two civ easy.

[@randolphvanhook5829]

I feel like the Pathfinder unit the Shoshone have was meant to be an Iroquois. That alone would make them playable at least.

[@misspurdy27288]

@@randolphvanhook5829 It would give them a nice earlygame, but the mere existence of the longhouse losing the % bonus, by itself, is what makes them extremely bad. Everything else is decent, even just giving that back to them would put them up to T4 imo

[@Rsge14]

Spain is even more insane if you get the _One with Nature_ Pantheon (+4 Faith from Natural Wonders), as *it's Faith gets doubled,* too. The *same* goes true *for* _Natural Heritage Sites'_ *+5 Culture.* So while e.g. the Great Barrier Reef is not that good for other Civs, for Spain with OwN Pantheon and NHS decision in action it's 2 Tiles with 4 Food, 2 Production, 2 Gold, 4 Science, 8 Faith and 10 Culture each. If that is your first (or second) expand, then good night for everyone else 😇 (Yeah I know this vid's 5 years old, idc, maybe this is useful for someone, still 🤷‍♂️)

[@ilya1421]

+

[@rreddzen2825]

+1

[@nickb1762]

+1🌕

[@kylejameshastings6507]

Also, sometimes fish or other sea resources spawn on the great barrier reef, which makes it even more insane as your spain ability doubles it

[@cleasioul3003]

I really hope you know how much of a legend you are to the civ community

[@infintittie]

This shit took me days to watch

[@Boxsteam]

ikr

[@anridelon1648]

Indeed, and still watching from time to time for specific civs

[@applemauzel]

I marathon'd it.

[@knighttiger2117]

Noob, I did it in one go.

[@matthewsayer3364]

Yeah, but then I always want to restart my games to make good my mistakes :/

[@kevintyler24711]

Venice had a better chance of winning when it was a cs in gods and kings xD

[@edwardkostreski6733]

I like how you said that minutemen can be used more heavily as a desperation thing, I thought how appropriate based on historical info.

[@goomymaster6417]

Have I just stumbled on the Smogon of Civ 5? O_o

[@LoganMartinsChannel]

You have no idea.

[@OJT2k]

competitive pokemon

[@Zeriel00]

Basically ruined the game because there are 700 Pokemons and everyone runs the same 20 "top tier" ones

[@OJT2k]

No it split pokemon into tiers so your all your favourites are still viable in different meta games

[@ameyasingh3652]

+Nepu-Tech USA without smogon have fun constantly playing mega kanghaskan every match you play

[@EDMmemories]

Good stuff, your channel is criminally undersubbed considering the quality and effort you put into vidsl ike this

[@decatherinated5609]

I love how you can see the room slowly get darker and darker as time goes on.

[@LoganMartinsChannel]

Absolutely fantastic video. I cannot thank you enough for this. Well done!!

[@lucrayon4182]

I'm watching this for 40 minutes now and just realized it's a 4 hours video...well its midnight atm so I will finish watching this at 3 am just like I play Civ V on other days.

[@FilthyRobot]

+Lukas Netzker That's the spirit!

[@Vincrand]

Another benefit from the Chu-Ko-Nu attacking twice is that you'll get other upgrades faster.

[@NathanRuzzock]

What a star. Thank you so much. Just bought Civ V - after being a fan of Civ II for decades - and struggling to get my head around all the complexities. Your videos are astonishingly thorough and you present them with real skill.

[@FilthyRobot]

+NathanRuzzock Thanks for the kind words, I hope you enjoy the game, I think it is fantastic!

[@Ellendiel]

I have seriously come back to this video a dozen or more times to give me general impressions before picking civs, or when evaluating opponents in my strategies. Hugely valuable resource -- thanks for the great work Filthy.

