FridoDiamond
Chieftain
I just don't understand Sweden UA and how to use it, any idea?
Sweden Strategy
- Thread starter FridoDiamond
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Civologist
Chieftain
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I won a game on emperor extremely easily as Sweden. Use the 4 city tradition approach. I went and built hanging gardens early and turned my cities into High Pop behemoths. Focus on becoming allies with CS and go down the Patronage tree after tradition. Become friends with maritime CS so your Cities can grow faster. Run a bunch of specialists. Dominate control of CS and use the great people they gift you that you don't want to become friends with more CS. All the bonuses you get makes it easy. After patronage you can go after freedom. Become friends with as many AI's as possible but use your UU in the Renaissance era to keep any neighborhood bullies in check. Your high population should give you plenty of beakers and the UN takes relatively little techs to get to.
That wasn't very well organized but its basically the cookie cuter specialist approach while focusing on CS. Researching HG will put you on a path to build archers so you don't have to sacrifice security for this approach.
That wasn't very well organized but its basically the cookie cuter specialist approach while focusing on CS. Researching HG will put you on a path to build archers so you don't have to sacrifice security for this approach.
Civologist
Chieftain
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Forgot to mention religion. I don't always get these on high levels but go for 10% growth rate and 15% growth rate when not at war. Otherwise happiness related ones are a good option. Going for +X per Y citizens are good ones because you'll have the high pop and not a lot of cities.
I've never had a game situation come up where I could test this, but if you go Autocracy are the faith costs for great generals and great admirals increased separately, or does buying a GG mean the next GA will still move up to the next cost rung? Just seemed like a way to exploit the system a bit as Sweden during the late game.
Lexicus
Deity
I always thought that with Sweden, you turtle until you get the riflemen with March, then destroy everyone and at the end use all the extra GGs to donate to CS to get extra free influence.
EDIT: I haven't played with them yet, I might use them for my next game though.
EDIT: I haven't played with them yet, I might use them for my next game though.
Dreadnought
Deity
Warmongering strategy with Sweden:
Go Honor, gift the Great General to a
CS to found a Just War religion. Use your awesome middle game units to conquer everyone 
Go Honor, gift the Great General to a
CS to found a Just War religion. Use your awesome middle game units to conquer everyone This works extremely well when you gift your early great people to militaristic city states, beeline to metallurgy for Hakka's and then to riflemen. Upgrade all units and have fun.
With cathedrals (religious belief, extra artist specialist slot) and early amphitheatres you can generate quite a few great artists very early in the game for gifting.
Basically go Tradition -> 4 cities -> as many friendships as possible -> get artists -> gift to militaristic city states -> upgrade and destroy everyone in renaissance
Pook
Bloviating
Thanks for the advice. I haven't played as Sweden yet, partly because I looked at the UA and wondered "How would I make that work?" Now I have a plan from which to deviate.
Sweden really hits its stride in the last Renaisaance / Industrial era, though I do definitely like that early jump using the Honor tree to convert a Great General into +90 influence with a Religious City-State. Honor + Raging Barbarians seems like a nice set-up for Sweden in the early game. Donating that useless Great Admiral from the Commerce Tree worked out nicely for me last time too. Meanwhile I'm focused on squeezing a large advantage out of multiple declarations of Friendship and Research Agreements. Generally I can find some sort of political bloc to dupe into an alliance over mutual denunciations and DoW against the game's less subtle war-mongers.
Sweden's Caroleans are just ridiculous. They are your break-out opportunity. When they come on-line there should be some sort of hated menace in the world, a run-away CIV that needs a severe beating, or an opportunity to conquer the world or a major continent. You promote and build as many of these guys as possible while grinding out some cannons and then bee-lining for Artillery. The carnival of carnage won't stop for a good long time. You keep March when promoting to Great War Infantry too.
Drill + Medic gives me an army of self-repairing robotic minions.
If it helps you to focus, rename the Civilization in the Custom game settings to "Latveria." ;-)
Of course, I won my last game as Sweden by Diplomatic Victory. My legions of Doombots ... er ... Caroleans ... netted me so many puppets and Great Generals it was child's play to convince the lesser nations of the world that they could only find true safety and happiness under the guiding hand of Doom.
