Civ Discussion - Bulgaria

[bengalryan9]

Second on our list of exploration age civilizations to discuss is Bulgaria. Bulgaria is an expansionist and militaristic civilization with a starting bias towards rough terrain. Their associated wonder is Rila Monastery, which gives +4 culture, 3 relic slots, and grants a free relic anytime you build a wonder (including itself). Bulgaria can be unlocked by playing as Greece or Persia; they can also be unlocked if you have 3 altars in the antiquity age. Playing as Bulgaria automatically unlocks Russia in the modern age. They also have a kickin’ soundtrack (but not the best of the age, we’ll get there later).

Bulgaria’s unique ability is Krum’s Dynasty, which gives production in all cities when pillaging buildings and improvements equal to 50% of the yield or HP gained. On the other side of the coin, all military units receive -3 CS against districts with medieval walls.
Their unique military unit is the Bolyar, a courser replacement that ignores movement penalties and enemy combat strength bonuses on rough terrain. They also get +3 CS themselves when fighting in rough terrain.
Their unique civilian unit is the Tarkhan, a unique commander that allows units in its command radius to pillage for 1 movement point (I think this was changed?)
Their unique infrastructure is the Hidden Fortress. It gives +4 production, grants stealth to units on the tile, counts as a fortification, and gives +3 CS as well. It can only be built on rough terrain and cannot be next to another hidden fortress.

Bulgarian civics:
Seven Tribes – unlocks the Hidden Fortress and the False Retreat tradition. At mastery it gives all your units +5 CS if you have at least 5 relics on display.
Tarnovo Schools – unlocks the Rila Monastery and gives +2 happiness on the Hidden Fortress in settlements with a temple. At mastery it unlocks the Iconolatry tradition.
Tsarstvie – spawns 2 migrants in the capital and gives the Hidden Fortress +2 culture for every adjacent mountain tile. At mastery it unlocks the Strategems tradition and gives +1 settlement limit.

Bulgarian traditions:
False Retreat – when pillaging buildings, all cities receive food equal to a percentage of the yield gained. All combat units receive decreased CS against fortified districts.
Iconolatry – great works provide increased happiness and gold
Strategems – increased HP and yields from pillaging

Thoughts on the Bulgarians? Strong, weak, or just right? Do you like them or hate them? What leaders pair well with them, and which victory paths are good fits? Who do you look to transition to in the modern age?

 

[bengalryan9]

I only played Bulgaria once (and I think that was pre-nerf) as they don't really fit my usual playstyle, but I thought they were fun. Obviously the name of the game is to pillage, pillage, pillage, and so they kind of remind me of a land-based version of Civ 6's Norway in that regard. They can be pretty scary when on the offensive, though, as it can be hard to bring down all that HP they're likely to have from pillaging. I don't remember really having any issue with the malus towards city walls in my game, but it was a few months back so I may be mis-remembering.

I think I'd like to try a game with them going down the cultural path. Rila Monastery is a pretty good wonder IMO, so it might be fun to try to leverage that to complete that path while taking advantage of Iconolatry. Maybe focus on getting some really strong hidden fortresses too (Greece also starts with a Rough terrain bias... but I'd want mountains nearby as well...). Do some pillaging but no capturing cities. Might be interesting.

Charlemagne seems like a match made in heaven for Bulgaria. When I played Bulgaria the first time I was using Xerxes (King of Kings), which is also a pretty good fit. I would imagine Genghis Khan will be a perfect fit as well even though we have no clue what his ability is (it has to be related to mounted units, right?). Catherine might be a sneaky good pick if you really want to go after relics. I think Harriet Tubman makes sense, too, as the fact she gives you a free +5 war support means your armies of pillagers are going to be even harder to get rid of.

 

[Lord Lakely]

I've wanted this Civ for a while. While I think the design leans a bit too heavily into the first empire and less into the Golden Age, it's a solid, in-character design. Bulgaria is littered with hard to reach mountain fortresses, and the Bulgars were raiders before settling down as an organised christian empire.

It's a really good kit. Bulgaria is excellent at disruption and turning it into advantage. Free growh and production in every settlement results in so much RCI if you use one of your neighbours as a punching bag.

