Brazil Strategy

[Tyrus]

I've played about 6-7 games as Brazil lately, going for that Cultural VC. I haven't finished any yet as I've kept restarting while I hone my strategy. I'm a mediocre Civ player, but I think the core of this strategy is fun and strong, and I'd like to hear some feedback on it.

1. Build Monument, Build Shrine, take Tradition and Sacred Path (jungle Pantheon)
2. Build Settler, get two Libraries and NC by T90
3. Research Drama & Poetry and get Guild in time for first Golden Age
4. Place first Great Work in your Legalism Amphitheater during Golden Age
5. Research Aqueducts while finishing Tradition, get Hanging Gardens
6. Get Chichen Itza while heading for Education, feast on jungle beakers
7. Get Machinery, then Acoustics, build MANY Brazilwood Camps
8. Have 4 cities by end of Medieval Era, Market and Bank in jungle cities
9. Get Sistine Chapel, use GE to rush Taj Mahal and hard-build Uffizi
10. Use Oxford to pop Industrialization while researching SciTheory (or vise versa)
11. Use gold influx to rush-buy science and production buildings
12. Pick Freedom, choose Volunteer Army
13. Get Plastics and upgrade the six Foreign Legions into Pracinhas
14. Invade or defend, while racking up points for Golden Ages
15. Maintain a never-ending Golden Age by using up Great Artists/fighting with Legion-promoted Pracinhas
16. Get Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty
17. Invade Cultural leader?
18. Win through Tourism

* Ignore religion, let everyone give you theirs.
* Explore the map ASAP to start influencing Civs early, and get Borders/Routes up with them.

IN SHORT: Hanging Gardens, Chichen Itza, Brazilwood, Volunteer Army, x6 Pracinhas, Invade Cuture Leader (Cultural Victory with teeth)

Like I said, I'm not great at this game and this is a rough outline, any pointers or advice on how to refine this into something more optimal? I run this on Emperor, I don't know if it works on higher levels or in MP. I tried to work out a strat that maximizes Brazil's advantages. Any tips on Brazil in general would help a lot, I'm going to start another game and try and finish it this time.

 

[reddishrecue]

That strategy is so familiar since I've done it before once. I got a DoW from the Shoshone who was next to me, so I used pracinhas against comanche riders/ bazooka and artillery. I moved teched into nanotechnology and rocketry to obtain xcom squad and rocket artillery.

 

[Heretiv]

Are you sure you need to do settler with tradition?
I find just growing the capital, getting NC then expanding works ok for me.

 

[kb27787]

Difficulty level?....... Emperor huh... (depending on your early game, some wonders might be a stretch)
But ignoring religion is a huge mistake; it is very obtainable on Emperor, esp if your terrain allows a faith-generating pantheon and chances are, you can buy one or two great musicians with the faith you make, which will bring you more tourism than a couple of extra great works can.

Esp. do not waste your GE on Taj Mahal; that wonder is next to worthless when compared to PT.

you know, you won't win CV without hotels and/or airports.... you need to tech one of them...

Also, for ideology, your 2nd level tenet should be +50% to golden age instead of volunteer army; sure conquering is fun but cities late game are so huge they take FOREVER to come out of resistance that you could've ended the game more efficiently if you left the AIs alone. And 6 prachinhas cannot conquer the world by themselves anyway.

 

[Tyrus]

Difficulty level?....... Emperor huh... (depending on your early game, some wonders might be a stretch)
But ignoring religion is a huge mistake; it is very obtainable on Emperor, esp if your terrain allows a faith-generating pantheon and chances are, you can buy one or two great musicians with the faith you make, which will bring you more tourism than a couple of extra great works can.

Esp. do not waste your GE on Taj Mahal; that wonder is next to worthless when compared to PT.

you know, you won't win CV without hotels and/or airports.... you need to tech one of them...

Also, for ideology, your 2nd level tenet should be +50% to golden age instead of volunteer army; sure conquering is fun but cities late game are so huge they take FOREVER to come out of resistance that you could've ended the game more efficiently if you left the AIs alone. And 6 prachinhas cannot conquer the world by themselves anyway.

I ignore religion because the AI is so NUTS about converting my cities that I don't find it worth it to have one. Remember, you get a 15% Tourism modifier from shared religion, and I find it easier to just let them spread it to me than to defend my religion while spreading it to others. I use my GP's to make Holy Sites, I do get the Faith buildings but only to faith-buy religious buildings (from other religions) and Great People.

I agree that I was taking Volunteer Army too fast, in my next game I'll take it after Universal Suffrage. The thing is, the Pracinhas tend to come after I'm in my perma Golden Age.

I take the Taj because I have Chichen Itza, and because the Golden Age lets me generate my next GA faster to pop another Golden Age, and I'm much more likely to get a hard-built Uffizi. Do you still think it's not worth it?