[@kryticalhits7385]

Intro 0:00 America 3:39:35 Arabia 1:59:26 Assyria 12:34 Austria 2:28:44 Aztec 2:33:49 Babylon 2:39:25 Brazil 2:59:37 Byzantium 3:34:27 Carthage 52:37 Celts 34:33 China 3:58:04 Denmark 1:52:32 Egypt 3:06:59 England 59:45 Ethiopia 1:46:19 France 2:36:25 Germany 28:00 Greece 8:03 Huns 20:36 Inca 2:55:10 India 1:19:31 Indonesia 1:10:17 Iroquois 2:06:54 Japan 2:43:23 Korea 3:14:04 Maya 2:50:53 Mongolia 1:25:29 Morocco 4:54 Netherlands 3:49:44 Ottomans 3:24:37 Persia 49:01 Poland 38:31 Polynesia 2:18:59 Portugal 2:23:07 Rome 24:57 Russia 44:20 Shoshone 3:03:53 Siam 3:09:57 Songhai 18:01 Spain 2:14:17 Sweden 1:34:20 Venice 1:07:59 Zulu 3:18:18 Outro 4:01:18

[@EllenRipley1979]

I love you for marking the different places for each nation, thank you!

[@FilthyRobot]

+*\\ ALIEN //* Good! It's supposed to be an easy reference guide!

[@FilthyRobot]

Tom Do No, not really.

[@HieronymousLex]

@@simplytom1213 that's pretty much meaningless in the grand scheme of the game compared to bonuses to things like food, science, production, or any other resource. I personally enjoy playing some of the lower tier civs, especially in single player. there's no shame in it

[@johnlaider7747]

You articulated everything wonderfully... I learned more in 4 hrs then I did in 300 hrs of playing against the ai. Thanks for the vids!

[@ffdragonknightplays9472]

Thank God for someone who actually knows what they are talking about and for taking clearly so much time and effort to make a cohesive Civ 5 tier list. I swear every other video on this is some edgy teen who just picks their favorite civ and calls it even. I really appreciate the video man.

[@irvinbautista6010]

Hey Filthy, just started playing Civ5 (played Civ4 in my childhood) and just discovered your channel about a month ago. I must say, you offer the videos with the best insights and analysis out there. I highly appreciate you man, especially as a beginner who's just starting out. I see the all the expertise and dedication poured into these videos Not everyone may remember you and your channel, but we in the Civ5 community surely will forever, Legend.

[@Pastshelfdate]

Hi, again, FR, I was able to follow your directions to your Twitch page, and down to yur files section, and on to your Google Drive. I was able to add your public Civ 5 and X-Com guides to my own drive. That's something of a minor miracle for me, as I didn't grow up with computers. I gained experience points in real life! Thanks!

[@FilthyRobot]

Glad to hear!

[@TheMarkODonohue]

You know it's a long video when you're in natural light at the start of the video and slowly descend into darkness. Great video, well worth the 4 hours, I learned a lot. Cheers mate!

[@sleong]

awesome analysis. Civ 5 is probably the most complex and complicated game I've ever played, particularly multiplayer.

[@FilthyRobot]

+Scott Leong I love it for that exact reason!

[@sleong]

+FilthyRobot woooo! I've played about 250 hours, thinking of getting into No Quitters multiplayer. I should probably play the single player mode more though, still can only beat king difficulty. I'm bad, I build catapults, warriors, and just automate workers in mid-late game because I get bored having to give them orders.

[@FilthyRobot]

Scott Leong Jumping in and losing is going to help you learn the quickest. Some SP skill translates to MP, but lots of Mp stuff needs to be learned either the hard way or through guide/let's play videos! If you have the time and interest, I'd suggest joining the NQ group and diving in!

[@sleong]

+FilthyRobot ok I'll look into it. Btw Greece sounded like it almost made tier 1. I just played a Greece game and allied all dem City-States

[@AfrikaTUN]

Try playing hearts of iron 3. Your head will explode of how much complicated it is.

[@DBXNaato]

i still come back to this video every year or so to help refresh my gameplay

[@lemurator637]

On Songhai, 20:15, his mud pyramid can also be stacked with temple anhancer belfies. So you can have a mud pyramid with 4+ culture, 2+ faith and 2+ happines.

[@mamanoodler]

Just sayin Morocco, Desert Folklore, Petra and Kasbah is pretty good usually :D

[@fernandoreyesjr.5911]

Yes, but those are so extremely situational that it doesn't warrant picking them normally. I've knocked heads with Morocco, though.

[@TREK5900cheats]

Civ 5 is just special man

[@Mintcar923]

Still can’t decide what the GOAT game is Civ 4 or 5

[@JonatasAdoM]

this may be the first video I find on youtube this long that isn't a music being replayed for 10 hours. I thought this video was a compilation with all major civs themes and I was already going to comment that finally I would not need to use a playlist.

