Culture Victory Help

msawchuk

Chieftain
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
85
With Brave New World changing culture victories, I decided to try using the current culture victory for once. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was horrible, and even though I could get a science victory on immortal, I couldn't even win a culture victory on emperor (and it was difficult even on king). How does one go about getting a culture victory? I've spent so many games focusing on science that it seems impossible. I know almost nothing about doing well culturally. I've had a few major questions.

How do you start off? Do you build an early wonder? Do you expand rapidly or focus on growth first?

How do you stay at decent science? Do you work science specialists? Do you focus on science techs almost as much as culture ones?

What tech path do you take? Do you go straight for amphitheaters? Do you go for an early NC? Do you go for a certain wonder tech?

What civs are strongest for a culture victory? I know that Siam is strong, but other than that I am not sure.

What are some times that I should try to go for? I'm not looking for really fast policy times that a strong culture player would get (such as finish first tree by _, or finish Freedom by _), but times that are reasonable for someone like me. I've heard of one policy per ten turns, but does that apply for the whole game? Or just the middle? Or the end?

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers a question.
 
You want to play the first 100 turns nearly the same as a science game. Rush to Education and staff the universities. After Education, your game will drastically diverge as you'll be rushing to Archaeology and Radio. Each city you found should get a wonder in it to get the 33% boost from Piety. You might need to use GE's to accomplish this for your weaker cities. A religion is important so you can get cathedrals to staff.

The wonders that are important for a CV are: Oracle, Alhambra, CI, Louvre, and Pisa. Terracotta Army is nice if you can get it. Alhambra and CI can be difficult to obtain depending on what level you're playing on.

10 policies every 10 turns is an average. It'll probably be slower in the beginning and faster at the end.

You should read Kirbdog's culture guide. There's a lot to culture victories that I didn't cover.

EDIT: Another important wonder is the Sistine Chapel. No idea how I forgot that one...
 
As unresolved said, you want to play very similar to SV for the first 100 ish turns. Slight exception being that you absolutely want not to miss out of Oracle.

I don't know about Immortal benchmarks, but on deity, Alhambra is near impossible to get even with a godly petra start and sub turn 100 education. The game is winnable without it though. It is most important the fewer cities you plant/annex. However, once up to 4+ cities, the net impact of Alhambra isn't nearly as substantial.

Late game culture is significantly more important than early game. Unlike science, there isn't much a snowball effect from early culture spam. Closing trad or liberty early helps (use GE to pop a wonder in a city you otherwise wouldn't manage for the 33% boost in piety).

I tend to find Pisa also a very important wonder because a free GE allows to get a wonder in an additional city for the 33% piety boost.

Anyway, your goal is to catch and pass/stick near AI in tech up until late industrial and then lag behind as you have all of the absolutely essential culture tech and quit working scientists all together and spam next turn.
 
Thanks or the advice. After these two posts and reading Kirbdog's guide, I feel like I might actually be able to do this. I realized that I focused too much on early culture and not enough on growth and science. I would rush to amphitheaters and build them first thing in new cities. I also realized that it is important to build so many wonders. I would often skip Terracotta army, I never got a wonder in cities other than my capital.
 
The best civ for a cultural victory (and a strong civ anyway) is ethiopia. your monument provides faith, so you're very likely to found a religion first. Choose a pantheon that provides culture. Especially if you have some wine/incense or gold/silver nearby. Otherwise maybe choose god of the open sky or oral traditions if you have lots of pastures or plantations. Choose tithe as founder belief, and spread it to citystates and other religions.

pick an additional building (mosque, cathedral) that provides some culture. also choose religious community for the additional production. if you're feeling insecure, defender of the faith as last enhancement

The oracle and the the sixtine chapel you must have. preferably terracotta army, leaning tower and the louvre too. Piety and freedom are obvious choices. You need to get happines as high as possible.

Ally with as much cultural CS as possible, and some military to give you a unit. offcours spread your faith to them.
 
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