About the Great Musicians, I usually turn them into Great Works since I get double the Tourism (with Golden Age) and triple with theming bonus (quadruple after finishing Aesthetics). IIRC, concert tours average about +100 Tourism and +20 Tourism to each other civ, while I make about +6 to +8 Tourism per turn by turning him into a Great Work as Brazil.

I wonder if Autocracy is not the best Ideology to get as Brazil, and focus on mobilizing during the Industrial era to take out the culture leaders?

 

[megabearsfan]

I recently posted a lengthy strategy blog about Brazil: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=517542

I encourage you to check it out and let me know if it helped you!

 

[joncnunn]

I've played about 6-7 games as Brazil lately, going for that Cultural VC. I haven't finished any yet as I've kept restarting while I hone my strategy. I'm a mediocre Civ player, but I think the core of this strategy is fun and strong, and I'd like to hear some feedback on it.

1. Build Monument, Build Shrine, take Tradition and Sacred Path (jungle Pantheon)
2. Build Settler, get two Libraries and NC by T90

5. Research Aqueducts while finishing Tradition, get Hanging Gardens
6. Get Chichen Itza while heading for Education, feast on jungle beakers

8. Have 4 cities by end of Medieval Era, Market and Bank in jungle cities
9. Get Sistine Chapel, use GE to rush Taj Mahal and hard-build Uffizi
10. Use Oxford to pop Industrialization while researching SciTheory (or vise versa)

12. Pick Freedom, choose Volunteer Army
13. Get Plastics and upgrade the six Foreign Legions into Pracinhas

* Ignore religion, let everyone give you theirs.

#1A: You're better off skipping the Monument going tradition. Unless on an island map, most players would pick a Scout.
#1C: Sometimes there are better pantheons. Sometimes there will be a lot of bananas (Sun God) and the jungle bias doesn't rule out having a mining luxury as your primary luxury either

#2: Shoot for turn 70 NC but don't be surprised if it slips into the 80s; shoot to use cash to buy second library. If the start is so bad it's really going to take until turn 90 even for a two city NC, there is a chance that a third city wouldn't slow it down. Very map dependent.

#5: On high difficulty levels (Immortal + ), Hanging Gardens extremely unreliable; AI will beat you. Plus a single food cargo ship to your capital provides just as much food and is much cheaper anyway.

#6: Also on high difficulty levels (Immortal +), it's an unreliable world wonder.

#8: End of Medievil is kind of late to be founding the fourth city unless there really wasn't a good fourth city near you.

#9: Again, on high difficulty levels (Immortal+), all are unreliable [other than ones via GE], opening Aesthetics is popular with the AI.

#10: Actually on the early side; especially because I assume this is for ideology; having coal is unreliable even with a jungle start. You are much better off saving Oxford for early entry to Modern era for ideology (Radio)

#12: Looks like you are going cultural; pick the tenet that boosts guild specialist spawn rate to go with it.

With the pantheon specified under tradition (or any other that doesn't produce faith ); yeah religion is going to end up being skipped. But you might have a massive amount of Gems instead which with +2 faith each from Tears of the God would allow you to found a religion without even going for one.

Going cultural, you will want to complete Aesthetics. Also, if you get a tech lead early enough open Exploration for the Louvre.

 

[Tyrus]

#1A: You're better off skipping the Monument going tradition. Unless on an island map, most players would pick a Scout.
#1C: Sometimes there are better pantheons. Sometimes there will be a lot of bananas (Sun God) and the jungle bias doesn't rule out having a mining luxury as your primary luxury either

I take the Monument after I build a Scout, so I have an Amphitheater in my cap when my first Golden Age hits. I'm busy building other things at that time so that's why.

#2: Shoot for turn 70 NC but don't be surprised if it slips into the 80s; shoot to use cash to buy second library. If the start is so bad it's really going to take until turn 90 even for a two city NC, there is a chance that a third city wouldn't slow it down. Very map dependent.

#5: On high difficulty levels (Immortal + ), Hanging Gardens extremely unreliable; AI will beat you. Plus a single food cargo ship to your capital provides just as much food and is much cheaper anyway.

I manage to get it on Emperor every time, duly noted though, for when I move up.

#6: Also on high difficulty levels (Immortal +), it's an unreliable world wonder.

#8: End of Medievil is kind of late to be founding the fourth city unless there really wasn't a good fourth city near you.

#9: Again, on high difficulty levels (Immortal+), all are unreliable [other than ones via GE], opening Aesthetics is popular with the AI.

#10: Actually on the early side; especially because I assume this is for ideology; having coal is unreliable even with a jungle start. You are much better off saving Oxford for early entry to Modern era for ideology (Radio)

I try and build 3 factories to get my Ideology, with Brazilwood Camps I usually am bursting with gold at that point and can easily rush-buy multiple factories. If no coal I use aforementioned gold to have a city-state connect it for me.