The Hidden Fortress is a fantastic improvement. +4 Production on a Mine is very strong. One of those improvements you never replace for any reason. Stacking production high is difficult but if you spawned in a Rough Terrain biome you can become the Exploration Age wonder hog, which synergizes with Rila.

Very, very reliable and strong Civ. Easy A tier for the era in my mind.

 

[pjotroos]

I've not played that much since the 2.0 rebalancing, so I may be missing some other standouts, but Bulgars (alongside Abbasid) are the clear top tier of Exploration era for me.

I don't normally play heavy military, but their kit is too good to pass up on, and it synergises really well with their unique commander, which isn't always the case. The amounts of food and production you get are frankly absurd. Being able to essentially guarantee Rila is also lovely.

They pair really nicely with Fredrich Baroque. I have just finished an exploration era game with with 50/12 relics collected.

 

[Navelgazer]

Another player who hasn't played that much with Bulgaria, but they sure were good when I did. The CS malus vs. Medieval Walls, combined with the myriad bonuses to pillaging and incentives for settling in mountainous areas, makes for a very interesting exploration age strategy of no warring for conquest, but rather settling in areas that the AI might not, and fighting to pillage so as to build up your own cities. Rila is one of the most essential wonders, and can be tricky to get, since the AI knows it too, so the bonus to that one is nice to be sure (and Bulgaria can get more use out of it than other civs with the Iconolatry tradition.)

Charlemagne, Catherine and Tubman are great with this civ, as has been mentioned. I'd add Pachacuti, who loves the mountains that you want to be settling as Bulgaria (though you'll probably always choose Inca as Pachacuti in Exploration) and Confucius, who loves to play tall, with lots of cities, which benefits Bulgaria as well (since the pillaging bonuses don't apply to towns.)

One of the fun things about Bulgaria is that they're a very easy unlock. Three altars is nothing, after all, and I think I almost always unlock them without trying. This means that you can try lots of different combos in Antiquity to lead into them. On the other hand, perhaps the most fun thing to do with them in Modern is to evolve them into Buganda (thus taking those pillaging traditions with you), which is a lot trickier.

Fun civ, well-designed, and I should make a point to play with them some more.

 

[Sagax]

Everything I have to say about Bulgaria can be summed up by this video. Also, I can’t find the video, but apparently, according to Ursa, it was possible to win with Bulgarian traditions in Modern in…. 2 turns? That was pre-nerf, though.

As a fan of spamming Unique Improvements, I like setting up Bulgaria with Greece and their rough terrain bias. Gives you solid, whatever-pumping settlements powered by Hidden Fortresses.

If you want to reliably transition into Buganda, just pick Amina as your leader. Guaranteed Buganda unlock, and her combat bonuses do play into Bulgaria’s military strength.

 

[bengalryan9]

Everything I have to say about Bulgaria can be summed up by this video. Also, I can’t find the video, but apparently, according to Ursa, it was possible to win with Bulgarian traditions in Modern in…. 2 turns? That was pre-nerf, though.

As a fan of spamming Unique Improvements, I like setting up Bulgaria with Greece and their rough terrain bias. Gives you solid, whatever-pumping settlements powered by Hidden Fortresses.

If you want to reliably transition into Buganda, just pick Amina as your leader. Guaranteed Buganda unlock, and her combat bonuses do play into Bulgaria’s military strength.

As the one person on this website to downplay Greece and Xenia I will admit this is one situation where it makes a lot of sense - if you're pillaging all your neighbors to take advantage of Bulgaria's traits you'll definitely benefit from anything that saves you influence.

 

[disjointaccount]

Bulgaria are fantastic. (Almost) free pillaging is amazing, and can get absolutely ridiculous once you start stacking bonuses (though you'll pribably have to conquer Mausoleum off someone since you definitely didn't build it). Not to mention the additonal food and production bonuses. Unique cav are great too.

Strongest exploration war civ by a pretty significant margin, for me (and one of the best in explo full stop). Mongolia I honestly find to be a massive letdown because the changes to the legacy path actually make it way harder to hit and the Keshig is nowhere near as good as the Tarkhan/Bolyar combo. Only one that would come close would Norman, for the sheer strength of the chevaliers.