- Marty Lund
Sweden's Caroleans are just ridiculous. They are your break-out opportunity. When they come on-line there should be some sort of hated menace in the world, a run-away CIV that needs a severe beating, or an opportunity to conquer the world or a major continent. You promote and build as many of these guys as possible while grinding out some cannons and then bee-lining for Artillery. The carnival of carnage won't stop for a good long time. You keep March when promoting to Great War Infantry too.
Drill + Medic gives me an army of self-repairing robotic minions.
If it helps you to focus, rename the Civilization in the Custom game settings to "Latveria." ;-)
Of course, I won my last game as Sweden by Diplomatic Victory. My legions of Doombots ... er ... Caroleans ... netted me so many puppets and Great Generals it was child's play to convince the lesser nations of the world that they could only find true safety and happiness under the guiding hand of Doom.
- Marty Lund
Go to war. Sweden is all about warring, and the more GAs and GGs you get through constant battles, the more GPs you can gift to CSes to keep them your allies.
With the Caroleans, you want to have a nice set of production cities to spam them out every other turn. They are not Janissary or Jaginfantry, but they can hold their own against FFL and other Modern era units. And if you are playing on a team, you can gift your partner some Caroleans - works really well if said pardner is Oda Nobunaga.
With the Caroleans, you want to have a nice set of production cities to spam them out every other turn. They are not Janissary or Jaginfantry, but they can hold their own against FFL and other Modern era units. And if you are playing on a team, you can gift your partner some Caroleans - works really well if said pardner is Oda Nobunaga.
SpazzyMcGee
Chieftain
I ended up on a fairly secluded land bridge as Sweden and I was able to get a diplomatic victory handily without ever fighting a single war and without founding any cities aside from my capital. Between gold and great people, I had more CS influence than I knew what to do with.
kaspergm
Deity
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Fun thing about Sweden is building Baracks + Armory + Military Academy + Brandenburger Gate + Alhambra in the same city and then start spawning Caroleans. You then get Caroleans starting with free Drill I and free March + another three promotions. Watch the carnage ensue.
compwiz1202
King
I love Sweden and France for playing nice in the beginning until you get UU then BAM!
Seabastian Civ
King
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2012
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I LOVE SWEDEN THREADS!!! A hugely underrated civ.
Sorta. Knock around anyone who attacks you, but don't turtle. Taking puppets is critical for Sweden. You're gonna need a big cash flow to support all your Caroleans.
You're spot on about donating GG's. After you have 2 or 3, you don't need any more, especially since Hakkas can shuttle them back and forth between even distant fronts! Even better you can donate those WORTHLESS great admirals. For this reason Sweden also has nice synergy with Commerce (more money from puppets, free ally w/ admiral.) Of course, most people would probably advise going Patronage.
Yes, an awesome way to start a game. I've definitely advocated this start before, and it may be the only way to get a decent religion above Emperor, but it seems that a Tradition start works better long-term for Sweden. You are going to want to generate great people to take advantage of your friendships, and Tall is obviously much better for this.
You will want to pick on the "bad guys" in the game, so that you don't lose your DoF's. Whoever is the most hated, attack them. When other civs ask you to go to war with them, tell them you will in 10 turns. They don't care how much you contribute, just that you're a good friend.
I agree they're not the best infantry, but caroleans are a great spammable unit. They will take great losses in your first big war, but once they get a few promotions (COVER, COVER, COVER!) they will be unstoppable beasts. They're also a great unit to re-name, since they are very hearty.
Sure... if you can do this though, you might want to move up a difficulty level!
Sorta. Knock around anyone who attacks you, but don't turtle. Taking puppets is critical for Sweden. You're gonna need a big cash flow to support all your Caroleans.
You're spot on about donating GG's. After you have 2 or 3, you don't need any more, especially since Hakkas can shuttle them back and forth between even distant fronts! Even better you can donate those WORTHLESS great admirals. For this reason Sweden also has nice synergy with Commerce (more money from puppets, free ally w/ admiral.) Of course, most people would probably advise going Patronage.
