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<!-- edited with XMLSPY v2004 rel. 2 U (http://www.xmlspy.com) by XMLSPY 2004 Professional Ed. Release 2, Installed Multi + SMP for 3 users (Firaxis Games) -->
<!-- Sid Meier's Civilization 4 -->
<!-- Copyleft (c) 2008 BUG Mod -->
<!-- -->
<!-- Game Text - Strategy Guides-->
<Civ4GameText xmlns="http://www.firaxis.com">
	<!--Headers for Guides-->
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_PEDIA_CATEGORY_STRATEGY</Tag>
		<English>Strategy Guides</English>
		<French>Strategy Guides</French>
		<German>Strategien</German>
		<Italian>Guide Strategiche</Italian>
		<Spanish>Strategy Guides</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_INTRO</Tag>
		<English>(*) - Introduction</English>
		<French>(*) - Introduction</French>
		<German>(*) - Einleitung</German>
		<Italian>(*) - Introduction</Italian>
		<Spanish>(*) - Introduction</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WK</Tag>
		<English>(B) - WK's Strategy Guide</English>
		<French>(B) - WK's Strategy Guide</French>
		<German>(A) - WK's Strategy Guide</German>
		<Italian>(B) - WK's Strategy Guide</Italian>
		<Spanish>(B) - WK's Strategy Guide</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRAITS</Tag>
		<English>(B) - Analysis of the Civilization Traits</English>
		<French>(B) - Analysis of the Civilization Traits</French>
		<German>(A) - Analysis of the Civilization Traits</German>
		<Italian>(B) - Analysis of the Civilization Traits</Italian>
		<Spanish>(B) - Analysis of the Civilization Traits</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_SYNERGY</Tag>
		<English>(B) - Synergy</English>
		<French>(B) - Synergy</French>
		<German>(A) - Synergy</German>
		<Italian>(B) - Synergy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(B) - Synergy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_BEGINNER_CIVICS</Tag>
		<English>(B) - A Guide to Civics </English>
		<French>(B) - A Guide to Civics </French>
		<German>(A) - A Guide to Civics </German>
		<Italian>(B) - A Guide to Civics </Italian>
		<Spanish>(B) - A Guide to Civics </Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_10_FAQS</Tag>
		<English>(B) - 10 Questions Before War</English>
		<French>(B) - 10 Questions Before War</French>
		<German>(A) - 10 Questions Before War</German>
		<Italian>(B) - 10 Questions Before War</Italian>
		<Spanish>(B) - 10 Questions Before War</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GROWTH_WAR</Tag>
		<English>(B) - Balancing Growth and Warfare</English>
		<French>(B) - Balancing Growth and Warfare</French>
		<German>(A) - Balancing Growth and Warfare</German>
		<Italian>(B) - Balancing Growth and Warfare</Italian>
		<Spanish>(B) - Balancing Growth and Warfare</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_MONGOL</Tag>
		<English>(C) - Mongol Strategy</English>
		<French>(C) - Mongol Strategy</French>
		<German>(Z) - Mongol Strategy</German>
		<Italian>(C) - Mongol Strategy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(C) - Mongol Strategy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_ROME</Tag>
		<English>(C) - Roman Strategy</English>
		<French>(C) - Roman Strategy</French>
		<German>(Z) - Roman Strategy</German>
		<Italian>(C) - Roman Strategy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(C) - Roman Strategy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_PRINCE_DIFFICULTY</Tag>
		<English>(D) - Prince Difficulty</English>
		<French>(D) - Prince Difficulty</French>
		<German>(SG) - Prince Difficulty</German>
		<Italian>(D) - Prince Difficulty</Italian>
		<Spanish>(D) - Prince Difficulty</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_MONARCH_DIFFICULTY</Tag>
		<English>(D) - Monarch Difficulty</English>
		<French>(D) - Monarch Difficulty</French>
		<German>(SG) - Monarch Difficulty</German>
		<Italian>(D) - Monarch Difficulty</Italian>
		<Spanish>(D) - Monarch Difficulty</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_EMPEROR_DIFFICULTY</Tag>
		<English>(D) - Emperor Difficulty</English>
		<French>(D) - Emperor Difficulty</French>
		<German>(SG) - Emperor Difficulty</German>
		<Italian>(D) - Emperor Difficulty</Italian>
		<Spanish>(D) - Emperor Difficulty</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GODOTNUT</Tag>
		<English>(D) - Godotnut's Peaceful Deity Guide</English>
		<French>(D) - Godotnut's Peaceful Deity Guide</French>
		<German>(SG) - Godotnut's Peaceful Deity Guide</German>
		<Italian>(D) - Godotnut's Peaceful Deity Guide</Italian>
		<Spanish>(D) - Godotnut's Peaceful Deity Guide</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_UB</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Unique Buildings</English>
		<French>(E) - Unique Buildings</French>
		<German>(R) - Unique Buildings</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Unique Buildings</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Unique Buildings</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_EARLY_GROWTH</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Optimum Early Growth</English>
		<French>(E) - Optimum Early Growth</French>
		<German>(R) - Optimum Early Growth</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Optimum Early Growth</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Optimum Early Growth</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_HYBRID</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Hybrid Economy</English>
		<French>(E) - Hybrid Economy</French>
		<German>(R) - Hybrid Economy</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Hybrid Economy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Hybrid Economy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_SE</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Guide to the Specialist Economy</English>
		<French>(E) - Guide to the Specialist Economy</French>
		<German>(R) - Guide to the Specialist Economy</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Guide to the Specialist Economy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Guide to the Specialist Economy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_DEFICIT_RESEARCH</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Deficit Research</English>
		<French>(E) - Deficit Research</French>
		<German>(R) - Deficit Research</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Deficit Research</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Deficit Research</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CITY_SPECALIZATION</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Specialization of Cities</English>
		<French>(E) - Specialization of Cities</French>
		<German>(R) - Specialization of Cities</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Specialization of Cities</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Specialization of Cities</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRIANGLE</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Triangle Diplomacy</English>
		<French>(E) - Triangle Diplomacy</French>
		<German>(R) - Triangle Diplomacy</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Triangle Diplomacy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Triangle Diplomacy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WAYS_HEALTHY</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Ways into Health</English>
		<French>(E) - Ways into Health</French>
		<German>(R) - Ways into Health</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Ways into Health</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Ways into Health</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WAYS_PRODUCTION</Tag>
		<English>(E) - Ways into Production</English>
		<French>(E) - Ways into Production</French>
		<German>(R) - Ways into Production</German>
		<Italian>(E) - Ways into Production</Italian>
		<Spanish>(E) - Ways into Production</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WAR_WEARINESS</Tag>
		<English>(M) - War Weariness</English>
		<French>(M) - War Weariness</French>
		<German>(M) - War Weariness</German>
		<Italian>(M) - War Weariness</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - War Weariness</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_UNIT_MAINT</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Unit Maintance Explained</English>
		<French>(M) - Unit Maintance Explained</French>
		<German>(M) - Unit Maintance Explained</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Unit Maintance Explained</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Unit Maintance Explained</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CITY_GROWTH</Tag>
		<English>(M) - City Growth Explained</English>
		<French>(M) - City Growth Explained</French>
		<German>(M) - City Growth Explained</German>
		<Italian>(M) - City Growth Explained</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - City Growth Explained</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CITY_UPKEEP</Tag>
		<English>(M) - City Upkeep Explained</English>
		<French>(M) - City Upkeep Explained</French>
		<German>(M) - City Upkeep Explained</German>
		<Italian>(M) - City Upkeep Explained</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - City Upkeep Explained</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CIVIC_UPKEEP</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Civic Upkeep Explained</English>
		<French>(M) - Civic Upkeep Explained</French>
		<German>(M) - Civic Upkeep Explained</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Civic Upkeep Explained</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Civic Upkeep Explained</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CORP_MAINT</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Corporation Maintenance</English>
		<French>(M) - Corporation Maintenance</French>
		<German>(M) - Corporation Maintenance</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Corporation Maintenance</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Corporation Maintenance</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CULTURAL_MECHS</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Cultural Mechanics</English>
		<French>(M) - Cultural Mechanics</French>
		<German>(M) - Cultural Mechanics</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Cultural Mechanics</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Cultural Mechanics</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_VASSALAGE_MECHS</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Vassalge Mechanics</English>
		<French>(M) - Vassalge Mechanics</French>
		<German>(M) - Vassalge Mechanics</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Vassalge Mechanics</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Vassalge Mechanics</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GP_POINTS</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Great Person Points Explained</English>
		<French>(M) - Great Person Points Explained</French>
		<German>(M) - Great Person Points Explained</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Great Person Points Explained</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Great Person Points Explained</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GP_FARMS</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Great Person Farms</English>
		<French>(M) - Great Person Farms</French>
		<German>(M) - Great Person Farms</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Great Person Farms</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Great Person Farms</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRADE_ROUTES</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Trade Routes Explained</English>
		<French>(M) - Trade Routes Explained</French>
		<German>(M) - Trade Routes Explained</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Trade Routes Explained</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Trade Routes Explained</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRADING</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Aggressive Trading</English>
		<French>(M) - Aggressive Trading</French>
		<German>(M) - Aggressive Trading</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Aggressive Trading</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Aggressive Trading</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_RESEARCH_MECHS</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Research Mechanics</English>
		<French>(M) - Research Mechanics</French>
		<German>(M) - Research Mechanics</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Research Mechanics</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Research Mechanics</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_DEMOGRAPHICS_MECHS</Tag>
		<English>(M) - Demographics Mechanics</English>
		<French>(M) - Demographics Mechanics</French>
		<German>(M) - Demographics Mechanics</German>
		<Italian>(M) - Demographics Mechanics</Italian>
		<Spanish>(M) - Demographics Mechanics</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CULTURAL_VICTORY</Tag>
		<English>(V) - Cultural Victory</English>
		<French>(V) - Cultural Victory</French>
		<German>(S) - Cultural Victory</German>
		<Italian>(V) - Cultural Victory</Italian>
		<Spanish>(V) - Cultural Victory</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_OCC</Tag>
		<English>(V) - OCC Guide</English>
		<French>(V) - OCC Guide</French>
		<German>(S) - OCC Guide</German>
		<Italian>(V) - OCC Guide</Italian>
		<Spanish>(V) - OCC Guide</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_UU</Tag>
		<English>(W) - Unique Unit Guide</English>
		<French>(W) - Unique Unit Guide</French>
		<German>(K) - Unique Unit Guide</German>
		<Italian>(W) - Unique Unit Guide</Italian>
		<Spanish>(W) - Unique Unit Guide</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CONQUEST_DIPLO</Tag>
		<English>(W) - Conquest Diplomacy</English>
		<French>(W) - Conquest Diplomacy</French>
		<German>(K) - Conquest Diplomacy</German>
		<Italian>(W) - Conquest Diplomacy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(W) - Conquest Diplomacy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_HEALING</Tag>
		<English>(W) - Unit Healing</English>
		<French>(W) - Unit Healing</French>
		<German>(K) - Unit Healing</German>
		<Italian>(W) - Unit Healing</Italian>
		<Spanish>(W) - Unit Healing</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WORLD_WAR</Tag>
		<English>(W) - Let's have a World War</English>
		<French>(W) - Let's have a World War</French>
		<German>(K) - Let's have a World War</German>
		<Italian>(W) - Let's have a World War</Italian>
		<Spanish>(W) - Let's have a World War</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_MODERN_WAR</Tag>
		<English>(W) - Modern-Era Warfare </English>
		<French>(W) - Modern-Era Warfare </French>
		<German>(K) - Modern-Era Warfare </German>
		<Italian>(W) - Modern-Era Warfare </Italian>
		<Spanish>(W) - Modern-Era Warfare </Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TANK</Tag>
		<English>(W) - Tank Warfare</English>
		<French>(W) - Tank Warfare</French>
		<German>(K) - Tank Warfare</German>
		<Italian>(W) - Tank Warfare</Italian>
		<Spanish>(W) - Tank Warfare</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_NAVAL</Tag>
		<English>(W) - Modern Naval Strategy</English>
		<French>(W) - Modern Naval Strategy</French>
		<German>(K) - Modern Naval Strategy</German>
		<Italian>(W) - Modern Naval Strategy</Italian>
		<Spanish>(W) - Modern Naval Strategy</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<!---->
	<!--Text of the Guides-->
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_INTRO_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Introduction to the Guides[\H1][PARAGRAPH:2]The Guides contained in this section are all collected from the Civilization Fanatics War Academy (www.civfanatics.com).  All credit goes to the authors of these great articles!  Not all of the strategies here may suit your play style, but the information can be tailored to your style, and will help with your game.  If you find an article that you find helpful, please go to the web site and let the author know![ICON_HAPPY][PARAGRAPH:2]The articles are broken up into a few categories to make it easier to find what you are looking for.  The title will have a letter in front of it, telling you what category it is.  Here they are:[PARAGRAPH:2][ICON_BULLET](B) = Beginner Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](C) = Civilization Specific Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](D) = Guides based on Difficulty Level[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](E) = Empire Management[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](M) = Mechanics of the Game[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](V) = Guides to different Victory Conditions[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](W) = Warfare guides[PARAGRAPH:2]One final note:  The formating of these guides are not perfect, and it is still a work in progress.  If you find something that we missed, then let us know on our forum on Civilization Fanatics.  Enjoy and happy hunting![PARAGRAPH:2]-The BUG Team</English>
		<French>[H1]Introduction to the Guides[\H1][PARAGRAPH:2]The Guides contained in this section are all collected from the Civilization Fanatics War Academy (www.civfanatics.com).  All credit goes to the authors of these great articles!  Not all of the strategies here may suit your play style, but the information can be tailored to your style, and will help with your game.  If you find an article that you find helpful, please go to the web site and let the author know![ICON_HAPPY][PARAGRAPH:2]The articles are broken up into a few categories to make it easier to find what you are looking for.  The title will have a letter in front of it, telling you what category it is.  Here they are:[PARAGRAPH:2][ICON_BULLET](B) = Beginner Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](C) = Civilization Specific Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](D) = Guides based on Difficulty Level[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](E) = Empire Management[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](M) = Mechanics of the Game[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](V) = Guides to different Victory Conditions[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](W) = Warfare guides[PARAGRAPH:2]One final note:  The formating of these guides are not perfect, and it is still a work in progress.  If you find something that we missed, then let us know on our forum on Civilization Fanatics.  Enjoy and happy hunting![PARAGRAPH:2]-The BUG Team</French>
		<German>[H1]Einleitung zu den Strategien[\H1][PARAGRAPH:2]Die Strategien in diesem Abschnitts sind alle der "Civilization Fanatics War Academy" entnommen (zu finden unter: www.civfanatics.com). Der Dank für diese großartigen Artikel gebührt den jeweiligen Autoren! Wahrscheinlich eignen sich nicht alle Strategien für jeden Spielstil, aber die Informationen können trotzdem tiefere Einblicke liefern, um das eigene Spiel zu verbessern. Falls Sie einen Artikel finden, der besonders hilfreich war, können Sie die Website besuchen und es den Autor wissen lassen![ICON_HAPPY][PARAGRAPH:2]Die Artikel sind in mehrere Kategorien unterteilt, um das Auffinden bestimmter Artikel zu erleichtern. Vor jedem Namen eines Artikel befindet sich ein Buchstabe, der die Kategorie angibt, zu der er gehört. Folgende Buchstaben werden verwendet:[PARAGRAPH:2][ICON_BULLET](A) - Strategien für Anfänger[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](K) - Strategien zur Kriegsführung[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](M) - Strategien, die sich auf bestimmte Mechaniken des Spiels beziehen[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](R) - Strategien zur Reichsverwaltung[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](S) - Strategien für bestimmte Siegbedingungen[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](SG) - Strategien für bestimmte Schwierigkeitsgrade[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](Z) - Strategien, die sich auf bestimmte Zivilisationen beziehen[PARAGRAPH:2]Noch eine kleine Anmerkung: Die Formatierung der Artikel ist nicht perfekt, da an diesem Abschnitt immer noch gearbeitet wird. Falls Sie einen Fehler finden oder etwas, das wir vergessen haben, dann teilen Sie es uns in unserem Forum bei "Civilization Fanatics" mit. Viel Spaß und Weidmannsheil![PARAGRAPH:2]-Das Team der BUG Mod</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Introduction to the Guides[\H1][PARAGRAPH:2]The Guides contained in this section are all collected from the Civilization Fanatics War Academy (www.civfanatics.com).  All credit goes to the authors of these great articles!  Not all of the strategies here may suit your play style, but the information can be tailored to your style, and will help with your game.  If you find an article that you find helpful, please go to the web site and let the author know![ICON_HAPPY][PARAGRAPH:2]The articles are broken up into a few categories to make it easier to find what you are looking for.  The title will have a letter in front of it, telling you what category it is.  Here they are:[PARAGRAPH:2][ICON_BULLET](B) = Beginner Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](C) = Civilization Specific Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](D) = Guides based on Difficulty Level[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](E) = Empire Management[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](M) = Mechanics of the Game[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](V) = Guides to different Victory Conditions[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](W) = Warfare guides[PARAGRAPH:2]One final note:  The formating of these guides are not perfect, and it is still a work in progress.  If you find something that we missed, then let us know on our forum on Civilization Fanatics.  Enjoy and happy hunting![PARAGRAPH:2]-The BUG Team</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Introduction to the Guides[\H1][PARAGRAPH:2]The Guides contained in this section are all collected from the Civilization Fanatics War Academy (www.civfanatics.com).  All credit goes to the authors of these great articles!  Not all of the strategies here may suit your play style, but the information can be tailored to your style, and will help with your game.  If you find an article that you find helpful, please go to the web site and let the author know![ICON_HAPPY][PARAGRAPH:2]The articles are broken up into a few categories to make it easier to find what you are looking for.  The title will have a letter in front of it, telling you what category it is.  Here they are:[PARAGRAPH:2][ICON_BULLET](B) = Beginner Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](C) = Civilization Specific Guides[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](D) = Guides based on Difficulty Level[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](E) = Empire Management[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](M) = Mechanics of the Game[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](V) = Guides to different Victory Conditions[PARAGRAPH:1][ICON_BULLET](W) = Warfare guides[PARAGRAPH:2]One final note:  The formating of these guides are not perfect, and it is still a work in progress.  If you find something that we missed, then let us know on our forum on Civilization Fanatics.  Enjoy and happy hunting![PARAGRAPH:2]-The BUG Team</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WK_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]WoundedKnight's Strategy Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WoundedKnight[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents[\H2][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Learn the Rules[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Civilization Selection[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Leverage Your Strengths[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. City Placement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Civics Guide[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. City Improvement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Great People[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Chop-Rushing[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Technology[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. Military Strategy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]1. LEARN THE RULES[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best-spent two hours for my CIV strategy skills was spent pouring over the civilopedia to understand the rules, the tech trees, improvements, units, etc. It's much easier to do well if you have a clear strategy and know where you want to go. For example, some techs offer bonuses to the first discoverer: a free great person, a free great tech, or starting a religion. Obviously these techs are generally a priority to get first, while others with benefits that are not time-sensitive can wait or be picked up in trade.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]MAP CHOICE[\H2][NEWLINE]The choice of maps can have a major impact upon gameplay, and therefore upon the strategy you may choose to adopt. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Continental and archipelago maps promote early isolation of civs into 2-3 large groups (continents) or even individual civs (archipelago). Your continent or island may not have access at all to key resources like stone, marble, horses, and iron, which can make your construction or military plans more difficult. It is also more difficult to keep your population happy, as your island or continent may contain only 2 or 3 luxury resources. Your tech rate will also be slower, because there are fewer partners to trade with. On continent maps, I often find myself having to research mundane techs like archery or animal domestication because there are not enough proximate AI players to become a reliable tech broker. On the plus side, these maps can provide for a more interesting late game than Pangaea maps by allowing longer buildup of your competitors and preventing them from being weakened or destroyed in early-game rush. Naval combat adds an interesting element that Pangaea or large land-mass players do not fully experience. The early isolation makes it easier to stay at peace throughout the early era, or to isolate and crush enemies on your starting island without other players interfering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with a large amount of land and little water (oasis, highland, lakes, etc) pose major long-term barbarian challenges. There is so much land that the barbarians continue to arise from territory covered by the fog of war until late in the game. Defending your cities requires extra effort on such maps. On the plus side, you may be able to capture a city or two from the barbarians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pangaea and other land-mass maps offer predictable early availability of all tech-appropriate resources, although you may have to fight for them. However, such maps can be less interesting if the player becomes very dominant in the early or mid-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with strange geometric land arrangements like inland sea result in high city upkeep costs for an expanding civilization, as distance arrangements between your cities are often not optimal due to geographic constraints.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Large land mass games provide more competitors, and therefore reduce the player's chance of winning the religion, tech, or wonder race. On a standard map or smaller on balanced (noble) difficulty, a player without religious techs can often still beat the AI players to Hinduism and/or Judaism. On large and huge maps, chances become slimmer. There are few things as frustrating as spending 20 or 30 turns working on constructing a wonder in your most productive city only to have the AI finish it 2-3 turns before you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]2. CIVILIZATION SELECTION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision as to which civilization to play as is an individual one. Traits have various strengths and weaknesses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial:[\BOLD] All-time favorite. Once you get cottages and watermills working, this will gain you +1 extra gold for almost every square being worked in your city radius. This is a huge advantage, when combined with appropriately widespread cottage building, allows the player to maintain a high tech rate even with expensive civics, a large army, and a large empire. Nonetheless, these benefits are not experienced until you have developed a certain city infrastructure and developed your terrain, usually in the classical or late ancient era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized:[\BOLD] The recent patch has done much to enhance the value of the organized trait. Many civics have become significantly more expensive. I find that civic costs now typically cost 33-66% of city maintenance costs depending on civic settings, averaging about 50% for me. In the late game, after a player changes to state property civic to eliminate distance maintenance costs, civic costs are often double city maintenance costs. Because of inflation that increases in the late game, the costs are often even more than they appear. Organized offers a huge benefit by reducing these costs in half. Organized is especially useful because the player receives its benefits throughout the entire game without any effort or development, and the significant savings are always welcome. This can easily add at least 10% if not 20% to the tech rate. Cheap courthouses help you to reduce expenses even further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical:[\BOLD] +100% GP. Synergistic with the religious civics (Pacifism - +100% GP rate) and the national epic (+100% GP in the city of your choice), as well as mercantilism, national epic, statue of liberty, etc. Optimal utilization of the philosophical trait requires a heavy wonder-building play style. The high costs of wonder construction consume the resources of your most productive cities that could otherwise be devoted to conquest or expansion. This is therefore not an ideal trait for warmongers. On harder difficulty levels, philosophical may be less useful than on noble, as it will be difficult to utilize the benefits unless you are able to win the wonder race. The philosophical trait received a substantial, although indirect, bonus from the patch, as wonders continue to give GP points even after they expire. If you have philosophical trait, you will get twice the points from your expired wonders as non-philosophicals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After playing with the philosophical trait extensively, I have found it to be much less useful than I initially believed. Unfortunately, double the GP points does not mean double the number of GPs. A point of diminishing returns is encountered with each GP costing more and more points (5 GPs = 1,500 points, 10 GPs = 5,500 points, 15 GPs = 12,000 points, 20 GPs = 21,000 points, 25 GPs = 32,500 points, 30 GPs = 46,500 points, 35 GPs = 62,000 points, 40 GPs = 82,000 points). I find that it is still possible for a non-philosophical civ to do quite well in the GP race, because there are many ways for non-philosophicals to enhance GP generation making the advantage of the philosophical nation even more tenuous (national wonder, Parthenon, statue of liberty, pacifism, mercantilism). Philosophical is definitely a fun trait, but I think that stronger traits are available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive:[\BOLD] +3 health per city in the patch. With the exception of cities located in flood plains, happiness is initially more limiting for city growth than health at almost all levels, but as the game progresses, numerous wonders, civics, buildings, etc. increase happiness, but there are relatively few ways to increase city health. Cheap granaries are one of the most useful building bonuses and offer early and predictable benefits across all difficulty levels. Expansive is useful only at specific times during gameplay, namely, when your city growth is limited by health, or while building granaries. As these are relatively narrow circumstances (although very important ones), I tend to prefer traits that offer more consistent benefit. If you find you continue to run into problems with city health, pick expansive. However, many of these issues can be remedied with good city placement, resource development, and construction of appropriate buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious:[\BOLD] A nice trait, as the wonders you get with +50% build speed can duplicate many other civ traits. Half-price forges are great also because they increase your productivity, and for non-industrious civs they are quite expensive. However, the ability of any player to quickly build wonders by "chop-rushing" (described later) undermines some of the value of the industrial trait. Considering philosophical vs. industrious? Industrious makes it easier to get wonders, while philosophical makes the ones that you have more valuable. Industrious is particularly useful on higher difficulty levels when the player needs a more compelling edge in order to have any real chance of beating the AI to wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive:[\BOLD] A great trait for the warmonger. While experience can be given by buildings, civics, and wonders, a free extra promotion for melee and gunpowder units is great -- especially for barracks-trained units with a couple of levels to boot. More and more experience is required to get more bonuses (2/5/10/17/etc), and so having a free promotion that doesn't set you back at all in the XP quest is good. Since the promotions become more and more powerful the higher in level you go (+20% city attack, +25%, +30% with an extra +10% vs gunpowder units, etc...cumulative!!!), having an extra promotion can result in a huge amount of extra military power, especially if you have planned well to take advantage of other sources of experience. If you want an early domination or conquest victory, aggressive is an excellent choice. Aggressive provides no bonuses to many key unit types: archery, cavalry, tanks, aircraft, and ships, and so the aggressive trait requires an early attack style to flourish.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual:[\BOLD] One of the weakest traits IMO. No anarchy, while nice, is of little benefit as I only change civics 5-6 times in a game (I try to change 2 or 3 at a time at times when several important civics are discovered in close time proximity). Cheap temples? Temples are cheap anyway and have fewer benefits than many other buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative:[\BOLD] +2 culture has significant benefits in the early game, but few in the late game when cities have more culture than they know what to do with. How many times have I conquered a city only to have it flip to a closely adjacent neighbor? How many times have I built cultural improvement (theater, library, etc.) in a conquered city for the exclusive purpose of generating culture (and, sometimes failed), when a creative civ would not have had to worry at all? The automatic expanding cultural radius can be very valuable in expanding in the early game and blocking off large amounts of territory for your later development. While cultural's benefits are mainly in the early game, the benefits can be substantial. I prefer to get industrious instead and build Stonehenge for your early culture (although this expires -- soon -- with calender), the benefit of creative is still significant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In sum, I think that spiritual and creative are the two weak traits of CIV. The other six traits are all good in the appropriate situation, with financial and organized representing excellent traits with wide utility across many playing styles, and the others offering specific benefits that require specific playing styles to shine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My favorite leader for a standard (noble) game is Washington (American) - Financial/Organized. Other great leaders include English (Victoria) - Expansive/Financial, English (Elizabeth) - Philosophical/Financial, Chinese (Qin Shi Huang) - Industrious/Financial, Peter (Russia) - Expansive/Philosophical. If you are playing on a higher difficulty level, traits that offer immediate, consistent benefit like expansive, aggressive, and industrious may serve you better than traits that bloom only with cultivation like financial or philosophical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]3. LEVERAGE YOUR STRENGTHS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's important to make the most out of your advantages by drawing upon the synergy of civ traits, civics, improvements, and buildings and wonders. For example, it would be silly to get the aggressive civ trait and fail to build barracks. Synergy can be very powerful when you combine substantial bonuses in the same area from multiple different sources. Aggressive (free combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units)+ barracks (+4 experience for all new units)+ pentagon (+2 experience to all units civ-wide) + theocracy (+2 experience for all new units), police state (+25% military production speed), + West Point (+4 experience for all new units) and Heroic Epic (+100% military production speed) = +125% military production speed pumping out units starting with 12 experience points (3 promotions) in addition to combat I in the city with West Point/Heroic epic, and 8 experience points + combat I at a 25% bonus production speed in all other cities with barracks. An initially mediocre unit with 3 city attack promotions (+20%, +25%, +30%) receives a +85% bonus against cities - a massive boost against even strong defenders of technological parity. Philosophical + Pacifism + Parthenon = 250% great people points, with 350% in the city with the national epic. And so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also important to try to compensate for your disadvantages. For example, if I am not playing an expansive civ (or even if I am), I try to build cities on rivers as much as possible for the +2 health bonus, even at a slight productivity hit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]4. RELIGIONS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As in the real world, religion can be one of the most uniting or dividing things in CIV. While gifts or insults have only minor benefit on relations (+/-1, rarely more than +/-2; religion can have a huge impact on relations -- seeing +/-4, +/-6 from religion are common. Religion is by far the biggest factor in relations in most games. It seems to be something in the range of +1 relations for every city of your religion in your opponent's land, +1 or 2 if your religion is their state religion. Therefore, pumping out missionaries to convert your neighbors in the good times is as important for the security of your empire as maintaining a powerful military. I try to keep one city pumping out missionaries of your religion the entire game, providing both relationship and economic bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider getting an early religion (Hinduism or Judaism) or, if going for a chop-rush settler push, one or more of the later ones (Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism, Islam). In any case, try to pick up as many of the later ones as I can in order to keep friends friendly. A friendly neighbor who has previously converted to your religion but subsequently discovers Islam can suddenly decide that you are a pagan who must be cleansed from the earth. Besides, some of the religion techs (like Divine Right, Islam) offer cool wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Founding cities of religion can become real cash cows in the mid and late game, IF you build the religion-specific wonder in the founding city. In a recent game where I aggressively spread Confucianism, over 30-40 cities were converted by the late of the game. I also discovered Taoism and subsequently captured the founding cities of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, giving me five of the seven world religions. Did I ignore my non-state religions, even though I planned to stick with Confucianism throughout the entire game? Of course not. I sent a great prophet to each city to build the religion-specific wonder. This accomplishes two purposes. First, it gives you free bonus income equal to the number of cities with that religion each turn. Second, it causes the autonomous spread of each religion from its founding city without even requiring missionaries. While I continue to aggressively spread my state religion with missionaries, the other religious capitals function as cash cows with progressively increasing revenue without requiring any other input or management.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since founding religious cities generate a large amount of income, *regardless of the position of your financial sliders*, these are the best cities for building banks, markets, and grocers. I find that the Wall Street wonder is typically best built in the founding city of my state religion for an extra and substantial economic boost, since this will typically be the largest religion by the mid to late game (and thus the largest city economy).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As previously mentioned, I keep pumping missionaries out from 2-3 cities almost continuously through the entire game. This improves relations with neighbors, creates LOS (line of sight) to other cities, and generates money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The financial and diplomatic benefits of missionaries are well-known, although the espionage benefits are rarely mentioned. When I am contemplating war with a nation, I will send a wave of missionaries to as many of their key cities as possible before my military units cross the border. This accomplishes two things. First, it provides invaluable intelligence information and allows one to assess which cities represent priority acquisitions as well as to get some idea of the strength, location, and composition of enemy armies. Equally importantly, missionaries of your state religion provide an instant cultural benefit to captured cities. After conquering a city that is not your state religion, you might contemplate building a library or theater -- which could take 50+ turns -- in order to expand the borders and to prevent the city from flipping back to an adjacent neighbor with strong cultural boundaries. However, if the city is already your state religion, it will automatically generate +1 culture/turn in addition to a +1 happiness benefit, expanding your borders within 10 turns and making your city much less likely to flip or revolt. The pre-attack missionary wave essentially adds the benefits of the creative trait to non-creative civs, in addition to income, happiness, and espionage benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]5. CITY PLACEMENT[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The placement of cities is always one of the most important strategic decisions. I will gladly place a city at significantly further distance from my capital if it results in acquiring special resources or monopolizing a location that is of prime strategic or production value. Many specialty resources offer benefits for your entire civilization, and so the race to control luxury, health, strategic, and bonus resources is a key factor in city placement. Whenever possible, I build cities on rivers, and try to get at least one special resource (of any kind) within range. Of course this is not always possible (especially on unusual or specialty map types), but if you repeatedly find that you are having trouble making your cities happy and productive or are failing to acquire important resources, perhaps it is time to reevaluate your city placement. Controlling strategic passes or "choke points" with cities is also valuable -- if you can block off your enemies from chunks of unsettled land and then fill it in later, that is a bonus, although the geography doesn't always accommodate this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some buildings I like to build everywhere, whereas others I build only in specialized cities, or in any city when there is a natural opening. Buildings I like to build as much as possible include:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]granary[NEWLINE]lighthouse (for coastal cities)[NEWLINE]library[NEWLINE]aqueduct[NEWLINE]forge[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Second Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]harbor (if applicable)[NEWLINE]temple[NEWLINE]theater[NEWLINE]market[NEWLINE]grocery[NEWLINE]university[NEWLINE]laboratory[NEWLINE]factory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The build order of course varies depending on the needs of each city, but generally I get granaries and forges as early as possible everywhere, and theaters first in conquered cities (to prevent culture flipping), and others as the situation dictates. It is hard to go wrong with a library almost everywhere because of the commerce bonus and the culture to expand your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful with buildings that harm city health. In particular, avoid building coal plants, as this subtracts two health and seemingly cannot be removed, even if the city develops alternative power sources. The three gorges dam wonder provides power to all cities on the continent, and cities along rivers can use hydro power. While laboratories increase research by +25%, they also detract from health (-1), and you may not need laboratories everywhere at the very late stage in the game at which they become available - constructing them in a few top research cities may suffice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Commerce, Research, and Gold[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Squares with or without improvements produce *commerce*. This commerce can then be used to fund research, culture, or turned into gold. Improvements (towns etc) and the financial trait actually give you commerce, not gold. The distinction between "commerce" generally and "gold" specifically is somewhat confusing as they sometimes use the same gold coin icon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then the benefit of city improvements depends on both your base commerce and your sliders. Say you have a small city producing 10 commerce, and your research slider is on 80%, with 20% going into finances. A library (+25% research) will give you an extra 2 beakers (base research = 80% of 10 = 8, 25% of 8 = 2 more). A grocer, however (+25% gold) would seem not to have any benefit to an economy this small (base gold = 20% of 10 = 2, and 25% of 2= 0.5, rounded down to zero).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now of course there is some gold *outside* of the commerce system: namely, gold generated by religious buildings. Specialist gold goes directly to finances and is not general "commerce" that can be converted to research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In other words, the benefit of the improvements depends highly on the position of your sliders. If you played with research on 20% and money on 80%, obviously the financial improvements (market, grocer, bank, etc) would be more valuable. Since in most games however research plays such an important role, science improvements tend to offer greater benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inflation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation is not covered anywhere in the civilopedia or manual that I can find, but it is an important expense. Inflation can go up but never seems to go down over the course of a game. Inflation increases over time at a steady rate, regardless of spending breakdown. Inflation cannot apparently be controlled; it inevitably increases as the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation adds an additional percentage to your expenses, including:[NEWLINE]civic upkeep[NEWLINE]city maintenance (distance and city number)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This percentage can get quite high. If your expenses are 100 per turn and your inflation is 30%, your final cost is 130 gold. The organized trait has at least some advantage here, because it is saving "pre-tax" rather than "post-tax" dollars. In other words, if your civic upkeep were 50 and inflation were 0%, the organized trait would save only 25 gold (50% of final upkeep), but if inflation were 40%, your real savings are 50+20 (40% of 50) = 70/2, or 35 gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]6. CIVICS GUIDE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to change civics as little as possible since I don't play as Spiritual. I will do 2 or 3 switches at once, when possible. If you do too many changes at once (4 or occasionally 3), it can result in 2 turns anarchy. You cannot change state religion and civics on the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Government Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, + 1 happiness per military unit in a city, req. monarchy). Since most cities will have at least one military unit for defense, this tech can be a real benefit in the early middle ages when you are still developing your luxury resource network and constructing happiness buildings. Hereditary rule provides a great answer to happiness problems that can otherwise be limiting to a rapidly-growing civilization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, +3 research per specialist, +2 happiness in 6 largest cities, req. constitution). Another excellent bonus, especially for a philosophical nation with many specialists. The largest cities are the most likely to get unhappy, so this civic gives you the happiness bonus where you need it. Representation is particularly valuable for philosophical civs in synergy with mercantilism and the statue of liberty wonder, harnessing the free specialists to provide a major technology boost. Unless you have a vast number of towns, representation is a good civic to keep throughout the entire game. The extra research for every specialist continues to be a huge benefit that can significantly speed your research. I try to build the pyramids as quick as I can so that I can switch to representation, significantly speeding research. Then pick up wonders and buildings that give you (or allow) specialists: great library, forge, statue of liberty, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% military production, -50% war weariness, req. facism) is great for the warmonger or for wartime defense, but the high cost makes it undesirable in peacetime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage:[\BOLD] moderate upkeep. The +1 production boost to towns and ability to complete production with gold (units/buildings, not wonders) is useful; however, it is of little use in the early and mid game when cottages have not yet developed into towns. Don't get snookered into getting this in the early game with the pyramids, as upkeep is high and you will have no towns to provide the productivity bonus. Weighing universal suffrage against[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Legal Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage:[\BOLD] high upkeep, +2 experience per unit, lower unit support costs: a good tech for a warmonger, but the high cost makes it prohibitive for others. Consider this temporarily while in a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy:[\BOLD] (+50% production/gold in capital, medium upkeep, req. civil service). Good in the early game, and provides an excellent boost for a wonder-building city. Liberalism is close enough around the corner from civil service that often I hold off for free speech. As the slider is usually set heavily to research, the primary benefit of this civic is usually production rather than gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood:[\BOLD] no upkeep (changed from low to no upkeep with the patch), can draft 3 units per turn, barracks +2 happiness. Also a good civic for a warmonger that is better sustainable long-term than vassalage because of its low cost, in addition to adding happiness benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +2 gold from towns, +100% culture per city, req. liberalism). It is my favorite for the late game, but won't do you much good if you don't have towns. I like to get bureaucracy for the production boost while towns are developing, and then switch to free speech once I have enough towns to justify it. At no upkeep cost, the price is right, and this one can provide a great boost to your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Labor Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, can sacrifice population to finish production, req. bronze working) Excellent for rapidly-growing cities limited by happiness, although it makes 1 pop unhappy for 10 turns. Slavery is ideal for civs with large cities with abundant food (flood plains + farms) but marginal productivity and limited happiness, especially in the early and mid-game. Slavery takes the revolting pops that are adding nothing to the economy and uses them to produce wonders or other high-cost buildings that would otherwise take many turns to complete. I typically keep this civic until I get emancipation with democracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Serfdom:[\BOLD] (low upkeep) -- workers build improvements faster. I usually have a large enough army of workers building improvements and clearing jungles that this one isn't as attractive as the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Caste System:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, req. code of laws) -- unlimited scientists, artists, merchants in cities. A reasonable choice if you have food to spare, don't yet have enough town improvements to allow specialists otherwise, and can afford the upkeep. While I like the idea of the caste system civic for philosophical civs, the way which this is implemented is poor. Once you get caste system, the computer automatically allocates many of your workers to specialists, especially scientists. Although this can be somewhat controlled with your city production settings, the AI often diverts workers producing food, hammers, and commerce into specialists producing only science and culture. This slows both the production and growth of many of your cities. There is too much micromanagement involved to manage the caste system appropriately, and the stunting of your production and growth because of poorly allocated specialists is rarely if ever worthwhile, even for a philosophical civ. Skip it and go for emancipation. The scientists are the most valuable, while artists and merchants are usually of limited value.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Emancipation:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, req. democracy) is great for mid to late game. It doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns; a big synergistic economic boost when combined with appropriate techs, free speech, and universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Economic Civics: [\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, 1 free specialist per city, no foreign trade routes, req. banking). Getting this civic is like having the statue of liberty wonder and is a huge boost for philosophical or GP oriented civs. It is moderately expensive, and shuts down foreign trade (which can also hurt, or at least won't help, your relations). However, if you have the Angkor Wat wonder that adds to priest productivity and the Representation civic that adds 3 research to every specialist, this presents a huge boost to your cities that more than compensates for the lack of foreign trade routes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep) - +1 trade route per city. A nice financial or research boost, although only modest in size. However I rarely use this as state property is only a few techs away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: The patch increases free trade from low to medium upkeep. More reason to skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, req. communism) is great (no distance maintenance costs, +1 food from watermills). Although the patch increased the upkeep from free to low, it is still extremely useful. I find that with my tendency to build many cities, it saves me as much or more than I would earn from the extra trade route, plus upkeep is free, plus you get extra food. As I tend to build watermills along almost all river tiles because of their boost to productivity (+2 with appropriate techs), food (+1), and economy, a river city may be able to support a couple more citizens that can be made specialists to boost your GP generation. My most-used economic tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]State property eliminates the city distance maintenance cost entirely, which for a large empire typically represents about 50% of your total city upkeep (this rough rule of thumb varies depending on both the number of cities and the distances involved). This can be quite a substantial savings. For a nation with a well-developed state religion, adopting state property frequently allows one to move the tech slider from 70-80% to 90-100%. This faster tech speed has many benefits: quicker availability of new buildings and units, faster tech bonuses, and getting sooner to techs like electricity that increase the value or productivity of your existing city improvements. The extra food can allow you to support extra specialists or larger city growth if you have many river cities and have built watermills. With no civic upkeep cost, the price is right. In most games, the state property civic alone is far better in terms of your financial bottom line than the organized trait, as city distance upkeep costs often well exceed 50% of the civic upkeep costs discounted by organized. My tests suggest that the Versailles wonder, like the Forbidden Palace, reduce only distance upkeep costs (Versailles seems to be like a second Forbidden Palace). If you are using the state property civic and plan to stick with it long-term, don't waste city production on these wonders. Forbidden Palace and Versailles offer only a modest location-dependent decrease in distance costs, while state property abolishes distance costs altogether. With city upkeep virtually cut in half by state property, you will also find less of a necessity for courthouses until your civilization is extremely large.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism:[\BOLD] (high upkeep) is nice at the very end of the game when you get ecology (+6 health, +1 happiness from forests and jungles). Unfortunately I've harvested most forests and jungles long before the ecology tech comes around (and jungles are so unproductive why would you want to keep them), and find that my cities already have good health and happiness well before then and are more limited by food. The expensive upkeep is also a drawback, so I tend to use state property more frequently. Rather than getting environmentalism, I prefer to research future techs (+1 health and happiness each for your entire civ), since ecology is already near the end of the tech line), rather than paying the fat environmentalism upkeep fees. At least that part of environmentalism is realistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Religious Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% building and wonder construction, req. monotheism). After extensive testing, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best religion civic, at least for my play style. I grab this civic as soon as I can get to monotheism and keep it throughout the entire game. I have verified in-game that organized religion does boost wonder speed as well as that of non-wonder buildings. +25% building and wonder speed throughout the whole game is essentially equivalent to a free forge in every city, except that the bonus does not apply to unit builds. This trait is very expensive for a large civilization, but I think it is well worth the cost. I can think of no wonder, civ trait, building, or civic that matches organized religion in its sweeping benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep), +2 experience points for units created in cities with state religion, no non-state religion spread) -- okay for a warmonger, but expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +100% GP, req. philosophy) is phenomenal as it can essentially bestow the philosophical trait on a non-philosophical civ, or make philosophical civs even better. The low upkeep is counterbalanced by the +1 gold per military unit, so this tech can be cheap or expensive depending on your military size. As attractive as pacifism is, I feel that organized is a better trait, even for philosophical civs. Ask yourself: how many great people would you need to generate to speed construction of buildings and wonders in every one of your cities by 25%?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion:[\BOLD] (low upkeep): I never get free religion as losing all the state religion bonuses really hurts, as well as losing line of site to all converted cities in other nations. At end-game usually I have plenty of luxuries and am not so desperate for a few more happy faces that I would want to deal with the hassle of having to get 4 or 5 religions in each of my cities to make this civic worthwhile. The +10% tech bonus -- while meaningful -- doesn't seem to make much of a difference for me this late in the game, plus you have to pay fixed upkeep (albeit low) to boot. Some players attempt to get free religion as soon as possible to pacify aggressive neighbors with different religions. However, I have had war declared on me so many times in the early game when I had no state religion at all that I know that simply removing state religion is no panacea to diplomacy. Dropping a state religion can pacify opponents, but it can also make former close allies lukewarm or even hostile. And if you are still deeply afraid of your neighbors by the late time of game that organized religion becomes available, perhaps it is time to assess your strategy in other areas. Theology civics include some of the best benefits in the game (+100% GP from pacifism, +25% building and wonder construction speed), and I generally like these bonuses far too much to sacrifice them for free religion, which seems to offer little in return. Nevertheless, if you are in a situation where you are walking on eggshells -- playing deity level with far more powerful AI players, perhaps -- free religion may be something to consider. Otherwise, skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Favored early game civics: representation (constitution - or pyramids), bureaucracy (civil service), slavery (bronze working), mercantilism (banking), organized religion (monotheism)[NEWLINE]Favored late game civics: universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property, organized religion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmonger civics: police state, vassalage, slavery, state property, theocracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]7. CITY IMPROVEMENTS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I tend to manually control workers (at least until very late in the game) as the computer automation leaves much to be desired and lacks strategic foresight.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Farms:[\BOLD] +1 food initially, +2 food (total) at end-game when you have biology. Recent tests have led me to change my strategies and begin building large numbers of farms initially in order to quickly increase city size. When cities are near the max of their happiness and/or health, then I start converting the farms to cottages for the economic benefits. In contrast to watermills and windmills which offer economic and production bonuses in addition to food, farms offer only food. The advantage is that they are available almost immediately in the game with the agriculture tech. I prefer wide proliferation of farms in the ancient era, with removal of some farms and transition to cottages and watermills when you are near the maximum sustainable city size for health and happiness. Especially on higher difficulty levels, spamming too many farms may quickly bring your cities over the happiness and/or healthiness levels they can support, resulting in revolters and no "we love the king day" events. Automated workers tend to overdo farming and so I prefer to direct workers manually. Use farms wisely, but be careful that they don't push your cities into unhappiness or unhealthiness. You may need to expand your growth capacity as your city's happiness and health limits increase, so keep an eye on this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cottages:[\BOLD] Cottages make up the foundation of economic and research productivity of your civilization. Especially if you have the financial trait, cottages produce great bonuses when they grow into towns, with full techs and civics: commerce +7, production +1 (requires universal suffrage civic). Cottages can be built anywhere, but their production bonus comes late (after full growth into towns) and only with the correct civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often wait until cities are close to their health or happiness limit to start building large numbers of cottages because farms offer more immediate benefit by increasing city size and therefore production and the number of workable tiles. Cottages only progress into hamlets, villages, and towns when they are being worked. There is no point in rushing to place cottages on all 20 workable tiles of a level 2 city (for an extreme example), as the cottages will not begin to develop at all until the city is large enough to work them. My tests and those of others have demonstrated that in most cases, a better long-term economic outcome is achieved with early farms to grow your city quickly and then building large numbers of cottages that the city is able to work, as opposed to immediate cottage spamming resulting in slow growth and many unworked tiles in an immature city.[NEWLINE]The downsides of cottages include that they take a long time to grow: cottage-&gt;hamlet 10 turns, hamlet -&gt;village 20 turns, village -&gt;town 40 turns. This can be cut in half with appropriate civics, but still it takes 35 turns in the best possible case to grow from a cottage to a town. In a game that lasts only 400 or 500 turns (and may be decided long before then), that is a big chunk of game time. Also, cottages can be easily pillaged by an enemy. Cottages are particularly valuable around your core research cities, but think twice about building cottages on frontier cities close to aggressive neighbors. In any case, the long maturation time of cottages requires that they be built as early as possible to maximize their benefits. Having cottages that have grown into towns while your neighbors are still dealing with hamlets and villages can prove decisive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Watermill:[\BOLD] An immediate +1 production boost, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +2 production with full techs and civics (requires state property for the food bonus). These are very helpful in increasing the production of plains, grassland, or flood plains adjacent to rivers that have little innate production capability. And once you have the correct techs/civics, the bonuses are immediate and do not require the maturation that cottages do. You can only build watermills on one square or the other to the side of a river, but I build watermills everywhere I can, typically replacing farms as soon as state property is in hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Windmill[\BOLD]: An immediate +1 food, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +1 production with full tech (replaceable parts, electricity). Very useful if you need more food, have limited river access, and want something that offers more substantial and well-rounded benefits than farms. Windmills can be placed on hills which makes a nice alternative to mines, giving production and commerce benefits while allowing the square to provide at least some of the food supply required to work it. With the financial trait, windmill offers +1 food, +1 production, and +3 commerce, making a windmill often preferable to a mine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Lumbermill[\BOLD]: Chopping down the trees doesn't add any more food production (unlike C3C), and so lumbermills are a prime consideration for productivity in the late game. That is, in areas where you still have trees. With max +3 production (Base +1 from trees, +1 from lumbermill, +1 more when railroad comes around) and +1 commerce for squares adjacent to rivers, lumbermills are the best late-game productivity improvement. They don't have the economic benefits of cottages, watermills, or windmills, but offer a more substantial production boost without sapping your food supply (unlike workshops) or without requiring a specific civic to keep from doing so. The late benefits of a lumbermill must also be weighed against the benefits of chopping in the early game for benefits that can be quite substantial at a time when your civilization's productivity is very low: chopped trees can result in a much faster start, extra cities, or more wonders. I chop trees in the early game for chop-rushing settlers or crucial wonders, but by the mid-game when instant productivity is no longer urgent, I prefer to preserve any remaining trees for future lumbermills.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mine[\BOLD]: +2 production, +1 more (+3 total) with railroad. A substantial productivity boost as long as you have enough food to go around. The option between windmills and mines is nice for hill squares.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Workshop:[\BOLD] +1 production, -1 food. With max upgrades they can offer up to +3 production, and with state property, no food penalty. This allows the same +3 production as lumbermill, without requiring you to keep trees around until the late game. The food penalty early on makes this a poor choice in the early middle ages, but once you have state property, workshops represent an excellent improvement for production. However, if you depend on workshops and state property, you will largely be obliged to stay with that civic through the rest of the game -- or see your cities starve when you change, unless you have a large food surplus from other sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]8. SPECIALIZATION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since you can only build 2 national wonders in a city and because GP points accrue according to specialties, it makes sense to have specialized cities in CIV. I aim for a science city (oxford university + great library), a military city (pentagon + heroic epic + west point), a culture city (hermitage + globe theater), an economic city (wall street), and will put the national epic in the city with the most wonders (and most GP points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, keeping a flow of military units from at least one city will keep your cities happy (large cities get upset without protection) and defended. I also try to keep one city pumping out missionaries throughout almost the entire game, occasionally switching production to another city to construct buildings in the city. In my first couple games when I did not continue to produce both military and missionary units in peace time and war time, it caused major problems for me in spite of large leads in other areas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]CIV rewards the creation of specialized cities. I try to create at least 2 cities of each specialty because of the need to build infrastructure buildings in between building military or religious units, wonders, etc. Specialist cities make sense because you can't build every building in every city, and specialization helps you to leverage your city placement by putting buildings in the cities where they will do the most good.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first step in deciding the division of labor between specialized cities is to evaluate the surrounding land. A city in an area with luxury resources could be a great trade/science city, while one in an area with many mines and high production would likely make a good military city for creating units, or for rapidly building wonders. A city with abundant food supply would make a good specialist city to increase great people generation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Military City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] productive area with high hammer yield (mines, watermills, etc)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Barracks Forge Factory[NEWLINE]Power source (coal, hydro, nuclear), Granary Aqueduct[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]first city:[\BOLD] Heroic Epic (+100% military production in city), West Point (+4 exp/military unit)[NEWLINE][BOLD]second city:[\BOLD] Red Cross (free Medic I promotion), Ironworks (near iron or coal) -- consider designating this one a military city from the time iron appears on the map.[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience for units trained in any city, can be built anywhere)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Discussion:[\BOLD] You will need many military units during the game, so why build them from just anywhere when you can build them quickly in a specialized city and get free experience points to boot?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Science City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Academy (+50% research, requires great scientist) Library (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Observatory (+25% research) University (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Laboratory (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Monastery (+10% research, but becomes obsolete - may skip this one)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Oxford University (+100% research)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (+2 scientists, expires)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Merchant City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Market (+25% gold) Grocer (+25% gold)[NEWLINE]Bank (+50% gold) Airport (+1 trade route)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wall Street (+100% gold)[NEWLINE][BOLD]GP Focus:[\BOLD] great merchant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Culture City[\H2][NEWLINE]Consider combining with science city as many science improvements also generate culture. I don't generally build a culture-only city for that reason, I go for culture/science. But here are the culture listings for those interested in culture victory, not including science improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Temple (+1 culture) Monastery (+2 culture)[NEWLINE]Cathedral or equivalent (+50% culture) Theater (+3 culture)[NEWLINE]Broadcast tower (+50% culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hermitage (+100% culture) Globe theater (+6 culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hollywood (+50% culture) Rock n' Roll (+50% culture)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+50% culture) Sistine chapel (+2 culture per specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If going for a culture victory, consider balancing your national and world culture wonders between 3 cities to allow each to achieve legendary culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Great People City[\H2][NEWLINE]Obviously this one should be combined with another city of your choice, as the world and national wonders built in other cities contribute GP points. I like to make my GP city one that focuses on GP types that I find to be the most valuable (great engineers -- can rush wonders, or perhaps scientists -- can create academy, rather than prophets, artists, or merchants)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonder:[\BOLD] National Epic (+100% GP birth rate in city)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (+50% GP birth rate in all cities) Great Library (+2 scientists in city, but expires)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergistic Civic:[\BOLD] pacifism (+100% GP rate, no upkeep)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]9. WONDERS [\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When beginning every game, you will want to consider what wonders are a priority for you and what wonders you will pass on. It is rarely possible to get every wonder. Realistic decisions must be made and tech paths to get the desired wonders early must be considered. There is little as frustrating as coming within a few turns of completing an expensive wonder only to lose your effort because another civ beat you to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder decisions can make or break the game. A few key wonders can provide advantages turning the tide in your favor, while an inappropriate focus on wonders at the expense of defense or growth can leave your civilization vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The player should also consider what role wonders will play in the overall strategy. If you are playing as a philosophical or industrious nation, constructing numerous wonders should be a centerpiece of your strategy. For militaristic players, wonders should play little role, as a vast army can be constructed in the time of constructing just a few wonders. The militaristic player should therefore aim for a few targeted wonders, while the philosophical or industrious player should strive for a much longer list.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some wonders offer considerable early benefits, but expire. Others offer mediocre benefits that expire regardless (the Hagia Sophia is infamous for frequently becoming obsolete only shortly after it is constructed). Wonders expire when YOU get the expiring tech, not when your neighbors do. So I often hold off on trading for the calender tech until all my cities have experienced border expansion from Stonehenge, and avoid getting chemistry until the last possible moment to milk the Parthenon for every great person point possible. Still others offer great game-long benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you are going for a culture victory, great artists are the least useful of all of the great people (+3 commerce, +14 culture). Therefore, I try to keep wonders offering great artist points out of my principal wonder city to avoid generating less-useful great people there. Great scientists are perhaps the most useful for their ability to add an academy in one city each. Great engineers (+3 hammers) and great prophets (+2 hammer) are the most useful as they add productivity. Great merchants add food, although only +1, in addition to commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To maximize the conversion of great people points into great people, it is best to concentrate as many wonders as possible in one, two, or three designated wonder-building cities. The decision of how many cities to designate as primary or secondary wonder-builders will depend on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here is a list of wonders that I make priorities, keeping in mind that the wonders different players favor will vary widely depending on their play style and tactics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Priority Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stonehenge:[\BOLD] obelisk, +1 culture in every city, expires @ Calendar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Library:[\BOLD] +2 scientists is a big deal at a time when many of your cities can't dedicate the pop to specialists, especially if you build this in your great people focus city. Perhaps most importantly, the +6 GP points/turn from 2 scientists in addition to the +2 GP from the wonder (total 8 GP points/turn) can help you quickly to get great scientists who can found academies in your largest cities, especially in the presence of philosophical/pacifist /Parthenon /national epic synergisms. Getting the great library with several great scientists can therefore generate a massive bonus that will speed your research throughout the entire remainder of the game, long after the GL's primary effects have expired. After the GL, the oxford university is the only good generator of great scientist points until after the middle ages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]: +50% GP birth rate in all cities. Vital for philosophical civs, but unfortunately doesn't last forever.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Non-Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hanging Gardens:[\BOLD] +1 pop, +1 health in all cities. This is a huge early wonder that can catapult your civ ahead, especially if you have many small or modest-sized cities. Adding an extra pop and health point to every city boosts your economy, your research, your productivity, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Notre Dame[\BOLD]: +1 happiness for all cities on continent[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Versailles[\BOLD]: reduces maintenance in nearby cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Statue of Liberty:[\BOLD] a free specialist in every city. Fabulous for philosophical civs. Probably my # 1 wonder in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pentagon:[\BOLD] +2 experience points for units trained in all cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Three Gorges Dam:[\BOLD] power for all cities on continent located near a river[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Eiffel Tower:[\BOLD](free broadcast tower in every city) gives a big culture boost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Wonders by GP type[\H2][NEWLINE](all world wonders +2 GP points, all national wonders +1)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Scientist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (marble) (+2 scientists)[NEWLINE]Oxford University (stone) (+100% research, 3 citizens as scientists)[NEWLINE]Space Elevator[NEWLINE]Red Cross[NEWLINE]Scotland Yard[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Capital: Stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens, great library, ironworks (?)[NEWLINE]Wonder city 2: parthenon, notre dame, national epic[NEWLINE]Military city[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Prophet:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stonehenge (stone): obelisk in each city[NEWLINE]Angkor Wat (stone): +1 production from priests in all cities, allows 3 priests. This makes priest specialists (up to +2 hammers, +1 gold) the most productive specialists, beating out engineers (+2 hammers, no other bonuses) -- until the wonder expires[NEWLINE]Oracle (marble) (1 free tech)[NEWLINE]Chichen Itza (stone): +25% defense in all cities[NEWLINE]Spiral minaret (stone). +1 gold from all state religion buildings. Nice, although a relatively small bonus.[NEWLINE]Religious holy wonder: minus 1 production, spreads religion, 1 gold from each, allows 3 priests[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Engineer:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hanging gardens (stone) (+1 population, +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience to military units in all cities)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 citizens as engineers)[NEWLINE]West Point (stone) (+4 experience per unit)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (stone) (allows all government civics) - a big boost in the early game[NEWLINE]Hagia Sophia (marble) (+50% worker build speed)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Merchant:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Colossus (copper) (+1 gold in all city water tiles)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 free specialist in all cities on the continent)[NEWLINE]Wall Street[NEWLINE]Forbidden Palace (acts as a 2nd capital decreasing distance maintenance)[NEWLINE]Versailles (marble)[NEWLINE]Great Lighthouse (+2 trade routes in coastal cities)[NEWLINE]Eiffel Tower (free broadcast tower in every city)[NEWLINE]United Nations[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Artist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (marble) (+50% GP birth rate in all cities)[NEWLINE]Notre Dame (+1 happiness in all cities)[NEWLINE]National epic (stone) (+100% GP birth rate)[NEWLINE]Hollywood (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Rock n' Roll (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Heroic Epic (marble) (+100% military unit production)[NEWLINE]Hermitage (marble)[NEWLINE]Globe Theater (no unhappiness in this city, allows 3 artists)[NEWLINE]Taj Mahal[NEWLINE]Mt. Rushmore (stone)[NEWLINE]Kremlin (stone)[NEWLINE]Sistine chapel (marble)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Most important early resources:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stone, marble, iron[NEWLINE]Put Parthenon, notre dame, statue of liberty in a separate wonder city[NEWLINE]National epic in capital[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]10. GREAT PEOPLE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In maximizing great people points, you can get some great synergy between traits, civics, wonders, and improvements. If you want a lot of great people, get as many of these as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that all bonuses are additive, not multiplicative. For example, 2 100% bonuses on top of a 100% base produce a 300% rate (100% base +100% x2), not 400% (they only add their bonus to the BASE rate, not to the final rate after other adjustments). Also, all fractions in the game are rounded DOWN (i.e. a 25% bonus of 7 is rounded down to 1, a 25% bonus of 8 is necessary for +2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traits:[NEWLINE]Philosophical trait : +100% GP generation civ-wide[NEWLINE]Civics:[NEWLINE]labor - caste system: unlimited scientists, merchants, artists in all cities[NEWLINE]economy - mercantilism: +1 free specialist per city; or (in games with many rivers) state property for the watermill food bonus, allowing higher POP and thus more specialists[NEWLINE]religion - pacifism: +100% GP birth rate in cities with state religion[NEWLINE]National wonders:[NEWLINE]national epic - +100% GP in city where built (only)[NEWLINE]World Wonders:[NEWLINE]Parthenon: +50% GP generation civ-wide, expires with chemistry[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty: +1 free specialist in all cities[NEWLINE]great library: +2 free scientists in city where built, but expires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civ with max upgrades (not including great library) would have:[NEWLINE]- a 300% great people rate (100% base + 100% philosophical + 100% pacifism) + 50% from Parthenon (before expires) + 100% more in city with national wonder[NEWLINE]- 2 free specialists in all cities (mercantilism statue of liberty). At 300% return on a 3 GP base per specialist x 2 specialists, this would provide 18 GP points *per turn* even in your least developed cities with no wonders.[NEWLINE]-unlimited ability to allocate scientists, artists, and merchants in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the wonder bonuses expire when YOU get the tech in question, not your neighbors...therefore a philosophical civ with the Parthenon may want to push back getting chemistry as late as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course some great people types are more valuable than others. Great engineers allow you to rush wonders which can provide key benefits in a close game. And great scientists can allow you to build an academy (+50% research) in every city. Great merchants, artists, and prophets, while still valuable, have effects that are generally somewhat more modest in terms of long-term game play. Since the chance of getting a great person of different types depends on the wonders and specialists in each city, I like having separate cities focus on great engineers and scientists without mixing with the other types as much as possible (you don't want to have your city with engineering wonders drowned out by large numbers of merchant, artist, or priest specialists pushing the GP probability towards other types). I don't have a strong preference between merchants, artists, and prophets, and so will build wonders generating all 3 in the same city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bonuses allowing you to turn citizens into engineers are generated only by:[NEWLINE]Forge (allows 1 engineer)[NEWLINE]Factory (allows 2 engineers)[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 engineers)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Engineer GP points are generated by:[NEWLINE]West Point (+1 GP)[NEWLINE]Hanging Gardens (+2)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (+2)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam (+2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The military city is the most natural choice for an engineer GP city (forge + factory + ironworks + west point + pentagon).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the cost for great people increase throughout the game, diminishing returns are eventually reached. Later in the game, the cost of great people goes up and up, while the benefit of great people often declines, since the earlier you get great people, the longer they will benefit your civilization. However, your civilization should also increase in its capacity to generate great people over time, civics are chosen, as wonders are built and citizens are assigned as specialists. With appropriate tactics, many great people can still be generated even in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every great person can cause either an instant benefit, provide a tech bonus, or add a long-term bonus to cities. The benefits must be carefully considered. In *most* cases, I prefer to use great people in a manner that augments the long-term productivity of my cities, although there are exceptional cases where great people are best used to rush a tech or a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two types of great people present no-brainers for their use:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great prophets. Before using great prophets in any other way, make sure that you have created the religion-specific wonder in any founding religious city under your control. If you have made any attempt at all to spread the religion, or of you are conquering the founding city of a religion that is widely accepted, this can produce massive financial benefits that dwarf virtually any other use of great people.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great scientists. Use them to create academies in all of your top science cities. Which would you rather have -- an extra +6 or so science per turn in the city of your choice, or a 50% increase in science in a city that is already generating 50, 75, or 200 beakers per turn? Although the increase acts only on the base number of commerce points applied to research (before other modifiers are applied), a great scientist can result in massive research output for cities, especially in conjunction with other science improvements (library/university/observatory/Oxford University/etc).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For other great people, I usually prefer to join them to a city, with occasional exceptions as previously acknowledged.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great artists. If you are going for a cultural victory, great artists are your friend. A very nice strategy for cultural victory on Monarch level, using great artists either by joining to a city or as "culture bombs" to titrate legendary culture among three cities is presented by walkerjks here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=138647[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are not going for a cultural victory, great artists are by far the weakest of all great people. I find that in most cases it is preferable to join great artists to border cities or captured cities instead of invoking the "culture bomb." Great artists produce +12 to +15 culture per turn, which is the equivalent of many cultural buildings (library = +2 culture, theater = +3, etc) and will quickly expand the city's borders -- in addition to any cultural multipliers the city may have (cathedrals, hermitage, civics, etc). In this way, you still continue to receive the commerce benefits of the great artist throughout the game, speeding your research and filling your coffers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great merchant. The great merchant is the ONLY great person that offers a food bonus (+1 food, +6 commerce appears typical). I prefer to join great merchants to high-commerce cities that focus on great people creation (the city with the national epic is often a great choice), since more food allows you to allocate more specialists, further increasing great people output.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great engineers. As for great prophets, the surplus productivity is welcome. These often go in my capital or most productive city or cities. A city with ironworks makes a great choice for great engineer placement in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]OPTIONS FOR EARLY EXPANSION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several good early expansion options. The decision as to which is best for you depends both on map choice and on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]11. CHOP-RUSHING[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop rushing is a great way to jump ahead in the early game. The first mention I know of was in this thread by AlexFrog:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137292[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I prefer a somewhat modified version of the strategy. The strategy involves founding initial cities in areas with a large number of trees within their "fat cross" area. The player researches bronze working immediately while building a worker in the capital city before building any other units or buildings. Once the worker is done (12-15 turns) and bronze working is researched, the worker immediately goes to work chopping trees around the capital. Each tree chopped results in 20 hammers, which can rocket a level 1 city that may have only 1, 2, or 3 hammers far ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most logical initial use of "chop-rushing" is for settlers and workers, since your cities are normally stagnant (do not grow) while these units are being produced, and because these units are vital to the growth and productivity of your civilization. I save trees to chop-rush settlers, workers, or wonders, since the construction of buildings or military units allows your cities to grow during the production phase, while production of the former two does not, and the third category (wonders) is a race. Chop-rushing typically allows me to plant 2-3 times as many cities as my closest AI competitors on noble level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, settlers must never be sent out undefended, so I like to first build at least one (possibly two) warriors, sending at least one out to explore and pop goody huts (in addition to the starting warrior) while the second will act as your settler escort. I periodically build warriors during the rapid expansion phase to ensure that my cities and settlers are adequately defended.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of maintenance costs increasing with both distance and city number (and I will place cities at long distances from my capital when necessary to secure important resources), it is impractical to build a civilization by the exclusive virtue of chop-rushing. There must be a balance. Once I get three or four cities, I let one or two grow and develop -- building a granary or military units to increase in size and to defend the borders, while the others chop-rush. I also assign some workers to build improvements very early -- cottages in particular, in addition to improvements required by special resources -- in order to ensure that city commerce, on average, is in excess of upkeep costs, allowing continued rapid research and continued growth. As a rough rule of thumb, on noble level, if my research percentage falls below 70%, that is a warning sign to me that I need to better develop the city economic base by building more cottages and letting cities grow to a larger size before expanding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop-rushing can also be a terrific way to get wonders, especially when you have special resources that speed wonder building. For example, Stonehenge costs 120 hammers, but if you have stone, every forest chopped will give double (not 20, but 40) hammers. Therefore, you only need to chop three trees to build Stonehenge in a city with stone -- as opposed to the many turns it would take to build it without chop-rushing. This is a great way to get key wonders as a non-industrious civ, and the ability of any civilization to do this really waters down the value of the industrious trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: the patch slightly weakens chop-rushing. Chopping income has dropped from thirty to twenty hammers, with that number being further reduced for chops further from the city (outside the city radius?) Mathematics adds +50% (back to the original 30), but it comes in the end of the first age at a time that is not as useful as an immediate chop-rush would be. Also, unlike Civ3, cutting down trees doesn't increase food harvest, so you have to immediately place farms or cottages or do something else to develop the land in other ways. Chopping offers a quick up-front bonus but can dent your long-term production if you overdo it. Weigh the pros and cons carefully in each situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a recent test game in which I preserved the forests in the cities (for the health benefits and to maintain the forest productivity), I found that by the mid-middle ages, my tech rate had dropped virtually to zero and my workers began to strike and units were automatically disbanded because expenses were greater than income. Retaining the forests as opposed to chopping and planting cottages widely didn't provide the economic revenue to support the rapid city expansion that I prefer, even with measured expansion letting many of the cities grow to mid-size. Therefore I continue to favor chopping trees - whether in an early settler rush, or to complete wonders - also to free up the land for farms (faster growth) or cottage improvements (improve economy and tech speed).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]EXPANDING YOUR CAPITAL[\H2][NEWLINE]As attractive as it may seem, chop rushing faces major limitations, especially after being significantly tuned down in the recent patch. Chopping trees can push cities located near flood plains into unhealthiness and decline. Chops offer a one-time boost after which the city returns to its prior production. Depending on your situation, allowing the capital to develop before sending out settlers can be a better option. For example, if you can expand your capital in 8 turns and get a square that offers a combined 3 food and/or hammers, you will get a bonus of +1 food or hammer (2 of the food go to support the expanded population) for every subsequent turn throughout the game. For an average level 1 city with 3 resources in the center square and 3 on the first worked square (4 surplus food/hammers for settlers/workers), it takes 25 turns (4x25=100) to build a 100 resource settler and 15 turns (4x15) to build a 60-resource worker. Just one surplus resource, after paying food costs, by expanding to level 2 will drop this down to 20 turns for the settler (5 resources x 20 turns) and 12 turns for the worker. Expanding to level 3 to work another 3-resource tile, which you can generally do in another 8 turns after the first expansion with good city placement, will give you 6 surplus resources, dropping settler creation time to 17 turns and worker creation down to 10 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's do a comparison of a city that immediately builds 4 settlers, vs. one that spends 16 turns building warriors to grow twice, and switches production to settlers before the 2nd warrior is completed:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build order: 4 Settlers 1 1/2 warriors, 4 settlers[NEWLINE]Turns to 1st settler 25 16 (to grow twice), then 17 for settler = 33[NEWLINE]2nd settler 50 50[NEWLINE]3rd settler 75 67[NEWLINE]4th settler 100 84[NEWLINE]Final capital size 1 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see, the city that expands to level 3 first catches up with the city that immediately built only settlers by the time the 2nd settler is completed. The fact that the settler-only city completed its first settler 9 turn earlier does not make up for this, as the 9 turns allow for barely 1 cycle of growth as opposed to the 2 that the first city has achieved.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The expand-first city ends up far ahead because at the end, it is better developed and more productive than the city that pumped out settlers immediately. The expand-first model also has the advantage of producing warriors to defend your units, as unprotected settlers are not likely to survive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are well-situated and can develop those resources further, the model shifts even more in favor of allowing your city to increase in size. For example, if you can irrigate 2 flood plains up to +4 food each in your size 3 city and have one special resource you can get 2 food or hammers from, your total surplus will be 10 (3 from center tile, 2 per tile from 2 floodplains, and 3 from specialty resource) per turn. You can then build settlers in just 10 turns. At that point, you are expanding FASTER than you could with chop-rushing. Between chopping and moving, trees take 3-4 turns to chop for just 20 hammers and are limited, while your expanded city is indefinitely producing a surplus of 10/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, most cities in the early game do not require more than 3-4 farm tiles. Exceptions may be made for cities on barren land, such as plains or hills. A few judicious farms are usually all that you need in order to jump-start your growth. If you overdo the farming, you can easily push the city into unhappiness, at which point cottages are a better alternative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision of when to develop your capital vs. when to expand depends on your city setup. If tiles around your city are not very fertile (i.e. plains), you may wish to get out a settler sooner rather than later. If however your main city is well-placed and has one or two special resources within its boundaries that you can access with early techs, it is often wise to spend a few turns developing these resources to create a more productive capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]12. TECHNOLOGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great variability comes in here. Depending on your civilization traits and technologies, your level, and your play style, you may have different technological priorities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players favor chop-rushing for early expansion, going straight for bronze working. Then I go for pottery (to build cottages ASAP) and from there to alphabet (to trade techs). After alphabet, I trade with the AI as much as possible. I go for mathematics (to get hanging gardens) and then try to grab a religion -- Confucianism or, if I miss that, one of the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In many cases, investment in techs such as agriculture, animal domestication, and hunting can be more valuable than bronze working chop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are playing as a civ with early religious technologies, you may wish to shoot straight for an early religion. I prefer the path that leads to Hinduism/Judaism since if you are beaten to Hinduism, Judaism is right around the corner, while Buddhism is a dead end (at least for a while) and the AI seems to go for it quickly. Monotheism also has the benefit of offering the organized religion civic, which at +25% building construction (including wonders!) can prove to be an enormous benefit to your civilization's development. This, as well as the early spread of religion from your cities (with happiness etc), can make an early religion very, very worthwhile. From there, you can go for bronze-working and chop rush, or you can go straight for alphabet, trade for bronze working (which is typically readily available once alphabet is discovered), and chop rush.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Going for the religious techs (polytheism-&gt;monotheism) early has great advantages even for a non-spiritual civ, if you can get there quickly. The religious techs offer key early-era wonders, including Stonehenge and the Parthenon, and perhaps the most important ancient-era civic, organized religion, which can further enhance your speed in constructing wonders and other buildings. If you don't go for these techs very quickly, you will probably lose the wonder race. As you can't trade for techs until you have alphabet, and many maps feature limited access to potential trading partners, the only reliable way to get these techs is to research them yourself. If you are playing as a philosophical civ, getting the early wonders is especially critical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Either way has advantages and drawbacks, but both playing styles can be viable. Of course you can mix and match these: shoot for early religion and then quickly add bronze working (but miss out on some early chop-rushing), or research bronze working and then pick up the religious techs in time to get access to the wonders (but you will probably lose the early religion race). There undoubtedly others as well, but the above two are my favorites.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are some of the key techs I focus on acquiring, making modification depending on map type and difficulty level:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]0. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Hunting: these techs are vital to be able to hook up your bonus resources. Farming in particular is very important.[NEWLINE]1. Mysticism (65 beakers). Stonehenge, and prerequisite for other religious techs.[NEWLINE]2. Polytheism (130 beakers). Hinduism and Parthenon (key for philosophical civs).[NEWLINE]3. Bronze working (156 beakers). Chop rushing. 'nuf said.[NEWLINE]4. Wheel (78 beakers). Workers and resources won't do you much good until you can build roads. This can be moved down below monotheism depending on whether you have already gotten a religion and how tight you feel the race for Judaism will be.[NEWLINE]5. Pottery (104 beakers). Your workers can now start building cottages, and allows granary. Because of how long cottages take to develop, it is important to get cottages started early. Also to defray the heavy upkeep costs of a large empire.[NEWLINE]6. Masonry (104 beakers). Prerequisite for Monotheism. Allows building mines and quarries. While researching this you will hopefully be sending a settler and a worker to hook up stone (stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens) and marble (Parthenon) resources.[NEWLINE]7. Monotheism (156 beakers). Judaism and organized religion. The moment you are ready to begin building Stonehenge in your capital (or any other building), switch to organized religion to provide a +25% hammer bonus for wonders and buildings.[NEWLINE]8. Writing (156 beakers) and alphabet (390 beakers). Allows tech trades, allowing the player to pick up any missed techs.[NEWLINE]9. Mathematics (325 beakers) - workers produce +50% hammers from tree chops (up to 30). Also enables hanging garden, a key wonder for rapid population expansion. Very important for both counts.[NEWLINE]10. Metal casting (585 beakers). Forges add +25% productivity to any city where they are built. When you have stone and/or marble, organized religion civic, and forges, your cities can quickly construct buildings and wonders. Unfortunately, this tech quite expensive.[NEWLINE]11. Literature (260 beakers). Heroic epic, national epic, great library, and libraries. All important structures.[NEWLINE]12. Music (780 beakers). Free great artist to the first discoverer. Also allows Notre Dame and cathedrals, vital happiness buildings.[NEWLINE]13. Drama (390) and philosophy (1040 beakers). Philosophy offers Taoism to the first discoverer, and pacifism is a helpful civic for philosophical civs. Angkor Wat is nice (+1 production from priests in all cities) if you can get it.[NEWLINE]14. Paper (780), Education (2340 - allows universities/oxford), Liberalism (1820). Liberalism is a high priority both because it offers a free technology (you can pick the most expensive one available) and because of the free speech civic. The +2 gold from towns education offers is nice as long as enough of your cottages have developed into towns to warrant the expense of this tech path.[NEWLINE]15. printing press (2080), requires paper. +1 commerce in towns and villages. Another economic bonus, but the expense is so high that other techs may be a higher priority. Replaceable parts (2340) offers +1 hammer for watermills and windmills. This is really the point in the game where watermills become worthwhile.[NEWLINE]16. nationalism (2340), constitution (2600), democracy (3640). Nationalism and constitution have little to recommend them, except as prerequisites for democracy. Democracy is a huge advance to both economics and production because it allows universal suffrage (+1 production boost to towns) and emancipation (doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns).[NEWLINE]17. Divine Right (1560) islam, spiral minaret, Versailles. Another opportunity to pick up a religion. Spiral minaret provides major economic boost (+1 gold per state religion building in all cities). It is however very expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Currency (520 beakers): +1 trade route per city, and enables gold trading. Both of these can produce a major economic boost. I usually wait and trade for this, but getting it early may be warranted if your upkeep costs are becoming difficult to manage or your tech rate is dropping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Others:[NEWLINE]Iron working: Reveals iron. Being able to clear jungles is necessary to be able to access some resources and to increase health. Usually I trade for this tech after alphabet, but there are certainly exceptions requiring early iron working (if you have a bad starting location in a jungle harming productivity).[NEWLINE]Iron working is critical to military also. As soon as you get this and iron is revealed, it is vital to claim and develop that iron promptly. Make sure to devote one city to military to pump out archers (before iron to garrison all your cities) and swordsmen (after iron) for defense and offense.[NEWLINE]Archery: a must if you have aggressive neighbors. You may be able to hold off until after alphabet and trade for this depending on your setup, but if you are playing against human players, you need to get this ASAP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other key techs[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mathematics. Hanging Gardens -- + 1 POP and +1 health in all your cities is huge, especially when you have a lot of small and moderate-size cities. The hanging gardens can really explode your productivity when you have a large empire from a chop-rush settler rush.[NEWLINE]Music (free great artist)[NEWLINE]Military Tradition (cavalry rule the middle ages)[NEWLINE]Divine Right (Versailles/Islam)[NEWLINE]Metallurgy (watermill)[NEWLINE]Democracy (emancipation &amp; universal suffrage).[NEWLINE]Communism (state property)[NEWLINE]Then to any other techs that improve the benefits of your improvements (i.e. electricity).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also try to pick up the techs that offer free great people or free techs. These techs obviously represent a priority, as only the first discoverer gets the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]13. MILITARY STRATEGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Game Plan[\H2][NEWLINE]Before each game, consider spending a few minutes to write down some basic goals and strategies that you wish to incorporate. The plan will depend considerably on map type, terrain, size, difficulty leve, and opponents (AI or human). Of course the plan will need to be flexible to take advantage of opportunities and to respond to contingencies and challenges.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the game, review your strategy and honestly assess which aspects worked well, and what aspects fell flat or met challenges. Use your insight to fine-tune your strategy and improve your next game plan.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Anticipation and Preparation[\H2][NEWLINE]The computer will attack suddenly and in force in CIV. It is not unusual for the computer to DOW someone and raze their city with a stack of units in the same turn. The AI, like human players, is an opportunist. If you happen to build a city right next to enemy military units, or if AI players see a poorly defended city near their military units, they are more likely to declare war than if your cities were defended and settlers were escorted. Close borders also spark tensions. Different religion is also a major cause of hostility. The AI can and does declare war even when there are mildly positive relations, so don't be too smug at your relationship score. You must defend your cities and resources. Even if you are not a warmonger, build a credible defense force. If your military is much weaker than your neighbors, you will soon find yourself in war. Anticipate attacks in advance. Is your neighbor massing catapults and swordsmen near your border? What are the stacked archer and warrior doing near your cities? Assume the worst, be observant, and be informed. Judge your enemy by their capability, not their words or relations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Border Cities[\H2][NEWLINE]Beware of border cities without a large cultural buffer between other civilizations. In one game I had a brilliant idea to build the forbidden palace in a border city. Then while I was engaged in a war against the Mongols on the other side of my empire, Saladin declared war and conquered the city the same turn with hordes of catapults, knights, and crossbowmen. Expensive cultural improvements are instantly lost once a city is conquered. Don't put anything too critical in border cities, especially those without a significant buffer zone, and don't get too involved in constructing major buildings in border cities until you have them well-defended with strong contemporary units. Don't leave your back side exposed. And don't let success in the tech race come at the expense of national security.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy[\H2][NEWLINE]When starting a war, consider your objectives. What are your goals? Acquisition of specific resources or cities? Capturing a wonder? Total annexation? Or, if caught by surprise, would you be happy to get away with a white peace? Once you have determined your goals, come up with a strategic plan to get there. Make sure that your unit mix is balanced and well-thought out. More than once in my early games, I found myself besieging cities with large stacks of units but no catapults -- bad idea. What are you going to do about city defenses? Are their resources you can deny your opponent? Will you create a two or three pronged attack and exploit vulnerabilities? Will you land a horde of cavalry and catapults by his capital for a sneak attack after shipping them behind enemy lines? It is much easier to achieve objectives if you know what your specific objectives are and have a viable plan to achieve them. It's far more effective to have a plan and fine-tune it as needed while in process than to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take time to consider your opponent's strategy...*especially* if playing a human. Look at your own empire and assess your own vulnerabilities. Is YOUR iron supply undefended? Could an enemy wreak havoc with a few knights shipped in to attack rear cities? Do you have rows of cottages in a border city ripe for plundering? If you were your enemy, what would you do? If your vulnerabilities are lost on you, be assured that they will not be lost on a competent opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Resource Denial[\H2][NEWLINE]When planning a war, aim to take out key military and civilian resources. The resource screen shows you exactly what resources your opponents have. Some of the resources, like copper and iron, are essential for war. If you enemy has one source of iron and you fortify on that square with good defenders and pillage it, your enemy will instantly lose the ability to make swordsmen -- and many other units, unless he has a copper supply as well. No copper, iron, or horses? Suddenly your formerly formidable medieval opponent is back in the stone age and is able to produce only warriors and archers. A few strategic moves of this nature can turn the tide of a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other special resources are worth pillaging also. If your opponent has large cities that are marginally happy or healthy, pillaging a few luxury or health resources can catastrophically damage commerce, tech speed, and productivity across his entire empire. Pillaging of specialty resources in this way has a far greater effect than the pillaging of cottages, since the effects are felt in every connected city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]To Pillage or Not to Pillage[\H2][NEWLINE]Some argue for pillaging as many of your opponents cottages as possible in order to cause long-term damage to his research and economy. Against a superior or closely-matched opponent, this can be a good idea. However, it can be shortsighted if you have the upper hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I am convinced that I have superior force and can take a city, I don't pillage cottages, mines, or watermills. Given how long cottages take to develop, I pillage them ONLY when I think that I am unable to take a city outright during the current war. As attractive as the quick gold from pillaging seems, it is trivial compared to having a long-term free revenue source that your opponent built for you -- adding insult to injury. Conquered cities will often have high maintenance due to their distance from your capital and the incremental augmentation of city number, and if they can pay their own expenses right off the bat, your warmongering will be much more economically sustainable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE]When evenly matched or over-matched, diplomacy plays an immense role. If the Mongols catch you by surprise and burn a couple border cities, what better way to pay them back than bribing their neighbors with tech or gold to declare war on them? Sure, they may have thought they were smart to exploit a momentary vulnerability when their keshiks found a lightly-guarded city...but finding themselves in a war on two or three fronts will wipe the smile off their faces and take the pressure off you. If I am caught by surprise in a war for which I am not fully prepared or do not want, I do not hesitate to trade prime techs to bribe allies to join on my side.</English>
		<French>[H1]WoundedKnight's Strategy Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WoundedKnight[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents[\H2][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Learn the Rules[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Civilization Selection[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Leverage Your Strengths[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. City Placement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Civics Guide[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. City Improvement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Great People[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Chop-Rushing[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Technology[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. Military Strategy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]1. LEARN THE RULES[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best-spent two hours for my CIV strategy skills was spent pouring over the civilopedia to understand the rules, the tech trees, improvements, units, etc. It's much easier to do well if you have a clear strategy and know where you want to go. For example, some techs offer bonuses to the first discoverer: a free great person, a free great tech, or starting a religion. Obviously these techs are generally a priority to get first, while others with benefits that are not time-sensitive can wait or be picked up in trade.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]MAP CHOICE[\H2][NEWLINE]The choice of maps can have a major impact upon gameplay, and therefore upon the strategy you may choose to adopt. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Continental and archipelago maps promote early isolation of civs into 2-3 large groups (continents) or even individual civs (archipelago). Your continent or island may not have access at all to key resources like stone, marble, horses, and iron, which can make your construction or military plans more difficult. It is also more difficult to keep your population happy, as your island or continent may contain only 2 or 3 luxury resources. Your tech rate will also be slower, because there are fewer partners to trade with. On continent maps, I often find myself having to research mundane techs like archery or animal domestication because there are not enough proximate AI players to become a reliable tech broker. On the plus side, these maps can provide for a more interesting late game than Pangaea maps by allowing longer buildup of your competitors and preventing them from being weakened or destroyed in early-game rush. Naval combat adds an interesting element that Pangaea or large land-mass players do not fully experience. The early isolation makes it easier to stay at peace throughout the early era, or to isolate and crush enemies on your starting island without other players interfering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with a large amount of land and little water (oasis, highland, lakes, etc) pose major long-term barbarian challenges. There is so much land that the barbarians continue to arise from territory covered by the fog of war until late in the game. Defending your cities requires extra effort on such maps. On the plus side, you may be able to capture a city or two from the barbarians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pangaea and other land-mass maps offer predictable early availability of all tech-appropriate resources, although you may have to fight for them. However, such maps can be less interesting if the player becomes very dominant in the early or mid-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with strange geometric land arrangements like inland sea result in high city upkeep costs for an expanding civilization, as distance arrangements between your cities are often not optimal due to geographic constraints.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Large land mass games provide more competitors, and therefore reduce the player's chance of winning the religion, tech, or wonder race. On a standard map or smaller on balanced (noble) difficulty, a player without religious techs can often still beat the AI players to Hinduism and/or Judaism. On large and huge maps, chances become slimmer. There are few things as frustrating as spending 20 or 30 turns working on constructing a wonder in your most productive city only to have the AI finish it 2-3 turns before you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]2. CIVILIZATION SELECTION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision as to which civilization to play as is an individual one. Traits have various strengths and weaknesses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial:[\BOLD] All-time favorite. Once you get cottages and watermills working, this will gain you +1 extra gold for almost every square being worked in your city radius. This is a huge advantage, when combined with appropriately widespread cottage building, allows the player to maintain a high tech rate even with expensive civics, a large army, and a large empire. Nonetheless, these benefits are not experienced until you have developed a certain city infrastructure and developed your terrain, usually in the classical or late ancient era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized:[\BOLD] The recent patch has done much to enhance the value of the organized trait. Many civics have become significantly more expensive. I find that civic costs now typically cost 33-66% of city maintenance costs depending on civic settings, averaging about 50% for me. In the late game, after a player changes to state property civic to eliminate distance maintenance costs, civic costs are often double city maintenance costs. Because of inflation that increases in the late game, the costs are often even more than they appear. Organized offers a huge benefit by reducing these costs in half. Organized is especially useful because the player receives its benefits throughout the entire game without any effort or development, and the significant savings are always welcome. This can easily add at least 10% if not 20% to the tech rate. Cheap courthouses help you to reduce expenses even further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical:[\BOLD] +100% GP. Synergistic with the religious civics (Pacifism - +100% GP rate) and the national epic (+100% GP in the city of your choice), as well as mercantilism, national epic, statue of liberty, etc. Optimal utilization of the philosophical trait requires a heavy wonder-building play style. The high costs of wonder construction consume the resources of your most productive cities that could otherwise be devoted to conquest or expansion. This is therefore not an ideal trait for warmongers. On harder difficulty levels, philosophical may be less useful than on noble, as it will be difficult to utilize the benefits unless you are able to win the wonder race. The philosophical trait received a substantial, although indirect, bonus from the patch, as wonders continue to give GP points even after they expire. If you have philosophical trait, you will get twice the points from your expired wonders as non-philosophicals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After playing with the philosophical trait extensively, I have found it to be much less useful than I initially believed. Unfortunately, double the GP points does not mean double the number of GPs. A point of diminishing returns is encountered with each GP costing more and more points (5 GPs = 1,500 points, 10 GPs = 5,500 points, 15 GPs = 12,000 points, 20 GPs = 21,000 points, 25 GPs = 32,500 points, 30 GPs = 46,500 points, 35 GPs = 62,000 points, 40 GPs = 82,000 points). I find that it is still possible for a non-philosophical civ to do quite well in the GP race, because there are many ways for non-philosophicals to enhance GP generation making the advantage of the philosophical nation even more tenuous (national wonder, Parthenon, statue of liberty, pacifism, mercantilism). Philosophical is definitely a fun trait, but I think that stronger traits are available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive:[\BOLD] +3 health per city in the patch. With the exception of cities located in flood plains, happiness is initially more limiting for city growth than health at almost all levels, but as the game progresses, numerous wonders, civics, buildings, etc. increase happiness, but there are relatively few ways to increase city health. Cheap granaries are one of the most useful building bonuses and offer early and predictable benefits across all difficulty levels. Expansive is useful only at specific times during gameplay, namely, when your city growth is limited by health, or while building granaries. As these are relatively narrow circumstances (although very important ones), I tend to prefer traits that offer more consistent benefit. If you find you continue to run into problems with city health, pick expansive. However, many of these issues can be remedied with good city placement, resource development, and construction of appropriate buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious:[\BOLD] A nice trait, as the wonders you get with +50% build speed can duplicate many other civ traits. Half-price forges are great also because they increase your productivity, and for non-industrious civs they are quite expensive. However, the ability of any player to quickly build wonders by "chop-rushing" (described later) undermines some of the value of the industrial trait. Considering philosophical vs. industrious? Industrious makes it easier to get wonders, while philosophical makes the ones that you have more valuable. Industrious is particularly useful on higher difficulty levels when the player needs a more compelling edge in order to have any real chance of beating the AI to wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive:[\BOLD] A great trait for the warmonger. While experience can be given by buildings, civics, and wonders, a free extra promotion for melee and gunpowder units is great -- especially for barracks-trained units with a couple of levels to boot. More and more experience is required to get more bonuses (2/5/10/17/etc), and so having a free promotion that doesn't set you back at all in the XP quest is good. Since the promotions become more and more powerful the higher in level you go (+20% city attack, +25%, +30% with an extra +10% vs gunpowder units, etc...cumulative!!!), having an extra promotion can result in a huge amount of extra military power, especially if you have planned well to take advantage of other sources of experience. If you want an early domination or conquest victory, aggressive is an excellent choice. Aggressive provides no bonuses to many key unit types: archery, cavalry, tanks, aircraft, and ships, and so the aggressive trait requires an early attack style to flourish.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual:[\BOLD] One of the weakest traits IMO. No anarchy, while nice, is of little benefit as I only change civics 5-6 times in a game (I try to change 2 or 3 at a time at times when several important civics are discovered in close time proximity). Cheap temples? Temples are cheap anyway and have fewer benefits than many other buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative:[\BOLD] +2 culture has significant benefits in the early game, but few in the late game when cities have more culture than they know what to do with. How many times have I conquered a city only to have it flip to a closely adjacent neighbor? How many times have I built cultural improvement (theater, library, etc.) in a conquered city for the exclusive purpose of generating culture (and, sometimes failed), when a creative civ would not have had to worry at all? The automatic expanding cultural radius can be very valuable in expanding in the early game and blocking off large amounts of territory for your later development. While cultural's benefits are mainly in the early game, the benefits can be substantial. I prefer to get industrious instead and build Stonehenge for your early culture (although this expires -- soon -- with calender), the benefit of creative is still significant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In sum, I think that spiritual and creative are the two weak traits of CIV. The other six traits are all good in the appropriate situation, with financial and organized representing excellent traits with wide utility across many playing styles, and the others offering specific benefits that require specific playing styles to shine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My favorite leader for a standard (noble) game is Washington (American) - Financial/Organized. Other great leaders include English (Victoria) - Expansive/Financial, English (Elizabeth) - Philosophical/Financial, Chinese (Qin Shi Huang) - Industrious/Financial, Peter (Russia) - Expansive/Philosophical. If you are playing on a higher difficulty level, traits that offer immediate, consistent benefit like expansive, aggressive, and industrious may serve you better than traits that bloom only with cultivation like financial or philosophical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]3. LEVERAGE YOUR STRENGTHS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's important to make the most out of your advantages by drawing upon the synergy of civ traits, civics, improvements, and buildings and wonders. For example, it would be silly to get the aggressive civ trait and fail to build barracks. Synergy can be very powerful when you combine substantial bonuses in the same area from multiple different sources. Aggressive (free combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units)+ barracks (+4 experience for all new units)+ pentagon (+2 experience to all units civ-wide) + theocracy (+2 experience for all new units), police state (+25% military production speed), + West Point (+4 experience for all new units) and Heroic Epic (+100% military production speed) = +125% military production speed pumping out units starting with 12 experience points (3 promotions) in addition to combat I in the city with West Point/Heroic epic, and 8 experience points + combat I at a 25% bonus production speed in all other cities with barracks. An initially mediocre unit with 3 city attack promotions (+20%, +25%, +30%) receives a +85% bonus against cities - a massive boost against even strong defenders of technological parity. Philosophical + Pacifism + Parthenon = 250% great people points, with 350% in the city with the national epic. And so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also important to try to compensate for your disadvantages. For example, if I am not playing an expansive civ (or even if I am), I try to build cities on rivers as much as possible for the +2 health bonus, even at a slight productivity hit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]4. RELIGIONS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As in the real world, religion can be one of the most uniting or dividing things in CIV. While gifts or insults have only minor benefit on relations (+/-1, rarely more than +/-2; religion can have a huge impact on relations -- seeing +/-4, +/-6 from religion are common. Religion is by far the biggest factor in relations in most games. It seems to be something in the range of +1 relations for every city of your religion in your opponent's land, +1 or 2 if your religion is their state religion. Therefore, pumping out missionaries to convert your neighbors in the good times is as important for the security of your empire as maintaining a powerful military. I try to keep one city pumping out missionaries of your religion the entire game, providing both relationship and economic bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider getting an early religion (Hinduism or Judaism) or, if going for a chop-rush settler push, one or more of the later ones (Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism, Islam). In any case, try to pick up as many of the later ones as I can in order to keep friends friendly. A friendly neighbor who has previously converted to your religion but subsequently discovers Islam can suddenly decide that you are a pagan who must be cleansed from the earth. Besides, some of the religion techs (like Divine Right, Islam) offer cool wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Founding cities of religion can become real cash cows in the mid and late game, IF you build the religion-specific wonder in the founding city. In a recent game where I aggressively spread Confucianism, over 30-40 cities were converted by the late of the game. I also discovered Taoism and subsequently captured the founding cities of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, giving me five of the seven world religions. Did I ignore my non-state religions, even though I planned to stick with Confucianism throughout the entire game? Of course not. I sent a great prophet to each city to build the religion-specific wonder. This accomplishes two purposes. First, it gives you free bonus income equal to the number of cities with that religion each turn. Second, it causes the autonomous spread of each religion from its founding city without even requiring missionaries. While I continue to aggressively spread my state religion with missionaries, the other religious capitals function as cash cows with progressively increasing revenue without requiring any other input or management.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since founding religious cities generate a large amount of income, *regardless of the position of your financial sliders*, these are the best cities for building banks, markets, and grocers. I find that the Wall Street wonder is typically best built in the founding city of my state religion for an extra and substantial economic boost, since this will typically be the largest religion by the mid to late game (and thus the largest city economy).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As previously mentioned, I keep pumping missionaries out from 2-3 cities almost continuously through the entire game. This improves relations with neighbors, creates LOS (line of sight) to other cities, and generates money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The financial and diplomatic benefits of missionaries are well-known, although the espionage benefits are rarely mentioned. When I am contemplating war with a nation, I will send a wave of missionaries to as many of their key cities as possible before my military units cross the border. This accomplishes two things. First, it provides invaluable intelligence information and allows one to assess which cities represent priority acquisitions as well as to get some idea of the strength, location, and composition of enemy armies. Equally importantly, missionaries of your state religion provide an instant cultural benefit to captured cities. After conquering a city that is not your state religion, you might contemplate building a library or theater -- which could take 50+ turns -- in order to expand the borders and to prevent the city from flipping back to an adjacent neighbor with strong cultural boundaries. However, if the city is already your state religion, it will automatically generate +1 culture/turn in addition to a +1 happiness benefit, expanding your borders within 10 turns and making your city much less likely to flip or revolt. The pre-attack missionary wave essentially adds the benefits of the creative trait to non-creative civs, in addition to income, happiness, and espionage benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]5. CITY PLACEMENT[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The placement of cities is always one of the most important strategic decisions. I will gladly place a city at significantly further distance from my capital if it results in acquiring special resources or monopolizing a location that is of prime strategic or production value. Many specialty resources offer benefits for your entire civilization, and so the race to control luxury, health, strategic, and bonus resources is a key factor in city placement. Whenever possible, I build cities on rivers, and try to get at least one special resource (of any kind) within range. Of course this is not always possible (especially on unusual or specialty map types), but if you repeatedly find that you are having trouble making your cities happy and productive or are failing to acquire important resources, perhaps it is time to reevaluate your city placement. Controlling strategic passes or "choke points" with cities is also valuable -- if you can block off your enemies from chunks of unsettled land and then fill it in later, that is a bonus, although the geography doesn't always accommodate this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some buildings I like to build everywhere, whereas others I build only in specialized cities, or in any city when there is a natural opening. Buildings I like to build as much as possible include:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]granary[NEWLINE]lighthouse (for coastal cities)[NEWLINE]library[NEWLINE]aqueduct[NEWLINE]forge[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Second Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]harbor (if applicable)[NEWLINE]temple[NEWLINE]theater[NEWLINE]market[NEWLINE]grocery[NEWLINE]university[NEWLINE]laboratory[NEWLINE]factory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The build order of course varies depending on the needs of each city, but generally I get granaries and forges as early as possible everywhere, and theaters first in conquered cities (to prevent culture flipping), and others as the situation dictates. It is hard to go wrong with a library almost everywhere because of the commerce bonus and the culture to expand your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful with buildings that harm city health. In particular, avoid building coal plants, as this subtracts two health and seemingly cannot be removed, even if the city develops alternative power sources. The three gorges dam wonder provides power to all cities on the continent, and cities along rivers can use hydro power. While laboratories increase research by +25%, they also detract from health (-1), and you may not need laboratories everywhere at the very late stage in the game at which they become available - constructing them in a few top research cities may suffice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Commerce, Research, and Gold[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Squares with or without improvements produce *commerce*. This commerce can then be used to fund research, culture, or turned into gold. Improvements (towns etc) and the financial trait actually give you commerce, not gold. The distinction between "commerce" generally and "gold" specifically is somewhat confusing as they sometimes use the same gold coin icon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then the benefit of city improvements depends on both your base commerce and your sliders. Say you have a small city producing 10 commerce, and your research slider is on 80%, with 20% going into finances. A library (+25% research) will give you an extra 2 beakers (base research = 80% of 10 = 8, 25% of 8 = 2 more). A grocer, however (+25% gold) would seem not to have any benefit to an economy this small (base gold = 20% of 10 = 2, and 25% of 2= 0.5, rounded down to zero).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now of course there is some gold *outside* of the commerce system: namely, gold generated by religious buildings. Specialist gold goes directly to finances and is not general "commerce" that can be converted to research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In other words, the benefit of the improvements depends highly on the position of your sliders. If you played with research on 20% and money on 80%, obviously the financial improvements (market, grocer, bank, etc) would be more valuable. Since in most games however research plays such an important role, science improvements tend to offer greater benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inflation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation is not covered anywhere in the civilopedia or manual that I can find, but it is an important expense. Inflation can go up but never seems to go down over the course of a game. Inflation increases over time at a steady rate, regardless of spending breakdown. Inflation cannot apparently be controlled; it inevitably increases as the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation adds an additional percentage to your expenses, including:[NEWLINE]civic upkeep[NEWLINE]city maintenance (distance and city number)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This percentage can get quite high. If your expenses are 100 per turn and your inflation is 30%, your final cost is 130 gold. The organized trait has at least some advantage here, because it is saving "pre-tax" rather than "post-tax" dollars. In other words, if your civic upkeep were 50 and inflation were 0%, the organized trait would save only 25 gold (50% of final upkeep), but if inflation were 40%, your real savings are 50+20 (40% of 50) = 70/2, or 35 gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]6. CIVICS GUIDE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to change civics as little as possible since I don't play as Spiritual. I will do 2 or 3 switches at once, when possible. If you do too many changes at once (4 or occasionally 3), it can result in 2 turns anarchy. You cannot change state religion and civics on the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Government Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, + 1 happiness per military unit in a city, req. monarchy). Since most cities will have at least one military unit for defense, this tech can be a real benefit in the early middle ages when you are still developing your luxury resource network and constructing happiness buildings. Hereditary rule provides a great answer to happiness problems that can otherwise be limiting to a rapidly-growing civilization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, +3 research per specialist, +2 happiness in 6 largest cities, req. constitution). Another excellent bonus, especially for a philosophical nation with many specialists. The largest cities are the most likely to get unhappy, so this civic gives you the happiness bonus where you need it. Representation is particularly valuable for philosophical civs in synergy with mercantilism and the statue of liberty wonder, harnessing the free specialists to provide a major technology boost. Unless you have a vast number of towns, representation is a good civic to keep throughout the entire game. The extra research for every specialist continues to be a huge benefit that can significantly speed your research. I try to build the pyramids as quick as I can so that I can switch to representation, significantly speeding research. Then pick up wonders and buildings that give you (or allow) specialists: great library, forge, statue of liberty, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% military production, -50% war weariness, req. facism) is great for the warmonger or for wartime defense, but the high cost makes it undesirable in peacetime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage:[\BOLD] moderate upkeep. The +1 production boost to towns and ability to complete production with gold (units/buildings, not wonders) is useful; however, it is of little use in the early and mid game when cottages have not yet developed into towns. Don't get snookered into getting this in the early game with the pyramids, as upkeep is high and you will have no towns to provide the productivity bonus. Weighing universal suffrage against[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Legal Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage:[\BOLD] high upkeep, +2 experience per unit, lower unit support costs: a good tech for a warmonger, but the high cost makes it prohibitive for others. Consider this temporarily while in a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy:[\BOLD] (+50% production/gold in capital, medium upkeep, req. civil service). Good in the early game, and provides an excellent boost for a wonder-building city. Liberalism is close enough around the corner from civil service that often I hold off for free speech. As the slider is usually set heavily to research, the primary benefit of this civic is usually production rather than gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood:[\BOLD] no upkeep (changed from low to no upkeep with the patch), can draft 3 units per turn, barracks +2 happiness. Also a good civic for a warmonger that is better sustainable long-term than vassalage because of its low cost, in addition to adding happiness benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +2 gold from towns, +100% culture per city, req. liberalism). It is my favorite for the late game, but won't do you much good if you don't have towns. I like to get bureaucracy for the production boost while towns are developing, and then switch to free speech once I have enough towns to justify it. At no upkeep cost, the price is right, and this one can provide a great boost to your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Labor Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, can sacrifice population to finish production, req. bronze working) Excellent for rapidly-growing cities limited by happiness, although it makes 1 pop unhappy for 10 turns. Slavery is ideal for civs with large cities with abundant food (flood plains + farms) but marginal productivity and limited happiness, especially in the early and mid-game. Slavery takes the revolting pops that are adding nothing to the economy and uses them to produce wonders or other high-cost buildings that would otherwise take many turns to complete. I typically keep this civic until I get emancipation with democracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Serfdom:[\BOLD] (low upkeep) -- workers build improvements faster. I usually have a large enough army of workers building improvements and clearing jungles that this one isn't as attractive as the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Caste System:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, req. code of laws) -- unlimited scientists, artists, merchants in cities. A reasonable choice if you have food to spare, don't yet have enough town improvements to allow specialists otherwise, and can afford the upkeep. While I like the idea of the caste system civic for philosophical civs, the way which this is implemented is poor. Once you get caste system, the computer automatically allocates many of your workers to specialists, especially scientists. Although this can be somewhat controlled with your city production settings, the AI often diverts workers producing food, hammers, and commerce into specialists producing only science and culture. This slows both the production and growth of many of your cities. There is too much micromanagement involved to manage the caste system appropriately, and the stunting of your production and growth because of poorly allocated specialists is rarely if ever worthwhile, even for a philosophical civ. Skip it and go for emancipation. The scientists are the most valuable, while artists and merchants are usually of limited value.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Emancipation:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, req. democracy) is great for mid to late game. It doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns; a big synergistic economic boost when combined with appropriate techs, free speech, and universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Economic Civics: [\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, 1 free specialist per city, no foreign trade routes, req. banking). Getting this civic is like having the statue of liberty wonder and is a huge boost for philosophical or GP oriented civs. It is moderately expensive, and shuts down foreign trade (which can also hurt, or at least won't help, your relations). However, if you have the Angkor Wat wonder that adds to priest productivity and the Representation civic that adds 3 research to every specialist, this presents a huge boost to your cities that more than compensates for the lack of foreign trade routes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep) - +1 trade route per city. A nice financial or research boost, although only modest in size. However I rarely use this as state property is only a few techs away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: The patch increases free trade from low to medium upkeep. More reason to skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, req. communism) is great (no distance maintenance costs, +1 food from watermills). Although the patch increased the upkeep from free to low, it is still extremely useful. I find that with my tendency to build many cities, it saves me as much or more than I would earn from the extra trade route, plus upkeep is free, plus you get extra food. As I tend to build watermills along almost all river tiles because of their boost to productivity (+2 with appropriate techs), food (+1), and economy, a river city may be able to support a couple more citizens that can be made specialists to boost your GP generation. My most-used economic tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]State property eliminates the city distance maintenance cost entirely, which for a large empire typically represents about 50% of your total city upkeep (this rough rule of thumb varies depending on both the number of cities and the distances involved). This can be quite a substantial savings. For a nation with a well-developed state religion, adopting state property frequently allows one to move the tech slider from 70-80% to 90-100%. This faster tech speed has many benefits: quicker availability of new buildings and units, faster tech bonuses, and getting sooner to techs like electricity that increase the value or productivity of your existing city improvements. The extra food can allow you to support extra specialists or larger city growth if you have many river cities and have built watermills. With no civic upkeep cost, the price is right. In most games, the state property civic alone is far better in terms of your financial bottom line than the organized trait, as city distance upkeep costs often well exceed 50% of the civic upkeep costs discounted by organized. My tests suggest that the Versailles wonder, like the Forbidden Palace, reduce only distance upkeep costs (Versailles seems to be like a second Forbidden Palace). If you are using the state property civic and plan to stick with it long-term, don't waste city production on these wonders. Forbidden Palace and Versailles offer only a modest location-dependent decrease in distance costs, while state property abolishes distance costs altogether. With city upkeep virtually cut in half by state property, you will also find less of a necessity for courthouses until your civilization is extremely large.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism:[\BOLD] (high upkeep) is nice at the very end of the game when you get ecology (+6 health, +1 happiness from forests and jungles). Unfortunately I've harvested most forests and jungles long before the ecology tech comes around (and jungles are so unproductive why would you want to keep them), and find that my cities already have good health and happiness well before then and are more limited by food. The expensive upkeep is also a drawback, so I tend to use state property more frequently. Rather than getting environmentalism, I prefer to research future techs (+1 health and happiness each for your entire civ), since ecology is already near the end of the tech line), rather than paying the fat environmentalism upkeep fees. At least that part of environmentalism is realistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Religious Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% building and wonder construction, req. monotheism). After extensive testing, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best religion civic, at least for my play style. I grab this civic as soon as I can get to monotheism and keep it throughout the entire game. I have verified in-game that organized religion does boost wonder speed as well as that of non-wonder buildings. +25% building and wonder speed throughout the whole game is essentially equivalent to a free forge in every city, except that the bonus does not apply to unit builds. This trait is very expensive for a large civilization, but I think it is well worth the cost. I can think of no wonder, civ trait, building, or civic that matches organized religion in its sweeping benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep), +2 experience points for units created in cities with state religion, no non-state religion spread) -- okay for a warmonger, but expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +100% GP, req. philosophy) is phenomenal as it can essentially bestow the philosophical trait on a non-philosophical civ, or make philosophical civs even better. The low upkeep is counterbalanced by the +1 gold per military unit, so this tech can be cheap or expensive depending on your military size. As attractive as pacifism is, I feel that organized is a better trait, even for philosophical civs. Ask yourself: how many great people would you need to generate to speed construction of buildings and wonders in every one of your cities by 25%?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion:[\BOLD] (low upkeep): I never get free religion as losing all the state religion bonuses really hurts, as well as losing line of site to all converted cities in other nations. At end-game usually I have plenty of luxuries and am not so desperate for a few more happy faces that I would want to deal with the hassle of having to get 4 or 5 religions in each of my cities to make this civic worthwhile. The +10% tech bonus -- while meaningful -- doesn't seem to make much of a difference for me this late in the game, plus you have to pay fixed upkeep (albeit low) to boot. Some players attempt to get free religion as soon as possible to pacify aggressive neighbors with different religions. However, I have had war declared on me so many times in the early game when I had no state religion at all that I know that simply removing state religion is no panacea to diplomacy. Dropping a state religion can pacify opponents, but it can also make former close allies lukewarm or even hostile. And if you are still deeply afraid of your neighbors by the late time of game that organized religion becomes available, perhaps it is time to assess your strategy in other areas. Theology civics include some of the best benefits in the game (+100% GP from pacifism, +25% building and wonder construction speed), and I generally like these bonuses far too much to sacrifice them for free religion, which seems to offer little in return. Nevertheless, if you are in a situation where you are walking on eggshells -- playing deity level with far more powerful AI players, perhaps -- free religion may be something to consider. Otherwise, skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Favored early game civics: representation (constitution - or pyramids), bureaucracy (civil service), slavery (bronze working), mercantilism (banking), organized religion (monotheism)[NEWLINE]Favored late game civics: universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property, organized religion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmonger civics: police state, vassalage, slavery, state property, theocracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]7. CITY IMPROVEMENTS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I tend to manually control workers (at least until very late in the game) as the computer automation leaves much to be desired and lacks strategic foresight.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Farms:[\BOLD] +1 food initially, +2 food (total) at end-game when you have biology. Recent tests have led me to change my strategies and begin building large numbers of farms initially in order to quickly increase city size. When cities are near the max of their happiness and/or health, then I start converting the farms to cottages for the economic benefits. In contrast to watermills and windmills which offer economic and production bonuses in addition to food, farms offer only food. The advantage is that they are available almost immediately in the game with the agriculture tech. I prefer wide proliferation of farms in the ancient era, with removal of some farms and transition to cottages and watermills when you are near the maximum sustainable city size for health and happiness. Especially on higher difficulty levels, spamming too many farms may quickly bring your cities over the happiness and/or healthiness levels they can support, resulting in revolters and no "we love the king day" events. Automated workers tend to overdo farming and so I prefer to direct workers manually. Use farms wisely, but be careful that they don't push your cities into unhappiness or unhealthiness. You may need to expand your growth capacity as your city's happiness and health limits increase, so keep an eye on this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cottages:[\BOLD] Cottages make up the foundation of economic and research productivity of your civilization. Especially if you have the financial trait, cottages produce great bonuses when they grow into towns, with full techs and civics: commerce +7, production +1 (requires universal suffrage civic). Cottages can be built anywhere, but their production bonus comes late (after full growth into towns) and only with the correct civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often wait until cities are close to their health or happiness limit to start building large numbers of cottages because farms offer more immediate benefit by increasing city size and therefore production and the number of workable tiles. Cottages only progress into hamlets, villages, and towns when they are being worked. There is no point in rushing to place cottages on all 20 workable tiles of a level 2 city (for an extreme example), as the cottages will not begin to develop at all until the city is large enough to work them. My tests and those of others have demonstrated that in most cases, a better long-term economic outcome is achieved with early farms to grow your city quickly and then building large numbers of cottages that the city is able to work, as opposed to immediate cottage spamming resulting in slow growth and many unworked tiles in an immature city.[NEWLINE]The downsides of cottages include that they take a long time to grow: cottage-&gt;hamlet 10 turns, hamlet -&gt;village 20 turns, village -&gt;town 40 turns. This can be cut in half with appropriate civics, but still it takes 35 turns in the best possible case to grow from a cottage to a town. In a game that lasts only 400 or 500 turns (and may be decided long before then), that is a big chunk of game time. Also, cottages can be easily pillaged by an enemy. Cottages are particularly valuable around your core research cities, but think twice about building cottages on frontier cities close to aggressive neighbors. In any case, the long maturation time of cottages requires that they be built as early as possible to maximize their benefits. Having cottages that have grown into towns while your neighbors are still dealing with hamlets and villages can prove decisive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Watermill:[\BOLD] An immediate +1 production boost, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +2 production with full techs and civics (requires state property for the food bonus). These are very helpful in increasing the production of plains, grassland, or flood plains adjacent to rivers that have little innate production capability. And once you have the correct techs/civics, the bonuses are immediate and do not require the maturation that cottages do. You can only build watermills on one square or the other to the side of a river, but I build watermills everywhere I can, typically replacing farms as soon as state property is in hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Windmill[\BOLD]: An immediate +1 food, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +1 production with full tech (replaceable parts, electricity). Very useful if you need more food, have limited river access, and want something that offers more substantial and well-rounded benefits than farms. Windmills can be placed on hills which makes a nice alternative to mines, giving production and commerce benefits while allowing the square to provide at least some of the food supply required to work it. With the financial trait, windmill offers +1 food, +1 production, and +3 commerce, making a windmill often preferable to a mine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Lumbermill[\BOLD]: Chopping down the trees doesn't add any more food production (unlike C3C), and so lumbermills are a prime consideration for productivity in the late game. That is, in areas where you still have trees. With max +3 production (Base +1 from trees, +1 from lumbermill, +1 more when railroad comes around) and +1 commerce for squares adjacent to rivers, lumbermills are the best late-game productivity improvement. They don't have the economic benefits of cottages, watermills, or windmills, but offer a more substantial production boost without sapping your food supply (unlike workshops) or without requiring a specific civic to keep from doing so. The late benefits of a lumbermill must also be weighed against the benefits of chopping in the early game for benefits that can be quite substantial at a time when your civilization's productivity is very low: chopped trees can result in a much faster start, extra cities, or more wonders. I chop trees in the early game for chop-rushing settlers or crucial wonders, but by the mid-game when instant productivity is no longer urgent, I prefer to preserve any remaining trees for future lumbermills.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mine[\BOLD]: +2 production, +1 more (+3 total) with railroad. A substantial productivity boost as long as you have enough food to go around. The option between windmills and mines is nice for hill squares.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Workshop:[\BOLD] +1 production, -1 food. With max upgrades they can offer up to +3 production, and with state property, no food penalty. This allows the same +3 production as lumbermill, without requiring you to keep trees around until the late game. The food penalty early on makes this a poor choice in the early middle ages, but once you have state property, workshops represent an excellent improvement for production. However, if you depend on workshops and state property, you will largely be obliged to stay with that civic through the rest of the game -- or see your cities starve when you change, unless you have a large food surplus from other sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]8. SPECIALIZATION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since you can only build 2 national wonders in a city and because GP points accrue according to specialties, it makes sense to have specialized cities in CIV. I aim for a science city (oxford university + great library), a military city (pentagon + heroic epic + west point), a culture city (hermitage + globe theater), an economic city (wall street), and will put the national epic in the city with the most wonders (and most GP points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, keeping a flow of military units from at least one city will keep your cities happy (large cities get upset without protection) and defended. I also try to keep one city pumping out missionaries throughout almost the entire game, occasionally switching production to another city to construct buildings in the city. In my first couple games when I did not continue to produce both military and missionary units in peace time and war time, it caused major problems for me in spite of large leads in other areas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]CIV rewards the creation of specialized cities. I try to create at least 2 cities of each specialty because of the need to build infrastructure buildings in between building military or religious units, wonders, etc. Specialist cities make sense because you can't build every building in every city, and specialization helps you to leverage your city placement by putting buildings in the cities where they will do the most good.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first step in deciding the division of labor between specialized cities is to evaluate the surrounding land. A city in an area with luxury resources could be a great trade/science city, while one in an area with many mines and high production would likely make a good military city for creating units, or for rapidly building wonders. A city with abundant food supply would make a good specialist city to increase great people generation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Military City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] productive area with high hammer yield (mines, watermills, etc)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Barracks Forge Factory[NEWLINE]Power source (coal, hydro, nuclear), Granary Aqueduct[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]first city:[\BOLD] Heroic Epic (+100% military production in city), West Point (+4 exp/military unit)[NEWLINE][BOLD]second city:[\BOLD] Red Cross (free Medic I promotion), Ironworks (near iron or coal) -- consider designating this one a military city from the time iron appears on the map.[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience for units trained in any city, can be built anywhere)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Discussion:[\BOLD] You will need many military units during the game, so why build them from just anywhere when you can build them quickly in a specialized city and get free experience points to boot?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Science City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Academy (+50% research, requires great scientist) Library (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Observatory (+25% research) University (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Laboratory (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Monastery (+10% research, but becomes obsolete - may skip this one)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Oxford University (+100% research)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (+2 scientists, expires)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Merchant City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Market (+25% gold) Grocer (+25% gold)[NEWLINE]Bank (+50% gold) Airport (+1 trade route)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wall Street (+100% gold)[NEWLINE][BOLD]GP Focus:[\BOLD] great merchant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Culture City[\H2][NEWLINE]Consider combining with science city as many science improvements also generate culture. I don't generally build a culture-only city for that reason, I go for culture/science. But here are the culture listings for those interested in culture victory, not including science improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Temple (+1 culture) Monastery (+2 culture)[NEWLINE]Cathedral or equivalent (+50% culture) Theater (+3 culture)[NEWLINE]Broadcast tower (+50% culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hermitage (+100% culture) Globe theater (+6 culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hollywood (+50% culture) Rock n' Roll (+50% culture)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+50% culture) Sistine chapel (+2 culture per specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If going for a culture victory, consider balancing your national and world culture wonders between 3 cities to allow each to achieve legendary culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Great People City[\H2][NEWLINE]Obviously this one should be combined with another city of your choice, as the world and national wonders built in other cities contribute GP points. I like to make my GP city one that focuses on GP types that I find to be the most valuable (great engineers -- can rush wonders, or perhaps scientists -- can create academy, rather than prophets, artists, or merchants)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonder:[\BOLD] National Epic (+100% GP birth rate in city)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (+50% GP birth rate in all cities) Great Library (+2 scientists in city, but expires)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergistic Civic:[\BOLD] pacifism (+100% GP rate, no upkeep)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]9. WONDERS [\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When beginning every game, you will want to consider what wonders are a priority for you and what wonders you will pass on. It is rarely possible to get every wonder. Realistic decisions must be made and tech paths to get the desired wonders early must be considered. There is little as frustrating as coming within a few turns of completing an expensive wonder only to lose your effort because another civ beat you to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder decisions can make or break the game. A few key wonders can provide advantages turning the tide in your favor, while an inappropriate focus on wonders at the expense of defense or growth can leave your civilization vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The player should also consider what role wonders will play in the overall strategy. If you are playing as a philosophical or industrious nation, constructing numerous wonders should be a centerpiece of your strategy. For militaristic players, wonders should play little role, as a vast army can be constructed in the time of constructing just a few wonders. The militaristic player should therefore aim for a few targeted wonders, while the philosophical or industrious player should strive for a much longer list.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some wonders offer considerable early benefits, but expire. Others offer mediocre benefits that expire regardless (the Hagia Sophia is infamous for frequently becoming obsolete only shortly after it is constructed). Wonders expire when YOU get the expiring tech, not when your neighbors do. So I often hold off on trading for the calender tech until all my cities have experienced border expansion from Stonehenge, and avoid getting chemistry until the last possible moment to milk the Parthenon for every great person point possible. Still others offer great game-long benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you are going for a culture victory, great artists are the least useful of all of the great people (+3 commerce, +14 culture). Therefore, I try to keep wonders offering great artist points out of my principal wonder city to avoid generating less-useful great people there. Great scientists are perhaps the most useful for their ability to add an academy in one city each. Great engineers (+3 hammers) and great prophets (+2 hammer) are the most useful as they add productivity. Great merchants add food, although only +1, in addition to commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To maximize the conversion of great people points into great people, it is best to concentrate as many wonders as possible in one, two, or three designated wonder-building cities. The decision of how many cities to designate as primary or secondary wonder-builders will depend on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here is a list of wonders that I make priorities, keeping in mind that the wonders different players favor will vary widely depending on their play style and tactics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Priority Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stonehenge:[\BOLD] obelisk, +1 culture in every city, expires @ Calendar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Library:[\BOLD] +2 scientists is a big deal at a time when many of your cities can't dedicate the pop to specialists, especially if you build this in your great people focus city. Perhaps most importantly, the +6 GP points/turn from 2 scientists in addition to the +2 GP from the wonder (total 8 GP points/turn) can help you quickly to get great scientists who can found academies in your largest cities, especially in the presence of philosophical/pacifist /Parthenon /national epic synergisms. Getting the great library with several great scientists can therefore generate a massive bonus that will speed your research throughout the entire remainder of the game, long after the GL's primary effects have expired. After the GL, the oxford university is the only good generator of great scientist points until after the middle ages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]: +50% GP birth rate in all cities. Vital for philosophical civs, but unfortunately doesn't last forever.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Non-Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hanging Gardens:[\BOLD] +1 pop, +1 health in all cities. This is a huge early wonder that can catapult your civ ahead, especially if you have many small or modest-sized cities. Adding an extra pop and health point to every city boosts your economy, your research, your productivity, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Notre Dame[\BOLD]: +1 happiness for all cities on continent[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Versailles[\BOLD]: reduces maintenance in nearby cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Statue of Liberty:[\BOLD] a free specialist in every city. Fabulous for philosophical civs. Probably my # 1 wonder in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pentagon:[\BOLD] +2 experience points for units trained in all cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Three Gorges Dam:[\BOLD] power for all cities on continent located near a river[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Eiffel Tower:[\BOLD](free broadcast tower in every city) gives a big culture boost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Wonders by GP type[\H2][NEWLINE](all world wonders +2 GP points, all national wonders +1)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Scientist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (marble) (+2 scientists)[NEWLINE]Oxford University (stone) (+100% research, 3 citizens as scientists)[NEWLINE]Space Elevator[NEWLINE]Red Cross[NEWLINE]Scotland Yard[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Capital: Stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens, great library, ironworks (?)[NEWLINE]Wonder city 2: parthenon, notre dame, national epic[NEWLINE]Military city[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Prophet:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stonehenge (stone): obelisk in each city[NEWLINE]Angkor Wat (stone): +1 production from priests in all cities, allows 3 priests. This makes priest specialists (up to +2 hammers, +1 gold) the most productive specialists, beating out engineers (+2 hammers, no other bonuses) -- until the wonder expires[NEWLINE]Oracle (marble) (1 free tech)[NEWLINE]Chichen Itza (stone): +25% defense in all cities[NEWLINE]Spiral minaret (stone). +1 gold from all state religion buildings. Nice, although a relatively small bonus.[NEWLINE]Religious holy wonder: minus 1 production, spreads religion, 1 gold from each, allows 3 priests[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Engineer:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hanging gardens (stone) (+1 population, +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience to military units in all cities)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 citizens as engineers)[NEWLINE]West Point (stone) (+4 experience per unit)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (stone) (allows all government civics) - a big boost in the early game[NEWLINE]Hagia Sophia (marble) (+50% worker build speed)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Merchant:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Colossus (copper) (+1 gold in all city water tiles)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 free specialist in all cities on the continent)[NEWLINE]Wall Street[NEWLINE]Forbidden Palace (acts as a 2nd capital decreasing distance maintenance)[NEWLINE]Versailles (marble)[NEWLINE]Great Lighthouse (+2 trade routes in coastal cities)[NEWLINE]Eiffel Tower (free broadcast tower in every city)[NEWLINE]United Nations[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Artist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (marble) (+50% GP birth rate in all cities)[NEWLINE]Notre Dame (+1 happiness in all cities)[NEWLINE]National epic (stone) (+100% GP birth rate)[NEWLINE]Hollywood (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Rock n' Roll (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Heroic Epic (marble) (+100% military unit production)[NEWLINE]Hermitage (marble)[NEWLINE]Globe Theater (no unhappiness in this city, allows 3 artists)[NEWLINE]Taj Mahal[NEWLINE]Mt. Rushmore (stone)[NEWLINE]Kremlin (stone)[NEWLINE]Sistine chapel (marble)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Most important early resources:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stone, marble, iron[NEWLINE]Put Parthenon, notre dame, statue of liberty in a separate wonder city[NEWLINE]National epic in capital[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]10. GREAT PEOPLE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In maximizing great people points, you can get some great synergy between traits, civics, wonders, and improvements. If you want a lot of great people, get as many of these as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that all bonuses are additive, not multiplicative. For example, 2 100% bonuses on top of a 100% base produce a 300% rate (100% base +100% x2), not 400% (they only add their bonus to the BASE rate, not to the final rate after other adjustments). Also, all fractions in the game are rounded DOWN (i.e. a 25% bonus of 7 is rounded down to 1, a 25% bonus of 8 is necessary for +2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traits:[NEWLINE]Philosophical trait : +100% GP generation civ-wide[NEWLINE]Civics:[NEWLINE]labor - caste system: unlimited scientists, merchants, artists in all cities[NEWLINE]economy - mercantilism: +1 free specialist per city; or (in games with many rivers) state property for the watermill food bonus, allowing higher POP and thus more specialists[NEWLINE]religion - pacifism: +100% GP birth rate in cities with state religion[NEWLINE]National wonders:[NEWLINE]national epic - +100% GP in city where built (only)[NEWLINE]World Wonders:[NEWLINE]Parthenon: +50% GP generation civ-wide, expires with chemistry[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty: +1 free specialist in all cities[NEWLINE]great library: +2 free scientists in city where built, but expires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civ with max upgrades (not including great library) would have:[NEWLINE]- a 300% great people rate (100% base + 100% philosophical + 100% pacifism) + 50% from Parthenon (before expires) + 100% more in city with national wonder[NEWLINE]- 2 free specialists in all cities (mercantilism statue of liberty). At 300% return on a 3 GP base per specialist x 2 specialists, this would provide 18 GP points *per turn* even in your least developed cities with no wonders.[NEWLINE]-unlimited ability to allocate scientists, artists, and merchants in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the wonder bonuses expire when YOU get the tech in question, not your neighbors...therefore a philosophical civ with the Parthenon may want to push back getting chemistry as late as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course some great people types are more valuable than others. Great engineers allow you to rush wonders which can provide key benefits in a close game. And great scientists can allow you to build an academy (+50% research) in every city. Great merchants, artists, and prophets, while still valuable, have effects that are generally somewhat more modest in terms of long-term game play. Since the chance of getting a great person of different types depends on the wonders and specialists in each city, I like having separate cities focus on great engineers and scientists without mixing with the other types as much as possible (you don't want to have your city with engineering wonders drowned out by large numbers of merchant, artist, or priest specialists pushing the GP probability towards other types). I don't have a strong preference between merchants, artists, and prophets, and so will build wonders generating all 3 in the same city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bonuses allowing you to turn citizens into engineers are generated only by:[NEWLINE]Forge (allows 1 engineer)[NEWLINE]Factory (allows 2 engineers)[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 engineers)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Engineer GP points are generated by:[NEWLINE]West Point (+1 GP)[NEWLINE]Hanging Gardens (+2)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (+2)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam (+2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The military city is the most natural choice for an engineer GP city (forge + factory + ironworks + west point + pentagon).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the cost for great people increase throughout the game, diminishing returns are eventually reached. Later in the game, the cost of great people goes up and up, while the benefit of great people often declines, since the earlier you get great people, the longer they will benefit your civilization. However, your civilization should also increase in its capacity to generate great people over time, civics are chosen, as wonders are built and citizens are assigned as specialists. With appropriate tactics, many great people can still be generated even in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every great person can cause either an instant benefit, provide a tech bonus, or add a long-term bonus to cities. The benefits must be carefully considered. In *most* cases, I prefer to use great people in a manner that augments the long-term productivity of my cities, although there are exceptional cases where great people are best used to rush a tech or a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two types of great people present no-brainers for their use:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great prophets. Before using great prophets in any other way, make sure that you have created the religion-specific wonder in any founding religious city under your control. If you have made any attempt at all to spread the religion, or of you are conquering the founding city of a religion that is widely accepted, this can produce massive financial benefits that dwarf virtually any other use of great people.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great scientists. Use them to create academies in all of your top science cities. Which would you rather have -- an extra +6 or so science per turn in the city of your choice, or a 50% increase in science in a city that is already generating 50, 75, or 200 beakers per turn? Although the increase acts only on the base number of commerce points applied to research (before other modifiers are applied), a great scientist can result in massive research output for cities, especially in conjunction with other science improvements (library/university/observatory/Oxford University/etc).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For other great people, I usually prefer to join them to a city, with occasional exceptions as previously acknowledged.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great artists. If you are going for a cultural victory, great artists are your friend. A very nice strategy for cultural victory on Monarch level, using great artists either by joining to a city or as "culture bombs" to titrate legendary culture among three cities is presented by walkerjks here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=138647[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are not going for a cultural victory, great artists are by far the weakest of all great people. I find that in most cases it is preferable to join great artists to border cities or captured cities instead of invoking the "culture bomb." Great artists produce +12 to +15 culture per turn, which is the equivalent of many cultural buildings (library = +2 culture, theater = +3, etc) and will quickly expand the city's borders -- in addition to any cultural multipliers the city may have (cathedrals, hermitage, civics, etc). In this way, you still continue to receive the commerce benefits of the great artist throughout the game, speeding your research and filling your coffers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great merchant. The great merchant is the ONLY great person that offers a food bonus (+1 food, +6 commerce appears typical). I prefer to join great merchants to high-commerce cities that focus on great people creation (the city with the national epic is often a great choice), since more food allows you to allocate more specialists, further increasing great people output.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great engineers. As for great prophets, the surplus productivity is welcome. These often go in my capital or most productive city or cities. A city with ironworks makes a great choice for great engineer placement in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]OPTIONS FOR EARLY EXPANSION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several good early expansion options. The decision as to which is best for you depends both on map choice and on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]11. CHOP-RUSHING[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop rushing is a great way to jump ahead in the early game. The first mention I know of was in this thread by AlexFrog:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137292[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I prefer a somewhat modified version of the strategy. The strategy involves founding initial cities in areas with a large number of trees within their "fat cross" area. The player researches bronze working immediately while building a worker in the capital city before building any other units or buildings. Once the worker is done (12-15 turns) and bronze working is researched, the worker immediately goes to work chopping trees around the capital. Each tree chopped results in 20 hammers, which can rocket a level 1 city that may have only 1, 2, or 3 hammers far ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most logical initial use of "chop-rushing" is for settlers and workers, since your cities are normally stagnant (do not grow) while these units are being produced, and because these units are vital to the growth and productivity of your civilization. I save trees to chop-rush settlers, workers, or wonders, since the construction of buildings or military units allows your cities to grow during the production phase, while production of the former two does not, and the third category (wonders) is a race. Chop-rushing typically allows me to plant 2-3 times as many cities as my closest AI competitors on noble level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, settlers must never be sent out undefended, so I like to first build at least one (possibly two) warriors, sending at least one out to explore and pop goody huts (in addition to the starting warrior) while the second will act as your settler escort. I periodically build warriors during the rapid expansion phase to ensure that my cities and settlers are adequately defended.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of maintenance costs increasing with both distance and city number (and I will place cities at long distances from my capital when necessary to secure important resources), it is impractical to build a civilization by the exclusive virtue of chop-rushing. There must be a balance. Once I get three or four cities, I let one or two grow and develop -- building a granary or military units to increase in size and to defend the borders, while the others chop-rush. I also assign some workers to build improvements very early -- cottages in particular, in addition to improvements required by special resources -- in order to ensure that city commerce, on average, is in excess of upkeep costs, allowing continued rapid research and continued growth. As a rough rule of thumb, on noble level, if my research percentage falls below 70%, that is a warning sign to me that I need to better develop the city economic base by building more cottages and letting cities grow to a larger size before expanding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop-rushing can also be a terrific way to get wonders, especially when you have special resources that speed wonder building. For example, Stonehenge costs 120 hammers, but if you have stone, every forest chopped will give double (not 20, but 40) hammers. Therefore, you only need to chop three trees to build Stonehenge in a city with stone -- as opposed to the many turns it would take to build it without chop-rushing. This is a great way to get key wonders as a non-industrious civ, and the ability of any civilization to do this really waters down the value of the industrious trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: the patch slightly weakens chop-rushing. Chopping income has dropped from thirty to twenty hammers, with that number being further reduced for chops further from the city (outside the city radius?) Mathematics adds +50% (back to the original 30), but it comes in the end of the first age at a time that is not as useful as an immediate chop-rush would be. Also, unlike Civ3, cutting down trees doesn't increase food harvest, so you have to immediately place farms or cottages or do something else to develop the land in other ways. Chopping offers a quick up-front bonus but can dent your long-term production if you overdo it. Weigh the pros and cons carefully in each situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a recent test game in which I preserved the forests in the cities (for the health benefits and to maintain the forest productivity), I found that by the mid-middle ages, my tech rate had dropped virtually to zero and my workers began to strike and units were automatically disbanded because expenses were greater than income. Retaining the forests as opposed to chopping and planting cottages widely didn't provide the economic revenue to support the rapid city expansion that I prefer, even with measured expansion letting many of the cities grow to mid-size. Therefore I continue to favor chopping trees - whether in an early settler rush, or to complete wonders - also to free up the land for farms (faster growth) or cottage improvements (improve economy and tech speed).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]EXPANDING YOUR CAPITAL[\H2][NEWLINE]As attractive as it may seem, chop rushing faces major limitations, especially after being significantly tuned down in the recent patch. Chopping trees can push cities located near flood plains into unhealthiness and decline. Chops offer a one-time boost after which the city returns to its prior production. Depending on your situation, allowing the capital to develop before sending out settlers can be a better option. For example, if you can expand your capital in 8 turns and get a square that offers a combined 3 food and/or hammers, you will get a bonus of +1 food or hammer (2 of the food go to support the expanded population) for every subsequent turn throughout the game. For an average level 1 city with 3 resources in the center square and 3 on the first worked square (4 surplus food/hammers for settlers/workers), it takes 25 turns (4x25=100) to build a 100 resource settler and 15 turns (4x15) to build a 60-resource worker. Just one surplus resource, after paying food costs, by expanding to level 2 will drop this down to 20 turns for the settler (5 resources x 20 turns) and 12 turns for the worker. Expanding to level 3 to work another 3-resource tile, which you can generally do in another 8 turns after the first expansion with good city placement, will give you 6 surplus resources, dropping settler creation time to 17 turns and worker creation down to 10 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's do a comparison of a city that immediately builds 4 settlers, vs. one that spends 16 turns building warriors to grow twice, and switches production to settlers before the 2nd warrior is completed:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build order: 4 Settlers 1 1/2 warriors, 4 settlers[NEWLINE]Turns to 1st settler 25 16 (to grow twice), then 17 for settler = 33[NEWLINE]2nd settler 50 50[NEWLINE]3rd settler 75 67[NEWLINE]4th settler 100 84[NEWLINE]Final capital size 1 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see, the city that expands to level 3 first catches up with the city that immediately built only settlers by the time the 2nd settler is completed. The fact that the settler-only city completed its first settler 9 turn earlier does not make up for this, as the 9 turns allow for barely 1 cycle of growth as opposed to the 2 that the first city has achieved.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The expand-first city ends up far ahead because at the end, it is better developed and more productive than the city that pumped out settlers immediately. The expand-first model also has the advantage of producing warriors to defend your units, as unprotected settlers are not likely to survive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are well-situated and can develop those resources further, the model shifts even more in favor of allowing your city to increase in size. For example, if you can irrigate 2 flood plains up to +4 food each in your size 3 city and have one special resource you can get 2 food or hammers from, your total surplus will be 10 (3 from center tile, 2 per tile from 2 floodplains, and 3 from specialty resource) per turn. You can then build settlers in just 10 turns. At that point, you are expanding FASTER than you could with chop-rushing. Between chopping and moving, trees take 3-4 turns to chop for just 20 hammers and are limited, while your expanded city is indefinitely producing a surplus of 10/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, most cities in the early game do not require more than 3-4 farm tiles. Exceptions may be made for cities on barren land, such as plains or hills. A few judicious farms are usually all that you need in order to jump-start your growth. If you overdo the farming, you can easily push the city into unhappiness, at which point cottages are a better alternative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision of when to develop your capital vs. when to expand depends on your city setup. If tiles around your city are not very fertile (i.e. plains), you may wish to get out a settler sooner rather than later. If however your main city is well-placed and has one or two special resources within its boundaries that you can access with early techs, it is often wise to spend a few turns developing these resources to create a more productive capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]12. TECHNOLOGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great variability comes in here. Depending on your civilization traits and technologies, your level, and your play style, you may have different technological priorities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players favor chop-rushing for early expansion, going straight for bronze working. Then I go for pottery (to build cottages ASAP) and from there to alphabet (to trade techs). After alphabet, I trade with the AI as much as possible. I go for mathematics (to get hanging gardens) and then try to grab a religion -- Confucianism or, if I miss that, one of the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In many cases, investment in techs such as agriculture, animal domestication, and hunting can be more valuable than bronze working chop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are playing as a civ with early religious technologies, you may wish to shoot straight for an early religion. I prefer the path that leads to Hinduism/Judaism since if you are beaten to Hinduism, Judaism is right around the corner, while Buddhism is a dead end (at least for a while) and the AI seems to go for it quickly. Monotheism also has the benefit of offering the organized religion civic, which at +25% building construction (including wonders!) can prove to be an enormous benefit to your civilization's development. This, as well as the early spread of religion from your cities (with happiness etc), can make an early religion very, very worthwhile. From there, you can go for bronze-working and chop rush, or you can go straight for alphabet, trade for bronze working (which is typically readily available once alphabet is discovered), and chop rush.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Going for the religious techs (polytheism-&gt;monotheism) early has great advantages even for a non-spiritual civ, if you can get there quickly. The religious techs offer key early-era wonders, including Stonehenge and the Parthenon, and perhaps the most important ancient-era civic, organized religion, which can further enhance your speed in constructing wonders and other buildings. If you don't go for these techs very quickly, you will probably lose the wonder race. As you can't trade for techs until you have alphabet, and many maps feature limited access to potential trading partners, the only reliable way to get these techs is to research them yourself. If you are playing as a philosophical civ, getting the early wonders is especially critical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Either way has advantages and drawbacks, but both playing styles can be viable. Of course you can mix and match these: shoot for early religion and then quickly add bronze working (but miss out on some early chop-rushing), or research bronze working and then pick up the religious techs in time to get access to the wonders (but you will probably lose the early religion race). There undoubtedly others as well, but the above two are my favorites.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are some of the key techs I focus on acquiring, making modification depending on map type and difficulty level:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]0. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Hunting: these techs are vital to be able to hook up your bonus resources. Farming in particular is very important.[NEWLINE]1. Mysticism (65 beakers). Stonehenge, and prerequisite for other religious techs.[NEWLINE]2. Polytheism (130 beakers). Hinduism and Parthenon (key for philosophical civs).[NEWLINE]3. Bronze working (156 beakers). Chop rushing. 'nuf said.[NEWLINE]4. Wheel (78 beakers). Workers and resources won't do you much good until you can build roads. This can be moved down below monotheism depending on whether you have already gotten a religion and how tight you feel the race for Judaism will be.[NEWLINE]5. Pottery (104 beakers). Your workers can now start building cottages, and allows granary. Because of how long cottages take to develop, it is important to get cottages started early. Also to defray the heavy upkeep costs of a large empire.[NEWLINE]6. Masonry (104 beakers). Prerequisite for Monotheism. Allows building mines and quarries. While researching this you will hopefully be sending a settler and a worker to hook up stone (stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens) and marble (Parthenon) resources.[NEWLINE]7. Monotheism (156 beakers). Judaism and organized religion. The moment you are ready to begin building Stonehenge in your capital (or any other building), switch to organized religion to provide a +25% hammer bonus for wonders and buildings.[NEWLINE]8. Writing (156 beakers) and alphabet (390 beakers). Allows tech trades, allowing the player to pick up any missed techs.[NEWLINE]9. Mathematics (325 beakers) - workers produce +50% hammers from tree chops (up to 30). Also enables hanging garden, a key wonder for rapid population expansion. Very important for both counts.[NEWLINE]10. Metal casting (585 beakers). Forges add +25% productivity to any city where they are built. When you have stone and/or marble, organized religion civic, and forges, your cities can quickly construct buildings and wonders. Unfortunately, this tech quite expensive.[NEWLINE]11. Literature (260 beakers). Heroic epic, national epic, great library, and libraries. All important structures.[NEWLINE]12. Music (780 beakers). Free great artist to the first discoverer. Also allows Notre Dame and cathedrals, vital happiness buildings.[NEWLINE]13. Drama (390) and philosophy (1040 beakers). Philosophy offers Taoism to the first discoverer, and pacifism is a helpful civic for philosophical civs. Angkor Wat is nice (+1 production from priests in all cities) if you can get it.[NEWLINE]14. Paper (780), Education (2340 - allows universities/oxford), Liberalism (1820). Liberalism is a high priority both because it offers a free technology (you can pick the most expensive one available) and because of the free speech civic. The +2 gold from towns education offers is nice as long as enough of your cottages have developed into towns to warrant the expense of this tech path.[NEWLINE]15. printing press (2080), requires paper. +1 commerce in towns and villages. Another economic bonus, but the expense is so high that other techs may be a higher priority. Replaceable parts (2340) offers +1 hammer for watermills and windmills. This is really the point in the game where watermills become worthwhile.[NEWLINE]16. nationalism (2340), constitution (2600), democracy (3640). Nationalism and constitution have little to recommend them, except as prerequisites for democracy. Democracy is a huge advance to both economics and production because it allows universal suffrage (+1 production boost to towns) and emancipation (doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns).[NEWLINE]17. Divine Right (1560) islam, spiral minaret, Versailles. Another opportunity to pick up a religion. Spiral minaret provides major economic boost (+1 gold per state religion building in all cities). It is however very expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Currency (520 beakers): +1 trade route per city, and enables gold trading. Both of these can produce a major economic boost. I usually wait and trade for this, but getting it early may be warranted if your upkeep costs are becoming difficult to manage or your tech rate is dropping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Others:[NEWLINE]Iron working: Reveals iron. Being able to clear jungles is necessary to be able to access some resources and to increase health. Usually I trade for this tech after alphabet, but there are certainly exceptions requiring early iron working (if you have a bad starting location in a jungle harming productivity).[NEWLINE]Iron working is critical to military also. As soon as you get this and iron is revealed, it is vital to claim and develop that iron promptly. Make sure to devote one city to military to pump out archers (before iron to garrison all your cities) and swordsmen (after iron) for defense and offense.[NEWLINE]Archery: a must if you have aggressive neighbors. You may be able to hold off until after alphabet and trade for this depending on your setup, but if you are playing against human players, you need to get this ASAP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other key techs[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mathematics. Hanging Gardens -- + 1 POP and +1 health in all your cities is huge, especially when you have a lot of small and moderate-size cities. The hanging gardens can really explode your productivity when you have a large empire from a chop-rush settler rush.[NEWLINE]Music (free great artist)[NEWLINE]Military Tradition (cavalry rule the middle ages)[NEWLINE]Divine Right (Versailles/Islam)[NEWLINE]Metallurgy (watermill)[NEWLINE]Democracy (emancipation &amp; universal suffrage).[NEWLINE]Communism (state property)[NEWLINE]Then to any other techs that improve the benefits of your improvements (i.e. electricity).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also try to pick up the techs that offer free great people or free techs. These techs obviously represent a priority, as only the first discoverer gets the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]13. MILITARY STRATEGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Game Plan[\H2][NEWLINE]Before each game, consider spending a few minutes to write down some basic goals and strategies that you wish to incorporate. The plan will depend considerably on map type, terrain, size, difficulty leve, and opponents (AI or human). Of course the plan will need to be flexible to take advantage of opportunities and to respond to contingencies and challenges.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the game, review your strategy and honestly assess which aspects worked well, and what aspects fell flat or met challenges. Use your insight to fine-tune your strategy and improve your next game plan.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Anticipation and Preparation[\H2][NEWLINE]The computer will attack suddenly and in force in CIV. It is not unusual for the computer to DOW someone and raze their city with a stack of units in the same turn. The AI, like human players, is an opportunist. If you happen to build a city right next to enemy military units, or if AI players see a poorly defended city near their military units, they are more likely to declare war than if your cities were defended and settlers were escorted. Close borders also spark tensions. Different religion is also a major cause of hostility. The AI can and does declare war even when there are mildly positive relations, so don't be too smug at your relationship score. You must defend your cities and resources. Even if you are not a warmonger, build a credible defense force. If your military is much weaker than your neighbors, you will soon find yourself in war. Anticipate attacks in advance. Is your neighbor massing catapults and swordsmen near your border? What are the stacked archer and warrior doing near your cities? Assume the worst, be observant, and be informed. Judge your enemy by their capability, not their words or relations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Border Cities[\H2][NEWLINE]Beware of border cities without a large cultural buffer between other civilizations. In one game I had a brilliant idea to build the forbidden palace in a border city. Then while I was engaged in a war against the Mongols on the other side of my empire, Saladin declared war and conquered the city the same turn with hordes of catapults, knights, and crossbowmen. Expensive cultural improvements are instantly lost once a city is conquered. Don't put anything too critical in border cities, especially those without a significant buffer zone, and don't get too involved in constructing major buildings in border cities until you have them well-defended with strong contemporary units. Don't leave your back side exposed. And don't let success in the tech race come at the expense of national security.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy[\H2][NEWLINE]When starting a war, consider your objectives. What are your goals? Acquisition of specific resources or cities? Capturing a wonder? Total annexation? Or, if caught by surprise, would you be happy to get away with a white peace? Once you have determined your goals, come up with a strategic plan to get there. Make sure that your unit mix is balanced and well-thought out. More than once in my early games, I found myself besieging cities with large stacks of units but no catapults -- bad idea. What are you going to do about city defenses? Are their resources you can deny your opponent? Will you create a two or three pronged attack and exploit vulnerabilities? Will you land a horde of cavalry and catapults by his capital for a sneak attack after shipping them behind enemy lines? It is much easier to achieve objectives if you know what your specific objectives are and have a viable plan to achieve them. It's far more effective to have a plan and fine-tune it as needed while in process than to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take time to consider your opponent's strategy...*especially* if playing a human. Look at your own empire and assess your own vulnerabilities. Is YOUR iron supply undefended? Could an enemy wreak havoc with a few knights shipped in to attack rear cities? Do you have rows of cottages in a border city ripe for plundering? If you were your enemy, what would you do? If your vulnerabilities are lost on you, be assured that they will not be lost on a competent opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Resource Denial[\H2][NEWLINE]When planning a war, aim to take out key military and civilian resources. The resource screen shows you exactly what resources your opponents have. Some of the resources, like copper and iron, are essential for war. If you enemy has one source of iron and you fortify on that square with good defenders and pillage it, your enemy will instantly lose the ability to make swordsmen -- and many other units, unless he has a copper supply as well. No copper, iron, or horses? Suddenly your formerly formidable medieval opponent is back in the stone age and is able to produce only warriors and archers. A few strategic moves of this nature can turn the tide of a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other special resources are worth pillaging also. If your opponent has large cities that are marginally happy or healthy, pillaging a few luxury or health resources can catastrophically damage commerce, tech speed, and productivity across his entire empire. Pillaging of specialty resources in this way has a far greater effect than the pillaging of cottages, since the effects are felt in every connected city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]To Pillage or Not to Pillage[\H2][NEWLINE]Some argue for pillaging as many of your opponents cottages as possible in order to cause long-term damage to his research and economy. Against a superior or closely-matched opponent, this can be a good idea. However, it can be shortsighted if you have the upper hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I am convinced that I have superior force and can take a city, I don't pillage cottages, mines, or watermills. Given how long cottages take to develop, I pillage them ONLY when I think that I am unable to take a city outright during the current war. As attractive as the quick gold from pillaging seems, it is trivial compared to having a long-term free revenue source that your opponent built for you -- adding insult to injury. Conquered cities will often have high maintenance due to their distance from your capital and the incremental augmentation of city number, and if they can pay their own expenses right off the bat, your warmongering will be much more economically sustainable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE]When evenly matched or over-matched, diplomacy plays an immense role. If the Mongols catch you by surprise and burn a couple border cities, what better way to pay them back than bribing their neighbors with tech or gold to declare war on them? Sure, they may have thought they were smart to exploit a momentary vulnerability when their keshiks found a lightly-guarded city...but finding themselves in a war on two or three fronts will wipe the smile off their faces and take the pressure off you. If I am caught by surprise in a war for which I am not fully prepared or do not want, I do not hesitate to trade prime techs to bribe allies to join on my side.</French>
		<German>[H1]WoundedKnight's Strategy Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WoundedKnight[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents[\H2][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Learn the Rules[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Civilization Selection[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Leverage Your Strengths[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. City Placement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Civics Guide[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. City Improvement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Great People[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Chop-Rushing[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Technology[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. Military Strategy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]1. LEARN THE RULES[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best-spent two hours for my CIV strategy skills was spent pouring over the civilopedia to understand the rules, the tech trees, improvements, units, etc. It's much easier to do well if you have a clear strategy and know where you want to go. For example, some techs offer bonuses to the first discoverer: a free great person, a free great tech, or starting a religion. Obviously these techs are generally a priority to get first, while others with benefits that are not time-sensitive can wait or be picked up in trade.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]MAP CHOICE[\H2][NEWLINE]The choice of maps can have a major impact upon gameplay, and therefore upon the strategy you may choose to adopt. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Continental and archipelago maps promote early isolation of civs into 2-3 large groups (continents) or even individual civs (archipelago). Your continent or island may not have access at all to key resources like stone, marble, horses, and iron, which can make your construction or military plans more difficult. It is also more difficult to keep your population happy, as your island or continent may contain only 2 or 3 luxury resources. Your tech rate will also be slower, because there are fewer partners to trade with. On continent maps, I often find myself having to research mundane techs like archery or animal domestication because there are not enough proximate AI players to become a reliable tech broker. On the plus side, these maps can provide for a more interesting late game than Pangaea maps by allowing longer buildup of your competitors and preventing them from being weakened or destroyed in early-game rush. Naval combat adds an interesting element that Pangaea or large land-mass players do not fully experience. The early isolation makes it easier to stay at peace throughout the early era, or to isolate and crush enemies on your starting island without other players interfering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with a large amount of land and little water (oasis, highland, lakes, etc) pose major long-term barbarian challenges. There is so much land that the barbarians continue to arise from territory covered by the fog of war until late in the game. Defending your cities requires extra effort on such maps. On the plus side, you may be able to capture a city or two from the barbarians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pangaea and other land-mass maps offer predictable early availability of all tech-appropriate resources, although you may have to fight for them. However, such maps can be less interesting if the player becomes very dominant in the early or mid-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with strange geometric land arrangements like inland sea result in high city upkeep costs for an expanding civilization, as distance arrangements between your cities are often not optimal due to geographic constraints.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Large land mass games provide more competitors, and therefore reduce the player's chance of winning the religion, tech, or wonder race. On a standard map or smaller on balanced (noble) difficulty, a player without religious techs can often still beat the AI players to Hinduism and/or Judaism. On large and huge maps, chances become slimmer. There are few things as frustrating as spending 20 or 30 turns working on constructing a wonder in your most productive city only to have the AI finish it 2-3 turns before you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]2. CIVILIZATION SELECTION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision as to which civilization to play as is an individual one. Traits have various strengths and weaknesses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial:[\BOLD] All-time favorite. Once you get cottages and watermills working, this will gain you +1 extra gold for almost every square being worked in your city radius. This is a huge advantage, when combined with appropriately widespread cottage building, allows the player to maintain a high tech rate even with expensive civics, a large army, and a large empire. Nonetheless, these benefits are not experienced until you have developed a certain city infrastructure and developed your terrain, usually in the classical or late ancient era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized:[\BOLD] The recent patch has done much to enhance the value of the organized trait. Many civics have become significantly more expensive. I find that civic costs now typically cost 33-66% of city maintenance costs depending on civic settings, averaging about 50% for me. In the late game, after a player changes to state property civic to eliminate distance maintenance costs, civic costs are often double city maintenance costs. Because of inflation that increases in the late game, the costs are often even more than they appear. Organized offers a huge benefit by reducing these costs in half. Organized is especially useful because the player receives its benefits throughout the entire game without any effort or development, and the significant savings are always welcome. This can easily add at least 10% if not 20% to the tech rate. Cheap courthouses help you to reduce expenses even further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical:[\BOLD] +100% GP. Synergistic with the religious civics (Pacifism - +100% GP rate) and the national epic (+100% GP in the city of your choice), as well as mercantilism, national epic, statue of liberty, etc. Optimal utilization of the philosophical trait requires a heavy wonder-building play style. The high costs of wonder construction consume the resources of your most productive cities that could otherwise be devoted to conquest or expansion. This is therefore not an ideal trait for warmongers. On harder difficulty levels, philosophical may be less useful than on noble, as it will be difficult to utilize the benefits unless you are able to win the wonder race. The philosophical trait received a substantial, although indirect, bonus from the patch, as wonders continue to give GP points even after they expire. If you have philosophical trait, you will get twice the points from your expired wonders as non-philosophicals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After playing with the philosophical trait extensively, I have found it to be much less useful than I initially believed. Unfortunately, double the GP points does not mean double the number of GPs. A point of diminishing returns is encountered with each GP costing more and more points (5 GPs = 1,500 points, 10 GPs = 5,500 points, 15 GPs = 12,000 points, 20 GPs = 21,000 points, 25 GPs = 32,500 points, 30 GPs = 46,500 points, 35 GPs = 62,000 points, 40 GPs = 82,000 points). I find that it is still possible for a non-philosophical civ to do quite well in the GP race, because there are many ways for non-philosophicals to enhance GP generation making the advantage of the philosophical nation even more tenuous (national wonder, Parthenon, statue of liberty, pacifism, mercantilism). Philosophical is definitely a fun trait, but I think that stronger traits are available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive:[\BOLD] +3 health per city in the patch. With the exception of cities located in flood plains, happiness is initially more limiting for city growth than health at almost all levels, but as the game progresses, numerous wonders, civics, buildings, etc. increase happiness, but there are relatively few ways to increase city health. Cheap granaries are one of the most useful building bonuses and offer early and predictable benefits across all difficulty levels. Expansive is useful only at specific times during gameplay, namely, when your city growth is limited by health, or while building granaries. As these are relatively narrow circumstances (although very important ones), I tend to prefer traits that offer more consistent benefit. If you find you continue to run into problems with city health, pick expansive. However, many of these issues can be remedied with good city placement, resource development, and construction of appropriate buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious:[\BOLD] A nice trait, as the wonders you get with +50% build speed can duplicate many other civ traits. Half-price forges are great also because they increase your productivity, and for non-industrious civs they are quite expensive. However, the ability of any player to quickly build wonders by "chop-rushing" (described later) undermines some of the value of the industrial trait. Considering philosophical vs. industrious? Industrious makes it easier to get wonders, while philosophical makes the ones that you have more valuable. Industrious is particularly useful on higher difficulty levels when the player needs a more compelling edge in order to have any real chance of beating the AI to wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive:[\BOLD] A great trait for the warmonger. While experience can be given by buildings, civics, and wonders, a free extra promotion for melee and gunpowder units is great -- especially for barracks-trained units with a couple of levels to boot. More and more experience is required to get more bonuses (2/5/10/17/etc), and so having a free promotion that doesn't set you back at all in the XP quest is good. Since the promotions become more and more powerful the higher in level you go (+20% city attack, +25%, +30% with an extra +10% vs gunpowder units, etc...cumulative!!!), having an extra promotion can result in a huge amount of extra military power, especially if you have planned well to take advantage of other sources of experience. If you want an early domination or conquest victory, aggressive is an excellent choice. Aggressive provides no bonuses to many key unit types: archery, cavalry, tanks, aircraft, and ships, and so the aggressive trait requires an early attack style to flourish.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual:[\BOLD] One of the weakest traits IMO. No anarchy, while nice, is of little benefit as I only change civics 5-6 times in a game (I try to change 2 or 3 at a time at times when several important civics are discovered in close time proximity). Cheap temples? Temples are cheap anyway and have fewer benefits than many other buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative:[\BOLD] +2 culture has significant benefits in the early game, but few in the late game when cities have more culture than they know what to do with. How many times have I conquered a city only to have it flip to a closely adjacent neighbor? How many times have I built cultural improvement (theater, library, etc.) in a conquered city for the exclusive purpose of generating culture (and, sometimes failed), when a creative civ would not have had to worry at all? The automatic expanding cultural radius can be very valuable in expanding in the early game and blocking off large amounts of territory for your later development. While cultural's benefits are mainly in the early game, the benefits can be substantial. I prefer to get industrious instead and build Stonehenge for your early culture (although this expires -- soon -- with calender), the benefit of creative is still significant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In sum, I think that spiritual and creative are the two weak traits of CIV. The other six traits are all good in the appropriate situation, with financial and organized representing excellent traits with wide utility across many playing styles, and the others offering specific benefits that require specific playing styles to shine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My favorite leader for a standard (noble) game is Washington (American) - Financial/Organized. Other great leaders include English (Victoria) - Expansive/Financial, English (Elizabeth) - Philosophical/Financial, Chinese (Qin Shi Huang) - Industrious/Financial, Peter (Russia) - Expansive/Philosophical. If you are playing on a higher difficulty level, traits that offer immediate, consistent benefit like expansive, aggressive, and industrious may serve you better than traits that bloom only with cultivation like financial or philosophical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]3. LEVERAGE YOUR STRENGTHS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's important to make the most out of your advantages by drawing upon the synergy of civ traits, civics, improvements, and buildings and wonders. For example, it would be silly to get the aggressive civ trait and fail to build barracks. Synergy can be very powerful when you combine substantial bonuses in the same area from multiple different sources. Aggressive (free combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units)+ barracks (+4 experience for all new units)+ pentagon (+2 experience to all units civ-wide) + theocracy (+2 experience for all new units), police state (+25% military production speed), + West Point (+4 experience for all new units) and Heroic Epic (+100% military production speed) = +125% military production speed pumping out units starting with 12 experience points (3 promotions) in addition to combat I in the city with West Point/Heroic epic, and 8 experience points + combat I at a 25% bonus production speed in all other cities with barracks. An initially mediocre unit with 3 city attack promotions (+20%, +25%, +30%) receives a +85% bonus against cities - a massive boost against even strong defenders of technological parity. Philosophical + Pacifism + Parthenon = 250% great people points, with 350% in the city with the national epic. And so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also important to try to compensate for your disadvantages. For example, if I am not playing an expansive civ (or even if I am), I try to build cities on rivers as much as possible for the +2 health bonus, even at a slight productivity hit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]4. RELIGIONS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As in the real world, religion can be one of the most uniting or dividing things in CIV. While gifts or insults have only minor benefit on relations (+/-1, rarely more than +/-2; religion can have a huge impact on relations -- seeing +/-4, +/-6 from religion are common. Religion is by far the biggest factor in relations in most games. It seems to be something in the range of +1 relations for every city of your religion in your opponent's land, +1 or 2 if your religion is their state religion. Therefore, pumping out missionaries to convert your neighbors in the good times is as important for the security of your empire as maintaining a powerful military. I try to keep one city pumping out missionaries of your religion the entire game, providing both relationship and economic bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider getting an early religion (Hinduism or Judaism) or, if going for a chop-rush settler push, one or more of the later ones (Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism, Islam). In any case, try to pick up as many of the later ones as I can in order to keep friends friendly. A friendly neighbor who has previously converted to your religion but subsequently discovers Islam can suddenly decide that you are a pagan who must be cleansed from the earth. Besides, some of the religion techs (like Divine Right, Islam) offer cool wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Founding cities of religion can become real cash cows in the mid and late game, IF you build the religion-specific wonder in the founding city. In a recent game where I aggressively spread Confucianism, over 30-40 cities were converted by the late of the game. I also discovered Taoism and subsequently captured the founding cities of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, giving me five of the seven world religions. Did I ignore my non-state religions, even though I planned to stick with Confucianism throughout the entire game? Of course not. I sent a great prophet to each city to build the religion-specific wonder. This accomplishes two purposes. First, it gives you free bonus income equal to the number of cities with that religion each turn. Second, it causes the autonomous spread of each religion from its founding city without even requiring missionaries. While I continue to aggressively spread my state religion with missionaries, the other religious capitals function as cash cows with progressively increasing revenue without requiring any other input or management.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since founding religious cities generate a large amount of income, *regardless of the position of your financial sliders*, these are the best cities for building banks, markets, and grocers. I find that the Wall Street wonder is typically best built in the founding city of my state religion for an extra and substantial economic boost, since this will typically be the largest religion by the mid to late game (and thus the largest city economy).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As previously mentioned, I keep pumping missionaries out from 2-3 cities almost continuously through the entire game. This improves relations with neighbors, creates LOS (line of sight) to other cities, and generates money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The financial and diplomatic benefits of missionaries are well-known, although the espionage benefits are rarely mentioned. When I am contemplating war with a nation, I will send a wave of missionaries to as many of their key cities as possible before my military units cross the border. This accomplishes two things. First, it provides invaluable intelligence information and allows one to assess which cities represent priority acquisitions as well as to get some idea of the strength, location, and composition of enemy armies. Equally importantly, missionaries of your state religion provide an instant cultural benefit to captured cities. After conquering a city that is not your state religion, you might contemplate building a library or theater -- which could take 50+ turns -- in order to expand the borders and to prevent the city from flipping back to an adjacent neighbor with strong cultural boundaries. However, if the city is already your state religion, it will automatically generate +1 culture/turn in addition to a +1 happiness benefit, expanding your borders within 10 turns and making your city much less likely to flip or revolt. The pre-attack missionary wave essentially adds the benefits of the creative trait to non-creative civs, in addition to income, happiness, and espionage benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]5. CITY PLACEMENT[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The placement of cities is always one of the most important strategic decisions. I will gladly place a city at significantly further distance from my capital if it results in acquiring special resources or monopolizing a location that is of prime strategic or production value. Many specialty resources offer benefits for your entire civilization, and so the race to control luxury, health, strategic, and bonus resources is a key factor in city placement. Whenever possible, I build cities on rivers, and try to get at least one special resource (of any kind) within range. Of course this is not always possible (especially on unusual or specialty map types), but if you repeatedly find that you are having trouble making your cities happy and productive or are failing to acquire important resources, perhaps it is time to reevaluate your city placement. Controlling strategic passes or "choke points" with cities is also valuable -- if you can block off your enemies from chunks of unsettled land and then fill it in later, that is a bonus, although the geography doesn't always accommodate this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some buildings I like to build everywhere, whereas others I build only in specialized cities, or in any city when there is a natural opening. Buildings I like to build as much as possible include:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]granary[NEWLINE]lighthouse (for coastal cities)[NEWLINE]library[NEWLINE]aqueduct[NEWLINE]forge[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Second Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]harbor (if applicable)[NEWLINE]temple[NEWLINE]theater[NEWLINE]market[NEWLINE]grocery[NEWLINE]university[NEWLINE]laboratory[NEWLINE]factory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The build order of course varies depending on the needs of each city, but generally I get granaries and forges as early as possible everywhere, and theaters first in conquered cities (to prevent culture flipping), and others as the situation dictates. It is hard to go wrong with a library almost everywhere because of the commerce bonus and the culture to expand your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful with buildings that harm city health. In particular, avoid building coal plants, as this subtracts two health and seemingly cannot be removed, even if the city develops alternative power sources. The three gorges dam wonder provides power to all cities on the continent, and cities along rivers can use hydro power. While laboratories increase research by +25%, they also detract from health (-1), and you may not need laboratories everywhere at the very late stage in the game at which they become available - constructing them in a few top research cities may suffice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Commerce, Research, and Gold[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Squares with or without improvements produce *commerce*. This commerce can then be used to fund research, culture, or turned into gold. Improvements (towns etc) and the financial trait actually give you commerce, not gold. The distinction between "commerce" generally and "gold" specifically is somewhat confusing as they sometimes use the same gold coin icon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then the benefit of city improvements depends on both your base commerce and your sliders. Say you have a small city producing 10 commerce, and your research slider is on 80%, with 20% going into finances. A library (+25% research) will give you an extra 2 beakers (base research = 80% of 10 = 8, 25% of 8 = 2 more). A grocer, however (+25% gold) would seem not to have any benefit to an economy this small (base gold = 20% of 10 = 2, and 25% of 2= 0.5, rounded down to zero).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now of course there is some gold *outside* of the commerce system: namely, gold generated by religious buildings. Specialist gold goes directly to finances and is not general "commerce" that can be converted to research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In other words, the benefit of the improvements depends highly on the position of your sliders. If you played with research on 20% and money on 80%, obviously the financial improvements (market, grocer, bank, etc) would be more valuable. Since in most games however research plays such an important role, science improvements tend to offer greater benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inflation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation is not covered anywhere in the civilopedia or manual that I can find, but it is an important expense. Inflation can go up but never seems to go down over the course of a game. Inflation increases over time at a steady rate, regardless of spending breakdown. Inflation cannot apparently be controlled; it inevitably increases as the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation adds an additional percentage to your expenses, including:[NEWLINE]civic upkeep[NEWLINE]city maintenance (distance and city number)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This percentage can get quite high. If your expenses are 100 per turn and your inflation is 30%, your final cost is 130 gold. The organized trait has at least some advantage here, because it is saving "pre-tax" rather than "post-tax" dollars. In other words, if your civic upkeep were 50 and inflation were 0%, the organized trait would save only 25 gold (50% of final upkeep), but if inflation were 40%, your real savings are 50+20 (40% of 50) = 70/2, or 35 gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]6. CIVICS GUIDE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to change civics as little as possible since I don't play as Spiritual. I will do 2 or 3 switches at once, when possible. If you do too many changes at once (4 or occasionally 3), it can result in 2 turns anarchy. You cannot change state religion and civics on the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Government Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, + 1 happiness per military unit in a city, req. monarchy). Since most cities will have at least one military unit for defense, this tech can be a real benefit in the early middle ages when you are still developing your luxury resource network and constructing happiness buildings. Hereditary rule provides a great answer to happiness problems that can otherwise be limiting to a rapidly-growing civilization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, +3 research per specialist, +2 happiness in 6 largest cities, req. constitution). Another excellent bonus, especially for a philosophical nation with many specialists. The largest cities are the most likely to get unhappy, so this civic gives you the happiness bonus where you need it. Representation is particularly valuable for philosophical civs in synergy with mercantilism and the statue of liberty wonder, harnessing the free specialists to provide a major technology boost. Unless you have a vast number of towns, representation is a good civic to keep throughout the entire game. The extra research for every specialist continues to be a huge benefit that can significantly speed your research. I try to build the pyramids as quick as I can so that I can switch to representation, significantly speeding research. Then pick up wonders and buildings that give you (or allow) specialists: great library, forge, statue of liberty, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% military production, -50% war weariness, req. facism) is great for the warmonger or for wartime defense, but the high cost makes it undesirable in peacetime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage:[\BOLD] moderate upkeep. The +1 production boost to towns and ability to complete production with gold (units/buildings, not wonders) is useful; however, it is of little use in the early and mid game when cottages have not yet developed into towns. Don't get snookered into getting this in the early game with the pyramids, as upkeep is high and you will have no towns to provide the productivity bonus. Weighing universal suffrage against[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Legal Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage:[\BOLD] high upkeep, +2 experience per unit, lower unit support costs: a good tech for a warmonger, but the high cost makes it prohibitive for others. Consider this temporarily while in a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy:[\BOLD] (+50% production/gold in capital, medium upkeep, req. civil service). Good in the early game, and provides an excellent boost for a wonder-building city. Liberalism is close enough around the corner from civil service that often I hold off for free speech. As the slider is usually set heavily to research, the primary benefit of this civic is usually production rather than gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood:[\BOLD] no upkeep (changed from low to no upkeep with the patch), can draft 3 units per turn, barracks +2 happiness. Also a good civic for a warmonger that is better sustainable long-term than vassalage because of its low cost, in addition to adding happiness benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +2 gold from towns, +100% culture per city, req. liberalism). It is my favorite for the late game, but won't do you much good if you don't have towns. I like to get bureaucracy for the production boost while towns are developing, and then switch to free speech once I have enough towns to justify it. At no upkeep cost, the price is right, and this one can provide a great boost to your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Labor Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, can sacrifice population to finish production, req. bronze working) Excellent for rapidly-growing cities limited by happiness, although it makes 1 pop unhappy for 10 turns. Slavery is ideal for civs with large cities with abundant food (flood plains + farms) but marginal productivity and limited happiness, especially in the early and mid-game. Slavery takes the revolting pops that are adding nothing to the economy and uses them to produce wonders or other high-cost buildings that would otherwise take many turns to complete. I typically keep this civic until I get emancipation with democracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Serfdom:[\BOLD] (low upkeep) -- workers build improvements faster. I usually have a large enough army of workers building improvements and clearing jungles that this one isn't as attractive as the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Caste System:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, req. code of laws) -- unlimited scientists, artists, merchants in cities. A reasonable choice if you have food to spare, don't yet have enough town improvements to allow specialists otherwise, and can afford the upkeep. While I like the idea of the caste system civic for philosophical civs, the way which this is implemented is poor. Once you get caste system, the computer automatically allocates many of your workers to specialists, especially scientists. Although this can be somewhat controlled with your city production settings, the AI often diverts workers producing food, hammers, and commerce into specialists producing only science and culture. This slows both the production and growth of many of your cities. There is too much micromanagement involved to manage the caste system appropriately, and the stunting of your production and growth because of poorly allocated specialists is rarely if ever worthwhile, even for a philosophical civ. Skip it and go for emancipation. The scientists are the most valuable, while artists and merchants are usually of limited value.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Emancipation:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, req. democracy) is great for mid to late game. It doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns; a big synergistic economic boost when combined with appropriate techs, free speech, and universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Economic Civics: [\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, 1 free specialist per city, no foreign trade routes, req. banking). Getting this civic is like having the statue of liberty wonder and is a huge boost for philosophical or GP oriented civs. It is moderately expensive, and shuts down foreign trade (which can also hurt, or at least won't help, your relations). However, if you have the Angkor Wat wonder that adds to priest productivity and the Representation civic that adds 3 research to every specialist, this presents a huge boost to your cities that more than compensates for the lack of foreign trade routes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep) - +1 trade route per city. A nice financial or research boost, although only modest in size. However I rarely use this as state property is only a few techs away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: The patch increases free trade from low to medium upkeep. More reason to skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, req. communism) is great (no distance maintenance costs, +1 food from watermills). Although the patch increased the upkeep from free to low, it is still extremely useful. I find that with my tendency to build many cities, it saves me as much or more than I would earn from the extra trade route, plus upkeep is free, plus you get extra food. As I tend to build watermills along almost all river tiles because of their boost to productivity (+2 with appropriate techs), food (+1), and economy, a river city may be able to support a couple more citizens that can be made specialists to boost your GP generation. My most-used economic tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]State property eliminates the city distance maintenance cost entirely, which for a large empire typically represents about 50% of your total city upkeep (this rough rule of thumb varies depending on both the number of cities and the distances involved). This can be quite a substantial savings. For a nation with a well-developed state religion, adopting state property frequently allows one to move the tech slider from 70-80% to 90-100%. This faster tech speed has many benefits: quicker availability of new buildings and units, faster tech bonuses, and getting sooner to techs like electricity that increase the value or productivity of your existing city improvements. The extra food can allow you to support extra specialists or larger city growth if you have many river cities and have built watermills. With no civic upkeep cost, the price is right. In most games, the state property civic alone is far better in terms of your financial bottom line than the organized trait, as city distance upkeep costs often well exceed 50% of the civic upkeep costs discounted by organized. My tests suggest that the Versailles wonder, like the Forbidden Palace, reduce only distance upkeep costs (Versailles seems to be like a second Forbidden Palace). If you are using the state property civic and plan to stick with it long-term, don't waste city production on these wonders. Forbidden Palace and Versailles offer only a modest location-dependent decrease in distance costs, while state property abolishes distance costs altogether. With city upkeep virtually cut in half by state property, you will also find less of a necessity for courthouses until your civilization is extremely large.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism:[\BOLD] (high upkeep) is nice at the very end of the game when you get ecology (+6 health, +1 happiness from forests and jungles). Unfortunately I've harvested most forests and jungles long before the ecology tech comes around (and jungles are so unproductive why would you want to keep them), and find that my cities already have good health and happiness well before then and are more limited by food. The expensive upkeep is also a drawback, so I tend to use state property more frequently. Rather than getting environmentalism, I prefer to research future techs (+1 health and happiness each for your entire civ), since ecology is already near the end of the tech line), rather than paying the fat environmentalism upkeep fees. At least that part of environmentalism is realistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Religious Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% building and wonder construction, req. monotheism). After extensive testing, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best religion civic, at least for my play style. I grab this civic as soon as I can get to monotheism and keep it throughout the entire game. I have verified in-game that organized religion does boost wonder speed as well as that of non-wonder buildings. +25% building and wonder speed throughout the whole game is essentially equivalent to a free forge in every city, except that the bonus does not apply to unit builds. This trait is very expensive for a large civilization, but I think it is well worth the cost. I can think of no wonder, civ trait, building, or civic that matches organized religion in its sweeping benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep), +2 experience points for units created in cities with state religion, no non-state religion spread) -- okay for a warmonger, but expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +100% GP, req. philosophy) is phenomenal as it can essentially bestow the philosophical trait on a non-philosophical civ, or make philosophical civs even better. The low upkeep is counterbalanced by the +1 gold per military unit, so this tech can be cheap or expensive depending on your military size. As attractive as pacifism is, I feel that organized is a better trait, even for philosophical civs. Ask yourself: how many great people would you need to generate to speed construction of buildings and wonders in every one of your cities by 25%?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion:[\BOLD] (low upkeep): I never get free religion as losing all the state religion bonuses really hurts, as well as losing line of site to all converted cities in other nations. At end-game usually I have plenty of luxuries and am not so desperate for a few more happy faces that I would want to deal with the hassle of having to get 4 or 5 religions in each of my cities to make this civic worthwhile. The +10% tech bonus -- while meaningful -- doesn't seem to make much of a difference for me this late in the game, plus you have to pay fixed upkeep (albeit low) to boot. Some players attempt to get free religion as soon as possible to pacify aggressive neighbors with different religions. However, I have had war declared on me so many times in the early game when I had no state religion at all that I know that simply removing state religion is no panacea to diplomacy. Dropping a state religion can pacify opponents, but it can also make former close allies lukewarm or even hostile. And if you are still deeply afraid of your neighbors by the late time of game that organized religion becomes available, perhaps it is time to assess your strategy in other areas. Theology civics include some of the best benefits in the game (+100% GP from pacifism, +25% building and wonder construction speed), and I generally like these bonuses far too much to sacrifice them for free religion, which seems to offer little in return. Nevertheless, if you are in a situation where you are walking on eggshells -- playing deity level with far more powerful AI players, perhaps -- free religion may be something to consider. Otherwise, skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Favored early game civics: representation (constitution - or pyramids), bureaucracy (civil service), slavery (bronze working), mercantilism (banking), organized religion (monotheism)[NEWLINE]Favored late game civics: universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property, organized religion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmonger civics: police state, vassalage, slavery, state property, theocracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]7. CITY IMPROVEMENTS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I tend to manually control workers (at least until very late in the game) as the computer automation leaves much to be desired and lacks strategic foresight.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Farms:[\BOLD] +1 food initially, +2 food (total) at end-game when you have biology. Recent tests have led me to change my strategies and begin building large numbers of farms initially in order to quickly increase city size. When cities are near the max of their happiness and/or health, then I start converting the farms to cottages for the economic benefits. In contrast to watermills and windmills which offer economic and production bonuses in addition to food, farms offer only food. The advantage is that they are available almost immediately in the game with the agriculture tech. I prefer wide proliferation of farms in the ancient era, with removal of some farms and transition to cottages and watermills when you are near the maximum sustainable city size for health and happiness. Especially on higher difficulty levels, spamming too many farms may quickly bring your cities over the happiness and/or healthiness levels they can support, resulting in revolters and no "we love the king day" events. Automated workers tend to overdo farming and so I prefer to direct workers manually. Use farms wisely, but be careful that they don't push your cities into unhappiness or unhealthiness. You may need to expand your growth capacity as your city's happiness and health limits increase, so keep an eye on this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cottages:[\BOLD] Cottages make up the foundation of economic and research productivity of your civilization. Especially if you have the financial trait, cottages produce great bonuses when they grow into towns, with full techs and civics: commerce +7, production +1 (requires universal suffrage civic). Cottages can be built anywhere, but their production bonus comes late (after full growth into towns) and only with the correct civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often wait until cities are close to their health or happiness limit to start building large numbers of cottages because farms offer more immediate benefit by increasing city size and therefore production and the number of workable tiles. Cottages only progress into hamlets, villages, and towns when they are being worked. There is no point in rushing to place cottages on all 20 workable tiles of a level 2 city (for an extreme example), as the cottages will not begin to develop at all until the city is large enough to work them. My tests and those of others have demonstrated that in most cases, a better long-term economic outcome is achieved with early farms to grow your city quickly and then building large numbers of cottages that the city is able to work, as opposed to immediate cottage spamming resulting in slow growth and many unworked tiles in an immature city.[NEWLINE]The downsides of cottages include that they take a long time to grow: cottage-&gt;hamlet 10 turns, hamlet -&gt;village 20 turns, village -&gt;town 40 turns. This can be cut in half with appropriate civics, but still it takes 35 turns in the best possible case to grow from a cottage to a town. In a game that lasts only 400 or 500 turns (and may be decided long before then), that is a big chunk of game time. Also, cottages can be easily pillaged by an enemy. Cottages are particularly valuable around your core research cities, but think twice about building cottages on frontier cities close to aggressive neighbors. In any case, the long maturation time of cottages requires that they be built as early as possible to maximize their benefits. Having cottages that have grown into towns while your neighbors are still dealing with hamlets and villages can prove decisive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Watermill:[\BOLD] An immediate +1 production boost, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +2 production with full techs and civics (requires state property for the food bonus). These are very helpful in increasing the production of plains, grassland, or flood plains adjacent to rivers that have little innate production capability. And once you have the correct techs/civics, the bonuses are immediate and do not require the maturation that cottages do. You can only build watermills on one square or the other to the side of a river, but I build watermills everywhere I can, typically replacing farms as soon as state property is in hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Windmill[\BOLD]: An immediate +1 food, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +1 production with full tech (replaceable parts, electricity). Very useful if you need more food, have limited river access, and want something that offers more substantial and well-rounded benefits than farms. Windmills can be placed on hills which makes a nice alternative to mines, giving production and commerce benefits while allowing the square to provide at least some of the food supply required to work it. With the financial trait, windmill offers +1 food, +1 production, and +3 commerce, making a windmill often preferable to a mine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Lumbermill[\BOLD]: Chopping down the trees doesn't add any more food production (unlike C3C), and so lumbermills are a prime consideration for productivity in the late game. That is, in areas where you still have trees. With max +3 production (Base +1 from trees, +1 from lumbermill, +1 more when railroad comes around) and +1 commerce for squares adjacent to rivers, lumbermills are the best late-game productivity improvement. They don't have the economic benefits of cottages, watermills, or windmills, but offer a more substantial production boost without sapping your food supply (unlike workshops) or without requiring a specific civic to keep from doing so. The late benefits of a lumbermill must also be weighed against the benefits of chopping in the early game for benefits that can be quite substantial at a time when your civilization's productivity is very low: chopped trees can result in a much faster start, extra cities, or more wonders. I chop trees in the early game for chop-rushing settlers or crucial wonders, but by the mid-game when instant productivity is no longer urgent, I prefer to preserve any remaining trees for future lumbermills.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mine[\BOLD]: +2 production, +1 more (+3 total) with railroad. A substantial productivity boost as long as you have enough food to go around. The option between windmills and mines is nice for hill squares.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Workshop:[\BOLD] +1 production, -1 food. With max upgrades they can offer up to +3 production, and with state property, no food penalty. This allows the same +3 production as lumbermill, without requiring you to keep trees around until the late game. The food penalty early on makes this a poor choice in the early middle ages, but once you have state property, workshops represent an excellent improvement for production. However, if you depend on workshops and state property, you will largely be obliged to stay with that civic through the rest of the game -- or see your cities starve when you change, unless you have a large food surplus from other sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]8. SPECIALIZATION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since you can only build 2 national wonders in a city and because GP points accrue according to specialties, it makes sense to have specialized cities in CIV. I aim for a science city (oxford university + great library), a military city (pentagon + heroic epic + west point), a culture city (hermitage + globe theater), an economic city (wall street), and will put the national epic in the city with the most wonders (and most GP points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, keeping a flow of military units from at least one city will keep your cities happy (large cities get upset without protection) and defended. I also try to keep one city pumping out missionaries throughout almost the entire game, occasionally switching production to another city to construct buildings in the city. In my first couple games when I did not continue to produce both military and missionary units in peace time and war time, it caused major problems for me in spite of large leads in other areas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]CIV rewards the creation of specialized cities. I try to create at least 2 cities of each specialty because of the need to build infrastructure buildings in between building military or religious units, wonders, etc. Specialist cities make sense because you can't build every building in every city, and specialization helps you to leverage your city placement by putting buildings in the cities where they will do the most good.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first step in deciding the division of labor between specialized cities is to evaluate the surrounding land. A city in an area with luxury resources could be a great trade/science city, while one in an area with many mines and high production would likely make a good military city for creating units, or for rapidly building wonders. A city with abundant food supply would make a good specialist city to increase great people generation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Military City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] productive area with high hammer yield (mines, watermills, etc)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Barracks Forge Factory[NEWLINE]Power source (coal, hydro, nuclear), Granary Aqueduct[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]first city:[\BOLD] Heroic Epic (+100% military production in city), West Point (+4 exp/military unit)[NEWLINE][BOLD]second city:[\BOLD] Red Cross (free Medic I promotion), Ironworks (near iron or coal) -- consider designating this one a military city from the time iron appears on the map.[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience for units trained in any city, can be built anywhere)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Discussion:[\BOLD] You will need many military units during the game, so why build them from just anywhere when you can build them quickly in a specialized city and get free experience points to boot?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Science City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Academy (+50% research, requires great scientist) Library (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Observatory (+25% research) University (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Laboratory (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Monastery (+10% research, but becomes obsolete - may skip this one)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Oxford University (+100% research)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (+2 scientists, expires)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Merchant City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Market (+25% gold) Grocer (+25% gold)[NEWLINE]Bank (+50% gold) Airport (+1 trade route)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wall Street (+100% gold)[NEWLINE][BOLD]GP Focus:[\BOLD] great merchant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Culture City[\H2][NEWLINE]Consider combining with science city as many science improvements also generate culture. I don't generally build a culture-only city for that reason, I go for culture/science. But here are the culture listings for those interested in culture victory, not including science improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Temple (+1 culture) Monastery (+2 culture)[NEWLINE]Cathedral or equivalent (+50% culture) Theater (+3 culture)[NEWLINE]Broadcast tower (+50% culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hermitage (+100% culture) Globe theater (+6 culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hollywood (+50% culture) Rock n' Roll (+50% culture)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+50% culture) Sistine chapel (+2 culture per specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If going for a culture victory, consider balancing your national and world culture wonders between 3 cities to allow each to achieve legendary culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Great People City[\H2][NEWLINE]Obviously this one should be combined with another city of your choice, as the world and national wonders built in other cities contribute GP points. I like to make my GP city one that focuses on GP types that I find to be the most valuable (great engineers -- can rush wonders, or perhaps scientists -- can create academy, rather than prophets, artists, or merchants)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonder:[\BOLD] National Epic (+100% GP birth rate in city)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (+50% GP birth rate in all cities) Great Library (+2 scientists in city, but expires)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergistic Civic:[\BOLD] pacifism (+100% GP rate, no upkeep)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]9. WONDERS [\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When beginning every game, you will want to consider what wonders are a priority for you and what wonders you will pass on. It is rarely possible to get every wonder. Realistic decisions must be made and tech paths to get the desired wonders early must be considered. There is little as frustrating as coming within a few turns of completing an expensive wonder only to lose your effort because another civ beat you to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder decisions can make or break the game. A few key wonders can provide advantages turning the tide in your favor, while an inappropriate focus on wonders at the expense of defense or growth can leave your civilization vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The player should also consider what role wonders will play in the overall strategy. If you are playing as a philosophical or industrious nation, constructing numerous wonders should be a centerpiece of your strategy. For militaristic players, wonders should play little role, as a vast army can be constructed in the time of constructing just a few wonders. The militaristic player should therefore aim for a few targeted wonders, while the philosophical or industrious player should strive for a much longer list.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some wonders offer considerable early benefits, but expire. Others offer mediocre benefits that expire regardless (the Hagia Sophia is infamous for frequently becoming obsolete only shortly after it is constructed). Wonders expire when YOU get the expiring tech, not when your neighbors do. So I often hold off on trading for the calender tech until all my cities have experienced border expansion from Stonehenge, and avoid getting chemistry until the last possible moment to milk the Parthenon for every great person point possible. Still others offer great game-long benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you are going for a culture victory, great artists are the least useful of all of the great people (+3 commerce, +14 culture). Therefore, I try to keep wonders offering great artist points out of my principal wonder city to avoid generating less-useful great people there. Great scientists are perhaps the most useful for their ability to add an academy in one city each. Great engineers (+3 hammers) and great prophets (+2 hammer) are the most useful as they add productivity. Great merchants add food, although only +1, in addition to commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To maximize the conversion of great people points into great people, it is best to concentrate as many wonders as possible in one, two, or three designated wonder-building cities. The decision of how many cities to designate as primary or secondary wonder-builders will depend on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here is a list of wonders that I make priorities, keeping in mind that the wonders different players favor will vary widely depending on their play style and tactics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Priority Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stonehenge:[\BOLD] obelisk, +1 culture in every city, expires @ Calendar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Library:[\BOLD] +2 scientists is a big deal at a time when many of your cities can't dedicate the pop to specialists, especially if you build this in your great people focus city. Perhaps most importantly, the +6 GP points/turn from 2 scientists in addition to the +2 GP from the wonder (total 8 GP points/turn) can help you quickly to get great scientists who can found academies in your largest cities, especially in the presence of philosophical/pacifist /Parthenon /national epic synergisms. Getting the great library with several great scientists can therefore generate a massive bonus that will speed your research throughout the entire remainder of the game, long after the GL's primary effects have expired. After the GL, the oxford university is the only good generator of great scientist points until after the middle ages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]: +50% GP birth rate in all cities. Vital for philosophical civs, but unfortunately doesn't last forever.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Non-Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hanging Gardens:[\BOLD] +1 pop, +1 health in all cities. This is a huge early wonder that can catapult your civ ahead, especially if you have many small or modest-sized cities. Adding an extra pop and health point to every city boosts your economy, your research, your productivity, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Notre Dame[\BOLD]: +1 happiness for all cities on continent[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Versailles[\BOLD]: reduces maintenance in nearby cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Statue of Liberty:[\BOLD] a free specialist in every city. Fabulous for philosophical civs. Probably my # 1 wonder in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pentagon:[\BOLD] +2 experience points for units trained in all cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Three Gorges Dam:[\BOLD] power for all cities on continent located near a river[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Eiffel Tower:[\BOLD](free broadcast tower in every city) gives a big culture boost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Wonders by GP type[\H2][NEWLINE](all world wonders +2 GP points, all national wonders +1)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Scientist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (marble) (+2 scientists)[NEWLINE]Oxford University (stone) (+100% research, 3 citizens as scientists)[NEWLINE]Space Elevator[NEWLINE]Red Cross[NEWLINE]Scotland Yard[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Capital: Stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens, great library, ironworks (?)[NEWLINE]Wonder city 2: parthenon, notre dame, national epic[NEWLINE]Military city[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Prophet:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stonehenge (stone): obelisk in each city[NEWLINE]Angkor Wat (stone): +1 production from priests in all cities, allows 3 priests. This makes priest specialists (up to +2 hammers, +1 gold) the most productive specialists, beating out engineers (+2 hammers, no other bonuses) -- until the wonder expires[NEWLINE]Oracle (marble) (1 free tech)[NEWLINE]Chichen Itza (stone): +25% defense in all cities[NEWLINE]Spiral minaret (stone). +1 gold from all state religion buildings. Nice, although a relatively small bonus.[NEWLINE]Religious holy wonder: minus 1 production, spreads religion, 1 gold from each, allows 3 priests[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Engineer:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hanging gardens (stone) (+1 population, +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience to military units in all cities)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 citizens as engineers)[NEWLINE]West Point (stone) (+4 experience per unit)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (stone) (allows all government civics) - a big boost in the early game[NEWLINE]Hagia Sophia (marble) (+50% worker build speed)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Merchant:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Colossus (copper) (+1 gold in all city water tiles)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 free specialist in all cities on the continent)[NEWLINE]Wall Street[NEWLINE]Forbidden Palace (acts as a 2nd capital decreasing distance maintenance)[NEWLINE]Versailles (marble)[NEWLINE]Great Lighthouse (+2 trade routes in coastal cities)[NEWLINE]Eiffel Tower (free broadcast tower in every city)[NEWLINE]United Nations[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Artist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (marble) (+50% GP birth rate in all cities)[NEWLINE]Notre Dame (+1 happiness in all cities)[NEWLINE]National epic (stone) (+100% GP birth rate)[NEWLINE]Hollywood (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Rock n' Roll (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Heroic Epic (marble) (+100% military unit production)[NEWLINE]Hermitage (marble)[NEWLINE]Globe Theater (no unhappiness in this city, allows 3 artists)[NEWLINE]Taj Mahal[NEWLINE]Mt. Rushmore (stone)[NEWLINE]Kremlin (stone)[NEWLINE]Sistine chapel (marble)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Most important early resources:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stone, marble, iron[NEWLINE]Put Parthenon, notre dame, statue of liberty in a separate wonder city[NEWLINE]National epic in capital[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]10. GREAT PEOPLE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In maximizing great people points, you can get some great synergy between traits, civics, wonders, and improvements. If you want a lot of great people, get as many of these as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that all bonuses are additive, not multiplicative. For example, 2 100% bonuses on top of a 100% base produce a 300% rate (100% base +100% x2), not 400% (they only add their bonus to the BASE rate, not to the final rate after other adjustments). Also, all fractions in the game are rounded DOWN (i.e. a 25% bonus of 7 is rounded down to 1, a 25% bonus of 8 is necessary for +2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traits:[NEWLINE]Philosophical trait : +100% GP generation civ-wide[NEWLINE]Civics:[NEWLINE]labor - caste system: unlimited scientists, merchants, artists in all cities[NEWLINE]economy - mercantilism: +1 free specialist per city; or (in games with many rivers) state property for the watermill food bonus, allowing higher POP and thus more specialists[NEWLINE]religion - pacifism: +100% GP birth rate in cities with state religion[NEWLINE]National wonders:[NEWLINE]national epic - +100% GP in city where built (only)[NEWLINE]World Wonders:[NEWLINE]Parthenon: +50% GP generation civ-wide, expires with chemistry[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty: +1 free specialist in all cities[NEWLINE]great library: +2 free scientists in city where built, but expires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civ with max upgrades (not including great library) would have:[NEWLINE]- a 300% great people rate (100% base + 100% philosophical + 100% pacifism) + 50% from Parthenon (before expires) + 100% more in city with national wonder[NEWLINE]- 2 free specialists in all cities (mercantilism statue of liberty). At 300% return on a 3 GP base per specialist x 2 specialists, this would provide 18 GP points *per turn* even in your least developed cities with no wonders.[NEWLINE]-unlimited ability to allocate scientists, artists, and merchants in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the wonder bonuses expire when YOU get the tech in question, not your neighbors...therefore a philosophical civ with the Parthenon may want to push back getting chemistry as late as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course some great people types are more valuable than others. Great engineers allow you to rush wonders which can provide key benefits in a close game. And great scientists can allow you to build an academy (+50% research) in every city. Great merchants, artists, and prophets, while still valuable, have effects that are generally somewhat more modest in terms of long-term game play. Since the chance of getting a great person of different types depends on the wonders and specialists in each city, I like having separate cities focus on great engineers and scientists without mixing with the other types as much as possible (you don't want to have your city with engineering wonders drowned out by large numbers of merchant, artist, or priest specialists pushing the GP probability towards other types). I don't have a strong preference between merchants, artists, and prophets, and so will build wonders generating all 3 in the same city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bonuses allowing you to turn citizens into engineers are generated only by:[NEWLINE]Forge (allows 1 engineer)[NEWLINE]Factory (allows 2 engineers)[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 engineers)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Engineer GP points are generated by:[NEWLINE]West Point (+1 GP)[NEWLINE]Hanging Gardens (+2)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (+2)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam (+2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The military city is the most natural choice for an engineer GP city (forge + factory + ironworks + west point + pentagon).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the cost for great people increase throughout the game, diminishing returns are eventually reached. Later in the game, the cost of great people goes up and up, while the benefit of great people often declines, since the earlier you get great people, the longer they will benefit your civilization. However, your civilization should also increase in its capacity to generate great people over time, civics are chosen, as wonders are built and citizens are assigned as specialists. With appropriate tactics, many great people can still be generated even in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every great person can cause either an instant benefit, provide a tech bonus, or add a long-term bonus to cities. The benefits must be carefully considered. In *most* cases, I prefer to use great people in a manner that augments the long-term productivity of my cities, although there are exceptional cases where great people are best used to rush a tech or a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two types of great people present no-brainers for their use:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great prophets. Before using great prophets in any other way, make sure that you have created the religion-specific wonder in any founding religious city under your control. If you have made any attempt at all to spread the religion, or of you are conquering the founding city of a religion that is widely accepted, this can produce massive financial benefits that dwarf virtually any other use of great people.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great scientists. Use them to create academies in all of your top science cities. Which would you rather have -- an extra +6 or so science per turn in the city of your choice, or a 50% increase in science in a city that is already generating 50, 75, or 200 beakers per turn? Although the increase acts only on the base number of commerce points applied to research (before other modifiers are applied), a great scientist can result in massive research output for cities, especially in conjunction with other science improvements (library/university/observatory/Oxford University/etc).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For other great people, I usually prefer to join them to a city, with occasional exceptions as previously acknowledged.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great artists. If you are going for a cultural victory, great artists are your friend. A very nice strategy for cultural victory on Monarch level, using great artists either by joining to a city or as "culture bombs" to titrate legendary culture among three cities is presented by walkerjks here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=138647[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are not going for a cultural victory, great artists are by far the weakest of all great people. I find that in most cases it is preferable to join great artists to border cities or captured cities instead of invoking the "culture bomb." Great artists produce +12 to +15 culture per turn, which is the equivalent of many cultural buildings (library = +2 culture, theater = +3, etc) and will quickly expand the city's borders -- in addition to any cultural multipliers the city may have (cathedrals, hermitage, civics, etc). In this way, you still continue to receive the commerce benefits of the great artist throughout the game, speeding your research and filling your coffers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great merchant. The great merchant is the ONLY great person that offers a food bonus (+1 food, +6 commerce appears typical). I prefer to join great merchants to high-commerce cities that focus on great people creation (the city with the national epic is often a great choice), since more food allows you to allocate more specialists, further increasing great people output.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great engineers. As for great prophets, the surplus productivity is welcome. These often go in my capital or most productive city or cities. A city with ironworks makes a great choice for great engineer placement in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]OPTIONS FOR EARLY EXPANSION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several good early expansion options. The decision as to which is best for you depends both on map choice and on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]11. CHOP-RUSHING[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop rushing is a great way to jump ahead in the early game. The first mention I know of was in this thread by AlexFrog:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137292[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I prefer a somewhat modified version of the strategy. The strategy involves founding initial cities in areas with a large number of trees within their "fat cross" area. The player researches bronze working immediately while building a worker in the capital city before building any other units or buildings. Once the worker is done (12-15 turns) and bronze working is researched, the worker immediately goes to work chopping trees around the capital. Each tree chopped results in 20 hammers, which can rocket a level 1 city that may have only 1, 2, or 3 hammers far ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most logical initial use of "chop-rushing" is for settlers and workers, since your cities are normally stagnant (do not grow) while these units are being produced, and because these units are vital to the growth and productivity of your civilization. I save trees to chop-rush settlers, workers, or wonders, since the construction of buildings or military units allows your cities to grow during the production phase, while production of the former two does not, and the third category (wonders) is a race. Chop-rushing typically allows me to plant 2-3 times as many cities as my closest AI competitors on noble level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, settlers must never be sent out undefended, so I like to first build at least one (possibly two) warriors, sending at least one out to explore and pop goody huts (in addition to the starting warrior) while the second will act as your settler escort. I periodically build warriors during the rapid expansion phase to ensure that my cities and settlers are adequately defended.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of maintenance costs increasing with both distance and city number (and I will place cities at long distances from my capital when necessary to secure important resources), it is impractical to build a civilization by the exclusive virtue of chop-rushing. There must be a balance. Once I get three or four cities, I let one or two grow and develop -- building a granary or military units to increase in size and to defend the borders, while the others chop-rush. I also assign some workers to build improvements very early -- cottages in particular, in addition to improvements required by special resources -- in order to ensure that city commerce, on average, is in excess of upkeep costs, allowing continued rapid research and continued growth. As a rough rule of thumb, on noble level, if my research percentage falls below 70%, that is a warning sign to me that I need to better develop the city economic base by building more cottages and letting cities grow to a larger size before expanding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop-rushing can also be a terrific way to get wonders, especially when you have special resources that speed wonder building. For example, Stonehenge costs 120 hammers, but if you have stone, every forest chopped will give double (not 20, but 40) hammers. Therefore, you only need to chop three trees to build Stonehenge in a city with stone -- as opposed to the many turns it would take to build it without chop-rushing. This is a great way to get key wonders as a non-industrious civ, and the ability of any civilization to do this really waters down the value of the industrious trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: the patch slightly weakens chop-rushing. Chopping income has dropped from thirty to twenty hammers, with that number being further reduced for chops further from the city (outside the city radius?) Mathematics adds +50% (back to the original 30), but it comes in the end of the first age at a time that is not as useful as an immediate chop-rush would be. Also, unlike Civ3, cutting down trees doesn't increase food harvest, so you have to immediately place farms or cottages or do something else to develop the land in other ways. Chopping offers a quick up-front bonus but can dent your long-term production if you overdo it. Weigh the pros and cons carefully in each situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a recent test game in which I preserved the forests in the cities (for the health benefits and to maintain the forest productivity), I found that by the mid-middle ages, my tech rate had dropped virtually to zero and my workers began to strike and units were automatically disbanded because expenses were greater than income. Retaining the forests as opposed to chopping and planting cottages widely didn't provide the economic revenue to support the rapid city expansion that I prefer, even with measured expansion letting many of the cities grow to mid-size. Therefore I continue to favor chopping trees - whether in an early settler rush, or to complete wonders - also to free up the land for farms (faster growth) or cottage improvements (improve economy and tech speed).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]EXPANDING YOUR CAPITAL[\H2][NEWLINE]As attractive as it may seem, chop rushing faces major limitations, especially after being significantly tuned down in the recent patch. Chopping trees can push cities located near flood plains into unhealthiness and decline. Chops offer a one-time boost after which the city returns to its prior production. Depending on your situation, allowing the capital to develop before sending out settlers can be a better option. For example, if you can expand your capital in 8 turns and get a square that offers a combined 3 food and/or hammers, you will get a bonus of +1 food or hammer (2 of the food go to support the expanded population) for every subsequent turn throughout the game. For an average level 1 city with 3 resources in the center square and 3 on the first worked square (4 surplus food/hammers for settlers/workers), it takes 25 turns (4x25=100) to build a 100 resource settler and 15 turns (4x15) to build a 60-resource worker. Just one surplus resource, after paying food costs, by expanding to level 2 will drop this down to 20 turns for the settler (5 resources x 20 turns) and 12 turns for the worker. Expanding to level 3 to work another 3-resource tile, which you can generally do in another 8 turns after the first expansion with good city placement, will give you 6 surplus resources, dropping settler creation time to 17 turns and worker creation down to 10 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's do a comparison of a city that immediately builds 4 settlers, vs. one that spends 16 turns building warriors to grow twice, and switches production to settlers before the 2nd warrior is completed:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build order: 4 Settlers 1 1/2 warriors, 4 settlers[NEWLINE]Turns to 1st settler 25 16 (to grow twice), then 17 for settler = 33[NEWLINE]2nd settler 50 50[NEWLINE]3rd settler 75 67[NEWLINE]4th settler 100 84[NEWLINE]Final capital size 1 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see, the city that expands to level 3 first catches up with the city that immediately built only settlers by the time the 2nd settler is completed. The fact that the settler-only city completed its first settler 9 turn earlier does not make up for this, as the 9 turns allow for barely 1 cycle of growth as opposed to the 2 that the first city has achieved.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The expand-first city ends up far ahead because at the end, it is better developed and more productive than the city that pumped out settlers immediately. The expand-first model also has the advantage of producing warriors to defend your units, as unprotected settlers are not likely to survive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are well-situated and can develop those resources further, the model shifts even more in favor of allowing your city to increase in size. For example, if you can irrigate 2 flood plains up to +4 food each in your size 3 city and have one special resource you can get 2 food or hammers from, your total surplus will be 10 (3 from center tile, 2 per tile from 2 floodplains, and 3 from specialty resource) per turn. You can then build settlers in just 10 turns. At that point, you are expanding FASTER than you could with chop-rushing. Between chopping and moving, trees take 3-4 turns to chop for just 20 hammers and are limited, while your expanded city is indefinitely producing a surplus of 10/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, most cities in the early game do not require more than 3-4 farm tiles. Exceptions may be made for cities on barren land, such as plains or hills. A few judicious farms are usually all that you need in order to jump-start your growth. If you overdo the farming, you can easily push the city into unhappiness, at which point cottages are a better alternative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision of when to develop your capital vs. when to expand depends on your city setup. If tiles around your city are not very fertile (i.e. plains), you may wish to get out a settler sooner rather than later. If however your main city is well-placed and has one or two special resources within its boundaries that you can access with early techs, it is often wise to spend a few turns developing these resources to create a more productive capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]12. TECHNOLOGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great variability comes in here. Depending on your civilization traits and technologies, your level, and your play style, you may have different technological priorities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players favor chop-rushing for early expansion, going straight for bronze working. Then I go for pottery (to build cottages ASAP) and from there to alphabet (to trade techs). After alphabet, I trade with the AI as much as possible. I go for mathematics (to get hanging gardens) and then try to grab a religion -- Confucianism or, if I miss that, one of the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In many cases, investment in techs such as agriculture, animal domestication, and hunting can be more valuable than bronze working chop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are playing as a civ with early religious technologies, you may wish to shoot straight for an early religion. I prefer the path that leads to Hinduism/Judaism since if you are beaten to Hinduism, Judaism is right around the corner, while Buddhism is a dead end (at least for a while) and the AI seems to go for it quickly. Monotheism also has the benefit of offering the organized religion civic, which at +25% building construction (including wonders!) can prove to be an enormous benefit to your civilization's development. This, as well as the early spread of religion from your cities (with happiness etc), can make an early religion very, very worthwhile. From there, you can go for bronze-working and chop rush, or you can go straight for alphabet, trade for bronze working (which is typically readily available once alphabet is discovered), and chop rush.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Going for the religious techs (polytheism-&gt;monotheism) early has great advantages even for a non-spiritual civ, if you can get there quickly. The religious techs offer key early-era wonders, including Stonehenge and the Parthenon, and perhaps the most important ancient-era civic, organized religion, which can further enhance your speed in constructing wonders and other buildings. If you don't go for these techs very quickly, you will probably lose the wonder race. As you can't trade for techs until you have alphabet, and many maps feature limited access to potential trading partners, the only reliable way to get these techs is to research them yourself. If you are playing as a philosophical civ, getting the early wonders is especially critical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Either way has advantages and drawbacks, but both playing styles can be viable. Of course you can mix and match these: shoot for early religion and then quickly add bronze working (but miss out on some early chop-rushing), or research bronze working and then pick up the religious techs in time to get access to the wonders (but you will probably lose the early religion race). There undoubtedly others as well, but the above two are my favorites.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are some of the key techs I focus on acquiring, making modification depending on map type and difficulty level:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]0. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Hunting: these techs are vital to be able to hook up your bonus resources. Farming in particular is very important.[NEWLINE]1. Mysticism (65 beakers). Stonehenge, and prerequisite for other religious techs.[NEWLINE]2. Polytheism (130 beakers). Hinduism and Parthenon (key for philosophical civs).[NEWLINE]3. Bronze working (156 beakers). Chop rushing. 'nuf said.[NEWLINE]4. Wheel (78 beakers). Workers and resources won't do you much good until you can build roads. This can be moved down below monotheism depending on whether you have already gotten a religion and how tight you feel the race for Judaism will be.[NEWLINE]5. Pottery (104 beakers). Your workers can now start building cottages, and allows granary. Because of how long cottages take to develop, it is important to get cottages started early. Also to defray the heavy upkeep costs of a large empire.[NEWLINE]6. Masonry (104 beakers). Prerequisite for Monotheism. Allows building mines and quarries. While researching this you will hopefully be sending a settler and a worker to hook up stone (stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens) and marble (Parthenon) resources.[NEWLINE]7. Monotheism (156 beakers). Judaism and organized religion. The moment you are ready to begin building Stonehenge in your capital (or any other building), switch to organized religion to provide a +25% hammer bonus for wonders and buildings.[NEWLINE]8. Writing (156 beakers) and alphabet (390 beakers). Allows tech trades, allowing the player to pick up any missed techs.[NEWLINE]9. Mathematics (325 beakers) - workers produce +50% hammers from tree chops (up to 30). Also enables hanging garden, a key wonder for rapid population expansion. Very important for both counts.[NEWLINE]10. Metal casting (585 beakers). Forges add +25% productivity to any city where they are built. When you have stone and/or marble, organized religion civic, and forges, your cities can quickly construct buildings and wonders. Unfortunately, this tech quite expensive.[NEWLINE]11. Literature (260 beakers). Heroic epic, national epic, great library, and libraries. All important structures.[NEWLINE]12. Music (780 beakers). Free great artist to the first discoverer. Also allows Notre Dame and cathedrals, vital happiness buildings.[NEWLINE]13. Drama (390) and philosophy (1040 beakers). Philosophy offers Taoism to the first discoverer, and pacifism is a helpful civic for philosophical civs. Angkor Wat is nice (+1 production from priests in all cities) if you can get it.[NEWLINE]14. Paper (780), Education (2340 - allows universities/oxford), Liberalism (1820). Liberalism is a high priority both because it offers a free technology (you can pick the most expensive one available) and because of the free speech civic. The +2 gold from towns education offers is nice as long as enough of your cottages have developed into towns to warrant the expense of this tech path.[NEWLINE]15. printing press (2080), requires paper. +1 commerce in towns and villages. Another economic bonus, but the expense is so high that other techs may be a higher priority. Replaceable parts (2340) offers +1 hammer for watermills and windmills. This is really the point in the game where watermills become worthwhile.[NEWLINE]16. nationalism (2340), constitution (2600), democracy (3640). Nationalism and constitution have little to recommend them, except as prerequisites for democracy. Democracy is a huge advance to both economics and production because it allows universal suffrage (+1 production boost to towns) and emancipation (doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns).[NEWLINE]17. Divine Right (1560) islam, spiral minaret, Versailles. Another opportunity to pick up a religion. Spiral minaret provides major economic boost (+1 gold per state religion building in all cities). It is however very expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Currency (520 beakers): +1 trade route per city, and enables gold trading. Both of these can produce a major economic boost. I usually wait and trade for this, but getting it early may be warranted if your upkeep costs are becoming difficult to manage or your tech rate is dropping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Others:[NEWLINE]Iron working: Reveals iron. Being able to clear jungles is necessary to be able to access some resources and to increase health. Usually I trade for this tech after alphabet, but there are certainly exceptions requiring early iron working (if you have a bad starting location in a jungle harming productivity).[NEWLINE]Iron working is critical to military also. As soon as you get this and iron is revealed, it is vital to claim and develop that iron promptly. Make sure to devote one city to military to pump out archers (before iron to garrison all your cities) and swordsmen (after iron) for defense and offense.[NEWLINE]Archery: a must if you have aggressive neighbors. You may be able to hold off until after alphabet and trade for this depending on your setup, but if you are playing against human players, you need to get this ASAP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other key techs[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mathematics. Hanging Gardens -- + 1 POP and +1 health in all your cities is huge, especially when you have a lot of small and moderate-size cities. The hanging gardens can really explode your productivity when you have a large empire from a chop-rush settler rush.[NEWLINE]Music (free great artist)[NEWLINE]Military Tradition (cavalry rule the middle ages)[NEWLINE]Divine Right (Versailles/Islam)[NEWLINE]Metallurgy (watermill)[NEWLINE]Democracy (emancipation &amp; universal suffrage).[NEWLINE]Communism (state property)[NEWLINE]Then to any other techs that improve the benefits of your improvements (i.e. electricity).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also try to pick up the techs that offer free great people or free techs. These techs obviously represent a priority, as only the first discoverer gets the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]13. MILITARY STRATEGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Game Plan[\H2][NEWLINE]Before each game, consider spending a few minutes to write down some basic goals and strategies that you wish to incorporate. The plan will depend considerably on map type, terrain, size, difficulty leve, and opponents (AI or human). Of course the plan will need to be flexible to take advantage of opportunities and to respond to contingencies and challenges.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the game, review your strategy and honestly assess which aspects worked well, and what aspects fell flat or met challenges. Use your insight to fine-tune your strategy and improve your next game plan.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Anticipation and Preparation[\H2][NEWLINE]The computer will attack suddenly and in force in CIV. It is not unusual for the computer to DOW someone and raze their city with a stack of units in the same turn. The AI, like human players, is an opportunist. If you happen to build a city right next to enemy military units, or if AI players see a poorly defended city near their military units, they are more likely to declare war than if your cities were defended and settlers were escorted. Close borders also spark tensions. Different religion is also a major cause of hostility. The AI can and does declare war even when there are mildly positive relations, so don't be too smug at your relationship score. You must defend your cities and resources. Even if you are not a warmonger, build a credible defense force. If your military is much weaker than your neighbors, you will soon find yourself in war. Anticipate attacks in advance. Is your neighbor massing catapults and swordsmen near your border? What are the stacked archer and warrior doing near your cities? Assume the worst, be observant, and be informed. Judge your enemy by their capability, not their words or relations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Border Cities[\H2][NEWLINE]Beware of border cities without a large cultural buffer between other civilizations. In one game I had a brilliant idea to build the forbidden palace in a border city. Then while I was engaged in a war against the Mongols on the other side of my empire, Saladin declared war and conquered the city the same turn with hordes of catapults, knights, and crossbowmen. Expensive cultural improvements are instantly lost once a city is conquered. Don't put anything too critical in border cities, especially those without a significant buffer zone, and don't get too involved in constructing major buildings in border cities until you have them well-defended with strong contemporary units. Don't leave your back side exposed. And don't let success in the tech race come at the expense of national security.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy[\H2][NEWLINE]When starting a war, consider your objectives. What are your goals? Acquisition of specific resources or cities? Capturing a wonder? Total annexation? Or, if caught by surprise, would you be happy to get away with a white peace? Once you have determined your goals, come up with a strategic plan to get there. Make sure that your unit mix is balanced and well-thought out. More than once in my early games, I found myself besieging cities with large stacks of units but no catapults -- bad idea. What are you going to do about city defenses? Are their resources you can deny your opponent? Will you create a two or three pronged attack and exploit vulnerabilities? Will you land a horde of cavalry and catapults by his capital for a sneak attack after shipping them behind enemy lines? It is much easier to achieve objectives if you know what your specific objectives are and have a viable plan to achieve them. It's far more effective to have a plan and fine-tune it as needed while in process than to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take time to consider your opponent's strategy...*especially* if playing a human. Look at your own empire and assess your own vulnerabilities. Is YOUR iron supply undefended? Could an enemy wreak havoc with a few knights shipped in to attack rear cities? Do you have rows of cottages in a border city ripe for plundering? If you were your enemy, what would you do? If your vulnerabilities are lost on you, be assured that they will not be lost on a competent opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Resource Denial[\H2][NEWLINE]When planning a war, aim to take out key military and civilian resources. The resource screen shows you exactly what resources your opponents have. Some of the resources, like copper and iron, are essential for war. If you enemy has one source of iron and you fortify on that square with good defenders and pillage it, your enemy will instantly lose the ability to make swordsmen -- and many other units, unless he has a copper supply as well. No copper, iron, or horses? Suddenly your formerly formidable medieval opponent is back in the stone age and is able to produce only warriors and archers. A few strategic moves of this nature can turn the tide of a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other special resources are worth pillaging also. If your opponent has large cities that are marginally happy or healthy, pillaging a few luxury or health resources can catastrophically damage commerce, tech speed, and productivity across his entire empire. Pillaging of specialty resources in this way has a far greater effect than the pillaging of cottages, since the effects are felt in every connected city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]To Pillage or Not to Pillage[\H2][NEWLINE]Some argue for pillaging as many of your opponents cottages as possible in order to cause long-term damage to his research and economy. Against a superior or closely-matched opponent, this can be a good idea. However, it can be shortsighted if you have the upper hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I am convinced that I have superior force and can take a city, I don't pillage cottages, mines, or watermills. Given how long cottages take to develop, I pillage them ONLY when I think that I am unable to take a city outright during the current war. As attractive as the quick gold from pillaging seems, it is trivial compared to having a long-term free revenue source that your opponent built for you -- adding insult to injury. Conquered cities will often have high maintenance due to their distance from your capital and the incremental augmentation of city number, and if they can pay their own expenses right off the bat, your warmongering will be much more economically sustainable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE]When evenly matched or over-matched, diplomacy plays an immense role. If the Mongols catch you by surprise and burn a couple border cities, what better way to pay them back than bribing their neighbors with tech or gold to declare war on them? Sure, they may have thought they were smart to exploit a momentary vulnerability when their keshiks found a lightly-guarded city...but finding themselves in a war on two or three fronts will wipe the smile off their faces and take the pressure off you. If I am caught by surprise in a war for which I am not fully prepared or do not want, I do not hesitate to trade prime techs to bribe allies to join on my side.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]WoundedKnight's Strategy Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WoundedKnight[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents[\H2][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Learn the Rules[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Civilization Selection[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Leverage Your Strengths[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. City Placement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Civics Guide[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. City Improvement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Great People[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Chop-Rushing[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Technology[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. Military Strategy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]1. LEARN THE RULES[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best-spent two hours for my CIV strategy skills was spent pouring over the civilopedia to understand the rules, the tech trees, improvements, units, etc. It's much easier to do well if you have a clear strategy and know where you want to go. For example, some techs offer bonuses to the first discoverer: a free great person, a free great tech, or starting a religion. Obviously these techs are generally a priority to get first, while others with benefits that are not time-sensitive can wait or be picked up in trade.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]MAP CHOICE[\H2][NEWLINE]The choice of maps can have a major impact upon gameplay, and therefore upon the strategy you may choose to adopt. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Continental and archipelago maps promote early isolation of civs into 2-3 large groups (continents) or even individual civs (archipelago). Your continent or island may not have access at all to key resources like stone, marble, horses, and iron, which can make your construction or military plans more difficult. It is also more difficult to keep your population happy, as your island or continent may contain only 2 or 3 luxury resources. Your tech rate will also be slower, because there are fewer partners to trade with. On continent maps, I often find myself having to research mundane techs like archery or animal domestication because there are not enough proximate AI players to become a reliable tech broker. On the plus side, these maps can provide for a more interesting late game than Pangaea maps by allowing longer buildup of your competitors and preventing them from being weakened or destroyed in early-game rush. Naval combat adds an interesting element that Pangaea or large land-mass players do not fully experience. The early isolation makes it easier to stay at peace throughout the early era, or to isolate and crush enemies on your starting island without other players interfering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with a large amount of land and little water (oasis, highland, lakes, etc) pose major long-term barbarian challenges. There is so much land that the barbarians continue to arise from territory covered by the fog of war until late in the game. Defending your cities requires extra effort on such maps. On the plus side, you may be able to capture a city or two from the barbarians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pangaea and other land-mass maps offer predictable early availability of all tech-appropriate resources, although you may have to fight for them. However, such maps can be less interesting if the player becomes very dominant in the early or mid-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with strange geometric land arrangements like inland sea result in high city upkeep costs for an expanding civilization, as distance arrangements between your cities are often not optimal due to geographic constraints.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Large land mass games provide more competitors, and therefore reduce the player's chance of winning the religion, tech, or wonder race. On a standard map or smaller on balanced (noble) difficulty, a player without religious techs can often still beat the AI players to Hinduism and/or Judaism. On large and huge maps, chances become slimmer. There are few things as frustrating as spending 20 or 30 turns working on constructing a wonder in your most productive city only to have the AI finish it 2-3 turns before you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]2. CIVILIZATION SELECTION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision as to which civilization to play as is an individual one. Traits have various strengths and weaknesses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial:[\BOLD] All-time favorite. Once you get cottages and watermills working, this will gain you +1 extra gold for almost every square being worked in your city radius. This is a huge advantage, when combined with appropriately widespread cottage building, allows the player to maintain a high tech rate even with expensive civics, a large army, and a large empire. Nonetheless, these benefits are not experienced until you have developed a certain city infrastructure and developed your terrain, usually in the classical or late ancient era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized:[\BOLD] The recent patch has done much to enhance the value of the organized trait. Many civics have become significantly more expensive. I find that civic costs now typically cost 33-66% of city maintenance costs depending on civic settings, averaging about 50% for me. In the late game, after a player changes to state property civic to eliminate distance maintenance costs, civic costs are often double city maintenance costs. Because of inflation that increases in the late game, the costs are often even more than they appear. Organized offers a huge benefit by reducing these costs in half. Organized is especially useful because the player receives its benefits throughout the entire game without any effort or development, and the significant savings are always welcome. This can easily add at least 10% if not 20% to the tech rate. Cheap courthouses help you to reduce expenses even further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical:[\BOLD] +100% GP. Synergistic with the religious civics (Pacifism - +100% GP rate) and the national epic (+100% GP in the city of your choice), as well as mercantilism, national epic, statue of liberty, etc. Optimal utilization of the philosophical trait requires a heavy wonder-building play style. The high costs of wonder construction consume the resources of your most productive cities that could otherwise be devoted to conquest or expansion. This is therefore not an ideal trait for warmongers. On harder difficulty levels, philosophical may be less useful than on noble, as it will be difficult to utilize the benefits unless you are able to win the wonder race. The philosophical trait received a substantial, although indirect, bonus from the patch, as wonders continue to give GP points even after they expire. If you have philosophical trait, you will get twice the points from your expired wonders as non-philosophicals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After playing with the philosophical trait extensively, I have found it to be much less useful than I initially believed. Unfortunately, double the GP points does not mean double the number of GPs. A point of diminishing returns is encountered with each GP costing more and more points (5 GPs = 1,500 points, 10 GPs = 5,500 points, 15 GPs = 12,000 points, 20 GPs = 21,000 points, 25 GPs = 32,500 points, 30 GPs = 46,500 points, 35 GPs = 62,000 points, 40 GPs = 82,000 points). I find that it is still possible for a non-philosophical civ to do quite well in the GP race, because there are many ways for non-philosophicals to enhance GP generation making the advantage of the philosophical nation even more tenuous (national wonder, Parthenon, statue of liberty, pacifism, mercantilism). Philosophical is definitely a fun trait, but I think that stronger traits are available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive:[\BOLD] +3 health per city in the patch. With the exception of cities located in flood plains, happiness is initially more limiting for city growth than health at almost all levels, but as the game progresses, numerous wonders, civics, buildings, etc. increase happiness, but there are relatively few ways to increase city health. Cheap granaries are one of the most useful building bonuses and offer early and predictable benefits across all difficulty levels. Expansive is useful only at specific times during gameplay, namely, when your city growth is limited by health, or while building granaries. As these are relatively narrow circumstances (although very important ones), I tend to prefer traits that offer more consistent benefit. If you find you continue to run into problems with city health, pick expansive. However, many of these issues can be remedied with good city placement, resource development, and construction of appropriate buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious:[\BOLD] A nice trait, as the wonders you get with +50% build speed can duplicate many other civ traits. Half-price forges are great also because they increase your productivity, and for non-industrious civs they are quite expensive. However, the ability of any player to quickly build wonders by "chop-rushing" (described later) undermines some of the value of the industrial trait. Considering philosophical vs. industrious? Industrious makes it easier to get wonders, while philosophical makes the ones that you have more valuable. Industrious is particularly useful on higher difficulty levels when the player needs a more compelling edge in order to have any real chance of beating the AI to wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive:[\BOLD] A great trait for the warmonger. While experience can be given by buildings, civics, and wonders, a free extra promotion for melee and gunpowder units is great -- especially for barracks-trained units with a couple of levels to boot. More and more experience is required to get more bonuses (2/5/10/17/etc), and so having a free promotion that doesn't set you back at all in the XP quest is good. Since the promotions become more and more powerful the higher in level you go (+20% city attack, +25%, +30% with an extra +10% vs gunpowder units, etc...cumulative!!!), having an extra promotion can result in a huge amount of extra military power, especially if you have planned well to take advantage of other sources of experience. If you want an early domination or conquest victory, aggressive is an excellent choice. Aggressive provides no bonuses to many key unit types: archery, cavalry, tanks, aircraft, and ships, and so the aggressive trait requires an early attack style to flourish.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual:[\BOLD] One of the weakest traits IMO. No anarchy, while nice, is of little benefit as I only change civics 5-6 times in a game (I try to change 2 or 3 at a time at times when several important civics are discovered in close time proximity). Cheap temples? Temples are cheap anyway and have fewer benefits than many other buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative:[\BOLD] +2 culture has significant benefits in the early game, but few in the late game when cities have more culture than they know what to do with. How many times have I conquered a city only to have it flip to a closely adjacent neighbor? How many times have I built cultural improvement (theater, library, etc.) in a conquered city for the exclusive purpose of generating culture (and, sometimes failed), when a creative civ would not have had to worry at all? The automatic expanding cultural radius can be very valuable in expanding in the early game and blocking off large amounts of territory for your later development. While cultural's benefits are mainly in the early game, the benefits can be substantial. I prefer to get industrious instead and build Stonehenge for your early culture (although this expires -- soon -- with calender), the benefit of creative is still significant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In sum, I think that spiritual and creative are the two weak traits of CIV. The other six traits are all good in the appropriate situation, with financial and organized representing excellent traits with wide utility across many playing styles, and the others offering specific benefits that require specific playing styles to shine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My favorite leader for a standard (noble) game is Washington (American) - Financial/Organized. Other great leaders include English (Victoria) - Expansive/Financial, English (Elizabeth) - Philosophical/Financial, Chinese (Qin Shi Huang) - Industrious/Financial, Peter (Russia) - Expansive/Philosophical. If you are playing on a higher difficulty level, traits that offer immediate, consistent benefit like expansive, aggressive, and industrious may serve you better than traits that bloom only with cultivation like financial or philosophical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]3. LEVERAGE YOUR STRENGTHS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's important to make the most out of your advantages by drawing upon the synergy of civ traits, civics, improvements, and buildings and wonders. For example, it would be silly to get the aggressive civ trait and fail to build barracks. Synergy can be very powerful when you combine substantial bonuses in the same area from multiple different sources. Aggressive (free combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units)+ barracks (+4 experience for all new units)+ pentagon (+2 experience to all units civ-wide) + theocracy (+2 experience for all new units), police state (+25% military production speed), + West Point (+4 experience for all new units) and Heroic Epic (+100% military production speed) = +125% military production speed pumping out units starting with 12 experience points (3 promotions) in addition to combat I in the city with West Point/Heroic epic, and 8 experience points + combat I at a 25% bonus production speed in all other cities with barracks. An initially mediocre unit with 3 city attack promotions (+20%, +25%, +30%) receives a +85% bonus against cities - a massive boost against even strong defenders of technological parity. Philosophical + Pacifism + Parthenon = 250% great people points, with 350% in the city with the national epic. And so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also important to try to compensate for your disadvantages. For example, if I am not playing an expansive civ (or even if I am), I try to build cities on rivers as much as possible for the +2 health bonus, even at a slight productivity hit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]4. RELIGIONS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As in the real world, religion can be one of the most uniting or dividing things in CIV. While gifts or insults have only minor benefit on relations (+/-1, rarely more than +/-2; religion can have a huge impact on relations -- seeing +/-4, +/-6 from religion are common. Religion is by far the biggest factor in relations in most games. It seems to be something in the range of +1 relations for every city of your religion in your opponent's land, +1 or 2 if your religion is their state religion. Therefore, pumping out missionaries to convert your neighbors in the good times is as important for the security of your empire as maintaining a powerful military. I try to keep one city pumping out missionaries of your religion the entire game, providing both relationship and economic bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider getting an early religion (Hinduism or Judaism) or, if going for a chop-rush settler push, one or more of the later ones (Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism, Islam). In any case, try to pick up as many of the later ones as I can in order to keep friends friendly. A friendly neighbor who has previously converted to your religion but subsequently discovers Islam can suddenly decide that you are a pagan who must be cleansed from the earth. Besides, some of the religion techs (like Divine Right, Islam) offer cool wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Founding cities of religion can become real cash cows in the mid and late game, IF you build the religion-specific wonder in the founding city. In a recent game where I aggressively spread Confucianism, over 30-40 cities were converted by the late of the game. I also discovered Taoism and subsequently captured the founding cities of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, giving me five of the seven world religions. Did I ignore my non-state religions, even though I planned to stick with Confucianism throughout the entire game? Of course not. I sent a great prophet to each city to build the religion-specific wonder. This accomplishes two purposes. First, it gives you free bonus income equal to the number of cities with that religion each turn. Second, it causes the autonomous spread of each religion from its founding city without even requiring missionaries. While I continue to aggressively spread my state religion with missionaries, the other religious capitals function as cash cows with progressively increasing revenue without requiring any other input or management.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since founding religious cities generate a large amount of income, *regardless of the position of your financial sliders*, these are the best cities for building banks, markets, and grocers. I find that the Wall Street wonder is typically best built in the founding city of my state religion for an extra and substantial economic boost, since this will typically be the largest religion by the mid to late game (and thus the largest city economy).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As previously mentioned, I keep pumping missionaries out from 2-3 cities almost continuously through the entire game. This improves relations with neighbors, creates LOS (line of sight) to other cities, and generates money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The financial and diplomatic benefits of missionaries are well-known, although the espionage benefits are rarely mentioned. When I am contemplating war with a nation, I will send a wave of missionaries to as many of their key cities as possible before my military units cross the border. This accomplishes two things. First, it provides invaluable intelligence information and allows one to assess which cities represent priority acquisitions as well as to get some idea of the strength, location, and composition of enemy armies. Equally importantly, missionaries of your state religion provide an instant cultural benefit to captured cities. After conquering a city that is not your state religion, you might contemplate building a library or theater -- which could take 50+ turns -- in order to expand the borders and to prevent the city from flipping back to an adjacent neighbor with strong cultural boundaries. However, if the city is already your state religion, it will automatically generate +1 culture/turn in addition to a +1 happiness benefit, expanding your borders within 10 turns and making your city much less likely to flip or revolt. The pre-attack missionary wave essentially adds the benefits of the creative trait to non-creative civs, in addition to income, happiness, and espionage benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]5. CITY PLACEMENT[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The placement of cities is always one of the most important strategic decisions. I will gladly place a city at significantly further distance from my capital if it results in acquiring special resources or monopolizing a location that is of prime strategic or production value. Many specialty resources offer benefits for your entire civilization, and so the race to control luxury, health, strategic, and bonus resources is a key factor in city placement. Whenever possible, I build cities on rivers, and try to get at least one special resource (of any kind) within range. Of course this is not always possible (especially on unusual or specialty map types), but if you repeatedly find that you are having trouble making your cities happy and productive or are failing to acquire important resources, perhaps it is time to reevaluate your city placement. Controlling strategic passes or "choke points" with cities is also valuable -- if you can block off your enemies from chunks of unsettled land and then fill it in later, that is a bonus, although the geography doesn't always accommodate this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some buildings I like to build everywhere, whereas others I build only in specialized cities, or in any city when there is a natural opening. Buildings I like to build as much as possible include:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]granary[NEWLINE]lighthouse (for coastal cities)[NEWLINE]library[NEWLINE]aqueduct[NEWLINE]forge[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Second Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]harbor (if applicable)[NEWLINE]temple[NEWLINE]theater[NEWLINE]market[NEWLINE]grocery[NEWLINE]university[NEWLINE]laboratory[NEWLINE]factory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The build order of course varies depending on the needs of each city, but generally I get granaries and forges as early as possible everywhere, and theaters first in conquered cities (to prevent culture flipping), and others as the situation dictates. It is hard to go wrong with a library almost everywhere because of the commerce bonus and the culture to expand your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful with buildings that harm city health. In particular, avoid building coal plants, as this subtracts two health and seemingly cannot be removed, even if the city develops alternative power sources. The three gorges dam wonder provides power to all cities on the continent, and cities along rivers can use hydro power. While laboratories increase research by +25%, they also detract from health (-1), and you may not need laboratories everywhere at the very late stage in the game at which they become available - constructing them in a few top research cities may suffice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Commerce, Research, and Gold[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Squares with or without improvements produce *commerce*. This commerce can then be used to fund research, culture, or turned into gold. Improvements (towns etc) and the financial trait actually give you commerce, not gold. The distinction between "commerce" generally and "gold" specifically is somewhat confusing as they sometimes use the same gold coin icon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then the benefit of city improvements depends on both your base commerce and your sliders. Say you have a small city producing 10 commerce, and your research slider is on 80%, with 20% going into finances. A library (+25% research) will give you an extra 2 beakers (base research = 80% of 10 = 8, 25% of 8 = 2 more). A grocer, however (+25% gold) would seem not to have any benefit to an economy this small (base gold = 20% of 10 = 2, and 25% of 2= 0.5, rounded down to zero).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now of course there is some gold *outside* of the commerce system: namely, gold generated by religious buildings. Specialist gold goes directly to finances and is not general "commerce" that can be converted to research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In other words, the benefit of the improvements depends highly on the position of your sliders. If you played with research on 20% and money on 80%, obviously the financial improvements (market, grocer, bank, etc) would be more valuable. Since in most games however research plays such an important role, science improvements tend to offer greater benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inflation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation is not covered anywhere in the civilopedia or manual that I can find, but it is an important expense. Inflation can go up but never seems to go down over the course of a game. Inflation increases over time at a steady rate, regardless of spending breakdown. Inflation cannot apparently be controlled; it inevitably increases as the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation adds an additional percentage to your expenses, including:[NEWLINE]civic upkeep[NEWLINE]city maintenance (distance and city number)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This percentage can get quite high. If your expenses are 100 per turn and your inflation is 30%, your final cost is 130 gold. The organized trait has at least some advantage here, because it is saving "pre-tax" rather than "post-tax" dollars. In other words, if your civic upkeep were 50 and inflation were 0%, the organized trait would save only 25 gold (50% of final upkeep), but if inflation were 40%, your real savings are 50+20 (40% of 50) = 70/2, or 35 gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]6. CIVICS GUIDE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to change civics as little as possible since I don't play as Spiritual. I will do 2 or 3 switches at once, when possible. If you do too many changes at once (4 or occasionally 3), it can result in 2 turns anarchy. You cannot change state religion and civics on the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Government Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, + 1 happiness per military unit in a city, req. monarchy). Since most cities will have at least one military unit for defense, this tech can be a real benefit in the early middle ages when you are still developing your luxury resource network and constructing happiness buildings. Hereditary rule provides a great answer to happiness problems that can otherwise be limiting to a rapidly-growing civilization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, +3 research per specialist, +2 happiness in 6 largest cities, req. constitution). Another excellent bonus, especially for a philosophical nation with many specialists. The largest cities are the most likely to get unhappy, so this civic gives you the happiness bonus where you need it. Representation is particularly valuable for philosophical civs in synergy with mercantilism and the statue of liberty wonder, harnessing the free specialists to provide a major technology boost. Unless you have a vast number of towns, representation is a good civic to keep throughout the entire game. The extra research for every specialist continues to be a huge benefit that can significantly speed your research. I try to build the pyramids as quick as I can so that I can switch to representation, significantly speeding research. Then pick up wonders and buildings that give you (or allow) specialists: great library, forge, statue of liberty, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% military production, -50% war weariness, req. facism) is great for the warmonger or for wartime defense, but the high cost makes it undesirable in peacetime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage:[\BOLD] moderate upkeep. The +1 production boost to towns and ability to complete production with gold (units/buildings, not wonders) is useful; however, it is of little use in the early and mid game when cottages have not yet developed into towns. Don't get snookered into getting this in the early game with the pyramids, as upkeep is high and you will have no towns to provide the productivity bonus. Weighing universal suffrage against[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Legal Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage:[\BOLD] high upkeep, +2 experience per unit, lower unit support costs: a good tech for a warmonger, but the high cost makes it prohibitive for others. Consider this temporarily while in a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy:[\BOLD] (+50% production/gold in capital, medium upkeep, req. civil service). Good in the early game, and provides an excellent boost for a wonder-building city. Liberalism is close enough around the corner from civil service that often I hold off for free speech. As the slider is usually set heavily to research, the primary benefit of this civic is usually production rather than gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood:[\BOLD] no upkeep (changed from low to no upkeep with the patch), can draft 3 units per turn, barracks +2 happiness. Also a good civic for a warmonger that is better sustainable long-term than vassalage because of its low cost, in addition to adding happiness benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +2 gold from towns, +100% culture per city, req. liberalism). It is my favorite for the late game, but won't do you much good if you don't have towns. I like to get bureaucracy for the production boost while towns are developing, and then switch to free speech once I have enough towns to justify it. At no upkeep cost, the price is right, and this one can provide a great boost to your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Labor Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, can sacrifice population to finish production, req. bronze working) Excellent for rapidly-growing cities limited by happiness, although it makes 1 pop unhappy for 10 turns. Slavery is ideal for civs with large cities with abundant food (flood plains + farms) but marginal productivity and limited happiness, especially in the early and mid-game. Slavery takes the revolting pops that are adding nothing to the economy and uses them to produce wonders or other high-cost buildings that would otherwise take many turns to complete. I typically keep this civic until I get emancipation with democracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Serfdom:[\BOLD] (low upkeep) -- workers build improvements faster. I usually have a large enough army of workers building improvements and clearing jungles that this one isn't as attractive as the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Caste System:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, req. code of laws) -- unlimited scientists, artists, merchants in cities. A reasonable choice if you have food to spare, don't yet have enough town improvements to allow specialists otherwise, and can afford the upkeep. While I like the idea of the caste system civic for philosophical civs, the way which this is implemented is poor. Once you get caste system, the computer automatically allocates many of your workers to specialists, especially scientists. Although this can be somewhat controlled with your city production settings, the AI often diverts workers producing food, hammers, and commerce into specialists producing only science and culture. This slows both the production and growth of many of your cities. There is too much micromanagement involved to manage the caste system appropriately, and the stunting of your production and growth because of poorly allocated specialists is rarely if ever worthwhile, even for a philosophical civ. Skip it and go for emancipation. The scientists are the most valuable, while artists and merchants are usually of limited value.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Emancipation:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, req. democracy) is great for mid to late game. It doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns; a big synergistic economic boost when combined with appropriate techs, free speech, and universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Economic Civics: [\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, 1 free specialist per city, no foreign trade routes, req. banking). Getting this civic is like having the statue of liberty wonder and is a huge boost for philosophical or GP oriented civs. It is moderately expensive, and shuts down foreign trade (which can also hurt, or at least won't help, your relations). However, if you have the Angkor Wat wonder that adds to priest productivity and the Representation civic that adds 3 research to every specialist, this presents a huge boost to your cities that more than compensates for the lack of foreign trade routes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep) - +1 trade route per city. A nice financial or research boost, although only modest in size. However I rarely use this as state property is only a few techs away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: The patch increases free trade from low to medium upkeep. More reason to skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, req. communism) is great (no distance maintenance costs, +1 food from watermills). Although the patch increased the upkeep from free to low, it is still extremely useful. I find that with my tendency to build many cities, it saves me as much or more than I would earn from the extra trade route, plus upkeep is free, plus you get extra food. As I tend to build watermills along almost all river tiles because of their boost to productivity (+2 with appropriate techs), food (+1), and economy, a river city may be able to support a couple more citizens that can be made specialists to boost your GP generation. My most-used economic tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]State property eliminates the city distance maintenance cost entirely, which for a large empire typically represents about 50% of your total city upkeep (this rough rule of thumb varies depending on both the number of cities and the distances involved). This can be quite a substantial savings. For a nation with a well-developed state religion, adopting state property frequently allows one to move the tech slider from 70-80% to 90-100%. This faster tech speed has many benefits: quicker availability of new buildings and units, faster tech bonuses, and getting sooner to techs like electricity that increase the value or productivity of your existing city improvements. The extra food can allow you to support extra specialists or larger city growth if you have many river cities and have built watermills. With no civic upkeep cost, the price is right. In most games, the state property civic alone is far better in terms of your financial bottom line than the organized trait, as city distance upkeep costs often well exceed 50% of the civic upkeep costs discounted by organized. My tests suggest that the Versailles wonder, like the Forbidden Palace, reduce only distance upkeep costs (Versailles seems to be like a second Forbidden Palace). If you are using the state property civic and plan to stick with it long-term, don't waste city production on these wonders. Forbidden Palace and Versailles offer only a modest location-dependent decrease in distance costs, while state property abolishes distance costs altogether. With city upkeep virtually cut in half by state property, you will also find less of a necessity for courthouses until your civilization is extremely large.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism:[\BOLD] (high upkeep) is nice at the very end of the game when you get ecology (+6 health, +1 happiness from forests and jungles). Unfortunately I've harvested most forests and jungles long before the ecology tech comes around (and jungles are so unproductive why would you want to keep them), and find that my cities already have good health and happiness well before then and are more limited by food. The expensive upkeep is also a drawback, so I tend to use state property more frequently. Rather than getting environmentalism, I prefer to research future techs (+1 health and happiness each for your entire civ), since ecology is already near the end of the tech line), rather than paying the fat environmentalism upkeep fees. At least that part of environmentalism is realistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Religious Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% building and wonder construction, req. monotheism). After extensive testing, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best religion civic, at least for my play style. I grab this civic as soon as I can get to monotheism and keep it throughout the entire game. I have verified in-game that organized religion does boost wonder speed as well as that of non-wonder buildings. +25% building and wonder speed throughout the whole game is essentially equivalent to a free forge in every city, except that the bonus does not apply to unit builds. This trait is very expensive for a large civilization, but I think it is well worth the cost. I can think of no wonder, civ trait, building, or civic that matches organized religion in its sweeping benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep), +2 experience points for units created in cities with state religion, no non-state religion spread) -- okay for a warmonger, but expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +100% GP, req. philosophy) is phenomenal as it can essentially bestow the philosophical trait on a non-philosophical civ, or make philosophical civs even better. The low upkeep is counterbalanced by the +1 gold per military unit, so this tech can be cheap or expensive depending on your military size. As attractive as pacifism is, I feel that organized is a better trait, even for philosophical civs. Ask yourself: how many great people would you need to generate to speed construction of buildings and wonders in every one of your cities by 25%?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion:[\BOLD] (low upkeep): I never get free religion as losing all the state religion bonuses really hurts, as well as losing line of site to all converted cities in other nations. At end-game usually I have plenty of luxuries and am not so desperate for a few more happy faces that I would want to deal with the hassle of having to get 4 or 5 religions in each of my cities to make this civic worthwhile. The +10% tech bonus -- while meaningful -- doesn't seem to make much of a difference for me this late in the game, plus you have to pay fixed upkeep (albeit low) to boot. Some players attempt to get free religion as soon as possible to pacify aggressive neighbors with different religions. However, I have had war declared on me so many times in the early game when I had no state religion at all that I know that simply removing state religion is no panacea to diplomacy. Dropping a state religion can pacify opponents, but it can also make former close allies lukewarm or even hostile. And if you are still deeply afraid of your neighbors by the late time of game that organized religion becomes available, perhaps it is time to assess your strategy in other areas. Theology civics include some of the best benefits in the game (+100% GP from pacifism, +25% building and wonder construction speed), and I generally like these bonuses far too much to sacrifice them for free religion, which seems to offer little in return. Nevertheless, if you are in a situation where you are walking on eggshells -- playing deity level with far more powerful AI players, perhaps -- free religion may be something to consider. Otherwise, skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Favored early game civics: representation (constitution - or pyramids), bureaucracy (civil service), slavery (bronze working), mercantilism (banking), organized religion (monotheism)[NEWLINE]Favored late game civics: universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property, organized religion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmonger civics: police state, vassalage, slavery, state property, theocracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]7. CITY IMPROVEMENTS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I tend to manually control workers (at least until very late in the game) as the computer automation leaves much to be desired and lacks strategic foresight.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Farms:[\BOLD] +1 food initially, +2 food (total) at end-game when you have biology. Recent tests have led me to change my strategies and begin building large numbers of farms initially in order to quickly increase city size. When cities are near the max of their happiness and/or health, then I start converting the farms to cottages for the economic benefits. In contrast to watermills and windmills which offer economic and production bonuses in addition to food, farms offer only food. The advantage is that they are available almost immediately in the game with the agriculture tech. I prefer wide proliferation of farms in the ancient era, with removal of some farms and transition to cottages and watermills when you are near the maximum sustainable city size for health and happiness. Especially on higher difficulty levels, spamming too many farms may quickly bring your cities over the happiness and/or healthiness levels they can support, resulting in revolters and no "we love the king day" events. Automated workers tend to overdo farming and so I prefer to direct workers manually. Use farms wisely, but be careful that they don't push your cities into unhappiness or unhealthiness. You may need to expand your growth capacity as your city's happiness and health limits increase, so keep an eye on this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cottages:[\BOLD] Cottages make up the foundation of economic and research productivity of your civilization. Especially if you have the financial trait, cottages produce great bonuses when they grow into towns, with full techs and civics: commerce +7, production +1 (requires universal suffrage civic). Cottages can be built anywhere, but their production bonus comes late (after full growth into towns) and only with the correct civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often wait until cities are close to their health or happiness limit to start building large numbers of cottages because farms offer more immediate benefit by increasing city size and therefore production and the number of workable tiles. Cottages only progress into hamlets, villages, and towns when they are being worked. There is no point in rushing to place cottages on all 20 workable tiles of a level 2 city (for an extreme example), as the cottages will not begin to develop at all until the city is large enough to work them. My tests and those of others have demonstrated that in most cases, a better long-term economic outcome is achieved with early farms to grow your city quickly and then building large numbers of cottages that the city is able to work, as opposed to immediate cottage spamming resulting in slow growth and many unworked tiles in an immature city.[NEWLINE]The downsides of cottages include that they take a long time to grow: cottage-&gt;hamlet 10 turns, hamlet -&gt;village 20 turns, village -&gt;town 40 turns. This can be cut in half with appropriate civics, but still it takes 35 turns in the best possible case to grow from a cottage to a town. In a game that lasts only 400 or 500 turns (and may be decided long before then), that is a big chunk of game time. Also, cottages can be easily pillaged by an enemy. Cottages are particularly valuable around your core research cities, but think twice about building cottages on frontier cities close to aggressive neighbors. In any case, the long maturation time of cottages requires that they be built as early as possible to maximize their benefits. Having cottages that have grown into towns while your neighbors are still dealing with hamlets and villages can prove decisive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Watermill:[\BOLD] An immediate +1 production boost, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +2 production with full techs and civics (requires state property for the food bonus). These are very helpful in increasing the production of plains, grassland, or flood plains adjacent to rivers that have little innate production capability. And once you have the correct techs/civics, the bonuses are immediate and do not require the maturation that cottages do. You can only build watermills on one square or the other to the side of a river, but I build watermills everywhere I can, typically replacing farms as soon as state property is in hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Windmill[\BOLD]: An immediate +1 food, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +1 production with full tech (replaceable parts, electricity). Very useful if you need more food, have limited river access, and want something that offers more substantial and well-rounded benefits than farms. Windmills can be placed on hills which makes a nice alternative to mines, giving production and commerce benefits while allowing the square to provide at least some of the food supply required to work it. With the financial trait, windmill offers +1 food, +1 production, and +3 commerce, making a windmill often preferable to a mine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Lumbermill[\BOLD]: Chopping down the trees doesn't add any more food production (unlike C3C), and so lumbermills are a prime consideration for productivity in the late game. That is, in areas where you still have trees. With max +3 production (Base +1 from trees, +1 from lumbermill, +1 more when railroad comes around) and +1 commerce for squares adjacent to rivers, lumbermills are the best late-game productivity improvement. They don't have the economic benefits of cottages, watermills, or windmills, but offer a more substantial production boost without sapping your food supply (unlike workshops) or without requiring a specific civic to keep from doing so. The late benefits of a lumbermill must also be weighed against the benefits of chopping in the early game for benefits that can be quite substantial at a time when your civilization's productivity is very low: chopped trees can result in a much faster start, extra cities, or more wonders. I chop trees in the early game for chop-rushing settlers or crucial wonders, but by the mid-game when instant productivity is no longer urgent, I prefer to preserve any remaining trees for future lumbermills.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mine[\BOLD]: +2 production, +1 more (+3 total) with railroad. A substantial productivity boost as long as you have enough food to go around. The option between windmills and mines is nice for hill squares.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Workshop:[\BOLD] +1 production, -1 food. With max upgrades they can offer up to +3 production, and with state property, no food penalty. This allows the same +3 production as lumbermill, without requiring you to keep trees around until the late game. The food penalty early on makes this a poor choice in the early middle ages, but once you have state property, workshops represent an excellent improvement for production. However, if you depend on workshops and state property, you will largely be obliged to stay with that civic through the rest of the game -- or see your cities starve when you change, unless you have a large food surplus from other sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]8. SPECIALIZATION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since you can only build 2 national wonders in a city and because GP points accrue according to specialties, it makes sense to have specialized cities in CIV. I aim for a science city (oxford university + great library), a military city (pentagon + heroic epic + west point), a culture city (hermitage + globe theater), an economic city (wall street), and will put the national epic in the city with the most wonders (and most GP points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, keeping a flow of military units from at least one city will keep your cities happy (large cities get upset without protection) and defended. I also try to keep one city pumping out missionaries throughout almost the entire game, occasionally switching production to another city to construct buildings in the city. In my first couple games when I did not continue to produce both military and missionary units in peace time and war time, it caused major problems for me in spite of large leads in other areas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]CIV rewards the creation of specialized cities. I try to create at least 2 cities of each specialty because of the need to build infrastructure buildings in between building military or religious units, wonders, etc. Specialist cities make sense because you can't build every building in every city, and specialization helps you to leverage your city placement by putting buildings in the cities where they will do the most good.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first step in deciding the division of labor between specialized cities is to evaluate the surrounding land. A city in an area with luxury resources could be a great trade/science city, while one in an area with many mines and high production would likely make a good military city for creating units, or for rapidly building wonders. A city with abundant food supply would make a good specialist city to increase great people generation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Military City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] productive area with high hammer yield (mines, watermills, etc)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Barracks Forge Factory[NEWLINE]Power source (coal, hydro, nuclear), Granary Aqueduct[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]first city:[\BOLD] Heroic Epic (+100% military production in city), West Point (+4 exp/military unit)[NEWLINE][BOLD]second city:[\BOLD] Red Cross (free Medic I promotion), Ironworks (near iron or coal) -- consider designating this one a military city from the time iron appears on the map.[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience for units trained in any city, can be built anywhere)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Discussion:[\BOLD] You will need many military units during the game, so why build them from just anywhere when you can build them quickly in a specialized city and get free experience points to boot?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Science City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Academy (+50% research, requires great scientist) Library (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Observatory (+25% research) University (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Laboratory (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Monastery (+10% research, but becomes obsolete - may skip this one)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Oxford University (+100% research)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (+2 scientists, expires)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Merchant City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Market (+25% gold) Grocer (+25% gold)[NEWLINE]Bank (+50% gold) Airport (+1 trade route)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wall Street (+100% gold)[NEWLINE][BOLD]GP Focus:[\BOLD] great merchant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Culture City[\H2][NEWLINE]Consider combining with science city as many science improvements also generate culture. I don't generally build a culture-only city for that reason, I go for culture/science. But here are the culture listings for those interested in culture victory, not including science improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Temple (+1 culture) Monastery (+2 culture)[NEWLINE]Cathedral or equivalent (+50% culture) Theater (+3 culture)[NEWLINE]Broadcast tower (+50% culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hermitage (+100% culture) Globe theater (+6 culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hollywood (+50% culture) Rock n' Roll (+50% culture)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+50% culture) Sistine chapel (+2 culture per specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If going for a culture victory, consider balancing your national and world culture wonders between 3 cities to allow each to achieve legendary culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Great People City[\H2][NEWLINE]Obviously this one should be combined with another city of your choice, as the world and national wonders built in other cities contribute GP points. I like to make my GP city one that focuses on GP types that I find to be the most valuable (great engineers -- can rush wonders, or perhaps scientists -- can create academy, rather than prophets, artists, or merchants)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonder:[\BOLD] National Epic (+100% GP birth rate in city)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (+50% GP birth rate in all cities) Great Library (+2 scientists in city, but expires)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergistic Civic:[\BOLD] pacifism (+100% GP rate, no upkeep)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]9. WONDERS [\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When beginning every game, you will want to consider what wonders are a priority for you and what wonders you will pass on. It is rarely possible to get every wonder. Realistic decisions must be made and tech paths to get the desired wonders early must be considered. There is little as frustrating as coming within a few turns of completing an expensive wonder only to lose your effort because another civ beat you to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder decisions can make or break the game. A few key wonders can provide advantages turning the tide in your favor, while an inappropriate focus on wonders at the expense of defense or growth can leave your civilization vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The player should also consider what role wonders will play in the overall strategy. If you are playing as a philosophical or industrious nation, constructing numerous wonders should be a centerpiece of your strategy. For militaristic players, wonders should play little role, as a vast army can be constructed in the time of constructing just a few wonders. The militaristic player should therefore aim for a few targeted wonders, while the philosophical or industrious player should strive for a much longer list.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some wonders offer considerable early benefits, but expire. Others offer mediocre benefits that expire regardless (the Hagia Sophia is infamous for frequently becoming obsolete only shortly after it is constructed). Wonders expire when YOU get the expiring tech, not when your neighbors do. So I often hold off on trading for the calender tech until all my cities have experienced border expansion from Stonehenge, and avoid getting chemistry until the last possible moment to milk the Parthenon for every great person point possible. Still others offer great game-long benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you are going for a culture victory, great artists are the least useful of all of the great people (+3 commerce, +14 culture). Therefore, I try to keep wonders offering great artist points out of my principal wonder city to avoid generating less-useful great people there. Great scientists are perhaps the most useful for their ability to add an academy in one city each. Great engineers (+3 hammers) and great prophets (+2 hammer) are the most useful as they add productivity. Great merchants add food, although only +1, in addition to commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To maximize the conversion of great people points into great people, it is best to concentrate as many wonders as possible in one, two, or three designated wonder-building cities. The decision of how many cities to designate as primary or secondary wonder-builders will depend on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here is a list of wonders that I make priorities, keeping in mind that the wonders different players favor will vary widely depending on their play style and tactics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Priority Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stonehenge:[\BOLD] obelisk, +1 culture in every city, expires @ Calendar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Library:[\BOLD] +2 scientists is a big deal at a time when many of your cities can't dedicate the pop to specialists, especially if you build this in your great people focus city. Perhaps most importantly, the +6 GP points/turn from 2 scientists in addition to the +2 GP from the wonder (total 8 GP points/turn) can help you quickly to get great scientists who can found academies in your largest cities, especially in the presence of philosophical/pacifist /Parthenon /national epic synergisms. Getting the great library with several great scientists can therefore generate a massive bonus that will speed your research throughout the entire remainder of the game, long after the GL's primary effects have expired. After the GL, the oxford university is the only good generator of great scientist points until after the middle ages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]: +50% GP birth rate in all cities. Vital for philosophical civs, but unfortunately doesn't last forever.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Non-Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hanging Gardens:[\BOLD] +1 pop, +1 health in all cities. This is a huge early wonder that can catapult your civ ahead, especially if you have many small or modest-sized cities. Adding an extra pop and health point to every city boosts your economy, your research, your productivity, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Notre Dame[\BOLD]: +1 happiness for all cities on continent[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Versailles[\BOLD]: reduces maintenance in nearby cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Statue of Liberty:[\BOLD] a free specialist in every city. Fabulous for philosophical civs. Probably my # 1 wonder in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pentagon:[\BOLD] +2 experience points for units trained in all cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Three Gorges Dam:[\BOLD] power for all cities on continent located near a river[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Eiffel Tower:[\BOLD](free broadcast tower in every city) gives a big culture boost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Wonders by GP type[\H2][NEWLINE](all world wonders +2 GP points, all national wonders +1)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Scientist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (marble) (+2 scientists)[NEWLINE]Oxford University (stone) (+100% research, 3 citizens as scientists)[NEWLINE]Space Elevator[NEWLINE]Red Cross[NEWLINE]Scotland Yard[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Capital: Stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens, great library, ironworks (?)[NEWLINE]Wonder city 2: parthenon, notre dame, national epic[NEWLINE]Military city[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Prophet:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stonehenge (stone): obelisk in each city[NEWLINE]Angkor Wat (stone): +1 production from priests in all cities, allows 3 priests. This makes priest specialists (up to +2 hammers, +1 gold) the most productive specialists, beating out engineers (+2 hammers, no other bonuses) -- until the wonder expires[NEWLINE]Oracle (marble) (1 free tech)[NEWLINE]Chichen Itza (stone): +25% defense in all cities[NEWLINE]Spiral minaret (stone). +1 gold from all state religion buildings. Nice, although a relatively small bonus.[NEWLINE]Religious holy wonder: minus 1 production, spreads religion, 1 gold from each, allows 3 priests[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Engineer:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hanging gardens (stone) (+1 population, +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience to military units in all cities)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 citizens as engineers)[NEWLINE]West Point (stone) (+4 experience per unit)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (stone) (allows all government civics) - a big boost in the early game[NEWLINE]Hagia Sophia (marble) (+50% worker build speed)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Merchant:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Colossus (copper) (+1 gold in all city water tiles)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 free specialist in all cities on the continent)[NEWLINE]Wall Street[NEWLINE]Forbidden Palace (acts as a 2nd capital decreasing distance maintenance)[NEWLINE]Versailles (marble)[NEWLINE]Great Lighthouse (+2 trade routes in coastal cities)[NEWLINE]Eiffel Tower (free broadcast tower in every city)[NEWLINE]United Nations[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Artist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (marble) (+50% GP birth rate in all cities)[NEWLINE]Notre Dame (+1 happiness in all cities)[NEWLINE]National epic (stone) (+100% GP birth rate)[NEWLINE]Hollywood (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Rock n' Roll (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Heroic Epic (marble) (+100% military unit production)[NEWLINE]Hermitage (marble)[NEWLINE]Globe Theater (no unhappiness in this city, allows 3 artists)[NEWLINE]Taj Mahal[NEWLINE]Mt. Rushmore (stone)[NEWLINE]Kremlin (stone)[NEWLINE]Sistine chapel (marble)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Most important early resources:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stone, marble, iron[NEWLINE]Put Parthenon, notre dame, statue of liberty in a separate wonder city[NEWLINE]National epic in capital[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]10. GREAT PEOPLE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In maximizing great people points, you can get some great synergy between traits, civics, wonders, and improvements. If you want a lot of great people, get as many of these as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that all bonuses are additive, not multiplicative. For example, 2 100% bonuses on top of a 100% base produce a 300% rate (100% base +100% x2), not 400% (they only add their bonus to the BASE rate, not to the final rate after other adjustments). Also, all fractions in the game are rounded DOWN (i.e. a 25% bonus of 7 is rounded down to 1, a 25% bonus of 8 is necessary for +2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traits:[NEWLINE]Philosophical trait : +100% GP generation civ-wide[NEWLINE]Civics:[NEWLINE]labor - caste system: unlimited scientists, merchants, artists in all cities[NEWLINE]economy - mercantilism: +1 free specialist per city; or (in games with many rivers) state property for the watermill food bonus, allowing higher POP and thus more specialists[NEWLINE]religion - pacifism: +100% GP birth rate in cities with state religion[NEWLINE]National wonders:[NEWLINE]national epic - +100% GP in city where built (only)[NEWLINE]World Wonders:[NEWLINE]Parthenon: +50% GP generation civ-wide, expires with chemistry[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty: +1 free specialist in all cities[NEWLINE]great library: +2 free scientists in city where built, but expires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civ with max upgrades (not including great library) would have:[NEWLINE]- a 300% great people rate (100% base + 100% philosophical + 100% pacifism) + 50% from Parthenon (before expires) + 100% more in city with national wonder[NEWLINE]- 2 free specialists in all cities (mercantilism statue of liberty). At 300% return on a 3 GP base per specialist x 2 specialists, this would provide 18 GP points *per turn* even in your least developed cities with no wonders.[NEWLINE]-unlimited ability to allocate scientists, artists, and merchants in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the wonder bonuses expire when YOU get the tech in question, not your neighbors...therefore a philosophical civ with the Parthenon may want to push back getting chemistry as late as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course some great people types are more valuable than others. Great engineers allow you to rush wonders which can provide key benefits in a close game. And great scientists can allow you to build an academy (+50% research) in every city. Great merchants, artists, and prophets, while still valuable, have effects that are generally somewhat more modest in terms of long-term game play. Since the chance of getting a great person of different types depends on the wonders and specialists in each city, I like having separate cities focus on great engineers and scientists without mixing with the other types as much as possible (you don't want to have your city with engineering wonders drowned out by large numbers of merchant, artist, or priest specialists pushing the GP probability towards other types). I don't have a strong preference between merchants, artists, and prophets, and so will build wonders generating all 3 in the same city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bonuses allowing you to turn citizens into engineers are generated only by:[NEWLINE]Forge (allows 1 engineer)[NEWLINE]Factory (allows 2 engineers)[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 engineers)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Engineer GP points are generated by:[NEWLINE]West Point (+1 GP)[NEWLINE]Hanging Gardens (+2)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (+2)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam (+2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The military city is the most natural choice for an engineer GP city (forge + factory + ironworks + west point + pentagon).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the cost for great people increase throughout the game, diminishing returns are eventually reached. Later in the game, the cost of great people goes up and up, while the benefit of great people often declines, since the earlier you get great people, the longer they will benefit your civilization. However, your civilization should also increase in its capacity to generate great people over time, civics are chosen, as wonders are built and citizens are assigned as specialists. With appropriate tactics, many great people can still be generated even in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every great person can cause either an instant benefit, provide a tech bonus, or add a long-term bonus to cities. The benefits must be carefully considered. In *most* cases, I prefer to use great people in a manner that augments the long-term productivity of my cities, although there are exceptional cases where great people are best used to rush a tech or a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two types of great people present no-brainers for their use:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great prophets. Before using great prophets in any other way, make sure that you have created the religion-specific wonder in any founding religious city under your control. If you have made any attempt at all to spread the religion, or of you are conquering the founding city of a religion that is widely accepted, this can produce massive financial benefits that dwarf virtually any other use of great people.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great scientists. Use them to create academies in all of your top science cities. Which would you rather have -- an extra +6 or so science per turn in the city of your choice, or a 50% increase in science in a city that is already generating 50, 75, or 200 beakers per turn? Although the increase acts only on the base number of commerce points applied to research (before other modifiers are applied), a great scientist can result in massive research output for cities, especially in conjunction with other science improvements (library/university/observatory/Oxford University/etc).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For other great people, I usually prefer to join them to a city, with occasional exceptions as previously acknowledged.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great artists. If you are going for a cultural victory, great artists are your friend. A very nice strategy for cultural victory on Monarch level, using great artists either by joining to a city or as "culture bombs" to titrate legendary culture among three cities is presented by walkerjks here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=138647[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are not going for a cultural victory, great artists are by far the weakest of all great people. I find that in most cases it is preferable to join great artists to border cities or captured cities instead of invoking the "culture bomb." Great artists produce +12 to +15 culture per turn, which is the equivalent of many cultural buildings (library = +2 culture, theater = +3, etc) and will quickly expand the city's borders -- in addition to any cultural multipliers the city may have (cathedrals, hermitage, civics, etc). In this way, you still continue to receive the commerce benefits of the great artist throughout the game, speeding your research and filling your coffers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great merchant. The great merchant is the ONLY great person that offers a food bonus (+1 food, +6 commerce appears typical). I prefer to join great merchants to high-commerce cities that focus on great people creation (the city with the national epic is often a great choice), since more food allows you to allocate more specialists, further increasing great people output.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great engineers. As for great prophets, the surplus productivity is welcome. These often go in my capital or most productive city or cities. A city with ironworks makes a great choice for great engineer placement in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]OPTIONS FOR EARLY EXPANSION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several good early expansion options. The decision as to which is best for you depends both on map choice and on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]11. CHOP-RUSHING[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop rushing is a great way to jump ahead in the early game. The first mention I know of was in this thread by AlexFrog:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137292[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I prefer a somewhat modified version of the strategy. The strategy involves founding initial cities in areas with a large number of trees within their "fat cross" area. The player researches bronze working immediately while building a worker in the capital city before building any other units or buildings. Once the worker is done (12-15 turns) and bronze working is researched, the worker immediately goes to work chopping trees around the capital. Each tree chopped results in 20 hammers, which can rocket a level 1 city that may have only 1, 2, or 3 hammers far ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most logical initial use of "chop-rushing" is for settlers and workers, since your cities are normally stagnant (do not grow) while these units are being produced, and because these units are vital to the growth and productivity of your civilization. I save trees to chop-rush settlers, workers, or wonders, since the construction of buildings or military units allows your cities to grow during the production phase, while production of the former two does not, and the third category (wonders) is a race. Chop-rushing typically allows me to plant 2-3 times as many cities as my closest AI competitors on noble level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, settlers must never be sent out undefended, so I like to first build at least one (possibly two) warriors, sending at least one out to explore and pop goody huts (in addition to the starting warrior) while the second will act as your settler escort. I periodically build warriors during the rapid expansion phase to ensure that my cities and settlers are adequately defended.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of maintenance costs increasing with both distance and city number (and I will place cities at long distances from my capital when necessary to secure important resources), it is impractical to build a civilization by the exclusive virtue of chop-rushing. There must be a balance. Once I get three or four cities, I let one or two grow and develop -- building a granary or military units to increase in size and to defend the borders, while the others chop-rush. I also assign some workers to build improvements very early -- cottages in particular, in addition to improvements required by special resources -- in order to ensure that city commerce, on average, is in excess of upkeep costs, allowing continued rapid research and continued growth. As a rough rule of thumb, on noble level, if my research percentage falls below 70%, that is a warning sign to me that I need to better develop the city economic base by building more cottages and letting cities grow to a larger size before expanding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop-rushing can also be a terrific way to get wonders, especially when you have special resources that speed wonder building. For example, Stonehenge costs 120 hammers, but if you have stone, every forest chopped will give double (not 20, but 40) hammers. Therefore, you only need to chop three trees to build Stonehenge in a city with stone -- as opposed to the many turns it would take to build it without chop-rushing. This is a great way to get key wonders as a non-industrious civ, and the ability of any civilization to do this really waters down the value of the industrious trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: the patch slightly weakens chop-rushing. Chopping income has dropped from thirty to twenty hammers, with that number being further reduced for chops further from the city (outside the city radius?) Mathematics adds +50% (back to the original 30), but it comes in the end of the first age at a time that is not as useful as an immediate chop-rush would be. Also, unlike Civ3, cutting down trees doesn't increase food harvest, so you have to immediately place farms or cottages or do something else to develop the land in other ways. Chopping offers a quick up-front bonus but can dent your long-term production if you overdo it. Weigh the pros and cons carefully in each situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a recent test game in which I preserved the forests in the cities (for the health benefits and to maintain the forest productivity), I found that by the mid-middle ages, my tech rate had dropped virtually to zero and my workers began to strike and units were automatically disbanded because expenses were greater than income. Retaining the forests as opposed to chopping and planting cottages widely didn't provide the economic revenue to support the rapid city expansion that I prefer, even with measured expansion letting many of the cities grow to mid-size. Therefore I continue to favor chopping trees - whether in an early settler rush, or to complete wonders - also to free up the land for farms (faster growth) or cottage improvements (improve economy and tech speed).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]EXPANDING YOUR CAPITAL[\H2][NEWLINE]As attractive as it may seem, chop rushing faces major limitations, especially after being significantly tuned down in the recent patch. Chopping trees can push cities located near flood plains into unhealthiness and decline. Chops offer a one-time boost after which the city returns to its prior production. Depending on your situation, allowing the capital to develop before sending out settlers can be a better option. For example, if you can expand your capital in 8 turns and get a square that offers a combined 3 food and/or hammers, you will get a bonus of +1 food or hammer (2 of the food go to support the expanded population) for every subsequent turn throughout the game. For an average level 1 city with 3 resources in the center square and 3 on the first worked square (4 surplus food/hammers for settlers/workers), it takes 25 turns (4x25=100) to build a 100 resource settler and 15 turns (4x15) to build a 60-resource worker. Just one surplus resource, after paying food costs, by expanding to level 2 will drop this down to 20 turns for the settler (5 resources x 20 turns) and 12 turns for the worker. Expanding to level 3 to work another 3-resource tile, which you can generally do in another 8 turns after the first expansion with good city placement, will give you 6 surplus resources, dropping settler creation time to 17 turns and worker creation down to 10 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's do a comparison of a city that immediately builds 4 settlers, vs. one that spends 16 turns building warriors to grow twice, and switches production to settlers before the 2nd warrior is completed:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build order: 4 Settlers 1 1/2 warriors, 4 settlers[NEWLINE]Turns to 1st settler 25 16 (to grow twice), then 17 for settler = 33[NEWLINE]2nd settler 50 50[NEWLINE]3rd settler 75 67[NEWLINE]4th settler 100 84[NEWLINE]Final capital size 1 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see, the city that expands to level 3 first catches up with the city that immediately built only settlers by the time the 2nd settler is completed. The fact that the settler-only city completed its first settler 9 turn earlier does not make up for this, as the 9 turns allow for barely 1 cycle of growth as opposed to the 2 that the first city has achieved.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The expand-first city ends up far ahead because at the end, it is better developed and more productive than the city that pumped out settlers immediately. The expand-first model also has the advantage of producing warriors to defend your units, as unprotected settlers are not likely to survive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are well-situated and can develop those resources further, the model shifts even more in favor of allowing your city to increase in size. For example, if you can irrigate 2 flood plains up to +4 food each in your size 3 city and have one special resource you can get 2 food or hammers from, your total surplus will be 10 (3 from center tile, 2 per tile from 2 floodplains, and 3 from specialty resource) per turn. You can then build settlers in just 10 turns. At that point, you are expanding FASTER than you could with chop-rushing. Between chopping and moving, trees take 3-4 turns to chop for just 20 hammers and are limited, while your expanded city is indefinitely producing a surplus of 10/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, most cities in the early game do not require more than 3-4 farm tiles. Exceptions may be made for cities on barren land, such as plains or hills. A few judicious farms are usually all that you need in order to jump-start your growth. If you overdo the farming, you can easily push the city into unhappiness, at which point cottages are a better alternative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision of when to develop your capital vs. when to expand depends on your city setup. If tiles around your city are not very fertile (i.e. plains), you may wish to get out a settler sooner rather than later. If however your main city is well-placed and has one or two special resources within its boundaries that you can access with early techs, it is often wise to spend a few turns developing these resources to create a more productive capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]12. TECHNOLOGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great variability comes in here. Depending on your civilization traits and technologies, your level, and your play style, you may have different technological priorities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players favor chop-rushing for early expansion, going straight for bronze working. Then I go for pottery (to build cottages ASAP) and from there to alphabet (to trade techs). After alphabet, I trade with the AI as much as possible. I go for mathematics (to get hanging gardens) and then try to grab a religion -- Confucianism or, if I miss that, one of the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In many cases, investment in techs such as agriculture, animal domestication, and hunting can be more valuable than bronze working chop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are playing as a civ with early religious technologies, you may wish to shoot straight for an early religion. I prefer the path that leads to Hinduism/Judaism since if you are beaten to Hinduism, Judaism is right around the corner, while Buddhism is a dead end (at least for a while) and the AI seems to go for it quickly. Monotheism also has the benefit of offering the organized religion civic, which at +25% building construction (including wonders!) can prove to be an enormous benefit to your civilization's development. This, as well as the early spread of religion from your cities (with happiness etc), can make an early religion very, very worthwhile. From there, you can go for bronze-working and chop rush, or you can go straight for alphabet, trade for bronze working (which is typically readily available once alphabet is discovered), and chop rush.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Going for the religious techs (polytheism-&gt;monotheism) early has great advantages even for a non-spiritual civ, if you can get there quickly. The religious techs offer key early-era wonders, including Stonehenge and the Parthenon, and perhaps the most important ancient-era civic, organized religion, which can further enhance your speed in constructing wonders and other buildings. If you don't go for these techs very quickly, you will probably lose the wonder race. As you can't trade for techs until you have alphabet, and many maps feature limited access to potential trading partners, the only reliable way to get these techs is to research them yourself. If you are playing as a philosophical civ, getting the early wonders is especially critical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Either way has advantages and drawbacks, but both playing styles can be viable. Of course you can mix and match these: shoot for early religion and then quickly add bronze working (but miss out on some early chop-rushing), or research bronze working and then pick up the religious techs in time to get access to the wonders (but you will probably lose the early religion race). There undoubtedly others as well, but the above two are my favorites.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are some of the key techs I focus on acquiring, making modification depending on map type and difficulty level:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]0. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Hunting: these techs are vital to be able to hook up your bonus resources. Farming in particular is very important.[NEWLINE]1. Mysticism (65 beakers). Stonehenge, and prerequisite for other religious techs.[NEWLINE]2. Polytheism (130 beakers). Hinduism and Parthenon (key for philosophical civs).[NEWLINE]3. Bronze working (156 beakers). Chop rushing. 'nuf said.[NEWLINE]4. Wheel (78 beakers). Workers and resources won't do you much good until you can build roads. This can be moved down below monotheism depending on whether you have already gotten a religion and how tight you feel the race for Judaism will be.[NEWLINE]5. Pottery (104 beakers). Your workers can now start building cottages, and allows granary. Because of how long cottages take to develop, it is important to get cottages started early. Also to defray the heavy upkeep costs of a large empire.[NEWLINE]6. Masonry (104 beakers). Prerequisite for Monotheism. Allows building mines and quarries. While researching this you will hopefully be sending a settler and a worker to hook up stone (stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens) and marble (Parthenon) resources.[NEWLINE]7. Monotheism (156 beakers). Judaism and organized religion. The moment you are ready to begin building Stonehenge in your capital (or any other building), switch to organized religion to provide a +25% hammer bonus for wonders and buildings.[NEWLINE]8. Writing (156 beakers) and alphabet (390 beakers). Allows tech trades, allowing the player to pick up any missed techs.[NEWLINE]9. Mathematics (325 beakers) - workers produce +50% hammers from tree chops (up to 30). Also enables hanging garden, a key wonder for rapid population expansion. Very important for both counts.[NEWLINE]10. Metal casting (585 beakers). Forges add +25% productivity to any city where they are built. When you have stone and/or marble, organized religion civic, and forges, your cities can quickly construct buildings and wonders. Unfortunately, this tech quite expensive.[NEWLINE]11. Literature (260 beakers). Heroic epic, national epic, great library, and libraries. All important structures.[NEWLINE]12. Music (780 beakers). Free great artist to the first discoverer. Also allows Notre Dame and cathedrals, vital happiness buildings.[NEWLINE]13. Drama (390) and philosophy (1040 beakers). Philosophy offers Taoism to the first discoverer, and pacifism is a helpful civic for philosophical civs. Angkor Wat is nice (+1 production from priests in all cities) if you can get it.[NEWLINE]14. Paper (780), Education (2340 - allows universities/oxford), Liberalism (1820). Liberalism is a high priority both because it offers a free technology (you can pick the most expensive one available) and because of the free speech civic. The +2 gold from towns education offers is nice as long as enough of your cottages have developed into towns to warrant the expense of this tech path.[NEWLINE]15. printing press (2080), requires paper. +1 commerce in towns and villages. Another economic bonus, but the expense is so high that other techs may be a higher priority. Replaceable parts (2340) offers +1 hammer for watermills and windmills. This is really the point in the game where watermills become worthwhile.[NEWLINE]16. nationalism (2340), constitution (2600), democracy (3640). Nationalism and constitution have little to recommend them, except as prerequisites for democracy. Democracy is a huge advance to both economics and production because it allows universal suffrage (+1 production boost to towns) and emancipation (doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns).[NEWLINE]17. Divine Right (1560) islam, spiral minaret, Versailles. Another opportunity to pick up a religion. Spiral minaret provides major economic boost (+1 gold per state religion building in all cities). It is however very expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Currency (520 beakers): +1 trade route per city, and enables gold trading. Both of these can produce a major economic boost. I usually wait and trade for this, but getting it early may be warranted if your upkeep costs are becoming difficult to manage or your tech rate is dropping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Others:[NEWLINE]Iron working: Reveals iron. Being able to clear jungles is necessary to be able to access some resources and to increase health. Usually I trade for this tech after alphabet, but there are certainly exceptions requiring early iron working (if you have a bad starting location in a jungle harming productivity).[NEWLINE]Iron working is critical to military also. As soon as you get this and iron is revealed, it is vital to claim and develop that iron promptly. Make sure to devote one city to military to pump out archers (before iron to garrison all your cities) and swordsmen (after iron) for defense and offense.[NEWLINE]Archery: a must if you have aggressive neighbors. You may be able to hold off until after alphabet and trade for this depending on your setup, but if you are playing against human players, you need to get this ASAP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other key techs[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mathematics. Hanging Gardens -- + 1 POP and +1 health in all your cities is huge, especially when you have a lot of small and moderate-size cities. The hanging gardens can really explode your productivity when you have a large empire from a chop-rush settler rush.[NEWLINE]Music (free great artist)[NEWLINE]Military Tradition (cavalry rule the middle ages)[NEWLINE]Divine Right (Versailles/Islam)[NEWLINE]Metallurgy (watermill)[NEWLINE]Democracy (emancipation &amp; universal suffrage).[NEWLINE]Communism (state property)[NEWLINE]Then to any other techs that improve the benefits of your improvements (i.e. electricity).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also try to pick up the techs that offer free great people or free techs. These techs obviously represent a priority, as only the first discoverer gets the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]13. MILITARY STRATEGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Game Plan[\H2][NEWLINE]Before each game, consider spending a few minutes to write down some basic goals and strategies that you wish to incorporate. The plan will depend considerably on map type, terrain, size, difficulty leve, and opponents (AI or human). Of course the plan will need to be flexible to take advantage of opportunities and to respond to contingencies and challenges.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the game, review your strategy and honestly assess which aspects worked well, and what aspects fell flat or met challenges. Use your insight to fine-tune your strategy and improve your next game plan.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Anticipation and Preparation[\H2][NEWLINE]The computer will attack suddenly and in force in CIV. It is not unusual for the computer to DOW someone and raze their city with a stack of units in the same turn. The AI, like human players, is an opportunist. If you happen to build a city right next to enemy military units, or if AI players see a poorly defended city near their military units, they are more likely to declare war than if your cities were defended and settlers were escorted. Close borders also spark tensions. Different religion is also a major cause of hostility. The AI can and does declare war even when there are mildly positive relations, so don't be too smug at your relationship score. You must defend your cities and resources. Even if you are not a warmonger, build a credible defense force. If your military is much weaker than your neighbors, you will soon find yourself in war. Anticipate attacks in advance. Is your neighbor massing catapults and swordsmen near your border? What are the stacked archer and warrior doing near your cities? Assume the worst, be observant, and be informed. Judge your enemy by their capability, not their words or relations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Border Cities[\H2][NEWLINE]Beware of border cities without a large cultural buffer between other civilizations. In one game I had a brilliant idea to build the forbidden palace in a border city. Then while I was engaged in a war against the Mongols on the other side of my empire, Saladin declared war and conquered the city the same turn with hordes of catapults, knights, and crossbowmen. Expensive cultural improvements are instantly lost once a city is conquered. Don't put anything too critical in border cities, especially those without a significant buffer zone, and don't get too involved in constructing major buildings in border cities until you have them well-defended with strong contemporary units. Don't leave your back side exposed. And don't let success in the tech race come at the expense of national security.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy[\H2][NEWLINE]When starting a war, consider your objectives. What are your goals? Acquisition of specific resources or cities? Capturing a wonder? Total annexation? Or, if caught by surprise, would you be happy to get away with a white peace? Once you have determined your goals, come up with a strategic plan to get there. Make sure that your unit mix is balanced and well-thought out. More than once in my early games, I found myself besieging cities with large stacks of units but no catapults -- bad idea. What are you going to do about city defenses? Are their resources you can deny your opponent? Will you create a two or three pronged attack and exploit vulnerabilities? Will you land a horde of cavalry and catapults by his capital for a sneak attack after shipping them behind enemy lines? It is much easier to achieve objectives if you know what your specific objectives are and have a viable plan to achieve them. It's far more effective to have a plan and fine-tune it as needed while in process than to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take time to consider your opponent's strategy...*especially* if playing a human. Look at your own empire and assess your own vulnerabilities. Is YOUR iron supply undefended? Could an enemy wreak havoc with a few knights shipped in to attack rear cities? Do you have rows of cottages in a border city ripe for plundering? If you were your enemy, what would you do? If your vulnerabilities are lost on you, be assured that they will not be lost on a competent opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Resource Denial[\H2][NEWLINE]When planning a war, aim to take out key military and civilian resources. The resource screen shows you exactly what resources your opponents have. Some of the resources, like copper and iron, are essential for war. If you enemy has one source of iron and you fortify on that square with good defenders and pillage it, your enemy will instantly lose the ability to make swordsmen -- and many other units, unless he has a copper supply as well. No copper, iron, or horses? Suddenly your formerly formidable medieval opponent is back in the stone age and is able to produce only warriors and archers. A few strategic moves of this nature can turn the tide of a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other special resources are worth pillaging also. If your opponent has large cities that are marginally happy or healthy, pillaging a few luxury or health resources can catastrophically damage commerce, tech speed, and productivity across his entire empire. Pillaging of specialty resources in this way has a far greater effect than the pillaging of cottages, since the effects are felt in every connected city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]To Pillage or Not to Pillage[\H2][NEWLINE]Some argue for pillaging as many of your opponents cottages as possible in order to cause long-term damage to his research and economy. Against a superior or closely-matched opponent, this can be a good idea. However, it can be shortsighted if you have the upper hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I am convinced that I have superior force and can take a city, I don't pillage cottages, mines, or watermills. Given how long cottages take to develop, I pillage them ONLY when I think that I am unable to take a city outright during the current war. As attractive as the quick gold from pillaging seems, it is trivial compared to having a long-term free revenue source that your opponent built for you -- adding insult to injury. Conquered cities will often have high maintenance due to their distance from your capital and the incremental augmentation of city number, and if they can pay their own expenses right off the bat, your warmongering will be much more economically sustainable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE]When evenly matched or over-matched, diplomacy plays an immense role. If the Mongols catch you by surprise and burn a couple border cities, what better way to pay them back than bribing their neighbors with tech or gold to declare war on them? Sure, they may have thought they were smart to exploit a momentary vulnerability when their keshiks found a lightly-guarded city...but finding themselves in a war on two or three fronts will wipe the smile off their faces and take the pressure off you. If I am caught by surprise in a war for which I am not fully prepared or do not want, I do not hesitate to trade prime techs to bribe allies to join on my side.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]WoundedKnight's Strategy Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WoundedKnight[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents[\H2][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Learn the Rules[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Civilization Selection[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Leverage Your Strengths[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. City Placement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Civics Guide[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. City Improvement[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Great People[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Chop-Rushing[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Technology[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. Military Strategy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]1. LEARN THE RULES[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best-spent two hours for my CIV strategy skills was spent pouring over the civilopedia to understand the rules, the tech trees, improvements, units, etc. It's much easier to do well if you have a clear strategy and know where you want to go. For example, some techs offer bonuses to the first discoverer: a free great person, a free great tech, or starting a religion. Obviously these techs are generally a priority to get first, while others with benefits that are not time-sensitive can wait or be picked up in trade.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]MAP CHOICE[\H2][NEWLINE]The choice of maps can have a major impact upon gameplay, and therefore upon the strategy you may choose to adopt. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Continental and archipelago maps promote early isolation of civs into 2-3 large groups (continents) or even individual civs (archipelago). Your continent or island may not have access at all to key resources like stone, marble, horses, and iron, which can make your construction or military plans more difficult. It is also more difficult to keep your population happy, as your island or continent may contain only 2 or 3 luxury resources. Your tech rate will also be slower, because there are fewer partners to trade with. On continent maps, I often find myself having to research mundane techs like archery or animal domestication because there are not enough proximate AI players to become a reliable tech broker. On the plus side, these maps can provide for a more interesting late game than Pangaea maps by allowing longer buildup of your competitors and preventing them from being weakened or destroyed in early-game rush. Naval combat adds an interesting element that Pangaea or large land-mass players do not fully experience. The early isolation makes it easier to stay at peace throughout the early era, or to isolate and crush enemies on your starting island without other players interfering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with a large amount of land and little water (oasis, highland, lakes, etc) pose major long-term barbarian challenges. There is so much land that the barbarians continue to arise from territory covered by the fog of war until late in the game. Defending your cities requires extra effort on such maps. On the plus side, you may be able to capture a city or two from the barbarians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pangaea and other land-mass maps offer predictable early availability of all tech-appropriate resources, although you may have to fight for them. However, such maps can be less interesting if the player becomes very dominant in the early or mid-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maps with strange geometric land arrangements like inland sea result in high city upkeep costs for an expanding civilization, as distance arrangements between your cities are often not optimal due to geographic constraints.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Large land mass games provide more competitors, and therefore reduce the player's chance of winning the religion, tech, or wonder race. On a standard map or smaller on balanced (noble) difficulty, a player without religious techs can often still beat the AI players to Hinduism and/or Judaism. On large and huge maps, chances become slimmer. There are few things as frustrating as spending 20 or 30 turns working on constructing a wonder in your most productive city only to have the AI finish it 2-3 turns before you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]2. CIVILIZATION SELECTION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision as to which civilization to play as is an individual one. Traits have various strengths and weaknesses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial:[\BOLD] All-time favorite. Once you get cottages and watermills working, this will gain you +1 extra gold for almost every square being worked in your city radius. This is a huge advantage, when combined with appropriately widespread cottage building, allows the player to maintain a high tech rate even with expensive civics, a large army, and a large empire. Nonetheless, these benefits are not experienced until you have developed a certain city infrastructure and developed your terrain, usually in the classical or late ancient era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized:[\BOLD] The recent patch has done much to enhance the value of the organized trait. Many civics have become significantly more expensive. I find that civic costs now typically cost 33-66% of city maintenance costs depending on civic settings, averaging about 50% for me. In the late game, after a player changes to state property civic to eliminate distance maintenance costs, civic costs are often double city maintenance costs. Because of inflation that increases in the late game, the costs are often even more than they appear. Organized offers a huge benefit by reducing these costs in half. Organized is especially useful because the player receives its benefits throughout the entire game without any effort or development, and the significant savings are always welcome. This can easily add at least 10% if not 20% to the tech rate. Cheap courthouses help you to reduce expenses even further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical:[\BOLD] +100% GP. Synergistic with the religious civics (Pacifism - +100% GP rate) and the national epic (+100% GP in the city of your choice), as well as mercantilism, national epic, statue of liberty, etc. Optimal utilization of the philosophical trait requires a heavy wonder-building play style. The high costs of wonder construction consume the resources of your most productive cities that could otherwise be devoted to conquest or expansion. This is therefore not an ideal trait for warmongers. On harder difficulty levels, philosophical may be less useful than on noble, as it will be difficult to utilize the benefits unless you are able to win the wonder race. The philosophical trait received a substantial, although indirect, bonus from the patch, as wonders continue to give GP points even after they expire. If you have philosophical trait, you will get twice the points from your expired wonders as non-philosophicals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After playing with the philosophical trait extensively, I have found it to be much less useful than I initially believed. Unfortunately, double the GP points does not mean double the number of GPs. A point of diminishing returns is encountered with each GP costing more and more points (5 GPs = 1,500 points, 10 GPs = 5,500 points, 15 GPs = 12,000 points, 20 GPs = 21,000 points, 25 GPs = 32,500 points, 30 GPs = 46,500 points, 35 GPs = 62,000 points, 40 GPs = 82,000 points). I find that it is still possible for a non-philosophical civ to do quite well in the GP race, because there are many ways for non-philosophicals to enhance GP generation making the advantage of the philosophical nation even more tenuous (national wonder, Parthenon, statue of liberty, pacifism, mercantilism). Philosophical is definitely a fun trait, but I think that stronger traits are available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive:[\BOLD] +3 health per city in the patch. With the exception of cities located in flood plains, happiness is initially more limiting for city growth than health at almost all levels, but as the game progresses, numerous wonders, civics, buildings, etc. increase happiness, but there are relatively few ways to increase city health. Cheap granaries are one of the most useful building bonuses and offer early and predictable benefits across all difficulty levels. Expansive is useful only at specific times during gameplay, namely, when your city growth is limited by health, or while building granaries. As these are relatively narrow circumstances (although very important ones), I tend to prefer traits that offer more consistent benefit. If you find you continue to run into problems with city health, pick expansive. However, many of these issues can be remedied with good city placement, resource development, and construction of appropriate buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious:[\BOLD] A nice trait, as the wonders you get with +50% build speed can duplicate many other civ traits. Half-price forges are great also because they increase your productivity, and for non-industrious civs they are quite expensive. However, the ability of any player to quickly build wonders by "chop-rushing" (described later) undermines some of the value of the industrial trait. Considering philosophical vs. industrious? Industrious makes it easier to get wonders, while philosophical makes the ones that you have more valuable. Industrious is particularly useful on higher difficulty levels when the player needs a more compelling edge in order to have any real chance of beating the AI to wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive:[\BOLD] A great trait for the warmonger. While experience can be given by buildings, civics, and wonders, a free extra promotion for melee and gunpowder units is great -- especially for barracks-trained units with a couple of levels to boot. More and more experience is required to get more bonuses (2/5/10/17/etc), and so having a free promotion that doesn't set you back at all in the XP quest is good. Since the promotions become more and more powerful the higher in level you go (+20% city attack, +25%, +30% with an extra +10% vs gunpowder units, etc...cumulative!!!), having an extra promotion can result in a huge amount of extra military power, especially if you have planned well to take advantage of other sources of experience. If you want an early domination or conquest victory, aggressive is an excellent choice. Aggressive provides no bonuses to many key unit types: archery, cavalry, tanks, aircraft, and ships, and so the aggressive trait requires an early attack style to flourish.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual:[\BOLD] One of the weakest traits IMO. No anarchy, while nice, is of little benefit as I only change civics 5-6 times in a game (I try to change 2 or 3 at a time at times when several important civics are discovered in close time proximity). Cheap temples? Temples are cheap anyway and have fewer benefits than many other buildings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative:[\BOLD] +2 culture has significant benefits in the early game, but few in the late game when cities have more culture than they know what to do with. How many times have I conquered a city only to have it flip to a closely adjacent neighbor? How many times have I built cultural improvement (theater, library, etc.) in a conquered city for the exclusive purpose of generating culture (and, sometimes failed), when a creative civ would not have had to worry at all? The automatic expanding cultural radius can be very valuable in expanding in the early game and blocking off large amounts of territory for your later development. While cultural's benefits are mainly in the early game, the benefits can be substantial. I prefer to get industrious instead and build Stonehenge for your early culture (although this expires -- soon -- with calender), the benefit of creative is still significant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In sum, I think that spiritual and creative are the two weak traits of CIV. The other six traits are all good in the appropriate situation, with financial and organized representing excellent traits with wide utility across many playing styles, and the others offering specific benefits that require specific playing styles to shine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My favorite leader for a standard (noble) game is Washington (American) - Financial/Organized. Other great leaders include English (Victoria) - Expansive/Financial, English (Elizabeth) - Philosophical/Financial, Chinese (Qin Shi Huang) - Industrious/Financial, Peter (Russia) - Expansive/Philosophical. If you are playing on a higher difficulty level, traits that offer immediate, consistent benefit like expansive, aggressive, and industrious may serve you better than traits that bloom only with cultivation like financial or philosophical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]3. LEVERAGE YOUR STRENGTHS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's important to make the most out of your advantages by drawing upon the synergy of civ traits, civics, improvements, and buildings and wonders. For example, it would be silly to get the aggressive civ trait and fail to build barracks. Synergy can be very powerful when you combine substantial bonuses in the same area from multiple different sources. Aggressive (free combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units)+ barracks (+4 experience for all new units)+ pentagon (+2 experience to all units civ-wide) + theocracy (+2 experience for all new units), police state (+25% military production speed), + West Point (+4 experience for all new units) and Heroic Epic (+100% military production speed) = +125% military production speed pumping out units starting with 12 experience points (3 promotions) in addition to combat I in the city with West Point/Heroic epic, and 8 experience points + combat I at a 25% bonus production speed in all other cities with barracks. An initially mediocre unit with 3 city attack promotions (+20%, +25%, +30%) receives a +85% bonus against cities - a massive boost against even strong defenders of technological parity. Philosophical + Pacifism + Parthenon = 250% great people points, with 350% in the city with the national epic. And so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also important to try to compensate for your disadvantages. For example, if I am not playing an expansive civ (or even if I am), I try to build cities on rivers as much as possible for the +2 health bonus, even at a slight productivity hit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]4. RELIGIONS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As in the real world, religion can be one of the most uniting or dividing things in CIV. While gifts or insults have only minor benefit on relations (+/-1, rarely more than +/-2; religion can have a huge impact on relations -- seeing +/-4, +/-6 from religion are common. Religion is by far the biggest factor in relations in most games. It seems to be something in the range of +1 relations for every city of your religion in your opponent's land, +1 or 2 if your religion is their state religion. Therefore, pumping out missionaries to convert your neighbors in the good times is as important for the security of your empire as maintaining a powerful military. I try to keep one city pumping out missionaries of your religion the entire game, providing both relationship and economic bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider getting an early religion (Hinduism or Judaism) or, if going for a chop-rush settler push, one or more of the later ones (Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism, Islam). In any case, try to pick up as many of the later ones as I can in order to keep friends friendly. A friendly neighbor who has previously converted to your religion but subsequently discovers Islam can suddenly decide that you are a pagan who must be cleansed from the earth. Besides, some of the religion techs (like Divine Right, Islam) offer cool wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Founding cities of religion can become real cash cows in the mid and late game, IF you build the religion-specific wonder in the founding city. In a recent game where I aggressively spread Confucianism, over 30-40 cities were converted by the late of the game. I also discovered Taoism and subsequently captured the founding cities of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, giving me five of the seven world religions. Did I ignore my non-state religions, even though I planned to stick with Confucianism throughout the entire game? Of course not. I sent a great prophet to each city to build the religion-specific wonder. This accomplishes two purposes. First, it gives you free bonus income equal to the number of cities with that religion each turn. Second, it causes the autonomous spread of each religion from its founding city without even requiring missionaries. While I continue to aggressively spread my state religion with missionaries, the other religious capitals function as cash cows with progressively increasing revenue without requiring any other input or management.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since founding religious cities generate a large amount of income, *regardless of the position of your financial sliders*, these are the best cities for building banks, markets, and grocers. I find that the Wall Street wonder is typically best built in the founding city of my state religion for an extra and substantial economic boost, since this will typically be the largest religion by the mid to late game (and thus the largest city economy).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As previously mentioned, I keep pumping missionaries out from 2-3 cities almost continuously through the entire game. This improves relations with neighbors, creates LOS (line of sight) to other cities, and generates money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The financial and diplomatic benefits of missionaries are well-known, although the espionage benefits are rarely mentioned. When I am contemplating war with a nation, I will send a wave of missionaries to as many of their key cities as possible before my military units cross the border. This accomplishes two things. First, it provides invaluable intelligence information and allows one to assess which cities represent priority acquisitions as well as to get some idea of the strength, location, and composition of enemy armies. Equally importantly, missionaries of your state religion provide an instant cultural benefit to captured cities. After conquering a city that is not your state religion, you might contemplate building a library or theater -- which could take 50+ turns -- in order to expand the borders and to prevent the city from flipping back to an adjacent neighbor with strong cultural boundaries. However, if the city is already your state religion, it will automatically generate +1 culture/turn in addition to a +1 happiness benefit, expanding your borders within 10 turns and making your city much less likely to flip or revolt. The pre-attack missionary wave essentially adds the benefits of the creative trait to non-creative civs, in addition to income, happiness, and espionage benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]5. CITY PLACEMENT[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The placement of cities is always one of the most important strategic decisions. I will gladly place a city at significantly further distance from my capital if it results in acquiring special resources or monopolizing a location that is of prime strategic or production value. Many specialty resources offer benefits for your entire civilization, and so the race to control luxury, health, strategic, and bonus resources is a key factor in city placement. Whenever possible, I build cities on rivers, and try to get at least one special resource (of any kind) within range. Of course this is not always possible (especially on unusual or specialty map types), but if you repeatedly find that you are having trouble making your cities happy and productive or are failing to acquire important resources, perhaps it is time to reevaluate your city placement. Controlling strategic passes or "choke points" with cities is also valuable -- if you can block off your enemies from chunks of unsettled land and then fill it in later, that is a bonus, although the geography doesn't always accommodate this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some buildings I like to build everywhere, whereas others I build only in specialized cities, or in any city when there is a natural opening. Buildings I like to build as much as possible include:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]granary[NEWLINE]lighthouse (for coastal cities)[NEWLINE]library[NEWLINE]aqueduct[NEWLINE]forge[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Second Tier[\BOLD][NEWLINE]harbor (if applicable)[NEWLINE]temple[NEWLINE]theater[NEWLINE]market[NEWLINE]grocery[NEWLINE]university[NEWLINE]laboratory[NEWLINE]factory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The build order of course varies depending on the needs of each city, but generally I get granaries and forges as early as possible everywhere, and theaters first in conquered cities (to prevent culture flipping), and others as the situation dictates. It is hard to go wrong with a library almost everywhere because of the commerce bonus and the culture to expand your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful with buildings that harm city health. In particular, avoid building coal plants, as this subtracts two health and seemingly cannot be removed, even if the city develops alternative power sources. The three gorges dam wonder provides power to all cities on the continent, and cities along rivers can use hydro power. While laboratories increase research by +25%, they also detract from health (-1), and you may not need laboratories everywhere at the very late stage in the game at which they become available - constructing them in a few top research cities may suffice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Commerce, Research, and Gold[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Squares with or without improvements produce *commerce*. This commerce can then be used to fund research, culture, or turned into gold. Improvements (towns etc) and the financial trait actually give you commerce, not gold. The distinction between "commerce" generally and "gold" specifically is somewhat confusing as they sometimes use the same gold coin icon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then the benefit of city improvements depends on both your base commerce and your sliders. Say you have a small city producing 10 commerce, and your research slider is on 80%, with 20% going into finances. A library (+25% research) will give you an extra 2 beakers (base research = 80% of 10 = 8, 25% of 8 = 2 more). A grocer, however (+25% gold) would seem not to have any benefit to an economy this small (base gold = 20% of 10 = 2, and 25% of 2= 0.5, rounded down to zero).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now of course there is some gold *outside* of the commerce system: namely, gold generated by religious buildings. Specialist gold goes directly to finances and is not general "commerce" that can be converted to research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In other words, the benefit of the improvements depends highly on the position of your sliders. If you played with research on 20% and money on 80%, obviously the financial improvements (market, grocer, bank, etc) would be more valuable. Since in most games however research plays such an important role, science improvements tend to offer greater benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inflation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation is not covered anywhere in the civilopedia or manual that I can find, but it is an important expense. Inflation can go up but never seems to go down over the course of a game. Inflation increases over time at a steady rate, regardless of spending breakdown. Inflation cannot apparently be controlled; it inevitably increases as the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Inflation adds an additional percentage to your expenses, including:[NEWLINE]civic upkeep[NEWLINE]city maintenance (distance and city number)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This percentage can get quite high. If your expenses are 100 per turn and your inflation is 30%, your final cost is 130 gold. The organized trait has at least some advantage here, because it is saving "pre-tax" rather than "post-tax" dollars. In other words, if your civic upkeep were 50 and inflation were 0%, the organized trait would save only 25 gold (50% of final upkeep), but if inflation were 40%, your real savings are 50+20 (40% of 50) = 70/2, or 35 gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]6. CIVICS GUIDE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to change civics as little as possible since I don't play as Spiritual. I will do 2 or 3 switches at once, when possible. If you do too many changes at once (4 or occasionally 3), it can result in 2 turns anarchy. You cannot change state religion and civics on the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Government Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, + 1 happiness per military unit in a city, req. monarchy). Since most cities will have at least one military unit for defense, this tech can be a real benefit in the early middle ages when you are still developing your luxury resource network and constructing happiness buildings. Hereditary rule provides a great answer to happiness problems that can otherwise be limiting to a rapidly-growing civilization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, +3 research per specialist, +2 happiness in 6 largest cities, req. constitution). Another excellent bonus, especially for a philosophical nation with many specialists. The largest cities are the most likely to get unhappy, so this civic gives you the happiness bonus where you need it. Representation is particularly valuable for philosophical civs in synergy with mercantilism and the statue of liberty wonder, harnessing the free specialists to provide a major technology boost. Unless you have a vast number of towns, representation is a good civic to keep throughout the entire game. The extra research for every specialist continues to be a huge benefit that can significantly speed your research. I try to build the pyramids as quick as I can so that I can switch to representation, significantly speeding research. Then pick up wonders and buildings that give you (or allow) specialists: great library, forge, statue of liberty, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% military production, -50% war weariness, req. facism) is great for the warmonger or for wartime defense, but the high cost makes it undesirable in peacetime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage:[\BOLD] moderate upkeep. The +1 production boost to towns and ability to complete production with gold (units/buildings, not wonders) is useful; however, it is of little use in the early and mid game when cottages have not yet developed into towns. Don't get snookered into getting this in the early game with the pyramids, as upkeep is high and you will have no towns to provide the productivity bonus. Weighing universal suffrage against[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Legal Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage:[\BOLD] high upkeep, +2 experience per unit, lower unit support costs: a good tech for a warmonger, but the high cost makes it prohibitive for others. Consider this temporarily while in a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy:[\BOLD] (+50% production/gold in capital, medium upkeep, req. civil service). Good in the early game, and provides an excellent boost for a wonder-building city. Liberalism is close enough around the corner from civil service that often I hold off for free speech. As the slider is usually set heavily to research, the primary benefit of this civic is usually production rather than gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood:[\BOLD] no upkeep (changed from low to no upkeep with the patch), can draft 3 units per turn, barracks +2 happiness. Also a good civic for a warmonger that is better sustainable long-term than vassalage because of its low cost, in addition to adding happiness benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +2 gold from towns, +100% culture per city, req. liberalism). It is my favorite for the late game, but won't do you much good if you don't have towns. I like to get bureaucracy for the production boost while towns are developing, and then switch to free speech once I have enough towns to justify it. At no upkeep cost, the price is right, and this one can provide a great boost to your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Labor Civics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, can sacrifice population to finish production, req. bronze working) Excellent for rapidly-growing cities limited by happiness, although it makes 1 pop unhappy for 10 turns. Slavery is ideal for civs with large cities with abundant food (flood plains + farms) but marginal productivity and limited happiness, especially in the early and mid-game. Slavery takes the revolting pops that are adding nothing to the economy and uses them to produce wonders or other high-cost buildings that would otherwise take many turns to complete. I typically keep this civic until I get emancipation with democracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Serfdom:[\BOLD] (low upkeep) -- workers build improvements faster. I usually have a large enough army of workers building improvements and clearing jungles that this one isn't as attractive as the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Caste System:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, req. code of laws) -- unlimited scientists, artists, merchants in cities. A reasonable choice if you have food to spare, don't yet have enough town improvements to allow specialists otherwise, and can afford the upkeep. While I like the idea of the caste system civic for philosophical civs, the way which this is implemented is poor. Once you get caste system, the computer automatically allocates many of your workers to specialists, especially scientists. Although this can be somewhat controlled with your city production settings, the AI often diverts workers producing food, hammers, and commerce into specialists producing only science and culture. This slows both the production and growth of many of your cities. There is too much micromanagement involved to manage the caste system appropriately, and the stunting of your production and growth because of poorly allocated specialists is rarely if ever worthwhile, even for a philosophical civ. Skip it and go for emancipation. The scientists are the most valuable, while artists and merchants are usually of limited value.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Emancipation:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, req. democracy) is great for mid to late game. It doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns; a big synergistic economic boost when combined with appropriate techs, free speech, and universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Economic Civics: [\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep, 1 free specialist per city, no foreign trade routes, req. banking). Getting this civic is like having the statue of liberty wonder and is a huge boost for philosophical or GP oriented civs. It is moderately expensive, and shuts down foreign trade (which can also hurt, or at least won't help, your relations). However, if you have the Angkor Wat wonder that adds to priest productivity and the Representation civic that adds 3 research to every specialist, this presents a huge boost to your cities that more than compensates for the lack of foreign trade routes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep) - +1 trade route per city. A nice financial or research boost, although only modest in size. However I rarely use this as state property is only a few techs away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: The patch increases free trade from low to medium upkeep. More reason to skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property:[\BOLD] (low upkeep, req. communism) is great (no distance maintenance costs, +1 food from watermills). Although the patch increased the upkeep from free to low, it is still extremely useful. I find that with my tendency to build many cities, it saves me as much or more than I would earn from the extra trade route, plus upkeep is free, plus you get extra food. As I tend to build watermills along almost all river tiles because of their boost to productivity (+2 with appropriate techs), food (+1), and economy, a river city may be able to support a couple more citizens that can be made specialists to boost your GP generation. My most-used economic tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]State property eliminates the city distance maintenance cost entirely, which for a large empire typically represents about 50% of your total city upkeep (this rough rule of thumb varies depending on both the number of cities and the distances involved). This can be quite a substantial savings. For a nation with a well-developed state religion, adopting state property frequently allows one to move the tech slider from 70-80% to 90-100%. This faster tech speed has many benefits: quicker availability of new buildings and units, faster tech bonuses, and getting sooner to techs like electricity that increase the value or productivity of your existing city improvements. The extra food can allow you to support extra specialists or larger city growth if you have many river cities and have built watermills. With no civic upkeep cost, the price is right. In most games, the state property civic alone is far better in terms of your financial bottom line than the organized trait, as city distance upkeep costs often well exceed 50% of the civic upkeep costs discounted by organized. My tests suggest that the Versailles wonder, like the Forbidden Palace, reduce only distance upkeep costs (Versailles seems to be like a second Forbidden Palace). If you are using the state property civic and plan to stick with it long-term, don't waste city production on these wonders. Forbidden Palace and Versailles offer only a modest location-dependent decrease in distance costs, while state property abolishes distance costs altogether. With city upkeep virtually cut in half by state property, you will also find less of a necessity for courthouses until your civilization is extremely large.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism:[\BOLD] (high upkeep) is nice at the very end of the game when you get ecology (+6 health, +1 happiness from forests and jungles). Unfortunately I've harvested most forests and jungles long before the ecology tech comes around (and jungles are so unproductive why would you want to keep them), and find that my cities already have good health and happiness well before then and are more limited by food. The expensive upkeep is also a drawback, so I tend to use state property more frequently. Rather than getting environmentalism, I prefer to research future techs (+1 health and happiness each for your entire civ), since ecology is already near the end of the tech line), rather than paying the fat environmentalism upkeep fees. At least that part of environmentalism is realistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Religious Civics:[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion:[\BOLD] (high upkeep, +25% building and wonder construction, req. monotheism). After extensive testing, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best religion civic, at least for my play style. I grab this civic as soon as I can get to monotheism and keep it throughout the entire game. I have verified in-game that organized religion does boost wonder speed as well as that of non-wonder buildings. +25% building and wonder speed throughout the whole game is essentially equivalent to a free forge in every city, except that the bonus does not apply to unit builds. This trait is very expensive for a large civilization, but I think it is well worth the cost. I can think of no wonder, civ trait, building, or civic that matches organized religion in its sweeping benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy:[\BOLD] (medium upkeep), +2 experience points for units created in cities with state religion, no non-state religion spread) -- okay for a warmonger, but expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism:[\BOLD] (no upkeep, +100% GP, req. philosophy) is phenomenal as it can essentially bestow the philosophical trait on a non-philosophical civ, or make philosophical civs even better. The low upkeep is counterbalanced by the +1 gold per military unit, so this tech can be cheap or expensive depending on your military size. As attractive as pacifism is, I feel that organized is a better trait, even for philosophical civs. Ask yourself: how many great people would you need to generate to speed construction of buildings and wonders in every one of your cities by 25%?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion:[\BOLD] (low upkeep): I never get free religion as losing all the state religion bonuses really hurts, as well as losing line of site to all converted cities in other nations. At end-game usually I have plenty of luxuries and am not so desperate for a few more happy faces that I would want to deal with the hassle of having to get 4 or 5 religions in each of my cities to make this civic worthwhile. The +10% tech bonus -- while meaningful -- doesn't seem to make much of a difference for me this late in the game, plus you have to pay fixed upkeep (albeit low) to boot. Some players attempt to get free religion as soon as possible to pacify aggressive neighbors with different religions. However, I have had war declared on me so many times in the early game when I had no state religion at all that I know that simply removing state religion is no panacea to diplomacy. Dropping a state religion can pacify opponents, but it can also make former close allies lukewarm or even hostile. And if you are still deeply afraid of your neighbors by the late time of game that organized religion becomes available, perhaps it is time to assess your strategy in other areas. Theology civics include some of the best benefits in the game (+100% GP from pacifism, +25% building and wonder construction speed), and I generally like these bonuses far too much to sacrifice them for free religion, which seems to offer little in return. Nevertheless, if you are in a situation where you are walking on eggshells -- playing deity level with far more powerful AI players, perhaps -- free religion may be something to consider. Otherwise, skip it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Favored early game civics: representation (constitution - or pyramids), bureaucracy (civil service), slavery (bronze working), mercantilism (banking), organized religion (monotheism)[NEWLINE]Favored late game civics: universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property, organized religion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmonger civics: police state, vassalage, slavery, state property, theocracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]7. CITY IMPROVEMENTS[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I tend to manually control workers (at least until very late in the game) as the computer automation leaves much to be desired and lacks strategic foresight.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Farms:[\BOLD] +1 food initially, +2 food (total) at end-game when you have biology. Recent tests have led me to change my strategies and begin building large numbers of farms initially in order to quickly increase city size. When cities are near the max of their happiness and/or health, then I start converting the farms to cottages for the economic benefits. In contrast to watermills and windmills which offer economic and production bonuses in addition to food, farms offer only food. The advantage is that they are available almost immediately in the game with the agriculture tech. I prefer wide proliferation of farms in the ancient era, with removal of some farms and transition to cottages and watermills when you are near the maximum sustainable city size for health and happiness. Especially on higher difficulty levels, spamming too many farms may quickly bring your cities over the happiness and/or healthiness levels they can support, resulting in revolters and no "we love the king day" events. Automated workers tend to overdo farming and so I prefer to direct workers manually. Use farms wisely, but be careful that they don't push your cities into unhappiness or unhealthiness. You may need to expand your growth capacity as your city's happiness and health limits increase, so keep an eye on this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cottages:[\BOLD] Cottages make up the foundation of economic and research productivity of your civilization. Especially if you have the financial trait, cottages produce great bonuses when they grow into towns, with full techs and civics: commerce +7, production +1 (requires universal suffrage civic). Cottages can be built anywhere, but their production bonus comes late (after full growth into towns) and only with the correct civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often wait until cities are close to their health or happiness limit to start building large numbers of cottages because farms offer more immediate benefit by increasing city size and therefore production and the number of workable tiles. Cottages only progress into hamlets, villages, and towns when they are being worked. There is no point in rushing to place cottages on all 20 workable tiles of a level 2 city (for an extreme example), as the cottages will not begin to develop at all until the city is large enough to work them. My tests and those of others have demonstrated that in most cases, a better long-term economic outcome is achieved with early farms to grow your city quickly and then building large numbers of cottages that the city is able to work, as opposed to immediate cottage spamming resulting in slow growth and many unworked tiles in an immature city.[NEWLINE]The downsides of cottages include that they take a long time to grow: cottage-&gt;hamlet 10 turns, hamlet -&gt;village 20 turns, village -&gt;town 40 turns. This can be cut in half with appropriate civics, but still it takes 35 turns in the best possible case to grow from a cottage to a town. In a game that lasts only 400 or 500 turns (and may be decided long before then), that is a big chunk of game time. Also, cottages can be easily pillaged by an enemy. Cottages are particularly valuable around your core research cities, but think twice about building cottages on frontier cities close to aggressive neighbors. In any case, the long maturation time of cottages requires that they be built as early as possible to maximize their benefits. Having cottages that have grown into towns while your neighbors are still dealing with hamlets and villages can prove decisive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Watermill:[\BOLD] An immediate +1 production boost, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +2 production with full techs and civics (requires state property for the food bonus). These are very helpful in increasing the production of plains, grassland, or flood plains adjacent to rivers that have little innate production capability. And once you have the correct techs/civics, the bonuses are immediate and do not require the maturation that cottages do. You can only build watermills on one square or the other to the side of a river, but I build watermills everywhere I can, typically replacing farms as soon as state property is in hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Windmill[\BOLD]: An immediate +1 food, with final bonuses of +1 food, +2 commerce, and +1 production with full tech (replaceable parts, electricity). Very useful if you need more food, have limited river access, and want something that offers more substantial and well-rounded benefits than farms. Windmills can be placed on hills which makes a nice alternative to mines, giving production and commerce benefits while allowing the square to provide at least some of the food supply required to work it. With the financial trait, windmill offers +1 food, +1 production, and +3 commerce, making a windmill often preferable to a mine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Lumbermill[\BOLD]: Chopping down the trees doesn't add any more food production (unlike C3C), and so lumbermills are a prime consideration for productivity in the late game. That is, in areas where you still have trees. With max +3 production (Base +1 from trees, +1 from lumbermill, +1 more when railroad comes around) and +1 commerce for squares adjacent to rivers, lumbermills are the best late-game productivity improvement. They don't have the economic benefits of cottages, watermills, or windmills, but offer a more substantial production boost without sapping your food supply (unlike workshops) or without requiring a specific civic to keep from doing so. The late benefits of a lumbermill must also be weighed against the benefits of chopping in the early game for benefits that can be quite substantial at a time when your civilization's productivity is very low: chopped trees can result in a much faster start, extra cities, or more wonders. I chop trees in the early game for chop-rushing settlers or crucial wonders, but by the mid-game when instant productivity is no longer urgent, I prefer to preserve any remaining trees for future lumbermills.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mine[\BOLD]: +2 production, +1 more (+3 total) with railroad. A substantial productivity boost as long as you have enough food to go around. The option between windmills and mines is nice for hill squares.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Workshop:[\BOLD] +1 production, -1 food. With max upgrades they can offer up to +3 production, and with state property, no food penalty. This allows the same +3 production as lumbermill, without requiring you to keep trees around until the late game. The food penalty early on makes this a poor choice in the early middle ages, but once you have state property, workshops represent an excellent improvement for production. However, if you depend on workshops and state property, you will largely be obliged to stay with that civic through the rest of the game -- or see your cities starve when you change, unless you have a large food surplus from other sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]8. SPECIALIZATION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since you can only build 2 national wonders in a city and because GP points accrue according to specialties, it makes sense to have specialized cities in CIV. I aim for a science city (oxford university + great library), a military city (pentagon + heroic epic + west point), a culture city (hermitage + globe theater), an economic city (wall street), and will put the national epic in the city with the most wonders (and most GP points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, keeping a flow of military units from at least one city will keep your cities happy (large cities get upset without protection) and defended. I also try to keep one city pumping out missionaries throughout almost the entire game, occasionally switching production to another city to construct buildings in the city. In my first couple games when I did not continue to produce both military and missionary units in peace time and war time, it caused major problems for me in spite of large leads in other areas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]CIV rewards the creation of specialized cities. I try to create at least 2 cities of each specialty because of the need to build infrastructure buildings in between building military or religious units, wonders, etc. Specialist cities make sense because you can't build every building in every city, and specialization helps you to leverage your city placement by putting buildings in the cities where they will do the most good.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first step in deciding the division of labor between specialized cities is to evaluate the surrounding land. A city in an area with luxury resources could be a great trade/science city, while one in an area with many mines and high production would likely make a good military city for creating units, or for rapidly building wonders. A city with abundant food supply would make a good specialist city to increase great people generation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Military City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] productive area with high hammer yield (mines, watermills, etc)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Barracks Forge Factory[NEWLINE]Power source (coal, hydro, nuclear), Granary Aqueduct[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]first city:[\BOLD] Heroic Epic (+100% military production in city), West Point (+4 exp/military unit)[NEWLINE][BOLD]second city:[\BOLD] Red Cross (free Medic I promotion), Ironworks (near iron or coal) -- consider designating this one a military city from the time iron appears on the map.[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience for units trained in any city, can be built anywhere)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Discussion:[\BOLD] You will need many military units during the game, so why build them from just anywhere when you can build them quickly in a specialized city and get free experience points to boot?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Science City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Academy (+50% research, requires great scientist) Library (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Observatory (+25% research) University (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Laboratory (+25% research)[NEWLINE]Monastery (+10% research, but becomes obsolete - may skip this one)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Oxford University (+100% research)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (+2 scientists, expires)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Merchant City[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Build in:[\BOLD] area with abundant commerce[NEWLINE][BOLD]Improvements:[\BOLD] focus on cottages -&gt;towns[NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Market (+25% gold) Grocer (+25% gold)[NEWLINE]Bank (+50% gold) Airport (+1 trade route)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wall Street (+100% gold)[NEWLINE][BOLD]GP Focus:[\BOLD] great merchant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Culture City[\H2][NEWLINE]Consider combining with science city as many science improvements also generate culture. I don't generally build a culture-only city for that reason, I go for culture/science. But here are the culture listings for those interested in culture victory, not including science improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Temple (+1 culture) Monastery (+2 culture)[NEWLINE]Cathedral or equivalent (+50% culture) Theater (+3 culture)[NEWLINE]Broadcast tower (+50% culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]National Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hermitage (+100% culture) Globe theater (+6 culture)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hollywood (+50% culture) Rock n' Roll (+50% culture)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+50% culture) Sistine chapel (+2 culture per specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If going for a culture victory, consider balancing your national and world culture wonders between 3 cities to allow each to achieve legendary culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Great People City[\H2][NEWLINE]Obviously this one should be combined with another city of your choice, as the world and national wonders built in other cities contribute GP points. I like to make my GP city one that focuses on GP types that I find to be the most valuable (great engineers -- can rush wonders, or perhaps scientists -- can create academy, rather than prophets, artists, or merchants)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]National wonder:[\BOLD] National Epic (+100% GP birth rate in city)[NEWLINE][BOLD]World Wonders: [\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (+50% GP birth rate in all cities) Great Library (+2 scientists in city, but expires)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 specialist in all cities)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergistic Civic:[\BOLD] pacifism (+100% GP rate, no upkeep)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]9. WONDERS [\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When beginning every game, you will want to consider what wonders are a priority for you and what wonders you will pass on. It is rarely possible to get every wonder. Realistic decisions must be made and tech paths to get the desired wonders early must be considered. There is little as frustrating as coming within a few turns of completing an expensive wonder only to lose your effort because another civ beat you to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder decisions can make or break the game. A few key wonders can provide advantages turning the tide in your favor, while an inappropriate focus on wonders at the expense of defense or growth can leave your civilization vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The player should also consider what role wonders will play in the overall strategy. If you are playing as a philosophical or industrious nation, constructing numerous wonders should be a centerpiece of your strategy. For militaristic players, wonders should play little role, as a vast army can be constructed in the time of constructing just a few wonders. The militaristic player should therefore aim for a few targeted wonders, while the philosophical or industrious player should strive for a much longer list.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some wonders offer considerable early benefits, but expire. Others offer mediocre benefits that expire regardless (the Hagia Sophia is infamous for frequently becoming obsolete only shortly after it is constructed). Wonders expire when YOU get the expiring tech, not when your neighbors do. So I often hold off on trading for the calender tech until all my cities have experienced border expansion from Stonehenge, and avoid getting chemistry until the last possible moment to milk the Parthenon for every great person point possible. Still others offer great game-long benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you are going for a culture victory, great artists are the least useful of all of the great people (+3 commerce, +14 culture). Therefore, I try to keep wonders offering great artist points out of my principal wonder city to avoid generating less-useful great people there. Great scientists are perhaps the most useful for their ability to add an academy in one city each. Great engineers (+3 hammers) and great prophets (+2 hammer) are the most useful as they add productivity. Great merchants add food, although only +1, in addition to commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To maximize the conversion of great people points into great people, it is best to concentrate as many wonders as possible in one, two, or three designated wonder-building cities. The decision of how many cities to designate as primary or secondary wonder-builders will depend on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here is a list of wonders that I make priorities, keeping in mind that the wonders different players favor will vary widely depending on their play style and tactics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Priority Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stonehenge:[\BOLD] obelisk, +1 culture in every city, expires @ Calendar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Library:[\BOLD] +2 scientists is a big deal at a time when many of your cities can't dedicate the pop to specialists, especially if you build this in your great people focus city. Perhaps most importantly, the +6 GP points/turn from 2 scientists in addition to the +2 GP from the wonder (total 8 GP points/turn) can help you quickly to get great scientists who can found academies in your largest cities, especially in the presence of philosophical/pacifist /Parthenon /national epic synergisms. Getting the great library with several great scientists can therefore generate a massive bonus that will speed your research throughout the entire remainder of the game, long after the GL's primary effects have expired. After the GL, the oxford university is the only good generator of great scientist points until after the middle ages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]: +50% GP birth rate in all cities. Vital for philosophical civs, but unfortunately doesn't last forever.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Non-Expiring Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hanging Gardens:[\BOLD] +1 pop, +1 health in all cities. This is a huge early wonder that can catapult your civ ahead, especially if you have many small or modest-sized cities. Adding an extra pop and health point to every city boosts your economy, your research, your productivity, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Notre Dame[\BOLD]: +1 happiness for all cities on continent[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Versailles[\BOLD]: reduces maintenance in nearby cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Statue of Liberty:[\BOLD] a free specialist in every city. Fabulous for philosophical civs. Probably my # 1 wonder in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pentagon:[\BOLD] +2 experience points for units trained in all cities[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Three Gorges Dam:[\BOLD] power for all cities on continent located near a river[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Eiffel Tower:[\BOLD](free broadcast tower in every city) gives a big culture boost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Wonders by GP type[\H2][NEWLINE](all world wonders +2 GP points, all national wonders +1)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Scientist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great Library (marble) (+2 scientists)[NEWLINE]Oxford University (stone) (+100% research, 3 citizens as scientists)[NEWLINE]Space Elevator[NEWLINE]Red Cross[NEWLINE]Scotland Yard[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Capital: Stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens, great library, ironworks (?)[NEWLINE]Wonder city 2: parthenon, notre dame, national epic[NEWLINE]Military city[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Prophet:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stonehenge (stone): obelisk in each city[NEWLINE]Angkor Wat (stone): +1 production from priests in all cities, allows 3 priests. This makes priest specialists (up to +2 hammers, +1 gold) the most productive specialists, beating out engineers (+2 hammers, no other bonuses) -- until the wonder expires[NEWLINE]Oracle (marble) (1 free tech)[NEWLINE]Chichen Itza (stone): +25% defense in all cities[NEWLINE]Spiral minaret (stone). +1 gold from all state religion buildings. Nice, although a relatively small bonus.[NEWLINE]Religious holy wonder: minus 1 production, spreads religion, 1 gold from each, allows 3 priests[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Engineer:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Hanging gardens (stone) (+1 population, +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2 experience to military units in all cities)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 citizens as engineers)[NEWLINE]West Point (stone) (+4 experience per unit)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (stone) (allows all government civics) - a big boost in the early game[NEWLINE]Hagia Sophia (marble) (+50% worker build speed)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Merchant:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Colossus (copper) (+1 gold in all city water tiles)[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty (+1 free specialist in all cities on the continent)[NEWLINE]Wall Street[NEWLINE]Forbidden Palace (acts as a 2nd capital decreasing distance maintenance)[NEWLINE]Versailles (marble)[NEWLINE]Great Lighthouse (+2 trade routes in coastal cities)[NEWLINE]Eiffel Tower (free broadcast tower in every city)[NEWLINE]United Nations[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Great Artist:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Parthenon (marble) (+50% GP birth rate in all cities)[NEWLINE]Notre Dame (+1 happiness in all cities)[NEWLINE]National epic (stone) (+100% GP birth rate)[NEWLINE]Hollywood (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Rock n' Roll (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Broadway (+1 happiness)[NEWLINE]Heroic Epic (marble) (+100% military unit production)[NEWLINE]Hermitage (marble)[NEWLINE]Globe Theater (no unhappiness in this city, allows 3 artists)[NEWLINE]Taj Mahal[NEWLINE]Mt. Rushmore (stone)[NEWLINE]Kremlin (stone)[NEWLINE]Sistine chapel (marble)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Most important early resources:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Stone, marble, iron[NEWLINE]Put Parthenon, notre dame, statue of liberty in a separate wonder city[NEWLINE]National epic in capital[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]10. GREAT PEOPLE[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In maximizing great people points, you can get some great synergy between traits, civics, wonders, and improvements. If you want a lot of great people, get as many of these as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that all bonuses are additive, not multiplicative. For example, 2 100% bonuses on top of a 100% base produce a 300% rate (100% base +100% x2), not 400% (they only add their bonus to the BASE rate, not to the final rate after other adjustments). Also, all fractions in the game are rounded DOWN (i.e. a 25% bonus of 7 is rounded down to 1, a 25% bonus of 8 is necessary for +2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traits:[NEWLINE]Philosophical trait : +100% GP generation civ-wide[NEWLINE]Civics:[NEWLINE]labor - caste system: unlimited scientists, merchants, artists in all cities[NEWLINE]economy - mercantilism: +1 free specialist per city; or (in games with many rivers) state property for the watermill food bonus, allowing higher POP and thus more specialists[NEWLINE]religion - pacifism: +100% GP birth rate in cities with state religion[NEWLINE]National wonders:[NEWLINE]national epic - +100% GP in city where built (only)[NEWLINE]World Wonders:[NEWLINE]Parthenon: +50% GP generation civ-wide, expires with chemistry[NEWLINE]Statue of Liberty: +1 free specialist in all cities[NEWLINE]great library: +2 free scientists in city where built, but expires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civ with max upgrades (not including great library) would have:[NEWLINE]- a 300% great people rate (100% base + 100% philosophical + 100% pacifism) + 50% from Parthenon (before expires) + 100% more in city with national wonder[NEWLINE]- 2 free specialists in all cities (mercantilism statue of liberty). At 300% return on a 3 GP base per specialist x 2 specialists, this would provide 18 GP points *per turn* even in your least developed cities with no wonders.[NEWLINE]-unlimited ability to allocate scientists, artists, and merchants in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the wonder bonuses expire when YOU get the tech in question, not your neighbors...therefore a philosophical civ with the Parthenon may want to push back getting chemistry as late as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course some great people types are more valuable than others. Great engineers allow you to rush wonders which can provide key benefits in a close game. And great scientists can allow you to build an academy (+50% research) in every city. Great merchants, artists, and prophets, while still valuable, have effects that are generally somewhat more modest in terms of long-term game play. Since the chance of getting a great person of different types depends on the wonders and specialists in each city, I like having separate cities focus on great engineers and scientists without mixing with the other types as much as possible (you don't want to have your city with engineering wonders drowned out by large numbers of merchant, artist, or priest specialists pushing the GP probability towards other types). I don't have a strong preference between merchants, artists, and prophets, and so will build wonders generating all 3 in the same city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bonuses allowing you to turn citizens into engineers are generated only by:[NEWLINE]Forge (allows 1 engineer)[NEWLINE]Factory (allows 2 engineers)[NEWLINE]Ironworks (allows 3 engineers)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Engineer GP points are generated by:[NEWLINE]West Point (+1 GP)[NEWLINE]Hanging Gardens (+2)[NEWLINE]Pentagon (+2)[NEWLINE]Pyramids (+2)[NEWLINE]Three Gorges Dam (+2)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The military city is the most natural choice for an engineer GP city (forge + factory + ironworks + west point + pentagon).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the cost for great people increase throughout the game, diminishing returns are eventually reached. Later in the game, the cost of great people goes up and up, while the benefit of great people often declines, since the earlier you get great people, the longer they will benefit your civilization. However, your civilization should also increase in its capacity to generate great people over time, civics are chosen, as wonders are built and citizens are assigned as specialists. With appropriate tactics, many great people can still be generated even in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every great person can cause either an instant benefit, provide a tech bonus, or add a long-term bonus to cities. The benefits must be carefully considered. In *most* cases, I prefer to use great people in a manner that augments the long-term productivity of my cities, although there are exceptional cases where great people are best used to rush a tech or a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two types of great people present no-brainers for their use:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great prophets. Before using great prophets in any other way, make sure that you have created the religion-specific wonder in any founding religious city under your control. If you have made any attempt at all to spread the religion, or of you are conquering the founding city of a religion that is widely accepted, this can produce massive financial benefits that dwarf virtually any other use of great people.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great scientists. Use them to create academies in all of your top science cities. Which would you rather have -- an extra +6 or so science per turn in the city of your choice, or a 50% increase in science in a city that is already generating 50, 75, or 200 beakers per turn? Although the increase acts only on the base number of commerce points applied to research (before other modifiers are applied), a great scientist can result in massive research output for cities, especially in conjunction with other science improvements (library/university/observatory/Oxford University/etc).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For other great people, I usually prefer to join them to a city, with occasional exceptions as previously acknowledged.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great artists. If you are going for a cultural victory, great artists are your friend. A very nice strategy for cultural victory on Monarch level, using great artists either by joining to a city or as "culture bombs" to titrate legendary culture among three cities is presented by walkerjks here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=138647[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are not going for a cultural victory, great artists are by far the weakest of all great people. I find that in most cases it is preferable to join great artists to border cities or captured cities instead of invoking the "culture bomb." Great artists produce +12 to +15 culture per turn, which is the equivalent of many cultural buildings (library = +2 culture, theater = +3, etc) and will quickly expand the city's borders -- in addition to any cultural multipliers the city may have (cathedrals, hermitage, civics, etc). In this way, you still continue to receive the commerce benefits of the great artist throughout the game, speeding your research and filling your coffers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great merchant. The great merchant is the ONLY great person that offers a food bonus (+1 food, +6 commerce appears typical). I prefer to join great merchants to high-commerce cities that focus on great people creation (the city with the national epic is often a great choice), since more food allows you to allocate more specialists, further increasing great people output.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great engineers. As for great prophets, the surplus productivity is welcome. These often go in my capital or most productive city or cities. A city with ironworks makes a great choice for great engineer placement in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]OPTIONS FOR EARLY EXPANSION[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several good early expansion options. The decision as to which is best for you depends both on map choice and on your playing style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]11. CHOP-RUSHING[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop rushing is a great way to jump ahead in the early game. The first mention I know of was in this thread by AlexFrog:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137292[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I prefer a somewhat modified version of the strategy. The strategy involves founding initial cities in areas with a large number of trees within their "fat cross" area. The player researches bronze working immediately while building a worker in the capital city before building any other units or buildings. Once the worker is done (12-15 turns) and bronze working is researched, the worker immediately goes to work chopping trees around the capital. Each tree chopped results in 20 hammers, which can rocket a level 1 city that may have only 1, 2, or 3 hammers far ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most logical initial use of "chop-rushing" is for settlers and workers, since your cities are normally stagnant (do not grow) while these units are being produced, and because these units are vital to the growth and productivity of your civilization. I save trees to chop-rush settlers, workers, or wonders, since the construction of buildings or military units allows your cities to grow during the production phase, while production of the former two does not, and the third category (wonders) is a race. Chop-rushing typically allows me to plant 2-3 times as many cities as my closest AI competitors on noble level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, settlers must never be sent out undefended, so I like to first build at least one (possibly two) warriors, sending at least one out to explore and pop goody huts (in addition to the starting warrior) while the second will act as your settler escort. I periodically build warriors during the rapid expansion phase to ensure that my cities and settlers are adequately defended.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of maintenance costs increasing with both distance and city number (and I will place cities at long distances from my capital when necessary to secure important resources), it is impractical to build a civilization by the exclusive virtue of chop-rushing. There must be a balance. Once I get three or four cities, I let one or two grow and develop -- building a granary or military units to increase in size and to defend the borders, while the others chop-rush. I also assign some workers to build improvements very early -- cottages in particular, in addition to improvements required by special resources -- in order to ensure that city commerce, on average, is in excess of upkeep costs, allowing continued rapid research and continued growth. As a rough rule of thumb, on noble level, if my research percentage falls below 70%, that is a warning sign to me that I need to better develop the city economic base by building more cottages and letting cities grow to a larger size before expanding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chop-rushing can also be a terrific way to get wonders, especially when you have special resources that speed wonder building. For example, Stonehenge costs 120 hammers, but if you have stone, every forest chopped will give double (not 20, but 40) hammers. Therefore, you only need to chop three trees to build Stonehenge in a city with stone -- as opposed to the many turns it would take to build it without chop-rushing. This is a great way to get key wonders as a non-industrious civ, and the ability of any civilization to do this really waters down the value of the industrious trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: the patch slightly weakens chop-rushing. Chopping income has dropped from thirty to twenty hammers, with that number being further reduced for chops further from the city (outside the city radius?) Mathematics adds +50% (back to the original 30), but it comes in the end of the first age at a time that is not as useful as an immediate chop-rush would be. Also, unlike Civ3, cutting down trees doesn't increase food harvest, so you have to immediately place farms or cottages or do something else to develop the land in other ways. Chopping offers a quick up-front bonus but can dent your long-term production if you overdo it. Weigh the pros and cons carefully in each situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a recent test game in which I preserved the forests in the cities (for the health benefits and to maintain the forest productivity), I found that by the mid-middle ages, my tech rate had dropped virtually to zero and my workers began to strike and units were automatically disbanded because expenses were greater than income. Retaining the forests as opposed to chopping and planting cottages widely didn't provide the economic revenue to support the rapid city expansion that I prefer, even with measured expansion letting many of the cities grow to mid-size. Therefore I continue to favor chopping trees - whether in an early settler rush, or to complete wonders - also to free up the land for farms (faster growth) or cottage improvements (improve economy and tech speed).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]EXPANDING YOUR CAPITAL[\H2][NEWLINE]As attractive as it may seem, chop rushing faces major limitations, especially after being significantly tuned down in the recent patch. Chopping trees can push cities located near flood plains into unhealthiness and decline. Chops offer a one-time boost after which the city returns to its prior production. Depending on your situation, allowing the capital to develop before sending out settlers can be a better option. For example, if you can expand your capital in 8 turns and get a square that offers a combined 3 food and/or hammers, you will get a bonus of +1 food or hammer (2 of the food go to support the expanded population) for every subsequent turn throughout the game. For an average level 1 city with 3 resources in the center square and 3 on the first worked square (4 surplus food/hammers for settlers/workers), it takes 25 turns (4x25=100) to build a 100 resource settler and 15 turns (4x15) to build a 60-resource worker. Just one surplus resource, after paying food costs, by expanding to level 2 will drop this down to 20 turns for the settler (5 resources x 20 turns) and 12 turns for the worker. Expanding to level 3 to work another 3-resource tile, which you can generally do in another 8 turns after the first expansion with good city placement, will give you 6 surplus resources, dropping settler creation time to 17 turns and worker creation down to 10 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's do a comparison of a city that immediately builds 4 settlers, vs. one that spends 16 turns building warriors to grow twice, and switches production to settlers before the 2nd warrior is completed:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build order: 4 Settlers 1 1/2 warriors, 4 settlers[NEWLINE]Turns to 1st settler 25 16 (to grow twice), then 17 for settler = 33[NEWLINE]2nd settler 50 50[NEWLINE]3rd settler 75 67[NEWLINE]4th settler 100 84[NEWLINE]Final capital size 1 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see, the city that expands to level 3 first catches up with the city that immediately built only settlers by the time the 2nd settler is completed. The fact that the settler-only city completed its first settler 9 turn earlier does not make up for this, as the 9 turns allow for barely 1 cycle of growth as opposed to the 2 that the first city has achieved.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The expand-first city ends up far ahead because at the end, it is better developed and more productive than the city that pumped out settlers immediately. The expand-first model also has the advantage of producing warriors to defend your units, as unprotected settlers are not likely to survive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are well-situated and can develop those resources further, the model shifts even more in favor of allowing your city to increase in size. For example, if you can irrigate 2 flood plains up to +4 food each in your size 3 city and have one special resource you can get 2 food or hammers from, your total surplus will be 10 (3 from center tile, 2 per tile from 2 floodplains, and 3 from specialty resource) per turn. You can then build settlers in just 10 turns. At that point, you are expanding FASTER than you could with chop-rushing. Between chopping and moving, trees take 3-4 turns to chop for just 20 hammers and are limited, while your expanded city is indefinitely producing a surplus of 10/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, most cities in the early game do not require more than 3-4 farm tiles. Exceptions may be made for cities on barren land, such as plains or hills. A few judicious farms are usually all that you need in order to jump-start your growth. If you overdo the farming, you can easily push the city into unhappiness, at which point cottages are a better alternative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The decision of when to develop your capital vs. when to expand depends on your city setup. If tiles around your city are not very fertile (i.e. plains), you may wish to get out a settler sooner rather than later. If however your main city is well-placed and has one or two special resources within its boundaries that you can access with early techs, it is often wise to spend a few turns developing these resources to create a more productive capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]12. TECHNOLOGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great variability comes in here. Depending on your civilization traits and technologies, your level, and your play style, you may have different technological priorities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players favor chop-rushing for early expansion, going straight for bronze working. Then I go for pottery (to build cottages ASAP) and from there to alphabet (to trade techs). After alphabet, I trade with the AI as much as possible. I go for mathematics (to get hanging gardens) and then try to grab a religion -- Confucianism or, if I miss that, one of the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In many cases, investment in techs such as agriculture, animal domestication, and hunting can be more valuable than bronze working chop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are playing as a civ with early religious technologies, you may wish to shoot straight for an early religion. I prefer the path that leads to Hinduism/Judaism since if you are beaten to Hinduism, Judaism is right around the corner, while Buddhism is a dead end (at least for a while) and the AI seems to go for it quickly. Monotheism also has the benefit of offering the organized religion civic, which at +25% building construction (including wonders!) can prove to be an enormous benefit to your civilization's development. This, as well as the early spread of religion from your cities (with happiness etc), can make an early religion very, very worthwhile. From there, you can go for bronze-working and chop rush, or you can go straight for alphabet, trade for bronze working (which is typically readily available once alphabet is discovered), and chop rush.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Going for the religious techs (polytheism-&gt;monotheism) early has great advantages even for a non-spiritual civ, if you can get there quickly. The religious techs offer key early-era wonders, including Stonehenge and the Parthenon, and perhaps the most important ancient-era civic, organized religion, which can further enhance your speed in constructing wonders and other buildings. If you don't go for these techs very quickly, you will probably lose the wonder race. As you can't trade for techs until you have alphabet, and many maps feature limited access to potential trading partners, the only reliable way to get these techs is to research them yourself. If you are playing as a philosophical civ, getting the early wonders is especially critical.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Either way has advantages and drawbacks, but both playing styles can be viable. Of course you can mix and match these: shoot for early religion and then quickly add bronze working (but miss out on some early chop-rushing), or research bronze working and then pick up the religious techs in time to get access to the wonders (but you will probably lose the early religion race). There undoubtedly others as well, but the above two are my favorites.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are some of the key techs I focus on acquiring, making modification depending on map type and difficulty level:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]0. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Hunting: these techs are vital to be able to hook up your bonus resources. Farming in particular is very important.[NEWLINE]1. Mysticism (65 beakers). Stonehenge, and prerequisite for other religious techs.[NEWLINE]2. Polytheism (130 beakers). Hinduism and Parthenon (key for philosophical civs).[NEWLINE]3. Bronze working (156 beakers). Chop rushing. 'nuf said.[NEWLINE]4. Wheel (78 beakers). Workers and resources won't do you much good until you can build roads. This can be moved down below monotheism depending on whether you have already gotten a religion and how tight you feel the race for Judaism will be.[NEWLINE]5. Pottery (104 beakers). Your workers can now start building cottages, and allows granary. Because of how long cottages take to develop, it is important to get cottages started early. Also to defray the heavy upkeep costs of a large empire.[NEWLINE]6. Masonry (104 beakers). Prerequisite for Monotheism. Allows building mines and quarries. While researching this you will hopefully be sending a settler and a worker to hook up stone (stonehenge, pyramids, hanging gardens) and marble (Parthenon) resources.[NEWLINE]7. Monotheism (156 beakers). Judaism and organized religion. The moment you are ready to begin building Stonehenge in your capital (or any other building), switch to organized religion to provide a +25% hammer bonus for wonders and buildings.[NEWLINE]8. Writing (156 beakers) and alphabet (390 beakers). Allows tech trades, allowing the player to pick up any missed techs.[NEWLINE]9. Mathematics (325 beakers) - workers produce +50% hammers from tree chops (up to 30). Also enables hanging garden, a key wonder for rapid population expansion. Very important for both counts.[NEWLINE]10. Metal casting (585 beakers). Forges add +25% productivity to any city where they are built. When you have stone and/or marble, organized religion civic, and forges, your cities can quickly construct buildings and wonders. Unfortunately, this tech quite expensive.[NEWLINE]11. Literature (260 beakers). Heroic epic, national epic, great library, and libraries. All important structures.[NEWLINE]12. Music (780 beakers). Free great artist to the first discoverer. Also allows Notre Dame and cathedrals, vital happiness buildings.[NEWLINE]13. Drama (390) and philosophy (1040 beakers). Philosophy offers Taoism to the first discoverer, and pacifism is a helpful civic for philosophical civs. Angkor Wat is nice (+1 production from priests in all cities) if you can get it.[NEWLINE]14. Paper (780), Education (2340 - allows universities/oxford), Liberalism (1820). Liberalism is a high priority both because it offers a free technology (you can pick the most expensive one available) and because of the free speech civic. The +2 gold from towns education offers is nice as long as enough of your cottages have developed into towns to warrant the expense of this tech path.[NEWLINE]15. printing press (2080), requires paper. +1 commerce in towns and villages. Another economic bonus, but the expense is so high that other techs may be a higher priority. Replaceable parts (2340) offers +1 hammer for watermills and windmills. This is really the point in the game where watermills become worthwhile.[NEWLINE]16. nationalism (2340), constitution (2600), democracy (3640). Nationalism and constitution have little to recommend them, except as prerequisites for democracy. Democracy is a huge advance to both economics and production because it allows universal suffrage (+1 production boost to towns) and emancipation (doubles rate of cottages -&gt; towns).[NEWLINE]17. Divine Right (1560) islam, spiral minaret, Versailles. Another opportunity to pick up a religion. Spiral minaret provides major economic boost (+1 gold per state religion building in all cities). It is however very expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Currency (520 beakers): +1 trade route per city, and enables gold trading. Both of these can produce a major economic boost. I usually wait and trade for this, but getting it early may be warranted if your upkeep costs are becoming difficult to manage or your tech rate is dropping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Others:[NEWLINE]Iron working: Reveals iron. Being able to clear jungles is necessary to be able to access some resources and to increase health. Usually I trade for this tech after alphabet, but there are certainly exceptions requiring early iron working (if you have a bad starting location in a jungle harming productivity).[NEWLINE]Iron working is critical to military also. As soon as you get this and iron is revealed, it is vital to claim and develop that iron promptly. Make sure to devote one city to military to pump out archers (before iron to garrison all your cities) and swordsmen (after iron) for defense and offense.[NEWLINE]Archery: a must if you have aggressive neighbors. You may be able to hold off until after alphabet and trade for this depending on your setup, but if you are playing against human players, you need to get this ASAP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other key techs[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mathematics. Hanging Gardens -- + 1 POP and +1 health in all your cities is huge, especially when you have a lot of small and moderate-size cities. The hanging gardens can really explode your productivity when you have a large empire from a chop-rush settler rush.[NEWLINE]Music (free great artist)[NEWLINE]Military Tradition (cavalry rule the middle ages)[NEWLINE]Divine Right (Versailles/Islam)[NEWLINE]Metallurgy (watermill)[NEWLINE]Democracy (emancipation &amp; universal suffrage).[NEWLINE]Communism (state property)[NEWLINE]Then to any other techs that improve the benefits of your improvements (i.e. electricity).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also try to pick up the techs that offer free great people or free techs. These techs obviously represent a priority, as only the first discoverer gets the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H1]13. MILITARY STRATEGY[\H1][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Game Plan[\H2][NEWLINE]Before each game, consider spending a few minutes to write down some basic goals and strategies that you wish to incorporate. The plan will depend considerably on map type, terrain, size, difficulty leve, and opponents (AI or human). Of course the plan will need to be flexible to take advantage of opportunities and to respond to contingencies and challenges.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the game, review your strategy and honestly assess which aspects worked well, and what aspects fell flat or met challenges. Use your insight to fine-tune your strategy and improve your next game plan.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Anticipation and Preparation[\H2][NEWLINE]The computer will attack suddenly and in force in CIV. It is not unusual for the computer to DOW someone and raze their city with a stack of units in the same turn. The AI, like human players, is an opportunist. If you happen to build a city right next to enemy military units, or if AI players see a poorly defended city near their military units, they are more likely to declare war than if your cities were defended and settlers were escorted. Close borders also spark tensions. Different religion is also a major cause of hostility. The AI can and does declare war even when there are mildly positive relations, so don't be too smug at your relationship score. You must defend your cities and resources. Even if you are not a warmonger, build a credible defense force. If your military is much weaker than your neighbors, you will soon find yourself in war. Anticipate attacks in advance. Is your neighbor massing catapults and swordsmen near your border? What are the stacked archer and warrior doing near your cities? Assume the worst, be observant, and be informed. Judge your enemy by their capability, not their words or relations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Border Cities[\H2][NEWLINE]Beware of border cities without a large cultural buffer between other civilizations. In one game I had a brilliant idea to build the forbidden palace in a border city. Then while I was engaged in a war against the Mongols on the other side of my empire, Saladin declared war and conquered the city the same turn with hordes of catapults, knights, and crossbowmen. Expensive cultural improvements are instantly lost once a city is conquered. Don't put anything too critical in border cities, especially those without a significant buffer zone, and don't get too involved in constructing major buildings in border cities until you have them well-defended with strong contemporary units. Don't leave your back side exposed. And don't let success in the tech race come at the expense of national security.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy[\H2][NEWLINE]When starting a war, consider your objectives. What are your goals? Acquisition of specific resources or cities? Capturing a wonder? Total annexation? Or, if caught by surprise, would you be happy to get away with a white peace? Once you have determined your goals, come up with a strategic plan to get there. Make sure that your unit mix is balanced and well-thought out. More than once in my early games, I found myself besieging cities with large stacks of units but no catapults -- bad idea. What are you going to do about city defenses? Are their resources you can deny your opponent? Will you create a two or three pronged attack and exploit vulnerabilities? Will you land a horde of cavalry and catapults by his capital for a sneak attack after shipping them behind enemy lines? It is much easier to achieve objectives if you know what your specific objectives are and have a viable plan to achieve them. It's far more effective to have a plan and fine-tune it as needed while in process than to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take time to consider your opponent's strategy...*especially* if playing a human. Look at your own empire and assess your own vulnerabilities. Is YOUR iron supply undefended? Could an enemy wreak havoc with a few knights shipped in to attack rear cities? Do you have rows of cottages in a border city ripe for plundering? If you were your enemy, what would you do? If your vulnerabilities are lost on you, be assured that they will not be lost on a competent opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Resource Denial[\H2][NEWLINE]When planning a war, aim to take out key military and civilian resources. The resource screen shows you exactly what resources your opponents have. Some of the resources, like copper and iron, are essential for war. If you enemy has one source of iron and you fortify on that square with good defenders and pillage it, your enemy will instantly lose the ability to make swordsmen -- and many other units, unless he has a copper supply as well. No copper, iron, or horses? Suddenly your formerly formidable medieval opponent is back in the stone age and is able to produce only warriors and archers. A few strategic moves of this nature can turn the tide of a war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other special resources are worth pillaging also. If your opponent has large cities that are marginally happy or healthy, pillaging a few luxury or health resources can catastrophically damage commerce, tech speed, and productivity across his entire empire. Pillaging of specialty resources in this way has a far greater effect than the pillaging of cottages, since the effects are felt in every connected city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]To Pillage or Not to Pillage[\H2][NEWLINE]Some argue for pillaging as many of your opponents cottages as possible in order to cause long-term damage to his research and economy. Against a superior or closely-matched opponent, this can be a good idea. However, it can be shortsighted if you have the upper hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I am convinced that I have superior force and can take a city, I don't pillage cottages, mines, or watermills. Given how long cottages take to develop, I pillage them ONLY when I think that I am unable to take a city outright during the current war. As attractive as the quick gold from pillaging seems, it is trivial compared to having a long-term free revenue source that your opponent built for you -- adding insult to injury. Conquered cities will often have high maintenance due to their distance from your capital and the incremental augmentation of city number, and if they can pay their own expenses right off the bat, your warmongering will be much more economically sustainable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE]When evenly matched or over-matched, diplomacy plays an immense role. If the Mongols catch you by surprise and burn a couple border cities, what better way to pay them back than bribing their neighbors with tech or gold to declare war on them? Sure, they may have thought they were smart to exploit a momentary vulnerability when their keshiks found a lightly-guarded city...but finding themselves in a war on two or three fronts will wipe the smile off their faces and take the pressure off you. If I am caught by surprise in a war for which I am not fully prepared or do not want, I do not hesitate to trade prime techs to bribe allies to join on my side.</Spanish>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRAITS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Analysis of the Civilization Traits[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Theoden[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE]There are eight leader traits in the game, all with very concrete and tangible benefits. However, some of them give more and some of them give less benefit than what they look to be giving on the surface. I'm going to explain how much benefit each actually gives. This article will take the mathematical approach, as I'm measuring the magnitude of the traits' bonuses, rather than subjectively comparing them.[NEWLINE][H2]Generally for All Traits[\H2][NEWLINE]Most of the traits have one or more city improvements associated with it that it gains double production speed of. However that doesn't always mean the improvement is procured twice as fast, because the 100% bonus to hammers is of the base production. So if you already have a forge, building an improvement associated with your trait will make the total production speed rise from 125% to 225%, rather than 250%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's say, for example, that you have the spiritual trait, which gives half price on temples (80 hammers). With no other production enhancing improvements the spiritual trait will account for half of the hammers needed (40 hammers). However, if you have a forge the spiritual trait will only account for 100 / 225 = 44,4% of the hammers needed (35 hammers). As more production enhancers are added (e.g. organised religion, factory) the percentage of the hammers that the trait bonus contributes becomes increasingly smaller. While this may seem minor and insignificant, in the big picture it can total up to a significant amount of hammers.[NEWLINE][H2]The Traits[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free Combat I promotion of melee and gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a melee or gunpowder unit with no experience this trait is worth exactly what it says: a Combat I promotion giving 10% increased strength and equal to what the unit could achieve with 2 XP. As the unit levels up however, this combat I promotion rises in value. Let's say you have a unit with 17 XP giving it four promotions, and you want it to eventually have the commando promotion. With the Combat I promotion from the Aggressive trait you would be able to take commando promotion now (Combat II - IV and then commando), but without it you would only be able to promote your unit up to Combat IV. For the non-aggressive civ the experience required to get the commando promotion and have a unit as good as the aggressive civ's, is 26 which is 9 additional XP In this case the Aggressive trait is worth 9 XP In other words, the actual value of the aggressive trait is the amount of XP required to get the next promotion for a unit, providing you are upgrading in the Combat part of the promotion tree or that the Combat I promotion is useful to the unit. This means that the value of the trait increases with more experienced units because the XP required for a promotion is n^2 + 1. To put it more simple, if you are upgrading along the Combat part of the tree, the latest promotion you have chosen is your actual tangible benefit of having the aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+2 culture per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is pretty straightforward magnitude-wise. It will always add 2 culture to the city's base culture. This can be multiplied by cathedrals and a few wonders, but it should be noted that since the rest of the city's culture production will also increase proportionally, the percentage of the city's total culture that this trait is accountable for won't change with the culture multiplicative improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+3 health per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is also straightforward. The bonus is always 3 health for all cities and is never subject to multiplications or the like. The tangible benefit is between 0 and 3 food depending on how your health situation looks before and after the trait's bonus is applied. It can also make the difference between whether a city is eligible for We Love the King Day or not, saving an average amount of upkeep per turn depending on what the city's upkeep cost is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Financial is a trait that requires more calculation. It adds to the cities base commerce and is therefore subject to modifiers. Improvements or civics that multiply the science, gold or culture output of the city will all increase the benefit of the financial trait providing you are allocating at least 10% of your base commerce to the category in question (science, gold or culture). Improvements or civics that multiply the base commerce (e.g. Bureaucracy) increase the benefit regardless of slider settings. In short, the benefit of the financial trait in absolute numbers is the base commerce it adds (number of tiles worked that produces at least 2 commerce) multiplied by any modifiers present in the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Calculating its effect in relative numbers is relevant too though. In this case the multiplicative improvements and civics makes no difference as they are applied to all base commerce, not the just the commerce from the financial trait. What matters is a comparison between commerce before and after the trait is applied. The largest increase financial can result in is 50%, if all tiles produce exactly 2 commerce before it's applied. If a tile produces, for instance, 5 commerce, the advantage of adding the financial trait will be 20%. As a tile's commerce increases further the relative benefit decreases. Of course tiles can also produce less than 2 commerce in which case the benefit is 0%. In short, the relative benefit of the financial trait always lies somewhere between 0% and 50%, depending on how much commerce is being produced in the individual tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wonder production increased 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The calculations about the actual benefits of the trait-specific building bonuses also apply to the industrious trait, as the wonder production bonus is applied in the exact same way. There really isn't more to say about that as it's already explained in that chapter.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organised[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of the organised trait seems to be straightforward as it simply halves your civic upkeep expenses. However, the amount of gold that this trait saves you cannot be calculated just by looking at the remaining half that you are paying, because inflation factors in. By multiplying the upkeep that you appear to be saving with (1 + inflation rate) you will know how much gold this trait is actually saving you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another aspect of the organised trait to consider is the difficulty level. At lower levels the civic upkeep is relatively low and increases with difficulty level. As such the organised trait generally saves you more gold on the higher levels. The inflation rate is also higher on the harder difficulties, further increasing the benefit of organised on these difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great People birth rate increased 100 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is perhaps the most discussed trait regarding the actual benefit. There are countless threads on this, but I'll go through the non-subjective facts anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The philosophical trait's bonus works just like the trait-specific building bonuses and is subject to the same calculations regarding how much of the total output that it contributes. As with the industrious trait I won't go into detail about this as it's explained in the first chapter. The only difference is that the possible production enhancers are the Parthenon, the National Epic and the pacifism civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other production enhancers aside, the philosophical trait produces 100% more GPP (Great People Points), but that doesn't mean it produces 100% more GP (Great People) during the course of a game. This is because the cost of getting the next GP increases each time you get one and as such, getting a certain amount of extra GPP is worth less the more GP you have already produced. Through calculations which I won't bother you with it appears that the philosophical trait results in 50% more GP during the course of a game, all other things being equal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you look at the amount of turns it will take to produce a certain amount of GP however, the philosophical trait accomplishes it twice as quickly. This is because we are talking about a predefined amount GPP, in which case the 100% extra production results in achieving the GPs twice as quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No anarchy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The spiritual trait appears to be a relatively easy trait to calculate the benefits of. It simply saves you the amount of hammers, food etc. that would have been wasted during the anarchy turn(s). It isn't as simple as that, however, as cities will have to spend the turn after the anarchy to produce what they would have done during the anarchy and as such they are essentially wasting their latest turn. To put it simpler, your cities' development are delayed by the amount of turns the anarchy lasts and because of that the penalty of the anarchy period is actually the latest turn(s) in the game. It isn't your whole empire's development that's being delayed though, as units can still move, you still receive gpt payments from other civs etc. during anarchy. In short, the spiritual trait is worth more than just the amount of hammers, food etc. wasted on the anarchy turn(s) itself. It is rather worth what you would be producing at the end of the game.</English>
		<French>[H1]Analysis of the Civilization Traits[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Theoden[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE]There are eight leader traits in the game, all with very concrete and tangible benefits. However, some of them give more and some of them give less benefit than what they look to be giving on the surface. I'm going to explain how much benefit each actually gives. This article will take the mathematical approach, as I'm measuring the magnitude of the traits' bonuses, rather than subjectively comparing them.[NEWLINE][H2]Generally for All Traits[\H2][NEWLINE]Most of the traits have one or more city improvements associated with it that it gains double production speed of. However that doesn't always mean the improvement is procured twice as fast, because the 100% bonus to hammers is of the base production. So if you already have a forge, building an improvement associated with your trait will make the total production speed rise from 125% to 225%, rather than 250%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's say, for example, that you have the spiritual trait, which gives half price on temples (80 hammers). With no other production enhancing improvements the spiritual trait will account for half of the hammers needed (40 hammers). However, if you have a forge the spiritual trait will only account for 100 / 225 = 44,4% of the hammers needed (35 hammers). As more production enhancers are added (e.g. organised religion, factory) the percentage of the hammers that the trait bonus contributes becomes increasingly smaller. While this may seem minor and insignificant, in the big picture it can total up to a significant amount of hammers.[NEWLINE][H2]The Traits[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free Combat I promotion of melee and gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a melee or gunpowder unit with no experience this trait is worth exactly what it says: a Combat I promotion giving 10% increased strength and equal to what the unit could achieve with 2 XP. As the unit levels up however, this combat I promotion rises in value. Let's say you have a unit with 17 XP giving it four promotions, and you want it to eventually have the commando promotion. With the Combat I promotion from the Aggressive trait you would be able to take commando promotion now (Combat II - IV and then commando), but without it you would only be able to promote your unit up to Combat IV. For the non-aggressive civ the experience required to get the commando promotion and have a unit as good as the aggressive civ's, is 26 which is 9 additional XP In this case the Aggressive trait is worth 9 XP In other words, the actual value of the aggressive trait is the amount of XP required to get the next promotion for a unit, providing you are upgrading in the Combat part of the promotion tree or that the Combat I promotion is useful to the unit. This means that the value of the trait increases with more experienced units because the XP required for a promotion is n^2 + 1. To put it more simple, if you are upgrading along the Combat part of the tree, the latest promotion you have chosen is your actual tangible benefit of having the aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+2 culture per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is pretty straightforward magnitude-wise. It will always add 2 culture to the city's base culture. This can be multiplied by cathedrals and a few wonders, but it should be noted that since the rest of the city's culture production will also increase proportionally, the percentage of the city's total culture that this trait is accountable for won't change with the culture multiplicative improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+3 health per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is also straightforward. The bonus is always 3 health for all cities and is never subject to multiplications or the like. The tangible benefit is between 0 and 3 food depending on how your health situation looks before and after the trait's bonus is applied. It can also make the difference between whether a city is eligible for We Love the King Day or not, saving an average amount of upkeep per turn depending on what the city's upkeep cost is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Financial is a trait that requires more calculation. It adds to the cities base commerce and is therefore subject to modifiers. Improvements or civics that multiply the science, gold or culture output of the city will all increase the benefit of the financial trait providing you are allocating at least 10% of your base commerce to the category in question (science, gold or culture). Improvements or civics that multiply the base commerce (e.g. Bureaucracy) increase the benefit regardless of slider settings. In short, the benefit of the financial trait in absolute numbers is the base commerce it adds (number of tiles worked that produces at least 2 commerce) multiplied by any modifiers present in the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Calculating its effect in relative numbers is relevant too though. In this case the multiplicative improvements and civics makes no difference as they are applied to all base commerce, not the just the commerce from the financial trait. What matters is a comparison between commerce before and after the trait is applied. The largest increase financial can result in is 50%, if all tiles produce exactly 2 commerce before it's applied. If a tile produces, for instance, 5 commerce, the advantage of adding the financial trait will be 20%. As a tile's commerce increases further the relative benefit decreases. Of course tiles can also produce less than 2 commerce in which case the benefit is 0%. In short, the relative benefit of the financial trait always lies somewhere between 0% and 50%, depending on how much commerce is being produced in the individual tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wonder production increased 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The calculations about the actual benefits of the trait-specific building bonuses also apply to the industrious trait, as the wonder production bonus is applied in the exact same way. There really isn't more to say about that as it's already explained in that chapter.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organised[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of the organised trait seems to be straightforward as it simply halves your civic upkeep expenses. However, the amount of gold that this trait saves you cannot be calculated just by looking at the remaining half that you are paying, because inflation factors in. By multiplying the upkeep that you appear to be saving with (1 + inflation rate) you will know how much gold this trait is actually saving you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another aspect of the organised trait to consider is the difficulty level. At lower levels the civic upkeep is relatively low and increases with difficulty level. As such the organised trait generally saves you more gold on the higher levels. The inflation rate is also higher on the harder difficulties, further increasing the benefit of organised on these difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great People birth rate increased 100 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is perhaps the most discussed trait regarding the actual benefit. There are countless threads on this, but I'll go through the non-subjective facts anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The philosophical trait's bonus works just like the trait-specific building bonuses and is subject to the same calculations regarding how much of the total output that it contributes. As with the industrious trait I won't go into detail about this as it's explained in the first chapter. The only difference is that the possible production enhancers are the Parthenon, the National Epic and the pacifism civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other production enhancers aside, the philosophical trait produces 100% more GPP (Great People Points), but that doesn't mean it produces 100% more GP (Great People) during the course of a game. This is because the cost of getting the next GP increases each time you get one and as such, getting a certain amount of extra GPP is worth less the more GP you have already produced. Through calculations which I won't bother you with it appears that the philosophical trait results in 50% more GP during the course of a game, all other things being equal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you look at the amount of turns it will take to produce a certain amount of GP however, the philosophical trait accomplishes it twice as quickly. This is because we are talking about a predefined amount GPP, in which case the 100% extra production results in achieving the GPs twice as quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No anarchy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The spiritual trait appears to be a relatively easy trait to calculate the benefits of. It simply saves you the amount of hammers, food etc. that would have been wasted during the anarchy turn(s). It isn't as simple as that, however, as cities will have to spend the turn after the anarchy to produce what they would have done during the anarchy and as such they are essentially wasting their latest turn. To put it simpler, your cities' development are delayed by the amount of turns the anarchy lasts and because of that the penalty of the anarchy period is actually the latest turn(s) in the game. It isn't your whole empire's development that's being delayed though, as units can still move, you still receive gpt payments from other civs etc. during anarchy. In short, the spiritual trait is worth more than just the amount of hammers, food etc. wasted on the anarchy turn(s) itself. It is rather worth what you would be producing at the end of the game.</French>
