Good points regarding America! Also, Montezuma having a better ability is of course no reason not to rank America below Aztecs. What was I thinking? 
They still seem kind of dull, though. I can't think of anything I'd want to try out in a test opening with them.
I haven't read many PBEMs in detail, but from the ones I read I got the impression that rushes with Swordsmen-replacements can be viable. Maybe I need to read some more.
Given that swordsmen are too early, I guess the Egyptian chariot archers won't be terribly useful either...well, at least they'll be great for city defense. But not being able to build regular chariots to upgrade into knights is a huge drawback. I guess the best bet would be to attack with Musketmen or Cavalry.
About Varus, yeah, I wouldn't want to use them for rushing, I was more thinking of parking one in a city to give all the besieging troops -5 strength.
I didn't even mention the Brazilian UU because it came too late to matter in PBEM4 and that was an extremely long game on an island map.
Culture victories are definitely not viable in MP. The other players would simply declare war to cut you off from tourism. One could of course gamble on them not paying attention until it's too late, but that's something I'd only consider as a Hail Mary when I feel like I have no chance to catch up. And that probably won't work in such a situation.
They still seem kind of dull, though. I can't think of anything I'd want to try out in a test opening with them.I haven't read many PBEMs in detail, but from the ones I read I got the impression that rushes with Swordsmen-replacements can be viable. Maybe I need to read some more.
Given that swordsmen are too early, I guess the Egyptian chariot archers won't be terribly useful either...well, at least they'll be great for city defense. But not being able to build regular chariots to upgrade into knights is a huge drawback. I guess the best bet would be to attack with Musketmen or Cavalry.
About Varus, yeah, I wouldn't want to use them for rushing, I was more thinking of parking one in a city to give all the besieging troops -5 strength.
I didn't even mention the Brazilian UU because it came too late to matter in PBEM4 and that was an extremely long game on an island map.
Culture victories are definitely not viable in MP. The other players would simply declare war to cut you off from tourism. One could of course gamble on them not paying attention until it's too late, but that's something I'd only consider as a Hail Mary when I feel like I have no chance to catch up. And that probably won't work in such a situation.