Warmongering strategy with Sweden:
Go Honor, gift the Great General to a
Yes, an awesome way to start a game. I've definitely advocated this start before, and it may be the only way to get a decent religion above Emperor, but it seems that a Tradition start works better long-term for Sweden. You are going to want to generate great people to take advantage of your friendships, and Tall is obviously much better for this.
Go to war. Sweden is all about warring, and the more GAs and GGs you get through constant battles, the more GPs you can gift to CSes to keep them your allies.
With the Caroleans, you want to have a nice set of production cities to spam them out every other turn. They are not Janissary or Jaginfantry, but they can hold their own against FFL and other Modern era units. And if you are playing on a team, you can gift your partner some Caroleans - works really well if said pardner is Oda Nobunaga.
You will want to pick on the "bad guys" in the game, so that you don't lose your DoF's. Whoever is the most hated, attack them. When other civs ask you to go to war with them, tell them you will in 10 turns. They don't care how much you contribute, just that you're a good friend.
I agree they're not the best infantry, but caroleans are a great spammable unit. They will take great losses in your first big war, but once they get a few promotions (COVER, COVER, COVER!) they will be unstoppable beasts. They're also a great unit to re-name, since they are very hearty.
Sure... if you can do this though, you might want to move up a difficulty level!
Sweeden is one of those civs with 2 UAs instead of just 1.
The main portion is 10% increased GP per civ you're DOFed with.
To use this, you simply choose good civs to DOF. Try to get a triangle with staggered DOFs.
Then there's a minor portion of 90 influence to a city state. For this:
Gift spare Great Generals & Admirals to city states.
And you have the option for a Great Prophet of only using 3 of the spreads and then gifting it in lieu of using the last spread.
Their UU is designed to get more great generals and in addition the opener of Patronage is a great filler policy.
The main portion is 10% increased GP per civ you're DOFed with.
To use this, you simply choose good civs to DOF. Try to get a triangle with staggered DOFs.
Then there's a minor portion of 90 influence to a city state. For this:
Gift spare Great Generals & Admirals to city states.
And you have the option for a Great Prophet of only using 3 of the spreads and then gifting it in lieu of using the last spread.
Their UU is designed to get more great generals and in addition the opener of Patronage is a great filler policy.
As pointed out in this thread, you can get the GP you want to donate instead of use in 3 ways, mainly:
1 - You can war early and often. Very effective and cost-effective, obviously.
2 - You can pick up the free general in Honor and admiral in Commerce. The general is nice for the fact of how early you can do it. The disadvantage is the opportunity cost of losing out on other policies (like Traditional/Liberty and Rationalism). Overall, modestly effective and very costly.
3 - You can fill out the entire Patronage tree and go for a diplomatic victory. Aim for the part about getting free great people relatively soon in the game in order to maximize the number you get from it. You end up getting a lot of fairly useless gifts like admirals, which only Sweden gets full use of. Fairly effective and cost-effective, if you are going for a diplomatic victory.
edited to add 4 - "And you have the option for a Great Prophet of only using 3 of the spreads and then gifting it in lieu of using the last spread." - should not have forgotten this. You can also gift stolen Great Prophets. Both very effective and cost effective.
Others have mentioned that Sweden synergizes well with a warlike approach, given how awesome their Caroleans are, so the first way capitalizes on their advantages the most. Keep in mind that all the warriors/swords/longswords/muskets you build, as well as all the Caroleans you build, will get the free March as you upgrade them. Beeline Plastics (which you probably do anyway) for a frightening Infantry army. (Which is why I suggested them for the melee-only challenge.)
1 - You can war early and often. Very effective and cost-effective, obviously.
2 - You can pick up the free general in Honor and admiral in Commerce. The general is nice for the fact of how early you can do it. The disadvantage is the opportunity cost of losing out on other policies (like Traditional/Liberty and Rationalism). Overall, modestly effective and very costly.