#12: Looks like you are going cultural; pick the tenet that boosts guild specialist spawn rate to go with it.

Yes, my first two tenets are Avant Garde and Civil Society, then the Golden Age tier two, then Volunteer Army for second tier two.

With the pantheon specified under tradition (or any other that doesn't produce faith ); yeah religion is going to end up being skipped. But you might have a massive amount of Gems instead which with +2 faith each from Tears of the God would allow you to found a religion without even going for one.

Going cultural, you will want to complete Aesthetics. Also, if you get a tech lead early enough open Exploration for the Louvre.

Why is the Louvre so great? I tend to skip it in favor of other things like Eiffel. In fact I get Archaeology very late.

Responded in quote above. ^^

I just won a Cultural Victory as Brazil on a 6-player map on Emperor. It was far easier than I thought, I could have won by Industrial had I disposed of England, but decided to wait it out and got the win at around turn 300, and I wasn't even trying by the end of it.

I used to think Brazil was weak, but with Golden Ages it's like having Internet in the Classical Era. The Tourism I racked up during the early turns seriously paid dividends. If anyone picked anything other than Freedom for their Ideology their citizens would flip out.

Liking Brazil at the moment.

 

[kb27787]

I ignore religion because the AI is so NUTS about converting my cities that I don't find it worth it to have one. Remember, you get a 15% Tourism modifier from shared religion, and I find it easier to just let them spread it to me than to defend my religion while spreading it to others. I use my GP's to make Holy Sites, I do get the Faith buildings but only to faith-buy religious buildings (from other religions) and Great People.

I agree that I was taking Volunteer Army too fast, in my next game I'll take it after Universal Suffrage. The thing is, the Pracinhas tend to come after I'm in my perma Golden Age.

I take the Taj because I have Chichen Itza, and because the Golden Age lets me generate my next GA faster to pop another Golden Age, and I'm much more likely to get a hard-built Uffizi. Do you still think it's not worth it?

About the Great Musicians, I usually turn them into Great Works since I get double the Tourism (with Golden Age) and triple with theming bonus (quadruple after finishing Aesthetics). IIRC, concert tours average about +100 Tourism and +20 Tourism to each other civ, while I make about +6 to +8 Tourism per turn by turning him into a Great Work as Brazil.

I wonder if Autocracy is not the best Ideology to get as Brazil, and focus on mobilizing during the Industrial era to take out the culture leaders?

(your religion need only be for your capitol... your holy city. They can convert the satellites for the shared religion bonus, but having divine inspiration is important)

again more likely to get Uffizi? (I wonder if you cherry pick your opponents to be Shaka and Genghis) AIs LOVE Uffizi. (and porcelain tower beats those two wonders hands down anyway); a Taj Mahal gives you a GA, but a single free great artist does the same thing (and so Louvre, in theory, is better even)

You want to spawn your GMs after internet and during a golden age anyway. Then just bomb away. Early GMs are a waste and simply increase the cost of the next GM.

You can forget about building your own wonders if you plan to warmonger anyway. Pick autocracy only if you want to win by stealing other people's works, in which case, your previous culture/wonder-focused, non-science focus play would've been pointless.

Anyway on emperor anything works so it's fine... the AI is incompetent enough that some of them will still be in medieval while you hit industrial, in which case there is simply no need for strategy.

 

[Tyrus]

You want to spawn your GMs after internet and during a golden age anyway. Then just bomb away. Early GMs are a waste and simply increase the cost of the next GM.

Does the Tourism bomb benefit from the 100% Golden Age modifier? Does it benefit from any of the modifiers?

I have been building Broadway and filling it with Great Works of Music, perhaps it is better to bomb with them if they do get the Golden Age modifier though...

I was also not aware that if you found a religion you can still get the shared religion bonus if you let them spread their religion to your satellite cities.

The thing I like about Cultural Victories is that it lets you win as early as you can manage, unlike Science and Diplomatic which require late-game techs to unlock. I've just been trying to win ASAP with culture, and with Brazil's UA to replace Internet, I've come close several times.

 

[Furret]

Does the Tourism bomb benefit from the 100% Golden Age modifier? Does it benefit from any of the modifiers?

Musicians spawn with 10x the tourism output on the top part of the UI. I haven't played brazil in a long time so I don't know if golden ages double the number on the UI bar (like internet) or just appears as a +100% modifier in the Influence by Player screen (like open borders).

I rarely build my musician's guild until late atomic/early info era to make sure I don't spawn any before Internet. After that (depending on my wonders/policies) I can usually spawn 3 within 10-30 turns of building the musician's guild. Of course if you've managed to generate and save a lot of faith, there's some more musicians. After Internet each should be popping for 5000+, you should have no problem solidifying a culture victory.