austria is a cultural civ?

[iconocast]

i was reading some older threads about Austria and some of the more experienced posters seem to suggest they where a cultural civ? how dose this work? instead of annexing cs do u just puppet the cs u diplomatically marry? only annexing 1 or maybe 2 cs themselves?

 

[trystero49]

You can play Austria culturally pretty well.

a) Ally Cultural city states and do NOT annex.
b) Puppet city states with LARGE standing armies.
c) Tradition Opener with a couple of cities (pref. no more than 4) and Coffee House in each one.

The key here is to puppet city states with large standing armies, so that you can focus your cities on culture/Great People. By not needing to use too much production on military units for your defense, you are free to pursue a cultural victory. Extra GP points from UB helps!

Personally, I think Austria is best suited for a wide empire and Domination, but you could feasibly play a tall Empire and focus on GP for Science/Culture and maybe Diplomacy.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I just did a cultural victory as Austria. It works pretty well. The only thing I did wrong was Marrying cultural City-States. My game would've ended much sooner had I merely remained allies with them.

Marrying and puppeting the religious, mercantile, militaristic, and maritime city-states provides you with an army, navy, gold, and science and deny their benefits to other civs. They frequently provide their own workers too. Your initial 4 cities are free to make culture buildings and wonders.

It was an unusual change of pace to win a cultural victory while having the largest empire by both area and population. Having a majority of my cities enter my empire peacefully and continue to self-rule led me to consider my empire as a sort of pseudo-confederacy or something like the European Union. It's quite novel.

 

[budweiser]

If you marry the maritimes, you get their ships which can already be all over the place exploring. Its nice.

 

[ense7en]

Austria is a very strong civ for all victory conditions.
I personally don't know if cultural would be my first choice as i'd prefer to be able to annex the married CSes. I like them for diplo/dom/science alot.

 

[iconocast]

thats pretty interesting, i have been looking for a civ that has a large puppet empire.
but do u think Austria is more tailored to cultural vc than a domination? i always assumed they where a heavy domination civ.

 

[budweiser]

thats pretty interesting, i have been looking for a civ that has a large puppet empire.
but do u think Austria is more tailored to cultural vc than a domination? i always assumed they where a heavy domination civ.

They are for culture. Look how nice the fat lady is dressed, very refined. All those coffee houses can really pump out the artists, like Mozart.

 

[Arachnofiend]

Austria is just an excellent civ all around. Just finished up a domination game that turned into a science victory when I got lazy taking out the other half of the map. Went with a 4 city opener and found that my main competition was Attila to the north and Boudicca to the east. Attila especially was very well guarded by jungles and mountains but he just so happened to be right next to the Vatican. I married into the Pope's family And used the new territory as a forward base to take out Attila's Court. Did the same thing with Florence and the Celts.

By the end of the game I still just had my four cities but had half the map covered in puppets. I think there is less (no?) diplomatic penalty for marrying so if those city-states hadn't been ripe for the plucking I would have had much less time to prepare if I had put a city of my own in the same location. Plus I would have had to deal with the baggage that comes with settling wide (I like my tradition games thank you very much).

 

[ahawk]

Austria is a great Cultural civ. The UB works toward this via GP points bonuses, and the UA, as everyone is saying, allows you to get a good army on the cheap (often, the amount of gold spent on taking over the CS is only a small fraction of what it would cost to otherwise rush-buy the units alone).

Between Domination and Cultural Victories, I'd say Austria is going to be better to play for Domination on the lower difficulty levels, and better to play for Cultural at the higher difficulty levels; usually, even if you marry the CSs with the biggest armies, an Immortal game on a standard-sized map or larger will feature just too many AI units to mow through them more easily than if you played for Cultural Victory instead.

The UU is the only thing about them that I'm not so sure on... a better flanking bonus? By the time I can even build cavalry, I'll usually have rushed to get Artillery anyways, and beyond that, horses don't always appear in enough abundance to really make a mid-to-early-late-game UU that needs them all that viable (Cossacks are only viable because Russia's UA gives them double the horses, so as to build enough Cossacks to make a difference).