		<German>[H1]Analysis of the Civilization Traits[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Theoden[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE]There are eight leader traits in the game, all with very concrete and tangible benefits. However, some of them give more and some of them give less benefit than what they look to be giving on the surface. I'm going to explain how much benefit each actually gives. This article will take the mathematical approach, as I'm measuring the magnitude of the traits' bonuses, rather than subjectively comparing them.[NEWLINE][H2]Generally for All Traits[\H2][NEWLINE]Most of the traits have one or more city improvements associated with it that it gains double production speed of. However that doesn't always mean the improvement is procured twice as fast, because the 100% bonus to hammers is of the base production. So if you already have a forge, building an improvement associated with your trait will make the total production speed rise from 125% to 225%, rather than 250%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's say, for example, that you have the spiritual trait, which gives half price on temples (80 hammers). With no other production enhancing improvements the spiritual trait will account for half of the hammers needed (40 hammers). However, if you have a forge the spiritual trait will only account for 100 / 225 = 44,4% of the hammers needed (35 hammers). As more production enhancers are added (e.g. organised religion, factory) the percentage of the hammers that the trait bonus contributes becomes increasingly smaller. While this may seem minor and insignificant, in the big picture it can total up to a significant amount of hammers.[NEWLINE][H2]The Traits[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free Combat I promotion of melee and gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a melee or gunpowder unit with no experience this trait is worth exactly what it says: a Combat I promotion giving 10% increased strength and equal to what the unit could achieve with 2 XP. As the unit levels up however, this combat I promotion rises in value. Let's say you have a unit with 17 XP giving it four promotions, and you want it to eventually have the commando promotion. With the Combat I promotion from the Aggressive trait you would be able to take commando promotion now (Combat II - IV and then commando), but without it you would only be able to promote your unit up to Combat IV. For the non-aggressive civ the experience required to get the commando promotion and have a unit as good as the aggressive civ's, is 26 which is 9 additional XP In this case the Aggressive trait is worth 9 XP In other words, the actual value of the aggressive trait is the amount of XP required to get the next promotion for a unit, providing you are upgrading in the Combat part of the promotion tree or that the Combat I promotion is useful to the unit. This means that the value of the trait increases with more experienced units because the XP required for a promotion is n^2 + 1. To put it more simple, if you are upgrading along the Combat part of the tree, the latest promotion you have chosen is your actual tangible benefit of having the aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+2 culture per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is pretty straightforward magnitude-wise. It will always add 2 culture to the city's base culture. This can be multiplied by cathedrals and a few wonders, but it should be noted that since the rest of the city's culture production will also increase proportionally, the percentage of the city's total culture that this trait is accountable for won't change with the culture multiplicative improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+3 health per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is also straightforward. The bonus is always 3 health for all cities and is never subject to multiplications or the like. The tangible benefit is between 0 and 3 food depending on how your health situation looks before and after the trait's bonus is applied. It can also make the difference between whether a city is eligible for We Love the King Day or not, saving an average amount of upkeep per turn depending on what the city's upkeep cost is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Financial is a trait that requires more calculation. It adds to the cities base commerce and is therefore subject to modifiers. Improvements or civics that multiply the science, gold or culture output of the city will all increase the benefit of the financial trait providing you are allocating at least 10% of your base commerce to the category in question (science, gold or culture). Improvements or civics that multiply the base commerce (e.g. Bureaucracy) increase the benefit regardless of slider settings. In short, the benefit of the financial trait in absolute numbers is the base commerce it adds (number of tiles worked that produces at least 2 commerce) multiplied by any modifiers present in the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Calculating its effect in relative numbers is relevant too though. In this case the multiplicative improvements and civics makes no difference as they are applied to all base commerce, not the just the commerce from the financial trait. What matters is a comparison between commerce before and after the trait is applied. The largest increase financial can result in is 50%, if all tiles produce exactly 2 commerce before it's applied. If a tile produces, for instance, 5 commerce, the advantage of adding the financial trait will be 20%. As a tile's commerce increases further the relative benefit decreases. Of course tiles can also produce less than 2 commerce in which case the benefit is 0%. In short, the relative benefit of the financial trait always lies somewhere between 0% and 50%, depending on how much commerce is being produced in the individual tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wonder production increased 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The calculations about the actual benefits of the trait-specific building bonuses also apply to the industrious trait, as the wonder production bonus is applied in the exact same way. There really isn't more to say about that as it's already explained in that chapter.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organised[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of the organised trait seems to be straightforward as it simply halves your civic upkeep expenses. However, the amount of gold that this trait saves you cannot be calculated just by looking at the remaining half that you are paying, because inflation factors in. By multiplying the upkeep that you appear to be saving with (1 + inflation rate) you will know how much gold this trait is actually saving you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another aspect of the organised trait to consider is the difficulty level. At lower levels the civic upkeep is relatively low and increases with difficulty level. As such the organised trait generally saves you more gold on the higher levels. The inflation rate is also higher on the harder difficulties, further increasing the benefit of organised on these difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great People birth rate increased 100 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is perhaps the most discussed trait regarding the actual benefit. There are countless threads on this, but I'll go through the non-subjective facts anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The philosophical trait's bonus works just like the trait-specific building bonuses and is subject to the same calculations regarding how much of the total output that it contributes. As with the industrious trait I won't go into detail about this as it's explained in the first chapter. The only difference is that the possible production enhancers are the Parthenon, the National Epic and the pacifism civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other production enhancers aside, the philosophical trait produces 100% more GPP (Great People Points), but that doesn't mean it produces 100% more GP (Great People) during the course of a game. This is because the cost of getting the next GP increases each time you get one and as such, getting a certain amount of extra GPP is worth less the more GP you have already produced. Through calculations which I won't bother you with it appears that the philosophical trait results in 50% more GP during the course of a game, all other things being equal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you look at the amount of turns it will take to produce a certain amount of GP however, the philosophical trait accomplishes it twice as quickly. This is because we are talking about a predefined amount GPP, in which case the 100% extra production results in achieving the GPs twice as quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No anarchy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The spiritual trait appears to be a relatively easy trait to calculate the benefits of. It simply saves you the amount of hammers, food etc. that would have been wasted during the anarchy turn(s). It isn't as simple as that, however, as cities will have to spend the turn after the anarchy to produce what they would have done during the anarchy and as such they are essentially wasting their latest turn. To put it simpler, your cities' development are delayed by the amount of turns the anarchy lasts and because of that the penalty of the anarchy period is actually the latest turn(s) in the game. It isn't your whole empire's development that's being delayed though, as units can still move, you still receive gpt payments from other civs etc. during anarchy. In short, the spiritual trait is worth more than just the amount of hammers, food etc. wasted on the anarchy turn(s) itself. It is rather worth what you would be producing at the end of the game.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Analysis of the Civilization Traits[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Theoden[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE]There are eight leader traits in the game, all with very concrete and tangible benefits. However, some of them give more and some of them give less benefit than what they look to be giving on the surface. I'm going to explain how much benefit each actually gives. This article will take the mathematical approach, as I'm measuring the magnitude of the traits' bonuses, rather than subjectively comparing them.[NEWLINE][H2]Generally for All Traits[\H2][NEWLINE]Most of the traits have one or more city improvements associated with it that it gains double production speed of. However that doesn't always mean the improvement is procured twice as fast, because the 100% bonus to hammers is of the base production. So if you already have a forge, building an improvement associated with your trait will make the total production speed rise from 125% to 225%, rather than 250%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's say, for example, that you have the spiritual trait, which gives half price on temples (80 hammers). With no other production enhancing improvements the spiritual trait will account for half of the hammers needed (40 hammers). However, if you have a forge the spiritual trait will only account for 100 / 225 = 44,4% of the hammers needed (35 hammers). As more production enhancers are added (e.g. organised religion, factory) the percentage of the hammers that the trait bonus contributes becomes increasingly smaller. While this may seem minor and insignificant, in the big picture it can total up to a significant amount of hammers.[NEWLINE][H2]The Traits[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free Combat I promotion of melee and gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a melee or gunpowder unit with no experience this trait is worth exactly what it says: a Combat I promotion giving 10% increased strength and equal to what the unit could achieve with 2 XP. As the unit levels up however, this combat I promotion rises in value. Let's say you have a unit with 17 XP giving it four promotions, and you want it to eventually have the commando promotion. With the Combat I promotion from the Aggressive trait you would be able to take commando promotion now (Combat II - IV and then commando), but without it you would only be able to promote your unit up to Combat IV. For the non-aggressive civ the experience required to get the commando promotion and have a unit as good as the aggressive civ's, is 26 which is 9 additional XP In this case the Aggressive trait is worth 9 XP In other words, the actual value of the aggressive trait is the amount of XP required to get the next promotion for a unit, providing you are upgrading in the Combat part of the promotion tree or that the Combat I promotion is useful to the unit. This means that the value of the trait increases with more experienced units because the XP required for a promotion is n^2 + 1. To put it more simple, if you are upgrading along the Combat part of the tree, the latest promotion you have chosen is your actual tangible benefit of having the aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+2 culture per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is pretty straightforward magnitude-wise. It will always add 2 culture to the city's base culture. This can be multiplied by cathedrals and a few wonders, but it should be noted that since the rest of the city's culture production will also increase proportionally, the percentage of the city's total culture that this trait is accountable for won't change with the culture multiplicative improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+3 health per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is also straightforward. The bonus is always 3 health for all cities and is never subject to multiplications or the like. The tangible benefit is between 0 and 3 food depending on how your health situation looks before and after the trait's bonus is applied. It can also make the difference between whether a city is eligible for We Love the King Day or not, saving an average amount of upkeep per turn depending on what the city's upkeep cost is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Financial is a trait that requires more calculation. It adds to the cities base commerce and is therefore subject to modifiers. Improvements or civics that multiply the science, gold or culture output of the city will all increase the benefit of the financial trait providing you are allocating at least 10% of your base commerce to the category in question (science, gold or culture). Improvements or civics that multiply the base commerce (e.g. Bureaucracy) increase the benefit regardless of slider settings. In short, the benefit of the financial trait in absolute numbers is the base commerce it adds (number of tiles worked that produces at least 2 commerce) multiplied by any modifiers present in the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Calculating its effect in relative numbers is relevant too though. In this case the multiplicative improvements and civics makes no difference as they are applied to all base commerce, not the just the commerce from the financial trait. What matters is a comparison between commerce before and after the trait is applied. The largest increase financial can result in is 50%, if all tiles produce exactly 2 commerce before it's applied. If a tile produces, for instance, 5 commerce, the advantage of adding the financial trait will be 20%. As a tile's commerce increases further the relative benefit decreases. Of course tiles can also produce less than 2 commerce in which case the benefit is 0%. In short, the relative benefit of the financial trait always lies somewhere between 0% and 50%, depending on how much commerce is being produced in the individual tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wonder production increased 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The calculations about the actual benefits of the trait-specific building bonuses also apply to the industrious trait, as the wonder production bonus is applied in the exact same way. There really isn't more to say about that as it's already explained in that chapter.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organised[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of the organised trait seems to be straightforward as it simply halves your civic upkeep expenses. However, the amount of gold that this trait saves you cannot be calculated just by looking at the remaining half that you are paying, because inflation factors in. By multiplying the upkeep that you appear to be saving with (1 + inflation rate) you will know how much gold this trait is actually saving you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another aspect of the organised trait to consider is the difficulty level. At lower levels the civic upkeep is relatively low and increases with difficulty level. As such the organised trait generally saves you more gold on the higher levels. The inflation rate is also higher on the harder difficulties, further increasing the benefit of organised on these difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great People birth rate increased 100 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is perhaps the most discussed trait regarding the actual benefit. There are countless threads on this, but I'll go through the non-subjective facts anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The philosophical trait's bonus works just like the trait-specific building bonuses and is subject to the same calculations regarding how much of the total output that it contributes. As with the industrious trait I won't go into detail about this as it's explained in the first chapter. The only difference is that the possible production enhancers are the Parthenon, the National Epic and the pacifism civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other production enhancers aside, the philosophical trait produces 100% more GPP (Great People Points), but that doesn't mean it produces 100% more GP (Great People) during the course of a game. This is because the cost of getting the next GP increases each time you get one and as such, getting a certain amount of extra GPP is worth less the more GP you have already produced. Through calculations which I won't bother you with it appears that the philosophical trait results in 50% more GP during the course of a game, all other things being equal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you look at the amount of turns it will take to produce a certain amount of GP however, the philosophical trait accomplishes it twice as quickly. This is because we are talking about a predefined amount GPP, in which case the 100% extra production results in achieving the GPs twice as quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No anarchy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The spiritual trait appears to be a relatively easy trait to calculate the benefits of. It simply saves you the amount of hammers, food etc. that would have been wasted during the anarchy turn(s). It isn't as simple as that, however, as cities will have to spend the turn after the anarchy to produce what they would have done during the anarchy and as such they are essentially wasting their latest turn. To put it simpler, your cities' development are delayed by the amount of turns the anarchy lasts and because of that the penalty of the anarchy period is actually the latest turn(s) in the game. It isn't your whole empire's development that's being delayed though, as units can still move, you still receive gpt payments from other civs etc. during anarchy. In short, the spiritual trait is worth more than just the amount of hammers, food etc. wasted on the anarchy turn(s) itself. It is rather worth what you would be producing at the end of the game.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Analysis of the Civilization Traits[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Theoden[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE]There are eight leader traits in the game, all with very concrete and tangible benefits. However, some of them give more and some of them give less benefit than what they look to be giving on the surface. I'm going to explain how much benefit each actually gives. This article will take the mathematical approach, as I'm measuring the magnitude of the traits' bonuses, rather than subjectively comparing them.[NEWLINE][H2]Generally for All Traits[\H2][NEWLINE]Most of the traits have one or more city improvements associated with it that it gains double production speed of. However that doesn't always mean the improvement is procured twice as fast, because the 100% bonus to hammers is of the base production. So if you already have a forge, building an improvement associated with your trait will make the total production speed rise from 125% to 225%, rather than 250%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's say, for example, that you have the spiritual trait, which gives half price on temples (80 hammers). With no other production enhancing improvements the spiritual trait will account for half of the hammers needed (40 hammers). However, if you have a forge the spiritual trait will only account for 100 / 225 = 44,4% of the hammers needed (35 hammers). As more production enhancers are added (e.g. organised religion, factory) the percentage of the hammers that the trait bonus contributes becomes increasingly smaller. While this may seem minor and insignificant, in the big picture it can total up to a significant amount of hammers.[NEWLINE][H2]The Traits[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free Combat I promotion of melee and gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a melee or gunpowder unit with no experience this trait is worth exactly what it says: a Combat I promotion giving 10% increased strength and equal to what the unit could achieve with 2 XP. As the unit levels up however, this combat I promotion rises in value. Let's say you have a unit with 17 XP giving it four promotions, and you want it to eventually have the commando promotion. With the Combat I promotion from the Aggressive trait you would be able to take commando promotion now (Combat II - IV and then commando), but without it you would only be able to promote your unit up to Combat IV. For the non-aggressive civ the experience required to get the commando promotion and have a unit as good as the aggressive civ's, is 26 which is 9 additional XP In this case the Aggressive trait is worth 9 XP In other words, the actual value of the aggressive trait is the amount of XP required to get the next promotion for a unit, providing you are upgrading in the Combat part of the promotion tree or that the Combat I promotion is useful to the unit. This means that the value of the trait increases with more experienced units because the XP required for a promotion is n^2 + 1. To put it more simple, if you are upgrading along the Combat part of the tree, the latest promotion you have chosen is your actual tangible benefit of having the aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Creative[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+2 culture per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is pretty straightforward magnitude-wise. It will always add 2 culture to the city's base culture. This can be multiplied by cathedrals and a few wonders, but it should be noted that since the rest of the city's culture production will also increase proportionally, the percentage of the city's total culture that this trait is accountable for won't change with the culture multiplicative improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Expansive[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+3 health per city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is also straightforward. The bonus is always 3 health for all cities and is never subject to multiplications or the like. The tangible benefit is between 0 and 3 food depending on how your health situation looks before and after the trait's bonus is applied. It can also make the difference between whether a city is eligible for We Love the King Day or not, saving an average amount of upkeep per turn depending on what the city's upkeep cost is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Financial[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]+1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Financial is a trait that requires more calculation. It adds to the cities base commerce and is therefore subject to modifiers. Improvements or civics that multiply the science, gold or culture output of the city will all increase the benefit of the financial trait providing you are allocating at least 10% of your base commerce to the category in question (science, gold or culture). Improvements or civics that multiply the base commerce (e.g. Bureaucracy) increase the benefit regardless of slider settings. In short, the benefit of the financial trait in absolute numbers is the base commerce it adds (number of tiles worked that produces at least 2 commerce) multiplied by any modifiers present in the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Calculating its effect in relative numbers is relevant too though. In this case the multiplicative improvements and civics makes no difference as they are applied to all base commerce, not the just the commerce from the financial trait. What matters is a comparison between commerce before and after the trait is applied. The largest increase financial can result in is 50%, if all tiles produce exactly 2 commerce before it's applied. If a tile produces, for instance, 5 commerce, the advantage of adding the financial trait will be 20%. As a tile's commerce increases further the relative benefit decreases. Of course tiles can also produce less than 2 commerce in which case the benefit is 0%. In short, the relative benefit of the financial trait always lies somewhere between 0% and 50%, depending on how much commerce is being produced in the individual tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wonder production increased 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The calculations about the actual benefits of the trait-specific building bonuses also apply to the industrious trait, as the wonder production bonus is applied in the exact same way. There really isn't more to say about that as it's already explained in that chapter.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organised[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of the organised trait seems to be straightforward as it simply halves your civic upkeep expenses. However, the amount of gold that this trait saves you cannot be calculated just by looking at the remaining half that you are paying, because inflation factors in. By multiplying the upkeep that you appear to be saving with (1 + inflation rate) you will know how much gold this trait is actually saving you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another aspect of the organised trait to consider is the difficulty level. At lower levels the civic upkeep is relatively low and increases with difficulty level. As such the organised trait generally saves you more gold on the higher levels. The inflation rate is also higher on the harder difficulties, further increasing the benefit of organised on these difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Great People birth rate increased 100 percent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is perhaps the most discussed trait regarding the actual benefit. There are countless threads on this, but I'll go through the non-subjective facts anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The philosophical trait's bonus works just like the trait-specific building bonuses and is subject to the same calculations regarding how much of the total output that it contributes. As with the industrious trait I won't go into detail about this as it's explained in the first chapter. The only difference is that the possible production enhancers are the Parthenon, the National Epic and the pacifism civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other production enhancers aside, the philosophical trait produces 100% more GPP (Great People Points), but that doesn't mean it produces 100% more GP (Great People) during the course of a game. This is because the cost of getting the next GP increases each time you get one and as such, getting a certain amount of extra GPP is worth less the more GP you have already produced. Through calculations which I won't bother you with it appears that the philosophical trait results in 50% more GP during the course of a game, all other things being equal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you look at the amount of turns it will take to produce a certain amount of GP however, the philosophical trait accomplishes it twice as quickly. This is because we are talking about a predefined amount GPP, in which case the 100% extra production results in achieving the GPs twice as quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No anarchy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The spiritual trait appears to be a relatively easy trait to calculate the benefits of. It simply saves you the amount of hammers, food etc. that would have been wasted during the anarchy turn(s). It isn't as simple as that, however, as cities will have to spend the turn after the anarchy to produce what they would have done during the anarchy and as such they are essentially wasting their latest turn. To put it simpler, your cities' development are delayed by the amount of turns the anarchy lasts and because of that the penalty of the anarchy period is actually the latest turn(s) in the game. It isn't your whole empire's development that's being delayed though, as units can still move, you still receive gpt payments from other civs etc. during anarchy. In short, the spiritual trait is worth more than just the amount of hammers, food etc. wasted on the anarchy turn(s) itself. It is rather worth what you would be producing at the end of the game.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_SYNERGY_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Traits, Warlords, and Synergy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]dh_epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thought I would take it upon myself to add a little bit to the strategy forum. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of traits goes beyond their description. To maximize the benefits of a trait, you need to use it in combination with other strategies. This is the definition of synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Syn·er·gy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.[NEWLINE][TAB]2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A few quick notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I tried to list the easiest to use traits at the top.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Easiest to use isn't always the best.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I focused mostly on the early part of the game.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Most of these are to help average players become great players.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some great players may benefit too, learning a few new tricks.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Big ups to Theoden for the vanilla trait-review (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179059). A lot of good stuff here, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Without any further ado, here is my analysis of the traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]TRAIT BREAKDOWN[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]INDUSTRIOUS[\BOLD]: Wonder production increased 50 percent, double speed production of Forge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Almost self explanatory. The end result is that an Industrious Civ is nearly guaranteed their first pick of any wonder, if they want it. And every wonder happens much faster, too. Which wonders you build are up to you. But I recommend you prioritize and think ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Put the industrious trait to good use by building lots of wonders. Don't just think of the speed advantage, think of it as an opporunity advantage. If you and your enemy both produce units, you'll be neck at neck. But if you both build a wonder, you'd also have enough time to build four or five more units than your opponent. Every hammer you save is a hammer you've earned.[NEWLINE]Think of it as free production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marble [\BOLD]and [BOLD]Stone [\BOLD]help rush wonders. [BOLD]Masonry [\BOLD]will let you build [BOLD]Quarries[\BOLD], allowing you to tap these key resources. Locate and tap these resources early.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's not much else to say here except that you might find yourself chasing wonders, and end up on a path through all the religious techs ([BOLD]Polytheism and the Parthenon, Priesthood and the Oracle[\BOLD]), with a strong opportunity to found Judaism ([BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], which requires [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]) first. If you DO found a religion, don't neglect those Missionaries ([BOLD]Meditation[\BOLD]), since you want your neighbors to share the same faith to keep you out of unncessary wars. Maybe one of those wonders you've built will pop you a Great Priest, letting you build a great shrine and spread your faith around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]FINANCIAL[\BOLD]: +1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Arguably the most powerful trait. Note that it has no cheap buildings to come with it, because the commerce bonus is huge. This one is almost self explanatory. The benefits affect your economy, and are multiplied by various buildings (like Libraries, if you use your commerce for research, or Marketplaces if you use your commerce for gold).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you do with the extra wealth is up to you. Some use it to run their science meter at full blast. Others use it to build more cities faster. And this is actually a great trait for warmongering, since unit maintainance costs can be huge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obvious statement is that you'll want to have at least a few [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] early. Get [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], build cottages. Rivers and other luxury resources are key, however. Be sure to settle smart city locations, and unlock other key resource technologies such as [BOLD]Mining[\BOLD] to tap [BOLD]Gold[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Silver[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're running lots of Cottages, there are several civics that leverage this. In particular is [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], which is available if you build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] (with [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]). The bonus only kicks in with Towns, though, which means you have to wait a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less obvious statement is that this trait actually has a HUGE coastal benefit. Coastal tiles produce two commerce each, leading to an easy commerce benefit. In order to take advantage of this, though, you'll need to build [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] so you can get the extra food in the ocean to support further growth. Fortunately, this is accessible with [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD], which also gives you ocean trade routes. Vital for any coast-loving player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] is the cherry on top. Available with [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD], it generates additional wealth in every water tile. A financial civ with a lot of coastal cities and the Colossus is something fierce. [BOLD]The Great Lighthouse (Masonry)[\BOLD] also plays into a heavy coastal strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PHILOSOPHICAL:[\BOLD] Great People birth rate increased 100 percent, double speed production of University.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a powerful civic, although both proponents and critics of this civic ought to look beyond the initial bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This does not ultimately lead to twice as many great people, but its bonus is very pronounced in its ability to produce great people [BOLD]faster[\BOLD]. And it still leads to more Great People in the long run. Sometimes as much as 50% more.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which great people you get and what you do with them is up to you. But keep in mind that sometimes the short term gains of a free tech are worth more than the long term gains of settling them as a great specialist -- getting that free tech can make you the first to a religion or even a tradable tech of great significance. Moreover, it can get you to other wonders, which generate more great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You CANNOT feed specialists unless you have the food resources to produce more than 2 food per tile. Survey those nearby food resources. If you see [BOLD]Cows[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Sheep[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] for [BOLD]Pastures[\BOLD]. If you see [BOLD]Rice[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Corn[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD]. Learn to freeze growth at the exact right moment, to maximize your number of specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are LOTS of other Great People generators. Get to [BOLD]Polytheism[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]. Why? +50% great leader birth in ALL cities. Get to [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD] civic. That's another +100% great leader birth in ALL cities. The real killer, though, is [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD]. Not only does this unlock the [BOLD]National Epic[\BOLD], giving you +100 great leader birth in one city, but it lets you build the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD] which pumps out Great Scientists by the boatload. Add it up and you can be swimming in great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you're running this specialist heavy economy, the [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD] civic can generate you huge amounts of science. Getting the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] can unlock this early. You might have to choose between the Pyramids and the Parthenon, and each has different benefits for a specialist economy in the short and long term. However, some lucky players can get both. If you're feeling ambitious, use the Pyramids to generate an early Great Engineer and use it to rush the Parthenon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHARISMATIC[\BOLD]: +1 happiness per city, -25% XP needed for unit promotions, +1 happiness from Monument, Broadcast Tower[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of this one is actually quite obvious. The happiness bonus puts itself to work quite effortlessly, and is often the big inhibitor for population growth. Along with the XP bonus, you'll find yourself grabbing those high end promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're probably already familiar with the [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. The key that makes Charismatic easier to use than aggressive is that the XP bonus applies towards ANY unit. What you do with your excess promotions is up to you. Keep in mind that the short term gains of a promotion like Cover (vs. Ranged Units) may actually outweigh a more versatile a long term promotion. Sure, Combat I will help you for the entire game, but targetting your enemy's immediate weakness can get you an early advantage. In Civ, the early advantage can sometimes give you the biggest long term payoff![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're the first to discover a unit, there's a good chance you can use it to grab a quick advantage. [BOLD]Horseback Riding[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Iron Working[\BOLD] are early favorites, although many have done serious damage with [BOLD]Elephants and Catapults (Construction), Crossbows (Machinery), or Macemen (Civil Service)[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anything that gains you XP here is good. [BOLD]Vassalage (with Feudalism)[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Theocracy (with Theology)[\BOLD] are XP generating civics. [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Stables (with Animal Husbandry)[\BOLD] are vital here. You may also be able to take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall (with Masonry)[\BOLD], suckering a Civ in allowing you to generate lots of Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AGGRESSIVE[\BOLD]: Free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units, double speed production of Barracks and Drydock.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest benefit of Combat I is NOT the 10% combat odds, although over a long enough time it can make for a significant advantage. Some people talk about how it means that you can get to Combat V by 17XP instead of 26XP -- which is nice, but not the big advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The crucial advantage of Combat I is that it unlocks access to other higher level promotions like Cover, Pinch, and Shock (bonus vs Archers, Gunpowder, and Melee). That means with but 2 XP -- less than what a Barracks gives you -- your Melee units gain powerful defence against specific unit types. These promotions may seem narrow in function, but their short term gains can be enough to give you a huge advantage. Moreover, with but 5 XP you have access to even better counters versus Siege and Mounted units. If you don't know how to use these "counter promotions", do yourself a favor and read a combat promotions FAQ. These are SUPER important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use this trait and have trouble fighting wars before 1AD, do yourself a favor and learn how. The key is doing it quickly, which Aggressive Civs are uniquely equipped to do. Learn to raze crappy cities to keep your maintainance costs down. (There are lots of articles out there that can help you wage early, fast wars.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Aggressive Civs can find many of the same synergies of [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs. Get the XP generating civics (like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]). And if you're feeling sassy, try luring people behind your [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to generate some quick Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But since this bonus only helps melee and gunpowder units, you'll want to make [BOLD]Axes or Swords[\BOLD] the staple of your army. [BOLD]Bronzeworking and Ironworking[\BOLD] are key. Mounted and ranged units won't gain you any specific advantage, but it never hurts to mix up your stacks to avoid being too vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PROTECTIVE[\BOLD]: Archery and Gunpowder units receive Drill I and City Garrison I automatically, Double production speed of Walls and Castle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This one makes your defence DAMN hard to break. For many players, this won't help them, since they generally find themselves on the offense, and can run circles around the AI's military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Still, there's a LOT of ways to push this civic to its full potential. The key is in the synergies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Protective Civs are a lot like [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Civs in that they'll need to discover [BOLD]Feudalism or Theology[\BOLD] early for their XP generating civics. You'll also want to produce a [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] sooner. The key difference, however, is that you should have a strong preference for [BOLD]City Garrison 3[\BOLD]. If you can get your units to City Garrison 3, they almost DOUBLE in defensive capabilities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get [BOLD]Archery[\BOLD] early, since it's ranged units that get the Protective bonus. If you can find yourself at [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] early, your [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] might be a key to invincibility. Some people even use the [BOLD]Oracle (Priesthood)[\BOLD] to slingshot to Feudalism early. It CAN be done.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, big deal. You have really strong defence, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's the key. You can sometimes get away with defending your cities with as few as 2 units with City Garrison 3. This means you keep a VERY small defensive army. This can save you maintainance costs, allowing you to pour more into science, to settle more cities, or go on the offense. You might be able to find an economic synergy with some of the [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT] trait's strategies, or find a warmongering synergy with some [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies. You don't even have to be Financial or Aggressive to use these strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPERIALISTIC[\BOLD]:+100% Great General emergence, 50% faster production of settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the addition of Great Generals, this can lead to a small snowball effect for a successful warmonger. You'll get those great generals a lot faster, which you can use for either short OR long term benefits. Just as with [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs, learning to fight an early war is challenging but invaluable. If you're not going to war using this trait, you're missing out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the snap-settlers have a distinct benefit too, even for peaceful players. Maintainance costs and barbarians will prevent you from settling too recklessly, so an Imperialistic Civ won't necessarily build an Empire right away. But an Imperialistic Civilization will move fast enough to get the best city locations -- that's key.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You'll want to combine this trait with [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], in order to get those [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] happening. If you're grabbing those great city locations fast, you're going to need an economy capable of supporting the maintainance costs. It's a good thing the [BOLD]Wheel[\BOLD] is on the way to Pottery, since it means you'll be able to hook up those resources you find.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keep in mind that the ocean can be a great source of wealth, especially if you have early acecss to [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]. Rivers too. Keep your economy strong.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And do not neglect defence. You should either have [BOLD]Archery or Bronzeworking[\BOLD] early, so you can defend your great city locations. Bronzeworking can be especially valuable, since you can use it to [BOLD]chop down trees[\BOLD], generating production to knock out those settlers (and defenders) faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A key advantage with this one can be the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD], from [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. Once you've built up your empire, the great wall can protect you from barbarians without having to spend as much time pumping out defensive units. (Keep in mind Imperialistic has a Great General bonus too. You might be able to lure people behind the great wall to get Great Generals REALLY fast.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CREATIVE[\BOLD]: +2 culture per city, double speed production of Theatre and Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait may seem like a shoe in for cultural victory, but the 2 culture really doesn't do much in the long run. The bigger benefit comes very early, and especially at high difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Culture determines your borders. With 2 culture, your borders will be popping faster AND sooner than even someone who builds Stonehenge. Especially against the AI's huge handicaps at the higher levels, this can be the key to settling a large land mass before the AI can squeeze you out. The extra culture can let you seal off choke points in the map, allowing you keep the territory beyond your borders away from the AI. Your borders may even get so wide that you can space your cities out and still cover the continent. In many ways, creative will let you hold territory from the AI that you can settle with additional cities later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This also means that your new cities will have quick access to nearby resources, without worry that the AI will overtake you. In fact, you can settle damn close to the enemy, without worry that their culture will overtake yours. Even as a warmonger, you'll find that your newly conquered outposts will be less vulernable, and will pick up vital resources with more ease.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you finally have the cities you want, be prepared to consolidate your defence. Wider borders extend your field of vision, preventing barbarians from appearing. And they also give you a defensive bonus. If you can master the defensive potential of Creative, all you need to do is learn when to slow down expansion so your economy can catch up. If you let maintainance costs get the best of you, all your expansion will be for nothing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait, surprisingly, has the most in common with the [COLOR_RED]Imperialistic[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. Its advantage comes when you build lots of settlers and grab the best locations. Speed is the essence of your strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use [BOLD]Cottages (Pottery)[\BOLD], rivers, and oceans ([BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]) to pay down the maintainance costs of your faster growth. Be sure to defend your mass of cities with [BOLD]Archers (Archery), or Axemen (Bronzeworking)[\BOLD]... and [BOLD]chop trees[\BOLD] to keep things moving fast. You can catch your breath and consolidate your holdings later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While Creative civs have the benefit of cultural defence, the [BOLD]Great Wall (Masonry)[\BOLD] can be great for keeping barbarians out. With your huge borders, this can be especially useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]EXPANSIVE[\BOLD]: +3 health per city. Double speed production of Granary and Harbor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm not going to lie to you. I think this trait is on the weak side. However, you CANNOT discount this trait's cheaper buildings. The cheap buildings may be the best part. This trait WILL let you get a huge population, and quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What does a huge population help you with? Well, besides [BOLD]everything[\BOLD], a huge population is great for running a specialist-heavy economy. See [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] for more details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Much of the debate for this trait revolves around whether health or happiness are the biggest barriers to growth. Well, even if you assume that expansive will give you more health than you know what to do with, there are a few strategies below to get the extra happiness you need. At high difficulties, this can have huge payoffs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take advantage of that fast [BOLD]Granary[\BOLD]. You can't do this if you don't get to [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD] early on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players may find that happiness tends to inhibit their city growth more than health. However, the [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] civic is an easy target with big payoffs. This civic generates happiness for every military unit you have, with no upper limit. If you can discovery [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD] early, or build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], you can tap this civic and EASILY support 3 more population than the average Civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery[\BOLD] can be a huge advantage of these additional people. With [BOLD]Bronzeworking[\BOLD], you can access the slavery civic and turn those population points into production. Excess happiness can keep the remaining citizens content. Slavery can be extremely potent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or you can let those people live. Combine this with some of the Specialist-heavy strategies recommended under the [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] trait... even if you're not Philosophical. Where you have lots of population and food, you have can have specialists and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SPIRITUAL[\BOLD]: No anarchy, double produciton speed of temples.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lack of anarchy can save you a vital turn of production. I'll confess I think this trait is also a little weak, but there is a group of hardcore players who strongly disagree.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These hardcore players tout the advantages of micromanaging their civics, swapping between theocracy/organized religion or vassalage/bureaucracy as their cities shift focus from units to buildings. One later game favorite is swapping between Nationalism and Free Speech, drafting units but gaining other benefits in the downtime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can also swap religions easily, to further your diplomatic interests, or to take advantage of "religious sight" -- that the founder of a religion can see into cities of that religion around the world. These tricks are hard to master, but can make Spiritual a quite formidable trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the long run, yes, you will want to discover those key civic technologies. [BOLD]Civil Service and Theology[\BOLD] will be key technologies as they allow you to grab [BOLD]Bureaucracy and Theocracy[\BOLD] (respectively). This will let you start to take advantage of swapping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But in the short run, a Spiritual Civilization generally (but not always) has instant access to [BOLD]Mysticism[\BOLD]. That means they have the BEST chance of founding a religion, and a decent chance of keeping multiple religions out of the hands of other players. GET THOSE RELIGIONS. [BOLD]Polytheism, Meditation, and Monotheism[\BOLD] are key. Having Mysticism also gives you quick access to [BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD], which generates a valuable Great Prophet, which can help you to found the next religion before your opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While on the religious path, you may find yourself discovering [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD]. This gives you the earliest and easiest access to [BOLD]Temples[\BOLD], which let you run Priest specialists. Most Spiritual civilizations have early enough access to Priests that they can generate Great Prophets, if they so choose. An early Great Prophet can help you access Theology, Divine Right, or Civil Service. See this article: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140952 for how you might be able to leverage this to your advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early access to Priesthood also unlocks the [BOLD]Oracle[\BOLD]. The obvious benefit of this is that it lets you discover a free technology like [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Construction[\BOLD], and also generates a Great Prophet. However, if you plan accordingly, you can use this slingshot to discover [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD]), or [BOLD]Civil Service[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]). You haven't seen anything until you've seen [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] by 1000 BC![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another key is that the path to Judaism and Christianity flows right through [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. That gives you a perfect opportunity to grab the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], giving you a slew of Civics to swap between.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And an addition from VoiceOfUnreason, it's important to note that many big civics come with religions. [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Pacifism and Taoism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Theology[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Theocracy and Christianity[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Organized Religion and Judaism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Caste System and Confucianism[\BOLD]. You'll want to prioritize at least a few of these, if not all of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ORGANIZED[\BOLD]: Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent. Double production speed of Lighthouse and Courthouse.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that civic upkeep is proportional to the total number of people in your civilization. More people cost more money. That means that this civic works harder the larger your population grows. It also works harder at higher levels, since civics costs are more pronounced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is actually underrated, especially when you factor in its cheap buildings. If you're running expensive civics, you'll notice a considerable difference in your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two main synergies here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One is that of expansion. Organized can support a larger empire with as much efficiency as [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT], and with LESS EFFORT on your part. If you wanted to start an early war, this would be the civic that would let you do it. If you fast track to [BOLD]Iron Working or Horseback Riding[\BOLD], you can catch the enemy off guard and be able to actually pay for those huge civics costs. The maintainance from your cities can also be taken care of easily with your cheap [BOLD]Courthouses[\BOLD], if you aim for [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. Keep in mind that civics costs rise with your population, but city maintainance costs increase exponentially with your number of cities. Organized lets you expand (and conquer) with less worry about those costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are also peaceful synergies. If you hightail it for [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], you'll also get the expensive [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD] civic, and access to the [BOLD]Pyramids (with Masonry)[\BOLD]. The Pyramids unlock a slew of civics, and Organized Religion is one of the most expensive civics. Along with a good shot at founding [BOLD]Judaism[\BOLD], you just have to learn how to put these civics to good use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some people manage to juggle both, although it's harder at higher levels. Some people build up first, and then launch a war. You can also be sinister, though, conquering the enemy civ with the Pyramids rather than building it themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Think about ways to boost your population. [COLOR_RED]Expansive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies can sometimes apply here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]DOUBLE TRAIT SYNERGIES[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]COLONIAL SETTLERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]VICTORIA [\BOLD](Imperialistic Financial): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AUGUSTUS [\BOLD](Creative Organized): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CATHERINE [\BOLD](Imperialistic Creative): Build lots of cities in the best locations, even at the higher difficulties. Settle a continent with speed and immunity. Take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to hold off any interlopers, and be careful about your maintainance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]OFFENSIVE MILITARISTS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHURCHILL [\BOLD](Charismatic Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Beeline for a military advantage, and remember that the [BOLD]Redcoat[\BOLD] is a beast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]TOKUGAWA [\BOLD](Aggressive Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Keep focused on Melee and Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CYRUS [\BOLD](Charismatic Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Immortals[\BOLD] in the ancient era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Swordsmen[\BOLD] in the classical era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GENGHIS KHAN [\BOLD](Aggressive Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Keshiks[\BOLD] in the classical era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Macemen[\BOLD] in the medieval era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]JULIUS CAESAR [\BOLD](Imperialistic Organized): Start an early war, with fewer concerns about how you're gonna pay for those maintainance costs. Try to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD], and remember that [BOLD]Praetorians[\BOLD] are beasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]NAPOLEON[\BOLD](Charismatic Organized): Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD] to promote your units, while Organized helps pay for the civics costs. The experienced units and fast [BOLD]Musketeers[\BOLD] will let you conquer faster, and Organized will help pay for your huge empire. It never hurts to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] and use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]DEFENDERS OF FAITH[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SALADIN [\BOLD](Spiritual Protective): Biggest winner from "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]RAMESSES[\BOLD] (Spiritual Industrious): More likely winner for "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ASOKA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Organized): Best equipped to take advantage of the Pyramids. Can get there early, grab lots of religions, and take advantage of cheap and fast civics swaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PERFECTIONIST BUILDERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]WANG KON [\BOLD](Protective Financial): Protective can potentially cut down your army size and thus your unit maintainance costs. Combine this with Financial for an Economic explosion. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PETER[\BOLD] (Expansive Philosophical): Have the biggest cities with the most specialists. Make sure you grab the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD], and add [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] with lots of food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GANDHI[\BOLD] (Spiritual Philosophical): Will have the easiest time getting the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] to support lots of specialists, with some religions along the way to collect lots of gold. Be sure to get the food to back it up, and make your way toward [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Philosophy/Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MEHMED[\BOLD] (Organized Expansive): Support huge amounts of population. Get lots of food, [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD], and the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] to maximize the benefits of the cheap civics costs. The [BOLD]Hammam[\BOLD] supports 2 additional population, without fail.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MANSA MUSA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Financial): One of the few spiritual civs that doesn't start with Mysticism. But if you delay your expansion, you CAN found two religions in one city. In combination with the Financial bonus, you can have one hell of a money-generator (once you add the [BOLD]Mint[\BOLD], and[BOLD] Wall Street[\BOLD]). Acquire other wonders like the [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] to make the richest city in the world. And if you can use the [BOLD]Oracle-Civil Service[\BOLD] gambit, you can switch to [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] and stack up huge coin by 1000 BC.</English>
		<French>[H1]Traits, Warlords, and Synergy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]dh_epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thought I would take it upon myself to add a little bit to the strategy forum. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of traits goes beyond their description. To maximize the benefits of a trait, you need to use it in combination with other strategies. This is the definition of synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Syn·er·gy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.[NEWLINE][TAB]2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A few quick notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I tried to list the easiest to use traits at the top.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Easiest to use isn't always the best.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I focused mostly on the early part of the game.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Most of these are to help average players become great players.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some great players may benefit too, learning a few new tricks.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Big ups to Theoden for the vanilla trait-review (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179059). A lot of good stuff here, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Without any further ado, here is my analysis of the traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]TRAIT BREAKDOWN[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]INDUSTRIOUS[\BOLD]: Wonder production increased 50 percent, double speed production of Forge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Almost self explanatory. The end result is that an Industrious Civ is nearly guaranteed their first pick of any wonder, if they want it. And every wonder happens much faster, too. Which wonders you build are up to you. But I recommend you prioritize and think ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Put the industrious trait to good use by building lots of wonders. Don't just think of the speed advantage, think of it as an opporunity advantage. If you and your enemy both produce units, you'll be neck at neck. But if you both build a wonder, you'd also have enough time to build four or five more units than your opponent. Every hammer you save is a hammer you've earned.[NEWLINE]Think of it as free production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marble [\BOLD]and [BOLD]Stone [\BOLD]help rush wonders. [BOLD]Masonry [\BOLD]will let you build [BOLD]Quarries[\BOLD], allowing you to tap these key resources. Locate and tap these resources early.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's not much else to say here except that you might find yourself chasing wonders, and end up on a path through all the religious techs ([BOLD]Polytheism and the Parthenon, Priesthood and the Oracle[\BOLD]), with a strong opportunity to found Judaism ([BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], which requires [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]) first. If you DO found a religion, don't neglect those Missionaries ([BOLD]Meditation[\BOLD]), since you want your neighbors to share the same faith to keep you out of unncessary wars. Maybe one of those wonders you've built will pop you a Great Priest, letting you build a great shrine and spread your faith around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]FINANCIAL[\BOLD]: +1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Arguably the most powerful trait. Note that it has no cheap buildings to come with it, because the commerce bonus is huge. This one is almost self explanatory. The benefits affect your economy, and are multiplied by various buildings (like Libraries, if you use your commerce for research, or Marketplaces if you use your commerce for gold).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you do with the extra wealth is up to you. Some use it to run their science meter at full blast. Others use it to build more cities faster. And this is actually a great trait for warmongering, since unit maintainance costs can be huge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obvious statement is that you'll want to have at least a few [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] early. Get [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], build cottages. Rivers and other luxury resources are key, however. Be sure to settle smart city locations, and unlock other key resource technologies such as [BOLD]Mining[\BOLD] to tap [BOLD]Gold[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Silver[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're running lots of Cottages, there are several civics that leverage this. In particular is [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], which is available if you build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] (with [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]). The bonus only kicks in with Towns, though, which means you have to wait a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less obvious statement is that this trait actually has a HUGE coastal benefit. Coastal tiles produce two commerce each, leading to an easy commerce benefit. In order to take advantage of this, though, you'll need to build [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] so you can get the extra food in the ocean to support further growth. Fortunately, this is accessible with [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD], which also gives you ocean trade routes. Vital for any coast-loving player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] is the cherry on top. Available with [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD], it generates additional wealth in every water tile. A financial civ with a lot of coastal cities and the Colossus is something fierce. [BOLD]The Great Lighthouse (Masonry)[\BOLD] also plays into a heavy coastal strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PHILOSOPHICAL:[\BOLD] Great People birth rate increased 100 percent, double speed production of University.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a powerful civic, although both proponents and critics of this civic ought to look beyond the initial bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This does not ultimately lead to twice as many great people, but its bonus is very pronounced in its ability to produce great people [BOLD]faster[\BOLD]. And it still leads to more Great People in the long run. Sometimes as much as 50% more.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which great people you get and what you do with them is up to you. But keep in mind that sometimes the short term gains of a free tech are worth more than the long term gains of settling them as a great specialist -- getting that free tech can make you the first to a religion or even a tradable tech of great significance. Moreover, it can get you to other wonders, which generate more great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You CANNOT feed specialists unless you have the food resources to produce more than 2 food per tile. Survey those nearby food resources. If you see [BOLD]Cows[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Sheep[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] for [BOLD]Pastures[\BOLD]. If you see [BOLD]Rice[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Corn[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD]. Learn to freeze growth at the exact right moment, to maximize your number of specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are LOTS of other Great People generators. Get to [BOLD]Polytheism[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]. Why? +50% great leader birth in ALL cities. Get to [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD] civic. That's another +100% great leader birth in ALL cities. The real killer, though, is [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD]. Not only does this unlock the [BOLD]National Epic[\BOLD], giving you +100 great leader birth in one city, but it lets you build the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD] which pumps out Great Scientists by the boatload. Add it up and you can be swimming in great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you're running this specialist heavy economy, the [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD] civic can generate you huge amounts of science. Getting the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] can unlock this early. You might have to choose between the Pyramids and the Parthenon, and each has different benefits for a specialist economy in the short and long term. However, some lucky players can get both. If you're feeling ambitious, use the Pyramids to generate an early Great Engineer and use it to rush the Parthenon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHARISMATIC[\BOLD]: +1 happiness per city, -25% XP needed for unit promotions, +1 happiness from Monument, Broadcast Tower[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of this one is actually quite obvious. The happiness bonus puts itself to work quite effortlessly, and is often the big inhibitor for population growth. Along with the XP bonus, you'll find yourself grabbing those high end promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're probably already familiar with the [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. The key that makes Charismatic easier to use than aggressive is that the XP bonus applies towards ANY unit. What you do with your excess promotions is up to you. Keep in mind that the short term gains of a promotion like Cover (vs. Ranged Units) may actually outweigh a more versatile a long term promotion. Sure, Combat I will help you for the entire game, but targetting your enemy's immediate weakness can get you an early advantage. In Civ, the early advantage can sometimes give you the biggest long term payoff![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're the first to discover a unit, there's a good chance you can use it to grab a quick advantage. [BOLD]Horseback Riding[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Iron Working[\BOLD] are early favorites, although many have done serious damage with [BOLD]Elephants and Catapults (Construction), Crossbows (Machinery), or Macemen (Civil Service)[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anything that gains you XP here is good. [BOLD]Vassalage (with Feudalism)[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Theocracy (with Theology)[\BOLD] are XP generating civics. [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Stables (with Animal Husbandry)[\BOLD] are vital here. You may also be able to take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall (with Masonry)[\BOLD], suckering a Civ in allowing you to generate lots of Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AGGRESSIVE[\BOLD]: Free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units, double speed production of Barracks and Drydock.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest benefit of Combat I is NOT the 10% combat odds, although over a long enough time it can make for a significant advantage. Some people talk about how it means that you can get to Combat V by 17XP instead of 26XP -- which is nice, but not the big advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The crucial advantage of Combat I is that it unlocks access to other higher level promotions like Cover, Pinch, and Shock (bonus vs Archers, Gunpowder, and Melee). That means with but 2 XP -- less than what a Barracks gives you -- your Melee units gain powerful defence against specific unit types. These promotions may seem narrow in function, but their short term gains can be enough to give you a huge advantage. Moreover, with but 5 XP you have access to even better counters versus Siege and Mounted units. If you don't know how to use these "counter promotions", do yourself a favor and read a combat promotions FAQ. These are SUPER important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use this trait and have trouble fighting wars before 1AD, do yourself a favor and learn how. The key is doing it quickly, which Aggressive Civs are uniquely equipped to do. Learn to raze crappy cities to keep your maintainance costs down. (There are lots of articles out there that can help you wage early, fast wars.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Aggressive Civs can find many of the same synergies of [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs. Get the XP generating civics (like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]). And if you're feeling sassy, try luring people behind your [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to generate some quick Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But since this bonus only helps melee and gunpowder units, you'll want to make [BOLD]Axes or Swords[\BOLD] the staple of your army. [BOLD]Bronzeworking and Ironworking[\BOLD] are key. Mounted and ranged units won't gain you any specific advantage, but it never hurts to mix up your stacks to avoid being too vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PROTECTIVE[\BOLD]: Archery and Gunpowder units receive Drill I and City Garrison I automatically, Double production speed of Walls and Castle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This one makes your defence DAMN hard to break. For many players, this won't help them, since they generally find themselves on the offense, and can run circles around the AI's military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Still, there's a LOT of ways to push this civic to its full potential. The key is in the synergies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Protective Civs are a lot like [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Civs in that they'll need to discover [BOLD]Feudalism or Theology[\BOLD] early for their XP generating civics. You'll also want to produce a [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] sooner. The key difference, however, is that you should have a strong preference for [BOLD]City Garrison 3[\BOLD]. If you can get your units to City Garrison 3, they almost DOUBLE in defensive capabilities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get [BOLD]Archery[\BOLD] early, since it's ranged units that get the Protective bonus. If you can find yourself at [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] early, your [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] might be a key to invincibility. Some people even use the [BOLD]Oracle (Priesthood)[\BOLD] to slingshot to Feudalism early. It CAN be done.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, big deal. You have really strong defence, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's the key. You can sometimes get away with defending your cities with as few as 2 units with City Garrison 3. This means you keep a VERY small defensive army. This can save you maintainance costs, allowing you to pour more into science, to settle more cities, or go on the offense. You might be able to find an economic synergy with some of the [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT] trait's strategies, or find a warmongering synergy with some [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies. You don't even have to be Financial or Aggressive to use these strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPERIALISTIC[\BOLD]:+100% Great General emergence, 50% faster production of settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the addition of Great Generals, this can lead to a small snowball effect for a successful warmonger. You'll get those great generals a lot faster, which you can use for either short OR long term benefits. Just as with [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs, learning to fight an early war is challenging but invaluable. If you're not going to war using this trait, you're missing out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the snap-settlers have a distinct benefit too, even for peaceful players. Maintainance costs and barbarians will prevent you from settling too recklessly, so an Imperialistic Civ won't necessarily build an Empire right away. But an Imperialistic Civilization will move fast enough to get the best city locations -- that's key.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You'll want to combine this trait with [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], in order to get those [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] happening. If you're grabbing those great city locations fast, you're going to need an economy capable of supporting the maintainance costs. It's a good thing the [BOLD]Wheel[\BOLD] is on the way to Pottery, since it means you'll be able to hook up those resources you find.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keep in mind that the ocean can be a great source of wealth, especially if you have early acecss to [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]. Rivers too. Keep your economy strong.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And do not neglect defence. You should either have [BOLD]Archery or Bronzeworking[\BOLD] early, so you can defend your great city locations. Bronzeworking can be especially valuable, since you can use it to [BOLD]chop down trees[\BOLD], generating production to knock out those settlers (and defenders) faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A key advantage with this one can be the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD], from [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. Once you've built up your empire, the great wall can protect you from barbarians without having to spend as much time pumping out defensive units. (Keep in mind Imperialistic has a Great General bonus too. You might be able to lure people behind the great wall to get Great Generals REALLY fast.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CREATIVE[\BOLD]: +2 culture per city, double speed production of Theatre and Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait may seem like a shoe in for cultural victory, but the 2 culture really doesn't do much in the long run. The bigger benefit comes very early, and especially at high difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Culture determines your borders. With 2 culture, your borders will be popping faster AND sooner than even someone who builds Stonehenge. Especially against the AI's huge handicaps at the higher levels, this can be the key to settling a large land mass before the AI can squeeze you out. The extra culture can let you seal off choke points in the map, allowing you keep the territory beyond your borders away from the AI. Your borders may even get so wide that you can space your cities out and still cover the continent. In many ways, creative will let you hold territory from the AI that you can settle with additional cities later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This also means that your new cities will have quick access to nearby resources, without worry that the AI will overtake you. In fact, you can settle damn close to the enemy, without worry that their culture will overtake yours. Even as a warmonger, you'll find that your newly conquered outposts will be less vulernable, and will pick up vital resources with more ease.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you finally have the cities you want, be prepared to consolidate your defence. Wider borders extend your field of vision, preventing barbarians from appearing. And they also give you a defensive bonus. If you can master the defensive potential of Creative, all you need to do is learn when to slow down expansion so your economy can catch up. If you let maintainance costs get the best of you, all your expansion will be for nothing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait, surprisingly, has the most in common with the [COLOR_RED]Imperialistic[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. Its advantage comes when you build lots of settlers and grab the best locations. Speed is the essence of your strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use [BOLD]Cottages (Pottery)[\BOLD], rivers, and oceans ([BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]) to pay down the maintainance costs of your faster growth. Be sure to defend your mass of cities with [BOLD]Archers (Archery), or Axemen (Bronzeworking)[\BOLD]... and [BOLD]chop trees[\BOLD] to keep things moving fast. You can catch your breath and consolidate your holdings later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While Creative civs have the benefit of cultural defence, the [BOLD]Great Wall (Masonry)[\BOLD] can be great for keeping barbarians out. With your huge borders, this can be especially useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]EXPANSIVE[\BOLD]: +3 health per city. Double speed production of Granary and Harbor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm not going to lie to you. I think this trait is on the weak side. However, you CANNOT discount this trait's cheaper buildings. The cheap buildings may be the best part. This trait WILL let you get a huge population, and quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What does a huge population help you with? Well, besides [BOLD]everything[\BOLD], a huge population is great for running a specialist-heavy economy. See [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] for more details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Much of the debate for this trait revolves around whether health or happiness are the biggest barriers to growth. Well, even if you assume that expansive will give you more health than you know what to do with, there are a few strategies below to get the extra happiness you need. At high difficulties, this can have huge payoffs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take advantage of that fast [BOLD]Granary[\BOLD]. You can't do this if you don't get to [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD] early on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players may find that happiness tends to inhibit their city growth more than health. However, the [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] civic is an easy target with big payoffs. This civic generates happiness for every military unit you have, with no upper limit. If you can discovery [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD] early, or build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], you can tap this civic and EASILY support 3 more population than the average Civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery[\BOLD] can be a huge advantage of these additional people. With [BOLD]Bronzeworking[\BOLD], you can access the slavery civic and turn those population points into production. Excess happiness can keep the remaining citizens content. Slavery can be extremely potent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or you can let those people live. Combine this with some of the Specialist-heavy strategies recommended under the [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] trait... even if you're not Philosophical. Where you have lots of population and food, you have can have specialists and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SPIRITUAL[\BOLD]: No anarchy, double produciton speed of temples.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lack of anarchy can save you a vital turn of production. I'll confess I think this trait is also a little weak, but there is a group of hardcore players who strongly disagree.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These hardcore players tout the advantages of micromanaging their civics, swapping between theocracy/organized religion or vassalage/bureaucracy as their cities shift focus from units to buildings. One later game favorite is swapping between Nationalism and Free Speech, drafting units but gaining other benefits in the downtime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can also swap religions easily, to further your diplomatic interests, or to take advantage of "religious sight" -- that the founder of a religion can see into cities of that religion around the world. These tricks are hard to master, but can make Spiritual a quite formidable trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the long run, yes, you will want to discover those key civic technologies. [BOLD]Civil Service and Theology[\BOLD] will be key technologies as they allow you to grab [BOLD]Bureaucracy and Theocracy[\BOLD] (respectively). This will let you start to take advantage of swapping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But in the short run, a Spiritual Civilization generally (but not always) has instant access to [BOLD]Mysticism[\BOLD]. That means they have the BEST chance of founding a religion, and a decent chance of keeping multiple religions out of the hands of other players. GET THOSE RELIGIONS. [BOLD]Polytheism, Meditation, and Monotheism[\BOLD] are key. Having Mysticism also gives you quick access to [BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD], which generates a valuable Great Prophet, which can help you to found the next religion before your opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While on the religious path, you may find yourself discovering [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD]. This gives you the earliest and easiest access to [BOLD]Temples[\BOLD], which let you run Priest specialists. Most Spiritual civilizations have early enough access to Priests that they can generate Great Prophets, if they so choose. An early Great Prophet can help you access Theology, Divine Right, or Civil Service. See this article: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140952 for how you might be able to leverage this to your advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early access to Priesthood also unlocks the [BOLD]Oracle[\BOLD]. The obvious benefit of this is that it lets you discover a free technology like [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Construction[\BOLD], and also generates a Great Prophet. However, if you plan accordingly, you can use this slingshot to discover [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD]), or [BOLD]Civil Service[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]). You haven't seen anything until you've seen [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] by 1000 BC![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another key is that the path to Judaism and Christianity flows right through [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. That gives you a perfect opportunity to grab the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], giving you a slew of Civics to swap between.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And an addition from VoiceOfUnreason, it's important to note that many big civics come with religions. [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Pacifism and Taoism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Theology[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Theocracy and Christianity[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Organized Religion and Judaism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Caste System and Confucianism[\BOLD]. You'll want to prioritize at least a few of these, if not all of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ORGANIZED[\BOLD]: Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent. Double production speed of Lighthouse and Courthouse.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that civic upkeep is proportional to the total number of people in your civilization. More people cost more money. That means that this civic works harder the larger your population grows. It also works harder at higher levels, since civics costs are more pronounced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is actually underrated, especially when you factor in its cheap buildings. If you're running expensive civics, you'll notice a considerable difference in your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two main synergies here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One is that of expansion. Organized can support a larger empire with as much efficiency as [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT], and with LESS EFFORT on your part. If you wanted to start an early war, this would be the civic that would let you do it. If you fast track to [BOLD]Iron Working or Horseback Riding[\BOLD], you can catch the enemy off guard and be able to actually pay for those huge civics costs. The maintainance from your cities can also be taken care of easily with your cheap [BOLD]Courthouses[\BOLD], if you aim for [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. Keep in mind that civics costs rise with your population, but city maintainance costs increase exponentially with your number of cities. Organized lets you expand (and conquer) with less worry about those costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are also peaceful synergies. If you hightail it for [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], you'll also get the expensive [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD] civic, and access to the [BOLD]Pyramids (with Masonry)[\BOLD]. The Pyramids unlock a slew of civics, and Organized Religion is one of the most expensive civics. Along with a good shot at founding [BOLD]Judaism[\BOLD], you just have to learn how to put these civics to good use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some people manage to juggle both, although it's harder at higher levels. Some people build up first, and then launch a war. You can also be sinister, though, conquering the enemy civ with the Pyramids rather than building it themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Think about ways to boost your population. [COLOR_RED]Expansive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies can sometimes apply here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]DOUBLE TRAIT SYNERGIES[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]COLONIAL SETTLERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]VICTORIA [\BOLD](Imperialistic Financial): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AUGUSTUS [\BOLD](Creative Organized): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CATHERINE [\BOLD](Imperialistic Creative): Build lots of cities in the best locations, even at the higher difficulties. Settle a continent with speed and immunity. Take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to hold off any interlopers, and be careful about your maintainance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]OFFENSIVE MILITARISTS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHURCHILL [\BOLD](Charismatic Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Beeline for a military advantage, and remember that the [BOLD]Redcoat[\BOLD] is a beast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]TOKUGAWA [\BOLD](Aggressive Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Keep focused on Melee and Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CYRUS [\BOLD](Charismatic Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Immortals[\BOLD] in the ancient era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Swordsmen[\BOLD] in the classical era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GENGHIS KHAN [\BOLD](Aggressive Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Keshiks[\BOLD] in the classical era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Macemen[\BOLD] in the medieval era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]JULIUS CAESAR [\BOLD](Imperialistic Organized): Start an early war, with fewer concerns about how you're gonna pay for those maintainance costs. Try to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD], and remember that [BOLD]Praetorians[\BOLD] are beasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]NAPOLEON[\BOLD](Charismatic Organized): Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD] to promote your units, while Organized helps pay for the civics costs. The experienced units and fast [BOLD]Musketeers[\BOLD] will let you conquer faster, and Organized will help pay for your huge empire. It never hurts to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] and use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]DEFENDERS OF FAITH[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SALADIN [\BOLD](Spiritual Protective): Biggest winner from "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]RAMESSES[\BOLD] (Spiritual Industrious): More likely winner for "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ASOKA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Organized): Best equipped to take advantage of the Pyramids. Can get there early, grab lots of religions, and take advantage of cheap and fast civics swaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PERFECTIONIST BUILDERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]WANG KON [\BOLD](Protective Financial): Protective can potentially cut down your army size and thus your unit maintainance costs. Combine this with Financial for an Economic explosion. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PETER[\BOLD] (Expansive Philosophical): Have the biggest cities with the most specialists. Make sure you grab the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD], and add [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] with lots of food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GANDHI[\BOLD] (Spiritual Philosophical): Will have the easiest time getting the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] to support lots of specialists, with some religions along the way to collect lots of gold. Be sure to get the food to back it up, and make your way toward [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Philosophy/Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MEHMED[\BOLD] (Organized Expansive): Support huge amounts of population. Get lots of food, [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD], and the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] to maximize the benefits of the cheap civics costs. The [BOLD]Hammam[\BOLD] supports 2 additional population, without fail.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MANSA MUSA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Financial): One of the few spiritual civs that doesn't start with Mysticism. But if you delay your expansion, you CAN found two religions in one city. In combination with the Financial bonus, you can have one hell of a money-generator (once you add the [BOLD]Mint[\BOLD], and[BOLD] Wall Street[\BOLD]). Acquire other wonders like the [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] to make the richest city in the world. And if you can use the [BOLD]Oracle-Civil Service[\BOLD] gambit, you can switch to [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] and stack up huge coin by 1000 BC.</French>
		<German>[H1]Traits, Warlords, and Synergy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]dh_epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thought I would take it upon myself to add a little bit to the strategy forum. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of traits goes beyond their description. To maximize the benefits of a trait, you need to use it in combination with other strategies. This is the definition of synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Syn·er·gy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.[NEWLINE][TAB]2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A few quick notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I tried to list the easiest to use traits at the top.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Easiest to use isn't always the best.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I focused mostly on the early part of the game.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Most of these are to help average players become great players.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some great players may benefit too, learning a few new tricks.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Big ups to Theoden for the vanilla trait-review (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179059). A lot of good stuff here, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Without any further ado, here is my analysis of the traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]TRAIT BREAKDOWN[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]INDUSTRIOUS[\BOLD]: Wonder production increased 50 percent, double speed production of Forge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Almost self explanatory. The end result is that an Industrious Civ is nearly guaranteed their first pick of any wonder, if they want it. And every wonder happens much faster, too. Which wonders you build are up to you. But I recommend you prioritize and think ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Put the industrious trait to good use by building lots of wonders. Don't just think of the speed advantage, think of it as an opporunity advantage. If you and your enemy both produce units, you'll be neck at neck. But if you both build a wonder, you'd also have enough time to build four or five more units than your opponent. Every hammer you save is a hammer you've earned.[NEWLINE]Think of it as free production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marble [\BOLD]and [BOLD]Stone [\BOLD]help rush wonders. [BOLD]Masonry [\BOLD]will let you build [BOLD]Quarries[\BOLD], allowing you to tap these key resources. Locate and tap these resources early.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's not much else to say here except that you might find yourself chasing wonders, and end up on a path through all the religious techs ([BOLD]Polytheism and the Parthenon, Priesthood and the Oracle[\BOLD]), with a strong opportunity to found Judaism ([BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], which requires [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]) first. If you DO found a religion, don't neglect those Missionaries ([BOLD]Meditation[\BOLD]), since you want your neighbors to share the same faith to keep you out of unncessary wars. Maybe one of those wonders you've built will pop you a Great Priest, letting you build a great shrine and spread your faith around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]FINANCIAL[\BOLD]: +1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Arguably the most powerful trait. Note that it has no cheap buildings to come with it, because the commerce bonus is huge. This one is almost self explanatory. The benefits affect your economy, and are multiplied by various buildings (like Libraries, if you use your commerce for research, or Marketplaces if you use your commerce for gold).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you do with the extra wealth is up to you. Some use it to run their science meter at full blast. Others use it to build more cities faster. And this is actually a great trait for warmongering, since unit maintainance costs can be huge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obvious statement is that you'll want to have at least a few [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] early. Get [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], build cottages. Rivers and other luxury resources are key, however. Be sure to settle smart city locations, and unlock other key resource technologies such as [BOLD]Mining[\BOLD] to tap [BOLD]Gold[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Silver[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're running lots of Cottages, there are several civics that leverage this. In particular is [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], which is available if you build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] (with [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]). The bonus only kicks in with Towns, though, which means you have to wait a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less obvious statement is that this trait actually has a HUGE coastal benefit. Coastal tiles produce two commerce each, leading to an easy commerce benefit. In order to take advantage of this, though, you'll need to build [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] so you can get the extra food in the ocean to support further growth. Fortunately, this is accessible with [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD], which also gives you ocean trade routes. Vital for any coast-loving player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] is the cherry on top. Available with [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD], it generates additional wealth in every water tile. A financial civ with a lot of coastal cities and the Colossus is something fierce. [BOLD]The Great Lighthouse (Masonry)[\BOLD] also plays into a heavy coastal strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PHILOSOPHICAL:[\BOLD] Great People birth rate increased 100 percent, double speed production of University.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a powerful civic, although both proponents and critics of this civic ought to look beyond the initial bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This does not ultimately lead to twice as many great people, but its bonus is very pronounced in its ability to produce great people [BOLD]faster[\BOLD]. And it still leads to more Great People in the long run. Sometimes as much as 50% more.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which great people you get and what you do with them is up to you. But keep in mind that sometimes the short term gains of a free tech are worth more than the long term gains of settling them as a great specialist -- getting that free tech can make you the first to a religion or even a tradable tech of great significance. Moreover, it can get you to other wonders, which generate more great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You CANNOT feed specialists unless you have the food resources to produce more than 2 food per tile. Survey those nearby food resources. If you see [BOLD]Cows[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Sheep[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] for [BOLD]Pastures[\BOLD]. If you see [BOLD]Rice[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Corn[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD]. Learn to freeze growth at the exact right moment, to maximize your number of specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are LOTS of other Great People generators. Get to [BOLD]Polytheism[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]. Why? +50% great leader birth in ALL cities. Get to [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD] civic. That's another +100% great leader birth in ALL cities. The real killer, though, is [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD]. Not only does this unlock the [BOLD]National Epic[\BOLD], giving you +100 great leader birth in one city, but it lets you build the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD] which pumps out Great Scientists by the boatload. Add it up and you can be swimming in great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you're running this specialist heavy economy, the [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD] civic can generate you huge amounts of science. Getting the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] can unlock this early. You might have to choose between the Pyramids and the Parthenon, and each has different benefits for a specialist economy in the short and long term. However, some lucky players can get both. If you're feeling ambitious, use the Pyramids to generate an early Great Engineer and use it to rush the Parthenon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHARISMATIC[\BOLD]: +1 happiness per city, -25% XP needed for unit promotions, +1 happiness from Monument, Broadcast Tower[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of this one is actually quite obvious. The happiness bonus puts itself to work quite effortlessly, and is often the big inhibitor for population growth. Along with the XP bonus, you'll find yourself grabbing those high end promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're probably already familiar with the [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. The key that makes Charismatic easier to use than aggressive is that the XP bonus applies towards ANY unit. What you do with your excess promotions is up to you. Keep in mind that the short term gains of a promotion like Cover (vs. Ranged Units) may actually outweigh a more versatile a long term promotion. Sure, Combat I will help you for the entire game, but targetting your enemy's immediate weakness can get you an early advantage. In Civ, the early advantage can sometimes give you the biggest long term payoff![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're the first to discover a unit, there's a good chance you can use it to grab a quick advantage. [BOLD]Horseback Riding[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Iron Working[\BOLD] are early favorites, although many have done serious damage with [BOLD]Elephants and Catapults (Construction), Crossbows (Machinery), or Macemen (Civil Service)[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anything that gains you XP here is good. [BOLD]Vassalage (with Feudalism)[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Theocracy (with Theology)[\BOLD] are XP generating civics. [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Stables (with Animal Husbandry)[\BOLD] are vital here. You may also be able to take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall (with Masonry)[\BOLD], suckering a Civ in allowing you to generate lots of Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AGGRESSIVE[\BOLD]: Free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units, double speed production of Barracks and Drydock.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest benefit of Combat I is NOT the 10% combat odds, although over a long enough time it can make for a significant advantage. Some people talk about how it means that you can get to Combat V by 17XP instead of 26XP -- which is nice, but not the big advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The crucial advantage of Combat I is that it unlocks access to other higher level promotions like Cover, Pinch, and Shock (bonus vs Archers, Gunpowder, and Melee). That means with but 2 XP -- less than what a Barracks gives you -- your Melee units gain powerful defence against specific unit types. These promotions may seem narrow in function, but their short term gains can be enough to give you a huge advantage. Moreover, with but 5 XP you have access to even better counters versus Siege and Mounted units. If you don't know how to use these "counter promotions", do yourself a favor and read a combat promotions FAQ. These are SUPER important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use this trait and have trouble fighting wars before 1AD, do yourself a favor and learn how. The key is doing it quickly, which Aggressive Civs are uniquely equipped to do. Learn to raze crappy cities to keep your maintainance costs down. (There are lots of articles out there that can help you wage early, fast wars.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Aggressive Civs can find many of the same synergies of [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs. Get the XP generating civics (like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]). And if you're feeling sassy, try luring people behind your [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to generate some quick Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But since this bonus only helps melee and gunpowder units, you'll want to make [BOLD]Axes or Swords[\BOLD] the staple of your army. [BOLD]Bronzeworking and Ironworking[\BOLD] are key. Mounted and ranged units won't gain you any specific advantage, but it never hurts to mix up your stacks to avoid being too vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PROTECTIVE[\BOLD]: Archery and Gunpowder units receive Drill I and City Garrison I automatically, Double production speed of Walls and Castle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This one makes your defence DAMN hard to break. For many players, this won't help them, since they generally find themselves on the offense, and can run circles around the AI's military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Still, there's a LOT of ways to push this civic to its full potential. The key is in the synergies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Protective Civs are a lot like [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Civs in that they'll need to discover [BOLD]Feudalism or Theology[\BOLD] early for their XP generating civics. You'll also want to produce a [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] sooner. The key difference, however, is that you should have a strong preference for [BOLD]City Garrison 3[\BOLD]. If you can get your units to City Garrison 3, they almost DOUBLE in defensive capabilities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get [BOLD]Archery[\BOLD] early, since it's ranged units that get the Protective bonus. If you can find yourself at [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] early, your [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] might be a key to invincibility. Some people even use the [BOLD]Oracle (Priesthood)[\BOLD] to slingshot to Feudalism early. It CAN be done.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, big deal. You have really strong defence, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's the key. You can sometimes get away with defending your cities with as few as 2 units with City Garrison 3. This means you keep a VERY small defensive army. This can save you maintainance costs, allowing you to pour more into science, to settle more cities, or go on the offense. You might be able to find an economic synergy with some of the [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT] trait's strategies, or find a warmongering synergy with some [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies. You don't even have to be Financial or Aggressive to use these strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPERIALISTIC[\BOLD]:+100% Great General emergence, 50% faster production of settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the addition of Great Generals, this can lead to a small snowball effect for a successful warmonger. You'll get those great generals a lot faster, which you can use for either short OR long term benefits. Just as with [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs, learning to fight an early war is challenging but invaluable. If you're not going to war using this trait, you're missing out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the snap-settlers have a distinct benefit too, even for peaceful players. Maintainance costs and barbarians will prevent you from settling too recklessly, so an Imperialistic Civ won't necessarily build an Empire right away. But an Imperialistic Civilization will move fast enough to get the best city locations -- that's key.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You'll want to combine this trait with [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], in order to get those [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] happening. If you're grabbing those great city locations fast, you're going to need an economy capable of supporting the maintainance costs. It's a good thing the [BOLD]Wheel[\BOLD] is on the way to Pottery, since it means you'll be able to hook up those resources you find.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keep in mind that the ocean can be a great source of wealth, especially if you have early acecss to [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]. Rivers too. Keep your economy strong.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And do not neglect defence. You should either have [BOLD]Archery or Bronzeworking[\BOLD] early, so you can defend your great city locations. Bronzeworking can be especially valuable, since you can use it to [BOLD]chop down trees[\BOLD], generating production to knock out those settlers (and defenders) faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A key advantage with this one can be the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD], from [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. Once you've built up your empire, the great wall can protect you from barbarians without having to spend as much time pumping out defensive units. (Keep in mind Imperialistic has a Great General bonus too. You might be able to lure people behind the great wall to get Great Generals REALLY fast.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CREATIVE[\BOLD]: +2 culture per city, double speed production of Theatre and Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait may seem like a shoe in for cultural victory, but the 2 culture really doesn't do much in the long run. The bigger benefit comes very early, and especially at high difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Culture determines your borders. With 2 culture, your borders will be popping faster AND sooner than even someone who builds Stonehenge. Especially against the AI's huge handicaps at the higher levels, this can be the key to settling a large land mass before the AI can squeeze you out. The extra culture can let you seal off choke points in the map, allowing you keep the territory beyond your borders away from the AI. Your borders may even get so wide that you can space your cities out and still cover the continent. In many ways, creative will let you hold territory from the AI that you can settle with additional cities later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This also means that your new cities will have quick access to nearby resources, without worry that the AI will overtake you. In fact, you can settle damn close to the enemy, without worry that their culture will overtake yours. Even as a warmonger, you'll find that your newly conquered outposts will be less vulernable, and will pick up vital resources with more ease.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you finally have the cities you want, be prepared to consolidate your defence. Wider borders extend your field of vision, preventing barbarians from appearing. And they also give you a defensive bonus. If you can master the defensive potential of Creative, all you need to do is learn when to slow down expansion so your economy can catch up. If you let maintainance costs get the best of you, all your expansion will be for nothing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait, surprisingly, has the most in common with the [COLOR_RED]Imperialistic[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. Its advantage comes when you build lots of settlers and grab the best locations. Speed is the essence of your strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use [BOLD]Cottages (Pottery)[\BOLD], rivers, and oceans ([BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]) to pay down the maintainance costs of your faster growth. Be sure to defend your mass of cities with [BOLD]Archers (Archery), or Axemen (Bronzeworking)[\BOLD]... and [BOLD]chop trees[\BOLD] to keep things moving fast. You can catch your breath and consolidate your holdings later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While Creative civs have the benefit of cultural defence, the [BOLD]Great Wall (Masonry)[\BOLD] can be great for keeping barbarians out. With your huge borders, this can be especially useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]EXPANSIVE[\BOLD]: +3 health per city. Double speed production of Granary and Harbor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm not going to lie to you. I think this trait is on the weak side. However, you CANNOT discount this trait's cheaper buildings. The cheap buildings may be the best part. This trait WILL let you get a huge population, and quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What does a huge population help you with? Well, besides [BOLD]everything[\BOLD], a huge population is great for running a specialist-heavy economy. See [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] for more details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Much of the debate for this trait revolves around whether health or happiness are the biggest barriers to growth. Well, even if you assume that expansive will give you more health than you know what to do with, there are a few strategies below to get the extra happiness you need. At high difficulties, this can have huge payoffs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take advantage of that fast [BOLD]Granary[\BOLD]. You can't do this if you don't get to [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD] early on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players may find that happiness tends to inhibit their city growth more than health. However, the [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] civic is an easy target with big payoffs. This civic generates happiness for every military unit you have, with no upper limit. If you can discovery [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD] early, or build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], you can tap this civic and EASILY support 3 more population than the average Civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery[\BOLD] can be a huge advantage of these additional people. With [BOLD]Bronzeworking[\BOLD], you can access the slavery civic and turn those population points into production. Excess happiness can keep the remaining citizens content. Slavery can be extremely potent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or you can let those people live. Combine this with some of the Specialist-heavy strategies recommended under the [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] trait... even if you're not Philosophical. Where you have lots of population and food, you have can have specialists and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SPIRITUAL[\BOLD]: No anarchy, double produciton speed of temples.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lack of anarchy can save you a vital turn of production. I'll confess I think this trait is also a little weak, but there is a group of hardcore players who strongly disagree.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These hardcore players tout the advantages of micromanaging their civics, swapping between theocracy/organized religion or vassalage/bureaucracy as their cities shift focus from units to buildings. One later game favorite is swapping between Nationalism and Free Speech, drafting units but gaining other benefits in the downtime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can also swap religions easily, to further your diplomatic interests, or to take advantage of "religious sight" -- that the founder of a religion can see into cities of that religion around the world. These tricks are hard to master, but can make Spiritual a quite formidable trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the long run, yes, you will want to discover those key civic technologies. [BOLD]Civil Service and Theology[\BOLD] will be key technologies as they allow you to grab [BOLD]Bureaucracy and Theocracy[\BOLD] (respectively). This will let you start to take advantage of swapping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But in the short run, a Spiritual Civilization generally (but not always) has instant access to [BOLD]Mysticism[\BOLD]. That means they have the BEST chance of founding a religion, and a decent chance of keeping multiple religions out of the hands of other players. GET THOSE RELIGIONS. [BOLD]Polytheism, Meditation, and Monotheism[\BOLD] are key. Having Mysticism also gives you quick access to [BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD], which generates a valuable Great Prophet, which can help you to found the next religion before your opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While on the religious path, you may find yourself discovering [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD]. This gives you the earliest and easiest access to [BOLD]Temples[\BOLD], which let you run Priest specialists. Most Spiritual civilizations have early enough access to Priests that they can generate Great Prophets, if they so choose. An early Great Prophet can help you access Theology, Divine Right, or Civil Service. See this article: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140952 for how you might be able to leverage this to your advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early access to Priesthood also unlocks the [BOLD]Oracle[\BOLD]. The obvious benefit of this is that it lets you discover a free technology like [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Construction[\BOLD], and also generates a Great Prophet. However, if you plan accordingly, you can use this slingshot to discover [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD]), or [BOLD]Civil Service[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]). You haven't seen anything until you've seen [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] by 1000 BC![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another key is that the path to Judaism and Christianity flows right through [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. That gives you a perfect opportunity to grab the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], giving you a slew of Civics to swap between.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And an addition from VoiceOfUnreason, it's important to note that many big civics come with religions. [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Pacifism and Taoism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Theology[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Theocracy and Christianity[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Organized Religion and Judaism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Caste System and Confucianism[\BOLD]. You'll want to prioritize at least a few of these, if not all of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ORGANIZED[\BOLD]: Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent. Double production speed of Lighthouse and Courthouse.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that civic upkeep is proportional to the total number of people in your civilization. More people cost more money. That means that this civic works harder the larger your population grows. It also works harder at higher levels, since civics costs are more pronounced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is actually underrated, especially when you factor in its cheap buildings. If you're running expensive civics, you'll notice a considerable difference in your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two main synergies here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One is that of expansion. Organized can support a larger empire with as much efficiency as [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT], and with LESS EFFORT on your part. If you wanted to start an early war, this would be the civic that would let you do it. If you fast track to [BOLD]Iron Working or Horseback Riding[\BOLD], you can catch the enemy off guard and be able to actually pay for those huge civics costs. The maintainance from your cities can also be taken care of easily with your cheap [BOLD]Courthouses[\BOLD], if you aim for [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. Keep in mind that civics costs rise with your population, but city maintainance costs increase exponentially with your number of cities. Organized lets you expand (and conquer) with less worry about those costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are also peaceful synergies. If you hightail it for [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], you'll also get the expensive [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD] civic, and access to the [BOLD]Pyramids (with Masonry)[\BOLD]. The Pyramids unlock a slew of civics, and Organized Religion is one of the most expensive civics. Along with a good shot at founding [BOLD]Judaism[\BOLD], you just have to learn how to put these civics to good use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some people manage to juggle both, although it's harder at higher levels. Some people build up first, and then launch a war. You can also be sinister, though, conquering the enemy civ with the Pyramids rather than building it themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Think about ways to boost your population. [COLOR_RED]Expansive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies can sometimes apply here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]DOUBLE TRAIT SYNERGIES[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]COLONIAL SETTLERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]VICTORIA [\BOLD](Imperialistic Financial): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AUGUSTUS [\BOLD](Creative Organized): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CATHERINE [\BOLD](Imperialistic Creative): Build lots of cities in the best locations, even at the higher difficulties. Settle a continent with speed and immunity. Take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to hold off any interlopers, and be careful about your maintainance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]OFFENSIVE MILITARISTS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHURCHILL [\BOLD](Charismatic Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Beeline for a military advantage, and remember that the [BOLD]Redcoat[\BOLD] is a beast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]TOKUGAWA [\BOLD](Aggressive Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Keep focused on Melee and Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CYRUS [\BOLD](Charismatic Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Immortals[\BOLD] in the ancient era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Swordsmen[\BOLD] in the classical era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GENGHIS KHAN [\BOLD](Aggressive Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Keshiks[\BOLD] in the classical era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Macemen[\BOLD] in the medieval era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]JULIUS CAESAR [\BOLD](Imperialistic Organized): Start an early war, with fewer concerns about how you're gonna pay for those maintainance costs. Try to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD], and remember that [BOLD]Praetorians[\BOLD] are beasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]NAPOLEON[\BOLD](Charismatic Organized): Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD] to promote your units, while Organized helps pay for the civics costs. The experienced units and fast [BOLD]Musketeers[\BOLD] will let you conquer faster, and Organized will help pay for your huge empire. It never hurts to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] and use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]DEFENDERS OF FAITH[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SALADIN [\BOLD](Spiritual Protective): Biggest winner from "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]RAMESSES[\BOLD] (Spiritual Industrious): More likely winner for "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ASOKA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Organized): Best equipped to take advantage of the Pyramids. Can get there early, grab lots of religions, and take advantage of cheap and fast civics swaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PERFECTIONIST BUILDERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]WANG KON [\BOLD](Protective Financial): Protective can potentially cut down your army size and thus your unit maintainance costs. Combine this with Financial for an Economic explosion. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PETER[\BOLD] (Expansive Philosophical): Have the biggest cities with the most specialists. Make sure you grab the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD], and add [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] with lots of food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GANDHI[\BOLD] (Spiritual Philosophical): Will have the easiest time getting the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] to support lots of specialists, with some religions along the way to collect lots of gold. Be sure to get the food to back it up, and make your way toward [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Philosophy/Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MEHMED[\BOLD] (Organized Expansive): Support huge amounts of population. Get lots of food, [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD], and the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] to maximize the benefits of the cheap civics costs. The [BOLD]Hammam[\BOLD] supports 2 additional population, without fail.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MANSA MUSA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Financial): One of the few spiritual civs that doesn't start with Mysticism. But if you delay your expansion, you CAN found two religions in one city. In combination with the Financial bonus, you can have one hell of a money-generator (once you add the [BOLD]Mint[\BOLD], and[BOLD] Wall Street[\BOLD]). Acquire other wonders like the [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] to make the richest city in the world. And if you can use the [BOLD]Oracle-Civil Service[\BOLD] gambit, you can switch to [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] and stack up huge coin by 1000 BC.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Traits, Warlords, and Synergy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]dh_epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thought I would take it upon myself to add a little bit to the strategy forum. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of traits goes beyond their description. To maximize the benefits of a trait, you need to use it in combination with other strategies. This is the definition of synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Syn·er·gy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.[NEWLINE][TAB]2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A few quick notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I tried to list the easiest to use traits at the top.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Easiest to use isn't always the best.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I focused mostly on the early part of the game.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Most of these are to help average players become great players.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some great players may benefit too, learning a few new tricks.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Big ups to Theoden for the vanilla trait-review (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179059). A lot of good stuff here, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Without any further ado, here is my analysis of the traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]TRAIT BREAKDOWN[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]INDUSTRIOUS[\BOLD]: Wonder production increased 50 percent, double speed production of Forge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Almost self explanatory. The end result is that an Industrious Civ is nearly guaranteed their first pick of any wonder, if they want it. And every wonder happens much faster, too. Which wonders you build are up to you. But I recommend you prioritize and think ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Put the industrious trait to good use by building lots of wonders. Don't just think of the speed advantage, think of it as an opporunity advantage. If you and your enemy both produce units, you'll be neck at neck. But if you both build a wonder, you'd also have enough time to build four or five more units than your opponent. Every hammer you save is a hammer you've earned.[NEWLINE]Think of it as free production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marble [\BOLD]and [BOLD]Stone [\BOLD]help rush wonders. [BOLD]Masonry [\BOLD]will let you build [BOLD]Quarries[\BOLD], allowing you to tap these key resources. Locate and tap these resources early.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's not much else to say here except that you might find yourself chasing wonders, and end up on a path through all the religious techs ([BOLD]Polytheism and the Parthenon, Priesthood and the Oracle[\BOLD]), with a strong opportunity to found Judaism ([BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], which requires [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]) first. If you DO found a religion, don't neglect those Missionaries ([BOLD]Meditation[\BOLD]), since you want your neighbors to share the same faith to keep you out of unncessary wars. Maybe one of those wonders you've built will pop you a Great Priest, letting you build a great shrine and spread your faith around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]FINANCIAL[\BOLD]: +1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Arguably the most powerful trait. Note that it has no cheap buildings to come with it, because the commerce bonus is huge. This one is almost self explanatory. The benefits affect your economy, and are multiplied by various buildings (like Libraries, if you use your commerce for research, or Marketplaces if you use your commerce for gold).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you do with the extra wealth is up to you. Some use it to run their science meter at full blast. Others use it to build more cities faster. And this is actually a great trait for warmongering, since unit maintainance costs can be huge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obvious statement is that you'll want to have at least a few [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] early. Get [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], build cottages. Rivers and other luxury resources are key, however. Be sure to settle smart city locations, and unlock other key resource technologies such as [BOLD]Mining[\BOLD] to tap [BOLD]Gold[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Silver[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're running lots of Cottages, there are several civics that leverage this. In particular is [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], which is available if you build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] (with [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]). The bonus only kicks in with Towns, though, which means you have to wait a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less obvious statement is that this trait actually has a HUGE coastal benefit. Coastal tiles produce two commerce each, leading to an easy commerce benefit. In order to take advantage of this, though, you'll need to build [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] so you can get the extra food in the ocean to support further growth. Fortunately, this is accessible with [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD], which also gives you ocean trade routes. Vital for any coast-loving player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] is the cherry on top. Available with [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD], it generates additional wealth in every water tile. A financial civ with a lot of coastal cities and the Colossus is something fierce. [BOLD]The Great Lighthouse (Masonry)[\BOLD] also plays into a heavy coastal strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PHILOSOPHICAL:[\BOLD] Great People birth rate increased 100 percent, double speed production of University.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a powerful civic, although both proponents and critics of this civic ought to look beyond the initial bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This does not ultimately lead to twice as many great people, but its bonus is very pronounced in its ability to produce great people [BOLD]faster[\BOLD]. And it still leads to more Great People in the long run. Sometimes as much as 50% more.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which great people you get and what you do with them is up to you. But keep in mind that sometimes the short term gains of a free tech are worth more than the long term gains of settling them as a great specialist -- getting that free tech can make you the first to a religion or even a tradable tech of great significance. Moreover, it can get you to other wonders, which generate more great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You CANNOT feed specialists unless you have the food resources to produce more than 2 food per tile. Survey those nearby food resources. If you see [BOLD]Cows[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Sheep[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] for [BOLD]Pastures[\BOLD]. If you see [BOLD]Rice[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Corn[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD]. Learn to freeze growth at the exact right moment, to maximize your number of specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are LOTS of other Great People generators. Get to [BOLD]Polytheism[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]. Why? +50% great leader birth in ALL cities. Get to [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD] civic. That's another +100% great leader birth in ALL cities. The real killer, though, is [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD]. Not only does this unlock the [BOLD]National Epic[\BOLD], giving you +100 great leader birth in one city, but it lets you build the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD] which pumps out Great Scientists by the boatload. Add it up and you can be swimming in great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you're running this specialist heavy economy, the [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD] civic can generate you huge amounts of science. Getting the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] can unlock this early. You might have to choose between the Pyramids and the Parthenon, and each has different benefits for a specialist economy in the short and long term. However, some lucky players can get both. If you're feeling ambitious, use the Pyramids to generate an early Great Engineer and use it to rush the Parthenon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHARISMATIC[\BOLD]: +1 happiness per city, -25% XP needed for unit promotions, +1 happiness from Monument, Broadcast Tower[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of this one is actually quite obvious. The happiness bonus puts itself to work quite effortlessly, and is often the big inhibitor for population growth. Along with the XP bonus, you'll find yourself grabbing those high end promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're probably already familiar with the [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. The key that makes Charismatic easier to use than aggressive is that the XP bonus applies towards ANY unit. What you do with your excess promotions is up to you. Keep in mind that the short term gains of a promotion like Cover (vs. Ranged Units) may actually outweigh a more versatile a long term promotion. Sure, Combat I will help you for the entire game, but targetting your enemy's immediate weakness can get you an early advantage. In Civ, the early advantage can sometimes give you the biggest long term payoff![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're the first to discover a unit, there's a good chance you can use it to grab a quick advantage. [BOLD]Horseback Riding[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Iron Working[\BOLD] are early favorites, although many have done serious damage with [BOLD]Elephants and Catapults (Construction), Crossbows (Machinery), or Macemen (Civil Service)[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anything that gains you XP here is good. [BOLD]Vassalage (with Feudalism)[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Theocracy (with Theology)[\BOLD] are XP generating civics. [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Stables (with Animal Husbandry)[\BOLD] are vital here. You may also be able to take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall (with Masonry)[\BOLD], suckering a Civ in allowing you to generate lots of Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AGGRESSIVE[\BOLD]: Free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units, double speed production of Barracks and Drydock.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest benefit of Combat I is NOT the 10% combat odds, although over a long enough time it can make for a significant advantage. Some people talk about how it means that you can get to Combat V by 17XP instead of 26XP -- which is nice, but not the big advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The crucial advantage of Combat I is that it unlocks access to other higher level promotions like Cover, Pinch, and Shock (bonus vs Archers, Gunpowder, and Melee). That means with but 2 XP -- less than what a Barracks gives you -- your Melee units gain powerful defence against specific unit types. These promotions may seem narrow in function, but their short term gains can be enough to give you a huge advantage. Moreover, with but 5 XP you have access to even better counters versus Siege and Mounted units. If you don't know how to use these "counter promotions", do yourself a favor and read a combat promotions FAQ. These are SUPER important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use this trait and have trouble fighting wars before 1AD, do yourself a favor and learn how. The key is doing it quickly, which Aggressive Civs are uniquely equipped to do. Learn to raze crappy cities to keep your maintainance costs down. (There are lots of articles out there that can help you wage early, fast wars.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Aggressive Civs can find many of the same synergies of [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs. Get the XP generating civics (like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]). And if you're feeling sassy, try luring people behind your [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to generate some quick Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But since this bonus only helps melee and gunpowder units, you'll want to make [BOLD]Axes or Swords[\BOLD] the staple of your army. [BOLD]Bronzeworking and Ironworking[\BOLD] are key. Mounted and ranged units won't gain you any specific advantage, but it never hurts to mix up your stacks to avoid being too vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PROTECTIVE[\BOLD]: Archery and Gunpowder units receive Drill I and City Garrison I automatically, Double production speed of Walls and Castle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This one makes your defence DAMN hard to break. For many players, this won't help them, since they generally find themselves on the offense, and can run circles around the AI's military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Still, there's a LOT of ways to push this civic to its full potential. The key is in the synergies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Protective Civs are a lot like [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Civs in that they'll need to discover [BOLD]Feudalism or Theology[\BOLD] early for their XP generating civics. You'll also want to produce a [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] sooner. The key difference, however, is that you should have a strong preference for [BOLD]City Garrison 3[\BOLD]. If you can get your units to City Garrison 3, they almost DOUBLE in defensive capabilities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get [BOLD]Archery[\BOLD] early, since it's ranged units that get the Protective bonus. If you can find yourself at [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] early, your [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] might be a key to invincibility. Some people even use the [BOLD]Oracle (Priesthood)[\BOLD] to slingshot to Feudalism early. It CAN be done.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, big deal. You have really strong defence, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's the key. You can sometimes get away with defending your cities with as few as 2 units with City Garrison 3. This means you keep a VERY small defensive army. This can save you maintainance costs, allowing you to pour more into science, to settle more cities, or go on the offense. You might be able to find an economic synergy with some of the [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT] trait's strategies, or find a warmongering synergy with some [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies. You don't even have to be Financial or Aggressive to use these strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPERIALISTIC[\BOLD]:+100% Great General emergence, 50% faster production of settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the addition of Great Generals, this can lead to a small snowball effect for a successful warmonger. You'll get those great generals a lot faster, which you can use for either short OR long term benefits. Just as with [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs, learning to fight an early war is challenging but invaluable. If you're not going to war using this trait, you're missing out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the snap-settlers have a distinct benefit too, even for peaceful players. Maintainance costs and barbarians will prevent you from settling too recklessly, so an Imperialistic Civ won't necessarily build an Empire right away. But an Imperialistic Civilization will move fast enough to get the best city locations -- that's key.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You'll want to combine this trait with [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], in order to get those [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] happening. If you're grabbing those great city locations fast, you're going to need an economy capable of supporting the maintainance costs. It's a good thing the [BOLD]Wheel[\BOLD] is on the way to Pottery, since it means you'll be able to hook up those resources you find.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keep in mind that the ocean can be a great source of wealth, especially if you have early acecss to [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]. Rivers too. Keep your economy strong.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And do not neglect defence. You should either have [BOLD]Archery or Bronzeworking[\BOLD] early, so you can defend your great city locations. Bronzeworking can be especially valuable, since you can use it to [BOLD]chop down trees[\BOLD], generating production to knock out those settlers (and defenders) faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A key advantage with this one can be the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD], from [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. Once you've built up your empire, the great wall can protect you from barbarians without having to spend as much time pumping out defensive units. (Keep in mind Imperialistic has a Great General bonus too. You might be able to lure people behind the great wall to get Great Generals REALLY fast.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CREATIVE[\BOLD]: +2 culture per city, double speed production of Theatre and Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait may seem like a shoe in for cultural victory, but the 2 culture really doesn't do much in the long run. The bigger benefit comes very early, and especially at high difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Culture determines your borders. With 2 culture, your borders will be popping faster AND sooner than even someone who builds Stonehenge. Especially against the AI's huge handicaps at the higher levels, this can be the key to settling a large land mass before the AI can squeeze you out. The extra culture can let you seal off choke points in the map, allowing you keep the territory beyond your borders away from the AI. Your borders may even get so wide that you can space your cities out and still cover the continent. In many ways, creative will let you hold territory from the AI that you can settle with additional cities later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This also means that your new cities will have quick access to nearby resources, without worry that the AI will overtake you. In fact, you can settle damn close to the enemy, without worry that their culture will overtake yours. Even as a warmonger, you'll find that your newly conquered outposts will be less vulernable, and will pick up vital resources with more ease.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you finally have the cities you want, be prepared to consolidate your defence. Wider borders extend your field of vision, preventing barbarians from appearing. And they also give you a defensive bonus. If you can master the defensive potential of Creative, all you need to do is learn when to slow down expansion so your economy can catch up. If you let maintainance costs get the best of you, all your expansion will be for nothing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait, surprisingly, has the most in common with the [COLOR_RED]Imperialistic[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. Its advantage comes when you build lots of settlers and grab the best locations. Speed is the essence of your strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use [BOLD]Cottages (Pottery)[\BOLD], rivers, and oceans ([BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]) to pay down the maintainance costs of your faster growth. Be sure to defend your mass of cities with [BOLD]Archers (Archery), or Axemen (Bronzeworking)[\BOLD]... and [BOLD]chop trees[\BOLD] to keep things moving fast. You can catch your breath and consolidate your holdings later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While Creative civs have the benefit of cultural defence, the [BOLD]Great Wall (Masonry)[\BOLD] can be great for keeping barbarians out. With your huge borders, this can be especially useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]EXPANSIVE[\BOLD]: +3 health per city. Double speed production of Granary and Harbor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm not going to lie to you. I think this trait is on the weak side. However, you CANNOT discount this trait's cheaper buildings. The cheap buildings may be the best part. This trait WILL let you get a huge population, and quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What does a huge population help you with? Well, besides [BOLD]everything[\BOLD], a huge population is great for running a specialist-heavy economy. See [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] for more details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Much of the debate for this trait revolves around whether health or happiness are the biggest barriers to growth. Well, even if you assume that expansive will give you more health than you know what to do with, there are a few strategies below to get the extra happiness you need. At high difficulties, this can have huge payoffs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take advantage of that fast [BOLD]Granary[\BOLD]. You can't do this if you don't get to [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD] early on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players may find that happiness tends to inhibit their city growth more than health. However, the [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] civic is an easy target with big payoffs. This civic generates happiness for every military unit you have, with no upper limit. If you can discovery [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD] early, or build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], you can tap this civic and EASILY support 3 more population than the average Civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery[\BOLD] can be a huge advantage of these additional people. With [BOLD]Bronzeworking[\BOLD], you can access the slavery civic and turn those population points into production. Excess happiness can keep the remaining citizens content. Slavery can be extremely potent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or you can let those people live. Combine this with some of the Specialist-heavy strategies recommended under the [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] trait... even if you're not Philosophical. Where you have lots of population and food, you have can have specialists and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SPIRITUAL[\BOLD]: No anarchy, double produciton speed of temples.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lack of anarchy can save you a vital turn of production. I'll confess I think this trait is also a little weak, but there is a group of hardcore players who strongly disagree.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These hardcore players tout the advantages of micromanaging their civics, swapping between theocracy/organized religion or vassalage/bureaucracy as their cities shift focus from units to buildings. One later game favorite is swapping between Nationalism and Free Speech, drafting units but gaining other benefits in the downtime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can also swap religions easily, to further your diplomatic interests, or to take advantage of "religious sight" -- that the founder of a religion can see into cities of that religion around the world. These tricks are hard to master, but can make Spiritual a quite formidable trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the long run, yes, you will want to discover those key civic technologies. [BOLD]Civil Service and Theology[\BOLD] will be key technologies as they allow you to grab [BOLD]Bureaucracy and Theocracy[\BOLD] (respectively). This will let you start to take advantage of swapping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But in the short run, a Spiritual Civilization generally (but not always) has instant access to [BOLD]Mysticism[\BOLD]. That means they have the BEST chance of founding a religion, and a decent chance of keeping multiple religions out of the hands of other players. GET THOSE RELIGIONS. [BOLD]Polytheism, Meditation, and Monotheism[\BOLD] are key. Having Mysticism also gives you quick access to [BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD], which generates a valuable Great Prophet, which can help you to found the next religion before your opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While on the religious path, you may find yourself discovering [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD]. This gives you the earliest and easiest access to [BOLD]Temples[\BOLD], which let you run Priest specialists. Most Spiritual civilizations have early enough access to Priests that they can generate Great Prophets, if they so choose. An early Great Prophet can help you access Theology, Divine Right, or Civil Service. See this article: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140952 for how you might be able to leverage this to your advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early access to Priesthood also unlocks the [BOLD]Oracle[\BOLD]. The obvious benefit of this is that it lets you discover a free technology like [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Construction[\BOLD], and also generates a Great Prophet. However, if you plan accordingly, you can use this slingshot to discover [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD]), or [BOLD]Civil Service[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]). You haven't seen anything until you've seen [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] by 1000 BC![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another key is that the path to Judaism and Christianity flows right through [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. That gives you a perfect opportunity to grab the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], giving you a slew of Civics to swap between.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And an addition from VoiceOfUnreason, it's important to note that many big civics come with religions. [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Pacifism and Taoism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Theology[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Theocracy and Christianity[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Organized Religion and Judaism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Caste System and Confucianism[\BOLD]. You'll want to prioritize at least a few of these, if not all of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ORGANIZED[\BOLD]: Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent. Double production speed of Lighthouse and Courthouse.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that civic upkeep is proportional to the total number of people in your civilization. More people cost more money. That means that this civic works harder the larger your population grows. It also works harder at higher levels, since civics costs are more pronounced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is actually underrated, especially when you factor in its cheap buildings. If you're running expensive civics, you'll notice a considerable difference in your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two main synergies here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One is that of expansion. Organized can support a larger empire with as much efficiency as [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT], and with LESS EFFORT on your part. If you wanted to start an early war, this would be the civic that would let you do it. If you fast track to [BOLD]Iron Working or Horseback Riding[\BOLD], you can catch the enemy off guard and be able to actually pay for those huge civics costs. The maintainance from your cities can also be taken care of easily with your cheap [BOLD]Courthouses[\BOLD], if you aim for [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. Keep in mind that civics costs rise with your population, but city maintainance costs increase exponentially with your number of cities. Organized lets you expand (and conquer) with less worry about those costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are also peaceful synergies. If you hightail it for [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], you'll also get the expensive [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD] civic, and access to the [BOLD]Pyramids (with Masonry)[\BOLD]. The Pyramids unlock a slew of civics, and Organized Religion is one of the most expensive civics. Along with a good shot at founding [BOLD]Judaism[\BOLD], you just have to learn how to put these civics to good use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some people manage to juggle both, although it's harder at higher levels. Some people build up first, and then launch a war. You can also be sinister, though, conquering the enemy civ with the Pyramids rather than building it themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Think about ways to boost your population. [COLOR_RED]Expansive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies can sometimes apply here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]DOUBLE TRAIT SYNERGIES[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]COLONIAL SETTLERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]VICTORIA [\BOLD](Imperialistic Financial): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AUGUSTUS [\BOLD](Creative Organized): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CATHERINE [\BOLD](Imperialistic Creative): Build lots of cities in the best locations, even at the higher difficulties. Settle a continent with speed and immunity. Take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to hold off any interlopers, and be careful about your maintainance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]OFFENSIVE MILITARISTS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHURCHILL [\BOLD](Charismatic Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Beeline for a military advantage, and remember that the [BOLD]Redcoat[\BOLD] is a beast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]TOKUGAWA [\BOLD](Aggressive Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Keep focused on Melee and Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CYRUS [\BOLD](Charismatic Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Immortals[\BOLD] in the ancient era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Swordsmen[\BOLD] in the classical era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GENGHIS KHAN [\BOLD](Aggressive Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Keshiks[\BOLD] in the classical era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Macemen[\BOLD] in the medieval era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]JULIUS CAESAR [\BOLD](Imperialistic Organized): Start an early war, with fewer concerns about how you're gonna pay for those maintainance costs. Try to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD], and remember that [BOLD]Praetorians[\BOLD] are beasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]NAPOLEON[\BOLD](Charismatic Organized): Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD] to promote your units, while Organized helps pay for the civics costs. The experienced units and fast [BOLD]Musketeers[\BOLD] will let you conquer faster, and Organized will help pay for your huge empire. It never hurts to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] and use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]DEFENDERS OF FAITH[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SALADIN [\BOLD](Spiritual Protective): Biggest winner from "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]RAMESSES[\BOLD] (Spiritual Industrious): More likely winner for "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ASOKA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Organized): Best equipped to take advantage of the Pyramids. Can get there early, grab lots of religions, and take advantage of cheap and fast civics swaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PERFECTIONIST BUILDERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]WANG KON [\BOLD](Protective Financial): Protective can potentially cut down your army size and thus your unit maintainance costs. Combine this with Financial for an Economic explosion. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PETER[\BOLD] (Expansive Philosophical): Have the biggest cities with the most specialists. Make sure you grab the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD], and add [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] with lots of food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GANDHI[\BOLD] (Spiritual Philosophical): Will have the easiest time getting the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] to support lots of specialists, with some religions along the way to collect lots of gold. Be sure to get the food to back it up, and make your way toward [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Philosophy/Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MEHMED[\BOLD] (Organized Expansive): Support huge amounts of population. Get lots of food, [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD], and the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] to maximize the benefits of the cheap civics costs. The [BOLD]Hammam[\BOLD] supports 2 additional population, without fail.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MANSA MUSA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Financial): One of the few spiritual civs that doesn't start with Mysticism. But if you delay your expansion, you CAN found two religions in one city. In combination with the Financial bonus, you can have one hell of a money-generator (once you add the [BOLD]Mint[\BOLD], and[BOLD] Wall Street[\BOLD]). Acquire other wonders like the [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] to make the richest city in the world. And if you can use the [BOLD]Oracle-Civil Service[\BOLD] gambit, you can switch to [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] and stack up huge coin by 1000 BC.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Traits, Warlords, and Synergy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]dh_epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thought I would take it upon myself to add a little bit to the strategy forum. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of traits goes beyond their description. To maximize the benefits of a trait, you need to use it in combination with other strategies. This is the definition of synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Syn·er·gy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.[NEWLINE][TAB]2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A few quick notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I tried to list the easiest to use traits at the top.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Easiest to use isn't always the best.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I focused mostly on the early part of the game.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Most of these are to help average players become great players.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some great players may benefit too, learning a few new tricks.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Big ups to Theoden for the vanilla trait-review (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179059). A lot of good stuff here, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Without any further ado, here is my analysis of the traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]TRAIT BREAKDOWN[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]INDUSTRIOUS[\BOLD]: Wonder production increased 50 percent, double speed production of Forge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Almost self explanatory. The end result is that an Industrious Civ is nearly guaranteed their first pick of any wonder, if they want it. And every wonder happens much faster, too. Which wonders you build are up to you. But I recommend you prioritize and think ahead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Put the industrious trait to good use by building lots of wonders. Don't just think of the speed advantage, think of it as an opporunity advantage. If you and your enemy both produce units, you'll be neck at neck. But if you both build a wonder, you'd also have enough time to build four or five more units than your opponent. Every hammer you save is a hammer you've earned.[NEWLINE]Think of it as free production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marble [\BOLD]and [BOLD]Stone [\BOLD]help rush wonders. [BOLD]Masonry [\BOLD]will let you build [BOLD]Quarries[\BOLD], allowing you to tap these key resources. Locate and tap these resources early.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's not much else to say here except that you might find yourself chasing wonders, and end up on a path through all the religious techs ([BOLD]Polytheism and the Parthenon, Priesthood and the Oracle[\BOLD]), with a strong opportunity to found Judaism ([BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], which requires [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]) first. If you DO found a religion, don't neglect those Missionaries ([BOLD]Meditation[\BOLD]), since you want your neighbors to share the same faith to keep you out of unncessary wars. Maybe one of those wonders you've built will pop you a Great Priest, letting you build a great shrine and spread your faith around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]FINANCIAL[\BOLD]: +1 commerce on plots with 2 commerce.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Arguably the most powerful trait. Note that it has no cheap buildings to come with it, because the commerce bonus is huge. This one is almost self explanatory. The benefits affect your economy, and are multiplied by various buildings (like Libraries, if you use your commerce for research, or Marketplaces if you use your commerce for gold).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you do with the extra wealth is up to you. Some use it to run their science meter at full blast. Others use it to build more cities faster. And this is actually a great trait for warmongering, since unit maintainance costs can be huge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obvious statement is that you'll want to have at least a few [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] early. Get [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], build cottages. Rivers and other luxury resources are key, however. Be sure to settle smart city locations, and unlock other key resource technologies such as [BOLD]Mining[\BOLD] to tap [BOLD]Gold[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Silver[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're running lots of Cottages, there are several civics that leverage this. In particular is [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], which is available if you build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] (with [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]). The bonus only kicks in with Towns, though, which means you have to wait a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less obvious statement is that this trait actually has a HUGE coastal benefit. Coastal tiles produce two commerce each, leading to an easy commerce benefit. In order to take advantage of this, though, you'll need to build [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] so you can get the extra food in the ocean to support further growth. Fortunately, this is accessible with [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD], which also gives you ocean trade routes. Vital for any coast-loving player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] is the cherry on top. Available with [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD], it generates additional wealth in every water tile. A financial civ with a lot of coastal cities and the Colossus is something fierce. [BOLD]The Great Lighthouse (Masonry)[\BOLD] also plays into a heavy coastal strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PHILOSOPHICAL:[\BOLD] Great People birth rate increased 100 percent, double speed production of University.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a powerful civic, although both proponents and critics of this civic ought to look beyond the initial bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This does not ultimately lead to twice as many great people, but its bonus is very pronounced in its ability to produce great people [BOLD]faster[\BOLD]. And it still leads to more Great People in the long run. Sometimes as much as 50% more.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which great people you get and what you do with them is up to you. But keep in mind that sometimes the short term gains of a free tech are worth more than the long term gains of settling them as a great specialist -- getting that free tech can make you the first to a religion or even a tradable tech of great significance. Moreover, it can get you to other wonders, which generate more great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You CANNOT feed specialists unless you have the food resources to produce more than 2 food per tile. Survey those nearby food resources. If you see [BOLD]Cows[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Sheep[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] for [BOLD]Pastures[\BOLD]. If you see [BOLD]Rice[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Corn[\BOLD], get [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD]. Learn to freeze growth at the exact right moment, to maximize your number of specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are LOTS of other Great People generators. Get to [BOLD]Polytheism[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD]. Why? +50% great leader birth in ALL cities. Get to [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD] civic. That's another +100% great leader birth in ALL cities. The real killer, though, is [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD]. Not only does this unlock the [BOLD]National Epic[\BOLD], giving you +100 great leader birth in one city, but it lets you build the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD] which pumps out Great Scientists by the boatload. Add it up and you can be swimming in great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you're running this specialist heavy economy, the [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD] civic can generate you huge amounts of science. Getting the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] can unlock this early. You might have to choose between the Pyramids and the Parthenon, and each has different benefits for a specialist economy in the short and long term. However, some lucky players can get both. If you're feeling ambitious, use the Pyramids to generate an early Great Engineer and use it to rush the Parthenon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHARISMATIC[\BOLD]: +1 happiness per city, -25% XP needed for unit promotions, +1 happiness from Monument, Broadcast Tower[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The benefit of this one is actually quite obvious. The happiness bonus puts itself to work quite effortlessly, and is often the big inhibitor for population growth. Along with the XP bonus, you'll find yourself grabbing those high end promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're probably already familiar with the [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. The key that makes Charismatic easier to use than aggressive is that the XP bonus applies towards ANY unit. What you do with your excess promotions is up to you. Keep in mind that the short term gains of a promotion like Cover (vs. Ranged Units) may actually outweigh a more versatile a long term promotion. Sure, Combat I will help you for the entire game, but targetting your enemy's immediate weakness can get you an early advantage. In Civ, the early advantage can sometimes give you the biggest long term payoff![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're the first to discover a unit, there's a good chance you can use it to grab a quick advantage. [BOLD]Horseback Riding[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Iron Working[\BOLD] are early favorites, although many have done serious damage with [BOLD]Elephants and Catapults (Construction), Crossbows (Machinery), or Macemen (Civil Service)[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anything that gains you XP here is good. [BOLD]Vassalage (with Feudalism)[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Theocracy (with Theology)[\BOLD] are XP generating civics. [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Stables (with Animal Husbandry)[\BOLD] are vital here. You may also be able to take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall (with Masonry)[\BOLD], suckering a Civ in allowing you to generate lots of Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AGGRESSIVE[\BOLD]: Free Combat I promotion for melee and gunpowder units, double speed production of Barracks and Drydock.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest benefit of Combat I is NOT the 10% combat odds, although over a long enough time it can make for a significant advantage. Some people talk about how it means that you can get to Combat V by 17XP instead of 26XP -- which is nice, but not the big advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The crucial advantage of Combat I is that it unlocks access to other higher level promotions like Cover, Pinch, and Shock (bonus vs Archers, Gunpowder, and Melee). That means with but 2 XP -- less than what a Barracks gives you -- your Melee units gain powerful defence against specific unit types. These promotions may seem narrow in function, but their short term gains can be enough to give you a huge advantage. Moreover, with but 5 XP you have access to even better counters versus Siege and Mounted units. If you don't know how to use these "counter promotions", do yourself a favor and read a combat promotions FAQ. These are SUPER important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use this trait and have trouble fighting wars before 1AD, do yourself a favor and learn how. The key is doing it quickly, which Aggressive Civs are uniquely equipped to do. Learn to raze crappy cities to keep your maintainance costs down. (There are lots of articles out there that can help you wage early, fast wars.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Aggressive Civs can find many of the same synergies of [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs. Get the XP generating civics (like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]). And if you're feeling sassy, try luring people behind your [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to generate some quick Great Generals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But since this bonus only helps melee and gunpowder units, you'll want to make [BOLD]Axes or Swords[\BOLD] the staple of your army. [BOLD]Bronzeworking and Ironworking[\BOLD] are key. Mounted and ranged units won't gain you any specific advantage, but it never hurts to mix up your stacks to avoid being too vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PROTECTIVE[\BOLD]: Archery and Gunpowder units receive Drill I and City Garrison I automatically, Double production speed of Walls and Castle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This one makes your defence DAMN hard to break. For many players, this won't help them, since they generally find themselves on the offense, and can run circles around the AI's military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Still, there's a LOT of ways to push this civic to its full potential. The key is in the synergies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Protective Civs are a lot like [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] Civs in that they'll need to discover [BOLD]Feudalism or Theology[\BOLD] early for their XP generating civics. You'll also want to produce a [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD] sooner. The key difference, however, is that you should have a strong preference for [BOLD]City Garrison 3[\BOLD]. If you can get your units to City Garrison 3, they almost DOUBLE in defensive capabilities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get [BOLD]Archery[\BOLD] early, since it's ranged units that get the Protective bonus. If you can find yourself at [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] early, your [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] might be a key to invincibility. Some people even use the [BOLD]Oracle (Priesthood)[\BOLD] to slingshot to Feudalism early. It CAN be done.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, big deal. You have really strong defence, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's the key. You can sometimes get away with defending your cities with as few as 2 units with City Garrison 3. This means you keep a VERY small defensive army. This can save you maintainance costs, allowing you to pour more into science, to settle more cities, or go on the offense. You might be able to find an economic synergy with some of the [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT] trait's strategies, or find a warmongering synergy with some [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies. You don't even have to be Financial or Aggressive to use these strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPERIALISTIC[\BOLD]:+100% Great General emergence, 50% faster production of settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the addition of Great Generals, this can lead to a small snowball effect for a successful warmonger. You'll get those great generals a lot faster, which you can use for either short OR long term benefits. Just as with [COLOR_RED]Aggressive[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]Charismatic[COLOR_REVERT] Civs, learning to fight an early war is challenging but invaluable. If you're not going to war using this trait, you're missing out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the snap-settlers have a distinct benefit too, even for peaceful players. Maintainance costs and barbarians will prevent you from settling too recklessly, so an Imperialistic Civ won't necessarily build an Empire right away. But an Imperialistic Civilization will move fast enough to get the best city locations -- that's key.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You'll want to combine this trait with [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD], in order to get those [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD] happening. If you're grabbing those great city locations fast, you're going to need an economy capable of supporting the maintainance costs. It's a good thing the [BOLD]Wheel[\BOLD] is on the way to Pottery, since it means you'll be able to hook up those resources you find.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keep in mind that the ocean can be a great source of wealth, especially if you have early acecss to [BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]. Rivers too. Keep your economy strong.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And do not neglect defence. You should either have [BOLD]Archery or Bronzeworking[\BOLD] early, so you can defend your great city locations. Bronzeworking can be especially valuable, since you can use it to [BOLD]chop down trees[\BOLD], generating production to knock out those settlers (and defenders) faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A key advantage with this one can be the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD], from [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. Once you've built up your empire, the great wall can protect you from barbarians without having to spend as much time pumping out defensive units. (Keep in mind Imperialistic has a Great General bonus too. You might be able to lure people behind the great wall to get Great Generals REALLY fast.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CREATIVE[\BOLD]: +2 culture per city, double speed production of Theatre and Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait may seem like a shoe in for cultural victory, but the 2 culture really doesn't do much in the long run. The bigger benefit comes very early, and especially at high difficulties.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Culture determines your borders. With 2 culture, your borders will be popping faster AND sooner than even someone who builds Stonehenge. Especially against the AI's huge handicaps at the higher levels, this can be the key to settling a large land mass before the AI can squeeze you out. The extra culture can let you seal off choke points in the map, allowing you keep the territory beyond your borders away from the AI. Your borders may even get so wide that you can space your cities out and still cover the continent. In many ways, creative will let you hold territory from the AI that you can settle with additional cities later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This also means that your new cities will have quick access to nearby resources, without worry that the AI will overtake you. In fact, you can settle damn close to the enemy, without worry that their culture will overtake yours. Even as a warmonger, you'll find that your newly conquered outposts will be less vulernable, and will pick up vital resources with more ease.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you finally have the cities you want, be prepared to consolidate your defence. Wider borders extend your field of vision, preventing barbarians from appearing. And they also give you a defensive bonus. If you can master the defensive potential of Creative, all you need to do is learn when to slow down expansion so your economy can catch up. If you let maintainance costs get the best of you, all your expansion will be for nothing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait, surprisingly, has the most in common with the [COLOR_RED]Imperialistic[COLOR_REVERT] Trait. Its advantage comes when you build lots of settlers and grab the best locations. Speed is the essence of your strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use [BOLD]Cottages (Pottery)[\BOLD], rivers, and oceans ([BOLD]Sailing[\BOLD]) to pay down the maintainance costs of your faster growth. Be sure to defend your mass of cities with [BOLD]Archers (Archery), or Axemen (Bronzeworking)[\BOLD]... and [BOLD]chop trees[\BOLD] to keep things moving fast. You can catch your breath and consolidate your holdings later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While Creative civs have the benefit of cultural defence, the [BOLD]Great Wall (Masonry)[\BOLD] can be great for keeping barbarians out. With your huge borders, this can be especially useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]EXPANSIVE[\BOLD]: +3 health per city. Double speed production of Granary and Harbor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm not going to lie to you. I think this trait is on the weak side. However, you CANNOT discount this trait's cheaper buildings. The cheap buildings may be the best part. This trait WILL let you get a huge population, and quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What does a huge population help you with? Well, besides [BOLD]everything[\BOLD], a huge population is great for running a specialist-heavy economy. See [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] for more details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Much of the debate for this trait revolves around whether health or happiness are the biggest barriers to growth. Well, even if you assume that expansive will give you more health than you know what to do with, there are a few strategies below to get the extra happiness you need. At high difficulties, this can have huge payoffs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take advantage of that fast [BOLD]Granary[\BOLD]. You can't do this if you don't get to [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD] early on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players may find that happiness tends to inhibit their city growth more than health. However, the [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] civic is an easy target with big payoffs. This civic generates happiness for every military unit you have, with no upper limit. If you can discovery [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD] early, or build the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], you can tap this civic and EASILY support 3 more population than the average Civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Slavery[\BOLD] can be a huge advantage of these additional people. With [BOLD]Bronzeworking[\BOLD], you can access the slavery civic and turn those population points into production. Excess happiness can keep the remaining citizens content. Slavery can be extremely potent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or you can let those people live. Combine this with some of the Specialist-heavy strategies recommended under the [COLOR_RED]Philosophical[COLOR_REVERT] trait... even if you're not Philosophical. Where you have lots of population and food, you have can have specialists and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SPIRITUAL[\BOLD]: No anarchy, double produciton speed of temples.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lack of anarchy can save you a vital turn of production. I'll confess I think this trait is also a little weak, but there is a group of hardcore players who strongly disagree.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These hardcore players tout the advantages of micromanaging their civics, swapping between theocracy/organized religion or vassalage/bureaucracy as their cities shift focus from units to buildings. One later game favorite is swapping between Nationalism and Free Speech, drafting units but gaining other benefits in the downtime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can also swap religions easily, to further your diplomatic interests, or to take advantage of "religious sight" -- that the founder of a religion can see into cities of that religion around the world. These tricks are hard to master, but can make Spiritual a quite formidable trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the long run, yes, you will want to discover those key civic technologies. [BOLD]Civil Service and Theology[\BOLD] will be key technologies as they allow you to grab [BOLD]Bureaucracy and Theocracy[\BOLD] (respectively). This will let you start to take advantage of swapping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But in the short run, a Spiritual Civilization generally (but not always) has instant access to [BOLD]Mysticism[\BOLD]. That means they have the BEST chance of founding a religion, and a decent chance of keeping multiple religions out of the hands of other players. GET THOSE RELIGIONS. [BOLD]Polytheism, Meditation, and Monotheism[\BOLD] are key. Having Mysticism also gives you quick access to [BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD], which generates a valuable Great Prophet, which can help you to found the next religion before your opponent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While on the religious path, you may find yourself discovering [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD]. This gives you the earliest and easiest access to [BOLD]Temples[\BOLD], which let you run Priest specialists. Most Spiritual civilizations have early enough access to Priests that they can generate Great Prophets, if they so choose. An early Great Prophet can help you access Theology, Divine Right, or Civil Service. See this article: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=140952 for how you might be able to leverage this to your advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early access to Priesthood also unlocks the [BOLD]Oracle[\BOLD]. The obvious benefit of this is that it lets you discover a free technology like [BOLD]Metal Casting[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Construction[\BOLD], and also generates a Great Prophet. However, if you plan accordingly, you can use this slingshot to discover [BOLD]Feudalism[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD]), or [BOLD]Civil Service[\BOLD] (through [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]). You haven't seen anything until you've seen [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] by 1000 BC![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another key is that the path to Judaism and Christianity flows right through [BOLD]Masonry[\BOLD]. That gives you a perfect opportunity to grab the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], giving you a slew of Civics to swap between.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And an addition from VoiceOfUnreason, it's important to note that many big civics come with religions. [BOLD]Philosophy[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Pacifism and Taoism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Theology[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Theocracy and Christianity[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Organized Religion and Judaism[\BOLD]. [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] offers both [BOLD]Caste System and Confucianism[\BOLD]. You'll want to prioritize at least a few of these, if not all of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ORGANIZED[\BOLD]: Civic upkeep reduced 50 percent. Double production speed of Lighthouse and Courthouse.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that civic upkeep is proportional to the total number of people in your civilization. More people cost more money. That means that this civic works harder the larger your population grows. It also works harder at higher levels, since civics costs are more pronounced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This trait is actually underrated, especially when you factor in its cheap buildings. If you're running expensive civics, you'll notice a considerable difference in your economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Synergy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two main synergies here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One is that of expansion. Organized can support a larger empire with as much efficiency as [COLOR_RED]Financial[COLOR_REVERT], and with LESS EFFORT on your part. If you wanted to start an early war, this would be the civic that would let you do it. If you fast track to [BOLD]Iron Working or Horseback Riding[\BOLD], you can catch the enemy off guard and be able to actually pay for those huge civics costs. The maintainance from your cities can also be taken care of easily with your cheap [BOLD]Courthouses[\BOLD], if you aim for [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. Keep in mind that civics costs rise with your population, but city maintainance costs increase exponentially with your number of cities. Organized lets you expand (and conquer) with less worry about those costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are also peaceful synergies. If you hightail it for [BOLD]Monotheism[\BOLD], you'll also get the expensive [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD] civic, and access to the [BOLD]Pyramids (with Masonry)[\BOLD]. The Pyramids unlock a slew of civics, and Organized Religion is one of the most expensive civics. Along with a good shot at founding [BOLD]Judaism[\BOLD], you just have to learn how to put these civics to good use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some people manage to juggle both, although it's harder at higher levels. Some people build up first, and then launch a war. You can also be sinister, though, conquering the enemy civ with the Pyramids rather than building it themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Think about ways to boost your population. [COLOR_RED]Expansive[COLOR_REVERT] strategies can sometimes apply here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]DOUBLE TRAIT SYNERGIES[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]COLONIAL SETTLERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]VICTORIA [\BOLD](Imperialistic Financial): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]AUGUSTUS [\BOLD](Creative Organized): Build lots of cities quickly, and actually afford the maintainance costs. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CATHERINE [\BOLD](Imperialistic Creative): Build lots of cities in the best locations, even at the higher difficulties. Settle a continent with speed and immunity. Take advantage of the [BOLD]Great Wall[\BOLD] to hold off any interlopers, and be careful about your maintainance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]OFFENSIVE MILITARISTS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CHURCHILL [\BOLD](Charismatic Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Beeline for a military advantage, and remember that the [BOLD]Redcoat[\BOLD] is a beast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]TOKUGAWA [\BOLD](Aggressive Protective): With fewer units required for good defence at home, put lots of units on the offense. Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD]. Keep focused on Melee and Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]CYRUS [\BOLD](Charismatic Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Immortals[\BOLD] in the ancient era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Swordsmen[\BOLD] in the classical era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GENGHIS KHAN [\BOLD](Aggressive Imperialistic): Use the great generals generated by your [BOLD]Keshiks[\BOLD] in the classical era to feed mega promotions to your [BOLD]Macemen[\BOLD] in the medieval era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]JULIUS CAESAR [\BOLD](Imperialistic Organized): Start an early war, with fewer concerns about how you're gonna pay for those maintainance costs. Try to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD], use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD], and remember that [BOLD]Praetorians[\BOLD] are beasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]NAPOLEON[\BOLD](Charismatic Organized): Use civics like [BOLD]Vassalage and Theocracy[\BOLD] to promote your units, while Organized helps pay for the civics costs. The experienced units and fast [BOLD]Musketeers[\BOLD] will let you conquer faster, and Organized will help pay for your huge empire. It never hurts to capture the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] and use [BOLD]Police State[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]DEFENDERS OF FAITH[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]SALADIN [\BOLD](Spiritual Protective): Biggest winner from "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]RAMESSES[\BOLD] (Spiritual Industrious): More likely winner for "invincible" [BOLD]Longbows[\BOLD] using the [BOLD]Oracle-Feudalism[\BOLD] gambit... and pick up some religions along the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]ASOKA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Organized): Best equipped to take advantage of the Pyramids. Can get there early, grab lots of religions, and take advantage of cheap and fast civics swaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PERFECTIONIST BUILDERS[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]WANG KON [\BOLD](Protective Financial): Protective can potentially cut down your army size and thus your unit maintainance costs. Combine this with Financial for an Economic explosion. Gun it for [BOLD]Cottages[\BOLD], and stay close to the water (with [BOLD]Lighthouses[\BOLD] near the Ocean).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]PETER[\BOLD] (Expansive Philosophical): Have the biggest cities with the most specialists. Make sure you grab the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] and the [BOLD]Great Library[\BOLD], and add [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD] with lots of food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GANDHI[\BOLD] (Spiritual Philosophical): Will have the easiest time getting the [BOLD]Parthenon[\BOLD] to support lots of specialists, with some religions along the way to collect lots of gold. Be sure to get the food to back it up, and make your way toward [BOLD]Literature[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Philosophy/Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MEHMED[\BOLD] (Organized Expansive): Support huge amounts of population. Get lots of food, [BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD], and the [BOLD]Pyramids[\BOLD] to maximize the benefits of the cheap civics costs. The [BOLD]Hammam[\BOLD] supports 2 additional population, without fail.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]MANSA MUSA[\BOLD] (Spiritual Financial): One of the few spiritual civs that doesn't start with Mysticism. But if you delay your expansion, you CAN found two religions in one city. In combination with the Financial bonus, you can have one hell of a money-generator (once you add the [BOLD]Mint[\BOLD], and[BOLD] Wall Street[\BOLD]). Acquire other wonders like the [BOLD]Colossus[\BOLD] to make the richest city in the world. And if you can use the [BOLD]Oracle-Civil Service[\BOLD] gambit, you can switch to [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD] and stack up huge coin by 1000 BC.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_BEGINNER_CIVICS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]A Guide to Civics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pfeffersack[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intention of this article is to give hints and tips about when and how to use the different Civics in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each civic there is a note on availability, followed by a short description of the effects/costs, diplomatic implications, comments on synergy with other game elements (other civics, leader traits, buildings, game settings, common strategies) and a final summary on the usefulness of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any Feedback is highly appreciated and the guide will be updated with comments and strategies people post here (credits will be given here in the first post).My (high) aim is to provide a comprehensive database on the complex subject of civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Additional Credits for contributing interesting aspects, strategies and correcting inadequate information: genjiboy, Heroes, Krikkitone, Orca, Samson.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some General Thoughts on Civics in Civ4[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maintenance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Note: Roland Johansen has done a great article about civic upkeep (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/civic_upkeep.php).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civics are divided into 4 upkeep categories: no, low, medium and high. As a very rough rule of thumb you will pay 0 for zero, x for low, 1,5-2x for medium and 2-3x for high upkeep civics.The exact values depend on your number of cities and your population.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a growing empire and increasing inflation, civic upkeep can really drain from your treasury. If you consider which civics to use, always keep the upkeep as an additional factor in mind - if you are unsure which civic is the better one, then the cheaper one is usually the better idea. Perhaps with the exception of Environmentalism, all the high-upkeep civics offer strong advantages. But if go for them, you should check if you can really use them to a certain extent - running Vassalage only pays if you build enough units, while Organized Religion is a waste if you are busy to build up your army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I haven't mentioned spiritual as a factor in most of the strategy/synergy sections (with Slavery and Nationalism as exceptions; for why see the civic article) for one reason - it is just plain useful to civics in general. The smooth government transition without anarchy transforms in two advantages: The freedom to change [BOLD]when[\BOLD] and [BOLD]as often as necessary[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When[\BOLD] just means the independence of things as wars, golden age or wonder races. Without interfering anarchy, there is no need to wait with a revolution. If a better option shows up, switch (to be correct, there is still a restriction regarding minimum time between two revolutions, but that's only rarely a real problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second benefit is the fact that you don't have to think about [BOLD]if switching (and eventually switching back again soon) is worth the anarchy[\BOLD]. Without the spiritual trait, you have to keep an eye on the number of switches you make in a game - if you accumulate to many anarchy turns over time, it may hurt your progress. Sometimes the anarchy just eats up the small advantage the new civic would give you, especially if the benefits are needed only temporarily (for example, "hurry civics" as Slavery or Universal Suffrage, the "draft civic" Nationalism or Bureaucracy, if you go for a wonder in your capital) - then you will either drop the switch altogether or at least delay it to make a "big revolution" (see below for this strategy for non-spiritual civs). Spirituals effect also tends to rise in Epic or Marathon games.Not so much by the fact the anarchy period is at minimum 2 turns and can easily scale up to 4 (this is counterbalanced by every turn being "less" valuable), but because unit movement isn't modified - a "quick" switch to Slavery and Nationalism without Spiritual to stop an enemy attack will need three turns(!) to show an effect; three turns in which moreover everything in your empire stands still.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The organized trait is the second one which has an direct impact on civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Organized shifts the balance towards the civics with (higher) maintenance, which are usually the ones with a greater impact and stronger effect....and those suited for a more aggressive and (regarding your empires population) repressive playing style.If you compare a (war-monger) combination of Police State, Vassalage, Caste System, Mercantilism and Theocracy with for example Universal Suffrage, Free Speech, Emancipation, State Property and Free Religion (large empire going for cottages), you will clearly see the different impact of Organized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To sum up, the effect here can be significant (if you adopt your general "big plan") to meaningless (if you don't). That's also the reason why Organized is usually rated as the weakest trait - however, if at all, that's only partly true.For the civic effect depending on the playing style yes, but you also get cheaper Lighthouses and more important Courthouses - both directing to faster expansion. Not a bad thing in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When to change?[\BOLD] (applies mainly for non-spiritual civs)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The question is nearly as difficult as the one dealing with what to change. As usually there is not a single correct answer. You have to consider different situations and factors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all it is important to distinguish the first, initial change in a civic column from later changes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In case of the [BOLD]initial change[\BOLD], the straight advice in most of the cases is simply: Change as soon as it possible without. The initial civics do nothing for you except draining low maintenance. Sure, most of the civics you will get first access to in the different columns (Hereditary Rule, Bureaucracy/Vassalage, Slavery/Caste System, Mercantilism and Organized Religion) have a higher upkeep, but the give you some advantage and the real cost for this advantage is lower (because you have to subtract one maintenance level in your calculation - the level you have to pay for the starters anyway!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are more complicated when [BOLD]changing from a "real" civic to another[\BOLD]. Again, switching ASAP is usually not a bad idea - simply because getting a better civic sooner is better and because in a growing economy a turn of anarchy becomes more and more expensive, if the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, some circumstances might make a delayed revolution a better idea. It is for example not a good idea to switch during a golden age (however, the mistake would rather triggering the Golden Age before the switch in most cases) or when you need every turn in a wonder race or for building units in a case of emergency (of course with the exception of a switch to something which helps especially in those situations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if no such special situation makes waiting worth, the concept of "big revolutions" can do so. Instead of switching only one civic in a revolution, you can change up to 5. The anarchy penalty rises too, but not in linear way. You can switch up to 3 civics at one time and will still suffer only one turn anarchy. So you can minimize the turns lost to anarchy if you wait for example a few turns to get another tech which enables a new civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And last but not least there may be economic reasons - don't underestimate the pressure high cost civics can lay on your economy. Especially when having the concept of a big revolution in mind, it might be tempting to make a big change - for example when going to war, switching from low cost "peace" civics to the repressive ones. Make sure you have a healthy economy, a full treasury or a Great Merchant around. Otherwise you might come into trouble soon. Wars are already expensive in Civ4 without the political dimension (more units to support, units must be supplied in enemy lands, enemies eventually pillaging the land, unit upgrades, bribery for allies etc.), so those extra civic costs might lead to strikes or at least a serious drop in your research efforts. A bad move here can be devastating, since you have to wait a few turns to be able to correct it again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Government Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The special thing about this column is that you can get access to all civics very early - if you are willing and lucky enough to build "The Pyramids". The immediate availability of all the civics of course change their relative values, so my rather general advices might fail here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And there is a second special thing about it...21 out of 26 leaders have their favorite civic inside this column, so your decision here can have an important influence on how getting along with the other leaders...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monarchy (classic era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per military unit inside a city[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Alexander, Catherine, Hatshepsut, Huayna Capac, Kublai Khan and Louis XIV.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Vassalage, Nationalism, Theocracy, OCC, cold or general defensive wars (especially AW), ressource-scarce maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The good old military police and better than ever before. No more upper limit. But it comes now with a hefty price, too. Beside the unit upkeep, the civic itself will cost you a substantial sum to maintain. Nearly every other way to produce happiness will be cheaper, but sometimes there is no other way to stay in the "yellow faces" (mainly because of few religions and/or resources).Then it is the right choice, because avoiding unhappy citizens is a high-priority goal. And unless you own the Pyramids, it is the best what you can get for a long time. Otherwise, try to leave it ASAP...if you get access to a new government civic, check if you really need HR any more. If most of the happiness is lost due overflow, consider switching immediately. Even if you can live with the costs (which indeed tend to become less of a problem, if your cities grow really big), you will at least miss the benefits of Universal Suffrage, as soon as it becomes available.[NEWLINE]On the diplomatic table, the civic puts you at good relations (usually a permanent + of 1-3, depending on how long you are in the civic and on how keen the leader is about foreign politics) with 6 other leaders...that's more than with any other civic![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Constitution (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Every specialist (including settled down 'super-specialists') yields 3 extra research; the biggest 5 (or 6...I'm unsure if this a flat number or something dependent on map size) cities in your empire get 3 extra happiness.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Cyrus, Caesar, Napoleon, Victoria[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD], Pacifism, Philosophical, Organized, OCC - FCC, smaller maps(?),GP-based strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Representation is the second available choice in the government column and it can be very useful in different situations. Obviously, if you rely very heavily on specialists (and if you are perhaps running some more pro-specialist-civics) and also if your empire is rather small, because then it is your weapon against unhappiness.[NEWLINE]But even without such special circumstances, it is in most cases superior compared to HR. You pay less maintenance and despite you get the happiness usually where you need it most (=in your big cities).And of course your troops are freed again to do what they should - defend and attack. Even when Universal Suffrage becomes available (a tech later, if you have planned for it), you might be better off with staying in Representation. Unless you have money to burn or you have "cottaged" your land early, Representation will often fit better. You can still switch later if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Fascism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] 25% more hammer output, if building military units; -50% war wariness[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Genghis Khan, Isabella, Montezuma, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Jails[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mount Rushmore[\BOLD], [BOLD]Heroic Epic[\BOLD], Extended and bloody offense warfare ([BOLD]especially AW[\BOLD]), Drydocks, Vassalage, Theocracy, Organized, Aggressive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Well, I don't think there is much to say about when this civic helps you and when it doesn't do you anything good. It you are at peace (and plan to stay here), move long - there is just nothing you will find here except a near-to-useless high maintenance civic. If you are attacked, ask your self: Is the production bonus worth to sacrifice other choices Keep in mind, WW is no longer an issue if you just defend your self! Nationalism will literally cost you much less and might offer a better effect.[NEWLINE]What makes it really shine is the second bonus...war wariness can easily force you to end a war, because it gets more and more difficult to maintain a productive economy, when you try to conquer and things start to get rough. PS puts an end to this. Add jails and the Mount Rushmore wonder...and no unhappy people will stop you from dominating the world with your guns. You will also enjoy better relations with other leaders who like to repress their people in the same manner...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Democracy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] The Town improvement yields an extra hammer and you are allowed to rush buildings and units with gold.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Asoka, Frederick, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD], [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Kremlin[\BOLD], Emancipation, Organized, "cottage-strategies"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you have planned ahead with building lots of cottages, you are now able to earn your fruits. Now you will not only get tons of money out of them, but also a hammer on the top. On the financial side, you may you the rushing ability to build commerce and science boosters in those cities quickly. You will get the invested money back soon. To make use of the civic to its full extend, be sure to combine it with Free Speech.[NEWLINE]The importance of commerce in Civ4 cannot be overstated. It is the thriving factor. It is also one of the main points why the AI is a lot tougher now - they now know how important it is, if you look at the sheer number of cottages they build. That's why they stay competitive in the tech race until the end of the game...and it also makes the diplomatic aspect even more important here. The leaders who like Universal Suffrage are often among the successful ones, which means you are likely to have powerful friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Legal Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The action in this column starts fairly late; the offered civics cover in a nice way the different needs of offensive/defensive war and early-/late game economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Feudalism (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 exp. for new units, extra free unit support (5 flat + 1 for each 10 population points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mehmed II. (WLs)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD](see also text), [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]Charismatic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), Police State, any situation with a need for a lot of new troops[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Depending on your research path, Vassalage will be your first or second legal option. It offers one huge benefit (to be entirely correct there is a second: you get some extra free unit support, but this effect is at best a slight compensation for the maintenance, see end of the paragraph) - every unit you will built starts with two experience points more.[NEWLINE]This guarantees the first promotion; under usual circumstances (barracks are in place), you get access to the second. Taking in account how combat in Civ4 works this is without a doubt a very desirable boost. Usually a small edge is enough to decide a combat and am promotion more or less can make this difference easily. It is also an effect you will feel for sure, as everyone - even the most peaceful player - has an need for a decent army - if just to prevent a nasty AI leader from attacking.[NEWLINE]The only downside of Vassalage is the high maintenance cost. Nonetheless, if Vassalage is your first and therefore only option, switch (unless you really have to count every peace of gold). Whenever you plan to built up your forces, switch. In some games you will stay in vassalage for longer times or even the rest of the game, in others the next options will become one day the better choice. Just make sure to exploit the benefits of Vassalage as much as you can, while running it - the extra support will cover the unit maintenance partly (for Organized civs, this civic is even more interesting, as for the reduced cost, the free support alone is worth the expenses!) and experienced troops will still help you in future, if you have left Vassalage for a more peaceful agenda.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Civil Service (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +50% production and commerce in capital[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Kublai Khan, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Spiritual, [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD], [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD], [BOLD]general strong capital development/focus (f.e. important national wonders in capital placed, any civil or military production boosters)[\BOLD], small maps/empires, [BOLD]OCC[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] To put it in one sentence...it is all about your capital here, which will receive 50% additional production and commerce under this civic. Bureaucracy is always worth a thought, if it comes as first option in the column (even the worst capital has the Palace commerce bonus and likely some hammer sources). How competitive it stays against the other options, depends on location, and constitution of your capital and of course on the future plans you gave with it, too. If it is your unit-factory (high base hammer output, Heroic Epic, etc.), drowning in cottages, your main wonder construction site or even your only city (OCC), than this civic is for you. What makes Bureaucracy so powerful despite the fact that it affects only one of your cities, is Civ4s need for specialization - one specialized city may take the entire needs of your empire in one field (unit production, wonders, research,...). And if you can improve this performance by 50%, than it is usually worth a civic.[NEWLINE]However, Bureaucracy tends to lose steam in later phases of most games. The reasons are quite simple - successful empires tend to expand or growth, which means civics get more expensive. Usually, the civic effects expand in a similar manner. Mercantilism gives you an extra specialist in every city, Hereditary Rule enables MP everywhere. Not so here - your entire empire pays with rising maintenance for a fairly constant reward. Freakenly realistic, if you think about real world bureaucracy and centralization.. The final catch is Free Speech becoming available. Without, Nationhood and Vassalage were the only alternatives - ones which aren't too exciting in peacetimes. But usually the need for money and beakers rises in the endgame - and extra income from the cottages is just too important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Nationalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Ability to draft up 5 units per turn, +2 happiness from barracks[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] None[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Churchill[BOLD][NEWLINE]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), [BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD], sneak attacks, huge excess happiness and food without sufficient production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Basically, we have the reincarnation of Civ3s draft button, with happiness boosting barracks as icing on the cake - with no maintenance cost. Nationhood is the kind of civic you don't need very often and long, but if you need it, then you need it dearly and if possible immediately. Ironically, you will use this war civic most likely, if you have planned to play a peaceful game - there is always one Alex or Monty out there which is interested in your cities and wonders.So, in case a nasty AI surprises you, what does Nationhood for you?[NEWLINE]Depending on the map Size, you can draft per turn up to 5 of the most modern defenders available(however, restricted to one per city and turn). The price is unhappiness (+3) and population loss (-1 pop point). The big difference to Civ3 is the training level of your drafted troops - while in Civ3 the recruits had 33%/50% less hit points compared to regular/veteran units (which often doomed them as pure cannon fodder), you get regular troops now - just the starting experience is halved. This means still a promotion from the start if a barrack is in place.[NEWLINE]Without a doubt, Nationhood is no real long term option. +2 happiness is not enough to make it interesting in peacetimes and drafting more than one or two units will bring most cities down to anarchy and resulting starvation. You will likely leave Nationhood as soon as the initial ambush forces a repelled -usually for Vassalage-, even if the war continues. Only if the war goes very bad and you are under constant pressure, you might be forced to stay here. It is also the civic of heroic defeats and fighting to the last man...and even if it helps you to survive, you will need a large recovery period after that.[NEWLINE]Since Nationhood is a mainly stop-gap against an invasion, it is most useful if you can enact it while the enemy is still approaching your city - so a good recon work tremendously increases the efficiency of this civic. Or pick a spiritual leader - always useful regarding civics, but being able to enact and draft in the same turn is something not to underestimate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 commerce for the town improvement, +100% culture[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Emancipation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Printing Press[\BOLD], any "cottagemania"-strategy, culture is needed for victory (together with everything else yielding/boosting culture)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The second "late" option here. The boni speak for themselves: +2 commerce per town and +100% culture, low maintenance.The power and importance of cottages are well known, so it is easy to imagine how much impact the extra commerce has. Free Speech is the dominant peaceful option. This applies especially, if you are going for a cultural victory. Though there is still a niche for Bureaucracy (if your capital is among the three cities and you are racing for an important wonder), doubled culture is worth 6 cathedrals and all the Prerequisite temples, not to speak of the advantage in tech race.[NEWLINE]It offers little direct benefit for the warmongers, but if you are currently not fighting for your life or building up you main attack force, you should consider it despite - maintaining or even upgrading an army is expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Economic Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: It is the column which is enabled latest by far, it contains (IMHO) the weakest and the strongest civic of all and also one of the few with a negative effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Banking (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All foreign trade routes are closed, every city gets a "virtual" specialist (which doesn't drain one citizen from work)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Tokugawa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Organized, Pacifism, Philosophical; AW, warmongering or bad diplomatic relations in general, balanced GP strategies, Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Mercantilism will be the first available choice in the economic department, but if planned properly Free Market is only one tech away. So it is kind of different to the other "first" civics, were switching over immediately is usually a no-brainer. Things get even more though to evaluate, when taking in account that Mercantilism has a substantial downside beside the upkeep - you will lose all of your foreign trade routes. Unless special circumstances are in place, I usually do not even think about revolting to Mercantilism, but try to get hands on economics ASAP to use Free Market, which can be shortly described as the complete opposite, if you look at what it does.[NEWLINE]But now the more interesting part...when to use Mercantilism Despite all the negative elements connected to it, in some situations the extra specialist is more useful than an extra foreign trade route:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]a) You are in or near an AW situations or your overall diplomatic are just to worse to allow (m)any active OB-treaties. Obviously, this is what it is made for it. The penalty doesn't hurt you anymore, while Free Market offers you zero compared to a free specialist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]b) You are pursuing an GP-strategy and maybe you have some of the wonders mentioned under "synergies" around. Of course then every specialist helps. However, think twice before giving in to this temptation - Mercantilism is not perfectly suited for this strategy. The most effective way to get a cabinet full of GP is creating a single city, which accumulates as many points as possible. Mercantilism however tends to add few in this case.Most points will be wasted because of the escalating costs of later GPs. What I described as "balanced"-GP strategy (=distributing the GPP sources between several cities) is less effective from the view of maxing out GP, but often not to avoid (no food-powerhouse, cap of two national wonders per city etc.).In the case, Mercantilism can be indeed a valuable part of the big picture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]c) You have a lot of low-developed cities. Mercantilism's flat one-specialist-per-city bonus obviously has the biggest value, if a city is small - adding a specialist to a size one city without using the citizen to create it means doubling the number of productive people in the city.If combined with Representation and Caste System, you get at decent boost for research this way, while you are able to use the specialist for what is most important (f.e. getting the first border expansion for a new built or conquered city quick).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nonetheless (and completely according to real history), Mercantilism is in most games only a temporarily good choice. If not FM means the end for it, then State Property will do this job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Economy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All cities get an additional foreign trade route[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mansa Musa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD], Organized, Harbor + other buildings which give extra routes, many OBs, "big" games (huge maps, many opponents), everything which increases commerce yield in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Many of what could be said about FM is already noted in the paragraph above, because FM is to a large extend the complete opposite of Mercantilism...and so, no wonder, the best moments to use it are non-isolationistic strategies. In theory, a few OB-treaties will be enough to receive the extra trade route; however, more trading partners tend to give you more lucrative routes (just because there are more possible destinations to choose from!).Also everything which increases commerce (many cottages, buildings, civics, shrines, settled down specialists,...) in your cities, will fuel the effect of FM, because the game "connects" rich cities with other rich cities and calculates the yield of trade routes this way.[NEWLINE]Now, how to rate FM Without a doubt, it is the most flexible and easy-to-use civic in the column. Even if you don't care much about synergies, it is difficult to be completely wrong with it. Except complete AW games, it is very unlikely that you end up without a single OB (at least on bigger maps)...and if you just met this condition, you will get a decent reward out of it. Add low upkeep and you will have a nice civic which gives you extra money. Usually, it is the right choice as soon as it shows up - either for the rest of the game or at least until SP gets available.[NEWLINE]But despite it is the right choice very often, I wouldn't call it the most powerful choice. For the reasons, see the next paragraph...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Communism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] No more distance maintenance in your cities. Watermills and Workshops yield one more unit of food.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] No[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mao[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Watermill and Workshop-spam[\BOLD], Games aimed at domination win, early GP-strategies, warmongering, Universal Suffrage, Vassalage, Theocracy, Aggressive, Expansive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Any rating is always dependent on the playing style to a large degree, so you might differ, if I rate SP as the most powerful civic of all. And even my rating needs further explanation... "most powerful" just means that it is probably the civic which might give you the biggest reward - well, if you are able and willing to invest enough to exploit it to its full extend (that's also the reason, why it isn't overpowered!). I'm not claiming that it is the only viable choice; in fact in most games you will get more out of FM, just because its effects are easier obtain.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SP offers three pluses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, it is a zero-cost civic. Normally, I wouldn't emphasize it in this way. But usually it is either the way that there is a direct drawback for zero upkeep (Pacifism: extra upkeep for military units) or it is just offset by the fact that the positive effects of the civic are restricted or hard to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For SP however, you will at least (nearly) always save some money from the second advantage. No distance maintenance in your cities. OK, you will smile and move on in an OCC, but apart from that the effect is somewhere between "nice" over "alone enough to switch to SP" to "saves me from bankrupt". An empire similar to the former British or Soviet will cost you dearly without SP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The third thing is probably the most interesting, but also the one which needs most work: Extra food from the watermill and workshop improvement. While it is just the icing on the cake in case of the watermill (it is already a nice choice without SP), it completely turns the tide for the workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A workshop is a niche improvement under normal circumstances. Unless you locally drown in food, the food penalty hits just to hard. Moreover, mines are a big competitor, because they to do the same without taking away arable land and might even grant you a new resource deposit one day. But under SP, a workshop means simply +3 hammers! Cities with enough hills still do not need them...but all those flatland cities in grassland or near a river can be turned into real factories. 10 citizens can yield 30 base hammers this way... If you are among those who always miss hammers dearly and wish to be back in the Civ3s paradise of mined grassland, then welcome in the realm of State Property! The power of such a factory-wonder is multiplied by the fact you can use it to hit the AI on a weak point - they are famous with everything connected to commerce and research, but they often lack the hammers to build the fancy toys for their army.[NEWLINE]The only downside (of which I'm glad it is in!) it the fact that you need a strong worker force to transform your infrastructure this way. And while it perfectly plays together with an early farm/GP-strategy (don't be shy to replace the farms with workshops - with escalating GP costs, you will usually only sacrifice few GLs from the moment on SP becomes available), it will make you cry to tear down developed cottages. It might still make sense in some cases, but be careful then...if you transform too early, you might fall back in tech because of you depleting income. And with the new combat system, Tank vs. Modern Armour is nothing to search for, even if you have the numerical advantage on your side.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Medicine (Industrial Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +6 health in every city; also +1 happiness per jungle/forest tile inside the city radius[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, low resource situations, "green strategies" (keeping forests, lumber mills), high unhealthiness through power generation or buildings, wars which disrupt resource trading[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] ***REMOVED for overhaul because of the latest patch changes regarding Environmentalism ***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Religious Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: Unlike the civics of the other columns, the ones of the religious section need an additional component to work - religion. In case of the first three, you will only reap the benefits inside a city, if you have a state religion AND if this state religion is present in this city. Free Religion abandons the state religion concept and depends instead on having as many different religions as possible inside a city. So the usefulness of all the non-default civics depends highly on the religious situation in your empire and the thump rule "everything is better than the default civic" is not entirely true here. The three state-religion civics (can) cause high direct or indirect costs, so Paganism is indeed a real choice, as long as you don't have established religion in most of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monotheism (Ancient Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +25% speed, when constructing buildings or wonders; training of missionaries is possible without having a monastery[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Wonder/cathedral resources[\BOLD] (Marble, Stone, Copper), [BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD], forest-chopping for building projects, State Property, Universal Suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your first option in the religious column. The general note on religious civics applies especially to OR. Unless you have founded one of the early religions yourself, the chance is quite high that you have no access to religion, when the civic becomes available. In this case, wait with a switch. Even if the absolute sum is not much in those early turns, you will need every piece of gold - and paying for getting zero doesn't sound like a good idea, well?[NEWLINE]If religion has spread to your empire and a state religion is declared, a switch makes usually sense. +25% hammers for buildings/wonders are a huge boost in the beginning, where you need to get the stuff out as fast as possible. And not to forget the second advantage - missionaries without monasteries. It makes sure that all your new cities can get the production bonus at once and it allows sending out a lot of those guys to your neighbors to bring them in line. However, if you are involved in serious wars and your cities are busy with pumping units out, OR doesn't help you. It can be also problematic on higher difficulties, because then the high upkeep might lay a heavy burden on your treasury.[NEWLINE]Overall, the usefulness tends to decrease over time. If you weight extra building speed vs. free experience, great people points or extra happiness (that's in short what the alternatives - described in detail below - offer), all of the latter three are usually more important in the later game. However, the second advantage might open another niche for OR later. In the moment you research Scientific Method, you lose the chance to build new monasteries. If you have build enough of the ones you need, you are lucky. If not, you have a problem, when you are pursuing for example a cultural victory, for which are cathedrals extremely helpful. OR eliminates this problem by allowing cities to build missionaries of all the religions they contain, regardless of the presence of monasteries - so this effectively means you can spread every religion over your entire empire, if you just have one city with this certain religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Theology (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 EXP for new built units; no spreading of none-state religions[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Saladin[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Pentagon[\BOLD], [BOLD]Westpoint[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], Organized, Nationalism, The Heroic Epic, Police State, any war or cold war situation, domination or conquest victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Theocracy is Vassalages little sister - the main effect is the same, units start with 2 experience points extra. Like it is true for most war civics, there is not much to say about when you should use them. If you plan to build a lot of units in the near future (for whatever reason), take this. And if you can, take Vassalage too. The synergy between both is one of the strongest among all civics - both improve exactly the same aspect of the game and in case of experience, a cumulative bonus is especially valuable. Yes, you might argue that one of those civics is enough to reap the second promotion immediately (assuming barracks are in place). That's true and I'm far away from saying they are only worth to be taken together - but you just waste their full potential. Believe me, 6 or 8 exp from the start matters, because your units will likely get the third promotion right after the first fight with 8. Also every new promotion means a kind of instant "medipack" for your unit (wounds are partly healed).It can make the difference between losing or winning a fight in many cases.[NEWLINE]Medium upkeep is an absolutely fair charge for what Theocracy does, especially if you compare it with OR or Pacifism. Until Free Religion shows up (which is a great all-round civic), Theocracy is not only the best, but also the cheapest solution in any game which involves decent military action or just a big standing army to prevent it.[NEWLINE]The second effect of Theocracy (no natural or missionary-caused spread of minor religions in city with your state religion) is a kind of a double-edged sword. It prevents you from reaping the benefits of having several religions in your cities (more happiness, culture, science).But OTOH, you also prevent that a nasty opponent spreads his own founded religion into your city and gains line of sight and shrine income. How strong the impact of both aspects is depends however on the extend minor religions have already spread in your country (because existing ones aren't removed). If nearly all of your cities have already a second or even third religion, Theocracy isn't a big loss anymore - because spreading religions via missionaries in this situation is very cost-intensive anyway. For preventing the enemy from gaining benefits out of his or her mother religion it is just the other way round - if they haven't got their feet in your door yet, it is the best time to close it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Philosophy (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +100% GPP (=Great People Points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] no direct civic upkeep, but 1 Gold per military unit[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD], [BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Representation, Mercantilism, Industrious, any major GP-strategies, cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you are in love with Great People, this civic is for you. Although the doubled amount of GPP [BOLD]does not transform into 100% more great people[\BOLD] (the increase is probably rather 20-30 %), the civic pays out if used properly. The real benefit isn't the pure extra number, but the fact that you will get your GPs earlier - and one of the basic rules of Civilisation is that earlier advantages weight more. So they question is when to use Pacifism?[NEWLINE]If you are running a game heavily leaned towards GP, of course. You might run Pacifism then until the end, but you should still keep in mind that the effect fades the more GPs you have already gotten. Taken to the extreme: At some point, even the 100% increase will not yield to another GP because of the geometrical cost increase.[NEWLINE]If GP are just a (minor) part of your strategy, you might consider a quick switch when it becomes available (to rush out some) and eventually later again, when you desperately need another Great Person, while lacking enough base GPP. In any case, try to max out the synergetic potential of Pacifism. Especially the combination with Caste System can do miracles - there is rarely a better way to get a special GP in a short time.[NEWLINE]Probably not necessary to point out, but for the sake of completeness...if you don't have wonders and specialists around which yield GPP, move along - Pacifism has no second benefit, but a hidden cost trap. Don't be fooled by no upkeep, the extra cost for military units will usually easily turn it into a quasi high-upkeep civic. Yes, in theory all those famous Great People might lead you to a peaceful victory , where you don't need any weaponry and therefore unit maintenance. But the days of no-unit-games are gone.Civ4s diplomacy system relies on relation modifiers and is quite reliable in this part, but you will need the plain cold steel, too. There is always someone out there who is jealous about your wonders and cities. Pacifistic games are best achieved with cold-war strategies - and that's nothing to head for under Pacifism from the view of costs. To sum up the options ...either build up a very healthy economy or use Pacifism only temporarily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (Renaissance Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per present religion inside a city; +10% research output; no more state religion and religious diplomacy modifiers[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Elisabeth; religion has no more impact on diplomacy[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, Environmentalism, luxury resource shortages, peaceful-planned games and situations with high-tension in diplomacy, [BOLD]non[\BOLD]-diplomatic victories (especially space race or cultural)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your final choice in the religious column. A powerful tool, coming with low costs and offering a simple solution for unhappiness problems and granting a 10% increase in research on top - all you have to do is spreading as many religions as possible in every corner of the empire. Each present religion yields +1 happiness in your cities, before factoring in additional boni you might get out of built temples. Unless you have no happiness problems, because your are drowning in luxuries or your cities are small, you should seriously consider a switch.[NEWLINE]The icing on the cake (the research bonus) is even independent of the number of religions in a city (maybe there must be one religion at all, not sure on this). 10% may not sound to drastic, but if you keep in mind how expensive the late game techs have become with v1.52, you will be happy about every extra beaker.It can make the difference in a tight space race.[NEWLINE]As usual there is also shadow or at least some more things to consider. First of all, don't underestimate the difficulty of spreading religions with missionaries. If there is no or only a single religion present in a city, your chance of success is 100% or slightly below. If there is already a second religion, you might fail; three or more is just pure luck. So the gained extra happiness is usually 2 or 3, unless your are willing to invest vast amount of shields for missionaries (which can be sometimes worth nonetheless, when pursuing a cultural victory for example).[NEWLINE]A second aspect is the loss of state religion. Beside the fact that the Spiral Minaret loses its effect , it has a serious impact on the diplomatic system in Civ4, which can be a boon or bust, depending on your situation. Free Religion both nullifies positive and negative modifiers caused by having the same or a different state religion. You will have no more problems with Isabella or Saladin hunting you for believing in the wrong faith, but you might experience cooled down relations with your former brothers in faith, too. The chance to get backstabbed and attacked is slower, but also the possibilities for trade or interventions on your side.</English>
		<French>[H1]A Guide to Civics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pfeffersack[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intention of this article is to give hints and tips about when and how to use the different Civics in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each civic there is a note on availability, followed by a short description of the effects/costs, diplomatic implications, comments on synergy with other game elements (other civics, leader traits, buildings, game settings, common strategies) and a final summary on the usefulness of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any Feedback is highly appreciated and the guide will be updated with comments and strategies people post here (credits will be given here in the first post).My (high) aim is to provide a comprehensive database on the complex subject of civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Additional Credits for contributing interesting aspects, strategies and correcting inadequate information: genjiboy, Heroes, Krikkitone, Orca, Samson.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some General Thoughts on Civics in Civ4[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maintenance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Note: Roland Johansen has done a great article about civic upkeep (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/civic_upkeep.php).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civics are divided into 4 upkeep categories: no, low, medium and high. As a very rough rule of thumb you will pay 0 for zero, x for low, 1,5-2x for medium and 2-3x for high upkeep civics.The exact values depend on your number of cities and your population.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a growing empire and increasing inflation, civic upkeep can really drain from your treasury. If you consider which civics to use, always keep the upkeep as an additional factor in mind - if you are unsure which civic is the better one, then the cheaper one is usually the better idea. Perhaps with the exception of Environmentalism, all the high-upkeep civics offer strong advantages. But if go for them, you should check if you can really use them to a certain extent - running Vassalage only pays if you build enough units, while Organized Religion is a waste if you are busy to build up your army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I haven't mentioned spiritual as a factor in most of the strategy/synergy sections (with Slavery and Nationalism as exceptions; for why see the civic article) for one reason - it is just plain useful to civics in general. The smooth government transition without anarchy transforms in two advantages: The freedom to change [BOLD]when[\BOLD] and [BOLD]as often as necessary[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When[\BOLD] just means the independence of things as wars, golden age or wonder races. Without interfering anarchy, there is no need to wait with a revolution. If a better option shows up, switch (to be correct, there is still a restriction regarding minimum time between two revolutions, but that's only rarely a real problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second benefit is the fact that you don't have to think about [BOLD]if switching (and eventually switching back again soon) is worth the anarchy[\BOLD]. Without the spiritual trait, you have to keep an eye on the number of switches you make in a game - if you accumulate to many anarchy turns over time, it may hurt your progress. Sometimes the anarchy just eats up the small advantage the new civic would give you, especially if the benefits are needed only temporarily (for example, "hurry civics" as Slavery or Universal Suffrage, the "draft civic" Nationalism or Bureaucracy, if you go for a wonder in your capital) - then you will either drop the switch altogether or at least delay it to make a "big revolution" (see below for this strategy for non-spiritual civs). Spirituals effect also tends to rise in Epic or Marathon games.Not so much by the fact the anarchy period is at minimum 2 turns and can easily scale up to 4 (this is counterbalanced by every turn being "less" valuable), but because unit movement isn't modified - a "quick" switch to Slavery and Nationalism without Spiritual to stop an enemy attack will need three turns(!) to show an effect; three turns in which moreover everything in your empire stands still.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The organized trait is the second one which has an direct impact on civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Organized shifts the balance towards the civics with (higher) maintenance, which are usually the ones with a greater impact and stronger effect....and those suited for a more aggressive and (regarding your empires population) repressive playing style.If you compare a (war-monger) combination of Police State, Vassalage, Caste System, Mercantilism and Theocracy with for example Universal Suffrage, Free Speech, Emancipation, State Property and Free Religion (large empire going for cottages), you will clearly see the different impact of Organized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To sum up, the effect here can be significant (if you adopt your general "big plan") to meaningless (if you don't). That's also the reason why Organized is usually rated as the weakest trait - however, if at all, that's only partly true.For the civic effect depending on the playing style yes, but you also get cheaper Lighthouses and more important Courthouses - both directing to faster expansion. Not a bad thing in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When to change?[\BOLD] (applies mainly for non-spiritual civs)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The question is nearly as difficult as the one dealing with what to change. As usually there is not a single correct answer. You have to consider different situations and factors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all it is important to distinguish the first, initial change in a civic column from later changes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In case of the [BOLD]initial change[\BOLD], the straight advice in most of the cases is simply: Change as soon as it possible without. The initial civics do nothing for you except draining low maintenance. Sure, most of the civics you will get first access to in the different columns (Hereditary Rule, Bureaucracy/Vassalage, Slavery/Caste System, Mercantilism and Organized Religion) have a higher upkeep, but the give you some advantage and the real cost for this advantage is lower (because you have to subtract one maintenance level in your calculation - the level you have to pay for the starters anyway!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are more complicated when [BOLD]changing from a "real" civic to another[\BOLD]. Again, switching ASAP is usually not a bad idea - simply because getting a better civic sooner is better and because in a growing economy a turn of anarchy becomes more and more expensive, if the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, some circumstances might make a delayed revolution a better idea. It is for example not a good idea to switch during a golden age (however, the mistake would rather triggering the Golden Age before the switch in most cases) or when you need every turn in a wonder race or for building units in a case of emergency (of course with the exception of a switch to something which helps especially in those situations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if no such special situation makes waiting worth, the concept of "big revolutions" can do so. Instead of switching only one civic in a revolution, you can change up to 5. The anarchy penalty rises too, but not in linear way. You can switch up to 3 civics at one time and will still suffer only one turn anarchy. So you can minimize the turns lost to anarchy if you wait for example a few turns to get another tech which enables a new civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And last but not least there may be economic reasons - don't underestimate the pressure high cost civics can lay on your economy. Especially when having the concept of a big revolution in mind, it might be tempting to make a big change - for example when going to war, switching from low cost "peace" civics to the repressive ones. Make sure you have a healthy economy, a full treasury or a Great Merchant around. Otherwise you might come into trouble soon. Wars are already expensive in Civ4 without the political dimension (more units to support, units must be supplied in enemy lands, enemies eventually pillaging the land, unit upgrades, bribery for allies etc.), so those extra civic costs might lead to strikes or at least a serious drop in your research efforts. A bad move here can be devastating, since you have to wait a few turns to be able to correct it again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Government Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The special thing about this column is that you can get access to all civics very early - if you are willing and lucky enough to build "The Pyramids". The immediate availability of all the civics of course change their relative values, so my rather general advices might fail here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And there is a second special thing about it...21 out of 26 leaders have their favorite civic inside this column, so your decision here can have an important influence on how getting along with the other leaders...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monarchy (classic era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per military unit inside a city[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Alexander, Catherine, Hatshepsut, Huayna Capac, Kublai Khan and Louis XIV.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Vassalage, Nationalism, Theocracy, OCC, cold or general defensive wars (especially AW), ressource-scarce maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The good old military police and better than ever before. No more upper limit. But it comes now with a hefty price, too. Beside the unit upkeep, the civic itself will cost you a substantial sum to maintain. Nearly every other way to produce happiness will be cheaper, but sometimes there is no other way to stay in the "yellow faces" (mainly because of few religions and/or resources).Then it is the right choice, because avoiding unhappy citizens is a high-priority goal. And unless you own the Pyramids, it is the best what you can get for a long time. Otherwise, try to leave it ASAP...if you get access to a new government civic, check if you really need HR any more. If most of the happiness is lost due overflow, consider switching immediately. Even if you can live with the costs (which indeed tend to become less of a problem, if your cities grow really big), you will at least miss the benefits of Universal Suffrage, as soon as it becomes available.[NEWLINE]On the diplomatic table, the civic puts you at good relations (usually a permanent + of 1-3, depending on how long you are in the civic and on how keen the leader is about foreign politics) with 6 other leaders...that's more than with any other civic![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Constitution (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Every specialist (including settled down 'super-specialists') yields 3 extra research; the biggest 5 (or 6...I'm unsure if this a flat number or something dependent on map size) cities in your empire get 3 extra happiness.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Cyrus, Caesar, Napoleon, Victoria[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD], Pacifism, Philosophical, Organized, OCC - FCC, smaller maps(?),GP-based strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Representation is the second available choice in the government column and it can be very useful in different situations. Obviously, if you rely very heavily on specialists (and if you are perhaps running some more pro-specialist-civics) and also if your empire is rather small, because then it is your weapon against unhappiness.[NEWLINE]But even without such special circumstances, it is in most cases superior compared to HR. You pay less maintenance and despite you get the happiness usually where you need it most (=in your big cities).And of course your troops are freed again to do what they should - defend and attack. Even when Universal Suffrage becomes available (a tech later, if you have planned for it), you might be better off with staying in Representation. Unless you have money to burn or you have "cottaged" your land early, Representation will often fit better. You can still switch later if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Fascism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] 25% more hammer output, if building military units; -50% war wariness[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Genghis Khan, Isabella, Montezuma, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Jails[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mount Rushmore[\BOLD], [BOLD]Heroic Epic[\BOLD], Extended and bloody offense warfare ([BOLD]especially AW[\BOLD]), Drydocks, Vassalage, Theocracy, Organized, Aggressive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Well, I don't think there is much to say about when this civic helps you and when it doesn't do you anything good. It you are at peace (and plan to stay here), move long - there is just nothing you will find here except a near-to-useless high maintenance civic. If you are attacked, ask your self: Is the production bonus worth to sacrifice other choices Keep in mind, WW is no longer an issue if you just defend your self! Nationalism will literally cost you much less and might offer a better effect.[NEWLINE]What makes it really shine is the second bonus...war wariness can easily force you to end a war, because it gets more and more difficult to maintain a productive economy, when you try to conquer and things start to get rough. PS puts an end to this. Add jails and the Mount Rushmore wonder...and no unhappy people will stop you from dominating the world with your guns. You will also enjoy better relations with other leaders who like to repress their people in the same manner...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Democracy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] The Town improvement yields an extra hammer and you are allowed to rush buildings and units with gold.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Asoka, Frederick, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD], [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Kremlin[\BOLD], Emancipation, Organized, "cottage-strategies"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you have planned ahead with building lots of cottages, you are now able to earn your fruits. Now you will not only get tons of money out of them, but also a hammer on the top. On the financial side, you may you the rushing ability to build commerce and science boosters in those cities quickly. You will get the invested money back soon. To make use of the civic to its full extend, be sure to combine it with Free Speech.[NEWLINE]The importance of commerce in Civ4 cannot be overstated. It is the thriving factor. It is also one of the main points why the AI is a lot tougher now - they now know how important it is, if you look at the sheer number of cottages they build. That's why they stay competitive in the tech race until the end of the game...and it also makes the diplomatic aspect even more important here. The leaders who like Universal Suffrage are often among the successful ones, which means you are likely to have powerful friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Legal Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The action in this column starts fairly late; the offered civics cover in a nice way the different needs of offensive/defensive war and early-/late game economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Feudalism (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 exp. for new units, extra free unit support (5 flat + 1 for each 10 population points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mehmed II. (WLs)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD](see also text), [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]Charismatic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), Police State, any situation with a need for a lot of new troops[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Depending on your research path, Vassalage will be your first or second legal option. It offers one huge benefit (to be entirely correct there is a second: you get some extra free unit support, but this effect is at best a slight compensation for the maintenance, see end of the paragraph) - every unit you will built starts with two experience points more.[NEWLINE]This guarantees the first promotion; under usual circumstances (barracks are in place), you get access to the second. Taking in account how combat in Civ4 works this is without a doubt a very desirable boost. Usually a small edge is enough to decide a combat and am promotion more or less can make this difference easily. It is also an effect you will feel for sure, as everyone - even the most peaceful player - has an need for a decent army - if just to prevent a nasty AI leader from attacking.[NEWLINE]The only downside of Vassalage is the high maintenance cost. Nonetheless, if Vassalage is your first and therefore only option, switch (unless you really have to count every peace of gold). Whenever you plan to built up your forces, switch. In some games you will stay in vassalage for longer times or even the rest of the game, in others the next options will become one day the better choice. Just make sure to exploit the benefits of Vassalage as much as you can, while running it - the extra support will cover the unit maintenance partly (for Organized civs, this civic is even more interesting, as for the reduced cost, the free support alone is worth the expenses!) and experienced troops will still help you in future, if you have left Vassalage for a more peaceful agenda.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Civil Service (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +50% production and commerce in capital[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Kublai Khan, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Spiritual, [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD], [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD], [BOLD]general strong capital development/focus (f.e. important national wonders in capital placed, any civil or military production boosters)[\BOLD], small maps/empires, [BOLD]OCC[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] To put it in one sentence...it is all about your capital here, which will receive 50% additional production and commerce under this civic. Bureaucracy is always worth a thought, if it comes as first option in the column (even the worst capital has the Palace commerce bonus and likely some hammer sources). How competitive it stays against the other options, depends on location, and constitution of your capital and of course on the future plans you gave with it, too. If it is your unit-factory (high base hammer output, Heroic Epic, etc.), drowning in cottages, your main wonder construction site or even your only city (OCC), than this civic is for you. What makes Bureaucracy so powerful despite the fact that it affects only one of your cities, is Civ4s need for specialization - one specialized city may take the entire needs of your empire in one field (unit production, wonders, research,...). And if you can improve this performance by 50%, than it is usually worth a civic.[NEWLINE]However, Bureaucracy tends to lose steam in later phases of most games. The reasons are quite simple - successful empires tend to expand or growth, which means civics get more expensive. Usually, the civic effects expand in a similar manner. Mercantilism gives you an extra specialist in every city, Hereditary Rule enables MP everywhere. Not so here - your entire empire pays with rising maintenance for a fairly constant reward. Freakenly realistic, if you think about real world bureaucracy and centralization.. The final catch is Free Speech becoming available. Without, Nationhood and Vassalage were the only alternatives - ones which aren't too exciting in peacetimes. But usually the need for money and beakers rises in the endgame - and extra income from the cottages is just too important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Nationalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Ability to draft up 5 units per turn, +2 happiness from barracks[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] None[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Churchill[BOLD][NEWLINE]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), [BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD], sneak attacks, huge excess happiness and food without sufficient production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Basically, we have the reincarnation of Civ3s draft button, with happiness boosting barracks as icing on the cake - with no maintenance cost. Nationhood is the kind of civic you don't need very often and long, but if you need it, then you need it dearly and if possible immediately. Ironically, you will use this war civic most likely, if you have planned to play a peaceful game - there is always one Alex or Monty out there which is interested in your cities and wonders.So, in case a nasty AI surprises you, what does Nationhood for you?[NEWLINE]Depending on the map Size, you can draft per turn up to 5 of the most modern defenders available(however, restricted to one per city and turn). The price is unhappiness (+3) and population loss (-1 pop point). The big difference to Civ3 is the training level of your drafted troops - while in Civ3 the recruits had 33%/50% less hit points compared to regular/veteran units (which often doomed them as pure cannon fodder), you get regular troops now - just the starting experience is halved. This means still a promotion from the start if a barrack is in place.[NEWLINE]Without a doubt, Nationhood is no real long term option. +2 happiness is not enough to make it interesting in peacetimes and drafting more than one or two units will bring most cities down to anarchy and resulting starvation. You will likely leave Nationhood as soon as the initial ambush forces a repelled -usually for Vassalage-, even if the war continues. Only if the war goes very bad and you are under constant pressure, you might be forced to stay here. It is also the civic of heroic defeats and fighting to the last man...and even if it helps you to survive, you will need a large recovery period after that.[NEWLINE]Since Nationhood is a mainly stop-gap against an invasion, it is most useful if you can enact it while the enemy is still approaching your city - so a good recon work tremendously increases the efficiency of this civic. Or pick a spiritual leader - always useful regarding civics, but being able to enact and draft in the same turn is something not to underestimate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 commerce for the town improvement, +100% culture[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Emancipation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Printing Press[\BOLD], any "cottagemania"-strategy, culture is needed for victory (together with everything else yielding/boosting culture)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The second "late" option here. The boni speak for themselves: +2 commerce per town and +100% culture, low maintenance.The power and importance of cottages are well known, so it is easy to imagine how much impact the extra commerce has. Free Speech is the dominant peaceful option. This applies especially, if you are going for a cultural victory. Though there is still a niche for Bureaucracy (if your capital is among the three cities and you are racing for an important wonder), doubled culture is worth 6 cathedrals and all the Prerequisite temples, not to speak of the advantage in tech race.[NEWLINE]It offers little direct benefit for the warmongers, but if you are currently not fighting for your life or building up you main attack force, you should consider it despite - maintaining or even upgrading an army is expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Economic Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: It is the column which is enabled latest by far, it contains (IMHO) the weakest and the strongest civic of all and also one of the few with a negative effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Banking (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All foreign trade routes are closed, every city gets a "virtual" specialist (which doesn't drain one citizen from work)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Tokugawa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Organized, Pacifism, Philosophical; AW, warmongering or bad diplomatic relations in general, balanced GP strategies, Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Mercantilism will be the first available choice in the economic department, but if planned properly Free Market is only one tech away. So it is kind of different to the other "first" civics, were switching over immediately is usually a no-brainer. Things get even more though to evaluate, when taking in account that Mercantilism has a substantial downside beside the upkeep - you will lose all of your foreign trade routes. Unless special circumstances are in place, I usually do not even think about revolting to Mercantilism, but try to get hands on economics ASAP to use Free Market, which can be shortly described as the complete opposite, if you look at what it does.[NEWLINE]But now the more interesting part...when to use Mercantilism Despite all the negative elements connected to it, in some situations the extra specialist is more useful than an extra foreign trade route:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]a) You are in or near an AW situations or your overall diplomatic are just to worse to allow (m)any active OB-treaties. Obviously, this is what it is made for it. The penalty doesn't hurt you anymore, while Free Market offers you zero compared to a free specialist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]b) You are pursuing an GP-strategy and maybe you have some of the wonders mentioned under "synergies" around. Of course then every specialist helps. However, think twice before giving in to this temptation - Mercantilism is not perfectly suited for this strategy. The most effective way to get a cabinet full of GP is creating a single city, which accumulates as many points as possible. Mercantilism however tends to add few in this case.Most points will be wasted because of the escalating costs of later GPs. What I described as "balanced"-GP strategy (=distributing the GPP sources between several cities) is less effective from the view of maxing out GP, but often not to avoid (no food-powerhouse, cap of two national wonders per city etc.).In the case, Mercantilism can be indeed a valuable part of the big picture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]c) You have a lot of low-developed cities. Mercantilism's flat one-specialist-per-city bonus obviously has the biggest value, if a city is small - adding a specialist to a size one city without using the citizen to create it means doubling the number of productive people in the city.If combined with Representation and Caste System, you get at decent boost for research this way, while you are able to use the specialist for what is most important (f.e. getting the first border expansion for a new built or conquered city quick).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nonetheless (and completely according to real history), Mercantilism is in most games only a temporarily good choice. If not FM means the end for it, then State Property will do this job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Economy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All cities get an additional foreign trade route[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mansa Musa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD], Organized, Harbor + other buildings which give extra routes, many OBs, "big" games (huge maps, many opponents), everything which increases commerce yield in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Many of what could be said about FM is already noted in the paragraph above, because FM is to a large extend the complete opposite of Mercantilism...and so, no wonder, the best moments to use it are non-isolationistic strategies. In theory, a few OB-treaties will be enough to receive the extra trade route; however, more trading partners tend to give you more lucrative routes (just because there are more possible destinations to choose from!).Also everything which increases commerce (many cottages, buildings, civics, shrines, settled down specialists,...) in your cities, will fuel the effect of FM, because the game "connects" rich cities with other rich cities and calculates the yield of trade routes this way.[NEWLINE]Now, how to rate FM Without a doubt, it is the most flexible and easy-to-use civic in the column. Even if you don't care much about synergies, it is difficult to be completely wrong with it. Except complete AW games, it is very unlikely that you end up without a single OB (at least on bigger maps)...and if you just met this condition, you will get a decent reward out of it. Add low upkeep and you will have a nice civic which gives you extra money. Usually, it is the right choice as soon as it shows up - either for the rest of the game or at least until SP gets available.[NEWLINE]But despite it is the right choice very often, I wouldn't call it the most powerful choice. For the reasons, see the next paragraph...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Communism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] No more distance maintenance in your cities. Watermills and Workshops yield one more unit of food.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] No[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mao[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Watermill and Workshop-spam[\BOLD], Games aimed at domination win, early GP-strategies, warmongering, Universal Suffrage, Vassalage, Theocracy, Aggressive, Expansive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Any rating is always dependent on the playing style to a large degree, so you might differ, if I rate SP as the most powerful civic of all. And even my rating needs further explanation... "most powerful" just means that it is probably the civic which might give you the biggest reward - well, if you are able and willing to invest enough to exploit it to its full extend (that's also the reason, why it isn't overpowered!). I'm not claiming that it is the only viable choice; in fact in most games you will get more out of FM, just because its effects are easier obtain.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SP offers three pluses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, it is a zero-cost civic. Normally, I wouldn't emphasize it in this way. But usually it is either the way that there is a direct drawback for zero upkeep (Pacifism: extra upkeep for military units) or it is just offset by the fact that the positive effects of the civic are restricted or hard to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For SP however, you will at least (nearly) always save some money from the second advantage. No distance maintenance in your cities. OK, you will smile and move on in an OCC, but apart from that the effect is somewhere between "nice" over "alone enough to switch to SP" to "saves me from bankrupt". An empire similar to the former British or Soviet will cost you dearly without SP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The third thing is probably the most interesting, but also the one which needs most work: Extra food from the watermill and workshop improvement. While it is just the icing on the cake in case of the watermill (it is already a nice choice without SP), it completely turns the tide for the workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A workshop is a niche improvement under normal circumstances. Unless you locally drown in food, the food penalty hits just to hard. Moreover, mines are a big competitor, because they to do the same without taking away arable land and might even grant you a new resource deposit one day. But under SP, a workshop means simply +3 hammers! Cities with enough hills still do not need them...but all those flatland cities in grassland or near a river can be turned into real factories. 10 citizens can yield 30 base hammers this way... If you are among those who always miss hammers dearly and wish to be back in the Civ3s paradise of mined grassland, then welcome in the realm of State Property! The power of such a factory-wonder is multiplied by the fact you can use it to hit the AI on a weak point - they are famous with everything connected to commerce and research, but they often lack the hammers to build the fancy toys for their army.[NEWLINE]The only downside (of which I'm glad it is in!) it the fact that you need a strong worker force to transform your infrastructure this way. And while it perfectly plays together with an early farm/GP-strategy (don't be shy to replace the farms with workshops - with escalating GP costs, you will usually only sacrifice few GLs from the moment on SP becomes available), it will make you cry to tear down developed cottages. It might still make sense in some cases, but be careful then...if you transform too early, you might fall back in tech because of you depleting income. And with the new combat system, Tank vs. Modern Armour is nothing to search for, even if you have the numerical advantage on your side.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Medicine (Industrial Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +6 health in every city; also +1 happiness per jungle/forest tile inside the city radius[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, low resource situations, "green strategies" (keeping forests, lumber mills), high unhealthiness through power generation or buildings, wars which disrupt resource trading[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] ***REMOVED for overhaul because of the latest patch changes regarding Environmentalism ***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Religious Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: Unlike the civics of the other columns, the ones of the religious section need an additional component to work - religion. In case of the first three, you will only reap the benefits inside a city, if you have a state religion AND if this state religion is present in this city. Free Religion abandons the state religion concept and depends instead on having as many different religions as possible inside a city. So the usefulness of all the non-default civics depends highly on the religious situation in your empire and the thump rule "everything is better than the default civic" is not entirely true here. The three state-religion civics (can) cause high direct or indirect costs, so Paganism is indeed a real choice, as long as you don't have established religion in most of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monotheism (Ancient Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +25% speed, when constructing buildings or wonders; training of missionaries is possible without having a monastery[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Wonder/cathedral resources[\BOLD] (Marble, Stone, Copper), [BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD], forest-chopping for building projects, State Property, Universal Suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your first option in the religious column. The general note on religious civics applies especially to OR. Unless you have founded one of the early religions yourself, the chance is quite high that you have no access to religion, when the civic becomes available. In this case, wait with a switch. Even if the absolute sum is not much in those early turns, you will need every piece of gold - and paying for getting zero doesn't sound like a good idea, well?[NEWLINE]If religion has spread to your empire and a state religion is declared, a switch makes usually sense. +25% hammers for buildings/wonders are a huge boost in the beginning, where you need to get the stuff out as fast as possible. And not to forget the second advantage - missionaries without monasteries. It makes sure that all your new cities can get the production bonus at once and it allows sending out a lot of those guys to your neighbors to bring them in line. However, if you are involved in serious wars and your cities are busy with pumping units out, OR doesn't help you. It can be also problematic on higher difficulties, because then the high upkeep might lay a heavy burden on your treasury.[NEWLINE]Overall, the usefulness tends to decrease over time. If you weight extra building speed vs. free experience, great people points or extra happiness (that's in short what the alternatives - described in detail below - offer), all of the latter three are usually more important in the later game. However, the second advantage might open another niche for OR later. In the moment you research Scientific Method, you lose the chance to build new monasteries. If you have build enough of the ones you need, you are lucky. If not, you have a problem, when you are pursuing for example a cultural victory, for which are cathedrals extremely helpful. OR eliminates this problem by allowing cities to build missionaries of all the religions they contain, regardless of the presence of monasteries - so this effectively means you can spread every religion over your entire empire, if you just have one city with this certain religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Theology (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 EXP for new built units; no spreading of none-state religions[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Saladin[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Pentagon[\BOLD], [BOLD]Westpoint[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], Organized, Nationalism, The Heroic Epic, Police State, any war or cold war situation, domination or conquest victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Theocracy is Vassalages little sister - the main effect is the same, units start with 2 experience points extra. Like it is true for most war civics, there is not much to say about when you should use them. If you plan to build a lot of units in the near future (for whatever reason), take this. And if you can, take Vassalage too. The synergy between both is one of the strongest among all civics - both improve exactly the same aspect of the game and in case of experience, a cumulative bonus is especially valuable. Yes, you might argue that one of those civics is enough to reap the second promotion immediately (assuming barracks are in place). That's true and I'm far away from saying they are only worth to be taken together - but you just waste their full potential. Believe me, 6 or 8 exp from the start matters, because your units will likely get the third promotion right after the first fight with 8. Also every new promotion means a kind of instant "medipack" for your unit (wounds are partly healed).It can make the difference between losing or winning a fight in many cases.[NEWLINE]Medium upkeep is an absolutely fair charge for what Theocracy does, especially if you compare it with OR or Pacifism. Until Free Religion shows up (which is a great all-round civic), Theocracy is not only the best, but also the cheapest solution in any game which involves decent military action or just a big standing army to prevent it.[NEWLINE]The second effect of Theocracy (no natural or missionary-caused spread of minor religions in city with your state religion) is a kind of a double-edged sword. It prevents you from reaping the benefits of having several religions in your cities (more happiness, culture, science).But OTOH, you also prevent that a nasty opponent spreads his own founded religion into your city and gains line of sight and shrine income. How strong the impact of both aspects is depends however on the extend minor religions have already spread in your country (because existing ones aren't removed). If nearly all of your cities have already a second or even third religion, Theocracy isn't a big loss anymore - because spreading religions via missionaries in this situation is very cost-intensive anyway. For preventing the enemy from gaining benefits out of his or her mother religion it is just the other way round - if they haven't got their feet in your door yet, it is the best time to close it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Philosophy (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +100% GPP (=Great People Points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] no direct civic upkeep, but 1 Gold per military unit[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD], [BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Representation, Mercantilism, Industrious, any major GP-strategies, cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you are in love with Great People, this civic is for you. Although the doubled amount of GPP [BOLD]does not transform into 100% more great people[\BOLD] (the increase is probably rather 20-30 %), the civic pays out if used properly. The real benefit isn't the pure extra number, but the fact that you will get your GPs earlier - and one of the basic rules of Civilisation is that earlier advantages weight more. So they question is when to use Pacifism?[NEWLINE]If you are running a game heavily leaned towards GP, of course. You might run Pacifism then until the end, but you should still keep in mind that the effect fades the more GPs you have already gotten. Taken to the extreme: At some point, even the 100% increase will not yield to another GP because of the geometrical cost increase.[NEWLINE]If GP are just a (minor) part of your strategy, you might consider a quick switch when it becomes available (to rush out some) and eventually later again, when you desperately need another Great Person, while lacking enough base GPP. In any case, try to max out the synergetic potential of Pacifism. Especially the combination with Caste System can do miracles - there is rarely a better way to get a special GP in a short time.[NEWLINE]Probably not necessary to point out, but for the sake of completeness...if you don't have wonders and specialists around which yield GPP, move along - Pacifism has no second benefit, but a hidden cost trap. Don't be fooled by no upkeep, the extra cost for military units will usually easily turn it into a quasi high-upkeep civic. Yes, in theory all those famous Great People might lead you to a peaceful victory , where you don't need any weaponry and therefore unit maintenance. But the days of no-unit-games are gone.Civ4s diplomacy system relies on relation modifiers and is quite reliable in this part, but you will need the plain cold steel, too. There is always someone out there who is jealous about your wonders and cities. Pacifistic games are best achieved with cold-war strategies - and that's nothing to head for under Pacifism from the view of costs. To sum up the options ...either build up a very healthy economy or use Pacifism only temporarily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (Renaissance Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per present religion inside a city; +10% research output; no more state religion and religious diplomacy modifiers[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Elisabeth; religion has no more impact on diplomacy[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, Environmentalism, luxury resource shortages, peaceful-planned games and situations with high-tension in diplomacy, [BOLD]non[\BOLD]-diplomatic victories (especially space race or cultural)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your final choice in the religious column. A powerful tool, coming with low costs and offering a simple solution for unhappiness problems and granting a 10% increase in research on top - all you have to do is spreading as many religions as possible in every corner of the empire. Each present religion yields +1 happiness in your cities, before factoring in additional boni you might get out of built temples. Unless you have no happiness problems, because your are drowning in luxuries or your cities are small, you should seriously consider a switch.[NEWLINE]The icing on the cake (the research bonus) is even independent of the number of religions in a city (maybe there must be one religion at all, not sure on this). 10% may not sound to drastic, but if you keep in mind how expensive the late game techs have become with v1.52, you will be happy about every extra beaker.It can make the difference in a tight space race.[NEWLINE]As usual there is also shadow or at least some more things to consider. First of all, don't underestimate the difficulty of spreading religions with missionaries. If there is no or only a single religion present in a city, your chance of success is 100% or slightly below. If there is already a second religion, you might fail; three or more is just pure luck. So the gained extra happiness is usually 2 or 3, unless your are willing to invest vast amount of shields for missionaries (which can be sometimes worth nonetheless, when pursuing a cultural victory for example).[NEWLINE]A second aspect is the loss of state religion. Beside the fact that the Spiral Minaret loses its effect , it has a serious impact on the diplomatic system in Civ4, which can be a boon or bust, depending on your situation. Free Religion both nullifies positive and negative modifiers caused by having the same or a different state religion. You will have no more problems with Isabella or Saladin hunting you for believing in the wrong faith, but you might experience cooled down relations with your former brothers in faith, too. The chance to get backstabbed and attacked is slower, but also the possibilities for trade or interventions on your side.</French>
		<German>[H1]A Guide to Civics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pfeffersack[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intention of this article is to give hints and tips about when and how to use the different Civics in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each civic there is a note on availability, followed by a short description of the effects/costs, diplomatic implications, comments on synergy with other game elements (other civics, leader traits, buildings, game settings, common strategies) and a final summary on the usefulness of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any Feedback is highly appreciated and the guide will be updated with comments and strategies people post here (credits will be given here in the first post).My (high) aim is to provide a comprehensive database on the complex subject of civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Additional Credits for contributing interesting aspects, strategies and correcting inadequate information: genjiboy, Heroes, Krikkitone, Orca, Samson.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some General Thoughts on Civics in Civ4[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maintenance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Note: Roland Johansen has done a great article about civic upkeep (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/civic_upkeep.php).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civics are divided into 4 upkeep categories: no, low, medium and high. As a very rough rule of thumb you will pay 0 for zero, x for low, 1,5-2x for medium and 2-3x for high upkeep civics.The exact values depend on your number of cities and your population.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a growing empire and increasing inflation, civic upkeep can really drain from your treasury. If you consider which civics to use, always keep the upkeep as an additional factor in mind - if you are unsure which civic is the better one, then the cheaper one is usually the better idea. Perhaps with the exception of Environmentalism, all the high-upkeep civics offer strong advantages. But if go for them, you should check if you can really use them to a certain extent - running Vassalage only pays if you build enough units, while Organized Religion is a waste if you are busy to build up your army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I haven't mentioned spiritual as a factor in most of the strategy/synergy sections (with Slavery and Nationalism as exceptions; for why see the civic article) for one reason - it is just plain useful to civics in general. The smooth government transition without anarchy transforms in two advantages: The freedom to change [BOLD]when[\BOLD] and [BOLD]as often as necessary[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When[\BOLD] just means the independence of things as wars, golden age or wonder races. Without interfering anarchy, there is no need to wait with a revolution. If a better option shows up, switch (to be correct, there is still a restriction regarding minimum time between two revolutions, but that's only rarely a real problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second benefit is the fact that you don't have to think about [BOLD]if switching (and eventually switching back again soon) is worth the anarchy[\BOLD]. Without the spiritual trait, you have to keep an eye on the number of switches you make in a game - if you accumulate to many anarchy turns over time, it may hurt your progress. Sometimes the anarchy just eats up the small advantage the new civic would give you, especially if the benefits are needed only temporarily (for example, "hurry civics" as Slavery or Universal Suffrage, the "draft civic" Nationalism or Bureaucracy, if you go for a wonder in your capital) - then you will either drop the switch altogether or at least delay it to make a "big revolution" (see below for this strategy for non-spiritual civs). Spirituals effect also tends to rise in Epic or Marathon games.Not so much by the fact the anarchy period is at minimum 2 turns and can easily scale up to 4 (this is counterbalanced by every turn being "less" valuable), but because unit movement isn't modified - a "quick" switch to Slavery and Nationalism without Spiritual to stop an enemy attack will need three turns(!) to show an effect; three turns in which moreover everything in your empire stands still.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The organized trait is the second one which has an direct impact on civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Organized shifts the balance towards the civics with (higher) maintenance, which are usually the ones with a greater impact and stronger effect....and those suited for a more aggressive and (regarding your empires population) repressive playing style.If you compare a (war-monger) combination of Police State, Vassalage, Caste System, Mercantilism and Theocracy with for example Universal Suffrage, Free Speech, Emancipation, State Property and Free Religion (large empire going for cottages), you will clearly see the different impact of Organized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To sum up, the effect here can be significant (if you adopt your general "big plan") to meaningless (if you don't). That's also the reason why Organized is usually rated as the weakest trait - however, if at all, that's only partly true.For the civic effect depending on the playing style yes, but you also get cheaper Lighthouses and more important Courthouses - both directing to faster expansion. Not a bad thing in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When to change?[\BOLD] (applies mainly for non-spiritual civs)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The question is nearly as difficult as the one dealing with what to change. As usually there is not a single correct answer. You have to consider different situations and factors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all it is important to distinguish the first, initial change in a civic column from later changes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In case of the [BOLD]initial change[\BOLD], the straight advice in most of the cases is simply: Change as soon as it possible without. The initial civics do nothing for you except draining low maintenance. Sure, most of the civics you will get first access to in the different columns (Hereditary Rule, Bureaucracy/Vassalage, Slavery/Caste System, Mercantilism and Organized Religion) have a higher upkeep, but the give you some advantage and the real cost for this advantage is lower (because you have to subtract one maintenance level in your calculation - the level you have to pay for the starters anyway!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are more complicated when [BOLD]changing from a "real" civic to another[\BOLD]. Again, switching ASAP is usually not a bad idea - simply because getting a better civic sooner is better and because in a growing economy a turn of anarchy becomes more and more expensive, if the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, some circumstances might make a delayed revolution a better idea. It is for example not a good idea to switch during a golden age (however, the mistake would rather triggering the Golden Age before the switch in most cases) or when you need every turn in a wonder race or for building units in a case of emergency (of course with the exception of a switch to something which helps especially in those situations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if no such special situation makes waiting worth, the concept of "big revolutions" can do so. Instead of switching only one civic in a revolution, you can change up to 5. The anarchy penalty rises too, but not in linear way. You can switch up to 3 civics at one time and will still suffer only one turn anarchy. So you can minimize the turns lost to anarchy if you wait for example a few turns to get another tech which enables a new civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And last but not least there may be economic reasons - don't underestimate the pressure high cost civics can lay on your economy. Especially when having the concept of a big revolution in mind, it might be tempting to make a big change - for example when going to war, switching from low cost "peace" civics to the repressive ones. Make sure you have a healthy economy, a full treasury or a Great Merchant around. Otherwise you might come into trouble soon. Wars are already expensive in Civ4 without the political dimension (more units to support, units must be supplied in enemy lands, enemies eventually pillaging the land, unit upgrades, bribery for allies etc.), so those extra civic costs might lead to strikes or at least a serious drop in your research efforts. A bad move here can be devastating, since you have to wait a few turns to be able to correct it again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Government Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The special thing about this column is that you can get access to all civics very early - if you are willing and lucky enough to build "The Pyramids". The immediate availability of all the civics of course change their relative values, so my rather general advices might fail here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And there is a second special thing about it...21 out of 26 leaders have their favorite civic inside this column, so your decision here can have an important influence on how getting along with the other leaders...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monarchy (classic era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per military unit inside a city[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Alexander, Catherine, Hatshepsut, Huayna Capac, Kublai Khan and Louis XIV.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Vassalage, Nationalism, Theocracy, OCC, cold or general defensive wars (especially AW), ressource-scarce maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The good old military police and better than ever before. No more upper limit. But it comes now with a hefty price, too. Beside the unit upkeep, the civic itself will cost you a substantial sum to maintain. Nearly every other way to produce happiness will be cheaper, but sometimes there is no other way to stay in the "yellow faces" (mainly because of few religions and/or resources).Then it is the right choice, because avoiding unhappy citizens is a high-priority goal. And unless you own the Pyramids, it is the best what you can get for a long time. Otherwise, try to leave it ASAP...if you get access to a new government civic, check if you really need HR any more. If most of the happiness is lost due overflow, consider switching immediately. Even if you can live with the costs (which indeed tend to become less of a problem, if your cities grow really big), you will at least miss the benefits of Universal Suffrage, as soon as it becomes available.[NEWLINE]On the diplomatic table, the civic puts you at good relations (usually a permanent + of 1-3, depending on how long you are in the civic and on how keen the leader is about foreign politics) with 6 other leaders...that's more than with any other civic![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Constitution (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Every specialist (including settled down 'super-specialists') yields 3 extra research; the biggest 5 (or 6...I'm unsure if this a flat number or something dependent on map size) cities in your empire get 3 extra happiness.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Cyrus, Caesar, Napoleon, Victoria[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD], Pacifism, Philosophical, Organized, OCC - FCC, smaller maps(?),GP-based strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Representation is the second available choice in the government column and it can be very useful in different situations. Obviously, if you rely very heavily on specialists (and if you are perhaps running some more pro-specialist-civics) and also if your empire is rather small, because then it is your weapon against unhappiness.[NEWLINE]But even without such special circumstances, it is in most cases superior compared to HR. You pay less maintenance and despite you get the happiness usually where you need it most (=in your big cities).And of course your troops are freed again to do what they should - defend and attack. Even when Universal Suffrage becomes available (a tech later, if you have planned for it), you might be better off with staying in Representation. Unless you have money to burn or you have "cottaged" your land early, Representation will often fit better. You can still switch later if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Fascism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] 25% more hammer output, if building military units; -50% war wariness[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Genghis Khan, Isabella, Montezuma, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Jails[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mount Rushmore[\BOLD], [BOLD]Heroic Epic[\BOLD], Extended and bloody offense warfare ([BOLD]especially AW[\BOLD]), Drydocks, Vassalage, Theocracy, Organized, Aggressive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Well, I don't think there is much to say about when this civic helps you and when it doesn't do you anything good. It you are at peace (and plan to stay here), move long - there is just nothing you will find here except a near-to-useless high maintenance civic. If you are attacked, ask your self: Is the production bonus worth to sacrifice other choices Keep in mind, WW is no longer an issue if you just defend your self! Nationalism will literally cost you much less and might offer a better effect.[NEWLINE]What makes it really shine is the second bonus...war wariness can easily force you to end a war, because it gets more and more difficult to maintain a productive economy, when you try to conquer and things start to get rough. PS puts an end to this. Add jails and the Mount Rushmore wonder...and no unhappy people will stop you from dominating the world with your guns. You will also enjoy better relations with other leaders who like to repress their people in the same manner...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Democracy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] The Town improvement yields an extra hammer and you are allowed to rush buildings and units with gold.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Asoka, Frederick, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD], [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Kremlin[\BOLD], Emancipation, Organized, "cottage-strategies"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you have planned ahead with building lots of cottages, you are now able to earn your fruits. Now you will not only get tons of money out of them, but also a hammer on the top. On the financial side, you may you the rushing ability to build commerce and science boosters in those cities quickly. You will get the invested money back soon. To make use of the civic to its full extend, be sure to combine it with Free Speech.[NEWLINE]The importance of commerce in Civ4 cannot be overstated. It is the thriving factor. It is also one of the main points why the AI is a lot tougher now - they now know how important it is, if you look at the sheer number of cottages they build. That's why they stay competitive in the tech race until the end of the game...and it also makes the diplomatic aspect even more important here. The leaders who like Universal Suffrage are often among the successful ones, which means you are likely to have powerful friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Legal Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The action in this column starts fairly late; the offered civics cover in a nice way the different needs of offensive/defensive war and early-/late game economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Feudalism (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 exp. for new units, extra free unit support (5 flat + 1 for each 10 population points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mehmed II. (WLs)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD](see also text), [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]Charismatic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), Police State, any situation with a need for a lot of new troops[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Depending on your research path, Vassalage will be your first or second legal option. It offers one huge benefit (to be entirely correct there is a second: you get some extra free unit support, but this effect is at best a slight compensation for the maintenance, see end of the paragraph) - every unit you will built starts with two experience points more.[NEWLINE]This guarantees the first promotion; under usual circumstances (barracks are in place), you get access to the second. Taking in account how combat in Civ4 works this is without a doubt a very desirable boost. Usually a small edge is enough to decide a combat and am promotion more or less can make this difference easily. It is also an effect you will feel for sure, as everyone - even the most peaceful player - has an need for a decent army - if just to prevent a nasty AI leader from attacking.[NEWLINE]The only downside of Vassalage is the high maintenance cost. Nonetheless, if Vassalage is your first and therefore only option, switch (unless you really have to count every peace of gold). Whenever you plan to built up your forces, switch. In some games you will stay in vassalage for longer times or even the rest of the game, in others the next options will become one day the better choice. Just make sure to exploit the benefits of Vassalage as much as you can, while running it - the extra support will cover the unit maintenance partly (for Organized civs, this civic is even more interesting, as for the reduced cost, the free support alone is worth the expenses!) and experienced troops will still help you in future, if you have left Vassalage for a more peaceful agenda.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Civil Service (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +50% production and commerce in capital[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Kublai Khan, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Spiritual, [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD], [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD], [BOLD]general strong capital development/focus (f.e. important national wonders in capital placed, any civil or military production boosters)[\BOLD], small maps/empires, [BOLD]OCC[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] To put it in one sentence...it is all about your capital here, which will receive 50% additional production and commerce under this civic. Bureaucracy is always worth a thought, if it comes as first option in the column (even the worst capital has the Palace commerce bonus and likely some hammer sources). How competitive it stays against the other options, depends on location, and constitution of your capital and of course on the future plans you gave with it, too. If it is your unit-factory (high base hammer output, Heroic Epic, etc.), drowning in cottages, your main wonder construction site or even your only city (OCC), than this civic is for you. What makes Bureaucracy so powerful despite the fact that it affects only one of your cities, is Civ4s need for specialization - one specialized city may take the entire needs of your empire in one field (unit production, wonders, research,...). And if you can improve this performance by 50%, than it is usually worth a civic.[NEWLINE]However, Bureaucracy tends to lose steam in later phases of most games. The reasons are quite simple - successful empires tend to expand or growth, which means civics get more expensive. Usually, the civic effects expand in a similar manner. Mercantilism gives you an extra specialist in every city, Hereditary Rule enables MP everywhere. Not so here - your entire empire pays with rising maintenance for a fairly constant reward. Freakenly realistic, if you think about real world bureaucracy and centralization.. The final catch is Free Speech becoming available. Without, Nationhood and Vassalage were the only alternatives - ones which aren't too exciting in peacetimes. But usually the need for money and beakers rises in the endgame - and extra income from the cottages is just too important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Nationalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Ability to draft up 5 units per turn, +2 happiness from barracks[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] None[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Churchill[BOLD][NEWLINE]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), [BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD], sneak attacks, huge excess happiness and food without sufficient production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Basically, we have the reincarnation of Civ3s draft button, with happiness boosting barracks as icing on the cake - with no maintenance cost. Nationhood is the kind of civic you don't need very often and long, but if you need it, then you need it dearly and if possible immediately. Ironically, you will use this war civic most likely, if you have planned to play a peaceful game - there is always one Alex or Monty out there which is interested in your cities and wonders.So, in case a nasty AI surprises you, what does Nationhood for you?[NEWLINE]Depending on the map Size, you can draft per turn up to 5 of the most modern defenders available(however, restricted to one per city and turn). The price is unhappiness (+3) and population loss (-1 pop point). The big difference to Civ3 is the training level of your drafted troops - while in Civ3 the recruits had 33%/50% less hit points compared to regular/veteran units (which often doomed them as pure cannon fodder), you get regular troops now - just the starting experience is halved. This means still a promotion from the start if a barrack is in place.[NEWLINE]Without a doubt, Nationhood is no real long term option. +2 happiness is not enough to make it interesting in peacetimes and drafting more than one or two units will bring most cities down to anarchy and resulting starvation. You will likely leave Nationhood as soon as the initial ambush forces a repelled -usually for Vassalage-, even if the war continues. Only if the war goes very bad and you are under constant pressure, you might be forced to stay here. It is also the civic of heroic defeats and fighting to the last man...and even if it helps you to survive, you will need a large recovery period after that.[NEWLINE]Since Nationhood is a mainly stop-gap against an invasion, it is most useful if you can enact it while the enemy is still approaching your city - so a good recon work tremendously increases the efficiency of this civic. Or pick a spiritual leader - always useful regarding civics, but being able to enact and draft in the same turn is something not to underestimate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 commerce for the town improvement, +100% culture[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Emancipation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Printing Press[\BOLD], any "cottagemania"-strategy, culture is needed for victory (together with everything else yielding/boosting culture)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The second "late" option here. The boni speak for themselves: +2 commerce per town and +100% culture, low maintenance.The power and importance of cottages are well known, so it is easy to imagine how much impact the extra commerce has. Free Speech is the dominant peaceful option. This applies especially, if you are going for a cultural victory. Though there is still a niche for Bureaucracy (if your capital is among the three cities and you are racing for an important wonder), doubled culture is worth 6 cathedrals and all the Prerequisite temples, not to speak of the advantage in tech race.[NEWLINE]It offers little direct benefit for the warmongers, but if you are currently not fighting for your life or building up you main attack force, you should consider it despite - maintaining or even upgrading an army is expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Economic Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: It is the column which is enabled latest by far, it contains (IMHO) the weakest and the strongest civic of all and also one of the few with a negative effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Banking (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All foreign trade routes are closed, every city gets a "virtual" specialist (which doesn't drain one citizen from work)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Tokugawa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Organized, Pacifism, Philosophical; AW, warmongering or bad diplomatic relations in general, balanced GP strategies, Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Mercantilism will be the first available choice in the economic department, but if planned properly Free Market is only one tech away. So it is kind of different to the other "first" civics, were switching over immediately is usually a no-brainer. Things get even more though to evaluate, when taking in account that Mercantilism has a substantial downside beside the upkeep - you will lose all of your foreign trade routes. Unless special circumstances are in place, I usually do not even think about revolting to Mercantilism, but try to get hands on economics ASAP to use Free Market, which can be shortly described as the complete opposite, if you look at what it does.[NEWLINE]But now the more interesting part...when to use Mercantilism Despite all the negative elements connected to it, in some situations the extra specialist is more useful than an extra foreign trade route:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]a) You are in or near an AW situations or your overall diplomatic are just to worse to allow (m)any active OB-treaties. Obviously, this is what it is made for it. The penalty doesn't hurt you anymore, while Free Market offers you zero compared to a free specialist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]b) You are pursuing an GP-strategy and maybe you have some of the wonders mentioned under "synergies" around. Of course then every specialist helps. However, think twice before giving in to this temptation - Mercantilism is not perfectly suited for this strategy. The most effective way to get a cabinet full of GP is creating a single city, which accumulates as many points as possible. Mercantilism however tends to add few in this case.Most points will be wasted because of the escalating costs of later GPs. What I described as "balanced"-GP strategy (=distributing the GPP sources between several cities) is less effective from the view of maxing out GP, but often not to avoid (no food-powerhouse, cap of two national wonders per city etc.).In the case, Mercantilism can be indeed a valuable part of the big picture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]c) You have a lot of low-developed cities. Mercantilism's flat one-specialist-per-city bonus obviously has the biggest value, if a city is small - adding a specialist to a size one city without using the citizen to create it means doubling the number of productive people in the city.If combined with Representation and Caste System, you get at decent boost for research this way, while you are able to use the specialist for what is most important (f.e. getting the first border expansion for a new built or conquered city quick).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nonetheless (and completely according to real history), Mercantilism is in most games only a temporarily good choice. If not FM means the end for it, then State Property will do this job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Economy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All cities get an additional foreign trade route[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mansa Musa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD], Organized, Harbor + other buildings which give extra routes, many OBs, "big" games (huge maps, many opponents), everything which increases commerce yield in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Many of what could be said about FM is already noted in the paragraph above, because FM is to a large extend the complete opposite of Mercantilism...and so, no wonder, the best moments to use it are non-isolationistic strategies. In theory, a few OB-treaties will be enough to receive the extra trade route; however, more trading partners tend to give you more lucrative routes (just because there are more possible destinations to choose from!).Also everything which increases commerce (many cottages, buildings, civics, shrines, settled down specialists,...) in your cities, will fuel the effect of FM, because the game "connects" rich cities with other rich cities and calculates the yield of trade routes this way.[NEWLINE]Now, how to rate FM Without a doubt, it is the most flexible and easy-to-use civic in the column. Even if you don't care much about synergies, it is difficult to be completely wrong with it. Except complete AW games, it is very unlikely that you end up without a single OB (at least on bigger maps)...and if you just met this condition, you will get a decent reward out of it. Add low upkeep and you will have a nice civic which gives you extra money. Usually, it is the right choice as soon as it shows up - either for the rest of the game or at least until SP gets available.[NEWLINE]But despite it is the right choice very often, I wouldn't call it the most powerful choice. For the reasons, see the next paragraph...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Communism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] No more distance maintenance in your cities. Watermills and Workshops yield one more unit of food.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] No[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mao[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Watermill and Workshop-spam[\BOLD], Games aimed at domination win, early GP-strategies, warmongering, Universal Suffrage, Vassalage, Theocracy, Aggressive, Expansive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Any rating is always dependent on the playing style to a large degree, so you might differ, if I rate SP as the most powerful civic of all. And even my rating needs further explanation... "most powerful" just means that it is probably the civic which might give you the biggest reward - well, if you are able and willing to invest enough to exploit it to its full extend (that's also the reason, why it isn't overpowered!). I'm not claiming that it is the only viable choice; in fact in most games you will get more out of FM, just because its effects are easier obtain.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SP offers three pluses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, it is a zero-cost civic. Normally, I wouldn't emphasize it in this way. But usually it is either the way that there is a direct drawback for zero upkeep (Pacifism: extra upkeep for military units) or it is just offset by the fact that the positive effects of the civic are restricted or hard to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For SP however, you will at least (nearly) always save some money from the second advantage. No distance maintenance in your cities. OK, you will smile and move on in an OCC, but apart from that the effect is somewhere between "nice" over "alone enough to switch to SP" to "saves me from bankrupt". An empire similar to the former British or Soviet will cost you dearly without SP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The third thing is probably the most interesting, but also the one which needs most work: Extra food from the watermill and workshop improvement. While it is just the icing on the cake in case of the watermill (it is already a nice choice without SP), it completely turns the tide for the workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A workshop is a niche improvement under normal circumstances. Unless you locally drown in food, the food penalty hits just to hard. Moreover, mines are a big competitor, because they to do the same without taking away arable land and might even grant you a new resource deposit one day. But under SP, a workshop means simply +3 hammers! Cities with enough hills still do not need them...but all those flatland cities in grassland or near a river can be turned into real factories. 10 citizens can yield 30 base hammers this way... If you are among those who always miss hammers dearly and wish to be back in the Civ3s paradise of mined grassland, then welcome in the realm of State Property! The power of such a factory-wonder is multiplied by the fact you can use it to hit the AI on a weak point - they are famous with everything connected to commerce and research, but they often lack the hammers to build the fancy toys for their army.[NEWLINE]The only downside (of which I'm glad it is in!) it the fact that you need a strong worker force to transform your infrastructure this way. And while it perfectly plays together with an early farm/GP-strategy (don't be shy to replace the farms with workshops - with escalating GP costs, you will usually only sacrifice few GLs from the moment on SP becomes available), it will make you cry to tear down developed cottages. It might still make sense in some cases, but be careful then...if you transform too early, you might fall back in tech because of you depleting income. And with the new combat system, Tank vs. Modern Armour is nothing to search for, even if you have the numerical advantage on your side.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Medicine (Industrial Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +6 health in every city; also +1 happiness per jungle/forest tile inside the city radius[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, low resource situations, "green strategies" (keeping forests, lumber mills), high unhealthiness through power generation or buildings, wars which disrupt resource trading[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] ***REMOVED for overhaul because of the latest patch changes regarding Environmentalism ***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Religious Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: Unlike the civics of the other columns, the ones of the religious section need an additional component to work - religion. In case of the first three, you will only reap the benefits inside a city, if you have a state religion AND if this state religion is present in this city. Free Religion abandons the state religion concept and depends instead on having as many different religions as possible inside a city. So the usefulness of all the non-default civics depends highly on the religious situation in your empire and the thump rule "everything is better than the default civic" is not entirely true here. The three state-religion civics (can) cause high direct or indirect costs, so Paganism is indeed a real choice, as long as you don't have established religion in most of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monotheism (Ancient Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +25% speed, when constructing buildings or wonders; training of missionaries is possible without having a monastery[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Wonder/cathedral resources[\BOLD] (Marble, Stone, Copper), [BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD], forest-chopping for building projects, State Property, Universal Suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your first option in the religious column. The general note on religious civics applies especially to OR. Unless you have founded one of the early religions yourself, the chance is quite high that you have no access to religion, when the civic becomes available. In this case, wait with a switch. Even if the absolute sum is not much in those early turns, you will need every piece of gold - and paying for getting zero doesn't sound like a good idea, well?[NEWLINE]If religion has spread to your empire and a state religion is declared, a switch makes usually sense. +25% hammers for buildings/wonders are a huge boost in the beginning, where you need to get the stuff out as fast as possible. And not to forget the second advantage - missionaries without monasteries. It makes sure that all your new cities can get the production bonus at once and it allows sending out a lot of those guys to your neighbors to bring them in line. However, if you are involved in serious wars and your cities are busy with pumping units out, OR doesn't help you. It can be also problematic on higher difficulties, because then the high upkeep might lay a heavy burden on your treasury.[NEWLINE]Overall, the usefulness tends to decrease over time. If you weight extra building speed vs. free experience, great people points or extra happiness (that's in short what the alternatives - described in detail below - offer), all of the latter three are usually more important in the later game. However, the second advantage might open another niche for OR later. In the moment you research Scientific Method, you lose the chance to build new monasteries. If you have build enough of the ones you need, you are lucky. If not, you have a problem, when you are pursuing for example a cultural victory, for which are cathedrals extremely helpful. OR eliminates this problem by allowing cities to build missionaries of all the religions they contain, regardless of the presence of monasteries - so this effectively means you can spread every religion over your entire empire, if you just have one city with this certain religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Theology (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 EXP for new built units; no spreading of none-state religions[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Saladin[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Pentagon[\BOLD], [BOLD]Westpoint[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], Organized, Nationalism, The Heroic Epic, Police State, any war or cold war situation, domination or conquest victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Theocracy is Vassalages little sister - the main effect is the same, units start with 2 experience points extra. Like it is true for most war civics, there is not much to say about when you should use them. If you plan to build a lot of units in the near future (for whatever reason), take this. And if you can, take Vassalage too. The synergy between both is one of the strongest among all civics - both improve exactly the same aspect of the game and in case of experience, a cumulative bonus is especially valuable. Yes, you might argue that one of those civics is enough to reap the second promotion immediately (assuming barracks are in place). That's true and I'm far away from saying they are only worth to be taken together - but you just waste their full potential. Believe me, 6 or 8 exp from the start matters, because your units will likely get the third promotion right after the first fight with 8. Also every new promotion means a kind of instant "medipack" for your unit (wounds are partly healed).It can make the difference between losing or winning a fight in many cases.[NEWLINE]Medium upkeep is an absolutely fair charge for what Theocracy does, especially if you compare it with OR or Pacifism. Until Free Religion shows up (which is a great all-round civic), Theocracy is not only the best, but also the cheapest solution in any game which involves decent military action or just a big standing army to prevent it.[NEWLINE]The second effect of Theocracy (no natural or missionary-caused spread of minor religions in city with your state religion) is a kind of a double-edged sword. It prevents you from reaping the benefits of having several religions in your cities (more happiness, culture, science).But OTOH, you also prevent that a nasty opponent spreads his own founded religion into your city and gains line of sight and shrine income. How strong the impact of both aspects is depends however on the extend minor religions have already spread in your country (because existing ones aren't removed). If nearly all of your cities have already a second or even third religion, Theocracy isn't a big loss anymore - because spreading religions via missionaries in this situation is very cost-intensive anyway. For preventing the enemy from gaining benefits out of his or her mother religion it is just the other way round - if they haven't got their feet in your door yet, it is the best time to close it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Philosophy (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +100% GPP (=Great People Points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] no direct civic upkeep, but 1 Gold per military unit[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD], [BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Representation, Mercantilism, Industrious, any major GP-strategies, cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you are in love with Great People, this civic is for you. Although the doubled amount of GPP [BOLD]does not transform into 100% more great people[\BOLD] (the increase is probably rather 20-30 %), the civic pays out if used properly. The real benefit isn't the pure extra number, but the fact that you will get your GPs earlier - and one of the basic rules of Civilisation is that earlier advantages weight more. So they question is when to use Pacifism?[NEWLINE]If you are running a game heavily leaned towards GP, of course. You might run Pacifism then until the end, but you should still keep in mind that the effect fades the more GPs you have already gotten. Taken to the extreme: At some point, even the 100% increase will not yield to another GP because of the geometrical cost increase.[NEWLINE]If GP are just a (minor) part of your strategy, you might consider a quick switch when it becomes available (to rush out some) and eventually later again, when you desperately need another Great Person, while lacking enough base GPP. In any case, try to max out the synergetic potential of Pacifism. Especially the combination with Caste System can do miracles - there is rarely a better way to get a special GP in a short time.[NEWLINE]Probably not necessary to point out, but for the sake of completeness...if you don't have wonders and specialists around which yield GPP, move along - Pacifism has no second benefit, but a hidden cost trap. Don't be fooled by no upkeep, the extra cost for military units will usually easily turn it into a quasi high-upkeep civic. Yes, in theory all those famous Great People might lead you to a peaceful victory , where you don't need any weaponry and therefore unit maintenance. But the days of no-unit-games are gone.Civ4s diplomacy system relies on relation modifiers and is quite reliable in this part, but you will need the plain cold steel, too. There is always someone out there who is jealous about your wonders and cities. Pacifistic games are best achieved with cold-war strategies - and that's nothing to head for under Pacifism from the view of costs. To sum up the options ...either build up a very healthy economy or use Pacifism only temporarily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (Renaissance Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per present religion inside a city; +10% research output; no more state religion and religious diplomacy modifiers[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Elisabeth; religion has no more impact on diplomacy[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, Environmentalism, luxury resource shortages, peaceful-planned games and situations with high-tension in diplomacy, [BOLD]non[\BOLD]-diplomatic victories (especially space race or cultural)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your final choice in the religious column. A powerful tool, coming with low costs and offering a simple solution for unhappiness problems and granting a 10% increase in research on top - all you have to do is spreading as many religions as possible in every corner of the empire. Each present religion yields +1 happiness in your cities, before factoring in additional boni you might get out of built temples. Unless you have no happiness problems, because your are drowning in luxuries or your cities are small, you should seriously consider a switch.[NEWLINE]The icing on the cake (the research bonus) is even independent of the number of religions in a city (maybe there must be one religion at all, not sure on this). 10% may not sound to drastic, but if you keep in mind how expensive the late game techs have become with v1.52, you will be happy about every extra beaker.It can make the difference in a tight space race.[NEWLINE]As usual there is also shadow or at least some more things to consider. First of all, don't underestimate the difficulty of spreading religions with missionaries. If there is no or only a single religion present in a city, your chance of success is 100% or slightly below. If there is already a second religion, you might fail; three or more is just pure luck. So the gained extra happiness is usually 2 or 3, unless your are willing to invest vast amount of shields for missionaries (which can be sometimes worth nonetheless, when pursuing a cultural victory for example).[NEWLINE]A second aspect is the loss of state religion. Beside the fact that the Spiral Minaret loses its effect , it has a serious impact on the diplomatic system in Civ4, which can be a boon or bust, depending on your situation. Free Religion both nullifies positive and negative modifiers caused by having the same or a different state religion. You will have no more problems with Isabella or Saladin hunting you for believing in the wrong faith, but you might experience cooled down relations with your former brothers in faith, too. The chance to get backstabbed and attacked is slower, but also the possibilities for trade or interventions on your side.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]A Guide to Civics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pfeffersack[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intention of this article is to give hints and tips about when and how to use the different Civics in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each civic there is a note on availability, followed by a short description of the effects/costs, diplomatic implications, comments on synergy with other game elements (other civics, leader traits, buildings, game settings, common strategies) and a final summary on the usefulness of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any Feedback is highly appreciated and the guide will be updated with comments and strategies people post here (credits will be given here in the first post).My (high) aim is to provide a comprehensive database on the complex subject of civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Additional Credits for contributing interesting aspects, strategies and correcting inadequate information: genjiboy, Heroes, Krikkitone, Orca, Samson.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some General Thoughts on Civics in Civ4[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maintenance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Note: Roland Johansen has done a great article about civic upkeep (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/civic_upkeep.php).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civics are divided into 4 upkeep categories: no, low, medium and high. As a very rough rule of thumb you will pay 0 for zero, x for low, 1,5-2x for medium and 2-3x for high upkeep civics.The exact values depend on your number of cities and your population.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a growing empire and increasing inflation, civic upkeep can really drain from your treasury. If you consider which civics to use, always keep the upkeep as an additional factor in mind - if you are unsure which civic is the better one, then the cheaper one is usually the better idea. Perhaps with the exception of Environmentalism, all the high-upkeep civics offer strong advantages. But if go for them, you should check if you can really use them to a certain extent - running Vassalage only pays if you build enough units, while Organized Religion is a waste if you are busy to build up your army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I haven't mentioned spiritual as a factor in most of the strategy/synergy sections (with Slavery and Nationalism as exceptions; for why see the civic article) for one reason - it is just plain useful to civics in general. The smooth government transition without anarchy transforms in two advantages: The freedom to change [BOLD]when[\BOLD] and [BOLD]as often as necessary[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When[\BOLD] just means the independence of things as wars, golden age or wonder races. Without interfering anarchy, there is no need to wait with a revolution. If a better option shows up, switch (to be correct, there is still a restriction regarding minimum time between two revolutions, but that's only rarely a real problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second benefit is the fact that you don't have to think about [BOLD]if switching (and eventually switching back again soon) is worth the anarchy[\BOLD]. Without the spiritual trait, you have to keep an eye on the number of switches you make in a game - if you accumulate to many anarchy turns over time, it may hurt your progress. Sometimes the anarchy just eats up the small advantage the new civic would give you, especially if the benefits are needed only temporarily (for example, "hurry civics" as Slavery or Universal Suffrage, the "draft civic" Nationalism or Bureaucracy, if you go for a wonder in your capital) - then you will either drop the switch altogether or at least delay it to make a "big revolution" (see below for this strategy for non-spiritual civs). Spirituals effect also tends to rise in Epic or Marathon games.Not so much by the fact the anarchy period is at minimum 2 turns and can easily scale up to 4 (this is counterbalanced by every turn being "less" valuable), but because unit movement isn't modified - a "quick" switch to Slavery and Nationalism without Spiritual to stop an enemy attack will need three turns(!) to show an effect; three turns in which moreover everything in your empire stands still.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The organized trait is the second one which has an direct impact on civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Organized shifts the balance towards the civics with (higher) maintenance, which are usually the ones with a greater impact and stronger effect....and those suited for a more aggressive and (regarding your empires population) repressive playing style.If you compare a (war-monger) combination of Police State, Vassalage, Caste System, Mercantilism and Theocracy with for example Universal Suffrage, Free Speech, Emancipation, State Property and Free Religion (large empire going for cottages), you will clearly see the different impact of Organized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To sum up, the effect here can be significant (if you adopt your general "big plan") to meaningless (if you don't). That's also the reason why Organized is usually rated as the weakest trait - however, if at all, that's only partly true.For the civic effect depending on the playing style yes, but you also get cheaper Lighthouses and more important Courthouses - both directing to faster expansion. Not a bad thing in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When to change?[\BOLD] (applies mainly for non-spiritual civs)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The question is nearly as difficult as the one dealing with what to change. As usually there is not a single correct answer. You have to consider different situations and factors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all it is important to distinguish the first, initial change in a civic column from later changes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In case of the [BOLD]initial change[\BOLD], the straight advice in most of the cases is simply: Change as soon as it possible without. The initial civics do nothing for you except draining low maintenance. Sure, most of the civics you will get first access to in the different columns (Hereditary Rule, Bureaucracy/Vassalage, Slavery/Caste System, Mercantilism and Organized Religion) have a higher upkeep, but the give you some advantage and the real cost for this advantage is lower (because you have to subtract one maintenance level in your calculation - the level you have to pay for the starters anyway!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are more complicated when [BOLD]changing from a "real" civic to another[\BOLD]. Again, switching ASAP is usually not a bad idea - simply because getting a better civic sooner is better and because in a growing economy a turn of anarchy becomes more and more expensive, if the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, some circumstances might make a delayed revolution a better idea. It is for example not a good idea to switch during a golden age (however, the mistake would rather triggering the Golden Age before the switch in most cases) or when you need every turn in a wonder race or for building units in a case of emergency (of course with the exception of a switch to something which helps especially in those situations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if no such special situation makes waiting worth, the concept of "big revolutions" can do so. Instead of switching only one civic in a revolution, you can change up to 5. The anarchy penalty rises too, but not in linear way. You can switch up to 3 civics at one time and will still suffer only one turn anarchy. So you can minimize the turns lost to anarchy if you wait for example a few turns to get another tech which enables a new civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And last but not least there may be economic reasons - don't underestimate the pressure high cost civics can lay on your economy. Especially when having the concept of a big revolution in mind, it might be tempting to make a big change - for example when going to war, switching from low cost "peace" civics to the repressive ones. Make sure you have a healthy economy, a full treasury or a Great Merchant around. Otherwise you might come into trouble soon. Wars are already expensive in Civ4 without the political dimension (more units to support, units must be supplied in enemy lands, enemies eventually pillaging the land, unit upgrades, bribery for allies etc.), so those extra civic costs might lead to strikes or at least a serious drop in your research efforts. A bad move here can be devastating, since you have to wait a few turns to be able to correct it again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Government Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The special thing about this column is that you can get access to all civics very early - if you are willing and lucky enough to build "The Pyramids". The immediate availability of all the civics of course change their relative values, so my rather general advices might fail here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And there is a second special thing about it...21 out of 26 leaders have their favorite civic inside this column, so your decision here can have an important influence on how getting along with the other leaders...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monarchy (classic era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per military unit inside a city[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Alexander, Catherine, Hatshepsut, Huayna Capac, Kublai Khan and Louis XIV.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Vassalage, Nationalism, Theocracy, OCC, cold or general defensive wars (especially AW), ressource-scarce maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The good old military police and better than ever before. No more upper limit. But it comes now with a hefty price, too. Beside the unit upkeep, the civic itself will cost you a substantial sum to maintain. Nearly every other way to produce happiness will be cheaper, but sometimes there is no other way to stay in the "yellow faces" (mainly because of few religions and/or resources).Then it is the right choice, because avoiding unhappy citizens is a high-priority goal. And unless you own the Pyramids, it is the best what you can get for a long time. Otherwise, try to leave it ASAP...if you get access to a new government civic, check if you really need HR any more. If most of the happiness is lost due overflow, consider switching immediately. Even if you can live with the costs (which indeed tend to become less of a problem, if your cities grow really big), you will at least miss the benefits of Universal Suffrage, as soon as it becomes available.[NEWLINE]On the diplomatic table, the civic puts you at good relations (usually a permanent + of 1-3, depending on how long you are in the civic and on how keen the leader is about foreign politics) with 6 other leaders...that's more than with any other civic![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Constitution (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Every specialist (including settled down 'super-specialists') yields 3 extra research; the biggest 5 (or 6...I'm unsure if this a flat number or something dependent on map size) cities in your empire get 3 extra happiness.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Cyrus, Caesar, Napoleon, Victoria[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD], Pacifism, Philosophical, Organized, OCC - FCC, smaller maps(?),GP-based strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Representation is the second available choice in the government column and it can be very useful in different situations. Obviously, if you rely very heavily on specialists (and if you are perhaps running some more pro-specialist-civics) and also if your empire is rather small, because then it is your weapon against unhappiness.[NEWLINE]But even without such special circumstances, it is in most cases superior compared to HR. You pay less maintenance and despite you get the happiness usually where you need it most (=in your big cities).And of course your troops are freed again to do what they should - defend and attack. Even when Universal Suffrage becomes available (a tech later, if you have planned for it), you might be better off with staying in Representation. Unless you have money to burn or you have "cottaged" your land early, Representation will often fit better. You can still switch later if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Fascism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] 25% more hammer output, if building military units; -50% war wariness[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Genghis Khan, Isabella, Montezuma, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Jails[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mount Rushmore[\BOLD], [BOLD]Heroic Epic[\BOLD], Extended and bloody offense warfare ([BOLD]especially AW[\BOLD]), Drydocks, Vassalage, Theocracy, Organized, Aggressive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Well, I don't think there is much to say about when this civic helps you and when it doesn't do you anything good. It you are at peace (and plan to stay here), move long - there is just nothing you will find here except a near-to-useless high maintenance civic. If you are attacked, ask your self: Is the production bonus worth to sacrifice other choices Keep in mind, WW is no longer an issue if you just defend your self! Nationalism will literally cost you much less and might offer a better effect.[NEWLINE]What makes it really shine is the second bonus...war wariness can easily force you to end a war, because it gets more and more difficult to maintain a productive economy, when you try to conquer and things start to get rough. PS puts an end to this. Add jails and the Mount Rushmore wonder...and no unhappy people will stop you from dominating the world with your guns. You will also enjoy better relations with other leaders who like to repress their people in the same manner...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Democracy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] The Town improvement yields an extra hammer and you are allowed to rush buildings and units with gold.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Asoka, Frederick, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD], [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Kremlin[\BOLD], Emancipation, Organized, "cottage-strategies"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you have planned ahead with building lots of cottages, you are now able to earn your fruits. Now you will not only get tons of money out of them, but also a hammer on the top. On the financial side, you may you the rushing ability to build commerce and science boosters in those cities quickly. You will get the invested money back soon. To make use of the civic to its full extend, be sure to combine it with Free Speech.[NEWLINE]The importance of commerce in Civ4 cannot be overstated. It is the thriving factor. It is also one of the main points why the AI is a lot tougher now - they now know how important it is, if you look at the sheer number of cottages they build. That's why they stay competitive in the tech race until the end of the game...and it also makes the diplomatic aspect even more important here. The leaders who like Universal Suffrage are often among the successful ones, which means you are likely to have powerful friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Legal Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The action in this column starts fairly late; the offered civics cover in a nice way the different needs of offensive/defensive war and early-/late game economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Feudalism (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 exp. for new units, extra free unit support (5 flat + 1 for each 10 population points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mehmed II. (WLs)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD](see also text), [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]Charismatic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), Police State, any situation with a need for a lot of new troops[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Depending on your research path, Vassalage will be your first or second legal option. It offers one huge benefit (to be entirely correct there is a second: you get some extra free unit support, but this effect is at best a slight compensation for the maintenance, see end of the paragraph) - every unit you will built starts with two experience points more.[NEWLINE]This guarantees the first promotion; under usual circumstances (barracks are in place), you get access to the second. Taking in account how combat in Civ4 works this is without a doubt a very desirable boost. Usually a small edge is enough to decide a combat and am promotion more or less can make this difference easily. It is also an effect you will feel for sure, as everyone - even the most peaceful player - has an need for a decent army - if just to prevent a nasty AI leader from attacking.[NEWLINE]The only downside of Vassalage is the high maintenance cost. Nonetheless, if Vassalage is your first and therefore only option, switch (unless you really have to count every peace of gold). Whenever you plan to built up your forces, switch. In some games you will stay in vassalage for longer times or even the rest of the game, in others the next options will become one day the better choice. Just make sure to exploit the benefits of Vassalage as much as you can, while running it - the extra support will cover the unit maintenance partly (for Organized civs, this civic is even more interesting, as for the reduced cost, the free support alone is worth the expenses!) and experienced troops will still help you in future, if you have left Vassalage for a more peaceful agenda.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Civil Service (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +50% production and commerce in capital[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Kublai Khan, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Spiritual, [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD], [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD], [BOLD]general strong capital development/focus (f.e. important national wonders in capital placed, any civil or military production boosters)[\BOLD], small maps/empires, [BOLD]OCC[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] To put it in one sentence...it is all about your capital here, which will receive 50% additional production and commerce under this civic. Bureaucracy is always worth a thought, if it comes as first option in the column (even the worst capital has the Palace commerce bonus and likely some hammer sources). How competitive it stays against the other options, depends on location, and constitution of your capital and of course on the future plans you gave with it, too. If it is your unit-factory (high base hammer output, Heroic Epic, etc.), drowning in cottages, your main wonder construction site or even your only city (OCC), than this civic is for you. What makes Bureaucracy so powerful despite the fact that it affects only one of your cities, is Civ4s need for specialization - one specialized city may take the entire needs of your empire in one field (unit production, wonders, research,...). And if you can improve this performance by 50%, than it is usually worth a civic.[NEWLINE]However, Bureaucracy tends to lose steam in later phases of most games. The reasons are quite simple - successful empires tend to expand or growth, which means civics get more expensive. Usually, the civic effects expand in a similar manner. Mercantilism gives you an extra specialist in every city, Hereditary Rule enables MP everywhere. Not so here - your entire empire pays with rising maintenance for a fairly constant reward. Freakenly realistic, if you think about real world bureaucracy and centralization.. The final catch is Free Speech becoming available. Without, Nationhood and Vassalage were the only alternatives - ones which aren't too exciting in peacetimes. But usually the need for money and beakers rises in the endgame - and extra income from the cottages is just too important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Nationalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Ability to draft up 5 units per turn, +2 happiness from barracks[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] None[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Churchill[BOLD][NEWLINE]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), [BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD], sneak attacks, huge excess happiness and food without sufficient production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Basically, we have the reincarnation of Civ3s draft button, with happiness boosting barracks as icing on the cake - with no maintenance cost. Nationhood is the kind of civic you don't need very often and long, but if you need it, then you need it dearly and if possible immediately. Ironically, you will use this war civic most likely, if you have planned to play a peaceful game - there is always one Alex or Monty out there which is interested in your cities and wonders.So, in case a nasty AI surprises you, what does Nationhood for you?[NEWLINE]Depending on the map Size, you can draft per turn up to 5 of the most modern defenders available(however, restricted to one per city and turn). The price is unhappiness (+3) and population loss (-1 pop point). The big difference to Civ3 is the training level of your drafted troops - while in Civ3 the recruits had 33%/50% less hit points compared to regular/veteran units (which often doomed them as pure cannon fodder), you get regular troops now - just the starting experience is halved. This means still a promotion from the start if a barrack is in place.[NEWLINE]Without a doubt, Nationhood is no real long term option. +2 happiness is not enough to make it interesting in peacetimes and drafting more than one or two units will bring most cities down to anarchy and resulting starvation. You will likely leave Nationhood as soon as the initial ambush forces a repelled -usually for Vassalage-, even if the war continues. Only if the war goes very bad and you are under constant pressure, you might be forced to stay here. It is also the civic of heroic defeats and fighting to the last man...and even if it helps you to survive, you will need a large recovery period after that.[NEWLINE]Since Nationhood is a mainly stop-gap against an invasion, it is most useful if you can enact it while the enemy is still approaching your city - so a good recon work tremendously increases the efficiency of this civic. Or pick a spiritual leader - always useful regarding civics, but being able to enact and draft in the same turn is something not to underestimate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 commerce for the town improvement, +100% culture[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Emancipation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Printing Press[\BOLD], any "cottagemania"-strategy, culture is needed for victory (together with everything else yielding/boosting culture)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The second "late" option here. The boni speak for themselves: +2 commerce per town and +100% culture, low maintenance.The power and importance of cottages are well known, so it is easy to imagine how much impact the extra commerce has. Free Speech is the dominant peaceful option. This applies especially, if you are going for a cultural victory. Though there is still a niche for Bureaucracy (if your capital is among the three cities and you are racing for an important wonder), doubled culture is worth 6 cathedrals and all the Prerequisite temples, not to speak of the advantage in tech race.[NEWLINE]It offers little direct benefit for the warmongers, but if you are currently not fighting for your life or building up you main attack force, you should consider it despite - maintaining or even upgrading an army is expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Economic Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: It is the column which is enabled latest by far, it contains (IMHO) the weakest and the strongest civic of all and also one of the few with a negative effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Banking (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All foreign trade routes are closed, every city gets a "virtual" specialist (which doesn't drain one citizen from work)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Tokugawa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Organized, Pacifism, Philosophical; AW, warmongering or bad diplomatic relations in general, balanced GP strategies, Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Mercantilism will be the first available choice in the economic department, but if planned properly Free Market is only one tech away. So it is kind of different to the other "first" civics, were switching over immediately is usually a no-brainer. Things get even more though to evaluate, when taking in account that Mercantilism has a substantial downside beside the upkeep - you will lose all of your foreign trade routes. Unless special circumstances are in place, I usually do not even think about revolting to Mercantilism, but try to get hands on economics ASAP to use Free Market, which can be shortly described as the complete opposite, if you look at what it does.[NEWLINE]But now the more interesting part...when to use Mercantilism Despite all the negative elements connected to it, in some situations the extra specialist is more useful than an extra foreign trade route:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]a) You are in or near an AW situations or your overall diplomatic are just to worse to allow (m)any active OB-treaties. Obviously, this is what it is made for it. The penalty doesn't hurt you anymore, while Free Market offers you zero compared to a free specialist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]b) You are pursuing an GP-strategy and maybe you have some of the wonders mentioned under "synergies" around. Of course then every specialist helps. However, think twice before giving in to this temptation - Mercantilism is not perfectly suited for this strategy. The most effective way to get a cabinet full of GP is creating a single city, which accumulates as many points as possible. Mercantilism however tends to add few in this case.Most points will be wasted because of the escalating costs of later GPs. What I described as "balanced"-GP strategy (=distributing the GPP sources between several cities) is less effective from the view of maxing out GP, but often not to avoid (no food-powerhouse, cap of two national wonders per city etc.).In the case, Mercantilism can be indeed a valuable part of the big picture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]c) You have a lot of low-developed cities. Mercantilism's flat one-specialist-per-city bonus obviously has the biggest value, if a city is small - adding a specialist to a size one city without using the citizen to create it means doubling the number of productive people in the city.If combined with Representation and Caste System, you get at decent boost for research this way, while you are able to use the specialist for what is most important (f.e. getting the first border expansion for a new built or conquered city quick).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nonetheless (and completely according to real history), Mercantilism is in most games only a temporarily good choice. If not FM means the end for it, then State Property will do this job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Economy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All cities get an additional foreign trade route[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mansa Musa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD], Organized, Harbor + other buildings which give extra routes, many OBs, "big" games (huge maps, many opponents), everything which increases commerce yield in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Many of what could be said about FM is already noted in the paragraph above, because FM is to a large extend the complete opposite of Mercantilism...and so, no wonder, the best moments to use it are non-isolationistic strategies. In theory, a few OB-treaties will be enough to receive the extra trade route; however, more trading partners tend to give you more lucrative routes (just because there are more possible destinations to choose from!).Also everything which increases commerce (many cottages, buildings, civics, shrines, settled down specialists,...) in your cities, will fuel the effect of FM, because the game "connects" rich cities with other rich cities and calculates the yield of trade routes this way.[NEWLINE]Now, how to rate FM Without a doubt, it is the most flexible and easy-to-use civic in the column. Even if you don't care much about synergies, it is difficult to be completely wrong with it. Except complete AW games, it is very unlikely that you end up without a single OB (at least on bigger maps)...and if you just met this condition, you will get a decent reward out of it. Add low upkeep and you will have a nice civic which gives you extra money. Usually, it is the right choice as soon as it shows up - either for the rest of the game or at least until SP gets available.[NEWLINE]But despite it is the right choice very often, I wouldn't call it the most powerful choice. For the reasons, see the next paragraph...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Communism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] No more distance maintenance in your cities. Watermills and Workshops yield one more unit of food.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] No[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mao[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Watermill and Workshop-spam[\BOLD], Games aimed at domination win, early GP-strategies, warmongering, Universal Suffrage, Vassalage, Theocracy, Aggressive, Expansive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Any rating is always dependent on the playing style to a large degree, so you might differ, if I rate SP as the most powerful civic of all. And even my rating needs further explanation... "most powerful" just means that it is probably the civic which might give you the biggest reward - well, if you are able and willing to invest enough to exploit it to its full extend (that's also the reason, why it isn't overpowered!). I'm not claiming that it is the only viable choice; in fact in most games you will get more out of FM, just because its effects are easier obtain.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SP offers three pluses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, it is a zero-cost civic. Normally, I wouldn't emphasize it in this way. But usually it is either the way that there is a direct drawback for zero upkeep (Pacifism: extra upkeep for military units) or it is just offset by the fact that the positive effects of the civic are restricted or hard to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For SP however, you will at least (nearly) always save some money from the second advantage. No distance maintenance in your cities. OK, you will smile and move on in an OCC, but apart from that the effect is somewhere between "nice" over "alone enough to switch to SP" to "saves me from bankrupt". An empire similar to the former British or Soviet will cost you dearly without SP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The third thing is probably the most interesting, but also the one which needs most work: Extra food from the watermill and workshop improvement. While it is just the icing on the cake in case of the watermill (it is already a nice choice without SP), it completely turns the tide for the workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A workshop is a niche improvement under normal circumstances. Unless you locally drown in food, the food penalty hits just to hard. Moreover, mines are a big competitor, because they to do the same without taking away arable land and might even grant you a new resource deposit one day. But under SP, a workshop means simply +3 hammers! Cities with enough hills still do not need them...but all those flatland cities in grassland or near a river can be turned into real factories. 10 citizens can yield 30 base hammers this way... If you are among those who always miss hammers dearly and wish to be back in the Civ3s paradise of mined grassland, then welcome in the realm of State Property! The power of such a factory-wonder is multiplied by the fact you can use it to hit the AI on a weak point - they are famous with everything connected to commerce and research, but they often lack the hammers to build the fancy toys for their army.[NEWLINE]The only downside (of which I'm glad it is in!) it the fact that you need a strong worker force to transform your infrastructure this way. And while it perfectly plays together with an early farm/GP-strategy (don't be shy to replace the farms with workshops - with escalating GP costs, you will usually only sacrifice few GLs from the moment on SP becomes available), it will make you cry to tear down developed cottages. It might still make sense in some cases, but be careful then...if you transform too early, you might fall back in tech because of you depleting income. And with the new combat system, Tank vs. Modern Armour is nothing to search for, even if you have the numerical advantage on your side.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Medicine (Industrial Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +6 health in every city; also +1 happiness per jungle/forest tile inside the city radius[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, low resource situations, "green strategies" (keeping forests, lumber mills), high unhealthiness through power generation or buildings, wars which disrupt resource trading[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] ***REMOVED for overhaul because of the latest patch changes regarding Environmentalism ***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Religious Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: Unlike the civics of the other columns, the ones of the religious section need an additional component to work - religion. In case of the first three, you will only reap the benefits inside a city, if you have a state religion AND if this state religion is present in this city. Free Religion abandons the state religion concept and depends instead on having as many different religions as possible inside a city. So the usefulness of all the non-default civics depends highly on the religious situation in your empire and the thump rule "everything is better than the default civic" is not entirely true here. The three state-religion civics (can) cause high direct or indirect costs, so Paganism is indeed a real choice, as long as you don't have established religion in most of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monotheism (Ancient Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +25% speed, when constructing buildings or wonders; training of missionaries is possible without having a monastery[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Wonder/cathedral resources[\BOLD] (Marble, Stone, Copper), [BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD], forest-chopping for building projects, State Property, Universal Suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your first option in the religious column. The general note on religious civics applies especially to OR. Unless you have founded one of the early religions yourself, the chance is quite high that you have no access to religion, when the civic becomes available. In this case, wait with a switch. Even if the absolute sum is not much in those early turns, you will need every piece of gold - and paying for getting zero doesn't sound like a good idea, well?[NEWLINE]If religion has spread to your empire and a state religion is declared, a switch makes usually sense. +25% hammers for buildings/wonders are a huge boost in the beginning, where you need to get the stuff out as fast as possible. And not to forget the second advantage - missionaries without monasteries. It makes sure that all your new cities can get the production bonus at once and it allows sending out a lot of those guys to your neighbors to bring them in line. However, if you are involved in serious wars and your cities are busy with pumping units out, OR doesn't help you. It can be also problematic on higher difficulties, because then the high upkeep might lay a heavy burden on your treasury.[NEWLINE]Overall, the usefulness tends to decrease over time. If you weight extra building speed vs. free experience, great people points or extra happiness (that's in short what the alternatives - described in detail below - offer), all of the latter three are usually more important in the later game. However, the second advantage might open another niche for OR later. In the moment you research Scientific Method, you lose the chance to build new monasteries. If you have build enough of the ones you need, you are lucky. If not, you have a problem, when you are pursuing for example a cultural victory, for which are cathedrals extremely helpful. OR eliminates this problem by allowing cities to build missionaries of all the religions they contain, regardless of the presence of monasteries - so this effectively means you can spread every religion over your entire empire, if you just have one city with this certain religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Theology (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 EXP for new built units; no spreading of none-state religions[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Saladin[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Pentagon[\BOLD], [BOLD]Westpoint[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], Organized, Nationalism, The Heroic Epic, Police State, any war or cold war situation, domination or conquest victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Theocracy is Vassalages little sister - the main effect is the same, units start with 2 experience points extra. Like it is true for most war civics, there is not much to say about when you should use them. If you plan to build a lot of units in the near future (for whatever reason), take this. And if you can, take Vassalage too. The synergy between both is one of the strongest among all civics - both improve exactly the same aspect of the game and in case of experience, a cumulative bonus is especially valuable. Yes, you might argue that one of those civics is enough to reap the second promotion immediately (assuming barracks are in place). That's true and I'm far away from saying they are only worth to be taken together - but you just waste their full potential. Believe me, 6 or 8 exp from the start matters, because your units will likely get the third promotion right after the first fight with 8. Also every new promotion means a kind of instant "medipack" for your unit (wounds are partly healed).It can make the difference between losing or winning a fight in many cases.[NEWLINE]Medium upkeep is an absolutely fair charge for what Theocracy does, especially if you compare it with OR or Pacifism. Until Free Religion shows up (which is a great all-round civic), Theocracy is not only the best, but also the cheapest solution in any game which involves decent military action or just a big standing army to prevent it.[NEWLINE]The second effect of Theocracy (no natural or missionary-caused spread of minor religions in city with your state religion) is a kind of a double-edged sword. It prevents you from reaping the benefits of having several religions in your cities (more happiness, culture, science).But OTOH, you also prevent that a nasty opponent spreads his own founded religion into your city and gains line of sight and shrine income. How strong the impact of both aspects is depends however on the extend minor religions have already spread in your country (because existing ones aren't removed). If nearly all of your cities have already a second or even third religion, Theocracy isn't a big loss anymore - because spreading religions via missionaries in this situation is very cost-intensive anyway. For preventing the enemy from gaining benefits out of his or her mother religion it is just the other way round - if they haven't got their feet in your door yet, it is the best time to close it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Philosophy (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +100% GPP (=Great People Points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] no direct civic upkeep, but 1 Gold per military unit[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD], [BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Representation, Mercantilism, Industrious, any major GP-strategies, cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you are in love with Great People, this civic is for you. Although the doubled amount of GPP [BOLD]does not transform into 100% more great people[\BOLD] (the increase is probably rather 20-30 %), the civic pays out if used properly. The real benefit isn't the pure extra number, but the fact that you will get your GPs earlier - and one of the basic rules of Civilisation is that earlier advantages weight more. So they question is when to use Pacifism?[NEWLINE]If you are running a game heavily leaned towards GP, of course. You might run Pacifism then until the end, but you should still keep in mind that the effect fades the more GPs you have already gotten. Taken to the extreme: At some point, even the 100% increase will not yield to another GP because of the geometrical cost increase.[NEWLINE]If GP are just a (minor) part of your strategy, you might consider a quick switch when it becomes available (to rush out some) and eventually later again, when you desperately need another Great Person, while lacking enough base GPP. In any case, try to max out the synergetic potential of Pacifism. Especially the combination with Caste System can do miracles - there is rarely a better way to get a special GP in a short time.[NEWLINE]Probably not necessary to point out, but for the sake of completeness...if you don't have wonders and specialists around which yield GPP, move along - Pacifism has no second benefit, but a hidden cost trap. Don't be fooled by no upkeep, the extra cost for military units will usually easily turn it into a quasi high-upkeep civic. Yes, in theory all those famous Great People might lead you to a peaceful victory , where you don't need any weaponry and therefore unit maintenance. But the days of no-unit-games are gone.Civ4s diplomacy system relies on relation modifiers and is quite reliable in this part, but you will need the plain cold steel, too. There is always someone out there who is jealous about your wonders and cities. Pacifistic games are best achieved with cold-war strategies - and that's nothing to head for under Pacifism from the view of costs. To sum up the options ...either build up a very healthy economy or use Pacifism only temporarily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (Renaissance Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per present religion inside a city; +10% research output; no more state religion and religious diplomacy modifiers[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Elisabeth; religion has no more impact on diplomacy[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, Environmentalism, luxury resource shortages, peaceful-planned games and situations with high-tension in diplomacy, [BOLD]non[\BOLD]-diplomatic victories (especially space race or cultural)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your final choice in the religious column. A powerful tool, coming with low costs and offering a simple solution for unhappiness problems and granting a 10% increase in research on top - all you have to do is spreading as many religions as possible in every corner of the empire. Each present religion yields +1 happiness in your cities, before factoring in additional boni you might get out of built temples. Unless you have no happiness problems, because your are drowning in luxuries or your cities are small, you should seriously consider a switch.[NEWLINE]The icing on the cake (the research bonus) is even independent of the number of religions in a city (maybe there must be one religion at all, not sure on this). 10% may not sound to drastic, but if you keep in mind how expensive the late game techs have become with v1.52, you will be happy about every extra beaker.It can make the difference in a tight space race.[NEWLINE]As usual there is also shadow or at least some more things to consider. First of all, don't underestimate the difficulty of spreading religions with missionaries. If there is no or only a single religion present in a city, your chance of success is 100% or slightly below. If there is already a second religion, you might fail; three or more is just pure luck. So the gained extra happiness is usually 2 or 3, unless your are willing to invest vast amount of shields for missionaries (which can be sometimes worth nonetheless, when pursuing a cultural victory for example).[NEWLINE]A second aspect is the loss of state religion. Beside the fact that the Spiral Minaret loses its effect , it has a serious impact on the diplomatic system in Civ4, which can be a boon or bust, depending on your situation. Free Religion both nullifies positive and negative modifiers caused by having the same or a different state religion. You will have no more problems with Isabella or Saladin hunting you for believing in the wrong faith, but you might experience cooled down relations with your former brothers in faith, too. The chance to get backstabbed and attacked is slower, but also the possibilities for trade or interventions on your side.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]A Guide to Civics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pfeffersack[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intention of this article is to give hints and tips about when and how to use the different Civics in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each civic there is a note on availability, followed by a short description of the effects/costs, diplomatic implications, comments on synergy with other game elements (other civics, leader traits, buildings, game settings, common strategies) and a final summary on the usefulness of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any Feedback is highly appreciated and the guide will be updated with comments and strategies people post here (credits will be given here in the first post).My (high) aim is to provide a comprehensive database on the complex subject of civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Additional Credits for contributing interesting aspects, strategies and correcting inadequate information: genjiboy, Heroes, Krikkitone, Orca, Samson.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some General Thoughts on Civics in Civ4[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maintenance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Note: Roland Johansen has done a great article about civic upkeep (http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/civic_upkeep.php).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civics are divided into 4 upkeep categories: no, low, medium and high. As a very rough rule of thumb you will pay 0 for zero, x for low, 1,5-2x for medium and 2-3x for high upkeep civics.The exact values depend on your number of cities and your population.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a growing empire and increasing inflation, civic upkeep can really drain from your treasury. If you consider which civics to use, always keep the upkeep as an additional factor in mind - if you are unsure which civic is the better one, then the cheaper one is usually the better idea. Perhaps with the exception of Environmentalism, all the high-upkeep civics offer strong advantages. But if go for them, you should check if you can really use them to a certain extent - running Vassalage only pays if you build enough units, while Organized Religion is a waste if you are busy to build up your army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I haven't mentioned spiritual as a factor in most of the strategy/synergy sections (with Slavery and Nationalism as exceptions; for why see the civic article) for one reason - it is just plain useful to civics in general. The smooth government transition without anarchy transforms in two advantages: The freedom to change [BOLD]when[\BOLD] and [BOLD]as often as necessary[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When[\BOLD] just means the independence of things as wars, golden age or wonder races. Without interfering anarchy, there is no need to wait with a revolution. If a better option shows up, switch (to be correct, there is still a restriction regarding minimum time between two revolutions, but that's only rarely a real problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second benefit is the fact that you don't have to think about [BOLD]if switching (and eventually switching back again soon) is worth the anarchy[\BOLD]. Without the spiritual trait, you have to keep an eye on the number of switches you make in a game - if you accumulate to many anarchy turns over time, it may hurt your progress. Sometimes the anarchy just eats up the small advantage the new civic would give you, especially if the benefits are needed only temporarily (for example, "hurry civics" as Slavery or Universal Suffrage, the "draft civic" Nationalism or Bureaucracy, if you go for a wonder in your capital) - then you will either drop the switch altogether or at least delay it to make a "big revolution" (see below for this strategy for non-spiritual civs). Spirituals effect also tends to rise in Epic or Marathon games.Not so much by the fact the anarchy period is at minimum 2 turns and can easily scale up to 4 (this is counterbalanced by every turn being "less" valuable), but because unit movement isn't modified - a "quick" switch to Slavery and Nationalism without Spiritual to stop an enemy attack will need three turns(!) to show an effect; three turns in which moreover everything in your empire stands still.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The organized trait is the second one which has an direct impact on civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Organized shifts the balance towards the civics with (higher) maintenance, which are usually the ones with a greater impact and stronger effect....and those suited for a more aggressive and (regarding your empires population) repressive playing style.If you compare a (war-monger) combination of Police State, Vassalage, Caste System, Mercantilism and Theocracy with for example Universal Suffrage, Free Speech, Emancipation, State Property and Free Religion (large empire going for cottages), you will clearly see the different impact of Organized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To sum up, the effect here can be significant (if you adopt your general "big plan") to meaningless (if you don't). That's also the reason why Organized is usually rated as the weakest trait - however, if at all, that's only partly true.For the civic effect depending on the playing style yes, but you also get cheaper Lighthouses and more important Courthouses - both directing to faster expansion. Not a bad thing in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]When to change?[\BOLD] (applies mainly for non-spiritual civs)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The question is nearly as difficult as the one dealing with what to change. As usually there is not a single correct answer. You have to consider different situations and factors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all it is important to distinguish the first, initial change in a civic column from later changes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In case of the [BOLD]initial change[\BOLD], the straight advice in most of the cases is simply: Change as soon as it possible without. The initial civics do nothing for you except draining low maintenance. Sure, most of the civics you will get first access to in the different columns (Hereditary Rule, Bureaucracy/Vassalage, Slavery/Caste System, Mercantilism and Organized Religion) have a higher upkeep, but the give you some advantage and the real cost for this advantage is lower (because you have to subtract one maintenance level in your calculation - the level you have to pay for the starters anyway!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are more complicated when [BOLD]changing from a "real" civic to another[\BOLD]. Again, switching ASAP is usually not a bad idea - simply because getting a better civic sooner is better and because in a growing economy a turn of anarchy becomes more and more expensive, if the game progresses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, some circumstances might make a delayed revolution a better idea. It is for example not a good idea to switch during a golden age (however, the mistake would rather triggering the Golden Age before the switch in most cases) or when you need every turn in a wonder race or for building units in a case of emergency (of course with the exception of a switch to something which helps especially in those situations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if no such special situation makes waiting worth, the concept of "big revolutions" can do so. Instead of switching only one civic in a revolution, you can change up to 5. The anarchy penalty rises too, but not in linear way. You can switch up to 3 civics at one time and will still suffer only one turn anarchy. So you can minimize the turns lost to anarchy if you wait for example a few turns to get another tech which enables a new civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And last but not least there may be economic reasons - don't underestimate the pressure high cost civics can lay on your economy. Especially when having the concept of a big revolution in mind, it might be tempting to make a big change - for example when going to war, switching from low cost "peace" civics to the repressive ones. Make sure you have a healthy economy, a full treasury or a Great Merchant around. Otherwise you might come into trouble soon. Wars are already expensive in Civ4 without the political dimension (more units to support, units must be supplied in enemy lands, enemies eventually pillaging the land, unit upgrades, bribery for allies etc.), so those extra civic costs might lead to strikes or at least a serious drop in your research efforts. A bad move here can be devastating, since you have to wait a few turns to be able to correct it again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Government Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The special thing about this column is that you can get access to all civics very early - if you are willing and lucky enough to build "The Pyramids". The immediate availability of all the civics of course change their relative values, so my rather general advices might fail here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And there is a second special thing about it...21 out of 26 leaders have their favorite civic inside this column, so your decision here can have an important influence on how getting along with the other leaders...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Hereditary Rule[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monarchy (classic era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per military unit inside a city[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Alexander, Catherine, Hatshepsut, Huayna Capac, Kublai Khan and Louis XIV.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Vassalage, Nationalism, Theocracy, OCC, cold or general defensive wars (especially AW), ressource-scarce maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The good old military police and better than ever before. No more upper limit. But it comes now with a hefty price, too. Beside the unit upkeep, the civic itself will cost you a substantial sum to maintain. Nearly every other way to produce happiness will be cheaper, but sometimes there is no other way to stay in the "yellow faces" (mainly because of few religions and/or resources).Then it is the right choice, because avoiding unhappy citizens is a high-priority goal. And unless you own the Pyramids, it is the best what you can get for a long time. Otherwise, try to leave it ASAP...if you get access to a new government civic, check if you really need HR any more. If most of the happiness is lost due overflow, consider switching immediately. Even if you can live with the costs (which indeed tend to become less of a problem, if your cities grow really big), you will at least miss the benefits of Universal Suffrage, as soon as it becomes available.[NEWLINE]On the diplomatic table, the civic puts you at good relations (usually a permanent + of 1-3, depending on how long you are in the civic and on how keen the leader is about foreign politics) with 6 other leaders...that's more than with any other civic![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Representation[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Constitution (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Every specialist (including settled down 'super-specialists') yields 3 extra research; the biggest 5 (or 6...I'm unsure if this a flat number or something dependent on map size) cities in your empire get 3 extra happiness.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Cyrus, Caesar, Napoleon, Victoria[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD], Pacifism, Philosophical, Organized, OCC - FCC, smaller maps(?),GP-based strategies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Representation is the second available choice in the government column and it can be very useful in different situations. Obviously, if you rely very heavily on specialists (and if you are perhaps running some more pro-specialist-civics) and also if your empire is rather small, because then it is your weapon against unhappiness.[NEWLINE]But even without such special circumstances, it is in most cases superior compared to HR. You pay less maintenance and despite you get the happiness usually where you need it most (=in your big cities).And of course your troops are freed again to do what they should - defend and attack. Even when Universal Suffrage becomes available (a tech later, if you have planned for it), you might be better off with staying in Representation. Unless you have money to burn or you have "cottaged" your land early, Representation will often fit better. You can still switch later if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Police State[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Fascism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] 25% more hammer output, if building military units; -50% war wariness[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Genghis Khan, Isabella, Montezuma, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Jails[\BOLD], [BOLD]Mount Rushmore[\BOLD], [BOLD]Heroic Epic[\BOLD], Extended and bloody offense warfare ([BOLD]especially AW[\BOLD]), Drydocks, Vassalage, Theocracy, Organized, Aggressive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Well, I don't think there is much to say about when this civic helps you and when it doesn't do you anything good. It you are at peace (and plan to stay here), move long - there is just nothing you will find here except a near-to-useless high maintenance civic. If you are attacked, ask your self: Is the production bonus worth to sacrifice other choices Keep in mind, WW is no longer an issue if you just defend your self! Nationalism will literally cost you much less and might offer a better effect.[NEWLINE]What makes it really shine is the second bonus...war wariness can easily force you to end a war, because it gets more and more difficult to maintain a productive economy, when you try to conquer and things start to get rough. PS puts an end to this. Add jails and the Mount Rushmore wonder...and no unhappy people will stop you from dominating the world with your guns. You will also enjoy better relations with other leaders who like to repress their people in the same manner...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Democracy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] The Town improvement yields an extra hammer and you are allowed to rush buildings and units with gold.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Asoka, Frederick, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD], [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Kremlin[\BOLD], Emancipation, Organized, "cottage-strategies"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you have planned ahead with building lots of cottages, you are now able to earn your fruits. Now you will not only get tons of money out of them, but also a hammer on the top. On the financial side, you may you the rushing ability to build commerce and science boosters in those cities quickly. You will get the invested money back soon. To make use of the civic to its full extend, be sure to combine it with Free Speech.[NEWLINE]The importance of commerce in Civ4 cannot be overstated. It is the thriving factor. It is also one of the main points why the AI is a lot tougher now - they now know how important it is, if you look at the sheer number of cottages they build. That's why they stay competitive in the tech race until the end of the game...and it also makes the diplomatic aspect even more important here. The leaders who like Universal Suffrage are often among the successful ones, which means you are likely to have powerful friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Legal Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: The action in this column starts fairly late; the offered civics cover in a nice way the different needs of offensive/defensive war and early-/late game economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Feudalism (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 exp. for new units, extra free unit support (5 flat + 1 for each 10 population points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mehmed II. (WLs)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD](see also text), [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]Charismatic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), Police State, any situation with a need for a lot of new troops[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Depending on your research path, Vassalage will be your first or second legal option. It offers one huge benefit (to be entirely correct there is a second: you get some extra free unit support, but this effect is at best a slight compensation for the maintenance, see end of the paragraph) - every unit you will built starts with two experience points more.[NEWLINE]This guarantees the first promotion; under usual circumstances (barracks are in place), you get access to the second. Taking in account how combat in Civ4 works this is without a doubt a very desirable boost. Usually a small edge is enough to decide a combat and am promotion more or less can make this difference easily. It is also an effect you will feel for sure, as everyone - even the most peaceful player - has an need for a decent army - if just to prevent a nasty AI leader from attacking.[NEWLINE]The only downside of Vassalage is the high maintenance cost. Nonetheless, if Vassalage is your first and therefore only option, switch (unless you really have to count every peace of gold). Whenever you plan to built up your forces, switch. In some games you will stay in vassalage for longer times or even the rest of the game, in others the next options will become one day the better choice. Just make sure to exploit the benefits of Vassalage as much as you can, while running it - the extra support will cover the unit maintenance partly (for Organized civs, this civic is even more interesting, as for the reduced cost, the free support alone is worth the expenses!) and experienced troops will still help you in future, if you have left Vassalage for a more peaceful agenda.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Civil Service (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +50% production and commerce in capital[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Kublai Khan, Peter, Qin Shi Huang[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Spiritual, [BOLD]Organized[\BOLD], [BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD], [BOLD]general strong capital development/focus (f.e. important national wonders in capital placed, any civil or military production boosters)[\BOLD], small maps/empires, [BOLD]OCC[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] To put it in one sentence...it is all about your capital here, which will receive 50% additional production and commerce under this civic. Bureaucracy is always worth a thought, if it comes as first option in the column (even the worst capital has the Palace commerce bonus and likely some hammer sources). How competitive it stays against the other options, depends on location, and constitution of your capital and of course on the future plans you gave with it, too. If it is your unit-factory (high base hammer output, Heroic Epic, etc.), drowning in cottages, your main wonder construction site or even your only city (OCC), than this civic is for you. What makes Bureaucracy so powerful despite the fact that it affects only one of your cities, is Civ4s need for specialization - one specialized city may take the entire needs of your empire in one field (unit production, wonders, research,...). And if you can improve this performance by 50%, than it is usually worth a civic.[NEWLINE]However, Bureaucracy tends to lose steam in later phases of most games. The reasons are quite simple - successful empires tend to expand or growth, which means civics get more expensive. Usually, the civic effects expand in a similar manner. Mercantilism gives you an extra specialist in every city, Hereditary Rule enables MP everywhere. Not so here - your entire empire pays with rising maintenance for a fairly constant reward. Freakenly realistic, if you think about real world bureaucracy and centralization.. The final catch is Free Speech becoming available. Without, Nationhood and Vassalage were the only alternatives - ones which aren't too exciting in peacetimes. But usually the need for money and beakers rises in the endgame - and extra income from the cottages is just too important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Nationhood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Nationalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] Ability to draft up 5 units per turn, +2 happiness from barracks[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] None[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Bismarck, Churchill[BOLD][NEWLINE]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Protective[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], [BOLD]anything else what grants free experience to new units[\BOLD] (Barracks, Drydocks, Westpoint, The Pentagon, Theocracy, WLs Military Instructors), [BOLD]Spiritual[\BOLD], sneak attacks, huge excess happiness and food without sufficient production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Basically, we have the reincarnation of Civ3s draft button, with happiness boosting barracks as icing on the cake - with no maintenance cost. Nationhood is the kind of civic you don't need very often and long, but if you need it, then you need it dearly and if possible immediately. Ironically, you will use this war civic most likely, if you have planned to play a peaceful game - there is always one Alex or Monty out there which is interested in your cities and wonders.So, in case a nasty AI surprises you, what does Nationhood for you?[NEWLINE]Depending on the map Size, you can draft per turn up to 5 of the most modern defenders available(however, restricted to one per city and turn). The price is unhappiness (+3) and population loss (-1 pop point). The big difference to Civ3 is the training level of your drafted troops - while in Civ3 the recruits had 33%/50% less hit points compared to regular/veteran units (which often doomed them as pure cannon fodder), you get regular troops now - just the starting experience is halved. This means still a promotion from the start if a barrack is in place.[NEWLINE]Without a doubt, Nationhood is no real long term option. +2 happiness is not enough to make it interesting in peacetimes and drafting more than one or two units will bring most cities down to anarchy and resulting starvation. You will likely leave Nationhood as soon as the initial ambush forces a repelled -usually for Vassalage-, even if the war continues. Only if the war goes very bad and you are under constant pressure, you might be forced to stay here. It is also the civic of heroic defeats and fighting to the last man...and even if it helps you to survive, you will need a large recovery period after that.[NEWLINE]Since Nationhood is a mainly stop-gap against an invasion, it is most useful if you can enact it while the enemy is still approaching your city - so a good recon work tremendously increases the efficiency of this civic. Or pick a spiritual leader - always useful regarding civics, but being able to enact and draft in the same turn is something not to underestimate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Speech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 commerce for the town improvement, +100% culture[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Washington[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Universal Suffrage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Emancipation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Printing Press[\BOLD], any "cottagemania"-strategy, culture is needed for victory (together with everything else yielding/boosting culture)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] The second "late" option here. The boni speak for themselves: +2 commerce per town and +100% culture, low maintenance.The power and importance of cottages are well known, so it is easy to imagine how much impact the extra commerce has. Free Speech is the dominant peaceful option. This applies especially, if you are going for a cultural victory. Though there is still a niche for Bureaucracy (if your capital is among the three cities and you are racing for an important wonder), doubled culture is worth 6 cathedrals and all the Prerequisite temples, not to speak of the advantage in tech race.[NEWLINE]It offers little direct benefit for the warmongers, but if you are currently not fighting for your life or building up you main attack force, you should consider it despite - maintaining or even upgrading an army is expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Economic Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: It is the column which is enabled latest by far, it contains (IMHO) the weakest and the strongest civic of all and also one of the few with a negative effect.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mercantilism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Banking (medieval era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All foreign trade routes are closed, every city gets a "virtual" specialist (which doesn't drain one citizen from work)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Tokugawa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Representation[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Organized, Pacifism, Philosophical; AW, warmongering or bad diplomatic relations in general, balanced GP strategies, Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Mercantilism will be the first available choice in the economic department, but if planned properly Free Market is only one tech away. So it is kind of different to the other "first" civics, were switching over immediately is usually a no-brainer. Things get even more though to evaluate, when taking in account that Mercantilism has a substantial downside beside the upkeep - you will lose all of your foreign trade routes. Unless special circumstances are in place, I usually do not even think about revolting to Mercantilism, but try to get hands on economics ASAP to use Free Market, which can be shortly described as the complete opposite, if you look at what it does.[NEWLINE]But now the more interesting part...when to use Mercantilism Despite all the negative elements connected to it, in some situations the extra specialist is more useful than an extra foreign trade route:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]a) You are in or near an AW situations or your overall diplomatic are just to worse to allow (m)any active OB-treaties. Obviously, this is what it is made for it. The penalty doesn't hurt you anymore, while Free Market offers you zero compared to a free specialist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]b) You are pursuing an GP-strategy and maybe you have some of the wonders mentioned under "synergies" around. Of course then every specialist helps. However, think twice before giving in to this temptation - Mercantilism is not perfectly suited for this strategy. The most effective way to get a cabinet full of GP is creating a single city, which accumulates as many points as possible. Mercantilism however tends to add few in this case.Most points will be wasted because of the escalating costs of later GPs. What I described as "balanced"-GP strategy (=distributing the GPP sources between several cities) is less effective from the view of maxing out GP, but often not to avoid (no food-powerhouse, cap of two national wonders per city etc.).In the case, Mercantilism can be indeed a valuable part of the big picture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]c) You have a lot of low-developed cities. Mercantilism's flat one-specialist-per-city bonus obviously has the biggest value, if a city is small - adding a specialist to a size one city without using the citizen to create it means doubling the number of productive people in the city.If combined with Representation and Caste System, you get at decent boost for research this way, while you are able to use the specialist for what is most important (f.e. getting the first border expansion for a new built or conquered city quick).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nonetheless (and completely according to real history), Mercantilism is in most games only a temporarily good choice. If not FM means the end for it, then State Property will do this job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Market[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Economy (renaissance era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] All cities get an additional foreign trade route[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mansa Musa[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Financial[\BOLD], [BOLD]Bureaucracy[\BOLD], Organized, Harbor + other buildings which give extra routes, many OBs, "big" games (huge maps, many opponents), everything which increases commerce yield in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD]Many of what could be said about FM is already noted in the paragraph above, because FM is to a large extend the complete opposite of Mercantilism...and so, no wonder, the best moments to use it are non-isolationistic strategies. In theory, a few OB-treaties will be enough to receive the extra trade route; however, more trading partners tend to give you more lucrative routes (just because there are more possible destinations to choose from!).Also everything which increases commerce (many cottages, buildings, civics, shrines, settled down specialists,...) in your cities, will fuel the effect of FM, because the game "connects" rich cities with other rich cities and calculates the yield of trade routes this way.[NEWLINE]Now, how to rate FM Without a doubt, it is the most flexible and easy-to-use civic in the column. Even if you don't care much about synergies, it is difficult to be completely wrong with it. Except complete AW games, it is very unlikely that you end up without a single OB (at least on bigger maps)...and if you just met this condition, you will get a decent reward out of it. Add low upkeep and you will have a nice civic which gives you extra money. Usually, it is the right choice as soon as it shows up - either for the rest of the game or at least until SP gets available.[NEWLINE]But despite it is the right choice very often, I wouldn't call it the most powerful choice. For the reasons, see the next paragraph...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]State Property[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Communism (industrial era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] No more distance maintenance in your cities. Watermills and Workshops yield one more unit of food.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] No[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Mao[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Watermill and Workshop-spam[\BOLD], Games aimed at domination win, early GP-strategies, warmongering, Universal Suffrage, Vassalage, Theocracy, Aggressive, Expansive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Any rating is always dependent on the playing style to a large degree, so you might differ, if I rate SP as the most powerful civic of all. And even my rating needs further explanation... "most powerful" just means that it is probably the civic which might give you the biggest reward - well, if you are able and willing to invest enough to exploit it to its full extend (that's also the reason, why it isn't overpowered!). I'm not claiming that it is the only viable choice; in fact in most games you will get more out of FM, just because its effects are easier obtain.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SP offers three pluses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, it is a zero-cost civic. Normally, I wouldn't emphasize it in this way. But usually it is either the way that there is a direct drawback for zero upkeep (Pacifism: extra upkeep for military units) or it is just offset by the fact that the positive effects of the civic are restricted or hard to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For SP however, you will at least (nearly) always save some money from the second advantage. No distance maintenance in your cities. OK, you will smile and move on in an OCC, but apart from that the effect is somewhere between "nice" over "alone enough to switch to SP" to "saves me from bankrupt". An empire similar to the former British or Soviet will cost you dearly without SP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The third thing is probably the most interesting, but also the one which needs most work: Extra food from the watermill and workshop improvement. While it is just the icing on the cake in case of the watermill (it is already a nice choice without SP), it completely turns the tide for the workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A workshop is a niche improvement under normal circumstances. Unless you locally drown in food, the food penalty hits just to hard. Moreover, mines are a big competitor, because they to do the same without taking away arable land and might even grant you a new resource deposit one day. But under SP, a workshop means simply +3 hammers! Cities with enough hills still do not need them...but all those flatland cities in grassland or near a river can be turned into real factories. 10 citizens can yield 30 base hammers this way... If you are among those who always miss hammers dearly and wish to be back in the Civ3s paradise of mined grassland, then welcome in the realm of State Property! The power of such a factory-wonder is multiplied by the fact you can use it to hit the AI on a weak point - they are famous with everything connected to commerce and research, but they often lack the hammers to build the fancy toys for their army.[NEWLINE]The only downside (of which I'm glad it is in!) it the fact that you need a strong worker force to transform your infrastructure this way. And while it perfectly plays together with an early farm/GP-strategy (don't be shy to replace the farms with workshops - with escalating GP costs, you will usually only sacrifice few GLs from the moment on SP becomes available), it will make you cry to tear down developed cottages. It might still make sense in some cases, but be careful then...if you transform too early, you might fall back in tech because of you depleting income. And with the new combat system, Tank vs. Modern Armour is nothing to search for, even if you have the numerical advantage on your side.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Environmentalism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Medicine (Industrial Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +6 health in every city; also +1 happiness per jungle/forest tile inside the city radius[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, low resource situations, "green strategies" (keeping forests, lumber mills), high unhealthiness through power generation or buildings, wars which disrupt resource trading[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] ***REMOVED for overhaul because of the latest patch changes regarding Environmentalism ***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Religious Column[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notes: Unlike the civics of the other columns, the ones of the religious section need an additional component to work - religion. In case of the first three, you will only reap the benefits inside a city, if you have a state religion AND if this state religion is present in this city. Free Religion abandons the state religion concept and depends instead on having as many different religions as possible inside a city. So the usefulness of all the non-default civics depends highly on the religious situation in your empire and the thump rule "everything is better than the default civic" is not entirely true here. The three state-religion civics (can) cause high direct or indirect costs, so Paganism is indeed a real choice, as long as you don't have established religion in most of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Organized Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Monotheism (Ancient Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +25% speed, when constructing buildings or wonders; training of missionaries is possible without having a monastery[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] High[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Wonder/cathedral resources[\BOLD] (Marble, Stone, Copper), [BOLD]Industrious[\BOLD], forest-chopping for building projects, State Property, Universal Suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your first option in the religious column. The general note on religious civics applies especially to OR. Unless you have founded one of the early religions yourself, the chance is quite high that you have no access to religion, when the civic becomes available. In this case, wait with a switch. Even if the absolute sum is not much in those early turns, you will need every piece of gold - and paying for getting zero doesn't sound like a good idea, well?[NEWLINE]If religion has spread to your empire and a state religion is declared, a switch makes usually sense. +25% hammers for buildings/wonders are a huge boost in the beginning, where you need to get the stuff out as fast as possible. And not to forget the second advantage - missionaries without monasteries. It makes sure that all your new cities can get the production bonus at once and it allows sending out a lot of those guys to your neighbors to bring them in line. However, if you are involved in serious wars and your cities are busy with pumping units out, OR doesn't help you. It can be also problematic on higher difficulties, because then the high upkeep might lay a heavy burden on your treasury.[NEWLINE]Overall, the usefulness tends to decrease over time. If you weight extra building speed vs. free experience, great people points or extra happiness (that's in short what the alternatives - described in detail below - offer), all of the latter three are usually more important in the later game. However, the second advantage might open another niche for OR later. In the moment you research Scientific Method, you lose the chance to build new monasteries. If you have build enough of the ones you need, you are lucky. If not, you have a problem, when you are pursuing for example a cultural victory, for which are cathedrals extremely helpful. OR eliminates this problem by allowing cities to build missionaries of all the religions they contain, regardless of the presence of monasteries - so this effectively means you can spread every religion over your entire empire, if you just have one city with this certain religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theocracy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Theology (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +2 EXP for new built units; no spreading of none-state religions[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Medium[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Saladin[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Vassalage[\BOLD], [BOLD]Barracks[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Pentagon[\BOLD], [BOLD]Westpoint[\BOLD], [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD], Organized, Nationalism, The Heroic Epic, Police State, any war or cold war situation, domination or conquest victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Theocracy is Vassalages little sister - the main effect is the same, units start with 2 experience points extra. Like it is true for most war civics, there is not much to say about when you should use them. If you plan to build a lot of units in the near future (for whatever reason), take this. And if you can, take Vassalage too. The synergy between both is one of the strongest among all civics - both improve exactly the same aspect of the game and in case of experience, a cumulative bonus is especially valuable. Yes, you might argue that one of those civics is enough to reap the second promotion immediately (assuming barracks are in place). That's true and I'm far away from saying they are only worth to be taken together - but you just waste their full potential. Believe me, 6 or 8 exp from the start matters, because your units will likely get the third promotion right after the first fight with 8. Also every new promotion means a kind of instant "medipack" for your unit (wounds are partly healed).It can make the difference between losing or winning a fight in many cases.[NEWLINE]Medium upkeep is an absolutely fair charge for what Theocracy does, especially if you compare it with OR or Pacifism. Until Free Religion shows up (which is a great all-round civic), Theocracy is not only the best, but also the cheapest solution in any game which involves decent military action or just a big standing army to prevent it.[NEWLINE]The second effect of Theocracy (no natural or missionary-caused spread of minor religions in city with your state religion) is a kind of a double-edged sword. It prevents you from reaping the benefits of having several religions in your cities (more happiness, culture, science).But OTOH, you also prevent that a nasty opponent spreads his own founded religion into your city and gains line of sight and shrine income. How strong the impact of both aspects is depends however on the extend minor religions have already spread in your country (because existing ones aren't removed). If nearly all of your cities have already a second or even third religion, Theocracy isn't a big loss anymore - because spreading religions via missionaries in this situation is very cost-intensive anyway. For preventing the enemy from gaining benefits out of his or her mother religion it is just the other way round - if they haven't got their feet in your door yet, it is the best time to close it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pacifism[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Philosophy (Medieval Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +100% GPP (=Great People Points)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] no direct civic upkeep, but 1 Gold per military unit[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] ---[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] [BOLD]Philosophical[\BOLD], [BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD], [BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD], [BOLD]Caste System[\BOLD], Representation, Mercantilism, Industrious, any major GP-strategies, cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] If you are in love with Great People, this civic is for you. Although the doubled amount of GPP [BOLD]does not transform into 100% more great people[\BOLD] (the increase is probably rather 20-30 %), the civic pays out if used properly. The real benefit isn't the pure extra number, but the fact that you will get your GPs earlier - and one of the basic rules of Civilisation is that earlier advantages weight more. So they question is when to use Pacifism?[NEWLINE]If you are running a game heavily leaned towards GP, of course. You might run Pacifism then until the end, but you should still keep in mind that the effect fades the more GPs you have already gotten. Taken to the extreme: At some point, even the 100% increase will not yield to another GP because of the geometrical cost increase.[NEWLINE]If GP are just a (minor) part of your strategy, you might consider a quick switch when it becomes available (to rush out some) and eventually later again, when you desperately need another Great Person, while lacking enough base GPP. In any case, try to max out the synergetic potential of Pacifism. Especially the combination with Caste System can do miracles - there is rarely a better way to get a special GP in a short time.[NEWLINE]Probably not necessary to point out, but for the sake of completeness...if you don't have wonders and specialists around which yield GPP, move along - Pacifism has no second benefit, but a hidden cost trap. Don't be fooled by no upkeep, the extra cost for military units will usually easily turn it into a quasi high-upkeep civic. Yes, in theory all those famous Great People might lead you to a peaceful victory , where you don't need any weaponry and therefore unit maintenance. But the days of no-unit-games are gone.Civ4s diplomacy system relies on relation modifiers and is quite reliable in this part, but you will need the plain cold steel, too. There is always someone out there who is jealous about your wonders and cities. Pacifistic games are best achieved with cold-war strategies - and that's nothing to head for under Pacifism from the view of costs. To sum up the options ...either build up a very healthy economy or use Pacifism only temporarily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Free Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Prerequisite/availability:[\BOLD] Liberalism (Renaissance Era)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Effect:[\BOLD] +1 happiness per present religion inside a city; +10% research output; no more state religion and religious diplomacy modifiers[NEWLINE][BOLD]Upkeep:[\BOLD] Low[NEWLINE][BOLD]Diplomatic relations bonus with:[\BOLD] Elisabeth; religion has no more impact on diplomacy[NEWLINE][BOLD]Synergy/strategies:[\BOLD] Organized, Expansive, Environmentalism, luxury resource shortages, peaceful-planned games and situations with high-tension in diplomacy, [BOLD]non[\BOLD]-diplomatic victories (especially space race or cultural)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] Your final choice in the religious column. A powerful tool, coming with low costs and offering a simple solution for unhappiness problems and granting a 10% increase in research on top - all you have to do is spreading as many religions as possible in every corner of the empire. Each present religion yields +1 happiness in your cities, before factoring in additional boni you might get out of built temples. Unless you have no happiness problems, because your are drowning in luxuries or your cities are small, you should seriously consider a switch.[NEWLINE]The icing on the cake (the research bonus) is even independent of the number of religions in a city (maybe there must be one religion at all, not sure on this). 10% may not sound to drastic, but if you keep in mind how expensive the late game techs have become with v1.52, you will be happy about every extra beaker.It can make the difference in a tight space race.[NEWLINE]As usual there is also shadow or at least some more things to consider. First of all, don't underestimate the difficulty of spreading religions with missionaries. If there is no or only a single religion present in a city, your chance of success is 100% or slightly below. If there is already a second religion, you might fail; three or more is just pure luck. So the gained extra happiness is usually 2 or 3, unless your are willing to invest vast amount of shields for missionaries (which can be sometimes worth nonetheless, when pursuing a cultural victory for example).[NEWLINE]A second aspect is the loss of state religion. Beside the fact that the Spiral Minaret loses its effect , it has a serious impact on the diplomatic system in Civ4, which can be a boon or bust, depending on your situation. Free Religion both nullifies positive and negative modifiers caused by having the same or a different state religion. You will have no more problems with Isabella or Saladin hunting you for believing in the wrong faith, but you might experience cooled down relations with your former brothers in faith, too. The chance to get backstabbed and attacked is slower, but also the possibilities for trade or interventions on your side.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_10_FAQS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]10 FAQs before Declaring a War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is really hard to write another article in this forum, as all of the necessary knowledges have been covered in many great guides and analyses. The best I can do is try a summary of a specific topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I started playing Civ4 as a peace lover, but now I am clearly a warmonger who is "forced to win early" by the game mechanism. The game really favors a warmonger. So, please allow me to summarize my war experiences into "10 FAQS that I ask myself before declaring a war".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q1: What do I gain from this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not every human action carries a purpose, theoretically they should. Contemporary artists paint craps because they want to paint craps to disturb you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every war should serve a purpose, too. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Secure a large interior of my territory[NEWLINE]- Gain a few precious resources that I don't own[NEWLINE]- Kill off a great threat in the future[NEWLINE]- Put down a warmonger that may backstab me, before it gets a chance[NEWLINE]- Simply expanding my empire[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A competent warhead should have a clear goal in mind. Not just sending out his troops to "punish a bugger". That's what a "jerk" would do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q2: What do I do AFTER the war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It never hurts to plan one, a few, or many steps further, if you have extra time before the action is due. What will I do after the war For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Continue the war on the next target, if I still have the military lead[NEWLINE]- Call it a day and enter a massive 500-year peaceful growth period[NEWLINE]- Give some distant territory to a weak friend to create a buffer[NEWLINE]- Put research to 0% and let scientists to handle "Iron Working".[NEWLINE]- Ask for peace money when my loss is enough, and let Monty continue my war.[NEWLINE]- Remember to put culture slider back to 0%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are various things to think of, some big, some trivial.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q3: Could I have allies to help me, or the enemy?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy usually decides the war outcome. A third party can turn the tide of war completely.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you want to have all the help you could obtain, and eliminate all the backstabs you may receive. All of the Civs that are friendly with you are possible helps, and they are usually willing to join your war after you declare it. The aggressive / fanatic ones may start the war for you if your price is right. All of the Civs that are friendly to your enemy are going to do the same for them, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shouldn't you do something to prevent that from happening Actually, the solution is easy. You may bribe another Civ to attack your enemy's potential ally. You may bribe your enemy's potential ally to attack somebody else. Just to keep them busy, and they can't be possibly helping your enemy while they need help themselves. Note that a warmonger can be anybody's friend, so it is especially important to bribe warmongers to go after someone before your war, or simply bribe them to help you. The good thing is that the AIs aren't very smart at bribing others to war, so you don't have to be over-cautious.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have eliminated all possible helps from your enemy, you already declare the war at the "worst" situation possible, because it can't get worse! If you are already at an advantage at this worst possible situation, then clearly you can't lose - only to win faster by pulling in a friend.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally, it is a good practice to stir a world war every time you are going to war. While everybody is busy with everybody, your target losses all potential helps. I am  still attacked when I am weak, but I have never been backstabbed when I am no longer weak, but vulnerable during a war. I always make muscle man show their back to me before I draw my knife.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q4: Could I annoy my friends, or other Civs by this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Certainly your target is gonna hate you, but how about your friends and other neutral Civs I have to check the relationship of my targets to other Civs. If they are at Pleased or Friendly, then certainly will get "You declared war to our friend!" modifier. This can potentially spoil a Friendly relationship to Pleased, a Pleased to Cautious, or Cautious to Annoyed. The consequence may be very bad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To prevent this, you can spoil their relationship first. For example, A is your target, and B is your friend. A and B are friends, too. If you ask A to attack B's friend, C, then B is going to dislike A a little more. If that makes B Cautious to A, then you won't get any white eye from B when you declare war on A.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The good thing is, -1 in most cases doesn't change anything. So you don't have to worry that much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some people think they should purposely annoy the enemy so they will declare war on themselves. This usually doesn't work, as the AIs evaluates the power difference pretty much. If you are weak, you don't have to purposely annoy them, and they will come after you. If you are powerful, no matter how many nukes you drop on their head, they swallow the fallout and tears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, during a conquest it is unavoidable that eventually you will annoy all of the Civs by invading multiple Civs in the past. It is OK. Up to a point, you will be powerful enough that nobody dares to declare war on you. You can also allign your religion with them, sell them your extra resources, and give them little helps to maintain the relationship at Pleased. And, since you still make everybody busy before you draw out your knife, they still can't help each other against you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q5: Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My original Q5 was "Could I have avoided this war" but I found it too lame. Of course I want to war in Civ4 because it makes me win much faster! I have to be honest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier Sometimes yes! I am such a chicken that sometimes I want to make sure everything is safe - but by waiting I might make myself less safe. The earlier I become aggressive, the more advantages I get. I don't have to get everything prepared sometimes, because neither is my enemy. At times, I give up the past hour of gameplay, and start the war 100 years ealier. I win; I feel very happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the first 5 FAQs I covered the preparation/abstract aspects of war. In the next 5 FAQs I will get into some practical details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q6: Is my attack route fool-proof?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An attack route is the plan of army advance, where my invading stack enters the unfriendly territory, where I camp at each turn, and how I carry on my attack to the next city. A forest, a river, or a hill can all make a huge difference.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will be the best if I have an active update of what's happening in the enemy's territory. For example, if I own a holy city of a religion, I will probably get an Open Border well beforehand, and spread my "professional" missionaries to my future opponent's cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I don't have a holy city, I can simply ask for an Open border, and send out many faster, less powerful units (scouts, chariots) for a latest update. As soon as the war is declared, these scouts will be repelled from the enemy territory, so they can either have a free return ticket, or end up in nowhere.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a significant military advantage, it is usually good to divide your huge army up, plan multiple attack routes from different entries, and devour several AIs cities all at once. However, against smarter human opponents, it is usually wise to have an invincible stack of death. When you enter an enemy's territory, it is possible for your opponent to concentrate their counterattack and eliminate your divided invading forces with their relative mobility. That brings up the next question:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q7: How do I deal with a counterattack stack?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If your target is not too weak, it is very likely that there will be a counterattck stack organized, and heads towards your territory. Even if your target is weak, it might still send out a few horse riders to pillage your improvements to distract you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Do you have enough home defense to deal with a counterattack stack, even just a few horse archers Do you have fast unit to hunt down their fast unit Do you have spears to poke at the horses In my experience, about 20% of my total mobilized army are actually used for homeland defense / fortify new acquired territory. In multiplayer situations this ratio will go much higher, because smarter human players concentrate their attacks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another very common phenomenon is to be showered by a large number of catapults when you advance into enemy territory. There is really no way to prevent this. You need to have more units in that stack to dilute the splash colleteral damage. Some people say you can split your stack, but I don't think it is a good idea. If I am the defender, I can easily concentrate my catapult shower on half your stack, and use all of my defending forces to kill off half of your army. By the time your intact, the-other half arrives at my castle gate, my forces have returned and started healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Right after taking a city, it might be worthwhile waiting for the wounded troops to heal, if lots of healing is needed. An army at half of its strength is really inviting a crushing defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Following the catapult bombardment, the enemy might follow up with a mixture of other spare units. You may think AI is stupid to commite suicide this way, but those counter attacks can be devastating if you don't have a balanced stack. If you don't have elephants/spears in your invading stack, your melee units might get slaughtered by horses. It is wise to carry a few defensive units in the same stack, just for the purpose of insurance. Plus, they can help you afterwards...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q8: Did I forget the garrison troops?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might be able to take the city, but you will need troops to defend it. Chance is the enemy's culture border still enables them to take the city back in 1 turn, if your new city is not properly defended. You must know by now that good garrison troops are very different from good attack troops. Archery + Spears/Elephant are very good garrison troops; the AI love to have them, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of my common mistakes is I "barely made it", so I have one very weak unit in the new city, and I don't have any units that can move in to help. The result is usually I lose the new city and the wounded unit to a very weak counter attack force. The AIs will hunt down each one of your weak units, especially when they can get a city back in the meantime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't want to leave a portion of assault troops in each of your new cities, to weaken your invasion as you go on. It might be too late to start producing garrison troops after your war declaration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q9: Did I forget to move a unit somewhere?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is more of a gameplay aspect. When a war gets big, it is easy (at least for me) to forget a few units that has been previously assigned on garrison purpose, but no longer needed. When I can locate them (through the military advisor) and pull them to the front, my battle often becomes much easier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q10: Am I on my way to my next military tech lead?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not really an FAQ - I just include this for morale boosting purpose. When you hack down archers with maceman, you should be thinking of blasting longbowman with gernadiers. When that comes true, you should be thinking of the cheerful gunpowder explosion echos made by cavalry and cannons. After that, it is probably sniping grenadiers with infatry rifles. You are always creating a military lead, because the AI never stops trying to catch up. After a certain point, you are just going to wipe out the rest of the AIs in a short period of time, if you haven't accidently cross over the domination victory threshold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]May I conclude this article with a popular quote from Sun Tze:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"Knowing your enemy and yourself, you can fight 100 battles without dire danger."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key of a war is to avoid losing. If you can smell the war not approaching your victory, then you better quit it as soon as possible. In order to smell it, you need knowledge of the situation. If you don't suffer huge defeat, naturally over time you will get a few chances to crush the enemy. If you succeed at doing that, you win! In Civ4 the wars are much eaiser, so usually you immediately win after a little planning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A popular misconception of this quote turns the latter part into "you can fight 100 battles without a loss." This is definitely naive. You can still lose,  because there is luck, competent enemy commanders, and endless suicide bombers (catapults). However, with enough knowledge of the situation, you may lose, but you are not exhausted. You can still regroup, tell yourself there are still lots of hope, and come back for the eventual win, while your enemy feels tired and whines "What is war good for? Absolutely nothing!"</English>
		<French>[H1]10 FAQs before Declaring a War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is really hard to write another article in this forum, as all of the necessary knowledges have been covered in many great guides and analyses. The best I can do is try a summary of a specific topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I started playing Civ4 as a peace lover, but now I am clearly a warmonger who is "forced to win early" by the game mechanism. The game really favors a warmonger. So, please allow me to summarize my war experiences into "10 FAQS that I ask myself before declaring a war".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q1: What do I gain from this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not every human action carries a purpose, theoretically they should. Contemporary artists paint craps because they want to paint craps to disturb you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every war should serve a purpose, too. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Secure a large interior of my territory[NEWLINE]- Gain a few precious resources that I don't own[NEWLINE]- Kill off a great threat in the future[NEWLINE]- Put down a warmonger that may backstab me, before it gets a chance[NEWLINE]- Simply expanding my empire[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A competent warhead should have a clear goal in mind. Not just sending out his troops to "punish a bugger". That's what a "jerk" would do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q2: What do I do AFTER the war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It never hurts to plan one, a few, or many steps further, if you have extra time before the action is due. What will I do after the war For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Continue the war on the next target, if I still have the military lead[NEWLINE]- Call it a day and enter a massive 500-year peaceful growth period[NEWLINE]- Give some distant territory to a weak friend to create a buffer[NEWLINE]- Put research to 0% and let scientists to handle "Iron Working".[NEWLINE]- Ask for peace money when my loss is enough, and let Monty continue my war.[NEWLINE]- Remember to put culture slider back to 0%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are various things to think of, some big, some trivial.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q3: Could I have allies to help me, or the enemy?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy usually decides the war outcome. A third party can turn the tide of war completely.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you want to have all the help you could obtain, and eliminate all the backstabs you may receive. All of the Civs that are friendly with you are possible helps, and they are usually willing to join your war after you declare it. The aggressive / fanatic ones may start the war for you if your price is right. All of the Civs that are friendly to your enemy are going to do the same for them, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shouldn't you do something to prevent that from happening Actually, the solution is easy. You may bribe another Civ to attack your enemy's potential ally. You may bribe your enemy's potential ally to attack somebody else. Just to keep them busy, and they can't be possibly helping your enemy while they need help themselves. Note that a warmonger can be anybody's friend, so it is especially important to bribe warmongers to go after someone before your war, or simply bribe them to help you. The good thing is that the AIs aren't very smart at bribing others to war, so you don't have to be over-cautious.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have eliminated all possible helps from your enemy, you already declare the war at the "worst" situation possible, because it can't get worse! If you are already at an advantage at this worst possible situation, then clearly you can't lose - only to win faster by pulling in a friend.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally, it is a good practice to stir a world war every time you are going to war. While everybody is busy with everybody, your target losses all potential helps. I am  still attacked when I am weak, but I have never been backstabbed when I am no longer weak, but vulnerable during a war. I always make muscle man show their back to me before I draw my knife.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q4: Could I annoy my friends, or other Civs by this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Certainly your target is gonna hate you, but how about your friends and other neutral Civs I have to check the relationship of my targets to other Civs. If they are at Pleased or Friendly, then certainly will get "You declared war to our friend!" modifier. This can potentially spoil a Friendly relationship to Pleased, a Pleased to Cautious, or Cautious to Annoyed. The consequence may be very bad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To prevent this, you can spoil their relationship first. For example, A is your target, and B is your friend. A and B are friends, too. If you ask A to attack B's friend, C, then B is going to dislike A a little more. If that makes B Cautious to A, then you won't get any white eye from B when you declare war on A.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The good thing is, -1 in most cases doesn't change anything. So you don't have to worry that much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some people think they should purposely annoy the enemy so they will declare war on themselves. This usually doesn't work, as the AIs evaluates the power difference pretty much. If you are weak, you don't have to purposely annoy them, and they will come after you. If you are powerful, no matter how many nukes you drop on their head, they swallow the fallout and tears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, during a conquest it is unavoidable that eventually you will annoy all of the Civs by invading multiple Civs in the past. It is OK. Up to a point, you will be powerful enough that nobody dares to declare war on you. You can also allign your religion with them, sell them your extra resources, and give them little helps to maintain the relationship at Pleased. And, since you still make everybody busy before you draw out your knife, they still can't help each other against you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q5: Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My original Q5 was "Could I have avoided this war" but I found it too lame. Of course I want to war in Civ4 because it makes me win much faster! I have to be honest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier Sometimes yes! I am such a chicken that sometimes I want to make sure everything is safe - but by waiting I might make myself less safe. The earlier I become aggressive, the more advantages I get. I don't have to get everything prepared sometimes, because neither is my enemy. At times, I give up the past hour of gameplay, and start the war 100 years ealier. I win; I feel very happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the first 5 FAQs I covered the preparation/abstract aspects of war. In the next 5 FAQs I will get into some practical details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q6: Is my attack route fool-proof?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An attack route is the plan of army advance, where my invading stack enters the unfriendly territory, where I camp at each turn, and how I carry on my attack to the next city. A forest, a river, or a hill can all make a huge difference.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will be the best if I have an active update of what's happening in the enemy's territory. For example, if I own a holy city of a religion, I will probably get an Open Border well beforehand, and spread my "professional" missionaries to my future opponent's cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I don't have a holy city, I can simply ask for an Open border, and send out many faster, less powerful units (scouts, chariots) for a latest update. As soon as the war is declared, these scouts will be repelled from the enemy territory, so they can either have a free return ticket, or end up in nowhere.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a significant military advantage, it is usually good to divide your huge army up, plan multiple attack routes from different entries, and devour several AIs cities all at once. However, against smarter human opponents, it is usually wise to have an invincible stack of death. When you enter an enemy's territory, it is possible for your opponent to concentrate their counterattack and eliminate your divided invading forces with their relative mobility. That brings up the next question:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q7: How do I deal with a counterattack stack?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If your target is not too weak, it is very likely that there will be a counterattck stack organized, and heads towards your territory. Even if your target is weak, it might still send out a few horse riders to pillage your improvements to distract you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Do you have enough home defense to deal with a counterattack stack, even just a few horse archers Do you have fast unit to hunt down their fast unit Do you have spears to poke at the horses In my experience, about 20% of my total mobilized army are actually used for homeland defense / fortify new acquired territory. In multiplayer situations this ratio will go much higher, because smarter human players concentrate their attacks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another very common phenomenon is to be showered by a large number of catapults when you advance into enemy territory. There is really no way to prevent this. You need to have more units in that stack to dilute the splash colleteral damage. Some people say you can split your stack, but I don't think it is a good idea. If I am the defender, I can easily concentrate my catapult shower on half your stack, and use all of my defending forces to kill off half of your army. By the time your intact, the-other half arrives at my castle gate, my forces have returned and started healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Right after taking a city, it might be worthwhile waiting for the wounded troops to heal, if lots of healing is needed. An army at half of its strength is really inviting a crushing defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Following the catapult bombardment, the enemy might follow up with a mixture of other spare units. You may think AI is stupid to commite suicide this way, but those counter attacks can be devastating if you don't have a balanced stack. If you don't have elephants/spears in your invading stack, your melee units might get slaughtered by horses. It is wise to carry a few defensive units in the same stack, just for the purpose of insurance. Plus, they can help you afterwards...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q8: Did I forget the garrison troops?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might be able to take the city, but you will need troops to defend it. Chance is the enemy's culture border still enables them to take the city back in 1 turn, if your new city is not properly defended. You must know by now that good garrison troops are very different from good attack troops. Archery + Spears/Elephant are very good garrison troops; the AI love to have them, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of my common mistakes is I "barely made it", so I have one very weak unit in the new city, and I don't have any units that can move in to help. The result is usually I lose the new city and the wounded unit to a very weak counter attack force. The AIs will hunt down each one of your weak units, especially when they can get a city back in the meantime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't want to leave a portion of assault troops in each of your new cities, to weaken your invasion as you go on. It might be too late to start producing garrison troops after your war declaration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q9: Did I forget to move a unit somewhere?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is more of a gameplay aspect. When a war gets big, it is easy (at least for me) to forget a few units that has been previously assigned on garrison purpose, but no longer needed. When I can locate them (through the military advisor) and pull them to the front, my battle often becomes much easier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q10: Am I on my way to my next military tech lead?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not really an FAQ - I just include this for morale boosting purpose. When you hack down archers with maceman, you should be thinking of blasting longbowman with gernadiers. When that comes true, you should be thinking of the cheerful gunpowder explosion echos made by cavalry and cannons. After that, it is probably sniping grenadiers with infatry rifles. You are always creating a military lead, because the AI never stops trying to catch up. After a certain point, you are just going to wipe out the rest of the AIs in a short period of time, if you haven't accidently cross over the domination victory threshold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]May I conclude this article with a popular quote from Sun Tze:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"Knowing your enemy and yourself, you can fight 100 battles without dire danger."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key of a war is to avoid losing. If you can smell the war not approaching your victory, then you better quit it as soon as possible. In order to smell it, you need knowledge of the situation. If you don't suffer huge defeat, naturally over time you will get a few chances to crush the enemy. If you succeed at doing that, you win! In Civ4 the wars are much eaiser, so usually you immediately win after a little planning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A popular misconception of this quote turns the latter part into "you can fight 100 battles without a loss." This is definitely naive. You can still lose,  because there is luck, competent enemy commanders, and endless suicide bombers (catapults). However, with enough knowledge of the situation, you may lose, but you are not exhausted. You can still regroup, tell yourself there are still lots of hope, and come back for the eventual win, while your enemy feels tired and whines "What is war good for? Absolutely nothing!"</French>
		<German>[H1]10 FAQs before Declaring a War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is really hard to write another article in this forum, as all of the necessary knowledges have been covered in many great guides and analyses. The best I can do is try a summary of a specific topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I started playing Civ4 as a peace lover, but now I am clearly a warmonger who is "forced to win early" by the game mechanism. The game really favors a warmonger. So, please allow me to summarize my war experiences into "10 FAQS that I ask myself before declaring a war".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q1: What do I gain from this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not every human action carries a purpose, theoretically they should. Contemporary artists paint craps because they want to paint craps to disturb you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every war should serve a purpose, too. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Secure a large interior of my territory[NEWLINE]- Gain a few precious resources that I don't own[NEWLINE]- Kill off a great threat in the future[NEWLINE]- Put down a warmonger that may backstab me, before it gets a chance[NEWLINE]- Simply expanding my empire[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A competent warhead should have a clear goal in mind. Not just sending out his troops to "punish a bugger". That's what a "jerk" would do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q2: What do I do AFTER the war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It never hurts to plan one, a few, or many steps further, if you have extra time before the action is due. What will I do after the war For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Continue the war on the next target, if I still have the military lead[NEWLINE]- Call it a day and enter a massive 500-year peaceful growth period[NEWLINE]- Give some distant territory to a weak friend to create a buffer[NEWLINE]- Put research to 0% and let scientists to handle "Iron Working".[NEWLINE]- Ask for peace money when my loss is enough, and let Monty continue my war.[NEWLINE]- Remember to put culture slider back to 0%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are various things to think of, some big, some trivial.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q3: Could I have allies to help me, or the enemy?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy usually decides the war outcome. A third party can turn the tide of war completely.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you want to have all the help you could obtain, and eliminate all the backstabs you may receive. All of the Civs that are friendly with you are possible helps, and they are usually willing to join your war after you declare it. The aggressive / fanatic ones may start the war for you if your price is right. All of the Civs that are friendly to your enemy are going to do the same for them, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shouldn't you do something to prevent that from happening Actually, the solution is easy. You may bribe another Civ to attack your enemy's potential ally. You may bribe your enemy's potential ally to attack somebody else. Just to keep them busy, and they can't be possibly helping your enemy while they need help themselves. Note that a warmonger can be anybody's friend, so it is especially important to bribe warmongers to go after someone before your war, or simply bribe them to help you. The good thing is that the AIs aren't very smart at bribing others to war, so you don't have to be over-cautious.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have eliminated all possible helps from your enemy, you already declare the war at the "worst" situation possible, because it can't get worse! If you are already at an advantage at this worst possible situation, then clearly you can't lose - only to win faster by pulling in a friend.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally, it is a good practice to stir a world war every time you are going to war. While everybody is busy with everybody, your target losses all potential helps. I am  still attacked when I am weak, but I have never been backstabbed when I am no longer weak, but vulnerable during a war. I always make muscle man show their back to me before I draw my knife.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q4: Could I annoy my friends, or other Civs by this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Certainly your target is gonna hate you, but how about your friends and other neutral Civs I have to check the relationship of my targets to other Civs. If they are at Pleased or Friendly, then certainly will get "You declared war to our friend!" modifier. This can potentially spoil a Friendly relationship to Pleased, a Pleased to Cautious, or Cautious to Annoyed. The consequence may be very bad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To prevent this, you can spoil their relationship first. For example, A is your target, and B is your friend. A and B are friends, too. If you ask A to attack B's friend, C, then B is going to dislike A a little more. If that makes B Cautious to A, then you won't get any white eye from B when you declare war on A.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The good thing is, -1 in most cases doesn't change anything. So you don't have to worry that much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some people think they should purposely annoy the enemy so they will declare war on themselves. This usually doesn't work, as the AIs evaluates the power difference pretty much. If you are weak, you don't have to purposely annoy them, and they will come after you. If you are powerful, no matter how many nukes you drop on their head, they swallow the fallout and tears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, during a conquest it is unavoidable that eventually you will annoy all of the Civs by invading multiple Civs in the past. It is OK. Up to a point, you will be powerful enough that nobody dares to declare war on you. You can also allign your religion with them, sell them your extra resources, and give them little helps to maintain the relationship at Pleased. And, since you still make everybody busy before you draw out your knife, they still can't help each other against you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q5: Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My original Q5 was "Could I have avoided this war" but I found it too lame. Of course I want to war in Civ4 because it makes me win much faster! I have to be honest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier Sometimes yes! I am such a chicken that sometimes I want to make sure everything is safe - but by waiting I might make myself less safe. The earlier I become aggressive, the more advantages I get. I don't have to get everything prepared sometimes, because neither is my enemy. At times, I give up the past hour of gameplay, and start the war 100 years ealier. I win; I feel very happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the first 5 FAQs I covered the preparation/abstract aspects of war. In the next 5 FAQs I will get into some practical details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q6: Is my attack route fool-proof?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An attack route is the plan of army advance, where my invading stack enters the unfriendly territory, where I camp at each turn, and how I carry on my attack to the next city. A forest, a river, or a hill can all make a huge difference.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will be the best if I have an active update of what's happening in the enemy's territory. For example, if I own a holy city of a religion, I will probably get an Open Border well beforehand, and spread my "professional" missionaries to my future opponent's cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I don't have a holy city, I can simply ask for an Open border, and send out many faster, less powerful units (scouts, chariots) for a latest update. As soon as the war is declared, these scouts will be repelled from the enemy territory, so they can either have a free return ticket, or end up in nowhere.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a significant military advantage, it is usually good to divide your huge army up, plan multiple attack routes from different entries, and devour several AIs cities all at once. However, against smarter human opponents, it is usually wise to have an invincible stack of death. When you enter an enemy's territory, it is possible for your opponent to concentrate their counterattack and eliminate your divided invading forces with their relative mobility. That brings up the next question:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q7: How do I deal with a counterattack stack?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If your target is not too weak, it is very likely that there will be a counterattck stack organized, and heads towards your territory. Even if your target is weak, it might still send out a few horse riders to pillage your improvements to distract you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Do you have enough home defense to deal with a counterattack stack, even just a few horse archers Do you have fast unit to hunt down their fast unit Do you have spears to poke at the horses In my experience, about 20% of my total mobilized army are actually used for homeland defense / fortify new acquired territory. In multiplayer situations this ratio will go much higher, because smarter human players concentrate their attacks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another very common phenomenon is to be showered by a large number of catapults when you advance into enemy territory. There is really no way to prevent this. You need to have more units in that stack to dilute the splash colleteral damage. Some people say you can split your stack, but I don't think it is a good idea. If I am the defender, I can easily concentrate my catapult shower on half your stack, and use all of my defending forces to kill off half of your army. By the time your intact, the-other half arrives at my castle gate, my forces have returned and started healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Right after taking a city, it might be worthwhile waiting for the wounded troops to heal, if lots of healing is needed. An army at half of its strength is really inviting a crushing defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Following the catapult bombardment, the enemy might follow up with a mixture of other spare units. You may think AI is stupid to commite suicide this way, but those counter attacks can be devastating if you don't have a balanced stack. If you don't have elephants/spears in your invading stack, your melee units might get slaughtered by horses. It is wise to carry a few defensive units in the same stack, just for the purpose of insurance. Plus, they can help you afterwards...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q8: Did I forget the garrison troops?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might be able to take the city, but you will need troops to defend it. Chance is the enemy's culture border still enables them to take the city back in 1 turn, if your new city is not properly defended. You must know by now that good garrison troops are very different from good attack troops. Archery + Spears/Elephant are very good garrison troops; the AI love to have them, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of my common mistakes is I "barely made it", so I have one very weak unit in the new city, and I don't have any units that can move in to help. The result is usually I lose the new city and the wounded unit to a very weak counter attack force. The AIs will hunt down each one of your weak units, especially when they can get a city back in the meantime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't want to leave a portion of assault troops in each of your new cities, to weaken your invasion as you go on. It might be too late to start producing garrison troops after your war declaration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q9: Did I forget to move a unit somewhere?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is more of a gameplay aspect. When a war gets big, it is easy (at least for me) to forget a few units that has been previously assigned on garrison purpose, but no longer needed. When I can locate them (through the military advisor) and pull them to the front, my battle often becomes much easier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q10: Am I on my way to my next military tech lead?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not really an FAQ - I just include this for morale boosting purpose. When you hack down archers with maceman, you should be thinking of blasting longbowman with gernadiers. When that comes true, you should be thinking of the cheerful gunpowder explosion echos made by cavalry and cannons. After that, it is probably sniping grenadiers with infatry rifles. You are always creating a military lead, because the AI never stops trying to catch up. After a certain point, you are just going to wipe out the rest of the AIs in a short period of time, if you haven't accidently cross over the domination victory threshold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]May I conclude this article with a popular quote from Sun Tze:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"Knowing your enemy and yourself, you can fight 100 battles without dire danger."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key of a war is to avoid losing. If you can smell the war not approaching your victory, then you better quit it as soon as possible. In order to smell it, you need knowledge of the situation. If you don't suffer huge defeat, naturally over time you will get a few chances to crush the enemy. If you succeed at doing that, you win! In Civ4 the wars are much eaiser, so usually you immediately win after a little planning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A popular misconception of this quote turns the latter part into "you can fight 100 battles without a loss." This is definitely naive. You can still lose,  because there is luck, competent enemy commanders, and endless suicide bombers (catapults). However, with enough knowledge of the situation, you may lose, but you are not exhausted. You can still regroup, tell yourself there are still lots of hope, and come back for the eventual win, while your enemy feels tired and whines "What is war good for? Absolutely nothing!"</German>
		<Italian>[H1]10 FAQs before Declaring a War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is really hard to write another article in this forum, as all of the necessary knowledges have been covered in many great guides and analyses. The best I can do is try a summary of a specific topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I started playing Civ4 as a peace lover, but now I am clearly a warmonger who is "forced to win early" by the game mechanism. The game really favors a warmonger. So, please allow me to summarize my war experiences into "10 FAQS that I ask myself before declaring a war".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q1: What do I gain from this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not every human action carries a purpose, theoretically they should. Contemporary artists paint craps because they want to paint craps to disturb you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every war should serve a purpose, too. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Secure a large interior of my territory[NEWLINE]- Gain a few precious resources that I don't own[NEWLINE]- Kill off a great threat in the future[NEWLINE]- Put down a warmonger that may backstab me, before it gets a chance[NEWLINE]- Simply expanding my empire[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A competent warhead should have a clear goal in mind. Not just sending out his troops to "punish a bugger". That's what a "jerk" would do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q2: What do I do AFTER the war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It never hurts to plan one, a few, or many steps further, if you have extra time before the action is due. What will I do after the war For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Continue the war on the next target, if I still have the military lead[NEWLINE]- Call it a day and enter a massive 500-year peaceful growth period[NEWLINE]- Give some distant territory to a weak friend to create a buffer[NEWLINE]- Put research to 0% and let scientists to handle "Iron Working".[NEWLINE]- Ask for peace money when my loss is enough, and let Monty continue my war.[NEWLINE]- Remember to put culture slider back to 0%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are various things to think of, some big, some trivial.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q3: Could I have allies to help me, or the enemy?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy usually decides the war outcome. A third party can turn the tide of war completely.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you want to have all the help you could obtain, and eliminate all the backstabs you may receive. All of the Civs that are friendly with you are possible helps, and they are usually willing to join your war after you declare it. The aggressive / fanatic ones may start the war for you if your price is right. All of the Civs that are friendly to your enemy are going to do the same for them, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shouldn't you do something to prevent that from happening Actually, the solution is easy. You may bribe another Civ to attack your enemy's potential ally. You may bribe your enemy's potential ally to attack somebody else. Just to keep them busy, and they can't be possibly helping your enemy while they need help themselves. Note that a warmonger can be anybody's friend, so it is especially important to bribe warmongers to go after someone before your war, or simply bribe them to help you. The good thing is that the AIs aren't very smart at bribing others to war, so you don't have to be over-cautious.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have eliminated all possible helps from your enemy, you already declare the war at the "worst" situation possible, because it can't get worse! If you are already at an advantage at this worst possible situation, then clearly you can't lose - only to win faster by pulling in a friend.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally, it is a good practice to stir a world war every time you are going to war. While everybody is busy with everybody, your target losses all potential helps. I am  still attacked when I am weak, but I have never been backstabbed when I am no longer weak, but vulnerable during a war. I always make muscle man show their back to me before I draw my knife.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q4: Could I annoy my friends, or other Civs by this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Certainly your target is gonna hate you, but how about your friends and other neutral Civs I have to check the relationship of my targets to other Civs. If they are at Pleased or Friendly, then certainly will get "You declared war to our friend!" modifier. This can potentially spoil a Friendly relationship to Pleased, a Pleased to Cautious, or Cautious to Annoyed. The consequence may be very bad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To prevent this, you can spoil their relationship first. For example, A is your target, and B is your friend. A and B are friends, too. If you ask A to attack B's friend, C, then B is going to dislike A a little more. If that makes B Cautious to A, then you won't get any white eye from B when you declare war on A.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The good thing is, -1 in most cases doesn't change anything. So you don't have to worry that much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some people think they should purposely annoy the enemy so they will declare war on themselves. This usually doesn't work, as the AIs evaluates the power difference pretty much. If you are weak, you don't have to purposely annoy them, and they will come after you. If you are powerful, no matter how many nukes you drop on their head, they swallow the fallout and tears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, during a conquest it is unavoidable that eventually you will annoy all of the Civs by invading multiple Civs in the past. It is OK. Up to a point, you will be powerful enough that nobody dares to declare war on you. You can also allign your religion with them, sell them your extra resources, and give them little helps to maintain the relationship at Pleased. And, since you still make everybody busy before you draw out your knife, they still can't help each other against you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q5: Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My original Q5 was "Could I have avoided this war" but I found it too lame. Of course I want to war in Civ4 because it makes me win much faster! I have to be honest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier Sometimes yes! I am such a chicken that sometimes I want to make sure everything is safe - but by waiting I might make myself less safe. The earlier I become aggressive, the more advantages I get. I don't have to get everything prepared sometimes, because neither is my enemy. At times, I give up the past hour of gameplay, and start the war 100 years ealier. I win; I feel very happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the first 5 FAQs I covered the preparation/abstract aspects of war. In the next 5 FAQs I will get into some practical details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q6: Is my attack route fool-proof?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An attack route is the plan of army advance, where my invading stack enters the unfriendly territory, where I camp at each turn, and how I carry on my attack to the next city. A forest, a river, or a hill can all make a huge difference.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will be the best if I have an active update of what's happening in the enemy's territory. For example, if I own a holy city of a religion, I will probably get an Open Border well beforehand, and spread my "professional" missionaries to my future opponent's cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I don't have a holy city, I can simply ask for an Open border, and send out many faster, less powerful units (scouts, chariots) for a latest update. As soon as the war is declared, these scouts will be repelled from the enemy territory, so they can either have a free return ticket, or end up in nowhere.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a significant military advantage, it is usually good to divide your huge army up, plan multiple attack routes from different entries, and devour several AIs cities all at once. However, against smarter human opponents, it is usually wise to have an invincible stack of death. When you enter an enemy's territory, it is possible for your opponent to concentrate their counterattack and eliminate your divided invading forces with their relative mobility. That brings up the next question:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q7: How do I deal with a counterattack stack?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If your target is not too weak, it is very likely that there will be a counterattck stack organized, and heads towards your territory. Even if your target is weak, it might still send out a few horse riders to pillage your improvements to distract you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Do you have enough home defense to deal with a counterattack stack, even just a few horse archers Do you have fast unit to hunt down their fast unit Do you have spears to poke at the horses In my experience, about 20% of my total mobilized army are actually used for homeland defense / fortify new acquired territory. In multiplayer situations this ratio will go much higher, because smarter human players concentrate their attacks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another very common phenomenon is to be showered by a large number of catapults when you advance into enemy territory. There is really no way to prevent this. You need to have more units in that stack to dilute the splash colleteral damage. Some people say you can split your stack, but I don't think it is a good idea. If I am the defender, I can easily concentrate my catapult shower on half your stack, and use all of my defending forces to kill off half of your army. By the time your intact, the-other half arrives at my castle gate, my forces have returned and started healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Right after taking a city, it might be worthwhile waiting for the wounded troops to heal, if lots of healing is needed. An army at half of its strength is really inviting a crushing defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Following the catapult bombardment, the enemy might follow up with a mixture of other spare units. You may think AI is stupid to commite suicide this way, but those counter attacks can be devastating if you don't have a balanced stack. If you don't have elephants/spears in your invading stack, your melee units might get slaughtered by horses. It is wise to carry a few defensive units in the same stack, just for the purpose of insurance. Plus, they can help you afterwards...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q8: Did I forget the garrison troops?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might be able to take the city, but you will need troops to defend it. Chance is the enemy's culture border still enables them to take the city back in 1 turn, if your new city is not properly defended. You must know by now that good garrison troops are very different from good attack troops. Archery + Spears/Elephant are very good garrison troops; the AI love to have them, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of my common mistakes is I "barely made it", so I have one very weak unit in the new city, and I don't have any units that can move in to help. The result is usually I lose the new city and the wounded unit to a very weak counter attack force. The AIs will hunt down each one of your weak units, especially when they can get a city back in the meantime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't want to leave a portion of assault troops in each of your new cities, to weaken your invasion as you go on. It might be too late to start producing garrison troops after your war declaration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q9: Did I forget to move a unit somewhere?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is more of a gameplay aspect. When a war gets big, it is easy (at least for me) to forget a few units that has been previously assigned on garrison purpose, but no longer needed. When I can locate them (through the military advisor) and pull them to the front, my battle often becomes much easier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q10: Am I on my way to my next military tech lead?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not really an FAQ - I just include this for morale boosting purpose. When you hack down archers with maceman, you should be thinking of blasting longbowman with gernadiers. When that comes true, you should be thinking of the cheerful gunpowder explosion echos made by cavalry and cannons. After that, it is probably sniping grenadiers with infatry rifles. You are always creating a military lead, because the AI never stops trying to catch up. After a certain point, you are just going to wipe out the rest of the AIs in a short period of time, if you haven't accidently cross over the domination victory threshold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]May I conclude this article with a popular quote from Sun Tze:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"Knowing your enemy and yourself, you can fight 100 battles without dire danger."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key of a war is to avoid losing. If you can smell the war not approaching your victory, then you better quit it as soon as possible. In order to smell it, you need knowledge of the situation. If you don't suffer huge defeat, naturally over time you will get a few chances to crush the enemy. If you succeed at doing that, you win! In Civ4 the wars are much eaiser, so usually you immediately win after a little planning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A popular misconception of this quote turns the latter part into "you can fight 100 battles without a loss." This is definitely naive. You can still lose,  because there is luck, competent enemy commanders, and endless suicide bombers (catapults). However, with enough knowledge of the situation, you may lose, but you are not exhausted. You can still regroup, tell yourself there are still lots of hope, and come back for the eventual win, while your enemy feels tired and whines "What is war good for? Absolutely nothing!"</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]10 FAQs before Declaring a War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is really hard to write another article in this forum, as all of the necessary knowledges have been covered in many great guides and analyses. The best I can do is try a summary of a specific topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I started playing Civ4 as a peace lover, but now I am clearly a warmonger who is "forced to win early" by the game mechanism. The game really favors a warmonger. So, please allow me to summarize my war experiences into "10 FAQS that I ask myself before declaring a war".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q1: What do I gain from this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not every human action carries a purpose, theoretically they should. Contemporary artists paint craps because they want to paint craps to disturb you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every war should serve a purpose, too. For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Secure a large interior of my territory[NEWLINE]- Gain a few precious resources that I don't own[NEWLINE]- Kill off a great threat in the future[NEWLINE]- Put down a warmonger that may backstab me, before it gets a chance[NEWLINE]- Simply expanding my empire[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A competent warhead should have a clear goal in mind. Not just sending out his troops to "punish a bugger". That's what a "jerk" would do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q2: What do I do AFTER the war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It never hurts to plan one, a few, or many steps further, if you have extra time before the action is due. What will I do after the war For example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- Continue the war on the next target, if I still have the military lead[NEWLINE]- Call it a day and enter a massive 500-year peaceful growth period[NEWLINE]- Give some distant territory to a weak friend to create a buffer[NEWLINE]- Put research to 0% and let scientists to handle "Iron Working".[NEWLINE]- Ask for peace money when my loss is enough, and let Monty continue my war.[NEWLINE]- Remember to put culture slider back to 0%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are various things to think of, some big, some trivial.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q3: Could I have allies to help me, or the enemy?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy usually decides the war outcome. A third party can turn the tide of war completely.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you want to have all the help you could obtain, and eliminate all the backstabs you may receive. All of the Civs that are friendly with you are possible helps, and they are usually willing to join your war after you declare it. The aggressive / fanatic ones may start the war for you if your price is right. All of the Civs that are friendly to your enemy are going to do the same for them, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shouldn't you do something to prevent that from happening Actually, the solution is easy. You may bribe another Civ to attack your enemy's potential ally. You may bribe your enemy's potential ally to attack somebody else. Just to keep them busy, and they can't be possibly helping your enemy while they need help themselves. Note that a warmonger can be anybody's friend, so it is especially important to bribe warmongers to go after someone before your war, or simply bribe them to help you. The good thing is that the AIs aren't very smart at bribing others to war, so you don't have to be over-cautious.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have eliminated all possible helps from your enemy, you already declare the war at the "worst" situation possible, because it can't get worse! If you are already at an advantage at this worst possible situation, then clearly you can't lose - only to win faster by pulling in a friend.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally, it is a good practice to stir a world war every time you are going to war. While everybody is busy with everybody, your target losses all potential helps. I am  still attacked when I am weak, but I have never been backstabbed when I am no longer weak, but vulnerable during a war. I always make muscle man show their back to me before I draw my knife.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q4: Could I annoy my friends, or other Civs by this war?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Certainly your target is gonna hate you, but how about your friends and other neutral Civs I have to check the relationship of my targets to other Civs. If they are at Pleased or Friendly, then certainly will get "You declared war to our friend!" modifier. This can potentially spoil a Friendly relationship to Pleased, a Pleased to Cautious, or Cautious to Annoyed. The consequence may be very bad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To prevent this, you can spoil their relationship first. For example, A is your target, and B is your friend. A and B are friends, too. If you ask A to attack B's friend, C, then B is going to dislike A a little more. If that makes B Cautious to A, then you won't get any white eye from B when you declare war on A.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The good thing is, -1 in most cases doesn't change anything. So you don't have to worry that much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some people think they should purposely annoy the enemy so they will declare war on themselves. This usually doesn't work, as the AIs evaluates the power difference pretty much. If you are weak, you don't have to purposely annoy them, and they will come after you. If you are powerful, no matter how many nukes you drop on their head, they swallow the fallout and tears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, during a conquest it is unavoidable that eventually you will annoy all of the Civs by invading multiple Civs in the past. It is OK. Up to a point, you will be powerful enough that nobody dares to declare war on you. You can also allign your religion with them, sell them your extra resources, and give them little helps to maintain the relationship at Pleased. And, since you still make everybody busy before you draw out your knife, they still can't help each other against you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q5: Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My original Q5 was "Could I have avoided this war" but I found it too lame. Of course I want to war in Civ4 because it makes me win much faster! I have to be honest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Could I have declared this war 100 years earlier Sometimes yes! I am such a chicken that sometimes I want to make sure everything is safe - but by waiting I might make myself less safe. The earlier I become aggressive, the more advantages I get. I don't have to get everything prepared sometimes, because neither is my enemy. At times, I give up the past hour of gameplay, and start the war 100 years ealier. I win; I feel very happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the first 5 FAQs I covered the preparation/abstract aspects of war. In the next 5 FAQs I will get into some practical details.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q6: Is my attack route fool-proof?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An attack route is the plan of army advance, where my invading stack enters the unfriendly territory, where I camp at each turn, and how I carry on my attack to the next city. A forest, a river, or a hill can all make a huge difference.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will be the best if I have an active update of what's happening in the enemy's territory. For example, if I own a holy city of a religion, I will probably get an Open Border well beforehand, and spread my "professional" missionaries to my future opponent's cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I don't have a holy city, I can simply ask for an Open border, and send out many faster, less powerful units (scouts, chariots) for a latest update. As soon as the war is declared, these scouts will be repelled from the enemy territory, so they can either have a free return ticket, or end up in nowhere.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a significant military advantage, it is usually good to divide your huge army up, plan multiple attack routes from different entries, and devour several AIs cities all at once. However, against smarter human opponents, it is usually wise to have an invincible stack of death. When you enter an enemy's territory, it is possible for your opponent to concentrate their counterattack and eliminate your divided invading forces with their relative mobility. That brings up the next question:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q7: How do I deal with a counterattack stack?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If your target is not too weak, it is very likely that there will be a counterattck stack organized, and heads towards your territory. Even if your target is weak, it might still send out a few horse riders to pillage your improvements to distract you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Do you have enough home defense to deal with a counterattack stack, even just a few horse archers Do you have fast unit to hunt down their fast unit Do you have spears to poke at the horses In my experience, about 20% of my total mobilized army are actually used for homeland defense / fortify new acquired territory. In multiplayer situations this ratio will go much higher, because smarter human players concentrate their attacks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another very common phenomenon is to be showered by a large number of catapults when you advance into enemy territory. There is really no way to prevent this. You need to have more units in that stack to dilute the splash colleteral damage. Some people say you can split your stack, but I don't think it is a good idea. If I am the defender, I can easily concentrate my catapult shower on half your stack, and use all of my defending forces to kill off half of your army. By the time your intact, the-other half arrives at my castle gate, my forces have returned and started healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Right after taking a city, it might be worthwhile waiting for the wounded troops to heal, if lots of healing is needed. An army at half of its strength is really inviting a crushing defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Following the catapult bombardment, the enemy might follow up with a mixture of other spare units. You may think AI is stupid to commite suicide this way, but those counter attacks can be devastating if you don't have a balanced stack. If you don't have elephants/spears in your invading stack, your melee units might get slaughtered by horses. It is wise to carry a few defensive units in the same stack, just for the purpose of insurance. Plus, they can help you afterwards...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q8: Did I forget the garrison troops?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might be able to take the city, but you will need troops to defend it. Chance is the enemy's culture border still enables them to take the city back in 1 turn, if your new city is not properly defended. You must know by now that good garrison troops are very different from good attack troops. Archery + Spears/Elephant are very good garrison troops; the AI love to have them, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of my common mistakes is I "barely made it", so I have one very weak unit in the new city, and I don't have any units that can move in to help. The result is usually I lose the new city and the wounded unit to a very weak counter attack force. The AIs will hunt down each one of your weak units, especially when they can get a city back in the meantime.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't want to leave a portion of assault troops in each of your new cities, to weaken your invasion as you go on. It might be too late to start producing garrison troops after your war declaration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q9: Did I forget to move a unit somewhere?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is more of a gameplay aspect. When a war gets big, it is easy (at least for me) to forget a few units that has been previously assigned on garrison purpose, but no longer needed. When I can locate them (through the military advisor) and pull them to the front, my battle often becomes much easier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Q10: Am I on my way to my next military tech lead?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not really an FAQ - I just include this for morale boosting purpose. When you hack down archers with maceman, you should be thinking of blasting longbowman with gernadiers. When that comes true, you should be thinking of the cheerful gunpowder explosion echos made by cavalry and cannons. After that, it is probably sniping grenadiers with infatry rifles. You are always creating a military lead, because the AI never stops trying to catch up. After a certain point, you are just going to wipe out the rest of the AIs in a short period of time, if you haven't accidently cross over the domination victory threshold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]May I conclude this article with a popular quote from Sun Tze:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"Knowing your enemy and yourself, you can fight 100 battles without dire danger."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key of a war is to avoid losing. If you can smell the war not approaching your victory, then you better quit it as soon as possible. In order to smell it, you need knowledge of the situation. If you don't suffer huge defeat, naturally over time you will get a few chances to crush the enemy. If you succeed at doing that, you win! In Civ4 the wars are much eaiser, so usually you immediately win after a little planning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A popular misconception of this quote turns the latter part into "you can fight 100 battles without a loss." This is definitely naive. You can still lose,  because there is luck, competent enemy commanders, and endless suicide bombers (catapults). However, with enough knowledge of the situation, you may lose, but you are not exhausted. You can still regroup, tell yourself there are still lots of hope, and come back for the eventual win, while your enemy feels tired and whines "What is war good for? Absolutely nothing!"</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GROWTH_WAR_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Balancing Growth and Warfare in Civ IV[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Bogustrumper[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Success in Civilization IV usually involves military conquest, and there are no doubt warmongers out there who like nothing more than spending all their time either waging war or preparing to wage war. Nevertheless, one of the hidden messages in the game is that war is expensive, both in time and material, and should only be waged when the time is ripe. Count me among those who adhere to that strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It would be nice if the player could always dictate when and where he would like to go to war. Unfortunately, some of the AI personas do not always allow that luxury. Even the well-defended player will often find himself victim of a sneak attack by Montezuma, Ghenghis Khan, Isabella (or anyone, for that matter)-even if the attacker has no real chance of achieving victory. It therefore behooves the wise player always to be aware of this potential threat, and to take steps to meet it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nevertheless, the wise player should also never forget that if nothing else, going to war involves at least ten turns (and usually many more) where he will be solely occupied with conducting warfare. I've had wars last well over a century on the Civ calendar, and this expenditure of time cannot be dismissed. While you are warring, your peaceful AI opponents are growing and developing, and unless there are very tangible benefits to be got, the intelligent player should try to truncate his military adventures as soon as he has achieved his aims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what strategy should a player pursue so that he will ultimately be victorious in the game itself, as opposed to just winning wars? The key, I think, is balance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So how do you balance growth with warfare, so as to proceed, as much as possible, in an unbroken upward curve toward victory?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One key that seems paramount is possession of river cities. The reason river cities are so precious is two-fold: The first, most obvious benefit of river cities is their ability to spawn farms on many squares. If a river city possesses floodplains, this benefit is enhanced. Farmed floodplains produce a tremendous number of food units, and therefore not only do they allow a city to grow at a rapid rate, they can also be used to quickly produce Settlers and Workers in the early phases of the game without impeding a city's overall growth. Later on, when these units diminish in importance, such cities can easily support a great number of Specialists, which can transform such a city into a "Great People Farm", generating the Great Scientists and Great Engineers so vital to succcess.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second, and ultimately more important benefit of river cities is that once the player obtains the Machinery tech, he can begin to put Watermills on these critical riverside squares. Watermills are good right off the get-go, but as you acquire the Replaceable Parts tech (plus-1 hammer), and later, the Electricity tech (plus-2 commerce), their value begins to multiply. The final addition of the State Property civic completes their development, adding one additional food production to each Watermill square, and turning them into production powerhouses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide another benefit. Most river cities never have to worry about growth. On the upper difficulty levels, however, city growth is always inhibited by either the happiness or health of its citizenry. One concern which remains constant throughout nearly the entire game is the player's struggle to provide enough happiness and health resources to allow his cities to continue to grow. It is a virtual certainty that at many points in the game the player will have to rearrange the squares his citizens are working so as not to outgrow these resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide a handy place to do this. By transferring production (through the city screen) off Farm squares and onto Watermill squares the player can easily restrict, or even stop altogether the growth of his city (allowing health or happiness to catch up) without sacrificing either overall productivity, or the maintenance of Specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have often built Watermills on every available square as soon as possible, reasoning that if I run out of food, I can always return the square to farming. In practice, however, this never seems to happen. By the time I'm able to start gowing again, the Watermill squares will have so gained in value (by techs and civics) that they never need to be refarmed. Of course, it isn't wise to say "never," but as a general rule, the above strategy seems to work beautifully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal of first building, and then improving Watermill squares, also seems to dovetail nicely with a good route through the tech tree, i.e., one in which the player can acquire techs that are not only useful to himself, but also can be traded.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does the player little good to duplicate research efforts by other Civs. He should attempt a route through the tree that gives him unique techs, and the pursuit of Machinery, and later, a beeline to Liberalism (with it's attendant free tech of The Printing Press) provides techs no one else has, and which can also be traded to other civs with little adverse affect. Paper, Liberalism, Education, and so on, are seldom given priority by other Civs, and even though one might despair of ever being the first to gain Electricity or Physics (which the AIs always seem to get first), it's very possible to research Communism and be the first to get the State Property civic, which can also be traded when the time is right.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the cardinal rules of Civ IV is that one must never neglect research. One method of doing this, of course, is by building Cottages. As Cottages mature into Towns, they begin to produce great amounts of commerce, which is directly translatable into research. This is a good approach, and in non-river cities, about the only one available. But oddly enough, Civ IV is structured in such a way that a river city, with all its water squares occupied with Watermills, can become a veritable powerhouse of research. The first time I aggressively pursued this strategy, I expected that my overall research would fall off, but instead, the opposite happened. With judicious use of Watermills I discovered that I was usually able to keep my rate of research at 70%, and as my Civ matured, I could even increase it to 80%, and sometimes even 90%. In the critical end game, this is a powerful benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other writers have noted that the true industrial powerhouses-the kind of cities in which you build the Ironworks, National Epic, and Heroic Epic national wonders-usually turn out not to be cities surrounded by hills (with mines and windmills)-but river cities. One cannot stress enough the importance of these cities. Possession of one or two of these sites can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which brings us back to balance. While warmongering may have its benefits, I have found that it is best to have good relations with as many civs as possible so as to keep a more or less good reputation throughout the game. This does not mean you will not be attacked, for it is almost axiomatic that you will-especially in the earlier stages of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players say that they always want to go to war at the time and place of their choosing, and although I agree with them up to a point, I have found that this emphatically does not mean that you have to be the one who starts a war. There is nothing wrong in making preparations for war, whilst at the same time avoiding it as long as possible. When you are not warring, you are growing in both production and science, and ultimately, for all wins except for cultural victories, this will be the weight that will tip the scales in your favor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One must be vigilant, however. As a Civ grows, the thoughtful player will find himself able to field larger and larger armies without penalty. If you are able to maintain Open Border agreements with your neighbors, you can always visit their cities with either Missionaries or military units (and later, with Spies) to see what they're up to. If you find them building great numbers of Horse Archers, say, you can counter with a force of Spearmen or Pikemen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have discovered that in times of peace, if you keep at least three or four military units in readiness in all cities, and five or six in those cities most vulnerable to attack, you should be adequately prepared for most eventualities. [NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In war, the defender always has the advantage over the attacker. Not only can the defender move about his own territory with much more facility than the invader, but his cities themselves offer defense bonuses which any attacker must overcome before he can conquer and occupy them. It is therefore critical than any player establish good internal lines of communication (via roads and later on, railroads), so that he can at first meet, and later overcome, the inroads made by invading armies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one makes sure to distribute his forces in a flexible and resiliant fashion, he has no reason to fear attack. He should be able to efficiently direct his military units so as to neutralize, and then destroy, enemy forces.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A word on warfare: When defending, many players like to deploy their forces in "stacks of doom," i.e., a great number of forces occuping a single square. I have found that although this may be an effective tactic when you are besieging cities, in the early stages of a war, when you are still recoiling from your enemy's initial onslaught, it is best to array your troops in smaller groups made up of a mix of units. Each group should consist of at least one or two strong defenders (Pikemen or Spearmen, for defense against mounted units), several mobile attack units (Horse Archers, War Elephants, Knights, Cavalrymen, etc.), a number of units that can both attack and defend (Macemen, Musketeers, Riflemen, etc.), and most important, one or more siege weapons (such as Catapults, Cannon, or Artillery).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've got your stacks together, rather than heedlessly attacking everything in sight, it's best to have these smaller mixed stacks occupy strong points along invasion routes (hills, forests, jungles, or, best of all, forested or jungled hills). War in Civ IV should be conducted much like a chess game: Occupy strong squares, block the attacker at as many points as possible, and wait for him to come to you. Only when you have lured him onto weak squares should you choose to attack, and then, it should be an attack to the death.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why siege weapons are so important. Catapults, Cannon, and Artillery should always be regarded as the sacrificial lambs of warfare. They are easy and cheap to build, and their ability to inflict collateral damage cannot be overstated. After a few blows from siege weapons, the units in a stack of attackers will be so weakened as to be easy prey for your other units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you mouse over a stack of attackers, you can always see what you're up against. Typically AI attackers will either send out single marauders (usually mobile attack units), which will try to slip into your territory and plunder juicy squares, followed by attack stacks composed of a variety of units. As imposing as these stacks might be, they can be defeated and annihilated by your own attack stacks-as long as you are patient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A typical problem in defeating these stacks is when they are composed (as they often are with "aggressive" Civs) of units possessing the "immune from first strike" promotion. This is where siege weapons prove so valuable. Although these units are said to be "immune," this does not mean that they cannot be weakened by attack with siege weapons. Neither does it mean that an attacking Catapult or Cannon will necessarily be destroyed by attacking. Often a siege unit will "withdraw" from an attack, and although its own strength may be reduced to almost zero by the attack, it still can survive to fight another day. Such units can either be withdrawn to a safe zone, or joined on a newly occupied square by nearby defensive units. If protected and given a place to heal, they can rejoin the fray later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why deploying multiple smaller stacks on adjacent squares can be so valuable. Once an attacking stack is isolated on a vulnerable square, and surrounded by several stacks of defenders on adjacent squares, it is easy to bombard it with siege weapons. Once the enemy units are fatally weakened, you can send in your attack troops to finish them off one by one. That's why patience is so valuable. Because military units heal between turns, it is essential that once you begin to attack a square, you do so with the idea of eliminating ALL the units on that square.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It isn't always easy to wait until you've got overwhelming advantage before commencing an attack, and waiting often means you'll temporarily lose some key production squares to plunderers, but until until you've got your enemy where you want him, you should emphatically NOT attack. There are some exceptions, of course. Sometimes it happens that an enemy poses such a dire threat (i.e., in position to attack and perhaps even capture one of your cities) that you must throw everything but the kitchen sink against him, no matter what the cost-but if you practice the above strategy you can practically eliminate such a scenario.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to set up situations so that attacking stacks are so weakened by bombardment that each counterattack by your defending units has at least an 80% or better chance of success. The way to win wars is by keeping your "kill ratio" at 6-1 or better. By doing this you not only preserve your own army (whilst busily promoting your most valorous warriors), you also sap and weaken your enemy so that when the time comes for you to invade his territory and attack his cities, he can do little to stop you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is how wars usually proceed: Although AIs often signal their intent by massing forces on your borders, or by cancelling open border agreements, they also can attack right out of the blue. No matter what preceeds the opening of hostilities, once a war begins it is essential that the defender immediately switch all his production over to weapons of war. When you fight, you must fight hard, and with all your resources. Unless one of your cities is engaged in building a super-critical Wonder or improvement, you should immediately leave off what your are doing and switch over to war production. You can pick it up later, once the war is over, but during wartime, you neglect armaments production at your own peril.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once war is declared, AI Civs will begin making their way into your territory. The first wave of attack is almost always the strongest, but as the war wears on, and your defensive effort begins to take its toll, you will discover the flow of attackers coming into your territory will begin to weaken, and then dribble to almost nothing. This is what you've been waiting for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the strength of your civilization is where it should be, you should now find that not only will you have eliminated all enemy forces from key strong points, but that you now occupy them yourself and can begin to plan how you will invade your enemy's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first consideration should be: Where should you attack? Now that your rival has weakened himself so as to be ripe for the taking, how best should you proceed?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you should aim to capture one or more of his cities, but which ones? In deciding this you must take into account the all-important issue of cultural control. Virtually any city you capture will incline toward "flipping" back to an enemy's control, simply because right after capture, it is populated almost entirely by enemy citizens. Therefore prime consideration should be given to those cities already besieged by your own cultural boundaries, cities whose capture will result in a rival's cultural boundaries deflating like a punctured balloon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does little good to "spearhead" through an enemy's land and capture a far prize (such as his Capital), and try to hold it. Not only will such a city be ripe for insurrection, but your opponent's cultural pressure will tend to surround and stifle such an outpost, making it useless to the invader. Moreover, it is such a thorn in his side, he will move heaven and earth to try and reclaim it. Only those cities which can be captured and held-those in close proximity to your own culture and development-should be considered for conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can capture one, two, or perhaps even three cities in war during the earlier stages of the game, and by doing so permanently weaken your rival and diminish his cultural realm, you should consider the war a success. Even such modest gains will exact a heavy price in time and production, and once you have obtained them, you should think about making peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To that end, here's a simple tip for maximizing your gains: When you've gotten what you wanted, and you sense (by the levels of your own civic unrest) that your citizens have had about all they can stand of war, go ahead and contact your opponent with the idea of ending the conflict.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If he agrees to talk (as he usually will), you'll be presented with a statement from him suggesting directly that you "bury the hatchet," stop all this "pointless fighting," and end the war. Do NOT select this option. Rather, propose a trade. This will bring you into a screen where you can ask your opponent "What is the price for peace?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you've exacted a heavy toll, he will often offer techs, world maps, gold, or even one of his cities to get you to cease your attacks. This is obviously a big improvement over simply ending the war, and is how you should always sue for peace. Never just accept a peace offer without demanding tribute. You're leaving money on the table if you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once a war is over, you'll often find yourself lousy with military units, and rolling in dough. How you make the transition from war to peace is almost as important as winning the war, and the key here is "redeployment."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In captured cities, you must maintain a sizeable military presence to protect against revolt. Up until the Industrial Era, I've found that five to seven units, apportioned among siege weapons, mobile attackers, and all-purpose units, is usually sufficient. The remainder of your units should be redeployed back to your other cities, with those cities most vulnerable to attacks from other Civs getting the lion's share of the returnees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because wars last so long, you will often discover many obsolete units left over from previous builds still occupying your cities. Some of these units are eligible for modernization, i.e., Catapults can be turned into Cannon, Knights into Cavalrymen, and so forth. Modernization has a price, however, and while some units can be modernized for a very modest expenditure, turning an old Warrior into a Rifleman, say, can be prohibitively expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maintaining over-large armies costs money, and detracts from the overall growth of a Civ. Therefore, during redeployment I usually select only those units which have gained a number of promotions to be candidates for modernization, and even then, I will consider only those which can be upgraded at modest cost. The remaining obsolete units I immediately disband, and use the war returnees to regarrison these cities. I have found that for cities far removed from the front lines, three units will usually suffice both for protection and for happiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus, once you have completed redeployment, you should have your most veteran units occupying your furthest outposts in sufficient number to guard against sneak attack, whilst your interior cities are protected by a smaller token force. As peace returns to your land, you will find yourself eminently protected against all current threats, and poised to return to even greater levels of growth and productivity. If you have managed to capture or control additional health resources such as wheat, fish, deer, clams, or whatever, so much the better. You have won the war, and to the victor go the spoils.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the course of the game I like to conduct at most three real (i.e., non-barbarian) wars: The first two, I prefer to be the agressee rather than the aggressor. Not only does this strategy preserve my reputation (so as not to become the endless victim of "furious" neighbors and to have to spend precious game turns involved in unwanted warfare), but it provides me with ready candidates for my own aggression when I finally find myself ready to begin taking over the board. The third war is usually for me "the war to end all wars," when I am bent on going for the win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more comment on barbarians: In some scenarios you will find yourself in a position to conquer barbarian cities. The "terra" scenario, for example, provides a "New World" occupied by nothing BUT barbarian cities. Barbarian cities provide an avenue for essentially painless warfare. Since none of the AI Civs care a whit for barbarians, you will offend no one by either conquering, or razing, these cities. Also, since barbarians usually trail mightily in the tech race, conquering them is a lot easier than taking Civ cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While barbarians might not build a lot of buildings (although this is not uniformly true), they do develop their lands and resources. Thus taking these cities offers the conquering player sites where all he has to do is grow in order to work these already-developed squares. This gives his Civ a tremendous lift, because he needn't devote valuable worker time toward improving the sites. Also, because barbarian cities have little culture, the player's own culture rapidly expands to fill the void left by the departed pagans. Again, when conquering barbarian sites, give river cities your highest priority, subject, of course, to normal strategic and tactical considerations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once peace has returned to your lands, you must not just rest on your laurels, for you can be sure your rivals are not resting on theirs. As you are in the process of developing your culture and growth, you must always keep pace with your rivals. This means that even though your emphasis should be on building Wonders, growing your cities, and adding to your wealth, culture, and science, you must not neglect your military. As new military techs become available, methodically improve your armies, building a few new units, upgrading your best old veterans, all the while keeping a wary eye on your nearest rivals. Right up to the modern era, when navies and air forces begin to dominate the board, you should pay most attention to your immediate neighbors. Plan your builds to deal with them, for they are your most likely adversaries. It is almost impossible for a Civ one or two countries away (or separated by an ocean) to effectively conduct warfare against you, so the liklihood of attack from one of these is slim.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI Civs are programmed to look for weakness. If you see a Civ on one of your borders begin to move a lot of powerful forces around his own lands, prepare to meet them. Often positioning a few stacks of countering forces along likely invasion routes (while keeping them safely within your own borders) will cause a greedy AI to think twice about attacking you. The longer you keep that Civ at arm's length, the better off you are. War is NOT the answer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Until the end, that is. If you have managed your empire efficiently, built Academies in your most productive Science cities, chosen your Civics with care and circumspection, and developed your lands to their utmost potential, by the time the ending arrives you should be well ahead in techs, size, and productive capacity. At this point, you should be making decisions as to how you want to go about winning the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless one is pursuing a Cultural or Diplomatic victory (neither of which I know how to do), winning usually boils down to either a space race, or military conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In either scenario, one development which should be pursued at any cost is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. This powerful Wonder negates the need to construct either Coal Plants or Hydro Plants, for its completion instantly provides power to all Factories on the continent, giving your Civ a productivity boost unmatched by any other single improvement.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Again, the idea of having good river cities pays another benefit, for not only must the Three Gorges be built in a river city and no where else, a properly developed river city equipped with an Ironworks can make short work of building this Wonder. Here's the best way to go about it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you approach the time when you can research Plastics (the Three Gorges prerequisite), you should try to array your Specialists in such a way so that one of your cities produces at least one Great Engineer. If you've got a Great Engineer on tap before your begin the Three Gorges, you've already reduced the time it takes to build it by better than a third. As soon as you get Plastics, immediately go to your river city and build a Hydro Plant. If the city has an Ironworks, this won't take but a few turns, and will be richly repaid once you begin the dam itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From then on it's a simple matter of monitoring construction until the Great Engineer can complete the dam in a single turn, and then having him finish it. Once the Three Gorges gets going, you're well on your way to victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which way you go from there depends on the game situation. As a matter of fact, you should have chosen your method of victory well before the dam is completed. If you are completely outstripping your opponents (often I've had a game score double or even triple my nearest rival) then you probably ought to shoot for a "Conquest" or "Domination" victory. If you have a rival close to your own score, then perhaps it's best to go for the Space Victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have chosen the Space Race, then you should have already built the Apollo program, and ideally, some of the Space Ship casings. No matter how productive your Civ may be, you cannot dawdle building the Space Ship. Space Ship components cannot be "hurried," but must be built one hammer at a time. If you fall behind in the Space Race, you may never catch up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once I played a game where I had everything going my way. I had super productive cities, I had neutralized all military threats, and all I had to do was build the Space Ship to win. But whilst I had been basking in the reflected glory of my incipient victory, Queen Victoria had busily completed a number of low-tech SS components, and was researching new techs at a furious rate. Nevertheless I felt that my productivity edge was so great that I still stood in little danger of losing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there we were, the Queen and I, both building at breakneck pace. Nevertheless, to my mind, there was no way I could lose. With a great deal of satisfaction I installed the final rivet in my very last SS component, clicked the "end of turn" button, and waited for the victory announcement. I got one, all right, but imagine my dismay when I read "Queen Victoria has won a Space Race victory!"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOT me. I was outraged! I'd been robbed! What an insult! What kind of game is this, anyway?...and so on. But I'd been guilty of overconfidence, and this was my payback. I had spent maybe 40 hours playing, only to be greeted by the supreme disappointment of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But it taught me a lesson: Never dawdle in the Space Race.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're way ahead of your nearest rival, and he hasn't made any significant progress in the Space Race, then you can go for the Conquest or Domination victory. This is just a matter of assembling a powerful Navy (for amphibious assaults), a powerful air force (consisting ideally of 15-20 Stealth Bombers, maybe 10 jet fighters), a very powerful land army-and then launching a war. Your assault forces should consist primarily of Modern Armor units (unequalled for their mobility and ability to attack multiple times), Gunships, and a large backup contingent of Mechanized Infantry. The Mechanized Infantry support the Armor, and can help in finishing off the last battered inhabitants of a beleagured city-but their primary duty is to occupy conquered cities in the wake of your main assault force.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This kind of a combination is virtually unstoppable, and with it you should be able to overwhelm your more backward rivals with unparalled speed. Once that final assault begins, victory isn't far away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the way, you can specify at the beginning of any game which victories will be allowed-and which will not-by selecting the Custom Game option and checking or unchecking each victory option. For example, if you don't uncheck the Domination Victory option, then you will never be able to win by Conquest, because the Domination rubric will kick in before you've conquered the world. But that's enough for now. The rest you can learn by trial and error, and why should I tell you any more? What I've told you I've never seen anywhere else, not in so many words, anyway, so take this go grab yourself a victory in Civilization IV. Good luck!</English>
