The Civ5 Guide

One point, the Aztec UA Does 'scale withe era' because the culture provided is 1/2 of the strength of the unit killed.

also many UUs keep their abilities when upgraded so producing a lot of Jaguars early can lead to a lot of combat healing swordsmen/Rifles/Mech Infantry.
 
Excellent write and very useful :goodjob:
It must also have been quite some work.

A bit of constructive criticism: IMHO you haven't given the Great Wall enough justice.

I agree it the GW isn't a useful wonder when you use an aggressive strategy and are constantly on the attack. BUT when you planning on having a small empire (e.g. when you go for culture) you very likely will get attacked and you go on the defensive.

The great thing about the great wall in that situation is that when you kill an invader with a unit the AI has a hard time counter attacking that unit. Because they have to spend an extra movement point. Ranged units are also safer from melee attack.

Also, from my experience the AI doesn't seem to pillage very often and if they do you can repair the improvements afterwards.
 
Wonders to me are sort of a 'Feeling Point' for me. If the flow of the game is where I like it then I'll decide what and what not to spend my time on. It also varies from which civilizations you're playing against. Most leaders have the ability to wipe you out just at the beginning if you're not careful, especially the aggressive Aztecs. Like in case if you want to be defensive play with Gandhi. Indians can grow quickly and hold city-states better than any nation and you can excel at Research, plus, save your gold to bribe the city-states. The most important structures for India here would be The Great Wall, Himeji Castle and The Kremlin. Play it right and nations will be too busy trying to play catch-up instead of playing their style. This will also piss off players you've done this to previously.
 
A quick question about "protectionism": how does it work exactly ? Let's assume I have 4 ivory in my empire. Do I get 5 happiness for the 1st and another 3 for the remaining 3 ? If so, does it synergize with bazaar ?

And has anyone ever tried India with leglism and theocracy ? Does it mean the capital doesn't have any unhappiness ?
 
i was visiting the bug thread and it appears the great wall isn't working as described. Many users have reported that it isn't working but according to one the GW goes obsolete as soon as anyone researches Metallurgy. Which would make it pretty sucky because metallurgy is an early-mid game tech.
 
A quick question about "protectionism": how does it work exactly ? Let's assume I have 4 ivory in my empire. Do I get 5 happiness for the 1st and another 3 for the remaining 3 ? If so, does it synergize with bazaar ?

It is 1 happiness per unique luxury. So if you have 4 ivory, you get 5 + 1 happiness total. It has no synergy with the Bazaar. And that's why I said it was weak for a final-tier social policy :)
 
i was visiting the bug thread and it appears the great wall isn't working as described. Many users have reported that it isn't working but according to one the GW goes obsolete as soon as anyone researches Metallurgy. Which would make it pretty sucky because metallurgy is an early-mid game tech.

Not sure if it is bugged or not, as I've only bothered to build it once, and the AI never bothered to attack me after I did. If it goes obsolete at any point, neither the description or civilopedia mention it. Not that that would surprise me.
 
I dont think it goes obselete but it still helps. You need to decide right away what you're gonna do with your army at the start of the game. Either defend or attack. There aren't many defensive leaders in the game. But to show the AI that you're not gonna take any of their BS, you need to make a unit ASAP if you can. Have some set up around the borders is what I would do.

City states are very important too. I once had Cape Town battling with Napoleon. Because I sent them units, they used them very well and took over one of his valuble cities. The city had access to Sugar, Spices, and another luxury. I had them 167/60 influence. So it's like having a city without the happiness hassle. Gaining influence over every city within a continent can really put you at an advantage I learned. If they start fighting eachother, you dont have to help just use gold to bribe them.
 
The bit about India being suited for small empires is off. So far, it's only been India that has produced the enormous, sprawling empires needed to launch a spaceship before 1400AD (200 turns/standard speed)
 
It is 1 happiness per unique luxury. So if you have 4 ivory, you get 5 + 1 happiness total. It has no synergy with the Bazaar. And that's why I said it was weak for a final-tier social policy :)

Bah, I haven't bothered with the commerce SP so far, and it seems I haven't missed much. Just take the top one: usually the capital is my main production center, not gold. You can't just afford a first city with nothing but flood plains, for you won't get an early wonder there thanks to crippled production.

The bit about India being suited for small empires is off. So far, it's only been India that has produced the enormous, sprawling empires needed to launch a spaceship before 1400AD (200 turns/standard speed)

Yeah, Forbidden Palace+Planned Economy and you don't care about # of cities. Basically, every happiness building is worth twice the happy faces with India. If only they hadn't such bad starting positions (all grassland).
 
Camel Archers are possibly the best era-specific UU, unit for unit. Unlike Chariot Archers, they can move before and after attacking. This means that they can move 1, attack, then move back, giving them an effective sight and range of 3, better than Longbowmen, because they can use the move to get around not having Sentry and Indirect Fire, which are vital Longbowman weaknesses.

In many ways, they are essentially better Cho ko nu, though the Cho ko nu does have its own advantages. Cho ko nu are better against many weaker units, whereas Camel Archers are better against fewer, stronger units (since they have attack 15). Their 3 movement allows them to maneuver quickly and efficiently, allowing them to kite most melee units to death on rough terrain (remember, they can fire, then move away!).