[@AgentClank]

I thought the idea with Rome was to buy important buildings immediately for the free production.

[@FilthyRobot]

SecretAgentC1ank It's rarely possible to hard buy buildings in multiplayer, doubly so in the early game.

[@shadowmoses2737]

+FilthyRobot Why not? What's the ideal use of gold?

[@FilthyRobot]

Michael Voloshin You just don't have that quantity of gold in MP. There's no AI to sell lux, iron, and horses to.

[@shadowmoses2737]

+FilthyRobot So is taking exploration and commerce not worth it in MP?

[@LordIvor6]

+Michael Voloshin It is depending on the situation, remember even though it's best not to/can't hard buy buildings (much better spent on City States imo) you will still need a decent income to manage building/unit maintenance. Exploration is really meh, while just opening Commerce is fine imo.

[@GrandOperational]

+FilthyRobot Incredible guide, as a new player to civ this is the most quick and dirty yet comprehensively knowledgeable guide I could ask for. Subscribed and devouring more of your content sir.

[@Bizud]

Great video, thanks for this. I think you have underrated the Iroquois though. Swordsmen that don't require Iron are very cool, and you'll be teching that way anyway to get the longhouse which is also better than you give it credit for. Especially if you go liberty and have many cities with a few forests the +1 hammer per forest ends up being many more hammers than the percentage bonus would give, at least for a very good chunk of the game, and it comes fairly early. I definitely have not played 3300 hours though. Also as Byzantium I almost always take Defender of the Faith with the bonus belief (even though Byzantium already is great defensively - Cataphracts can indeed fortify and you can stack an archer and a dromon on each city) but you can do lots of other cool things like Religious Texts and Itinerant Preachers, or World Church and Tithe, etc. In general I don't like the idea of taking a follower belief with the bonus, when founder and enhancer beliefs are potentially stronger and only benefit you rather than the civs you spread your religion to. After all you already get two follower beliefs, but nobody else can get two enhancers.

[@FilthyRobot]

Bizud Liberty Iroquois is an interesting idea. Perhaps we'll try it at some point.

[@notsoginger]

FilthyRobot This is one thing to keep in mind. Filthy's guides are biased to the way he typically plays i.e. tall/tradition and avoid military when possible. This is fine if you look at Civ as just trying to stay relevant and going for a late game win. But the Civs UAs are designed to give more varied strategies (albeit predominately singleplayer) and each have their own play styles.

[@Kater123bln]

I agree. Try playing single city games with venice or some lower rated civs on an small islands map and the situation changes completely or how about a terra map and starting as polynesia? Use less citystates and greece is irrelevant or use more cs and siam or mongolia are a real threat! The settings are more important than then anything else, but they are often never changed because the proplayer feel uncomfortible if they cannot use their knowledge for an automatic win anymore.

[@ghostlightx9005]

Kevin Donnelly Also he is mostly playing 6 player real time FFA, fast pace, on Pangea maps, with a whole bunch of basic stuff (like Scholars in Residence!!!) banned - which eliminates a whole bunch of basic FFA tactics - and also Strategic bias on, which taken all together, is a pretty unusual setup imo, forcing everyone to military/pure science; so he is woefully (and deliberately) over- and under-estimating certain Civs.

[@corvusmacgovern9930]

Gary Bradley Okay, which Civs is he underestimating, and what set-up do you think would be more appropriate? Also, do you personally play competitive multiplayer Civ 5, and if so, what settings do you personally use?

[@___.51]

When speaking about Sweden you said that it is almost impossible for your great generals to keep up with the Hakkapeliita. One of this unit's bonuses is that if a great general begins a turn stacked with a Hakkapeliita, the lancer's movement is transferred to that great general, meaning it can always keep pace. It is actually incredibly easy to take advantage of the improved general bonus because of this, and is hardly useless. That said, the lancer class of units is still largely unhelpful in most situations.

[@nickc4063]

This has to be the worlds most watch KZbin video that is longer than 4 hours

[@nakanoyuko]

not even close but its goated!

[@ASexyGeek]

Excellent, in-depth video. Had to watch in two parts but very useful - thanks for making this and no-doubt ageing your throat by about 20 years! This guide plus the Wonder tier list, Early Game, Religion guide and a few others have really improved my game play and enjoyment dramatically. I have a few "filthy casual" friends that also like to play Civ V, and I want them to improve as well, have you ever planned to do smaller, bite-sized guides for the more attention challenged amongst us? Unfortunately my usual "Here check out this FIlthy Robot Guide" is often greeted with "Four hours? F*ck off". I would make my own but I lack your majestic beard which confers a sense of wisdom and knowledge that baby-faced people simply cannot pull off. Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge with everyone.