		<French>[H1]Balancing Growth and Warfare in Civ IV[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Bogustrumper[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Success in Civilization IV usually involves military conquest, and there are no doubt warmongers out there who like nothing more than spending all their time either waging war or preparing to wage war. Nevertheless, one of the hidden messages in the game is that war is expensive, both in time and material, and should only be waged when the time is ripe. Count me among those who adhere to that strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It would be nice if the player could always dictate when and where he would like to go to war. Unfortunately, some of the AI personas do not always allow that luxury. Even the well-defended player will often find himself victim of a sneak attack by Montezuma, Ghenghis Khan, Isabella (or anyone, for that matter)-even if the attacker has no real chance of achieving victory. It therefore behooves the wise player always to be aware of this potential threat, and to take steps to meet it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nevertheless, the wise player should also never forget that if nothing else, going to war involves at least ten turns (and usually many more) where he will be solely occupied with conducting warfare. I've had wars last well over a century on the Civ calendar, and this expenditure of time cannot be dismissed. While you are warring, your peaceful AI opponents are growing and developing, and unless there are very tangible benefits to be got, the intelligent player should try to truncate his military adventures as soon as he has achieved his aims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what strategy should a player pursue so that he will ultimately be victorious in the game itself, as opposed to just winning wars? The key, I think, is balance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So how do you balance growth with warfare, so as to proceed, as much as possible, in an unbroken upward curve toward victory?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One key that seems paramount is possession of river cities. The reason river cities are so precious is two-fold: The first, most obvious benefit of river cities is their ability to spawn farms on many squares. If a river city possesses floodplains, this benefit is enhanced. Farmed floodplains produce a tremendous number of food units, and therefore not only do they allow a city to grow at a rapid rate, they can also be used to quickly produce Settlers and Workers in the early phases of the game without impeding a city's overall growth. Later on, when these units diminish in importance, such cities can easily support a great number of Specialists, which can transform such a city into a "Great People Farm", generating the Great Scientists and Great Engineers so vital to succcess.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second, and ultimately more important benefit of river cities is that once the player obtains the Machinery tech, he can begin to put Watermills on these critical riverside squares. Watermills are good right off the get-go, but as you acquire the Replaceable Parts tech (plus-1 hammer), and later, the Electricity tech (plus-2 commerce), their value begins to multiply. The final addition of the State Property civic completes their development, adding one additional food production to each Watermill square, and turning them into production powerhouses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide another benefit. Most river cities never have to worry about growth. On the upper difficulty levels, however, city growth is always inhibited by either the happiness or health of its citizenry. One concern which remains constant throughout nearly the entire game is the player's struggle to provide enough happiness and health resources to allow his cities to continue to grow. It is a virtual certainty that at many points in the game the player will have to rearrange the squares his citizens are working so as not to outgrow these resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide a handy place to do this. By transferring production (through the city screen) off Farm squares and onto Watermill squares the player can easily restrict, or even stop altogether the growth of his city (allowing health or happiness to catch up) without sacrificing either overall productivity, or the maintenance of Specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have often built Watermills on every available square as soon as possible, reasoning that if I run out of food, I can always return the square to farming. In practice, however, this never seems to happen. By the time I'm able to start gowing again, the Watermill squares will have so gained in value (by techs and civics) that they never need to be refarmed. Of course, it isn't wise to say "never," but as a general rule, the above strategy seems to work beautifully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal of first building, and then improving Watermill squares, also seems to dovetail nicely with a good route through the tech tree, i.e., one in which the player can acquire techs that are not only useful to himself, but also can be traded.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does the player little good to duplicate research efforts by other Civs. He should attempt a route through the tree that gives him unique techs, and the pursuit of Machinery, and later, a beeline to Liberalism (with it's attendant free tech of The Printing Press) provides techs no one else has, and which can also be traded to other civs with little adverse affect. Paper, Liberalism, Education, and so on, are seldom given priority by other Civs, and even though one might despair of ever being the first to gain Electricity or Physics (which the AIs always seem to get first), it's very possible to research Communism and be the first to get the State Property civic, which can also be traded when the time is right.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the cardinal rules of Civ IV is that one must never neglect research. One method of doing this, of course, is by building Cottages. As Cottages mature into Towns, they begin to produce great amounts of commerce, which is directly translatable into research. This is a good approach, and in non-river cities, about the only one available. But oddly enough, Civ IV is structured in such a way that a river city, with all its water squares occupied with Watermills, can become a veritable powerhouse of research. The first time I aggressively pursued this strategy, I expected that my overall research would fall off, but instead, the opposite happened. With judicious use of Watermills I discovered that I was usually able to keep my rate of research at 70%, and as my Civ matured, I could even increase it to 80%, and sometimes even 90%. In the critical end game, this is a powerful benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other writers have noted that the true industrial powerhouses-the kind of cities in which you build the Ironworks, National Epic, and Heroic Epic national wonders-usually turn out not to be cities surrounded by hills (with mines and windmills)-but river cities. One cannot stress enough the importance of these cities. Possession of one or two of these sites can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which brings us back to balance. While warmongering may have its benefits, I have found that it is best to have good relations with as many civs as possible so as to keep a more or less good reputation throughout the game. This does not mean you will not be attacked, for it is almost axiomatic that you will-especially in the earlier stages of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players say that they always want to go to war at the time and place of their choosing, and although I agree with them up to a point, I have found that this emphatically does not mean that you have to be the one who starts a war. There is nothing wrong in making preparations for war, whilst at the same time avoiding it as long as possible. When you are not warring, you are growing in both production and science, and ultimately, for all wins except for cultural victories, this will be the weight that will tip the scales in your favor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One must be vigilant, however. As a Civ grows, the thoughtful player will find himself able to field larger and larger armies without penalty. If you are able to maintain Open Border agreements with your neighbors, you can always visit their cities with either Missionaries or military units (and later, with Spies) to see what they're up to. If you find them building great numbers of Horse Archers, say, you can counter with a force of Spearmen or Pikemen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have discovered that in times of peace, if you keep at least three or four military units in readiness in all cities, and five or six in those cities most vulnerable to attack, you should be adequately prepared for most eventualities. [NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In war, the defender always has the advantage over the attacker. Not only can the defender move about his own territory with much more facility than the invader, but his cities themselves offer defense bonuses which any attacker must overcome before he can conquer and occupy them. It is therefore critical than any player establish good internal lines of communication (via roads and later on, railroads), so that he can at first meet, and later overcome, the inroads made by invading armies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one makes sure to distribute his forces in a flexible and resiliant fashion, he has no reason to fear attack. He should be able to efficiently direct his military units so as to neutralize, and then destroy, enemy forces.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A word on warfare: When defending, many players like to deploy their forces in "stacks of doom," i.e., a great number of forces occuping a single square. I have found that although this may be an effective tactic when you are besieging cities, in the early stages of a war, when you are still recoiling from your enemy's initial onslaught, it is best to array your troops in smaller groups made up of a mix of units. Each group should consist of at least one or two strong defenders (Pikemen or Spearmen, for defense against mounted units), several mobile attack units (Horse Archers, War Elephants, Knights, Cavalrymen, etc.), a number of units that can both attack and defend (Macemen, Musketeers, Riflemen, etc.), and most important, one or more siege weapons (such as Catapults, Cannon, or Artillery).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've got your stacks together, rather than heedlessly attacking everything in sight, it's best to have these smaller mixed stacks occupy strong points along invasion routes (hills, forests, jungles, or, best of all, forested or jungled hills). War in Civ IV should be conducted much like a chess game: Occupy strong squares, block the attacker at as many points as possible, and wait for him to come to you. Only when you have lured him onto weak squares should you choose to attack, and then, it should be an attack to the death.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why siege weapons are so important. Catapults, Cannon, and Artillery should always be regarded as the sacrificial lambs of warfare. They are easy and cheap to build, and their ability to inflict collateral damage cannot be overstated. After a few blows from siege weapons, the units in a stack of attackers will be so weakened as to be easy prey for your other units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you mouse over a stack of attackers, you can always see what you're up against. Typically AI attackers will either send out single marauders (usually mobile attack units), which will try to slip into your territory and plunder juicy squares, followed by attack stacks composed of a variety of units. As imposing as these stacks might be, they can be defeated and annihilated by your own attack stacks-as long as you are patient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A typical problem in defeating these stacks is when they are composed (as they often are with "aggressive" Civs) of units possessing the "immune from first strike" promotion. This is where siege weapons prove so valuable. Although these units are said to be "immune," this does not mean that they cannot be weakened by attack with siege weapons. Neither does it mean that an attacking Catapult or Cannon will necessarily be destroyed by attacking. Often a siege unit will "withdraw" from an attack, and although its own strength may be reduced to almost zero by the attack, it still can survive to fight another day. Such units can either be withdrawn to a safe zone, or joined on a newly occupied square by nearby defensive units. If protected and given a place to heal, they can rejoin the fray later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why deploying multiple smaller stacks on adjacent squares can be so valuable. Once an attacking stack is isolated on a vulnerable square, and surrounded by several stacks of defenders on adjacent squares, it is easy to bombard it with siege weapons. Once the enemy units are fatally weakened, you can send in your attack troops to finish them off one by one. That's why patience is so valuable. Because military units heal between turns, it is essential that once you begin to attack a square, you do so with the idea of eliminating ALL the units on that square.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It isn't always easy to wait until you've got overwhelming advantage before commencing an attack, and waiting often means you'll temporarily lose some key production squares to plunderers, but until until you've got your enemy where you want him, you should emphatically NOT attack. There are some exceptions, of course. Sometimes it happens that an enemy poses such a dire threat (i.e., in position to attack and perhaps even capture one of your cities) that you must throw everything but the kitchen sink against him, no matter what the cost-but if you practice the above strategy you can practically eliminate such a scenario.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to set up situations so that attacking stacks are so weakened by bombardment that each counterattack by your defending units has at least an 80% or better chance of success. The way to win wars is by keeping your "kill ratio" at 6-1 or better. By doing this you not only preserve your own army (whilst busily promoting your most valorous warriors), you also sap and weaken your enemy so that when the time comes for you to invade his territory and attack his cities, he can do little to stop you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is how wars usually proceed: Although AIs often signal their intent by massing forces on your borders, or by cancelling open border agreements, they also can attack right out of the blue. No matter what preceeds the opening of hostilities, once a war begins it is essential that the defender immediately switch all his production over to weapons of war. When you fight, you must fight hard, and with all your resources. Unless one of your cities is engaged in building a super-critical Wonder or improvement, you should immediately leave off what your are doing and switch over to war production. You can pick it up later, once the war is over, but during wartime, you neglect armaments production at your own peril.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once war is declared, AI Civs will begin making their way into your territory. The first wave of attack is almost always the strongest, but as the war wears on, and your defensive effort begins to take its toll, you will discover the flow of attackers coming into your territory will begin to weaken, and then dribble to almost nothing. This is what you've been waiting for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the strength of your civilization is where it should be, you should now find that not only will you have eliminated all enemy forces from key strong points, but that you now occupy them yourself and can begin to plan how you will invade your enemy's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first consideration should be: Where should you attack? Now that your rival has weakened himself so as to be ripe for the taking, how best should you proceed?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you should aim to capture one or more of his cities, but which ones? In deciding this you must take into account the all-important issue of cultural control. Virtually any city you capture will incline toward "flipping" back to an enemy's control, simply because right after capture, it is populated almost entirely by enemy citizens. Therefore prime consideration should be given to those cities already besieged by your own cultural boundaries, cities whose capture will result in a rival's cultural boundaries deflating like a punctured balloon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does little good to "spearhead" through an enemy's land and capture a far prize (such as his Capital), and try to hold it. Not only will such a city be ripe for insurrection, but your opponent's cultural pressure will tend to surround and stifle such an outpost, making it useless to the invader. Moreover, it is such a thorn in his side, he will move heaven and earth to try and reclaim it. Only those cities which can be captured and held-those in close proximity to your own culture and development-should be considered for conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can capture one, two, or perhaps even three cities in war during the earlier stages of the game, and by doing so permanently weaken your rival and diminish his cultural realm, you should consider the war a success. Even such modest gains will exact a heavy price in time and production, and once you have obtained them, you should think about making peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To that end, here's a simple tip for maximizing your gains: When you've gotten what you wanted, and you sense (by the levels of your own civic unrest) that your citizens have had about all they can stand of war, go ahead and contact your opponent with the idea of ending the conflict.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If he agrees to talk (as he usually will), you'll be presented with a statement from him suggesting directly that you "bury the hatchet," stop all this "pointless fighting," and end the war. Do NOT select this option. Rather, propose a trade. This will bring you into a screen where you can ask your opponent "What is the price for peace?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you've exacted a heavy toll, he will often offer techs, world maps, gold, or even one of his cities to get you to cease your attacks. This is obviously a big improvement over simply ending the war, and is how you should always sue for peace. Never just accept a peace offer without demanding tribute. You're leaving money on the table if you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once a war is over, you'll often find yourself lousy with military units, and rolling in dough. How you make the transition from war to peace is almost as important as winning the war, and the key here is "redeployment."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In captured cities, you must maintain a sizeable military presence to protect against revolt. Up until the Industrial Era, I've found that five to seven units, apportioned among siege weapons, mobile attackers, and all-purpose units, is usually sufficient. The remainder of your units should be redeployed back to your other cities, with those cities most vulnerable to attacks from other Civs getting the lion's share of the returnees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because wars last so long, you will often discover many obsolete units left over from previous builds still occupying your cities. Some of these units are eligible for modernization, i.e., Catapults can be turned into Cannon, Knights into Cavalrymen, and so forth. Modernization has a price, however, and while some units can be modernized for a very modest expenditure, turning an old Warrior into a Rifleman, say, can be prohibitively expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maintaining over-large armies costs money, and detracts from the overall growth of a Civ. Therefore, during redeployment I usually select only those units which have gained a number of promotions to be candidates for modernization, and even then, I will consider only those which can be upgraded at modest cost. The remaining obsolete units I immediately disband, and use the war returnees to regarrison these cities. I have found that for cities far removed from the front lines, three units will usually suffice both for protection and for happiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus, once you have completed redeployment, you should have your most veteran units occupying your furthest outposts in sufficient number to guard against sneak attack, whilst your interior cities are protected by a smaller token force. As peace returns to your land, you will find yourself eminently protected against all current threats, and poised to return to even greater levels of growth and productivity. If you have managed to capture or control additional health resources such as wheat, fish, deer, clams, or whatever, so much the better. You have won the war, and to the victor go the spoils.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the course of the game I like to conduct at most three real (i.e., non-barbarian) wars: The first two, I prefer to be the agressee rather than the aggressor. Not only does this strategy preserve my reputation (so as not to become the endless victim of "furious" neighbors and to have to spend precious game turns involved in unwanted warfare), but it provides me with ready candidates for my own aggression when I finally find myself ready to begin taking over the board. The third war is usually for me "the war to end all wars," when I am bent on going for the win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more comment on barbarians: In some scenarios you will find yourself in a position to conquer barbarian cities. The "terra" scenario, for example, provides a "New World" occupied by nothing BUT barbarian cities. Barbarian cities provide an avenue for essentially painless warfare. Since none of the AI Civs care a whit for barbarians, you will offend no one by either conquering, or razing, these cities. Also, since barbarians usually trail mightily in the tech race, conquering them is a lot easier than taking Civ cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While barbarians might not build a lot of buildings (although this is not uniformly true), they do develop their lands and resources. Thus taking these cities offers the conquering player sites where all he has to do is grow in order to work these already-developed squares. This gives his Civ a tremendous lift, because he needn't devote valuable worker time toward improving the sites. Also, because barbarian cities have little culture, the player's own culture rapidly expands to fill the void left by the departed pagans. Again, when conquering barbarian sites, give river cities your highest priority, subject, of course, to normal strategic and tactical considerations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once peace has returned to your lands, you must not just rest on your laurels, for you can be sure your rivals are not resting on theirs. As you are in the process of developing your culture and growth, you must always keep pace with your rivals. This means that even though your emphasis should be on building Wonders, growing your cities, and adding to your wealth, culture, and science, you must not neglect your military. As new military techs become available, methodically improve your armies, building a few new units, upgrading your best old veterans, all the while keeping a wary eye on your nearest rivals. Right up to the modern era, when navies and air forces begin to dominate the board, you should pay most attention to your immediate neighbors. Plan your builds to deal with them, for they are your most likely adversaries. It is almost impossible for a Civ one or two countries away (or separated by an ocean) to effectively conduct warfare against you, so the liklihood of attack from one of these is slim.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI Civs are programmed to look for weakness. If you see a Civ on one of your borders begin to move a lot of powerful forces around his own lands, prepare to meet them. Often positioning a few stacks of countering forces along likely invasion routes (while keeping them safely within your own borders) will cause a greedy AI to think twice about attacking you. The longer you keep that Civ at arm's length, the better off you are. War is NOT the answer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Until the end, that is. If you have managed your empire efficiently, built Academies in your most productive Science cities, chosen your Civics with care and circumspection, and developed your lands to their utmost potential, by the time the ending arrives you should be well ahead in techs, size, and productive capacity. At this point, you should be making decisions as to how you want to go about winning the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless one is pursuing a Cultural or Diplomatic victory (neither of which I know how to do), winning usually boils down to either a space race, or military conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In either scenario, one development which should be pursued at any cost is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. This powerful Wonder negates the need to construct either Coal Plants or Hydro Plants, for its completion instantly provides power to all Factories on the continent, giving your Civ a productivity boost unmatched by any other single improvement.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Again, the idea of having good river cities pays another benefit, for not only must the Three Gorges be built in a river city and no where else, a properly developed river city equipped with an Ironworks can make short work of building this Wonder. Here's the best way to go about it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you approach the time when you can research Plastics (the Three Gorges prerequisite), you should try to array your Specialists in such a way so that one of your cities produces at least one Great Engineer. If you've got a Great Engineer on tap before your begin the Three Gorges, you've already reduced the time it takes to build it by better than a third. As soon as you get Plastics, immediately go to your river city and build a Hydro Plant. If the city has an Ironworks, this won't take but a few turns, and will be richly repaid once you begin the dam itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From then on it's a simple matter of monitoring construction until the Great Engineer can complete the dam in a single turn, and then having him finish it. Once the Three Gorges gets going, you're well on your way to victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which way you go from there depends on the game situation. As a matter of fact, you should have chosen your method of victory well before the dam is completed. If you are completely outstripping your opponents (often I've had a game score double or even triple my nearest rival) then you probably ought to shoot for a "Conquest" or "Domination" victory. If you have a rival close to your own score, then perhaps it's best to go for the Space Victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have chosen the Space Race, then you should have already built the Apollo program, and ideally, some of the Space Ship casings. No matter how productive your Civ may be, you cannot dawdle building the Space Ship. Space Ship components cannot be "hurried," but must be built one hammer at a time. If you fall behind in the Space Race, you may never catch up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once I played a game where I had everything going my way. I had super productive cities, I had neutralized all military threats, and all I had to do was build the Space Ship to win. But whilst I had been basking in the reflected glory of my incipient victory, Queen Victoria had busily completed a number of low-tech SS components, and was researching new techs at a furious rate. Nevertheless I felt that my productivity edge was so great that I still stood in little danger of losing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there we were, the Queen and I, both building at breakneck pace. Nevertheless, to my mind, there was no way I could lose. With a great deal of satisfaction I installed the final rivet in my very last SS component, clicked the "end of turn" button, and waited for the victory announcement. I got one, all right, but imagine my dismay when I read "Queen Victoria has won a Space Race victory!"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOT me. I was outraged! I'd been robbed! What an insult! What kind of game is this, anyway?...and so on. But I'd been guilty of overconfidence, and this was my payback. I had spent maybe 40 hours playing, only to be greeted by the supreme disappointment of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But it taught me a lesson: Never dawdle in the Space Race.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're way ahead of your nearest rival, and he hasn't made any significant progress in the Space Race, then you can go for the Conquest or Domination victory. This is just a matter of assembling a powerful Navy (for amphibious assaults), a powerful air force (consisting ideally of 15-20 Stealth Bombers, maybe 10 jet fighters), a very powerful land army-and then launching a war. Your assault forces should consist primarily of Modern Armor units (unequalled for their mobility and ability to attack multiple times), Gunships, and a large backup contingent of Mechanized Infantry. The Mechanized Infantry support the Armor, and can help in finishing off the last battered inhabitants of a beleagured city-but their primary duty is to occupy conquered cities in the wake of your main assault force.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This kind of a combination is virtually unstoppable, and with it you should be able to overwhelm your more backward rivals with unparalled speed. Once that final assault begins, victory isn't far away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the way, you can specify at the beginning of any game which victories will be allowed-and which will not-by selecting the Custom Game option and checking or unchecking each victory option. For example, if you don't uncheck the Domination Victory option, then you will never be able to win by Conquest, because the Domination rubric will kick in before you've conquered the world. But that's enough for now. The rest you can learn by trial and error, and why should I tell you any more? What I've told you I've never seen anywhere else, not in so many words, anyway, so take this go grab yourself a victory in Civilization IV. Good luck!</French>
		<German>[H1]Balancing Growth and Warfare in Civ IV[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Bogustrumper[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Success in Civilization IV usually involves military conquest, and there are no doubt warmongers out there who like nothing more than spending all their time either waging war or preparing to wage war. Nevertheless, one of the hidden messages in the game is that war is expensive, both in time and material, and should only be waged when the time is ripe. Count me among those who adhere to that strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It would be nice if the player could always dictate when and where he would like to go to war. Unfortunately, some of the AI personas do not always allow that luxury. Even the well-defended player will often find himself victim of a sneak attack by Montezuma, Ghenghis Khan, Isabella (or anyone, for that matter)-even if the attacker has no real chance of achieving victory. It therefore behooves the wise player always to be aware of this potential threat, and to take steps to meet it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nevertheless, the wise player should also never forget that if nothing else, going to war involves at least ten turns (and usually many more) where he will be solely occupied with conducting warfare. I've had wars last well over a century on the Civ calendar, and this expenditure of time cannot be dismissed. While you are warring, your peaceful AI opponents are growing and developing, and unless there are very tangible benefits to be got, the intelligent player should try to truncate his military adventures as soon as he has achieved his aims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what strategy should a player pursue so that he will ultimately be victorious in the game itself, as opposed to just winning wars? The key, I think, is balance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So how do you balance growth with warfare, so as to proceed, as much as possible, in an unbroken upward curve toward victory?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One key that seems paramount is possession of river cities. The reason river cities are so precious is two-fold: The first, most obvious benefit of river cities is their ability to spawn farms on many squares. If a river city possesses floodplains, this benefit is enhanced. Farmed floodplains produce a tremendous number of food units, and therefore not only do they allow a city to grow at a rapid rate, they can also be used to quickly produce Settlers and Workers in the early phases of the game without impeding a city's overall growth. Later on, when these units diminish in importance, such cities can easily support a great number of Specialists, which can transform such a city into a "Great People Farm", generating the Great Scientists and Great Engineers so vital to succcess.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second, and ultimately more important benefit of river cities is that once the player obtains the Machinery tech, he can begin to put Watermills on these critical riverside squares. Watermills are good right off the get-go, but as you acquire the Replaceable Parts tech (plus-1 hammer), and later, the Electricity tech (plus-2 commerce), their value begins to multiply. The final addition of the State Property civic completes their development, adding one additional food production to each Watermill square, and turning them into production powerhouses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide another benefit. Most river cities never have to worry about growth. On the upper difficulty levels, however, city growth is always inhibited by either the happiness or health of its citizenry. One concern which remains constant throughout nearly the entire game is the player's struggle to provide enough happiness and health resources to allow his cities to continue to grow. It is a virtual certainty that at many points in the game the player will have to rearrange the squares his citizens are working so as not to outgrow these resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide a handy place to do this. By transferring production (through the city screen) off Farm squares and onto Watermill squares the player can easily restrict, or even stop altogether the growth of his city (allowing health or happiness to catch up) without sacrificing either overall productivity, or the maintenance of Specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have often built Watermills on every available square as soon as possible, reasoning that if I run out of food, I can always return the square to farming. In practice, however, this never seems to happen. By the time I'm able to start gowing again, the Watermill squares will have so gained in value (by techs and civics) that they never need to be refarmed. Of course, it isn't wise to say "never," but as a general rule, the above strategy seems to work beautifully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal of first building, and then improving Watermill squares, also seems to dovetail nicely with a good route through the tech tree, i.e., one in which the player can acquire techs that are not only useful to himself, but also can be traded.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does the player little good to duplicate research efforts by other Civs. He should attempt a route through the tree that gives him unique techs, and the pursuit of Machinery, and later, a beeline to Liberalism (with it's attendant free tech of The Printing Press) provides techs no one else has, and which can also be traded to other civs with little adverse affect. Paper, Liberalism, Education, and so on, are seldom given priority by other Civs, and even though one might despair of ever being the first to gain Electricity or Physics (which the AIs always seem to get first), it's very possible to research Communism and be the first to get the State Property civic, which can also be traded when the time is right.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the cardinal rules of Civ IV is that one must never neglect research. One method of doing this, of course, is by building Cottages. As Cottages mature into Towns, they begin to produce great amounts of commerce, which is directly translatable into research. This is a good approach, and in non-river cities, about the only one available. But oddly enough, Civ IV is structured in such a way that a river city, with all its water squares occupied with Watermills, can become a veritable powerhouse of research. The first time I aggressively pursued this strategy, I expected that my overall research would fall off, but instead, the opposite happened. With judicious use of Watermills I discovered that I was usually able to keep my rate of research at 70%, and as my Civ matured, I could even increase it to 80%, and sometimes even 90%. In the critical end game, this is a powerful benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other writers have noted that the true industrial powerhouses-the kind of cities in which you build the Ironworks, National Epic, and Heroic Epic national wonders-usually turn out not to be cities surrounded by hills (with mines and windmills)-but river cities. One cannot stress enough the importance of these cities. Possession of one or two of these sites can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which brings us back to balance. While warmongering may have its benefits, I have found that it is best to have good relations with as many civs as possible so as to keep a more or less good reputation throughout the game. This does not mean you will not be attacked, for it is almost axiomatic that you will-especially in the earlier stages of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players say that they always want to go to war at the time and place of their choosing, and although I agree with them up to a point, I have found that this emphatically does not mean that you have to be the one who starts a war. There is nothing wrong in making preparations for war, whilst at the same time avoiding it as long as possible. When you are not warring, you are growing in both production and science, and ultimately, for all wins except for cultural victories, this will be the weight that will tip the scales in your favor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One must be vigilant, however. As a Civ grows, the thoughtful player will find himself able to field larger and larger armies without penalty. If you are able to maintain Open Border agreements with your neighbors, you can always visit their cities with either Missionaries or military units (and later, with Spies) to see what they're up to. If you find them building great numbers of Horse Archers, say, you can counter with a force of Spearmen or Pikemen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have discovered that in times of peace, if you keep at least three or four military units in readiness in all cities, and five or six in those cities most vulnerable to attack, you should be adequately prepared for most eventualities. [NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In war, the defender always has the advantage over the attacker. Not only can the defender move about his own territory with much more facility than the invader, but his cities themselves offer defense bonuses which any attacker must overcome before he can conquer and occupy them. It is therefore critical than any player establish good internal lines of communication (via roads and later on, railroads), so that he can at first meet, and later overcome, the inroads made by invading armies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one makes sure to distribute his forces in a flexible and resiliant fashion, he has no reason to fear attack. He should be able to efficiently direct his military units so as to neutralize, and then destroy, enemy forces.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A word on warfare: When defending, many players like to deploy their forces in "stacks of doom," i.e., a great number of forces occuping a single square. I have found that although this may be an effective tactic when you are besieging cities, in the early stages of a war, when you are still recoiling from your enemy's initial onslaught, it is best to array your troops in smaller groups made up of a mix of units. Each group should consist of at least one or two strong defenders (Pikemen or Spearmen, for defense against mounted units), several mobile attack units (Horse Archers, War Elephants, Knights, Cavalrymen, etc.), a number of units that can both attack and defend (Macemen, Musketeers, Riflemen, etc.), and most important, one or more siege weapons (such as Catapults, Cannon, or Artillery).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've got your stacks together, rather than heedlessly attacking everything in sight, it's best to have these smaller mixed stacks occupy strong points along invasion routes (hills, forests, jungles, or, best of all, forested or jungled hills). War in Civ IV should be conducted much like a chess game: Occupy strong squares, block the attacker at as many points as possible, and wait for him to come to you. Only when you have lured him onto weak squares should you choose to attack, and then, it should be an attack to the death.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why siege weapons are so important. Catapults, Cannon, and Artillery should always be regarded as the sacrificial lambs of warfare. They are easy and cheap to build, and their ability to inflict collateral damage cannot be overstated. After a few blows from siege weapons, the units in a stack of attackers will be so weakened as to be easy prey for your other units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you mouse over a stack of attackers, you can always see what you're up against. Typically AI attackers will either send out single marauders (usually mobile attack units), which will try to slip into your territory and plunder juicy squares, followed by attack stacks composed of a variety of units. As imposing as these stacks might be, they can be defeated and annihilated by your own attack stacks-as long as you are patient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A typical problem in defeating these stacks is when they are composed (as they often are with "aggressive" Civs) of units possessing the "immune from first strike" promotion. This is where siege weapons prove so valuable. Although these units are said to be "immune," this does not mean that they cannot be weakened by attack with siege weapons. Neither does it mean that an attacking Catapult or Cannon will necessarily be destroyed by attacking. Often a siege unit will "withdraw" from an attack, and although its own strength may be reduced to almost zero by the attack, it still can survive to fight another day. Such units can either be withdrawn to a safe zone, or joined on a newly occupied square by nearby defensive units. If protected and given a place to heal, they can rejoin the fray later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why deploying multiple smaller stacks on adjacent squares can be so valuable. Once an attacking stack is isolated on a vulnerable square, and surrounded by several stacks of defenders on adjacent squares, it is easy to bombard it with siege weapons. Once the enemy units are fatally weakened, you can send in your attack troops to finish them off one by one. That's why patience is so valuable. Because military units heal between turns, it is essential that once you begin to attack a square, you do so with the idea of eliminating ALL the units on that square.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It isn't always easy to wait until you've got overwhelming advantage before commencing an attack, and waiting often means you'll temporarily lose some key production squares to plunderers, but until until you've got your enemy where you want him, you should emphatically NOT attack. There are some exceptions, of course. Sometimes it happens that an enemy poses such a dire threat (i.e., in position to attack and perhaps even capture one of your cities) that you must throw everything but the kitchen sink against him, no matter what the cost-but if you practice the above strategy you can practically eliminate such a scenario.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to set up situations so that attacking stacks are so weakened by bombardment that each counterattack by your defending units has at least an 80% or better chance of success. The way to win wars is by keeping your "kill ratio" at 6-1 or better. By doing this you not only preserve your own army (whilst busily promoting your most valorous warriors), you also sap and weaken your enemy so that when the time comes for you to invade his territory and attack his cities, he can do little to stop you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is how wars usually proceed: Although AIs often signal their intent by massing forces on your borders, or by cancelling open border agreements, they also can attack right out of the blue. No matter what preceeds the opening of hostilities, once a war begins it is essential that the defender immediately switch all his production over to weapons of war. When you fight, you must fight hard, and with all your resources. Unless one of your cities is engaged in building a super-critical Wonder or improvement, you should immediately leave off what your are doing and switch over to war production. You can pick it up later, once the war is over, but during wartime, you neglect armaments production at your own peril.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once war is declared, AI Civs will begin making their way into your territory. The first wave of attack is almost always the strongest, but as the war wears on, and your defensive effort begins to take its toll, you will discover the flow of attackers coming into your territory will begin to weaken, and then dribble to almost nothing. This is what you've been waiting for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the strength of your civilization is where it should be, you should now find that not only will you have eliminated all enemy forces from key strong points, but that you now occupy them yourself and can begin to plan how you will invade your enemy's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first consideration should be: Where should you attack? Now that your rival has weakened himself so as to be ripe for the taking, how best should you proceed?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you should aim to capture one or more of his cities, but which ones? In deciding this you must take into account the all-important issue of cultural control. Virtually any city you capture will incline toward "flipping" back to an enemy's control, simply because right after capture, it is populated almost entirely by enemy citizens. Therefore prime consideration should be given to those cities already besieged by your own cultural boundaries, cities whose capture will result in a rival's cultural boundaries deflating like a punctured balloon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does little good to "spearhead" through an enemy's land and capture a far prize (such as his Capital), and try to hold it. Not only will such a city be ripe for insurrection, but your opponent's cultural pressure will tend to surround and stifle such an outpost, making it useless to the invader. Moreover, it is such a thorn in his side, he will move heaven and earth to try and reclaim it. Only those cities which can be captured and held-those in close proximity to your own culture and development-should be considered for conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can capture one, two, or perhaps even three cities in war during the earlier stages of the game, and by doing so permanently weaken your rival and diminish his cultural realm, you should consider the war a success. Even such modest gains will exact a heavy price in time and production, and once you have obtained them, you should think about making peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To that end, here's a simple tip for maximizing your gains: When you've gotten what you wanted, and you sense (by the levels of your own civic unrest) that your citizens have had about all they can stand of war, go ahead and contact your opponent with the idea of ending the conflict.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If he agrees to talk (as he usually will), you'll be presented with a statement from him suggesting directly that you "bury the hatchet," stop all this "pointless fighting," and end the war. Do NOT select this option. Rather, propose a trade. This will bring you into a screen where you can ask your opponent "What is the price for peace?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you've exacted a heavy toll, he will often offer techs, world maps, gold, or even one of his cities to get you to cease your attacks. This is obviously a big improvement over simply ending the war, and is how you should always sue for peace. Never just accept a peace offer without demanding tribute. You're leaving money on the table if you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once a war is over, you'll often find yourself lousy with military units, and rolling in dough. How you make the transition from war to peace is almost as important as winning the war, and the key here is "redeployment."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In captured cities, you must maintain a sizeable military presence to protect against revolt. Up until the Industrial Era, I've found that five to seven units, apportioned among siege weapons, mobile attackers, and all-purpose units, is usually sufficient. The remainder of your units should be redeployed back to your other cities, with those cities most vulnerable to attacks from other Civs getting the lion's share of the returnees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because wars last so long, you will often discover many obsolete units left over from previous builds still occupying your cities. Some of these units are eligible for modernization, i.e., Catapults can be turned into Cannon, Knights into Cavalrymen, and so forth. Modernization has a price, however, and while some units can be modernized for a very modest expenditure, turning an old Warrior into a Rifleman, say, can be prohibitively expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maintaining over-large armies costs money, and detracts from the overall growth of a Civ. Therefore, during redeployment I usually select only those units which have gained a number of promotions to be candidates for modernization, and even then, I will consider only those which can be upgraded at modest cost. The remaining obsolete units I immediately disband, and use the war returnees to regarrison these cities. I have found that for cities far removed from the front lines, three units will usually suffice both for protection and for happiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus, once you have completed redeployment, you should have your most veteran units occupying your furthest outposts in sufficient number to guard against sneak attack, whilst your interior cities are protected by a smaller token force. As peace returns to your land, you will find yourself eminently protected against all current threats, and poised to return to even greater levels of growth and productivity. If you have managed to capture or control additional health resources such as wheat, fish, deer, clams, or whatever, so much the better. You have won the war, and to the victor go the spoils.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the course of the game I like to conduct at most three real (i.e., non-barbarian) wars: The first two, I prefer to be the agressee rather than the aggressor. Not only does this strategy preserve my reputation (so as not to become the endless victim of "furious" neighbors and to have to spend precious game turns involved in unwanted warfare), but it provides me with ready candidates for my own aggression when I finally find myself ready to begin taking over the board. The third war is usually for me "the war to end all wars," when I am bent on going for the win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more comment on barbarians: In some scenarios you will find yourself in a position to conquer barbarian cities. The "terra" scenario, for example, provides a "New World" occupied by nothing BUT barbarian cities. Barbarian cities provide an avenue for essentially painless warfare. Since none of the AI Civs care a whit for barbarians, you will offend no one by either conquering, or razing, these cities. Also, since barbarians usually trail mightily in the tech race, conquering them is a lot easier than taking Civ cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While barbarians might not build a lot of buildings (although this is not uniformly true), they do develop their lands and resources. Thus taking these cities offers the conquering player sites where all he has to do is grow in order to work these already-developed squares. This gives his Civ a tremendous lift, because he needn't devote valuable worker time toward improving the sites. Also, because barbarian cities have little culture, the player's own culture rapidly expands to fill the void left by the departed pagans. Again, when conquering barbarian sites, give river cities your highest priority, subject, of course, to normal strategic and tactical considerations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once peace has returned to your lands, you must not just rest on your laurels, for you can be sure your rivals are not resting on theirs. As you are in the process of developing your culture and growth, you must always keep pace with your rivals. This means that even though your emphasis should be on building Wonders, growing your cities, and adding to your wealth, culture, and science, you must not neglect your military. As new military techs become available, methodically improve your armies, building a few new units, upgrading your best old veterans, all the while keeping a wary eye on your nearest rivals. Right up to the modern era, when navies and air forces begin to dominate the board, you should pay most attention to your immediate neighbors. Plan your builds to deal with them, for they are your most likely adversaries. It is almost impossible for a Civ one or two countries away (or separated by an ocean) to effectively conduct warfare against you, so the liklihood of attack from one of these is slim.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI Civs are programmed to look for weakness. If you see a Civ on one of your borders begin to move a lot of powerful forces around his own lands, prepare to meet them. Often positioning a few stacks of countering forces along likely invasion routes (while keeping them safely within your own borders) will cause a greedy AI to think twice about attacking you. The longer you keep that Civ at arm's length, the better off you are. War is NOT the answer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Until the end, that is. If you have managed your empire efficiently, built Academies in your most productive Science cities, chosen your Civics with care and circumspection, and developed your lands to their utmost potential, by the time the ending arrives you should be well ahead in techs, size, and productive capacity. At this point, you should be making decisions as to how you want to go about winning the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless one is pursuing a Cultural or Diplomatic victory (neither of which I know how to do), winning usually boils down to either a space race, or military conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In either scenario, one development which should be pursued at any cost is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. This powerful Wonder negates the need to construct either Coal Plants or Hydro Plants, for its completion instantly provides power to all Factories on the continent, giving your Civ a productivity boost unmatched by any other single improvement.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Again, the idea of having good river cities pays another benefit, for not only must the Three Gorges be built in a river city and no where else, a properly developed river city equipped with an Ironworks can make short work of building this Wonder. Here's the best way to go about it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you approach the time when you can research Plastics (the Three Gorges prerequisite), you should try to array your Specialists in such a way so that one of your cities produces at least one Great Engineer. If you've got a Great Engineer on tap before your begin the Three Gorges, you've already reduced the time it takes to build it by better than a third. As soon as you get Plastics, immediately go to your river city and build a Hydro Plant. If the city has an Ironworks, this won't take but a few turns, and will be richly repaid once you begin the dam itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From then on it's a simple matter of monitoring construction until the Great Engineer can complete the dam in a single turn, and then having him finish it. Once the Three Gorges gets going, you're well on your way to victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which way you go from there depends on the game situation. As a matter of fact, you should have chosen your method of victory well before the dam is completed. If you are completely outstripping your opponents (often I've had a game score double or even triple my nearest rival) then you probably ought to shoot for a "Conquest" or "Domination" victory. If you have a rival close to your own score, then perhaps it's best to go for the Space Victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have chosen the Space Race, then you should have already built the Apollo program, and ideally, some of the Space Ship casings. No matter how productive your Civ may be, you cannot dawdle building the Space Ship. Space Ship components cannot be "hurried," but must be built one hammer at a time. If you fall behind in the Space Race, you may never catch up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once I played a game where I had everything going my way. I had super productive cities, I had neutralized all military threats, and all I had to do was build the Space Ship to win. But whilst I had been basking in the reflected glory of my incipient victory, Queen Victoria had busily completed a number of low-tech SS components, and was researching new techs at a furious rate. Nevertheless I felt that my productivity edge was so great that I still stood in little danger of losing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there we were, the Queen and I, both building at breakneck pace. Nevertheless, to my mind, there was no way I could lose. With a great deal of satisfaction I installed the final rivet in my very last SS component, clicked the "end of turn" button, and waited for the victory announcement. I got one, all right, but imagine my dismay when I read "Queen Victoria has won a Space Race victory!"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOT me. I was outraged! I'd been robbed! What an insult! What kind of game is this, anyway?...and so on. But I'd been guilty of overconfidence, and this was my payback. I had spent maybe 40 hours playing, only to be greeted by the supreme disappointment of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But it taught me a lesson: Never dawdle in the Space Race.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're way ahead of your nearest rival, and he hasn't made any significant progress in the Space Race, then you can go for the Conquest or Domination victory. This is just a matter of assembling a powerful Navy (for amphibious assaults), a powerful air force (consisting ideally of 15-20 Stealth Bombers, maybe 10 jet fighters), a very powerful land army-and then launching a war. Your assault forces should consist primarily of Modern Armor units (unequalled for their mobility and ability to attack multiple times), Gunships, and a large backup contingent of Mechanized Infantry. The Mechanized Infantry support the Armor, and can help in finishing off the last battered inhabitants of a beleagured city-but their primary duty is to occupy conquered cities in the wake of your main assault force.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This kind of a combination is virtually unstoppable, and with it you should be able to overwhelm your more backward rivals with unparalled speed. Once that final assault begins, victory isn't far away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the way, you can specify at the beginning of any game which victories will be allowed-and which will not-by selecting the Custom Game option and checking or unchecking each victory option. For example, if you don't uncheck the Domination Victory option, then you will never be able to win by Conquest, because the Domination rubric will kick in before you've conquered the world. But that's enough for now. The rest you can learn by trial and error, and why should I tell you any more? What I've told you I've never seen anywhere else, not in so many words, anyway, so take this go grab yourself a victory in Civilization IV. Good luck!</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Balancing Growth and Warfare in Civ IV[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Bogustrumper[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Success in Civilization IV usually involves military conquest, and there are no doubt warmongers out there who like nothing more than spending all their time either waging war or preparing to wage war. Nevertheless, one of the hidden messages in the game is that war is expensive, both in time and material, and should only be waged when the time is ripe. Count me among those who adhere to that strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It would be nice if the player could always dictate when and where he would like to go to war. Unfortunately, some of the AI personas do not always allow that luxury. Even the well-defended player will often find himself victim of a sneak attack by Montezuma, Ghenghis Khan, Isabella (or anyone, for that matter)-even if the attacker has no real chance of achieving victory. It therefore behooves the wise player always to be aware of this potential threat, and to take steps to meet it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nevertheless, the wise player should also never forget that if nothing else, going to war involves at least ten turns (and usually many more) where he will be solely occupied with conducting warfare. I've had wars last well over a century on the Civ calendar, and this expenditure of time cannot be dismissed. While you are warring, your peaceful AI opponents are growing and developing, and unless there are very tangible benefits to be got, the intelligent player should try to truncate his military adventures as soon as he has achieved his aims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what strategy should a player pursue so that he will ultimately be victorious in the game itself, as opposed to just winning wars? The key, I think, is balance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So how do you balance growth with warfare, so as to proceed, as much as possible, in an unbroken upward curve toward victory?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One key that seems paramount is possession of river cities. The reason river cities are so precious is two-fold: The first, most obvious benefit of river cities is their ability to spawn farms on many squares. If a river city possesses floodplains, this benefit is enhanced. Farmed floodplains produce a tremendous number of food units, and therefore not only do they allow a city to grow at a rapid rate, they can also be used to quickly produce Settlers and Workers in the early phases of the game without impeding a city's overall growth. Later on, when these units diminish in importance, such cities can easily support a great number of Specialists, which can transform such a city into a "Great People Farm", generating the Great Scientists and Great Engineers so vital to succcess.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second, and ultimately more important benefit of river cities is that once the player obtains the Machinery tech, he can begin to put Watermills on these critical riverside squares. Watermills are good right off the get-go, but as you acquire the Replaceable Parts tech (plus-1 hammer), and later, the Electricity tech (plus-2 commerce), their value begins to multiply. The final addition of the State Property civic completes their development, adding one additional food production to each Watermill square, and turning them into production powerhouses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide another benefit. Most river cities never have to worry about growth. On the upper difficulty levels, however, city growth is always inhibited by either the happiness or health of its citizenry. One concern which remains constant throughout nearly the entire game is the player's struggle to provide enough happiness and health resources to allow his cities to continue to grow. It is a virtual certainty that at many points in the game the player will have to rearrange the squares his citizens are working so as not to outgrow these resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide a handy place to do this. By transferring production (through the city screen) off Farm squares and onto Watermill squares the player can easily restrict, or even stop altogether the growth of his city (allowing health or happiness to catch up) without sacrificing either overall productivity, or the maintenance of Specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have often built Watermills on every available square as soon as possible, reasoning that if I run out of food, I can always return the square to farming. In practice, however, this never seems to happen. By the time I'm able to start gowing again, the Watermill squares will have so gained in value (by techs and civics) that they never need to be refarmed. Of course, it isn't wise to say "never," but as a general rule, the above strategy seems to work beautifully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal of first building, and then improving Watermill squares, also seems to dovetail nicely with a good route through the tech tree, i.e., one in which the player can acquire techs that are not only useful to himself, but also can be traded.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does the player little good to duplicate research efforts by other Civs. He should attempt a route through the tree that gives him unique techs, and the pursuit of Machinery, and later, a beeline to Liberalism (with it's attendant free tech of The Printing Press) provides techs no one else has, and which can also be traded to other civs with little adverse affect. Paper, Liberalism, Education, and so on, are seldom given priority by other Civs, and even though one might despair of ever being the first to gain Electricity or Physics (which the AIs always seem to get first), it's very possible to research Communism and be the first to get the State Property civic, which can also be traded when the time is right.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the cardinal rules of Civ IV is that one must never neglect research. One method of doing this, of course, is by building Cottages. As Cottages mature into Towns, they begin to produce great amounts of commerce, which is directly translatable into research. This is a good approach, and in non-river cities, about the only one available. But oddly enough, Civ IV is structured in such a way that a river city, with all its water squares occupied with Watermills, can become a veritable powerhouse of research. The first time I aggressively pursued this strategy, I expected that my overall research would fall off, but instead, the opposite happened. With judicious use of Watermills I discovered that I was usually able to keep my rate of research at 70%, and as my Civ matured, I could even increase it to 80%, and sometimes even 90%. In the critical end game, this is a powerful benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other writers have noted that the true industrial powerhouses-the kind of cities in which you build the Ironworks, National Epic, and Heroic Epic national wonders-usually turn out not to be cities surrounded by hills (with mines and windmills)-but river cities. One cannot stress enough the importance of these cities. Possession of one or two of these sites can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which brings us back to balance. While warmongering may have its benefits, I have found that it is best to have good relations with as many civs as possible so as to keep a more or less good reputation throughout the game. This does not mean you will not be attacked, for it is almost axiomatic that you will-especially in the earlier stages of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players say that they always want to go to war at the time and place of their choosing, and although I agree with them up to a point, I have found that this emphatically does not mean that you have to be the one who starts a war. There is nothing wrong in making preparations for war, whilst at the same time avoiding it as long as possible. When you are not warring, you are growing in both production and science, and ultimately, for all wins except for cultural victories, this will be the weight that will tip the scales in your favor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One must be vigilant, however. As a Civ grows, the thoughtful player will find himself able to field larger and larger armies without penalty. If you are able to maintain Open Border agreements with your neighbors, you can always visit their cities with either Missionaries or military units (and later, with Spies) to see what they're up to. If you find them building great numbers of Horse Archers, say, you can counter with a force of Spearmen or Pikemen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have discovered that in times of peace, if you keep at least three or four military units in readiness in all cities, and five or six in those cities most vulnerable to attack, you should be adequately prepared for most eventualities. [NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In war, the defender always has the advantage over the attacker. Not only can the defender move about his own territory with much more facility than the invader, but his cities themselves offer defense bonuses which any attacker must overcome before he can conquer and occupy them. It is therefore critical than any player establish good internal lines of communication (via roads and later on, railroads), so that he can at first meet, and later overcome, the inroads made by invading armies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one makes sure to distribute his forces in a flexible and resiliant fashion, he has no reason to fear attack. He should be able to efficiently direct his military units so as to neutralize, and then destroy, enemy forces.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A word on warfare: When defending, many players like to deploy their forces in "stacks of doom," i.e., a great number of forces occuping a single square. I have found that although this may be an effective tactic when you are besieging cities, in the early stages of a war, when you are still recoiling from your enemy's initial onslaught, it is best to array your troops in smaller groups made up of a mix of units. Each group should consist of at least one or two strong defenders (Pikemen or Spearmen, for defense against mounted units), several mobile attack units (Horse Archers, War Elephants, Knights, Cavalrymen, etc.), a number of units that can both attack and defend (Macemen, Musketeers, Riflemen, etc.), and most important, one or more siege weapons (such as Catapults, Cannon, or Artillery).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've got your stacks together, rather than heedlessly attacking everything in sight, it's best to have these smaller mixed stacks occupy strong points along invasion routes (hills, forests, jungles, or, best of all, forested or jungled hills). War in Civ IV should be conducted much like a chess game: Occupy strong squares, block the attacker at as many points as possible, and wait for him to come to you. Only when you have lured him onto weak squares should you choose to attack, and then, it should be an attack to the death.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why siege weapons are so important. Catapults, Cannon, and Artillery should always be regarded as the sacrificial lambs of warfare. They are easy and cheap to build, and their ability to inflict collateral damage cannot be overstated. After a few blows from siege weapons, the units in a stack of attackers will be so weakened as to be easy prey for your other units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you mouse over a stack of attackers, you can always see what you're up against. Typically AI attackers will either send out single marauders (usually mobile attack units), which will try to slip into your territory and plunder juicy squares, followed by attack stacks composed of a variety of units. As imposing as these stacks might be, they can be defeated and annihilated by your own attack stacks-as long as you are patient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A typical problem in defeating these stacks is when they are composed (as they often are with "aggressive" Civs) of units possessing the "immune from first strike" promotion. This is where siege weapons prove so valuable. Although these units are said to be "immune," this does not mean that they cannot be weakened by attack with siege weapons. Neither does it mean that an attacking Catapult or Cannon will necessarily be destroyed by attacking. Often a siege unit will "withdraw" from an attack, and although its own strength may be reduced to almost zero by the attack, it still can survive to fight another day. Such units can either be withdrawn to a safe zone, or joined on a newly occupied square by nearby defensive units. If protected and given a place to heal, they can rejoin the fray later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why deploying multiple smaller stacks on adjacent squares can be so valuable. Once an attacking stack is isolated on a vulnerable square, and surrounded by several stacks of defenders on adjacent squares, it is easy to bombard it with siege weapons. Once the enemy units are fatally weakened, you can send in your attack troops to finish them off one by one. That's why patience is so valuable. Because military units heal between turns, it is essential that once you begin to attack a square, you do so with the idea of eliminating ALL the units on that square.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It isn't always easy to wait until you've got overwhelming advantage before commencing an attack, and waiting often means you'll temporarily lose some key production squares to plunderers, but until until you've got your enemy where you want him, you should emphatically NOT attack. There are some exceptions, of course. Sometimes it happens that an enemy poses such a dire threat (i.e., in position to attack and perhaps even capture one of your cities) that you must throw everything but the kitchen sink against him, no matter what the cost-but if you practice the above strategy you can practically eliminate such a scenario.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to set up situations so that attacking stacks are so weakened by bombardment that each counterattack by your defending units has at least an 80% or better chance of success. The way to win wars is by keeping your "kill ratio" at 6-1 or better. By doing this you not only preserve your own army (whilst busily promoting your most valorous warriors), you also sap and weaken your enemy so that when the time comes for you to invade his territory and attack his cities, he can do little to stop you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is how wars usually proceed: Although AIs often signal their intent by massing forces on your borders, or by cancelling open border agreements, they also can attack right out of the blue. No matter what preceeds the opening of hostilities, once a war begins it is essential that the defender immediately switch all his production over to weapons of war. When you fight, you must fight hard, and with all your resources. Unless one of your cities is engaged in building a super-critical Wonder or improvement, you should immediately leave off what your are doing and switch over to war production. You can pick it up later, once the war is over, but during wartime, you neglect armaments production at your own peril.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once war is declared, AI Civs will begin making their way into your territory. The first wave of attack is almost always the strongest, but as the war wears on, and your defensive effort begins to take its toll, you will discover the flow of attackers coming into your territory will begin to weaken, and then dribble to almost nothing. This is what you've been waiting for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the strength of your civilization is where it should be, you should now find that not only will you have eliminated all enemy forces from key strong points, but that you now occupy them yourself and can begin to plan how you will invade your enemy's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first consideration should be: Where should you attack? Now that your rival has weakened himself so as to be ripe for the taking, how best should you proceed?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you should aim to capture one or more of his cities, but which ones? In deciding this you must take into account the all-important issue of cultural control. Virtually any city you capture will incline toward "flipping" back to an enemy's control, simply because right after capture, it is populated almost entirely by enemy citizens. Therefore prime consideration should be given to those cities already besieged by your own cultural boundaries, cities whose capture will result in a rival's cultural boundaries deflating like a punctured balloon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does little good to "spearhead" through an enemy's land and capture a far prize (such as his Capital), and try to hold it. Not only will such a city be ripe for insurrection, but your opponent's cultural pressure will tend to surround and stifle such an outpost, making it useless to the invader. Moreover, it is such a thorn in his side, he will move heaven and earth to try and reclaim it. Only those cities which can be captured and held-those in close proximity to your own culture and development-should be considered for conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can capture one, two, or perhaps even three cities in war during the earlier stages of the game, and by doing so permanently weaken your rival and diminish his cultural realm, you should consider the war a success. Even such modest gains will exact a heavy price in time and production, and once you have obtained them, you should think about making peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To that end, here's a simple tip for maximizing your gains: When you've gotten what you wanted, and you sense (by the levels of your own civic unrest) that your citizens have had about all they can stand of war, go ahead and contact your opponent with the idea of ending the conflict.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If he agrees to talk (as he usually will), you'll be presented with a statement from him suggesting directly that you "bury the hatchet," stop all this "pointless fighting," and end the war. Do NOT select this option. Rather, propose a trade. This will bring you into a screen where you can ask your opponent "What is the price for peace?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you've exacted a heavy toll, he will often offer techs, world maps, gold, or even one of his cities to get you to cease your attacks. This is obviously a big improvement over simply ending the war, and is how you should always sue for peace. Never just accept a peace offer without demanding tribute. You're leaving money on the table if you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once a war is over, you'll often find yourself lousy with military units, and rolling in dough. How you make the transition from war to peace is almost as important as winning the war, and the key here is "redeployment."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In captured cities, you must maintain a sizeable military presence to protect against revolt. Up until the Industrial Era, I've found that five to seven units, apportioned among siege weapons, mobile attackers, and all-purpose units, is usually sufficient. The remainder of your units should be redeployed back to your other cities, with those cities most vulnerable to attacks from other Civs getting the lion's share of the returnees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because wars last so long, you will often discover many obsolete units left over from previous builds still occupying your cities. Some of these units are eligible for modernization, i.e., Catapults can be turned into Cannon, Knights into Cavalrymen, and so forth. Modernization has a price, however, and while some units can be modernized for a very modest expenditure, turning an old Warrior into a Rifleman, say, can be prohibitively expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maintaining over-large armies costs money, and detracts from the overall growth of a Civ. Therefore, during redeployment I usually select only those units which have gained a number of promotions to be candidates for modernization, and even then, I will consider only those which can be upgraded at modest cost. The remaining obsolete units I immediately disband, and use the war returnees to regarrison these cities. I have found that for cities far removed from the front lines, three units will usually suffice both for protection and for happiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus, once you have completed redeployment, you should have your most veteran units occupying your furthest outposts in sufficient number to guard against sneak attack, whilst your interior cities are protected by a smaller token force. As peace returns to your land, you will find yourself eminently protected against all current threats, and poised to return to even greater levels of growth and productivity. If you have managed to capture or control additional health resources such as wheat, fish, deer, clams, or whatever, so much the better. You have won the war, and to the victor go the spoils.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the course of the game I like to conduct at most three real (i.e., non-barbarian) wars: The first two, I prefer to be the agressee rather than the aggressor. Not only does this strategy preserve my reputation (so as not to become the endless victim of "furious" neighbors and to have to spend precious game turns involved in unwanted warfare), but it provides me with ready candidates for my own aggression when I finally find myself ready to begin taking over the board. The third war is usually for me "the war to end all wars," when I am bent on going for the win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more comment on barbarians: In some scenarios you will find yourself in a position to conquer barbarian cities. The "terra" scenario, for example, provides a "New World" occupied by nothing BUT barbarian cities. Barbarian cities provide an avenue for essentially painless warfare. Since none of the AI Civs care a whit for barbarians, you will offend no one by either conquering, or razing, these cities. Also, since barbarians usually trail mightily in the tech race, conquering them is a lot easier than taking Civ cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While barbarians might not build a lot of buildings (although this is not uniformly true), they do develop their lands and resources. Thus taking these cities offers the conquering player sites where all he has to do is grow in order to work these already-developed squares. This gives his Civ a tremendous lift, because he needn't devote valuable worker time toward improving the sites. Also, because barbarian cities have little culture, the player's own culture rapidly expands to fill the void left by the departed pagans. Again, when conquering barbarian sites, give river cities your highest priority, subject, of course, to normal strategic and tactical considerations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once peace has returned to your lands, you must not just rest on your laurels, for you can be sure your rivals are not resting on theirs. As you are in the process of developing your culture and growth, you must always keep pace with your rivals. This means that even though your emphasis should be on building Wonders, growing your cities, and adding to your wealth, culture, and science, you must not neglect your military. As new military techs become available, methodically improve your armies, building a few new units, upgrading your best old veterans, all the while keeping a wary eye on your nearest rivals. Right up to the modern era, when navies and air forces begin to dominate the board, you should pay most attention to your immediate neighbors. Plan your builds to deal with them, for they are your most likely adversaries. It is almost impossible for a Civ one or two countries away (or separated by an ocean) to effectively conduct warfare against you, so the liklihood of attack from one of these is slim.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI Civs are programmed to look for weakness. If you see a Civ on one of your borders begin to move a lot of powerful forces around his own lands, prepare to meet them. Often positioning a few stacks of countering forces along likely invasion routes (while keeping them safely within your own borders) will cause a greedy AI to think twice about attacking you. The longer you keep that Civ at arm's length, the better off you are. War is NOT the answer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Until the end, that is. If you have managed your empire efficiently, built Academies in your most productive Science cities, chosen your Civics with care and circumspection, and developed your lands to their utmost potential, by the time the ending arrives you should be well ahead in techs, size, and productive capacity. At this point, you should be making decisions as to how you want to go about winning the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless one is pursuing a Cultural or Diplomatic victory (neither of which I know how to do), winning usually boils down to either a space race, or military conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In either scenario, one development which should be pursued at any cost is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. This powerful Wonder negates the need to construct either Coal Plants or Hydro Plants, for its completion instantly provides power to all Factories on the continent, giving your Civ a productivity boost unmatched by any other single improvement.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Again, the idea of having good river cities pays another benefit, for not only must the Three Gorges be built in a river city and no where else, a properly developed river city equipped with an Ironworks can make short work of building this Wonder. Here's the best way to go about it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you approach the time when you can research Plastics (the Three Gorges prerequisite), you should try to array your Specialists in such a way so that one of your cities produces at least one Great Engineer. If you've got a Great Engineer on tap before your begin the Three Gorges, you've already reduced the time it takes to build it by better than a third. As soon as you get Plastics, immediately go to your river city and build a Hydro Plant. If the city has an Ironworks, this won't take but a few turns, and will be richly repaid once you begin the dam itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From then on it's a simple matter of monitoring construction until the Great Engineer can complete the dam in a single turn, and then having him finish it. Once the Three Gorges gets going, you're well on your way to victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which way you go from there depends on the game situation. As a matter of fact, you should have chosen your method of victory well before the dam is completed. If you are completely outstripping your opponents (often I've had a game score double or even triple my nearest rival) then you probably ought to shoot for a "Conquest" or "Domination" victory. If you have a rival close to your own score, then perhaps it's best to go for the Space Victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have chosen the Space Race, then you should have already built the Apollo program, and ideally, some of the Space Ship casings. No matter how productive your Civ may be, you cannot dawdle building the Space Ship. Space Ship components cannot be "hurried," but must be built one hammer at a time. If you fall behind in the Space Race, you may never catch up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once I played a game where I had everything going my way. I had super productive cities, I had neutralized all military threats, and all I had to do was build the Space Ship to win. But whilst I had been basking in the reflected glory of my incipient victory, Queen Victoria had busily completed a number of low-tech SS components, and was researching new techs at a furious rate. Nevertheless I felt that my productivity edge was so great that I still stood in little danger of losing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there we were, the Queen and I, both building at breakneck pace. Nevertheless, to my mind, there was no way I could lose. With a great deal of satisfaction I installed the final rivet in my very last SS component, clicked the "end of turn" button, and waited for the victory announcement. I got one, all right, but imagine my dismay when I read "Queen Victoria has won a Space Race victory!"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOT me. I was outraged! I'd been robbed! What an insult! What kind of game is this, anyway?...and so on. But I'd been guilty of overconfidence, and this was my payback. I had spent maybe 40 hours playing, only to be greeted by the supreme disappointment of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But it taught me a lesson: Never dawdle in the Space Race.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're way ahead of your nearest rival, and he hasn't made any significant progress in the Space Race, then you can go for the Conquest or Domination victory. This is just a matter of assembling a powerful Navy (for amphibious assaults), a powerful air force (consisting ideally of 15-20 Stealth Bombers, maybe 10 jet fighters), a very powerful land army-and then launching a war. Your assault forces should consist primarily of Modern Armor units (unequalled for their mobility and ability to attack multiple times), Gunships, and a large backup contingent of Mechanized Infantry. The Mechanized Infantry support the Armor, and can help in finishing off the last battered inhabitants of a beleagured city-but their primary duty is to occupy conquered cities in the wake of your main assault force.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This kind of a combination is virtually unstoppable, and with it you should be able to overwhelm your more backward rivals with unparalled speed. Once that final assault begins, victory isn't far away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the way, you can specify at the beginning of any game which victories will be allowed-and which will not-by selecting the Custom Game option and checking or unchecking each victory option. For example, if you don't uncheck the Domination Victory option, then you will never be able to win by Conquest, because the Domination rubric will kick in before you've conquered the world. But that's enough for now. The rest you can learn by trial and error, and why should I tell you any more? What I've told you I've never seen anywhere else, not in so many words, anyway, so take this go grab yourself a victory in Civilization IV. Good luck!</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Balancing Growth and Warfare in Civ IV[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Bogustrumper[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Success in Civilization IV usually involves military conquest, and there are no doubt warmongers out there who like nothing more than spending all their time either waging war or preparing to wage war. Nevertheless, one of the hidden messages in the game is that war is expensive, both in time and material, and should only be waged when the time is ripe. Count me among those who adhere to that strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It would be nice if the player could always dictate when and where he would like to go to war. Unfortunately, some of the AI personas do not always allow that luxury. Even the well-defended player will often find himself victim of a sneak attack by Montezuma, Ghenghis Khan, Isabella (or anyone, for that matter)-even if the attacker has no real chance of achieving victory. It therefore behooves the wise player always to be aware of this potential threat, and to take steps to meet it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Nevertheless, the wise player should also never forget that if nothing else, going to war involves at least ten turns (and usually many more) where he will be solely occupied with conducting warfare. I've had wars last well over a century on the Civ calendar, and this expenditure of time cannot be dismissed. While you are warring, your peaceful AI opponents are growing and developing, and unless there are very tangible benefits to be got, the intelligent player should try to truncate his military adventures as soon as he has achieved his aims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what strategy should a player pursue so that he will ultimately be victorious in the game itself, as opposed to just winning wars? The key, I think, is balance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So how do you balance growth with warfare, so as to proceed, as much as possible, in an unbroken upward curve toward victory?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One key that seems paramount is possession of river cities. The reason river cities are so precious is two-fold: The first, most obvious benefit of river cities is their ability to spawn farms on many squares. If a river city possesses floodplains, this benefit is enhanced. Farmed floodplains produce a tremendous number of food units, and therefore not only do they allow a city to grow at a rapid rate, they can also be used to quickly produce Settlers and Workers in the early phases of the game without impeding a city's overall growth. Later on, when these units diminish in importance, such cities can easily support a great number of Specialists, which can transform such a city into a "Great People Farm", generating the Great Scientists and Great Engineers so vital to succcess.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The second, and ultimately more important benefit of river cities is that once the player obtains the Machinery tech, he can begin to put Watermills on these critical riverside squares. Watermills are good right off the get-go, but as you acquire the Replaceable Parts tech (plus-1 hammer), and later, the Electricity tech (plus-2 commerce), their value begins to multiply. The final addition of the State Property civic completes their development, adding one additional food production to each Watermill square, and turning them into production powerhouses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide another benefit. Most river cities never have to worry about growth. On the upper difficulty levels, however, city growth is always inhibited by either the happiness or health of its citizenry. One concern which remains constant throughout nearly the entire game is the player's struggle to provide enough happiness and health resources to allow his cities to continue to grow. It is a virtual certainty that at many points in the game the player will have to rearrange the squares his citizens are working so as not to outgrow these resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Watermills provide a handy place to do this. By transferring production (through the city screen) off Farm squares and onto Watermill squares the player can easily restrict, or even stop altogether the growth of his city (allowing health or happiness to catch up) without sacrificing either overall productivity, or the maintenance of Specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have often built Watermills on every available square as soon as possible, reasoning that if I run out of food, I can always return the square to farming. In practice, however, this never seems to happen. By the time I'm able to start gowing again, the Watermill squares will have so gained in value (by techs and civics) that they never need to be refarmed. Of course, it isn't wise to say "never," but as a general rule, the above strategy seems to work beautifully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal of first building, and then improving Watermill squares, also seems to dovetail nicely with a good route through the tech tree, i.e., one in which the player can acquire techs that are not only useful to himself, but also can be traded.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does the player little good to duplicate research efforts by other Civs. He should attempt a route through the tree that gives him unique techs, and the pursuit of Machinery, and later, a beeline to Liberalism (with it's attendant free tech of The Printing Press) provides techs no one else has, and which can also be traded to other civs with little adverse affect. Paper, Liberalism, Education, and so on, are seldom given priority by other Civs, and even though one might despair of ever being the first to gain Electricity or Physics (which the AIs always seem to get first), it's very possible to research Communism and be the first to get the State Property civic, which can also be traded when the time is right.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the cardinal rules of Civ IV is that one must never neglect research. One method of doing this, of course, is by building Cottages. As Cottages mature into Towns, they begin to produce great amounts of commerce, which is directly translatable into research. This is a good approach, and in non-river cities, about the only one available. But oddly enough, Civ IV is structured in such a way that a river city, with all its water squares occupied with Watermills, can become a veritable powerhouse of research. The first time I aggressively pursued this strategy, I expected that my overall research would fall off, but instead, the opposite happened. With judicious use of Watermills I discovered that I was usually able to keep my rate of research at 70%, and as my Civ matured, I could even increase it to 80%, and sometimes even 90%. In the critical end game, this is a powerful benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other writers have noted that the true industrial powerhouses-the kind of cities in which you build the Ironworks, National Epic, and Heroic Epic national wonders-usually turn out not to be cities surrounded by hills (with mines and windmills)-but river cities. One cannot stress enough the importance of these cities. Possession of one or two of these sites can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which brings us back to balance. While warmongering may have its benefits, I have found that it is best to have good relations with as many civs as possible so as to keep a more or less good reputation throughout the game. This does not mean you will not be attacked, for it is almost axiomatic that you will-especially in the earlier stages of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players say that they always want to go to war at the time and place of their choosing, and although I agree with them up to a point, I have found that this emphatically does not mean that you have to be the one who starts a war. There is nothing wrong in making preparations for war, whilst at the same time avoiding it as long as possible. When you are not warring, you are growing in both production and science, and ultimately, for all wins except for cultural victories, this will be the weight that will tip the scales in your favor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One must be vigilant, however. As a Civ grows, the thoughtful player will find himself able to field larger and larger armies without penalty. If you are able to maintain Open Border agreements with your neighbors, you can always visit their cities with either Missionaries or military units (and later, with Spies) to see what they're up to. If you find them building great numbers of Horse Archers, say, you can counter with a force of Spearmen or Pikemen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have discovered that in times of peace, if you keep at least three or four military units in readiness in all cities, and five or six in those cities most vulnerable to attack, you should be adequately prepared for most eventualities. [NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In war, the defender always has the advantage over the attacker. Not only can the defender move about his own territory with much more facility than the invader, but his cities themselves offer defense bonuses which any attacker must overcome before he can conquer and occupy them. It is therefore critical than any player establish good internal lines of communication (via roads and later on, railroads), so that he can at first meet, and later overcome, the inroads made by invading armies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one makes sure to distribute his forces in a flexible and resiliant fashion, he has no reason to fear attack. He should be able to efficiently direct his military units so as to neutralize, and then destroy, enemy forces.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A word on warfare: When defending, many players like to deploy their forces in "stacks of doom," i.e., a great number of forces occuping a single square. I have found that although this may be an effective tactic when you are besieging cities, in the early stages of a war, when you are still recoiling from your enemy's initial onslaught, it is best to array your troops in smaller groups made up of a mix of units. Each group should consist of at least one or two strong defenders (Pikemen or Spearmen, for defense against mounted units), several mobile attack units (Horse Archers, War Elephants, Knights, Cavalrymen, etc.), a number of units that can both attack and defend (Macemen, Musketeers, Riflemen, etc.), and most important, one or more siege weapons (such as Catapults, Cannon, or Artillery).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've got your stacks together, rather than heedlessly attacking everything in sight, it's best to have these smaller mixed stacks occupy strong points along invasion routes (hills, forests, jungles, or, best of all, forested or jungled hills). War in Civ IV should be conducted much like a chess game: Occupy strong squares, block the attacker at as many points as possible, and wait for him to come to you. Only when you have lured him onto weak squares should you choose to attack, and then, it should be an attack to the death.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why siege weapons are so important. Catapults, Cannon, and Artillery should always be regarded as the sacrificial lambs of warfare. They are easy and cheap to build, and their ability to inflict collateral damage cannot be overstated. After a few blows from siege weapons, the units in a stack of attackers will be so weakened as to be easy prey for your other units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you mouse over a stack of attackers, you can always see what you're up against. Typically AI attackers will either send out single marauders (usually mobile attack units), which will try to slip into your territory and plunder juicy squares, followed by attack stacks composed of a variety of units. As imposing as these stacks might be, they can be defeated and annihilated by your own attack stacks-as long as you are patient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A typical problem in defeating these stacks is when they are composed (as they often are with "aggressive" Civs) of units possessing the "immune from first strike" promotion. This is where siege weapons prove so valuable. Although these units are said to be "immune," this does not mean that they cannot be weakened by attack with siege weapons. Neither does it mean that an attacking Catapult or Cannon will necessarily be destroyed by attacking. Often a siege unit will "withdraw" from an attack, and although its own strength may be reduced to almost zero by the attack, it still can survive to fight another day. Such units can either be withdrawn to a safe zone, or joined on a newly occupied square by nearby defensive units. If protected and given a place to heal, they can rejoin the fray later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is why deploying multiple smaller stacks on adjacent squares can be so valuable. Once an attacking stack is isolated on a vulnerable square, and surrounded by several stacks of defenders on adjacent squares, it is easy to bombard it with siege weapons. Once the enemy units are fatally weakened, you can send in your attack troops to finish them off one by one. That's why patience is so valuable. Because military units heal between turns, it is essential that once you begin to attack a square, you do so with the idea of eliminating ALL the units on that square.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It isn't always easy to wait until you've got overwhelming advantage before commencing an attack, and waiting often means you'll temporarily lose some key production squares to plunderers, but until until you've got your enemy where you want him, you should emphatically NOT attack. There are some exceptions, of course. Sometimes it happens that an enemy poses such a dire threat (i.e., in position to attack and perhaps even capture one of your cities) that you must throw everything but the kitchen sink against him, no matter what the cost-but if you practice the above strategy you can practically eliminate such a scenario.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I try to set up situations so that attacking stacks are so weakened by bombardment that each counterattack by your defending units has at least an 80% or better chance of success. The way to win wars is by keeping your "kill ratio" at 6-1 or better. By doing this you not only preserve your own army (whilst busily promoting your most valorous warriors), you also sap and weaken your enemy so that when the time comes for you to invade his territory and attack his cities, he can do little to stop you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is how wars usually proceed: Although AIs often signal their intent by massing forces on your borders, or by cancelling open border agreements, they also can attack right out of the blue. No matter what preceeds the opening of hostilities, once a war begins it is essential that the defender immediately switch all his production over to weapons of war. When you fight, you must fight hard, and with all your resources. Unless one of your cities is engaged in building a super-critical Wonder or improvement, you should immediately leave off what your are doing and switch over to war production. You can pick it up later, once the war is over, but during wartime, you neglect armaments production at your own peril.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once war is declared, AI Civs will begin making their way into your territory. The first wave of attack is almost always the strongest, but as the war wears on, and your defensive effort begins to take its toll, you will discover the flow of attackers coming into your territory will begin to weaken, and then dribble to almost nothing. This is what you've been waiting for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the strength of your civilization is where it should be, you should now find that not only will you have eliminated all enemy forces from key strong points, but that you now occupy them yourself and can begin to plan how you will invade your enemy's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first consideration should be: Where should you attack? Now that your rival has weakened himself so as to be ripe for the taking, how best should you proceed?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you should aim to capture one or more of his cities, but which ones? In deciding this you must take into account the all-important issue of cultural control. Virtually any city you capture will incline toward "flipping" back to an enemy's control, simply because right after capture, it is populated almost entirely by enemy citizens. Therefore prime consideration should be given to those cities already besieged by your own cultural boundaries, cities whose capture will result in a rival's cultural boundaries deflating like a punctured balloon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It does little good to "spearhead" through an enemy's land and capture a far prize (such as his Capital), and try to hold it. Not only will such a city be ripe for insurrection, but your opponent's cultural pressure will tend to surround and stifle such an outpost, making it useless to the invader. Moreover, it is such a thorn in his side, he will move heaven and earth to try and reclaim it. Only those cities which can be captured and held-those in close proximity to your own culture and development-should be considered for conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can capture one, two, or perhaps even three cities in war during the earlier stages of the game, and by doing so permanently weaken your rival and diminish his cultural realm, you should consider the war a success. Even such modest gains will exact a heavy price in time and production, and once you have obtained them, you should think about making peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To that end, here's a simple tip for maximizing your gains: When you've gotten what you wanted, and you sense (by the levels of your own civic unrest) that your citizens have had about all they can stand of war, go ahead and contact your opponent with the idea of ending the conflict.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If he agrees to talk (as he usually will), you'll be presented with a statement from him suggesting directly that you "bury the hatchet," stop all this "pointless fighting," and end the war. Do NOT select this option. Rather, propose a trade. This will bring you into a screen where you can ask your opponent "What is the price for peace?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you've exacted a heavy toll, he will often offer techs, world maps, gold, or even one of his cities to get you to cease your attacks. This is obviously a big improvement over simply ending the war, and is how you should always sue for peace. Never just accept a peace offer without demanding tribute. You're leaving money on the table if you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once a war is over, you'll often find yourself lousy with military units, and rolling in dough. How you make the transition from war to peace is almost as important as winning the war, and the key here is "redeployment."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In captured cities, you must maintain a sizeable military presence to protect against revolt. Up until the Industrial Era, I've found that five to seven units, apportioned among siege weapons, mobile attackers, and all-purpose units, is usually sufficient. The remainder of your units should be redeployed back to your other cities, with those cities most vulnerable to attacks from other Civs getting the lion's share of the returnees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because wars last so long, you will often discover many obsolete units left over from previous builds still occupying your cities. Some of these units are eligible for modernization, i.e., Catapults can be turned into Cannon, Knights into Cavalrymen, and so forth. Modernization has a price, however, and while some units can be modernized for a very modest expenditure, turning an old Warrior into a Rifleman, say, can be prohibitively expensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Maintaining over-large armies costs money, and detracts from the overall growth of a Civ. Therefore, during redeployment I usually select only those units which have gained a number of promotions to be candidates for modernization, and even then, I will consider only those which can be upgraded at modest cost. The remaining obsolete units I immediately disband, and use the war returnees to regarrison these cities. I have found that for cities far removed from the front lines, three units will usually suffice both for protection and for happiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus, once you have completed redeployment, you should have your most veteran units occupying your furthest outposts in sufficient number to guard against sneak attack, whilst your interior cities are protected by a smaller token force. As peace returns to your land, you will find yourself eminently protected against all current threats, and poised to return to even greater levels of growth and productivity. If you have managed to capture or control additional health resources such as wheat, fish, deer, clams, or whatever, so much the better. You have won the war, and to the victor go the spoils.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the course of the game I like to conduct at most three real (i.e., non-barbarian) wars: The first two, I prefer to be the agressee rather than the aggressor. Not only does this strategy preserve my reputation (so as not to become the endless victim of "furious" neighbors and to have to spend precious game turns involved in unwanted warfare), but it provides me with ready candidates for my own aggression when I finally find myself ready to begin taking over the board. The third war is usually for me "the war to end all wars," when I am bent on going for the win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more comment on barbarians: In some scenarios you will find yourself in a position to conquer barbarian cities. The "terra" scenario, for example, provides a "New World" occupied by nothing BUT barbarian cities. Barbarian cities provide an avenue for essentially painless warfare. Since none of the AI Civs care a whit for barbarians, you will offend no one by either conquering, or razing, these cities. Also, since barbarians usually trail mightily in the tech race, conquering them is a lot easier than taking Civ cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While barbarians might not build a lot of buildings (although this is not uniformly true), they do develop their lands and resources. Thus taking these cities offers the conquering player sites where all he has to do is grow in order to work these already-developed squares. This gives his Civ a tremendous lift, because he needn't devote valuable worker time toward improving the sites. Also, because barbarian cities have little culture, the player's own culture rapidly expands to fill the void left by the departed pagans. Again, when conquering barbarian sites, give river cities your highest priority, subject, of course, to normal strategic and tactical considerations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once peace has returned to your lands, you must not just rest on your laurels, for you can be sure your rivals are not resting on theirs. As you are in the process of developing your culture and growth, you must always keep pace with your rivals. This means that even though your emphasis should be on building Wonders, growing your cities, and adding to your wealth, culture, and science, you must not neglect your military. As new military techs become available, methodically improve your armies, building a few new units, upgrading your best old veterans, all the while keeping a wary eye on your nearest rivals. Right up to the modern era, when navies and air forces begin to dominate the board, you should pay most attention to your immediate neighbors. Plan your builds to deal with them, for they are your most likely adversaries. It is almost impossible for a Civ one or two countries away (or separated by an ocean) to effectively conduct warfare against you, so the liklihood of attack from one of these is slim.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI Civs are programmed to look for weakness. If you see a Civ on one of your borders begin to move a lot of powerful forces around his own lands, prepare to meet them. Often positioning a few stacks of countering forces along likely invasion routes (while keeping them safely within your own borders) will cause a greedy AI to think twice about attacking you. The longer you keep that Civ at arm's length, the better off you are. War is NOT the answer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Until the end, that is. If you have managed your empire efficiently, built Academies in your most productive Science cities, chosen your Civics with care and circumspection, and developed your lands to their utmost potential, by the time the ending arrives you should be well ahead in techs, size, and productive capacity. At this point, you should be making decisions as to how you want to go about winning the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless one is pursuing a Cultural or Diplomatic victory (neither of which I know how to do), winning usually boils down to either a space race, or military conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In either scenario, one development which should be pursued at any cost is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. This powerful Wonder negates the need to construct either Coal Plants or Hydro Plants, for its completion instantly provides power to all Factories on the continent, giving your Civ a productivity boost unmatched by any other single improvement.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Again, the idea of having good river cities pays another benefit, for not only must the Three Gorges be built in a river city and no where else, a properly developed river city equipped with an Ironworks can make short work of building this Wonder. Here's the best way to go about it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you approach the time when you can research Plastics (the Three Gorges prerequisite), you should try to array your Specialists in such a way so that one of your cities produces at least one Great Engineer. If you've got a Great Engineer on tap before your begin the Three Gorges, you've already reduced the time it takes to build it by better than a third. As soon as you get Plastics, immediately go to your river city and build a Hydro Plant. If the city has an Ironworks, this won't take but a few turns, and will be richly repaid once you begin the dam itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From then on it's a simple matter of monitoring construction until the Great Engineer can complete the dam in a single turn, and then having him finish it. Once the Three Gorges gets going, you're well on your way to victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which way you go from there depends on the game situation. As a matter of fact, you should have chosen your method of victory well before the dam is completed. If you are completely outstripping your opponents (often I've had a game score double or even triple my nearest rival) then you probably ought to shoot for a "Conquest" or "Domination" victory. If you have a rival close to your own score, then perhaps it's best to go for the Space Victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have chosen the Space Race, then you should have already built the Apollo program, and ideally, some of the Space Ship casings. No matter how productive your Civ may be, you cannot dawdle building the Space Ship. Space Ship components cannot be "hurried," but must be built one hammer at a time. If you fall behind in the Space Race, you may never catch up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once I played a game where I had everything going my way. I had super productive cities, I had neutralized all military threats, and all I had to do was build the Space Ship to win. But whilst I had been basking in the reflected glory of my incipient victory, Queen Victoria had busily completed a number of low-tech SS components, and was researching new techs at a furious rate. Nevertheless I felt that my productivity edge was so great that I still stood in little danger of losing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there we were, the Queen and I, both building at breakneck pace. Nevertheless, to my mind, there was no way I could lose. With a great deal of satisfaction I installed the final rivet in my very last SS component, clicked the "end of turn" button, and waited for the victory announcement. I got one, all right, but imagine my dismay when I read "Queen Victoria has won a Space Race victory!"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOT me. I was outraged! I'd been robbed! What an insult! What kind of game is this, anyway?...and so on. But I'd been guilty of overconfidence, and this was my payback. I had spent maybe 40 hours playing, only to be greeted by the supreme disappointment of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But it taught me a lesson: Never dawdle in the Space Race.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're way ahead of your nearest rival, and he hasn't made any significant progress in the Space Race, then you can go for the Conquest or Domination victory. This is just a matter of assembling a powerful Navy (for amphibious assaults), a powerful air force (consisting ideally of 15-20 Stealth Bombers, maybe 10 jet fighters), a very powerful land army-and then launching a war. Your assault forces should consist primarily of Modern Armor units (unequalled for their mobility and ability to attack multiple times), Gunships, and a large backup contingent of Mechanized Infantry. The Mechanized Infantry support the Armor, and can help in finishing off the last battered inhabitants of a beleagured city-but their primary duty is to occupy conquered cities in the wake of your main assault force.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This kind of a combination is virtually unstoppable, and with it you should be able to overwhelm your more backward rivals with unparalled speed. Once that final assault begins, victory isn't far away.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the way, you can specify at the beginning of any game which victories will be allowed-and which will not-by selecting the Custom Game option and checking or unchecking each victory option. For example, if you don't uncheck the Domination Victory option, then you will never be able to win by Conquest, because the Domination rubric will kick in before you've conquered the world. But that's enough for now. The rest you can learn by trial and error, and why should I tell you any more? What I've told you I've never seen anywhere else, not in so many words, anyway, so take this go grab yourself a victory in Civilization IV. Good luck!</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_MONGOL_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Highlands Keshik Konquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Almond[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Why Keshiks and why Highland?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers, a powerful early-game unit, with the special ability to ignore terrain movement costs - they move 2 spaces per turn over hills and forests. Highlands are almost nothing but hills and forests. Your opponents will not receive this movement bonus which leaves you with a huge advantage. Also, early-game defensive units are limited to archers, so you are basically left with a strength 6 unit versus a strength 3 unit for most battles. The final tally of units that I killed was 3 axemen, 3 spearmen, 4 chariots, and 58 archers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The two major downsides to this strategy is that since a highlands map is full of hills, most of the cities that you conquer will be built on hills thus increasing the defensive bonus of your victims. Also, Keshiks require horses and horses are relatively rare on a Highlands map. For this reason, your first research priority is animal husbandry which reveals the horses resource. If you don't have horses near your starting city, say within 8 spaces, you will need to restart.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Beginning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You want a Mongol and your choices are either Ghengis or Kublai Khan; select Ghengis. His traits are Aggressive and Expansive, opposed to Aggressive and Creative in Kublai. The Creative trait does you no good in an early-game conquest strategy. Expansive helps with health and Aggressive mostly helps with half-priced barracks'. Keshiks will not receive the promotion from the aggressive trait because they are mounted units and Aggressive only promotes melee and gunpowder units. Still, the half-priced barracks are definitely worth it. Finances in this strategy are simple enough - you'll be conquering enough cities and pillaging enough improvements to fully support your horde and then some. For opponents select any without the Aggressive trait and without early-game unique units. For my game I selected Rooseveldt and Asoka. Rooseveldt's Navy Seals will not be a factor and Asoka's fast workers will only build more improvements for you to pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Select the highlands map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I was aiming to fulfill some HOF requirements for my game so I selected a tiny map of Highlands. This strategy should work for at least 3 rivals, perhaps more for veteran Civ players. Select "scattered" mountains and "dense peaks" and "small lakes." If you select "ridgeline" mountains you'll find your movement difficult. You should select "dense peaks" so that the mountains are spread out and relatively small. Select "marathon" speed so that your Keshik hordes do not risk becoming obsolete before the end-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Khan starts with the wheel and hunting, so animal husbandry can be researched from the start. Do this so that if the map doesn't generate horses anywhere near your capital you can restart without wasting much time. Next, research archery &gt; horseback riding &gt; mining &gt; bronze working &gt; agriculture. After this it doesn't matter what you research as you should turn your science bar down to zero to collect funds to maintain your hordes. It is a good idea to research archery before horseback riding because you'll need archers to defend against barbarians, and on monarch, at least, the barbarians will be arriving via the express lane.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Set-Up[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Preparing for campaign is almost everything to this strategy. Once you have 4-5 keshik farms the rest is simple military campaigning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Set your scout out collecting goodies from huts. On a small map size you will always start out near either the east or the west border of the map. Figure out which it is and send your scout in the general direction of the other civs. Your capital and theirs will always be midway between north and south on the map, and will be spread equally east/west from each other. One will be right in the middle and the other on the far side from you. Your scout will earn experience from wolves and bears. Promote him to woodsman II and he can move two spaces in forests even if they are on hills. Always end a turn in a forest for the defensive bonus. Once you discover animal husbandry send your scout back to near your capital and search for horses. If you find no horses near your capital or within the city radius of a suitable site for your second city, restart - and keep in mind that all cities but your capital will only have a 1-space city radius. After the horses are found send the scout back out exploring the map. Don't be surprised if you lose your scout relatively early. You can build more while you're waiting for your pasture to be built or for necessary techs to be researched.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First city build order should be barracks &gt; scout &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; settler &gt; worker &gt; worker &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; *keshiks. You will build your barracks before you discover archery so just build another scout in the mean time - he's worth it. Don't bother with warriors. Send one archer to defend your second city. If you opt to build a settler before any archers you greatly risk barbarian destruction of the second city. Workers will have nothing to do at first so don't bother with them until later. Barbs will not invade your capital at first, so go ahead and build a barracks first and get promotions to ALL your units. After you've built your first worker it will be a while before he is able to connect your cities to the horse pasture. In the mean time, build a couple of more archers, or you may opt to build another settler at this point. Once you begin building keshiks it is very important to keep one back to defend your cities and your horse pasture. My pasture was razed twice by barbs before I decided to keep a keshik back for barb defense. Archers won't do the trick. They're fine for city defense but too unreliable for attacking a barb that has moved onto your horse pasture, but a keshik is ample to slay that bugger. I left a barb city in tact near my cities to provide my newly-built keshiks with 'free' experience. As soon as your defensive keshik is promoted with barb experience, wait until a new keshik is built and send the promoted one off to battle with the enemy civs and leave the newbie back for barb defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you've built a worker in your first city immediately send him building a road to your second city, then a road to your horses, and then a pasture to tame those mighty steeds. Now you're in business. After that is completed you should be done researching bronze working set your workers out chopping every forest within your cultural boundaries, then set them to mining a few hills near each city. You're population won't grow beyond 5 citizens, and one of them should be working a food resource, so you only need a few mines - and if you've a mineral resource nearby mine it first and build a road to it. After you've built enough mines to occupy your current citizens, build farms or pastures on food resources, whichever is appropriate. Don't neglect roads to those resources either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the time that you've built your second archer your capital should be at least three citizens and it won't take very long to build that settler. Build your second city near horses if they don't appear within your capital's cultural boundary. Your second city's build order should be barracks &gt; worker &gt; *keshiks (unless the city is built before you're able to produce keshiks, in which case just build archers for defense - you can always send extra ones to future cities for defense. After you've built enough keshiks to defeat your first rival you'll need to build two more settlers for cities to produce keshiks at a faster rate. Your second rival will have built enough cities by the time that you get to him that two keshik farms will not be sufficient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may opt to send your first group of keshiks after a nearby barbarian city to capture and use for more keshik production, however, it is probably better to send them after your first rival for defeat before they get spearmen. In my second run-through of the game I practically had to take a barbarian city because it was parked right in the best route west to my first rival, Asoka. With all the mountains and small lakes you'll find that in some parts of the map it is critical to keep a path open through a particular pass. In my first game I was able to defeat my first rival before he got those pesky spearmen but by the time that I got to Rooseveldt he had spearmen but never garrisoned more than one spearman per city. Bring two keshiks for each defender in a city - this is plenty regardless of the composition of the defending units. Send your weakest keshiks in first to weaken the defenses and use your more experienced ones to finish the job. Upgrade to combat II, III, then IV. Once you have combat IV in a unit you may opt to promote to shock for those spearmen, but a unit with combat I and shock is likely to be defended against with archers so the shock promotion is worthless for new units without much experience. I played on monarch and at that level expect to lose units with a 66% chance of victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Victims[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first victim was Asoka and he had three archers defending in the nearest city. I brought 6 keshiks and lost 2 of them. In my second run-through I opted to keep this city because it was close to my capital. All other cities should be razed as you can't afford them and don't need them. After the battle, pillage improvements with full-health keshiks while the wounded ones heal. Once you have 6 more keshiks ready to go set out for the next city. You may have to search for it. If you are unsure how many cities are left talk to your rival and you can see all but one of his cities in the negotiations screen. From here the strategy is straightforward - kill, kill, kill. Always bring two keshiks for every defender and send in the weakest first. You will have a keshik with 5 promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you have finished your first victim take a breather. Sign an open borders agreement with your next rival and scout his territory. Use your workers, and you should have captured many in your first campaign, to build roads up to your remaining rival's territory and into it. Amass 10 keshiks, or so, and have at him. Once he's down to one or two cities, send newly-made keshiks the long way around into the wild to search for undiscovered cities and/or a archer/archer/settler stack to kill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first run-through of this strategy I made many mistakes and didn't finish until 1270 AD with a score of 15,000. My second try I finished in 340 AD with a score of 18,000. If you're new to Civ and just want a quick conquest victory on a difficult level, a quechua rush is much more effective. This strategy is aimed for experienced players who want to try something new, and also for ones wishing to fulfill the MapQuest portion of the HOF/Quattromasters competition for the Highlands map. If you try this strategy, or have tried it before, please provide feedback.</English>
		<French>[H1]Highlands Keshik Konquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Almond[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Why Keshiks and why Highland?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers, a powerful early-game unit, with the special ability to ignore terrain movement costs - they move 2 spaces per turn over hills and forests. Highlands are almost nothing but hills and forests. Your opponents will not receive this movement bonus which leaves you with a huge advantage. Also, early-game defensive units are limited to archers, so you are basically left with a strength 6 unit versus a strength 3 unit for most battles. The final tally of units that I killed was 3 axemen, 3 spearmen, 4 chariots, and 58 archers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The two major downsides to this strategy is that since a highlands map is full of hills, most of the cities that you conquer will be built on hills thus increasing the defensive bonus of your victims. Also, Keshiks require horses and horses are relatively rare on a Highlands map. For this reason, your first research priority is animal husbandry which reveals the horses resource. If you don't have horses near your starting city, say within 8 spaces, you will need to restart.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Beginning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You want a Mongol and your choices are either Ghengis or Kublai Khan; select Ghengis. His traits are Aggressive and Expansive, opposed to Aggressive and Creative in Kublai. The Creative trait does you no good in an early-game conquest strategy. Expansive helps with health and Aggressive mostly helps with half-priced barracks'. Keshiks will not receive the promotion from the aggressive trait because they are mounted units and Aggressive only promotes melee and gunpowder units. Still, the half-priced barracks are definitely worth it. Finances in this strategy are simple enough - you'll be conquering enough cities and pillaging enough improvements to fully support your horde and then some. For opponents select any without the Aggressive trait and without early-game unique units. For my game I selected Rooseveldt and Asoka. Rooseveldt's Navy Seals will not be a factor and Asoka's fast workers will only build more improvements for you to pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Select the highlands map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I was aiming to fulfill some HOF requirements for my game so I selected a tiny map of Highlands. This strategy should work for at least 3 rivals, perhaps more for veteran Civ players. Select "scattered" mountains and "dense peaks" and "small lakes." If you select "ridgeline" mountains you'll find your movement difficult. You should select "dense peaks" so that the mountains are spread out and relatively small. Select "marathon" speed so that your Keshik hordes do not risk becoming obsolete before the end-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Khan starts with the wheel and hunting, so animal husbandry can be researched from the start. Do this so that if the map doesn't generate horses anywhere near your capital you can restart without wasting much time. Next, research archery &gt; horseback riding &gt; mining &gt; bronze working &gt; agriculture. After this it doesn't matter what you research as you should turn your science bar down to zero to collect funds to maintain your hordes. It is a good idea to research archery before horseback riding because you'll need archers to defend against barbarians, and on monarch, at least, the barbarians will be arriving via the express lane.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Set-Up[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Preparing for campaign is almost everything to this strategy. Once you have 4-5 keshik farms the rest is simple military campaigning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Set your scout out collecting goodies from huts. On a small map size you will always start out near either the east or the west border of the map. Figure out which it is and send your scout in the general direction of the other civs. Your capital and theirs will always be midway between north and south on the map, and will be spread equally east/west from each other. One will be right in the middle and the other on the far side from you. Your scout will earn experience from wolves and bears. Promote him to woodsman II and he can move two spaces in forests even if they are on hills. Always end a turn in a forest for the defensive bonus. Once you discover animal husbandry send your scout back to near your capital and search for horses. If you find no horses near your capital or within the city radius of a suitable site for your second city, restart - and keep in mind that all cities but your capital will only have a 1-space city radius. After the horses are found send the scout back out exploring the map. Don't be surprised if you lose your scout relatively early. You can build more while you're waiting for your pasture to be built or for necessary techs to be researched.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First city build order should be barracks &gt; scout &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; settler &gt; worker &gt; worker &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; *keshiks. You will build your barracks before you discover archery so just build another scout in the mean time - he's worth it. Don't bother with warriors. Send one archer to defend your second city. If you opt to build a settler before any archers you greatly risk barbarian destruction of the second city. Workers will have nothing to do at first so don't bother with them until later. Barbs will not invade your capital at first, so go ahead and build a barracks first and get promotions to ALL your units. After you've built your first worker it will be a while before he is able to connect your cities to the horse pasture. In the mean time, build a couple of more archers, or you may opt to build another settler at this point. Once you begin building keshiks it is very important to keep one back to defend your cities and your horse pasture. My pasture was razed twice by barbs before I decided to keep a keshik back for barb defense. Archers won't do the trick. They're fine for city defense but too unreliable for attacking a barb that has moved onto your horse pasture, but a keshik is ample to slay that bugger. I left a barb city in tact near my cities to provide my newly-built keshiks with 'free' experience. As soon as your defensive keshik is promoted with barb experience, wait until a new keshik is built and send the promoted one off to battle with the enemy civs and leave the newbie back for barb defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you've built a worker in your first city immediately send him building a road to your second city, then a road to your horses, and then a pasture to tame those mighty steeds. Now you're in business. After that is completed you should be done researching bronze working set your workers out chopping every forest within your cultural boundaries, then set them to mining a few hills near each city. You're population won't grow beyond 5 citizens, and one of them should be working a food resource, so you only need a few mines - and if you've a mineral resource nearby mine it first and build a road to it. After you've built enough mines to occupy your current citizens, build farms or pastures on food resources, whichever is appropriate. Don't neglect roads to those resources either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the time that you've built your second archer your capital should be at least three citizens and it won't take very long to build that settler. Build your second city near horses if they don't appear within your capital's cultural boundary. Your second city's build order should be barracks &gt; worker &gt; *keshiks (unless the city is built before you're able to produce keshiks, in which case just build archers for defense - you can always send extra ones to future cities for defense. After you've built enough keshiks to defeat your first rival you'll need to build two more settlers for cities to produce keshiks at a faster rate. Your second rival will have built enough cities by the time that you get to him that two keshik farms will not be sufficient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may opt to send your first group of keshiks after a nearby barbarian city to capture and use for more keshik production, however, it is probably better to send them after your first rival for defeat before they get spearmen. In my second run-through of the game I practically had to take a barbarian city because it was parked right in the best route west to my first rival, Asoka. With all the mountains and small lakes you'll find that in some parts of the map it is critical to keep a path open through a particular pass. In my first game I was able to defeat my first rival before he got those pesky spearmen but by the time that I got to Rooseveldt he had spearmen but never garrisoned more than one spearman per city. Bring two keshiks for each defender in a city - this is plenty regardless of the composition of the defending units. Send your weakest keshiks in first to weaken the defenses and use your more experienced ones to finish the job. Upgrade to combat II, III, then IV. Once you have combat IV in a unit you may opt to promote to shock for those spearmen, but a unit with combat I and shock is likely to be defended against with archers so the shock promotion is worthless for new units without much experience. I played on monarch and at that level expect to lose units with a 66% chance of victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Victims[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first victim was Asoka and he had three archers defending in the nearest city. I brought 6 keshiks and lost 2 of them. In my second run-through I opted to keep this city because it was close to my capital. All other cities should be razed as you can't afford them and don't need them. After the battle, pillage improvements with full-health keshiks while the wounded ones heal. Once you have 6 more keshiks ready to go set out for the next city. You may have to search for it. If you are unsure how many cities are left talk to your rival and you can see all but one of his cities in the negotiations screen. From here the strategy is straightforward - kill, kill, kill. Always bring two keshiks for every defender and send in the weakest first. You will have a keshik with 5 promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you have finished your first victim take a breather. Sign an open borders agreement with your next rival and scout his territory. Use your workers, and you should have captured many in your first campaign, to build roads up to your remaining rival's territory and into it. Amass 10 keshiks, or so, and have at him. Once he's down to one or two cities, send newly-made keshiks the long way around into the wild to search for undiscovered cities and/or a archer/archer/settler stack to kill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first run-through of this strategy I made many mistakes and didn't finish until 1270 AD with a score of 15,000. My second try I finished in 340 AD with a score of 18,000. If you're new to Civ and just want a quick conquest victory on a difficult level, a quechua rush is much more effective. This strategy is aimed for experienced players who want to try something new, and also for ones wishing to fulfill the MapQuest portion of the HOF/Quattromasters competition for the Highlands map. If you try this strategy, or have tried it before, please provide feedback.</French>
		<German>[H1]Highlands Keshik Konquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Almond[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Why Keshiks and why Highland?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers, a powerful early-game unit, with the special ability to ignore terrain movement costs - they move 2 spaces per turn over hills and forests. Highlands are almost nothing but hills and forests. Your opponents will not receive this movement bonus which leaves you with a huge advantage. Also, early-game defensive units are limited to archers, so you are basically left with a strength 6 unit versus a strength 3 unit for most battles. The final tally of units that I killed was 3 axemen, 3 spearmen, 4 chariots, and 58 archers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The two major downsides to this strategy is that since a highlands map is full of hills, most of the cities that you conquer will be built on hills thus increasing the defensive bonus of your victims. Also, Keshiks require horses and horses are relatively rare on a Highlands map. For this reason, your first research priority is animal husbandry which reveals the horses resource. If you don't have horses near your starting city, say within 8 spaces, you will need to restart.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Beginning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You want a Mongol and your choices are either Ghengis or Kublai Khan; select Ghengis. His traits are Aggressive and Expansive, opposed to Aggressive and Creative in Kublai. The Creative trait does you no good in an early-game conquest strategy. Expansive helps with health and Aggressive mostly helps with half-priced barracks'. Keshiks will not receive the promotion from the aggressive trait because they are mounted units and Aggressive only promotes melee and gunpowder units. Still, the half-priced barracks are definitely worth it. Finances in this strategy are simple enough - you'll be conquering enough cities and pillaging enough improvements to fully support your horde and then some. For opponents select any without the Aggressive trait and without early-game unique units. For my game I selected Rooseveldt and Asoka. Rooseveldt's Navy Seals will not be a factor and Asoka's fast workers will only build more improvements for you to pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Select the highlands map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I was aiming to fulfill some HOF requirements for my game so I selected a tiny map of Highlands. This strategy should work for at least 3 rivals, perhaps more for veteran Civ players. Select "scattered" mountains and "dense peaks" and "small lakes." If you select "ridgeline" mountains you'll find your movement difficult. You should select "dense peaks" so that the mountains are spread out and relatively small. Select "marathon" speed so that your Keshik hordes do not risk becoming obsolete before the end-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Khan starts with the wheel and hunting, so animal husbandry can be researched from the start. Do this so that if the map doesn't generate horses anywhere near your capital you can restart without wasting much time. Next, research archery &gt; horseback riding &gt; mining &gt; bronze working &gt; agriculture. After this it doesn't matter what you research as you should turn your science bar down to zero to collect funds to maintain your hordes. It is a good idea to research archery before horseback riding because you'll need archers to defend against barbarians, and on monarch, at least, the barbarians will be arriving via the express lane.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Set-Up[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Preparing for campaign is almost everything to this strategy. Once you have 4-5 keshik farms the rest is simple military campaigning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Set your scout out collecting goodies from huts. On a small map size you will always start out near either the east or the west border of the map. Figure out which it is and send your scout in the general direction of the other civs. Your capital and theirs will always be midway between north and south on the map, and will be spread equally east/west from each other. One will be right in the middle and the other on the far side from you. Your scout will earn experience from wolves and bears. Promote him to woodsman II and he can move two spaces in forests even if they are on hills. Always end a turn in a forest for the defensive bonus. Once you discover animal husbandry send your scout back to near your capital and search for horses. If you find no horses near your capital or within the city radius of a suitable site for your second city, restart - and keep in mind that all cities but your capital will only have a 1-space city radius. After the horses are found send the scout back out exploring the map. Don't be surprised if you lose your scout relatively early. You can build more while you're waiting for your pasture to be built or for necessary techs to be researched.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First city build order should be barracks &gt; scout &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; settler &gt; worker &gt; worker &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; *keshiks. You will build your barracks before you discover archery so just build another scout in the mean time - he's worth it. Don't bother with warriors. Send one archer to defend your second city. If you opt to build a settler before any archers you greatly risk barbarian destruction of the second city. Workers will have nothing to do at first so don't bother with them until later. Barbs will not invade your capital at first, so go ahead and build a barracks first and get promotions to ALL your units. After you've built your first worker it will be a while before he is able to connect your cities to the horse pasture. In the mean time, build a couple of more archers, or you may opt to build another settler at this point. Once you begin building keshiks it is very important to keep one back to defend your cities and your horse pasture. My pasture was razed twice by barbs before I decided to keep a keshik back for barb defense. Archers won't do the trick. They're fine for city defense but too unreliable for attacking a barb that has moved onto your horse pasture, but a keshik is ample to slay that bugger. I left a barb city in tact near my cities to provide my newly-built keshiks with 'free' experience. As soon as your defensive keshik is promoted with barb experience, wait until a new keshik is built and send the promoted one off to battle with the enemy civs and leave the newbie back for barb defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you've built a worker in your first city immediately send him building a road to your second city, then a road to your horses, and then a pasture to tame those mighty steeds. Now you're in business. After that is completed you should be done researching bronze working set your workers out chopping every forest within your cultural boundaries, then set them to mining a few hills near each city. You're population won't grow beyond 5 citizens, and one of them should be working a food resource, so you only need a few mines - and if you've a mineral resource nearby mine it first and build a road to it. After you've built enough mines to occupy your current citizens, build farms or pastures on food resources, whichever is appropriate. Don't neglect roads to those resources either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the time that you've built your second archer your capital should be at least three citizens and it won't take very long to build that settler. Build your second city near horses if they don't appear within your capital's cultural boundary. Your second city's build order should be barracks &gt; worker &gt; *keshiks (unless the city is built before you're able to produce keshiks, in which case just build archers for defense - you can always send extra ones to future cities for defense. After you've built enough keshiks to defeat your first rival you'll need to build two more settlers for cities to produce keshiks at a faster rate. Your second rival will have built enough cities by the time that you get to him that two keshik farms will not be sufficient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may opt to send your first group of keshiks after a nearby barbarian city to capture and use for more keshik production, however, it is probably better to send them after your first rival for defeat before they get spearmen. In my second run-through of the game I practically had to take a barbarian city because it was parked right in the best route west to my first rival, Asoka. With all the mountains and small lakes you'll find that in some parts of the map it is critical to keep a path open through a particular pass. In my first game I was able to defeat my first rival before he got those pesky spearmen but by the time that I got to Rooseveldt he had spearmen but never garrisoned more than one spearman per city. Bring two keshiks for each defender in a city - this is plenty regardless of the composition of the defending units. Send your weakest keshiks in first to weaken the defenses and use your more experienced ones to finish the job. Upgrade to combat II, III, then IV. Once you have combat IV in a unit you may opt to promote to shock for those spearmen, but a unit with combat I and shock is likely to be defended against with archers so the shock promotion is worthless for new units without much experience. I played on monarch and at that level expect to lose units with a 66% chance of victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Victims[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first victim was Asoka and he had three archers defending in the nearest city. I brought 6 keshiks and lost 2 of them. In my second run-through I opted to keep this city because it was close to my capital. All other cities should be razed as you can't afford them and don't need them. After the battle, pillage improvements with full-health keshiks while the wounded ones heal. Once you have 6 more keshiks ready to go set out for the next city. You may have to search for it. If you are unsure how many cities are left talk to your rival and you can see all but one of his cities in the negotiations screen. From here the strategy is straightforward - kill, kill, kill. Always bring two keshiks for every defender and send in the weakest first. You will have a keshik with 5 promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you have finished your first victim take a breather. Sign an open borders agreement with your next rival and scout his territory. Use your workers, and you should have captured many in your first campaign, to build roads up to your remaining rival's territory and into it. Amass 10 keshiks, or so, and have at him. Once he's down to one or two cities, send newly-made keshiks the long way around into the wild to search for undiscovered cities and/or a archer/archer/settler stack to kill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first run-through of this strategy I made many mistakes and didn't finish until 1270 AD with a score of 15,000. My second try I finished in 340 AD with a score of 18,000. If you're new to Civ and just want a quick conquest victory on a difficult level, a quechua rush is much more effective. This strategy is aimed for experienced players who want to try something new, and also for ones wishing to fulfill the MapQuest portion of the HOF/Quattromasters competition for the Highlands map. If you try this strategy, or have tried it before, please provide feedback.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Highlands Keshik Konquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Almond[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Why Keshiks and why Highland?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers, a powerful early-game unit, with the special ability to ignore terrain movement costs - they move 2 spaces per turn over hills and forests. Highlands are almost nothing but hills and forests. Your opponents will not receive this movement bonus which leaves you with a huge advantage. Also, early-game defensive units are limited to archers, so you are basically left with a strength 6 unit versus a strength 3 unit for most battles. The final tally of units that I killed was 3 axemen, 3 spearmen, 4 chariots, and 58 archers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The two major downsides to this strategy is that since a highlands map is full of hills, most of the cities that you conquer will be built on hills thus increasing the defensive bonus of your victims. Also, Keshiks require horses and horses are relatively rare on a Highlands map. For this reason, your first research priority is animal husbandry which reveals the horses resource. If you don't have horses near your starting city, say within 8 spaces, you will need to restart.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Beginning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You want a Mongol and your choices are either Ghengis or Kublai Khan; select Ghengis. His traits are Aggressive and Expansive, opposed to Aggressive and Creative in Kublai. The Creative trait does you no good in an early-game conquest strategy. Expansive helps with health and Aggressive mostly helps with half-priced barracks'. Keshiks will not receive the promotion from the aggressive trait because they are mounted units and Aggressive only promotes melee and gunpowder units. Still, the half-priced barracks are definitely worth it. Finances in this strategy are simple enough - you'll be conquering enough cities and pillaging enough improvements to fully support your horde and then some. For opponents select any without the Aggressive trait and without early-game unique units. For my game I selected Rooseveldt and Asoka. Rooseveldt's Navy Seals will not be a factor and Asoka's fast workers will only build more improvements for you to pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Select the highlands map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I was aiming to fulfill some HOF requirements for my game so I selected a tiny map of Highlands. This strategy should work for at least 3 rivals, perhaps more for veteran Civ players. Select "scattered" mountains and "dense peaks" and "small lakes." If you select "ridgeline" mountains you'll find your movement difficult. You should select "dense peaks" so that the mountains are spread out and relatively small. Select "marathon" speed so that your Keshik hordes do not risk becoming obsolete before the end-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Khan starts with the wheel and hunting, so animal husbandry can be researched from the start. Do this so that if the map doesn't generate horses anywhere near your capital you can restart without wasting much time. Next, research archery &gt; horseback riding &gt; mining &gt; bronze working &gt; agriculture. After this it doesn't matter what you research as you should turn your science bar down to zero to collect funds to maintain your hordes. It is a good idea to research archery before horseback riding because you'll need archers to defend against barbarians, and on monarch, at least, the barbarians will be arriving via the express lane.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Set-Up[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Preparing for campaign is almost everything to this strategy. Once you have 4-5 keshik farms the rest is simple military campaigning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Set your scout out collecting goodies from huts. On a small map size you will always start out near either the east or the west border of the map. Figure out which it is and send your scout in the general direction of the other civs. Your capital and theirs will always be midway between north and south on the map, and will be spread equally east/west from each other. One will be right in the middle and the other on the far side from you. Your scout will earn experience from wolves and bears. Promote him to woodsman II and he can move two spaces in forests even if they are on hills. Always end a turn in a forest for the defensive bonus. Once you discover animal husbandry send your scout back to near your capital and search for horses. If you find no horses near your capital or within the city radius of a suitable site for your second city, restart - and keep in mind that all cities but your capital will only have a 1-space city radius. After the horses are found send the scout back out exploring the map. Don't be surprised if you lose your scout relatively early. You can build more while you're waiting for your pasture to be built or for necessary techs to be researched.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First city build order should be barracks &gt; scout &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; settler &gt; worker &gt; worker &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; *keshiks. You will build your barracks before you discover archery so just build another scout in the mean time - he's worth it. Don't bother with warriors. Send one archer to defend your second city. If you opt to build a settler before any archers you greatly risk barbarian destruction of the second city. Workers will have nothing to do at first so don't bother with them until later. Barbs will not invade your capital at first, so go ahead and build a barracks first and get promotions to ALL your units. After you've built your first worker it will be a while before he is able to connect your cities to the horse pasture. In the mean time, build a couple of more archers, or you may opt to build another settler at this point. Once you begin building keshiks it is very important to keep one back to defend your cities and your horse pasture. My pasture was razed twice by barbs before I decided to keep a keshik back for barb defense. Archers won't do the trick. They're fine for city defense but too unreliable for attacking a barb that has moved onto your horse pasture, but a keshik is ample to slay that bugger. I left a barb city in tact near my cities to provide my newly-built keshiks with 'free' experience. As soon as your defensive keshik is promoted with barb experience, wait until a new keshik is built and send the promoted one off to battle with the enemy civs and leave the newbie back for barb defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you've built a worker in your first city immediately send him building a road to your second city, then a road to your horses, and then a pasture to tame those mighty steeds. Now you're in business. After that is completed you should be done researching bronze working set your workers out chopping every forest within your cultural boundaries, then set them to mining a few hills near each city. You're population won't grow beyond 5 citizens, and one of them should be working a food resource, so you only need a few mines - and if you've a mineral resource nearby mine it first and build a road to it. After you've built enough mines to occupy your current citizens, build farms or pastures on food resources, whichever is appropriate. Don't neglect roads to those resources either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the time that you've built your second archer your capital should be at least three citizens and it won't take very long to build that settler. Build your second city near horses if they don't appear within your capital's cultural boundary. Your second city's build order should be barracks &gt; worker &gt; *keshiks (unless the city is built before you're able to produce keshiks, in which case just build archers for defense - you can always send extra ones to future cities for defense. After you've built enough keshiks to defeat your first rival you'll need to build two more settlers for cities to produce keshiks at a faster rate. Your second rival will have built enough cities by the time that you get to him that two keshik farms will not be sufficient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may opt to send your first group of keshiks after a nearby barbarian city to capture and use for more keshik production, however, it is probably better to send them after your first rival for defeat before they get spearmen. In my second run-through of the game I practically had to take a barbarian city because it was parked right in the best route west to my first rival, Asoka. With all the mountains and small lakes you'll find that in some parts of the map it is critical to keep a path open through a particular pass. In my first game I was able to defeat my first rival before he got those pesky spearmen but by the time that I got to Rooseveldt he had spearmen but never garrisoned more than one spearman per city. Bring two keshiks for each defender in a city - this is plenty regardless of the composition of the defending units. Send your weakest keshiks in first to weaken the defenses and use your more experienced ones to finish the job. Upgrade to combat II, III, then IV. Once you have combat IV in a unit you may opt to promote to shock for those spearmen, but a unit with combat I and shock is likely to be defended against with archers so the shock promotion is worthless for new units without much experience. I played on monarch and at that level expect to lose units with a 66% chance of victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Victims[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first victim was Asoka and he had three archers defending in the nearest city. I brought 6 keshiks and lost 2 of them. In my second run-through I opted to keep this city because it was close to my capital. All other cities should be razed as you can't afford them and don't need them. After the battle, pillage improvements with full-health keshiks while the wounded ones heal. Once you have 6 more keshiks ready to go set out for the next city. You may have to search for it. If you are unsure how many cities are left talk to your rival and you can see all but one of his cities in the negotiations screen. From here the strategy is straightforward - kill, kill, kill. Always bring two keshiks for every defender and send in the weakest first. You will have a keshik with 5 promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you have finished your first victim take a breather. Sign an open borders agreement with your next rival and scout his territory. Use your workers, and you should have captured many in your first campaign, to build roads up to your remaining rival's territory and into it. Amass 10 keshiks, or so, and have at him. Once he's down to one or two cities, send newly-made keshiks the long way around into the wild to search for undiscovered cities and/or a archer/archer/settler stack to kill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first run-through of this strategy I made many mistakes and didn't finish until 1270 AD with a score of 15,000. My second try I finished in 340 AD with a score of 18,000. If you're new to Civ and just want a quick conquest victory on a difficult level, a quechua rush is much more effective. This strategy is aimed for experienced players who want to try something new, and also for ones wishing to fulfill the MapQuest portion of the HOF/Quattromasters competition for the Highlands map. If you try this strategy, or have tried it before, please provide feedback.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Highlands Keshik Konquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Almond[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Why Keshiks and why Highland?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers, a powerful early-game unit, with the special ability to ignore terrain movement costs - they move 2 spaces per turn over hills and forests. Highlands are almost nothing but hills and forests. Your opponents will not receive this movement bonus which leaves you with a huge advantage. Also, early-game defensive units are limited to archers, so you are basically left with a strength 6 unit versus a strength 3 unit for most battles. The final tally of units that I killed was 3 axemen, 3 spearmen, 4 chariots, and 58 archers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The two major downsides to this strategy is that since a highlands map is full of hills, most of the cities that you conquer will be built on hills thus increasing the defensive bonus of your victims. Also, Keshiks require horses and horses are relatively rare on a Highlands map. For this reason, your first research priority is animal husbandry which reveals the horses resource. If you don't have horses near your starting city, say within 8 spaces, you will need to restart.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Beginning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You want a Mongol and your choices are either Ghengis or Kublai Khan; select Ghengis. His traits are Aggressive and Expansive, opposed to Aggressive and Creative in Kublai. The Creative trait does you no good in an early-game conquest strategy. Expansive helps with health and Aggressive mostly helps with half-priced barracks'. Keshiks will not receive the promotion from the aggressive trait because they are mounted units and Aggressive only promotes melee and gunpowder units. Still, the half-priced barracks are definitely worth it. Finances in this strategy are simple enough - you'll be conquering enough cities and pillaging enough improvements to fully support your horde and then some. For opponents select any without the Aggressive trait and without early-game unique units. For my game I selected Rooseveldt and Asoka. Rooseveldt's Navy Seals will not be a factor and Asoka's fast workers will only build more improvements for you to pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Select the highlands map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I was aiming to fulfill some HOF requirements for my game so I selected a tiny map of Highlands. This strategy should work for at least 3 rivals, perhaps more for veteran Civ players. Select "scattered" mountains and "dense peaks" and "small lakes." If you select "ridgeline" mountains you'll find your movement difficult. You should select "dense peaks" so that the mountains are spread out and relatively small. Select "marathon" speed so that your Keshik hordes do not risk becoming obsolete before the end-game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Khan starts with the wheel and hunting, so animal husbandry can be researched from the start. Do this so that if the map doesn't generate horses anywhere near your capital you can restart without wasting much time. Next, research archery &gt; horseback riding &gt; mining &gt; bronze working &gt; agriculture. After this it doesn't matter what you research as you should turn your science bar down to zero to collect funds to maintain your hordes. It is a good idea to research archery before horseback riding because you'll need archers to defend against barbarians, and on monarch, at least, the barbarians will be arriving via the express lane.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Set-Up[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Preparing for campaign is almost everything to this strategy. Once you have 4-5 keshik farms the rest is simple military campaigning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Set your scout out collecting goodies from huts. On a small map size you will always start out near either the east or the west border of the map. Figure out which it is and send your scout in the general direction of the other civs. Your capital and theirs will always be midway between north and south on the map, and will be spread equally east/west from each other. One will be right in the middle and the other on the far side from you. Your scout will earn experience from wolves and bears. Promote him to woodsman II and he can move two spaces in forests even if they are on hills. Always end a turn in a forest for the defensive bonus. Once you discover animal husbandry send your scout back to near your capital and search for horses. If you find no horses near your capital or within the city radius of a suitable site for your second city, restart - and keep in mind that all cities but your capital will only have a 1-space city radius. After the horses are found send the scout back out exploring the map. Don't be surprised if you lose your scout relatively early. You can build more while you're waiting for your pasture to be built or for necessary techs to be researched.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First city build order should be barracks &gt; scout &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; settler &gt; worker &gt; worker &gt; archer &gt; archer &gt; *keshiks. You will build your barracks before you discover archery so just build another scout in the mean time - he's worth it. Don't bother with warriors. Send one archer to defend your second city. If you opt to build a settler before any archers you greatly risk barbarian destruction of the second city. Workers will have nothing to do at first so don't bother with them until later. Barbs will not invade your capital at first, so go ahead and build a barracks first and get promotions to ALL your units. After you've built your first worker it will be a while before he is able to connect your cities to the horse pasture. In the mean time, build a couple of more archers, or you may opt to build another settler at this point. Once you begin building keshiks it is very important to keep one back to defend your cities and your horse pasture. My pasture was razed twice by barbs before I decided to keep a keshik back for barb defense. Archers won't do the trick. They're fine for city defense but too unreliable for attacking a barb that has moved onto your horse pasture, but a keshik is ample to slay that bugger. I left a barb city in tact near my cities to provide my newly-built keshiks with 'free' experience. As soon as your defensive keshik is promoted with barb experience, wait until a new keshik is built and send the promoted one off to battle with the enemy civs and leave the newbie back for barb defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you've built a worker in your first city immediately send him building a road to your second city, then a road to your horses, and then a pasture to tame those mighty steeds. Now you're in business. After that is completed you should be done researching bronze working set your workers out chopping every forest within your cultural boundaries, then set them to mining a few hills near each city. You're population won't grow beyond 5 citizens, and one of them should be working a food resource, so you only need a few mines - and if you've a mineral resource nearby mine it first and build a road to it. After you've built enough mines to occupy your current citizens, build farms or pastures on food resources, whichever is appropriate. Don't neglect roads to those resources either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By the time that you've built your second archer your capital should be at least three citizens and it won't take very long to build that settler. Build your second city near horses if they don't appear within your capital's cultural boundary. Your second city's build order should be barracks &gt; worker &gt; *keshiks (unless the city is built before you're able to produce keshiks, in which case just build archers for defense - you can always send extra ones to future cities for defense. After you've built enough keshiks to defeat your first rival you'll need to build two more settlers for cities to produce keshiks at a faster rate. Your second rival will have built enough cities by the time that you get to him that two keshik farms will not be sufficient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may opt to send your first group of keshiks after a nearby barbarian city to capture and use for more keshik production, however, it is probably better to send them after your first rival for defeat before they get spearmen. In my second run-through of the game I practically had to take a barbarian city because it was parked right in the best route west to my first rival, Asoka. With all the mountains and small lakes you'll find that in some parts of the map it is critical to keep a path open through a particular pass. In my first game I was able to defeat my first rival before he got those pesky spearmen but by the time that I got to Rooseveldt he had spearmen but never garrisoned more than one spearman per city. Bring two keshiks for each defender in a city - this is plenty regardless of the composition of the defending units. Send your weakest keshiks in first to weaken the defenses and use your more experienced ones to finish the job. Upgrade to combat II, III, then IV. Once you have combat IV in a unit you may opt to promote to shock for those spearmen, but a unit with combat I and shock is likely to be defended against with archers so the shock promotion is worthless for new units without much experience. I played on monarch and at that level expect to lose units with a 66% chance of victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Victims[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first victim was Asoka and he had three archers defending in the nearest city. I brought 6 keshiks and lost 2 of them. In my second run-through I opted to keep this city because it was close to my capital. All other cities should be razed as you can't afford them and don't need them. After the battle, pillage improvements with full-health keshiks while the wounded ones heal. Once you have 6 more keshiks ready to go set out for the next city. You may have to search for it. If you are unsure how many cities are left talk to your rival and you can see all but one of his cities in the negotiations screen. From here the strategy is straightforward - kill, kill, kill. Always bring two keshiks for every defender and send in the weakest first. You will have a keshik with 5 promotions in no time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After you have finished your first victim take a breather. Sign an open borders agreement with your next rival and scout his territory. Use your workers, and you should have captured many in your first campaign, to build roads up to your remaining rival's territory and into it. Amass 10 keshiks, or so, and have at him. Once he's down to one or two cities, send newly-made keshiks the long way around into the wild to search for undiscovered cities and/or a archer/archer/settler stack to kill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My first run-through of this strategy I made many mistakes and didn't finish until 1270 AD with a score of 15,000. My second try I finished in 340 AD with a score of 18,000. If you're new to Civ and just want a quick conquest victory on a difficult level, a quechua rush is much more effective. This strategy is aimed for experienced players who want to try something new, and also for ones wishing to fulfill the MapQuest portion of the HOF/Quattromasters competition for the Highlands map. If you try this strategy, or have tried it before, please provide feedback.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_ROME_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Deity Introduction Guide for Julius Caesar[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Moonsinger[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I have had Civ4 ever since it was released, it has been sitting on my shelf collecting dirt. Until recently a few days after patch 1.52 was released, Julius Caesar came to me in a dream begging me to command his praetorians on grand conquest. I told him that I'm not really interested. The city maintenance cost would tie me up in the ancient age forever. If I can't assimilate new cities and Great Wonders, what else can I do? Burn them down? I have no choice to spill the enemy blood on the battlefield, but burning down their home cities and killing innocent civilians is a crime against humanity and everything I believe in. Therefore, I have no desire of taming this world. I waked up and for some reason decided to give Civ4 another chance. Therefore, I came up with this strategy to save all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]My civ: Roman[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Level: Deity (lower level means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Map type: Random Standard "Pangaea" World (smaller map size means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Climate: Temperate[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Optional check boxes: No barbarian, [BOLD]No city razing[\BOLD], and No cheating. Default settings for the rest. (After you have won your first Deity game, you can move up a level by turning on barbarian setting)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Epic or Marathon game speed[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Minimum of 4 AI players. My favorite adversaries are Spain, Russia, Egypt, England, and America.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Game version: Patch 1.52 or later[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before I begin, there are a few things you need to know. This is a step by step introduction guide written for those who have never won nor attempted a Deity game. This may not be an optimal guide or a best Deity strategy, but it's a guarantee to score you a Deity win. You are not just simply winning a Deity game, but win it with a really big score too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #1: Building your first city[NEWLINE]I recommend building Rome right on the spot. The map generator god has been working hard to ensure a balance starting position for everyone. To move the settler away from the given starting position is not recommended. Since the Roman starting out with Fishing and Mining, 100% research on Bronze Working immediately and set to build a warrior in Rome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #2: Use your starting warrior to explore the world, to meet the tribal villages and other civilizations. Don't expect to learn any new tech from goodie huts, but once in a while you may get lucky with something. The most important task here is to map the shape of the world and study the boundary of the AI players.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #3: Rome has finished building a warrior. Set to build a barracks while waiting for your city to grow to at least size 2. After it has growth to size 2, set to build a worker on top of building a barracks. Basically, you delay the production of the barracks and focus on building a worker. Btw, send your second warrior to explore the surrounding a little bit then call him back before Rome about to grow to size 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #4: If Rome finish building the worker before you discover Bronze Working, have your worker to Mine a near by hill (once Rome has grown to size 4, these hills will come in handy). There is nothing else the worker can do at the moment.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #5: You should discover Bronze Working about now. Set to search for The Wheel next. Road is very important. At this point, Rome should still be building a barracks (assuming that it has already finished the worker; if not, it's still building your first worker at this point).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #6: Once your city has grown to size 3, chop more forests to rush at least 3 more workers and 2 settlers. When chopping down the forests, I usually chop the furthest ones first. I recommend chopping the forests near the AI border first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #7: Place your second city wisely. Whenever possible, place your second city to block off AI access to your unclaimed land. Set your second city to build a barracks and allow it to grow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #8: You should discover The Wheel by now. Set research for Iron Working next. You may also want to adjust the slider slightly to keep your research at maximum with your income at zero or slightly on the negative size if you still have money to cover it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #9: If you don't have bronze within your boundary, use one of your standing by settler and have your workers focus on hooking up bronze. If you already have bronze and there is gold or silver resource near by, build your third city there. I usually will hold off building my third city for as long as I can. I want to allocate as much money to search for Iron Working. If you see Ivory and Furs, just ignore them. You really don't have time to search for hunting anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #10: It will take a long time to finish up Iron Working. In the mean time, allow Rome to grow into size 4 then have it producing more axemans. Also have your people work the tile that yield the most gold so that you can research Iron Working faster.[NEWLINE]Tip: Did you know that you can pre-chop the forests. For example, at the Marathon speed, it takes 8 turns to chop a forest; if I don't really need the shield right way, I would chop each forest for 6 turns, then move on to the next. This mean, when it time to come back finishing the job, my worker would need only 1 more turns to finish chopping them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #11: After hooking up bronze, if your first and second cities haven't yet finished their barracks, chop some forests to finish them, and then start building some Axemans. Note, take your time with the axemans; try not expanding too fast or you would slow down your research on Iron Working. You may want to go easy on the chopping for while. Now, may be a good time to do some pre-chopping the forests.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #12: Finally, you have discovered Iron Working. Your research quota has been met. The Wheel and Iron Working are the only two techs that you really need. From now on, you can research any tech you like, and I won't talk about research no more. However, I do recommend searching for Mysticism next. Btw, I almost forget...whenever possible, adopt slavery to save 1 gold per turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #13: Hooking up iron and start chopping all the surrounding forests for rushing as many praetorians as fast as you can. If you don't have iron within your boundary (this is rarely happened), use your third settler for this task (or start a new game). In the worst case, use your axemans to get some iron. This rarely happen because irons are plentiful on a "temperate" world. At this point, you should have around 3 cities. If you have to build a fourth city in order to hook up iron, it's ok. I usually just build two cities and save a settler to build the third city after I discover iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #14: Once you have around a dozen praetorians under your command, pick your nearest victim. By now, one of the AI has already built the Great Pyramid. Hit F9 to see who has the Great Pyramid. If your nearest civ has it, then that is your first target. If not, that will be your second target. Therefore, always plan your path toward the Great Pyramid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: Declare war and start eliminating your nearest civ. Unless they have axemans (they rarely do at this point), you should conquer them without any problem. I usually have a couple axemans escorting my praetorians, just in case. My axeman usually get Strength and Shock promotion while my praetorians always get City Raider and Strength promotion. Those silly archers won't stand a chance against your praetorians with at least Raider I promotion. Since you will be keeping all conquered city, you will run into a negative income pretty soon now. Don't panic! Since you get at least 100 gold for each city you capture, you can afford to run on negative income for awhile. You should set your research to 0% now. Chances are, you haven't yet discovered Mysticism, but that's ok. Like I said before, you need only The Wheel and Iron Working to tame the world.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: If your citizens complain, ignore them. If your enemy begs for peace, ignore them. Keeps the war going until they are eliminated? In the mean time, continue to rush more praetorians by chopping down the forests. If you run out of your own forests, move to the new recently captured city forests. Don't bother rushing the barracks any more. I'm sure there are plenty of easy target out there for your troop promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #16: You should have successfully conquered at least a half dozen cities by now and have control of the Great Pyramid. Here comes my ultimate secret weapon: Start a revolution right away and put your government in Anarchy for as long as you can. Always chose a combination of options that would yield the longest period of time in Anarchy. I usually spend at least 3 turns in anarchy each time. Note: there is a minimum of 4 turns between each revolution. If you spend 3 turns in anarchy, you will have to spend 1 normal turn before you can start another revolution. In the mean time, keep on chopping your forests and keep on capturing new cities. The more cities you capture, the more time you will get to spend in anarchy. Soon, you will find out that you will have to spend at least 5 turns minimum in anarchy which is perfect (this mean you can start another revolution immediately right after your government emerges from anarchy). The bad news is that you don't earn any money, culture, and production during anarchy. The good news is that you don't loss any money either. Best of all, all the shield you gain from chopping the forests will stack up on the building queue which means you just need to spend at least 1 turn every now and then in order to mass producing new units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #17: That's it! Isn't that easy? You should have no problem eliminate all of the other civs on the planet and win by either conquests or domination. Note: I haven't yet seen a lot of axemans, but if you do, remember to run for cover. Unless they are desperately defending their cities, leave them alone. Just fortify your troops on the hills and wait for them to come to you. Other than axeman, there is no other units that can really withstand the charge of your praetorians. You should be ruling the world long before the next age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you play this game on a dual map, you should earn a score of at least 120,000 points, at least 130,000 points for a tiny map, at least 200,000 points for a small map, at least 250,000 points for a standard map, and at least 300,000 points for a large map. I haven't yet tried it on a huge map. Congrats! Now, you can tell all your friends that you have won a Deity game. It's really that simple. I have never lost a game using this tactic. My current high HOF score for a standard map is over 280,000 points. If you happens to beat it, please remember to submit it to the CivFanatics HoF. Last but not least, I do seriously hope for world peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](Apr 15, 2006) Note for Patch 1.61[\BOLD]:[NEWLINE]In patch 1.61, there is a 5 turns wait at the end of each the anarchy period. Therefore, perpetual anarchy may not possible. The number of production gain from chopping the forests has also been reduced; therefore, an early rush is now some what less effective.</English>
		<French>[H1]Deity Introduction Guide for Julius Caesar[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Moonsinger[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I have had Civ4 ever since it was released, it has been sitting on my shelf collecting dirt. Until recently a few days after patch 1.52 was released, Julius Caesar came to me in a dream begging me to command his praetorians on grand conquest. I told him that I'm not really interested. The city maintenance cost would tie me up in the ancient age forever. If I can't assimilate new cities and Great Wonders, what else can I do? Burn them down? I have no choice to spill the enemy blood on the battlefield, but burning down their home cities and killing innocent civilians is a crime against humanity and everything I believe in. Therefore, I have no desire of taming this world. I waked up and for some reason decided to give Civ4 another chance. Therefore, I came up with this strategy to save all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]My civ: Roman[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Level: Deity (lower level means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Map type: Random Standard "Pangaea" World (smaller map size means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Climate: Temperate[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Optional check boxes: No barbarian, [BOLD]No city razing[\BOLD], and No cheating. Default settings for the rest. (After you have won your first Deity game, you can move up a level by turning on barbarian setting)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Epic or Marathon game speed[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Minimum of 4 AI players. My favorite adversaries are Spain, Russia, Egypt, England, and America.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Game version: Patch 1.52 or later[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before I begin, there are a few things you need to know. This is a step by step introduction guide written for those who have never won nor attempted a Deity game. This may not be an optimal guide or a best Deity strategy, but it's a guarantee to score you a Deity win. You are not just simply winning a Deity game, but win it with a really big score too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #1: Building your first city[NEWLINE]I recommend building Rome right on the spot. The map generator god has been working hard to ensure a balance starting position for everyone. To move the settler away from the given starting position is not recommended. Since the Roman starting out with Fishing and Mining, 100% research on Bronze Working immediately and set to build a warrior in Rome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #2: Use your starting warrior to explore the world, to meet the tribal villages and other civilizations. Don't expect to learn any new tech from goodie huts, but once in a while you may get lucky with something. The most important task here is to map the shape of the world and study the boundary of the AI players.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #3: Rome has finished building a warrior. Set to build a barracks while waiting for your city to grow to at least size 2. After it has growth to size 2, set to build a worker on top of building a barracks. Basically, you delay the production of the barracks and focus on building a worker. Btw, send your second warrior to explore the surrounding a little bit then call him back before Rome about to grow to size 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #4: If Rome finish building the worker before you discover Bronze Working, have your worker to Mine a near by hill (once Rome has grown to size 4, these hills will come in handy). There is nothing else the worker can do at the moment.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #5: You should discover Bronze Working about now. Set to search for The Wheel next. Road is very important. At this point, Rome should still be building a barracks (assuming that it has already finished the worker; if not, it's still building your first worker at this point).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #6: Once your city has grown to size 3, chop more forests to rush at least 3 more workers and 2 settlers. When chopping down the forests, I usually chop the furthest ones first. I recommend chopping the forests near the AI border first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #7: Place your second city wisely. Whenever possible, place your second city to block off AI access to your unclaimed land. Set your second city to build a barracks and allow it to grow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #8: You should discover The Wheel by now. Set research for Iron Working next. You may also want to adjust the slider slightly to keep your research at maximum with your income at zero or slightly on the negative size if you still have money to cover it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #9: If you don't have bronze within your boundary, use one of your standing by settler and have your workers focus on hooking up bronze. If you already have bronze and there is gold or silver resource near by, build your third city there. I usually will hold off building my third city for as long as I can. I want to allocate as much money to search for Iron Working. If you see Ivory and Furs, just ignore them. You really don't have time to search for hunting anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #10: It will take a long time to finish up Iron Working. In the mean time, allow Rome to grow into size 4 then have it producing more axemans. Also have your people work the tile that yield the most gold so that you can research Iron Working faster.[NEWLINE]Tip: Did you know that you can pre-chop the forests. For example, at the Marathon speed, it takes 8 turns to chop a forest; if I don't really need the shield right way, I would chop each forest for 6 turns, then move on to the next. This mean, when it time to come back finishing the job, my worker would need only 1 more turns to finish chopping them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #11: After hooking up bronze, if your first and second cities haven't yet finished their barracks, chop some forests to finish them, and then start building some Axemans. Note, take your time with the axemans; try not expanding too fast or you would slow down your research on Iron Working. You may want to go easy on the chopping for while. Now, may be a good time to do some pre-chopping the forests.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #12: Finally, you have discovered Iron Working. Your research quota has been met. The Wheel and Iron Working are the only two techs that you really need. From now on, you can research any tech you like, and I won't talk about research no more. However, I do recommend searching for Mysticism next. Btw, I almost forget...whenever possible, adopt slavery to save 1 gold per turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #13: Hooking up iron and start chopping all the surrounding forests for rushing as many praetorians as fast as you can. If you don't have iron within your boundary (this is rarely happened), use your third settler for this task (or start a new game). In the worst case, use your axemans to get some iron. This rarely happen because irons are plentiful on a "temperate" world. At this point, you should have around 3 cities. If you have to build a fourth city in order to hook up iron, it's ok. I usually just build two cities and save a settler to build the third city after I discover iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #14: Once you have around a dozen praetorians under your command, pick your nearest victim. By now, one of the AI has already built the Great Pyramid. Hit F9 to see who has the Great Pyramid. If your nearest civ has it, then that is your first target. If not, that will be your second target. Therefore, always plan your path toward the Great Pyramid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: Declare war and start eliminating your nearest civ. Unless they have axemans (they rarely do at this point), you should conquer them without any problem. I usually have a couple axemans escorting my praetorians, just in case. My axeman usually get Strength and Shock promotion while my praetorians always get City Raider and Strength promotion. Those silly archers won't stand a chance against your praetorians with at least Raider I promotion. Since you will be keeping all conquered city, you will run into a negative income pretty soon now. Don't panic! Since you get at least 100 gold for each city you capture, you can afford to run on negative income for awhile. You should set your research to 0% now. Chances are, you haven't yet discovered Mysticism, but that's ok. Like I said before, you need only The Wheel and Iron Working to tame the world.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: If your citizens complain, ignore them. If your enemy begs for peace, ignore them. Keeps the war going until they are eliminated? In the mean time, continue to rush more praetorians by chopping down the forests. If you run out of your own forests, move to the new recently captured city forests. Don't bother rushing the barracks any more. I'm sure there are plenty of easy target out there for your troop promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #16: You should have successfully conquered at least a half dozen cities by now and have control of the Great Pyramid. Here comes my ultimate secret weapon: Start a revolution right away and put your government in Anarchy for as long as you can. Always chose a combination of options that would yield the longest period of time in Anarchy. I usually spend at least 3 turns in anarchy each time. Note: there is a minimum of 4 turns between each revolution. If you spend 3 turns in anarchy, you will have to spend 1 normal turn before you can start another revolution. In the mean time, keep on chopping your forests and keep on capturing new cities. The more cities you capture, the more time you will get to spend in anarchy. Soon, you will find out that you will have to spend at least 5 turns minimum in anarchy which is perfect (this mean you can start another revolution immediately right after your government emerges from anarchy). The bad news is that you don't earn any money, culture, and production during anarchy. The good news is that you don't loss any money either. Best of all, all the shield you gain from chopping the forests will stack up on the building queue which means you just need to spend at least 1 turn every now and then in order to mass producing new units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #17: That's it! Isn't that easy? You should have no problem eliminate all of the other civs on the planet and win by either conquests or domination. Note: I haven't yet seen a lot of axemans, but if you do, remember to run for cover. Unless they are desperately defending their cities, leave them alone. Just fortify your troops on the hills and wait for them to come to you. Other than axeman, there is no other units that can really withstand the charge of your praetorians. You should be ruling the world long before the next age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you play this game on a dual map, you should earn a score of at least 120,000 points, at least 130,000 points for a tiny map, at least 200,000 points for a small map, at least 250,000 points for a standard map, and at least 300,000 points for a large map. I haven't yet tried it on a huge map. Congrats! Now, you can tell all your friends that you have won a Deity game. It's really that simple. I have never lost a game using this tactic. My current high HOF score for a standard map is over 280,000 points. If you happens to beat it, please remember to submit it to the CivFanatics HoF. Last but not least, I do seriously hope for world peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](Apr 15, 2006) Note for Patch 1.61[\BOLD]:[NEWLINE]In patch 1.61, there is a 5 turns wait at the end of each the anarchy period. Therefore, perpetual anarchy may not possible. The number of production gain from chopping the forests has also been reduced; therefore, an early rush is now some what less effective.</French>
		<German>[H1]Deity Introduction Guide for Julius Caesar[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Moonsinger[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I have had Civ4 ever since it was released, it has been sitting on my shelf collecting dirt. Until recently a few days after patch 1.52 was released, Julius Caesar came to me in a dream begging me to command his praetorians on grand conquest. I told him that I'm not really interested. The city maintenance cost would tie me up in the ancient age forever. If I can't assimilate new cities and Great Wonders, what else can I do? Burn them down? I have no choice to spill the enemy blood on the battlefield, but burning down their home cities and killing innocent civilians is a crime against humanity and everything I believe in. Therefore, I have no desire of taming this world. I waked up and for some reason decided to give Civ4 another chance. Therefore, I came up with this strategy to save all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]My civ: Roman[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Level: Deity (lower level means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Map type: Random Standard "Pangaea" World (smaller map size means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Climate: Temperate[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Optional check boxes: No barbarian, [BOLD]No city razing[\BOLD], and No cheating. Default settings for the rest. (After you have won your first Deity game, you can move up a level by turning on barbarian setting)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Epic or Marathon game speed[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Minimum of 4 AI players. My favorite adversaries are Spain, Russia, Egypt, England, and America.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Game version: Patch 1.52 or later[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before I begin, there are a few things you need to know. This is a step by step introduction guide written for those who have never won nor attempted a Deity game. This may not be an optimal guide or a best Deity strategy, but it's a guarantee to score you a Deity win. You are not just simply winning a Deity game, but win it with a really big score too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #1: Building your first city[NEWLINE]I recommend building Rome right on the spot. The map generator god has been working hard to ensure a balance starting position for everyone. To move the settler away from the given starting position is not recommended. Since the Roman starting out with Fishing and Mining, 100% research on Bronze Working immediately and set to build a warrior in Rome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #2: Use your starting warrior to explore the world, to meet the tribal villages and other civilizations. Don't expect to learn any new tech from goodie huts, but once in a while you may get lucky with something. The most important task here is to map the shape of the world and study the boundary of the AI players.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #3: Rome has finished building a warrior. Set to build a barracks while waiting for your city to grow to at least size 2. After it has growth to size 2, set to build a worker on top of building a barracks. Basically, you delay the production of the barracks and focus on building a worker. Btw, send your second warrior to explore the surrounding a little bit then call him back before Rome about to grow to size 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #4: If Rome finish building the worker before you discover Bronze Working, have your worker to Mine a near by hill (once Rome has grown to size 4, these hills will come in handy). There is nothing else the worker can do at the moment.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #5: You should discover Bronze Working about now. Set to search for The Wheel next. Road is very important. At this point, Rome should still be building a barracks (assuming that it has already finished the worker; if not, it's still building your first worker at this point).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #6: Once your city has grown to size 3, chop more forests to rush at least 3 more workers and 2 settlers. When chopping down the forests, I usually chop the furthest ones first. I recommend chopping the forests near the AI border first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #7: Place your second city wisely. Whenever possible, place your second city to block off AI access to your unclaimed land. Set your second city to build a barracks and allow it to grow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #8: You should discover The Wheel by now. Set research for Iron Working next. You may also want to adjust the slider slightly to keep your research at maximum with your income at zero or slightly on the negative size if you still have money to cover it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #9: If you don't have bronze within your boundary, use one of your standing by settler and have your workers focus on hooking up bronze. If you already have bronze and there is gold or silver resource near by, build your third city there. I usually will hold off building my third city for as long as I can. I want to allocate as much money to search for Iron Working. If you see Ivory and Furs, just ignore them. You really don't have time to search for hunting anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #10: It will take a long time to finish up Iron Working. In the mean time, allow Rome to grow into size 4 then have it producing more axemans. Also have your people work the tile that yield the most gold so that you can research Iron Working faster.[NEWLINE]Tip: Did you know that you can pre-chop the forests. For example, at the Marathon speed, it takes 8 turns to chop a forest; if I don't really need the shield right way, I would chop each forest for 6 turns, then move on to the next. This mean, when it time to come back finishing the job, my worker would need only 1 more turns to finish chopping them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #11: After hooking up bronze, if your first and second cities haven't yet finished their barracks, chop some forests to finish them, and then start building some Axemans. Note, take your time with the axemans; try not expanding too fast or you would slow down your research on Iron Working. You may want to go easy on the chopping for while. Now, may be a good time to do some pre-chopping the forests.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #12: Finally, you have discovered Iron Working. Your research quota has been met. The Wheel and Iron Working are the only two techs that you really need. From now on, you can research any tech you like, and I won't talk about research no more. However, I do recommend searching for Mysticism next. Btw, I almost forget...whenever possible, adopt slavery to save 1 gold per turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #13: Hooking up iron and start chopping all the surrounding forests for rushing as many praetorians as fast as you can. If you don't have iron within your boundary (this is rarely happened), use your third settler for this task (or start a new game). In the worst case, use your axemans to get some iron. This rarely happen because irons are plentiful on a "temperate" world. At this point, you should have around 3 cities. If you have to build a fourth city in order to hook up iron, it's ok. I usually just build two cities and save a settler to build the third city after I discover iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #14: Once you have around a dozen praetorians under your command, pick your nearest victim. By now, one of the AI has already built the Great Pyramid. Hit F9 to see who has the Great Pyramid. If your nearest civ has it, then that is your first target. If not, that will be your second target. Therefore, always plan your path toward the Great Pyramid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: Declare war and start eliminating your nearest civ. Unless they have axemans (they rarely do at this point), you should conquer them without any problem. I usually have a couple axemans escorting my praetorians, just in case. My axeman usually get Strength and Shock promotion while my praetorians always get City Raider and Strength promotion. Those silly archers won't stand a chance against your praetorians with at least Raider I promotion. Since you will be keeping all conquered city, you will run into a negative income pretty soon now. Don't panic! Since you get at least 100 gold for each city you capture, you can afford to run on negative income for awhile. You should set your research to 0% now. Chances are, you haven't yet discovered Mysticism, but that's ok. Like I said before, you need only The Wheel and Iron Working to tame the world.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: If your citizens complain, ignore them. If your enemy begs for peace, ignore them. Keeps the war going until they are eliminated? In the mean time, continue to rush more praetorians by chopping down the forests. If you run out of your own forests, move to the new recently captured city forests. Don't bother rushing the barracks any more. I'm sure there are plenty of easy target out there for your troop promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #16: You should have successfully conquered at least a half dozen cities by now and have control of the Great Pyramid. Here comes my ultimate secret weapon: Start a revolution right away and put your government in Anarchy for as long as you can. Always chose a combination of options that would yield the longest period of time in Anarchy. I usually spend at least 3 turns in anarchy each time. Note: there is a minimum of 4 turns between each revolution. If you spend 3 turns in anarchy, you will have to spend 1 normal turn before you can start another revolution. In the mean time, keep on chopping your forests and keep on capturing new cities. The more cities you capture, the more time you will get to spend in anarchy. Soon, you will find out that you will have to spend at least 5 turns minimum in anarchy which is perfect (this mean you can start another revolution immediately right after your government emerges from anarchy). The bad news is that you don't earn any money, culture, and production during anarchy. The good news is that you don't loss any money either. Best of all, all the shield you gain from chopping the forests will stack up on the building queue which means you just need to spend at least 1 turn every now and then in order to mass producing new units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #17: That's it! Isn't that easy? You should have no problem eliminate all of the other civs on the planet and win by either conquests or domination. Note: I haven't yet seen a lot of axemans, but if you do, remember to run for cover. Unless they are desperately defending their cities, leave them alone. Just fortify your troops on the hills and wait for them to come to you. Other than axeman, there is no other units that can really withstand the charge of your praetorians. You should be ruling the world long before the next age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you play this game on a dual map, you should earn a score of at least 120,000 points, at least 130,000 points for a tiny map, at least 200,000 points for a small map, at least 250,000 points for a standard map, and at least 300,000 points for a large map. I haven't yet tried it on a huge map. Congrats! Now, you can tell all your friends that you have won a Deity game. It's really that simple. I have never lost a game using this tactic. My current high HOF score for a standard map is over 280,000 points. If you happens to beat it, please remember to submit it to the CivFanatics HoF. Last but not least, I do seriously hope for world peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](Apr 15, 2006) Note for Patch 1.61[\BOLD]:[NEWLINE]In patch 1.61, there is a 5 turns wait at the end of each the anarchy period. Therefore, perpetual anarchy may not possible. The number of production gain from chopping the forests has also been reduced; therefore, an early rush is now some what less effective.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Deity Introduction Guide for Julius Caesar[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Moonsinger[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I have had Civ4 ever since it was released, it has been sitting on my shelf collecting dirt. Until recently a few days after patch 1.52 was released, Julius Caesar came to me in a dream begging me to command his praetorians on grand conquest. I told him that I'm not really interested. The city maintenance cost would tie me up in the ancient age forever. If I can't assimilate new cities and Great Wonders, what else can I do? Burn them down? I have no choice to spill the enemy blood on the battlefield, but burning down their home cities and killing innocent civilians is a crime against humanity and everything I believe in. Therefore, I have no desire of taming this world. I waked up and for some reason decided to give Civ4 another chance. Therefore, I came up with this strategy to save all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]My civ: Roman[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Level: Deity (lower level means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Map type: Random Standard "Pangaea" World (smaller map size means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Climate: Temperate[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Optional check boxes: No barbarian, [BOLD]No city razing[\BOLD], and No cheating. Default settings for the rest. (After you have won your first Deity game, you can move up a level by turning on barbarian setting)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Epic or Marathon game speed[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Minimum of 4 AI players. My favorite adversaries are Spain, Russia, Egypt, England, and America.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Game version: Patch 1.52 or later[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before I begin, there are a few things you need to know. This is a step by step introduction guide written for those who have never won nor attempted a Deity game. This may not be an optimal guide or a best Deity strategy, but it's a guarantee to score you a Deity win. You are not just simply winning a Deity game, but win it with a really big score too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #1: Building your first city[NEWLINE]I recommend building Rome right on the spot. The map generator god has been working hard to ensure a balance starting position for everyone. To move the settler away from the given starting position is not recommended. Since the Roman starting out with Fishing and Mining, 100% research on Bronze Working immediately and set to build a warrior in Rome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #2: Use your starting warrior to explore the world, to meet the tribal villages and other civilizations. Don't expect to learn any new tech from goodie huts, but once in a while you may get lucky with something. The most important task here is to map the shape of the world and study the boundary of the AI players.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #3: Rome has finished building a warrior. Set to build a barracks while waiting for your city to grow to at least size 2. After it has growth to size 2, set to build a worker on top of building a barracks. Basically, you delay the production of the barracks and focus on building a worker. Btw, send your second warrior to explore the surrounding a little bit then call him back before Rome about to grow to size 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #4: If Rome finish building the worker before you discover Bronze Working, have your worker to Mine a near by hill (once Rome has grown to size 4, these hills will come in handy). There is nothing else the worker can do at the moment.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #5: You should discover Bronze Working about now. Set to search for The Wheel next. Road is very important. At this point, Rome should still be building a barracks (assuming that it has already finished the worker; if not, it's still building your first worker at this point).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #6: Once your city has grown to size 3, chop more forests to rush at least 3 more workers and 2 settlers. When chopping down the forests, I usually chop the furthest ones first. I recommend chopping the forests near the AI border first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #7: Place your second city wisely. Whenever possible, place your second city to block off AI access to your unclaimed land. Set your second city to build a barracks and allow it to grow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #8: You should discover The Wheel by now. Set research for Iron Working next. You may also want to adjust the slider slightly to keep your research at maximum with your income at zero or slightly on the negative size if you still have money to cover it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #9: If you don't have bronze within your boundary, use one of your standing by settler and have your workers focus on hooking up bronze. If you already have bronze and there is gold or silver resource near by, build your third city there. I usually will hold off building my third city for as long as I can. I want to allocate as much money to search for Iron Working. If you see Ivory and Furs, just ignore them. You really don't have time to search for hunting anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #10: It will take a long time to finish up Iron Working. In the mean time, allow Rome to grow into size 4 then have it producing more axemans. Also have your people work the tile that yield the most gold so that you can research Iron Working faster.[NEWLINE]Tip: Did you know that you can pre-chop the forests. For example, at the Marathon speed, it takes 8 turns to chop a forest; if I don't really need the shield right way, I would chop each forest for 6 turns, then move on to the next. This mean, when it time to come back finishing the job, my worker would need only 1 more turns to finish chopping them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #11: After hooking up bronze, if your first and second cities haven't yet finished their barracks, chop some forests to finish them, and then start building some Axemans. Note, take your time with the axemans; try not expanding too fast or you would slow down your research on Iron Working. You may want to go easy on the chopping for while. Now, may be a good time to do some pre-chopping the forests.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #12: Finally, you have discovered Iron Working. Your research quota has been met. The Wheel and Iron Working are the only two techs that you really need. From now on, you can research any tech you like, and I won't talk about research no more. However, I do recommend searching for Mysticism next. Btw, I almost forget...whenever possible, adopt slavery to save 1 gold per turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #13: Hooking up iron and start chopping all the surrounding forests for rushing as many praetorians as fast as you can. If you don't have iron within your boundary (this is rarely happened), use your third settler for this task (or start a new game). In the worst case, use your axemans to get some iron. This rarely happen because irons are plentiful on a "temperate" world. At this point, you should have around 3 cities. If you have to build a fourth city in order to hook up iron, it's ok. I usually just build two cities and save a settler to build the third city after I discover iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #14: Once you have around a dozen praetorians under your command, pick your nearest victim. By now, one of the AI has already built the Great Pyramid. Hit F9 to see who has the Great Pyramid. If your nearest civ has it, then that is your first target. If not, that will be your second target. Therefore, always plan your path toward the Great Pyramid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: Declare war and start eliminating your nearest civ. Unless they have axemans (they rarely do at this point), you should conquer them without any problem. I usually have a couple axemans escorting my praetorians, just in case. My axeman usually get Strength and Shock promotion while my praetorians always get City Raider and Strength promotion. Those silly archers won't stand a chance against your praetorians with at least Raider I promotion. Since you will be keeping all conquered city, you will run into a negative income pretty soon now. Don't panic! Since you get at least 100 gold for each city you capture, you can afford to run on negative income for awhile. You should set your research to 0% now. Chances are, you haven't yet discovered Mysticism, but that's ok. Like I said before, you need only The Wheel and Iron Working to tame the world.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: If your citizens complain, ignore them. If your enemy begs for peace, ignore them. Keeps the war going until they are eliminated? In the mean time, continue to rush more praetorians by chopping down the forests. If you run out of your own forests, move to the new recently captured city forests. Don't bother rushing the barracks any more. I'm sure there are plenty of easy target out there for your troop promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #16: You should have successfully conquered at least a half dozen cities by now and have control of the Great Pyramid. Here comes my ultimate secret weapon: Start a revolution right away and put your government in Anarchy for as long as you can. Always chose a combination of options that would yield the longest period of time in Anarchy. I usually spend at least 3 turns in anarchy each time. Note: there is a minimum of 4 turns between each revolution. If you spend 3 turns in anarchy, you will have to spend 1 normal turn before you can start another revolution. In the mean time, keep on chopping your forests and keep on capturing new cities. The more cities you capture, the more time you will get to spend in anarchy. Soon, you will find out that you will have to spend at least 5 turns minimum in anarchy which is perfect (this mean you can start another revolution immediately right after your government emerges from anarchy). The bad news is that you don't earn any money, culture, and production during anarchy. The good news is that you don't loss any money either. Best of all, all the shield you gain from chopping the forests will stack up on the building queue which means you just need to spend at least 1 turn every now and then in order to mass producing new units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #17: That's it! Isn't that easy? You should have no problem eliminate all of the other civs on the planet and win by either conquests or domination. Note: I haven't yet seen a lot of axemans, but if you do, remember to run for cover. Unless they are desperately defending their cities, leave them alone. Just fortify your troops on the hills and wait for them to come to you. Other than axeman, there is no other units that can really withstand the charge of your praetorians. You should be ruling the world long before the next age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you play this game on a dual map, you should earn a score of at least 120,000 points, at least 130,000 points for a tiny map, at least 200,000 points for a small map, at least 250,000 points for a standard map, and at least 300,000 points for a large map. I haven't yet tried it on a huge map. Congrats! Now, you can tell all your friends that you have won a Deity game. It's really that simple. I have never lost a game using this tactic. My current high HOF score for a standard map is over 280,000 points. If you happens to beat it, please remember to submit it to the CivFanatics HoF. Last but not least, I do seriously hope for world peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](Apr 15, 2006) Note for Patch 1.61[\BOLD]:[NEWLINE]In patch 1.61, there is a 5 turns wait at the end of each the anarchy period. Therefore, perpetual anarchy may not possible. The number of production gain from chopping the forests has also been reduced; therefore, an early rush is now some what less effective.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Deity Introduction Guide for Julius Caesar[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Moonsinger[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I have had Civ4 ever since it was released, it has been sitting on my shelf collecting dirt. Until recently a few days after patch 1.52 was released, Julius Caesar came to me in a dream begging me to command his praetorians on grand conquest. I told him that I'm not really interested. The city maintenance cost would tie me up in the ancient age forever. If I can't assimilate new cities and Great Wonders, what else can I do? Burn them down? I have no choice to spill the enemy blood on the battlefield, but burning down their home cities and killing innocent civilians is a crime against humanity and everything I believe in. Therefore, I have no desire of taming this world. I waked up and for some reason decided to give Civ4 another chance. Therefore, I came up with this strategy to save all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]My civ: Roman[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Level: Deity (lower level means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Map type: Random Standard "Pangaea" World (smaller map size means easier, of course)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Climate: Temperate[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Optional check boxes: No barbarian, [BOLD]No city razing[\BOLD], and No cheating. Default settings for the rest. (After you have won your first Deity game, you can move up a level by turning on barbarian setting)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Epic or Marathon game speed[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Minimum of 4 AI players. My favorite adversaries are Spain, Russia, Egypt, England, and America.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Game version: Patch 1.52 or later[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before I begin, there are a few things you need to know. This is a step by step introduction guide written for those who have never won nor attempted a Deity game. This may not be an optimal guide or a best Deity strategy, but it's a guarantee to score you a Deity win. You are not just simply winning a Deity game, but win it with a really big score too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #1: Building your first city[NEWLINE]I recommend building Rome right on the spot. The map generator god has been working hard to ensure a balance starting position for everyone. To move the settler away from the given starting position is not recommended. Since the Roman starting out with Fishing and Mining, 100% research on Bronze Working immediately and set to build a warrior in Rome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #2: Use your starting warrior to explore the world, to meet the tribal villages and other civilizations. Don't expect to learn any new tech from goodie huts, but once in a while you may get lucky with something. The most important task here is to map the shape of the world and study the boundary of the AI players.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #3: Rome has finished building a warrior. Set to build a barracks while waiting for your city to grow to at least size 2. After it has growth to size 2, set to build a worker on top of building a barracks. Basically, you delay the production of the barracks and focus on building a worker. Btw, send your second warrior to explore the surrounding a little bit then call him back before Rome about to grow to size 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #4: If Rome finish building the worker before you discover Bronze Working, have your worker to Mine a near by hill (once Rome has grown to size 4, these hills will come in handy). There is nothing else the worker can do at the moment.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #5: You should discover Bronze Working about now. Set to search for The Wheel next. Road is very important. At this point, Rome should still be building a barracks (assuming that it has already finished the worker; if not, it's still building your first worker at this point).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #6: Once your city has grown to size 3, chop more forests to rush at least 3 more workers and 2 settlers. When chopping down the forests, I usually chop the furthest ones first. I recommend chopping the forests near the AI border first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #7: Place your second city wisely. Whenever possible, place your second city to block off AI access to your unclaimed land. Set your second city to build a barracks and allow it to grow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #8: You should discover The Wheel by now. Set research for Iron Working next. You may also want to adjust the slider slightly to keep your research at maximum with your income at zero or slightly on the negative size if you still have money to cover it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #9: If you don't have bronze within your boundary, use one of your standing by settler and have your workers focus on hooking up bronze. If you already have bronze and there is gold or silver resource near by, build your third city there. I usually will hold off building my third city for as long as I can. I want to allocate as much money to search for Iron Working. If you see Ivory and Furs, just ignore them. You really don't have time to search for hunting anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #10: It will take a long time to finish up Iron Working. In the mean time, allow Rome to grow into size 4 then have it producing more axemans. Also have your people work the tile that yield the most gold so that you can research Iron Working faster.[NEWLINE]Tip: Did you know that you can pre-chop the forests. For example, at the Marathon speed, it takes 8 turns to chop a forest; if I don't really need the shield right way, I would chop each forest for 6 turns, then move on to the next. This mean, when it time to come back finishing the job, my worker would need only 1 more turns to finish chopping them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #11: After hooking up bronze, if your first and second cities haven't yet finished their barracks, chop some forests to finish them, and then start building some Axemans. Note, take your time with the axemans; try not expanding too fast or you would slow down your research on Iron Working. You may want to go easy on the chopping for while. Now, may be a good time to do some pre-chopping the forests.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #12: Finally, you have discovered Iron Working. Your research quota has been met. The Wheel and Iron Working are the only two techs that you really need. From now on, you can research any tech you like, and I won't talk about research no more. However, I do recommend searching for Mysticism next. Btw, I almost forget...whenever possible, adopt slavery to save 1 gold per turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #13: Hooking up iron and start chopping all the surrounding forests for rushing as many praetorians as fast as you can. If you don't have iron within your boundary (this is rarely happened), use your third settler for this task (or start a new game). In the worst case, use your axemans to get some iron. This rarely happen because irons are plentiful on a "temperate" world. At this point, you should have around 3 cities. If you have to build a fourth city in order to hook up iron, it's ok. I usually just build two cities and save a settler to build the third city after I discover iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #14: Once you have around a dozen praetorians under your command, pick your nearest victim. By now, one of the AI has already built the Great Pyramid. Hit F9 to see who has the Great Pyramid. If your nearest civ has it, then that is your first target. If not, that will be your second target. Therefore, always plan your path toward the Great Pyramid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: Declare war and start eliminating your nearest civ. Unless they have axemans (they rarely do at this point), you should conquer them without any problem. I usually have a couple axemans escorting my praetorians, just in case. My axeman usually get Strength and Shock promotion while my praetorians always get City Raider and Strength promotion. Those silly archers won't stand a chance against your praetorians with at least Raider I promotion. Since you will be keeping all conquered city, you will run into a negative income pretty soon now. Don't panic! Since you get at least 100 gold for each city you capture, you can afford to run on negative income for awhile. You should set your research to 0% now. Chances are, you haven't yet discovered Mysticism, but that's ok. Like I said before, you need only The Wheel and Iron Working to tame the world.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #15: If your citizens complain, ignore them. If your enemy begs for peace, ignore them. Keeps the war going until they are eliminated? In the mean time, continue to rush more praetorians by chopping down the forests. If you run out of your own forests, move to the new recently captured city forests. Don't bother rushing the barracks any more. I'm sure there are plenty of easy target out there for your troop promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #16: You should have successfully conquered at least a half dozen cities by now and have control of the Great Pyramid. Here comes my ultimate secret weapon: Start a revolution right away and put your government in Anarchy for as long as you can. Always chose a combination of options that would yield the longest period of time in Anarchy. I usually spend at least 3 turns in anarchy each time. Note: there is a minimum of 4 turns between each revolution. If you spend 3 turns in anarchy, you will have to spend 1 normal turn before you can start another revolution. In the mean time, keep on chopping your forests and keep on capturing new cities. The more cities you capture, the more time you will get to spend in anarchy. Soon, you will find out that you will have to spend at least 5 turns minimum in anarchy which is perfect (this mean you can start another revolution immediately right after your government emerges from anarchy). The bad news is that you don't earn any money, culture, and production during anarchy. The good news is that you don't loss any money either. Best of all, all the shield you gain from chopping the forests will stack up on the building queue which means you just need to spend at least 1 turn every now and then in order to mass producing new units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Step #17: That's it! Isn't that easy? You should have no problem eliminate all of the other civs on the planet and win by either conquests or domination. Note: I haven't yet seen a lot of axemans, but if you do, remember to run for cover. Unless they are desperately defending their cities, leave them alone. Just fortify your troops on the hills and wait for them to come to you. Other than axeman, there is no other units that can really withstand the charge of your praetorians. You should be ruling the world long before the next age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you play this game on a dual map, you should earn a score of at least 120,000 points, at least 130,000 points for a tiny map, at least 200,000 points for a small map, at least 250,000 points for a standard map, and at least 300,000 points for a large map. I haven't yet tried it on a huge map. Congrats! Now, you can tell all your friends that you have won a Deity game. It's really that simple. I have never lost a game using this tactic. My current high HOF score for a standard map is over 280,000 points. If you happens to beat it, please remember to submit it to the CivFanatics HoF. Last but not least, I do seriously hope for world peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](Apr 15, 2006) Note for Patch 1.61[\BOLD]:[NEWLINE]In patch 1.61, there is a 5 turns wait at the end of each the anarchy period. Therefore, perpetual anarchy may not possible. The number of production gain from chopping the forests has also been reduced; therefore, an early rush is now some what less effective.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_PRINCE_DIFFICULTY_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Getting Your First Win on Prince: A Guide and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Jonezee[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]I. A Guide for those who have trouble winning on prince.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to be clear, this guide is written for those who are trying to make the jump from Noble to Prince, and hare having trouble compensating for the AI bonuses. I came here looking for a guide on this subject, and didn't find one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I should also state that this guide is by no means an end all guide. Other strategies will work too. It's intended to provide you with useful experience you can use on Prince games on normal maps. The same strategies will work, but you'll have less control over the variables. That being said, on with the guide.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One thing above all else. Be more aggressive. Keep military pressure on other Civs to keep their research down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This guide is geared towards getting your first win on Prince for those who have struggled with it. If you're anything like me when you tried to make the jump, you found yourself horribly behind in technology, and felt a financial squeeze when you tried expanding like you would on Noble. By getting your first win, you learn a whole bunch that can be applied in later games. And this guide should help you get the first one. By no means is this the only way to get a win. Just a method I had consistent success with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]II. The Guide[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]A: The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, start up a custom game. Choose Pangaea, with high sea levels. This should give you some thin strips of land that will serve as chokepoints and thus make defense much easier. Go with three or four opponents. Whatever civilization you choose is up to you. The first time I used this strategy I went with random and got Victoria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, plop your settler down in the most advantageous place. Start building a warrior. Look at other guides regarding early moves for more help here. I went warrior-worker-building/wonder. Take your warrior and go exploring. Knowing the immediate lay of the land is incredibly important, as you need to discover any and all and nearby chokepoints, as you will be building cities here. Hooking up key resources like copper or horses should take first priority, but these are second. They'll serve as your defensive cities, and should block off the AI from land. You can build cities here straight away if you want.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're lucky enough to stumble across an enemy civilization, and try finding a hill you can stand on top of, or a lake to look across to see if they have any defenders yet. If not, take them out. (You also can just march right into their territory to see, and reload if they have a defender, but some frown on that). But if you can, destroy them. They'll just be a problem later. And in this, you'll see a hint of what's necessary to win on higher difficulties: more aggression.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can completely forget about trying to found any early religions. They aren't necessary. You should not focus on wonders either. Starting to build them is great. You'll want to get some, but ideally you'll get beat to the punch on a couple and should get a bunch of gold out of the deal (think of it like an early form of wealth). You'll be needing gold too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But you do want at least one early wonder. I won my first game having only constructed Stonehenge. You'll want to try to get one of the cheap early wonders for the Great Person points. Prophets are the best, as super citizens they provide a solid financial and production boost. Again, forget about founding religions. They can be more trouble than they're worth. Once you've mastered Prince, you can try founding one, but don't do it while you're still new to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your research, go straight for bronze working. It gives you a great early edge. You need to know where copper is ASAP. If you have some already in your borders, forget archery for awhile and build exclusively axemen. You also get the ability to chop forests for their hammers. Use this for rushing settlers, and your early wonder(s). Then go for the worker techs you need to exploit your resources. Then beeline to Alphabet. Alphabet will let you trade for techs, and you should be able to pick up a lot of the older, cheaper techs if you're the first to get Alphabet. After alphabet, the important techs are currency, code of laws, iron working, and construction. These give you money, and boost your military. Don't be shy about chopping forests to rush courthouses or markets either, as they're worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your economy, cottages are your best friend. Don't automate your workers, as they'll build more farms then you could ever need. Have them build cottages after you hook up your resources. Try to get your cities to work these cottages, as they'll expand and give you much needed money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for religion, do what the AI does and convert to the first one you get for the bonuses. Ideally this will be the one the most powerful Civ has, and will help keep them off your back. If it's not, switch to match the most powerful Civ when possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're going to want to start building up your military throughout early game. Build walls in whatever chokepoint border cities you've set up, and guard them with multiple axemen if possible, archers if not. Axemen are great on offense and defense, so if you have copper in your borders, forgo archers altogether until the tech is really cheap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]B. The First War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take the time to expand to three, four, or maybe even five cities (depending on your land and budget) and secure all the useful resources behind your chokepoints. At the same time, you should start to build a military. Once you've got your core cities up and running and have a sizable military, go on the offensive. Ideally you'll have catapults to start the war. As long as your enemy is still using archers when you start the war, you'll be fine. Overwhelming numbers is the key to victory here. Archers fall pretty easily to just axes and swords, and you can easily bring down long bowman and crossbowman with axemen, swordsmen, and catapults if it ever comes to that. Once the war starts, you produce exclusively military units until peace breaks out. While at war, you only produce units, and lots and lots of catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your victim carefully. Go for your most powerful direct neighbor. Not the top dog in the world, but the next step down. Ideally they'll have a good holy city or useful wonder like the Pyramids. You won't win the war right away, so make sure you can retain all the cities you capture. And do capture all of them, as the AI will just rebuild the ones you raze anyway, and you'll have to take them again. Only take weaker out cities until you have catapults. Once you do (or if you did from the start) go straight for the core of their empire, as once you destroy/capture their most productive area, they're totally crippled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The war will not end quickly, and you should call for a cease fire (NOT peace treaties unless you get useful tech out of them) multiple times throughout to regain your strength. I often found myself taking one after I take a couple of weaker out cities and defeat their standing army, another after I take a couple of cores and/or the capital, and another during cleanup. You don't need catapults to take the outlying cities, but make sure you have them for your assault on the core cities. Use catapults to bombard defenses down to zero, then throw a few into a city to soften the defenders for your soldiers. Once you gain a noticeable upper hand, try to sue for tech. Wait for the turns to expire, and repeat until they are finished. It's fine if you run a huge deficit during the war, as taking cities nets you plenty of gold. But try to never let your research drop below 70% for prolonged periods. If you can't do this, you probably don't have enough cottages. Also, if you can exploit your unique unit during the war, then by all means do so. It's there so you can have an advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]C. The Endgame[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once your enemy is gone, solidify your new empire. The war should end well before gunpowder. Place what is left of your army on your new borders, and build infrastructure and culture. From here, you should be in good position for the rest of the game to pursue whatever strategy you like. You should be pretty close to the remaining Civs in tech, close enough to be in good shape to pursue whatever victory condition you like. From here, games play much like they do on lower difficulties. You'll end the war behind in tech, but with your new cities, you should be able to build up a sizable science base that will allow you to catch up and eventually surpass them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the cities you captured from your enemy, you'll easily have the resources necessary to win the game however you want. If you pursue Domination, remember to always use siege weapons to reduce any city's defenses to zero. If you pursue a Space Race, make sure you keep constant military pressure on your rivals. You don't need to be at war with them, but someone should. As long as the AI is on a war footing, it keeps their tech spending down. Remember that, and you'll be fine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck, and I hope this guide was useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Copyright 2006 Jonezee</English>
		<French>[H1]Getting Your First Win on Prince: A Guide and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Jonezee[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]I. A Guide for those who have trouble winning on prince.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to be clear, this guide is written for those who are trying to make the jump from Noble to Prince, and hare having trouble compensating for the AI bonuses. I came here looking for a guide on this subject, and didn't find one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I should also state that this guide is by no means an end all guide. Other strategies will work too. It's intended to provide you with useful experience you can use on Prince games on normal maps. The same strategies will work, but you'll have less control over the variables. That being said, on with the guide.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One thing above all else. Be more aggressive. Keep military pressure on other Civs to keep their research down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This guide is geared towards getting your first win on Prince for those who have struggled with it. If you're anything like me when you tried to make the jump, you found yourself horribly behind in technology, and felt a financial squeeze when you tried expanding like you would on Noble. By getting your first win, you learn a whole bunch that can be applied in later games. And this guide should help you get the first one. By no means is this the only way to get a win. Just a method I had consistent success with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]II. The Guide[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]A: The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, start up a custom game. Choose Pangaea, with high sea levels. This should give you some thin strips of land that will serve as chokepoints and thus make defense much easier. Go with three or four opponents. Whatever civilization you choose is up to you. The first time I used this strategy I went with random and got Victoria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, plop your settler down in the most advantageous place. Start building a warrior. Look at other guides regarding early moves for more help here. I went warrior-worker-building/wonder. Take your warrior and go exploring. Knowing the immediate lay of the land is incredibly important, as you need to discover any and all and nearby chokepoints, as you will be building cities here. Hooking up key resources like copper or horses should take first priority, but these are second. They'll serve as your defensive cities, and should block off the AI from land. You can build cities here straight away if you want.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're lucky enough to stumble across an enemy civilization, and try finding a hill you can stand on top of, or a lake to look across to see if they have any defenders yet. If not, take them out. (You also can just march right into their territory to see, and reload if they have a defender, but some frown on that). But if you can, destroy them. They'll just be a problem later. And in this, you'll see a hint of what's necessary to win on higher difficulties: more aggression.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can completely forget about trying to found any early religions. They aren't necessary. You should not focus on wonders either. Starting to build them is great. You'll want to get some, but ideally you'll get beat to the punch on a couple and should get a bunch of gold out of the deal (think of it like an early form of wealth). You'll be needing gold too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But you do want at least one early wonder. I won my first game having only constructed Stonehenge. You'll want to try to get one of the cheap early wonders for the Great Person points. Prophets are the best, as super citizens they provide a solid financial and production boost. Again, forget about founding religions. They can be more trouble than they're worth. Once you've mastered Prince, you can try founding one, but don't do it while you're still new to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your research, go straight for bronze working. It gives you a great early edge. You need to know where copper is ASAP. If you have some already in your borders, forget archery for awhile and build exclusively axemen. You also get the ability to chop forests for their hammers. Use this for rushing settlers, and your early wonder(s). Then go for the worker techs you need to exploit your resources. Then beeline to Alphabet. Alphabet will let you trade for techs, and you should be able to pick up a lot of the older, cheaper techs if you're the first to get Alphabet. After alphabet, the important techs are currency, code of laws, iron working, and construction. These give you money, and boost your military. Don't be shy about chopping forests to rush courthouses or markets either, as they're worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your economy, cottages are your best friend. Don't automate your workers, as they'll build more farms then you could ever need. Have them build cottages after you hook up your resources. Try to get your cities to work these cottages, as they'll expand and give you much needed money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for religion, do what the AI does and convert to the first one you get for the bonuses. Ideally this will be the one the most powerful Civ has, and will help keep them off your back. If it's not, switch to match the most powerful Civ when possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're going to want to start building up your military throughout early game. Build walls in whatever chokepoint border cities you've set up, and guard them with multiple axemen if possible, archers if not. Axemen are great on offense and defense, so if you have copper in your borders, forgo archers altogether until the tech is really cheap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]B. The First War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take the time to expand to three, four, or maybe even five cities (depending on your land and budget) and secure all the useful resources behind your chokepoints. At the same time, you should start to build a military. Once you've got your core cities up and running and have a sizable military, go on the offensive. Ideally you'll have catapults to start the war. As long as your enemy is still using archers when you start the war, you'll be fine. Overwhelming numbers is the key to victory here. Archers fall pretty easily to just axes and swords, and you can easily bring down long bowman and crossbowman with axemen, swordsmen, and catapults if it ever comes to that. Once the war starts, you produce exclusively military units until peace breaks out. While at war, you only produce units, and lots and lots of catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your victim carefully. Go for your most powerful direct neighbor. Not the top dog in the world, but the next step down. Ideally they'll have a good holy city or useful wonder like the Pyramids. You won't win the war right away, so make sure you can retain all the cities you capture. And do capture all of them, as the AI will just rebuild the ones you raze anyway, and you'll have to take them again. Only take weaker out cities until you have catapults. Once you do (or if you did from the start) go straight for the core of their empire, as once you destroy/capture their most productive area, they're totally crippled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The war will not end quickly, and you should call for a cease fire (NOT peace treaties unless you get useful tech out of them) multiple times throughout to regain your strength. I often found myself taking one after I take a couple of weaker out cities and defeat their standing army, another after I take a couple of cores and/or the capital, and another during cleanup. You don't need catapults to take the outlying cities, but make sure you have them for your assault on the core cities. Use catapults to bombard defenses down to zero, then throw a few into a city to soften the defenders for your soldiers. Once you gain a noticeable upper hand, try to sue for tech. Wait for the turns to expire, and repeat until they are finished. It's fine if you run a huge deficit during the war, as taking cities nets you plenty of gold. But try to never let your research drop below 70% for prolonged periods. If you can't do this, you probably don't have enough cottages. Also, if you can exploit your unique unit during the war, then by all means do so. It's there so you can have an advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]C. The Endgame[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once your enemy is gone, solidify your new empire. The war should end well before gunpowder. Place what is left of your army on your new borders, and build infrastructure and culture. From here, you should be in good position for the rest of the game to pursue whatever strategy you like. You should be pretty close to the remaining Civs in tech, close enough to be in good shape to pursue whatever victory condition you like. From here, games play much like they do on lower difficulties. You'll end the war behind in tech, but with your new cities, you should be able to build up a sizable science base that will allow you to catch up and eventually surpass them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the cities you captured from your enemy, you'll easily have the resources necessary to win the game however you want. If you pursue Domination, remember to always use siege weapons to reduce any city's defenses to zero. If you pursue a Space Race, make sure you keep constant military pressure on your rivals. You don't need to be at war with them, but someone should. As long as the AI is on a war footing, it keeps their tech spending down. Remember that, and you'll be fine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck, and I hope this guide was useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Copyright 2006 Jonezee</French>
		<German>[H1]Getting Your First Win on Prince: A Guide and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Jonezee[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]I. A Guide for those who have trouble winning on prince.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to be clear, this guide is written for those who are trying to make the jump from Noble to Prince, and hare having trouble compensating for the AI bonuses. I came here looking for a guide on this subject, and didn't find one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I should also state that this guide is by no means an end all guide. Other strategies will work too. It's intended to provide you with useful experience you can use on Prince games on normal maps. The same strategies will work, but you'll have less control over the variables. That being said, on with the guide.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One thing above all else. Be more aggressive. Keep military pressure on other Civs to keep their research down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This guide is geared towards getting your first win on Prince for those who have struggled with it. If you're anything like me when you tried to make the jump, you found yourself horribly behind in technology, and felt a financial squeeze when you tried expanding like you would on Noble. By getting your first win, you learn a whole bunch that can be applied in later games. And this guide should help you get the first one. By no means is this the only way to get a win. Just a method I had consistent success with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]II. The Guide[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]A: The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, start up a custom game. Choose Pangaea, with high sea levels. This should give you some thin strips of land that will serve as chokepoints and thus make defense much easier. Go with three or four opponents. Whatever civilization you choose is up to you. The first time I used this strategy I went with random and got Victoria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, plop your settler down in the most advantageous place. Start building a warrior. Look at other guides regarding early moves for more help here. I went warrior-worker-building/wonder. Take your warrior and go exploring. Knowing the immediate lay of the land is incredibly important, as you need to discover any and all and nearby chokepoints, as you will be building cities here. Hooking up key resources like copper or horses should take first priority, but these are second. They'll serve as your defensive cities, and should block off the AI from land. You can build cities here straight away if you want.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're lucky enough to stumble across an enemy civilization, and try finding a hill you can stand on top of, or a lake to look across to see if they have any defenders yet. If not, take them out. (You also can just march right into their territory to see, and reload if they have a defender, but some frown on that). But if you can, destroy them. They'll just be a problem later. And in this, you'll see a hint of what's necessary to win on higher difficulties: more aggression.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can completely forget about trying to found any early religions. They aren't necessary. You should not focus on wonders either. Starting to build them is great. You'll want to get some, but ideally you'll get beat to the punch on a couple and should get a bunch of gold out of the deal (think of it like an early form of wealth). You'll be needing gold too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But you do want at least one early wonder. I won my first game having only constructed Stonehenge. You'll want to try to get one of the cheap early wonders for the Great Person points. Prophets are the best, as super citizens they provide a solid financial and production boost. Again, forget about founding religions. They can be more trouble than they're worth. Once you've mastered Prince, you can try founding one, but don't do it while you're still new to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your research, go straight for bronze working. It gives you a great early edge. You need to know where copper is ASAP. If you have some already in your borders, forget archery for awhile and build exclusively axemen. You also get the ability to chop forests for their hammers. Use this for rushing settlers, and your early wonder(s). Then go for the worker techs you need to exploit your resources. Then beeline to Alphabet. Alphabet will let you trade for techs, and you should be able to pick up a lot of the older, cheaper techs if you're the first to get Alphabet. After alphabet, the important techs are currency, code of laws, iron working, and construction. These give you money, and boost your military. Don't be shy about chopping forests to rush courthouses or markets either, as they're worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your economy, cottages are your best friend. Don't automate your workers, as they'll build more farms then you could ever need. Have them build cottages after you hook up your resources. Try to get your cities to work these cottages, as they'll expand and give you much needed money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for religion, do what the AI does and convert to the first one you get for the bonuses. Ideally this will be the one the most powerful Civ has, and will help keep them off your back. If it's not, switch to match the most powerful Civ when possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're going to want to start building up your military throughout early game. Build walls in whatever chokepoint border cities you've set up, and guard them with multiple axemen if possible, archers if not. Axemen are great on offense and defense, so if you have copper in your borders, forgo archers altogether until the tech is really cheap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]B. The First War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take the time to expand to three, four, or maybe even five cities (depending on your land and budget) and secure all the useful resources behind your chokepoints. At the same time, you should start to build a military. Once you've got your core cities up and running and have a sizable military, go on the offensive. Ideally you'll have catapults to start the war. As long as your enemy is still using archers when you start the war, you'll be fine. Overwhelming numbers is the key to victory here. Archers fall pretty easily to just axes and swords, and you can easily bring down long bowman and crossbowman with axemen, swordsmen, and catapults if it ever comes to that. Once the war starts, you produce exclusively military units until peace breaks out. While at war, you only produce units, and lots and lots of catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your victim carefully. Go for your most powerful direct neighbor. Not the top dog in the world, but the next step down. Ideally they'll have a good holy city or useful wonder like the Pyramids. You won't win the war right away, so make sure you can retain all the cities you capture. And do capture all of them, as the AI will just rebuild the ones you raze anyway, and you'll have to take them again. Only take weaker out cities until you have catapults. Once you do (or if you did from the start) go straight for the core of their empire, as once you destroy/capture their most productive area, they're totally crippled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The war will not end quickly, and you should call for a cease fire (NOT peace treaties unless you get useful tech out of them) multiple times throughout to regain your strength. I often found myself taking one after I take a couple of weaker out cities and defeat their standing army, another after I take a couple of cores and/or the capital, and another during cleanup. You don't need catapults to take the outlying cities, but make sure you have them for your assault on the core cities. Use catapults to bombard defenses down to zero, then throw a few into a city to soften the defenders for your soldiers. Once you gain a noticeable upper hand, try to sue for tech. Wait for the turns to expire, and repeat until they are finished. It's fine if you run a huge deficit during the war, as taking cities nets you plenty of gold. But try to never let your research drop below 70% for prolonged periods. If you can't do this, you probably don't have enough cottages. Also, if you can exploit your unique unit during the war, then by all means do so. It's there so you can have an advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]C. The Endgame[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once your enemy is gone, solidify your new empire. The war should end well before gunpowder. Place what is left of your army on your new borders, and build infrastructure and culture. From here, you should be in good position for the rest of the game to pursue whatever strategy you like. You should be pretty close to the remaining Civs in tech, close enough to be in good shape to pursue whatever victory condition you like. From here, games play much like they do on lower difficulties. You'll end the war behind in tech, but with your new cities, you should be able to build up a sizable science base that will allow you to catch up and eventually surpass them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the cities you captured from your enemy, you'll easily have the resources necessary to win the game however you want. If you pursue Domination, remember to always use siege weapons to reduce any city's defenses to zero. If you pursue a Space Race, make sure you keep constant military pressure on your rivals. You don't need to be at war with them, but someone should. As long as the AI is on a war footing, it keeps their tech spending down. Remember that, and you'll be fine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck, and I hope this guide was useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Copyright 2006 Jonezee</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Getting Your First Win on Prince: A Guide and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Jonezee[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]I. A Guide for those who have trouble winning on prince.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to be clear, this guide is written for those who are trying to make the jump from Noble to Prince, and hare having trouble compensating for the AI bonuses. I came here looking for a guide on this subject, and didn't find one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I should also state that this guide is by no means an end all guide. Other strategies will work too. It's intended to provide you with useful experience you can use on Prince games on normal maps. The same strategies will work, but you'll have less control over the variables. That being said, on with the guide.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One thing above all else. Be more aggressive. Keep military pressure on other Civs to keep their research down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This guide is geared towards getting your first win on Prince for those who have struggled with it. If you're anything like me when you tried to make the jump, you found yourself horribly behind in technology, and felt a financial squeeze when you tried expanding like you would on Noble. By getting your first win, you learn a whole bunch that can be applied in later games. And this guide should help you get the first one. By no means is this the only way to get a win. Just a method I had consistent success with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]II. The Guide[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]A: The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, start up a custom game. Choose Pangaea, with high sea levels. This should give you some thin strips of land that will serve as chokepoints and thus make defense much easier. Go with three or four opponents. Whatever civilization you choose is up to you. The first time I used this strategy I went with random and got Victoria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, plop your settler down in the most advantageous place. Start building a warrior. Look at other guides regarding early moves for more help here. I went warrior-worker-building/wonder. Take your warrior and go exploring. Knowing the immediate lay of the land is incredibly important, as you need to discover any and all and nearby chokepoints, as you will be building cities here. Hooking up key resources like copper or horses should take first priority, but these are second. They'll serve as your defensive cities, and should block off the AI from land. You can build cities here straight away if you want.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're lucky enough to stumble across an enemy civilization, and try finding a hill you can stand on top of, or a lake to look across to see if they have any defenders yet. If not, take them out. (You also can just march right into their territory to see, and reload if they have a defender, but some frown on that). But if you can, destroy them. They'll just be a problem later. And in this, you'll see a hint of what's necessary to win on higher difficulties: more aggression.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can completely forget about trying to found any early religions. They aren't necessary. You should not focus on wonders either. Starting to build them is great. You'll want to get some, but ideally you'll get beat to the punch on a couple and should get a bunch of gold out of the deal (think of it like an early form of wealth). You'll be needing gold too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But you do want at least one early wonder. I won my first game having only constructed Stonehenge. You'll want to try to get one of the cheap early wonders for the Great Person points. Prophets are the best, as super citizens they provide a solid financial and production boost. Again, forget about founding religions. They can be more trouble than they're worth. Once you've mastered Prince, you can try founding one, but don't do it while you're still new to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your research, go straight for bronze working. It gives you a great early edge. You need to know where copper is ASAP. If you have some already in your borders, forget archery for awhile and build exclusively axemen. You also get the ability to chop forests for their hammers. Use this for rushing settlers, and your early wonder(s). Then go for the worker techs you need to exploit your resources. Then beeline to Alphabet. Alphabet will let you trade for techs, and you should be able to pick up a lot of the older, cheaper techs if you're the first to get Alphabet. After alphabet, the important techs are currency, code of laws, iron working, and construction. These give you money, and boost your military. Don't be shy about chopping forests to rush courthouses or markets either, as they're worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your economy, cottages are your best friend. Don't automate your workers, as they'll build more farms then you could ever need. Have them build cottages after you hook up your resources. Try to get your cities to work these cottages, as they'll expand and give you much needed money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for religion, do what the AI does and convert to the first one you get for the bonuses. Ideally this will be the one the most powerful Civ has, and will help keep them off your back. If it's not, switch to match the most powerful Civ when possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're going to want to start building up your military throughout early game. Build walls in whatever chokepoint border cities you've set up, and guard them with multiple axemen if possible, archers if not. Axemen are great on offense and defense, so if you have copper in your borders, forgo archers altogether until the tech is really cheap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]B. The First War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take the time to expand to three, four, or maybe even five cities (depending on your land and budget) and secure all the useful resources behind your chokepoints. At the same time, you should start to build a military. Once you've got your core cities up and running and have a sizable military, go on the offensive. Ideally you'll have catapults to start the war. As long as your enemy is still using archers when you start the war, you'll be fine. Overwhelming numbers is the key to victory here. Archers fall pretty easily to just axes and swords, and you can easily bring down long bowman and crossbowman with axemen, swordsmen, and catapults if it ever comes to that. Once the war starts, you produce exclusively military units until peace breaks out. While at war, you only produce units, and lots and lots of catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your victim carefully. Go for your most powerful direct neighbor. Not the top dog in the world, but the next step down. Ideally they'll have a good holy city or useful wonder like the Pyramids. You won't win the war right away, so make sure you can retain all the cities you capture. And do capture all of them, as the AI will just rebuild the ones you raze anyway, and you'll have to take them again. Only take weaker out cities until you have catapults. Once you do (or if you did from the start) go straight for the core of their empire, as once you destroy/capture their most productive area, they're totally crippled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The war will not end quickly, and you should call for a cease fire (NOT peace treaties unless you get useful tech out of them) multiple times throughout to regain your strength. I often found myself taking one after I take a couple of weaker out cities and defeat their standing army, another after I take a couple of cores and/or the capital, and another during cleanup. You don't need catapults to take the outlying cities, but make sure you have them for your assault on the core cities. Use catapults to bombard defenses down to zero, then throw a few into a city to soften the defenders for your soldiers. Once you gain a noticeable upper hand, try to sue for tech. Wait for the turns to expire, and repeat until they are finished. It's fine if you run a huge deficit during the war, as taking cities nets you plenty of gold. But try to never let your research drop below 70% for prolonged periods. If you can't do this, you probably don't have enough cottages. Also, if you can exploit your unique unit during the war, then by all means do so. It's there so you can have an advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]C. The Endgame[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once your enemy is gone, solidify your new empire. The war should end well before gunpowder. Place what is left of your army on your new borders, and build infrastructure and culture. From here, you should be in good position for the rest of the game to pursue whatever strategy you like. You should be pretty close to the remaining Civs in tech, close enough to be in good shape to pursue whatever victory condition you like. From here, games play much like they do on lower difficulties. You'll end the war behind in tech, but with your new cities, you should be able to build up a sizable science base that will allow you to catch up and eventually surpass them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the cities you captured from your enemy, you'll easily have the resources necessary to win the game however you want. If you pursue Domination, remember to always use siege weapons to reduce any city's defenses to zero. If you pursue a Space Race, make sure you keep constant military pressure on your rivals. You don't need to be at war with them, but someone should. As long as the AI is on a war footing, it keeps their tech spending down. Remember that, and you'll be fine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck, and I hope this guide was useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Copyright 2006 Jonezee</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Getting Your First Win on Prince: A Guide and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Jonezee[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]I. A Guide for those who have trouble winning on prince.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to be clear, this guide is written for those who are trying to make the jump from Noble to Prince, and hare having trouble compensating for the AI bonuses. I came here looking for a guide on this subject, and didn't find one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I should also state that this guide is by no means an end all guide. Other strategies will work too. It's intended to provide you with useful experience you can use on Prince games on normal maps. The same strategies will work, but you'll have less control over the variables. That being said, on with the guide.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One thing above all else. Be more aggressive. Keep military pressure on other Civs to keep their research down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This guide is geared towards getting your first win on Prince for those who have struggled with it. If you're anything like me when you tried to make the jump, you found yourself horribly behind in technology, and felt a financial squeeze when you tried expanding like you would on Noble. By getting your first win, you learn a whole bunch that can be applied in later games. And this guide should help you get the first one. By no means is this the only way to get a win. Just a method I had consistent success with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]II. The Guide[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]A: The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, start up a custom game. Choose Pangaea, with high sea levels. This should give you some thin strips of land that will serve as chokepoints and thus make defense much easier. Go with three or four opponents. Whatever civilization you choose is up to you. The first time I used this strategy I went with random and got Victoria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, plop your settler down in the most advantageous place. Start building a warrior. Look at other guides regarding early moves for more help here. I went warrior-worker-building/wonder. Take your warrior and go exploring. Knowing the immediate lay of the land is incredibly important, as you need to discover any and all and nearby chokepoints, as you will be building cities here. Hooking up key resources like copper or horses should take first priority, but these are second. They'll serve as your defensive cities, and should block off the AI from land. You can build cities here straight away if you want.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're lucky enough to stumble across an enemy civilization, and try finding a hill you can stand on top of, or a lake to look across to see if they have any defenders yet. If not, take them out. (You also can just march right into their territory to see, and reload if they have a defender, but some frown on that). But if you can, destroy them. They'll just be a problem later. And in this, you'll see a hint of what's necessary to win on higher difficulties: more aggression.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can completely forget about trying to found any early religions. They aren't necessary. You should not focus on wonders either. Starting to build them is great. You'll want to get some, but ideally you'll get beat to the punch on a couple and should get a bunch of gold out of the deal (think of it like an early form of wealth). You'll be needing gold too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But you do want at least one early wonder. I won my first game having only constructed Stonehenge. You'll want to try to get one of the cheap early wonders for the Great Person points. Prophets are the best, as super citizens they provide a solid financial and production boost. Again, forget about founding religions. They can be more trouble than they're worth. Once you've mastered Prince, you can try founding one, but don't do it while you're still new to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your research, go straight for bronze working. It gives you a great early edge. You need to know where copper is ASAP. If you have some already in your borders, forget archery for awhile and build exclusively axemen. You also get the ability to chop forests for their hammers. Use this for rushing settlers, and your early wonder(s). Then go for the worker techs you need to exploit your resources. Then beeline to Alphabet. Alphabet will let you trade for techs, and you should be able to pick up a lot of the older, cheaper techs if you're the first to get Alphabet. After alphabet, the important techs are currency, code of laws, iron working, and construction. These give you money, and boost your military. Don't be shy about chopping forests to rush courthouses or markets either, as they're worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for your economy, cottages are your best friend. Don't automate your workers, as they'll build more farms then you could ever need. Have them build cottages after you hook up your resources. Try to get your cities to work these cottages, as they'll expand and give you much needed money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for religion, do what the AI does and convert to the first one you get for the bonuses. Ideally this will be the one the most powerful Civ has, and will help keep them off your back. If it's not, switch to match the most powerful Civ when possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You're going to want to start building up your military throughout early game. Build walls in whatever chokepoint border cities you've set up, and guard them with multiple axemen if possible, archers if not. Axemen are great on offense and defense, so if you have copper in your borders, forgo archers altogether until the tech is really cheap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]B. The First War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Take the time to expand to three, four, or maybe even five cities (depending on your land and budget) and secure all the useful resources behind your chokepoints. At the same time, you should start to build a military. Once you've got your core cities up and running and have a sizable military, go on the offensive. Ideally you'll have catapults to start the war. As long as your enemy is still using archers when you start the war, you'll be fine. Overwhelming numbers is the key to victory here. Archers fall pretty easily to just axes and swords, and you can easily bring down long bowman and crossbowman with axemen, swordsmen, and catapults if it ever comes to that. Once the war starts, you produce exclusively military units until peace breaks out. While at war, you only produce units, and lots and lots of catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your victim carefully. Go for your most powerful direct neighbor. Not the top dog in the world, but the next step down. Ideally they'll have a good holy city or useful wonder like the Pyramids. You won't win the war right away, so make sure you can retain all the cities you capture. And do capture all of them, as the AI will just rebuild the ones you raze anyway, and you'll have to take them again. Only take weaker out cities until you have catapults. Once you do (or if you did from the start) go straight for the core of their empire, as once you destroy/capture their most productive area, they're totally crippled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The war will not end quickly, and you should call for a cease fire (NOT peace treaties unless you get useful tech out of them) multiple times throughout to regain your strength. I often found myself taking one after I take a couple of weaker out cities and defeat their standing army, another after I take a couple of cores and/or the capital, and another during cleanup. You don't need catapults to take the outlying cities, but make sure you have them for your assault on the core cities. Use catapults to bombard defenses down to zero, then throw a few into a city to soften the defenders for your soldiers. Once you gain a noticeable upper hand, try to sue for tech. Wait for the turns to expire, and repeat until they are finished. It's fine if you run a huge deficit during the war, as taking cities nets you plenty of gold. But try to never let your research drop below 70% for prolonged periods. If you can't do this, you probably don't have enough cottages. Also, if you can exploit your unique unit during the war, then by all means do so. It's there so you can have an advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]C. The Endgame[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once your enemy is gone, solidify your new empire. The war should end well before gunpowder. Place what is left of your army on your new borders, and build infrastructure and culture. From here, you should be in good position for the rest of the game to pursue whatever strategy you like. You should be pretty close to the remaining Civs in tech, close enough to be in good shape to pursue whatever victory condition you like. From here, games play much like they do on lower difficulties. You'll end the war behind in tech, but with your new cities, you should be able to build up a sizable science base that will allow you to catch up and eventually surpass them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the cities you captured from your enemy, you'll easily have the resources necessary to win the game however you want. If you pursue Domination, remember to always use siege weapons to reduce any city's defenses to zero. If you pursue a Space Race, make sure you keep constant military pressure on your rivals. You don't need to be at war with them, but someone should. As long as the AI is on a war footing, it keeps their tech spending down. Remember that, and you'll be fine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck, and I hope this guide was useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]---[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Copyright 2006 Jonezee</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_MONARCH_DIFFICULTY_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Monarch Strategy -- Condensed[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]eben[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, I'm feeling all validated from the quick responses to my new threads (I'm new to the forum) so I've decided to try something a bit more extensive. I spent the entire day at work yesterday working my way through all 14 pages of this forum and gleaned everything I could pertaining to monarch- or similar-level games. (you can tell how much my job motivates me. fortunately my boss is in another city). the results are below, with a focus on the early game and a special mention for cultural victories. all of this material is entirely other people's...I came up with nothing on my own, I only interpreted it. I'd love to hear feedback, critiques or rants.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Early expansion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. City planning[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Early wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religion spread[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Diplomacy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Island games[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]BONUS: the Killer Kremlin[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Early expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One no-brainer here is forest chopping. I don't think anyone will dispute that at Monarch and higher some chopping is necessary. The big decision is how far to take it: go for the big land grab and end up with a lot of tiny cities and high maintenance cost, or stop after setting up a core 3 to 4 and concentrate on building your heavy-hitting cities. I found that chopping heavily with 2 to 3 workers per city until 3 or 4 good starting locations are settled worked extremely well. I saved a few forests for wonders, and because I chopped them in my core cities I was able to start out with a very strong triumvirate of production, commerce and Great Person farming. The one thing to prioritize, of course, is resources. If you're going to stay relatively small at the beginning, you need bronze or preferably iron for expanding further into enemy territory when your economy and production's going. Stone and marble make a huge difference as well, as they usually determine whether you'll go for the early wonders or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the core cities are in place, I prefer to settle 2 to 3 more in an "outer ring", leaving room for further cities in the middle. This way you push the borders out as far as possible and then back-fill the space that's left. This is assuming an ideal starting area--it rarely pans out exactly that way. I rarely chop rush expansion at this stage, but will if I'm racing for a critical spot. Maintenance cost is the decision-maker here. I believe it's a judgment call, based on where your tech is at and how well you need to defend your border cities. If your army is significantly weaker or out-dated compared to the enemies on the border, holding back is probably wiser until you have a stronger military/tech position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. City Planning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest thing I learned from all my post-crawling is the value of specializing cities. I believe a good general ratio is: 1 GP farm, 2 production cities, 3 commerce cities. The GP farm needs heaps of food to allow for specialists, and ideally a couple of hills to allow ongoing production--little else. Production cities should have several mined hills and enough farms to keep them going. Commerce cities focus on cottages, of course--ideally on tiles that already have a commerce point if you're a Financial civ. I like to lay out enough farms to keep the food level at +3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've decided on these, build national and great wonders in them accordingly. Add great people to boost finance and research (and culture, if you're playing for that victory). Use great engineers to build wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Early Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's all about stone and marble. If you don't have either of these, the value of building early wonders at this difficulty level becomes questionable. Conversely, if you have both, you're set for some big advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stonehenge is so easy to get, even without stone, it's crazy to pass up. The AI doesn't seem to make it a big priority, but it's invaluable in blocking off your territory and keeping the expanding enemy at bay. It also means you can access the juicy land tiles in your newest cities very early, without having to spend time on obelisks; this is a big, big advantage in those last-built, vulnerable border towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have stone, the Pyramids are hard to pass up, even with a lot of chopping. I always save forest for this, as it's big and easy to lose to the AI. The benefit of switching to Representation once you get it is huge: the added happiness means your core cities will grow unimpeded throughout the early game, allowing you to beef up production and, consequently, research and military. The added science bonus for specialists (and you should have some in your GP farm by now) also goes a long way to gaining a strong tech foothold. If you manage the Great Library down the road, and/or the Mercantilism civic, it really takes off.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, another favorite is the Oracle. Marble makes it easy to build in your production city, hopefully with a few forests to chop held for the occasion. Oracle gives you a free tech and, depending on where your opponents' tech is at, possibly the founding of a religion. You're given the opportunity to choose the most expensive bonus tech as well, so you can't lose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In my last game I managed to build all three of these before I settled my third city. I was extremely lucky, and had marble and stone close by. I started alone on an island, so this might have something to do with it (I believe the AI compensates you for island starts with better starting resources/map tiles). I was wary of sacrificing so much expansion to building these, but the results more than paid off. By the time the other civs found my island, I was in first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]4. Religion Spread[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Spreading religion is good for a bunch of reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found your own, it means big money. even if you didn't, you may capture a holy city (or two, or more!) and still get the cash bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Diplomacy! alliances almost always stack up along religious lines, so plan to be pals with at least one of the strongest opponents. Switching religions to match an opponent is painless if you spread it first to all your own cities, and they'll love you for it.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Espionage: successful missionaries provide a view of the city's forces and the surrounding area. (they may also allow you to view the city screen--I've actually forgotten to try this! somebody help me out, here).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Culture: spreading three religions within your borders is key to a cultural win (see the Cultural Win section below).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]5. Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There aren't a lot of surprises here. Align your religion with the heavy hitters, keep trades going continuously (even at a loss), give them what they want in tribute as often as you can (without giving away important techs) and try to build up a heavy cash reserve for instigating wars and other deviousness. My impression is that a diplomatic victory at monarch or higher is extremely difficult, but I'm starting a thread on this to find out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]6. Island Games[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I used to restart whenever I found myself alone on an island. No more. Being alone on an island gives you two big advantages: you don't have to spend money or research on military, other than to defend against and eventually conquer the barbarians, and you don't need to expand quickly. I didn't realize how advantageous it is to expand slowly until I tried it. It means you can keep your tech level at 70-80% until your entire island is filled. This goes a long way in making up for the lack of early tech trading.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The disadvantages are (as I just mentioned) a total lack of early tech and resource trading with the AI players, and hitting a brick wall expansion-wise when your island's filled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For these two reasons, I think islands are custom-made for cultural wins. You can specialize your technology to focus on culture, civics and key wonder building since you don't need any military defense, and you don't need to be a contender in the tech race since you'll switch to 90-100% culture 2/3rds of the way through anyway. Which brings us to the next section:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]7. Cultural Victories[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I didn't think cultural victories were even feasible at higher levels, and had no idea how fun they are to play until I came across an excellent post on the strategy behind them. Sorry to the author...you deserve heaps of credit for this one. In a nutshell:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Plan on having nine cities or more. some can be crap. more on this later.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Go for Drama early so you can start out with theatres quickly for a big long-running bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Gear at least one GP farm to spit out almost nothing but great artists (building 1 or 2 appropriate wonders there will accomplish this).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Choose three cities from the beginning that will be your cultural winners, and build national/great wonders to maximize their culture. My three winning cities were production, commerce and GP-oriented, respectively. My GP farm had heaps of cultural specialists--you need the specialists here anyway to pump up the GP output. My production city built wonders to raise the culture rating, and I money-rushed and great-engineer-rushed wonders in my commerce city to raise ITS culture rating.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Join a few great artists to your culture cities early on to even out the rate at which they climb, but hold back at least half a dozen or so for endgame culture-bombs. They provide less culture overall, but it's not always easy to predict which cities will need the boost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Spread at least two other non-state religions to all 9 cities. there is an "advanced" religious building for each religion that gives a 50% bonus to a city's culture. the trick is that you can build 1 for every 3 temples of the corresponding religion you own. This is why 9 cities are optimal. 12 is likely too high in maintenance. A couple of the nine can be paltry, and settled late. All they really need to do is build a temple! Nine temples of each religion will allow you to build all three advanced religious buildings in each of your cultural cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Once you get to riflemen, set your research to 0% (or 10%, if you have to) and max out the culture. If you're at a decent spot in the tech race, by the time the AI players have infantry and tanks it will be too late. If you're on an island, it's even safer. Build wealth in as many of your other cities as is feasible to help keep the culture slider high.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This formula worked perfectly for me in an island start on monarch. I finished around 1950AD, while the AI was still several big pieces away from finishing the spaceship. A couple of the weaker AIs attacked me, but I easily repelled their landing parties until I could sue for peace. (Interestingly, the only civs to declare war on me were Jewish and I was the founder of Islam. Coincidence?). The biggest problems I had were gearing the GP farm to spit out only great artists (there were a few scientists, prophets and engineers before I could get a culture-generating wonder built there), and my inability to spread non-state religions until the other civs found me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Elizabeth is tailor-made for a cultural win. Financial means you can get the techs you need at a decent rate and get massive culture when you max out the slider in the endgame. Philosophical means heaps of great artists (and other GPs to ramp up the tech level and rush cultural wonders). And her UU is redcoat (rifleman). Perfect--it's the last and best unit you need![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I really loved playing a game with minimal war and no ulcers over the mid to late game tech race. It was fast because there were no military units and wars to contend with, and it wasn't boring because the building, research and GP placement is so strategic. The score is abysmal--because you stop researching 2/3rds of the way through the game--but there's nothing wrong with being the underdog![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]BONUS: The Killer Kremlin[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I had to include this in the post, just because it sounded so cool. I've never tried it, but the original poster used it consistently on Emperor level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Make a bee-line for Communism as soon as you can. Make sure your bank account's fat by the time you get there (keep the slider down a bit the last few turns to make sure you have heaps of money when you get the tech). Rush the Kremlin when you get it, and set your research to 0% the next turn. Set all your cities to start building financial buildings, and on the following turn rush those too, taking advantage of the new cheaper cost. Keep the tech slider at 0% for as long as you're comfortable to maximize your cash and buy, buy, buy![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, that's my epic. I'd love to hear feedback on it, and anything critical I may have missed. Hope you enjoyed it!</English>
		<French>[H1]Monarch Strategy -- Condensed[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]eben[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, I'm feeling all validated from the quick responses to my new threads (I'm new to the forum) so I've decided to try something a bit more extensive. I spent the entire day at work yesterday working my way through all 14 pages of this forum and gleaned everything I could pertaining to monarch- or similar-level games. (you can tell how much my job motivates me. fortunately my boss is in another city). the results are below, with a focus on the early game and a special mention for cultural victories. all of this material is entirely other people's...I came up with nothing on my own, I only interpreted it. I'd love to hear feedback, critiques or rants.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Early expansion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. City planning[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Early wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religion spread[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Diplomacy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Island games[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]BONUS: the Killer Kremlin[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Early expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One no-brainer here is forest chopping. I don't think anyone will dispute that at Monarch and higher some chopping is necessary. The big decision is how far to take it: go for the big land grab and end up with a lot of tiny cities and high maintenance cost, or stop after setting up a core 3 to 4 and concentrate on building your heavy-hitting cities. I found that chopping heavily with 2 to 3 workers per city until 3 or 4 good starting locations are settled worked extremely well. I saved a few forests for wonders, and because I chopped them in my core cities I was able to start out with a very strong triumvirate of production, commerce and Great Person farming. The one thing to prioritize, of course, is resources. If you're going to stay relatively small at the beginning, you need bronze or preferably iron for expanding further into enemy territory when your economy and production's going. Stone and marble make a huge difference as well, as they usually determine whether you'll go for the early wonders or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the core cities are in place, I prefer to settle 2 to 3 more in an "outer ring", leaving room for further cities in the middle. This way you push the borders out as far as possible and then back-fill the space that's left. This is assuming an ideal starting area--it rarely pans out exactly that way. I rarely chop rush expansion at this stage, but will if I'm racing for a critical spot. Maintenance cost is the decision-maker here. I believe it's a judgment call, based on where your tech is at and how well you need to defend your border cities. If your army is significantly weaker or out-dated compared to the enemies on the border, holding back is probably wiser until you have a stronger military/tech position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. City Planning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest thing I learned from all my post-crawling is the value of specializing cities. I believe a good general ratio is: 1 GP farm, 2 production cities, 3 commerce cities. The GP farm needs heaps of food to allow for specialists, and ideally a couple of hills to allow ongoing production--little else. Production cities should have several mined hills and enough farms to keep them going. Commerce cities focus on cottages, of course--ideally on tiles that already have a commerce point if you're a Financial civ. I like to lay out enough farms to keep the food level at +3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've decided on these, build national and great wonders in them accordingly. Add great people to boost finance and research (and culture, if you're playing for that victory). Use great engineers to build wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Early Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's all about stone and marble. If you don't have either of these, the value of building early wonders at this difficulty level becomes questionable. Conversely, if you have both, you're set for some big advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stonehenge is so easy to get, even without stone, it's crazy to pass up. The AI doesn't seem to make it a big priority, but it's invaluable in blocking off your territory and keeping the expanding enemy at bay. It also means you can access the juicy land tiles in your newest cities very early, without having to spend time on obelisks; this is a big, big advantage in those last-built, vulnerable border towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have stone, the Pyramids are hard to pass up, even with a lot of chopping. I always save forest for this, as it's big and easy to lose to the AI. The benefit of switching to Representation once you get it is huge: the added happiness means your core cities will grow unimpeded throughout the early game, allowing you to beef up production and, consequently, research and military. The added science bonus for specialists (and you should have some in your GP farm by now) also goes a long way to gaining a strong tech foothold. If you manage the Great Library down the road, and/or the Mercantilism civic, it really takes off.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, another favorite is the Oracle. Marble makes it easy to build in your production city, hopefully with a few forests to chop held for the occasion. Oracle gives you a free tech and, depending on where your opponents' tech is at, possibly the founding of a religion. You're given the opportunity to choose the most expensive bonus tech as well, so you can't lose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In my last game I managed to build all three of these before I settled my third city. I was extremely lucky, and had marble and stone close by. I started alone on an island, so this might have something to do with it (I believe the AI compensates you for island starts with better starting resources/map tiles). I was wary of sacrificing so much expansion to building these, but the results more than paid off. By the time the other civs found my island, I was in first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]4. Religion Spread[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Spreading religion is good for a bunch of reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found your own, it means big money. even if you didn't, you may capture a holy city (or two, or more!) and still get the cash bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Diplomacy! alliances almost always stack up along religious lines, so plan to be pals with at least one of the strongest opponents. Switching religions to match an opponent is painless if you spread it first to all your own cities, and they'll love you for it.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Espionage: successful missionaries provide a view of the city's forces and the surrounding area. (they may also allow you to view the city screen--I've actually forgotten to try this! somebody help me out, here).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Culture: spreading three religions within your borders is key to a cultural win (see the Cultural Win section below).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]5. Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There aren't a lot of surprises here. Align your religion with the heavy hitters, keep trades going continuously (even at a loss), give them what they want in tribute as often as you can (without giving away important techs) and try to build up a heavy cash reserve for instigating wars and other deviousness. My impression is that a diplomatic victory at monarch or higher is extremely difficult, but I'm starting a thread on this to find out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]6. Island Games[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I used to restart whenever I found myself alone on an island. No more. Being alone on an island gives you two big advantages: you don't have to spend money or research on military, other than to defend against and eventually conquer the barbarians, and you don't need to expand quickly. I didn't realize how advantageous it is to expand slowly until I tried it. It means you can keep your tech level at 70-80% until your entire island is filled. This goes a long way in making up for the lack of early tech trading.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The disadvantages are (as I just mentioned) a total lack of early tech and resource trading with the AI players, and hitting a brick wall expansion-wise when your island's filled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For these two reasons, I think islands are custom-made for cultural wins. You can specialize your technology to focus on culture, civics and key wonder building since you don't need any military defense, and you don't need to be a contender in the tech race since you'll switch to 90-100% culture 2/3rds of the way through anyway. Which brings us to the next section:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]7. Cultural Victories[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I didn't think cultural victories were even feasible at higher levels, and had no idea how fun they are to play until I came across an excellent post on the strategy behind them. Sorry to the author...you deserve heaps of credit for this one. In a nutshell:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Plan on having nine cities or more. some can be crap. more on this later.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Go for Drama early so you can start out with theatres quickly for a big long-running bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Gear at least one GP farm to spit out almost nothing but great artists (building 1 or 2 appropriate wonders there will accomplish this).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Choose three cities from the beginning that will be your cultural winners, and build national/great wonders to maximize their culture. My three winning cities were production, commerce and GP-oriented, respectively. My GP farm had heaps of cultural specialists--you need the specialists here anyway to pump up the GP output. My production city built wonders to raise the culture rating, and I money-rushed and great-engineer-rushed wonders in my commerce city to raise ITS culture rating.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Join a few great artists to your culture cities early on to even out the rate at which they climb, but hold back at least half a dozen or so for endgame culture-bombs. They provide less culture overall, but it's not always easy to predict which cities will need the boost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Spread at least two other non-state religions to all 9 cities. there is an "advanced" religious building for each religion that gives a 50% bonus to a city's culture. the trick is that you can build 1 for every 3 temples of the corresponding religion you own. This is why 9 cities are optimal. 12 is likely too high in maintenance. A couple of the nine can be paltry, and settled late. All they really need to do is build a temple! Nine temples of each religion will allow you to build all three advanced religious buildings in each of your cultural cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Once you get to riflemen, set your research to 0% (or 10%, if you have to) and max out the culture. If you're at a decent spot in the tech race, by the time the AI players have infantry and tanks it will be too late. If you're on an island, it's even safer. Build wealth in as many of your other cities as is feasible to help keep the culture slider high.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This formula worked perfectly for me in an island start on monarch. I finished around 1950AD, while the AI was still several big pieces away from finishing the spaceship. A couple of the weaker AIs attacked me, but I easily repelled their landing parties until I could sue for peace. (Interestingly, the only civs to declare war on me were Jewish and I was the founder of Islam. Coincidence?). The biggest problems I had were gearing the GP farm to spit out only great artists (there were a few scientists, prophets and engineers before I could get a culture-generating wonder built there), and my inability to spread non-state religions until the other civs found me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Elizabeth is tailor-made for a cultural win. Financial means you can get the techs you need at a decent rate and get massive culture when you max out the slider in the endgame. Philosophical means heaps of great artists (and other GPs to ramp up the tech level and rush cultural wonders). And her UU is redcoat (rifleman). Perfect--it's the last and best unit you need![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I really loved playing a game with minimal war and no ulcers over the mid to late game tech race. It was fast because there were no military units and wars to contend with, and it wasn't boring because the building, research and GP placement is so strategic. The score is abysmal--because you stop researching 2/3rds of the way through the game--but there's nothing wrong with being the underdog![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]BONUS: The Killer Kremlin[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I had to include this in the post, just because it sounded so cool. I've never tried it, but the original poster used it consistently on Emperor level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Make a bee-line for Communism as soon as you can. Make sure your bank account's fat by the time you get there (keep the slider down a bit the last few turns to make sure you have heaps of money when you get the tech). Rush the Kremlin when you get it, and set your research to 0% the next turn. Set all your cities to start building financial buildings, and on the following turn rush those too, taking advantage of the new cheaper cost. Keep the tech slider at 0% for as long as you're comfortable to maximize your cash and buy, buy, buy![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, that's my epic. I'd love to hear feedback on it, and anything critical I may have missed. Hope you enjoyed it!</French>
		<German>[H1]Monarch Strategy -- Condensed[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]eben[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, I'm feeling all validated from the quick responses to my new threads (I'm new to the forum) so I've decided to try something a bit more extensive. I spent the entire day at work yesterday working my way through all 14 pages of this forum and gleaned everything I could pertaining to monarch- or similar-level games. (you can tell how much my job motivates me. fortunately my boss is in another city). the results are below, with a focus on the early game and a special mention for cultural victories. all of this material is entirely other people's...I came up with nothing on my own, I only interpreted it. I'd love to hear feedback, critiques or rants.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Early expansion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. City planning[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Early wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religion spread[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Diplomacy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Island games[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]BONUS: the Killer Kremlin[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Early expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One no-brainer here is forest chopping. I don't think anyone will dispute that at Monarch and higher some chopping is necessary. The big decision is how far to take it: go for the big land grab and end up with a lot of tiny cities and high maintenance cost, or stop after setting up a core 3 to 4 and concentrate on building your heavy-hitting cities. I found that chopping heavily with 2 to 3 workers per city until 3 or 4 good starting locations are settled worked extremely well. I saved a few forests for wonders, and because I chopped them in my core cities I was able to start out with a very strong triumvirate of production, commerce and Great Person farming. The one thing to prioritize, of course, is resources. If you're going to stay relatively small at the beginning, you need bronze or preferably iron for expanding further into enemy territory when your economy and production's going. Stone and marble make a huge difference as well, as they usually determine whether you'll go for the early wonders or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the core cities are in place, I prefer to settle 2 to 3 more in an "outer ring", leaving room for further cities in the middle. This way you push the borders out as far as possible and then back-fill the space that's left. This is assuming an ideal starting area--it rarely pans out exactly that way. I rarely chop rush expansion at this stage, but will if I'm racing for a critical spot. Maintenance cost is the decision-maker here. I believe it's a judgment call, based on where your tech is at and how well you need to defend your border cities. If your army is significantly weaker or out-dated compared to the enemies on the border, holding back is probably wiser until you have a stronger military/tech position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. City Planning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest thing I learned from all my post-crawling is the value of specializing cities. I believe a good general ratio is: 1 GP farm, 2 production cities, 3 commerce cities. The GP farm needs heaps of food to allow for specialists, and ideally a couple of hills to allow ongoing production--little else. Production cities should have several mined hills and enough farms to keep them going. Commerce cities focus on cottages, of course--ideally on tiles that already have a commerce point if you're a Financial civ. I like to lay out enough farms to keep the food level at +3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've decided on these, build national and great wonders in them accordingly. Add great people to boost finance and research (and culture, if you're playing for that victory). Use great engineers to build wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Early Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's all about stone and marble. If you don't have either of these, the value of building early wonders at this difficulty level becomes questionable. Conversely, if you have both, you're set for some big advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stonehenge is so easy to get, even without stone, it's crazy to pass up. The AI doesn't seem to make it a big priority, but it's invaluable in blocking off your territory and keeping the expanding enemy at bay. It also means you can access the juicy land tiles in your newest cities very early, without having to spend time on obelisks; this is a big, big advantage in those last-built, vulnerable border towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have stone, the Pyramids are hard to pass up, even with a lot of chopping. I always save forest for this, as it's big and easy to lose to the AI. The benefit of switching to Representation once you get it is huge: the added happiness means your core cities will grow unimpeded throughout the early game, allowing you to beef up production and, consequently, research and military. The added science bonus for specialists (and you should have some in your GP farm by now) also goes a long way to gaining a strong tech foothold. If you manage the Great Library down the road, and/or the Mercantilism civic, it really takes off.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, another favorite is the Oracle. Marble makes it easy to build in your production city, hopefully with a few forests to chop held for the occasion. Oracle gives you a free tech and, depending on where your opponents' tech is at, possibly the founding of a religion. You're given the opportunity to choose the most expensive bonus tech as well, so you can't lose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In my last game I managed to build all three of these before I settled my third city. I was extremely lucky, and had marble and stone close by. I started alone on an island, so this might have something to do with it (I believe the AI compensates you for island starts with better starting resources/map tiles). I was wary of sacrificing so much expansion to building these, but the results more than paid off. By the time the other civs found my island, I was in first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]4. Religion Spread[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Spreading religion is good for a bunch of reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found your own, it means big money. even if you didn't, you may capture a holy city (or two, or more!) and still get the cash bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Diplomacy! alliances almost always stack up along religious lines, so plan to be pals with at least one of the strongest opponents. Switching religions to match an opponent is painless if you spread it first to all your own cities, and they'll love you for it.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Espionage: successful missionaries provide a view of the city's forces and the surrounding area. (they may also allow you to view the city screen--I've actually forgotten to try this! somebody help me out, here).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Culture: spreading three religions within your borders is key to a cultural win (see the Cultural Win section below).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]5. Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There aren't a lot of surprises here. Align your religion with the heavy hitters, keep trades going continuously (even at a loss), give them what they want in tribute as often as you can (without giving away important techs) and try to build up a heavy cash reserve for instigating wars and other deviousness. My impression is that a diplomatic victory at monarch or higher is extremely difficult, but I'm starting a thread on this to find out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]6. Island Games[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I used to restart whenever I found myself alone on an island. No more. Being alone on an island gives you two big advantages: you don't have to spend money or research on military, other than to defend against and eventually conquer the barbarians, and you don't need to expand quickly. I didn't realize how advantageous it is to expand slowly until I tried it. It means you can keep your tech level at 70-80% until your entire island is filled. This goes a long way in making up for the lack of early tech trading.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The disadvantages are (as I just mentioned) a total lack of early tech and resource trading with the AI players, and hitting a brick wall expansion-wise when your island's filled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For these two reasons, I think islands are custom-made for cultural wins. You can specialize your technology to focus on culture, civics and key wonder building since you don't need any military defense, and you don't need to be a contender in the tech race since you'll switch to 90-100% culture 2/3rds of the way through anyway. Which brings us to the next section:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]7. Cultural Victories[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I didn't think cultural victories were even feasible at higher levels, and had no idea how fun they are to play until I came across an excellent post on the strategy behind them. Sorry to the author...you deserve heaps of credit for this one. In a nutshell:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Plan on having nine cities or more. some can be crap. more on this later.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Go for Drama early so you can start out with theatres quickly for a big long-running bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Gear at least one GP farm to spit out almost nothing but great artists (building 1 or 2 appropriate wonders there will accomplish this).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Choose three cities from the beginning that will be your cultural winners, and build national/great wonders to maximize their culture. My three winning cities were production, commerce and GP-oriented, respectively. My GP farm had heaps of cultural specialists--you need the specialists here anyway to pump up the GP output. My production city built wonders to raise the culture rating, and I money-rushed and great-engineer-rushed wonders in my commerce city to raise ITS culture rating.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Join a few great artists to your culture cities early on to even out the rate at which they climb, but hold back at least half a dozen or so for endgame culture-bombs. They provide less culture overall, but it's not always easy to predict which cities will need the boost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Spread at least two other non-state religions to all 9 cities. there is an "advanced" religious building for each religion that gives a 50% bonus to a city's culture. the trick is that you can build 1 for every 3 temples of the corresponding religion you own. This is why 9 cities are optimal. 12 is likely too high in maintenance. A couple of the nine can be paltry, and settled late. All they really need to do is build a temple! Nine temples of each religion will allow you to build all three advanced religious buildings in each of your cultural cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Once you get to riflemen, set your research to 0% (or 10%, if you have to) and max out the culture. If you're at a decent spot in the tech race, by the time the AI players have infantry and tanks it will be too late. If you're on an island, it's even safer. Build wealth in as many of your other cities as is feasible to help keep the culture slider high.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This formula worked perfectly for me in an island start on monarch. I finished around 1950AD, while the AI was still several big pieces away from finishing the spaceship. A couple of the weaker AIs attacked me, but I easily repelled their landing parties until I could sue for peace. (Interestingly, the only civs to declare war on me were Jewish and I was the founder of Islam. Coincidence?). The biggest problems I had were gearing the GP farm to spit out only great artists (there were a few scientists, prophets and engineers before I could get a culture-generating wonder built there), and my inability to spread non-state religions until the other civs found me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Elizabeth is tailor-made for a cultural win. Financial means you can get the techs you need at a decent rate and get massive culture when you max out the slider in the endgame. Philosophical means heaps of great artists (and other GPs to ramp up the tech level and rush cultural wonders). And her UU is redcoat (rifleman). Perfect--it's the last and best unit you need![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I really loved playing a game with minimal war and no ulcers over the mid to late game tech race. It was fast because there were no military units and wars to contend with, and it wasn't boring because the building, research and GP placement is so strategic. The score is abysmal--because you stop researching 2/3rds of the way through the game--but there's nothing wrong with being the underdog![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]BONUS: The Killer Kremlin[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I had to include this in the post, just because it sounded so cool. I've never tried it, but the original poster used it consistently on Emperor level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Make a bee-line for Communism as soon as you can. Make sure your bank account's fat by the time you get there (keep the slider down a bit the last few turns to make sure you have heaps of money when you get the tech). Rush the Kremlin when you get it, and set your research to 0% the next turn. Set all your cities to start building financial buildings, and on the following turn rush those too, taking advantage of the new cheaper cost. Keep the tech slider at 0% for as long as you're comfortable to maximize your cash and buy, buy, buy![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, that's my epic. I'd love to hear feedback on it, and anything critical I may have missed. Hope you enjoyed it!</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Monarch Strategy -- Condensed[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]eben[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, I'm feeling all validated from the quick responses to my new threads (I'm new to the forum) so I've decided to try something a bit more extensive. I spent the entire day at work yesterday working my way through all 14 pages of this forum and gleaned everything I could pertaining to monarch- or similar-level games. (you can tell how much my job motivates me. fortunately my boss is in another city). the results are below, with a focus on the early game and a special mention for cultural victories. all of this material is entirely other people's...I came up with nothing on my own, I only interpreted it. I'd love to hear feedback, critiques or rants.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Early expansion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. City planning[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Early wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religion spread[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Diplomacy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Island games[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]BONUS: the Killer Kremlin[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Early expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One no-brainer here is forest chopping. I don't think anyone will dispute that at Monarch and higher some chopping is necessary. The big decision is how far to take it: go for the big land grab and end up with a lot of tiny cities and high maintenance cost, or stop after setting up a core 3 to 4 and concentrate on building your heavy-hitting cities. I found that chopping heavily with 2 to 3 workers per city until 3 or 4 good starting locations are settled worked extremely well. I saved a few forests for wonders, and because I chopped them in my core cities I was able to start out with a very strong triumvirate of production, commerce and Great Person farming. The one thing to prioritize, of course, is resources. If you're going to stay relatively small at the beginning, you need bronze or preferably iron for expanding further into enemy territory when your economy and production's going. Stone and marble make a huge difference as well, as they usually determine whether you'll go for the early wonders or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the core cities are in place, I prefer to settle 2 to 3 more in an "outer ring", leaving room for further cities in the middle. This way you push the borders out as far as possible and then back-fill the space that's left. This is assuming an ideal starting area--it rarely pans out exactly that way. I rarely chop rush expansion at this stage, but will if I'm racing for a critical spot. Maintenance cost is the decision-maker here. I believe it's a judgment call, based on where your tech is at and how well you need to defend your border cities. If your army is significantly weaker or out-dated compared to the enemies on the border, holding back is probably wiser until you have a stronger military/tech position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. City Planning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest thing I learned from all my post-crawling is the value of specializing cities. I believe a good general ratio is: 1 GP farm, 2 production cities, 3 commerce cities. The GP farm needs heaps of food to allow for specialists, and ideally a couple of hills to allow ongoing production--little else. Production cities should have several mined hills and enough farms to keep them going. Commerce cities focus on cottages, of course--ideally on tiles that already have a commerce point if you're a Financial civ. I like to lay out enough farms to keep the food level at +3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've decided on these, build national and great wonders in them accordingly. Add great people to boost finance and research (and culture, if you're playing for that victory). Use great engineers to build wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Early Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's all about stone and marble. If you don't have either of these, the value of building early wonders at this difficulty level becomes questionable. Conversely, if you have both, you're set for some big advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stonehenge is so easy to get, even without stone, it's crazy to pass up. The AI doesn't seem to make it a big priority, but it's invaluable in blocking off your territory and keeping the expanding enemy at bay. It also means you can access the juicy land tiles in your newest cities very early, without having to spend time on obelisks; this is a big, big advantage in those last-built, vulnerable border towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have stone, the Pyramids are hard to pass up, even with a lot of chopping. I always save forest for this, as it's big and easy to lose to the AI. The benefit of switching to Representation once you get it is huge: the added happiness means your core cities will grow unimpeded throughout the early game, allowing you to beef up production and, consequently, research and military. The added science bonus for specialists (and you should have some in your GP farm by now) also goes a long way to gaining a strong tech foothold. If you manage the Great Library down the road, and/or the Mercantilism civic, it really takes off.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, another favorite is the Oracle. Marble makes it easy to build in your production city, hopefully with a few forests to chop held for the occasion. Oracle gives you a free tech and, depending on where your opponents' tech is at, possibly the founding of a religion. You're given the opportunity to choose the most expensive bonus tech as well, so you can't lose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In my last game I managed to build all three of these before I settled my third city. I was extremely lucky, and had marble and stone close by. I started alone on an island, so this might have something to do with it (I believe the AI compensates you for island starts with better starting resources/map tiles). I was wary of sacrificing so much expansion to building these, but the results more than paid off. By the time the other civs found my island, I was in first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]4. Religion Spread[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Spreading religion is good for a bunch of reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found your own, it means big money. even if you didn't, you may capture a holy city (or two, or more!) and still get the cash bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Diplomacy! alliances almost always stack up along religious lines, so plan to be pals with at least one of the strongest opponents. Switching religions to match an opponent is painless if you spread it first to all your own cities, and they'll love you for it.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Espionage: successful missionaries provide a view of the city's forces and the surrounding area. (they may also allow you to view the city screen--I've actually forgotten to try this! somebody help me out, here).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Culture: spreading three religions within your borders is key to a cultural win (see the Cultural Win section below).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]5. Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There aren't a lot of surprises here. Align your religion with the heavy hitters, keep trades going continuously (even at a loss), give them what they want in tribute as often as you can (without giving away important techs) and try to build up a heavy cash reserve for instigating wars and other deviousness. My impression is that a diplomatic victory at monarch or higher is extremely difficult, but I'm starting a thread on this to find out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]6. Island Games[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I used to restart whenever I found myself alone on an island. No more. Being alone on an island gives you two big advantages: you don't have to spend money or research on military, other than to defend against and eventually conquer the barbarians, and you don't need to expand quickly. I didn't realize how advantageous it is to expand slowly until I tried it. It means you can keep your tech level at 70-80% until your entire island is filled. This goes a long way in making up for the lack of early tech trading.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The disadvantages are (as I just mentioned) a total lack of early tech and resource trading with the AI players, and hitting a brick wall expansion-wise when your island's filled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For these two reasons, I think islands are custom-made for cultural wins. You can specialize your technology to focus on culture, civics and key wonder building since you don't need any military defense, and you don't need to be a contender in the tech race since you'll switch to 90-100% culture 2/3rds of the way through anyway. Which brings us to the next section:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]7. Cultural Victories[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I didn't think cultural victories were even feasible at higher levels, and had no idea how fun they are to play until I came across an excellent post on the strategy behind them. Sorry to the author...you deserve heaps of credit for this one. In a nutshell:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Plan on having nine cities or more. some can be crap. more on this later.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Go for Drama early so you can start out with theatres quickly for a big long-running bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Gear at least one GP farm to spit out almost nothing but great artists (building 1 or 2 appropriate wonders there will accomplish this).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Choose three cities from the beginning that will be your cultural winners, and build national/great wonders to maximize their culture. My three winning cities were production, commerce and GP-oriented, respectively. My GP farm had heaps of cultural specialists--you need the specialists here anyway to pump up the GP output. My production city built wonders to raise the culture rating, and I money-rushed and great-engineer-rushed wonders in my commerce city to raise ITS culture rating.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Join a few great artists to your culture cities early on to even out the rate at which they climb, but hold back at least half a dozen or so for endgame culture-bombs. They provide less culture overall, but it's not always easy to predict which cities will need the boost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Spread at least two other non-state religions to all 9 cities. there is an "advanced" religious building for each religion that gives a 50% bonus to a city's culture. the trick is that you can build 1 for every 3 temples of the corresponding religion you own. This is why 9 cities are optimal. 12 is likely too high in maintenance. A couple of the nine can be paltry, and settled late. All they really need to do is build a temple! Nine temples of each religion will allow you to build all three advanced religious buildings in each of your cultural cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Once you get to riflemen, set your research to 0% (or 10%, if you have to) and max out the culture. If you're at a decent spot in the tech race, by the time the AI players have infantry and tanks it will be too late. If you're on an island, it's even safer. Build wealth in as many of your other cities as is feasible to help keep the culture slider high.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This formula worked perfectly for me in an island start on monarch. I finished around 1950AD, while the AI was still several big pieces away from finishing the spaceship. A couple of the weaker AIs attacked me, but I easily repelled their landing parties until I could sue for peace. (Interestingly, the only civs to declare war on me were Jewish and I was the founder of Islam. Coincidence?). The biggest problems I had were gearing the GP farm to spit out only great artists (there were a few scientists, prophets and engineers before I could get a culture-generating wonder built there), and my inability to spread non-state religions until the other civs found me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Elizabeth is tailor-made for a cultural win. Financial means you can get the techs you need at a decent rate and get massive culture when you max out the slider in the endgame. Philosophical means heaps of great artists (and other GPs to ramp up the tech level and rush cultural wonders). And her UU is redcoat (rifleman). Perfect--it's the last and best unit you need![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I really loved playing a game with minimal war and no ulcers over the mid to late game tech race. It was fast because there were no military units and wars to contend with, and it wasn't boring because the building, research and GP placement is so strategic. The score is abysmal--because you stop researching 2/3rds of the way through the game--but there's nothing wrong with being the underdog![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]BONUS: The Killer Kremlin[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I had to include this in the post, just because it sounded so cool. I've never tried it, but the original poster used it consistently on Emperor level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Make a bee-line for Communism as soon as you can. Make sure your bank account's fat by the time you get there (keep the slider down a bit the last few turns to make sure you have heaps of money when you get the tech). Rush the Kremlin when you get it, and set your research to 0% the next turn. Set all your cities to start building financial buildings, and on the following turn rush those too, taking advantage of the new cheaper cost. Keep the tech slider at 0% for as long as you're comfortable to maximize your cash and buy, buy, buy![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, that's my epic. I'd love to hear feedback on it, and anything critical I may have missed. Hope you enjoyed it!</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Monarch Strategy -- Condensed[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]eben[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, I'm feeling all validated from the quick responses to my new threads (I'm new to the forum) so I've decided to try something a bit more extensive. I spent the entire day at work yesterday working my way through all 14 pages of this forum and gleaned everything I could pertaining to monarch- or similar-level games. (you can tell how much my job motivates me. fortunately my boss is in another city). the results are below, with a focus on the early game and a special mention for cultural victories. all of this material is entirely other people's...I came up with nothing on my own, I only interpreted it. I'd love to hear feedback, critiques or rants.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Early expansion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. City planning[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Early wonders[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Religion spread[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Diplomacy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Island games[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Cultural victories[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]BONUS: the Killer Kremlin[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Early expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One no-brainer here is forest chopping. I don't think anyone will dispute that at Monarch and higher some chopping is necessary. The big decision is how far to take it: go for the big land grab and end up with a lot of tiny cities and high maintenance cost, or stop after setting up a core 3 to 4 and concentrate on building your heavy-hitting cities. I found that chopping heavily with 2 to 3 workers per city until 3 or 4 good starting locations are settled worked extremely well. I saved a few forests for wonders, and because I chopped them in my core cities I was able to start out with a very strong triumvirate of production, commerce and Great Person farming. The one thing to prioritize, of course, is resources. If you're going to stay relatively small at the beginning, you need bronze or preferably iron for expanding further into enemy territory when your economy and production's going. Stone and marble make a huge difference as well, as they usually determine whether you'll go for the early wonders or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the core cities are in place, I prefer to settle 2 to 3 more in an "outer ring", leaving room for further cities in the middle. This way you push the borders out as far as possible and then back-fill the space that's left. This is assuming an ideal starting area--it rarely pans out exactly that way. I rarely chop rush expansion at this stage, but will if I'm racing for a critical spot. Maintenance cost is the decision-maker here. I believe it's a judgment call, based on where your tech is at and how well you need to defend your border cities. If your army is significantly weaker or out-dated compared to the enemies on the border, holding back is probably wiser until you have a stronger military/tech position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. City Planning[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest thing I learned from all my post-crawling is the value of specializing cities. I believe a good general ratio is: 1 GP farm, 2 production cities, 3 commerce cities. The GP farm needs heaps of food to allow for specialists, and ideally a couple of hills to allow ongoing production--little else. Production cities should have several mined hills and enough farms to keep them going. Commerce cities focus on cottages, of course--ideally on tiles that already have a commerce point if you're a Financial civ. I like to lay out enough farms to keep the food level at +3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've decided on these, build national and great wonders in them accordingly. Add great people to boost finance and research (and culture, if you're playing for that victory). Use great engineers to build wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Early Wonders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's all about stone and marble. If you don't have either of these, the value of building early wonders at this difficulty level becomes questionable. Conversely, if you have both, you're set for some big advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stonehenge is so easy to get, even without stone, it's crazy to pass up. The AI doesn't seem to make it a big priority, but it's invaluable in blocking off your territory and keeping the expanding enemy at bay. It also means you can access the juicy land tiles in your newest cities very early, without having to spend time on obelisks; this is a big, big advantage in those last-built, vulnerable border towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have stone, the Pyramids are hard to pass up, even with a lot of chopping. I always save forest for this, as it's big and easy to lose to the AI. The benefit of switching to Representation once you get it is huge: the added happiness means your core cities will grow unimpeded throughout the early game, allowing you to beef up production and, consequently, research and military. The added science bonus for specialists (and you should have some in your GP farm by now) also goes a long way to gaining a strong tech foothold. If you manage the Great Library down the road, and/or the Mercantilism civic, it really takes off.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, another favorite is the Oracle. Marble makes it easy to build in your production city, hopefully with a few forests to chop held for the occasion. Oracle gives you a free tech and, depending on where your opponents' tech is at, possibly the founding of a religion. You're given the opportunity to choose the most expensive bonus tech as well, so you can't lose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In my last game I managed to build all three of these before I settled my third city. I was extremely lucky, and had marble and stone close by. I started alone on an island, so this might have something to do with it (I believe the AI compensates you for island starts with better starting resources/map tiles). I was wary of sacrificing so much expansion to building these, but the results more than paid off. By the time the other civs found my island, I was in first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]4. Religion Spread[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Spreading religion is good for a bunch of reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found your own, it means big money. even if you didn't, you may capture a holy city (or two, or more!) and still get the cash bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Diplomacy! alliances almost always stack up along religious lines, so plan to be pals with at least one of the strongest opponents. Switching religions to match an opponent is painless if you spread it first to all your own cities, and they'll love you for it.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Espionage: successful missionaries provide a view of the city's forces and the surrounding area. (they may also allow you to view the city screen--I've actually forgotten to try this! somebody help me out, here).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Culture: spreading three religions within your borders is key to a cultural win (see the Cultural Win section below).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]5. Diplomacy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There aren't a lot of surprises here. Align your religion with the heavy hitters, keep trades going continuously (even at a loss), give them what they want in tribute as often as you can (without giving away important techs) and try to build up a heavy cash reserve for instigating wars and other deviousness. My impression is that a diplomatic victory at monarch or higher is extremely difficult, but I'm starting a thread on this to find out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]6. Island Games[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I used to restart whenever I found myself alone on an island. No more. Being alone on an island gives you two big advantages: you don't have to spend money or research on military, other than to defend against and eventually conquer the barbarians, and you don't need to expand quickly. I didn't realize how advantageous it is to expand slowly until I tried it. It means you can keep your tech level at 70-80% until your entire island is filled. This goes a long way in making up for the lack of early tech trading.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The disadvantages are (as I just mentioned) a total lack of early tech and resource trading with the AI players, and hitting a brick wall expansion-wise when your island's filled.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For these two reasons, I think islands are custom-made for cultural wins. You can specialize your technology to focus on culture, civics and key wonder building since you don't need any military defense, and you don't need to be a contender in the tech race since you'll switch to 90-100% culture 2/3rds of the way through anyway. Which brings us to the next section:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]7. Cultural Victories[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I didn't think cultural victories were even feasible at higher levels, and had no idea how fun they are to play until I came across an excellent post on the strategy behind them. Sorry to the author...you deserve heaps of credit for this one. In a nutshell:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Plan on having nine cities or more. some can be crap. more on this later.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Go for Drama early so you can start out with theatres quickly for a big long-running bonus.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Gear at least one GP farm to spit out almost nothing but great artists (building 1 or 2 appropriate wonders there will accomplish this).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Choose three cities from the beginning that will be your cultural winners, and build national/great wonders to maximize their culture. My three winning cities were production, commerce and GP-oriented, respectively. My GP farm had heaps of cultural specialists--you need the specialists here anyway to pump up the GP output. My production city built wonders to raise the culture rating, and I money-rushed and great-engineer-rushed wonders in my commerce city to raise ITS culture rating.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Join a few great artists to your culture cities early on to even out the rate at which they climb, but hold back at least half a dozen or so for endgame culture-bombs. They provide less culture overall, but it's not always easy to predict which cities will need the boost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Spread at least two other non-state religions to all 9 cities. there is an "advanced" religious building for each religion that gives a 50% bonus to a city's culture. the trick is that you can build 1 for every 3 temples of the corresponding religion you own. This is why 9 cities are optimal. 12 is likely too high in maintenance. A couple of the nine can be paltry, and settled late. All they really need to do is build a temple! Nine temples of each religion will allow you to build all three advanced religious buildings in each of your cultural cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET] Once you get to riflemen, set your research to 0% (or 10%, if you have to) and max out the culture. If you're at a decent spot in the tech race, by the time the AI players have infantry and tanks it will be too late. If you're on an island, it's even safer. Build wealth in as many of your other cities as is feasible to help keep the culture slider high.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This formula worked perfectly for me in an island start on monarch. I finished around 1950AD, while the AI was still several big pieces away from finishing the spaceship. A couple of the weaker AIs attacked me, but I easily repelled their landing parties until I could sue for peace. (Interestingly, the only civs to declare war on me were Jewish and I was the founder of Islam. Coincidence?). The biggest problems I had were gearing the GP farm to spit out only great artists (there were a few scientists, prophets and engineers before I could get a culture-generating wonder built there), and my inability to spread non-state religions until the other civs found me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Elizabeth is tailor-made for a cultural win. Financial means you can get the techs you need at a decent rate and get massive culture when you max out the slider in the endgame. Philosophical means heaps of great artists (and other GPs to ramp up the tech level and rush cultural wonders). And her UU is redcoat (rifleman). Perfect--it's the last and best unit you need![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I really loved playing a game with minimal war and no ulcers over the mid to late game tech race. It was fast because there were no military units and wars to contend with, and it wasn't boring because the building, research and GP placement is so strategic. The score is abysmal--because you stop researching 2/3rds of the way through the game--but there's nothing wrong with being the underdog![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]BONUS: The Killer Kremlin[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I had to include this in the post, just because it sounded so cool. I've never tried it, but the original poster used it consistently on Emperor level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Make a bee-line for Communism as soon as you can. Make sure your bank account's fat by the time you get there (keep the slider down a bit the last few turns to make sure you have heaps of money when you get the tech). Rush the Kremlin when you get it, and set your research to 0% the next turn. Set all your cities to start building financial buildings, and on the following turn rush those too, taking advantage of the new cheaper cost. Keep the tech slider at 0% for as long as you're comfortable to maximize your cash and buy, buy, buy![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, that's my epic. I'd love to hear feedback on it, and anything critical I may have missed. Hope you enjoyed it!</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_EMPEROR_DIFFICULTY_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Pete's Guide to Emperor Level Domination Wins[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pete2006[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm starting to win on Emperor pretty regularly so I thought I'd post this. I've played standard maps and won but I find small maps more enjoyable since the game can be finished faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1. Civ Choice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually choose a Financial civ that starts with mining so I can research BW immediately to chop and find copper. This means I play with Catherine, Victoria or Mansa Musa. My favorite is Victoria since the expansive trait is so nice in high level play. Industrious is weak since only a couple wonders are necessary and you only need to build one or two. GW is great in the latter parts of the game but since he lacks mining and mysticism, that's at least one extra tech you need right off the bat to chop and expand borders. Catherine has mining and doesn't need mysticism so that's quite a starting advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2. Starting Position[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are new to Emperor, there is no shame in regenerating your map to get a good spot. It doesn't always work for the best though. I've had a two gold, two crab start but my next 5 cities were near or in ice. Gold/gems + a food resource is the best starting position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3. Opening Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First techs researched should be BW - Wheel - Masonry/Mysticism - Animal Husbandry/Pottery - Writing then depending on your situation IW/Alphabet/Math. Alphabet if you need to immediately trade for the worker/religious techs you skipped. IW to mine the jungle covered gems or math if everything is going great and you want currency to finance your expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]4. Initial Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your initial guy to pop some huts and scout your first 2-3 settler sites. Do not let him wander and get killed. You need him for barb protection. -2g means you need cash infusion immediately. Look for sites that can pay for themselves. Do not plop your settler down in jungle if you can get a river somewhere else. Conquer that beautiful jungle area later after you have IW. You want 1. food. 2. gems/gold/ivory/furs/silver 3. metal/horses. (Ex. City 2 with fish + gold and City 3 with wheat + copper) A gold mine with no food source really sucks because you won't be able to work it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get boxed in and can only build 1-2 cities then immediately change strategies and go to war or the game will be lost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]5. Initial Build Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Worker - Settler - Settler. New city builds Worker first. Chop the settlers. Do not overbuild unless you have gems/gold/silver and enough food to work them. 10% research has never worked for me. Build new cities close to home to save on maintenance costs. Do not build 12 squares away to get the stone. It isn't worth it and another AI will settle 3 turns before your settler gets there anyway. If barbs are an issue, build warriors before workers in your new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]6. Initial Worker Actions[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build roads. If your cities are all on the same river (never happens) then you automatically get trade routes. Otherwise, you must build them. Build them to bring your science back up 10%. Hook up your food and resources and build cottages on all grassland/flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]7. Initial Wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you do not choose Catherine, you're going to need culture. You need Stonehenge. Plus, it only costs 3 chops. Very cheap. Nothing is worse than Hatty or Cyrus building 3 squares away and stealing your cows/copper. Build Stonehenge in a city close to an AI city so you can culture steal their land and make later invasion easier. Stonehenge should be complete around 1500 BC or AI will get it. Then if you have Stone or enough forest, build Pyramids for Representation. Otherwise, skip it and try to get it later by conquest. Later use the GE from the Pyramids to rush the Great Library. No other wonders necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]8. Early Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you research Math - Currency - COL, 5 out of 10 times, you'll end up founding Confucianism. Do not convert. The rest of the world will be hindu/jewish/buddha. Do not make enemies. +1 happy isn't worth getting killed. Org religion is very nice but you can switch over later but not with your founded religion. Do not convert (in the early game) to anything unless Isabella or Monty is nearby and you are unprepared for a very early attack. You can still build the Confucian shrine and spread the religion for the money but I rather conquer shrines and focus my hammers on military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]9. Early Research Trading[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you missed out on the pyramids then trade for Monarchy for hereditary rule. Trade for Calendar if you have calendar resources nearby. Victoria + Pyramids + Calendar = multiple early pop 10 cities and practically seals the victory. Most AI will not have currency or COL before you. Get currency before your first prolonged war. Be researching CoL during your first attack. Waiting just allows the AI to catch up to you or leapfrog you to feudalism. Attack while they only have archers or archers + spears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]10. Pick Your First Opponent. Know Thy Enemy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first war is really just a skirmish for 1-2 cities. Get open borders and scout them before attacking. See what they have defending their border cities. Chariots or axes are good enough for the first city. You can build Swords if they only have archers/spears. Otherwise, axes are probably the best choice. Expect to lose 1/2 your invasion force. You must attack a neighbor because cities too far away will kill your economy. Who to attack?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I like to attack financial or aggressive civs first. These types have the ability to beat you and should be eliminated while you are on equal tech footing. Monty with a tech lead or parity in the mid - late is hard to beat. Other considerations are who can you attack without making other AI enemies. Get peace after the first war then build replacements and go for the kill. Some civs are dumb enough to agree to open borders after you've already attacked (Egypt will love you until they are exterminated). Keep scouting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non aggressive civs will usually only have a handful of defenders per city and no roaming units. Monty/Khan/Capac will have units attack you before you even get to their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]11. New cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Courthouse - Forge - Library in new cities. Do not switch into builder mode after your first victory. They will want revenge. Keep building units and war until you finish them off (2nd attack phase usually requires cats) or at least until you take the cities worth taking. They'll be furious the next 2000 years but most will never research past CoL and will never be a threat again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]12. Mid Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get Literature for the Great Library and rush it with your Pyramids GE or build it (in your GP farm). Research bureaucracy - Machinery for macemen. Use bureaucracy and build Heroic epic in your capital. Research Guilds - Banks and then beeline (open the tech tree and click on Rifling or Military Tradition) to your UU be it Riflemen or Cossacks. These will allow you to eliminate the tech leader when behind or even on tech. Make some trades. Never trade military techs unless they are out of date. Focus on researching military techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]13. Mid Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you aren't strong enough to take on the leader now, take out the rest of your rivals with macemen + cats. (Check the Info screen to see how you match up on production, GNP and troops) Be sure to vary your attack force and throw in some elephants/pikes/knights to defend your attacking stack. You will be taking cities with the macemen and cats so focus on them. Throw in a medical explorer. If the tech leader is Monty/Khan or other aggressive, you're in for a tough end game. Try to stay on decent terms with them until it's time to eliminate them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]14. Mid Game Building[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build banks in all your commerce cities. Build harbors in your coastal cities. You get Education about the same time as Rifles/Cavalry so I usually skip the Universities as I need all production focused on military towards the end. Science will usually be around 60-70% unless I am blessed with great land or have stolen some nice shrines and then it'll be 80-90%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]15. Mid Game Workers and Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually automate the workers around this time. Too tedious to tend to everything after you have 30-50% landmass. I like to finish my games in one sitting. You should have done most of the work already so as long as you have production cities with lots of farms/mines and commerce cities with grassland cottages, you should be fine. Be sure to build the Forbidden Palace in the middle of your new land. It will raise your science bar at least 10%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]16. End Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beeline for your UU. You should get Redcoats around 1000-1100 AD. Then beeline for Democracy. Switch to Emancipation during your end game war. Unhappiness will cripple the AI and the AI never researches Democracy before you unless you are very behind them. If this happens, switch to Space Race mode. You'll probably lose anyway but if you can raze 1-2 of their production cities, you'll have a chance. Pure peace/Space Race is usually a loser unless you have the tech/production advantage but if you have the advantage you wouldn't be building the ship. Only other way is to have friends you can bribe into a war and if you've been following my guide, there's no one left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]17. End Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you weren't the tech leader then your final opponent will have rifles and cavalry slightly before you or around the same time. If you chose Catherine or England, this is not a problem. Cossacks v. Cavalry = ~90% win ratio. Redcoats v. Rifles or cavalry = ~75% win ratio. An end game against Mansa is a breeze because he may be up in tech but he doesn't build an army. Amass troops and go for the kill. Monty/Huana is different. They will have a troop advantage. I have won games where my army was listed as 500,000 and Monty was rate 850,000. I still won. The key is winning 5-1 or better and that is very doable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You must declare war first so the war is fought on your terms. Usually they have a very profitable buddha/hindu shrine. If that city is close, take that one first. If the culture is too strong then raze it and get peace quickly. It will seriously cripple his economy. Put 5-7 rifles in your border cities and keep 5 or so in your capital in case of a sneak attack. Do not pillage. You do not want your guys out in the open.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI will slam your border cities with troops. Let them attack you. Let them pillage. They're border cities, they suck anyway. After their units are injured, finish them off but leave the last catapult in the stack so your units do leave the safety of the city. After you fight off the first and second waves, dangle a worker out in the field. They will send in a lone cavalry or rifle to take your worker. Then take out their rifle with your cossack and move back into the city. Repeat. Eventually you will lead the troop category or at least be even. When this happens you can attack with impunity. They will keep 95% of their troops in cities on defense. Go on a rampage. Turn your culture up as high as you can afford to seal the domination win. You should get a victory around 1100 to 1300 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]18. Slam your flag into the ground and watch the world turn red[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy: The key to the military win is to fight wars on your terms. Always be the attacker, never the attackee. This is accomplished by being strong and making friends. Except for morons like Alex, civs will not attack you if you have a high % land/pop, share a religion or a military tech advantage. Share a religion with the civ you fear. Give them tribute whenever they ask. Just be sure to cancel the one way Gold trade after 10 turns. Stay on the warpath and you will only have 1-2 civs to fear and one will be an enemy of the other. Turn one against the other and profit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can bribe Alex to attack his "friend" Monty. Then wait 5 turns and back stab Alex. Alex will hate you but your relations with Monty will go up. (-1 war ally, +4 mutual enemy). You can take Alex's established cities which are immediately profitable while Alex pillages and razes Monty's cities. Both enemies get weak and you win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pyramids: If you lose out on the pyramids and they are built on the other side of the world, don't quit the game. Use hereditary rule for the +happiness. It is very satisfying to miss out on them and still win. It's much, much harder but it can be done.</English>
		<French>[H1]Pete's Guide to Emperor Level Domination Wins[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pete2006[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm starting to win on Emperor pretty regularly so I thought I'd post this. I've played standard maps and won but I find small maps more enjoyable since the game can be finished faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1. Civ Choice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually choose a Financial civ that starts with mining so I can research BW immediately to chop and find copper. This means I play with Catherine, Victoria or Mansa Musa. My favorite is Victoria since the expansive trait is so nice in high level play. Industrious is weak since only a couple wonders are necessary and you only need to build one or two. GW is great in the latter parts of the game but since he lacks mining and mysticism, that's at least one extra tech you need right off the bat to chop and expand borders. Catherine has mining and doesn't need mysticism so that's quite a starting advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2. Starting Position[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are new to Emperor, there is no shame in regenerating your map to get a good spot. It doesn't always work for the best though. I've had a two gold, two crab start but my next 5 cities were near or in ice. Gold/gems + a food resource is the best starting position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3. Opening Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First techs researched should be BW - Wheel - Masonry/Mysticism - Animal Husbandry/Pottery - Writing then depending on your situation IW/Alphabet/Math. Alphabet if you need to immediately trade for the worker/religious techs you skipped. IW to mine the jungle covered gems or math if everything is going great and you want currency to finance your expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]4. Initial Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your initial guy to pop some huts and scout your first 2-3 settler sites. Do not let him wander and get killed. You need him for barb protection. -2g means you need cash infusion immediately. Look for sites that can pay for themselves. Do not plop your settler down in jungle if you can get a river somewhere else. Conquer that beautiful jungle area later after you have IW. You want 1. food. 2. gems/gold/ivory/furs/silver 3. metal/horses. (Ex. City 2 with fish + gold and City 3 with wheat + copper) A gold mine with no food source really sucks because you won't be able to work it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get boxed in and can only build 1-2 cities then immediately change strategies and go to war or the game will be lost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]5. Initial Build Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Worker - Settler - Settler. New city builds Worker first. Chop the settlers. Do not overbuild unless you have gems/gold/silver and enough food to work them. 10% research has never worked for me. Build new cities close to home to save on maintenance costs. Do not build 12 squares away to get the stone. It isn't worth it and another AI will settle 3 turns before your settler gets there anyway. If barbs are an issue, build warriors before workers in your new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]6. Initial Worker Actions[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build roads. If your cities are all on the same river (never happens) then you automatically get trade routes. Otherwise, you must build them. Build them to bring your science back up 10%. Hook up your food and resources and build cottages on all grassland/flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]7. Initial Wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you do not choose Catherine, you're going to need culture. You need Stonehenge. Plus, it only costs 3 chops. Very cheap. Nothing is worse than Hatty or Cyrus building 3 squares away and stealing your cows/copper. Build Stonehenge in a city close to an AI city so you can culture steal their land and make later invasion easier. Stonehenge should be complete around 1500 BC or AI will get it. Then if you have Stone or enough forest, build Pyramids for Representation. Otherwise, skip it and try to get it later by conquest. Later use the GE from the Pyramids to rush the Great Library. No other wonders necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]8. Early Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you research Math - Currency - COL, 5 out of 10 times, you'll end up founding Confucianism. Do not convert. The rest of the world will be hindu/jewish/buddha. Do not make enemies. +1 happy isn't worth getting killed. Org religion is very nice but you can switch over later but not with your founded religion. Do not convert (in the early game) to anything unless Isabella or Monty is nearby and you are unprepared for a very early attack. You can still build the Confucian shrine and spread the religion for the money but I rather conquer shrines and focus my hammers on military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]9. Early Research Trading[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you missed out on the pyramids then trade for Monarchy for hereditary rule. Trade for Calendar if you have calendar resources nearby. Victoria + Pyramids + Calendar = multiple early pop 10 cities and practically seals the victory. Most AI will not have currency or COL before you. Get currency before your first prolonged war. Be researching CoL during your first attack. Waiting just allows the AI to catch up to you or leapfrog you to feudalism. Attack while they only have archers or archers + spears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]10. Pick Your First Opponent. Know Thy Enemy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first war is really just a skirmish for 1-2 cities. Get open borders and scout them before attacking. See what they have defending their border cities. Chariots or axes are good enough for the first city. You can build Swords if they only have archers/spears. Otherwise, axes are probably the best choice. Expect to lose 1/2 your invasion force. You must attack a neighbor because cities too far away will kill your economy. Who to attack?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I like to attack financial or aggressive civs first. These types have the ability to beat you and should be eliminated while you are on equal tech footing. Monty with a tech lead or parity in the mid - late is hard to beat. Other considerations are who can you attack without making other AI enemies. Get peace after the first war then build replacements and go for the kill. Some civs are dumb enough to agree to open borders after you've already attacked (Egypt will love you until they are exterminated). Keep scouting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non aggressive civs will usually only have a handful of defenders per city and no roaming units. Monty/Khan/Capac will have units attack you before you even get to their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]11. New cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Courthouse - Forge - Library in new cities. Do not switch into builder mode after your first victory. They will want revenge. Keep building units and war until you finish them off (2nd attack phase usually requires cats) or at least until you take the cities worth taking. They'll be furious the next 2000 years but most will never research past CoL and will never be a threat again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]12. Mid Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get Literature for the Great Library and rush it with your Pyramids GE or build it (in your GP farm). Research bureaucracy - Machinery for macemen. Use bureaucracy and build Heroic epic in your capital. Research Guilds - Banks and then beeline (open the tech tree and click on Rifling or Military Tradition) to your UU be it Riflemen or Cossacks. These will allow you to eliminate the tech leader when behind or even on tech. Make some trades. Never trade military techs unless they are out of date. Focus on researching military techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]13. Mid Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you aren't strong enough to take on the leader now, take out the rest of your rivals with macemen + cats. (Check the Info screen to see how you match up on production, GNP and troops) Be sure to vary your attack force and throw in some elephants/pikes/knights to defend your attacking stack. You will be taking cities with the macemen and cats so focus on them. Throw in a medical explorer. If the tech leader is Monty/Khan or other aggressive, you're in for a tough end game. Try to stay on decent terms with them until it's time to eliminate them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]14. Mid Game Building[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build banks in all your commerce cities. Build harbors in your coastal cities. You get Education about the same time as Rifles/Cavalry so I usually skip the Universities as I need all production focused on military towards the end. Science will usually be around 60-70% unless I am blessed with great land or have stolen some nice shrines and then it'll be 80-90%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]15. Mid Game Workers and Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually automate the workers around this time. Too tedious to tend to everything after you have 30-50% landmass. I like to finish my games in one sitting. You should have done most of the work already so as long as you have production cities with lots of farms/mines and commerce cities with grassland cottages, you should be fine. Be sure to build the Forbidden Palace in the middle of your new land. It will raise your science bar at least 10%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]16. End Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beeline for your UU. You should get Redcoats around 1000-1100 AD. Then beeline for Democracy. Switch to Emancipation during your end game war. Unhappiness will cripple the AI and the AI never researches Democracy before you unless you are very behind them. If this happens, switch to Space Race mode. You'll probably lose anyway but if you can raze 1-2 of their production cities, you'll have a chance. Pure peace/Space Race is usually a loser unless you have the tech/production advantage but if you have the advantage you wouldn't be building the ship. Only other way is to have friends you can bribe into a war and if you've been following my guide, there's no one left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]17. End Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you weren't the tech leader then your final opponent will have rifles and cavalry slightly before you or around the same time. If you chose Catherine or England, this is not a problem. Cossacks v. Cavalry = ~90% win ratio. Redcoats v. Rifles or cavalry = ~75% win ratio. An end game against Mansa is a breeze because he may be up in tech but he doesn't build an army. Amass troops and go for the kill. Monty/Huana is different. They will have a troop advantage. I have won games where my army was listed as 500,000 and Monty was rate 850,000. I still won. The key is winning 5-1 or better and that is very doable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You must declare war first so the war is fought on your terms. Usually they have a very profitable buddha/hindu shrine. If that city is close, take that one first. If the culture is too strong then raze it and get peace quickly. It will seriously cripple his economy. Put 5-7 rifles in your border cities and keep 5 or so in your capital in case of a sneak attack. Do not pillage. You do not want your guys out in the open.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI will slam your border cities with troops. Let them attack you. Let them pillage. They're border cities, they suck anyway. After their units are injured, finish them off but leave the last catapult in the stack so your units do leave the safety of the city. After you fight off the first and second waves, dangle a worker out in the field. They will send in a lone cavalry or rifle to take your worker. Then take out their rifle with your cossack and move back into the city. Repeat. Eventually you will lead the troop category or at least be even. When this happens you can attack with impunity. They will keep 95% of their troops in cities on defense. Go on a rampage. Turn your culture up as high as you can afford to seal the domination win. You should get a victory around 1100 to 1300 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]18. Slam your flag into the ground and watch the world turn red[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy: The key to the military win is to fight wars on your terms. Always be the attacker, never the attackee. This is accomplished by being strong and making friends. Except for morons like Alex, civs will not attack you if you have a high % land/pop, share a religion or a military tech advantage. Share a religion with the civ you fear. Give them tribute whenever they ask. Just be sure to cancel the one way Gold trade after 10 turns. Stay on the warpath and you will only have 1-2 civs to fear and one will be an enemy of the other. Turn one against the other and profit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can bribe Alex to attack his "friend" Monty. Then wait 5 turns and back stab Alex. Alex will hate you but your relations with Monty will go up. (-1 war ally, +4 mutual enemy). You can take Alex's established cities which are immediately profitable while Alex pillages and razes Monty's cities. Both enemies get weak and you win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pyramids: If you lose out on the pyramids and they are built on the other side of the world, don't quit the game. Use hereditary rule for the +happiness. It is very satisfying to miss out on them and still win. It's much, much harder but it can be done.</French>
		<German>[H1]Pete's Guide to Emperor Level Domination Wins[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pete2006[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm starting to win on Emperor pretty regularly so I thought I'd post this. I've played standard maps and won but I find small maps more enjoyable since the game can be finished faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1. Civ Choice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually choose a Financial civ that starts with mining so I can research BW immediately to chop and find copper. This means I play with Catherine, Victoria or Mansa Musa. My favorite is Victoria since the expansive trait is so nice in high level play. Industrious is weak since only a couple wonders are necessary and you only need to build one or two. GW is great in the latter parts of the game but since he lacks mining and mysticism, that's at least one extra tech you need right off the bat to chop and expand borders. Catherine has mining and doesn't need mysticism so that's quite a starting advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2. Starting Position[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are new to Emperor, there is no shame in regenerating your map to get a good spot. It doesn't always work for the best though. I've had a two gold, two crab start but my next 5 cities were near or in ice. Gold/gems + a food resource is the best starting position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3. Opening Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First techs researched should be BW - Wheel - Masonry/Mysticism - Animal Husbandry/Pottery - Writing then depending on your situation IW/Alphabet/Math. Alphabet if you need to immediately trade for the worker/religious techs you skipped. IW to mine the jungle covered gems or math if everything is going great and you want currency to finance your expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]4. Initial Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your initial guy to pop some huts and scout your first 2-3 settler sites. Do not let him wander and get killed. You need him for barb protection. -2g means you need cash infusion immediately. Look for sites that can pay for themselves. Do not plop your settler down in jungle if you can get a river somewhere else. Conquer that beautiful jungle area later after you have IW. You want 1. food. 2. gems/gold/ivory/furs/silver 3. metal/horses. (Ex. City 2 with fish + gold and City 3 with wheat + copper) A gold mine with no food source really sucks because you won't be able to work it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get boxed in and can only build 1-2 cities then immediately change strategies and go to war or the game will be lost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]5. Initial Build Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Worker - Settler - Settler. New city builds Worker first. Chop the settlers. Do not overbuild unless you have gems/gold/silver and enough food to work them. 10% research has never worked for me. Build new cities close to home to save on maintenance costs. Do not build 12 squares away to get the stone. It isn't worth it and another AI will settle 3 turns before your settler gets there anyway. If barbs are an issue, build warriors before workers in your new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]6. Initial Worker Actions[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build roads. If your cities are all on the same river (never happens) then you automatically get trade routes. Otherwise, you must build them. Build them to bring your science back up 10%. Hook up your food and resources and build cottages on all grassland/flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]7. Initial Wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you do not choose Catherine, you're going to need culture. You need Stonehenge. Plus, it only costs 3 chops. Very cheap. Nothing is worse than Hatty or Cyrus building 3 squares away and stealing your cows/copper. Build Stonehenge in a city close to an AI city so you can culture steal their land and make later invasion easier. Stonehenge should be complete around 1500 BC or AI will get it. Then if you have Stone or enough forest, build Pyramids for Representation. Otherwise, skip it and try to get it later by conquest. Later use the GE from the Pyramids to rush the Great Library. No other wonders necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]8. Early Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you research Math - Currency - COL, 5 out of 10 times, you'll end up founding Confucianism. Do not convert. The rest of the world will be hindu/jewish/buddha. Do not make enemies. +1 happy isn't worth getting killed. Org religion is very nice but you can switch over later but not with your founded religion. Do not convert (in the early game) to anything unless Isabella or Monty is nearby and you are unprepared for a very early attack. You can still build the Confucian shrine and spread the religion for the money but I rather conquer shrines and focus my hammers on military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]9. Early Research Trading[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you missed out on the pyramids then trade for Monarchy for hereditary rule. Trade for Calendar if you have calendar resources nearby. Victoria + Pyramids + Calendar = multiple early pop 10 cities and practically seals the victory. Most AI will not have currency or COL before you. Get currency before your first prolonged war. Be researching CoL during your first attack. Waiting just allows the AI to catch up to you or leapfrog you to feudalism. Attack while they only have archers or archers + spears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]10. Pick Your First Opponent. Know Thy Enemy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first war is really just a skirmish for 1-2 cities. Get open borders and scout them before attacking. See what they have defending their border cities. Chariots or axes are good enough for the first city. You can build Swords if they only have archers/spears. Otherwise, axes are probably the best choice. Expect to lose 1/2 your invasion force. You must attack a neighbor because cities too far away will kill your economy. Who to attack?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I like to attack financial or aggressive civs first. These types have the ability to beat you and should be eliminated while you are on equal tech footing. Monty with a tech lead or parity in the mid - late is hard to beat. Other considerations are who can you attack without making other AI enemies. Get peace after the first war then build replacements and go for the kill. Some civs are dumb enough to agree to open borders after you've already attacked (Egypt will love you until they are exterminated). Keep scouting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non aggressive civs will usually only have a handful of defenders per city and no roaming units. Monty/Khan/Capac will have units attack you before you even get to their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]11. New cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Courthouse - Forge - Library in new cities. Do not switch into builder mode after your first victory. They will want revenge. Keep building units and war until you finish them off (2nd attack phase usually requires cats) or at least until you take the cities worth taking. They'll be furious the next 2000 years but most will never research past CoL and will never be a threat again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]12. Mid Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get Literature for the Great Library and rush it with your Pyramids GE or build it (in your GP farm). Research bureaucracy - Machinery for macemen. Use bureaucracy and build Heroic epic in your capital. Research Guilds - Banks and then beeline (open the tech tree and click on Rifling or Military Tradition) to your UU be it Riflemen or Cossacks. These will allow you to eliminate the tech leader when behind or even on tech. Make some trades. Never trade military techs unless they are out of date. Focus on researching military techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]13. Mid Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you aren't strong enough to take on the leader now, take out the rest of your rivals with macemen + cats. (Check the Info screen to see how you match up on production, GNP and troops) Be sure to vary your attack force and throw in some elephants/pikes/knights to defend your attacking stack. You will be taking cities with the macemen and cats so focus on them. Throw in a medical explorer. If the tech leader is Monty/Khan or other aggressive, you're in for a tough end game. Try to stay on decent terms with them until it's time to eliminate them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]14. Mid Game Building[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build banks in all your commerce cities. Build harbors in your coastal cities. You get Education about the same time as Rifles/Cavalry so I usually skip the Universities as I need all production focused on military towards the end. Science will usually be around 60-70% unless I am blessed with great land or have stolen some nice shrines and then it'll be 80-90%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]15. Mid Game Workers and Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually automate the workers around this time. Too tedious to tend to everything after you have 30-50% landmass. I like to finish my games in one sitting. You should have done most of the work already so as long as you have production cities with lots of farms/mines and commerce cities with grassland cottages, you should be fine. Be sure to build the Forbidden Palace in the middle of your new land. It will raise your science bar at least 10%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]16. End Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beeline for your UU. You should get Redcoats around 1000-1100 AD. Then beeline for Democracy. Switch to Emancipation during your end game war. Unhappiness will cripple the AI and the AI never researches Democracy before you unless you are very behind them. If this happens, switch to Space Race mode. You'll probably lose anyway but if you can raze 1-2 of their production cities, you'll have a chance. Pure peace/Space Race is usually a loser unless you have the tech/production advantage but if you have the advantage you wouldn't be building the ship. Only other way is to have friends you can bribe into a war and if you've been following my guide, there's no one left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]17. End Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you weren't the tech leader then your final opponent will have rifles and cavalry slightly before you or around the same time. If you chose Catherine or England, this is not a problem. Cossacks v. Cavalry = ~90% win ratio. Redcoats v. Rifles or cavalry = ~75% win ratio. An end game against Mansa is a breeze because he may be up in tech but he doesn't build an army. Amass troops and go for the kill. Monty/Huana is different. They will have a troop advantage. I have won games where my army was listed as 500,000 and Monty was rate 850,000. I still won. The key is winning 5-1 or better and that is very doable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You must declare war first so the war is fought on your terms. Usually they have a very profitable buddha/hindu shrine. If that city is close, take that one first. If the culture is too strong then raze it and get peace quickly. It will seriously cripple his economy. Put 5-7 rifles in your border cities and keep 5 or so in your capital in case of a sneak attack. Do not pillage. You do not want your guys out in the open.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI will slam your border cities with troops. Let them attack you. Let them pillage. They're border cities, they suck anyway. After their units are injured, finish them off but leave the last catapult in the stack so your units do leave the safety of the city. After you fight off the first and second waves, dangle a worker out in the field. They will send in a lone cavalry or rifle to take your worker. Then take out their rifle with your cossack and move back into the city. Repeat. Eventually you will lead the troop category or at least be even. When this happens you can attack with impunity. They will keep 95% of their troops in cities on defense. Go on a rampage. Turn your culture up as high as you can afford to seal the domination win. You should get a victory around 1100 to 1300 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]18. Slam your flag into the ground and watch the world turn red[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy: The key to the military win is to fight wars on your terms. Always be the attacker, never the attackee. This is accomplished by being strong and making friends. Except for morons like Alex, civs will not attack you if you have a high % land/pop, share a religion or a military tech advantage. Share a religion with the civ you fear. Give them tribute whenever they ask. Just be sure to cancel the one way Gold trade after 10 turns. Stay on the warpath and you will only have 1-2 civs to fear and one will be an enemy of the other. Turn one against the other and profit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can bribe Alex to attack his "friend" Monty. Then wait 5 turns and back stab Alex. Alex will hate you but your relations with Monty will go up. (-1 war ally, +4 mutual enemy). You can take Alex's established cities which are immediately profitable while Alex pillages and razes Monty's cities. Both enemies get weak and you win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pyramids: If you lose out on the pyramids and they are built on the other side of the world, don't quit the game. Use hereditary rule for the +happiness. It is very satisfying to miss out on them and still win. It's much, much harder but it can be done.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Pete's Guide to Emperor Level Domination Wins[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pete2006[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm starting to win on Emperor pretty regularly so I thought I'd post this. I've played standard maps and won but I find small maps more enjoyable since the game can be finished faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1. Civ Choice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually choose a Financial civ that starts with mining so I can research BW immediately to chop and find copper. This means I play with Catherine, Victoria or Mansa Musa. My favorite is Victoria since the expansive trait is so nice in high level play. Industrious is weak since only a couple wonders are necessary and you only need to build one or two. GW is great in the latter parts of the game but since he lacks mining and mysticism, that's at least one extra tech you need right off the bat to chop and expand borders. Catherine has mining and doesn't need mysticism so that's quite a starting advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2. Starting Position[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are new to Emperor, there is no shame in regenerating your map to get a good spot. It doesn't always work for the best though. I've had a two gold, two crab start but my next 5 cities were near or in ice. Gold/gems + a food resource is the best starting position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3. Opening Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First techs researched should be BW - Wheel - Masonry/Mysticism - Animal Husbandry/Pottery - Writing then depending on your situation IW/Alphabet/Math. Alphabet if you need to immediately trade for the worker/religious techs you skipped. IW to mine the jungle covered gems or math if everything is going great and you want currency to finance your expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]4. Initial Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your initial guy to pop some huts and scout your first 2-3 settler sites. Do not let him wander and get killed. You need him for barb protection. -2g means you need cash infusion immediately. Look for sites that can pay for themselves. Do not plop your settler down in jungle if you can get a river somewhere else. Conquer that beautiful jungle area later after you have IW. You want 1. food. 2. gems/gold/ivory/furs/silver 3. metal/horses. (Ex. City 2 with fish + gold and City 3 with wheat + copper) A gold mine with no food source really sucks because you won't be able to work it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get boxed in and can only build 1-2 cities then immediately change strategies and go to war or the game will be lost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]5. Initial Build Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Worker - Settler - Settler. New city builds Worker first. Chop the settlers. Do not overbuild unless you have gems/gold/silver and enough food to work them. 10% research has never worked for me. Build new cities close to home to save on maintenance costs. Do not build 12 squares away to get the stone. It isn't worth it and another AI will settle 3 turns before your settler gets there anyway. If barbs are an issue, build warriors before workers in your new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]6. Initial Worker Actions[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build roads. If your cities are all on the same river (never happens) then you automatically get trade routes. Otherwise, you must build them. Build them to bring your science back up 10%. Hook up your food and resources and build cottages on all grassland/flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]7. Initial Wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you do not choose Catherine, you're going to need culture. You need Stonehenge. Plus, it only costs 3 chops. Very cheap. Nothing is worse than Hatty or Cyrus building 3 squares away and stealing your cows/copper. Build Stonehenge in a city close to an AI city so you can culture steal their land and make later invasion easier. Stonehenge should be complete around 1500 BC or AI will get it. Then if you have Stone or enough forest, build Pyramids for Representation. Otherwise, skip it and try to get it later by conquest. Later use the GE from the Pyramids to rush the Great Library. No other wonders necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]8. Early Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you research Math - Currency - COL, 5 out of 10 times, you'll end up founding Confucianism. Do not convert. The rest of the world will be hindu/jewish/buddha. Do not make enemies. +1 happy isn't worth getting killed. Org religion is very nice but you can switch over later but not with your founded religion. Do not convert (in the early game) to anything unless Isabella or Monty is nearby and you are unprepared for a very early attack. You can still build the Confucian shrine and spread the religion for the money but I rather conquer shrines and focus my hammers on military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]9. Early Research Trading[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you missed out on the pyramids then trade for Monarchy for hereditary rule. Trade for Calendar if you have calendar resources nearby. Victoria + Pyramids + Calendar = multiple early pop 10 cities and practically seals the victory. Most AI will not have currency or COL before you. Get currency before your first prolonged war. Be researching CoL during your first attack. Waiting just allows the AI to catch up to you or leapfrog you to feudalism. Attack while they only have archers or archers + spears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]10. Pick Your First Opponent. Know Thy Enemy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first war is really just a skirmish for 1-2 cities. Get open borders and scout them before attacking. See what they have defending their border cities. Chariots or axes are good enough for the first city. You can build Swords if they only have archers/spears. Otherwise, axes are probably the best choice. Expect to lose 1/2 your invasion force. You must attack a neighbor because cities too far away will kill your economy. Who to attack?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I like to attack financial or aggressive civs first. These types have the ability to beat you and should be eliminated while you are on equal tech footing. Monty with a tech lead or parity in the mid - late is hard to beat. Other considerations are who can you attack without making other AI enemies. Get peace after the first war then build replacements and go for the kill. Some civs are dumb enough to agree to open borders after you've already attacked (Egypt will love you until they are exterminated). Keep scouting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non aggressive civs will usually only have a handful of defenders per city and no roaming units. Monty/Khan/Capac will have units attack you before you even get to their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]11. New cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Courthouse - Forge - Library in new cities. Do not switch into builder mode after your first victory. They will want revenge. Keep building units and war until you finish them off (2nd attack phase usually requires cats) or at least until you take the cities worth taking. They'll be furious the next 2000 years but most will never research past CoL and will never be a threat again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]12. Mid Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get Literature for the Great Library and rush it with your Pyramids GE or build it (in your GP farm). Research bureaucracy - Machinery for macemen. Use bureaucracy and build Heroic epic in your capital. Research Guilds - Banks and then beeline (open the tech tree and click on Rifling or Military Tradition) to your UU be it Riflemen or Cossacks. These will allow you to eliminate the tech leader when behind or even on tech. Make some trades. Never trade military techs unless they are out of date. Focus on researching military techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]13. Mid Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you aren't strong enough to take on the leader now, take out the rest of your rivals with macemen + cats. (Check the Info screen to see how you match up on production, GNP and troops) Be sure to vary your attack force and throw in some elephants/pikes/knights to defend your attacking stack. You will be taking cities with the macemen and cats so focus on them. Throw in a medical explorer. If the tech leader is Monty/Khan or other aggressive, you're in for a tough end game. Try to stay on decent terms with them until it's time to eliminate them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]14. Mid Game Building[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build banks in all your commerce cities. Build harbors in your coastal cities. You get Education about the same time as Rifles/Cavalry so I usually skip the Universities as I need all production focused on military towards the end. Science will usually be around 60-70% unless I am blessed with great land or have stolen some nice shrines and then it'll be 80-90%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]15. Mid Game Workers and Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually automate the workers around this time. Too tedious to tend to everything after you have 30-50% landmass. I like to finish my games in one sitting. You should have done most of the work already so as long as you have production cities with lots of farms/mines and commerce cities with grassland cottages, you should be fine. Be sure to build the Forbidden Palace in the middle of your new land. It will raise your science bar at least 10%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]16. End Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beeline for your UU. You should get Redcoats around 1000-1100 AD. Then beeline for Democracy. Switch to Emancipation during your end game war. Unhappiness will cripple the AI and the AI never researches Democracy before you unless you are very behind them. If this happens, switch to Space Race mode. You'll probably lose anyway but if you can raze 1-2 of their production cities, you'll have a chance. Pure peace/Space Race is usually a loser unless you have the tech/production advantage but if you have the advantage you wouldn't be building the ship. Only other way is to have friends you can bribe into a war and if you've been following my guide, there's no one left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]17. End Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you weren't the tech leader then your final opponent will have rifles and cavalry slightly before you or around the same time. If you chose Catherine or England, this is not a problem. Cossacks v. Cavalry = ~90% win ratio. Redcoats v. Rifles or cavalry = ~75% win ratio. An end game against Mansa is a breeze because he may be up in tech but he doesn't build an army. Amass troops and go for the kill. Monty/Huana is different. They will have a troop advantage. I have won games where my army was listed as 500,000 and Monty was rate 850,000. I still won. The key is winning 5-1 or better and that is very doable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You must declare war first so the war is fought on your terms. Usually they have a very profitable buddha/hindu shrine. If that city is close, take that one first. If the culture is too strong then raze it and get peace quickly. It will seriously cripple his economy. Put 5-7 rifles in your border cities and keep 5 or so in your capital in case of a sneak attack. Do not pillage. You do not want your guys out in the open.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI will slam your border cities with troops. Let them attack you. Let them pillage. They're border cities, they suck anyway. After their units are injured, finish them off but leave the last catapult in the stack so your units do leave the safety of the city. After you fight off the first and second waves, dangle a worker out in the field. They will send in a lone cavalry or rifle to take your worker. Then take out their rifle with your cossack and move back into the city. Repeat. Eventually you will lead the troop category or at least be even. When this happens you can attack with impunity. They will keep 95% of their troops in cities on defense. Go on a rampage. Turn your culture up as high as you can afford to seal the domination win. You should get a victory around 1100 to 1300 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]18. Slam your flag into the ground and watch the world turn red[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy: The key to the military win is to fight wars on your terms. Always be the attacker, never the attackee. This is accomplished by being strong and making friends. Except for morons like Alex, civs will not attack you if you have a high % land/pop, share a religion or a military tech advantage. Share a religion with the civ you fear. Give them tribute whenever they ask. Just be sure to cancel the one way Gold trade after 10 turns. Stay on the warpath and you will only have 1-2 civs to fear and one will be an enemy of the other. Turn one against the other and profit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can bribe Alex to attack his "friend" Monty. Then wait 5 turns and back stab Alex. Alex will hate you but your relations with Monty will go up. (-1 war ally, +4 mutual enemy). You can take Alex's established cities which are immediately profitable while Alex pillages and razes Monty's cities. Both enemies get weak and you win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pyramids: If you lose out on the pyramids and they are built on the other side of the world, don't quit the game. Use hereditary rule for the +happiness. It is very satisfying to miss out on them and still win. It's much, much harder but it can be done.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Pete's Guide to Emperor Level Domination Wins[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Pete2006[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm starting to win on Emperor pretty regularly so I thought I'd post this. I've played standard maps and won but I find small maps more enjoyable since the game can be finished faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1. Civ Choice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually choose a Financial civ that starts with mining so I can research BW immediately to chop and find copper. This means I play with Catherine, Victoria or Mansa Musa. My favorite is Victoria since the expansive trait is so nice in high level play. Industrious is weak since only a couple wonders are necessary and you only need to build one or two. GW is great in the latter parts of the game but since he lacks mining and mysticism, that's at least one extra tech you need right off the bat to chop and expand borders. Catherine has mining and doesn't need mysticism so that's quite a starting advantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2. Starting Position[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are new to Emperor, there is no shame in regenerating your map to get a good spot. It doesn't always work for the best though. I've had a two gold, two crab start but my next 5 cities were near or in ice. Gold/gems + a food resource is the best starting position.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3. Opening Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First techs researched should be BW - Wheel - Masonry/Mysticism - Animal Husbandry/Pottery - Writing then depending on your situation IW/Alphabet/Math. Alphabet if you need to immediately trade for the worker/religious techs you skipped. IW to mine the jungle covered gems or math if everything is going great and you want currency to finance your expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]4. Initial Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your initial guy to pop some huts and scout your first 2-3 settler sites. Do not let him wander and get killed. You need him for barb protection. -2g means you need cash infusion immediately. Look for sites that can pay for themselves. Do not plop your settler down in jungle if you can get a river somewhere else. Conquer that beautiful jungle area later after you have IW. You want 1. food. 2. gems/gold/ivory/furs/silver 3. metal/horses. (Ex. City 2 with fish + gold and City 3 with wheat + copper) A gold mine with no food source really sucks because you won't be able to work it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get boxed in and can only build 1-2 cities then immediately change strategies and go to war or the game will be lost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]5. Initial Build Sequence[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Worker - Settler - Settler. New city builds Worker first. Chop the settlers. Do not overbuild unless you have gems/gold/silver and enough food to work them. 10% research has never worked for me. Build new cities close to home to save on maintenance costs. Do not build 12 squares away to get the stone. It isn't worth it and another AI will settle 3 turns before your settler gets there anyway. If barbs are an issue, build warriors before workers in your new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]6. Initial Worker Actions[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build roads. If your cities are all on the same river (never happens) then you automatically get trade routes. Otherwise, you must build them. Build them to bring your science back up 10%. Hook up your food and resources and build cottages on all grassland/flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]7. Initial Wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you do not choose Catherine, you're going to need culture. You need Stonehenge. Plus, it only costs 3 chops. Very cheap. Nothing is worse than Hatty or Cyrus building 3 squares away and stealing your cows/copper. Build Stonehenge in a city close to an AI city so you can culture steal their land and make later invasion easier. Stonehenge should be complete around 1500 BC or AI will get it. Then if you have Stone or enough forest, build Pyramids for Representation. Otherwise, skip it and try to get it later by conquest. Later use the GE from the Pyramids to rush the Great Library. No other wonders necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]8. Early Religion[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you research Math - Currency - COL, 5 out of 10 times, you'll end up founding Confucianism. Do not convert. The rest of the world will be hindu/jewish/buddha. Do not make enemies. +1 happy isn't worth getting killed. Org religion is very nice but you can switch over later but not with your founded religion. Do not convert (in the early game) to anything unless Isabella or Monty is nearby and you are unprepared for a very early attack. You can still build the Confucian shrine and spread the religion for the money but I rather conquer shrines and focus my hammers on military.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]9. Early Research Trading[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you missed out on the pyramids then trade for Monarchy for hereditary rule. Trade for Calendar if you have calendar resources nearby. Victoria + Pyramids + Calendar = multiple early pop 10 cities and practically seals the victory. Most AI will not have currency or COL before you. Get currency before your first prolonged war. Be researching CoL during your first attack. Waiting just allows the AI to catch up to you or leapfrog you to feudalism. Attack while they only have archers or archers + spears.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]10. Pick Your First Opponent. Know Thy Enemy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your first war is really just a skirmish for 1-2 cities. Get open borders and scout them before attacking. See what they have defending their border cities. Chariots or axes are good enough for the first city. You can build Swords if they only have archers/spears. Otherwise, axes are probably the best choice. Expect to lose 1/2 your invasion force. You must attack a neighbor because cities too far away will kill your economy. Who to attack?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I like to attack financial or aggressive civs first. These types have the ability to beat you and should be eliminated while you are on equal tech footing. Monty with a tech lead or parity in the mid - late is hard to beat. Other considerations are who can you attack without making other AI enemies. Get peace after the first war then build replacements and go for the kill. Some civs are dumb enough to agree to open borders after you've already attacked (Egypt will love you until they are exterminated). Keep scouting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non aggressive civs will usually only have a handful of defenders per city and no roaming units. Monty/Khan/Capac will have units attack you before you even get to their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]11. New cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Courthouse - Forge - Library in new cities. Do not switch into builder mode after your first victory. They will want revenge. Keep building units and war until you finish them off (2nd attack phase usually requires cats) or at least until you take the cities worth taking. They'll be furious the next 2000 years but most will never research past CoL and will never be a threat again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]12. Mid Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Get Literature for the Great Library and rush it with your Pyramids GE or build it (in your GP farm). Research bureaucracy - Machinery for macemen. Use bureaucracy and build Heroic epic in your capital. Research Guilds - Banks and then beeline (open the tech tree and click on Rifling or Military Tradition) to your UU be it Riflemen or Cossacks. These will allow you to eliminate the tech leader when behind or even on tech. Make some trades. Never trade military techs unless they are out of date. Focus on researching military techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]13. Mid Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you aren't strong enough to take on the leader now, take out the rest of your rivals with macemen + cats. (Check the Info screen to see how you match up on production, GNP and troops) Be sure to vary your attack force and throw in some elephants/pikes/knights to defend your attacking stack. You will be taking cities with the macemen and cats so focus on them. Throw in a medical explorer. If the tech leader is Monty/Khan or other aggressive, you're in for a tough end game. Try to stay on decent terms with them until it's time to eliminate them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]14. Mid Game Building[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build banks in all your commerce cities. Build harbors in your coastal cities. You get Education about the same time as Rifles/Cavalry so I usually skip the Universities as I need all production focused on military towards the end. Science will usually be around 60-70% unless I am blessed with great land or have stolen some nice shrines and then it'll be 80-90%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]15. Mid Game Workers and Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I usually automate the workers around this time. Too tedious to tend to everything after you have 30-50% landmass. I like to finish my games in one sitting. You should have done most of the work already so as long as you have production cities with lots of farms/mines and commerce cities with grassland cottages, you should be fine. Be sure to build the Forbidden Palace in the middle of your new land. It will raise your science bar at least 10%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]16. End Game Research[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beeline for your UU. You should get Redcoats around 1000-1100 AD. Then beeline for Democracy. Switch to Emancipation during your end game war. Unhappiness will cripple the AI and the AI never researches Democracy before you unless you are very behind them. If this happens, switch to Space Race mode. You'll probably lose anyway but if you can raze 1-2 of their production cities, you'll have a chance. Pure peace/Space Race is usually a loser unless you have the tech/production advantage but if you have the advantage you wouldn't be building the ship. Only other way is to have friends you can bribe into a war and if you've been following my guide, there's no one left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]17. End Game War[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you weren't the tech leader then your final opponent will have rifles and cavalry slightly before you or around the same time. If you chose Catherine or England, this is not a problem. Cossacks v. Cavalry = ~90% win ratio. Redcoats v. Rifles or cavalry = ~75% win ratio. An end game against Mansa is a breeze because he may be up in tech but he doesn't build an army. Amass troops and go for the kill. Monty/Huana is different. They will have a troop advantage. I have won games where my army was listed as 500,000 and Monty was rate 850,000. I still won. The key is winning 5-1 or better and that is very doable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You must declare war first so the war is fought on your terms. Usually they have a very profitable buddha/hindu shrine. If that city is close, take that one first. If the culture is too strong then raze it and get peace quickly. It will seriously cripple his economy. Put 5-7 rifles in your border cities and keep 5 or so in your capital in case of a sneak attack. Do not pillage. You do not want your guys out in the open.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI will slam your border cities with troops. Let them attack you. Let them pillage. They're border cities, they suck anyway. After their units are injured, finish them off but leave the last catapult in the stack so your units do leave the safety of the city. After you fight off the first and second waves, dangle a worker out in the field. They will send in a lone cavalry or rifle to take your worker. Then take out their rifle with your cossack and move back into the city. Repeat. Eventually you will lead the troop category or at least be even. When this happens you can attack with impunity. They will keep 95% of their troops in cities on defense. Go on a rampage. Turn your culture up as high as you can afford to seal the domination win. You should get a victory around 1100 to 1300 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]18. Slam your flag into the ground and watch the world turn red[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy: The key to the military win is to fight wars on your terms. Always be the attacker, never the attackee. This is accomplished by being strong and making friends. Except for morons like Alex, civs will not attack you if you have a high % land/pop, share a religion or a military tech advantage. Share a religion with the civ you fear. Give them tribute whenever they ask. Just be sure to cancel the one way Gold trade after 10 turns. Stay on the warpath and you will only have 1-2 civs to fear and one will be an enemy of the other. Turn one against the other and profit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can bribe Alex to attack his "friend" Monty. Then wait 5 turns and back stab Alex. Alex will hate you but your relations with Monty will go up. (-1 war ally, +4 mutual enemy). You can take Alex's established cities which are immediately profitable while Alex pillages and razes Monty's cities. Both enemies get weak and you win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pyramids: If you lose out on the pyramids and they are built on the other side of the world, don't quit the game. Use hereditary rule for the +happiness. It is very satisfying to miss out on them and still win. It's much, much harder but it can be done.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GODOTNUT_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Godotnut's Guide to Totally Peaceful Deity Cultural Victory[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]godotnut[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the request of some of you fine Civfanatics, I've finally gotten off my lazy butt to do a write-up on how I won my six HOF Deity games (three on Beta, three on the new one). Be warned--it's still quite a challenge with this strategy, but it works fairly often for me, proving that contrary to the conventional wisdom, it's quite possible to achieve a totally peaceful builder's win on the highest settings. In fact, it's only really challenging on Deity. So this one goes out to all you builders out there: peace wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Settings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm going to explain how to do this using strategic settings, but it DOES work with organic settings--it's just harder, and it may be impossible with some types of maps and/or sets of opponents. You [BOLD]do[\BOLD] need one thing for this to work, especially with chopping having been nerfed: you need stone in your starting city to build the Pyramids, and you must have the Pyramids to win before the AI launches the ship. I have done this without starting stone before the patch, but have found it impossible with 1.61. So if you don't find stone in your starting position, regenerate the map until you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disclaimer:[\BOLD] this strategy borrows bit and pieces from many others' strategies and tips. I am especially indebted to the excellent players, who contributed to the conversations in the Beta Gauntlet III (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=153233).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For a peaceful win, I'm convinced that Elizabeth is the best cultural victor, hands down. The combination of financial (for cottage spamming) and philosophical (for the great artists) can't be beat. The next best cultural leader is Mansa (half priced temples plus financial). Also, the slower game speed the better for faster wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: Huyana also excels at this strategy, but with some modifications (not all peace). For more, see the conversation in the thread below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD] smaller is easier but larger offers the opportunity for faster wins. Why? Because the more opponents you have, the harder it is to keep the peace and to build the Pyramids on Deity. But more opponents also means more tech trades and so a faster win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The easiest map allowed by the HOF is Pangaea on smaller maps, and Pang ea or Continents on Standard and larger. The easiest map, period, is Balanced, because it offers great resources, and it is the largest map, but the new HOF doesn't allow this map type. Water means slower contact with the AI, which means no early tech trades. Yes, it's easier to expand with a continent all to yourself, but it's nearly impossible to tech fast enough to win without trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Opponents:[\BOLD] You want peace. This is easier with Peacemonger opponents, but it can be done with more warlike opposition (though with Izzy in the game, it may be impossible). This strategy guide assumes that you already know how to use diplomacy to keep the peace. That's a whole topic in itself and deserving of its own thread. If you really want to win though, here are the peacemongers, in approximate order of peace-lovingness: Mansa, Cyrus, Hatshepsut, Asoka, Gandhi, Catherine, Frederick, Louis. Also, this strategy assumes you know how to cottage spam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]More settings:[\BOLD] low sea level helps A LOT to expand to the requisite six cities. If using Pang ea, a "pressed" coastline, as I understand it, presents "sub-continents" (which = good! cut off your opponents!) but without a lot of islands (which require naval investment = a waste); but I personally enjoy "random" -- call me sentimental. (Temperate or Tropical both work fine.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three main obstacles to a peaceful cultural win on Deity: building the Pyramids before the AI, expanding fast enough to get six cities, and achieving legendary culture before the AI launches the ship. Seldom will the AI win by any other means using this strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First City Build Order[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This all depends on a successful start. It's pretty easy after that. The challenge is to both build the Pyramids and not get boxed in. It's not easy, but this seems to work best: Worker &gt; expand to population size two while building a warrior (you can finish him later) &gt; as soon as size two, switch to Settler &gt; expand to size three while finishing the warrior/starting new one &gt; Worker #2 &gt; Pyramids. After that, I build whatever seems most necessary until the "temple spam" stage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never build any barracks or any troops other than one warrior per city. I don't hook up with copper until I've built six warriors, so that the option is present to build warriors and not the more expensive axemen or spearmen. If diplomacy fails and someone invades (rarely happens), retire, rinse, and repeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Research Path[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bronze &gt; Masonry &gt; Wheel &gt; Agriculture &gt; Pottery &gt; Writing &gt; Alphabet[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Teching after that is a matter of researching techs that the AI is slow to attack, so that you can use them to trade. So, for example, I never research Calendar or Mathematics, because the AI always researches them, and I can trade for them, whereas if I research them, I can't trade anything for them because the AI already has them. So techs like Paper for example that aren't a big deal in most games become important to research relatively early, because the AI researches them late, and you can trade them for others. You need to make early contact with all or most of the AI to establish tech trades so you can win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What to Do[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, be aware that in a peaceful world on Deity, the AI will launch their rocket any time between 1500 and 1850 (or even earlier perhaps on larger maps). The more opponents you have, the faster the AI launches the ship. On a standard map with six opponents, expect 1500-1700. The AI finishes faster on larger maps. You will need to finish early to win peacefully, and sometimes, the AI just outraces you. If you can manipulate them into war with each other diplomatically, that's a good thing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first, micromanage your capital with an emphasis on food and growth if not building a worker or settler. Don't worry about defense. Even if you play with barbarians turned on, the land gets settled so fast that the fog of war vaporizes, along with the barbs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your first worker to chop two or three forests to accelerate Settler spawning. As soon as you finish Masonry, quit chopping and improve the stone square. In addition to being required for the Pyramids, this helps a ton with speeding up settler production. You don't need roads until just before switching to Pyramid building, and if you're lucky and both the stone and your first city are on a river, you don't need roads at all until much later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By now you've finished the first settler. Settle in a spot that will allow you to cottage spam later and which blocks off and claims potential territory from your nearest opponent the most effectively. Build another settler right away. Move worker number one with settler number two, as soon as the worker finishes its task when settler two is spawned. Improve one food square if in cultural boundaries and then chop until the second worker is about done in the first city. Time your first worker's arrival back to your capital with the production of worker number two. Hook up to stone using both workers. Switch to Pyramids the second the stone is hooked up and don't stop until you finish it. If the AI beats you to the Pyramids, rinse and repeat. After the stone is hooked up, have one worker mine all of your hills while the other chops everything in sight. You want to be as large as happiness allows to occupy those mines. You may need to improve a food resource to have enough food to support your miners. Put everything you've got into finishing the Pyramids, because if you don't, it's over.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The reason you need the Pyramids isn't so much for the happiness boost from Representation (though it's nice)--it's so you can buy religious buildings later, without having to tech all the way to universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Meanwhile, city number two needs to produce settler(s) ASAP. You need six cities to win, but only three of them need to be good cities. A "good" city in this strategy is one that you can cottage spam with and which is connected to fresh water. Health resources are more important than luxury resources. All of the general resources are useless except stone, marble, and copper. Stone you absolutely must have to build the Pyramids. Stone, marble, and copper are the resources that double production speed of the major religious buildings like Cathedrals, Academies, and Mandirs, which is why they are nice to have. Only stone is essential, though. After building the Pyramids and establishing three cities that you can cottage spam with, you're over the hump.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a challenge on Deity even to get three decent and three marginal cities without war, but it can be done. Really once you get that third one, you're usually home free, because you can often squeeze three more cities in around the edges of your cultural borders somewhere. Don't worry if your opponent's borders encroach upon your marginal cities. Believe, me you will beat their borders back big time in the end and before they flip you. In fact, if an opponent builds close to your capital or one of your three culture cities, you can usually flip it by the end game, which sometimes has provided me with my sixth requisite city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Try to cut off your opponents from access to a peninsula, even if there are no resources on it. You can use it later to place those marginal cities. And don't worry if your three other cities occupy crummy positions. In the end, it really doesn't matter that much. Only the cultural cities matter in the end.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will almost always receive at least two engineers from the Pyramids if you don't dilute the engineer gene pool. Use the first one on the Great Library, and use the second one on either the Sistine Chapel or the Taj Mahal. Don't build the Great Library in the city you want to use to spawn Great Artists later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a perfect world, you will manage your great people production so that you receive exactly three scientists from the Great Library before your Great Artist farm overwhelms it. Use all of your scientists to build academies in your three cultural cities. The cultural bonus they provide is just as valuable as the science boost. An academy in each cultural city provides [BOLD]double[\BOLD] the value of being a civ with the cultural trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After building the Pyramids, focus on cottage spamming, occupying as many cottaged tiles as possible continually while growing. Don't worry about amassing culture in your beginning game. Almost all of it will come in your end game, when you turn your culture bar up all the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overall plan is: cottage spam and tech as fast as possible; shut off all technology at a certain point (more on this later) and keep the culture bar as low as possible without having unhappy citizens, maximizing your gold input; meanwhile buy religious buildings; then crank up the culture bar. I know this part of the game plan is familiar to many of you, and I certainly don't claim originality here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After other civs switch to Emancipation, you will probably have to turn up the culture a little to maintain happiness. Remember, the idea is to increase commerce and BUY all the religious buildings, so it's fine to not have much culture until the end. After you quit researching, the AI will gift you some techs, often good ones. That's the bonus of being a "backwards people."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I struggle with the question of when to quit teching. It seems to me the options are, in successive order: right after liberalism (for Free Speech), after Nationalism (for the Hermitage), or after Printing Press (for the bonus gold). My best game was when quitting after Printing Press, but I got some lucky gift techs in that game. Still, I'm leaning toward thinking that is best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If possible, one of your cities that is not producing culture needs irrigated farms and food resources to be your Great Artist factory (you usually need caste system too). Any artists produced up until about 400-500 AD I add to one of my cultural cities (usually the slowest one). After that, save them for a big round of culture bombs at the end. The culture bombs are great at helping overcome discrepancies between culture levels in your three cultural cities. Everyone who is serious about their cultural games will be interested in O.H. Dog's superb Civ IV Culture Calculator Spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141740). It really helps in planning out your end game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never try to found early religions, and I am seldom able to found the late ones. But getting them to spread is usually not a problem in the end. You don't need all the religions, but the more the better. The fewest number I have won with is three religions. Whatever you do, NEVER use Theocracy. You MUST let those religions in! It's much easier for religions to spread on land maps. Trade routes also seem to help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there is one overriding world religion, obviously I switch to it, but if there is even one nearby country of an alternate religion, I remain without. I switch to Pacifism only when: a) my neighbors are so pleased with me that the "heathen religion" factor doesn't matter; or b) late in the game when the AI starts switching [BOLD]en masse[\BOLD] to Free Religion. Remember: only cities with your state religion receive the great people bonus under Pacifism.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I buy or build every possible major religious building in my three cultural cities. For those who don't know, the six city requirement results from the temple building factor. On small and tiny maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples in any one religion allows you to build [BOLD]three[\BOLD] major religious buildings (cathedrals, etc.), and each major religious building provides a 50% bonus to your cultural production. On standard maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples allows you two build [BOLD]two[\BOLD] major religious buildings, and if there is a change in this on the larger maps, I'm not aware of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Switch to all culture, no income as you approach the end of building your major religious buildings. You don't want to waste your end game production in your cities, so it's OK to finish the last major building in each city with hammers, as opposed to buying it. If you want to estimate what your cities' cultural rates will be when you switch into all-culture mode, turn the culture slider up all the way for a second and check them out on the city screen. Don't forget to slide it back down after you've checked. This will help you to plan ahead. Or for a more precise and sophisticated look: use the culture counter spreadsheet I mentioned earlier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The major religious buildings are what wins the game. So let's imagine that you receive a modest four religions with six cities on a small map. That means you can buy or build FOUR major religious buildings in EACH cultural city, providing a total plus 200% culture bonus in each of them. One will usually get the Hermitage, too. Combine this with cottage spamming, the other culture producing buildings, any added great artists, and perhaps a wonder; and you can easily create cities that produce 600-800 points of culture per turn by the end game. It doesn't take long to win at that rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: That was a conservative estimate on culture rate. My last Deity game, I had a city amassing culture at 1,080 / turn as I approached victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are many other nuances, but this post is getting long-winded already, so I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe we can use this thread to elaborate on the strategy and improve it. I would love to hear your questions, advice, criticism, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck peacemongers! Someday, we take over the world.</English>
		<French>[H1]Godotnut's Guide to Totally Peaceful Deity Cultural Victory[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]godotnut[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the request of some of you fine Civfanatics, I've finally gotten off my lazy butt to do a write-up on how I won my six HOF Deity games (three on Beta, three on the new one). Be warned--it's still quite a challenge with this strategy, but it works fairly often for me, proving that contrary to the conventional wisdom, it's quite possible to achieve a totally peaceful builder's win on the highest settings. In fact, it's only really challenging on Deity. So this one goes out to all you builders out there: peace wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Settings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm going to explain how to do this using strategic settings, but it DOES work with organic settings--it's just harder, and it may be impossible with some types of maps and/or sets of opponents. You [BOLD]do[\BOLD] need one thing for this to work, especially with chopping having been nerfed: you need stone in your starting city to build the Pyramids, and you must have the Pyramids to win before the AI launches the ship. I have done this without starting stone before the patch, but have found it impossible with 1.61. So if you don't find stone in your starting position, regenerate the map until you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disclaimer:[\BOLD] this strategy borrows bit and pieces from many others' strategies and tips. I am especially indebted to the excellent players, who contributed to the conversations in the Beta Gauntlet III (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=153233).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For a peaceful win, I'm convinced that Elizabeth is the best cultural victor, hands down. The combination of financial (for cottage spamming) and philosophical (for the great artists) can't be beat. The next best cultural leader is Mansa (half priced temples plus financial). Also, the slower game speed the better for faster wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: Huyana also excels at this strategy, but with some modifications (not all peace). For more, see the conversation in the thread below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD] smaller is easier but larger offers the opportunity for faster wins. Why? Because the more opponents you have, the harder it is to keep the peace and to build the Pyramids on Deity. But more opponents also means more tech trades and so a faster win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The easiest map allowed by the HOF is Pangaea on smaller maps, and Pang ea or Continents on Standard and larger. The easiest map, period, is Balanced, because it offers great resources, and it is the largest map, but the new HOF doesn't allow this map type. Water means slower contact with the AI, which means no early tech trades. Yes, it's easier to expand with a continent all to yourself, but it's nearly impossible to tech fast enough to win without trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Opponents:[\BOLD] You want peace. This is easier with Peacemonger opponents, but it can be done with more warlike opposition (though with Izzy in the game, it may be impossible). This strategy guide assumes that you already know how to use diplomacy to keep the peace. That's a whole topic in itself and deserving of its own thread. If you really want to win though, here are the peacemongers, in approximate order of peace-lovingness: Mansa, Cyrus, Hatshepsut, Asoka, Gandhi, Catherine, Frederick, Louis. Also, this strategy assumes you know how to cottage spam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]More settings:[\BOLD] low sea level helps A LOT to expand to the requisite six cities. If using Pang ea, a "pressed" coastline, as I understand it, presents "sub-continents" (which = good! cut off your opponents!) but without a lot of islands (which require naval investment = a waste); but I personally enjoy "random" -- call me sentimental. (Temperate or Tropical both work fine.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three main obstacles to a peaceful cultural win on Deity: building the Pyramids before the AI, expanding fast enough to get six cities, and achieving legendary culture before the AI launches the ship. Seldom will the AI win by any other means using this strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First City Build Order[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This all depends on a successful start. It's pretty easy after that. The challenge is to both build the Pyramids and not get boxed in. It's not easy, but this seems to work best: Worker &gt; expand to population size two while building a warrior (you can finish him later) &gt; as soon as size two, switch to Settler &gt; expand to size three while finishing the warrior/starting new one &gt; Worker #2 &gt; Pyramids. After that, I build whatever seems most necessary until the "temple spam" stage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never build any barracks or any troops other than one warrior per city. I don't hook up with copper until I've built six warriors, so that the option is present to build warriors and not the more expensive axemen or spearmen. If diplomacy fails and someone invades (rarely happens), retire, rinse, and repeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Research Path[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bronze &gt; Masonry &gt; Wheel &gt; Agriculture &gt; Pottery &gt; Writing &gt; Alphabet[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Teching after that is a matter of researching techs that the AI is slow to attack, so that you can use them to trade. So, for example, I never research Calendar or Mathematics, because the AI always researches them, and I can trade for them, whereas if I research them, I can't trade anything for them because the AI already has them. So techs like Paper for example that aren't a big deal in most games become important to research relatively early, because the AI researches them late, and you can trade them for others. You need to make early contact with all or most of the AI to establish tech trades so you can win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What to Do[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, be aware that in a peaceful world on Deity, the AI will launch their rocket any time between 1500 and 1850 (or even earlier perhaps on larger maps). The more opponents you have, the faster the AI launches the ship. On a standard map with six opponents, expect 1500-1700. The AI finishes faster on larger maps. You will need to finish early to win peacefully, and sometimes, the AI just outraces you. If you can manipulate them into war with each other diplomatically, that's a good thing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first, micromanage your capital with an emphasis on food and growth if not building a worker or settler. Don't worry about defense. Even if you play with barbarians turned on, the land gets settled so fast that the fog of war vaporizes, along with the barbs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your first worker to chop two or three forests to accelerate Settler spawning. As soon as you finish Masonry, quit chopping and improve the stone square. In addition to being required for the Pyramids, this helps a ton with speeding up settler production. You don't need roads until just before switching to Pyramid building, and if you're lucky and both the stone and your first city are on a river, you don't need roads at all until much later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By now you've finished the first settler. Settle in a spot that will allow you to cottage spam later and which blocks off and claims potential territory from your nearest opponent the most effectively. Build another settler right away. Move worker number one with settler number two, as soon as the worker finishes its task when settler two is spawned. Improve one food square if in cultural boundaries and then chop until the second worker is about done in the first city. Time your first worker's arrival back to your capital with the production of worker number two. Hook up to stone using both workers. Switch to Pyramids the second the stone is hooked up and don't stop until you finish it. If the AI beats you to the Pyramids, rinse and repeat. After the stone is hooked up, have one worker mine all of your hills while the other chops everything in sight. You want to be as large as happiness allows to occupy those mines. You may need to improve a food resource to have enough food to support your miners. Put everything you've got into finishing the Pyramids, because if you don't, it's over.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The reason you need the Pyramids isn't so much for the happiness boost from Representation (though it's nice)--it's so you can buy religious buildings later, without having to tech all the way to universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Meanwhile, city number two needs to produce settler(s) ASAP. You need six cities to win, but only three of them need to be good cities. A "good" city in this strategy is one that you can cottage spam with and which is connected to fresh water. Health resources are more important than luxury resources. All of the general resources are useless except stone, marble, and copper. Stone you absolutely must have to build the Pyramids. Stone, marble, and copper are the resources that double production speed of the major religious buildings like Cathedrals, Academies, and Mandirs, which is why they are nice to have. Only stone is essential, though. After building the Pyramids and establishing three cities that you can cottage spam with, you're over the hump.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a challenge on Deity even to get three decent and three marginal cities without war, but it can be done. Really once you get that third one, you're usually home free, because you can often squeeze three more cities in around the edges of your cultural borders somewhere. Don't worry if your opponent's borders encroach upon your marginal cities. Believe, me you will beat their borders back big time in the end and before they flip you. In fact, if an opponent builds close to your capital or one of your three culture cities, you can usually flip it by the end game, which sometimes has provided me with my sixth requisite city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Try to cut off your opponents from access to a peninsula, even if there are no resources on it. You can use it later to place those marginal cities. And don't worry if your three other cities occupy crummy positions. In the end, it really doesn't matter that much. Only the cultural cities matter in the end.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will almost always receive at least two engineers from the Pyramids if you don't dilute the engineer gene pool. Use the first one on the Great Library, and use the second one on either the Sistine Chapel or the Taj Mahal. Don't build the Great Library in the city you want to use to spawn Great Artists later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a perfect world, you will manage your great people production so that you receive exactly three scientists from the Great Library before your Great Artist farm overwhelms it. Use all of your scientists to build academies in your three cultural cities. The cultural bonus they provide is just as valuable as the science boost. An academy in each cultural city provides [BOLD]double[\BOLD] the value of being a civ with the cultural trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After building the Pyramids, focus on cottage spamming, occupying as many cottaged tiles as possible continually while growing. Don't worry about amassing culture in your beginning game. Almost all of it will come in your end game, when you turn your culture bar up all the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overall plan is: cottage spam and tech as fast as possible; shut off all technology at a certain point (more on this later) and keep the culture bar as low as possible without having unhappy citizens, maximizing your gold input; meanwhile buy religious buildings; then crank up the culture bar. I know this part of the game plan is familiar to many of you, and I certainly don't claim originality here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After other civs switch to Emancipation, you will probably have to turn up the culture a little to maintain happiness. Remember, the idea is to increase commerce and BUY all the religious buildings, so it's fine to not have much culture until the end. After you quit researching, the AI will gift you some techs, often good ones. That's the bonus of being a "backwards people."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I struggle with the question of when to quit teching. It seems to me the options are, in successive order: right after liberalism (for Free Speech), after Nationalism (for the Hermitage), or after Printing Press (for the bonus gold). My best game was when quitting after Printing Press, but I got some lucky gift techs in that game. Still, I'm leaning toward thinking that is best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If possible, one of your cities that is not producing culture needs irrigated farms and food resources to be your Great Artist factory (you usually need caste system too). Any artists produced up until about 400-500 AD I add to one of my cultural cities (usually the slowest one). After that, save them for a big round of culture bombs at the end. The culture bombs are great at helping overcome discrepancies between culture levels in your three cultural cities. Everyone who is serious about their cultural games will be interested in O.H. Dog's superb Civ IV Culture Calculator Spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141740). It really helps in planning out your end game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never try to found early religions, and I am seldom able to found the late ones. But getting them to spread is usually not a problem in the end. You don't need all the religions, but the more the better. The fewest number I have won with is three religions. Whatever you do, NEVER use Theocracy. You MUST let those religions in! It's much easier for religions to spread on land maps. Trade routes also seem to help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there is one overriding world religion, obviously I switch to it, but if there is even one nearby country of an alternate religion, I remain without. I switch to Pacifism only when: a) my neighbors are so pleased with me that the "heathen religion" factor doesn't matter; or b) late in the game when the AI starts switching [BOLD]en masse[\BOLD] to Free Religion. Remember: only cities with your state religion receive the great people bonus under Pacifism.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I buy or build every possible major religious building in my three cultural cities. For those who don't know, the six city requirement results from the temple building factor. On small and tiny maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples in any one religion allows you to build [BOLD]three[\BOLD] major religious buildings (cathedrals, etc.), and each major religious building provides a 50% bonus to your cultural production. On standard maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples allows you two build [BOLD]two[\BOLD] major religious buildings, and if there is a change in this on the larger maps, I'm not aware of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Switch to all culture, no income as you approach the end of building your major religious buildings. You don't want to waste your end game production in your cities, so it's OK to finish the last major building in each city with hammers, as opposed to buying it. If you want to estimate what your cities' cultural rates will be when you switch into all-culture mode, turn the culture slider up all the way for a second and check them out on the city screen. Don't forget to slide it back down after you've checked. This will help you to plan ahead. Or for a more precise and sophisticated look: use the culture counter spreadsheet I mentioned earlier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The major religious buildings are what wins the game. So let's imagine that you receive a modest four religions with six cities on a small map. That means you can buy or build FOUR major religious buildings in EACH cultural city, providing a total plus 200% culture bonus in each of them. One will usually get the Hermitage, too. Combine this with cottage spamming, the other culture producing buildings, any added great artists, and perhaps a wonder; and you can easily create cities that produce 600-800 points of culture per turn by the end game. It doesn't take long to win at that rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: That was a conservative estimate on culture rate. My last Deity game, I had a city amassing culture at 1,080 / turn as I approached victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are many other nuances, but this post is getting long-winded already, so I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe we can use this thread to elaborate on the strategy and improve it. I would love to hear your questions, advice, criticism, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck peacemongers! Someday, we take over the world.</French>
