What are the best civilization abilities?

[Fņŏŕď]

What are the best civilization abilities in your opinion?
Fertile has always been a favorite of mine.
Slaver seems more for flavor than anything else.
Unrelenting seems generically useful.
Same with Loyal.
Any thoughts?

[ghost88]

Ask 20 people this you will get 21 answers.
It depends on how you wish to play the game.
Me I like exploring so I go with Starfaring, and colonizing so I go with loyalty so my Govs are less likely to rebel.

[Draver]

I like Spore and Vigilant.

[starship_trooper]

I have not played all abilities yet, but from those I did play:

The single best one is Ancient, there is really no contest. I would rate it the only S-tier ability in the game.

As A-tier I would rate (in no particular order): Spores, Resourceful, Ravenous, Xenophobic

Remember though that your particular galaxy setup might affect the usefulness of abilities.

[Fņŏŕď]

Xenophobic is interesting but it cripples you with the influence game.
Ancient is probably the single best ability.
Resourceful I have never tried.
Spores was a favorite of mine until they paired it with a giant tree.

[starship_trooper]

Originally posted by Fnord:

Xenophobic is interesting but it cripples you with the influence game.

Yes, the drawbacks (influence and diplomacy) kick it out of S-tier in my book.

[Fņŏŕď]

Just tried Resourceful its ok. The main reason to use is the ip theft policy.
I have played telepathy. Its generically useful and flavorful.

[starship_trooper]

Originally posted by Fnord:

Just tried Resourceful its ok. The main reason to use is the ip theft policy.
I have played telepathy. Its generically useful and flavorful.

No no, it's the Communications Array improvement that makes Resourceful shine. It gives 10% boost to intelligence per level to the citizens (and governor) of the planet it is built on. So, make sure to cluster it with tech capital, Innovation Complex (Progressivism culture unlock), Kazar's Mainframe (wonder) etc. to get its level as high as possible from adjacency bonuses. It is the best building of its kind in the game (besides Cerebral Chamber of Ravenous).

[Overloadedcasu]

Originally posted by starship_trooper:

The single best one is Ancient, there is really no contest. I would rate it the only S-tier ability in the game.

You forgot Crimelord, Crimelord is Turbo-God-tier.
+ Best early game ability. (The boost on citizen is incredible)
+ Find a red anomaly and you can destroy all your curent system so fast.

[starship_trooper]

Haven't played Crimelord yet, so I cannot say how it performs relative to Ancient. Also haven't played the Mimot ability yet (Prolific?).

[Illauna]

Crimelord doesn't always keep up on higher difficulties. The Sentinel battleships are nice but aren't always good enough on their own to stomp the galaxy. Can give you an early edge for a rush build The unique improvement is nice. Around turn 40 you start seeing cruisers from the AI.

Due to a bug battleships may or may not appear so once that is fixed the sentinel ships would struggle from that point.

[Illauna]

Ancient is very strong. Resourceful with the right setup is crazy. Also if your faction has a civilwar or you conquer another civ with the resourceful improvements you can basically research every tech in 1 turn from that point.

[starship_trooper]

Originally posted by Illauna:

Crimelord doesn't always keep up on higher difficulties. The Sentinel battleships are nice but aren't always good enough on their own to stomp the galaxy.

There is also the occasional pirate dreadnought from red anomalies. Not particuarly good (for a dreadnought), but I guess it could give you a nice edge if you happen to stumble upon one early on.

I once lost a Godlike game where the Xeloxi showed up on my doorstep with a stolen dreadnought at turn 56.

[Fņŏŕď]

I tried out wealthy. It's just what it sounds like. If you want to make problems go away with money this is the ability for you. The best thing about it is that exchange building that basically gives +4 to everything around it.

[starship_trooper]

Originally posted by Fnord:

I tried out wealthy. It's just what it sounds like. If you want to make problems go away with money this is the ability for you. The best thing about it is that exchange building that basically gives +4 to everything around it.

The additional 2k credits that Wealthy gives at start are nice, but that ability has a serious drawback: you do not have access to any research improvements, except the ones from culture unlocks.

I guess I'd rate Wealthy C-tier.

[Fņŏŕď]

Originally posted by starship_trooper:

Originally posted by Fnord:

I tried out wealthy. It's just what it sounds like. If you want to make problems go away with money this is the ability for you. The best thing about it is that exchange building that basically gives +4 to everything around it.

The additional 2k credits that Wealthy gives at start are nice, but that ability has a serious drawback: you do not have access to any research improvements, except the ones from culture unlocks.

I guess I'd rate Wealthy C-tier.

That building is the key it gives +4 to research as well so you can surround it with research districts if you like.