[@FilthyRobot]

Maybe I'll see if the fans are interested in a very short "noob guide" guides that are less in depth and more prescriptive.

[@WinteryApple7]

FilthyRobot I wouldn't mind seeing something like that, I like to play on the normal difficulty on sp and usually struggle with my happiness.... I'm not very good at the game xD

[@andreastom1755]

FilthyRobot Definately! I can only play as one civ (babylon) using the great library rush on prince. :|

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

i like playing single player so i can in a way just role play and create my own scenarios in my head without having to worry about human players just rushing to victory. yes i am casual no die player here. my preferred factions are England and Rome.

[@jfkgoodfren216]

Good shit man. You really have done the research and have all the data nearby to prove or enhance your points. Nice work.

[@SandroSegadora]

I know it's a bit late, but you forgot to mention that Mandekalu Cavalry (Songhai Knights) don't have a penalty when attacking cities.

[@EZNOOB6969]

They actually have a bonus.

[@daybreakhascome]

I can't believe you just lectured me for four entire hours without stopping.

[@Seamy18]

Found this from PKA. Watched the whole thing, great video.

[@xYAFusRoMamaYAx]

+Seamy18 What's PKA?

[@FREEZE11850]

+Mareythu pain killer already

[@jamiekat]

But I like playing as Venice... :(

[@TybrosionMojito]

Jekk I started a game with Venice and by turn 70, Japan had overwhelmed me with it's military and I lost. If you start close to a civ with high production, you're fucked.

[@Anergyne]

Jekk Venice is beastly in single player. In Free-for-all multiplayer, the other players simply won't let you capitalize on your advantages.

[@sondominh1966]

TybrosionMojito How does Japan have high Production?

[@TybrosionMojito]

Son do minh They got the mother of all production starts: all hill/grassland tiles with forests and some wheat. There was no way...

[@sondominh1966]

TybrosionMojito Oh ok, i thought you meant the bonuses of Japan grants it good production. I didnt you know you meant a high production start.

[@exterminasation]

On the Ottoman segment where you mentioned all the naval units you forgot about the ironclad. The ironclad also doesn't see much play but i'd argue that the Ottoman passive is more useful there than on the destroyer since you can do high damage to leftover frigates and potentially capture them. The ironclad also comes at a good point in the tech tree, and sometimes you can build them with your leftover coal to harass coastal players or take out some old Frigates.

[@scorpidable]

Mate i subbed Just due to the amount of effort you put into making these videos the amount of time to construct this list is insane keep up the good work man

[@filipstysiak]

I'm glad that you share the love for Inca! It's my favorite civ to play.

[@NotchJonson360]

Interesting. I'm a new player and you certainly opened my eyes when it comes to Japan, my favourite Civ to play. I don't know though, somehow it just feels good to get that culture from your boats...

[@decatherinated5609]

Notch Jonson I really liked Japan's ability, but maybe that's because I don't have a good sense of when to retreat. It's pretty good for that, because you don't get punished for attacking with a damaged unit. The extra culture is nice, but their is a better war-like culture civ; The Aztecs are amazing for getting culture, and since they get culture based on the killed enemy's combat strength, it actually scales as time runs on.

[@TybrosionMojito]

Dezitron the Derp Lion That ability is so good when fighting off barbars early on.

[@donkarnage6986]

+Notch Jonson its very easy to play Japan... 1 of the easier ones, like nebuchanezzer or korea

[@blacknyellow962]

Interesting to see this recommended after so long (and holy crap is this in depth) thanks for going through and making this

[@philipandrwmoore]