3 - You can fill out the entire Patronage tree and go for a diplomatic victory. Aim for the part about getting free great people relatively soon in the game in order to maximize the number you get from it. You end up getting a lot of fairly useless gifts like admirals, which only Sweden gets full use of. Fairly effective and cost-effective, if you are going for a diplomatic victory.
edited to add 4 - "And you have the option for a Great Prophet of only using 3 of the spreads and then gifting it in lieu of using the last spread." - should not have forgotten this. You can also gift stolen Great Prophets. Both very effective and cost effective.
Others have mentioned that Sweden synergizes well with a warlike approach, given how awesome their Caroleans are, so the first way capitalizes on their advantages the most. Keep in mind that all the warriors/swords/longswords/muskets you build, as well as all the Caroleans you build, will get the free March as you upgrade them. Beeline Plastics (which you probably do anyway) for a frightening Infantry army. (Which is why I suggested them for the melee-only challenge.)
Hak
Chieftain
I've finished my first Sweden game yesterday, and won it with ease. However, I went for a peaceful approach and won with a diplomatic victory, unlike the other people in this thread.
Played a Pangaea map, Standard size (the game before this one, I played with 8 CSs, and I forgot to change this back.. Washington settled his capital 7 tiles away from mine, so I figured I had no choice but to attack him sooner or later. Conquring America only made England hate me, which was very good. Had some nice friends during the beginning and middle of the game (Spain, Japan and Germany), with Germany suddenly denouncing me during the mid-game and Spain actually going to war with me around the same time. Japan was the only true friend until the end, when he got gobbled up by Egypt when I was in the Modern Era. Liberated 2 cities of Japan, and continued to liberate Kathmandu as well. During this time, Spain came around to wipe Japan from the planet for a second time.The UN voting started right after that and gave me the win, getting votes from every CS and Spain.
I was the first to a religion, which helped me so much in winning. Fertility Rites, Tithe, Swords Into Plowshares and Itinerant Preachers made sure I quickly got a big city and had a lot of money to spend. Eventually ended up with a capital with 45 pop, and them working all the specialist slots that were available. Great People popped up every 10 turns, and I won the game with 7 GP still sleeping around the capital.
Took Tradition, Patronage and Freedom first, followed the remaining policies with Rationalism. Should have gone with Rationalism first, since Secularism easily gave me 300 bpt. Ended the game with around 1200 bpt.
Played a Pangaea map, Standard size (the game before this one, I played with 8 CSs, and I forgot to change this back.. Washington settled his capital 7 tiles away from mine, so I figured I had no choice but to attack him sooner or later. Conquring America only made England hate me, which was very good. Had some nice friends during the beginning and middle of the game (Spain, Japan and Germany), with Germany suddenly denouncing me during the mid-game and Spain actually going to war with me around the same time. Japan was the only true friend until the end, when he got gobbled up by Egypt when I was in the Modern Era. Liberated 2 cities of Japan, and continued to liberate Kathmandu as well. During this time, Spain came around to wipe Japan from the planet for a second time.The UN voting started right after that and gave me the win, getting votes from every CS and Spain.
I was the first to a religion, which helped me so much in winning. Fertility Rites, Tithe, Swords Into Plowshares and Itinerant Preachers made sure I quickly got a big city and had a lot of money to spend. Eventually ended up with a capital with 45 pop, and them working all the specialist slots that were available. Great People popped up every 10 turns, and I won the game with 7 GP still sleeping around the capital.
Took Tradition, Patronage and Freedom first, followed the remaining policies with Rationalism. Should have gone with Rationalism first, since Secularism easily gave me 300 bpt. Ended the game with around 1200 bpt.
Seabastian Civ
King
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2012
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- 608
Winning a diplomatic victory is easy when youre rich! Sweden doesnt have any real advantage here, since with enough cash flow you can buy 90 influence for a mere ~2000 gold.
the best way to sum Sweden up is as a warmongering Nebuchadnezzar. generating great scientists with ur ua to get to the UN. u have to play the diplomacy game, denouncing anny troublemakers or civs likely to beat u to a vc. all the while using ur great generals to give u instant allies with city states. u can go tall or wide, tbh what ever will give u a better start. Sweden's uu's are pretty much terminators as well.