		<German>[H1]Godotnut's Guide to Totally Peaceful Deity Cultural Victory[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]godotnut[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the request of some of you fine Civfanatics, I've finally gotten off my lazy butt to do a write-up on how I won my six HOF Deity games (three on Beta, three on the new one). Be warned--it's still quite a challenge with this strategy, but it works fairly often for me, proving that contrary to the conventional wisdom, it's quite possible to achieve a totally peaceful builder's win on the highest settings. In fact, it's only really challenging on Deity. So this one goes out to all you builders out there: peace wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Settings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm going to explain how to do this using strategic settings, but it DOES work with organic settings--it's just harder, and it may be impossible with some types of maps and/or sets of opponents. You [BOLD]do[\BOLD] need one thing for this to work, especially with chopping having been nerfed: you need stone in your starting city to build the Pyramids, and you must have the Pyramids to win before the AI launches the ship. I have done this without starting stone before the patch, but have found it impossible with 1.61. So if you don't find stone in your starting position, regenerate the map until you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disclaimer:[\BOLD] this strategy borrows bit and pieces from many others' strategies and tips. I am especially indebted to the excellent players, who contributed to the conversations in the Beta Gauntlet III (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=153233).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For a peaceful win, I'm convinced that Elizabeth is the best cultural victor, hands down. The combination of financial (for cottage spamming) and philosophical (for the great artists) can't be beat. The next best cultural leader is Mansa (half priced temples plus financial). Also, the slower game speed the better for faster wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: Huyana also excels at this strategy, but with some modifications (not all peace). For more, see the conversation in the thread below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD] smaller is easier but larger offers the opportunity for faster wins. Why? Because the more opponents you have, the harder it is to keep the peace and to build the Pyramids on Deity. But more opponents also means more tech trades and so a faster win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The easiest map allowed by the HOF is Pangaea on smaller maps, and Pang ea or Continents on Standard and larger. The easiest map, period, is Balanced, because it offers great resources, and it is the largest map, but the new HOF doesn't allow this map type. Water means slower contact with the AI, which means no early tech trades. Yes, it's easier to expand with a continent all to yourself, but it's nearly impossible to tech fast enough to win without trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Opponents:[\BOLD] You want peace. This is easier with Peacemonger opponents, but it can be done with more warlike opposition (though with Izzy in the game, it may be impossible). This strategy guide assumes that you already know how to use diplomacy to keep the peace. That's a whole topic in itself and deserving of its own thread. If you really want to win though, here are the peacemongers, in approximate order of peace-lovingness: Mansa, Cyrus, Hatshepsut, Asoka, Gandhi, Catherine, Frederick, Louis. Also, this strategy assumes you know how to cottage spam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]More settings:[\BOLD] low sea level helps A LOT to expand to the requisite six cities. If using Pang ea, a "pressed" coastline, as I understand it, presents "sub-continents" (which = good! cut off your opponents!) but without a lot of islands (which require naval investment = a waste); but I personally enjoy "random" -- call me sentimental. (Temperate or Tropical both work fine.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three main obstacles to a peaceful cultural win on Deity: building the Pyramids before the AI, expanding fast enough to get six cities, and achieving legendary culture before the AI launches the ship. Seldom will the AI win by any other means using this strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First City Build Order[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This all depends on a successful start. It's pretty easy after that. The challenge is to both build the Pyramids and not get boxed in. It's not easy, but this seems to work best: Worker &gt; expand to population size two while building a warrior (you can finish him later) &gt; as soon as size two, switch to Settler &gt; expand to size three while finishing the warrior/starting new one &gt; Worker #2 &gt; Pyramids. After that, I build whatever seems most necessary until the "temple spam" stage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never build any barracks or any troops other than one warrior per city. I don't hook up with copper until I've built six warriors, so that the option is present to build warriors and not the more expensive axemen or spearmen. If diplomacy fails and someone invades (rarely happens), retire, rinse, and repeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Research Path[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bronze &gt; Masonry &gt; Wheel &gt; Agriculture &gt; Pottery &gt; Writing &gt; Alphabet[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Teching after that is a matter of researching techs that the AI is slow to attack, so that you can use them to trade. So, for example, I never research Calendar or Mathematics, because the AI always researches them, and I can trade for them, whereas if I research them, I can't trade anything for them because the AI already has them. So techs like Paper for example that aren't a big deal in most games become important to research relatively early, because the AI researches them late, and you can trade them for others. You need to make early contact with all or most of the AI to establish tech trades so you can win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What to Do[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, be aware that in a peaceful world on Deity, the AI will launch their rocket any time between 1500 and 1850 (or even earlier perhaps on larger maps). The more opponents you have, the faster the AI launches the ship. On a standard map with six opponents, expect 1500-1700. The AI finishes faster on larger maps. You will need to finish early to win peacefully, and sometimes, the AI just outraces you. If you can manipulate them into war with each other diplomatically, that's a good thing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first, micromanage your capital with an emphasis on food and growth if not building a worker or settler. Don't worry about defense. Even if you play with barbarians turned on, the land gets settled so fast that the fog of war vaporizes, along with the barbs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your first worker to chop two or three forests to accelerate Settler spawning. As soon as you finish Masonry, quit chopping and improve the stone square. In addition to being required for the Pyramids, this helps a ton with speeding up settler production. You don't need roads until just before switching to Pyramid building, and if you're lucky and both the stone and your first city are on a river, you don't need roads at all until much later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By now you've finished the first settler. Settle in a spot that will allow you to cottage spam later and which blocks off and claims potential territory from your nearest opponent the most effectively. Build another settler right away. Move worker number one with settler number two, as soon as the worker finishes its task when settler two is spawned. Improve one food square if in cultural boundaries and then chop until the second worker is about done in the first city. Time your first worker's arrival back to your capital with the production of worker number two. Hook up to stone using both workers. Switch to Pyramids the second the stone is hooked up and don't stop until you finish it. If the AI beats you to the Pyramids, rinse and repeat. After the stone is hooked up, have one worker mine all of your hills while the other chops everything in sight. You want to be as large as happiness allows to occupy those mines. You may need to improve a food resource to have enough food to support your miners. Put everything you've got into finishing the Pyramids, because if you don't, it's over.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The reason you need the Pyramids isn't so much for the happiness boost from Representation (though it's nice)--it's so you can buy religious buildings later, without having to tech all the way to universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Meanwhile, city number two needs to produce settler(s) ASAP. You need six cities to win, but only three of them need to be good cities. A "good" city in this strategy is one that you can cottage spam with and which is connected to fresh water. Health resources are more important than luxury resources. All of the general resources are useless except stone, marble, and copper. Stone you absolutely must have to build the Pyramids. Stone, marble, and copper are the resources that double production speed of the major religious buildings like Cathedrals, Academies, and Mandirs, which is why they are nice to have. Only stone is essential, though. After building the Pyramids and establishing three cities that you can cottage spam with, you're over the hump.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a challenge on Deity even to get three decent and three marginal cities without war, but it can be done. Really once you get that third one, you're usually home free, because you can often squeeze three more cities in around the edges of your cultural borders somewhere. Don't worry if your opponent's borders encroach upon your marginal cities. Believe, me you will beat their borders back big time in the end and before they flip you. In fact, if an opponent builds close to your capital or one of your three culture cities, you can usually flip it by the end game, which sometimes has provided me with my sixth requisite city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Try to cut off your opponents from access to a peninsula, even if there are no resources on it. You can use it later to place those marginal cities. And don't worry if your three other cities occupy crummy positions. In the end, it really doesn't matter that much. Only the cultural cities matter in the end.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will almost always receive at least two engineers from the Pyramids if you don't dilute the engineer gene pool. Use the first one on the Great Library, and use the second one on either the Sistine Chapel or the Taj Mahal. Don't build the Great Library in the city you want to use to spawn Great Artists later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a perfect world, you will manage your great people production so that you receive exactly three scientists from the Great Library before your Great Artist farm overwhelms it. Use all of your scientists to build academies in your three cultural cities. The cultural bonus they provide is just as valuable as the science boost. An academy in each cultural city provides [BOLD]double[\BOLD] the value of being a civ with the cultural trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After building the Pyramids, focus on cottage spamming, occupying as many cottaged tiles as possible continually while growing. Don't worry about amassing culture in your beginning game. Almost all of it will come in your end game, when you turn your culture bar up all the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overall plan is: cottage spam and tech as fast as possible; shut off all technology at a certain point (more on this later) and keep the culture bar as low as possible without having unhappy citizens, maximizing your gold input; meanwhile buy religious buildings; then crank up the culture bar. I know this part of the game plan is familiar to many of you, and I certainly don't claim originality here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After other civs switch to Emancipation, you will probably have to turn up the culture a little to maintain happiness. Remember, the idea is to increase commerce and BUY all the religious buildings, so it's fine to not have much culture until the end. After you quit researching, the AI will gift you some techs, often good ones. That's the bonus of being a "backwards people."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I struggle with the question of when to quit teching. It seems to me the options are, in successive order: right after liberalism (for Free Speech), after Nationalism (for the Hermitage), or after Printing Press (for the bonus gold). My best game was when quitting after Printing Press, but I got some lucky gift techs in that game. Still, I'm leaning toward thinking that is best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If possible, one of your cities that is not producing culture needs irrigated farms and food resources to be your Great Artist factory (you usually need caste system too). Any artists produced up until about 400-500 AD I add to one of my cultural cities (usually the slowest one). After that, save them for a big round of culture bombs at the end. The culture bombs are great at helping overcome discrepancies between culture levels in your three cultural cities. Everyone who is serious about their cultural games will be interested in O.H. Dog's superb Civ IV Culture Calculator Spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141740). It really helps in planning out your end game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never try to found early religions, and I am seldom able to found the late ones. But getting them to spread is usually not a problem in the end. You don't need all the religions, but the more the better. The fewest number I have won with is three religions. Whatever you do, NEVER use Theocracy. You MUST let those religions in! It's much easier for religions to spread on land maps. Trade routes also seem to help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there is one overriding world religion, obviously I switch to it, but if there is even one nearby country of an alternate religion, I remain without. I switch to Pacifism only when: a) my neighbors are so pleased with me that the "heathen religion" factor doesn't matter; or b) late in the game when the AI starts switching [BOLD]en masse[\BOLD] to Free Religion. Remember: only cities with your state religion receive the great people bonus under Pacifism.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I buy or build every possible major religious building in my three cultural cities. For those who don't know, the six city requirement results from the temple building factor. On small and tiny maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples in any one religion allows you to build [BOLD]three[\BOLD] major religious buildings (cathedrals, etc.), and each major religious building provides a 50% bonus to your cultural production. On standard maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples allows you two build [BOLD]two[\BOLD] major religious buildings, and if there is a change in this on the larger maps, I'm not aware of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Switch to all culture, no income as you approach the end of building your major religious buildings. You don't want to waste your end game production in your cities, so it's OK to finish the last major building in each city with hammers, as opposed to buying it. If you want to estimate what your cities' cultural rates will be when you switch into all-culture mode, turn the culture slider up all the way for a second and check them out on the city screen. Don't forget to slide it back down after you've checked. This will help you to plan ahead. Or for a more precise and sophisticated look: use the culture counter spreadsheet I mentioned earlier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The major religious buildings are what wins the game. So let's imagine that you receive a modest four religions with six cities on a small map. That means you can buy or build FOUR major religious buildings in EACH cultural city, providing a total plus 200% culture bonus in each of them. One will usually get the Hermitage, too. Combine this with cottage spamming, the other culture producing buildings, any added great artists, and perhaps a wonder; and you can easily create cities that produce 600-800 points of culture per turn by the end game. It doesn't take long to win at that rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: That was a conservative estimate on culture rate. My last Deity game, I had a city amassing culture at 1,080 / turn as I approached victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are many other nuances, but this post is getting long-winded already, so I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe we can use this thread to elaborate on the strategy and improve it. I would love to hear your questions, advice, criticism, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck peacemongers! Someday, we take over the world.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Godotnut's Guide to Totally Peaceful Deity Cultural Victory[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]godotnut[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the request of some of you fine Civfanatics, I've finally gotten off my lazy butt to do a write-up on how I won my six HOF Deity games (three on Beta, three on the new one). Be warned--it's still quite a challenge with this strategy, but it works fairly often for me, proving that contrary to the conventional wisdom, it's quite possible to achieve a totally peaceful builder's win on the highest settings. In fact, it's only really challenging on Deity. So this one goes out to all you builders out there: peace wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Settings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm going to explain how to do this using strategic settings, but it DOES work with organic settings--it's just harder, and it may be impossible with some types of maps and/or sets of opponents. You [BOLD]do[\BOLD] need one thing for this to work, especially with chopping having been nerfed: you need stone in your starting city to build the Pyramids, and you must have the Pyramids to win before the AI launches the ship. I have done this without starting stone before the patch, but have found it impossible with 1.61. So if you don't find stone in your starting position, regenerate the map until you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disclaimer:[\BOLD] this strategy borrows bit and pieces from many others' strategies and tips. I am especially indebted to the excellent players, who contributed to the conversations in the Beta Gauntlet III (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=153233).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For a peaceful win, I'm convinced that Elizabeth is the best cultural victor, hands down. The combination of financial (for cottage spamming) and philosophical (for the great artists) can't be beat. The next best cultural leader is Mansa (half priced temples plus financial). Also, the slower game speed the better for faster wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: Huyana also excels at this strategy, but with some modifications (not all peace). For more, see the conversation in the thread below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD] smaller is easier but larger offers the opportunity for faster wins. Why? Because the more opponents you have, the harder it is to keep the peace and to build the Pyramids on Deity. But more opponents also means more tech trades and so a faster win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The easiest map allowed by the HOF is Pangaea on smaller maps, and Pang ea or Continents on Standard and larger. The easiest map, period, is Balanced, because it offers great resources, and it is the largest map, but the new HOF doesn't allow this map type. Water means slower contact with the AI, which means no early tech trades. Yes, it's easier to expand with a continent all to yourself, but it's nearly impossible to tech fast enough to win without trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Opponents:[\BOLD] You want peace. This is easier with Peacemonger opponents, but it can be done with more warlike opposition (though with Izzy in the game, it may be impossible). This strategy guide assumes that you already know how to use diplomacy to keep the peace. That's a whole topic in itself and deserving of its own thread. If you really want to win though, here are the peacemongers, in approximate order of peace-lovingness: Mansa, Cyrus, Hatshepsut, Asoka, Gandhi, Catherine, Frederick, Louis. Also, this strategy assumes you know how to cottage spam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]More settings:[\BOLD] low sea level helps A LOT to expand to the requisite six cities. If using Pang ea, a "pressed" coastline, as I understand it, presents "sub-continents" (which = good! cut off your opponents!) but without a lot of islands (which require naval investment = a waste); but I personally enjoy "random" -- call me sentimental. (Temperate or Tropical both work fine.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three main obstacles to a peaceful cultural win on Deity: building the Pyramids before the AI, expanding fast enough to get six cities, and achieving legendary culture before the AI launches the ship. Seldom will the AI win by any other means using this strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First City Build Order[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This all depends on a successful start. It's pretty easy after that. The challenge is to both build the Pyramids and not get boxed in. It's not easy, but this seems to work best: Worker &gt; expand to population size two while building a warrior (you can finish him later) &gt; as soon as size two, switch to Settler &gt; expand to size three while finishing the warrior/starting new one &gt; Worker #2 &gt; Pyramids. After that, I build whatever seems most necessary until the "temple spam" stage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never build any barracks or any troops other than one warrior per city. I don't hook up with copper until I've built six warriors, so that the option is present to build warriors and not the more expensive axemen or spearmen. If diplomacy fails and someone invades (rarely happens), retire, rinse, and repeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Research Path[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bronze &gt; Masonry &gt; Wheel &gt; Agriculture &gt; Pottery &gt; Writing &gt; Alphabet[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Teching after that is a matter of researching techs that the AI is slow to attack, so that you can use them to trade. So, for example, I never research Calendar or Mathematics, because the AI always researches them, and I can trade for them, whereas if I research them, I can't trade anything for them because the AI already has them. So techs like Paper for example that aren't a big deal in most games become important to research relatively early, because the AI researches them late, and you can trade them for others. You need to make early contact with all or most of the AI to establish tech trades so you can win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What to Do[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, be aware that in a peaceful world on Deity, the AI will launch their rocket any time between 1500 and 1850 (or even earlier perhaps on larger maps). The more opponents you have, the faster the AI launches the ship. On a standard map with six opponents, expect 1500-1700. The AI finishes faster on larger maps. You will need to finish early to win peacefully, and sometimes, the AI just outraces you. If you can manipulate them into war with each other diplomatically, that's a good thing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first, micromanage your capital with an emphasis on food and growth if not building a worker or settler. Don't worry about defense. Even if you play with barbarians turned on, the land gets settled so fast that the fog of war vaporizes, along with the barbs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your first worker to chop two or three forests to accelerate Settler spawning. As soon as you finish Masonry, quit chopping and improve the stone square. In addition to being required for the Pyramids, this helps a ton with speeding up settler production. You don't need roads until just before switching to Pyramid building, and if you're lucky and both the stone and your first city are on a river, you don't need roads at all until much later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By now you've finished the first settler. Settle in a spot that will allow you to cottage spam later and which blocks off and claims potential territory from your nearest opponent the most effectively. Build another settler right away. Move worker number one with settler number two, as soon as the worker finishes its task when settler two is spawned. Improve one food square if in cultural boundaries and then chop until the second worker is about done in the first city. Time your first worker's arrival back to your capital with the production of worker number two. Hook up to stone using both workers. Switch to Pyramids the second the stone is hooked up and don't stop until you finish it. If the AI beats you to the Pyramids, rinse and repeat. After the stone is hooked up, have one worker mine all of your hills while the other chops everything in sight. You want to be as large as happiness allows to occupy those mines. You may need to improve a food resource to have enough food to support your miners. Put everything you've got into finishing the Pyramids, because if you don't, it's over.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The reason you need the Pyramids isn't so much for the happiness boost from Representation (though it's nice)--it's so you can buy religious buildings later, without having to tech all the way to universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Meanwhile, city number two needs to produce settler(s) ASAP. You need six cities to win, but only three of them need to be good cities. A "good" city in this strategy is one that you can cottage spam with and which is connected to fresh water. Health resources are more important than luxury resources. All of the general resources are useless except stone, marble, and copper. Stone you absolutely must have to build the Pyramids. Stone, marble, and copper are the resources that double production speed of the major religious buildings like Cathedrals, Academies, and Mandirs, which is why they are nice to have. Only stone is essential, though. After building the Pyramids and establishing three cities that you can cottage spam with, you're over the hump.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a challenge on Deity even to get three decent and three marginal cities without war, but it can be done. Really once you get that third one, you're usually home free, because you can often squeeze three more cities in around the edges of your cultural borders somewhere. Don't worry if your opponent's borders encroach upon your marginal cities. Believe, me you will beat their borders back big time in the end and before they flip you. In fact, if an opponent builds close to your capital or one of your three culture cities, you can usually flip it by the end game, which sometimes has provided me with my sixth requisite city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Try to cut off your opponents from access to a peninsula, even if there are no resources on it. You can use it later to place those marginal cities. And don't worry if your three other cities occupy crummy positions. In the end, it really doesn't matter that much. Only the cultural cities matter in the end.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will almost always receive at least two engineers from the Pyramids if you don't dilute the engineer gene pool. Use the first one on the Great Library, and use the second one on either the Sistine Chapel or the Taj Mahal. Don't build the Great Library in the city you want to use to spawn Great Artists later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a perfect world, you will manage your great people production so that you receive exactly three scientists from the Great Library before your Great Artist farm overwhelms it. Use all of your scientists to build academies in your three cultural cities. The cultural bonus they provide is just as valuable as the science boost. An academy in each cultural city provides [BOLD]double[\BOLD] the value of being a civ with the cultural trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After building the Pyramids, focus on cottage spamming, occupying as many cottaged tiles as possible continually while growing. Don't worry about amassing culture in your beginning game. Almost all of it will come in your end game, when you turn your culture bar up all the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overall plan is: cottage spam and tech as fast as possible; shut off all technology at a certain point (more on this later) and keep the culture bar as low as possible without having unhappy citizens, maximizing your gold input; meanwhile buy religious buildings; then crank up the culture bar. I know this part of the game plan is familiar to many of you, and I certainly don't claim originality here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After other civs switch to Emancipation, you will probably have to turn up the culture a little to maintain happiness. Remember, the idea is to increase commerce and BUY all the religious buildings, so it's fine to not have much culture until the end. After you quit researching, the AI will gift you some techs, often good ones. That's the bonus of being a "backwards people."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I struggle with the question of when to quit teching. It seems to me the options are, in successive order: right after liberalism (for Free Speech), after Nationalism (for the Hermitage), or after Printing Press (for the bonus gold). My best game was when quitting after Printing Press, but I got some lucky gift techs in that game. Still, I'm leaning toward thinking that is best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If possible, one of your cities that is not producing culture needs irrigated farms and food resources to be your Great Artist factory (you usually need caste system too). Any artists produced up until about 400-500 AD I add to one of my cultural cities (usually the slowest one). After that, save them for a big round of culture bombs at the end. The culture bombs are great at helping overcome discrepancies between culture levels in your three cultural cities. Everyone who is serious about their cultural games will be interested in O.H. Dog's superb Civ IV Culture Calculator Spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141740). It really helps in planning out your end game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never try to found early religions, and I am seldom able to found the late ones. But getting them to spread is usually not a problem in the end. You don't need all the religions, but the more the better. The fewest number I have won with is three religions. Whatever you do, NEVER use Theocracy. You MUST let those religions in! It's much easier for religions to spread on land maps. Trade routes also seem to help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there is one overriding world religion, obviously I switch to it, but if there is even one nearby country of an alternate religion, I remain without. I switch to Pacifism only when: a) my neighbors are so pleased with me that the "heathen religion" factor doesn't matter; or b) late in the game when the AI starts switching [BOLD]en masse[\BOLD] to Free Religion. Remember: only cities with your state religion receive the great people bonus under Pacifism.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I buy or build every possible major religious building in my three cultural cities. For those who don't know, the six city requirement results from the temple building factor. On small and tiny maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples in any one religion allows you to build [BOLD]three[\BOLD] major religious buildings (cathedrals, etc.), and each major religious building provides a 50% bonus to your cultural production. On standard maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples allows you two build [BOLD]two[\BOLD] major religious buildings, and if there is a change in this on the larger maps, I'm not aware of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Switch to all culture, no income as you approach the end of building your major religious buildings. You don't want to waste your end game production in your cities, so it's OK to finish the last major building in each city with hammers, as opposed to buying it. If you want to estimate what your cities' cultural rates will be when you switch into all-culture mode, turn the culture slider up all the way for a second and check them out on the city screen. Don't forget to slide it back down after you've checked. This will help you to plan ahead. Or for a more precise and sophisticated look: use the culture counter spreadsheet I mentioned earlier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The major religious buildings are what wins the game. So let's imagine that you receive a modest four religions with six cities on a small map. That means you can buy or build FOUR major religious buildings in EACH cultural city, providing a total plus 200% culture bonus in each of them. One will usually get the Hermitage, too. Combine this with cottage spamming, the other culture producing buildings, any added great artists, and perhaps a wonder; and you can easily create cities that produce 600-800 points of culture per turn by the end game. It doesn't take long to win at that rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: That was a conservative estimate on culture rate. My last Deity game, I had a city amassing culture at 1,080 / turn as I approached victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are many other nuances, but this post is getting long-winded already, so I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe we can use this thread to elaborate on the strategy and improve it. I would love to hear your questions, advice, criticism, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck peacemongers! Someday, we take over the world.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Godotnut's Guide to Totally Peaceful Deity Cultural Victory[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]godotnut[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the request of some of you fine Civfanatics, I've finally gotten off my lazy butt to do a write-up on how I won my six HOF Deity games (three on Beta, three on the new one). Be warned--it's still quite a challenge with this strategy, but it works fairly often for me, proving that contrary to the conventional wisdom, it's quite possible to achieve a totally peaceful builder's win on the highest settings. In fact, it's only really challenging on Deity. So this one goes out to all you builders out there: peace wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Settings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'm going to explain how to do this using strategic settings, but it DOES work with organic settings--it's just harder, and it may be impossible with some types of maps and/or sets of opponents. You [BOLD]do[\BOLD] need one thing for this to work, especially with chopping having been nerfed: you need stone in your starting city to build the Pyramids, and you must have the Pyramids to win before the AI launches the ship. I have done this without starting stone before the patch, but have found it impossible with 1.61. So if you don't find stone in your starting position, regenerate the map until you do.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disclaimer:[\BOLD] this strategy borrows bit and pieces from many others' strategies and tips. I am especially indebted to the excellent players, who contributed to the conversations in the Beta Gauntlet III (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=153233).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For a peaceful win, I'm convinced that Elizabeth is the best cultural victor, hands down. The combination of financial (for cottage spamming) and philosophical (for the great artists) can't be beat. The next best cultural leader is Mansa (half priced temples plus financial). Also, the slower game speed the better for faster wins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: Huyana also excels at this strategy, but with some modifications (not all peace). For more, see the conversation in the thread below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD] smaller is easier but larger offers the opportunity for faster wins. Why? Because the more opponents you have, the harder it is to keep the peace and to build the Pyramids on Deity. But more opponents also means more tech trades and so a faster win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The easiest map allowed by the HOF is Pangaea on smaller maps, and Pang ea or Continents on Standard and larger. The easiest map, period, is Balanced, because it offers great resources, and it is the largest map, but the new HOF doesn't allow this map type. Water means slower contact with the AI, which means no early tech trades. Yes, it's easier to expand with a continent all to yourself, but it's nearly impossible to tech fast enough to win without trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Opponents:[\BOLD] You want peace. This is easier with Peacemonger opponents, but it can be done with more warlike opposition (though with Izzy in the game, it may be impossible). This strategy guide assumes that you already know how to use diplomacy to keep the peace. That's a whole topic in itself and deserving of its own thread. If you really want to win though, here are the peacemongers, in approximate order of peace-lovingness: Mansa, Cyrus, Hatshepsut, Asoka, Gandhi, Catherine, Frederick, Louis. Also, this strategy assumes you know how to cottage spam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]More settings:[\BOLD] low sea level helps A LOT to expand to the requisite six cities. If using Pang ea, a "pressed" coastline, as I understand it, presents "sub-continents" (which = good! cut off your opponents!) but without a lot of islands (which require naval investment = a waste); but I personally enjoy "random" -- call me sentimental. (Temperate or Tropical both work fine.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three main obstacles to a peaceful cultural win on Deity: building the Pyramids before the AI, expanding fast enough to get six cities, and achieving legendary culture before the AI launches the ship. Seldom will the AI win by any other means using this strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]First City Build Order[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This all depends on a successful start. It's pretty easy after that. The challenge is to both build the Pyramids and not get boxed in. It's not easy, but this seems to work best: Worker &gt; expand to population size two while building a warrior (you can finish him later) &gt; as soon as size two, switch to Settler &gt; expand to size three while finishing the warrior/starting new one &gt; Worker #2 &gt; Pyramids. After that, I build whatever seems most necessary until the "temple spam" stage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never build any barracks or any troops other than one warrior per city. I don't hook up with copper until I've built six warriors, so that the option is present to build warriors and not the more expensive axemen or spearmen. If diplomacy fails and someone invades (rarely happens), retire, rinse, and repeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Research Path[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bronze &gt; Masonry &gt; Wheel &gt; Agriculture &gt; Pottery &gt; Writing &gt; Alphabet[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Teching after that is a matter of researching techs that the AI is slow to attack, so that you can use them to trade. So, for example, I never research Calendar or Mathematics, because the AI always researches them, and I can trade for them, whereas if I research them, I can't trade anything for them because the AI already has them. So techs like Paper for example that aren't a big deal in most games become important to research relatively early, because the AI researches them late, and you can trade them for others. You need to make early contact with all or most of the AI to establish tech trades so you can win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What to Do[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First of all, be aware that in a peaceful world on Deity, the AI will launch their rocket any time between 1500 and 1850 (or even earlier perhaps on larger maps). The more opponents you have, the faster the AI launches the ship. On a standard map with six opponents, expect 1500-1700. The AI finishes faster on larger maps. You will need to finish early to win peacefully, and sometimes, the AI just outraces you. If you can manipulate them into war with each other diplomatically, that's a good thing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first, micromanage your capital with an emphasis on food and growth if not building a worker or settler. Don't worry about defense. Even if you play with barbarians turned on, the land gets settled so fast that the fog of war vaporizes, along with the barbs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your first worker to chop two or three forests to accelerate Settler spawning. As soon as you finish Masonry, quit chopping and improve the stone square. In addition to being required for the Pyramids, this helps a ton with speeding up settler production. You don't need roads until just before switching to Pyramid building, and if you're lucky and both the stone and your first city are on a river, you don't need roads at all until much later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]By now you've finished the first settler. Settle in a spot that will allow you to cottage spam later and which blocks off and claims potential territory from your nearest opponent the most effectively. Build another settler right away. Move worker number one with settler number two, as soon as the worker finishes its task when settler two is spawned. Improve one food square if in cultural boundaries and then chop until the second worker is about done in the first city. Time your first worker's arrival back to your capital with the production of worker number two. Hook up to stone using both workers. Switch to Pyramids the second the stone is hooked up and don't stop until you finish it. If the AI beats you to the Pyramids, rinse and repeat. After the stone is hooked up, have one worker mine all of your hills while the other chops everything in sight. You want to be as large as happiness allows to occupy those mines. You may need to improve a food resource to have enough food to support your miners. Put everything you've got into finishing the Pyramids, because if you don't, it's over.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The reason you need the Pyramids isn't so much for the happiness boost from Representation (though it's nice)--it's so you can buy religious buildings later, without having to tech all the way to universal suffrage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Meanwhile, city number two needs to produce settler(s) ASAP. You need six cities to win, but only three of them need to be good cities. A "good" city in this strategy is one that you can cottage spam with and which is connected to fresh water. Health resources are more important than luxury resources. All of the general resources are useless except stone, marble, and copper. Stone you absolutely must have to build the Pyramids. Stone, marble, and copper are the resources that double production speed of the major religious buildings like Cathedrals, Academies, and Mandirs, which is why they are nice to have. Only stone is essential, though. After building the Pyramids and establishing three cities that you can cottage spam with, you're over the hump.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a challenge on Deity even to get three decent and three marginal cities without war, but it can be done. Really once you get that third one, you're usually home free, because you can often squeeze three more cities in around the edges of your cultural borders somewhere. Don't worry if your opponent's borders encroach upon your marginal cities. Believe, me you will beat their borders back big time in the end and before they flip you. In fact, if an opponent builds close to your capital or one of your three culture cities, you can usually flip it by the end game, which sometimes has provided me with my sixth requisite city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Try to cut off your opponents from access to a peninsula, even if there are no resources on it. You can use it later to place those marginal cities. And don't worry if your three other cities occupy crummy positions. In the end, it really doesn't matter that much. Only the cultural cities matter in the end.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will almost always receive at least two engineers from the Pyramids if you don't dilute the engineer gene pool. Use the first one on the Great Library, and use the second one on either the Sistine Chapel or the Taj Mahal. Don't build the Great Library in the city you want to use to spawn Great Artists later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a perfect world, you will manage your great people production so that you receive exactly three scientists from the Great Library before your Great Artist farm overwhelms it. Use all of your scientists to build academies in your three cultural cities. The cultural bonus they provide is just as valuable as the science boost. An academy in each cultural city provides [BOLD]double[\BOLD] the value of being a civ with the cultural trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After building the Pyramids, focus on cottage spamming, occupying as many cottaged tiles as possible continually while growing. Don't worry about amassing culture in your beginning game. Almost all of it will come in your end game, when you turn your culture bar up all the way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overall plan is: cottage spam and tech as fast as possible; shut off all technology at a certain point (more on this later) and keep the culture bar as low as possible without having unhappy citizens, maximizing your gold input; meanwhile buy religious buildings; then crank up the culture bar. I know this part of the game plan is familiar to many of you, and I certainly don't claim originality here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After other civs switch to Emancipation, you will probably have to turn up the culture a little to maintain happiness. Remember, the idea is to increase commerce and BUY all the religious buildings, so it's fine to not have much culture until the end. After you quit researching, the AI will gift you some techs, often good ones. That's the bonus of being a "backwards people."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I struggle with the question of when to quit teching. It seems to me the options are, in successive order: right after liberalism (for Free Speech), after Nationalism (for the Hermitage), or after Printing Press (for the bonus gold). My best game was when quitting after Printing Press, but I got some lucky gift techs in that game. Still, I'm leaning toward thinking that is best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If possible, one of your cities that is not producing culture needs irrigated farms and food resources to be your Great Artist factory (you usually need caste system too). Any artists produced up until about 400-500 AD I add to one of my cultural cities (usually the slowest one). After that, save them for a big round of culture bombs at the end. The culture bombs are great at helping overcome discrepancies between culture levels in your three cultural cities. Everyone who is serious about their cultural games will be interested in O.H. Dog's superb Civ IV Culture Calculator Spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141740). It really helps in planning out your end game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I never try to found early religions, and I am seldom able to found the late ones. But getting them to spread is usually not a problem in the end. You don't need all the religions, but the more the better. The fewest number I have won with is three religions. Whatever you do, NEVER use Theocracy. You MUST let those religions in! It's much easier for religions to spread on land maps. Trade routes also seem to help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there is one overriding world religion, obviously I switch to it, but if there is even one nearby country of an alternate religion, I remain without. I switch to Pacifism only when: a) my neighbors are so pleased with me that the "heathen religion" factor doesn't matter; or b) late in the game when the AI starts switching [BOLD]en masse[\BOLD] to Free Religion. Remember: only cities with your state religion receive the great people bonus under Pacifism.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I buy or build every possible major religious building in my three cultural cities. For those who don't know, the six city requirement results from the temple building factor. On small and tiny maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples in any one religion allows you to build [BOLD]three[\BOLD] major religious buildings (cathedrals, etc.), and each major religious building provides a 50% bonus to your cultural production. On standard maps, [BOLD]six[\BOLD] temples allows you two build [BOLD]two[\BOLD] major religious buildings, and if there is a change in this on the larger maps, I'm not aware of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Switch to all culture, no income as you approach the end of building your major religious buildings. You don't want to waste your end game production in your cities, so it's OK to finish the last major building in each city with hammers, as opposed to buying it. If you want to estimate what your cities' cultural rates will be when you switch into all-culture mode, turn the culture slider up all the way for a second and check them out on the city screen. Don't forget to slide it back down after you've checked. This will help you to plan ahead. Or for a more precise and sophisticated look: use the culture counter spreadsheet I mentioned earlier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The major religious buildings are what wins the game. So let's imagine that you receive a modest four religions with six cities on a small map. That means you can buy or build FOUR major religious buildings in EACH cultural city, providing a total plus 200% culture bonus in each of them. One will usually get the Hermitage, too. Combine this with cottage spamming, the other culture producing buildings, any added great artists, and perhaps a wonder; and you can easily create cities that produce 600-800 points of culture per turn by the end game. It doesn't take long to win at that rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]EDIT: That was a conservative estimate on culture rate. My last Deity game, I had a city amassing culture at 1,080 / turn as I approached victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are many other nuances, but this post is getting long-winded already, so I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe we can use this thread to elaborate on the strategy and improve it. I would love to hear your questions, advice, criticism, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good luck peacemongers! Someday, we take over the world.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_UB_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Comprehensive Unique Building Guide (BTS)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WilliamOfOrange[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a my first attempt at a strategy guide given that most of the players with more skill/talent/time usually write up some beauties, but I have been inspried to contribute something about my favourite part of the Warlords expansion: the Unique Building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often load up the game and civilopedia just to see which UBs might match the victory condition that I feel like going for. I appreciate reading peoples' work, so I hope I can return the favour here in bringing this strategy article to you. The great thing about this game is the many different strategies and uses for things like leader traits, UUs and UBs. And what is truly great about the UBs is the flexibility and choices most of them give the player so ratings are not necessary; only strategies and synergies need be discussed. What makes a UB (or UU) great is how it is used the most effectively. With the new combinations that Beyond the Sword offers, this could get quite complicated, however I will only focus on the standard and normal civilization UB combinations here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we go:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]American Mall (Supermarket):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have only played the Americans in a Gauntlet with a Future start going for Space Race, but I have to say the building was a nice boost. It is a good choice for an American UB, I feel. For the same price as a supermarket (which provides extra health from cow, deer, pig and sheep) you also get happiness from the three late "entertainment/culture wonders" or ECWs; musicals from Broadway, singles from Rock n' Roll and movies from Hollywood, and now with the patch, plus 20% gold in the city to boot! For a future era start, maybe not needed right away, but if in a long game where your population is reaching health and happiness limits, its a great building to have even if it does come late in the game. That alone is enough, but the +20% gold can be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building one or all of those happiness/culture wonders mentioned above would add 3 happiness points like that and the added health means larger cities as well. What is your pleasure, GP farming or warmongering? Either way, I think it helps out. Not sure about using it with Washington, who is charismatic and expansive, so the +2 health means the health bonus from the mall maybe isn't so big. Then again, you can afford to build polution causing, production buildings with all that extra health. Also the +1 happiness in all cities and from monuments or broadcast towers (which is great if you build the Eiffel Tower) seems to negate the happiness from the mall too. But, if you were to play as the industrious and organized Roosevelt, then you could get some of the benefits of Washington at the same time if you build malls.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems that the extra health and happiness could really give Lincoln a nice late game edge when large, polluting cities needs extra [ICON_HEALTHY] and [ICON_HAPPY]. Given his philosophical trait, he is a great candidate for space race because of the Mall´s bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, it does come late and requires a grocer to be built. Given that the grocer gives +1 health from bananas, wine, sugar and spice, that might solve your health problems already. Grocers also give +25 wealth and can turn two citizens into Merchants. Maybe you don't need the health, but the money is always nice. With Grocer, Market, Bank and Mall that is 120% increase in income. Yay, Capitalism![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a granary, a grocer and the supermarket/mall you get health from rice, corn, wheat, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. That's 11 health points! So as stated above, that means the ability to build forges, factories and other polluting buildings. It would all depend on your civics (environmentalism), if you have FP or trees and jungle in your fat cross and your goals (production, warmongering, space race, etc)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for the happiness, with charismatic trait, you get +1 per city, and ignoring any happiness from temples, theatres, coliseums look at what building one of the three ECWs gives you once you have a mall and broadcast tower, (either by it self, or the much better option of the Eiffel Tower). For example you build Hollywood, +1 [ICON_HAPPY]and with mall and broacast tower, another +2 [ICON_HAPPY]for a total of +3 for the same resource!! If you build all three ECWs and the Eiffel Tower, you are looking at +9 happiness for three resources not to mention that you can trade your extra singles, movies and musicals to other civs for resources you may not have, like Aluminum or Iron or Oil. Add in the fact that you likely have temples, theatres or whatever other happiness producing buildings and the fact that the broadcast tower (along with threatres and coliseums) will give +1 happiness for every 10% culture. If you have all three in a city, then that means +3 [ICON_HAPPY] for only raising the culture setting up by 10%. For warmongering this is huge![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmongering seems to fit America as a charismatic Washington or Lincoln also gets quicker promotions and you will have more money coming in to support a large army and upgrade your troops. The Mall is a Cottage Economy UB, but Lincoln is a Specialist Economy Leader, so there may be some mismatch here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although some may feel that is comes too late or when the game is pretty much finished and you are either milking the score or just mopping up, it seems to me that given a large varied collection of resources, the Mall gives the American player the ability and flexibilty to trade extra health/happiness resources away and not suffer their loss, or to exploit them and kick into high production/war monger gear and not look back. Lincoln is a bonafide space contender, quite a deal over Washington and Roosevelt.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Arabian Madrassa (Library - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the Chinese Pavilion is the "Big Daddy" of culture UBs, then the Madrassa is the "Big Momma". With a whopping +4 culture per turn is lends itself to a culture victory. Given that Writing is an early tech and you would likely build a library anyway, it's a no-brainer to place Writing higher up in your tech queue. In fact, I have experiemented with beelining for it and not worrying about early religions for cultural games. Libraries cost the same, but in addition to assigning to scientists, you can [BOLD]also[\BOLD] assign two prophets.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The culture route is likely the biggest draw for this one, but you could also concentrate on farming GP and GS only if you like. Lightbulbing to get ahead in tech and maybe settling some of them as well so that you could build the UN quickly. The big culture ensures that you have the resources if you join/start the space race or just own all the land around you for domination victories. Farming GPs will help you progress nicely through the religious tech and that means more religions, holy cities, shrines and mo' money, mo' money, mo' money! And it can also help you control religion spreading for diplomatic manipulation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other then the danger of polluting your GP pool if you are not careful and don't want that for a cultural victory, I can't think of any problems.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] All-round, early UB with simple bonuses, but powerful if used to their strengths.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Aztec Sacrificial Altar (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I just realized that these badboys are only 90 shields compared to the 120 needed for a courthouse! In addition to halving maintenaince costs in the city it also halves the anger caused by whipping buildings in the city. I have not played many Aztec games but I recall reading about a false OCC on another forum where the Aztecs started on a Plains/Hill island and needed to wait until Optics to get across the ocean. The prospect of rushing buildings through slavery seemed to make the task more managable. I had played as the Incas one time on the 1000 AD Earth map and I never left slavery until I had emancipation. I wonder about the same strategy with the Aztecs, seems to be far more effective. Finally, everything gets the discounted unhappiness from rushing (amazing what nice people can point out and you can verify by playing the game and testing). Holy Quetzalcoatl! That changes everything![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like the courthouse, it also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could whip their hands bloody, but to what advantage? Fast culture, fast science/research or fast infrastructure like banks, grocers, etc. Space race might benefit from this strategy, but can projects be whipped? Once you whip production buildings, you can pump out units and dominate/conquer the world. Or just whip the units out and slay everything in your path.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A large spanning empire through conquest would be able to build cheaper courthouses and then whip some culture and happiness buildings to help keep maintenance costs down and develop captured cities into productive contributors more quickly. In war times you could have the possibility of both drafting and then whipping units. Finally, you can finish off a wonder earlier and perhaps beat the AI to a few depending on difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In terms of Bts, we have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the whipping unhappiness reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy. The courthouse is likely not always the first items in a build queue, but I feel the Altar has two things that make it a higher priority.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Altars come too late to help whip barracks and the aggressive Monty gets cheaper barracks anyway. But, now that I know the reduced penalty for whipping [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to units, a quick ASAP conquest victory is likely not going to be done with CoL and the Altar. This is one of the reasons I have used this technique very little but am more open to trying mid-game conquests. If you are on a large map with many civs, this UB makes more sense. You could be pumping out settlers and workers and units and scouts or even missionaries. However, continuing whipping will keep the population low in those cities if you want to be economical since larger cities taker longer to get back up to that high population and having low populated cities would mean that perhaps you are not utilizing all of the good tiles available to be worked in the fat cross. Having low population might result in slower teching, but if you are whipping settlers and workers and the Altars help lower maintainence then having many small cities might offset that. Eventually, the unhappiness will catch up however, but I am sure that there are plenty of savvy players out there that have slavery fine tuned to both an art and science.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An appropriately related UB for the Aztecs, but not the culture bomb like in Civ 3 and not as powerful as could be due its somewhat late appearance. That being said, an Oracle slingshot could give you it quicker and then it might be worth more, but a slingshot solely to use this UB doesn't really merit the risk, especially on higher levels and needing Math too. It can be effective for starting out and if it is the first thing build/whipped in a newly captured city, then it will become a contributing city soon enough. I owe this UB an apology for not originally realizing the full potential and the ability to whip units. I has been fun using when playing as the Aztecs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Babylonian Garden (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How cute, a UB named for their Hanging Gardens. The building gives extra +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] and this UB is much like the Ottoman Hammam except the Babylonians getting a health bonus on the Colosseum rather than a happiness bonus on the Aqueduct. This UB will give health bonuses independent of what food resources their may be. It also has it´s happiness linked to the culture slider and costs 80 hammers, just like the Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being aggressive and organized as well as the Babylonian UU might make Hammurabi a warmonger candidate. Assuming more cities earlier on, perhaps one could make use of the the extra health. Certainly high polluting cities for a warmonger or space race could use it. Organized gets cheap lighthouses (more food), courthouses (faster expansion) and factories for more production. High production with extra health could mean some good warring possibilities with his Aggression or it could mean space race contention.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It comes with Construction and is 20 hammers less expensive than an Aqueduct. A Theatre is still a cheaper option for happiness if you don´t need the health. Later in the game, when high production is needed, but unhealthy, this UB will give a slight health advantage, but the beauty is that is comes so early that you would not have to stop producing military units or spaceship components to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This UB will have to be thoroughly tested before evaluation can be made.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Byzantine Hippodrome (Theatre - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hippodrome is like a super Theatre. Sure, you get +3 [ICON_CULTURE], the two Artists to assign and the bonus for dyes, but you also get one for horses, hence the name HIPPOdrome. It also has a base happiness of +1, but it that wasn't enough (and it never is), you also get +1 [ICON_HAPPY]for every 5% culture on your slider, instead of the normal 10%. This essentially doubles that ability of the building to give happiness from culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Where to begin? Well the extra happiness from a smaller culture slider means more money devoted to maintenance of cities for your expanding empire, more military units and upgrades, more research, you name it. Justinian I is Imperialistic and you will have more money available to take advantage of your fast settler production. Since the Cataphract UU is dependent on horses, it is a no brainer to try and connect the horses ASAP. Being religious gives the flexibility of fast settlement and then gearing up for war or space exploration or anything else. Running Serfdom and OR and than switching to Feudalism and Theocracy. The extra happiness is great and also leads to a economic advantage which is up to your imagination to exploit. This UB is a far better choice than building a Colosseum for the Byzantines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is never a drawback, and as stated earlier, this leads to an economically advantage. Even without horses or dyes, there is still the +1 base [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While not overpowered on paper, it remains to be seen how useful this UB actually will be. So far, it looks very promising.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Carthaginian Cothon (Harbour - double production for expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, a harbour which gives +1 trade routes to a coastal city to Hannibal, a financial leader who starts with fishing. What is the catch, you ask? I can't think of any. I have only played a game or two with Carthage, but you gotta love their chances.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First off, Financial and Fishing is already great. Find some coastal tiles with food sources and settle down. In fact when I play as Carthage (or the Vikings for that matter) it's nothing but coastal cities if I can help it. Your income will give a fast tech pace and you can plan for diplomatic or space victories, although I am not sure about others. I guess being ahead in tech will help keeping a more advanced army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The base number of trade routes for a city is one, but if you have discovered Currency and build a castle or run the Free Market civic in [BOLD]addition[\BOLD] to your Cothons, that means 3 trade routes. (You can't do both since Economic obsoletes the castle.) The Colossus adds +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] water tiles and the Great Lighthouse adds [BOLD]+2 trade routes in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] coastal cities.[\BOLD] If you have a map with many civs, and nice silver or gold or calendar enabling resources which gives you huge coin besides your financial bonus you will have some rich cities. If you are around late enough and make an early move for flight and the UN, the Airport and the Common Currency Resolution give you [BOLD]another[\BOLD] 2 trade routes![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Didn't talk about cottage spamming yet, so there. I said it. Cottage Spamming. Now, need I mention the +50% trade route yield? That +50% on your 7 trade routes! Don't forget the additional 100% from the Temple of Artemis. Add markets, banks and Wall Street and you will be using C-notes for TP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Compass can come pretty late, but a beeline or slingshot or a combo of both to iron working could land you your cothons earlier than you might think. The tech or time lost getting your UB will be made up for when you have +1 trade routes in your lucrative coastal cities even if they cost an extra 20 hammers. And that may be the only drawback, you need to have coastal cities. If you want to reign supreme with Hannibal, you need high sea levels and likely some sort of Archipelago map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than being map dependent, this UB is quite possibly the best matched with the civs leader traits and starting techs. With more money you can support a larger army/empire or research faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Celtic Dun (Walls - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Walls that produce units with a free Guerrilla I promotion for +20% defense on hills. In a discussion about the best UUs I read that Swordmen or Melee units can't get the Guerrilla promotion. This would explain both why the UU starts with it and why the UB gives it to units produced in that city. Only Archery and Gunpowder units can get the promotion. Siege, Melee, Mounted and Armoured don't.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to remember that the G3 30 Hills Attack bonus only coming when attcking [BOLD]into[\BOLD] Hills and not from them. Still, the 30% withdrawal is also handy and has helped out greatly in games I have played, so whether you have hills or not thw withdrawal is worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I am not sure whether or not holding off researching Rifling, the obsoleting tech matters because any musketmen or grenadiers that you build will have the Guerrilla I, but once you have riflemen with a strength of 14, maybe grenadiers with 12 don't look so good. Perhaps if your opponents have rifling you would hold off on getting it yourself as the bonus grenadiers have against rifles and their Guerrilla bonus might prove worth keeping for a bit or at least until you have a good amount of them. It would all depend on the other promotions they have and your opponents. Upgrading your Gallic Swordsman to Macemen you do not lose the Guerrilla I. Even if they were given Guerrilla II or even III [BOLD]before[\BOLD] being upgraded then they keep it. Some shrewd manipulation of the promotion chart would prove most rewarding. Build your archery and gunpowder units, give them the G2 promotion and then discover Rifling. Upgrade your archery units and musketmen to riflemen, remembering that only Grenadiers can be promoted to Machine Gunners (considered siege unit). Your G2 or G3 Gallic Warriors becomes Macemen and then either Riflemen or Grenadiers. Riflemen and Machine Gunners can both be promoted to Mechanized Infantry (gunpowder unit), while only Riflemen can be upgraded to SAM Infantry. Below is a crude flowchart:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT] -----\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \__ [COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]/--&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT] _/\[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]\[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT] -----/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \_\[COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\--&gt;  [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT] ___/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]  \[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT]___________________/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \___[COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]+10% City Attack[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with Guerrilla I[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]9[TAB]1[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Melee Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Who wouldn't want these Mech or SAM Infantry units with double movement on Hills, +30% Defence, +25% Hill Attack and 30% chance of Withdrawal? Most players sadly undervalue what this UB can do for you later in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being charismatic, both Brennus and new-comer Boudica give quicker promotions and if you wanted the Guerrilla I promotion anyway then you are free to choose something else. Don't forget the extra +1 happiness per city and the +1 happiness from the Monument: early happiness for warring or ignoring temple for other more important buildings such as courthourse, forges, libraries, etc. Warring on a hilly or highlands type map seems a good strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could build a stack of any units and upgrade them with the G1 promotion remaining. This bonus makes you just one closer to G2 which gives another 30% defense in Hills and well as double movement on Hills, making hilly maps such as highlands easier to navigate. Remember that with the patch the G3 promotion gives the +25% attack bonus [BOLD]and[\BOLD]a 30% chance of withdrawal! With a charismatic leader you could easily get both of those either out of the barracks and with one fight or from a GG, but don´t forget the +4 from running Theocracy and Feudalism. Running both of those and having a barracks means units made will have 7/8 XP to start. Finally, Boudica is aggressive so not only does this mean the Combat I promotion for free, but also cheaper barracks. This means building barracks [BOLD]and[\BOLD] a Dun just got more practical even or especially without stone. But a free Combat I is nothing to sneeze at if you are promoting up the Guerrilla line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One might build the Great Wall and "trick" the AI to try and fight you in your backyard. Your Guerrilla resistance troops will protect any hill resource and if you give them Woodsman I or higher or even more Guerrilla, you will give them a heck of a time trying to dislodge you. They would defend any cats or trebs or whatever you bring along if you fight on their turf too. Giving unit both Guerrilla II and Woodsman II means a versatile unit capable of sneak attacks on weaker units or maybe even an invaluable resource pillager.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would suggest delaying Rifling until you have upgraded all your G1 units into musketman or grenadiers, maybe a 50-50 mix. Discover Rifling, but then upgrade them into Riflemen, and from their you can have Infantry, SAM Infantry [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Mechanized Infantry with this defensive bonus. Going in pillaging the AI resources for space race or preventing them from building nukes can be done with these expert pillagers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a nice bonus, but not really any drawbacks. In fact now that walls and duns give +25% bombardment protection (about time) and castles do too, one might be more likely to build castles if they didn't before, especially since in BtS they also give +25% espionage points. With both a Dun and Castle one gets +100% defense and +50% bombardment defense from non-gunpowder units. The extra trade route from the castle and the espionage points are throw-ins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For warmongering or pillaging/protecting resources no matter what the goal this UB can provide you with units that will have an advantage on hills. How you use those units, promote or upgrade them will depend on your goals, immediate and future needs and terrain/resources. The strength in this UB is the versatility it provides. I predict that Boudica´s traits will make the Celts a more attractive Civ to play as. She will be a warmonger´s dream and possibly one of the most fierce of opponents. Outside of warmongering, there is not much this UB can do other than help one explore a hilly map more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Chinese Pavlion (Theatre - double production for Creative civ):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The undisputed culture building king and "Big Daddy" of the cultural UBs. Cultural victory fans must have thought they hit the bigtime when they saw this beauty. Aside from the +3 culture the it gives +25% for culture in the city. Building the pavilion alone gives a culture per turn of 3.75, slightly less than the Madrassa, but this will double after 1000 years, but more importantly the 25% is added to everything.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What makes the pavilion the culture champion is the +25% bonus continues throughout the game and so the quicker the culture from other buildings can be added to the city, the better. Imagine a few early wonders with their culture doubling and then the added 25%. Sure, it's not game breaking, but one might not feel as obligated to crank the culture switch or convert to Free Speech as quickly with the bonus this UB gives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The traits of the leaders don't really work that well with this building, but it does ensure no matter what that nearby resources our yours. This allows you to persue the late game win conditions such as diplomatic, space race or a late conquest. Or more likely, early in the game you will have more resources than otherwise and you can dictate the trade terms and stifle the AI by denying them that one precious iron or uranium or oil or aluminum as the case may be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not able to overly accelerate the cultural win time frame, this building I have found to be quite amazing for domination games. With a few founded religions and no state religion and a pavilion, you just keep pumping out settlers and units and let the borders expand like your waistline after college.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than persuing a cultural/domination victory or claiming resources, there in not much extra outside of the normal theatre uses/features. Even in a cultural game, it is not enough to be a real advantage because of China's leader traits or strating techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] What you see is what you get. Nothing to really want to you play China any more than you normally would, except maybe for a quicker domination win or being a resource hog and super businessman/diplomat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 hammer on every river tile and costs 180 hammers. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn two citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"The fact that it obsoletes fairly early is really not much of an issue for the purpose it serves. Both leaders can benefit from this. For the most part it really only takes one city with one, though using Stonehenge to put it in multiple cities isn't bad at all. The great prophets that you can generate quickly from the priest specialists allow you to claim several of the mid to late religions. This is one of the key features you tend to want to accomplish when going for a culture victory. Once you get 2-3 religions you don't really care to much about making this building go obsolete and switching to temples to support any other priest specialists if you still need to grab the rest of the religions or if you want holy shrines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it will have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][u][BOLD]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[/b][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres and libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You could however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It also has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is the most synergistic combo of both leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities and cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants also double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists and gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two more GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries and universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units and Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture and the growth increase. Even if you built a granary first, you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"This is a GREAT UB for late-Ancient through ealy-Industrial era warmongering. It really speeds up your rate of assimilation of newly-conquered lands. The crucial point lies in the pop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In your earliest wars, the populations of conquered cities will tend to be in the 3 to 5 range. If you pop-rush a monument and a granary (esp. if you're Expansive), the population of the city will recover fairly quickly (assuming decent food resources available/not-plundered). However, later in the game, usually about the time catapults show up, the AI has usually developed urban pop levels so that core cities you capture routinely have pops of 8 to 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is where the Terrace really shines: it saves you from having to pop-rush a granary and a culture building. This point is particularly important if you're not playing a Creative leader. Mind you, it's a subtle difference between having a captured city with a pop of 8 or 9 instead of 6 or 7. However, a crucial point to remember is that the higher the pop level, the longer it takes to recover a pop point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you conquer and absorb a well-developed empire of around 6 or 8 cities (a not-unlikely scenario on Standard maps). Now imagine an extra tile or two of production from each of those cities. If you had to rush both buildings, you would be dozens of turns behind, relatively speaking, in production compared to the Incan. This is huge! Properly played, the snowball-effect of swallowing a rival empire or two in the mid-game is significantly more noticeable when you play Huayna."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 [ICON_PRODUCTION] on every river tile and costs 180 [ICON_PRODUCTION]s. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn [BOLD]two[\BOLD] citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it [BOLD]will[\BOLD] have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres [BOLD]and[\BOLD] libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You [BOLD]could[\BOLD] however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It [BOLD]also[\BOLD] has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is [BOLD]the[\BOLD] most synergistic combo of [BOLD]both[\BOLD] leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants [BOLD]also[\BOLD] double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two [BOLD]more[\BOLD] GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries [BOLD]and[\BOLD] universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture [BOLD]and [\BOLD]the growth increase. Even if you built a granary [BOLD]first[\BOLD], you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 [ICON_CULTURE] per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Indian Mausoleum (Jail):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Mausoleum UB comes with Constitution like its Jail counterpart with -25% WW but it also gives +2 happiness. The manual states it gives +1 GPP and is more likely to produce a Great Prophet, but in playing Warlords, this is not true. In Beyond the Sword, both the jail and the mausoleum give +4 espionage points and increase espionage point production by 50%, in addition allowing one to assign two Spy specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well the jail is high on a warmonger's wish list and the BtS version is sure to be even higher. I can see on higher levels how the happiness cap can be raised and WW reduced. As I don't usually have long wars I don't really know how high the WW can get, but I imagine on higher levels it is quite a bit. If you have Police State this is a total of 75% reduction in WW, which is nothing to sneeze at if WW problems got you down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +4 espionage points and the ability to turn two citizens into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the reduced war weariness. Running Nationhood now has the added bonus of another +25% espionage point production for a total of 75% with the jail/mausoleum, in addition to barracks giving +2 happiness and being able to draft 3 units per turn. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both are spiritual. Organized Asoka can build larger empires early on and Philosophical Gandhi can pop GPs and build cheaper universities. These combos don't necessarily screa for warmonger, especially given their Fast Worker UU, a decidedly unwarlike unit, however the extra spying power could be used to ensure that you are not beaten in the space race or the diplomatic arena. Then again, it's a free way to protect your nation no matter what.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I don't read much about people playing as India to conquer the world and wage war. This UB is still like a normal jail, except for the +2 happiness. I am not sure how many players will build them in BtS, but in Warlords they are n[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will reserve judgement for others to add their input, but for now, this UB seems out of place and not very useful or synergistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Japanese Shale Plant (Coal Plant):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A coal plant gives power (electricity) to the city which adds to the factory production bonus of 25% an additional 50% at a cost of +2 [ICON_UNHEALTHY]. You need a factory for the coal plant or the Japanese Shale Plant, however the Shale Plant itself gives its own +10% production as well. This means a 60% bonus with the two buildings for the same price. The real bonus however is that while Coal Plants requires coal to produce this power, the Shale Plant does not. Both the Factory and Shale Plant can be built once you have discovered Assmebly Line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 60% hammer increase from buildings (forge, factory and shale plant), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the Shale Plant), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings/wonders. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource when building a spaceship component. The Space Ladder gives another 50% increase. So a basic bonus of +185% in your capital (+135% out of capital) with a bonus of +125% or 200% respectively, when building buildings/wonders or projects. Add in the Iron Works and non-Captial cities are between +360% or +435%. Depending on your base production, things can get quite a productive boost, but if you were to whip or buy these buildings into a low production city it might make a huge difference as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Aggressive and Protective, Tokugawa's units start off well promoted and this makes warring an attractive choice. For late game wars, there likely isn't a unit that can't be pumped out in 1 or 2 turns. And space race can be just as great a goal. Diplomatic you want to beeline for MM and wouldn't sidetrack yourself for this building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than having little health resources, which doesn't seem too likely by the time you research Assembly Line, not much of a reason not to build this is you aren't wanting to be a powerhouse. That being said, the leader traits are not that complementary with it. Not only that, it is a late game UB and some games you would not get the chance to build it. Given that it is a late game UB, it is quite useful for the fact that coal is not required to get the +60% production, while other civs need coal to get their +50%. Than again, you likely want coal so that you can railroad your mines, quarries and lumbermills. Not much of a benefit if you look at it that way, but until you do get coal, you have +60% production boost, that other civs would not have had.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not as overall synergistic as the German Assembly Plant when it comes to leader traits, this UB serves a similar purpose and makes it hard not to compare. This one is a little more map dependent (due to the +10% hammer as apposed to 2 extra engineers assigned) and that means that doing the math to see which advantage is greater is not so easy or relevant. Again for a late wonder, space race and conquest victories greatly benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Khymer Baray (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Baray UB comes with Mathematics and is an Aqueduct which gives 1 extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food helps any leader, regardless of their traits, however, Suryavarman is expansive which means extra health. Building this UB would cause a double-whammy if you will. Not only will increased health reduce any wasted food, but allow for more growth which is possible by the Baray's bonus. The expansive trait only adds to the possibility that the city will grow larger as it has a higher health cap. More food also means taking advantage of the faster worker production, which is only a 25% bonus in BtS, but still greatly helped out with the UB. Being creative means claiming food resources to get the whole this going. Talk about cyclic benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food, a disadvantage? One could even use the cereal mills corporation and trade away food if not needed. I have had cities grow too fast and not have enough things to build to keep them happy. Slavery fans would do well to exploit this extra growth and convert it into production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After extra happiness and production, extra food is nothing to complain about and ranks with them and some great bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Korean Seowon (University - double production for Philosophical leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building costs the same and gives the same culture as a university, but it gives an extra +10% research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wang Kon is financial and so you can maximize this UB's use by making sure you do all the things you would have done with Korea anyway. That means, cottage spamming and getting other high income tiles from plantations and mines and coasts. You have the income boosting building and wonders and the science ones as well. Simply this building just gives another 10%, so take the advantage and go for a diplomatic or space win or keep you army further ahead in tech to protect your empire or add to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More science can't ever be bad can it? It comes early/mid-game, but it's on the way to the Liberalism bee-line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great advantage assuming you can build a nice SSC or several ones. You would usually build a university anyway, maybe now just a little sooner to really add to the tech lead (or perhaps a little later in the queue, knowing that you have the extra boost once it is built).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Malinese Mint (Forge - double production for Industrious leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a forge with an added 10% wealth increase and yet another UB for a financial that has some great synergy. I would say that a lot of the strategies used with England's financial leaders would be used here, but with a slight change.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building can come pretty early and Mansa Musa has a reputation for being a tech-whore as an AI. I like settling on the west side of the GP map and mine everything in site. There is also dyes, furs and incense too! What is great about the boost is that even though it is only 10%, it is still an increase and once you tech your way to new civics, as a spiritual leader, you can totally take advantage immediately and not wait until you can switch 2 or 3 at a time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because it is a production building as well, and you would naturally build it early for the gold bonus, you will have a higher production than maybe another civ with just a forge. It is more appealing, plus it is needed for many wonders, not the least of which is the Colossus giving +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] cities water tiles. If you have trade routes going, as many as possible, markets, grocers, banks and Wall Street a rich city is made richer than another civ would be with the same city. Not only because of the wealth bonus, but because the forge means building all of the other wealth increasing building faster. It never goes obsolete either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More money, means faster discoveries, and diplomatic and space wins are the popular targets, however the Skirmisher can be a pretty good UU and even later, the extra wealth can be parlayed into better unit support and more/quicker upgrades. Even on higher levels, if you are lagging in the tech race, you will have more money to buy them, or more money to bribe the AI to do your bidding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 7 trade routes (as outlined earlier with Carthage), all the wealth buildings, great base tiles and maybe even some merchants or Great Merchants, you have plenty of money and if running the Universal Suffrage civic, you can rush buy more quickly/often than otherwise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't expire, so it will continue to be useful and becomes more powerful as the game progresses because cities will grow and more lucrative routs determined for the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A money boosting UB is a good one and can really help out early. You can afford to expand a little quicker if you bankroll allows it. You would need to have some big cash tiles or plenty of cottages, but then again, you would build those anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mayan Ball Court (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Ball Court gives +3 [ICON_HAPPY](instead of the Colosseum´s +1) and the +1 [ICON_HAPPY]per 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra happiness could be used to full effectiveness as a warmonger by skipping Drama and going for Construction, much like Alexander might do in using his Odeon. Having happy people means more tiles being worked for the financial Pacal II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More research needed, but a Theatre with dyes for 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] over an 80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] Ball Court might do the trick. Of course as the city grows and war weariness sets in or you have limited resources, this UB will make people happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is always good, because it lets you pursue any victory you desire. You can combat war weariness or have large producing cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mongolian Ger (Stable):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The stable introduced in Warlords gives +2 XP for Mounted units build in the city and the Mongolian Ger gives +4 points. This UB is very appropriate and the affects are cumulative with Barracks, the Pentagon and other XP bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, both Mongolian leader start are Aggressive which means cheaper barracks. We are already looking at +7 XP, then if you factor in Theocracy and Vassalage, that's +11 all together. That is enough for 3 promotions before seeing any combat and any GG you settle and the Pentagon are just a bonus. Upgrading all the way through up to Calvary would be the idea and with the right promotions you should be able to keep most of your troops up until Rocketry. You could plan for the future and give promotions that complement your gunships, or use the advantage to conquer early. In BtS, the Stable is made obsolete with Advanced Flight, thereby lengthening the use of this UB. The fact that Genghis Khan is also imperialistic means more GGs as long as you are warmongering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB complements the UU, the Keshik and the civ itself unlike any other UB for the other civs. To build a Keshik you need Archery, Horseback Riding - which you need to build the Ger anyway - and of course Horses revealed by Animal Husbandry. The Mongol starting techs are Hunting and the Wheel. Hunting is the prereq for both AH and Archery. Your mounted units all benefit, but lets look more closely at why. The keshik starts with some of the better bonuses. Let's analyze the mounted units that the Mongols can build below and remember that none of them get defensive bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Chariot[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]4[TAB]2[TAB]10% Withdrawal, 100% vs. Axemen[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Keshik[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]2[TAB]20% Withdrawal, 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, -10% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Cats &amp; Trebs[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]War Elephant[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]90[TAB]10[TAB]2[TAB]Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cats &amp; Trebs*[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]2[TAB]15% Withdrawal, Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cannon[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]15[TAB]2[TAB]30% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Cannon[TAB][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]160[TAB]24[TAB]4[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. Armoured[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, Cannot capture City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Artillery &amp; Mobile Artillery*[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Mounted Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Helicopter Unit [COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]None of these units can take Cover, Drill or CR promotions, but the mounted ones can get Amphibious, Charge, Formation, Pinch and Shock. If you were to give Flanking I and II to your Keshik for +30% withdrawal, that is a total of 50% and when it's upgraded to Calvary or Gunships it still adds to their intrinsic withdrawal abilities. Giving Charge to a Keshik means +75% versus their Cats and Trebs, and as a Knight it will have +75% against cannons. A Chariot with Shock will have +125% versus Axemen but only +25% with the more advanced units, but it might be a great boost. Then again you likely skip chariots and go straight to Keshiks. With the right promotions, the Keshiks might even be better than Knights especially if you don't have iron available and the fact they ignore terrain costs. A Keshik with C3 and Formation is just as good as a unpromoted Knight and as can be seen above, the Keshik has much more intrinsic abilities than a Knight such as withdrawal, bonus against cats and trebs and 1st Strike chance. Although the Knight is immune to 1st strikes and doesn't have the 10% city attack penalty. Clearly, the key is to use the XP bonus to promote according to your needs and strength based on the situation, the opponent, the map, etc. It remains to be seen how the Charge promotions for upgraded units will work with the new system of mounted units having a flank attack versus siege units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mounted units are a large part of a balanced army, and the UB lasts fairly long, even longer in BtS. If other civs couldn't build stables this might be overpowering, which is likely why the stable was added as well. This UB maybe isn't as synergistic with Kubla, but it still gives an increases in GGPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having the extra XPs out of the gate helps to earn GG points faster and build wonders like the Heroic Epic and West Point. For warmongering this is a great UB, for other victory conditions, it would help one war early to collect more land and resources and then settle down into a more peaceful victory, or at least keep a stronger army than without the UB for protecting cities while pursuing a peaceful victory. (But that is not why one plays the Mongols) War, what is it good for? Huh! Building Gers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Native American (Totem Pole):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another UB which replaces the Monument. This one gives +3 XPs to Archer units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Archery, but that is often traded for or even found from goody huts. The big deal is that he is Protective, giving his archers Drill I and City Garrison I [BOLD]before[\BOLD] adding the +3 XP bonus from the Totem Pole. Much like the Dun, this UB will offer some flexiblity and unique possiblity in upgrading units. More research will need to be done, but it suffices to say that this UB will make the Native Americans particularly difficult to conquer. Like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put the UB in every one of your cities which is bascially an archer Barracks in every city. This means an effective early archer rush, without wasting time to build the Barracks as Totem are much cheaper. With the Barracks, however, every archery unit built there will be very tough to kill on a hill behind those walls and castles that Protective Sitting Bull can cheaply build, never mind when they get upgraded to gunpowder units! His Philosophical trait might mean that a few GA culture bombs give him some more defense or he is free to use them for whatever he wishes seeing as no one is going to stop him.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let´s not forget the Dog Soldier UU (Axeman) with its strengths against melee units and also not requiring copper or iron. This UB practically gives two UUs to the Native Americans. Whether warmongering or trying to hang on against the AI on higher difficulty levels, this UB would be a key part of any strategy. Holding off on discovering Astronomy might be a prudent strategy if you are running into trouble. Imagine pumping out archer and longbowman early game with the bonuses and then upgrading them to stronger units. They will have a slight XP advantage with all over factors equal, meaning they will promote earlier. Let's imagine the +6 with Totem and Barracks and then running Feudalism and Theocracy for a 10 XPs off the bat. That is enough for 3 promotions to start, never mind fighting off barbs (although I think barb battles will only take you up to 10 XP anyway) or lone, weakened enemy units. Any Great General settled in a city takes you that much closer to a fourth promotion and your Heroic Epic. Let's analyze what Sitting Bull's archers will be able to do and what promotions will carry into the gunpowder age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that Protective Sitting Bull will have his archery and gunpowder units start with Drill I and City Garrison I, meaning they can already get Cover, Shock or Pinch (once gunpowder is discovered) on their first promotion out of the Totem. With barracks and the others bonuses mentioned, a second promotion could be Formation (bonus against mounted units) or get up to City Garrison III with one promotion to spare! The beauty of this UB compared to say, the Dun is the versatility of the promotions one can pursue, not necessarily being guilted into Guerrilla II and III. Then again, G3 archery units holding on for gunpowder promotions (see Celts) would not be such a terrible thing would it? Note too, that the Machine Gun is a siege unit and cannot receive Guerrilla or City Garrison promotions, however it is upgraded from Grenadiers which are upgraded from your G3 or CG3 archers. Interesting, no?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build can also be one of the first ones obsoleted, maybe it is not that much of a big deal if you play your cards right. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to explore and colonize other continents. By then you would have to have built all the archery units you anticipate needing and then work on upgrading them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think building cheap archery units with promotions not available to gunpowder or siege units (machine gun) can pay dividends given the right military and geo-political considerations. Like the Mongols, outside of warmongering or building a military to protect your empire, this UB does not hold many other uses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ottoman Hammam (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Does this UB have Expansion written all over it or what? One can really concentrate on building a large empire with large cities a lot sooner with the extra 2 happiness this building supplies in addition to the +2 health. No need to worry about religions if you miss them or drama if you prefer other techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I feel Mehmed has the potential to be the best expansive leader as he is organized which means cheap lighthouses, courthouses [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories too. This means more food, less upkeep and more production, respectively from those buildings. This resultant larger population and therefore greater production, which leads to quicker unhappiness and pollution is further complemented by his Expansive trait which, in addition to +2 health per city, gives cheaper granaries and harbours which help reduce pollution and improve growth and economy. Those of you upset that the expansive trait was nerfed to only +2 health stop your whining because this guy has [BOLD]5[\BOLD], count'em [BOLD][BOLD]five[\BOLD][\BOLD] buildings to build cheaper and they [BOLD]all[\BOLD] mean larger and more productive cities. The happiness cap needs to be much higher for the Ottomans, and this is where the Hammam really shines, because it helps keep these larger cities happy and therefore more productive. If that is not enough, the faster worker production means an earlier hook up of resources for [BOLD]more[\BOLD] production, happiness and health bonuses. But also remember the less time building workers, means more time growing in population, which means more reason for a Hammam. This buiding does not expire either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for newcomer, Suleiman, who is Imperialistic and Philosophical, making cities healthy and happy at the same time is great for the GP farming you might do with him. He doesn't have all the cheap buliding that Mehmed II has and his two traits sort of conflict when it comes to warmongering; GP farming versus the increased GG appearance. But faster setter production is also a great thing for domination victories and that is what the Hammam can give. Havving many cities sooner and popping out GPs means a larger empire with abilities to conquer space or the world. He will have more cities, and larger, happier, cleaner ones at that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It might not seem as powerful as other UBs, but you eventually build one anyway, at least in your larger, more polluted cities. This just makes them happy so you can concentrate on building more units or science/production buildings. Let's face it: it's a drag to have to stop building units or wonders because of the unhappiness or health. Kill two birds with one stone with the Hammam. Cultural games where happiness is not much of an issue are still advantaged especially at higher levels. In fact, this building really makes a difference in higher levels where happiness [BOLD]and[\BOLD] health caps are lower or on maps where happiness resources are not readily available to you. Further to that, you could delay discovering Calendar as you might not need the happiness immediately and that means culture from monuments or Stonehenge will last you a little longer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A strong UB which helps with supporting large cities for whatever reasons you may have: military powerhouse, GP farm, etc. If this was Civ3 where the Aqueduct was need to grow past size 6, this would be huge, but even though it is not needed for that, I really can't think of any drawbacks with this UB. Quite an excellent UB.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Persian Apothecary (Grocer):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary, besides being the most difficult UB to pronounce, is a grocer that gives an additional +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] to the city. That is on top of the health from plantation resources. With a granary, harbour, apothecary and the supermarket you get health from rice, corn, wheat, clam, crab, fish, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. So, for those of you counting at home, that's 16 [ICON_HEALTHY] points! So that means the ability to build production-boosting, pollution-causing buildings. Late in the game with high populations and those buildings or even on higher levels, this can be useful. However, you may not be looking to have a late finishing game or even want to detour for the late tech Refrigeration, especially if the Apothecary gives an intrinsic +2 health even without resources and so Supermarkets are not a necessity. That is pretty nice, no matter what level one plays on. You are afforded the option to trade away health resources for more important ones, such as: uranium, oil, iron, aluminum, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Imperialistic, Cyrus has faster settler production and this means more cities quicker. As a result there is likely to be more health resources claimed more quickly. Happiness is not the problem with this charismatic leader either, so where can this health bonus be applied the best? Well, highly populated and production oriented cities will benefit so that means space race or conquest/domination victories and/or GP farming.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like Churchill or Tokagawa, Cyrus might be one of the ultimate warmongers with his traits. They allow faster XP accumulation [BOLD]and[\BOLD] faster GG appearance! Late game wars which require forges, factories, etc to really pump out the expensive units will have a higher health cap. This makes more of a difference the higher the difficulty, but on quicker or lower setting, perhaps not as much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for Darius I, with Vanilla Washington´s traits of Financial and Organized, the extra health from the UB will complement both the food from cheap lighthouses and the production from cheap factories. Financial seems handy in teching towards a space or diplomatic finish. More will need to be seen from Darius.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary needs both Currency and Guilds to build it, and guilds can come quite late, but then again guilds also gives Knights and a warmonger might like to upgrade his highly promoted Immortals. Some slingshotting could get you there faster, but maybe more needed in higher levels although I don't know exactly since the tech pace is likely quicker.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Cyrus, faster GG emergence and quicker promotion ability means that the game is more likely won early with a conquest/domination goal and maybe the health bonuses is not so well-exploited because pollution might not be as high for one reason or another. For a fast teching Darius with an ability to maintain a large empire the extra health might benefit him more in the long run.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building seems more suited for higher levels, but can make an impact late game with high pollution problems. Environmentalism can be avoided/delayed and chopping could be done without fear of health-induced starvation or founding a city near many FPs. Again without health resources it becomes very useful and for that reason the ability to trade away extra health resources for more strategic ones could be very useful as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Portuguese Feitoria (Customs House):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Feitoria replaces another new building, the Customs House. You need Economics and a Harbour to build it and it grants a 50% boost to all [BOLD]foreign[\BOLD] trade coming in from [BOLD]overseas[\BOLD]. The Portuguese Feitoria gives one extra commerce in all water tiles, making coastal cities seem like you are a financial leader.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a very interesting UB to say the least. First off, it acts like a Colossus in each city that builds it, giving the extra commerce and a little like the Temple of Artemis without the Priest. If you were to have a large coastal city, some sea resources, a harbour, a lighthouse, and the Feitoria, that would really be a great city. Now imagine the Colossus and the Great Lighthouse in this city. Let´s go a little further with it being a capital running Bureaucracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the new concept of colonies in the game, it is likely that the AI will use this UB to its full advantage. More research will be needed, but Expansive and Imperialistic Joao will be able to build settlers [BOLD]and[\BOLD] workers more quickly. He is the only one, which is interesting enough. Starting with fishing will mean access to food resources to even more quickly pump those guys out. He seems flexible in pursuing either conquest/domination or space/cultural victories. It seems the AI like human player swill try for colonial expansion early and often to make use of this UB and the UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is assumed that the UB and the Customs House can only be built on a coastal city given that it requires a harbour. Furthermore, the Customs House would be useless if running Mercantilism, thereby closing all foreign trade routes. It seems the Free Market, with the +1 trade route would really be the choice civic for this building. However, the Feitoria also gets +1 commerce in all water tiles, remember. Joao II could run which ever civic he wants and still get the commerce bonus. I would still recommend Free Market for the larger benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It remaining to be seen how effective this UB will be. It is definitely map dependent, but if you have a few coastal cities and are up to the 6-7 possible trades routes in them, then this UB in only a few cities would still be an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Roman Forum (Market):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, a UB that gives +25 GP birth rate! This is likely to become a favourite. There are no philosophical Roman leaders, but running Pacifism with the Forum and National Epic would still give +225%, not too shabby. Maybe with just the 125% you feel that you can delay the revolution/anarchy until you have other civics you want too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Julius Caesar is Organized and has -50% maintenance costs, but with this UB being much more attractive than a normal Market perhaps one builds it sooner and the +25% wealth in the city and the reduced maintenance costs really go together nicely much earlier in the game. In addition to his cheaper lighthouse, his cheap factories give a nice later in game production boost for military or spaceship ventures. Besides the Merchants assigned from the Forum, he has no cheap buildings which benefit from the extra GPP until factories. Augustus is no longer creative, but is Industrious. So his cheap forges could mean quicker GE production if that is your desire. This can be helpful in wonder or space races and so the extra GPP can go towards GEs or GSs or pumping out Praetorians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both Roman leaders are Imperialistic and have greater GG production and likely to help warmongering. Luring your enemy into your Great Wall trap, could mean 200% greater chance of GG appearance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra the GPs from the Forums could be used to founded religions or techbulb (TM ) you faster through the tech tree for more military/scientific advances. There is real flexibility for both the Roman leaders. They have the fast settler production to really expand and set up an empire with the strength of their Praetorians pushing back the barbarians (er, that is, the other civs). Julius will have a better economy and ability to support his empire, while Augustus will churn out units and wonders and do the same using brute force. The GPPs can be used for whichever purpose is decided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, running a SE seems to be necessary to maximize this UB's bonus, but not vital. Polluted GPP pools might cause some disappointment for some.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a game where GP production is a main focus for some players, this building is likely a candidate for having no drawbacks whatsoever. Regardless of victory goal, difficulty setting, map/terrain, resources, opponents or even your own leader selection, this UB is very useful and versatile, making it one of the best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Russian Research Institute (Laboratory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Laboratory or Research Institute comes at a time in the game where technologies start to get much more expensive. In addition to the +50% spaceship construction, +25% [ICON_RESEARCH], and assigning one citizen as a Scientist (and +1 unhealthiness), the Russian UB gives [BOLD]two free[\BOLD] scientists! This means you can remove forced scientists and change them to GAs for a cultural win or engineers for space race or keep the scientist and head for future tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Representation seems like a no-brainer here, but Russia is one of the only civs in the game (with England) that has three leaders and they each have two different traits so let's examine them more closely:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine: Creative and Imperialistic. She is able to quickly build settlers and the creative trait ensures quick access to fat cross resources. I like her for domination wins for those reasons. Stonehenge can add to the culture growth as well as religions. Cheap libraries can be used in conjunction with cheap theatres to build to a cultural victory. It costs less to build settlers and so fast expansion can lead to more cathedrals build. The extra scientists will lead to faster techs and so if culture is not your thing, the space race gets a nice boost both for the UB's science [BOLD]and[\BOLD] part production. Might not be a high priority especially if near your health cap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peter: Expansive and Philosophical. An excellent candidate for Space Race. His +2 health and cheap granaries and harbours will help offset pollution/unhealthiness from production buildings while cheap universities and +100% GP birth rate means more Scientists and Engineers to help techbulbing and wonder building. Remember the faster production of workers from any time in the game should make quite an impact too as they will be out to connect resources much sooner.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stalin: Aggressive and Industrious. In the few games I have played with Stalin, I have been impressed with his space race potential. Cheap forges and beelining science helped. The UB really made a big impact I felt. Again cultural games leave this UB pretty much obsolete, but with Stalin, his wonder building boost leads to more research with wonders like GL, University of Sankore, Spiral Minaret, Oxford, etc. And then we have the Ironworks and GE produced wonders which are also helpful on the way. He can also be quite the military force early in the game and throughout.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the trade off between Peter's ability to generate GP quicker or Stalin's wonders appearing faster to giving GPPs much sooner? That is open for debate, but both seem great cosmonauts. And I wouldn't rule out Cathy in that department either. With her cheap libraries, quick settler production for greater early expansion complemented by quick cultural border growth she could just as likely be able to use the UB and pull another Yuri Gagarin or, make that Valentina Tereshkova.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Observatories are needed to build the Institute, and although you will already have that tech, they can be more expensive to build for all three leaders compared to cheap libraries or universities. Only Stalin with his industrious trait might have a quicker build given his cheap forges and getter ability to settle GEs, although Peter might too. In Beyond the Sword, with the restructured modern age tech tree, it may require a slightly longer wait before one can build the Research Institute, plus the choices late in the game seem to be more complex and difficult than they were previously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomatic victories would mean you research Mass Media instead of Computers and therefore not a factor. For cultural wins, you likely have the culture switch on at this point and these buildings therefore can be useful in giving back some lost research, but it will matter very little. Mass Media gives Hollywood which is much more important in that case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For being at war the research boost could be handy for building more advanced units, but likely if you need a research boost that badly you probably can't afford to be building RIs in all or most of your high production cities, likely only in your SCC which could also be your unit factory too. By the time you build it, you still have to research those new techs for the improved units. With a little planning it could work out in your favour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To quote Boney M, "Oh, those Russians!" It seems this UB is destined to help with the Space Race and help get Sputnik launched much sooner rather than any other victory, with a possible exception for conquest. Depending on your usual teching order, you might make some adjustments to maximize the benefit of the Research Institute. Time/score victory goals can be helped by the accumulation of future tech perhaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Spanish Citadel (Castle - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Patched Warlords made Castles more useful by giving them +1 trade route and -25% damage from bombardment from non-gunpowder units in addition to the +50% defense vs. non-gunpowder units and +1 culture. Cumulative with the prerequisite Walls, that means +100 defence from non-GP units and -50% from non-GP bombardment. In BtS, they also give an extra 25% espionage points. Maybe, [BOLD]now[\BOLD] players will build them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Citadel gives an additional 25% bombardment protection for a total of -75% [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives 5XP to Siege units produced in the city. From the +3XP barracks and the Citadel that is 8XP already, but Thoecracy and Vassalge give 12XP from the start enough for 3 promotions. The bonus is applied to Trebuchets, Catapults and if you can avoid the obsoleting tech, Economics (which restores the lost trade route, 1st to discover gets a GM) you can have Cannons, Artillery and even machine guns with this bonus as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The strength of the UB lies in how one promotes their siege weapons most effectively. A warmonger or early-war-to-to-claim-land strategy uses it to it's full advantage, but just protecting your cities becomes much easier now too. In Beyond the Sword, there is a new system for siege weapons, so more remains to be seen. Let's take a look at the Siege Units assuming that they follow the path below and remember they cannot receive defensive bonuses and they all cause collateral damage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT] ---\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\___ [COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT] -/[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]40[TAB]5[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-15%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]60[TAB]4[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-20%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike, Defend Only, +50% vs. GP Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Aircraft Intercept, Starts with March[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]200[TAB]26[TAB]2[TAB]Max 85% Attack Damage, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Immune to Siege Collateral Damage[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All these units receive Barrage, Drill, Shock, Ambush, and City Raider (except Machine Gun who only defends) as well as the Combat and Medic promotions. Any Grenadiers promoted to Machine Gun will not gain any XPs if ungraded in a Citadel, but any you build there will. None of these units can receive City Garrison, Cover, Pinch, Formation, Charge or (Guerilla or Woodsman), but it is possible to have your Grenadier or Melee Units promoted into Grenadiers and give [BOLD]them[\BOLD] any of those promotions and then upgrade them into Machine Gunners. You could for example create G2 or G3 Machine Gunners with Ambush and CG promotions to defend a Hill city from Tanks or you could have Woodsman Machine Gunners with Pinch and Medic/Charge defending your SoD on route through a forest to attack an enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Options for your other Siege units are even more numerours. Except for the Machine Gun, all the Siege units have a 25% withdrawal chance, if you add a GG to it, you can it 55% as well as making it a nice Siege Weapon from other promotions. Remember that upgrades are [BOLD]free[\BOLD] when attached to a Warlord, so you could have some expert Machine Gun defenders or great Cannons/Artillery once the competition gets a little tougher and the AI has more advanced units. One other thing that really stood out to me in trying the UB out, was that Siege Units are immune to collateral damage, so having plenty of them in your stack means you will have some to attack with while other units might need to heal. You can give them medic promotions too remember.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for synergy with the Conquistador, it is a knight with +50% vs. melee units. Many different civs have melee units for their UU, which comes in handy. With a few correctly promoted Conquistadors and Siege weapons the two should complement each other nicely. Don't forget to balance out your forces, using more than just these two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't really do anything for the Expansive trait or the Spanish starting tech of fishing and mysticism, however being religious does offer advantages to being able to switch to new civics immediately and not waiting until others are discovered. A switch to Theocracy before you wait to get Vassalage could mean the difference between producing units with an extra +2 XPs and for the siege units with the Citadel, that is enough to put them over the top for a third promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to avoid Economics, the obsoleting tech, you only really miss out on a Great Merchant. You could conceivably hold out for some super artillery and machine gunners if you wanted. This UB allows for some interesting warfare capabilities. Although it doesn't immediately lend it self to anything other than conquest/domination, the extra territory and cities gained or even the ability to better protect one's own cities and territory is nothing to take lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Sumerian Ziggurat (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the Rathaus of the Holy Roman Empire gives a larger maintenence bonus, it takes just as long to build. Neither them, nor the Sumerians are Organized, but the Sumerian Ziggurat is 30 [ICON_PRODUCTION] cheaper, only costing 90, meaning that it will be built more quickly even if not more powerful. I feel the quicker it is build the better; one of the reasons the Zulu Ikhanda is so effective as well (although for Zulu, it is both cheaper and quicker, but not as powerful). Also, only four are required to build the Forbidden Palace. It also gives +2 espionage points and allow you to assign a citizen as a Spy, but that is a normal courthouse feature for Beyond the Sword.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, major props going out to Bovinespy again for pointing out my huge oversight (I don't have the game yet). This UB is like a courthouse, but you only need Priesthood to build it thereby delaying Code of Laws or passing it all together. This will mean a much earlier clamp down on maintenance costs. While others may have a larger bonus (Rathaus), Gilgamesh, like Shaka, will have a head start. This means the Forbidden Palace is built much sooner as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building the FP quicker, could help culturally for a victory, however it also means a faster expanding empire. Creative and Protective Gilgamesh will need be to be further studied, but the culture boost from borders will help the settlers claim land and the quicker and earlier built courthouses will help keep the economy going. Being protective as well, means maintaining the empire while under attack. Cheap walls and castles will make Sumeria a tough foe to topple.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This did not jump out as being a strong UB until I realized it comes with Priesthood. This is something I am sure some players will use it to maximum advantage. Really, a cheaper courthouse is nothing to complain about and now, one does not have to wait as long to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]. Um yeah, that was before I realized you don't need CoL. Priesthood is such a cheap tech, it could be beelined for maximum exploitation here. I love the prereq tech as it is both unique and very appropriate when you think about what Ziggurats really were. This UB is just oozing flavour and possibilities. More to come I am sure; I just can not wait to play these guys![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Viking Trading Post (Lighthouse double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another coastal UB for a financial leader, the Trading Post gives a free Navigation 1 promotion to ships build there in addition to the extra food in each sea tile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is some definite synergies here, firstly the UB being required for the Great Lighthouse which gives all coastal cities +2 trade routes. Ragnar starts with fishing and so the prereq tech, Sailing is not far away. As with the Carthaginian Cothon, it makes sense to build many coastal cities to maximize this affect. Now, it's true that not all your cities will be building ships [BOLD]all[\BOLD] the time, so it is your choice, but of the achipelago maps I have played with them, most if not all of them have been. Harbours, Colossus also add to the wealth, remembering that Ragnar is financial, coastal tiles are great if you have few FP cottages, gems, gold, silver or plantation resources[NEWLINE]around you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, the bonus itself, one extra movement for sea units does not include work boats. On a map with plenty of water this is helpful to let you discover other civs earlier and trade tech with them. Between your financial coastal cities raking in money for a high research rate, you will also be trading for other techs of lower priority when you meet the others. From here you can go one step further and let the extra movement of your powerful navy work for you. Drydocks come with Steel and give your sea units an extra +4 XPs and are produced 50% faster. Your navy would quite literally have an extra step, but there is more. The +1 movement also helps you to circumnavigate the globe faster and hopefully beat out other civs in doing so. Either you trade for maps as you meet new civs or you do it the old fashioned way. It might be tough with a lot of ocean, but as soon as you get ships which can enter the ocean you still have the +1 movement from navigation. The +1 movement from circumnavigating the globe [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to your work boats![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now let us consider the Bersek, the Viking UU which is a Maceman with the Amphibious promotion and an intrinsic +10% City Attack. Adding the CR1 and you are already at +30%. Being Aggressive, you only start with Combat 1 for an extra 10% unit strength and the unit itself has +50% vs. Melee Units. So for a CR Berserk against a melee defender in a coastal city we are talking +80% strength for nearly double the 8 [ICON_STRENGTH], more like 15.2 [ICON_STRENGTH]. If you can meet some civs while they still have only archers (11.2 [ICON_STRENGTH], or even better, Warriors (or Axemen), their cities become yours very easily. On an achipelago map, most if not all of their cities will be coastal and that is what a financial leader with the Colossus and GL wants right? With the patch, the Civil Service or CoL slingshot might be harder to do, but if you concentrate on the money, research can go quicker for you, plus a GP could help you out along the way too. Berserks can be built with Copper or Iron, so if you have researched for copper and have none, trade for IW or research it and try again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On Great Plains, Oasis or other maps with little coastal tiles, this building is very useless. It really shines in the water maps although the Berserk can still be useful for attacking across rivers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether for meeting tech trading partners earlier or wiping out some rivals early the Trading Post gives a nice bonus. One could go on to eliminate everyone rather quickly or if not take some prime real estate to help with a culture/space/diplomatic victory. For full blown conquest or domination, this building can be helpful on the right map. It would be nice to see +10% trade route or commerce in the city as well, but it still nicely complements the amphibious Berserk. If not on a archipelago or lakes map it value is greatly reduced however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Zulu Ikhanda (Barracks - double production for Aggressive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Barracks that act as a mini-courthouse by giving -20% maintnance costs. This means you can wait for CoL a little later and still expand reasonable quicker than your rivals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building greatly complements the expansive and aggressive Shaka because he gets double production speed. He is one of two leaders (the other being Frederick) who gets their UB at half the building cost. Barracks cost 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] while the Ikhanda costs 60 [ICON_PRODUCTION] so the double production bonus still a big factor. Patched Warlords and BtS only gives +3 XPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Expanding out is aided with reduced costs and whether you warmonger or not it's a nice bonus. Couple it with the courhouse and that is -70% maintenance costs, not bad at all. If taking over cities, this UB is cheaper to build than a courthouse (80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] and don't forget the double production) In a large, productive city taken from the enemy, this building will let it start contributing to the war machine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would not put the Zulu as a culture contender with no cheap culture buildings to build, but diplomatic, domination, space race and conquest all seem possibilities because the benefits of reduced maintenance can be used for any means. I have actually seen some comments that cultural was easy with Shaka. Perhaps the extra maintenance reduction allows for more cities and more cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Beyond the Sword, they have fixed the problem that the Ikhanda had in Warlords and it now like the Barracks, it also receives +2 happiness when running the Nationhood civic. So, quicker expansion and extra happiness from a building which is meant to produce units with +3 XPs. Remembering the synergy with Fuedalism and Theocracy that is +8 XPs and while other civs get that and the barrcks happiness too, they do not get the lower maintenance costs while growing their empires through conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might not build barracks in every city, at higher level especially, but this UB can pay dividends by being in every city. It's so cheaper, why would one not even bother? The synergy with the courthouse can be nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably a building best used to expand as quickly as allowed. Domination or conquest or large number of cities to help with research/spaceship construction. Finally, if this UB makes you more likely to build barracks straight away, your military will benefit, but should it be first in the build queue?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That is the rundown of the Unique Buildings. I would like to thank everyone for their input and support.</English>
		<French>[H1]Comprehensive Unique Building Guide (BTS)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WilliamOfOrange[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a my first attempt at a strategy guide given that most of the players with more skill/talent/time usually write up some beauties, but I have been inspried to contribute something about my favourite part of the Warlords expansion: the Unique Building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often load up the game and civilopedia just to see which UBs might match the victory condition that I feel like going for. I appreciate reading peoples' work, so I hope I can return the favour here in bringing this strategy article to you. The great thing about this game is the many different strategies and uses for things like leader traits, UUs and UBs. And what is truly great about the UBs is the flexibility and choices most of them give the player so ratings are not necessary; only strategies and synergies need be discussed. What makes a UB (or UU) great is how it is used the most effectively. With the new combinations that Beyond the Sword offers, this could get quite complicated, however I will only focus on the standard and normal civilization UB combinations here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we go:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]American Mall (Supermarket):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have only played the Americans in a Gauntlet with a Future start going for Space Race, but I have to say the building was a nice boost. It is a good choice for an American UB, I feel. For the same price as a supermarket (which provides extra health from cow, deer, pig and sheep) you also get happiness from the three late "entertainment/culture wonders" or ECWs; musicals from Broadway, singles from Rock n' Roll and movies from Hollywood, and now with the patch, plus 20% gold in the city to boot! For a future era start, maybe not needed right away, but if in a long game where your population is reaching health and happiness limits, its a great building to have even if it does come late in the game. That alone is enough, but the +20% gold can be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building one or all of those happiness/culture wonders mentioned above would add 3 happiness points like that and the added health means larger cities as well. What is your pleasure, GP farming or warmongering? Either way, I think it helps out. Not sure about using it with Washington, who is charismatic and expansive, so the +2 health means the health bonus from the mall maybe isn't so big. Then again, you can afford to build polution causing, production buildings with all that extra health. Also the +1 happiness in all cities and from monuments or broadcast towers (which is great if you build the Eiffel Tower) seems to negate the happiness from the mall too. But, if you were to play as the industrious and organized Roosevelt, then you could get some of the benefits of Washington at the same time if you build malls.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems that the extra health and happiness could really give Lincoln a nice late game edge when large, polluting cities needs extra [ICON_HEALTHY] and [ICON_HAPPY]. Given his philosophical trait, he is a great candidate for space race because of the Mall´s bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, it does come late and requires a grocer to be built. Given that the grocer gives +1 health from bananas, wine, sugar and spice, that might solve your health problems already. Grocers also give +25 wealth and can turn two citizens into Merchants. Maybe you don't need the health, but the money is always nice. With Grocer, Market, Bank and Mall that is 120% increase in income. Yay, Capitalism![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a granary, a grocer and the supermarket/mall you get health from rice, corn, wheat, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. That's 11 health points! So as stated above, that means the ability to build forges, factories and other polluting buildings. It would all depend on your civics (environmentalism), if you have FP or trees and jungle in your fat cross and your goals (production, warmongering, space race, etc)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for the happiness, with charismatic trait, you get +1 per city, and ignoring any happiness from temples, theatres, coliseums look at what building one of the three ECWs gives you once you have a mall and broadcast tower, (either by it self, or the much better option of the Eiffel Tower). For example you build Hollywood, +1 [ICON_HAPPY]and with mall and broacast tower, another +2 [ICON_HAPPY]for a total of +3 for the same resource!! If you build all three ECWs and the Eiffel Tower, you are looking at +9 happiness for three resources not to mention that you can trade your extra singles, movies and musicals to other civs for resources you may not have, like Aluminum or Iron or Oil. Add in the fact that you likely have temples, theatres or whatever other happiness producing buildings and the fact that the broadcast tower (along with threatres and coliseums) will give +1 happiness for every 10% culture. If you have all three in a city, then that means +3 [ICON_HAPPY] for only raising the culture setting up by 10%. For warmongering this is huge![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmongering seems to fit America as a charismatic Washington or Lincoln also gets quicker promotions and you will have more money coming in to support a large army and upgrade your troops. The Mall is a Cottage Economy UB, but Lincoln is a Specialist Economy Leader, so there may be some mismatch here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although some may feel that is comes too late or when the game is pretty much finished and you are either milking the score or just mopping up, it seems to me that given a large varied collection of resources, the Mall gives the American player the ability and flexibilty to trade extra health/happiness resources away and not suffer their loss, or to exploit them and kick into high production/war monger gear and not look back. Lincoln is a bonafide space contender, quite a deal over Washington and Roosevelt.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Arabian Madrassa (Library - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the Chinese Pavilion is the "Big Daddy" of culture UBs, then the Madrassa is the "Big Momma". With a whopping +4 culture per turn is lends itself to a culture victory. Given that Writing is an early tech and you would likely build a library anyway, it's a no-brainer to place Writing higher up in your tech queue. In fact, I have experiemented with beelining for it and not worrying about early religions for cultural games. Libraries cost the same, but in addition to assigning to scientists, you can [BOLD]also[\BOLD] assign two prophets.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The culture route is likely the biggest draw for this one, but you could also concentrate on farming GP and GS only if you like. Lightbulbing to get ahead in tech and maybe settling some of them as well so that you could build the UN quickly. The big culture ensures that you have the resources if you join/start the space race or just own all the land around you for domination victories. Farming GPs will help you progress nicely through the religious tech and that means more religions, holy cities, shrines and mo' money, mo' money, mo' money! And it can also help you control religion spreading for diplomatic manipulation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other then the danger of polluting your GP pool if you are not careful and don't want that for a cultural victory, I can't think of any problems.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] All-round, early UB with simple bonuses, but powerful if used to their strengths.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Aztec Sacrificial Altar (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I just realized that these badboys are only 90 shields compared to the 120 needed for a courthouse! In addition to halving maintenaince costs in the city it also halves the anger caused by whipping buildings in the city. I have not played many Aztec games but I recall reading about a false OCC on another forum where the Aztecs started on a Plains/Hill island and needed to wait until Optics to get across the ocean. The prospect of rushing buildings through slavery seemed to make the task more managable. I had played as the Incas one time on the 1000 AD Earth map and I never left slavery until I had emancipation. I wonder about the same strategy with the Aztecs, seems to be far more effective. Finally, everything gets the discounted unhappiness from rushing (amazing what nice people can point out and you can verify by playing the game and testing). Holy Quetzalcoatl! That changes everything![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like the courthouse, it also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could whip their hands bloody, but to what advantage? Fast culture, fast science/research or fast infrastructure like banks, grocers, etc. Space race might benefit from this strategy, but can projects be whipped? Once you whip production buildings, you can pump out units and dominate/conquer the world. Or just whip the units out and slay everything in your path.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A large spanning empire through conquest would be able to build cheaper courthouses and then whip some culture and happiness buildings to help keep maintenance costs down and develop captured cities into productive contributors more quickly. In war times you could have the possibility of both drafting and then whipping units. Finally, you can finish off a wonder earlier and perhaps beat the AI to a few depending on difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In terms of Bts, we have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the whipping unhappiness reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy. The courthouse is likely not always the first items in a build queue, but I feel the Altar has two things that make it a higher priority.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Altars come too late to help whip barracks and the aggressive Monty gets cheaper barracks anyway. But, now that I know the reduced penalty for whipping [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to units, a quick ASAP conquest victory is likely not going to be done with CoL and the Altar. This is one of the reasons I have used this technique very little but am more open to trying mid-game conquests. If you are on a large map with many civs, this UB makes more sense. You could be pumping out settlers and workers and units and scouts or even missionaries. However, continuing whipping will keep the population low in those cities if you want to be economical since larger cities taker longer to get back up to that high population and having low populated cities would mean that perhaps you are not utilizing all of the good tiles available to be worked in the fat cross. Having low population might result in slower teching, but if you are whipping settlers and workers and the Altars help lower maintainence then having many small cities might offset that. Eventually, the unhappiness will catch up however, but I am sure that there are plenty of savvy players out there that have slavery fine tuned to both an art and science.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An appropriately related UB for the Aztecs, but not the culture bomb like in Civ 3 and not as powerful as could be due its somewhat late appearance. That being said, an Oracle slingshot could give you it quicker and then it might be worth more, but a slingshot solely to use this UB doesn't really merit the risk, especially on higher levels and needing Math too. It can be effective for starting out and if it is the first thing build/whipped in a newly captured city, then it will become a contributing city soon enough. I owe this UB an apology for not originally realizing the full potential and the ability to whip units. I has been fun using when playing as the Aztecs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Babylonian Garden (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How cute, a UB named for their Hanging Gardens. The building gives extra +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] and this UB is much like the Ottoman Hammam except the Babylonians getting a health bonus on the Colosseum rather than a happiness bonus on the Aqueduct. This UB will give health bonuses independent of what food resources their may be. It also has it´s happiness linked to the culture slider and costs 80 hammers, just like the Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being aggressive and organized as well as the Babylonian UU might make Hammurabi a warmonger candidate. Assuming more cities earlier on, perhaps one could make use of the the extra health. Certainly high polluting cities for a warmonger or space race could use it. Organized gets cheap lighthouses (more food), courthouses (faster expansion) and factories for more production. High production with extra health could mean some good warring possibilities with his Aggression or it could mean space race contention.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It comes with Construction and is 20 hammers less expensive than an Aqueduct. A Theatre is still a cheaper option for happiness if you don´t need the health. Later in the game, when high production is needed, but unhealthy, this UB will give a slight health advantage, but the beauty is that is comes so early that you would not have to stop producing military units or spaceship components to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This UB will have to be thoroughly tested before evaluation can be made.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Byzantine Hippodrome (Theatre - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hippodrome is like a super Theatre. Sure, you get +3 [ICON_CULTURE], the two Artists to assign and the bonus for dyes, but you also get one for horses, hence the name HIPPOdrome. It also has a base happiness of +1, but it that wasn't enough (and it never is), you also get +1 [ICON_HAPPY]for every 5% culture on your slider, instead of the normal 10%. This essentially doubles that ability of the building to give happiness from culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Where to begin? Well the extra happiness from a smaller culture slider means more money devoted to maintenance of cities for your expanding empire, more military units and upgrades, more research, you name it. Justinian I is Imperialistic and you will have more money available to take advantage of your fast settler production. Since the Cataphract UU is dependent on horses, it is a no brainer to try and connect the horses ASAP. Being religious gives the flexibility of fast settlement and then gearing up for war or space exploration or anything else. Running Serfdom and OR and than switching to Feudalism and Theocracy. The extra happiness is great and also leads to a economic advantage which is up to your imagination to exploit. This UB is a far better choice than building a Colosseum for the Byzantines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is never a drawback, and as stated earlier, this leads to an economically advantage. Even without horses or dyes, there is still the +1 base [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While not overpowered on paper, it remains to be seen how useful this UB actually will be. So far, it looks very promising.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Carthaginian Cothon (Harbour - double production for expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, a harbour which gives +1 trade routes to a coastal city to Hannibal, a financial leader who starts with fishing. What is the catch, you ask? I can't think of any. I have only played a game or two with Carthage, but you gotta love their chances.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First off, Financial and Fishing is already great. Find some coastal tiles with food sources and settle down. In fact when I play as Carthage (or the Vikings for that matter) it's nothing but coastal cities if I can help it. Your income will give a fast tech pace and you can plan for diplomatic or space victories, although I am not sure about others. I guess being ahead in tech will help keeping a more advanced army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The base number of trade routes for a city is one, but if you have discovered Currency and build a castle or run the Free Market civic in [BOLD]addition[\BOLD] to your Cothons, that means 3 trade routes. (You can't do both since Economic obsoletes the castle.) The Colossus adds +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] water tiles and the Great Lighthouse adds [BOLD]+2 trade routes in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] coastal cities.[\BOLD] If you have a map with many civs, and nice silver or gold or calendar enabling resources which gives you huge coin besides your financial bonus you will have some rich cities. If you are around late enough and make an early move for flight and the UN, the Airport and the Common Currency Resolution give you [BOLD]another[\BOLD] 2 trade routes![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Didn't talk about cottage spamming yet, so there. I said it. Cottage Spamming. Now, need I mention the +50% trade route yield? That +50% on your 7 trade routes! Don't forget the additional 100% from the Temple of Artemis. Add markets, banks and Wall Street and you will be using C-notes for TP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Compass can come pretty late, but a beeline or slingshot or a combo of both to iron working could land you your cothons earlier than you might think. The tech or time lost getting your UB will be made up for when you have +1 trade routes in your lucrative coastal cities even if they cost an extra 20 hammers. And that may be the only drawback, you need to have coastal cities. If you want to reign supreme with Hannibal, you need high sea levels and likely some sort of Archipelago map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than being map dependent, this UB is quite possibly the best matched with the civs leader traits and starting techs. With more money you can support a larger army/empire or research faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Celtic Dun (Walls - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Walls that produce units with a free Guerrilla I promotion for +20% defense on hills. In a discussion about the best UUs I read that Swordmen or Melee units can't get the Guerrilla promotion. This would explain both why the UU starts with it and why the UB gives it to units produced in that city. Only Archery and Gunpowder units can get the promotion. Siege, Melee, Mounted and Armoured don't.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to remember that the G3 30 Hills Attack bonus only coming when attcking [BOLD]into[\BOLD] Hills and not from them. Still, the 30% withdrawal is also handy and has helped out greatly in games I have played, so whether you have hills or not thw withdrawal is worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I am not sure whether or not holding off researching Rifling, the obsoleting tech matters because any musketmen or grenadiers that you build will have the Guerrilla I, but once you have riflemen with a strength of 14, maybe grenadiers with 12 don't look so good. Perhaps if your opponents have rifling you would hold off on getting it yourself as the bonus grenadiers have against rifles and their Guerrilla bonus might prove worth keeping for a bit or at least until you have a good amount of them. It would all depend on the other promotions they have and your opponents. Upgrading your Gallic Swordsman to Macemen you do not lose the Guerrilla I. Even if they were given Guerrilla II or even III [BOLD]before[\BOLD] being upgraded then they keep it. Some shrewd manipulation of the promotion chart would prove most rewarding. Build your archery and gunpowder units, give them the G2 promotion and then discover Rifling. Upgrade your archery units and musketmen to riflemen, remembering that only Grenadiers can be promoted to Machine Gunners (considered siege unit). Your G2 or G3 Gallic Warriors becomes Macemen and then either Riflemen or Grenadiers. Riflemen and Machine Gunners can both be promoted to Mechanized Infantry (gunpowder unit), while only Riflemen can be upgraded to SAM Infantry. Below is a crude flowchart:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT] -----\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \__ [COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]/--&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT] _/\[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]\[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT] -----/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \_\[COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\--&gt;  [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT] ___/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]  \[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT]___________________/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \___[COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]+10% City Attack[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with Guerrilla I[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]9[TAB]1[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Melee Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Who wouldn't want these Mech or SAM Infantry units with double movement on Hills, +30% Defence, +25% Hill Attack and 30% chance of Withdrawal? Most players sadly undervalue what this UB can do for you later in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being charismatic, both Brennus and new-comer Boudica give quicker promotions and if you wanted the Guerrilla I promotion anyway then you are free to choose something else. Don't forget the extra +1 happiness per city and the +1 happiness from the Monument: early happiness for warring or ignoring temple for other more important buildings such as courthourse, forges, libraries, etc. Warring on a hilly or highlands type map seems a good strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could build a stack of any units and upgrade them with the G1 promotion remaining. This bonus makes you just one closer to G2 which gives another 30% defense in Hills and well as double movement on Hills, making hilly maps such as highlands easier to navigate. Remember that with the patch the G3 promotion gives the +25% attack bonus [BOLD]and[\BOLD]a 30% chance of withdrawal! With a charismatic leader you could easily get both of those either out of the barracks and with one fight or from a GG, but don´t forget the +4 from running Theocracy and Feudalism. Running both of those and having a barracks means units made will have 7/8 XP to start. Finally, Boudica is aggressive so not only does this mean the Combat I promotion for free, but also cheaper barracks. This means building barracks [BOLD]and[\BOLD] a Dun just got more practical even or especially without stone. But a free Combat I is nothing to sneeze at if you are promoting up the Guerrilla line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One might build the Great Wall and "trick" the AI to try and fight you in your backyard. Your Guerrilla resistance troops will protect any hill resource and if you give them Woodsman I or higher or even more Guerrilla, you will give them a heck of a time trying to dislodge you. They would defend any cats or trebs or whatever you bring along if you fight on their turf too. Giving unit both Guerrilla II and Woodsman II means a versatile unit capable of sneak attacks on weaker units or maybe even an invaluable resource pillager.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would suggest delaying Rifling until you have upgraded all your G1 units into musketman or grenadiers, maybe a 50-50 mix. Discover Rifling, but then upgrade them into Riflemen, and from their you can have Infantry, SAM Infantry [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Mechanized Infantry with this defensive bonus. Going in pillaging the AI resources for space race or preventing them from building nukes can be done with these expert pillagers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a nice bonus, but not really any drawbacks. In fact now that walls and duns give +25% bombardment protection (about time) and castles do too, one might be more likely to build castles if they didn't before, especially since in BtS they also give +25% espionage points. With both a Dun and Castle one gets +100% defense and +50% bombardment defense from non-gunpowder units. The extra trade route from the castle and the espionage points are throw-ins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For warmongering or pillaging/protecting resources no matter what the goal this UB can provide you with units that will have an advantage on hills. How you use those units, promote or upgrade them will depend on your goals, immediate and future needs and terrain/resources. The strength in this UB is the versatility it provides. I predict that Boudica´s traits will make the Celts a more attractive Civ to play as. She will be a warmonger´s dream and possibly one of the most fierce of opponents. Outside of warmongering, there is not much this UB can do other than help one explore a hilly map more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Chinese Pavlion (Theatre - double production for Creative civ):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The undisputed culture building king and "Big Daddy" of the cultural UBs. Cultural victory fans must have thought they hit the bigtime when they saw this beauty. Aside from the +3 culture the it gives +25% for culture in the city. Building the pavilion alone gives a culture per turn of 3.75, slightly less than the Madrassa, but this will double after 1000 years, but more importantly the 25% is added to everything.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What makes the pavilion the culture champion is the +25% bonus continues throughout the game and so the quicker the culture from other buildings can be added to the city, the better. Imagine a few early wonders with their culture doubling and then the added 25%. Sure, it's not game breaking, but one might not feel as obligated to crank the culture switch or convert to Free Speech as quickly with the bonus this UB gives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The traits of the leaders don't really work that well with this building, but it does ensure no matter what that nearby resources our yours. This allows you to persue the late game win conditions such as diplomatic, space race or a late conquest. Or more likely, early in the game you will have more resources than otherwise and you can dictate the trade terms and stifle the AI by denying them that one precious iron or uranium or oil or aluminum as the case may be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not able to overly accelerate the cultural win time frame, this building I have found to be quite amazing for domination games. With a few founded religions and no state religion and a pavilion, you just keep pumping out settlers and units and let the borders expand like your waistline after college.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than persuing a cultural/domination victory or claiming resources, there in not much extra outside of the normal theatre uses/features. Even in a cultural game, it is not enough to be a real advantage because of China's leader traits or strating techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] What you see is what you get. Nothing to really want to you play China any more than you normally would, except maybe for a quicker domination win or being a resource hog and super businessman/diplomat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 hammer on every river tile and costs 180 hammers. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn two citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"The fact that it obsoletes fairly early is really not much of an issue for the purpose it serves. Both leaders can benefit from this. For the most part it really only takes one city with one, though using Stonehenge to put it in multiple cities isn't bad at all. The great prophets that you can generate quickly from the priest specialists allow you to claim several of the mid to late religions. This is one of the key features you tend to want to accomplish when going for a culture victory. Once you get 2-3 religions you don't really care to much about making this building go obsolete and switching to temples to support any other priest specialists if you still need to grab the rest of the religions or if you want holy shrines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it will have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][u][BOLD]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[/b][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres and libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You could however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It also has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is the most synergistic combo of both leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities and cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants also double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists and gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two more GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries and universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units and Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture and the growth increase. Even if you built a granary first, you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"This is a GREAT UB for late-Ancient through ealy-Industrial era warmongering. It really speeds up your rate of assimilation of newly-conquered lands. The crucial point lies in the pop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In your earliest wars, the populations of conquered cities will tend to be in the 3 to 5 range. If you pop-rush a monument and a granary (esp. if you're Expansive), the population of the city will recover fairly quickly (assuming decent food resources available/not-plundered). However, later in the game, usually about the time catapults show up, the AI has usually developed urban pop levels so that core cities you capture routinely have pops of 8 to 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is where the Terrace really shines: it saves you from having to pop-rush a granary and a culture building. This point is particularly important if you're not playing a Creative leader. Mind you, it's a subtle difference between having a captured city with a pop of 8 or 9 instead of 6 or 7. However, a crucial point to remember is that the higher the pop level, the longer it takes to recover a pop point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you conquer and absorb a well-developed empire of around 6 or 8 cities (a not-unlikely scenario on Standard maps). Now imagine an extra tile or two of production from each of those cities. If you had to rush both buildings, you would be dozens of turns behind, relatively speaking, in production compared to the Incan. This is huge! Properly played, the snowball-effect of swallowing a rival empire or two in the mid-game is significantly more noticeable when you play Huayna."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 [ICON_PRODUCTION] on every river tile and costs 180 [ICON_PRODUCTION]s. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn [BOLD]two[\BOLD] citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it [BOLD]will[\BOLD] have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres [BOLD]and[\BOLD] libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You [BOLD]could[\BOLD] however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It [BOLD]also[\BOLD] has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is [BOLD]the[\BOLD] most synergistic combo of [BOLD]both[\BOLD] leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants [BOLD]also[\BOLD] double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two [BOLD]more[\BOLD] GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries [BOLD]and[\BOLD] universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture [BOLD]and [\BOLD]the growth increase. Even if you built a granary [BOLD]first[\BOLD], you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 [ICON_CULTURE] per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Indian Mausoleum (Jail):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Mausoleum UB comes with Constitution like its Jail counterpart with -25% WW but it also gives +2 happiness. The manual states it gives +1 GPP and is more likely to produce a Great Prophet, but in playing Warlords, this is not true. In Beyond the Sword, both the jail and the mausoleum give +4 espionage points and increase espionage point production by 50%, in addition allowing one to assign two Spy specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well the jail is high on a warmonger's wish list and the BtS version is sure to be even higher. I can see on higher levels how the happiness cap can be raised and WW reduced. As I don't usually have long wars I don't really know how high the WW can get, but I imagine on higher levels it is quite a bit. If you have Police State this is a total of 75% reduction in WW, which is nothing to sneeze at if WW problems got you down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +4 espionage points and the ability to turn two citizens into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the reduced war weariness. Running Nationhood now has the added bonus of another +25% espionage point production for a total of 75% with the jail/mausoleum, in addition to barracks giving +2 happiness and being able to draft 3 units per turn. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both are spiritual. Organized Asoka can build larger empires early on and Philosophical Gandhi can pop GPs and build cheaper universities. These combos don't necessarily screa for warmonger, especially given their Fast Worker UU, a decidedly unwarlike unit, however the extra spying power could be used to ensure that you are not beaten in the space race or the diplomatic arena. Then again, it's a free way to protect your nation no matter what.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I don't read much about people playing as India to conquer the world and wage war. This UB is still like a normal jail, except for the +2 happiness. I am not sure how many players will build them in BtS, but in Warlords they are n[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will reserve judgement for others to add their input, but for now, this UB seems out of place and not very useful or synergistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Japanese Shale Plant (Coal Plant):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A coal plant gives power (electricity) to the city which adds to the factory production bonus of 25% an additional 50% at a cost of +2 [ICON_UNHEALTHY]. You need a factory for the coal plant or the Japanese Shale Plant, however the Shale Plant itself gives its own +10% production as well. This means a 60% bonus with the two buildings for the same price. The real bonus however is that while Coal Plants requires coal to produce this power, the Shale Plant does not. Both the Factory and Shale Plant can be built once you have discovered Assmebly Line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 60% hammer increase from buildings (forge, factory and shale plant), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the Shale Plant), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings/wonders. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource when building a spaceship component. The Space Ladder gives another 50% increase. So a basic bonus of +185% in your capital (+135% out of capital) with a bonus of +125% or 200% respectively, when building buildings/wonders or projects. Add in the Iron Works and non-Captial cities are between +360% or +435%. Depending on your base production, things can get quite a productive boost, but if you were to whip or buy these buildings into a low production city it might make a huge difference as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Aggressive and Protective, Tokugawa's units start off well promoted and this makes warring an attractive choice. For late game wars, there likely isn't a unit that can't be pumped out in 1 or 2 turns. And space race can be just as great a goal. Diplomatic you want to beeline for MM and wouldn't sidetrack yourself for this building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than having little health resources, which doesn't seem too likely by the time you research Assembly Line, not much of a reason not to build this is you aren't wanting to be a powerhouse. That being said, the leader traits are not that complementary with it. Not only that, it is a late game UB and some games you would not get the chance to build it. Given that it is a late game UB, it is quite useful for the fact that coal is not required to get the +60% production, while other civs need coal to get their +50%. Than again, you likely want coal so that you can railroad your mines, quarries and lumbermills. Not much of a benefit if you look at it that way, but until you do get coal, you have +60% production boost, that other civs would not have had.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not as overall synergistic as the German Assembly Plant when it comes to leader traits, this UB serves a similar purpose and makes it hard not to compare. This one is a little more map dependent (due to the +10% hammer as apposed to 2 extra engineers assigned) and that means that doing the math to see which advantage is greater is not so easy or relevant. Again for a late wonder, space race and conquest victories greatly benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Khymer Baray (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Baray UB comes with Mathematics and is an Aqueduct which gives 1 extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food helps any leader, regardless of their traits, however, Suryavarman is expansive which means extra health. Building this UB would cause a double-whammy if you will. Not only will increased health reduce any wasted food, but allow for more growth which is possible by the Baray's bonus. The expansive trait only adds to the possibility that the city will grow larger as it has a higher health cap. More food also means taking advantage of the faster worker production, which is only a 25% bonus in BtS, but still greatly helped out with the UB. Being creative means claiming food resources to get the whole this going. Talk about cyclic benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food, a disadvantage? One could even use the cereal mills corporation and trade away food if not needed. I have had cities grow too fast and not have enough things to build to keep them happy. Slavery fans would do well to exploit this extra growth and convert it into production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After extra happiness and production, extra food is nothing to complain about and ranks with them and some great bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Korean Seowon (University - double production for Philosophical leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building costs the same and gives the same culture as a university, but it gives an extra +10% research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wang Kon is financial and so you can maximize this UB's use by making sure you do all the things you would have done with Korea anyway. That means, cottage spamming and getting other high income tiles from plantations and mines and coasts. You have the income boosting building and wonders and the science ones as well. Simply this building just gives another 10%, so take the advantage and go for a diplomatic or space win or keep you army further ahead in tech to protect your empire or add to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More science can't ever be bad can it? It comes early/mid-game, but it's on the way to the Liberalism bee-line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great advantage assuming you can build a nice SSC or several ones. You would usually build a university anyway, maybe now just a little sooner to really add to the tech lead (or perhaps a little later in the queue, knowing that you have the extra boost once it is built).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Malinese Mint (Forge - double production for Industrious leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a forge with an added 10% wealth increase and yet another UB for a financial that has some great synergy. I would say that a lot of the strategies used with England's financial leaders would be used here, but with a slight change.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building can come pretty early and Mansa Musa has a reputation for being a tech-whore as an AI. I like settling on the west side of the GP map and mine everything in site. There is also dyes, furs and incense too! What is great about the boost is that even though it is only 10%, it is still an increase and once you tech your way to new civics, as a spiritual leader, you can totally take advantage immediately and not wait until you can switch 2 or 3 at a time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because it is a production building as well, and you would naturally build it early for the gold bonus, you will have a higher production than maybe another civ with just a forge. It is more appealing, plus it is needed for many wonders, not the least of which is the Colossus giving +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] cities water tiles. If you have trade routes going, as many as possible, markets, grocers, banks and Wall Street a rich city is made richer than another civ would be with the same city. Not only because of the wealth bonus, but because the forge means building all of the other wealth increasing building faster. It never goes obsolete either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More money, means faster discoveries, and diplomatic and space wins are the popular targets, however the Skirmisher can be a pretty good UU and even later, the extra wealth can be parlayed into better unit support and more/quicker upgrades. Even on higher levels, if you are lagging in the tech race, you will have more money to buy them, or more money to bribe the AI to do your bidding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 7 trade routes (as outlined earlier with Carthage), all the wealth buildings, great base tiles and maybe even some merchants or Great Merchants, you have plenty of money and if running the Universal Suffrage civic, you can rush buy more quickly/often than otherwise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't expire, so it will continue to be useful and becomes more powerful as the game progresses because cities will grow and more lucrative routs determined for the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A money boosting UB is a good one and can really help out early. You can afford to expand a little quicker if you bankroll allows it. You would need to have some big cash tiles or plenty of cottages, but then again, you would build those anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mayan Ball Court (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Ball Court gives +3 [ICON_HAPPY](instead of the Colosseum´s +1) and the +1 [ICON_HAPPY]per 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra happiness could be used to full effectiveness as a warmonger by skipping Drama and going for Construction, much like Alexander might do in using his Odeon. Having happy people means more tiles being worked for the financial Pacal II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More research needed, but a Theatre with dyes for 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] over an 80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] Ball Court might do the trick. Of course as the city grows and war weariness sets in or you have limited resources, this UB will make people happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is always good, because it lets you pursue any victory you desire. You can combat war weariness or have large producing cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mongolian Ger (Stable):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The stable introduced in Warlords gives +2 XP for Mounted units build in the city and the Mongolian Ger gives +4 points. This UB is very appropriate and the affects are cumulative with Barracks, the Pentagon and other XP bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, both Mongolian leader start are Aggressive which means cheaper barracks. We are already looking at +7 XP, then if you factor in Theocracy and Vassalage, that's +11 all together. That is enough for 3 promotions before seeing any combat and any GG you settle and the Pentagon are just a bonus. Upgrading all the way through up to Calvary would be the idea and with the right promotions you should be able to keep most of your troops up until Rocketry. You could plan for the future and give promotions that complement your gunships, or use the advantage to conquer early. In BtS, the Stable is made obsolete with Advanced Flight, thereby lengthening the use of this UB. The fact that Genghis Khan is also imperialistic means more GGs as long as you are warmongering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB complements the UU, the Keshik and the civ itself unlike any other UB for the other civs. To build a Keshik you need Archery, Horseback Riding - which you need to build the Ger anyway - and of course Horses revealed by Animal Husbandry. The Mongol starting techs are Hunting and the Wheel. Hunting is the prereq for both AH and Archery. Your mounted units all benefit, but lets look more closely at why. The keshik starts with some of the better bonuses. Let's analyze the mounted units that the Mongols can build below and remember that none of them get defensive bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Chariot[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]4[TAB]2[TAB]10% Withdrawal, 100% vs. Axemen[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Keshik[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]2[TAB]20% Withdrawal, 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, -10% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Cats &amp; Trebs[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]War Elephant[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]90[TAB]10[TAB]2[TAB]Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cats &amp; Trebs*[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]2[TAB]15% Withdrawal, Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cannon[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]15[TAB]2[TAB]30% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Cannon[TAB][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]160[TAB]24[TAB]4[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. Armoured[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, Cannot capture City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Artillery &amp; Mobile Artillery*[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Mounted Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Helicopter Unit [COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]None of these units can take Cover, Drill or CR promotions, but the mounted ones can get Amphibious, Charge, Formation, Pinch and Shock. If you were to give Flanking I and II to your Keshik for +30% withdrawal, that is a total of 50% and when it's upgraded to Calvary or Gunships it still adds to their intrinsic withdrawal abilities. Giving Charge to a Keshik means +75% versus their Cats and Trebs, and as a Knight it will have +75% against cannons. A Chariot with Shock will have +125% versus Axemen but only +25% with the more advanced units, but it might be a great boost. Then again you likely skip chariots and go straight to Keshiks. With the right promotions, the Keshiks might even be better than Knights especially if you don't have iron available and the fact they ignore terrain costs. A Keshik with C3 and Formation is just as good as a unpromoted Knight and as can be seen above, the Keshik has much more intrinsic abilities than a Knight such as withdrawal, bonus against cats and trebs and 1st Strike chance. Although the Knight is immune to 1st strikes and doesn't have the 10% city attack penalty. Clearly, the key is to use the XP bonus to promote according to your needs and strength based on the situation, the opponent, the map, etc. It remains to be seen how the Charge promotions for upgraded units will work with the new system of mounted units having a flank attack versus siege units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mounted units are a large part of a balanced army, and the UB lasts fairly long, even longer in BtS. If other civs couldn't build stables this might be overpowering, which is likely why the stable was added as well. This UB maybe isn't as synergistic with Kubla, but it still gives an increases in GGPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having the extra XPs out of the gate helps to earn GG points faster and build wonders like the Heroic Epic and West Point. For warmongering this is a great UB, for other victory conditions, it would help one war early to collect more land and resources and then settle down into a more peaceful victory, or at least keep a stronger army than without the UB for protecting cities while pursuing a peaceful victory. (But that is not why one plays the Mongols) War, what is it good for? Huh! Building Gers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Native American (Totem Pole):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another UB which replaces the Monument. This one gives +3 XPs to Archer units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Archery, but that is often traded for or even found from goody huts. The big deal is that he is Protective, giving his archers Drill I and City Garrison I [BOLD]before[\BOLD] adding the +3 XP bonus from the Totem Pole. Much like the Dun, this UB will offer some flexiblity and unique possiblity in upgrading units. More research will need to be done, but it suffices to say that this UB will make the Native Americans particularly difficult to conquer. Like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put the UB in every one of your cities which is bascially an archer Barracks in every city. This means an effective early archer rush, without wasting time to build the Barracks as Totem are much cheaper. With the Barracks, however, every archery unit built there will be very tough to kill on a hill behind those walls and castles that Protective Sitting Bull can cheaply build, never mind when they get upgraded to gunpowder units! His Philosophical trait might mean that a few GA culture bombs give him some more defense or he is free to use them for whatever he wishes seeing as no one is going to stop him.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let´s not forget the Dog Soldier UU (Axeman) with its strengths against melee units and also not requiring copper or iron. This UB practically gives two UUs to the Native Americans. Whether warmongering or trying to hang on against the AI on higher difficulty levels, this UB would be a key part of any strategy. Holding off on discovering Astronomy might be a prudent strategy if you are running into trouble. Imagine pumping out archer and longbowman early game with the bonuses and then upgrading them to stronger units. They will have a slight XP advantage with all over factors equal, meaning they will promote earlier. Let's imagine the +6 with Totem and Barracks and then running Feudalism and Theocracy for a 10 XPs off the bat. That is enough for 3 promotions to start, never mind fighting off barbs (although I think barb battles will only take you up to 10 XP anyway) or lone, weakened enemy units. Any Great General settled in a city takes you that much closer to a fourth promotion and your Heroic Epic. Let's analyze what Sitting Bull's archers will be able to do and what promotions will carry into the gunpowder age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that Protective Sitting Bull will have his archery and gunpowder units start with Drill I and City Garrison I, meaning they can already get Cover, Shock or Pinch (once gunpowder is discovered) on their first promotion out of the Totem. With barracks and the others bonuses mentioned, a second promotion could be Formation (bonus against mounted units) or get up to City Garrison III with one promotion to spare! The beauty of this UB compared to say, the Dun is the versatility of the promotions one can pursue, not necessarily being guilted into Guerrilla II and III. Then again, G3 archery units holding on for gunpowder promotions (see Celts) would not be such a terrible thing would it? Note too, that the Machine Gun is a siege unit and cannot receive Guerrilla or City Garrison promotions, however it is upgraded from Grenadiers which are upgraded from your G3 or CG3 archers. Interesting, no?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build can also be one of the first ones obsoleted, maybe it is not that much of a big deal if you play your cards right. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to explore and colonize other continents. By then you would have to have built all the archery units you anticipate needing and then work on upgrading them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think building cheap archery units with promotions not available to gunpowder or siege units (machine gun) can pay dividends given the right military and geo-political considerations. Like the Mongols, outside of warmongering or building a military to protect your empire, this UB does not hold many other uses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ottoman Hammam (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Does this UB have Expansion written all over it or what? One can really concentrate on building a large empire with large cities a lot sooner with the extra 2 happiness this building supplies in addition to the +2 health. No need to worry about religions if you miss them or drama if you prefer other techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I feel Mehmed has the potential to be the best expansive leader as he is organized which means cheap lighthouses, courthouses [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories too. This means more food, less upkeep and more production, respectively from those buildings. This resultant larger population and therefore greater production, which leads to quicker unhappiness and pollution is further complemented by his Expansive trait which, in addition to +2 health per city, gives cheaper granaries and harbours which help reduce pollution and improve growth and economy. Those of you upset that the expansive trait was nerfed to only +2 health stop your whining because this guy has [BOLD]5[\BOLD], count'em [BOLD][BOLD]five[\BOLD][\BOLD] buildings to build cheaper and they [BOLD]all[\BOLD] mean larger and more productive cities. The happiness cap needs to be much higher for the Ottomans, and this is where the Hammam really shines, because it helps keep these larger cities happy and therefore more productive. If that is not enough, the faster worker production means an earlier hook up of resources for [BOLD]more[\BOLD] production, happiness and health bonuses. But also remember the less time building workers, means more time growing in population, which means more reason for a Hammam. This buiding does not expire either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for newcomer, Suleiman, who is Imperialistic and Philosophical, making cities healthy and happy at the same time is great for the GP farming you might do with him. He doesn't have all the cheap buliding that Mehmed II has and his two traits sort of conflict when it comes to warmongering; GP farming versus the increased GG appearance. But faster setter production is also a great thing for domination victories and that is what the Hammam can give. Havving many cities sooner and popping out GPs means a larger empire with abilities to conquer space or the world. He will have more cities, and larger, happier, cleaner ones at that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It might not seem as powerful as other UBs, but you eventually build one anyway, at least in your larger, more polluted cities. This just makes them happy so you can concentrate on building more units or science/production buildings. Let's face it: it's a drag to have to stop building units or wonders because of the unhappiness or health. Kill two birds with one stone with the Hammam. Cultural games where happiness is not much of an issue are still advantaged especially at higher levels. In fact, this building really makes a difference in higher levels where happiness [BOLD]and[\BOLD] health caps are lower or on maps where happiness resources are not readily available to you. Further to that, you could delay discovering Calendar as you might not need the happiness immediately and that means culture from monuments or Stonehenge will last you a little longer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A strong UB which helps with supporting large cities for whatever reasons you may have: military powerhouse, GP farm, etc. If this was Civ3 where the Aqueduct was need to grow past size 6, this would be huge, but even though it is not needed for that, I really can't think of any drawbacks with this UB. Quite an excellent UB.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Persian Apothecary (Grocer):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary, besides being the most difficult UB to pronounce, is a grocer that gives an additional +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] to the city. That is on top of the health from plantation resources. With a granary, harbour, apothecary and the supermarket you get health from rice, corn, wheat, clam, crab, fish, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. So, for those of you counting at home, that's 16 [ICON_HEALTHY] points! So that means the ability to build production-boosting, pollution-causing buildings. Late in the game with high populations and those buildings or even on higher levels, this can be useful. However, you may not be looking to have a late finishing game or even want to detour for the late tech Refrigeration, especially if the Apothecary gives an intrinsic +2 health even without resources and so Supermarkets are not a necessity. That is pretty nice, no matter what level one plays on. You are afforded the option to trade away health resources for more important ones, such as: uranium, oil, iron, aluminum, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Imperialistic, Cyrus has faster settler production and this means more cities quicker. As a result there is likely to be more health resources claimed more quickly. Happiness is not the problem with this charismatic leader either, so where can this health bonus be applied the best? Well, highly populated and production oriented cities will benefit so that means space race or conquest/domination victories and/or GP farming.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like Churchill or Tokagawa, Cyrus might be one of the ultimate warmongers with his traits. They allow faster XP accumulation [BOLD]and[\BOLD] faster GG appearance! Late game wars which require forges, factories, etc to really pump out the expensive units will have a higher health cap. This makes more of a difference the higher the difficulty, but on quicker or lower setting, perhaps not as much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for Darius I, with Vanilla Washington´s traits of Financial and Organized, the extra health from the UB will complement both the food from cheap lighthouses and the production from cheap factories. Financial seems handy in teching towards a space or diplomatic finish. More will need to be seen from Darius.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary needs both Currency and Guilds to build it, and guilds can come quite late, but then again guilds also gives Knights and a warmonger might like to upgrade his highly promoted Immortals. Some slingshotting could get you there faster, but maybe more needed in higher levels although I don't know exactly since the tech pace is likely quicker.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Cyrus, faster GG emergence and quicker promotion ability means that the game is more likely won early with a conquest/domination goal and maybe the health bonuses is not so well-exploited because pollution might not be as high for one reason or another. For a fast teching Darius with an ability to maintain a large empire the extra health might benefit him more in the long run.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building seems more suited for higher levels, but can make an impact late game with high pollution problems. Environmentalism can be avoided/delayed and chopping could be done without fear of health-induced starvation or founding a city near many FPs. Again without health resources it becomes very useful and for that reason the ability to trade away extra health resources for more strategic ones could be very useful as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Portuguese Feitoria (Customs House):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Feitoria replaces another new building, the Customs House. You need Economics and a Harbour to build it and it grants a 50% boost to all [BOLD]foreign[\BOLD] trade coming in from [BOLD]overseas[\BOLD]. The Portuguese Feitoria gives one extra commerce in all water tiles, making coastal cities seem like you are a financial leader.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a very interesting UB to say the least. First off, it acts like a Colossus in each city that builds it, giving the extra commerce and a little like the Temple of Artemis without the Priest. If you were to have a large coastal city, some sea resources, a harbour, a lighthouse, and the Feitoria, that would really be a great city. Now imagine the Colossus and the Great Lighthouse in this city. Let´s go a little further with it being a capital running Bureaucracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the new concept of colonies in the game, it is likely that the AI will use this UB to its full advantage. More research will be needed, but Expansive and Imperialistic Joao will be able to build settlers [BOLD]and[\BOLD] workers more quickly. He is the only one, which is interesting enough. Starting with fishing will mean access to food resources to even more quickly pump those guys out. He seems flexible in pursuing either conquest/domination or space/cultural victories. It seems the AI like human player swill try for colonial expansion early and often to make use of this UB and the UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is assumed that the UB and the Customs House can only be built on a coastal city given that it requires a harbour. Furthermore, the Customs House would be useless if running Mercantilism, thereby closing all foreign trade routes. It seems the Free Market, with the +1 trade route would really be the choice civic for this building. However, the Feitoria also gets +1 commerce in all water tiles, remember. Joao II could run which ever civic he wants and still get the commerce bonus. I would still recommend Free Market for the larger benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It remaining to be seen how effective this UB will be. It is definitely map dependent, but if you have a few coastal cities and are up to the 6-7 possible trades routes in them, then this UB in only a few cities would still be an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Roman Forum (Market):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, a UB that gives +25 GP birth rate! This is likely to become a favourite. There are no philosophical Roman leaders, but running Pacifism with the Forum and National Epic would still give +225%, not too shabby. Maybe with just the 125% you feel that you can delay the revolution/anarchy until you have other civics you want too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Julius Caesar is Organized and has -50% maintenance costs, but with this UB being much more attractive than a normal Market perhaps one builds it sooner and the +25% wealth in the city and the reduced maintenance costs really go together nicely much earlier in the game. In addition to his cheaper lighthouse, his cheap factories give a nice later in game production boost for military or spaceship ventures. Besides the Merchants assigned from the Forum, he has no cheap buildings which benefit from the extra GPP until factories. Augustus is no longer creative, but is Industrious. So his cheap forges could mean quicker GE production if that is your desire. This can be helpful in wonder or space races and so the extra GPP can go towards GEs or GSs or pumping out Praetorians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both Roman leaders are Imperialistic and have greater GG production and likely to help warmongering. Luring your enemy into your Great Wall trap, could mean 200% greater chance of GG appearance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra the GPs from the Forums could be used to founded religions or techbulb (TM ) you faster through the tech tree for more military/scientific advances. There is real flexibility for both the Roman leaders. They have the fast settler production to really expand and set up an empire with the strength of their Praetorians pushing back the barbarians (er, that is, the other civs). Julius will have a better economy and ability to support his empire, while Augustus will churn out units and wonders and do the same using brute force. The GPPs can be used for whichever purpose is decided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, running a SE seems to be necessary to maximize this UB's bonus, but not vital. Polluted GPP pools might cause some disappointment for some.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a game where GP production is a main focus for some players, this building is likely a candidate for having no drawbacks whatsoever. Regardless of victory goal, difficulty setting, map/terrain, resources, opponents or even your own leader selection, this UB is very useful and versatile, making it one of the best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Russian Research Institute (Laboratory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Laboratory or Research Institute comes at a time in the game where technologies start to get much more expensive. In addition to the +50% spaceship construction, +25% [ICON_RESEARCH], and assigning one citizen as a Scientist (and +1 unhealthiness), the Russian UB gives [BOLD]two free[\BOLD] scientists! This means you can remove forced scientists and change them to GAs for a cultural win or engineers for space race or keep the scientist and head for future tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Representation seems like a no-brainer here, but Russia is one of the only civs in the game (with England) that has three leaders and they each have two different traits so let's examine them more closely:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine: Creative and Imperialistic. She is able to quickly build settlers and the creative trait ensures quick access to fat cross resources. I like her for domination wins for those reasons. Stonehenge can add to the culture growth as well as religions. Cheap libraries can be used in conjunction with cheap theatres to build to a cultural victory. It costs less to build settlers and so fast expansion can lead to more cathedrals build. The extra scientists will lead to faster techs and so if culture is not your thing, the space race gets a nice boost both for the UB's science [BOLD]and[\BOLD] part production. Might not be a high priority especially if near your health cap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peter: Expansive and Philosophical. An excellent candidate for Space Race. His +2 health and cheap granaries and harbours will help offset pollution/unhealthiness from production buildings while cheap universities and +100% GP birth rate means more Scientists and Engineers to help techbulbing and wonder building. Remember the faster production of workers from any time in the game should make quite an impact too as they will be out to connect resources much sooner.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stalin: Aggressive and Industrious. In the few games I have played with Stalin, I have been impressed with his space race potential. Cheap forges and beelining science helped. The UB really made a big impact I felt. Again cultural games leave this UB pretty much obsolete, but with Stalin, his wonder building boost leads to more research with wonders like GL, University of Sankore, Spiral Minaret, Oxford, etc. And then we have the Ironworks and GE produced wonders which are also helpful on the way. He can also be quite the military force early in the game and throughout.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the trade off between Peter's ability to generate GP quicker or Stalin's wonders appearing faster to giving GPPs much sooner? That is open for debate, but both seem great cosmonauts. And I wouldn't rule out Cathy in that department either. With her cheap libraries, quick settler production for greater early expansion complemented by quick cultural border growth she could just as likely be able to use the UB and pull another Yuri Gagarin or, make that Valentina Tereshkova.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Observatories are needed to build the Institute, and although you will already have that tech, they can be more expensive to build for all three leaders compared to cheap libraries or universities. Only Stalin with his industrious trait might have a quicker build given his cheap forges and getter ability to settle GEs, although Peter might too. In Beyond the Sword, with the restructured modern age tech tree, it may require a slightly longer wait before one can build the Research Institute, plus the choices late in the game seem to be more complex and difficult than they were previously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomatic victories would mean you research Mass Media instead of Computers and therefore not a factor. For cultural wins, you likely have the culture switch on at this point and these buildings therefore can be useful in giving back some lost research, but it will matter very little. Mass Media gives Hollywood which is much more important in that case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For being at war the research boost could be handy for building more advanced units, but likely if you need a research boost that badly you probably can't afford to be building RIs in all or most of your high production cities, likely only in your SCC which could also be your unit factory too. By the time you build it, you still have to research those new techs for the improved units. With a little planning it could work out in your favour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To quote Boney M, "Oh, those Russians!" It seems this UB is destined to help with the Space Race and help get Sputnik launched much sooner rather than any other victory, with a possible exception for conquest. Depending on your usual teching order, you might make some adjustments to maximize the benefit of the Research Institute. Time/score victory goals can be helped by the accumulation of future tech perhaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Spanish Citadel (Castle - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Patched Warlords made Castles more useful by giving them +1 trade route and -25% damage from bombardment from non-gunpowder units in addition to the +50% defense vs. non-gunpowder units and +1 culture. Cumulative with the prerequisite Walls, that means +100 defence from non-GP units and -50% from non-GP bombardment. In BtS, they also give an extra 25% espionage points. Maybe, [BOLD]now[\BOLD] players will build them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Citadel gives an additional 25% bombardment protection for a total of -75% [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives 5XP to Siege units produced in the city. From the +3XP barracks and the Citadel that is 8XP already, but Thoecracy and Vassalge give 12XP from the start enough for 3 promotions. The bonus is applied to Trebuchets, Catapults and if you can avoid the obsoleting tech, Economics (which restores the lost trade route, 1st to discover gets a GM) you can have Cannons, Artillery and even machine guns with this bonus as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The strength of the UB lies in how one promotes their siege weapons most effectively. A warmonger or early-war-to-to-claim-land strategy uses it to it's full advantage, but just protecting your cities becomes much easier now too. In Beyond the Sword, there is a new system for siege weapons, so more remains to be seen. Let's take a look at the Siege Units assuming that they follow the path below and remember they cannot receive defensive bonuses and they all cause collateral damage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT] ---\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\___ [COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT] -/[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]40[TAB]5[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-15%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]60[TAB]4[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-20%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike, Defend Only, +50% vs. GP Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Aircraft Intercept, Starts with March[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]200[TAB]26[TAB]2[TAB]Max 85% Attack Damage, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Immune to Siege Collateral Damage[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All these units receive Barrage, Drill, Shock, Ambush, and City Raider (except Machine Gun who only defends) as well as the Combat and Medic promotions. Any Grenadiers promoted to Machine Gun will not gain any XPs if ungraded in a Citadel, but any you build there will. None of these units can receive City Garrison, Cover, Pinch, Formation, Charge or (Guerilla or Woodsman), but it is possible to have your Grenadier or Melee Units promoted into Grenadiers and give [BOLD]them[\BOLD] any of those promotions and then upgrade them into Machine Gunners. You could for example create G2 or G3 Machine Gunners with Ambush and CG promotions to defend a Hill city from Tanks or you could have Woodsman Machine Gunners with Pinch and Medic/Charge defending your SoD on route through a forest to attack an enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Options for your other Siege units are even more numerours. Except for the Machine Gun, all the Siege units have a 25% withdrawal chance, if you add a GG to it, you can it 55% as well as making it a nice Siege Weapon from other promotions. Remember that upgrades are [BOLD]free[\BOLD] when attached to a Warlord, so you could have some expert Machine Gun defenders or great Cannons/Artillery once the competition gets a little tougher and the AI has more advanced units. One other thing that really stood out to me in trying the UB out, was that Siege Units are immune to collateral damage, so having plenty of them in your stack means you will have some to attack with while other units might need to heal. You can give them medic promotions too remember.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for synergy with the Conquistador, it is a knight with +50% vs. melee units. Many different civs have melee units for their UU, which comes in handy. With a few correctly promoted Conquistadors and Siege weapons the two should complement each other nicely. Don't forget to balance out your forces, using more than just these two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't really do anything for the Expansive trait or the Spanish starting tech of fishing and mysticism, however being religious does offer advantages to being able to switch to new civics immediately and not waiting until others are discovered. A switch to Theocracy before you wait to get Vassalage could mean the difference between producing units with an extra +2 XPs and for the siege units with the Citadel, that is enough to put them over the top for a third promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to avoid Economics, the obsoleting tech, you only really miss out on a Great Merchant. You could conceivably hold out for some super artillery and machine gunners if you wanted. This UB allows for some interesting warfare capabilities. Although it doesn't immediately lend it self to anything other than conquest/domination, the extra territory and cities gained or even the ability to better protect one's own cities and territory is nothing to take lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Sumerian Ziggurat (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the Rathaus of the Holy Roman Empire gives a larger maintenence bonus, it takes just as long to build. Neither them, nor the Sumerians are Organized, but the Sumerian Ziggurat is 30 [ICON_PRODUCTION] cheaper, only costing 90, meaning that it will be built more quickly even if not more powerful. I feel the quicker it is build the better; one of the reasons the Zulu Ikhanda is so effective as well (although for Zulu, it is both cheaper and quicker, but not as powerful). Also, only four are required to build the Forbidden Palace. It also gives +2 espionage points and allow you to assign a citizen as a Spy, but that is a normal courthouse feature for Beyond the Sword.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, major props going out to Bovinespy again for pointing out my huge oversight (I don't have the game yet). This UB is like a courthouse, but you only need Priesthood to build it thereby delaying Code of Laws or passing it all together. This will mean a much earlier clamp down on maintenance costs. While others may have a larger bonus (Rathaus), Gilgamesh, like Shaka, will have a head start. This means the Forbidden Palace is built much sooner as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building the FP quicker, could help culturally for a victory, however it also means a faster expanding empire. Creative and Protective Gilgamesh will need be to be further studied, but the culture boost from borders will help the settlers claim land and the quicker and earlier built courthouses will help keep the economy going. Being protective as well, means maintaining the empire while under attack. Cheap walls and castles will make Sumeria a tough foe to topple.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This did not jump out as being a strong UB until I realized it comes with Priesthood. This is something I am sure some players will use it to maximum advantage. Really, a cheaper courthouse is nothing to complain about and now, one does not have to wait as long to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]. Um yeah, that was before I realized you don't need CoL. Priesthood is such a cheap tech, it could be beelined for maximum exploitation here. I love the prereq tech as it is both unique and very appropriate when you think about what Ziggurats really were. This UB is just oozing flavour and possibilities. More to come I am sure; I just can not wait to play these guys![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Viking Trading Post (Lighthouse double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another coastal UB for a financial leader, the Trading Post gives a free Navigation 1 promotion to ships build there in addition to the extra food in each sea tile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is some definite synergies here, firstly the UB being required for the Great Lighthouse which gives all coastal cities +2 trade routes. Ragnar starts with fishing and so the prereq tech, Sailing is not far away. As with the Carthaginian Cothon, it makes sense to build many coastal cities to maximize this affect. Now, it's true that not all your cities will be building ships [BOLD]all[\BOLD] the time, so it is your choice, but of the achipelago maps I have played with them, most if not all of them have been. Harbours, Colossus also add to the wealth, remembering that Ragnar is financial, coastal tiles are great if you have few FP cottages, gems, gold, silver or plantation resources[NEWLINE]around you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, the bonus itself, one extra movement for sea units does not include work boats. On a map with plenty of water this is helpful to let you discover other civs earlier and trade tech with them. Between your financial coastal cities raking in money for a high research rate, you will also be trading for other techs of lower priority when you meet the others. From here you can go one step further and let the extra movement of your powerful navy work for you. Drydocks come with Steel and give your sea units an extra +4 XPs and are produced 50% faster. Your navy would quite literally have an extra step, but there is more. The +1 movement also helps you to circumnavigate the globe faster and hopefully beat out other civs in doing so. Either you trade for maps as you meet new civs or you do it the old fashioned way. It might be tough with a lot of ocean, but as soon as you get ships which can enter the ocean you still have the +1 movement from navigation. The +1 movement from circumnavigating the globe [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to your work boats![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now let us consider the Bersek, the Viking UU which is a Maceman with the Amphibious promotion and an intrinsic +10% City Attack. Adding the CR1 and you are already at +30%. Being Aggressive, you only start with Combat 1 for an extra 10% unit strength and the unit itself has +50% vs. Melee Units. So for a CR Berserk against a melee defender in a coastal city we are talking +80% strength for nearly double the 8 [ICON_STRENGTH], more like 15.2 [ICON_STRENGTH]. If you can meet some civs while they still have only archers (11.2 [ICON_STRENGTH], or even better, Warriors (or Axemen), their cities become yours very easily. On an achipelago map, most if not all of their cities will be coastal and that is what a financial leader with the Colossus and GL wants right? With the patch, the Civil Service or CoL slingshot might be harder to do, but if you concentrate on the money, research can go quicker for you, plus a GP could help you out along the way too. Berserks can be built with Copper or Iron, so if you have researched for copper and have none, trade for IW or research it and try again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On Great Plains, Oasis or other maps with little coastal tiles, this building is very useless. It really shines in the water maps although the Berserk can still be useful for attacking across rivers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether for meeting tech trading partners earlier or wiping out some rivals early the Trading Post gives a nice bonus. One could go on to eliminate everyone rather quickly or if not take some prime real estate to help with a culture/space/diplomatic victory. For full blown conquest or domination, this building can be helpful on the right map. It would be nice to see +10% trade route or commerce in the city as well, but it still nicely complements the amphibious Berserk. If not on a archipelago or lakes map it value is greatly reduced however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Zulu Ikhanda (Barracks - double production for Aggressive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Barracks that act as a mini-courthouse by giving -20% maintnance costs. This means you can wait for CoL a little later and still expand reasonable quicker than your rivals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building greatly complements the expansive and aggressive Shaka because he gets double production speed. He is one of two leaders (the other being Frederick) who gets their UB at half the building cost. Barracks cost 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] while the Ikhanda costs 60 [ICON_PRODUCTION] so the double production bonus still a big factor. Patched Warlords and BtS only gives +3 XPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Expanding out is aided with reduced costs and whether you warmonger or not it's a nice bonus. Couple it with the courhouse and that is -70% maintenance costs, not bad at all. If taking over cities, this UB is cheaper to build than a courthouse (80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] and don't forget the double production) In a large, productive city taken from the enemy, this building will let it start contributing to the war machine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would not put the Zulu as a culture contender with no cheap culture buildings to build, but diplomatic, domination, space race and conquest all seem possibilities because the benefits of reduced maintenance can be used for any means. I have actually seen some comments that cultural was easy with Shaka. Perhaps the extra maintenance reduction allows for more cities and more cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Beyond the Sword, they have fixed the problem that the Ikhanda had in Warlords and it now like the Barracks, it also receives +2 happiness when running the Nationhood civic. So, quicker expansion and extra happiness from a building which is meant to produce units with +3 XPs. Remembering the synergy with Fuedalism and Theocracy that is +8 XPs and while other civs get that and the barrcks happiness too, they do not get the lower maintenance costs while growing their empires through conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might not build barracks in every city, at higher level especially, but this UB can pay dividends by being in every city. It's so cheaper, why would one not even bother? The synergy with the courthouse can be nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably a building best used to expand as quickly as allowed. Domination or conquest or large number of cities to help with research/spaceship construction. Finally, if this UB makes you more likely to build barracks straight away, your military will benefit, but should it be first in the build queue?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That is the rundown of the Unique Buildings. I would like to thank everyone for their input and support.</French>
		<German>[H1]Comprehensive Unique Building Guide (BTS)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WilliamOfOrange[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a my first attempt at a strategy guide given that most of the players with more skill/talent/time usually write up some beauties, but I have been inspried to contribute something about my favourite part of the Warlords expansion: the Unique Building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often load up the game and civilopedia just to see which UBs might match the victory condition that I feel like going for. I appreciate reading peoples' work, so I hope I can return the favour here in bringing this strategy article to you. The great thing about this game is the many different strategies and uses for things like leader traits, UUs and UBs. And what is truly great about the UBs is the flexibility and choices most of them give the player so ratings are not necessary; only strategies and synergies need be discussed. What makes a UB (or UU) great is how it is used the most effectively. With the new combinations that Beyond the Sword offers, this could get quite complicated, however I will only focus on the standard and normal civilization UB combinations here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we go:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]American Mall (Supermarket):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have only played the Americans in a Gauntlet with a Future start going for Space Race, but I have to say the building was a nice boost. It is a good choice for an American UB, I feel. For the same price as a supermarket (which provides extra health from cow, deer, pig and sheep) you also get happiness from the three late "entertainment/culture wonders" or ECWs; musicals from Broadway, singles from Rock n' Roll and movies from Hollywood, and now with the patch, plus 20% gold in the city to boot! For a future era start, maybe not needed right away, but if in a long game where your population is reaching health and happiness limits, its a great building to have even if it does come late in the game. That alone is enough, but the +20% gold can be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building one or all of those happiness/culture wonders mentioned above would add 3 happiness points like that and the added health means larger cities as well. What is your pleasure, GP farming or warmongering? Either way, I think it helps out. Not sure about using it with Washington, who is charismatic and expansive, so the +2 health means the health bonus from the mall maybe isn't so big. Then again, you can afford to build polution causing, production buildings with all that extra health. Also the +1 happiness in all cities and from monuments or broadcast towers (which is great if you build the Eiffel Tower) seems to negate the happiness from the mall too. But, if you were to play as the industrious and organized Roosevelt, then you could get some of the benefits of Washington at the same time if you build malls.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems that the extra health and happiness could really give Lincoln a nice late game edge when large, polluting cities needs extra [ICON_HEALTHY] and [ICON_HAPPY]. Given his philosophical trait, he is a great candidate for space race because of the Mall´s bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, it does come late and requires a grocer to be built. Given that the grocer gives +1 health from bananas, wine, sugar and spice, that might solve your health problems already. Grocers also give +25 wealth and can turn two citizens into Merchants. Maybe you don't need the health, but the money is always nice. With Grocer, Market, Bank and Mall that is 120% increase in income. Yay, Capitalism![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a granary, a grocer and the supermarket/mall you get health from rice, corn, wheat, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. That's 11 health points! So as stated above, that means the ability to build forges, factories and other polluting buildings. It would all depend on your civics (environmentalism), if you have FP or trees and jungle in your fat cross and your goals (production, warmongering, space race, etc)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for the happiness, with charismatic trait, you get +1 per city, and ignoring any happiness from temples, theatres, coliseums look at what building one of the three ECWs gives you once you have a mall and broadcast tower, (either by it self, or the much better option of the Eiffel Tower). For example you build Hollywood, +1 [ICON_HAPPY]and with mall and broacast tower, another +2 [ICON_HAPPY]for a total of +3 for the same resource!! If you build all three ECWs and the Eiffel Tower, you are looking at +9 happiness for three resources not to mention that you can trade your extra singles, movies and musicals to other civs for resources you may not have, like Aluminum or Iron or Oil. Add in the fact that you likely have temples, theatres or whatever other happiness producing buildings and the fact that the broadcast tower (along with threatres and coliseums) will give +1 happiness for every 10% culture. If you have all three in a city, then that means +3 [ICON_HAPPY] for only raising the culture setting up by 10%. For warmongering this is huge![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmongering seems to fit America as a charismatic Washington or Lincoln also gets quicker promotions and you will have more money coming in to support a large army and upgrade your troops. The Mall is a Cottage Economy UB, but Lincoln is a Specialist Economy Leader, so there may be some mismatch here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although some may feel that is comes too late or when the game is pretty much finished and you are either milking the score or just mopping up, it seems to me that given a large varied collection of resources, the Mall gives the American player the ability and flexibilty to trade extra health/happiness resources away and not suffer their loss, or to exploit them and kick into high production/war monger gear and not look back. Lincoln is a bonafide space contender, quite a deal over Washington and Roosevelt.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Arabian Madrassa (Library - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the Chinese Pavilion is the "Big Daddy" of culture UBs, then the Madrassa is the "Big Momma". With a whopping +4 culture per turn is lends itself to a culture victory. Given that Writing is an early tech and you would likely build a library anyway, it's a no-brainer to place Writing higher up in your tech queue. In fact, I have experiemented with beelining for it and not worrying about early religions for cultural games. Libraries cost the same, but in addition to assigning to scientists, you can [BOLD]also[\BOLD] assign two prophets.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The culture route is likely the biggest draw for this one, but you could also concentrate on farming GP and GS only if you like. Lightbulbing to get ahead in tech and maybe settling some of them as well so that you could build the UN quickly. The big culture ensures that you have the resources if you join/start the space race or just own all the land around you for domination victories. Farming GPs will help you progress nicely through the religious tech and that means more religions, holy cities, shrines and mo' money, mo' money, mo' money! And it can also help you control religion spreading for diplomatic manipulation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other then the danger of polluting your GP pool if you are not careful and don't want that for a cultural victory, I can't think of any problems.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] All-round, early UB with simple bonuses, but powerful if used to their strengths.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Aztec Sacrificial Altar (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I just realized that these badboys are only 90 shields compared to the 120 needed for a courthouse! In addition to halving maintenaince costs in the city it also halves the anger caused by whipping buildings in the city. I have not played many Aztec games but I recall reading about a false OCC on another forum where the Aztecs started on a Plains/Hill island and needed to wait until Optics to get across the ocean. The prospect of rushing buildings through slavery seemed to make the task more managable. I had played as the Incas one time on the 1000 AD Earth map and I never left slavery until I had emancipation. I wonder about the same strategy with the Aztecs, seems to be far more effective. Finally, everything gets the discounted unhappiness from rushing (amazing what nice people can point out and you can verify by playing the game and testing). Holy Quetzalcoatl! That changes everything![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like the courthouse, it also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could whip their hands bloody, but to what advantage? Fast culture, fast science/research or fast infrastructure like banks, grocers, etc. Space race might benefit from this strategy, but can projects be whipped? Once you whip production buildings, you can pump out units and dominate/conquer the world. Or just whip the units out and slay everything in your path.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A large spanning empire through conquest would be able to build cheaper courthouses and then whip some culture and happiness buildings to help keep maintenance costs down and develop captured cities into productive contributors more quickly. In war times you could have the possibility of both drafting and then whipping units. Finally, you can finish off a wonder earlier and perhaps beat the AI to a few depending on difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In terms of Bts, we have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the whipping unhappiness reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy. The courthouse is likely not always the first items in a build queue, but I feel the Altar has two things that make it a higher priority.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Altars come too late to help whip barracks and the aggressive Monty gets cheaper barracks anyway. But, now that I know the reduced penalty for whipping [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to units, a quick ASAP conquest victory is likely not going to be done with CoL and the Altar. This is one of the reasons I have used this technique very little but am more open to trying mid-game conquests. If you are on a large map with many civs, this UB makes more sense. You could be pumping out settlers and workers and units and scouts or even missionaries. However, continuing whipping will keep the population low in those cities if you want to be economical since larger cities taker longer to get back up to that high population and having low populated cities would mean that perhaps you are not utilizing all of the good tiles available to be worked in the fat cross. Having low population might result in slower teching, but if you are whipping settlers and workers and the Altars help lower maintainence then having many small cities might offset that. Eventually, the unhappiness will catch up however, but I am sure that there are plenty of savvy players out there that have slavery fine tuned to both an art and science.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An appropriately related UB for the Aztecs, but not the culture bomb like in Civ 3 and not as powerful as could be due its somewhat late appearance. That being said, an Oracle slingshot could give you it quicker and then it might be worth more, but a slingshot solely to use this UB doesn't really merit the risk, especially on higher levels and needing Math too. It can be effective for starting out and if it is the first thing build/whipped in a newly captured city, then it will become a contributing city soon enough. I owe this UB an apology for not originally realizing the full potential and the ability to whip units. I has been fun using when playing as the Aztecs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Babylonian Garden (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How cute, a UB named for their Hanging Gardens. The building gives extra +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] and this UB is much like the Ottoman Hammam except the Babylonians getting a health bonus on the Colosseum rather than a happiness bonus on the Aqueduct. This UB will give health bonuses independent of what food resources their may be. It also has it´s happiness linked to the culture slider and costs 80 hammers, just like the Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being aggressive and organized as well as the Babylonian UU might make Hammurabi a warmonger candidate. Assuming more cities earlier on, perhaps one could make use of the the extra health. Certainly high polluting cities for a warmonger or space race could use it. Organized gets cheap lighthouses (more food), courthouses (faster expansion) and factories for more production. High production with extra health could mean some good warring possibilities with his Aggression or it could mean space race contention.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It comes with Construction and is 20 hammers less expensive than an Aqueduct. A Theatre is still a cheaper option for happiness if you don´t need the health. Later in the game, when high production is needed, but unhealthy, this UB will give a slight health advantage, but the beauty is that is comes so early that you would not have to stop producing military units or spaceship components to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This UB will have to be thoroughly tested before evaluation can be made.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Byzantine Hippodrome (Theatre - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hippodrome is like a super Theatre. Sure, you get +3 [ICON_CULTURE], the two Artists to assign and the bonus for dyes, but you also get one for horses, hence the name HIPPOdrome. It also has a base happiness of +1, but it that wasn't enough (and it never is), you also get +1 [ICON_HAPPY]for every 5% culture on your slider, instead of the normal 10%. This essentially doubles that ability of the building to give happiness from culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Where to begin? Well the extra happiness from a smaller culture slider means more money devoted to maintenance of cities for your expanding empire, more military units and upgrades, more research, you name it. Justinian I is Imperialistic and you will have more money available to take advantage of your fast settler production. Since the Cataphract UU is dependent on horses, it is a no brainer to try and connect the horses ASAP. Being religious gives the flexibility of fast settlement and then gearing up for war or space exploration or anything else. Running Serfdom and OR and than switching to Feudalism and Theocracy. The extra happiness is great and also leads to a economic advantage which is up to your imagination to exploit. This UB is a far better choice than building a Colosseum for the Byzantines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is never a drawback, and as stated earlier, this leads to an economically advantage. Even without horses or dyes, there is still the +1 base [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While not overpowered on paper, it remains to be seen how useful this UB actually will be. So far, it looks very promising.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Carthaginian Cothon (Harbour - double production for expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, a harbour which gives +1 trade routes to a coastal city to Hannibal, a financial leader who starts with fishing. What is the catch, you ask? I can't think of any. I have only played a game or two with Carthage, but you gotta love their chances.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First off, Financial and Fishing is already great. Find some coastal tiles with food sources and settle down. In fact when I play as Carthage (or the Vikings for that matter) it's nothing but coastal cities if I can help it. Your income will give a fast tech pace and you can plan for diplomatic or space victories, although I am not sure about others. I guess being ahead in tech will help keeping a more advanced army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The base number of trade routes for a city is one, but if you have discovered Currency and build a castle or run the Free Market civic in [BOLD]addition[\BOLD] to your Cothons, that means 3 trade routes. (You can't do both since Economic obsoletes the castle.) The Colossus adds +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] water tiles and the Great Lighthouse adds [BOLD]+2 trade routes in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] coastal cities.[\BOLD] If you have a map with many civs, and nice silver or gold or calendar enabling resources which gives you huge coin besides your financial bonus you will have some rich cities. If you are around late enough and make an early move for flight and the UN, the Airport and the Common Currency Resolution give you [BOLD]another[\BOLD] 2 trade routes![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Didn't talk about cottage spamming yet, so there. I said it. Cottage Spamming. Now, need I mention the +50% trade route yield? That +50% on your 7 trade routes! Don't forget the additional 100% from the Temple of Artemis. Add markets, banks and Wall Street and you will be using C-notes for TP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Compass can come pretty late, but a beeline or slingshot or a combo of both to iron working could land you your cothons earlier than you might think. The tech or time lost getting your UB will be made up for when you have +1 trade routes in your lucrative coastal cities even if they cost an extra 20 hammers. And that may be the only drawback, you need to have coastal cities. If you want to reign supreme with Hannibal, you need high sea levels and likely some sort of Archipelago map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than being map dependent, this UB is quite possibly the best matched with the civs leader traits and starting techs. With more money you can support a larger army/empire or research faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Celtic Dun (Walls - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Walls that produce units with a free Guerrilla I promotion for +20% defense on hills. In a discussion about the best UUs I read that Swordmen or Melee units can't get the Guerrilla promotion. This would explain both why the UU starts with it and why the UB gives it to units produced in that city. Only Archery and Gunpowder units can get the promotion. Siege, Melee, Mounted and Armoured don't.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to remember that the G3 30 Hills Attack bonus only coming when attcking [BOLD]into[\BOLD] Hills and not from them. Still, the 30% withdrawal is also handy and has helped out greatly in games I have played, so whether you have hills or not thw withdrawal is worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I am not sure whether or not holding off researching Rifling, the obsoleting tech matters because any musketmen or grenadiers that you build will have the Guerrilla I, but once you have riflemen with a strength of 14, maybe grenadiers with 12 don't look so good. Perhaps if your opponents have rifling you would hold off on getting it yourself as the bonus grenadiers have against rifles and their Guerrilla bonus might prove worth keeping for a bit or at least until you have a good amount of them. It would all depend on the other promotions they have and your opponents. Upgrading your Gallic Swordsman to Macemen you do not lose the Guerrilla I. Even if they were given Guerrilla II or even III [BOLD]before[\BOLD] being upgraded then they keep it. Some shrewd manipulation of the promotion chart would prove most rewarding. Build your archery and gunpowder units, give them the G2 promotion and then discover Rifling. Upgrade your archery units and musketmen to riflemen, remembering that only Grenadiers can be promoted to Machine Gunners (considered siege unit). Your G2 or G3 Gallic Warriors becomes Macemen and then either Riflemen or Grenadiers. Riflemen and Machine Gunners can both be promoted to Mechanized Infantry (gunpowder unit), while only Riflemen can be upgraded to SAM Infantry. Below is a crude flowchart:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT] -----\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \__ [COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]/--&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT] _/\[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]\[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT] -----/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \_\[COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\--&gt;  [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT] ___/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]  \[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT]___________________/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \___[COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]+10% City Attack[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with Guerrilla I[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]9[TAB]1[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Melee Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Who wouldn't want these Mech or SAM Infantry units with double movement on Hills, +30% Defence, +25% Hill Attack and 30% chance of Withdrawal? Most players sadly undervalue what this UB can do for you later in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being charismatic, both Brennus and new-comer Boudica give quicker promotions and if you wanted the Guerrilla I promotion anyway then you are free to choose something else. Don't forget the extra +1 happiness per city and the +1 happiness from the Monument: early happiness for warring or ignoring temple for other more important buildings such as courthourse, forges, libraries, etc. Warring on a hilly or highlands type map seems a good strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could build a stack of any units and upgrade them with the G1 promotion remaining. This bonus makes you just one closer to G2 which gives another 30% defense in Hills and well as double movement on Hills, making hilly maps such as highlands easier to navigate. Remember that with the patch the G3 promotion gives the +25% attack bonus [BOLD]and[\BOLD]a 30% chance of withdrawal! With a charismatic leader you could easily get both of those either out of the barracks and with one fight or from a GG, but don´t forget the +4 from running Theocracy and Feudalism. Running both of those and having a barracks means units made will have 7/8 XP to start. Finally, Boudica is aggressive so not only does this mean the Combat I promotion for free, but also cheaper barracks. This means building barracks [BOLD]and[\BOLD] a Dun just got more practical even or especially without stone. But a free Combat I is nothing to sneeze at if you are promoting up the Guerrilla line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One might build the Great Wall and "trick" the AI to try and fight you in your backyard. Your Guerrilla resistance troops will protect any hill resource and if you give them Woodsman I or higher or even more Guerrilla, you will give them a heck of a time trying to dislodge you. They would defend any cats or trebs or whatever you bring along if you fight on their turf too. Giving unit both Guerrilla II and Woodsman II means a versatile unit capable of sneak attacks on weaker units or maybe even an invaluable resource pillager.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would suggest delaying Rifling until you have upgraded all your G1 units into musketman or grenadiers, maybe a 50-50 mix. Discover Rifling, but then upgrade them into Riflemen, and from their you can have Infantry, SAM Infantry [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Mechanized Infantry with this defensive bonus. Going in pillaging the AI resources for space race or preventing them from building nukes can be done with these expert pillagers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a nice bonus, but not really any drawbacks. In fact now that walls and duns give +25% bombardment protection (about time) and castles do too, one might be more likely to build castles if they didn't before, especially since in BtS they also give +25% espionage points. With both a Dun and Castle one gets +100% defense and +50% bombardment defense from non-gunpowder units. The extra trade route from the castle and the espionage points are throw-ins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For warmongering or pillaging/protecting resources no matter what the goal this UB can provide you with units that will have an advantage on hills. How you use those units, promote or upgrade them will depend on your goals, immediate and future needs and terrain/resources. The strength in this UB is the versatility it provides. I predict that Boudica´s traits will make the Celts a more attractive Civ to play as. She will be a warmonger´s dream and possibly one of the most fierce of opponents. Outside of warmongering, there is not much this UB can do other than help one explore a hilly map more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Chinese Pavlion (Theatre - double production for Creative civ):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The undisputed culture building king and "Big Daddy" of the cultural UBs. Cultural victory fans must have thought they hit the bigtime when they saw this beauty. Aside from the +3 culture the it gives +25% for culture in the city. Building the pavilion alone gives a culture per turn of 3.75, slightly less than the Madrassa, but this will double after 1000 years, but more importantly the 25% is added to everything.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What makes the pavilion the culture champion is the +25% bonus continues throughout the game and so the quicker the culture from other buildings can be added to the city, the better. Imagine a few early wonders with their culture doubling and then the added 25%. Sure, it's not game breaking, but one might not feel as obligated to crank the culture switch or convert to Free Speech as quickly with the bonus this UB gives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The traits of the leaders don't really work that well with this building, but it does ensure no matter what that nearby resources our yours. This allows you to persue the late game win conditions such as diplomatic, space race or a late conquest. Or more likely, early in the game you will have more resources than otherwise and you can dictate the trade terms and stifle the AI by denying them that one precious iron or uranium or oil or aluminum as the case may be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not able to overly accelerate the cultural win time frame, this building I have found to be quite amazing for domination games. With a few founded religions and no state religion and a pavilion, you just keep pumping out settlers and units and let the borders expand like your waistline after college.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than persuing a cultural/domination victory or claiming resources, there in not much extra outside of the normal theatre uses/features. Even in a cultural game, it is not enough to be a real advantage because of China's leader traits or strating techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] What you see is what you get. Nothing to really want to you play China any more than you normally would, except maybe for a quicker domination win or being a resource hog and super businessman/diplomat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 hammer on every river tile and costs 180 hammers. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn two citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"The fact that it obsoletes fairly early is really not much of an issue for the purpose it serves. Both leaders can benefit from this. For the most part it really only takes one city with one, though using Stonehenge to put it in multiple cities isn't bad at all. The great prophets that you can generate quickly from the priest specialists allow you to claim several of the mid to late religions. This is one of the key features you tend to want to accomplish when going for a culture victory. Once you get 2-3 religions you don't really care to much about making this building go obsolete and switching to temples to support any other priest specialists if you still need to grab the rest of the religions or if you want holy shrines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it will have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][u][BOLD]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[/b][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres and libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You could however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It also has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is the most synergistic combo of both leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities and cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants also double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists and gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two more GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries and universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units and Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture and the growth increase. Even if you built a granary first, you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"This is a GREAT UB for late-Ancient through ealy-Industrial era warmongering. It really speeds up your rate of assimilation of newly-conquered lands. The crucial point lies in the pop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In your earliest wars, the populations of conquered cities will tend to be in the 3 to 5 range. If you pop-rush a monument and a granary (esp. if you're Expansive), the population of the city will recover fairly quickly (assuming decent food resources available/not-plundered). However, later in the game, usually about the time catapults show up, the AI has usually developed urban pop levels so that core cities you capture routinely have pops of 8 to 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is where the Terrace really shines: it saves you from having to pop-rush a granary and a culture building. This point is particularly important if you're not playing a Creative leader. Mind you, it's a subtle difference between having a captured city with a pop of 8 or 9 instead of 6 or 7. However, a crucial point to remember is that the higher the pop level, the longer it takes to recover a pop point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you conquer and absorb a well-developed empire of around 6 or 8 cities (a not-unlikely scenario on Standard maps). Now imagine an extra tile or two of production from each of those cities. If you had to rush both buildings, you would be dozens of turns behind, relatively speaking, in production compared to the Incan. This is huge! Properly played, the snowball-effect of swallowing a rival empire or two in the mid-game is significantly more noticeable when you play Huayna."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 [ICON_PRODUCTION] on every river tile and costs 180 [ICON_PRODUCTION]s. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn [BOLD]two[\BOLD] citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it [BOLD]will[\BOLD] have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres [BOLD]and[\BOLD] libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You [BOLD]could[\BOLD] however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It [BOLD]also[\BOLD] has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is [BOLD]the[\BOLD] most synergistic combo of [BOLD]both[\BOLD] leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants [BOLD]also[\BOLD] double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two [BOLD]more[\BOLD] GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries [BOLD]and[\BOLD] universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture [BOLD]and [\BOLD]the growth increase. Even if you built a granary [BOLD]first[\BOLD], you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 [ICON_CULTURE] per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Indian Mausoleum (Jail):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Mausoleum UB comes with Constitution like its Jail counterpart with -25% WW but it also gives +2 happiness. The manual states it gives +1 GPP and is more likely to produce a Great Prophet, but in playing Warlords, this is not true. In Beyond the Sword, both the jail and the mausoleum give +4 espionage points and increase espionage point production by 50%, in addition allowing one to assign two Spy specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well the jail is high on a warmonger's wish list and the BtS version is sure to be even higher. I can see on higher levels how the happiness cap can be raised and WW reduced. As I don't usually have long wars I don't really know how high the WW can get, but I imagine on higher levels it is quite a bit. If you have Police State this is a total of 75% reduction in WW, which is nothing to sneeze at if WW problems got you down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +4 espionage points and the ability to turn two citizens into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the reduced war weariness. Running Nationhood now has the added bonus of another +25% espionage point production for a total of 75% with the jail/mausoleum, in addition to barracks giving +2 happiness and being able to draft 3 units per turn. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both are spiritual. Organized Asoka can build larger empires early on and Philosophical Gandhi can pop GPs and build cheaper universities. These combos don't necessarily screa for warmonger, especially given their Fast Worker UU, a decidedly unwarlike unit, however the extra spying power could be used to ensure that you are not beaten in the space race or the diplomatic arena. Then again, it's a free way to protect your nation no matter what.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I don't read much about people playing as India to conquer the world and wage war. This UB is still like a normal jail, except for the +2 happiness. I am not sure how many players will build them in BtS, but in Warlords they are n[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will reserve judgement for others to add their input, but for now, this UB seems out of place and not very useful or synergistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Japanese Shale Plant (Coal Plant):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A coal plant gives power (electricity) to the city which adds to the factory production bonus of 25% an additional 50% at a cost of +2 [ICON_UNHEALTHY]. You need a factory for the coal plant or the Japanese Shale Plant, however the Shale Plant itself gives its own +10% production as well. This means a 60% bonus with the two buildings for the same price. The real bonus however is that while Coal Plants requires coal to produce this power, the Shale Plant does not. Both the Factory and Shale Plant can be built once you have discovered Assmebly Line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 60% hammer increase from buildings (forge, factory and shale plant), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the Shale Plant), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings/wonders. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource when building a spaceship component. The Space Ladder gives another 50% increase. So a basic bonus of +185% in your capital (+135% out of capital) with a bonus of +125% or 200% respectively, when building buildings/wonders or projects. Add in the Iron Works and non-Captial cities are between +360% or +435%. Depending on your base production, things can get quite a productive boost, but if you were to whip or buy these buildings into a low production city it might make a huge difference as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Aggressive and Protective, Tokugawa's units start off well promoted and this makes warring an attractive choice. For late game wars, there likely isn't a unit that can't be pumped out in 1 or 2 turns. And space race can be just as great a goal. Diplomatic you want to beeline for MM and wouldn't sidetrack yourself for this building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than having little health resources, which doesn't seem too likely by the time you research Assembly Line, not much of a reason not to build this is you aren't wanting to be a powerhouse. That being said, the leader traits are not that complementary with it. Not only that, it is a late game UB and some games you would not get the chance to build it. Given that it is a late game UB, it is quite useful for the fact that coal is not required to get the +60% production, while other civs need coal to get their +50%. Than again, you likely want coal so that you can railroad your mines, quarries and lumbermills. Not much of a benefit if you look at it that way, but until you do get coal, you have +60% production boost, that other civs would not have had.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not as overall synergistic as the German Assembly Plant when it comes to leader traits, this UB serves a similar purpose and makes it hard not to compare. This one is a little more map dependent (due to the +10% hammer as apposed to 2 extra engineers assigned) and that means that doing the math to see which advantage is greater is not so easy or relevant. Again for a late wonder, space race and conquest victories greatly benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Khymer Baray (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Baray UB comes with Mathematics and is an Aqueduct which gives 1 extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food helps any leader, regardless of their traits, however, Suryavarman is expansive which means extra health. Building this UB would cause a double-whammy if you will. Not only will increased health reduce any wasted food, but allow for more growth which is possible by the Baray's bonus. The expansive trait only adds to the possibility that the city will grow larger as it has a higher health cap. More food also means taking advantage of the faster worker production, which is only a 25% bonus in BtS, but still greatly helped out with the UB. Being creative means claiming food resources to get the whole this going. Talk about cyclic benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food, a disadvantage? One could even use the cereal mills corporation and trade away food if not needed. I have had cities grow too fast and not have enough things to build to keep them happy. Slavery fans would do well to exploit this extra growth and convert it into production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After extra happiness and production, extra food is nothing to complain about and ranks with them and some great bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Korean Seowon (University - double production for Philosophical leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building costs the same and gives the same culture as a university, but it gives an extra +10% research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wang Kon is financial and so you can maximize this UB's use by making sure you do all the things you would have done with Korea anyway. That means, cottage spamming and getting other high income tiles from plantations and mines and coasts. You have the income boosting building and wonders and the science ones as well. Simply this building just gives another 10%, so take the advantage and go for a diplomatic or space win or keep you army further ahead in tech to protect your empire or add to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More science can't ever be bad can it? It comes early/mid-game, but it's on the way to the Liberalism bee-line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great advantage assuming you can build a nice SSC or several ones. You would usually build a university anyway, maybe now just a little sooner to really add to the tech lead (or perhaps a little later in the queue, knowing that you have the extra boost once it is built).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Malinese Mint (Forge - double production for Industrious leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a forge with an added 10% wealth increase and yet another UB for a financial that has some great synergy. I would say that a lot of the strategies used with England's financial leaders would be used here, but with a slight change.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building can come pretty early and Mansa Musa has a reputation for being a tech-whore as an AI. I like settling on the west side of the GP map and mine everything in site. There is also dyes, furs and incense too! What is great about the boost is that even though it is only 10%, it is still an increase and once you tech your way to new civics, as a spiritual leader, you can totally take advantage immediately and not wait until you can switch 2 or 3 at a time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because it is a production building as well, and you would naturally build it early for the gold bonus, you will have a higher production than maybe another civ with just a forge. It is more appealing, plus it is needed for many wonders, not the least of which is the Colossus giving +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] cities water tiles. If you have trade routes going, as many as possible, markets, grocers, banks and Wall Street a rich city is made richer than another civ would be with the same city. Not only because of the wealth bonus, but because the forge means building all of the other wealth increasing building faster. It never goes obsolete either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More money, means faster discoveries, and diplomatic and space wins are the popular targets, however the Skirmisher can be a pretty good UU and even later, the extra wealth can be parlayed into better unit support and more/quicker upgrades. Even on higher levels, if you are lagging in the tech race, you will have more money to buy them, or more money to bribe the AI to do your bidding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 7 trade routes (as outlined earlier with Carthage), all the wealth buildings, great base tiles and maybe even some merchants or Great Merchants, you have plenty of money and if running the Universal Suffrage civic, you can rush buy more quickly/often than otherwise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't expire, so it will continue to be useful and becomes more powerful as the game progresses because cities will grow and more lucrative routs determined for the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A money boosting UB is a good one and can really help out early. You can afford to expand a little quicker if you bankroll allows it. You would need to have some big cash tiles or plenty of cottages, but then again, you would build those anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mayan Ball Court (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Ball Court gives +3 [ICON_HAPPY](instead of the Colosseum´s +1) and the +1 [ICON_HAPPY]per 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra happiness could be used to full effectiveness as a warmonger by skipping Drama and going for Construction, much like Alexander might do in using his Odeon. Having happy people means more tiles being worked for the financial Pacal II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More research needed, but a Theatre with dyes for 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] over an 80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] Ball Court might do the trick. Of course as the city grows and war weariness sets in or you have limited resources, this UB will make people happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is always good, because it lets you pursue any victory you desire. You can combat war weariness or have large producing cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mongolian Ger (Stable):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The stable introduced in Warlords gives +2 XP for Mounted units build in the city and the Mongolian Ger gives +4 points. This UB is very appropriate and the affects are cumulative with Barracks, the Pentagon and other XP bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, both Mongolian leader start are Aggressive which means cheaper barracks. We are already looking at +7 XP, then if you factor in Theocracy and Vassalage, that's +11 all together. That is enough for 3 promotions before seeing any combat and any GG you settle and the Pentagon are just a bonus. Upgrading all the way through up to Calvary would be the idea and with the right promotions you should be able to keep most of your troops up until Rocketry. You could plan for the future and give promotions that complement your gunships, or use the advantage to conquer early. In BtS, the Stable is made obsolete with Advanced Flight, thereby lengthening the use of this UB. The fact that Genghis Khan is also imperialistic means more GGs as long as you are warmongering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB complements the UU, the Keshik and the civ itself unlike any other UB for the other civs. To build a Keshik you need Archery, Horseback Riding - which you need to build the Ger anyway - and of course Horses revealed by Animal Husbandry. The Mongol starting techs are Hunting and the Wheel. Hunting is the prereq for both AH and Archery. Your mounted units all benefit, but lets look more closely at why. The keshik starts with some of the better bonuses. Let's analyze the mounted units that the Mongols can build below and remember that none of them get defensive bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Chariot[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]4[TAB]2[TAB]10% Withdrawal, 100% vs. Axemen[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Keshik[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]2[TAB]20% Withdrawal, 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, -10% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Cats &amp; Trebs[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]War Elephant[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]90[TAB]10[TAB]2[TAB]Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cats &amp; Trebs*[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]2[TAB]15% Withdrawal, Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cannon[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]15[TAB]2[TAB]30% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Cannon[TAB][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]160[TAB]24[TAB]4[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. Armoured[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, Cannot capture City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Artillery &amp; Mobile Artillery*[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Mounted Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Helicopter Unit [COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]None of these units can take Cover, Drill or CR promotions, but the mounted ones can get Amphibious, Charge, Formation, Pinch and Shock. If you were to give Flanking I and II to your Keshik for +30% withdrawal, that is a total of 50% and when it's upgraded to Calvary or Gunships it still adds to their intrinsic withdrawal abilities. Giving Charge to a Keshik means +75% versus their Cats and Trebs, and as a Knight it will have +75% against cannons. A Chariot with Shock will have +125% versus Axemen but only +25% with the more advanced units, but it might be a great boost. Then again you likely skip chariots and go straight to Keshiks. With the right promotions, the Keshiks might even be better than Knights especially if you don't have iron available and the fact they ignore terrain costs. A Keshik with C3 and Formation is just as good as a unpromoted Knight and as can be seen above, the Keshik has much more intrinsic abilities than a Knight such as withdrawal, bonus against cats and trebs and 1st Strike chance. Although the Knight is immune to 1st strikes and doesn't have the 10% city attack penalty. Clearly, the key is to use the XP bonus to promote according to your needs and strength based on the situation, the opponent, the map, etc. It remains to be seen how the Charge promotions for upgraded units will work with the new system of mounted units having a flank attack versus siege units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mounted units are a large part of a balanced army, and the UB lasts fairly long, even longer in BtS. If other civs couldn't build stables this might be overpowering, which is likely why the stable was added as well. This UB maybe isn't as synergistic with Kubla, but it still gives an increases in GGPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having the extra XPs out of the gate helps to earn GG points faster and build wonders like the Heroic Epic and West Point. For warmongering this is a great UB, for other victory conditions, it would help one war early to collect more land and resources and then settle down into a more peaceful victory, or at least keep a stronger army than without the UB for protecting cities while pursuing a peaceful victory. (But that is not why one plays the Mongols) War, what is it good for? Huh! Building Gers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Native American (Totem Pole):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another UB which replaces the Monument. This one gives +3 XPs to Archer units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Archery, but that is often traded for or even found from goody huts. The big deal is that he is Protective, giving his archers Drill I and City Garrison I [BOLD]before[\BOLD] adding the +3 XP bonus from the Totem Pole. Much like the Dun, this UB will offer some flexiblity and unique possiblity in upgrading units. More research will need to be done, but it suffices to say that this UB will make the Native Americans particularly difficult to conquer. Like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put the UB in every one of your cities which is bascially an archer Barracks in every city. This means an effective early archer rush, without wasting time to build the Barracks as Totem are much cheaper. With the Barracks, however, every archery unit built there will be very tough to kill on a hill behind those walls and castles that Protective Sitting Bull can cheaply build, never mind when they get upgraded to gunpowder units! His Philosophical trait might mean that a few GA culture bombs give him some more defense or he is free to use them for whatever he wishes seeing as no one is going to stop him.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let´s not forget the Dog Soldier UU (Axeman) with its strengths against melee units and also not requiring copper or iron. This UB practically gives two UUs to the Native Americans. Whether warmongering or trying to hang on against the AI on higher difficulty levels, this UB would be a key part of any strategy. Holding off on discovering Astronomy might be a prudent strategy if you are running into trouble. Imagine pumping out archer and longbowman early game with the bonuses and then upgrading them to stronger units. They will have a slight XP advantage with all over factors equal, meaning they will promote earlier. Let's imagine the +6 with Totem and Barracks and then running Feudalism and Theocracy for a 10 XPs off the bat. That is enough for 3 promotions to start, never mind fighting off barbs (although I think barb battles will only take you up to 10 XP anyway) or lone, weakened enemy units. Any Great General settled in a city takes you that much closer to a fourth promotion and your Heroic Epic. Let's analyze what Sitting Bull's archers will be able to do and what promotions will carry into the gunpowder age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that Protective Sitting Bull will have his archery and gunpowder units start with Drill I and City Garrison I, meaning they can already get Cover, Shock or Pinch (once gunpowder is discovered) on their first promotion out of the Totem. With barracks and the others bonuses mentioned, a second promotion could be Formation (bonus against mounted units) or get up to City Garrison III with one promotion to spare! The beauty of this UB compared to say, the Dun is the versatility of the promotions one can pursue, not necessarily being guilted into Guerrilla II and III. Then again, G3 archery units holding on for gunpowder promotions (see Celts) would not be such a terrible thing would it? Note too, that the Machine Gun is a siege unit and cannot receive Guerrilla or City Garrison promotions, however it is upgraded from Grenadiers which are upgraded from your G3 or CG3 archers. Interesting, no?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build can also be one of the first ones obsoleted, maybe it is not that much of a big deal if you play your cards right. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to explore and colonize other continents. By then you would have to have built all the archery units you anticipate needing and then work on upgrading them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think building cheap archery units with promotions not available to gunpowder or siege units (machine gun) can pay dividends given the right military and geo-political considerations. Like the Mongols, outside of warmongering or building a military to protect your empire, this UB does not hold many other uses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ottoman Hammam (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Does this UB have Expansion written all over it or what? One can really concentrate on building a large empire with large cities a lot sooner with the extra 2 happiness this building supplies in addition to the +2 health. No need to worry about religions if you miss them or drama if you prefer other techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I feel Mehmed has the potential to be the best expansive leader as he is organized which means cheap lighthouses, courthouses [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories too. This means more food, less upkeep and more production, respectively from those buildings. This resultant larger population and therefore greater production, which leads to quicker unhappiness and pollution is further complemented by his Expansive trait which, in addition to +2 health per city, gives cheaper granaries and harbours which help reduce pollution and improve growth and economy. Those of you upset that the expansive trait was nerfed to only +2 health stop your whining because this guy has [BOLD]5[\BOLD], count'em [BOLD][BOLD]five[\BOLD][\BOLD] buildings to build cheaper and they [BOLD]all[\BOLD] mean larger and more productive cities. The happiness cap needs to be much higher for the Ottomans, and this is where the Hammam really shines, because it helps keep these larger cities happy and therefore more productive. If that is not enough, the faster worker production means an earlier hook up of resources for [BOLD]more[\BOLD] production, happiness and health bonuses. But also remember the less time building workers, means more time growing in population, which means more reason for a Hammam. This buiding does not expire either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for newcomer, Suleiman, who is Imperialistic and Philosophical, making cities healthy and happy at the same time is great for the GP farming you might do with him. He doesn't have all the cheap buliding that Mehmed II has and his two traits sort of conflict when it comes to warmongering; GP farming versus the increased GG appearance. But faster setter production is also a great thing for domination victories and that is what the Hammam can give. Havving many cities sooner and popping out GPs means a larger empire with abilities to conquer space or the world. He will have more cities, and larger, happier, cleaner ones at that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It might not seem as powerful as other UBs, but you eventually build one anyway, at least in your larger, more polluted cities. This just makes them happy so you can concentrate on building more units or science/production buildings. Let's face it: it's a drag to have to stop building units or wonders because of the unhappiness or health. Kill two birds with one stone with the Hammam. Cultural games where happiness is not much of an issue are still advantaged especially at higher levels. In fact, this building really makes a difference in higher levels where happiness [BOLD]and[\BOLD] health caps are lower or on maps where happiness resources are not readily available to you. Further to that, you could delay discovering Calendar as you might not need the happiness immediately and that means culture from monuments or Stonehenge will last you a little longer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A strong UB which helps with supporting large cities for whatever reasons you may have: military powerhouse, GP farm, etc. If this was Civ3 where the Aqueduct was need to grow past size 6, this would be huge, but even though it is not needed for that, I really can't think of any drawbacks with this UB. Quite an excellent UB.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Persian Apothecary (Grocer):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary, besides being the most difficult UB to pronounce, is a grocer that gives an additional +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] to the city. That is on top of the health from plantation resources. With a granary, harbour, apothecary and the supermarket you get health from rice, corn, wheat, clam, crab, fish, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. So, for those of you counting at home, that's 16 [ICON_HEALTHY] points! So that means the ability to build production-boosting, pollution-causing buildings. Late in the game with high populations and those buildings or even on higher levels, this can be useful. However, you may not be looking to have a late finishing game or even want to detour for the late tech Refrigeration, especially if the Apothecary gives an intrinsic +2 health even without resources and so Supermarkets are not a necessity. That is pretty nice, no matter what level one plays on. You are afforded the option to trade away health resources for more important ones, such as: uranium, oil, iron, aluminum, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Imperialistic, Cyrus has faster settler production and this means more cities quicker. As a result there is likely to be more health resources claimed more quickly. Happiness is not the problem with this charismatic leader either, so where can this health bonus be applied the best? Well, highly populated and production oriented cities will benefit so that means space race or conquest/domination victories and/or GP farming.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like Churchill or Tokagawa, Cyrus might be one of the ultimate warmongers with his traits. They allow faster XP accumulation [BOLD]and[\BOLD] faster GG appearance! Late game wars which require forges, factories, etc to really pump out the expensive units will have a higher health cap. This makes more of a difference the higher the difficulty, but on quicker or lower setting, perhaps not as much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for Darius I, with Vanilla Washington´s traits of Financial and Organized, the extra health from the UB will complement both the food from cheap lighthouses and the production from cheap factories. Financial seems handy in teching towards a space or diplomatic finish. More will need to be seen from Darius.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary needs both Currency and Guilds to build it, and guilds can come quite late, but then again guilds also gives Knights and a warmonger might like to upgrade his highly promoted Immortals. Some slingshotting could get you there faster, but maybe more needed in higher levels although I don't know exactly since the tech pace is likely quicker.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Cyrus, faster GG emergence and quicker promotion ability means that the game is more likely won early with a conquest/domination goal and maybe the health bonuses is not so well-exploited because pollution might not be as high for one reason or another. For a fast teching Darius with an ability to maintain a large empire the extra health might benefit him more in the long run.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building seems more suited for higher levels, but can make an impact late game with high pollution problems. Environmentalism can be avoided/delayed and chopping could be done without fear of health-induced starvation or founding a city near many FPs. Again without health resources it becomes very useful and for that reason the ability to trade away extra health resources for more strategic ones could be very useful as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Portuguese Feitoria (Customs House):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Feitoria replaces another new building, the Customs House. You need Economics and a Harbour to build it and it grants a 50% boost to all [BOLD]foreign[\BOLD] trade coming in from [BOLD]overseas[\BOLD]. The Portuguese Feitoria gives one extra commerce in all water tiles, making coastal cities seem like you are a financial leader.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a very interesting UB to say the least. First off, it acts like a Colossus in each city that builds it, giving the extra commerce and a little like the Temple of Artemis without the Priest. If you were to have a large coastal city, some sea resources, a harbour, a lighthouse, and the Feitoria, that would really be a great city. Now imagine the Colossus and the Great Lighthouse in this city. Let´s go a little further with it being a capital running Bureaucracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the new concept of colonies in the game, it is likely that the AI will use this UB to its full advantage. More research will be needed, but Expansive and Imperialistic Joao will be able to build settlers [BOLD]and[\BOLD] workers more quickly. He is the only one, which is interesting enough. Starting with fishing will mean access to food resources to even more quickly pump those guys out. He seems flexible in pursuing either conquest/domination or space/cultural victories. It seems the AI like human player swill try for colonial expansion early and often to make use of this UB and the UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is assumed that the UB and the Customs House can only be built on a coastal city given that it requires a harbour. Furthermore, the Customs House would be useless if running Mercantilism, thereby closing all foreign trade routes. It seems the Free Market, with the +1 trade route would really be the choice civic for this building. However, the Feitoria also gets +1 commerce in all water tiles, remember. Joao II could run which ever civic he wants and still get the commerce bonus. I would still recommend Free Market for the larger benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It remaining to be seen how effective this UB will be. It is definitely map dependent, but if you have a few coastal cities and are up to the 6-7 possible trades routes in them, then this UB in only a few cities would still be an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Roman Forum (Market):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, a UB that gives +25 GP birth rate! This is likely to become a favourite. There are no philosophical Roman leaders, but running Pacifism with the Forum and National Epic would still give +225%, not too shabby. Maybe with just the 125% you feel that you can delay the revolution/anarchy until you have other civics you want too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Julius Caesar is Organized and has -50% maintenance costs, but with this UB being much more attractive than a normal Market perhaps one builds it sooner and the +25% wealth in the city and the reduced maintenance costs really go together nicely much earlier in the game. In addition to his cheaper lighthouse, his cheap factories give a nice later in game production boost for military or spaceship ventures. Besides the Merchants assigned from the Forum, he has no cheap buildings which benefit from the extra GPP until factories. Augustus is no longer creative, but is Industrious. So his cheap forges could mean quicker GE production if that is your desire. This can be helpful in wonder or space races and so the extra GPP can go towards GEs or GSs or pumping out Praetorians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both Roman leaders are Imperialistic and have greater GG production and likely to help warmongering. Luring your enemy into your Great Wall trap, could mean 200% greater chance of GG appearance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra the GPs from the Forums could be used to founded religions or techbulb (TM ) you faster through the tech tree for more military/scientific advances. There is real flexibility for both the Roman leaders. They have the fast settler production to really expand and set up an empire with the strength of their Praetorians pushing back the barbarians (er, that is, the other civs). Julius will have a better economy and ability to support his empire, while Augustus will churn out units and wonders and do the same using brute force. The GPPs can be used for whichever purpose is decided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, running a SE seems to be necessary to maximize this UB's bonus, but not vital. Polluted GPP pools might cause some disappointment for some.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a game where GP production is a main focus for some players, this building is likely a candidate for having no drawbacks whatsoever. Regardless of victory goal, difficulty setting, map/terrain, resources, opponents or even your own leader selection, this UB is very useful and versatile, making it one of the best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Russian Research Institute (Laboratory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Laboratory or Research Institute comes at a time in the game where technologies start to get much more expensive. In addition to the +50% spaceship construction, +25% [ICON_RESEARCH], and assigning one citizen as a Scientist (and +1 unhealthiness), the Russian UB gives [BOLD]two free[\BOLD] scientists! This means you can remove forced scientists and change them to GAs for a cultural win or engineers for space race or keep the scientist and head for future tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Representation seems like a no-brainer here, but Russia is one of the only civs in the game (with England) that has three leaders and they each have two different traits so let's examine them more closely:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine: Creative and Imperialistic. She is able to quickly build settlers and the creative trait ensures quick access to fat cross resources. I like her for domination wins for those reasons. Stonehenge can add to the culture growth as well as religions. Cheap libraries can be used in conjunction with cheap theatres to build to a cultural victory. It costs less to build settlers and so fast expansion can lead to more cathedrals build. The extra scientists will lead to faster techs and so if culture is not your thing, the space race gets a nice boost both for the UB's science [BOLD]and[\BOLD] part production. Might not be a high priority especially if near your health cap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peter: Expansive and Philosophical. An excellent candidate for Space Race. His +2 health and cheap granaries and harbours will help offset pollution/unhealthiness from production buildings while cheap universities and +100% GP birth rate means more Scientists and Engineers to help techbulbing and wonder building. Remember the faster production of workers from any time in the game should make quite an impact too as they will be out to connect resources much sooner.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stalin: Aggressive and Industrious. In the few games I have played with Stalin, I have been impressed with his space race potential. Cheap forges and beelining science helped. The UB really made a big impact I felt. Again cultural games leave this UB pretty much obsolete, but with Stalin, his wonder building boost leads to more research with wonders like GL, University of Sankore, Spiral Minaret, Oxford, etc. And then we have the Ironworks and GE produced wonders which are also helpful on the way. He can also be quite the military force early in the game and throughout.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the trade off between Peter's ability to generate GP quicker or Stalin's wonders appearing faster to giving GPPs much sooner? That is open for debate, but both seem great cosmonauts. And I wouldn't rule out Cathy in that department either. With her cheap libraries, quick settler production for greater early expansion complemented by quick cultural border growth she could just as likely be able to use the UB and pull another Yuri Gagarin or, make that Valentina Tereshkova.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Observatories are needed to build the Institute, and although you will already have that tech, they can be more expensive to build for all three leaders compared to cheap libraries or universities. Only Stalin with his industrious trait might have a quicker build given his cheap forges and getter ability to settle GEs, although Peter might too. In Beyond the Sword, with the restructured modern age tech tree, it may require a slightly longer wait before one can build the Research Institute, plus the choices late in the game seem to be more complex and difficult than they were previously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomatic victories would mean you research Mass Media instead of Computers and therefore not a factor. For cultural wins, you likely have the culture switch on at this point and these buildings therefore can be useful in giving back some lost research, but it will matter very little. Mass Media gives Hollywood which is much more important in that case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For being at war the research boost could be handy for building more advanced units, but likely if you need a research boost that badly you probably can't afford to be building RIs in all or most of your high production cities, likely only in your SCC which could also be your unit factory too. By the time you build it, you still have to research those new techs for the improved units. With a little planning it could work out in your favour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To quote Boney M, "Oh, those Russians!" It seems this UB is destined to help with the Space Race and help get Sputnik launched much sooner rather than any other victory, with a possible exception for conquest. Depending on your usual teching order, you might make some adjustments to maximize the benefit of the Research Institute. Time/score victory goals can be helped by the accumulation of future tech perhaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Spanish Citadel (Castle - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Patched Warlords made Castles more useful by giving them +1 trade route and -25% damage from bombardment from non-gunpowder units in addition to the +50% defense vs. non-gunpowder units and +1 culture. Cumulative with the prerequisite Walls, that means +100 defence from non-GP units and -50% from non-GP bombardment. In BtS, they also give an extra 25% espionage points. Maybe, [BOLD]now[\BOLD] players will build them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Citadel gives an additional 25% bombardment protection for a total of -75% [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives 5XP to Siege units produced in the city. From the +3XP barracks and the Citadel that is 8XP already, but Thoecracy and Vassalge give 12XP from the start enough for 3 promotions. The bonus is applied to Trebuchets, Catapults and if you can avoid the obsoleting tech, Economics (which restores the lost trade route, 1st to discover gets a GM) you can have Cannons, Artillery and even machine guns with this bonus as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The strength of the UB lies in how one promotes their siege weapons most effectively. A warmonger or early-war-to-to-claim-land strategy uses it to it's full advantage, but just protecting your cities becomes much easier now too. In Beyond the Sword, there is a new system for siege weapons, so more remains to be seen. Let's take a look at the Siege Units assuming that they follow the path below and remember they cannot receive defensive bonuses and they all cause collateral damage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT] ---\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\___ [COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT] -/[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]40[TAB]5[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-15%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]60[TAB]4[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-20%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike, Defend Only, +50% vs. GP Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Aircraft Intercept, Starts with March[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]200[TAB]26[TAB]2[TAB]Max 85% Attack Damage, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Immune to Siege Collateral Damage[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All these units receive Barrage, Drill, Shock, Ambush, and City Raider (except Machine Gun who only defends) as well as the Combat and Medic promotions. Any Grenadiers promoted to Machine Gun will not gain any XPs if ungraded in a Citadel, but any you build there will. None of these units can receive City Garrison, Cover, Pinch, Formation, Charge or (Guerilla or Woodsman), but it is possible to have your Grenadier or Melee Units promoted into Grenadiers and give [BOLD]them[\BOLD] any of those promotions and then upgrade them into Machine Gunners. You could for example create G2 or G3 Machine Gunners with Ambush and CG promotions to defend a Hill city from Tanks or you could have Woodsman Machine Gunners with Pinch and Medic/Charge defending your SoD on route through a forest to attack an enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Options for your other Siege units are even more numerours. Except for the Machine Gun, all the Siege units have a 25% withdrawal chance, if you add a GG to it, you can it 55% as well as making it a nice Siege Weapon from other promotions. Remember that upgrades are [BOLD]free[\BOLD] when attached to a Warlord, so you could have some expert Machine Gun defenders or great Cannons/Artillery once the competition gets a little tougher and the AI has more advanced units. One other thing that really stood out to me in trying the UB out, was that Siege Units are immune to collateral damage, so having plenty of them in your stack means you will have some to attack with while other units might need to heal. You can give them medic promotions too remember.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for synergy with the Conquistador, it is a knight with +50% vs. melee units. Many different civs have melee units for their UU, which comes in handy. With a few correctly promoted Conquistadors and Siege weapons the two should complement each other nicely. Don't forget to balance out your forces, using more than just these two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't really do anything for the Expansive trait or the Spanish starting tech of fishing and mysticism, however being religious does offer advantages to being able to switch to new civics immediately and not waiting until others are discovered. A switch to Theocracy before you wait to get Vassalage could mean the difference between producing units with an extra +2 XPs and for the siege units with the Citadel, that is enough to put them over the top for a third promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to avoid Economics, the obsoleting tech, you only really miss out on a Great Merchant. You could conceivably hold out for some super artillery and machine gunners if you wanted. This UB allows for some interesting warfare capabilities. Although it doesn't immediately lend it self to anything other than conquest/domination, the extra territory and cities gained or even the ability to better protect one's own cities and territory is nothing to take lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Sumerian Ziggurat (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the Rathaus of the Holy Roman Empire gives a larger maintenence bonus, it takes just as long to build. Neither them, nor the Sumerians are Organized, but the Sumerian Ziggurat is 30 [ICON_PRODUCTION] cheaper, only costing 90, meaning that it will be built more quickly even if not more powerful. I feel the quicker it is build the better; one of the reasons the Zulu Ikhanda is so effective as well (although for Zulu, it is both cheaper and quicker, but not as powerful). Also, only four are required to build the Forbidden Palace. It also gives +2 espionage points and allow you to assign a citizen as a Spy, but that is a normal courthouse feature for Beyond the Sword.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, major props going out to Bovinespy again for pointing out my huge oversight (I don't have the game yet). This UB is like a courthouse, but you only need Priesthood to build it thereby delaying Code of Laws or passing it all together. This will mean a much earlier clamp down on maintenance costs. While others may have a larger bonus (Rathaus), Gilgamesh, like Shaka, will have a head start. This means the Forbidden Palace is built much sooner as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building the FP quicker, could help culturally for a victory, however it also means a faster expanding empire. Creative and Protective Gilgamesh will need be to be further studied, but the culture boost from borders will help the settlers claim land and the quicker and earlier built courthouses will help keep the economy going. Being protective as well, means maintaining the empire while under attack. Cheap walls and castles will make Sumeria a tough foe to topple.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This did not jump out as being a strong UB until I realized it comes with Priesthood. This is something I am sure some players will use it to maximum advantage. Really, a cheaper courthouse is nothing to complain about and now, one does not have to wait as long to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]. Um yeah, that was before I realized you don't need CoL. Priesthood is such a cheap tech, it could be beelined for maximum exploitation here. I love the prereq tech as it is both unique and very appropriate when you think about what Ziggurats really were. This UB is just oozing flavour and possibilities. More to come I am sure; I just can not wait to play these guys![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Viking Trading Post (Lighthouse double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another coastal UB for a financial leader, the Trading Post gives a free Navigation 1 promotion to ships build there in addition to the extra food in each sea tile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is some definite synergies here, firstly the UB being required for the Great Lighthouse which gives all coastal cities +2 trade routes. Ragnar starts with fishing and so the prereq tech, Sailing is not far away. As with the Carthaginian Cothon, it makes sense to build many coastal cities to maximize this affect. Now, it's true that not all your cities will be building ships [BOLD]all[\BOLD] the time, so it is your choice, but of the achipelago maps I have played with them, most if not all of them have been. Harbours, Colossus also add to the wealth, remembering that Ragnar is financial, coastal tiles are great if you have few FP cottages, gems, gold, silver or plantation resources[NEWLINE]around you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, the bonus itself, one extra movement for sea units does not include work boats. On a map with plenty of water this is helpful to let you discover other civs earlier and trade tech with them. Between your financial coastal cities raking in money for a high research rate, you will also be trading for other techs of lower priority when you meet the others. From here you can go one step further and let the extra movement of your powerful navy work for you. Drydocks come with Steel and give your sea units an extra +4 XPs and are produced 50% faster. Your navy would quite literally have an extra step, but there is more. The +1 movement also helps you to circumnavigate the globe faster and hopefully beat out other civs in doing so. Either you trade for maps as you meet new civs or you do it the old fashioned way. It might be tough with a lot of ocean, but as soon as you get ships which can enter the ocean you still have the +1 movement from navigation. The +1 movement from circumnavigating the globe [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to your work boats![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now let us consider the Bersek, the Viking UU which is a Maceman with the Amphibious promotion and an intrinsic +10% City Attack. Adding the CR1 and you are already at +30%. Being Aggressive, you only start with Combat 1 for an extra 10% unit strength and the unit itself has +50% vs. Melee Units. So for a CR Berserk against a melee defender in a coastal city we are talking +80% strength for nearly double the 8 [ICON_STRENGTH], more like 15.2 [ICON_STRENGTH]. If you can meet some civs while they still have only archers (11.2 [ICON_STRENGTH], or even better, Warriors (or Axemen), their cities become yours very easily. On an achipelago map, most if not all of their cities will be coastal and that is what a financial leader with the Colossus and GL wants right? With the patch, the Civil Service or CoL slingshot might be harder to do, but if you concentrate on the money, research can go quicker for you, plus a GP could help you out along the way too. Berserks can be built with Copper or Iron, so if you have researched for copper and have none, trade for IW or research it and try again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On Great Plains, Oasis or other maps with little coastal tiles, this building is very useless. It really shines in the water maps although the Berserk can still be useful for attacking across rivers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether for meeting tech trading partners earlier or wiping out some rivals early the Trading Post gives a nice bonus. One could go on to eliminate everyone rather quickly or if not take some prime real estate to help with a culture/space/diplomatic victory. For full blown conquest or domination, this building can be helpful on the right map. It would be nice to see +10% trade route or commerce in the city as well, but it still nicely complements the amphibious Berserk. If not on a archipelago or lakes map it value is greatly reduced however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Zulu Ikhanda (Barracks - double production for Aggressive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Barracks that act as a mini-courthouse by giving -20% maintnance costs. This means you can wait for CoL a little later and still expand reasonable quicker than your rivals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building greatly complements the expansive and aggressive Shaka because he gets double production speed. He is one of two leaders (the other being Frederick) who gets their UB at half the building cost. Barracks cost 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] while the Ikhanda costs 60 [ICON_PRODUCTION] so the double production bonus still a big factor. Patched Warlords and BtS only gives +3 XPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Expanding out is aided with reduced costs and whether you warmonger or not it's a nice bonus. Couple it with the courhouse and that is -70% maintenance costs, not bad at all. If taking over cities, this UB is cheaper to build than a courthouse (80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] and don't forget the double production) In a large, productive city taken from the enemy, this building will let it start contributing to the war machine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would not put the Zulu as a culture contender with no cheap culture buildings to build, but diplomatic, domination, space race and conquest all seem possibilities because the benefits of reduced maintenance can be used for any means. I have actually seen some comments that cultural was easy with Shaka. Perhaps the extra maintenance reduction allows for more cities and more cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Beyond the Sword, they have fixed the problem that the Ikhanda had in Warlords and it now like the Barracks, it also receives +2 happiness when running the Nationhood civic. So, quicker expansion and extra happiness from a building which is meant to produce units with +3 XPs. Remembering the synergy with Fuedalism and Theocracy that is +8 XPs and while other civs get that and the barrcks happiness too, they do not get the lower maintenance costs while growing their empires through conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might not build barracks in every city, at higher level especially, but this UB can pay dividends by being in every city. It's so cheaper, why would one not even bother? The synergy with the courthouse can be nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably a building best used to expand as quickly as allowed. Domination or conquest or large number of cities to help with research/spaceship construction. Finally, if this UB makes you more likely to build barracks straight away, your military will benefit, but should it be first in the build queue?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That is the rundown of the Unique Buildings. I would like to thank everyone for their input and support.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Comprehensive Unique Building Guide (BTS)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WilliamOfOrange[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a my first attempt at a strategy guide given that most of the players with more skill/talent/time usually write up some beauties, but I have been inspried to contribute something about my favourite part of the Warlords expansion: the Unique Building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often load up the game and civilopedia just to see which UBs might match the victory condition that I feel like going for. I appreciate reading peoples' work, so I hope I can return the favour here in bringing this strategy article to you. The great thing about this game is the many different strategies and uses for things like leader traits, UUs and UBs. And what is truly great about the UBs is the flexibility and choices most of them give the player so ratings are not necessary; only strategies and synergies need be discussed. What makes a UB (or UU) great is how it is used the most effectively. With the new combinations that Beyond the Sword offers, this could get quite complicated, however I will only focus on the standard and normal civilization UB combinations here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we go:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]American Mall (Supermarket):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have only played the Americans in a Gauntlet with a Future start going for Space Race, but I have to say the building was a nice boost. It is a good choice for an American UB, I feel. For the same price as a supermarket (which provides extra health from cow, deer, pig and sheep) you also get happiness from the three late "entertainment/culture wonders" or ECWs; musicals from Broadway, singles from Rock n' Roll and movies from Hollywood, and now with the patch, plus 20% gold in the city to boot! For a future era start, maybe not needed right away, but if in a long game where your population is reaching health and happiness limits, its a great building to have even if it does come late in the game. That alone is enough, but the +20% gold can be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building one or all of those happiness/culture wonders mentioned above would add 3 happiness points like that and the added health means larger cities as well. What is your pleasure, GP farming or warmongering? Either way, I think it helps out. Not sure about using it with Washington, who is charismatic and expansive, so the +2 health means the health bonus from the mall maybe isn't so big. Then again, you can afford to build polution causing, production buildings with all that extra health. Also the +1 happiness in all cities and from monuments or broadcast towers (which is great if you build the Eiffel Tower) seems to negate the happiness from the mall too. But, if you were to play as the industrious and organized Roosevelt, then you could get some of the benefits of Washington at the same time if you build malls.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems that the extra health and happiness could really give Lincoln a nice late game edge when large, polluting cities needs extra [ICON_HEALTHY] and [ICON_HAPPY]. Given his philosophical trait, he is a great candidate for space race because of the Mall´s bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, it does come late and requires a grocer to be built. Given that the grocer gives +1 health from bananas, wine, sugar and spice, that might solve your health problems already. Grocers also give +25 wealth and can turn two citizens into Merchants. Maybe you don't need the health, but the money is always nice. With Grocer, Market, Bank and Mall that is 120% increase in income. Yay, Capitalism![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a granary, a grocer and the supermarket/mall you get health from rice, corn, wheat, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. That's 11 health points! So as stated above, that means the ability to build forges, factories and other polluting buildings. It would all depend on your civics (environmentalism), if you have FP or trees and jungle in your fat cross and your goals (production, warmongering, space race, etc)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for the happiness, with charismatic trait, you get +1 per city, and ignoring any happiness from temples, theatres, coliseums look at what building one of the three ECWs gives you once you have a mall and broadcast tower, (either by it self, or the much better option of the Eiffel Tower). For example you build Hollywood, +1 [ICON_HAPPY]and with mall and broacast tower, another +2 [ICON_HAPPY]for a total of +3 for the same resource!! If you build all three ECWs and the Eiffel Tower, you are looking at +9 happiness for three resources not to mention that you can trade your extra singles, movies and musicals to other civs for resources you may not have, like Aluminum or Iron or Oil. Add in the fact that you likely have temples, theatres or whatever other happiness producing buildings and the fact that the broadcast tower (along with threatres and coliseums) will give +1 happiness for every 10% culture. If you have all three in a city, then that means +3 [ICON_HAPPY] for only raising the culture setting up by 10%. For warmongering this is huge![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmongering seems to fit America as a charismatic Washington or Lincoln also gets quicker promotions and you will have more money coming in to support a large army and upgrade your troops. The Mall is a Cottage Economy UB, but Lincoln is a Specialist Economy Leader, so there may be some mismatch here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although some may feel that is comes too late or when the game is pretty much finished and you are either milking the score or just mopping up, it seems to me that given a large varied collection of resources, the Mall gives the American player the ability and flexibilty to trade extra health/happiness resources away and not suffer their loss, or to exploit them and kick into high production/war monger gear and not look back. Lincoln is a bonafide space contender, quite a deal over Washington and Roosevelt.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Arabian Madrassa (Library - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the Chinese Pavilion is the "Big Daddy" of culture UBs, then the Madrassa is the "Big Momma". With a whopping +4 culture per turn is lends itself to a culture victory. Given that Writing is an early tech and you would likely build a library anyway, it's a no-brainer to place Writing higher up in your tech queue. In fact, I have experiemented with beelining for it and not worrying about early religions for cultural games. Libraries cost the same, but in addition to assigning to scientists, you can [BOLD]also[\BOLD] assign two prophets.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The culture route is likely the biggest draw for this one, but you could also concentrate on farming GP and GS only if you like. Lightbulbing to get ahead in tech and maybe settling some of them as well so that you could build the UN quickly. The big culture ensures that you have the resources if you join/start the space race or just own all the land around you for domination victories. Farming GPs will help you progress nicely through the religious tech and that means more religions, holy cities, shrines and mo' money, mo' money, mo' money! And it can also help you control religion spreading for diplomatic manipulation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other then the danger of polluting your GP pool if you are not careful and don't want that for a cultural victory, I can't think of any problems.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] All-round, early UB with simple bonuses, but powerful if used to their strengths.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Aztec Sacrificial Altar (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I just realized that these badboys are only 90 shields compared to the 120 needed for a courthouse! In addition to halving maintenaince costs in the city it also halves the anger caused by whipping buildings in the city. I have not played many Aztec games but I recall reading about a false OCC on another forum where the Aztecs started on a Plains/Hill island and needed to wait until Optics to get across the ocean. The prospect of rushing buildings through slavery seemed to make the task more managable. I had played as the Incas one time on the 1000 AD Earth map and I never left slavery until I had emancipation. I wonder about the same strategy with the Aztecs, seems to be far more effective. Finally, everything gets the discounted unhappiness from rushing (amazing what nice people can point out and you can verify by playing the game and testing). Holy Quetzalcoatl! That changes everything![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like the courthouse, it also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could whip their hands bloody, but to what advantage? Fast culture, fast science/research or fast infrastructure like banks, grocers, etc. Space race might benefit from this strategy, but can projects be whipped? Once you whip production buildings, you can pump out units and dominate/conquer the world. Or just whip the units out and slay everything in your path.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A large spanning empire through conquest would be able to build cheaper courthouses and then whip some culture and happiness buildings to help keep maintenance costs down and develop captured cities into productive contributors more quickly. In war times you could have the possibility of both drafting and then whipping units. Finally, you can finish off a wonder earlier and perhaps beat the AI to a few depending on difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In terms of Bts, we have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the whipping unhappiness reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy. The courthouse is likely not always the first items in a build queue, but I feel the Altar has two things that make it a higher priority.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Altars come too late to help whip barracks and the aggressive Monty gets cheaper barracks anyway. But, now that I know the reduced penalty for whipping [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to units, a quick ASAP conquest victory is likely not going to be done with CoL and the Altar. This is one of the reasons I have used this technique very little but am more open to trying mid-game conquests. If you are on a large map with many civs, this UB makes more sense. You could be pumping out settlers and workers and units and scouts or even missionaries. However, continuing whipping will keep the population low in those cities if you want to be economical since larger cities taker longer to get back up to that high population and having low populated cities would mean that perhaps you are not utilizing all of the good tiles available to be worked in the fat cross. Having low population might result in slower teching, but if you are whipping settlers and workers and the Altars help lower maintainence then having many small cities might offset that. Eventually, the unhappiness will catch up however, but I am sure that there are plenty of savvy players out there that have slavery fine tuned to both an art and science.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An appropriately related UB for the Aztecs, but not the culture bomb like in Civ 3 and not as powerful as could be due its somewhat late appearance. That being said, an Oracle slingshot could give you it quicker and then it might be worth more, but a slingshot solely to use this UB doesn't really merit the risk, especially on higher levels and needing Math too. It can be effective for starting out and if it is the first thing build/whipped in a newly captured city, then it will become a contributing city soon enough. I owe this UB an apology for not originally realizing the full potential and the ability to whip units. I has been fun using when playing as the Aztecs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Babylonian Garden (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How cute, a UB named for their Hanging Gardens. The building gives extra +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] and this UB is much like the Ottoman Hammam except the Babylonians getting a health bonus on the Colosseum rather than a happiness bonus on the Aqueduct. This UB will give health bonuses independent of what food resources their may be. It also has it´s happiness linked to the culture slider and costs 80 hammers, just like the Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being aggressive and organized as well as the Babylonian UU might make Hammurabi a warmonger candidate. Assuming more cities earlier on, perhaps one could make use of the the extra health. Certainly high polluting cities for a warmonger or space race could use it. Organized gets cheap lighthouses (more food), courthouses (faster expansion) and factories for more production. High production with extra health could mean some good warring possibilities with his Aggression or it could mean space race contention.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It comes with Construction and is 20 hammers less expensive than an Aqueduct. A Theatre is still a cheaper option for happiness if you don´t need the health. Later in the game, when high production is needed, but unhealthy, this UB will give a slight health advantage, but the beauty is that is comes so early that you would not have to stop producing military units or spaceship components to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This UB will have to be thoroughly tested before evaluation can be made.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Byzantine Hippodrome (Theatre - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hippodrome is like a super Theatre. Sure, you get +3 [ICON_CULTURE], the two Artists to assign and the bonus for dyes, but you also get one for horses, hence the name HIPPOdrome. It also has a base happiness of +1, but it that wasn't enough (and it never is), you also get +1 [ICON_HAPPY]for every 5% culture on your slider, instead of the normal 10%. This essentially doubles that ability of the building to give happiness from culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Where to begin? Well the extra happiness from a smaller culture slider means more money devoted to maintenance of cities for your expanding empire, more military units and upgrades, more research, you name it. Justinian I is Imperialistic and you will have more money available to take advantage of your fast settler production. Since the Cataphract UU is dependent on horses, it is a no brainer to try and connect the horses ASAP. Being religious gives the flexibility of fast settlement and then gearing up for war or space exploration or anything else. Running Serfdom and OR and than switching to Feudalism and Theocracy. The extra happiness is great and also leads to a economic advantage which is up to your imagination to exploit. This UB is a far better choice than building a Colosseum for the Byzantines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is never a drawback, and as stated earlier, this leads to an economically advantage. Even without horses or dyes, there is still the +1 base [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While not overpowered on paper, it remains to be seen how useful this UB actually will be. So far, it looks very promising.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Carthaginian Cothon (Harbour - double production for expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, a harbour which gives +1 trade routes to a coastal city to Hannibal, a financial leader who starts with fishing. What is the catch, you ask? I can't think of any. I have only played a game or two with Carthage, but you gotta love their chances.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First off, Financial and Fishing is already great. Find some coastal tiles with food sources and settle down. In fact when I play as Carthage (or the Vikings for that matter) it's nothing but coastal cities if I can help it. Your income will give a fast tech pace and you can plan for diplomatic or space victories, although I am not sure about others. I guess being ahead in tech will help keeping a more advanced army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The base number of trade routes for a city is one, but if you have discovered Currency and build a castle or run the Free Market civic in [BOLD]addition[\BOLD] to your Cothons, that means 3 trade routes. (You can't do both since Economic obsoletes the castle.) The Colossus adds +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] water tiles and the Great Lighthouse adds [BOLD]+2 trade routes in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] coastal cities.[\BOLD] If you have a map with many civs, and nice silver or gold or calendar enabling resources which gives you huge coin besides your financial bonus you will have some rich cities. If you are around late enough and make an early move for flight and the UN, the Airport and the Common Currency Resolution give you [BOLD]another[\BOLD] 2 trade routes![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Didn't talk about cottage spamming yet, so there. I said it. Cottage Spamming. Now, need I mention the +50% trade route yield? That +50% on your 7 trade routes! Don't forget the additional 100% from the Temple of Artemis. Add markets, banks and Wall Street and you will be using C-notes for TP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Compass can come pretty late, but a beeline or slingshot or a combo of both to iron working could land you your cothons earlier than you might think. The tech or time lost getting your UB will be made up for when you have +1 trade routes in your lucrative coastal cities even if they cost an extra 20 hammers. And that may be the only drawback, you need to have coastal cities. If you want to reign supreme with Hannibal, you need high sea levels and likely some sort of Archipelago map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than being map dependent, this UB is quite possibly the best matched with the civs leader traits and starting techs. With more money you can support a larger army/empire or research faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Celtic Dun (Walls - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Walls that produce units with a free Guerrilla I promotion for +20% defense on hills. In a discussion about the best UUs I read that Swordmen or Melee units can't get the Guerrilla promotion. This would explain both why the UU starts with it and why the UB gives it to units produced in that city. Only Archery and Gunpowder units can get the promotion. Siege, Melee, Mounted and Armoured don't.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to remember that the G3 30 Hills Attack bonus only coming when attcking [BOLD]into[\BOLD] Hills and not from them. Still, the 30% withdrawal is also handy and has helped out greatly in games I have played, so whether you have hills or not thw withdrawal is worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I am not sure whether or not holding off researching Rifling, the obsoleting tech matters because any musketmen or grenadiers that you build will have the Guerrilla I, but once you have riflemen with a strength of 14, maybe grenadiers with 12 don't look so good. Perhaps if your opponents have rifling you would hold off on getting it yourself as the bonus grenadiers have against rifles and their Guerrilla bonus might prove worth keeping for a bit or at least until you have a good amount of them. It would all depend on the other promotions they have and your opponents. Upgrading your Gallic Swordsman to Macemen you do not lose the Guerrilla I. Even if they were given Guerrilla II or even III [BOLD]before[\BOLD] being upgraded then they keep it. Some shrewd manipulation of the promotion chart would prove most rewarding. Build your archery and gunpowder units, give them the G2 promotion and then discover Rifling. Upgrade your archery units and musketmen to riflemen, remembering that only Grenadiers can be promoted to Machine Gunners (considered siege unit). Your G2 or G3 Gallic Warriors becomes Macemen and then either Riflemen or Grenadiers. Riflemen and Machine Gunners can both be promoted to Mechanized Infantry (gunpowder unit), while only Riflemen can be upgraded to SAM Infantry. Below is a crude flowchart:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT] -----\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \__ [COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]/--&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT] _/\[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]\[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT] -----/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \_\[COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\--&gt;  [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT] ___/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]  \[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT]___________________/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \___[COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]+10% City Attack[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with Guerrilla I[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]9[TAB]1[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Melee Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Who wouldn't want these Mech or SAM Infantry units with double movement on Hills, +30% Defence, +25% Hill Attack and 30% chance of Withdrawal? Most players sadly undervalue what this UB can do for you later in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being charismatic, both Brennus and new-comer Boudica give quicker promotions and if you wanted the Guerrilla I promotion anyway then you are free to choose something else. Don't forget the extra +1 happiness per city and the +1 happiness from the Monument: early happiness for warring or ignoring temple for other more important buildings such as courthourse, forges, libraries, etc. Warring on a hilly or highlands type map seems a good strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could build a stack of any units and upgrade them with the G1 promotion remaining. This bonus makes you just one closer to G2 which gives another 30% defense in Hills and well as double movement on Hills, making hilly maps such as highlands easier to navigate. Remember that with the patch the G3 promotion gives the +25% attack bonus [BOLD]and[\BOLD]a 30% chance of withdrawal! With a charismatic leader you could easily get both of those either out of the barracks and with one fight or from a GG, but don´t forget the +4 from running Theocracy and Feudalism. Running both of those and having a barracks means units made will have 7/8 XP to start. Finally, Boudica is aggressive so not only does this mean the Combat I promotion for free, but also cheaper barracks. This means building barracks [BOLD]and[\BOLD] a Dun just got more practical even or especially without stone. But a free Combat I is nothing to sneeze at if you are promoting up the Guerrilla line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One might build the Great Wall and "trick" the AI to try and fight you in your backyard. Your Guerrilla resistance troops will protect any hill resource and if you give them Woodsman I or higher or even more Guerrilla, you will give them a heck of a time trying to dislodge you. They would defend any cats or trebs or whatever you bring along if you fight on their turf too. Giving unit both Guerrilla II and Woodsman II means a versatile unit capable of sneak attacks on weaker units or maybe even an invaluable resource pillager.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would suggest delaying Rifling until you have upgraded all your G1 units into musketman or grenadiers, maybe a 50-50 mix. Discover Rifling, but then upgrade them into Riflemen, and from their you can have Infantry, SAM Infantry [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Mechanized Infantry with this defensive bonus. Going in pillaging the AI resources for space race or preventing them from building nukes can be done with these expert pillagers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a nice bonus, but not really any drawbacks. In fact now that walls and duns give +25% bombardment protection (about time) and castles do too, one might be more likely to build castles if they didn't before, especially since in BtS they also give +25% espionage points. With both a Dun and Castle one gets +100% defense and +50% bombardment defense from non-gunpowder units. The extra trade route from the castle and the espionage points are throw-ins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For warmongering or pillaging/protecting resources no matter what the goal this UB can provide you with units that will have an advantage on hills. How you use those units, promote or upgrade them will depend on your goals, immediate and future needs and terrain/resources. The strength in this UB is the versatility it provides. I predict that Boudica´s traits will make the Celts a more attractive Civ to play as. She will be a warmonger´s dream and possibly one of the most fierce of opponents. Outside of warmongering, there is not much this UB can do other than help one explore a hilly map more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Chinese Pavlion (Theatre - double production for Creative civ):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The undisputed culture building king and "Big Daddy" of the cultural UBs. Cultural victory fans must have thought they hit the bigtime when they saw this beauty. Aside from the +3 culture the it gives +25% for culture in the city. Building the pavilion alone gives a culture per turn of 3.75, slightly less than the Madrassa, but this will double after 1000 years, but more importantly the 25% is added to everything.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What makes the pavilion the culture champion is the +25% bonus continues throughout the game and so the quicker the culture from other buildings can be added to the city, the better. Imagine a few early wonders with their culture doubling and then the added 25%. Sure, it's not game breaking, but one might not feel as obligated to crank the culture switch or convert to Free Speech as quickly with the bonus this UB gives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The traits of the leaders don't really work that well with this building, but it does ensure no matter what that nearby resources our yours. This allows you to persue the late game win conditions such as diplomatic, space race or a late conquest. Or more likely, early in the game you will have more resources than otherwise and you can dictate the trade terms and stifle the AI by denying them that one precious iron or uranium or oil or aluminum as the case may be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not able to overly accelerate the cultural win time frame, this building I have found to be quite amazing for domination games. With a few founded religions and no state religion and a pavilion, you just keep pumping out settlers and units and let the borders expand like your waistline after college.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than persuing a cultural/domination victory or claiming resources, there in not much extra outside of the normal theatre uses/features. Even in a cultural game, it is not enough to be a real advantage because of China's leader traits or strating techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] What you see is what you get. Nothing to really want to you play China any more than you normally would, except maybe for a quicker domination win or being a resource hog and super businessman/diplomat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 hammer on every river tile and costs 180 hammers. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn two citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"The fact that it obsoletes fairly early is really not much of an issue for the purpose it serves. Both leaders can benefit from this. For the most part it really only takes one city with one, though using Stonehenge to put it in multiple cities isn't bad at all. The great prophets that you can generate quickly from the priest specialists allow you to claim several of the mid to late religions. This is one of the key features you tend to want to accomplish when going for a culture victory. Once you get 2-3 religions you don't really care to much about making this building go obsolete and switching to temples to support any other priest specialists if you still need to grab the rest of the religions or if you want holy shrines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it will have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][u][BOLD]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[/b][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres and libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You could however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It also has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is the most synergistic combo of both leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities and cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants also double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists and gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two more GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries and universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units and Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture and the growth increase. Even if you built a granary first, you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"This is a GREAT UB for late-Ancient through ealy-Industrial era warmongering. It really speeds up your rate of assimilation of newly-conquered lands. The crucial point lies in the pop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In your earliest wars, the populations of conquered cities will tend to be in the 3 to 5 range. If you pop-rush a monument and a granary (esp. if you're Expansive), the population of the city will recover fairly quickly (assuming decent food resources available/not-plundered). However, later in the game, usually about the time catapults show up, the AI has usually developed urban pop levels so that core cities you capture routinely have pops of 8 to 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is where the Terrace really shines: it saves you from having to pop-rush a granary and a culture building. This point is particularly important if you're not playing a Creative leader. Mind you, it's a subtle difference between having a captured city with a pop of 8 or 9 instead of 6 or 7. However, a crucial point to remember is that the higher the pop level, the longer it takes to recover a pop point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you conquer and absorb a well-developed empire of around 6 or 8 cities (a not-unlikely scenario on Standard maps). Now imagine an extra tile or two of production from each of those cities. If you had to rush both buildings, you would be dozens of turns behind, relatively speaking, in production compared to the Incan. This is huge! Properly played, the snowball-effect of swallowing a rival empire or two in the mid-game is significantly more noticeable when you play Huayna."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 [ICON_PRODUCTION] on every river tile and costs 180 [ICON_PRODUCTION]s. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn [BOLD]two[\BOLD] citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it [BOLD]will[\BOLD] have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres [BOLD]and[\BOLD] libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You [BOLD]could[\BOLD] however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It [BOLD]also[\BOLD] has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is [BOLD]the[\BOLD] most synergistic combo of [BOLD]both[\BOLD] leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants [BOLD]also[\BOLD] double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two [BOLD]more[\BOLD] GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries [BOLD]and[\BOLD] universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture [BOLD]and [\BOLD]the growth increase. Even if you built a granary [BOLD]first[\BOLD], you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 [ICON_CULTURE] per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Indian Mausoleum (Jail):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Mausoleum UB comes with Constitution like its Jail counterpart with -25% WW but it also gives +2 happiness. The manual states it gives +1 GPP and is more likely to produce a Great Prophet, but in playing Warlords, this is not true. In Beyond the Sword, both the jail and the mausoleum give +4 espionage points and increase espionage point production by 50%, in addition allowing one to assign two Spy specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well the jail is high on a warmonger's wish list and the BtS version is sure to be even higher. I can see on higher levels how the happiness cap can be raised and WW reduced. As I don't usually have long wars I don't really know how high the WW can get, but I imagine on higher levels it is quite a bit. If you have Police State this is a total of 75% reduction in WW, which is nothing to sneeze at if WW problems got you down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +4 espionage points and the ability to turn two citizens into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the reduced war weariness. Running Nationhood now has the added bonus of another +25% espionage point production for a total of 75% with the jail/mausoleum, in addition to barracks giving +2 happiness and being able to draft 3 units per turn. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both are spiritual. Organized Asoka can build larger empires early on and Philosophical Gandhi can pop GPs and build cheaper universities. These combos don't necessarily screa for warmonger, especially given their Fast Worker UU, a decidedly unwarlike unit, however the extra spying power could be used to ensure that you are not beaten in the space race or the diplomatic arena. Then again, it's a free way to protect your nation no matter what.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I don't read much about people playing as India to conquer the world and wage war. This UB is still like a normal jail, except for the +2 happiness. I am not sure how many players will build them in BtS, but in Warlords they are n[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will reserve judgement for others to add their input, but for now, this UB seems out of place and not very useful or synergistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Japanese Shale Plant (Coal Plant):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A coal plant gives power (electricity) to the city which adds to the factory production bonus of 25% an additional 50% at a cost of +2 [ICON_UNHEALTHY]. You need a factory for the coal plant or the Japanese Shale Plant, however the Shale Plant itself gives its own +10% production as well. This means a 60% bonus with the two buildings for the same price. The real bonus however is that while Coal Plants requires coal to produce this power, the Shale Plant does not. Both the Factory and Shale Plant can be built once you have discovered Assmebly Line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 60% hammer increase from buildings (forge, factory and shale plant), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the Shale Plant), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings/wonders. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource when building a spaceship component. The Space Ladder gives another 50% increase. So a basic bonus of +185% in your capital (+135% out of capital) with a bonus of +125% or 200% respectively, when building buildings/wonders or projects. Add in the Iron Works and non-Captial cities are between +360% or +435%. Depending on your base production, things can get quite a productive boost, but if you were to whip or buy these buildings into a low production city it might make a huge difference as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Aggressive and Protective, Tokugawa's units start off well promoted and this makes warring an attractive choice. For late game wars, there likely isn't a unit that can't be pumped out in 1 or 2 turns. And space race can be just as great a goal. Diplomatic you want to beeline for MM and wouldn't sidetrack yourself for this building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than having little health resources, which doesn't seem too likely by the time you research Assembly Line, not much of a reason not to build this is you aren't wanting to be a powerhouse. That being said, the leader traits are not that complementary with it. Not only that, it is a late game UB and some games you would not get the chance to build it. Given that it is a late game UB, it is quite useful for the fact that coal is not required to get the +60% production, while other civs need coal to get their +50%. Than again, you likely want coal so that you can railroad your mines, quarries and lumbermills. Not much of a benefit if you look at it that way, but until you do get coal, you have +60% production boost, that other civs would not have had.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not as overall synergistic as the German Assembly Plant when it comes to leader traits, this UB serves a similar purpose and makes it hard not to compare. This one is a little more map dependent (due to the +10% hammer as apposed to 2 extra engineers assigned) and that means that doing the math to see which advantage is greater is not so easy or relevant. Again for a late wonder, space race and conquest victories greatly benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Khymer Baray (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Baray UB comes with Mathematics and is an Aqueduct which gives 1 extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food helps any leader, regardless of their traits, however, Suryavarman is expansive which means extra health. Building this UB would cause a double-whammy if you will. Not only will increased health reduce any wasted food, but allow for more growth which is possible by the Baray's bonus. The expansive trait only adds to the possibility that the city will grow larger as it has a higher health cap. More food also means taking advantage of the faster worker production, which is only a 25% bonus in BtS, but still greatly helped out with the UB. Being creative means claiming food resources to get the whole this going. Talk about cyclic benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food, a disadvantage? One could even use the cereal mills corporation and trade away food if not needed. I have had cities grow too fast and not have enough things to build to keep them happy. Slavery fans would do well to exploit this extra growth and convert it into production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After extra happiness and production, extra food is nothing to complain about and ranks with them and some great bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Korean Seowon (University - double production for Philosophical leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building costs the same and gives the same culture as a university, but it gives an extra +10% research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wang Kon is financial and so you can maximize this UB's use by making sure you do all the things you would have done with Korea anyway. That means, cottage spamming and getting other high income tiles from plantations and mines and coasts. You have the income boosting building and wonders and the science ones as well. Simply this building just gives another 10%, so take the advantage and go for a diplomatic or space win or keep you army further ahead in tech to protect your empire or add to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More science can't ever be bad can it? It comes early/mid-game, but it's on the way to the Liberalism bee-line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great advantage assuming you can build a nice SSC or several ones. You would usually build a university anyway, maybe now just a little sooner to really add to the tech lead (or perhaps a little later in the queue, knowing that you have the extra boost once it is built).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Malinese Mint (Forge - double production for Industrious leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a forge with an added 10% wealth increase and yet another UB for a financial that has some great synergy. I would say that a lot of the strategies used with England's financial leaders would be used here, but with a slight change.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building can come pretty early and Mansa Musa has a reputation for being a tech-whore as an AI. I like settling on the west side of the GP map and mine everything in site. There is also dyes, furs and incense too! What is great about the boost is that even though it is only 10%, it is still an increase and once you tech your way to new civics, as a spiritual leader, you can totally take advantage immediately and not wait until you can switch 2 or 3 at a time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because it is a production building as well, and you would naturally build it early for the gold bonus, you will have a higher production than maybe another civ with just a forge. It is more appealing, plus it is needed for many wonders, not the least of which is the Colossus giving +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] cities water tiles. If you have trade routes going, as many as possible, markets, grocers, banks and Wall Street a rich city is made richer than another civ would be with the same city. Not only because of the wealth bonus, but because the forge means building all of the other wealth increasing building faster. It never goes obsolete either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More money, means faster discoveries, and diplomatic and space wins are the popular targets, however the Skirmisher can be a pretty good UU and even later, the extra wealth can be parlayed into better unit support and more/quicker upgrades. Even on higher levels, if you are lagging in the tech race, you will have more money to buy them, or more money to bribe the AI to do your bidding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 7 trade routes (as outlined earlier with Carthage), all the wealth buildings, great base tiles and maybe even some merchants or Great Merchants, you have plenty of money and if running the Universal Suffrage civic, you can rush buy more quickly/often than otherwise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't expire, so it will continue to be useful and becomes more powerful as the game progresses because cities will grow and more lucrative routs determined for the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A money boosting UB is a good one and can really help out early. You can afford to expand a little quicker if you bankroll allows it. You would need to have some big cash tiles or plenty of cottages, but then again, you would build those anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mayan Ball Court (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Ball Court gives +3 [ICON_HAPPY](instead of the Colosseum´s +1) and the +1 [ICON_HAPPY]per 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra happiness could be used to full effectiveness as a warmonger by skipping Drama and going for Construction, much like Alexander might do in using his Odeon. Having happy people means more tiles being worked for the financial Pacal II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More research needed, but a Theatre with dyes for 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] over an 80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] Ball Court might do the trick. Of course as the city grows and war weariness sets in or you have limited resources, this UB will make people happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is always good, because it lets you pursue any victory you desire. You can combat war weariness or have large producing cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mongolian Ger (Stable):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The stable introduced in Warlords gives +2 XP for Mounted units build in the city and the Mongolian Ger gives +4 points. This UB is very appropriate and the affects are cumulative with Barracks, the Pentagon and other XP bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, both Mongolian leader start are Aggressive which means cheaper barracks. We are already looking at +7 XP, then if you factor in Theocracy and Vassalage, that's +11 all together. That is enough for 3 promotions before seeing any combat and any GG you settle and the Pentagon are just a bonus. Upgrading all the way through up to Calvary would be the idea and with the right promotions you should be able to keep most of your troops up until Rocketry. You could plan for the future and give promotions that complement your gunships, or use the advantage to conquer early. In BtS, the Stable is made obsolete with Advanced Flight, thereby lengthening the use of this UB. The fact that Genghis Khan is also imperialistic means more GGs as long as you are warmongering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB complements the UU, the Keshik and the civ itself unlike any other UB for the other civs. To build a Keshik you need Archery, Horseback Riding - which you need to build the Ger anyway - and of course Horses revealed by Animal Husbandry. The Mongol starting techs are Hunting and the Wheel. Hunting is the prereq for both AH and Archery. Your mounted units all benefit, but lets look more closely at why. The keshik starts with some of the better bonuses. Let's analyze the mounted units that the Mongols can build below and remember that none of them get defensive bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Chariot[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]4[TAB]2[TAB]10% Withdrawal, 100% vs. Axemen[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Keshik[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]2[TAB]20% Withdrawal, 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, -10% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Cats &amp; Trebs[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]War Elephant[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]90[TAB]10[TAB]2[TAB]Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cats &amp; Trebs*[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]2[TAB]15% Withdrawal, Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cannon[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]15[TAB]2[TAB]30% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Cannon[TAB][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]160[TAB]24[TAB]4[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. Armoured[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, Cannot capture City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Artillery &amp; Mobile Artillery*[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Mounted Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Helicopter Unit [COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]None of these units can take Cover, Drill or CR promotions, but the mounted ones can get Amphibious, Charge, Formation, Pinch and Shock. If you were to give Flanking I and II to your Keshik for +30% withdrawal, that is a total of 50% and when it's upgraded to Calvary or Gunships it still adds to their intrinsic withdrawal abilities. Giving Charge to a Keshik means +75% versus their Cats and Trebs, and as a Knight it will have +75% against cannons. A Chariot with Shock will have +125% versus Axemen but only +25% with the more advanced units, but it might be a great boost. Then again you likely skip chariots and go straight to Keshiks. With the right promotions, the Keshiks might even be better than Knights especially if you don't have iron available and the fact they ignore terrain costs. A Keshik with C3 and Formation is just as good as a unpromoted Knight and as can be seen above, the Keshik has much more intrinsic abilities than a Knight such as withdrawal, bonus against cats and trebs and 1st Strike chance. Although the Knight is immune to 1st strikes and doesn't have the 10% city attack penalty. Clearly, the key is to use the XP bonus to promote according to your needs and strength based on the situation, the opponent, the map, etc. It remains to be seen how the Charge promotions for upgraded units will work with the new system of mounted units having a flank attack versus siege units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mounted units are a large part of a balanced army, and the UB lasts fairly long, even longer in BtS. If other civs couldn't build stables this might be overpowering, which is likely why the stable was added as well. This UB maybe isn't as synergistic with Kubla, but it still gives an increases in GGPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having the extra XPs out of the gate helps to earn GG points faster and build wonders like the Heroic Epic and West Point. For warmongering this is a great UB, for other victory conditions, it would help one war early to collect more land and resources and then settle down into a more peaceful victory, or at least keep a stronger army than without the UB for protecting cities while pursuing a peaceful victory. (But that is not why one plays the Mongols) War, what is it good for? Huh! Building Gers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Native American (Totem Pole):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another UB which replaces the Monument. This one gives +3 XPs to Archer units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Archery, but that is often traded for or even found from goody huts. The big deal is that he is Protective, giving his archers Drill I and City Garrison I [BOLD]before[\BOLD] adding the +3 XP bonus from the Totem Pole. Much like the Dun, this UB will offer some flexiblity and unique possiblity in upgrading units. More research will need to be done, but it suffices to say that this UB will make the Native Americans particularly difficult to conquer. Like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put the UB in every one of your cities which is bascially an archer Barracks in every city. This means an effective early archer rush, without wasting time to build the Barracks as Totem are much cheaper. With the Barracks, however, every archery unit built there will be very tough to kill on a hill behind those walls and castles that Protective Sitting Bull can cheaply build, never mind when they get upgraded to gunpowder units! His Philosophical trait might mean that a few GA culture bombs give him some more defense or he is free to use them for whatever he wishes seeing as no one is going to stop him.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let´s not forget the Dog Soldier UU (Axeman) with its strengths against melee units and also not requiring copper or iron. This UB practically gives two UUs to the Native Americans. Whether warmongering or trying to hang on against the AI on higher difficulty levels, this UB would be a key part of any strategy. Holding off on discovering Astronomy might be a prudent strategy if you are running into trouble. Imagine pumping out archer and longbowman early game with the bonuses and then upgrading them to stronger units. They will have a slight XP advantage with all over factors equal, meaning they will promote earlier. Let's imagine the +6 with Totem and Barracks and then running Feudalism and Theocracy for a 10 XPs off the bat. That is enough for 3 promotions to start, never mind fighting off barbs (although I think barb battles will only take you up to 10 XP anyway) or lone, weakened enemy units. Any Great General settled in a city takes you that much closer to a fourth promotion and your Heroic Epic. Let's analyze what Sitting Bull's archers will be able to do and what promotions will carry into the gunpowder age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that Protective Sitting Bull will have his archery and gunpowder units start with Drill I and City Garrison I, meaning they can already get Cover, Shock or Pinch (once gunpowder is discovered) on their first promotion out of the Totem. With barracks and the others bonuses mentioned, a second promotion could be Formation (bonus against mounted units) or get up to City Garrison III with one promotion to spare! The beauty of this UB compared to say, the Dun is the versatility of the promotions one can pursue, not necessarily being guilted into Guerrilla II and III. Then again, G3 archery units holding on for gunpowder promotions (see Celts) would not be such a terrible thing would it? Note too, that the Machine Gun is a siege unit and cannot receive Guerrilla or City Garrison promotions, however it is upgraded from Grenadiers which are upgraded from your G3 or CG3 archers. Interesting, no?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build can also be one of the first ones obsoleted, maybe it is not that much of a big deal if you play your cards right. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to explore and colonize other continents. By then you would have to have built all the archery units you anticipate needing and then work on upgrading them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think building cheap archery units with promotions not available to gunpowder or siege units (machine gun) can pay dividends given the right military and geo-political considerations. Like the Mongols, outside of warmongering or building a military to protect your empire, this UB does not hold many other uses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ottoman Hammam (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Does this UB have Expansion written all over it or what? One can really concentrate on building a large empire with large cities a lot sooner with the extra 2 happiness this building supplies in addition to the +2 health. No need to worry about religions if you miss them or drama if you prefer other techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I feel Mehmed has the potential to be the best expansive leader as he is organized which means cheap lighthouses, courthouses [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories too. This means more food, less upkeep and more production, respectively from those buildings. This resultant larger population and therefore greater production, which leads to quicker unhappiness and pollution is further complemented by his Expansive trait which, in addition to +2 health per city, gives cheaper granaries and harbours which help reduce pollution and improve growth and economy. Those of you upset that the expansive trait was nerfed to only +2 health stop your whining because this guy has [BOLD]5[\BOLD], count'em [BOLD][BOLD]five[\BOLD][\BOLD] buildings to build cheaper and they [BOLD]all[\BOLD] mean larger and more productive cities. The happiness cap needs to be much higher for the Ottomans, and this is where the Hammam really shines, because it helps keep these larger cities happy and therefore more productive. If that is not enough, the faster worker production means an earlier hook up of resources for [BOLD]more[\BOLD] production, happiness and health bonuses. But also remember the less time building workers, means more time growing in population, which means more reason for a Hammam. This buiding does not expire either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for newcomer, Suleiman, who is Imperialistic and Philosophical, making cities healthy and happy at the same time is great for the GP farming you might do with him. He doesn't have all the cheap buliding that Mehmed II has and his two traits sort of conflict when it comes to warmongering; GP farming versus the increased GG appearance. But faster setter production is also a great thing for domination victories and that is what the Hammam can give. Havving many cities sooner and popping out GPs means a larger empire with abilities to conquer space or the world. He will have more cities, and larger, happier, cleaner ones at that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It might not seem as powerful as other UBs, but you eventually build one anyway, at least in your larger, more polluted cities. This just makes them happy so you can concentrate on building more units or science/production buildings. Let's face it: it's a drag to have to stop building units or wonders because of the unhappiness or health. Kill two birds with one stone with the Hammam. Cultural games where happiness is not much of an issue are still advantaged especially at higher levels. In fact, this building really makes a difference in higher levels where happiness [BOLD]and[\BOLD] health caps are lower or on maps where happiness resources are not readily available to you. Further to that, you could delay discovering Calendar as you might not need the happiness immediately and that means culture from monuments or Stonehenge will last you a little longer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A strong UB which helps with supporting large cities for whatever reasons you may have: military powerhouse, GP farm, etc. If this was Civ3 where the Aqueduct was need to grow past size 6, this would be huge, but even though it is not needed for that, I really can't think of any drawbacks with this UB. Quite an excellent UB.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Persian Apothecary (Grocer):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary, besides being the most difficult UB to pronounce, is a grocer that gives an additional +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] to the city. That is on top of the health from plantation resources. With a granary, harbour, apothecary and the supermarket you get health from rice, corn, wheat, clam, crab, fish, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. So, for those of you counting at home, that's 16 [ICON_HEALTHY] points! So that means the ability to build production-boosting, pollution-causing buildings. Late in the game with high populations and those buildings or even on higher levels, this can be useful. However, you may not be looking to have a late finishing game or even want to detour for the late tech Refrigeration, especially if the Apothecary gives an intrinsic +2 health even without resources and so Supermarkets are not a necessity. That is pretty nice, no matter what level one plays on. You are afforded the option to trade away health resources for more important ones, such as: uranium, oil, iron, aluminum, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Imperialistic, Cyrus has faster settler production and this means more cities quicker. As a result there is likely to be more health resources claimed more quickly. Happiness is not the problem with this charismatic leader either, so where can this health bonus be applied the best? Well, highly populated and production oriented cities will benefit so that means space race or conquest/domination victories and/or GP farming.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like Churchill or Tokagawa, Cyrus might be one of the ultimate warmongers with his traits. They allow faster XP accumulation [BOLD]and[\BOLD] faster GG appearance! Late game wars which require forges, factories, etc to really pump out the expensive units will have a higher health cap. This makes more of a difference the higher the difficulty, but on quicker or lower setting, perhaps not as much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for Darius I, with Vanilla Washington´s traits of Financial and Organized, the extra health from the UB will complement both the food from cheap lighthouses and the production from cheap factories. Financial seems handy in teching towards a space or diplomatic finish. More will need to be seen from Darius.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary needs both Currency and Guilds to build it, and guilds can come quite late, but then again guilds also gives Knights and a warmonger might like to upgrade his highly promoted Immortals. Some slingshotting could get you there faster, but maybe more needed in higher levels although I don't know exactly since the tech pace is likely quicker.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Cyrus, faster GG emergence and quicker promotion ability means that the game is more likely won early with a conquest/domination goal and maybe the health bonuses is not so well-exploited because pollution might not be as high for one reason or another. For a fast teching Darius with an ability to maintain a large empire the extra health might benefit him more in the long run.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building seems more suited for higher levels, but can make an impact late game with high pollution problems. Environmentalism can be avoided/delayed and chopping could be done without fear of health-induced starvation or founding a city near many FPs. Again without health resources it becomes very useful and for that reason the ability to trade away extra health resources for more strategic ones could be very useful as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Portuguese Feitoria (Customs House):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Feitoria replaces another new building, the Customs House. You need Economics and a Harbour to build it and it grants a 50% boost to all [BOLD]foreign[\BOLD] trade coming in from [BOLD]overseas[\BOLD]. The Portuguese Feitoria gives one extra commerce in all water tiles, making coastal cities seem like you are a financial leader.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a very interesting UB to say the least. First off, it acts like a Colossus in each city that builds it, giving the extra commerce and a little like the Temple of Artemis without the Priest. If you were to have a large coastal city, some sea resources, a harbour, a lighthouse, and the Feitoria, that would really be a great city. Now imagine the Colossus and the Great Lighthouse in this city. Let´s go a little further with it being a capital running Bureaucracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the new concept of colonies in the game, it is likely that the AI will use this UB to its full advantage. More research will be needed, but Expansive and Imperialistic Joao will be able to build settlers [BOLD]and[\BOLD] workers more quickly. He is the only one, which is interesting enough. Starting with fishing will mean access to food resources to even more quickly pump those guys out. He seems flexible in pursuing either conquest/domination or space/cultural victories. It seems the AI like human player swill try for colonial expansion early and often to make use of this UB and the UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is assumed that the UB and the Customs House can only be built on a coastal city given that it requires a harbour. Furthermore, the Customs House would be useless if running Mercantilism, thereby closing all foreign trade routes. It seems the Free Market, with the +1 trade route would really be the choice civic for this building. However, the Feitoria also gets +1 commerce in all water tiles, remember. Joao II could run which ever civic he wants and still get the commerce bonus. I would still recommend Free Market for the larger benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It remaining to be seen how effective this UB will be. It is definitely map dependent, but if you have a few coastal cities and are up to the 6-7 possible trades routes in them, then this UB in only a few cities would still be an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Roman Forum (Market):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, a UB that gives +25 GP birth rate! This is likely to become a favourite. There are no philosophical Roman leaders, but running Pacifism with the Forum and National Epic would still give +225%, not too shabby. Maybe with just the 125% you feel that you can delay the revolution/anarchy until you have other civics you want too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Julius Caesar is Organized and has -50% maintenance costs, but with this UB being much more attractive than a normal Market perhaps one builds it sooner and the +25% wealth in the city and the reduced maintenance costs really go together nicely much earlier in the game. In addition to his cheaper lighthouse, his cheap factories give a nice later in game production boost for military or spaceship ventures. Besides the Merchants assigned from the Forum, he has no cheap buildings which benefit from the extra GPP until factories. Augustus is no longer creative, but is Industrious. So his cheap forges could mean quicker GE production if that is your desire. This can be helpful in wonder or space races and so the extra GPP can go towards GEs or GSs or pumping out Praetorians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both Roman leaders are Imperialistic and have greater GG production and likely to help warmongering. Luring your enemy into your Great Wall trap, could mean 200% greater chance of GG appearance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra the GPs from the Forums could be used to founded religions or techbulb (TM ) you faster through the tech tree for more military/scientific advances. There is real flexibility for both the Roman leaders. They have the fast settler production to really expand and set up an empire with the strength of their Praetorians pushing back the barbarians (er, that is, the other civs). Julius will have a better economy and ability to support his empire, while Augustus will churn out units and wonders and do the same using brute force. The GPPs can be used for whichever purpose is decided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, running a SE seems to be necessary to maximize this UB's bonus, but not vital. Polluted GPP pools might cause some disappointment for some.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a game where GP production is a main focus for some players, this building is likely a candidate for having no drawbacks whatsoever. Regardless of victory goal, difficulty setting, map/terrain, resources, opponents or even your own leader selection, this UB is very useful and versatile, making it one of the best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Russian Research Institute (Laboratory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Laboratory or Research Institute comes at a time in the game where technologies start to get much more expensive. In addition to the +50% spaceship construction, +25% [ICON_RESEARCH], and assigning one citizen as a Scientist (and +1 unhealthiness), the Russian UB gives [BOLD]two free[\BOLD] scientists! This means you can remove forced scientists and change them to GAs for a cultural win or engineers for space race or keep the scientist and head for future tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Representation seems like a no-brainer here, but Russia is one of the only civs in the game (with England) that has three leaders and they each have two different traits so let's examine them more closely:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine: Creative and Imperialistic. She is able to quickly build settlers and the creative trait ensures quick access to fat cross resources. I like her for domination wins for those reasons. Stonehenge can add to the culture growth as well as religions. Cheap libraries can be used in conjunction with cheap theatres to build to a cultural victory. It costs less to build settlers and so fast expansion can lead to more cathedrals build. The extra scientists will lead to faster techs and so if culture is not your thing, the space race gets a nice boost both for the UB's science [BOLD]and[\BOLD] part production. Might not be a high priority especially if near your health cap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peter: Expansive and Philosophical. An excellent candidate for Space Race. His +2 health and cheap granaries and harbours will help offset pollution/unhealthiness from production buildings while cheap universities and +100% GP birth rate means more Scientists and Engineers to help techbulbing and wonder building. Remember the faster production of workers from any time in the game should make quite an impact too as they will be out to connect resources much sooner.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stalin: Aggressive and Industrious. In the few games I have played with Stalin, I have been impressed with his space race potential. Cheap forges and beelining science helped. The UB really made a big impact I felt. Again cultural games leave this UB pretty much obsolete, but with Stalin, his wonder building boost leads to more research with wonders like GL, University of Sankore, Spiral Minaret, Oxford, etc. And then we have the Ironworks and GE produced wonders which are also helpful on the way. He can also be quite the military force early in the game and throughout.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the trade off between Peter's ability to generate GP quicker or Stalin's wonders appearing faster to giving GPPs much sooner? That is open for debate, but both seem great cosmonauts. And I wouldn't rule out Cathy in that department either. With her cheap libraries, quick settler production for greater early expansion complemented by quick cultural border growth she could just as likely be able to use the UB and pull another Yuri Gagarin or, make that Valentina Tereshkova.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Observatories are needed to build the Institute, and although you will already have that tech, they can be more expensive to build for all three leaders compared to cheap libraries or universities. Only Stalin with his industrious trait might have a quicker build given his cheap forges and getter ability to settle GEs, although Peter might too. In Beyond the Sword, with the restructured modern age tech tree, it may require a slightly longer wait before one can build the Research Institute, plus the choices late in the game seem to be more complex and difficult than they were previously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomatic victories would mean you research Mass Media instead of Computers and therefore not a factor. For cultural wins, you likely have the culture switch on at this point and these buildings therefore can be useful in giving back some lost research, but it will matter very little. Mass Media gives Hollywood which is much more important in that case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For being at war the research boost could be handy for building more advanced units, but likely if you need a research boost that badly you probably can't afford to be building RIs in all or most of your high production cities, likely only in your SCC which could also be your unit factory too. By the time you build it, you still have to research those new techs for the improved units. With a little planning it could work out in your favour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To quote Boney M, "Oh, those Russians!" It seems this UB is destined to help with the Space Race and help get Sputnik launched much sooner rather than any other victory, with a possible exception for conquest. Depending on your usual teching order, you might make some adjustments to maximize the benefit of the Research Institute. Time/score victory goals can be helped by the accumulation of future tech perhaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Spanish Citadel (Castle - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Patched Warlords made Castles more useful by giving them +1 trade route and -25% damage from bombardment from non-gunpowder units in addition to the +50% defense vs. non-gunpowder units and +1 culture. Cumulative with the prerequisite Walls, that means +100 defence from non-GP units and -50% from non-GP bombardment. In BtS, they also give an extra 25% espionage points. Maybe, [BOLD]now[\BOLD] players will build them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Citadel gives an additional 25% bombardment protection for a total of -75% [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives 5XP to Siege units produced in the city. From the +3XP barracks and the Citadel that is 8XP already, but Thoecracy and Vassalge give 12XP from the start enough for 3 promotions. The bonus is applied to Trebuchets, Catapults and if you can avoid the obsoleting tech, Economics (which restores the lost trade route, 1st to discover gets a GM) you can have Cannons, Artillery and even machine guns with this bonus as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The strength of the UB lies in how one promotes their siege weapons most effectively. A warmonger or early-war-to-to-claim-land strategy uses it to it's full advantage, but just protecting your cities becomes much easier now too. In Beyond the Sword, there is a new system for siege weapons, so more remains to be seen. Let's take a look at the Siege Units assuming that they follow the path below and remember they cannot receive defensive bonuses and they all cause collateral damage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT] ---\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\___ [COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT] -/[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]40[TAB]5[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-15%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]60[TAB]4[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-20%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike, Defend Only, +50% vs. GP Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Aircraft Intercept, Starts with March[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]200[TAB]26[TAB]2[TAB]Max 85% Attack Damage, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Immune to Siege Collateral Damage[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All these units receive Barrage, Drill, Shock, Ambush, and City Raider (except Machine Gun who only defends) as well as the Combat and Medic promotions. Any Grenadiers promoted to Machine Gun will not gain any XPs if ungraded in a Citadel, but any you build there will. None of these units can receive City Garrison, Cover, Pinch, Formation, Charge or (Guerilla or Woodsman), but it is possible to have your Grenadier or Melee Units promoted into Grenadiers and give [BOLD]them[\BOLD] any of those promotions and then upgrade them into Machine Gunners. You could for example create G2 or G3 Machine Gunners with Ambush and CG promotions to defend a Hill city from Tanks or you could have Woodsman Machine Gunners with Pinch and Medic/Charge defending your SoD on route through a forest to attack an enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Options for your other Siege units are even more numerours. Except for the Machine Gun, all the Siege units have a 25% withdrawal chance, if you add a GG to it, you can it 55% as well as making it a nice Siege Weapon from other promotions. Remember that upgrades are [BOLD]free[\BOLD] when attached to a Warlord, so you could have some expert Machine Gun defenders or great Cannons/Artillery once the competition gets a little tougher and the AI has more advanced units. One other thing that really stood out to me in trying the UB out, was that Siege Units are immune to collateral damage, so having plenty of them in your stack means you will have some to attack with while other units might need to heal. You can give them medic promotions too remember.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for synergy with the Conquistador, it is a knight with +50% vs. melee units. Many different civs have melee units for their UU, which comes in handy. With a few correctly promoted Conquistadors and Siege weapons the two should complement each other nicely. Don't forget to balance out your forces, using more than just these two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't really do anything for the Expansive trait or the Spanish starting tech of fishing and mysticism, however being religious does offer advantages to being able to switch to new civics immediately and not waiting until others are discovered. A switch to Theocracy before you wait to get Vassalage could mean the difference between producing units with an extra +2 XPs and for the siege units with the Citadel, that is enough to put them over the top for a third promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to avoid Economics, the obsoleting tech, you only really miss out on a Great Merchant. You could conceivably hold out for some super artillery and machine gunners if you wanted. This UB allows for some interesting warfare capabilities. Although it doesn't immediately lend it self to anything other than conquest/domination, the extra territory and cities gained or even the ability to better protect one's own cities and territory is nothing to take lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Sumerian Ziggurat (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the Rathaus of the Holy Roman Empire gives a larger maintenence bonus, it takes just as long to build. Neither them, nor the Sumerians are Organized, but the Sumerian Ziggurat is 30 [ICON_PRODUCTION] cheaper, only costing 90, meaning that it will be built more quickly even if not more powerful. I feel the quicker it is build the better; one of the reasons the Zulu Ikhanda is so effective as well (although for Zulu, it is both cheaper and quicker, but not as powerful). Also, only four are required to build the Forbidden Palace. It also gives +2 espionage points and allow you to assign a citizen as a Spy, but that is a normal courthouse feature for Beyond the Sword.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, major props going out to Bovinespy again for pointing out my huge oversight (I don't have the game yet). This UB is like a courthouse, but you only need Priesthood to build it thereby delaying Code of Laws or passing it all together. This will mean a much earlier clamp down on maintenance costs. While others may have a larger bonus (Rathaus), Gilgamesh, like Shaka, will have a head start. This means the Forbidden Palace is built much sooner as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building the FP quicker, could help culturally for a victory, however it also means a faster expanding empire. Creative and Protective Gilgamesh will need be to be further studied, but the culture boost from borders will help the settlers claim land and the quicker and earlier built courthouses will help keep the economy going. Being protective as well, means maintaining the empire while under attack. Cheap walls and castles will make Sumeria a tough foe to topple.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This did not jump out as being a strong UB until I realized it comes with Priesthood. This is something I am sure some players will use it to maximum advantage. Really, a cheaper courthouse is nothing to complain about and now, one does not have to wait as long to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]. Um yeah, that was before I realized you don't need CoL. Priesthood is such a cheap tech, it could be beelined for maximum exploitation here. I love the prereq tech as it is both unique and very appropriate when you think about what Ziggurats really were. This UB is just oozing flavour and possibilities. More to come I am sure; I just can not wait to play these guys![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Viking Trading Post (Lighthouse double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another coastal UB for a financial leader, the Trading Post gives a free Navigation 1 promotion to ships build there in addition to the extra food in each sea tile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is some definite synergies here, firstly the UB being required for the Great Lighthouse which gives all coastal cities +2 trade routes. Ragnar starts with fishing and so the prereq tech, Sailing is not far away. As with the Carthaginian Cothon, it makes sense to build many coastal cities to maximize this affect. Now, it's true that not all your cities will be building ships [BOLD]all[\BOLD] the time, so it is your choice, but of the achipelago maps I have played with them, most if not all of them have been. Harbours, Colossus also add to the wealth, remembering that Ragnar is financial, coastal tiles are great if you have few FP cottages, gems, gold, silver or plantation resources[NEWLINE]around you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, the bonus itself, one extra movement for sea units does not include work boats. On a map with plenty of water this is helpful to let you discover other civs earlier and trade tech with them. Between your financial coastal cities raking in money for a high research rate, you will also be trading for other techs of lower priority when you meet the others. From here you can go one step further and let the extra movement of your powerful navy work for you. Drydocks come with Steel and give your sea units an extra +4 XPs and are produced 50% faster. Your navy would quite literally have an extra step, but there is more. The +1 movement also helps you to circumnavigate the globe faster and hopefully beat out other civs in doing so. Either you trade for maps as you meet new civs or you do it the old fashioned way. It might be tough with a lot of ocean, but as soon as you get ships which can enter the ocean you still have the +1 movement from navigation. The +1 movement from circumnavigating the globe [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to your work boats![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now let us consider the Bersek, the Viking UU which is a Maceman with the Amphibious promotion and an intrinsic +10% City Attack. Adding the CR1 and you are already at +30%. Being Aggressive, you only start with Combat 1 for an extra 10% unit strength and the unit itself has +50% vs. Melee Units. So for a CR Berserk against a melee defender in a coastal city we are talking +80% strength for nearly double the 8 [ICON_STRENGTH], more like 15.2 [ICON_STRENGTH]. If you can meet some civs while they still have only archers (11.2 [ICON_STRENGTH], or even better, Warriors (or Axemen), their cities become yours very easily. On an achipelago map, most if not all of their cities will be coastal and that is what a financial leader with the Colossus and GL wants right? With the patch, the Civil Service or CoL slingshot might be harder to do, but if you concentrate on the money, research can go quicker for you, plus a GP could help you out along the way too. Berserks can be built with Copper or Iron, so if you have researched for copper and have none, trade for IW or research it and try again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On Great Plains, Oasis or other maps with little coastal tiles, this building is very useless. It really shines in the water maps although the Berserk can still be useful for attacking across rivers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether for meeting tech trading partners earlier or wiping out some rivals early the Trading Post gives a nice bonus. One could go on to eliminate everyone rather quickly or if not take some prime real estate to help with a culture/space/diplomatic victory. For full blown conquest or domination, this building can be helpful on the right map. It would be nice to see +10% trade route or commerce in the city as well, but it still nicely complements the amphibious Berserk. If not on a archipelago or lakes map it value is greatly reduced however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Zulu Ikhanda (Barracks - double production for Aggressive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Barracks that act as a mini-courthouse by giving -20% maintnance costs. This means you can wait for CoL a little later and still expand reasonable quicker than your rivals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building greatly complements the expansive and aggressive Shaka because he gets double production speed. He is one of two leaders (the other being Frederick) who gets their UB at half the building cost. Barracks cost 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] while the Ikhanda costs 60 [ICON_PRODUCTION] so the double production bonus still a big factor. Patched Warlords and BtS only gives +3 XPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Expanding out is aided with reduced costs and whether you warmonger or not it's a nice bonus. Couple it with the courhouse and that is -70% maintenance costs, not bad at all. If taking over cities, this UB is cheaper to build than a courthouse (80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] and don't forget the double production) In a large, productive city taken from the enemy, this building will let it start contributing to the war machine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would not put the Zulu as a culture contender with no cheap culture buildings to build, but diplomatic, domination, space race and conquest all seem possibilities because the benefits of reduced maintenance can be used for any means. I have actually seen some comments that cultural was easy with Shaka. Perhaps the extra maintenance reduction allows for more cities and more cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Beyond the Sword, they have fixed the problem that the Ikhanda had in Warlords and it now like the Barracks, it also receives +2 happiness when running the Nationhood civic. So, quicker expansion and extra happiness from a building which is meant to produce units with +3 XPs. Remembering the synergy with Fuedalism and Theocracy that is +8 XPs and while other civs get that and the barrcks happiness too, they do not get the lower maintenance costs while growing their empires through conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might not build barracks in every city, at higher level especially, but this UB can pay dividends by being in every city. It's so cheaper, why would one not even bother? The synergy with the courthouse can be nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably a building best used to expand as quickly as allowed. Domination or conquest or large number of cities to help with research/spaceship construction. Finally, if this UB makes you more likely to build barracks straight away, your military will benefit, but should it be first in the build queue?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That is the rundown of the Unique Buildings. I would like to thank everyone for their input and support.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Comprehensive Unique Building Guide (BTS)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]WilliamOfOrange[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a my first attempt at a strategy guide given that most of the players with more skill/talent/time usually write up some beauties, but I have been inspried to contribute something about my favourite part of the Warlords expansion: the Unique Building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I often load up the game and civilopedia just to see which UBs might match the victory condition that I feel like going for. I appreciate reading peoples' work, so I hope I can return the favour here in bringing this strategy article to you. The great thing about this game is the many different strategies and uses for things like leader traits, UUs and UBs. And what is truly great about the UBs is the flexibility and choices most of them give the player so ratings are not necessary; only strategies and synergies need be discussed. What makes a UB (or UU) great is how it is used the most effectively. With the new combinations that Beyond the Sword offers, this could get quite complicated, however I will only focus on the standard and normal civilization UB combinations here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we go:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]American Mall (Supermarket):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have only played the Americans in a Gauntlet with a Future start going for Space Race, but I have to say the building was a nice boost. It is a good choice for an American UB, I feel. For the same price as a supermarket (which provides extra health from cow, deer, pig and sheep) you also get happiness from the three late "entertainment/culture wonders" or ECWs; musicals from Broadway, singles from Rock n' Roll and movies from Hollywood, and now with the patch, plus 20% gold in the city to boot! For a future era start, maybe not needed right away, but if in a long game where your population is reaching health and happiness limits, its a great building to have even if it does come late in the game. That alone is enough, but the +20% gold can be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building one or all of those happiness/culture wonders mentioned above would add 3 happiness points like that and the added health means larger cities as well. What is your pleasure, GP farming or warmongering? Either way, I think it helps out. Not sure about using it with Washington, who is charismatic and expansive, so the +2 health means the health bonus from the mall maybe isn't so big. Then again, you can afford to build polution causing, production buildings with all that extra health. Also the +1 happiness in all cities and from monuments or broadcast towers (which is great if you build the Eiffel Tower) seems to negate the happiness from the mall too. But, if you were to play as the industrious and organized Roosevelt, then you could get some of the benefits of Washington at the same time if you build malls.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems that the extra health and happiness could really give Lincoln a nice late game edge when large, polluting cities needs extra [ICON_HEALTHY] and [ICON_HAPPY]. Given his philosophical trait, he is a great candidate for space race because of the Mall´s bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, it does come late and requires a grocer to be built. Given that the grocer gives +1 health from bananas, wine, sugar and spice, that might solve your health problems already. Grocers also give +25 wealth and can turn two citizens into Merchants. Maybe you don't need the health, but the money is always nice. With Grocer, Market, Bank and Mall that is 120% increase in income. Yay, Capitalism![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With a granary, a grocer and the supermarket/mall you get health from rice, corn, wheat, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. That's 11 health points! So as stated above, that means the ability to build forges, factories and other polluting buildings. It would all depend on your civics (environmentalism), if you have FP or trees and jungle in your fat cross and your goals (production, warmongering, space race, etc)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for the happiness, with charismatic trait, you get +1 per city, and ignoring any happiness from temples, theatres, coliseums look at what building one of the three ECWs gives you once you have a mall and broadcast tower, (either by it self, or the much better option of the Eiffel Tower). For example you build Hollywood, +1 [ICON_HAPPY]and with mall and broacast tower, another +2 [ICON_HAPPY]for a total of +3 for the same resource!! If you build all three ECWs and the Eiffel Tower, you are looking at +9 happiness for three resources not to mention that you can trade your extra singles, movies and musicals to other civs for resources you may not have, like Aluminum or Iron or Oil. Add in the fact that you likely have temples, theatres or whatever other happiness producing buildings and the fact that the broadcast tower (along with threatres and coliseums) will give +1 happiness for every 10% culture. If you have all three in a city, then that means +3 [ICON_HAPPY] for only raising the culture setting up by 10%. For warmongering this is huge![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warmongering seems to fit America as a charismatic Washington or Lincoln also gets quicker promotions and you will have more money coming in to support a large army and upgrade your troops. The Mall is a Cottage Economy UB, but Lincoln is a Specialist Economy Leader, so there may be some mismatch here.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although some may feel that is comes too late or when the game is pretty much finished and you are either milking the score or just mopping up, it seems to me that given a large varied collection of resources, the Mall gives the American player the ability and flexibilty to trade extra health/happiness resources away and not suffer their loss, or to exploit them and kick into high production/war monger gear and not look back. Lincoln is a bonafide space contender, quite a deal over Washington and Roosevelt.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Arabian Madrassa (Library - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the Chinese Pavilion is the "Big Daddy" of culture UBs, then the Madrassa is the "Big Momma". With a whopping +4 culture per turn is lends itself to a culture victory. Given that Writing is an early tech and you would likely build a library anyway, it's a no-brainer to place Writing higher up in your tech queue. In fact, I have experiemented with beelining for it and not worrying about early religions for cultural games. Libraries cost the same, but in addition to assigning to scientists, you can [BOLD]also[\BOLD] assign two prophets.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The culture route is likely the biggest draw for this one, but you could also concentrate on farming GP and GS only if you like. Lightbulbing to get ahead in tech and maybe settling some of them as well so that you could build the UN quickly. The big culture ensures that you have the resources if you join/start the space race or just own all the land around you for domination victories. Farming GPs will help you progress nicely through the religious tech and that means more religions, holy cities, shrines and mo' money, mo' money, mo' money! And it can also help you control religion spreading for diplomatic manipulation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other then the danger of polluting your GP pool if you are not careful and don't want that for a cultural victory, I can't think of any problems.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] All-round, early UB with simple bonuses, but powerful if used to their strengths.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Aztec Sacrificial Altar (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I just realized that these badboys are only 90 shields compared to the 120 needed for a courthouse! In addition to halving maintenaince costs in the city it also halves the anger caused by whipping buildings in the city. I have not played many Aztec games but I recall reading about a false OCC on another forum where the Aztecs started on a Plains/Hill island and needed to wait until Optics to get across the ocean. The prospect of rushing buildings through slavery seemed to make the task more managable. I had played as the Incas one time on the 1000 AD Earth map and I never left slavery until I had emancipation. I wonder about the same strategy with the Aztecs, seems to be far more effective. Finally, everything gets the discounted unhappiness from rushing (amazing what nice people can point out and you can verify by playing the game and testing). Holy Quetzalcoatl! That changes everything![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like the courthouse, it also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could whip their hands bloody, but to what advantage? Fast culture, fast science/research or fast infrastructure like banks, grocers, etc. Space race might benefit from this strategy, but can projects be whipped? Once you whip production buildings, you can pump out units and dominate/conquer the world. Or just whip the units out and slay everything in your path.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A large spanning empire through conquest would be able to build cheaper courthouses and then whip some culture and happiness buildings to help keep maintenance costs down and develop captured cities into productive contributors more quickly. In war times you could have the possibility of both drafting and then whipping units. Finally, you can finish off a wonder earlier and perhaps beat the AI to a few depending on difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In terms of Bts, we have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the whipping unhappiness reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy. The courthouse is likely not always the first items in a build queue, but I feel the Altar has two things that make it a higher priority.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Altars come too late to help whip barracks and the aggressive Monty gets cheaper barracks anyway. But, now that I know the reduced penalty for whipping [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to units, a quick ASAP conquest victory is likely not going to be done with CoL and the Altar. This is one of the reasons I have used this technique very little but am more open to trying mid-game conquests. If you are on a large map with many civs, this UB makes more sense. You could be pumping out settlers and workers and units and scouts or even missionaries. However, continuing whipping will keep the population low in those cities if you want to be economical since larger cities taker longer to get back up to that high population and having low populated cities would mean that perhaps you are not utilizing all of the good tiles available to be worked in the fat cross. Having low population might result in slower teching, but if you are whipping settlers and workers and the Altars help lower maintainence then having many small cities might offset that. Eventually, the unhappiness will catch up however, but I am sure that there are plenty of savvy players out there that have slavery fine tuned to both an art and science.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An appropriately related UB for the Aztecs, but not the culture bomb like in Civ 3 and not as powerful as could be due its somewhat late appearance. That being said, an Oracle slingshot could give you it quicker and then it might be worth more, but a slingshot solely to use this UB doesn't really merit the risk, especially on higher levels and needing Math too. It can be effective for starting out and if it is the first thing build/whipped in a newly captured city, then it will become a contributing city soon enough. I owe this UB an apology for not originally realizing the full potential and the ability to whip units. I has been fun using when playing as the Aztecs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Babylonian Garden (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How cute, a UB named for their Hanging Gardens. The building gives extra +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] and this UB is much like the Ottoman Hammam except the Babylonians getting a health bonus on the Colosseum rather than a happiness bonus on the Aqueduct. This UB will give health bonuses independent of what food resources their may be. It also has it´s happiness linked to the culture slider and costs 80 hammers, just like the Colosseum.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being aggressive and organized as well as the Babylonian UU might make Hammurabi a warmonger candidate. Assuming more cities earlier on, perhaps one could make use of the the extra health. Certainly high polluting cities for a warmonger or space race could use it. Organized gets cheap lighthouses (more food), courthouses (faster expansion) and factories for more production. High production with extra health could mean some good warring possibilities with his Aggression or it could mean space race contention.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It comes with Construction and is 20 hammers less expensive than an Aqueduct. A Theatre is still a cheaper option for happiness if you don´t need the health. Later in the game, when high production is needed, but unhealthy, this UB will give a slight health advantage, but the beauty is that is comes so early that you would not have to stop producing military units or spaceship components to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This UB will have to be thoroughly tested before evaluation can be made.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Byzantine Hippodrome (Theatre - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hippodrome is like a super Theatre. Sure, you get +3 [ICON_CULTURE], the two Artists to assign and the bonus for dyes, but you also get one for horses, hence the name HIPPOdrome. It also has a base happiness of +1, but it that wasn't enough (and it never is), you also get +1 [ICON_HAPPY]for every 5% culture on your slider, instead of the normal 10%. This essentially doubles that ability of the building to give happiness from culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Where to begin? Well the extra happiness from a smaller culture slider means more money devoted to maintenance of cities for your expanding empire, more military units and upgrades, more research, you name it. Justinian I is Imperialistic and you will have more money available to take advantage of your fast settler production. Since the Cataphract UU is dependent on horses, it is a no brainer to try and connect the horses ASAP. Being religious gives the flexibility of fast settlement and then gearing up for war or space exploration or anything else. Running Serfdom and OR and than switching to Feudalism and Theocracy. The extra happiness is great and also leads to a economic advantage which is up to your imagination to exploit. This UB is a far better choice than building a Colosseum for the Byzantines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is never a drawback, and as stated earlier, this leads to an economically advantage. Even without horses or dyes, there is still the +1 base [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While not overpowered on paper, it remains to be seen how useful this UB actually will be. So far, it looks very promising.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Carthaginian Cothon (Harbour - double production for expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, a harbour which gives +1 trade routes to a coastal city to Hannibal, a financial leader who starts with fishing. What is the catch, you ask? I can't think of any. I have only played a game or two with Carthage, but you gotta love their chances.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First off, Financial and Fishing is already great. Find some coastal tiles with food sources and settle down. In fact when I play as Carthage (or the Vikings for that matter) it's nothing but coastal cities if I can help it. Your income will give a fast tech pace and you can plan for diplomatic or space victories, although I am not sure about others. I guess being ahead in tech will help keeping a more advanced army.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The base number of trade routes for a city is one, but if you have discovered Currency and build a castle or run the Free Market civic in [BOLD]addition[\BOLD] to your Cothons, that means 3 trade routes. (You can't do both since Economic obsoletes the castle.) The Colossus adds +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] water tiles and the Great Lighthouse adds [BOLD]+2 trade routes in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] coastal cities.[\BOLD] If you have a map with many civs, and nice silver or gold or calendar enabling resources which gives you huge coin besides your financial bonus you will have some rich cities. If you are around late enough and make an early move for flight and the UN, the Airport and the Common Currency Resolution give you [BOLD]another[\BOLD] 2 trade routes![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Didn't talk about cottage spamming yet, so there. I said it. Cottage Spamming. Now, need I mention the +50% trade route yield? That +50% on your 7 trade routes! Don't forget the additional 100% from the Temple of Artemis. Add markets, banks and Wall Street and you will be using C-notes for TP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Compass can come pretty late, but a beeline or slingshot or a combo of both to iron working could land you your cothons earlier than you might think. The tech or time lost getting your UB will be made up for when you have +1 trade routes in your lucrative coastal cities even if they cost an extra 20 hammers. And that may be the only drawback, you need to have coastal cities. If you want to reign supreme with Hannibal, you need high sea levels and likely some sort of Archipelago map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than being map dependent, this UB is quite possibly the best matched with the civs leader traits and starting techs. With more money you can support a larger army/empire or research faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Celtic Dun (Walls - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Walls that produce units with a free Guerrilla I promotion for +20% defense on hills. In a discussion about the best UUs I read that Swordmen or Melee units can't get the Guerrilla promotion. This would explain both why the UU starts with it and why the UB gives it to units produced in that city. Only Archery and Gunpowder units can get the promotion. Siege, Melee, Mounted and Armoured don't.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to remember that the G3 30 Hills Attack bonus only coming when attcking [BOLD]into[\BOLD] Hills and not from them. Still, the 30% withdrawal is also handy and has helped out greatly in games I have played, so whether you have hills or not thw withdrawal is worth it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I am not sure whether or not holding off researching Rifling, the obsoleting tech matters because any musketmen or grenadiers that you build will have the Guerrilla I, but once you have riflemen with a strength of 14, maybe grenadiers with 12 don't look so good. Perhaps if your opponents have rifling you would hold off on getting it yourself as the bonus grenadiers have against rifles and their Guerrilla bonus might prove worth keeping for a bit or at least until you have a good amount of them. It would all depend on the other promotions they have and your opponents. Upgrading your Gallic Swordsman to Macemen you do not lose the Guerrilla I. Even if they were given Guerrilla II or even III [BOLD]before[\BOLD] being upgraded then they keep it. Some shrewd manipulation of the promotion chart would prove most rewarding. Build your archery and gunpowder units, give them the G2 promotion and then discover Rifling. Upgrade your archery units and musketmen to riflemen, remembering that only Grenadiers can be promoted to Machine Gunners (considered siege unit). Your G2 or G3 Gallic Warriors becomes Macemen and then either Riflemen or Grenadiers. Riflemen and Machine Gunners can both be promoted to Mechanized Infantry (gunpowder unit), while only Riflemen can be upgraded to SAM Infantry. Below is a crude flowchart:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT] -----\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \__ [COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]/--&gt; [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT] _/\[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]\[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT] -----/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \_\[COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLUE]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\--&gt;  [COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT] ___/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]  \[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT]___________________/[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]   \___[COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Gallic Warrior[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]+10% City Attack[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with Guerrilla I[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Maceman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Musketman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]80[TAB]9[TAB]1[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_COMMERCE]Melee Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Who wouldn't want these Mech or SAM Infantry units with double movement on Hills, +30% Defence, +25% Hill Attack and 30% chance of Withdrawal? Most players sadly undervalue what this UB can do for you later in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being charismatic, both Brennus and new-comer Boudica give quicker promotions and if you wanted the Guerrilla I promotion anyway then you are free to choose something else. Don't forget the extra +1 happiness per city and the +1 happiness from the Monument: early happiness for warring or ignoring temple for other more important buildings such as courthourse, forges, libraries, etc. Warring on a hilly or highlands type map seems a good strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could build a stack of any units and upgrade them with the G1 promotion remaining. This bonus makes you just one closer to G2 which gives another 30% defense in Hills and well as double movement on Hills, making hilly maps such as highlands easier to navigate. Remember that with the patch the G3 promotion gives the +25% attack bonus [BOLD]and[\BOLD]a 30% chance of withdrawal! With a charismatic leader you could easily get both of those either out of the barracks and with one fight or from a GG, but don´t forget the +4 from running Theocracy and Feudalism. Running both of those and having a barracks means units made will have 7/8 XP to start. Finally, Boudica is aggressive so not only does this mean the Combat I promotion for free, but also cheaper barracks. This means building barracks [BOLD]and[\BOLD] a Dun just got more practical even or especially without stone. But a free Combat I is nothing to sneeze at if you are promoting up the Guerrilla line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One might build the Great Wall and "trick" the AI to try and fight you in your backyard. Your Guerrilla resistance troops will protect any hill resource and if you give them Woodsman I or higher or even more Guerrilla, you will give them a heck of a time trying to dislodge you. They would defend any cats or trebs or whatever you bring along if you fight on their turf too. Giving unit both Guerrilla II and Woodsman II means a versatile unit capable of sneak attacks on weaker units or maybe even an invaluable resource pillager.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would suggest delaying Rifling until you have upgraded all your G1 units into musketman or grenadiers, maybe a 50-50 mix. Discover Rifling, but then upgrade them into Riflemen, and from their you can have Infantry, SAM Infantry [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Mechanized Infantry with this defensive bonus. Going in pillaging the AI resources for space race or preventing them from building nukes can be done with these expert pillagers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's a nice bonus, but not really any drawbacks. In fact now that walls and duns give +25% bombardment protection (about time) and castles do too, one might be more likely to build castles if they didn't before, especially since in BtS they also give +25% espionage points. With both a Dun and Castle one gets +100% defense and +50% bombardment defense from non-gunpowder units. The extra trade route from the castle and the espionage points are throw-ins.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For warmongering or pillaging/protecting resources no matter what the goal this UB can provide you with units that will have an advantage on hills. How you use those units, promote or upgrade them will depend on your goals, immediate and future needs and terrain/resources. The strength in this UB is the versatility it provides. I predict that Boudica´s traits will make the Celts a more attractive Civ to play as. She will be a warmonger´s dream and possibly one of the most fierce of opponents. Outside of warmongering, there is not much this UB can do other than help one explore a hilly map more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Chinese Pavlion (Theatre - double production for Creative civ):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The undisputed culture building king and "Big Daddy" of the cultural UBs. Cultural victory fans must have thought they hit the bigtime when they saw this beauty. Aside from the +3 culture the it gives +25% for culture in the city. Building the pavilion alone gives a culture per turn of 3.75, slightly less than the Madrassa, but this will double after 1000 years, but more importantly the 25% is added to everything.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What makes the pavilion the culture champion is the +25% bonus continues throughout the game and so the quicker the culture from other buildings can be added to the city, the better. Imagine a few early wonders with their culture doubling and then the added 25%. Sure, it's not game breaking, but one might not feel as obligated to crank the culture switch or convert to Free Speech as quickly with the bonus this UB gives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The traits of the leaders don't really work that well with this building, but it does ensure no matter what that nearby resources our yours. This allows you to persue the late game win conditions such as diplomatic, space race or a late conquest. Or more likely, early in the game you will have more resources than otherwise and you can dictate the trade terms and stifle the AI by denying them that one precious iron or uranium or oil or aluminum as the case may be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not able to overly accelerate the cultural win time frame, this building I have found to be quite amazing for domination games. With a few founded religions and no state religion and a pavilion, you just keep pumping out settlers and units and let the borders expand like your waistline after college.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than persuing a cultural/domination victory or claiming resources, there in not much extra outside of the normal theatre uses/features. Even in a cultural game, it is not enough to be a real advantage because of China's leader traits or strating techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD] What you see is what you get. Nothing to really want to you play China any more than you normally would, except maybe for a quicker domination win or being a resource hog and super businessman/diplomat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 hammer on every river tile and costs 180 hammers. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn two citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"The fact that it obsoletes fairly early is really not much of an issue for the purpose it serves. Both leaders can benefit from this. For the most part it really only takes one city with one, though using Stonehenge to put it in multiple cities isn't bad at all. The great prophets that you can generate quickly from the priest specialists allow you to claim several of the mid to late religions. This is one of the key features you tend to want to accomplish when going for a culture victory. Once you get 2-3 religions you don't really care to much about making this building go obsolete and switching to temples to support any other priest specialists if you still need to grab the rest of the religions or if you want holy shrines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it will have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][u][BOLD]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[/b][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres and libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You could however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It also has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is the most synergistic combo of both leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities and cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants also double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists and gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two more GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries and universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units and Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture and the growth increase. Even if you built a granary first, you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]"This is a GREAT UB for late-Ancient through ealy-Industrial era warmongering. It really speeds up your rate of assimilation of newly-conquered lands. The crucial point lies in the pop-rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In your earliest wars, the populations of conquered cities will tend to be in the 3 to 5 range. If you pop-rush a monument and a granary (esp. if you're Expansive), the population of the city will recover fairly quickly (assuming decent food resources available/not-plundered). However, later in the game, usually about the time catapults show up, the AI has usually developed urban pop levels so that core cities you capture routinely have pops of 8 to 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is where the Terrace really shines: it saves you from having to pop-rush a granary and a culture building. This point is particularly important if you're not playing a Creative leader. Mind you, it's a subtle difference between having a captured city with a pop of 8 or 9 instead of 6 or 7. However, a crucial point to remember is that the higher the pop level, the longer it takes to recover a pop point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you conquer and absorb a well-developed empire of around 6 or 8 cities (a not-unlikely scenario on Standard maps). Now imagine an extra tile or two of production from each of those cities. If you had to rush both buildings, you would be dozens of turns behind, relatively speaking, in production compared to the Incan. This is huge! Properly played, the snowball-effect of swallowing a rival empire or two in the mid-game is significantly more noticeable when you play Huayna."[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Dutch Dike (Levee):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Dutch UB, the Dike replaces the Levee which itself, is a new building introduced in Beyond the Sword. The Levee is available with Steam Power and gives +1 [ICON_PRODUCTION] on every river tile and costs 180 [ICON_PRODUCTION]s. It brings up some interesting choices regarding tiles improvements to say the least. Meanwhile, the Dike also gives the +1 production boost to all water tiles as well. Any coastal city will greatly benefit and the great thing is that it does not need to be a coastal city either. Therefore even cities one tile in from the coast or with small lakes will still have water tiles gaining the bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With Willem being Financial, the choice to build cottages on river tiles might appear to be a no-brainer, but often players will want increased production and build watermills, windmills or lumbermills in their place. The great thing about the Dike or Levee for that matter, is that it gives a production bonus to the tiles regardless of improvement. Now, imagine a Dutch coastal city on a river with cottages, a Dike, Universal Sufferage, Organized Religion and in a Golden Age. Imagine the Bureaucracy bonus on that too. As a Dutchie, I can hardly wait to see that! Some late wonders and project races just got a little easier to win. As this is a BtS civ, let us not forget the tweak on State Property and also the Moai Statues which are like a Dike, but a wonder which does not expire. Some great production synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being financial, building on rivers would be your goal anyway, but any city without rivers or water tiles will have absolutely no use for this UB and therefore it will likely be quite map dependent in its effectiveness. Even if they have 2-4 tiles that would benefit, you might want to weigh the 180 hammer cost before putting them everywhere. Also, the UB does come quite late, of course later in the game is when things start to cost more hammers too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only thing better than extra happiness is extra production, so if your map allows for this opportunity, any goal whether it be pumping out military units, settlers and workers, wonders or spaceship parts. While both Levees and Dikes will only be of use to cities with river tiles, to take full advantage of this UB, one would need to build more coastal cities or at least not be in the middle of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Egyptian Obelisk (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Egyptian monument can turn [BOLD]two[\BOLD] citizens into priests. Pretty powerful for early in the game. Even if Egypt doesn't start with Mysticism, they have the ability to build the very first building with the ability to assign specialists. You could use the GPs produced to techbulb (TM ) yourself to whatever your little heart desires.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One could argue that with Hatshepsut, the creative +2 culture bonus would negate the +1 culture from the obelisk, but you could also spin it to being equivalent to a theatre culture-wise. Then again, with cheap temples, theatres, and libraries why else would you play her without going for cultural victory? With cheap colosseums too, you now have two buildings which will give you +1 happiness for every 10% culture. Once you hit that culture switch, you needn't worry about happiness resources, except maybe incense and dyes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As Illithid has so eloquently put it:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The obelisk might better complement the industrious and spiritual Rameses II. He can build quick wonders like Oracle and Stonehenge and maybe a cultural victory could be sought since you could really crank out Great Prophets. One further thing could be to settle those prophets and once you have Angkor Wat and cheap forges from industrious Ramses, you have a great chance for the space race victory or just high production warmongering. Even if you don't go those routes, the extra production for other things can work well like buildings wonders for cultural (with either leader) or building the UN. Both leaders could definitely could try for a domination win as well with the quick culture boost from Stonehenge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets will only techbulb (TM ) you to the mostly religious techs and that might not always be the way to go.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earlist possible one to build is also the first one obsoleted. Although one can ignore Calendar, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to develop those sugar, spices and incense tiles. In Beyond the Sword, it becomes obsoleted with Astronomy, so it is possible depending on one's strategies and goals to avoid that tech all together. If you have many religions and temples as a result of your early GPs then you can obsolete the Obelisk and still gain GPPs for more GPs later. It's what you choose to do with those priests you assign, that really affects the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Obelisks not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or diplomatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great Prophets early, can be a tech boost, but unless you are surrounded by food bonuses, you won't be able to assign those priests anyway. With practice, it could be used quite effectively.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ethiopian Stele (Monument):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Ethiopian monument can give +25% culture in addition to the +1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB probably screams cultural victory, but the 25% bonus won´t really matter until much later in the game. Also, in BtS the obsoleting tech is Astronomy which can be avoided for some time so long as you don't plan on colonizing another continent. One can play a cultural victory without ever researching and discovering or trading for it, so this bonus would be added for the entire game. Being Organized, the ability to settle new cities more quicker would be helped by any additional cultural boundaries pushing further out. With key resources claimed, his cheap factories will use the resources to build spaceship components or military units much more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Furthermore, let´s not ignore the fact that like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put this UB in every one of your cities. Now, this is truly a thing not to miss if you want to try for a domination victory. Especially when you consider the Organized trait of the Ethiopian leader. Again, ignoring Astronomy would likely need to be done as well, but your domination victory might not take that long.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember, Zara Yaqob in Creative so the 25% in the beginning is not that big of the deal, but with the cheap libraries and theatres in no time it [BOLD]will[\BOLD] have an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zara Yaqob does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build could have it's lifespan shortened depending on your tech path. Losing out on the culture bonus it not a big loss in another victory condition, but the quick land grab would be a huge boost. Of course, one requires religions or other cultural building to really benefit from the UB. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to expand to other continents or build observatories to boost your science level. For other victories, the UB is still perhaps needed as the cultrual trait gives you the resources you want early, but in the face of other cultural powerhouses, it might be helpful to retain or even capture resources culturally.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obsoleting Stonehenge means the Stelae not physically built a city will disappear, whereas building them all by hand means they stay and continue to stand and have their base culture of 1 double to 2 over time. Not only that, but you have now lost the 25% culture boost in those cities. It is not a great deal for some victory conditions such as space or dipolmatic, but domination and cultural might need to consider this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The true strength of this UB depends on what else is build in the city, but with a few ancient wonders, library, temples and other with the doubled culture for their age, the Stele alone would have quite an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]English Stock Exchange (Bank):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, I really see why Liz is a fan favourite for some. The Stock Exchange gives the an extra 15% gold bonus to what a bank normally does (50%) for a total of +65%. With two financial leaders to choose from this is a very versatile UB. You can go Philosophical with Liz or Imperialistic with Vicky.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No matter what you chose for your victory path, commerce drives research and things are great. Add markets and grocers means a total 115% gold increase. Even warmonger Churchill will benefit, but financial really exploits this UB. What is great about this UB compared to the Carthaginian Cothon is that you needn't only build on the coast and so you can use this on any map and whereas the Cothon only give +50% bonus to the trade routes the 65% bonus from the SE is cumulative with other buildings. I suppose the math would work out depending on many factors, but it suffices to say the stock exchange can be build anywhere. Even so, you likely want most if not all of your cities on the coast, as there is usually more lucrative tiles in the water (outside of FP cottages) especially if you build the Colossus and Great Lighthouse, but a few gold or silver mines or luxuries resources are great too. Up to Airports and the right civics and you can have 7 trade routes in a city and Wall Street. Cottage spam and run Emancipation, Universal Suffrage and Free Market and you will be laughing all the way to the bank! Er, make that all the way to the Stock Exchange.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This can be used to keep the tech slider higher and tech faster to get your space race/diplo win started early or you can keep a larger empire and army with upgrades when you want and need without waiting to save the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Um, how about "no?" Money makes the world go 'round![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]England starts with fishing and mining, so look out. Not sure what else can be said here. I think ABBA said it best: "Money, Money, Money" $$$$[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]French Salon (Observatory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Salon is an observatory which gives a free artist. It might not seem like much, but for cultrual victories it can be quite nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, first of all, with the patch, Louis can now build cheap theatres [BOLD]and[\BOLD] libraries! He is creative and the +2 culture is only a small amount, but the cheap buildings is great. In fact, Louis gets libraries, theatres, coliseums and forges at half production cost. Not too shabby.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the anarchy caused by switching to Mercantilism perhaps going from liberalism to astronomy makes sense. With a little wait to Astronomy, you can built your UB which gives a free Great Artist, rather than going through anarchy to get it. Of course you have to build these Salons, but they are cheaper than universities and with the Sistine Chapel the free Great Artist gives more culture for the same amount of science boost (+25%). But, maybe you do want to switch to Mercantilism so you can have another free type of GP. If not, then you have got two free artists with the library, salon, (and university) and the Statue of Liberty is not that far away with his cheap forge and quicker building of the Statue of Liberty. Either way you could have 2-3 free artists, not to mention the others you could assign. This means you can run something other than Caste System. And speaking of science boost, why not run Representation with those free artists? Use the library, salon and uni to beeline for the ECWs and you are laughing. C'est formidable! C'est magnifique! D'accord?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Running representation with Salon´ free artists as either Louis XIV or de Gaulle could be a strategy for space race victories.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not sure what Napoleon would do with the free artist other than maintain culture borders on resources on a crowded map, but then again you could build a cheap theatre in the likely small city first. The Salon is like an observatory, so keeping up the tech pace to have more advanced troops might be desirable. You [BOLD]could[\BOLD] however have your larger cities with these GAs and go and culture bomb you new acquisitions. If you want other GPs, then perhaps the Salon will pollute your GPPs, so beware.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charles de Gaulle is charismatic and industrious, like a hybrid of Louis and Napoleon. He has extra happiness resources and can promote units faster, making him a warmonger equal to Napoleon, except where Napoleon´s Organization might let him keep a larger empire, de Gaulle would have more production strengths in cheaper forges and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are likely some other possibilities to be discussed as there seems to be lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi?", but this UB should not be taken lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]German Assembly Plant (Factory - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Assembly Plant is a factory which can change 4 citizens into engineers instead of just two. It [BOLD]also[\BOLD] has double production speed with coal. I haven't tried Germany out yet, but this is a mouth watering temptation. Die Fragen ist: "Welchen Führer möchten Sie spielen?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leader? Well, take your pick. This UB complements both leaders very, very nicely and is [BOLD]the[\BOLD] most synergistic combo of [BOLD]both[\BOLD] leaders and[NEWLINE]their UB of all the civs in the game (with apologies to the two Queens of England). This UB is all about output, production and power. Was sind Stärken jedes Führers? What are each leader's strengths?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otto von Bismarck: Expansive and Industrious. Sure, there is only +2 health with the patch, but health will be needed to offset production buildings that cause pollution. Later in the game every health counts and is needed. Bismarck can be a warmonger with a huge empire and pumping out units like nobody's business or cranking out spaceship parts while eying Alpha Centauri. Bizzy gets granary, harbour and forge at double production speed so a fast build for forge and the Plant and two cheap health providing buildings to offset the pollution.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick: Organized and Philosophical. With cheap lighthouses, courthouses, universities [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories...or in this case these very Assembly Plants [BOLD]also[\BOLD] double production with coal, Freddy is a powerhouse! There hasn't been a German industrial influence like this since Kraftwerk! I say span out, get the economy/research going and prepare for the space age! With the Assembly Plant costing 250 hammers and having two double speeds bonuses, it would be like building these babies for 62 hammers! The reason space age would be so synergistic is the 100% increase in GPs being produced. So you could be farming scientists and engineers on your GP farm and building your high production cities elsewhere. Ideally, if you had 2-4 food sources with some production bonuses, you would be in good shape. Ich denke das ich spiele gern mit Freddy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 50% hammer increase from buildings (forge and factory), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the either hydro, coal or nuclear plants, but the Three Gorges Dam can be more economical), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource. So a basic bonus of +250% in your capital (+200% out of capital) with +125% to +150% when building buildings or projects respectively for a total of around +385% or +410%. Depending on your base production, things can be quite productive and your leader choice for this doesn't matter other than which buildings you can build cheaper or the resources to which you have access.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any other victory condition other than space or conquest don't seem to fully utilize this late game UB. Peace-mongering can leave it pretty much not even worth building. With a lack of health resources having a forge, this UB and Ironworks or other powerplants might not be feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the right conditions and goals, this UB is quite useful and as stated before is a perfect match for not just one leader, but both of them. Freddy gets the slight edge thusfar, if it is indeed possible to build it for a quarter of the cost. If you are playing games that end early, this UB doesn't matter, same as their UU. The plan with Germany is perhaps to maximize the leader traits to set up an überstrong infrastructure and then once the UUs and UBs can be built later in the game, go hog-wild and blitzkrieg them all! Wunderbar![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Greek Odeon (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to the +1 happiness per 20% culture and for the same price as a coliseum, this UB gives +3 culture, an additional +1 happiness, can turn 2 citizens into artists [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives +1 happiness for hit singles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically this means this is a more expensive theatre even with the patch dropping the cost 80 hammers. The extra price for admission compared to theatres is the hit single happiness, which in short games won't matter, but if you have the culture slider up to even 20% with this and a theatre built, the city already has +3 happiness, +4 with dyes. As with the Mall, I like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. Because it is 10% for theatres and 20% for the colosseum/odeon, that means if you raise the culture slider the happiness is increased by 3 for every 20%. With broadcast towers it is another +1 happy for every 10%, but also +1 for those hit singles again. If you have the three buildings, dyes and hit singles (either import or export) we are talking +7 happiness for a mere 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra 3 culture is the big deal. Greece now instantly becomes a cultural victory contender with the price of the Colosseum/Odeon dropped and Alex building cheap universities in addition to this new +3 culture building which together with theatres might be built early enough to get +6 culture and make a nice impact once multipliers are added.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Using either Pericles' or Alex's philosophical trait, you can farm your Great Artists (my best is 16), lending again to a cultural or perhaps a domination victory more easily as Bassist2119 has reminded us in another post of the ability of the UB to assign two [BOLD]more[\BOLD] GAs in addition to the 2 from the Theatre. This leaves you free to run Slavery a little longer or Serfdom since you don't really need Caste System.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the warmonger in all of us, Construction might be more attractive than drama as it also gives War Elephants and leads to Engineering. However you would need Drama to activate the culture slider eventually once the happiness limit is hit. The hit singles don't kick in until later, but it's nice to have that as a back up. With big happiness possibilities early and late, you can run Representation or Universal Suffrage and not worry about War Weariness. The Odeon can give newly captured cities the same affect of culture and happiness from the theatres without researching a tech which is not on any warmonger things-to-do-lists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's talk about Pericles now. He's Creative and Philosophical, making him the only leader to have cheap libraries [BOLD]and[\BOLD] universities, not to mention theatres. He is biggest cultural contender of the BtS leaders introduced as his Odeon and traits are an even better combination than Alexander´s. Everything said above for Alex holds true for Pericles, however he is a much better choice for the Greeks to win a space race or diplomatic game, at least in a more peaceful way. His cheap libraries and universities make him a true philosopher (Philosophy, from Greek: lover of knowledge/wisdom) for a tech pace. A tech lead can be useful for anything victory sought.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, why not just build a theatre (50) for slight more than half the price (80)? Drama comes right after Alphabet, a useful tech, whereas you need math and then construction for the odeon and they can be slightly most expensive to research. Well, as stated above the warmonger might like this route. Slingshotting for Construction just for the UB is a waste, unless you plan on used it to it's fullest. This means its units, as a step to Engineering and trading. Trade away any extra happiness resources to form alliances or get other resources you want like production or strategic ones. For a cultural victory it might be better pursuing after getting your GA from Music if you want to better the AI since you would already have math, but I won't try it the other way around on higher levels if you want the free GA.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Makes Greece go from non-contender culturally to a interesting choice for experimenting. Domination wins are looking good too, but space and conquest really are not affected on lower levels. The Odeon does little to complement Alexander's traits unless on high levels with more unhappiness to be offset from buildings. Remember the +6 swing with theatre/dyes, odeon, broadcast tower and hit singles. Makes Eiffel Tower's broadcast tower in every city more appealing and extra happiness can be converted into flexibility in trades, more whipping and warring.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Holy Roman Empire Rathaus (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB is a courthouse with a total of 75% reduction in maintenance costs. It also allows you to build the Forbidden Palace with only 4 cities on a standard map. It also gives +2 Espionage points and allows you to turn one citizen into a Spy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Charlemagne is Imperialistic, which means quicker settler production. Not much better synergy than a UB which allows for more cities sooner without hurting your economy, since he is not Organized. It also means greater chance of GG appearances. Couple that with the protective trait and he will be in position to either maintain a large empire and pursue more peaceful victories or, be a major warmonger. The protective trait gives cheaper walls and castles and just imagine those beefed up Pikemen, the Landskneckt, with their +100% vs Mounted Units [BOLD]and[\BOLD] Melee units behind them. On a hill even![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +2 espionage points and the ability to turn a citizen into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the increased maintenance reduction. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability for rapid expansion and a much sooner available Forbidden Palace does not conjure up any real disadvantages as Charlemagne´s traits and the Empire´s UU really complement each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ability to have a larger empire give the flexibility to settle near important resources and map locations and strive for any victory condition.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Incan Terrace (Granary - double production for Expansive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A granary that gives culture. Quite a cool UB, nothing special on the surface but is even more of an impact than one might suspect. Why?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, you likely would build a granary anyway especially if whipping. I had mentioned in the original writeup about playing as the Incas on the 1000AD map, and I whipping buildings like there was no tomorrow as they start on as isolated strip west of the Andes and wouldn't grow that large anyway. Granaries help with whipping; more on that later. Secondly, it is available with pottery and for financial Huayna Capac, the cottage spamming and culture producing terrace from this tech is a great choice for the first thing to research. The Terrace will accumulate enough culture from an early building to give +4 culture per turn very early in the game. So cultural victories look great. In fact, one of my earliest finish for a cultural victory is with the Incas. The financial trait allows for faster teching and for cultural games where I am almost there (lower levels) at around scientific method or astronomy, with the Incas I have sometimes discovered Electricity and built Broadway to help the last city get over. For longer games this bonus is carried further.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building a culture producing granary, means you can concentrate totally on growing and expansion and not worry about other border encroaching your resources, you will get them back or never even lose them. You will get the fast cross much faster and not have to rush monuments or temples/theatres until later, once you have larger cities from the granaries stored food. In fact, Stonehenge is now practically useless, except for the GPP it helps you get. No need to avoid Calendar in order to keep the culture from brand new cities right off the bat. You don't want to delay the chance to build plantations or wineries as those babies are what the Financial trait thrives on. In BtS, Stonehenge and monuments expire with Astronomy, so that may be moot now.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you capture a city normally, what do you do? Build a theatre for culture (maybe happiness, but you should have some plantations for that) and the granary takes a back seat. For small cities this means delaying growth which hurts you later on. So, building the terrace gives you the culture [BOLD]and [\BOLD]the growth increase. Even if you built a granary [BOLD]first[\BOLD], you would still have to build something to get the first eight tiles around your new city, let alone the fat cross. You want the choice of which tiles to worker with your citizens, because you are financial and any cottages--&gt;towns, plantations or mines you can work ASAP are gold in your pocket. You use it to support/upgrade your forces or increase research/trade for resources. Basically, building/rushing a terrace first makes whipping other more important buildings like those cheap forges or walls, barracks, libraries, temples, etc. easier and more economical. Here's more detail on that from Bovinespy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Need we mention that conquering a city that already has a granary turns it into a terrace? Due to some sort of oversight, that granaries age contributes to the culture of your new terrace and could even generate 4 [ICON_CULTURE] per turn![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Not really any since as Huyana Capac you likely want to have pottery ASAP anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As outlined above, this UB offers some great opportunities for expansion and is flexible for what you want to do with it. I have not warmongered much with the Incas, so I thank Bovinespy for his input and explaining in greater detail what I alluded to earlier and also for showing me how powerful this UB can really be. Maybe playing with it in peaceful games I took it for granted earlier. Is a great UB for early claiming of land while growing and improving infrastructure by shortcutting build queues and allowing faster restoration of captured cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Indian Mausoleum (Jail):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Mausoleum UB comes with Constitution like its Jail counterpart with -25% WW but it also gives +2 happiness. The manual states it gives +1 GPP and is more likely to produce a Great Prophet, but in playing Warlords, this is not true. In Beyond the Sword, both the jail and the mausoleum give +4 espionage points and increase espionage point production by 50%, in addition allowing one to assign two Spy specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well the jail is high on a warmonger's wish list and the BtS version is sure to be even higher. I can see on higher levels how the happiness cap can be raised and WW reduced. As I don't usually have long wars I don't really know how high the WW can get, but I imagine on higher levels it is quite a bit. If you have Police State this is a total of 75% reduction in WW, which is nothing to sneeze at if WW problems got you down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We have also only begun to explore the mechanics of espionage, but giving +4 espionage points and the ability to turn two citizens into this new type of GP is almost a throw in after the reduced war weariness. Running Nationhood now has the added bonus of another +25% espionage point production for a total of 75% with the jail/mausoleum, in addition to barracks giving +2 happiness and being able to draft 3 units per turn. As a warmonger, this new feature of producing great spies has some definite synergy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both are spiritual. Organized Asoka can build larger empires early on and Philosophical Gandhi can pop GPs and build cheaper universities. These combos don't necessarily screa for warmonger, especially given their Fast Worker UU, a decidedly unwarlike unit, however the extra spying power could be used to ensure that you are not beaten in the space race or the diplomatic arena. Then again, it's a free way to protect your nation no matter what.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I don't read much about people playing as India to conquer the world and wage war. This UB is still like a normal jail, except for the +2 happiness. I am not sure how many players will build them in BtS, but in Warlords they are n[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will reserve judgement for others to add their input, but for now, this UB seems out of place and not very useful or synergistic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Japanese Shale Plant (Coal Plant):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A coal plant gives power (electricity) to the city which adds to the factory production bonus of 25% an additional 50% at a cost of +2 [ICON_UNHEALTHY]. You need a factory for the coal plant or the Japanese Shale Plant, however the Shale Plant itself gives its own +10% production as well. This means a 60% bonus with the two buildings for the same price. The real bonus however is that while Coal Plants requires coal to produce this power, the Shale Plant does not. Both the Factory and Shale Plant can be built once you have discovered Assmebly Line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To a total of 60% hammer increase from buildings (forge, factory and shale plant), you can add +50% from power (supplied by the Shale Plant), +100% from the Ironworks (+50% each for iron and coal), +50% from Bureaucracy. With some good food sources you will max out your six engineers and likely have some priests too. If you settled some Great Engineers or Prophets, good for you! Don't forget the +25 bonus for OR and the +100% for having a special resource when building buildings/wonders. You can also have a laboratory that gives +50% bonus in addition to +100% again for having a resource when building a spaceship component. The Space Ladder gives another 50% increase. So a basic bonus of +185% in your capital (+135% out of capital) with a bonus of +125% or 200% respectively, when building buildings/wonders or projects. Add in the Iron Works and non-Captial cities are between +360% or +435%. Depending on your base production, things can get quite a productive boost, but if you were to whip or buy these buildings into a low production city it might make a huge difference as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Aggressive and Protective, Tokugawa's units start off well promoted and this makes warring an attractive choice. For late game wars, there likely isn't a unit that can't be pumped out in 1 or 2 turns. And space race can be just as great a goal. Diplomatic you want to beeline for MM and wouldn't sidetrack yourself for this building.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other than having little health resources, which doesn't seem too likely by the time you research Assembly Line, not much of a reason not to build this is you aren't wanting to be a powerhouse. That being said, the leader traits are not that complementary with it. Not only that, it is a late game UB and some games you would not get the chance to build it. Given that it is a late game UB, it is quite useful for the fact that coal is not required to get the +60% production, while other civs need coal to get their +50%. Than again, you likely want coal so that you can railroad your mines, quarries and lumbermills. Not much of a benefit if you look at it that way, but until you do get coal, you have +60% production boost, that other civs would not have had.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although not as overall synergistic as the German Assembly Plant when it comes to leader traits, this UB serves a similar purpose and makes it hard not to compare. This one is a little more map dependent (due to the +10% hammer as apposed to 2 extra engineers assigned) and that means that doing the math to see which advantage is greater is not so easy or relevant. Again for a late wonder, space race and conquest victories greatly benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Khymer Baray (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Baray UB comes with Mathematics and is an Aqueduct which gives 1 extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food helps any leader, regardless of their traits, however, Suryavarman is expansive which means extra health. Building this UB would cause a double-whammy if you will. Not only will increased health reduce any wasted food, but allow for more growth which is possible by the Baray's bonus. The expansive trait only adds to the possibility that the city will grow larger as it has a higher health cap. More food also means taking advantage of the faster worker production, which is only a 25% bonus in BtS, but still greatly helped out with the UB. Being creative means claiming food resources to get the whole this going. Talk about cyclic benefits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra food, a disadvantage? One could even use the cereal mills corporation and trade away food if not needed. I have had cities grow too fast and not have enough things to build to keep them happy. Slavery fans would do well to exploit this extra growth and convert it into production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After extra happiness and production, extra food is nothing to complain about and ranks with them and some great bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Korean Seowon (University - double production for Philosophical leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building costs the same and gives the same culture as a university, but it gives an extra +10% research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wang Kon is financial and so you can maximize this UB's use by making sure you do all the things you would have done with Korea anyway. That means, cottage spamming and getting other high income tiles from plantations and mines and coasts. You have the income boosting building and wonders and the science ones as well. Simply this building just gives another 10%, so take the advantage and go for a diplomatic or space win or keep you army further ahead in tech to protect your empire or add to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More science can't ever be bad can it? It comes early/mid-game, but it's on the way to the Liberalism bee-line.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great advantage assuming you can build a nice SSC or several ones. You would usually build a university anyway, maybe now just a little sooner to really add to the tech lead (or perhaps a little later in the queue, knowing that you have the extra boost once it is built).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Malinese Mint (Forge - double production for Industrious leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a forge with an added 10% wealth increase and yet another UB for a financial that has some great synergy. I would say that a lot of the strategies used with England's financial leaders would be used here, but with a slight change.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building can come pretty early and Mansa Musa has a reputation for being a tech-whore as an AI. I like settling on the west side of the GP map and mine everything in site. There is also dyes, furs and incense too! What is great about the boost is that even though it is only 10%, it is still an increase and once you tech your way to new civics, as a spiritual leader, you can totally take advantage immediately and not wait until you can switch 2 or 3 at a time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because it is a production building as well, and you would naturally build it early for the gold bonus, you will have a higher production than maybe another civ with just a forge. It is more appealing, plus it is needed for many wonders, not the least of which is the Colossus giving +1 gold in [BOLD]all[\BOLD] cities water tiles. If you have trade routes going, as many as possible, markets, grocers, banks and Wall Street a rich city is made richer than another civ would be with the same city. Not only because of the wealth bonus, but because the forge means building all of the other wealth increasing building faster. It never goes obsolete either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More money, means faster discoveries, and diplomatic and space wins are the popular targets, however the Skirmisher can be a pretty good UU and even later, the extra wealth can be parlayed into better unit support and more/quicker upgrades. Even on higher levels, if you are lagging in the tech race, you will have more money to buy them, or more money to bribe the AI to do your bidding.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 7 trade routes (as outlined earlier with Carthage), all the wealth buildings, great base tiles and maybe even some merchants or Great Merchants, you have plenty of money and if running the Universal Suffrage civic, you can rush buy more quickly/often than otherwise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't expire, so it will continue to be useful and becomes more powerful as the game progresses because cities will grow and more lucrative routs determined for the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A money boosting UB is a good one and can really help out early. You can afford to expand a little quicker if you bankroll allows it. You would need to have some big cash tiles or plenty of cottages, but then again, you would build those anyway.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mayan Ball Court (Colosseum - double production for Creative leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Ball Court gives +3 [ICON_HAPPY](instead of the Colosseum´s +1) and the +1 [ICON_HAPPY]per 20% culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra happiness could be used to full effectiveness as a warmonger by skipping Drama and going for Construction, much like Alexander might do in using his Odeon. Having happy people means more tiles being worked for the financial Pacal II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More research needed, but a Theatre with dyes for 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] over an 80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] Ball Court might do the trick. Of course as the city grows and war weariness sets in or you have limited resources, this UB will make people happy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Extra happiness is always good, because it lets you pursue any victory you desire. You can combat war weariness or have large producing cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Mongolian Ger (Stable):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The stable introduced in Warlords gives +2 XP for Mounted units build in the city and the Mongolian Ger gives +4 points. This UB is very appropriate and the affects are cumulative with Barracks, the Pentagon and other XP bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, both Mongolian leader start are Aggressive which means cheaper barracks. We are already looking at +7 XP, then if you factor in Theocracy and Vassalage, that's +11 all together. That is enough for 3 promotions before seeing any combat and any GG you settle and the Pentagon are just a bonus. Upgrading all the way through up to Calvary would be the idea and with the right promotions you should be able to keep most of your troops up until Rocketry. You could plan for the future and give promotions that complement your gunships, or use the advantage to conquer early. In BtS, the Stable is made obsolete with Advanced Flight, thereby lengthening the use of this UB. The fact that Genghis Khan is also imperialistic means more GGs as long as you are warmongering.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB complements the UU, the Keshik and the civ itself unlike any other UB for the other civs. To build a Keshik you need Archery, Horseback Riding - which you need to build the Ger anyway - and of course Horses revealed by Animal Husbandry. The Mongol starting techs are Hunting and the Wheel. Hunting is the prereq for both AH and Archery. Your mounted units all benefit, but lets look more closely at why. The keshik starts with some of the better bonuses. Let's analyze the mounted units that the Mongols can build below and remember that none of them get defensive bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Chariot[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]4[TAB]2[TAB]10% Withdrawal, 100% vs. Axemen[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Keshik[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]2[TAB]20% Withdrawal, 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, -10% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Cats &amp; Trebs[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]War Elephant[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]8[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Knight[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]90[TAB]10[TAB]2[TAB]Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cats &amp; Trebs*[TAB][TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Cuirassier[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]2[TAB]15% Withdrawal, Immune to 1st Strike[TAB][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Attack vs Cannon[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Calvary[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]15[TAB]2[TAB]30% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Cannon[TAB][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Gunship[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]160[TAB]24[TAB]4[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. Armoured[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Ignore move cost, Cannot capture City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Flank Artillery &amp; Mobile Artillery*[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_GREEN]Mounted Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Helicopter Unit [COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]None of these units can take Cover, Drill or CR promotions, but the mounted ones can get Amphibious, Charge, Formation, Pinch and Shock. If you were to give Flanking I and II to your Keshik for +30% withdrawal, that is a total of 50% and when it's upgraded to Calvary or Gunships it still adds to their intrinsic withdrawal abilities. Giving Charge to a Keshik means +75% versus their Cats and Trebs, and as a Knight it will have +75% against cannons. A Chariot with Shock will have +125% versus Axemen but only +25% with the more advanced units, but it might be a great boost. Then again you likely skip chariots and go straight to Keshiks. With the right promotions, the Keshiks might even be better than Knights especially if you don't have iron available and the fact they ignore terrain costs. A Keshik with C3 and Formation is just as good as a unpromoted Knight and as can be seen above, the Keshik has much more intrinsic abilities than a Knight such as withdrawal, bonus against cats and trebs and 1st Strike chance. Although the Knight is immune to 1st strikes and doesn't have the 10% city attack penalty. Clearly, the key is to use the XP bonus to promote according to your needs and strength based on the situation, the opponent, the map, etc. It remains to be seen how the Charge promotions for upgraded units will work with the new system of mounted units having a flank attack versus siege units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mounted units are a large part of a balanced army, and the UB lasts fairly long, even longer in BtS. If other civs couldn't build stables this might be overpowering, which is likely why the stable was added as well. This UB maybe isn't as synergistic with Kubla, but it still gives an increases in GGPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having the extra XPs out of the gate helps to earn GG points faster and build wonders like the Heroic Epic and West Point. For warmongering this is a great UB, for other victory conditions, it would help one war early to collect more land and resources and then settle down into a more peaceful victory, or at least keep a stronger army than without the UB for protecting cities while pursuing a peaceful victory. (But that is not why one plays the Mongols) War, what is it good for? Huh! Building Gers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Native American (Totem Pole):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another UB which replaces the Monument. This one gives +3 XPs to Archer units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Archery, but that is often traded for or even found from goody huts. The big deal is that he is Protective, giving his archers Drill I and City Garrison I [BOLD]before[\BOLD] adding the +3 XP bonus from the Totem Pole. Much like the Dun, this UB will offer some flexiblity and unique possiblity in upgrading units. More research will need to be done, but it suffices to say that this UB will make the Native Americans particularly difficult to conquer. Like the Egyptians, building Stonehenge will put the UB in every one of your cities which is bascially an archer Barracks in every city. This means an effective early archer rush, without wasting time to build the Barracks as Totem are much cheaper. With the Barracks, however, every archery unit built there will be very tough to kill on a hill behind those walls and castles that Protective Sitting Bull can cheaply build, never mind when they get upgraded to gunpowder units! His Philosophical trait might mean that a few GA culture bombs give him some more defense or he is free to use them for whatever he wishes seeing as no one is going to stop him.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let´s not forget the Dog Soldier UU (Axeman) with its strengths against melee units and also not requiring copper or iron. This UB practically gives two UUs to the Native Americans. Whether warmongering or trying to hang on against the AI on higher difficulty levels, this UB would be a key part of any strategy. Holding off on discovering Astronomy might be a prudent strategy if you are running into trouble. Imagine pumping out archer and longbowman early game with the bonuses and then upgrading them to stronger units. They will have a slight XP advantage with all over factors equal, meaning they will promote earlier. Let's imagine the +6 with Totem and Barracks and then running Feudalism and Theocracy for a 10 XPs off the bat. That is enough for 3 promotions to start, never mind fighting off barbs (although I think barb battles will only take you up to 10 XP anyway) or lone, weakened enemy units. Any Great General settled in a city takes you that much closer to a fourth promotion and your Heroic Epic. Let's analyze what Sitting Bull's archers will be able to do and what promotions will carry into the gunpowder age.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Upgrade[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archer[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]25[TAB]3[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[TAB][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Longbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]50[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% City &amp; +25% Hills Defense[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Crossbowman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]60[TAB]6[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike,[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Melee Units[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]+50% vs. Riflemen[TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Rifleman[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]110[TAB]14[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Mounted Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]125[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]Can only defend, 1st Strike[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]140[TAB]20[TAB]1[TAB]+25% vs. Gunpowder Units[TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]SAM Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]150[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]40% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]+50% vs. Helicopter Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Mech Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Intercept Chance[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Starts with March[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][COLOR_YIELD_FOOD]Archery Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLUE]Gunpowder Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Siege Unit[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Remember that Protective Sitting Bull will have his archery and gunpowder units start with Drill I and City Garrison I, meaning they can already get Cover, Shock or Pinch (once gunpowder is discovered) on their first promotion out of the Totem. With barracks and the others bonuses mentioned, a second promotion could be Formation (bonus against mounted units) or get up to City Garrison III with one promotion to spare! The beauty of this UB compared to say, the Dun is the versatility of the promotions one can pursue, not necessarily being guilted into Guerrilla II and III. Then again, G3 archery units holding on for gunpowder promotions (see Celts) would not be such a terrible thing would it? Note too, that the Machine Gun is a siege unit and cannot receive Guerrilla or City Garrison promotions, however it is upgraded from Grenadiers which are upgraded from your G3 or CG3 archers. Interesting, no?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sitting Bull does not start with Mysticism, the prerequisite tech. Most UBs don't get obsoleted. The earliest possible one to build can also be one of the first ones obsoleted, maybe it is not that much of a big deal if you play your cards right. Although one can ignore Astronomy, the obsoleting tech for the UB for some time, eventually you may want/need to explore and colonize other continents. By then you would have to have built all the archery units you anticipate needing and then work on upgrading them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think building cheap archery units with promotions not available to gunpowder or siege units (machine gun) can pay dividends given the right military and geo-political considerations. Like the Mongols, outside of warmongering or building a military to protect your empire, this UB does not hold many other uses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Ottoman Hammam (Aqueduct):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Does this UB have Expansion written all over it or what? One can really concentrate on building a large empire with large cities a lot sooner with the extra 2 happiness this building supplies in addition to the +2 health. No need to worry about religions if you miss them or drama if you prefer other techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I feel Mehmed has the potential to be the best expansive leader as he is organized which means cheap lighthouses, courthouses [BOLD]and[\BOLD] cheap factories too. This means more food, less upkeep and more production, respectively from those buildings. This resultant larger population and therefore greater production, which leads to quicker unhappiness and pollution is further complemented by his Expansive trait which, in addition to +2 health per city, gives cheaper granaries and harbours which help reduce pollution and improve growth and economy. Those of you upset that the expansive trait was nerfed to only +2 health stop your whining because this guy has [BOLD]5[\BOLD], count'em [BOLD][BOLD]five[\BOLD][\BOLD] buildings to build cheaper and they [BOLD]all[\BOLD] mean larger and more productive cities. The happiness cap needs to be much higher for the Ottomans, and this is where the Hammam really shines, because it helps keep these larger cities happy and therefore more productive. If that is not enough, the faster worker production means an earlier hook up of resources for [BOLD]more[\BOLD] production, happiness and health bonuses. But also remember the less time building workers, means more time growing in population, which means more reason for a Hammam. This buiding does not expire either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for newcomer, Suleiman, who is Imperialistic and Philosophical, making cities healthy and happy at the same time is great for the GP farming you might do with him. He doesn't have all the cheap buliding that Mehmed II has and his two traits sort of conflict when it comes to warmongering; GP farming versus the increased GG appearance. But faster setter production is also a great thing for domination victories and that is what the Hammam can give. Havving many cities sooner and popping out GPs means a larger empire with abilities to conquer space or the world. He will have more cities, and larger, happier, cleaner ones at that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It might not seem as powerful as other UBs, but you eventually build one anyway, at least in your larger, more polluted cities. This just makes them happy so you can concentrate on building more units or science/production buildings. Let's face it: it's a drag to have to stop building units or wonders because of the unhappiness or health. Kill two birds with one stone with the Hammam. Cultural games where happiness is not much of an issue are still advantaged especially at higher levels. In fact, this building really makes a difference in higher levels where happiness [BOLD]and[\BOLD] health caps are lower or on maps where happiness resources are not readily available to you. Further to that, you could delay discovering Calendar as you might not need the happiness immediately and that means culture from monuments or Stonehenge will last you a little longer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A strong UB which helps with supporting large cities for whatever reasons you may have: military powerhouse, GP farm, etc. If this was Civ3 where the Aqueduct was need to grow past size 6, this would be huge, but even though it is not needed for that, I really can't think of any drawbacks with this UB. Quite an excellent UB.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Persian Apothecary (Grocer):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary, besides being the most difficult UB to pronounce, is a grocer that gives an additional +2 [ICON_HEALTHY] to the city. That is on top of the health from plantation resources. With a granary, harbour, apothecary and the supermarket you get health from rice, corn, wheat, clam, crab, fish, bananas, wine, sugar, spice, deer, cow, pig and sheep. So, for those of you counting at home, that's 16 [ICON_HEALTHY] points! So that means the ability to build production-boosting, pollution-causing buildings. Late in the game with high populations and those buildings or even on higher levels, this can be useful. However, you may not be looking to have a late finishing game or even want to detour for the late tech Refrigeration, especially if the Apothecary gives an intrinsic +2 health even without resources and so Supermarkets are not a necessity. That is pretty nice, no matter what level one plays on. You are afforded the option to trade away health resources for more important ones, such as: uranium, oil, iron, aluminum, etc.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Being Imperialistic, Cyrus has faster settler production and this means more cities quicker. As a result there is likely to be more health resources claimed more quickly. Happiness is not the problem with this charismatic leader either, so where can this health bonus be applied the best? Well, highly populated and production oriented cities will benefit so that means space race or conquest/domination victories and/or GP farming.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Like Churchill or Tokagawa, Cyrus might be one of the ultimate warmongers with his traits. They allow faster XP accumulation [BOLD]and[\BOLD] faster GG appearance! Late game wars which require forges, factories, etc to really pump out the expensive units will have a higher health cap. This makes more of a difference the higher the difficulty, but on quicker or lower setting, perhaps not as much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for Darius I, with Vanilla Washington´s traits of Financial and Organized, the extra health from the UB will complement both the food from cheap lighthouses and the production from cheap factories. Financial seems handy in teching towards a space or diplomatic finish. More will need to be seen from Darius.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Apothecary needs both Currency and Guilds to build it, and guilds can come quite late, but then again guilds also gives Knights and a warmonger might like to upgrade his highly promoted Immortals. Some slingshotting could get you there faster, but maybe more needed in higher levels although I don't know exactly since the tech pace is likely quicker.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Cyrus, faster GG emergence and quicker promotion ability means that the game is more likely won early with a conquest/domination goal and maybe the health bonuses is not so well-exploited because pollution might not be as high for one reason or another. For a fast teching Darius with an ability to maintain a large empire the extra health might benefit him more in the long run.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building seems more suited for higher levels, but can make an impact late game with high pollution problems. Environmentalism can be avoided/delayed and chopping could be done without fear of health-induced starvation or founding a city near many FPs. Again without health resources it becomes very useful and for that reason the ability to trade away extra health resources for more strategic ones could be very useful as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Portuguese Feitoria (Customs House):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Feitoria replaces another new building, the Customs House. You need Economics and a Harbour to build it and it grants a 50% boost to all [BOLD]foreign[\BOLD] trade coming in from [BOLD]overseas[\BOLD]. The Portuguese Feitoria gives one extra commerce in all water tiles, making coastal cities seem like you are a financial leader.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a very interesting UB to say the least. First off, it acts like a Colossus in each city that builds it, giving the extra commerce and a little like the Temple of Artemis without the Priest. If you were to have a large coastal city, some sea resources, a harbour, a lighthouse, and the Feitoria, that would really be a great city. Now imagine the Colossus and the Great Lighthouse in this city. Let´s go a little further with it being a capital running Bureaucracy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the new concept of colonies in the game, it is likely that the AI will use this UB to its full advantage. More research will be needed, but Expansive and Imperialistic Joao will be able to build settlers [BOLD]and[\BOLD] workers more quickly. He is the only one, which is interesting enough. Starting with fishing will mean access to food resources to even more quickly pump those guys out. He seems flexible in pursuing either conquest/domination or space/cultural victories. It seems the AI like human player swill try for colonial expansion early and often to make use of this UB and the UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is assumed that the UB and the Customs House can only be built on a coastal city given that it requires a harbour. Furthermore, the Customs House would be useless if running Mercantilism, thereby closing all foreign trade routes. It seems the Free Market, with the +1 trade route would really be the choice civic for this building. However, the Feitoria also gets +1 commerce in all water tiles, remember. Joao II could run which ever civic he wants and still get the commerce bonus. I would still recommend Free Market for the larger benefit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It remaining to be seen how effective this UB will be. It is definitely map dependent, but if you have a few coastal cities and are up to the 6-7 possible trades routes in them, then this UB in only a few cities would still be an impact.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Roman Forum (Market):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wow, a UB that gives +25 GP birth rate! This is likely to become a favourite. There are no philosophical Roman leaders, but running Pacifism with the Forum and National Epic would still give +225%, not too shabby. Maybe with just the 125% you feel that you can delay the revolution/anarchy until you have other civics you want too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Julius Caesar is Organized and has -50% maintenance costs, but with this UB being much more attractive than a normal Market perhaps one builds it sooner and the +25% wealth in the city and the reduced maintenance costs really go together nicely much earlier in the game. In addition to his cheaper lighthouse, his cheap factories give a nice later in game production boost for military or spaceship ventures. Besides the Merchants assigned from the Forum, he has no cheap buildings which benefit from the extra GPP until factories. Augustus is no longer creative, but is Industrious. So his cheap forges could mean quicker GE production if that is your desire. This can be helpful in wonder or space races and so the extra GPP can go towards GEs or GSs or pumping out Praetorians.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Both Roman leaders are Imperialistic and have greater GG production and likely to help warmongering. Luring your enemy into your Great Wall trap, could mean 200% greater chance of GG appearance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The extra the GPs from the Forums could be used to founded religions or techbulb (TM ) you faster through the tech tree for more military/scientific advances. There is real flexibility for both the Roman leaders. They have the fast settler production to really expand and set up an empire with the strength of their Praetorians pushing back the barbarians (er, that is, the other civs). Julius will have a better economy and ability to support his empire, while Augustus will churn out units and wonders and do the same using brute force. The GPPs can be used for whichever purpose is decided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well, running a SE seems to be necessary to maximize this UB's bonus, but not vital. Polluted GPP pools might cause some disappointment for some.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a game where GP production is a main focus for some players, this building is likely a candidate for having no drawbacks whatsoever. Regardless of victory goal, difficulty setting, map/terrain, resources, opponents or even your own leader selection, this UB is very useful and versatile, making it one of the best.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Russian Research Institute (Laboratory):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Laboratory or Research Institute comes at a time in the game where technologies start to get much more expensive. In addition to the +50% spaceship construction, +25% [ICON_RESEARCH], and assigning one citizen as a Scientist (and +1 unhealthiness), the Russian UB gives [BOLD]two free[\BOLD] scientists! This means you can remove forced scientists and change them to GAs for a cultural win or engineers for space race or keep the scientist and head for future tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Representation seems like a no-brainer here, but Russia is one of the only civs in the game (with England) that has three leaders and they each have two different traits so let's examine them more closely:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine: Creative and Imperialistic. She is able to quickly build settlers and the creative trait ensures quick access to fat cross resources. I like her for domination wins for those reasons. Stonehenge can add to the culture growth as well as religions. Cheap libraries can be used in conjunction with cheap theatres to build to a cultural victory. It costs less to build settlers and so fast expansion can lead to more cathedrals build. The extra scientists will lead to faster techs and so if culture is not your thing, the space race gets a nice boost both for the UB's science [BOLD]and[\BOLD] part production. Might not be a high priority especially if near your health cap.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peter: Expansive and Philosophical. An excellent candidate for Space Race. His +2 health and cheap granaries and harbours will help offset pollution/unhealthiness from production buildings while cheap universities and +100% GP birth rate means more Scientists and Engineers to help techbulbing and wonder building. Remember the faster production of workers from any time in the game should make quite an impact too as they will be out to connect resources much sooner.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Stalin: Aggressive and Industrious. In the few games I have played with Stalin, I have been impressed with his space race potential. Cheap forges and beelining science helped. The UB really made a big impact I felt. Again cultural games leave this UB pretty much obsolete, but with Stalin, his wonder building boost leads to more research with wonders like GL, University of Sankore, Spiral Minaret, Oxford, etc. And then we have the Ironworks and GE produced wonders which are also helpful on the way. He can also be quite the military force early in the game and throughout.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the trade off between Peter's ability to generate GP quicker or Stalin's wonders appearing faster to giving GPPs much sooner? That is open for debate, but both seem great cosmonauts. And I wouldn't rule out Cathy in that department either. With her cheap libraries, quick settler production for greater early expansion complemented by quick cultural border growth she could just as likely be able to use the UB and pull another Yuri Gagarin or, make that Valentina Tereshkova.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Observatories are needed to build the Institute, and although you will already have that tech, they can be more expensive to build for all three leaders compared to cheap libraries or universities. Only Stalin with his industrious trait might have a quicker build given his cheap forges and getter ability to settle GEs, although Peter might too. In Beyond the Sword, with the restructured modern age tech tree, it may require a slightly longer wait before one can build the Research Institute, plus the choices late in the game seem to be more complex and difficult than they were previously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomatic victories would mean you research Mass Media instead of Computers and therefore not a factor. For cultural wins, you likely have the culture switch on at this point and these buildings therefore can be useful in giving back some lost research, but it will matter very little. Mass Media gives Hollywood which is much more important in that case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For being at war the research boost could be handy for building more advanced units, but likely if you need a research boost that badly you probably can't afford to be building RIs in all or most of your high production cities, likely only in your SCC which could also be your unit factory too. By the time you build it, you still have to research those new techs for the improved units. With a little planning it could work out in your favour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To quote Boney M, "Oh, those Russians!" It seems this UB is destined to help with the Space Race and help get Sputnik launched much sooner rather than any other victory, with a possible exception for conquest. Depending on your usual teching order, you might make some adjustments to maximize the benefit of the Research Institute. Time/score victory goals can be helped by the accumulation of future tech perhaps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Spanish Citadel (Castle - double production for Protective leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Patched Warlords made Castles more useful by giving them +1 trade route and -25% damage from bombardment from non-gunpowder units in addition to the +50% defense vs. non-gunpowder units and +1 culture. Cumulative with the prerequisite Walls, that means +100 defence from non-GP units and -50% from non-GP bombardment. In BtS, they also give an extra 25% espionage points. Maybe, [BOLD]now[\BOLD] players will build them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Citadel gives an additional 25% bombardment protection for a total of -75% [BOLD]and[\BOLD] gives 5XP to Siege units produced in the city. From the +3XP barracks and the Citadel that is 8XP already, but Thoecracy and Vassalge give 12XP from the start enough for 3 promotions. The bonus is applied to Trebuchets, Catapults and if you can avoid the obsoleting tech, Economics (which restores the lost trade route, 1st to discover gets a GM) you can have Cannons, Artillery and even machine guns with this bonus as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The strength of the UB lies in how one promotes their siege weapons most effectively. A warmonger or early-war-to-to-claim-land strategy uses it to it's full advantage, but just protecting your cities becomes much easier now too. In Beyond the Sword, there is a new system for siege weapons, so more remains to be seen. Let's take a look at the Siege Units assuming that they follow the path below and remember they cannot receive defensive bonuses and they all cause collateral damage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT] ---\[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]\___ [COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT] ---&gt; [COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT] -/[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Grenadier[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT] --&gt; [COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Unit[TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][ICON_PRODUCTION][TAB][ICON_STRENGTH][TAB][ICON_MOVES][TAB][TAB]Bonuses[\BOLD][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Catapult[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]40[TAB]5[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-15%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Trebuchet[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]60[TAB]4[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +100% vs. City[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Cannon[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]12[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal,[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-20%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Machine Gun[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB]120[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]1st Strike, Defend Only, +50% vs. GP Units[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Artillery[COLOR_REVERT][TAB][TAB][TAB]100[TAB]18[TAB]1[TAB]25% Withdrawal, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Bombard City Defences (-25%/turn)[NEWLINE][COLOR_BLACK]Mechanized Infantry[COLOR_REVERT][TAB]200[TAB]32[TAB]2[TAB]20% Aircraft Intercept, Starts with March[NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]Mobile Artillery[COLOR_REVERT]*[TAB][TAB]200[TAB]26[TAB]2[TAB]Max 85% Attack Damage, +50% vs. Siege[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB][TAB]Immune to Siege Collateral Damage[NEWLINE]*Beyond the Sword[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All these units receive Barrage, Drill, Shock, Ambush, and City Raider (except Machine Gun who only defends) as well as the Combat and Medic promotions. Any Grenadiers promoted to Machine Gun will not gain any XPs if ungraded in a Citadel, but any you build there will. None of these units can receive City Garrison, Cover, Pinch, Formation, Charge or (Guerilla or Woodsman), but it is possible to have your Grenadier or Melee Units promoted into Grenadiers and give [BOLD]them[\BOLD] any of those promotions and then upgrade them into Machine Gunners. You could for example create G2 or G3 Machine Gunners with Ambush and CG promotions to defend a Hill city from Tanks or you could have Woodsman Machine Gunners with Pinch and Medic/Charge defending your SoD on route through a forest to attack an enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Options for your other Siege units are even more numerours. Except for the Machine Gun, all the Siege units have a 25% withdrawal chance, if you add a GG to it, you can it 55% as well as making it a nice Siege Weapon from other promotions. Remember that upgrades are [BOLD]free[\BOLD] when attached to a Warlord, so you could have some expert Machine Gun defenders or great Cannons/Artillery once the competition gets a little tougher and the AI has more advanced units. One other thing that really stood out to me in trying the UB out, was that Siege Units are immune to collateral damage, so having plenty of them in your stack means you will have some to attack with while other units might need to heal. You can give them medic promotions too remember.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As for synergy with the Conquistador, it is a knight with +50% vs. melee units. Many different civs have melee units for their UU, which comes in handy. With a few correctly promoted Conquistadors and Siege weapons the two should complement each other nicely. Don't forget to balance out your forces, using more than just these two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UB doesn't really do anything for the Expansive trait or the Spanish starting tech of fishing and mysticism, however being religious does offer advantages to being able to switch to new civics immediately and not waiting until others are discovered. A switch to Theocracy before you wait to get Vassalage could mean the difference between producing units with an extra +2 XPs and for the siege units with the Citadel, that is enough to put them over the top for a third promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to avoid Economics, the obsoleting tech, you only really miss out on a Great Merchant. You could conceivably hold out for some super artillery and machine gunners if you wanted. This UB allows for some interesting warfare capabilities. Although it doesn't immediately lend it self to anything other than conquest/domination, the extra territory and cities gained or even the ability to better protect one's own cities and territory is nothing to take lightly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Sumerian Ziggurat (Courthouse - double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the Rathaus of the Holy Roman Empire gives a larger maintenence bonus, it takes just as long to build. Neither them, nor the Sumerians are Organized, but the Sumerian Ziggurat is 30 [ICON_PRODUCTION] cheaper, only costing 90, meaning that it will be built more quickly even if not more powerful. I feel the quicker it is build the better; one of the reasons the Zulu Ikhanda is so effective as well (although for Zulu, it is both cheaper and quicker, but not as powerful). Also, only four are required to build the Forbidden Palace. It also gives +2 espionage points and allow you to assign a citizen as a Spy, but that is a normal courthouse feature for Beyond the Sword.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, major props going out to Bovinespy again for pointing out my huge oversight (I don't have the game yet). This UB is like a courthouse, but you only need Priesthood to build it thereby delaying Code of Laws or passing it all together. This will mean a much earlier clamp down on maintenance costs. While others may have a larger bonus (Rathaus), Gilgamesh, like Shaka, will have a head start. This means the Forbidden Palace is built much sooner as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Building the FP quicker, could help culturally for a victory, however it also means a faster expanding empire. Creative and Protective Gilgamesh will need be to be further studied, but the culture boost from borders will help the settlers claim land and the quicker and earlier built courthouses will help keep the economy going. Being protective as well, means maintaining the empire while under attack. Cheap walls and castles will make Sumeria a tough foe to topple.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This did not jump out as being a strong UB until I realized it comes with Priesthood. This is something I am sure some players will use it to maximum advantage. Really, a cheaper courthouse is nothing to complain about and now, one does not have to wait as long to build it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]. Um yeah, that was before I realized you don't need CoL. Priesthood is such a cheap tech, it could be beelined for maximum exploitation here. I love the prereq tech as it is both unique and very appropriate when you think about what Ziggurats really were. This UB is just oozing flavour and possibilities. More to come I am sure; I just can not wait to play these guys![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Viking Trading Post (Lighthouse double production for Organized leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another coastal UB for a financial leader, the Trading Post gives a free Navigation 1 promotion to ships build there in addition to the extra food in each sea tile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is some definite synergies here, firstly the UB being required for the Great Lighthouse which gives all coastal cities +2 trade routes. Ragnar starts with fishing and so the prereq tech, Sailing is not far away. As with the Carthaginian Cothon, it makes sense to build many coastal cities to maximize this affect. Now, it's true that not all your cities will be building ships [BOLD]all[\BOLD] the time, so it is your choice, but of the achipelago maps I have played with them, most if not all of them have been. Harbours, Colossus also add to the wealth, remembering that Ragnar is financial, coastal tiles are great if you have few FP cottages, gems, gold, silver or plantation resources[NEWLINE]around you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, the bonus itself, one extra movement for sea units does not include work boats. On a map with plenty of water this is helpful to let you discover other civs earlier and trade tech with them. Between your financial coastal cities raking in money for a high research rate, you will also be trading for other techs of lower priority when you meet the others. From here you can go one step further and let the extra movement of your powerful navy work for you. Drydocks come with Steel and give your sea units an extra +4 XPs and are produced 50% faster. Your navy would quite literally have an extra step, but there is more. The +1 movement also helps you to circumnavigate the globe faster and hopefully beat out other civs in doing so. Either you trade for maps as you meet new civs or you do it the old fashioned way. It might be tough with a lot of ocean, but as soon as you get ships which can enter the ocean you still have the +1 movement from navigation. The +1 movement from circumnavigating the globe [BOLD]does[\BOLD] apply to your work boats![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now let us consider the Bersek, the Viking UU which is a Maceman with the Amphibious promotion and an intrinsic +10% City Attack. Adding the CR1 and you are already at +30%. Being Aggressive, you only start with Combat 1 for an extra 10% unit strength and the unit itself has +50% vs. Melee Units. So for a CR Berserk against a melee defender in a coastal city we are talking +80% strength for nearly double the 8 [ICON_STRENGTH], more like 15.2 [ICON_STRENGTH]. If you can meet some civs while they still have only archers (11.2 [ICON_STRENGTH], or even better, Warriors (or Axemen), their cities become yours very easily. On an achipelago map, most if not all of their cities will be coastal and that is what a financial leader with the Colossus and GL wants right? With the patch, the Civil Service or CoL slingshot might be harder to do, but if you concentrate on the money, research can go quicker for you, plus a GP could help you out along the way too. Berserks can be built with Copper or Iron, so if you have researched for copper and have none, trade for IW or research it and try again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On Great Plains, Oasis or other maps with little coastal tiles, this building is very useless. It really shines in the water maps although the Berserk can still be useful for attacking across rivers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether for meeting tech trading partners earlier or wiping out some rivals early the Trading Post gives a nice bonus. One could go on to eliminate everyone rather quickly or if not take some prime real estate to help with a culture/space/diplomatic victory. For full blown conquest or domination, this building can be helpful on the right map. It would be nice to see +10% trade route or commerce in the city as well, but it still nicely complements the amphibious Berserk. If not on a archipelago or lakes map it value is greatly reduced however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Zulu Ikhanda (Barracks - double production for Aggressive leader):[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Barracks that act as a mini-courthouse by giving -20% maintnance costs. This means you can wait for CoL a little later and still expand reasonable quicker than your rivals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Synergies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This building greatly complements the expansive and aggressive Shaka because he gets double production speed. He is one of two leaders (the other being Frederick) who gets their UB at half the building cost. Barracks cost 50 [ICON_PRODUCTION] while the Ikhanda costs 60 [ICON_PRODUCTION] so the double production bonus still a big factor. Patched Warlords and BtS only gives +3 XPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Expanding out is aided with reduced costs and whether you warmonger or not it's a nice bonus. Couple it with the courhouse and that is -70% maintenance costs, not bad at all. If taking over cities, this UB is cheaper to build than a courthouse (80 [ICON_PRODUCTION] and don't forget the double production) In a large, productive city taken from the enemy, this building will let it start contributing to the war machine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I would not put the Zulu as a culture contender with no cheap culture buildings to build, but diplomatic, domination, space race and conquest all seem possibilities because the benefits of reduced maintenance can be used for any means. I have actually seen some comments that cultural was easy with Shaka. Perhaps the extra maintenance reduction allows for more cities and more cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Beyond the Sword, they have fixed the problem that the Ikhanda had in Warlords and it now like the Barracks, it also receives +2 happiness when running the Nationhood civic. So, quicker expansion and extra happiness from a building which is meant to produce units with +3 XPs. Remembering the synergy with Fuedalism and Theocracy that is +8 XPs and while other civs get that and the barrcks happiness too, they do not get the lower maintenance costs while growing their empires through conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Possible Drawbacks?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You might not build barracks in every city, at higher level especially, but this UB can pay dividends by being in every city. It's so cheaper, why would one not even bother? The synergy with the courthouse can be nice.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Summary:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably a building best used to expand as quickly as allowed. Domination or conquest or large number of cities to help with research/spaceship construction. Finally, if this UB makes you more likely to build barracks straight away, your military will benefit, but should it be first in the build queue?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That is the rundown of the Unique Buildings. I would like to thank everyone for their input and support.</Spanish>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_EARLY_GROWTH_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Optimum Early Growth Strategy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]ohioastronomy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is intended to determine the optimum strategy for maximizing production in the first 40 turns of the game. My intention is to quantify the advantages of chopping down forest and to compare different tactical paths in the early game. Tactics to be discussed include the relative advantages of growing your initial city, building workers, improvements, founding your second city, chop-rushing, and queue shuffling. I chose a 40 turn window because in this time it is possible to have two solid cities, with workers improving both, and to be in position to develop a third city if you desire. Over longer periods the mix of tiles, external threats, and other priorities (such as road building and military development) complicate the situation. I'll contend that the following general conclusions apply for normal speed games:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Building worker/worker/settler is optimal for early growth.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. If you can either build a mine or farm a special resource before chopping you end up equal to straight chopping at turn 40. This implies that you do not need to research Bronze Working first (but do need to have it completed by turn 20).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Limited chopping (3 trees) is a key to getting your initial cities set up.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Growing your city to size 2 before building a worker carries a significant production penalty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Queue switching will be discussed in a followup post, as will the develop-one-big-city first approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Commerce is omitted here, but I contend that is actually reasonable, since significant commerce usually requires worker improvements and thus typically takes off later than this period. As you will see below, any commerce advantage from early growth would have to be balanced against the rather substantial production disadvantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll begin with some basics. A size one city has 3 free production and each additional population point (PP) can generate 3 more production (if there are forests or flood plains) before improvements. Each PP uses 2F. Before improvements, this means that[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A size 1 city has 4 production[NEWLINE]Growing a city by one PP adds 1 production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping trees yields 30P (at normal) and takes 4 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Costs for a warrior, worker, and settler are 15, 60, and 100 respectively. I'll discuss epic speed separately, but tree-chopping is even more favored there (45 yield for a forest, workers and settlers are 75 and 125 respectively).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Farms and mines improve basic production, and building them takes a minimum of 5 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Wheat and corn (with agriculture) and copper (with BW) add 3 production.[NEWLINE]Mines add 2 production, as do deer camps (but the base is low on tundra and build times are longer). However, mines clear forests, so the maximum production from a mined tile without a special resource is 4 (gain of +1 over a forest or flood plain).[NEWLINE]Normal farms add 1 production - but only on base 2 production sites or flood plains. Creating a farm on a flood plain also takes longer. For this reason I'll only include the +1P (floodplain+farm and grass/hills+mine) and +3P cases for improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can already see from the above that starting a second city adds much more production than growing the first city, and that the best improvements are almost as valuable in the short run as founding a second city. Normal improvements increase total production modestly, but only on certain tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No growth cases: in this model the first city build is a worker, usually coupled with researching bronze working. On turn 15 the first worker appears. I then compared the following strategies, all ending with 2 workers, and one settler. I also compared the lucky +3 production improvements and the more typical +1 production improvements. Here are the cases:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A. Chop worker 2, both workers chop settler, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]B. Chop settler, chop worker2, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]C. Improve city(+3), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]D. Improve city (+1), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]E. Improve city (+3), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]F. Improve city (+1), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the results. Worker turns is the number of turns that you would have workers available to do things by turn 40 other than chop settlers/workers and build the first improvement:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: Worker2 T23, Settler T27, Imp T32, 21 worker turns, 8 overflow[NEWLINE](12 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 168)[NEWLINE]Case B: Settler T25, Worker2 T31, Imp T36, 13 worker turns, 24 overflow[NEWLINE](16 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 184)[NEWLINE]Case C: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T28, 24 worker turns, 6 overflow[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 8 x 7P + 90 from 3 trees = 166)[NEWLINE]Case D: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T30, 24 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 10 x 5P + 90 from 3 trees = 160)[NEWLINE]Case E: Imp T20, Settler T32, Worker2 T40, 15 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 20 x 7P = 160)[NEWLINE]Case F: Imp T20, Settler T36, Worker2 T48, 7 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 28 x 5P = 160)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, to put these all onto a common metric:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest completion of all workers and settlers is T27. After this point the main city can grow. Later starts are penalized 10P per turn of delay (4P in direct cost and 2P in delayed production from population points 2,3,4 each). Beyond that point the happiness and health limits can be relevant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest settler is T25. Later starting cities are penalized 10P per turn of delay for the same reason.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every worker turn that is available after the base tasks above are completed is worth 7.5P (chopping trees; could also be improving for future growth, but that is tile-dependent).[NEWLINE]Production overflow is credited to each case as available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: +145.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case B: +81.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case C: +146 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case D: +100 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case E: -87.5 ( 0 trees)[NEWLINE]Case F: -307.5 (0 trees)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a difference in the improved city production after the workers and settlers are produced. This is significant for cases A, B, C, E (where there is a good special available).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These cases get stronger production released after turns 32, 36, 28, 40. When this effect is accounted for, Case C (improve a +3P special before chopping) saves a tree and gets the highest yield. Cases A and C are thus very close).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping is strongly favored, and building a second worker before a settler is favored. Improving a special resource is a wash with chopping first, and building a 4 production tile before chopping is disfavored. You don't need to clearcut for a solid start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about growing first? If you have the right tiles available you can grow to size 2 and put out a warrior by turn 10. How does this compare with building a worker first? We'll focus on Case A above (worker/worker/settler), as it doesn't rely on a handy wheat or corn. In this case:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Size 2 turn 10, worker 1 T22, worker 2 T28, Settler T34, Imp T37, 10 worker turns, 20 overflow. In all the other cases we assumed the city would start growing on turn 27, while in this case 10 turns of early growth went to the city+unit and it is free to grow again after turn 34. As a result, I give this case 30 extra production for a growth head start (it gets 10 turns of growth by turn 34 while the other cities get 7), and add 24 for the extra production in turns 11 through 34. In effect, the worker-first cities catch up in size while the grow-first city is catching up in workers and settlers. This setup has a rating of +36, e.g. significantly worse than the build-worker first case. In terms of the land grab, it also postpones founding the second city by a potentially crucial 9 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An early delay in building workers (without growing to size 2) costs 25 production/turn: a one turn delay in founding a city and two lost worker turns chopping trees. I hope this is useful; comments/questions most welcome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Queue swapping is an interesting tactic to combine early growth and tree-chopping. It starts the same as the worker-first strategy, producing a worker on turn 15. On turns 16, 17, 18 the city grows and builds a warrior. On turn 19 the city switches to a worker, with 34 production (4 basic plus 30 from chopping a forest). The second worker appears on turn 23, both chop on turn 27, and one chops on turn 31 while the other produces an improvement on turn 32 (6 overflow). Relative to case A, the founding of the second city is delayed 4 turns, and 4 turns of worker action are lost; this is a 70 production penalty. However, the main city has had 12 extra turns of growth (a 120 production edge.) As a result, queue swapping is a net +193.5 on the original scale, but does burn 5 forests. There is some opportunity cost in losing resources that could be used later (for wonders, barracks, granaries, etc.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a trick to use only the chopped timber for settlers and workers (extreme queue swapping). Essentially, you set production to settler on the turn the chop is due, manually make the worker chop, and then set production back to warrior. This is more competitive at epic speed, but is an expensive idea on normal speed: settlers cost 100 and forests yield 30, so you would have to chop 6 forests (with 20 overflow) by turn 31 to get out the settler. Relative to normal queue swapping, this method loses 4 worker turns (30 penalty) and gains 4 turns of growth (40 benefit) with 14 extra overflow. The overall net is +217.5, so it scores highest on an absolute scale. If you subtract the opportunity cost of the forests used, however, the relative rankings are different:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No queue swapping +63.5[NEWLINE]Normal queue swapping +43.5[NEWLINE]Aggressive queue swapping +37.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you use this technique or not therefore depends in part on how many forests you can use and what else you might do with them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An alternate approach is to build a large city first and then use the enhanced production to churn out units later. An additional advantage is that such a city produces more early commerce. However, this strategy is significantly weaker in production (and, over the long term, not as strong in commerce as it might appear) because of the power of chopping and improvements. Assume the most favorable case for growth, namely 5 good food resources or flood plains on a river. In this case the capital will grow to size 2,3,4,5 after 8, 14, 19, and 24 turns respectively. By occasionally swapping in some grass/hills/forest it is possible to build 2 warriors and grow to the prince capital happiness limit (5) in 25 turns. The larger city will have 8 production, and if you follow up with worker/worker/settler then you can have worker1(33 turns), worker2(37 turns), and settler (42 turns). There is a commerce edge until the initially smaller capital catches up in size (108), and a production edge (95), assuming the growth pattern is the same. However, there is a 16 turn delay in founding city 2 and you need 9 worker turns past turn 40 to finish the initial builds. The net effect is -132.5 on the original scale, or almost 300 production behind emphasizing settlers and workers early. If anything, this understates the disadvantage of growing onto unimproved tiles. A size 1 city working an improved wheat has almost the same production (7) as a size 5 city working 5 unimproved tiles (8). By the time the big city has produced its first settler, you could have had two medium cities (size 2-3) working improved tiles and could have even founded a third city with supporting worker. Even the commerce edge (roughly one good tech) has to be kept in perspective; a single gold mine has a much bigger long-term yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could get better results by building two workers and then using them to improve tiles while letting the city grow to the happiness limit, then building a settler. The exact results are more complicated to compute because they depend on what tiles are available. In my view, this actually confirms the idea that building a worker first is optimal for a variety of play styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Different game speeds can significantly change the benefits of different strategies. The key thing to understand is the different way that units and tech/forests/growth/production scale with speed. As you go from Quick-Normal-Epic-Marathon (Q-N-E-M) the costs for a unit scale as[NEWLINE]Q 4/5 - N 1 - E 5/4 - M 2[NEWLINE](for example, the respective costs for a settler are 80, 100, 125, 200).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, tech costs, city growth, improvement builds, and forests change more quickly with speed. They scale as[NEWLINE]Q 2/3 - N 1 - E 3/2 - M 3[NEWLINE](for example, the respective yields for forests and the turns to clear including travel are[NEWLINE]Q 20 (3) - N 30 (4) - E 45 (5) - M 90 (9)[NEWLINE]This means that Stonehenge always can be gotten with 4 forest (2 with stone) at all speeds,[NEWLINE]but the cost in forests for a settler is[NEWLINE]Q=4 N=3.33 E=2.78 M=2.22[NEWLINE]and the time to build a settler with the basic 4 production of a city is[NEWLINE]Q=20 N=25 E=32 M=50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With an important exception for technology speed at high difficulty levels and marathon, you can therefore expect the following[NEWLINE]relative trends. I'll post details for other speeds if people are interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) In quick games cities grow rapidly and the yield from tree-cutting is smaller. The rapid pace of technology also means that workers are more flexible - it is very likely that you can improve special resources immediately upon founding a new city. This makes improvements more powerful, and dramatically reduces the differential impact of chopping on early production. If you start with good special resources you can do better by improving the first one (after you have a worker) than you can by focusing on tree-cutting (an improved wheat has a higher return than a forest cut after 7 turns). Worker-worker-settler is still the preferred sequence, but clearcutters will quickly run out of forests. Building a big city before a settler still fares worse than building a worker first, since once the tiles are improved the capital will grow to the happiness/health limit almost immediately. Note that because cities grow very fast (as quickly as three turns per population), having extra workers in the early game will have a large impact on production; you'll benefit from hooking up special resources to raise the health and happiness caps. Peaceful builders and tree-huggers will probably like this speed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) In epic games the technology speed is still fast enough that it doesn't play the huge role that it will at marathon. Worker-worker-settler is strongly preferred to other build sequences. Trees provide so many hammers that queue swapping is extremely effective, and can be used to put out early warriors, etc. without a large production penalty. You may even want to do a reverse queue swap, putting a warrior in the build queue when you want to get it out quickly and then crediting the overflow to the worker or settler. Remember that the costs are not exact multiples of timber yields, so that you want 200 production going to your second worker+settler, not the 180 you'd get just from cutting four trees (so you will want to have 5 turns of native production applied to units, not growth, to avoid using up too many of your valuable forests.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) In principle you might expect marathon games to be a simple extension of the above trends, and a theoretical analysis supports that. But the glacial pace of research has interesting consequences - especially at high difficulty levels. When you found your first city and choose your first tech on a normal start, you'll see something like the following for bronze working (BW) and a Worker(W) at Prince:[NEWLINE]Quick BW=9,W=12 turns[NEWLINE]Normal BW=13, W=15 turns[NEWLINE]Epic BW=21, W=19 turns[NEWLINE]Marathon BW=49, W=30 turns. At Marathon/Deity, it take 67 turns to get bronze working....[NEWLINE](If you have a special start tile the worker time will be less, and if you have commerce on your second tile the tech time will be less. You can usually shuffle the worked tile in that case so that the arrival of the first worker and getting BW happens at the same time on epic).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this means is that unless you either prioritize commerce or are extremely careful you will have extended stretches where your workers, and cities, have absolutely nothing useful to do. It is entirely plausible that it will take you 150+ turns before you can actually use that pig next to your starting city, and even improvement build times are long (15 turns for farm, etc.) As a result, financial leaders have a significant production edge, and coastal production, specials with commerce, etc. will dramatically speed up city development.[NEWLINE]Timber is useful for a lot of things, and you should think carefully about how you want to spend it. The AIs don't tend to use it for wonders, for instance, and it does save a lot of time for buildings as well. Unless you can speed up the tech, there is no gain in starting with a worker until you can time their arrival to coincide with a useful task - you might as well spend the first 20 turns getting a warrior out, unless there is a lovely gold mine next door.</English>
		<French>[H1]Optimum Early Growth Strategy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]ohioastronomy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is intended to determine the optimum strategy for maximizing production in the first 40 turns of the game. My intention is to quantify the advantages of chopping down forest and to compare different tactical paths in the early game. Tactics to be discussed include the relative advantages of growing your initial city, building workers, improvements, founding your second city, chop-rushing, and queue shuffling. I chose a 40 turn window because in this time it is possible to have two solid cities, with workers improving both, and to be in position to develop a third city if you desire. Over longer periods the mix of tiles, external threats, and other priorities (such as road building and military development) complicate the situation. I'll contend that the following general conclusions apply for normal speed games:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Building worker/worker/settler is optimal for early growth.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. If you can either build a mine or farm a special resource before chopping you end up equal to straight chopping at turn 40. This implies that you do not need to research Bronze Working first (but do need to have it completed by turn 20).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Limited chopping (3 trees) is a key to getting your initial cities set up.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Growing your city to size 2 before building a worker carries a significant production penalty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Queue switching will be discussed in a followup post, as will the develop-one-big-city first approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Commerce is omitted here, but I contend that is actually reasonable, since significant commerce usually requires worker improvements and thus typically takes off later than this period. As you will see below, any commerce advantage from early growth would have to be balanced against the rather substantial production disadvantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll begin with some basics. A size one city has 3 free production and each additional population point (PP) can generate 3 more production (if there are forests or flood plains) before improvements. Each PP uses 2F. Before improvements, this means that[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A size 1 city has 4 production[NEWLINE]Growing a city by one PP adds 1 production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping trees yields 30P (at normal) and takes 4 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Costs for a warrior, worker, and settler are 15, 60, and 100 respectively. I'll discuss epic speed separately, but tree-chopping is even more favored there (45 yield for a forest, workers and settlers are 75 and 125 respectively).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Farms and mines improve basic production, and building them takes a minimum of 5 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Wheat and corn (with agriculture) and copper (with BW) add 3 production.[NEWLINE]Mines add 2 production, as do deer camps (but the base is low on tundra and build times are longer). However, mines clear forests, so the maximum production from a mined tile without a special resource is 4 (gain of +1 over a forest or flood plain).[NEWLINE]Normal farms add 1 production - but only on base 2 production sites or flood plains. Creating a farm on a flood plain also takes longer. For this reason I'll only include the +1P (floodplain+farm and grass/hills+mine) and +3P cases for improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can already see from the above that starting a second city adds much more production than growing the first city, and that the best improvements are almost as valuable in the short run as founding a second city. Normal improvements increase total production modestly, but only on certain tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No growth cases: in this model the first city build is a worker, usually coupled with researching bronze working. On turn 15 the first worker appears. I then compared the following strategies, all ending with 2 workers, and one settler. I also compared the lucky +3 production improvements and the more typical +1 production improvements. Here are the cases:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A. Chop worker 2, both workers chop settler, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]B. Chop settler, chop worker2, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]C. Improve city(+3), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]D. Improve city (+1), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]E. Improve city (+3), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]F. Improve city (+1), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the results. Worker turns is the number of turns that you would have workers available to do things by turn 40 other than chop settlers/workers and build the first improvement:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: Worker2 T23, Settler T27, Imp T32, 21 worker turns, 8 overflow[NEWLINE](12 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 168)[NEWLINE]Case B: Settler T25, Worker2 T31, Imp T36, 13 worker turns, 24 overflow[NEWLINE](16 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 184)[NEWLINE]Case C: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T28, 24 worker turns, 6 overflow[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 8 x 7P + 90 from 3 trees = 166)[NEWLINE]Case D: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T30, 24 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 10 x 5P + 90 from 3 trees = 160)[NEWLINE]Case E: Imp T20, Settler T32, Worker2 T40, 15 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 20 x 7P = 160)[NEWLINE]Case F: Imp T20, Settler T36, Worker2 T48, 7 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 28 x 5P = 160)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, to put these all onto a common metric:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest completion of all workers and settlers is T27. After this point the main city can grow. Later starts are penalized 10P per turn of delay (4P in direct cost and 2P in delayed production from population points 2,3,4 each). Beyond that point the happiness and health limits can be relevant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest settler is T25. Later starting cities are penalized 10P per turn of delay for the same reason.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every worker turn that is available after the base tasks above are completed is worth 7.5P (chopping trees; could also be improving for future growth, but that is tile-dependent).[NEWLINE]Production overflow is credited to each case as available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: +145.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case B: +81.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case C: +146 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case D: +100 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case E: -87.5 ( 0 trees)[NEWLINE]Case F: -307.5 (0 trees)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a difference in the improved city production after the workers and settlers are produced. This is significant for cases A, B, C, E (where there is a good special available).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These cases get stronger production released after turns 32, 36, 28, 40. When this effect is accounted for, Case C (improve a +3P special before chopping) saves a tree and gets the highest yield. Cases A and C are thus very close).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping is strongly favored, and building a second worker before a settler is favored. Improving a special resource is a wash with chopping first, and building a 4 production tile before chopping is disfavored. You don't need to clearcut for a solid start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about growing first? If you have the right tiles available you can grow to size 2 and put out a warrior by turn 10. How does this compare with building a worker first? We'll focus on Case A above (worker/worker/settler), as it doesn't rely on a handy wheat or corn. In this case:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Size 2 turn 10, worker 1 T22, worker 2 T28, Settler T34, Imp T37, 10 worker turns, 20 overflow. In all the other cases we assumed the city would start growing on turn 27, while in this case 10 turns of early growth went to the city+unit and it is free to grow again after turn 34. As a result, I give this case 30 extra production for a growth head start (it gets 10 turns of growth by turn 34 while the other cities get 7), and add 24 for the extra production in turns 11 through 34. In effect, the worker-first cities catch up in size while the grow-first city is catching up in workers and settlers. This setup has a rating of +36, e.g. significantly worse than the build-worker first case. In terms of the land grab, it also postpones founding the second city by a potentially crucial 9 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An early delay in building workers (without growing to size 2) costs 25 production/turn: a one turn delay in founding a city and two lost worker turns chopping trees. I hope this is useful; comments/questions most welcome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Queue swapping is an interesting tactic to combine early growth and tree-chopping. It starts the same as the worker-first strategy, producing a worker on turn 15. On turns 16, 17, 18 the city grows and builds a warrior. On turn 19 the city switches to a worker, with 34 production (4 basic plus 30 from chopping a forest). The second worker appears on turn 23, both chop on turn 27, and one chops on turn 31 while the other produces an improvement on turn 32 (6 overflow). Relative to case A, the founding of the second city is delayed 4 turns, and 4 turns of worker action are lost; this is a 70 production penalty. However, the main city has had 12 extra turns of growth (a 120 production edge.) As a result, queue swapping is a net +193.5 on the original scale, but does burn 5 forests. There is some opportunity cost in losing resources that could be used later (for wonders, barracks, granaries, etc.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a trick to use only the chopped timber for settlers and workers (extreme queue swapping). Essentially, you set production to settler on the turn the chop is due, manually make the worker chop, and then set production back to warrior. This is more competitive at epic speed, but is an expensive idea on normal speed: settlers cost 100 and forests yield 30, so you would have to chop 6 forests (with 20 overflow) by turn 31 to get out the settler. Relative to normal queue swapping, this method loses 4 worker turns (30 penalty) and gains 4 turns of growth (40 benefit) with 14 extra overflow. The overall net is +217.5, so it scores highest on an absolute scale. If you subtract the opportunity cost of the forests used, however, the relative rankings are different:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No queue swapping +63.5[NEWLINE]Normal queue swapping +43.5[NEWLINE]Aggressive queue swapping +37.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you use this technique or not therefore depends in part on how many forests you can use and what else you might do with them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An alternate approach is to build a large city first and then use the enhanced production to churn out units later. An additional advantage is that such a city produces more early commerce. However, this strategy is significantly weaker in production (and, over the long term, not as strong in commerce as it might appear) because of the power of chopping and improvements. Assume the most favorable case for growth, namely 5 good food resources or flood plains on a river. In this case the capital will grow to size 2,3,4,5 after 8, 14, 19, and 24 turns respectively. By occasionally swapping in some grass/hills/forest it is possible to build 2 warriors and grow to the prince capital happiness limit (5) in 25 turns. The larger city will have 8 production, and if you follow up with worker/worker/settler then you can have worker1(33 turns), worker2(37 turns), and settler (42 turns). There is a commerce edge until the initially smaller capital catches up in size (108), and a production edge (95), assuming the growth pattern is the same. However, there is a 16 turn delay in founding city 2 and you need 9 worker turns past turn 40 to finish the initial builds. The net effect is -132.5 on the original scale, or almost 300 production behind emphasizing settlers and workers early. If anything, this understates the disadvantage of growing onto unimproved tiles. A size 1 city working an improved wheat has almost the same production (7) as a size 5 city working 5 unimproved tiles (8). By the time the big city has produced its first settler, you could have had two medium cities (size 2-3) working improved tiles and could have even founded a third city with supporting worker. Even the commerce edge (roughly one good tech) has to be kept in perspective; a single gold mine has a much bigger long-term yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could get better results by building two workers and then using them to improve tiles while letting the city grow to the happiness limit, then building a settler. The exact results are more complicated to compute because they depend on what tiles are available. In my view, this actually confirms the idea that building a worker first is optimal for a variety of play styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Different game speeds can significantly change the benefits of different strategies. The key thing to understand is the different way that units and tech/forests/growth/production scale with speed. As you go from Quick-Normal-Epic-Marathon (Q-N-E-M) the costs for a unit scale as[NEWLINE]Q 4/5 - N 1 - E 5/4 - M 2[NEWLINE](for example, the respective costs for a settler are 80, 100, 125, 200).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, tech costs, city growth, improvement builds, and forests change more quickly with speed. They scale as[NEWLINE]Q 2/3 - N 1 - E 3/2 - M 3[NEWLINE](for example, the respective yields for forests and the turns to clear including travel are[NEWLINE]Q 20 (3) - N 30 (4) - E 45 (5) - M 90 (9)[NEWLINE]This means that Stonehenge always can be gotten with 4 forest (2 with stone) at all speeds,[NEWLINE]but the cost in forests for a settler is[NEWLINE]Q=4 N=3.33 E=2.78 M=2.22[NEWLINE]and the time to build a settler with the basic 4 production of a city is[NEWLINE]Q=20 N=25 E=32 M=50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With an important exception for technology speed at high difficulty levels and marathon, you can therefore expect the following[NEWLINE]relative trends. I'll post details for other speeds if people are interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) In quick games cities grow rapidly and the yield from tree-cutting is smaller. The rapid pace of technology also means that workers are more flexible - it is very likely that you can improve special resources immediately upon founding a new city. This makes improvements more powerful, and dramatically reduces the differential impact of chopping on early production. If you start with good special resources you can do better by improving the first one (after you have a worker) than you can by focusing on tree-cutting (an improved wheat has a higher return than a forest cut after 7 turns). Worker-worker-settler is still the preferred sequence, but clearcutters will quickly run out of forests. Building a big city before a settler still fares worse than building a worker first, since once the tiles are improved the capital will grow to the happiness/health limit almost immediately. Note that because cities grow very fast (as quickly as three turns per population), having extra workers in the early game will have a large impact on production; you'll benefit from hooking up special resources to raise the health and happiness caps. Peaceful builders and tree-huggers will probably like this speed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) In epic games the technology speed is still fast enough that it doesn't play the huge role that it will at marathon. Worker-worker-settler is strongly preferred to other build sequences. Trees provide so many hammers that queue swapping is extremely effective, and can be used to put out early warriors, etc. without a large production penalty. You may even want to do a reverse queue swap, putting a warrior in the build queue when you want to get it out quickly and then crediting the overflow to the worker or settler. Remember that the costs are not exact multiples of timber yields, so that you want 200 production going to your second worker+settler, not the 180 you'd get just from cutting four trees (so you will want to have 5 turns of native production applied to units, not growth, to avoid using up too many of your valuable forests.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) In principle you might expect marathon games to be a simple extension of the above trends, and a theoretical analysis supports that. But the glacial pace of research has interesting consequences - especially at high difficulty levels. When you found your first city and choose your first tech on a normal start, you'll see something like the following for bronze working (BW) and a Worker(W) at Prince:[NEWLINE]Quick BW=9,W=12 turns[NEWLINE]Normal BW=13, W=15 turns[NEWLINE]Epic BW=21, W=19 turns[NEWLINE]Marathon BW=49, W=30 turns. At Marathon/Deity, it take 67 turns to get bronze working....[NEWLINE](If you have a special start tile the worker time will be less, and if you have commerce on your second tile the tech time will be less. You can usually shuffle the worked tile in that case so that the arrival of the first worker and getting BW happens at the same time on epic).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this means is that unless you either prioritize commerce or are extremely careful you will have extended stretches where your workers, and cities, have absolutely nothing useful to do. It is entirely plausible that it will take you 150+ turns before you can actually use that pig next to your starting city, and even improvement build times are long (15 turns for farm, etc.) As a result, financial leaders have a significant production edge, and coastal production, specials with commerce, etc. will dramatically speed up city development.[NEWLINE]Timber is useful for a lot of things, and you should think carefully about how you want to spend it. The AIs don't tend to use it for wonders, for instance, and it does save a lot of time for buildings as well. Unless you can speed up the tech, there is no gain in starting with a worker until you can time their arrival to coincide with a useful task - you might as well spend the first 20 turns getting a warrior out, unless there is a lovely gold mine next door.</French>
