Rebel Fighter
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2012
- Messages
- 94
Ahh, the Ice Age.
The land of glaciers, tundra, and of course, snowball fights. This map script in Civilization 5 (and others like it, such as Boreal and Tilted Axis) forces the player to think of new strategies in order to survive the harsh and freezing landscape. While on most other maps you're relaxing on the beach with a lemonade in your hand, on Ice Age, you're being attacked by an army of penguins.
"I didn't choose thug life; thug life chose me."
Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures in order to ensure you'll survive till spring. I am going to tell you my usual strategy for this map.
This is how we'll break it down.
First, choose Hiawatha from the Iroquois as your civilization. Build a scout to look for ruins (faith ruins, if you're lucky), then research pottery. When your scout is finished, start building a monument. As soon as pottery is complete, immediately halt building your monument and start constructing a shrine. After you finish your shrine, go ahead and finish your monument as well. When you get enough faith for a Pantheon, there are a few beliefs in particular you will want to consider:
Dance of the Aurora: +1
from Tundra tiles without Forest
Fertility Rites: 10% faster
Growth Rate
God of the Sea: +1
from Fishing Boats
Goddess of the Hunt: +1 from Camps
Religious Settlements: +15% faster border growth
Stone Circles: +2 from Quarries
Just by looking at these, you can probably tell that some of them are better than others, and you're right. However, I decided to list all of these beliefs because other people will probably get the same idea to rush , and you may have to settle for less than the best. In my opinion, your best shot depends on what you are going for.
If you want to be religion-focused with a strong base, you should definitely get Dance of the Aurora. However, if this is taken, your second best choice is Stone Circles (if there is Stone or Marble nearby of course, although they are usually pretty prevalent on this map).
If you want your civilization to grow fast, you should invest in Goddess of the Hunt (when there is a lot of Deer). However, if there are sparse resources, then it would probably be wiser to just go with Fertility Rites instead.
If you have spawned next to a lot of marine resources (which happens quite often on Ice Age), then it may be a good idea to get God of the Sea.
If none of the above work for you, then you would probably do well with Religious Settlements. It will help you grab the tiles you need faster, which is always important on a map where good land is hard to come by.
Once you choose your Pantheon, it won't be long till you can choose a social policy. I would recommend going Liberty so you can settle the good land faster, but Tradition can also work to get that extra food.
As far as your techs go, I would recommend getting Trapping and Construction as soon as possible. When you get Trapping, improve Deer with Camps as soon as possible, and build a Granary to get more food from them (this part works really well if you get Goddess of the Hunt as your Pantheon belief). After you research Construction, build Lumber Mills on Forest tiles at your discretion (sometimes you may want to tear the Forest down for a farm).
Once this is complete, you will want to research Philosophy to get a National College and Currency to improve your gold income with Markets. After this is done, beeline for Metal Casting. When you have finished researching the tech, build Longhouses in your cities. This will make you a production powerhouse if you settled the right land and improved it correctly.
By now you should have settled a few cities and have a good well-rounded empire. From here on out, it would be smart to go for a Domination victory, or maybe even try your luck at a Science Victory. Since your cities will have so much production, building a strong military will be surprisingly easy, even on a harsh map like this (make sure to use those Mohawks to your advantage!). Getting a Science Victory may be more difficult because the lack of good land for food, but hey, anything can happen.
I hope you learned something from this strategy. How can I improve or elaborate on it? Or do you have a strategy of your own?
Whatever it is, if you plan your civilization correctly, all your foes will come begging for their lives. But there can only be one winner, and that winner will be you.
"I'm afraid my condition has left me cold to your pleas of mercy! Haha!"
Thanks for readings and have a good day!
The land of glaciers, tundra, and of course, snowball fights. This map script in Civilization 5 (and others like it, such as Boreal and Tilted Axis) forces the player to think of new strategies in order to survive the harsh and freezing landscape. While on most other maps you're relaxing on the beach with a lemonade in your hand, on Ice Age, you're being attacked by an army of penguins.
"I didn't choose thug life; thug life chose me."
Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures in order to ensure you'll survive till spring. I am going to tell you my usual strategy for this map.
This is how we'll break it down.
First, choose Hiawatha from the Iroquois as your civilization. Build a scout to look for ruins (faith ruins, if you're lucky), then research pottery. When your scout is finished, start building a monument. As soon as pottery is complete, immediately halt building your monument and start constructing a shrine. After you finish your shrine, go ahead and finish your monument as well. When you get enough faith for a Pantheon, there are a few beliefs in particular you will want to consider:
Dance of the Aurora: +1
from Tundra tiles without ForestFertility Rites: 10% faster
Growth RateGod of the Sea: +1
from Fishing BoatsGoddess of the Hunt: +1
from CampsReligious Settlements: +15% faster border growth
Stone Circles: +2
from QuarriesJust by looking at these, you can probably tell that some of them are better than others, and you're right. However, I decided to list all of these beliefs because other people will probably get the same idea to rush
, and you may have to settle for less than the best. In my opinion, your best shot depends on what you are going for. If you want to be religion-focused with a strong
base, you should definitely get Dance of the Aurora. However, if this is taken, your second best choice is Stone Circles (if there is Stone or Marble nearby of course, although they are usually pretty prevalent on this map).If you want your civilization to grow fast, you should invest in Goddess of the Hunt (when there is a lot of Deer). However, if there are sparse resources, then it would probably be wiser to just go with Fertility Rites instead.
If you have spawned next to a lot of marine resources (which happens quite often on Ice Age), then it may be a good idea to get God of the Sea.
If none of the above work for you, then you would probably do well with Religious Settlements. It will help you grab the tiles you need faster, which is always important on a map where good land is hard to come by.
Once you choose your Pantheon, it won't be long till you can choose a social policy. I would recommend going Liberty so you can settle the good land faster, but Tradition can also work to get that extra food.
As far as your techs go, I would recommend getting Trapping and Construction as soon as possible. When you get Trapping, improve Deer with Camps as soon as possible, and build a Granary to get more food from them (this part works really well if you get Goddess of the Hunt as your Pantheon belief). After you research Construction, build Lumber Mills on Forest tiles at your discretion (sometimes you may want to tear the Forest down for a farm).
Once this is complete, you will want to research Philosophy to get a National College and Currency to improve your gold income with Markets. After this is done, beeline for Metal Casting. When you have finished researching the tech, build Longhouses in your cities. This will make you a production powerhouse if you settled the right land and improved it correctly.
By now you should have settled a few cities and have a good well-rounded empire. From here on out, it would be smart to go for a Domination victory, or maybe even try your luck at a Science Victory. Since your cities will have so much production, building a strong military will be surprisingly easy, even on a harsh map like this (make sure to use those Mohawks to your advantage!). Getting a Science Victory may be more difficult because the lack of good land for food, but hey, anything can happen.
I hope you learned something from this strategy. How can I improve or elaborate on it? Or do you have a strategy of your own?
Whatever it is, if you plan your civilization correctly, all your foes will come begging for their lives. But there can only be one winner, and that winner will be you.
"I'm afraid my condition has left me cold to your pleas of mercy! Haha!"
Thanks for readings and have a good day!