Since they basically outrange cities, they also allow you to take cities and whole Civs with nothing except them and one Horseman.
 
Yeah, Forbidden Palace+Planned Economy and you don't care about # of cities. Basically, every happiness building is worth twice the happy faces with India. If only they hadn't such bad starting positions (all grassland).

They don't work that way. They only reduce the base unhappiness by 50%. The base unhappiness is always 2. India's per-city penalty is just added to that.

Normal civ with FP+PE:
Per city unhappiness = 2 + (2 * -50%) + (2 * -50%) = 0

India with FP+PE
Per city unhappiness = 2 + [2 * 100%] + (2 * -50%) + (2 * -50%) = 2
 
They don't work that way. They only reduce the base unhappiness by 50%. The base unhappiness is always 2. India's per-city penalty is just added to that.

Normal civ with FP+PE:
Per city unhappiness = 2 + (2 * -50%) + (2 * -50%) = 0

India with FP+PE
Per city unhappiness = 2 + [2 * 100%] + (2 * -50%) + (2 * -50%) = 2

This is why I said India is better suited to a small civilization. I suppose it may have been better to say they are effective at all strategies except for ICS, the ultimate 'large empire' strategy.
 
Nice guide, but one point: Medical Labs aren't weaker than hospitals. They both double your growth rate. The first time, food required to grow is cut by half. Then the Medical lab does the same, cuts food required by another half.

If it gave +50% like the hospital, that doesn't make it equal to the hospital, that means you grow every single turn!
 
Nice guide, but one point: Medical Labs aren't weaker than hospitals. They both double your growth rate. The first time, food required to grow is cut by half. Then the Medical lab does the same, cuts food required by another half.

If it gave +50% like the hospital, that doesn't make it equal to the hospital, that means you grow every single turn!

Good point there, thx :)
 
AMERICA
Washington – Manifest Destiny: all land military units have +1 sight. 25% discount when purchasing tiles.
Minutemen - Replaces musketman, ignores movement terrain penalties.
B17 - Replaces bomber, free Evasion and Siege 1 promotions.

The American civilization has two unique units, neither of which fundamentally change the strategy of those units. It's leader trait, Manifest Destiny, encourages early exploration, gold based economies, and having spread out cities. The leader trait has very little useful for a cultural victory, and encourages a rapid expansion policy early in the game. The leader trait doesn't have a lot of synergy for a warmonger, other than the sight bonus, as conquered cities retain their cultural boundaries, meaning most nearby resources will already be connected.

I'm not sure about the rapid expansion, as such -- between the +1 sight for units and the ability to cheaply buy tiles, what Americans have early game is phenomenal spawnbusting abilities. You can with minimal effort control exactly when and where barbarians come at you, if at all.

What about America encourages churning out the settlers?
 
I'm not sure about the rapid expansion, as such -- between the +1 sight for units and the ability to cheaply buy tiles, what Americans have early game is phenomenal spawnbusting abilities. You can with minimal effort control exactly when and where barbarians come at you, if at all.

What about America encourages churning out the settlers?

Well since you can buy land cheaper, and thus faster, you can easily settle cities and buy tiles with resources nearby. It encourages rapid expansion, but not honeycombing.
 
The Russian civilization has a unique building and a unique unit, the first a powerful encampment to a warmongering cultural victory strategy,

The Krepost is an interesting spin on a barrack: halving the culture cost of acquiring new tiles. The strong emphasis on military and expansion that the leader trait and unique unit provides, combines well with a military building giving an advantage to culture buildings. Russia is poised to have a strong cultural victory, after a strong game of warmongering.

This is what I'm not sure on, how does halving the amount of culture used in buying tiles for the city help in a cultural victory?

Noticed a couple (and only a couple) of spelling & grammar errors, or just missing a word etc. Didn't note where there, but maybe just have a quick proof read.

Great work though. Don't forget to add Babylon & Mongolia.
 
This is what I'm not sure on, how does halving the amount of culture used in buying tiles for the city help in a cultural victory?

It helps a cultural victory in the same way Ankor Wat does - that is, indirectly. As Russia, border cities will eventually claim territory five or six tiles from the city, obtaining a very large amount of resources per city. Normally, you'd just settle new cities near resources, but if you're going for a cultural victory, well, that is generally a bad idea :) Combined with the doubled strategic resources from the Russia leader trait, Even a small empire will be able to compete resource-wise with much larger ones.

I'm not sure if there is extra precedence for building Krepost compared to Barracks in puppet states, but I've notice that they do seem to build barracks fairly early in their build order, usually after a cultural building or two. For Russia, puppet states can also be counted on to expand their borders to an exceptional degree.

Noticed a couple (and only a couple) of spelling & grammar errors, or just missing a word etc. Didn't note where there, but maybe just have a quick proof read.

I run everything through Microsoft Word first, unless it is just a small revision in the forum editor. I expect 99% of spelling errors to be corrected, but only about 90% of grammatical errors. Point them out and I'll fix them :)

Great work though. Don't forget to add Babylon & Mongolia.

Thank you! I don't have Babylon yet, but will once you can purchase them as DLC. Expect an update for these two civs within a day or two after they're released.
 
Top Bottom