		<German>[H1]Optimum Early Growth Strategy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]ohioastronomy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is intended to determine the optimum strategy for maximizing production in the first 40 turns of the game. My intention is to quantify the advantages of chopping down forest and to compare different tactical paths in the early game. Tactics to be discussed include the relative advantages of growing your initial city, building workers, improvements, founding your second city, chop-rushing, and queue shuffling. I chose a 40 turn window because in this time it is possible to have two solid cities, with workers improving both, and to be in position to develop a third city if you desire. Over longer periods the mix of tiles, external threats, and other priorities (such as road building and military development) complicate the situation. I'll contend that the following general conclusions apply for normal speed games:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Building worker/worker/settler is optimal for early growth.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. If you can either build a mine or farm a special resource before chopping you end up equal to straight chopping at turn 40. This implies that you do not need to research Bronze Working first (but do need to have it completed by turn 20).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Limited chopping (3 trees) is a key to getting your initial cities set up.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Growing your city to size 2 before building a worker carries a significant production penalty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Queue switching will be discussed in a followup post, as will the develop-one-big-city first approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Commerce is omitted here, but I contend that is actually reasonable, since significant commerce usually requires worker improvements and thus typically takes off later than this period. As you will see below, any commerce advantage from early growth would have to be balanced against the rather substantial production disadvantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll begin with some basics. A size one city has 3 free production and each additional population point (PP) can generate 3 more production (if there are forests or flood plains) before improvements. Each PP uses 2F. Before improvements, this means that[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A size 1 city has 4 production[NEWLINE]Growing a city by one PP adds 1 production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping trees yields 30P (at normal) and takes 4 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Costs for a warrior, worker, and settler are 15, 60, and 100 respectively. I'll discuss epic speed separately, but tree-chopping is even more favored there (45 yield for a forest, workers and settlers are 75 and 125 respectively).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Farms and mines improve basic production, and building them takes a minimum of 5 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Wheat and corn (with agriculture) and copper (with BW) add 3 production.[NEWLINE]Mines add 2 production, as do deer camps (but the base is low on tundra and build times are longer). However, mines clear forests, so the maximum production from a mined tile without a special resource is 4 (gain of +1 over a forest or flood plain).[NEWLINE]Normal farms add 1 production - but only on base 2 production sites or flood plains. Creating a farm on a flood plain also takes longer. For this reason I'll only include the +1P (floodplain+farm and grass/hills+mine) and +3P cases for improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can already see from the above that starting a second city adds much more production than growing the first city, and that the best improvements are almost as valuable in the short run as founding a second city. Normal improvements increase total production modestly, but only on certain tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No growth cases: in this model the first city build is a worker, usually coupled with researching bronze working. On turn 15 the first worker appears. I then compared the following strategies, all ending with 2 workers, and one settler. I also compared the lucky +3 production improvements and the more typical +1 production improvements. Here are the cases:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A. Chop worker 2, both workers chop settler, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]B. Chop settler, chop worker2, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]C. Improve city(+3), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]D. Improve city (+1), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]E. Improve city (+3), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]F. Improve city (+1), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the results. Worker turns is the number of turns that you would have workers available to do things by turn 40 other than chop settlers/workers and build the first improvement:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: Worker2 T23, Settler T27, Imp T32, 21 worker turns, 8 overflow[NEWLINE](12 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 168)[NEWLINE]Case B: Settler T25, Worker2 T31, Imp T36, 13 worker turns, 24 overflow[NEWLINE](16 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 184)[NEWLINE]Case C: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T28, 24 worker turns, 6 overflow[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 8 x 7P + 90 from 3 trees = 166)[NEWLINE]Case D: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T30, 24 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 10 x 5P + 90 from 3 trees = 160)[NEWLINE]Case E: Imp T20, Settler T32, Worker2 T40, 15 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 20 x 7P = 160)[NEWLINE]Case F: Imp T20, Settler T36, Worker2 T48, 7 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 28 x 5P = 160)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, to put these all onto a common metric:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest completion of all workers and settlers is T27. After this point the main city can grow. Later starts are penalized 10P per turn of delay (4P in direct cost and 2P in delayed production from population points 2,3,4 each). Beyond that point the happiness and health limits can be relevant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest settler is T25. Later starting cities are penalized 10P per turn of delay for the same reason.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every worker turn that is available after the base tasks above are completed is worth 7.5P (chopping trees; could also be improving for future growth, but that is tile-dependent).[NEWLINE]Production overflow is credited to each case as available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: +145.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case B: +81.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case C: +146 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case D: +100 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case E: -87.5 ( 0 trees)[NEWLINE]Case F: -307.5 (0 trees)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a difference in the improved city production after the workers and settlers are produced. This is significant for cases A, B, C, E (where there is a good special available).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These cases get stronger production released after turns 32, 36, 28, 40. When this effect is accounted for, Case C (improve a +3P special before chopping) saves a tree and gets the highest yield. Cases A and C are thus very close).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping is strongly favored, and building a second worker before a settler is favored. Improving a special resource is a wash with chopping first, and building a 4 production tile before chopping is disfavored. You don't need to clearcut for a solid start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about growing first? If you have the right tiles available you can grow to size 2 and put out a warrior by turn 10. How does this compare with building a worker first? We'll focus on Case A above (worker/worker/settler), as it doesn't rely on a handy wheat or corn. In this case:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Size 2 turn 10, worker 1 T22, worker 2 T28, Settler T34, Imp T37, 10 worker turns, 20 overflow. In all the other cases we assumed the city would start growing on turn 27, while in this case 10 turns of early growth went to the city+unit and it is free to grow again after turn 34. As a result, I give this case 30 extra production for a growth head start (it gets 10 turns of growth by turn 34 while the other cities get 7), and add 24 for the extra production in turns 11 through 34. In effect, the worker-first cities catch up in size while the grow-first city is catching up in workers and settlers. This setup has a rating of +36, e.g. significantly worse than the build-worker first case. In terms of the land grab, it also postpones founding the second city by a potentially crucial 9 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An early delay in building workers (without growing to size 2) costs 25 production/turn: a one turn delay in founding a city and two lost worker turns chopping trees. I hope this is useful; comments/questions most welcome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Queue swapping is an interesting tactic to combine early growth and tree-chopping. It starts the same as the worker-first strategy, producing a worker on turn 15. On turns 16, 17, 18 the city grows and builds a warrior. On turn 19 the city switches to a worker, with 34 production (4 basic plus 30 from chopping a forest). The second worker appears on turn 23, both chop on turn 27, and one chops on turn 31 while the other produces an improvement on turn 32 (6 overflow). Relative to case A, the founding of the second city is delayed 4 turns, and 4 turns of worker action are lost; this is a 70 production penalty. However, the main city has had 12 extra turns of growth (a 120 production edge.) As a result, queue swapping is a net +193.5 on the original scale, but does burn 5 forests. There is some opportunity cost in losing resources that could be used later (for wonders, barracks, granaries, etc.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a trick to use only the chopped timber for settlers and workers (extreme queue swapping). Essentially, you set production to settler on the turn the chop is due, manually make the worker chop, and then set production back to warrior. This is more competitive at epic speed, but is an expensive idea on normal speed: settlers cost 100 and forests yield 30, so you would have to chop 6 forests (with 20 overflow) by turn 31 to get out the settler. Relative to normal queue swapping, this method loses 4 worker turns (30 penalty) and gains 4 turns of growth (40 benefit) with 14 extra overflow. The overall net is +217.5, so it scores highest on an absolute scale. If you subtract the opportunity cost of the forests used, however, the relative rankings are different:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No queue swapping +63.5[NEWLINE]Normal queue swapping +43.5[NEWLINE]Aggressive queue swapping +37.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you use this technique or not therefore depends in part on how many forests you can use and what else you might do with them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An alternate approach is to build a large city first and then use the enhanced production to churn out units later. An additional advantage is that such a city produces more early commerce. However, this strategy is significantly weaker in production (and, over the long term, not as strong in commerce as it might appear) because of the power of chopping and improvements. Assume the most favorable case for growth, namely 5 good food resources or flood plains on a river. In this case the capital will grow to size 2,3,4,5 after 8, 14, 19, and 24 turns respectively. By occasionally swapping in some grass/hills/forest it is possible to build 2 warriors and grow to the prince capital happiness limit (5) in 25 turns. The larger city will have 8 production, and if you follow up with worker/worker/settler then you can have worker1(33 turns), worker2(37 turns), and settler (42 turns). There is a commerce edge until the initially smaller capital catches up in size (108), and a production edge (95), assuming the growth pattern is the same. However, there is a 16 turn delay in founding city 2 and you need 9 worker turns past turn 40 to finish the initial builds. The net effect is -132.5 on the original scale, or almost 300 production behind emphasizing settlers and workers early. If anything, this understates the disadvantage of growing onto unimproved tiles. A size 1 city working an improved wheat has almost the same production (7) as a size 5 city working 5 unimproved tiles (8). By the time the big city has produced its first settler, you could have had two medium cities (size 2-3) working improved tiles and could have even founded a third city with supporting worker. Even the commerce edge (roughly one good tech) has to be kept in perspective; a single gold mine has a much bigger long-term yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could get better results by building two workers and then using them to improve tiles while letting the city grow to the happiness limit, then building a settler. The exact results are more complicated to compute because they depend on what tiles are available. In my view, this actually confirms the idea that building a worker first is optimal for a variety of play styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Different game speeds can significantly change the benefits of different strategies. The key thing to understand is the different way that units and tech/forests/growth/production scale with speed. As you go from Quick-Normal-Epic-Marathon (Q-N-E-M) the costs for a unit scale as[NEWLINE]Q 4/5 - N 1 - E 5/4 - M 2[NEWLINE](for example, the respective costs for a settler are 80, 100, 125, 200).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, tech costs, city growth, improvement builds, and forests change more quickly with speed. They scale as[NEWLINE]Q 2/3 - N 1 - E 3/2 - M 3[NEWLINE](for example, the respective yields for forests and the turns to clear including travel are[NEWLINE]Q 20 (3) - N 30 (4) - E 45 (5) - M 90 (9)[NEWLINE]This means that Stonehenge always can be gotten with 4 forest (2 with stone) at all speeds,[NEWLINE]but the cost in forests for a settler is[NEWLINE]Q=4 N=3.33 E=2.78 M=2.22[NEWLINE]and the time to build a settler with the basic 4 production of a city is[NEWLINE]Q=20 N=25 E=32 M=50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With an important exception for technology speed at high difficulty levels and marathon, you can therefore expect the following[NEWLINE]relative trends. I'll post details for other speeds if people are interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) In quick games cities grow rapidly and the yield from tree-cutting is smaller. The rapid pace of technology also means that workers are more flexible - it is very likely that you can improve special resources immediately upon founding a new city. This makes improvements more powerful, and dramatically reduces the differential impact of chopping on early production. If you start with good special resources you can do better by improving the first one (after you have a worker) than you can by focusing on tree-cutting (an improved wheat has a higher return than a forest cut after 7 turns). Worker-worker-settler is still the preferred sequence, but clearcutters will quickly run out of forests. Building a big city before a settler still fares worse than building a worker first, since once the tiles are improved the capital will grow to the happiness/health limit almost immediately. Note that because cities grow very fast (as quickly as three turns per population), having extra workers in the early game will have a large impact on production; you'll benefit from hooking up special resources to raise the health and happiness caps. Peaceful builders and tree-huggers will probably like this speed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) In epic games the technology speed is still fast enough that it doesn't play the huge role that it will at marathon. Worker-worker-settler is strongly preferred to other build sequences. Trees provide so many hammers that queue swapping is extremely effective, and can be used to put out early warriors, etc. without a large production penalty. You may even want to do a reverse queue swap, putting a warrior in the build queue when you want to get it out quickly and then crediting the overflow to the worker or settler. Remember that the costs are not exact multiples of timber yields, so that you want 200 production going to your second worker+settler, not the 180 you'd get just from cutting four trees (so you will want to have 5 turns of native production applied to units, not growth, to avoid using up too many of your valuable forests.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) In principle you might expect marathon games to be a simple extension of the above trends, and a theoretical analysis supports that. But the glacial pace of research has interesting consequences - especially at high difficulty levels. When you found your first city and choose your first tech on a normal start, you'll see something like the following for bronze working (BW) and a Worker(W) at Prince:[NEWLINE]Quick BW=9,W=12 turns[NEWLINE]Normal BW=13, W=15 turns[NEWLINE]Epic BW=21, W=19 turns[NEWLINE]Marathon BW=49, W=30 turns. At Marathon/Deity, it take 67 turns to get bronze working....[NEWLINE](If you have a special start tile the worker time will be less, and if you have commerce on your second tile the tech time will be less. You can usually shuffle the worked tile in that case so that the arrival of the first worker and getting BW happens at the same time on epic).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this means is that unless you either prioritize commerce or are extremely careful you will have extended stretches where your workers, and cities, have absolutely nothing useful to do. It is entirely plausible that it will take you 150+ turns before you can actually use that pig next to your starting city, and even improvement build times are long (15 turns for farm, etc.) As a result, financial leaders have a significant production edge, and coastal production, specials with commerce, etc. will dramatically speed up city development.[NEWLINE]Timber is useful for a lot of things, and you should think carefully about how you want to spend it. The AIs don't tend to use it for wonders, for instance, and it does save a lot of time for buildings as well. Unless you can speed up the tech, there is no gain in starting with a worker until you can time their arrival to coincide with a useful task - you might as well spend the first 20 turns getting a warrior out, unless there is a lovely gold mine next door.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Optimum Early Growth Strategy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]ohioastronomy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is intended to determine the optimum strategy for maximizing production in the first 40 turns of the game. My intention is to quantify the advantages of chopping down forest and to compare different tactical paths in the early game. Tactics to be discussed include the relative advantages of growing your initial city, building workers, improvements, founding your second city, chop-rushing, and queue shuffling. I chose a 40 turn window because in this time it is possible to have two solid cities, with workers improving both, and to be in position to develop a third city if you desire. Over longer periods the mix of tiles, external threats, and other priorities (such as road building and military development) complicate the situation. I'll contend that the following general conclusions apply for normal speed games:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Building worker/worker/settler is optimal for early growth.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. If you can either build a mine or farm a special resource before chopping you end up equal to straight chopping at turn 40. This implies that you do not need to research Bronze Working first (but do need to have it completed by turn 20).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Limited chopping (3 trees) is a key to getting your initial cities set up.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Growing your city to size 2 before building a worker carries a significant production penalty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Queue switching will be discussed in a followup post, as will the develop-one-big-city first approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Commerce is omitted here, but I contend that is actually reasonable, since significant commerce usually requires worker improvements and thus typically takes off later than this period. As you will see below, any commerce advantage from early growth would have to be balanced against the rather substantial production disadvantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll begin with some basics. A size one city has 3 free production and each additional population point (PP) can generate 3 more production (if there are forests or flood plains) before improvements. Each PP uses 2F. Before improvements, this means that[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A size 1 city has 4 production[NEWLINE]Growing a city by one PP adds 1 production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping trees yields 30P (at normal) and takes 4 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Costs for a warrior, worker, and settler are 15, 60, and 100 respectively. I'll discuss epic speed separately, but tree-chopping is even more favored there (45 yield for a forest, workers and settlers are 75 and 125 respectively).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Farms and mines improve basic production, and building them takes a minimum of 5 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Wheat and corn (with agriculture) and copper (with BW) add 3 production.[NEWLINE]Mines add 2 production, as do deer camps (but the base is low on tundra and build times are longer). However, mines clear forests, so the maximum production from a mined tile without a special resource is 4 (gain of +1 over a forest or flood plain).[NEWLINE]Normal farms add 1 production - but only on base 2 production sites or flood plains. Creating a farm on a flood plain also takes longer. For this reason I'll only include the +1P (floodplain+farm and grass/hills+mine) and +3P cases for improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can already see from the above that starting a second city adds much more production than growing the first city, and that the best improvements are almost as valuable in the short run as founding a second city. Normal improvements increase total production modestly, but only on certain tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No growth cases: in this model the first city build is a worker, usually coupled with researching bronze working. On turn 15 the first worker appears. I then compared the following strategies, all ending with 2 workers, and one settler. I also compared the lucky +3 production improvements and the more typical +1 production improvements. Here are the cases:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A. Chop worker 2, both workers chop settler, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]B. Chop settler, chop worker2, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]C. Improve city(+3), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]D. Improve city (+1), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]E. Improve city (+3), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]F. Improve city (+1), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the results. Worker turns is the number of turns that you would have workers available to do things by turn 40 other than chop settlers/workers and build the first improvement:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: Worker2 T23, Settler T27, Imp T32, 21 worker turns, 8 overflow[NEWLINE](12 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 168)[NEWLINE]Case B: Settler T25, Worker2 T31, Imp T36, 13 worker turns, 24 overflow[NEWLINE](16 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 184)[NEWLINE]Case C: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T28, 24 worker turns, 6 overflow[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 8 x 7P + 90 from 3 trees = 166)[NEWLINE]Case D: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T30, 24 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 10 x 5P + 90 from 3 trees = 160)[NEWLINE]Case E: Imp T20, Settler T32, Worker2 T40, 15 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 20 x 7P = 160)[NEWLINE]Case F: Imp T20, Settler T36, Worker2 T48, 7 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 28 x 5P = 160)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, to put these all onto a common metric:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest completion of all workers and settlers is T27. After this point the main city can grow. Later starts are penalized 10P per turn of delay (4P in direct cost and 2P in delayed production from population points 2,3,4 each). Beyond that point the happiness and health limits can be relevant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest settler is T25. Later starting cities are penalized 10P per turn of delay for the same reason.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every worker turn that is available after the base tasks above are completed is worth 7.5P (chopping trees; could also be improving for future growth, but that is tile-dependent).[NEWLINE]Production overflow is credited to each case as available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: +145.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case B: +81.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case C: +146 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case D: +100 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case E: -87.5 ( 0 trees)[NEWLINE]Case F: -307.5 (0 trees)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a difference in the improved city production after the workers and settlers are produced. This is significant for cases A, B, C, E (where there is a good special available).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These cases get stronger production released after turns 32, 36, 28, 40. When this effect is accounted for, Case C (improve a +3P special before chopping) saves a tree and gets the highest yield. Cases A and C are thus very close).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping is strongly favored, and building a second worker before a settler is favored. Improving a special resource is a wash with chopping first, and building a 4 production tile before chopping is disfavored. You don't need to clearcut for a solid start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about growing first? If you have the right tiles available you can grow to size 2 and put out a warrior by turn 10. How does this compare with building a worker first? We'll focus on Case A above (worker/worker/settler), as it doesn't rely on a handy wheat or corn. In this case:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Size 2 turn 10, worker 1 T22, worker 2 T28, Settler T34, Imp T37, 10 worker turns, 20 overflow. In all the other cases we assumed the city would start growing on turn 27, while in this case 10 turns of early growth went to the city+unit and it is free to grow again after turn 34. As a result, I give this case 30 extra production for a growth head start (it gets 10 turns of growth by turn 34 while the other cities get 7), and add 24 for the extra production in turns 11 through 34. In effect, the worker-first cities catch up in size while the grow-first city is catching up in workers and settlers. This setup has a rating of +36, e.g. significantly worse than the build-worker first case. In terms of the land grab, it also postpones founding the second city by a potentially crucial 9 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An early delay in building workers (without growing to size 2) costs 25 production/turn: a one turn delay in founding a city and two lost worker turns chopping trees. I hope this is useful; comments/questions most welcome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Queue swapping is an interesting tactic to combine early growth and tree-chopping. It starts the same as the worker-first strategy, producing a worker on turn 15. On turns 16, 17, 18 the city grows and builds a warrior. On turn 19 the city switches to a worker, with 34 production (4 basic plus 30 from chopping a forest). The second worker appears on turn 23, both chop on turn 27, and one chops on turn 31 while the other produces an improvement on turn 32 (6 overflow). Relative to case A, the founding of the second city is delayed 4 turns, and 4 turns of worker action are lost; this is a 70 production penalty. However, the main city has had 12 extra turns of growth (a 120 production edge.) As a result, queue swapping is a net +193.5 on the original scale, but does burn 5 forests. There is some opportunity cost in losing resources that could be used later (for wonders, barracks, granaries, etc.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a trick to use only the chopped timber for settlers and workers (extreme queue swapping). Essentially, you set production to settler on the turn the chop is due, manually make the worker chop, and then set production back to warrior. This is more competitive at epic speed, but is an expensive idea on normal speed: settlers cost 100 and forests yield 30, so you would have to chop 6 forests (with 20 overflow) by turn 31 to get out the settler. Relative to normal queue swapping, this method loses 4 worker turns (30 penalty) and gains 4 turns of growth (40 benefit) with 14 extra overflow. The overall net is +217.5, so it scores highest on an absolute scale. If you subtract the opportunity cost of the forests used, however, the relative rankings are different:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No queue swapping +63.5[NEWLINE]Normal queue swapping +43.5[NEWLINE]Aggressive queue swapping +37.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you use this technique or not therefore depends in part on how many forests you can use and what else you might do with them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An alternate approach is to build a large city first and then use the enhanced production to churn out units later. An additional advantage is that such a city produces more early commerce. However, this strategy is significantly weaker in production (and, over the long term, not as strong in commerce as it might appear) because of the power of chopping and improvements. Assume the most favorable case for growth, namely 5 good food resources or flood plains on a river. In this case the capital will grow to size 2,3,4,5 after 8, 14, 19, and 24 turns respectively. By occasionally swapping in some grass/hills/forest it is possible to build 2 warriors and grow to the prince capital happiness limit (5) in 25 turns. The larger city will have 8 production, and if you follow up with worker/worker/settler then you can have worker1(33 turns), worker2(37 turns), and settler (42 turns). There is a commerce edge until the initially smaller capital catches up in size (108), and a production edge (95), assuming the growth pattern is the same. However, there is a 16 turn delay in founding city 2 and you need 9 worker turns past turn 40 to finish the initial builds. The net effect is -132.5 on the original scale, or almost 300 production behind emphasizing settlers and workers early. If anything, this understates the disadvantage of growing onto unimproved tiles. A size 1 city working an improved wheat has almost the same production (7) as a size 5 city working 5 unimproved tiles (8). By the time the big city has produced its first settler, you could have had two medium cities (size 2-3) working improved tiles and could have even founded a third city with supporting worker. Even the commerce edge (roughly one good tech) has to be kept in perspective; a single gold mine has a much bigger long-term yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could get better results by building two workers and then using them to improve tiles while letting the city grow to the happiness limit, then building a settler. The exact results are more complicated to compute because they depend on what tiles are available. In my view, this actually confirms the idea that building a worker first is optimal for a variety of play styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Different game speeds can significantly change the benefits of different strategies. The key thing to understand is the different way that units and tech/forests/growth/production scale with speed. As you go from Quick-Normal-Epic-Marathon (Q-N-E-M) the costs for a unit scale as[NEWLINE]Q 4/5 - N 1 - E 5/4 - M 2[NEWLINE](for example, the respective costs for a settler are 80, 100, 125, 200).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, tech costs, city growth, improvement builds, and forests change more quickly with speed. They scale as[NEWLINE]Q 2/3 - N 1 - E 3/2 - M 3[NEWLINE](for example, the respective yields for forests and the turns to clear including travel are[NEWLINE]Q 20 (3) - N 30 (4) - E 45 (5) - M 90 (9)[NEWLINE]This means that Stonehenge always can be gotten with 4 forest (2 with stone) at all speeds,[NEWLINE]but the cost in forests for a settler is[NEWLINE]Q=4 N=3.33 E=2.78 M=2.22[NEWLINE]and the time to build a settler with the basic 4 production of a city is[NEWLINE]Q=20 N=25 E=32 M=50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With an important exception for technology speed at high difficulty levels and marathon, you can therefore expect the following[NEWLINE]relative trends. I'll post details for other speeds if people are interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) In quick games cities grow rapidly and the yield from tree-cutting is smaller. The rapid pace of technology also means that workers are more flexible - it is very likely that you can improve special resources immediately upon founding a new city. This makes improvements more powerful, and dramatically reduces the differential impact of chopping on early production. If you start with good special resources you can do better by improving the first one (after you have a worker) than you can by focusing on tree-cutting (an improved wheat has a higher return than a forest cut after 7 turns). Worker-worker-settler is still the preferred sequence, but clearcutters will quickly run out of forests. Building a big city before a settler still fares worse than building a worker first, since once the tiles are improved the capital will grow to the happiness/health limit almost immediately. Note that because cities grow very fast (as quickly as three turns per population), having extra workers in the early game will have a large impact on production; you'll benefit from hooking up special resources to raise the health and happiness caps. Peaceful builders and tree-huggers will probably like this speed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) In epic games the technology speed is still fast enough that it doesn't play the huge role that it will at marathon. Worker-worker-settler is strongly preferred to other build sequences. Trees provide so many hammers that queue swapping is extremely effective, and can be used to put out early warriors, etc. without a large production penalty. You may even want to do a reverse queue swap, putting a warrior in the build queue when you want to get it out quickly and then crediting the overflow to the worker or settler. Remember that the costs are not exact multiples of timber yields, so that you want 200 production going to your second worker+settler, not the 180 you'd get just from cutting four trees (so you will want to have 5 turns of native production applied to units, not growth, to avoid using up too many of your valuable forests.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) In principle you might expect marathon games to be a simple extension of the above trends, and a theoretical analysis supports that. But the glacial pace of research has interesting consequences - especially at high difficulty levels. When you found your first city and choose your first tech on a normal start, you'll see something like the following for bronze working (BW) and a Worker(W) at Prince:[NEWLINE]Quick BW=9,W=12 turns[NEWLINE]Normal BW=13, W=15 turns[NEWLINE]Epic BW=21, W=19 turns[NEWLINE]Marathon BW=49, W=30 turns. At Marathon/Deity, it take 67 turns to get bronze working....[NEWLINE](If you have a special start tile the worker time will be less, and if you have commerce on your second tile the tech time will be less. You can usually shuffle the worked tile in that case so that the arrival of the first worker and getting BW happens at the same time on epic).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this means is that unless you either prioritize commerce or are extremely careful you will have extended stretches where your workers, and cities, have absolutely nothing useful to do. It is entirely plausible that it will take you 150+ turns before you can actually use that pig next to your starting city, and even improvement build times are long (15 turns for farm, etc.) As a result, financial leaders have a significant production edge, and coastal production, specials with commerce, etc. will dramatically speed up city development.[NEWLINE]Timber is useful for a lot of things, and you should think carefully about how you want to spend it. The AIs don't tend to use it for wonders, for instance, and it does save a lot of time for buildings as well. Unless you can speed up the tech, there is no gain in starting with a worker until you can time their arrival to coincide with a useful task - you might as well spend the first 20 turns getting a warrior out, unless there is a lovely gold mine next door.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Optimum Early Growth Strategy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]ohioastronomy[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is intended to determine the optimum strategy for maximizing production in the first 40 turns of the game. My intention is to quantify the advantages of chopping down forest and to compare different tactical paths in the early game. Tactics to be discussed include the relative advantages of growing your initial city, building workers, improvements, founding your second city, chop-rushing, and queue shuffling. I chose a 40 turn window because in this time it is possible to have two solid cities, with workers improving both, and to be in position to develop a third city if you desire. Over longer periods the mix of tiles, external threats, and other priorities (such as road building and military development) complicate the situation. I'll contend that the following general conclusions apply for normal speed games:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Building worker/worker/settler is optimal for early growth.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. If you can either build a mine or farm a special resource before chopping you end up equal to straight chopping at turn 40. This implies that you do not need to research Bronze Working first (but do need to have it completed by turn 20).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Limited chopping (3 trees) is a key to getting your initial cities set up.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Growing your city to size 2 before building a worker carries a significant production penalty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Queue switching will be discussed in a followup post, as will the develop-one-big-city first approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Commerce is omitted here, but I contend that is actually reasonable, since significant commerce usually requires worker improvements and thus typically takes off later than this period. As you will see below, any commerce advantage from early growth would have to be balanced against the rather substantial production disadvantage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll begin with some basics. A size one city has 3 free production and each additional population point (PP) can generate 3 more production (if there are forests or flood plains) before improvements. Each PP uses 2F. Before improvements, this means that[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A size 1 city has 4 production[NEWLINE]Growing a city by one PP adds 1 production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping trees yields 30P (at normal) and takes 4 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Costs for a warrior, worker, and settler are 15, 60, and 100 respectively. I'll discuss epic speed separately, but tree-chopping is even more favored there (45 yield for a forest, workers and settlers are 75 and 125 respectively).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Farms and mines improve basic production, and building them takes a minimum of 5 turns including travel time.[NEWLINE]Wheat and corn (with agriculture) and copper (with BW) add 3 production.[NEWLINE]Mines add 2 production, as do deer camps (but the base is low on tundra and build times are longer). However, mines clear forests, so the maximum production from a mined tile without a special resource is 4 (gain of +1 over a forest or flood plain).[NEWLINE]Normal farms add 1 production - but only on base 2 production sites or flood plains. Creating a farm on a flood plain also takes longer. For this reason I'll only include the +1P (floodplain+farm and grass/hills+mine) and +3P cases for improvements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can already see from the above that starting a second city adds much more production than growing the first city, and that the best improvements are almost as valuable in the short run as founding a second city. Normal improvements increase total production modestly, but only on certain tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No growth cases: in this model the first city build is a worker, usually coupled with researching bronze working. On turn 15 the first worker appears. I then compared the following strategies, all ending with 2 workers, and one settler. I also compared the lucky +3 production improvements and the more typical +1 production improvements. Here are the cases:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A. Chop worker 2, both workers chop settler, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]B. Chop settler, chop worker2, improve[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]C. Improve city(+3), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]D. Improve city (+1), chop worker 2, chop settler[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]E. Improve city (+3), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]F. Improve city (+1), settler with no chop, worker 2 with no chop.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the results. Worker turns is the number of turns that you would have workers available to do things by turn 40 other than chop settlers/workers and build the first improvement:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: Worker2 T23, Settler T27, Imp T32, 21 worker turns, 8 overflow[NEWLINE](12 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 168)[NEWLINE]Case B: Settler T25, Worker2 T31, Imp T36, 13 worker turns, 24 overflow[NEWLINE](16 x 4P + 120 from 4 trees = 184)[NEWLINE]Case C: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T28, 24 worker turns, 6 overflow[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 8 x 7P + 90 from 3 trees = 166)[NEWLINE]Case D: Imp T20, Worker2 T24, Settler T30, 24 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 10 x 5P + 90 from 3 trees = 160)[NEWLINE]Case E: Imp T20, Settler T32, Worker2 T40, 15 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 20 x 7P = 160)[NEWLINE]Case F: Imp T20, Settler T36, Worker2 T48, 7 worker turns[NEWLINE](5 x 4P + 28 x 5P = 160)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, to put these all onto a common metric:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest completion of all workers and settlers is T27. After this point the main city can grow. Later starts are penalized 10P per turn of delay (4P in direct cost and 2P in delayed production from population points 2,3,4 each). Beyond that point the happiness and health limits can be relevant.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The earliest settler is T25. Later starting cities are penalized 10P per turn of delay for the same reason.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Every worker turn that is available after the base tasks above are completed is worth 7.5P (chopping trees; could also be improving for future growth, but that is tile-dependent).[NEWLINE]Production overflow is credited to each case as available.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Case A: +145.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case B: +81.5 (4 trees)[NEWLINE]Case C: +146 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case D: +100 (3 trees)[NEWLINE]Case E: -87.5 ( 0 trees)[NEWLINE]Case F: -307.5 (0 trees)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a difference in the improved city production after the workers and settlers are produced. This is significant for cases A, B, C, E (where there is a good special available).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These cases get stronger production released after turns 32, 36, 28, 40. When this effect is accounted for, Case C (improve a +3P special before chopping) saves a tree and gets the highest yield. Cases A and C are thus very close).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping is strongly favored, and building a second worker before a settler is favored. Improving a special resource is a wash with chopping first, and building a 4 production tile before chopping is disfavored. You don't need to clearcut for a solid start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about growing first? If you have the right tiles available you can grow to size 2 and put out a warrior by turn 10. How does this compare with building a worker first? We'll focus on Case A above (worker/worker/settler), as it doesn't rely on a handy wheat or corn. In this case:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Size 2 turn 10, worker 1 T22, worker 2 T28, Settler T34, Imp T37, 10 worker turns, 20 overflow. In all the other cases we assumed the city would start growing on turn 27, while in this case 10 turns of early growth went to the city+unit and it is free to grow again after turn 34. As a result, I give this case 30 extra production for a growth head start (it gets 10 turns of growth by turn 34 while the other cities get 7), and add 24 for the extra production in turns 11 through 34. In effect, the worker-first cities catch up in size while the grow-first city is catching up in workers and settlers. This setup has a rating of +36, e.g. significantly worse than the build-worker first case. In terms of the land grab, it also postpones founding the second city by a potentially crucial 9 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An early delay in building workers (without growing to size 2) costs 25 production/turn: a one turn delay in founding a city and two lost worker turns chopping trees. I hope this is useful; comments/questions most welcome.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Queue swapping is an interesting tactic to combine early growth and tree-chopping. It starts the same as the worker-first strategy, producing a worker on turn 15. On turns 16, 17, 18 the city grows and builds a warrior. On turn 19 the city switches to a worker, with 34 production (4 basic plus 30 from chopping a forest). The second worker appears on turn 23, both chop on turn 27, and one chops on turn 31 while the other produces an improvement on turn 32 (6 overflow). Relative to case A, the founding of the second city is delayed 4 turns, and 4 turns of worker action are lost; this is a 70 production penalty. However, the main city has had 12 extra turns of growth (a 120 production edge.) As a result, queue swapping is a net +193.5 on the original scale, but does burn 5 forests. There is some opportunity cost in losing resources that could be used later (for wonders, barracks, granaries, etc.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a trick to use only the chopped timber for settlers and workers (extreme queue swapping). Essentially, you set production to settler on the turn the chop is due, manually make the worker chop, and then set production back to warrior. This is more competitive at epic speed, but is an expensive idea on normal speed: settlers cost 100 and forests yield 30, so you would have to chop 6 forests (with 20 overflow) by turn 31 to get out the settler. Relative to normal queue swapping, this method loses 4 worker turns (30 penalty) and gains 4 turns of growth (40 benefit) with 14 extra overflow. The overall net is +217.5, so it scores highest on an absolute scale. If you subtract the opportunity cost of the forests used, however, the relative rankings are different:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No queue swapping +63.5[NEWLINE]Normal queue swapping +43.5[NEWLINE]Aggressive queue swapping +37.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you use this technique or not therefore depends in part on how many forests you can use and what else you might do with them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An alternate approach is to build a large city first and then use the enhanced production to churn out units later. An additional advantage is that such a city produces more early commerce. However, this strategy is significantly weaker in production (and, over the long term, not as strong in commerce as it might appear) because of the power of chopping and improvements. Assume the most favorable case for growth, namely 5 good food resources or flood plains on a river. In this case the capital will grow to size 2,3,4,5 after 8, 14, 19, and 24 turns respectively. By occasionally swapping in some grass/hills/forest it is possible to build 2 warriors and grow to the prince capital happiness limit (5) in 25 turns. The larger city will have 8 production, and if you follow up with worker/worker/settler then you can have worker1(33 turns), worker2(37 turns), and settler (42 turns). There is a commerce edge until the initially smaller capital catches up in size (108), and a production edge (95), assuming the growth pattern is the same. However, there is a 16 turn delay in founding city 2 and you need 9 worker turns past turn 40 to finish the initial builds. The net effect is -132.5 on the original scale, or almost 300 production behind emphasizing settlers and workers early. If anything, this understates the disadvantage of growing onto unimproved tiles. A size 1 city working an improved wheat has almost the same production (7) as a size 5 city working 5 unimproved tiles (8). By the time the big city has produced its first settler, you could have had two medium cities (size 2-3) working improved tiles and could have even founded a third city with supporting worker. Even the commerce edge (roughly one good tech) has to be kept in perspective; a single gold mine has a much bigger long-term yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You could get better results by building two workers and then using them to improve tiles while letting the city grow to the happiness limit, then building a settler. The exact results are more complicated to compute because they depend on what tiles are available. In my view, this actually confirms the idea that building a worker first is optimal for a variety of play styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Different game speeds can significantly change the benefits of different strategies. The key thing to understand is the different way that units and tech/forests/growth/production scale with speed. As you go from Quick-Normal-Epic-Marathon (Q-N-E-M) the costs for a unit scale as[NEWLINE]Q 4/5 - N 1 - E 5/4 - M 2[NEWLINE](for example, the respective costs for a settler are 80, 100, 125, 200).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, tech costs, city growth, improvement builds, and forests change more quickly with speed. They scale as[NEWLINE]Q 2/3 - N 1 - E 3/2 - M 3[NEWLINE](for example, the respective yields for forests and the turns to clear including travel are[NEWLINE]Q 20 (3) - N 30 (4) - E 45 (5) - M 90 (9)[NEWLINE]This means that Stonehenge always can be gotten with 4 forest (2 with stone) at all speeds,[NEWLINE]but the cost in forests for a settler is[NEWLINE]Q=4 N=3.33 E=2.78 M=2.22[NEWLINE]and the time to build a settler with the basic 4 production of a city is[NEWLINE]Q=20 N=25 E=32 M=50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With an important exception for technology speed at high difficulty levels and marathon, you can therefore expect the following[NEWLINE]relative trends. I'll post details for other speeds if people are interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) In quick games cities grow rapidly and the yield from tree-cutting is smaller. The rapid pace of technology also means that workers are more flexible - it is very likely that you can improve special resources immediately upon founding a new city. This makes improvements more powerful, and dramatically reduces the differential impact of chopping on early production. If you start with good special resources you can do better by improving the first one (after you have a worker) than you can by focusing on tree-cutting (an improved wheat has a higher return than a forest cut after 7 turns). Worker-worker-settler is still the preferred sequence, but clearcutters will quickly run out of forests. Building a big city before a settler still fares worse than building a worker first, since once the tiles are improved the capital will grow to the happiness/health limit almost immediately. Note that because cities grow very fast (as quickly as three turns per population), having extra workers in the early game will have a large impact on production; you'll benefit from hooking up special resources to raise the health and happiness caps. Peaceful builders and tree-huggers will probably like this speed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) In epic games the technology speed is still fast enough that it doesn't play the huge role that it will at marathon. Worker-worker-settler is strongly preferred to other build sequences. Trees provide so many hammers that queue swapping is extremely effective, and can be used to put out early warriors, etc. without a large production penalty. You may even want to do a reverse queue swap, putting a warrior in the build queue when you want to get it out quickly and then crediting the overflow to the worker or settler. Remember that the costs are not exact multiples of timber yields, so that you want 200 production going to your second worker+settler, not the 180 you'd get just from cutting four trees (so you will want to have 5 turns of native production applied to units, not growth, to avoid using up too many of your valuable forests.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) In principle you might expect marathon games to be a simple extension of the above trends, and a theoretical analysis supports that. But the glacial pace of research has interesting consequences - especially at high difficulty levels. When you found your first city and choose your first tech on a normal start, you'll see something like the following for bronze working (BW) and a Worker(W) at Prince:[NEWLINE]Quick BW=9,W=12 turns[NEWLINE]Normal BW=13, W=15 turns[NEWLINE]Epic BW=21, W=19 turns[NEWLINE]Marathon BW=49, W=30 turns. At Marathon/Deity, it take 67 turns to get bronze working....[NEWLINE](If you have a special start tile the worker time will be less, and if you have commerce on your second tile the tech time will be less. You can usually shuffle the worked tile in that case so that the arrival of the first worker and getting BW happens at the same time on epic).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this means is that unless you either prioritize commerce or are extremely careful you will have extended stretches where your workers, and cities, have absolutely nothing useful to do. It is entirely plausible that it will take you 150+ turns before you can actually use that pig next to your starting city, and even improvement build times are long (15 turns for farm, etc.) As a result, financial leaders have a significant production edge, and coastal production, specials with commerce, etc. will dramatically speed up city development.[NEWLINE]Timber is useful for a lot of things, and you should think carefully about how you want to spend it. The AIs don't tend to use it for wonders, for instance, and it does save a lot of time for buildings as well. Unless you can speed up the tech, there is no gain in starting with a worker until you can time their arrival to coincide with a useful task - you might as well spend the first 20 turns getting a warrior out, unless there is a lovely gold mine next door.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_HYBRID_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]The Hybrid Economy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Darkfyre99[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overview[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hybrid Economy is a type of economy that combines the best elements of the Specialist Economy and the Cottage Economy, while minimizing the disadvantages of both types of economies. This article assumes use of the Beyond the Sword expansion, but it should be easily adapted to both Warlords and Vanilla Civilization IV. Like a Specialist Economy, a Hybrid Economy's cities are highly specialised. Like a Cottage Economy, a Hybrid Economy relies on cottages as it's primary source of beakers. Unlike either a Cottage or Specialist economy, the goal of a Hybrid Economy is to keep the science slider at 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Characteristics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attributes[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most common improvements: farms and cottages[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]beaker source: primarily commerce, some specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]espionage source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]optimal slider position: 100% science[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best civics: Representation, Free Speech, Caste System[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best traits: Financial, Philosophical[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Advantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of city specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]no economic crash with switch to Emancipation[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high GPP production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]not as much micromanaging as a Specialist Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of predictability in Great People produced[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disadvantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]using the culture for happiness causes research to slow down, but not as much as a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]more micromanaging than a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]unable to use Slavery Civic after Caste System to boost production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Cities in a Hybrid Economy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities in a Hybrid Economy are heavily specialized, just as in a Specialist Economy. Few buildings are constructed beyond the necessary ones, allowing the greatest number of specialists or cottages to be worked for the longest period of time. The city types are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Capital[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city tends to become a "Jack 0f All Trades" city, usually having ample commerce as well as production, additional happiness, which often makes Bureaucracy attractive mid-game. Of course, if you start with Mysticism and you have a lot of extra food in your capital, you might want to consider founding an early religion, making it your Wall Street city, and running some other legal civic instead. Or moving your Palace to better location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Production Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Production Cities produce your military and construct most of the wonders your empire needs. Most empires need only two or three. Improvements are mines and other hammer producers, plus the necessary farms to support the citizens to work the hammer tiles. Buildings are, naturally, hammer multipliers. National Wonders are Heroic Epic, West Point, and Ironworks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wealth Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wealth cities produce the gold necessary to pay for costs of your empire, whether it is maintenance for your cities, civics upkeep, or pay for your military. Small empires only need one. Improvements are farms to support merchants. Buildings are, naturally, gold multipliers. The city with the highest food output gets Wall-Street. Ideally, this should also be a Shrine city. These cities produce a lot of Great Merchants, which should be settled in the Wall-Street city so you can keep that science slider at 100% for most of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Science Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Science cities produce the beakers your empire needs to research new technologies. These cities make up the majority of your empire. Improvements are cottages and other commerce producers. Buildings are, naturally, beaker multipliers. The city with the second highest food production will eventually get Oxford University, and gets farms to support scientist specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Espionage cities produce the espionage points your empire needs to conduct espionage missions, both active and passive. You really only need one in your empire. Improvements are farms to support spy specialists. Buildings are, naturally, espionage buildings. Due to the lateness of most espionage buildings, this is a good candidate for a late game forested tundra/National Park city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy by Age[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The classical age is when you'll be getting your core cities established. By the end of this era, your HE city will be churning out units, your future Wall-Street city will be churning out gold and Great Merchants, and the rest of your cities will producing beakers, primarily through cottages. Civics would be slavery and organized religion, and Hereditary Rule, or perhaps Representation if you snagged the Pyramids. Hopefully, you'll be able to snag The Great Library in your future Oxford University city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Middle Ages[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Congratulations, you've just made the switch to Caste System. Get used to it, because you'll be sticking with it for a while. By now, you'll have enough improved tiles to switch citizens to hammer tiles while building infrastructure, and back to cottages or specialists the rest of the time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During this age, your science cities should be slowly building banks after they've finished their Universities, so you'll be able to build Wall-Street as soon as possible. Needless to say, you probably won't have to build any unnecessary Universities in your wealth cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Liberalism comes Free Speech, and with Democracy comes Emancipation, so it's time to start prepping your Wall-Street and Oxford University cities for the post-Caste System era. Start building cottages until one-turn from completion over your farms, and do the same with windmills over any mines. Once another Empire switches to Emancipation, it's time to do likewise, before unhappiness cripples your Empire. Switch as many farms to cottages as possible, and mines as windmills, until your city is growing while still running seven specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Caste System no longer viable, you're going to get some beakers in your wealth cities, so it's time to build some libraries and observatories in your wealth cities. If you've been expanding aggressively, you might want to build some grocers in your science cities as well, since your science slider might have to drop below 100%. Fortunately, you already built all those banks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also the Era of the Corporation, and you've been producing a lot of Great Merchants, so you should save one to found one of the Food Corporations in your Wall Street city. Spread it to your Oxford University, your production cities, and your capital. If you're lucky, you've saved a Great Engineer to found Mining Inc. in Wall Street, which you can then spread to your production cities and capital as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You haven't won yet? Then what are you waiting for? Build whatever you need to reach whatever victory condition you've been aiming for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Issues[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Unlike a Specialist Economy, which relies on Great Scientists to suppliment your beaker production, or a Cottage Economy, which uses this National Wonder to create a GP farm, you get to decide which Great People you want the most of. If you want a lot of Great Merchants, build it in your future Wall Street city. If you want a lot of Great Scientists, build it in your future Oxford University city. Maybe you'd like a lot of Great Spies late in the game, so hold onto it until your Espionage city is up and running, or Ironworks to get some Great Engineers to found Mining Inc. and rush some late-game wonders. Or pair it with National Park and get a super GP farm up and running. The choice is yours![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Caste System -&gt; Emancipation Switch[\BOLD][NEWLINE]If your game runs long enough, sooner or later you’ll have to switch out of Caste System and start running Emancipation simply to deal with all the happiness caused by other Empires running that civic. In a Specialist Economy, this causes your research to crash, because there are no mature cottages to take up the slack for all those out of work scientists. It takes 35 turns (normal, Emancipation) to mature a cottage into a town, and since you’ve been relying on cottages to produce most of your gold, you probably won’t be able to run your science slider at anything over 60% until they’re fully mature. That means 35 turns before your economy recovers back to its pre-Caste System state... and those cottages need to be built first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since a hybrid economy means you’re getting most of your science from mature towns anyways, this switch doesn’t cause your research to crash. Only two cities are primarily affected: Your Wall Street City, and your Oxford City. These are the only two cities that need to be cottaged, which can be done very quickly if you prebuilt them before the switch. Furthermore, since your science slider is set at 90-100%, your Oxford city recovers after only fifteen turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Care and Feeding of your Wall Street and Oxford Cities[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two cities are your primary Great People producers throughout the game. So the name of the game is to run as many specialists as possible, for as many turns as possible, while working as few tiles as possible. Because these are the cities most similar to a Specialist Economy’s normal city, they also require the most micromanagement in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Wall Street City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early game, this city is quite simple. You want to build this city in an area that can produce a lot of food early, which means a lot of food resources and hopefully a lot of rivers or flood plains. Having a shrine in this city is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary. An enemy’s capital that holds the shrine to Buddhism or Hinduism is ideal, allowing [BOLD]you[\BOLD] to cottage your capital to take advantage of Bureaucracy’s bonuses later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Focus on building farms to support more merchants later, and build or whip the necessary infrastructure, including granaries and courthouses. Build some mines or workshops so you can build more infrastructure later. Settle any Great Merchants that emerge from this city back into the city. They’ll help keep your tech rate at 100% [BOLD]plus[\BOLD] produce extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the Middle Ages, with the switch to Caste System, you’re going to want to keep an eye on this city. You want to grow the city as large as the happiness cap allows, while running as many merchant specialists as possible. When you get more happiness, send a few your merchants into the fields to grow the population. There are also two important buildings that will need to be built: a grocer and a bank. Immediately when grocers become available, set all those merchants to work in the mines and the workshops to build those buildings ASAP. Repeat this procedure with the bank. Don’t be afraid to starve your citizens a little in order to do so, you can always produce more food later. Plus they’re getting fat from laying around and counting money. Great Merchants still get settled back into the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Renaissance signals the approach of the end of the Caste System Era. Sooner or later, you’ll have to make the switch to Emancipation, so it’s time to start pre-building some cottages. Don’t complete them, simply build them until one turn from completion. It’ll save time later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age will likely see the end of Caste System. It also signals the approach of Corporations and Biology, so it’s time to consider the Switch. After the Emancipation Switch, your city needs, at most, a population of 27, so it’s time to consider slowing or halting its growth. During this age, you’ll stop settling Great Merchants in this city. You need one to found one of the food corporations, after all. Check how many turns it is until the next Great Merchant (don’t forget to check your Oxford city… it may produce a Great Scientist before Wall Street does) and compare it to how many turns it’ll take to get the tech for your chosen Food Corporation. If one will emerge before you research the tech, then settle that Great Merchant. Otherwise, save it to found the corporation. After that, send those Great Merchants on Trade Missions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age also gives you levees, so if you placed your Wall Street city in an area with a lot of rivers (which seems likely), then you might want to send a few of those farmers to the mines and workshops to build them whenever you need to stunt your growth due to the happiness cap. The Industrial Age is also when you give your Wall Street city [BOLD]finally[\BOLD] lives up to its name, and you build Wall Street. Building Levees will help you with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Hopefully, Wall Street will be complete [BOLD]before[\BOLD] you have to switch to Emancipation. But after the switch, you’ll need to cottage as many farms as possible until you’re running food neutral while running seven merchants. With the extra hammers, you can start building science infrastructure. When you found a Food Corporation in this city, you’ll be able to cottage even more farms. Build about four so you can spread the Corporation to your Oxford city, your production cities, and your capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you make it this far, the modern age is pretty much the same as a Cottage Economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Oxford University City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The same strategy used with the Wall Street city works well with the Oxford University City... only you build science infrastructure buildings rather than wealth infrastructure. The main difference with this city is what you do with the Great Scientists the city produces. Settling a Great Scientist in Oxford rarely produces as much a benefit as building an academy in one of your science city, or rushing a tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, unlike Wall Street, Oxford usually doesn’t need wealth infrastructure late in the game... though building a bank in the city makes sense, since you need a few of them to build Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edited to expand upon the idea behind Oxford and Wall Street, especially post Caste System.[\BOLD]</English>
		<French>[H1]The Hybrid Economy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Darkfyre99[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overview[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hybrid Economy is a type of economy that combines the best elements of the Specialist Economy and the Cottage Economy, while minimizing the disadvantages of both types of economies. This article assumes use of the Beyond the Sword expansion, but it should be easily adapted to both Warlords and Vanilla Civilization IV. Like a Specialist Economy, a Hybrid Economy's cities are highly specialised. Like a Cottage Economy, a Hybrid Economy relies on cottages as it's primary source of beakers. Unlike either a Cottage or Specialist economy, the goal of a Hybrid Economy is to keep the science slider at 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Characteristics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attributes[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most common improvements: farms and cottages[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]beaker source: primarily commerce, some specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]espionage source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]optimal slider position: 100% science[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best civics: Representation, Free Speech, Caste System[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best traits: Financial, Philosophical[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Advantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of city specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]no economic crash with switch to Emancipation[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high GPP production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]not as much micromanaging as a Specialist Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of predictability in Great People produced[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disadvantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]using the culture for happiness causes research to slow down, but not as much as a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]more micromanaging than a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]unable to use Slavery Civic after Caste System to boost production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Cities in a Hybrid Economy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities in a Hybrid Economy are heavily specialized, just as in a Specialist Economy. Few buildings are constructed beyond the necessary ones, allowing the greatest number of specialists or cottages to be worked for the longest period of time. The city types are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Capital[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city tends to become a "Jack 0f All Trades" city, usually having ample commerce as well as production, additional happiness, which often makes Bureaucracy attractive mid-game. Of course, if you start with Mysticism and you have a lot of extra food in your capital, you might want to consider founding an early religion, making it your Wall Street city, and running some other legal civic instead. Or moving your Palace to better location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Production Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Production Cities produce your military and construct most of the wonders your empire needs. Most empires need only two or three. Improvements are mines and other hammer producers, plus the necessary farms to support the citizens to work the hammer tiles. Buildings are, naturally, hammer multipliers. National Wonders are Heroic Epic, West Point, and Ironworks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wealth Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wealth cities produce the gold necessary to pay for costs of your empire, whether it is maintenance for your cities, civics upkeep, or pay for your military. Small empires only need one. Improvements are farms to support merchants. Buildings are, naturally, gold multipliers. The city with the highest food output gets Wall-Street. Ideally, this should also be a Shrine city. These cities produce a lot of Great Merchants, which should be settled in the Wall-Street city so you can keep that science slider at 100% for most of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Science Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Science cities produce the beakers your empire needs to research new technologies. These cities make up the majority of your empire. Improvements are cottages and other commerce producers. Buildings are, naturally, beaker multipliers. The city with the second highest food production will eventually get Oxford University, and gets farms to support scientist specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Espionage cities produce the espionage points your empire needs to conduct espionage missions, both active and passive. You really only need one in your empire. Improvements are farms to support spy specialists. Buildings are, naturally, espionage buildings. Due to the lateness of most espionage buildings, this is a good candidate for a late game forested tundra/National Park city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy by Age[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The classical age is when you'll be getting your core cities established. By the end of this era, your HE city will be churning out units, your future Wall-Street city will be churning out gold and Great Merchants, and the rest of your cities will producing beakers, primarily through cottages. Civics would be slavery and organized religion, and Hereditary Rule, or perhaps Representation if you snagged the Pyramids. Hopefully, you'll be able to snag The Great Library in your future Oxford University city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Middle Ages[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Congratulations, you've just made the switch to Caste System. Get used to it, because you'll be sticking with it for a while. By now, you'll have enough improved tiles to switch citizens to hammer tiles while building infrastructure, and back to cottages or specialists the rest of the time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During this age, your science cities should be slowly building banks after they've finished their Universities, so you'll be able to build Wall-Street as soon as possible. Needless to say, you probably won't have to build any unnecessary Universities in your wealth cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Liberalism comes Free Speech, and with Democracy comes Emancipation, so it's time to start prepping your Wall-Street and Oxford University cities for the post-Caste System era. Start building cottages until one-turn from completion over your farms, and do the same with windmills over any mines. Once another Empire switches to Emancipation, it's time to do likewise, before unhappiness cripples your Empire. Switch as many farms to cottages as possible, and mines as windmills, until your city is growing while still running seven specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Caste System no longer viable, you're going to get some beakers in your wealth cities, so it's time to build some libraries and observatories in your wealth cities. If you've been expanding aggressively, you might want to build some grocers in your science cities as well, since your science slider might have to drop below 100%. Fortunately, you already built all those banks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also the Era of the Corporation, and you've been producing a lot of Great Merchants, so you should save one to found one of the Food Corporations in your Wall Street city. Spread it to your Oxford University, your production cities, and your capital. If you're lucky, you've saved a Great Engineer to found Mining Inc. in Wall Street, which you can then spread to your production cities and capital as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You haven't won yet? Then what are you waiting for? Build whatever you need to reach whatever victory condition you've been aiming for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Issues[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Unlike a Specialist Economy, which relies on Great Scientists to suppliment your beaker production, or a Cottage Economy, which uses this National Wonder to create a GP farm, you get to decide which Great People you want the most of. If you want a lot of Great Merchants, build it in your future Wall Street city. If you want a lot of Great Scientists, build it in your future Oxford University city. Maybe you'd like a lot of Great Spies late in the game, so hold onto it until your Espionage city is up and running, or Ironworks to get some Great Engineers to found Mining Inc. and rush some late-game wonders. Or pair it with National Park and get a super GP farm up and running. The choice is yours![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Caste System -&gt; Emancipation Switch[\BOLD][NEWLINE]If your game runs long enough, sooner or later you’ll have to switch out of Caste System and start running Emancipation simply to deal with all the happiness caused by other Empires running that civic. In a Specialist Economy, this causes your research to crash, because there are no mature cottages to take up the slack for all those out of work scientists. It takes 35 turns (normal, Emancipation) to mature a cottage into a town, and since you’ve been relying on cottages to produce most of your gold, you probably won’t be able to run your science slider at anything over 60% until they’re fully mature. That means 35 turns before your economy recovers back to its pre-Caste System state... and those cottages need to be built first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since a hybrid economy means you’re getting most of your science from mature towns anyways, this switch doesn’t cause your research to crash. Only two cities are primarily affected: Your Wall Street City, and your Oxford City. These are the only two cities that need to be cottaged, which can be done very quickly if you prebuilt them before the switch. Furthermore, since your science slider is set at 90-100%, your Oxford city recovers after only fifteen turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Care and Feeding of your Wall Street and Oxford Cities[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two cities are your primary Great People producers throughout the game. So the name of the game is to run as many specialists as possible, for as many turns as possible, while working as few tiles as possible. Because these are the cities most similar to a Specialist Economy’s normal city, they also require the most micromanagement in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Wall Street City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early game, this city is quite simple. You want to build this city in an area that can produce a lot of food early, which means a lot of food resources and hopefully a lot of rivers or flood plains. Having a shrine in this city is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary. An enemy’s capital that holds the shrine to Buddhism or Hinduism is ideal, allowing [BOLD]you[\BOLD] to cottage your capital to take advantage of Bureaucracy’s bonuses later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Focus on building farms to support more merchants later, and build or whip the necessary infrastructure, including granaries and courthouses. Build some mines or workshops so you can build more infrastructure later. Settle any Great Merchants that emerge from this city back into the city. They’ll help keep your tech rate at 100% [BOLD]plus[\BOLD] produce extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the Middle Ages, with the switch to Caste System, you’re going to want to keep an eye on this city. You want to grow the city as large as the happiness cap allows, while running as many merchant specialists as possible. When you get more happiness, send a few your merchants into the fields to grow the population. There are also two important buildings that will need to be built: a grocer and a bank. Immediately when grocers become available, set all those merchants to work in the mines and the workshops to build those buildings ASAP. Repeat this procedure with the bank. Don’t be afraid to starve your citizens a little in order to do so, you can always produce more food later. Plus they’re getting fat from laying around and counting money. Great Merchants still get settled back into the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Renaissance signals the approach of the end of the Caste System Era. Sooner or later, you’ll have to make the switch to Emancipation, so it’s time to start pre-building some cottages. Don’t complete them, simply build them until one turn from completion. It’ll save time later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age will likely see the end of Caste System. It also signals the approach of Corporations and Biology, so it’s time to consider the Switch. After the Emancipation Switch, your city needs, at most, a population of 27, so it’s time to consider slowing or halting its growth. During this age, you’ll stop settling Great Merchants in this city. You need one to found one of the food corporations, after all. Check how many turns it is until the next Great Merchant (don’t forget to check your Oxford city… it may produce a Great Scientist before Wall Street does) and compare it to how many turns it’ll take to get the tech for your chosen Food Corporation. If one will emerge before you research the tech, then settle that Great Merchant. Otherwise, save it to found the corporation. After that, send those Great Merchants on Trade Missions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age also gives you levees, so if you placed your Wall Street city in an area with a lot of rivers (which seems likely), then you might want to send a few of those farmers to the mines and workshops to build them whenever you need to stunt your growth due to the happiness cap. The Industrial Age is also when you give your Wall Street city [BOLD]finally[\BOLD] lives up to its name, and you build Wall Street. Building Levees will help you with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Hopefully, Wall Street will be complete [BOLD]before[\BOLD] you have to switch to Emancipation. But after the switch, you’ll need to cottage as many farms as possible until you’re running food neutral while running seven merchants. With the extra hammers, you can start building science infrastructure. When you found a Food Corporation in this city, you’ll be able to cottage even more farms. Build about four so you can spread the Corporation to your Oxford city, your production cities, and your capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you make it this far, the modern age is pretty much the same as a Cottage Economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Oxford University City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The same strategy used with the Wall Street city works well with the Oxford University City... only you build science infrastructure buildings rather than wealth infrastructure. The main difference with this city is what you do with the Great Scientists the city produces. Settling a Great Scientist in Oxford rarely produces as much a benefit as building an academy in one of your science city, or rushing a tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, unlike Wall Street, Oxford usually doesn’t need wealth infrastructure late in the game... though building a bank in the city makes sense, since you need a few of them to build Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edited to expand upon the idea behind Oxford and Wall Street, especially post Caste System.[\BOLD]</French>
		<German>[H1]The Hybrid Economy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Darkfyre99[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overview[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hybrid Economy is a type of economy that combines the best elements of the Specialist Economy and the Cottage Economy, while minimizing the disadvantages of both types of economies. This article assumes use of the Beyond the Sword expansion, but it should be easily adapted to both Warlords and Vanilla Civilization IV. Like a Specialist Economy, a Hybrid Economy's cities are highly specialised. Like a Cottage Economy, a Hybrid Economy relies on cottages as it's primary source of beakers. Unlike either a Cottage or Specialist economy, the goal of a Hybrid Economy is to keep the science slider at 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Characteristics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attributes[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most common improvements: farms and cottages[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]beaker source: primarily commerce, some specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]espionage source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]optimal slider position: 100% science[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best civics: Representation, Free Speech, Caste System[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best traits: Financial, Philosophical[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Advantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of city specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]no economic crash with switch to Emancipation[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high GPP production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]not as much micromanaging as a Specialist Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of predictability in Great People produced[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disadvantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]using the culture for happiness causes research to slow down, but not as much as a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]more micromanaging than a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]unable to use Slavery Civic after Caste System to boost production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Cities in a Hybrid Economy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities in a Hybrid Economy are heavily specialized, just as in a Specialist Economy. Few buildings are constructed beyond the necessary ones, allowing the greatest number of specialists or cottages to be worked for the longest period of time. The city types are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Capital[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city tends to become a "Jack 0f All Trades" city, usually having ample commerce as well as production, additional happiness, which often makes Bureaucracy attractive mid-game. Of course, if you start with Mysticism and you have a lot of extra food in your capital, you might want to consider founding an early religion, making it your Wall Street city, and running some other legal civic instead. Or moving your Palace to better location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Production Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Production Cities produce your military and construct most of the wonders your empire needs. Most empires need only two or three. Improvements are mines and other hammer producers, plus the necessary farms to support the citizens to work the hammer tiles. Buildings are, naturally, hammer multipliers. National Wonders are Heroic Epic, West Point, and Ironworks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wealth Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wealth cities produce the gold necessary to pay for costs of your empire, whether it is maintenance for your cities, civics upkeep, or pay for your military. Small empires only need one. Improvements are farms to support merchants. Buildings are, naturally, gold multipliers. The city with the highest food output gets Wall-Street. Ideally, this should also be a Shrine city. These cities produce a lot of Great Merchants, which should be settled in the Wall-Street city so you can keep that science slider at 100% for most of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Science Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Science cities produce the beakers your empire needs to research new technologies. These cities make up the majority of your empire. Improvements are cottages and other commerce producers. Buildings are, naturally, beaker multipliers. The city with the second highest food production will eventually get Oxford University, and gets farms to support scientist specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Espionage cities produce the espionage points your empire needs to conduct espionage missions, both active and passive. You really only need one in your empire. Improvements are farms to support spy specialists. Buildings are, naturally, espionage buildings. Due to the lateness of most espionage buildings, this is a good candidate for a late game forested tundra/National Park city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy by Age[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The classical age is when you'll be getting your core cities established. By the end of this era, your HE city will be churning out units, your future Wall-Street city will be churning out gold and Great Merchants, and the rest of your cities will producing beakers, primarily through cottages. Civics would be slavery and organized religion, and Hereditary Rule, or perhaps Representation if you snagged the Pyramids. Hopefully, you'll be able to snag The Great Library in your future Oxford University city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Middle Ages[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Congratulations, you've just made the switch to Caste System. Get used to it, because you'll be sticking with it for a while. By now, you'll have enough improved tiles to switch citizens to hammer tiles while building infrastructure, and back to cottages or specialists the rest of the time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During this age, your science cities should be slowly building banks after they've finished their Universities, so you'll be able to build Wall-Street as soon as possible. Needless to say, you probably won't have to build any unnecessary Universities in your wealth cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Liberalism comes Free Speech, and with Democracy comes Emancipation, so it's time to start prepping your Wall-Street and Oxford University cities for the post-Caste System era. Start building cottages until one-turn from completion over your farms, and do the same with windmills over any mines. Once another Empire switches to Emancipation, it's time to do likewise, before unhappiness cripples your Empire. Switch as many farms to cottages as possible, and mines as windmills, until your city is growing while still running seven specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Caste System no longer viable, you're going to get some beakers in your wealth cities, so it's time to build some libraries and observatories in your wealth cities. If you've been expanding aggressively, you might want to build some grocers in your science cities as well, since your science slider might have to drop below 100%. Fortunately, you already built all those banks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also the Era of the Corporation, and you've been producing a lot of Great Merchants, so you should save one to found one of the Food Corporations in your Wall Street city. Spread it to your Oxford University, your production cities, and your capital. If you're lucky, you've saved a Great Engineer to found Mining Inc. in Wall Street, which you can then spread to your production cities and capital as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You haven't won yet? Then what are you waiting for? Build whatever you need to reach whatever victory condition you've been aiming for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Issues[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Unlike a Specialist Economy, which relies on Great Scientists to suppliment your beaker production, or a Cottage Economy, which uses this National Wonder to create a GP farm, you get to decide which Great People you want the most of. If you want a lot of Great Merchants, build it in your future Wall Street city. If you want a lot of Great Scientists, build it in your future Oxford University city. Maybe you'd like a lot of Great Spies late in the game, so hold onto it until your Espionage city is up and running, or Ironworks to get some Great Engineers to found Mining Inc. and rush some late-game wonders. Or pair it with National Park and get a super GP farm up and running. The choice is yours![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Caste System -&gt; Emancipation Switch[\BOLD][NEWLINE]If your game runs long enough, sooner or later you’ll have to switch out of Caste System and start running Emancipation simply to deal with all the happiness caused by other Empires running that civic. In a Specialist Economy, this causes your research to crash, because there are no mature cottages to take up the slack for all those out of work scientists. It takes 35 turns (normal, Emancipation) to mature a cottage into a town, and since you’ve been relying on cottages to produce most of your gold, you probably won’t be able to run your science slider at anything over 60% until they’re fully mature. That means 35 turns before your economy recovers back to its pre-Caste System state... and those cottages need to be built first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since a hybrid economy means you’re getting most of your science from mature towns anyways, this switch doesn’t cause your research to crash. Only two cities are primarily affected: Your Wall Street City, and your Oxford City. These are the only two cities that need to be cottaged, which can be done very quickly if you prebuilt them before the switch. Furthermore, since your science slider is set at 90-100%, your Oxford city recovers after only fifteen turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Care and Feeding of your Wall Street and Oxford Cities[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two cities are your primary Great People producers throughout the game. So the name of the game is to run as many specialists as possible, for as many turns as possible, while working as few tiles as possible. Because these are the cities most similar to a Specialist Economy’s normal city, they also require the most micromanagement in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Wall Street City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early game, this city is quite simple. You want to build this city in an area that can produce a lot of food early, which means a lot of food resources and hopefully a lot of rivers or flood plains. Having a shrine in this city is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary. An enemy’s capital that holds the shrine to Buddhism or Hinduism is ideal, allowing [BOLD]you[\BOLD] to cottage your capital to take advantage of Bureaucracy’s bonuses later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Focus on building farms to support more merchants later, and build or whip the necessary infrastructure, including granaries and courthouses. Build some mines or workshops so you can build more infrastructure later. Settle any Great Merchants that emerge from this city back into the city. They’ll help keep your tech rate at 100% [BOLD]plus[\BOLD] produce extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the Middle Ages, with the switch to Caste System, you’re going to want to keep an eye on this city. You want to grow the city as large as the happiness cap allows, while running as many merchant specialists as possible. When you get more happiness, send a few your merchants into the fields to grow the population. There are also two important buildings that will need to be built: a grocer and a bank. Immediately when grocers become available, set all those merchants to work in the mines and the workshops to build those buildings ASAP. Repeat this procedure with the bank. Don’t be afraid to starve your citizens a little in order to do so, you can always produce more food later. Plus they’re getting fat from laying around and counting money. Great Merchants still get settled back into the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Renaissance signals the approach of the end of the Caste System Era. Sooner or later, you’ll have to make the switch to Emancipation, so it’s time to start pre-building some cottages. Don’t complete them, simply build them until one turn from completion. It’ll save time later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age will likely see the end of Caste System. It also signals the approach of Corporations and Biology, so it’s time to consider the Switch. After the Emancipation Switch, your city needs, at most, a population of 27, so it’s time to consider slowing or halting its growth. During this age, you’ll stop settling Great Merchants in this city. You need one to found one of the food corporations, after all. Check how many turns it is until the next Great Merchant (don’t forget to check your Oxford city… it may produce a Great Scientist before Wall Street does) and compare it to how many turns it’ll take to get the tech for your chosen Food Corporation. If one will emerge before you research the tech, then settle that Great Merchant. Otherwise, save it to found the corporation. After that, send those Great Merchants on Trade Missions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age also gives you levees, so if you placed your Wall Street city in an area with a lot of rivers (which seems likely), then you might want to send a few of those farmers to the mines and workshops to build them whenever you need to stunt your growth due to the happiness cap. The Industrial Age is also when you give your Wall Street city [BOLD]finally[\BOLD] lives up to its name, and you build Wall Street. Building Levees will help you with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Hopefully, Wall Street will be complete [BOLD]before[\BOLD] you have to switch to Emancipation. But after the switch, you’ll need to cottage as many farms as possible until you’re running food neutral while running seven merchants. With the extra hammers, you can start building science infrastructure. When you found a Food Corporation in this city, you’ll be able to cottage even more farms. Build about four so you can spread the Corporation to your Oxford city, your production cities, and your capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you make it this far, the modern age is pretty much the same as a Cottage Economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Oxford University City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The same strategy used with the Wall Street city works well with the Oxford University City... only you build science infrastructure buildings rather than wealth infrastructure. The main difference with this city is what you do with the Great Scientists the city produces. Settling a Great Scientist in Oxford rarely produces as much a benefit as building an academy in one of your science city, or rushing a tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, unlike Wall Street, Oxford usually doesn’t need wealth infrastructure late in the game... though building a bank in the city makes sense, since you need a few of them to build Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edited to expand upon the idea behind Oxford and Wall Street, especially post Caste System.[\BOLD]</German>
		<Italian>[H1]The Hybrid Economy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Darkfyre99[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overview[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hybrid Economy is a type of economy that combines the best elements of the Specialist Economy and the Cottage Economy, while minimizing the disadvantages of both types of economies. This article assumes use of the Beyond the Sword expansion, but it should be easily adapted to both Warlords and Vanilla Civilization IV. Like a Specialist Economy, a Hybrid Economy's cities are highly specialised. Like a Cottage Economy, a Hybrid Economy relies on cottages as it's primary source of beakers. Unlike either a Cottage or Specialist economy, the goal of a Hybrid Economy is to keep the science slider at 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Characteristics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attributes[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most common improvements: farms and cottages[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]beaker source: primarily commerce, some specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]espionage source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]optimal slider position: 100% science[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best civics: Representation, Free Speech, Caste System[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best traits: Financial, Philosophical[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Advantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of city specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]no economic crash with switch to Emancipation[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high GPP production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]not as much micromanaging as a Specialist Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of predictability in Great People produced[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disadvantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]using the culture for happiness causes research to slow down, but not as much as a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]more micromanaging than a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]unable to use Slavery Civic after Caste System to boost production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Cities in a Hybrid Economy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities in a Hybrid Economy are heavily specialized, just as in a Specialist Economy. Few buildings are constructed beyond the necessary ones, allowing the greatest number of specialists or cottages to be worked for the longest period of time. The city types are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Capital[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city tends to become a "Jack 0f All Trades" city, usually having ample commerce as well as production, additional happiness, which often makes Bureaucracy attractive mid-game. Of course, if you start with Mysticism and you have a lot of extra food in your capital, you might want to consider founding an early religion, making it your Wall Street city, and running some other legal civic instead. Or moving your Palace to better location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Production Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Production Cities produce your military and construct most of the wonders your empire needs. Most empires need only two or three. Improvements are mines and other hammer producers, plus the necessary farms to support the citizens to work the hammer tiles. Buildings are, naturally, hammer multipliers. National Wonders are Heroic Epic, West Point, and Ironworks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wealth Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wealth cities produce the gold necessary to pay for costs of your empire, whether it is maintenance for your cities, civics upkeep, or pay for your military. Small empires only need one. Improvements are farms to support merchants. Buildings are, naturally, gold multipliers. The city with the highest food output gets Wall-Street. Ideally, this should also be a Shrine city. These cities produce a lot of Great Merchants, which should be settled in the Wall-Street city so you can keep that science slider at 100% for most of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Science Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Science cities produce the beakers your empire needs to research new technologies. These cities make up the majority of your empire. Improvements are cottages and other commerce producers. Buildings are, naturally, beaker multipliers. The city with the second highest food production will eventually get Oxford University, and gets farms to support scientist specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Espionage cities produce the espionage points your empire needs to conduct espionage missions, both active and passive. You really only need one in your empire. Improvements are farms to support spy specialists. Buildings are, naturally, espionage buildings. Due to the lateness of most espionage buildings, this is a good candidate for a late game forested tundra/National Park city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy by Age[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The classical age is when you'll be getting your core cities established. By the end of this era, your HE city will be churning out units, your future Wall-Street city will be churning out gold and Great Merchants, and the rest of your cities will producing beakers, primarily through cottages. Civics would be slavery and organized religion, and Hereditary Rule, or perhaps Representation if you snagged the Pyramids. Hopefully, you'll be able to snag The Great Library in your future Oxford University city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Middle Ages[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Congratulations, you've just made the switch to Caste System. Get used to it, because you'll be sticking with it for a while. By now, you'll have enough improved tiles to switch citizens to hammer tiles while building infrastructure, and back to cottages or specialists the rest of the time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During this age, your science cities should be slowly building banks after they've finished their Universities, so you'll be able to build Wall-Street as soon as possible. Needless to say, you probably won't have to build any unnecessary Universities in your wealth cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Liberalism comes Free Speech, and with Democracy comes Emancipation, so it's time to start prepping your Wall-Street and Oxford University cities for the post-Caste System era. Start building cottages until one-turn from completion over your farms, and do the same with windmills over any mines. Once another Empire switches to Emancipation, it's time to do likewise, before unhappiness cripples your Empire. Switch as many farms to cottages as possible, and mines as windmills, until your city is growing while still running seven specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Caste System no longer viable, you're going to get some beakers in your wealth cities, so it's time to build some libraries and observatories in your wealth cities. If you've been expanding aggressively, you might want to build some grocers in your science cities as well, since your science slider might have to drop below 100%. Fortunately, you already built all those banks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also the Era of the Corporation, and you've been producing a lot of Great Merchants, so you should save one to found one of the Food Corporations in your Wall Street city. Spread it to your Oxford University, your production cities, and your capital. If you're lucky, you've saved a Great Engineer to found Mining Inc. in Wall Street, which you can then spread to your production cities and capital as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You haven't won yet? Then what are you waiting for? Build whatever you need to reach whatever victory condition you've been aiming for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Issues[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Unlike a Specialist Economy, which relies on Great Scientists to suppliment your beaker production, or a Cottage Economy, which uses this National Wonder to create a GP farm, you get to decide which Great People you want the most of. If you want a lot of Great Merchants, build it in your future Wall Street city. If you want a lot of Great Scientists, build it in your future Oxford University city. Maybe you'd like a lot of Great Spies late in the game, so hold onto it until your Espionage city is up and running, or Ironworks to get some Great Engineers to found Mining Inc. and rush some late-game wonders. Or pair it with National Park and get a super GP farm up and running. The choice is yours![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Caste System -&gt; Emancipation Switch[\BOLD][NEWLINE]If your game runs long enough, sooner or later you’ll have to switch out of Caste System and start running Emancipation simply to deal with all the happiness caused by other Empires running that civic. In a Specialist Economy, this causes your research to crash, because there are no mature cottages to take up the slack for all those out of work scientists. It takes 35 turns (normal, Emancipation) to mature a cottage into a town, and since you’ve been relying on cottages to produce most of your gold, you probably won’t be able to run your science slider at anything over 60% until they’re fully mature. That means 35 turns before your economy recovers back to its pre-Caste System state... and those cottages need to be built first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since a hybrid economy means you’re getting most of your science from mature towns anyways, this switch doesn’t cause your research to crash. Only two cities are primarily affected: Your Wall Street City, and your Oxford City. These are the only two cities that need to be cottaged, which can be done very quickly if you prebuilt them before the switch. Furthermore, since your science slider is set at 90-100%, your Oxford city recovers after only fifteen turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Care and Feeding of your Wall Street and Oxford Cities[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two cities are your primary Great People producers throughout the game. So the name of the game is to run as many specialists as possible, for as many turns as possible, while working as few tiles as possible. Because these are the cities most similar to a Specialist Economy’s normal city, they also require the most micromanagement in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Wall Street City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early game, this city is quite simple. You want to build this city in an area that can produce a lot of food early, which means a lot of food resources and hopefully a lot of rivers or flood plains. Having a shrine in this city is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary. An enemy’s capital that holds the shrine to Buddhism or Hinduism is ideal, allowing [BOLD]you[\BOLD] to cottage your capital to take advantage of Bureaucracy’s bonuses later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Focus on building farms to support more merchants later, and build or whip the necessary infrastructure, including granaries and courthouses. Build some mines or workshops so you can build more infrastructure later. Settle any Great Merchants that emerge from this city back into the city. They’ll help keep your tech rate at 100% [BOLD]plus[\BOLD] produce extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the Middle Ages, with the switch to Caste System, you’re going to want to keep an eye on this city. You want to grow the city as large as the happiness cap allows, while running as many merchant specialists as possible. When you get more happiness, send a few your merchants into the fields to grow the population. There are also two important buildings that will need to be built: a grocer and a bank. Immediately when grocers become available, set all those merchants to work in the mines and the workshops to build those buildings ASAP. Repeat this procedure with the bank. Don’t be afraid to starve your citizens a little in order to do so, you can always produce more food later. Plus they’re getting fat from laying around and counting money. Great Merchants still get settled back into the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Renaissance signals the approach of the end of the Caste System Era. Sooner or later, you’ll have to make the switch to Emancipation, so it’s time to start pre-building some cottages. Don’t complete them, simply build them until one turn from completion. It’ll save time later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age will likely see the end of Caste System. It also signals the approach of Corporations and Biology, so it’s time to consider the Switch. After the Emancipation Switch, your city needs, at most, a population of 27, so it’s time to consider slowing or halting its growth. During this age, you’ll stop settling Great Merchants in this city. You need one to found one of the food corporations, after all. Check how many turns it is until the next Great Merchant (don’t forget to check your Oxford city… it may produce a Great Scientist before Wall Street does) and compare it to how many turns it’ll take to get the tech for your chosen Food Corporation. If one will emerge before you research the tech, then settle that Great Merchant. Otherwise, save it to found the corporation. After that, send those Great Merchants on Trade Missions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age also gives you levees, so if you placed your Wall Street city in an area with a lot of rivers (which seems likely), then you might want to send a few of those farmers to the mines and workshops to build them whenever you need to stunt your growth due to the happiness cap. The Industrial Age is also when you give your Wall Street city [BOLD]finally[\BOLD] lives up to its name, and you build Wall Street. Building Levees will help you with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Hopefully, Wall Street will be complete [BOLD]before[\BOLD] you have to switch to Emancipation. But after the switch, you’ll need to cottage as many farms as possible until you’re running food neutral while running seven merchants. With the extra hammers, you can start building science infrastructure. When you found a Food Corporation in this city, you’ll be able to cottage even more farms. Build about four so you can spread the Corporation to your Oxford city, your production cities, and your capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you make it this far, the modern age is pretty much the same as a Cottage Economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Oxford University City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The same strategy used with the Wall Street city works well with the Oxford University City... only you build science infrastructure buildings rather than wealth infrastructure. The main difference with this city is what you do with the Great Scientists the city produces. Settling a Great Scientist in Oxford rarely produces as much a benefit as building an academy in one of your science city, or rushing a tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, unlike Wall Street, Oxford usually doesn’t need wealth infrastructure late in the game... though building a bank in the city makes sense, since you need a few of them to build Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edited to expand upon the idea behind Oxford and Wall Street, especially post Caste System.[\BOLD]</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]The Hybrid Economy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Darkfyre99[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overview[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hybrid Economy is a type of economy that combines the best elements of the Specialist Economy and the Cottage Economy, while minimizing the disadvantages of both types of economies. This article assumes use of the Beyond the Sword expansion, but it should be easily adapted to both Warlords and Vanilla Civilization IV. Like a Specialist Economy, a Hybrid Economy's cities are highly specialised. Like a Cottage Economy, a Hybrid Economy relies on cottages as it's primary source of beakers. Unlike either a Cottage or Specialist economy, the goal of a Hybrid Economy is to keep the science slider at 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Characteristics[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attributes[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most common improvements: farms and cottages[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]beaker source: primarily commerce, some specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]espionage source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold source: specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]optimal slider position: 100% science[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best civics: Representation, Free Speech, Caste System[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]best traits: Financial, Philosophical[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Advantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of city specialization[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]no economic crash with switch to Emancipation[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high GPP production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]not as much micromanaging as a Specialist Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]high degree of predictability in Great People produced[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Disadvantages[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]using the culture for happiness causes research to slow down, but not as much as a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]more micromanaging than a Cottage Economy[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]unable to use Slavery Civic after Caste System to boost production[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Cities in a Hybrid Economy[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities in a Hybrid Economy are heavily specialized, just as in a Specialist Economy. Few buildings are constructed beyond the necessary ones, allowing the greatest number of specialists or cottages to be worked for the longest period of time. The city types are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Capital[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city tends to become a "Jack 0f All Trades" city, usually having ample commerce as well as production, additional happiness, which often makes Bureaucracy attractive mid-game. Of course, if you start with Mysticism and you have a lot of extra food in your capital, you might want to consider founding an early religion, making it your Wall Street city, and running some other legal civic instead. Or moving your Palace to better location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Production Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Production Cities produce your military and construct most of the wonders your empire needs. Most empires need only two or three. Improvements are mines and other hammer producers, plus the necessary farms to support the citizens to work the hammer tiles. Buildings are, naturally, hammer multipliers. National Wonders are Heroic Epic, West Point, and Ironworks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wealth Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Wealth cities produce the gold necessary to pay for costs of your empire, whether it is maintenance for your cities, civics upkeep, or pay for your military. Small empires only need one. Improvements are farms to support merchants. Buildings are, naturally, gold multipliers. The city with the highest food output gets Wall-Street. Ideally, this should also be a Shrine city. These cities produce a lot of Great Merchants, which should be settled in the Wall-Street city so you can keep that science slider at 100% for most of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Science Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Science cities produce the beakers your empire needs to research new technologies. These cities make up the majority of your empire. Improvements are cottages and other commerce producers. Buildings are, naturally, beaker multipliers. The city with the second highest food production will eventually get Oxford University, and gets farms to support scientist specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage Cities[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Espionage cities produce the espionage points your empire needs to conduct espionage missions, both active and passive. You really only need one in your empire. Improvements are farms to support spy specialists. Buildings are, naturally, espionage buildings. Due to the lateness of most espionage buildings, this is a good candidate for a late game forested tundra/National Park city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategy by Age[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The classical age is when you'll be getting your core cities established. By the end of this era, your HE city will be churning out units, your future Wall-Street city will be churning out gold and Great Merchants, and the rest of your cities will producing beakers, primarily through cottages. Civics would be slavery and organized religion, and Hereditary Rule, or perhaps Representation if you snagged the Pyramids. Hopefully, you'll be able to snag The Great Library in your future Oxford University city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Middle Ages[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Congratulations, you've just made the switch to Caste System. Get used to it, because you'll be sticking with it for a while. By now, you'll have enough improved tiles to switch citizens to hammer tiles while building infrastructure, and back to cottages or specialists the rest of the time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During this age, your science cities should be slowly building banks after they've finished their Universities, so you'll be able to build Wall-Street as soon as possible. Needless to say, you probably won't have to build any unnecessary Universities in your wealth cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Liberalism comes Free Speech, and with Democracy comes Emancipation, so it's time to start prepping your Wall-Street and Oxford University cities for the post-Caste System era. Start building cottages until one-turn from completion over your farms, and do the same with windmills over any mines. Once another Empire switches to Emancipation, it's time to do likewise, before unhappiness cripples your Empire. Switch as many farms to cottages as possible, and mines as windmills, until your city is growing while still running seven specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]With Caste System no longer viable, you're going to get some beakers in your wealth cities, so it's time to build some libraries and observatories in your wealth cities. If you've been expanding aggressively, you might want to build some grocers in your science cities as well, since your science slider might have to drop below 100%. Fortunately, you already built all those banks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also the Era of the Corporation, and you've been producing a lot of Great Merchants, so you should save one to found one of the Food Corporations in your Wall Street city. Spread it to your Oxford University, your production cities, and your capital. If you're lucky, you've saved a Great Engineer to found Mining Inc. in Wall Street, which you can then spread to your production cities and capital as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You haven't won yet? Then what are you waiting for? Build whatever you need to reach whatever victory condition you've been aiming for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Issues[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The National Epic[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Unlike a Specialist Economy, which relies on Great Scientists to suppliment your beaker production, or a Cottage Economy, which uses this National Wonder to create a GP farm, you get to decide which Great People you want the most of. If you want a lot of Great Merchants, build it in your future Wall Street city. If you want a lot of Great Scientists, build it in your future Oxford University city. Maybe you'd like a lot of Great Spies late in the game, so hold onto it until your Espionage city is up and running, or Ironworks to get some Great Engineers to found Mining Inc. and rush some late-game wonders. Or pair it with National Park and get a super GP farm up and running. The choice is yours![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Caste System -&gt; Emancipation Switch[\BOLD][NEWLINE]If your game runs long enough, sooner or later you’ll have to switch out of Caste System and start running Emancipation simply to deal with all the happiness caused by other Empires running that civic. In a Specialist Economy, this causes your research to crash, because there are no mature cottages to take up the slack for all those out of work scientists. It takes 35 turns (normal, Emancipation) to mature a cottage into a town, and since you’ve been relying on cottages to produce most of your gold, you probably won’t be able to run your science slider at anything over 60% until they’re fully mature. That means 35 turns before your economy recovers back to its pre-Caste System state... and those cottages need to be built first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since a hybrid economy means you’re getting most of your science from mature towns anyways, this switch doesn’t cause your research to crash. Only two cities are primarily affected: Your Wall Street City, and your Oxford City. These are the only two cities that need to be cottaged, which can be done very quickly if you prebuilt them before the switch. Furthermore, since your science slider is set at 90-100%, your Oxford city recovers after only fifteen turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Care and Feeding of your Wall Street and Oxford Cities[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These two cities are your primary Great People producers throughout the game. So the name of the game is to run as many specialists as possible, for as many turns as possible, while working as few tiles as possible. Because these are the cities most similar to a Specialist Economy’s normal city, they also require the most micromanagement in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Wall Street City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Early game, this city is quite simple. You want to build this city in an area that can produce a lot of food early, which means a lot of food resources and hopefully a lot of rivers or flood plains. Having a shrine in this city is a bonus, but not absolutely necessary. An enemy’s capital that holds the shrine to Buddhism or Hinduism is ideal, allowing [BOLD]you[\BOLD] to cottage your capital to take advantage of Bureaucracy’s bonuses later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Focus on building farms to support more merchants later, and build or whip the necessary infrastructure, including granaries and courthouses. Build some mines or workshops so you can build more infrastructure later. Settle any Great Merchants that emerge from this city back into the city. They’ll help keep your tech rate at 100% [BOLD]plus[\BOLD] produce extra food.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]During the Middle Ages, with the switch to Caste System, you’re going to want to keep an eye on this city. You want to grow the city as large as the happiness cap allows, while running as many merchant specialists as possible. When you get more happiness, send a few your merchants into the fields to grow the population. There are also two important buildings that will need to be built: a grocer and a bank. Immediately when grocers become available, set all those merchants to work in the mines and the workshops to build those buildings ASAP. Repeat this procedure with the bank. Don’t be afraid to starve your citizens a little in order to do so, you can always produce more food later. Plus they’re getting fat from laying around and counting money. Great Merchants still get settled back into the city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Renaissance signals the approach of the end of the Caste System Era. Sooner or later, you’ll have to make the switch to Emancipation, so it’s time to start pre-building some cottages. Don’t complete them, simply build them until one turn from completion. It’ll save time later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age will likely see the end of Caste System. It also signals the approach of Corporations and Biology, so it’s time to consider the Switch. After the Emancipation Switch, your city needs, at most, a population of 27, so it’s time to consider slowing or halting its growth. During this age, you’ll stop settling Great Merchants in this city. You need one to found one of the food corporations, after all. Check how many turns it is until the next Great Merchant (don’t forget to check your Oxford city… it may produce a Great Scientist before Wall Street does) and compare it to how many turns it’ll take to get the tech for your chosen Food Corporation. If one will emerge before you research the tech, then settle that Great Merchant. Otherwise, save it to found the corporation. After that, send those Great Merchants on Trade Missions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Industrial Age also gives you levees, so if you placed your Wall Street city in an area with a lot of rivers (which seems likely), then you might want to send a few of those farmers to the mines and workshops to build them whenever you need to stunt your growth due to the happiness cap. The Industrial Age is also when you give your Wall Street city [BOLD]finally[\BOLD] lives up to its name, and you build Wall Street. Building Levees will help you with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Hopefully, Wall Street will be complete [BOLD]before[\BOLD] you have to switch to Emancipation. But after the switch, you’ll need to cottage as many farms as possible until you’re running food neutral while running seven merchants. With the extra hammers, you can start building science infrastructure. When you found a Food Corporation in this city, you’ll be able to cottage even more farms. Build about four so you can spread the Corporation to your Oxford city, your production cities, and your capital.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you make it this far, the modern age is pretty much the same as a Cottage Economy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Oxford University City[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The same strategy used with the Wall Street city works well with the Oxford University City... only you build science infrastructure buildings rather than wealth infrastructure. The main difference with this city is what you do with the Great Scientists the city produces. Settling a Great Scientist in Oxford rarely produces as much a benefit as building an academy in one of your science city, or rushing a tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, unlike Wall Street, Oxford usually doesn’t need wealth infrastructure late in the game... though building a bank in the city makes sense, since you need a few of them to build Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edited to expand upon the idea behind Oxford and Wall Street, especially post Caste System.[\BOLD]</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_SE_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]A Beginner's Guide to the Specialist Economy (SE)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]JackofClubs[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In just about every thread in which the topic is discussed, someone asks for a strategy guide to creating a Specialist Economy. Wodan gives some general principles (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077) but it is still not a step-by-step guide. I do not consider myself an expert, but in attempting to teach myself to master this important style of play, I took several notes from the various threads on the subject and combined them with my own experience. Adding a bit of polish to make them fit for public consumption, I submit them for comments by the true experts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that this thread is an attempt to tell the beginner HOW to run a Specialist Economy and therefore assumes that you actually want to try the SE for whatever reason. Maybe you think it is a good strategy, maybe you are bored with your current games and wish to try something new, maybe you think the SE sucks and are just a masochist. I don't care. Just keep the comments helpful and save tha advocacy for another thread.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The actual guide will be in the second post. Here are some other links that I found helpful in filling in the gaps and getting my thinking in order on the topic:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (This is where I got the basic outline for this guide as well as Average Tech Cost and Optimal Number of Science Cities data (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506). He makes an error in his calculations that he notes at the bottom of the first post, which I have corrected in this guide.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are lots more, but I can't remember all of them. A search for threads with "Spcialist Economy" in the title is a good place to start for more info.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: I should mention that I don't play the Warlords expansion so I have limited information on that. Anyone that can make suggestions on that score or on anything else I've left out, please feel free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Definition of Specialist Economy:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civilization in which the majority of research is funded by Scientist specialists supported by 1-2 farms or other high food resources. Since this approach tends to generate Great Scientists more quickly than other economies, another source of research is the lightbulb option.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Benefits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Optimized regrowth of population from slavery/drafting. (Note: this sacrifices research until regrowth is complete.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Less danger from pillaging since farms are much easier to rebuild than cottages which have matured to towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Independence from the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider increases flexibility to divert commerce directly to gold for upgrades or to Culture/Happiness if the [ICON_CULTURE]-Slider is used.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. More effective at higher difficulty levels (Emperor and above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Limitations[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. May require more micromanaging compared to Cottage Economy (CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Specialists require supporting food resources or farms. In cases where food resources or fresh water for farms are unavailable this may be a limitation on early city placement. After Civil Service this becomes less of a consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Specialists can only be assigned if certain buildings exist (e.g. Library enables two Scientists).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Caste System eliminates the restrictions for item 3, but conflicts with Slavery as well as other labor civics. This may later become critical if Emancipation is adopted by another civ, since the unhappiness generated by failing to adopt Emancipation can be a serious drain on productivity.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]General Tips and Advice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Prioritize food resources and farms in new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. New cities only need Granary, Library and possibly Courthouse. Any other buildings are secondary. (This doesn't apply to Production cities which will be the same as for CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. You may drop the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider to 0 when Alphabet has been researched and trade for any techs you do not yet know. This is to maximize cash for other purposes -- usually military upgrades or high maintenance costs due to conquests. However, it may be wise to keep the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider up at the maximum that is still generating a positive income for certain critical techs such as Literature and the Paper-Education-Library sequence (if there is no GS available for lightbulbing these).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Alternatively, if dropping the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider from 100% to 0% results in only a factor of 2 or 3 increase in the number of turns for your current tech, then it is about time to drop it. If it is much more than 3, you probably need to focus on getting more scientists up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Philosophy, Paper and Education are prerequisites for Liberalism and can be lightbulbed by a Great Scientist. Consider saving a GS or three for these techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pre-Game Considerations:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Leader Characteristics: Philosophical is generally considered to be very important (for the double Great Person Points (GPP) and also for the cheaper University). Industrious is a good second choice at lower difficulty levels, but note that you can’t be both. For a second trait, Spiritual is good for rapid civic shifts, Expansive is good for the health bonus, Creative for cheaper libraries (Warlords expansion), and Aggressive because of the general synergy between SE and warfare (See Benefits section above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]City Order: This guide assumes that the capital city will be used primarily for wealth production to take advantage of the Bureaucracy civic. No other city should generate wealth in a Specialist Economy, unless there is no way to farm it (which will be rare, especially post-Biology). I generally find it useful to make the second city a Production Facility and will not found the Super Science City (which also winds up being a GP Farm) until at least the 3rd city. At higher levels of difficulty, however, it may not be beneficial to build the Academy or settle scientists. This is due to the much faster tech rate of the AI and the need to use every scientist to lightbulb a tech. So the Super Science City may not be the way to go at these levels, but that discussion is more appropriate for Intermediate and Advanced guides.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will probably want at least one other high-production city by mid-game and others as necessary. Also don't get into the mindset that all cities need to be research oriented. The SE is a method of acquiring research in those cities dedicated to the task, but Civ IV is a game of balance and tradeoffs. This isn’t limited to the SE, but the lesson to bear in mind is not to sacrifice military preparedness for research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following Age-by-Age guidelines are offered as a preliminary base for experimentation. Obviously any of the recommendations made can be rebutted, but I prefer to err on the side of structure vs. flexibility, since too many options can be confusing to a novice. Once people have tried the recommended format, they will be in a position to decide for themselves what works for their style of game play.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have used the following principles in determining how many Great Scientists should be settled versus used to lightbulb technologies (based on futurehermit's analysis in (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)this thread): There are no settled GS listed in the Classical era because you are still setting up Libraries and the GP farm. The first spare GS is used for the Academy and each era gets another settled scientist. The exception is the Industrial Age, in which Scientific Method eliminates the two free scientists from the Great Library, so an additional parked scientist is added in that era. The objective is to sustain a rate of science with an average of 5 turns per tech. This requires either the addition of settled scientists or an increased number of cities with 2 or more specialists each.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that some people object to settling any scientist or building an Academy, preferring to use Great Scientists solely for lightbulbing techs. The rationale is that, although the former use produces more total research over time, lightbulbing produces the techs earlier which can be more important. I consider this to be more of an intermediate or advanced topic, but I note it here so that the beginner will be aware of the issue. Advocates for the lightbulb theory admit that the SE tends to falter after the late Renaissance or early Industrial eras (about the time Democracy and Scientific Method start eroding some of the SE-friendly benefits). My intention in this guide is to provide a long-term strategy for SE that is sustainable throughout even a long game. But I must also note that these advocates are also much more experienced than I so at least be aware of the controversy. Also, at higher difficulties the lightbulb method may be the only way to stay competitive, but -- again -- that is an intermediate or advance consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Masonry, Writing, Alphabet, Literature, (Polytheism, Meditation?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, (Monasteries?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 3 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Great Library, (Pyramid, Parthenon?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Pyramids is somewhat optional and many feel that the time spent on building this wonder can be better used to expand your empire. Likewise with the Parthenon. I recommend building these, but you may need to reconsider if stone or marble is not near the capital. The Great Library, however, is very important and is usually achievable but is much more valuable if you have access to Representation (from the Pyramids). I put a question mark by monasteries since they may not be possible to build if you didn’t found a religion. This period should be characterized by expansion more than research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Medieval Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Meditation, Code of Laws, Civil Service[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, Monasteries[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2+ (Library allows 2, Caste System allows indefinite)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 1 Settled GS[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Academy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: There is some debate as to whether Caste System is more beneficial than Slavery. I include the former since Slavery is not specific to the Specialist Economy but use your own judgment here. Make sure that you have at least 6 libraries by the end of this period. This figure includes extra cities to prepare for building Oxford in Renaissance which requires 6 universities (which, in turn, cannot be built in a city without a library).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Education, Liberalism, Astronomy, Banking[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: University, Observatory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 4 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 3+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 2 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Mercantilism is also controversial and is included here for similar reasons to Caste System noted above. The usual caveats apply. You need 6 Universities to build Oxford which will use the “extra” cities built in the Medieval period. Also, if you don’t have a reliable source of copper for the Statue of Liberty in the next era, this would be a good time to start thinking about capturing one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Democracy, Physics, Biology[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 5+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library???, Academy, 4 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Statue of Liberty is huge (unless you are on an Archipelago map) so make sure you get it. This is doubly important since you lose the Great Library about this time due to Scientific Method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Computers, (Fiber Optics?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Laboratory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 8 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 6+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Academy, 5 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: (Internet?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: This era is a bit less well researched since many SE games have been won by this point. I will update this if anyone has any further suggestions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Sample Games:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick ALC - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178995)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]LotR18 No Cottage Challenge - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145463)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Louis XIV - Monarch (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171597)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Isabella No Cottages - Emperor (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=175281)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Saladin No cottages - Immortal (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178607)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Acknowledgements:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The following threads/posts were invaluable in forming my early versions of this guide. The discussion thread for this guide can be found here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=197818[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wodan (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077)</English>
		<French>[H1]A Beginner's Guide to the Specialist Economy (SE)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]JackofClubs[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In just about every thread in which the topic is discussed, someone asks for a strategy guide to creating a Specialist Economy. Wodan gives some general principles (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077) but it is still not a step-by-step guide. I do not consider myself an expert, but in attempting to teach myself to master this important style of play, I took several notes from the various threads on the subject and combined them with my own experience. Adding a bit of polish to make them fit for public consumption, I submit them for comments by the true experts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that this thread is an attempt to tell the beginner HOW to run a Specialist Economy and therefore assumes that you actually want to try the SE for whatever reason. Maybe you think it is a good strategy, maybe you are bored with your current games and wish to try something new, maybe you think the SE sucks and are just a masochist. I don't care. Just keep the comments helpful and save tha advocacy for another thread.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The actual guide will be in the second post. Here are some other links that I found helpful in filling in the gaps and getting my thinking in order on the topic:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (This is where I got the basic outline for this guide as well as Average Tech Cost and Optimal Number of Science Cities data (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506). He makes an error in his calculations that he notes at the bottom of the first post, which I have corrected in this guide.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are lots more, but I can't remember all of them. A search for threads with "Spcialist Economy" in the title is a good place to start for more info.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: I should mention that I don't play the Warlords expansion so I have limited information on that. Anyone that can make suggestions on that score or on anything else I've left out, please feel free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Definition of Specialist Economy:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civilization in which the majority of research is funded by Scientist specialists supported by 1-2 farms or other high food resources. Since this approach tends to generate Great Scientists more quickly than other economies, another source of research is the lightbulb option.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Benefits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Optimized regrowth of population from slavery/drafting. (Note: this sacrifices research until regrowth is complete.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Less danger from pillaging since farms are much easier to rebuild than cottages which have matured to towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Independence from the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider increases flexibility to divert commerce directly to gold for upgrades or to Culture/Happiness if the [ICON_CULTURE]-Slider is used.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. More effective at higher difficulty levels (Emperor and above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Limitations[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. May require more micromanaging compared to Cottage Economy (CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Specialists require supporting food resources or farms. In cases where food resources or fresh water for farms are unavailable this may be a limitation on early city placement. After Civil Service this becomes less of a consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Specialists can only be assigned if certain buildings exist (e.g. Library enables two Scientists).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Caste System eliminates the restrictions for item 3, but conflicts with Slavery as well as other labor civics. This may later become critical if Emancipation is adopted by another civ, since the unhappiness generated by failing to adopt Emancipation can be a serious drain on productivity.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]General Tips and Advice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Prioritize food resources and farms in new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. New cities only need Granary, Library and possibly Courthouse. Any other buildings are secondary. (This doesn't apply to Production cities which will be the same as for CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. You may drop the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider to 0 when Alphabet has been researched and trade for any techs you do not yet know. This is to maximize cash for other purposes -- usually military upgrades or high maintenance costs due to conquests. However, it may be wise to keep the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider up at the maximum that is still generating a positive income for certain critical techs such as Literature and the Paper-Education-Library sequence (if there is no GS available for lightbulbing these).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Alternatively, if dropping the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider from 100% to 0% results in only a factor of 2 or 3 increase in the number of turns for your current tech, then it is about time to drop it. If it is much more than 3, you probably need to focus on getting more scientists up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Philosophy, Paper and Education are prerequisites for Liberalism and can be lightbulbed by a Great Scientist. Consider saving a GS or three for these techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pre-Game Considerations:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Leader Characteristics: Philosophical is generally considered to be very important (for the double Great Person Points (GPP) and also for the cheaper University). Industrious is a good second choice at lower difficulty levels, but note that you can’t be both. For a second trait, Spiritual is good for rapid civic shifts, Expansive is good for the health bonus, Creative for cheaper libraries (Warlords expansion), and Aggressive because of the general synergy between SE and warfare (See Benefits section above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]City Order: This guide assumes that the capital city will be used primarily for wealth production to take advantage of the Bureaucracy civic. No other city should generate wealth in a Specialist Economy, unless there is no way to farm it (which will be rare, especially post-Biology). I generally find it useful to make the second city a Production Facility and will not found the Super Science City (which also winds up being a GP Farm) until at least the 3rd city. At higher levels of difficulty, however, it may not be beneficial to build the Academy or settle scientists. This is due to the much faster tech rate of the AI and the need to use every scientist to lightbulb a tech. So the Super Science City may not be the way to go at these levels, but that discussion is more appropriate for Intermediate and Advanced guides.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will probably want at least one other high-production city by mid-game and others as necessary. Also don't get into the mindset that all cities need to be research oriented. The SE is a method of acquiring research in those cities dedicated to the task, but Civ IV is a game of balance and tradeoffs. This isn’t limited to the SE, but the lesson to bear in mind is not to sacrifice military preparedness for research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following Age-by-Age guidelines are offered as a preliminary base for experimentation. Obviously any of the recommendations made can be rebutted, but I prefer to err on the side of structure vs. flexibility, since too many options can be confusing to a novice. Once people have tried the recommended format, they will be in a position to decide for themselves what works for their style of game play.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have used the following principles in determining how many Great Scientists should be settled versus used to lightbulb technologies (based on futurehermit's analysis in (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)this thread): There are no settled GS listed in the Classical era because you are still setting up Libraries and the GP farm. The first spare GS is used for the Academy and each era gets another settled scientist. The exception is the Industrial Age, in which Scientific Method eliminates the two free scientists from the Great Library, so an additional parked scientist is added in that era. The objective is to sustain a rate of science with an average of 5 turns per tech. This requires either the addition of settled scientists or an increased number of cities with 2 or more specialists each.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that some people object to settling any scientist or building an Academy, preferring to use Great Scientists solely for lightbulbing techs. The rationale is that, although the former use produces more total research over time, lightbulbing produces the techs earlier which can be more important. I consider this to be more of an intermediate or advanced topic, but I note it here so that the beginner will be aware of the issue. Advocates for the lightbulb theory admit that the SE tends to falter after the late Renaissance or early Industrial eras (about the time Democracy and Scientific Method start eroding some of the SE-friendly benefits). My intention in this guide is to provide a long-term strategy for SE that is sustainable throughout even a long game. But I must also note that these advocates are also much more experienced than I so at least be aware of the controversy. Also, at higher difficulties the lightbulb method may be the only way to stay competitive, but -- again -- that is an intermediate or advance consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Masonry, Writing, Alphabet, Literature, (Polytheism, Meditation?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, (Monasteries?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 3 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Great Library, (Pyramid, Parthenon?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Pyramids is somewhat optional and many feel that the time spent on building this wonder can be better used to expand your empire. Likewise with the Parthenon. I recommend building these, but you may need to reconsider if stone or marble is not near the capital. The Great Library, however, is very important and is usually achievable but is much more valuable if you have access to Representation (from the Pyramids). I put a question mark by monasteries since they may not be possible to build if you didn’t found a religion. This period should be characterized by expansion more than research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Medieval Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Meditation, Code of Laws, Civil Service[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, Monasteries[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2+ (Library allows 2, Caste System allows indefinite)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 1 Settled GS[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Academy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: There is some debate as to whether Caste System is more beneficial than Slavery. I include the former since Slavery is not specific to the Specialist Economy but use your own judgment here. Make sure that you have at least 6 libraries by the end of this period. This figure includes extra cities to prepare for building Oxford in Renaissance which requires 6 universities (which, in turn, cannot be built in a city without a library).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Education, Liberalism, Astronomy, Banking[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: University, Observatory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 4 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 3+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 2 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Mercantilism is also controversial and is included here for similar reasons to Caste System noted above. The usual caveats apply. You need 6 Universities to build Oxford which will use the “extra” cities built in the Medieval period. Also, if you don’t have a reliable source of copper for the Statue of Liberty in the next era, this would be a good time to start thinking about capturing one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Democracy, Physics, Biology[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 5+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library???, Academy, 4 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Statue of Liberty is huge (unless you are on an Archipelago map) so make sure you get it. This is doubly important since you lose the Great Library about this time due to Scientific Method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Computers, (Fiber Optics?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Laboratory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 8 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 6+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Academy, 5 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: (Internet?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: This era is a bit less well researched since many SE games have been won by this point. I will update this if anyone has any further suggestions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Sample Games:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick ALC - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178995)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]LotR18 No Cottage Challenge - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145463)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Louis XIV - Monarch (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171597)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Isabella No Cottages - Emperor (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=175281)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Saladin No cottages - Immortal (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178607)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Acknowledgements:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The following threads/posts were invaluable in forming my early versions of this guide. The discussion thread for this guide can be found here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=197818[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wodan (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077)</French>
		<German>[H1]A Beginner's Guide to the Specialist Economy (SE)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]JackofClubs[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In just about every thread in which the topic is discussed, someone asks for a strategy guide to creating a Specialist Economy. Wodan gives some general principles (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077) but it is still not a step-by-step guide. I do not consider myself an expert, but in attempting to teach myself to master this important style of play, I took several notes from the various threads on the subject and combined them with my own experience. Adding a bit of polish to make them fit for public consumption, I submit them for comments by the true experts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that this thread is an attempt to tell the beginner HOW to run a Specialist Economy and therefore assumes that you actually want to try the SE for whatever reason. Maybe you think it is a good strategy, maybe you are bored with your current games and wish to try something new, maybe you think the SE sucks and are just a masochist. I don't care. Just keep the comments helpful and save tha advocacy for another thread.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The actual guide will be in the second post. Here are some other links that I found helpful in filling in the gaps and getting my thinking in order on the topic:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (This is where I got the basic outline for this guide as well as Average Tech Cost and Optimal Number of Science Cities data (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506). He makes an error in his calculations that he notes at the bottom of the first post, which I have corrected in this guide.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are lots more, but I can't remember all of them. A search for threads with "Spcialist Economy" in the title is a good place to start for more info.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: I should mention that I don't play the Warlords expansion so I have limited information on that. Anyone that can make suggestions on that score or on anything else I've left out, please feel free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Definition of Specialist Economy:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civilization in which the majority of research is funded by Scientist specialists supported by 1-2 farms or other high food resources. Since this approach tends to generate Great Scientists more quickly than other economies, another source of research is the lightbulb option.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Benefits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Optimized regrowth of population from slavery/drafting. (Note: this sacrifices research until regrowth is complete.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Less danger from pillaging since farms are much easier to rebuild than cottages which have matured to towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Independence from the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider increases flexibility to divert commerce directly to gold for upgrades or to Culture/Happiness if the [ICON_CULTURE]-Slider is used.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. More effective at higher difficulty levels (Emperor and above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Limitations[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. May require more micromanaging compared to Cottage Economy (CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Specialists require supporting food resources or farms. In cases where food resources or fresh water for farms are unavailable this may be a limitation on early city placement. After Civil Service this becomes less of a consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Specialists can only be assigned if certain buildings exist (e.g. Library enables two Scientists).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Caste System eliminates the restrictions for item 3, but conflicts with Slavery as well as other labor civics. This may later become critical if Emancipation is adopted by another civ, since the unhappiness generated by failing to adopt Emancipation can be a serious drain on productivity.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]General Tips and Advice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Prioritize food resources and farms in new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. New cities only need Granary, Library and possibly Courthouse. Any other buildings are secondary. (This doesn't apply to Production cities which will be the same as for CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. You may drop the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider to 0 when Alphabet has been researched and trade for any techs you do not yet know. This is to maximize cash for other purposes -- usually military upgrades or high maintenance costs due to conquests. However, it may be wise to keep the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider up at the maximum that is still generating a positive income for certain critical techs such as Literature and the Paper-Education-Library sequence (if there is no GS available for lightbulbing these).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Alternatively, if dropping the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider from 100% to 0% results in only a factor of 2 or 3 increase in the number of turns for your current tech, then it is about time to drop it. If it is much more than 3, you probably need to focus on getting more scientists up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Philosophy, Paper and Education are prerequisites for Liberalism and can be lightbulbed by a Great Scientist. Consider saving a GS or three for these techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pre-Game Considerations:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Leader Characteristics: Philosophical is generally considered to be very important (for the double Great Person Points (GPP) and also for the cheaper University). Industrious is a good second choice at lower difficulty levels, but note that you can’t be both. For a second trait, Spiritual is good for rapid civic shifts, Expansive is good for the health bonus, Creative for cheaper libraries (Warlords expansion), and Aggressive because of the general synergy between SE and warfare (See Benefits section above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]City Order: This guide assumes that the capital city will be used primarily for wealth production to take advantage of the Bureaucracy civic. No other city should generate wealth in a Specialist Economy, unless there is no way to farm it (which will be rare, especially post-Biology). I generally find it useful to make the second city a Production Facility and will not found the Super Science City (which also winds up being a GP Farm) until at least the 3rd city. At higher levels of difficulty, however, it may not be beneficial to build the Academy or settle scientists. This is due to the much faster tech rate of the AI and the need to use every scientist to lightbulb a tech. So the Super Science City may not be the way to go at these levels, but that discussion is more appropriate for Intermediate and Advanced guides.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will probably want at least one other high-production city by mid-game and others as necessary. Also don't get into the mindset that all cities need to be research oriented. The SE is a method of acquiring research in those cities dedicated to the task, but Civ IV is a game of balance and tradeoffs. This isn’t limited to the SE, but the lesson to bear in mind is not to sacrifice military preparedness for research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following Age-by-Age guidelines are offered as a preliminary base for experimentation. Obviously any of the recommendations made can be rebutted, but I prefer to err on the side of structure vs. flexibility, since too many options can be confusing to a novice. Once people have tried the recommended format, they will be in a position to decide for themselves what works for their style of game play.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have used the following principles in determining how many Great Scientists should be settled versus used to lightbulb technologies (based on futurehermit's analysis in (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)this thread): There are no settled GS listed in the Classical era because you are still setting up Libraries and the GP farm. The first spare GS is used for the Academy and each era gets another settled scientist. The exception is the Industrial Age, in which Scientific Method eliminates the two free scientists from the Great Library, so an additional parked scientist is added in that era. The objective is to sustain a rate of science with an average of 5 turns per tech. This requires either the addition of settled scientists or an increased number of cities with 2 or more specialists each.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that some people object to settling any scientist or building an Academy, preferring to use Great Scientists solely for lightbulbing techs. The rationale is that, although the former use produces more total research over time, lightbulbing produces the techs earlier which can be more important. I consider this to be more of an intermediate or advanced topic, but I note it here so that the beginner will be aware of the issue. Advocates for the lightbulb theory admit that the SE tends to falter after the late Renaissance or early Industrial eras (about the time Democracy and Scientific Method start eroding some of the SE-friendly benefits). My intention in this guide is to provide a long-term strategy for SE that is sustainable throughout even a long game. But I must also note that these advocates are also much more experienced than I so at least be aware of the controversy. Also, at higher difficulties the lightbulb method may be the only way to stay competitive, but -- again -- that is an intermediate or advance consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Masonry, Writing, Alphabet, Literature, (Polytheism, Meditation?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, (Monasteries?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 3 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Great Library, (Pyramid, Parthenon?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Pyramids is somewhat optional and many feel that the time spent on building this wonder can be better used to expand your empire. Likewise with the Parthenon. I recommend building these, but you may need to reconsider if stone or marble is not near the capital. The Great Library, however, is very important and is usually achievable but is much more valuable if you have access to Representation (from the Pyramids). I put a question mark by monasteries since they may not be possible to build if you didn’t found a religion. This period should be characterized by expansion more than research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Medieval Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Meditation, Code of Laws, Civil Service[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, Monasteries[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2+ (Library allows 2, Caste System allows indefinite)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 1 Settled GS[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Academy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: There is some debate as to whether Caste System is more beneficial than Slavery. I include the former since Slavery is not specific to the Specialist Economy but use your own judgment here. Make sure that you have at least 6 libraries by the end of this period. This figure includes extra cities to prepare for building Oxford in Renaissance which requires 6 universities (which, in turn, cannot be built in a city without a library).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Education, Liberalism, Astronomy, Banking[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: University, Observatory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 4 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 3+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 2 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Mercantilism is also controversial and is included here for similar reasons to Caste System noted above. The usual caveats apply. You need 6 Universities to build Oxford which will use the “extra” cities built in the Medieval period. Also, if you don’t have a reliable source of copper for the Statue of Liberty in the next era, this would be a good time to start thinking about capturing one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Democracy, Physics, Biology[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 5+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library???, Academy, 4 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Statue of Liberty is huge (unless you are on an Archipelago map) so make sure you get it. This is doubly important since you lose the Great Library about this time due to Scientific Method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Computers, (Fiber Optics?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Laboratory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 8 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 6+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Academy, 5 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: (Internet?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: This era is a bit less well researched since many SE games have been won by this point. I will update this if anyone has any further suggestions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Sample Games:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick ALC - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178995)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]LotR18 No Cottage Challenge - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145463)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Louis XIV - Monarch (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171597)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Isabella No Cottages - Emperor (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=175281)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Saladin No cottages - Immortal (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178607)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Acknowledgements:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The following threads/posts were invaluable in forming my early versions of this guide. The discussion thread for this guide can be found here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=197818[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wodan (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077)</German>
		<Italian>[H1]A Beginner's Guide to the Specialist Economy (SE)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]JackofClubs[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In just about every thread in which the topic is discussed, someone asks for a strategy guide to creating a Specialist Economy. Wodan gives some general principles (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077) but it is still not a step-by-step guide. I do not consider myself an expert, but in attempting to teach myself to master this important style of play, I took several notes from the various threads on the subject and combined them with my own experience. Adding a bit of polish to make them fit for public consumption, I submit them for comments by the true experts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that this thread is an attempt to tell the beginner HOW to run a Specialist Economy and therefore assumes that you actually want to try the SE for whatever reason. Maybe you think it is a good strategy, maybe you are bored with your current games and wish to try something new, maybe you think the SE sucks and are just a masochist. I don't care. Just keep the comments helpful and save tha advocacy for another thread.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The actual guide will be in the second post. Here are some other links that I found helpful in filling in the gaps and getting my thinking in order on the topic:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (This is where I got the basic outline for this guide as well as Average Tech Cost and Optimal Number of Science Cities data (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506). He makes an error in his calculations that he notes at the bottom of the first post, which I have corrected in this guide.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are lots more, but I can't remember all of them. A search for threads with "Spcialist Economy" in the title is a good place to start for more info.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: I should mention that I don't play the Warlords expansion so I have limited information on that. Anyone that can make suggestions on that score or on anything else I've left out, please feel free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Definition of Specialist Economy:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civilization in which the majority of research is funded by Scientist specialists supported by 1-2 farms or other high food resources. Since this approach tends to generate Great Scientists more quickly than other economies, another source of research is the lightbulb option.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Benefits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Optimized regrowth of population from slavery/drafting. (Note: this sacrifices research until regrowth is complete.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Less danger from pillaging since farms are much easier to rebuild than cottages which have matured to towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Independence from the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider increases flexibility to divert commerce directly to gold for upgrades or to Culture/Happiness if the [ICON_CULTURE]-Slider is used.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. More effective at higher difficulty levels (Emperor and above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Limitations[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. May require more micromanaging compared to Cottage Economy (CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Specialists require supporting food resources or farms. In cases where food resources or fresh water for farms are unavailable this may be a limitation on early city placement. After Civil Service this becomes less of a consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Specialists can only be assigned if certain buildings exist (e.g. Library enables two Scientists).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Caste System eliminates the restrictions for item 3, but conflicts with Slavery as well as other labor civics. This may later become critical if Emancipation is adopted by another civ, since the unhappiness generated by failing to adopt Emancipation can be a serious drain on productivity.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]General Tips and Advice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Prioritize food resources and farms in new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. New cities only need Granary, Library and possibly Courthouse. Any other buildings are secondary. (This doesn't apply to Production cities which will be the same as for CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. You may drop the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider to 0 when Alphabet has been researched and trade for any techs you do not yet know. This is to maximize cash for other purposes -- usually military upgrades or high maintenance costs due to conquests. However, it may be wise to keep the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider up at the maximum that is still generating a positive income for certain critical techs such as Literature and the Paper-Education-Library sequence (if there is no GS available for lightbulbing these).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Alternatively, if dropping the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider from 100% to 0% results in only a factor of 2 or 3 increase in the number of turns for your current tech, then it is about time to drop it. If it is much more than 3, you probably need to focus on getting more scientists up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Philosophy, Paper and Education are prerequisites for Liberalism and can be lightbulbed by a Great Scientist. Consider saving a GS or three for these techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pre-Game Considerations:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Leader Characteristics: Philosophical is generally considered to be very important (for the double Great Person Points (GPP) and also for the cheaper University). Industrious is a good second choice at lower difficulty levels, but note that you can’t be both. For a second trait, Spiritual is good for rapid civic shifts, Expansive is good for the health bonus, Creative for cheaper libraries (Warlords expansion), and Aggressive because of the general synergy between SE and warfare (See Benefits section above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]City Order: This guide assumes that the capital city will be used primarily for wealth production to take advantage of the Bureaucracy civic. No other city should generate wealth in a Specialist Economy, unless there is no way to farm it (which will be rare, especially post-Biology). I generally find it useful to make the second city a Production Facility and will not found the Super Science City (which also winds up being a GP Farm) until at least the 3rd city. At higher levels of difficulty, however, it may not be beneficial to build the Academy or settle scientists. This is due to the much faster tech rate of the AI and the need to use every scientist to lightbulb a tech. So the Super Science City may not be the way to go at these levels, but that discussion is more appropriate for Intermediate and Advanced guides.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will probably want at least one other high-production city by mid-game and others as necessary. Also don't get into the mindset that all cities need to be research oriented. The SE is a method of acquiring research in those cities dedicated to the task, but Civ IV is a game of balance and tradeoffs. This isn’t limited to the SE, but the lesson to bear in mind is not to sacrifice military preparedness for research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following Age-by-Age guidelines are offered as a preliminary base for experimentation. Obviously any of the recommendations made can be rebutted, but I prefer to err on the side of structure vs. flexibility, since too many options can be confusing to a novice. Once people have tried the recommended format, they will be in a position to decide for themselves what works for their style of game play.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have used the following principles in determining how many Great Scientists should be settled versus used to lightbulb technologies (based on futurehermit's analysis in (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)this thread): There are no settled GS listed in the Classical era because you are still setting up Libraries and the GP farm. The first spare GS is used for the Academy and each era gets another settled scientist. The exception is the Industrial Age, in which Scientific Method eliminates the two free scientists from the Great Library, so an additional parked scientist is added in that era. The objective is to sustain a rate of science with an average of 5 turns per tech. This requires either the addition of settled scientists or an increased number of cities with 2 or more specialists each.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that some people object to settling any scientist or building an Academy, preferring to use Great Scientists solely for lightbulbing techs. The rationale is that, although the former use produces more total research over time, lightbulbing produces the techs earlier which can be more important. I consider this to be more of an intermediate or advanced topic, but I note it here so that the beginner will be aware of the issue. Advocates for the lightbulb theory admit that the SE tends to falter after the late Renaissance or early Industrial eras (about the time Democracy and Scientific Method start eroding some of the SE-friendly benefits). My intention in this guide is to provide a long-term strategy for SE that is sustainable throughout even a long game. But I must also note that these advocates are also much more experienced than I so at least be aware of the controversy. Also, at higher difficulties the lightbulb method may be the only way to stay competitive, but -- again -- that is an intermediate or advance consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Masonry, Writing, Alphabet, Literature, (Polytheism, Meditation?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, (Monasteries?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 3 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Great Library, (Pyramid, Parthenon?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Pyramids is somewhat optional and many feel that the time spent on building this wonder can be better used to expand your empire. Likewise with the Parthenon. I recommend building these, but you may need to reconsider if stone or marble is not near the capital. The Great Library, however, is very important and is usually achievable but is much more valuable if you have access to Representation (from the Pyramids). I put a question mark by monasteries since they may not be possible to build if you didn’t found a religion. This period should be characterized by expansion more than research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Medieval Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Meditation, Code of Laws, Civil Service[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, Monasteries[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2+ (Library allows 2, Caste System allows indefinite)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 1 Settled GS[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Academy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: There is some debate as to whether Caste System is more beneficial than Slavery. I include the former since Slavery is not specific to the Specialist Economy but use your own judgment here. Make sure that you have at least 6 libraries by the end of this period. This figure includes extra cities to prepare for building Oxford in Renaissance which requires 6 universities (which, in turn, cannot be built in a city without a library).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Education, Liberalism, Astronomy, Banking[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: University, Observatory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 4 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 3+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 2 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Mercantilism is also controversial and is included here for similar reasons to Caste System noted above. The usual caveats apply. You need 6 Universities to build Oxford which will use the “extra” cities built in the Medieval period. Also, if you don’t have a reliable source of copper for the Statue of Liberty in the next era, this would be a good time to start thinking about capturing one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Democracy, Physics, Biology[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 5+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library???, Academy, 4 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Statue of Liberty is huge (unless you are on an Archipelago map) so make sure you get it. This is doubly important since you lose the Great Library about this time due to Scientific Method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Computers, (Fiber Optics?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Laboratory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 8 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 6+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Academy, 5 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: (Internet?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: This era is a bit less well researched since many SE games have been won by this point. I will update this if anyone has any further suggestions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Sample Games:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick ALC - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178995)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]LotR18 No Cottage Challenge - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145463)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Louis XIV - Monarch (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171597)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Isabella No Cottages - Emperor (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=175281)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Saladin No cottages - Immortal (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178607)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Acknowledgements:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The following threads/posts were invaluable in forming my early versions of this guide. The discussion thread for this guide can be found here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=197818[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wodan (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077)</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]A Beginner's Guide to the Specialist Economy (SE)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]JackofClubs[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In just about every thread in which the topic is discussed, someone asks for a strategy guide to creating a Specialist Economy. Wodan gives some general principles (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077) but it is still not a step-by-step guide. I do not consider myself an expert, but in attempting to teach myself to master this important style of play, I took several notes from the various threads on the subject and combined them with my own experience. Adding a bit of polish to make them fit for public consumption, I submit them for comments by the true experts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that this thread is an attempt to tell the beginner HOW to run a Specialist Economy and therefore assumes that you actually want to try the SE for whatever reason. Maybe you think it is a good strategy, maybe you are bored with your current games and wish to try something new, maybe you think the SE sucks and are just a masochist. I don't care. Just keep the comments helpful and save tha advocacy for another thread.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The actual guide will be in the second post. Here are some other links that I found helpful in filling in the gaps and getting my thinking in order on the topic:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (This is where I got the basic outline for this guide as well as Average Tech Cost and Optimal Number of Science Cities data (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506). He makes an error in his calculations that he notes at the bottom of the first post, which I have corrected in this guide.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are lots more, but I can't remember all of them. A search for threads with "Spcialist Economy" in the title is a good place to start for more info.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Edit: I should mention that I don't play the Warlords expansion so I have limited information on that. Anyone that can make suggestions on that score or on anything else I've left out, please feel free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Definition of Specialist Economy:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A civilization in which the majority of research is funded by Scientist specialists supported by 1-2 farms or other high food resources. Since this approach tends to generate Great Scientists more quickly than other economies, another source of research is the lightbulb option.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Benefits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Optimized regrowth of population from slavery/drafting. (Note: this sacrifices research until regrowth is complete.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Less danger from pillaging since farms are much easier to rebuild than cottages which have matured to towns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Independence from the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider increases flexibility to divert commerce directly to gold for upgrades or to Culture/Happiness if the [ICON_CULTURE]-Slider is used.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. More effective at higher difficulty levels (Emperor and above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Limitations[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. May require more micromanaging compared to Cottage Economy (CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Specialists require supporting food resources or farms. In cases where food resources or fresh water for farms are unavailable this may be a limitation on early city placement. After Civil Service this becomes less of a consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Specialists can only be assigned if certain buildings exist (e.g. Library enables two Scientists).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Caste System eliminates the restrictions for item 3, but conflicts with Slavery as well as other labor civics. This may later become critical if Emancipation is adopted by another civ, since the unhappiness generated by failing to adopt Emancipation can be a serious drain on productivity.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]General Tips and Advice[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Prioritize food resources and farms in new cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. New cities only need Granary, Library and possibly Courthouse. Any other buildings are secondary. (This doesn't apply to Production cities which will be the same as for CE).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. You may drop the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider to 0 when Alphabet has been researched and trade for any techs you do not yet know. This is to maximize cash for other purposes -- usually military upgrades or high maintenance costs due to conquests. However, it may be wise to keep the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider up at the maximum that is still generating a positive income for certain critical techs such as Literature and the Paper-Education-Library sequence (if there is no GS available for lightbulbing these).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Alternatively, if dropping the [ICON_RESEARCH]-Slider from 100% to 0% results in only a factor of 2 or 3 increase in the number of turns for your current tech, then it is about time to drop it. If it is much more than 3, you probably need to focus on getting more scientists up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Philosophy, Paper and Education are prerequisites for Liberalism and can be lightbulbed by a Great Scientist. Consider saving a GS or three for these techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Pre-Game Considerations:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Leader Characteristics: Philosophical is generally considered to be very important (for the double Great Person Points (GPP) and also for the cheaper University). Industrious is a good second choice at lower difficulty levels, but note that you can’t be both. For a second trait, Spiritual is good for rapid civic shifts, Expansive is good for the health bonus, Creative for cheaper libraries (Warlords expansion), and Aggressive because of the general synergy between SE and warfare (See Benefits section above).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]City Order: This guide assumes that the capital city will be used primarily for wealth production to take advantage of the Bureaucracy civic. No other city should generate wealth in a Specialist Economy, unless there is no way to farm it (which will be rare, especially post-Biology). I generally find it useful to make the second city a Production Facility and will not found the Super Science City (which also winds up being a GP Farm) until at least the 3rd city. At higher levels of difficulty, however, it may not be beneficial to build the Academy or settle scientists. This is due to the much faster tech rate of the AI and the need to use every scientist to lightbulb a tech. So the Super Science City may not be the way to go at these levels, but that discussion is more appropriate for Intermediate and Advanced guides.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You will probably want at least one other high-production city by mid-game and others as necessary. Also don't get into the mindset that all cities need to be research oriented. The SE is a method of acquiring research in those cities dedicated to the task, but Civ IV is a game of balance and tradeoffs. This isn’t limited to the SE, but the lesson to bear in mind is not to sacrifice military preparedness for research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following Age-by-Age guidelines are offered as a preliminary base for experimentation. Obviously any of the recommendations made can be rebutted, but I prefer to err on the side of structure vs. flexibility, since too many options can be confusing to a novice. Once people have tried the recommended format, they will be in a position to decide for themselves what works for their style of game play.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have used the following principles in determining how many Great Scientists should be settled versus used to lightbulb technologies (based on futurehermit's analysis in (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)this thread): There are no settled GS listed in the Classical era because you are still setting up Libraries and the GP farm. The first spare GS is used for the Academy and each era gets another settled scientist. The exception is the Industrial Age, in which Scientific Method eliminates the two free scientists from the Great Library, so an additional parked scientist is added in that era. The objective is to sustain a rate of science with an average of 5 turns per tech. This requires either the addition of settled scientists or an increased number of cities with 2 or more specialists each.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that some people object to settling any scientist or building an Academy, preferring to use Great Scientists solely for lightbulbing techs. The rationale is that, although the former use produces more total research over time, lightbulbing produces the techs earlier which can be more important. I consider this to be more of an intermediate or advanced topic, but I note it here so that the beginner will be aware of the issue. Advocates for the lightbulb theory admit that the SE tends to falter after the late Renaissance or early Industrial eras (about the time Democracy and Scientific Method start eroding some of the SE-friendly benefits). My intention in this guide is to provide a long-term strategy for SE that is sustainable throughout even a long game. But I must also note that these advocates are also much more experienced than I so at least be aware of the controversy. Also, at higher difficulties the lightbulb method may be the only way to stay competitive, but -- again -- that is an intermediate or advance consideration.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Classical Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Masonry, Writing, Alphabet, Literature, (Polytheism, Meditation?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, (Monasteries?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 3 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Great Library, (Pyramid, Parthenon?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Pyramids is somewhat optional and many feel that the time spent on building this wonder can be better used to expand your empire. Likewise with the Parthenon. I recommend building these, but you may need to reconsider if stone or marble is not near the capital. The Great Library, however, is very important and is usually achievable but is much more valuable if you have access to Representation (from the Pyramids). I put a question mark by monasteries since they may not be possible to build if you didn’t found a religion. This period should be characterized by expansion more than research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Medieval Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Meditation, Code of Laws, Civil Service[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Libraries, Monasteries[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 2+ (Library allows 2, Caste System allows indefinite)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 1 Settled GS[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Academy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: There is some debate as to whether Caste System is more beneficial than Slavery. I include the former since Slavery is not specific to the Specialist Economy but use your own judgment here. Make sure that you have at least 6 libraries by the end of this period. This figure includes extra cities to prepare for building Oxford in Renaissance which requires 6 universities (which, in turn, cannot be built in a city without a library).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Renaissance Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Education, Liberalism, Astronomy, Banking[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: University, Observatory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 4 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 3+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library, Academy, 2 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Mercantilism is also controversial and is included here for similar reasons to Caste System noted above. The usual caveats apply. You need 6 Universities to build Oxford which will use the “extra” cities built in the Medieval period. Also, if you don’t have a reliable source of copper for the Statue of Liberty in the next era, this would be a good time to start thinking about capturing one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Industrial Age [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Democracy, Physics, Biology[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 6 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 5+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Great Library???, Academy, 4 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: Statue of Liberty[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: Statue of Liberty is huge (unless you are on an Archipelago map) so make sure you get it. This is doubly important since you lose the Great Library about this time due to Scientific Method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Modern Age[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research Priorities: Computers, (Fiber Optics?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Build Priorities: Laboratory[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Optimal Number of Science Cities: 8 (including SSC)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Scientists per city: 6+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Super Science City has: Academy, 5 Settled GS, Oxford[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wonder Priorities: (Internet?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Civic Priorities: Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Mercantilism[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Notes: This era is a bit less well researched since many SE games have been won by this point. I will update this if anyone has any further suggestions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Sample Games:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Frederick ALC - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178995)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]LotR18 No Cottage Challenge - Prince (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145463)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Louis XIV - Monarch (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=171597)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Isabella No Cottages - Emperor (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=175281)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Saladin No cottages - Immortal (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=178607)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Acknowledgements:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The following threads/posts were invaluable in forming my early versions of this guide. The discussion thread for this guide can be found here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=197818[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]acidsatyr (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=190690)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]futurehermit (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177506)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]iamdanthemansta (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=179925)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]UncleJJ (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=4897981&amp;postcount=11)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Wodan (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=180077)</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_DEFICIT_RESEARCH_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Gold, Beakers, and Deficit Research[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Quechua[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this article, I hope to clarify the research value of gold. The discussion won't involve any hidden game mechanics, and it may already be well understood by experienced players. Still, we will give an unambiguous answer to certain key questions. Can you cut research times by clever manipulation of the slider? Can running merchant specialists be more benificial to your tech rate than running scientists? How much do buildings like courthouses or markets affect your research? What is a fair trading price for techs?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But before we begin, what is gold even good for in the first place? We can certainly use gold in trades, but why does gold have value for our trading partners? One important answer is that through Universal Suffrage or unit upgrades, gold can be an empire-wide substitute for production. These abilities can be critical, but they are not used on most turns, and we will not consider them much here. But every turn from the time the second city is founded, gold is necessary to pay the costs of our empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Ideal Slider Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't already have enough gold in your treasury, you must use a fraction of your incoming commerce as gold to pay maintenance each turn. We will consider an 'ideal' percentage of commerce at which there is no net change in the treasury. Since the slider is limited to increments of 10% this is rarely exactly possible, but in practice it is no different from adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you do already have enough gold, you can just leave the slider at 100% and let the maintenance eat away at your treasury. If we consider our 'standard' science rate to be that at the ideal slider point, after a number of turns we find we have lost a certain amount of gold from the treasury and we have produced more beakers than we would have at the standard rate. It is as if the gold has been converted into beakers - this is what we mean by deficit research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this situation defines a beaker value for any given amount of gold - the amount of extra beakers we produce if we set research to 100% until the given amount is fully spent on maintenance. But gold also has a beaker value in terms of the beakers we would lose if we set research to 0% until we have produced the given amount of gold. If you do the math (it's easy to check any statement I make here), you will find that the two beaker-per-gold ratios are exactly the same.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of researching at the ideal slider rate, we might turn off research for several turns to build a treasury, and then use that treasury for deficit research. But the fact that there is one beaker-per-gold ratio means that we produce exactly the same amount of beakers using either method (ignoring rounding errors). This is true for any two paths of research that begin and end at the same treasury value. And if they end at different treasury values we can easily find the difference in beakers produced by converting the treasury difference using the ratio. This is why it makes sense to talk about an ideal slider rate. Constantly adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point so that there is not much change in the treasury will produce almost exactly the same tech rate as the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These concepts allow us to blur the distinction between gold and beakers. In an abstract sense, we always research at the ideal slider rate, regardless of the position of the slider. If the slider is set below the ideal slider rate, some of our beakers are 'stored' as gold. If the slider is above the ideal rate we unlock some extra beakers through deficit research. If we are in the happy situation of running a surplus at 100% science, it is as if the ideal slider rate is higher than 100%. Since we can't ever set the slider higher than this ideal point, some of our ideal beakers must always be stored as surplus gold. We can never unlock extra beakers through deficit research in this situation, but the equivalence implied by the beaker-per-gold ratio still has abstract meaning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Finding the Ratio[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This magic ratio is much easier to find than you might think. It is simply the total amount of beakers that can be produced due to commerce, divided by the total amount of gold due to commerce. To find this, turn the slider to 100%, and record the net change in gold (typically negative), which we'll call M, and also find the total amount of beakers produced, B, using the Financial Advisor. Now switch the slider to 0%, and find the total amount of gold produced, G, and also record any beakers, b, which are produced at 0% research. The ratio we are looking for is just (B - b)/(G - M).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For example: b = 38 which results in G = 359, while B = 736 results in M = -93[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So in this case our beaker-gold ratio is (736-38)/(359+93) = 1.54[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My choice of parameters is conventional. Instead of using the numbers G and M, we may use the gold values listed in the Financial Advisor. And as will soon become clear, we may compare the four parameters at any two distinct slider values.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2] Gold and Beaker Multipliers [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have no beaker or gold multiplying buildings (libraries, markets, etc), this ratio will be exactly 1, since commerce is converted into beakers and gold at the same rate. This suggests the beaker value of gold depends in some sense on the presence of multiplier buildings in your empire. In fact the ratio is just equal to the average beaker multiplier divided by the average gold multiplier, where the average is weighted by the fraction of commerce a city produces. So the beaker value of gold is fairly stable over time, it only changes if you build new multiplier buildings or significantly change the commerce distribution of your cities. It does not depend on many economically significant actions like hiring or firing specialists, building courthouses, producing wealth or research from production, and so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But what happens when the beaker-per-gold ratio does change? If you already have gold in your treasury, its value for deficit research also changes. You can take advantage of this by manipulating the amount of gold in your treasury. If your ratio increases, you will get more extra beakers from deficit research than before, but you will also lose more potential beakers in accumulating a given amount of gold. So if you accumulate the gold before the ratio change, you will gain some extra beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a little abstract, so let's consider an example. Suppose you're building Oxford in a commerce city (beakers from specialists complicate this example, but not the idea in general). You can set the slider to 0% a few turns before Oxford is complete, and then spend the gold on deficit research afterwards. Since you are producing no beakers to multiply, the situation is no different than if you had built Oxford a few turns earlier, when you had started 0% research. Spending the gold produced during these turns will give you the same amount of beakers as researching at the ideal rate, but here it is as if you already get the better science multiplier a few turns before Oxford is built![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to realize that it doesn't matter how or when you accumulate the gold before the ratio increase. The advantage comes from the change in the value of deficit research. Setting the slider to 0% just before a new beaker multiplier comes into effect simply allows you to plan fewer turns in advance (and makes the example above easier to understand).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A similar situation holds for decreases in the ratio. When you build gold-multiplying buildings, you lose less potential beakers in producing a given amount of gold, but you also get less extra beakers from deficit research. This may be a little confusing - you do not actually get less total beakers when you spend gold on deficit research, but since your ideal slider rate increases, less of those beakers are 'extra.' So it may be wise to spend your treasury on deficit research before the beaker value of gold decreases. This lets you take advantage of extra beakers you couldn't get during those turns by researching at the lower ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Gold vs. Beakers[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now we return to the questions we set out to answer. Running a merchant specialist reduces your net expenses, thus increasing your ideal slider rate - indirectly increasing your beakers per turn. Can a merchant produce more beakers than a scientist? The answer depends on what multiplier buildings you have in the city in question, as well as the average multipliers in you empire as a whole. If your cities have many beaker multipliers (libraries, monastaries...) but you've been neglecting your gold multipliers (grocers, banks...), then gold has a higher value in terms of beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As an extreme example, say you have a library, university, observatory, and laboratory in each one of your cities - but you have almost no gold multipliers...just a bank in one city. In that city with a bank, a merchant will produce 4 gold (rounded down) while a scientist will produce 6 beakers. But since the beaker-per-gold ratio in your empire will be very close to 2, the merchant will help your research rate more than a scientist. This will be true in any city that has better gold multipliers than your empire-wide average (unless the beaker multiplier there is also much higher than average).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How much do buildings that reduce your maintenance affect your research rate? This question is easy to answer. If a developing city costs 8 gold in maintenance, a courthouse is effectively giving you 4 gold. With the magic ratio we can find the equivalent amount of beakers. And unless the city is bringing in significant commerce, or gold has low value in your empire, the courthouse will probably help your research more than a library.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about buildings like markets and grocers? The extra gold from the building depends on the ideal slider rate, and this building will also change the current beaker-per-gold ratio. Unfortunately there is no simple formula that exactly determines the extra beakers produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But we can still make some assertions. For example, say you have libraries throughout your empire but not many markets. If your maintenance is bad enough that your ideal slider rate is near 50%, then building a grocer in a city has more immediate benefit to research than a university. If your ideal slider rate is higher, less commerce is devoted to gold and so gold-multipliers have less research value. This may just be considered common sense, but what is not obvious is the role of the beaker-to-gold ratio. If this ratio is high a grocer could still be better for research even for ideal rates approaching 70%. But for even higher ideal slider rates, it is doubtful that the value of gold could ever be high enough to compensate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tech Buying[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So far we have been speaking about the research value of small amounts of gold per turn. What about decisions like whether to use a Great Merchant for a lightbulb or a trade mission? Large amounts of gold and beakers involve more strategic elements. Gold is not 'converted' to beakers instantly through deficit research. Your net expenses per turn (the number M in the above formula) determines the time for the 'conversion' to take place. Unless you plan to use the production aspects of gold it is usually better to get the same amount of beakers now in the form of a tech, rather than over several turns by using gold for deficit research. A Great Merchant still may present a tough decision since the beaker value of a trade mission is typically much higher than the beakers gotten through lightbulbing - and the beakers eventually produced through settling will typically be much higher than both.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the 'value' of large sums of gold has no simple mathematical definition. Even so, the beaker-gold ratio gives a decent rule-of-thumb for pricing techs in trades. If you are buying a tech from an AI for more gold than the value of the beaker cost, you are probably getting a bad deal. You could research the tech faster than you could produce the gold you are trading. On the other hand - if it prevents a fair tech trade - it may be disadvantageous to sell a tech for its 'fair' gold value. The seller potentially gives up a tech now for the same amount of beakers over a delayed time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is still possible to have a mutually beneficial tech buying trade, though. The player buying the tech may have a lower beaker value of gold than the seller, and the production aspects of gold may have higher strategic value for the seller. A less common situation would be where the buyer is running a surplus at 100%. In this case the buyer can't actually research at the ideal slider rate, so it would take longer to research the tech than it would to produce the equivalent gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More importantly, in a tech buying deal the seller does not lose the traded tech, while the buyer loses the value of the gold. This means it often makes sense to price a tech for less than the beaker value in gold. Even so, the AI tends to give you close to the beaker value in gold when you sell to them. So tech selling can sometimes get you more delayed beakers than a tech trade, while the AI also loses a similar amount.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE].......................[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this post wasn't entirely obvious to everyone. I know that I certainly didn't have a clear appreciation for how much things like merchants and courthouses improve your research rate until I did the math. I've included the derivation of the beaker-gold ratio in the spoiler below, but it's not necessary to understand the concepts in this article. And yes I spend too much time on this game - but if you got this far in the post, so do you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Feel free to argue or point out errors, thanks for reading![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Appendix[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The numbers G, M, B, and b are the same as in the text.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We define the 'ideal' research rate, x, as that at which there is no change in the treasury.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (1 - x)(G - M) + M = 0, which means x = G/(G - M)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the ideal rate, we make x(B - b) + b beakers. This is x(B - b) more beakers than at 0%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And at 100%, we make B - (x(B - b) + b) = (1 - x)(B - b) more beakers than the ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we use a given amount of gold G0 for deficit research?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We can sustain 100% science for G0/(-M) turns, so we make (1 - x)(B - b)*G0/(-M) extra beakers.[NEWLINE]Using our expression for x, this simplifies to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (B - b)/(G - M) is our beaker to gold ratio.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we turn off research until we build up a given amount G0?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It takes us G0/G turns to build the given wealth, so we lose x(B - b)*G0/G,[NEWLINE]simplifying to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And again we see the ratio (B - b)/(G - M), and we note we can't get extra beakers by changing the slider.</English>
		<French>[H1]Gold, Beakers, and Deficit Research[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Quechua[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this article, I hope to clarify the research value of gold. The discussion won't involve any hidden game mechanics, and it may already be well understood by experienced players. Still, we will give an unambiguous answer to certain key questions. Can you cut research times by clever manipulation of the slider? Can running merchant specialists be more benificial to your tech rate than running scientists? How much do buildings like courthouses or markets affect your research? What is a fair trading price for techs?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But before we begin, what is gold even good for in the first place? We can certainly use gold in trades, but why does gold have value for our trading partners? One important answer is that through Universal Suffrage or unit upgrades, gold can be an empire-wide substitute for production. These abilities can be critical, but they are not used on most turns, and we will not consider them much here. But every turn from the time the second city is founded, gold is necessary to pay the costs of our empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Ideal Slider Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't already have enough gold in your treasury, you must use a fraction of your incoming commerce as gold to pay maintenance each turn. We will consider an 'ideal' percentage of commerce at which there is no net change in the treasury. Since the slider is limited to increments of 10% this is rarely exactly possible, but in practice it is no different from adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you do already have enough gold, you can just leave the slider at 100% and let the maintenance eat away at your treasury. If we consider our 'standard' science rate to be that at the ideal slider point, after a number of turns we find we have lost a certain amount of gold from the treasury and we have produced more beakers than we would have at the standard rate. It is as if the gold has been converted into beakers - this is what we mean by deficit research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this situation defines a beaker value for any given amount of gold - the amount of extra beakers we produce if we set research to 100% until the given amount is fully spent on maintenance. But gold also has a beaker value in terms of the beakers we would lose if we set research to 0% until we have produced the given amount of gold. If you do the math (it's easy to check any statement I make here), you will find that the two beaker-per-gold ratios are exactly the same.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of researching at the ideal slider rate, we might turn off research for several turns to build a treasury, and then use that treasury for deficit research. But the fact that there is one beaker-per-gold ratio means that we produce exactly the same amount of beakers using either method (ignoring rounding errors). This is true for any two paths of research that begin and end at the same treasury value. And if they end at different treasury values we can easily find the difference in beakers produced by converting the treasury difference using the ratio. This is why it makes sense to talk about an ideal slider rate. Constantly adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point so that there is not much change in the treasury will produce almost exactly the same tech rate as the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These concepts allow us to blur the distinction between gold and beakers. In an abstract sense, we always research at the ideal slider rate, regardless of the position of the slider. If the slider is set below the ideal slider rate, some of our beakers are 'stored' as gold. If the slider is above the ideal rate we unlock some extra beakers through deficit research. If we are in the happy situation of running a surplus at 100% science, it is as if the ideal slider rate is higher than 100%. Since we can't ever set the slider higher than this ideal point, some of our ideal beakers must always be stored as surplus gold. We can never unlock extra beakers through deficit research in this situation, but the equivalence implied by the beaker-per-gold ratio still has abstract meaning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Finding the Ratio[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This magic ratio is much easier to find than you might think. It is simply the total amount of beakers that can be produced due to commerce, divided by the total amount of gold due to commerce. To find this, turn the slider to 100%, and record the net change in gold (typically negative), which we'll call M, and also find the total amount of beakers produced, B, using the Financial Advisor. Now switch the slider to 0%, and find the total amount of gold produced, G, and also record any beakers, b, which are produced at 0% research. The ratio we are looking for is just (B - b)/(G - M).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For example: b = 38 which results in G = 359, while B = 736 results in M = -93[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So in this case our beaker-gold ratio is (736-38)/(359+93) = 1.54[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My choice of parameters is conventional. Instead of using the numbers G and M, we may use the gold values listed in the Financial Advisor. And as will soon become clear, we may compare the four parameters at any two distinct slider values.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2] Gold and Beaker Multipliers [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have no beaker or gold multiplying buildings (libraries, markets, etc), this ratio will be exactly 1, since commerce is converted into beakers and gold at the same rate. This suggests the beaker value of gold depends in some sense on the presence of multiplier buildings in your empire. In fact the ratio is just equal to the average beaker multiplier divided by the average gold multiplier, where the average is weighted by the fraction of commerce a city produces. So the beaker value of gold is fairly stable over time, it only changes if you build new multiplier buildings or significantly change the commerce distribution of your cities. It does not depend on many economically significant actions like hiring or firing specialists, building courthouses, producing wealth or research from production, and so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But what happens when the beaker-per-gold ratio does change? If you already have gold in your treasury, its value for deficit research also changes. You can take advantage of this by manipulating the amount of gold in your treasury. If your ratio increases, you will get more extra beakers from deficit research than before, but you will also lose more potential beakers in accumulating a given amount of gold. So if you accumulate the gold before the ratio change, you will gain some extra beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a little abstract, so let's consider an example. Suppose you're building Oxford in a commerce city (beakers from specialists complicate this example, but not the idea in general). You can set the slider to 0% a few turns before Oxford is complete, and then spend the gold on deficit research afterwards. Since you are producing no beakers to multiply, the situation is no different than if you had built Oxford a few turns earlier, when you had started 0% research. Spending the gold produced during these turns will give you the same amount of beakers as researching at the ideal rate, but here it is as if you already get the better science multiplier a few turns before Oxford is built![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to realize that it doesn't matter how or when you accumulate the gold before the ratio increase. The advantage comes from the change in the value of deficit research. Setting the slider to 0% just before a new beaker multiplier comes into effect simply allows you to plan fewer turns in advance (and makes the example above easier to understand).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A similar situation holds for decreases in the ratio. When you build gold-multiplying buildings, you lose less potential beakers in producing a given amount of gold, but you also get less extra beakers from deficit research. This may be a little confusing - you do not actually get less total beakers when you spend gold on deficit research, but since your ideal slider rate increases, less of those beakers are 'extra.' So it may be wise to spend your treasury on deficit research before the beaker value of gold decreases. This lets you take advantage of extra beakers you couldn't get during those turns by researching at the lower ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Gold vs. Beakers[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now we return to the questions we set out to answer. Running a merchant specialist reduces your net expenses, thus increasing your ideal slider rate - indirectly increasing your beakers per turn. Can a merchant produce more beakers than a scientist? The answer depends on what multiplier buildings you have in the city in question, as well as the average multipliers in you empire as a whole. If your cities have many beaker multipliers (libraries, monastaries...) but you've been neglecting your gold multipliers (grocers, banks...), then gold has a higher value in terms of beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As an extreme example, say you have a library, university, observatory, and laboratory in each one of your cities - but you have almost no gold multipliers...just a bank in one city. In that city with a bank, a merchant will produce 4 gold (rounded down) while a scientist will produce 6 beakers. But since the beaker-per-gold ratio in your empire will be very close to 2, the merchant will help your research rate more than a scientist. This will be true in any city that has better gold multipliers than your empire-wide average (unless the beaker multiplier there is also much higher than average).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How much do buildings that reduce your maintenance affect your research rate? This question is easy to answer. If a developing city costs 8 gold in maintenance, a courthouse is effectively giving you 4 gold. With the magic ratio we can find the equivalent amount of beakers. And unless the city is bringing in significant commerce, or gold has low value in your empire, the courthouse will probably help your research more than a library.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about buildings like markets and grocers? The extra gold from the building depends on the ideal slider rate, and this building will also change the current beaker-per-gold ratio. Unfortunately there is no simple formula that exactly determines the extra beakers produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But we can still make some assertions. For example, say you have libraries throughout your empire but not many markets. If your maintenance is bad enough that your ideal slider rate is near 50%, then building a grocer in a city has more immediate benefit to research than a university. If your ideal slider rate is higher, less commerce is devoted to gold and so gold-multipliers have less research value. This may just be considered common sense, but what is not obvious is the role of the beaker-to-gold ratio. If this ratio is high a grocer could still be better for research even for ideal rates approaching 70%. But for even higher ideal slider rates, it is doubtful that the value of gold could ever be high enough to compensate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tech Buying[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So far we have been speaking about the research value of small amounts of gold per turn. What about decisions like whether to use a Great Merchant for a lightbulb or a trade mission? Large amounts of gold and beakers involve more strategic elements. Gold is not 'converted' to beakers instantly through deficit research. Your net expenses per turn (the number M in the above formula) determines the time for the 'conversion' to take place. Unless you plan to use the production aspects of gold it is usually better to get the same amount of beakers now in the form of a tech, rather than over several turns by using gold for deficit research. A Great Merchant still may present a tough decision since the beaker value of a trade mission is typically much higher than the beakers gotten through lightbulbing - and the beakers eventually produced through settling will typically be much higher than both.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the 'value' of large sums of gold has no simple mathematical definition. Even so, the beaker-gold ratio gives a decent rule-of-thumb for pricing techs in trades. If you are buying a tech from an AI for more gold than the value of the beaker cost, you are probably getting a bad deal. You could research the tech faster than you could produce the gold you are trading. On the other hand - if it prevents a fair tech trade - it may be disadvantageous to sell a tech for its 'fair' gold value. The seller potentially gives up a tech now for the same amount of beakers over a delayed time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is still possible to have a mutually beneficial tech buying trade, though. The player buying the tech may have a lower beaker value of gold than the seller, and the production aspects of gold may have higher strategic value for the seller. A less common situation would be where the buyer is running a surplus at 100%. In this case the buyer can't actually research at the ideal slider rate, so it would take longer to research the tech than it would to produce the equivalent gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More importantly, in a tech buying deal the seller does not lose the traded tech, while the buyer loses the value of the gold. This means it often makes sense to price a tech for less than the beaker value in gold. Even so, the AI tends to give you close to the beaker value in gold when you sell to them. So tech selling can sometimes get you more delayed beakers than a tech trade, while the AI also loses a similar amount.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE].......................[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this post wasn't entirely obvious to everyone. I know that I certainly didn't have a clear appreciation for how much things like merchants and courthouses improve your research rate until I did the math. I've included the derivation of the beaker-gold ratio in the spoiler below, but it's not necessary to understand the concepts in this article. And yes I spend too much time on this game - but if you got this far in the post, so do you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Feel free to argue or point out errors, thanks for reading![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Appendix[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The numbers G, M, B, and b are the same as in the text.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We define the 'ideal' research rate, x, as that at which there is no change in the treasury.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (1 - x)(G - M) + M = 0, which means x = G/(G - M)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the ideal rate, we make x(B - b) + b beakers. This is x(B - b) more beakers than at 0%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And at 100%, we make B - (x(B - b) + b) = (1 - x)(B - b) more beakers than the ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we use a given amount of gold G0 for deficit research?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We can sustain 100% science for G0/(-M) turns, so we make (1 - x)(B - b)*G0/(-M) extra beakers.[NEWLINE]Using our expression for x, this simplifies to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (B - b)/(G - M) is our beaker to gold ratio.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we turn off research until we build up a given amount G0?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It takes us G0/G turns to build the given wealth, so we lose x(B - b)*G0/G,[NEWLINE]simplifying to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And again we see the ratio (B - b)/(G - M), and we note we can't get extra beakers by changing the slider.</French>
		<German>[H1]Gold, Beakers, and Deficit Research[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Quechua[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this article, I hope to clarify the research value of gold. The discussion won't involve any hidden game mechanics, and it may already be well understood by experienced players. Still, we will give an unambiguous answer to certain key questions. Can you cut research times by clever manipulation of the slider? Can running merchant specialists be more benificial to your tech rate than running scientists? How much do buildings like courthouses or markets affect your research? What is a fair trading price for techs?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But before we begin, what is gold even good for in the first place? We can certainly use gold in trades, but why does gold have value for our trading partners? One important answer is that through Universal Suffrage or unit upgrades, gold can be an empire-wide substitute for production. These abilities can be critical, but they are not used on most turns, and we will not consider them much here. But every turn from the time the second city is founded, gold is necessary to pay the costs of our empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Ideal Slider Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't already have enough gold in your treasury, you must use a fraction of your incoming commerce as gold to pay maintenance each turn. We will consider an 'ideal' percentage of commerce at which there is no net change in the treasury. Since the slider is limited to increments of 10% this is rarely exactly possible, but in practice it is no different from adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you do already have enough gold, you can just leave the slider at 100% and let the maintenance eat away at your treasury. If we consider our 'standard' science rate to be that at the ideal slider point, after a number of turns we find we have lost a certain amount of gold from the treasury and we have produced more beakers than we would have at the standard rate. It is as if the gold has been converted into beakers - this is what we mean by deficit research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this situation defines a beaker value for any given amount of gold - the amount of extra beakers we produce if we set research to 100% until the given amount is fully spent on maintenance. But gold also has a beaker value in terms of the beakers we would lose if we set research to 0% until we have produced the given amount of gold. If you do the math (it's easy to check any statement I make here), you will find that the two beaker-per-gold ratios are exactly the same.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of researching at the ideal slider rate, we might turn off research for several turns to build a treasury, and then use that treasury for deficit research. But the fact that there is one beaker-per-gold ratio means that we produce exactly the same amount of beakers using either method (ignoring rounding errors). This is true for any two paths of research that begin and end at the same treasury value. And if they end at different treasury values we can easily find the difference in beakers produced by converting the treasury difference using the ratio. This is why it makes sense to talk about an ideal slider rate. Constantly adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point so that there is not much change in the treasury will produce almost exactly the same tech rate as the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These concepts allow us to blur the distinction between gold and beakers. In an abstract sense, we always research at the ideal slider rate, regardless of the position of the slider. If the slider is set below the ideal slider rate, some of our beakers are 'stored' as gold. If the slider is above the ideal rate we unlock some extra beakers through deficit research. If we are in the happy situation of running a surplus at 100% science, it is as if the ideal slider rate is higher than 100%. Since we can't ever set the slider higher than this ideal point, some of our ideal beakers must always be stored as surplus gold. We can never unlock extra beakers through deficit research in this situation, but the equivalence implied by the beaker-per-gold ratio still has abstract meaning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Finding the Ratio[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This magic ratio is much easier to find than you might think. It is simply the total amount of beakers that can be produced due to commerce, divided by the total amount of gold due to commerce. To find this, turn the slider to 100%, and record the net change in gold (typically negative), which we'll call M, and also find the total amount of beakers produced, B, using the Financial Advisor. Now switch the slider to 0%, and find the total amount of gold produced, G, and also record any beakers, b, which are produced at 0% research. The ratio we are looking for is just (B - b)/(G - M).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For example: b = 38 which results in G = 359, while B = 736 results in M = -93[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So in this case our beaker-gold ratio is (736-38)/(359+93) = 1.54[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My choice of parameters is conventional. Instead of using the numbers G and M, we may use the gold values listed in the Financial Advisor. And as will soon become clear, we may compare the four parameters at any two distinct slider values.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2] Gold and Beaker Multipliers [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have no beaker or gold multiplying buildings (libraries, markets, etc), this ratio will be exactly 1, since commerce is converted into beakers and gold at the same rate. This suggests the beaker value of gold depends in some sense on the presence of multiplier buildings in your empire. In fact the ratio is just equal to the average beaker multiplier divided by the average gold multiplier, where the average is weighted by the fraction of commerce a city produces. So the beaker value of gold is fairly stable over time, it only changes if you build new multiplier buildings or significantly change the commerce distribution of your cities. It does not depend on many economically significant actions like hiring or firing specialists, building courthouses, producing wealth or research from production, and so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But what happens when the beaker-per-gold ratio does change? If you already have gold in your treasury, its value for deficit research also changes. You can take advantage of this by manipulating the amount of gold in your treasury. If your ratio increases, you will get more extra beakers from deficit research than before, but you will also lose more potential beakers in accumulating a given amount of gold. So if you accumulate the gold before the ratio change, you will gain some extra beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a little abstract, so let's consider an example. Suppose you're building Oxford in a commerce city (beakers from specialists complicate this example, but not the idea in general). You can set the slider to 0% a few turns before Oxford is complete, and then spend the gold on deficit research afterwards. Since you are producing no beakers to multiply, the situation is no different than if you had built Oxford a few turns earlier, when you had started 0% research. Spending the gold produced during these turns will give you the same amount of beakers as researching at the ideal rate, but here it is as if you already get the better science multiplier a few turns before Oxford is built![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to realize that it doesn't matter how or when you accumulate the gold before the ratio increase. The advantage comes from the change in the value of deficit research. Setting the slider to 0% just before a new beaker multiplier comes into effect simply allows you to plan fewer turns in advance (and makes the example above easier to understand).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A similar situation holds for decreases in the ratio. When you build gold-multiplying buildings, you lose less potential beakers in producing a given amount of gold, but you also get less extra beakers from deficit research. This may be a little confusing - you do not actually get less total beakers when you spend gold on deficit research, but since your ideal slider rate increases, less of those beakers are 'extra.' So it may be wise to spend your treasury on deficit research before the beaker value of gold decreases. This lets you take advantage of extra beakers you couldn't get during those turns by researching at the lower ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Gold vs. Beakers[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now we return to the questions we set out to answer. Running a merchant specialist reduces your net expenses, thus increasing your ideal slider rate - indirectly increasing your beakers per turn. Can a merchant produce more beakers than a scientist? The answer depends on what multiplier buildings you have in the city in question, as well as the average multipliers in you empire as a whole. If your cities have many beaker multipliers (libraries, monastaries...) but you've been neglecting your gold multipliers (grocers, banks...), then gold has a higher value in terms of beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As an extreme example, say you have a library, university, observatory, and laboratory in each one of your cities - but you have almost no gold multipliers...just a bank in one city. In that city with a bank, a merchant will produce 4 gold (rounded down) while a scientist will produce 6 beakers. But since the beaker-per-gold ratio in your empire will be very close to 2, the merchant will help your research rate more than a scientist. This will be true in any city that has better gold multipliers than your empire-wide average (unless the beaker multiplier there is also much higher than average).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How much do buildings that reduce your maintenance affect your research rate? This question is easy to answer. If a developing city costs 8 gold in maintenance, a courthouse is effectively giving you 4 gold. With the magic ratio we can find the equivalent amount of beakers. And unless the city is bringing in significant commerce, or gold has low value in your empire, the courthouse will probably help your research more than a library.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about buildings like markets and grocers? The extra gold from the building depends on the ideal slider rate, and this building will also change the current beaker-per-gold ratio. Unfortunately there is no simple formula that exactly determines the extra beakers produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But we can still make some assertions. For example, say you have libraries throughout your empire but not many markets. If your maintenance is bad enough that your ideal slider rate is near 50%, then building a grocer in a city has more immediate benefit to research than a university. If your ideal slider rate is higher, less commerce is devoted to gold and so gold-multipliers have less research value. This may just be considered common sense, but what is not obvious is the role of the beaker-to-gold ratio. If this ratio is high a grocer could still be better for research even for ideal rates approaching 70%. But for even higher ideal slider rates, it is doubtful that the value of gold could ever be high enough to compensate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tech Buying[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So far we have been speaking about the research value of small amounts of gold per turn. What about decisions like whether to use a Great Merchant for a lightbulb or a trade mission? Large amounts of gold and beakers involve more strategic elements. Gold is not 'converted' to beakers instantly through deficit research. Your net expenses per turn (the number M in the above formula) determines the time for the 'conversion' to take place. Unless you plan to use the production aspects of gold it is usually better to get the same amount of beakers now in the form of a tech, rather than over several turns by using gold for deficit research. A Great Merchant still may present a tough decision since the beaker value of a trade mission is typically much higher than the beakers gotten through lightbulbing - and the beakers eventually produced through settling will typically be much higher than both.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the 'value' of large sums of gold has no simple mathematical definition. Even so, the beaker-gold ratio gives a decent rule-of-thumb for pricing techs in trades. If you are buying a tech from an AI for more gold than the value of the beaker cost, you are probably getting a bad deal. You could research the tech faster than you could produce the gold you are trading. On the other hand - if it prevents a fair tech trade - it may be disadvantageous to sell a tech for its 'fair' gold value. The seller potentially gives up a tech now for the same amount of beakers over a delayed time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is still possible to have a mutually beneficial tech buying trade, though. The player buying the tech may have a lower beaker value of gold than the seller, and the production aspects of gold may have higher strategic value for the seller. A less common situation would be where the buyer is running a surplus at 100%. In this case the buyer can't actually research at the ideal slider rate, so it would take longer to research the tech than it would to produce the equivalent gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More importantly, in a tech buying deal the seller does not lose the traded tech, while the buyer loses the value of the gold. This means it often makes sense to price a tech for less than the beaker value in gold. Even so, the AI tends to give you close to the beaker value in gold when you sell to them. So tech selling can sometimes get you more delayed beakers than a tech trade, while the AI also loses a similar amount.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE].......................[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this post wasn't entirely obvious to everyone. I know that I certainly didn't have a clear appreciation for how much things like merchants and courthouses improve your research rate until I did the math. I've included the derivation of the beaker-gold ratio in the spoiler below, but it's not necessary to understand the concepts in this article. And yes I spend too much time on this game - but if you got this far in the post, so do you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Feel free to argue or point out errors, thanks for reading![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Appendix[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The numbers G, M, B, and b are the same as in the text.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We define the 'ideal' research rate, x, as that at which there is no change in the treasury.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (1 - x)(G - M) + M = 0, which means x = G/(G - M)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the ideal rate, we make x(B - b) + b beakers. This is x(B - b) more beakers than at 0%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And at 100%, we make B - (x(B - b) + b) = (1 - x)(B - b) more beakers than the ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we use a given amount of gold G0 for deficit research?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We can sustain 100% science for G0/(-M) turns, so we make (1 - x)(B - b)*G0/(-M) extra beakers.[NEWLINE]Using our expression for x, this simplifies to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (B - b)/(G - M) is our beaker to gold ratio.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we turn off research until we build up a given amount G0?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It takes us G0/G turns to build the given wealth, so we lose x(B - b)*G0/G,[NEWLINE]simplifying to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And again we see the ratio (B - b)/(G - M), and we note we can't get extra beakers by changing the slider.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Gold, Beakers, and Deficit Research[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Quechua[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this article, I hope to clarify the research value of gold. The discussion won't involve any hidden game mechanics, and it may already be well understood by experienced players. Still, we will give an unambiguous answer to certain key questions. Can you cut research times by clever manipulation of the slider? Can running merchant specialists be more benificial to your tech rate than running scientists? How much do buildings like courthouses or markets affect your research? What is a fair trading price for techs?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But before we begin, what is gold even good for in the first place? We can certainly use gold in trades, but why does gold have value for our trading partners? One important answer is that through Universal Suffrage or unit upgrades, gold can be an empire-wide substitute for production. These abilities can be critical, but they are not used on most turns, and we will not consider them much here. But every turn from the time the second city is founded, gold is necessary to pay the costs of our empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Ideal Slider Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't already have enough gold in your treasury, you must use a fraction of your incoming commerce as gold to pay maintenance each turn. We will consider an 'ideal' percentage of commerce at which there is no net change in the treasury. Since the slider is limited to increments of 10% this is rarely exactly possible, but in practice it is no different from adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you do already have enough gold, you can just leave the slider at 100% and let the maintenance eat away at your treasury. If we consider our 'standard' science rate to be that at the ideal slider point, after a number of turns we find we have lost a certain amount of gold from the treasury and we have produced more beakers than we would have at the standard rate. It is as if the gold has been converted into beakers - this is what we mean by deficit research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this situation defines a beaker value for any given amount of gold - the amount of extra beakers we produce if we set research to 100% until the given amount is fully spent on maintenance. But gold also has a beaker value in terms of the beakers we would lose if we set research to 0% until we have produced the given amount of gold. If you do the math (it's easy to check any statement I make here), you will find that the two beaker-per-gold ratios are exactly the same.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of researching at the ideal slider rate, we might turn off research for several turns to build a treasury, and then use that treasury for deficit research. But the fact that there is one beaker-per-gold ratio means that we produce exactly the same amount of beakers using either method (ignoring rounding errors). This is true for any two paths of research that begin and end at the same treasury value. And if they end at different treasury values we can easily find the difference in beakers produced by converting the treasury difference using the ratio. This is why it makes sense to talk about an ideal slider rate. Constantly adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point so that there is not much change in the treasury will produce almost exactly the same tech rate as the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These concepts allow us to blur the distinction between gold and beakers. In an abstract sense, we always research at the ideal slider rate, regardless of the position of the slider. If the slider is set below the ideal slider rate, some of our beakers are 'stored' as gold. If the slider is above the ideal rate we unlock some extra beakers through deficit research. If we are in the happy situation of running a surplus at 100% science, it is as if the ideal slider rate is higher than 100%. Since we can't ever set the slider higher than this ideal point, some of our ideal beakers must always be stored as surplus gold. We can never unlock extra beakers through deficit research in this situation, but the equivalence implied by the beaker-per-gold ratio still has abstract meaning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Finding the Ratio[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This magic ratio is much easier to find than you might think. It is simply the total amount of beakers that can be produced due to commerce, divided by the total amount of gold due to commerce. To find this, turn the slider to 100%, and record the net change in gold (typically negative), which we'll call M, and also find the total amount of beakers produced, B, using the Financial Advisor. Now switch the slider to 0%, and find the total amount of gold produced, G, and also record any beakers, b, which are produced at 0% research. The ratio we are looking for is just (B - b)/(G - M).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For example: b = 38 which results in G = 359, while B = 736 results in M = -93[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So in this case our beaker-gold ratio is (736-38)/(359+93) = 1.54[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My choice of parameters is conventional. Instead of using the numbers G and M, we may use the gold values listed in the Financial Advisor. And as will soon become clear, we may compare the four parameters at any two distinct slider values.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2] Gold and Beaker Multipliers [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have no beaker or gold multiplying buildings (libraries, markets, etc), this ratio will be exactly 1, since commerce is converted into beakers and gold at the same rate. This suggests the beaker value of gold depends in some sense on the presence of multiplier buildings in your empire. In fact the ratio is just equal to the average beaker multiplier divided by the average gold multiplier, where the average is weighted by the fraction of commerce a city produces. So the beaker value of gold is fairly stable over time, it only changes if you build new multiplier buildings or significantly change the commerce distribution of your cities. It does not depend on many economically significant actions like hiring or firing specialists, building courthouses, producing wealth or research from production, and so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But what happens when the beaker-per-gold ratio does change? If you already have gold in your treasury, its value for deficit research also changes. You can take advantage of this by manipulating the amount of gold in your treasury. If your ratio increases, you will get more extra beakers from deficit research than before, but you will also lose more potential beakers in accumulating a given amount of gold. So if you accumulate the gold before the ratio change, you will gain some extra beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a little abstract, so let's consider an example. Suppose you're building Oxford in a commerce city (beakers from specialists complicate this example, but not the idea in general). You can set the slider to 0% a few turns before Oxford is complete, and then spend the gold on deficit research afterwards. Since you are producing no beakers to multiply, the situation is no different than if you had built Oxford a few turns earlier, when you had started 0% research. Spending the gold produced during these turns will give you the same amount of beakers as researching at the ideal rate, but here it is as if you already get the better science multiplier a few turns before Oxford is built![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to realize that it doesn't matter how or when you accumulate the gold before the ratio increase. The advantage comes from the change in the value of deficit research. Setting the slider to 0% just before a new beaker multiplier comes into effect simply allows you to plan fewer turns in advance (and makes the example above easier to understand).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A similar situation holds for decreases in the ratio. When you build gold-multiplying buildings, you lose less potential beakers in producing a given amount of gold, but you also get less extra beakers from deficit research. This may be a little confusing - you do not actually get less total beakers when you spend gold on deficit research, but since your ideal slider rate increases, less of those beakers are 'extra.' So it may be wise to spend your treasury on deficit research before the beaker value of gold decreases. This lets you take advantage of extra beakers you couldn't get during those turns by researching at the lower ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Gold vs. Beakers[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now we return to the questions we set out to answer. Running a merchant specialist reduces your net expenses, thus increasing your ideal slider rate - indirectly increasing your beakers per turn. Can a merchant produce more beakers than a scientist? The answer depends on what multiplier buildings you have in the city in question, as well as the average multipliers in you empire as a whole. If your cities have many beaker multipliers (libraries, monastaries...) but you've been neglecting your gold multipliers (grocers, banks...), then gold has a higher value in terms of beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As an extreme example, say you have a library, university, observatory, and laboratory in each one of your cities - but you have almost no gold multipliers...just a bank in one city. In that city with a bank, a merchant will produce 4 gold (rounded down) while a scientist will produce 6 beakers. But since the beaker-per-gold ratio in your empire will be very close to 2, the merchant will help your research rate more than a scientist. This will be true in any city that has better gold multipliers than your empire-wide average (unless the beaker multiplier there is also much higher than average).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How much do buildings that reduce your maintenance affect your research rate? This question is easy to answer. If a developing city costs 8 gold in maintenance, a courthouse is effectively giving you 4 gold. With the magic ratio we can find the equivalent amount of beakers. And unless the city is bringing in significant commerce, or gold has low value in your empire, the courthouse will probably help your research more than a library.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about buildings like markets and grocers? The extra gold from the building depends on the ideal slider rate, and this building will also change the current beaker-per-gold ratio. Unfortunately there is no simple formula that exactly determines the extra beakers produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But we can still make some assertions. For example, say you have libraries throughout your empire but not many markets. If your maintenance is bad enough that your ideal slider rate is near 50%, then building a grocer in a city has more immediate benefit to research than a university. If your ideal slider rate is higher, less commerce is devoted to gold and so gold-multipliers have less research value. This may just be considered common sense, but what is not obvious is the role of the beaker-to-gold ratio. If this ratio is high a grocer could still be better for research even for ideal rates approaching 70%. But for even higher ideal slider rates, it is doubtful that the value of gold could ever be high enough to compensate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tech Buying[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So far we have been speaking about the research value of small amounts of gold per turn. What about decisions like whether to use a Great Merchant for a lightbulb or a trade mission? Large amounts of gold and beakers involve more strategic elements. Gold is not 'converted' to beakers instantly through deficit research. Your net expenses per turn (the number M in the above formula) determines the time for the 'conversion' to take place. Unless you plan to use the production aspects of gold it is usually better to get the same amount of beakers now in the form of a tech, rather than over several turns by using gold for deficit research. A Great Merchant still may present a tough decision since the beaker value of a trade mission is typically much higher than the beakers gotten through lightbulbing - and the beakers eventually produced through settling will typically be much higher than both.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the 'value' of large sums of gold has no simple mathematical definition. Even so, the beaker-gold ratio gives a decent rule-of-thumb for pricing techs in trades. If you are buying a tech from an AI for more gold than the value of the beaker cost, you are probably getting a bad deal. You could research the tech faster than you could produce the gold you are trading. On the other hand - if it prevents a fair tech trade - it may be disadvantageous to sell a tech for its 'fair' gold value. The seller potentially gives up a tech now for the same amount of beakers over a delayed time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is still possible to have a mutually beneficial tech buying trade, though. The player buying the tech may have a lower beaker value of gold than the seller, and the production aspects of gold may have higher strategic value for the seller. A less common situation would be where the buyer is running a surplus at 100%. In this case the buyer can't actually research at the ideal slider rate, so it would take longer to research the tech than it would to produce the equivalent gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More importantly, in a tech buying deal the seller does not lose the traded tech, while the buyer loses the value of the gold. This means it often makes sense to price a tech for less than the beaker value in gold. Even so, the AI tends to give you close to the beaker value in gold when you sell to them. So tech selling can sometimes get you more delayed beakers than a tech trade, while the AI also loses a similar amount.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE].......................[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this post wasn't entirely obvious to everyone. I know that I certainly didn't have a clear appreciation for how much things like merchants and courthouses improve your research rate until I did the math. I've included the derivation of the beaker-gold ratio in the spoiler below, but it's not necessary to understand the concepts in this article. And yes I spend too much time on this game - but if you got this far in the post, so do you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Feel free to argue or point out errors, thanks for reading![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Appendix[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The numbers G, M, B, and b are the same as in the text.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We define the 'ideal' research rate, x, as that at which there is no change in the treasury.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (1 - x)(G - M) + M = 0, which means x = G/(G - M)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the ideal rate, we make x(B - b) + b beakers. This is x(B - b) more beakers than at 0%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And at 100%, we make B - (x(B - b) + b) = (1 - x)(B - b) more beakers than the ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we use a given amount of gold G0 for deficit research?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We can sustain 100% science for G0/(-M) turns, so we make (1 - x)(B - b)*G0/(-M) extra beakers.[NEWLINE]Using our expression for x, this simplifies to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (B - b)/(G - M) is our beaker to gold ratio.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we turn off research until we build up a given amount G0?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It takes us G0/G turns to build the given wealth, so we lose x(B - b)*G0/G,[NEWLINE]simplifying to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And again we see the ratio (B - b)/(G - M), and we note we can't get extra beakers by changing the slider.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Gold, Beakers, and Deficit Research[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Quechua[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this article, I hope to clarify the research value of gold. The discussion won't involve any hidden game mechanics, and it may already be well understood by experienced players. Still, we will give an unambiguous answer to certain key questions. Can you cut research times by clever manipulation of the slider? Can running merchant specialists be more benificial to your tech rate than running scientists? How much do buildings like courthouses or markets affect your research? What is a fair trading price for techs?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But before we begin, what is gold even good for in the first place? We can certainly use gold in trades, but why does gold have value for our trading partners? One important answer is that through Universal Suffrage or unit upgrades, gold can be an empire-wide substitute for production. These abilities can be critical, but they are not used on most turns, and we will not consider them much here. But every turn from the time the second city is founded, gold is necessary to pay the costs of our empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Ideal Slider Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't already have enough gold in your treasury, you must use a fraction of your incoming commerce as gold to pay maintenance each turn. We will consider an 'ideal' percentage of commerce at which there is no net change in the treasury. Since the slider is limited to increments of 10% this is rarely exactly possible, but in practice it is no different from adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you do already have enough gold, you can just leave the slider at 100% and let the maintenance eat away at your treasury. If we consider our 'standard' science rate to be that at the ideal slider point, after a number of turns we find we have lost a certain amount of gold from the treasury and we have produced more beakers than we would have at the standard rate. It is as if the gold has been converted into beakers - this is what we mean by deficit research.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this situation defines a beaker value for any given amount of gold - the amount of extra beakers we produce if we set research to 100% until the given amount is fully spent on maintenance. But gold also has a beaker value in terms of the beakers we would lose if we set research to 0% until we have produced the given amount of gold. If you do the math (it's easy to check any statement I make here), you will find that the two beaker-per-gold ratios are exactly the same.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of researching at the ideal slider rate, we might turn off research for several turns to build a treasury, and then use that treasury for deficit research. But the fact that there is one beaker-per-gold ratio means that we produce exactly the same amount of beakers using either method (ignoring rounding errors). This is true for any two paths of research that begin and end at the same treasury value. And if they end at different treasury values we can easily find the difference in beakers produced by converting the treasury difference using the ratio. This is why it makes sense to talk about an ideal slider rate. Constantly adjusting the slider above and below the ideal point so that there is not much change in the treasury will produce almost exactly the same tech rate as the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These concepts allow us to blur the distinction between gold and beakers. In an abstract sense, we always research at the ideal slider rate, regardless of the position of the slider. If the slider is set below the ideal slider rate, some of our beakers are 'stored' as gold. If the slider is above the ideal rate we unlock some extra beakers through deficit research. If we are in the happy situation of running a surplus at 100% science, it is as if the ideal slider rate is higher than 100%. Since we can't ever set the slider higher than this ideal point, some of our ideal beakers must always be stored as surplus gold. We can never unlock extra beakers through deficit research in this situation, but the equivalence implied by the beaker-per-gold ratio still has abstract meaning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Finding the Ratio[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This magic ratio is much easier to find than you might think. It is simply the total amount of beakers that can be produced due to commerce, divided by the total amount of gold due to commerce. To find this, turn the slider to 100%, and record the net change in gold (typically negative), which we'll call M, and also find the total amount of beakers produced, B, using the Financial Advisor. Now switch the slider to 0%, and find the total amount of gold produced, G, and also record any beakers, b, which are produced at 0% research. The ratio we are looking for is just (B - b)/(G - M).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For example: b = 38 which results in G = 359, while B = 736 results in M = -93[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So in this case our beaker-gold ratio is (736-38)/(359+93) = 1.54[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My choice of parameters is conventional. Instead of using the numbers G and M, we may use the gold values listed in the Financial Advisor. And as will soon become clear, we may compare the four parameters at any two distinct slider values.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2] Gold and Beaker Multipliers [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have no beaker or gold multiplying buildings (libraries, markets, etc), this ratio will be exactly 1, since commerce is converted into beakers and gold at the same rate. This suggests the beaker value of gold depends in some sense on the presence of multiplier buildings in your empire. In fact the ratio is just equal to the average beaker multiplier divided by the average gold multiplier, where the average is weighted by the fraction of commerce a city produces. So the beaker value of gold is fairly stable over time, it only changes if you build new multiplier buildings or significantly change the commerce distribution of your cities. It does not depend on many economically significant actions like hiring or firing specialists, building courthouses, producing wealth or research from production, and so forth.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But what happens when the beaker-per-gold ratio does change? If you already have gold in your treasury, its value for deficit research also changes. You can take advantage of this by manipulating the amount of gold in your treasury. If your ratio increases, you will get more extra beakers from deficit research than before, but you will also lose more potential beakers in accumulating a given amount of gold. So if you accumulate the gold before the ratio change, you will gain some extra beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a little abstract, so let's consider an example. Suppose you're building Oxford in a commerce city (beakers from specialists complicate this example, but not the idea in general). You can set the slider to 0% a few turns before Oxford is complete, and then spend the gold on deficit research afterwards. Since you are producing no beakers to multiply, the situation is no different than if you had built Oxford a few turns earlier, when you had started 0% research. Spending the gold produced during these turns will give you the same amount of beakers as researching at the ideal rate, but here it is as if you already get the better science multiplier a few turns before Oxford is built![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to realize that it doesn't matter how or when you accumulate the gold before the ratio increase. The advantage comes from the change in the value of deficit research. Setting the slider to 0% just before a new beaker multiplier comes into effect simply allows you to plan fewer turns in advance (and makes the example above easier to understand).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A similar situation holds for decreases in the ratio. When you build gold-multiplying buildings, you lose less potential beakers in producing a given amount of gold, but you also get less extra beakers from deficit research. This may be a little confusing - you do not actually get less total beakers when you spend gold on deficit research, but since your ideal slider rate increases, less of those beakers are 'extra.' So it may be wise to spend your treasury on deficit research before the beaker value of gold decreases. This lets you take advantage of extra beakers you couldn't get during those turns by researching at the lower ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Gold vs. Beakers[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now we return to the questions we set out to answer. Running a merchant specialist reduces your net expenses, thus increasing your ideal slider rate - indirectly increasing your beakers per turn. Can a merchant produce more beakers than a scientist? The answer depends on what multiplier buildings you have in the city in question, as well as the average multipliers in you empire as a whole. If your cities have many beaker multipliers (libraries, monastaries...) but you've been neglecting your gold multipliers (grocers, banks...), then gold has a higher value in terms of beakers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As an extreme example, say you have a library, university, observatory, and laboratory in each one of your cities - but you have almost no gold multipliers...just a bank in one city. In that city with a bank, a merchant will produce 4 gold (rounded down) while a scientist will produce 6 beakers. But since the beaker-per-gold ratio in your empire will be very close to 2, the merchant will help your research rate more than a scientist. This will be true in any city that has better gold multipliers than your empire-wide average (unless the beaker multiplier there is also much higher than average).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]How much do buildings that reduce your maintenance affect your research rate? This question is easy to answer. If a developing city costs 8 gold in maintenance, a courthouse is effectively giving you 4 gold. With the magic ratio we can find the equivalent amount of beakers. And unless the city is bringing in significant commerce, or gold has low value in your empire, the courthouse will probably help your research more than a library.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What about buildings like markets and grocers? The extra gold from the building depends on the ideal slider rate, and this building will also change the current beaker-per-gold ratio. Unfortunately there is no simple formula that exactly determines the extra beakers produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But we can still make some assertions. For example, say you have libraries throughout your empire but not many markets. If your maintenance is bad enough that your ideal slider rate is near 50%, then building a grocer in a city has more immediate benefit to research than a university. If your ideal slider rate is higher, less commerce is devoted to gold and so gold-multipliers have less research value. This may just be considered common sense, but what is not obvious is the role of the beaker-to-gold ratio. If this ratio is high a grocer could still be better for research even for ideal rates approaching 70%. But for even higher ideal slider rates, it is doubtful that the value of gold could ever be high enough to compensate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tech Buying[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So far we have been speaking about the research value of small amounts of gold per turn. What about decisions like whether to use a Great Merchant for a lightbulb or a trade mission? Large amounts of gold and beakers involve more strategic elements. Gold is not 'converted' to beakers instantly through deficit research. Your net expenses per turn (the number M in the above formula) determines the time for the 'conversion' to take place. Unless you plan to use the production aspects of gold it is usually better to get the same amount of beakers now in the form of a tech, rather than over several turns by using gold for deficit research. A Great Merchant still may present a tough decision since the beaker value of a trade mission is typically much higher than the beakers gotten through lightbulbing - and the beakers eventually produced through settling will typically be much higher than both.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the 'value' of large sums of gold has no simple mathematical definition. Even so, the beaker-gold ratio gives a decent rule-of-thumb for pricing techs in trades. If you are buying a tech from an AI for more gold than the value of the beaker cost, you are probably getting a bad deal. You could research the tech faster than you could produce the gold you are trading. On the other hand - if it prevents a fair tech trade - it may be disadvantageous to sell a tech for its 'fair' gold value. The seller potentially gives up a tech now for the same amount of beakers over a delayed time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is still possible to have a mutually beneficial tech buying trade, though. The player buying the tech may have a lower beaker value of gold than the seller, and the production aspects of gold may have higher strategic value for the seller. A less common situation would be where the buyer is running a surplus at 100%. In this case the buyer can't actually research at the ideal slider rate, so it would take longer to research the tech than it would to produce the equivalent gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More importantly, in a tech buying deal the seller does not lose the traded tech, while the buyer loses the value of the gold. This means it often makes sense to price a tech for less than the beaker value in gold. Even so, the AI tends to give you close to the beaker value in gold when you sell to them. So tech selling can sometimes get you more delayed beakers than a tech trade, while the AI also loses a similar amount.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE].......................[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this post wasn't entirely obvious to everyone. I know that I certainly didn't have a clear appreciation for how much things like merchants and courthouses improve your research rate until I did the math. I've included the derivation of the beaker-gold ratio in the spoiler below, but it's not necessary to understand the concepts in this article. And yes I spend too much time on this game - but if you got this far in the post, so do you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Feel free to argue or point out errors, thanks for reading![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Appendix[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The numbers G, M, B, and b are the same as in the text.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We define the 'ideal' research rate, x, as that at which there is no change in the treasury.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (1 - x)(G - M) + M = 0, which means x = G/(G - M)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the ideal rate, we make x(B - b) + b beakers. This is x(B - b) more beakers than at 0%[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And at 100%, we make B - (x(B - b) + b) = (1 - x)(B - b) more beakers than the ideal rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we use a given amount of gold G0 for deficit research?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We can sustain 100% science for G0/(-M) turns, so we make (1 - x)(B - b)*G0/(-M) extra beakers.[NEWLINE]Using our expression for x, this simplifies to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So (B - b)/(G - M) is our beaker to gold ratio.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What happens if we turn off research until we build up a given amount G0?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It takes us G0/G turns to build the given wealth, so we lose x(B - b)*G0/G,[NEWLINE]simplifying to (B - b)/(G - M) * G0.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And again we see the ratio (B - b)/(G - M), and we note we can't get extra beakers by changing the slider.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CITY_SPECALIZATION_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Specialization of Cities[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]iwas[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the biggest ways Civ4 is different from Civ3 is in the way we choose locations for cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Civ3, city placement was a sort of checklist, and the cities with the most checks were usually the best. Fresh water, check. Hills/mountains for production, check. Food tiles for growth, check. Resources, check. On the coast, check. And so on; you wanted the best checklist cities possible because with the exception of cultural victory cities and maybe super science cities (with double sci wonders), [BOLD]all cities really did the same thing[\BOLD]. This is not so in Civ4, and when I first made the transition the need to specialize cities was one of the things that was most confusing to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Why Specialize?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are a number of factors that force us to specialize our cities. They are, in no particular order:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Great People system[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The nature of GP makes it far more beneficial to have one city produce a ton of GPP than have a bunch of cities all make a little bit of GPP.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Roads no longer produce commerce.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In Civ3, we didn't need to make commerce-specific cities because every large, fully roaded (or RRed) city produced a lot of commerce on its own. This is not so in Civ4; you need to build a specific improvement (cottage) in order to increase a tile's commerce.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]National wonder complement each other, but you can only build 2 per city.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]It is a great idea to have Heroic Epic and West Point in the same city; it will build military units faster and give them bonus experience to boot. Since the national wonders usually give a percent benefit to one aspect of a city's production, it obviously behooves us to ensure that the aspect receiving the bonus is as high as possible.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]# of city upkeep forces us to limit the number of cities we found.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This is probably the biggest difference from Civ3. There was a penalty from founding too many cities in Civ3 (corruption), but it was nowhere near as crippling as the penalty is in Civ4. Since we are severely limited in the number of cities we can make, we obviously want to make the most of those cities. (One thing that strikes me as odd about this is the dissolution of colonies in Civ4. If the game is designed to discourage founding a city specifically to get an important resource, shouldn't there be a built in alternative?)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Culture provides a defensive bonus.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This means that in addition to any logistical benefits, a few high culture cities will always be easier to defend than a horde of low culture cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Religion![\BOLD][NEWLINE]Simply put it is easier to spread religion to all of your cities if you have less cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now that we have a good idea of why it specializing is good, let's look at the three basic types of cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The House of Commerce[\BOLD], aka Moneybag City, Goldsville[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Essentially, this is a city that is designed to get as much commerce as possible. You will end up building cottages on almost every tile in the city's fat t, but it is important to have enough food to ensure that the city grows quickly. This city will have lots of gold (and therefore science), so it behooves you to build +% gold/science improvements here (depending on what you are doing at the time)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When looking for places for commerce cities, remember that while eventual gold production is important, you also need to consider the speed at which the city will reach its optimal size. You could have the highest gold city in the world and it would be useless if it takes all game to get to size 6.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have to balance this need for food with early cottage placement, however. Cottages take a long time to grow fully, and need to be worked in order to grow. You need to be wary of the opposite of the high-gold-no-people commerce city; the high-people-no-towns commerce city. Balance working food tiles and cottages while your commerce city grows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider rivers carefully. Rivers provide a bonus to both commerce and, through farming, food. You need to decide whether to use a river for your commerce city or for...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The GP Farm[\BOLD] aka Specialistville, Wondertown.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city is built on pure population, converted into specialists to produce GPP. In low levels you can usually count on wonders to produce a good amount of GPP, but specialists are more reliably attainable and above all, convertible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Look for fertile ground with lots of bonus food. If you also want to get wonders for GPP, you will need a good amount of production as well, so some hills would probably be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it would be a good idea to get +GPP improvements/wonders here. National Epic should go here for sure.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more thing - never put super-specialists in your GP Farm. GP Farms usually produce a fair amount of culture/beakers/commerce just by having so many specialists, but never forget that their primary purpose is making GP. Put the super-specialists in a place that could really use the extra production, like...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Factory[\BOLD], aka Anviltown, Hill-Land, Detroit[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What the house of commerce is for money and the GP farm is for food, the factory is for production. This city, when fully developed, should be capable of producing a ton of hammers per turn, and be fully endowed with national wonders that increase either production or the benefits of it. I have already mentioned my personal favorite combination of national wonders for the factory: Heroic Epic and West Point. Other combinations are possible too, most using Iron Works in some way. It is sometimes necessary to distinguish between a military factory and a wonder/SS/other factory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What I said about the commerce city and growth holds true for the factory as well; you need to emphasis production, yes, but the city also has to grow. Remember, you can put a factory on the coast too, for mass production of ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it is very difficult to have every single city in your empire be specialized in one direction (especially if you didn't found the cities). Use common sense and don't be too afraid to found a hybrid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to knowing what sort of cities you can build, you should know when to go for what type. It is when deciding which strategy to go for that Civ4 really begins to shine; there are so many considerations and layers of strategy that it is impossible to say what is best for every situation, but I think I can spew out some general guidelines:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider your leader traits when deciding where to found your core! A financial civ should make getting a commerce city a priority; a philosophical leader should seriously consider a GP farm almost immediately. It is important to maximize your benefit from both of your leader's traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your civics carefully, as to maximize your advantages and minimize your disadvantages. If your GP farm is booming, but your commerce city is lagging behind (and thus slowing your research), you should seriously consider Representation. Don't become addicted to any one civic! They are all viable, and will remain so throughout the game (except for the civics that Emancipation kind of kills.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have an overall plan! I cannot stress this enough. In Civ4, more than ever, it is important to start reaching for your eventual goals at the beginning of the game. You want some flexibility of course; it doesn't work to be hell-bent on military conquest and then discover you lack Copper and Iron. But whenever you found a city, ask yourself, "How does this city help me reach my overall goal?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you guys find this article helpful.</English>
		<French>[H1]Specialization of Cities[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]iwas[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the biggest ways Civ4 is different from Civ3 is in the way we choose locations for cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Civ3, city placement was a sort of checklist, and the cities with the most checks were usually the best. Fresh water, check. Hills/mountains for production, check. Food tiles for growth, check. Resources, check. On the coast, check. And so on; you wanted the best checklist cities possible because with the exception of cultural victory cities and maybe super science cities (with double sci wonders), [BOLD]all cities really did the same thing[\BOLD]. This is not so in Civ4, and when I first made the transition the need to specialize cities was one of the things that was most confusing to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Why Specialize?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are a number of factors that force us to specialize our cities. They are, in no particular order:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Great People system[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The nature of GP makes it far more beneficial to have one city produce a ton of GPP than have a bunch of cities all make a little bit of GPP.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Roads no longer produce commerce.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In Civ3, we didn't need to make commerce-specific cities because every large, fully roaded (or RRed) city produced a lot of commerce on its own. This is not so in Civ4; you need to build a specific improvement (cottage) in order to increase a tile's commerce.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]National wonder complement each other, but you can only build 2 per city.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]It is a great idea to have Heroic Epic and West Point in the same city; it will build military units faster and give them bonus experience to boot. Since the national wonders usually give a percent benefit to one aspect of a city's production, it obviously behooves us to ensure that the aspect receiving the bonus is as high as possible.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]# of city upkeep forces us to limit the number of cities we found.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This is probably the biggest difference from Civ3. There was a penalty from founding too many cities in Civ3 (corruption), but it was nowhere near as crippling as the penalty is in Civ4. Since we are severely limited in the number of cities we can make, we obviously want to make the most of those cities. (One thing that strikes me as odd about this is the dissolution of colonies in Civ4. If the game is designed to discourage founding a city specifically to get an important resource, shouldn't there be a built in alternative?)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Culture provides a defensive bonus.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This means that in addition to any logistical benefits, a few high culture cities will always be easier to defend than a horde of low culture cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Religion![\BOLD][NEWLINE]Simply put it is easier to spread religion to all of your cities if you have less cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now that we have a good idea of why it specializing is good, let's look at the three basic types of cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The House of Commerce[\BOLD], aka Moneybag City, Goldsville[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Essentially, this is a city that is designed to get as much commerce as possible. You will end up building cottages on almost every tile in the city's fat t, but it is important to have enough food to ensure that the city grows quickly. This city will have lots of gold (and therefore science), so it behooves you to build +% gold/science improvements here (depending on what you are doing at the time)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When looking for places for commerce cities, remember that while eventual gold production is important, you also need to consider the speed at which the city will reach its optimal size. You could have the highest gold city in the world and it would be useless if it takes all game to get to size 6.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have to balance this need for food with early cottage placement, however. Cottages take a long time to grow fully, and need to be worked in order to grow. You need to be wary of the opposite of the high-gold-no-people commerce city; the high-people-no-towns commerce city. Balance working food tiles and cottages while your commerce city grows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider rivers carefully. Rivers provide a bonus to both commerce and, through farming, food. You need to decide whether to use a river for your commerce city or for...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The GP Farm[\BOLD] aka Specialistville, Wondertown.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city is built on pure population, converted into specialists to produce GPP. In low levels you can usually count on wonders to produce a good amount of GPP, but specialists are more reliably attainable and above all, convertible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Look for fertile ground with lots of bonus food. If you also want to get wonders for GPP, you will need a good amount of production as well, so some hills would probably be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it would be a good idea to get +GPP improvements/wonders here. National Epic should go here for sure.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more thing - never put super-specialists in your GP Farm. GP Farms usually produce a fair amount of culture/beakers/commerce just by having so many specialists, but never forget that their primary purpose is making GP. Put the super-specialists in a place that could really use the extra production, like...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Factory[\BOLD], aka Anviltown, Hill-Land, Detroit[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What the house of commerce is for money and the GP farm is for food, the factory is for production. This city, when fully developed, should be capable of producing a ton of hammers per turn, and be fully endowed with national wonders that increase either production or the benefits of it. I have already mentioned my personal favorite combination of national wonders for the factory: Heroic Epic and West Point. Other combinations are possible too, most using Iron Works in some way. It is sometimes necessary to distinguish between a military factory and a wonder/SS/other factory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What I said about the commerce city and growth holds true for the factory as well; you need to emphasis production, yes, but the city also has to grow. Remember, you can put a factory on the coast too, for mass production of ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it is very difficult to have every single city in your empire be specialized in one direction (especially if you didn't found the cities). Use common sense and don't be too afraid to found a hybrid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to knowing what sort of cities you can build, you should know when to go for what type. It is when deciding which strategy to go for that Civ4 really begins to shine; there are so many considerations and layers of strategy that it is impossible to say what is best for every situation, but I think I can spew out some general guidelines:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider your leader traits when deciding where to found your core! A financial civ should make getting a commerce city a priority; a philosophical leader should seriously consider a GP farm almost immediately. It is important to maximize your benefit from both of your leader's traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your civics carefully, as to maximize your advantages and minimize your disadvantages. If your GP farm is booming, but your commerce city is lagging behind (and thus slowing your research), you should seriously consider Representation. Don't become addicted to any one civic! They are all viable, and will remain so throughout the game (except for the civics that Emancipation kind of kills.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have an overall plan! I cannot stress this enough. In Civ4, more than ever, it is important to start reaching for your eventual goals at the beginning of the game. You want some flexibility of course; it doesn't work to be hell-bent on military conquest and then discover you lack Copper and Iron. But whenever you found a city, ask yourself, "How does this city help me reach my overall goal?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you guys find this article helpful.</French>
		<German>[H1]Specialization of Cities[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]iwas[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the biggest ways Civ4 is different from Civ3 is in the way we choose locations for cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Civ3, city placement was a sort of checklist, and the cities with the most checks were usually the best. Fresh water, check. Hills/mountains for production, check. Food tiles for growth, check. Resources, check. On the coast, check. And so on; you wanted the best checklist cities possible because with the exception of cultural victory cities and maybe super science cities (with double sci wonders), [BOLD]all cities really did the same thing[\BOLD]. This is not so in Civ4, and when I first made the transition the need to specialize cities was one of the things that was most confusing to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Why Specialize?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are a number of factors that force us to specialize our cities. They are, in no particular order:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Great People system[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The nature of GP makes it far more beneficial to have one city produce a ton of GPP than have a bunch of cities all make a little bit of GPP.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Roads no longer produce commerce.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In Civ3, we didn't need to make commerce-specific cities because every large, fully roaded (or RRed) city produced a lot of commerce on its own. This is not so in Civ4; you need to build a specific improvement (cottage) in order to increase a tile's commerce.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]National wonder complement each other, but you can only build 2 per city.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]It is a great idea to have Heroic Epic and West Point in the same city; it will build military units faster and give them bonus experience to boot. Since the national wonders usually give a percent benefit to one aspect of a city's production, it obviously behooves us to ensure that the aspect receiving the bonus is as high as possible.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]# of city upkeep forces us to limit the number of cities we found.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This is probably the biggest difference from Civ3. There was a penalty from founding too many cities in Civ3 (corruption), but it was nowhere near as crippling as the penalty is in Civ4. Since we are severely limited in the number of cities we can make, we obviously want to make the most of those cities. (One thing that strikes me as odd about this is the dissolution of colonies in Civ4. If the game is designed to discourage founding a city specifically to get an important resource, shouldn't there be a built in alternative?)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Culture provides a defensive bonus.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This means that in addition to any logistical benefits, a few high culture cities will always be easier to defend than a horde of low culture cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Religion![\BOLD][NEWLINE]Simply put it is easier to spread religion to all of your cities if you have less cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now that we have a good idea of why it specializing is good, let's look at the three basic types of cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The House of Commerce[\BOLD], aka Moneybag City, Goldsville[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Essentially, this is a city that is designed to get as much commerce as possible. You will end up building cottages on almost every tile in the city's fat t, but it is important to have enough food to ensure that the city grows quickly. This city will have lots of gold (and therefore science), so it behooves you to build +% gold/science improvements here (depending on what you are doing at the time)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When looking for places for commerce cities, remember that while eventual gold production is important, you also need to consider the speed at which the city will reach its optimal size. You could have the highest gold city in the world and it would be useless if it takes all game to get to size 6.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have to balance this need for food with early cottage placement, however. Cottages take a long time to grow fully, and need to be worked in order to grow. You need to be wary of the opposite of the high-gold-no-people commerce city; the high-people-no-towns commerce city. Balance working food tiles and cottages while your commerce city grows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider rivers carefully. Rivers provide a bonus to both commerce and, through farming, food. You need to decide whether to use a river for your commerce city or for...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The GP Farm[\BOLD] aka Specialistville, Wondertown.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city is built on pure population, converted into specialists to produce GPP. In low levels you can usually count on wonders to produce a good amount of GPP, but specialists are more reliably attainable and above all, convertible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Look for fertile ground with lots of bonus food. If you also want to get wonders for GPP, you will need a good amount of production as well, so some hills would probably be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it would be a good idea to get +GPP improvements/wonders here. National Epic should go here for sure.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more thing - never put super-specialists in your GP Farm. GP Farms usually produce a fair amount of culture/beakers/commerce just by having so many specialists, but never forget that their primary purpose is making GP. Put the super-specialists in a place that could really use the extra production, like...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Factory[\BOLD], aka Anviltown, Hill-Land, Detroit[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What the house of commerce is for money and the GP farm is for food, the factory is for production. This city, when fully developed, should be capable of producing a ton of hammers per turn, and be fully endowed with national wonders that increase either production or the benefits of it. I have already mentioned my personal favorite combination of national wonders for the factory: Heroic Epic and West Point. Other combinations are possible too, most using Iron Works in some way. It is sometimes necessary to distinguish between a military factory and a wonder/SS/other factory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What I said about the commerce city and growth holds true for the factory as well; you need to emphasis production, yes, but the city also has to grow. Remember, you can put a factory on the coast too, for mass production of ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it is very difficult to have every single city in your empire be specialized in one direction (especially if you didn't found the cities). Use common sense and don't be too afraid to found a hybrid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to knowing what sort of cities you can build, you should know when to go for what type. It is when deciding which strategy to go for that Civ4 really begins to shine; there are so many considerations and layers of strategy that it is impossible to say what is best for every situation, but I think I can spew out some general guidelines:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider your leader traits when deciding where to found your core! A financial civ should make getting a commerce city a priority; a philosophical leader should seriously consider a GP farm almost immediately. It is important to maximize your benefit from both of your leader's traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your civics carefully, as to maximize your advantages and minimize your disadvantages. If your GP farm is booming, but your commerce city is lagging behind (and thus slowing your research), you should seriously consider Representation. Don't become addicted to any one civic! They are all viable, and will remain so throughout the game (except for the civics that Emancipation kind of kills.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have an overall plan! I cannot stress this enough. In Civ4, more than ever, it is important to start reaching for your eventual goals at the beginning of the game. You want some flexibility of course; it doesn't work to be hell-bent on military conquest and then discover you lack Copper and Iron. But whenever you found a city, ask yourself, "How does this city help me reach my overall goal?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you guys find this article helpful.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Specialization of Cities[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]iwas[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the biggest ways Civ4 is different from Civ3 is in the way we choose locations for cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Civ3, city placement was a sort of checklist, and the cities with the most checks were usually the best. Fresh water, check. Hills/mountains for production, check. Food tiles for growth, check. Resources, check. On the coast, check. And so on; you wanted the best checklist cities possible because with the exception of cultural victory cities and maybe super science cities (with double sci wonders), [BOLD]all cities really did the same thing[\BOLD]. This is not so in Civ4, and when I first made the transition the need to specialize cities was one of the things that was most confusing to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Why Specialize?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are a number of factors that force us to specialize our cities. They are, in no particular order:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Great People system[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The nature of GP makes it far more beneficial to have one city produce a ton of GPP than have a bunch of cities all make a little bit of GPP.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Roads no longer produce commerce.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In Civ3, we didn't need to make commerce-specific cities because every large, fully roaded (or RRed) city produced a lot of commerce on its own. This is not so in Civ4; you need to build a specific improvement (cottage) in order to increase a tile's commerce.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]National wonder complement each other, but you can only build 2 per city.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]It is a great idea to have Heroic Epic and West Point in the same city; it will build military units faster and give them bonus experience to boot. Since the national wonders usually give a percent benefit to one aspect of a city's production, it obviously behooves us to ensure that the aspect receiving the bonus is as high as possible.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]# of city upkeep forces us to limit the number of cities we found.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This is probably the biggest difference from Civ3. There was a penalty from founding too many cities in Civ3 (corruption), but it was nowhere near as crippling as the penalty is in Civ4. Since we are severely limited in the number of cities we can make, we obviously want to make the most of those cities. (One thing that strikes me as odd about this is the dissolution of colonies in Civ4. If the game is designed to discourage founding a city specifically to get an important resource, shouldn't there be a built in alternative?)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Culture provides a defensive bonus.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This means that in addition to any logistical benefits, a few high culture cities will always be easier to defend than a horde of low culture cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Religion![\BOLD][NEWLINE]Simply put it is easier to spread religion to all of your cities if you have less cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now that we have a good idea of why it specializing is good, let's look at the three basic types of cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The House of Commerce[\BOLD], aka Moneybag City, Goldsville[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Essentially, this is a city that is designed to get as much commerce as possible. You will end up building cottages on almost every tile in the city's fat t, but it is important to have enough food to ensure that the city grows quickly. This city will have lots of gold (and therefore science), so it behooves you to build +% gold/science improvements here (depending on what you are doing at the time)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When looking for places for commerce cities, remember that while eventual gold production is important, you also need to consider the speed at which the city will reach its optimal size. You could have the highest gold city in the world and it would be useless if it takes all game to get to size 6.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have to balance this need for food with early cottage placement, however. Cottages take a long time to grow fully, and need to be worked in order to grow. You need to be wary of the opposite of the high-gold-no-people commerce city; the high-people-no-towns commerce city. Balance working food tiles and cottages while your commerce city grows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider rivers carefully. Rivers provide a bonus to both commerce and, through farming, food. You need to decide whether to use a river for your commerce city or for...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The GP Farm[\BOLD] aka Specialistville, Wondertown.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city is built on pure population, converted into specialists to produce GPP. In low levels you can usually count on wonders to produce a good amount of GPP, but specialists are more reliably attainable and above all, convertible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Look for fertile ground with lots of bonus food. If you also want to get wonders for GPP, you will need a good amount of production as well, so some hills would probably be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it would be a good idea to get +GPP improvements/wonders here. National Epic should go here for sure.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more thing - never put super-specialists in your GP Farm. GP Farms usually produce a fair amount of culture/beakers/commerce just by having so many specialists, but never forget that their primary purpose is making GP. Put the super-specialists in a place that could really use the extra production, like...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Factory[\BOLD], aka Anviltown, Hill-Land, Detroit[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What the house of commerce is for money and the GP farm is for food, the factory is for production. This city, when fully developed, should be capable of producing a ton of hammers per turn, and be fully endowed with national wonders that increase either production or the benefits of it. I have already mentioned my personal favorite combination of national wonders for the factory: Heroic Epic and West Point. Other combinations are possible too, most using Iron Works in some way. It is sometimes necessary to distinguish between a military factory and a wonder/SS/other factory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What I said about the commerce city and growth holds true for the factory as well; you need to emphasis production, yes, but the city also has to grow. Remember, you can put a factory on the coast too, for mass production of ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it is very difficult to have every single city in your empire be specialized in one direction (especially if you didn't found the cities). Use common sense and don't be too afraid to found a hybrid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to knowing what sort of cities you can build, you should know when to go for what type. It is when deciding which strategy to go for that Civ4 really begins to shine; there are so many considerations and layers of strategy that it is impossible to say what is best for every situation, but I think I can spew out some general guidelines:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider your leader traits when deciding where to found your core! A financial civ should make getting a commerce city a priority; a philosophical leader should seriously consider a GP farm almost immediately. It is important to maximize your benefit from both of your leader's traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your civics carefully, as to maximize your advantages and minimize your disadvantages. If your GP farm is booming, but your commerce city is lagging behind (and thus slowing your research), you should seriously consider Representation. Don't become addicted to any one civic! They are all viable, and will remain so throughout the game (except for the civics that Emancipation kind of kills.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have an overall plan! I cannot stress this enough. In Civ4, more than ever, it is important to start reaching for your eventual goals at the beginning of the game. You want some flexibility of course; it doesn't work to be hell-bent on military conquest and then discover you lack Copper and Iron. But whenever you found a city, ask yourself, "How does this city help me reach my overall goal?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you guys find this article helpful.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Specialization of Cities[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]iwas[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the biggest ways Civ4 is different from Civ3 is in the way we choose locations for cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Civ3, city placement was a sort of checklist, and the cities with the most checks were usually the best. Fresh water, check. Hills/mountains for production, check. Food tiles for growth, check. Resources, check. On the coast, check. And so on; you wanted the best checklist cities possible because with the exception of cultural victory cities and maybe super science cities (with double sci wonders), [BOLD]all cities really did the same thing[\BOLD]. This is not so in Civ4, and when I first made the transition the need to specialize cities was one of the things that was most confusing to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Why Specialize?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are a number of factors that force us to specialize our cities. They are, in no particular order:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Great People system[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The nature of GP makes it far more beneficial to have one city produce a ton of GPP than have a bunch of cities all make a little bit of GPP.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Roads no longer produce commerce.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In Civ3, we didn't need to make commerce-specific cities because every large, fully roaded (or RRed) city produced a lot of commerce on its own. This is not so in Civ4; you need to build a specific improvement (cottage) in order to increase a tile's commerce.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]National wonder complement each other, but you can only build 2 per city.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]It is a great idea to have Heroic Epic and West Point in the same city; it will build military units faster and give them bonus experience to boot. Since the national wonders usually give a percent benefit to one aspect of a city's production, it obviously behooves us to ensure that the aspect receiving the bonus is as high as possible.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]# of city upkeep forces us to limit the number of cities we found.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This is probably the biggest difference from Civ3. There was a penalty from founding too many cities in Civ3 (corruption), but it was nowhere near as crippling as the penalty is in Civ4. Since we are severely limited in the number of cities we can make, we obviously want to make the most of those cities. (One thing that strikes me as odd about this is the dissolution of colonies in Civ4. If the game is designed to discourage founding a city specifically to get an important resource, shouldn't there be a built in alternative?)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Culture provides a defensive bonus.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]This means that in addition to any logistical benefits, a few high culture cities will always be easier to defend than a horde of low culture cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Religion![\BOLD][NEWLINE]Simply put it is easier to spread religion to all of your cities if you have less cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So now that we have a good idea of why it specializing is good, let's look at the three basic types of cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The House of Commerce[\BOLD], aka Moneybag City, Goldsville[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Essentially, this is a city that is designed to get as much commerce as possible. You will end up building cottages on almost every tile in the city's fat t, but it is important to have enough food to ensure that the city grows quickly. This city will have lots of gold (and therefore science), so it behooves you to build +% gold/science improvements here (depending on what you are doing at the time)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When looking for places for commerce cities, remember that while eventual gold production is important, you also need to consider the speed at which the city will reach its optimal size. You could have the highest gold city in the world and it would be useless if it takes all game to get to size 6.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have to balance this need for food with early cottage placement, however. Cottages take a long time to grow fully, and need to be worked in order to grow. You need to be wary of the opposite of the high-gold-no-people commerce city; the high-people-no-towns commerce city. Balance working food tiles and cottages while your commerce city grows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider rivers carefully. Rivers provide a bonus to both commerce and, through farming, food. You need to decide whether to use a river for your commerce city or for...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The GP Farm[\BOLD] aka Specialistville, Wondertown.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This city is built on pure population, converted into specialists to produce GPP. In low levels you can usually count on wonders to produce a good amount of GPP, but specialists are more reliably attainable and above all, convertible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Look for fertile ground with lots of bonus food. If you also want to get wonders for GPP, you will need a good amount of production as well, so some hills would probably be nice too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it would be a good idea to get +GPP improvements/wonders here. National Epic should go here for sure.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One more thing - never put super-specialists in your GP Farm. GP Farms usually produce a fair amount of culture/beakers/commerce just by having so many specialists, but never forget that their primary purpose is making GP. Put the super-specialists in a place that could really use the extra production, like...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Factory[\BOLD], aka Anviltown, Hill-Land, Detroit[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What the house of commerce is for money and the GP farm is for food, the factory is for production. This city, when fully developed, should be capable of producing a ton of hammers per turn, and be fully endowed with national wonders that increase either production or the benefits of it. I have already mentioned my personal favorite combination of national wonders for the factory: Heroic Epic and West Point. Other combinations are possible too, most using Iron Works in some way. It is sometimes necessary to distinguish between a military factory and a wonder/SS/other factory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What I said about the commerce city and growth holds true for the factory as well; you need to emphasis production, yes, but the city also has to grow. Remember, you can put a factory on the coast too, for mass production of ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, it is very difficult to have every single city in your empire be specialized in one direction (especially if you didn't found the cities). Use common sense and don't be too afraid to found a hybrid.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition to knowing what sort of cities you can build, you should know when to go for what type. It is when deciding which strategy to go for that Civ4 really begins to shine; there are so many considerations and layers of strategy that it is impossible to say what is best for every situation, but I think I can spew out some general guidelines:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Consider your leader traits when deciding where to found your core! A financial civ should make getting a commerce city a priority; a philosophical leader should seriously consider a GP farm almost immediately. It is important to maximize your benefit from both of your leader's traits.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your civics carefully, as to maximize your advantages and minimize your disadvantages. If your GP farm is booming, but your commerce city is lagging behind (and thus slowing your research), you should seriously consider Representation. Don't become addicted to any one civic! They are all viable, and will remain so throughout the game (except for the civics that Emancipation kind of kills.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have an overall plan! I cannot stress this enough. In Civ4, more than ever, it is important to start reaching for your eventual goals at the beginning of the game. You want some flexibility of course; it doesn't work to be hell-bent on military conquest and then discover you lack Copper and Iron. But whenever you found a city, ask yourself, "How does this city help me reach my overall goal?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you guys find this article helpful.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRIANGLE_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Triangle Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Polypheus[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Many new players, it seems, do not practice diplomacy in an organized, coherent way but in a "spur of the moment" haphazard way. For example, an AI request will come up which asks you to "stop trade with someone" or "give tribute/help", "declare war", etc and I think many beginners just decide at the moment what "feels" best with no long term planning. But this isn't the best or most interesting approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you should do, upon founding your empire and exploring the land is to see who and where the AI Civs are located and how powerful they are, then decide who is going to be your your long-term ally. Then using the F4 screen, figure out who another Civ that the potential ally really likes (and presumably that third civ likes back) that you also would want as an ally. Then you will attempt to (as much as possible) get relations between you and these two Civs as high as possible, forsaking all others when necessary. The key to remember is that you must ally with two Civs that themselves are extremely friendly to another thus avoiding the "trading with enemy" penalty and also the awkward situation where each ally asks you to war on the other! This usually but not necessarily requires you to have the same official religion as these other two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And that means that when they ask for reasonable tribute, you give it. That means when they ask you to stop trade with those outside the triangle, you do it. That means when they ask you to join in war, you do it if it is safe to do so (and it is a huge bonus to do it as it prevents the -1 you failed to help us in war but rather gives +1to4 for mutual struggle). Realize though that when you do that, that other Civ will be a lifelong enemy most likely but that okay. Of course, it means that relations with some of those Civs outside of the triangle will probably be irreparably harmed but it is much better to have strong friends and strong haters than to have everyone cautious or annoyed at you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now it is important to avoid having "backstabbing" or "rogue" or particularly warlike nations in the triangle. Although all AIs will backstab if you are too weak or present too much of a target (so in all cases having a credible military is a must), some do it much more than others. Montezuma and Isabella come to mind in most cases. Avoiding warlike civs is also good because you might otherwise be forced into too many wars and being a pariah nation yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But it is important to also realize that you can shift or change the triangle as the situation unfolds. Unless you're playing with very few Civs, if you're playing with 8 or more, its unlikely that you have great relations within the triangle but all others hating you. Say you have a triangle with A and B but also have good relations with C and A also have good relations with C. You may then decide to have C in the triangle and drop B. So in this way, you can shift the triangle from time to time. But by focusing on two at a time, you will find the game proceeds much better than trying to equally please and equally displease everyone.</English>
		<French>[H1]Triangle Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Polypheus[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Many new players, it seems, do not practice diplomacy in an organized, coherent way but in a "spur of the moment" haphazard way. For example, an AI request will come up which asks you to "stop trade with someone" or "give tribute/help", "declare war", etc and I think many beginners just decide at the moment what "feels" best with no long term planning. But this isn't the best or most interesting approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you should do, upon founding your empire and exploring the land is to see who and where the AI Civs are located and how powerful they are, then decide who is going to be your your long-term ally. Then using the F4 screen, figure out who another Civ that the potential ally really likes (and presumably that third civ likes back) that you also would want as an ally. Then you will attempt to (as much as possible) get relations between you and these two Civs as high as possible, forsaking all others when necessary. The key to remember is that you must ally with two Civs that themselves are extremely friendly to another thus avoiding the "trading with enemy" penalty and also the awkward situation where each ally asks you to war on the other! This usually but not necessarily requires you to have the same official religion as these other two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And that means that when they ask for reasonable tribute, you give it. That means when they ask you to stop trade with those outside the triangle, you do it. That means when they ask you to join in war, you do it if it is safe to do so (and it is a huge bonus to do it as it prevents the -1 you failed to help us in war but rather gives +1to4 for mutual struggle). Realize though that when you do that, that other Civ will be a lifelong enemy most likely but that okay. Of course, it means that relations with some of those Civs outside of the triangle will probably be irreparably harmed but it is much better to have strong friends and strong haters than to have everyone cautious or annoyed at you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now it is important to avoid having "backstabbing" or "rogue" or particularly warlike nations in the triangle. Although all AIs will backstab if you are too weak or present too much of a target (so in all cases having a credible military is a must), some do it much more than others. Montezuma and Isabella come to mind in most cases. Avoiding warlike civs is also good because you might otherwise be forced into too many wars and being a pariah nation yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But it is important to also realize that you can shift or change the triangle as the situation unfolds. Unless you're playing with very few Civs, if you're playing with 8 or more, its unlikely that you have great relations within the triangle but all others hating you. Say you have a triangle with A and B but also have good relations with C and A also have good relations with C. You may then decide to have C in the triangle and drop B. So in this way, you can shift the triangle from time to time. But by focusing on two at a time, you will find the game proceeds much better than trying to equally please and equally displease everyone.</French>
		<German>[H1]Triangle Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Polypheus[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Many new players, it seems, do not practice diplomacy in an organized, coherent way but in a "spur of the moment" haphazard way. For example, an AI request will come up which asks you to "stop trade with someone" or "give tribute/help", "declare war", etc and I think many beginners just decide at the moment what "feels" best with no long term planning. But this isn't the best or most interesting approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you should do, upon founding your empire and exploring the land is to see who and where the AI Civs are located and how powerful they are, then decide who is going to be your your long-term ally. Then using the F4 screen, figure out who another Civ that the potential ally really likes (and presumably that third civ likes back) that you also would want as an ally. Then you will attempt to (as much as possible) get relations between you and these two Civs as high as possible, forsaking all others when necessary. The key to remember is that you must ally with two Civs that themselves are extremely friendly to another thus avoiding the "trading with enemy" penalty and also the awkward situation where each ally asks you to war on the other! This usually but not necessarily requires you to have the same official religion as these other two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And that means that when they ask for reasonable tribute, you give it. That means when they ask you to stop trade with those outside the triangle, you do it. That means when they ask you to join in war, you do it if it is safe to do so (and it is a huge bonus to do it as it prevents the -1 you failed to help us in war but rather gives +1to4 for mutual struggle). Realize though that when you do that, that other Civ will be a lifelong enemy most likely but that okay. Of course, it means that relations with some of those Civs outside of the triangle will probably be irreparably harmed but it is much better to have strong friends and strong haters than to have everyone cautious or annoyed at you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now it is important to avoid having "backstabbing" or "rogue" or particularly warlike nations in the triangle. Although all AIs will backstab if you are too weak or present too much of a target (so in all cases having a credible military is a must), some do it much more than others. Montezuma and Isabella come to mind in most cases. Avoiding warlike civs is also good because you might otherwise be forced into too many wars and being a pariah nation yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But it is important to also realize that you can shift or change the triangle as the situation unfolds. Unless you're playing with very few Civs, if you're playing with 8 or more, its unlikely that you have great relations within the triangle but all others hating you. Say you have a triangle with A and B but also have good relations with C and A also have good relations with C. You may then decide to have C in the triangle and drop B. So in this way, you can shift the triangle from time to time. But by focusing on two at a time, you will find the game proceeds much better than trying to equally please and equally displease everyone.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Triangle Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Polypheus[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Many new players, it seems, do not practice diplomacy in an organized, coherent way but in a "spur of the moment" haphazard way. For example, an AI request will come up which asks you to "stop trade with someone" or "give tribute/help", "declare war", etc and I think many beginners just decide at the moment what "feels" best with no long term planning. But this isn't the best or most interesting approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you should do, upon founding your empire and exploring the land is to see who and where the AI Civs are located and how powerful they are, then decide who is going to be your your long-term ally. Then using the F4 screen, figure out who another Civ that the potential ally really likes (and presumably that third civ likes back) that you also would want as an ally. Then you will attempt to (as much as possible) get relations between you and these two Civs as high as possible, forsaking all others when necessary. The key to remember is that you must ally with two Civs that themselves are extremely friendly to another thus avoiding the "trading with enemy" penalty and also the awkward situation where each ally asks you to war on the other! This usually but not necessarily requires you to have the same official religion as these other two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And that means that when they ask for reasonable tribute, you give it. That means when they ask you to stop trade with those outside the triangle, you do it. That means when they ask you to join in war, you do it if it is safe to do so (and it is a huge bonus to do it as it prevents the -1 you failed to help us in war but rather gives +1to4 for mutual struggle). Realize though that when you do that, that other Civ will be a lifelong enemy most likely but that okay. Of course, it means that relations with some of those Civs outside of the triangle will probably be irreparably harmed but it is much better to have strong friends and strong haters than to have everyone cautious or annoyed at you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now it is important to avoid having "backstabbing" or "rogue" or particularly warlike nations in the triangle. Although all AIs will backstab if you are too weak or present too much of a target (so in all cases having a credible military is a must), some do it much more than others. Montezuma and Isabella come to mind in most cases. Avoiding warlike civs is also good because you might otherwise be forced into too many wars and being a pariah nation yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But it is important to also realize that you can shift or change the triangle as the situation unfolds. Unless you're playing with very few Civs, if you're playing with 8 or more, its unlikely that you have great relations within the triangle but all others hating you. Say you have a triangle with A and B but also have good relations with C and A also have good relations with C. You may then decide to have C in the triangle and drop B. So in this way, you can shift the triangle from time to time. But by focusing on two at a time, you will find the game proceeds much better than trying to equally please and equally displease everyone.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Triangle Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Polypheus[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Many new players, it seems, do not practice diplomacy in an organized, coherent way but in a "spur of the moment" haphazard way. For example, an AI request will come up which asks you to "stop trade with someone" or "give tribute/help", "declare war", etc and I think many beginners just decide at the moment what "feels" best with no long term planning. But this isn't the best or most interesting approach.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What you should do, upon founding your empire and exploring the land is to see who and where the AI Civs are located and how powerful they are, then decide who is going to be your your long-term ally. Then using the F4 screen, figure out who another Civ that the potential ally really likes (and presumably that third civ likes back) that you also would want as an ally. Then you will attempt to (as much as possible) get relations between you and these two Civs as high as possible, forsaking all others when necessary. The key to remember is that you must ally with two Civs that themselves are extremely friendly to another thus avoiding the "trading with enemy" penalty and also the awkward situation where each ally asks you to war on the other! This usually but not necessarily requires you to have the same official religion as these other two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And that means that when they ask for reasonable tribute, you give it. That means when they ask you to stop trade with those outside the triangle, you do it. That means when they ask you to join in war, you do it if it is safe to do so (and it is a huge bonus to do it as it prevents the -1 you failed to help us in war but rather gives +1to4 for mutual struggle). Realize though that when you do that, that other Civ will be a lifelong enemy most likely but that okay. Of course, it means that relations with some of those Civs outside of the triangle will probably be irreparably harmed but it is much better to have strong friends and strong haters than to have everyone cautious or annoyed at you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now it is important to avoid having "backstabbing" or "rogue" or particularly warlike nations in the triangle. Although all AIs will backstab if you are too weak or present too much of a target (so in all cases having a credible military is a must), some do it much more than others. Montezuma and Isabella come to mind in most cases. Avoiding warlike civs is also good because you might otherwise be forced into too many wars and being a pariah nation yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But it is important to also realize that you can shift or change the triangle as the situation unfolds. Unless you're playing with very few Civs, if you're playing with 8 or more, its unlikely that you have great relations within the triangle but all others hating you. Say you have a triangle with A and B but also have good relations with C and A also have good relations with C. You may then decide to have C in the triangle and drop B. So in this way, you can shift the triangle from time to time. But by focusing on two at a time, you will find the game proceeds much better than trying to equally please and equally displease everyone.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WAYS_HEALTHY_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Ways into Health[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](This could be a medical thread, but no it's only a game )[NEWLINE]Health, as we all know is the key to everything, much more important than happiness (don't flame me, there is another article on happiness here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=189559).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the factors that will lead a population to be healthy, and also notes some of the unhealthiness-causing elements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the player selects more difficult levels, cities become quickly unhealthy even with small populations, so having a good knowledge of the health factors will help the player to create and manage a stronger empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the health bonus you start with for every difficulty level:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]SETTLER:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]CHIEFTAIN:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]WARLORD:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]NOBLE:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]PRINCE:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]MONARCH:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]EMPEROR:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]IMMORTAL:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]DEITY:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, you will try to have more healthiness than unhealthiness. It doesn't matter where the healthiness and unhealthiness comes from.[NEWLINE]As long as you have more healthiness than unhealthiness, you have no [ICON_UNHEALTHY] green faces.[NEWLINE]If unhealthiness is higher than healthiness, you'll have[NEWLINE][unhealthiness - healthiness] food lost every turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that an unhealthy city can't have a "we love our leader" day. It's not game changing but it's still a loss, and it's avoidable.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]So, how do you get the healthiness you need to grow?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In vanilla cIV, there are exactly 8 ways to get [BOLD]more[\BOLD] health (and 3 to have unhealthiness):[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]trait:[\BOLD] expansive gives +3 health (+2 only in warlords patched version and BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Fresh water[\BOLD][NEWLINE](a city built next to a river, a lake or an oasis will gain 2 points of health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Terrain[\BOLD][NEWLINE](each forest in a city’s fat cross gives 0,5 health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]resources[\BOLD] (see chapter 1)[NEWLINE](Banana; Clam; Corn; Cow; Crab; Deer; Fish; Pig; Rice; Wheat)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings[\BOLD] (see chapter 2)[NEWLINE](Aqueduct; Granary*;Grocer*;Harbour*;Hospital; Supermarket*, public transportation in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE](environmentalism: +6 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Hanging Gardens: +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]techs:[\BOLD] Genetics gives you +3 health.[NEWLINE]I won't expand a lot on future techs. Every future tech gives you +1 health in every city. But who cares? The game is over at his point![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*: depends on a resource[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where does unhealthiness come from:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]population[\BOLD] itself = "too crowded":[NEWLINE]1 unhealthiness for each population point (yes the 1st pop thinks it's already too crowded )[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]terrain:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Each flood plains account for 0,4 unhealthiness each. With 20 flood plains, that’s 8 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Each jungle tile accounts for 0,25 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Fallout accounts for 0,5 unhealthiness each.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Airport; Coal Plant; Dry-dock; Factory; Forge; Laboratory, IronWorks, Industrial park in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Resources in BtS:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Oil and coal with factory and/or industrial park)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I missed some unhealthiness factors, let me know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that there are ways to reduce unhealthiness:[BOLD][NEWLINE]Cutting the jungle reduces terrain unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Building a recycling centre removes building unhealthiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Credits to kroym, friskymike, michelangelo for Civ IV reference chart[NEWLINE]edit: corrected sheep and banana according to the info center (error in the ref chart?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 14 health resources[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each resource, you need either to[NEWLINE]- have it on a tile included in you cultural borders, have the right improvement built and have the tile connected to your cities[NEWLINE]- trade for it[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corn: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Rice: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wheat: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Clam: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Crab: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fish: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Banana: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cow: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pig: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sheep: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Deer: camp tech, requires hunting[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Spice: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sugar: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wine: wineyard improvement, requires monarchy tech ,[NEWLINE]note that spice, sugar and wine (strangely enough! It should provide unhealthiness IMHO) provide happiness, they only provide health through a grocer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there is a potential of [BOLD]+11 health[\BOLD], that can be increased to [BOLD]+25 health[\BOLD] including building effects, from resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From those:[NEWLINE]3 (rice, corn, wheat) require [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD], and can be doubled with a granary (requires [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (deer) requires [BOLD]Hunting[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (clam, crab, fish), require [BOLD]Fishing[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a harbour (requires [BOLD]Compass[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (cows, pigs, sheep) require [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] , +3 more health with supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (banana, sugar, spice) (only 1 giving health directly) require [BOLD]Calendar[\BOLD], + 3 more with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (wine) (not giving health directly) requires [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD], +1 health with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aqueduct:[\BOLD] +2 health, requires [BOLD]mathematics and masonry[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Granary:[\BOLD] +1 from corn, wheat, rice, requires [BOLD]pottery[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Grocer:[\BOLD] +1 health from bananas, spices, sugar, &amp; wine, requires [BOLD]guilds[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Harbour:[\BOLD] +1 health from clams, crabs, &amp; fish, requires [BOLD]compass[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Hospital:[\BOLD] +3 health, requires [BOLD]medicine[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Supermarket:[\BOLD] +1 health from cows, deer, pigs, &amp; sheep, requires [BOLD]refrigeration[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can have a total of +21 health from buildings, 16 of those being already accounted for in chapter 1: the resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And as I mentionned in the first post,[NEWLINE][BOLD]recycling centre[\BOLD] removes unhealthiness from other buildings, as forge, drydock and factory. It requires [BOLD]Ecology[\BOLD] which is so near to the end of the tech tree you just can't rely on this too much.</English>
		<French>[H1]Ways into Health[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](This could be a medical thread, but no it's only a game )[NEWLINE]Health, as we all know is the key to everything, much more important than happiness (don't flame me, there is another article on happiness here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=189559).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the factors that will lead a population to be healthy, and also notes some of the unhealthiness-causing elements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the player selects more difficult levels, cities become quickly unhealthy even with small populations, so having a good knowledge of the health factors will help the player to create and manage a stronger empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the health bonus you start with for every difficulty level:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]SETTLER:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]CHIEFTAIN:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]WARLORD:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]NOBLE:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]PRINCE:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]MONARCH:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]EMPEROR:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]IMMORTAL:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]DEITY:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, you will try to have more healthiness than unhealthiness. It doesn't matter where the healthiness and unhealthiness comes from.[NEWLINE]As long as you have more healthiness than unhealthiness, you have no [ICON_UNHEALTHY] green faces.[NEWLINE]If unhealthiness is higher than healthiness, you'll have[NEWLINE][unhealthiness - healthiness] food lost every turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that an unhealthy city can't have a "we love our leader" day. It's not game changing but it's still a loss, and it's avoidable.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]So, how do you get the healthiness you need to grow?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In vanilla cIV, there are exactly 8 ways to get [BOLD]more[\BOLD] health (and 3 to have unhealthiness):[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]trait:[\BOLD] expansive gives +3 health (+2 only in warlords patched version and BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Fresh water[\BOLD][NEWLINE](a city built next to a river, a lake or an oasis will gain 2 points of health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Terrain[\BOLD][NEWLINE](each forest in a city’s fat cross gives 0,5 health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]resources[\BOLD] (see chapter 1)[NEWLINE](Banana; Clam; Corn; Cow; Crab; Deer; Fish; Pig; Rice; Wheat)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings[\BOLD] (see chapter 2)[NEWLINE](Aqueduct; Granary*;Grocer*;Harbour*;Hospital; Supermarket*, public transportation in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE](environmentalism: +6 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Hanging Gardens: +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]techs:[\BOLD] Genetics gives you +3 health.[NEWLINE]I won't expand a lot on future techs. Every future tech gives you +1 health in every city. But who cares? The game is over at his point![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*: depends on a resource[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where does unhealthiness come from:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]population[\BOLD] itself = "too crowded":[NEWLINE]1 unhealthiness for each population point (yes the 1st pop thinks it's already too crowded )[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]terrain:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Each flood plains account for 0,4 unhealthiness each. With 20 flood plains, that’s 8 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Each jungle tile accounts for 0,25 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Fallout accounts for 0,5 unhealthiness each.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Airport; Coal Plant; Dry-dock; Factory; Forge; Laboratory, IronWorks, Industrial park in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Resources in BtS:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Oil and coal with factory and/or industrial park)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I missed some unhealthiness factors, let me know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that there are ways to reduce unhealthiness:[BOLD][NEWLINE]Cutting the jungle reduces terrain unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Building a recycling centre removes building unhealthiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Credits to kroym, friskymike, michelangelo for Civ IV reference chart[NEWLINE]edit: corrected sheep and banana according to the info center (error in the ref chart?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 14 health resources[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each resource, you need either to[NEWLINE]- have it on a tile included in you cultural borders, have the right improvement built and have the tile connected to your cities[NEWLINE]- trade for it[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corn: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Rice: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wheat: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Clam: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Crab: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fish: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Banana: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cow: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pig: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sheep: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Deer: camp tech, requires hunting[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Spice: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sugar: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wine: wineyard improvement, requires monarchy tech ,[NEWLINE]note that spice, sugar and wine (strangely enough! It should provide unhealthiness IMHO) provide happiness, they only provide health through a grocer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there is a potential of [BOLD]+11 health[\BOLD], that can be increased to [BOLD]+25 health[\BOLD] including building effects, from resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From those:[NEWLINE]3 (rice, corn, wheat) require [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD], and can be doubled with a granary (requires [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (deer) requires [BOLD]Hunting[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (clam, crab, fish), require [BOLD]Fishing[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a harbour (requires [BOLD]Compass[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (cows, pigs, sheep) require [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] , +3 more health with supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (banana, sugar, spice) (only 1 giving health directly) require [BOLD]Calendar[\BOLD], + 3 more with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (wine) (not giving health directly) requires [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD], +1 health with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aqueduct:[\BOLD] +2 health, requires [BOLD]mathematics and masonry[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Granary:[\BOLD] +1 from corn, wheat, rice, requires [BOLD]pottery[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Grocer:[\BOLD] +1 health from bananas, spices, sugar, &amp; wine, requires [BOLD]guilds[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Harbour:[\BOLD] +1 health from clams, crabs, &amp; fish, requires [BOLD]compass[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Hospital:[\BOLD] +3 health, requires [BOLD]medicine[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Supermarket:[\BOLD] +1 health from cows, deer, pigs, &amp; sheep, requires [BOLD]refrigeration[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can have a total of +21 health from buildings, 16 of those being already accounted for in chapter 1: the resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And as I mentionned in the first post,[NEWLINE][BOLD]recycling centre[\BOLD] removes unhealthiness from other buildings, as forge, drydock and factory. It requires [BOLD]Ecology[\BOLD] which is so near to the end of the tech tree you just can't rely on this too much.</French>
		<German>[H1]Ways into Health[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](This could be a medical thread, but no it's only a game )[NEWLINE]Health, as we all know is the key to everything, much more important than happiness (don't flame me, there is another article on happiness here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=189559).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the factors that will lead a population to be healthy, and also notes some of the unhealthiness-causing elements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the player selects more difficult levels, cities become quickly unhealthy even with small populations, so having a good knowledge of the health factors will help the player to create and manage a stronger empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the health bonus you start with for every difficulty level:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]SETTLER:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]CHIEFTAIN:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]WARLORD:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]NOBLE:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]PRINCE:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]MONARCH:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]EMPEROR:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]IMMORTAL:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]DEITY:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, you will try to have more healthiness than unhealthiness. It doesn't matter where the healthiness and unhealthiness comes from.[NEWLINE]As long as you have more healthiness than unhealthiness, you have no [ICON_UNHEALTHY] green faces.[NEWLINE]If unhealthiness is higher than healthiness, you'll have[NEWLINE][unhealthiness - healthiness] food lost every turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that an unhealthy city can't have a "we love our leader" day. It's not game changing but it's still a loss, and it's avoidable.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]So, how do you get the healthiness you need to grow?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In vanilla cIV, there are exactly 8 ways to get [BOLD]more[\BOLD] health (and 3 to have unhealthiness):[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]trait:[\BOLD] expansive gives +3 health (+2 only in warlords patched version and BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Fresh water[\BOLD][NEWLINE](a city built next to a river, a lake or an oasis will gain 2 points of health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Terrain[\BOLD][NEWLINE](each forest in a city’s fat cross gives 0,5 health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]resources[\BOLD] (see chapter 1)[NEWLINE](Banana; Clam; Corn; Cow; Crab; Deer; Fish; Pig; Rice; Wheat)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings[\BOLD] (see chapter 2)[NEWLINE](Aqueduct; Granary*;Grocer*;Harbour*;Hospital; Supermarket*, public transportation in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE](environmentalism: +6 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Hanging Gardens: +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]techs:[\BOLD] Genetics gives you +3 health.[NEWLINE]I won't expand a lot on future techs. Every future tech gives you +1 health in every city. But who cares? The game is over at his point![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*: depends on a resource[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where does unhealthiness come from:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]population[\BOLD] itself = "too crowded":[NEWLINE]1 unhealthiness for each population point (yes the 1st pop thinks it's already too crowded )[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]terrain:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Each flood plains account for 0,4 unhealthiness each. With 20 flood plains, that’s 8 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Each jungle tile accounts for 0,25 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Fallout accounts for 0,5 unhealthiness each.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Airport; Coal Plant; Dry-dock; Factory; Forge; Laboratory, IronWorks, Industrial park in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Resources in BtS:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Oil and coal with factory and/or industrial park)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I missed some unhealthiness factors, let me know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that there are ways to reduce unhealthiness:[BOLD][NEWLINE]Cutting the jungle reduces terrain unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Building a recycling centre removes building unhealthiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Credits to kroym, friskymike, michelangelo for Civ IV reference chart[NEWLINE]edit: corrected sheep and banana according to the info center (error in the ref chart?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 14 health resources[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each resource, you need either to[NEWLINE]- have it on a tile included in you cultural borders, have the right improvement built and have the tile connected to your cities[NEWLINE]- trade for it[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corn: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Rice: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wheat: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Clam: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Crab: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fish: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Banana: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cow: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pig: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sheep: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Deer: camp tech, requires hunting[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Spice: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sugar: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wine: wineyard improvement, requires monarchy tech ,[NEWLINE]note that spice, sugar and wine (strangely enough! It should provide unhealthiness IMHO) provide happiness, they only provide health through a grocer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there is a potential of [BOLD]+11 health[\BOLD], that can be increased to [BOLD]+25 health[\BOLD] including building effects, from resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From those:[NEWLINE]3 (rice, corn, wheat) require [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD], and can be doubled with a granary (requires [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (deer) requires [BOLD]Hunting[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (clam, crab, fish), require [BOLD]Fishing[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a harbour (requires [BOLD]Compass[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (cows, pigs, sheep) require [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] , +3 more health with supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (banana, sugar, spice) (only 1 giving health directly) require [BOLD]Calendar[\BOLD], + 3 more with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (wine) (not giving health directly) requires [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD], +1 health with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aqueduct:[\BOLD] +2 health, requires [BOLD]mathematics and masonry[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Granary:[\BOLD] +1 from corn, wheat, rice, requires [BOLD]pottery[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Grocer:[\BOLD] +1 health from bananas, spices, sugar, &amp; wine, requires [BOLD]guilds[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Harbour:[\BOLD] +1 health from clams, crabs, &amp; fish, requires [BOLD]compass[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Hospital:[\BOLD] +3 health, requires [BOLD]medicine[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Supermarket:[\BOLD] +1 health from cows, deer, pigs, &amp; sheep, requires [BOLD]refrigeration[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can have a total of +21 health from buildings, 16 of those being already accounted for in chapter 1: the resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And as I mentionned in the first post,[NEWLINE][BOLD]recycling centre[\BOLD] removes unhealthiness from other buildings, as forge, drydock and factory. It requires [BOLD]Ecology[\BOLD] which is so near to the end of the tech tree you just can't rely on this too much.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Ways into Health[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](This could be a medical thread, but no it's only a game )[NEWLINE]Health, as we all know is the key to everything, much more important than happiness (don't flame me, there is another article on happiness here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=189559).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the factors that will lead a population to be healthy, and also notes some of the unhealthiness-causing elements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the player selects more difficult levels, cities become quickly unhealthy even with small populations, so having a good knowledge of the health factors will help the player to create and manage a stronger empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the health bonus you start with for every difficulty level:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]SETTLER:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]CHIEFTAIN:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]WARLORD:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]NOBLE:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]PRINCE:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]MONARCH:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]EMPEROR:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]IMMORTAL:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]DEITY:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, you will try to have more healthiness than unhealthiness. It doesn't matter where the healthiness and unhealthiness comes from.[NEWLINE]As long as you have more healthiness than unhealthiness, you have no [ICON_UNHEALTHY] green faces.[NEWLINE]If unhealthiness is higher than healthiness, you'll have[NEWLINE][unhealthiness - healthiness] food lost every turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that an unhealthy city can't have a "we love our leader" day. It's not game changing but it's still a loss, and it's avoidable.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]So, how do you get the healthiness you need to grow?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In vanilla cIV, there are exactly 8 ways to get [BOLD]more[\BOLD] health (and 3 to have unhealthiness):[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]trait:[\BOLD] expansive gives +3 health (+2 only in warlords patched version and BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Fresh water[\BOLD][NEWLINE](a city built next to a river, a lake or an oasis will gain 2 points of health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Terrain[\BOLD][NEWLINE](each forest in a city’s fat cross gives 0,5 health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]resources[\BOLD] (see chapter 1)[NEWLINE](Banana; Clam; Corn; Cow; Crab; Deer; Fish; Pig; Rice; Wheat)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings[\BOLD] (see chapter 2)[NEWLINE](Aqueduct; Granary*;Grocer*;Harbour*;Hospital; Supermarket*, public transportation in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE](environmentalism: +6 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Hanging Gardens: +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]techs:[\BOLD] Genetics gives you +3 health.[NEWLINE]I won't expand a lot on future techs. Every future tech gives you +1 health in every city. But who cares? The game is over at his point![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*: depends on a resource[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where does unhealthiness come from:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]population[\BOLD] itself = "too crowded":[NEWLINE]1 unhealthiness for each population point (yes the 1st pop thinks it's already too crowded )[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]terrain:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Each flood plains account for 0,4 unhealthiness each. With 20 flood plains, that’s 8 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Each jungle tile accounts for 0,25 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Fallout accounts for 0,5 unhealthiness each.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Airport; Coal Plant; Dry-dock; Factory; Forge; Laboratory, IronWorks, Industrial park in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Resources in BtS:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Oil and coal with factory and/or industrial park)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I missed some unhealthiness factors, let me know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that there are ways to reduce unhealthiness:[BOLD][NEWLINE]Cutting the jungle reduces terrain unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Building a recycling centre removes building unhealthiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Credits to kroym, friskymike, michelangelo for Civ IV reference chart[NEWLINE]edit: corrected sheep and banana according to the info center (error in the ref chart?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 14 health resources[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each resource, you need either to[NEWLINE]- have it on a tile included in you cultural borders, have the right improvement built and have the tile connected to your cities[NEWLINE]- trade for it[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corn: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Rice: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wheat: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Clam: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Crab: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fish: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Banana: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cow: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pig: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sheep: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Deer: camp tech, requires hunting[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Spice: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sugar: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wine: wineyard improvement, requires monarchy tech ,[NEWLINE]note that spice, sugar and wine (strangely enough! It should provide unhealthiness IMHO) provide happiness, they only provide health through a grocer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there is a potential of [BOLD]+11 health[\BOLD], that can be increased to [BOLD]+25 health[\BOLD] including building effects, from resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From those:[NEWLINE]3 (rice, corn, wheat) require [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD], and can be doubled with a granary (requires [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (deer) requires [BOLD]Hunting[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (clam, crab, fish), require [BOLD]Fishing[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a harbour (requires [BOLD]Compass[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (cows, pigs, sheep) require [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] , +3 more health with supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (banana, sugar, spice) (only 1 giving health directly) require [BOLD]Calendar[\BOLD], + 3 more with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (wine) (not giving health directly) requires [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD], +1 health with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aqueduct:[\BOLD] +2 health, requires [BOLD]mathematics and masonry[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Granary:[\BOLD] +1 from corn, wheat, rice, requires [BOLD]pottery[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Grocer:[\BOLD] +1 health from bananas, spices, sugar, &amp; wine, requires [BOLD]guilds[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Harbour:[\BOLD] +1 health from clams, crabs, &amp; fish, requires [BOLD]compass[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Hospital:[\BOLD] +3 health, requires [BOLD]medicine[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Supermarket:[\BOLD] +1 health from cows, deer, pigs, &amp; sheep, requires [BOLD]refrigeration[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can have a total of +21 health from buildings, 16 of those being already accounted for in chapter 1: the resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And as I mentionned in the first post,[NEWLINE][BOLD]recycling centre[\BOLD] removes unhealthiness from other buildings, as forge, drydock and factory. It requires [BOLD]Ecology[\BOLD] which is so near to the end of the tech tree you just can't rely on this too much.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Ways into Health[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](This could be a medical thread, but no it's only a game )[NEWLINE]Health, as we all know is the key to everything, much more important than happiness (don't flame me, there is another article on happiness here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=189559).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the factors that will lead a population to be healthy, and also notes some of the unhealthiness-causing elements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the player selects more difficult levels, cities become quickly unhealthy even with small populations, so having a good knowledge of the health factors will help the player to create and manage a stronger empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are the health bonus you start with for every difficulty level:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]SETTLER:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]CHIEFTAIN:[\BOLD] 4[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]WARLORD:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]NOBLE:[\BOLD] 3[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]PRINCE:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]MONARCH:[\BOLD] 2[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]EMPEROR:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]IMMORTAL:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]DEITY:[\BOLD] 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Generally speaking, you will try to have more healthiness than unhealthiness. It doesn't matter where the healthiness and unhealthiness comes from.[NEWLINE]As long as you have more healthiness than unhealthiness, you have no [ICON_UNHEALTHY] green faces.[NEWLINE]If unhealthiness is higher than healthiness, you'll have[NEWLINE][unhealthiness - healthiness] food lost every turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that an unhealthy city can't have a "we love our leader" day. It's not game changing but it's still a loss, and it's avoidable.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]So, how do you get the healthiness you need to grow?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In vanilla cIV, there are exactly 8 ways to get [BOLD]more[\BOLD] health (and 3 to have unhealthiness):[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]trait:[\BOLD] expansive gives +3 health (+2 only in warlords patched version and BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Fresh water[\BOLD][NEWLINE](a city built next to a river, a lake or an oasis will gain 2 points of health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Terrain[\BOLD][NEWLINE](each forest in a city’s fat cross gives 0,5 health)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]resources[\BOLD] (see chapter 1)[NEWLINE](Banana; Clam; Corn; Cow; Crab; Deer; Fish; Pig; Rice; Wheat)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings[\BOLD] (see chapter 2)[NEWLINE](Aqueduct; Granary*;Grocer*;Harbour*;Hospital; Supermarket*, public transportation in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE](environmentalism: +6 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]wonders[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Hanging Gardens: +1 health in all cities)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]techs:[\BOLD] Genetics gives you +3 health.[NEWLINE]I won't expand a lot on future techs. Every future tech gives you +1 health in every city. But who cares? The game is over at his point![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*: depends on a resource[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where does unhealthiness come from:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]population[\BOLD] itself = "too crowded":[NEWLINE]1 unhealthiness for each population point (yes the 1st pop thinks it's already too crowded )[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]terrain:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Each flood plains account for 0,4 unhealthiness each. With 20 flood plains, that’s 8 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Each jungle tile accounts for 0,25 unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Fallout accounts for 0,5 unhealthiness each.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]buildings:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Airport; Coal Plant; Dry-dock; Factory; Forge; Laboratory, IronWorks, Industrial park in BtS)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Resources in BtS:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](Oil and coal with factory and/or industrial park)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If I missed some unhealthiness factors, let me know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Note that there are ways to reduce unhealthiness:[BOLD][NEWLINE]Cutting the jungle reduces terrain unhealthiness.[NEWLINE]Building a recycling centre removes building unhealthiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Credits to kroym, friskymike, michelangelo for Civ IV reference chart[NEWLINE]edit: corrected sheep and banana according to the info center (error in the ref chart?)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 14 health resources[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For each resource, you need either to[NEWLINE]- have it on a tile included in you cultural borders, have the right improvement built and have the tile connected to your cities[NEWLINE]- trade for it[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corn: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Rice: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wheat: farm improvement, requires agriculture tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Clam: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Crab: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fish: working boat, requires fishing tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Banana: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cow: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pig: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sheep: pasture improvement, requires animal husbandry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Deer: camp tech, requires hunting[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Spice: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sugar: plantation improvement, requires calendar tech[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Wine: wineyard improvement, requires monarchy tech ,[NEWLINE]note that spice, sugar and wine (strangely enough! It should provide unhealthiness IMHO) provide happiness, they only provide health through a grocer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there is a potential of [BOLD]+11 health[\BOLD], that can be increased to [BOLD]+25 health[\BOLD] including building effects, from resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]From those:[NEWLINE]3 (rice, corn, wheat) require [BOLD]Agriculture[\BOLD], and can be doubled with a granary (requires [BOLD]Pottery[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (deer) requires [BOLD]Hunting[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (clam, crab, fish), require [BOLD]Fishing[\BOLD] and can be doubled with a harbour (requires [BOLD]Compass[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (cows, pigs, sheep) require [BOLD]Animal Husbandry[\BOLD] , +3 more health with supermarket (requires [BOLD]Refrigeration[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]3 (banana, sugar, spice) (only 1 giving health directly) require [BOLD]Calendar[\BOLD], + 3 more with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE]1 (wine) (not giving health directly) requires [BOLD]Monarchy[\BOLD], +1 health with grocer (requires [BOLD]Guild[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aqueduct:[\BOLD] +2 health, requires [BOLD]mathematics and masonry[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Granary:[\BOLD] +1 from corn, wheat, rice, requires [BOLD]pottery[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Grocer:[\BOLD] +1 health from bananas, spices, sugar, &amp; wine, requires [BOLD]guilds[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Harbour:[\BOLD] +1 health from clams, crabs, &amp; fish, requires [BOLD]compass[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Hospital:[\BOLD] +3 health, requires [BOLD]medicine[\BOLD];[NEWLINE][BOLD]Supermarket:[\BOLD] +1 health from cows, deer, pigs, &amp; sheep, requires [BOLD]refrigeration[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can have a total of +21 health from buildings, 16 of those being already accounted for in chapter 1: the resources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And as I mentionned in the first post,[NEWLINE][BOLD]recycling centre[\BOLD] removes unhealthiness from other buildings, as forge, drydock and factory. It requires [BOLD]Ecology[\BOLD] which is so near to the end of the tech tree you just can't rely on this too much.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WAYS_PRODUCTION_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Ways into Production[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This could be an industrial thread, but no, it's only a game.[NEWLINE]After health and happiness articles, by popular demand (a whole person asked for it), I'm back with some kind of "do it yourself" article about production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll put more work into this in a few weeks, but I don't want my franchise to get lost, do I ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Production as we all know, is the key to winning the game a lot more so than happiness, health, beakers or gold (just joking, check the other articles (credits to me is already done, credits to hackapell for his economic summary).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the sources of production, the bonuses that you can get and some nice combos to benefit the most from them.[NEWLINE]I'm not going into specialization for now, so I'm assuming it is clear for everyone that some cities aren't going to be production powerhouses. Don't expect your cottage spammed city to produce its library in 1 turn.[NEWLINE]However, generally speaking, you will try to have the most production possible. This is what you see as [ICON_PRODUCTION] in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where do you get those [ICON_PRODUCTION] you need to build troops, buildings or wonders (or gold or beakers or culture)?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 sources:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from worked tiles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from specialists (settled Great engineers, great prophets, great scientists, or engineers, priests and citizens)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]chopped forest from around your city[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from population to hammers via slavery[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from gold to hammers via universal suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a 6th source in BtS, for religious buildings of the "world religion" (the state religion of the Apostolic Palace owner). I won't go into much details on this. I will consider those hammers as those coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]There is also a 7th source in BtS with corporations. same as before, I'll consider those hammers as coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]Still, I'll try to get some informations together in chapter 1 about those 2 sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is is also an overflow feature (check vale's article about it), that can be used to "focus" production on a specific project or to abuse the bonus multipliers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is another way to get troops when you need some, without actually producing them: drafting is shown in good details in this article from Vale: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How does it work:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You sum up overflow + hammers from the first 3 sources (chapter 1) and this gives you your base production for the given turn in the given city.[NEWLINE]You then apply production modifiers (chapter 2) and you get your production total for the current turn in this city.[NEWLINE]If you're not happy with the result you can (chapter 3):[NEWLINE]- move around your citizens, from food and commerce tiles or from being specialists to higher production duties.[NEWLINE]- use your workers to chop more wood around your city (source 3)[NEWLINE]- rush the production by whipping your population (source 4)[NEWLINE]- rush by paying for the missing hammers (source 5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tiles output for a start:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](I don't mention commerce, which has no impact on production here)[NEWLINE]F = food[NEWLINE]H = hammer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]Base tiles[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Plains 1F1H[NEWLINE]Plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]Grasslandhill 1F1H[NEWLINE]deserthill 0F1H[NEWLINE]Forested plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland hill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested plains hill 0F3H[NEWLINE]Forested tundra 1F1H[NEWLINE]forested tundra hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]jungled plains 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled grassland hill 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this situation, you have at the bottom tundra, then plains, then grassland, then desert, then for completeness a peak, a floodplain and an oasis.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that when you settle on a tile, the feature layer is removed. For instance, if you settle on a forested tile, the forest is removed. This being said, you get the unimproved output of the tile in food hammers and commerce in the city center, with a minimum of 2F1H1C.[NEWLINE]So if you settle on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F2H1C.[NEWLINE]Even better, if you settle on stone on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F3H1C.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]improved tiles under basic conditions[\BOLD](1)[NEWLINE](1) [BOLD]you need agriculture to build farms, mining to build mines, fishing to work water tiles, metal casting to build workshops, machinery to build windmills or watermills, Replaceable Parts to build lumbermills[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Farmed plains 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Plainshill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Grassland hill 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled deserthill 1F1H[NEWLINE]Mined plains hill 0F 4H[NEWLINE]Mined grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Mined deserthill 0F3H[NEWLINE]workshopped plains 0F2H[NEWLINE]workshopped grassland 1F1H[NEWLINE]workshopped FloodPlains 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]watermilled grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled Floodplains 3F1H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland 2F2H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains hill 0F4H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]production specials[\BOLD](base/improved without commerce)[NEWLINE][BOLD]first part: I will assume for the following specials that they are on a grassland hill[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Aluminum 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by Industrialism, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Coal 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by steam power, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gold 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Silver 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gems 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Copper 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by bronze working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Iron 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by iron working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Marble 1F2H / 1F3H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE]Stone 1F2H / 1F4H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that:[NEWLINE]- precious metals reduce the hammers output.[NEWLINE]- marble with a quarry isn't better than a mine, from the hammers point of view[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]second part (these specials don't show up on hills): I will assume that they are on grassland[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Ivory 2F1H /2F2H[NEWLINE]Cow 3F / 4F2H[NEWLINE]Horse 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE]Oil 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]whales with whaling boat get 1H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Techs improving hammers output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]guilds and chemistry improve workshops (+1H each)[NEWLINE]Replaceable Parts improves windmills (+1H)[NEWLINE]biology improves farms (+1F), making it possible to work less farms for the same food = you can work more hammer rich, food poor tiles like mines.[NEWLINE]Railroad allows the railorad improvement over mines, lumbermills and quarries, giving +1h to those improvements[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civics improving output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Universal Suffrage gives 1H to towns.[NEWLINE]State Property gives +1F to workshops and watermills. Although it's not a direct hammer output improvement, it allows you to replace farms with watermills or workshops, making for the given city a huge hammer improvement.[NEWLINE]In BtS, caste system gives +1H to workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings (+wonders) improving tiles output[\BOLD], BtS only[NEWLINE]for buildings giving bonus on base hammers, see the next chapter[NEWLINE]Levees (require steampower and a city on a river!) give all riverside tiles +1H[NEWLINE]Moai statues give all water tiles +1H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]fully improved tiles output[\BOLD][NEWLINE](you must have the following techs: guilds, chemistry, replaceable parts, biology (for farms), railroad, you also need iron and coal)[NEWLINE]Plains farm: 3F1P[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]Plains hill mine with railroad: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill hill: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains watermill: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property)[NEWLINE]Plains workshop: 0F4H (1F4H if running state property, 0F5H if playing BtS and running caste system, 1F5H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Plains town (who cares about cottages): 1F1H (1F2H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE]Grassland farms produce no hammers but 4F ![NEWLINE]Grassland lumbermill with railroad: 2F3H[NEWLINE]Grassland hill mine with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland lumbermill hill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland watermill: 2F2H (3F2H if running state property)[NEWLINE]grassland workshop: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property, 1F4H if playing BtS and running caste system, 2F4H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Grassland town: 2F0H (2F1H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't go into more situations (it's getting a bit long already!), but with aluminium or coal or copper or iron, you add +2 hammers to a mine, bringing a fully developped plains hill mine with railroad and iron underneath to 0F7H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that workshopping/watermilling ivory gives a better hammer output than sticking with the obsolete ivory camp.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notice: there are events in BtS that modify a tile's output. Since you can't expect this to happen really often, I don't go into this and leave you the surprise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]specialists' output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Engineer: 2 h, 3GPP[NEWLINE]Priest: 1H 1gold, 3GPP[NEWLINE]citizen: 1H[NEWLINE]When to use specialists instead of tiles, with such a low output?[NEWLINE]1° when you want a great person![NEWLINE]2° when you don't have tiles giving you what you want or when you have no more tile to work[NEWLINE]3° when you have free specialists (SoL, mercantilism, industrial park in BtS)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]settled great people output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great engineer: 3H, 3 beakers[NEWLINE]great scientist: 1H, 6 beakers[NEWLINE]Great prophet: 2H, 5 gold coins[NEWLINE]The good part on those settle guys is this: you don't need to feed them and they are never unhappy + they benefit from representation's specialist bonus and fromp sistin chapel's bonus.[NEWLINE]The other good part is you can earn the great people in 1 city and use him in another where he has more impact (like settling a great engineer in your ironworks city).[NEWLINE]In a similar fashion, you can get 2H per religious building of the Apostolic's Palace religion if you run it as state religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So many informations, and you still don't know how to get a productive city?[NEWLINE]check Voice of Unreason's articles about production.[NEWLINE]evaluating production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=169213[NEWLINE]commerce and production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159147[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the previous chapter you saw what base output you could get from working tiles or specialists (don't forget to feed your miners or engineers!)[NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll summarize all the available bonus you can get.[NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a forge gives +25% production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a factory +25%, +50% with power (you only get 1 bonus from power even if you have a nuclear plant, a coal plant and a hydroplant)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ironworks (+50% if you have iron, + 50% if you have coal)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]heroic epic for military units,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]labs +50% for space parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]bureaucracy, +50% hammers in your capital[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]police state, +25% for units[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]organized religion, +25% for buildings (includes wonders, but not space parts)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]stone +100% H to walls and castles, to christian cathedrals, synagogues and a large number of wonders including the famous pyramids,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]marble +100% to hindu mandirs, mosques and to a large number of wonders including the great library, the heroic epic and the national epic[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]copper +100% to Buddhist Stupas, Confucian Academies, Taoist Pagodas, to space parts (Cockpit, Life Support, Stasis Chamber) and a few wonders including the Internet[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]iron +100% for some wonder, +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]coal +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold +100% to some wonder in BtS (the unwritable one which allows all religious civics),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ivory +100% to some wonder in BtS (statue of zeus?),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]aluminium +100% on some spaceship parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from traits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most traits give bonuses on some specific buildings, like +100% on hammers towards barracks if you're agressive. This bonus can be the best think of a given trait, like double speed of theatres and libraries for creative![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]industrialism also gives a 50% bonus on all wonders,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]expansive gives a bonus on workers(+50% hammers in warlords, +25% in BtS, zilch in vanilla)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]imperialistic gives a bonus on building settlers (+50%? need to check)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What all this for?[NEWLINE]Let's assume you are running bureaucracy and organized religion, and you are industrious.[NEWLINE]When you start building the pyramids in your capital (with your state religion), with 10 base hammers (not a lot but it's early), you get[NEWLINE]10 * (1+0,25 from orgrel + 0,5 from capital + 0,5 from industrious) = 22,5 hammers/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that those bonuses apply to hammers from chopping forests and from whipping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll try to show what you can do to help things going a bit faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mostly, this is done by chopping, whipping away population or $rushing.[NEWLINE]It can also be done by starving your population (or slowing growth), which is the slow way to whip (you need mines for this obviously).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can you expect from those rushing options?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chopping[\BOLD][NEWLINE]To cut wood you need to know Bronzeworking, and you need a worker in the woods.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest down is worth 20 hammers on normal speed before maths, 30 hammers after (you need the tech to count the trees, probably). This is the maximum output. The further the trees are from your city, the less you hammers you get from it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest costs 3 worker turns on normal speed. So either you send 3 workers on a tile and chop it down in 1 turn (+1 turn to move into the forest if you're not playing India with its fast workers) or send 1 worker and let it chop for 3 turns.[NEWLINE]Note that both the output of chopping and the number of worker turns needed scale with game speed.[NEWLINE]Also note that all the bonuses you have in the target city apply to the hammers from chopping.[NEWLINE]What is prechopping you've heard about? It's about applying worker turns to a forest then leaving before the forest really is chopped. This is useful for a wonder you really want: you prechop all the forests around your city, then as soon as you have the tech you need, you send a worker in and apply the final worker turn to chop. This way you can get all your forests cut down in a single turn with 1 worker/forest. Note that if you don't build a road into the forest you still lose 12 turn to move in.[NEWLINE]Prechopping can also be used to keep your workers busy while researching a worker tech in the beginning.[NEWLINE]Another thing about chopping is to chose where the hammers from a chop are going.[NEWLINE]This is rather simple. They go into the city that has the tile amongst its active tiles. This means that even you don't work the tile in your target, you should not let a different city use it if you want the hammers.[NEWLINE]If no city has the tile in its active tile, they go into the closest city. If 2 cities are equidistant, it's the oldest that gets the hammers.[NEWLINE]Beware: you can chop inside foreign cultural borders, but you won't earn the hammers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Whipping population[\BOLD] aka pop rushing:[NEWLINE]You need to be running the slavery civic, which requires bronze working. You can only whip away half the population in a given city.[NEWLINE]Although you can whip more than once in a given city in a given turn, you can only finish one item at the end of the turn.[NEWLINE]One population point is worth 30 base hammers on normal speed.[NEWLINE]This scales with game speed, and all the bonuses you have in the city apply to the whip.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for whipping before having invested hammers.[NEWLINE]There is also a penalty for whipping a wonder.[NEWLINE]There is a unhappiness penalty of 1 for 10 turns. This penalty stacks in a very painful way:[NEWLINE]If you whip twice, you get 2 unhappies for 10 turns, then you get down to 1 unhappy for 10 more turns.[NEWLINE]What can you do and what do you get? You can finish a building/unit/wonder (not a project) at the end of the turn by pushing the pop rushing button provided you run slavery and have the necessary population = twice the cost of the whip.[NEWLINE]For example, in a size 10 city, you can whip 5 population points away which is 150 base hammers worth of production, provided you spend at least 1 turn putting hammers into the build.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What would a whipper's turns look like?[NEWLINE]Turn 1 : you assign all your citizens to max food tiles, earning a few "normal" hammers (let's say 3), and start producing an item (let's say a catapult)[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you whip away 2 population points, get 60 base hammers towards the catapult + 3 from turn 1 + 3 from turn 2.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you have a catapult, and 26 hammers overflow + the 3 you're still producing. You can start anything, with 29 base hammers. If you did it right, you grew back 1 pop immediately to reach your happiness cap again immediately.[NEWLINE]turn 4 to 10: grow if possible (happiness cap!), or work max hammer tiles to prevent growth or build settlers/workers.[NEWLINE]turn 11: back to turn 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a very good article from VoiceofUnreason (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193659) on whipping you can check, for more information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cash Rushing[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You need to run universal suffrage (available through democracy or pyramids) and to have money in the bank.[NEWLINE]You can buy units, buildings and wonders, but not projects.[NEWLINE]The price is high: 3 gold/hammer.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing without hammers invested (same as for pop rushing).[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing wonders.[NEWLINE]Bonuses don't apply.[NEWLINE]So you can buy walls for the same price, if you have stone or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What do you get? you get the item at the end of your turn, there is an overflow of exactly your base hammers.[NEWLINE]You can manage more overflow by queue juggling.[NEWLINE]An example?[NEWLINE]Let's say you have 5 honest base hammers.[NEWLINE]Turn 1: you start a forge. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you start a granary. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you start a library. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]turn 4: you start a courthouse. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 5: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the forge.[NEWLINE]turn 6: you pay (60-5)x3= 165 gold to finish the granary.[NEWLINE]turn 7: you pay (90-5)x3 = 255 gold to finish the library.[NEWLINE]turn 8: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the courthouse.[NEWLINE]turn 9: you can build what you want with (20 hammers overflow + 5 base hammers )*1,25 from the forge = 31 hammers.[NEWLINE]My example doesn't seem very impressive? Ok, I must agree.[NEWLINE]Now try it with your massive base hammers city, and get a 4 turns discount on the engine production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll try to show here a few combos to let you get things done as fast and good as possible when it is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]preliminary philosophy course:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- You're not aways spiritual, but sometimes you are (or sometimes you play BtS and can switch civics for free, during a golden age or when you have christo redentor). This is good for using the best civics for a specific production.[NEWLINE]- Everything has a price. You really must be aware that you're not getting representation's free beakers when you're $rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Short list of combos:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- BW is a combo by itself, allowing to chop forests and to whip population. Every early rush needs this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=244075).[NEWLINE]- OrgRel when building up infra, then either pacifism or theocracy for using your infra. This can be coupled with slavery for the fastest results. Rushing a forge under orgreal to have even more bonus is kind of cool. Even better if you have gold, gems, silver to get over the happiness cost.[NEWLINE]- police state + slavery + theocracy (or vassalage) for a few cheap high level units. Overkill, if you go police state + vassalage+slavery +theocracy, but with a ger you can reach level 4 out of barracks.[NEWLINE]- bureaucracy combinations: bureau + orgrel + the right resource for a +175% hammers towards your favourite wonder. bureaucracy + police state + HE for fastest unit production ever.[NEWLINE]- nationhood + theocracy for empire wide expansion. Cheaper and faster than slavery: drafting (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566).[NEWLINE]- (kremlin +) universal suffrage + state property (+ caste system if you play BtS) for "production anywhere". You keep your cottages in your ancient cities, load your new cities with workshops and watermills, buy the forges, factories and stuff you need, and build the spaceship faster that you research the techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One day soon, I'll move my lazy a$$ and write some details about those combos, but I'm sure you see the trick already.</English>
		<French>[H1]Ways into Production[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This could be an industrial thread, but no, it's only a game.[NEWLINE]After health and happiness articles, by popular demand (a whole person asked for it), I'm back with some kind of "do it yourself" article about production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll put more work into this in a few weeks, but I don't want my franchise to get lost, do I ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Production as we all know, is the key to winning the game a lot more so than happiness, health, beakers or gold (just joking, check the other articles (credits to me is already done, credits to hackapell for his economic summary).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the sources of production, the bonuses that you can get and some nice combos to benefit the most from them.[NEWLINE]I'm not going into specialization for now, so I'm assuming it is clear for everyone that some cities aren't going to be production powerhouses. Don't expect your cottage spammed city to produce its library in 1 turn.[NEWLINE]However, generally speaking, you will try to have the most production possible. This is what you see as [ICON_PRODUCTION] in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where do you get those [ICON_PRODUCTION] you need to build troops, buildings or wonders (or gold or beakers or culture)?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 sources:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from worked tiles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from specialists (settled Great engineers, great prophets, great scientists, or engineers, priests and citizens)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]chopped forest from around your city[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from population to hammers via slavery[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from gold to hammers via universal suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a 6th source in BtS, for religious buildings of the "world religion" (the state religion of the Apostolic Palace owner). I won't go into much details on this. I will consider those hammers as those coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]There is also a 7th source in BtS with corporations. same as before, I'll consider those hammers as coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]Still, I'll try to get some informations together in chapter 1 about those 2 sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is is also an overflow feature (check vale's article about it), that can be used to "focus" production on a specific project or to abuse the bonus multipliers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is another way to get troops when you need some, without actually producing them: drafting is shown in good details in this article from Vale: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How does it work:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You sum up overflow + hammers from the first 3 sources (chapter 1) and this gives you your base production for the given turn in the given city.[NEWLINE]You then apply production modifiers (chapter 2) and you get your production total for the current turn in this city.[NEWLINE]If you're not happy with the result you can (chapter 3):[NEWLINE]- move around your citizens, from food and commerce tiles or from being specialists to higher production duties.[NEWLINE]- use your workers to chop more wood around your city (source 3)[NEWLINE]- rush the production by whipping your population (source 4)[NEWLINE]- rush by paying for the missing hammers (source 5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tiles output for a start:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](I don't mention commerce, which has no impact on production here)[NEWLINE]F = food[NEWLINE]H = hammer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]Base tiles[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Plains 1F1H[NEWLINE]Plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]Grasslandhill 1F1H[NEWLINE]deserthill 0F1H[NEWLINE]Forested plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland hill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested plains hill 0F3H[NEWLINE]Forested tundra 1F1H[NEWLINE]forested tundra hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]jungled plains 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled grassland hill 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this situation, you have at the bottom tundra, then plains, then grassland, then desert, then for completeness a peak, a floodplain and an oasis.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that when you settle on a tile, the feature layer is removed. For instance, if you settle on a forested tile, the forest is removed. This being said, you get the unimproved output of the tile in food hammers and commerce in the city center, with a minimum of 2F1H1C.[NEWLINE]So if you settle on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F2H1C.[NEWLINE]Even better, if you settle on stone on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F3H1C.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]improved tiles under basic conditions[\BOLD](1)[NEWLINE](1) [BOLD]you need agriculture to build farms, mining to build mines, fishing to work water tiles, metal casting to build workshops, machinery to build windmills or watermills, Replaceable Parts to build lumbermills[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Farmed plains 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Plainshill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Grassland hill 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled deserthill 1F1H[NEWLINE]Mined plains hill 0F 4H[NEWLINE]Mined grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Mined deserthill 0F3H[NEWLINE]workshopped plains 0F2H[NEWLINE]workshopped grassland 1F1H[NEWLINE]workshopped FloodPlains 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]watermilled grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled Floodplains 3F1H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland 2F2H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains hill 0F4H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]production specials[\BOLD](base/improved without commerce)[NEWLINE][BOLD]first part: I will assume for the following specials that they are on a grassland hill[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Aluminum 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by Industrialism, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Coal 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by steam power, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gold 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Silver 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gems 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Copper 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by bronze working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Iron 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by iron working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Marble 1F2H / 1F3H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE]Stone 1F2H / 1F4H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that:[NEWLINE]- precious metals reduce the hammers output.[NEWLINE]- marble with a quarry isn't better than a mine, from the hammers point of view[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]second part (these specials don't show up on hills): I will assume that they are on grassland[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Ivory 2F1H /2F2H[NEWLINE]Cow 3F / 4F2H[NEWLINE]Horse 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE]Oil 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]whales with whaling boat get 1H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Techs improving hammers output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]guilds and chemistry improve workshops (+1H each)[NEWLINE]Replaceable Parts improves windmills (+1H)[NEWLINE]biology improves farms (+1F), making it possible to work less farms for the same food = you can work more hammer rich, food poor tiles like mines.[NEWLINE]Railroad allows the railorad improvement over mines, lumbermills and quarries, giving +1h to those improvements[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civics improving output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Universal Suffrage gives 1H to towns.[NEWLINE]State Property gives +1F to workshops and watermills. Although it's not a direct hammer output improvement, it allows you to replace farms with watermills or workshops, making for the given city a huge hammer improvement.[NEWLINE]In BtS, caste system gives +1H to workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings (+wonders) improving tiles output[\BOLD], BtS only[NEWLINE]for buildings giving bonus on base hammers, see the next chapter[NEWLINE]Levees (require steampower and a city on a river!) give all riverside tiles +1H[NEWLINE]Moai statues give all water tiles +1H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]fully improved tiles output[\BOLD][NEWLINE](you must have the following techs: guilds, chemistry, replaceable parts, biology (for farms), railroad, you also need iron and coal)[NEWLINE]Plains farm: 3F1P[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]Plains hill mine with railroad: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill hill: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains watermill: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property)[NEWLINE]Plains workshop: 0F4H (1F4H if running state property, 0F5H if playing BtS and running caste system, 1F5H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Plains town (who cares about cottages): 1F1H (1F2H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE]Grassland farms produce no hammers but 4F ![NEWLINE]Grassland lumbermill with railroad: 2F3H[NEWLINE]Grassland hill mine with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland lumbermill hill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland watermill: 2F2H (3F2H if running state property)[NEWLINE]grassland workshop: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property, 1F4H if playing BtS and running caste system, 2F4H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Grassland town: 2F0H (2F1H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't go into more situations (it's getting a bit long already!), but with aluminium or coal or copper or iron, you add +2 hammers to a mine, bringing a fully developped plains hill mine with railroad and iron underneath to 0F7H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that workshopping/watermilling ivory gives a better hammer output than sticking with the obsolete ivory camp.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notice: there are events in BtS that modify a tile's output. Since you can't expect this to happen really often, I don't go into this and leave you the surprise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]specialists' output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Engineer: 2 h, 3GPP[NEWLINE]Priest: 1H 1gold, 3GPP[NEWLINE]citizen: 1H[NEWLINE]When to use specialists instead of tiles, with such a low output?[NEWLINE]1° when you want a great person![NEWLINE]2° when you don't have tiles giving you what you want or when you have no more tile to work[NEWLINE]3° when you have free specialists (SoL, mercantilism, industrial park in BtS)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]settled great people output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great engineer: 3H, 3 beakers[NEWLINE]great scientist: 1H, 6 beakers[NEWLINE]Great prophet: 2H, 5 gold coins[NEWLINE]The good part on those settle guys is this: you don't need to feed them and they are never unhappy + they benefit from representation's specialist bonus and fromp sistin chapel's bonus.[NEWLINE]The other good part is you can earn the great people in 1 city and use him in another where he has more impact (like settling a great engineer in your ironworks city).[NEWLINE]In a similar fashion, you can get 2H per religious building of the Apostolic's Palace religion if you run it as state religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So many informations, and you still don't know how to get a productive city?[NEWLINE]check Voice of Unreason's articles about production.[NEWLINE]evaluating production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=169213[NEWLINE]commerce and production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159147[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the previous chapter you saw what base output you could get from working tiles or specialists (don't forget to feed your miners or engineers!)[NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll summarize all the available bonus you can get.[NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a forge gives +25% production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a factory +25%, +50% with power (you only get 1 bonus from power even if you have a nuclear plant, a coal plant and a hydroplant)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ironworks (+50% if you have iron, + 50% if you have coal)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]heroic epic for military units,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]labs +50% for space parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]bureaucracy, +50% hammers in your capital[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]police state, +25% for units[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]organized religion, +25% for buildings (includes wonders, but not space parts)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]stone +100% H to walls and castles, to christian cathedrals, synagogues and a large number of wonders including the famous pyramids,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]marble +100% to hindu mandirs, mosques and to a large number of wonders including the great library, the heroic epic and the national epic[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]copper +100% to Buddhist Stupas, Confucian Academies, Taoist Pagodas, to space parts (Cockpit, Life Support, Stasis Chamber) and a few wonders including the Internet[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]iron +100% for some wonder, +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]coal +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold +100% to some wonder in BtS (the unwritable one which allows all religious civics),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ivory +100% to some wonder in BtS (statue of zeus?),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]aluminium +100% on some spaceship parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from traits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most traits give bonuses on some specific buildings, like +100% on hammers towards barracks if you're agressive. This bonus can be the best think of a given trait, like double speed of theatres and libraries for creative![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]industrialism also gives a 50% bonus on all wonders,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]expansive gives a bonus on workers(+50% hammers in warlords, +25% in BtS, zilch in vanilla)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]imperialistic gives a bonus on building settlers (+50%? need to check)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What all this for?[NEWLINE]Let's assume you are running bureaucracy and organized religion, and you are industrious.[NEWLINE]When you start building the pyramids in your capital (with your state religion), with 10 base hammers (not a lot but it's early), you get[NEWLINE]10 * (1+0,25 from orgrel + 0,5 from capital + 0,5 from industrious) = 22,5 hammers/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that those bonuses apply to hammers from chopping forests and from whipping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll try to show what you can do to help things going a bit faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mostly, this is done by chopping, whipping away population or $rushing.[NEWLINE]It can also be done by starving your population (or slowing growth), which is the slow way to whip (you need mines for this obviously).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can you expect from those rushing options?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chopping[\BOLD][NEWLINE]To cut wood you need to know Bronzeworking, and you need a worker in the woods.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest down is worth 20 hammers on normal speed before maths, 30 hammers after (you need the tech to count the trees, probably). This is the maximum output. The further the trees are from your city, the less you hammers you get from it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest costs 3 worker turns on normal speed. So either you send 3 workers on a tile and chop it down in 1 turn (+1 turn to move into the forest if you're not playing India with its fast workers) or send 1 worker and let it chop for 3 turns.[NEWLINE]Note that both the output of chopping and the number of worker turns needed scale with game speed.[NEWLINE]Also note that all the bonuses you have in the target city apply to the hammers from chopping.[NEWLINE]What is prechopping you've heard about? It's about applying worker turns to a forest then leaving before the forest really is chopped. This is useful for a wonder you really want: you prechop all the forests around your city, then as soon as you have the tech you need, you send a worker in and apply the final worker turn to chop. This way you can get all your forests cut down in a single turn with 1 worker/forest. Note that if you don't build a road into the forest you still lose 12 turn to move in.[NEWLINE]Prechopping can also be used to keep your workers busy while researching a worker tech in the beginning.[NEWLINE]Another thing about chopping is to chose where the hammers from a chop are going.[NEWLINE]This is rather simple. They go into the city that has the tile amongst its active tiles. This means that even you don't work the tile in your target, you should not let a different city use it if you want the hammers.[NEWLINE]If no city has the tile in its active tile, they go into the closest city. If 2 cities are equidistant, it's the oldest that gets the hammers.[NEWLINE]Beware: you can chop inside foreign cultural borders, but you won't earn the hammers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Whipping population[\BOLD] aka pop rushing:[NEWLINE]You need to be running the slavery civic, which requires bronze working. You can only whip away half the population in a given city.[NEWLINE]Although you can whip more than once in a given city in a given turn, you can only finish one item at the end of the turn.[NEWLINE]One population point is worth 30 base hammers on normal speed.[NEWLINE]This scales with game speed, and all the bonuses you have in the city apply to the whip.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for whipping before having invested hammers.[NEWLINE]There is also a penalty for whipping a wonder.[NEWLINE]There is a unhappiness penalty of 1 for 10 turns. This penalty stacks in a very painful way:[NEWLINE]If you whip twice, you get 2 unhappies for 10 turns, then you get down to 1 unhappy for 10 more turns.[NEWLINE]What can you do and what do you get? You can finish a building/unit/wonder (not a project) at the end of the turn by pushing the pop rushing button provided you run slavery and have the necessary population = twice the cost of the whip.[NEWLINE]For example, in a size 10 city, you can whip 5 population points away which is 150 base hammers worth of production, provided you spend at least 1 turn putting hammers into the build.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What would a whipper's turns look like?[NEWLINE]Turn 1 : you assign all your citizens to max food tiles, earning a few "normal" hammers (let's say 3), and start producing an item (let's say a catapult)[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you whip away 2 population points, get 60 base hammers towards the catapult + 3 from turn 1 + 3 from turn 2.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you have a catapult, and 26 hammers overflow + the 3 you're still producing. You can start anything, with 29 base hammers. If you did it right, you grew back 1 pop immediately to reach your happiness cap again immediately.[NEWLINE]turn 4 to 10: grow if possible (happiness cap!), or work max hammer tiles to prevent growth or build settlers/workers.[NEWLINE]turn 11: back to turn 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a very good article from VoiceofUnreason (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193659) on whipping you can check, for more information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cash Rushing[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You need to run universal suffrage (available through democracy or pyramids) and to have money in the bank.[NEWLINE]You can buy units, buildings and wonders, but not projects.[NEWLINE]The price is high: 3 gold/hammer.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing without hammers invested (same as for pop rushing).[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing wonders.[NEWLINE]Bonuses don't apply.[NEWLINE]So you can buy walls for the same price, if you have stone or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What do you get? you get the item at the end of your turn, there is an overflow of exactly your base hammers.[NEWLINE]You can manage more overflow by queue juggling.[NEWLINE]An example?[NEWLINE]Let's say you have 5 honest base hammers.[NEWLINE]Turn 1: you start a forge. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you start a granary. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you start a library. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]turn 4: you start a courthouse. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 5: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the forge.[NEWLINE]turn 6: you pay (60-5)x3= 165 gold to finish the granary.[NEWLINE]turn 7: you pay (90-5)x3 = 255 gold to finish the library.[NEWLINE]turn 8: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the courthouse.[NEWLINE]turn 9: you can build what you want with (20 hammers overflow + 5 base hammers )*1,25 from the forge = 31 hammers.[NEWLINE]My example doesn't seem very impressive? Ok, I must agree.[NEWLINE]Now try it with your massive base hammers city, and get a 4 turns discount on the engine production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll try to show here a few combos to let you get things done as fast and good as possible when it is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]preliminary philosophy course:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- You're not aways spiritual, but sometimes you are (or sometimes you play BtS and can switch civics for free, during a golden age or when you have christo redentor). This is good for using the best civics for a specific production.[NEWLINE]- Everything has a price. You really must be aware that you're not getting representation's free beakers when you're $rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Short list of combos:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- BW is a combo by itself, allowing to chop forests and to whip population. Every early rush needs this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=244075).[NEWLINE]- OrgRel when building up infra, then either pacifism or theocracy for using your infra. This can be coupled with slavery for the fastest results. Rushing a forge under orgreal to have even more bonus is kind of cool. Even better if you have gold, gems, silver to get over the happiness cost.[NEWLINE]- police state + slavery + theocracy (or vassalage) for a few cheap high level units. Overkill, if you go police state + vassalage+slavery +theocracy, but with a ger you can reach level 4 out of barracks.[NEWLINE]- bureaucracy combinations: bureau + orgrel + the right resource for a +175% hammers towards your favourite wonder. bureaucracy + police state + HE for fastest unit production ever.[NEWLINE]- nationhood + theocracy for empire wide expansion. Cheaper and faster than slavery: drafting (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566).[NEWLINE]- (kremlin +) universal suffrage + state property (+ caste system if you play BtS) for "production anywhere". You keep your cottages in your ancient cities, load your new cities with workshops and watermills, buy the forges, factories and stuff you need, and build the spaceship faster that you research the techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One day soon, I'll move my lazy a$$ and write some details about those combos, but I'm sure you see the trick already.</French>
		<German>[H1]Ways into Production[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This could be an industrial thread, but no, it's only a game.[NEWLINE]After health and happiness articles, by popular demand (a whole person asked for it), I'm back with some kind of "do it yourself" article about production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll put more work into this in a few weeks, but I don't want my franchise to get lost, do I ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Production as we all know, is the key to winning the game a lot more so than happiness, health, beakers or gold (just joking, check the other articles (credits to me is already done, credits to hackapell for his economic summary).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the sources of production, the bonuses that you can get and some nice combos to benefit the most from them.[NEWLINE]I'm not going into specialization for now, so I'm assuming it is clear for everyone that some cities aren't going to be production powerhouses. Don't expect your cottage spammed city to produce its library in 1 turn.[NEWLINE]However, generally speaking, you will try to have the most production possible. This is what you see as [ICON_PRODUCTION] in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where do you get those [ICON_PRODUCTION] you need to build troops, buildings or wonders (or gold or beakers or culture)?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 sources:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from worked tiles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from specialists (settled Great engineers, great prophets, great scientists, or engineers, priests and citizens)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]chopped forest from around your city[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from population to hammers via slavery[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from gold to hammers via universal suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a 6th source in BtS, for religious buildings of the "world religion" (the state religion of the Apostolic Palace owner). I won't go into much details on this. I will consider those hammers as those coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]There is also a 7th source in BtS with corporations. same as before, I'll consider those hammers as coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]Still, I'll try to get some informations together in chapter 1 about those 2 sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is is also an overflow feature (check vale's article about it), that can be used to "focus" production on a specific project or to abuse the bonus multipliers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is another way to get troops when you need some, without actually producing them: drafting is shown in good details in this article from Vale: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How does it work:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You sum up overflow + hammers from the first 3 sources (chapter 1) and this gives you your base production for the given turn in the given city.[NEWLINE]You then apply production modifiers (chapter 2) and you get your production total for the current turn in this city.[NEWLINE]If you're not happy with the result you can (chapter 3):[NEWLINE]- move around your citizens, from food and commerce tiles or from being specialists to higher production duties.[NEWLINE]- use your workers to chop more wood around your city (source 3)[NEWLINE]- rush the production by whipping your population (source 4)[NEWLINE]- rush by paying for the missing hammers (source 5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tiles output for a start:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](I don't mention commerce, which has no impact on production here)[NEWLINE]F = food[NEWLINE]H = hammer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]Base tiles[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Plains 1F1H[NEWLINE]Plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]Grasslandhill 1F1H[NEWLINE]deserthill 0F1H[NEWLINE]Forested plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland hill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested plains hill 0F3H[NEWLINE]Forested tundra 1F1H[NEWLINE]forested tundra hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]jungled plains 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled grassland hill 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this situation, you have at the bottom tundra, then plains, then grassland, then desert, then for completeness a peak, a floodplain and an oasis.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that when you settle on a tile, the feature layer is removed. For instance, if you settle on a forested tile, the forest is removed. This being said, you get the unimproved output of the tile in food hammers and commerce in the city center, with a minimum of 2F1H1C.[NEWLINE]So if you settle on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F2H1C.[NEWLINE]Even better, if you settle on stone on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F3H1C.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]improved tiles under basic conditions[\BOLD](1)[NEWLINE](1) [BOLD]you need agriculture to build farms, mining to build mines, fishing to work water tiles, metal casting to build workshops, machinery to build windmills or watermills, Replaceable Parts to build lumbermills[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Farmed plains 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Plainshill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Grassland hill 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled deserthill 1F1H[NEWLINE]Mined plains hill 0F 4H[NEWLINE]Mined grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Mined deserthill 0F3H[NEWLINE]workshopped plains 0F2H[NEWLINE]workshopped grassland 1F1H[NEWLINE]workshopped FloodPlains 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]watermilled grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled Floodplains 3F1H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland 2F2H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains hill 0F4H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]production specials[\BOLD](base/improved without commerce)[NEWLINE][BOLD]first part: I will assume for the following specials that they are on a grassland hill[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Aluminum 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by Industrialism, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Coal 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by steam power, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gold 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Silver 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gems 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Copper 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by bronze working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Iron 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by iron working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Marble 1F2H / 1F3H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE]Stone 1F2H / 1F4H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that:[NEWLINE]- precious metals reduce the hammers output.[NEWLINE]- marble with a quarry isn't better than a mine, from the hammers point of view[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]second part (these specials don't show up on hills): I will assume that they are on grassland[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Ivory 2F1H /2F2H[NEWLINE]Cow 3F / 4F2H[NEWLINE]Horse 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE]Oil 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]whales with whaling boat get 1H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Techs improving hammers output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]guilds and chemistry improve workshops (+1H each)[NEWLINE]Replaceable Parts improves windmills (+1H)[NEWLINE]biology improves farms (+1F), making it possible to work less farms for the same food = you can work more hammer rich, food poor tiles like mines.[NEWLINE]Railroad allows the railorad improvement over mines, lumbermills and quarries, giving +1h to those improvements[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civics improving output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Universal Suffrage gives 1H to towns.[NEWLINE]State Property gives +1F to workshops and watermills. Although it's not a direct hammer output improvement, it allows you to replace farms with watermills or workshops, making for the given city a huge hammer improvement.[NEWLINE]In BtS, caste system gives +1H to workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings (+wonders) improving tiles output[\BOLD], BtS only[NEWLINE]for buildings giving bonus on base hammers, see the next chapter[NEWLINE]Levees (require steampower and a city on a river!) give all riverside tiles +1H[NEWLINE]Moai statues give all water tiles +1H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]fully improved tiles output[\BOLD][NEWLINE](you must have the following techs: guilds, chemistry, replaceable parts, biology (for farms), railroad, you also need iron and coal)[NEWLINE]Plains farm: 3F1P[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]Plains hill mine with railroad: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill hill: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains watermill: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property)[NEWLINE]Plains workshop: 0F4H (1F4H if running state property, 0F5H if playing BtS and running caste system, 1F5H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Plains town (who cares about cottages): 1F1H (1F2H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE]Grassland farms produce no hammers but 4F ![NEWLINE]Grassland lumbermill with railroad: 2F3H[NEWLINE]Grassland hill mine with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland lumbermill hill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland watermill: 2F2H (3F2H if running state property)[NEWLINE]grassland workshop: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property, 1F4H if playing BtS and running caste system, 2F4H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Grassland town: 2F0H (2F1H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't go into more situations (it's getting a bit long already!), but with aluminium or coal or copper or iron, you add +2 hammers to a mine, bringing a fully developped plains hill mine with railroad and iron underneath to 0F7H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that workshopping/watermilling ivory gives a better hammer output than sticking with the obsolete ivory camp.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notice: there are events in BtS that modify a tile's output. Since you can't expect this to happen really often, I don't go into this and leave you the surprise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]specialists' output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Engineer: 2 h, 3GPP[NEWLINE]Priest: 1H 1gold, 3GPP[NEWLINE]citizen: 1H[NEWLINE]When to use specialists instead of tiles, with such a low output?[NEWLINE]1° when you want a great person![NEWLINE]2° when you don't have tiles giving you what you want or when you have no more tile to work[NEWLINE]3° when you have free specialists (SoL, mercantilism, industrial park in BtS)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]settled great people output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great engineer: 3H, 3 beakers[NEWLINE]great scientist: 1H, 6 beakers[NEWLINE]Great prophet: 2H, 5 gold coins[NEWLINE]The good part on those settle guys is this: you don't need to feed them and they are never unhappy + they benefit from representation's specialist bonus and fromp sistin chapel's bonus.[NEWLINE]The other good part is you can earn the great people in 1 city and use him in another where he has more impact (like settling a great engineer in your ironworks city).[NEWLINE]In a similar fashion, you can get 2H per religious building of the Apostolic's Palace religion if you run it as state religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So many informations, and you still don't know how to get a productive city?[NEWLINE]check Voice of Unreason's articles about production.[NEWLINE]evaluating production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=169213[NEWLINE]commerce and production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159147[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the previous chapter you saw what base output you could get from working tiles or specialists (don't forget to feed your miners or engineers!)[NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll summarize all the available bonus you can get.[NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a forge gives +25% production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a factory +25%, +50% with power (you only get 1 bonus from power even if you have a nuclear plant, a coal plant and a hydroplant)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ironworks (+50% if you have iron, + 50% if you have coal)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]heroic epic for military units,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]labs +50% for space parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]bureaucracy, +50% hammers in your capital[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]police state, +25% for units[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]organized religion, +25% for buildings (includes wonders, but not space parts)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]stone +100% H to walls and castles, to christian cathedrals, synagogues and a large number of wonders including the famous pyramids,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]marble +100% to hindu mandirs, mosques and to a large number of wonders including the great library, the heroic epic and the national epic[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]copper +100% to Buddhist Stupas, Confucian Academies, Taoist Pagodas, to space parts (Cockpit, Life Support, Stasis Chamber) and a few wonders including the Internet[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]iron +100% for some wonder, +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]coal +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold +100% to some wonder in BtS (the unwritable one which allows all religious civics),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ivory +100% to some wonder in BtS (statue of zeus?),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]aluminium +100% on some spaceship parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from traits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most traits give bonuses on some specific buildings, like +100% on hammers towards barracks if you're agressive. This bonus can be the best think of a given trait, like double speed of theatres and libraries for creative![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]industrialism also gives a 50% bonus on all wonders,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]expansive gives a bonus on workers(+50% hammers in warlords, +25% in BtS, zilch in vanilla)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]imperialistic gives a bonus on building settlers (+50%? need to check)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What all this for?[NEWLINE]Let's assume you are running bureaucracy and organized religion, and you are industrious.[NEWLINE]When you start building the pyramids in your capital (with your state religion), with 10 base hammers (not a lot but it's early), you get[NEWLINE]10 * (1+0,25 from orgrel + 0,5 from capital + 0,5 from industrious) = 22,5 hammers/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that those bonuses apply to hammers from chopping forests and from whipping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll try to show what you can do to help things going a bit faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mostly, this is done by chopping, whipping away population or $rushing.[NEWLINE]It can also be done by starving your population (or slowing growth), which is the slow way to whip (you need mines for this obviously).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can you expect from those rushing options?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chopping[\BOLD][NEWLINE]To cut wood you need to know Bronzeworking, and you need a worker in the woods.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest down is worth 20 hammers on normal speed before maths, 30 hammers after (you need the tech to count the trees, probably). This is the maximum output. The further the trees are from your city, the less you hammers you get from it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest costs 3 worker turns on normal speed. So either you send 3 workers on a tile and chop it down in 1 turn (+1 turn to move into the forest if you're not playing India with its fast workers) or send 1 worker and let it chop for 3 turns.[NEWLINE]Note that both the output of chopping and the number of worker turns needed scale with game speed.[NEWLINE]Also note that all the bonuses you have in the target city apply to the hammers from chopping.[NEWLINE]What is prechopping you've heard about? It's about applying worker turns to a forest then leaving before the forest really is chopped. This is useful for a wonder you really want: you prechop all the forests around your city, then as soon as you have the tech you need, you send a worker in and apply the final worker turn to chop. This way you can get all your forests cut down in a single turn with 1 worker/forest. Note that if you don't build a road into the forest you still lose 12 turn to move in.[NEWLINE]Prechopping can also be used to keep your workers busy while researching a worker tech in the beginning.[NEWLINE]Another thing about chopping is to chose where the hammers from a chop are going.[NEWLINE]This is rather simple. They go into the city that has the tile amongst its active tiles. This means that even you don't work the tile in your target, you should not let a different city use it if you want the hammers.[NEWLINE]If no city has the tile in its active tile, they go into the closest city. If 2 cities are equidistant, it's the oldest that gets the hammers.[NEWLINE]Beware: you can chop inside foreign cultural borders, but you won't earn the hammers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Whipping population[\BOLD] aka pop rushing:[NEWLINE]You need to be running the slavery civic, which requires bronze working. You can only whip away half the population in a given city.[NEWLINE]Although you can whip more than once in a given city in a given turn, you can only finish one item at the end of the turn.[NEWLINE]One population point is worth 30 base hammers on normal speed.[NEWLINE]This scales with game speed, and all the bonuses you have in the city apply to the whip.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for whipping before having invested hammers.[NEWLINE]There is also a penalty for whipping a wonder.[NEWLINE]There is a unhappiness penalty of 1 for 10 turns. This penalty stacks in a very painful way:[NEWLINE]If you whip twice, you get 2 unhappies for 10 turns, then you get down to 1 unhappy for 10 more turns.[NEWLINE]What can you do and what do you get? You can finish a building/unit/wonder (not a project) at the end of the turn by pushing the pop rushing button provided you run slavery and have the necessary population = twice the cost of the whip.[NEWLINE]For example, in a size 10 city, you can whip 5 population points away which is 150 base hammers worth of production, provided you spend at least 1 turn putting hammers into the build.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What would a whipper's turns look like?[NEWLINE]Turn 1 : you assign all your citizens to max food tiles, earning a few "normal" hammers (let's say 3), and start producing an item (let's say a catapult)[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you whip away 2 population points, get 60 base hammers towards the catapult + 3 from turn 1 + 3 from turn 2.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you have a catapult, and 26 hammers overflow + the 3 you're still producing. You can start anything, with 29 base hammers. If you did it right, you grew back 1 pop immediately to reach your happiness cap again immediately.[NEWLINE]turn 4 to 10: grow if possible (happiness cap!), or work max hammer tiles to prevent growth or build settlers/workers.[NEWLINE]turn 11: back to turn 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a very good article from VoiceofUnreason (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193659) on whipping you can check, for more information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cash Rushing[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You need to run universal suffrage (available through democracy or pyramids) and to have money in the bank.[NEWLINE]You can buy units, buildings and wonders, but not projects.[NEWLINE]The price is high: 3 gold/hammer.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing without hammers invested (same as for pop rushing).[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing wonders.[NEWLINE]Bonuses don't apply.[NEWLINE]So you can buy walls for the same price, if you have stone or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What do you get? you get the item at the end of your turn, there is an overflow of exactly your base hammers.[NEWLINE]You can manage more overflow by queue juggling.[NEWLINE]An example?[NEWLINE]Let's say you have 5 honest base hammers.[NEWLINE]Turn 1: you start a forge. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you start a granary. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you start a library. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]turn 4: you start a courthouse. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 5: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the forge.[NEWLINE]turn 6: you pay (60-5)x3= 165 gold to finish the granary.[NEWLINE]turn 7: you pay (90-5)x3 = 255 gold to finish the library.[NEWLINE]turn 8: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the courthouse.[NEWLINE]turn 9: you can build what you want with (20 hammers overflow + 5 base hammers )*1,25 from the forge = 31 hammers.[NEWLINE]My example doesn't seem very impressive? Ok, I must agree.[NEWLINE]Now try it with your massive base hammers city, and get a 4 turns discount on the engine production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll try to show here a few combos to let you get things done as fast and good as possible when it is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]preliminary philosophy course:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- You're not aways spiritual, but sometimes you are (or sometimes you play BtS and can switch civics for free, during a golden age or when you have christo redentor). This is good for using the best civics for a specific production.[NEWLINE]- Everything has a price. You really must be aware that you're not getting representation's free beakers when you're $rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Short list of combos:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- BW is a combo by itself, allowing to chop forests and to whip population. Every early rush needs this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=244075).[NEWLINE]- OrgRel when building up infra, then either pacifism or theocracy for using your infra. This can be coupled with slavery for the fastest results. Rushing a forge under orgreal to have even more bonus is kind of cool. Even better if you have gold, gems, silver to get over the happiness cost.[NEWLINE]- police state + slavery + theocracy (or vassalage) for a few cheap high level units. Overkill, if you go police state + vassalage+slavery +theocracy, but with a ger you can reach level 4 out of barracks.[NEWLINE]- bureaucracy combinations: bureau + orgrel + the right resource for a +175% hammers towards your favourite wonder. bureaucracy + police state + HE for fastest unit production ever.[NEWLINE]- nationhood + theocracy for empire wide expansion. Cheaper and faster than slavery: drafting (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566).[NEWLINE]- (kremlin +) universal suffrage + state property (+ caste system if you play BtS) for "production anywhere". You keep your cottages in your ancient cities, load your new cities with workshops and watermills, buy the forges, factories and stuff you need, and build the spaceship faster that you research the techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One day soon, I'll move my lazy a$$ and write some details about those combos, but I'm sure you see the trick already.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Ways into Production[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This could be an industrial thread, but no, it's only a game.[NEWLINE]After health and happiness articles, by popular demand (a whole person asked for it), I'm back with some kind of "do it yourself" article about production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll put more work into this in a few weeks, but I don't want my franchise to get lost, do I ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Production as we all know, is the key to winning the game a lot more so than happiness, health, beakers or gold (just joking, check the other articles (credits to me is already done, credits to hackapell for his economic summary).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the sources of production, the bonuses that you can get and some nice combos to benefit the most from them.[NEWLINE]I'm not going into specialization for now, so I'm assuming it is clear for everyone that some cities aren't going to be production powerhouses. Don't expect your cottage spammed city to produce its library in 1 turn.[NEWLINE]However, generally speaking, you will try to have the most production possible. This is what you see as [ICON_PRODUCTION] in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where do you get those [ICON_PRODUCTION] you need to build troops, buildings or wonders (or gold or beakers or culture)?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 sources:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from worked tiles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from specialists (settled Great engineers, great prophets, great scientists, or engineers, priests and citizens)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]chopped forest from around your city[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from population to hammers via slavery[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from gold to hammers via universal suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a 6th source in BtS, for religious buildings of the "world religion" (the state religion of the Apostolic Palace owner). I won't go into much details on this. I will consider those hammers as those coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]There is also a 7th source in BtS with corporations. same as before, I'll consider those hammers as coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]Still, I'll try to get some informations together in chapter 1 about those 2 sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is is also an overflow feature (check vale's article about it), that can be used to "focus" production on a specific project or to abuse the bonus multipliers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is another way to get troops when you need some, without actually producing them: drafting is shown in good details in this article from Vale: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How does it work:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You sum up overflow + hammers from the first 3 sources (chapter 1) and this gives you your base production for the given turn in the given city.[NEWLINE]You then apply production modifiers (chapter 2) and you get your production total for the current turn in this city.[NEWLINE]If you're not happy with the result you can (chapter 3):[NEWLINE]- move around your citizens, from food and commerce tiles or from being specialists to higher production duties.[NEWLINE]- use your workers to chop more wood around your city (source 3)[NEWLINE]- rush the production by whipping your population (source 4)[NEWLINE]- rush by paying for the missing hammers (source 5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tiles output for a start:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](I don't mention commerce, which has no impact on production here)[NEWLINE]F = food[NEWLINE]H = hammer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]Base tiles[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Plains 1F1H[NEWLINE]Plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]Grasslandhill 1F1H[NEWLINE]deserthill 0F1H[NEWLINE]Forested plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland hill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested plains hill 0F3H[NEWLINE]Forested tundra 1F1H[NEWLINE]forested tundra hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]jungled plains 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled grassland hill 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this situation, you have at the bottom tundra, then plains, then grassland, then desert, then for completeness a peak, a floodplain and an oasis.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that when you settle on a tile, the feature layer is removed. For instance, if you settle on a forested tile, the forest is removed. This being said, you get the unimproved output of the tile in food hammers and commerce in the city center, with a minimum of 2F1H1C.[NEWLINE]So if you settle on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F2H1C.[NEWLINE]Even better, if you settle on stone on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F3H1C.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]improved tiles under basic conditions[\BOLD](1)[NEWLINE](1) [BOLD]you need agriculture to build farms, mining to build mines, fishing to work water tiles, metal casting to build workshops, machinery to build windmills or watermills, Replaceable Parts to build lumbermills[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Farmed plains 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Plainshill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Grassland hill 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled deserthill 1F1H[NEWLINE]Mined plains hill 0F 4H[NEWLINE]Mined grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Mined deserthill 0F3H[NEWLINE]workshopped plains 0F2H[NEWLINE]workshopped grassland 1F1H[NEWLINE]workshopped FloodPlains 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]watermilled grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled Floodplains 3F1H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland 2F2H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains hill 0F4H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]production specials[\BOLD](base/improved without commerce)[NEWLINE][BOLD]first part: I will assume for the following specials that they are on a grassland hill[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Aluminum 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by Industrialism, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Coal 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by steam power, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gold 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Silver 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gems 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Copper 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by bronze working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Iron 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by iron working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Marble 1F2H / 1F3H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE]Stone 1F2H / 1F4H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that:[NEWLINE]- precious metals reduce the hammers output.[NEWLINE]- marble with a quarry isn't better than a mine, from the hammers point of view[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]second part (these specials don't show up on hills): I will assume that they are on grassland[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Ivory 2F1H /2F2H[NEWLINE]Cow 3F / 4F2H[NEWLINE]Horse 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE]Oil 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]whales with whaling boat get 1H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Techs improving hammers output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]guilds and chemistry improve workshops (+1H each)[NEWLINE]Replaceable Parts improves windmills (+1H)[NEWLINE]biology improves farms (+1F), making it possible to work less farms for the same food = you can work more hammer rich, food poor tiles like mines.[NEWLINE]Railroad allows the railorad improvement over mines, lumbermills and quarries, giving +1h to those improvements[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civics improving output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Universal Suffrage gives 1H to towns.[NEWLINE]State Property gives +1F to workshops and watermills. Although it's not a direct hammer output improvement, it allows you to replace farms with watermills or workshops, making for the given city a huge hammer improvement.[NEWLINE]In BtS, caste system gives +1H to workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings (+wonders) improving tiles output[\BOLD], BtS only[NEWLINE]for buildings giving bonus on base hammers, see the next chapter[NEWLINE]Levees (require steampower and a city on a river!) give all riverside tiles +1H[NEWLINE]Moai statues give all water tiles +1H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]fully improved tiles output[\BOLD][NEWLINE](you must have the following techs: guilds, chemistry, replaceable parts, biology (for farms), railroad, you also need iron and coal)[NEWLINE]Plains farm: 3F1P[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]Plains hill mine with railroad: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill hill: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains watermill: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property)[NEWLINE]Plains workshop: 0F4H (1F4H if running state property, 0F5H if playing BtS and running caste system, 1F5H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Plains town (who cares about cottages): 1F1H (1F2H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE]Grassland farms produce no hammers but 4F ![NEWLINE]Grassland lumbermill with railroad: 2F3H[NEWLINE]Grassland hill mine with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland lumbermill hill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland watermill: 2F2H (3F2H if running state property)[NEWLINE]grassland workshop: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property, 1F4H if playing BtS and running caste system, 2F4H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Grassland town: 2F0H (2F1H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't go into more situations (it's getting a bit long already!), but with aluminium or coal or copper or iron, you add +2 hammers to a mine, bringing a fully developped plains hill mine with railroad and iron underneath to 0F7H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that workshopping/watermilling ivory gives a better hammer output than sticking with the obsolete ivory camp.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notice: there are events in BtS that modify a tile's output. Since you can't expect this to happen really often, I don't go into this and leave you the surprise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]specialists' output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Engineer: 2 h, 3GPP[NEWLINE]Priest: 1H 1gold, 3GPP[NEWLINE]citizen: 1H[NEWLINE]When to use specialists instead of tiles, with such a low output?[NEWLINE]1° when you want a great person![NEWLINE]2° when you don't have tiles giving you what you want or when you have no more tile to work[NEWLINE]3° when you have free specialists (SoL, mercantilism, industrial park in BtS)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]settled great people output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great engineer: 3H, 3 beakers[NEWLINE]great scientist: 1H, 6 beakers[NEWLINE]Great prophet: 2H, 5 gold coins[NEWLINE]The good part on those settle guys is this: you don't need to feed them and they are never unhappy + they benefit from representation's specialist bonus and fromp sistin chapel's bonus.[NEWLINE]The other good part is you can earn the great people in 1 city and use him in another where he has more impact (like settling a great engineer in your ironworks city).[NEWLINE]In a similar fashion, you can get 2H per religious building of the Apostolic's Palace religion if you run it as state religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So many informations, and you still don't know how to get a productive city?[NEWLINE]check Voice of Unreason's articles about production.[NEWLINE]evaluating production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=169213[NEWLINE]commerce and production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159147[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the previous chapter you saw what base output you could get from working tiles or specialists (don't forget to feed your miners or engineers!)[NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll summarize all the available bonus you can get.[NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a forge gives +25% production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a factory +25%, +50% with power (you only get 1 bonus from power even if you have a nuclear plant, a coal plant and a hydroplant)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ironworks (+50% if you have iron, + 50% if you have coal)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]heroic epic for military units,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]labs +50% for space parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]bureaucracy, +50% hammers in your capital[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]police state, +25% for units[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]organized religion, +25% for buildings (includes wonders, but not space parts)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]stone +100% H to walls and castles, to christian cathedrals, synagogues and a large number of wonders including the famous pyramids,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]marble +100% to hindu mandirs, mosques and to a large number of wonders including the great library, the heroic epic and the national epic[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]copper +100% to Buddhist Stupas, Confucian Academies, Taoist Pagodas, to space parts (Cockpit, Life Support, Stasis Chamber) and a few wonders including the Internet[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]iron +100% for some wonder, +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]coal +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold +100% to some wonder in BtS (the unwritable one which allows all religious civics),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ivory +100% to some wonder in BtS (statue of zeus?),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]aluminium +100% on some spaceship parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from traits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most traits give bonuses on some specific buildings, like +100% on hammers towards barracks if you're agressive. This bonus can be the best think of a given trait, like double speed of theatres and libraries for creative![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]industrialism also gives a 50% bonus on all wonders,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]expansive gives a bonus on workers(+50% hammers in warlords, +25% in BtS, zilch in vanilla)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]imperialistic gives a bonus on building settlers (+50%? need to check)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What all this for?[NEWLINE]Let's assume you are running bureaucracy and organized religion, and you are industrious.[NEWLINE]When you start building the pyramids in your capital (with your state religion), with 10 base hammers (not a lot but it's early), you get[NEWLINE]10 * (1+0,25 from orgrel + 0,5 from capital + 0,5 from industrious) = 22,5 hammers/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that those bonuses apply to hammers from chopping forests and from whipping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll try to show what you can do to help things going a bit faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mostly, this is done by chopping, whipping away population or $rushing.[NEWLINE]It can also be done by starving your population (or slowing growth), which is the slow way to whip (you need mines for this obviously).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can you expect from those rushing options?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chopping[\BOLD][NEWLINE]To cut wood you need to know Bronzeworking, and you need a worker in the woods.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest down is worth 20 hammers on normal speed before maths, 30 hammers after (you need the tech to count the trees, probably). This is the maximum output. The further the trees are from your city, the less you hammers you get from it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest costs 3 worker turns on normal speed. So either you send 3 workers on a tile and chop it down in 1 turn (+1 turn to move into the forest if you're not playing India with its fast workers) or send 1 worker and let it chop for 3 turns.[NEWLINE]Note that both the output of chopping and the number of worker turns needed scale with game speed.[NEWLINE]Also note that all the bonuses you have in the target city apply to the hammers from chopping.[NEWLINE]What is prechopping you've heard about? It's about applying worker turns to a forest then leaving before the forest really is chopped. This is useful for a wonder you really want: you prechop all the forests around your city, then as soon as you have the tech you need, you send a worker in and apply the final worker turn to chop. This way you can get all your forests cut down in a single turn with 1 worker/forest. Note that if you don't build a road into the forest you still lose 12 turn to move in.[NEWLINE]Prechopping can also be used to keep your workers busy while researching a worker tech in the beginning.[NEWLINE]Another thing about chopping is to chose where the hammers from a chop are going.[NEWLINE]This is rather simple. They go into the city that has the tile amongst its active tiles. This means that even you don't work the tile in your target, you should not let a different city use it if you want the hammers.[NEWLINE]If no city has the tile in its active tile, they go into the closest city. If 2 cities are equidistant, it's the oldest that gets the hammers.[NEWLINE]Beware: you can chop inside foreign cultural borders, but you won't earn the hammers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Whipping population[\BOLD] aka pop rushing:[NEWLINE]You need to be running the slavery civic, which requires bronze working. You can only whip away half the population in a given city.[NEWLINE]Although you can whip more than once in a given city in a given turn, you can only finish one item at the end of the turn.[NEWLINE]One population point is worth 30 base hammers on normal speed.[NEWLINE]This scales with game speed, and all the bonuses you have in the city apply to the whip.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for whipping before having invested hammers.[NEWLINE]There is also a penalty for whipping a wonder.[NEWLINE]There is a unhappiness penalty of 1 for 10 turns. This penalty stacks in a very painful way:[NEWLINE]If you whip twice, you get 2 unhappies for 10 turns, then you get down to 1 unhappy for 10 more turns.[NEWLINE]What can you do and what do you get? You can finish a building/unit/wonder (not a project) at the end of the turn by pushing the pop rushing button provided you run slavery and have the necessary population = twice the cost of the whip.[NEWLINE]For example, in a size 10 city, you can whip 5 population points away which is 150 base hammers worth of production, provided you spend at least 1 turn putting hammers into the build.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What would a whipper's turns look like?[NEWLINE]Turn 1 : you assign all your citizens to max food tiles, earning a few "normal" hammers (let's say 3), and start producing an item (let's say a catapult)[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you whip away 2 population points, get 60 base hammers towards the catapult + 3 from turn 1 + 3 from turn 2.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you have a catapult, and 26 hammers overflow + the 3 you're still producing. You can start anything, with 29 base hammers. If you did it right, you grew back 1 pop immediately to reach your happiness cap again immediately.[NEWLINE]turn 4 to 10: grow if possible (happiness cap!), or work max hammer tiles to prevent growth or build settlers/workers.[NEWLINE]turn 11: back to turn 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a very good article from VoiceofUnreason (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193659) on whipping you can check, for more information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cash Rushing[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You need to run universal suffrage (available through democracy or pyramids) and to have money in the bank.[NEWLINE]You can buy units, buildings and wonders, but not projects.[NEWLINE]The price is high: 3 gold/hammer.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing without hammers invested (same as for pop rushing).[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing wonders.[NEWLINE]Bonuses don't apply.[NEWLINE]So you can buy walls for the same price, if you have stone or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What do you get? you get the item at the end of your turn, there is an overflow of exactly your base hammers.[NEWLINE]You can manage more overflow by queue juggling.[NEWLINE]An example?[NEWLINE]Let's say you have 5 honest base hammers.[NEWLINE]Turn 1: you start a forge. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you start a granary. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you start a library. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]turn 4: you start a courthouse. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 5: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the forge.[NEWLINE]turn 6: you pay (60-5)x3= 165 gold to finish the granary.[NEWLINE]turn 7: you pay (90-5)x3 = 255 gold to finish the library.[NEWLINE]turn 8: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the courthouse.[NEWLINE]turn 9: you can build what you want with (20 hammers overflow + 5 base hammers )*1,25 from the forge = 31 hammers.[NEWLINE]My example doesn't seem very impressive? Ok, I must agree.[NEWLINE]Now try it with your massive base hammers city, and get a 4 turns discount on the engine production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll try to show here a few combos to let you get things done as fast and good as possible when it is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]preliminary philosophy course:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- You're not aways spiritual, but sometimes you are (or sometimes you play BtS and can switch civics for free, during a golden age or when you have christo redentor). This is good for using the best civics for a specific production.[NEWLINE]- Everything has a price. You really must be aware that you're not getting representation's free beakers when you're $rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Short list of combos:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- BW is a combo by itself, allowing to chop forests and to whip population. Every early rush needs this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=244075).[NEWLINE]- OrgRel when building up infra, then either pacifism or theocracy for using your infra. This can be coupled with slavery for the fastest results. Rushing a forge under orgreal to have even more bonus is kind of cool. Even better if you have gold, gems, silver to get over the happiness cost.[NEWLINE]- police state + slavery + theocracy (or vassalage) for a few cheap high level units. Overkill, if you go police state + vassalage+slavery +theocracy, but with a ger you can reach level 4 out of barracks.[NEWLINE]- bureaucracy combinations: bureau + orgrel + the right resource for a +175% hammers towards your favourite wonder. bureaucracy + police state + HE for fastest unit production ever.[NEWLINE]- nationhood + theocracy for empire wide expansion. Cheaper and faster than slavery: drafting (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566).[NEWLINE]- (kremlin +) universal suffrage + state property (+ caste system if you play BtS) for "production anywhere". You keep your cottages in your ancient cities, load your new cities with workshops and watermills, buy the forges, factories and stuff you need, and build the spaceship faster that you research the techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One day soon, I'll move my lazy a$$ and write some details about those combos, but I'm sure you see the trick already.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Ways into Production[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cabert[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This could be an industrial thread, but no, it's only a game.[NEWLINE]After health and happiness articles, by popular demand (a whole person asked for it), I'm back with some kind of "do it yourself" article about production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll put more work into this in a few weeks, but I don't want my franchise to get lost, do I ?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Production as we all know, is the key to winning the game a lot more so than happiness, health, beakers or gold (just joking, check the other articles (credits to me is already done, credits to hackapell for his economic summary).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article identifies the sources of production, the bonuses that you can get and some nice combos to benefit the most from them.[NEWLINE]I'm not going into specialization for now, so I'm assuming it is clear for everyone that some cities aren't going to be production powerhouses. Don't expect your cottage spammed city to produce its library in 1 turn.[NEWLINE]However, generally speaking, you will try to have the most production possible. This is what you see as [ICON_PRODUCTION] in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Where do you get those [ICON_PRODUCTION] you need to build troops, buildings or wonders (or gold or beakers or culture)?[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 sources:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from worked tiles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]hammers from specialists (settled Great engineers, great prophets, great scientists, or engineers, priests and citizens)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]chopped forest from around your city[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from population to hammers via slavery[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]conversion from gold to hammers via universal suffrage[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a 6th source in BtS, for religious buildings of the "world religion" (the state religion of the Apostolic Palace owner). I won't go into much details on this. I will consider those hammers as those coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]There is also a 7th source in BtS with corporations. same as before, I'll consider those hammers as coming from settled specialists in the rest of the article.[NEWLINE]Still, I'll try to get some informations together in chapter 1 about those 2 sources.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is is also an overflow feature (check vale's article about it), that can be used to "focus" production on a specific project or to abuse the bonus multipliers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is another way to get troops when you need some, without actually producing them: drafting is shown in good details in this article from Vale: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How does it work:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You sum up overflow + hammers from the first 3 sources (chapter 1) and this gives you your base production for the given turn in the given city.[NEWLINE]You then apply production modifiers (chapter 2) and you get your production total for the current turn in this city.[NEWLINE]If you're not happy with the result you can (chapter 3):[NEWLINE]- move around your citizens, from food and commerce tiles or from being specialists to higher production duties.[NEWLINE]- use your workers to chop more wood around your city (source 3)[NEWLINE]- rush the production by whipping your population (source 4)[NEWLINE]- rush by paying for the missing hammers (source 5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tiles output for a start:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](I don't mention commerce, which has no impact on production here)[NEWLINE]F = food[NEWLINE]H = hammer[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]Base tiles[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Plains 1F1H[NEWLINE]Plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]Grasslandhill 1F1H[NEWLINE]deserthill 0F1H[NEWLINE]Forested plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]Forested grassland hill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Forested plains hill 0F3H[NEWLINE]Forested tundra 1F1H[NEWLINE]forested tundra hill 0F2H[NEWLINE]jungled plains 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled grassland hill 0F1H[NEWLINE]jungled plains hill 0F2H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this situation, you have at the bottom tundra, then plains, then grassland, then desert, then for completeness a peak, a floodplain and an oasis.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that when you settle on a tile, the feature layer is removed. For instance, if you settle on a forested tile, the forest is removed. This being said, you get the unimproved output of the tile in food hammers and commerce in the city center, with a minimum of 2F1H1C.[NEWLINE]So if you settle on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F2H1C.[NEWLINE]Even better, if you settle on stone on a plains hill, your city center gives you 2F3H1C.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]improved tiles under basic conditions[\BOLD](1)[NEWLINE](1) [BOLD]you need agriculture to build farms, mining to build mines, fishing to work water tiles, metal casting to build workshops, machinery to build windmills or watermills, Replaceable Parts to build lumbermills[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Farmed plains 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Plainshill 1F2H[NEWLINE]Windmilled Grassland hill 2F1H[NEWLINE]Windmilled deserthill 1F1H[NEWLINE]Mined plains hill 0F 4H[NEWLINE]Mined grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Mined deserthill 0F3H[NEWLINE]workshopped plains 0F2H[NEWLINE]workshopped grassland 1F1H[NEWLINE]workshopped FloodPlains 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled plains 1F2H[NEWLINE]watermilled grassland 2F1H[NEWLINE]watermilled Floodplains 3F1H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland 2F2H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest grassland hill 1F3H[NEWLINE]Lumbermilled forest plains hill 0F4H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* [BOLD]production specials[\BOLD](base/improved without commerce)[NEWLINE][BOLD]first part: I will assume for the following specials that they are on a grassland hill[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Aluminum 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by Industrialism, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Coal 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by steam power, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gold 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Silver 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Gems 1F1H / 1F2H (requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Copper 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by bronze working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Iron 1F2H / 1F5H (revealed by iron working, requires a mine)[NEWLINE]Marble 1F2H / 1F3H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE]Stone 1F2H / 1F4H (requires a quarry)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note that:[NEWLINE]- precious metals reduce the hammers output.[NEWLINE]- marble with a quarry isn't better than a mine, from the hammers point of view[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]second part (these specials don't show up on hills): I will assume that they are on grassland[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Ivory 2F1H /2F2H[NEWLINE]Cow 3F / 4F2H[NEWLINE]Horse 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE]Oil 2F1H / 2F3H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]whales with whaling boat get 1H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Techs improving hammers output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]guilds and chemistry improve workshops (+1H each)[NEWLINE]Replaceable Parts improves windmills (+1H)[NEWLINE]biology improves farms (+1F), making it possible to work less farms for the same food = you can work more hammer rich, food poor tiles like mines.[NEWLINE]Railroad allows the railorad improvement over mines, lumbermills and quarries, giving +1h to those improvements[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civics improving output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Universal Suffrage gives 1H to towns.[NEWLINE]State Property gives +1F to workshops and watermills. Although it's not a direct hammer output improvement, it allows you to replace farms with watermills or workshops, making for the given city a huge hammer improvement.[NEWLINE]In BtS, caste system gives +1H to workshops.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Buildings (+wonders) improving tiles output[\BOLD], BtS only[NEWLINE]for buildings giving bonus on base hammers, see the next chapter[NEWLINE]Levees (require steampower and a city on a river!) give all riverside tiles +1H[NEWLINE]Moai statues give all water tiles +1H[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]fully improved tiles output[\BOLD][NEWLINE](you must have the following techs: guilds, chemistry, replaceable parts, biology (for farms), railroad, you also need iron and coal)[NEWLINE]Plains farm: 3F1P[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]Plains hill mine with railroad: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains lumbermill hill: 0F5H[NEWLINE]Plains watermill: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property)[NEWLINE]Plains workshop: 0F4H (1F4H if running state property, 0F5H if playing BtS and running caste system, 1F5H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Plains town (who cares about cottages): 1F1H (1F2H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE]Grassland farms produce no hammers but 4F ![NEWLINE]Grassland lumbermill with railroad: 2F3H[NEWLINE]Grassland hill mine with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland lumbermill hill with railroad: 1F4H[NEWLINE]grassland watermill: 2F2H (3F2H if running state property)[NEWLINE]grassland workshop: 1F3H (2F3H if running state property, 1F4H if playing BtS and running caste system, 2F4H if running state property and caste system in BtS)[NEWLINE]Grassland town: 2F0H (2F1H if running universal suffrage)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't go into more situations (it's getting a bit long already!), but with aluminium or coal or copper or iron, you add +2 hammers to a mine, bringing a fully developped plains hill mine with railroad and iron underneath to 0F7H.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that workshopping/watermilling ivory gives a better hammer output than sticking with the obsolete ivory camp.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Special notice: there are events in BtS that modify a tile's output. Since you can't expect this to happen really often, I don't go into this and leave you the surprise.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]specialists' output:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Engineer: 2 h, 3GPP[NEWLINE]Priest: 1H 1gold, 3GPP[NEWLINE]citizen: 1H[NEWLINE]When to use specialists instead of tiles, with such a low output?[NEWLINE]1° when you want a great person![NEWLINE]2° when you don't have tiles giving you what you want or when you have no more tile to work[NEWLINE]3° when you have free specialists (SoL, mercantilism, industrial park in BtS)![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]settled great people output[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Great engineer: 3H, 3 beakers[NEWLINE]great scientist: 1H, 6 beakers[NEWLINE]Great prophet: 2H, 5 gold coins[NEWLINE]The good part on those settle guys is this: you don't need to feed them and they are never unhappy + they benefit from representation's specialist bonus and fromp sistin chapel's bonus.[NEWLINE]The other good part is you can earn the great people in 1 city and use him in another where he has more impact (like settling a great engineer in your ironworks city).[NEWLINE]In a similar fashion, you can get 2H per religious building of the Apostolic's Palace religion if you run it as state religion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So many informations, and you still don't know how to get a productive city?[NEWLINE]check Voice of Unreason's articles about production.[NEWLINE]evaluating production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=169213[NEWLINE]commerce and production: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=159147[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the previous chapter you saw what base output you could get from working tiles or specialists (don't forget to feed your miners or engineers!)[NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll summarize all the available bonus you can get.[NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from buildings[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a forge gives +25% production[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a factory +25%, +50% with power (you only get 1 bonus from power even if you have a nuclear plant, a coal plant and a hydroplant)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ironworks (+50% if you have iron, + 50% if you have coal)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]heroic epic for military units,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]labs +50% for space parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from civics[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]bureaucracy, +50% hammers in your capital[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]police state, +25% for units[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]organized religion, +25% for buildings (includes wonders, but not space parts)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]stone +100% H to walls and castles, to christian cathedrals, synagogues and a large number of wonders including the famous pyramids,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]marble +100% to hindu mandirs, mosques and to a large number of wonders including the great library, the heroic epic and the national epic[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]copper +100% to Buddhist Stupas, Confucian Academies, Taoist Pagodas, to space parts (Cockpit, Life Support, Stasis Chamber) and a few wonders including the Internet[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]iron +100% for some wonder, +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]coal +50% in your ironworks city,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]gold +100% to some wonder in BtS (the unwritable one which allows all religious civics),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]ivory +100% to some wonder in BtS (statue of zeus?),[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]aluminium +100% on some spaceship parts[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]bonus from traits[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]most traits give bonuses on some specific buildings, like +100% on hammers towards barracks if you're agressive. This bonus can be the best think of a given trait, like double speed of theatres and libraries for creative![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]industrialism also gives a 50% bonus on all wonders,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]expansive gives a bonus on workers(+50% hammers in warlords, +25% in BtS, zilch in vanilla)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]imperialistic gives a bonus on building settlers (+50%? need to check)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What all this for?[NEWLINE]Let's assume you are running bureaucracy and organized religion, and you are industrious.[NEWLINE]When you start building the pyramids in your capital (with your state religion), with 10 base hammers (not a lot but it's early), you get[NEWLINE]10 * (1+0,25 from orgrel + 0,5 from capital + 0,5 from industrious) = 22,5 hammers/turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that those bonuses apply to hammers from chopping forests and from whipping.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this chapter, I'll try to show what you can do to help things going a bit faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mostly, this is done by chopping, whipping away population or $rushing.[NEWLINE]It can also be done by starving your population (or slowing growth), which is the slow way to whip (you need mines for this obviously).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can you expect from those rushing options?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chopping[\BOLD][NEWLINE]To cut wood you need to know Bronzeworking, and you need a worker in the woods.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest down is worth 20 hammers on normal speed before maths, 30 hammers after (you need the tech to count the trees, probably). This is the maximum output. The further the trees are from your city, the less you hammers you get from it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chopping a forest costs 3 worker turns on normal speed. So either you send 3 workers on a tile and chop it down in 1 turn (+1 turn to move into the forest if you're not playing India with its fast workers) or send 1 worker and let it chop for 3 turns.[NEWLINE]Note that both the output of chopping and the number of worker turns needed scale with game speed.[NEWLINE]Also note that all the bonuses you have in the target city apply to the hammers from chopping.[NEWLINE]What is prechopping you've heard about? It's about applying worker turns to a forest then leaving before the forest really is chopped. This is useful for a wonder you really want: you prechop all the forests around your city, then as soon as you have the tech you need, you send a worker in and apply the final worker turn to chop. This way you can get all your forests cut down in a single turn with 1 worker/forest. Note that if you don't build a road into the forest you still lose 12 turn to move in.[NEWLINE]Prechopping can also be used to keep your workers busy while researching a worker tech in the beginning.[NEWLINE]Another thing about chopping is to chose where the hammers from a chop are going.[NEWLINE]This is rather simple. They go into the city that has the tile amongst its active tiles. This means that even you don't work the tile in your target, you should not let a different city use it if you want the hammers.[NEWLINE]If no city has the tile in its active tile, they go into the closest city. If 2 cities are equidistant, it's the oldest that gets the hammers.[NEWLINE]Beware: you can chop inside foreign cultural borders, but you won't earn the hammers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Whipping population[\BOLD] aka pop rushing:[NEWLINE]You need to be running the slavery civic, which requires bronze working. You can only whip away half the population in a given city.[NEWLINE]Although you can whip more than once in a given city in a given turn, you can only finish one item at the end of the turn.[NEWLINE]One population point is worth 30 base hammers on normal speed.[NEWLINE]This scales with game speed, and all the bonuses you have in the city apply to the whip.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for whipping before having invested hammers.[NEWLINE]There is also a penalty for whipping a wonder.[NEWLINE]There is a unhappiness penalty of 1 for 10 turns. This penalty stacks in a very painful way:[NEWLINE]If you whip twice, you get 2 unhappies for 10 turns, then you get down to 1 unhappy for 10 more turns.[NEWLINE]What can you do and what do you get? You can finish a building/unit/wonder (not a project) at the end of the turn by pushing the pop rushing button provided you run slavery and have the necessary population = twice the cost of the whip.[NEWLINE]For example, in a size 10 city, you can whip 5 population points away which is 150 base hammers worth of production, provided you spend at least 1 turn putting hammers into the build.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What would a whipper's turns look like?[NEWLINE]Turn 1 : you assign all your citizens to max food tiles, earning a few "normal" hammers (let's say 3), and start producing an item (let's say a catapult)[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you whip away 2 population points, get 60 base hammers towards the catapult + 3 from turn 1 + 3 from turn 2.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you have a catapult, and 26 hammers overflow + the 3 you're still producing. You can start anything, with 29 base hammers. If you did it right, you grew back 1 pop immediately to reach your happiness cap again immediately.[NEWLINE]turn 4 to 10: grow if possible (happiness cap!), or work max hammer tiles to prevent growth or build settlers/workers.[NEWLINE]turn 11: back to turn 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a very good article from VoiceofUnreason (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193659) on whipping you can check, for more information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cash Rushing[\BOLD][NEWLINE]You need to run universal suffrage (available through democracy or pyramids) and to have money in the bank.[NEWLINE]You can buy units, buildings and wonders, but not projects.[NEWLINE]The price is high: 3 gold/hammer.[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing without hammers invested (same as for pop rushing).[NEWLINE]There is a penalty for rushing wonders.[NEWLINE]Bonuses don't apply.[NEWLINE]So you can buy walls for the same price, if you have stone or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What do you get? you get the item at the end of your turn, there is an overflow of exactly your base hammers.[NEWLINE]You can manage more overflow by queue juggling.[NEWLINE]An example?[NEWLINE]Let's say you have 5 honest base hammers.[NEWLINE]Turn 1: you start a forge. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 2: you start a granary. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 3: you start a library. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]turn 4: you start a courthouse. 5 hammers go into it.[NEWLINE]Turn 5: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the forge.[NEWLINE]turn 6: you pay (60-5)x3= 165 gold to finish the granary.[NEWLINE]turn 7: you pay (90-5)x3 = 255 gold to finish the library.[NEWLINE]turn 8: you pay (120-5)x3 = 345 gold to finish the courthouse.[NEWLINE]turn 9: you can build what you want with (20 hammers overflow + 5 base hammers )*1,25 from the forge = 31 hammers.[NEWLINE]My example doesn't seem very impressive? Ok, I must agree.[NEWLINE]Now try it with your massive base hammers city, and get a 4 turns discount on the engine production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I'll try to show here a few combos to let you get things done as fast and good as possible when it is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]preliminary philosophy course:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- You're not aways spiritual, but sometimes you are (or sometimes you play BtS and can switch civics for free, during a golden age or when you have christo redentor). This is good for using the best civics for a specific production.[NEWLINE]- Everything has a price. You really must be aware that you're not getting representation's free beakers when you're $rushing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Short list of combos:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]- BW is a combo by itself, allowing to chop forests and to whip population. Every early rush needs this (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=244075).[NEWLINE]- OrgRel when building up infra, then either pacifism or theocracy for using your infra. This can be coupled with slavery for the fastest results. Rushing a forge under orgreal to have even more bonus is kind of cool. Even better if you have gold, gems, silver to get over the happiness cost.[NEWLINE]- police state + slavery + theocracy (or vassalage) for a few cheap high level units. Overkill, if you go police state + vassalage+slavery +theocracy, but with a ger you can reach level 4 out of barracks.[NEWLINE]- bureaucracy combinations: bureau + orgrel + the right resource for a +175% hammers towards your favourite wonder. bureaucracy + police state + HE for fastest unit production ever.[NEWLINE]- nationhood + theocracy for empire wide expansion. Cheaper and faster than slavery: drafting (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=217566).[NEWLINE]- (kremlin +) universal suffrage + state property (+ caste system if you play BtS) for "production anywhere". You keep your cottages in your ancient cities, load your new cities with workshops and watermills, buy the forges, factories and stuff you need, and build the spaceship faster that you research the techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One day soon, I'll move my lazy a$$ and write some details about those combos, but I'm sure you see the trick already.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WAR_WEARINESS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]War Weariness Mechanics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another thread inspired some searching through the SDK, and this is what I came up with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: ALL 1.61 based, Vanilla, Not Warlords[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the "simple" [BOLD]formula[\BOLD] seems to be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW Unhappiness in a City=[NEWLINE]Pop x Active WW/200[NEWLINE]x (100% -25%(Jail)-25%(Rushmore)-50%(Police State) )[NEWLINE]x World Size Modifier[NEWLINE]__Duel=150%[NEWLINE]__Tiny=130%[NEWLINE]__Small=110%[NEWLINE]__Standard=90%[NEWLINE]__Large=70%[NEWLINE]__Huge=50%[NEWLINE]x 50% if Multiplayer game[NEWLINE]x 50% if Always War or Permanent War/Peace Options[NEWLINE]x AIs Modifier (100% at Settler..10% lower for each level up)[NEWLINE]x (100+AI Per Era Modifier * Era)% [-1 for every Level above Noble][NEWLINE]0 if you are a Barbarian[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Active WW = sum of all WW from all living teams that you are at war with[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW from a team = Starts at 0 and is changed by:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Combat Actions: only gained where you are not Culturally dominant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][i.e. a city that was someone else's for a long time might NOT count as where you are culturally dominant, even if it is within your borders][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You gain no WW from Combat actions against Barbarians[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your unit attacks their unit=+3 if you lose, +1 if you win[NEWLINE]Their unit attacks your unit =+2 (win or lose)[NEWLINE]You capture a unit=+1[NEWLINE]Your unit is captured=+2[NEWLINE]You capture a city=+6[NEWLINE]You launch a nuke=+12 (WW regardless of culture)[NEWLINE]You are hit with a Nuke=+3 (WW regardless of culture... this is for All players hit by the nuke)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Time events[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each turn =-1[NEWLINE]Each turn at Peace= x 99% (rounded down)[NEWLINE](so if it started at 102, and you were at peace, it would drop to 99)[NEWLINE]102-1=101[NEWLINE]101*0.99=99.99 (round down)=99[NEWLINE]This is NOT Scaled with Game Speed, so on ALL game speeds you can do ~1 Combat every 1-3 turns and not increase your WW.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically with no Modifiers on a standard map:[NEWLINE]Every "Foreign" City you take= 3% WW[NEWLINE]Every Unit Combat in "Foreign" territory =~1% WW (less if you are winning attacks, more if you lose attacks)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]"Foreign" here refers to Culture, not borders... so if the Germans sweep through and take half of your cities, you shouldn't have any WW killing those units and taking them back because even though it may be within German 'Borders' the area is still probably culturally yours[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also if the Germans sweep through area that Was French for a Long time, but you took recently, BOTH you and the Germans will have WW fighting over the Area.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The worst possible WW War is Take a few cities and then keep fighting in that newly taken territory/remain at war. If you don't think you will make any more gains then making peace is a good idea.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because making peace for the 10 turns can take ~20 points off =~10% Anger reduction when you restart the War.</English>
		<French>[H1]War Weariness Mechanics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another thread inspired some searching through the SDK, and this is what I came up with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: ALL 1.61 based, Vanilla, Not Warlords[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the "simple" [BOLD]formula[\BOLD] seems to be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW Unhappiness in a City=[NEWLINE]Pop x Active WW/200[NEWLINE]x (100% -25%(Jail)-25%(Rushmore)-50%(Police State) )[NEWLINE]x World Size Modifier[NEWLINE]__Duel=150%[NEWLINE]__Tiny=130%[NEWLINE]__Small=110%[NEWLINE]__Standard=90%[NEWLINE]__Large=70%[NEWLINE]__Huge=50%[NEWLINE]x 50% if Multiplayer game[NEWLINE]x 50% if Always War or Permanent War/Peace Options[NEWLINE]x AIs Modifier (100% at Settler..10% lower for each level up)[NEWLINE]x (100+AI Per Era Modifier * Era)% [-1 for every Level above Noble][NEWLINE]0 if you are a Barbarian[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Active WW = sum of all WW from all living teams that you are at war with[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW from a team = Starts at 0 and is changed by:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Combat Actions: only gained where you are not Culturally dominant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][i.e. a city that was someone else's for a long time might NOT count as where you are culturally dominant, even if it is within your borders][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You gain no WW from Combat actions against Barbarians[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your unit attacks their unit=+3 if you lose, +1 if you win[NEWLINE]Their unit attacks your unit =+2 (win or lose)[NEWLINE]You capture a unit=+1[NEWLINE]Your unit is captured=+2[NEWLINE]You capture a city=+6[NEWLINE]You launch a nuke=+12 (WW regardless of culture)[NEWLINE]You are hit with a Nuke=+3 (WW regardless of culture... this is for All players hit by the nuke)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Time events[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each turn =-1[NEWLINE]Each turn at Peace= x 99% (rounded down)[NEWLINE](so if it started at 102, and you were at peace, it would drop to 99)[NEWLINE]102-1=101[NEWLINE]101*0.99=99.99 (round down)=99[NEWLINE]This is NOT Scaled with Game Speed, so on ALL game speeds you can do ~1 Combat every 1-3 turns and not increase your WW.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically with no Modifiers on a standard map:[NEWLINE]Every "Foreign" City you take= 3% WW[NEWLINE]Every Unit Combat in "Foreign" territory =~1% WW (less if you are winning attacks, more if you lose attacks)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]"Foreign" here refers to Culture, not borders... so if the Germans sweep through and take half of your cities, you shouldn't have any WW killing those units and taking them back because even though it may be within German 'Borders' the area is still probably culturally yours[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also if the Germans sweep through area that Was French for a Long time, but you took recently, BOTH you and the Germans will have WW fighting over the Area.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The worst possible WW War is Take a few cities and then keep fighting in that newly taken territory/remain at war. If you don't think you will make any more gains then making peace is a good idea.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because making peace for the 10 turns can take ~20 points off =~10% Anger reduction when you restart the War.</French>