I think Bulgaria are a good example of a civ that's strong but not overpowered. There are aspects of their kit which are absolutely top-tier, but then other aspects which are accordingly weaker. The Hidden Fortress is nice enough, but definitely low-ranking when considering all the UIs of the exploration age. But that's fine, because Bulgaria's power is so heavily centred around their potential for conquest + pillaging.

Oh, and their production bonus towards a really strong, hotly-contested wonder is super nice.

 

[Leucarum]

They are a really good Civ, with mechanics that a player can abuse in the most hilarious way possible, while the AI doesn't... So that's a design win. They aren't my playstyle - neither was Norway in Civ6.

What does need to be pointed out more strongly though is that they have one of the best soundtracks in Civ7. Easily S tier music.

 

[reddishrecue]

I tried them out and it felt like I was playing any other civ. I didnt do anything but sitting duck strategy on viceroy. I went for religion and spread it as much as I can. I don't remember exactly what beliefs I had but I didnt have space for all my relics and lost around 6 of them before the next age. I should've conquered more but I just didn't... idk I wasn't motivated or something. Anyway, I had 9 relics on display but it wasn't enough. I did poorly

 

[evonannoredars]

Definitely an S-tier civ. Currently haven't got any leaders that pair uniquely well imo, though a Leader with some pillaging bonus could become overpowered alongside their existing powerful pillaging bonuses, so I'm curious how they'd go about balancing their ability sets.

Rila Monastery icl I don't think is as powerful as people make it out to be though - missionaries get more relics for less production and without needing to race for a highly contested wonder. The free relics are a neat little bonus if you can get it, but nothing amazing.

 

[Siptah]

Rila Monastery icl I don't think is as powerful as people make it out to be though - missionaries get more relics for less production and without needing to race for a highly contested wonder. The free relics are a neat little bonus if you can get it, but nothing amazing.

Tbh this is not just about efficiency for me. With the new belief that gives you relics for converting your own cities, Rila is just very convenient, because it means you can get the required relics for the legacy path without much hassle. Just convert your cities, research the relic civics/techs, and get 2 or so from Rila. It's the least tiresome way to complete this path imho. And if you also manage to grab the production from cities following your religion, even better.

I'm not sure we need a leader that pairs well with an additional pillaging bonus. If we ever get a Norse leader, they might get pillaging bonuses from boats or so, which might complement Bulgaria's pillaging bonuses, but Bulgaria's pillaging is already tuned to the max. I think they pair nicely with Napoleon's extra movement on all units. Otherwise, Charlemagne (and I presume also Genghis, but haven't played him yet) is a good pick.

 

[reddishrecue]

Tbh this is not just about efficiency for me. With the new belief that gives you relics for converting your own cities, Rila is just very convenient, because it means you can get the required relics for the legacy path without much hassle. Just convert your cities, research the relic civics/techs, and get 2 or so from Rila. It's the least tiresome way to complete this path imho. And if you also manage to grab the production from cities following your religion, even better.

I'm not sure we need a leader that pairs well with an additional pillaging bonus. If we ever get a Norse leader, they might get pillaging bonuses from boats or so, which might complement Bulgaria's pillaging bonuses, but Bulgaria's pillaging is already tuned to the max. I think they pair nicely with Napoleon's extra movement on all units. Otherwise, Charlemagne (and I presume also Genghis, but haven't played him yet) is a good pick.

Idk, it's a wise pick to go for at the beginning and it provides the extra space for relics, but it still wouldn't be enough sometimes because there's other beliefs out there that enhance religion in a way that give more space for relics. Also, AIs usually go for wonders like these early particularly in the higher levels.

 

[evonannoredars]

I'm not sure we need a leader that pairs well with an additional pillaging bonus. If we ever get a Norse leader, they might get pillaging bonuses from boats or so, which might complement Bulgaria's pillaging bonuses, but Bulgaria's pillaging is already tuned to the max. I think they pair nicely with Napoleon's extra movement on all units. Otherwise, Charlemagne (and I presume also Genghis, but haven't played him yet) is a good pick.

Aye, was also thinking if we do get a pillaging-themed leader that smth to do with boats would be a suitable way to complement but avoid directly buffing Bulgaria and Buganda's land-pillaging. perhaps the leaked Edward Teach leader's ability might do exactly that (though my money's more on smth to do w capturing civilian units)