 

[iconocast]

The UU is the only thing about them that I'm not so sure on....

im a big fan of uu cavalry, i find even lancers flanking in gnk can be pretty fearsome. i love the cossak as well

They are for culture. Look how nice the fat lady is dressed, very refined. All those coffee houses can really pump out the artists, like Mozart.

haha yes true, shes always got a luncheon some where.

thnx guys im defiantly gonna give her a try for cultural vic.

 

[Olleus]

I had assumed it was a Civ best suited for science. Go tall and as your happiness improves, buy the biggest city states you can find.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I had assumed it was a Civ best suited for science. Go tall and as your happiness improves, buy the biggest city states you can find.

Which is why it's so awesome for culture. Puppet those city-states. They help with science, but don't increase your culture thresholds. One of the weaknesses of going cultural with most civs is that you only have 4 big cities, and your puppets have had their populations devestated and buildings destroyed by your conquest of them. Going for cultural victory means you're fighting harder for technological parity with wide civs. Austria doesn't have that problem. They puppet city-states lock, stock, and barrel, complete with intact populations and science buildings. So you aren't lagging behind in technology and those late game culture wonders are far more attainable.

 

[Petiscator]

I'm playing an Austrian game on a Huge Earth Map, on immortal. Started in western France, expanded towards Europe, married Hong Kong (in Germany) because it was too close, Jakarta (south Turkey) because it had high population and was on an amazing spot, Monaco (South Egypt) because I got a load of money from an American "The Backstabber" peace treaty, Antwerp (north Caspian sea) because it had many units and was close to Washington and Almaty (Benin), because it had coal.

The ability is quite good. I went liberty and, even though my cities' population are low, I'm cranking a lot of GPT. In a few turns I'll marry Singapore, 18 pop, modern era, so my SPT will greatly increase. I could go culturally, but I'll try for the spaceship. The Coffee House is great for Scientists as well. My main problem is Unhappiness... yuck... But apart from that, Austria is really great.

 

[DrunkenRine]

You can play Austria culturally pretty well.
Personally, I think Austria is best suited for a wide empire and Domination, but you could feasibly play a tall Empire and focus on GP for Science/Culture and maybe Diplomacy.

interestingly, this pretty much resembles the true history of austria. it became a large empire in the 19th century but actually today it is known as a small country with a high culture and a high technological standard.

 

[budweiser]

interestingly, this pretty much resembles the true history of austria. it became a large empire in the 19th century but actually today it is known as a small country with a high culture and a high technological standard.

Sometimes I wonder if this game would allow you to shrink your empires and still come out ahead. The AI does offer to pay a lot for cities. There might be a way to leverage selling far flung puppets and colonial enclaves for gold later on.

There is probaly a single point in time where the lump sum would surpass what the city would generate for you from there on out. This might involve math.

Another thing Granny says to you if you meet her in game is 'Do you enjoy theatre?' A double entendre if I ever heard one. This implies that Austria can mess with you like no other civ in game, buying your friends out from under you.

 

[tat501]

Austria is definitely a cultural civ. Stands to reason I guess with Vienna being renowned as a capital of culture.

Keep tall - get loads of specialists and get them working the cultural buildings. Marry militaristic and mercantile cs's but puppet them - they'll start building culture buildings at this point as well. With gardens, national epic for capital, freedom, leaning tower, Sweden friendship and coffee houses your cities will be able to pump out great people (especially GAs) better than anyone else on the game. Et voila - an easy culture victory.

 

[tetley]

I like Austria for domination because it's cheaper to commit treachery and annihilate other civs. If you, say, lie and say "my units are just passing through the area" and then surprise attack, you take an influence hit with city-states. But if they're puppets, no penalty. Works if there are not too many civs and lots of city-states.

 

[Biologist]

The UU is the only thing about them that I'm not so sure on...

I initially thought that too. The one time that I played as Austria, their UU gave me a huge edge over my opponent. Spotting, outflanking, and eliminating enemy ranged or siege units in the late Renaissance-early Industrial era lets your infantry advance a lot more quickly. The only problem with them is the relatively small window of time you have to use them, but even when obsolete they can make good scouts or artillery spotters.

 

[pspboy7]

Wow, yummy. This makes me wanna try Austria again. I only played once, but didn't implement a good strategy for victory.