This post may be coming late, but Civ 5 is still a great game to play, especially with all the Mods. Additionally, I like these videos, and find them helpful. I would like to add my two cents based on what I learned from these videos and my experience playing. I personally do not feel that the unique units are all that important because they are for a limited time, and can be outmatched. I would say they would be the last thing that I would consider. For me, what makes a civ a tier 1 is a good, long-term benefit unique ability, and good unique building. Tier 2 civs probably have a good unique ability, but no unique building, or descent ability and improvement. Tier 3 have a decent ability or building, and the others I didn’t bother with because they are trash. So for example, I do not feel the English are a tier 1, but a tier 3. Their Unique ability is not for Science, Culture, or production. Plus 2 sea movement is only beneficial in warfare, and while it can give you an edge, it may not make a difference against a larger, stronger, or more technologically advanced civ. The same goes for their unique units. They also have no unique building. America on the other hand I rate as a tier 2, as compared to a tier 3. While it has no unique building, I feel its unique ability is much underrated. Being able to purchase tiles, which can get expensive, at 50% reduced costs is huge. You can grow your cities faster. Gain access to tiles with Science, Culture, gold or production bonuses. Block other players from settling or taking land that you want. The increased production and money saved or gained can be used to purchase buildings. I also feel the Romans are much underrated for similar reasons. In my opinion, I rank bonuses that affect Science, Culture, production and growth high compared to ones related to warfare. If you are at war all the time you are in trouble. The following is how I would rank the civs based on their unique ability and unique building. Tier1 • Babylonian: Great unique ability bonus for science. Babylonian Walls are take less time to build, and add 50 additional; hit points for your city. Walls. • Egyptian: Plus 20% production for Wonder construction is huge. It’s not restricted to one city. You could dominate Wonder construction, and boosts so many other aspects of your civ, Science, Culture, Happiness, etc. The Temple replacement gives you +2 Happiness and no maintenance costs! • Korean: No unique building, but their unique ability more than makes up for that. Huge Science bonus. • Mayan: Good unique ability, but their Shrine replacement is phenomenal. • Persian: Fantastic unique ability and unique building. • Polish: Filthy is right about the Polish. Their unique ability is game changing, and their Stable replacement makes it long-term worth building Stables, which I never do. Tier2 • American: Great unique ability. • Arabian: Good unique ability and building. The focus is on gold and resources, but that can translate into purchasing buildings or tiles, which in turn means boosting Science, Culture, production, growing your cities, Also, resources for trade and military units. • Brazilian: Descent unique ability, but the Brazilwood Camp unique improvement is great. • Moroccan: Descent ability for increasing Culture and gold, and an improvement that makes desert tiles beneficial. • Roman: Were so underrated. No unique building, but their unique ability is awesome. Your capital is usually more developed than your other cities. So they should be ahead in constructing buildings. And if anything, you could purchase the building in your capital. A +25% on all buildings, in all cities, throughout the game is a game changer. The time saved gives you an edge in Science, Culture, gold, production, population growth. The only reason they are not a tier 1 is because they do not have a unique building. • Russian: Their unique ability is boosting important strategic resource, which is good for trade and supporting military units. Their Barracks replacement, which should be built anyways, is good. Tier3 • Celtic: Their unique building is a good Happiness boost, but their ability is not that great. Forests are not that beneficial. Unless a city is hurting for production shields, it’s better to replace forest with farms, mines, or quarries. • English: Already talked about. No bonuses to Science, Culture, production, gold, or growth. One extra spy is good, that is the main reason they aren’t ranked lower. • Ethiopian: The only reason they are tier 3 is because of the monument replacement which could allow you to dominate Faith production. • German: The only reason they are tier 3 is because you can save a lot of gold with their unique ability throughout the game, which can be used on other things. • Incan: They could be a tier 4 or lower, but their unique ability and improvement is better than others I would rank lower. • Ottoman: No unique building. Their unique ability is slightly better than Germany for saving money, although I don’t get into naval production until mid-game. The only reason they are ranked lower is because the remainder of the civs abilities are trash in comparison.

[@aphid4303]

Quite a bit of filthy's ratings have to do with the way he plays multiplayer. Namely, simultaneous turns, and people abusing the crap out of it by taking 2 turns with a unit back-to-back. Basically, poor-mans-starcraft combat. This gives a huge advantage to units that are fast, ranged, or, ideally, both. So any civ with a UU that is one of those 9 units that are the only units that are used (partially because of a badly designed tech tree, but mostly because of degenerate gameplay caused by simultaneous turns), that automatically gives that civ 2 tiers over everyone else. Another thing that causes degenerate gameplay is Quick speed. The game wasn't initially balanced around Quick, and that shows.