		<German>[H1]War Weariness Mechanics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another thread inspired some searching through the SDK, and this is what I came up with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: ALL 1.61 based, Vanilla, Not Warlords[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the "simple" [BOLD]formula[\BOLD] seems to be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW Unhappiness in a City=[NEWLINE]Pop x Active WW/200[NEWLINE]x (100% -25%(Jail)-25%(Rushmore)-50%(Police State) )[NEWLINE]x World Size Modifier[NEWLINE]__Duel=150%[NEWLINE]__Tiny=130%[NEWLINE]__Small=110%[NEWLINE]__Standard=90%[NEWLINE]__Large=70%[NEWLINE]__Huge=50%[NEWLINE]x 50% if Multiplayer game[NEWLINE]x 50% if Always War or Permanent War/Peace Options[NEWLINE]x AIs Modifier (100% at Settler..10% lower for each level up)[NEWLINE]x (100+AI Per Era Modifier * Era)% [-1 for every Level above Noble][NEWLINE]0 if you are a Barbarian[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Active WW = sum of all WW from all living teams that you are at war with[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW from a team = Starts at 0 and is changed by:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Combat Actions: only gained where you are not Culturally dominant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][i.e. a city that was someone else's for a long time might NOT count as where you are culturally dominant, even if it is within your borders][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You gain no WW from Combat actions against Barbarians[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your unit attacks their unit=+3 if you lose, +1 if you win[NEWLINE]Their unit attacks your unit =+2 (win or lose)[NEWLINE]You capture a unit=+1[NEWLINE]Your unit is captured=+2[NEWLINE]You capture a city=+6[NEWLINE]You launch a nuke=+12 (WW regardless of culture)[NEWLINE]You are hit with a Nuke=+3 (WW regardless of culture... this is for All players hit by the nuke)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Time events[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each turn =-1[NEWLINE]Each turn at Peace= x 99% (rounded down)[NEWLINE](so if it started at 102, and you were at peace, it would drop to 99)[NEWLINE]102-1=101[NEWLINE]101*0.99=99.99 (round down)=99[NEWLINE]This is NOT Scaled with Game Speed, so on ALL game speeds you can do ~1 Combat every 1-3 turns and not increase your WW.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically with no Modifiers on a standard map:[NEWLINE]Every "Foreign" City you take= 3% WW[NEWLINE]Every Unit Combat in "Foreign" territory =~1% WW (less if you are winning attacks, more if you lose attacks)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]"Foreign" here refers to Culture, not borders... so if the Germans sweep through and take half of your cities, you shouldn't have any WW killing those units and taking them back because even though it may be within German 'Borders' the area is still probably culturally yours[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also if the Germans sweep through area that Was French for a Long time, but you took recently, BOTH you and the Germans will have WW fighting over the Area.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The worst possible WW War is Take a few cities and then keep fighting in that newly taken territory/remain at war. If you don't think you will make any more gains then making peace is a good idea.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because making peace for the 10 turns can take ~20 points off =~10% Anger reduction when you restart the War.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]War Weariness Mechanics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another thread inspired some searching through the SDK, and this is what I came up with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: ALL 1.61 based, Vanilla, Not Warlords[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the "simple" [BOLD]formula[\BOLD] seems to be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW Unhappiness in a City=[NEWLINE]Pop x Active WW/200[NEWLINE]x (100% -25%(Jail)-25%(Rushmore)-50%(Police State) )[NEWLINE]x World Size Modifier[NEWLINE]__Duel=150%[NEWLINE]__Tiny=130%[NEWLINE]__Small=110%[NEWLINE]__Standard=90%[NEWLINE]__Large=70%[NEWLINE]__Huge=50%[NEWLINE]x 50% if Multiplayer game[NEWLINE]x 50% if Always War or Permanent War/Peace Options[NEWLINE]x AIs Modifier (100% at Settler..10% lower for each level up)[NEWLINE]x (100+AI Per Era Modifier * Era)% [-1 for every Level above Noble][NEWLINE]0 if you are a Barbarian[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Active WW = sum of all WW from all living teams that you are at war with[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW from a team = Starts at 0 and is changed by:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Combat Actions: only gained where you are not Culturally dominant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][i.e. a city that was someone else's for a long time might NOT count as where you are culturally dominant, even if it is within your borders][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You gain no WW from Combat actions against Barbarians[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your unit attacks their unit=+3 if you lose, +1 if you win[NEWLINE]Their unit attacks your unit =+2 (win or lose)[NEWLINE]You capture a unit=+1[NEWLINE]Your unit is captured=+2[NEWLINE]You capture a city=+6[NEWLINE]You launch a nuke=+12 (WW regardless of culture)[NEWLINE]You are hit with a Nuke=+3 (WW regardless of culture... this is for All players hit by the nuke)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Time events[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each turn =-1[NEWLINE]Each turn at Peace= x 99% (rounded down)[NEWLINE](so if it started at 102, and you were at peace, it would drop to 99)[NEWLINE]102-1=101[NEWLINE]101*0.99=99.99 (round down)=99[NEWLINE]This is NOT Scaled with Game Speed, so on ALL game speeds you can do ~1 Combat every 1-3 turns and not increase your WW.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically with no Modifiers on a standard map:[NEWLINE]Every "Foreign" City you take= 3% WW[NEWLINE]Every Unit Combat in "Foreign" territory =~1% WW (less if you are winning attacks, more if you lose attacks)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]"Foreign" here refers to Culture, not borders... so if the Germans sweep through and take half of your cities, you shouldn't have any WW killing those units and taking them back because even though it may be within German 'Borders' the area is still probably culturally yours[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also if the Germans sweep through area that Was French for a Long time, but you took recently, BOTH you and the Germans will have WW fighting over the Area.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The worst possible WW War is Take a few cities and then keep fighting in that newly taken territory/remain at war. If you don't think you will make any more gains then making peace is a good idea.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because making peace for the 10 turns can take ~20 points off =~10% Anger reduction when you restart the War.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]War Weariness Mechanics[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another thread inspired some searching through the SDK, and this is what I came up with.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: ALL 1.61 based, Vanilla, Not Warlords[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So the "simple" [BOLD]formula[\BOLD] seems to be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW Unhappiness in a City=[NEWLINE]Pop x Active WW/200[NEWLINE]x (100% -25%(Jail)-25%(Rushmore)-50%(Police State) )[NEWLINE]x World Size Modifier[NEWLINE]__Duel=150%[NEWLINE]__Tiny=130%[NEWLINE]__Small=110%[NEWLINE]__Standard=90%[NEWLINE]__Large=70%[NEWLINE]__Huge=50%[NEWLINE]x 50% if Multiplayer game[NEWLINE]x 50% if Always War or Permanent War/Peace Options[NEWLINE]x AIs Modifier (100% at Settler..10% lower for each level up)[NEWLINE]x (100+AI Per Era Modifier * Era)% [-1 for every Level above Noble][NEWLINE]0 if you are a Barbarian[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Active WW = sum of all WW from all living teams that you are at war with[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]WW from a team = Starts at 0 and is changed by:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Combat Actions: only gained where you are not Culturally dominant[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][i.e. a city that was someone else's for a long time might NOT count as where you are culturally dominant, even if it is within your borders][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You gain no WW from Combat actions against Barbarians[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your unit attacks their unit=+3 if you lose, +1 if you win[NEWLINE]Their unit attacks your unit =+2 (win or lose)[NEWLINE]You capture a unit=+1[NEWLINE]Your unit is captured=+2[NEWLINE]You capture a city=+6[NEWLINE]You launch a nuke=+12 (WW regardless of culture)[NEWLINE]You are hit with a Nuke=+3 (WW regardless of culture... this is for All players hit by the nuke)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Time events[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each turn =-1[NEWLINE]Each turn at Peace= x 99% (rounded down)[NEWLINE](so if it started at 102, and you were at peace, it would drop to 99)[NEWLINE]102-1=101[NEWLINE]101*0.99=99.99 (round down)=99[NEWLINE]This is NOT Scaled with Game Speed, so on ALL game speeds you can do ~1 Combat every 1-3 turns and not increase your WW.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Basically with no Modifiers on a standard map:[NEWLINE]Every "Foreign" City you take= 3% WW[NEWLINE]Every Unit Combat in "Foreign" territory =~1% WW (less if you are winning attacks, more if you lose attacks)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]"Foreign" here refers to Culture, not borders... so if the Germans sweep through and take half of your cities, you shouldn't have any WW killing those units and taking them back because even though it may be within German 'Borders' the area is still probably culturally yours[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also if the Germans sweep through area that Was French for a Long time, but you took recently, BOTH you and the Germans will have WW fighting over the Area.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The worst possible WW War is Take a few cities and then keep fighting in that newly taken territory/remain at war. If you don't think you will make any more gains then making peace is a good idea.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because making peace for the 10 turns can take ~20 points off =~10% Anger reduction when you restart the War.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_UNIT_MAINT_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Unit Maintenance Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I didn't see an article covering the unit maintenance and did see a few questions about this subject, I thought about researching it myself. I hope it will be useful to some people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first section of this article is about the in-game information of unit costs and how to read it correctly. The second part is about how the unit costs are calculated in Civ 4. In the third part some strategic consequences of the way Civ4 calculates unit maintenance are considered. The fourth part considers some of the differences for unit maintenance between the human and the AI. A fifth part contains some information for modders that want to change the way the game calculates the free unit support or want to change the basic costs of units whether they are inside or outside of your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How to read the in-game information[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unit maintenance is divided in two sections, unit costs and unit supply. Both of these costs are mentioned in the financial adviser (F2). You can mouse over these sections and get some additional information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit cost section has the following mouse over information (the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first line means that your empire has 24 units. You only have to pay maintenance for 10 of them as you have a free support of 14 units. The second line shows that your empire has 18 military units (every unit except settlers, workers and missionaries). You only have to pay maintenance for 15 of them as you have a free support of 3 units. This military unit cost is usually 0 and will only have a positive number when you're running the pacifism civic. The last line is a discount and is dependent on the difficulty level of the game (it is 0 for deity level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit supply section has the following mouse over information (again the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3: away supply for 7 units (free support for 4)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means that your empire has 11 units outside its cultural borders. You only have to pay supply costs for 7 of them as you have a free supply support for 4 units. These 7 units have a supply cost of 7/2=3 rounded down. Note that also non-military units like settlers, workers and missionaries have supply costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How does the game calculate the free unit support and the handicap cost?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some of you might have noticed that the amount of free support increases as you play the game. This is true for the free support in the unit cost section, but not the free support in the unit supply section. The free support in the unit supply section is always 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the free support in the unit cost section is dependent on the total size of your population (the sum of all of your city sizes) and the difficulty level. If we name the size of your population N and the difficulty level bonus D then the free support for units is [0.24 * N] + D. This difficulty level bonus is 5 at Deity, 6 at Immortal, 7 at Emperor, 8 at Monarch, 10 at Prince, 12 at Noble, 16 at Warlord, 22 at Chieftain and finally 28 at Settler level.[NEWLINE]The vassalage civic provides you with an additional free unit support which is again dependent on your population size: [0.1 * N] + 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support in the military unit section is also dependent on the size of your population: [0.12 * N] + 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All of these numbers are rounded down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The handicap cost is a percentage of the total unit cost (unit cost + military unit cost) which is dependent on the difficulty level. The percentage is 0 at Deity, 10 at Immortal, 20 at Emperor, 30 at Monarch, 40 at Prince, 50 at Noble, 60 at Warlord, 70 at Chieftain and finally 80 at Settler level. This number is rounded up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are the unit costs from an empire with a size 5, 3 and 2 city. So the total population size is 10. It is a game at Noble difficulty level, so the difficulty level bonus is 12. In this game the vassalage civic that grants additional free support is not used. So the free support is 0.24 * 10 + 12 = 14 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game, the pacifism civic is used and we thus have to pay military unit costs. The free support is 0.12 * 10 + 2 = 3 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As this is a game at Noble difficulty level, the handicap costs are 50% of 25 = 13 (rounded up).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategic Consequences[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The unit cost limits fast expansion.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free unit support can take a large chunk out of your unit maintenance cost and should thus be maximized. There is only one real way to do that and that is to increase your population before you create a lot of units. To support all the units needed for a fast expansion a large population size is needed, but that is against the nature of fast expansion. If you neglect you defenses in order to save yourself from high unit maintenance costs, then you risk your cities being taken over by barbarians or your settlers eaten by lions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early exploration/attack with many units is very expensive.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support cost for unit supply is only 4. This means that if 6 or more units are not within your cultural borders (including workers, settlers and missionaries), then you will start to pay unit supply costs for those units. As money is scarce in the beginning of the game, this upkeep can be too much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]An empire with large cities can easily support a sizable army without any unit maintenance cost.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As a rule of thumb, you can say that 4 units of population supply 1 unit for free (not exact, but close enough). So if your cities are size 8 on average, then each city can support 2 units free of charge. If your cities are size 16 on average then each city can support 4 units free of charge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This doesn't mean that building farms to grow big cities is the way to go as there are other terrain improvements that are often worth more. It does mean that building many small cities close to each other is not as smart as a few larger cities, because the larger cities can be better defended or can supply an additional offensive army next to its own defensive units. (You also don't want to have many small cities because of high city maintenance.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination with the article on civic upkeep, one can see that the additional free unit support from the vassalage civic is less than the upkeep cost of this civic (except for very small empires). (The vassalage civic gives 0.1 N + 5 extra free unit support, but it costs more than 0.15 N as a civic.) This doesn't make the civic useless as it also offers 2 experience to all units that are trained, but it is something to consider when choosing this civic. If your leader is organized, then the civic upkeep costs are halved and the additional free unit support offered by the vassalage civic is actually comparable to its upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Different unit maintenance cost between the human and the AI[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI pays a different unit upkeep as the human player. It pays the same as a human with a similar empire would pay at noble level if you play the game at settler, chieftain, warlord or noble difficulty level. It pays 95% at prince level, 90% at monarch level, 85% at emperor level, 80% at immortal level and only 60% at deity level (all compared to a human player with a similar empire at noble difficulty level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The human player pays 50% extra for units outside of its borders (see first section on unit supply). However, the AI only pays a percentage of this cost that is again dependent on difficulty level: 50% at settler, 45% at chieftain, 40% at warlord, 35% at noble, 30% at prince, 25% at monarch, 20% at emperor, 15% at immortal and finally 10% at deity level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are more differences between the AI and the humans at the various difficulty levels, but these are the only ones that have to do with this article. An important discount for the AI that is somewhat related to this article is the AI discount on unit upgrade costs. The AI pays much less for upgrading units at every difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I found the XML files that determine the free unit support and it might be interesting for some modders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The modifiers that determine the amount of free support and the maintenance cost of units (inside or outside of your borders) can be found in the file GlobalDefines.xml and are named:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS, INITIAL_BASE_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS, INITIAL_FREE_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_GOLD_PER_UNIT, INITIAL_FREE_OUTSIDE_UNITS, INITIAL_OUTSIDE_UNIT_GOLD_PERCENT[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that the names of these modifiers speak for themselves if combined with the formulas for free unit support above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the civic Vassalage, the modifiers that determine free unit support can be found in the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml and are named iBaseFreeUnits and iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty modifier that adds to the free unit support is of course found in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml and is named iFreeUnits. The modifier that determines the handicap cost is also in this file and is named iUnitCostPercent. Note that this modifier denotes the amount that you actually pay and not the amount of cost reduction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that the basic number of free units named D in the formula above is the number denoted behind iFreeUnits in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml added to the number denoted behind INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS in the file GlobalDefines.xml.</English>
		<French>[H1]Unit Maintenance Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I didn't see an article covering the unit maintenance and did see a few questions about this subject, I thought about researching it myself. I hope it will be useful to some people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first section of this article is about the in-game information of unit costs and how to read it correctly. The second part is about how the unit costs are calculated in Civ 4. In the third part some strategic consequences of the way Civ4 calculates unit maintenance are considered. The fourth part considers some of the differences for unit maintenance between the human and the AI. A fifth part contains some information for modders that want to change the way the game calculates the free unit support or want to change the basic costs of units whether they are inside or outside of your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How to read the in-game information[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unit maintenance is divided in two sections, unit costs and unit supply. Both of these costs are mentioned in the financial adviser (F2). You can mouse over these sections and get some additional information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit cost section has the following mouse over information (the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first line means that your empire has 24 units. You only have to pay maintenance for 10 of them as you have a free support of 14 units. The second line shows that your empire has 18 military units (every unit except settlers, workers and missionaries). You only have to pay maintenance for 15 of them as you have a free support of 3 units. This military unit cost is usually 0 and will only have a positive number when you're running the pacifism civic. The last line is a discount and is dependent on the difficulty level of the game (it is 0 for deity level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit supply section has the following mouse over information (again the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3: away supply for 7 units (free support for 4)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means that your empire has 11 units outside its cultural borders. You only have to pay supply costs for 7 of them as you have a free supply support for 4 units. These 7 units have a supply cost of 7/2=3 rounded down. Note that also non-military units like settlers, workers and missionaries have supply costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How does the game calculate the free unit support and the handicap cost?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some of you might have noticed that the amount of free support increases as you play the game. This is true for the free support in the unit cost section, but not the free support in the unit supply section. The free support in the unit supply section is always 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the free support in the unit cost section is dependent on the total size of your population (the sum of all of your city sizes) and the difficulty level. If we name the size of your population N and the difficulty level bonus D then the free support for units is [0.24 * N] + D. This difficulty level bonus is 5 at Deity, 6 at Immortal, 7 at Emperor, 8 at Monarch, 10 at Prince, 12 at Noble, 16 at Warlord, 22 at Chieftain and finally 28 at Settler level.[NEWLINE]The vassalage civic provides you with an additional free unit support which is again dependent on your population size: [0.1 * N] + 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support in the military unit section is also dependent on the size of your population: [0.12 * N] + 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All of these numbers are rounded down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The handicap cost is a percentage of the total unit cost (unit cost + military unit cost) which is dependent on the difficulty level. The percentage is 0 at Deity, 10 at Immortal, 20 at Emperor, 30 at Monarch, 40 at Prince, 50 at Noble, 60 at Warlord, 70 at Chieftain and finally 80 at Settler level. This number is rounded up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are the unit costs from an empire with a size 5, 3 and 2 city. So the total population size is 10. It is a game at Noble difficulty level, so the difficulty level bonus is 12. In this game the vassalage civic that grants additional free support is not used. So the free support is 0.24 * 10 + 12 = 14 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game, the pacifism civic is used and we thus have to pay military unit costs. The free support is 0.12 * 10 + 2 = 3 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As this is a game at Noble difficulty level, the handicap costs are 50% of 25 = 13 (rounded up).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategic Consequences[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The unit cost limits fast expansion.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free unit support can take a large chunk out of your unit maintenance cost and should thus be maximized. There is only one real way to do that and that is to increase your population before you create a lot of units. To support all the units needed for a fast expansion a large population size is needed, but that is against the nature of fast expansion. If you neglect you defenses in order to save yourself from high unit maintenance costs, then you risk your cities being taken over by barbarians or your settlers eaten by lions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early exploration/attack with many units is very expensive.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support cost for unit supply is only 4. This means that if 6 or more units are not within your cultural borders (including workers, settlers and missionaries), then you will start to pay unit supply costs for those units. As money is scarce in the beginning of the game, this upkeep can be too much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]An empire with large cities can easily support a sizable army without any unit maintenance cost.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As a rule of thumb, you can say that 4 units of population supply 1 unit for free (not exact, but close enough). So if your cities are size 8 on average, then each city can support 2 units free of charge. If your cities are size 16 on average then each city can support 4 units free of charge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This doesn't mean that building farms to grow big cities is the way to go as there are other terrain improvements that are often worth more. It does mean that building many small cities close to each other is not as smart as a few larger cities, because the larger cities can be better defended or can supply an additional offensive army next to its own defensive units. (You also don't want to have many small cities because of high city maintenance.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination with the article on civic upkeep, one can see that the additional free unit support from the vassalage civic is less than the upkeep cost of this civic (except for very small empires). (The vassalage civic gives 0.1 N + 5 extra free unit support, but it costs more than 0.15 N as a civic.) This doesn't make the civic useless as it also offers 2 experience to all units that are trained, but it is something to consider when choosing this civic. If your leader is organized, then the civic upkeep costs are halved and the additional free unit support offered by the vassalage civic is actually comparable to its upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Different unit maintenance cost between the human and the AI[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI pays a different unit upkeep as the human player. It pays the same as a human with a similar empire would pay at noble level if you play the game at settler, chieftain, warlord or noble difficulty level. It pays 95% at prince level, 90% at monarch level, 85% at emperor level, 80% at immortal level and only 60% at deity level (all compared to a human player with a similar empire at noble difficulty level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The human player pays 50% extra for units outside of its borders (see first section on unit supply). However, the AI only pays a percentage of this cost that is again dependent on difficulty level: 50% at settler, 45% at chieftain, 40% at warlord, 35% at noble, 30% at prince, 25% at monarch, 20% at emperor, 15% at immortal and finally 10% at deity level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are more differences between the AI and the humans at the various difficulty levels, but these are the only ones that have to do with this article. An important discount for the AI that is somewhat related to this article is the AI discount on unit upgrade costs. The AI pays much less for upgrading units at every difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I found the XML files that determine the free unit support and it might be interesting for some modders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The modifiers that determine the amount of free support and the maintenance cost of units (inside or outside of your borders) can be found in the file GlobalDefines.xml and are named:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS, INITIAL_BASE_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS, INITIAL_FREE_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_GOLD_PER_UNIT, INITIAL_FREE_OUTSIDE_UNITS, INITIAL_OUTSIDE_UNIT_GOLD_PERCENT[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that the names of these modifiers speak for themselves if combined with the formulas for free unit support above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the civic Vassalage, the modifiers that determine free unit support can be found in the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml and are named iBaseFreeUnits and iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty modifier that adds to the free unit support is of course found in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml and is named iFreeUnits. The modifier that determines the handicap cost is also in this file and is named iUnitCostPercent. Note that this modifier denotes the amount that you actually pay and not the amount of cost reduction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that the basic number of free units named D in the formula above is the number denoted behind iFreeUnits in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml added to the number denoted behind INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS in the file GlobalDefines.xml.</French>
		<German>[H1]Unit Maintenance Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I didn't see an article covering the unit maintenance and did see a few questions about this subject, I thought about researching it myself. I hope it will be useful to some people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first section of this article is about the in-game information of unit costs and how to read it correctly. The second part is about how the unit costs are calculated in Civ 4. In the third part some strategic consequences of the way Civ4 calculates unit maintenance are considered. The fourth part considers some of the differences for unit maintenance between the human and the AI. A fifth part contains some information for modders that want to change the way the game calculates the free unit support or want to change the basic costs of units whether they are inside or outside of your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How to read the in-game information[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unit maintenance is divided in two sections, unit costs and unit supply. Both of these costs are mentioned in the financial adviser (F2). You can mouse over these sections and get some additional information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit cost section has the following mouse over information (the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first line means that your empire has 24 units. You only have to pay maintenance for 10 of them as you have a free support of 14 units. The second line shows that your empire has 18 military units (every unit except settlers, workers and missionaries). You only have to pay maintenance for 15 of them as you have a free support of 3 units. This military unit cost is usually 0 and will only have a positive number when you're running the pacifism civic. The last line is a discount and is dependent on the difficulty level of the game (it is 0 for deity level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit supply section has the following mouse over information (again the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3: away supply for 7 units (free support for 4)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means that your empire has 11 units outside its cultural borders. You only have to pay supply costs for 7 of them as you have a free supply support for 4 units. These 7 units have a supply cost of 7/2=3 rounded down. Note that also non-military units like settlers, workers and missionaries have supply costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How does the game calculate the free unit support and the handicap cost?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some of you might have noticed that the amount of free support increases as you play the game. This is true for the free support in the unit cost section, but not the free support in the unit supply section. The free support in the unit supply section is always 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the free support in the unit cost section is dependent on the total size of your population (the sum of all of your city sizes) and the difficulty level. If we name the size of your population N and the difficulty level bonus D then the free support for units is [0.24 * N] + D. This difficulty level bonus is 5 at Deity, 6 at Immortal, 7 at Emperor, 8 at Monarch, 10 at Prince, 12 at Noble, 16 at Warlord, 22 at Chieftain and finally 28 at Settler level.[NEWLINE]The vassalage civic provides you with an additional free unit support which is again dependent on your population size: [0.1 * N] + 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support in the military unit section is also dependent on the size of your population: [0.12 * N] + 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All of these numbers are rounded down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The handicap cost is a percentage of the total unit cost (unit cost + military unit cost) which is dependent on the difficulty level. The percentage is 0 at Deity, 10 at Immortal, 20 at Emperor, 30 at Monarch, 40 at Prince, 50 at Noble, 60 at Warlord, 70 at Chieftain and finally 80 at Settler level. This number is rounded up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are the unit costs from an empire with a size 5, 3 and 2 city. So the total population size is 10. It is a game at Noble difficulty level, so the difficulty level bonus is 12. In this game the vassalage civic that grants additional free support is not used. So the free support is 0.24 * 10 + 12 = 14 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game, the pacifism civic is used and we thus have to pay military unit costs. The free support is 0.12 * 10 + 2 = 3 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As this is a game at Noble difficulty level, the handicap costs are 50% of 25 = 13 (rounded up).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategic Consequences[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The unit cost limits fast expansion.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free unit support can take a large chunk out of your unit maintenance cost and should thus be maximized. There is only one real way to do that and that is to increase your population before you create a lot of units. To support all the units needed for a fast expansion a large population size is needed, but that is against the nature of fast expansion. If you neglect you defenses in order to save yourself from high unit maintenance costs, then you risk your cities being taken over by barbarians or your settlers eaten by lions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early exploration/attack with many units is very expensive.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support cost for unit supply is only 4. This means that if 6 or more units are not within your cultural borders (including workers, settlers and missionaries), then you will start to pay unit supply costs for those units. As money is scarce in the beginning of the game, this upkeep can be too much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]An empire with large cities can easily support a sizable army without any unit maintenance cost.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As a rule of thumb, you can say that 4 units of population supply 1 unit for free (not exact, but close enough). So if your cities are size 8 on average, then each city can support 2 units free of charge. If your cities are size 16 on average then each city can support 4 units free of charge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This doesn't mean that building farms to grow big cities is the way to go as there are other terrain improvements that are often worth more. It does mean that building many small cities close to each other is not as smart as a few larger cities, because the larger cities can be better defended or can supply an additional offensive army next to its own defensive units. (You also don't want to have many small cities because of high city maintenance.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination with the article on civic upkeep, one can see that the additional free unit support from the vassalage civic is less than the upkeep cost of this civic (except for very small empires). (The vassalage civic gives 0.1 N + 5 extra free unit support, but it costs more than 0.15 N as a civic.) This doesn't make the civic useless as it also offers 2 experience to all units that are trained, but it is something to consider when choosing this civic. If your leader is organized, then the civic upkeep costs are halved and the additional free unit support offered by the vassalage civic is actually comparable to its upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Different unit maintenance cost between the human and the AI[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI pays a different unit upkeep as the human player. It pays the same as a human with a similar empire would pay at noble level if you play the game at settler, chieftain, warlord or noble difficulty level. It pays 95% at prince level, 90% at monarch level, 85% at emperor level, 80% at immortal level and only 60% at deity level (all compared to a human player with a similar empire at noble difficulty level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The human player pays 50% extra for units outside of its borders (see first section on unit supply). However, the AI only pays a percentage of this cost that is again dependent on difficulty level: 50% at settler, 45% at chieftain, 40% at warlord, 35% at noble, 30% at prince, 25% at monarch, 20% at emperor, 15% at immortal and finally 10% at deity level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are more differences between the AI and the humans at the various difficulty levels, but these are the only ones that have to do with this article. An important discount for the AI that is somewhat related to this article is the AI discount on unit upgrade costs. The AI pays much less for upgrading units at every difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I found the XML files that determine the free unit support and it might be interesting for some modders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The modifiers that determine the amount of free support and the maintenance cost of units (inside or outside of your borders) can be found in the file GlobalDefines.xml and are named:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS, INITIAL_BASE_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS, INITIAL_FREE_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_GOLD_PER_UNIT, INITIAL_FREE_OUTSIDE_UNITS, INITIAL_OUTSIDE_UNIT_GOLD_PERCENT[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that the names of these modifiers speak for themselves if combined with the formulas for free unit support above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the civic Vassalage, the modifiers that determine free unit support can be found in the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml and are named iBaseFreeUnits and iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty modifier that adds to the free unit support is of course found in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml and is named iFreeUnits. The modifier that determines the handicap cost is also in this file and is named iUnitCostPercent. Note that this modifier denotes the amount that you actually pay and not the amount of cost reduction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that the basic number of free units named D in the formula above is the number denoted behind iFreeUnits in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml added to the number denoted behind INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS in the file GlobalDefines.xml.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Unit Maintenance Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I didn't see an article covering the unit maintenance and did see a few questions about this subject, I thought about researching it myself. I hope it will be useful to some people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first section of this article is about the in-game information of unit costs and how to read it correctly. The second part is about how the unit costs are calculated in Civ 4. In the third part some strategic consequences of the way Civ4 calculates unit maintenance are considered. The fourth part considers some of the differences for unit maintenance between the human and the AI. A fifth part contains some information for modders that want to change the way the game calculates the free unit support or want to change the basic costs of units whether they are inside or outside of your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How to read the in-game information[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unit maintenance is divided in two sections, unit costs and unit supply. Both of these costs are mentioned in the financial adviser (F2). You can mouse over these sections and get some additional information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit cost section has the following mouse over information (the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first line means that your empire has 24 units. You only have to pay maintenance for 10 of them as you have a free support of 14 units. The second line shows that your empire has 18 military units (every unit except settlers, workers and missionaries). You only have to pay maintenance for 15 of them as you have a free support of 3 units. This military unit cost is usually 0 and will only have a positive number when you're running the pacifism civic. The last line is a discount and is dependent on the difficulty level of the game (it is 0 for deity level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit supply section has the following mouse over information (again the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3: away supply for 7 units (free support for 4)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means that your empire has 11 units outside its cultural borders. You only have to pay supply costs for 7 of them as you have a free supply support for 4 units. These 7 units have a supply cost of 7/2=3 rounded down. Note that also non-military units like settlers, workers and missionaries have supply costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How does the game calculate the free unit support and the handicap cost?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some of you might have noticed that the amount of free support increases as you play the game. This is true for the free support in the unit cost section, but not the free support in the unit supply section. The free support in the unit supply section is always 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the free support in the unit cost section is dependent on the total size of your population (the sum of all of your city sizes) and the difficulty level. If we name the size of your population N and the difficulty level bonus D then the free support for units is [0.24 * N] + D. This difficulty level bonus is 5 at Deity, 6 at Immortal, 7 at Emperor, 8 at Monarch, 10 at Prince, 12 at Noble, 16 at Warlord, 22 at Chieftain and finally 28 at Settler level.[NEWLINE]The vassalage civic provides you with an additional free unit support which is again dependent on your population size: [0.1 * N] + 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support in the military unit section is also dependent on the size of your population: [0.12 * N] + 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All of these numbers are rounded down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The handicap cost is a percentage of the total unit cost (unit cost + military unit cost) which is dependent on the difficulty level. The percentage is 0 at Deity, 10 at Immortal, 20 at Emperor, 30 at Monarch, 40 at Prince, 50 at Noble, 60 at Warlord, 70 at Chieftain and finally 80 at Settler level. This number is rounded up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are the unit costs from an empire with a size 5, 3 and 2 city. So the total population size is 10. It is a game at Noble difficulty level, so the difficulty level bonus is 12. In this game the vassalage civic that grants additional free support is not used. So the free support is 0.24 * 10 + 12 = 14 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game, the pacifism civic is used and we thus have to pay military unit costs. The free support is 0.12 * 10 + 2 = 3 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As this is a game at Noble difficulty level, the handicap costs are 50% of 25 = 13 (rounded up).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategic Consequences[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The unit cost limits fast expansion.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free unit support can take a large chunk out of your unit maintenance cost and should thus be maximized. There is only one real way to do that and that is to increase your population before you create a lot of units. To support all the units needed for a fast expansion a large population size is needed, but that is against the nature of fast expansion. If you neglect you defenses in order to save yourself from high unit maintenance costs, then you risk your cities being taken over by barbarians or your settlers eaten by lions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early exploration/attack with many units is very expensive.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support cost for unit supply is only 4. This means that if 6 or more units are not within your cultural borders (including workers, settlers and missionaries), then you will start to pay unit supply costs for those units. As money is scarce in the beginning of the game, this upkeep can be too much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]An empire with large cities can easily support a sizable army without any unit maintenance cost.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As a rule of thumb, you can say that 4 units of population supply 1 unit for free (not exact, but close enough). So if your cities are size 8 on average, then each city can support 2 units free of charge. If your cities are size 16 on average then each city can support 4 units free of charge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This doesn't mean that building farms to grow big cities is the way to go as there are other terrain improvements that are often worth more. It does mean that building many small cities close to each other is not as smart as a few larger cities, because the larger cities can be better defended or can supply an additional offensive army next to its own defensive units. (You also don't want to have many small cities because of high city maintenance.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination with the article on civic upkeep, one can see that the additional free unit support from the vassalage civic is less than the upkeep cost of this civic (except for very small empires). (The vassalage civic gives 0.1 N + 5 extra free unit support, but it costs more than 0.15 N as a civic.) This doesn't make the civic useless as it also offers 2 experience to all units that are trained, but it is something to consider when choosing this civic. If your leader is organized, then the civic upkeep costs are halved and the additional free unit support offered by the vassalage civic is actually comparable to its upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Different unit maintenance cost between the human and the AI[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI pays a different unit upkeep as the human player. It pays the same as a human with a similar empire would pay at noble level if you play the game at settler, chieftain, warlord or noble difficulty level. It pays 95% at prince level, 90% at monarch level, 85% at emperor level, 80% at immortal level and only 60% at deity level (all compared to a human player with a similar empire at noble difficulty level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The human player pays 50% extra for units outside of its borders (see first section on unit supply). However, the AI only pays a percentage of this cost that is again dependent on difficulty level: 50% at settler, 45% at chieftain, 40% at warlord, 35% at noble, 30% at prince, 25% at monarch, 20% at emperor, 15% at immortal and finally 10% at deity level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are more differences between the AI and the humans at the various difficulty levels, but these are the only ones that have to do with this article. An important discount for the AI that is somewhat related to this article is the AI discount on unit upgrade costs. The AI pays much less for upgrading units at every difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I found the XML files that determine the free unit support and it might be interesting for some modders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The modifiers that determine the amount of free support and the maintenance cost of units (inside or outside of your borders) can be found in the file GlobalDefines.xml and are named:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS, INITIAL_BASE_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS, INITIAL_FREE_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_GOLD_PER_UNIT, INITIAL_FREE_OUTSIDE_UNITS, INITIAL_OUTSIDE_UNIT_GOLD_PERCENT[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that the names of these modifiers speak for themselves if combined with the formulas for free unit support above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the civic Vassalage, the modifiers that determine free unit support can be found in the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml and are named iBaseFreeUnits and iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty modifier that adds to the free unit support is of course found in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml and is named iFreeUnits. The modifier that determines the handicap cost is also in this file and is named iUnitCostPercent. Note that this modifier denotes the amount that you actually pay and not the amount of cost reduction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that the basic number of free units named D in the formula above is the number denoted behind iFreeUnits in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml added to the number denoted behind INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS in the file GlobalDefines.xml.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Unit Maintenance Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I didn't see an article covering the unit maintenance and did see a few questions about this subject, I thought about researching it myself. I hope it will be useful to some people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first section of this article is about the in-game information of unit costs and how to read it correctly. The second part is about how the unit costs are calculated in Civ 4. In the third part some strategic consequences of the way Civ4 calculates unit maintenance are considered. The fourth part considers some of the differences for unit maintenance between the human and the AI. A fifth part contains some information for modders that want to change the way the game calculates the free unit support or want to change the basic costs of units whether they are inside or outside of your borders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How to read the in-game information[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unit maintenance is divided in two sections, unit costs and unit supply. Both of these costs are mentioned in the financial adviser (F2). You can mouse over these sections and get some additional information.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit cost section has the following mouse over information (the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The first line means that your empire has 24 units. You only have to pay maintenance for 10 of them as you have a free support of 14 units. The second line shows that your empire has 18 military units (every unit except settlers, workers and missionaries). You only have to pay maintenance for 15 of them as you have a free support of 3 units. This military unit cost is usually 0 and will only have a positive number when you're running the pacifism civic. The last line is a discount and is dependent on the difficulty level of the game (it is 0 for deity level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit supply section has the following mouse over information (again the numbers are just an example):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3: away supply for 7 units (free support for 4)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means that your empire has 11 units outside its cultural borders. You only have to pay supply costs for 7 of them as you have a free supply support for 4 units. These 7 units have a supply cost of 7/2=3 rounded down. Note that also non-military units like settlers, workers and missionaries have supply costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How does the game calculate the free unit support and the handicap cost?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some of you might have noticed that the amount of free support increases as you play the game. This is true for the free support in the unit cost section, but not the free support in the unit supply section. The free support in the unit supply section is always 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, the free support in the unit cost section is dependent on the total size of your population (the sum of all of your city sizes) and the difficulty level. If we name the size of your population N and the difficulty level bonus D then the free support for units is [0.24 * N] + D. This difficulty level bonus is 5 at Deity, 6 at Immortal, 7 at Emperor, 8 at Monarch, 10 at Prince, 12 at Noble, 16 at Warlord, 22 at Chieftain and finally 28 at Settler level.[NEWLINE]The vassalage civic provides you with an additional free unit support which is again dependent on your population size: [0.1 * N] + 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support in the military unit section is also dependent on the size of your population: [0.12 * N] + 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All of these numbers are rounded down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The handicap cost is a percentage of the total unit cost (unit cost + military unit cost) which is dependent on the difficulty level. The percentage is 0 at Deity, 10 at Immortal, 20 at Emperor, 30 at Monarch, 40 at Prince, 50 at Noble, 60 at Warlord, 70 at Chieftain and finally 80 at Settler level. This number is rounded up.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]10: Unit cost for 10 units (free support for 14)[NEWLINE]15: Military unit cost for 15 units (free support for 3)[NEWLINE]-13: handicap cost[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are the unit costs from an empire with a size 5, 3 and 2 city. So the total population size is 10. It is a game at Noble difficulty level, so the difficulty level bonus is 12. In this game the vassalage civic that grants additional free support is not used. So the free support is 0.24 * 10 + 12 = 14 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game, the pacifism civic is used and we thus have to pay military unit costs. The free support is 0.12 * 10 + 2 = 3 (rounded down).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As this is a game at Noble difficulty level, the handicap costs are 50% of 25 = 13 (rounded up).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Strategic Consequences[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The unit cost limits fast expansion.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free unit support can take a large chunk out of your unit maintenance cost and should thus be maximized. There is only one real way to do that and that is to increase your population before you create a lot of units. To support all the units needed for a fast expansion a large population size is needed, but that is against the nature of fast expansion. If you neglect you defenses in order to save yourself from high unit maintenance costs, then you risk your cities being taken over by barbarians or your settlers eaten by lions.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early exploration/attack with many units is very expensive.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The free support cost for unit supply is only 4. This means that if 6 or more units are not within your cultural borders (including workers, settlers and missionaries), then you will start to pay unit supply costs for those units. As money is scarce in the beginning of the game, this upkeep can be too much.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]An empire with large cities can easily support a sizable army without any unit maintenance cost.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As a rule of thumb, you can say that 4 units of population supply 1 unit for free (not exact, but close enough). So if your cities are size 8 on average, then each city can support 2 units free of charge. If your cities are size 16 on average then each city can support 4 units free of charge.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This doesn't mean that building farms to grow big cities is the way to go as there are other terrain improvements that are often worth more. It does mean that building many small cities close to each other is not as smart as a few larger cities, because the larger cities can be better defended or can supply an additional offensive army next to its own defensive units. (You also don't want to have many small cities because of high city maintenance.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination with the article on civic upkeep, one can see that the additional free unit support from the vassalage civic is less than the upkeep cost of this civic (except for very small empires). (The vassalage civic gives 0.1 N + 5 extra free unit support, but it costs more than 0.15 N as a civic.) This doesn't make the civic useless as it also offers 2 experience to all units that are trained, but it is something to consider when choosing this civic. If your leader is organized, then the civic upkeep costs are halved and the additional free unit support offered by the vassalage civic is actually comparable to its upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Different unit maintenance cost between the human and the AI[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AI pays a different unit upkeep as the human player. It pays the same as a human with a similar empire would pay at noble level if you play the game at settler, chieftain, warlord or noble difficulty level. It pays 95% at prince level, 90% at monarch level, 85% at emperor level, 80% at immortal level and only 60% at deity level (all compared to a human player with a similar empire at noble difficulty level).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The human player pays 50% extra for units outside of its borders (see first section on unit supply). However, the AI only pays a percentage of this cost that is again dependent on difficulty level: 50% at settler, 45% at chieftain, 40% at warlord, 35% at noble, 30% at prince, 25% at monarch, 20% at emperor, 15% at immortal and finally 10% at deity level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are more differences between the AI and the humans at the various difficulty levels, but these are the only ones that have to do with this article. An important discount for the AI that is somewhat related to this article is the AI discount on unit upgrade costs. The AI pays much less for upgrading units at every difficulty level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I found the XML files that determine the free unit support and it might be interesting for some modders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The modifiers that determine the amount of free support and the maintenance cost of units (inside or outside of your borders) can be found in the file GlobalDefines.xml and are named:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS, INITIAL_BASE_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS, INITIAL_FREE_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_FREE_MILITARY_UNITS_POPULATION_PERCENT, INITIAL_GOLD_PER_UNIT, INITIAL_FREE_OUTSIDE_UNITS, INITIAL_OUTSIDE_UNIT_GOLD_PERCENT[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that the names of these modifiers speak for themselves if combined with the formulas for free unit support above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the civic Vassalage, the modifiers that determine free unit support can be found in the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml and are named iBaseFreeUnits and iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty modifier that adds to the free unit support is of course found in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml and is named iFreeUnits. The modifier that determines the handicap cost is also in this file and is named iUnitCostPercent. Note that this modifier denotes the amount that you actually pay and not the amount of cost reduction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that the basic number of free units named D in the formula above is the number denoted behind iFreeUnits in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml added to the number denoted behind INITIAL_BASE_FREE_UNITS in the file GlobalDefines.xml.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CITY_GROWTH_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]City Growth[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Tigger70[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have been inquiring into the system of city growth in civ IV. Sufficient results have been obtained to warrant posting and discussion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A note about our topic: the fundamental dynamic at work in civ is the acquisition of rights to work game tiles. Aside from the food management issue, working such tiles yields commerce points and hammer points, and on this all else depends. Hammers are developed into units and resource multipliers (buildings); commerce generates trading options with other AI civs and, most obviously, beakers for the acquisition of techs. Managing the rate at which new tiles can be acquired is accordingly central to strategic play. This suffices as a defense regarding the significance of the topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will proceed to list the findings of interest point-by-point. All numerical values are applicable for the correct game speed (epic speed). I have not inquired into how the system works at other speeds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](1) Growth Requirements[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A city of size 1 requires acquisition of 33F to grow to size 2. A city of size 2 requires 36F, size 3 39F, size 4 42F, and so forth (temporarily setting aside the effects of a granary). So far as I can determine this system of +3 storage required per size &gt; 1 continues indefinitely. A size 20 city requires 90F stored to grow to size 21, which is in accordance with the basic pattern. The core point to note here is that there exists no "cut-off" point beyond which further growth becomes abnormally more difficult than it was before (I mean this with respect to storage requirements only. Obviously the availability of health, happiness, and so forth can present interacting factors that make further growth not possible).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](2) Food surpluses wrap after growth[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When scanning over the food bar in the city screen we might see a value of something like 42/48. What this means is that 42F surplus has been stored, with 48 required for the current growth cycle to complete. Suppose that we have a 10F surplus at this time. The city will grow at the conclusion of the present turn. On the next turn the city will show 4/51 - meaning that the extra 4F not needed for the cycle has "wrapped" over into the next cycle. This alleviates the potential need for obnoxious micro-management. Without it we would want to remove citizens from food-tiles towards the end of a cycle so as to avoid accumulating resources that will be lost. Fortunately matters do not work this way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](3) Granaries, Part 1[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The granary stores 50% of the needed food in one cycle for use in the next. What this would mean in our previous example is that when the 42/48 city grows, the food bar will show 28F on the next subsequent turn. 50% of 48 = 24, plus the extra 4F which "wraps" after growth = 28F total. If we were running a food surplus of 6F in that example (thus matching the needed amount exactly), 24F would appear on the immediate following turn via the granary effect alone. Note that the next cycle would require 51F for growth, so we would see 24/51 on the next cycle. This is slightly less than 50% of what is required for the next growth increase. In practice the difference is negligible, but it is noteworthy for understanding how the system works.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](4) Population and whipping (slavery civic)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The program straightforwardly eliminates X population when whipping without doing anything else. What I mean by this: suppose we have a size 6 city with 26/48 in the food bar and we whip 2 citizens. After whipping we will show size 4, 26/42. The 26F present before the whipping operation remains. This produces outcomes that can appear weird in certain situations when not paying attention. Suppose we have a size 6 city with 46/48 and we whip two citizens. After the whipping operation we will have 46/42 with growth in 1 turn. On the next turn the city is size 5 and it appears that we whipped only 1 citizen. If we had NOT whipped the citizens, the city would have grown to size 7 on the relevant turn (assuming at least 2 food surplus). Since we DID whip the citizens, the city is size 5 on the following turn -a difference of 2 citizens, as advertised. It is a matter of understanding that only the population has been eliminated, not the stored F-values that have been accumulated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](5) Calculating the food surplus[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose we have a size 3 city working tiles (1) a farmed flood plain, (2) a mined grassland hill, and (3) another mined grassland hill. Each citizen requires 2F support. The farmed flood plain provides 4F, the mined hills 1 F a piece - yielding 6F total. Since we have 3 citizens needing 2F each, we have met the requirements and it would appear that the city should be stagnant. But it isn't. A related way of thinking about these tiles holds that the flood plain is "supporting" the mines squares. This way of thinking has its uses but it misses the point. Regarding the first observation: the city is effectively given a "0-citizen" tile to work. This is the city's base (home) tile - usually 2F 1P 1C. This "free" tiles gives a +2 food surplus if all the other tiles come out even (with respect to surplus). The above calculation is skipping the base city square - the city will have a +2F surplus because of the "free" tile. Regarding the"way of thinking" mentioned above: The art of city food maintenance is the art of managing the rate at which new tiles can be worked. This is directly tied to the city's food surplus at any given time, which in turn is the only value that matters. It is true that tiles (1), (2), and (3) will be neutral with respect to food surplus. In this sense the flood plain is "supporting" the mined squares. We don't want to manage city growth though via the roundabout method of balancing which squares are "supporting" others. Doing so constitutes a mistake in understanding what the fundamental driving factor is in managing city growth: the food surplus value, which determines the rate at which new tiles can be worked over time The two points to note here are (1) the effect of the free "0-citizen" tile in calculating the food surplus value (it usually adds +2) and (2) understanding that the core value which matters is the food-surplus number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](6) City-Growth Table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At certain stages in the game we review our cities while they are in various stages of their growth cycles. When they are midway or further in a growth cycle, changing worked tiles (and thus the food-surplus value) changes the number of turns remaining in the cycle by a considerable factor - often by 3-5 turns. City growth management however is ultimately a long-term project. We are interested in managing the number of turns required to move from size 5 to size 10, 15, and beyond. To understand the factors involved in this long-term project, we need to understand the cumulative effect of average food-surplus values over an extended period of time. The following chart is a tool I have put together for this purpose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1[TAB][TAB]2[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4[TAB][TAB]5[NEWLINE]1[TAB]33[TAB][TAB]36/20[TAB][TAB]39/21[TAB][TAB]42/23[TAB][TAB]45/24[NEWLINE]2[TAB]17[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[TAB][TAB]21/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[NEWLINE]3[TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]4[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[NEWLINE]5[TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]6[TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]7[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]8[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]9[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]10[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]11[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8[TAB][TAB]9[TAB][TAB]10[NEWLINE]1[TAB]48/26[TAB][TAB]51/27[TAB][TAB]54/29[TAB][TAB]57/30[TAB][TAB]60/32[NEWLINE]2[TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]26/14[TAB][TAB]27/15[TAB][TAB]29/15[TAB][TAB]30/16[NEWLINE]3[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[NEWLINE]4[TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]5[TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]6[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[NEWLINE]7[TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]8[TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]9[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]10[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12[TAB][TAB]13[TAB][TAB]14[TAB][TAB]15[NEWLINE]1[TAB]63/33[TAB][TAB]66/35[TAB][TAB]69/36[TAB][TAB]72/38[TAB][TAB]75/39[NEWLINE]2[TAB]32/17[TAB][TAB]33/18[TAB][TAB]35/18[TAB][TAB]36/19[TAB][TAB]38/20[NEWLINE]3[TAB]21/11[TAB][TAB]22/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[TAB][TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]25/13[NEWLINE]4[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[NEWLINE]5[TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]6[TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]7[TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[NEWLINE]8[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[NEWLINE]9[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]10[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]12[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The rows are food-surplus values, while the columns indicate current city size. Each cell consists of two numbers. The first number gives the number of turns required for city growth if the city does not have a granary. The second number provides the number of turns required if the city does have a granary (and it was functional during the previous growth cycle). The table does not take into account the food-wrap issue discussed above. What this means is that sometimes we will save a turn from the provided number. For example suppose we are running a 10 -surplus city at size 4. 42F is required to advance. On the 5th turn the city will grow, resulting in 8/45 at the start of the next cycle. With 8 food stored, we will need 4 turns to reach 48/45 and thus to grow again. The chart however indicates 5 turns (not 4) since that is the number of turns that would be required if we had zero food at the start of the relevant cycle. Note what happens here though. We will move from 48/45 to 3/48 at size 6. Here 5 turns will be required, as indicated in the chart. In short, the food-wrapping effect intermittently permits us to save one turn. In the long-term however the number of saved turns is largely the same regardless of which row (and thus which average food-surplus is being used). This permits us to ignore the effect for relative comparisons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](7) Observations from the City-Growth table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key feature to note from the table is the significance of running a 5-food surplus (with a granary) or a 6-food surplus (without a granary). Running a surplus of 4 or less comes with a very significant cost in long-term growth. Running a surplus higher than 5 or 6 does bring distinct advantages. These advantages however are considerably more incremental in character than they are at the lower values. Beyond a food-surplus value of around 6, working a zero-food citizen (mined plains tile, specialist, etc.) is considerably more palatable than it is at lower surplus values [note: the decision to work a zero-food citizen is significant since the cost of doing so lowers the food-surplus value by 2, as opposed to lowering only by 1 working a mined grassland hills or maintaining the current surplus by working a grassland pot (cottage)].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some quick observations to help make this point. Suppose that we are growing a size 3 city to size 4. Without a granary, this requires 14 turns with a 3F surplus. It requires only 7 turns with a 6F surplus, accomplishing the task 50% faster. A second case: suppose we are growing a city from size 3 to size 6 (without a granary). Using a 3F surplus requires 42 turns; using a 5F surplus requires 26 turns. Again, the difference is remarkable. On the other hand: we grow from size 3 to size 4 in 7 turns using a 6F surplus. If we increase our surplus to 9F, the task will be accomplished in 5 turns instead of 7. Switching from a 3F- surplus to 6F saves 7 turns. Switching from 6F to 9F saves only 2 turns. Without a granary, a 6-F surplus is the maximally efficient number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will leave other observations to those who see them. The quick point to note is the significance of the window between the 5F and 6F surplus numbers. Running a surplus 4 or lower for any significant amount of time will yield poor and sub-optimal returns. The 5F to 6F window is entirely satisfactory and maximally efficient. Running a surplus beyond 6F will yield accelerated development, but with a lowered incremental rate of return. Beyond 6F the prospect of utilizing a zero-food citizen becomes notably more reasonable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](8) Obvious caveats[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I mention this to ward off needing to say it at some future time. There are obviously going to be situations in which other game factors are more important than managing city growth. In the window before calendar/hereditary rule, we are often running with a happiness limitation to growth. In these circumstances running a surplus of 4 or lower is entirely reasonable. If we're in a military conflict, running with sub-optimal growth parameters may be advantageous and/or necessary. In addition, when making a run for a world-wonder, emphasizing hammers in exchange for growth can obviously be correct. The larger issue of balancing the various intersecting factors in the game isn't the point of issue. We are isolating one segment of game-play to see what can be discovered about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](9) Granaries, Part II[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The long-term cumulative effect of granaries is quite striking. Suppose we are growing a city from size 5 to size 15 with a steady 5F food surplus. Without a granary the process will take 121 turns. With a granary the process will take 66 turns. The city without the granary requires 55(!) more turns to complete the process. This constitutes a steady delay in acquiring new tile resources, which in turn drives all other aspects of play. The default plan for any normal city accordingly must include building a granary at some point or another. The issue of when to build it is open to context, and of course there will be exceptions for cities that are geographically placed in growth-limited locations, or are peculiar in some other such way. For any normal city though, there must be some feature in the larger strategic context that overrides the default plan to make skipping the granary completely a reasonably correct decision.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](10) The State Property civic[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose that we are in the later stages of developing some particular city. We have a 3F surplus, and we intend to "complete" the city by growing onto 3 plains tiles with 1F a piece. When this is done the city will be completed in its capacity to work the maximal number of tiles it can, and will accordingly be stagnated. Growth may start up again way later when we obtain the biology tech, but we can assume this will be a long time in coming. The obvious problem which we face here is that growing onto the last tiles will take an extremely large number of turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 3F surplus is bad enough (especially when we are likely dealing with a reasonably large city already, with extended food storage requirements). Matters will only get worse though when the first cycle is completed, leaving a 2F surplus followed by the snails-pace that will arrive for the last tile with a 1F surplus. Reasonably speaking, growing onto the last tiles will take such a long time that we are largely foregoing their use. The State Property civic appears designed to assist with this. The civic is quite popular for the maintenance bonus it gives (no distance-from-palace maintenance) but it's effect on city growth strategy appears to be overlooked. In many cases we will want to build windmills on plains-hills tiles and watermills on plains-river tiles. Doing so makes both of them interchangeable at 1F 2P 1C, and they will improve later: +1P with replaceable parts and +2 commerce with electricity. The State Property civic gives a +1F bonus for windmills/watermills. What this means is that if/when we employ State Property, either as a long-term civic or as a temporary 15-20 turn choice, we will very often be able to complete cities that would otherwise take an inordinate number of turns. In the above example, suppose we have 4 windmills/watermills being worked in that city. When we adopt state property our food surplus will increase by 4F. In the process of growing onto the last 3 intended tiles, we will move from 7F to 6F to 5F in surpluses rather than from 3F to 2F to 1F. The result is that the city can grow onto those last tiles in an entirely reasonable number of turns. If/when we change out of state property[NEWLINE]afterwards our food surplus will disappear and the city will be stagnant, but working the tiles that were planned for its employ. This is often the only feasible way to enable tile utilization in the late stages of city growth - unless we want to wait for Biology (which is typically an unacceptable delay).</English>
		<French>[H1]City Growth[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Tigger70[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have been inquiring into the system of city growth in civ IV. Sufficient results have been obtained to warrant posting and discussion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A note about our topic: the fundamental dynamic at work in civ is the acquisition of rights to work game tiles. Aside from the food management issue, working such tiles yields commerce points and hammer points, and on this all else depends. Hammers are developed into units and resource multipliers (buildings); commerce generates trading options with other AI civs and, most obviously, beakers for the acquisition of techs. Managing the rate at which new tiles can be acquired is accordingly central to strategic play. This suffices as a defense regarding the significance of the topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will proceed to list the findings of interest point-by-point. All numerical values are applicable for the correct game speed (epic speed). I have not inquired into how the system works at other speeds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](1) Growth Requirements[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A city of size 1 requires acquisition of 33F to grow to size 2. A city of size 2 requires 36F, size 3 39F, size 4 42F, and so forth (temporarily setting aside the effects of a granary). So far as I can determine this system of +3 storage required per size &gt; 1 continues indefinitely. A size 20 city requires 90F stored to grow to size 21, which is in accordance with the basic pattern. The core point to note here is that there exists no "cut-off" point beyond which further growth becomes abnormally more difficult than it was before (I mean this with respect to storage requirements only. Obviously the availability of health, happiness, and so forth can present interacting factors that make further growth not possible).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](2) Food surpluses wrap after growth[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When scanning over the food bar in the city screen we might see a value of something like 42/48. What this means is that 42F surplus has been stored, with 48 required for the current growth cycle to complete. Suppose that we have a 10F surplus at this time. The city will grow at the conclusion of the present turn. On the next turn the city will show 4/51 - meaning that the extra 4F not needed for the cycle has "wrapped" over into the next cycle. This alleviates the potential need for obnoxious micro-management. Without it we would want to remove citizens from food-tiles towards the end of a cycle so as to avoid accumulating resources that will be lost. Fortunately matters do not work this way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](3) Granaries, Part 1[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The granary stores 50% of the needed food in one cycle for use in the next. What this would mean in our previous example is that when the 42/48 city grows, the food bar will show 28F on the next subsequent turn. 50% of 48 = 24, plus the extra 4F which "wraps" after growth = 28F total. If we were running a food surplus of 6F in that example (thus matching the needed amount exactly), 24F would appear on the immediate following turn via the granary effect alone. Note that the next cycle would require 51F for growth, so we would see 24/51 on the next cycle. This is slightly less than 50% of what is required for the next growth increase. In practice the difference is negligible, but it is noteworthy for understanding how the system works.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](4) Population and whipping (slavery civic)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The program straightforwardly eliminates X population when whipping without doing anything else. What I mean by this: suppose we have a size 6 city with 26/48 in the food bar and we whip 2 citizens. After whipping we will show size 4, 26/42. The 26F present before the whipping operation remains. This produces outcomes that can appear weird in certain situations when not paying attention. Suppose we have a size 6 city with 46/48 and we whip two citizens. After the whipping operation we will have 46/42 with growth in 1 turn. On the next turn the city is size 5 and it appears that we whipped only 1 citizen. If we had NOT whipped the citizens, the city would have grown to size 7 on the relevant turn (assuming at least 2 food surplus). Since we DID whip the citizens, the city is size 5 on the following turn -a difference of 2 citizens, as advertised. It is a matter of understanding that only the population has been eliminated, not the stored F-values that have been accumulated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](5) Calculating the food surplus[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose we have a size 3 city working tiles (1) a farmed flood plain, (2) a mined grassland hill, and (3) another mined grassland hill. Each citizen requires 2F support. The farmed flood plain provides 4F, the mined hills 1 F a piece - yielding 6F total. Since we have 3 citizens needing 2F each, we have met the requirements and it would appear that the city should be stagnant. But it isn't. A related way of thinking about these tiles holds that the flood plain is "supporting" the mines squares. This way of thinking has its uses but it misses the point. Regarding the first observation: the city is effectively given a "0-citizen" tile to work. This is the city's base (home) tile - usually 2F 1P 1C. This "free" tiles gives a +2 food surplus if all the other tiles come out even (with respect to surplus). The above calculation is skipping the base city square - the city will have a +2F surplus because of the "free" tile. Regarding the"way of thinking" mentioned above: The art of city food maintenance is the art of managing the rate at which new tiles can be worked. This is directly tied to the city's food surplus at any given time, which in turn is the only value that matters. It is true that tiles (1), (2), and (3) will be neutral with respect to food surplus. In this sense the flood plain is "supporting" the mined squares. We don't want to manage city growth though via the roundabout method of balancing which squares are "supporting" others. Doing so constitutes a mistake in understanding what the fundamental driving factor is in managing city growth: the food surplus value, which determines the rate at which new tiles can be worked over time The two points to note here are (1) the effect of the free "0-citizen" tile in calculating the food surplus value (it usually adds +2) and (2) understanding that the core value which matters is the food-surplus number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](6) City-Growth Table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At certain stages in the game we review our cities while they are in various stages of their growth cycles. When they are midway or further in a growth cycle, changing worked tiles (and thus the food-surplus value) changes the number of turns remaining in the cycle by a considerable factor - often by 3-5 turns. City growth management however is ultimately a long-term project. We are interested in managing the number of turns required to move from size 5 to size 10, 15, and beyond. To understand the factors involved in this long-term project, we need to understand the cumulative effect of average food-surplus values over an extended period of time. The following chart is a tool I have put together for this purpose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1[TAB][TAB]2[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4[TAB][TAB]5[NEWLINE]1[TAB]33[TAB][TAB]36/20[TAB][TAB]39/21[TAB][TAB]42/23[TAB][TAB]45/24[NEWLINE]2[TAB]17[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[TAB][TAB]21/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[NEWLINE]3[TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]4[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[NEWLINE]5[TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]6[TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]7[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]8[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]9[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]10[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]11[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8[TAB][TAB]9[TAB][TAB]10[NEWLINE]1[TAB]48/26[TAB][TAB]51/27[TAB][TAB]54/29[TAB][TAB]57/30[TAB][TAB]60/32[NEWLINE]2[TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]26/14[TAB][TAB]27/15[TAB][TAB]29/15[TAB][TAB]30/16[NEWLINE]3[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[NEWLINE]4[TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]5[TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]6[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[NEWLINE]7[TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]8[TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]9[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]10[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12[TAB][TAB]13[TAB][TAB]14[TAB][TAB]15[NEWLINE]1[TAB]63/33[TAB][TAB]66/35[TAB][TAB]69/36[TAB][TAB]72/38[TAB][TAB]75/39[NEWLINE]2[TAB]32/17[TAB][TAB]33/18[TAB][TAB]35/18[TAB][TAB]36/19[TAB][TAB]38/20[NEWLINE]3[TAB]21/11[TAB][TAB]22/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[TAB][TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]25/13[NEWLINE]4[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[NEWLINE]5[TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]6[TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]7[TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[NEWLINE]8[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[NEWLINE]9[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]10[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]12[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The rows are food-surplus values, while the columns indicate current city size. Each cell consists of two numbers. The first number gives the number of turns required for city growth if the city does not have a granary. The second number provides the number of turns required if the city does have a granary (and it was functional during the previous growth cycle). The table does not take into account the food-wrap issue discussed above. What this means is that sometimes we will save a turn from the provided number. For example suppose we are running a 10 -surplus city at size 4. 42F is required to advance. On the 5th turn the city will grow, resulting in 8/45 at the start of the next cycle. With 8 food stored, we will need 4 turns to reach 48/45 and thus to grow again. The chart however indicates 5 turns (not 4) since that is the number of turns that would be required if we had zero food at the start of the relevant cycle. Note what happens here though. We will move from 48/45 to 3/48 at size 6. Here 5 turns will be required, as indicated in the chart. In short, the food-wrapping effect intermittently permits us to save one turn. In the long-term however the number of saved turns is largely the same regardless of which row (and thus which average food-surplus is being used). This permits us to ignore the effect for relative comparisons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](7) Observations from the City-Growth table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key feature to note from the table is the significance of running a 5-food surplus (with a granary) or a 6-food surplus (without a granary). Running a surplus of 4 or less comes with a very significant cost in long-term growth. Running a surplus higher than 5 or 6 does bring distinct advantages. These advantages however are considerably more incremental in character than they are at the lower values. Beyond a food-surplus value of around 6, working a zero-food citizen (mined plains tile, specialist, etc.) is considerably more palatable than it is at lower surplus values [note: the decision to work a zero-food citizen is significant since the cost of doing so lowers the food-surplus value by 2, as opposed to lowering only by 1 working a mined grassland hills or maintaining the current surplus by working a grassland pot (cottage)].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some quick observations to help make this point. Suppose that we are growing a size 3 city to size 4. Without a granary, this requires 14 turns with a 3F surplus. It requires only 7 turns with a 6F surplus, accomplishing the task 50% faster. A second case: suppose we are growing a city from size 3 to size 6 (without a granary). Using a 3F surplus requires 42 turns; using a 5F surplus requires 26 turns. Again, the difference is remarkable. On the other hand: we grow from size 3 to size 4 in 7 turns using a 6F surplus. If we increase our surplus to 9F, the task will be accomplished in 5 turns instead of 7. Switching from a 3F- surplus to 6F saves 7 turns. Switching from 6F to 9F saves only 2 turns. Without a granary, a 6-F surplus is the maximally efficient number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will leave other observations to those who see them. The quick point to note is the significance of the window between the 5F and 6F surplus numbers. Running a surplus 4 or lower for any significant amount of time will yield poor and sub-optimal returns. The 5F to 6F window is entirely satisfactory and maximally efficient. Running a surplus beyond 6F will yield accelerated development, but with a lowered incremental rate of return. Beyond 6F the prospect of utilizing a zero-food citizen becomes notably more reasonable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](8) Obvious caveats[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I mention this to ward off needing to say it at some future time. There are obviously going to be situations in which other game factors are more important than managing city growth. In the window before calendar/hereditary rule, we are often running with a happiness limitation to growth. In these circumstances running a surplus of 4 or lower is entirely reasonable. If we're in a military conflict, running with sub-optimal growth parameters may be advantageous and/or necessary. In addition, when making a run for a world-wonder, emphasizing hammers in exchange for growth can obviously be correct. The larger issue of balancing the various intersecting factors in the game isn't the point of issue. We are isolating one segment of game-play to see what can be discovered about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](9) Granaries, Part II[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The long-term cumulative effect of granaries is quite striking. Suppose we are growing a city from size 5 to size 15 with a steady 5F food surplus. Without a granary the process will take 121 turns. With a granary the process will take 66 turns. The city without the granary requires 55(!) more turns to complete the process. This constitutes a steady delay in acquiring new tile resources, which in turn drives all other aspects of play. The default plan for any normal city accordingly must include building a granary at some point or another. The issue of when to build it is open to context, and of course there will be exceptions for cities that are geographically placed in growth-limited locations, or are peculiar in some other such way. For any normal city though, there must be some feature in the larger strategic context that overrides the default plan to make skipping the granary completely a reasonably correct decision.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](10) The State Property civic[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose that we are in the later stages of developing some particular city. We have a 3F surplus, and we intend to "complete" the city by growing onto 3 plains tiles with 1F a piece. When this is done the city will be completed in its capacity to work the maximal number of tiles it can, and will accordingly be stagnated. Growth may start up again way later when we obtain the biology tech, but we can assume this will be a long time in coming. The obvious problem which we face here is that growing onto the last tiles will take an extremely large number of turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 3F surplus is bad enough (especially when we are likely dealing with a reasonably large city already, with extended food storage requirements). Matters will only get worse though when the first cycle is completed, leaving a 2F surplus followed by the snails-pace that will arrive for the last tile with a 1F surplus. Reasonably speaking, growing onto the last tiles will take such a long time that we are largely foregoing their use. The State Property civic appears designed to assist with this. The civic is quite popular for the maintenance bonus it gives (no distance-from-palace maintenance) but it's effect on city growth strategy appears to be overlooked. In many cases we will want to build windmills on plains-hills tiles and watermills on plains-river tiles. Doing so makes both of them interchangeable at 1F 2P 1C, and they will improve later: +1P with replaceable parts and +2 commerce with electricity. The State Property civic gives a +1F bonus for windmills/watermills. What this means is that if/when we employ State Property, either as a long-term civic or as a temporary 15-20 turn choice, we will very often be able to complete cities that would otherwise take an inordinate number of turns. In the above example, suppose we have 4 windmills/watermills being worked in that city. When we adopt state property our food surplus will increase by 4F. In the process of growing onto the last 3 intended tiles, we will move from 7F to 6F to 5F in surpluses rather than from 3F to 2F to 1F. The result is that the city can grow onto those last tiles in an entirely reasonable number of turns. If/when we change out of state property[NEWLINE]afterwards our food surplus will disappear and the city will be stagnant, but working the tiles that were planned for its employ. This is often the only feasible way to enable tile utilization in the late stages of city growth - unless we want to wait for Biology (which is typically an unacceptable delay).</French>
		<German>[H1]City Growth[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Tigger70[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have been inquiring into the system of city growth in civ IV. Sufficient results have been obtained to warrant posting and discussion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A note about our topic: the fundamental dynamic at work in civ is the acquisition of rights to work game tiles. Aside from the food management issue, working such tiles yields commerce points and hammer points, and on this all else depends. Hammers are developed into units and resource multipliers (buildings); commerce generates trading options with other AI civs and, most obviously, beakers for the acquisition of techs. Managing the rate at which new tiles can be acquired is accordingly central to strategic play. This suffices as a defense regarding the significance of the topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will proceed to list the findings of interest point-by-point. All numerical values are applicable for the correct game speed (epic speed). I have not inquired into how the system works at other speeds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](1) Growth Requirements[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A city of size 1 requires acquisition of 33F to grow to size 2. A city of size 2 requires 36F, size 3 39F, size 4 42F, and so forth (temporarily setting aside the effects of a granary). So far as I can determine this system of +3 storage required per size &gt; 1 continues indefinitely. A size 20 city requires 90F stored to grow to size 21, which is in accordance with the basic pattern. The core point to note here is that there exists no "cut-off" point beyond which further growth becomes abnormally more difficult than it was before (I mean this with respect to storage requirements only. Obviously the availability of health, happiness, and so forth can present interacting factors that make further growth not possible).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](2) Food surpluses wrap after growth[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When scanning over the food bar in the city screen we might see a value of something like 42/48. What this means is that 42F surplus has been stored, with 48 required for the current growth cycle to complete. Suppose that we have a 10F surplus at this time. The city will grow at the conclusion of the present turn. On the next turn the city will show 4/51 - meaning that the extra 4F not needed for the cycle has "wrapped" over into the next cycle. This alleviates the potential need for obnoxious micro-management. Without it we would want to remove citizens from food-tiles towards the end of a cycle so as to avoid accumulating resources that will be lost. Fortunately matters do not work this way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](3) Granaries, Part 1[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The granary stores 50% of the needed food in one cycle for use in the next. What this would mean in our previous example is that when the 42/48 city grows, the food bar will show 28F on the next subsequent turn. 50% of 48 = 24, plus the extra 4F which "wraps" after growth = 28F total. If we were running a food surplus of 6F in that example (thus matching the needed amount exactly), 24F would appear on the immediate following turn via the granary effect alone. Note that the next cycle would require 51F for growth, so we would see 24/51 on the next cycle. This is slightly less than 50% of what is required for the next growth increase. In practice the difference is negligible, but it is noteworthy for understanding how the system works.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](4) Population and whipping (slavery civic)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The program straightforwardly eliminates X population when whipping without doing anything else. What I mean by this: suppose we have a size 6 city with 26/48 in the food bar and we whip 2 citizens. After whipping we will show size 4, 26/42. The 26F present before the whipping operation remains. This produces outcomes that can appear weird in certain situations when not paying attention. Suppose we have a size 6 city with 46/48 and we whip two citizens. After the whipping operation we will have 46/42 with growth in 1 turn. On the next turn the city is size 5 and it appears that we whipped only 1 citizen. If we had NOT whipped the citizens, the city would have grown to size 7 on the relevant turn (assuming at least 2 food surplus). Since we DID whip the citizens, the city is size 5 on the following turn -a difference of 2 citizens, as advertised. It is a matter of understanding that only the population has been eliminated, not the stored F-values that have been accumulated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](5) Calculating the food surplus[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose we have a size 3 city working tiles (1) a farmed flood plain, (2) a mined grassland hill, and (3) another mined grassland hill. Each citizen requires 2F support. The farmed flood plain provides 4F, the mined hills 1 F a piece - yielding 6F total. Since we have 3 citizens needing 2F each, we have met the requirements and it would appear that the city should be stagnant. But it isn't. A related way of thinking about these tiles holds that the flood plain is "supporting" the mines squares. This way of thinking has its uses but it misses the point. Regarding the first observation: the city is effectively given a "0-citizen" tile to work. This is the city's base (home) tile - usually 2F 1P 1C. This "free" tiles gives a +2 food surplus if all the other tiles come out even (with respect to surplus). The above calculation is skipping the base city square - the city will have a +2F surplus because of the "free" tile. Regarding the"way of thinking" mentioned above: The art of city food maintenance is the art of managing the rate at which new tiles can be worked. This is directly tied to the city's food surplus at any given time, which in turn is the only value that matters. It is true that tiles (1), (2), and (3) will be neutral with respect to food surplus. In this sense the flood plain is "supporting" the mined squares. We don't want to manage city growth though via the roundabout method of balancing which squares are "supporting" others. Doing so constitutes a mistake in understanding what the fundamental driving factor is in managing city growth: the food surplus value, which determines the rate at which new tiles can be worked over time The two points to note here are (1) the effect of the free "0-citizen" tile in calculating the food surplus value (it usually adds +2) and (2) understanding that the core value which matters is the food-surplus number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](6) City-Growth Table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At certain stages in the game we review our cities while they are in various stages of their growth cycles. When they are midway or further in a growth cycle, changing worked tiles (and thus the food-surplus value) changes the number of turns remaining in the cycle by a considerable factor - often by 3-5 turns. City growth management however is ultimately a long-term project. We are interested in managing the number of turns required to move from size 5 to size 10, 15, and beyond. To understand the factors involved in this long-term project, we need to understand the cumulative effect of average food-surplus values over an extended period of time. The following chart is a tool I have put together for this purpose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1[TAB][TAB]2[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4[TAB][TAB]5[NEWLINE]1[TAB]33[TAB][TAB]36/20[TAB][TAB]39/21[TAB][TAB]42/23[TAB][TAB]45/24[NEWLINE]2[TAB]17[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[TAB][TAB]21/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[NEWLINE]3[TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]4[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[NEWLINE]5[TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]6[TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]7[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]8[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]9[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]10[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]11[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8[TAB][TAB]9[TAB][TAB]10[NEWLINE]1[TAB]48/26[TAB][TAB]51/27[TAB][TAB]54/29[TAB][TAB]57/30[TAB][TAB]60/32[NEWLINE]2[TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]26/14[TAB][TAB]27/15[TAB][TAB]29/15[TAB][TAB]30/16[NEWLINE]3[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[NEWLINE]4[TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]5[TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]6[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[NEWLINE]7[TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]8[TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]9[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]10[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12[TAB][TAB]13[TAB][TAB]14[TAB][TAB]15[NEWLINE]1[TAB]63/33[TAB][TAB]66/35[TAB][TAB]69/36[TAB][TAB]72/38[TAB][TAB]75/39[NEWLINE]2[TAB]32/17[TAB][TAB]33/18[TAB][TAB]35/18[TAB][TAB]36/19[TAB][TAB]38/20[NEWLINE]3[TAB]21/11[TAB][TAB]22/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[TAB][TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]25/13[NEWLINE]4[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[NEWLINE]5[TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]6[TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]7[TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[NEWLINE]8[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[NEWLINE]9[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]10[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]12[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The rows are food-surplus values, while the columns indicate current city size. Each cell consists of two numbers. The first number gives the number of turns required for city growth if the city does not have a granary. The second number provides the number of turns required if the city does have a granary (and it was functional during the previous growth cycle). The table does not take into account the food-wrap issue discussed above. What this means is that sometimes we will save a turn from the provided number. For example suppose we are running a 10 -surplus city at size 4. 42F is required to advance. On the 5th turn the city will grow, resulting in 8/45 at the start of the next cycle. With 8 food stored, we will need 4 turns to reach 48/45 and thus to grow again. The chart however indicates 5 turns (not 4) since that is the number of turns that would be required if we had zero food at the start of the relevant cycle. Note what happens here though. We will move from 48/45 to 3/48 at size 6. Here 5 turns will be required, as indicated in the chart. In short, the food-wrapping effect intermittently permits us to save one turn. In the long-term however the number of saved turns is largely the same regardless of which row (and thus which average food-surplus is being used). This permits us to ignore the effect for relative comparisons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](7) Observations from the City-Growth table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key feature to note from the table is the significance of running a 5-food surplus (with a granary) or a 6-food surplus (without a granary). Running a surplus of 4 or less comes with a very significant cost in long-term growth. Running a surplus higher than 5 or 6 does bring distinct advantages. These advantages however are considerably more incremental in character than they are at the lower values. Beyond a food-surplus value of around 6, working a zero-food citizen (mined plains tile, specialist, etc.) is considerably more palatable than it is at lower surplus values [note: the decision to work a zero-food citizen is significant since the cost of doing so lowers the food-surplus value by 2, as opposed to lowering only by 1 working a mined grassland hills or maintaining the current surplus by working a grassland pot (cottage)].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some quick observations to help make this point. Suppose that we are growing a size 3 city to size 4. Without a granary, this requires 14 turns with a 3F surplus. It requires only 7 turns with a 6F surplus, accomplishing the task 50% faster. A second case: suppose we are growing a city from size 3 to size 6 (without a granary). Using a 3F surplus requires 42 turns; using a 5F surplus requires 26 turns. Again, the difference is remarkable. On the other hand: we grow from size 3 to size 4 in 7 turns using a 6F surplus. If we increase our surplus to 9F, the task will be accomplished in 5 turns instead of 7. Switching from a 3F- surplus to 6F saves 7 turns. Switching from 6F to 9F saves only 2 turns. Without a granary, a 6-F surplus is the maximally efficient number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will leave other observations to those who see them. The quick point to note is the significance of the window between the 5F and 6F surplus numbers. Running a surplus 4 or lower for any significant amount of time will yield poor and sub-optimal returns. The 5F to 6F window is entirely satisfactory and maximally efficient. Running a surplus beyond 6F will yield accelerated development, but with a lowered incremental rate of return. Beyond 6F the prospect of utilizing a zero-food citizen becomes notably more reasonable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](8) Obvious caveats[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I mention this to ward off needing to say it at some future time. There are obviously going to be situations in which other game factors are more important than managing city growth. In the window before calendar/hereditary rule, we are often running with a happiness limitation to growth. In these circumstances running a surplus of 4 or lower is entirely reasonable. If we're in a military conflict, running with sub-optimal growth parameters may be advantageous and/or necessary. In addition, when making a run for a world-wonder, emphasizing hammers in exchange for growth can obviously be correct. The larger issue of balancing the various intersecting factors in the game isn't the point of issue. We are isolating one segment of game-play to see what can be discovered about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](9) Granaries, Part II[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The long-term cumulative effect of granaries is quite striking. Suppose we are growing a city from size 5 to size 15 with a steady 5F food surplus. Without a granary the process will take 121 turns. With a granary the process will take 66 turns. The city without the granary requires 55(!) more turns to complete the process. This constitutes a steady delay in acquiring new tile resources, which in turn drives all other aspects of play. The default plan for any normal city accordingly must include building a granary at some point or another. The issue of when to build it is open to context, and of course there will be exceptions for cities that are geographically placed in growth-limited locations, or are peculiar in some other such way. For any normal city though, there must be some feature in the larger strategic context that overrides the default plan to make skipping the granary completely a reasonably correct decision.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](10) The State Property civic[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose that we are in the later stages of developing some particular city. We have a 3F surplus, and we intend to "complete" the city by growing onto 3 plains tiles with 1F a piece. When this is done the city will be completed in its capacity to work the maximal number of tiles it can, and will accordingly be stagnated. Growth may start up again way later when we obtain the biology tech, but we can assume this will be a long time in coming. The obvious problem which we face here is that growing onto the last tiles will take an extremely large number of turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 3F surplus is bad enough (especially when we are likely dealing with a reasonably large city already, with extended food storage requirements). Matters will only get worse though when the first cycle is completed, leaving a 2F surplus followed by the snails-pace that will arrive for the last tile with a 1F surplus. Reasonably speaking, growing onto the last tiles will take such a long time that we are largely foregoing their use. The State Property civic appears designed to assist with this. The civic is quite popular for the maintenance bonus it gives (no distance-from-palace maintenance) but it's effect on city growth strategy appears to be overlooked. In many cases we will want to build windmills on plains-hills tiles and watermills on plains-river tiles. Doing so makes both of them interchangeable at 1F 2P 1C, and they will improve later: +1P with replaceable parts and +2 commerce with electricity. The State Property civic gives a +1F bonus for windmills/watermills. What this means is that if/when we employ State Property, either as a long-term civic or as a temporary 15-20 turn choice, we will very often be able to complete cities that would otherwise take an inordinate number of turns. In the above example, suppose we have 4 windmills/watermills being worked in that city. When we adopt state property our food surplus will increase by 4F. In the process of growing onto the last 3 intended tiles, we will move from 7F to 6F to 5F in surpluses rather than from 3F to 2F to 1F. The result is that the city can grow onto those last tiles in an entirely reasonable number of turns. If/when we change out of state property[NEWLINE]afterwards our food surplus will disappear and the city will be stagnant, but working the tiles that were planned for its employ. This is often the only feasible way to enable tile utilization in the late stages of city growth - unless we want to wait for Biology (which is typically an unacceptable delay).</German>
		<Italian>[H1]City Growth[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Tigger70[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have been inquiring into the system of city growth in civ IV. Sufficient results have been obtained to warrant posting and discussion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A note about our topic: the fundamental dynamic at work in civ is the acquisition of rights to work game tiles. Aside from the food management issue, working such tiles yields commerce points and hammer points, and on this all else depends. Hammers are developed into units and resource multipliers (buildings); commerce generates trading options with other AI civs and, most obviously, beakers for the acquisition of techs. Managing the rate at which new tiles can be acquired is accordingly central to strategic play. This suffices as a defense regarding the significance of the topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will proceed to list the findings of interest point-by-point. All numerical values are applicable for the correct game speed (epic speed). I have not inquired into how the system works at other speeds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](1) Growth Requirements[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A city of size 1 requires acquisition of 33F to grow to size 2. A city of size 2 requires 36F, size 3 39F, size 4 42F, and so forth (temporarily setting aside the effects of a granary). So far as I can determine this system of +3 storage required per size &gt; 1 continues indefinitely. A size 20 city requires 90F stored to grow to size 21, which is in accordance with the basic pattern. The core point to note here is that there exists no "cut-off" point beyond which further growth becomes abnormally more difficult than it was before (I mean this with respect to storage requirements only. Obviously the availability of health, happiness, and so forth can present interacting factors that make further growth not possible).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](2) Food surpluses wrap after growth[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When scanning over the food bar in the city screen we might see a value of something like 42/48. What this means is that 42F surplus has been stored, with 48 required for the current growth cycle to complete. Suppose that we have a 10F surplus at this time. The city will grow at the conclusion of the present turn. On the next turn the city will show 4/51 - meaning that the extra 4F not needed for the cycle has "wrapped" over into the next cycle. This alleviates the potential need for obnoxious micro-management. Without it we would want to remove citizens from food-tiles towards the end of a cycle so as to avoid accumulating resources that will be lost. Fortunately matters do not work this way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](3) Granaries, Part 1[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The granary stores 50% of the needed food in one cycle for use in the next. What this would mean in our previous example is that when the 42/48 city grows, the food bar will show 28F on the next subsequent turn. 50% of 48 = 24, plus the extra 4F which "wraps" after growth = 28F total. If we were running a food surplus of 6F in that example (thus matching the needed amount exactly), 24F would appear on the immediate following turn via the granary effect alone. Note that the next cycle would require 51F for growth, so we would see 24/51 on the next cycle. This is slightly less than 50% of what is required for the next growth increase. In practice the difference is negligible, but it is noteworthy for understanding how the system works.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](4) Population and whipping (slavery civic)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The program straightforwardly eliminates X population when whipping without doing anything else. What I mean by this: suppose we have a size 6 city with 26/48 in the food bar and we whip 2 citizens. After whipping we will show size 4, 26/42. The 26F present before the whipping operation remains. This produces outcomes that can appear weird in certain situations when not paying attention. Suppose we have a size 6 city with 46/48 and we whip two citizens. After the whipping operation we will have 46/42 with growth in 1 turn. On the next turn the city is size 5 and it appears that we whipped only 1 citizen. If we had NOT whipped the citizens, the city would have grown to size 7 on the relevant turn (assuming at least 2 food surplus). Since we DID whip the citizens, the city is size 5 on the following turn -a difference of 2 citizens, as advertised. It is a matter of understanding that only the population has been eliminated, not the stored F-values that have been accumulated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](5) Calculating the food surplus[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose we have a size 3 city working tiles (1) a farmed flood plain, (2) a mined grassland hill, and (3) another mined grassland hill. Each citizen requires 2F support. The farmed flood plain provides 4F, the mined hills 1 F a piece - yielding 6F total. Since we have 3 citizens needing 2F each, we have met the requirements and it would appear that the city should be stagnant. But it isn't. A related way of thinking about these tiles holds that the flood plain is "supporting" the mines squares. This way of thinking has its uses but it misses the point. Regarding the first observation: the city is effectively given a "0-citizen" tile to work. This is the city's base (home) tile - usually 2F 1P 1C. This "free" tiles gives a +2 food surplus if all the other tiles come out even (with respect to surplus). The above calculation is skipping the base city square - the city will have a +2F surplus because of the "free" tile. Regarding the"way of thinking" mentioned above: The art of city food maintenance is the art of managing the rate at which new tiles can be worked. This is directly tied to the city's food surplus at any given time, which in turn is the only value that matters. It is true that tiles (1), (2), and (3) will be neutral with respect to food surplus. In this sense the flood plain is "supporting" the mined squares. We don't want to manage city growth though via the roundabout method of balancing which squares are "supporting" others. Doing so constitutes a mistake in understanding what the fundamental driving factor is in managing city growth: the food surplus value, which determines the rate at which new tiles can be worked over time The two points to note here are (1) the effect of the free "0-citizen" tile in calculating the food surplus value (it usually adds +2) and (2) understanding that the core value which matters is the food-surplus number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](6) City-Growth Table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At certain stages in the game we review our cities while they are in various stages of their growth cycles. When they are midway or further in a growth cycle, changing worked tiles (and thus the food-surplus value) changes the number of turns remaining in the cycle by a considerable factor - often by 3-5 turns. City growth management however is ultimately a long-term project. We are interested in managing the number of turns required to move from size 5 to size 10, 15, and beyond. To understand the factors involved in this long-term project, we need to understand the cumulative effect of average food-surplus values over an extended period of time. The following chart is a tool I have put together for this purpose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1[TAB][TAB]2[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4[TAB][TAB]5[NEWLINE]1[TAB]33[TAB][TAB]36/20[TAB][TAB]39/21[TAB][TAB]42/23[TAB][TAB]45/24[NEWLINE]2[TAB]17[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[TAB][TAB]21/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[NEWLINE]3[TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]4[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[NEWLINE]5[TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]6[TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]7[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]8[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]9[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]10[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]11[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8[TAB][TAB]9[TAB][TAB]10[NEWLINE]1[TAB]48/26[TAB][TAB]51/27[TAB][TAB]54/29[TAB][TAB]57/30[TAB][TAB]60/32[NEWLINE]2[TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]26/14[TAB][TAB]27/15[TAB][TAB]29/15[TAB][TAB]30/16[NEWLINE]3[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[NEWLINE]4[TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]5[TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]6[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[NEWLINE]7[TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]8[TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]9[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]10[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12[TAB][TAB]13[TAB][TAB]14[TAB][TAB]15[NEWLINE]1[TAB]63/33[TAB][TAB]66/35[TAB][TAB]69/36[TAB][TAB]72/38[TAB][TAB]75/39[NEWLINE]2[TAB]32/17[TAB][TAB]33/18[TAB][TAB]35/18[TAB][TAB]36/19[TAB][TAB]38/20[NEWLINE]3[TAB]21/11[TAB][TAB]22/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[TAB][TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]25/13[NEWLINE]4[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[NEWLINE]5[TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]6[TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]7[TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[NEWLINE]8[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[NEWLINE]9[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]10[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]12[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The rows are food-surplus values, while the columns indicate current city size. Each cell consists of two numbers. The first number gives the number of turns required for city growth if the city does not have a granary. The second number provides the number of turns required if the city does have a granary (and it was functional during the previous growth cycle). The table does not take into account the food-wrap issue discussed above. What this means is that sometimes we will save a turn from the provided number. For example suppose we are running a 10 -surplus city at size 4. 42F is required to advance. On the 5th turn the city will grow, resulting in 8/45 at the start of the next cycle. With 8 food stored, we will need 4 turns to reach 48/45 and thus to grow again. The chart however indicates 5 turns (not 4) since that is the number of turns that would be required if we had zero food at the start of the relevant cycle. Note what happens here though. We will move from 48/45 to 3/48 at size 6. Here 5 turns will be required, as indicated in the chart. In short, the food-wrapping effect intermittently permits us to save one turn. In the long-term however the number of saved turns is largely the same regardless of which row (and thus which average food-surplus is being used). This permits us to ignore the effect for relative comparisons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](7) Observations from the City-Growth table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key feature to note from the table is the significance of running a 5-food surplus (with a granary) or a 6-food surplus (without a granary). Running a surplus of 4 or less comes with a very significant cost in long-term growth. Running a surplus higher than 5 or 6 does bring distinct advantages. These advantages however are considerably more incremental in character than they are at the lower values. Beyond a food-surplus value of around 6, working a zero-food citizen (mined plains tile, specialist, etc.) is considerably more palatable than it is at lower surplus values [note: the decision to work a zero-food citizen is significant since the cost of doing so lowers the food-surplus value by 2, as opposed to lowering only by 1 working a mined grassland hills or maintaining the current surplus by working a grassland pot (cottage)].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some quick observations to help make this point. Suppose that we are growing a size 3 city to size 4. Without a granary, this requires 14 turns with a 3F surplus. It requires only 7 turns with a 6F surplus, accomplishing the task 50% faster. A second case: suppose we are growing a city from size 3 to size 6 (without a granary). Using a 3F surplus requires 42 turns; using a 5F surplus requires 26 turns. Again, the difference is remarkable. On the other hand: we grow from size 3 to size 4 in 7 turns using a 6F surplus. If we increase our surplus to 9F, the task will be accomplished in 5 turns instead of 7. Switching from a 3F- surplus to 6F saves 7 turns. Switching from 6F to 9F saves only 2 turns. Without a granary, a 6-F surplus is the maximally efficient number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will leave other observations to those who see them. The quick point to note is the significance of the window between the 5F and 6F surplus numbers. Running a surplus 4 or lower for any significant amount of time will yield poor and sub-optimal returns. The 5F to 6F window is entirely satisfactory and maximally efficient. Running a surplus beyond 6F will yield accelerated development, but with a lowered incremental rate of return. Beyond 6F the prospect of utilizing a zero-food citizen becomes notably more reasonable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](8) Obvious caveats[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I mention this to ward off needing to say it at some future time. There are obviously going to be situations in which other game factors are more important than managing city growth. In the window before calendar/hereditary rule, we are often running with a happiness limitation to growth. In these circumstances running a surplus of 4 or lower is entirely reasonable. If we're in a military conflict, running with sub-optimal growth parameters may be advantageous and/or necessary. In addition, when making a run for a world-wonder, emphasizing hammers in exchange for growth can obviously be correct. The larger issue of balancing the various intersecting factors in the game isn't the point of issue. We are isolating one segment of game-play to see what can be discovered about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](9) Granaries, Part II[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The long-term cumulative effect of granaries is quite striking. Suppose we are growing a city from size 5 to size 15 with a steady 5F food surplus. Without a granary the process will take 121 turns. With a granary the process will take 66 turns. The city without the granary requires 55(!) more turns to complete the process. This constitutes a steady delay in acquiring new tile resources, which in turn drives all other aspects of play. The default plan for any normal city accordingly must include building a granary at some point or another. The issue of when to build it is open to context, and of course there will be exceptions for cities that are geographically placed in growth-limited locations, or are peculiar in some other such way. For any normal city though, there must be some feature in the larger strategic context that overrides the default plan to make skipping the granary completely a reasonably correct decision.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](10) The State Property civic[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose that we are in the later stages of developing some particular city. We have a 3F surplus, and we intend to "complete" the city by growing onto 3 plains tiles with 1F a piece. When this is done the city will be completed in its capacity to work the maximal number of tiles it can, and will accordingly be stagnated. Growth may start up again way later when we obtain the biology tech, but we can assume this will be a long time in coming. The obvious problem which we face here is that growing onto the last tiles will take an extremely large number of turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 3F surplus is bad enough (especially when we are likely dealing with a reasonably large city already, with extended food storage requirements). Matters will only get worse though when the first cycle is completed, leaving a 2F surplus followed by the snails-pace that will arrive for the last tile with a 1F surplus. Reasonably speaking, growing onto the last tiles will take such a long time that we are largely foregoing their use. The State Property civic appears designed to assist with this. The civic is quite popular for the maintenance bonus it gives (no distance-from-palace maintenance) but it's effect on city growth strategy appears to be overlooked. In many cases we will want to build windmills on plains-hills tiles and watermills on plains-river tiles. Doing so makes both of them interchangeable at 1F 2P 1C, and they will improve later: +1P with replaceable parts and +2 commerce with electricity. The State Property civic gives a +1F bonus for windmills/watermills. What this means is that if/when we employ State Property, either as a long-term civic or as a temporary 15-20 turn choice, we will very often be able to complete cities that would otherwise take an inordinate number of turns. In the above example, suppose we have 4 windmills/watermills being worked in that city. When we adopt state property our food surplus will increase by 4F. In the process of growing onto the last 3 intended tiles, we will move from 7F to 6F to 5F in surpluses rather than from 3F to 2F to 1F. The result is that the city can grow onto those last tiles in an entirely reasonable number of turns. If/when we change out of state property[NEWLINE]afterwards our food surplus will disappear and the city will be stagnant, but working the tiles that were planned for its employ. This is often the only feasible way to enable tile utilization in the late stages of city growth - unless we want to wait for Biology (which is typically an unacceptable delay).</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]City Growth[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Tigger70[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have been inquiring into the system of city growth in civ IV. Sufficient results have been obtained to warrant posting and discussion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A note about our topic: the fundamental dynamic at work in civ is the acquisition of rights to work game tiles. Aside from the food management issue, working such tiles yields commerce points and hammer points, and on this all else depends. Hammers are developed into units and resource multipliers (buildings); commerce generates trading options with other AI civs and, most obviously, beakers for the acquisition of techs. Managing the rate at which new tiles can be acquired is accordingly central to strategic play. This suffices as a defense regarding the significance of the topic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will proceed to list the findings of interest point-by-point. All numerical values are applicable for the correct game speed (epic speed). I have not inquired into how the system works at other speeds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](1) Growth Requirements[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A city of size 1 requires acquisition of 33F to grow to size 2. A city of size 2 requires 36F, size 3 39F, size 4 42F, and so forth (temporarily setting aside the effects of a granary). So far as I can determine this system of +3 storage required per size &gt; 1 continues indefinitely. A size 20 city requires 90F stored to grow to size 21, which is in accordance with the basic pattern. The core point to note here is that there exists no "cut-off" point beyond which further growth becomes abnormally more difficult than it was before (I mean this with respect to storage requirements only. Obviously the availability of health, happiness, and so forth can present interacting factors that make further growth not possible).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](2) Food surpluses wrap after growth[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When scanning over the food bar in the city screen we might see a value of something like 42/48. What this means is that 42F surplus has been stored, with 48 required for the current growth cycle to complete. Suppose that we have a 10F surplus at this time. The city will grow at the conclusion of the present turn. On the next turn the city will show 4/51 - meaning that the extra 4F not needed for the cycle has "wrapped" over into the next cycle. This alleviates the potential need for obnoxious micro-management. Without it we would want to remove citizens from food-tiles towards the end of a cycle so as to avoid accumulating resources that will be lost. Fortunately matters do not work this way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](3) Granaries, Part 1[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The granary stores 50% of the needed food in one cycle for use in the next. What this would mean in our previous example is that when the 42/48 city grows, the food bar will show 28F on the next subsequent turn. 50% of 48 = 24, plus the extra 4F which "wraps" after growth = 28F total. If we were running a food surplus of 6F in that example (thus matching the needed amount exactly), 24F would appear on the immediate following turn via the granary effect alone. Note that the next cycle would require 51F for growth, so we would see 24/51 on the next cycle. This is slightly less than 50% of what is required for the next growth increase. In practice the difference is negligible, but it is noteworthy for understanding how the system works.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](4) Population and whipping (slavery civic)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The program straightforwardly eliminates X population when whipping without doing anything else. What I mean by this: suppose we have a size 6 city with 26/48 in the food bar and we whip 2 citizens. After whipping we will show size 4, 26/42. The 26F present before the whipping operation remains. This produces outcomes that can appear weird in certain situations when not paying attention. Suppose we have a size 6 city with 46/48 and we whip two citizens. After the whipping operation we will have 46/42 with growth in 1 turn. On the next turn the city is size 5 and it appears that we whipped only 1 citizen. If we had NOT whipped the citizens, the city would have grown to size 7 on the relevant turn (assuming at least 2 food surplus). Since we DID whip the citizens, the city is size 5 on the following turn -a difference of 2 citizens, as advertised. It is a matter of understanding that only the population has been eliminated, not the stored F-values that have been accumulated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](5) Calculating the food surplus[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose we have a size 3 city working tiles (1) a farmed flood plain, (2) a mined grassland hill, and (3) another mined grassland hill. Each citizen requires 2F support. The farmed flood plain provides 4F, the mined hills 1 F a piece - yielding 6F total. Since we have 3 citizens needing 2F each, we have met the requirements and it would appear that the city should be stagnant. But it isn't. A related way of thinking about these tiles holds that the flood plain is "supporting" the mines squares. This way of thinking has its uses but it misses the point. Regarding the first observation: the city is effectively given a "0-citizen" tile to work. This is the city's base (home) tile - usually 2F 1P 1C. This "free" tiles gives a +2 food surplus if all the other tiles come out even (with respect to surplus). The above calculation is skipping the base city square - the city will have a +2F surplus because of the "free" tile. Regarding the"way of thinking" mentioned above: The art of city food maintenance is the art of managing the rate at which new tiles can be worked. This is directly tied to the city's food surplus at any given time, which in turn is the only value that matters. It is true that tiles (1), (2), and (3) will be neutral with respect to food surplus. In this sense the flood plain is "supporting" the mined squares. We don't want to manage city growth though via the roundabout method of balancing which squares are "supporting" others. Doing so constitutes a mistake in understanding what the fundamental driving factor is in managing city growth: the food surplus value, which determines the rate at which new tiles can be worked over time The two points to note here are (1) the effect of the free "0-citizen" tile in calculating the food surplus value (it usually adds +2) and (2) understanding that the core value which matters is the food-surplus number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](6) City-Growth Table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At certain stages in the game we review our cities while they are in various stages of their growth cycles. When they are midway or further in a growth cycle, changing worked tiles (and thus the food-surplus value) changes the number of turns remaining in the cycle by a considerable factor - often by 3-5 turns. City growth management however is ultimately a long-term project. We are interested in managing the number of turns required to move from size 5 to size 10, 15, and beyond. To understand the factors involved in this long-term project, we need to understand the cumulative effect of average food-surplus values over an extended period of time. The following chart is a tool I have put together for this purpose.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]1[TAB][TAB]2[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4[TAB][TAB]5[NEWLINE]1[TAB]33[TAB][TAB]36/20[TAB][TAB]39/21[TAB][TAB]42/23[TAB][TAB]45/24[NEWLINE]2[TAB]17[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[TAB][TAB]21/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[NEWLINE]3[TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]4[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[NEWLINE]5[TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]6[TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]7[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]8[TAB]5[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]9[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]10[TAB]4[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]11[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[TAB][TAB]4/2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]7[TAB][TAB]8[TAB][TAB]9[TAB][TAB]10[NEWLINE]1[TAB]48/26[TAB][TAB]51/27[TAB][TAB]54/29[TAB][TAB]57/30[TAB][TAB]60/32[NEWLINE]2[TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]26/14[TAB][TAB]27/15[TAB][TAB]29/15[TAB][TAB]30/16[NEWLINE]3[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[TAB][TAB]20/11[NEWLINE]4[TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]5[TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]6[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[NEWLINE]7[TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]8[TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]9[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]10[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[NEWLINE]12[TAB]4/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[TAB][TAB]5/3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]11[TAB][TAB]12[TAB][TAB]13[TAB][TAB]14[TAB][TAB]15[NEWLINE]1[TAB]63/33[TAB][TAB]66/35[TAB][TAB]69/36[TAB][TAB]72/38[TAB][TAB]75/39[NEWLINE]2[TAB]32/17[TAB][TAB]33/18[TAB][TAB]35/18[TAB][TAB]36/19[TAB][TAB]38/20[NEWLINE]3[TAB]21/11[TAB][TAB]22/12[TAB][TAB]23/12[TAB][TAB]24/13[TAB][TAB]25/13[NEWLINE]4[TAB]16/9[TAB][TAB]17/9[TAB][TAB]18/9[TAB][TAB]18/10[TAB][TAB]19/10[NEWLINE]5[TAB]13/7[TAB][TAB]14/7[TAB][TAB]14/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[TAB][TAB]15/8[NEWLINE]6[TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[TAB][TAB]12/6[TAB][TAB]12/7[TAB][TAB]12/7[NEWLINE]7[TAB]10/5[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]10/6[TAB][TAB]11/6[NEWLINE]8[TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[TAB][TAB]10/5[NEWLINE]9[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/5[TAB][TAB]9/5[NEWLINE]10[TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[TAB][TAB]8/4[NEWLINE]11[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE]12[TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/3[TAB][TAB]6/4[TAB][TAB]7/4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The rows are food-surplus values, while the columns indicate current city size. Each cell consists of two numbers. The first number gives the number of turns required for city growth if the city does not have a granary. The second number provides the number of turns required if the city does have a granary (and it was functional during the previous growth cycle). The table does not take into account the food-wrap issue discussed above. What this means is that sometimes we will save a turn from the provided number. For example suppose we are running a 10 -surplus city at size 4. 42F is required to advance. On the 5th turn the city will grow, resulting in 8/45 at the start of the next cycle. With 8 food stored, we will need 4 turns to reach 48/45 and thus to grow again. The chart however indicates 5 turns (not 4) since that is the number of turns that would be required if we had zero food at the start of the relevant cycle. Note what happens here though. We will move from 48/45 to 3/48 at size 6. Here 5 turns will be required, as indicated in the chart. In short, the food-wrapping effect intermittently permits us to save one turn. In the long-term however the number of saved turns is largely the same regardless of which row (and thus which average food-surplus is being used). This permits us to ignore the effect for relative comparisons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](7) Observations from the City-Growth table[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The key feature to note from the table is the significance of running a 5-food surplus (with a granary) or a 6-food surplus (without a granary). Running a surplus of 4 or less comes with a very significant cost in long-term growth. Running a surplus higher than 5 or 6 does bring distinct advantages. These advantages however are considerably more incremental in character than they are at the lower values. Beyond a food-surplus value of around 6, working a zero-food citizen (mined plains tile, specialist, etc.) is considerably more palatable than it is at lower surplus values [note: the decision to work a zero-food citizen is significant since the cost of doing so lowers the food-surplus value by 2, as opposed to lowering only by 1 working a mined grassland hills or maintaining the current surplus by working a grassland pot (cottage)].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some quick observations to help make this point. Suppose that we are growing a size 3 city to size 4. Without a granary, this requires 14 turns with a 3F surplus. It requires only 7 turns with a 6F surplus, accomplishing the task 50% faster. A second case: suppose we are growing a city from size 3 to size 6 (without a granary). Using a 3F surplus requires 42 turns; using a 5F surplus requires 26 turns. Again, the difference is remarkable. On the other hand: we grow from size 3 to size 4 in 7 turns using a 6F surplus. If we increase our surplus to 9F, the task will be accomplished in 5 turns instead of 7. Switching from a 3F- surplus to 6F saves 7 turns. Switching from 6F to 9F saves only 2 turns. Without a granary, a 6-F surplus is the maximally efficient number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I will leave other observations to those who see them. The quick point to note is the significance of the window between the 5F and 6F surplus numbers. Running a surplus 4 or lower for any significant amount of time will yield poor and sub-optimal returns. The 5F to 6F window is entirely satisfactory and maximally efficient. Running a surplus beyond 6F will yield accelerated development, but with a lowered incremental rate of return. Beyond 6F the prospect of utilizing a zero-food citizen becomes notably more reasonable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](8) Obvious caveats[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I mention this to ward off needing to say it at some future time. There are obviously going to be situations in which other game factors are more important than managing city growth. In the window before calendar/hereditary rule, we are often running with a happiness limitation to growth. In these circumstances running a surplus of 4 or lower is entirely reasonable. If we're in a military conflict, running with sub-optimal growth parameters may be advantageous and/or necessary. In addition, when making a run for a world-wonder, emphasizing hammers in exchange for growth can obviously be correct. The larger issue of balancing the various intersecting factors in the game isn't the point of issue. We are isolating one segment of game-play to see what can be discovered about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](9) Granaries, Part II[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The long-term cumulative effect of granaries is quite striking. Suppose we are growing a city from size 5 to size 15 with a steady 5F food surplus. Without a granary the process will take 121 turns. With a granary the process will take 66 turns. The city without the granary requires 55(!) more turns to complete the process. This constitutes a steady delay in acquiring new tile resources, which in turn drives all other aspects of play. The default plan for any normal city accordingly must include building a granary at some point or another. The issue of when to build it is open to context, and of course there will be exceptions for cities that are geographically placed in growth-limited locations, or are peculiar in some other such way. For any normal city though, there must be some feature in the larger strategic context that overrides the default plan to make skipping the granary completely a reasonably correct decision.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2](10) The State Property civic[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Suppose that we are in the later stages of developing some particular city. We have a 3F surplus, and we intend to "complete" the city by growing onto 3 plains tiles with 1F a piece. When this is done the city will be completed in its capacity to work the maximal number of tiles it can, and will accordingly be stagnated. Growth may start up again way later when we obtain the biology tech, but we can assume this will be a long time in coming. The obvious problem which we face here is that growing onto the last tiles will take an extremely large number of turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 3F surplus is bad enough (especially when we are likely dealing with a reasonably large city already, with extended food storage requirements). Matters will only get worse though when the first cycle is completed, leaving a 2F surplus followed by the snails-pace that will arrive for the last tile with a 1F surplus. Reasonably speaking, growing onto the last tiles will take such a long time that we are largely foregoing their use. The State Property civic appears designed to assist with this. The civic is quite popular for the maintenance bonus it gives (no distance-from-palace maintenance) but it's effect on city growth strategy appears to be overlooked. In many cases we will want to build windmills on plains-hills tiles and watermills on plains-river tiles. Doing so makes both of them interchangeable at 1F 2P 1C, and they will improve later: +1P with replaceable parts and +2 commerce with electricity. The State Property civic gives a +1F bonus for windmills/watermills. What this means is that if/when we employ State Property, either as a long-term civic or as a temporary 15-20 turn choice, we will very often be able to complete cities that would otherwise take an inordinate number of turns. In the above example, suppose we have 4 windmills/watermills being worked in that city. When we adopt state property our food surplus will increase by 4F. In the process of growing onto the last 3 intended tiles, we will move from 7F to 6F to 5F in surpluses rather than from 3F to 2F to 1F. The result is that the city can grow onto those last tiles in an entirely reasonable number of turns. If/when we change out of state property[NEWLINE]afterwards our food surplus will disappear and the city will be stagnant, but working the tiles that were planned for its employ. This is often the only feasible way to enable tile utilization in the late stages of city growth - unless we want to wait for Biology (which is typically an unacceptable delay).</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CITY_UPKEEP_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]The Curious Cat - City Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Gato Loco[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: I believe that patch 1.52 changed the specifics for city upkeep. Be warned that upkeep is apparently higher than it was under the original release.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the much-discussed new features in Civ4 is the introduction of the supposedly ICS-killing city maintenance. In preview after preview, we were told that REX* the rabid settler dog has finally been put down or at least kept on a tight leash. For the first time, a city can actually lose you money. However, old habits die hard and we're already seeing claims in these forums that the ability to chop for settlers will leave this old dog tearing up the backyard for years to come. In the interest of tossing old REX a bone, I've attempted to dissect the city maintenance system to figure out how well it does its job. I have conducted a series of experiments to determine exactly how long the leash is. All experiments were conducted under the following settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Difficulty = Monarch[NEWLINE]World Size = Standard[NEWLINE]Game speed = Standard[NEWLINE]Civ = Arabs (Chose a non-organized leader just in case it has an effect)[NEWLINE]Map = Great Plains (For maximum freedom placing cities)[NEWLINE]Civics = all default[NEWLINE]All tests were conducted with the world-builder on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*REX = Rapid EXpansion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 1 = Number of cities maintenance:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test I founded the capitol in the middle of a large open area and began placing new cities within 3 tiles of the palace. At this distance I had already observed that there is no distance-based city maintenance. Note that the world-builder is capable of placing cities in adjacent tiles even though this is not allowed in the game. All cities were connected to the trade network by default, although in another test I confirmed that this does not seem to affect city maintenance, at least for cities within 10 tiles or so of the palace (unlike corruption in Civ3). I then observed the amount of city maintenance for each additional city. The first observation is that the maintenance from the number of cities is not the same for each city. This is probably to avoid exploitable rounding errors which would occur if the value were evened out over every city, as happened with the ring city placement bug in civ3 vanilla. Instead, each additional city raises the maintenance slightly in a select number of existing cities. I did not determine the formula used for selecting cities but instead graphed the increase in maintenance per turn for each additional city. As the game runs very slow on my computer, I did not go through the process of separating out city maintenance and civic maintenance, but I checked on several occasions and found civic maintenance to be roughly 10% of city maintenance. This would presumably be significantly higher if you run expensive civics, and it appears to scale roughly with city maintenance, so if you plan to spam cities and run a hereditary police state with organized religion, the organized trait may actually give you a noticeable benefit. What's more, the manual claims that civic costs also increase as total population increases (p.83), so I could picture it getting pretty high in certain cases.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/marginalupkeep.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As shown by the graph, the cost in gpt of a new city increases as you add more cities. There is a discontinuity around ten cities after which the cost rises sharply, making 9-10 the optimal number on a standard map before massive city upkeep starts to kick in. After this, the marginal upkeep rate increases until your 28th city costs you 14 gpt! Note that this city will not show 14 gpt in city maintenance. Much of the upkeep is distributed as a slight increase across other cities. After this point the marginal increase in upkeep falls dramatically, to 6-7 extra gpt per city. This is because the number of cities component of city maintenance can never exceed 6 gpt per city, so once all your cities are maxed out this component can never exceed 6 times the number of cities. In my observations, the number exceeded this value because of civic upkeep. This is good news for warmongers because once you have conquered 30 cities, future conquests will be a little less painful, especially if you run state property to eliminate the (probably huge) distance based component for your world-spanning empire. As an aside, each holy city potentially gives you 1 gpt for each city you own, so owning 6 holy cities will pay all of your number-based city upkeep if you relentlessly spam missionaries. Owning all seven will turn a profit on state property! If you're hell-bent on ICSing, I would recommend the Arabs. You start with Mysticism so you have a chance at grabbing lots of religions early and the philosophical trait should lead to quick great prophets to found the appropriate shrines. Call it the "Babylon" strategy after the villain in the "Left Behind" series who tries to conquer the world by founding a universal syncretistic religion. Commie Universalist Arabs take over the world! Oh My![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 2 = Distance-Based Maintenance[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][Update - the value established in this section is a minimum. Some undetermined factor can increase distance upkeep to more than this amount. Thanks to Requies for noticing this][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To test distance-based corruption, I created a horizontal line of 30 cities with the palace at one end and measured the distance-based component of maintenance for each one. The results are shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/horizdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It appears that on the settings used, the distance-based corruption is equal to the distance to the palace divided by 4.5, as long as the city in question is along a straight axis from the palace. I also tested distance along a diagonal distance and found that the diagonal distance does not obey Pythagoras' theorem. Instead it appears that the program counts diagonal distance as equaling 1.5 times the value of horizontal distance, rounded down. This makes sense as this was the method used to calculate distance in Civ3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/diagdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/fulldist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is great news because anyone who's ever done an RCP in vanilla Civ3 knows how to calculate rings on the map. There's even a utility to do it for you. The trick is to map out the rings of the appropriate distances (4,9,13,18,etc.) and place your cities inside those rings to avoid increasing distance upkeep. Pictured below is a formation that I'm naming the "Cheesy Circle"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/ironring.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ring of red X's shows the distance at which you start paying distance upkeep. This formation (when used on standard maps) gives you nine cities with no distance upkeep and 16 gpt in number-based upkeep, for less than 2 gpt/city. Each city can work over 12 tiles, which should be enough to exhaust their health and happiness anyway. Ideally, you spam settlers to build the circle (at minimal upkeep cost), then develop the cities into high-shield military bases for a classical-age swordsman rush.** The only drawback is that you may miss out on resources by having such a compact territory. In practice it may be best to put some of the cities into the 1-upkeep region to obtain much-needed special resources, such as iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**This is a theoretical strategy at the moment. Next time I start a new game I'll try some variation of this layout. It would seem perfect for the first GOTM (Expansive leader, hill/grass/river start, great swordsman UU)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 3 - Do I have a life?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No. But you don't either if you're still reading this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In conclusion, city maintenance works more or less as advertised. The main headaches will come from having too many cities, but distance upkeep could potentially be annoying for small colonies in faraway lands. Consider carefully before founding a little city on a faraway continent for the sole purpose of claiming a banana resource, especially if you can get bananas by trading with your friends. Since many of the numbers are rounded, it is possible to take advantage of the system to minimize your city upkeep and play a more efficient game. I expect that some version of these calculations will figure in high-level civ4 play once there is such a thing as high-level civ4 play. Unless, of course, Firaxis decides to play with the formula in a patch or expansion, just like they did with ring city placement. Given their stated commitment to reducing the amount of math necessary to play the game, it is a likely possibility.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please feel free to test and comment on my observations. They are as yet incomplete and any input is appreciated. I'll update once I figure out the answers to remaining questions, such as how upkeep works on different world sizes and what the formula for civic upkeep is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Addendum - Courthouses and the upkeep limit[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to confirm the nature of the 6-upkeep limit for number of city upkeep, I placed 50 cities on a standard map and started filling them with courthouses. The courthouse affects the upkeep after the cap has been applied, so with courthouses in every city and state property, you should be able to pay only 3 gpt per city. While controlling all 7 holy cities and converting every city might be a pipe dream, doing this for 3-4 religions should be doable for would-be conquerors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Update - Difficulty level and City Upkeep[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After placing large numbers of cities in Warlord difficulty, it appears that difficulty level does affect upkeep. However, it does not affect the OCN. In warlord level, as in Monarch level, costs begin to accelerate after the tenth city. However, once the OCN is reached, costs increase at about 75% of the rate they do on Monarch. Since the OCN is unchanged, city placement shouldn't be that different on different difficulty levels, but it may be possible to squeeze a few more cities in at lower levels. A comparison is shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/monvswar.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that:[NEWLINE]Warlord maxes out at 5 gpt per city[NEWLINE]It takes longer for Warlord to max out city costs than Monarch. Thus there are actually certain points at which the next city costs more under Warlord, though the total upkeep is still less.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Civic Upkeep[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test, I started adding more and more size 1 cities and watching the additional civic upkeep for each one (F3). Preliminary tests indicate that on a standard map you start paying a flat fee for each size 1 city beyond the tenth. The amount comes to slightly less than 1 gpt per city for the starting civics. While it would be possible to catalogue rounding errors and exploit them the payoff would be very small and would need to take into account many possible combinations of city number, city size, and civic options, and would come to no more than 1 gpt anyway since civic upkeep, unlike distance upkeep, is one single lump sum rather than a bunch of small, separately rounded numbers. City size also increases civic upkeep, though to a lesser degree, especially in small numbers of very large cities. Each civic appears to contribute 1/5 of the cost, as determined by switching 2 civics to no upkeep. High upkeep is also much more expensive than low upkeep, as switching to organized religion increased upkeep from 50 to 74 gpt, apparently boosting the religion share of upkeep by 3.5 times (10 gpt to 34 gpt)! City upkeep at this point was ~350 gpt without courthouses, so it appears that under the most expensive civics available one could boost civic upkeep to the point where it could compare with city upkeep. And since courthouses do not affect civic upkeep, the cost of a large empire would be enough to make a would-be world conqueror think twice about high or even medium upkeep civics (no hereditary police states, please). Given this data, I strongly suspect that the organized trait has gotten a bum rap and will find its usefulness in domination games.</English>
		<French>[H1]The Curious Cat - City Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Gato Loco[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: I believe that patch 1.52 changed the specifics for city upkeep. Be warned that upkeep is apparently higher than it was under the original release.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the much-discussed new features in Civ4 is the introduction of the supposedly ICS-killing city maintenance. In preview after preview, we were told that REX* the rabid settler dog has finally been put down or at least kept on a tight leash. For the first time, a city can actually lose you money. However, old habits die hard and we're already seeing claims in these forums that the ability to chop for settlers will leave this old dog tearing up the backyard for years to come. In the interest of tossing old REX a bone, I've attempted to dissect the city maintenance system to figure out how well it does its job. I have conducted a series of experiments to determine exactly how long the leash is. All experiments were conducted under the following settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Difficulty = Monarch[NEWLINE]World Size = Standard[NEWLINE]Game speed = Standard[NEWLINE]Civ = Arabs (Chose a non-organized leader just in case it has an effect)[NEWLINE]Map = Great Plains (For maximum freedom placing cities)[NEWLINE]Civics = all default[NEWLINE]All tests were conducted with the world-builder on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*REX = Rapid EXpansion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 1 = Number of cities maintenance:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test I founded the capitol in the middle of a large open area and began placing new cities within 3 tiles of the palace. At this distance I had already observed that there is no distance-based city maintenance. Note that the world-builder is capable of placing cities in adjacent tiles even though this is not allowed in the game. All cities were connected to the trade network by default, although in another test I confirmed that this does not seem to affect city maintenance, at least for cities within 10 tiles or so of the palace (unlike corruption in Civ3). I then observed the amount of city maintenance for each additional city. The first observation is that the maintenance from the number of cities is not the same for each city. This is probably to avoid exploitable rounding errors which would occur if the value were evened out over every city, as happened with the ring city placement bug in civ3 vanilla. Instead, each additional city raises the maintenance slightly in a select number of existing cities. I did not determine the formula used for selecting cities but instead graphed the increase in maintenance per turn for each additional city. As the game runs very slow on my computer, I did not go through the process of separating out city maintenance and civic maintenance, but I checked on several occasions and found civic maintenance to be roughly 10% of city maintenance. This would presumably be significantly higher if you run expensive civics, and it appears to scale roughly with city maintenance, so if you plan to spam cities and run a hereditary police state with organized religion, the organized trait may actually give you a noticeable benefit. What's more, the manual claims that civic costs also increase as total population increases (p.83), so I could picture it getting pretty high in certain cases.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/marginalupkeep.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As shown by the graph, the cost in gpt of a new city increases as you add more cities. There is a discontinuity around ten cities after which the cost rises sharply, making 9-10 the optimal number on a standard map before massive city upkeep starts to kick in. After this, the marginal upkeep rate increases until your 28th city costs you 14 gpt! Note that this city will not show 14 gpt in city maintenance. Much of the upkeep is distributed as a slight increase across other cities. After this point the marginal increase in upkeep falls dramatically, to 6-7 extra gpt per city. This is because the number of cities component of city maintenance can never exceed 6 gpt per city, so once all your cities are maxed out this component can never exceed 6 times the number of cities. In my observations, the number exceeded this value because of civic upkeep. This is good news for warmongers because once you have conquered 30 cities, future conquests will be a little less painful, especially if you run state property to eliminate the (probably huge) distance based component for your world-spanning empire. As an aside, each holy city potentially gives you 1 gpt for each city you own, so owning 6 holy cities will pay all of your number-based city upkeep if you relentlessly spam missionaries. Owning all seven will turn a profit on state property! If you're hell-bent on ICSing, I would recommend the Arabs. You start with Mysticism so you have a chance at grabbing lots of religions early and the philosophical trait should lead to quick great prophets to found the appropriate shrines. Call it the "Babylon" strategy after the villain in the "Left Behind" series who tries to conquer the world by founding a universal syncretistic religion. Commie Universalist Arabs take over the world! Oh My![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 2 = Distance-Based Maintenance[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][Update - the value established in this section is a minimum. Some undetermined factor can increase distance upkeep to more than this amount. Thanks to Requies for noticing this][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To test distance-based corruption, I created a horizontal line of 30 cities with the palace at one end and measured the distance-based component of maintenance for each one. The results are shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/horizdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It appears that on the settings used, the distance-based corruption is equal to the distance to the palace divided by 4.5, as long as the city in question is along a straight axis from the palace. I also tested distance along a diagonal distance and found that the diagonal distance does not obey Pythagoras' theorem. Instead it appears that the program counts diagonal distance as equaling 1.5 times the value of horizontal distance, rounded down. This makes sense as this was the method used to calculate distance in Civ3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/diagdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/fulldist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is great news because anyone who's ever done an RCP in vanilla Civ3 knows how to calculate rings on the map. There's even a utility to do it for you. The trick is to map out the rings of the appropriate distances (4,9,13,18,etc.) and place your cities inside those rings to avoid increasing distance upkeep. Pictured below is a formation that I'm naming the "Cheesy Circle"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/ironring.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ring of red X's shows the distance at which you start paying distance upkeep. This formation (when used on standard maps) gives you nine cities with no distance upkeep and 16 gpt in number-based upkeep, for less than 2 gpt/city. Each city can work over 12 tiles, which should be enough to exhaust their health and happiness anyway. Ideally, you spam settlers to build the circle (at minimal upkeep cost), then develop the cities into high-shield military bases for a classical-age swordsman rush.** The only drawback is that you may miss out on resources by having such a compact territory. In practice it may be best to put some of the cities into the 1-upkeep region to obtain much-needed special resources, such as iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**This is a theoretical strategy at the moment. Next time I start a new game I'll try some variation of this layout. It would seem perfect for the first GOTM (Expansive leader, hill/grass/river start, great swordsman UU)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 3 - Do I have a life?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No. But you don't either if you're still reading this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In conclusion, city maintenance works more or less as advertised. The main headaches will come from having too many cities, but distance upkeep could potentially be annoying for small colonies in faraway lands. Consider carefully before founding a little city on a faraway continent for the sole purpose of claiming a banana resource, especially if you can get bananas by trading with your friends. Since many of the numbers are rounded, it is possible to take advantage of the system to minimize your city upkeep and play a more efficient game. I expect that some version of these calculations will figure in high-level civ4 play once there is such a thing as high-level civ4 play. Unless, of course, Firaxis decides to play with the formula in a patch or expansion, just like they did with ring city placement. Given their stated commitment to reducing the amount of math necessary to play the game, it is a likely possibility.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please feel free to test and comment on my observations. They are as yet incomplete and any input is appreciated. I'll update once I figure out the answers to remaining questions, such as how upkeep works on different world sizes and what the formula for civic upkeep is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Addendum - Courthouses and the upkeep limit[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to confirm the nature of the 6-upkeep limit for number of city upkeep, I placed 50 cities on a standard map and started filling them with courthouses. The courthouse affects the upkeep after the cap has been applied, so with courthouses in every city and state property, you should be able to pay only 3 gpt per city. While controlling all 7 holy cities and converting every city might be a pipe dream, doing this for 3-4 religions should be doable for would-be conquerors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Update - Difficulty level and City Upkeep[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After placing large numbers of cities in Warlord difficulty, it appears that difficulty level does affect upkeep. However, it does not affect the OCN. In warlord level, as in Monarch level, costs begin to accelerate after the tenth city. However, once the OCN is reached, costs increase at about 75% of the rate they do on Monarch. Since the OCN is unchanged, city placement shouldn't be that different on different difficulty levels, but it may be possible to squeeze a few more cities in at lower levels. A comparison is shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/monvswar.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that:[NEWLINE]Warlord maxes out at 5 gpt per city[NEWLINE]It takes longer for Warlord to max out city costs than Monarch. Thus there are actually certain points at which the next city costs more under Warlord, though the total upkeep is still less.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Civic Upkeep[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test, I started adding more and more size 1 cities and watching the additional civic upkeep for each one (F3). Preliminary tests indicate that on a standard map you start paying a flat fee for each size 1 city beyond the tenth. The amount comes to slightly less than 1 gpt per city for the starting civics. While it would be possible to catalogue rounding errors and exploit them the payoff would be very small and would need to take into account many possible combinations of city number, city size, and civic options, and would come to no more than 1 gpt anyway since civic upkeep, unlike distance upkeep, is one single lump sum rather than a bunch of small, separately rounded numbers. City size also increases civic upkeep, though to a lesser degree, especially in small numbers of very large cities. Each civic appears to contribute 1/5 of the cost, as determined by switching 2 civics to no upkeep. High upkeep is also much more expensive than low upkeep, as switching to organized religion increased upkeep from 50 to 74 gpt, apparently boosting the religion share of upkeep by 3.5 times (10 gpt to 34 gpt)! City upkeep at this point was ~350 gpt without courthouses, so it appears that under the most expensive civics available one could boost civic upkeep to the point where it could compare with city upkeep. And since courthouses do not affect civic upkeep, the cost of a large empire would be enough to make a would-be world conqueror think twice about high or even medium upkeep civics (no hereditary police states, please). Given this data, I strongly suspect that the organized trait has gotten a bum rap and will find its usefulness in domination games.</French>
		<German>[H1]The Curious Cat - City Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Gato Loco[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: I believe that patch 1.52 changed the specifics for city upkeep. Be warned that upkeep is apparently higher than it was under the original release.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the much-discussed new features in Civ4 is the introduction of the supposedly ICS-killing city maintenance. In preview after preview, we were told that REX* the rabid settler dog has finally been put down or at least kept on a tight leash. For the first time, a city can actually lose you money. However, old habits die hard and we're already seeing claims in these forums that the ability to chop for settlers will leave this old dog tearing up the backyard for years to come. In the interest of tossing old REX a bone, I've attempted to dissect the city maintenance system to figure out how well it does its job. I have conducted a series of experiments to determine exactly how long the leash is. All experiments were conducted under the following settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Difficulty = Monarch[NEWLINE]World Size = Standard[NEWLINE]Game speed = Standard[NEWLINE]Civ = Arabs (Chose a non-organized leader just in case it has an effect)[NEWLINE]Map = Great Plains (For maximum freedom placing cities)[NEWLINE]Civics = all default[NEWLINE]All tests were conducted with the world-builder on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*REX = Rapid EXpansion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 1 = Number of cities maintenance:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test I founded the capitol in the middle of a large open area and began placing new cities within 3 tiles of the palace. At this distance I had already observed that there is no distance-based city maintenance. Note that the world-builder is capable of placing cities in adjacent tiles even though this is not allowed in the game. All cities were connected to the trade network by default, although in another test I confirmed that this does not seem to affect city maintenance, at least for cities within 10 tiles or so of the palace (unlike corruption in Civ3). I then observed the amount of city maintenance for each additional city. The first observation is that the maintenance from the number of cities is not the same for each city. This is probably to avoid exploitable rounding errors which would occur if the value were evened out over every city, as happened with the ring city placement bug in civ3 vanilla. Instead, each additional city raises the maintenance slightly in a select number of existing cities. I did not determine the formula used for selecting cities but instead graphed the increase in maintenance per turn for each additional city. As the game runs very slow on my computer, I did not go through the process of separating out city maintenance and civic maintenance, but I checked on several occasions and found civic maintenance to be roughly 10% of city maintenance. This would presumably be significantly higher if you run expensive civics, and it appears to scale roughly with city maintenance, so if you plan to spam cities and run a hereditary police state with organized religion, the organized trait may actually give you a noticeable benefit. What's more, the manual claims that civic costs also increase as total population increases (p.83), so I could picture it getting pretty high in certain cases.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/marginalupkeep.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As shown by the graph, the cost in gpt of a new city increases as you add more cities. There is a discontinuity around ten cities after which the cost rises sharply, making 9-10 the optimal number on a standard map before massive city upkeep starts to kick in. After this, the marginal upkeep rate increases until your 28th city costs you 14 gpt! Note that this city will not show 14 gpt in city maintenance. Much of the upkeep is distributed as a slight increase across other cities. After this point the marginal increase in upkeep falls dramatically, to 6-7 extra gpt per city. This is because the number of cities component of city maintenance can never exceed 6 gpt per city, so once all your cities are maxed out this component can never exceed 6 times the number of cities. In my observations, the number exceeded this value because of civic upkeep. This is good news for warmongers because once you have conquered 30 cities, future conquests will be a little less painful, especially if you run state property to eliminate the (probably huge) distance based component for your world-spanning empire. As an aside, each holy city potentially gives you 1 gpt for each city you own, so owning 6 holy cities will pay all of your number-based city upkeep if you relentlessly spam missionaries. Owning all seven will turn a profit on state property! If you're hell-bent on ICSing, I would recommend the Arabs. You start with Mysticism so you have a chance at grabbing lots of religions early and the philosophical trait should lead to quick great prophets to found the appropriate shrines. Call it the "Babylon" strategy after the villain in the "Left Behind" series who tries to conquer the world by founding a universal syncretistic religion. Commie Universalist Arabs take over the world! Oh My![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 2 = Distance-Based Maintenance[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][Update - the value established in this section is a minimum. Some undetermined factor can increase distance upkeep to more than this amount. Thanks to Requies for noticing this][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To test distance-based corruption, I created a horizontal line of 30 cities with the palace at one end and measured the distance-based component of maintenance for each one. The results are shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/horizdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It appears that on the settings used, the distance-based corruption is equal to the distance to the palace divided by 4.5, as long as the city in question is along a straight axis from the palace. I also tested distance along a diagonal distance and found that the diagonal distance does not obey Pythagoras' theorem. Instead it appears that the program counts diagonal distance as equaling 1.5 times the value of horizontal distance, rounded down. This makes sense as this was the method used to calculate distance in Civ3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/diagdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/fulldist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is great news because anyone who's ever done an RCP in vanilla Civ3 knows how to calculate rings on the map. There's even a utility to do it for you. The trick is to map out the rings of the appropriate distances (4,9,13,18,etc.) and place your cities inside those rings to avoid increasing distance upkeep. Pictured below is a formation that I'm naming the "Cheesy Circle"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/ironring.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ring of red X's shows the distance at which you start paying distance upkeep. This formation (when used on standard maps) gives you nine cities with no distance upkeep and 16 gpt in number-based upkeep, for less than 2 gpt/city. Each city can work over 12 tiles, which should be enough to exhaust their health and happiness anyway. Ideally, you spam settlers to build the circle (at minimal upkeep cost), then develop the cities into high-shield military bases for a classical-age swordsman rush.** The only drawback is that you may miss out on resources by having such a compact territory. In practice it may be best to put some of the cities into the 1-upkeep region to obtain much-needed special resources, such as iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**This is a theoretical strategy at the moment. Next time I start a new game I'll try some variation of this layout. It would seem perfect for the first GOTM (Expansive leader, hill/grass/river start, great swordsman UU)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 3 - Do I have a life?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No. But you don't either if you're still reading this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In conclusion, city maintenance works more or less as advertised. The main headaches will come from having too many cities, but distance upkeep could potentially be annoying for small colonies in faraway lands. Consider carefully before founding a little city on a faraway continent for the sole purpose of claiming a banana resource, especially if you can get bananas by trading with your friends. Since many of the numbers are rounded, it is possible to take advantage of the system to minimize your city upkeep and play a more efficient game. I expect that some version of these calculations will figure in high-level civ4 play once there is such a thing as high-level civ4 play. Unless, of course, Firaxis decides to play with the formula in a patch or expansion, just like they did with ring city placement. Given their stated commitment to reducing the amount of math necessary to play the game, it is a likely possibility.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please feel free to test and comment on my observations. They are as yet incomplete and any input is appreciated. I'll update once I figure out the answers to remaining questions, such as how upkeep works on different world sizes and what the formula for civic upkeep is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Addendum - Courthouses and the upkeep limit[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to confirm the nature of the 6-upkeep limit for number of city upkeep, I placed 50 cities on a standard map and started filling them with courthouses. The courthouse affects the upkeep after the cap has been applied, so with courthouses in every city and state property, you should be able to pay only 3 gpt per city. While controlling all 7 holy cities and converting every city might be a pipe dream, doing this for 3-4 religions should be doable for would-be conquerors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Update - Difficulty level and City Upkeep[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After placing large numbers of cities in Warlord difficulty, it appears that difficulty level does affect upkeep. However, it does not affect the OCN. In warlord level, as in Monarch level, costs begin to accelerate after the tenth city. However, once the OCN is reached, costs increase at about 75% of the rate they do on Monarch. Since the OCN is unchanged, city placement shouldn't be that different on different difficulty levels, but it may be possible to squeeze a few more cities in at lower levels. A comparison is shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/monvswar.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that:[NEWLINE]Warlord maxes out at 5 gpt per city[NEWLINE]It takes longer for Warlord to max out city costs than Monarch. Thus there are actually certain points at which the next city costs more under Warlord, though the total upkeep is still less.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Civic Upkeep[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test, I started adding more and more size 1 cities and watching the additional civic upkeep for each one (F3). Preliminary tests indicate that on a standard map you start paying a flat fee for each size 1 city beyond the tenth. The amount comes to slightly less than 1 gpt per city for the starting civics. While it would be possible to catalogue rounding errors and exploit them the payoff would be very small and would need to take into account many possible combinations of city number, city size, and civic options, and would come to no more than 1 gpt anyway since civic upkeep, unlike distance upkeep, is one single lump sum rather than a bunch of small, separately rounded numbers. City size also increases civic upkeep, though to a lesser degree, especially in small numbers of very large cities. Each civic appears to contribute 1/5 of the cost, as determined by switching 2 civics to no upkeep. High upkeep is also much more expensive than low upkeep, as switching to organized religion increased upkeep from 50 to 74 gpt, apparently boosting the religion share of upkeep by 3.5 times (10 gpt to 34 gpt)! City upkeep at this point was ~350 gpt without courthouses, so it appears that under the most expensive civics available one could boost civic upkeep to the point where it could compare with city upkeep. And since courthouses do not affect civic upkeep, the cost of a large empire would be enough to make a would-be world conqueror think twice about high or even medium upkeep civics (no hereditary police states, please). Given this data, I strongly suspect that the organized trait has gotten a bum rap and will find its usefulness in domination games.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]The Curious Cat - City Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Gato Loco[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: I believe that patch 1.52 changed the specifics for city upkeep. Be warned that upkeep is apparently higher than it was under the original release.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the much-discussed new features in Civ4 is the introduction of the supposedly ICS-killing city maintenance. In preview after preview, we were told that REX* the rabid settler dog has finally been put down or at least kept on a tight leash. For the first time, a city can actually lose you money. However, old habits die hard and we're already seeing claims in these forums that the ability to chop for settlers will leave this old dog tearing up the backyard for years to come. In the interest of tossing old REX a bone, I've attempted to dissect the city maintenance system to figure out how well it does its job. I have conducted a series of experiments to determine exactly how long the leash is. All experiments were conducted under the following settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Difficulty = Monarch[NEWLINE]World Size = Standard[NEWLINE]Game speed = Standard[NEWLINE]Civ = Arabs (Chose a non-organized leader just in case it has an effect)[NEWLINE]Map = Great Plains (For maximum freedom placing cities)[NEWLINE]Civics = all default[NEWLINE]All tests were conducted with the world-builder on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*REX = Rapid EXpansion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 1 = Number of cities maintenance:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test I founded the capitol in the middle of a large open area and began placing new cities within 3 tiles of the palace. At this distance I had already observed that there is no distance-based city maintenance. Note that the world-builder is capable of placing cities in adjacent tiles even though this is not allowed in the game. All cities were connected to the trade network by default, although in another test I confirmed that this does not seem to affect city maintenance, at least for cities within 10 tiles or so of the palace (unlike corruption in Civ3). I then observed the amount of city maintenance for each additional city. The first observation is that the maintenance from the number of cities is not the same for each city. This is probably to avoid exploitable rounding errors which would occur if the value were evened out over every city, as happened with the ring city placement bug in civ3 vanilla. Instead, each additional city raises the maintenance slightly in a select number of existing cities. I did not determine the formula used for selecting cities but instead graphed the increase in maintenance per turn for each additional city. As the game runs very slow on my computer, I did not go through the process of separating out city maintenance and civic maintenance, but I checked on several occasions and found civic maintenance to be roughly 10% of city maintenance. This would presumably be significantly higher if you run expensive civics, and it appears to scale roughly with city maintenance, so if you plan to spam cities and run a hereditary police state with organized religion, the organized trait may actually give you a noticeable benefit. What's more, the manual claims that civic costs also increase as total population increases (p.83), so I could picture it getting pretty high in certain cases.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/marginalupkeep.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As shown by the graph, the cost in gpt of a new city increases as you add more cities. There is a discontinuity around ten cities after which the cost rises sharply, making 9-10 the optimal number on a standard map before massive city upkeep starts to kick in. After this, the marginal upkeep rate increases until your 28th city costs you 14 gpt! Note that this city will not show 14 gpt in city maintenance. Much of the upkeep is distributed as a slight increase across other cities. After this point the marginal increase in upkeep falls dramatically, to 6-7 extra gpt per city. This is because the number of cities component of city maintenance can never exceed 6 gpt per city, so once all your cities are maxed out this component can never exceed 6 times the number of cities. In my observations, the number exceeded this value because of civic upkeep. This is good news for warmongers because once you have conquered 30 cities, future conquests will be a little less painful, especially if you run state property to eliminate the (probably huge) distance based component for your world-spanning empire. As an aside, each holy city potentially gives you 1 gpt for each city you own, so owning 6 holy cities will pay all of your number-based city upkeep if you relentlessly spam missionaries. Owning all seven will turn a profit on state property! If you're hell-bent on ICSing, I would recommend the Arabs. You start with Mysticism so you have a chance at grabbing lots of religions early and the philosophical trait should lead to quick great prophets to found the appropriate shrines. Call it the "Babylon" strategy after the villain in the "Left Behind" series who tries to conquer the world by founding a universal syncretistic religion. Commie Universalist Arabs take over the world! Oh My![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 2 = Distance-Based Maintenance[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][Update - the value established in this section is a minimum. Some undetermined factor can increase distance upkeep to more than this amount. Thanks to Requies for noticing this][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To test distance-based corruption, I created a horizontal line of 30 cities with the palace at one end and measured the distance-based component of maintenance for each one. The results are shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/horizdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It appears that on the settings used, the distance-based corruption is equal to the distance to the palace divided by 4.5, as long as the city in question is along a straight axis from the palace. I also tested distance along a diagonal distance and found that the diagonal distance does not obey Pythagoras' theorem. Instead it appears that the program counts diagonal distance as equaling 1.5 times the value of horizontal distance, rounded down. This makes sense as this was the method used to calculate distance in Civ3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/diagdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/fulldist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is great news because anyone who's ever done an RCP in vanilla Civ3 knows how to calculate rings on the map. There's even a utility to do it for you. The trick is to map out the rings of the appropriate distances (4,9,13,18,etc.) and place your cities inside those rings to avoid increasing distance upkeep. Pictured below is a formation that I'm naming the "Cheesy Circle"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/ironring.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ring of red X's shows the distance at which you start paying distance upkeep. This formation (when used on standard maps) gives you nine cities with no distance upkeep and 16 gpt in number-based upkeep, for less than 2 gpt/city. Each city can work over 12 tiles, which should be enough to exhaust their health and happiness anyway. Ideally, you spam settlers to build the circle (at minimal upkeep cost), then develop the cities into high-shield military bases for a classical-age swordsman rush.** The only drawback is that you may miss out on resources by having such a compact territory. In practice it may be best to put some of the cities into the 1-upkeep region to obtain much-needed special resources, such as iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**This is a theoretical strategy at the moment. Next time I start a new game I'll try some variation of this layout. It would seem perfect for the first GOTM (Expansive leader, hill/grass/river start, great swordsman UU)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 3 - Do I have a life?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No. But you don't either if you're still reading this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In conclusion, city maintenance works more or less as advertised. The main headaches will come from having too many cities, but distance upkeep could potentially be annoying for small colonies in faraway lands. Consider carefully before founding a little city on a faraway continent for the sole purpose of claiming a banana resource, especially if you can get bananas by trading with your friends. Since many of the numbers are rounded, it is possible to take advantage of the system to minimize your city upkeep and play a more efficient game. I expect that some version of these calculations will figure in high-level civ4 play once there is such a thing as high-level civ4 play. Unless, of course, Firaxis decides to play with the formula in a patch or expansion, just like they did with ring city placement. Given their stated commitment to reducing the amount of math necessary to play the game, it is a likely possibility.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please feel free to test and comment on my observations. They are as yet incomplete and any input is appreciated. I'll update once I figure out the answers to remaining questions, such as how upkeep works on different world sizes and what the formula for civic upkeep is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Addendum - Courthouses and the upkeep limit[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to confirm the nature of the 6-upkeep limit for number of city upkeep, I placed 50 cities on a standard map and started filling them with courthouses. The courthouse affects the upkeep after the cap has been applied, so with courthouses in every city and state property, you should be able to pay only 3 gpt per city. While controlling all 7 holy cities and converting every city might be a pipe dream, doing this for 3-4 religions should be doable for would-be conquerors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Update - Difficulty level and City Upkeep[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After placing large numbers of cities in Warlord difficulty, it appears that difficulty level does affect upkeep. However, it does not affect the OCN. In warlord level, as in Monarch level, costs begin to accelerate after the tenth city. However, once the OCN is reached, costs increase at about 75% of the rate they do on Monarch. Since the OCN is unchanged, city placement shouldn't be that different on different difficulty levels, but it may be possible to squeeze a few more cities in at lower levels. A comparison is shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/monvswar.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that:[NEWLINE]Warlord maxes out at 5 gpt per city[NEWLINE]It takes longer for Warlord to max out city costs than Monarch. Thus there are actually certain points at which the next city costs more under Warlord, though the total upkeep is still less.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Civic Upkeep[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test, I started adding more and more size 1 cities and watching the additional civic upkeep for each one (F3). Preliminary tests indicate that on a standard map you start paying a flat fee for each size 1 city beyond the tenth. The amount comes to slightly less than 1 gpt per city for the starting civics. While it would be possible to catalogue rounding errors and exploit them the payoff would be very small and would need to take into account many possible combinations of city number, city size, and civic options, and would come to no more than 1 gpt anyway since civic upkeep, unlike distance upkeep, is one single lump sum rather than a bunch of small, separately rounded numbers. City size also increases civic upkeep, though to a lesser degree, especially in small numbers of very large cities. Each civic appears to contribute 1/5 of the cost, as determined by switching 2 civics to no upkeep. High upkeep is also much more expensive than low upkeep, as switching to organized religion increased upkeep from 50 to 74 gpt, apparently boosting the religion share of upkeep by 3.5 times (10 gpt to 34 gpt)! City upkeep at this point was ~350 gpt without courthouses, so it appears that under the most expensive civics available one could boost civic upkeep to the point where it could compare with city upkeep. And since courthouses do not affect civic upkeep, the cost of a large empire would be enough to make a would-be world conqueror think twice about high or even medium upkeep civics (no hereditary police states, please). Given this data, I strongly suspect that the organized trait has gotten a bum rap and will find its usefulness in domination games.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]The Curious Cat - City Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Gato Loco[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]NOTE: I believe that patch 1.52 changed the specifics for city upkeep. Be warned that upkeep is apparently higher than it was under the original release.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the much-discussed new features in Civ4 is the introduction of the supposedly ICS-killing city maintenance. In preview after preview, we were told that REX* the rabid settler dog has finally been put down or at least kept on a tight leash. For the first time, a city can actually lose you money. However, old habits die hard and we're already seeing claims in these forums that the ability to chop for settlers will leave this old dog tearing up the backyard for years to come. In the interest of tossing old REX a bone, I've attempted to dissect the city maintenance system to figure out how well it does its job. I have conducted a series of experiments to determine exactly how long the leash is. All experiments were conducted under the following settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Difficulty = Monarch[NEWLINE]World Size = Standard[NEWLINE]Game speed = Standard[NEWLINE]Civ = Arabs (Chose a non-organized leader just in case it has an effect)[NEWLINE]Map = Great Plains (For maximum freedom placing cities)[NEWLINE]Civics = all default[NEWLINE]All tests were conducted with the world-builder on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*REX = Rapid EXpansion[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 1 = Number of cities maintenance:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test I founded the capitol in the middle of a large open area and began placing new cities within 3 tiles of the palace. At this distance I had already observed that there is no distance-based city maintenance. Note that the world-builder is capable of placing cities in adjacent tiles even though this is not allowed in the game. All cities were connected to the trade network by default, although in another test I confirmed that this does not seem to affect city maintenance, at least for cities within 10 tiles or so of the palace (unlike corruption in Civ3). I then observed the amount of city maintenance for each additional city. The first observation is that the maintenance from the number of cities is not the same for each city. This is probably to avoid exploitable rounding errors which would occur if the value were evened out over every city, as happened with the ring city placement bug in civ3 vanilla. Instead, each additional city raises the maintenance slightly in a select number of existing cities. I did not determine the formula used for selecting cities but instead graphed the increase in maintenance per turn for each additional city. As the game runs very slow on my computer, I did not go through the process of separating out city maintenance and civic maintenance, but I checked on several occasions and found civic maintenance to be roughly 10% of city maintenance. This would presumably be significantly higher if you run expensive civics, and it appears to scale roughly with city maintenance, so if you plan to spam cities and run a hereditary police state with organized religion, the organized trait may actually give you a noticeable benefit. What's more, the manual claims that civic costs also increase as total population increases (p.83), so I could picture it getting pretty high in certain cases.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/marginalupkeep.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As shown by the graph, the cost in gpt of a new city increases as you add more cities. There is a discontinuity around ten cities after which the cost rises sharply, making 9-10 the optimal number on a standard map before massive city upkeep starts to kick in. After this, the marginal upkeep rate increases until your 28th city costs you 14 gpt! Note that this city will not show 14 gpt in city maintenance. Much of the upkeep is distributed as a slight increase across other cities. After this point the marginal increase in upkeep falls dramatically, to 6-7 extra gpt per city. This is because the number of cities component of city maintenance can never exceed 6 gpt per city, so once all your cities are maxed out this component can never exceed 6 times the number of cities. In my observations, the number exceeded this value because of civic upkeep. This is good news for warmongers because once you have conquered 30 cities, future conquests will be a little less painful, especially if you run state property to eliminate the (probably huge) distance based component for your world-spanning empire. As an aside, each holy city potentially gives you 1 gpt for each city you own, so owning 6 holy cities will pay all of your number-based city upkeep if you relentlessly spam missionaries. Owning all seven will turn a profit on state property! If you're hell-bent on ICSing, I would recommend the Arabs. You start with Mysticism so you have a chance at grabbing lots of religions early and the philosophical trait should lead to quick great prophets to found the appropriate shrines. Call it the "Babylon" strategy after the villain in the "Left Behind" series who tries to conquer the world by founding a universal syncretistic religion. Commie Universalist Arabs take over the world! Oh My![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 2 = Distance-Based Maintenance[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][Update - the value established in this section is a minimum. Some undetermined factor can increase distance upkeep to more than this amount. Thanks to Requies for noticing this][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To test distance-based corruption, I created a horizontal line of 30 cities with the palace at one end and measured the distance-based component of maintenance for each one. The results are shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/horizdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It appears that on the settings used, the distance-based corruption is equal to the distance to the palace divided by 4.5, as long as the city in question is along a straight axis from the palace. I also tested distance along a diagonal distance and found that the diagonal distance does not obey Pythagoras' theorem. Instead it appears that the program counts diagonal distance as equaling 1.5 times the value of horizontal distance, rounded down. This makes sense as this was the method used to calculate distance in Civ3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/diagdist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Table: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/fulldist.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is great news because anyone who's ever done an RCP in vanilla Civ3 knows how to calculate rings on the map. There's even a utility to do it for you. The trick is to map out the rings of the appropriate distances (4,9,13,18,etc.) and place your cities inside those rings to avoid increasing distance upkeep. Pictured below is a formation that I'm naming the "Cheesy Circle"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/ironring.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The ring of red X's shows the distance at which you start paying distance upkeep. This formation (when used on standard maps) gives you nine cities with no distance upkeep and 16 gpt in number-based upkeep, for less than 2 gpt/city. Each city can work over 12 tiles, which should be enough to exhaust their health and happiness anyway. Ideally, you spam settlers to build the circle (at minimal upkeep cost), then develop the cities into high-shield military bases for a classical-age swordsman rush.** The only drawback is that you may miss out on resources by having such a compact territory. In practice it may be best to put some of the cities into the 1-upkeep region to obtain much-needed special resources, such as iron.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**This is a theoretical strategy at the moment. Next time I start a new game I'll try some variation of this layout. It would seem perfect for the first GOTM (Expansive leader, hill/grass/river start, great swordsman UU)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Test 3 - Do I have a life?[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No. But you don't either if you're still reading this.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In conclusion, city maintenance works more or less as advertised. The main headaches will come from having too many cities, but distance upkeep could potentially be annoying for small colonies in faraway lands. Consider carefully before founding a little city on a faraway continent for the sole purpose of claiming a banana resource, especially if you can get bananas by trading with your friends. Since many of the numbers are rounded, it is possible to take advantage of the system to minimize your city upkeep and play a more efficient game. I expect that some version of these calculations will figure in high-level civ4 play once there is such a thing as high-level civ4 play. Unless, of course, Firaxis decides to play with the formula in a patch or expansion, just like they did with ring city placement. Given their stated commitment to reducing the amount of math necessary to play the game, it is a likely possibility.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please feel free to test and comment on my observations. They are as yet incomplete and any input is appreciated. I'll update once I figure out the answers to remaining questions, such as how upkeep works on different world sizes and what the formula for civic upkeep is.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Addendum - Courthouses and the upkeep limit[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to confirm the nature of the 6-upkeep limit for number of city upkeep, I placed 50 cities on a standard map and started filling them with courthouses. The courthouse affects the upkeep after the cap has been applied, so with courthouses in every city and state property, you should be able to pay only 3 gpt per city. While controlling all 7 holy cities and converting every city might be a pipe dream, doing this for 3-4 religions should be doable for would-be conquerors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Update - Difficulty level and City Upkeep[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After placing large numbers of cities in Warlord difficulty, it appears that difficulty level does affect upkeep. However, it does not affect the OCN. In warlord level, as in Monarch level, costs begin to accelerate after the tenth city. However, once the OCN is reached, costs increase at about 75% of the rate they do on Monarch. Since the OCN is unchanged, city placement shouldn't be that different on different difficulty levels, but it may be possible to squeeze a few more cities in at lower levels. A comparison is shown below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads10/monvswar.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also note that:[NEWLINE]Warlord maxes out at 5 gpt per city[NEWLINE]It takes longer for Warlord to max out city costs than Monarch. Thus there are actually certain points at which the next city costs more under Warlord, though the total upkeep is still less.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Civic Upkeep[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For this test, I started adding more and more size 1 cities and watching the additional civic upkeep for each one (F3). Preliminary tests indicate that on a standard map you start paying a flat fee for each size 1 city beyond the tenth. The amount comes to slightly less than 1 gpt per city for the starting civics. While it would be possible to catalogue rounding errors and exploit them the payoff would be very small and would need to take into account many possible combinations of city number, city size, and civic options, and would come to no more than 1 gpt anyway since civic upkeep, unlike distance upkeep, is one single lump sum rather than a bunch of small, separately rounded numbers. City size also increases civic upkeep, though to a lesser degree, especially in small numbers of very large cities. Each civic appears to contribute 1/5 of the cost, as determined by switching 2 civics to no upkeep. High upkeep is also much more expensive than low upkeep, as switching to organized religion increased upkeep from 50 to 74 gpt, apparently boosting the religion share of upkeep by 3.5 times (10 gpt to 34 gpt)! City upkeep at this point was ~350 gpt without courthouses, so it appears that under the most expensive civics available one could boost civic upkeep to the point where it could compare with city upkeep. And since courthouses do not affect civic upkeep, the cost of a large empire would be enough to make a would-be world conqueror think twice about high or even medium upkeep civics (no hereditary police states, please). Given this data, I strongly suspect that the organized trait has gotten a bum rap and will find its usefulness in domination games.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CIVIC_UPKEEP_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Civic Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is a joint contribution to this community by colony and Roland Johansen. We had some trouble getting the formulas in this article exactly right, but after correcting each other a few times, the correct formulas are now known. The article provides information for Civilization 4 versions 1.09 and 1.52 but mainly for version 1.52.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The article is divided in a few sections. The first section is a general introduction in the civic upkeep cost and probably contains no new information for most civilization 4 players. The second section explains how the game determines these costs. If you don't like mathematics and mathematical formulas, then you might want to skip this section and go on to the third section. The third section is about some strategic consequences of the way civilization 4 determines the civic upkeep cost. The fourth section gives some information to modders. It talks about the files where they can change the civic upkeep cost and about the consequences of adding more categories of civics. The last section mentions a utility created by Qitai that can calculate the civic upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost can be found in the financial advisor (F2) and in the change civics menu (F3), but the financial advisor is more useful to get a clear overview of the costs. If you mouse over the civic upkeep section of the financial advisor (F2), then the civic upkeep cost is broken down into the five well known sections: government, legal, labor, economy and religion. The upkeep cost of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification: no upkeep, low, medium or high. A low upkeep labor civic will cost about the same amount in upkeep as a low upkeep economy civic and a high upkeep government civic will cost about the same as a high upkeep religion civic. The change civics menu (F3) allows you to see the upkeep cost of another set of civics when you mouse over or select these civics. You can always cancel the revolution, so there's no risk in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When a set of civics is chosen, then the upkeep cost is largely determined by the size of your empire: the number of cities in your empire (M) and the total size of your population (N). Also the organized trait (O) and the difficulty level (D) will have a large effect on the final upkeep cost. How the game determines the civic upkeep cost from these variables, can be found in the next section.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How the game calculates the civic upkeep cost[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost is dependent on some factors in the game. To make the description of the civic upkeep cost short and hopefully clear, a set of variables is introduced below.[NEWLINE]The upkeep of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification in the game (no upkeep, low, medium or high) in combination with the size of your empire. We denote the number of cities in your empire by M and the total size of your population by N (the sum of the population from all of your cities). The population modifier P determines the civic upkeep of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire of a certain population size (N). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.05 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.10 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.15 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.08 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.12 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.16 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Likewise the number-of-cities modifier C dictates the civic upkeep cost of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire consisting of a certain number of cities (M). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.2 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.5 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Last but not least are the effect of the organized trait, denoted by O and the effect of the difficulty level, denoted by D. The variable O is 1/2 if your civilization is organized and 1 if your civilization is not organized. The difficulty level modifier for the human player is 1 at deity, immortal or emperor level, 0.95 at monarch level, 0.9 at prince level, 0.8 at noble level, 0.7 at warlord level, 0.6 at chieftain level and finally 0.5 at settler level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty level modifier for the AI is 0.6 at deity level, 0.8 at immortal level, 0.85 at emperor level, 0.9 at monarch level, 0.95 at prince level and 1 at the levels below prince.[NEWLINE]It's a bit strange, but the civic upkeep cost is also dependent on the type of civic. A medium cost economy civic is close in upkeep to a medium cost government civic but not exactly the same. I think this was done to avoid the situation where one of your cities grows one unit in population or you build one additional city and suddenly all of your civics will rise in upkeep cost. Because of the small differences in the formulas, this will seldom happen. Take a look at the formulas below and you'll see that there are some minor differences:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Government civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-8) ] + [ C * (M-1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Legal civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-9) ] + [ C * M ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Labor civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-10) ] + [ C * (M+1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Economy civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-11) ] + [ C * (M+2) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Religion civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-12) ] + [ C * (M+3) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Terms between brackets [....] are to be rounded down. So there is a lot of rounding down in these formulas. Note that there is a clear pattern in these formulas, but to keep the format of the formulas somewhat readable, the formulas were presented independently and not in one big formula.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, the total upkeep cost for civics is determined by adding the costs of all of the chosen civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example (for civilization 4 version 1.52):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are playing a game at Noble difficulty level and own 11 cities of sizes: 9, 7, 12, 8, 15, 14, 12, 11, 11, 15 and 14. So your total population is 128. You're running the civics representation, bureaucracy, serfdom, decentralization and organized religion. Your leader has the organized trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then according to the formulas, the upkeep cost for representation (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-8) ] + [0.4 * (11-1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for bureaucracy (medium upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.12 * (128-9) ] + [0.5 * 11 ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (14 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 9] = 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for serfdom (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-10) ] + [0.4 * (11 +1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for decentralization (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-11) ] + [0.4 * (11 +2) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 7] = 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for organized religion (high upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.16 * (128-12) ] + [0.6 * (11 +3) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (18 + 8) ] ] = [0.8 * 13] = 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And thus the total civic upkeep is: 4+7+4+5+10=30.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some repercussions of the way the game calculates the civic upkeep (for civilization 4 version 1.52)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The above formulas are all nice and such, but nobody is really going to use them when playing a game of civilization 4. But they can offer a deeper insight into the workings of the game. This might help you play the game a little better or help create a nice balanced mod for the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The no upkeep classification is a pretty big advantage for a civic. The difference in upkeep between no upkeep and low upkeep is larger than the difference between low upkeep and high upkeep. Especially in empires with lots of large cities, the no upkeep classification is very powerful.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In empires with small cities, the differences in upkeep classification don't mean very much (with exception of the above noted no upkeep classification). In empires with large cities, the high upkeep civics cost almost twice as much as the low upkeep civics. The medium upkeep civics have a cost halfway the low and high upkeep civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Because the civic upkeep is higher at the higher difficulty levels, the organized trait is a more interesting trait at these higher difficulty levels. You can already notice this right from the start of the game. Normally at the highest difficulty levels, you can not set your research slider at 100%. But if you start with the organized trait, you can research at 100% getting those first few technologies a bit sooner. Later in the game, you will probably also be able to set the research slider at a higher rate thanks to the reduced cost of civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep limits fast expansion. When you start developing your empire, then your cities tend to be small and don't make a lot of money. Still a lot of small cities tend to cost a considerable amount in civic upkeep. When the cities grow, the civic upkeep also grows, but not as fast as the commerce production of well developed cities. A city of size 10 will produce far more commerce than a city of size 1 (say 5-20 times as much, depending on how well it is developed), but it will cost less than 3 times as much in civic upkeep. Clearly large cities can cope with civic upkeep cost better than small cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The organized trait has an effect that tends to be a bit larger than halving the civic upkeep, especially at the beginning of the game when the civic upkeep is still low (the reason is the rounding down in the formulas). This can make this trait very interesting for warmongers who tend to get lots of small cities early in the game. The low commerce production of these cities combined with a high upkeep, high civic upkeep and high unit upkeep can spell disaster for warmongers who are a bit too successful in their wars.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The civic upkeep for human players is lower than the civic upkeep for AI's at the levels settler, chieftain, warlord, noble and prince. So while the AI has some advantages at noble level, it also has some disadvantages.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation is a percentage that adds to all types of costs and rises uncontrollably throughout the game. Because inflation can rise as high as 100%, the costs of civics can be doubled in the late game. This might make you rethink using those expensive civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free unit support also grows with population size. So while the cost of maintaining your civics grows when your cities grow, the free support for your units also grows. This means that a growing empire's expenditures don't necessarily increase that fast. If your leader is organized and you're running low cost civics, then the effect of the increase in free unit support could even be greater then the effect of the increase in civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A rule of thumb for the costs of running the lowest cost civics, the highest cost civics and an average cost example. This can be useful to estimate the profitability of a city in the long run before you even found it. You can estimate the amount of cottages needed to make a single city a profitable entity. Of course, not every city has to pay for itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the lowest possible cost (2 low cost civics and 3 no cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.16 gold for each point of population and 0.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the highest cost (3 high cost civics and 2 medium cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.72 gold for each point of population and 2.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use my favorite civics (universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property and organized religion) which have an average cost, then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.44 gold for each point of population and 1.9 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that these costs are reduced at the lower difficulty levels and are halved by the organized trait. Also note that the inflation percentage can increase the costs considerably and almost double these costs in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I guess most people who mod civ4 will find the files by themselves. Still, these files were useful to find some numbers and might as well be mentioned. The modifiers for difficulty level are of course in the file CIV4HandicapInfo.xml named iCivicUpkeepPercent for human players and iAICivicUpkeepPercent for AI's. In the file CIV4UpKeepInfo.xml, the numbers can be found that determine the effects of low, medium and high upkeep costs. In the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml, the upkeep classifications (no upkeep, low, medium, high), can be set for each civic. Also every other effect of civics can be changed in that file.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If more categories of civics are added, then it can be expected that the formulas that determine civic upkeep costs will follow the same pattern. So a sixth category of civics will probably have the following upkeep costs:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-13) ] + [ C * (M+4) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Utility for calculating civic upkeep costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qitai has created an excel spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3776573&amp;postcount=24) which can calculate the civic upkeep cost for you. It can be used to see how civic upkeep cost will develop while you expand your empire. Thanks Qitai!</English>
		<French>[H1]Civic Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is a joint contribution to this community by colony and Roland Johansen. We had some trouble getting the formulas in this article exactly right, but after correcting each other a few times, the correct formulas are now known. The article provides information for Civilization 4 versions 1.09 and 1.52 but mainly for version 1.52.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The article is divided in a few sections. The first section is a general introduction in the civic upkeep cost and probably contains no new information for most civilization 4 players. The second section explains how the game determines these costs. If you don't like mathematics and mathematical formulas, then you might want to skip this section and go on to the third section. The third section is about some strategic consequences of the way civilization 4 determines the civic upkeep cost. The fourth section gives some information to modders. It talks about the files where they can change the civic upkeep cost and about the consequences of adding more categories of civics. The last section mentions a utility created by Qitai that can calculate the civic upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost can be found in the financial advisor (F2) and in the change civics menu (F3), but the financial advisor is more useful to get a clear overview of the costs. If you mouse over the civic upkeep section of the financial advisor (F2), then the civic upkeep cost is broken down into the five well known sections: government, legal, labor, economy and religion. The upkeep cost of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification: no upkeep, low, medium or high. A low upkeep labor civic will cost about the same amount in upkeep as a low upkeep economy civic and a high upkeep government civic will cost about the same as a high upkeep religion civic. The change civics menu (F3) allows you to see the upkeep cost of another set of civics when you mouse over or select these civics. You can always cancel the revolution, so there's no risk in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When a set of civics is chosen, then the upkeep cost is largely determined by the size of your empire: the number of cities in your empire (M) and the total size of your population (N). Also the organized trait (O) and the difficulty level (D) will have a large effect on the final upkeep cost. How the game determines the civic upkeep cost from these variables, can be found in the next section.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How the game calculates the civic upkeep cost[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost is dependent on some factors in the game. To make the description of the civic upkeep cost short and hopefully clear, a set of variables is introduced below.[NEWLINE]The upkeep of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification in the game (no upkeep, low, medium or high) in combination with the size of your empire. We denote the number of cities in your empire by M and the total size of your population by N (the sum of the population from all of your cities). The population modifier P determines the civic upkeep of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire of a certain population size (N). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.05 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.10 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.15 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.08 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.12 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.16 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Likewise the number-of-cities modifier C dictates the civic upkeep cost of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire consisting of a certain number of cities (M). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.2 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.5 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Last but not least are the effect of the organized trait, denoted by O and the effect of the difficulty level, denoted by D. The variable O is 1/2 if your civilization is organized and 1 if your civilization is not organized. The difficulty level modifier for the human player is 1 at deity, immortal or emperor level, 0.95 at monarch level, 0.9 at prince level, 0.8 at noble level, 0.7 at warlord level, 0.6 at chieftain level and finally 0.5 at settler level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty level modifier for the AI is 0.6 at deity level, 0.8 at immortal level, 0.85 at emperor level, 0.9 at monarch level, 0.95 at prince level and 1 at the levels below prince.[NEWLINE]It's a bit strange, but the civic upkeep cost is also dependent on the type of civic. A medium cost economy civic is close in upkeep to a medium cost government civic but not exactly the same. I think this was done to avoid the situation where one of your cities grows one unit in population or you build one additional city and suddenly all of your civics will rise in upkeep cost. Because of the small differences in the formulas, this will seldom happen. Take a look at the formulas below and you'll see that there are some minor differences:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Government civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-8) ] + [ C * (M-1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Legal civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-9) ] + [ C * M ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Labor civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-10) ] + [ C * (M+1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Economy civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-11) ] + [ C * (M+2) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Religion civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-12) ] + [ C * (M+3) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Terms between brackets [....] are to be rounded down. So there is a lot of rounding down in these formulas. Note that there is a clear pattern in these formulas, but to keep the format of the formulas somewhat readable, the formulas were presented independently and not in one big formula.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, the total upkeep cost for civics is determined by adding the costs of all of the chosen civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example (for civilization 4 version 1.52):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are playing a game at Noble difficulty level and own 11 cities of sizes: 9, 7, 12, 8, 15, 14, 12, 11, 11, 15 and 14. So your total population is 128. You're running the civics representation, bureaucracy, serfdom, decentralization and organized religion. Your leader has the organized trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then according to the formulas, the upkeep cost for representation (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-8) ] + [0.4 * (11-1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for bureaucracy (medium upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.12 * (128-9) ] + [0.5 * 11 ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (14 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 9] = 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for serfdom (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-10) ] + [0.4 * (11 +1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for decentralization (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-11) ] + [0.4 * (11 +2) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 7] = 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for organized religion (high upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.16 * (128-12) ] + [0.6 * (11 +3) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (18 + 8) ] ] = [0.8 * 13] = 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And thus the total civic upkeep is: 4+7+4+5+10=30.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some repercussions of the way the game calculates the civic upkeep (for civilization 4 version 1.52)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The above formulas are all nice and such, but nobody is really going to use them when playing a game of civilization 4. But they can offer a deeper insight into the workings of the game. This might help you play the game a little better or help create a nice balanced mod for the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The no upkeep classification is a pretty big advantage for a civic. The difference in upkeep between no upkeep and low upkeep is larger than the difference between low upkeep and high upkeep. Especially in empires with lots of large cities, the no upkeep classification is very powerful.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In empires with small cities, the differences in upkeep classification don't mean very much (with exception of the above noted no upkeep classification). In empires with large cities, the high upkeep civics cost almost twice as much as the low upkeep civics. The medium upkeep civics have a cost halfway the low and high upkeep civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Because the civic upkeep is higher at the higher difficulty levels, the organized trait is a more interesting trait at these higher difficulty levels. You can already notice this right from the start of the game. Normally at the highest difficulty levels, you can not set your research slider at 100%. But if you start with the organized trait, you can research at 100% getting those first few technologies a bit sooner. Later in the game, you will probably also be able to set the research slider at a higher rate thanks to the reduced cost of civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep limits fast expansion. When you start developing your empire, then your cities tend to be small and don't make a lot of money. Still a lot of small cities tend to cost a considerable amount in civic upkeep. When the cities grow, the civic upkeep also grows, but not as fast as the commerce production of well developed cities. A city of size 10 will produce far more commerce than a city of size 1 (say 5-20 times as much, depending on how well it is developed), but it will cost less than 3 times as much in civic upkeep. Clearly large cities can cope with civic upkeep cost better than small cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The organized trait has an effect that tends to be a bit larger than halving the civic upkeep, especially at the beginning of the game when the civic upkeep is still low (the reason is the rounding down in the formulas). This can make this trait very interesting for warmongers who tend to get lots of small cities early in the game. The low commerce production of these cities combined with a high upkeep, high civic upkeep and high unit upkeep can spell disaster for warmongers who are a bit too successful in their wars.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The civic upkeep for human players is lower than the civic upkeep for AI's at the levels settler, chieftain, warlord, noble and prince. So while the AI has some advantages at noble level, it also has some disadvantages.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation is a percentage that adds to all types of costs and rises uncontrollably throughout the game. Because inflation can rise as high as 100%, the costs of civics can be doubled in the late game. This might make you rethink using those expensive civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free unit support also grows with population size. So while the cost of maintaining your civics grows when your cities grow, the free support for your units also grows. This means that a growing empire's expenditures don't necessarily increase that fast. If your leader is organized and you're running low cost civics, then the effect of the increase in free unit support could even be greater then the effect of the increase in civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A rule of thumb for the costs of running the lowest cost civics, the highest cost civics and an average cost example. This can be useful to estimate the profitability of a city in the long run before you even found it. You can estimate the amount of cottages needed to make a single city a profitable entity. Of course, not every city has to pay for itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the lowest possible cost (2 low cost civics and 3 no cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.16 gold for each point of population and 0.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the highest cost (3 high cost civics and 2 medium cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.72 gold for each point of population and 2.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use my favorite civics (universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property and organized religion) which have an average cost, then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.44 gold for each point of population and 1.9 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that these costs are reduced at the lower difficulty levels and are halved by the organized trait. Also note that the inflation percentage can increase the costs considerably and almost double these costs in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I guess most people who mod civ4 will find the files by themselves. Still, these files were useful to find some numbers and might as well be mentioned. The modifiers for difficulty level are of course in the file CIV4HandicapInfo.xml named iCivicUpkeepPercent for human players and iAICivicUpkeepPercent for AI's. In the file CIV4UpKeepInfo.xml, the numbers can be found that determine the effects of low, medium and high upkeep costs. In the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml, the upkeep classifications (no upkeep, low, medium, high), can be set for each civic. Also every other effect of civics can be changed in that file.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If more categories of civics are added, then it can be expected that the formulas that determine civic upkeep costs will follow the same pattern. So a sixth category of civics will probably have the following upkeep costs:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-13) ] + [ C * (M+4) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Utility for calculating civic upkeep costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qitai has created an excel spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3776573&amp;postcount=24) which can calculate the civic upkeep cost for you. It can be used to see how civic upkeep cost will develop while you expand your empire. Thanks Qitai!</French>
		<German>[H1]Civic Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is a joint contribution to this community by colony and Roland Johansen. We had some trouble getting the formulas in this article exactly right, but after correcting each other a few times, the correct formulas are now known. The article provides information for Civilization 4 versions 1.09 and 1.52 but mainly for version 1.52.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The article is divided in a few sections. The first section is a general introduction in the civic upkeep cost and probably contains no new information for most civilization 4 players. The second section explains how the game determines these costs. If you don't like mathematics and mathematical formulas, then you might want to skip this section and go on to the third section. The third section is about some strategic consequences of the way civilization 4 determines the civic upkeep cost. The fourth section gives some information to modders. It talks about the files where they can change the civic upkeep cost and about the consequences of adding more categories of civics. The last section mentions a utility created by Qitai that can calculate the civic upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost can be found in the financial advisor (F2) and in the change civics menu (F3), but the financial advisor is more useful to get a clear overview of the costs. If you mouse over the civic upkeep section of the financial advisor (F2), then the civic upkeep cost is broken down into the five well known sections: government, legal, labor, economy and religion. The upkeep cost of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification: no upkeep, low, medium or high. A low upkeep labor civic will cost about the same amount in upkeep as a low upkeep economy civic and a high upkeep government civic will cost about the same as a high upkeep religion civic. The change civics menu (F3) allows you to see the upkeep cost of another set of civics when you mouse over or select these civics. You can always cancel the revolution, so there's no risk in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When a set of civics is chosen, then the upkeep cost is largely determined by the size of your empire: the number of cities in your empire (M) and the total size of your population (N). Also the organized trait (O) and the difficulty level (D) will have a large effect on the final upkeep cost. How the game determines the civic upkeep cost from these variables, can be found in the next section.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How the game calculates the civic upkeep cost[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost is dependent on some factors in the game. To make the description of the civic upkeep cost short and hopefully clear, a set of variables is introduced below.[NEWLINE]The upkeep of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification in the game (no upkeep, low, medium or high) in combination with the size of your empire. We denote the number of cities in your empire by M and the total size of your population by N (the sum of the population from all of your cities). The population modifier P determines the civic upkeep of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire of a certain population size (N). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.05 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.10 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.15 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.08 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.12 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.16 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Likewise the number-of-cities modifier C dictates the civic upkeep cost of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire consisting of a certain number of cities (M). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.2 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.5 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Last but not least are the effect of the organized trait, denoted by O and the effect of the difficulty level, denoted by D. The variable O is 1/2 if your civilization is organized and 1 if your civilization is not organized. The difficulty level modifier for the human player is 1 at deity, immortal or emperor level, 0.95 at monarch level, 0.9 at prince level, 0.8 at noble level, 0.7 at warlord level, 0.6 at chieftain level and finally 0.5 at settler level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty level modifier for the AI is 0.6 at deity level, 0.8 at immortal level, 0.85 at emperor level, 0.9 at monarch level, 0.95 at prince level and 1 at the levels below prince.[NEWLINE]It's a bit strange, but the civic upkeep cost is also dependent on the type of civic. A medium cost economy civic is close in upkeep to a medium cost government civic but not exactly the same. I think this was done to avoid the situation where one of your cities grows one unit in population or you build one additional city and suddenly all of your civics will rise in upkeep cost. Because of the small differences in the formulas, this will seldom happen. Take a look at the formulas below and you'll see that there are some minor differences:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Government civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-8) ] + [ C * (M-1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Legal civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-9) ] + [ C * M ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Labor civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-10) ] + [ C * (M+1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Economy civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-11) ] + [ C * (M+2) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Religion civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-12) ] + [ C * (M+3) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Terms between brackets [....] are to be rounded down. So there is a lot of rounding down in these formulas. Note that there is a clear pattern in these formulas, but to keep the format of the formulas somewhat readable, the formulas were presented independently and not in one big formula.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, the total upkeep cost for civics is determined by adding the costs of all of the chosen civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example (for civilization 4 version 1.52):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are playing a game at Noble difficulty level and own 11 cities of sizes: 9, 7, 12, 8, 15, 14, 12, 11, 11, 15 and 14. So your total population is 128. You're running the civics representation, bureaucracy, serfdom, decentralization and organized religion. Your leader has the organized trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then according to the formulas, the upkeep cost for representation (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-8) ] + [0.4 * (11-1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for bureaucracy (medium upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.12 * (128-9) ] + [0.5 * 11 ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (14 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 9] = 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for serfdom (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-10) ] + [0.4 * (11 +1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for decentralization (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-11) ] + [0.4 * (11 +2) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 7] = 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for organized religion (high upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.16 * (128-12) ] + [0.6 * (11 +3) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (18 + 8) ] ] = [0.8 * 13] = 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And thus the total civic upkeep is: 4+7+4+5+10=30.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some repercussions of the way the game calculates the civic upkeep (for civilization 4 version 1.52)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The above formulas are all nice and such, but nobody is really going to use them when playing a game of civilization 4. But they can offer a deeper insight into the workings of the game. This might help you play the game a little better or help create a nice balanced mod for the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The no upkeep classification is a pretty big advantage for a civic. The difference in upkeep between no upkeep and low upkeep is larger than the difference between low upkeep and high upkeep. Especially in empires with lots of large cities, the no upkeep classification is very powerful.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In empires with small cities, the differences in upkeep classification don't mean very much (with exception of the above noted no upkeep classification). In empires with large cities, the high upkeep civics cost almost twice as much as the low upkeep civics. The medium upkeep civics have a cost halfway the low and high upkeep civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Because the civic upkeep is higher at the higher difficulty levels, the organized trait is a more interesting trait at these higher difficulty levels. You can already notice this right from the start of the game. Normally at the highest difficulty levels, you can not set your research slider at 100%. But if you start with the organized trait, you can research at 100% getting those first few technologies a bit sooner. Later in the game, you will probably also be able to set the research slider at a higher rate thanks to the reduced cost of civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep limits fast expansion. When you start developing your empire, then your cities tend to be small and don't make a lot of money. Still a lot of small cities tend to cost a considerable amount in civic upkeep. When the cities grow, the civic upkeep also grows, but not as fast as the commerce production of well developed cities. A city of size 10 will produce far more commerce than a city of size 1 (say 5-20 times as much, depending on how well it is developed), but it will cost less than 3 times as much in civic upkeep. Clearly large cities can cope with civic upkeep cost better than small cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The organized trait has an effect that tends to be a bit larger than halving the civic upkeep, especially at the beginning of the game when the civic upkeep is still low (the reason is the rounding down in the formulas). This can make this trait very interesting for warmongers who tend to get lots of small cities early in the game. The low commerce production of these cities combined with a high upkeep, high civic upkeep and high unit upkeep can spell disaster for warmongers who are a bit too successful in their wars.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The civic upkeep for human players is lower than the civic upkeep for AI's at the levels settler, chieftain, warlord, noble and prince. So while the AI has some advantages at noble level, it also has some disadvantages.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation is a percentage that adds to all types of costs and rises uncontrollably throughout the game. Because inflation can rise as high as 100%, the costs of civics can be doubled in the late game. This might make you rethink using those expensive civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free unit support also grows with population size. So while the cost of maintaining your civics grows when your cities grow, the free support for your units also grows. This means that a growing empire's expenditures don't necessarily increase that fast. If your leader is organized and you're running low cost civics, then the effect of the increase in free unit support could even be greater then the effect of the increase in civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A rule of thumb for the costs of running the lowest cost civics, the highest cost civics and an average cost example. This can be useful to estimate the profitability of a city in the long run before you even found it. You can estimate the amount of cottages needed to make a single city a profitable entity. Of course, not every city has to pay for itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the lowest possible cost (2 low cost civics and 3 no cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.16 gold for each point of population and 0.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the highest cost (3 high cost civics and 2 medium cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.72 gold for each point of population and 2.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use my favorite civics (universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property and organized religion) which have an average cost, then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.44 gold for each point of population and 1.9 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that these costs are reduced at the lower difficulty levels and are halved by the organized trait. Also note that the inflation percentage can increase the costs considerably and almost double these costs in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I guess most people who mod civ4 will find the files by themselves. Still, these files were useful to find some numbers and might as well be mentioned. The modifiers for difficulty level are of course in the file CIV4HandicapInfo.xml named iCivicUpkeepPercent for human players and iAICivicUpkeepPercent for AI's. In the file CIV4UpKeepInfo.xml, the numbers can be found that determine the effects of low, medium and high upkeep costs. In the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml, the upkeep classifications (no upkeep, low, medium, high), can be set for each civic. Also every other effect of civics can be changed in that file.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If more categories of civics are added, then it can be expected that the formulas that determine civic upkeep costs will follow the same pattern. So a sixth category of civics will probably have the following upkeep costs:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-13) ] + [ C * (M+4) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Utility for calculating civic upkeep costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qitai has created an excel spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3776573&amp;postcount=24) which can calculate the civic upkeep cost for you. It can be used to see how civic upkeep cost will develop while you expand your empire. Thanks Qitai!</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Civic Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is a joint contribution to this community by colony and Roland Johansen. We had some trouble getting the formulas in this article exactly right, but after correcting each other a few times, the correct formulas are now known. The article provides information for Civilization 4 versions 1.09 and 1.52 but mainly for version 1.52.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The article is divided in a few sections. The first section is a general introduction in the civic upkeep cost and probably contains no new information for most civilization 4 players. The second section explains how the game determines these costs. If you don't like mathematics and mathematical formulas, then you might want to skip this section and go on to the third section. The third section is about some strategic consequences of the way civilization 4 determines the civic upkeep cost. The fourth section gives some information to modders. It talks about the files where they can change the civic upkeep cost and about the consequences of adding more categories of civics. The last section mentions a utility created by Qitai that can calculate the civic upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost can be found in the financial advisor (F2) and in the change civics menu (F3), but the financial advisor is more useful to get a clear overview of the costs. If you mouse over the civic upkeep section of the financial advisor (F2), then the civic upkeep cost is broken down into the five well known sections: government, legal, labor, economy and religion. The upkeep cost of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification: no upkeep, low, medium or high. A low upkeep labor civic will cost about the same amount in upkeep as a low upkeep economy civic and a high upkeep government civic will cost about the same as a high upkeep religion civic. The change civics menu (F3) allows you to see the upkeep cost of another set of civics when you mouse over or select these civics. You can always cancel the revolution, so there's no risk in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When a set of civics is chosen, then the upkeep cost is largely determined by the size of your empire: the number of cities in your empire (M) and the total size of your population (N). Also the organized trait (O) and the difficulty level (D) will have a large effect on the final upkeep cost. How the game determines the civic upkeep cost from these variables, can be found in the next section.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How the game calculates the civic upkeep cost[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost is dependent on some factors in the game. To make the description of the civic upkeep cost short and hopefully clear, a set of variables is introduced below.[NEWLINE]The upkeep of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification in the game (no upkeep, low, medium or high) in combination with the size of your empire. We denote the number of cities in your empire by M and the total size of your population by N (the sum of the population from all of your cities). The population modifier P determines the civic upkeep of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire of a certain population size (N). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.05 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.10 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.15 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.08 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.12 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.16 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Likewise the number-of-cities modifier C dictates the civic upkeep cost of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire consisting of a certain number of cities (M). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.2 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.5 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Last but not least are the effect of the organized trait, denoted by O and the effect of the difficulty level, denoted by D. The variable O is 1/2 if your civilization is organized and 1 if your civilization is not organized. The difficulty level modifier for the human player is 1 at deity, immortal or emperor level, 0.95 at monarch level, 0.9 at prince level, 0.8 at noble level, 0.7 at warlord level, 0.6 at chieftain level and finally 0.5 at settler level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty level modifier for the AI is 0.6 at deity level, 0.8 at immortal level, 0.85 at emperor level, 0.9 at monarch level, 0.95 at prince level and 1 at the levels below prince.[NEWLINE]It's a bit strange, but the civic upkeep cost is also dependent on the type of civic. A medium cost economy civic is close in upkeep to a medium cost government civic but not exactly the same. I think this was done to avoid the situation where one of your cities grows one unit in population or you build one additional city and suddenly all of your civics will rise in upkeep cost. Because of the small differences in the formulas, this will seldom happen. Take a look at the formulas below and you'll see that there are some minor differences:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Government civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-8) ] + [ C * (M-1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Legal civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-9) ] + [ C * M ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Labor civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-10) ] + [ C * (M+1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Economy civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-11) ] + [ C * (M+2) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Religion civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-12) ] + [ C * (M+3) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Terms between brackets [....] are to be rounded down. So there is a lot of rounding down in these formulas. Note that there is a clear pattern in these formulas, but to keep the format of the formulas somewhat readable, the formulas were presented independently and not in one big formula.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, the total upkeep cost for civics is determined by adding the costs of all of the chosen civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example (for civilization 4 version 1.52):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are playing a game at Noble difficulty level and own 11 cities of sizes: 9, 7, 12, 8, 15, 14, 12, 11, 11, 15 and 14. So your total population is 128. You're running the civics representation, bureaucracy, serfdom, decentralization and organized religion. Your leader has the organized trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then according to the formulas, the upkeep cost for representation (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-8) ] + [0.4 * (11-1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for bureaucracy (medium upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.12 * (128-9) ] + [0.5 * 11 ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (14 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 9] = 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for serfdom (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-10) ] + [0.4 * (11 +1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for decentralization (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-11) ] + [0.4 * (11 +2) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 7] = 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for organized religion (high upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.16 * (128-12) ] + [0.6 * (11 +3) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (18 + 8) ] ] = [0.8 * 13] = 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And thus the total civic upkeep is: 4+7+4+5+10=30.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some repercussions of the way the game calculates the civic upkeep (for civilization 4 version 1.52)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The above formulas are all nice and such, but nobody is really going to use them when playing a game of civilization 4. But they can offer a deeper insight into the workings of the game. This might help you play the game a little better or help create a nice balanced mod for the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The no upkeep classification is a pretty big advantage for a civic. The difference in upkeep between no upkeep and low upkeep is larger than the difference between low upkeep and high upkeep. Especially in empires with lots of large cities, the no upkeep classification is very powerful.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In empires with small cities, the differences in upkeep classification don't mean very much (with exception of the above noted no upkeep classification). In empires with large cities, the high upkeep civics cost almost twice as much as the low upkeep civics. The medium upkeep civics have a cost halfway the low and high upkeep civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Because the civic upkeep is higher at the higher difficulty levels, the organized trait is a more interesting trait at these higher difficulty levels. You can already notice this right from the start of the game. Normally at the highest difficulty levels, you can not set your research slider at 100%. But if you start with the organized trait, you can research at 100% getting those first few technologies a bit sooner. Later in the game, you will probably also be able to set the research slider at a higher rate thanks to the reduced cost of civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep limits fast expansion. When you start developing your empire, then your cities tend to be small and don't make a lot of money. Still a lot of small cities tend to cost a considerable amount in civic upkeep. When the cities grow, the civic upkeep also grows, but not as fast as the commerce production of well developed cities. A city of size 10 will produce far more commerce than a city of size 1 (say 5-20 times as much, depending on how well it is developed), but it will cost less than 3 times as much in civic upkeep. Clearly large cities can cope with civic upkeep cost better than small cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The organized trait has an effect that tends to be a bit larger than halving the civic upkeep, especially at the beginning of the game when the civic upkeep is still low (the reason is the rounding down in the formulas). This can make this trait very interesting for warmongers who tend to get lots of small cities early in the game. The low commerce production of these cities combined with a high upkeep, high civic upkeep and high unit upkeep can spell disaster for warmongers who are a bit too successful in their wars.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The civic upkeep for human players is lower than the civic upkeep for AI's at the levels settler, chieftain, warlord, noble and prince. So while the AI has some advantages at noble level, it also has some disadvantages.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation is a percentage that adds to all types of costs and rises uncontrollably throughout the game. Because inflation can rise as high as 100%, the costs of civics can be doubled in the late game. This might make you rethink using those expensive civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free unit support also grows with population size. So while the cost of maintaining your civics grows when your cities grow, the free support for your units also grows. This means that a growing empire's expenditures don't necessarily increase that fast. If your leader is organized and you're running low cost civics, then the effect of the increase in free unit support could even be greater then the effect of the increase in civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A rule of thumb for the costs of running the lowest cost civics, the highest cost civics and an average cost example. This can be useful to estimate the profitability of a city in the long run before you even found it. You can estimate the amount of cottages needed to make a single city a profitable entity. Of course, not every city has to pay for itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the lowest possible cost (2 low cost civics and 3 no cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.16 gold for each point of population and 0.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the highest cost (3 high cost civics and 2 medium cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.72 gold for each point of population and 2.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use my favorite civics (universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property and organized religion) which have an average cost, then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.44 gold for each point of population and 1.9 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that these costs are reduced at the lower difficulty levels and are halved by the organized trait. Also note that the inflation percentage can increase the costs considerably and almost double these costs in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I guess most people who mod civ4 will find the files by themselves. Still, these files were useful to find some numbers and might as well be mentioned. The modifiers for difficulty level are of course in the file CIV4HandicapInfo.xml named iCivicUpkeepPercent for human players and iAICivicUpkeepPercent for AI's. In the file CIV4UpKeepInfo.xml, the numbers can be found that determine the effects of low, medium and high upkeep costs. In the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml, the upkeep classifications (no upkeep, low, medium, high), can be set for each civic. Also every other effect of civics can be changed in that file.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If more categories of civics are added, then it can be expected that the formulas that determine civic upkeep costs will follow the same pattern. So a sixth category of civics will probably have the following upkeep costs:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-13) ] + [ C * (M+4) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Utility for calculating civic upkeep costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qitai has created an excel spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3776573&amp;postcount=24) which can calculate the civic upkeep cost for you. It can be used to see how civic upkeep cost will develop while you expand your empire. Thanks Qitai!</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Civic Upkeep Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Roland Johansen[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article is a joint contribution to this community by colony and Roland Johansen. We had some trouble getting the formulas in this article exactly right, but after correcting each other a few times, the correct formulas are now known. The article provides information for Civilization 4 versions 1.09 and 1.52 but mainly for version 1.52.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The article is divided in a few sections. The first section is a general introduction in the civic upkeep cost and probably contains no new information for most civilization 4 players. The second section explains how the game determines these costs. If you don't like mathematics and mathematical formulas, then you might want to skip this section and go on to the third section. The third section is about some strategic consequences of the way civilization 4 determines the civic upkeep cost. The fourth section gives some information to modders. It talks about the files where they can change the civic upkeep cost and about the consequences of adding more categories of civics. The last section mentions a utility created by Qitai that can calculate the civic upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Introduction[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost can be found in the financial advisor (F2) and in the change civics menu (F3), but the financial advisor is more useful to get a clear overview of the costs. If you mouse over the civic upkeep section of the financial advisor (F2), then the civic upkeep cost is broken down into the five well known sections: government, legal, labor, economy and religion. The upkeep cost of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification: no upkeep, low, medium or high. A low upkeep labor civic will cost about the same amount in upkeep as a low upkeep economy civic and a high upkeep government civic will cost about the same as a high upkeep religion civic. The change civics menu (F3) allows you to see the upkeep cost of another set of civics when you mouse over or select these civics. You can always cancel the revolution, so there's no risk in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When a set of civics is chosen, then the upkeep cost is largely determined by the size of your empire: the number of cities in your empire (M) and the total size of your population (N). Also the organized trait (O) and the difficulty level (D) will have a large effect on the final upkeep cost. How the game determines the civic upkeep cost from these variables, can be found in the next section.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]How the game calculates the civic upkeep cost[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The civic upkeep cost is dependent on some factors in the game. To make the description of the civic upkeep cost short and hopefully clear, a set of variables is introduced below.[NEWLINE]The upkeep of a civic is largely determined by its upkeep classification in the game (no upkeep, low, medium or high) in combination with the size of your empire. We denote the number of cities in your empire by M and the total size of your population by N (the sum of the population from all of your cities). The population modifier P determines the civic upkeep of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire of a certain population size (N). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.05 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.10 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.15 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable P is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.08 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.12 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.16 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Likewise the number-of-cities modifier C dictates the civic upkeep cost of running a civic of a certain upkeep classification in an empire consisting of a certain number of cities (M). In civilization 4 version 1.09, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.2 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost. In civilization 4 version 1.52, the variable C is equal to 0 for civics with no upkeep cost, 0.4 for civics with low upkeep cost, 0.5 for civics with medium upkeep cost and 0.6 for civics with high upkeep cost.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Last but not least are the effect of the organized trait, denoted by O and the effect of the difficulty level, denoted by D. The variable O is 1/2 if your civilization is organized and 1 if your civilization is not organized. The difficulty level modifier for the human player is 1 at deity, immortal or emperor level, 0.95 at monarch level, 0.9 at prince level, 0.8 at noble level, 0.7 at warlord level, 0.6 at chieftain level and finally 0.5 at settler level.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The difficulty level modifier for the AI is 0.6 at deity level, 0.8 at immortal level, 0.85 at emperor level, 0.9 at monarch level, 0.95 at prince level and 1 at the levels below prince.[NEWLINE]It's a bit strange, but the civic upkeep cost is also dependent on the type of civic. A medium cost economy civic is close in upkeep to a medium cost government civic but not exactly the same. I think this was done to avoid the situation where one of your cities grows one unit in population or you build one additional city and suddenly all of your civics will rise in upkeep cost. Because of the small differences in the formulas, this will seldom happen. Take a look at the formulas below and you'll see that there are some minor differences:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Government civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-8) ] + [ C * (M-1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Legal civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-9) ] + [ C * M ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Labor civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-10) ] + [ C * (M+1) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Economy civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-11) ] + [ C * (M+2) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE]Religion civics upkeep:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-12) ] + [ C * (M+3) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Terms between brackets [....] are to be rounded down. So there is a lot of rounding down in these formulas. Note that there is a clear pattern in these formulas, but to keep the format of the formulas somewhat readable, the formulas were presented independently and not in one big formula.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course, the total upkeep cost for civics is determined by adding the costs of all of the chosen civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An example (for civilization 4 version 1.52):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are playing a game at Noble difficulty level and own 11 cities of sizes: 9, 7, 12, 8, 15, 14, 12, 11, 11, 15 and 14. So your total population is 128. You're running the civics representation, bureaucracy, serfdom, decentralization and organized religion. Your leader has the organized trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Then according to the formulas, the upkeep cost for representation (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-8) ] + [0.4 * (11-1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for bureaucracy (medium upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.12 * (128-9) ] + [0.5 * 11 ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (14 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 9] = 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for serfdom (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-10) ] + [0.4 * (11 +1) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 4) ] ] = [0.8 * 6] = 4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for decentralization (low upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.08 * (128-11) ] + [0.4 * (11 +2) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (9 + 5) ] ] = [0.8 * 7] = 5.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The upkeep cost for organized religion (high upkeep) is:[NEWLINE][0.8 * [ 0.5 * ( [ 0.16 * (128-12) ] + [0.6 * (11 +3) ] ) ] ] = [0.8 * [ 0.5 * (18 + 8) ] ] = [0.8 * 13] = 10.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And thus the total civic upkeep is: 4+7+4+5+10=30.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some repercussions of the way the game calculates the civic upkeep (for civilization 4 version 1.52)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The above formulas are all nice and such, but nobody is really going to use them when playing a game of civilization 4. But they can offer a deeper insight into the workings of the game. This might help you play the game a little better or help create a nice balanced mod for the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The no upkeep classification is a pretty big advantage for a civic. The difference in upkeep between no upkeep and low upkeep is larger than the difference between low upkeep and high upkeep. Especially in empires with lots of large cities, the no upkeep classification is very powerful.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In empires with small cities, the differences in upkeep classification don't mean very much (with exception of the above noted no upkeep classification). In empires with large cities, the high upkeep civics cost almost twice as much as the low upkeep civics. The medium upkeep civics have a cost halfway the low and high upkeep civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Because the civic upkeep is higher at the higher difficulty levels, the organized trait is a more interesting trait at these higher difficulty levels. You can already notice this right from the start of the game. Normally at the highest difficulty levels, you can not set your research slider at 100%. But if you start with the organized trait, you can research at 100% getting those first few technologies a bit sooner. Later in the game, you will probably also be able to set the research slider at a higher rate thanks to the reduced cost of civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Civic upkeep limits fast expansion. When you start developing your empire, then your cities tend to be small and don't make a lot of money. Still a lot of small cities tend to cost a considerable amount in civic upkeep. When the cities grow, the civic upkeep also grows, but not as fast as the commerce production of well developed cities. A city of size 10 will produce far more commerce than a city of size 1 (say 5-20 times as much, depending on how well it is developed), but it will cost less than 3 times as much in civic upkeep. Clearly large cities can cope with civic upkeep cost better than small cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The organized trait has an effect that tends to be a bit larger than halving the civic upkeep, especially at the beginning of the game when the civic upkeep is still low (the reason is the rounding down in the formulas). This can make this trait very interesting for warmongers who tend to get lots of small cities early in the game. The low commerce production of these cities combined with a high upkeep, high civic upkeep and high unit upkeep can spell disaster for warmongers who are a bit too successful in their wars.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The civic upkeep for human players is lower than the civic upkeep for AI's at the levels settler, chieftain, warlord, noble and prince. So while the AI has some advantages at noble level, it also has some disadvantages.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation is a percentage that adds to all types of costs and rises uncontrollably throughout the game. Because inflation can rise as high as 100%, the costs of civics can be doubled in the late game. This might make you rethink using those expensive civics.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Free unit support also grows with population size. So while the cost of maintaining your civics grows when your cities grow, the free support for your units also grows. This means that a growing empire's expenditures don't necessarily increase that fast. If your leader is organized and you're running low cost civics, then the effect of the increase in free unit support could even be greater then the effect of the increase in civic upkeep.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A rule of thumb for the costs of running the lowest cost civics, the highest cost civics and an average cost example. This can be useful to estimate the profitability of a city in the long run before you even found it. You can estimate the amount of cottages needed to make a single city a profitable entity. Of course, not every city has to pay for itself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the lowest possible cost (2 low cost civics and 3 no cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.16 gold for each point of population and 0.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use the civics in the game with the highest cost (3 high cost civics and 2 medium cost civics), then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.72 gold for each point of population and 2.8 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you use my favorite civics (universal suffrage, free speech, emancipation, state property and organized religion) which have an average cost, then the civic upkeep cost will be 0.44 gold for each point of population and 1.9 gold for each city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that these costs are reduced at the lower difficulty levels and are halved by the organized trait. Also note that the inflation percentage can increase the costs considerably and almost double these costs in the late game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some information for modders[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I guess most people who mod civ4 will find the files by themselves. Still, these files were useful to find some numbers and might as well be mentioned. The modifiers for difficulty level are of course in the file CIV4HandicapInfo.xml named iCivicUpkeepPercent for human players and iAICivicUpkeepPercent for AI's. In the file CIV4UpKeepInfo.xml, the numbers can be found that determine the effects of low, medium and high upkeep costs. In the file CIV4CivicInfos.xml, the upkeep classifications (no upkeep, low, medium, high), can be set for each civic. Also every other effect of civics can be changed in that file.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If more categories of civics are added, then it can be expected that the formulas that determine civic upkeep costs will follow the same pattern. So a sixth category of civics will probably have the following upkeep costs:[NEWLINE][D * [ O * ( [ P * (N-13) ] + [ C * (M+4) ] ) ] ][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Utility for calculating civic upkeep costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qitai has created an excel spreadsheet (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=3776573&amp;postcount=24) which can calculate the civic upkeep cost for you. It can be used to see how civic upkeep cost will develop while you expand your empire. Thanks Qitai!</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CORP_MAINT_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Corporate Maintenance Explained[\H1][\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]OTAKUjbski[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to offer in-depth strategies on how to manage Corporations, though understanding their mechanics lends itself to better utilizing them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to be a discussion about whether Corporations are working as Firaxis intended them to be or if there is room for improvement, though in revealing the mechanics, it is bound to incite debate over whether they are adequately balanced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This post [BOLD]is[\BOLD] meant as an explanation and a revelation of "the man behind the curtain". After reading this article, you should fully understand the different elements of Corporate Maintenance and how to fully calculate its impact on any of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So here we go ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents (this article's pretty long)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Basics: Some Definitions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]The Formula[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]An Example[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]A Comparison Using The Example[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Other Articles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In Closing[NEWLINE]([ICON_BULLET]The Cost of Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Basics: Some Definitions (see the Civilopedia also)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following definitions represent a brief introduction to some of the different relevant Corporate elements I may refer to during this post.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]To reduce the length of this post and get you to the part you probably came for quicker and more easily, I've hidden the definitions in spoiler tags. If you're already familiar with Corporations, you may wish to skip this section.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporations[COLOR_REVERT]. There are seven Corporations in BtS. Once you have both the "Corporation" technology (thanks to oedali for the reminder) and the technology enabling the particular Corporation's founding, you may found that Corporation by expending a Great Person to build its Corporate Headquarters building in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Corporations provide benefits to cities they are spread to in exchange for Corporate Fees, which manifest as City Maintenance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I won't be going into detail about Resource Consumption and Corporate Competition, it is important to note that a Corporation cannot be founded in or spread to a city without access to any of its consumed resources and can never be founded in a city where a competitor's Corporate Headquarters is already present.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Headquarters[COLOR_REVERT]. Every Corporation has only one Headquarters building -- present only in the city in which the Corporation was founded. Only a Great Person can build a Corporate Headquarters (and thus found the Corporation) and is consumed in doing so. The Corporate Headquarters also indicates the presence of the Corporation and thus provides the Corporation's benefits and incurs the appropriate Corporate Fees. The primary benefit of a Corporate Headquarters is that it generates +4 [ICON_GOLD] for every city with one of its Corporate Offices (i.e, that the Corporation has spread to).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's worth noting a Corporate Headquarters building [BOLD]can only be built once[\BOLD]. If the Corporate Headquarters is destroyed, it is lost forever. To the best of my knowledge, the Corporate Headquarters can only be destroyed if the city it's in is conquered and razed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Office[COLOR_REVERT]. The presence of a Corporate Office in a city indicates the represented Corporation is present in the city. Thus, that city will incur the appropriate Corporate Fees in exchange for the Corporation's benefits. The Corporate Headquarters doubles as a Corporate Office.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporation[COLOR_REVERT]. A Foreign Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is not present in one of your cities (i.e., is not controlled by your civilization). A Domestic Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is present in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporate Office.[COLOR_REVERT] A Foreign Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in a foreign city -- regardless of whether it represents a Foreign or Domestic Corporation. Likewise, a Domestic Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in one of your cities -- even if the Corporate Headquarters is controlled by a foreign power.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The distinction between "foreign" and "domestic" is especially important when discussing the effects of the Mercantilism and State Property Civics later on.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Executive[COLOR_REVERT]. Corporations are spread by Corporate Executives. These units can only be built in a city where the Corporation's Headquarters or Office is present. A Corporate Executive can only spread the Corporation he represents to one city and is consumed in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that expanding a Corporation (spreading it) requires an initial 'investment', which is deducted from your treasury at the time of expansion. It is also worth noting that foreign expansion and expanding a Corporation to a city where one of its competitors' Corporate Offices is already present both increase the initial cost of expansion. ([BOLD]The Cost of Expansion[\BOLD]: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6106402#Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Free Market[COLOR_REVERT]. The Free Market Civic reduces Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Free Market is that its reduction is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this reduction comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Environmentalism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Environmentalism Civic increases Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Environmentalism is that its increase is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this increase comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Mercantilism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Mercantilism Civic negates the effects of all [BOLD]Foreign[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. Any Foreign Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Foreign Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the Mercantilism Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of Mercantilism:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporations cannot be founded (this is popularly viewed as a bug and is fixed in Bhruic's Unofficial BtS 3.13 patch: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6019403#post6019403).[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You do not have to buyout Foreign Corporate Offices when spreading Domestic Corporations. (thanks to jkp1187 for the reminder.)[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train a Corporate Executive for any Foreign Corporation.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporate Headquarters do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]State Property[COLOR_REVERT]. The State Property Civic negates the effects of [BOLD]all[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. All Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the State Property Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of State Property:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives. ([BOLD]This includes founding Domestic Corporations.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train any Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporate Headquarters (both foreign and domestic) do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your Domestic Corporate Headquarters continue to gain +4 gold for every one of your Foreign Corporate Offices not under the Mercantilism or State Property Civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]City Improvements (Buildings)[COLOR_REVERT]. All Corporate Fees and benefits are raw yield values. This is important, because any buildings which reduce maintenance (i.e., Courthouse, Rathaus, etc.) or increase tile/specialist yields (i.e., Library, Forge, Wall Street, etc.) apply their appropriate affects to the Corporations' Fees or Benefits -- thus decreasing its impact and increasing its yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation is the last calculation applied to any Corporate Fees and is thus after all other factors are weighed. However, as of BtS patch 3.13, there is an additional factor applied during the calculation of the Corporate Fees which serves to reduce Corporate Fees and negate inflation. So, the most important thing to note is that [BOLD]inflation has no net effect on Corporate Maintenance in 3.13.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bear with me through this next section, because this one has all the math. A couple things to note first:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a. Each city calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other cities in your empire.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]b. Each Corporate Office calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other Corporate Offices in the same city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]c. All Corporate Offices calculate their Corporate Fees identically (can be changed via the variable &lt;iMaintenance&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are seven factors which determine a Corporate Office's Fees. These only take affect if a Corporation is consuming one or more resources in the city. (I.e, a Corporate Office denied access to the appropriate resources generates no fees but still provides +4 gold to its Corporate Headquarters):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Rate[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the base value of the Corporate Fees as well as the value of the Corporate Office to the Corporate Headquarters. (Default Value is 4.) Variable [BOLD]H[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarters) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml. H = &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Map Size[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the value of each resource consumed by the Corporate Office. Variable [BOLD]S[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Duel: S = 4.0[NEWLINE]Tiny: S = 2.0[NEWLINE]Small: S = 1.5[NEWLINE]Standard: S = 1.0[NEWLINE]Large: S = 0.75[NEWLINE]Huge: S = 0.50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4WorldInfo.xml. S = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Number of resources consumed[COLOR_REVERT]. Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Population[COLOR_REVERT]. Every population point over 1 increases the Fees by 1/18th of the basic rate, ( H + R * S ). Variable [BOLD]P[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]P[\BOLD] = ( Population + 17 ) / 18[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Difficulty[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 10% increments above/below Noble. Variable [BOLD]D[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Settler: D = 0.7[NEWLINE]Chieftain: D = 0.8[NEWLINE]Warlord: D = 0.9[NEWLINE]Noble: D = 1.0[NEWLINE]Prince: D = 1.1[NEWLINE]Monarch: D = 1.2[NEWLINE]Emperor: D = 1.3[NEWLINE]Immortal: D = 1.4[NEWLINE]Deity: D = 1.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4HandicapInfo.xml. D = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Economy Civic[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 25%. Variable [BOLD]C[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Decentralization: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Mercantilism: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Free Market: C = 0.75[NEWLINE]State Property: C = 0.00[NEWLINE]Environmentalism: C = 1.25[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; in CIV4CivicsInfo.xml C = 1 + &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Used to [BOLD]reduce[\BOLD] the Corporate Fees by an amount equal to the Inflation Rate -- thus negating the effects of Inflation. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = InflationRate / 100 + 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A special thanks to Bhruic and Solver for pointing out where this formula is hardcoded in CvGameCoreDLL.dll:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lines 5510 through 5553 in CvCity.cpp[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]int CvCity::calculateCorporationMaintenanceTimes100(CorporationTypes eCorporation) const[NEWLINE]{[NEWLINE][TAB]int iMaintenance = 0;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]for (int iCommerce = 0; iCommerce &lt; NUM_COMMERCE_TYPES; ++iCommerce)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance += 100 * GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getHeadquarterCommerce(iCommerce);[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iNumBonuses = 0;[NEWLINE][TAB]for (int i = 0; i &lt; GC.getNUM_CORPORATION_PREREQ_BONUSES(); ++i)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]BonusTypes eBonus = (BonusTypes)GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getPrereqBonus(i);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]if (NO_BONUS != eBonus)[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB]iNumBonuses += getNumBonuses(eBonus);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]}[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iBonusMaintenance = GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getMaintenance() * iNumBonuses;[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance *= GC.getWorldInfo(GC.getMapINLINE().getWorldSize()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance += iBonusMaintenance;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= (getPopulation() + 17);[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 18;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= GC.getHandicapInfo(getHandicapType()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= std::max(0, (GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).getCorporationMaintenanceModifier() + 100));[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iInflation = GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).calculateInflationRate() + 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]if (iInflation &gt; 0)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance *= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance /= iInflation;[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]FAssert(iMaintenance &gt;= 0);[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]return iMaintenance;[NEWLINE]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R * S ) * P * D * C / I[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or-[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( Base[BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarterCommerce + [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources * map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize ) * [BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier * [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty * [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivicsModifier / [BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflationModifier[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or- as executed 'verbose':[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Take the number of [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources the Corporation is using and multiply it by the Map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize modifier then add 4.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Add 17 to the population of the city then divide the result by 18. ([BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Multiply the results of step #1 and step #2.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Multiply the result of step #3 by the [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty modifier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Multiply the result of step #4 by the [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivics modifier.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the NET value of your Corporate Fees and represents the actual, post-Inflation cost of your Corporate Office. [BOLD]You should use this value for comparisons and calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Divide the current inflation percentage by 100 then add 1. ([BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflation)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Divide the result of step #5 by the result of step #6.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the GROSS value of your Corporate Fees and only represents what you see in the City Maintenance box. After Inflation is added, your actual payments will be the net value from step #5. [BOLD]You should not use this value for any comparisons or calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Fin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's start with the following:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Population 20.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cereal Mills -- 2 Corn, 2 Rice, 3 Wheat[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Mining Inc -- 1 Copper, 2 Gold, 4 Iron, 2 Silver[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Noble Difficulty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Standard Map Size.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation = negligible. Since Inflation is only valid when determining the gross value of the Corporate Fees, I will not be factoring inflation for this example. This means I'll be working with the actual, net cost of the Corporate Office -- thus ensuring an accurate comparison.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Variables:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE]R1 = 7 (Cereal Mills)[NEWLINE]R2 = 9 (Mining Inc)[NEWLINE]S = 1.0[NEWLINE]P = ( 17 + 20 ) / 18 = 2.0555...[NEWLINE]C = 1.0[NEWLINE]D = 1.0[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cereal Mills:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R1 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 7 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 11 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 22.61[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mining Inc:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R2 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 9 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 13 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 26.72[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The combined Corporate Fees in this situation total -49.33 [ICON_GOLD].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]The total provisions are +5.25 [ICON_FOOD], +9 [ICON_PRODUCTION].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]A Comparison Using The Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first glance, this appears to be a lot, but let's compare this and dig a little deeper:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5.25 [ICON_FOOD] is enough to allow your city to work two Desert Incenses (12 commerce) and a Plains/Tundra/GHill Town (5 commerce).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 + 12 = 17 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 raw commerce run through a Library = 17 * 1.25 = 21.25 [ICON_RESEARCH][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]21.25 / 22.61 = 0.94 science per gold (not a bad ratio with just a Library/Market and no Courthouse)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]22.61 run through a Courthouse = 22.61 * 0.5 = 11.30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 / 11.30 = 1.5 commerce per gold (If you can come out ahead with no Library, you're turning a profit)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 commerce in 'fully upgraded' (+100%) city = 34 commerce[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]34 / 11.30 = 3.00 commerce per gold (that's pretty damn good, imo)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's only the tip of the iceberg, because with Courthouses and Free Market, you can drastically push down the Fees. And with Universities &amp; Banks and especially with Wall Street &amp; Oxford University, you can increase the net value from any commerce tiles or specialists yields to soaring heights. (And don't forget about Representation, Free Speech/Bureaucracy and the Financial trait.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's also keep in mind that +food can be used however you want. It can be used to work even more production tiles in Ironworks or to run 2 more specialists in your GP farm or a couple hill-top Towns in your Wall Street ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also, though I won't go into how it's calculated, 2.5 extra population in a coastal city has the potential to significantly boost your international trade rates -- especially if you have a Customs House in place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And finally, an immeasurable value to increased population is more votes in the United Nations and Apostolic Palace as well as putting you closer to the population requirement for a Domination Victory![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9 [ICON_PRODUCTION] is worth 27 [ICON_GOLD] when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage (3 gold per hammer for non-Wonders &amp; 6 gold per hammer for Wonders.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 / 26.72 = 1.01:1.00 gold (even with no +production bonuses, using Mining Inc in this situation is break even compared to rush-buying.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 * 6 = 54 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production if put toward a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]54 / 26.72 = 2.02:1.00 gold (clearly a better conversion by comparison to rush-buying a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 hammers in the Ironworks city = 9 * 3 = 27 actual [ICON_PRODUCTION][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 * 3 = 81 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production after +200% bonuses from Powered Ironworks is factored in.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]81 / 26.72 = 3.03:1.00 gold (holy crap! that's [BOLD]3 times better[\BOLD] than rush-buying under Universal Suffrage!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As with the Cereal Mills comparison above, this is only the beginning. There are a couple immeasurable values to Mining Inc when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You don't have to be in Universal Suffrage to use Mining Inc.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Rush-buying with Universal Suffrage doesn't factor in production bonuses ... Mining Inc does.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Projects and Space Ship parts can't be rush-bought at all ... Mining Inc's production applies to anything built (and remember, it gets the production bonus from Aluminum for Space Ship parts!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just in case that isn't enough, imagine this bonus on a flat, Archipelago, where half your cities are lucky to have 10 production. In that situation, Mining Inc represents a 100% boost to production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Your Corporate Fees can be pushed down even to the point of making a profit if you (ab)use Free Market, Courthouses (especially the Rathaus and Ikhanda) and the Corporate Headquarters:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]With a Courthouse: Fees * 0.5 = -24.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Adding the Corporate Headquarters in your city with Wall Street: Fees * 0.5 + 12 gold per office [+24] = -0.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Controlling the Corporate Headquarters (especially if next to Wall Street) all but guarantees your Domestic Corporate Offices can balance their Fees or even turn a profit![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]And now under Free Market: Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 = +5.5 gold:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Malinese Empire with a Mint? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 * 1.1 = +7.9 gold![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Zulu Empire with an Ikhanda, too? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 * 0.8 + 24 = +9.2 gold !![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Holy Roman Empire with a Rathaus? Fees * 0.75 * 0.25 + 24 = +14.75 gold !!![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lower you can get the Corporate Fees by reduction and offset domestically, the higher your tolerance becomes for spreading Corporations throughout your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can turn a profit or break-even without even considering the Corporate Benefits, you pretty much have the go-ahead to spread your Corporation(s) to every city in your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Not withstanding Aluminum Co. &amp; Standard Ethanol, Corporations appear to be tools by which we can convert gold (in the form of Corporate Fees/Maintenance) into [ICON_FOOD], [ICON_PRODUCTION], [ICON_CULTURE] &amp; [ICON_RESEARCH].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, expect your Domestic Corporate Offices to not turn individual profits (even more so for any Foreign Corporations). You should weigh the Corporate Fees against the benefits to determine if the exchange is worth it in your situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found a Corporation, try your damnedest to build the Corporate Headquarters in the same city as Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporations are not like Religions -- they can cost you a lot of money if you're not careful. If you spread them 'carte blanche' to your cities, you run the risk of unnecessarily digging yourself into a hole.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporate Offices can become very expensive. Don't build Corporate Offices 'carte blanche'. Consider the Benefits and weigh them against the Fees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You can balance Domestic Corporate Fees by [BOLD]also[\BOLD] spreading your Corporations abroad (preferably to civilizations lacking the right resources to get full use out of them).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you're relying on Foreign Corporate Offices to pay your bills, you may want to keep Spies on hand to Influence Civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Peaceful Colonies &amp; Vassals and Friendly neighbors are prime candidates for incorporation abroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A Courthouse is a MUST for incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Boost your Corporations' provisions by building appropriate +[ICON_PRODUCTION]/[ICON_RESEARCH]/[ICON_GOLD]/[ICON_CULTURE]% buildings in incorporated cities. In this respect, your Megalopolises (i.e., your National Wonder cities) should make the best incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Small cities benefit proportionally more from incorporation than large cities, because small cities incur lower Corporate Fees. Against your instincts, you may wish to prioritize your 'fishing village' or your 'hunting camp' for incorporation before your Metropolises (i.e., mid-sized-non National Wonder cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Balance your Corporations' provisions by utilizing +[ICON_FOOD] to run specialists or to work high-yield tiles such as Resources and Cottages. (Such as Desert Incense and hilltop Towns as in [BOLD]The Example[\BOLD].)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Articles[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Fantastic Four: Corporate Culture Powerhouse by OTAKUjbski (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5701209#post5701209)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporation: The Power of Sushi by MrCynical (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5809760#post5809760)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]In Closing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Special thanks especially to Roland Johansen for simplifying the formula and giving great insight on some missing and confusing content.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I want more in-depth external links and am always open to suggestions ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- my 2 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Cost of Expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intial cost of expansion is the 100 [ICON_PRODUCTION] (Normal speed) it costs to train the Corporate Executive. Debate still exists about the actual value of a hammer; I value 1 [BOLD]raw[\BOLD] hammer at 3 [ICON_GOLD]. Given this assumption, this is how much the Executive 'costs' given various production bonuses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+000%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.00 * 3 = 300 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+025%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.25 * 3 = 240 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+050%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.50 * 3 = 200 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+075%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.75 * 3 = 172 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+100%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.00 * 3 = 150 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+125%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.25 * 3 = 134 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+150%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.50 * 3 = 120 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+175%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.75 * 3 = 110 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+200%.[\BOLD] 100 / 3.00 * 3 = 100 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 elements to the cost of Corporate Office expansion:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Cost[COLOR_REVERT]. 50 [ICON_GOLD] Variable [BOLD]B[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadCost&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation increases the base cost of expansion. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = 1 + InflationRate / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Location (foreign v. domestic)[COLOR_REVERT]. Foreign expansion doubles the cost. Variable [BOLD]L[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If domestic; L = 1[NEWLINE]If foreign; L = 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Competition[COLOR_REVERT]. Forces a buyout -- increasing the cost (default is triple). Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]R[\BOLD]ivalry) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If NO competition is present; R = 1[NEWLINE]If competition IS present; R = 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE]R = 1 + &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]B * I * L * R[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]With 28% Inflation (I = 1.28), buyout (R = 3) in a Foreign City (L = 2).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 * 1.28 * 2 * 3 = 384 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]If you had trained the Corporate Executive in a city with a Forge and an unpowered Factory (+50% production), you could also factor in another 200 gold to the base cost of expansion.[\BOLD]</English>
		<French>[H1]Corporate Maintenance Explained[\H1][\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]OTAKUjbski[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to offer in-depth strategies on how to manage Corporations, though understanding their mechanics lends itself to better utilizing them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to be a discussion about whether Corporations are working as Firaxis intended them to be or if there is room for improvement, though in revealing the mechanics, it is bound to incite debate over whether they are adequately balanced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This post [BOLD]is[\BOLD] meant as an explanation and a revelation of "the man behind the curtain". After reading this article, you should fully understand the different elements of Corporate Maintenance and how to fully calculate its impact on any of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So here we go ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents (this article's pretty long)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Basics: Some Definitions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]The Formula[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]An Example[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]A Comparison Using The Example[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Other Articles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In Closing[NEWLINE]([ICON_BULLET]The Cost of Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Basics: Some Definitions (see the Civilopedia also)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following definitions represent a brief introduction to some of the different relevant Corporate elements I may refer to during this post.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]To reduce the length of this post and get you to the part you probably came for quicker and more easily, I've hidden the definitions in spoiler tags. If you're already familiar with Corporations, you may wish to skip this section.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporations[COLOR_REVERT]. There are seven Corporations in BtS. Once you have both the "Corporation" technology (thanks to oedali for the reminder) and the technology enabling the particular Corporation's founding, you may found that Corporation by expending a Great Person to build its Corporate Headquarters building in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Corporations provide benefits to cities they are spread to in exchange for Corporate Fees, which manifest as City Maintenance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I won't be going into detail about Resource Consumption and Corporate Competition, it is important to note that a Corporation cannot be founded in or spread to a city without access to any of its consumed resources and can never be founded in a city where a competitor's Corporate Headquarters is already present.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Headquarters[COLOR_REVERT]. Every Corporation has only one Headquarters building -- present only in the city in which the Corporation was founded. Only a Great Person can build a Corporate Headquarters (and thus found the Corporation) and is consumed in doing so. The Corporate Headquarters also indicates the presence of the Corporation and thus provides the Corporation's benefits and incurs the appropriate Corporate Fees. The primary benefit of a Corporate Headquarters is that it generates +4 [ICON_GOLD] for every city with one of its Corporate Offices (i.e, that the Corporation has spread to).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's worth noting a Corporate Headquarters building [BOLD]can only be built once[\BOLD]. If the Corporate Headquarters is destroyed, it is lost forever. To the best of my knowledge, the Corporate Headquarters can only be destroyed if the city it's in is conquered and razed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Office[COLOR_REVERT]. The presence of a Corporate Office in a city indicates the represented Corporation is present in the city. Thus, that city will incur the appropriate Corporate Fees in exchange for the Corporation's benefits. The Corporate Headquarters doubles as a Corporate Office.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporation[COLOR_REVERT]. A Foreign Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is not present in one of your cities (i.e., is not controlled by your civilization). A Domestic Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is present in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporate Office.[COLOR_REVERT] A Foreign Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in a foreign city -- regardless of whether it represents a Foreign or Domestic Corporation. Likewise, a Domestic Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in one of your cities -- even if the Corporate Headquarters is controlled by a foreign power.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The distinction between "foreign" and "domestic" is especially important when discussing the effects of the Mercantilism and State Property Civics later on.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Executive[COLOR_REVERT]. Corporations are spread by Corporate Executives. These units can only be built in a city where the Corporation's Headquarters or Office is present. A Corporate Executive can only spread the Corporation he represents to one city and is consumed in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that expanding a Corporation (spreading it) requires an initial 'investment', which is deducted from your treasury at the time of expansion. It is also worth noting that foreign expansion and expanding a Corporation to a city where one of its competitors' Corporate Offices is already present both increase the initial cost of expansion. ([BOLD]The Cost of Expansion[\BOLD]: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6106402#Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Free Market[COLOR_REVERT]. The Free Market Civic reduces Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Free Market is that its reduction is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this reduction comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Environmentalism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Environmentalism Civic increases Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Environmentalism is that its increase is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this increase comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Mercantilism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Mercantilism Civic negates the effects of all [BOLD]Foreign[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. Any Foreign Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Foreign Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the Mercantilism Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of Mercantilism:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporations cannot be founded (this is popularly viewed as a bug and is fixed in Bhruic's Unofficial BtS 3.13 patch: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6019403#post6019403).[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You do not have to buyout Foreign Corporate Offices when spreading Domestic Corporations. (thanks to jkp1187 for the reminder.)[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train a Corporate Executive for any Foreign Corporation.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporate Headquarters do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]State Property[COLOR_REVERT]. The State Property Civic negates the effects of [BOLD]all[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. All Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the State Property Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of State Property:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives. ([BOLD]This includes founding Domestic Corporations.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train any Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporate Headquarters (both foreign and domestic) do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your Domestic Corporate Headquarters continue to gain +4 gold for every one of your Foreign Corporate Offices not under the Mercantilism or State Property Civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]City Improvements (Buildings)[COLOR_REVERT]. All Corporate Fees and benefits are raw yield values. This is important, because any buildings which reduce maintenance (i.e., Courthouse, Rathaus, etc.) or increase tile/specialist yields (i.e., Library, Forge, Wall Street, etc.) apply their appropriate affects to the Corporations' Fees or Benefits -- thus decreasing its impact and increasing its yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation is the last calculation applied to any Corporate Fees and is thus after all other factors are weighed. However, as of BtS patch 3.13, there is an additional factor applied during the calculation of the Corporate Fees which serves to reduce Corporate Fees and negate inflation. So, the most important thing to note is that [BOLD]inflation has no net effect on Corporate Maintenance in 3.13.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bear with me through this next section, because this one has all the math. A couple things to note first:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a. Each city calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other cities in your empire.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]b. Each Corporate Office calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other Corporate Offices in the same city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]c. All Corporate Offices calculate their Corporate Fees identically (can be changed via the variable &lt;iMaintenance&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are seven factors which determine a Corporate Office's Fees. These only take affect if a Corporation is consuming one or more resources in the city. (I.e, a Corporate Office denied access to the appropriate resources generates no fees but still provides +4 gold to its Corporate Headquarters):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Rate[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the base value of the Corporate Fees as well as the value of the Corporate Office to the Corporate Headquarters. (Default Value is 4.) Variable [BOLD]H[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarters) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml. H = &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Map Size[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the value of each resource consumed by the Corporate Office. Variable [BOLD]S[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Duel: S = 4.0[NEWLINE]Tiny: S = 2.0[NEWLINE]Small: S = 1.5[NEWLINE]Standard: S = 1.0[NEWLINE]Large: S = 0.75[NEWLINE]Huge: S = 0.50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4WorldInfo.xml. S = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Number of resources consumed[COLOR_REVERT]. Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Population[COLOR_REVERT]. Every population point over 1 increases the Fees by 1/18th of the basic rate, ( H + R * S ). Variable [BOLD]P[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]P[\BOLD] = ( Population + 17 ) / 18[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Difficulty[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 10% increments above/below Noble. Variable [BOLD]D[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Settler: D = 0.7[NEWLINE]Chieftain: D = 0.8[NEWLINE]Warlord: D = 0.9[NEWLINE]Noble: D = 1.0[NEWLINE]Prince: D = 1.1[NEWLINE]Monarch: D = 1.2[NEWLINE]Emperor: D = 1.3[NEWLINE]Immortal: D = 1.4[NEWLINE]Deity: D = 1.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4HandicapInfo.xml. D = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Economy Civic[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 25%. Variable [BOLD]C[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Decentralization: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Mercantilism: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Free Market: C = 0.75[NEWLINE]State Property: C = 0.00[NEWLINE]Environmentalism: C = 1.25[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; in CIV4CivicsInfo.xml C = 1 + &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Used to [BOLD]reduce[\BOLD] the Corporate Fees by an amount equal to the Inflation Rate -- thus negating the effects of Inflation. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = InflationRate / 100 + 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A special thanks to Bhruic and Solver for pointing out where this formula is hardcoded in CvGameCoreDLL.dll:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lines 5510 through 5553 in CvCity.cpp[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]int CvCity::calculateCorporationMaintenanceTimes100(CorporationTypes eCorporation) const[NEWLINE]{[NEWLINE][TAB]int iMaintenance = 0;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]for (int iCommerce = 0; iCommerce &lt; NUM_COMMERCE_TYPES; ++iCommerce)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance += 100 * GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getHeadquarterCommerce(iCommerce);[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iNumBonuses = 0;[NEWLINE][TAB]for (int i = 0; i &lt; GC.getNUM_CORPORATION_PREREQ_BONUSES(); ++i)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]BonusTypes eBonus = (BonusTypes)GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getPrereqBonus(i);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]if (NO_BONUS != eBonus)[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB]iNumBonuses += getNumBonuses(eBonus);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]}[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iBonusMaintenance = GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getMaintenance() * iNumBonuses;[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance *= GC.getWorldInfo(GC.getMapINLINE().getWorldSize()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance += iBonusMaintenance;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= (getPopulation() + 17);[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 18;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= GC.getHandicapInfo(getHandicapType()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= std::max(0, (GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).getCorporationMaintenanceModifier() + 100));[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iInflation = GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).calculateInflationRate() + 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]if (iInflation &gt; 0)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance *= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance /= iInflation;[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]FAssert(iMaintenance &gt;= 0);[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]return iMaintenance;[NEWLINE]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R * S ) * P * D * C / I[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or-[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( Base[BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarterCommerce + [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources * map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize ) * [BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier * [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty * [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivicsModifier / [BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflationModifier[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or- as executed 'verbose':[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Take the number of [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources the Corporation is using and multiply it by the Map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize modifier then add 4.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Add 17 to the population of the city then divide the result by 18. ([BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Multiply the results of step #1 and step #2.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Multiply the result of step #3 by the [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty modifier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Multiply the result of step #4 by the [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivics modifier.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the NET value of your Corporate Fees and represents the actual, post-Inflation cost of your Corporate Office. [BOLD]You should use this value for comparisons and calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Divide the current inflation percentage by 100 then add 1. ([BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflation)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Divide the result of step #5 by the result of step #6.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the GROSS value of your Corporate Fees and only represents what you see in the City Maintenance box. After Inflation is added, your actual payments will be the net value from step #5. [BOLD]You should not use this value for any comparisons or calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Fin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's start with the following:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Population 20.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cereal Mills -- 2 Corn, 2 Rice, 3 Wheat[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Mining Inc -- 1 Copper, 2 Gold, 4 Iron, 2 Silver[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Noble Difficulty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Standard Map Size.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation = negligible. Since Inflation is only valid when determining the gross value of the Corporate Fees, I will not be factoring inflation for this example. This means I'll be working with the actual, net cost of the Corporate Office -- thus ensuring an accurate comparison.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Variables:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE]R1 = 7 (Cereal Mills)[NEWLINE]R2 = 9 (Mining Inc)[NEWLINE]S = 1.0[NEWLINE]P = ( 17 + 20 ) / 18 = 2.0555...[NEWLINE]C = 1.0[NEWLINE]D = 1.0[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cereal Mills:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R1 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 7 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 11 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 22.61[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mining Inc:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R2 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 9 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 13 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 26.72[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The combined Corporate Fees in this situation total -49.33 [ICON_GOLD].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]The total provisions are +5.25 [ICON_FOOD], +9 [ICON_PRODUCTION].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]A Comparison Using The Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first glance, this appears to be a lot, but let's compare this and dig a little deeper:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5.25 [ICON_FOOD] is enough to allow your city to work two Desert Incenses (12 commerce) and a Plains/Tundra/GHill Town (5 commerce).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 + 12 = 17 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 raw commerce run through a Library = 17 * 1.25 = 21.25 [ICON_RESEARCH][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]21.25 / 22.61 = 0.94 science per gold (not a bad ratio with just a Library/Market and no Courthouse)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]22.61 run through a Courthouse = 22.61 * 0.5 = 11.30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 / 11.30 = 1.5 commerce per gold (If you can come out ahead with no Library, you're turning a profit)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 commerce in 'fully upgraded' (+100%) city = 34 commerce[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]34 / 11.30 = 3.00 commerce per gold (that's pretty damn good, imo)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's only the tip of the iceberg, because with Courthouses and Free Market, you can drastically push down the Fees. And with Universities &amp; Banks and especially with Wall Street &amp; Oxford University, you can increase the net value from any commerce tiles or specialists yields to soaring heights. (And don't forget about Representation, Free Speech/Bureaucracy and the Financial trait.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's also keep in mind that +food can be used however you want. It can be used to work even more production tiles in Ironworks or to run 2 more specialists in your GP farm or a couple hill-top Towns in your Wall Street ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also, though I won't go into how it's calculated, 2.5 extra population in a coastal city has the potential to significantly boost your international trade rates -- especially if you have a Customs House in place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And finally, an immeasurable value to increased population is more votes in the United Nations and Apostolic Palace as well as putting you closer to the population requirement for a Domination Victory![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9 [ICON_PRODUCTION] is worth 27 [ICON_GOLD] when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage (3 gold per hammer for non-Wonders &amp; 6 gold per hammer for Wonders.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 / 26.72 = 1.01:1.00 gold (even with no +production bonuses, using Mining Inc in this situation is break even compared to rush-buying.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 * 6 = 54 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production if put toward a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]54 / 26.72 = 2.02:1.00 gold (clearly a better conversion by comparison to rush-buying a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 hammers in the Ironworks city = 9 * 3 = 27 actual [ICON_PRODUCTION][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 * 3 = 81 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production after +200% bonuses from Powered Ironworks is factored in.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]81 / 26.72 = 3.03:1.00 gold (holy crap! that's [BOLD]3 times better[\BOLD] than rush-buying under Universal Suffrage!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As with the Cereal Mills comparison above, this is only the beginning. There are a couple immeasurable values to Mining Inc when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You don't have to be in Universal Suffrage to use Mining Inc.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Rush-buying with Universal Suffrage doesn't factor in production bonuses ... Mining Inc does.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Projects and Space Ship parts can't be rush-bought at all ... Mining Inc's production applies to anything built (and remember, it gets the production bonus from Aluminum for Space Ship parts!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just in case that isn't enough, imagine this bonus on a flat, Archipelago, where half your cities are lucky to have 10 production. In that situation, Mining Inc represents a 100% boost to production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Your Corporate Fees can be pushed down even to the point of making a profit if you (ab)use Free Market, Courthouses (especially the Rathaus and Ikhanda) and the Corporate Headquarters:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]With a Courthouse: Fees * 0.5 = -24.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Adding the Corporate Headquarters in your city with Wall Street: Fees * 0.5 + 12 gold per office [+24] = -0.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Controlling the Corporate Headquarters (especially if next to Wall Street) all but guarantees your Domestic Corporate Offices can balance their Fees or even turn a profit![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]And now under Free Market: Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 = +5.5 gold:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Malinese Empire with a Mint? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 * 1.1 = +7.9 gold![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Zulu Empire with an Ikhanda, too? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 * 0.8 + 24 = +9.2 gold !![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Holy Roman Empire with a Rathaus? Fees * 0.75 * 0.25 + 24 = +14.75 gold !!![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lower you can get the Corporate Fees by reduction and offset domestically, the higher your tolerance becomes for spreading Corporations throughout your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can turn a profit or break-even without even considering the Corporate Benefits, you pretty much have the go-ahead to spread your Corporation(s) to every city in your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Not withstanding Aluminum Co. &amp; Standard Ethanol, Corporations appear to be tools by which we can convert gold (in the form of Corporate Fees/Maintenance) into [ICON_FOOD], [ICON_PRODUCTION], [ICON_CULTURE] &amp; [ICON_RESEARCH].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, expect your Domestic Corporate Offices to not turn individual profits (even more so for any Foreign Corporations). You should weigh the Corporate Fees against the benefits to determine if the exchange is worth it in your situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found a Corporation, try your damnedest to build the Corporate Headquarters in the same city as Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporations are not like Religions -- they can cost you a lot of money if you're not careful. If you spread them 'carte blanche' to your cities, you run the risk of unnecessarily digging yourself into a hole.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporate Offices can become very expensive. Don't build Corporate Offices 'carte blanche'. Consider the Benefits and weigh them against the Fees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You can balance Domestic Corporate Fees by [BOLD]also[\BOLD] spreading your Corporations abroad (preferably to civilizations lacking the right resources to get full use out of them).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you're relying on Foreign Corporate Offices to pay your bills, you may want to keep Spies on hand to Influence Civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Peaceful Colonies &amp; Vassals and Friendly neighbors are prime candidates for incorporation abroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A Courthouse is a MUST for incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Boost your Corporations' provisions by building appropriate +[ICON_PRODUCTION]/[ICON_RESEARCH]/[ICON_GOLD]/[ICON_CULTURE]% buildings in incorporated cities. In this respect, your Megalopolises (i.e., your National Wonder cities) should make the best incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Small cities benefit proportionally more from incorporation than large cities, because small cities incur lower Corporate Fees. Against your instincts, you may wish to prioritize your 'fishing village' or your 'hunting camp' for incorporation before your Metropolises (i.e., mid-sized-non National Wonder cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Balance your Corporations' provisions by utilizing +[ICON_FOOD] to run specialists or to work high-yield tiles such as Resources and Cottages. (Such as Desert Incense and hilltop Towns as in [BOLD]The Example[\BOLD].)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Articles[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Fantastic Four: Corporate Culture Powerhouse by OTAKUjbski (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5701209#post5701209)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporation: The Power of Sushi by MrCynical (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5809760#post5809760)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]In Closing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Special thanks especially to Roland Johansen for simplifying the formula and giving great insight on some missing and confusing content.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I want more in-depth external links and am always open to suggestions ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- my 2 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Cost of Expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intial cost of expansion is the 100 [ICON_PRODUCTION] (Normal speed) it costs to train the Corporate Executive. Debate still exists about the actual value of a hammer; I value 1 [BOLD]raw[\BOLD] hammer at 3 [ICON_GOLD]. Given this assumption, this is how much the Executive 'costs' given various production bonuses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+000%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.00 * 3 = 300 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+025%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.25 * 3 = 240 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+050%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.50 * 3 = 200 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+075%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.75 * 3 = 172 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+100%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.00 * 3 = 150 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+125%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.25 * 3 = 134 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+150%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.50 * 3 = 120 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+175%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.75 * 3 = 110 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+200%.[\BOLD] 100 / 3.00 * 3 = 100 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 elements to the cost of Corporate Office expansion:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Cost[COLOR_REVERT]. 50 [ICON_GOLD] Variable [BOLD]B[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadCost&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation increases the base cost of expansion. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = 1 + InflationRate / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Location (foreign v. domestic)[COLOR_REVERT]. Foreign expansion doubles the cost. Variable [BOLD]L[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If domestic; L = 1[NEWLINE]If foreign; L = 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Competition[COLOR_REVERT]. Forces a buyout -- increasing the cost (default is triple). Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]R[\BOLD]ivalry) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If NO competition is present; R = 1[NEWLINE]If competition IS present; R = 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE]R = 1 + &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]B * I * L * R[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]With 28% Inflation (I = 1.28), buyout (R = 3) in a Foreign City (L = 2).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 * 1.28 * 2 * 3 = 384 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]If you had trained the Corporate Executive in a city with a Forge and an unpowered Factory (+50% production), you could also factor in another 200 gold to the base cost of expansion.[\BOLD]</French>
		<German>[H1]Corporate Maintenance Explained[\H1][\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]OTAKUjbski[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to offer in-depth strategies on how to manage Corporations, though understanding their mechanics lends itself to better utilizing them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to be a discussion about whether Corporations are working as Firaxis intended them to be or if there is room for improvement, though in revealing the mechanics, it is bound to incite debate over whether they are adequately balanced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This post [BOLD]is[\BOLD] meant as an explanation and a revelation of "the man behind the curtain". After reading this article, you should fully understand the different elements of Corporate Maintenance and how to fully calculate its impact on any of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So here we go ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents (this article's pretty long)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Basics: Some Definitions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]The Formula[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]An Example[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]A Comparison Using The Example[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Other Articles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In Closing[NEWLINE]([ICON_BULLET]The Cost of Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Basics: Some Definitions (see the Civilopedia also)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following definitions represent a brief introduction to some of the different relevant Corporate elements I may refer to during this post.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]To reduce the length of this post and get you to the part you probably came for quicker and more easily, I've hidden the definitions in spoiler tags. If you're already familiar with Corporations, you may wish to skip this section.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporations[COLOR_REVERT]. There are seven Corporations in BtS. Once you have both the "Corporation" technology (thanks to oedali for the reminder) and the technology enabling the particular Corporation's founding, you may found that Corporation by expending a Great Person to build its Corporate Headquarters building in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Corporations provide benefits to cities they are spread to in exchange for Corporate Fees, which manifest as City Maintenance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I won't be going into detail about Resource Consumption and Corporate Competition, it is important to note that a Corporation cannot be founded in or spread to a city without access to any of its consumed resources and can never be founded in a city where a competitor's Corporate Headquarters is already present.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Headquarters[COLOR_REVERT]. Every Corporation has only one Headquarters building -- present only in the city in which the Corporation was founded. Only a Great Person can build a Corporate Headquarters (and thus found the Corporation) and is consumed in doing so. The Corporate Headquarters also indicates the presence of the Corporation and thus provides the Corporation's benefits and incurs the appropriate Corporate Fees. The primary benefit of a Corporate Headquarters is that it generates +4 [ICON_GOLD] for every city with one of its Corporate Offices (i.e, that the Corporation has spread to).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's worth noting a Corporate Headquarters building [BOLD]can only be built once[\BOLD]. If the Corporate Headquarters is destroyed, it is lost forever. To the best of my knowledge, the Corporate Headquarters can only be destroyed if the city it's in is conquered and razed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Office[COLOR_REVERT]. The presence of a Corporate Office in a city indicates the represented Corporation is present in the city. Thus, that city will incur the appropriate Corporate Fees in exchange for the Corporation's benefits. The Corporate Headquarters doubles as a Corporate Office.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporation[COLOR_REVERT]. A Foreign Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is not present in one of your cities (i.e., is not controlled by your civilization). A Domestic Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is present in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporate Office.[COLOR_REVERT] A Foreign Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in a foreign city -- regardless of whether it represents a Foreign or Domestic Corporation. Likewise, a Domestic Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in one of your cities -- even if the Corporate Headquarters is controlled by a foreign power.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The distinction between "foreign" and "domestic" is especially important when discussing the effects of the Mercantilism and State Property Civics later on.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Executive[COLOR_REVERT]. Corporations are spread by Corporate Executives. These units can only be built in a city where the Corporation's Headquarters or Office is present. A Corporate Executive can only spread the Corporation he represents to one city and is consumed in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that expanding a Corporation (spreading it) requires an initial 'investment', which is deducted from your treasury at the time of expansion. It is also worth noting that foreign expansion and expanding a Corporation to a city where one of its competitors' Corporate Offices is already present both increase the initial cost of expansion. ([BOLD]The Cost of Expansion[\BOLD]: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6106402#Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Free Market[COLOR_REVERT]. The Free Market Civic reduces Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Free Market is that its reduction is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this reduction comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Environmentalism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Environmentalism Civic increases Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Environmentalism is that its increase is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this increase comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Mercantilism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Mercantilism Civic negates the effects of all [BOLD]Foreign[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. Any Foreign Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Foreign Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the Mercantilism Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of Mercantilism:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporations cannot be founded (this is popularly viewed as a bug and is fixed in Bhruic's Unofficial BtS 3.13 patch: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6019403#post6019403).[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You do not have to buyout Foreign Corporate Offices when spreading Domestic Corporations. (thanks to jkp1187 for the reminder.)[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train a Corporate Executive for any Foreign Corporation.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporate Headquarters do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]State Property[COLOR_REVERT]. The State Property Civic negates the effects of [BOLD]all[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. All Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the State Property Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of State Property:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives. ([BOLD]This includes founding Domestic Corporations.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train any Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporate Headquarters (both foreign and domestic) do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your Domestic Corporate Headquarters continue to gain +4 gold for every one of your Foreign Corporate Offices not under the Mercantilism or State Property Civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]City Improvements (Buildings)[COLOR_REVERT]. All Corporate Fees and benefits are raw yield values. This is important, because any buildings which reduce maintenance (i.e., Courthouse, Rathaus, etc.) or increase tile/specialist yields (i.e., Library, Forge, Wall Street, etc.) apply their appropriate affects to the Corporations' Fees or Benefits -- thus decreasing its impact and increasing its yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation is the last calculation applied to any Corporate Fees and is thus after all other factors are weighed. However, as of BtS patch 3.13, there is an additional factor applied during the calculation of the Corporate Fees which serves to reduce Corporate Fees and negate inflation. So, the most important thing to note is that [BOLD]inflation has no net effect on Corporate Maintenance in 3.13.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bear with me through this next section, because this one has all the math. A couple things to note first:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a. Each city calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other cities in your empire.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]b. Each Corporate Office calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other Corporate Offices in the same city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]c. All Corporate Offices calculate their Corporate Fees identically (can be changed via the variable &lt;iMaintenance&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are seven factors which determine a Corporate Office's Fees. These only take affect if a Corporation is consuming one or more resources in the city. (I.e, a Corporate Office denied access to the appropriate resources generates no fees but still provides +4 gold to its Corporate Headquarters):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Rate[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the base value of the Corporate Fees as well as the value of the Corporate Office to the Corporate Headquarters. (Default Value is 4.) Variable [BOLD]H[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarters) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml. H = &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Map Size[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the value of each resource consumed by the Corporate Office. Variable [BOLD]S[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Duel: S = 4.0[NEWLINE]Tiny: S = 2.0[NEWLINE]Small: S = 1.5[NEWLINE]Standard: S = 1.0[NEWLINE]Large: S = 0.75[NEWLINE]Huge: S = 0.50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4WorldInfo.xml. S = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Number of resources consumed[COLOR_REVERT]. Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Population[COLOR_REVERT]. Every population point over 1 increases the Fees by 1/18th of the basic rate, ( H + R * S ). Variable [BOLD]P[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]P[\BOLD] = ( Population + 17 ) / 18[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Difficulty[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 10% increments above/below Noble. Variable [BOLD]D[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Settler: D = 0.7[NEWLINE]Chieftain: D = 0.8[NEWLINE]Warlord: D = 0.9[NEWLINE]Noble: D = 1.0[NEWLINE]Prince: D = 1.1[NEWLINE]Monarch: D = 1.2[NEWLINE]Emperor: D = 1.3[NEWLINE]Immortal: D = 1.4[NEWLINE]Deity: D = 1.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4HandicapInfo.xml. D = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Economy Civic[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 25%. Variable [BOLD]C[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Decentralization: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Mercantilism: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Free Market: C = 0.75[NEWLINE]State Property: C = 0.00[NEWLINE]Environmentalism: C = 1.25[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; in CIV4CivicsInfo.xml C = 1 + &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Used to [BOLD]reduce[\BOLD] the Corporate Fees by an amount equal to the Inflation Rate -- thus negating the effects of Inflation. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = InflationRate / 100 + 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A special thanks to Bhruic and Solver for pointing out where this formula is hardcoded in CvGameCoreDLL.dll:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lines 5510 through 5553 in CvCity.cpp[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]int CvCity::calculateCorporationMaintenanceTimes100(CorporationTypes eCorporation) const[NEWLINE]{[NEWLINE][TAB]int iMaintenance = 0;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]for (int iCommerce = 0; iCommerce &lt; NUM_COMMERCE_TYPES; ++iCommerce)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance += 100 * GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getHeadquarterCommerce(iCommerce);[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iNumBonuses = 0;[NEWLINE][TAB]for (int i = 0; i &lt; GC.getNUM_CORPORATION_PREREQ_BONUSES(); ++i)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]BonusTypes eBonus = (BonusTypes)GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getPrereqBonus(i);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]if (NO_BONUS != eBonus)[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB]iNumBonuses += getNumBonuses(eBonus);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]}[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iBonusMaintenance = GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getMaintenance() * iNumBonuses;[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance *= GC.getWorldInfo(GC.getMapINLINE().getWorldSize()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance += iBonusMaintenance;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= (getPopulation() + 17);[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 18;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= GC.getHandicapInfo(getHandicapType()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= std::max(0, (GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).getCorporationMaintenanceModifier() + 100));[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iInflation = GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).calculateInflationRate() + 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]if (iInflation &gt; 0)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance *= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance /= iInflation;[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]FAssert(iMaintenance &gt;= 0);[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]return iMaintenance;[NEWLINE]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R * S ) * P * D * C / I[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or-[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( Base[BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarterCommerce + [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources * map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize ) * [BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier * [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty * [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivicsModifier / [BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflationModifier[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or- as executed 'verbose':[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Take the number of [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources the Corporation is using and multiply it by the Map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize modifier then add 4.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Add 17 to the population of the city then divide the result by 18. ([BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Multiply the results of step #1 and step #2.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Multiply the result of step #3 by the [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty modifier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Multiply the result of step #4 by the [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivics modifier.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the NET value of your Corporate Fees and represents the actual, post-Inflation cost of your Corporate Office. [BOLD]You should use this value for comparisons and calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Divide the current inflation percentage by 100 then add 1. ([BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflation)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Divide the result of step #5 by the result of step #6.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the GROSS value of your Corporate Fees and only represents what you see in the City Maintenance box. After Inflation is added, your actual payments will be the net value from step #5. [BOLD]You should not use this value for any comparisons or calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Fin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's start with the following:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Population 20.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cereal Mills -- 2 Corn, 2 Rice, 3 Wheat[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Mining Inc -- 1 Copper, 2 Gold, 4 Iron, 2 Silver[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Noble Difficulty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Standard Map Size.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation = negligible. Since Inflation is only valid when determining the gross value of the Corporate Fees, I will not be factoring inflation for this example. This means I'll be working with the actual, net cost of the Corporate Office -- thus ensuring an accurate comparison.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Variables:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE]R1 = 7 (Cereal Mills)[NEWLINE]R2 = 9 (Mining Inc)[NEWLINE]S = 1.0[NEWLINE]P = ( 17 + 20 ) / 18 = 2.0555...[NEWLINE]C = 1.0[NEWLINE]D = 1.0[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cereal Mills:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R1 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 7 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 11 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 22.61[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mining Inc:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R2 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 9 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 13 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 26.72[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The combined Corporate Fees in this situation total -49.33 [ICON_GOLD].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]The total provisions are +5.25 [ICON_FOOD], +9 [ICON_PRODUCTION].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]A Comparison Using The Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first glance, this appears to be a lot, but let's compare this and dig a little deeper:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5.25 [ICON_FOOD] is enough to allow your city to work two Desert Incenses (12 commerce) and a Plains/Tundra/GHill Town (5 commerce).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 + 12 = 17 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 raw commerce run through a Library = 17 * 1.25 = 21.25 [ICON_RESEARCH][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]21.25 / 22.61 = 0.94 science per gold (not a bad ratio with just a Library/Market and no Courthouse)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]22.61 run through a Courthouse = 22.61 * 0.5 = 11.30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 / 11.30 = 1.5 commerce per gold (If you can come out ahead with no Library, you're turning a profit)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 commerce in 'fully upgraded' (+100%) city = 34 commerce[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]34 / 11.30 = 3.00 commerce per gold (that's pretty damn good, imo)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's only the tip of the iceberg, because with Courthouses and Free Market, you can drastically push down the Fees. And with Universities &amp; Banks and especially with Wall Street &amp; Oxford University, you can increase the net value from any commerce tiles or specialists yields to soaring heights. (And don't forget about Representation, Free Speech/Bureaucracy and the Financial trait.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's also keep in mind that +food can be used however you want. It can be used to work even more production tiles in Ironworks or to run 2 more specialists in your GP farm or a couple hill-top Towns in your Wall Street ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also, though I won't go into how it's calculated, 2.5 extra population in a coastal city has the potential to significantly boost your international trade rates -- especially if you have a Customs House in place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And finally, an immeasurable value to increased population is more votes in the United Nations and Apostolic Palace as well as putting you closer to the population requirement for a Domination Victory![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9 [ICON_PRODUCTION] is worth 27 [ICON_GOLD] when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage (3 gold per hammer for non-Wonders &amp; 6 gold per hammer for Wonders.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 / 26.72 = 1.01:1.00 gold (even with no +production bonuses, using Mining Inc in this situation is break even compared to rush-buying.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 * 6 = 54 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production if put toward a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]54 / 26.72 = 2.02:1.00 gold (clearly a better conversion by comparison to rush-buying a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 hammers in the Ironworks city = 9 * 3 = 27 actual [ICON_PRODUCTION][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 * 3 = 81 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production after +200% bonuses from Powered Ironworks is factored in.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]81 / 26.72 = 3.03:1.00 gold (holy crap! that's [BOLD]3 times better[\BOLD] than rush-buying under Universal Suffrage!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As with the Cereal Mills comparison above, this is only the beginning. There are a couple immeasurable values to Mining Inc when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You don't have to be in Universal Suffrage to use Mining Inc.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Rush-buying with Universal Suffrage doesn't factor in production bonuses ... Mining Inc does.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Projects and Space Ship parts can't be rush-bought at all ... Mining Inc's production applies to anything built (and remember, it gets the production bonus from Aluminum for Space Ship parts!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just in case that isn't enough, imagine this bonus on a flat, Archipelago, where half your cities are lucky to have 10 production. In that situation, Mining Inc represents a 100% boost to production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Your Corporate Fees can be pushed down even to the point of making a profit if you (ab)use Free Market, Courthouses (especially the Rathaus and Ikhanda) and the Corporate Headquarters:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]With a Courthouse: Fees * 0.5 = -24.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Adding the Corporate Headquarters in your city with Wall Street: Fees * 0.5 + 12 gold per office [+24] = -0.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Controlling the Corporate Headquarters (especially if next to Wall Street) all but guarantees your Domestic Corporate Offices can balance their Fees or even turn a profit![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]And now under Free Market: Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 = +5.5 gold:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Malinese Empire with a Mint? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 * 1.1 = +7.9 gold![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Zulu Empire with an Ikhanda, too? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 * 0.8 + 24 = +9.2 gold !![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Holy Roman Empire with a Rathaus? Fees * 0.75 * 0.25 + 24 = +14.75 gold !!![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lower you can get the Corporate Fees by reduction and offset domestically, the higher your tolerance becomes for spreading Corporations throughout your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can turn a profit or break-even without even considering the Corporate Benefits, you pretty much have the go-ahead to spread your Corporation(s) to every city in your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Not withstanding Aluminum Co. &amp; Standard Ethanol, Corporations appear to be tools by which we can convert gold (in the form of Corporate Fees/Maintenance) into [ICON_FOOD], [ICON_PRODUCTION], [ICON_CULTURE] &amp; [ICON_RESEARCH].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, expect your Domestic Corporate Offices to not turn individual profits (even more so for any Foreign Corporations). You should weigh the Corporate Fees against the benefits to determine if the exchange is worth it in your situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found a Corporation, try your damnedest to build the Corporate Headquarters in the same city as Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporations are not like Religions -- they can cost you a lot of money if you're not careful. If you spread them 'carte blanche' to your cities, you run the risk of unnecessarily digging yourself into a hole.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporate Offices can become very expensive. Don't build Corporate Offices 'carte blanche'. Consider the Benefits and weigh them against the Fees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You can balance Domestic Corporate Fees by [BOLD]also[\BOLD] spreading your Corporations abroad (preferably to civilizations lacking the right resources to get full use out of them).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you're relying on Foreign Corporate Offices to pay your bills, you may want to keep Spies on hand to Influence Civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Peaceful Colonies &amp; Vassals and Friendly neighbors are prime candidates for incorporation abroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A Courthouse is a MUST for incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Boost your Corporations' provisions by building appropriate +[ICON_PRODUCTION]/[ICON_RESEARCH]/[ICON_GOLD]/[ICON_CULTURE]% buildings in incorporated cities. In this respect, your Megalopolises (i.e., your National Wonder cities) should make the best incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Small cities benefit proportionally more from incorporation than large cities, because small cities incur lower Corporate Fees. Against your instincts, you may wish to prioritize your 'fishing village' or your 'hunting camp' for incorporation before your Metropolises (i.e., mid-sized-non National Wonder cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Balance your Corporations' provisions by utilizing +[ICON_FOOD] to run specialists or to work high-yield tiles such as Resources and Cottages. (Such as Desert Incense and hilltop Towns as in [BOLD]The Example[\BOLD].)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Articles[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Fantastic Four: Corporate Culture Powerhouse by OTAKUjbski (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5701209#post5701209)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporation: The Power of Sushi by MrCynical (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5809760#post5809760)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]In Closing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Special thanks especially to Roland Johansen for simplifying the formula and giving great insight on some missing and confusing content.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I want more in-depth external links and am always open to suggestions ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- my 2 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Cost of Expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intial cost of expansion is the 100 [ICON_PRODUCTION] (Normal speed) it costs to train the Corporate Executive. Debate still exists about the actual value of a hammer; I value 1 [BOLD]raw[\BOLD] hammer at 3 [ICON_GOLD]. Given this assumption, this is how much the Executive 'costs' given various production bonuses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+000%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.00 * 3 = 300 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+025%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.25 * 3 = 240 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+050%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.50 * 3 = 200 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+075%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.75 * 3 = 172 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+100%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.00 * 3 = 150 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+125%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.25 * 3 = 134 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+150%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.50 * 3 = 120 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+175%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.75 * 3 = 110 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+200%.[\BOLD] 100 / 3.00 * 3 = 100 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 elements to the cost of Corporate Office expansion:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Cost[COLOR_REVERT]. 50 [ICON_GOLD] Variable [BOLD]B[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadCost&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation increases the base cost of expansion. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = 1 + InflationRate / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Location (foreign v. domestic)[COLOR_REVERT]. Foreign expansion doubles the cost. Variable [BOLD]L[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If domestic; L = 1[NEWLINE]If foreign; L = 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Competition[COLOR_REVERT]. Forces a buyout -- increasing the cost (default is triple). Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]R[\BOLD]ivalry) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If NO competition is present; R = 1[NEWLINE]If competition IS present; R = 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE]R = 1 + &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]B * I * L * R[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]With 28% Inflation (I = 1.28), buyout (R = 3) in a Foreign City (L = 2).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 * 1.28 * 2 * 3 = 384 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]If you had trained the Corporate Executive in a city with a Forge and an unpowered Factory (+50% production), you could also factor in another 200 gold to the base cost of expansion.[\BOLD]</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Corporate Maintenance Explained[\H1][\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]OTAKUjbski[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to offer in-depth strategies on how to manage Corporations, though understanding their mechanics lends itself to better utilizing them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to be a discussion about whether Corporations are working as Firaxis intended them to be or if there is room for improvement, though in revealing the mechanics, it is bound to incite debate over whether they are adequately balanced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This post [BOLD]is[\BOLD] meant as an explanation and a revelation of "the man behind the curtain". After reading this article, you should fully understand the different elements of Corporate Maintenance and how to fully calculate its impact on any of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So here we go ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents (this article's pretty long)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Basics: Some Definitions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]The Formula[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]An Example[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]A Comparison Using The Example[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Other Articles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In Closing[NEWLINE]([ICON_BULLET]The Cost of Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Basics: Some Definitions (see the Civilopedia also)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following definitions represent a brief introduction to some of the different relevant Corporate elements I may refer to during this post.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]To reduce the length of this post and get you to the part you probably came for quicker and more easily, I've hidden the definitions in spoiler tags. If you're already familiar with Corporations, you may wish to skip this section.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporations[COLOR_REVERT]. There are seven Corporations in BtS. Once you have both the "Corporation" technology (thanks to oedali for the reminder) and the technology enabling the particular Corporation's founding, you may found that Corporation by expending a Great Person to build its Corporate Headquarters building in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Corporations provide benefits to cities they are spread to in exchange for Corporate Fees, which manifest as City Maintenance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I won't be going into detail about Resource Consumption and Corporate Competition, it is important to note that a Corporation cannot be founded in or spread to a city without access to any of its consumed resources and can never be founded in a city where a competitor's Corporate Headquarters is already present.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Headquarters[COLOR_REVERT]. Every Corporation has only one Headquarters building -- present only in the city in which the Corporation was founded. Only a Great Person can build a Corporate Headquarters (and thus found the Corporation) and is consumed in doing so. The Corporate Headquarters also indicates the presence of the Corporation and thus provides the Corporation's benefits and incurs the appropriate Corporate Fees. The primary benefit of a Corporate Headquarters is that it generates +4 [ICON_GOLD] for every city with one of its Corporate Offices (i.e, that the Corporation has spread to).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's worth noting a Corporate Headquarters building [BOLD]can only be built once[\BOLD]. If the Corporate Headquarters is destroyed, it is lost forever. To the best of my knowledge, the Corporate Headquarters can only be destroyed if the city it's in is conquered and razed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Office[COLOR_REVERT]. The presence of a Corporate Office in a city indicates the represented Corporation is present in the city. Thus, that city will incur the appropriate Corporate Fees in exchange for the Corporation's benefits. The Corporate Headquarters doubles as a Corporate Office.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporation[COLOR_REVERT]. A Foreign Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is not present in one of your cities (i.e., is not controlled by your civilization). A Domestic Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is present in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporate Office.[COLOR_REVERT] A Foreign Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in a foreign city -- regardless of whether it represents a Foreign or Domestic Corporation. Likewise, a Domestic Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in one of your cities -- even if the Corporate Headquarters is controlled by a foreign power.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The distinction between "foreign" and "domestic" is especially important when discussing the effects of the Mercantilism and State Property Civics later on.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Executive[COLOR_REVERT]. Corporations are spread by Corporate Executives. These units can only be built in a city where the Corporation's Headquarters or Office is present. A Corporate Executive can only spread the Corporation he represents to one city and is consumed in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that expanding a Corporation (spreading it) requires an initial 'investment', which is deducted from your treasury at the time of expansion. It is also worth noting that foreign expansion and expanding a Corporation to a city where one of its competitors' Corporate Offices is already present both increase the initial cost of expansion. ([BOLD]The Cost of Expansion[\BOLD]: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6106402#Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Free Market[COLOR_REVERT]. The Free Market Civic reduces Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Free Market is that its reduction is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this reduction comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Environmentalism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Environmentalism Civic increases Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Environmentalism is that its increase is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this increase comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Mercantilism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Mercantilism Civic negates the effects of all [BOLD]Foreign[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. Any Foreign Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Foreign Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the Mercantilism Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of Mercantilism:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporations cannot be founded (this is popularly viewed as a bug and is fixed in Bhruic's Unofficial BtS 3.13 patch: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6019403#post6019403).[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You do not have to buyout Foreign Corporate Offices when spreading Domestic Corporations. (thanks to jkp1187 for the reminder.)[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train a Corporate Executive for any Foreign Corporation.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporate Headquarters do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]State Property[COLOR_REVERT]. The State Property Civic negates the effects of [BOLD]all[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. All Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the State Property Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of State Property:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives. ([BOLD]This includes founding Domestic Corporations.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train any Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporate Headquarters (both foreign and domestic) do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your Domestic Corporate Headquarters continue to gain +4 gold for every one of your Foreign Corporate Offices not under the Mercantilism or State Property Civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]City Improvements (Buildings)[COLOR_REVERT]. All Corporate Fees and benefits are raw yield values. This is important, because any buildings which reduce maintenance (i.e., Courthouse, Rathaus, etc.) or increase tile/specialist yields (i.e., Library, Forge, Wall Street, etc.) apply their appropriate affects to the Corporations' Fees or Benefits -- thus decreasing its impact and increasing its yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation is the last calculation applied to any Corporate Fees and is thus after all other factors are weighed. However, as of BtS patch 3.13, there is an additional factor applied during the calculation of the Corporate Fees which serves to reduce Corporate Fees and negate inflation. So, the most important thing to note is that [BOLD]inflation has no net effect on Corporate Maintenance in 3.13.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bear with me through this next section, because this one has all the math. A couple things to note first:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a. Each city calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other cities in your empire.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]b. Each Corporate Office calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other Corporate Offices in the same city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]c. All Corporate Offices calculate their Corporate Fees identically (can be changed via the variable &lt;iMaintenance&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are seven factors which determine a Corporate Office's Fees. These only take affect if a Corporation is consuming one or more resources in the city. (I.e, a Corporate Office denied access to the appropriate resources generates no fees but still provides +4 gold to its Corporate Headquarters):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Rate[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the base value of the Corporate Fees as well as the value of the Corporate Office to the Corporate Headquarters. (Default Value is 4.) Variable [BOLD]H[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarters) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml. H = &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Map Size[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the value of each resource consumed by the Corporate Office. Variable [BOLD]S[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Duel: S = 4.0[NEWLINE]Tiny: S = 2.0[NEWLINE]Small: S = 1.5[NEWLINE]Standard: S = 1.0[NEWLINE]Large: S = 0.75[NEWLINE]Huge: S = 0.50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4WorldInfo.xml. S = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Number of resources consumed[COLOR_REVERT]. Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Population[COLOR_REVERT]. Every population point over 1 increases the Fees by 1/18th of the basic rate, ( H + R * S ). Variable [BOLD]P[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]P[\BOLD] = ( Population + 17 ) / 18[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Difficulty[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 10% increments above/below Noble. Variable [BOLD]D[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Settler: D = 0.7[NEWLINE]Chieftain: D = 0.8[NEWLINE]Warlord: D = 0.9[NEWLINE]Noble: D = 1.0[NEWLINE]Prince: D = 1.1[NEWLINE]Monarch: D = 1.2[NEWLINE]Emperor: D = 1.3[NEWLINE]Immortal: D = 1.4[NEWLINE]Deity: D = 1.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4HandicapInfo.xml. D = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Economy Civic[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 25%. Variable [BOLD]C[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Decentralization: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Mercantilism: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Free Market: C = 0.75[NEWLINE]State Property: C = 0.00[NEWLINE]Environmentalism: C = 1.25[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; in CIV4CivicsInfo.xml C = 1 + &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Used to [BOLD]reduce[\BOLD] the Corporate Fees by an amount equal to the Inflation Rate -- thus negating the effects of Inflation. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = InflationRate / 100 + 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A special thanks to Bhruic and Solver for pointing out where this formula is hardcoded in CvGameCoreDLL.dll:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lines 5510 through 5553 in CvCity.cpp[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]int CvCity::calculateCorporationMaintenanceTimes100(CorporationTypes eCorporation) const[NEWLINE]{[NEWLINE][TAB]int iMaintenance = 0;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]for (int iCommerce = 0; iCommerce &lt; NUM_COMMERCE_TYPES; ++iCommerce)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance += 100 * GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getHeadquarterCommerce(iCommerce);[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iNumBonuses = 0;[NEWLINE][TAB]for (int i = 0; i &lt; GC.getNUM_CORPORATION_PREREQ_BONUSES(); ++i)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]BonusTypes eBonus = (BonusTypes)GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getPrereqBonus(i);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]if (NO_BONUS != eBonus)[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB]iNumBonuses += getNumBonuses(eBonus);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]}[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iBonusMaintenance = GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getMaintenance() * iNumBonuses;[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance *= GC.getWorldInfo(GC.getMapINLINE().getWorldSize()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance += iBonusMaintenance;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= (getPopulation() + 17);[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 18;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= GC.getHandicapInfo(getHandicapType()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= std::max(0, (GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).getCorporationMaintenanceModifier() + 100));[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iInflation = GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).calculateInflationRate() + 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]if (iInflation &gt; 0)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance *= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance /= iInflation;[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]FAssert(iMaintenance &gt;= 0);[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]return iMaintenance;[NEWLINE]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R * S ) * P * D * C / I[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or-[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( Base[BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarterCommerce + [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources * map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize ) * [BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier * [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty * [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivicsModifier / [BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflationModifier[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or- as executed 'verbose':[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Take the number of [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources the Corporation is using and multiply it by the Map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize modifier then add 4.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Add 17 to the population of the city then divide the result by 18. ([BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Multiply the results of step #1 and step #2.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Multiply the result of step #3 by the [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty modifier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Multiply the result of step #4 by the [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivics modifier.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the NET value of your Corporate Fees and represents the actual, post-Inflation cost of your Corporate Office. [BOLD]You should use this value for comparisons and calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Divide the current inflation percentage by 100 then add 1. ([BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflation)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Divide the result of step #5 by the result of step #6.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the GROSS value of your Corporate Fees and only represents what you see in the City Maintenance box. After Inflation is added, your actual payments will be the net value from step #5. [BOLD]You should not use this value for any comparisons or calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Fin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's start with the following:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Population 20.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cereal Mills -- 2 Corn, 2 Rice, 3 Wheat[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Mining Inc -- 1 Copper, 2 Gold, 4 Iron, 2 Silver[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Noble Difficulty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Standard Map Size.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation = negligible. Since Inflation is only valid when determining the gross value of the Corporate Fees, I will not be factoring inflation for this example. This means I'll be working with the actual, net cost of the Corporate Office -- thus ensuring an accurate comparison.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Variables:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE]R1 = 7 (Cereal Mills)[NEWLINE]R2 = 9 (Mining Inc)[NEWLINE]S = 1.0[NEWLINE]P = ( 17 + 20 ) / 18 = 2.0555...[NEWLINE]C = 1.0[NEWLINE]D = 1.0[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cereal Mills:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R1 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 7 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 11 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 22.61[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mining Inc:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R2 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 9 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 13 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 26.72[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The combined Corporate Fees in this situation total -49.33 [ICON_GOLD].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]The total provisions are +5.25 [ICON_FOOD], +9 [ICON_PRODUCTION].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]A Comparison Using The Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first glance, this appears to be a lot, but let's compare this and dig a little deeper:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5.25 [ICON_FOOD] is enough to allow your city to work two Desert Incenses (12 commerce) and a Plains/Tundra/GHill Town (5 commerce).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 + 12 = 17 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 raw commerce run through a Library = 17 * 1.25 = 21.25 [ICON_RESEARCH][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]21.25 / 22.61 = 0.94 science per gold (not a bad ratio with just a Library/Market and no Courthouse)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]22.61 run through a Courthouse = 22.61 * 0.5 = 11.30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 / 11.30 = 1.5 commerce per gold (If you can come out ahead with no Library, you're turning a profit)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 commerce in 'fully upgraded' (+100%) city = 34 commerce[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]34 / 11.30 = 3.00 commerce per gold (that's pretty damn good, imo)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's only the tip of the iceberg, because with Courthouses and Free Market, you can drastically push down the Fees. And with Universities &amp; Banks and especially with Wall Street &amp; Oxford University, you can increase the net value from any commerce tiles or specialists yields to soaring heights. (And don't forget about Representation, Free Speech/Bureaucracy and the Financial trait.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's also keep in mind that +food can be used however you want. It can be used to work even more production tiles in Ironworks or to run 2 more specialists in your GP farm or a couple hill-top Towns in your Wall Street ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also, though I won't go into how it's calculated, 2.5 extra population in a coastal city has the potential to significantly boost your international trade rates -- especially if you have a Customs House in place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And finally, an immeasurable value to increased population is more votes in the United Nations and Apostolic Palace as well as putting you closer to the population requirement for a Domination Victory![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9 [ICON_PRODUCTION] is worth 27 [ICON_GOLD] when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage (3 gold per hammer for non-Wonders &amp; 6 gold per hammer for Wonders.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 / 26.72 = 1.01:1.00 gold (even with no +production bonuses, using Mining Inc in this situation is break even compared to rush-buying.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 * 6 = 54 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production if put toward a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]54 / 26.72 = 2.02:1.00 gold (clearly a better conversion by comparison to rush-buying a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 hammers in the Ironworks city = 9 * 3 = 27 actual [ICON_PRODUCTION][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 * 3 = 81 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production after +200% bonuses from Powered Ironworks is factored in.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]81 / 26.72 = 3.03:1.00 gold (holy crap! that's [BOLD]3 times better[\BOLD] than rush-buying under Universal Suffrage!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As with the Cereal Mills comparison above, this is only the beginning. There are a couple immeasurable values to Mining Inc when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You don't have to be in Universal Suffrage to use Mining Inc.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Rush-buying with Universal Suffrage doesn't factor in production bonuses ... Mining Inc does.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Projects and Space Ship parts can't be rush-bought at all ... Mining Inc's production applies to anything built (and remember, it gets the production bonus from Aluminum for Space Ship parts!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just in case that isn't enough, imagine this bonus on a flat, Archipelago, where half your cities are lucky to have 10 production. In that situation, Mining Inc represents a 100% boost to production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Your Corporate Fees can be pushed down even to the point of making a profit if you (ab)use Free Market, Courthouses (especially the Rathaus and Ikhanda) and the Corporate Headquarters:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]With a Courthouse: Fees * 0.5 = -24.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Adding the Corporate Headquarters in your city with Wall Street: Fees * 0.5 + 12 gold per office [+24] = -0.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Controlling the Corporate Headquarters (especially if next to Wall Street) all but guarantees your Domestic Corporate Offices can balance their Fees or even turn a profit![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]And now under Free Market: Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 = +5.5 gold:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Malinese Empire with a Mint? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 * 1.1 = +7.9 gold![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Zulu Empire with an Ikhanda, too? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 * 0.8 + 24 = +9.2 gold !![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Holy Roman Empire with a Rathaus? Fees * 0.75 * 0.25 + 24 = +14.75 gold !!![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lower you can get the Corporate Fees by reduction and offset domestically, the higher your tolerance becomes for spreading Corporations throughout your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can turn a profit or break-even without even considering the Corporate Benefits, you pretty much have the go-ahead to spread your Corporation(s) to every city in your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Not withstanding Aluminum Co. &amp; Standard Ethanol, Corporations appear to be tools by which we can convert gold (in the form of Corporate Fees/Maintenance) into [ICON_FOOD], [ICON_PRODUCTION], [ICON_CULTURE] &amp; [ICON_RESEARCH].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, expect your Domestic Corporate Offices to not turn individual profits (even more so for any Foreign Corporations). You should weigh the Corporate Fees against the benefits to determine if the exchange is worth it in your situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found a Corporation, try your damnedest to build the Corporate Headquarters in the same city as Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporations are not like Religions -- they can cost you a lot of money if you're not careful. If you spread them 'carte blanche' to your cities, you run the risk of unnecessarily digging yourself into a hole.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporate Offices can become very expensive. Don't build Corporate Offices 'carte blanche'. Consider the Benefits and weigh them against the Fees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You can balance Domestic Corporate Fees by [BOLD]also[\BOLD] spreading your Corporations abroad (preferably to civilizations lacking the right resources to get full use out of them).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you're relying on Foreign Corporate Offices to pay your bills, you may want to keep Spies on hand to Influence Civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Peaceful Colonies &amp; Vassals and Friendly neighbors are prime candidates for incorporation abroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A Courthouse is a MUST for incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Boost your Corporations' provisions by building appropriate +[ICON_PRODUCTION]/[ICON_RESEARCH]/[ICON_GOLD]/[ICON_CULTURE]% buildings in incorporated cities. In this respect, your Megalopolises (i.e., your National Wonder cities) should make the best incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Small cities benefit proportionally more from incorporation than large cities, because small cities incur lower Corporate Fees. Against your instincts, you may wish to prioritize your 'fishing village' or your 'hunting camp' for incorporation before your Metropolises (i.e., mid-sized-non National Wonder cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Balance your Corporations' provisions by utilizing +[ICON_FOOD] to run specialists or to work high-yield tiles such as Resources and Cottages. (Such as Desert Incense and hilltop Towns as in [BOLD]The Example[\BOLD].)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Articles[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Fantastic Four: Corporate Culture Powerhouse by OTAKUjbski (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5701209#post5701209)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporation: The Power of Sushi by MrCynical (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5809760#post5809760)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]In Closing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Special thanks especially to Roland Johansen for simplifying the formula and giving great insight on some missing and confusing content.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I want more in-depth external links and am always open to suggestions ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- my 2 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Cost of Expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intial cost of expansion is the 100 [ICON_PRODUCTION] (Normal speed) it costs to train the Corporate Executive. Debate still exists about the actual value of a hammer; I value 1 [BOLD]raw[\BOLD] hammer at 3 [ICON_GOLD]. Given this assumption, this is how much the Executive 'costs' given various production bonuses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+000%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.00 * 3 = 300 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+025%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.25 * 3 = 240 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+050%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.50 * 3 = 200 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+075%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.75 * 3 = 172 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+100%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.00 * 3 = 150 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+125%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.25 * 3 = 134 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+150%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.50 * 3 = 120 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+175%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.75 * 3 = 110 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+200%.[\BOLD] 100 / 3.00 * 3 = 100 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 elements to the cost of Corporate Office expansion:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Cost[COLOR_REVERT]. 50 [ICON_GOLD] Variable [BOLD]B[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadCost&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation increases the base cost of expansion. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = 1 + InflationRate / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Location (foreign v. domestic)[COLOR_REVERT]. Foreign expansion doubles the cost. Variable [BOLD]L[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If domestic; L = 1[NEWLINE]If foreign; L = 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Competition[COLOR_REVERT]. Forces a buyout -- increasing the cost (default is triple). Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]R[\BOLD]ivalry) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If NO competition is present; R = 1[NEWLINE]If competition IS present; R = 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE]R = 1 + &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]B * I * L * R[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]With 28% Inflation (I = 1.28), buyout (R = 3) in a Foreign City (L = 2).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 * 1.28 * 2 * 3 = 384 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]If you had trained the Corporate Executive in a city with a Forge and an unpowered Factory (+50% production), you could also factor in another 200 gold to the base cost of expansion.[\BOLD]</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Corporate Maintenance Explained[\H1][\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]OTAKUjbski[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to offer in-depth strategies on how to manage Corporations, though understanding their mechanics lends itself to better utilizing them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This thread is not intended to be a discussion about whether Corporations are working as Firaxis intended them to be or if there is room for improvement, though in revealing the mechanics, it is bound to incite debate over whether they are adequately balanced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This post [BOLD]is[\BOLD] meant as an explanation and a revelation of "the man behind the curtain". After reading this article, you should fully understand the different elements of Corporate Maintenance and how to fully calculate its impact on any of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So here we go ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Table of Contents (this article's pretty long)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Basics: Some Definitions[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]The Formula[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]An Example[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]A Comparison Using The Example[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Other Articles[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]In Closing[NEWLINE]([ICON_BULLET]The Cost of Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Basics: Some Definitions (see the Civilopedia also)[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following definitions represent a brief introduction to some of the different relevant Corporate elements I may refer to during this post.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]To reduce the length of this post and get you to the part you probably came for quicker and more easily, I've hidden the definitions in spoiler tags. If you're already familiar with Corporations, you may wish to skip this section.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporations[COLOR_REVERT]. There are seven Corporations in BtS. Once you have both the "Corporation" technology (thanks to oedali for the reminder) and the technology enabling the particular Corporation's founding, you may found that Corporation by expending a Great Person to build its Corporate Headquarters building in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Corporations provide benefits to cities they are spread to in exchange for Corporate Fees, which manifest as City Maintenance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Though I won't be going into detail about Resource Consumption and Corporate Competition, it is important to note that a Corporation cannot be founded in or spread to a city without access to any of its consumed resources and can never be founded in a city where a competitor's Corporate Headquarters is already present.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Headquarters[COLOR_REVERT]. Every Corporation has only one Headquarters building -- present only in the city in which the Corporation was founded. Only a Great Person can build a Corporate Headquarters (and thus found the Corporation) and is consumed in doing so. The Corporate Headquarters also indicates the presence of the Corporation and thus provides the Corporation's benefits and incurs the appropriate Corporate Fees. The primary benefit of a Corporate Headquarters is that it generates +4 [ICON_GOLD] for every city with one of its Corporate Offices (i.e, that the Corporation has spread to).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It's worth noting a Corporate Headquarters building [BOLD]can only be built once[\BOLD]. If the Corporate Headquarters is destroyed, it is lost forever. To the best of my knowledge, the Corporate Headquarters can only be destroyed if the city it's in is conquered and razed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Office[COLOR_REVERT]. The presence of a Corporate Office in a city indicates the represented Corporation is present in the city. Thus, that city will incur the appropriate Corporate Fees in exchange for the Corporation's benefits. The Corporate Headquarters doubles as a Corporate Office.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporation[COLOR_REVERT]. A Foreign Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is not present in one of your cities (i.e., is not controlled by your civilization). A Domestic Corporation is any Corporation whose Corporate Headquarters is present in one of your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Foreign/Domestic Corporate Office.[COLOR_REVERT] A Foreign Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in a foreign city -- regardless of whether it represents a Foreign or Domestic Corporation. Likewise, a Domestic Corporate Office is any Corporate Office in one of your cities -- even if the Corporate Headquarters is controlled by a foreign power.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The distinction between "foreign" and "domestic" is especially important when discussing the effects of the Mercantilism and State Property Civics later on.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Corporate Executive[COLOR_REVERT]. Corporations are spread by Corporate Executives. These units can only be built in a city where the Corporation's Headquarters or Office is present. A Corporate Executive can only spread the Corporation he represents to one city and is consumed in doing so.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that expanding a Corporation (spreading it) requires an initial 'investment', which is deducted from your treasury at the time of expansion. It is also worth noting that foreign expansion and expanding a Corporation to a city where one of its competitors' Corporate Offices is already present both increase the initial cost of expansion. ([BOLD]The Cost of Expansion[\BOLD]: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6106402#Expansion)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Free Market[COLOR_REVERT]. The Free Market Civic reduces Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Free Market is that its reduction is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this reduction comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Environmentalism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Environmentalism Civic increases Maintenance Costs from Corporations by 25%. The important thing to know about Environmentalism is that its increase is at the very core of Corporate Fees and is not represented mathematically in any screen. Therefore, this increase comes [BOLD]before[\BOLD] Courthouses and Inflation![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Mercantilism[COLOR_REVERT]. The Mercantilism Civic negates the effects of all [BOLD]Foreign[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. Any Foreign Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Foreign Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the Mercantilism Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of Mercantilism:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporations cannot be founded (this is popularly viewed as a bug and is fixed in Bhruic's Unofficial BtS 3.13 patch: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=6019403#post6019403).[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You do not have to buyout Foreign Corporate Offices when spreading Domestic Corporations. (thanks to jkp1187 for the reminder.)[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train a Corporate Executive for any Foreign Corporation.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Foreign Corporate Headquarters do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]State Property[COLOR_REVERT]. The State Property Civic negates the effects of [BOLD]all[\BOLD] Corporate Offices in your cities. All Corporate Offices already in your cities remain in your cities but yield no benefit to your cities or to their Corporate Headquarters. Likewise, if a foreign civilization is running the State Property Civic, your Corporate Offices will have no effect in their cities, and your Corporate Headquarters will not reap any benefits from those Foreign Corporate Offices.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several noteworthy effects of State Property:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporations cannot be spread in your cities -- even by your own Corporate Executives. ([BOLD]This includes founding Domestic Corporations.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your cities cannot train any Corporate Executives.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Corporate Headquarters (both foreign and domestic) do not gain +4 gold for their Corporate Offices in your cities.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Your Domestic Corporate Headquarters continue to gain +4 gold for every one of your Foreign Corporate Offices not under the Mercantilism or State Property Civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]City Improvements (Buildings)[COLOR_REVERT]. All Corporate Fees and benefits are raw yield values. This is important, because any buildings which reduce maintenance (i.e., Courthouse, Rathaus, etc.) or increase tile/specialist yields (i.e., Library, Forge, Wall Street, etc.) apply their appropriate affects to the Corporations' Fees or Benefits -- thus decreasing its impact and increasing its yield.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation is the last calculation applied to any Corporate Fees and is thus after all other factors are weighed. However, as of BtS patch 3.13, there is an additional factor applied during the calculation of the Corporate Fees which serves to reduce Corporate Fees and negate inflation. So, the most important thing to note is that [BOLD]inflation has no net effect on Corporate Maintenance in 3.13.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Not-So-Basics: The Man Behind The Curtain.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bear with me through this next section, because this one has all the math. A couple things to note first:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]a. Each city calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other cities in your empire.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]b. Each Corporate Office calculates its own Corporate Fees independent of any other Corporate Offices in the same city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]c. All Corporate Offices calculate their Corporate Fees identically (can be changed via the variable &lt;iMaintenance&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are seven factors which determine a Corporate Office's Fees. These only take affect if a Corporation is consuming one or more resources in the city. (I.e, a Corporate Office denied access to the appropriate resources generates no fees but still provides +4 gold to its Corporate Headquarters):[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Rate[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the base value of the Corporate Fees as well as the value of the Corporate Office to the Corporate Headquarters. (Default Value is 4.) Variable [BOLD]H[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarters) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml. H = &lt;iHeadquarterCommerce&gt;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Map Size[COLOR_REVERT]. Affects the value of each resource consumed by the Corporate Office. Variable [BOLD]S[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Duel: S = 4.0[NEWLINE]Tiny: S = 2.0[NEWLINE]Small: S = 1.5[NEWLINE]Standard: S = 1.0[NEWLINE]Large: S = 0.75[NEWLINE]Huge: S = 0.50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4WorldInfo.xml. S = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Number of resources consumed[COLOR_REVERT]. Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Population[COLOR_REVERT]. Every population point over 1 increases the Fees by 1/18th of the basic rate, ( H + R * S ). Variable [BOLD]P[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]P[\BOLD] = ( Population + 17 ) / 18[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Difficulty[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 10% increments above/below Noble. Variable [BOLD]D[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Settler: D = 0.7[NEWLINE]Chieftain: D = 0.8[NEWLINE]Warlord: D = 0.9[NEWLINE]Noble: D = 1.0[NEWLINE]Prince: D = 1.1[NEWLINE]Monarch: D = 1.2[NEWLINE]Emperor: D = 1.3[NEWLINE]Immortal: D = 1.4[NEWLINE]Deity: D = 1.5[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; in CIV4HandicapInfo.xml. D = &lt;iCorporationMaintenancePercent&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Economy Civic[COLOR_REVERT]. +/- 25%. Variable [BOLD]C[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Decentralization: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Mercantilism: C = 1.00[NEWLINE]Free Market: C = 0.75[NEWLINE]State Property: C = 0.00[NEWLINE]Environmentalism: C = 1.25[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; in CIV4CivicsInfo.xml C = 1 + &lt;iCorporationMaintenanceModifier&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Used to [BOLD]reduce[\BOLD] the Corporate Fees by an amount equal to the Inflation Rate -- thus negating the effects of Inflation. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = InflationRate / 100 + 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A special thanks to Bhruic and Solver for pointing out where this formula is hardcoded in CvGameCoreDLL.dll:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lines 5510 through 5553 in CvCity.cpp[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]int CvCity::calculateCorporationMaintenanceTimes100(CorporationTypes eCorporation) const[NEWLINE]{[NEWLINE][TAB]int iMaintenance = 0;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]for (int iCommerce = 0; iCommerce &lt; NUM_COMMERCE_TYPES; ++iCommerce)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance += 100 * GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getHeadquarterCommerce(iCommerce);[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iNumBonuses = 0;[NEWLINE][TAB]for (int i = 0; i &lt; GC.getNUM_CORPORATION_PREREQ_BONUSES(); ++i)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]BonusTypes eBonus = (BonusTypes)GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getPrereqBonus(i);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]if (NO_BONUS != eBonus)[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB][TAB]iNumBonuses += getNumBonuses(eBonus);[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]}[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iBonusMaintenance = GC.getCorporationInfo(eCorporation).getMaintenance() * iNumBonuses;[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance *= GC.getWorldInfo(GC.getMapINLINE().getWorldSize()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iBonusMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance += iBonusMaintenance;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= (getPopulation() + 17);[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 18;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= GC.getHandicapInfo(getHandicapType()).getCorporationMaintenancePercent();[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance *= std::max(0, (GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).getCorporationMaintenanceModifier() + 100));[NEWLINE][TAB]iMaintenance /= 100;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]int iInflation = GET_PLAYER(getOwnerINLINE()).calculateInflationRate() + 100;[NEWLINE][TAB]if (iInflation &gt; 0)[NEWLINE][TAB]{[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance *= 100;[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]iMaintenance /= iInflation;[NEWLINE][TAB]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]FAssert(iMaintenance &gt;= 0);[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB]return iMaintenance;[NEWLINE]}[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R * S ) * P * D * C / I[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or-[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( Base[BOLD]H[\BOLD]eadquarterCommerce + [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources * map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize ) * [BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier * [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty * [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivicsModifier / [BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflationModifier[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]-or- as executed 'verbose':[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Take the number of [BOLD]R[\BOLD]esources the Corporation is using and multiply it by the Map[BOLD]S[\BOLD]ize modifier then add 4.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. Add 17 to the population of the city then divide the result by 18. ([BOLD]P[\BOLD]opulationModifier)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Multiply the results of step #1 and step #2.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Multiply the result of step #3 by the [BOLD]D[\BOLD]ifficulty modifier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. Multiply the result of step #4 by the [BOLD]C[\BOLD]ivics modifier.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the NET value of your Corporate Fees and represents the actual, post-Inflation cost of your Corporate Office. [BOLD]You should use this value for comparisons and calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. Divide the current inflation percentage by 100 then add 1. ([BOLD]I[\BOLD]nflation)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. Divide the result of step #5 by the result of step #6.[NEWLINE][TAB]This is the GROSS value of your Corporate Fees and only represents what you see in the City Maintenance box. After Inflation is added, your actual payments will be the net value from step #5. [BOLD]You should not use this value for any comparisons or calculations.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Fin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's start with the following:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Population 20.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Cereal Mills -- 2 Corn, 2 Rice, 3 Wheat[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Mining Inc -- 1 Copper, 2 Gold, 4 Iron, 2 Silver[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Noble Difficulty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Standard Map Size.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Inflation = negligible. Since Inflation is only valid when determining the gross value of the Corporate Fees, I will not be factoring inflation for this example. This means I'll be working with the actual, net cost of the Corporate Office -- thus ensuring an accurate comparison.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Variables:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 4[NEWLINE]R1 = 7 (Cereal Mills)[NEWLINE]R2 = 9 (Mining Inc)[NEWLINE]S = 1.0[NEWLINE]P = ( 17 + 20 ) / 18 = 2.0555...[NEWLINE]C = 1.0[NEWLINE]D = 1.0[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Cereal Mills:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R1 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 7 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 11 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 22.61[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mining Inc:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-1 * ( H + R2 * S ) * P * C * D[NEWLINE]-1 * ( 4 + 9 * 1 ) * 2.055 * 1 * 1[NEWLINE]- ( 13 ) * 2.055[NEWLINE]- 26.72[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The combined Corporate Fees in this situation total -49.33 [ICON_GOLD].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]The total provisions are +5.25 [ICON_FOOD], +9 [ICON_PRODUCTION].[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][BOLD][COLOR_RED]A Comparison Using The Example:[COLOR_REVERT][\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At first glance, this appears to be a lot, but let's compare this and dig a little deeper:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5.25 [ICON_FOOD] is enough to allow your city to work two Desert Incenses (12 commerce) and a Plains/Tundra/GHill Town (5 commerce).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5 + 12 = 17 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 raw commerce run through a Library = 17 * 1.25 = 21.25 [ICON_RESEARCH][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]21.25 / 22.61 = 0.94 science per gold (not a bad ratio with just a Library/Market and no Courthouse)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]22.61 run through a Courthouse = 22.61 * 0.5 = 11.30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 / 11.30 = 1.5 commerce per gold (If you can come out ahead with no Library, you're turning a profit)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]17 commerce in 'fully upgraded' (+100%) city = 34 commerce[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]34 / 11.30 = 3.00 commerce per gold (that's pretty damn good, imo)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's only the tip of the iceberg, because with Courthouses and Free Market, you can drastically push down the Fees. And with Universities &amp; Banks and especially with Wall Street &amp; Oxford University, you can increase the net value from any commerce tiles or specialists yields to soaring heights. (And don't forget about Representation, Free Speech/Bureaucracy and the Financial trait.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let's also keep in mind that +food can be used however you want. It can be used to work even more production tiles in Ironworks or to run 2 more specialists in your GP farm or a couple hill-top Towns in your Wall Street ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also, though I won't go into how it's calculated, 2.5 extra population in a coastal city has the potential to significantly boost your international trade rates -- especially if you have a Customs House in place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And finally, an immeasurable value to increased population is more votes in the United Nations and Apostolic Palace as well as putting you closer to the population requirement for a Domination Victory![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9 [ICON_PRODUCTION] is worth 27 [ICON_GOLD] when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage (3 gold per hammer for non-Wonders &amp; 6 gold per hammer for Wonders.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 / 26.72 = 1.01:1.00 gold (even with no +production bonuses, using Mining Inc in this situation is break even compared to rush-buying.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 * 6 = 54 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production if put toward a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]54 / 26.72 = 2.02:1.00 gold (clearly a better conversion by comparison to rush-buying a Wonder)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]9 hammers in the Ironworks city = 9 * 3 = 27 actual [ICON_PRODUCTION][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]27 * 3 = 81 gold (the equivalent value of Mining Inc.'s production after +200% bonuses from Powered Ironworks is factored in.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]81 / 26.72 = 3.03:1.00 gold (holy crap! that's [BOLD]3 times better[\BOLD] than rush-buying under Universal Suffrage!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As with the Cereal Mills comparison above, this is only the beginning. There are a couple immeasurable values to Mining Inc when compared against rush-buying under Universal Suffrage:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]You don't have to be in Universal Suffrage to use Mining Inc.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Rush-buying with Universal Suffrage doesn't factor in production bonuses ... Mining Inc does.[NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Projects and Space Ship parts can't be rush-bought at all ... Mining Inc's production applies to anything built (and remember, it gets the production bonus from Aluminum for Space Ship parts!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just in case that isn't enough, imagine this bonus on a flat, Archipelago, where half your cities are lucky to have 10 production. In that situation, Mining Inc represents a 100% boost to production.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Your Corporate Fees can be pushed down even to the point of making a profit if you (ab)use Free Market, Courthouses (especially the Rathaus and Ikhanda) and the Corporate Headquarters:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]With a Courthouse: Fees * 0.5 = -24.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]Adding the Corporate Headquarters in your city with Wall Street: Fees * 0.5 + 12 gold per office [+24] = -0.66 gold[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Controlling the Corporate Headquarters (especially if next to Wall Street) all but guarantees your Domestic Corporate Offices can balance their Fees or even turn a profit![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]And now under Free Market: Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 = +5.5 gold:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Malinese Empire with a Mint? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 + 24 * 1.1 = +7.9 gold![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Zulu Empire with an Ikhanda, too? Fees * 0.75 * 0.5 * 0.8 + 24 = +9.2 gold !![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][TAB][ICON_BULLET]What if you're the Holy Roman Empire with a Rathaus? Fees * 0.75 * 0.25 + 24 = +14.75 gold !!![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The lower you can get the Corporate Fees by reduction and offset domestically, the higher your tolerance becomes for spreading Corporations throughout your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you can turn a profit or break-even without even considering the Corporate Benefits, you pretty much have the go-ahead to spread your Corporation(s) to every city in your empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Some Conclusions &amp; Thoughts On Corporate Management.[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Not withstanding Aluminum Co. &amp; Standard Ethanol, Corporations appear to be tools by which we can convert gold (in the form of Corporate Fees/Maintenance) into [ICON_FOOD], [ICON_PRODUCTION], [ICON_CULTURE] &amp; [ICON_RESEARCH].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, expect your Domestic Corporate Offices to not turn individual profits (even more so for any Foreign Corporations). You should weigh the Corporate Fees against the benefits to determine if the exchange is worth it in your situation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you found a Corporation, try your damnedest to build the Corporate Headquarters in the same city as Wall Street.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporations are not like Religions -- they can cost you a lot of money if you're not careful. If you spread them 'carte blanche' to your cities, you run the risk of unnecessarily digging yourself into a hole.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Domestic Corporate Offices can become very expensive. Don't build Corporate Offices 'carte blanche'. Consider the Benefits and weigh them against the Fees.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You can balance Domestic Corporate Fees by [BOLD]also[\BOLD] spreading your Corporations abroad (preferably to civilizations lacking the right resources to get full use out of them).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you're relying on Foreign Corporate Offices to pay your bills, you may want to keep Spies on hand to Influence Civics.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Peaceful Colonies &amp; Vassals and Friendly neighbors are prime candidates for incorporation abroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A Courthouse is a MUST for incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Boost your Corporations' provisions by building appropriate +[ICON_PRODUCTION]/[ICON_RESEARCH]/[ICON_GOLD]/[ICON_CULTURE]% buildings in incorporated cities. In this respect, your Megalopolises (i.e., your National Wonder cities) should make the best incorporated cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Small cities benefit proportionally more from incorporation than large cities, because small cities incur lower Corporate Fees. Against your instincts, you may wish to prioritize your 'fishing village' or your 'hunting camp' for incorporation before your Metropolises (i.e., mid-sized-non National Wonder cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Balance your Corporations' provisions by utilizing +[ICON_FOOD] to run specialists or to work high-yield tiles such as Resources and Cottages. (Such as Desert Incense and hilltop Towns as in [BOLD]The Example[\BOLD].)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Other Articles[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The Fantastic Four: Corporate Culture Powerhouse by OTAKUjbski (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5701209#post5701209)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Corporation: The Power of Sushi by MrCynical (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5809760#post5809760)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]In Closing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Special thanks especially to Roland Johansen for simplifying the formula and giving great insight on some missing and confusing content.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I want more in-depth external links and am always open to suggestions ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- my 2 [ICON_COMMERCE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]The Cost of Expansion[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The intial cost of expansion is the 100 [ICON_PRODUCTION] (Normal speed) it costs to train the Corporate Executive. Debate still exists about the actual value of a hammer; I value 1 [BOLD]raw[\BOLD] hammer at 3 [ICON_GOLD]. Given this assumption, this is how much the Executive 'costs' given various production bonuses:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+000%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.00 * 3 = 300 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+025%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.25 * 3 = 240 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+050%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.50 * 3 = 200 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+075%.[\BOLD] 100 / 1.75 * 3 = 172 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+100%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.00 * 3 = 150 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+125%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.25 * 3 = 134 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+150%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.50 * 3 = 120 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+175%.[\BOLD] 100 / 2.75 * 3 = 110 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]+200%.[\BOLD] 100 / 3.00 * 3 = 100 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 elements to the cost of Corporate Office expansion:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Base Cost[COLOR_REVERT]. 50 [ICON_GOLD] Variable [BOLD]B[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadCost&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Inflation[COLOR_REVERT]. Inflation increases the base cost of expansion. Variable [BOLD]I[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I = 1 + InflationRate / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Location (foreign v. domestic)[COLOR_REVERT]. Foreign expansion doubles the cost. Variable [BOLD]L[\BOLD] in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If domestic; L = 1[NEWLINE]If foreign; L = 2[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][COLOR_CYAN]Competition[COLOR_REVERT]. Forces a buyout -- increasing the cost (default is triple). Variable [BOLD]R[\BOLD] (for [BOLD]R[\BOLD]ivalry) in the formula below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If NO competition is present; R = 1[NEWLINE]If competition IS present; R = 3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This variable is stored as &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; in CIV4CorporationInfo.xml.[NEWLINE]R = 1 + &lt;iSpreadFactor&gt; / 100[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]The Formula:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]B * I * L * R[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][COLOR_RED]An Example:[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE]With 28% Inflation (I = 1.28), buyout (R = 3) in a Foreign City (L = 2).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 * 1.28 * 2 * 3 = 384 [ICON_GOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]If you had trained the Corporate Executive in a city with a Forge and an unpowered Factory (+50% production), you could also factor in another 200 gold to the base cost of expansion.[\BOLD]</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CULTURAL_MECHS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Culture Mechanics Disassembled[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Deranged Duck[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](Please note that all information given here is in regards to Vanilla Civ 1.61. It is probably unchanged in Warlords and the as yet unpublished Beyond the Sword expansion, but I have no way of being certain.)[NEWLINE](Also note that the following information will generally refer to normal speed games, unless otherwise noted. For games played on the Epic, Marathon, or Quick settings, some numbers listed below may be scaled somewhat.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several different values associated with culture in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE]First of all, there is the 'City Culture'. City culture actually affects only one thing: the city's cultural level and thus cultural radius. The city's cultural level and cultural radius start at '1'. When city culture reaches 10, the cultural level goes up to '2'. At 100, it goes up to '3', at 500 it reaches '4', at 5000, it reaches '5', and finally at 50,000 city culture it jumps up to '6', called "Legendary culture". Get 3 cities of level 6 and you win a cultural victory. Also note that a city actually has a cultural value and cultural radius for every player in the game. However, unless a player has actually owned a city at some point, their culture for that city is zero. If they are not the current owner of the city, their city culture will have zero impact on the game. City culture never goes away unless the city is destroyed, or the civilization to whom the culture belongs is destroyed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course you were probably already familiar with 'City culture'. If not, you may need to actually go out and buy a copy of Civ 4 and play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a less accessible culture value, which I will call the 'plot culture'. Every square/tile/plot/whatever in the game also has a cultural value for every single player. You can't ever see the exact value, but it's not totally invisible. On the city screen, the relative values of 'plot culture' for various players are shown in the city screen if you point the mouse at the 'nationality' bar. If you point the mouse cursor at a square near a city, the %nationality of the plot owner(but nobody else) is shown.[NEWLINE]The main effect of plot culture is to determine whose civilization controls that particular plot of land. A civilization will own a plot, if at least one of its cities has that plot within its cultural radius, and if their plot culture is greater than any other civilization that has that plot within one of their cities' radii. Note that they have to actually own the city. If they built some culture in a city, but later lost control of that city, that city won't allow them to control any of the surrounding tiles. However, the culture that the city spilled onto the surrounding tiles might allow another of their cities to control those tiles. The exception to all this is plots containing cities. The city and the plot underneath will remain under the control of whoever founded or last conquered it, regardless of underlying culture. However, if the calculated cultural owner is different from the city owner (in other words, some other city, belonging to a different player has the plot within its cultural radius, and they have more culture on that plot), there is a chance of the city revolting and changing sides. We'll go into revolts in more detail later. Finally, note that plot culture can never ever be gotten rid of, except in a couple of circumstances. Firstly, if you give away a city, you lose all plot cultire in the city square and surrounding 8 squares. Secondly, if you completely obliterate a civilization, their plot culture goes away. Still, if a civilization owns no cities in an area, their culture won't have any effect except to alter the displayed nationality of squares in the region and to cause a small amount of unhappiness in cities who "long to join the motherland".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are probably wondering now where all these cultural values are coming from. The city culture is pretty easy, since the city screen clearly shows what all the sources of culture are. All the various temples, libraries, specialists, culture from the cultural slider, and culture from production are added up and then multiplied by the bonuses given by cathedrals, wonders, civics, and so on. This value, sometimes called CPT(Culture Per Turn), is added to the city's culture each and every turn. If this gives the city enough culture to increase it's cultural level and radius, these will also be increased.[NEWLINE]The city's CPT is also added to the plot culture of every plot within the city's cultural radius, regardless of ownership or presence or absence of other cities. However, there's an added factor based on the city's cultural radius. If the distance between the plot and the city is less than the cultural radius, then 20 times the difference is added to the plot culture as well. Note that the square that the city is on counts as being 1 space away and that this 20 value is not scaled with regards to game mode. It is always 20 per turn, period.[NEWLINE]To make sure that that's clear, let me describe it another way. Think of the city's potential cultural area as a series of rings. The first ring consists of the city and the 8 surrounding squares. The second ring contains the other 12 squares of the city's production area, and so on. When the city's cultural level is 1, only the first ring gets the points from the city's CPT. When the city's cultural level reaches 2, both first and second ring get the base CPT and the first ring also gets and additional 20 points a turn, even if the city isn't generating any culture at that time. When the city reaches it's third cultural expansion, The inner 9 squares get an extra 40 points, the next ring gets 20 points and so on. At the highest level of culture, the inner ring gets a whopping 100 extra points of plot culture per turn.[NEWLINE]When you found a city, you also get some plot culture to allow you to control the surrounding area, specifically 2 points on the city square and 1 point in the surrounding 8 squares. This is why newly founded cities are so easy to culturally overwhelm. All you need is a few turns of an obelisk and you've got a majority of culture in your neighbor's city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One last source of culture is the great artist. When added as an artist superspecialist, he merely contributes to the city's cultural (and science) production like any other specialist. However, when the artist is used to create a great work (often called a 'culture bomb'), it gets interesting. Of course, the 4000 culture points are instantly added to the city's culture. Guess how many of those 4000 points are added to the plot culture of the surrounding squares. The answer is zero. Of course, those familiar with culture bombing will be surprised by this, because they will remember using great works to take control of territory as well boost the city culture, so clearly something more complex is going on. Here's what actually happens:[NEWLINE]First, the city is brought out of revolt, if it is currently revolting. Then, the 4000 points (or whatever the value of the great artist happens to be) is broken up into 20 equal groups. The first group is added to the city's culture. The city's cultural level and radius are recalculated. Then, one turn worth of the city's current cultural output is added to the surrounding squares, including the 20 point bonus for each ring below the outermost ring. Repeat this process for the other 19 groups of great work culture.[NEWLINE]So, let's walk through what this does. Suppose a great artist creates a great work in a city that has no culture. The first of the 200 point groups of culture is added. This brings the city's culture level immediately up to 3. Now, although a turn worth of the city's culture is now delivered, the city has no culture and is producing no culture. So, the only plot culture gained is from those 20 point bonuses. The city plot and 8 surrounding squares thus get 40 points of plot culture. The next ring gets only 20 points in each square. Now, we repeat. The next 200 points is added. City's cultural level stays at 3. Same amount added to nearby squares. Third 200 points added. This brings the city's cultural level to 4, where it will stay for the remainder of the cultural delivery as we're only giving 4000 points and it needs 5000 for the next level. So, the innermost ring gets 60 culture each of 18 times, the next ring gets 40 culture 18 times, and the third ring gets 20 culture 18 times. Or, to sum it up, The first ring gets 1160 points of plot culture, the second ring gets 760, the third ring gets 360 and the fourth ring, although within the city's cultural radius gets nothing. This may seem like a lot, but consider if you sat on the city for a mere 20 turns, you'd double it. Of course, if the city also had any cultural production, that amount would be delivered 20 times to every square in the first 3 rings, and 18 times to the fourth ring.[NEWLINE]Note that when the city's culture is delivered, it is the amount that the city produces at that instant, not that turn. This should raise some mental red flags as possibly abusive, because yes, you can set your culture slider to 100, assign everyone to artist specialist, deliver your culture bomb, then set them back before ending your turn. Knowing this, you can get a great deal of benefit at no cost, if you know the trick. Well, actually, there is some cost, because to use this trick to say add another 1000 to all your squares' culture, you'd need first need to build the city up to where it can produce 50 CPT.[NEWLINE]I don't think that this would be a huge issue in most games. Normally a culture bomb would be used to gain minimal immediate control over a contested city. No time to build cultural buildings and not much cultural output anyway. However, if one's goal is to culturally overwhelm the opponents and force their cities to change sides, it becomes an issue, because one might actually want to culture bomb in a huge city with many cultural buildings in order to speed the revolt of a powerful neighboring city. In such games, it might be desireable to impose some sort of a rule, such as needing to leave the artists and culture slider there for 1 turn, or not being allowed to crank up culture at all, prior to bombing. Perhaps even being required to minimize rather than maximize cultural output prior to bomb. Of course, you could just add it to the list of strange things you might need to do to win a culture war game, along with clearing out large garrisons with helicopters and such. But, do whatever you find fun. It's not like I care how you play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, let's move on to the topic of revolts. A revolt in a city can occur if the owner of the city and the person who would own the underlying square if there were no city are different. In other words, a city might revolt if a neighboring city belonging to a different civilization has it within its cultural radius and that civilization's plot culture under the city is greater than the city's owner and that of all other civilizations with a city in range. You don't have to have a majority, you just have to have more of your nationality than the other guy. If a revolt can occur, there is a flat 10% chance each turn of making a revolt check.[NEWLINE]During a revolt check, a random number between 0 and the city's revolt power is compared with the garrison strength. If the number is greater than the garrison strength, the city revolts. Barbarian cities always fail this check, so will always revolt. If a city revolts there are several effects. All units in the city lose half their current hit points, the city's cultural radius becomes 0 and it produces nothing for a certain number of turns. Also, there is a possibility that the city may change sides (called a flip). A barbarian city will always flip, period. A non barbarian city won't flip if this is the first revolt (there is always one warning revolt). It also won't flip if the option "no city flipping" is on (this by default is off). It won't flip back to someone who has previously owned it, regardless of reason for ownership change, unless the game option "city flipping after conquest" is enabled (this is by default off). If a city flips, all units belonging to enemies of the new owner are destroyed. If the units aren't at war with the new owner, they simply get expelled unless the new owner has open borders with the units' owner.[NEWLINE]So, how is revolt power calculated? The base revolt power starts at 1 and then two factors are added. The first is 2x the city's highest ever population. The second is the number of directly adjacent squares that the revolting people's civilization controls times the current game era. Current game era is considered to be the average era of the remaining players, rounded down, with ancient being considered '1', medieval '2', and so on. So, in the final era (6), if the side the city wants to revolt for controls all 8 squares around the city, this could be as high as 48.[NEWLINE]The base revolt power is then multiplied by several factors. The first is the ratio of the two sides' plot culture for the city square. The formula for this multiplier is 1 + ((revoltCulture - cityOwnerCulture) / (revoltCulture)). This would be a number between 1 and 2, being near 2 if the revolt's plot culture is much higher than the owner, and being near 1 if the two are almost equal. If the revolt's plot culture is twice that of the city owner (i.e., 67% revolting nationality, 33% owner nationality), the value would be about 1.5. Sorry for the ugly math, but I can't find a way to explain it more simply at the moment.[NEWLINE]Fortunatly, the other multipliers are a bit simpler. If the revolting civilization's state religion is present, the value is doubled. If the city owner's state religion is present, the value is halved. If both are present, these two multipliers cancel each other out. If somebody doesn't have a state religion, they don't get a multiplier.[NEWLINE]The city's garrison strength is also simple. Start at 1 and add the cultural garrison strength of all units in the city, regardless of ownership. Double this if the owner and revolting civilization are at war. The only catch is that cultural garrison strength can't be found in game, so here is a list of unit values:[NEWLINE]warrior, quecha: 3[NEWLINE]archer, skirmisher, axe, spear, phalanx, chariot, immortal, catapult: 4[NEWLINE]swordsman, jaguar, praetorian, horsearcher, keshik, war elephant: 5[NEWLINE]mace, samurai, pike, longbow, crossbow, chokonu, knight, camelarcher, conquistador: 6[NEWLINE]musketman, musketeer, grenadier, cannon: 7[NEWLINE]rifle, redcoat, calvalry, cossack: 8[NEWLINE]machine gun: 9[NEWLINE]infantry, SAM infantry, gunship, artillery: 10[NEWLINE]marine, SEAL, tank, panzer: 12[NEWLINE]mech infantry, modern armor: 16[NEWLINE]Note that ships, planes, workers, great people, and other non-military or non-land units don't help keep a city under control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, now that all that stuff above has been covered, let's give some actual examples, so you can see what it means:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 1: Low culture capital[NEWLINE]Consider a capital city with just a palace and no other cultural buildings. Suppose that the owner just sits there and builds no cultural buildings for 200 turns. How would this work out? Well, the palace produces 2 culture per turn, so at the start, the 9 initial city squares are going to get that amount for 5 turns (total 10), when the cultural radius expands. For the next 45 turns, the first two rings would be getting that 2 CPT and the inner ring would get an extra 20 per turn. Then the Radius expands and for the next 150 turns, the 3 city rings all get 2 culture, with the outer getting 20 extra and the inner getting 40 extra. So, let's add this up. The city of course would end up at radius 3 with a flat 400 culture. The third ring would get a modest 300 points of plot culture, not too hard to invade. The second ring would get 3390. The inner ring, including the city square would get a whopping 7300. For another civ to get a majority in the area, they would need to beat that. If they took the city and just started culture bombing, they'd need around 6 great artists to gain that majority, unless of course they put some more culture in the city. The lesson? Sitting on a spot for a long time counts a lot with regards to cultural control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 2: Cultural Nuke[NEWLINE]Okay, suppose you've got a city that you've got a city that you've built up culturally, in order to flip an enemy capital, say, the city in the previous example, which is 3 squares away, the minimum distance between 2 cities on the same landmass (cities on different landmasses can be 2 squares away, oddly enough). You've decided that you're okay with maximizing cultural output to increase culture bomb yield, so you crank the up the culture slider to 100%. You've really built the city up and it already has 900 culture. It also has 14 towns within it's production radius. With 4 base commerce, +2 for free speech, +1 for printing press and +1 for financial, this is 8 culture per square, more than the 6 that an artist specialist gives you with sistine chapel, so you leave 14 people on towns for 113 CPT. One of your people is already an artist, and you have the other 7 join him, with sistine, that's another 48 CPT. You've also got assorted buildings: 5 temples (+5), a Library (+2), a Theatre (+3), and 2 monastaries (+4). Add all the numbers up for 175 CPT Of course, you didn't forget the cultural multipliers either: 4 cathedrals and the hermitage, not to mention Free speech, for a 400% bonus. 5 X 175 is 825 CPT. Yowza! Okay, so you send in your Great Artist and erm, detonate him. Every single square in the city radius istantly gets the equivalent of 20 turns of that 825 CPT, including the enemy capital that you are trying to flip. That's 16500. Oh, and since the enemy capital is in the second to outermost ring of your cultural influence, it gets an additional 400 points from that 20 point per turn bonus.[NEWLINE]Now, if you hadn't assigned those artists and cranked you'd only have a base of 20, which, with multipliers, would become a mere 100 CPT. The total sum of 20 turns (with the same 400 bonus points) would be 2400. So, you got 7 times the effect for making a temporary adjustment to your production, which you will now switch back. Basically, you got 7 Great Artists for the price of one by exploiting a hole in the game mechanics. Now, if this doesn't bother your conscience just a wee bit, remind me not to allow you in my house unsupervised.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 3: The English are Revolting[NEWLINE]This following example actually happened in a recent game of mine. In this particular game, the English happened to be one of my neighbors and, as neighbors are wont to do, Viki decided to stick a knife in my back while I was off invading Mali. The main effect of this little skirmish was that I ended up owning one of Viki's cities (Oh, and I called off my invasion of Mali and a few million people died and one of my cities got trashed from pillaging and repeatedly changing hands, but that's not important). Deciding that it wouldn't be worth the trouble to keep up the fight, I negotiated a peace treaty and resumed plotting to crush Mali at my earliest convenience.[NEWLINE]This English city that I had captured was culturally very advanced and was something like 4 or 5 squares from their capital. Looking at the city, I noticed a high probability of revolt, somewhere around 9%. Now, if I had remembered the default 'no city flipping after conquest' setting, I might not have been so concerned, but I was thinking civ3 and I was afraid it was going to revolt back, so I started building culture and sending in more troops. With a garrison of 20 troops, a culture bomb, many buildings, and 29% of the population switched to my nationality, the !@#$% city was still trying to revolt. Several revolts later, I added a bunch of mech infantry and finally got the unrest under control, at which point my next invasion of Mali triggered an unnoticed defensive pact, forcing me to destroy the English as well and gain a domination victory, meaning no more chance of revolt, so all my anti-unrest measures were a waste of time anyway.[NEWLINE]Anyway, let's see what was going on. Sometime in the renaissance era (Most players were Industrial, but remember, the era is the players' average era, rounded down) the city had a population of 14 and 4 of the 8 surrounding squares were still under english cultural control. So, multiply the population by 2 and the squares by 4 (renaissance being the 4th era) and we get a base revolt power of 44. Given that 29% of the city was my nationality, we multiply this by 1.59 (this is the approximate result of the nationality ratio equation given above), giving 69. In the interests of diplomacy, I had no state religion, while the city contained Elizabeth's state religion, Confusianism. In fact, it was the Confusian holy city, but this doesn't give any bonuses. Still, her state religion doubles her revolt power. Anyway, we get a revolt power of 138. Okay, the garrison at this point consists of 4 archers, 9 longbows, 1 horse archer, 2 grenadiers and 4 infantry. Add up the numbers and add 1 and we get 130. Hmm. All those troops aren't quite enough. Now maybe if I had a state religion or could've gotten Elizabeth to drop hers, I'd have had an easier time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 4: Modding Fun[NEWLINE]The Mod "FallFromHeaven100" (not to be confused with "FallFromHeaven200", which is too big for my modem, so I've never tried it) contains an interesting take on the missionary unit. Not only is it a medic I combat unit, at least some of the missionary units have the ability to create a tiny great work of art. 20 points of culture, to be exact. Now the intention of this unit was probably to allow a player to throw some quick culture in and get at least 1 culture level and stop any revolt in progress. However, due to the underlying cultural formula, this still gives 20 turns of culture to every square in the city's cultural radius. Not only that, unlike the rare and hard to acquire Great Artist, you can build these guys cheaply in whatever numbers your cities can produce. Of course, while you're busy dropping a mini culture bomb every turn or two, your enemies will be busy outteching your economic mess of a civilization. It can be a bit uncool when the enemy walks over your borders with heavy crossbowmen (power 13) while you're still using archers (power 3, just like standard civ).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Source of information:[NEWLINE]Most information given here was acquired by reading the source code in the civ4 SDK, available from Firaxis. The culture functions are contained in the files "CvCity.cpp" and "CvPlot.cpp". "CvUnit.cpp" contains the code for great people.[NEWLINE]A number of game values can also be ascertained (or modified) by reading the files in the Assets/XML directory, even if you do not have the SDK. Many of the numbers used in the culture source code are found in GlobalDefines.xml. Units/Civ4UnitInfos.xml contains various unit statistics, including cultural garrison power and great work value. If you do decide to modify the xml, be sure to keep a backup and if possible, figure out how to put your changes in your customassets folder, leaving the original one unmodified. I have no idea how to go about this, as I've never felt the need to actually modify any of the game's values.</English>
		<French>[H1]Culture Mechanics Disassembled[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Deranged Duck[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](Please note that all information given here is in regards to Vanilla Civ 1.61. It is probably unchanged in Warlords and the as yet unpublished Beyond the Sword expansion, but I have no way of being certain.)[NEWLINE](Also note that the following information will generally refer to normal speed games, unless otherwise noted. For games played on the Epic, Marathon, or Quick settings, some numbers listed below may be scaled somewhat.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several different values associated with culture in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE]First of all, there is the 'City Culture'. City culture actually affects only one thing: the city's cultural level and thus cultural radius. The city's cultural level and cultural radius start at '1'. When city culture reaches 10, the cultural level goes up to '2'. At 100, it goes up to '3', at 500 it reaches '4', at 5000, it reaches '5', and finally at 50,000 city culture it jumps up to '6', called "Legendary culture". Get 3 cities of level 6 and you win a cultural victory. Also note that a city actually has a cultural value and cultural radius for every player in the game. However, unless a player has actually owned a city at some point, their culture for that city is zero. If they are not the current owner of the city, their city culture will have zero impact on the game. City culture never goes away unless the city is destroyed, or the civilization to whom the culture belongs is destroyed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course you were probably already familiar with 'City culture'. If not, you may need to actually go out and buy a copy of Civ 4 and play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a less accessible culture value, which I will call the 'plot culture'. Every square/tile/plot/whatever in the game also has a cultural value for every single player. You can't ever see the exact value, but it's not totally invisible. On the city screen, the relative values of 'plot culture' for various players are shown in the city screen if you point the mouse at the 'nationality' bar. If you point the mouse cursor at a square near a city, the %nationality of the plot owner(but nobody else) is shown.[NEWLINE]The main effect of plot culture is to determine whose civilization controls that particular plot of land. A civilization will own a plot, if at least one of its cities has that plot within its cultural radius, and if their plot culture is greater than any other civilization that has that plot within one of their cities' radii. Note that they have to actually own the city. If they built some culture in a city, but later lost control of that city, that city won't allow them to control any of the surrounding tiles. However, the culture that the city spilled onto the surrounding tiles might allow another of their cities to control those tiles. The exception to all this is plots containing cities. The city and the plot underneath will remain under the control of whoever founded or last conquered it, regardless of underlying culture. However, if the calculated cultural owner is different from the city owner (in other words, some other city, belonging to a different player has the plot within its cultural radius, and they have more culture on that plot), there is a chance of the city revolting and changing sides. We'll go into revolts in more detail later. Finally, note that plot culture can never ever be gotten rid of, except in a couple of circumstances. Firstly, if you give away a city, you lose all plot cultire in the city square and surrounding 8 squares. Secondly, if you completely obliterate a civilization, their plot culture goes away. Still, if a civilization owns no cities in an area, their culture won't have any effect except to alter the displayed nationality of squares in the region and to cause a small amount of unhappiness in cities who "long to join the motherland".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are probably wondering now where all these cultural values are coming from. The city culture is pretty easy, since the city screen clearly shows what all the sources of culture are. All the various temples, libraries, specialists, culture from the cultural slider, and culture from production are added up and then multiplied by the bonuses given by cathedrals, wonders, civics, and so on. This value, sometimes called CPT(Culture Per Turn), is added to the city's culture each and every turn. If this gives the city enough culture to increase it's cultural level and radius, these will also be increased.[NEWLINE]The city's CPT is also added to the plot culture of every plot within the city's cultural radius, regardless of ownership or presence or absence of other cities. However, there's an added factor based on the city's cultural radius. If the distance between the plot and the city is less than the cultural radius, then 20 times the difference is added to the plot culture as well. Note that the square that the city is on counts as being 1 space away and that this 20 value is not scaled with regards to game mode. It is always 20 per turn, period.[NEWLINE]To make sure that that's clear, let me describe it another way. Think of the city's potential cultural area as a series of rings. The first ring consists of the city and the 8 surrounding squares. The second ring contains the other 12 squares of the city's production area, and so on. When the city's cultural level is 1, only the first ring gets the points from the city's CPT. When the city's cultural level reaches 2, both first and second ring get the base CPT and the first ring also gets and additional 20 points a turn, even if the city isn't generating any culture at that time. When the city reaches it's third cultural expansion, The inner 9 squares get an extra 40 points, the next ring gets 20 points and so on. At the highest level of culture, the inner ring gets a whopping 100 extra points of plot culture per turn.[NEWLINE]When you found a city, you also get some plot culture to allow you to control the surrounding area, specifically 2 points on the city square and 1 point in the surrounding 8 squares. This is why newly founded cities are so easy to culturally overwhelm. All you need is a few turns of an obelisk and you've got a majority of culture in your neighbor's city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One last source of culture is the great artist. When added as an artist superspecialist, he merely contributes to the city's cultural (and science) production like any other specialist. However, when the artist is used to create a great work (often called a 'culture bomb'), it gets interesting. Of course, the 4000 culture points are instantly added to the city's culture. Guess how many of those 4000 points are added to the plot culture of the surrounding squares. The answer is zero. Of course, those familiar with culture bombing will be surprised by this, because they will remember using great works to take control of territory as well boost the city culture, so clearly something more complex is going on. Here's what actually happens:[NEWLINE]First, the city is brought out of revolt, if it is currently revolting. Then, the 4000 points (or whatever the value of the great artist happens to be) is broken up into 20 equal groups. The first group is added to the city's culture. The city's cultural level and radius are recalculated. Then, one turn worth of the city's current cultural output is added to the surrounding squares, including the 20 point bonus for each ring below the outermost ring. Repeat this process for the other 19 groups of great work culture.[NEWLINE]So, let's walk through what this does. Suppose a great artist creates a great work in a city that has no culture. The first of the 200 point groups of culture is added. This brings the city's culture level immediately up to 3. Now, although a turn worth of the city's culture is now delivered, the city has no culture and is producing no culture. So, the only plot culture gained is from those 20 point bonuses. The city plot and 8 surrounding squares thus get 40 points of plot culture. The next ring gets only 20 points in each square. Now, we repeat. The next 200 points is added. City's cultural level stays at 3. Same amount added to nearby squares. Third 200 points added. This brings the city's cultural level to 4, where it will stay for the remainder of the cultural delivery as we're only giving 4000 points and it needs 5000 for the next level. So, the innermost ring gets 60 culture each of 18 times, the next ring gets 40 culture 18 times, and the third ring gets 20 culture 18 times. Or, to sum it up, The first ring gets 1160 points of plot culture, the second ring gets 760, the third ring gets 360 and the fourth ring, although within the city's cultural radius gets nothing. This may seem like a lot, but consider if you sat on the city for a mere 20 turns, you'd double it. Of course, if the city also had any cultural production, that amount would be delivered 20 times to every square in the first 3 rings, and 18 times to the fourth ring.[NEWLINE]Note that when the city's culture is delivered, it is the amount that the city produces at that instant, not that turn. This should raise some mental red flags as possibly abusive, because yes, you can set your culture slider to 100, assign everyone to artist specialist, deliver your culture bomb, then set them back before ending your turn. Knowing this, you can get a great deal of benefit at no cost, if you know the trick. Well, actually, there is some cost, because to use this trick to say add another 1000 to all your squares' culture, you'd need first need to build the city up to where it can produce 50 CPT.[NEWLINE]I don't think that this would be a huge issue in most games. Normally a culture bomb would be used to gain minimal immediate control over a contested city. No time to build cultural buildings and not much cultural output anyway. However, if one's goal is to culturally overwhelm the opponents and force their cities to change sides, it becomes an issue, because one might actually want to culture bomb in a huge city with many cultural buildings in order to speed the revolt of a powerful neighboring city. In such games, it might be desireable to impose some sort of a rule, such as needing to leave the artists and culture slider there for 1 turn, or not being allowed to crank up culture at all, prior to bombing. Perhaps even being required to minimize rather than maximize cultural output prior to bomb. Of course, you could just add it to the list of strange things you might need to do to win a culture war game, along with clearing out large garrisons with helicopters and such. But, do whatever you find fun. It's not like I care how you play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, let's move on to the topic of revolts. A revolt in a city can occur if the owner of the city and the person who would own the underlying square if there were no city are different. In other words, a city might revolt if a neighboring city belonging to a different civilization has it within its cultural radius and that civilization's plot culture under the city is greater than the city's owner and that of all other civilizations with a city in range. You don't have to have a majority, you just have to have more of your nationality than the other guy. If a revolt can occur, there is a flat 10% chance each turn of making a revolt check.[NEWLINE]During a revolt check, a random number between 0 and the city's revolt power is compared with the garrison strength. If the number is greater than the garrison strength, the city revolts. Barbarian cities always fail this check, so will always revolt. If a city revolts there are several effects. All units in the city lose half their current hit points, the city's cultural radius becomes 0 and it produces nothing for a certain number of turns. Also, there is a possibility that the city may change sides (called a flip). A barbarian city will always flip, period. A non barbarian city won't flip if this is the first revolt (there is always one warning revolt). It also won't flip if the option "no city flipping" is on (this by default is off). It won't flip back to someone who has previously owned it, regardless of reason for ownership change, unless the game option "city flipping after conquest" is enabled (this is by default off). If a city flips, all units belonging to enemies of the new owner are destroyed. If the units aren't at war with the new owner, they simply get expelled unless the new owner has open borders with the units' owner.[NEWLINE]So, how is revolt power calculated? The base revolt power starts at 1 and then two factors are added. The first is 2x the city's highest ever population. The second is the number of directly adjacent squares that the revolting people's civilization controls times the current game era. Current game era is considered to be the average era of the remaining players, rounded down, with ancient being considered '1', medieval '2', and so on. So, in the final era (6), if the side the city wants to revolt for controls all 8 squares around the city, this could be as high as 48.[NEWLINE]The base revolt power is then multiplied by several factors. The first is the ratio of the two sides' plot culture for the city square. The formula for this multiplier is 1 + ((revoltCulture - cityOwnerCulture) / (revoltCulture)). This would be a number between 1 and 2, being near 2 if the revolt's plot culture is much higher than the owner, and being near 1 if the two are almost equal. If the revolt's plot culture is twice that of the city owner (i.e., 67% revolting nationality, 33% owner nationality), the value would be about 1.5. Sorry for the ugly math, but I can't find a way to explain it more simply at the moment.[NEWLINE]Fortunatly, the other multipliers are a bit simpler. If the revolting civilization's state religion is present, the value is doubled. If the city owner's state religion is present, the value is halved. If both are present, these two multipliers cancel each other out. If somebody doesn't have a state religion, they don't get a multiplier.[NEWLINE]The city's garrison strength is also simple. Start at 1 and add the cultural garrison strength of all units in the city, regardless of ownership. Double this if the owner and revolting civilization are at war. The only catch is that cultural garrison strength can't be found in game, so here is a list of unit values:[NEWLINE]warrior, quecha: 3[NEWLINE]archer, skirmisher, axe, spear, phalanx, chariot, immortal, catapult: 4[NEWLINE]swordsman, jaguar, praetorian, horsearcher, keshik, war elephant: 5[NEWLINE]mace, samurai, pike, longbow, crossbow, chokonu, knight, camelarcher, conquistador: 6[NEWLINE]musketman, musketeer, grenadier, cannon: 7[NEWLINE]rifle, redcoat, calvalry, cossack: 8[NEWLINE]machine gun: 9[NEWLINE]infantry, SAM infantry, gunship, artillery: 10[NEWLINE]marine, SEAL, tank, panzer: 12[NEWLINE]mech infantry, modern armor: 16[NEWLINE]Note that ships, planes, workers, great people, and other non-military or non-land units don't help keep a city under control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, now that all that stuff above has been covered, let's give some actual examples, so you can see what it means:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 1: Low culture capital[NEWLINE]Consider a capital city with just a palace and no other cultural buildings. Suppose that the owner just sits there and builds no cultural buildings for 200 turns. How would this work out? Well, the palace produces 2 culture per turn, so at the start, the 9 initial city squares are going to get that amount for 5 turns (total 10), when the cultural radius expands. For the next 45 turns, the first two rings would be getting that 2 CPT and the inner ring would get an extra 20 per turn. Then the Radius expands and for the next 150 turns, the 3 city rings all get 2 culture, with the outer getting 20 extra and the inner getting 40 extra. So, let's add this up. The city of course would end up at radius 3 with a flat 400 culture. The third ring would get a modest 300 points of plot culture, not too hard to invade. The second ring would get 3390. The inner ring, including the city square would get a whopping 7300. For another civ to get a majority in the area, they would need to beat that. If they took the city and just started culture bombing, they'd need around 6 great artists to gain that majority, unless of course they put some more culture in the city. The lesson? Sitting on a spot for a long time counts a lot with regards to cultural control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 2: Cultural Nuke[NEWLINE]Okay, suppose you've got a city that you've got a city that you've built up culturally, in order to flip an enemy capital, say, the city in the previous example, which is 3 squares away, the minimum distance between 2 cities on the same landmass (cities on different landmasses can be 2 squares away, oddly enough). You've decided that you're okay with maximizing cultural output to increase culture bomb yield, so you crank the up the culture slider to 100%. You've really built the city up and it already has 900 culture. It also has 14 towns within it's production radius. With 4 base commerce, +2 for free speech, +1 for printing press and +1 for financial, this is 8 culture per square, more than the 6 that an artist specialist gives you with sistine chapel, so you leave 14 people on towns for 113 CPT. One of your people is already an artist, and you have the other 7 join him, with sistine, that's another 48 CPT. You've also got assorted buildings: 5 temples (+5), a Library (+2), a Theatre (+3), and 2 monastaries (+4). Add all the numbers up for 175 CPT Of course, you didn't forget the cultural multipliers either: 4 cathedrals and the hermitage, not to mention Free speech, for a 400% bonus. 5 X 175 is 825 CPT. Yowza! Okay, so you send in your Great Artist and erm, detonate him. Every single square in the city radius istantly gets the equivalent of 20 turns of that 825 CPT, including the enemy capital that you are trying to flip. That's 16500. Oh, and since the enemy capital is in the second to outermost ring of your cultural influence, it gets an additional 400 points from that 20 point per turn bonus.[NEWLINE]Now, if you hadn't assigned those artists and cranked you'd only have a base of 20, which, with multipliers, would become a mere 100 CPT. The total sum of 20 turns (with the same 400 bonus points) would be 2400. So, you got 7 times the effect for making a temporary adjustment to your production, which you will now switch back. Basically, you got 7 Great Artists for the price of one by exploiting a hole in the game mechanics. Now, if this doesn't bother your conscience just a wee bit, remind me not to allow you in my house unsupervised.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 3: The English are Revolting[NEWLINE]This following example actually happened in a recent game of mine. In this particular game, the English happened to be one of my neighbors and, as neighbors are wont to do, Viki decided to stick a knife in my back while I was off invading Mali. The main effect of this little skirmish was that I ended up owning one of Viki's cities (Oh, and I called off my invasion of Mali and a few million people died and one of my cities got trashed from pillaging and repeatedly changing hands, but that's not important). Deciding that it wouldn't be worth the trouble to keep up the fight, I negotiated a peace treaty and resumed plotting to crush Mali at my earliest convenience.[NEWLINE]This English city that I had captured was culturally very advanced and was something like 4 or 5 squares from their capital. Looking at the city, I noticed a high probability of revolt, somewhere around 9%. Now, if I had remembered the default 'no city flipping after conquest' setting, I might not have been so concerned, but I was thinking civ3 and I was afraid it was going to revolt back, so I started building culture and sending in more troops. With a garrison of 20 troops, a culture bomb, many buildings, and 29% of the population switched to my nationality, the !@#$% city was still trying to revolt. Several revolts later, I added a bunch of mech infantry and finally got the unrest under control, at which point my next invasion of Mali triggered an unnoticed defensive pact, forcing me to destroy the English as well and gain a domination victory, meaning no more chance of revolt, so all my anti-unrest measures were a waste of time anyway.[NEWLINE]Anyway, let's see what was going on. Sometime in the renaissance era (Most players were Industrial, but remember, the era is the players' average era, rounded down) the city had a population of 14 and 4 of the 8 surrounding squares were still under english cultural control. So, multiply the population by 2 and the squares by 4 (renaissance being the 4th era) and we get a base revolt power of 44. Given that 29% of the city was my nationality, we multiply this by 1.59 (this is the approximate result of the nationality ratio equation given above), giving 69. In the interests of diplomacy, I had no state religion, while the city contained Elizabeth's state religion, Confusianism. In fact, it was the Confusian holy city, but this doesn't give any bonuses. Still, her state religion doubles her revolt power. Anyway, we get a revolt power of 138. Okay, the garrison at this point consists of 4 archers, 9 longbows, 1 horse archer, 2 grenadiers and 4 infantry. Add up the numbers and add 1 and we get 130. Hmm. All those troops aren't quite enough. Now maybe if I had a state religion or could've gotten Elizabeth to drop hers, I'd have had an easier time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 4: Modding Fun[NEWLINE]The Mod "FallFromHeaven100" (not to be confused with "FallFromHeaven200", which is too big for my modem, so I've never tried it) contains an interesting take on the missionary unit. Not only is it a medic I combat unit, at least some of the missionary units have the ability to create a tiny great work of art. 20 points of culture, to be exact. Now the intention of this unit was probably to allow a player to throw some quick culture in and get at least 1 culture level and stop any revolt in progress. However, due to the underlying cultural formula, this still gives 20 turns of culture to every square in the city's cultural radius. Not only that, unlike the rare and hard to acquire Great Artist, you can build these guys cheaply in whatever numbers your cities can produce. Of course, while you're busy dropping a mini culture bomb every turn or two, your enemies will be busy outteching your economic mess of a civilization. It can be a bit uncool when the enemy walks over your borders with heavy crossbowmen (power 13) while you're still using archers (power 3, just like standard civ).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Source of information:[NEWLINE]Most information given here was acquired by reading the source code in the civ4 SDK, available from Firaxis. The culture functions are contained in the files "CvCity.cpp" and "CvPlot.cpp". "CvUnit.cpp" contains the code for great people.[NEWLINE]A number of game values can also be ascertained (or modified) by reading the files in the Assets/XML directory, even if you do not have the SDK. Many of the numbers used in the culture source code are found in GlobalDefines.xml. Units/Civ4UnitInfos.xml contains various unit statistics, including cultural garrison power and great work value. If you do decide to modify the xml, be sure to keep a backup and if possible, figure out how to put your changes in your customassets folder, leaving the original one unmodified. I have no idea how to go about this, as I've never felt the need to actually modify any of the game's values.</French>
