That being said, they're all right around even, I play all of the civs competitevely, and their all relatively even, but their not quite even. Here is how I order them, different then most people.
1. Ottoman - Still the best, with abus guns coming in fast soon after the initial push, with a fwd base too, it just seems so hard to counter those abus guns when their mixed with jans. All you have to have are a few abus guns and alot of jans to counter your opponents army, for example no one ever masses 10 jans and 30 abus, thats just crazy. As an added bonus, if they get a map with good natives its pretty much an automatic win.
2. Spanish - They can rule water maps, have a great boat boom, and have the best eco out of the 4 vialbe civs IMO. Their never really vulurnalbe, their mercs are a little week but 5 falc + 11 highlanders will massacre any jagar and black rider combo (at an equeal price too 3. German - With one of the best ffs in the game witht heir extra mercs, a good eco with settler wagons, and free uhalns to top it all off, their one of the most annoying civs to face, and you're guarentuead to be raided like crazy. This civ looks great on paper and plays well in the game, their not really vulurnalbe in t2, with their 8 xbow shipment and free uhlans they can really fight off any t2 army very well, and then have those OP dopples to top it all off. 4. French - OMG U NOOB U DINT PUT FRENCH AS DA BEST SIV!!!!1111 Uhuh that's what I"m expecting. Their NOT the best civ. THey get out-ffed by germans, out-boomed by spaniards and out-rushed by ottoman. They have currasier to try to make up for this, but with black riders going as mercs so much, curr look very bad. They have a nice eco and a fast start, but their just not as good as the other civs. I like to think of them as sub-spain but iwth better mercs. Theo only reason german are ahead of them is because at higher levels players tend to make very nice use out of those uhlans. One unique advantage is that coureur make them last about 1 hit longer vs cav raids. Ya, this is how I look at the civs, and at higher levels this is IMHO how most people look at them. I made this post to show some people how, in fact, french are nowhere near the best, as people always say so. In fact, nerfing french would only make them fit into the civs that cannot be played w/o hampering yoruself. [This message has been edited by Stophon4 (edited 01-13-2006 @ 11:39 AM).]
5 - 8. These civs can be played, but IMO they cannot be played w/o hampering yourself. The only viable option may be dutch, which can be good if they get to booming.