[@noomega4015]

i find your videos amazing. the length and depth are what i have been looking for.I played civ 2 on playstation for countless hours then did some civ 3.Thank god for your clarity and no music in your videos an thank you for taking the time to share.I find my single player game more enjoyable now and i went ahead and bought brave new world bundle off steam.Good job man!

[@carpophal]

Wow.. you should write a book. I don't play multi, but some facts really fascinate me. Like how people rush you if you're playing Mongol or Arabia (several players at once without even a coalition!) and how people move cities away from the coast if England is in the game. I had no idea marshes disappear when nuked. It seems you've been through every scenario possible.

[@janbos8775]

Just wanted to say I have watched this video at least 10 to 20 times. Thanks to filfthy robot, I have enjoyed this game for over 5486 hours. 3000 of those hours are ofcourse thanks too the lekmod. Now on version 31.3 I think. God bless filfthy and this community.

[@BOOMbarash5000]

You totally forgot to mention that both conquistadors and songhai's unique cavalry have no city attack penalty. So u can use them as capturers more efficiently.

[@xYAFusRoMamaYAx]

+BOOMbarash5000 But you shouldn't be slamming into a city if it has HP left, maybe in some situations when you just can't get it to 0 health but it's like 10 or some dumb amount left, maybe then it might matter, but in any other situation, it won't matter unless in MP

[@niekesselbrugge1132]

There are is actually a benefits to having cavalry with attack bonusses against cities. You dont have to carry around melee units towards cities. You can keep that cavalry tucked away and capture the city when it has low enough health. A lot of players do that. But with for example mandekalu cavalty you can do that sooner than normal cavalry because you deal more damage thus you can take a city that has more health left than when you would normally attack it with a regular cavalry unit. Its not super powerful but it is useful in my opinion.

[@rheiagreenland4714]

But the city attack penalty was already completely inconsequential because melee units should never be attacking a city unless it is to capture it anyway. Cavalry are actually the best at capturing cities because their movement lets them not die while you bombard it and not block up space for archers and stuff, they can just casually waltz into a city on 0 health from 3 tiles away regardless of if their combat strength is 3 or 30

[@itsrudetostare673]

Congrats on the 1 million views filthy! Great video that helped me when I was first getting into civ.

[@TheMonkeyBlu]

This was an amazing video and exactly what I was looking for! 4 hours of awesomeness =P.

[@FilthyRobot]

cheers!

[@warkito]

OMG Thanks for taking the trouble for this 4 hours video! Longest video i've seen in youtube, took me 3 days to see it all. Great job!

[@franciasii2435]

Most accurate and comprehensive guide on KZbin.

[@Ecthyr]

Great guide, like always. Filthy's insight on the civs and their strengths is always welcome. What's funny, though, is that you can very clearly see the sun setting as you skip about in the video.

[@WolfusMandrago]

Thank you for making this video. It's clear you put a lot of effort into it. The 4 hour length could have been a detriment but you added organized time stamps which corrects that. The tier sheet was also very helpful. Most of the tier lists I see are focused entirely on single player, so a thorough multiplayer guide is a great asset. I also appreciate that the clean language you use. Plenty of videos today have countless F bombs but you don't. Kudos for that.

[@FilthyRobot]

Thank you for the kind words. Be aware though, my channel is intended for 18+, I do use profanity fairly liberally in other content!

[@Pattonator14]

FilthyRobot definitely, a drunk filthy is sometimes a swearing salty filthy if the games shat on you a bit ;)

[@justinjones8274]

Super helpful during the pandemic. You've provided a unique and much appreciated service to the community! May the gods smile upon you dude

[@BoneAppleTea]

Attila - God tier 1 special abilities: Steal city names from other civilizations.

[@FilthyRobot]

Time to redo the whole thing and get that in there!

[@BoneAppleTea]

@@FilthyRobot Hahaha, lucky for you it's only 4 hours, not even 1 game of civ 5 :)

[@khanhefixit782]

Loved the video Filthy very much appreciated. Chu Ko Nus can get logistics, but can only fire 3 times if you're Persia in a golden age and have been gifted them (CS or otherwise), the chances of this are incredibly low and even then almost not worth it when you could get +1 range but it's still quite interesting.

[@gingermasterify]

Shoshone is tier 1 in my opinion.