		<German>[H1]Culture Mechanics Disassembled[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Deranged Duck[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](Please note that all information given here is in regards to Vanilla Civ 1.61. It is probably unchanged in Warlords and the as yet unpublished Beyond the Sword expansion, but I have no way of being certain.)[NEWLINE](Also note that the following information will generally refer to normal speed games, unless otherwise noted. For games played on the Epic, Marathon, or Quick settings, some numbers listed below may be scaled somewhat.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several different values associated with culture in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE]First of all, there is the 'City Culture'. City culture actually affects only one thing: the city's cultural level and thus cultural radius. The city's cultural level and cultural radius start at '1'. When city culture reaches 10, the cultural level goes up to '2'. At 100, it goes up to '3', at 500 it reaches '4', at 5000, it reaches '5', and finally at 50,000 city culture it jumps up to '6', called "Legendary culture". Get 3 cities of level 6 and you win a cultural victory. Also note that a city actually has a cultural value and cultural radius for every player in the game. However, unless a player has actually owned a city at some point, their culture for that city is zero. If they are not the current owner of the city, their city culture will have zero impact on the game. City culture never goes away unless the city is destroyed, or the civilization to whom the culture belongs is destroyed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course you were probably already familiar with 'City culture'. If not, you may need to actually go out and buy a copy of Civ 4 and play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a less accessible culture value, which I will call the 'plot culture'. Every square/tile/plot/whatever in the game also has a cultural value for every single player. You can't ever see the exact value, but it's not totally invisible. On the city screen, the relative values of 'plot culture' for various players are shown in the city screen if you point the mouse at the 'nationality' bar. If you point the mouse cursor at a square near a city, the %nationality of the plot owner(but nobody else) is shown.[NEWLINE]The main effect of plot culture is to determine whose civilization controls that particular plot of land. A civilization will own a plot, if at least one of its cities has that plot within its cultural radius, and if their plot culture is greater than any other civilization that has that plot within one of their cities' radii. Note that they have to actually own the city. If they built some culture in a city, but later lost control of that city, that city won't allow them to control any of the surrounding tiles. However, the culture that the city spilled onto the surrounding tiles might allow another of their cities to control those tiles. The exception to all this is plots containing cities. The city and the plot underneath will remain under the control of whoever founded or last conquered it, regardless of underlying culture. However, if the calculated cultural owner is different from the city owner (in other words, some other city, belonging to a different player has the plot within its cultural radius, and they have more culture on that plot), there is a chance of the city revolting and changing sides. We'll go into revolts in more detail later. Finally, note that plot culture can never ever be gotten rid of, except in a couple of circumstances. Firstly, if you give away a city, you lose all plot cultire in the city square and surrounding 8 squares. Secondly, if you completely obliterate a civilization, their plot culture goes away. Still, if a civilization owns no cities in an area, their culture won't have any effect except to alter the displayed nationality of squares in the region and to cause a small amount of unhappiness in cities who "long to join the motherland".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are probably wondering now where all these cultural values are coming from. The city culture is pretty easy, since the city screen clearly shows what all the sources of culture are. All the various temples, libraries, specialists, culture from the cultural slider, and culture from production are added up and then multiplied by the bonuses given by cathedrals, wonders, civics, and so on. This value, sometimes called CPT(Culture Per Turn), is added to the city's culture each and every turn. If this gives the city enough culture to increase it's cultural level and radius, these will also be increased.[NEWLINE]The city's CPT is also added to the plot culture of every plot within the city's cultural radius, regardless of ownership or presence or absence of other cities. However, there's an added factor based on the city's cultural radius. If the distance between the plot and the city is less than the cultural radius, then 20 times the difference is added to the plot culture as well. Note that the square that the city is on counts as being 1 space away and that this 20 value is not scaled with regards to game mode. It is always 20 per turn, period.[NEWLINE]To make sure that that's clear, let me describe it another way. Think of the city's potential cultural area as a series of rings. The first ring consists of the city and the 8 surrounding squares. The second ring contains the other 12 squares of the city's production area, and so on. When the city's cultural level is 1, only the first ring gets the points from the city's CPT. When the city's cultural level reaches 2, both first and second ring get the base CPT and the first ring also gets and additional 20 points a turn, even if the city isn't generating any culture at that time. When the city reaches it's third cultural expansion, The inner 9 squares get an extra 40 points, the next ring gets 20 points and so on. At the highest level of culture, the inner ring gets a whopping 100 extra points of plot culture per turn.[NEWLINE]When you found a city, you also get some plot culture to allow you to control the surrounding area, specifically 2 points on the city square and 1 point in the surrounding 8 squares. This is why newly founded cities are so easy to culturally overwhelm. All you need is a few turns of an obelisk and you've got a majority of culture in your neighbor's city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One last source of culture is the great artist. When added as an artist superspecialist, he merely contributes to the city's cultural (and science) production like any other specialist. However, when the artist is used to create a great work (often called a 'culture bomb'), it gets interesting. Of course, the 4000 culture points are instantly added to the city's culture. Guess how many of those 4000 points are added to the plot culture of the surrounding squares. The answer is zero. Of course, those familiar with culture bombing will be surprised by this, because they will remember using great works to take control of territory as well boost the city culture, so clearly something more complex is going on. Here's what actually happens:[NEWLINE]First, the city is brought out of revolt, if it is currently revolting. Then, the 4000 points (or whatever the value of the great artist happens to be) is broken up into 20 equal groups. The first group is added to the city's culture. The city's cultural level and radius are recalculated. Then, one turn worth of the city's current cultural output is added to the surrounding squares, including the 20 point bonus for each ring below the outermost ring. Repeat this process for the other 19 groups of great work culture.[NEWLINE]So, let's walk through what this does. Suppose a great artist creates a great work in a city that has no culture. The first of the 200 point groups of culture is added. This brings the city's culture level immediately up to 3. Now, although a turn worth of the city's culture is now delivered, the city has no culture and is producing no culture. So, the only plot culture gained is from those 20 point bonuses. The city plot and 8 surrounding squares thus get 40 points of plot culture. The next ring gets only 20 points in each square. Now, we repeat. The next 200 points is added. City's cultural level stays at 3. Same amount added to nearby squares. Third 200 points added. This brings the city's cultural level to 4, where it will stay for the remainder of the cultural delivery as we're only giving 4000 points and it needs 5000 for the next level. So, the innermost ring gets 60 culture each of 18 times, the next ring gets 40 culture 18 times, and the third ring gets 20 culture 18 times. Or, to sum it up, The first ring gets 1160 points of plot culture, the second ring gets 760, the third ring gets 360 and the fourth ring, although within the city's cultural radius gets nothing. This may seem like a lot, but consider if you sat on the city for a mere 20 turns, you'd double it. Of course, if the city also had any cultural production, that amount would be delivered 20 times to every square in the first 3 rings, and 18 times to the fourth ring.[NEWLINE]Note that when the city's culture is delivered, it is the amount that the city produces at that instant, not that turn. This should raise some mental red flags as possibly abusive, because yes, you can set your culture slider to 100, assign everyone to artist specialist, deliver your culture bomb, then set them back before ending your turn. Knowing this, you can get a great deal of benefit at no cost, if you know the trick. Well, actually, there is some cost, because to use this trick to say add another 1000 to all your squares' culture, you'd need first need to build the city up to where it can produce 50 CPT.[NEWLINE]I don't think that this would be a huge issue in most games. Normally a culture bomb would be used to gain minimal immediate control over a contested city. No time to build cultural buildings and not much cultural output anyway. However, if one's goal is to culturally overwhelm the opponents and force their cities to change sides, it becomes an issue, because one might actually want to culture bomb in a huge city with many cultural buildings in order to speed the revolt of a powerful neighboring city. In such games, it might be desireable to impose some sort of a rule, such as needing to leave the artists and culture slider there for 1 turn, or not being allowed to crank up culture at all, prior to bombing. Perhaps even being required to minimize rather than maximize cultural output prior to bomb. Of course, you could just add it to the list of strange things you might need to do to win a culture war game, along with clearing out large garrisons with helicopters and such. But, do whatever you find fun. It's not like I care how you play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, let's move on to the topic of revolts. A revolt in a city can occur if the owner of the city and the person who would own the underlying square if there were no city are different. In other words, a city might revolt if a neighboring city belonging to a different civilization has it within its cultural radius and that civilization's plot culture under the city is greater than the city's owner and that of all other civilizations with a city in range. You don't have to have a majority, you just have to have more of your nationality than the other guy. If a revolt can occur, there is a flat 10% chance each turn of making a revolt check.[NEWLINE]During a revolt check, a random number between 0 and the city's revolt power is compared with the garrison strength. If the number is greater than the garrison strength, the city revolts. Barbarian cities always fail this check, so will always revolt. If a city revolts there are several effects. All units in the city lose half their current hit points, the city's cultural radius becomes 0 and it produces nothing for a certain number of turns. Also, there is a possibility that the city may change sides (called a flip). A barbarian city will always flip, period. A non barbarian city won't flip if this is the first revolt (there is always one warning revolt). It also won't flip if the option "no city flipping" is on (this by default is off). It won't flip back to someone who has previously owned it, regardless of reason for ownership change, unless the game option "city flipping after conquest" is enabled (this is by default off). If a city flips, all units belonging to enemies of the new owner are destroyed. If the units aren't at war with the new owner, they simply get expelled unless the new owner has open borders with the units' owner.[NEWLINE]So, how is revolt power calculated? The base revolt power starts at 1 and then two factors are added. The first is 2x the city's highest ever population. The second is the number of directly adjacent squares that the revolting people's civilization controls times the current game era. Current game era is considered to be the average era of the remaining players, rounded down, with ancient being considered '1', medieval '2', and so on. So, in the final era (6), if the side the city wants to revolt for controls all 8 squares around the city, this could be as high as 48.[NEWLINE]The base revolt power is then multiplied by several factors. The first is the ratio of the two sides' plot culture for the city square. The formula for this multiplier is 1 + ((revoltCulture - cityOwnerCulture) / (revoltCulture)). This would be a number between 1 and 2, being near 2 if the revolt's plot culture is much higher than the owner, and being near 1 if the two are almost equal. If the revolt's plot culture is twice that of the city owner (i.e., 67% revolting nationality, 33% owner nationality), the value would be about 1.5. Sorry for the ugly math, but I can't find a way to explain it more simply at the moment.[NEWLINE]Fortunatly, the other multipliers are a bit simpler. If the revolting civilization's state religion is present, the value is doubled. If the city owner's state religion is present, the value is halved. If both are present, these two multipliers cancel each other out. If somebody doesn't have a state religion, they don't get a multiplier.[NEWLINE]The city's garrison strength is also simple. Start at 1 and add the cultural garrison strength of all units in the city, regardless of ownership. Double this if the owner and revolting civilization are at war. The only catch is that cultural garrison strength can't be found in game, so here is a list of unit values:[NEWLINE]warrior, quecha: 3[NEWLINE]archer, skirmisher, axe, spear, phalanx, chariot, immortal, catapult: 4[NEWLINE]swordsman, jaguar, praetorian, horsearcher, keshik, war elephant: 5[NEWLINE]mace, samurai, pike, longbow, crossbow, chokonu, knight, camelarcher, conquistador: 6[NEWLINE]musketman, musketeer, grenadier, cannon: 7[NEWLINE]rifle, redcoat, calvalry, cossack: 8[NEWLINE]machine gun: 9[NEWLINE]infantry, SAM infantry, gunship, artillery: 10[NEWLINE]marine, SEAL, tank, panzer: 12[NEWLINE]mech infantry, modern armor: 16[NEWLINE]Note that ships, planes, workers, great people, and other non-military or non-land units don't help keep a city under control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, now that all that stuff above has been covered, let's give some actual examples, so you can see what it means:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 1: Low culture capital[NEWLINE]Consider a capital city with just a palace and no other cultural buildings. Suppose that the owner just sits there and builds no cultural buildings for 200 turns. How would this work out? Well, the palace produces 2 culture per turn, so at the start, the 9 initial city squares are going to get that amount for 5 turns (total 10), when the cultural radius expands. For the next 45 turns, the first two rings would be getting that 2 CPT and the inner ring would get an extra 20 per turn. Then the Radius expands and for the next 150 turns, the 3 city rings all get 2 culture, with the outer getting 20 extra and the inner getting 40 extra. So, let's add this up. The city of course would end up at radius 3 with a flat 400 culture. The third ring would get a modest 300 points of plot culture, not too hard to invade. The second ring would get 3390. The inner ring, including the city square would get a whopping 7300. For another civ to get a majority in the area, they would need to beat that. If they took the city and just started culture bombing, they'd need around 6 great artists to gain that majority, unless of course they put some more culture in the city. The lesson? Sitting on a spot for a long time counts a lot with regards to cultural control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 2: Cultural Nuke[NEWLINE]Okay, suppose you've got a city that you've got a city that you've built up culturally, in order to flip an enemy capital, say, the city in the previous example, which is 3 squares away, the minimum distance between 2 cities on the same landmass (cities on different landmasses can be 2 squares away, oddly enough). You've decided that you're okay with maximizing cultural output to increase culture bomb yield, so you crank the up the culture slider to 100%. You've really built the city up and it already has 900 culture. It also has 14 towns within it's production radius. With 4 base commerce, +2 for free speech, +1 for printing press and +1 for financial, this is 8 culture per square, more than the 6 that an artist specialist gives you with sistine chapel, so you leave 14 people on towns for 113 CPT. One of your people is already an artist, and you have the other 7 join him, with sistine, that's another 48 CPT. You've also got assorted buildings: 5 temples (+5), a Library (+2), a Theatre (+3), and 2 monastaries (+4). Add all the numbers up for 175 CPT Of course, you didn't forget the cultural multipliers either: 4 cathedrals and the hermitage, not to mention Free speech, for a 400% bonus. 5 X 175 is 825 CPT. Yowza! Okay, so you send in your Great Artist and erm, detonate him. Every single square in the city radius istantly gets the equivalent of 20 turns of that 825 CPT, including the enemy capital that you are trying to flip. That's 16500. Oh, and since the enemy capital is in the second to outermost ring of your cultural influence, it gets an additional 400 points from that 20 point per turn bonus.[NEWLINE]Now, if you hadn't assigned those artists and cranked you'd only have a base of 20, which, with multipliers, would become a mere 100 CPT. The total sum of 20 turns (with the same 400 bonus points) would be 2400. So, you got 7 times the effect for making a temporary adjustment to your production, which you will now switch back. Basically, you got 7 Great Artists for the price of one by exploiting a hole in the game mechanics. Now, if this doesn't bother your conscience just a wee bit, remind me not to allow you in my house unsupervised.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 3: The English are Revolting[NEWLINE]This following example actually happened in a recent game of mine. In this particular game, the English happened to be one of my neighbors and, as neighbors are wont to do, Viki decided to stick a knife in my back while I was off invading Mali. The main effect of this little skirmish was that I ended up owning one of Viki's cities (Oh, and I called off my invasion of Mali and a few million people died and one of my cities got trashed from pillaging and repeatedly changing hands, but that's not important). Deciding that it wouldn't be worth the trouble to keep up the fight, I negotiated a peace treaty and resumed plotting to crush Mali at my earliest convenience.[NEWLINE]This English city that I had captured was culturally very advanced and was something like 4 or 5 squares from their capital. Looking at the city, I noticed a high probability of revolt, somewhere around 9%. Now, if I had remembered the default 'no city flipping after conquest' setting, I might not have been so concerned, but I was thinking civ3 and I was afraid it was going to revolt back, so I started building culture and sending in more troops. With a garrison of 20 troops, a culture bomb, many buildings, and 29% of the population switched to my nationality, the !@#$% city was still trying to revolt. Several revolts later, I added a bunch of mech infantry and finally got the unrest under control, at which point my next invasion of Mali triggered an unnoticed defensive pact, forcing me to destroy the English as well and gain a domination victory, meaning no more chance of revolt, so all my anti-unrest measures were a waste of time anyway.[NEWLINE]Anyway, let's see what was going on. Sometime in the renaissance era (Most players were Industrial, but remember, the era is the players' average era, rounded down) the city had a population of 14 and 4 of the 8 surrounding squares were still under english cultural control. So, multiply the population by 2 and the squares by 4 (renaissance being the 4th era) and we get a base revolt power of 44. Given that 29% of the city was my nationality, we multiply this by 1.59 (this is the approximate result of the nationality ratio equation given above), giving 69. In the interests of diplomacy, I had no state religion, while the city contained Elizabeth's state religion, Confusianism. In fact, it was the Confusian holy city, but this doesn't give any bonuses. Still, her state religion doubles her revolt power. Anyway, we get a revolt power of 138. Okay, the garrison at this point consists of 4 archers, 9 longbows, 1 horse archer, 2 grenadiers and 4 infantry. Add up the numbers and add 1 and we get 130. Hmm. All those troops aren't quite enough. Now maybe if I had a state religion or could've gotten Elizabeth to drop hers, I'd have had an easier time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 4: Modding Fun[NEWLINE]The Mod "FallFromHeaven100" (not to be confused with "FallFromHeaven200", which is too big for my modem, so I've never tried it) contains an interesting take on the missionary unit. Not only is it a medic I combat unit, at least some of the missionary units have the ability to create a tiny great work of art. 20 points of culture, to be exact. Now the intention of this unit was probably to allow a player to throw some quick culture in and get at least 1 culture level and stop any revolt in progress. However, due to the underlying cultural formula, this still gives 20 turns of culture to every square in the city's cultural radius. Not only that, unlike the rare and hard to acquire Great Artist, you can build these guys cheaply in whatever numbers your cities can produce. Of course, while you're busy dropping a mini culture bomb every turn or two, your enemies will be busy outteching your economic mess of a civilization. It can be a bit uncool when the enemy walks over your borders with heavy crossbowmen (power 13) while you're still using archers (power 3, just like standard civ).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Source of information:[NEWLINE]Most information given here was acquired by reading the source code in the civ4 SDK, available from Firaxis. The culture functions are contained in the files "CvCity.cpp" and "CvPlot.cpp". "CvUnit.cpp" contains the code for great people.[NEWLINE]A number of game values can also be ascertained (or modified) by reading the files in the Assets/XML directory, even if you do not have the SDK. Many of the numbers used in the culture source code are found in GlobalDefines.xml. Units/Civ4UnitInfos.xml contains various unit statistics, including cultural garrison power and great work value. If you do decide to modify the xml, be sure to keep a backup and if possible, figure out how to put your changes in your customassets folder, leaving the original one unmodified. I have no idea how to go about this, as I've never felt the need to actually modify any of the game's values.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Culture Mechanics Disassembled[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Deranged Duck[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](Please note that all information given here is in regards to Vanilla Civ 1.61. It is probably unchanged in Warlords and the as yet unpublished Beyond the Sword expansion, but I have no way of being certain.)[NEWLINE](Also note that the following information will generally refer to normal speed games, unless otherwise noted. For games played on the Epic, Marathon, or Quick settings, some numbers listed below may be scaled somewhat.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several different values associated with culture in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE]First of all, there is the 'City Culture'. City culture actually affects only one thing: the city's cultural level and thus cultural radius. The city's cultural level and cultural radius start at '1'. When city culture reaches 10, the cultural level goes up to '2'. At 100, it goes up to '3', at 500 it reaches '4', at 5000, it reaches '5', and finally at 50,000 city culture it jumps up to '6', called "Legendary culture". Get 3 cities of level 6 and you win a cultural victory. Also note that a city actually has a cultural value and cultural radius for every player in the game. However, unless a player has actually owned a city at some point, their culture for that city is zero. If they are not the current owner of the city, their city culture will have zero impact on the game. City culture never goes away unless the city is destroyed, or the civilization to whom the culture belongs is destroyed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course you were probably already familiar with 'City culture'. If not, you may need to actually go out and buy a copy of Civ 4 and play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a less accessible culture value, which I will call the 'plot culture'. Every square/tile/plot/whatever in the game also has a cultural value for every single player. You can't ever see the exact value, but it's not totally invisible. On the city screen, the relative values of 'plot culture' for various players are shown in the city screen if you point the mouse at the 'nationality' bar. If you point the mouse cursor at a square near a city, the %nationality of the plot owner(but nobody else) is shown.[NEWLINE]The main effect of plot culture is to determine whose civilization controls that particular plot of land. A civilization will own a plot, if at least one of its cities has that plot within its cultural radius, and if their plot culture is greater than any other civilization that has that plot within one of their cities' radii. Note that they have to actually own the city. If they built some culture in a city, but later lost control of that city, that city won't allow them to control any of the surrounding tiles. However, the culture that the city spilled onto the surrounding tiles might allow another of their cities to control those tiles. The exception to all this is plots containing cities. The city and the plot underneath will remain under the control of whoever founded or last conquered it, regardless of underlying culture. However, if the calculated cultural owner is different from the city owner (in other words, some other city, belonging to a different player has the plot within its cultural radius, and they have more culture on that plot), there is a chance of the city revolting and changing sides. We'll go into revolts in more detail later. Finally, note that plot culture can never ever be gotten rid of, except in a couple of circumstances. Firstly, if you give away a city, you lose all plot cultire in the city square and surrounding 8 squares. Secondly, if you completely obliterate a civilization, their plot culture goes away. Still, if a civilization owns no cities in an area, their culture won't have any effect except to alter the displayed nationality of squares in the region and to cause a small amount of unhappiness in cities who "long to join the motherland".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are probably wondering now where all these cultural values are coming from. The city culture is pretty easy, since the city screen clearly shows what all the sources of culture are. All the various temples, libraries, specialists, culture from the cultural slider, and culture from production are added up and then multiplied by the bonuses given by cathedrals, wonders, civics, and so on. This value, sometimes called CPT(Culture Per Turn), is added to the city's culture each and every turn. If this gives the city enough culture to increase it's cultural level and radius, these will also be increased.[NEWLINE]The city's CPT is also added to the plot culture of every plot within the city's cultural radius, regardless of ownership or presence or absence of other cities. However, there's an added factor based on the city's cultural radius. If the distance between the plot and the city is less than the cultural radius, then 20 times the difference is added to the plot culture as well. Note that the square that the city is on counts as being 1 space away and that this 20 value is not scaled with regards to game mode. It is always 20 per turn, period.[NEWLINE]To make sure that that's clear, let me describe it another way. Think of the city's potential cultural area as a series of rings. The first ring consists of the city and the 8 surrounding squares. The second ring contains the other 12 squares of the city's production area, and so on. When the city's cultural level is 1, only the first ring gets the points from the city's CPT. When the city's cultural level reaches 2, both first and second ring get the base CPT and the first ring also gets and additional 20 points a turn, even if the city isn't generating any culture at that time. When the city reaches it's third cultural expansion, The inner 9 squares get an extra 40 points, the next ring gets 20 points and so on. At the highest level of culture, the inner ring gets a whopping 100 extra points of plot culture per turn.[NEWLINE]When you found a city, you also get some plot culture to allow you to control the surrounding area, specifically 2 points on the city square and 1 point in the surrounding 8 squares. This is why newly founded cities are so easy to culturally overwhelm. All you need is a few turns of an obelisk and you've got a majority of culture in your neighbor's city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One last source of culture is the great artist. When added as an artist superspecialist, he merely contributes to the city's cultural (and science) production like any other specialist. However, when the artist is used to create a great work (often called a 'culture bomb'), it gets interesting. Of course, the 4000 culture points are instantly added to the city's culture. Guess how many of those 4000 points are added to the plot culture of the surrounding squares. The answer is zero. Of course, those familiar with culture bombing will be surprised by this, because they will remember using great works to take control of territory as well boost the city culture, so clearly something more complex is going on. Here's what actually happens:[NEWLINE]First, the city is brought out of revolt, if it is currently revolting. Then, the 4000 points (or whatever the value of the great artist happens to be) is broken up into 20 equal groups. The first group is added to the city's culture. The city's cultural level and radius are recalculated. Then, one turn worth of the city's current cultural output is added to the surrounding squares, including the 20 point bonus for each ring below the outermost ring. Repeat this process for the other 19 groups of great work culture.[NEWLINE]So, let's walk through what this does. Suppose a great artist creates a great work in a city that has no culture. The first of the 200 point groups of culture is added. This brings the city's culture level immediately up to 3. Now, although a turn worth of the city's culture is now delivered, the city has no culture and is producing no culture. So, the only plot culture gained is from those 20 point bonuses. The city plot and 8 surrounding squares thus get 40 points of plot culture. The next ring gets only 20 points in each square. Now, we repeat. The next 200 points is added. City's cultural level stays at 3. Same amount added to nearby squares. Third 200 points added. This brings the city's cultural level to 4, where it will stay for the remainder of the cultural delivery as we're only giving 4000 points and it needs 5000 for the next level. So, the innermost ring gets 60 culture each of 18 times, the next ring gets 40 culture 18 times, and the third ring gets 20 culture 18 times. Or, to sum it up, The first ring gets 1160 points of plot culture, the second ring gets 760, the third ring gets 360 and the fourth ring, although within the city's cultural radius gets nothing. This may seem like a lot, but consider if you sat on the city for a mere 20 turns, you'd double it. Of course, if the city also had any cultural production, that amount would be delivered 20 times to every square in the first 3 rings, and 18 times to the fourth ring.[NEWLINE]Note that when the city's culture is delivered, it is the amount that the city produces at that instant, not that turn. This should raise some mental red flags as possibly abusive, because yes, you can set your culture slider to 100, assign everyone to artist specialist, deliver your culture bomb, then set them back before ending your turn. Knowing this, you can get a great deal of benefit at no cost, if you know the trick. Well, actually, there is some cost, because to use this trick to say add another 1000 to all your squares' culture, you'd need first need to build the city up to where it can produce 50 CPT.[NEWLINE]I don't think that this would be a huge issue in most games. Normally a culture bomb would be used to gain minimal immediate control over a contested city. No time to build cultural buildings and not much cultural output anyway. However, if one's goal is to culturally overwhelm the opponents and force their cities to change sides, it becomes an issue, because one might actually want to culture bomb in a huge city with many cultural buildings in order to speed the revolt of a powerful neighboring city. In such games, it might be desireable to impose some sort of a rule, such as needing to leave the artists and culture slider there for 1 turn, or not being allowed to crank up culture at all, prior to bombing. Perhaps even being required to minimize rather than maximize cultural output prior to bomb. Of course, you could just add it to the list of strange things you might need to do to win a culture war game, along with clearing out large garrisons with helicopters and such. But, do whatever you find fun. It's not like I care how you play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, let's move on to the topic of revolts. A revolt in a city can occur if the owner of the city and the person who would own the underlying square if there were no city are different. In other words, a city might revolt if a neighboring city belonging to a different civilization has it within its cultural radius and that civilization's plot culture under the city is greater than the city's owner and that of all other civilizations with a city in range. You don't have to have a majority, you just have to have more of your nationality than the other guy. If a revolt can occur, there is a flat 10% chance each turn of making a revolt check.[NEWLINE]During a revolt check, a random number between 0 and the city's revolt power is compared with the garrison strength. If the number is greater than the garrison strength, the city revolts. Barbarian cities always fail this check, so will always revolt. If a city revolts there are several effects. All units in the city lose half their current hit points, the city's cultural radius becomes 0 and it produces nothing for a certain number of turns. Also, there is a possibility that the city may change sides (called a flip). A barbarian city will always flip, period. A non barbarian city won't flip if this is the first revolt (there is always one warning revolt). It also won't flip if the option "no city flipping" is on (this by default is off). It won't flip back to someone who has previously owned it, regardless of reason for ownership change, unless the game option "city flipping after conquest" is enabled (this is by default off). If a city flips, all units belonging to enemies of the new owner are destroyed. If the units aren't at war with the new owner, they simply get expelled unless the new owner has open borders with the units' owner.[NEWLINE]So, how is revolt power calculated? The base revolt power starts at 1 and then two factors are added. The first is 2x the city's highest ever population. The second is the number of directly adjacent squares that the revolting people's civilization controls times the current game era. Current game era is considered to be the average era of the remaining players, rounded down, with ancient being considered '1', medieval '2', and so on. So, in the final era (6), if the side the city wants to revolt for controls all 8 squares around the city, this could be as high as 48.[NEWLINE]The base revolt power is then multiplied by several factors. The first is the ratio of the two sides' plot culture for the city square. The formula for this multiplier is 1 + ((revoltCulture - cityOwnerCulture) / (revoltCulture)). This would be a number between 1 and 2, being near 2 if the revolt's plot culture is much higher than the owner, and being near 1 if the two are almost equal. If the revolt's plot culture is twice that of the city owner (i.e., 67% revolting nationality, 33% owner nationality), the value would be about 1.5. Sorry for the ugly math, but I can't find a way to explain it more simply at the moment.[NEWLINE]Fortunatly, the other multipliers are a bit simpler. If the revolting civilization's state religion is present, the value is doubled. If the city owner's state religion is present, the value is halved. If both are present, these two multipliers cancel each other out. If somebody doesn't have a state religion, they don't get a multiplier.[NEWLINE]The city's garrison strength is also simple. Start at 1 and add the cultural garrison strength of all units in the city, regardless of ownership. Double this if the owner and revolting civilization are at war. The only catch is that cultural garrison strength can't be found in game, so here is a list of unit values:[NEWLINE]warrior, quecha: 3[NEWLINE]archer, skirmisher, axe, spear, phalanx, chariot, immortal, catapult: 4[NEWLINE]swordsman, jaguar, praetorian, horsearcher, keshik, war elephant: 5[NEWLINE]mace, samurai, pike, longbow, crossbow, chokonu, knight, camelarcher, conquistador: 6[NEWLINE]musketman, musketeer, grenadier, cannon: 7[NEWLINE]rifle, redcoat, calvalry, cossack: 8[NEWLINE]machine gun: 9[NEWLINE]infantry, SAM infantry, gunship, artillery: 10[NEWLINE]marine, SEAL, tank, panzer: 12[NEWLINE]mech infantry, modern armor: 16[NEWLINE]Note that ships, planes, workers, great people, and other non-military or non-land units don't help keep a city under control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, now that all that stuff above has been covered, let's give some actual examples, so you can see what it means:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 1: Low culture capital[NEWLINE]Consider a capital city with just a palace and no other cultural buildings. Suppose that the owner just sits there and builds no cultural buildings for 200 turns. How would this work out? Well, the palace produces 2 culture per turn, so at the start, the 9 initial city squares are going to get that amount for 5 turns (total 10), when the cultural radius expands. For the next 45 turns, the first two rings would be getting that 2 CPT and the inner ring would get an extra 20 per turn. Then the Radius expands and for the next 150 turns, the 3 city rings all get 2 culture, with the outer getting 20 extra and the inner getting 40 extra. So, let's add this up. The city of course would end up at radius 3 with a flat 400 culture. The third ring would get a modest 300 points of plot culture, not too hard to invade. The second ring would get 3390. The inner ring, including the city square would get a whopping 7300. For another civ to get a majority in the area, they would need to beat that. If they took the city and just started culture bombing, they'd need around 6 great artists to gain that majority, unless of course they put some more culture in the city. The lesson? Sitting on a spot for a long time counts a lot with regards to cultural control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 2: Cultural Nuke[NEWLINE]Okay, suppose you've got a city that you've got a city that you've built up culturally, in order to flip an enemy capital, say, the city in the previous example, which is 3 squares away, the minimum distance between 2 cities on the same landmass (cities on different landmasses can be 2 squares away, oddly enough). You've decided that you're okay with maximizing cultural output to increase culture bomb yield, so you crank the up the culture slider to 100%. You've really built the city up and it already has 900 culture. It also has 14 towns within it's production radius. With 4 base commerce, +2 for free speech, +1 for printing press and +1 for financial, this is 8 culture per square, more than the 6 that an artist specialist gives you with sistine chapel, so you leave 14 people on towns for 113 CPT. One of your people is already an artist, and you have the other 7 join him, with sistine, that's another 48 CPT. You've also got assorted buildings: 5 temples (+5), a Library (+2), a Theatre (+3), and 2 monastaries (+4). Add all the numbers up for 175 CPT Of course, you didn't forget the cultural multipliers either: 4 cathedrals and the hermitage, not to mention Free speech, for a 400% bonus. 5 X 175 is 825 CPT. Yowza! Okay, so you send in your Great Artist and erm, detonate him. Every single square in the city radius istantly gets the equivalent of 20 turns of that 825 CPT, including the enemy capital that you are trying to flip. That's 16500. Oh, and since the enemy capital is in the second to outermost ring of your cultural influence, it gets an additional 400 points from that 20 point per turn bonus.[NEWLINE]Now, if you hadn't assigned those artists and cranked you'd only have a base of 20, which, with multipliers, would become a mere 100 CPT. The total sum of 20 turns (with the same 400 bonus points) would be 2400. So, you got 7 times the effect for making a temporary adjustment to your production, which you will now switch back. Basically, you got 7 Great Artists for the price of one by exploiting a hole in the game mechanics. Now, if this doesn't bother your conscience just a wee bit, remind me not to allow you in my house unsupervised.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 3: The English are Revolting[NEWLINE]This following example actually happened in a recent game of mine. In this particular game, the English happened to be one of my neighbors and, as neighbors are wont to do, Viki decided to stick a knife in my back while I was off invading Mali. The main effect of this little skirmish was that I ended up owning one of Viki's cities (Oh, and I called off my invasion of Mali and a few million people died and one of my cities got trashed from pillaging and repeatedly changing hands, but that's not important). Deciding that it wouldn't be worth the trouble to keep up the fight, I negotiated a peace treaty and resumed plotting to crush Mali at my earliest convenience.[NEWLINE]This English city that I had captured was culturally very advanced and was something like 4 or 5 squares from their capital. Looking at the city, I noticed a high probability of revolt, somewhere around 9%. Now, if I had remembered the default 'no city flipping after conquest' setting, I might not have been so concerned, but I was thinking civ3 and I was afraid it was going to revolt back, so I started building culture and sending in more troops. With a garrison of 20 troops, a culture bomb, many buildings, and 29% of the population switched to my nationality, the !@#$% city was still trying to revolt. Several revolts later, I added a bunch of mech infantry and finally got the unrest under control, at which point my next invasion of Mali triggered an unnoticed defensive pact, forcing me to destroy the English as well and gain a domination victory, meaning no more chance of revolt, so all my anti-unrest measures were a waste of time anyway.[NEWLINE]Anyway, let's see what was going on. Sometime in the renaissance era (Most players were Industrial, but remember, the era is the players' average era, rounded down) the city had a population of 14 and 4 of the 8 surrounding squares were still under english cultural control. So, multiply the population by 2 and the squares by 4 (renaissance being the 4th era) and we get a base revolt power of 44. Given that 29% of the city was my nationality, we multiply this by 1.59 (this is the approximate result of the nationality ratio equation given above), giving 69. In the interests of diplomacy, I had no state religion, while the city contained Elizabeth's state religion, Confusianism. In fact, it was the Confusian holy city, but this doesn't give any bonuses. Still, her state religion doubles her revolt power. Anyway, we get a revolt power of 138. Okay, the garrison at this point consists of 4 archers, 9 longbows, 1 horse archer, 2 grenadiers and 4 infantry. Add up the numbers and add 1 and we get 130. Hmm. All those troops aren't quite enough. Now maybe if I had a state religion or could've gotten Elizabeth to drop hers, I'd have had an easier time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 4: Modding Fun[NEWLINE]The Mod "FallFromHeaven100" (not to be confused with "FallFromHeaven200", which is too big for my modem, so I've never tried it) contains an interesting take on the missionary unit. Not only is it a medic I combat unit, at least some of the missionary units have the ability to create a tiny great work of art. 20 points of culture, to be exact. Now the intention of this unit was probably to allow a player to throw some quick culture in and get at least 1 culture level and stop any revolt in progress. However, due to the underlying cultural formula, this still gives 20 turns of culture to every square in the city's cultural radius. Not only that, unlike the rare and hard to acquire Great Artist, you can build these guys cheaply in whatever numbers your cities can produce. Of course, while you're busy dropping a mini culture bomb every turn or two, your enemies will be busy outteching your economic mess of a civilization. It can be a bit uncool when the enemy walks over your borders with heavy crossbowmen (power 13) while you're still using archers (power 3, just like standard civ).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Source of information:[NEWLINE]Most information given here was acquired by reading the source code in the civ4 SDK, available from Firaxis. The culture functions are contained in the files "CvCity.cpp" and "CvPlot.cpp". "CvUnit.cpp" contains the code for great people.[NEWLINE]A number of game values can also be ascertained (or modified) by reading the files in the Assets/XML directory, even if you do not have the SDK. Many of the numbers used in the culture source code are found in GlobalDefines.xml. Units/Civ4UnitInfos.xml contains various unit statistics, including cultural garrison power and great work value. If you do decide to modify the xml, be sure to keep a backup and if possible, figure out how to put your changes in your customassets folder, leaving the original one unmodified. I have no idea how to go about this, as I've never felt the need to actually modify any of the game's values.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Culture Mechanics Disassembled[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Deranged Duck[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE](Please note that all information given here is in regards to Vanilla Civ 1.61. It is probably unchanged in Warlords and the as yet unpublished Beyond the Sword expansion, but I have no way of being certain.)[NEWLINE](Also note that the following information will generally refer to normal speed games, unless otherwise noted. For games played on the Epic, Marathon, or Quick settings, some numbers listed below may be scaled somewhat.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several different values associated with culture in Civilization 4.[NEWLINE]First of all, there is the 'City Culture'. City culture actually affects only one thing: the city's cultural level and thus cultural radius. The city's cultural level and cultural radius start at '1'. When city culture reaches 10, the cultural level goes up to '2'. At 100, it goes up to '3', at 500 it reaches '4', at 5000, it reaches '5', and finally at 50,000 city culture it jumps up to '6', called "Legendary culture". Get 3 cities of level 6 and you win a cultural victory. Also note that a city actually has a cultural value and cultural radius for every player in the game. However, unless a player has actually owned a city at some point, their culture for that city is zero. If they are not the current owner of the city, their city culture will have zero impact on the game. City culture never goes away unless the city is destroyed, or the civilization to whom the culture belongs is destroyed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Of course you were probably already familiar with 'City culture'. If not, you may need to actually go out and buy a copy of Civ 4 and play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is also a less accessible culture value, which I will call the 'plot culture'. Every square/tile/plot/whatever in the game also has a cultural value for every single player. You can't ever see the exact value, but it's not totally invisible. On the city screen, the relative values of 'plot culture' for various players are shown in the city screen if you point the mouse at the 'nationality' bar. If you point the mouse cursor at a square near a city, the %nationality of the plot owner(but nobody else) is shown.[NEWLINE]The main effect of plot culture is to determine whose civilization controls that particular plot of land. A civilization will own a plot, if at least one of its cities has that plot within its cultural radius, and if their plot culture is greater than any other civilization that has that plot within one of their cities' radii. Note that they have to actually own the city. If they built some culture in a city, but later lost control of that city, that city won't allow them to control any of the surrounding tiles. However, the culture that the city spilled onto the surrounding tiles might allow another of their cities to control those tiles. The exception to all this is plots containing cities. The city and the plot underneath will remain under the control of whoever founded or last conquered it, regardless of underlying culture. However, if the calculated cultural owner is different from the city owner (in other words, some other city, belonging to a different player has the plot within its cultural radius, and they have more culture on that plot), there is a chance of the city revolting and changing sides. We'll go into revolts in more detail later. Finally, note that plot culture can never ever be gotten rid of, except in a couple of circumstances. Firstly, if you give away a city, you lose all plot cultire in the city square and surrounding 8 squares. Secondly, if you completely obliterate a civilization, their plot culture goes away. Still, if a civilization owns no cities in an area, their culture won't have any effect except to alter the displayed nationality of squares in the region and to cause a small amount of unhappiness in cities who "long to join the motherland".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are probably wondering now where all these cultural values are coming from. The city culture is pretty easy, since the city screen clearly shows what all the sources of culture are. All the various temples, libraries, specialists, culture from the cultural slider, and culture from production are added up and then multiplied by the bonuses given by cathedrals, wonders, civics, and so on. This value, sometimes called CPT(Culture Per Turn), is added to the city's culture each and every turn. If this gives the city enough culture to increase it's cultural level and radius, these will also be increased.[NEWLINE]The city's CPT is also added to the plot culture of every plot within the city's cultural radius, regardless of ownership or presence or absence of other cities. However, there's an added factor based on the city's cultural radius. If the distance between the plot and the city is less than the cultural radius, then 20 times the difference is added to the plot culture as well. Note that the square that the city is on counts as being 1 space away and that this 20 value is not scaled with regards to game mode. It is always 20 per turn, period.[NEWLINE]To make sure that that's clear, let me describe it another way. Think of the city's potential cultural area as a series of rings. The first ring consists of the city and the 8 surrounding squares. The second ring contains the other 12 squares of the city's production area, and so on. When the city's cultural level is 1, only the first ring gets the points from the city's CPT. When the city's cultural level reaches 2, both first and second ring get the base CPT and the first ring also gets and additional 20 points a turn, even if the city isn't generating any culture at that time. When the city reaches it's third cultural expansion, The inner 9 squares get an extra 40 points, the next ring gets 20 points and so on. At the highest level of culture, the inner ring gets a whopping 100 extra points of plot culture per turn.[NEWLINE]When you found a city, you also get some plot culture to allow you to control the surrounding area, specifically 2 points on the city square and 1 point in the surrounding 8 squares. This is why newly founded cities are so easy to culturally overwhelm. All you need is a few turns of an obelisk and you've got a majority of culture in your neighbor's city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One last source of culture is the great artist. When added as an artist superspecialist, he merely contributes to the city's cultural (and science) production like any other specialist. However, when the artist is used to create a great work (often called a 'culture bomb'), it gets interesting. Of course, the 4000 culture points are instantly added to the city's culture. Guess how many of those 4000 points are added to the plot culture of the surrounding squares. The answer is zero. Of course, those familiar with culture bombing will be surprised by this, because they will remember using great works to take control of territory as well boost the city culture, so clearly something more complex is going on. Here's what actually happens:[NEWLINE]First, the city is brought out of revolt, if it is currently revolting. Then, the 4000 points (or whatever the value of the great artist happens to be) is broken up into 20 equal groups. The first group is added to the city's culture. The city's cultural level and radius are recalculated. Then, one turn worth of the city's current cultural output is added to the surrounding squares, including the 20 point bonus for each ring below the outermost ring. Repeat this process for the other 19 groups of great work culture.[NEWLINE]So, let's walk through what this does. Suppose a great artist creates a great work in a city that has no culture. The first of the 200 point groups of culture is added. This brings the city's culture level immediately up to 3. Now, although a turn worth of the city's culture is now delivered, the city has no culture and is producing no culture. So, the only plot culture gained is from those 20 point bonuses. The city plot and 8 surrounding squares thus get 40 points of plot culture. The next ring gets only 20 points in each square. Now, we repeat. The next 200 points is added. City's cultural level stays at 3. Same amount added to nearby squares. Third 200 points added. This brings the city's cultural level to 4, where it will stay for the remainder of the cultural delivery as we're only giving 4000 points and it needs 5000 for the next level. So, the innermost ring gets 60 culture each of 18 times, the next ring gets 40 culture 18 times, and the third ring gets 20 culture 18 times. Or, to sum it up, The first ring gets 1160 points of plot culture, the second ring gets 760, the third ring gets 360 and the fourth ring, although within the city's cultural radius gets nothing. This may seem like a lot, but consider if you sat on the city for a mere 20 turns, you'd double it. Of course, if the city also had any cultural production, that amount would be delivered 20 times to every square in the first 3 rings, and 18 times to the fourth ring.[NEWLINE]Note that when the city's culture is delivered, it is the amount that the city produces at that instant, not that turn. This should raise some mental red flags as possibly abusive, because yes, you can set your culture slider to 100, assign everyone to artist specialist, deliver your culture bomb, then set them back before ending your turn. Knowing this, you can get a great deal of benefit at no cost, if you know the trick. Well, actually, there is some cost, because to use this trick to say add another 1000 to all your squares' culture, you'd need first need to build the city up to where it can produce 50 CPT.[NEWLINE]I don't think that this would be a huge issue in most games. Normally a culture bomb would be used to gain minimal immediate control over a contested city. No time to build cultural buildings and not much cultural output anyway. However, if one's goal is to culturally overwhelm the opponents and force their cities to change sides, it becomes an issue, because one might actually want to culture bomb in a huge city with many cultural buildings in order to speed the revolt of a powerful neighboring city. In such games, it might be desireable to impose some sort of a rule, such as needing to leave the artists and culture slider there for 1 turn, or not being allowed to crank up culture at all, prior to bombing. Perhaps even being required to minimize rather than maximize cultural output prior to bomb. Of course, you could just add it to the list of strange things you might need to do to win a culture war game, along with clearing out large garrisons with helicopters and such. But, do whatever you find fun. It's not like I care how you play the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, let's move on to the topic of revolts. A revolt in a city can occur if the owner of the city and the person who would own the underlying square if there were no city are different. In other words, a city might revolt if a neighboring city belonging to a different civilization has it within its cultural radius and that civilization's plot culture under the city is greater than the city's owner and that of all other civilizations with a city in range. You don't have to have a majority, you just have to have more of your nationality than the other guy. If a revolt can occur, there is a flat 10% chance each turn of making a revolt check.[NEWLINE]During a revolt check, a random number between 0 and the city's revolt power is compared with the garrison strength. If the number is greater than the garrison strength, the city revolts. Barbarian cities always fail this check, so will always revolt. If a city revolts there are several effects. All units in the city lose half their current hit points, the city's cultural radius becomes 0 and it produces nothing for a certain number of turns. Also, there is a possibility that the city may change sides (called a flip). A barbarian city will always flip, period. A non barbarian city won't flip if this is the first revolt (there is always one warning revolt). It also won't flip if the option "no city flipping" is on (this by default is off). It won't flip back to someone who has previously owned it, regardless of reason for ownership change, unless the game option "city flipping after conquest" is enabled (this is by default off). If a city flips, all units belonging to enemies of the new owner are destroyed. If the units aren't at war with the new owner, they simply get expelled unless the new owner has open borders with the units' owner.[NEWLINE]So, how is revolt power calculated? The base revolt power starts at 1 and then two factors are added. The first is 2x the city's highest ever population. The second is the number of directly adjacent squares that the revolting people's civilization controls times the current game era. Current game era is considered to be the average era of the remaining players, rounded down, with ancient being considered '1', medieval '2', and so on. So, in the final era (6), if the side the city wants to revolt for controls all 8 squares around the city, this could be as high as 48.[NEWLINE]The base revolt power is then multiplied by several factors. The first is the ratio of the two sides' plot culture for the city square. The formula for this multiplier is 1 + ((revoltCulture - cityOwnerCulture) / (revoltCulture)). This would be a number between 1 and 2, being near 2 if the revolt's plot culture is much higher than the owner, and being near 1 if the two are almost equal. If the revolt's plot culture is twice that of the city owner (i.e., 67% revolting nationality, 33% owner nationality), the value would be about 1.5. Sorry for the ugly math, but I can't find a way to explain it more simply at the moment.[NEWLINE]Fortunatly, the other multipliers are a bit simpler. If the revolting civilization's state religion is present, the value is doubled. If the city owner's state religion is present, the value is halved. If both are present, these two multipliers cancel each other out. If somebody doesn't have a state religion, they don't get a multiplier.[NEWLINE]The city's garrison strength is also simple. Start at 1 and add the cultural garrison strength of all units in the city, regardless of ownership. Double this if the owner and revolting civilization are at war. The only catch is that cultural garrison strength can't be found in game, so here is a list of unit values:[NEWLINE]warrior, quecha: 3[NEWLINE]archer, skirmisher, axe, spear, phalanx, chariot, immortal, catapult: 4[NEWLINE]swordsman, jaguar, praetorian, horsearcher, keshik, war elephant: 5[NEWLINE]mace, samurai, pike, longbow, crossbow, chokonu, knight, camelarcher, conquistador: 6[NEWLINE]musketman, musketeer, grenadier, cannon: 7[NEWLINE]rifle, redcoat, calvalry, cossack: 8[NEWLINE]machine gun: 9[NEWLINE]infantry, SAM infantry, gunship, artillery: 10[NEWLINE]marine, SEAL, tank, panzer: 12[NEWLINE]mech infantry, modern armor: 16[NEWLINE]Note that ships, planes, workers, great people, and other non-military or non-land units don't help keep a city under control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Okay, now that all that stuff above has been covered, let's give some actual examples, so you can see what it means:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 1: Low culture capital[NEWLINE]Consider a capital city with just a palace and no other cultural buildings. Suppose that the owner just sits there and builds no cultural buildings for 200 turns. How would this work out? Well, the palace produces 2 culture per turn, so at the start, the 9 initial city squares are going to get that amount for 5 turns (total 10), when the cultural radius expands. For the next 45 turns, the first two rings would be getting that 2 CPT and the inner ring would get an extra 20 per turn. Then the Radius expands and for the next 150 turns, the 3 city rings all get 2 culture, with the outer getting 20 extra and the inner getting 40 extra. So, let's add this up. The city of course would end up at radius 3 with a flat 400 culture. The third ring would get a modest 300 points of plot culture, not too hard to invade. The second ring would get 3390. The inner ring, including the city square would get a whopping 7300. For another civ to get a majority in the area, they would need to beat that. If they took the city and just started culture bombing, they'd need around 6 great artists to gain that majority, unless of course they put some more culture in the city. The lesson? Sitting on a spot for a long time counts a lot with regards to cultural control.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 2: Cultural Nuke[NEWLINE]Okay, suppose you've got a city that you've got a city that you've built up culturally, in order to flip an enemy capital, say, the city in the previous example, which is 3 squares away, the minimum distance between 2 cities on the same landmass (cities on different landmasses can be 2 squares away, oddly enough). You've decided that you're okay with maximizing cultural output to increase culture bomb yield, so you crank the up the culture slider to 100%. You've really built the city up and it already has 900 culture. It also has 14 towns within it's production radius. With 4 base commerce, +2 for free speech, +1 for printing press and +1 for financial, this is 8 culture per square, more than the 6 that an artist specialist gives you with sistine chapel, so you leave 14 people on towns for 113 CPT. One of your people is already an artist, and you have the other 7 join him, with sistine, that's another 48 CPT. You've also got assorted buildings: 5 temples (+5), a Library (+2), a Theatre (+3), and 2 monastaries (+4). Add all the numbers up for 175 CPT Of course, you didn't forget the cultural multipliers either: 4 cathedrals and the hermitage, not to mention Free speech, for a 400% bonus. 5 X 175 is 825 CPT. Yowza! Okay, so you send in your Great Artist and erm, detonate him. Every single square in the city radius istantly gets the equivalent of 20 turns of that 825 CPT, including the enemy capital that you are trying to flip. That's 16500. Oh, and since the enemy capital is in the second to outermost ring of your cultural influence, it gets an additional 400 points from that 20 point per turn bonus.[NEWLINE]Now, if you hadn't assigned those artists and cranked you'd only have a base of 20, which, with multipliers, would become a mere 100 CPT. The total sum of 20 turns (with the same 400 bonus points) would be 2400. So, you got 7 times the effect for making a temporary adjustment to your production, which you will now switch back. Basically, you got 7 Great Artists for the price of one by exploiting a hole in the game mechanics. Now, if this doesn't bother your conscience just a wee bit, remind me not to allow you in my house unsupervised.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 3: The English are Revolting[NEWLINE]This following example actually happened in a recent game of mine. In this particular game, the English happened to be one of my neighbors and, as neighbors are wont to do, Viki decided to stick a knife in my back while I was off invading Mali. The main effect of this little skirmish was that I ended up owning one of Viki's cities (Oh, and I called off my invasion of Mali and a few million people died and one of my cities got trashed from pillaging and repeatedly changing hands, but that's not important). Deciding that it wouldn't be worth the trouble to keep up the fight, I negotiated a peace treaty and resumed plotting to crush Mali at my earliest convenience.[NEWLINE]This English city that I had captured was culturally very advanced and was something like 4 or 5 squares from their capital. Looking at the city, I noticed a high probability of revolt, somewhere around 9%. Now, if I had remembered the default 'no city flipping after conquest' setting, I might not have been so concerned, but I was thinking civ3 and I was afraid it was going to revolt back, so I started building culture and sending in more troops. With a garrison of 20 troops, a culture bomb, many buildings, and 29% of the population switched to my nationality, the !@#$% city was still trying to revolt. Several revolts later, I added a bunch of mech infantry and finally got the unrest under control, at which point my next invasion of Mali triggered an unnoticed defensive pact, forcing me to destroy the English as well and gain a domination victory, meaning no more chance of revolt, so all my anti-unrest measures were a waste of time anyway.[NEWLINE]Anyway, let's see what was going on. Sometime in the renaissance era (Most players were Industrial, but remember, the era is the players' average era, rounded down) the city had a population of 14 and 4 of the 8 surrounding squares were still under english cultural control. So, multiply the population by 2 and the squares by 4 (renaissance being the 4th era) and we get a base revolt power of 44. Given that 29% of the city was my nationality, we multiply this by 1.59 (this is the approximate result of the nationality ratio equation given above), giving 69. In the interests of diplomacy, I had no state religion, while the city contained Elizabeth's state religion, Confusianism. In fact, it was the Confusian holy city, but this doesn't give any bonuses. Still, her state religion doubles her revolt power. Anyway, we get a revolt power of 138. Okay, the garrison at this point consists of 4 archers, 9 longbows, 1 horse archer, 2 grenadiers and 4 infantry. Add up the numbers and add 1 and we get 130. Hmm. All those troops aren't quite enough. Now maybe if I had a state religion or could've gotten Elizabeth to drop hers, I'd have had an easier time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example 4: Modding Fun[NEWLINE]The Mod "FallFromHeaven100" (not to be confused with "FallFromHeaven200", which is too big for my modem, so I've never tried it) contains an interesting take on the missionary unit. Not only is it a medic I combat unit, at least some of the missionary units have the ability to create a tiny great work of art. 20 points of culture, to be exact. Now the intention of this unit was probably to allow a player to throw some quick culture in and get at least 1 culture level and stop any revolt in progress. However, due to the underlying cultural formula, this still gives 20 turns of culture to every square in the city's cultural radius. Not only that, unlike the rare and hard to acquire Great Artist, you can build these guys cheaply in whatever numbers your cities can produce. Of course, while you're busy dropping a mini culture bomb every turn or two, your enemies will be busy outteching your economic mess of a civilization. It can be a bit uncool when the enemy walks over your borders with heavy crossbowmen (power 13) while you're still using archers (power 3, just like standard civ).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Source of information:[NEWLINE]Most information given here was acquired by reading the source code in the civ4 SDK, available from Firaxis. The culture functions are contained in the files "CvCity.cpp" and "CvPlot.cpp". "CvUnit.cpp" contains the code for great people.[NEWLINE]A number of game values can also be ascertained (or modified) by reading the files in the Assets/XML directory, even if you do not have the SDK. Many of the numbers used in the culture source code are found in GlobalDefines.xml. Units/Civ4UnitInfos.xml contains various unit statistics, including cultural garrison power and great work value. If you do decide to modify the xml, be sure to keep a backup and if possible, figure out how to put your changes in your customassets folder, leaving the original one unmodified. I have no idea how to go about this, as I've never felt the need to actually modify any of the game's values.</Spanish>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_VASSALAGE_MECHS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Explaining the Vassal System[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Crighton[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I've written the following in an attempt to help explain the Vassal System in the CIV: Warlords expansion.It may not be the most comprehensive explanation possible, but I hope it helps answer some of the many recurring questions which pop up in threads throughout the forums.Please feel free to add to or whatever in posts following.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good Hunting.[NEWLINE]~Crighton[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Warlords expansion introduces a new diplomatic option called Vassal State. Vassal states are like an "asymmetric alliance" between two Civs.Basically, one civilization serves as the master in the relationship and collects tribute from the weaker, vassal nation.After the discovery of Feudalism the Vassal State option becomes available in the Diplomacy menu.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two ways to acquire a vassal state, [BOLD]voluntary[\BOLD] Vassal-ing, and [BOLD]Non-voluntary ([BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD])[\BOLD] Vassal-ing.The second acquisition method is more common, basically consisting of skull-thumping another Civ until it cries "uncle" and begs for mercy.At which point the losing Civ Capitulates to the winning Civ sacrificing it's independence for mere survival and a chance (usually small) at one day regaining independence.A Vassal State that has [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] does not get the option to voluntarily end the Vassal agreement unless certain conditions are met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less common method occurs during peacetime where a relatively small and weak Civ tries to partner up with a much more powerful Civ, and in exchange for protection agrees to become a Vassal State.A Civ which becomes a Vassal State during peace time is given the opportunity every 10 turns to end the agreement.Throughout long and turbulent games some states may routinely enter into and out of being a Vassal State frequently.When a Voluntary Vassal decides to secede the Master Civ is given the option of simply allowing the Vassal State to become independent, or can choose to protest this decision, in which case both states then become locked in a state of war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In both cases, a Vassal State may choose to break the Vassal agreement when any of the three following conditions occur:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 1:[\BOLD] The Vassal State looses more than half of it's territory that it owned at the time it became a Vassal State.For example: Monty become your Vassal and has 4 cities when he becomes your Vassal.Over time Monty grows his Civ to 8 cities total.If Monty looses 4 of his cities through war or culture flipping, he still has 4 cities left and cannot break the agreement.If he lost 6 of his 8 cities he will then have lost 50% of his original lands and can then choose to end the agreement (usually with some terse statement about "not being able to protect us.") [BOLD]It should also be noted that if your Vassal looses cities, etc. to [BOLD]YOU[\BOLD] through culture flipping [BOLD]THAT[\BOLD] also counts towards the loss of territory condition[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 2:[\BOLD] The Vassal State grows in size [BOLD]AND[\BOLD] population to a point where it has more than [BOLD]50% of the Master Civ's size AND population[\BOLD].It's important to reiterate that this is a two part condition.[BOLD]BOTH[\BOLD] have to be met in order for this option to become available to the Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 3:[\BOLD]This is a minor possibility which can occur, where the Master demands a particular resource and the Vassal refuses the Masters request, in which case the two states are at war.This does happen, but it hasn't happened to me since I try to eliminate any potential escape route for my new pets.Since the Master can demand any single resource from the Vassal and the Vassal can't refuse this single / first demand it's best to choose the resource carefully, i.e. a strategic resource of some sort.Let's say you're in the classical or medieval era and need your Vassal's horse resource so you demand and take.But later on you somehow lose your source of iron and demand it from your Vassal, he can refuse and break the Vassal agreement. So plan ahead when it comes to your resource requests. And by the way there is nothing to stop you from selling the horse back to your Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Should a Vassal choose to break the agreement due to the above conditions listed above, the Vassals Master may not agree to peaceably allow the Vassal to become independent, in which case a state of war exists between the two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Regrettably, [BOLD]there is currently no method to Release a Vassal from your control[\BOLD], so weigh your decision carefully before accepting a Vassal.[This statement is true as of and up to the v2.08 patch, you'd think this would be an obvious feature to include in the game considering it would make things more logically consistent AND reflect actual history, but whatever].Theoretically it is possible to actually aggravate your vassal into refusing a resource demand at which point the Master could then decide to let the Vassal go or go to war with the now ex-Vassal IF the Vassal refuses the resource demand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some basic pro's of acquiring a Vassal:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master enjoys complete freedom of movement in the vassal's territory, including the ability to heal normally in the vassal's territory and use fortifications owned by the vassal. The master can also investigate any vassal city. And as of the v2.08 patch the Master can now Airlift units directly into a Vassal's cities.The Master no longer has to pay supply costs for units inside of the Vassal's lands. However, the Master must agree to an Open Borders agreement with the Vassal in order for the Vassal to move units into and out of the Master's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master can demand any [BOLD]SINGLE[\BOLD] resource from a vassal, even one that the vassal is using. The vassal has the right to refuse the [BOLD]SECOND[\BOLD] demand but if they do the two states are immediately at war. This can come in handy if your Vassal has the only strategic resource available to you: i.e. Copper, Iron, Horses, Oil, Aluminum, etc. Just remember to plan ahead if the resource will lose it's strategic value (cough horses cough).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master's people enjoy increased happiness. Those in the vassal empire suffer decreased happiness (but frankly who cares about that bit, it only acts as an incentive for the Vassal to purchase luxury goods from the Master to placate the populace and so long as you keep your Vassal under heel then it's his problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The vassal can't make war or peace on its own. It immediately adopts the master's war and peace relationships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Half of the vassal's territory and population count towards the master's domination victory AND score. Which can truly speed up a Domination or Conquest win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*You can rehabilitate your relationship over time with the Vassal Civ through normal diplomatic means, i.e. Open borders, Shared State Religions, Mutual Military Struggle (if battling another Civ), occasional gifts, etc. Also, after the v2.08 patch the Mutual Defense Pact bonus is now added into the diplomatic modifier between you and your vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Downside of having a Vassal(s):[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having vassal cities will incur higher maintenance cost for your own cities. And if someone could find me the actual formula so I can provide a clear example of this I (and anyone else who reads this) would greatly appreciate it.Regardless of what the formula is put some extra thought into your economy to counter any uptick in maintenance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Other civs may like you a little less when you have a vassal. You will most likely see a [BOLD]-1[\BOLD] Diplomacy Penalty in you relations with other Civ's as they "Fear their Rivals becoming your Vassal."This penalty is somewhat relative to the power of the Vassal-ed Civ.But regardless, if you have 3 Vassal's of even modest power expect a [BOLD]-3[\BOLD] penalty with every other Civ left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Similarly, a Vassal who has gone around the continent stirring up trouble is not going to be a good choice to become a Voluntary Vassal as the other Civ's will view your patronage as if you were allies.The AI hatred of your Vassal may override their friendly feelings towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Although you can direct what your Vassal researches the Vassal's Master doesn't share in the discovery.So if your vassal somehow manages to acquire some technology you don't have, he doesn't have to share it with you, nor can you compel the Vassal into sharing the tech.This is the complete opposite of the same occurrence during a Permanent Alliance, where the two allies can research different techs and the discoveries are shared between the two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Your Economy: The ONLY thing that Matters:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before you consider whether or not take on a Vassal make sure your house is in order first. Other threads have and will explain the specifics how best to manage or to help guide your economic advancement.I will simply sum things up thusly: If you don't have a strong economy you can't afford to do anything with your empire, let alone acquire someone else's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That being said, the increased maintenance costs to your cities can be negated by a strong economy.Which means you need to develop both your cities and your newly acquire cities as quickly and as best as possible.This also means not going pillaging happy during the conquest.You want the war to be as efficient as possible, end as quickly as possible, and the reconstruction to be just as quick.You want those new cities to become profitable to help further expansion of the empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The maintenance cost is most pronounced if you acquire Vassal's early (like right after discovery of Feudalism) and when the freshly conquered cities aren't quite back online to being profitable for you.Later wars do tend to negate the increase mainly because both you and your Vassal have stronger economies (usually).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some Civ's are a bit more suited to this than others due to their leader traits, Creative (+2 Culture in each city), Financial (+1 Commerce on 2 Commerce plots) and Organized (-50% Empire Maintenance) being the more obvious traits.I mention the Creative trait specifically because it will help push the cultural borders out further &amp; quicker thereby getting cities up to their fat cross potential earlier, very handy when subjugating neighbors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside of the creative trait is that it probably won't be the best idea to Vassal-ize a Creative Civ.Although the Vassal cannot take your city from you, he can surround and overwhelm the city culturally, with near constant riots being the result. The Financial &amp; Organized traits should really speak for themselves on this point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thoughts on the Acquisition of Vassals:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The more vastly more preferable situation is to acquire a Vassal through [BOLD]Capitulation[\BOLD].A Voluntary Vassal will simply leave you at the earliest convenient time, usually the most inconvenient time for you after having driven up your maintenance cost and enjoyed your protection.There may good short term advantages to accepting a voluntary Vassal such as beefing up a combined front to stave off more powerful Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A [BOLD]Capitulated Vassal[\BOLD] is going to have one heck of an uphill challenge to get out from under your thumb.For example; let us assume a situation where all things are equal.Both you and your rival have six cities each, each city has 10 population, all cities are growing at roughly the same population rate.You declare war and conquer three of his cities (including the original capital since it is most likely the choicest morsel in his empire).You now have nine cities under your control to his three.Preferably you have taken what I call his core cities, which are the ones that have been founded the earliest and have since been grown and developed, usually the heart of the empire.In the current example your opponent will most likely have three good and three average cities he's working with, which means it's probably going to be beyond his capabilities to ever breach the 50% of Masters Land AND 50% of Maters Population to be able to break away, especially when you keep the war machine rolling, as illustrated below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities**:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]** This example only shows a static situation, if you acquire the Vassals early enough they can expand over time (preferably filling in scrub areas that you yourself don't want to settle, yet you don't want a rival to settle the area as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Population***:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]90***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]120***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]150***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***This wouldn't be exact since cities lose population after conquest but the concept should be clear at this point.Plus if running the slavery civic you can whip away the unhappiness and crank out some buildings which may have been destroyed during the conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And what do you think the odds are that any of the Vassals are going to be able to break away? Slim to none.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Leveraging Your Vassal's Properly And Making the Most of Them:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch it was possible to simply sell your excess resources to your Vassal(s) even when the Vassal in question had no Gold Per Turn available.The Vassal would come up with the GPT by lowering it's discretionary spending (on such things as Research or Culture).This created a very lucrative (and historically accurate, I might add) incentive for acquiring Vassals and then basically pimping them out into cash cows. . . .ah the good old days.Anyhoo, since the patch this is no longer a real option, a similar effect can be created using the Aggressive Trading / Subsidies Tactic discussed elsewhere.Regardless, Vassals can still be lucrative in the long run (discussed later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To reiterate an earlier point: when acquiring the Vassal [BOLD]DO NOT[\BOLD] pillage the guy to hell and back, the resources will only have to be re-developed and that takes time you wouldn't otherwise have to spend.Pillage the guy to hell and back when you don't think you can take his cities and you want to just punish the guy for your troubles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*When it comes to the [BOLD]Voluntary Vassals[\BOLD], don't gift them any military techs unless you absolutely have to, and at the same time direct their research away from the military techs.Preferably to some mutually beneficial technology which grants the Vassal the ability to harvest some resource (which if necessary you can then demand the resource from the Vassal at a later time).It's very likely that the Voluntary Vassal will forgo your benevolent leadership and managerial skills at some time and break away in the near future.You don't want to create a situation where you've just helped your now rival leap frog up to military parity with you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*What you [BOLD]DO[\BOLD] want to do is get a properly [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] Civ up to speed so it can be the greatest assistance to you, which may include bestowing some military techs to your new Vassal.Thereby allowing him to jump up militarily (though there is a good argument for quantity rather than quality for the Vassal's military, constantly feeding the enemy Great General points and experience points may serve to come back to haunt you).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*After acquiring your new pet you need to get him on your side, you've already shown him the stick now show him the carrot and try to rehabilitate your relationship with the Vassal.Spread your religion to all his remaining cities and cajole him to convert (We Care For Our Brothers &amp; Sisters of Faith), open up the borders, gift him some defunct resource (preferably a defunct resource like Copper when you have Iron, if he doesn't have either he WILL appreciate the Copper, "Our Trade Relations Have Been . . . ").When you go for your next Vassal you'll get a "Mutual Military Struggle" bonus with the current Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It's not important that your Vassal like you, some never will (Monty can really hold a grudge). What [BOLD]IS[\BOLD] important is that he become and remain useful to you.So why try to cozy up to him? Simple, the earlier you acquire the Vassal the more time he has to spread out and stake claims of his own, which can be a double edged sword.It is entirely possible for the Vassal to become pleased with his master, meet the criteria to break away and yet not do so (in this possible, though low probability example, it is important to remember the sage advice: "[BOLD]You can get farther with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word[\BOLD]."So have some weight to back up your dominance).The AI will take into account your, and your remaining Vassals, strength into account when decision times come around.You can never go wrong with having the largest army you can afford.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, as your Vassal's spread out they develop resources which you otherwise would not, I for instance am not sticking some poor settler out BFA (Alaska) just to get some dang fur or deer resource, let the Vassals do that, anyway, more resources your Vassal has the more he can trade with you mutually benefiting both empires.And if your Vassal is of the same faith as ye he will help spread the Word amongst the heathens, spreading the gospel (and your line of sight and your shrine income and potentially laying the seeds for an easier invasion some turns down the road).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The aggressive Civ's tend to make for your better pets, Monty, Alex, etc. especially since once brought to heel tend maintain high military strength even when not ramping up for war, which means they're usually ready to help skullthump on your behalf.Which can soften up or even better create a second front against your next conquest, keeping enemy resources tied up can be an excellent tactic especially if you ask the Vassal to focus on attacking one specific enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*In general terms you are probably going to acquire what's closest to you rather than on the far side of the world.Which is usually for the better since it's easier for someone else to pick off something that's closer to them.Which leads to the next two points on Vassal Strategy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *1*[\BOLD] Vassals can be used as excellent staging platforms for further invasions.For example: pretend there are three Civs: A,B, and C.All three occupy the same continent and border each other in the same alphabetical order.For the moment lets say Civ B is on good terms with both A and C, A and C however don't like each other and soon go to war, with Civ C capitulating and becoming the Vassal of Civ A.Civ B now has a bigger problem than he did before with two neighbors because now he has no hope of any balance of power to maintain his existence.Civ A now has the ability to launch invasions from both sides of Civ B's empire simultaneously, a tactic the AI does not deal with well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *2*[\BOLD] In the same example above Civ B is as likely to attack Civ A's territory as it to attack Civ A's Vassal (the Old Civ C).This leaves the field wide open for Civ A to invade while Civ B concentrates on Civ C and any Civ A cities conquered from Civ C.Here's the great part, if B does manage to make headway on the Vassal and knock out enough territory to break the Vassal agreement, who cares if the Vassal's cities are getting raised or captured? It's better that the losses consume and distract Civ B's military resources while Civ A rolls on in from the opposite side and forces Civ B to capitulate.All in all Civ A is sitting pretty with all of it's territory and a chunk of Civ B and Civ C's territory, plus some vassals to kick around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To summarize the above, it's better for your Vassal(s) to take a beating than you.In which case if you're Civ A and Civ B becomes your Vassal keep the fighting in either the occupied territories of Civ B or on Civ C's doorstep.Let Vassal Civ B be both your doormat and your buffer zone.Because remember, that's what Civ B is there for, to eat the bullet so you don't have to.This particular point also illustrates my only successful use of the Machine Gunner, I stuck Combat One and Medic One promoted MG in my Vassal's border cities, I still pity those poor Egyptian Cavalrymen who generously donated 32 units to theGreat General fund.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Other Fine Points:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A general piece of Warmongering Advice: the first Civ you meet isn't going to be the best candidate for Vassal-ing.Generally speaking the first Civ you run across is probably going to be your best bet for early elimination and/or outright acquisition.If you're skullthumping your neighbor with early swordsman (or earlier with axmen, warriors, etc.) then you aren't going to be Vassal-ing anybody anyway since you probably haven't got Feudalism.Therefore, if you do go to war finish the other guy off completely, no sense of having some enemy out on the field for the better part of eternity with a grudge just waiting to come back to haunt you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*One of the major points about Vassal's is that an attack on the Vassal is an attack on the Master, which can be quite a disincentive to attack either.The flip side to this is that you can be at peace minding your business when chuckles knocks on your door begging to be your Vassal, and maybe you've been a bit inattentive in monitoring the current state of relations and decided to accept the Vassal.At which point his enemies are now [BOLD]YOUR[\BOLD] enemies thus dragging you into some conflagration you weren't prepared for or desired (of course this could just be the pretext you want for war with the other Civ's being the aggressors instead of you, thereby keeping the old War Weariness down by fighting on home turf as opposed to foreign lands).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch there was a tendency by the AI that when losing a war with the player, the AI would align itself with a Player-"friendly" Civ by becoming a Vassal and then drag a Civ, which the player may have been closely "allied" with, into war against the player. [BOLD]The v2.08 patch did not create some magic rule saying this can no longer happen just that the decision would be more thoughtfully evaluated by the AI[\BOLD]. A good quick, rule of thumb is that one of the factors the AI is going to judge this decision by is: is your military power equal to, less than or significantly greater then, his and his new Vassal's military power. If your "Ally" thinks he could otherwise take you on and come out the better he is going to do it ([BOLD]and let's be blunt, so would you[\BOLD]). Your "[BOLD]Ally[\BOLD]" basically weights the decision like this: "[BOLD]Yeah, I'm friendly with the player, but is this too good an opportunity to pass up[\BOLD]?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It may not be necessary or prudent to accept a Civ's offer of Capitulation the first time it's offered.For example, say you invade an island and take two of three cities, the remaining city being the enemy capital.And the other civ knows he's beat will offer to Capitulate.Don't vassal the civ until AFTER you've taken the capital otherwise the culture war will be a constant irritation in later turns ("[BOLD]An Indian revolt is taking place in Madras...[\BOLD]").[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having and acquiring Vassals allows you to run a more precise offense allowing you to cut down dramatically on Domination and Conquest wins.Taking the same six city example from above, let us simply score 1 city as one point and 1 population as 1 point.The first war takes your base of six to nine, a 50% increase in lands directly held to you, plus you get half of your Vassal points (1.5), which in this grossly simplified score gets you a total point score of 10.5 as opposed to 9.The second Vassal would take your base score to 12 points with an additional 3 coming from your Vassals, totaling 15.The third Vassal war would take you to a 15 point base with an additional 4.5 from your Vassals bring the total up to: 19.5. In this case your Vassals are increasing your score by about 30%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[TAB]Vassal 2[TAB]Vassal 3[TAB]Total pts.[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6 / 6pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 pts(+0%)[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9 / 9pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]10.5pts (+16%)[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12 / 12pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]15pts (+25%)[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15 / 15pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pt[TAB]19.5pts (+30%)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not to shabby in my opinion.And this of course neglects any expansion done by the Vassals after Vassalization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To follow up on the preceding point about running a precise offense.The strategy is that if one is able and willing to accept Vassals then the volume of necessary fighting that you'll have to do will be reduced, therefore lowering the costs of the war in time and material. Why waste time conquering an empire of 20 cities if you only have to take the six best ones to impose a favorable peace?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Superpowers and Hyperpowers and General Compaints:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Vassal system turned on, the larger the map and the more Civs in the game, there is a much greater tendency for the formations of [BOLD]Super[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Hyper-powers[\BOLD]. Without the Vassal system you could expect to see a web of Mutual Defense Pacts, even occasionally some Permanent Alliances, for a real life example think back to pre-World War One days with the complicated networking of treaties. But, with the Vassal system you can expect the AI's to cluster together with a strong Civ achieving dominance over one, or several, rival Civs which can be aligned against you. A real life example, the Soviet Union and it's client states during the Cold War. With the Vassal system the same advantages which the player can exploit, can also be exploited by the AI, with the results being a patchwork of regional and super powers developing on the map.Which probably bears some relation to Medieval Europe in history.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the [BOLD]Hyperpower[\BOLD] situation, you have one Civ with a relatively large expansion of it's own, coupled with not just one or several Vassals, but with a great many Vassal client states, each sufficiently developed in their own right.Hopefully, this is the player being the Hyperpower and not the AI.One can be forgiven for thinking that this would have a chilling effect on wars breaking out, or at least if war did break out it would be the Hyperpower looking to expand.However, this isn't always the case.A regional superpower or even separate (yet diplomatically close) Civs may try to break up the emerging or developing Hyperpower by launching a Pre-Emptive attack.Usually you can expect to see this happen once you start seeing the "You've grown too powerful for us" diplomatic response to even the simplest of trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the many frequent complaints about the Vassal system is that it can be a deterrent for warmongering, "I can't attack him without declaring war on his master and other Vassals" etc. etc., usually followed by some comment about the system being "broken." [BOLD]It's not broken, you just don't like the result[\BOLD].I can attest to the aggravation of being sidled up next to an emerging hyper power and not being able to have done anything about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What feels eminently worse though, is when you attack another Civ, take a chunk and declare peace with the intent of re-declaring war after a short respite and chucklehead has gone off and Voluntarily become a Vassal of someone you don't really want to tangle with.[BOLD]Again, it's aggravating but the system isn't broke, we just don't like the outcome[\BOLD].If anything it's working perfectly when your victim does this as he maintains a chance at independence and keeps you from gobbling him up. Cheeky monkey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The other major complaint I see cropping up from the Vassal system is that it encourages a Warmongering Strategy at the expense of a "Builder's" strategy (i.e., Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories).Ironically this is pretty much the exact opposite of the above complaint but whatever.If anything it is equally likely that a network of known treaties and Vassals would encourage peacefully strategies, especially if no Civ groupings can think they can take on and prevail against it's rival Civ groupings, thus creating a Cold War situation.As always, you must be prepared for war in order to secure peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An aside: it is the scoring system that is nerfed, not the Vassal system.The scoring system heavily factors Time / Turns Elapsed over Type of victory.Since Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories only become possible in the late game the higher scoring games will come about primarily through War Mongering, a great great many game will end before even the option to score a Diplomatic win becomes available (let alone Space Race).A retuning of the scoring system would clear up most of the "balancing issues" in terms of strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Outsanding Questions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](For which if someone could locate in the xml's or wherever I would be gratefull to know the answers to)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Maintenance?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Happiness boost to Master?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]References:[NEWLINE]The Civilopedia[NEWLINE]v2.08 Patch info by Thunderfall[NEWLINE]Me</English>
		<French>[H1]Explaining the Vassal System[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Crighton[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I've written the following in an attempt to help explain the Vassal System in the CIV: Warlords expansion.It may not be the most comprehensive explanation possible, but I hope it helps answer some of the many recurring questions which pop up in threads throughout the forums.Please feel free to add to or whatever in posts following.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good Hunting.[NEWLINE]~Crighton[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Warlords expansion introduces a new diplomatic option called Vassal State. Vassal states are like an "asymmetric alliance" between two Civs.Basically, one civilization serves as the master in the relationship and collects tribute from the weaker, vassal nation.After the discovery of Feudalism the Vassal State option becomes available in the Diplomacy menu.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two ways to acquire a vassal state, [BOLD]voluntary[\BOLD] Vassal-ing, and [BOLD]Non-voluntary ([BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD])[\BOLD] Vassal-ing.The second acquisition method is more common, basically consisting of skull-thumping another Civ until it cries "uncle" and begs for mercy.At which point the losing Civ Capitulates to the winning Civ sacrificing it's independence for mere survival and a chance (usually small) at one day regaining independence.A Vassal State that has [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] does not get the option to voluntarily end the Vassal agreement unless certain conditions are met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less common method occurs during peacetime where a relatively small and weak Civ tries to partner up with a much more powerful Civ, and in exchange for protection agrees to become a Vassal State.A Civ which becomes a Vassal State during peace time is given the opportunity every 10 turns to end the agreement.Throughout long and turbulent games some states may routinely enter into and out of being a Vassal State frequently.When a Voluntary Vassal decides to secede the Master Civ is given the option of simply allowing the Vassal State to become independent, or can choose to protest this decision, in which case both states then become locked in a state of war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In both cases, a Vassal State may choose to break the Vassal agreement when any of the three following conditions occur:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 1:[\BOLD] The Vassal State looses more than half of it's territory that it owned at the time it became a Vassal State.For example: Monty become your Vassal and has 4 cities when he becomes your Vassal.Over time Monty grows his Civ to 8 cities total.If Monty looses 4 of his cities through war or culture flipping, he still has 4 cities left and cannot break the agreement.If he lost 6 of his 8 cities he will then have lost 50% of his original lands and can then choose to end the agreement (usually with some terse statement about "not being able to protect us.") [BOLD]It should also be noted that if your Vassal looses cities, etc. to [BOLD]YOU[\BOLD] through culture flipping [BOLD]THAT[\BOLD] also counts towards the loss of territory condition[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 2:[\BOLD] The Vassal State grows in size [BOLD]AND[\BOLD] population to a point where it has more than [BOLD]50% of the Master Civ's size AND population[\BOLD].It's important to reiterate that this is a two part condition.[BOLD]BOTH[\BOLD] have to be met in order for this option to become available to the Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 3:[\BOLD]This is a minor possibility which can occur, where the Master demands a particular resource and the Vassal refuses the Masters request, in which case the two states are at war.This does happen, but it hasn't happened to me since I try to eliminate any potential escape route for my new pets.Since the Master can demand any single resource from the Vassal and the Vassal can't refuse this single / first demand it's best to choose the resource carefully, i.e. a strategic resource of some sort.Let's say you're in the classical or medieval era and need your Vassal's horse resource so you demand and take.But later on you somehow lose your source of iron and demand it from your Vassal, he can refuse and break the Vassal agreement. So plan ahead when it comes to your resource requests. And by the way there is nothing to stop you from selling the horse back to your Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Should a Vassal choose to break the agreement due to the above conditions listed above, the Vassals Master may not agree to peaceably allow the Vassal to become independent, in which case a state of war exists between the two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Regrettably, [BOLD]there is currently no method to Release a Vassal from your control[\BOLD], so weigh your decision carefully before accepting a Vassal.[This statement is true as of and up to the v2.08 patch, you'd think this would be an obvious feature to include in the game considering it would make things more logically consistent AND reflect actual history, but whatever].Theoretically it is possible to actually aggravate your vassal into refusing a resource demand at which point the Master could then decide to let the Vassal go or go to war with the now ex-Vassal IF the Vassal refuses the resource demand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some basic pro's of acquiring a Vassal:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master enjoys complete freedom of movement in the vassal's territory, including the ability to heal normally in the vassal's territory and use fortifications owned by the vassal. The master can also investigate any vassal city. And as of the v2.08 patch the Master can now Airlift units directly into a Vassal's cities.The Master no longer has to pay supply costs for units inside of the Vassal's lands. However, the Master must agree to an Open Borders agreement with the Vassal in order for the Vassal to move units into and out of the Master's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master can demand any [BOLD]SINGLE[\BOLD] resource from a vassal, even one that the vassal is using. The vassal has the right to refuse the [BOLD]SECOND[\BOLD] demand but if they do the two states are immediately at war. This can come in handy if your Vassal has the only strategic resource available to you: i.e. Copper, Iron, Horses, Oil, Aluminum, etc. Just remember to plan ahead if the resource will lose it's strategic value (cough horses cough).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master's people enjoy increased happiness. Those in the vassal empire suffer decreased happiness (but frankly who cares about that bit, it only acts as an incentive for the Vassal to purchase luxury goods from the Master to placate the populace and so long as you keep your Vassal under heel then it's his problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The vassal can't make war or peace on its own. It immediately adopts the master's war and peace relationships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Half of the vassal's territory and population count towards the master's domination victory AND score. Which can truly speed up a Domination or Conquest win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*You can rehabilitate your relationship over time with the Vassal Civ through normal diplomatic means, i.e. Open borders, Shared State Religions, Mutual Military Struggle (if battling another Civ), occasional gifts, etc. Also, after the v2.08 patch the Mutual Defense Pact bonus is now added into the diplomatic modifier between you and your vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Downside of having a Vassal(s):[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having vassal cities will incur higher maintenance cost for your own cities. And if someone could find me the actual formula so I can provide a clear example of this I (and anyone else who reads this) would greatly appreciate it.Regardless of what the formula is put some extra thought into your economy to counter any uptick in maintenance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Other civs may like you a little less when you have a vassal. You will most likely see a [BOLD]-1[\BOLD] Diplomacy Penalty in you relations with other Civ's as they "Fear their Rivals becoming your Vassal."This penalty is somewhat relative to the power of the Vassal-ed Civ.But regardless, if you have 3 Vassal's of even modest power expect a [BOLD]-3[\BOLD] penalty with every other Civ left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Similarly, a Vassal who has gone around the continent stirring up trouble is not going to be a good choice to become a Voluntary Vassal as the other Civ's will view your patronage as if you were allies.The AI hatred of your Vassal may override their friendly feelings towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Although you can direct what your Vassal researches the Vassal's Master doesn't share in the discovery.So if your vassal somehow manages to acquire some technology you don't have, he doesn't have to share it with you, nor can you compel the Vassal into sharing the tech.This is the complete opposite of the same occurrence during a Permanent Alliance, where the two allies can research different techs and the discoveries are shared between the two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Your Economy: The ONLY thing that Matters:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before you consider whether or not take on a Vassal make sure your house is in order first. Other threads have and will explain the specifics how best to manage or to help guide your economic advancement.I will simply sum things up thusly: If you don't have a strong economy you can't afford to do anything with your empire, let alone acquire someone else's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That being said, the increased maintenance costs to your cities can be negated by a strong economy.Which means you need to develop both your cities and your newly acquire cities as quickly and as best as possible.This also means not going pillaging happy during the conquest.You want the war to be as efficient as possible, end as quickly as possible, and the reconstruction to be just as quick.You want those new cities to become profitable to help further expansion of the empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The maintenance cost is most pronounced if you acquire Vassal's early (like right after discovery of Feudalism) and when the freshly conquered cities aren't quite back online to being profitable for you.Later wars do tend to negate the increase mainly because both you and your Vassal have stronger economies (usually).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some Civ's are a bit more suited to this than others due to their leader traits, Creative (+2 Culture in each city), Financial (+1 Commerce on 2 Commerce plots) and Organized (-50% Empire Maintenance) being the more obvious traits.I mention the Creative trait specifically because it will help push the cultural borders out further &amp; quicker thereby getting cities up to their fat cross potential earlier, very handy when subjugating neighbors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside of the creative trait is that it probably won't be the best idea to Vassal-ize a Creative Civ.Although the Vassal cannot take your city from you, he can surround and overwhelm the city culturally, with near constant riots being the result. The Financial &amp; Organized traits should really speak for themselves on this point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thoughts on the Acquisition of Vassals:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The more vastly more preferable situation is to acquire a Vassal through [BOLD]Capitulation[\BOLD].A Voluntary Vassal will simply leave you at the earliest convenient time, usually the most inconvenient time for you after having driven up your maintenance cost and enjoyed your protection.There may good short term advantages to accepting a voluntary Vassal such as beefing up a combined front to stave off more powerful Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A [BOLD]Capitulated Vassal[\BOLD] is going to have one heck of an uphill challenge to get out from under your thumb.For example; let us assume a situation where all things are equal.Both you and your rival have six cities each, each city has 10 population, all cities are growing at roughly the same population rate.You declare war and conquer three of his cities (including the original capital since it is most likely the choicest morsel in his empire).You now have nine cities under your control to his three.Preferably you have taken what I call his core cities, which are the ones that have been founded the earliest and have since been grown and developed, usually the heart of the empire.In the current example your opponent will most likely have three good and three average cities he's working with, which means it's probably going to be beyond his capabilities to ever breach the 50% of Masters Land AND 50% of Maters Population to be able to break away, especially when you keep the war machine rolling, as illustrated below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities**:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]** This example only shows a static situation, if you acquire the Vassals early enough they can expand over time (preferably filling in scrub areas that you yourself don't want to settle, yet you don't want a rival to settle the area as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Population***:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]90***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]120***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]150***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***This wouldn't be exact since cities lose population after conquest but the concept should be clear at this point.Plus if running the slavery civic you can whip away the unhappiness and crank out some buildings which may have been destroyed during the conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And what do you think the odds are that any of the Vassals are going to be able to break away? Slim to none.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Leveraging Your Vassal's Properly And Making the Most of Them:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch it was possible to simply sell your excess resources to your Vassal(s) even when the Vassal in question had no Gold Per Turn available.The Vassal would come up with the GPT by lowering it's discretionary spending (on such things as Research or Culture).This created a very lucrative (and historically accurate, I might add) incentive for acquiring Vassals and then basically pimping them out into cash cows. . . .ah the good old days.Anyhoo, since the patch this is no longer a real option, a similar effect can be created using the Aggressive Trading / Subsidies Tactic discussed elsewhere.Regardless, Vassals can still be lucrative in the long run (discussed later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To reiterate an earlier point: when acquiring the Vassal [BOLD]DO NOT[\BOLD] pillage the guy to hell and back, the resources will only have to be re-developed and that takes time you wouldn't otherwise have to spend.Pillage the guy to hell and back when you don't think you can take his cities and you want to just punish the guy for your troubles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*When it comes to the [BOLD]Voluntary Vassals[\BOLD], don't gift them any military techs unless you absolutely have to, and at the same time direct their research away from the military techs.Preferably to some mutually beneficial technology which grants the Vassal the ability to harvest some resource (which if necessary you can then demand the resource from the Vassal at a later time).It's very likely that the Voluntary Vassal will forgo your benevolent leadership and managerial skills at some time and break away in the near future.You don't want to create a situation where you've just helped your now rival leap frog up to military parity with you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*What you [BOLD]DO[\BOLD] want to do is get a properly [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] Civ up to speed so it can be the greatest assistance to you, which may include bestowing some military techs to your new Vassal.Thereby allowing him to jump up militarily (though there is a good argument for quantity rather than quality for the Vassal's military, constantly feeding the enemy Great General points and experience points may serve to come back to haunt you).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*After acquiring your new pet you need to get him on your side, you've already shown him the stick now show him the carrot and try to rehabilitate your relationship with the Vassal.Spread your religion to all his remaining cities and cajole him to convert (We Care For Our Brothers &amp; Sisters of Faith), open up the borders, gift him some defunct resource (preferably a defunct resource like Copper when you have Iron, if he doesn't have either he WILL appreciate the Copper, "Our Trade Relations Have Been . . . ").When you go for your next Vassal you'll get a "Mutual Military Struggle" bonus with the current Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It's not important that your Vassal like you, some never will (Monty can really hold a grudge). What [BOLD]IS[\BOLD] important is that he become and remain useful to you.So why try to cozy up to him? Simple, the earlier you acquire the Vassal the more time he has to spread out and stake claims of his own, which can be a double edged sword.It is entirely possible for the Vassal to become pleased with his master, meet the criteria to break away and yet not do so (in this possible, though low probability example, it is important to remember the sage advice: "[BOLD]You can get farther with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word[\BOLD]."So have some weight to back up your dominance).The AI will take into account your, and your remaining Vassals, strength into account when decision times come around.You can never go wrong with having the largest army you can afford.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, as your Vassal's spread out they develop resources which you otherwise would not, I for instance am not sticking some poor settler out BFA (Alaska) just to get some dang fur or deer resource, let the Vassals do that, anyway, more resources your Vassal has the more he can trade with you mutually benefiting both empires.And if your Vassal is of the same faith as ye he will help spread the Word amongst the heathens, spreading the gospel (and your line of sight and your shrine income and potentially laying the seeds for an easier invasion some turns down the road).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The aggressive Civ's tend to make for your better pets, Monty, Alex, etc. especially since once brought to heel tend maintain high military strength even when not ramping up for war, which means they're usually ready to help skullthump on your behalf.Which can soften up or even better create a second front against your next conquest, keeping enemy resources tied up can be an excellent tactic especially if you ask the Vassal to focus on attacking one specific enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*In general terms you are probably going to acquire what's closest to you rather than on the far side of the world.Which is usually for the better since it's easier for someone else to pick off something that's closer to them.Which leads to the next two points on Vassal Strategy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *1*[\BOLD] Vassals can be used as excellent staging platforms for further invasions.For example: pretend there are three Civs: A,B, and C.All three occupy the same continent and border each other in the same alphabetical order.For the moment lets say Civ B is on good terms with both A and C, A and C however don't like each other and soon go to war, with Civ C capitulating and becoming the Vassal of Civ A.Civ B now has a bigger problem than he did before with two neighbors because now he has no hope of any balance of power to maintain his existence.Civ A now has the ability to launch invasions from both sides of Civ B's empire simultaneously, a tactic the AI does not deal with well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *2*[\BOLD] In the same example above Civ B is as likely to attack Civ A's territory as it to attack Civ A's Vassal (the Old Civ C).This leaves the field wide open for Civ A to invade while Civ B concentrates on Civ C and any Civ A cities conquered from Civ C.Here's the great part, if B does manage to make headway on the Vassal and knock out enough territory to break the Vassal agreement, who cares if the Vassal's cities are getting raised or captured? It's better that the losses consume and distract Civ B's military resources while Civ A rolls on in from the opposite side and forces Civ B to capitulate.All in all Civ A is sitting pretty with all of it's territory and a chunk of Civ B and Civ C's territory, plus some vassals to kick around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To summarize the above, it's better for your Vassal(s) to take a beating than you.In which case if you're Civ A and Civ B becomes your Vassal keep the fighting in either the occupied territories of Civ B or on Civ C's doorstep.Let Vassal Civ B be both your doormat and your buffer zone.Because remember, that's what Civ B is there for, to eat the bullet so you don't have to.This particular point also illustrates my only successful use of the Machine Gunner, I stuck Combat One and Medic One promoted MG in my Vassal's border cities, I still pity those poor Egyptian Cavalrymen who generously donated 32 units to theGreat General fund.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Other Fine Points:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A general piece of Warmongering Advice: the first Civ you meet isn't going to be the best candidate for Vassal-ing.Generally speaking the first Civ you run across is probably going to be your best bet for early elimination and/or outright acquisition.If you're skullthumping your neighbor with early swordsman (or earlier with axmen, warriors, etc.) then you aren't going to be Vassal-ing anybody anyway since you probably haven't got Feudalism.Therefore, if you do go to war finish the other guy off completely, no sense of having some enemy out on the field for the better part of eternity with a grudge just waiting to come back to haunt you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*One of the major points about Vassal's is that an attack on the Vassal is an attack on the Master, which can be quite a disincentive to attack either.The flip side to this is that you can be at peace minding your business when chuckles knocks on your door begging to be your Vassal, and maybe you've been a bit inattentive in monitoring the current state of relations and decided to accept the Vassal.At which point his enemies are now [BOLD]YOUR[\BOLD] enemies thus dragging you into some conflagration you weren't prepared for or desired (of course this could just be the pretext you want for war with the other Civ's being the aggressors instead of you, thereby keeping the old War Weariness down by fighting on home turf as opposed to foreign lands).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch there was a tendency by the AI that when losing a war with the player, the AI would align itself with a Player-"friendly" Civ by becoming a Vassal and then drag a Civ, which the player may have been closely "allied" with, into war against the player. [BOLD]The v2.08 patch did not create some magic rule saying this can no longer happen just that the decision would be more thoughtfully evaluated by the AI[\BOLD]. A good quick, rule of thumb is that one of the factors the AI is going to judge this decision by is: is your military power equal to, less than or significantly greater then, his and his new Vassal's military power. If your "Ally" thinks he could otherwise take you on and come out the better he is going to do it ([BOLD]and let's be blunt, so would you[\BOLD]). Your "[BOLD]Ally[\BOLD]" basically weights the decision like this: "[BOLD]Yeah, I'm friendly with the player, but is this too good an opportunity to pass up[\BOLD]?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It may not be necessary or prudent to accept a Civ's offer of Capitulation the first time it's offered.For example, say you invade an island and take two of three cities, the remaining city being the enemy capital.And the other civ knows he's beat will offer to Capitulate.Don't vassal the civ until AFTER you've taken the capital otherwise the culture war will be a constant irritation in later turns ("[BOLD]An Indian revolt is taking place in Madras...[\BOLD]").[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having and acquiring Vassals allows you to run a more precise offense allowing you to cut down dramatically on Domination and Conquest wins.Taking the same six city example from above, let us simply score 1 city as one point and 1 population as 1 point.The first war takes your base of six to nine, a 50% increase in lands directly held to you, plus you get half of your Vassal points (1.5), which in this grossly simplified score gets you a total point score of 10.5 as opposed to 9.The second Vassal would take your base score to 12 points with an additional 3 coming from your Vassals, totaling 15.The third Vassal war would take you to a 15 point base with an additional 4.5 from your Vassals bring the total up to: 19.5. In this case your Vassals are increasing your score by about 30%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[TAB]Vassal 2[TAB]Vassal 3[TAB]Total pts.[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6 / 6pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 pts(+0%)[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9 / 9pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]10.5pts (+16%)[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12 / 12pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]15pts (+25%)[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15 / 15pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pt[TAB]19.5pts (+30%)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not to shabby in my opinion.And this of course neglects any expansion done by the Vassals after Vassalization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To follow up on the preceding point about running a precise offense.The strategy is that if one is able and willing to accept Vassals then the volume of necessary fighting that you'll have to do will be reduced, therefore lowering the costs of the war in time and material. Why waste time conquering an empire of 20 cities if you only have to take the six best ones to impose a favorable peace?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Superpowers and Hyperpowers and General Compaints:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Vassal system turned on, the larger the map and the more Civs in the game, there is a much greater tendency for the formations of [BOLD]Super[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Hyper-powers[\BOLD]. Without the Vassal system you could expect to see a web of Mutual Defense Pacts, even occasionally some Permanent Alliances, for a real life example think back to pre-World War One days with the complicated networking of treaties. But, with the Vassal system you can expect the AI's to cluster together with a strong Civ achieving dominance over one, or several, rival Civs which can be aligned against you. A real life example, the Soviet Union and it's client states during the Cold War. With the Vassal system the same advantages which the player can exploit, can also be exploited by the AI, with the results being a patchwork of regional and super powers developing on the map.Which probably bears some relation to Medieval Europe in history.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the [BOLD]Hyperpower[\BOLD] situation, you have one Civ with a relatively large expansion of it's own, coupled with not just one or several Vassals, but with a great many Vassal client states, each sufficiently developed in their own right.Hopefully, this is the player being the Hyperpower and not the AI.One can be forgiven for thinking that this would have a chilling effect on wars breaking out, or at least if war did break out it would be the Hyperpower looking to expand.However, this isn't always the case.A regional superpower or even separate (yet diplomatically close) Civs may try to break up the emerging or developing Hyperpower by launching a Pre-Emptive attack.Usually you can expect to see this happen once you start seeing the "You've grown too powerful for us" diplomatic response to even the simplest of trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the many frequent complaints about the Vassal system is that it can be a deterrent for warmongering, "I can't attack him without declaring war on his master and other Vassals" etc. etc., usually followed by some comment about the system being "broken." [BOLD]It's not broken, you just don't like the result[\BOLD].I can attest to the aggravation of being sidled up next to an emerging hyper power and not being able to have done anything about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What feels eminently worse though, is when you attack another Civ, take a chunk and declare peace with the intent of re-declaring war after a short respite and chucklehead has gone off and Voluntarily become a Vassal of someone you don't really want to tangle with.[BOLD]Again, it's aggravating but the system isn't broke, we just don't like the outcome[\BOLD].If anything it's working perfectly when your victim does this as he maintains a chance at independence and keeps you from gobbling him up. Cheeky monkey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The other major complaint I see cropping up from the Vassal system is that it encourages a Warmongering Strategy at the expense of a "Builder's" strategy (i.e., Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories).Ironically this is pretty much the exact opposite of the above complaint but whatever.If anything it is equally likely that a network of known treaties and Vassals would encourage peacefully strategies, especially if no Civ groupings can think they can take on and prevail against it's rival Civ groupings, thus creating a Cold War situation.As always, you must be prepared for war in order to secure peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An aside: it is the scoring system that is nerfed, not the Vassal system.The scoring system heavily factors Time / Turns Elapsed over Type of victory.Since Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories only become possible in the late game the higher scoring games will come about primarily through War Mongering, a great great many game will end before even the option to score a Diplomatic win becomes available (let alone Space Race).A retuning of the scoring system would clear up most of the "balancing issues" in terms of strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Outsanding Questions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](For which if someone could locate in the xml's or wherever I would be gratefull to know the answers to)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Maintenance?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Happiness boost to Master?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]References:[NEWLINE]The Civilopedia[NEWLINE]v2.08 Patch info by Thunderfall[NEWLINE]Me</French>
		<German>[H1]Explaining the Vassal System[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Crighton[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I've written the following in an attempt to help explain the Vassal System in the CIV: Warlords expansion.It may not be the most comprehensive explanation possible, but I hope it helps answer some of the many recurring questions which pop up in threads throughout the forums.Please feel free to add to or whatever in posts following.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good Hunting.[NEWLINE]~Crighton[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Warlords expansion introduces a new diplomatic option called Vassal State. Vassal states are like an "asymmetric alliance" between two Civs.Basically, one civilization serves as the master in the relationship and collects tribute from the weaker, vassal nation.After the discovery of Feudalism the Vassal State option becomes available in the Diplomacy menu.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two ways to acquire a vassal state, [BOLD]voluntary[\BOLD] Vassal-ing, and [BOLD]Non-voluntary ([BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD])[\BOLD] Vassal-ing.The second acquisition method is more common, basically consisting of skull-thumping another Civ until it cries "uncle" and begs for mercy.At which point the losing Civ Capitulates to the winning Civ sacrificing it's independence for mere survival and a chance (usually small) at one day regaining independence.A Vassal State that has [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] does not get the option to voluntarily end the Vassal agreement unless certain conditions are met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less common method occurs during peacetime where a relatively small and weak Civ tries to partner up with a much more powerful Civ, and in exchange for protection agrees to become a Vassal State.A Civ which becomes a Vassal State during peace time is given the opportunity every 10 turns to end the agreement.Throughout long and turbulent games some states may routinely enter into and out of being a Vassal State frequently.When a Voluntary Vassal decides to secede the Master Civ is given the option of simply allowing the Vassal State to become independent, or can choose to protest this decision, in which case both states then become locked in a state of war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In both cases, a Vassal State may choose to break the Vassal agreement when any of the three following conditions occur:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 1:[\BOLD] The Vassal State looses more than half of it's territory that it owned at the time it became a Vassal State.For example: Monty become your Vassal and has 4 cities when he becomes your Vassal.Over time Monty grows his Civ to 8 cities total.If Monty looses 4 of his cities through war or culture flipping, he still has 4 cities left and cannot break the agreement.If he lost 6 of his 8 cities he will then have lost 50% of his original lands and can then choose to end the agreement (usually with some terse statement about "not being able to protect us.") [BOLD]It should also be noted that if your Vassal looses cities, etc. to [BOLD]YOU[\BOLD] through culture flipping [BOLD]THAT[\BOLD] also counts towards the loss of territory condition[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 2:[\BOLD] The Vassal State grows in size [BOLD]AND[\BOLD] population to a point where it has more than [BOLD]50% of the Master Civ's size AND population[\BOLD].It's important to reiterate that this is a two part condition.[BOLD]BOTH[\BOLD] have to be met in order for this option to become available to the Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 3:[\BOLD]This is a minor possibility which can occur, where the Master demands a particular resource and the Vassal refuses the Masters request, in which case the two states are at war.This does happen, but it hasn't happened to me since I try to eliminate any potential escape route for my new pets.Since the Master can demand any single resource from the Vassal and the Vassal can't refuse this single / first demand it's best to choose the resource carefully, i.e. a strategic resource of some sort.Let's say you're in the classical or medieval era and need your Vassal's horse resource so you demand and take.But later on you somehow lose your source of iron and demand it from your Vassal, he can refuse and break the Vassal agreement. So plan ahead when it comes to your resource requests. And by the way there is nothing to stop you from selling the horse back to your Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Should a Vassal choose to break the agreement due to the above conditions listed above, the Vassals Master may not agree to peaceably allow the Vassal to become independent, in which case a state of war exists between the two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Regrettably, [BOLD]there is currently no method to Release a Vassal from your control[\BOLD], so weigh your decision carefully before accepting a Vassal.[This statement is true as of and up to the v2.08 patch, you'd think this would be an obvious feature to include in the game considering it would make things more logically consistent AND reflect actual history, but whatever].Theoretically it is possible to actually aggravate your vassal into refusing a resource demand at which point the Master could then decide to let the Vassal go or go to war with the now ex-Vassal IF the Vassal refuses the resource demand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some basic pro's of acquiring a Vassal:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master enjoys complete freedom of movement in the vassal's territory, including the ability to heal normally in the vassal's territory and use fortifications owned by the vassal. The master can also investigate any vassal city. And as of the v2.08 patch the Master can now Airlift units directly into a Vassal's cities.The Master no longer has to pay supply costs for units inside of the Vassal's lands. However, the Master must agree to an Open Borders agreement with the Vassal in order for the Vassal to move units into and out of the Master's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master can demand any [BOLD]SINGLE[\BOLD] resource from a vassal, even one that the vassal is using. The vassal has the right to refuse the [BOLD]SECOND[\BOLD] demand but if they do the two states are immediately at war. This can come in handy if your Vassal has the only strategic resource available to you: i.e. Copper, Iron, Horses, Oil, Aluminum, etc. Just remember to plan ahead if the resource will lose it's strategic value (cough horses cough).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master's people enjoy increased happiness. Those in the vassal empire suffer decreased happiness (but frankly who cares about that bit, it only acts as an incentive for the Vassal to purchase luxury goods from the Master to placate the populace and so long as you keep your Vassal under heel then it's his problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The vassal can't make war or peace on its own. It immediately adopts the master's war and peace relationships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Half of the vassal's territory and population count towards the master's domination victory AND score. Which can truly speed up a Domination or Conquest win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*You can rehabilitate your relationship over time with the Vassal Civ through normal diplomatic means, i.e. Open borders, Shared State Religions, Mutual Military Struggle (if battling another Civ), occasional gifts, etc. Also, after the v2.08 patch the Mutual Defense Pact bonus is now added into the diplomatic modifier between you and your vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Downside of having a Vassal(s):[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having vassal cities will incur higher maintenance cost for your own cities. And if someone could find me the actual formula so I can provide a clear example of this I (and anyone else who reads this) would greatly appreciate it.Regardless of what the formula is put some extra thought into your economy to counter any uptick in maintenance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Other civs may like you a little less when you have a vassal. You will most likely see a [BOLD]-1[\BOLD] Diplomacy Penalty in you relations with other Civ's as they "Fear their Rivals becoming your Vassal."This penalty is somewhat relative to the power of the Vassal-ed Civ.But regardless, if you have 3 Vassal's of even modest power expect a [BOLD]-3[\BOLD] penalty with every other Civ left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Similarly, a Vassal who has gone around the continent stirring up trouble is not going to be a good choice to become a Voluntary Vassal as the other Civ's will view your patronage as if you were allies.The AI hatred of your Vassal may override their friendly feelings towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Although you can direct what your Vassal researches the Vassal's Master doesn't share in the discovery.So if your vassal somehow manages to acquire some technology you don't have, he doesn't have to share it with you, nor can you compel the Vassal into sharing the tech.This is the complete opposite of the same occurrence during a Permanent Alliance, where the two allies can research different techs and the discoveries are shared between the two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Your Economy: The ONLY thing that Matters:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before you consider whether or not take on a Vassal make sure your house is in order first. Other threads have and will explain the specifics how best to manage or to help guide your economic advancement.I will simply sum things up thusly: If you don't have a strong economy you can't afford to do anything with your empire, let alone acquire someone else's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That being said, the increased maintenance costs to your cities can be negated by a strong economy.Which means you need to develop both your cities and your newly acquire cities as quickly and as best as possible.This also means not going pillaging happy during the conquest.You want the war to be as efficient as possible, end as quickly as possible, and the reconstruction to be just as quick.You want those new cities to become profitable to help further expansion of the empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The maintenance cost is most pronounced if you acquire Vassal's early (like right after discovery of Feudalism) and when the freshly conquered cities aren't quite back online to being profitable for you.Later wars do tend to negate the increase mainly because both you and your Vassal have stronger economies (usually).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some Civ's are a bit more suited to this than others due to their leader traits, Creative (+2 Culture in each city), Financial (+1 Commerce on 2 Commerce plots) and Organized (-50% Empire Maintenance) being the more obvious traits.I mention the Creative trait specifically because it will help push the cultural borders out further &amp; quicker thereby getting cities up to their fat cross potential earlier, very handy when subjugating neighbors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside of the creative trait is that it probably won't be the best idea to Vassal-ize a Creative Civ.Although the Vassal cannot take your city from you, he can surround and overwhelm the city culturally, with near constant riots being the result. The Financial &amp; Organized traits should really speak for themselves on this point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thoughts on the Acquisition of Vassals:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The more vastly more preferable situation is to acquire a Vassal through [BOLD]Capitulation[\BOLD].A Voluntary Vassal will simply leave you at the earliest convenient time, usually the most inconvenient time for you after having driven up your maintenance cost and enjoyed your protection.There may good short term advantages to accepting a voluntary Vassal such as beefing up a combined front to stave off more powerful Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A [BOLD]Capitulated Vassal[\BOLD] is going to have one heck of an uphill challenge to get out from under your thumb.For example; let us assume a situation where all things are equal.Both you and your rival have six cities each, each city has 10 population, all cities are growing at roughly the same population rate.You declare war and conquer three of his cities (including the original capital since it is most likely the choicest morsel in his empire).You now have nine cities under your control to his three.Preferably you have taken what I call his core cities, which are the ones that have been founded the earliest and have since been grown and developed, usually the heart of the empire.In the current example your opponent will most likely have three good and three average cities he's working with, which means it's probably going to be beyond his capabilities to ever breach the 50% of Masters Land AND 50% of Maters Population to be able to break away, especially when you keep the war machine rolling, as illustrated below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities**:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]** This example only shows a static situation, if you acquire the Vassals early enough they can expand over time (preferably filling in scrub areas that you yourself don't want to settle, yet you don't want a rival to settle the area as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Population***:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]90***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]120***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]150***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***This wouldn't be exact since cities lose population after conquest but the concept should be clear at this point.Plus if running the slavery civic you can whip away the unhappiness and crank out some buildings which may have been destroyed during the conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And what do you think the odds are that any of the Vassals are going to be able to break away? Slim to none.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Leveraging Your Vassal's Properly And Making the Most of Them:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch it was possible to simply sell your excess resources to your Vassal(s) even when the Vassal in question had no Gold Per Turn available.The Vassal would come up with the GPT by lowering it's discretionary spending (on such things as Research or Culture).This created a very lucrative (and historically accurate, I might add) incentive for acquiring Vassals and then basically pimping them out into cash cows. . . .ah the good old days.Anyhoo, since the patch this is no longer a real option, a similar effect can be created using the Aggressive Trading / Subsidies Tactic discussed elsewhere.Regardless, Vassals can still be lucrative in the long run (discussed later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To reiterate an earlier point: when acquiring the Vassal [BOLD]DO NOT[\BOLD] pillage the guy to hell and back, the resources will only have to be re-developed and that takes time you wouldn't otherwise have to spend.Pillage the guy to hell and back when you don't think you can take his cities and you want to just punish the guy for your troubles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*When it comes to the [BOLD]Voluntary Vassals[\BOLD], don't gift them any military techs unless you absolutely have to, and at the same time direct their research away from the military techs.Preferably to some mutually beneficial technology which grants the Vassal the ability to harvest some resource (which if necessary you can then demand the resource from the Vassal at a later time).It's very likely that the Voluntary Vassal will forgo your benevolent leadership and managerial skills at some time and break away in the near future.You don't want to create a situation where you've just helped your now rival leap frog up to military parity with you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*What you [BOLD]DO[\BOLD] want to do is get a properly [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] Civ up to speed so it can be the greatest assistance to you, which may include bestowing some military techs to your new Vassal.Thereby allowing him to jump up militarily (though there is a good argument for quantity rather than quality for the Vassal's military, constantly feeding the enemy Great General points and experience points may serve to come back to haunt you).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*After acquiring your new pet you need to get him on your side, you've already shown him the stick now show him the carrot and try to rehabilitate your relationship with the Vassal.Spread your religion to all his remaining cities and cajole him to convert (We Care For Our Brothers &amp; Sisters of Faith), open up the borders, gift him some defunct resource (preferably a defunct resource like Copper when you have Iron, if he doesn't have either he WILL appreciate the Copper, "Our Trade Relations Have Been . . . ").When you go for your next Vassal you'll get a "Mutual Military Struggle" bonus with the current Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It's not important that your Vassal like you, some never will (Monty can really hold a grudge). What [BOLD]IS[\BOLD] important is that he become and remain useful to you.So why try to cozy up to him? Simple, the earlier you acquire the Vassal the more time he has to spread out and stake claims of his own, which can be a double edged sword.It is entirely possible for the Vassal to become pleased with his master, meet the criteria to break away and yet not do so (in this possible, though low probability example, it is important to remember the sage advice: "[BOLD]You can get farther with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word[\BOLD]."So have some weight to back up your dominance).The AI will take into account your, and your remaining Vassals, strength into account when decision times come around.You can never go wrong with having the largest army you can afford.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, as your Vassal's spread out they develop resources which you otherwise would not, I for instance am not sticking some poor settler out BFA (Alaska) just to get some dang fur or deer resource, let the Vassals do that, anyway, more resources your Vassal has the more he can trade with you mutually benefiting both empires.And if your Vassal is of the same faith as ye he will help spread the Word amongst the heathens, spreading the gospel (and your line of sight and your shrine income and potentially laying the seeds for an easier invasion some turns down the road).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The aggressive Civ's tend to make for your better pets, Monty, Alex, etc. especially since once brought to heel tend maintain high military strength even when not ramping up for war, which means they're usually ready to help skullthump on your behalf.Which can soften up or even better create a second front against your next conquest, keeping enemy resources tied up can be an excellent tactic especially if you ask the Vassal to focus on attacking one specific enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*In general terms you are probably going to acquire what's closest to you rather than on the far side of the world.Which is usually for the better since it's easier for someone else to pick off something that's closer to them.Which leads to the next two points on Vassal Strategy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *1*[\BOLD] Vassals can be used as excellent staging platforms for further invasions.For example: pretend there are three Civs: A,B, and C.All three occupy the same continent and border each other in the same alphabetical order.For the moment lets say Civ B is on good terms with both A and C, A and C however don't like each other and soon go to war, with Civ C capitulating and becoming the Vassal of Civ A.Civ B now has a bigger problem than he did before with two neighbors because now he has no hope of any balance of power to maintain his existence.Civ A now has the ability to launch invasions from both sides of Civ B's empire simultaneously, a tactic the AI does not deal with well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *2*[\BOLD] In the same example above Civ B is as likely to attack Civ A's territory as it to attack Civ A's Vassal (the Old Civ C).This leaves the field wide open for Civ A to invade while Civ B concentrates on Civ C and any Civ A cities conquered from Civ C.Here's the great part, if B does manage to make headway on the Vassal and knock out enough territory to break the Vassal agreement, who cares if the Vassal's cities are getting raised or captured? It's better that the losses consume and distract Civ B's military resources while Civ A rolls on in from the opposite side and forces Civ B to capitulate.All in all Civ A is sitting pretty with all of it's territory and a chunk of Civ B and Civ C's territory, plus some vassals to kick around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To summarize the above, it's better for your Vassal(s) to take a beating than you.In which case if you're Civ A and Civ B becomes your Vassal keep the fighting in either the occupied territories of Civ B or on Civ C's doorstep.Let Vassal Civ B be both your doormat and your buffer zone.Because remember, that's what Civ B is there for, to eat the bullet so you don't have to.This particular point also illustrates my only successful use of the Machine Gunner, I stuck Combat One and Medic One promoted MG in my Vassal's border cities, I still pity those poor Egyptian Cavalrymen who generously donated 32 units to theGreat General fund.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Other Fine Points:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A general piece of Warmongering Advice: the first Civ you meet isn't going to be the best candidate for Vassal-ing.Generally speaking the first Civ you run across is probably going to be your best bet for early elimination and/or outright acquisition.If you're skullthumping your neighbor with early swordsman (or earlier with axmen, warriors, etc.) then you aren't going to be Vassal-ing anybody anyway since you probably haven't got Feudalism.Therefore, if you do go to war finish the other guy off completely, no sense of having some enemy out on the field for the better part of eternity with a grudge just waiting to come back to haunt you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*One of the major points about Vassal's is that an attack on the Vassal is an attack on the Master, which can be quite a disincentive to attack either.The flip side to this is that you can be at peace minding your business when chuckles knocks on your door begging to be your Vassal, and maybe you've been a bit inattentive in monitoring the current state of relations and decided to accept the Vassal.At which point his enemies are now [BOLD]YOUR[\BOLD] enemies thus dragging you into some conflagration you weren't prepared for or desired (of course this could just be the pretext you want for war with the other Civ's being the aggressors instead of you, thereby keeping the old War Weariness down by fighting on home turf as opposed to foreign lands).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch there was a tendency by the AI that when losing a war with the player, the AI would align itself with a Player-"friendly" Civ by becoming a Vassal and then drag a Civ, which the player may have been closely "allied" with, into war against the player. [BOLD]The v2.08 patch did not create some magic rule saying this can no longer happen just that the decision would be more thoughtfully evaluated by the AI[\BOLD]. A good quick, rule of thumb is that one of the factors the AI is going to judge this decision by is: is your military power equal to, less than or significantly greater then, his and his new Vassal's military power. If your "Ally" thinks he could otherwise take you on and come out the better he is going to do it ([BOLD]and let's be blunt, so would you[\BOLD]). Your "[BOLD]Ally[\BOLD]" basically weights the decision like this: "[BOLD]Yeah, I'm friendly with the player, but is this too good an opportunity to pass up[\BOLD]?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It may not be necessary or prudent to accept a Civ's offer of Capitulation the first time it's offered.For example, say you invade an island and take two of three cities, the remaining city being the enemy capital.And the other civ knows he's beat will offer to Capitulate.Don't vassal the civ until AFTER you've taken the capital otherwise the culture war will be a constant irritation in later turns ("[BOLD]An Indian revolt is taking place in Madras...[\BOLD]").[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having and acquiring Vassals allows you to run a more precise offense allowing you to cut down dramatically on Domination and Conquest wins.Taking the same six city example from above, let us simply score 1 city as one point and 1 population as 1 point.The first war takes your base of six to nine, a 50% increase in lands directly held to you, plus you get half of your Vassal points (1.5), which in this grossly simplified score gets you a total point score of 10.5 as opposed to 9.The second Vassal would take your base score to 12 points with an additional 3 coming from your Vassals, totaling 15.The third Vassal war would take you to a 15 point base with an additional 4.5 from your Vassals bring the total up to: 19.5. In this case your Vassals are increasing your score by about 30%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[TAB]Vassal 2[TAB]Vassal 3[TAB]Total pts.[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6 / 6pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 pts(+0%)[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9 / 9pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]10.5pts (+16%)[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12 / 12pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]15pts (+25%)[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15 / 15pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pt[TAB]19.5pts (+30%)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not to shabby in my opinion.And this of course neglects any expansion done by the Vassals after Vassalization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To follow up on the preceding point about running a precise offense.The strategy is that if one is able and willing to accept Vassals then the volume of necessary fighting that you'll have to do will be reduced, therefore lowering the costs of the war in time and material. Why waste time conquering an empire of 20 cities if you only have to take the six best ones to impose a favorable peace?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Superpowers and Hyperpowers and General Compaints:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Vassal system turned on, the larger the map and the more Civs in the game, there is a much greater tendency for the formations of [BOLD]Super[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Hyper-powers[\BOLD]. Without the Vassal system you could expect to see a web of Mutual Defense Pacts, even occasionally some Permanent Alliances, for a real life example think back to pre-World War One days with the complicated networking of treaties. But, with the Vassal system you can expect the AI's to cluster together with a strong Civ achieving dominance over one, or several, rival Civs which can be aligned against you. A real life example, the Soviet Union and it's client states during the Cold War. With the Vassal system the same advantages which the player can exploit, can also be exploited by the AI, with the results being a patchwork of regional and super powers developing on the map.Which probably bears some relation to Medieval Europe in history.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the [BOLD]Hyperpower[\BOLD] situation, you have one Civ with a relatively large expansion of it's own, coupled with not just one or several Vassals, but with a great many Vassal client states, each sufficiently developed in their own right.Hopefully, this is the player being the Hyperpower and not the AI.One can be forgiven for thinking that this would have a chilling effect on wars breaking out, or at least if war did break out it would be the Hyperpower looking to expand.However, this isn't always the case.A regional superpower or even separate (yet diplomatically close) Civs may try to break up the emerging or developing Hyperpower by launching a Pre-Emptive attack.Usually you can expect to see this happen once you start seeing the "You've grown too powerful for us" diplomatic response to even the simplest of trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the many frequent complaints about the Vassal system is that it can be a deterrent for warmongering, "I can't attack him without declaring war on his master and other Vassals" etc. etc., usually followed by some comment about the system being "broken." [BOLD]It's not broken, you just don't like the result[\BOLD].I can attest to the aggravation of being sidled up next to an emerging hyper power and not being able to have done anything about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What feels eminently worse though, is when you attack another Civ, take a chunk and declare peace with the intent of re-declaring war after a short respite and chucklehead has gone off and Voluntarily become a Vassal of someone you don't really want to tangle with.[BOLD]Again, it's aggravating but the system isn't broke, we just don't like the outcome[\BOLD].If anything it's working perfectly when your victim does this as he maintains a chance at independence and keeps you from gobbling him up. Cheeky monkey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The other major complaint I see cropping up from the Vassal system is that it encourages a Warmongering Strategy at the expense of a "Builder's" strategy (i.e., Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories).Ironically this is pretty much the exact opposite of the above complaint but whatever.If anything it is equally likely that a network of known treaties and Vassals would encourage peacefully strategies, especially if no Civ groupings can think they can take on and prevail against it's rival Civ groupings, thus creating a Cold War situation.As always, you must be prepared for war in order to secure peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An aside: it is the scoring system that is nerfed, not the Vassal system.The scoring system heavily factors Time / Turns Elapsed over Type of victory.Since Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories only become possible in the late game the higher scoring games will come about primarily through War Mongering, a great great many game will end before even the option to score a Diplomatic win becomes available (let alone Space Race).A retuning of the scoring system would clear up most of the "balancing issues" in terms of strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Outsanding Questions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](For which if someone could locate in the xml's or wherever I would be gratefull to know the answers to)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Maintenance?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Happiness boost to Master?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]References:[NEWLINE]The Civilopedia[NEWLINE]v2.08 Patch info by Thunderfall[NEWLINE]Me</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Explaining the Vassal System[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Crighton[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I've written the following in an attempt to help explain the Vassal System in the CIV: Warlords expansion.It may not be the most comprehensive explanation possible, but I hope it helps answer some of the many recurring questions which pop up in threads throughout the forums.Please feel free to add to or whatever in posts following.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good Hunting.[NEWLINE]~Crighton[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Warlords expansion introduces a new diplomatic option called Vassal State. Vassal states are like an "asymmetric alliance" between two Civs.Basically, one civilization serves as the master in the relationship and collects tribute from the weaker, vassal nation.After the discovery of Feudalism the Vassal State option becomes available in the Diplomacy menu.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two ways to acquire a vassal state, [BOLD]voluntary[\BOLD] Vassal-ing, and [BOLD]Non-voluntary ([BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD])[\BOLD] Vassal-ing.The second acquisition method is more common, basically consisting of skull-thumping another Civ until it cries "uncle" and begs for mercy.At which point the losing Civ Capitulates to the winning Civ sacrificing it's independence for mere survival and a chance (usually small) at one day regaining independence.A Vassal State that has [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] does not get the option to voluntarily end the Vassal agreement unless certain conditions are met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less common method occurs during peacetime where a relatively small and weak Civ tries to partner up with a much more powerful Civ, and in exchange for protection agrees to become a Vassal State.A Civ which becomes a Vassal State during peace time is given the opportunity every 10 turns to end the agreement.Throughout long and turbulent games some states may routinely enter into and out of being a Vassal State frequently.When a Voluntary Vassal decides to secede the Master Civ is given the option of simply allowing the Vassal State to become independent, or can choose to protest this decision, in which case both states then become locked in a state of war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In both cases, a Vassal State may choose to break the Vassal agreement when any of the three following conditions occur:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 1:[\BOLD] The Vassal State looses more than half of it's territory that it owned at the time it became a Vassal State.For example: Monty become your Vassal and has 4 cities when he becomes your Vassal.Over time Monty grows his Civ to 8 cities total.If Monty looses 4 of his cities through war or culture flipping, he still has 4 cities left and cannot break the agreement.If he lost 6 of his 8 cities he will then have lost 50% of his original lands and can then choose to end the agreement (usually with some terse statement about "not being able to protect us.") [BOLD]It should also be noted that if your Vassal looses cities, etc. to [BOLD]YOU[\BOLD] through culture flipping [BOLD]THAT[\BOLD] also counts towards the loss of territory condition[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 2:[\BOLD] The Vassal State grows in size [BOLD]AND[\BOLD] population to a point where it has more than [BOLD]50% of the Master Civ's size AND population[\BOLD].It's important to reiterate that this is a two part condition.[BOLD]BOTH[\BOLD] have to be met in order for this option to become available to the Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 3:[\BOLD]This is a minor possibility which can occur, where the Master demands a particular resource and the Vassal refuses the Masters request, in which case the two states are at war.This does happen, but it hasn't happened to me since I try to eliminate any potential escape route for my new pets.Since the Master can demand any single resource from the Vassal and the Vassal can't refuse this single / first demand it's best to choose the resource carefully, i.e. a strategic resource of some sort.Let's say you're in the classical or medieval era and need your Vassal's horse resource so you demand and take.But later on you somehow lose your source of iron and demand it from your Vassal, he can refuse and break the Vassal agreement. So plan ahead when it comes to your resource requests. And by the way there is nothing to stop you from selling the horse back to your Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Should a Vassal choose to break the agreement due to the above conditions listed above, the Vassals Master may not agree to peaceably allow the Vassal to become independent, in which case a state of war exists between the two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Regrettably, [BOLD]there is currently no method to Release a Vassal from your control[\BOLD], so weigh your decision carefully before accepting a Vassal.[This statement is true as of and up to the v2.08 patch, you'd think this would be an obvious feature to include in the game considering it would make things more logically consistent AND reflect actual history, but whatever].Theoretically it is possible to actually aggravate your vassal into refusing a resource demand at which point the Master could then decide to let the Vassal go or go to war with the now ex-Vassal IF the Vassal refuses the resource demand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some basic pro's of acquiring a Vassal:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master enjoys complete freedom of movement in the vassal's territory, including the ability to heal normally in the vassal's territory and use fortifications owned by the vassal. The master can also investigate any vassal city. And as of the v2.08 patch the Master can now Airlift units directly into a Vassal's cities.The Master no longer has to pay supply costs for units inside of the Vassal's lands. However, the Master must agree to an Open Borders agreement with the Vassal in order for the Vassal to move units into and out of the Master's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master can demand any [BOLD]SINGLE[\BOLD] resource from a vassal, even one that the vassal is using. The vassal has the right to refuse the [BOLD]SECOND[\BOLD] demand but if they do the two states are immediately at war. This can come in handy if your Vassal has the only strategic resource available to you: i.e. Copper, Iron, Horses, Oil, Aluminum, etc. Just remember to plan ahead if the resource will lose it's strategic value (cough horses cough).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master's people enjoy increased happiness. Those in the vassal empire suffer decreased happiness (but frankly who cares about that bit, it only acts as an incentive for the Vassal to purchase luxury goods from the Master to placate the populace and so long as you keep your Vassal under heel then it's his problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The vassal can't make war or peace on its own. It immediately adopts the master's war and peace relationships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Half of the vassal's territory and population count towards the master's domination victory AND score. Which can truly speed up a Domination or Conquest win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*You can rehabilitate your relationship over time with the Vassal Civ through normal diplomatic means, i.e. Open borders, Shared State Religions, Mutual Military Struggle (if battling another Civ), occasional gifts, etc. Also, after the v2.08 patch the Mutual Defense Pact bonus is now added into the diplomatic modifier between you and your vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Downside of having a Vassal(s):[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having vassal cities will incur higher maintenance cost for your own cities. And if someone could find me the actual formula so I can provide a clear example of this I (and anyone else who reads this) would greatly appreciate it.Regardless of what the formula is put some extra thought into your economy to counter any uptick in maintenance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Other civs may like you a little less when you have a vassal. You will most likely see a [BOLD]-1[\BOLD] Diplomacy Penalty in you relations with other Civ's as they "Fear their Rivals becoming your Vassal."This penalty is somewhat relative to the power of the Vassal-ed Civ.But regardless, if you have 3 Vassal's of even modest power expect a [BOLD]-3[\BOLD] penalty with every other Civ left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Similarly, a Vassal who has gone around the continent stirring up trouble is not going to be a good choice to become a Voluntary Vassal as the other Civ's will view your patronage as if you were allies.The AI hatred of your Vassal may override their friendly feelings towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Although you can direct what your Vassal researches the Vassal's Master doesn't share in the discovery.So if your vassal somehow manages to acquire some technology you don't have, he doesn't have to share it with you, nor can you compel the Vassal into sharing the tech.This is the complete opposite of the same occurrence during a Permanent Alliance, where the two allies can research different techs and the discoveries are shared between the two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Your Economy: The ONLY thing that Matters:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before you consider whether or not take on a Vassal make sure your house is in order first. Other threads have and will explain the specifics how best to manage or to help guide your economic advancement.I will simply sum things up thusly: If you don't have a strong economy you can't afford to do anything with your empire, let alone acquire someone else's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That being said, the increased maintenance costs to your cities can be negated by a strong economy.Which means you need to develop both your cities and your newly acquire cities as quickly and as best as possible.This also means not going pillaging happy during the conquest.You want the war to be as efficient as possible, end as quickly as possible, and the reconstruction to be just as quick.You want those new cities to become profitable to help further expansion of the empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The maintenance cost is most pronounced if you acquire Vassal's early (like right after discovery of Feudalism) and when the freshly conquered cities aren't quite back online to being profitable for you.Later wars do tend to negate the increase mainly because both you and your Vassal have stronger economies (usually).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some Civ's are a bit more suited to this than others due to their leader traits, Creative (+2 Culture in each city), Financial (+1 Commerce on 2 Commerce plots) and Organized (-50% Empire Maintenance) being the more obvious traits.I mention the Creative trait specifically because it will help push the cultural borders out further &amp; quicker thereby getting cities up to their fat cross potential earlier, very handy when subjugating neighbors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside of the creative trait is that it probably won't be the best idea to Vassal-ize a Creative Civ.Although the Vassal cannot take your city from you, he can surround and overwhelm the city culturally, with near constant riots being the result. The Financial &amp; Organized traits should really speak for themselves on this point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thoughts on the Acquisition of Vassals:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The more vastly more preferable situation is to acquire a Vassal through [BOLD]Capitulation[\BOLD].A Voluntary Vassal will simply leave you at the earliest convenient time, usually the most inconvenient time for you after having driven up your maintenance cost and enjoyed your protection.There may good short term advantages to accepting a voluntary Vassal such as beefing up a combined front to stave off more powerful Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A [BOLD]Capitulated Vassal[\BOLD] is going to have one heck of an uphill challenge to get out from under your thumb.For example; let us assume a situation where all things are equal.Both you and your rival have six cities each, each city has 10 population, all cities are growing at roughly the same population rate.You declare war and conquer three of his cities (including the original capital since it is most likely the choicest morsel in his empire).You now have nine cities under your control to his three.Preferably you have taken what I call his core cities, which are the ones that have been founded the earliest and have since been grown and developed, usually the heart of the empire.In the current example your opponent will most likely have three good and three average cities he's working with, which means it's probably going to be beyond his capabilities to ever breach the 50% of Masters Land AND 50% of Maters Population to be able to break away, especially when you keep the war machine rolling, as illustrated below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities**:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]** This example only shows a static situation, if you acquire the Vassals early enough they can expand over time (preferably filling in scrub areas that you yourself don't want to settle, yet you don't want a rival to settle the area as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Population***:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]90***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]120***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]150***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***This wouldn't be exact since cities lose population after conquest but the concept should be clear at this point.Plus if running the slavery civic you can whip away the unhappiness and crank out some buildings which may have been destroyed during the conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And what do you think the odds are that any of the Vassals are going to be able to break away? Slim to none.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Leveraging Your Vassal's Properly And Making the Most of Them:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch it was possible to simply sell your excess resources to your Vassal(s) even when the Vassal in question had no Gold Per Turn available.The Vassal would come up with the GPT by lowering it's discretionary spending (on such things as Research or Culture).This created a very lucrative (and historically accurate, I might add) incentive for acquiring Vassals and then basically pimping them out into cash cows. . . .ah the good old days.Anyhoo, since the patch this is no longer a real option, a similar effect can be created using the Aggressive Trading / Subsidies Tactic discussed elsewhere.Regardless, Vassals can still be lucrative in the long run (discussed later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To reiterate an earlier point: when acquiring the Vassal [BOLD]DO NOT[\BOLD] pillage the guy to hell and back, the resources will only have to be re-developed and that takes time you wouldn't otherwise have to spend.Pillage the guy to hell and back when you don't think you can take his cities and you want to just punish the guy for your troubles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*When it comes to the [BOLD]Voluntary Vassals[\BOLD], don't gift them any military techs unless you absolutely have to, and at the same time direct their research away from the military techs.Preferably to some mutually beneficial technology which grants the Vassal the ability to harvest some resource (which if necessary you can then demand the resource from the Vassal at a later time).It's very likely that the Voluntary Vassal will forgo your benevolent leadership and managerial skills at some time and break away in the near future.You don't want to create a situation where you've just helped your now rival leap frog up to military parity with you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*What you [BOLD]DO[\BOLD] want to do is get a properly [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] Civ up to speed so it can be the greatest assistance to you, which may include bestowing some military techs to your new Vassal.Thereby allowing him to jump up militarily (though there is a good argument for quantity rather than quality for the Vassal's military, constantly feeding the enemy Great General points and experience points may serve to come back to haunt you).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*After acquiring your new pet you need to get him on your side, you've already shown him the stick now show him the carrot and try to rehabilitate your relationship with the Vassal.Spread your religion to all his remaining cities and cajole him to convert (We Care For Our Brothers &amp; Sisters of Faith), open up the borders, gift him some defunct resource (preferably a defunct resource like Copper when you have Iron, if he doesn't have either he WILL appreciate the Copper, "Our Trade Relations Have Been . . . ").When you go for your next Vassal you'll get a "Mutual Military Struggle" bonus with the current Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It's not important that your Vassal like you, some never will (Monty can really hold a grudge). What [BOLD]IS[\BOLD] important is that he become and remain useful to you.So why try to cozy up to him? Simple, the earlier you acquire the Vassal the more time he has to spread out and stake claims of his own, which can be a double edged sword.It is entirely possible for the Vassal to become pleased with his master, meet the criteria to break away and yet not do so (in this possible, though low probability example, it is important to remember the sage advice: "[BOLD]You can get farther with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word[\BOLD]."So have some weight to back up your dominance).The AI will take into account your, and your remaining Vassals, strength into account when decision times come around.You can never go wrong with having the largest army you can afford.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, as your Vassal's spread out they develop resources which you otherwise would not, I for instance am not sticking some poor settler out BFA (Alaska) just to get some dang fur or deer resource, let the Vassals do that, anyway, more resources your Vassal has the more he can trade with you mutually benefiting both empires.And if your Vassal is of the same faith as ye he will help spread the Word amongst the heathens, spreading the gospel (and your line of sight and your shrine income and potentially laying the seeds for an easier invasion some turns down the road).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The aggressive Civ's tend to make for your better pets, Monty, Alex, etc. especially since once brought to heel tend maintain high military strength even when not ramping up for war, which means they're usually ready to help skullthump on your behalf.Which can soften up or even better create a second front against your next conquest, keeping enemy resources tied up can be an excellent tactic especially if you ask the Vassal to focus on attacking one specific enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*In general terms you are probably going to acquire what's closest to you rather than on the far side of the world.Which is usually for the better since it's easier for someone else to pick off something that's closer to them.Which leads to the next two points on Vassal Strategy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *1*[\BOLD] Vassals can be used as excellent staging platforms for further invasions.For example: pretend there are three Civs: A,B, and C.All three occupy the same continent and border each other in the same alphabetical order.For the moment lets say Civ B is on good terms with both A and C, A and C however don't like each other and soon go to war, with Civ C capitulating and becoming the Vassal of Civ A.Civ B now has a bigger problem than he did before with two neighbors because now he has no hope of any balance of power to maintain his existence.Civ A now has the ability to launch invasions from both sides of Civ B's empire simultaneously, a tactic the AI does not deal with well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *2*[\BOLD] In the same example above Civ B is as likely to attack Civ A's territory as it to attack Civ A's Vassal (the Old Civ C).This leaves the field wide open for Civ A to invade while Civ B concentrates on Civ C and any Civ A cities conquered from Civ C.Here's the great part, if B does manage to make headway on the Vassal and knock out enough territory to break the Vassal agreement, who cares if the Vassal's cities are getting raised or captured? It's better that the losses consume and distract Civ B's military resources while Civ A rolls on in from the opposite side and forces Civ B to capitulate.All in all Civ A is sitting pretty with all of it's territory and a chunk of Civ B and Civ C's territory, plus some vassals to kick around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To summarize the above, it's better for your Vassal(s) to take a beating than you.In which case if you're Civ A and Civ B becomes your Vassal keep the fighting in either the occupied territories of Civ B or on Civ C's doorstep.Let Vassal Civ B be both your doormat and your buffer zone.Because remember, that's what Civ B is there for, to eat the bullet so you don't have to.This particular point also illustrates my only successful use of the Machine Gunner, I stuck Combat One and Medic One promoted MG in my Vassal's border cities, I still pity those poor Egyptian Cavalrymen who generously donated 32 units to theGreat General fund.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Other Fine Points:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A general piece of Warmongering Advice: the first Civ you meet isn't going to be the best candidate for Vassal-ing.Generally speaking the first Civ you run across is probably going to be your best bet for early elimination and/or outright acquisition.If you're skullthumping your neighbor with early swordsman (or earlier with axmen, warriors, etc.) then you aren't going to be Vassal-ing anybody anyway since you probably haven't got Feudalism.Therefore, if you do go to war finish the other guy off completely, no sense of having some enemy out on the field for the better part of eternity with a grudge just waiting to come back to haunt you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*One of the major points about Vassal's is that an attack on the Vassal is an attack on the Master, which can be quite a disincentive to attack either.The flip side to this is that you can be at peace minding your business when chuckles knocks on your door begging to be your Vassal, and maybe you've been a bit inattentive in monitoring the current state of relations and decided to accept the Vassal.At which point his enemies are now [BOLD]YOUR[\BOLD] enemies thus dragging you into some conflagration you weren't prepared for or desired (of course this could just be the pretext you want for war with the other Civ's being the aggressors instead of you, thereby keeping the old War Weariness down by fighting on home turf as opposed to foreign lands).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch there was a tendency by the AI that when losing a war with the player, the AI would align itself with a Player-"friendly" Civ by becoming a Vassal and then drag a Civ, which the player may have been closely "allied" with, into war against the player. [BOLD]The v2.08 patch did not create some magic rule saying this can no longer happen just that the decision would be more thoughtfully evaluated by the AI[\BOLD]. A good quick, rule of thumb is that one of the factors the AI is going to judge this decision by is: is your military power equal to, less than or significantly greater then, his and his new Vassal's military power. If your "Ally" thinks he could otherwise take you on and come out the better he is going to do it ([BOLD]and let's be blunt, so would you[\BOLD]). Your "[BOLD]Ally[\BOLD]" basically weights the decision like this: "[BOLD]Yeah, I'm friendly with the player, but is this too good an opportunity to pass up[\BOLD]?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It may not be necessary or prudent to accept a Civ's offer of Capitulation the first time it's offered.For example, say you invade an island and take two of three cities, the remaining city being the enemy capital.And the other civ knows he's beat will offer to Capitulate.Don't vassal the civ until AFTER you've taken the capital otherwise the culture war will be a constant irritation in later turns ("[BOLD]An Indian revolt is taking place in Madras...[\BOLD]").[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having and acquiring Vassals allows you to run a more precise offense allowing you to cut down dramatically on Domination and Conquest wins.Taking the same six city example from above, let us simply score 1 city as one point and 1 population as 1 point.The first war takes your base of six to nine, a 50% increase in lands directly held to you, plus you get half of your Vassal points (1.5), which in this grossly simplified score gets you a total point score of 10.5 as opposed to 9.The second Vassal would take your base score to 12 points with an additional 3 coming from your Vassals, totaling 15.The third Vassal war would take you to a 15 point base with an additional 4.5 from your Vassals bring the total up to: 19.5. In this case your Vassals are increasing your score by about 30%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[TAB]Vassal 2[TAB]Vassal 3[TAB]Total pts.[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6 / 6pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 pts(+0%)[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9 / 9pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]10.5pts (+16%)[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12 / 12pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]15pts (+25%)[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15 / 15pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pt[TAB]19.5pts (+30%)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not to shabby in my opinion.And this of course neglects any expansion done by the Vassals after Vassalization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To follow up on the preceding point about running a precise offense.The strategy is that if one is able and willing to accept Vassals then the volume of necessary fighting that you'll have to do will be reduced, therefore lowering the costs of the war in time and material. Why waste time conquering an empire of 20 cities if you only have to take the six best ones to impose a favorable peace?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Superpowers and Hyperpowers and General Compaints:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Vassal system turned on, the larger the map and the more Civs in the game, there is a much greater tendency for the formations of [BOLD]Super[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Hyper-powers[\BOLD]. Without the Vassal system you could expect to see a web of Mutual Defense Pacts, even occasionally some Permanent Alliances, for a real life example think back to pre-World War One days with the complicated networking of treaties. But, with the Vassal system you can expect the AI's to cluster together with a strong Civ achieving dominance over one, or several, rival Civs which can be aligned against you. A real life example, the Soviet Union and it's client states during the Cold War. With the Vassal system the same advantages which the player can exploit, can also be exploited by the AI, with the results being a patchwork of regional and super powers developing on the map.Which probably bears some relation to Medieval Europe in history.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the [BOLD]Hyperpower[\BOLD] situation, you have one Civ with a relatively large expansion of it's own, coupled with not just one or several Vassals, but with a great many Vassal client states, each sufficiently developed in their own right.Hopefully, this is the player being the Hyperpower and not the AI.One can be forgiven for thinking that this would have a chilling effect on wars breaking out, or at least if war did break out it would be the Hyperpower looking to expand.However, this isn't always the case.A regional superpower or even separate (yet diplomatically close) Civs may try to break up the emerging or developing Hyperpower by launching a Pre-Emptive attack.Usually you can expect to see this happen once you start seeing the "You've grown too powerful for us" diplomatic response to even the simplest of trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the many frequent complaints about the Vassal system is that it can be a deterrent for warmongering, "I can't attack him without declaring war on his master and other Vassals" etc. etc., usually followed by some comment about the system being "broken." [BOLD]It's not broken, you just don't like the result[\BOLD].I can attest to the aggravation of being sidled up next to an emerging hyper power and not being able to have done anything about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What feels eminently worse though, is when you attack another Civ, take a chunk and declare peace with the intent of re-declaring war after a short respite and chucklehead has gone off and Voluntarily become a Vassal of someone you don't really want to tangle with.[BOLD]Again, it's aggravating but the system isn't broke, we just don't like the outcome[\BOLD].If anything it's working perfectly when your victim does this as he maintains a chance at independence and keeps you from gobbling him up. Cheeky monkey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The other major complaint I see cropping up from the Vassal system is that it encourages a Warmongering Strategy at the expense of a "Builder's" strategy (i.e., Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories).Ironically this is pretty much the exact opposite of the above complaint but whatever.If anything it is equally likely that a network of known treaties and Vassals would encourage peacefully strategies, especially if no Civ groupings can think they can take on and prevail against it's rival Civ groupings, thus creating a Cold War situation.As always, you must be prepared for war in order to secure peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An aside: it is the scoring system that is nerfed, not the Vassal system.The scoring system heavily factors Time / Turns Elapsed over Type of victory.Since Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories only become possible in the late game the higher scoring games will come about primarily through War Mongering, a great great many game will end before even the option to score a Diplomatic win becomes available (let alone Space Race).A retuning of the scoring system would clear up most of the "balancing issues" in terms of strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Outsanding Questions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](For which if someone could locate in the xml's or wherever I would be gratefull to know the answers to)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Maintenance?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Happiness boost to Master?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]References:[NEWLINE]The Civilopedia[NEWLINE]v2.08 Patch info by Thunderfall[NEWLINE]Me</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Explaining the Vassal System[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Crighton[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I've written the following in an attempt to help explain the Vassal System in the CIV: Warlords expansion.It may not be the most comprehensive explanation possible, but I hope it helps answer some of the many recurring questions which pop up in threads throughout the forums.Please feel free to add to or whatever in posts following.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Good Hunting.[NEWLINE]~Crighton[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Warlords expansion introduces a new diplomatic option called Vassal State. Vassal states are like an "asymmetric alliance" between two Civs.Basically, one civilization serves as the master in the relationship and collects tribute from the weaker, vassal nation.After the discovery of Feudalism the Vassal State option becomes available in the Diplomacy menu.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are two ways to acquire a vassal state, [BOLD]voluntary[\BOLD] Vassal-ing, and [BOLD]Non-voluntary ([BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD])[\BOLD] Vassal-ing.The second acquisition method is more common, basically consisting of skull-thumping another Civ until it cries "uncle" and begs for mercy.At which point the losing Civ Capitulates to the winning Civ sacrificing it's independence for mere survival and a chance (usually small) at one day regaining independence.A Vassal State that has [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] does not get the option to voluntarily end the Vassal agreement unless certain conditions are met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The less common method occurs during peacetime where a relatively small and weak Civ tries to partner up with a much more powerful Civ, and in exchange for protection agrees to become a Vassal State.A Civ which becomes a Vassal State during peace time is given the opportunity every 10 turns to end the agreement.Throughout long and turbulent games some states may routinely enter into and out of being a Vassal State frequently.When a Voluntary Vassal decides to secede the Master Civ is given the option of simply allowing the Vassal State to become independent, or can choose to protest this decision, in which case both states then become locked in a state of war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In both cases, a Vassal State may choose to break the Vassal agreement when any of the three following conditions occur:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 1:[\BOLD] The Vassal State looses more than half of it's territory that it owned at the time it became a Vassal State.For example: Monty become your Vassal and has 4 cities when he becomes your Vassal.Over time Monty grows his Civ to 8 cities total.If Monty looses 4 of his cities through war or culture flipping, he still has 4 cities left and cannot break the agreement.If he lost 6 of his 8 cities he will then have lost 50% of his original lands and can then choose to end the agreement (usually with some terse statement about "not being able to protect us.") [BOLD]It should also be noted that if your Vassal looses cities, etc. to [BOLD]YOU[\BOLD] through culture flipping [BOLD]THAT[\BOLD] also counts towards the loss of territory condition[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 2:[\BOLD] The Vassal State grows in size [BOLD]AND[\BOLD] population to a point where it has more than [BOLD]50% of the Master Civ's size AND population[\BOLD].It's important to reiterate that this is a two part condition.[BOLD]BOTH[\BOLD] have to be met in order for this option to become available to the Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET][BOLD]Condition 3:[\BOLD]This is a minor possibility which can occur, where the Master demands a particular resource and the Vassal refuses the Masters request, in which case the two states are at war.This does happen, but it hasn't happened to me since I try to eliminate any potential escape route for my new pets.Since the Master can demand any single resource from the Vassal and the Vassal can't refuse this single / first demand it's best to choose the resource carefully, i.e. a strategic resource of some sort.Let's say you're in the classical or medieval era and need your Vassal's horse resource so you demand and take.But later on you somehow lose your source of iron and demand it from your Vassal, he can refuse and break the Vassal agreement. So plan ahead when it comes to your resource requests. And by the way there is nothing to stop you from selling the horse back to your Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Should a Vassal choose to break the agreement due to the above conditions listed above, the Vassals Master may not agree to peaceably allow the Vassal to become independent, in which case a state of war exists between the two Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Regrettably, [BOLD]there is currently no method to Release a Vassal from your control[\BOLD], so weigh your decision carefully before accepting a Vassal.[This statement is true as of and up to the v2.08 patch, you'd think this would be an obvious feature to include in the game considering it would make things more logically consistent AND reflect actual history, but whatever].Theoretically it is possible to actually aggravate your vassal into refusing a resource demand at which point the Master could then decide to let the Vassal go or go to war with the now ex-Vassal IF the Vassal refuses the resource demand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some basic pro's of acquiring a Vassal:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master enjoys complete freedom of movement in the vassal's territory, including the ability to heal normally in the vassal's territory and use fortifications owned by the vassal. The master can also investigate any vassal city. And as of the v2.08 patch the Master can now Airlift units directly into a Vassal's cities.The Master no longer has to pay supply costs for units inside of the Vassal's lands. However, the Master must agree to an Open Borders agreement with the Vassal in order for the Vassal to move units into and out of the Master's territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master can demand any [BOLD]SINGLE[\BOLD] resource from a vassal, even one that the vassal is using. The vassal has the right to refuse the [BOLD]SECOND[\BOLD] demand but if they do the two states are immediately at war. This can come in handy if your Vassal has the only strategic resource available to you: i.e. Copper, Iron, Horses, Oil, Aluminum, etc. Just remember to plan ahead if the resource will lose it's strategic value (cough horses cough).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The master's people enjoy increased happiness. Those in the vassal empire suffer decreased happiness (but frankly who cares about that bit, it only acts as an incentive for the Vassal to purchase luxury goods from the Master to placate the populace and so long as you keep your Vassal under heel then it's his problem).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The vassal can't make war or peace on its own. It immediately adopts the master's war and peace relationships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Half of the vassal's territory and population count towards the master's domination victory AND score. Which can truly speed up a Domination or Conquest win.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*You can rehabilitate your relationship over time with the Vassal Civ through normal diplomatic means, i.e. Open borders, Shared State Religions, Mutual Military Struggle (if battling another Civ), occasional gifts, etc. Also, after the v2.08 patch the Mutual Defense Pact bonus is now added into the diplomatic modifier between you and your vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Downside of having a Vassal(s):[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having vassal cities will incur higher maintenance cost for your own cities. And if someone could find me the actual formula so I can provide a clear example of this I (and anyone else who reads this) would greatly appreciate it.Regardless of what the formula is put some extra thought into your economy to counter any uptick in maintenance costs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Other civs may like you a little less when you have a vassal. You will most likely see a [BOLD]-1[\BOLD] Diplomacy Penalty in you relations with other Civ's as they "Fear their Rivals becoming your Vassal."This penalty is somewhat relative to the power of the Vassal-ed Civ.But regardless, if you have 3 Vassal's of even modest power expect a [BOLD]-3[\BOLD] penalty with every other Civ left.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Similarly, a Vassal who has gone around the continent stirring up trouble is not going to be a good choice to become a Voluntary Vassal as the other Civ's will view your patronage as if you were allies.The AI hatred of your Vassal may override their friendly feelings towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Although you can direct what your Vassal researches the Vassal's Master doesn't share in the discovery.So if your vassal somehow manages to acquire some technology you don't have, he doesn't have to share it with you, nor can you compel the Vassal into sharing the tech.This is the complete opposite of the same occurrence during a Permanent Alliance, where the two allies can research different techs and the discoveries are shared between the two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Your Economy: The ONLY thing that Matters:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Before you consider whether or not take on a Vassal make sure your house is in order first. Other threads have and will explain the specifics how best to manage or to help guide your economic advancement.I will simply sum things up thusly: If you don't have a strong economy you can't afford to do anything with your empire, let alone acquire someone else's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That being said, the increased maintenance costs to your cities can be negated by a strong economy.Which means you need to develop both your cities and your newly acquire cities as quickly and as best as possible.This also means not going pillaging happy during the conquest.You want the war to be as efficient as possible, end as quickly as possible, and the reconstruction to be just as quick.You want those new cities to become profitable to help further expansion of the empire.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The maintenance cost is most pronounced if you acquire Vassal's early (like right after discovery of Feudalism) and when the freshly conquered cities aren't quite back online to being profitable for you.Later wars do tend to negate the increase mainly because both you and your Vassal have stronger economies (usually).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some Civ's are a bit more suited to this than others due to their leader traits, Creative (+2 Culture in each city), Financial (+1 Commerce on 2 Commerce plots) and Organized (-50% Empire Maintenance) being the more obvious traits.I mention the Creative trait specifically because it will help push the cultural borders out further &amp; quicker thereby getting cities up to their fat cross potential earlier, very handy when subjugating neighbors.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside of the creative trait is that it probably won't be the best idea to Vassal-ize a Creative Civ.Although the Vassal cannot take your city from you, he can surround and overwhelm the city culturally, with near constant riots being the result. The Financial &amp; Organized traits should really speak for themselves on this point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thoughts on the Acquisition of Vassals:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The more vastly more preferable situation is to acquire a Vassal through [BOLD]Capitulation[\BOLD].A Voluntary Vassal will simply leave you at the earliest convenient time, usually the most inconvenient time for you after having driven up your maintenance cost and enjoyed your protection.There may good short term advantages to accepting a voluntary Vassal such as beefing up a combined front to stave off more powerful Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A [BOLD]Capitulated Vassal[\BOLD] is going to have one heck of an uphill challenge to get out from under your thumb.For example; let us assume a situation where all things are equal.Both you and your rival have six cities each, each city has 10 population, all cities are growing at roughly the same population rate.You declare war and conquer three of his cities (including the original capital since it is most likely the choicest morsel in his empire).You now have nine cities under your control to his three.Preferably you have taken what I call his core cities, which are the ones that have been founded the earliest and have since been grown and developed, usually the heart of the empire.In the current example your opponent will most likely have three good and three average cities he's working with, which means it's probably going to be beyond his capabilities to ever breach the 50% of Masters Land AND 50% of Maters Population to be able to break away, especially when you keep the war machine rolling, as illustrated below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities**:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]6[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[TAB][TAB]3[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]** This example only shows a static situation, if you acquire the Vassals early enough they can expand over time (preferably filling in scrub areas that you yourself don't want to settle, yet you don't want a rival to settle the area as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Population***:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 2[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]90***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[TAB][TAB]Vassal 3[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]120***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]60[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]150***[TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[TAB][TAB]30[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***This wouldn't be exact since cities lose population after conquest but the concept should be clear at this point.Plus if running the slavery civic you can whip away the unhappiness and crank out some buildings which may have been destroyed during the conquest.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And what do you think the odds are that any of the Vassals are going to be able to break away? Slim to none.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Leveraging Your Vassal's Properly And Making the Most of Them:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch it was possible to simply sell your excess resources to your Vassal(s) even when the Vassal in question had no Gold Per Turn available.The Vassal would come up with the GPT by lowering it's discretionary spending (on such things as Research or Culture).This created a very lucrative (and historically accurate, I might add) incentive for acquiring Vassals and then basically pimping them out into cash cows. . . .ah the good old days.Anyhoo, since the patch this is no longer a real option, a similar effect can be created using the Aggressive Trading / Subsidies Tactic discussed elsewhere.Regardless, Vassals can still be lucrative in the long run (discussed later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To reiterate an earlier point: when acquiring the Vassal [BOLD]DO NOT[\BOLD] pillage the guy to hell and back, the resources will only have to be re-developed and that takes time you wouldn't otherwise have to spend.Pillage the guy to hell and back when you don't think you can take his cities and you want to just punish the guy for your troubles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*When it comes to the [BOLD]Voluntary Vassals[\BOLD], don't gift them any military techs unless you absolutely have to, and at the same time direct their research away from the military techs.Preferably to some mutually beneficial technology which grants the Vassal the ability to harvest some resource (which if necessary you can then demand the resource from the Vassal at a later time).It's very likely that the Voluntary Vassal will forgo your benevolent leadership and managerial skills at some time and break away in the near future.You don't want to create a situation where you've just helped your now rival leap frog up to military parity with you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*What you [BOLD]DO[\BOLD] want to do is get a properly [BOLD]Capitulated[\BOLD] Civ up to speed so it can be the greatest assistance to you, which may include bestowing some military techs to your new Vassal.Thereby allowing him to jump up militarily (though there is a good argument for quantity rather than quality for the Vassal's military, constantly feeding the enemy Great General points and experience points may serve to come back to haunt you).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*After acquiring your new pet you need to get him on your side, you've already shown him the stick now show him the carrot and try to rehabilitate your relationship with the Vassal.Spread your religion to all his remaining cities and cajole him to convert (We Care For Our Brothers &amp; Sisters of Faith), open up the borders, gift him some defunct resource (preferably a defunct resource like Copper when you have Iron, if he doesn't have either he WILL appreciate the Copper, "Our Trade Relations Have Been . . . ").When you go for your next Vassal you'll get a "Mutual Military Struggle" bonus with the current Vassal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It's not important that your Vassal like you, some never will (Monty can really hold a grudge). What [BOLD]IS[\BOLD] important is that he become and remain useful to you.So why try to cozy up to him? Simple, the earlier you acquire the Vassal the more time he has to spread out and stake claims of his own, which can be a double edged sword.It is entirely possible for the Vassal to become pleased with his master, meet the criteria to break away and yet not do so (in this possible, though low probability example, it is important to remember the sage advice: "[BOLD]You can get farther with a kind word and a gun than just a kind word[\BOLD]."So have some weight to back up your dominance).The AI will take into account your, and your remaining Vassals, strength into account when decision times come around.You can never go wrong with having the largest army you can afford.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Anyway, as your Vassal's spread out they develop resources which you otherwise would not, I for instance am not sticking some poor settler out BFA (Alaska) just to get some dang fur or deer resource, let the Vassals do that, anyway, more resources your Vassal has the more he can trade with you mutually benefiting both empires.And if your Vassal is of the same faith as ye he will help spread the Word amongst the heathens, spreading the gospel (and your line of sight and your shrine income and potentially laying the seeds for an easier invasion some turns down the road).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*The aggressive Civ's tend to make for your better pets, Monty, Alex, etc. especially since once brought to heel tend maintain high military strength even when not ramping up for war, which means they're usually ready to help skullthump on your behalf.Which can soften up or even better create a second front against your next conquest, keeping enemy resources tied up can be an excellent tactic especially if you ask the Vassal to focus on attacking one specific enemy city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*In general terms you are probably going to acquire what's closest to you rather than on the far side of the world.Which is usually for the better since it's easier for someone else to pick off something that's closer to them.Which leads to the next two points on Vassal Strategy:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *1*[\BOLD] Vassals can be used as excellent staging platforms for further invasions.For example: pretend there are three Civs: A,B, and C.All three occupy the same continent and border each other in the same alphabetical order.For the moment lets say Civ B is on good terms with both A and C, A and C however don't like each other and soon go to war, with Civ C capitulating and becoming the Vassal of Civ A.Civ B now has a bigger problem than he did before with two neighbors because now he has no hope of any balance of power to maintain his existence.Civ A now has the ability to launch invasions from both sides of Civ B's empire simultaneously, a tactic the AI does not deal with well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]=> *2*[\BOLD] In the same example above Civ B is as likely to attack Civ A's territory as it to attack Civ A's Vassal (the Old Civ C).This leaves the field wide open for Civ A to invade while Civ B concentrates on Civ C and any Civ A cities conquered from Civ C.Here's the great part, if B does manage to make headway on the Vassal and knock out enough territory to break the Vassal agreement, who cares if the Vassal's cities are getting raised or captured? It's better that the losses consume and distract Civ B's military resources while Civ A rolls on in from the opposite side and forces Civ B to capitulate.All in all Civ A is sitting pretty with all of it's territory and a chunk of Civ B and Civ C's territory, plus some vassals to kick around.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To summarize the above, it's better for your Vassal(s) to take a beating than you.In which case if you're Civ A and Civ B becomes your Vassal keep the fighting in either the occupied territories of Civ B or on Civ C's doorstep.Let Vassal Civ B be both your doormat and your buffer zone.Because remember, that's what Civ B is there for, to eat the bullet so you don't have to.This particular point also illustrates my only successful use of the Machine Gunner, I stuck Combat One and Medic One promoted MG in my Vassal's border cities, I still pity those poor Egyptian Cavalrymen who generously donated 32 units to theGreat General fund.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Other Fine Points:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*A general piece of Warmongering Advice: the first Civ you meet isn't going to be the best candidate for Vassal-ing.Generally speaking the first Civ you run across is probably going to be your best bet for early elimination and/or outright acquisition.If you're skullthumping your neighbor with early swordsman (or earlier with axmen, warriors, etc.) then you aren't going to be Vassal-ing anybody anyway since you probably haven't got Feudalism.Therefore, if you do go to war finish the other guy off completely, no sense of having some enemy out on the field for the better part of eternity with a grudge just waiting to come back to haunt you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*One of the major points about Vassal's is that an attack on the Vassal is an attack on the Master, which can be quite a disincentive to attack either.The flip side to this is that you can be at peace minding your business when chuckles knocks on your door begging to be your Vassal, and maybe you've been a bit inattentive in monitoring the current state of relations and decided to accept the Vassal.At which point his enemies are now [BOLD]YOUR[\BOLD] enemies thus dragging you into some conflagration you weren't prepared for or desired (of course this could just be the pretext you want for war with the other Civ's being the aggressors instead of you, thereby keeping the old War Weariness down by fighting on home turf as opposed to foreign lands).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Prior to the v2.08 patch there was a tendency by the AI that when losing a war with the player, the AI would align itself with a Player-"friendly" Civ by becoming a Vassal and then drag a Civ, which the player may have been closely "allied" with, into war against the player. [BOLD]The v2.08 patch did not create some magic rule saying this can no longer happen just that the decision would be more thoughtfully evaluated by the AI[\BOLD]. A good quick, rule of thumb is that one of the factors the AI is going to judge this decision by is: is your military power equal to, less than or significantly greater then, his and his new Vassal's military power. If your "Ally" thinks he could otherwise take you on and come out the better he is going to do it ([BOLD]and let's be blunt, so would you[\BOLD]). Your "[BOLD]Ally[\BOLD]" basically weights the decision like this: "[BOLD]Yeah, I'm friendly with the player, but is this too good an opportunity to pass up[\BOLD]?"[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*It may not be necessary or prudent to accept a Civ's offer of Capitulation the first time it's offered.For example, say you invade an island and take two of three cities, the remaining city being the enemy capital.And the other civ knows he's beat will offer to Capitulate.Don't vassal the civ until AFTER you've taken the capital otherwise the culture war will be a constant irritation in later turns ("[BOLD]An Indian revolt is taking place in Madras...[\BOLD]").[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*Having and acquiring Vassals allows you to run a more precise offense allowing you to cut down dramatically on Domination and Conquest wins.Taking the same six city example from above, let us simply score 1 city as one point and 1 population as 1 point.The first war takes your base of six to nine, a 50% increase in lands directly held to you, plus you get half of your Vassal points (1.5), which in this grossly simplified score gets you a total point score of 10.5 as opposed to 9.The second Vassal would take your base score to 12 points with an additional 3 coming from your Vassals, totaling 15.The third Vassal war would take you to a 15 point base with an additional 4.5 from your Vassals bring the total up to: 19.5. In this case your Vassals are increasing your score by about 30%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cities:[NEWLINE][TAB][TAB]You[TAB][TAB]Vassal 1[TAB]Vassal 2[TAB]Vassal 3[TAB]Total pts.[NEWLINE]Start[TAB][TAB]6 / 6pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 pts(+0%)[NEWLINE]War 1[TAB]9 / 9pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]10.5pts (+16%)[NEWLINE]War 2[TAB]12 / 12pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]6 /-[TAB][TAB]15pts (+25%)[NEWLINE]War 3[TAB]15 / 15pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pts[TAB]3 / 1.5pt[TAB]19.5pts (+30%)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Not to shabby in my opinion.And this of course neglects any expansion done by the Vassals after Vassalization.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*To follow up on the preceding point about running a precise offense.The strategy is that if one is able and willing to accept Vassals then the volume of necessary fighting that you'll have to do will be reduced, therefore lowering the costs of the war in time and material. Why waste time conquering an empire of 20 cities if you only have to take the six best ones to impose a favorable peace?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Superpowers and Hyperpowers and General Compaints:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Vassal system turned on, the larger the map and the more Civs in the game, there is a much greater tendency for the formations of [BOLD]Super[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Hyper-powers[\BOLD]. Without the Vassal system you could expect to see a web of Mutual Defense Pacts, even occasionally some Permanent Alliances, for a real life example think back to pre-World War One days with the complicated networking of treaties. But, with the Vassal system you can expect the AI's to cluster together with a strong Civ achieving dominance over one, or several, rival Civs which can be aligned against you. A real life example, the Soviet Union and it's client states during the Cold War. With the Vassal system the same advantages which the player can exploit, can also be exploited by the AI, with the results being a patchwork of regional and super powers developing on the map.Which probably bears some relation to Medieval Europe in history.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the [BOLD]Hyperpower[\BOLD] situation, you have one Civ with a relatively large expansion of it's own, coupled with not just one or several Vassals, but with a great many Vassal client states, each sufficiently developed in their own right.Hopefully, this is the player being the Hyperpower and not the AI.One can be forgiven for thinking that this would have a chilling effect on wars breaking out, or at least if war did break out it would be the Hyperpower looking to expand.However, this isn't always the case.A regional superpower or even separate (yet diplomatically close) Civs may try to break up the emerging or developing Hyperpower by launching a Pre-Emptive attack.Usually you can expect to see this happen once you start seeing the "You've grown too powerful for us" diplomatic response to even the simplest of trades.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One of the many frequent complaints about the Vassal system is that it can be a deterrent for warmongering, "I can't attack him without declaring war on his master and other Vassals" etc. etc., usually followed by some comment about the system being "broken." [BOLD]It's not broken, you just don't like the result[\BOLD].I can attest to the aggravation of being sidled up next to an emerging hyper power and not being able to have done anything about it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What feels eminently worse though, is when you attack another Civ, take a chunk and declare peace with the intent of re-declaring war after a short respite and chucklehead has gone off and Voluntarily become a Vassal of someone you don't really want to tangle with.[BOLD]Again, it's aggravating but the system isn't broke, we just don't like the outcome[\BOLD].If anything it's working perfectly when your victim does this as he maintains a chance at independence and keeps you from gobbling him up. Cheeky monkey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The other major complaint I see cropping up from the Vassal system is that it encourages a Warmongering Strategy at the expense of a "Builder's" strategy (i.e., Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories).Ironically this is pretty much the exact opposite of the above complaint but whatever.If anything it is equally likely that a network of known treaties and Vassals would encourage peacefully strategies, especially if no Civ groupings can think they can take on and prevail against it's rival Civ groupings, thus creating a Cold War situation.As always, you must be prepared for war in order to secure peace.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An aside: it is the scoring system that is nerfed, not the Vassal system.The scoring system heavily factors Time / Turns Elapsed over Type of victory.Since Cultural, Diplomatic and Space Race Victories only become possible in the late game the higher scoring games will come about primarily through War Mongering, a great great many game will end before even the option to score a Diplomatic win becomes available (let alone Space Race).A retuning of the scoring system would clear up most of the "balancing issues" in terms of strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Outsanding Questions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE](For which if someone could locate in the xml's or wherever I would be gratefull to know the answers to)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Maintenance?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What is the formula for Vassal Happiness boost to Master?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]References:[NEWLINE]The Civilopedia[NEWLINE]v2.08 Patch info by Thunderfall[NEWLINE]Me</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GP_POINTS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Great People Points Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There seems to be a lot of confusion about great people, how they are generated and the odds involved, so I thought I'd try to explain that a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Generating Great People[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great people are generated by accumulating great people points (GPPs) in your cities. Every city has its own counter that keeps track of how many GPPs have been produced in that city already, which can be seen in the lower right corner of the city screen. Once a city has reached a specific threshold, a great person will be generated, and the GPP counter of that city will be reset to zero. This threshold is a civ-wide one, and will increase each time a great person is born so that the next one will be harder to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For normal game speed, you need 100 GPPs in one of your cities to generate your first great person. From then on, every great person thereafter will cost you an additional 100 GPPs until 1000, then the threshold will be increased by 200 for every great person, making it even harder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So you need 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, then 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, ... GPPs to generate a new great person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Epic game speed, you need 150% of the required GPPs, so it's 150, 300, 450, 600, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Quick game speed, you need only 67% of the required GPPs, so it's 67, 134, 201, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the threshold is civ-wide and the same for all cities, while the GPP counter is individual for each city. For example, you have city A with 80 GPPs and +2 GPPs per turn, and another city B at 99 GPPs and +3 GPPs per turn. So city B will reach the threshold of 100 GPPs next turn. This will produce your first great person, and sets the GPP counter of city B back to 2 (2 excess GPPs are carried over). Additionally, the new threshold for producing a great person is set to 200, so city A, now at 82 GPPs +2 GPPs per turn, will need much longer than before to produce a great person![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the question whether it's better to concentrate all your GPP production in one city, or spread it over multiple cities, see an article by Vol here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=142704.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that you will also receive specific great persons if you are the first to discover certain techs (Music, Economics, Physics, ...). This does not effect the threshold for your GPP production in any way. The same is true for great people generated by other civs: They won't effect your threshold either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Sources for GPPs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Normally, a city won't produce any GPPs on its own. There are two sources to produce GPPs, specialists and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialists produce +3 GPPs per turn, except the citizen specialist which will produce none. Great wonders generally produce +2 GPPs per turn, and small wonders +1 GPP per turn. Once a wonder becomes obsolete, it will no longer produce any GPPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These GPPs per turn can be further boosted by "+x% birth rate" enhancers. The most obvious one is if you play a philosophical leader, which provides +100% birth rate for all cities. Then there's the Pacifism civic that comes with Philosophy, which adds +100% birth rate for all cities as well. Finally, there are some wonders that provide a similar bonus, like the Parthenon (+50% birth rate for all cities) and the National Epic (+100% birth rate for the city it was built in only). Note that these boni are additive, so if you are a Philosophical leader, have adopted Pacifism and have the Parthenon, you will get +250% GPP production in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Odds to Get a Specific Type of Great Person[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are five types of great persons: Engineers, merchants, scientists, prophets, and artists. The odds of which type of great person will be generated once one of your cities has produced enough GPPs, depends on which types of sources contributed to the GPP pool of that city. The odds can be displayed by mousing over the GPP bar in the lower right corner of the city screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each type of specialist counts as one source for the respective great person type, and each wonder has noted in its description which type of source it is. For example, the Great Library counts as a source for great scientists, while the Parthenon counts as a source for great artists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have produced only one type of GPPs in your city once it has reached the threshold, then you are guaranteed to get a great person of that type. For example, if your city has the Parthenon (source for great artists) and you had hired an artist specialist to increase GPP production, you will be guaranteed to get a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have different types of GPP sources, it gets a little more complicated. For each turn, the game notes what types of sources had produced GPPs in the city (regardless of how many GPPs each source had contributed!). This determines the odds of which type of great person would be produced [BOLD]for that turn[\BOLD]. The overall odds are the average values of all the turns since the last great person was generated in that city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that difference: The number of [BOLD]GPPs[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]when[\BOLD] a great person will be generated, and the number of [BOLD]sources[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]what[\BOLD] type it will be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Examples:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Parthenon (great artist source) and a priest specialist (great prophet source) in the city the whole time. Your chances will be 50% to get a great artist and 50% to get a great prophet. Note that it's irrelevant that the Parthenon produced only 2 GPPs while the priest produced 3 GPPs per turn; they both count as one source.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* A city has the Great Library (great scientist source), an engineer, and an artist specialist, plus the two free scientist specialists from the Great Library. So you have 5 sources (one wonder and four specialists). This will give you a 3/5 = 60% chance of getting a great scientist, a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Pyramids (great engineer source) in a city. One turn before the city reaches the threshold to produce a great person, you hire a scientist. What happens? Well, the game remembers that for every turn but the last, the great engineer source had been the only source of GPPs, and that only on the last turn there had been a different source present. So it is a 100% chance of getting a great engineer during all turns but the last, and a 50%/50% chance for the last turn. Since it averages the odds over all the turns, you will have a 99% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1% chance of getting a great scientist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* Assuming normal game speed, no great person generated yet: You hire a priest specialist for 22 turns. Then you fire him, and hire two scientist specialists for 11 turns. Intuitively, one would assume that because you had 22*1=22 sources for a great prophet and 11*2=22 sources for a great scientist, this would give you a 50%/50% chance. But because the game averages over turns, the odds will be 22/33 = 67% for a great prophet and 11/33=33% for a great scientist instead, because you had 22 turns with only great prophet sources and 11 turns with only great scientist sources.[NEWLINE](Thanks to Roland Johansen for suggesting this!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the threshold is reached and a great person is generated, the city "forgets" which types of sources there had been before and starts anew. So if you hire a scientist to produce a great scientist, and after generating that great scientist remove the scientist specialist and hire a priest instead, you will have a 100% chance of getting a great prophet as the next great person, since the city will have forgotten that there had been a great scientist source in the city during the previous cycle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have comments, questions, or found any mistakes, feel free to comment!</English>
		<French>[H1]Great People Points Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There seems to be a lot of confusion about great people, how they are generated and the odds involved, so I thought I'd try to explain that a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Generating Great People[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great people are generated by accumulating great people points (GPPs) in your cities. Every city has its own counter that keeps track of how many GPPs have been produced in that city already, which can be seen in the lower right corner of the city screen. Once a city has reached a specific threshold, a great person will be generated, and the GPP counter of that city will be reset to zero. This threshold is a civ-wide one, and will increase each time a great person is born so that the next one will be harder to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For normal game speed, you need 100 GPPs in one of your cities to generate your first great person. From then on, every great person thereafter will cost you an additional 100 GPPs until 1000, then the threshold will be increased by 200 for every great person, making it even harder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So you need 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, then 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, ... GPPs to generate a new great person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Epic game speed, you need 150% of the required GPPs, so it's 150, 300, 450, 600, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Quick game speed, you need only 67% of the required GPPs, so it's 67, 134, 201, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the threshold is civ-wide and the same for all cities, while the GPP counter is individual for each city. For example, you have city A with 80 GPPs and +2 GPPs per turn, and another city B at 99 GPPs and +3 GPPs per turn. So city B will reach the threshold of 100 GPPs next turn. This will produce your first great person, and sets the GPP counter of city B back to 2 (2 excess GPPs are carried over). Additionally, the new threshold for producing a great person is set to 200, so city A, now at 82 GPPs +2 GPPs per turn, will need much longer than before to produce a great person![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the question whether it's better to concentrate all your GPP production in one city, or spread it over multiple cities, see an article by Vol here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=142704.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that you will also receive specific great persons if you are the first to discover certain techs (Music, Economics, Physics, ...). This does not effect the threshold for your GPP production in any way. The same is true for great people generated by other civs: They won't effect your threshold either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Sources for GPPs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Normally, a city won't produce any GPPs on its own. There are two sources to produce GPPs, specialists and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialists produce +3 GPPs per turn, except the citizen specialist which will produce none. Great wonders generally produce +2 GPPs per turn, and small wonders +1 GPP per turn. Once a wonder becomes obsolete, it will no longer produce any GPPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These GPPs per turn can be further boosted by "+x% birth rate" enhancers. The most obvious one is if you play a philosophical leader, which provides +100% birth rate for all cities. Then there's the Pacifism civic that comes with Philosophy, which adds +100% birth rate for all cities as well. Finally, there are some wonders that provide a similar bonus, like the Parthenon (+50% birth rate for all cities) and the National Epic (+100% birth rate for the city it was built in only). Note that these boni are additive, so if you are a Philosophical leader, have adopted Pacifism and have the Parthenon, you will get +250% GPP production in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Odds to Get a Specific Type of Great Person[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are five types of great persons: Engineers, merchants, scientists, prophets, and artists. The odds of which type of great person will be generated once one of your cities has produced enough GPPs, depends on which types of sources contributed to the GPP pool of that city. The odds can be displayed by mousing over the GPP bar in the lower right corner of the city screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each type of specialist counts as one source for the respective great person type, and each wonder has noted in its description which type of source it is. For example, the Great Library counts as a source for great scientists, while the Parthenon counts as a source for great artists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have produced only one type of GPPs in your city once it has reached the threshold, then you are guaranteed to get a great person of that type. For example, if your city has the Parthenon (source for great artists) and you had hired an artist specialist to increase GPP production, you will be guaranteed to get a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have different types of GPP sources, it gets a little more complicated. For each turn, the game notes what types of sources had produced GPPs in the city (regardless of how many GPPs each source had contributed!). This determines the odds of which type of great person would be produced [BOLD]for that turn[\BOLD]. The overall odds are the average values of all the turns since the last great person was generated in that city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that difference: The number of [BOLD]GPPs[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]when[\BOLD] a great person will be generated, and the number of [BOLD]sources[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]what[\BOLD] type it will be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Examples:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Parthenon (great artist source) and a priest specialist (great prophet source) in the city the whole time. Your chances will be 50% to get a great artist and 50% to get a great prophet. Note that it's irrelevant that the Parthenon produced only 2 GPPs while the priest produced 3 GPPs per turn; they both count as one source.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* A city has the Great Library (great scientist source), an engineer, and an artist specialist, plus the two free scientist specialists from the Great Library. So you have 5 sources (one wonder and four specialists). This will give you a 3/5 = 60% chance of getting a great scientist, a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Pyramids (great engineer source) in a city. One turn before the city reaches the threshold to produce a great person, you hire a scientist. What happens? Well, the game remembers that for every turn but the last, the great engineer source had been the only source of GPPs, and that only on the last turn there had been a different source present. So it is a 100% chance of getting a great engineer during all turns but the last, and a 50%/50% chance for the last turn. Since it averages the odds over all the turns, you will have a 99% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1% chance of getting a great scientist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* Assuming normal game speed, no great person generated yet: You hire a priest specialist for 22 turns. Then you fire him, and hire two scientist specialists for 11 turns. Intuitively, one would assume that because you had 22*1=22 sources for a great prophet and 11*2=22 sources for a great scientist, this would give you a 50%/50% chance. But because the game averages over turns, the odds will be 22/33 = 67% for a great prophet and 11/33=33% for a great scientist instead, because you had 22 turns with only great prophet sources and 11 turns with only great scientist sources.[NEWLINE](Thanks to Roland Johansen for suggesting this!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the threshold is reached and a great person is generated, the city "forgets" which types of sources there had been before and starts anew. So if you hire a scientist to produce a great scientist, and after generating that great scientist remove the scientist specialist and hire a priest instead, you will have a 100% chance of getting a great prophet as the next great person, since the city will have forgotten that there had been a great scientist source in the city during the previous cycle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have comments, questions, or found any mistakes, feel free to comment!</French>
		<German>[H1]Great People Points Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There seems to be a lot of confusion about great people, how they are generated and the odds involved, so I thought I'd try to explain that a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Generating Great People[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great people are generated by accumulating great people points (GPPs) in your cities. Every city has its own counter that keeps track of how many GPPs have been produced in that city already, which can be seen in the lower right corner of the city screen. Once a city has reached a specific threshold, a great person will be generated, and the GPP counter of that city will be reset to zero. This threshold is a civ-wide one, and will increase each time a great person is born so that the next one will be harder to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For normal game speed, you need 100 GPPs in one of your cities to generate your first great person. From then on, every great person thereafter will cost you an additional 100 GPPs until 1000, then the threshold will be increased by 200 for every great person, making it even harder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So you need 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, then 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, ... GPPs to generate a new great person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Epic game speed, you need 150% of the required GPPs, so it's 150, 300, 450, 600, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Quick game speed, you need only 67% of the required GPPs, so it's 67, 134, 201, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the threshold is civ-wide and the same for all cities, while the GPP counter is individual for each city. For example, you have city A with 80 GPPs and +2 GPPs per turn, and another city B at 99 GPPs and +3 GPPs per turn. So city B will reach the threshold of 100 GPPs next turn. This will produce your first great person, and sets the GPP counter of city B back to 2 (2 excess GPPs are carried over). Additionally, the new threshold for producing a great person is set to 200, so city A, now at 82 GPPs +2 GPPs per turn, will need much longer than before to produce a great person![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the question whether it's better to concentrate all your GPP production in one city, or spread it over multiple cities, see an article by Vol here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=142704.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that you will also receive specific great persons if you are the first to discover certain techs (Music, Economics, Physics, ...). This does not effect the threshold for your GPP production in any way. The same is true for great people generated by other civs: They won't effect your threshold either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Sources for GPPs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Normally, a city won't produce any GPPs on its own. There are two sources to produce GPPs, specialists and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialists produce +3 GPPs per turn, except the citizen specialist which will produce none. Great wonders generally produce +2 GPPs per turn, and small wonders +1 GPP per turn. Once a wonder becomes obsolete, it will no longer produce any GPPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These GPPs per turn can be further boosted by "+x% birth rate" enhancers. The most obvious one is if you play a philosophical leader, which provides +100% birth rate for all cities. Then there's the Pacifism civic that comes with Philosophy, which adds +100% birth rate for all cities as well. Finally, there are some wonders that provide a similar bonus, like the Parthenon (+50% birth rate for all cities) and the National Epic (+100% birth rate for the city it was built in only). Note that these boni are additive, so if you are a Philosophical leader, have adopted Pacifism and have the Parthenon, you will get +250% GPP production in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Odds to Get a Specific Type of Great Person[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are five types of great persons: Engineers, merchants, scientists, prophets, and artists. The odds of which type of great person will be generated once one of your cities has produced enough GPPs, depends on which types of sources contributed to the GPP pool of that city. The odds can be displayed by mousing over the GPP bar in the lower right corner of the city screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each type of specialist counts as one source for the respective great person type, and each wonder has noted in its description which type of source it is. For example, the Great Library counts as a source for great scientists, while the Parthenon counts as a source for great artists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have produced only one type of GPPs in your city once it has reached the threshold, then you are guaranteed to get a great person of that type. For example, if your city has the Parthenon (source for great artists) and you had hired an artist specialist to increase GPP production, you will be guaranteed to get a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have different types of GPP sources, it gets a little more complicated. For each turn, the game notes what types of sources had produced GPPs in the city (regardless of how many GPPs each source had contributed!). This determines the odds of which type of great person would be produced [BOLD]for that turn[\BOLD]. The overall odds are the average values of all the turns since the last great person was generated in that city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that difference: The number of [BOLD]GPPs[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]when[\BOLD] a great person will be generated, and the number of [BOLD]sources[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]what[\BOLD] type it will be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Examples:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Parthenon (great artist source) and a priest specialist (great prophet source) in the city the whole time. Your chances will be 50% to get a great artist and 50% to get a great prophet. Note that it's irrelevant that the Parthenon produced only 2 GPPs while the priest produced 3 GPPs per turn; they both count as one source.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* A city has the Great Library (great scientist source), an engineer, and an artist specialist, plus the two free scientist specialists from the Great Library. So you have 5 sources (one wonder and four specialists). This will give you a 3/5 = 60% chance of getting a great scientist, a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Pyramids (great engineer source) in a city. One turn before the city reaches the threshold to produce a great person, you hire a scientist. What happens? Well, the game remembers that for every turn but the last, the great engineer source had been the only source of GPPs, and that only on the last turn there had been a different source present. So it is a 100% chance of getting a great engineer during all turns but the last, and a 50%/50% chance for the last turn. Since it averages the odds over all the turns, you will have a 99% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1% chance of getting a great scientist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* Assuming normal game speed, no great person generated yet: You hire a priest specialist for 22 turns. Then you fire him, and hire two scientist specialists for 11 turns. Intuitively, one would assume that because you had 22*1=22 sources for a great prophet and 11*2=22 sources for a great scientist, this would give you a 50%/50% chance. But because the game averages over turns, the odds will be 22/33 = 67% for a great prophet and 11/33=33% for a great scientist instead, because you had 22 turns with only great prophet sources and 11 turns with only great scientist sources.[NEWLINE](Thanks to Roland Johansen for suggesting this!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the threshold is reached and a great person is generated, the city "forgets" which types of sources there had been before and starts anew. So if you hire a scientist to produce a great scientist, and after generating that great scientist remove the scientist specialist and hire a priest instead, you will have a 100% chance of getting a great prophet as the next great person, since the city will have forgotten that there had been a great scientist source in the city during the previous cycle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have comments, questions, or found any mistakes, feel free to comment!</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Great People Points Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There seems to be a lot of confusion about great people, how they are generated and the odds involved, so I thought I'd try to explain that a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Generating Great People[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great people are generated by accumulating great people points (GPPs) in your cities. Every city has its own counter that keeps track of how many GPPs have been produced in that city already, which can be seen in the lower right corner of the city screen. Once a city has reached a specific threshold, a great person will be generated, and the GPP counter of that city will be reset to zero. This threshold is a civ-wide one, and will increase each time a great person is born so that the next one will be harder to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For normal game speed, you need 100 GPPs in one of your cities to generate your first great person. From then on, every great person thereafter will cost you an additional 100 GPPs until 1000, then the threshold will be increased by 200 for every great person, making it even harder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So you need 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, then 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, ... GPPs to generate a new great person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Epic game speed, you need 150% of the required GPPs, so it's 150, 300, 450, 600, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Quick game speed, you need only 67% of the required GPPs, so it's 67, 134, 201, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the threshold is civ-wide and the same for all cities, while the GPP counter is individual for each city. For example, you have city A with 80 GPPs and +2 GPPs per turn, and another city B at 99 GPPs and +3 GPPs per turn. So city B will reach the threshold of 100 GPPs next turn. This will produce your first great person, and sets the GPP counter of city B back to 2 (2 excess GPPs are carried over). Additionally, the new threshold for producing a great person is set to 200, so city A, now at 82 GPPs +2 GPPs per turn, will need much longer than before to produce a great person![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the question whether it's better to concentrate all your GPP production in one city, or spread it over multiple cities, see an article by Vol here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=142704.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that you will also receive specific great persons if you are the first to discover certain techs (Music, Economics, Physics, ...). This does not effect the threshold for your GPP production in any way. The same is true for great people generated by other civs: They won't effect your threshold either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Sources for GPPs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Normally, a city won't produce any GPPs on its own. There are two sources to produce GPPs, specialists and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialists produce +3 GPPs per turn, except the citizen specialist which will produce none. Great wonders generally produce +2 GPPs per turn, and small wonders +1 GPP per turn. Once a wonder becomes obsolete, it will no longer produce any GPPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These GPPs per turn can be further boosted by "+x% birth rate" enhancers. The most obvious one is if you play a philosophical leader, which provides +100% birth rate for all cities. Then there's the Pacifism civic that comes with Philosophy, which adds +100% birth rate for all cities as well. Finally, there are some wonders that provide a similar bonus, like the Parthenon (+50% birth rate for all cities) and the National Epic (+100% birth rate for the city it was built in only). Note that these boni are additive, so if you are a Philosophical leader, have adopted Pacifism and have the Parthenon, you will get +250% GPP production in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Odds to Get a Specific Type of Great Person[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are five types of great persons: Engineers, merchants, scientists, prophets, and artists. The odds of which type of great person will be generated once one of your cities has produced enough GPPs, depends on which types of sources contributed to the GPP pool of that city. The odds can be displayed by mousing over the GPP bar in the lower right corner of the city screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each type of specialist counts as one source for the respective great person type, and each wonder has noted in its description which type of source it is. For example, the Great Library counts as a source for great scientists, while the Parthenon counts as a source for great artists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have produced only one type of GPPs in your city once it has reached the threshold, then you are guaranteed to get a great person of that type. For example, if your city has the Parthenon (source for great artists) and you had hired an artist specialist to increase GPP production, you will be guaranteed to get a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have different types of GPP sources, it gets a little more complicated. For each turn, the game notes what types of sources had produced GPPs in the city (regardless of how many GPPs each source had contributed!). This determines the odds of which type of great person would be produced [BOLD]for that turn[\BOLD]. The overall odds are the average values of all the turns since the last great person was generated in that city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that difference: The number of [BOLD]GPPs[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]when[\BOLD] a great person will be generated, and the number of [BOLD]sources[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]what[\BOLD] type it will be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Examples:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Parthenon (great artist source) and a priest specialist (great prophet source) in the city the whole time. Your chances will be 50% to get a great artist and 50% to get a great prophet. Note that it's irrelevant that the Parthenon produced only 2 GPPs while the priest produced 3 GPPs per turn; they both count as one source.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* A city has the Great Library (great scientist source), an engineer, and an artist specialist, plus the two free scientist specialists from the Great Library. So you have 5 sources (one wonder and four specialists). This will give you a 3/5 = 60% chance of getting a great scientist, a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Pyramids (great engineer source) in a city. One turn before the city reaches the threshold to produce a great person, you hire a scientist. What happens? Well, the game remembers that for every turn but the last, the great engineer source had been the only source of GPPs, and that only on the last turn there had been a different source present. So it is a 100% chance of getting a great engineer during all turns but the last, and a 50%/50% chance for the last turn. Since it averages the odds over all the turns, you will have a 99% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1% chance of getting a great scientist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* Assuming normal game speed, no great person generated yet: You hire a priest specialist for 22 turns. Then you fire him, and hire two scientist specialists for 11 turns. Intuitively, one would assume that because you had 22*1=22 sources for a great prophet and 11*2=22 sources for a great scientist, this would give you a 50%/50% chance. But because the game averages over turns, the odds will be 22/33 = 67% for a great prophet and 11/33=33% for a great scientist instead, because you had 22 turns with only great prophet sources and 11 turns with only great scientist sources.[NEWLINE](Thanks to Roland Johansen for suggesting this!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the threshold is reached and a great person is generated, the city "forgets" which types of sources there had been before and starts anew. So if you hire a scientist to produce a great scientist, and after generating that great scientist remove the scientist specialist and hire a priest instead, you will have a 100% chance of getting a great prophet as the next great person, since the city will have forgotten that there had been a great scientist source in the city during the previous cycle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have comments, questions, or found any mistakes, feel free to comment!</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Great People Points Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There seems to be a lot of confusion about great people, how they are generated and the odds involved, so I thought I'd try to explain that a bit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Generating Great People[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Great people are generated by accumulating great people points (GPPs) in your cities. Every city has its own counter that keeps track of how many GPPs have been produced in that city already, which can be seen in the lower right corner of the city screen. Once a city has reached a specific threshold, a great person will be generated, and the GPP counter of that city will be reset to zero. This threshold is a civ-wide one, and will increase each time a great person is born so that the next one will be harder to get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For normal game speed, you need 100 GPPs in one of your cities to generate your first great person. From then on, every great person thereafter will cost you an additional 100 GPPs until 1000, then the threshold will be increased by 200 for every great person, making it even harder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So you need 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, then 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, ... GPPs to generate a new great person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Epic game speed, you need 150% of the required GPPs, so it's 150, 300, 450, 600, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For Quick game speed, you need only 67% of the required GPPs, so it's 67, 134, 201, ...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note again that the threshold is civ-wide and the same for all cities, while the GPP counter is individual for each city. For example, you have city A with 80 GPPs and +2 GPPs per turn, and another city B at 99 GPPs and +3 GPPs per turn. So city B will reach the threshold of 100 GPPs next turn. This will produce your first great person, and sets the GPP counter of city B back to 2 (2 excess GPPs are carried over). Additionally, the new threshold for producing a great person is set to 200, so city A, now at 82 GPPs +2 GPPs per turn, will need much longer than before to produce a great person![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For the question whether it's better to concentrate all your GPP production in one city, or spread it over multiple cities, see an article by Vol here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=142704.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that you will also receive specific great persons if you are the first to discover certain techs (Music, Economics, Physics, ...). This does not effect the threshold for your GPP production in any way. The same is true for great people generated by other civs: They won't effect your threshold either.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Sources for GPPs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Normally, a city won't produce any GPPs on its own. There are two sources to produce GPPs, specialists and wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialists produce +3 GPPs per turn, except the citizen specialist which will produce none. Great wonders generally produce +2 GPPs per turn, and small wonders +1 GPP per turn. Once a wonder becomes obsolete, it will no longer produce any GPPs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These GPPs per turn can be further boosted by "+x% birth rate" enhancers. The most obvious one is if you play a philosophical leader, which provides +100% birth rate for all cities. Then there's the Pacifism civic that comes with Philosophy, which adds +100% birth rate for all cities as well. Finally, there are some wonders that provide a similar bonus, like the Parthenon (+50% birth rate for all cities) and the National Epic (+100% birth rate for the city it was built in only). Note that these boni are additive, so if you are a Philosophical leader, have adopted Pacifism and have the Parthenon, you will get +250% GPP production in all cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. Odds to Get a Specific Type of Great Person[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are five types of great persons: Engineers, merchants, scientists, prophets, and artists. The odds of which type of great person will be generated once one of your cities has produced enough GPPs, depends on which types of sources contributed to the GPP pool of that city. The odds can be displayed by mousing over the GPP bar in the lower right corner of the city screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each type of specialist counts as one source for the respective great person type, and each wonder has noted in its description which type of source it is. For example, the Great Library counts as a source for great scientists, while the Parthenon counts as a source for great artists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have produced only one type of GPPs in your city once it has reached the threshold, then you are guaranteed to get a great person of that type. For example, if your city has the Parthenon (source for great artists) and you had hired an artist specialist to increase GPP production, you will be guaranteed to get a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have different types of GPP sources, it gets a little more complicated. For each turn, the game notes what types of sources had produced GPPs in the city (regardless of how many GPPs each source had contributed!). This determines the odds of which type of great person would be produced [BOLD]for that turn[\BOLD]. The overall odds are the average values of all the turns since the last great person was generated in that city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that difference: The number of [BOLD]GPPs[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]when[\BOLD] a great person will be generated, and the number of [BOLD]sources[\BOLD] will determine [BOLD]what[\BOLD] type it will be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Examples:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Parthenon (great artist source) and a priest specialist (great prophet source) in the city the whole time. Your chances will be 50% to get a great artist and 50% to get a great prophet. Note that it's irrelevant that the Parthenon produced only 2 GPPs while the priest produced 3 GPPs per turn; they both count as one source.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* A city has the Great Library (great scientist source), an engineer, and an artist specialist, plus the two free scientist specialists from the Great Library. So you have 5 sources (one wonder and four specialists). This will give you a 3/5 = 60% chance of getting a great scientist, a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1/5 = 20% chance of getting a great artist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* You have the Pyramids (great engineer source) in a city. One turn before the city reaches the threshold to produce a great person, you hire a scientist. What happens? Well, the game remembers that for every turn but the last, the great engineer source had been the only source of GPPs, and that only on the last turn there had been a different source present. So it is a 100% chance of getting a great engineer during all turns but the last, and a 50%/50% chance for the last turn. Since it averages the odds over all the turns, you will have a 99% chance of getting a great engineer, and a 1% chance of getting a great scientist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]* Assuming normal game speed, no great person generated yet: You hire a priest specialist for 22 turns. Then you fire him, and hire two scientist specialists for 11 turns. Intuitively, one would assume that because you had 22*1=22 sources for a great prophet and 11*2=22 sources for a great scientist, this would give you a 50%/50% chance. But because the game averages over turns, the odds will be 22/33 = 67% for a great prophet and 11/33=33% for a great scientist instead, because you had 22 turns with only great prophet sources and 11 turns with only great scientist sources.[NEWLINE](Thanks to Roland Johansen for suggesting this!)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once the threshold is reached and a great person is generated, the city "forgets" which types of sources there had been before and starts anew. So if you hire a scientist to produce a great scientist, and after generating that great scientist remove the scientist specialist and hire a priest instead, you will have a 100% chance of getting a great prophet as the next great person, since the city will have forgotten that there had been a great scientist source in the city during the previous cycle.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have comments, questions, or found any mistakes, feel free to comment!</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_GP_FARMS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Great People Points: Focus in One City, or Distribute Across Many?[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While playing some recent games, I became curious about whether or not it mattered if I concentrated all of my Great People Point production in one city or not. Assume that you have a finite number of points you can generate across your empire, you can either focus all of them (specialists and wonders) in one city, or across a few cities (say your three best cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the points required to generate a Great Person were constant (always 100), this would not be an issue. In the long run, the points would always generate the same number of great leaders. However, the points required is not constant. [ITALIC]Each Great Person costs 100 more Great People points to generate than the last.[\ITALIC][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I'm sure we've all seen, cities with a single specialist (+3 GPP/turn) steadily accumulate points, however the capital may be generating many Great People in the meantime, and thus raising the bar, [BOLD]faster than the smaller city can catch up[\BOLD]. Basically, any city that cannot produce 100 Great People Points in the time it takes for the biggest cities to generate another Great Person [BOLD]will never produce one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So I built a simple simulator, so I could explore the dynamics. These are the assumptions/parameters I used:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Three cities, with a finite number of Great People Points distributed across them. For simplicity, I chose 30 Great People Points to distribute.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I defined a parameter, [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], which describes the distribution of those points. Basically, its the ratio of the the points in one city to the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For example:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1, the cities have 10, 10, 10.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 2, the cities have 15, 7.5, 7.5.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 3, the cities have 18, 6, 6.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10, the cities have 25, 2.5, 2.5.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches infinity, the cities have 30, 0, 0.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is larger, you have one city that has much more Great People Points production than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.5, the cities have 6, 12, 12.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.1, the cities have 1.428, 14.28, 14.28.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches 0, the cities have 0, 15, 15.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is smaller, you have one city that has fewer Great People Points than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- I ran the simulation and measured the number of turns required to generate 20 Great People, and then normalized the data about [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is the result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note the use of a logarithmic x-axis, and the y-axis is zoomed in. Lower is better, as this denotes fewer turns required to generate the same number of Great People.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some observations to make:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No distribution of Great People Points can help you or harm you by more than about 8%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The sporadic behavior is caused by cases where cities are unable to "catch-up" to the increasing point total required to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At around [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &lt; 0.2, the city with less Great People points is never able to generate a Great Person, as the required total number of points increases faster than the city can accumulate points. Thus, beyond this point, it is better to use those Great People Points to speed up the other cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At round [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &gt; 10, the same thing happens in reverse. The other two cities are now never able to generate a Great Person since the primary city is outpacing them and moving the required total faster than they can generate points. At this point, it is better to focus on the one city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Both extremes approach asymptotic limits[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]There is a [BOLD]dangerous[\BOLD] break-point near [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10 where the primary city gains one more Great People Point and now the required total points is outpacing the other cities, reducing Civ-wide Great People production by 16%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This case assumed that there were no boosts to Great People Point production. Most boosts are empire-wide (Parthenon, Philosophical, Pacificist), and thus the [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] value is unchanged (all numbers get bigger, but the ratios stay the same, you have 60 points to distribute instead of 30).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]However, the National Epic boosts Great People Points by 100% in just one city.[\BOLD] Let's see how that impacts the distribution of points:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution_National_Epic.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We basically see the exact same behavior, but it has been "tilted" and moved to the left by 2x with the impact of the National Epic's 100% multiplier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Now we see some more interesting, and expected, behavior:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The total difference in points (from having no Great People Points in the city with the National Epic, to having all Great People Points in a city with the National Epic) is a factor of 2 (60% to 120%).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Individual break-points relating to cities being unable to catch up to the pace still has an effect of about 10%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Focusing all of your Great People Points in one city is the way to go[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The big jump-point where no other city can produce a Great Person due to the run-away primary city now occurs at [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 4. That is, the primary city is generating 20 points (40 with National Epic), and the other two cities are generating 5 points. It takes 2.5 turns to generate 100 points for the primary city, and 20 turns to generate 100 points for the other cities at that point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]In summary[\BOLD], in the reasonable range of [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], there is a potential to increase your Great People production by 20% to 30% if you focus your Specialists and Wonders in one city with the National Epic. Other cities will be able to produce Great People, up until a point. If you get many Wonders and Specialists in your National Epic city, you may gain [BOLD]no Great People[\BOLD] from having a single specialist or wonder in another city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]As with most other game systems in Civ4, its all about specialization.[\BOLD] Having jack-of-all-trades cities is [ITALIC]significantly less efficient[\ITALIC].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little more detail on cities trying to catch-up to a pace-setting primary city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example off of the National Epic curve, where d = 5.25 and within the scope of a game, the other cities are never able to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, the required number of points goes with the square root of turns, while the accumulated points for any city goes linearly with turns, so there is [ITALIC]always[\ITALIC] [BOLD]some point in time[\BOLD] where a city [BOLD]will[\BOLD] generate a Great Person. Its just that with a sufficiently fast primary city, this point in time may exceed the 400 turn limit of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example of d = 2.0 (primary city has 15 points [30 with National Epic], the two secondary cities have 7.5 points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline_d21.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we see that the secondary cities produce 4 Great People, and the primary city produces 16 Great People. Even this relatively slight difference in raw Great People Point production (15 vs. 7.5) has a large effect.</English>
		<French>[H1]Great People Points: Focus in One City, or Distribute Across Many?[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While playing some recent games, I became curious about whether or not it mattered if I concentrated all of my Great People Point production in one city or not. Assume that you have a finite number of points you can generate across your empire, you can either focus all of them (specialists and wonders) in one city, or across a few cities (say your three best cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the points required to generate a Great Person were constant (always 100), this would not be an issue. In the long run, the points would always generate the same number of great leaders. However, the points required is not constant. [ITALIC]Each Great Person costs 100 more Great People points to generate than the last.[\ITALIC][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I'm sure we've all seen, cities with a single specialist (+3 GPP/turn) steadily accumulate points, however the capital may be generating many Great People in the meantime, and thus raising the bar, [BOLD]faster than the smaller city can catch up[\BOLD]. Basically, any city that cannot produce 100 Great People Points in the time it takes for the biggest cities to generate another Great Person [BOLD]will never produce one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So I built a simple simulator, so I could explore the dynamics. These are the assumptions/parameters I used:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Three cities, with a finite number of Great People Points distributed across them. For simplicity, I chose 30 Great People Points to distribute.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I defined a parameter, [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], which describes the distribution of those points. Basically, its the ratio of the the points in one city to the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For example:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1, the cities have 10, 10, 10.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 2, the cities have 15, 7.5, 7.5.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 3, the cities have 18, 6, 6.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10, the cities have 25, 2.5, 2.5.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches infinity, the cities have 30, 0, 0.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is larger, you have one city that has much more Great People Points production than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.5, the cities have 6, 12, 12.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.1, the cities have 1.428, 14.28, 14.28.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches 0, the cities have 0, 15, 15.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is smaller, you have one city that has fewer Great People Points than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- I ran the simulation and measured the number of turns required to generate 20 Great People, and then normalized the data about [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is the result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note the use of a logarithmic x-axis, and the y-axis is zoomed in. Lower is better, as this denotes fewer turns required to generate the same number of Great People.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some observations to make:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No distribution of Great People Points can help you or harm you by more than about 8%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The sporadic behavior is caused by cases where cities are unable to "catch-up" to the increasing point total required to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At around [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &lt; 0.2, the city with less Great People points is never able to generate a Great Person, as the required total number of points increases faster than the city can accumulate points. Thus, beyond this point, it is better to use those Great People Points to speed up the other cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At round [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &gt; 10, the same thing happens in reverse. The other two cities are now never able to generate a Great Person since the primary city is outpacing them and moving the required total faster than they can generate points. At this point, it is better to focus on the one city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Both extremes approach asymptotic limits[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]There is a [BOLD]dangerous[\BOLD] break-point near [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10 where the primary city gains one more Great People Point and now the required total points is outpacing the other cities, reducing Civ-wide Great People production by 16%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This case assumed that there were no boosts to Great People Point production. Most boosts are empire-wide (Parthenon, Philosophical, Pacificist), and thus the [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] value is unchanged (all numbers get bigger, but the ratios stay the same, you have 60 points to distribute instead of 30).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]However, the National Epic boosts Great People Points by 100% in just one city.[\BOLD] Let's see how that impacts the distribution of points:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution_National_Epic.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We basically see the exact same behavior, but it has been "tilted" and moved to the left by 2x with the impact of the National Epic's 100% multiplier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Now we see some more interesting, and expected, behavior:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The total difference in points (from having no Great People Points in the city with the National Epic, to having all Great People Points in a city with the National Epic) is a factor of 2 (60% to 120%).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Individual break-points relating to cities being unable to catch up to the pace still has an effect of about 10%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Focusing all of your Great People Points in one city is the way to go[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The big jump-point where no other city can produce a Great Person due to the run-away primary city now occurs at [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 4. That is, the primary city is generating 20 points (40 with National Epic), and the other two cities are generating 5 points. It takes 2.5 turns to generate 100 points for the primary city, and 20 turns to generate 100 points for the other cities at that point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]In summary[\BOLD], in the reasonable range of [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], there is a potential to increase your Great People production by 20% to 30% if you focus your Specialists and Wonders in one city with the National Epic. Other cities will be able to produce Great People, up until a point. If you get many Wonders and Specialists in your National Epic city, you may gain [BOLD]no Great People[\BOLD] from having a single specialist or wonder in another city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]As with most other game systems in Civ4, its all about specialization.[\BOLD] Having jack-of-all-trades cities is [ITALIC]significantly less efficient[\ITALIC].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little more detail on cities trying to catch-up to a pace-setting primary city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example off of the National Epic curve, where d = 5.25 and within the scope of a game, the other cities are never able to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, the required number of points goes with the square root of turns, while the accumulated points for any city goes linearly with turns, so there is [ITALIC]always[\ITALIC] [BOLD]some point in time[\BOLD] where a city [BOLD]will[\BOLD] generate a Great Person. Its just that with a sufficiently fast primary city, this point in time may exceed the 400 turn limit of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example of d = 2.0 (primary city has 15 points [30 with National Epic], the two secondary cities have 7.5 points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline_d21.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we see that the secondary cities produce 4 Great People, and the primary city produces 16 Great People. Even this relatively slight difference in raw Great People Point production (15 vs. 7.5) has a large effect.</French>
		<German>[H1]Great People Points: Focus in One City, or Distribute Across Many?[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While playing some recent games, I became curious about whether or not it mattered if I concentrated all of my Great People Point production in one city or not. Assume that you have a finite number of points you can generate across your empire, you can either focus all of them (specialists and wonders) in one city, or across a few cities (say your three best cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the points required to generate a Great Person were constant (always 100), this would not be an issue. In the long run, the points would always generate the same number of great leaders. However, the points required is not constant. [ITALIC]Each Great Person costs 100 more Great People points to generate than the last.[\ITALIC][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I'm sure we've all seen, cities with a single specialist (+3 GPP/turn) steadily accumulate points, however the capital may be generating many Great People in the meantime, and thus raising the bar, [BOLD]faster than the smaller city can catch up[\BOLD]. Basically, any city that cannot produce 100 Great People Points in the time it takes for the biggest cities to generate another Great Person [BOLD]will never produce one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So I built a simple simulator, so I could explore the dynamics. These are the assumptions/parameters I used:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Three cities, with a finite number of Great People Points distributed across them. For simplicity, I chose 30 Great People Points to distribute.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I defined a parameter, [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], which describes the distribution of those points. Basically, its the ratio of the the points in one city to the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For example:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1, the cities have 10, 10, 10.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 2, the cities have 15, 7.5, 7.5.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 3, the cities have 18, 6, 6.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10, the cities have 25, 2.5, 2.5.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches infinity, the cities have 30, 0, 0.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is larger, you have one city that has much more Great People Points production than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.5, the cities have 6, 12, 12.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.1, the cities have 1.428, 14.28, 14.28.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches 0, the cities have 0, 15, 15.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is smaller, you have one city that has fewer Great People Points than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- I ran the simulation and measured the number of turns required to generate 20 Great People, and then normalized the data about [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is the result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note the use of a logarithmic x-axis, and the y-axis is zoomed in. Lower is better, as this denotes fewer turns required to generate the same number of Great People.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some observations to make:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No distribution of Great People Points can help you or harm you by more than about 8%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The sporadic behavior is caused by cases where cities are unable to "catch-up" to the increasing point total required to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At around [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &lt; 0.2, the city with less Great People points is never able to generate a Great Person, as the required total number of points increases faster than the city can accumulate points. Thus, beyond this point, it is better to use those Great People Points to speed up the other cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At round [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &gt; 10, the same thing happens in reverse. The other two cities are now never able to generate a Great Person since the primary city is outpacing them and moving the required total faster than they can generate points. At this point, it is better to focus on the one city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Both extremes approach asymptotic limits[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]There is a [BOLD]dangerous[\BOLD] break-point near [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10 where the primary city gains one more Great People Point and now the required total points is outpacing the other cities, reducing Civ-wide Great People production by 16%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This case assumed that there were no boosts to Great People Point production. Most boosts are empire-wide (Parthenon, Philosophical, Pacificist), and thus the [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] value is unchanged (all numbers get bigger, but the ratios stay the same, you have 60 points to distribute instead of 30).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]However, the National Epic boosts Great People Points by 100% in just one city.[\BOLD] Let's see how that impacts the distribution of points:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution_National_Epic.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We basically see the exact same behavior, but it has been "tilted" and moved to the left by 2x with the impact of the National Epic's 100% multiplier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Now we see some more interesting, and expected, behavior:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The total difference in points (from having no Great People Points in the city with the National Epic, to having all Great People Points in a city with the National Epic) is a factor of 2 (60% to 120%).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Individual break-points relating to cities being unable to catch up to the pace still has an effect of about 10%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Focusing all of your Great People Points in one city is the way to go[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The big jump-point where no other city can produce a Great Person due to the run-away primary city now occurs at [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 4. That is, the primary city is generating 20 points (40 with National Epic), and the other two cities are generating 5 points. It takes 2.5 turns to generate 100 points for the primary city, and 20 turns to generate 100 points for the other cities at that point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]In summary[\BOLD], in the reasonable range of [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], there is a potential to increase your Great People production by 20% to 30% if you focus your Specialists and Wonders in one city with the National Epic. Other cities will be able to produce Great People, up until a point. If you get many Wonders and Specialists in your National Epic city, you may gain [BOLD]no Great People[\BOLD] from having a single specialist or wonder in another city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]As with most other game systems in Civ4, its all about specialization.[\BOLD] Having jack-of-all-trades cities is [ITALIC]significantly less efficient[\ITALIC].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little more detail on cities trying to catch-up to a pace-setting primary city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example off of the National Epic curve, where d = 5.25 and within the scope of a game, the other cities are never able to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, the required number of points goes with the square root of turns, while the accumulated points for any city goes linearly with turns, so there is [ITALIC]always[\ITALIC] [BOLD]some point in time[\BOLD] where a city [BOLD]will[\BOLD] generate a Great Person. Its just that with a sufficiently fast primary city, this point in time may exceed the 400 turn limit of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example of d = 2.0 (primary city has 15 points [30 with National Epic], the two secondary cities have 7.5 points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline_d21.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we see that the secondary cities produce 4 Great People, and the primary city produces 16 Great People. Even this relatively slight difference in raw Great People Point production (15 vs. 7.5) has a large effect.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Great People Points: Focus in One City, or Distribute Across Many?[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While playing some recent games, I became curious about whether or not it mattered if I concentrated all of my Great People Point production in one city or not. Assume that you have a finite number of points you can generate across your empire, you can either focus all of them (specialists and wonders) in one city, or across a few cities (say your three best cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the points required to generate a Great Person were constant (always 100), this would not be an issue. In the long run, the points would always generate the same number of great leaders. However, the points required is not constant. [ITALIC]Each Great Person costs 100 more Great People points to generate than the last.[\ITALIC][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I'm sure we've all seen, cities with a single specialist (+3 GPP/turn) steadily accumulate points, however the capital may be generating many Great People in the meantime, and thus raising the bar, [BOLD]faster than the smaller city can catch up[\BOLD]. Basically, any city that cannot produce 100 Great People Points in the time it takes for the biggest cities to generate another Great Person [BOLD]will never produce one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So I built a simple simulator, so I could explore the dynamics. These are the assumptions/parameters I used:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Three cities, with a finite number of Great People Points distributed across them. For simplicity, I chose 30 Great People Points to distribute.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I defined a parameter, [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], which describes the distribution of those points. Basically, its the ratio of the the points in one city to the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For example:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1, the cities have 10, 10, 10.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 2, the cities have 15, 7.5, 7.5.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 3, the cities have 18, 6, 6.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10, the cities have 25, 2.5, 2.5.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches infinity, the cities have 30, 0, 0.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is larger, you have one city that has much more Great People Points production than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.5, the cities have 6, 12, 12.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.1, the cities have 1.428, 14.28, 14.28.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches 0, the cities have 0, 15, 15.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is smaller, you have one city that has fewer Great People Points than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- I ran the simulation and measured the number of turns required to generate 20 Great People, and then normalized the data about [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is the result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note the use of a logarithmic x-axis, and the y-axis is zoomed in. Lower is better, as this denotes fewer turns required to generate the same number of Great People.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some observations to make:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No distribution of Great People Points can help you or harm you by more than about 8%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The sporadic behavior is caused by cases where cities are unable to "catch-up" to the increasing point total required to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At around [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &lt; 0.2, the city with less Great People points is never able to generate a Great Person, as the required total number of points increases faster than the city can accumulate points. Thus, beyond this point, it is better to use those Great People Points to speed up the other cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At round [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &gt; 10, the same thing happens in reverse. The other two cities are now never able to generate a Great Person since the primary city is outpacing them and moving the required total faster than they can generate points. At this point, it is better to focus on the one city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Both extremes approach asymptotic limits[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]There is a [BOLD]dangerous[\BOLD] break-point near [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10 where the primary city gains one more Great People Point and now the required total points is outpacing the other cities, reducing Civ-wide Great People production by 16%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This case assumed that there were no boosts to Great People Point production. Most boosts are empire-wide (Parthenon, Philosophical, Pacificist), and thus the [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] value is unchanged (all numbers get bigger, but the ratios stay the same, you have 60 points to distribute instead of 30).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]However, the National Epic boosts Great People Points by 100% in just one city.[\BOLD] Let's see how that impacts the distribution of points:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution_National_Epic.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We basically see the exact same behavior, but it has been "tilted" and moved to the left by 2x with the impact of the National Epic's 100% multiplier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Now we see some more interesting, and expected, behavior:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The total difference in points (from having no Great People Points in the city with the National Epic, to having all Great People Points in a city with the National Epic) is a factor of 2 (60% to 120%).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Individual break-points relating to cities being unable to catch up to the pace still has an effect of about 10%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Focusing all of your Great People Points in one city is the way to go[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The big jump-point where no other city can produce a Great Person due to the run-away primary city now occurs at [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 4. That is, the primary city is generating 20 points (40 with National Epic), and the other two cities are generating 5 points. It takes 2.5 turns to generate 100 points for the primary city, and 20 turns to generate 100 points for the other cities at that point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]In summary[\BOLD], in the reasonable range of [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], there is a potential to increase your Great People production by 20% to 30% if you focus your Specialists and Wonders in one city with the National Epic. Other cities will be able to produce Great People, up until a point. If you get many Wonders and Specialists in your National Epic city, you may gain [BOLD]no Great People[\BOLD] from having a single specialist or wonder in another city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]As with most other game systems in Civ4, its all about specialization.[\BOLD] Having jack-of-all-trades cities is [ITALIC]significantly less efficient[\ITALIC].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little more detail on cities trying to catch-up to a pace-setting primary city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example off of the National Epic curve, where d = 5.25 and within the scope of a game, the other cities are never able to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, the required number of points goes with the square root of turns, while the accumulated points for any city goes linearly with turns, so there is [ITALIC]always[\ITALIC] [BOLD]some point in time[\BOLD] where a city [BOLD]will[\BOLD] generate a Great Person. Its just that with a sufficiently fast primary city, this point in time may exceed the 400 turn limit of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example of d = 2.0 (primary city has 15 points [30 with National Epic], the two secondary cities have 7.5 points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline_d21.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we see that the secondary cities produce 4 Great People, and the primary city produces 16 Great People. Even this relatively slight difference in raw Great People Point production (15 vs. 7.5) has a large effect.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Great People Points: Focus in One City, or Distribute Across Many?[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Vol[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While playing some recent games, I became curious about whether or not it mattered if I concentrated all of my Great People Point production in one city or not. Assume that you have a finite number of points you can generate across your empire, you can either focus all of them (specialists and wonders) in one city, or across a few cities (say your three best cities).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the points required to generate a Great Person were constant (always 100), this would not be an issue. In the long run, the points would always generate the same number of great leaders. However, the points required is not constant. [ITALIC]Each Great Person costs 100 more Great People points to generate than the last.[\ITALIC][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As I'm sure we've all seen, cities with a single specialist (+3 GPP/turn) steadily accumulate points, however the capital may be generating many Great People in the meantime, and thus raising the bar, [BOLD]faster than the smaller city can catch up[\BOLD]. Basically, any city that cannot produce 100 Great People Points in the time it takes for the biggest cities to generate another Great Person [BOLD]will never produce one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So I built a simple simulator, so I could explore the dynamics. These are the assumptions/parameters I used:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Three cities, with a finite number of Great People Points distributed across them. For simplicity, I chose 30 Great People Points to distribute.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I defined a parameter, [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], which describes the distribution of those points. Basically, its the ratio of the the points in one city to the others.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For example:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1, the cities have 10, 10, 10.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 2, the cities have 15, 7.5, 7.5.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 3, the cities have 18, 6, 6.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10, the cities have 25, 2.5, 2.5.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches infinity, the cities have 30, 0, 0.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is larger, you have one city that has much more Great People Points production than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.5, the cities have 6, 12, 12.[NEWLINE]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 0.1, the cities have 1.428, 14.28, 14.28.[NEWLINE]As [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] approaches 0, the cities have 0, 15, 15.[NEWLINE][BOLD]If [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] is smaller, you have one city that has fewer Great People Points than the other cities.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]- I ran the simulation and measured the number of turns required to generate 20 Great People, and then normalized the data about [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is the result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Please note the use of a logarithmic x-axis, and the y-axis is zoomed in. Lower is better, as this denotes fewer turns required to generate the same number of Great People.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Some observations to make:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]No distribution of Great People Points can help you or harm you by more than about 8%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The sporadic behavior is caused by cases where cities are unable to "catch-up" to the increasing point total required to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At around [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &lt; 0.2, the city with less Great People points is never able to generate a Great Person, as the required total number of points increases faster than the city can accumulate points. Thus, beyond this point, it is better to use those Great People Points to speed up the other cities.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]At round [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] &gt; 10, the same thing happens in reverse. The other two cities are now never able to generate a Great Person since the primary city is outpacing them and moving the required total faster than they can generate points. At this point, it is better to focus on the one city.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Both extremes approach asymptotic limits[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]There is a [BOLD]dangerous[\BOLD] break-point near [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 10 where the primary city gains one more Great People Point and now the required total points is outpacing the other cities, reducing Civ-wide Great People production by 16%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This case assumed that there were no boosts to Great People Point production. Most boosts are empire-wide (Parthenon, Philosophical, Pacificist), and thus the [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] value is unchanged (all numbers get bigger, but the ratios stay the same, you have 60 points to distribute instead of 30).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]However, the National Epic boosts Great People Points by 100% in just one city.[\BOLD] Let's see how that impacts the distribution of points:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Distribution_National_Epic.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]We basically see the exact same behavior, but it has been "tilted" and moved to the left by 2x with the impact of the National Epic's 100% multiplier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Now we see some more interesting, and expected, behavior:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The total difference in points (from having no Great People Points in the city with the National Epic, to having all Great People Points in a city with the National Epic) is a factor of 2 (60% to 120%).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Individual break-points relating to cities being unable to catch up to the pace still has an effect of about 10%.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Focusing all of your Great People Points in one city is the way to go[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The big jump-point where no other city can produce a Great Person due to the run-away primary city now occurs at [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC] = 4. That is, the primary city is generating 20 points (40 with National Epic), and the other two cities are generating 5 points. It takes 2.5 turns to generate 100 points for the primary city, and 20 turns to generate 100 points for the other cities at that point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]In summary[\BOLD], in the reasonable range of [ITALIC]d[\ITALIC], there is a potential to increase your Great People production by 20% to 30% if you focus your Specialists and Wonders in one city with the National Epic. Other cities will be able to produce Great People, up until a point. If you get many Wonders and Specialists in your National Epic city, you may gain [BOLD]no Great People[\BOLD] from having a single specialist or wonder in another city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]As with most other game systems in Civ4, its all about specialization.[\BOLD] Having jack-of-all-trades cities is [ITALIC]significantly less efficient[\ITALIC].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little more detail on cities trying to catch-up to a pace-setting primary city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example off of the National Epic curve, where d = 5.25 and within the scope of a game, the other cities are never able to generate a Great Person.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, the required number of points goes with the square root of turns, while the accumulated points for any city goes linearly with turns, so there is [ITALIC]always[\ITALIC] [BOLD]some point in time[\BOLD] where a city [BOLD]will[\BOLD] generate a Great Person. Its just that with a sufficiently fast primary city, this point in time may exceed the 400 turn limit of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here's an example of d = 2.0 (primary city has 15 points [30 with National Epic], the two secondary cities have 7.5 points).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chart: http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ4/strategy/Great_People_Points_Timeline_d21.jpg (Open in external web browser)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here we see that the secondary cities produce 4 Great People, and the primary city produces 16 Great People. Even this relatively slight difference in raw Great People Point production (15 vs. 7.5) has a large effect.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRADE_ROUTES_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Trade Routes[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The basic Formula for the value of a Trade route seems to be[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][(1+F)*(5*(Pop-10))+100+Cap)* (Minimum ([T*50%], [D*70%]))*20%/100][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]F is 150% (1.5) if it is a Foreign Trade Route, 0 if domestic[NEWLINE]Pop is the Pop of the city Getting the trade route[NEWLINE]T is the Pop of the City the Trade Route is With[NEWLINE]D is the Distance to the City[NEWLINE]Cap is 25 if one of the cities is a Capital, 0 if not[NEWLINE][] indicates rounding down[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is for Overland routes, no Harbors, Tiny map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 69% for distance is Probably specific to Tiny maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All the numbers (150% for Foreign, 5* population, -10 population adjustment, 25 for Capital, 50% for partner pop, etc. except the 1 and the 100 are in the XML files)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this indicates is that on a normal map, once your empire is big enough, and the populations are about 20, then Domestic trade routes can make about 3 commerce, 2 quite easily. Foreign Trade Routes can get to 7 or 8 and don't require your empire to be big just to have sufficiently Distant and large-citied trade Partners.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]edited from further analysis results[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Checked World info for the other sizes too,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]so for[NEWLINE]Duel is 80%[NEWLINE]Tiny 70% (I discovered I made a distance measuring mistake in my 69% calc, Credit to Roland: I would have missed that)[NEWLINE]Small 60%[NEWLINE]Standard 50%[NEWLINE]Large 40%[NEWLINE]Huge 30%</English>
		<French>[H1]Trade Routes[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The basic Formula for the value of a Trade route seems to be[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][(1+F)*(5*(Pop-10))+100+Cap)* (Minimum ([T*50%], [D*70%]))*20%/100][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]F is 150% (1.5) if it is a Foreign Trade Route, 0 if domestic[NEWLINE]Pop is the Pop of the city Getting the trade route[NEWLINE]T is the Pop of the City the Trade Route is With[NEWLINE]D is the Distance to the City[NEWLINE]Cap is 25 if one of the cities is a Capital, 0 if not[NEWLINE][] indicates rounding down[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is for Overland routes, no Harbors, Tiny map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 69% for distance is Probably specific to Tiny maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All the numbers (150% for Foreign, 5* population, -10 population adjustment, 25 for Capital, 50% for partner pop, etc. except the 1 and the 100 are in the XML files)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this indicates is that on a normal map, once your empire is big enough, and the populations are about 20, then Domestic trade routes can make about 3 commerce, 2 quite easily. Foreign Trade Routes can get to 7 or 8 and don't require your empire to be big just to have sufficiently Distant and large-citied trade Partners.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]edited from further analysis results[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Checked World info for the other sizes too,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]so for[NEWLINE]Duel is 80%[NEWLINE]Tiny 70% (I discovered I made a distance measuring mistake in my 69% calc, Credit to Roland: I would have missed that)[NEWLINE]Small 60%[NEWLINE]Standard 50%[NEWLINE]Large 40%[NEWLINE]Huge 30%</French>
		<German>[H1]Trade Routes[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The basic Formula for the value of a Trade route seems to be[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][(1+F)*(5*(Pop-10))+100+Cap)* (Minimum ([T*50%], [D*70%]))*20%/100][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]F is 150% (1.5) if it is a Foreign Trade Route, 0 if domestic[NEWLINE]Pop is the Pop of the city Getting the trade route[NEWLINE]T is the Pop of the City the Trade Route is With[NEWLINE]D is the Distance to the City[NEWLINE]Cap is 25 if one of the cities is a Capital, 0 if not[NEWLINE][] indicates rounding down[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is for Overland routes, no Harbors, Tiny map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 69% for distance is Probably specific to Tiny maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All the numbers (150% for Foreign, 5* population, -10 population adjustment, 25 for Capital, 50% for partner pop, etc. except the 1 and the 100 are in the XML files)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this indicates is that on a normal map, once your empire is big enough, and the populations are about 20, then Domestic trade routes can make about 3 commerce, 2 quite easily. Foreign Trade Routes can get to 7 or 8 and don't require your empire to be big just to have sufficiently Distant and large-citied trade Partners.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]edited from further analysis results[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Checked World info for the other sizes too,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]so for[NEWLINE]Duel is 80%[NEWLINE]Tiny 70% (I discovered I made a distance measuring mistake in my 69% calc, Credit to Roland: I would have missed that)[NEWLINE]Small 60%[NEWLINE]Standard 50%[NEWLINE]Large 40%[NEWLINE]Huge 30%</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Trade Routes[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The basic Formula for the value of a Trade route seems to be[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][(1+F)*(5*(Pop-10))+100+Cap)* (Minimum ([T*50%], [D*70%]))*20%/100][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]F is 150% (1.5) if it is a Foreign Trade Route, 0 if domestic[NEWLINE]Pop is the Pop of the city Getting the trade route[NEWLINE]T is the Pop of the City the Trade Route is With[NEWLINE]D is the Distance to the City[NEWLINE]Cap is 25 if one of the cities is a Capital, 0 if not[NEWLINE][] indicates rounding down[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is for Overland routes, no Harbors, Tiny map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 69% for distance is Probably specific to Tiny maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All the numbers (150% for Foreign, 5* population, -10 population adjustment, 25 for Capital, 50% for partner pop, etc. except the 1 and the 100 are in the XML files)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this indicates is that on a normal map, once your empire is big enough, and the populations are about 20, then Domestic trade routes can make about 3 commerce, 2 quite easily. Foreign Trade Routes can get to 7 or 8 and don't require your empire to be big just to have sufficiently Distant and large-citied trade Partners.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]edited from further analysis results[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Checked World info for the other sizes too,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]so for[NEWLINE]Duel is 80%[NEWLINE]Tiny 70% (I discovered I made a distance measuring mistake in my 69% calc, Credit to Roland: I would have missed that)[NEWLINE]Small 60%[NEWLINE]Standard 50%[NEWLINE]Large 40%[NEWLINE]Huge 30%</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Trade Routes[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]krikkitone[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The basic Formula for the value of a Trade route seems to be[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][(1+F)*(5*(Pop-10))+100+Cap)* (Minimum ([T*50%], [D*70%]))*20%/100][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]F is 150% (1.5) if it is a Foreign Trade Route, 0 if domestic[NEWLINE]Pop is the Pop of the city Getting the trade route[NEWLINE]T is the Pop of the City the Trade Route is With[NEWLINE]D is the Distance to the City[NEWLINE]Cap is 25 if one of the cities is a Capital, 0 if not[NEWLINE][] indicates rounding down[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is for Overland routes, no Harbors, Tiny map[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 69% for distance is Probably specific to Tiny maps[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All the numbers (150% for Foreign, 5* population, -10 population adjustment, 25 for Capital, 50% for partner pop, etc. except the 1 and the 100 are in the XML files)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What this indicates is that on a normal map, once your empire is big enough, and the populations are about 20, then Domestic trade routes can make about 3 commerce, 2 quite easily. Foreign Trade Routes can get to 7 or 8 and don't require your empire to be big just to have sufficiently Distant and large-citied trade Partners.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]edited from further analysis results[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Checked World info for the other sizes too,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]so for[NEWLINE]Duel is 80%[NEWLINE]Tiny 70% (I discovered I made a distance measuring mistake in my 69% calc, Credit to Roland: I would have missed that)[NEWLINE]Small 60%[NEWLINE]Standard 50%[NEWLINE]Large 40%[NEWLINE]Huge 30%</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TRADING_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Subsidies and Aggressive Trading Practices[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Hans Lemurson[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The following is a strategy for getting the most out of your GPT trades with the AI.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have you often been in annoying situations with the AI, wanting to sell off a resource, but getting only a pittance in return? Is silk [BOLD]really[\BOLD] worth only 3 GPT?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It turns out that the AI also values these resources more than they are paying, but are limited to only giving away as much GPT as they are currently making in profit. One of the most striking features of this is the fact that the AI always seems be willing to trade all of its available GPT for your goods, whether it is 1 or 5. How would you like to make 7, 9, or 12 GPT regularly [BOLD]per resource[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well now you can! All it takes is a little patience, and plenty of extra goods, and you'll be in bushiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The primary limit on an AI's GPT trading is simply the size of their positive cash-flow that turn. There is a secondary limit based on how much they like you, but you don't often hit it. In order to trade as much GPT as possible with the AI, you have to make sure that they have enough GPT to cover the transaction. How do you do this? Subsidize them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Subsidies:[\BOLD] If you gift GPT to an AI in negotiations, it will (as you might expect) raise their GPT in turn. Gift an AI GPT in small increments until their Available GPT stops increasing. You have just determined their trading limit, and they will now be willing to buy resources off you at top dollar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is an example scenario:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Suppose I was trading with the Persians, and they are listed as having 4 Available GPT.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT, and their Available-GPT rises to 6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT again, and now their Available-GPT rises to 7.[NEWLINE]Where did the money go?[NEWLINE]They are simply not willing to trade at 8 GPT; their limit is 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I now sell them Furs for 7 GPT, and now their Available-GPT is at 1.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 7 GPT, and their Available goes to 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them Rice for 7GPT, and their Available is down to 1 again.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I see that I can only sell 1 more resource to them, Silk, and so I gift them 6 GPT. Their Available is at 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them the Silk for 7 GPT, and call it a day.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are all probably noticing that throughout this entire affair, I'm only making a profit of 4 GPT while selling them 3 resources. I'm effectively giving them 2 resources for free! That is however, why it is called a [BOLD]subsidy[\BOLD]. You don't make a profit just yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Making your profit:[\BOLD] For the first 10 turns of your trading agreement, you'll be getting the short end of the stick. That now changes, because after 10 turns, you can cancel trade agreements! You are currently subsidizing the purchase of your goods at a cost of 17 GPT, but once the 10 turn limit expires, you can cancel these. Now, you are turning a nice healthy profit of 21 GPT from resource trading, not too shabby. The best part comes from the fact that you can do this [BOLD]with every civilization[\BOLD], resource sourpusses permitting. I have personally been able to break 100 GPT in trade-profits using this method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Things to watch for:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If your potential partner's Available GPT is listed as 0, they are probably in deficit spending. Don't bother trading with them, since you'll have to subsidize them out of their deficit before negotiations can even begin, and you have [BOLD]no idea[\BOLD] how much that's going to take. 5 GPT? 10? You have no way of knowing, and it will be expensive no matter what.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You [BOLD]yourself[\BOLD] need a positive cash-flow before you can gift people GPT. To be on the safe side, set your science spending to 0% before entering negotiations.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Always sell to the highest bidder. Search around for who has the highest trading limit, and choose to trade with them first. This will make sure that you get the most out of the sale of your resources. Trading limits correlate pretty strongly with the Civ's attitude towards you, so you can be making 12-15 GPT per resource from your close allies.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]As nations become friendlier with you over time, their trading limits will begin to rise. If you suspect this to be the case, you can cancel your trades and renegotiate. Their Available GPT will rise in accordance with their suddenly reduced expenses, and will still be available to you for buying your goods. If, in the Persian example, after a while the trading limit rises to 8, you renegotiate to sell them the first two resources for 8 GPT apiece, but you will probably have to subsidize the third. No problem there, since subsidies are a 0 net-loss, so for the first 10 turns, you will just be making 21 GPT. Once that's up, you can cancel the subsidy and come up to 24 GPT, making the whole thing worthwhile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I do not believe this to be too much of an exploit, since the AIs have their own personal spending limits anyway, and are perfectly willing to pay that much for the resource. Furthermore, it seems stupid in retrospect to be selling your wheat off for 1 or 2 GPT. This tactic simply gets the AI to trade at their maximum trading level for as many resources as you have to offer. Now it might be theoretically possible to cause serious economic harm to a Civ when you cut off their subsidies, but that's why this is called [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD] Trading. You make them trade to their very limit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Additional Uses for Subsidies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. Extortion: ([BOLD]Edit:[\BOLD] This has not been thoroughly tested and appears to deliver rather poorer results were originally though.)[NEWLINE]All GPT deals are restricted by the amount of Available GPT the AI has in stock. Subsidizing allows you to bypass this limit, and so opens up a new world of options, namely "Coercive Bargaining" or "Protection Fees".[NEWLINE]How to make use of this?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Get a Large and Threatening(tm) army.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Look for a weak Civ somewhere in the world, who you think might like to "stay in bushiness", but might be too much hassle to "take care of" yourself.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Having selected your victim, gift them enough gold up to their trading limit, to ease open their finances.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Demand a repayment in kind, but for as large a sum as possible (you are limited to their trade-limit).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If the first "trade" was not enough, try this again and again to see how much you can squeeze out of the little sucker. You may have to keep pumping them up with GPT so that they can afford your demands. ([BOLD]Tests show that AIs rarely if ever agreed to demands twice in a row. Yields are probably limited to 1 trading-limit's worth.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]After 10 turns are up, go ahead and cancel [BOLD]your[\BOLD] side of the bargain, but their tribute will still be coming in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't even pretend this is not an exploit, since any sensible player would cancel their tribute to an AI guilt-free after 10 turns were up. This will theoretically allow you to soak your victim nations for a significantly larger chunk of change than you could normally, since a 0GPT in diplomacy can't limit the tribute. The AI will faithfully send it's moneys to you basically forever once the deal is made, ending only if one of you declares war on the other. The best part about this is that you don't need to actually [BOLD]have[\BOLD] any other resources than just a large military. Your relationship may suffer, but do you really care? If they don't like paying, then you can just tax them like normal citizens of your empire (after you 'assist' their citizenship).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edit: Many questions have come up as to "How do I cancel my deals?". Due to some bug, it seems to be impossible to cancel a GPT loan in the diplomacy window with another Civ (it prompts to change the amount given, but then does nothing). To cancel these deals, you go to your foreign advisor (F3), and look under the "Active" section. This will show all current deals you have, and mousing over them will reveal how many turns until they can be cancelled. Click on a matured deal and you will be asked whether you wish to cancel it (y/n).[\BOLD]</English>
		<French>[H1]Subsidies and Aggressive Trading Practices[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Hans Lemurson[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The following is a strategy for getting the most out of your GPT trades with the AI.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have you often been in annoying situations with the AI, wanting to sell off a resource, but getting only a pittance in return? Is silk [BOLD]really[\BOLD] worth only 3 GPT?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It turns out that the AI also values these resources more than they are paying, but are limited to only giving away as much GPT as they are currently making in profit. One of the most striking features of this is the fact that the AI always seems be willing to trade all of its available GPT for your goods, whether it is 1 or 5. How would you like to make 7, 9, or 12 GPT regularly [BOLD]per resource[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well now you can! All it takes is a little patience, and plenty of extra goods, and you'll be in bushiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The primary limit on an AI's GPT trading is simply the size of their positive cash-flow that turn. There is a secondary limit based on how much they like you, but you don't often hit it. In order to trade as much GPT as possible with the AI, you have to make sure that they have enough GPT to cover the transaction. How do you do this? Subsidize them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Subsidies:[\BOLD] If you gift GPT to an AI in negotiations, it will (as you might expect) raise their GPT in turn. Gift an AI GPT in small increments until their Available GPT stops increasing. You have just determined their trading limit, and they will now be willing to buy resources off you at top dollar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is an example scenario:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Suppose I was trading with the Persians, and they are listed as having 4 Available GPT.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT, and their Available-GPT rises to 6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT again, and now their Available-GPT rises to 7.[NEWLINE]Where did the money go?[NEWLINE]They are simply not willing to trade at 8 GPT; their limit is 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I now sell them Furs for 7 GPT, and now their Available-GPT is at 1.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 7 GPT, and their Available goes to 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them Rice for 7GPT, and their Available is down to 1 again.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I see that I can only sell 1 more resource to them, Silk, and so I gift them 6 GPT. Their Available is at 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them the Silk for 7 GPT, and call it a day.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are all probably noticing that throughout this entire affair, I'm only making a profit of 4 GPT while selling them 3 resources. I'm effectively giving them 2 resources for free! That is however, why it is called a [BOLD]subsidy[\BOLD]. You don't make a profit just yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Making your profit:[\BOLD] For the first 10 turns of your trading agreement, you'll be getting the short end of the stick. That now changes, because after 10 turns, you can cancel trade agreements! You are currently subsidizing the purchase of your goods at a cost of 17 GPT, but once the 10 turn limit expires, you can cancel these. Now, you are turning a nice healthy profit of 21 GPT from resource trading, not too shabby. The best part comes from the fact that you can do this [BOLD]with every civilization[\BOLD], resource sourpusses permitting. I have personally been able to break 100 GPT in trade-profits using this method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Things to watch for:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If your potential partner's Available GPT is listed as 0, they are probably in deficit spending. Don't bother trading with them, since you'll have to subsidize them out of their deficit before negotiations can even begin, and you have [BOLD]no idea[\BOLD] how much that's going to take. 5 GPT? 10? You have no way of knowing, and it will be expensive no matter what.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You [BOLD]yourself[\BOLD] need a positive cash-flow before you can gift people GPT. To be on the safe side, set your science spending to 0% before entering negotiations.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Always sell to the highest bidder. Search around for who has the highest trading limit, and choose to trade with them first. This will make sure that you get the most out of the sale of your resources. Trading limits correlate pretty strongly with the Civ's attitude towards you, so you can be making 12-15 GPT per resource from your close allies.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]As nations become friendlier with you over time, their trading limits will begin to rise. If you suspect this to be the case, you can cancel your trades and renegotiate. Their Available GPT will rise in accordance with their suddenly reduced expenses, and will still be available to you for buying your goods. If, in the Persian example, after a while the trading limit rises to 8, you renegotiate to sell them the first two resources for 8 GPT apiece, but you will probably have to subsidize the third. No problem there, since subsidies are a 0 net-loss, so for the first 10 turns, you will just be making 21 GPT. Once that's up, you can cancel the subsidy and come up to 24 GPT, making the whole thing worthwhile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I do not believe this to be too much of an exploit, since the AIs have their own personal spending limits anyway, and are perfectly willing to pay that much for the resource. Furthermore, it seems stupid in retrospect to be selling your wheat off for 1 or 2 GPT. This tactic simply gets the AI to trade at their maximum trading level for as many resources as you have to offer. Now it might be theoretically possible to cause serious economic harm to a Civ when you cut off their subsidies, but that's why this is called [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD] Trading. You make them trade to their very limit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Additional Uses for Subsidies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. Extortion: ([BOLD]Edit:[\BOLD] This has not been thoroughly tested and appears to deliver rather poorer results were originally though.)[NEWLINE]All GPT deals are restricted by the amount of Available GPT the AI has in stock. Subsidizing allows you to bypass this limit, and so opens up a new world of options, namely "Coercive Bargaining" or "Protection Fees".[NEWLINE]How to make use of this?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Get a Large and Threatening(tm) army.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Look for a weak Civ somewhere in the world, who you think might like to "stay in bushiness", but might be too much hassle to "take care of" yourself.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Having selected your victim, gift them enough gold up to their trading limit, to ease open their finances.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Demand a repayment in kind, but for as large a sum as possible (you are limited to their trade-limit).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If the first "trade" was not enough, try this again and again to see how much you can squeeze out of the little sucker. You may have to keep pumping them up with GPT so that they can afford your demands. ([BOLD]Tests show that AIs rarely if ever agreed to demands twice in a row. Yields are probably limited to 1 trading-limit's worth.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]After 10 turns are up, go ahead and cancel [BOLD]your[\BOLD] side of the bargain, but their tribute will still be coming in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't even pretend this is not an exploit, since any sensible player would cancel their tribute to an AI guilt-free after 10 turns were up. This will theoretically allow you to soak your victim nations for a significantly larger chunk of change than you could normally, since a 0GPT in diplomacy can't limit the tribute. The AI will faithfully send it's moneys to you basically forever once the deal is made, ending only if one of you declares war on the other. The best part about this is that you don't need to actually [BOLD]have[\BOLD] any other resources than just a large military. Your relationship may suffer, but do you really care? If they don't like paying, then you can just tax them like normal citizens of your empire (after you 'assist' their citizenship).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edit: Many questions have come up as to "How do I cancel my deals?". Due to some bug, it seems to be impossible to cancel a GPT loan in the diplomacy window with another Civ (it prompts to change the amount given, but then does nothing). To cancel these deals, you go to your foreign advisor (F3), and look under the "Active" section. This will show all current deals you have, and mousing over them will reveal how many turns until they can be cancelled. Click on a matured deal and you will be asked whether you wish to cancel it (y/n).[\BOLD]</French>
		<German>[H1]Subsidies and Aggressive Trading Practices[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Hans Lemurson[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The following is a strategy for getting the most out of your GPT trades with the AI.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have you often been in annoying situations with the AI, wanting to sell off a resource, but getting only a pittance in return? Is silk [BOLD]really[\BOLD] worth only 3 GPT?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It turns out that the AI also values these resources more than they are paying, but are limited to only giving away as much GPT as they are currently making in profit. One of the most striking features of this is the fact that the AI always seems be willing to trade all of its available GPT for your goods, whether it is 1 or 5. How would you like to make 7, 9, or 12 GPT regularly [BOLD]per resource[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well now you can! All it takes is a little patience, and plenty of extra goods, and you'll be in bushiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The primary limit on an AI's GPT trading is simply the size of their positive cash-flow that turn. There is a secondary limit based on how much they like you, but you don't often hit it. In order to trade as much GPT as possible with the AI, you have to make sure that they have enough GPT to cover the transaction. How do you do this? Subsidize them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Subsidies:[\BOLD] If you gift GPT to an AI in negotiations, it will (as you might expect) raise their GPT in turn. Gift an AI GPT in small increments until their Available GPT stops increasing. You have just determined their trading limit, and they will now be willing to buy resources off you at top dollar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is an example scenario:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Suppose I was trading with the Persians, and they are listed as having 4 Available GPT.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT, and their Available-GPT rises to 6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT again, and now their Available-GPT rises to 7.[NEWLINE]Where did the money go?[NEWLINE]They are simply not willing to trade at 8 GPT; their limit is 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I now sell them Furs for 7 GPT, and now their Available-GPT is at 1.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 7 GPT, and their Available goes to 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them Rice for 7GPT, and their Available is down to 1 again.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I see that I can only sell 1 more resource to them, Silk, and so I gift them 6 GPT. Their Available is at 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them the Silk for 7 GPT, and call it a day.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are all probably noticing that throughout this entire affair, I'm only making a profit of 4 GPT while selling them 3 resources. I'm effectively giving them 2 resources for free! That is however, why it is called a [BOLD]subsidy[\BOLD]. You don't make a profit just yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Making your profit:[\BOLD] For the first 10 turns of your trading agreement, you'll be getting the short end of the stick. That now changes, because after 10 turns, you can cancel trade agreements! You are currently subsidizing the purchase of your goods at a cost of 17 GPT, but once the 10 turn limit expires, you can cancel these. Now, you are turning a nice healthy profit of 21 GPT from resource trading, not too shabby. The best part comes from the fact that you can do this [BOLD]with every civilization[\BOLD], resource sourpusses permitting. I have personally been able to break 100 GPT in trade-profits using this method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Things to watch for:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If your potential partner's Available GPT is listed as 0, they are probably in deficit spending. Don't bother trading with them, since you'll have to subsidize them out of their deficit before negotiations can even begin, and you have [BOLD]no idea[\BOLD] how much that's going to take. 5 GPT? 10? You have no way of knowing, and it will be expensive no matter what.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You [BOLD]yourself[\BOLD] need a positive cash-flow before you can gift people GPT. To be on the safe side, set your science spending to 0% before entering negotiations.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Always sell to the highest bidder. Search around for who has the highest trading limit, and choose to trade with them first. This will make sure that you get the most out of the sale of your resources. Trading limits correlate pretty strongly with the Civ's attitude towards you, so you can be making 12-15 GPT per resource from your close allies.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]As nations become friendlier with you over time, their trading limits will begin to rise. If you suspect this to be the case, you can cancel your trades and renegotiate. Their Available GPT will rise in accordance with their suddenly reduced expenses, and will still be available to you for buying your goods. If, in the Persian example, after a while the trading limit rises to 8, you renegotiate to sell them the first two resources for 8 GPT apiece, but you will probably have to subsidize the third. No problem there, since subsidies are a 0 net-loss, so for the first 10 turns, you will just be making 21 GPT. Once that's up, you can cancel the subsidy and come up to 24 GPT, making the whole thing worthwhile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I do not believe this to be too much of an exploit, since the AIs have their own personal spending limits anyway, and are perfectly willing to pay that much for the resource. Furthermore, it seems stupid in retrospect to be selling your wheat off for 1 or 2 GPT. This tactic simply gets the AI to trade at their maximum trading level for as many resources as you have to offer. Now it might be theoretically possible to cause serious economic harm to a Civ when you cut off their subsidies, but that's why this is called [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD] Trading. You make them trade to their very limit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Additional Uses for Subsidies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. Extortion: ([BOLD]Edit:[\BOLD] This has not been thoroughly tested and appears to deliver rather poorer results were originally though.)[NEWLINE]All GPT deals are restricted by the amount of Available GPT the AI has in stock. Subsidizing allows you to bypass this limit, and so opens up a new world of options, namely "Coercive Bargaining" or "Protection Fees".[NEWLINE]How to make use of this?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Get a Large and Threatening(tm) army.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Look for a weak Civ somewhere in the world, who you think might like to "stay in bushiness", but might be too much hassle to "take care of" yourself.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Having selected your victim, gift them enough gold up to their trading limit, to ease open their finances.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Demand a repayment in kind, but for as large a sum as possible (you are limited to their trade-limit).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If the first "trade" was not enough, try this again and again to see how much you can squeeze out of the little sucker. You may have to keep pumping them up with GPT so that they can afford your demands. ([BOLD]Tests show that AIs rarely if ever agreed to demands twice in a row. Yields are probably limited to 1 trading-limit's worth.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]After 10 turns are up, go ahead and cancel [BOLD]your[\BOLD] side of the bargain, but their tribute will still be coming in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't even pretend this is not an exploit, since any sensible player would cancel their tribute to an AI guilt-free after 10 turns were up. This will theoretically allow you to soak your victim nations for a significantly larger chunk of change than you could normally, since a 0GPT in diplomacy can't limit the tribute. The AI will faithfully send it's moneys to you basically forever once the deal is made, ending only if one of you declares war on the other. The best part about this is that you don't need to actually [BOLD]have[\BOLD] any other resources than just a large military. Your relationship may suffer, but do you really care? If they don't like paying, then you can just tax them like normal citizens of your empire (after you 'assist' their citizenship).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edit: Many questions have come up as to "How do I cancel my deals?". Due to some bug, it seems to be impossible to cancel a GPT loan in the diplomacy window with another Civ (it prompts to change the amount given, but then does nothing). To cancel these deals, you go to your foreign advisor (F3), and look under the "Active" section. This will show all current deals you have, and mousing over them will reveal how many turns until they can be cancelled. Click on a matured deal and you will be asked whether you wish to cancel it (y/n).[\BOLD]</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Subsidies and Aggressive Trading Practices[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Hans Lemurson[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The following is a strategy for getting the most out of your GPT trades with the AI.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have you often been in annoying situations with the AI, wanting to sell off a resource, but getting only a pittance in return? Is silk [BOLD]really[\BOLD] worth only 3 GPT?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It turns out that the AI also values these resources more than they are paying, but are limited to only giving away as much GPT as they are currently making in profit. One of the most striking features of this is the fact that the AI always seems be willing to trade all of its available GPT for your goods, whether it is 1 or 5. How would you like to make 7, 9, or 12 GPT regularly [BOLD]per resource[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well now you can! All it takes is a little patience, and plenty of extra goods, and you'll be in bushiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The primary limit on an AI's GPT trading is simply the size of their positive cash-flow that turn. There is a secondary limit based on how much they like you, but you don't often hit it. In order to trade as much GPT as possible with the AI, you have to make sure that they have enough GPT to cover the transaction. How do you do this? Subsidize them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Subsidies:[\BOLD] If you gift GPT to an AI in negotiations, it will (as you might expect) raise their GPT in turn. Gift an AI GPT in small increments until their Available GPT stops increasing. You have just determined their trading limit, and they will now be willing to buy resources off you at top dollar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is an example scenario:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Suppose I was trading with the Persians, and they are listed as having 4 Available GPT.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT, and their Available-GPT rises to 6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT again, and now their Available-GPT rises to 7.[NEWLINE]Where did the money go?[NEWLINE]They are simply not willing to trade at 8 GPT; their limit is 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I now sell them Furs for 7 GPT, and now their Available-GPT is at 1.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 7 GPT, and their Available goes to 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them Rice for 7GPT, and their Available is down to 1 again.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I see that I can only sell 1 more resource to them, Silk, and so I gift them 6 GPT. Their Available is at 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them the Silk for 7 GPT, and call it a day.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are all probably noticing that throughout this entire affair, I'm only making a profit of 4 GPT while selling them 3 resources. I'm effectively giving them 2 resources for free! That is however, why it is called a [BOLD]subsidy[\BOLD]. You don't make a profit just yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Making your profit:[\BOLD] For the first 10 turns of your trading agreement, you'll be getting the short end of the stick. That now changes, because after 10 turns, you can cancel trade agreements! You are currently subsidizing the purchase of your goods at a cost of 17 GPT, but once the 10 turn limit expires, you can cancel these. Now, you are turning a nice healthy profit of 21 GPT from resource trading, not too shabby. The best part comes from the fact that you can do this [BOLD]with every civilization[\BOLD], resource sourpusses permitting. I have personally been able to break 100 GPT in trade-profits using this method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Things to watch for:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If your potential partner's Available GPT is listed as 0, they are probably in deficit spending. Don't bother trading with them, since you'll have to subsidize them out of their deficit before negotiations can even begin, and you have [BOLD]no idea[\BOLD] how much that's going to take. 5 GPT? 10? You have no way of knowing, and it will be expensive no matter what.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You [BOLD]yourself[\BOLD] need a positive cash-flow before you can gift people GPT. To be on the safe side, set your science spending to 0% before entering negotiations.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Always sell to the highest bidder. Search around for who has the highest trading limit, and choose to trade with them first. This will make sure that you get the most out of the sale of your resources. Trading limits correlate pretty strongly with the Civ's attitude towards you, so you can be making 12-15 GPT per resource from your close allies.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]As nations become friendlier with you over time, their trading limits will begin to rise. If you suspect this to be the case, you can cancel your trades and renegotiate. Their Available GPT will rise in accordance with their suddenly reduced expenses, and will still be available to you for buying your goods. If, in the Persian example, after a while the trading limit rises to 8, you renegotiate to sell them the first two resources for 8 GPT apiece, but you will probably have to subsidize the third. No problem there, since subsidies are a 0 net-loss, so for the first 10 turns, you will just be making 21 GPT. Once that's up, you can cancel the subsidy and come up to 24 GPT, making the whole thing worthwhile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I do not believe this to be too much of an exploit, since the AIs have their own personal spending limits anyway, and are perfectly willing to pay that much for the resource. Furthermore, it seems stupid in retrospect to be selling your wheat off for 1 or 2 GPT. This tactic simply gets the AI to trade at their maximum trading level for as many resources as you have to offer. Now it might be theoretically possible to cause serious economic harm to a Civ when you cut off their subsidies, but that's why this is called [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD] Trading. You make them trade to their very limit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Additional Uses for Subsidies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. Extortion: ([BOLD]Edit:[\BOLD] This has not been thoroughly tested and appears to deliver rather poorer results were originally though.)[NEWLINE]All GPT deals are restricted by the amount of Available GPT the AI has in stock. Subsidizing allows you to bypass this limit, and so opens up a new world of options, namely "Coercive Bargaining" or "Protection Fees".[NEWLINE]How to make use of this?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Get a Large and Threatening(tm) army.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Look for a weak Civ somewhere in the world, who you think might like to "stay in bushiness", but might be too much hassle to "take care of" yourself.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Having selected your victim, gift them enough gold up to their trading limit, to ease open their finances.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Demand a repayment in kind, but for as large a sum as possible (you are limited to their trade-limit).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If the first "trade" was not enough, try this again and again to see how much you can squeeze out of the little sucker. You may have to keep pumping them up with GPT so that they can afford your demands. ([BOLD]Tests show that AIs rarely if ever agreed to demands twice in a row. Yields are probably limited to 1 trading-limit's worth.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]After 10 turns are up, go ahead and cancel [BOLD]your[\BOLD] side of the bargain, but their tribute will still be coming in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't even pretend this is not an exploit, since any sensible player would cancel their tribute to an AI guilt-free after 10 turns were up. This will theoretically allow you to soak your victim nations for a significantly larger chunk of change than you could normally, since a 0GPT in diplomacy can't limit the tribute. The AI will faithfully send it's moneys to you basically forever once the deal is made, ending only if one of you declares war on the other. The best part about this is that you don't need to actually [BOLD]have[\BOLD] any other resources than just a large military. Your relationship may suffer, but do you really care? If they don't like paying, then you can just tax them like normal citizens of your empire (after you 'assist' their citizenship).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edit: Many questions have come up as to "How do I cancel my deals?". Due to some bug, it seems to be impossible to cancel a GPT loan in the diplomacy window with another Civ (it prompts to change the amount given, but then does nothing). To cancel these deals, you go to your foreign advisor (F3), and look under the "Active" section. This will show all current deals you have, and mousing over them will reveal how many turns until they can be cancelled. Click on a matured deal and you will be asked whether you wish to cancel it (y/n).[\BOLD]</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Subsidies and Aggressive Trading Practices[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Hans Lemurson[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The following is a strategy for getting the most out of your GPT trades with the AI.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Have you often been in annoying situations with the AI, wanting to sell off a resource, but getting only a pittance in return? Is silk [BOLD]really[\BOLD] worth only 3 GPT?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It turns out that the AI also values these resources more than they are paying, but are limited to only giving away as much GPT as they are currently making in profit. One of the most striking features of this is the fact that the AI always seems be willing to trade all of its available GPT for your goods, whether it is 1 or 5. How would you like to make 7, 9, or 12 GPT regularly [BOLD]per resource[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Well now you can! All it takes is a little patience, and plenty of extra goods, and you'll be in bushiness.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The primary limit on an AI's GPT trading is simply the size of their positive cash-flow that turn. There is a secondary limit based on how much they like you, but you don't often hit it. In order to trade as much GPT as possible with the AI, you have to make sure that they have enough GPT to cover the transaction. How do you do this? Subsidize them![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Subsidies:[\BOLD] If you gift GPT to an AI in negotiations, it will (as you might expect) raise their GPT in turn. Gift an AI GPT in small increments until their Available GPT stops increasing. You have just determined their trading limit, and they will now be willing to buy resources off you at top dollar.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Here is an example scenario:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Suppose I was trading with the Persians, and they are listed as having 4 Available GPT.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT, and their Available-GPT rises to 6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 2 GPT again, and now their Available-GPT rises to 7.[NEWLINE]Where did the money go?[NEWLINE]They are simply not willing to trade at 8 GPT; their limit is 7.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I now sell them Furs for 7 GPT, and now their Available-GPT is at 1.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I gift them 7 GPT, and their Available goes to 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them Rice for 7GPT, and their Available is down to 1 again.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I see that I can only sell 1 more resource to them, Silk, and so I gift them 6 GPT. Their Available is at 7.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]I sell them the Silk for 7 GPT, and call it a day.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You are all probably noticing that throughout this entire affair, I'm only making a profit of 4 GPT while selling them 3 resources. I'm effectively giving them 2 resources for free! That is however, why it is called a [BOLD]subsidy[\BOLD]. You don't make a profit just yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Making your profit:[\BOLD] For the first 10 turns of your trading agreement, you'll be getting the short end of the stick. That now changes, because after 10 turns, you can cancel trade agreements! You are currently subsidizing the purchase of your goods at a cost of 17 GPT, but once the 10 turn limit expires, you can cancel these. Now, you are turning a nice healthy profit of 21 GPT from resource trading, not too shabby. The best part comes from the fact that you can do this [BOLD]with every civilization[\BOLD], resource sourpusses permitting. I have personally been able to break 100 GPT in trade-profits using this method.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Things to watch for:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If your potential partner's Available GPT is listed as 0, they are probably in deficit spending. Don't bother trading with them, since you'll have to subsidize them out of their deficit before negotiations can even begin, and you have [BOLD]no idea[\BOLD] how much that's going to take. 5 GPT? 10? You have no way of knowing, and it will be expensive no matter what.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]You [BOLD]yourself[\BOLD] need a positive cash-flow before you can gift people GPT. To be on the safe side, set your science spending to 0% before entering negotiations.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Always sell to the highest bidder. Search around for who has the highest trading limit, and choose to trade with them first. This will make sure that you get the most out of the sale of your resources. Trading limits correlate pretty strongly with the Civ's attitude towards you, so you can be making 12-15 GPT per resource from your close allies.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]As nations become friendlier with you over time, their trading limits will begin to rise. If you suspect this to be the case, you can cancel your trades and renegotiate. Their Available GPT will rise in accordance with their suddenly reduced expenses, and will still be available to you for buying your goods. If, in the Persian example, after a while the trading limit rises to 8, you renegotiate to sell them the first two resources for 8 GPT apiece, but you will probably have to subsidize the third. No problem there, since subsidies are a 0 net-loss, so for the first 10 turns, you will just be making 21 GPT. Once that's up, you can cancel the subsidy and come up to 24 GPT, making the whole thing worthwhile.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I do not believe this to be too much of an exploit, since the AIs have their own personal spending limits anyway, and are perfectly willing to pay that much for the resource. Furthermore, it seems stupid in retrospect to be selling your wheat off for 1 or 2 GPT. This tactic simply gets the AI to trade at their maximum trading level for as many resources as you have to offer. Now it might be theoretically possible to cause serious economic harm to a Civ when you cut off their subsidies, but that's why this is called [BOLD]Aggressive[\BOLD] Trading. You make them trade to their very limit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Additional Uses for Subsidies:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. Extortion: ([BOLD]Edit:[\BOLD] This has not been thoroughly tested and appears to deliver rather poorer results were originally though.)[NEWLINE]All GPT deals are restricted by the amount of Available GPT the AI has in stock. Subsidizing allows you to bypass this limit, and so opens up a new world of options, namely "Coercive Bargaining" or "Protection Fees".[NEWLINE]How to make use of this?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Get a Large and Threatening(tm) army.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Look for a weak Civ somewhere in the world, who you think might like to "stay in bushiness", but might be too much hassle to "take care of" yourself.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Having selected your victim, gift them enough gold up to their trading limit, to ease open their finances.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Demand a repayment in kind, but for as large a sum as possible (you are limited to their trade-limit).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If the first "trade" was not enough, try this again and again to see how much you can squeeze out of the little sucker. You may have to keep pumping them up with GPT so that they can afford your demands. ([BOLD]Tests show that AIs rarely if ever agreed to demands twice in a row. Yields are probably limited to 1 trading-limit's worth.[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]After 10 turns are up, go ahead and cancel [BOLD]your[\BOLD] side of the bargain, but their tribute will still be coming in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I won't even pretend this is not an exploit, since any sensible player would cancel their tribute to an AI guilt-free after 10 turns were up. This will theoretically allow you to soak your victim nations for a significantly larger chunk of change than you could normally, since a 0GPT in diplomacy can't limit the tribute. The AI will faithfully send it's moneys to you basically forever once the deal is made, ending only if one of you declares war on the other. The best part about this is that you don't need to actually [BOLD]have[\BOLD] any other resources than just a large military. Your relationship may suffer, but do you really care? If they don't like paying, then you can just tax them like normal citizens of your empire (after you 'assist' their citizenship).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Edit: Many questions have come up as to "How do I cancel my deals?". Due to some bug, it seems to be impossible to cancel a GPT loan in the diplomacy window with another Civ (it prompts to change the amount given, but then does nothing). To cancel these deals, you go to your foreign advisor (F3), and look under the "Active" section. This will show all current deals you have, and mousing over them will reveal how many turns until they can be cancelled. Click on a matured deal and you will be asked whether you wish to cancel it (y/n).[\BOLD]</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_RESEARCH_MECHS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Technology Research Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Requies[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research. It's the fundamental way of advancing in life and in Civ IV, and a necessary part of making your way up the food chain in Civ IV from doormat to winner (whether via space race, diplomacy, conquest, or culture). Unfortunately, it's also the way to figure out how research actually works in Civ IV.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately for you all, I've done all that. This article came about because I was interested in what the optimal start to the game was. However, upon working out that information, I was startled to discover that the amount of research differed from what my lone city was producing. I dug further in depth into the mechanisms of the game and figured out how research is priced, accumulated, and applied in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article will explain the ins and outs of how your beakers get put to work to research the technologies that make or break your game of Civ. To learn more, read on....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]One important note.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR means rounding DOWN to the nearest integer AND it has higher precedence than all other operators EXCEPT FOR parentheses. You will see it used a lot in the article.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The basics (of generating beakers)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Each city generates a raw amount of commerce via the squares that are being worked and the trade routes in the cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) This commerce is in turn translated into beakers (research), coins (gold), or notes (culture) via the technology and culture sliders. The actual amount of beakers and notes are gained by using the specified slider rate in the following equation:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (total commerce * the specified slider rate).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The remainder is then given in gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, yes, you WILL get AT LEAST one gold from each city that has a commerce that is not a multiple of 10, if your science or culture is not 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Each city then takes each amount and adds in any additional sources of research, gold, or culture (via shrines, production processes, and specialists, mainly).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Each city then multiplies it by whatever modifiers it has depending on what buildings it has built (e.g., beakers are multiplied by 1.25 if it has a library, gold is multiplied by 1.5 if it has a bank, etc.). NOTE: multipliers are ADDITIVE (i.e., if you have a library and university, your beakers will be multiplied by 1.5 (1 + 0.25 + 0.25) NOT 1.5625 (1 * 1.25 * 1.25)).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) The beaker totals are then added up across the cities and the sum is your base beaker total.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Technology Costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the technology cost of a technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the base cost of the technology. (This can be found for each technology in Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Take the Difficulty Modifier and add 0.5 * the Number of teammates you have to it. (The difficulty modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4HandicapInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 1) by 2) and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by the Map Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. (The map modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4WorldInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Multiply 4) by the Speed Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. This generates the actual cost of the technology. (The speed modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4GameSpeedInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus the formula to calculate a Technology's cost is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Technology Cost[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR ([BOLD]Base Cost[\BOLD] * ([BOLD]Difficulty Modifier[\BOLD] + 0.5 * [BOLD]# of teammates[\BOLD])) * [BOLD]Map Modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Speed Modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Applying the Research to the Technology[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to the technology cost is dependant upon the number of civilizations which know the tech and the number of requirements you have fulfilled for the technology.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Multiply 0.30 by the number of KNOWN, [BOLD]LIVING[\BOLD] civilizations, who have the tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Divide by the number of civilizations which STARTED on the map and ROUND DOWN to the hundredth place (0.01) of the quotient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 2) to 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tech Known by Civilizations modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + RDDW (0.30 * [BOLD]# known Civs who have the tech[\BOLD] / [BOLD]# of Civs who started the game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Start with 1. If the technology does NOT have a minimum requirement (i.e., the starting techs = Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mysticism, Mining), then use 1 AS the modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 0.2 to 1) if a Technology has a MINIMUM Requirement that the player has met. Note: Even if a tech has MANY MANDATORY PREREQUISITES, it will still only give you a boost of 1.2 because you MUST have all those prerequisites to research the tech. (IOW, the minimum requirement IS all of those prerequisites.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 0.2 to 2) for EACH ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL Prerequisite that the player has met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Requirements modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + (0.2 * [BOLD]MINIMUM Req. met[\BOLD]) + (0.2 * [BOLD]# of Optional Prereq. met[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Actual Amount of Beakers Generated Toward a Tech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the amount of beakers which you generate toward the technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the total sum of beakers generated by all your cities (the result from the basics part).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 1 to it if you have a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 2) by the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by Prerequisites modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The formula to calculate the amount of beakers applied to your technology is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Beakers applied to Technology[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (([BOLD]Total Base Beakers[\BOLD] + 1) * [BOLD]KCwT modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]An Example:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I always seem to understand better with an example, so here's a basic one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you want to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] which has a base cost of 350 beakers, the mandatory requirement of [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and the optional (meaning you must research one of them) requirements of ([BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD]).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You know [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You produce 37 net beakers per turn and you have met 3 other civilizations who know it out of 7 who started the map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You started on a standard map (1.4 modifier) at the monarch difficulty level (1.15 modifier) at epic game speed (1.5 modifier) and have 1 teammate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your cost would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR (350 * (1.15 + 0.5 * 1)) * 1.4) * 1.5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (350 * 1.65) = 577[NEWLINE]FLOOR (577 * 1.4) = 807[NEWLINE]FLOOR (807 * 1.5) = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Total cost = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to code of laws would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR ((37 + 1) * (1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7))) * (1 + 0.2 + (0.2 * 0))[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7) = 1.12[NEWLINE]FLOOR (38 * 1.12) = 42[NEWLINE]FLOOR (42 * 1.2) = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beakers applied to Code of Laws/turn = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that having [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] AND [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] only gives you a bonus modifier of 1.2 because you must have at LEAST [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] PLUS one of the optional prerequisites to be able to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. If you also had [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD], then the modifier would be 1.4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overflow[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overflow is calculated by the modifiers from the PREVIOUS Technology. Therefore, if you finished researching [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] this turn, and you had all THREE optional requirements, the overflow beakers which applied to your next technology would be equal to however many you had left USING THE MODIFIERS FOR [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] after finishing [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD]. So, your Requirements modifier would be 1.6 (1.2 * 3). So, you could conceivable get a significant boost toward your next tech OVER WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN if you have a lot of overflow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Repercussions[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) It can be VERY important to establish contact with all the other civilizations in order to speed your beakers applied count. You could potentially be making 28% (17 known civs w/ tech/ 18 civs total) more beakers than you normally could on a tech. This is especially true on harder difficulties. If you just meet half of the other civs, your research on techs known by the others would improve by 14%. This is probably the biggest repercussion of the calculation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) If you're going to research several technologies and one is an optional requirement of another, research the optional one first as that will boost your research toward the other one [BOLD]unless you have a specific reason for researching the other one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) If you're researching the starting techs (no prerequisites modifier), try to reduce the amount of overflow you have, as you're multiplying it by the lowest amount possible. It would be better spent earning some gold which may be necessary to run a deficit research job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) If you're researching a tech which is known by a lot of people and which has many optional prerequisites which you already have, try to time it so that you end a turn with 1 beaker left to research that tech. The next turn INCREASE the amount of commerce you generate in order to increase the research overflow on the next turn to the max amount possible. You could potentially generate 104.8% ((1 + 17 known civs w/ tech/18 civs) * 1.6 [tech w/ 3 optional prerequisites]) more beakers of overflow than you normally would for that tech (assuming it's from Writing to a Starting Tech which no one knows. I know, it's unlikely.). However, for a realistic overflow difference getting almost 46% (1.25 * 1.4 / 1.2) more beakers in overflow is very feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][First tech = 6 known civs w/ tech out of 7 civs and 1 additional optional prerequisite obtained][NEWLINE][Second tech = no known civs with tech and no additional optional prerequisites obtained][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]like Paper w/ Civil Service and Theology to Education.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Pre-Alphabet (and possibly in non-tech trading games), you will be able to determine the number of known players with a certain tech but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. (thx to DaviddesJ for pointing this out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]6) Similar to repercussion #5, if the AI is ahead of you in tech, you will be able to determine the number of known players with a technology which is BEYOND your research ability (i.e., those you do not have the prerequisite technologies for) but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. NOTE: there would also be times where you would NOT know whether another known civ has the tech as the civ modifier would be small enough that no difference could be detected. (thx to Roland Johanson for pointing this out.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]7) If you don't choose a tech as soon as you found your first city, you are probably losing a bonus (if you don't choose a starting tech). This might not be that significant, but when every beaker counts, losing two beakers in the beginning might mean the difference between getting that iron rush 1 turn faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]8) If you have a neighbor who you're thinking of killing off who has techs which you have not researched yet, it might not be worth it to kill them off UNTIL you've researched the tech (1 neighbor who knows the tech in a 7 player game will provide a 1.04 boost).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Additional Modifier for knowing 1 more civilization who has the tech out of....[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2 Starting Civilizations = 0.15[NEWLINE]3 Starting Civilizations = 0.10[NEWLINE]4 Starting Civilizations = 0.075[NEWLINE]5 Starting Civilizations = 0.06[NEWLINE]6 Starting Civilizations = 0.05[NEWLINE]7 Starting Civilizations = 0.0428...[NEWLINE]8 Starting Civilizations = 0.0375[NEWLINE]9 Starting Civilizations = 0.0333...[NEWLINE]10 Starting Civilizations = 0.03[NEWLINE]11 Starting Civilizations = 0.02727...[NEWLINE]12 Starting Civilizations = 0.025[NEWLINE]13 Starting Civilizations = 0.0230769...[NEWLINE]14 Starting Civilizations = 0.0214...[NEWLINE]15 Starting Civilizations = 0.02[NEWLINE]16 Starting Civilizations = 0.01875[NEWLINE]17 Starting Civilizations = 0.017647...[NEWLINE]18 Starting Civilizations = 0.01666....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thanks to:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]LordTerror for his work dealing with the teammate modifier[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Zombie69, Roland Johanson, kryszcztov, jesusin, and LordTerror for suggesting ways to improve and/or clarify the article[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]DaviddesJ for suggesting repercussion #5.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Roland Johanson for suggesting repercussion #6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Arthog for his idea about dead civilizations possibly contributing to the modifier which led to repercussion #8 and for providing a save file to test the idea on.</English>
		<French>[H1]Technology Research Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Requies[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research. It's the fundamental way of advancing in life and in Civ IV, and a necessary part of making your way up the food chain in Civ IV from doormat to winner (whether via space race, diplomacy, conquest, or culture). Unfortunately, it's also the way to figure out how research actually works in Civ IV.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately for you all, I've done all that. This article came about because I was interested in what the optimal start to the game was. However, upon working out that information, I was startled to discover that the amount of research differed from what my lone city was producing. I dug further in depth into the mechanisms of the game and figured out how research is priced, accumulated, and applied in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article will explain the ins and outs of how your beakers get put to work to research the technologies that make or break your game of Civ. To learn more, read on....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]One important note.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR means rounding DOWN to the nearest integer AND it has higher precedence than all other operators EXCEPT FOR parentheses. You will see it used a lot in the article.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The basics (of generating beakers)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Each city generates a raw amount of commerce via the squares that are being worked and the trade routes in the cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) This commerce is in turn translated into beakers (research), coins (gold), or notes (culture) via the technology and culture sliders. The actual amount of beakers and notes are gained by using the specified slider rate in the following equation:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (total commerce * the specified slider rate).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The remainder is then given in gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, yes, you WILL get AT LEAST one gold from each city that has a commerce that is not a multiple of 10, if your science or culture is not 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Each city then takes each amount and adds in any additional sources of research, gold, or culture (via shrines, production processes, and specialists, mainly).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Each city then multiplies it by whatever modifiers it has depending on what buildings it has built (e.g., beakers are multiplied by 1.25 if it has a library, gold is multiplied by 1.5 if it has a bank, etc.). NOTE: multipliers are ADDITIVE (i.e., if you have a library and university, your beakers will be multiplied by 1.5 (1 + 0.25 + 0.25) NOT 1.5625 (1 * 1.25 * 1.25)).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) The beaker totals are then added up across the cities and the sum is your base beaker total.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Technology Costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the technology cost of a technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the base cost of the technology. (This can be found for each technology in Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Take the Difficulty Modifier and add 0.5 * the Number of teammates you have to it. (The difficulty modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4HandicapInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 1) by 2) and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by the Map Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. (The map modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4WorldInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Multiply 4) by the Speed Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. This generates the actual cost of the technology. (The speed modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4GameSpeedInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus the formula to calculate a Technology's cost is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Technology Cost[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR ([BOLD]Base Cost[\BOLD] * ([BOLD]Difficulty Modifier[\BOLD] + 0.5 * [BOLD]# of teammates[\BOLD])) * [BOLD]Map Modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Speed Modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Applying the Research to the Technology[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to the technology cost is dependant upon the number of civilizations which know the tech and the number of requirements you have fulfilled for the technology.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Multiply 0.30 by the number of KNOWN, [BOLD]LIVING[\BOLD] civilizations, who have the tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Divide by the number of civilizations which STARTED on the map and ROUND DOWN to the hundredth place (0.01) of the quotient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 2) to 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tech Known by Civilizations modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + RDDW (0.30 * [BOLD]# known Civs who have the tech[\BOLD] / [BOLD]# of Civs who started the game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Start with 1. If the technology does NOT have a minimum requirement (i.e., the starting techs = Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mysticism, Mining), then use 1 AS the modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 0.2 to 1) if a Technology has a MINIMUM Requirement that the player has met. Note: Even if a tech has MANY MANDATORY PREREQUISITES, it will still only give you a boost of 1.2 because you MUST have all those prerequisites to research the tech. (IOW, the minimum requirement IS all of those prerequisites.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 0.2 to 2) for EACH ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL Prerequisite that the player has met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Requirements modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + (0.2 * [BOLD]MINIMUM Req. met[\BOLD]) + (0.2 * [BOLD]# of Optional Prereq. met[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Actual Amount of Beakers Generated Toward a Tech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the amount of beakers which you generate toward the technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the total sum of beakers generated by all your cities (the result from the basics part).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 1 to it if you have a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 2) by the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by Prerequisites modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The formula to calculate the amount of beakers applied to your technology is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Beakers applied to Technology[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (([BOLD]Total Base Beakers[\BOLD] + 1) * [BOLD]KCwT modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]An Example:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I always seem to understand better with an example, so here's a basic one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you want to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] which has a base cost of 350 beakers, the mandatory requirement of [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and the optional (meaning you must research one of them) requirements of ([BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD]).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You know [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You produce 37 net beakers per turn and you have met 3 other civilizations who know it out of 7 who started the map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You started on a standard map (1.4 modifier) at the monarch difficulty level (1.15 modifier) at epic game speed (1.5 modifier) and have 1 teammate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your cost would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR (350 * (1.15 + 0.5 * 1)) * 1.4) * 1.5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (350 * 1.65) = 577[NEWLINE]FLOOR (577 * 1.4) = 807[NEWLINE]FLOOR (807 * 1.5) = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Total cost = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to code of laws would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR ((37 + 1) * (1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7))) * (1 + 0.2 + (0.2 * 0))[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7) = 1.12[NEWLINE]FLOOR (38 * 1.12) = 42[NEWLINE]FLOOR (42 * 1.2) = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beakers applied to Code of Laws/turn = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that having [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] AND [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] only gives you a bonus modifier of 1.2 because you must have at LEAST [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] PLUS one of the optional prerequisites to be able to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. If you also had [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD], then the modifier would be 1.4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overflow[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overflow is calculated by the modifiers from the PREVIOUS Technology. Therefore, if you finished researching [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] this turn, and you had all THREE optional requirements, the overflow beakers which applied to your next technology would be equal to however many you had left USING THE MODIFIERS FOR [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] after finishing [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD]. So, your Requirements modifier would be 1.6 (1.2 * 3). So, you could conceivable get a significant boost toward your next tech OVER WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN if you have a lot of overflow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Repercussions[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) It can be VERY important to establish contact with all the other civilizations in order to speed your beakers applied count. You could potentially be making 28% (17 known civs w/ tech/ 18 civs total) more beakers than you normally could on a tech. This is especially true on harder difficulties. If you just meet half of the other civs, your research on techs known by the others would improve by 14%. This is probably the biggest repercussion of the calculation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) If you're going to research several technologies and one is an optional requirement of another, research the optional one first as that will boost your research toward the other one [BOLD]unless you have a specific reason for researching the other one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) If you're researching the starting techs (no prerequisites modifier), try to reduce the amount of overflow you have, as you're multiplying it by the lowest amount possible. It would be better spent earning some gold which may be necessary to run a deficit research job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) If you're researching a tech which is known by a lot of people and which has many optional prerequisites which you already have, try to time it so that you end a turn with 1 beaker left to research that tech. The next turn INCREASE the amount of commerce you generate in order to increase the research overflow on the next turn to the max amount possible. You could potentially generate 104.8% ((1 + 17 known civs w/ tech/18 civs) * 1.6 [tech w/ 3 optional prerequisites]) more beakers of overflow than you normally would for that tech (assuming it's from Writing to a Starting Tech which no one knows. I know, it's unlikely.). However, for a realistic overflow difference getting almost 46% (1.25 * 1.4 / 1.2) more beakers in overflow is very feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][First tech = 6 known civs w/ tech out of 7 civs and 1 additional optional prerequisite obtained][NEWLINE][Second tech = no known civs with tech and no additional optional prerequisites obtained][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]like Paper w/ Civil Service and Theology to Education.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Pre-Alphabet (and possibly in non-tech trading games), you will be able to determine the number of known players with a certain tech but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. (thx to DaviddesJ for pointing this out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]6) Similar to repercussion #5, if the AI is ahead of you in tech, you will be able to determine the number of known players with a technology which is BEYOND your research ability (i.e., those you do not have the prerequisite technologies for) but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. NOTE: there would also be times where you would NOT know whether another known civ has the tech as the civ modifier would be small enough that no difference could be detected. (thx to Roland Johanson for pointing this out.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]7) If you don't choose a tech as soon as you found your first city, you are probably losing a bonus (if you don't choose a starting tech). This might not be that significant, but when every beaker counts, losing two beakers in the beginning might mean the difference between getting that iron rush 1 turn faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]8) If you have a neighbor who you're thinking of killing off who has techs which you have not researched yet, it might not be worth it to kill them off UNTIL you've researched the tech (1 neighbor who knows the tech in a 7 player game will provide a 1.04 boost).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Additional Modifier for knowing 1 more civilization who has the tech out of....[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2 Starting Civilizations = 0.15[NEWLINE]3 Starting Civilizations = 0.10[NEWLINE]4 Starting Civilizations = 0.075[NEWLINE]5 Starting Civilizations = 0.06[NEWLINE]6 Starting Civilizations = 0.05[NEWLINE]7 Starting Civilizations = 0.0428...[NEWLINE]8 Starting Civilizations = 0.0375[NEWLINE]9 Starting Civilizations = 0.0333...[NEWLINE]10 Starting Civilizations = 0.03[NEWLINE]11 Starting Civilizations = 0.02727...[NEWLINE]12 Starting Civilizations = 0.025[NEWLINE]13 Starting Civilizations = 0.0230769...[NEWLINE]14 Starting Civilizations = 0.0214...[NEWLINE]15 Starting Civilizations = 0.02[NEWLINE]16 Starting Civilizations = 0.01875[NEWLINE]17 Starting Civilizations = 0.017647...[NEWLINE]18 Starting Civilizations = 0.01666....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thanks to:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]LordTerror for his work dealing with the teammate modifier[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Zombie69, Roland Johanson, kryszcztov, jesusin, and LordTerror for suggesting ways to improve and/or clarify the article[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]DaviddesJ for suggesting repercussion #5.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Roland Johanson for suggesting repercussion #6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Arthog for his idea about dead civilizations possibly contributing to the modifier which led to repercussion #8 and for providing a save file to test the idea on.</French>
		<German>[H1]Technology Research Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Requies[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research. It's the fundamental way of advancing in life and in Civ IV, and a necessary part of making your way up the food chain in Civ IV from doormat to winner (whether via space race, diplomacy, conquest, or culture). Unfortunately, it's also the way to figure out how research actually works in Civ IV.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately for you all, I've done all that. This article came about because I was interested in what the optimal start to the game was. However, upon working out that information, I was startled to discover that the amount of research differed from what my lone city was producing. I dug further in depth into the mechanisms of the game and figured out how research is priced, accumulated, and applied in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article will explain the ins and outs of how your beakers get put to work to research the technologies that make or break your game of Civ. To learn more, read on....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]One important note.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR means rounding DOWN to the nearest integer AND it has higher precedence than all other operators EXCEPT FOR parentheses. You will see it used a lot in the article.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The basics (of generating beakers)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Each city generates a raw amount of commerce via the squares that are being worked and the trade routes in the cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) This commerce is in turn translated into beakers (research), coins (gold), or notes (culture) via the technology and culture sliders. The actual amount of beakers and notes are gained by using the specified slider rate in the following equation:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (total commerce * the specified slider rate).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The remainder is then given in gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, yes, you WILL get AT LEAST one gold from each city that has a commerce that is not a multiple of 10, if your science or culture is not 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Each city then takes each amount and adds in any additional sources of research, gold, or culture (via shrines, production processes, and specialists, mainly).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Each city then multiplies it by whatever modifiers it has depending on what buildings it has built (e.g., beakers are multiplied by 1.25 if it has a library, gold is multiplied by 1.5 if it has a bank, etc.). NOTE: multipliers are ADDITIVE (i.e., if you have a library and university, your beakers will be multiplied by 1.5 (1 + 0.25 + 0.25) NOT 1.5625 (1 * 1.25 * 1.25)).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) The beaker totals are then added up across the cities and the sum is your base beaker total.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Technology Costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the technology cost of a technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the base cost of the technology. (This can be found for each technology in Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Take the Difficulty Modifier and add 0.5 * the Number of teammates you have to it. (The difficulty modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4HandicapInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 1) by 2) and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by the Map Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. (The map modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4WorldInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Multiply 4) by the Speed Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. This generates the actual cost of the technology. (The speed modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4GameSpeedInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus the formula to calculate a Technology's cost is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Technology Cost[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR ([BOLD]Base Cost[\BOLD] * ([BOLD]Difficulty Modifier[\BOLD] + 0.5 * [BOLD]# of teammates[\BOLD])) * [BOLD]Map Modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Speed Modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Applying the Research to the Technology[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to the technology cost is dependant upon the number of civilizations which know the tech and the number of requirements you have fulfilled for the technology.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Multiply 0.30 by the number of KNOWN, [BOLD]LIVING[\BOLD] civilizations, who have the tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Divide by the number of civilizations which STARTED on the map and ROUND DOWN to the hundredth place (0.01) of the quotient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 2) to 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tech Known by Civilizations modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + RDDW (0.30 * [BOLD]# known Civs who have the tech[\BOLD] / [BOLD]# of Civs who started the game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Start with 1. If the technology does NOT have a minimum requirement (i.e., the starting techs = Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mysticism, Mining), then use 1 AS the modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 0.2 to 1) if a Technology has a MINIMUM Requirement that the player has met. Note: Even if a tech has MANY MANDATORY PREREQUISITES, it will still only give you a boost of 1.2 because you MUST have all those prerequisites to research the tech. (IOW, the minimum requirement IS all of those prerequisites.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 0.2 to 2) for EACH ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL Prerequisite that the player has met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Requirements modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + (0.2 * [BOLD]MINIMUM Req. met[\BOLD]) + (0.2 * [BOLD]# of Optional Prereq. met[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Actual Amount of Beakers Generated Toward a Tech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the amount of beakers which you generate toward the technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the total sum of beakers generated by all your cities (the result from the basics part).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 1 to it if you have a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 2) by the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by Prerequisites modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The formula to calculate the amount of beakers applied to your technology is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Beakers applied to Technology[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (([BOLD]Total Base Beakers[\BOLD] + 1) * [BOLD]KCwT modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]An Example:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I always seem to understand better with an example, so here's a basic one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you want to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] which has a base cost of 350 beakers, the mandatory requirement of [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and the optional (meaning you must research one of them) requirements of ([BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD]).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You know [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You produce 37 net beakers per turn and you have met 3 other civilizations who know it out of 7 who started the map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You started on a standard map (1.4 modifier) at the monarch difficulty level (1.15 modifier) at epic game speed (1.5 modifier) and have 1 teammate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your cost would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR (350 * (1.15 + 0.5 * 1)) * 1.4) * 1.5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (350 * 1.65) = 577[NEWLINE]FLOOR (577 * 1.4) = 807[NEWLINE]FLOOR (807 * 1.5) = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Total cost = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to code of laws would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR ((37 + 1) * (1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7))) * (1 + 0.2 + (0.2 * 0))[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7) = 1.12[NEWLINE]FLOOR (38 * 1.12) = 42[NEWLINE]FLOOR (42 * 1.2) = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beakers applied to Code of Laws/turn = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that having [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] AND [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] only gives you a bonus modifier of 1.2 because you must have at LEAST [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] PLUS one of the optional prerequisites to be able to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. If you also had [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD], then the modifier would be 1.4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overflow[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overflow is calculated by the modifiers from the PREVIOUS Technology. Therefore, if you finished researching [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] this turn, and you had all THREE optional requirements, the overflow beakers which applied to your next technology would be equal to however many you had left USING THE MODIFIERS FOR [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] after finishing [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD]. So, your Requirements modifier would be 1.6 (1.2 * 3). So, you could conceivable get a significant boost toward your next tech OVER WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN if you have a lot of overflow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Repercussions[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) It can be VERY important to establish contact with all the other civilizations in order to speed your beakers applied count. You could potentially be making 28% (17 known civs w/ tech/ 18 civs total) more beakers than you normally could on a tech. This is especially true on harder difficulties. If you just meet half of the other civs, your research on techs known by the others would improve by 14%. This is probably the biggest repercussion of the calculation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) If you're going to research several technologies and one is an optional requirement of another, research the optional one first as that will boost your research toward the other one [BOLD]unless you have a specific reason for researching the other one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) If you're researching the starting techs (no prerequisites modifier), try to reduce the amount of overflow you have, as you're multiplying it by the lowest amount possible. It would be better spent earning some gold which may be necessary to run a deficit research job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) If you're researching a tech which is known by a lot of people and which has many optional prerequisites which you already have, try to time it so that you end a turn with 1 beaker left to research that tech. The next turn INCREASE the amount of commerce you generate in order to increase the research overflow on the next turn to the max amount possible. You could potentially generate 104.8% ((1 + 17 known civs w/ tech/18 civs) * 1.6 [tech w/ 3 optional prerequisites]) more beakers of overflow than you normally would for that tech (assuming it's from Writing to a Starting Tech which no one knows. I know, it's unlikely.). However, for a realistic overflow difference getting almost 46% (1.25 * 1.4 / 1.2) more beakers in overflow is very feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][First tech = 6 known civs w/ tech out of 7 civs and 1 additional optional prerequisite obtained][NEWLINE][Second tech = no known civs with tech and no additional optional prerequisites obtained][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]like Paper w/ Civil Service and Theology to Education.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Pre-Alphabet (and possibly in non-tech trading games), you will be able to determine the number of known players with a certain tech but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. (thx to DaviddesJ for pointing this out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]6) Similar to repercussion #5, if the AI is ahead of you in tech, you will be able to determine the number of known players with a technology which is BEYOND your research ability (i.e., those you do not have the prerequisite technologies for) but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. NOTE: there would also be times where you would NOT know whether another known civ has the tech as the civ modifier would be small enough that no difference could be detected. (thx to Roland Johanson for pointing this out.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]7) If you don't choose a tech as soon as you found your first city, you are probably losing a bonus (if you don't choose a starting tech). This might not be that significant, but when every beaker counts, losing two beakers in the beginning might mean the difference between getting that iron rush 1 turn faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]8) If you have a neighbor who you're thinking of killing off who has techs which you have not researched yet, it might not be worth it to kill them off UNTIL you've researched the tech (1 neighbor who knows the tech in a 7 player game will provide a 1.04 boost).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Additional Modifier for knowing 1 more civilization who has the tech out of....[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2 Starting Civilizations = 0.15[NEWLINE]3 Starting Civilizations = 0.10[NEWLINE]4 Starting Civilizations = 0.075[NEWLINE]5 Starting Civilizations = 0.06[NEWLINE]6 Starting Civilizations = 0.05[NEWLINE]7 Starting Civilizations = 0.0428...[NEWLINE]8 Starting Civilizations = 0.0375[NEWLINE]9 Starting Civilizations = 0.0333...[NEWLINE]10 Starting Civilizations = 0.03[NEWLINE]11 Starting Civilizations = 0.02727...[NEWLINE]12 Starting Civilizations = 0.025[NEWLINE]13 Starting Civilizations = 0.0230769...[NEWLINE]14 Starting Civilizations = 0.0214...[NEWLINE]15 Starting Civilizations = 0.02[NEWLINE]16 Starting Civilizations = 0.01875[NEWLINE]17 Starting Civilizations = 0.017647...[NEWLINE]18 Starting Civilizations = 0.01666....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thanks to:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]LordTerror for his work dealing with the teammate modifier[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Zombie69, Roland Johanson, kryszcztov, jesusin, and LordTerror for suggesting ways to improve and/or clarify the article[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]DaviddesJ for suggesting repercussion #5.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Roland Johanson for suggesting repercussion #6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Arthog for his idea about dead civilizations possibly contributing to the modifier which led to repercussion #8 and for providing a save file to test the idea on.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Technology Research Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Requies[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research. It's the fundamental way of advancing in life and in Civ IV, and a necessary part of making your way up the food chain in Civ IV from doormat to winner (whether via space race, diplomacy, conquest, or culture). Unfortunately, it's also the way to figure out how research actually works in Civ IV.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately for you all, I've done all that. This article came about because I was interested in what the optimal start to the game was. However, upon working out that information, I was startled to discover that the amount of research differed from what my lone city was producing. I dug further in depth into the mechanisms of the game and figured out how research is priced, accumulated, and applied in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article will explain the ins and outs of how your beakers get put to work to research the technologies that make or break your game of Civ. To learn more, read on....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]One important note.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR means rounding DOWN to the nearest integer AND it has higher precedence than all other operators EXCEPT FOR parentheses. You will see it used a lot in the article.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The basics (of generating beakers)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Each city generates a raw amount of commerce via the squares that are being worked and the trade routes in the cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) This commerce is in turn translated into beakers (research), coins (gold), or notes (culture) via the technology and culture sliders. The actual amount of beakers and notes are gained by using the specified slider rate in the following equation:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (total commerce * the specified slider rate).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The remainder is then given in gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, yes, you WILL get AT LEAST one gold from each city that has a commerce that is not a multiple of 10, if your science or culture is not 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Each city then takes each amount and adds in any additional sources of research, gold, or culture (via shrines, production processes, and specialists, mainly).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Each city then multiplies it by whatever modifiers it has depending on what buildings it has built (e.g., beakers are multiplied by 1.25 if it has a library, gold is multiplied by 1.5 if it has a bank, etc.). NOTE: multipliers are ADDITIVE (i.e., if you have a library and university, your beakers will be multiplied by 1.5 (1 + 0.25 + 0.25) NOT 1.5625 (1 * 1.25 * 1.25)).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) The beaker totals are then added up across the cities and the sum is your base beaker total.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Technology Costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the technology cost of a technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the base cost of the technology. (This can be found for each technology in Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Take the Difficulty Modifier and add 0.5 * the Number of teammates you have to it. (The difficulty modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4HandicapInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 1) by 2) and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by the Map Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. (The map modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4WorldInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Multiply 4) by the Speed Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. This generates the actual cost of the technology. (The speed modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4GameSpeedInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus the formula to calculate a Technology's cost is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Technology Cost[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR ([BOLD]Base Cost[\BOLD] * ([BOLD]Difficulty Modifier[\BOLD] + 0.5 * [BOLD]# of teammates[\BOLD])) * [BOLD]Map Modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Speed Modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Applying the Research to the Technology[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to the technology cost is dependant upon the number of civilizations which know the tech and the number of requirements you have fulfilled for the technology.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Multiply 0.30 by the number of KNOWN, [BOLD]LIVING[\BOLD] civilizations, who have the tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Divide by the number of civilizations which STARTED on the map and ROUND DOWN to the hundredth place (0.01) of the quotient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 2) to 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tech Known by Civilizations modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + RDDW (0.30 * [BOLD]# known Civs who have the tech[\BOLD] / [BOLD]# of Civs who started the game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Start with 1. If the technology does NOT have a minimum requirement (i.e., the starting techs = Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mysticism, Mining), then use 1 AS the modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 0.2 to 1) if a Technology has a MINIMUM Requirement that the player has met. Note: Even if a tech has MANY MANDATORY PREREQUISITES, it will still only give you a boost of 1.2 because you MUST have all those prerequisites to research the tech. (IOW, the minimum requirement IS all of those prerequisites.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 0.2 to 2) for EACH ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL Prerequisite that the player has met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Requirements modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + (0.2 * [BOLD]MINIMUM Req. met[\BOLD]) + (0.2 * [BOLD]# of Optional Prereq. met[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Actual Amount of Beakers Generated Toward a Tech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the amount of beakers which you generate toward the technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the total sum of beakers generated by all your cities (the result from the basics part).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 1 to it if you have a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 2) by the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by Prerequisites modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The formula to calculate the amount of beakers applied to your technology is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Beakers applied to Technology[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (([BOLD]Total Base Beakers[\BOLD] + 1) * [BOLD]KCwT modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]An Example:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I always seem to understand better with an example, so here's a basic one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you want to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] which has a base cost of 350 beakers, the mandatory requirement of [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and the optional (meaning you must research one of them) requirements of ([BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD]).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You know [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You produce 37 net beakers per turn and you have met 3 other civilizations who know it out of 7 who started the map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You started on a standard map (1.4 modifier) at the monarch difficulty level (1.15 modifier) at epic game speed (1.5 modifier) and have 1 teammate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your cost would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR (350 * (1.15 + 0.5 * 1)) * 1.4) * 1.5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (350 * 1.65) = 577[NEWLINE]FLOOR (577 * 1.4) = 807[NEWLINE]FLOOR (807 * 1.5) = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Total cost = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to code of laws would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR ((37 + 1) * (1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7))) * (1 + 0.2 + (0.2 * 0))[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7) = 1.12[NEWLINE]FLOOR (38 * 1.12) = 42[NEWLINE]FLOOR (42 * 1.2) = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beakers applied to Code of Laws/turn = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that having [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] AND [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] only gives you a bonus modifier of 1.2 because you must have at LEAST [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] PLUS one of the optional prerequisites to be able to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. If you also had [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD], then the modifier would be 1.4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overflow[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overflow is calculated by the modifiers from the PREVIOUS Technology. Therefore, if you finished researching [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] this turn, and you had all THREE optional requirements, the overflow beakers which applied to your next technology would be equal to however many you had left USING THE MODIFIERS FOR [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] after finishing [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD]. So, your Requirements modifier would be 1.6 (1.2 * 3). So, you could conceivable get a significant boost toward your next tech OVER WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN if you have a lot of overflow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Repercussions[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) It can be VERY important to establish contact with all the other civilizations in order to speed your beakers applied count. You could potentially be making 28% (17 known civs w/ tech/ 18 civs total) more beakers than you normally could on a tech. This is especially true on harder difficulties. If you just meet half of the other civs, your research on techs known by the others would improve by 14%. This is probably the biggest repercussion of the calculation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) If you're going to research several technologies and one is an optional requirement of another, research the optional one first as that will boost your research toward the other one [BOLD]unless you have a specific reason for researching the other one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) If you're researching the starting techs (no prerequisites modifier), try to reduce the amount of overflow you have, as you're multiplying it by the lowest amount possible. It would be better spent earning some gold which may be necessary to run a deficit research job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) If you're researching a tech which is known by a lot of people and which has many optional prerequisites which you already have, try to time it so that you end a turn with 1 beaker left to research that tech. The next turn INCREASE the amount of commerce you generate in order to increase the research overflow on the next turn to the max amount possible. You could potentially generate 104.8% ((1 + 17 known civs w/ tech/18 civs) * 1.6 [tech w/ 3 optional prerequisites]) more beakers of overflow than you normally would for that tech (assuming it's from Writing to a Starting Tech which no one knows. I know, it's unlikely.). However, for a realistic overflow difference getting almost 46% (1.25 * 1.4 / 1.2) more beakers in overflow is very feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][First tech = 6 known civs w/ tech out of 7 civs and 1 additional optional prerequisite obtained][NEWLINE][Second tech = no known civs with tech and no additional optional prerequisites obtained][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]like Paper w/ Civil Service and Theology to Education.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Pre-Alphabet (and possibly in non-tech trading games), you will be able to determine the number of known players with a certain tech but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. (thx to DaviddesJ for pointing this out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]6) Similar to repercussion #5, if the AI is ahead of you in tech, you will be able to determine the number of known players with a technology which is BEYOND your research ability (i.e., those you do not have the prerequisite technologies for) but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. NOTE: there would also be times where you would NOT know whether another known civ has the tech as the civ modifier would be small enough that no difference could be detected. (thx to Roland Johanson for pointing this out.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]7) If you don't choose a tech as soon as you found your first city, you are probably losing a bonus (if you don't choose a starting tech). This might not be that significant, but when every beaker counts, losing two beakers in the beginning might mean the difference between getting that iron rush 1 turn faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]8) If you have a neighbor who you're thinking of killing off who has techs which you have not researched yet, it might not be worth it to kill them off UNTIL you've researched the tech (1 neighbor who knows the tech in a 7 player game will provide a 1.04 boost).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Additional Modifier for knowing 1 more civilization who has the tech out of....[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2 Starting Civilizations = 0.15[NEWLINE]3 Starting Civilizations = 0.10[NEWLINE]4 Starting Civilizations = 0.075[NEWLINE]5 Starting Civilizations = 0.06[NEWLINE]6 Starting Civilizations = 0.05[NEWLINE]7 Starting Civilizations = 0.0428...[NEWLINE]8 Starting Civilizations = 0.0375[NEWLINE]9 Starting Civilizations = 0.0333...[NEWLINE]10 Starting Civilizations = 0.03[NEWLINE]11 Starting Civilizations = 0.02727...[NEWLINE]12 Starting Civilizations = 0.025[NEWLINE]13 Starting Civilizations = 0.0230769...[NEWLINE]14 Starting Civilizations = 0.0214...[NEWLINE]15 Starting Civilizations = 0.02[NEWLINE]16 Starting Civilizations = 0.01875[NEWLINE]17 Starting Civilizations = 0.017647...[NEWLINE]18 Starting Civilizations = 0.01666....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thanks to:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]LordTerror for his work dealing with the teammate modifier[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Zombie69, Roland Johanson, kryszcztov, jesusin, and LordTerror for suggesting ways to improve and/or clarify the article[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]DaviddesJ for suggesting repercussion #5.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Roland Johanson for suggesting repercussion #6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Arthog for his idea about dead civilizations possibly contributing to the modifier which led to repercussion #8 and for providing a save file to test the idea on.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Technology Research Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Requies[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Research. It's the fundamental way of advancing in life and in Civ IV, and a necessary part of making your way up the food chain in Civ IV from doormat to winner (whether via space race, diplomacy, conquest, or culture). Unfortunately, it's also the way to figure out how research actually works in Civ IV.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately for you all, I've done all that. This article came about because I was interested in what the optimal start to the game was. However, upon working out that information, I was startled to discover that the amount of research differed from what my lone city was producing. I dug further in depth into the mechanisms of the game and figured out how research is priced, accumulated, and applied in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This article will explain the ins and outs of how your beakers get put to work to research the technologies that make or break your game of Civ. To learn more, read on....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]One important note.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR means rounding DOWN to the nearest integer AND it has higher precedence than all other operators EXCEPT FOR parentheses. You will see it used a lot in the article.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The basics (of generating beakers)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Each city generates a raw amount of commerce via the squares that are being worked and the trade routes in the cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) This commerce is in turn translated into beakers (research), coins (gold), or notes (culture) via the technology and culture sliders. The actual amount of beakers and notes are gained by using the specified slider rate in the following equation:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (total commerce * the specified slider rate).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The remainder is then given in gold.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So, yes, you WILL get AT LEAST one gold from each city that has a commerce that is not a multiple of 10, if your science or culture is not 100%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Each city then takes each amount and adds in any additional sources of research, gold, or culture (via shrines, production processes, and specialists, mainly).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Each city then multiplies it by whatever modifiers it has depending on what buildings it has built (e.g., beakers are multiplied by 1.25 if it has a library, gold is multiplied by 1.5 if it has a bank, etc.). NOTE: multipliers are ADDITIVE (i.e., if you have a library and university, your beakers will be multiplied by 1.5 (1 + 0.25 + 0.25) NOT 1.5625 (1 * 1.25 * 1.25)).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) The beaker totals are then added up across the cities and the sum is your base beaker total.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Technology Costs[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the technology cost of a technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the base cost of the technology. (This can be found for each technology in Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfo.xml).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Take the Difficulty Modifier and add 0.5 * the Number of teammates you have to it. (The difficulty modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4HandicapInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 1) by 2) and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by the Map Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. (The map modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4WorldInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Multiply 4) by the Speed Modifier and take the FLOOR of the product. This generates the actual cost of the technology. (The speed modifier can be found in Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4GameSpeedInfo.xml.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thus the formula to calculate a Technology's cost is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Technology Cost[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR ([BOLD]Base Cost[\BOLD] * ([BOLD]Difficulty Modifier[\BOLD] + 0.5 * [BOLD]# of teammates[\BOLD])) * [BOLD]Map Modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Speed Modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Applying the Research to the Technology[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to the technology cost is dependant upon the number of civilizations which know the tech and the number of requirements you have fulfilled for the technology.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Multiply 0.30 by the number of KNOWN, [BOLD]LIVING[\BOLD] civilizations, who have the tech.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Divide by the number of civilizations which STARTED on the map and ROUND DOWN to the hundredth place (0.01) of the quotient.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 2) to 1[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Tech Known by Civilizations modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + RDDW (0.30 * [BOLD]# known Civs who have the tech[\BOLD] / [BOLD]# of Civs who started the game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Start with 1. If the technology does NOT have a minimum requirement (i.e., the starting techs = Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mysticism, Mining), then use 1 AS the modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 0.2 to 1) if a Technology has a MINIMUM Requirement that the player has met. Note: Even if a tech has MANY MANDATORY PREREQUISITES, it will still only give you a boost of 1.2 because you MUST have all those prerequisites to research the tech. (IOW, the minimum requirement IS all of those prerequisites.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Add 0.2 to 2) for EACH ADDITIONAL OPTIONAL Prerequisite that the player has met.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Requirements modifier[\BOLD] = 1 + (0.2 * [BOLD]MINIMUM Req. met[\BOLD]) + (0.2 * [BOLD]# of Optional Prereq. met[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Calculating the Actual Amount of Beakers Generated Toward a Tech[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To calculate the amount of beakers which you generate toward the technology:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Take the total sum of beakers generated by all your cities (the result from the basics part).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Add 1 to it if you have a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Multiply 2) by the Known Civilizations w/ Tech modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Multiply 3) by Prerequisites modifier and take the FLOOR of the product.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The formula to calculate the amount of beakers applied to your technology is:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Beakers applied to Technology[\BOLD] = FLOOR (FLOOR (([BOLD]Total Base Beakers[\BOLD] + 1) * [BOLD]KCwT modifier[\BOLD]) * [BOLD]Prerequisites modifier[\BOLD])[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]An Example:[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I always seem to understand better with an example, so here's a basic one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Say you want to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD] which has a base cost of 350 beakers, the mandatory requirement of [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and the optional (meaning you must research one of them) requirements of ([BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] or [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD]).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You know [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] and [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You produce 37 net beakers per turn and you have met 3 other civilizations who know it out of 7 who started the map.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You started on a standard map (1.4 modifier) at the monarch difficulty level (1.15 modifier) at epic game speed (1.5 modifier) and have 1 teammate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Your cost would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR (FLOOR (350 * (1.15 + 0.5 * 1)) * 1.4) * 1.5)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (350 * 1.65) = 577[NEWLINE]FLOOR (577 * 1.4) = 807[NEWLINE]FLOOR (807 * 1.5) = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Total cost = 1210[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The amount of beakers applied to code of laws would be:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]FLOOR (FLOOR ((37 + 1) * (1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7))) * (1 + 0.2 + (0.2 * 0))[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1 + RDDW (0.30 * 3 / 7) = 1.12[NEWLINE]FLOOR (38 * 1.12) = 42[NEWLINE]FLOOR (42 * 1.2) = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beakers applied to Code of Laws/turn = 50[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note that having [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] AND [BOLD]Priesthood[\BOLD] only gives you a bonus modifier of 1.2 because you must have at LEAST [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] PLUS one of the optional prerequisites to be able to research [BOLD]Code of Laws[\BOLD]. If you also had [BOLD]Currency[\BOLD], then the modifier would be 1.4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Overflow[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The overflow is calculated by the modifiers from the PREVIOUS Technology. Therefore, if you finished researching [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] this turn, and you had all THREE optional requirements, the overflow beakers which applied to your next technology would be equal to however many you had left USING THE MODIFIERS FOR [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD] after finishing [BOLD]Writing[\BOLD]. So, your Requirements modifier would be 1.6 (1.2 * 3). So, you could conceivable get a significant boost toward your next tech OVER WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN if you have a lot of overflow.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Repercussions[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) It can be VERY important to establish contact with all the other civilizations in order to speed your beakers applied count. You could potentially be making 28% (17 known civs w/ tech/ 18 civs total) more beakers than you normally could on a tech. This is especially true on harder difficulties. If you just meet half of the other civs, your research on techs known by the others would improve by 14%. This is probably the biggest repercussion of the calculation.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) If you're going to research several technologies and one is an optional requirement of another, research the optional one first as that will boost your research toward the other one [BOLD]unless you have a specific reason for researching the other one[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) If you're researching the starting techs (no prerequisites modifier), try to reduce the amount of overflow you have, as you're multiplying it by the lowest amount possible. It would be better spent earning some gold which may be necessary to run a deficit research job.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) If you're researching a tech which is known by a lot of people and which has many optional prerequisites which you already have, try to time it so that you end a turn with 1 beaker left to research that tech. The next turn INCREASE the amount of commerce you generate in order to increase the research overflow on the next turn to the max amount possible. You could potentially generate 104.8% ((1 + 17 known civs w/ tech/18 civs) * 1.6 [tech w/ 3 optional prerequisites]) more beakers of overflow than you normally would for that tech (assuming it's from Writing to a Starting Tech which no one knows. I know, it's unlikely.). However, for a realistic overflow difference getting almost 46% (1.25 * 1.4 / 1.2) more beakers in overflow is very feasible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][First tech = 6 known civs w/ tech out of 7 civs and 1 additional optional prerequisite obtained][NEWLINE][Second tech = no known civs with tech and no additional optional prerequisites obtained][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]like Paper w/ Civil Service and Theology to Education.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Pre-Alphabet (and possibly in non-tech trading games), you will be able to determine the number of known players with a certain tech but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. (thx to DaviddesJ for pointing this out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]6) Similar to repercussion #5, if the AI is ahead of you in tech, you will be able to determine the number of known players with a technology which is BEYOND your research ability (i.e., those you do not have the prerequisite technologies for) but not who has this specific tech unless all known or no known civs have it. NOTE: there would also be times where you would NOT know whether another known civ has the tech as the civ modifier would be small enough that no difference could be detected. (thx to Roland Johanson for pointing this out.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]7) If you don't choose a tech as soon as you found your first city, you are probably losing a bonus (if you don't choose a starting tech). This might not be that significant, but when every beaker counts, losing two beakers in the beginning might mean the difference between getting that iron rush 1 turn faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]8) If you have a neighbor who you're thinking of killing off who has techs which you have not researched yet, it might not be worth it to kill them off UNTIL you've researched the tech (1 neighbor who knows the tech in a 7 player game will provide a 1.04 boost).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Additional Modifier for knowing 1 more civilization who has the tech out of....[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2 Starting Civilizations = 0.15[NEWLINE]3 Starting Civilizations = 0.10[NEWLINE]4 Starting Civilizations = 0.075[NEWLINE]5 Starting Civilizations = 0.06[NEWLINE]6 Starting Civilizations = 0.05[NEWLINE]7 Starting Civilizations = 0.0428...[NEWLINE]8 Starting Civilizations = 0.0375[NEWLINE]9 Starting Civilizations = 0.0333...[NEWLINE]10 Starting Civilizations = 0.03[NEWLINE]11 Starting Civilizations = 0.02727...[NEWLINE]12 Starting Civilizations = 0.025[NEWLINE]13 Starting Civilizations = 0.0230769...[NEWLINE]14 Starting Civilizations = 0.0214...[NEWLINE]15 Starting Civilizations = 0.02[NEWLINE]16 Starting Civilizations = 0.01875[NEWLINE]17 Starting Civilizations = 0.017647...[NEWLINE]18 Starting Civilizations = 0.01666....[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Thanks to:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]LordTerror for his work dealing with the teammate modifier[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Zombie69, Roland Johanson, kryszcztov, jesusin, and LordTerror for suggesting ways to improve and/or clarify the article[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]DaviddesJ for suggesting repercussion #5.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Roland Johanson for suggesting repercussion #6.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Arthog for his idea about dead civilizations possibly contributing to the modifier which led to repercussion #8 and for providing a save file to test the idea on.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_DEMOGRAPHICS_MECHS_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]The Inner Workings of the Demographics Screen Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Robi D[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have noticed that there has been a fair amount of argument about the Demographics screen, both with how they get the numbers and what they mean. So I decided to do a little digging through the code and do some experiments to see how it all worked to see if the Demographics can be of any use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]This has been updated for Beyond the Sword 3.02, Warlord 2.13 and Vanilla 1.74.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]For sections that are the same for both Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13 and BTS 3.02 there will be no notation. For sections where there are differences there will be a notation whether it’s for Vanilla 1.74, Warlords 2.13 or BTS 3.02.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Graphs[\H2][NEWLINE]There are 6 graphs that are displayed.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Game Score[\BOLD]– The accumulated score on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- The GNP produced on each turn (this takes in account all the improvements)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Mfg. Goods produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Crop Yield produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Power[\BOLD]- The amount of Soldiers on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Culture[\BOLD]- The total culture of all your cities on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS only)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage[\BOLD]- The total amount of Espionage Points produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: In BTS rival graphs only become visible after you have the required amount of EP’s against that rival.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Demographics Screen[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The GNP (Gross National Product) is the total of the raw commerce you produce on each turn minus your expenses (city, civic, unit maintenance etc.) Your raw commerce is the gold coins you get from all your worked tiles, the palace, specialists and trade routes. It does not include commerce gained from holy cities and city improvements like markets and banks. When you look at the F2 screen it shows your commerce and income after all the improvements. The commerce figure (left column) also has science commerce which includes the effects of universities etc. However on the F1 screen in the coins column it shows the raw commerce value each city is producing, add these up and subtract you cost and you will get your GNP figure. Therefore it is entirely possible to have a negative GNP but run a profit and continue research at a good pace.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In BTS the GNP is not just about the commerce. The GNP also includes the beakers, culture and espionage points produced in each turn. All these are calculated with the effects of improvements taken into account. Therefore the GNP calculation is;[NEWLINE]Total commerce + total culture + total espionage + (total research * research bonus) – expenses.[NEWLINE]The research bonus is what you get from knowing the prerequisite and other nations you have met who know the tech you are researching, so your GNP can increase by your neighbour discovering the tech you’re currently researching. If you look at the F2 screen it gives you the totals in the left hand column and the expenses in the right column, however the research figure doesn’t take into account the research bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Manufactured Goods is the total of the production you produce on each turn. The raw production is the total hammers you get from each worked tile and specialists, however unlike commerce this does include the effects from city improvements like forges and factories etc. The hammer column on the F1 screen reflects this number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- Crop Yield is the total amount of food you produce each turn from your worked tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- This has been the most intensive and by far the longest to research, as there are many factors that contribute to this number. Firstly it has no bearing on the total units you have in fact you could have zero units but show 100000+ soldiers in the demo screen, you will see how in a second.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 1[\BOLD]- Population points. For every two population points from all your cities you get 1000 soldiers. So;[NEWLINE]1pop = 0 soldiers[NEWLINE]2pop= 1000[NEWLINE]3pop= 1000[NEWLINE]4pop= 2000[NEWLINE]5pop= 2000[NEWLINE]6pop= 3000 and so on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 2[\BOLD]- Technologies. Discovering some technologies (mostly military but not exclusively) gives you extra soldiers. I have to say some of them struck me as a little strange, like Military tradition gives you zero but hunting gives you 2000, but I’m not here to argue about that. Here is the list of techs that give you soldiers. If they are not listed then they give zero soldiers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers- Composites, Stealth[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry, Advanced Flight, Laser[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling, Military Science[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in brief- Composites goes from 0 to 5000 and new BTS techs Laser, Stealth, Advanced Flight and Military Science [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 3[\BOLD]- City Improvement/Wonders. Like discovering some technologies, build certain improvements and wonders will increase the amount of soldiers you have on the demo screen. In this case you amount added for each improvement. For example you get 2000 soldiers for each wall you build, so if you have 5 walls, you have an extra 10000 soldiers. With wonders that give you soldiers, you can only build one so you only get that bonus once. Here is the list of what you get for each improvement. Improvements that don’t give soldiers are not listed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Castles, Dry dock, Forge, Factory[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Barracks, Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant, Totem Pole[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant, Industrial Park, Levee, Dike[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger, Statue of Zeus[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall, Cristor Redentor, Moai Statues[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords Castle go from 2000 to 0 and Barracks from 4000 to 3000. No changes to existing building between Warlords and BTS. Warlords and BTS add new buildings.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 4[\BOLD]- Units. Finally each unit type has a different amount of soldiers attached to it, so a warrior contributes 1000 soldiers, while a Swordsman is 3000 soldiers. Interestingly enough a units experience points has no bearing on the amount of soldiers it equates to. Units such as scouts, workers missionaries and spies contribute zero soldiers to the demo screen. Here is the full list of what you get for each unit;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Axeman, Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Swordsman, Phalanx, Skimisher, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Jaguar Warrior, Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport,[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Skimisher, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley, Airship[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel, Holkan, Carrack[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet, Skrimisher, Vulture, Dog Soldier, Bowman, Privateer[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman, War Elephant, Landsknecht, East Indiaman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport, Ballista Elephant, Ship of the Line[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary, Oromo Warrior, Attack Submarine, Cataphract[NEWLINE]9000 soldiers - Cuirassier[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier, Conquistador, Stealth Destroyer, Guided Missile[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]14000 soldiers – Missile Cruiser[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry, Anti Tank[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine, Paratrooper[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry, Mobile SAM, Tactical Nuke[NEWLINE]32000 soldiers – Mobile Artillery[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords, Axeman go from 2000 to 3000 and Jaguar Warrior go from 4000 to 3000. Between Warlords and BTS, Skrimisher go from 3000 to 4000, War Elephant go from 4000 to 5000 and Conquistador go from 8000 to 10000. Warlords and BTS add new units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Land Area[\BOLD]- The total number of land squares within your borders * 1000. Coast and Ocean tiles are not counted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Population[\BOLD]- The population of all your cities. You can see in the city screen when you run the mouse cursor over the city name. For example a city with 1 pop point = 1000 people, with 2 pop points = 6000, 3 pop points = 21000. All these population scores are added up to give you the result.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate[\BOLD]- Is the percentage of happy faces your cities generate divided by the total number of happy and unhappy faces produced. The formula is happy / happy + unhappy. At the beginning of the game when there are no happy or unhappy faces the game defaults to a rating is 50%. You can see the total of unhappy and happy faces for each city in the f1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD] Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- Works on the same principle as the approval rate except it deals with health and sickness. The formula is health / health + sickness. At the beginning of the game the default is 30 years. You can see the total for health and sickness of each city in the F1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- The amount of commerce you get from trade routes to your cities is the Imports, the total amount of commerce other nations cities get from your cities is the Exports. In effect its counter intuitive, since you would expect that the money you get from other cities is from your Exports and the money other cities get is from your Imports, however it works the other way around, again this does seem strange but as I said before I’m not here to argue about it. Trade routes between cities in your nation are not counted. The Imports/Export are ranked by formula using the imports divided by the exports to get a ratio. If either or both are zero then it is treated as 1. That’s why you see a nation with a Imp/Exp ratio of 12/2 ranked better than a nation with a ratio of 155/35, because the ratio of Imports to Exports is higher (6 compared to 4.4). Personally I’d take the second one any day of the week because I would be getting a lot more money out of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that all of these figures are NOT standardized to the difficulty level, so if you’re playing against the AI at Deity and you have equal production, then the AI is building its units and city improvements faster than you since the AI only need 2/3 of the hammers to make something. The opposite applies for lower levels where the AI gets a production penalty.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. So what does it all mean?[\H2][NEWLINE]Each figure on its own does tell you much at all as to how you empire is going compared to everyone else, but if you look at them all together you can get a pretty good picture of what’s going on and use it to your advantage. Obviously the stats alone wont tell you exactly what’s happening with your rivals nor should they, but they can give you a rough idea of what’s happening in their nations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla and Warlords)[\BOLD] The GNP may seem useless, especially when you see you have a negative GNP but are still doing well. The GNP by itself doesn’t say how well your economy is going, however it does show how vulnerable an economy is to sabotage. If the GNP is low or negative then someone pillaging some towns or taking a key economic city can send the economic structure into ruins very quickly. Therefore if you see a nation that a low GNP compared to food and production, even if they are big and powerful a short concentrated campaign on the financial infrastructure could bring them to their knees.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS)[\BOLD] With BTS the GNP takes on a different meaning. In fact it becomes an indicator to the overall prosperity of a nation rather than just an indication of how much commerce tiles are being worked. This makes it more useful in judging how well a nation is off, because to get a high GNP you need to have improvement in all areas to generating extra commerce, research, culture and espionage. However since the research bonus is added into the figure it is more sensitive to changes in research level then the other three. The only problem with it measuring 4 factors instead of 1 is that you don’t know the proportion of the contribution of each to the value, but i guess that is what your spies are for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods and Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Food Yield and Production can be very useful early on in the game when there is only a few cities, because it can clearly show whether an opponent is concentrating on building military units or population growth. This can be very useful in fast paced Multiplayer games as it lets you anticipate an imminent attack from an opponent near by. Even later in the game you can see these trends will show up, however they are less noticeable. One thing is will give you a good idea of later in the game is what the land of different nations might be like without being able to see it, by comparing the output levels to other nations. A nation ranked high in Goods by low in Food probably has a lot of hills in its territory, if Food is high and Goods are low then there a good chance a lot of the territory is grassland and flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate and Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- The approval rate and life expectance show you the potential nations have for future population growth in their cites, as high numbers in both these categories means that there is plenty of room to added pop points to cities without having unhappy or unhealthy people. This is especially true in the early part of the game. Numbers around 50% mean they have reached the limit, while numbers below 50% show that they have overstretched their resources and could be vulnerable. Also if you look at the at the food yield along with the happiness and healthiness of a nation and find all three are high, especially in the later part of the game then it’s a good bet they are focusing on having specialists in their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- The Soldiers/Power can be a little deceptive when gauging an opponent as its not based entirely on the units. It seems to be a combination of actual power and potential power put together, so you have to do a bit of investigating as to why an opponent is rated as powerful as they are, because it could be mainly from techs and city improvement or it could be mainly from lots of older units, or from a few modern ones, or it could be from an even combination of all of them. This can be very difficult to read in the early part of the game as one change can make a big difference. The best way to find out is getting an open borders agreement and poking around a bit, from there you can see how there power stacks up to your and if you can win. This can be used to your advantage, because a rival could suddenly jump up in the power stakes, but not have the units yet, in this case a quick strike can stop them becoming a headache in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- This one is not very important when it comes to measuring the strength or prosperity of a nation but it still gives you some useful information, because to have trade routes, you need to have open border agreements with other nations, and therefore how many potential friends they may have in future conflicts. This is nullified when the UN resolution for open trade is passed because trade takes place in if borders are closed. The ratio of Imports to Exports gives you an idea of how much a nation has invested in infrastructure like harbours etc. which give trade bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All in all the demographics screen can be a very useful tool when you understand how it works and the information it provides. When you look at all the different areas as a whole you can get picture of a nation’s strengths and weakness, all of which can be used to your advantage. I hope all that I have found can be useful to everyone in their future civving endeavours.</English>
		<French>[H1]The Inner Workings of the Demographics Screen Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Robi D[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have noticed that there has been a fair amount of argument about the Demographics screen, both with how they get the numbers and what they mean. So I decided to do a little digging through the code and do some experiments to see how it all worked to see if the Demographics can be of any use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]This has been updated for Beyond the Sword 3.02, Warlord 2.13 and Vanilla 1.74.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]For sections that are the same for both Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13 and BTS 3.02 there will be no notation. For sections where there are differences there will be a notation whether it’s for Vanilla 1.74, Warlords 2.13 or BTS 3.02.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Graphs[\H2][NEWLINE]There are 6 graphs that are displayed.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Game Score[\BOLD]– The accumulated score on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- The GNP produced on each turn (this takes in account all the improvements)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Mfg. Goods produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Crop Yield produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Power[\BOLD]- The amount of Soldiers on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Culture[\BOLD]- The total culture of all your cities on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS only)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage[\BOLD]- The total amount of Espionage Points produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: In BTS rival graphs only become visible after you have the required amount of EP’s against that rival.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Demographics Screen[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The GNP (Gross National Product) is the total of the raw commerce you produce on each turn minus your expenses (city, civic, unit maintenance etc.) Your raw commerce is the gold coins you get from all your worked tiles, the palace, specialists and trade routes. It does not include commerce gained from holy cities and city improvements like markets and banks. When you look at the F2 screen it shows your commerce and income after all the improvements. The commerce figure (left column) also has science commerce which includes the effects of universities etc. However on the F1 screen in the coins column it shows the raw commerce value each city is producing, add these up and subtract you cost and you will get your GNP figure. Therefore it is entirely possible to have a negative GNP but run a profit and continue research at a good pace.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In BTS the GNP is not just about the commerce. The GNP also includes the beakers, culture and espionage points produced in each turn. All these are calculated with the effects of improvements taken into account. Therefore the GNP calculation is;[NEWLINE]Total commerce + total culture + total espionage + (total research * research bonus) – expenses.[NEWLINE]The research bonus is what you get from knowing the prerequisite and other nations you have met who know the tech you are researching, so your GNP can increase by your neighbour discovering the tech you’re currently researching. If you look at the F2 screen it gives you the totals in the left hand column and the expenses in the right column, however the research figure doesn’t take into account the research bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Manufactured Goods is the total of the production you produce on each turn. The raw production is the total hammers you get from each worked tile and specialists, however unlike commerce this does include the effects from city improvements like forges and factories etc. The hammer column on the F1 screen reflects this number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- Crop Yield is the total amount of food you produce each turn from your worked tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- This has been the most intensive and by far the longest to research, as there are many factors that contribute to this number. Firstly it has no bearing on the total units you have in fact you could have zero units but show 100000+ soldiers in the demo screen, you will see how in a second.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 1[\BOLD]- Population points. For every two population points from all your cities you get 1000 soldiers. So;[NEWLINE]1pop = 0 soldiers[NEWLINE]2pop= 1000[NEWLINE]3pop= 1000[NEWLINE]4pop= 2000[NEWLINE]5pop= 2000[NEWLINE]6pop= 3000 and so on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 2[\BOLD]- Technologies. Discovering some technologies (mostly military but not exclusively) gives you extra soldiers. I have to say some of them struck me as a little strange, like Military tradition gives you zero but hunting gives you 2000, but I’m not here to argue about that. Here is the list of techs that give you soldiers. If they are not listed then they give zero soldiers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers- Composites, Stealth[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry, Advanced Flight, Laser[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling, Military Science[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in brief- Composites goes from 0 to 5000 and new BTS techs Laser, Stealth, Advanced Flight and Military Science [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 3[\BOLD]- City Improvement/Wonders. Like discovering some technologies, build certain improvements and wonders will increase the amount of soldiers you have on the demo screen. In this case you amount added for each improvement. For example you get 2000 soldiers for each wall you build, so if you have 5 walls, you have an extra 10000 soldiers. With wonders that give you soldiers, you can only build one so you only get that bonus once. Here is the list of what you get for each improvement. Improvements that don’t give soldiers are not listed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Castles, Dry dock, Forge, Factory[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Barracks, Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant, Totem Pole[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant, Industrial Park, Levee, Dike[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger, Statue of Zeus[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall, Cristor Redentor, Moai Statues[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords Castle go from 2000 to 0 and Barracks from 4000 to 3000. No changes to existing building between Warlords and BTS. Warlords and BTS add new buildings.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 4[\BOLD]- Units. Finally each unit type has a different amount of soldiers attached to it, so a warrior contributes 1000 soldiers, while a Swordsman is 3000 soldiers. Interestingly enough a units experience points has no bearing on the amount of soldiers it equates to. Units such as scouts, workers missionaries and spies contribute zero soldiers to the demo screen. Here is the full list of what you get for each unit;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Axeman, Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Swordsman, Phalanx, Skimisher, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Jaguar Warrior, Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport,[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Skimisher, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley, Airship[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel, Holkan, Carrack[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet, Skrimisher, Vulture, Dog Soldier, Bowman, Privateer[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman, War Elephant, Landsknecht, East Indiaman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport, Ballista Elephant, Ship of the Line[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary, Oromo Warrior, Attack Submarine, Cataphract[NEWLINE]9000 soldiers - Cuirassier[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier, Conquistador, Stealth Destroyer, Guided Missile[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]14000 soldiers – Missile Cruiser[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry, Anti Tank[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine, Paratrooper[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry, Mobile SAM, Tactical Nuke[NEWLINE]32000 soldiers – Mobile Artillery[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords, Axeman go from 2000 to 3000 and Jaguar Warrior go from 4000 to 3000. Between Warlords and BTS, Skrimisher go from 3000 to 4000, War Elephant go from 4000 to 5000 and Conquistador go from 8000 to 10000. Warlords and BTS add new units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Land Area[\BOLD]- The total number of land squares within your borders * 1000. Coast and Ocean tiles are not counted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Population[\BOLD]- The population of all your cities. You can see in the city screen when you run the mouse cursor over the city name. For example a city with 1 pop point = 1000 people, with 2 pop points = 6000, 3 pop points = 21000. All these population scores are added up to give you the result.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate[\BOLD]- Is the percentage of happy faces your cities generate divided by the total number of happy and unhappy faces produced. The formula is happy / happy + unhappy. At the beginning of the game when there are no happy or unhappy faces the game defaults to a rating is 50%. You can see the total of unhappy and happy faces for each city in the f1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD] Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- Works on the same principle as the approval rate except it deals with health and sickness. The formula is health / health + sickness. At the beginning of the game the default is 30 years. You can see the total for health and sickness of each city in the F1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- The amount of commerce you get from trade routes to your cities is the Imports, the total amount of commerce other nations cities get from your cities is the Exports. In effect its counter intuitive, since you would expect that the money you get from other cities is from your Exports and the money other cities get is from your Imports, however it works the other way around, again this does seem strange but as I said before I’m not here to argue about it. Trade routes between cities in your nation are not counted. The Imports/Export are ranked by formula using the imports divided by the exports to get a ratio. If either or both are zero then it is treated as 1. That’s why you see a nation with a Imp/Exp ratio of 12/2 ranked better than a nation with a ratio of 155/35, because the ratio of Imports to Exports is higher (6 compared to 4.4). Personally I’d take the second one any day of the week because I would be getting a lot more money out of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that all of these figures are NOT standardized to the difficulty level, so if you’re playing against the AI at Deity and you have equal production, then the AI is building its units and city improvements faster than you since the AI only need 2/3 of the hammers to make something. The opposite applies for lower levels where the AI gets a production penalty.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. So what does it all mean?[\H2][NEWLINE]Each figure on its own does tell you much at all as to how you empire is going compared to everyone else, but if you look at them all together you can get a pretty good picture of what’s going on and use it to your advantage. Obviously the stats alone wont tell you exactly what’s happening with your rivals nor should they, but they can give you a rough idea of what’s happening in their nations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla and Warlords)[\BOLD] The GNP may seem useless, especially when you see you have a negative GNP but are still doing well. The GNP by itself doesn’t say how well your economy is going, however it does show how vulnerable an economy is to sabotage. If the GNP is low or negative then someone pillaging some towns or taking a key economic city can send the economic structure into ruins very quickly. Therefore if you see a nation that a low GNP compared to food and production, even if they are big and powerful a short concentrated campaign on the financial infrastructure could bring them to their knees.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS)[\BOLD] With BTS the GNP takes on a different meaning. In fact it becomes an indicator to the overall prosperity of a nation rather than just an indication of how much commerce tiles are being worked. This makes it more useful in judging how well a nation is off, because to get a high GNP you need to have improvement in all areas to generating extra commerce, research, culture and espionage. However since the research bonus is added into the figure it is more sensitive to changes in research level then the other three. The only problem with it measuring 4 factors instead of 1 is that you don’t know the proportion of the contribution of each to the value, but i guess that is what your spies are for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods and Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Food Yield and Production can be very useful early on in the game when there is only a few cities, because it can clearly show whether an opponent is concentrating on building military units or population growth. This can be very useful in fast paced Multiplayer games as it lets you anticipate an imminent attack from an opponent near by. Even later in the game you can see these trends will show up, however they are less noticeable. One thing is will give you a good idea of later in the game is what the land of different nations might be like without being able to see it, by comparing the output levels to other nations. A nation ranked high in Goods by low in Food probably has a lot of hills in its territory, if Food is high and Goods are low then there a good chance a lot of the territory is grassland and flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate and Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- The approval rate and life expectance show you the potential nations have for future population growth in their cites, as high numbers in both these categories means that there is plenty of room to added pop points to cities without having unhappy or unhealthy people. This is especially true in the early part of the game. Numbers around 50% mean they have reached the limit, while numbers below 50% show that they have overstretched their resources and could be vulnerable. Also if you look at the at the food yield along with the happiness and healthiness of a nation and find all three are high, especially in the later part of the game then it’s a good bet they are focusing on having specialists in their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- The Soldiers/Power can be a little deceptive when gauging an opponent as its not based entirely on the units. It seems to be a combination of actual power and potential power put together, so you have to do a bit of investigating as to why an opponent is rated as powerful as they are, because it could be mainly from techs and city improvement or it could be mainly from lots of older units, or from a few modern ones, or it could be from an even combination of all of them. This can be very difficult to read in the early part of the game as one change can make a big difference. The best way to find out is getting an open borders agreement and poking around a bit, from there you can see how there power stacks up to your and if you can win. This can be used to your advantage, because a rival could suddenly jump up in the power stakes, but not have the units yet, in this case a quick strike can stop them becoming a headache in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- This one is not very important when it comes to measuring the strength or prosperity of a nation but it still gives you some useful information, because to have trade routes, you need to have open border agreements with other nations, and therefore how many potential friends they may have in future conflicts. This is nullified when the UN resolution for open trade is passed because trade takes place in if borders are closed. The ratio of Imports to Exports gives you an idea of how much a nation has invested in infrastructure like harbours etc. which give trade bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All in all the demographics screen can be a very useful tool when you understand how it works and the information it provides. When you look at all the different areas as a whole you can get picture of a nation’s strengths and weakness, all of which can be used to your advantage. I hope all that I have found can be useful to everyone in their future civving endeavours.</French>
		<German>[H1]The Inner Workings of the Demographics Screen Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Robi D[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have noticed that there has been a fair amount of argument about the Demographics screen, both with how they get the numbers and what they mean. So I decided to do a little digging through the code and do some experiments to see how it all worked to see if the Demographics can be of any use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]This has been updated for Beyond the Sword 3.02, Warlord 2.13 and Vanilla 1.74.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]For sections that are the same for both Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13 and BTS 3.02 there will be no notation. For sections where there are differences there will be a notation whether it’s for Vanilla 1.74, Warlords 2.13 or BTS 3.02.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Graphs[\H2][NEWLINE]There are 6 graphs that are displayed.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Game Score[\BOLD]– The accumulated score on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- The GNP produced on each turn (this takes in account all the improvements)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Mfg. Goods produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Crop Yield produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Power[\BOLD]- The amount of Soldiers on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Culture[\BOLD]- The total culture of all your cities on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS only)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage[\BOLD]- The total amount of Espionage Points produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: In BTS rival graphs only become visible after you have the required amount of EP’s against that rival.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Demographics Screen[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The GNP (Gross National Product) is the total of the raw commerce you produce on each turn minus your expenses (city, civic, unit maintenance etc.) Your raw commerce is the gold coins you get from all your worked tiles, the palace, specialists and trade routes. It does not include commerce gained from holy cities and city improvements like markets and banks. When you look at the F2 screen it shows your commerce and income after all the improvements. The commerce figure (left column) also has science commerce which includes the effects of universities etc. However on the F1 screen in the coins column it shows the raw commerce value each city is producing, add these up and subtract you cost and you will get your GNP figure. Therefore it is entirely possible to have a negative GNP but run a profit and continue research at a good pace.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In BTS the GNP is not just about the commerce. The GNP also includes the beakers, culture and espionage points produced in each turn. All these are calculated with the effects of improvements taken into account. Therefore the GNP calculation is;[NEWLINE]Total commerce + total culture + total espionage + (total research * research bonus) – expenses.[NEWLINE]The research bonus is what you get from knowing the prerequisite and other nations you have met who know the tech you are researching, so your GNP can increase by your neighbour discovering the tech you’re currently researching. If you look at the F2 screen it gives you the totals in the left hand column and the expenses in the right column, however the research figure doesn’t take into account the research bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Manufactured Goods is the total of the production you produce on each turn. The raw production is the total hammers you get from each worked tile and specialists, however unlike commerce this does include the effects from city improvements like forges and factories etc. The hammer column on the F1 screen reflects this number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- Crop Yield is the total amount of food you produce each turn from your worked tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- This has been the most intensive and by far the longest to research, as there are many factors that contribute to this number. Firstly it has no bearing on the total units you have in fact you could have zero units but show 100000+ soldiers in the demo screen, you will see how in a second.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 1[\BOLD]- Population points. For every two population points from all your cities you get 1000 soldiers. So;[NEWLINE]1pop = 0 soldiers[NEWLINE]2pop= 1000[NEWLINE]3pop= 1000[NEWLINE]4pop= 2000[NEWLINE]5pop= 2000[NEWLINE]6pop= 3000 and so on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 2[\BOLD]- Technologies. Discovering some technologies (mostly military but not exclusively) gives you extra soldiers. I have to say some of them struck me as a little strange, like Military tradition gives you zero but hunting gives you 2000, but I’m not here to argue about that. Here is the list of techs that give you soldiers. If they are not listed then they give zero soldiers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers- Composites, Stealth[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry, Advanced Flight, Laser[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling, Military Science[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in brief- Composites goes from 0 to 5000 and new BTS techs Laser, Stealth, Advanced Flight and Military Science [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 3[\BOLD]- City Improvement/Wonders. Like discovering some technologies, build certain improvements and wonders will increase the amount of soldiers you have on the demo screen. In this case you amount added for each improvement. For example you get 2000 soldiers for each wall you build, so if you have 5 walls, you have an extra 10000 soldiers. With wonders that give you soldiers, you can only build one so you only get that bonus once. Here is the list of what you get for each improvement. Improvements that don’t give soldiers are not listed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Castles, Dry dock, Forge, Factory[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Barracks, Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant, Totem Pole[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant, Industrial Park, Levee, Dike[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger, Statue of Zeus[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall, Cristor Redentor, Moai Statues[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords Castle go from 2000 to 0 and Barracks from 4000 to 3000. No changes to existing building between Warlords and BTS. Warlords and BTS add new buildings.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 4[\BOLD]- Units. Finally each unit type has a different amount of soldiers attached to it, so a warrior contributes 1000 soldiers, while a Swordsman is 3000 soldiers. Interestingly enough a units experience points has no bearing on the amount of soldiers it equates to. Units such as scouts, workers missionaries and spies contribute zero soldiers to the demo screen. Here is the full list of what you get for each unit;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Axeman, Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Swordsman, Phalanx, Skimisher, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Jaguar Warrior, Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport,[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Skimisher, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley, Airship[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel, Holkan, Carrack[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet, Skrimisher, Vulture, Dog Soldier, Bowman, Privateer[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman, War Elephant, Landsknecht, East Indiaman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport, Ballista Elephant, Ship of the Line[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary, Oromo Warrior, Attack Submarine, Cataphract[NEWLINE]9000 soldiers - Cuirassier[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier, Conquistador, Stealth Destroyer, Guided Missile[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]14000 soldiers – Missile Cruiser[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry, Anti Tank[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine, Paratrooper[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry, Mobile SAM, Tactical Nuke[NEWLINE]32000 soldiers – Mobile Artillery[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords, Axeman go from 2000 to 3000 and Jaguar Warrior go from 4000 to 3000. Between Warlords and BTS, Skrimisher go from 3000 to 4000, War Elephant go from 4000 to 5000 and Conquistador go from 8000 to 10000. Warlords and BTS add new units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Land Area[\BOLD]- The total number of land squares within your borders * 1000. Coast and Ocean tiles are not counted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Population[\BOLD]- The population of all your cities. You can see in the city screen when you run the mouse cursor over the city name. For example a city with 1 pop point = 1000 people, with 2 pop points = 6000, 3 pop points = 21000. All these population scores are added up to give you the result.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate[\BOLD]- Is the percentage of happy faces your cities generate divided by the total number of happy and unhappy faces produced. The formula is happy / happy + unhappy. At the beginning of the game when there are no happy or unhappy faces the game defaults to a rating is 50%. You can see the total of unhappy and happy faces for each city in the f1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD] Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- Works on the same principle as the approval rate except it deals with health and sickness. The formula is health / health + sickness. At the beginning of the game the default is 30 years. You can see the total for health and sickness of each city in the F1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- The amount of commerce you get from trade routes to your cities is the Imports, the total amount of commerce other nations cities get from your cities is the Exports. In effect its counter intuitive, since you would expect that the money you get from other cities is from your Exports and the money other cities get is from your Imports, however it works the other way around, again this does seem strange but as I said before I’m not here to argue about it. Trade routes between cities in your nation are not counted. The Imports/Export are ranked by formula using the imports divided by the exports to get a ratio. If either or both are zero then it is treated as 1. That’s why you see a nation with a Imp/Exp ratio of 12/2 ranked better than a nation with a ratio of 155/35, because the ratio of Imports to Exports is higher (6 compared to 4.4). Personally I’d take the second one any day of the week because I would be getting a lot more money out of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that all of these figures are NOT standardized to the difficulty level, so if you’re playing against the AI at Deity and you have equal production, then the AI is building its units and city improvements faster than you since the AI only need 2/3 of the hammers to make something. The opposite applies for lower levels where the AI gets a production penalty.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. So what does it all mean?[\H2][NEWLINE]Each figure on its own does tell you much at all as to how you empire is going compared to everyone else, but if you look at them all together you can get a pretty good picture of what’s going on and use it to your advantage. Obviously the stats alone wont tell you exactly what’s happening with your rivals nor should they, but they can give you a rough idea of what’s happening in their nations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla and Warlords)[\BOLD] The GNP may seem useless, especially when you see you have a negative GNP but are still doing well. The GNP by itself doesn’t say how well your economy is going, however it does show how vulnerable an economy is to sabotage. If the GNP is low or negative then someone pillaging some towns or taking a key economic city can send the economic structure into ruins very quickly. Therefore if you see a nation that a low GNP compared to food and production, even if they are big and powerful a short concentrated campaign on the financial infrastructure could bring them to their knees.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS)[\BOLD] With BTS the GNP takes on a different meaning. In fact it becomes an indicator to the overall prosperity of a nation rather than just an indication of how much commerce tiles are being worked. This makes it more useful in judging how well a nation is off, because to get a high GNP you need to have improvement in all areas to generating extra commerce, research, culture and espionage. However since the research bonus is added into the figure it is more sensitive to changes in research level then the other three. The only problem with it measuring 4 factors instead of 1 is that you don’t know the proportion of the contribution of each to the value, but i guess that is what your spies are for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods and Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Food Yield and Production can be very useful early on in the game when there is only a few cities, because it can clearly show whether an opponent is concentrating on building military units or population growth. This can be very useful in fast paced Multiplayer games as it lets you anticipate an imminent attack from an opponent near by. Even later in the game you can see these trends will show up, however they are less noticeable. One thing is will give you a good idea of later in the game is what the land of different nations might be like without being able to see it, by comparing the output levels to other nations. A nation ranked high in Goods by low in Food probably has a lot of hills in its territory, if Food is high and Goods are low then there a good chance a lot of the territory is grassland and flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate and Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- The approval rate and life expectance show you the potential nations have for future population growth in their cites, as high numbers in both these categories means that there is plenty of room to added pop points to cities without having unhappy or unhealthy people. This is especially true in the early part of the game. Numbers around 50% mean they have reached the limit, while numbers below 50% show that they have overstretched their resources and could be vulnerable. Also if you look at the at the food yield along with the happiness and healthiness of a nation and find all three are high, especially in the later part of the game then it’s a good bet they are focusing on having specialists in their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- The Soldiers/Power can be a little deceptive when gauging an opponent as its not based entirely on the units. It seems to be a combination of actual power and potential power put together, so you have to do a bit of investigating as to why an opponent is rated as powerful as they are, because it could be mainly from techs and city improvement or it could be mainly from lots of older units, or from a few modern ones, or it could be from an even combination of all of them. This can be very difficult to read in the early part of the game as one change can make a big difference. The best way to find out is getting an open borders agreement and poking around a bit, from there you can see how there power stacks up to your and if you can win. This can be used to your advantage, because a rival could suddenly jump up in the power stakes, but not have the units yet, in this case a quick strike can stop them becoming a headache in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- This one is not very important when it comes to measuring the strength or prosperity of a nation but it still gives you some useful information, because to have trade routes, you need to have open border agreements with other nations, and therefore how many potential friends they may have in future conflicts. This is nullified when the UN resolution for open trade is passed because trade takes place in if borders are closed. The ratio of Imports to Exports gives you an idea of how much a nation has invested in infrastructure like harbours etc. which give trade bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All in all the demographics screen can be a very useful tool when you understand how it works and the information it provides. When you look at all the different areas as a whole you can get picture of a nation’s strengths and weakness, all of which can be used to your advantage. I hope all that I have found can be useful to everyone in their future civving endeavours.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]The Inner Workings of the Demographics Screen Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Robi D[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have noticed that there has been a fair amount of argument about the Demographics screen, both with how they get the numbers and what they mean. So I decided to do a little digging through the code and do some experiments to see how it all worked to see if the Demographics can be of any use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]This has been updated for Beyond the Sword 3.02, Warlord 2.13 and Vanilla 1.74.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]For sections that are the same for both Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13 and BTS 3.02 there will be no notation. For sections where there are differences there will be a notation whether it’s for Vanilla 1.74, Warlords 2.13 or BTS 3.02.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Graphs[\H2][NEWLINE]There are 6 graphs that are displayed.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Game Score[\BOLD]– The accumulated score on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- The GNP produced on each turn (this takes in account all the improvements)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Mfg. Goods produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Crop Yield produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Power[\BOLD]- The amount of Soldiers on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Culture[\BOLD]- The total culture of all your cities on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS only)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage[\BOLD]- The total amount of Espionage Points produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: In BTS rival graphs only become visible after you have the required amount of EP’s against that rival.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Demographics Screen[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The GNP (Gross National Product) is the total of the raw commerce you produce on each turn minus your expenses (city, civic, unit maintenance etc.) Your raw commerce is the gold coins you get from all your worked tiles, the palace, specialists and trade routes. It does not include commerce gained from holy cities and city improvements like markets and banks. When you look at the F2 screen it shows your commerce and income after all the improvements. The commerce figure (left column) also has science commerce which includes the effects of universities etc. However on the F1 screen in the coins column it shows the raw commerce value each city is producing, add these up and subtract you cost and you will get your GNP figure. Therefore it is entirely possible to have a negative GNP but run a profit and continue research at a good pace.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In BTS the GNP is not just about the commerce. The GNP also includes the beakers, culture and espionage points produced in each turn. All these are calculated with the effects of improvements taken into account. Therefore the GNP calculation is;[NEWLINE]Total commerce + total culture + total espionage + (total research * research bonus) – expenses.[NEWLINE]The research bonus is what you get from knowing the prerequisite and other nations you have met who know the tech you are researching, so your GNP can increase by your neighbour discovering the tech you’re currently researching. If you look at the F2 screen it gives you the totals in the left hand column and the expenses in the right column, however the research figure doesn’t take into account the research bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Manufactured Goods is the total of the production you produce on each turn. The raw production is the total hammers you get from each worked tile and specialists, however unlike commerce this does include the effects from city improvements like forges and factories etc. The hammer column on the F1 screen reflects this number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- Crop Yield is the total amount of food you produce each turn from your worked tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- This has been the most intensive and by far the longest to research, as there are many factors that contribute to this number. Firstly it has no bearing on the total units you have in fact you could have zero units but show 100000+ soldiers in the demo screen, you will see how in a second.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 1[\BOLD]- Population points. For every two population points from all your cities you get 1000 soldiers. So;[NEWLINE]1pop = 0 soldiers[NEWLINE]2pop= 1000[NEWLINE]3pop= 1000[NEWLINE]4pop= 2000[NEWLINE]5pop= 2000[NEWLINE]6pop= 3000 and so on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 2[\BOLD]- Technologies. Discovering some technologies (mostly military but not exclusively) gives you extra soldiers. I have to say some of them struck me as a little strange, like Military tradition gives you zero but hunting gives you 2000, but I’m not here to argue about that. Here is the list of techs that give you soldiers. If they are not listed then they give zero soldiers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers- Composites, Stealth[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry, Advanced Flight, Laser[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling, Military Science[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in brief- Composites goes from 0 to 5000 and new BTS techs Laser, Stealth, Advanced Flight and Military Science [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 3[\BOLD]- City Improvement/Wonders. Like discovering some technologies, build certain improvements and wonders will increase the amount of soldiers you have on the demo screen. In this case you amount added for each improvement. For example you get 2000 soldiers for each wall you build, so if you have 5 walls, you have an extra 10000 soldiers. With wonders that give you soldiers, you can only build one so you only get that bonus once. Here is the list of what you get for each improvement. Improvements that don’t give soldiers are not listed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Castles, Dry dock, Forge, Factory[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Barracks, Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant, Totem Pole[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant, Industrial Park, Levee, Dike[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger, Statue of Zeus[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall, Cristor Redentor, Moai Statues[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords Castle go from 2000 to 0 and Barracks from 4000 to 3000. No changes to existing building between Warlords and BTS. Warlords and BTS add new buildings.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 4[\BOLD]- Units. Finally each unit type has a different amount of soldiers attached to it, so a warrior contributes 1000 soldiers, while a Swordsman is 3000 soldiers. Interestingly enough a units experience points has no bearing on the amount of soldiers it equates to. Units such as scouts, workers missionaries and spies contribute zero soldiers to the demo screen. Here is the full list of what you get for each unit;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Axeman, Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Swordsman, Phalanx, Skimisher, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Jaguar Warrior, Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport,[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Skimisher, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley, Airship[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel, Holkan, Carrack[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet, Skrimisher, Vulture, Dog Soldier, Bowman, Privateer[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman, War Elephant, Landsknecht, East Indiaman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport, Ballista Elephant, Ship of the Line[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary, Oromo Warrior, Attack Submarine, Cataphract[NEWLINE]9000 soldiers - Cuirassier[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier, Conquistador, Stealth Destroyer, Guided Missile[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]14000 soldiers – Missile Cruiser[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry, Anti Tank[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine, Paratrooper[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry, Mobile SAM, Tactical Nuke[NEWLINE]32000 soldiers – Mobile Artillery[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords, Axeman go from 2000 to 3000 and Jaguar Warrior go from 4000 to 3000. Between Warlords and BTS, Skrimisher go from 3000 to 4000, War Elephant go from 4000 to 5000 and Conquistador go from 8000 to 10000. Warlords and BTS add new units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Land Area[\BOLD]- The total number of land squares within your borders * 1000. Coast and Ocean tiles are not counted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Population[\BOLD]- The population of all your cities. You can see in the city screen when you run the mouse cursor over the city name. For example a city with 1 pop point = 1000 people, with 2 pop points = 6000, 3 pop points = 21000. All these population scores are added up to give you the result.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate[\BOLD]- Is the percentage of happy faces your cities generate divided by the total number of happy and unhappy faces produced. The formula is happy / happy + unhappy. At the beginning of the game when there are no happy or unhappy faces the game defaults to a rating is 50%. You can see the total of unhappy and happy faces for each city in the f1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD] Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- Works on the same principle as the approval rate except it deals with health and sickness. The formula is health / health + sickness. At the beginning of the game the default is 30 years. You can see the total for health and sickness of each city in the F1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- The amount of commerce you get from trade routes to your cities is the Imports, the total amount of commerce other nations cities get from your cities is the Exports. In effect its counter intuitive, since you would expect that the money you get from other cities is from your Exports and the money other cities get is from your Imports, however it works the other way around, again this does seem strange but as I said before I’m not here to argue about it. Trade routes between cities in your nation are not counted. The Imports/Export are ranked by formula using the imports divided by the exports to get a ratio. If either or both are zero then it is treated as 1. That’s why you see a nation with a Imp/Exp ratio of 12/2 ranked better than a nation with a ratio of 155/35, because the ratio of Imports to Exports is higher (6 compared to 4.4). Personally I’d take the second one any day of the week because I would be getting a lot more money out of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that all of these figures are NOT standardized to the difficulty level, so if you’re playing against the AI at Deity and you have equal production, then the AI is building its units and city improvements faster than you since the AI only need 2/3 of the hammers to make something. The opposite applies for lower levels where the AI gets a production penalty.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. So what does it all mean?[\H2][NEWLINE]Each figure on its own does tell you much at all as to how you empire is going compared to everyone else, but if you look at them all together you can get a pretty good picture of what’s going on and use it to your advantage. Obviously the stats alone wont tell you exactly what’s happening with your rivals nor should they, but they can give you a rough idea of what’s happening in their nations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla and Warlords)[\BOLD] The GNP may seem useless, especially when you see you have a negative GNP but are still doing well. The GNP by itself doesn’t say how well your economy is going, however it does show how vulnerable an economy is to sabotage. If the GNP is low or negative then someone pillaging some towns or taking a key economic city can send the economic structure into ruins very quickly. Therefore if you see a nation that a low GNP compared to food and production, even if they are big and powerful a short concentrated campaign on the financial infrastructure could bring them to their knees.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS)[\BOLD] With BTS the GNP takes on a different meaning. In fact it becomes an indicator to the overall prosperity of a nation rather than just an indication of how much commerce tiles are being worked. This makes it more useful in judging how well a nation is off, because to get a high GNP you need to have improvement in all areas to generating extra commerce, research, culture and espionage. However since the research bonus is added into the figure it is more sensitive to changes in research level then the other three. The only problem with it measuring 4 factors instead of 1 is that you don’t know the proportion of the contribution of each to the value, but i guess that is what your spies are for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods and Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Food Yield and Production can be very useful early on in the game when there is only a few cities, because it can clearly show whether an opponent is concentrating on building military units or population growth. This can be very useful in fast paced Multiplayer games as it lets you anticipate an imminent attack from an opponent near by. Even later in the game you can see these trends will show up, however they are less noticeable. One thing is will give you a good idea of later in the game is what the land of different nations might be like without being able to see it, by comparing the output levels to other nations. A nation ranked high in Goods by low in Food probably has a lot of hills in its territory, if Food is high and Goods are low then there a good chance a lot of the territory is grassland and flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate and Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- The approval rate and life expectance show you the potential nations have for future population growth in their cites, as high numbers in both these categories means that there is plenty of room to added pop points to cities without having unhappy or unhealthy people. This is especially true in the early part of the game. Numbers around 50% mean they have reached the limit, while numbers below 50% show that they have overstretched their resources and could be vulnerable. Also if you look at the at the food yield along with the happiness and healthiness of a nation and find all three are high, especially in the later part of the game then it’s a good bet they are focusing on having specialists in their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- The Soldiers/Power can be a little deceptive when gauging an opponent as its not based entirely on the units. It seems to be a combination of actual power and potential power put together, so you have to do a bit of investigating as to why an opponent is rated as powerful as they are, because it could be mainly from techs and city improvement or it could be mainly from lots of older units, or from a few modern ones, or it could be from an even combination of all of them. This can be very difficult to read in the early part of the game as one change can make a big difference. The best way to find out is getting an open borders agreement and poking around a bit, from there you can see how there power stacks up to your and if you can win. This can be used to your advantage, because a rival could suddenly jump up in the power stakes, but not have the units yet, in this case a quick strike can stop them becoming a headache in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- This one is not very important when it comes to measuring the strength or prosperity of a nation but it still gives you some useful information, because to have trade routes, you need to have open border agreements with other nations, and therefore how many potential friends they may have in future conflicts. This is nullified when the UN resolution for open trade is passed because trade takes place in if borders are closed. The ratio of Imports to Exports gives you an idea of how much a nation has invested in infrastructure like harbours etc. which give trade bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All in all the demographics screen can be a very useful tool when you understand how it works and the information it provides. When you look at all the different areas as a whole you can get picture of a nation’s strengths and weakness, all of which can be used to your advantage. I hope all that I have found can be useful to everyone in their future civving endeavours.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]The Inner Workings of the Demographics Screen Explained[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Robi D[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have noticed that there has been a fair amount of argument about the Demographics screen, both with how they get the numbers and what they mean. So I decided to do a little digging through the code and do some experiments to see how it all worked to see if the Demographics can be of any use.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]This has been updated for Beyond the Sword 3.02, Warlord 2.13 and Vanilla 1.74.[\BOLD][NEWLINE]For sections that are the same for both Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13 and BTS 3.02 there will be no notation. For sections where there are differences there will be a notation whether it’s for Vanilla 1.74, Warlords 2.13 or BTS 3.02.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]1. Graphs[\H2][NEWLINE]There are 6 graphs that are displayed.[NEWLINE][BOLD]Game Score[\BOLD]– The accumulated score on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- The GNP produced on each turn (this takes in account all the improvements)[NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Mfg. Goods produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Crop Yield produced on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Power[\BOLD]- The amount of Soldiers on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD]Culture[\BOLD]- The total culture of all your cities on each turn[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS only)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][BOLD]Espionage[\BOLD]- The total amount of Espionage Points produced.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: In BTS rival graphs only become visible after you have the required amount of EP’s against that rival.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]2. Demographics Screen[\H2][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]The GNP (Gross National Product) is the total of the raw commerce you produce on each turn minus your expenses (city, civic, unit maintenance etc.) Your raw commerce is the gold coins you get from all your worked tiles, the palace, specialists and trade routes. It does not include commerce gained from holy cities and city improvements like markets and banks. When you look at the F2 screen it shows your commerce and income after all the improvements. The commerce figure (left column) also has science commerce which includes the effects of universities etc. However on the F1 screen in the coins column it shows the raw commerce value each city is producing, add these up and subtract you cost and you will get your GNP figure. Therefore it is entirely possible to have a negative GNP but run a profit and continue research at a good pace.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]In BTS the GNP is not just about the commerce. The GNP also includes the beakers, culture and espionage points produced in each turn. All these are calculated with the effects of improvements taken into account. Therefore the GNP calculation is;[NEWLINE]Total commerce + total culture + total espionage + (total research * research bonus) – expenses.[NEWLINE]The research bonus is what you get from knowing the prerequisite and other nations you have met who know the tech you are researching, so your GNP can increase by your neighbour discovering the tech you’re currently researching. If you look at the F2 screen it gives you the totals in the left hand column and the expenses in the right column, however the research figure doesn’t take into account the research bonus.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods[\BOLD]- The Manufactured Goods is the total of the production you produce on each turn. The raw production is the total hammers you get from each worked tile and specialists, however unlike commerce this does include the effects from city improvements like forges and factories etc. The hammer column on the F1 screen reflects this number.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Crop Yield[\BOLD]- Crop Yield is the total amount of food you produce each turn from your worked tiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- This has been the most intensive and by far the longest to research, as there are many factors that contribute to this number. Firstly it has no bearing on the total units you have in fact you could have zero units but show 100000+ soldiers in the demo screen, you will see how in a second.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 1[\BOLD]- Population points. For every two population points from all your cities you get 1000 soldiers. So;[NEWLINE]1pop = 0 soldiers[NEWLINE]2pop= 1000[NEWLINE]3pop= 1000[NEWLINE]4pop= 2000[NEWLINE]5pop= 2000[NEWLINE]6pop= 3000 and so on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 2[\BOLD]- Technologies. Discovering some technologies (mostly military but not exclusively) gives you extra soldiers. I have to say some of them struck me as a little strange, like Military tradition gives you zero but hunting gives you 2000, but I’m not here to argue about that. Here is the list of techs that give you soldiers. If they are not listed then they give zero soldiers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74 and Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Wheel, Alphabet, Astronomy, Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, Steel, Radio, Satellites[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers- Composites, Stealth[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Mathematics, Chemistry, Combustion, Archery[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Guilds, Fission, Flight, Bronze Working, Machinery, Assembly Line[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Artillery, Industrialism, Rocketry, Advanced Flight, Laser[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers- Gunpowder, Rifling, Military Science[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in brief- Composites goes from 0 to 5000 and new BTS techs Laser, Stealth, Advanced Flight and Military Science [\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 3[\BOLD]- City Improvement/Wonders. Like discovering some technologies, build certain improvements and wonders will increase the amount of soldiers you have on the demo screen. In this case you amount added for each improvement. For example you get 2000 soldiers for each wall you build, so if you have 5 walls, you have an extra 10000 soldiers. With wonders that give you soldiers, you can only build one so you only get that bonus once. Here is the list of what you get for each improvement. Improvements that don’t give soldiers are not listed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Castles, Dry dock, Forge, Factory[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Barracks, Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers- Trading Post, Shale Plant, Totem Pole[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers- Walls, Dry Dock, Forge, Factory, Stable, Mint, Assembly Plant, Industrial Park, Levee, Dike[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers- Dun, Barracks, Ikhanda, Citadel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers- Mt. Rushmore, Red Cross, Iron works, Ger, Statue of Zeus[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers- Military Acadamy[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers- Heroic Epic, Chichen Itza, Scotland Yard, West Point[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers- Great Wall, Cristor Redentor, Moai Statues[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords Castle go from 2000 to 0 and Barracks from 4000 to 3000. No changes to existing building between Warlords and BTS. Warlords and BTS add new buildings.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Factor 4[\BOLD]- Units. Finally each unit type has a different amount of soldiers attached to it, so a warrior contributes 1000 soldiers, while a Swordsman is 3000 soldiers. Interestingly enough a units experience points has no bearing on the amount of soldiers it equates to. Units such as scouts, workers missionaries and spies contribute zero soldiers to the demo screen. Here is the full list of what you get for each unit;[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](For Vanilla 1.74)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Axeman, Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Swordsman, Phalanx, Skimisher, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Jaguar Warrior, Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport,[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For Warlords 2.13)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Skimisher, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, War Elephant, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Conquistador, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][BOLD](For BTS 3.02)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]1000 soldiers – Warrior, Quechua[NEWLINE]2000 soldiers – Spearman, Archer, Chariot, Galley, Airship[NEWLINE]3000 soldiers – Axeman, Swordsman, Jaguar Warrior, Gallic Warrior, Phalanx, Impi, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Catapult, Trireme, Caravel, Holkan, Carrack[NEWLINE]4000 soldiers – Praetorian, Pikeman, Longbowman, Crossbowman, Keshik, Galleon, Numidian Cavalry, Hwacha, Trebuchet, Skrimisher, Vulture, Dog Soldier, Bowman, Privateer[NEWLINE]5000 soldiers – Cho-Ko-Nu, Maceman, War Elephant, Landsknecht, East Indiaman[NEWLINE]6000 soldiers – Samurai, Musketman, Knight, Frigate, Ironclad, Transport, Ballista Elephant, Ship of the Line[NEWLINE]7000 soldiers - Berserker[NEWLINE]8000 soldiers – Musketeer, Camel Archer, Cannon, Destroyer, Submarine, Janissary, Oromo Warrior, Attack Submarine, Cataphract[NEWLINE]9000 soldiers - Cuirassier[NEWLINE]10000 soldiers – Rifleman, Grenadier, Machine Gun, Carrier, Conquistador, Stealth Destroyer, Guided Missile[NEWLINE]12000 soldiers – Redcoat, Cavalry, Battleship[NEWLINE]14000 soldiers – Missile Cruiser[NEWLINE]15000 soldiers – Cossack, Fighter, Jet Fighter, Bomber[NEWLINE]16000 soldiers – Infantry, Anti Tank[NEWLINE]18000 soldiers – Marine, Paratrooper[NEWLINE]20000 soldiers – SAM Infantry, Gunship, Artillery, Stealth Bomber[NEWLINE]22000 soldiers – Navy SEAL[NEWLINE]25000 soldiers – Tank[NEWLINE]30000 soldiers – Panzer, Mechanized Infantry, Mobile SAM, Tactical Nuke[NEWLINE]32000 soldiers – Mobile Artillery[NEWLINE]40000 soldiers – Modern Armor, ICBM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Differences in Brief – Between Vanilla and Warlords, Axeman go from 2000 to 3000 and Jaguar Warrior go from 4000 to 3000. Between Warlords and BTS, Skrimisher go from 3000 to 4000, War Elephant go from 4000 to 5000 and Conquistador go from 8000 to 10000. Warlords and BTS add new units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Land Area[\BOLD]- The total number of land squares within your borders * 1000. Coast and Ocean tiles are not counted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Population[\BOLD]- The population of all your cities. You can see in the city screen when you run the mouse cursor over the city name. For example a city with 1 pop point = 1000 people, with 2 pop points = 6000, 3 pop points = 21000. All these population scores are added up to give you the result.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate[\BOLD]- Is the percentage of happy faces your cities generate divided by the total number of happy and unhappy faces produced. The formula is happy / happy + unhappy. At the beginning of the game when there are no happy or unhappy faces the game defaults to a rating is 50%. You can see the total of unhappy and happy faces for each city in the f1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD] Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- Works on the same principle as the approval rate except it deals with health and sickness. The formula is health / health + sickness. At the beginning of the game the default is 30 years. You can see the total for health and sickness of each city in the F1 screen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- The amount of commerce you get from trade routes to your cities is the Imports, the total amount of commerce other nations cities get from your cities is the Exports. In effect its counter intuitive, since you would expect that the money you get from other cities is from your Exports and the money other cities get is from your Imports, however it works the other way around, again this does seem strange but as I said before I’m not here to argue about it. Trade routes between cities in your nation are not counted. The Imports/Export are ranked by formula using the imports divided by the exports to get a ratio. If either or both are zero then it is treated as 1. That’s why you see a nation with a Imp/Exp ratio of 12/2 ranked better than a nation with a ratio of 155/35, because the ratio of Imports to Exports is higher (6 compared to 4.4). Personally I’d take the second one any day of the week because I would be getting a lot more money out of it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is important to note that all of these figures are NOT standardized to the difficulty level, so if you’re playing against the AI at Deity and you have equal production, then the AI is building its units and city improvements faster than you since the AI only need 2/3 of the hammers to make something. The opposite applies for lower levels where the AI gets a production penalty.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]3. So what does it all mean?[\H2][NEWLINE]Each figure on its own does tell you much at all as to how you empire is going compared to everyone else, but if you look at them all together you can get a pretty good picture of what’s going on and use it to your advantage. Obviously the stats alone wont tell you exactly what’s happening with your rivals nor should they, but they can give you a rough idea of what’s happening in their nations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]GNP[\BOLD]- [BOLD](Vanilla and Warlords)[\BOLD] The GNP may seem useless, especially when you see you have a negative GNP but are still doing well. The GNP by itself doesn’t say how well your economy is going, however it does show how vulnerable an economy is to sabotage. If the GNP is low or negative then someone pillaging some towns or taking a key economic city can send the economic structure into ruins very quickly. Therefore if you see a nation that a low GNP compared to food and production, even if they are big and powerful a short concentrated campaign on the financial infrastructure could bring them to their knees.[NEWLINE][BOLD](BTS)[\BOLD] With BTS the GNP takes on a different meaning. In fact it becomes an indicator to the overall prosperity of a nation rather than just an indication of how much commerce tiles are being worked. This makes it more useful in judging how well a nation is off, because to get a high GNP you need to have improvement in all areas to generating extra commerce, research, culture and espionage. However since the research bonus is added into the figure it is more sensitive to changes in research level then the other three. The only problem with it measuring 4 factors instead of 1 is that you don’t know the proportion of the contribution of each to the value, but i guess that is what your spies are for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mfg. Goods and Crop Yield[\BOLD]- The Food Yield and Production can be very useful early on in the game when there is only a few cities, because it can clearly show whether an opponent is concentrating on building military units or population growth. This can be very useful in fast paced Multiplayer games as it lets you anticipate an imminent attack from an opponent near by. Even later in the game you can see these trends will show up, however they are less noticeable. One thing is will give you a good idea of later in the game is what the land of different nations might be like without being able to see it, by comparing the output levels to other nations. A nation ranked high in Goods by low in Food probably has a lot of hills in its territory, if Food is high and Goods are low then there a good chance a lot of the territory is grassland and flood plains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Approval Rate and Life Expectancy[\BOLD]- The approval rate and life expectance show you the potential nations have for future population growth in their cites, as high numbers in both these categories means that there is plenty of room to added pop points to cities without having unhappy or unhealthy people. This is especially true in the early part of the game. Numbers around 50% mean they have reached the limit, while numbers below 50% show that they have overstretched their resources and could be vulnerable. Also if you look at the at the food yield along with the happiness and healthiness of a nation and find all three are high, especially in the later part of the game then it’s a good bet they are focusing on having specialists in their cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Soldiers[\BOLD]- The Soldiers/Power can be a little deceptive when gauging an opponent as its not based entirely on the units. It seems to be a combination of actual power and potential power put together, so you have to do a bit of investigating as to why an opponent is rated as powerful as they are, because it could be mainly from techs and city improvement or it could be mainly from lots of older units, or from a few modern ones, or it could be from an even combination of all of them. This can be very difficult to read in the early part of the game as one change can make a big difference. The best way to find out is getting an open borders agreement and poking around a bit, from there you can see how there power stacks up to your and if you can win. This can be used to your advantage, because a rival could suddenly jump up in the power stakes, but not have the units yet, in this case a quick strike can stop them becoming a headache in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Imports/Exports[\BOLD]- This one is not very important when it comes to measuring the strength or prosperity of a nation but it still gives you some useful information, because to have trade routes, you need to have open border agreements with other nations, and therefore how many potential friends they may have in future conflicts. This is nullified when the UN resolution for open trade is passed because trade takes place in if borders are closed. The ratio of Imports to Exports gives you an idea of how much a nation has invested in infrastructure like harbours etc. which give trade bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]All in all the demographics screen can be a very useful tool when you understand how it works and the information it provides. When you look at all the different areas as a whole you can get picture of a nation’s strengths and weakness, all of which can be used to your advantage. I hope all that I have found can be useful to everyone in their future civving endeavours.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CULTURAL_VICTORY_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Cultural Victory: Notes and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]spiceant[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following are (very many) examples of my knowledge about the cultural victory and its aspects. Keep in mind I play on huge maps on emperor difficulty (and win the occasional few).[NEWLINE]I expect people to understand this article at the point where they have learned to win prince difficulty games, on larger then standard maps with default settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Once you switch your cultural slider to 100%, you will no longer have to worry about happiness, therefore try to maximize the size of your cities for more artist specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. At 100% culture funding you can choose to trade your happiness resources for health ones or money (to pay for the expenses that force your culture slider down below 100%). try to spread the trades equally between leaders so all of the suspicious (backstabbing) leaders will loose a trading deal when declaring war against you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Defensive pacts don't appear to increase your diplomatic backup at the point where other civs decide to or not to declare war you, they do however give you some confidence that you wont be alone when facing war.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Do not use free religion civic when turning the culture slider to 100%, the happiness bonus is negated by the happiness you get from your theaters (+10 happy faces at least). I suggest you use pacifism and caste system.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. The emancipation civic has a heavy prerequisite, in addition the "bonus" it gives can be ignored once you flip the culture switch. If you really run low on happiness, build a colosseum.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. When facing the choice of building wonders in the 1ad-800ad era you must consider that every turn that it takes longer to finish the wonder will mean that it will take up to 10 turns longer to double its base culture in the future![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. the apparently insignificant cultural structures like obelisks and temples can matter very much, as they double the culture they produce quite quickly (as the years pass quickly in the early game). They will also generate a comparatively large amount of culture for their cost, because they will have generated culture since ancient times.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Cultural buildings will generate more culture almost exponentially the earlier they are build, because they will generate culture for longer and will also double their culture/turn earlier (compared to turns instead of years)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Although you won't be warmongering (I presume) you will want a lot of military units, once you turn your cultural slider to over 80% your enemies will get better military techs. Discourage them from taking you over. Defensive units aren't enough, a war of attrition (pillaging of your improvements) can easily ruin you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Although taking a state religion is useful, this will negate the effect of other religions (not their buildings). and will also make heathens more likely to attack you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Once culture is generated, nothing can multiply it, unlike in civIII. if an enemy takes your city however a portion is lost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Normal speed requires 3 cities with 50K culture, epic 75K, marathon 150K and quick speed requires 3 with 25K.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. You can try to calculate how much more culture/turn you need in a city, by sharing the total of amount of remaining required culture by the remaining amount of turns until the deadline (2049AD is to late!!!!), I only suggest this method for making raw estimates.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]14. Cathedrals are great, build as many as you can but don't let them cost you. They cost 10 times the cost of obelisks and require multiple temples per cathedral.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]15. Preserving forests is for the late warmongers or space ship constructors, you want a lot of cottages and the occasional mine for production.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]16. For the cultural victory, there are (usually) 2 phases of your civilization, the development phase and the cocoon phase where you grow into a butterfly. Phase1: build everything that turns up your culture/turn like wonders cathedrals but also the free speech civic (this generates a small portion of the total culture) and Phase2: turn into cocoon, defend your riches and turn your cultural slider 100% generate as much culture as fast as possible, save up the last artists to help your 3rd city over the culture edge,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]17. Don't do overkill, divide all of your culture equally in between cities, the group (of 3) is only as fast as its slowest member.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Buildings will double the amount of culture they generate per turn, after 1000 years[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marathon speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]total turns: 1200[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 2000 BC (100 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1000 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1700 AD (350 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (350 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Epic speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 660 turns.[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 2000 BC (50 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1000 BC (40 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 200 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1000 AD (80 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1650 AD (130 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1850 AD (100 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD, (200 turns) - &gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Normal speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 460[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 BC (75 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 500 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 1000 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1500 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1800 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1920 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (130 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Quick speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 320 turns:[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]50 Years, until 1000 BC (60 turns)[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1500 AD (20 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1650 AD (15 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1900 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1950 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (100 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The early culture buildings you can build, of which the base culture per turn will be doubled quickly:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]note-1a: estimated earliest research moments are estimated, preassumed your civ has no starting techs.[NEWLINE]note-1b: estimated earliest research moments are also estimated as such that techs are not necessarily rushed to (like the drama or music tech)[NEWLINE]note-2: relative costs are... relatively compared to the sizes of cities and improvements that are available to cities at the time they can be build.[NEWLINE]note-3: the &lt;religion&gt; techs stands for any religion, a &lt;religion&gt; building can be build for each religion, so if you have a jewish town you can make a jewish temple there and later when taoism spreads to it you can also build a taoist temple there. &lt;religion&gt; buildings do not directly affect each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Monastery[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +10% science)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Meditation[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theatre[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 3[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Drama[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 1500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (or cheap with creative leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: it can be build relatively early, if its build early enough it will have the base culture/turn of a world wonder like the pyramids[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Temple[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with spiritual leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is low, it also adds a happiness face and can also be build early which also means it can generate a significant amount of culture (about 1-3% of total needed for legendary culture status) it can also generate your first great prophet for a &lt;religion&gt; holy shrine. I suggest building it, if you feel confident it does not damage your civs development.[NEWLINE]in the end your still gonna build them because you will certainly want the cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Obelisk[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Mysticisms[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3700BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap (it takes only 1 population+slavery or a forest chop)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is very low, it also doubles very quickly if build early and will for that reason generate culture for a very long time, do not underestimate it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +25% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3000BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: very expensive[NEWLINE]*note: although it is quite expensive for its time, it can support 2 scientists in a city with a 4 food tile, in a capitol of the &lt;2500BC ages this means double research (and an early great scientist). otherwise you can stick to 1 scientists. Early great scientists are extremely useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Academy[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 4 (and +50% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing (this is not the absolute prereq)[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2300BC[NEWLINE]cost: 1 great scientist[NEWLINE]*note: the academy does NOT double its base culture/turn after 1000 years, oddly. It still has a really nice base culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Cathedral[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +50% to the base culture of the city ([BOLD]doesn't[\BOLD] double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood &amp; Music[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive (10 forest chops) its build twice as fast if you get the special resource (copper/marble/stone) for it (varies per religion)[NEWLINE]*[edit 17 jan '06] note: Cathedrals are great, as noted above they are quite costly, they are however the most powerful cultural buildings you can build, get as many as you can but don't loose yourself to them, they cost quite much.[NEWLINE]these cant be build in every city, it takes about 3-4 temples of one specific religion to build a cathedral in one city after that you need to build another 3-4 temples for a 2nd one, that represents this same religion. 3 temples on &lt;standard size maps (i suspect).[NEWLINE]on lower difficulties or on smaller maps it is possible to get more then 3-4 religions that allow you to build cathedrals, on higher difficulties it may not be feasible to get more then 2 cathedrals per religion. It all depends, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Holy shrine[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +4 (This one DOES double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: any tech (mysticism/priesthood) that allows you to generate great prophets[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2000-1000BC, if you build stonehenge early and manage to own a holy city)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: 1 great prophet (on higher difficulties, holy shrines aren't usually profitable because other religion founders spread theirs much faster)[NEWLINE]*note: on lower difficulties holy shrines can be very useful because they generate a lot of money and a nice bit of culture on top of it, the higher the difficulty the lesser the commerce profit. (shrine commerce cannot go to research/culture, it can however pay for expenses that keep your culture/research rate down)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]University[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +3 (+25% to base science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Education[NEWLINE]Estimated research moment: to late for double base culture[NEWLINE]relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with philosophical)[NEWLINE]*note: its a nice structure, not much to say. Its probably build to late to get the double base culture significantly early enough[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Castle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: engineering[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500AD[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre (or cheap with stone)[NEWLINE]*note: this structure is hardly noteworthy for culture victories, it does help you defend your cities but not the improvements that you need for the city to function in the first place. you are also unlikely to build it before its going to double its base culture anytime soon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]World wonders usually grant you a nice culture boost, at least the early ones. The most famous being the pyramids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are my written notes on wonders and their relations to the culture victory. Take into consideration that some wonders can be build up to twice as fast with resources of which they are made, keep this in mind when considering to or not to build a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Assumptions: no industrial leader trait/no (strategic) resources[NEWLINE]two ** next to a wonders name means it has 10 culture/turn and * means 8culture/turn. no * means 6.[NEWLINE]all world wonders double their base culture/turn after 1000 years.[NEWLINE]here I mention the wonders that (i think) can be build so early that they will reap double cultural value/turn in a significant part of the timeline, 1000 years later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The (great) Pyramids[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: The birth of J christ (some time around then)[NEWLINE]Bonus: can pick representation as your civic (all other civics are unpractical, perhaps not police state but that's it)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive[NEWLINE]although it looks like a great wonder (and it really is) it costs about the same as 15 obelisks, 7.5 settlers, 5-6 axeman or 15 forest chops.[NEWLINE]choose which you want the most. if you do not have stone hooked up, or do not have an industrious leader trait I don't suggest you build it. If you do I advice you to use the representation civic as this makes your artist specialists blow [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE]The great pyramids spawns great engineers, which is extremely useful for building a second world wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mysticism[NEWLINE]Emperor diff AI build moment: 2000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]You can discover it quite early or start with it[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free obelisks[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap[NEWLINE]for non-creative leaders this is a really nice wonder. The great prophet it spawns in 50 turns can found christianity, if you research writing and the first 5 religion techs. [BOLD]Obelisks constructed by stonehenge will never double their base culture after 1000 years[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Great Lighthouse[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry &amp; Sailing[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: 1000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 trading routes in coastal cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (a little less then double that of stonehenge)[NEWLINE]unfortunately it requires you to build a lighthouse as a prerequisite. Fortunately this also gives you a little extra time, this is without thinking one of the best wonders for civilizations that build their cities on coasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Oracle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 1500-500BC[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free tech (one you can otherwise choose to research over time at the time of completion)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre[NEWLINE]It can be build early, this seems pretty bad to me, you can use it to discover an expensive tech, usually code of law (among other players), I also suggest this tech as it founds confucianism and gives you the (relatively) unlimited artist civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Polytheism[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: a small period before the pyramids (usually)[NEWLINE]bonus: +50% great people points[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Expensive (little less then the pyramids)[NEWLINE]this wonder can be build early (regardless of cost) and gives a base culture/turn of 10, very useful![NEWLINE]the +50% great people might sound nice but in truth it might only give you about 15-20% more great people, at least not as much as you might have expected the first day you got CivIV and build the Parthenon. for any non philosophical civ culture victory fairing this is still a very useful wonder as it will spawn artists very early. early great artists will generate more culture then an instant culture bomb (great work).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Colossus[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Metal Casting[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 50AD or beyond[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 commerce on water tiles[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to cheap[NEWLINE]It's a nice little wonder but I don't see many high difficulty cultural conquerors get this one. It's got a prereq tech that does not help build anything else cultural.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chichen Itza[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Code of law[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +25% defense for all of your cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]Nice little wonder, doesn't have an amazing base culture. Nice wonder. get it if you don't get anything else or have stone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Great library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Literature[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: 2 free scientist specialists.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (not very) expensive[NEWLINE]If you don't mind to litter your great people birthline with filthy scientists its okay to build this one, its a very useful wonder if the cost is cut by 50% or more. you can try to keep your great people birthline clean by having a second city that does not allow the city with the G library to cause accidental scientists (by outbreeding it).[NEWLINE]If you got stone and an early position on the timeline I'd go for it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Hanging gardens[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mathematics[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 500AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 health to all cities and +1 pop for each city at completion time.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]The relatively low cost makes up for the (in my opinion) small bonus. I don't like to have my whole population boosted by 1 because this usually causes it all to turn red and green (angry &amp; sick). on the higher difficulties each point of health does count, however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD](The) Notre Dame[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research Tech: Music[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 800AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 happy people in all cities (on the continent)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: bloody expensive (133% of the pyramids)[NEWLINE]If you build the pyramids, this is the wonder that you want the great engineer for. (+1 happy face and +2 great artist points are very useful on high difficulties)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The sistine chapel[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Theology[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 950AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 culture/turn per active specialist (including normal and great people)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (very) expensive[NEWLINE]For a cultural victor this wonder must have been quite so useful, as it has a very useful base culture/turn and useful bonus, I'd build it for its base cultural value though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]PS: Also check out my notes and tips for diplomacy victory.</English>