[@knight13117]

Excellent list, with great justifications - you really changed my opinion of the Netherlands, which I used to consider a reasonably strong civ, and really increased my opinion of the Zulus and Byzantium, which I thought of more as "for fun" civs.

[@FilthyRobot]

Thanks!

[@brompsing3106]

+FilthyRobot Come back to civ V :( We miss you

[@meneither3834]

For Rome you can fully benefit from the bonus by buying the key buildings in the capital and then get the production bonus for your other cities.

[@jamesperryii9994]

Yes. If you do the more important buildings (I say the ones that lead to either a National Wonder, military promotions and production), you can really get ahead.

[@whosthatguy8396]

On quick speed, which is what nq multiplayer is played on you’re very unlikely to have to gold to do that consistently

[@rheiagreenland4714]

Problem is you're unlikely to have the gold if you go the militaristic liberty route that Rome is geared for and not really be able to hard build everything in the capital either and if you go tradition their bonus is pretty underwhelming anyways so either way it's just a pretty moot bonus. Both of their unique units are just replacements for bad units too. Legions have some cool abilities but they're swordsman replacements which is one of the most unusable units in the game and ballistae are catapult replacements... Nuff said about them. Rome is honestly in my opinion one of the worst civs in the game, they're very close to just being generic, which is unfortunate because the bonus on paper sounds really amazing.

[@meneither3834]

@@rheiagreenland4714 Hey, "close to being generic" still ranks them above the actually generic ones (like France) and the worse than generic ones (Iroquois, Venice.)

[@pride893]

Amazing, the time you put into your videos. One of my favorites to learn from, thanks man

[@spocknemoy6923]

6 years later and I’m watching a 4 hour video on a game I’ve never played

[@domeplsffs]

You should really play Civ 5 though - great game! If you do so, use the Vox Populi Mod, to have competent AI and such =)

[@tydy1123455]

Well Filthy, I found you tonight and impressed with your work. I'm saying goodbye to sleep tonight and I'm gunna watch 4 hours. I know it will be worth it. Keep up the great work man!

[@thelegendaryp]

I've barely even played Civ 5 and I found this interesting to watch

[@notJoshTan]

Probably the greatest civ video of all time

[@OMurchu7]

Quinqueremes don't cost more than triremes. Long live Carthage!

[@FilthyRobot]

Hmm - It appears you're right. It's still worthless. No one needs a stronger trireme.

[@plasticpaddy623]

"Carthago delenda est"

[@naphackDT]

FilthyRobot Actually, the 14 combat strength could be enough to take a coastal city when stacked with a warrior. But that'd be an extremely cheesy attack and another narrow use for an already pretty narrow civ. I really want to love carthage, because I feel like the free harbor bonus is just amazingly strong and unique, but the unique units are just not up to scratch, which makes it a random bunch of situational bonuses.

[@connor949]

Michael Murphy Carthage is my personal favorite Civ!

[@DiscusvissenRocken]

mehhh i'll take Byzantium over Carthage if we're talking classical naval warfare. Dromons are way better than Quinquiremes. but yeah...better beware the English when they gets Ships of the Line >.< god those are so damn scary

[@moonslay]

Hellu Mr Robot! I just wanna thank you for all the work you've thrown into your videos, as a brand new Civ player your videos helped me a bunch

[@diamondinvr]

I wanted to finish this video but I've ended up just using it to fall asleep

[@FilthyRobot]

It's a tool, use it as you wish.

[@archdukeray4345]

@@FilthyRobot YES

[@wolfgangsiegfried9435]

The problem with the Iroquois bonus is that you have to OWN the tile in order for it to work as a city connector. Early game it is useless because typically your borders are further separated from one another and late game when your borders do expand you would have already removed the forest/jungle tiles for improvements anyway. You can buy the necessary tiles early game to get the connection but it defeats the purpose of the bonus which is to save gold maintaining a road

[@brainwashguy]

You didn't talk about the Hun's bonus at razing cities. Is it good or bad?

[@FilthyRobot]

+Germanicus Good, just only occasionally relevant in MP.

[@employee4275]

I keep coming back to these videos they're amazing love your channel

[@Maravillante]

How did 4 hours just pass??? Great video man, enjoyed all the video. Also, you have a pretty cool voice

[@franconbean]

'the royal library sounds good on paper' wahey! good one! Great video, love your stuff so far, subbed.

[@DeciVonW]

TL;DR Poland.