		<French>[H1]Cultural Victory: Notes and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]spiceant[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following are (very many) examples of my knowledge about the cultural victory and its aspects. Keep in mind I play on huge maps on emperor difficulty (and win the occasional few).[NEWLINE]I expect people to understand this article at the point where they have learned to win prince difficulty games, on larger then standard maps with default settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Once you switch your cultural slider to 100%, you will no longer have to worry about happiness, therefore try to maximize the size of your cities for more artist specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. At 100% culture funding you can choose to trade your happiness resources for health ones or money (to pay for the expenses that force your culture slider down below 100%). try to spread the trades equally between leaders so all of the suspicious (backstabbing) leaders will loose a trading deal when declaring war against you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Defensive pacts don't appear to increase your diplomatic backup at the point where other civs decide to or not to declare war you, they do however give you some confidence that you wont be alone when facing war.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Do not use free religion civic when turning the culture slider to 100%, the happiness bonus is negated by the happiness you get from your theaters (+10 happy faces at least). I suggest you use pacifism and caste system.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. The emancipation civic has a heavy prerequisite, in addition the "bonus" it gives can be ignored once you flip the culture switch. If you really run low on happiness, build a colosseum.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. When facing the choice of building wonders in the 1ad-800ad era you must consider that every turn that it takes longer to finish the wonder will mean that it will take up to 10 turns longer to double its base culture in the future![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. the apparently insignificant cultural structures like obelisks and temples can matter very much, as they double the culture they produce quite quickly (as the years pass quickly in the early game). They will also generate a comparatively large amount of culture for their cost, because they will have generated culture since ancient times.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Cultural buildings will generate more culture almost exponentially the earlier they are build, because they will generate culture for longer and will also double their culture/turn earlier (compared to turns instead of years)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Although you won't be warmongering (I presume) you will want a lot of military units, once you turn your cultural slider to over 80% your enemies will get better military techs. Discourage them from taking you over. Defensive units aren't enough, a war of attrition (pillaging of your improvements) can easily ruin you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Although taking a state religion is useful, this will negate the effect of other religions (not their buildings). and will also make heathens more likely to attack you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Once culture is generated, nothing can multiply it, unlike in civIII. if an enemy takes your city however a portion is lost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Normal speed requires 3 cities with 50K culture, epic 75K, marathon 150K and quick speed requires 3 with 25K.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. You can try to calculate how much more culture/turn you need in a city, by sharing the total of amount of remaining required culture by the remaining amount of turns until the deadline (2049AD is to late!!!!), I only suggest this method for making raw estimates.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]14. Cathedrals are great, build as many as you can but don't let them cost you. They cost 10 times the cost of obelisks and require multiple temples per cathedral.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]15. Preserving forests is for the late warmongers or space ship constructors, you want a lot of cottages and the occasional mine for production.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]16. For the cultural victory, there are (usually) 2 phases of your civilization, the development phase and the cocoon phase where you grow into a butterfly. Phase1: build everything that turns up your culture/turn like wonders cathedrals but also the free speech civic (this generates a small portion of the total culture) and Phase2: turn into cocoon, defend your riches and turn your cultural slider 100% generate as much culture as fast as possible, save up the last artists to help your 3rd city over the culture edge,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]17. Don't do overkill, divide all of your culture equally in between cities, the group (of 3) is only as fast as its slowest member.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Buildings will double the amount of culture they generate per turn, after 1000 years[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marathon speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]total turns: 1200[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 2000 BC (100 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1000 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1700 AD (350 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (350 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Epic speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 660 turns.[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 2000 BC (50 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1000 BC (40 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 200 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1000 AD (80 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1650 AD (130 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1850 AD (100 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD, (200 turns) - &gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Normal speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 460[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 BC (75 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 500 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 1000 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1500 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1800 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1920 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (130 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Quick speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 320 turns:[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]50 Years, until 1000 BC (60 turns)[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1500 AD (20 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1650 AD (15 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1900 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1950 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (100 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The early culture buildings you can build, of which the base culture per turn will be doubled quickly:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]note-1a: estimated earliest research moments are estimated, preassumed your civ has no starting techs.[NEWLINE]note-1b: estimated earliest research moments are also estimated as such that techs are not necessarily rushed to (like the drama or music tech)[NEWLINE]note-2: relative costs are... relatively compared to the sizes of cities and improvements that are available to cities at the time they can be build.[NEWLINE]note-3: the &lt;religion&gt; techs stands for any religion, a &lt;religion&gt; building can be build for each religion, so if you have a jewish town you can make a jewish temple there and later when taoism spreads to it you can also build a taoist temple there. &lt;religion&gt; buildings do not directly affect each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Monastery[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +10% science)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Meditation[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theatre[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 3[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Drama[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 1500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (or cheap with creative leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: it can be build relatively early, if its build early enough it will have the base culture/turn of a world wonder like the pyramids[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Temple[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with spiritual leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is low, it also adds a happiness face and can also be build early which also means it can generate a significant amount of culture (about 1-3% of total needed for legendary culture status) it can also generate your first great prophet for a &lt;religion&gt; holy shrine. I suggest building it, if you feel confident it does not damage your civs development.[NEWLINE]in the end your still gonna build them because you will certainly want the cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Obelisk[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Mysticisms[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3700BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap (it takes only 1 population+slavery or a forest chop)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is very low, it also doubles very quickly if build early and will for that reason generate culture for a very long time, do not underestimate it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +25% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3000BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: very expensive[NEWLINE]*note: although it is quite expensive for its time, it can support 2 scientists in a city with a 4 food tile, in a capitol of the &lt;2500BC ages this means double research (and an early great scientist). otherwise you can stick to 1 scientists. Early great scientists are extremely useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Academy[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 4 (and +50% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing (this is not the absolute prereq)[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2300BC[NEWLINE]cost: 1 great scientist[NEWLINE]*note: the academy does NOT double its base culture/turn after 1000 years, oddly. It still has a really nice base culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Cathedral[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +50% to the base culture of the city ([BOLD]doesn't[\BOLD] double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood &amp; Music[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive (10 forest chops) its build twice as fast if you get the special resource (copper/marble/stone) for it (varies per religion)[NEWLINE]*[edit 17 jan '06] note: Cathedrals are great, as noted above they are quite costly, they are however the most powerful cultural buildings you can build, get as many as you can but don't loose yourself to them, they cost quite much.[NEWLINE]these cant be build in every city, it takes about 3-4 temples of one specific religion to build a cathedral in one city after that you need to build another 3-4 temples for a 2nd one, that represents this same religion. 3 temples on &lt;standard size maps (i suspect).[NEWLINE]on lower difficulties or on smaller maps it is possible to get more then 3-4 religions that allow you to build cathedrals, on higher difficulties it may not be feasible to get more then 2 cathedrals per religion. It all depends, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Holy shrine[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +4 (This one DOES double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: any tech (mysticism/priesthood) that allows you to generate great prophets[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2000-1000BC, if you build stonehenge early and manage to own a holy city)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: 1 great prophet (on higher difficulties, holy shrines aren't usually profitable because other religion founders spread theirs much faster)[NEWLINE]*note: on lower difficulties holy shrines can be very useful because they generate a lot of money and a nice bit of culture on top of it, the higher the difficulty the lesser the commerce profit. (shrine commerce cannot go to research/culture, it can however pay for expenses that keep your culture/research rate down)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]University[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +3 (+25% to base science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Education[NEWLINE]Estimated research moment: to late for double base culture[NEWLINE]relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with philosophical)[NEWLINE]*note: its a nice structure, not much to say. Its probably build to late to get the double base culture significantly early enough[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Castle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: engineering[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500AD[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre (or cheap with stone)[NEWLINE]*note: this structure is hardly noteworthy for culture victories, it does help you defend your cities but not the improvements that you need for the city to function in the first place. you are also unlikely to build it before its going to double its base culture anytime soon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]World wonders usually grant you a nice culture boost, at least the early ones. The most famous being the pyramids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are my written notes on wonders and their relations to the culture victory. Take into consideration that some wonders can be build up to twice as fast with resources of which they are made, keep this in mind when considering to or not to build a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Assumptions: no industrial leader trait/no (strategic) resources[NEWLINE]two ** next to a wonders name means it has 10 culture/turn and * means 8culture/turn. no * means 6.[NEWLINE]all world wonders double their base culture/turn after 1000 years.[NEWLINE]here I mention the wonders that (i think) can be build so early that they will reap double cultural value/turn in a significant part of the timeline, 1000 years later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The (great) Pyramids[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: The birth of J christ (some time around then)[NEWLINE]Bonus: can pick representation as your civic (all other civics are unpractical, perhaps not police state but that's it)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive[NEWLINE]although it looks like a great wonder (and it really is) it costs about the same as 15 obelisks, 7.5 settlers, 5-6 axeman or 15 forest chops.[NEWLINE]choose which you want the most. if you do not have stone hooked up, or do not have an industrious leader trait I don't suggest you build it. If you do I advice you to use the representation civic as this makes your artist specialists blow [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE]The great pyramids spawns great engineers, which is extremely useful for building a second world wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mysticism[NEWLINE]Emperor diff AI build moment: 2000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]You can discover it quite early or start with it[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free obelisks[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap[NEWLINE]for non-creative leaders this is a really nice wonder. The great prophet it spawns in 50 turns can found christianity, if you research writing and the first 5 religion techs. [BOLD]Obelisks constructed by stonehenge will never double their base culture after 1000 years[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Great Lighthouse[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry &amp; Sailing[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: 1000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 trading routes in coastal cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (a little less then double that of stonehenge)[NEWLINE]unfortunately it requires you to build a lighthouse as a prerequisite. Fortunately this also gives you a little extra time, this is without thinking one of the best wonders for civilizations that build their cities on coasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Oracle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 1500-500BC[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free tech (one you can otherwise choose to research over time at the time of completion)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre[NEWLINE]It can be build early, this seems pretty bad to me, you can use it to discover an expensive tech, usually code of law (among other players), I also suggest this tech as it founds confucianism and gives you the (relatively) unlimited artist civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Polytheism[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: a small period before the pyramids (usually)[NEWLINE]bonus: +50% great people points[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Expensive (little less then the pyramids)[NEWLINE]this wonder can be build early (regardless of cost) and gives a base culture/turn of 10, very useful![NEWLINE]the +50% great people might sound nice but in truth it might only give you about 15-20% more great people, at least not as much as you might have expected the first day you got CivIV and build the Parthenon. for any non philosophical civ culture victory fairing this is still a very useful wonder as it will spawn artists very early. early great artists will generate more culture then an instant culture bomb (great work).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Colossus[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Metal Casting[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 50AD or beyond[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 commerce on water tiles[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to cheap[NEWLINE]It's a nice little wonder but I don't see many high difficulty cultural conquerors get this one. It's got a prereq tech that does not help build anything else cultural.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chichen Itza[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Code of law[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +25% defense for all of your cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]Nice little wonder, doesn't have an amazing base culture. Nice wonder. get it if you don't get anything else or have stone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Great library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Literature[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: 2 free scientist specialists.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (not very) expensive[NEWLINE]If you don't mind to litter your great people birthline with filthy scientists its okay to build this one, its a very useful wonder if the cost is cut by 50% or more. you can try to keep your great people birthline clean by having a second city that does not allow the city with the G library to cause accidental scientists (by outbreeding it).[NEWLINE]If you got stone and an early position on the timeline I'd go for it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Hanging gardens[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mathematics[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 500AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 health to all cities and +1 pop for each city at completion time.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]The relatively low cost makes up for the (in my opinion) small bonus. I don't like to have my whole population boosted by 1 because this usually causes it all to turn red and green (angry &amp; sick). on the higher difficulties each point of health does count, however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD](The) Notre Dame[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research Tech: Music[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 800AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 happy people in all cities (on the continent)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: bloody expensive (133% of the pyramids)[NEWLINE]If you build the pyramids, this is the wonder that you want the great engineer for. (+1 happy face and +2 great artist points are very useful on high difficulties)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The sistine chapel[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Theology[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 950AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 culture/turn per active specialist (including normal and great people)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (very) expensive[NEWLINE]For a cultural victor this wonder must have been quite so useful, as it has a very useful base culture/turn and useful bonus, I'd build it for its base cultural value though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]PS: Also check out my notes and tips for diplomacy victory.</French>
		<German>[H1]Cultural Victory: Notes and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]spiceant[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following are (very many) examples of my knowledge about the cultural victory and its aspects. Keep in mind I play on huge maps on emperor difficulty (and win the occasional few).[NEWLINE]I expect people to understand this article at the point where they have learned to win prince difficulty games, on larger then standard maps with default settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Once you switch your cultural slider to 100%, you will no longer have to worry about happiness, therefore try to maximize the size of your cities for more artist specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. At 100% culture funding you can choose to trade your happiness resources for health ones or money (to pay for the expenses that force your culture slider down below 100%). try to spread the trades equally between leaders so all of the suspicious (backstabbing) leaders will loose a trading deal when declaring war against you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Defensive pacts don't appear to increase your diplomatic backup at the point where other civs decide to or not to declare war you, they do however give you some confidence that you wont be alone when facing war.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Do not use free religion civic when turning the culture slider to 100%, the happiness bonus is negated by the happiness you get from your theaters (+10 happy faces at least). I suggest you use pacifism and caste system.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. The emancipation civic has a heavy prerequisite, in addition the "bonus" it gives can be ignored once you flip the culture switch. If you really run low on happiness, build a colosseum.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. When facing the choice of building wonders in the 1ad-800ad era you must consider that every turn that it takes longer to finish the wonder will mean that it will take up to 10 turns longer to double its base culture in the future![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. the apparently insignificant cultural structures like obelisks and temples can matter very much, as they double the culture they produce quite quickly (as the years pass quickly in the early game). They will also generate a comparatively large amount of culture for their cost, because they will have generated culture since ancient times.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Cultural buildings will generate more culture almost exponentially the earlier they are build, because they will generate culture for longer and will also double their culture/turn earlier (compared to turns instead of years)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Although you won't be warmongering (I presume) you will want a lot of military units, once you turn your cultural slider to over 80% your enemies will get better military techs. Discourage them from taking you over. Defensive units aren't enough, a war of attrition (pillaging of your improvements) can easily ruin you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Although taking a state religion is useful, this will negate the effect of other religions (not their buildings). and will also make heathens more likely to attack you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Once culture is generated, nothing can multiply it, unlike in civIII. if an enemy takes your city however a portion is lost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Normal speed requires 3 cities with 50K culture, epic 75K, marathon 150K and quick speed requires 3 with 25K.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. You can try to calculate how much more culture/turn you need in a city, by sharing the total of amount of remaining required culture by the remaining amount of turns until the deadline (2049AD is to late!!!!), I only suggest this method for making raw estimates.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]14. Cathedrals are great, build as many as you can but don't let them cost you. They cost 10 times the cost of obelisks and require multiple temples per cathedral.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]15. Preserving forests is for the late warmongers or space ship constructors, you want a lot of cottages and the occasional mine for production.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]16. For the cultural victory, there are (usually) 2 phases of your civilization, the development phase and the cocoon phase where you grow into a butterfly. Phase1: build everything that turns up your culture/turn like wonders cathedrals but also the free speech civic (this generates a small portion of the total culture) and Phase2: turn into cocoon, defend your riches and turn your cultural slider 100% generate as much culture as fast as possible, save up the last artists to help your 3rd city over the culture edge,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]17. Don't do overkill, divide all of your culture equally in between cities, the group (of 3) is only as fast as its slowest member.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Buildings will double the amount of culture they generate per turn, after 1000 years[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marathon speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]total turns: 1200[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 2000 BC (100 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1000 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1700 AD (350 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (350 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Epic speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 660 turns.[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 2000 BC (50 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1000 BC (40 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 200 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1000 AD (80 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1650 AD (130 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1850 AD (100 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD, (200 turns) - &gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Normal speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 460[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 BC (75 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 500 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 1000 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1500 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1800 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1920 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (130 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Quick speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 320 turns:[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]50 Years, until 1000 BC (60 turns)[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1500 AD (20 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1650 AD (15 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1900 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1950 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (100 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The early culture buildings you can build, of which the base culture per turn will be doubled quickly:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]note-1a: estimated earliest research moments are estimated, preassumed your civ has no starting techs.[NEWLINE]note-1b: estimated earliest research moments are also estimated as such that techs are not necessarily rushed to (like the drama or music tech)[NEWLINE]note-2: relative costs are... relatively compared to the sizes of cities and improvements that are available to cities at the time they can be build.[NEWLINE]note-3: the &lt;religion&gt; techs stands for any religion, a &lt;religion&gt; building can be build for each religion, so if you have a jewish town you can make a jewish temple there and later when taoism spreads to it you can also build a taoist temple there. &lt;religion&gt; buildings do not directly affect each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Monastery[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +10% science)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Meditation[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theatre[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 3[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Drama[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 1500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (or cheap with creative leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: it can be build relatively early, if its build early enough it will have the base culture/turn of a world wonder like the pyramids[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Temple[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with spiritual leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is low, it also adds a happiness face and can also be build early which also means it can generate a significant amount of culture (about 1-3% of total needed for legendary culture status) it can also generate your first great prophet for a &lt;religion&gt; holy shrine. I suggest building it, if you feel confident it does not damage your civs development.[NEWLINE]in the end your still gonna build them because you will certainly want the cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Obelisk[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Mysticisms[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3700BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap (it takes only 1 population+slavery or a forest chop)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is very low, it also doubles very quickly if build early and will for that reason generate culture for a very long time, do not underestimate it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +25% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3000BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: very expensive[NEWLINE]*note: although it is quite expensive for its time, it can support 2 scientists in a city with a 4 food tile, in a capitol of the &lt;2500BC ages this means double research (and an early great scientist). otherwise you can stick to 1 scientists. Early great scientists are extremely useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Academy[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 4 (and +50% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing (this is not the absolute prereq)[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2300BC[NEWLINE]cost: 1 great scientist[NEWLINE]*note: the academy does NOT double its base culture/turn after 1000 years, oddly. It still has a really nice base culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Cathedral[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +50% to the base culture of the city ([BOLD]doesn't[\BOLD] double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood &amp; Music[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive (10 forest chops) its build twice as fast if you get the special resource (copper/marble/stone) for it (varies per religion)[NEWLINE]*[edit 17 jan '06] note: Cathedrals are great, as noted above they are quite costly, they are however the most powerful cultural buildings you can build, get as many as you can but don't loose yourself to them, they cost quite much.[NEWLINE]these cant be build in every city, it takes about 3-4 temples of one specific religion to build a cathedral in one city after that you need to build another 3-4 temples for a 2nd one, that represents this same religion. 3 temples on &lt;standard size maps (i suspect).[NEWLINE]on lower difficulties or on smaller maps it is possible to get more then 3-4 religions that allow you to build cathedrals, on higher difficulties it may not be feasible to get more then 2 cathedrals per religion. It all depends, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Holy shrine[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +4 (This one DOES double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: any tech (mysticism/priesthood) that allows you to generate great prophets[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2000-1000BC, if you build stonehenge early and manage to own a holy city)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: 1 great prophet (on higher difficulties, holy shrines aren't usually profitable because other religion founders spread theirs much faster)[NEWLINE]*note: on lower difficulties holy shrines can be very useful because they generate a lot of money and a nice bit of culture on top of it, the higher the difficulty the lesser the commerce profit. (shrine commerce cannot go to research/culture, it can however pay for expenses that keep your culture/research rate down)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]University[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +3 (+25% to base science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Education[NEWLINE]Estimated research moment: to late for double base culture[NEWLINE]relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with philosophical)[NEWLINE]*note: its a nice structure, not much to say. Its probably build to late to get the double base culture significantly early enough[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Castle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: engineering[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500AD[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre (or cheap with stone)[NEWLINE]*note: this structure is hardly noteworthy for culture victories, it does help you defend your cities but not the improvements that you need for the city to function in the first place. you are also unlikely to build it before its going to double its base culture anytime soon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]World wonders usually grant you a nice culture boost, at least the early ones. The most famous being the pyramids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are my written notes on wonders and their relations to the culture victory. Take into consideration that some wonders can be build up to twice as fast with resources of which they are made, keep this in mind when considering to or not to build a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Assumptions: no industrial leader trait/no (strategic) resources[NEWLINE]two ** next to a wonders name means it has 10 culture/turn and * means 8culture/turn. no * means 6.[NEWLINE]all world wonders double their base culture/turn after 1000 years.[NEWLINE]here I mention the wonders that (i think) can be build so early that they will reap double cultural value/turn in a significant part of the timeline, 1000 years later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The (great) Pyramids[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: The birth of J christ (some time around then)[NEWLINE]Bonus: can pick representation as your civic (all other civics are unpractical, perhaps not police state but that's it)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive[NEWLINE]although it looks like a great wonder (and it really is) it costs about the same as 15 obelisks, 7.5 settlers, 5-6 axeman or 15 forest chops.[NEWLINE]choose which you want the most. if you do not have stone hooked up, or do not have an industrious leader trait I don't suggest you build it. If you do I advice you to use the representation civic as this makes your artist specialists blow [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE]The great pyramids spawns great engineers, which is extremely useful for building a second world wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mysticism[NEWLINE]Emperor diff AI build moment: 2000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]You can discover it quite early or start with it[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free obelisks[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap[NEWLINE]for non-creative leaders this is a really nice wonder. The great prophet it spawns in 50 turns can found christianity, if you research writing and the first 5 religion techs. [BOLD]Obelisks constructed by stonehenge will never double their base culture after 1000 years[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Great Lighthouse[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry &amp; Sailing[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: 1000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 trading routes in coastal cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (a little less then double that of stonehenge)[NEWLINE]unfortunately it requires you to build a lighthouse as a prerequisite. Fortunately this also gives you a little extra time, this is without thinking one of the best wonders for civilizations that build their cities on coasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Oracle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 1500-500BC[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free tech (one you can otherwise choose to research over time at the time of completion)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre[NEWLINE]It can be build early, this seems pretty bad to me, you can use it to discover an expensive tech, usually code of law (among other players), I also suggest this tech as it founds confucianism and gives you the (relatively) unlimited artist civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Polytheism[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: a small period before the pyramids (usually)[NEWLINE]bonus: +50% great people points[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Expensive (little less then the pyramids)[NEWLINE]this wonder can be build early (regardless of cost) and gives a base culture/turn of 10, very useful![NEWLINE]the +50% great people might sound nice but in truth it might only give you about 15-20% more great people, at least not as much as you might have expected the first day you got CivIV and build the Parthenon. for any non philosophical civ culture victory fairing this is still a very useful wonder as it will spawn artists very early. early great artists will generate more culture then an instant culture bomb (great work).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Colossus[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Metal Casting[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 50AD or beyond[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 commerce on water tiles[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to cheap[NEWLINE]It's a nice little wonder but I don't see many high difficulty cultural conquerors get this one. It's got a prereq tech that does not help build anything else cultural.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chichen Itza[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Code of law[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +25% defense for all of your cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]Nice little wonder, doesn't have an amazing base culture. Nice wonder. get it if you don't get anything else or have stone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Great library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Literature[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: 2 free scientist specialists.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (not very) expensive[NEWLINE]If you don't mind to litter your great people birthline with filthy scientists its okay to build this one, its a very useful wonder if the cost is cut by 50% or more. you can try to keep your great people birthline clean by having a second city that does not allow the city with the G library to cause accidental scientists (by outbreeding it).[NEWLINE]If you got stone and an early position on the timeline I'd go for it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Hanging gardens[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mathematics[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 500AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 health to all cities and +1 pop for each city at completion time.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]The relatively low cost makes up for the (in my opinion) small bonus. I don't like to have my whole population boosted by 1 because this usually causes it all to turn red and green (angry &amp; sick). on the higher difficulties each point of health does count, however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD](The) Notre Dame[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research Tech: Music[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 800AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 happy people in all cities (on the continent)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: bloody expensive (133% of the pyramids)[NEWLINE]If you build the pyramids, this is the wonder that you want the great engineer for. (+1 happy face and +2 great artist points are very useful on high difficulties)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The sistine chapel[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Theology[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 950AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 culture/turn per active specialist (including normal and great people)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (very) expensive[NEWLINE]For a cultural victor this wonder must have been quite so useful, as it has a very useful base culture/turn and useful bonus, I'd build it for its base cultural value though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]PS: Also check out my notes and tips for diplomacy victory.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Cultural Victory: Notes and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]spiceant[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following are (very many) examples of my knowledge about the cultural victory and its aspects. Keep in mind I play on huge maps on emperor difficulty (and win the occasional few).[NEWLINE]I expect people to understand this article at the point where they have learned to win prince difficulty games, on larger then standard maps with default settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Once you switch your cultural slider to 100%, you will no longer have to worry about happiness, therefore try to maximize the size of your cities for more artist specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. At 100% culture funding you can choose to trade your happiness resources for health ones or money (to pay for the expenses that force your culture slider down below 100%). try to spread the trades equally between leaders so all of the suspicious (backstabbing) leaders will loose a trading deal when declaring war against you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Defensive pacts don't appear to increase your diplomatic backup at the point where other civs decide to or not to declare war you, they do however give you some confidence that you wont be alone when facing war.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Do not use free religion civic when turning the culture slider to 100%, the happiness bonus is negated by the happiness you get from your theaters (+10 happy faces at least). I suggest you use pacifism and caste system.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. The emancipation civic has a heavy prerequisite, in addition the "bonus" it gives can be ignored once you flip the culture switch. If you really run low on happiness, build a colosseum.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. When facing the choice of building wonders in the 1ad-800ad era you must consider that every turn that it takes longer to finish the wonder will mean that it will take up to 10 turns longer to double its base culture in the future![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. the apparently insignificant cultural structures like obelisks and temples can matter very much, as they double the culture they produce quite quickly (as the years pass quickly in the early game). They will also generate a comparatively large amount of culture for their cost, because they will have generated culture since ancient times.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Cultural buildings will generate more culture almost exponentially the earlier they are build, because they will generate culture for longer and will also double their culture/turn earlier (compared to turns instead of years)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Although you won't be warmongering (I presume) you will want a lot of military units, once you turn your cultural slider to over 80% your enemies will get better military techs. Discourage them from taking you over. Defensive units aren't enough, a war of attrition (pillaging of your improvements) can easily ruin you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Although taking a state religion is useful, this will negate the effect of other religions (not their buildings). and will also make heathens more likely to attack you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Once culture is generated, nothing can multiply it, unlike in civIII. if an enemy takes your city however a portion is lost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Normal speed requires 3 cities with 50K culture, epic 75K, marathon 150K and quick speed requires 3 with 25K.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. You can try to calculate how much more culture/turn you need in a city, by sharing the total of amount of remaining required culture by the remaining amount of turns until the deadline (2049AD is to late!!!!), I only suggest this method for making raw estimates.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]14. Cathedrals are great, build as many as you can but don't let them cost you. They cost 10 times the cost of obelisks and require multiple temples per cathedral.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]15. Preserving forests is for the late warmongers or space ship constructors, you want a lot of cottages and the occasional mine for production.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]16. For the cultural victory, there are (usually) 2 phases of your civilization, the development phase and the cocoon phase where you grow into a butterfly. Phase1: build everything that turns up your culture/turn like wonders cathedrals but also the free speech civic (this generates a small portion of the total culture) and Phase2: turn into cocoon, defend your riches and turn your cultural slider 100% generate as much culture as fast as possible, save up the last artists to help your 3rd city over the culture edge,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]17. Don't do overkill, divide all of your culture equally in between cities, the group (of 3) is only as fast as its slowest member.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Buildings will double the amount of culture they generate per turn, after 1000 years[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marathon speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]total turns: 1200[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 2000 BC (100 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1000 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1700 AD (350 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (350 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Epic speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 660 turns.[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 2000 BC (50 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1000 BC (40 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 200 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1000 AD (80 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1650 AD (130 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1850 AD (100 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD, (200 turns) - &gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Normal speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 460[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 BC (75 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 500 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 1000 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1500 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1800 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1920 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (130 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Quick speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 320 turns:[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]50 Years, until 1000 BC (60 turns)[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1500 AD (20 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1650 AD (15 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1900 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1950 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (100 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The early culture buildings you can build, of which the base culture per turn will be doubled quickly:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]note-1a: estimated earliest research moments are estimated, preassumed your civ has no starting techs.[NEWLINE]note-1b: estimated earliest research moments are also estimated as such that techs are not necessarily rushed to (like the drama or music tech)[NEWLINE]note-2: relative costs are... relatively compared to the sizes of cities and improvements that are available to cities at the time they can be build.[NEWLINE]note-3: the &lt;religion&gt; techs stands for any religion, a &lt;religion&gt; building can be build for each religion, so if you have a jewish town you can make a jewish temple there and later when taoism spreads to it you can also build a taoist temple there. &lt;religion&gt; buildings do not directly affect each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Monastery[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +10% science)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Meditation[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theatre[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 3[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Drama[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 1500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (or cheap with creative leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: it can be build relatively early, if its build early enough it will have the base culture/turn of a world wonder like the pyramids[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Temple[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with spiritual leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is low, it also adds a happiness face and can also be build early which also means it can generate a significant amount of culture (about 1-3% of total needed for legendary culture status) it can also generate your first great prophet for a &lt;religion&gt; holy shrine. I suggest building it, if you feel confident it does not damage your civs development.[NEWLINE]in the end your still gonna build them because you will certainly want the cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Obelisk[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Mysticisms[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3700BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap (it takes only 1 population+slavery or a forest chop)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is very low, it also doubles very quickly if build early and will for that reason generate culture for a very long time, do not underestimate it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +25% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3000BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: very expensive[NEWLINE]*note: although it is quite expensive for its time, it can support 2 scientists in a city with a 4 food tile, in a capitol of the &lt;2500BC ages this means double research (and an early great scientist). otherwise you can stick to 1 scientists. Early great scientists are extremely useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Academy[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 4 (and +50% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing (this is not the absolute prereq)[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2300BC[NEWLINE]cost: 1 great scientist[NEWLINE]*note: the academy does NOT double its base culture/turn after 1000 years, oddly. It still has a really nice base culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Cathedral[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +50% to the base culture of the city ([BOLD]doesn't[\BOLD] double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood &amp; Music[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive (10 forest chops) its build twice as fast if you get the special resource (copper/marble/stone) for it (varies per religion)[NEWLINE]*[edit 17 jan '06] note: Cathedrals are great, as noted above they are quite costly, they are however the most powerful cultural buildings you can build, get as many as you can but don't loose yourself to them, they cost quite much.[NEWLINE]these cant be build in every city, it takes about 3-4 temples of one specific religion to build a cathedral in one city after that you need to build another 3-4 temples for a 2nd one, that represents this same religion. 3 temples on &lt;standard size maps (i suspect).[NEWLINE]on lower difficulties or on smaller maps it is possible to get more then 3-4 religions that allow you to build cathedrals, on higher difficulties it may not be feasible to get more then 2 cathedrals per religion. It all depends, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Holy shrine[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +4 (This one DOES double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: any tech (mysticism/priesthood) that allows you to generate great prophets[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2000-1000BC, if you build stonehenge early and manage to own a holy city)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: 1 great prophet (on higher difficulties, holy shrines aren't usually profitable because other religion founders spread theirs much faster)[NEWLINE]*note: on lower difficulties holy shrines can be very useful because they generate a lot of money and a nice bit of culture on top of it, the higher the difficulty the lesser the commerce profit. (shrine commerce cannot go to research/culture, it can however pay for expenses that keep your culture/research rate down)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]University[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +3 (+25% to base science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Education[NEWLINE]Estimated research moment: to late for double base culture[NEWLINE]relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with philosophical)[NEWLINE]*note: its a nice structure, not much to say. Its probably build to late to get the double base culture significantly early enough[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Castle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: engineering[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500AD[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre (or cheap with stone)[NEWLINE]*note: this structure is hardly noteworthy for culture victories, it does help you defend your cities but not the improvements that you need for the city to function in the first place. you are also unlikely to build it before its going to double its base culture anytime soon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]World wonders usually grant you a nice culture boost, at least the early ones. The most famous being the pyramids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are my written notes on wonders and their relations to the culture victory. Take into consideration that some wonders can be build up to twice as fast with resources of which they are made, keep this in mind when considering to or not to build a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Assumptions: no industrial leader trait/no (strategic) resources[NEWLINE]two ** next to a wonders name means it has 10 culture/turn and * means 8culture/turn. no * means 6.[NEWLINE]all world wonders double their base culture/turn after 1000 years.[NEWLINE]here I mention the wonders that (i think) can be build so early that they will reap double cultural value/turn in a significant part of the timeline, 1000 years later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The (great) Pyramids[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: The birth of J christ (some time around then)[NEWLINE]Bonus: can pick representation as your civic (all other civics are unpractical, perhaps not police state but that's it)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive[NEWLINE]although it looks like a great wonder (and it really is) it costs about the same as 15 obelisks, 7.5 settlers, 5-6 axeman or 15 forest chops.[NEWLINE]choose which you want the most. if you do not have stone hooked up, or do not have an industrious leader trait I don't suggest you build it. If you do I advice you to use the representation civic as this makes your artist specialists blow [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE]The great pyramids spawns great engineers, which is extremely useful for building a second world wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mysticism[NEWLINE]Emperor diff AI build moment: 2000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]You can discover it quite early or start with it[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free obelisks[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap[NEWLINE]for non-creative leaders this is a really nice wonder. The great prophet it spawns in 50 turns can found christianity, if you research writing and the first 5 religion techs. [BOLD]Obelisks constructed by stonehenge will never double their base culture after 1000 years[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Great Lighthouse[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry &amp; Sailing[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: 1000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 trading routes in coastal cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (a little less then double that of stonehenge)[NEWLINE]unfortunately it requires you to build a lighthouse as a prerequisite. Fortunately this also gives you a little extra time, this is without thinking one of the best wonders for civilizations that build their cities on coasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Oracle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 1500-500BC[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free tech (one you can otherwise choose to research over time at the time of completion)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre[NEWLINE]It can be build early, this seems pretty bad to me, you can use it to discover an expensive tech, usually code of law (among other players), I also suggest this tech as it founds confucianism and gives you the (relatively) unlimited artist civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Polytheism[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: a small period before the pyramids (usually)[NEWLINE]bonus: +50% great people points[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Expensive (little less then the pyramids)[NEWLINE]this wonder can be build early (regardless of cost) and gives a base culture/turn of 10, very useful![NEWLINE]the +50% great people might sound nice but in truth it might only give you about 15-20% more great people, at least not as much as you might have expected the first day you got CivIV and build the Parthenon. for any non philosophical civ culture victory fairing this is still a very useful wonder as it will spawn artists very early. early great artists will generate more culture then an instant culture bomb (great work).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Colossus[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Metal Casting[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 50AD or beyond[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 commerce on water tiles[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to cheap[NEWLINE]It's a nice little wonder but I don't see many high difficulty cultural conquerors get this one. It's got a prereq tech that does not help build anything else cultural.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chichen Itza[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Code of law[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +25% defense for all of your cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]Nice little wonder, doesn't have an amazing base culture. Nice wonder. get it if you don't get anything else or have stone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Great library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Literature[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: 2 free scientist specialists.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (not very) expensive[NEWLINE]If you don't mind to litter your great people birthline with filthy scientists its okay to build this one, its a very useful wonder if the cost is cut by 50% or more. you can try to keep your great people birthline clean by having a second city that does not allow the city with the G library to cause accidental scientists (by outbreeding it).[NEWLINE]If you got stone and an early position on the timeline I'd go for it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Hanging gardens[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mathematics[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 500AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 health to all cities and +1 pop for each city at completion time.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]The relatively low cost makes up for the (in my opinion) small bonus. I don't like to have my whole population boosted by 1 because this usually causes it all to turn red and green (angry &amp; sick). on the higher difficulties each point of health does count, however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD](The) Notre Dame[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research Tech: Music[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 800AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 happy people in all cities (on the continent)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: bloody expensive (133% of the pyramids)[NEWLINE]If you build the pyramids, this is the wonder that you want the great engineer for. (+1 happy face and +2 great artist points are very useful on high difficulties)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The sistine chapel[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Theology[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 950AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 culture/turn per active specialist (including normal and great people)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (very) expensive[NEWLINE]For a cultural victor this wonder must have been quite so useful, as it has a very useful base culture/turn and useful bonus, I'd build it for its base cultural value though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]PS: Also check out my notes and tips for diplomacy victory.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Cultural Victory: Notes and Tips[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]spiceant[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following are (very many) examples of my knowledge about the cultural victory and its aspects. Keep in mind I play on huge maps on emperor difficulty (and win the occasional few).[NEWLINE]I expect people to understand this article at the point where they have learned to win prince difficulty games, on larger then standard maps with default settings.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some notes:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]1. Once you switch your cultural slider to 100%, you will no longer have to worry about happiness, therefore try to maximize the size of your cities for more artist specialists[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]2. At 100% culture funding you can choose to trade your happiness resources for health ones or money (to pay for the expenses that force your culture slider down below 100%). try to spread the trades equally between leaders so all of the suspicious (backstabbing) leaders will loose a trading deal when declaring war against you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]3. Defensive pacts don't appear to increase your diplomatic backup at the point where other civs decide to or not to declare war you, they do however give you some confidence that you wont be alone when facing war.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]4. Do not use free religion civic when turning the culture slider to 100%, the happiness bonus is negated by the happiness you get from your theaters (+10 happy faces at least). I suggest you use pacifism and caste system.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]5. The emancipation civic has a heavy prerequisite, in addition the "bonus" it gives can be ignored once you flip the culture switch. If you really run low on happiness, build a colosseum.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]6. When facing the choice of building wonders in the 1ad-800ad era you must consider that every turn that it takes longer to finish the wonder will mean that it will take up to 10 turns longer to double its base culture in the future![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]7. the apparently insignificant cultural structures like obelisks and temples can matter very much, as they double the culture they produce quite quickly (as the years pass quickly in the early game). They will also generate a comparatively large amount of culture for their cost, because they will have generated culture since ancient times.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]8. Cultural buildings will generate more culture almost exponentially the earlier they are build, because they will generate culture for longer and will also double their culture/turn earlier (compared to turns instead of years)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]9. Although you won't be warmongering (I presume) you will want a lot of military units, once you turn your cultural slider to over 80% your enemies will get better military techs. Discourage them from taking you over. Defensive units aren't enough, a war of attrition (pillaging of your improvements) can easily ruin you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]10. Although taking a state religion is useful, this will negate the effect of other religions (not their buildings). and will also make heathens more likely to attack you.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]11. Once culture is generated, nothing can multiply it, unlike in civIII. if an enemy takes your city however a portion is lost.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]12. Normal speed requires 3 cities with 50K culture, epic 75K, marathon 150K and quick speed requires 3 with 25K.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]13. You can try to calculate how much more culture/turn you need in a city, by sharing the total of amount of remaining required culture by the remaining amount of turns until the deadline (2049AD is to late!!!!), I only suggest this method for making raw estimates.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]14. Cathedrals are great, build as many as you can but don't let them cost you. They cost 10 times the cost of obelisks and require multiple temples per cathedral.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]15. Preserving forests is for the late warmongers or space ship constructors, you want a lot of cottages and the occasional mine for production.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]16. For the cultural victory, there are (usually) 2 phases of your civilization, the development phase and the cocoon phase where you grow into a butterfly. Phase1: build everything that turns up your culture/turn like wonders cathedrals but also the free speech civic (this generates a small portion of the total culture) and Phase2: turn into cocoon, defend your riches and turn your cultural slider 100% generate as much culture as fast as possible, save up the last artists to help your 3rd city over the culture edge,[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]17. Don't do overkill, divide all of your culture equally in between cities, the group (of 3) is only as fast as its slowest member.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Buildings will double the amount of culture they generate per turn, after 1000 years[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Marathon speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]total turns: 1200[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 2000 BC (100 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1000 AD (200 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1700 AD (350 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (350 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Epic speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 660 turns.[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 2000 BC (50 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1000 BC (40 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 200 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1000 AD (80 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1650 AD (130 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1850 AD (100 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD, (200 turns) - &gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Normal speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 460[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 BC (75 turns)[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 500 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]20 Years, until 1000 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1500 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1800 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1920 AD (60 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (130 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Quick speed:[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Total turns: 320 turns:[NEWLINE]One turn is[NEWLINE]50 Years, until 1000 BC (60 turns)[NEWLINE]40 Years, until 1000 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]any culture buildings after this point will not generate extra culture/turn, before a realistic deadline[NEWLINE]25 Years, until 1500 AD (20 turns)[NEWLINE]10 Years, until 1650 AD (15 turns)[NEWLINE]5 Years, until 1900 AD (50 turns)[NEWLINE]2 Years, until 1950 AD (25 turns)[NEWLINE]1 Years, until 2050 AD (100 turns) -&gt; time victory condition[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The early culture buildings you can build, of which the base culture per turn will be doubled quickly:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]note-1a: estimated earliest research moments are estimated, preassumed your civ has no starting techs.[NEWLINE]note-1b: estimated earliest research moments are also estimated as such that techs are not necessarily rushed to (like the drama or music tech)[NEWLINE]note-2: relative costs are... relatively compared to the sizes of cities and improvements that are available to cities at the time they can be build.[NEWLINE]note-3: the &lt;religion&gt; techs stands for any religion, a &lt;religion&gt; building can be build for each religion, so if you have a jewish town you can make a jewish temple there and later when taoism spreads to it you can also build a taoist temple there. &lt;religion&gt; buildings do not directly affect each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Monastery[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +10% science)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Meditation[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Theatre[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 3[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Drama[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 1500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (or cheap with creative leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: it can be build relatively early, if its build early enough it will have the base culture/turn of a world wonder like the pyramids[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;Religion&gt; Temple[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3200BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with spiritual leader trait)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is low, it also adds a happiness face and can also be build early which also means it can generate a significant amount of culture (about 1-3% of total needed for legendary culture status) it can also generate your first great prophet for a &lt;religion&gt; holy shrine. I suggest building it, if you feel confident it does not damage your civs development.[NEWLINE]in the end your still gonna build them because you will certainly want the cathedrals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Obelisk[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Mysticisms[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3700BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap (it takes only 1 population+slavery or a forest chop)[NEWLINE]*note: although the base culture is very low, it also doubles very quickly if build early and will for that reason generate culture for a very long time, do not underestimate it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 2 (and +25% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 3000BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: very expensive[NEWLINE]*note: although it is quite expensive for its time, it can support 2 scientists in a city with a 4 food tile, in a capitol of the &lt;2500BC ages this means double research (and an early great scientist). otherwise you can stick to 1 scientists. Early great scientists are extremely useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Academy[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: 4 (and +50% to science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Writing (this is not the absolute prereq)[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2300BC[NEWLINE]cost: 1 great scientist[NEWLINE]*note: the academy does NOT double its base culture/turn after 1000 years, oddly. It still has a really nice base culture.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Cathedral[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +50% to the base culture of the city ([BOLD]doesn't[\BOLD] double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Priesthood &amp; Music[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500BC[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive (10 forest chops) its build twice as fast if you get the special resource (copper/marble/stone) for it (varies per religion)[NEWLINE]*[edit 17 jan '06] note: Cathedrals are great, as noted above they are quite costly, they are however the most powerful cultural buildings you can build, get as many as you can but don't loose yourself to them, they cost quite much.[NEWLINE]these cant be build in every city, it takes about 3-4 temples of one specific religion to build a cathedral in one city after that you need to build another 3-4 temples for a 2nd one, that represents this same religion. 3 temples on &lt;standard size maps (i suspect).[NEWLINE]on lower difficulties or on smaller maps it is possible to get more then 3-4 religions that allow you to build cathedrals, on higher difficulties it may not be feasible to get more then 2 cathedrals per religion. It all depends, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]&lt;religion&gt; Holy shrine[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +4 (This one DOES double after 1000 years)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: any tech (mysticism/priesthood) that allows you to generate great prophets[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 2000-1000BC, if you build stonehenge early and manage to own a holy city)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: 1 great prophet (on higher difficulties, holy shrines aren't usually profitable because other religion founders spread theirs much faster)[NEWLINE]*note: on lower difficulties holy shrines can be very useful because they generate a lot of money and a nice bit of culture on top of it, the higher the difficulty the lesser the commerce profit. (shrine commerce cannot go to research/culture, it can however pay for expenses that keep your culture/research rate down)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]University[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +3 (+25% to base science/turn)[NEWLINE]Research prereq: Education[NEWLINE]Estimated research moment: to late for double base culture[NEWLINE]relative cost: expensive (or mediocre with philosophical)[NEWLINE]*note: its a nice structure, not much to say. Its probably build to late to get the double base culture significantly early enough[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Castle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Base culture/turn: +1[NEWLINE]Research prereq: engineering[NEWLINE]Estimated earliest research moment for prereq tech: 500AD[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre (or cheap with stone)[NEWLINE]*note: this structure is hardly noteworthy for culture victories, it does help you defend your cities but not the improvements that you need for the city to function in the first place. you are also unlikely to build it before its going to double its base culture anytime soon.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]World wonders usually grant you a nice culture boost, at least the early ones. The most famous being the pyramids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here are my written notes on wonders and their relations to the culture victory. Take into consideration that some wonders can be build up to twice as fast with resources of which they are made, keep this in mind when considering to or not to build a wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Assumptions: no industrial leader trait/no (strategic) resources[NEWLINE]two ** next to a wonders name means it has 10 culture/turn and * means 8culture/turn. no * means 6.[NEWLINE]all world wonders double their base culture/turn after 1000 years.[NEWLINE]here I mention the wonders that (i think) can be build so early that they will reap double cultural value/turn in a significant part of the timeline, 1000 years later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The (great) Pyramids[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: The birth of J christ (some time around then)[NEWLINE]Bonus: can pick representation as your civic (all other civics are unpractical, perhaps not police state but that's it)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Dead expensive[NEWLINE]although it looks like a great wonder (and it really is) it costs about the same as 15 obelisks, 7.5 settlers, 5-6 axeman or 15 forest chops.[NEWLINE]choose which you want the most. if you do not have stone hooked up, or do not have an industrious leader trait I don't suggest you build it. If you do I advice you to use the representation civic as this makes your artist specialists blow [ICON_HAPPY].[NEWLINE]The great pyramids spawns great engineers, which is extremely useful for building a second world wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]Stonehenge[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mysticism[NEWLINE]Emperor diff AI build moment: 2000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]You can discover it quite early or start with it[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free obelisks[NEWLINE]Relative cost: cheap[NEWLINE]for non-creative leaders this is a really nice wonder. The great prophet it spawns in 50 turns can found christianity, if you research writing and the first 5 religion techs. [BOLD]Obelisks constructed by stonehenge will never double their base culture after 1000 years[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Great Lighthouse[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Masonry &amp; Sailing[NEWLINE]Emperor difficulty AI build moment: 1000BC-1AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 trading routes in coastal cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre (a little less then double that of stonehenge)[NEWLINE]unfortunately it requires you to build a lighthouse as a prerequisite. Fortunately this also gives you a little extra time, this is without thinking one of the best wonders for civilizations that build their cities on coasts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Oracle[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Priesthood[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 1500-500BC[NEWLINE]Bonus: Free tech (one you can otherwise choose to research over time at the time of completion)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre[NEWLINE]It can be build early, this seems pretty bad to me, you can use it to discover an expensive tech, usually code of law (among other players), I also suggest this tech as it founds confucianism and gives you the (relatively) unlimited artist civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The Parthenon[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Polytheism[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: a small period before the pyramids (usually)[NEWLINE]bonus: +50% great people points[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Expensive (little less then the pyramids)[NEWLINE]this wonder can be build early (regardless of cost) and gives a base culture/turn of 10, very useful![NEWLINE]the +50% great people might sound nice but in truth it might only give you about 15-20% more great people, at least not as much as you might have expected the first day you got CivIV and build the Parthenon. for any non philosophical civ culture victory fairing this is still a very useful wonder as it will spawn artists very early. early great artists will generate more culture then an instant culture bomb (great work).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Colossus[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Metal Casting[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 50AD or beyond[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 commerce on water tiles[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to cheap[NEWLINE]It's a nice little wonder but I don't see many high difficulty cultural conquerors get this one. It's got a prereq tech that does not help build anything else cultural.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Chichen Itza[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Code of law[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +25% defense for all of your cities[NEWLINE]Relative cost: Mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]Nice little wonder, doesn't have an amazing base culture. Nice wonder. get it if you don't get anything else or have stone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]*[BOLD]The Great library[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Literature[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 200AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: 2 free scientist specialists.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (not very) expensive[NEWLINE]If you don't mind to litter your great people birthline with filthy scientists its okay to build this one, its a very useful wonder if the cost is cut by 50% or more. you can try to keep your great people birthline clean by having a second city that does not allow the city with the G library to cause accidental scientists (by outbreeding it).[NEWLINE]If you got stone and an early position on the timeline I'd go for it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Hanging gardens[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Mathematics[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 500AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 health to all cities and +1 pop for each city at completion time.[NEWLINE]Relative cost: mediocre to expensive[NEWLINE]The relatively low cost makes up for the (in my opinion) small bonus. I don't like to have my whole population boosted by 1 because this usually causes it all to turn red and green (angry &amp; sick). on the higher difficulties each point of health does count, however.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD](The) Notre Dame[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research Tech: Music[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 800AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +1 happy people in all cities (on the continent)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: bloody expensive (133% of the pyramids)[NEWLINE]If you build the pyramids, this is the wonder that you want the great engineer for. (+1 happy face and +2 great artist points are very useful on high difficulties)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]**[BOLD]The sistine chapel[\BOLD][NEWLINE]Research tech: Theology[NEWLINE]Emp diff AI build moment: 950AD[NEWLINE]Bonus: +2 culture/turn per active specialist (including normal and great people)[NEWLINE]Relative cost: (very) expensive[NEWLINE]For a cultural victor this wonder must have been quite so useful, as it has a very useful base culture/turn and useful bonus, I'd build it for its base cultural value though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]PS: Also check out my notes and tips for diplomacy victory.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_OCC_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Beginner's Guide to One City Challenge (OCC)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Greencardman[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having played the One City Challenge a few times now I've realized that its one of the most exciting ways to play Civ IV, so I decided to write a short article to get people interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the One City Challenge (or OCC for short) limits the human player to only one city. The computer players can (and do) build as many cities as they want. Sound hard? Well maybe... The good news is the limits on two national wonders per city are lifted, as are the limits on wonders that require a certain number of building as prerequisites (except monasteries for some reason).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting The Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To begin a One City Challenge game you need to go to the custom game menu and check the box marked One City Challenge. Note: while the descriptive text says one city at a time, this is misleading, its one city forever. You can't switch cities even if you capture a nice one from a rival, and cities that culture flip automatically get razed. So be sure you start in a good place, because that's the one and only city you're going to get![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since resources are spread out more on larger maps, they're naturally harder to play a OCC game on. If you're feeling brave, go right ahead, but I usually start on a Tiny Pangaea map with 3 Civs. It guarantees you a few good resources on your start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Victory Conditions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will probably be a good idea to change the normal victory conditions. A culture win is impossible for a human player on an OCC game, so I usually uncheck that box (note to Firaxis, might want to change that). Also, I usually uncheck the Time and Diplomatic victories as well, since the AI players can expand, they usually gain more points than the human player with one city can. [BOLD]Update:[\BOLD] if you want to play with the Permanent Alliance option on, it allows more variety in an OCC game. Because you are permanently allied with another player, the Cultural victory option becomes available (3 cities with legendary culture) and the Diplomatic and Time victories also become more easily attainable. Its your game, have fun with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civs:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your Civ wisely, because it makes a big difference in this game! As will be mentioned later, health, wonders and great people are key aspects to an OCC game, so I usually pick a Civ with combinations that will help me out in those areas (expansive, philosophical, industrious.) I usually forgo a financial Civ because cottage spamming isn't really a viable option for this game, you just don't have the space.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably the most important part of the game for an OCC player is the early game, because it determines how many wonders will be built, and how quickly Great People will start accumulating. But before we move into too many aspects of the early game, I'd like to cover the key game elements to winning the OCC game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Key Game Elements[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three key areas an OCC player needs to pay attention to in order to become a significant threat to the AI: health, wonders, and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Health:[\BOLD] probably the most important aspect to an OCC game, it determines how large your city can grow. In most OCC games, city size is limited only by health (we'll get into why happiness isn't a problem later). So be sure you maximize your chances for a healthy city! This means moving next to fresh water (+2 health) if you can, and away from jungles and towards forests. Also, one health resource is probably more important than two or more happiness resources, so if you have a choice, chose the health resources. Of course any resources are good, since you can always trade them away for gold, and sometimes for health resources, but be careful, the AI is stingy! The only exception to this is Flood Plains, they provide enough food to give you some specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wonders:[\BOLD] another very important tool in the OCC arsenal (I've always wanted to say that.) Along with their usual benefits, wonders also work at constantly expanding your cultural borders, thereby giving you more territory, and probably more resources. But their most important role is providing the ever important GPP (Great People Points) that keep you ahead of the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leads us to great people, that last key element of an OCC game. I use all forms, but generally I find Great Engineers and Great Prophets to be the most important, especially in the early game. Great Scientists are useful for the Academy they give you, and also for discovering techs, while Great Artists keep your borders expanding constantly, allowing you to take over neighboring resources. Occasionally I get a Great Merchant, but since I play on a small map, they're not too useful, especially in large numbers. Others, however, find them to be incredibly useful, you can read their strategies in later posts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Location and Resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now that we've covered some key elements, lets get back to starting our game. To begin with, check out your starting location. Sometimes I keep my settler stationary and explore with my scout to try and find a better area. In an OCC game, its not really what's in your city radius as what's just outside of it. Because your culture expands fairly quickly, you generally get access to resources rather fast. But at some point your borders slow down or the AI builds next to you, which means you should start your city with enough resources 6 to 7 squares away in order to ensure early game access to them. Anything outside of that means you'll have to wait a bit longer for your culture to catch up. So if you have your choice, move closer to health resources and away from happiness ones.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a related note, I should mention two other resources that are vitally important to the OCC win: marble and stone. Since they increase wonder production, they're even worth moving away from a health resource to get. Especially if you can get to within 4 or less squares right away. This will allow you to punch a worker out as quickly as possible, by which time your borders will expand enough to envelop the resource, and you can hook it up and start producing wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To end the resource discussion, remember that unless you start on the coast you'll never be able to produce workboats to get access to sea-based resources (and the health they provide.) Its very frustrating to see your borders expand to the open ocean, and not be able to do anything about it. So if you notice an abundance of water resources, you may want to start on the coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early Game Tech and Production[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since wonders are an important part of an OCC game, I usually beeline for techs that give me wonders. A nice thing about the game is that you don't have to worry about building any settlers! So while the AI is building theirs, you can be starting your first wonder. Usually I build a warrior until the my city reaches a size two, then I switch to a worker, and then finish the warrior and start my first wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Religion:[\BOLD] I generally don't bother with starting a religion. Usually I let others spread theirs to me so I can switch depending on who I want to please, plus I don't want to lose turns building the missionaries that make them worth while. Since unhappiness isn't really a factor in an OCC game (usually,) their only worth is monastaries and gold from shrines. Its up to you if you want to make this part of your game, I think either way can work. Just remember, you only have one city, so you have to justify everything you build![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, so which Techs to research? I usually start with the worker techs, (animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, fishing, mining, masonry) since I really want my worker to get out and start hooking up my resources, especially if there's marble or stone about. Polytheism is also an important tech, because it allows you to build Stonehenge, one of the cheapest wonders. You should also go for Priesthood, to build the Oracle, and Masonry, which allows you to build the Pyramids. After that, you may want to research a few militaristic techs in order to be able to produce something other than Warriors, because barbarians are going to become a problem about this time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, which wonder do you build first? This is actually a hard question. If you build the Pyramids first, your first GP (Great Person) is going to be an engineer, who can rush your second wonder. If you build Stonehenge, it will be a Great Prophet, who provides a substantial gold and hammer boost. I usually chose Stonehenge because it's the cheapest, and the Great Prophet is amazing. Turn them into a super specialists right away, they provide a production boost and start your treasury going. Then I usually build the Oracle for the free tech, and then the Parthenon, for the GP boost. I'll try the Pyramids if nobody has gotten to them yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Rest of the Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This part is rather vague, since I can't really cover how every game will go. But I will note a few things for you to watch out for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, stay current in your military, and keep building units! You may feel safe seeing six units inside your city, but really you're not! Trust me, you'll always need more. I usually keep a line of defense along my borders on hills and in forests to keep barbarians and other civ's out. Pillaging can kill an OCC city, so don't let the enemy get too close. Also, you need more units than you think. The AI can arrive quickly with a stack that will demolish your city garrison in a heartbeat. Its better to meet them out in the field by playing a defensive game in the forest and on hills. I usually have my worker (I usually only produce one a game) build roads when they have nothing to do. It allows me to get my units out from my city quickly, and attack and withdraw in the same move if need be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't need to build every wonder! Ok, that sounds funny, but I've come close. But some wonders just won't do anything at all for you, so use that time to build military units instead, or produce research if you can. Stay away from maintenance wonders and buildings, which means Versailles and a courthouse, there's no need. You can also forgo ones like Notre Dame, the Spiral Minaret and the Sistine Chapel.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what wonders are important? Probably one of the most important national wonders is the Globe Theater. It eliminates all unhappiness in the city its built in. And hey, you only have one city! If only there was a building like that for health... Since its very important, its often worth it to make a beeline for Theater if you're having problems with happiness. It means you can be at war without worrying about war wariness, and you can also grow as large as you like. It also allows you to trade away your happiness resources for health ones if you can (which is why health resources are more important, once you build the Globe Theater you don't need the happiness ones anymore.) However, be aware that some happiness resources can provide health in connection with some buildings later in the game, so check which ones you've traded, and get them back later if you need to.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other wonders which do a lot of good are the Great Library, The Hanging Gardens and The Parthenon. I generally stay away from wonders which provide small but valuable bonuses across an empire, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Sistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, and the Great Lighthouse. It's a hard choice because you only have one city, so it may not be worth it. But if you have the time, have a good amount of military units etc., you may want to go for it, because the bonuses are good, even though small.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may face a problem with happiness in the early/mid game stage. It usually comes at the point at which you've exhausted your happiness resources, but haven't yet been able to build the Globe Theater. A solution to this is researching Monarchy and switching to the Hereditary Rule civic. It gives you +1 happiness per military unit in the city, which means anytime you have an unhappiness problem, just build another unit. Since you always need another unit, this is a good thing. A quick way to get this there is to build the Oracle and use the free tech for Monarchy. Since its usually worth the most beakers, this makes sense anyways, plus you get the added bonus of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Don't neglect your health techs: they're very important, so make time for researching them. This means Pottery, (for granaries) Mathematics, (for Aqueducts, and the Hanging Gardens if you can) and Guilds (for Grocers).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your Great Artists for Culture Bombs: it may seem like a lost cause, but its not, you'll notice your borders moving slowly but surely. Sometimes its even fun, because culture flipped cities automatically raze themselves, so its like watching a blast radiating outwards from your capital in slow motion. Coupled with the culture of your wonders, you can get access to resources three or even 4 squares into your neighbors territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bureaucracy: ahh, the most wonderful of civics. Really, its amazing. Head for Civil Service quickly and pick it up. The +50% boost in production and gold is worth staying with it the rest of the game. Another useful civic is Pacifism, giving you a 100% boost in GP points. I also find Mercantilism to be a somewhat useful tech as well, along with Representation, which provides a nice boost to your science levels.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there you have it, that's all I can think of right now. If I have any more I'll add it later. I hope you enjoy your OCC game.</English>
		<French>[H1]Beginner's Guide to One City Challenge (OCC)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Greencardman[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having played the One City Challenge a few times now I've realized that its one of the most exciting ways to play Civ IV, so I decided to write a short article to get people interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the One City Challenge (or OCC for short) limits the human player to only one city. The computer players can (and do) build as many cities as they want. Sound hard? Well maybe... The good news is the limits on two national wonders per city are lifted, as are the limits on wonders that require a certain number of building as prerequisites (except monasteries for some reason).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting The Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To begin a One City Challenge game you need to go to the custom game menu and check the box marked One City Challenge. Note: while the descriptive text says one city at a time, this is misleading, its one city forever. You can't switch cities even if you capture a nice one from a rival, and cities that culture flip automatically get razed. So be sure you start in a good place, because that's the one and only city you're going to get![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since resources are spread out more on larger maps, they're naturally harder to play a OCC game on. If you're feeling brave, go right ahead, but I usually start on a Tiny Pangaea map with 3 Civs. It guarantees you a few good resources on your start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Victory Conditions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will probably be a good idea to change the normal victory conditions. A culture win is impossible for a human player on an OCC game, so I usually uncheck that box (note to Firaxis, might want to change that). Also, I usually uncheck the Time and Diplomatic victories as well, since the AI players can expand, they usually gain more points than the human player with one city can. [BOLD]Update:[\BOLD] if you want to play with the Permanent Alliance option on, it allows more variety in an OCC game. Because you are permanently allied with another player, the Cultural victory option becomes available (3 cities with legendary culture) and the Diplomatic and Time victories also become more easily attainable. Its your game, have fun with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civs:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your Civ wisely, because it makes a big difference in this game! As will be mentioned later, health, wonders and great people are key aspects to an OCC game, so I usually pick a Civ with combinations that will help me out in those areas (expansive, philosophical, industrious.) I usually forgo a financial Civ because cottage spamming isn't really a viable option for this game, you just don't have the space.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably the most important part of the game for an OCC player is the early game, because it determines how many wonders will be built, and how quickly Great People will start accumulating. But before we move into too many aspects of the early game, I'd like to cover the key game elements to winning the OCC game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Key Game Elements[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three key areas an OCC player needs to pay attention to in order to become a significant threat to the AI: health, wonders, and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Health:[\BOLD] probably the most important aspect to an OCC game, it determines how large your city can grow. In most OCC games, city size is limited only by health (we'll get into why happiness isn't a problem later). So be sure you maximize your chances for a healthy city! This means moving next to fresh water (+2 health) if you can, and away from jungles and towards forests. Also, one health resource is probably more important than two or more happiness resources, so if you have a choice, chose the health resources. Of course any resources are good, since you can always trade them away for gold, and sometimes for health resources, but be careful, the AI is stingy! The only exception to this is Flood Plains, they provide enough food to give you some specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wonders:[\BOLD] another very important tool in the OCC arsenal (I've always wanted to say that.) Along with their usual benefits, wonders also work at constantly expanding your cultural borders, thereby giving you more territory, and probably more resources. But their most important role is providing the ever important GPP (Great People Points) that keep you ahead of the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leads us to great people, that last key element of an OCC game. I use all forms, but generally I find Great Engineers and Great Prophets to be the most important, especially in the early game. Great Scientists are useful for the Academy they give you, and also for discovering techs, while Great Artists keep your borders expanding constantly, allowing you to take over neighboring resources. Occasionally I get a Great Merchant, but since I play on a small map, they're not too useful, especially in large numbers. Others, however, find them to be incredibly useful, you can read their strategies in later posts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Location and Resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now that we've covered some key elements, lets get back to starting our game. To begin with, check out your starting location. Sometimes I keep my settler stationary and explore with my scout to try and find a better area. In an OCC game, its not really what's in your city radius as what's just outside of it. Because your culture expands fairly quickly, you generally get access to resources rather fast. But at some point your borders slow down or the AI builds next to you, which means you should start your city with enough resources 6 to 7 squares away in order to ensure early game access to them. Anything outside of that means you'll have to wait a bit longer for your culture to catch up. So if you have your choice, move closer to health resources and away from happiness ones.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a related note, I should mention two other resources that are vitally important to the OCC win: marble and stone. Since they increase wonder production, they're even worth moving away from a health resource to get. Especially if you can get to within 4 or less squares right away. This will allow you to punch a worker out as quickly as possible, by which time your borders will expand enough to envelop the resource, and you can hook it up and start producing wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To end the resource discussion, remember that unless you start on the coast you'll never be able to produce workboats to get access to sea-based resources (and the health they provide.) Its very frustrating to see your borders expand to the open ocean, and not be able to do anything about it. So if you notice an abundance of water resources, you may want to start on the coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early Game Tech and Production[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since wonders are an important part of an OCC game, I usually beeline for techs that give me wonders. A nice thing about the game is that you don't have to worry about building any settlers! So while the AI is building theirs, you can be starting your first wonder. Usually I build a warrior until the my city reaches a size two, then I switch to a worker, and then finish the warrior and start my first wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Religion:[\BOLD] I generally don't bother with starting a religion. Usually I let others spread theirs to me so I can switch depending on who I want to please, plus I don't want to lose turns building the missionaries that make them worth while. Since unhappiness isn't really a factor in an OCC game (usually,) their only worth is monastaries and gold from shrines. Its up to you if you want to make this part of your game, I think either way can work. Just remember, you only have one city, so you have to justify everything you build![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, so which Techs to research? I usually start with the worker techs, (animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, fishing, mining, masonry) since I really want my worker to get out and start hooking up my resources, especially if there's marble or stone about. Polytheism is also an important tech, because it allows you to build Stonehenge, one of the cheapest wonders. You should also go for Priesthood, to build the Oracle, and Masonry, which allows you to build the Pyramids. After that, you may want to research a few militaristic techs in order to be able to produce something other than Warriors, because barbarians are going to become a problem about this time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, which wonder do you build first? This is actually a hard question. If you build the Pyramids first, your first GP (Great Person) is going to be an engineer, who can rush your second wonder. If you build Stonehenge, it will be a Great Prophet, who provides a substantial gold and hammer boost. I usually chose Stonehenge because it's the cheapest, and the Great Prophet is amazing. Turn them into a super specialists right away, they provide a production boost and start your treasury going. Then I usually build the Oracle for the free tech, and then the Parthenon, for the GP boost. I'll try the Pyramids if nobody has gotten to them yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Rest of the Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This part is rather vague, since I can't really cover how every game will go. But I will note a few things for you to watch out for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, stay current in your military, and keep building units! You may feel safe seeing six units inside your city, but really you're not! Trust me, you'll always need more. I usually keep a line of defense along my borders on hills and in forests to keep barbarians and other civ's out. Pillaging can kill an OCC city, so don't let the enemy get too close. Also, you need more units than you think. The AI can arrive quickly with a stack that will demolish your city garrison in a heartbeat. Its better to meet them out in the field by playing a defensive game in the forest and on hills. I usually have my worker (I usually only produce one a game) build roads when they have nothing to do. It allows me to get my units out from my city quickly, and attack and withdraw in the same move if need be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't need to build every wonder! Ok, that sounds funny, but I've come close. But some wonders just won't do anything at all for you, so use that time to build military units instead, or produce research if you can. Stay away from maintenance wonders and buildings, which means Versailles and a courthouse, there's no need. You can also forgo ones like Notre Dame, the Spiral Minaret and the Sistine Chapel.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what wonders are important? Probably one of the most important national wonders is the Globe Theater. It eliminates all unhappiness in the city its built in. And hey, you only have one city! If only there was a building like that for health... Since its very important, its often worth it to make a beeline for Theater if you're having problems with happiness. It means you can be at war without worrying about war wariness, and you can also grow as large as you like. It also allows you to trade away your happiness resources for health ones if you can (which is why health resources are more important, once you build the Globe Theater you don't need the happiness ones anymore.) However, be aware that some happiness resources can provide health in connection with some buildings later in the game, so check which ones you've traded, and get them back later if you need to.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other wonders which do a lot of good are the Great Library, The Hanging Gardens and The Parthenon. I generally stay away from wonders which provide small but valuable bonuses across an empire, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Sistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, and the Great Lighthouse. It's a hard choice because you only have one city, so it may not be worth it. But if you have the time, have a good amount of military units etc., you may want to go for it, because the bonuses are good, even though small.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may face a problem with happiness in the early/mid game stage. It usually comes at the point at which you've exhausted your happiness resources, but haven't yet been able to build the Globe Theater. A solution to this is researching Monarchy and switching to the Hereditary Rule civic. It gives you +1 happiness per military unit in the city, which means anytime you have an unhappiness problem, just build another unit. Since you always need another unit, this is a good thing. A quick way to get this there is to build the Oracle and use the free tech for Monarchy. Since its usually worth the most beakers, this makes sense anyways, plus you get the added bonus of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Don't neglect your health techs: they're very important, so make time for researching them. This means Pottery, (for granaries) Mathematics, (for Aqueducts, and the Hanging Gardens if you can) and Guilds (for Grocers).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your Great Artists for Culture Bombs: it may seem like a lost cause, but its not, you'll notice your borders moving slowly but surely. Sometimes its even fun, because culture flipped cities automatically raze themselves, so its like watching a blast radiating outwards from your capital in slow motion. Coupled with the culture of your wonders, you can get access to resources three or even 4 squares into your neighbors territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bureaucracy: ahh, the most wonderful of civics. Really, its amazing. Head for Civil Service quickly and pick it up. The +50% boost in production and gold is worth staying with it the rest of the game. Another useful civic is Pacifism, giving you a 100% boost in GP points. I also find Mercantilism to be a somewhat useful tech as well, along with Representation, which provides a nice boost to your science levels.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there you have it, that's all I can think of right now. If I have any more I'll add it later. I hope you enjoy your OCC game.</French>
		<German>[H1]Beginner's Guide to One City Challenge (OCC)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Greencardman[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having played the One City Challenge a few times now I've realized that its one of the most exciting ways to play Civ IV, so I decided to write a short article to get people interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the One City Challenge (or OCC for short) limits the human player to only one city. The computer players can (and do) build as many cities as they want. Sound hard? Well maybe... The good news is the limits on two national wonders per city are lifted, as are the limits on wonders that require a certain number of building as prerequisites (except monasteries for some reason).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting The Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To begin a One City Challenge game you need to go to the custom game menu and check the box marked One City Challenge. Note: while the descriptive text says one city at a time, this is misleading, its one city forever. You can't switch cities even if you capture a nice one from a rival, and cities that culture flip automatically get razed. So be sure you start in a good place, because that's the one and only city you're going to get![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since resources are spread out more on larger maps, they're naturally harder to play a OCC game on. If you're feeling brave, go right ahead, but I usually start on a Tiny Pangaea map with 3 Civs. It guarantees you a few good resources on your start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Victory Conditions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will probably be a good idea to change the normal victory conditions. A culture win is impossible for a human player on an OCC game, so I usually uncheck that box (note to Firaxis, might want to change that). Also, I usually uncheck the Time and Diplomatic victories as well, since the AI players can expand, they usually gain more points than the human player with one city can. [BOLD]Update:[\BOLD] if you want to play with the Permanent Alliance option on, it allows more variety in an OCC game. Because you are permanently allied with another player, the Cultural victory option becomes available (3 cities with legendary culture) and the Diplomatic and Time victories also become more easily attainable. Its your game, have fun with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civs:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your Civ wisely, because it makes a big difference in this game! As will be mentioned later, health, wonders and great people are key aspects to an OCC game, so I usually pick a Civ with combinations that will help me out in those areas (expansive, philosophical, industrious.) I usually forgo a financial Civ because cottage spamming isn't really a viable option for this game, you just don't have the space.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably the most important part of the game for an OCC player is the early game, because it determines how many wonders will be built, and how quickly Great People will start accumulating. But before we move into too many aspects of the early game, I'd like to cover the key game elements to winning the OCC game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Key Game Elements[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three key areas an OCC player needs to pay attention to in order to become a significant threat to the AI: health, wonders, and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Health:[\BOLD] probably the most important aspect to an OCC game, it determines how large your city can grow. In most OCC games, city size is limited only by health (we'll get into why happiness isn't a problem later). So be sure you maximize your chances for a healthy city! This means moving next to fresh water (+2 health) if you can, and away from jungles and towards forests. Also, one health resource is probably more important than two or more happiness resources, so if you have a choice, chose the health resources. Of course any resources are good, since you can always trade them away for gold, and sometimes for health resources, but be careful, the AI is stingy! The only exception to this is Flood Plains, they provide enough food to give you some specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wonders:[\BOLD] another very important tool in the OCC arsenal (I've always wanted to say that.) Along with their usual benefits, wonders also work at constantly expanding your cultural borders, thereby giving you more territory, and probably more resources. But their most important role is providing the ever important GPP (Great People Points) that keep you ahead of the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leads us to great people, that last key element of an OCC game. I use all forms, but generally I find Great Engineers and Great Prophets to be the most important, especially in the early game. Great Scientists are useful for the Academy they give you, and also for discovering techs, while Great Artists keep your borders expanding constantly, allowing you to take over neighboring resources. Occasionally I get a Great Merchant, but since I play on a small map, they're not too useful, especially in large numbers. Others, however, find them to be incredibly useful, you can read their strategies in later posts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Location and Resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now that we've covered some key elements, lets get back to starting our game. To begin with, check out your starting location. Sometimes I keep my settler stationary and explore with my scout to try and find a better area. In an OCC game, its not really what's in your city radius as what's just outside of it. Because your culture expands fairly quickly, you generally get access to resources rather fast. But at some point your borders slow down or the AI builds next to you, which means you should start your city with enough resources 6 to 7 squares away in order to ensure early game access to them. Anything outside of that means you'll have to wait a bit longer for your culture to catch up. So if you have your choice, move closer to health resources and away from happiness ones.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a related note, I should mention two other resources that are vitally important to the OCC win: marble and stone. Since they increase wonder production, they're even worth moving away from a health resource to get. Especially if you can get to within 4 or less squares right away. This will allow you to punch a worker out as quickly as possible, by which time your borders will expand enough to envelop the resource, and you can hook it up and start producing wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To end the resource discussion, remember that unless you start on the coast you'll never be able to produce workboats to get access to sea-based resources (and the health they provide.) Its very frustrating to see your borders expand to the open ocean, and not be able to do anything about it. So if you notice an abundance of water resources, you may want to start on the coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early Game Tech and Production[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since wonders are an important part of an OCC game, I usually beeline for techs that give me wonders. A nice thing about the game is that you don't have to worry about building any settlers! So while the AI is building theirs, you can be starting your first wonder. Usually I build a warrior until the my city reaches a size two, then I switch to a worker, and then finish the warrior and start my first wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Religion:[\BOLD] I generally don't bother with starting a religion. Usually I let others spread theirs to me so I can switch depending on who I want to please, plus I don't want to lose turns building the missionaries that make them worth while. Since unhappiness isn't really a factor in an OCC game (usually,) their only worth is monastaries and gold from shrines. Its up to you if you want to make this part of your game, I think either way can work. Just remember, you only have one city, so you have to justify everything you build![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, so which Techs to research? I usually start with the worker techs, (animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, fishing, mining, masonry) since I really want my worker to get out and start hooking up my resources, especially if there's marble or stone about. Polytheism is also an important tech, because it allows you to build Stonehenge, one of the cheapest wonders. You should also go for Priesthood, to build the Oracle, and Masonry, which allows you to build the Pyramids. After that, you may want to research a few militaristic techs in order to be able to produce something other than Warriors, because barbarians are going to become a problem about this time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, which wonder do you build first? This is actually a hard question. If you build the Pyramids first, your first GP (Great Person) is going to be an engineer, who can rush your second wonder. If you build Stonehenge, it will be a Great Prophet, who provides a substantial gold and hammer boost. I usually chose Stonehenge because it's the cheapest, and the Great Prophet is amazing. Turn them into a super specialists right away, they provide a production boost and start your treasury going. Then I usually build the Oracle for the free tech, and then the Parthenon, for the GP boost. I'll try the Pyramids if nobody has gotten to them yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Rest of the Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This part is rather vague, since I can't really cover how every game will go. But I will note a few things for you to watch out for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, stay current in your military, and keep building units! You may feel safe seeing six units inside your city, but really you're not! Trust me, you'll always need more. I usually keep a line of defense along my borders on hills and in forests to keep barbarians and other civ's out. Pillaging can kill an OCC city, so don't let the enemy get too close. Also, you need more units than you think. The AI can arrive quickly with a stack that will demolish your city garrison in a heartbeat. Its better to meet them out in the field by playing a defensive game in the forest and on hills. I usually have my worker (I usually only produce one a game) build roads when they have nothing to do. It allows me to get my units out from my city quickly, and attack and withdraw in the same move if need be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't need to build every wonder! Ok, that sounds funny, but I've come close. But some wonders just won't do anything at all for you, so use that time to build military units instead, or produce research if you can. Stay away from maintenance wonders and buildings, which means Versailles and a courthouse, there's no need. You can also forgo ones like Notre Dame, the Spiral Minaret and the Sistine Chapel.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what wonders are important? Probably one of the most important national wonders is the Globe Theater. It eliminates all unhappiness in the city its built in. And hey, you only have one city! If only there was a building like that for health... Since its very important, its often worth it to make a beeline for Theater if you're having problems with happiness. It means you can be at war without worrying about war wariness, and you can also grow as large as you like. It also allows you to trade away your happiness resources for health ones if you can (which is why health resources are more important, once you build the Globe Theater you don't need the happiness ones anymore.) However, be aware that some happiness resources can provide health in connection with some buildings later in the game, so check which ones you've traded, and get them back later if you need to.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other wonders which do a lot of good are the Great Library, The Hanging Gardens and The Parthenon. I generally stay away from wonders which provide small but valuable bonuses across an empire, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Sistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, and the Great Lighthouse. It's a hard choice because you only have one city, so it may not be worth it. But if you have the time, have a good amount of military units etc., you may want to go for it, because the bonuses are good, even though small.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may face a problem with happiness in the early/mid game stage. It usually comes at the point at which you've exhausted your happiness resources, but haven't yet been able to build the Globe Theater. A solution to this is researching Monarchy and switching to the Hereditary Rule civic. It gives you +1 happiness per military unit in the city, which means anytime you have an unhappiness problem, just build another unit. Since you always need another unit, this is a good thing. A quick way to get this there is to build the Oracle and use the free tech for Monarchy. Since its usually worth the most beakers, this makes sense anyways, plus you get the added bonus of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Don't neglect your health techs: they're very important, so make time for researching them. This means Pottery, (for granaries) Mathematics, (for Aqueducts, and the Hanging Gardens if you can) and Guilds (for Grocers).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your Great Artists for Culture Bombs: it may seem like a lost cause, but its not, you'll notice your borders moving slowly but surely. Sometimes its even fun, because culture flipped cities automatically raze themselves, so its like watching a blast radiating outwards from your capital in slow motion. Coupled with the culture of your wonders, you can get access to resources three or even 4 squares into your neighbors territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bureaucracy: ahh, the most wonderful of civics. Really, its amazing. Head for Civil Service quickly and pick it up. The +50% boost in production and gold is worth staying with it the rest of the game. Another useful civic is Pacifism, giving you a 100% boost in GP points. I also find Mercantilism to be a somewhat useful tech as well, along with Representation, which provides a nice boost to your science levels.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there you have it, that's all I can think of right now. If I have any more I'll add it later. I hope you enjoy your OCC game.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Beginner's Guide to One City Challenge (OCC)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Greencardman[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having played the One City Challenge a few times now I've realized that its one of the most exciting ways to play Civ IV, so I decided to write a short article to get people interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the One City Challenge (or OCC for short) limits the human player to only one city. The computer players can (and do) build as many cities as they want. Sound hard? Well maybe... The good news is the limits on two national wonders per city are lifted, as are the limits on wonders that require a certain number of building as prerequisites (except monasteries for some reason).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting The Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To begin a One City Challenge game you need to go to the custom game menu and check the box marked One City Challenge. Note: while the descriptive text says one city at a time, this is misleading, its one city forever. You can't switch cities even if you capture a nice one from a rival, and cities that culture flip automatically get razed. So be sure you start in a good place, because that's the one and only city you're going to get![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since resources are spread out more on larger maps, they're naturally harder to play a OCC game on. If you're feeling brave, go right ahead, but I usually start on a Tiny Pangaea map with 3 Civs. It guarantees you a few good resources on your start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Victory Conditions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will probably be a good idea to change the normal victory conditions. A culture win is impossible for a human player on an OCC game, so I usually uncheck that box (note to Firaxis, might want to change that). Also, I usually uncheck the Time and Diplomatic victories as well, since the AI players can expand, they usually gain more points than the human player with one city can. [BOLD]Update:[\BOLD] if you want to play with the Permanent Alliance option on, it allows more variety in an OCC game. Because you are permanently allied with another player, the Cultural victory option becomes available (3 cities with legendary culture) and the Diplomatic and Time victories also become more easily attainable. Its your game, have fun with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civs:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your Civ wisely, because it makes a big difference in this game! As will be mentioned later, health, wonders and great people are key aspects to an OCC game, so I usually pick a Civ with combinations that will help me out in those areas (expansive, philosophical, industrious.) I usually forgo a financial Civ because cottage spamming isn't really a viable option for this game, you just don't have the space.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably the most important part of the game for an OCC player is the early game, because it determines how many wonders will be built, and how quickly Great People will start accumulating. But before we move into too many aspects of the early game, I'd like to cover the key game elements to winning the OCC game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Key Game Elements[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three key areas an OCC player needs to pay attention to in order to become a significant threat to the AI: health, wonders, and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Health:[\BOLD] probably the most important aspect to an OCC game, it determines how large your city can grow. In most OCC games, city size is limited only by health (we'll get into why happiness isn't a problem later). So be sure you maximize your chances for a healthy city! This means moving next to fresh water (+2 health) if you can, and away from jungles and towards forests. Also, one health resource is probably more important than two or more happiness resources, so if you have a choice, chose the health resources. Of course any resources are good, since you can always trade them away for gold, and sometimes for health resources, but be careful, the AI is stingy! The only exception to this is Flood Plains, they provide enough food to give you some specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wonders:[\BOLD] another very important tool in the OCC arsenal (I've always wanted to say that.) Along with their usual benefits, wonders also work at constantly expanding your cultural borders, thereby giving you more territory, and probably more resources. But their most important role is providing the ever important GPP (Great People Points) that keep you ahead of the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leads us to great people, that last key element of an OCC game. I use all forms, but generally I find Great Engineers and Great Prophets to be the most important, especially in the early game. Great Scientists are useful for the Academy they give you, and also for discovering techs, while Great Artists keep your borders expanding constantly, allowing you to take over neighboring resources. Occasionally I get a Great Merchant, but since I play on a small map, they're not too useful, especially in large numbers. Others, however, find them to be incredibly useful, you can read their strategies in later posts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Location and Resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now that we've covered some key elements, lets get back to starting our game. To begin with, check out your starting location. Sometimes I keep my settler stationary and explore with my scout to try and find a better area. In an OCC game, its not really what's in your city radius as what's just outside of it. Because your culture expands fairly quickly, you generally get access to resources rather fast. But at some point your borders slow down or the AI builds next to you, which means you should start your city with enough resources 6 to 7 squares away in order to ensure early game access to them. Anything outside of that means you'll have to wait a bit longer for your culture to catch up. So if you have your choice, move closer to health resources and away from happiness ones.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a related note, I should mention two other resources that are vitally important to the OCC win: marble and stone. Since they increase wonder production, they're even worth moving away from a health resource to get. Especially if you can get to within 4 or less squares right away. This will allow you to punch a worker out as quickly as possible, by which time your borders will expand enough to envelop the resource, and you can hook it up and start producing wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To end the resource discussion, remember that unless you start on the coast you'll never be able to produce workboats to get access to sea-based resources (and the health they provide.) Its very frustrating to see your borders expand to the open ocean, and not be able to do anything about it. So if you notice an abundance of water resources, you may want to start on the coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early Game Tech and Production[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since wonders are an important part of an OCC game, I usually beeline for techs that give me wonders. A nice thing about the game is that you don't have to worry about building any settlers! So while the AI is building theirs, you can be starting your first wonder. Usually I build a warrior until the my city reaches a size two, then I switch to a worker, and then finish the warrior and start my first wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Religion:[\BOLD] I generally don't bother with starting a religion. Usually I let others spread theirs to me so I can switch depending on who I want to please, plus I don't want to lose turns building the missionaries that make them worth while. Since unhappiness isn't really a factor in an OCC game (usually,) their only worth is monastaries and gold from shrines. Its up to you if you want to make this part of your game, I think either way can work. Just remember, you only have one city, so you have to justify everything you build![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, so which Techs to research? I usually start with the worker techs, (animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, fishing, mining, masonry) since I really want my worker to get out and start hooking up my resources, especially if there's marble or stone about. Polytheism is also an important tech, because it allows you to build Stonehenge, one of the cheapest wonders. You should also go for Priesthood, to build the Oracle, and Masonry, which allows you to build the Pyramids. After that, you may want to research a few militaristic techs in order to be able to produce something other than Warriors, because barbarians are going to become a problem about this time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, which wonder do you build first? This is actually a hard question. If you build the Pyramids first, your first GP (Great Person) is going to be an engineer, who can rush your second wonder. If you build Stonehenge, it will be a Great Prophet, who provides a substantial gold and hammer boost. I usually chose Stonehenge because it's the cheapest, and the Great Prophet is amazing. Turn them into a super specialists right away, they provide a production boost and start your treasury going. Then I usually build the Oracle for the free tech, and then the Parthenon, for the GP boost. I'll try the Pyramids if nobody has gotten to them yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Rest of the Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This part is rather vague, since I can't really cover how every game will go. But I will note a few things for you to watch out for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, stay current in your military, and keep building units! You may feel safe seeing six units inside your city, but really you're not! Trust me, you'll always need more. I usually keep a line of defense along my borders on hills and in forests to keep barbarians and other civ's out. Pillaging can kill an OCC city, so don't let the enemy get too close. Also, you need more units than you think. The AI can arrive quickly with a stack that will demolish your city garrison in a heartbeat. Its better to meet them out in the field by playing a defensive game in the forest and on hills. I usually have my worker (I usually only produce one a game) build roads when they have nothing to do. It allows me to get my units out from my city quickly, and attack and withdraw in the same move if need be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't need to build every wonder! Ok, that sounds funny, but I've come close. But some wonders just won't do anything at all for you, so use that time to build military units instead, or produce research if you can. Stay away from maintenance wonders and buildings, which means Versailles and a courthouse, there's no need. You can also forgo ones like Notre Dame, the Spiral Minaret and the Sistine Chapel.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what wonders are important? Probably one of the most important national wonders is the Globe Theater. It eliminates all unhappiness in the city its built in. And hey, you only have one city! If only there was a building like that for health... Since its very important, its often worth it to make a beeline for Theater if you're having problems with happiness. It means you can be at war without worrying about war wariness, and you can also grow as large as you like. It also allows you to trade away your happiness resources for health ones if you can (which is why health resources are more important, once you build the Globe Theater you don't need the happiness ones anymore.) However, be aware that some happiness resources can provide health in connection with some buildings later in the game, so check which ones you've traded, and get them back later if you need to.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other wonders which do a lot of good are the Great Library, The Hanging Gardens and The Parthenon. I generally stay away from wonders which provide small but valuable bonuses across an empire, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Sistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, and the Great Lighthouse. It's a hard choice because you only have one city, so it may not be worth it. But if you have the time, have a good amount of military units etc., you may want to go for it, because the bonuses are good, even though small.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may face a problem with happiness in the early/mid game stage. It usually comes at the point at which you've exhausted your happiness resources, but haven't yet been able to build the Globe Theater. A solution to this is researching Monarchy and switching to the Hereditary Rule civic. It gives you +1 happiness per military unit in the city, which means anytime you have an unhappiness problem, just build another unit. Since you always need another unit, this is a good thing. A quick way to get this there is to build the Oracle and use the free tech for Monarchy. Since its usually worth the most beakers, this makes sense anyways, plus you get the added bonus of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Don't neglect your health techs: they're very important, so make time for researching them. This means Pottery, (for granaries) Mathematics, (for Aqueducts, and the Hanging Gardens if you can) and Guilds (for Grocers).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your Great Artists for Culture Bombs: it may seem like a lost cause, but its not, you'll notice your borders moving slowly but surely. Sometimes its even fun, because culture flipped cities automatically raze themselves, so its like watching a blast radiating outwards from your capital in slow motion. Coupled with the culture of your wonders, you can get access to resources three or even 4 squares into your neighbors territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bureaucracy: ahh, the most wonderful of civics. Really, its amazing. Head for Civil Service quickly and pick it up. The +50% boost in production and gold is worth staying with it the rest of the game. Another useful civic is Pacifism, giving you a 100% boost in GP points. I also find Mercantilism to be a somewhat useful tech as well, along with Representation, which provides a nice boost to your science levels.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there you have it, that's all I can think of right now. If I have any more I'll add it later. I hope you enjoy your OCC game.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Beginner's Guide to One City Challenge (OCC)[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Greencardman[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Having played the One City Challenge a few times now I've realized that its one of the most exciting ways to play Civ IV, so I decided to write a short article to get people interested.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the One City Challenge (or OCC for short) limits the human player to only one city. The computer players can (and do) build as many cities as they want. Sound hard? Well maybe... The good news is the limits on two national wonders per city are lifted, as are the limits on wonders that require a certain number of building as prerequisites (except monasteries for some reason).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting The Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To begin a One City Challenge game you need to go to the custom game menu and check the box marked One City Challenge. Note: while the descriptive text says one city at a time, this is misleading, its one city forever. You can't switch cities even if you capture a nice one from a rival, and cities that culture flip automatically get razed. So be sure you start in a good place, because that's the one and only city you're going to get![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Maps:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since resources are spread out more on larger maps, they're naturally harder to play a OCC game on. If you're feeling brave, go right ahead, but I usually start on a Tiny Pangaea map with 3 Civs. It guarantees you a few good resources on your start.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Victory Conditions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It will probably be a good idea to change the normal victory conditions. A culture win is impossible for a human player on an OCC game, so I usually uncheck that box (note to Firaxis, might want to change that). Also, I usually uncheck the Time and Diplomatic victories as well, since the AI players can expand, they usually gain more points than the human player with one city can. [BOLD]Update:[\BOLD] if you want to play with the Permanent Alliance option on, it allows more variety in an OCC game. Because you are permanently allied with another player, the Cultural victory option becomes available (3 cities with legendary culture) and the Diplomatic and Time victories also become more easily attainable. Its your game, have fun with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Civs:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choose your Civ wisely, because it makes a big difference in this game! As will be mentioned later, health, wonders and great people are key aspects to an OCC game, so I usually pick a Civ with combinations that will help me out in those areas (expansive, philosophical, industrious.) I usually forgo a financial Civ because cottage spamming isn't really a viable option for this game, you just don't have the space.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Early Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Probably the most important part of the game for an OCC player is the early game, because it determines how many wonders will be built, and how quickly Great People will start accumulating. But before we move into too many aspects of the early game, I'd like to cover the key game elements to winning the OCC game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Key Game Elements[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are three key areas an OCC player needs to pay attention to in order to become a significant threat to the AI: health, wonders, and great people.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Health:[\BOLD] probably the most important aspect to an OCC game, it determines how large your city can grow. In most OCC games, city size is limited only by health (we'll get into why happiness isn't a problem later). So be sure you maximize your chances for a healthy city! This means moving next to fresh water (+2 health) if you can, and away from jungles and towards forests. Also, one health resource is probably more important than two or more happiness resources, so if you have a choice, chose the health resources. Of course any resources are good, since you can always trade them away for gold, and sometimes for health resources, but be careful, the AI is stingy! The only exception to this is Flood Plains, they provide enough food to give you some specialists.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Wonders:[\BOLD] another very important tool in the OCC arsenal (I've always wanted to say that.) Along with their usual benefits, wonders also work at constantly expanding your cultural borders, thereby giving you more territory, and probably more resources. But their most important role is providing the ever important GPP (Great People Points) that keep you ahead of the AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Which leads us to great people, that last key element of an OCC game. I use all forms, but generally I find Great Engineers and Great Prophets to be the most important, especially in the early game. Great Scientists are useful for the Academy they give you, and also for discovering techs, while Great Artists keep your borders expanding constantly, allowing you to take over neighboring resources. Occasionally I get a Great Merchant, but since I play on a small map, they're not too useful, especially in large numbers. Others, however, find them to be incredibly useful, you can read their strategies in later posts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Starting Location and Resources[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now that we've covered some key elements, lets get back to starting our game. To begin with, check out your starting location. Sometimes I keep my settler stationary and explore with my scout to try and find a better area. In an OCC game, its not really what's in your city radius as what's just outside of it. Because your culture expands fairly quickly, you generally get access to resources rather fast. But at some point your borders slow down or the AI builds next to you, which means you should start your city with enough resources 6 to 7 squares away in order to ensure early game access to them. Anything outside of that means you'll have to wait a bit longer for your culture to catch up. So if you have your choice, move closer to health resources and away from happiness ones.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a related note, I should mention two other resources that are vitally important to the OCC win: marble and stone. Since they increase wonder production, they're even worth moving away from a health resource to get. Especially if you can get to within 4 or less squares right away. This will allow you to punch a worker out as quickly as possible, by which time your borders will expand enough to envelop the resource, and you can hook it up and start producing wonders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To end the resource discussion, remember that unless you start on the coast you'll never be able to produce workboats to get access to sea-based resources (and the health they provide.) Its very frustrating to see your borders expand to the open ocean, and not be able to do anything about it. So if you notice an abundance of water resources, you may want to start on the coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Early Game Tech and Production[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since wonders are an important part of an OCC game, I usually beeline for techs that give me wonders. A nice thing about the game is that you don't have to worry about building any settlers! So while the AI is building theirs, you can be starting your first wonder. Usually I build a warrior until the my city reaches a size two, then I switch to a worker, and then finish the warrior and start my first wonder.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Religion:[\BOLD] I generally don't bother with starting a religion. Usually I let others spread theirs to me so I can switch depending on who I want to please, plus I don't want to lose turns building the missionaries that make them worth while. Since unhappiness isn't really a factor in an OCC game (usually,) their only worth is monastaries and gold from shrines. Its up to you if you want to make this part of your game, I think either way can work. Just remember, you only have one city, so you have to justify everything you build![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ok, so which Techs to research? I usually start with the worker techs, (animal husbandry, agriculture, the wheel, fishing, mining, masonry) since I really want my worker to get out and start hooking up my resources, especially if there's marble or stone about. Polytheism is also an important tech, because it allows you to build Stonehenge, one of the cheapest wonders. You should also go for Priesthood, to build the Oracle, and Masonry, which allows you to build the Pyramids. After that, you may want to research a few militaristic techs in order to be able to produce something other than Warriors, because barbarians are going to become a problem about this time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, which wonder do you build first? This is actually a hard question. If you build the Pyramids first, your first GP (Great Person) is going to be an engineer, who can rush your second wonder. If you build Stonehenge, it will be a Great Prophet, who provides a substantial gold and hammer boost. I usually chose Stonehenge because it's the cheapest, and the Great Prophet is amazing. Turn them into a super specialists right away, they provide a production boost and start your treasury going. Then I usually build the Oracle for the free tech, and then the Parthenon, for the GP boost. I'll try the Pyramids if nobody has gotten to them yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The Rest of the Game[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This part is rather vague, since I can't really cover how every game will go. But I will note a few things for you to watch out for.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]First, stay current in your military, and keep building units! You may feel safe seeing six units inside your city, but really you're not! Trust me, you'll always need more. I usually keep a line of defense along my borders on hills and in forests to keep barbarians and other civ's out. Pillaging can kill an OCC city, so don't let the enemy get too close. Also, you need more units than you think. The AI can arrive quickly with a stack that will demolish your city garrison in a heartbeat. Its better to meet them out in the field by playing a defensive game in the forest and on hills. I usually have my worker (I usually only produce one a game) build roads when they have nothing to do. It allows me to get my units out from my city quickly, and attack and withdraw in the same move if need be.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You don't need to build every wonder! Ok, that sounds funny, but I've come close. But some wonders just won't do anything at all for you, so use that time to build military units instead, or produce research if you can. Stay away from maintenance wonders and buildings, which means Versailles and a courthouse, there's no need. You can also forgo ones like Notre Dame, the Spiral Minaret and the Sistine Chapel.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So what wonders are important? Probably one of the most important national wonders is the Globe Theater. It eliminates all unhappiness in the city its built in. And hey, you only have one city! If only there was a building like that for health... Since its very important, its often worth it to make a beeline for Theater if you're having problems with happiness. It means you can be at war without worrying about war wariness, and you can also grow as large as you like. It also allows you to trade away your happiness resources for health ones if you can (which is why health resources are more important, once you build the Globe Theater you don't need the happiness ones anymore.) However, be aware that some happiness resources can provide health in connection with some buildings later in the game, so check which ones you've traded, and get them back later if you need to.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Other wonders which do a lot of good are the Great Library, The Hanging Gardens and The Parthenon. I generally stay away from wonders which provide small but valuable bonuses across an empire, such as the Statue of Liberty, the Sistine Chapel, the Eiffel Tower, and the Great Lighthouse. It's a hard choice because you only have one city, so it may not be worth it. But if you have the time, have a good amount of military units etc., you may want to go for it, because the bonuses are good, even though small.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may face a problem with happiness in the early/mid game stage. It usually comes at the point at which you've exhausted your happiness resources, but haven't yet been able to build the Globe Theater. A solution to this is researching Monarchy and switching to the Hereditary Rule civic. It gives you +1 happiness per military unit in the city, which means anytime you have an unhappiness problem, just build another unit. Since you always need another unit, this is a good thing. A quick way to get this there is to build the Oracle and use the free tech for Monarchy. Since its usually worth the most beakers, this makes sense anyways, plus you get the added bonus of the civic.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Don't neglect your health techs: they're very important, so make time for researching them. This means Pottery, (for granaries) Mathematics, (for Aqueducts, and the Hanging Gardens if you can) and Guilds (for Grocers).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use your Great Artists for Culture Bombs: it may seem like a lost cause, but its not, you'll notice your borders moving slowly but surely. Sometimes its even fun, because culture flipped cities automatically raze themselves, so its like watching a blast radiating outwards from your capital in slow motion. Coupled with the culture of your wonders, you can get access to resources three or even 4 squares into your neighbors territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Bureaucracy: ahh, the most wonderful of civics. Really, its amazing. Head for Civil Service quickly and pick it up. The +50% boost in production and gold is worth staying with it the rest of the game. Another useful civic is Pacifism, giving you a 100% boost in GP points. I also find Mercantilism to be a somewhat useful tech as well, along with Representation, which provides a nice boost to your science levels.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So there you have it, that's all I can think of right now. If I have any more I'll add it later. I hope you enjoy your OCC game.</Spanish>
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		<English>[H1]A Comprehensive Unique Unit Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]aelf[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the War Academy teaches specific strategies involving extensive use of the prominent UUs, there isn't a guide to explain the uses of the others. Strong ones like the Praetorian often need no introduction, but many players are not exposed to the possibilities that the more subtle ones present. What spurred me to start this guide are the fairly common disparaging comments about some UUs, comments that are often simply one-sided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this guide would help you leverage the different UUs effectively or at least inspire you to be more creative with them. Give all of them a chance! But please note that this guide is written mainly for single player games. Some tips may still be useful for multiplayer, but I can't promise that. This guide also assumes that you are playing as leaders under the normal civs, which might not be true if you are playing BTS.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thanks to [BOLD]Robo Kai, kniteowl, Cabert, Wodan, johnny_rico, gusi, UncleJJ, Bjorn190, dime, s.c.dude, drkodos, kristopherb, Elandal, Thyrwyn, Phrederick, Polycrates, Thedrin, agc28, PraetorianSteve, svv, carl corey, Andrei_V, Mr. Civtastic, Thomas G., GeneralGab, Percy, r_rolo1, facistal, jason77024, GoliathFF8[\BOLD] and [BOLD]InvisibleStalke[\BOLD] for ideas and contributions that helped make this guide possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And now I shall begin. The different UUs are listed under their civs, in alphabetical order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]----------[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]America: Navy SEAL (Marine)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've gotten over the fact that it comes very late in the game, you might realise that the Navy SEAL is actually good UU. A marine replacement, it might seem to be a niche unit. After all, how often do you conduct amphibious attacks (which include those across a river, by the way)? But take a closer look at its unique advantages and you'll realise the potential it has.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Its first strike and first strike chances are not to be taken lightly. First strikes can help you deal more damage to the enemy and comfortably win battles that you might otherwise take heavy damage in or even lose. The free March promotion, meanwhile, allows the Navy SEAL to heal on the go, reducing the time it takes to recover before heading off to another battle. Bringing a Medic III unit along with your SEALs means that as soon as they have attacked, they are eligible for the 30% healing the next turn (5% from enemy territory and 25% from Medic III). So as long as they are at or above 16.8/24 strength, they will be back to full health the next turn. They can also heal right after making an amphibious assault aboard a Medic transport. The SEALs in Civ4 are indeed an elite task force worthy of their name, capable of enduring and sustaining a long campaign.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 50% attack bonuses against machine guns and artillery are a thick layer of icing on the cake. With SEALs, you don't have to fret when attacking cities defended by machine guns (which are immune to collateral damage) without tanks. Their first strikes also help by negating the machine gun's first strikes. And, also due to their first strikes, SEALs are probably the best stack protectors against enemy artillery attacks. Divide your stack(s) into smaller SEAL-protected groups and you don't have to worry too much about getting overwhelmed by mass artillery.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you have some coastal cities to assault or a land campaign to conduct, Navy SEALs are an excellent unit to bring along with your invasion force. They do come late, but they come at the right time if you're planning on a late domination push that would win you the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Arabia: Camel Archer (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Camel Archers are knights that have a higher withdrawal chance (25%) and don't require horses or iron. You could simply use them like normal knights, but the thing about them is Flanking promotions make them very good at surviving failed attacks (+55% withdrawal chance with Flanking II). This means you don't have to balk so much at attacking a city or a stack that has a defending pike, making them more reliable as an attack unit. Of course, if you end up with no horses or iron, they give you the option of building knights in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're playing on Warlords, stables can give your Camel Archers enough experience points to start off with Flanking I and II, so you don't have to be running Vassalage or Theocracy. Also, you can improve their ability even further by attaching Great Generals to them as warlords. Give a Flanking II Camel Archer the Tactics promotion (+30% withdrawal chance) and it would have 85% chance of retreating from a failed attack. Of course, you might still get unlucky and lose it, especially if you attack at very low odds. It's not 100% withdrawal chance, you know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aztecs: Jaguar Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traditional whipping boys, these guys get 2 free promotions in Warlords, Woodsman I and Combat I (the latter thanks to Montezuma's Aggressive trait). If you've built those cheap barracks, giving them Woodsman II immediately would allow you to rush a relatively cheap stack of them (Jaguars cost less than normal swordsmen) to enemy cities through forests and jungles, in which they have two moves. Of course, this comes at the price of not being able to give them the City Raider promotion first, but depending on how fortified the target cities are, this may not be such a problem. Jaguars do get the swordsman's inherent 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a more conventional level, the benefit of the Jaguar is probably similar to that of the Gallic Warrior - better stack protection when standing on a particular terrain. Jaguars can even defend against axemen when positioned in forests and jungles, as they get 70% terrain defense bonus there (+50% from the terrain and +20% from Woodsman I), making them good all-round defenders in this situation. Give them Woodsman II or Shock (both available immediately with barracks) and they would have no need to be afraid of axemen as long as they have trees to cover them. Hence, if the enemy's lands sport plenty of foliage, you may want to bring a few of them along in any case. Note that this applies only to [BOLD]jungles[\BOLD] in Civ4 vanilla, where Jaguars get 75% defense bonus (+50% from the terrain and +25% [BOLD]jungle[\BOLD] defense bonus).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Jaguars don't require any resource so you can start building them even before hooking up copper or iron. You can also whip them out (probably with unhappy citizens) in newly conquered cities that are not connected to any metal resource, immediately creating some units for either garrison or further offensive purposes and thus helping you proceed with your campaign without having to wait for reinforcements. The value of this UU greatly increases when you find yourself without copper and iron in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More on the no resource requirement, Jaguars are a sure way to rush a neighbour early in the game. You can plant your second city on the best production site in the direction of your target without waiting for copper or iron to be revealed. Then you build barracks and granary, research IW and start whipping Jaguars out without even having to bother with any resources. Get a stack of them and attack Aztec-style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] With the addition of the Woodsman III promotion, Jaguars have become much more useful in an interesting way. Woodsman III grants 2 first strikes, +50% forest and jungle attack and the ability to heal units on the same tile at the rate of 15% per turn. Since Jaguars get Woodsman I for free and barracks can give them Woodsman II off the bat, they are effectively 2 XP away from becoming the ultimate forest/jungle warriors of their time and effective medics. If you need to take out some enemy units that are fortified in a forest/jungle, especially those that are there to choke your cities, unleash the Woodsman III Jaguars. If you need some quick healing, you have Woodsman III Jaguars. A very handy support unit to have around for early warfare. They are probably still not such effective combat units on their own, but the first strikes might help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can even maximise the Jaguar's healing ability by attaching a Great General to it and giving it all three Medic promotions as well. Woodsman III's healing stacks with the Medic promotions (provided they are on the same unit), giving you a whooping 50% healing rate. And this isn't difficult to achieve since Jaguars get free Combat I (required for Medic I) thanks to Aggressive, so you only need 26 XP to get there. Attaching a Great General to a unit gives you 20 XP, so that Jaguar effectively only needs 6 XP, the first 3 of which can be given by barracks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carthage: Numidian Cavalry (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] This is a UU that people are divided about. Some regard it as a good UU (though not great). Others think it is weak. The latter opinion can usually be attributed to the traditional aversion to horse archers, Horseback Riding (HBR) and Archery (techs required to build horse archer-type units). Horse archers have two moves and are good for busting archer-defended cities, but they die to spearmen, rendering them easy to counter. Archery is widely viewed as a useless dead end tech early on, while HBR is fairly expensive, making it tempting to research other more beneficial techs first. The latter's beaker cost also makes it difficult to ensure that your opponents don't have spears yet by the time it's researched. Add the fact that horse archers suffer from a 10% penalty when attacking cities in Warlords, and that the Numidian Cavalry is 1 strength weaker than normal horse archers, it's easy to turn your back on the Carthaginian UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if you consider it carefully, you may find that it's actually worth something depending on the situation. In Warlords, HBR allows you to build stables (+2 exp to mounted units), which would give your horses an edge in promotions before Vassalage/Theocracy, making the tech more attractive to research early. And the Numidian Cavalry starts with Flanking I, so, with stables, you can give them Flanking II and another promotion (eg. Mobility) right off the bat. This would give them a 50% (20% natural ability + 30% from Flanking I and II) chance to withdraw from losing battles and, if you choose Mobility, the ability to more very quickly even in enemy territory. With the Charismatic trait, it's easy to get your Numidian Cavalry to the next level for yet another promotion. Don't forget that the free Flanking I would not disappear when you upgrade them to knights.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Those are not all. The Numidian Cavalry also gets 50% bonus vs. melee, as well as the 50% bonus vs. siege that horse archers have, making it virtually an improved axeman. It has no need to be overly afraid of spearmen, thanks to the melee bonus. And you can rely on Flanking II to increase the survival rate of your Numidian Cavalry when up against spears, or you can even the odds with Combat I and Shock. If there's no heavy cultural defense, Numidian Cavalry can do a decent job busting cities on their own, although you'll need a good number of them. As active empire defenders or counter units, they are versatile enough, having bonuses against two categories of units. As pillagers, they are excellent since spears, the easiest counter, are not as effective against them - just be sure to build stables and give them Combat I and Shock (of course, you may want a few Sentries). It may seem like a waste of their free Flanking I, but this way the enemy cannot easily drive your pillaging Numidians out. The few Flanking-promoted ones can attack enemy units guarding key resources. Remember to pillage ivory and horses first, since elephants and horse archers are the most effective counters to your UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cons of the Numidian Cavalry are their reduced strength, the 10% penalty against cities and the fact that they can't get City Raider promotions. Once there's significant cultural defense in an enemy city, expect to take huge losses if you don't bring siege weapons along. Even if there's no cultural defense and the city is not on a hill, Numidian Cavalry are actually not as strong as the city's unpromoted fortified archers, so you need to bring at least twice as many. You can beeline to HBR and rush a neighbour with a moderate stack of them to quickly capture a few cities, but don't expect them to carve out a large empire for you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Horse archers no longer get the 10% city attack penalty, so the Numidian Archer is slightly stronger now. It also gains mounted units' flanking attack ability (not to be confused with Flanking promotion), whereby it does 'collateral damage' to siege units in the stack it is attacking, making it better at countering mass catapults than before. These changes certainly mean that Carthage players have something to cheer about.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Celtia: Gallic Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Gallic Warrior is a much-maligned UU. Most people wonder why an offensive unit is given a promotion for hill defense. How on earth is that going to help him attack cities, which is what it does best?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Attacking a city is the culmination of an offensive movement, which begins with your entering enemy territory. If you're careful, you would want to move your stack along the safest route to the target city as far as possible, which often means favouring forests and hills over flatlands. This is where the Gallic Warrior's free Guerilla I can help. While spearmen protect your stack against mounted units and axemen/crossbows protect it from melee units, a Gallic Warrior on a hill is the best defender against counterattacking catapults and can even take over the role of the other stack-protection units. For example, if your spearman is badly injured, the Gallic Warrior can defend against chariots or horse archers as long as you're on a hill. Thus, while normal swordsmen may be badly injured before reaching the target city in these circumstances, chances are Gallic Warriors would be in better shape.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And note that Gallic Warriors can be promoted with Guerilla II and III. Such units can be a thorn in your enemy's side, running through the hills pillaging mines and maybe raiding a weakly defended city or two, thanks to Guerilla III's movement bonus on hills. The 25% bonus for attacks on hills and 30% withdrawal chance that this promotion gives also make it easier for you to deal with stubborn hill cities. And now that you can build Gallic Warriors with copper in the latest versions of Warlords, this UU can make an extra early appearance for city-busting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another neat thing about this UU is the fact that you can upgrade it to more advanced units in its line without losing the free Guerilla I. So, in effect, the benefit of this UU lasts for a long time. Remember that forests can be chopped but hills are permanent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Somewhat like the Jaguar, this UU benefits from an improvement to its natural promotion branch: the change to Guerrilla III. It still gives +25% hills attack but now it gives a 50% withdrawal chance, making a Guerilla III Gallic Warrior a very effective crack troop. Need to attack that fortified hilltop city before Construction? Guerilla III Gallic Warriors can soften the defenses and have a good chance of surviving even after losing. The 50% withdrawal chance really is quite amazing, outclassing both the Flanking promotions combined. Moreover, since both Celt leaders are Charismatic, it's really easy to get to Guerrilla III. With barracks, your Gallic Warriors can start with Guerilla II and you are only 1XP away from Guerilla III. Sounds like fun.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]China: Chukonu (Crossbowman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu has a fearsome reputation. Collateral damage is something well-loved by most Civ4 players, and a respectable non-siege ground unit that has the ability to inflict it would surely become the favourite of some. The biggest weakness of siege units is their inability to defend effectively. The Chukonu, however, can function as an improved crossbowman, thus having an important benefit of siege units without the drawback.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may find it hard to pinpoint the exact role of this UU, though. Crossbows are primarily a counter unit, designed to help eliminate the threat of enemy melee units, and can in turn be countered by mounted units. If the enemy builds stacks of melee, your Chukonus will tear them apart with their bonus vs melee, first strikes and collateral damage. If the enemy mixes his stacks with mounted units, Chukonus are less effective. Thanks to collateral damage and the extra first strikes, however, they are much less helpless than normal crossbows and are still able to attack such mixed stacks, although you would probably sustain losses initially. The idea is to wear the enemy units down with your extra hits and collateral damage. Given enough Chukonus, there's almost nothing you can't defeat in the field (assuming you are facing units of the same era). But the question arises: Are they more cost effective for this purpose than catapults, since the latter are cheaper? If the enemy only has melee units then the answer is clearly yes. If the enemy has mounted units (which may be immune to first strikes) in his stack, sending in a few scuicide catapults first would probably be a better idea. The Chukonus can do semi-cleanup, dealing even more collateral damage to the enemy units and making them extremely weak and easy for more Chukonus or other units to take out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can apply the same concept when attacking a city. Siege units are still needed to remove the city's defenses, but who does the first few assaults would depend on what sort of units are defending the city. If they are macemen and pikemen/spearmen, use your Chukonus. If there are archery/mounted units in the city, use the siege units first, followed by the Chukonus and finally the cleanup crew (if you have any). Remember, Chukonus don't get City Raider promotions, so be prepared to lose some as they attack at lower odds than your CR units might have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu's first strikes are useful on the offense, but they become the primary advantage on the defense. When Chukonus are defending, they won't get to inflict any collateral damage on the enemy units, but their first strikes would be a great boost. First strikes grant chances of hitting the enemy unit before the combat proper even begins, thus improving your odds. The stronger your unit is compared to the enemy's the better first strikes are, since the hits you score would do more damage, thus increasing the possibility of your unit winning without taking much damage. This makes them even better a defense against enemy melee units than normal crossbows. Their first strikes also work well when defending against siege weapons, since they might be able to win before much collateral damage is suffered.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you give your Chukonus Drill promotions for more first strikes is up to you. Note that this UU has higher chances of being promoted than normal crossbowmen, since they are more suitable for an offensive role, making it possible to accumulate quite a few Drill promotions and a lot first strikes. Moreover, if you're playing on Warlords, both Chinese leaders are Protective, so Chukonus start with Drill I, giving you a headstart in that line of promotions. Gunpowder units can't choose Drill, so upgraded Chukonus can be interesting. Incidentally, Protective also makes the Chukonu better at defending cities, thanks to the free City Garrison I promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a final note, here's a tip on how to get Chukonus early and really overrun your neighbours: Choose Qin Shi Huang as your leader and aim to build the Oracle to grab Metal Casting (requires Pottery and Bronze Working). The Industrious trait makes getting the Oracle viable, even without marble. Metal Casting leads to Machinery, but it also allows you to build your cheap Industrious forges. Build one asap and run an engineer specialist. When a Great Engineer is born, use him to lightbulb Machinery, giving you access to the Chinese UU very early. But do note that Machinery requires Iron Working and Chukonus need the iron resource to be built, so make sure you get this tech researched while waiting for the GE to be born. The worst scenario is finding no iron in your territory. To help prevent this situation, research Iron Working as quickly as possible to locate iron resources and claim them if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Egypt: War Chariot (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At 5 strength, the Egyptian War Chariot is essentially an axeman on wheels with no City Raider promotions but has withdrawal chance. It is a very powerful and mobile unit that can win your game from as early as the Ancient Era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An Egyptian player who does not have copper has less to worry about. In fact, horses are much more important for him/her, making Animal Husbandry (AH) a priority. And since Egypt starts with Agriculture, which leads to AH, things are pretty much set up for you. Egypt also starts with The Wheel, which is required to build chariots and roads (to hook up those horses). What serendipity! Feel free to delay Bronze Working till you wish to use Slavery, unless it turns out that there are no horses within reasonable distance. If you discover horses nearby, get a settler there as soon as possible and hook it up. You can then begin preparing for your offensive. Chariot rushing has never been so effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the chariot rush tactic of pillaging the enemy's metal mines should still be applied, War Chariots aren't as afraid of spears as normal chariots because of their increased strength. Additionally, you can give them the Shock promotion to help deal with enemy spears that you might encounter. This would also help vanilla players who face enemy axemen, since the chariot bonus vs. axes applies only after Warlords (vanilla players are somewhat compensated by having 20% withdrawal chance instead of just 10%, though). That said, I have found Flanking promotions a generally better choice when up against spears. Even with Shock, War Chariots have lower odds of winning, so you might as well increase their survival rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little later in the game, a combination of War Chariots and axes would be good to guard against counterattacking spears, since War Chariots don't get defensive bonuses and would almost certainly lose all the time. In most games, axes (and maybe swords) would gradually replace them as the premier city raiders anyway. As enemy cities accumulate more defensive ratings, those spears become more and more costly to dislodge with War Chariots alone. The loss in mobility that would result from this handing over is usually nothing to worry about, since it corresponds roughly to the time when you need to expand at a slower pace until you can get upkeep costs down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Speaking of upkeep, be wary of over-expanding with War Chariots. It's easy to fall into this trap since they pack a good punch so early in the game. While judicious use of them might mean smooth sailing for the rest of the game, their careless use can ruin you as you fall hopelessly behind in terms of technology and development paying upkeep, especially on the higher levels. This and the lack of close neighbours are the greatest early adversaries of the Egyptian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]England: Redcoat (Rifleman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The terror of your enemies in Civ4 vanilla, this unit is dramatically different in Warlords. In the former, it has 16 strength compared to the normal rifleman's 14 and an additional 25% bonus vs. gunpowder units. Hence, they are uber powerful in their era, quite unmatched by any other unit until infantry. The use of the Redcoat on vanilla is, therefore, quite straightforward. Build lots of them and/or upgrade your CR units to them and go on the offensive. Combine them with cannons for even greater effect and watch the colours on the minimap change rapidly. Even grenadiers are unable to counter them effectively due to their additional bonus. The only way the enemy can really fight back is by throwing lots of cannons at them, but you can always spread your stacks out, and the AI isn't likely to do that anyway. Don't let the enemy get machine guns, though. These are a sure counter to Redcoats on the defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, however, it's not so easy. Redcoats have the same base strength as normal riflemen. They only retain their bonus vs. gunpowder units. That said, they are still quite effective. Given no terrain or promotion-based bonuses, no unit of the same era can beat them when they attack. They are vulnerable to attacks by enemy grenadiers now, but still not as badly as in the case of normal riflemen. They own any other unit when defending. You can still use this UU the same way, but more careful planning is required. A proper defense against enemy grenadiers must now be provided for, and cannons play a greater role. Do note that Redcoats have no advantage over normal rifles when attacking cities defended by longbows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, you must consider the Churchill factor as well. The new English leader is Charismatic and Protective, making his gunpowder units especially effective. They start with City Garrison I and Drill I and require fewer xp points get promoted. As city defenders, Churchill's Redcoats are certainly a force to be reckoned with. They are also better on the offensive, since Drill helps in any combat situation and, thanks to the free City Garrison, you can better defend newly captured cities against enemy counterattacks. Some players even consider Churchill part of the reason why Redcoats had to be nerfed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A final point on this UU: Drill IV Redcoats are formidable. They get a total of 5 first strikes and a chance at another (immunity from first strikes are rare enough post-Gunpowder), an extra 10% bonus vs. mounted units and an amazing 60% reduction of any collateral damage sustained. These units are likely to take less damage in every way and win more often. And, in Warlords, Drill counts as a prerequisite promotion towards Cover, Formation and other "vs unit type" promotions. Hence, units with Drill are not condemned by not choosing Combat, should the need for those promotions arise. Especially valuable is the availability of Pinch as a promotion, since it helps to neutralise the threat of attacking grenadiers. The trouble is gunpowder (and melee) units don't get Drill promotions, so it's only possible to create such units by upgrading your archery units to Redcoats, which requires you to set aside a tidy sum. To make matters worse, archery units are generally not used offensively and are thus difficult to promote. However, the good news is Churchill players can do this more easily. With the Protective trait giving free Drill I to your archery units and Charismatic making promotions easier to obtain, you can use crossbows (the most likely candidate, since it has greater offensive value compared to archers and longbows) extensively in the hopes of getting some of them up to Drill IV to be upgraded later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Redcoat has indirectly been improved from its Warlords version since all gunpowder units can now receive Drill promotions. That means elite Drill Redcoats are much closer to reality, especially for Churchill. Gone are the days when you have to upgrade archery units to get them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ethiopia: Oromo Warrior (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Musket UUs generally don't get a lot of love, although the ones that the game has to offer are actually quite useful. But even if you're really not a fan of musket UUs, give the Oromo Warrior a try before you knock it. It is immune to First Strikes and starts with Drill I and II promotions; that means 2-3 First Strikes and -20% to collateral damage received out of the box. And if you throw the experience from barracks in, you get Drill III Oromo Warriors straight off the assembly line. Just add in Theocracy/Vassalage or a military instructor and you can be training Drill IV Oromos. Naturally, this UU has a potentially high survival rate, even after being battered by siege weapons (thanks to the Drill promotions' protection against collateral damage of up to 60%). They will perform normal muskets' defensive role extra well, and you need not be so hesitant about using them to attack even when faced with knights. Longbows are also less of a worry since Oromos are immune to First Strikes. Moreover, they are draftable, and you can get Drill III draftees with just Theocracy/Vassalage/a military instructor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If those aren't enough, you needn't worry so much about this musket UU getting obsolete quickly (BTS has delayed the advent of grenadiers to prolong the life of muskets anyway) because the promotions will remain on them when they are upgraded to riflemen. You might have read about the elusive elite Drill IV Redcoats. Well, with Ethiopia, Drill IV riflemen are a lot easier to come by. Suddenly those enemy cannons are not so scary anymore, are they?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]France: Musketeer (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although they are 1 strength point weaker than knights, musketmen have no hard counter in their time, which is the whole point of this unit. Also, knights don't get defensive bonuses so they are not as good at defending. Musketmen fare well as an all-round stack protector. And when one of your cities is threatened, wouldn't it be ideal to have a versatile defender that can counterattack as well? Remember that musketmen can be drafted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, think of the potential uses of Musketeers, which are musketmen with 2 moves. They can reinforce any threatened city quickly, which makes them potentially more effective as city defenders than longbowmen. And when you need stack protection during a campaign, Musketeers, besides being an insurance that covers you against everything except knights and Pinch elephants (both of which you can simply counter by bringing pikes), are also able to pillage along the way with the extra move (which can be useful for taking out strategic resources). Not just that, their speed means you can have reserves catching up with your stack to take over the role of their wounded comrades should your stack come under attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Offensively, they have their uses as well. Musketeers can do clean-up work when all your siege weapons and CR units have spent their move attacking, since they have 9 base strength and aren't countered by any particular unit. And, of course, they are great for a pillaging campaign. Mix them with pikemen in small stacks and they can move and pillage within a single turn and with near impunity. Versatility is the name of the Musketeer game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A major gripe that people have about this UU is the fact that it obsoletes too quickly, since Chemistry is effectively only a few techs away. Moreover, nothing upgrades to muskets and you have to build them from scratch, further narrowing their window of opportunity. The Musketeers' speed actually helps to alleviate this problem, since you can get them to the frontline to be used a lot more quickly compared to normal musketmen. Also, researching Nationalism and switching to Nationhood to draft can help you get enough of them out in time to be used to full effect. You can stay in Nationhood and research towards Rifling next, so that you can soon start drafting riflemen to complete your offensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this note, there's another interesting use for Musketeers. Try postponing Chemistry and beelining to Military Tradition for early cavalry. Research techs along the Education route, be the first to get Liberalism and grab Nationalism as the free tech. Then research Gunpowder (which is also needed for cavalry), start drafting/building Musketeers (you may use them first if you want), research Military Tradition (requires Music, which you should trade for) and start building cavalry. Escort your cavalry with Musketeers and either launch a lightning campaign or pillage with impunity. Only Musketeers can keep up with cavalry while protecting them against costly counterattacks by enemy pikes. Flanking cavalry often prevail against longbow-defended cities by themselves with relatively low casualty rates, so even if you plan on taking cities, there might not be a need to bring slow siege weapons along. If you do this right, you can finish off one or two neighbours just like that, before they can build riflemen to counter your cavalry.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Germany: Panzer (Tank)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Despite being the latest UU in the game, the Panzer really packs a punch. A tank with 50% bonus versus armour units, it will eat other tanks alive and beat even modern armour. This gives them the power to dominate the battlefield. Just watch out for those gunships, which are an effective counter to them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get Panzers before the enemy gets Flight, you can solve this problem by beelining for enemy oil wells and pillaging them to prevent him/her from building a single gunship in the first place. This should be relatively easy to do, since the enemy can't stop you with his/her own tanks. Once that is done, you'd be facing mostly gunpowder units, against which the Pinch promotion would be effective in the field. With it, the Panzer can match even mech infantry, unless the latter is better promoted or is receiving defensive bonuses. And with the free Blitz promotion that tanks have, a stack of Panzers can annihilate up to double the number units in a turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When taking cities, the Panzer might only be as effective as a normal tank, since you are likely to face many gunpowder units, which receive defensive bonuses unlike armour units. But that is alright, since tanks are excellent at taking cities anyway, having access to both Barrage and City Raider promotions. After you've chewed through the toughest defenders, whatever armour is sitting in the city would be easy pickings. Apply the blitzkrieg strategy by using your bombers to soften city defenses before rapidly moving in with your City Raider Panzers. Be sure to have some Drill Panzers to clean up, since they are good at taking out the weaker units without suffering much damage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem with this UU is how late it appears. It is enabled by Industrialism but requires oil, which means you have to get Combustion and build oil wells in addition to it, placing it even later in the timeline than Navy SEALs. Many players would have won the game by then, or at least they would be in such dominant or winning positions that having Panzers would have little influence on the outcome. Once you get them, however, they can last till the end of the game. Their ability to stand up to modern armour means you can delay getting Composites and survive without aluminum. Even if modern armour is already available, you would probably want to leave some of your Panzers un-upgraded as a versatile counter to enemy armour. Of course, you must have oil to build Panzers in the first place. Being German and not having oil in the later eras in a tightly contested game would be a shame.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Greece: Phalanx (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx, derided by some, is in fact one of the stronger UUs in the game. With 5 strength and +25% hill defense (not to be confused with free Guerilla promotion), it has enough qualities to set it far above normal spearmen. Don't forget that it also gets free Combat I from Alexander's Aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx is essentially a super spearman. However, if you build them early enough in single player, chances are the AI might not have anything except archers. Thus, it would do just as well as the axeman when used as a rush unit, except that it holds the ground better on hills and isn't afraid of Warlords' chariots (which get +100% attack vs. axemen). The fact that the Greeks start with Hunting (which is required to build the UU) certainly helps if you are thinking of rushing with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In its conventional role, the Phalanx also boasts a very long lifespan of more than two eras. Elephants give normal spearmen cause to worry, while knights are too strong be countered well by them. Phalangites, however, are able to counter elephants effectively and hold their own against knights. When they are defending on hills, no mounted unit before cavalry can beat them one-on-one without having at least the Shock promotion (perhaps with the exception of the melee-busting Conquistadors). They are also good at defending on hills, especially in hill cities, against most units in the Ancient and Classical eras. A truly solid package for a UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Phalanx has, for better or worse, been changed in BTS. It is now an axeman that is not vulnerable to chariots. That means chariots do not get a 100% bonus when attacking them. This effectively transforms a defensive UU into an offensive one, as Greek players need not worry about having to protect their earliest city raiding units from chariots. If you are the kind of player who says the glass is half empty, this change at most saves you from having to build a few spearmen and to research Hunting before you begin an axe rush. But if you like to say the glass is half full, this makes a strong rush unit that is exactly like the axeman in vanilla, which can only be countered by another axeman. Indeed, saving you the effort of building spearmen can be crucial in the early game, when cities are few and hammers are scarce. It can mean a few extra Phalanxes, which might decide whether you can take and hold a (or an extra) city or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On the defense, the new Phalanx also performs decently in the early game. Now you don't have to build spearmen to deal with the occasional pillaging chariot, though of course spears would be more effective. Not having to build spearmen might also mean having extra Phalanxes to defend against an enemy axe rush. You might prefer the old version of this UU, but you can't say the new one isn't useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inca: Quechua (Warrior)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Dubbed by some as one of the worst UUs when Civ4 was still new, the Quechua has gained notoriety through the Quechua rush, a strategy that might win you a Deity game even if it's far above your current skill level. How is that possible, you ask? Quechuas are cheap at 15 hammers each (cheaper than half an axeman) and they get a 100% bonus against archers, the AI's primary/only city garrison unit early in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush is simple to do. You can probably start building Quechuas in the beginning and overwhelm the nearest AI capital with numbers (provided you've located it, of course). However, it's advisable that you build a worker, barracks and another worker first. The first worker would improve food resources (for whipping), build mines and chop trees, while the second would start building a road to the nearest AI capital (which, presumably, you would have found by then) and make logistics less of a nightmare. The barracks allows your capital to grow in between the worker builds, but, more importantly, it allows you to build Quechuas with Cover. In vanilla, Huayna Capac is Aggressive and hence Quechuas get Combat I free, allowing you to promote them with Cover immediately if you've built a barracks. Even though the Inca leader is no longer Aggressive in Warlords, Quechuas still get Combat I free, so this tactic still applies. Quechuas with Cover have a much higher chance of winning against fortified archers so you don't need as many of them. You would be able to capture one AI city after another much more quickly. This method also has the benefit of allowing the AIs to settle more cities before you attack, thus giving you early game expansion possibilities without having to build your own settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have the workers and barracks (and have researched Mining and Bronze Working), you can start building, chopping or whipping Quechuas out. If copper is discovered within your territory, you can supplement your rush with axemen, who can gradually take over as your main city raiders, ensuring that your offensive is longer-lasting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush does have its limitations. It requires a close neighbour. Otherwise, it would take too long to get there and you would have to pay an unreasonable amount of distance upkeep if you succeed in capturing the city. Of course, you can resort to razing, but this strategy would then lose half its value. It also assumes that the AI builds archers to defend itself. On that note, you need to be playing at a high enough difficulty, where the AI can either build archers immediately or soon enough. Warriors might be too cost-effective for Quechuas to be facing, even though you can choose the Shock promotion instead of Cover. A higher difficulty level also means the AI is likely to start with a free settler or two and would thus have more cities up for grabs when you begin your rush. The AI may also conveniently choose to settle his cities towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside to this rush is the relatively high amount of unit upkeep that you have to pay early in the game. Coupled with the distance maintenance you have to pay for captured cities, your early technological development might be retarded for a while. You can, however, count on being able to catch up fairly quickly if you've nabbed an especially powerful neighbouring capital. Huayna's Financial trait can also help you recover more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond this strategy, the Quechua's usefulness is quite limited. They are effective against barbarians, since those often take the form of archers, and would hence perform well under raging barbs setting. They are also better than normal warriors at worker stealing (since they survive better against archers), should you choose to be aggressive from the start even though you have no plans of capturing enemy cities yet. Besides these, it's hard to conceive of another way to exploit this UU without rushing, making it rather situational. It either shines or fades into relative oblivion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]India: Fast Worker (Worker)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Fast Worker is a worker with 3 moves (which, interestingly enough, is unmatched till gunships in the modern age). This means, with all their moves unspent, they can enter forest/jungle/hill and immediately begin improving the tile without ending their turn. However, they do end their turn if they enter a forested/jungled hill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Indirectly, this means the Fast Worker is faster at doing what workers do. It does not improve tiles faster, but being able to begin earlier in many situations would translate to a lot of saved worker turns by the end of the game. By the way, yes, it is the only UU that lasts throughout the game. Their extra movement also means they are able to cover distances more quickly, allowing you to move them around your empire efficiently. This enables a much tighter worker strategy, where you can have fewer workers improving tiles in different cities according to which city would grow and work the tiles next. To put it simply, playing as India, you do not need as many workers to develop your land.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To get the most out of this UU, adopt an early worker strategy (i.e. building a worker first). You'd develop much quicker than the other civs and could use this early game lead to your advantage for the rest of the game. Their 3 moves also make them excellent scouts, especially early on when revealing your surroundings quickly is crucial. Just make sure you keep them away from animals and barbs. With their speed, it shouldn't be that difficult.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players do not like the fact that it is not a military UU, but few would be able to argue against its merits. The only downside to the Fast Worker is the fact that slower game speeds diminish their advantage, since the turns saved by their extra movement would be less and less significant compared to the increased number turns needed to improve tiles. If you're playing on Quick or Normal speed, this UU is certainly amazing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Japan: Samurai (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cool factor aside, there seems to be little that is interesting about this UU at first glance. It is a regular maceman that cannot be built with copper (requiring specifically iron) and has 2 first strikes. The second thing is what gives the Samurai its power, and which has sparked considerable debate on how useful it makes this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After much testing and debate, it is generally agreed that the 2 first strikes are a great boon. They help the Samurai survive, even at lower odds, and give them an edge against archers and longbows, the primary city defenders of the day. First strikes essentially mean that the unit gets the chance to inflict damage on the enemy unit even before the combat proper begins. Both archers and longbows get 1 first strike, which help them deal with regular city attackers (i.e. units with access to City Raider promotions, such as macemen), but have this advantage cancelled out by one of the Samurai's first strikes. And the Samurai still has another first strike to use. This also applies to crossbowmen (who also get 1 first strike), making the Samurai less vulnerable to that effective anti-melee unit. And, just as importantly, this advantage also has the effect of giving Samurais a higher chance to win battles while suffering less damage. That means they are potentially able to recover faster for another attack, thereby shortening the length of the Japanese player's campaigns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But do take note that this bonus is not the same as getting free Drill promotions (to which, by the way, macemen do not have access). It is better than merely a free Drill I, but it will not remain when you upgrade your Samurais. And beware of knights (especially Conquistadors or those with Shock promotion). They are a fast and effective counter to Samurai, since they have enough strength and ignore first strikes, so bring enough pikemen when facing a sufficiently advanced opponent who has researched Guilds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The main drawback of the Samurai is the requirement of iron. While regular macemen can be built with copper as well, without iron, the Japanese player will be stuck without his/her UU or even regular macemen. Thankfully, this strategic resource is quite commonly available. But if you do find yourself not having one readily available, planting a city in the tundra or invading your neighbour to get it might be worth the effort before the age of the Samurai arrives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Korea: Hwacha (Catapult)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] If you like axemen, you'd love the Hwacha. It is a catapult with 50% bonus vs melee units, making it an axeman with collateral damage, bombard ability and withdrawal chance for a mere five hammers more (Normal speed). The only downside is the Hwacha doesn't receive defensive bonuses like an axeman, so you might want to use your Hwachas offensively and turn up the heat so the enemy is forced to defend in his nice cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hwacha has some interesting synergy with Wang Kon's Protective trait. Protective really shines when you have no metals and are forced to adopt a defensive position with archers in the early game. Construction represents the departure from such a stance, since you're now able to build catapults and attack. Hwachas, being super catapults, puts you in an even better position to go on the offensive, with Protective archers/longbows for support as defenders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have iron, Protective crossbows and spears/pikes are perfect companions to Hwachas. They eliminate the threat of enemy melee and mounted units and help defend new possessions while your Hwachas take down enemy defenders. You don't need axemen. A few swords to help clean up can complete your arsenal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When macemen and trebuchets come into the picture, Hwachas gradually take a back seat, but not before you can deal some serious damage to a neighbour or two. Nonetheless, a Korean player would benefit from picking up Construction as quickly as possible. Why not put this powerful weapon into use as early as you can? And Wang Kon's Financial trait can certainly help with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Unfortunately, as it stands, the Hwacha has been weakened by the inability of siege weapons to kill units and to gain more than 1 experience point per battle. Its bonus still applies, but you can no longer rely on a stack of Hwachas to actually capture cities for you. You also need enough units to kill off all the weakened defenders. While this job can be done by almost any non-siege unit, this means hammers probably need to be diverted to other units, resulting in fewer Hwachas built. Then there's the 1xp only rule, which is worse since it means your Hwachas can no longer gain valuable additional promotions through combat, making it less effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The impact of this UU has certainly been reduced. You can still make good use of it much in the same way as before, but remember to build more units for clean up duty and to take up the slack caused by fewer veteran Hwachas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mali: Skirmisher (Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Skirmishers are archers with 4 strength and 1 extra first strike chance, effectively making Mali half a Protective civ until Feudalism comes around. With them, Malinese cities are certainly not ones to be taken easily in the early game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The normal use of Skirmishers is pretty straight forward: Defend your cities or hill improvements with them. As such, they play a rather passive role as a UU. This puts into question the rationale of going straight for Archery, even when playing Mali. First, you don't start with Hunting (required for Archery). Second, the threat of barbarian or enemy axes make axemen a better unit for defense, since they are able to counterattack and prevent your improvements from being pillaged. Lastly, Bronze Working is needed for Slavery anyway, and if you happen to find copper nearby after researching it you can soon build axes. Skirmishers can help with defense if you don't find copper around, but in that case you might want to beeline to Iron Working, so Hunting and Archery are still not the priority. But of course, in the worst case scenario where you find no metal around, Skirmishers can become quite important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords improves Skirmishers a little by making chariots a counter to axes. Now you don't have to fear barbarian/enemy axemen if you don't have copper but have horses. Barb spearmen, if they do appear, can be countered somewhat by Skirmishers. You can thus concentrate on teching up with chariots and Skirmishers for defense, without having to beeline for the relatively expensive Iron Working. If you want to be aggressive, you can rush a neighbour with a stack of chariots and some Skirmishers. The latter can help secure newly conquered cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now for the less conventional. If you are going for a really quick rush as Mali, you can beeline to Archery from the beginning. Skirmishers don't require resources, so you can technically rush a neighbour with them Jaguar-style. Get Archery as quickly as possible, build barracks - maybe settle a second city - and start building Skirmishers. After you several of them, rush the nearest neighbour's capital. Skirmishers are better than normal archers, so with a ratio of about 3:1 in your favour, you may be able to overwhelm the defending archers. The surviving Skirmishers would then help you hold on to the conquered city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you whip to rush build Skirmishers for this tactic, becareful of the hammer overflow. You might quickly begin to whip them out for one population point each and run into serious happiness issues. If you want to try this rush, you should have a food-plenty and hilly area (i.e. a good production city site) as the site of your capital. You'll need the hammers because you'll be building most of the Skirmishers the slow way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mongolia: Keshik (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers that ignore terrain movement cost and get 1 first strike, but aren't immune to first strikes. Hence, they are extremely adept at raiding and pillaging, but aren't as good at attacking archers/longbows with Drill promotions. This has a few implications on a Mongolian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Surprise is the best asset of the Keshiks. Ignoring terrain movement cost means they can traverse forests/jungles and hills as easily as flatlands. Thus, it is easy for a Mongolian player to strike across difficult terrain at the unlikeliest of places, grabbing unguarded workers and lightly-defended cities or pillaging improvements (especially on strategic resources). However, this advantage relies on the enemy's inability to counterattack immediately with spearmen or a superior force, so good intelligence would be needed to know where exactly the enemy places his spears and the bulk of his units. If you do not have this luxury, you could always send more Keshiks in case you meet spears, but be prepared to lose quite a few of them. In addition, you could pillage enemy roads to eventually cripple his ability to counterattack. However, at the end of the day, the strategic advantage you gain from your harassment must outweigh the lost hammers you spent on the dead Keshiks[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Keshiks' first strike, meanwhile, makes them better than normal horse archers at picking off non-spear units in your territory or in the enemy's. Combined with their terrain movement advantage, this makes them good empire defenders and hit-and-run units. Unfortunately, the enemy can easily counter them by having spearmen guard his units, so this might only work effectively against the AI. There's also a limitation on how good Keshiks are in fighting non-spear units compared to normal horse archers. The immunity to first strikes that normal horse archers get makes them better at fighting archery units with Drill promotions or units with Drill III/IV. The Keshiks' own first strike can only negate one of the enemy units' first strikes. To remedy this, you have to give your Keshiks Flanking II so that they get immunity to first strikes as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This, in turn, highlights the Keshik's relative weakness (compared to normal horse archers) in attacking cities defended by Drill-promoted archery units. In Warlords, this means Protective civs are better covered against attempts to take cities with Keshiks. The 10% city attack penalty that the horse archer unit-type gets in Warlords makes them even less desirable as city raiders. Thus, the only hope Mongolian player might have in using Keshiks to conquer in Warlords is to rely on speed, Flanking promotions and numbers (also applies to vanilla, but not to such a large extent).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With barracks and Ger in the city, a Keshik gets 7 xp upon being built. Unfortunately, that will still allow for only 2 initial promotions (unless you're running both Vassalage and Theocracy for a total of 11 xp), though of course your mounted units would be promoted to the next level sooner. But, at any rate, 2 initial promotions are good enough. Give most of the Keshiks Flanking I and II to give them 50% withdrawal chance each (including the natural 20%) and immunity to first strikes. Give Combat I and Medic I or Combat I and Shock (for defending against spearmen) to the rest. Have at least one Medic I Keshik and one Shock Keshik in each stack. If you get Compass early enough, you can use explorers (strength 4, ignores terrain movement cost and starts with free Guerilla I and Woodsman I) to help protect your stacks when they stop on hills or forests/jungles. 3 or 4 cities with Gers pumping out Keshiks would usually be good enough to amass a sizeable army in reasonable time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As your Keshiks attack enemy cities, some will die, some will withdraw and some will win. The medics will ensure that the withdrawing and winning Keshiks heal up more quickly. If you manage to overwhelm a prepared enemy with numbers, your speed advantage (from ignoring terrain movement cost and faster healing) will ensure that the enemy cannot fight back or resist as effectively, hastening his destruction. If the enemy is unprepared in the first place, your speed advantage will ensure his quick defeat. Note that this strategy can only work if the enemy doesn't have longbows yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You should be prepared to build courthouses and marketplaces to help you keep your winnings. But even if you're not, you can just resort to razing and pillaging for some barbaric fun. Long live the Golden Horde![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Netherlands: East Indiaman (Galleon)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Now here's an interesting UU. Although it does have some combat capability, it serves primarily as a support unit. But the East Indiaman is pretty good at it, offering an extra cargo space for a total of 4, which is quite a big leap from a normal galleon considering the fact that transports have the same capacity. If you're planning on waging war during the age of the rifle, especially against an overseas civ, or if you are planning a large-scale settling another landmass, you don't have to build quite as many ships to carry your units over. Three East Indiamen carry as much as four galleons, thereby saving you 80 hammers, which can almost make an extra frigate (90 hammers) to protect your fleet. Moreover, since they carry as many units as transports, you might not need to decommission or upgrade them till the end of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The East Indiaman also has the nifty ability to travel within rival borders without needing an open borders treaty. Have you accumulated much EPs thanks to the Financial trait? You can send your spies anywhere in the world conveniently, even directly into an unfriendly overseas civ. And the extra cargo space is useful for espionage as well, helping you keep a constant flow of spies even if many get caught.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lastly, the East Indiaman has 2 more strength than a normal galleon, making it tougher to sink. While it still can't beat a frigate, it can more than annihilate caravels and destroy other galleons, so you have naval superiority at Astronomy until your rivals get Chemistry and build frigates. And, should there be privateers prowling the seas, you needn't worry so much about being ambushed by them while moving units across water without escort during peacetime. This is probably a UU that you would appreciate on maps with lots of seas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ottomans: Janissary (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Janissary’s advantage is a 25% boost against melee, archery and mounted units, making it a great all-round unit for its time. It is pretty much effective against all previous era units (with the big exception of siege units), so you can potentially put some serious hurt in your enemies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to get as much use out of Janissaries as possible, you need to look for ways to get to Gunpowder early. You might even want to make a beeline for it, either through the northern path (Maths -&gt; Currency -&gt; Priesthood? -&gt; Civil Service -&gt; Paper -&gt; Education) or the southern path (Metal Casting -&gt; Machinery &amp; Monotheism -&gt; Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guilds) in the tech tree. Different lightbulbing strategies are available (with Great Merchants for the southern path and Great Scientists for the northern one), so you don't have to self-research everything. Strictly speaking, it may not be necessary to do a beeline, but it's probably the best way. The point is to get to Gunpowder before your enemies are even close to it, and rapidly exploiting this opportunity gap by building, whipping and possibly drafting as many Janissaries as you can to use against them. To be able to draft, you would need to pursue the northern path and probably research Liberalism first to grab Nationalism as the free tech, before actually researching Gunpowder. It is a slight diversion, but it may be worth the delay if your empire does not have the capability to build or whip enough Janissaries in time to give you a real edge, as often is the case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have them, Janissaries are quite a fearsome force in the medieval battlefield. They have no hard counter, so the best bet your enemies might have is to promote their units with Pinch, which requires Gunpowder in Warlords. Knights with Pinch, however, are a good counter to Jannissaries, as are regular musketmen (against whom Janissaries have no advantage whatsoever), so once your enemies have Gunpowder as well you may find your edge disappearing. If they manage to get to Chemistry, which isn't that far away, this UU is practically obsolete. Janissary stacks are actually relatively vulnerable to siege units (and the associated collateral damage) as well, since they don't get any bonuses against these. But unless you're playing MP, this shouldn't be a big problem. The AI does not generally build many catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take note that Janissaries may not be the best city-taking troops you can get, since they do not have access to City Raider promotions. Needless to say, if you're relying on them as the backbone of your army, you still need to bring siege weapons along if you hope to grab some enemy territory. Given the fact that they are not actually very different from the conduct of normal campaigns of the time, Janissary campaigns might still be slow going, so don't be surprised if you don't manage to knock out more than one enemy with them, even with your best efforts (assuming you're playing on the higher levels). Hence, the emphasis is again on getting them as early as possible so as to enlarge the window of opportunity that you have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Overall, without the mobility of the Musketeer, this UU is quite situational and, to an even higher degree than the former, requires some long term planning in the early game to be put to good use. It is probably better the lower the difficulty you play on, since you would be more likely to out-tech the AIs and get to Gunpowder much earlier than them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Persia: Immortal (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems odd that Immortals are chariot-replacements, and you may miss the ownage days of playing as Persia with their Civ3 incarnation. Fortunately, they are still very effective in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you have horses and a neighbouring civ nearby, you know you're in for some fun. Immortals get 50% bonus vs. archery units, as well as an innate 30% withdrawal chance. No AI I've seen can resist them very early in the game. Hook up those horses quickly, build/whip out some of these creatures and head straight for the neighbour. If you managed to build barracks, you can give them Flanking I for an extra 10% withdrawal chance. If you have time to kill some barbs as well, before heading for your neighbour's cities, you can promote some with Flanking II for immunity against first strikes and a total of 60% withdrawal chance. This would give them a high survival rate against archers. Don't they sound like excellent AI city busters? What's more, they do get defensive bonuses, making them less vulnerable to counterattack and decent garrison units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If or when your enemy gets spearmen, however, Immortals lose much of their power. Even one spearman in a city you're attacking can give you a lot of trouble. You really have to count on the withdrawal chances if you want the first few Immortals to survive a direct attack on the city. In Civ4 vanilla, enemy axemen would be a problem too, since chariots don't get the 50% bonus when attacking axemen like in Warlords. To help prevent difficulties from arising, you should pillage any AI mine that you see sitting on a metal resource. If a city is on top of one, pillage the roads around it to limit spear production to that city. You would thus prolong the effectiveness of your Immortals. Until your enemy gets Feudalism, that is. If he can. Although the 50% bonus also applies when fighting longbows, the latter are too strong when defending in cities to be dislodged by Immortals alone. The same may be said of enemy crossbows. But with the help of siege weapons, Immortals can still take them down quite easily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem is when there is no neighbour near you. In that case, you can't use Immortals to their full potential. However, they are still quite handy against barbs, since the latter usually take the form of archers. In Warlords, they are also great for dispatching barb axemen. Clearly, the expansion has given this solid UU even more oomph.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Rome: Praetorian (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians are a blunt instrument with which you can rule the early battlefield. Taking cities is the name of the game, and Praetorians easily destroy enemy archers defending cities (even those with some cultural defense), with odds so favorable that they'll likely not suffer losses. You may lose a few if the enemy city is on a hill and the defender has City Garrison promotions, but the odds will still favor you most of the time. You probably want to give your Praetorians City Raider (CR) promotions to help bust those cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of their high strength, Praetorians can hold their own against axeman, their natural counter. Nevertheless, it may be best to build your own axemen or promote a few Praetorians with Combat I and Shock for stack defense. Praetorians will also prevail against mounted units of the same era, though a spearman or two will only do you good, leaving your Praetorians to focus on taking those cities. After the enemy gets longbowmen, the Praetorian is still useful, but you need to support them with catapults to remove city defenses and soften up the defenders to avoid catastrophic losses. Watch out for crossbows, though; they are very effective against Praetorians. The best way to guard against them is to pillage the enemy's iron mines before he/she can build them. The same goes for enemy Shock war elephants, in which case you should pillage his/her ivory camps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians require Iron Working and iron. A Roman player would probably want to take advantage of the Praetorian as early as possible, so beelining to Iron Working is a good call. You may want to have a settler and some workers ready to exploit any iron deposit you see as soon as the tech is researched, although there's some chance that you'd find iron within your existing borders. You should also build barracks first, so that you can give your Praetorians a promotion from the get go, whether it is CR 1 for city busting or Combat 1 for Shock later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The problem with Praetorians is the Roman player may become a victim of his own success. Because it is so easy to expand quickly with this UU, the temptation to expand beyond your limit is great. You may end up too many cities, causing your economy to crash from the upkeep. One solution is to raze cities rather than keep them, unless they are close to yours or have high value (eg. capitals, holy cities or those with wonders). This also has the effect of severely weakening or even eliminating your enemies so it is easier to actually expand when your economy is able to support it later. And, while you're doing this, do pillage the improvements around razed cities to set your enemies back even further and for extra funds. You can also help yourself by building up your infrastructure at home to support your campaigns, such as laying down lots of cottages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UU is the main reason why it's good to play as Rome when you're new on a difficulty level. Try not to get too used to having them, though, as you might become too dependent on their strength to play with any other civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Russia: Cossack (Cavalry)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the Redcoat, the Cossack is one UU that has been changed in Warlords. In Civ IV vanilla, the Cossack has a fearsome reputation. A cavalry with 18 strength and +50% against mounted units on top of the ordinary cavalry capabilities (+50% against cannon and 30% withdrawal chance), it can beat almost every unit in its era. Even riflemen, its counter, have less strength if you don't consider promotions or defensive bonuses. Pinch-promoted Cossacks can eat them alive. Riflemen need to be one level higher (4) and get the Formation promotion to even out the playing field, though you should note that Aggressive riflemen can get Formation at level 3. Redcoats do counter Cossacks very well, but Cossacks are faster, can withdraw and aren't destroyed by machine guns and massed cannons the way Redcoats are.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are using them in the vanilla game, consider getting them as early as possible by beelining to Education, getting Liberalism and choosing Nationalism as the free tech. Nationalism leads to Military Tradition (requires Music, so make sure you trade for it) and Education leads to Gunpowder, techs needed to build Cossacks (and you must have horses, of course). If you pull this off early enough, the rest of the game should be easy - Cossacks versus longbowmen is no contest. You can shoot for a domination victory right away. All you need to do is keep pumping out Cossacks, with the whip whenever possible, while ideally running the military civics (Vassalage and Theocracy) to give your Cossacks an even bigger edge. It's no wonder that some people consider them overpowered in vanilla.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords, however, is a vastly different game for Cossack fans. On one hand, there's the introduction of the stable, which improves mounted units by giving them 2 more experience points. On the other hand, the Cossack has the same strength as normal cavalry now, only retaining their bonus against mounted units. They are basically cavalry that excel in killing other cavalry. This is a lot more useful in MP, where cavalry versus cavalry is pretty much a fair game and you need to get riflemen to gain an advantage. Having Cossacks means you already have an advantage against enemy cavalry, forcing your enemies to tech to riflemen to stand a chance on the battlefield or risk being holed up in their cities and becoming sitting targets for your cannons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In SP, however, much of the action would ideally take place at enemy cities to begin with, and in this respect the Cossack is mostly as good as normal cavalry in Warlords. It can get the 2 extra experience points from stables, but so can normal cavalry. The only time you have a real advantage against the AI is when it masses cavalry. In that case, your Cossacks would cut through the AI's army like knife through butter. Unfortunately, you would probably have to capture cities to end the war anyway. That said, Cossacks are pretty good for pillaging if you promote them with Pinch, since they would then be more difficult to counter (neither riflemen nor cavalry would work effectively against them). But, still, as you can see, what was an amazing UU has become a pretty situational one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spain: Conquistador (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With this UU, the road to El Dorado can be wide and clear. It has the potential to be exploited in a game-breaking way. The reason is this: Conquistadors get 50% bonus vs. melee, which gives it an advantage against the most common counter to knights - pikemen. They also get defensive bonuses, which means they can exploit the terrain to make counterattack difficult. To top all of this off, Conquistadors benefit from 2 first strikes (which normal knights don't get), making them even harder to defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need horse and iron to produce this UU. Playing as Spain, I'd make sure I get those by the time Conquistadors can be built. The Spanish player would also do well to research Guilds early, extending the life and usefulness of the UU. Conquistadors can fill the role of your main city attackers, following your siege weapons to capture city after city. They don't get CR upgrades, but they can perform decently against city defenders even when they haven't accumulated promotions. Their first strikes and immunity to first strikes certainly help, especially against longbows. And, thanks to their bonus against melee, defending pikes don't scare them that much. With defensive bonuses to help, they can also act as stack-protectors during your campaigns. Furthermore, since they have 2 moves, they can attack enemy units and come back to the stack in the same turn. If you're playing on Warlords, they make the perfect companions to Citadel-improved siege weapons. Woe to the enemy cities![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once those shiny cities have been taken, Conquistadors can help defend them until you get suitable defenders (such as longbowmen) there. This works especially well if a city is on a hill. As you can see, the versatility of the Conquistador almost matches that of the Musketeer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, here are a few words of caution. Siege weapons are not to be excluded from your Conquistador campaigns. Unless your target is still fielding archers, bringing siege units for bombardment and some collateral damage should still be part and parcel of your plans. Conquistadors are strong but not invincible. Without the proper support, they would still die to entrenched units, especially pikes and longbows. The other thing is, beware of elephants! These are the ultimate counter to Conquistadors. Under normal circumstances, there is no way a Conquistador can beat an elephant, and the latter is much cheaper to train. Just make sure you target opponents who have no ivory and you should have great time conquering with this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vikings: Berserk (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] Hate them or love them, Berserks are a popular UU. Although, not as powerful as their Civ3 incarnation, these guys can really be useful. Their 10% bonus vs. cities is certainly nice. However, for many people the problem is finding a good use for their free Amphibious promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Vikings have a higher potential to rule on water maps than any other civ. Ragnar is Financial, which means coastal tiles produce 3 commerce instead of 2, and his UB allows his ships to move further earlier in the game by giving free Navigation promotion. Combined with the Berserk's ability to attack amphibiously with no penalty and its city attack bonus, a Viking player on a water map can fast tech to Civil Service and Machinery and have fun raiding enemy coastal cities with Berserks on fast galleys. One method to do this early is building the Oracle and grabbing Metal Casting as the free tech (which, by the way, gives access to Colossus for a further boost to those coastal tiles). Then build/whip a forge and run an engineer in a city without the Oracle. Research your way to Code of Laws and Civil Service a.s.a.p. (in the pre-patch version you can use a prophet generated by the Oracle to lightbulb CoL/CS by not researching Masonry). In the meantime, build several galleys to prepare for your sea adventures. You'll get a Great Engineer as your 1st or 2nd Great Person from the forge city. Use him to lightbulb Machinery and start building Berserks. You could also put your research slider at 0% for a few turns and upgrade some axes to Berserks (being Financial helps with accumulating money for that). If you catch your opponents without longbows yet, you've done really well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are limitations to your Berserks' ability to raid cities from the sea, though. If a city is defended by longbows, on a hill, has high cultural defense and/or walls, it could be difficult to take and might render an attempt not worth the cost. To attack such a city, you probably need to bring siege units along as galleys/triremes are not able to even bombard the city's defenses. Having to land siege units to bombard/deal collateral damage nullifies the Berserks' amphibious advantage. As such, you would need to look for softer targets to strike at. You don't have to keep the city. Find a weak spot (a lightly defended coastal city), raid, raze and pop back into the galleys before the enemy can counterattack. Landing a spear with the Berserker that has to land on that turn would help the latter survive a counterattack by mounted units (the most likely reaction you'll get from an AI). But becareful not to attack too close to an AI capital. AIs tend to stack more units in their capitals and can easily counterattack with a stronger force from there. Humans in MP will be wary of a sea attack, so watch out for axes/xbows in or within reach of coastal cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if you're not playing on a water map, Berserks present some interesting options. With them, you have the advantage when laying siege to a city across a river if the enemy doesn't have Engineering. His non-mounted units cannot counter attack from the city without suffering a 20% penalty for attacking across the river. With their free Amphibious promotion, Berserks get no such penalty attacking the city. The only downside is your siege units do suffer from the penalty if you want to cause some collateral damage first. Conversely, this idea works in defense as well. When enemy units are across a river beside one of your cities, you can attack them with your Berserks with no penalty while they would suffer it when they attack. At the very least, Berserks always get their 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Perhaps the most valuable thing about the Berserk is the fact that he keeps the Amphibious promotion when upgraded. This allows a Viking player to build Berserks (especially City Raider ones) and upgrade them later on to grenadiers or riflemen with free Amphibious. Frigates are able to bombard city defenses, so you can get yourself an elite amphibious attack force long before marines make their appearance. The free Amphibious also works the opposite way, allowing your older units to benefit from it when upgraded to Berserks. Hence, it makes sense to do so with all of your more experienced axemen or swordsmen. It would almost certainly be worth the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Zulus: Impi (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] On the surface, the Impi may not appear to be a stellar UU, since it does not come with extra strength or with obviously strong bonuses. However, the tactical value of this unit is considerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Impi comes with the Mobility promotion (-1 movement cost to enter tiles that would normally cost 2 moves or more) and 2 moves. Thus, they have the ability to rapidly cross territory and catch another nation with a weakly defended city in the early game, when borders are not really expanded and cultural defenses are not high. They can be two tiles from a city and attack it on the same turn that war is declared. Thanks to Aggressive, they also start with Combat I, making them a little stronger. Furthermore, they are eligible for City Raider promotions, which would help crack the defenses of those early cities. Their relatively low cost, meanwhile, helps you amass a number of them as quickly as possible and simply bum rush a close neighbour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]They also make excellent pillagers. With the 100% bonus against mounted that spears get, the only units that can really catch them are not able to kill them effectively. Naturally, they can be put in your stacks or cities to defend and make counterattacks against mounted units. In your own territory, no enemy horse can hope to outrun them, so it's death to the common enemy pillagers![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An interesting gambit you can try is attaching a Great General to an Impi and giving him the Morale promotion, thus creating a 3-move unit with reduced terrain movement cost. If you manage to get it beyond Combat IV, you can add Commando to the collection. It's not going to be a particularly strong unit, but it might have some interesting tactical uses (such as running into a weakly defended part of an enemy empire to killl a worker and then getting out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, Impis have good synergy with the Zulu UB, the Ikhanda, which is a barrack that also acts as a mini courthouse (-20% maintenance cost for the city). Grab some cities from an unsuspecting opponent as outlined above and rush build Ikhandas in them to help pay for the early extra maintenance. Moreover, being Aggressive, Shaka builds his UB at double production speed, so it's more power to you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Zulus start conveniently with Hunting, which is required to build their UU, but Impis need copper or iron to be built. If you want to use them as an early attack unit, you must beeline to BW and find copper. If there's no copper around, well, then there's no hope for an Impi rush. The other downside to them is the fact that Mobility becomes useless when you upgrade them, unless you continue doing so all the way till they become mech infantry. No matter what, unroaded terrain would cost at least 1 movement point to enter and, except for mech infantry much later, the Impi's line of units only has 1 move each.</English>
		<French>[H1]A Comprehensive Unique Unit Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]aelf[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the War Academy teaches specific strategies involving extensive use of the prominent UUs, there isn't a guide to explain the uses of the others. Strong ones like the Praetorian often need no introduction, but many players are not exposed to the possibilities that the more subtle ones present. What spurred me to start this guide are the fairly common disparaging comments about some UUs, comments that are often simply one-sided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this guide would help you leverage the different UUs effectively or at least inspire you to be more creative with them. Give all of them a chance! But please note that this guide is written mainly for single player games. Some tips may still be useful for multiplayer, but I can't promise that. This guide also assumes that you are playing as leaders under the normal civs, which might not be true if you are playing BTS.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thanks to [BOLD]Robo Kai, kniteowl, Cabert, Wodan, johnny_rico, gusi, UncleJJ, Bjorn190, dime, s.c.dude, drkodos, kristopherb, Elandal, Thyrwyn, Phrederick, Polycrates, Thedrin, agc28, PraetorianSteve, svv, carl corey, Andrei_V, Mr. Civtastic, Thomas G., GeneralGab, Percy, r_rolo1, facistal, jason77024, GoliathFF8[\BOLD] and [BOLD]InvisibleStalke[\BOLD] for ideas and contributions that helped make this guide possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And now I shall begin. The different UUs are listed under their civs, in alphabetical order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]----------[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]America: Navy SEAL (Marine)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've gotten over the fact that it comes very late in the game, you might realise that the Navy SEAL is actually good UU. A marine replacement, it might seem to be a niche unit. After all, how often do you conduct amphibious attacks (which include those across a river, by the way)? But take a closer look at its unique advantages and you'll realise the potential it has.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Its first strike and first strike chances are not to be taken lightly. First strikes can help you deal more damage to the enemy and comfortably win battles that you might otherwise take heavy damage in or even lose. The free March promotion, meanwhile, allows the Navy SEAL to heal on the go, reducing the time it takes to recover before heading off to another battle. Bringing a Medic III unit along with your SEALs means that as soon as they have attacked, they are eligible for the 30% healing the next turn (5% from enemy territory and 25% from Medic III). So as long as they are at or above 16.8/24 strength, they will be back to full health the next turn. They can also heal right after making an amphibious assault aboard a Medic transport. The SEALs in Civ4 are indeed an elite task force worthy of their name, capable of enduring and sustaining a long campaign.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 50% attack bonuses against machine guns and artillery are a thick layer of icing on the cake. With SEALs, you don't have to fret when attacking cities defended by machine guns (which are immune to collateral damage) without tanks. Their first strikes also help by negating the machine gun's first strikes. And, also due to their first strikes, SEALs are probably the best stack protectors against enemy artillery attacks. Divide your stack(s) into smaller SEAL-protected groups and you don't have to worry too much about getting overwhelmed by mass artillery.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you have some coastal cities to assault or a land campaign to conduct, Navy SEALs are an excellent unit to bring along with your invasion force. They do come late, but they come at the right time if you're planning on a late domination push that would win you the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Arabia: Camel Archer (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Camel Archers are knights that have a higher withdrawal chance (25%) and don't require horses or iron. You could simply use them like normal knights, but the thing about them is Flanking promotions make them very good at surviving failed attacks (+55% withdrawal chance with Flanking II). This means you don't have to balk so much at attacking a city or a stack that has a defending pike, making them more reliable as an attack unit. Of course, if you end up with no horses or iron, they give you the option of building knights in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're playing on Warlords, stables can give your Camel Archers enough experience points to start off with Flanking I and II, so you don't have to be running Vassalage or Theocracy. Also, you can improve their ability even further by attaching Great Generals to them as warlords. Give a Flanking II Camel Archer the Tactics promotion (+30% withdrawal chance) and it would have 85% chance of retreating from a failed attack. Of course, you might still get unlucky and lose it, especially if you attack at very low odds. It's not 100% withdrawal chance, you know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aztecs: Jaguar Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traditional whipping boys, these guys get 2 free promotions in Warlords, Woodsman I and Combat I (the latter thanks to Montezuma's Aggressive trait). If you've built those cheap barracks, giving them Woodsman II immediately would allow you to rush a relatively cheap stack of them (Jaguars cost less than normal swordsmen) to enemy cities through forests and jungles, in which they have two moves. Of course, this comes at the price of not being able to give them the City Raider promotion first, but depending on how fortified the target cities are, this may not be such a problem. Jaguars do get the swordsman's inherent 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a more conventional level, the benefit of the Jaguar is probably similar to that of the Gallic Warrior - better stack protection when standing on a particular terrain. Jaguars can even defend against axemen when positioned in forests and jungles, as they get 70% terrain defense bonus there (+50% from the terrain and +20% from Woodsman I), making them good all-round defenders in this situation. Give them Woodsman II or Shock (both available immediately with barracks) and they would have no need to be afraid of axemen as long as they have trees to cover them. Hence, if the enemy's lands sport plenty of foliage, you may want to bring a few of them along in any case. Note that this applies only to [BOLD]jungles[\BOLD] in Civ4 vanilla, where Jaguars get 75% defense bonus (+50% from the terrain and +25% [BOLD]jungle[\BOLD] defense bonus).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Jaguars don't require any resource so you can start building them even before hooking up copper or iron. You can also whip them out (probably with unhappy citizens) in newly conquered cities that are not connected to any metal resource, immediately creating some units for either garrison or further offensive purposes and thus helping you proceed with your campaign without having to wait for reinforcements. The value of this UU greatly increases when you find yourself without copper and iron in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More on the no resource requirement, Jaguars are a sure way to rush a neighbour early in the game. You can plant your second city on the best production site in the direction of your target without waiting for copper or iron to be revealed. Then you build barracks and granary, research IW and start whipping Jaguars out without even having to bother with any resources. Get a stack of them and attack Aztec-style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] With the addition of the Woodsman III promotion, Jaguars have become much more useful in an interesting way. Woodsman III grants 2 first strikes, +50% forest and jungle attack and the ability to heal units on the same tile at the rate of 15% per turn. Since Jaguars get Woodsman I for free and barracks can give them Woodsman II off the bat, they are effectively 2 XP away from becoming the ultimate forest/jungle warriors of their time and effective medics. If you need to take out some enemy units that are fortified in a forest/jungle, especially those that are there to choke your cities, unleash the Woodsman III Jaguars. If you need some quick healing, you have Woodsman III Jaguars. A very handy support unit to have around for early warfare. They are probably still not such effective combat units on their own, but the first strikes might help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can even maximise the Jaguar's healing ability by attaching a Great General to it and giving it all three Medic promotions as well. Woodsman III's healing stacks with the Medic promotions (provided they are on the same unit), giving you a whooping 50% healing rate. And this isn't difficult to achieve since Jaguars get free Combat I (required for Medic I) thanks to Aggressive, so you only need 26 XP to get there. Attaching a Great General to a unit gives you 20 XP, so that Jaguar effectively only needs 6 XP, the first 3 of which can be given by barracks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carthage: Numidian Cavalry (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] This is a UU that people are divided about. Some regard it as a good UU (though not great). Others think it is weak. The latter opinion can usually be attributed to the traditional aversion to horse archers, Horseback Riding (HBR) and Archery (techs required to build horse archer-type units). Horse archers have two moves and are good for busting archer-defended cities, but they die to spearmen, rendering them easy to counter. Archery is widely viewed as a useless dead end tech early on, while HBR is fairly expensive, making it tempting to research other more beneficial techs first. The latter's beaker cost also makes it difficult to ensure that your opponents don't have spears yet by the time it's researched. Add the fact that horse archers suffer from a 10% penalty when attacking cities in Warlords, and that the Numidian Cavalry is 1 strength weaker than normal horse archers, it's easy to turn your back on the Carthaginian UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if you consider it carefully, you may find that it's actually worth something depending on the situation. In Warlords, HBR allows you to build stables (+2 exp to mounted units), which would give your horses an edge in promotions before Vassalage/Theocracy, making the tech more attractive to research early. And the Numidian Cavalry starts with Flanking I, so, with stables, you can give them Flanking II and another promotion (eg. Mobility) right off the bat. This would give them a 50% (20% natural ability + 30% from Flanking I and II) chance to withdraw from losing battles and, if you choose Mobility, the ability to more very quickly even in enemy territory. With the Charismatic trait, it's easy to get your Numidian Cavalry to the next level for yet another promotion. Don't forget that the free Flanking I would not disappear when you upgrade them to knights.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Those are not all. The Numidian Cavalry also gets 50% bonus vs. melee, as well as the 50% bonus vs. siege that horse archers have, making it virtually an improved axeman. It has no need to be overly afraid of spearmen, thanks to the melee bonus. And you can rely on Flanking II to increase the survival rate of your Numidian Cavalry when up against spears, or you can even the odds with Combat I and Shock. If there's no heavy cultural defense, Numidian Cavalry can do a decent job busting cities on their own, although you'll need a good number of them. As active empire defenders or counter units, they are versatile enough, having bonuses against two categories of units. As pillagers, they are excellent since spears, the easiest counter, are not as effective against them - just be sure to build stables and give them Combat I and Shock (of course, you may want a few Sentries). It may seem like a waste of their free Flanking I, but this way the enemy cannot easily drive your pillaging Numidians out. The few Flanking-promoted ones can attack enemy units guarding key resources. Remember to pillage ivory and horses first, since elephants and horse archers are the most effective counters to your UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cons of the Numidian Cavalry are their reduced strength, the 10% penalty against cities and the fact that they can't get City Raider promotions. Once there's significant cultural defense in an enemy city, expect to take huge losses if you don't bring siege weapons along. Even if there's no cultural defense and the city is not on a hill, Numidian Cavalry are actually not as strong as the city's unpromoted fortified archers, so you need to bring at least twice as many. You can beeline to HBR and rush a neighbour with a moderate stack of them to quickly capture a few cities, but don't expect them to carve out a large empire for you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Horse archers no longer get the 10% city attack penalty, so the Numidian Archer is slightly stronger now. It also gains mounted units' flanking attack ability (not to be confused with Flanking promotion), whereby it does 'collateral damage' to siege units in the stack it is attacking, making it better at countering mass catapults than before. These changes certainly mean that Carthage players have something to cheer about.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Celtia: Gallic Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Gallic Warrior is a much-maligned UU. Most people wonder why an offensive unit is given a promotion for hill defense. How on earth is that going to help him attack cities, which is what it does best?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Attacking a city is the culmination of an offensive movement, which begins with your entering enemy territory. If you're careful, you would want to move your stack along the safest route to the target city as far as possible, which often means favouring forests and hills over flatlands. This is where the Gallic Warrior's free Guerilla I can help. While spearmen protect your stack against mounted units and axemen/crossbows protect it from melee units, a Gallic Warrior on a hill is the best defender against counterattacking catapults and can even take over the role of the other stack-protection units. For example, if your spearman is badly injured, the Gallic Warrior can defend against chariots or horse archers as long as you're on a hill. Thus, while normal swordsmen may be badly injured before reaching the target city in these circumstances, chances are Gallic Warriors would be in better shape.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And note that Gallic Warriors can be promoted with Guerilla II and III. Such units can be a thorn in your enemy's side, running through the hills pillaging mines and maybe raiding a weakly defended city or two, thanks to Guerilla III's movement bonus on hills. The 25% bonus for attacks on hills and 30% withdrawal chance that this promotion gives also make it easier for you to deal with stubborn hill cities. And now that you can build Gallic Warriors with copper in the latest versions of Warlords, this UU can make an extra early appearance for city-busting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another neat thing about this UU is the fact that you can upgrade it to more advanced units in its line without losing the free Guerilla I. So, in effect, the benefit of this UU lasts for a long time. Remember that forests can be chopped but hills are permanent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Somewhat like the Jaguar, this UU benefits from an improvement to its natural promotion branch: the change to Guerrilla III. It still gives +25% hills attack but now it gives a 50% withdrawal chance, making a Guerilla III Gallic Warrior a very effective crack troop. Need to attack that fortified hilltop city before Construction? Guerilla III Gallic Warriors can soften the defenses and have a good chance of surviving even after losing. The 50% withdrawal chance really is quite amazing, outclassing both the Flanking promotions combined. Moreover, since both Celt leaders are Charismatic, it's really easy to get to Guerrilla III. With barracks, your Gallic Warriors can start with Guerilla II and you are only 1XP away from Guerilla III. Sounds like fun.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]China: Chukonu (Crossbowman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu has a fearsome reputation. Collateral damage is something well-loved by most Civ4 players, and a respectable non-siege ground unit that has the ability to inflict it would surely become the favourite of some. The biggest weakness of siege units is their inability to defend effectively. The Chukonu, however, can function as an improved crossbowman, thus having an important benefit of siege units without the drawback.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may find it hard to pinpoint the exact role of this UU, though. Crossbows are primarily a counter unit, designed to help eliminate the threat of enemy melee units, and can in turn be countered by mounted units. If the enemy builds stacks of melee, your Chukonus will tear them apart with their bonus vs melee, first strikes and collateral damage. If the enemy mixes his stacks with mounted units, Chukonus are less effective. Thanks to collateral damage and the extra first strikes, however, they are much less helpless than normal crossbows and are still able to attack such mixed stacks, although you would probably sustain losses initially. The idea is to wear the enemy units down with your extra hits and collateral damage. Given enough Chukonus, there's almost nothing you can't defeat in the field (assuming you are facing units of the same era). But the question arises: Are they more cost effective for this purpose than catapults, since the latter are cheaper? If the enemy only has melee units then the answer is clearly yes. If the enemy has mounted units (which may be immune to first strikes) in his stack, sending in a few scuicide catapults first would probably be a better idea. The Chukonus can do semi-cleanup, dealing even more collateral damage to the enemy units and making them extremely weak and easy for more Chukonus or other units to take out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can apply the same concept when attacking a city. Siege units are still needed to remove the city's defenses, but who does the first few assaults would depend on what sort of units are defending the city. If they are macemen and pikemen/spearmen, use your Chukonus. If there are archery/mounted units in the city, use the siege units first, followed by the Chukonus and finally the cleanup crew (if you have any). Remember, Chukonus don't get City Raider promotions, so be prepared to lose some as they attack at lower odds than your CR units might have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu's first strikes are useful on the offense, but they become the primary advantage on the defense. When Chukonus are defending, they won't get to inflict any collateral damage on the enemy units, but their first strikes would be a great boost. First strikes grant chances of hitting the enemy unit before the combat proper even begins, thus improving your odds. The stronger your unit is compared to the enemy's the better first strikes are, since the hits you score would do more damage, thus increasing the possibility of your unit winning without taking much damage. This makes them even better a defense against enemy melee units than normal crossbows. Their first strikes also work well when defending against siege weapons, since they might be able to win before much collateral damage is suffered.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you give your Chukonus Drill promotions for more first strikes is up to you. Note that this UU has higher chances of being promoted than normal crossbowmen, since they are more suitable for an offensive role, making it possible to accumulate quite a few Drill promotions and a lot first strikes. Moreover, if you're playing on Warlords, both Chinese leaders are Protective, so Chukonus start with Drill I, giving you a headstart in that line of promotions. Gunpowder units can't choose Drill, so upgraded Chukonus can be interesting. Incidentally, Protective also makes the Chukonu better at defending cities, thanks to the free City Garrison I promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a final note, here's a tip on how to get Chukonus early and really overrun your neighbours: Choose Qin Shi Huang as your leader and aim to build the Oracle to grab Metal Casting (requires Pottery and Bronze Working). The Industrious trait makes getting the Oracle viable, even without marble. Metal Casting leads to Machinery, but it also allows you to build your cheap Industrious forges. Build one asap and run an engineer specialist. When a Great Engineer is born, use him to lightbulb Machinery, giving you access to the Chinese UU very early. But do note that Machinery requires Iron Working and Chukonus need the iron resource to be built, so make sure you get this tech researched while waiting for the GE to be born. The worst scenario is finding no iron in your territory. To help prevent this situation, research Iron Working as quickly as possible to locate iron resources and claim them if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Egypt: War Chariot (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At 5 strength, the Egyptian War Chariot is essentially an axeman on wheels with no City Raider promotions but has withdrawal chance. It is a very powerful and mobile unit that can win your game from as early as the Ancient Era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An Egyptian player who does not have copper has less to worry about. In fact, horses are much more important for him/her, making Animal Husbandry (AH) a priority. And since Egypt starts with Agriculture, which leads to AH, things are pretty much set up for you. Egypt also starts with The Wheel, which is required to build chariots and roads (to hook up those horses). What serendipity! Feel free to delay Bronze Working till you wish to use Slavery, unless it turns out that there are no horses within reasonable distance. If you discover horses nearby, get a settler there as soon as possible and hook it up. You can then begin preparing for your offensive. Chariot rushing has never been so effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the chariot rush tactic of pillaging the enemy's metal mines should still be applied, War Chariots aren't as afraid of spears as normal chariots because of their increased strength. Additionally, you can give them the Shock promotion to help deal with enemy spears that you might encounter. This would also help vanilla players who face enemy axemen, since the chariot bonus vs. axes applies only after Warlords (vanilla players are somewhat compensated by having 20% withdrawal chance instead of just 10%, though). That said, I have found Flanking promotions a generally better choice when up against spears. Even with Shock, War Chariots have lower odds of winning, so you might as well increase their survival rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little later in the game, a combination of War Chariots and axes would be good to guard against counterattacking spears, since War Chariots don't get defensive bonuses and would almost certainly lose all the time. In most games, axes (and maybe swords) would gradually replace them as the premier city raiders anyway. As enemy cities accumulate more defensive ratings, those spears become more and more costly to dislodge with War Chariots alone. The loss in mobility that would result from this handing over is usually nothing to worry about, since it corresponds roughly to the time when you need to expand at a slower pace until you can get upkeep costs down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Speaking of upkeep, be wary of over-expanding with War Chariots. It's easy to fall into this trap since they pack a good punch so early in the game. While judicious use of them might mean smooth sailing for the rest of the game, their careless use can ruin you as you fall hopelessly behind in terms of technology and development paying upkeep, especially on the higher levels. This and the lack of close neighbours are the greatest early adversaries of the Egyptian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]England: Redcoat (Rifleman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The terror of your enemies in Civ4 vanilla, this unit is dramatically different in Warlords. In the former, it has 16 strength compared to the normal rifleman's 14 and an additional 25% bonus vs. gunpowder units. Hence, they are uber powerful in their era, quite unmatched by any other unit until infantry. The use of the Redcoat on vanilla is, therefore, quite straightforward. Build lots of them and/or upgrade your CR units to them and go on the offensive. Combine them with cannons for even greater effect and watch the colours on the minimap change rapidly. Even grenadiers are unable to counter them effectively due to their additional bonus. The only way the enemy can really fight back is by throwing lots of cannons at them, but you can always spread your stacks out, and the AI isn't likely to do that anyway. Don't let the enemy get machine guns, though. These are a sure counter to Redcoats on the defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, however, it's not so easy. Redcoats have the same base strength as normal riflemen. They only retain their bonus vs. gunpowder units. That said, they are still quite effective. Given no terrain or promotion-based bonuses, no unit of the same era can beat them when they attack. They are vulnerable to attacks by enemy grenadiers now, but still not as badly as in the case of normal riflemen. They own any other unit when defending. You can still use this UU the same way, but more careful planning is required. A proper defense against enemy grenadiers must now be provided for, and cannons play a greater role. Do note that Redcoats have no advantage over normal rifles when attacking cities defended by longbows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, you must consider the Churchill factor as well. The new English leader is Charismatic and Protective, making his gunpowder units especially effective. They start with City Garrison I and Drill I and require fewer xp points get promoted. As city defenders, Churchill's Redcoats are certainly a force to be reckoned with. They are also better on the offensive, since Drill helps in any combat situation and, thanks to the free City Garrison, you can better defend newly captured cities against enemy counterattacks. Some players even consider Churchill part of the reason why Redcoats had to be nerfed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A final point on this UU: Drill IV Redcoats are formidable. They get a total of 5 first strikes and a chance at another (immunity from first strikes are rare enough post-Gunpowder), an extra 10% bonus vs. mounted units and an amazing 60% reduction of any collateral damage sustained. These units are likely to take less damage in every way and win more often. And, in Warlords, Drill counts as a prerequisite promotion towards Cover, Formation and other "vs unit type" promotions. Hence, units with Drill are not condemned by not choosing Combat, should the need for those promotions arise. Especially valuable is the availability of Pinch as a promotion, since it helps to neutralise the threat of attacking grenadiers. The trouble is gunpowder (and melee) units don't get Drill promotions, so it's only possible to create such units by upgrading your archery units to Redcoats, which requires you to set aside a tidy sum. To make matters worse, archery units are generally not used offensively and are thus difficult to promote. However, the good news is Churchill players can do this more easily. With the Protective trait giving free Drill I to your archery units and Charismatic making promotions easier to obtain, you can use crossbows (the most likely candidate, since it has greater offensive value compared to archers and longbows) extensively in the hopes of getting some of them up to Drill IV to be upgraded later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Redcoat has indirectly been improved from its Warlords version since all gunpowder units can now receive Drill promotions. That means elite Drill Redcoats are much closer to reality, especially for Churchill. Gone are the days when you have to upgrade archery units to get them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ethiopia: Oromo Warrior (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Musket UUs generally don't get a lot of love, although the ones that the game has to offer are actually quite useful. But even if you're really not a fan of musket UUs, give the Oromo Warrior a try before you knock it. It is immune to First Strikes and starts with Drill I and II promotions; that means 2-3 First Strikes and -20% to collateral damage received out of the box. And if you throw the experience from barracks in, you get Drill III Oromo Warriors straight off the assembly line. Just add in Theocracy/Vassalage or a military instructor and you can be training Drill IV Oromos. Naturally, this UU has a potentially high survival rate, even after being battered by siege weapons (thanks to the Drill promotions' protection against collateral damage of up to 60%). They will perform normal muskets' defensive role extra well, and you need not be so hesitant about using them to attack even when faced with knights. Longbows are also less of a worry since Oromos are immune to First Strikes. Moreover, they are draftable, and you can get Drill III draftees with just Theocracy/Vassalage/a military instructor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If those aren't enough, you needn't worry so much about this musket UU getting obsolete quickly (BTS has delayed the advent of grenadiers to prolong the life of muskets anyway) because the promotions will remain on them when they are upgraded to riflemen. You might have read about the elusive elite Drill IV Redcoats. Well, with Ethiopia, Drill IV riflemen are a lot easier to come by. Suddenly those enemy cannons are not so scary anymore, are they?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]France: Musketeer (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although they are 1 strength point weaker than knights, musketmen have no hard counter in their time, which is the whole point of this unit. Also, knights don't get defensive bonuses so they are not as good at defending. Musketmen fare well as an all-round stack protector. And when one of your cities is threatened, wouldn't it be ideal to have a versatile defender that can counterattack as well? Remember that musketmen can be drafted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, think of the potential uses of Musketeers, which are musketmen with 2 moves. They can reinforce any threatened city quickly, which makes them potentially more effective as city defenders than longbowmen. And when you need stack protection during a campaign, Musketeers, besides being an insurance that covers you against everything except knights and Pinch elephants (both of which you can simply counter by bringing pikes), are also able to pillage along the way with the extra move (which can be useful for taking out strategic resources). Not just that, their speed means you can have reserves catching up with your stack to take over the role of their wounded comrades should your stack come under attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Offensively, they have their uses as well. Musketeers can do clean-up work when all your siege weapons and CR units have spent their move attacking, since they have 9 base strength and aren't countered by any particular unit. And, of course, they are great for a pillaging campaign. Mix them with pikemen in small stacks and they can move and pillage within a single turn and with near impunity. Versatility is the name of the Musketeer game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A major gripe that people have about this UU is the fact that it obsoletes too quickly, since Chemistry is effectively only a few techs away. Moreover, nothing upgrades to muskets and you have to build them from scratch, further narrowing their window of opportunity. The Musketeers' speed actually helps to alleviate this problem, since you can get them to the frontline to be used a lot more quickly compared to normal musketmen. Also, researching Nationalism and switching to Nationhood to draft can help you get enough of them out in time to be used to full effect. You can stay in Nationhood and research towards Rifling next, so that you can soon start drafting riflemen to complete your offensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this note, there's another interesting use for Musketeers. Try postponing Chemistry and beelining to Military Tradition for early cavalry. Research techs along the Education route, be the first to get Liberalism and grab Nationalism as the free tech. Then research Gunpowder (which is also needed for cavalry), start drafting/building Musketeers (you may use them first if you want), research Military Tradition (requires Music, which you should trade for) and start building cavalry. Escort your cavalry with Musketeers and either launch a lightning campaign or pillage with impunity. Only Musketeers can keep up with cavalry while protecting them against costly counterattacks by enemy pikes. Flanking cavalry often prevail against longbow-defended cities by themselves with relatively low casualty rates, so even if you plan on taking cities, there might not be a need to bring slow siege weapons along. If you do this right, you can finish off one or two neighbours just like that, before they can build riflemen to counter your cavalry.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Germany: Panzer (Tank)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Despite being the latest UU in the game, the Panzer really packs a punch. A tank with 50% bonus versus armour units, it will eat other tanks alive and beat even modern armour. This gives them the power to dominate the battlefield. Just watch out for those gunships, which are an effective counter to them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get Panzers before the enemy gets Flight, you can solve this problem by beelining for enemy oil wells and pillaging them to prevent him/her from building a single gunship in the first place. This should be relatively easy to do, since the enemy can't stop you with his/her own tanks. Once that is done, you'd be facing mostly gunpowder units, against which the Pinch promotion would be effective in the field. With it, the Panzer can match even mech infantry, unless the latter is better promoted or is receiving defensive bonuses. And with the free Blitz promotion that tanks have, a stack of Panzers can annihilate up to double the number units in a turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When taking cities, the Panzer might only be as effective as a normal tank, since you are likely to face many gunpowder units, which receive defensive bonuses unlike armour units. But that is alright, since tanks are excellent at taking cities anyway, having access to both Barrage and City Raider promotions. After you've chewed through the toughest defenders, whatever armour is sitting in the city would be easy pickings. Apply the blitzkrieg strategy by using your bombers to soften city defenses before rapidly moving in with your City Raider Panzers. Be sure to have some Drill Panzers to clean up, since they are good at taking out the weaker units without suffering much damage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem with this UU is how late it appears. It is enabled by Industrialism but requires oil, which means you have to get Combustion and build oil wells in addition to it, placing it even later in the timeline than Navy SEALs. Many players would have won the game by then, or at least they would be in such dominant or winning positions that having Panzers would have little influence on the outcome. Once you get them, however, they can last till the end of the game. Their ability to stand up to modern armour means you can delay getting Composites and survive without aluminum. Even if modern armour is already available, you would probably want to leave some of your Panzers un-upgraded as a versatile counter to enemy armour. Of course, you must have oil to build Panzers in the first place. Being German and not having oil in the later eras in a tightly contested game would be a shame.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Greece: Phalanx (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx, derided by some, is in fact one of the stronger UUs in the game. With 5 strength and +25% hill defense (not to be confused with free Guerilla promotion), it has enough qualities to set it far above normal spearmen. Don't forget that it also gets free Combat I from Alexander's Aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx is essentially a super spearman. However, if you build them early enough in single player, chances are the AI might not have anything except archers. Thus, it would do just as well as the axeman when used as a rush unit, except that it holds the ground better on hills and isn't afraid of Warlords' chariots (which get +100% attack vs. axemen). The fact that the Greeks start with Hunting (which is required to build the UU) certainly helps if you are thinking of rushing with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In its conventional role, the Phalanx also boasts a very long lifespan of more than two eras. Elephants give normal spearmen cause to worry, while knights are too strong be countered well by them. Phalangites, however, are able to counter elephants effectively and hold their own against knights. When they are defending on hills, no mounted unit before cavalry can beat them one-on-one without having at least the Shock promotion (perhaps with the exception of the melee-busting Conquistadors). They are also good at defending on hills, especially in hill cities, against most units in the Ancient and Classical eras. A truly solid package for a UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Phalanx has, for better or worse, been changed in BTS. It is now an axeman that is not vulnerable to chariots. That means chariots do not get a 100% bonus when attacking them. This effectively transforms a defensive UU into an offensive one, as Greek players need not worry about having to protect their earliest city raiding units from chariots. If you are the kind of player who says the glass is half empty, this change at most saves you from having to build a few spearmen and to research Hunting before you begin an axe rush. But if you like to say the glass is half full, this makes a strong rush unit that is exactly like the axeman in vanilla, which can only be countered by another axeman. Indeed, saving you the effort of building spearmen can be crucial in the early game, when cities are few and hammers are scarce. It can mean a few extra Phalanxes, which might decide whether you can take and hold a (or an extra) city or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On the defense, the new Phalanx also performs decently in the early game. Now you don't have to build spearmen to deal with the occasional pillaging chariot, though of course spears would be more effective. Not having to build spearmen might also mean having extra Phalanxes to defend against an enemy axe rush. You might prefer the old version of this UU, but you can't say the new one isn't useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inca: Quechua (Warrior)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Dubbed by some as one of the worst UUs when Civ4 was still new, the Quechua has gained notoriety through the Quechua rush, a strategy that might win you a Deity game even if it's far above your current skill level. How is that possible, you ask? Quechuas are cheap at 15 hammers each (cheaper than half an axeman) and they get a 100% bonus against archers, the AI's primary/only city garrison unit early in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush is simple to do. You can probably start building Quechuas in the beginning and overwhelm the nearest AI capital with numbers (provided you've located it, of course). However, it's advisable that you build a worker, barracks and another worker first. The first worker would improve food resources (for whipping), build mines and chop trees, while the second would start building a road to the nearest AI capital (which, presumably, you would have found by then) and make logistics less of a nightmare. The barracks allows your capital to grow in between the worker builds, but, more importantly, it allows you to build Quechuas with Cover. In vanilla, Huayna Capac is Aggressive and hence Quechuas get Combat I free, allowing you to promote them with Cover immediately if you've built a barracks. Even though the Inca leader is no longer Aggressive in Warlords, Quechuas still get Combat I free, so this tactic still applies. Quechuas with Cover have a much higher chance of winning against fortified archers so you don't need as many of them. You would be able to capture one AI city after another much more quickly. This method also has the benefit of allowing the AIs to settle more cities before you attack, thus giving you early game expansion possibilities without having to build your own settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have the workers and barracks (and have researched Mining and Bronze Working), you can start building, chopping or whipping Quechuas out. If copper is discovered within your territory, you can supplement your rush with axemen, who can gradually take over as your main city raiders, ensuring that your offensive is longer-lasting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush does have its limitations. It requires a close neighbour. Otherwise, it would take too long to get there and you would have to pay an unreasonable amount of distance upkeep if you succeed in capturing the city. Of course, you can resort to razing, but this strategy would then lose half its value. It also assumes that the AI builds archers to defend itself. On that note, you need to be playing at a high enough difficulty, where the AI can either build archers immediately or soon enough. Warriors might be too cost-effective for Quechuas to be facing, even though you can choose the Shock promotion instead of Cover. A higher difficulty level also means the AI is likely to start with a free settler or two and would thus have more cities up for grabs when you begin your rush. The AI may also conveniently choose to settle his cities towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside to this rush is the relatively high amount of unit upkeep that you have to pay early in the game. Coupled with the distance maintenance you have to pay for captured cities, your early technological development might be retarded for a while. You can, however, count on being able to catch up fairly quickly if you've nabbed an especially powerful neighbouring capital. Huayna's Financial trait can also help you recover more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond this strategy, the Quechua's usefulness is quite limited. They are effective against barbarians, since those often take the form of archers, and would hence perform well under raging barbs setting. They are also better than normal warriors at worker stealing (since they survive better against archers), should you choose to be aggressive from the start even though you have no plans of capturing enemy cities yet. Besides these, it's hard to conceive of another way to exploit this UU without rushing, making it rather situational. It either shines or fades into relative oblivion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]India: Fast Worker (Worker)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Fast Worker is a worker with 3 moves (which, interestingly enough, is unmatched till gunships in the modern age). This means, with all their moves unspent, they can enter forest/jungle/hill and immediately begin improving the tile without ending their turn. However, they do end their turn if they enter a forested/jungled hill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Indirectly, this means the Fast Worker is faster at doing what workers do. It does not improve tiles faster, but being able to begin earlier in many situations would translate to a lot of saved worker turns by the end of the game. By the way, yes, it is the only UU that lasts throughout the game. Their extra movement also means they are able to cover distances more quickly, allowing you to move them around your empire efficiently. This enables a much tighter worker strategy, where you can have fewer workers improving tiles in different cities according to which city would grow and work the tiles next. To put it simply, playing as India, you do not need as many workers to develop your land.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To get the most out of this UU, adopt an early worker strategy (i.e. building a worker first). You'd develop much quicker than the other civs and could use this early game lead to your advantage for the rest of the game. Their 3 moves also make them excellent scouts, especially early on when revealing your surroundings quickly is crucial. Just make sure you keep them away from animals and barbs. With their speed, it shouldn't be that difficult.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players do not like the fact that it is not a military UU, but few would be able to argue against its merits. The only downside to the Fast Worker is the fact that slower game speeds diminish their advantage, since the turns saved by their extra movement would be less and less significant compared to the increased number turns needed to improve tiles. If you're playing on Quick or Normal speed, this UU is certainly amazing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Japan: Samurai (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cool factor aside, there seems to be little that is interesting about this UU at first glance. It is a regular maceman that cannot be built with copper (requiring specifically iron) and has 2 first strikes. The second thing is what gives the Samurai its power, and which has sparked considerable debate on how useful it makes this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After much testing and debate, it is generally agreed that the 2 first strikes are a great boon. They help the Samurai survive, even at lower odds, and give them an edge against archers and longbows, the primary city defenders of the day. First strikes essentially mean that the unit gets the chance to inflict damage on the enemy unit even before the combat proper begins. Both archers and longbows get 1 first strike, which help them deal with regular city attackers (i.e. units with access to City Raider promotions, such as macemen), but have this advantage cancelled out by one of the Samurai's first strikes. And the Samurai still has another first strike to use. This also applies to crossbowmen (who also get 1 first strike), making the Samurai less vulnerable to that effective anti-melee unit. And, just as importantly, this advantage also has the effect of giving Samurais a higher chance to win battles while suffering less damage. That means they are potentially able to recover faster for another attack, thereby shortening the length of the Japanese player's campaigns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But do take note that this bonus is not the same as getting free Drill promotions (to which, by the way, macemen do not have access). It is better than merely a free Drill I, but it will not remain when you upgrade your Samurais. And beware of knights (especially Conquistadors or those with Shock promotion). They are a fast and effective counter to Samurai, since they have enough strength and ignore first strikes, so bring enough pikemen when facing a sufficiently advanced opponent who has researched Guilds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The main drawback of the Samurai is the requirement of iron. While regular macemen can be built with copper as well, without iron, the Japanese player will be stuck without his/her UU or even regular macemen. Thankfully, this strategic resource is quite commonly available. But if you do find yourself not having one readily available, planting a city in the tundra or invading your neighbour to get it might be worth the effort before the age of the Samurai arrives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Korea: Hwacha (Catapult)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] If you like axemen, you'd love the Hwacha. It is a catapult with 50% bonus vs melee units, making it an axeman with collateral damage, bombard ability and withdrawal chance for a mere five hammers more (Normal speed). The only downside is the Hwacha doesn't receive defensive bonuses like an axeman, so you might want to use your Hwachas offensively and turn up the heat so the enemy is forced to defend in his nice cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hwacha has some interesting synergy with Wang Kon's Protective trait. Protective really shines when you have no metals and are forced to adopt a defensive position with archers in the early game. Construction represents the departure from such a stance, since you're now able to build catapults and attack. Hwachas, being super catapults, puts you in an even better position to go on the offensive, with Protective archers/longbows for support as defenders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have iron, Protective crossbows and spears/pikes are perfect companions to Hwachas. They eliminate the threat of enemy melee and mounted units and help defend new possessions while your Hwachas take down enemy defenders. You don't need axemen. A few swords to help clean up can complete your arsenal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When macemen and trebuchets come into the picture, Hwachas gradually take a back seat, but not before you can deal some serious damage to a neighbour or two. Nonetheless, a Korean player would benefit from picking up Construction as quickly as possible. Why not put this powerful weapon into use as early as you can? And Wang Kon's Financial trait can certainly help with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Unfortunately, as it stands, the Hwacha has been weakened by the inability of siege weapons to kill units and to gain more than 1 experience point per battle. Its bonus still applies, but you can no longer rely on a stack of Hwachas to actually capture cities for you. You also need enough units to kill off all the weakened defenders. While this job can be done by almost any non-siege unit, this means hammers probably need to be diverted to other units, resulting in fewer Hwachas built. Then there's the 1xp only rule, which is worse since it means your Hwachas can no longer gain valuable additional promotions through combat, making it less effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The impact of this UU has certainly been reduced. You can still make good use of it much in the same way as before, but remember to build more units for clean up duty and to take up the slack caused by fewer veteran Hwachas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mali: Skirmisher (Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Skirmishers are archers with 4 strength and 1 extra first strike chance, effectively making Mali half a Protective civ until Feudalism comes around. With them, Malinese cities are certainly not ones to be taken easily in the early game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The normal use of Skirmishers is pretty straight forward: Defend your cities or hill improvements with them. As such, they play a rather passive role as a UU. This puts into question the rationale of going straight for Archery, even when playing Mali. First, you don't start with Hunting (required for Archery). Second, the threat of barbarian or enemy axes make axemen a better unit for defense, since they are able to counterattack and prevent your improvements from being pillaged. Lastly, Bronze Working is needed for Slavery anyway, and if you happen to find copper nearby after researching it you can soon build axes. Skirmishers can help with defense if you don't find copper around, but in that case you might want to beeline to Iron Working, so Hunting and Archery are still not the priority. But of course, in the worst case scenario where you find no metal around, Skirmishers can become quite important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords improves Skirmishers a little by making chariots a counter to axes. Now you don't have to fear barbarian/enemy axemen if you don't have copper but have horses. Barb spearmen, if they do appear, can be countered somewhat by Skirmishers. You can thus concentrate on teching up with chariots and Skirmishers for defense, without having to beeline for the relatively expensive Iron Working. If you want to be aggressive, you can rush a neighbour with a stack of chariots and some Skirmishers. The latter can help secure newly conquered cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now for the less conventional. If you are going for a really quick rush as Mali, you can beeline to Archery from the beginning. Skirmishers don't require resources, so you can technically rush a neighbour with them Jaguar-style. Get Archery as quickly as possible, build barracks - maybe settle a second city - and start building Skirmishers. After you several of them, rush the nearest neighbour's capital. Skirmishers are better than normal archers, so with a ratio of about 3:1 in your favour, you may be able to overwhelm the defending archers. The surviving Skirmishers would then help you hold on to the conquered city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you whip to rush build Skirmishers for this tactic, becareful of the hammer overflow. You might quickly begin to whip them out for one population point each and run into serious happiness issues. If you want to try this rush, you should have a food-plenty and hilly area (i.e. a good production city site) as the site of your capital. You'll need the hammers because you'll be building most of the Skirmishers the slow way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mongolia: Keshik (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers that ignore terrain movement cost and get 1 first strike, but aren't immune to first strikes. Hence, they are extremely adept at raiding and pillaging, but aren't as good at attacking archers/longbows with Drill promotions. This has a few implications on a Mongolian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Surprise is the best asset of the Keshiks. Ignoring terrain movement cost means they can traverse forests/jungles and hills as easily as flatlands. Thus, it is easy for a Mongolian player to strike across difficult terrain at the unlikeliest of places, grabbing unguarded workers and lightly-defended cities or pillaging improvements (especially on strategic resources). However, this advantage relies on the enemy's inability to counterattack immediately with spearmen or a superior force, so good intelligence would be needed to know where exactly the enemy places his spears and the bulk of his units. If you do not have this luxury, you could always send more Keshiks in case you meet spears, but be prepared to lose quite a few of them. In addition, you could pillage enemy roads to eventually cripple his ability to counterattack. However, at the end of the day, the strategic advantage you gain from your harassment must outweigh the lost hammers you spent on the dead Keshiks[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Keshiks' first strike, meanwhile, makes them better than normal horse archers at picking off non-spear units in your territory or in the enemy's. Combined with their terrain movement advantage, this makes them good empire defenders and hit-and-run units. Unfortunately, the enemy can easily counter them by having spearmen guard his units, so this might only work effectively against the AI. There's also a limitation on how good Keshiks are in fighting non-spear units compared to normal horse archers. The immunity to first strikes that normal horse archers get makes them better at fighting archery units with Drill promotions or units with Drill III/IV. The Keshiks' own first strike can only negate one of the enemy units' first strikes. To remedy this, you have to give your Keshiks Flanking II so that they get immunity to first strikes as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This, in turn, highlights the Keshik's relative weakness (compared to normal horse archers) in attacking cities defended by Drill-promoted archery units. In Warlords, this means Protective civs are better covered against attempts to take cities with Keshiks. The 10% city attack penalty that the horse archer unit-type gets in Warlords makes them even less desirable as city raiders. Thus, the only hope Mongolian player might have in using Keshiks to conquer in Warlords is to rely on speed, Flanking promotions and numbers (also applies to vanilla, but not to such a large extent).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With barracks and Ger in the city, a Keshik gets 7 xp upon being built. Unfortunately, that will still allow for only 2 initial promotions (unless you're running both Vassalage and Theocracy for a total of 11 xp), though of course your mounted units would be promoted to the next level sooner. But, at any rate, 2 initial promotions are good enough. Give most of the Keshiks Flanking I and II to give them 50% withdrawal chance each (including the natural 20%) and immunity to first strikes. Give Combat I and Medic I or Combat I and Shock (for defending against spearmen) to the rest. Have at least one Medic I Keshik and one Shock Keshik in each stack. If you get Compass early enough, you can use explorers (strength 4, ignores terrain movement cost and starts with free Guerilla I and Woodsman I) to help protect your stacks when they stop on hills or forests/jungles. 3 or 4 cities with Gers pumping out Keshiks would usually be good enough to amass a sizeable army in reasonable time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As your Keshiks attack enemy cities, some will die, some will withdraw and some will win. The medics will ensure that the withdrawing and winning Keshiks heal up more quickly. If you manage to overwhelm a prepared enemy with numbers, your speed advantage (from ignoring terrain movement cost and faster healing) will ensure that the enemy cannot fight back or resist as effectively, hastening his destruction. If the enemy is unprepared in the first place, your speed advantage will ensure his quick defeat. Note that this strategy can only work if the enemy doesn't have longbows yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You should be prepared to build courthouses and marketplaces to help you keep your winnings. But even if you're not, you can just resort to razing and pillaging for some barbaric fun. Long live the Golden Horde![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Netherlands: East Indiaman (Galleon)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Now here's an interesting UU. Although it does have some combat capability, it serves primarily as a support unit. But the East Indiaman is pretty good at it, offering an extra cargo space for a total of 4, which is quite a big leap from a normal galleon considering the fact that transports have the same capacity. If you're planning on waging war during the age of the rifle, especially against an overseas civ, or if you are planning a large-scale settling another landmass, you don't have to build quite as many ships to carry your units over. Three East Indiamen carry as much as four galleons, thereby saving you 80 hammers, which can almost make an extra frigate (90 hammers) to protect your fleet. Moreover, since they carry as many units as transports, you might not need to decommission or upgrade them till the end of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The East Indiaman also has the nifty ability to travel within rival borders without needing an open borders treaty. Have you accumulated much EPs thanks to the Financial trait? You can send your spies anywhere in the world conveniently, even directly into an unfriendly overseas civ. And the extra cargo space is useful for espionage as well, helping you keep a constant flow of spies even if many get caught.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lastly, the East Indiaman has 2 more strength than a normal galleon, making it tougher to sink. While it still can't beat a frigate, it can more than annihilate caravels and destroy other galleons, so you have naval superiority at Astronomy until your rivals get Chemistry and build frigates. And, should there be privateers prowling the seas, you needn't worry so much about being ambushed by them while moving units across water without escort during peacetime. This is probably a UU that you would appreciate on maps with lots of seas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ottomans: Janissary (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Janissary’s advantage is a 25% boost against melee, archery and mounted units, making it a great all-round unit for its time. It is pretty much effective against all previous era units (with the big exception of siege units), so you can potentially put some serious hurt in your enemies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to get as much use out of Janissaries as possible, you need to look for ways to get to Gunpowder early. You might even want to make a beeline for it, either through the northern path (Maths -&gt; Currency -&gt; Priesthood? -&gt; Civil Service -&gt; Paper -&gt; Education) or the southern path (Metal Casting -&gt; Machinery &amp; Monotheism -&gt; Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guilds) in the tech tree. Different lightbulbing strategies are available (with Great Merchants for the southern path and Great Scientists for the northern one), so you don't have to self-research everything. Strictly speaking, it may not be necessary to do a beeline, but it's probably the best way. The point is to get to Gunpowder before your enemies are even close to it, and rapidly exploiting this opportunity gap by building, whipping and possibly drafting as many Janissaries as you can to use against them. To be able to draft, you would need to pursue the northern path and probably research Liberalism first to grab Nationalism as the free tech, before actually researching Gunpowder. It is a slight diversion, but it may be worth the delay if your empire does not have the capability to build or whip enough Janissaries in time to give you a real edge, as often is the case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have them, Janissaries are quite a fearsome force in the medieval battlefield. They have no hard counter, so the best bet your enemies might have is to promote their units with Pinch, which requires Gunpowder in Warlords. Knights with Pinch, however, are a good counter to Jannissaries, as are regular musketmen (against whom Janissaries have no advantage whatsoever), so once your enemies have Gunpowder as well you may find your edge disappearing. If they manage to get to Chemistry, which isn't that far away, this UU is practically obsolete. Janissary stacks are actually relatively vulnerable to siege units (and the associated collateral damage) as well, since they don't get any bonuses against these. But unless you're playing MP, this shouldn't be a big problem. The AI does not generally build many catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take note that Janissaries may not be the best city-taking troops you can get, since they do not have access to City Raider promotions. Needless to say, if you're relying on them as the backbone of your army, you still need to bring siege weapons along if you hope to grab some enemy territory. Given the fact that they are not actually very different from the conduct of normal campaigns of the time, Janissary campaigns might still be slow going, so don't be surprised if you don't manage to knock out more than one enemy with them, even with your best efforts (assuming you're playing on the higher levels). Hence, the emphasis is again on getting them as early as possible so as to enlarge the window of opportunity that you have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Overall, without the mobility of the Musketeer, this UU is quite situational and, to an even higher degree than the former, requires some long term planning in the early game to be put to good use. It is probably better the lower the difficulty you play on, since you would be more likely to out-tech the AIs and get to Gunpowder much earlier than them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Persia: Immortal (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems odd that Immortals are chariot-replacements, and you may miss the ownage days of playing as Persia with their Civ3 incarnation. Fortunately, they are still very effective in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you have horses and a neighbouring civ nearby, you know you're in for some fun. Immortals get 50% bonus vs. archery units, as well as an innate 30% withdrawal chance. No AI I've seen can resist them very early in the game. Hook up those horses quickly, build/whip out some of these creatures and head straight for the neighbour. If you managed to build barracks, you can give them Flanking I for an extra 10% withdrawal chance. If you have time to kill some barbs as well, before heading for your neighbour's cities, you can promote some with Flanking II for immunity against first strikes and a total of 60% withdrawal chance. This would give them a high survival rate against archers. Don't they sound like excellent AI city busters? What's more, they do get defensive bonuses, making them less vulnerable to counterattack and decent garrison units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If or when your enemy gets spearmen, however, Immortals lose much of their power. Even one spearman in a city you're attacking can give you a lot of trouble. You really have to count on the withdrawal chances if you want the first few Immortals to survive a direct attack on the city. In Civ4 vanilla, enemy axemen would be a problem too, since chariots don't get the 50% bonus when attacking axemen like in Warlords. To help prevent difficulties from arising, you should pillage any AI mine that you see sitting on a metal resource. If a city is on top of one, pillage the roads around it to limit spear production to that city. You would thus prolong the effectiveness of your Immortals. Until your enemy gets Feudalism, that is. If he can. Although the 50% bonus also applies when fighting longbows, the latter are too strong when defending in cities to be dislodged by Immortals alone. The same may be said of enemy crossbows. But with the help of siege weapons, Immortals can still take them down quite easily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem is when there is no neighbour near you. In that case, you can't use Immortals to their full potential. However, they are still quite handy against barbs, since the latter usually take the form of archers. In Warlords, they are also great for dispatching barb axemen. Clearly, the expansion has given this solid UU even more oomph.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Rome: Praetorian (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians are a blunt instrument with which you can rule the early battlefield. Taking cities is the name of the game, and Praetorians easily destroy enemy archers defending cities (even those with some cultural defense), with odds so favorable that they'll likely not suffer losses. You may lose a few if the enemy city is on a hill and the defender has City Garrison promotions, but the odds will still favor you most of the time. You probably want to give your Praetorians City Raider (CR) promotions to help bust those cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of their high strength, Praetorians can hold their own against axeman, their natural counter. Nevertheless, it may be best to build your own axemen or promote a few Praetorians with Combat I and Shock for stack defense. Praetorians will also prevail against mounted units of the same era, though a spearman or two will only do you good, leaving your Praetorians to focus on taking those cities. After the enemy gets longbowmen, the Praetorian is still useful, but you need to support them with catapults to remove city defenses and soften up the defenders to avoid catastrophic losses. Watch out for crossbows, though; they are very effective against Praetorians. The best way to guard against them is to pillage the enemy's iron mines before he/she can build them. The same goes for enemy Shock war elephants, in which case you should pillage his/her ivory camps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians require Iron Working and iron. A Roman player would probably want to take advantage of the Praetorian as early as possible, so beelining to Iron Working is a good call. You may want to have a settler and some workers ready to exploit any iron deposit you see as soon as the tech is researched, although there's some chance that you'd find iron within your existing borders. You should also build barracks first, so that you can give your Praetorians a promotion from the get go, whether it is CR 1 for city busting or Combat 1 for Shock later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The problem with Praetorians is the Roman player may become a victim of his own success. Because it is so easy to expand quickly with this UU, the temptation to expand beyond your limit is great. You may end up too many cities, causing your economy to crash from the upkeep. One solution is to raze cities rather than keep them, unless they are close to yours or have high value (eg. capitals, holy cities or those with wonders). This also has the effect of severely weakening or even eliminating your enemies so it is easier to actually expand when your economy is able to support it later. And, while you're doing this, do pillage the improvements around razed cities to set your enemies back even further and for extra funds. You can also help yourself by building up your infrastructure at home to support your campaigns, such as laying down lots of cottages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UU is the main reason why it's good to play as Rome when you're new on a difficulty level. Try not to get too used to having them, though, as you might become too dependent on their strength to play with any other civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Russia: Cossack (Cavalry)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the Redcoat, the Cossack is one UU that has been changed in Warlords. In Civ IV vanilla, the Cossack has a fearsome reputation. A cavalry with 18 strength and +50% against mounted units on top of the ordinary cavalry capabilities (+50% against cannon and 30% withdrawal chance), it can beat almost every unit in its era. Even riflemen, its counter, have less strength if you don't consider promotions or defensive bonuses. Pinch-promoted Cossacks can eat them alive. Riflemen need to be one level higher (4) and get the Formation promotion to even out the playing field, though you should note that Aggressive riflemen can get Formation at level 3. Redcoats do counter Cossacks very well, but Cossacks are faster, can withdraw and aren't destroyed by machine guns and massed cannons the way Redcoats are.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are using them in the vanilla game, consider getting them as early as possible by beelining to Education, getting Liberalism and choosing Nationalism as the free tech. Nationalism leads to Military Tradition (requires Music, so make sure you trade for it) and Education leads to Gunpowder, techs needed to build Cossacks (and you must have horses, of course). If you pull this off early enough, the rest of the game should be easy - Cossacks versus longbowmen is no contest. You can shoot for a domination victory right away. All you need to do is keep pumping out Cossacks, with the whip whenever possible, while ideally running the military civics (Vassalage and Theocracy) to give your Cossacks an even bigger edge. It's no wonder that some people consider them overpowered in vanilla.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords, however, is a vastly different game for Cossack fans. On one hand, there's the introduction of the stable, which improves mounted units by giving them 2 more experience points. On the other hand, the Cossack has the same strength as normal cavalry now, only retaining their bonus against mounted units. They are basically cavalry that excel in killing other cavalry. This is a lot more useful in MP, where cavalry versus cavalry is pretty much a fair game and you need to get riflemen to gain an advantage. Having Cossacks means you already have an advantage against enemy cavalry, forcing your enemies to tech to riflemen to stand a chance on the battlefield or risk being holed up in their cities and becoming sitting targets for your cannons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In SP, however, much of the action would ideally take place at enemy cities to begin with, and in this respect the Cossack is mostly as good as normal cavalry in Warlords. It can get the 2 extra experience points from stables, but so can normal cavalry. The only time you have a real advantage against the AI is when it masses cavalry. In that case, your Cossacks would cut through the AI's army like knife through butter. Unfortunately, you would probably have to capture cities to end the war anyway. That said, Cossacks are pretty good for pillaging if you promote them with Pinch, since they would then be more difficult to counter (neither riflemen nor cavalry would work effectively against them). But, still, as you can see, what was an amazing UU has become a pretty situational one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spain: Conquistador (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With this UU, the road to El Dorado can be wide and clear. It has the potential to be exploited in a game-breaking way. The reason is this: Conquistadors get 50% bonus vs. melee, which gives it an advantage against the most common counter to knights - pikemen. They also get defensive bonuses, which means they can exploit the terrain to make counterattack difficult. To top all of this off, Conquistadors benefit from 2 first strikes (which normal knights don't get), making them even harder to defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need horse and iron to produce this UU. Playing as Spain, I'd make sure I get those by the time Conquistadors can be built. The Spanish player would also do well to research Guilds early, extending the life and usefulness of the UU. Conquistadors can fill the role of your main city attackers, following your siege weapons to capture city after city. They don't get CR upgrades, but they can perform decently against city defenders even when they haven't accumulated promotions. Their first strikes and immunity to first strikes certainly help, especially against longbows. And, thanks to their bonus against melee, defending pikes don't scare them that much. With defensive bonuses to help, they can also act as stack-protectors during your campaigns. Furthermore, since they have 2 moves, they can attack enemy units and come back to the stack in the same turn. If you're playing on Warlords, they make the perfect companions to Citadel-improved siege weapons. Woe to the enemy cities![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once those shiny cities have been taken, Conquistadors can help defend them until you get suitable defenders (such as longbowmen) there. This works especially well if a city is on a hill. As you can see, the versatility of the Conquistador almost matches that of the Musketeer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, here are a few words of caution. Siege weapons are not to be excluded from your Conquistador campaigns. Unless your target is still fielding archers, bringing siege units for bombardment and some collateral damage should still be part and parcel of your plans. Conquistadors are strong but not invincible. Without the proper support, they would still die to entrenched units, especially pikes and longbows. The other thing is, beware of elephants! These are the ultimate counter to Conquistadors. Under normal circumstances, there is no way a Conquistador can beat an elephant, and the latter is much cheaper to train. Just make sure you target opponents who have no ivory and you should have great time conquering with this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vikings: Berserk (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] Hate them or love them, Berserks are a popular UU. Although, not as powerful as their Civ3 incarnation, these guys can really be useful. Their 10% bonus vs. cities is certainly nice. However, for many people the problem is finding a good use for their free Amphibious promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Vikings have a higher potential to rule on water maps than any other civ. Ragnar is Financial, which means coastal tiles produce 3 commerce instead of 2, and his UB allows his ships to move further earlier in the game by giving free Navigation promotion. Combined with the Berserk's ability to attack amphibiously with no penalty and its city attack bonus, a Viking player on a water map can fast tech to Civil Service and Machinery and have fun raiding enemy coastal cities with Berserks on fast galleys. One method to do this early is building the Oracle and grabbing Metal Casting as the free tech (which, by the way, gives access to Colossus for a further boost to those coastal tiles). Then build/whip a forge and run an engineer in a city without the Oracle. Research your way to Code of Laws and Civil Service a.s.a.p. (in the pre-patch version you can use a prophet generated by the Oracle to lightbulb CoL/CS by not researching Masonry). In the meantime, build several galleys to prepare for your sea adventures. You'll get a Great Engineer as your 1st or 2nd Great Person from the forge city. Use him to lightbulb Machinery and start building Berserks. You could also put your research slider at 0% for a few turns and upgrade some axes to Berserks (being Financial helps with accumulating money for that). If you catch your opponents without longbows yet, you've done really well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are limitations to your Berserks' ability to raid cities from the sea, though. If a city is defended by longbows, on a hill, has high cultural defense and/or walls, it could be difficult to take and might render an attempt not worth the cost. To attack such a city, you probably need to bring siege units along as galleys/triremes are not able to even bombard the city's defenses. Having to land siege units to bombard/deal collateral damage nullifies the Berserks' amphibious advantage. As such, you would need to look for softer targets to strike at. You don't have to keep the city. Find a weak spot (a lightly defended coastal city), raid, raze and pop back into the galleys before the enemy can counterattack. Landing a spear with the Berserker that has to land on that turn would help the latter survive a counterattack by mounted units (the most likely reaction you'll get from an AI). But becareful not to attack too close to an AI capital. AIs tend to stack more units in their capitals and can easily counterattack with a stronger force from there. Humans in MP will be wary of a sea attack, so watch out for axes/xbows in or within reach of coastal cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if you're not playing on a water map, Berserks present some interesting options. With them, you have the advantage when laying siege to a city across a river if the enemy doesn't have Engineering. His non-mounted units cannot counter attack from the city without suffering a 20% penalty for attacking across the river. With their free Amphibious promotion, Berserks get no such penalty attacking the city. The only downside is your siege units do suffer from the penalty if you want to cause some collateral damage first. Conversely, this idea works in defense as well. When enemy units are across a river beside one of your cities, you can attack them with your Berserks with no penalty while they would suffer it when they attack. At the very least, Berserks always get their 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Perhaps the most valuable thing about the Berserk is the fact that he keeps the Amphibious promotion when upgraded. This allows a Viking player to build Berserks (especially City Raider ones) and upgrade them later on to grenadiers or riflemen with free Amphibious. Frigates are able to bombard city defenses, so you can get yourself an elite amphibious attack force long before marines make their appearance. The free Amphibious also works the opposite way, allowing your older units to benefit from it when upgraded to Berserks. Hence, it makes sense to do so with all of your more experienced axemen or swordsmen. It would almost certainly be worth the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Zulus: Impi (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] On the surface, the Impi may not appear to be a stellar UU, since it does not come with extra strength or with obviously strong bonuses. However, the tactical value of this unit is considerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Impi comes with the Mobility promotion (-1 movement cost to enter tiles that would normally cost 2 moves or more) and 2 moves. Thus, they have the ability to rapidly cross territory and catch another nation with a weakly defended city in the early game, when borders are not really expanded and cultural defenses are not high. They can be two tiles from a city and attack it on the same turn that war is declared. Thanks to Aggressive, they also start with Combat I, making them a little stronger. Furthermore, they are eligible for City Raider promotions, which would help crack the defenses of those early cities. Their relatively low cost, meanwhile, helps you amass a number of them as quickly as possible and simply bum rush a close neighbour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]They also make excellent pillagers. With the 100% bonus against mounted that spears get, the only units that can really catch them are not able to kill them effectively. Naturally, they can be put in your stacks or cities to defend and make counterattacks against mounted units. In your own territory, no enemy horse can hope to outrun them, so it's death to the common enemy pillagers![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An interesting gambit you can try is attaching a Great General to an Impi and giving him the Morale promotion, thus creating a 3-move unit with reduced terrain movement cost. If you manage to get it beyond Combat IV, you can add Commando to the collection. It's not going to be a particularly strong unit, but it might have some interesting tactical uses (such as running into a weakly defended part of an enemy empire to killl a worker and then getting out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, Impis have good synergy with the Zulu UB, the Ikhanda, which is a barrack that also acts as a mini courthouse (-20% maintenance cost for the city). Grab some cities from an unsuspecting opponent as outlined above and rush build Ikhandas in them to help pay for the early extra maintenance. Moreover, being Aggressive, Shaka builds his UB at double production speed, so it's more power to you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Zulus start conveniently with Hunting, which is required to build their UU, but Impis need copper or iron to be built. If you want to use them as an early attack unit, you must beeline to BW and find copper. If there's no copper around, well, then there's no hope for an Impi rush. The other downside to them is the fact that Mobility becomes useless when you upgrade them, unless you continue doing so all the way till they become mech infantry. No matter what, unroaded terrain would cost at least 1 movement point to enter and, except for mech infantry much later, the Impi's line of units only has 1 move each.</French>
		<German>[H1]A Comprehensive Unique Unit Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]aelf[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the War Academy teaches specific strategies involving extensive use of the prominent UUs, there isn't a guide to explain the uses of the others. Strong ones like the Praetorian often need no introduction, but many players are not exposed to the possibilities that the more subtle ones present. What spurred me to start this guide are the fairly common disparaging comments about some UUs, comments that are often simply one-sided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this guide would help you leverage the different UUs effectively or at least inspire you to be more creative with them. Give all of them a chance! But please note that this guide is written mainly for single player games. Some tips may still be useful for multiplayer, but I can't promise that. This guide also assumes that you are playing as leaders under the normal civs, which might not be true if you are playing BTS.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thanks to [BOLD]Robo Kai, kniteowl, Cabert, Wodan, johnny_rico, gusi, UncleJJ, Bjorn190, dime, s.c.dude, drkodos, kristopherb, Elandal, Thyrwyn, Phrederick, Polycrates, Thedrin, agc28, PraetorianSteve, svv, carl corey, Andrei_V, Mr. Civtastic, Thomas G., GeneralGab, Percy, r_rolo1, facistal, jason77024, GoliathFF8[\BOLD] and [BOLD]InvisibleStalke[\BOLD] for ideas and contributions that helped make this guide possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And now I shall begin. The different UUs are listed under their civs, in alphabetical order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]----------[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]America: Navy SEAL (Marine)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've gotten over the fact that it comes very late in the game, you might realise that the Navy SEAL is actually good UU. A marine replacement, it might seem to be a niche unit. After all, how often do you conduct amphibious attacks (which include those across a river, by the way)? But take a closer look at its unique advantages and you'll realise the potential it has.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Its first strike and first strike chances are not to be taken lightly. First strikes can help you deal more damage to the enemy and comfortably win battles that you might otherwise take heavy damage in or even lose. The free March promotion, meanwhile, allows the Navy SEAL to heal on the go, reducing the time it takes to recover before heading off to another battle. Bringing a Medic III unit along with your SEALs means that as soon as they have attacked, they are eligible for the 30% healing the next turn (5% from enemy territory and 25% from Medic III). So as long as they are at or above 16.8/24 strength, they will be back to full health the next turn. They can also heal right after making an amphibious assault aboard a Medic transport. The SEALs in Civ4 are indeed an elite task force worthy of their name, capable of enduring and sustaining a long campaign.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 50% attack bonuses against machine guns and artillery are a thick layer of icing on the cake. With SEALs, you don't have to fret when attacking cities defended by machine guns (which are immune to collateral damage) without tanks. Their first strikes also help by negating the machine gun's first strikes. And, also due to their first strikes, SEALs are probably the best stack protectors against enemy artillery attacks. Divide your stack(s) into smaller SEAL-protected groups and you don't have to worry too much about getting overwhelmed by mass artillery.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you have some coastal cities to assault or a land campaign to conduct, Navy SEALs are an excellent unit to bring along with your invasion force. They do come late, but they come at the right time if you're planning on a late domination push that would win you the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Arabia: Camel Archer (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Camel Archers are knights that have a higher withdrawal chance (25%) and don't require horses or iron. You could simply use them like normal knights, but the thing about them is Flanking promotions make them very good at surviving failed attacks (+55% withdrawal chance with Flanking II). This means you don't have to balk so much at attacking a city or a stack that has a defending pike, making them more reliable as an attack unit. Of course, if you end up with no horses or iron, they give you the option of building knights in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're playing on Warlords, stables can give your Camel Archers enough experience points to start off with Flanking I and II, so you don't have to be running Vassalage or Theocracy. Also, you can improve their ability even further by attaching Great Generals to them as warlords. Give a Flanking II Camel Archer the Tactics promotion (+30% withdrawal chance) and it would have 85% chance of retreating from a failed attack. Of course, you might still get unlucky and lose it, especially if you attack at very low odds. It's not 100% withdrawal chance, you know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aztecs: Jaguar Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traditional whipping boys, these guys get 2 free promotions in Warlords, Woodsman I and Combat I (the latter thanks to Montezuma's Aggressive trait). If you've built those cheap barracks, giving them Woodsman II immediately would allow you to rush a relatively cheap stack of them (Jaguars cost less than normal swordsmen) to enemy cities through forests and jungles, in which they have two moves. Of course, this comes at the price of not being able to give them the City Raider promotion first, but depending on how fortified the target cities are, this may not be such a problem. Jaguars do get the swordsman's inherent 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a more conventional level, the benefit of the Jaguar is probably similar to that of the Gallic Warrior - better stack protection when standing on a particular terrain. Jaguars can even defend against axemen when positioned in forests and jungles, as they get 70% terrain defense bonus there (+50% from the terrain and +20% from Woodsman I), making them good all-round defenders in this situation. Give them Woodsman II or Shock (both available immediately with barracks) and they would have no need to be afraid of axemen as long as they have trees to cover them. Hence, if the enemy's lands sport plenty of foliage, you may want to bring a few of them along in any case. Note that this applies only to [BOLD]jungles[\BOLD] in Civ4 vanilla, where Jaguars get 75% defense bonus (+50% from the terrain and +25% [BOLD]jungle[\BOLD] defense bonus).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Jaguars don't require any resource so you can start building them even before hooking up copper or iron. You can also whip them out (probably with unhappy citizens) in newly conquered cities that are not connected to any metal resource, immediately creating some units for either garrison or further offensive purposes and thus helping you proceed with your campaign without having to wait for reinforcements. The value of this UU greatly increases when you find yourself without copper and iron in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More on the no resource requirement, Jaguars are a sure way to rush a neighbour early in the game. You can plant your second city on the best production site in the direction of your target without waiting for copper or iron to be revealed. Then you build barracks and granary, research IW and start whipping Jaguars out without even having to bother with any resources. Get a stack of them and attack Aztec-style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] With the addition of the Woodsman III promotion, Jaguars have become much more useful in an interesting way. Woodsman III grants 2 first strikes, +50% forest and jungle attack and the ability to heal units on the same tile at the rate of 15% per turn. Since Jaguars get Woodsman I for free and barracks can give them Woodsman II off the bat, they are effectively 2 XP away from becoming the ultimate forest/jungle warriors of their time and effective medics. If you need to take out some enemy units that are fortified in a forest/jungle, especially those that are there to choke your cities, unleash the Woodsman III Jaguars. If you need some quick healing, you have Woodsman III Jaguars. A very handy support unit to have around for early warfare. They are probably still not such effective combat units on their own, but the first strikes might help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can even maximise the Jaguar's healing ability by attaching a Great General to it and giving it all three Medic promotions as well. Woodsman III's healing stacks with the Medic promotions (provided they are on the same unit), giving you a whooping 50% healing rate. And this isn't difficult to achieve since Jaguars get free Combat I (required for Medic I) thanks to Aggressive, so you only need 26 XP to get there. Attaching a Great General to a unit gives you 20 XP, so that Jaguar effectively only needs 6 XP, the first 3 of which can be given by barracks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carthage: Numidian Cavalry (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] This is a UU that people are divided about. Some regard it as a good UU (though not great). Others think it is weak. The latter opinion can usually be attributed to the traditional aversion to horse archers, Horseback Riding (HBR) and Archery (techs required to build horse archer-type units). Horse archers have two moves and are good for busting archer-defended cities, but they die to spearmen, rendering them easy to counter. Archery is widely viewed as a useless dead end tech early on, while HBR is fairly expensive, making it tempting to research other more beneficial techs first. The latter's beaker cost also makes it difficult to ensure that your opponents don't have spears yet by the time it's researched. Add the fact that horse archers suffer from a 10% penalty when attacking cities in Warlords, and that the Numidian Cavalry is 1 strength weaker than normal horse archers, it's easy to turn your back on the Carthaginian UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if you consider it carefully, you may find that it's actually worth something depending on the situation. In Warlords, HBR allows you to build stables (+2 exp to mounted units), which would give your horses an edge in promotions before Vassalage/Theocracy, making the tech more attractive to research early. And the Numidian Cavalry starts with Flanking I, so, with stables, you can give them Flanking II and another promotion (eg. Mobility) right off the bat. This would give them a 50% (20% natural ability + 30% from Flanking I and II) chance to withdraw from losing battles and, if you choose Mobility, the ability to more very quickly even in enemy territory. With the Charismatic trait, it's easy to get your Numidian Cavalry to the next level for yet another promotion. Don't forget that the free Flanking I would not disappear when you upgrade them to knights.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Those are not all. The Numidian Cavalry also gets 50% bonus vs. melee, as well as the 50% bonus vs. siege that horse archers have, making it virtually an improved axeman. It has no need to be overly afraid of spearmen, thanks to the melee bonus. And you can rely on Flanking II to increase the survival rate of your Numidian Cavalry when up against spears, or you can even the odds with Combat I and Shock. If there's no heavy cultural defense, Numidian Cavalry can do a decent job busting cities on their own, although you'll need a good number of them. As active empire defenders or counter units, they are versatile enough, having bonuses against two categories of units. As pillagers, they are excellent since spears, the easiest counter, are not as effective against them - just be sure to build stables and give them Combat I and Shock (of course, you may want a few Sentries). It may seem like a waste of their free Flanking I, but this way the enemy cannot easily drive your pillaging Numidians out. The few Flanking-promoted ones can attack enemy units guarding key resources. Remember to pillage ivory and horses first, since elephants and horse archers are the most effective counters to your UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cons of the Numidian Cavalry are their reduced strength, the 10% penalty against cities and the fact that they can't get City Raider promotions. Once there's significant cultural defense in an enemy city, expect to take huge losses if you don't bring siege weapons along. Even if there's no cultural defense and the city is not on a hill, Numidian Cavalry are actually not as strong as the city's unpromoted fortified archers, so you need to bring at least twice as many. You can beeline to HBR and rush a neighbour with a moderate stack of them to quickly capture a few cities, but don't expect them to carve out a large empire for you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Horse archers no longer get the 10% city attack penalty, so the Numidian Archer is slightly stronger now. It also gains mounted units' flanking attack ability (not to be confused with Flanking promotion), whereby it does 'collateral damage' to siege units in the stack it is attacking, making it better at countering mass catapults than before. These changes certainly mean that Carthage players have something to cheer about.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Celtia: Gallic Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Gallic Warrior is a much-maligned UU. Most people wonder why an offensive unit is given a promotion for hill defense. How on earth is that going to help him attack cities, which is what it does best?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Attacking a city is the culmination of an offensive movement, which begins with your entering enemy territory. If you're careful, you would want to move your stack along the safest route to the target city as far as possible, which often means favouring forests and hills over flatlands. This is where the Gallic Warrior's free Guerilla I can help. While spearmen protect your stack against mounted units and axemen/crossbows protect it from melee units, a Gallic Warrior on a hill is the best defender against counterattacking catapults and can even take over the role of the other stack-protection units. For example, if your spearman is badly injured, the Gallic Warrior can defend against chariots or horse archers as long as you're on a hill. Thus, while normal swordsmen may be badly injured before reaching the target city in these circumstances, chances are Gallic Warriors would be in better shape.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And note that Gallic Warriors can be promoted with Guerilla II and III. Such units can be a thorn in your enemy's side, running through the hills pillaging mines and maybe raiding a weakly defended city or two, thanks to Guerilla III's movement bonus on hills. The 25% bonus for attacks on hills and 30% withdrawal chance that this promotion gives also make it easier for you to deal with stubborn hill cities. And now that you can build Gallic Warriors with copper in the latest versions of Warlords, this UU can make an extra early appearance for city-busting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another neat thing about this UU is the fact that you can upgrade it to more advanced units in its line without losing the free Guerilla I. So, in effect, the benefit of this UU lasts for a long time. Remember that forests can be chopped but hills are permanent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Somewhat like the Jaguar, this UU benefits from an improvement to its natural promotion branch: the change to Guerrilla III. It still gives +25% hills attack but now it gives a 50% withdrawal chance, making a Guerilla III Gallic Warrior a very effective crack troop. Need to attack that fortified hilltop city before Construction? Guerilla III Gallic Warriors can soften the defenses and have a good chance of surviving even after losing. The 50% withdrawal chance really is quite amazing, outclassing both the Flanking promotions combined. Moreover, since both Celt leaders are Charismatic, it's really easy to get to Guerrilla III. With barracks, your Gallic Warriors can start with Guerilla II and you are only 1XP away from Guerilla III. Sounds like fun.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]China: Chukonu (Crossbowman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu has a fearsome reputation. Collateral damage is something well-loved by most Civ4 players, and a respectable non-siege ground unit that has the ability to inflict it would surely become the favourite of some. The biggest weakness of siege units is their inability to defend effectively. The Chukonu, however, can function as an improved crossbowman, thus having an important benefit of siege units without the drawback.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may find it hard to pinpoint the exact role of this UU, though. Crossbows are primarily a counter unit, designed to help eliminate the threat of enemy melee units, and can in turn be countered by mounted units. If the enemy builds stacks of melee, your Chukonus will tear them apart with their bonus vs melee, first strikes and collateral damage. If the enemy mixes his stacks with mounted units, Chukonus are less effective. Thanks to collateral damage and the extra first strikes, however, they are much less helpless than normal crossbows and are still able to attack such mixed stacks, although you would probably sustain losses initially. The idea is to wear the enemy units down with your extra hits and collateral damage. Given enough Chukonus, there's almost nothing you can't defeat in the field (assuming you are facing units of the same era). But the question arises: Are they more cost effective for this purpose than catapults, since the latter are cheaper? If the enemy only has melee units then the answer is clearly yes. If the enemy has mounted units (which may be immune to first strikes) in his stack, sending in a few scuicide catapults first would probably be a better idea. The Chukonus can do semi-cleanup, dealing even more collateral damage to the enemy units and making them extremely weak and easy for more Chukonus or other units to take out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can apply the same concept when attacking a city. Siege units are still needed to remove the city's defenses, but who does the first few assaults would depend on what sort of units are defending the city. If they are macemen and pikemen/spearmen, use your Chukonus. If there are archery/mounted units in the city, use the siege units first, followed by the Chukonus and finally the cleanup crew (if you have any). Remember, Chukonus don't get City Raider promotions, so be prepared to lose some as they attack at lower odds than your CR units might have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu's first strikes are useful on the offense, but they become the primary advantage on the defense. When Chukonus are defending, they won't get to inflict any collateral damage on the enemy units, but their first strikes would be a great boost. First strikes grant chances of hitting the enemy unit before the combat proper even begins, thus improving your odds. The stronger your unit is compared to the enemy's the better first strikes are, since the hits you score would do more damage, thus increasing the possibility of your unit winning without taking much damage. This makes them even better a defense against enemy melee units than normal crossbows. Their first strikes also work well when defending against siege weapons, since they might be able to win before much collateral damage is suffered.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you give your Chukonus Drill promotions for more first strikes is up to you. Note that this UU has higher chances of being promoted than normal crossbowmen, since they are more suitable for an offensive role, making it possible to accumulate quite a few Drill promotions and a lot first strikes. Moreover, if you're playing on Warlords, both Chinese leaders are Protective, so Chukonus start with Drill I, giving you a headstart in that line of promotions. Gunpowder units can't choose Drill, so upgraded Chukonus can be interesting. Incidentally, Protective also makes the Chukonu better at defending cities, thanks to the free City Garrison I promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a final note, here's a tip on how to get Chukonus early and really overrun your neighbours: Choose Qin Shi Huang as your leader and aim to build the Oracle to grab Metal Casting (requires Pottery and Bronze Working). The Industrious trait makes getting the Oracle viable, even without marble. Metal Casting leads to Machinery, but it also allows you to build your cheap Industrious forges. Build one asap and run an engineer specialist. When a Great Engineer is born, use him to lightbulb Machinery, giving you access to the Chinese UU very early. But do note that Machinery requires Iron Working and Chukonus need the iron resource to be built, so make sure you get this tech researched while waiting for the GE to be born. The worst scenario is finding no iron in your territory. To help prevent this situation, research Iron Working as quickly as possible to locate iron resources and claim them if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Egypt: War Chariot (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At 5 strength, the Egyptian War Chariot is essentially an axeman on wheels with no City Raider promotions but has withdrawal chance. It is a very powerful and mobile unit that can win your game from as early as the Ancient Era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An Egyptian player who does not have copper has less to worry about. In fact, horses are much more important for him/her, making Animal Husbandry (AH) a priority. And since Egypt starts with Agriculture, which leads to AH, things are pretty much set up for you. Egypt also starts with The Wheel, which is required to build chariots and roads (to hook up those horses). What serendipity! Feel free to delay Bronze Working till you wish to use Slavery, unless it turns out that there are no horses within reasonable distance. If you discover horses nearby, get a settler there as soon as possible and hook it up. You can then begin preparing for your offensive. Chariot rushing has never been so effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the chariot rush tactic of pillaging the enemy's metal mines should still be applied, War Chariots aren't as afraid of spears as normal chariots because of their increased strength. Additionally, you can give them the Shock promotion to help deal with enemy spears that you might encounter. This would also help vanilla players who face enemy axemen, since the chariot bonus vs. axes applies only after Warlords (vanilla players are somewhat compensated by having 20% withdrawal chance instead of just 10%, though). That said, I have found Flanking promotions a generally better choice when up against spears. Even with Shock, War Chariots have lower odds of winning, so you might as well increase their survival rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little later in the game, a combination of War Chariots and axes would be good to guard against counterattacking spears, since War Chariots don't get defensive bonuses and would almost certainly lose all the time. In most games, axes (and maybe swords) would gradually replace them as the premier city raiders anyway. As enemy cities accumulate more defensive ratings, those spears become more and more costly to dislodge with War Chariots alone. The loss in mobility that would result from this handing over is usually nothing to worry about, since it corresponds roughly to the time when you need to expand at a slower pace until you can get upkeep costs down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Speaking of upkeep, be wary of over-expanding with War Chariots. It's easy to fall into this trap since they pack a good punch so early in the game. While judicious use of them might mean smooth sailing for the rest of the game, their careless use can ruin you as you fall hopelessly behind in terms of technology and development paying upkeep, especially on the higher levels. This and the lack of close neighbours are the greatest early adversaries of the Egyptian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]England: Redcoat (Rifleman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The terror of your enemies in Civ4 vanilla, this unit is dramatically different in Warlords. In the former, it has 16 strength compared to the normal rifleman's 14 and an additional 25% bonus vs. gunpowder units. Hence, they are uber powerful in their era, quite unmatched by any other unit until infantry. The use of the Redcoat on vanilla is, therefore, quite straightforward. Build lots of them and/or upgrade your CR units to them and go on the offensive. Combine them with cannons for even greater effect and watch the colours on the minimap change rapidly. Even grenadiers are unable to counter them effectively due to their additional bonus. The only way the enemy can really fight back is by throwing lots of cannons at them, but you can always spread your stacks out, and the AI isn't likely to do that anyway. Don't let the enemy get machine guns, though. These are a sure counter to Redcoats on the defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, however, it's not so easy. Redcoats have the same base strength as normal riflemen. They only retain their bonus vs. gunpowder units. That said, they are still quite effective. Given no terrain or promotion-based bonuses, no unit of the same era can beat them when they attack. They are vulnerable to attacks by enemy grenadiers now, but still not as badly as in the case of normal riflemen. They own any other unit when defending. You can still use this UU the same way, but more careful planning is required. A proper defense against enemy grenadiers must now be provided for, and cannons play a greater role. Do note that Redcoats have no advantage over normal rifles when attacking cities defended by longbows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, you must consider the Churchill factor as well. The new English leader is Charismatic and Protective, making his gunpowder units especially effective. They start with City Garrison I and Drill I and require fewer xp points get promoted. As city defenders, Churchill's Redcoats are certainly a force to be reckoned with. They are also better on the offensive, since Drill helps in any combat situation and, thanks to the free City Garrison, you can better defend newly captured cities against enemy counterattacks. Some players even consider Churchill part of the reason why Redcoats had to be nerfed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A final point on this UU: Drill IV Redcoats are formidable. They get a total of 5 first strikes and a chance at another (immunity from first strikes are rare enough post-Gunpowder), an extra 10% bonus vs. mounted units and an amazing 60% reduction of any collateral damage sustained. These units are likely to take less damage in every way and win more often. And, in Warlords, Drill counts as a prerequisite promotion towards Cover, Formation and other "vs unit type" promotions. Hence, units with Drill are not condemned by not choosing Combat, should the need for those promotions arise. Especially valuable is the availability of Pinch as a promotion, since it helps to neutralise the threat of attacking grenadiers. The trouble is gunpowder (and melee) units don't get Drill promotions, so it's only possible to create such units by upgrading your archery units to Redcoats, which requires you to set aside a tidy sum. To make matters worse, archery units are generally not used offensively and are thus difficult to promote. However, the good news is Churchill players can do this more easily. With the Protective trait giving free Drill I to your archery units and Charismatic making promotions easier to obtain, you can use crossbows (the most likely candidate, since it has greater offensive value compared to archers and longbows) extensively in the hopes of getting some of them up to Drill IV to be upgraded later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Redcoat has indirectly been improved from its Warlords version since all gunpowder units can now receive Drill promotions. That means elite Drill Redcoats are much closer to reality, especially for Churchill. Gone are the days when you have to upgrade archery units to get them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ethiopia: Oromo Warrior (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Musket UUs generally don't get a lot of love, although the ones that the game has to offer are actually quite useful. But even if you're really not a fan of musket UUs, give the Oromo Warrior a try before you knock it. It is immune to First Strikes and starts with Drill I and II promotions; that means 2-3 First Strikes and -20% to collateral damage received out of the box. And if you throw the experience from barracks in, you get Drill III Oromo Warriors straight off the assembly line. Just add in Theocracy/Vassalage or a military instructor and you can be training Drill IV Oromos. Naturally, this UU has a potentially high survival rate, even after being battered by siege weapons (thanks to the Drill promotions' protection against collateral damage of up to 60%). They will perform normal muskets' defensive role extra well, and you need not be so hesitant about using them to attack even when faced with knights. Longbows are also less of a worry since Oromos are immune to First Strikes. Moreover, they are draftable, and you can get Drill III draftees with just Theocracy/Vassalage/a military instructor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If those aren't enough, you needn't worry so much about this musket UU getting obsolete quickly (BTS has delayed the advent of grenadiers to prolong the life of muskets anyway) because the promotions will remain on them when they are upgraded to riflemen. You might have read about the elusive elite Drill IV Redcoats. Well, with Ethiopia, Drill IV riflemen are a lot easier to come by. Suddenly those enemy cannons are not so scary anymore, are they?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]France: Musketeer (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although they are 1 strength point weaker than knights, musketmen have no hard counter in their time, which is the whole point of this unit. Also, knights don't get defensive bonuses so they are not as good at defending. Musketmen fare well as an all-round stack protector. And when one of your cities is threatened, wouldn't it be ideal to have a versatile defender that can counterattack as well? Remember that musketmen can be drafted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, think of the potential uses of Musketeers, which are musketmen with 2 moves. They can reinforce any threatened city quickly, which makes them potentially more effective as city defenders than longbowmen. And when you need stack protection during a campaign, Musketeers, besides being an insurance that covers you against everything except knights and Pinch elephants (both of which you can simply counter by bringing pikes), are also able to pillage along the way with the extra move (which can be useful for taking out strategic resources). Not just that, their speed means you can have reserves catching up with your stack to take over the role of their wounded comrades should your stack come under attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Offensively, they have their uses as well. Musketeers can do clean-up work when all your siege weapons and CR units have spent their move attacking, since they have 9 base strength and aren't countered by any particular unit. And, of course, they are great for a pillaging campaign. Mix them with pikemen in small stacks and they can move and pillage within a single turn and with near impunity. Versatility is the name of the Musketeer game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A major gripe that people have about this UU is the fact that it obsoletes too quickly, since Chemistry is effectively only a few techs away. Moreover, nothing upgrades to muskets and you have to build them from scratch, further narrowing their window of opportunity. The Musketeers' speed actually helps to alleviate this problem, since you can get them to the frontline to be used a lot more quickly compared to normal musketmen. Also, researching Nationalism and switching to Nationhood to draft can help you get enough of them out in time to be used to full effect. You can stay in Nationhood and research towards Rifling next, so that you can soon start drafting riflemen to complete your offensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this note, there's another interesting use for Musketeers. Try postponing Chemistry and beelining to Military Tradition for early cavalry. Research techs along the Education route, be the first to get Liberalism and grab Nationalism as the free tech. Then research Gunpowder (which is also needed for cavalry), start drafting/building Musketeers (you may use them first if you want), research Military Tradition (requires Music, which you should trade for) and start building cavalry. Escort your cavalry with Musketeers and either launch a lightning campaign or pillage with impunity. Only Musketeers can keep up with cavalry while protecting them against costly counterattacks by enemy pikes. Flanking cavalry often prevail against longbow-defended cities by themselves with relatively low casualty rates, so even if you plan on taking cities, there might not be a need to bring slow siege weapons along. If you do this right, you can finish off one or two neighbours just like that, before they can build riflemen to counter your cavalry.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Germany: Panzer (Tank)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Despite being the latest UU in the game, the Panzer really packs a punch. A tank with 50% bonus versus armour units, it will eat other tanks alive and beat even modern armour. This gives them the power to dominate the battlefield. Just watch out for those gunships, which are an effective counter to them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get Panzers before the enemy gets Flight, you can solve this problem by beelining for enemy oil wells and pillaging them to prevent him/her from building a single gunship in the first place. This should be relatively easy to do, since the enemy can't stop you with his/her own tanks. Once that is done, you'd be facing mostly gunpowder units, against which the Pinch promotion would be effective in the field. With it, the Panzer can match even mech infantry, unless the latter is better promoted or is receiving defensive bonuses. And with the free Blitz promotion that tanks have, a stack of Panzers can annihilate up to double the number units in a turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When taking cities, the Panzer might only be as effective as a normal tank, since you are likely to face many gunpowder units, which receive defensive bonuses unlike armour units. But that is alright, since tanks are excellent at taking cities anyway, having access to both Barrage and City Raider promotions. After you've chewed through the toughest defenders, whatever armour is sitting in the city would be easy pickings. Apply the blitzkrieg strategy by using your bombers to soften city defenses before rapidly moving in with your City Raider Panzers. Be sure to have some Drill Panzers to clean up, since they are good at taking out the weaker units without suffering much damage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem with this UU is how late it appears. It is enabled by Industrialism but requires oil, which means you have to get Combustion and build oil wells in addition to it, placing it even later in the timeline than Navy SEALs. Many players would have won the game by then, or at least they would be in such dominant or winning positions that having Panzers would have little influence on the outcome. Once you get them, however, they can last till the end of the game. Their ability to stand up to modern armour means you can delay getting Composites and survive without aluminum. Even if modern armour is already available, you would probably want to leave some of your Panzers un-upgraded as a versatile counter to enemy armour. Of course, you must have oil to build Panzers in the first place. Being German and not having oil in the later eras in a tightly contested game would be a shame.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Greece: Phalanx (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx, derided by some, is in fact one of the stronger UUs in the game. With 5 strength and +25% hill defense (not to be confused with free Guerilla promotion), it has enough qualities to set it far above normal spearmen. Don't forget that it also gets free Combat I from Alexander's Aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx is essentially a super spearman. However, if you build them early enough in single player, chances are the AI might not have anything except archers. Thus, it would do just as well as the axeman when used as a rush unit, except that it holds the ground better on hills and isn't afraid of Warlords' chariots (which get +100% attack vs. axemen). The fact that the Greeks start with Hunting (which is required to build the UU) certainly helps if you are thinking of rushing with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In its conventional role, the Phalanx also boasts a very long lifespan of more than two eras. Elephants give normal spearmen cause to worry, while knights are too strong be countered well by them. Phalangites, however, are able to counter elephants effectively and hold their own against knights. When they are defending on hills, no mounted unit before cavalry can beat them one-on-one without having at least the Shock promotion (perhaps with the exception of the melee-busting Conquistadors). They are also good at defending on hills, especially in hill cities, against most units in the Ancient and Classical eras. A truly solid package for a UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Phalanx has, for better or worse, been changed in BTS. It is now an axeman that is not vulnerable to chariots. That means chariots do not get a 100% bonus when attacking them. This effectively transforms a defensive UU into an offensive one, as Greek players need not worry about having to protect their earliest city raiding units from chariots. If you are the kind of player who says the glass is half empty, this change at most saves you from having to build a few spearmen and to research Hunting before you begin an axe rush. But if you like to say the glass is half full, this makes a strong rush unit that is exactly like the axeman in vanilla, which can only be countered by another axeman. Indeed, saving you the effort of building spearmen can be crucial in the early game, when cities are few and hammers are scarce. It can mean a few extra Phalanxes, which might decide whether you can take and hold a (or an extra) city or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On the defense, the new Phalanx also performs decently in the early game. Now you don't have to build spearmen to deal with the occasional pillaging chariot, though of course spears would be more effective. Not having to build spearmen might also mean having extra Phalanxes to defend against an enemy axe rush. You might prefer the old version of this UU, but you can't say the new one isn't useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inca: Quechua (Warrior)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Dubbed by some as one of the worst UUs when Civ4 was still new, the Quechua has gained notoriety through the Quechua rush, a strategy that might win you a Deity game even if it's far above your current skill level. How is that possible, you ask? Quechuas are cheap at 15 hammers each (cheaper than half an axeman) and they get a 100% bonus against archers, the AI's primary/only city garrison unit early in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush is simple to do. You can probably start building Quechuas in the beginning and overwhelm the nearest AI capital with numbers (provided you've located it, of course). However, it's advisable that you build a worker, barracks and another worker first. The first worker would improve food resources (for whipping), build mines and chop trees, while the second would start building a road to the nearest AI capital (which, presumably, you would have found by then) and make logistics less of a nightmare. The barracks allows your capital to grow in between the worker builds, but, more importantly, it allows you to build Quechuas with Cover. In vanilla, Huayna Capac is Aggressive and hence Quechuas get Combat I free, allowing you to promote them with Cover immediately if you've built a barracks. Even though the Inca leader is no longer Aggressive in Warlords, Quechuas still get Combat I free, so this tactic still applies. Quechuas with Cover have a much higher chance of winning against fortified archers so you don't need as many of them. You would be able to capture one AI city after another much more quickly. This method also has the benefit of allowing the AIs to settle more cities before you attack, thus giving you early game expansion possibilities without having to build your own settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have the workers and barracks (and have researched Mining and Bronze Working), you can start building, chopping or whipping Quechuas out. If copper is discovered within your territory, you can supplement your rush with axemen, who can gradually take over as your main city raiders, ensuring that your offensive is longer-lasting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush does have its limitations. It requires a close neighbour. Otherwise, it would take too long to get there and you would have to pay an unreasonable amount of distance upkeep if you succeed in capturing the city. Of course, you can resort to razing, but this strategy would then lose half its value. It also assumes that the AI builds archers to defend itself. On that note, you need to be playing at a high enough difficulty, where the AI can either build archers immediately or soon enough. Warriors might be too cost-effective for Quechuas to be facing, even though you can choose the Shock promotion instead of Cover. A higher difficulty level also means the AI is likely to start with a free settler or two and would thus have more cities up for grabs when you begin your rush. The AI may also conveniently choose to settle his cities towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside to this rush is the relatively high amount of unit upkeep that you have to pay early in the game. Coupled with the distance maintenance you have to pay for captured cities, your early technological development might be retarded for a while. You can, however, count on being able to catch up fairly quickly if you've nabbed an especially powerful neighbouring capital. Huayna's Financial trait can also help you recover more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond this strategy, the Quechua's usefulness is quite limited. They are effective against barbarians, since those often take the form of archers, and would hence perform well under raging barbs setting. They are also better than normal warriors at worker stealing (since they survive better against archers), should you choose to be aggressive from the start even though you have no plans of capturing enemy cities yet. Besides these, it's hard to conceive of another way to exploit this UU without rushing, making it rather situational. It either shines or fades into relative oblivion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]India: Fast Worker (Worker)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Fast Worker is a worker with 3 moves (which, interestingly enough, is unmatched till gunships in the modern age). This means, with all their moves unspent, they can enter forest/jungle/hill and immediately begin improving the tile without ending their turn. However, they do end their turn if they enter a forested/jungled hill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Indirectly, this means the Fast Worker is faster at doing what workers do. It does not improve tiles faster, but being able to begin earlier in many situations would translate to a lot of saved worker turns by the end of the game. By the way, yes, it is the only UU that lasts throughout the game. Their extra movement also means they are able to cover distances more quickly, allowing you to move them around your empire efficiently. This enables a much tighter worker strategy, where you can have fewer workers improving tiles in different cities according to which city would grow and work the tiles next. To put it simply, playing as India, you do not need as many workers to develop your land.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To get the most out of this UU, adopt an early worker strategy (i.e. building a worker first). You'd develop much quicker than the other civs and could use this early game lead to your advantage for the rest of the game. Their 3 moves also make them excellent scouts, especially early on when revealing your surroundings quickly is crucial. Just make sure you keep them away from animals and barbs. With their speed, it shouldn't be that difficult.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players do not like the fact that it is not a military UU, but few would be able to argue against its merits. The only downside to the Fast Worker is the fact that slower game speeds diminish their advantage, since the turns saved by their extra movement would be less and less significant compared to the increased number turns needed to improve tiles. If you're playing on Quick or Normal speed, this UU is certainly amazing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Japan: Samurai (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cool factor aside, there seems to be little that is interesting about this UU at first glance. It is a regular maceman that cannot be built with copper (requiring specifically iron) and has 2 first strikes. The second thing is what gives the Samurai its power, and which has sparked considerable debate on how useful it makes this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After much testing and debate, it is generally agreed that the 2 first strikes are a great boon. They help the Samurai survive, even at lower odds, and give them an edge against archers and longbows, the primary city defenders of the day. First strikes essentially mean that the unit gets the chance to inflict damage on the enemy unit even before the combat proper begins. Both archers and longbows get 1 first strike, which help them deal with regular city attackers (i.e. units with access to City Raider promotions, such as macemen), but have this advantage cancelled out by one of the Samurai's first strikes. And the Samurai still has another first strike to use. This also applies to crossbowmen (who also get 1 first strike), making the Samurai less vulnerable to that effective anti-melee unit. And, just as importantly, this advantage also has the effect of giving Samurais a higher chance to win battles while suffering less damage. That means they are potentially able to recover faster for another attack, thereby shortening the length of the Japanese player's campaigns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But do take note that this bonus is not the same as getting free Drill promotions (to which, by the way, macemen do not have access). It is better than merely a free Drill I, but it will not remain when you upgrade your Samurais. And beware of knights (especially Conquistadors or those with Shock promotion). They are a fast and effective counter to Samurai, since they have enough strength and ignore first strikes, so bring enough pikemen when facing a sufficiently advanced opponent who has researched Guilds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The main drawback of the Samurai is the requirement of iron. While regular macemen can be built with copper as well, without iron, the Japanese player will be stuck without his/her UU or even regular macemen. Thankfully, this strategic resource is quite commonly available. But if you do find yourself not having one readily available, planting a city in the tundra or invading your neighbour to get it might be worth the effort before the age of the Samurai arrives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Korea: Hwacha (Catapult)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] If you like axemen, you'd love the Hwacha. It is a catapult with 50% bonus vs melee units, making it an axeman with collateral damage, bombard ability and withdrawal chance for a mere five hammers more (Normal speed). The only downside is the Hwacha doesn't receive defensive bonuses like an axeman, so you might want to use your Hwachas offensively and turn up the heat so the enemy is forced to defend in his nice cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hwacha has some interesting synergy with Wang Kon's Protective trait. Protective really shines when you have no metals and are forced to adopt a defensive position with archers in the early game. Construction represents the departure from such a stance, since you're now able to build catapults and attack. Hwachas, being super catapults, puts you in an even better position to go on the offensive, with Protective archers/longbows for support as defenders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have iron, Protective crossbows and spears/pikes are perfect companions to Hwachas. They eliminate the threat of enemy melee and mounted units and help defend new possessions while your Hwachas take down enemy defenders. You don't need axemen. A few swords to help clean up can complete your arsenal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When macemen and trebuchets come into the picture, Hwachas gradually take a back seat, but not before you can deal some serious damage to a neighbour or two. Nonetheless, a Korean player would benefit from picking up Construction as quickly as possible. Why not put this powerful weapon into use as early as you can? And Wang Kon's Financial trait can certainly help with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Unfortunately, as it stands, the Hwacha has been weakened by the inability of siege weapons to kill units and to gain more than 1 experience point per battle. Its bonus still applies, but you can no longer rely on a stack of Hwachas to actually capture cities for you. You also need enough units to kill off all the weakened defenders. While this job can be done by almost any non-siege unit, this means hammers probably need to be diverted to other units, resulting in fewer Hwachas built. Then there's the 1xp only rule, which is worse since it means your Hwachas can no longer gain valuable additional promotions through combat, making it less effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The impact of this UU has certainly been reduced. You can still make good use of it much in the same way as before, but remember to build more units for clean up duty and to take up the slack caused by fewer veteran Hwachas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mali: Skirmisher (Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Skirmishers are archers with 4 strength and 1 extra first strike chance, effectively making Mali half a Protective civ until Feudalism comes around. With them, Malinese cities are certainly not ones to be taken easily in the early game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The normal use of Skirmishers is pretty straight forward: Defend your cities or hill improvements with them. As such, they play a rather passive role as a UU. This puts into question the rationale of going straight for Archery, even when playing Mali. First, you don't start with Hunting (required for Archery). Second, the threat of barbarian or enemy axes make axemen a better unit for defense, since they are able to counterattack and prevent your improvements from being pillaged. Lastly, Bronze Working is needed for Slavery anyway, and if you happen to find copper nearby after researching it you can soon build axes. Skirmishers can help with defense if you don't find copper around, but in that case you might want to beeline to Iron Working, so Hunting and Archery are still not the priority. But of course, in the worst case scenario where you find no metal around, Skirmishers can become quite important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords improves Skirmishers a little by making chariots a counter to axes. Now you don't have to fear barbarian/enemy axemen if you don't have copper but have horses. Barb spearmen, if they do appear, can be countered somewhat by Skirmishers. You can thus concentrate on teching up with chariots and Skirmishers for defense, without having to beeline for the relatively expensive Iron Working. If you want to be aggressive, you can rush a neighbour with a stack of chariots and some Skirmishers. The latter can help secure newly conquered cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now for the less conventional. If you are going for a really quick rush as Mali, you can beeline to Archery from the beginning. Skirmishers don't require resources, so you can technically rush a neighbour with them Jaguar-style. Get Archery as quickly as possible, build barracks - maybe settle a second city - and start building Skirmishers. After you several of them, rush the nearest neighbour's capital. Skirmishers are better than normal archers, so with a ratio of about 3:1 in your favour, you may be able to overwhelm the defending archers. The surviving Skirmishers would then help you hold on to the conquered city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you whip to rush build Skirmishers for this tactic, becareful of the hammer overflow. You might quickly begin to whip them out for one population point each and run into serious happiness issues. If you want to try this rush, you should have a food-plenty and hilly area (i.e. a good production city site) as the site of your capital. You'll need the hammers because you'll be building most of the Skirmishers the slow way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mongolia: Keshik (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers that ignore terrain movement cost and get 1 first strike, but aren't immune to first strikes. Hence, they are extremely adept at raiding and pillaging, but aren't as good at attacking archers/longbows with Drill promotions. This has a few implications on a Mongolian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Surprise is the best asset of the Keshiks. Ignoring terrain movement cost means they can traverse forests/jungles and hills as easily as flatlands. Thus, it is easy for a Mongolian player to strike across difficult terrain at the unlikeliest of places, grabbing unguarded workers and lightly-defended cities or pillaging improvements (especially on strategic resources). However, this advantage relies on the enemy's inability to counterattack immediately with spearmen or a superior force, so good intelligence would be needed to know where exactly the enemy places his spears and the bulk of his units. If you do not have this luxury, you could always send more Keshiks in case you meet spears, but be prepared to lose quite a few of them. In addition, you could pillage enemy roads to eventually cripple his ability to counterattack. However, at the end of the day, the strategic advantage you gain from your harassment must outweigh the lost hammers you spent on the dead Keshiks[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Keshiks' first strike, meanwhile, makes them better than normal horse archers at picking off non-spear units in your territory or in the enemy's. Combined with their terrain movement advantage, this makes them good empire defenders and hit-and-run units. Unfortunately, the enemy can easily counter them by having spearmen guard his units, so this might only work effectively against the AI. There's also a limitation on how good Keshiks are in fighting non-spear units compared to normal horse archers. The immunity to first strikes that normal horse archers get makes them better at fighting archery units with Drill promotions or units with Drill III/IV. The Keshiks' own first strike can only negate one of the enemy units' first strikes. To remedy this, you have to give your Keshiks Flanking II so that they get immunity to first strikes as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This, in turn, highlights the Keshik's relative weakness (compared to normal horse archers) in attacking cities defended by Drill-promoted archery units. In Warlords, this means Protective civs are better covered against attempts to take cities with Keshiks. The 10% city attack penalty that the horse archer unit-type gets in Warlords makes them even less desirable as city raiders. Thus, the only hope Mongolian player might have in using Keshiks to conquer in Warlords is to rely on speed, Flanking promotions and numbers (also applies to vanilla, but not to such a large extent).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With barracks and Ger in the city, a Keshik gets 7 xp upon being built. Unfortunately, that will still allow for only 2 initial promotions (unless you're running both Vassalage and Theocracy for a total of 11 xp), though of course your mounted units would be promoted to the next level sooner. But, at any rate, 2 initial promotions are good enough. Give most of the Keshiks Flanking I and II to give them 50% withdrawal chance each (including the natural 20%) and immunity to first strikes. Give Combat I and Medic I or Combat I and Shock (for defending against spearmen) to the rest. Have at least one Medic I Keshik and one Shock Keshik in each stack. If you get Compass early enough, you can use explorers (strength 4, ignores terrain movement cost and starts with free Guerilla I and Woodsman I) to help protect your stacks when they stop on hills or forests/jungles. 3 or 4 cities with Gers pumping out Keshiks would usually be good enough to amass a sizeable army in reasonable time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As your Keshiks attack enemy cities, some will die, some will withdraw and some will win. The medics will ensure that the withdrawing and winning Keshiks heal up more quickly. If you manage to overwhelm a prepared enemy with numbers, your speed advantage (from ignoring terrain movement cost and faster healing) will ensure that the enemy cannot fight back or resist as effectively, hastening his destruction. If the enemy is unprepared in the first place, your speed advantage will ensure his quick defeat. Note that this strategy can only work if the enemy doesn't have longbows yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You should be prepared to build courthouses and marketplaces to help you keep your winnings. But even if you're not, you can just resort to razing and pillaging for some barbaric fun. Long live the Golden Horde![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Netherlands: East Indiaman (Galleon)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Now here's an interesting UU. Although it does have some combat capability, it serves primarily as a support unit. But the East Indiaman is pretty good at it, offering an extra cargo space for a total of 4, which is quite a big leap from a normal galleon considering the fact that transports have the same capacity. If you're planning on waging war during the age of the rifle, especially against an overseas civ, or if you are planning a large-scale settling another landmass, you don't have to build quite as many ships to carry your units over. Three East Indiamen carry as much as four galleons, thereby saving you 80 hammers, which can almost make an extra frigate (90 hammers) to protect your fleet. Moreover, since they carry as many units as transports, you might not need to decommission or upgrade them till the end of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The East Indiaman also has the nifty ability to travel within rival borders without needing an open borders treaty. Have you accumulated much EPs thanks to the Financial trait? You can send your spies anywhere in the world conveniently, even directly into an unfriendly overseas civ. And the extra cargo space is useful for espionage as well, helping you keep a constant flow of spies even if many get caught.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lastly, the East Indiaman has 2 more strength than a normal galleon, making it tougher to sink. While it still can't beat a frigate, it can more than annihilate caravels and destroy other galleons, so you have naval superiority at Astronomy until your rivals get Chemistry and build frigates. And, should there be privateers prowling the seas, you needn't worry so much about being ambushed by them while moving units across water without escort during peacetime. This is probably a UU that you would appreciate on maps with lots of seas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ottomans: Janissary (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Janissary’s advantage is a 25% boost against melee, archery and mounted units, making it a great all-round unit for its time. It is pretty much effective against all previous era units (with the big exception of siege units), so you can potentially put some serious hurt in your enemies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to get as much use out of Janissaries as possible, you need to look for ways to get to Gunpowder early. You might even want to make a beeline for it, either through the northern path (Maths -&gt; Currency -&gt; Priesthood? -&gt; Civil Service -&gt; Paper -&gt; Education) or the southern path (Metal Casting -&gt; Machinery &amp; Monotheism -&gt; Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guilds) in the tech tree. Different lightbulbing strategies are available (with Great Merchants for the southern path and Great Scientists for the northern one), so you don't have to self-research everything. Strictly speaking, it may not be necessary to do a beeline, but it's probably the best way. The point is to get to Gunpowder before your enemies are even close to it, and rapidly exploiting this opportunity gap by building, whipping and possibly drafting as many Janissaries as you can to use against them. To be able to draft, you would need to pursue the northern path and probably research Liberalism first to grab Nationalism as the free tech, before actually researching Gunpowder. It is a slight diversion, but it may be worth the delay if your empire does not have the capability to build or whip enough Janissaries in time to give you a real edge, as often is the case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have them, Janissaries are quite a fearsome force in the medieval battlefield. They have no hard counter, so the best bet your enemies might have is to promote their units with Pinch, which requires Gunpowder in Warlords. Knights with Pinch, however, are a good counter to Jannissaries, as are regular musketmen (against whom Janissaries have no advantage whatsoever), so once your enemies have Gunpowder as well you may find your edge disappearing. If they manage to get to Chemistry, which isn't that far away, this UU is practically obsolete. Janissary stacks are actually relatively vulnerable to siege units (and the associated collateral damage) as well, since they don't get any bonuses against these. But unless you're playing MP, this shouldn't be a big problem. The AI does not generally build many catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take note that Janissaries may not be the best city-taking troops you can get, since they do not have access to City Raider promotions. Needless to say, if you're relying on them as the backbone of your army, you still need to bring siege weapons along if you hope to grab some enemy territory. Given the fact that they are not actually very different from the conduct of normal campaigns of the time, Janissary campaigns might still be slow going, so don't be surprised if you don't manage to knock out more than one enemy with them, even with your best efforts (assuming you're playing on the higher levels). Hence, the emphasis is again on getting them as early as possible so as to enlarge the window of opportunity that you have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Overall, without the mobility of the Musketeer, this UU is quite situational and, to an even higher degree than the former, requires some long term planning in the early game to be put to good use. It is probably better the lower the difficulty you play on, since you would be more likely to out-tech the AIs and get to Gunpowder much earlier than them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Persia: Immortal (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems odd that Immortals are chariot-replacements, and you may miss the ownage days of playing as Persia with their Civ3 incarnation. Fortunately, they are still very effective in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you have horses and a neighbouring civ nearby, you know you're in for some fun. Immortals get 50% bonus vs. archery units, as well as an innate 30% withdrawal chance. No AI I've seen can resist them very early in the game. Hook up those horses quickly, build/whip out some of these creatures and head straight for the neighbour. If you managed to build barracks, you can give them Flanking I for an extra 10% withdrawal chance. If you have time to kill some barbs as well, before heading for your neighbour's cities, you can promote some with Flanking II for immunity against first strikes and a total of 60% withdrawal chance. This would give them a high survival rate against archers. Don't they sound like excellent AI city busters? What's more, they do get defensive bonuses, making them less vulnerable to counterattack and decent garrison units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If or when your enemy gets spearmen, however, Immortals lose much of their power. Even one spearman in a city you're attacking can give you a lot of trouble. You really have to count on the withdrawal chances if you want the first few Immortals to survive a direct attack on the city. In Civ4 vanilla, enemy axemen would be a problem too, since chariots don't get the 50% bonus when attacking axemen like in Warlords. To help prevent difficulties from arising, you should pillage any AI mine that you see sitting on a metal resource. If a city is on top of one, pillage the roads around it to limit spear production to that city. You would thus prolong the effectiveness of your Immortals. Until your enemy gets Feudalism, that is. If he can. Although the 50% bonus also applies when fighting longbows, the latter are too strong when defending in cities to be dislodged by Immortals alone. The same may be said of enemy crossbows. But with the help of siege weapons, Immortals can still take them down quite easily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem is when there is no neighbour near you. In that case, you can't use Immortals to their full potential. However, they are still quite handy against barbs, since the latter usually take the form of archers. In Warlords, they are also great for dispatching barb axemen. Clearly, the expansion has given this solid UU even more oomph.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Rome: Praetorian (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians are a blunt instrument with which you can rule the early battlefield. Taking cities is the name of the game, and Praetorians easily destroy enemy archers defending cities (even those with some cultural defense), with odds so favorable that they'll likely not suffer losses. You may lose a few if the enemy city is on a hill and the defender has City Garrison promotions, but the odds will still favor you most of the time. You probably want to give your Praetorians City Raider (CR) promotions to help bust those cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of their high strength, Praetorians can hold their own against axeman, their natural counter. Nevertheless, it may be best to build your own axemen or promote a few Praetorians with Combat I and Shock for stack defense. Praetorians will also prevail against mounted units of the same era, though a spearman or two will only do you good, leaving your Praetorians to focus on taking those cities. After the enemy gets longbowmen, the Praetorian is still useful, but you need to support them with catapults to remove city defenses and soften up the defenders to avoid catastrophic losses. Watch out for crossbows, though; they are very effective against Praetorians. The best way to guard against them is to pillage the enemy's iron mines before he/she can build them. The same goes for enemy Shock war elephants, in which case you should pillage his/her ivory camps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians require Iron Working and iron. A Roman player would probably want to take advantage of the Praetorian as early as possible, so beelining to Iron Working is a good call. You may want to have a settler and some workers ready to exploit any iron deposit you see as soon as the tech is researched, although there's some chance that you'd find iron within your existing borders. You should also build barracks first, so that you can give your Praetorians a promotion from the get go, whether it is CR 1 for city busting or Combat 1 for Shock later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The problem with Praetorians is the Roman player may become a victim of his own success. Because it is so easy to expand quickly with this UU, the temptation to expand beyond your limit is great. You may end up too many cities, causing your economy to crash from the upkeep. One solution is to raze cities rather than keep them, unless they are close to yours or have high value (eg. capitals, holy cities or those with wonders). This also has the effect of severely weakening or even eliminating your enemies so it is easier to actually expand when your economy is able to support it later. And, while you're doing this, do pillage the improvements around razed cities to set your enemies back even further and for extra funds. You can also help yourself by building up your infrastructure at home to support your campaigns, such as laying down lots of cottages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UU is the main reason why it's good to play as Rome when you're new on a difficulty level. Try not to get too used to having them, though, as you might become too dependent on their strength to play with any other civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Russia: Cossack (Cavalry)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the Redcoat, the Cossack is one UU that has been changed in Warlords. In Civ IV vanilla, the Cossack has a fearsome reputation. A cavalry with 18 strength and +50% against mounted units on top of the ordinary cavalry capabilities (+50% against cannon and 30% withdrawal chance), it can beat almost every unit in its era. Even riflemen, its counter, have less strength if you don't consider promotions or defensive bonuses. Pinch-promoted Cossacks can eat them alive. Riflemen need to be one level higher (4) and get the Formation promotion to even out the playing field, though you should note that Aggressive riflemen can get Formation at level 3. Redcoats do counter Cossacks very well, but Cossacks are faster, can withdraw and aren't destroyed by machine guns and massed cannons the way Redcoats are.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are using them in the vanilla game, consider getting them as early as possible by beelining to Education, getting Liberalism and choosing Nationalism as the free tech. Nationalism leads to Military Tradition (requires Music, so make sure you trade for it) and Education leads to Gunpowder, techs needed to build Cossacks (and you must have horses, of course). If you pull this off early enough, the rest of the game should be easy - Cossacks versus longbowmen is no contest. You can shoot for a domination victory right away. All you need to do is keep pumping out Cossacks, with the whip whenever possible, while ideally running the military civics (Vassalage and Theocracy) to give your Cossacks an even bigger edge. It's no wonder that some people consider them overpowered in vanilla.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords, however, is a vastly different game for Cossack fans. On one hand, there's the introduction of the stable, which improves mounted units by giving them 2 more experience points. On the other hand, the Cossack has the same strength as normal cavalry now, only retaining their bonus against mounted units. They are basically cavalry that excel in killing other cavalry. This is a lot more useful in MP, where cavalry versus cavalry is pretty much a fair game and you need to get riflemen to gain an advantage. Having Cossacks means you already have an advantage against enemy cavalry, forcing your enemies to tech to riflemen to stand a chance on the battlefield or risk being holed up in their cities and becoming sitting targets for your cannons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In SP, however, much of the action would ideally take place at enemy cities to begin with, and in this respect the Cossack is mostly as good as normal cavalry in Warlords. It can get the 2 extra experience points from stables, but so can normal cavalry. The only time you have a real advantage against the AI is when it masses cavalry. In that case, your Cossacks would cut through the AI's army like knife through butter. Unfortunately, you would probably have to capture cities to end the war anyway. That said, Cossacks are pretty good for pillaging if you promote them with Pinch, since they would then be more difficult to counter (neither riflemen nor cavalry would work effectively against them). But, still, as you can see, what was an amazing UU has become a pretty situational one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spain: Conquistador (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With this UU, the road to El Dorado can be wide and clear. It has the potential to be exploited in a game-breaking way. The reason is this: Conquistadors get 50% bonus vs. melee, which gives it an advantage against the most common counter to knights - pikemen. They also get defensive bonuses, which means they can exploit the terrain to make counterattack difficult. To top all of this off, Conquistadors benefit from 2 first strikes (which normal knights don't get), making them even harder to defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need horse and iron to produce this UU. Playing as Spain, I'd make sure I get those by the time Conquistadors can be built. The Spanish player would also do well to research Guilds early, extending the life and usefulness of the UU. Conquistadors can fill the role of your main city attackers, following your siege weapons to capture city after city. They don't get CR upgrades, but they can perform decently against city defenders even when they haven't accumulated promotions. Their first strikes and immunity to first strikes certainly help, especially against longbows. And, thanks to their bonus against melee, defending pikes don't scare them that much. With defensive bonuses to help, they can also act as stack-protectors during your campaigns. Furthermore, since they have 2 moves, they can attack enemy units and come back to the stack in the same turn. If you're playing on Warlords, they make the perfect companions to Citadel-improved siege weapons. Woe to the enemy cities![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once those shiny cities have been taken, Conquistadors can help defend them until you get suitable defenders (such as longbowmen) there. This works especially well if a city is on a hill. As you can see, the versatility of the Conquistador almost matches that of the Musketeer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, here are a few words of caution. Siege weapons are not to be excluded from your Conquistador campaigns. Unless your target is still fielding archers, bringing siege units for bombardment and some collateral damage should still be part and parcel of your plans. Conquistadors are strong but not invincible. Without the proper support, they would still die to entrenched units, especially pikes and longbows. The other thing is, beware of elephants! These are the ultimate counter to Conquistadors. Under normal circumstances, there is no way a Conquistador can beat an elephant, and the latter is much cheaper to train. Just make sure you target opponents who have no ivory and you should have great time conquering with this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vikings: Berserk (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] Hate them or love them, Berserks are a popular UU. Although, not as powerful as their Civ3 incarnation, these guys can really be useful. Their 10% bonus vs. cities is certainly nice. However, for many people the problem is finding a good use for their free Amphibious promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Vikings have a higher potential to rule on water maps than any other civ. Ragnar is Financial, which means coastal tiles produce 3 commerce instead of 2, and his UB allows his ships to move further earlier in the game by giving free Navigation promotion. Combined with the Berserk's ability to attack amphibiously with no penalty and its city attack bonus, a Viking player on a water map can fast tech to Civil Service and Machinery and have fun raiding enemy coastal cities with Berserks on fast galleys. One method to do this early is building the Oracle and grabbing Metal Casting as the free tech (which, by the way, gives access to Colossus for a further boost to those coastal tiles). Then build/whip a forge and run an engineer in a city without the Oracle. Research your way to Code of Laws and Civil Service a.s.a.p. (in the pre-patch version you can use a prophet generated by the Oracle to lightbulb CoL/CS by not researching Masonry). In the meantime, build several galleys to prepare for your sea adventures. You'll get a Great Engineer as your 1st or 2nd Great Person from the forge city. Use him to lightbulb Machinery and start building Berserks. You could also put your research slider at 0% for a few turns and upgrade some axes to Berserks (being Financial helps with accumulating money for that). If you catch your opponents without longbows yet, you've done really well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are limitations to your Berserks' ability to raid cities from the sea, though. If a city is defended by longbows, on a hill, has high cultural defense and/or walls, it could be difficult to take and might render an attempt not worth the cost. To attack such a city, you probably need to bring siege units along as galleys/triremes are not able to even bombard the city's defenses. Having to land siege units to bombard/deal collateral damage nullifies the Berserks' amphibious advantage. As such, you would need to look for softer targets to strike at. You don't have to keep the city. Find a weak spot (a lightly defended coastal city), raid, raze and pop back into the galleys before the enemy can counterattack. Landing a spear with the Berserker that has to land on that turn would help the latter survive a counterattack by mounted units (the most likely reaction you'll get from an AI). But becareful not to attack too close to an AI capital. AIs tend to stack more units in their capitals and can easily counterattack with a stronger force from there. Humans in MP will be wary of a sea attack, so watch out for axes/xbows in or within reach of coastal cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if you're not playing on a water map, Berserks present some interesting options. With them, you have the advantage when laying siege to a city across a river if the enemy doesn't have Engineering. His non-mounted units cannot counter attack from the city without suffering a 20% penalty for attacking across the river. With their free Amphibious promotion, Berserks get no such penalty attacking the city. The only downside is your siege units do suffer from the penalty if you want to cause some collateral damage first. Conversely, this idea works in defense as well. When enemy units are across a river beside one of your cities, you can attack them with your Berserks with no penalty while they would suffer it when they attack. At the very least, Berserks always get their 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Perhaps the most valuable thing about the Berserk is the fact that he keeps the Amphibious promotion when upgraded. This allows a Viking player to build Berserks (especially City Raider ones) and upgrade them later on to grenadiers or riflemen with free Amphibious. Frigates are able to bombard city defenses, so you can get yourself an elite amphibious attack force long before marines make their appearance. The free Amphibious also works the opposite way, allowing your older units to benefit from it when upgraded to Berserks. Hence, it makes sense to do so with all of your more experienced axemen or swordsmen. It would almost certainly be worth the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Zulus: Impi (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] On the surface, the Impi may not appear to be a stellar UU, since it does not come with extra strength or with obviously strong bonuses. However, the tactical value of this unit is considerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Impi comes with the Mobility promotion (-1 movement cost to enter tiles that would normally cost 2 moves or more) and 2 moves. Thus, they have the ability to rapidly cross territory and catch another nation with a weakly defended city in the early game, when borders are not really expanded and cultural defenses are not high. They can be two tiles from a city and attack it on the same turn that war is declared. Thanks to Aggressive, they also start with Combat I, making them a little stronger. Furthermore, they are eligible for City Raider promotions, which would help crack the defenses of those early cities. Their relatively low cost, meanwhile, helps you amass a number of them as quickly as possible and simply bum rush a close neighbour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]They also make excellent pillagers. With the 100% bonus against mounted that spears get, the only units that can really catch them are not able to kill them effectively. Naturally, they can be put in your stacks or cities to defend and make counterattacks against mounted units. In your own territory, no enemy horse can hope to outrun them, so it's death to the common enemy pillagers![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An interesting gambit you can try is attaching a Great General to an Impi and giving him the Morale promotion, thus creating a 3-move unit with reduced terrain movement cost. If you manage to get it beyond Combat IV, you can add Commando to the collection. It's not going to be a particularly strong unit, but it might have some interesting tactical uses (such as running into a weakly defended part of an enemy empire to killl a worker and then getting out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, Impis have good synergy with the Zulu UB, the Ikhanda, which is a barrack that also acts as a mini courthouse (-20% maintenance cost for the city). Grab some cities from an unsuspecting opponent as outlined above and rush build Ikhandas in them to help pay for the early extra maintenance. Moreover, being Aggressive, Shaka builds his UB at double production speed, so it's more power to you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Zulus start conveniently with Hunting, which is required to build their UU, but Impis need copper or iron to be built. If you want to use them as an early attack unit, you must beeline to BW and find copper. If there's no copper around, well, then there's no hope for an Impi rush. The other downside to them is the fact that Mobility becomes useless when you upgrade them, unless you continue doing so all the way till they become mech infantry. No matter what, unroaded terrain would cost at least 1 movement point to enter and, except for mech infantry much later, the Impi's line of units only has 1 move each.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]A Comprehensive Unique Unit Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]aelf[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the War Academy teaches specific strategies involving extensive use of the prominent UUs, there isn't a guide to explain the uses of the others. Strong ones like the Praetorian often need no introduction, but many players are not exposed to the possibilities that the more subtle ones present. What spurred me to start this guide are the fairly common disparaging comments about some UUs, comments that are often simply one-sided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this guide would help you leverage the different UUs effectively or at least inspire you to be more creative with them. Give all of them a chance! But please note that this guide is written mainly for single player games. Some tips may still be useful for multiplayer, but I can't promise that. This guide also assumes that you are playing as leaders under the normal civs, which might not be true if you are playing BTS.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thanks to [BOLD]Robo Kai, kniteowl, Cabert, Wodan, johnny_rico, gusi, UncleJJ, Bjorn190, dime, s.c.dude, drkodos, kristopherb, Elandal, Thyrwyn, Phrederick, Polycrates, Thedrin, agc28, PraetorianSteve, svv, carl corey, Andrei_V, Mr. Civtastic, Thomas G., GeneralGab, Percy, r_rolo1, facistal, jason77024, GoliathFF8[\BOLD] and [BOLD]InvisibleStalke[\BOLD] for ideas and contributions that helped make this guide possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And now I shall begin. The different UUs are listed under their civs, in alphabetical order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]----------[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]America: Navy SEAL (Marine)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've gotten over the fact that it comes very late in the game, you might realise that the Navy SEAL is actually good UU. A marine replacement, it might seem to be a niche unit. After all, how often do you conduct amphibious attacks (which include those across a river, by the way)? But take a closer look at its unique advantages and you'll realise the potential it has.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Its first strike and first strike chances are not to be taken lightly. First strikes can help you deal more damage to the enemy and comfortably win battles that you might otherwise take heavy damage in or even lose. The free March promotion, meanwhile, allows the Navy SEAL to heal on the go, reducing the time it takes to recover before heading off to another battle. Bringing a Medic III unit along with your SEALs means that as soon as they have attacked, they are eligible for the 30% healing the next turn (5% from enemy territory and 25% from Medic III). So as long as they are at or above 16.8/24 strength, they will be back to full health the next turn. They can also heal right after making an amphibious assault aboard a Medic transport. The SEALs in Civ4 are indeed an elite task force worthy of their name, capable of enduring and sustaining a long campaign.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 50% attack bonuses against machine guns and artillery are a thick layer of icing on the cake. With SEALs, you don't have to fret when attacking cities defended by machine guns (which are immune to collateral damage) without tanks. Their first strikes also help by negating the machine gun's first strikes. And, also due to their first strikes, SEALs are probably the best stack protectors against enemy artillery attacks. Divide your stack(s) into smaller SEAL-protected groups and you don't have to worry too much about getting overwhelmed by mass artillery.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you have some coastal cities to assault or a land campaign to conduct, Navy SEALs are an excellent unit to bring along with your invasion force. They do come late, but they come at the right time if you're planning on a late domination push that would win you the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Arabia: Camel Archer (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Camel Archers are knights that have a higher withdrawal chance (25%) and don't require horses or iron. You could simply use them like normal knights, but the thing about them is Flanking promotions make them very good at surviving failed attacks (+55% withdrawal chance with Flanking II). This means you don't have to balk so much at attacking a city or a stack that has a defending pike, making them more reliable as an attack unit. Of course, if you end up with no horses or iron, they give you the option of building knights in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're playing on Warlords, stables can give your Camel Archers enough experience points to start off with Flanking I and II, so you don't have to be running Vassalage or Theocracy. Also, you can improve their ability even further by attaching Great Generals to them as warlords. Give a Flanking II Camel Archer the Tactics promotion (+30% withdrawal chance) and it would have 85% chance of retreating from a failed attack. Of course, you might still get unlucky and lose it, especially if you attack at very low odds. It's not 100% withdrawal chance, you know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aztecs: Jaguar Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traditional whipping boys, these guys get 2 free promotions in Warlords, Woodsman I and Combat I (the latter thanks to Montezuma's Aggressive trait). If you've built those cheap barracks, giving them Woodsman II immediately would allow you to rush a relatively cheap stack of them (Jaguars cost less than normal swordsmen) to enemy cities through forests and jungles, in which they have two moves. Of course, this comes at the price of not being able to give them the City Raider promotion first, but depending on how fortified the target cities are, this may not be such a problem. Jaguars do get the swordsman's inherent 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a more conventional level, the benefit of the Jaguar is probably similar to that of the Gallic Warrior - better stack protection when standing on a particular terrain. Jaguars can even defend against axemen when positioned in forests and jungles, as they get 70% terrain defense bonus there (+50% from the terrain and +20% from Woodsman I), making them good all-round defenders in this situation. Give them Woodsman II or Shock (both available immediately with barracks) and they would have no need to be afraid of axemen as long as they have trees to cover them. Hence, if the enemy's lands sport plenty of foliage, you may want to bring a few of them along in any case. Note that this applies only to [BOLD]jungles[\BOLD] in Civ4 vanilla, where Jaguars get 75% defense bonus (+50% from the terrain and +25% [BOLD]jungle[\BOLD] defense bonus).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Jaguars don't require any resource so you can start building them even before hooking up copper or iron. You can also whip them out (probably with unhappy citizens) in newly conquered cities that are not connected to any metal resource, immediately creating some units for either garrison or further offensive purposes and thus helping you proceed with your campaign without having to wait for reinforcements. The value of this UU greatly increases when you find yourself without copper and iron in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More on the no resource requirement, Jaguars are a sure way to rush a neighbour early in the game. You can plant your second city on the best production site in the direction of your target without waiting for copper or iron to be revealed. Then you build barracks and granary, research IW and start whipping Jaguars out without even having to bother with any resources. Get a stack of them and attack Aztec-style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] With the addition of the Woodsman III promotion, Jaguars have become much more useful in an interesting way. Woodsman III grants 2 first strikes, +50% forest and jungle attack and the ability to heal units on the same tile at the rate of 15% per turn. Since Jaguars get Woodsman I for free and barracks can give them Woodsman II off the bat, they are effectively 2 XP away from becoming the ultimate forest/jungle warriors of their time and effective medics. If you need to take out some enemy units that are fortified in a forest/jungle, especially those that are there to choke your cities, unleash the Woodsman III Jaguars. If you need some quick healing, you have Woodsman III Jaguars. A very handy support unit to have around for early warfare. They are probably still not such effective combat units on their own, but the first strikes might help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can even maximise the Jaguar's healing ability by attaching a Great General to it and giving it all three Medic promotions as well. Woodsman III's healing stacks with the Medic promotions (provided they are on the same unit), giving you a whooping 50% healing rate. And this isn't difficult to achieve since Jaguars get free Combat I (required for Medic I) thanks to Aggressive, so you only need 26 XP to get there. Attaching a Great General to a unit gives you 20 XP, so that Jaguar effectively only needs 6 XP, the first 3 of which can be given by barracks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carthage: Numidian Cavalry (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] This is a UU that people are divided about. Some regard it as a good UU (though not great). Others think it is weak. The latter opinion can usually be attributed to the traditional aversion to horse archers, Horseback Riding (HBR) and Archery (techs required to build horse archer-type units). Horse archers have two moves and are good for busting archer-defended cities, but they die to spearmen, rendering them easy to counter. Archery is widely viewed as a useless dead end tech early on, while HBR is fairly expensive, making it tempting to research other more beneficial techs first. The latter's beaker cost also makes it difficult to ensure that your opponents don't have spears yet by the time it's researched. Add the fact that horse archers suffer from a 10% penalty when attacking cities in Warlords, and that the Numidian Cavalry is 1 strength weaker than normal horse archers, it's easy to turn your back on the Carthaginian UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if you consider it carefully, you may find that it's actually worth something depending on the situation. In Warlords, HBR allows you to build stables (+2 exp to mounted units), which would give your horses an edge in promotions before Vassalage/Theocracy, making the tech more attractive to research early. And the Numidian Cavalry starts with Flanking I, so, with stables, you can give them Flanking II and another promotion (eg. Mobility) right off the bat. This would give them a 50% (20% natural ability + 30% from Flanking I and II) chance to withdraw from losing battles and, if you choose Mobility, the ability to more very quickly even in enemy territory. With the Charismatic trait, it's easy to get your Numidian Cavalry to the next level for yet another promotion. Don't forget that the free Flanking I would not disappear when you upgrade them to knights.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Those are not all. The Numidian Cavalry also gets 50% bonus vs. melee, as well as the 50% bonus vs. siege that horse archers have, making it virtually an improved axeman. It has no need to be overly afraid of spearmen, thanks to the melee bonus. And you can rely on Flanking II to increase the survival rate of your Numidian Cavalry when up against spears, or you can even the odds with Combat I and Shock. If there's no heavy cultural defense, Numidian Cavalry can do a decent job busting cities on their own, although you'll need a good number of them. As active empire defenders or counter units, they are versatile enough, having bonuses against two categories of units. As pillagers, they are excellent since spears, the easiest counter, are not as effective against them - just be sure to build stables and give them Combat I and Shock (of course, you may want a few Sentries). It may seem like a waste of their free Flanking I, but this way the enemy cannot easily drive your pillaging Numidians out. The few Flanking-promoted ones can attack enemy units guarding key resources. Remember to pillage ivory and horses first, since elephants and horse archers are the most effective counters to your UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cons of the Numidian Cavalry are their reduced strength, the 10% penalty against cities and the fact that they can't get City Raider promotions. Once there's significant cultural defense in an enemy city, expect to take huge losses if you don't bring siege weapons along. Even if there's no cultural defense and the city is not on a hill, Numidian Cavalry are actually not as strong as the city's unpromoted fortified archers, so you need to bring at least twice as many. You can beeline to HBR and rush a neighbour with a moderate stack of them to quickly capture a few cities, but don't expect them to carve out a large empire for you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Horse archers no longer get the 10% city attack penalty, so the Numidian Archer is slightly stronger now. It also gains mounted units' flanking attack ability (not to be confused with Flanking promotion), whereby it does 'collateral damage' to siege units in the stack it is attacking, making it better at countering mass catapults than before. These changes certainly mean that Carthage players have something to cheer about.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Celtia: Gallic Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Gallic Warrior is a much-maligned UU. Most people wonder why an offensive unit is given a promotion for hill defense. How on earth is that going to help him attack cities, which is what it does best?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Attacking a city is the culmination of an offensive movement, which begins with your entering enemy territory. If you're careful, you would want to move your stack along the safest route to the target city as far as possible, which often means favouring forests and hills over flatlands. This is where the Gallic Warrior's free Guerilla I can help. While spearmen protect your stack against mounted units and axemen/crossbows protect it from melee units, a Gallic Warrior on a hill is the best defender against counterattacking catapults and can even take over the role of the other stack-protection units. For example, if your spearman is badly injured, the Gallic Warrior can defend against chariots or horse archers as long as you're on a hill. Thus, while normal swordsmen may be badly injured before reaching the target city in these circumstances, chances are Gallic Warriors would be in better shape.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And note that Gallic Warriors can be promoted with Guerilla II and III. Such units can be a thorn in your enemy's side, running through the hills pillaging mines and maybe raiding a weakly defended city or two, thanks to Guerilla III's movement bonus on hills. The 25% bonus for attacks on hills and 30% withdrawal chance that this promotion gives also make it easier for you to deal with stubborn hill cities. And now that you can build Gallic Warriors with copper in the latest versions of Warlords, this UU can make an extra early appearance for city-busting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another neat thing about this UU is the fact that you can upgrade it to more advanced units in its line without losing the free Guerilla I. So, in effect, the benefit of this UU lasts for a long time. Remember that forests can be chopped but hills are permanent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Somewhat like the Jaguar, this UU benefits from an improvement to its natural promotion branch: the change to Guerrilla III. It still gives +25% hills attack but now it gives a 50% withdrawal chance, making a Guerilla III Gallic Warrior a very effective crack troop. Need to attack that fortified hilltop city before Construction? Guerilla III Gallic Warriors can soften the defenses and have a good chance of surviving even after losing. The 50% withdrawal chance really is quite amazing, outclassing both the Flanking promotions combined. Moreover, since both Celt leaders are Charismatic, it's really easy to get to Guerrilla III. With barracks, your Gallic Warriors can start with Guerilla II and you are only 1XP away from Guerilla III. Sounds like fun.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]China: Chukonu (Crossbowman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu has a fearsome reputation. Collateral damage is something well-loved by most Civ4 players, and a respectable non-siege ground unit that has the ability to inflict it would surely become the favourite of some. The biggest weakness of siege units is their inability to defend effectively. The Chukonu, however, can function as an improved crossbowman, thus having an important benefit of siege units without the drawback.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may find it hard to pinpoint the exact role of this UU, though. Crossbows are primarily a counter unit, designed to help eliminate the threat of enemy melee units, and can in turn be countered by mounted units. If the enemy builds stacks of melee, your Chukonus will tear them apart with their bonus vs melee, first strikes and collateral damage. If the enemy mixes his stacks with mounted units, Chukonus are less effective. Thanks to collateral damage and the extra first strikes, however, they are much less helpless than normal crossbows and are still able to attack such mixed stacks, although you would probably sustain losses initially. The idea is to wear the enemy units down with your extra hits and collateral damage. Given enough Chukonus, there's almost nothing you can't defeat in the field (assuming you are facing units of the same era). But the question arises: Are they more cost effective for this purpose than catapults, since the latter are cheaper? If the enemy only has melee units then the answer is clearly yes. If the enemy has mounted units (which may be immune to first strikes) in his stack, sending in a few scuicide catapults first would probably be a better idea. The Chukonus can do semi-cleanup, dealing even more collateral damage to the enemy units and making them extremely weak and easy for more Chukonus or other units to take out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can apply the same concept when attacking a city. Siege units are still needed to remove the city's defenses, but who does the first few assaults would depend on what sort of units are defending the city. If they are macemen and pikemen/spearmen, use your Chukonus. If there are archery/mounted units in the city, use the siege units first, followed by the Chukonus and finally the cleanup crew (if you have any). Remember, Chukonus don't get City Raider promotions, so be prepared to lose some as they attack at lower odds than your CR units might have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu's first strikes are useful on the offense, but they become the primary advantage on the defense. When Chukonus are defending, they won't get to inflict any collateral damage on the enemy units, but their first strikes would be a great boost. First strikes grant chances of hitting the enemy unit before the combat proper even begins, thus improving your odds. The stronger your unit is compared to the enemy's the better first strikes are, since the hits you score would do more damage, thus increasing the possibility of your unit winning without taking much damage. This makes them even better a defense against enemy melee units than normal crossbows. Their first strikes also work well when defending against siege weapons, since they might be able to win before much collateral damage is suffered.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you give your Chukonus Drill promotions for more first strikes is up to you. Note that this UU has higher chances of being promoted than normal crossbowmen, since they are more suitable for an offensive role, making it possible to accumulate quite a few Drill promotions and a lot first strikes. Moreover, if you're playing on Warlords, both Chinese leaders are Protective, so Chukonus start with Drill I, giving you a headstart in that line of promotions. Gunpowder units can't choose Drill, so upgraded Chukonus can be interesting. Incidentally, Protective also makes the Chukonu better at defending cities, thanks to the free City Garrison I promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a final note, here's a tip on how to get Chukonus early and really overrun your neighbours: Choose Qin Shi Huang as your leader and aim to build the Oracle to grab Metal Casting (requires Pottery and Bronze Working). The Industrious trait makes getting the Oracle viable, even without marble. Metal Casting leads to Machinery, but it also allows you to build your cheap Industrious forges. Build one asap and run an engineer specialist. When a Great Engineer is born, use him to lightbulb Machinery, giving you access to the Chinese UU very early. But do note that Machinery requires Iron Working and Chukonus need the iron resource to be built, so make sure you get this tech researched while waiting for the GE to be born. The worst scenario is finding no iron in your territory. To help prevent this situation, research Iron Working as quickly as possible to locate iron resources and claim them if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Egypt: War Chariot (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At 5 strength, the Egyptian War Chariot is essentially an axeman on wheels with no City Raider promotions but has withdrawal chance. It is a very powerful and mobile unit that can win your game from as early as the Ancient Era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An Egyptian player who does not have copper has less to worry about. In fact, horses are much more important for him/her, making Animal Husbandry (AH) a priority. And since Egypt starts with Agriculture, which leads to AH, things are pretty much set up for you. Egypt also starts with The Wheel, which is required to build chariots and roads (to hook up those horses). What serendipity! Feel free to delay Bronze Working till you wish to use Slavery, unless it turns out that there are no horses within reasonable distance. If you discover horses nearby, get a settler there as soon as possible and hook it up. You can then begin preparing for your offensive. Chariot rushing has never been so effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the chariot rush tactic of pillaging the enemy's metal mines should still be applied, War Chariots aren't as afraid of spears as normal chariots because of their increased strength. Additionally, you can give them the Shock promotion to help deal with enemy spears that you might encounter. This would also help vanilla players who face enemy axemen, since the chariot bonus vs. axes applies only after Warlords (vanilla players are somewhat compensated by having 20% withdrawal chance instead of just 10%, though). That said, I have found Flanking promotions a generally better choice when up against spears. Even with Shock, War Chariots have lower odds of winning, so you might as well increase their survival rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little later in the game, a combination of War Chariots and axes would be good to guard against counterattacking spears, since War Chariots don't get defensive bonuses and would almost certainly lose all the time. In most games, axes (and maybe swords) would gradually replace them as the premier city raiders anyway. As enemy cities accumulate more defensive ratings, those spears become more and more costly to dislodge with War Chariots alone. The loss in mobility that would result from this handing over is usually nothing to worry about, since it corresponds roughly to the time when you need to expand at a slower pace until you can get upkeep costs down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Speaking of upkeep, be wary of over-expanding with War Chariots. It's easy to fall into this trap since they pack a good punch so early in the game. While judicious use of them might mean smooth sailing for the rest of the game, their careless use can ruin you as you fall hopelessly behind in terms of technology and development paying upkeep, especially on the higher levels. This and the lack of close neighbours are the greatest early adversaries of the Egyptian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]England: Redcoat (Rifleman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The terror of your enemies in Civ4 vanilla, this unit is dramatically different in Warlords. In the former, it has 16 strength compared to the normal rifleman's 14 and an additional 25% bonus vs. gunpowder units. Hence, they are uber powerful in their era, quite unmatched by any other unit until infantry. The use of the Redcoat on vanilla is, therefore, quite straightforward. Build lots of them and/or upgrade your CR units to them and go on the offensive. Combine them with cannons for even greater effect and watch the colours on the minimap change rapidly. Even grenadiers are unable to counter them effectively due to their additional bonus. The only way the enemy can really fight back is by throwing lots of cannons at them, but you can always spread your stacks out, and the AI isn't likely to do that anyway. Don't let the enemy get machine guns, though. These are a sure counter to Redcoats on the defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, however, it's not so easy. Redcoats have the same base strength as normal riflemen. They only retain their bonus vs. gunpowder units. That said, they are still quite effective. Given no terrain or promotion-based bonuses, no unit of the same era can beat them when they attack. They are vulnerable to attacks by enemy grenadiers now, but still not as badly as in the case of normal riflemen. They own any other unit when defending. You can still use this UU the same way, but more careful planning is required. A proper defense against enemy grenadiers must now be provided for, and cannons play a greater role. Do note that Redcoats have no advantage over normal rifles when attacking cities defended by longbows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, you must consider the Churchill factor as well. The new English leader is Charismatic and Protective, making his gunpowder units especially effective. They start with City Garrison I and Drill I and require fewer xp points get promoted. As city defenders, Churchill's Redcoats are certainly a force to be reckoned with. They are also better on the offensive, since Drill helps in any combat situation and, thanks to the free City Garrison, you can better defend newly captured cities against enemy counterattacks. Some players even consider Churchill part of the reason why Redcoats had to be nerfed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A final point on this UU: Drill IV Redcoats are formidable. They get a total of 5 first strikes and a chance at another (immunity from first strikes are rare enough post-Gunpowder), an extra 10% bonus vs. mounted units and an amazing 60% reduction of any collateral damage sustained. These units are likely to take less damage in every way and win more often. And, in Warlords, Drill counts as a prerequisite promotion towards Cover, Formation and other "vs unit type" promotions. Hence, units with Drill are not condemned by not choosing Combat, should the need for those promotions arise. Especially valuable is the availability of Pinch as a promotion, since it helps to neutralise the threat of attacking grenadiers. The trouble is gunpowder (and melee) units don't get Drill promotions, so it's only possible to create such units by upgrading your archery units to Redcoats, which requires you to set aside a tidy sum. To make matters worse, archery units are generally not used offensively and are thus difficult to promote. However, the good news is Churchill players can do this more easily. With the Protective trait giving free Drill I to your archery units and Charismatic making promotions easier to obtain, you can use crossbows (the most likely candidate, since it has greater offensive value compared to archers and longbows) extensively in the hopes of getting some of them up to Drill IV to be upgraded later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Redcoat has indirectly been improved from its Warlords version since all gunpowder units can now receive Drill promotions. That means elite Drill Redcoats are much closer to reality, especially for Churchill. Gone are the days when you have to upgrade archery units to get them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ethiopia: Oromo Warrior (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Musket UUs generally don't get a lot of love, although the ones that the game has to offer are actually quite useful. But even if you're really not a fan of musket UUs, give the Oromo Warrior a try before you knock it. It is immune to First Strikes and starts with Drill I and II promotions; that means 2-3 First Strikes and -20% to collateral damage received out of the box. And if you throw the experience from barracks in, you get Drill III Oromo Warriors straight off the assembly line. Just add in Theocracy/Vassalage or a military instructor and you can be training Drill IV Oromos. Naturally, this UU has a potentially high survival rate, even after being battered by siege weapons (thanks to the Drill promotions' protection against collateral damage of up to 60%). They will perform normal muskets' defensive role extra well, and you need not be so hesitant about using them to attack even when faced with knights. Longbows are also less of a worry since Oromos are immune to First Strikes. Moreover, they are draftable, and you can get Drill III draftees with just Theocracy/Vassalage/a military instructor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If those aren't enough, you needn't worry so much about this musket UU getting obsolete quickly (BTS has delayed the advent of grenadiers to prolong the life of muskets anyway) because the promotions will remain on them when they are upgraded to riflemen. You might have read about the elusive elite Drill IV Redcoats. Well, with Ethiopia, Drill IV riflemen are a lot easier to come by. Suddenly those enemy cannons are not so scary anymore, are they?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]France: Musketeer (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although they are 1 strength point weaker than knights, musketmen have no hard counter in their time, which is the whole point of this unit. Also, knights don't get defensive bonuses so they are not as good at defending. Musketmen fare well as an all-round stack protector. And when one of your cities is threatened, wouldn't it be ideal to have a versatile defender that can counterattack as well? Remember that musketmen can be drafted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, think of the potential uses of Musketeers, which are musketmen with 2 moves. They can reinforce any threatened city quickly, which makes them potentially more effective as city defenders than longbowmen. And when you need stack protection during a campaign, Musketeers, besides being an insurance that covers you against everything except knights and Pinch elephants (both of which you can simply counter by bringing pikes), are also able to pillage along the way with the extra move (which can be useful for taking out strategic resources). Not just that, their speed means you can have reserves catching up with your stack to take over the role of their wounded comrades should your stack come under attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Offensively, they have their uses as well. Musketeers can do clean-up work when all your siege weapons and CR units have spent their move attacking, since they have 9 base strength and aren't countered by any particular unit. And, of course, they are great for a pillaging campaign. Mix them with pikemen in small stacks and they can move and pillage within a single turn and with near impunity. Versatility is the name of the Musketeer game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A major gripe that people have about this UU is the fact that it obsoletes too quickly, since Chemistry is effectively only a few techs away. Moreover, nothing upgrades to muskets and you have to build them from scratch, further narrowing their window of opportunity. The Musketeers' speed actually helps to alleviate this problem, since you can get them to the frontline to be used a lot more quickly compared to normal musketmen. Also, researching Nationalism and switching to Nationhood to draft can help you get enough of them out in time to be used to full effect. You can stay in Nationhood and research towards Rifling next, so that you can soon start drafting riflemen to complete your offensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this note, there's another interesting use for Musketeers. Try postponing Chemistry and beelining to Military Tradition for early cavalry. Research techs along the Education route, be the first to get Liberalism and grab Nationalism as the free tech. Then research Gunpowder (which is also needed for cavalry), start drafting/building Musketeers (you may use them first if you want), research Military Tradition (requires Music, which you should trade for) and start building cavalry. Escort your cavalry with Musketeers and either launch a lightning campaign or pillage with impunity. Only Musketeers can keep up with cavalry while protecting them against costly counterattacks by enemy pikes. Flanking cavalry often prevail against longbow-defended cities by themselves with relatively low casualty rates, so even if you plan on taking cities, there might not be a need to bring slow siege weapons along. If you do this right, you can finish off one or two neighbours just like that, before they can build riflemen to counter your cavalry.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Germany: Panzer (Tank)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Despite being the latest UU in the game, the Panzer really packs a punch. A tank with 50% bonus versus armour units, it will eat other tanks alive and beat even modern armour. This gives them the power to dominate the battlefield. Just watch out for those gunships, which are an effective counter to them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get Panzers before the enemy gets Flight, you can solve this problem by beelining for enemy oil wells and pillaging them to prevent him/her from building a single gunship in the first place. This should be relatively easy to do, since the enemy can't stop you with his/her own tanks. Once that is done, you'd be facing mostly gunpowder units, against which the Pinch promotion would be effective in the field. With it, the Panzer can match even mech infantry, unless the latter is better promoted or is receiving defensive bonuses. And with the free Blitz promotion that tanks have, a stack of Panzers can annihilate up to double the number units in a turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When taking cities, the Panzer might only be as effective as a normal tank, since you are likely to face many gunpowder units, which receive defensive bonuses unlike armour units. But that is alright, since tanks are excellent at taking cities anyway, having access to both Barrage and City Raider promotions. After you've chewed through the toughest defenders, whatever armour is sitting in the city would be easy pickings. Apply the blitzkrieg strategy by using your bombers to soften city defenses before rapidly moving in with your City Raider Panzers. Be sure to have some Drill Panzers to clean up, since they are good at taking out the weaker units without suffering much damage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem with this UU is how late it appears. It is enabled by Industrialism but requires oil, which means you have to get Combustion and build oil wells in addition to it, placing it even later in the timeline than Navy SEALs. Many players would have won the game by then, or at least they would be in such dominant or winning positions that having Panzers would have little influence on the outcome. Once you get them, however, they can last till the end of the game. Their ability to stand up to modern armour means you can delay getting Composites and survive without aluminum. Even if modern armour is already available, you would probably want to leave some of your Panzers un-upgraded as a versatile counter to enemy armour. Of course, you must have oil to build Panzers in the first place. Being German and not having oil in the later eras in a tightly contested game would be a shame.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Greece: Phalanx (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx, derided by some, is in fact one of the stronger UUs in the game. With 5 strength and +25% hill defense (not to be confused with free Guerilla promotion), it has enough qualities to set it far above normal spearmen. Don't forget that it also gets free Combat I from Alexander's Aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx is essentially a super spearman. However, if you build them early enough in single player, chances are the AI might not have anything except archers. Thus, it would do just as well as the axeman when used as a rush unit, except that it holds the ground better on hills and isn't afraid of Warlords' chariots (which get +100% attack vs. axemen). The fact that the Greeks start with Hunting (which is required to build the UU) certainly helps if you are thinking of rushing with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In its conventional role, the Phalanx also boasts a very long lifespan of more than two eras. Elephants give normal spearmen cause to worry, while knights are too strong be countered well by them. Phalangites, however, are able to counter elephants effectively and hold their own against knights. When they are defending on hills, no mounted unit before cavalry can beat them one-on-one without having at least the Shock promotion (perhaps with the exception of the melee-busting Conquistadors). They are also good at defending on hills, especially in hill cities, against most units in the Ancient and Classical eras. A truly solid package for a UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Phalanx has, for better or worse, been changed in BTS. It is now an axeman that is not vulnerable to chariots. That means chariots do not get a 100% bonus when attacking them. This effectively transforms a defensive UU into an offensive one, as Greek players need not worry about having to protect their earliest city raiding units from chariots. If you are the kind of player who says the glass is half empty, this change at most saves you from having to build a few spearmen and to research Hunting before you begin an axe rush. But if you like to say the glass is half full, this makes a strong rush unit that is exactly like the axeman in vanilla, which can only be countered by another axeman. Indeed, saving you the effort of building spearmen can be crucial in the early game, when cities are few and hammers are scarce. It can mean a few extra Phalanxes, which might decide whether you can take and hold a (or an extra) city or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On the defense, the new Phalanx also performs decently in the early game. Now you don't have to build spearmen to deal with the occasional pillaging chariot, though of course spears would be more effective. Not having to build spearmen might also mean having extra Phalanxes to defend against an enemy axe rush. You might prefer the old version of this UU, but you can't say the new one isn't useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inca: Quechua (Warrior)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Dubbed by some as one of the worst UUs when Civ4 was still new, the Quechua has gained notoriety through the Quechua rush, a strategy that might win you a Deity game even if it's far above your current skill level. How is that possible, you ask? Quechuas are cheap at 15 hammers each (cheaper than half an axeman) and they get a 100% bonus against archers, the AI's primary/only city garrison unit early in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush is simple to do. You can probably start building Quechuas in the beginning and overwhelm the nearest AI capital with numbers (provided you've located it, of course). However, it's advisable that you build a worker, barracks and another worker first. The first worker would improve food resources (for whipping), build mines and chop trees, while the second would start building a road to the nearest AI capital (which, presumably, you would have found by then) and make logistics less of a nightmare. The barracks allows your capital to grow in between the worker builds, but, more importantly, it allows you to build Quechuas with Cover. In vanilla, Huayna Capac is Aggressive and hence Quechuas get Combat I free, allowing you to promote them with Cover immediately if you've built a barracks. Even though the Inca leader is no longer Aggressive in Warlords, Quechuas still get Combat I free, so this tactic still applies. Quechuas with Cover have a much higher chance of winning against fortified archers so you don't need as many of them. You would be able to capture one AI city after another much more quickly. This method also has the benefit of allowing the AIs to settle more cities before you attack, thus giving you early game expansion possibilities without having to build your own settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have the workers and barracks (and have researched Mining and Bronze Working), you can start building, chopping or whipping Quechuas out. If copper is discovered within your territory, you can supplement your rush with axemen, who can gradually take over as your main city raiders, ensuring that your offensive is longer-lasting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush does have its limitations. It requires a close neighbour. Otherwise, it would take too long to get there and you would have to pay an unreasonable amount of distance upkeep if you succeed in capturing the city. Of course, you can resort to razing, but this strategy would then lose half its value. It also assumes that the AI builds archers to defend itself. On that note, you need to be playing at a high enough difficulty, where the AI can either build archers immediately or soon enough. Warriors might be too cost-effective for Quechuas to be facing, even though you can choose the Shock promotion instead of Cover. A higher difficulty level also means the AI is likely to start with a free settler or two and would thus have more cities up for grabs when you begin your rush. The AI may also conveniently choose to settle his cities towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside to this rush is the relatively high amount of unit upkeep that you have to pay early in the game. Coupled with the distance maintenance you have to pay for captured cities, your early technological development might be retarded for a while. You can, however, count on being able to catch up fairly quickly if you've nabbed an especially powerful neighbouring capital. Huayna's Financial trait can also help you recover more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond this strategy, the Quechua's usefulness is quite limited. They are effective against barbarians, since those often take the form of archers, and would hence perform well under raging barbs setting. They are also better than normal warriors at worker stealing (since they survive better against archers), should you choose to be aggressive from the start even though you have no plans of capturing enemy cities yet. Besides these, it's hard to conceive of another way to exploit this UU without rushing, making it rather situational. It either shines or fades into relative oblivion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]India: Fast Worker (Worker)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Fast Worker is a worker with 3 moves (which, interestingly enough, is unmatched till gunships in the modern age). This means, with all their moves unspent, they can enter forest/jungle/hill and immediately begin improving the tile without ending their turn. However, they do end their turn if they enter a forested/jungled hill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Indirectly, this means the Fast Worker is faster at doing what workers do. It does not improve tiles faster, but being able to begin earlier in many situations would translate to a lot of saved worker turns by the end of the game. By the way, yes, it is the only UU that lasts throughout the game. Their extra movement also means they are able to cover distances more quickly, allowing you to move them around your empire efficiently. This enables a much tighter worker strategy, where you can have fewer workers improving tiles in different cities according to which city would grow and work the tiles next. To put it simply, playing as India, you do not need as many workers to develop your land.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To get the most out of this UU, adopt an early worker strategy (i.e. building a worker first). You'd develop much quicker than the other civs and could use this early game lead to your advantage for the rest of the game. Their 3 moves also make them excellent scouts, especially early on when revealing your surroundings quickly is crucial. Just make sure you keep them away from animals and barbs. With their speed, it shouldn't be that difficult.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players do not like the fact that it is not a military UU, but few would be able to argue against its merits. The only downside to the Fast Worker is the fact that slower game speeds diminish their advantage, since the turns saved by their extra movement would be less and less significant compared to the increased number turns needed to improve tiles. If you're playing on Quick or Normal speed, this UU is certainly amazing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Japan: Samurai (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cool factor aside, there seems to be little that is interesting about this UU at first glance. It is a regular maceman that cannot be built with copper (requiring specifically iron) and has 2 first strikes. The second thing is what gives the Samurai its power, and which has sparked considerable debate on how useful it makes this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After much testing and debate, it is generally agreed that the 2 first strikes are a great boon. They help the Samurai survive, even at lower odds, and give them an edge against archers and longbows, the primary city defenders of the day. First strikes essentially mean that the unit gets the chance to inflict damage on the enemy unit even before the combat proper begins. Both archers and longbows get 1 first strike, which help them deal with regular city attackers (i.e. units with access to City Raider promotions, such as macemen), but have this advantage cancelled out by one of the Samurai's first strikes. And the Samurai still has another first strike to use. This also applies to crossbowmen (who also get 1 first strike), making the Samurai less vulnerable to that effective anti-melee unit. And, just as importantly, this advantage also has the effect of giving Samurais a higher chance to win battles while suffering less damage. That means they are potentially able to recover faster for another attack, thereby shortening the length of the Japanese player's campaigns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But do take note that this bonus is not the same as getting free Drill promotions (to which, by the way, macemen do not have access). It is better than merely a free Drill I, but it will not remain when you upgrade your Samurais. And beware of knights (especially Conquistadors or those with Shock promotion). They are a fast and effective counter to Samurai, since they have enough strength and ignore first strikes, so bring enough pikemen when facing a sufficiently advanced opponent who has researched Guilds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The main drawback of the Samurai is the requirement of iron. While regular macemen can be built with copper as well, without iron, the Japanese player will be stuck without his/her UU or even regular macemen. Thankfully, this strategic resource is quite commonly available. But if you do find yourself not having one readily available, planting a city in the tundra or invading your neighbour to get it might be worth the effort before the age of the Samurai arrives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Korea: Hwacha (Catapult)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] If you like axemen, you'd love the Hwacha. It is a catapult with 50% bonus vs melee units, making it an axeman with collateral damage, bombard ability and withdrawal chance for a mere five hammers more (Normal speed). The only downside is the Hwacha doesn't receive defensive bonuses like an axeman, so you might want to use your Hwachas offensively and turn up the heat so the enemy is forced to defend in his nice cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hwacha has some interesting synergy with Wang Kon's Protective trait. Protective really shines when you have no metals and are forced to adopt a defensive position with archers in the early game. Construction represents the departure from such a stance, since you're now able to build catapults and attack. Hwachas, being super catapults, puts you in an even better position to go on the offensive, with Protective archers/longbows for support as defenders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have iron, Protective crossbows and spears/pikes are perfect companions to Hwachas. They eliminate the threat of enemy melee and mounted units and help defend new possessions while your Hwachas take down enemy defenders. You don't need axemen. A few swords to help clean up can complete your arsenal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When macemen and trebuchets come into the picture, Hwachas gradually take a back seat, but not before you can deal some serious damage to a neighbour or two. Nonetheless, a Korean player would benefit from picking up Construction as quickly as possible. Why not put this powerful weapon into use as early as you can? And Wang Kon's Financial trait can certainly help with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Unfortunately, as it stands, the Hwacha has been weakened by the inability of siege weapons to kill units and to gain more than 1 experience point per battle. Its bonus still applies, but you can no longer rely on a stack of Hwachas to actually capture cities for you. You also need enough units to kill off all the weakened defenders. While this job can be done by almost any non-siege unit, this means hammers probably need to be diverted to other units, resulting in fewer Hwachas built. Then there's the 1xp only rule, which is worse since it means your Hwachas can no longer gain valuable additional promotions through combat, making it less effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The impact of this UU has certainly been reduced. You can still make good use of it much in the same way as before, but remember to build more units for clean up duty and to take up the slack caused by fewer veteran Hwachas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mali: Skirmisher (Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Skirmishers are archers with 4 strength and 1 extra first strike chance, effectively making Mali half a Protective civ until Feudalism comes around. With them, Malinese cities are certainly not ones to be taken easily in the early game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The normal use of Skirmishers is pretty straight forward: Defend your cities or hill improvements with them. As such, they play a rather passive role as a UU. This puts into question the rationale of going straight for Archery, even when playing Mali. First, you don't start with Hunting (required for Archery). Second, the threat of barbarian or enemy axes make axemen a better unit for defense, since they are able to counterattack and prevent your improvements from being pillaged. Lastly, Bronze Working is needed for Slavery anyway, and if you happen to find copper nearby after researching it you can soon build axes. Skirmishers can help with defense if you don't find copper around, but in that case you might want to beeline to Iron Working, so Hunting and Archery are still not the priority. But of course, in the worst case scenario where you find no metal around, Skirmishers can become quite important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords improves Skirmishers a little by making chariots a counter to axes. Now you don't have to fear barbarian/enemy axemen if you don't have copper but have horses. Barb spearmen, if they do appear, can be countered somewhat by Skirmishers. You can thus concentrate on teching up with chariots and Skirmishers for defense, without having to beeline for the relatively expensive Iron Working. If you want to be aggressive, you can rush a neighbour with a stack of chariots and some Skirmishers. The latter can help secure newly conquered cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now for the less conventional. If you are going for a really quick rush as Mali, you can beeline to Archery from the beginning. Skirmishers don't require resources, so you can technically rush a neighbour with them Jaguar-style. Get Archery as quickly as possible, build barracks - maybe settle a second city - and start building Skirmishers. After you several of them, rush the nearest neighbour's capital. Skirmishers are better than normal archers, so with a ratio of about 3:1 in your favour, you may be able to overwhelm the defending archers. The surviving Skirmishers would then help you hold on to the conquered city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you whip to rush build Skirmishers for this tactic, becareful of the hammer overflow. You might quickly begin to whip them out for one population point each and run into serious happiness issues. If you want to try this rush, you should have a food-plenty and hilly area (i.e. a good production city site) as the site of your capital. You'll need the hammers because you'll be building most of the Skirmishers the slow way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mongolia: Keshik (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers that ignore terrain movement cost and get 1 first strike, but aren't immune to first strikes. Hence, they are extremely adept at raiding and pillaging, but aren't as good at attacking archers/longbows with Drill promotions. This has a few implications on a Mongolian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Surprise is the best asset of the Keshiks. Ignoring terrain movement cost means they can traverse forests/jungles and hills as easily as flatlands. Thus, it is easy for a Mongolian player to strike across difficult terrain at the unlikeliest of places, grabbing unguarded workers and lightly-defended cities or pillaging improvements (especially on strategic resources). However, this advantage relies on the enemy's inability to counterattack immediately with spearmen or a superior force, so good intelligence would be needed to know where exactly the enemy places his spears and the bulk of his units. If you do not have this luxury, you could always send more Keshiks in case you meet spears, but be prepared to lose quite a few of them. In addition, you could pillage enemy roads to eventually cripple his ability to counterattack. However, at the end of the day, the strategic advantage you gain from your harassment must outweigh the lost hammers you spent on the dead Keshiks[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Keshiks' first strike, meanwhile, makes them better than normal horse archers at picking off non-spear units in your territory or in the enemy's. Combined with their terrain movement advantage, this makes them good empire defenders and hit-and-run units. Unfortunately, the enemy can easily counter them by having spearmen guard his units, so this might only work effectively against the AI. There's also a limitation on how good Keshiks are in fighting non-spear units compared to normal horse archers. The immunity to first strikes that normal horse archers get makes them better at fighting archery units with Drill promotions or units with Drill III/IV. The Keshiks' own first strike can only negate one of the enemy units' first strikes. To remedy this, you have to give your Keshiks Flanking II so that they get immunity to first strikes as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This, in turn, highlights the Keshik's relative weakness (compared to normal horse archers) in attacking cities defended by Drill-promoted archery units. In Warlords, this means Protective civs are better covered against attempts to take cities with Keshiks. The 10% city attack penalty that the horse archer unit-type gets in Warlords makes them even less desirable as city raiders. Thus, the only hope Mongolian player might have in using Keshiks to conquer in Warlords is to rely on speed, Flanking promotions and numbers (also applies to vanilla, but not to such a large extent).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With barracks and Ger in the city, a Keshik gets 7 xp upon being built. Unfortunately, that will still allow for only 2 initial promotions (unless you're running both Vassalage and Theocracy for a total of 11 xp), though of course your mounted units would be promoted to the next level sooner. But, at any rate, 2 initial promotions are good enough. Give most of the Keshiks Flanking I and II to give them 50% withdrawal chance each (including the natural 20%) and immunity to first strikes. Give Combat I and Medic I or Combat I and Shock (for defending against spearmen) to the rest. Have at least one Medic I Keshik and one Shock Keshik in each stack. If you get Compass early enough, you can use explorers (strength 4, ignores terrain movement cost and starts with free Guerilla I and Woodsman I) to help protect your stacks when they stop on hills or forests/jungles. 3 or 4 cities with Gers pumping out Keshiks would usually be good enough to amass a sizeable army in reasonable time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As your Keshiks attack enemy cities, some will die, some will withdraw and some will win. The medics will ensure that the withdrawing and winning Keshiks heal up more quickly. If you manage to overwhelm a prepared enemy with numbers, your speed advantage (from ignoring terrain movement cost and faster healing) will ensure that the enemy cannot fight back or resist as effectively, hastening his destruction. If the enemy is unprepared in the first place, your speed advantage will ensure his quick defeat. Note that this strategy can only work if the enemy doesn't have longbows yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You should be prepared to build courthouses and marketplaces to help you keep your winnings. But even if you're not, you can just resort to razing and pillaging for some barbaric fun. Long live the Golden Horde![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Netherlands: East Indiaman (Galleon)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Now here's an interesting UU. Although it does have some combat capability, it serves primarily as a support unit. But the East Indiaman is pretty good at it, offering an extra cargo space for a total of 4, which is quite a big leap from a normal galleon considering the fact that transports have the same capacity. If you're planning on waging war during the age of the rifle, especially against an overseas civ, or if you are planning a large-scale settling another landmass, you don't have to build quite as many ships to carry your units over. Three East Indiamen carry as much as four galleons, thereby saving you 80 hammers, which can almost make an extra frigate (90 hammers) to protect your fleet. Moreover, since they carry as many units as transports, you might not need to decommission or upgrade them till the end of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The East Indiaman also has the nifty ability to travel within rival borders without needing an open borders treaty. Have you accumulated much EPs thanks to the Financial trait? You can send your spies anywhere in the world conveniently, even directly into an unfriendly overseas civ. And the extra cargo space is useful for espionage as well, helping you keep a constant flow of spies even if many get caught.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lastly, the East Indiaman has 2 more strength than a normal galleon, making it tougher to sink. While it still can't beat a frigate, it can more than annihilate caravels and destroy other galleons, so you have naval superiority at Astronomy until your rivals get Chemistry and build frigates. And, should there be privateers prowling the seas, you needn't worry so much about being ambushed by them while moving units across water without escort during peacetime. This is probably a UU that you would appreciate on maps with lots of seas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ottomans: Janissary (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Janissary’s advantage is a 25% boost against melee, archery and mounted units, making it a great all-round unit for its time. It is pretty much effective against all previous era units (with the big exception of siege units), so you can potentially put some serious hurt in your enemies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to get as much use out of Janissaries as possible, you need to look for ways to get to Gunpowder early. You might even want to make a beeline for it, either through the northern path (Maths -&gt; Currency -&gt; Priesthood? -&gt; Civil Service -&gt; Paper -&gt; Education) or the southern path (Metal Casting -&gt; Machinery &amp; Monotheism -&gt; Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guilds) in the tech tree. Different lightbulbing strategies are available (with Great Merchants for the southern path and Great Scientists for the northern one), so you don't have to self-research everything. Strictly speaking, it may not be necessary to do a beeline, but it's probably the best way. The point is to get to Gunpowder before your enemies are even close to it, and rapidly exploiting this opportunity gap by building, whipping and possibly drafting as many Janissaries as you can to use against them. To be able to draft, you would need to pursue the northern path and probably research Liberalism first to grab Nationalism as the free tech, before actually researching Gunpowder. It is a slight diversion, but it may be worth the delay if your empire does not have the capability to build or whip enough Janissaries in time to give you a real edge, as often is the case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have them, Janissaries are quite a fearsome force in the medieval battlefield. They have no hard counter, so the best bet your enemies might have is to promote their units with Pinch, which requires Gunpowder in Warlords. Knights with Pinch, however, are a good counter to Jannissaries, as are regular musketmen (against whom Janissaries have no advantage whatsoever), so once your enemies have Gunpowder as well you may find your edge disappearing. If they manage to get to Chemistry, which isn't that far away, this UU is practically obsolete. Janissary stacks are actually relatively vulnerable to siege units (and the associated collateral damage) as well, since they don't get any bonuses against these. But unless you're playing MP, this shouldn't be a big problem. The AI does not generally build many catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take note that Janissaries may not be the best city-taking troops you can get, since they do not have access to City Raider promotions. Needless to say, if you're relying on them as the backbone of your army, you still need to bring siege weapons along if you hope to grab some enemy territory. Given the fact that they are not actually very different from the conduct of normal campaigns of the time, Janissary campaigns might still be slow going, so don't be surprised if you don't manage to knock out more than one enemy with them, even with your best efforts (assuming you're playing on the higher levels). Hence, the emphasis is again on getting them as early as possible so as to enlarge the window of opportunity that you have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Overall, without the mobility of the Musketeer, this UU is quite situational and, to an even higher degree than the former, requires some long term planning in the early game to be put to good use. It is probably better the lower the difficulty you play on, since you would be more likely to out-tech the AIs and get to Gunpowder much earlier than them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Persia: Immortal (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems odd that Immortals are chariot-replacements, and you may miss the ownage days of playing as Persia with their Civ3 incarnation. Fortunately, they are still very effective in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you have horses and a neighbouring civ nearby, you know you're in for some fun. Immortals get 50% bonus vs. archery units, as well as an innate 30% withdrawal chance. No AI I've seen can resist them very early in the game. Hook up those horses quickly, build/whip out some of these creatures and head straight for the neighbour. If you managed to build barracks, you can give them Flanking I for an extra 10% withdrawal chance. If you have time to kill some barbs as well, before heading for your neighbour's cities, you can promote some with Flanking II for immunity against first strikes and a total of 60% withdrawal chance. This would give them a high survival rate against archers. Don't they sound like excellent AI city busters? What's more, they do get defensive bonuses, making them less vulnerable to counterattack and decent garrison units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If or when your enemy gets spearmen, however, Immortals lose much of their power. Even one spearman in a city you're attacking can give you a lot of trouble. You really have to count on the withdrawal chances if you want the first few Immortals to survive a direct attack on the city. In Civ4 vanilla, enemy axemen would be a problem too, since chariots don't get the 50% bonus when attacking axemen like in Warlords. To help prevent difficulties from arising, you should pillage any AI mine that you see sitting on a metal resource. If a city is on top of one, pillage the roads around it to limit spear production to that city. You would thus prolong the effectiveness of your Immortals. Until your enemy gets Feudalism, that is. If he can. Although the 50% bonus also applies when fighting longbows, the latter are too strong when defending in cities to be dislodged by Immortals alone. The same may be said of enemy crossbows. But with the help of siege weapons, Immortals can still take them down quite easily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem is when there is no neighbour near you. In that case, you can't use Immortals to their full potential. However, they are still quite handy against barbs, since the latter usually take the form of archers. In Warlords, they are also great for dispatching barb axemen. Clearly, the expansion has given this solid UU even more oomph.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Rome: Praetorian (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians are a blunt instrument with which you can rule the early battlefield. Taking cities is the name of the game, and Praetorians easily destroy enemy archers defending cities (even those with some cultural defense), with odds so favorable that they'll likely not suffer losses. You may lose a few if the enemy city is on a hill and the defender has City Garrison promotions, but the odds will still favor you most of the time. You probably want to give your Praetorians City Raider (CR) promotions to help bust those cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of their high strength, Praetorians can hold their own against axeman, their natural counter. Nevertheless, it may be best to build your own axemen or promote a few Praetorians with Combat I and Shock for stack defense. Praetorians will also prevail against mounted units of the same era, though a spearman or two will only do you good, leaving your Praetorians to focus on taking those cities. After the enemy gets longbowmen, the Praetorian is still useful, but you need to support them with catapults to remove city defenses and soften up the defenders to avoid catastrophic losses. Watch out for crossbows, though; they are very effective against Praetorians. The best way to guard against them is to pillage the enemy's iron mines before he/she can build them. The same goes for enemy Shock war elephants, in which case you should pillage his/her ivory camps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians require Iron Working and iron. A Roman player would probably want to take advantage of the Praetorian as early as possible, so beelining to Iron Working is a good call. You may want to have a settler and some workers ready to exploit any iron deposit you see as soon as the tech is researched, although there's some chance that you'd find iron within your existing borders. You should also build barracks first, so that you can give your Praetorians a promotion from the get go, whether it is CR 1 for city busting or Combat 1 for Shock later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The problem with Praetorians is the Roman player may become a victim of his own success. Because it is so easy to expand quickly with this UU, the temptation to expand beyond your limit is great. You may end up too many cities, causing your economy to crash from the upkeep. One solution is to raze cities rather than keep them, unless they are close to yours or have high value (eg. capitals, holy cities or those with wonders). This also has the effect of severely weakening or even eliminating your enemies so it is easier to actually expand when your economy is able to support it later. And, while you're doing this, do pillage the improvements around razed cities to set your enemies back even further and for extra funds. You can also help yourself by building up your infrastructure at home to support your campaigns, such as laying down lots of cottages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UU is the main reason why it's good to play as Rome when you're new on a difficulty level. Try not to get too used to having them, though, as you might become too dependent on their strength to play with any other civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Russia: Cossack (Cavalry)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the Redcoat, the Cossack is one UU that has been changed in Warlords. In Civ IV vanilla, the Cossack has a fearsome reputation. A cavalry with 18 strength and +50% against mounted units on top of the ordinary cavalry capabilities (+50% against cannon and 30% withdrawal chance), it can beat almost every unit in its era. Even riflemen, its counter, have less strength if you don't consider promotions or defensive bonuses. Pinch-promoted Cossacks can eat them alive. Riflemen need to be one level higher (4) and get the Formation promotion to even out the playing field, though you should note that Aggressive riflemen can get Formation at level 3. Redcoats do counter Cossacks very well, but Cossacks are faster, can withdraw and aren't destroyed by machine guns and massed cannons the way Redcoats are.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are using them in the vanilla game, consider getting them as early as possible by beelining to Education, getting Liberalism and choosing Nationalism as the free tech. Nationalism leads to Military Tradition (requires Music, so make sure you trade for it) and Education leads to Gunpowder, techs needed to build Cossacks (and you must have horses, of course). If you pull this off early enough, the rest of the game should be easy - Cossacks versus longbowmen is no contest. You can shoot for a domination victory right away. All you need to do is keep pumping out Cossacks, with the whip whenever possible, while ideally running the military civics (Vassalage and Theocracy) to give your Cossacks an even bigger edge. It's no wonder that some people consider them overpowered in vanilla.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords, however, is a vastly different game for Cossack fans. On one hand, there's the introduction of the stable, which improves mounted units by giving them 2 more experience points. On the other hand, the Cossack has the same strength as normal cavalry now, only retaining their bonus against mounted units. They are basically cavalry that excel in killing other cavalry. This is a lot more useful in MP, where cavalry versus cavalry is pretty much a fair game and you need to get riflemen to gain an advantage. Having Cossacks means you already have an advantage against enemy cavalry, forcing your enemies to tech to riflemen to stand a chance on the battlefield or risk being holed up in their cities and becoming sitting targets for your cannons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In SP, however, much of the action would ideally take place at enemy cities to begin with, and in this respect the Cossack is mostly as good as normal cavalry in Warlords. It can get the 2 extra experience points from stables, but so can normal cavalry. The only time you have a real advantage against the AI is when it masses cavalry. In that case, your Cossacks would cut through the AI's army like knife through butter. Unfortunately, you would probably have to capture cities to end the war anyway. That said, Cossacks are pretty good for pillaging if you promote them with Pinch, since they would then be more difficult to counter (neither riflemen nor cavalry would work effectively against them). But, still, as you can see, what was an amazing UU has become a pretty situational one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spain: Conquistador (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With this UU, the road to El Dorado can be wide and clear. It has the potential to be exploited in a game-breaking way. The reason is this: Conquistadors get 50% bonus vs. melee, which gives it an advantage against the most common counter to knights - pikemen. They also get defensive bonuses, which means they can exploit the terrain to make counterattack difficult. To top all of this off, Conquistadors benefit from 2 first strikes (which normal knights don't get), making them even harder to defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need horse and iron to produce this UU. Playing as Spain, I'd make sure I get those by the time Conquistadors can be built. The Spanish player would also do well to research Guilds early, extending the life and usefulness of the UU. Conquistadors can fill the role of your main city attackers, following your siege weapons to capture city after city. They don't get CR upgrades, but they can perform decently against city defenders even when they haven't accumulated promotions. Their first strikes and immunity to first strikes certainly help, especially against longbows. And, thanks to their bonus against melee, defending pikes don't scare them that much. With defensive bonuses to help, they can also act as stack-protectors during your campaigns. Furthermore, since they have 2 moves, they can attack enemy units and come back to the stack in the same turn. If you're playing on Warlords, they make the perfect companions to Citadel-improved siege weapons. Woe to the enemy cities![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once those shiny cities have been taken, Conquistadors can help defend them until you get suitable defenders (such as longbowmen) there. This works especially well if a city is on a hill. As you can see, the versatility of the Conquistador almost matches that of the Musketeer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, here are a few words of caution. Siege weapons are not to be excluded from your Conquistador campaigns. Unless your target is still fielding archers, bringing siege units for bombardment and some collateral damage should still be part and parcel of your plans. Conquistadors are strong but not invincible. Without the proper support, they would still die to entrenched units, especially pikes and longbows. The other thing is, beware of elephants! These are the ultimate counter to Conquistadors. Under normal circumstances, there is no way a Conquistador can beat an elephant, and the latter is much cheaper to train. Just make sure you target opponents who have no ivory and you should have great time conquering with this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vikings: Berserk (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] Hate them or love them, Berserks are a popular UU. Although, not as powerful as their Civ3 incarnation, these guys can really be useful. Their 10% bonus vs. cities is certainly nice. However, for many people the problem is finding a good use for their free Amphibious promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Vikings have a higher potential to rule on water maps than any other civ. Ragnar is Financial, which means coastal tiles produce 3 commerce instead of 2, and his UB allows his ships to move further earlier in the game by giving free Navigation promotion. Combined with the Berserk's ability to attack amphibiously with no penalty and its city attack bonus, a Viking player on a water map can fast tech to Civil Service and Machinery and have fun raiding enemy coastal cities with Berserks on fast galleys. One method to do this early is building the Oracle and grabbing Metal Casting as the free tech (which, by the way, gives access to Colossus for a further boost to those coastal tiles). Then build/whip a forge and run an engineer in a city without the Oracle. Research your way to Code of Laws and Civil Service a.s.a.p. (in the pre-patch version you can use a prophet generated by the Oracle to lightbulb CoL/CS by not researching Masonry). In the meantime, build several galleys to prepare for your sea adventures. You'll get a Great Engineer as your 1st or 2nd Great Person from the forge city. Use him to lightbulb Machinery and start building Berserks. You could also put your research slider at 0% for a few turns and upgrade some axes to Berserks (being Financial helps with accumulating money for that). If you catch your opponents without longbows yet, you've done really well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are limitations to your Berserks' ability to raid cities from the sea, though. If a city is defended by longbows, on a hill, has high cultural defense and/or walls, it could be difficult to take and might render an attempt not worth the cost. To attack such a city, you probably need to bring siege units along as galleys/triremes are not able to even bombard the city's defenses. Having to land siege units to bombard/deal collateral damage nullifies the Berserks' amphibious advantage. As such, you would need to look for softer targets to strike at. You don't have to keep the city. Find a weak spot (a lightly defended coastal city), raid, raze and pop back into the galleys before the enemy can counterattack. Landing a spear with the Berserker that has to land on that turn would help the latter survive a counterattack by mounted units (the most likely reaction you'll get from an AI). But becareful not to attack too close to an AI capital. AIs tend to stack more units in their capitals and can easily counterattack with a stronger force from there. Humans in MP will be wary of a sea attack, so watch out for axes/xbows in or within reach of coastal cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if you're not playing on a water map, Berserks present some interesting options. With them, you have the advantage when laying siege to a city across a river if the enemy doesn't have Engineering. His non-mounted units cannot counter attack from the city without suffering a 20% penalty for attacking across the river. With their free Amphibious promotion, Berserks get no such penalty attacking the city. The only downside is your siege units do suffer from the penalty if you want to cause some collateral damage first. Conversely, this idea works in defense as well. When enemy units are across a river beside one of your cities, you can attack them with your Berserks with no penalty while they would suffer it when they attack. At the very least, Berserks always get their 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Perhaps the most valuable thing about the Berserk is the fact that he keeps the Amphibious promotion when upgraded. This allows a Viking player to build Berserks (especially City Raider ones) and upgrade them later on to grenadiers or riflemen with free Amphibious. Frigates are able to bombard city defenses, so you can get yourself an elite amphibious attack force long before marines make their appearance. The free Amphibious also works the opposite way, allowing your older units to benefit from it when upgraded to Berserks. Hence, it makes sense to do so with all of your more experienced axemen or swordsmen. It would almost certainly be worth the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Zulus: Impi (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] On the surface, the Impi may not appear to be a stellar UU, since it does not come with extra strength or with obviously strong bonuses. However, the tactical value of this unit is considerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Impi comes with the Mobility promotion (-1 movement cost to enter tiles that would normally cost 2 moves or more) and 2 moves. Thus, they have the ability to rapidly cross territory and catch another nation with a weakly defended city in the early game, when borders are not really expanded and cultural defenses are not high. They can be two tiles from a city and attack it on the same turn that war is declared. Thanks to Aggressive, they also start with Combat I, making them a little stronger. Furthermore, they are eligible for City Raider promotions, which would help crack the defenses of those early cities. Their relatively low cost, meanwhile, helps you amass a number of them as quickly as possible and simply bum rush a close neighbour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]They also make excellent pillagers. With the 100% bonus against mounted that spears get, the only units that can really catch them are not able to kill them effectively. Naturally, they can be put in your stacks or cities to defend and make counterattacks against mounted units. In your own territory, no enemy horse can hope to outrun them, so it's death to the common enemy pillagers![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An interesting gambit you can try is attaching a Great General to an Impi and giving him the Morale promotion, thus creating a 3-move unit with reduced terrain movement cost. If you manage to get it beyond Combat IV, you can add Commando to the collection. It's not going to be a particularly strong unit, but it might have some interesting tactical uses (such as running into a weakly defended part of an enemy empire to killl a worker and then getting out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, Impis have good synergy with the Zulu UB, the Ikhanda, which is a barrack that also acts as a mini courthouse (-20% maintenance cost for the city). Grab some cities from an unsuspecting opponent as outlined above and rush build Ikhandas in them to help pay for the early extra maintenance. Moreover, being Aggressive, Shaka builds his UB at double production speed, so it's more power to you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Zulus start conveniently with Hunting, which is required to build their UU, but Impis need copper or iron to be built. If you want to use them as an early attack unit, you must beeline to BW and find copper. If there's no copper around, well, then there's no hope for an Impi rush. The other downside to them is the fact that Mobility becomes useless when you upgrade them, unless you continue doing so all the way till they become mech infantry. No matter what, unroaded terrain would cost at least 1 movement point to enter and, except for mech infantry much later, the Impi's line of units only has 1 move each.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]A Comprehensive Unique Unit Guide[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]aelf[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the War Academy teaches specific strategies involving extensive use of the prominent UUs, there isn't a guide to explain the uses of the others. Strong ones like the Praetorian often need no introduction, but many players are not exposed to the possibilities that the more subtle ones present. What spurred me to start this guide are the fairly common disparaging comments about some UUs, comments that are often simply one-sided.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope this guide would help you leverage the different UUs effectively or at least inspire you to be more creative with them. Give all of them a chance! But please note that this guide is written mainly for single player games. Some tips may still be useful for multiplayer, but I can't promise that. This guide also assumes that you are playing as leaders under the normal civs, which might not be true if you are playing BTS.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Thanks to [BOLD]Robo Kai, kniteowl, Cabert, Wodan, johnny_rico, gusi, UncleJJ, Bjorn190, dime, s.c.dude, drkodos, kristopherb, Elandal, Thyrwyn, Phrederick, Polycrates, Thedrin, agc28, PraetorianSteve, svv, carl corey, Andrei_V, Mr. Civtastic, Thomas G., GeneralGab, Percy, r_rolo1, facistal, jason77024, GoliathFF8[\BOLD] and [BOLD]InvisibleStalke[\BOLD] for ideas and contributions that helped make this guide possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And now I shall begin. The different UUs are listed under their civs, in alphabetical order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]----------[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]America: Navy SEAL (Marine)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you've gotten over the fact that it comes very late in the game, you might realise that the Navy SEAL is actually good UU. A marine replacement, it might seem to be a niche unit. After all, how often do you conduct amphibious attacks (which include those across a river, by the way)? But take a closer look at its unique advantages and you'll realise the potential it has.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Its first strike and first strike chances are not to be taken lightly. First strikes can help you deal more damage to the enemy and comfortably win battles that you might otherwise take heavy damage in or even lose. The free March promotion, meanwhile, allows the Navy SEAL to heal on the go, reducing the time it takes to recover before heading off to another battle. Bringing a Medic III unit along with your SEALs means that as soon as they have attacked, they are eligible for the 30% healing the next turn (5% from enemy territory and 25% from Medic III). So as long as they are at or above 16.8/24 strength, they will be back to full health the next turn. They can also heal right after making an amphibious assault aboard a Medic transport. The SEALs in Civ4 are indeed an elite task force worthy of their name, capable of enduring and sustaining a long campaign.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The 50% attack bonuses against machine guns and artillery are a thick layer of icing on the cake. With SEALs, you don't have to fret when attacking cities defended by machine guns (which are immune to collateral damage) without tanks. Their first strikes also help by negating the machine gun's first strikes. And, also due to their first strikes, SEALs are probably the best stack protectors against enemy artillery attacks. Divide your stack(s) into smaller SEAL-protected groups and you don't have to worry too much about getting overwhelmed by mass artillery.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you have some coastal cities to assault or a land campaign to conduct, Navy SEALs are an excellent unit to bring along with your invasion force. They do come late, but they come at the right time if you're planning on a late domination push that would win you the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Arabia: Camel Archer (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Camel Archers are knights that have a higher withdrawal chance (25%) and don't require horses or iron. You could simply use them like normal knights, but the thing about them is Flanking promotions make them very good at surviving failed attacks (+55% withdrawal chance with Flanking II). This means you don't have to balk so much at attacking a city or a stack that has a defending pike, making them more reliable as an attack unit. Of course, if you end up with no horses or iron, they give you the option of building knights in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you're playing on Warlords, stables can give your Camel Archers enough experience points to start off with Flanking I and II, so you don't have to be running Vassalage or Theocracy. Also, you can improve their ability even further by attaching Great Generals to them as warlords. Give a Flanking II Camel Archer the Tactics promotion (+30% withdrawal chance) and it would have 85% chance of retreating from a failed attack. Of course, you might still get unlucky and lose it, especially if you attack at very low odds. It's not 100% withdrawal chance, you know.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Aztecs: Jaguar Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Traditional whipping boys, these guys get 2 free promotions in Warlords, Woodsman I and Combat I (the latter thanks to Montezuma's Aggressive trait). If you've built those cheap barracks, giving them Woodsman II immediately would allow you to rush a relatively cheap stack of them (Jaguars cost less than normal swordsmen) to enemy cities through forests and jungles, in which they have two moves. Of course, this comes at the price of not being able to give them the City Raider promotion first, but depending on how fortified the target cities are, this may not be such a problem. Jaguars do get the swordsman's inherent 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a more conventional level, the benefit of the Jaguar is probably similar to that of the Gallic Warrior - better stack protection when standing on a particular terrain. Jaguars can even defend against axemen when positioned in forests and jungles, as they get 70% terrain defense bonus there (+50% from the terrain and +20% from Woodsman I), making them good all-round defenders in this situation. Give them Woodsman II or Shock (both available immediately with barracks) and they would have no need to be afraid of axemen as long as they have trees to cover them. Hence, if the enemy's lands sport plenty of foliage, you may want to bring a few of them along in any case. Note that this applies only to [BOLD]jungles[\BOLD] in Civ4 vanilla, where Jaguars get 75% defense bonus (+50% from the terrain and +25% [BOLD]jungle[\BOLD] defense bonus).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Jaguars don't require any resource so you can start building them even before hooking up copper or iron. You can also whip them out (probably with unhappy citizens) in newly conquered cities that are not connected to any metal resource, immediately creating some units for either garrison or further offensive purposes and thus helping you proceed with your campaign without having to wait for reinforcements. The value of this UU greatly increases when you find yourself without copper and iron in the first place.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]More on the no resource requirement, Jaguars are a sure way to rush a neighbour early in the game. You can plant your second city on the best production site in the direction of your target without waiting for copper or iron to be revealed. Then you build barracks and granary, research IW and start whipping Jaguars out without even having to bother with any resources. Get a stack of them and attack Aztec-style.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] With the addition of the Woodsman III promotion, Jaguars have become much more useful in an interesting way. Woodsman III grants 2 first strikes, +50% forest and jungle attack and the ability to heal units on the same tile at the rate of 15% per turn. Since Jaguars get Woodsman I for free and barracks can give them Woodsman II off the bat, they are effectively 2 XP away from becoming the ultimate forest/jungle warriors of their time and effective medics. If you need to take out some enemy units that are fortified in a forest/jungle, especially those that are there to choke your cities, unleash the Woodsman III Jaguars. If you need some quick healing, you have Woodsman III Jaguars. A very handy support unit to have around for early warfare. They are probably still not such effective combat units on their own, but the first strikes might help.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can even maximise the Jaguar's healing ability by attaching a Great General to it and giving it all three Medic promotions as well. Woodsman III's healing stacks with the Medic promotions (provided they are on the same unit), giving you a whooping 50% healing rate. And this isn't difficult to achieve since Jaguars get free Combat I (required for Medic I) thanks to Aggressive, so you only need 26 XP to get there. Attaching a Great General to a unit gives you 20 XP, so that Jaguar effectively only needs 6 XP, the first 3 of which can be given by barracks.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carthage: Numidian Cavalry (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] This is a UU that people are divided about. Some regard it as a good UU (though not great). Others think it is weak. The latter opinion can usually be attributed to the traditional aversion to horse archers, Horseback Riding (HBR) and Archery (techs required to build horse archer-type units). Horse archers have two moves and are good for busting archer-defended cities, but they die to spearmen, rendering them easy to counter. Archery is widely viewed as a useless dead end tech early on, while HBR is fairly expensive, making it tempting to research other more beneficial techs first. The latter's beaker cost also makes it difficult to ensure that your opponents don't have spears yet by the time it's researched. Add the fact that horse archers suffer from a 10% penalty when attacking cities in Warlords, and that the Numidian Cavalry is 1 strength weaker than normal horse archers, it's easy to turn your back on the Carthaginian UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if you consider it carefully, you may find that it's actually worth something depending on the situation. In Warlords, HBR allows you to build stables (+2 exp to mounted units), which would give your horses an edge in promotions before Vassalage/Theocracy, making the tech more attractive to research early. And the Numidian Cavalry starts with Flanking I, so, with stables, you can give them Flanking II and another promotion (eg. Mobility) right off the bat. This would give them a 50% (20% natural ability + 30% from Flanking I and II) chance to withdraw from losing battles and, if you choose Mobility, the ability to more very quickly even in enemy territory. With the Charismatic trait, it's easy to get your Numidian Cavalry to the next level for yet another promotion. Don't forget that the free Flanking I would not disappear when you upgrade them to knights.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Those are not all. The Numidian Cavalry also gets 50% bonus vs. melee, as well as the 50% bonus vs. siege that horse archers have, making it virtually an improved axeman. It has no need to be overly afraid of spearmen, thanks to the melee bonus. And you can rely on Flanking II to increase the survival rate of your Numidian Cavalry when up against spears, or you can even the odds with Combat I and Shock. If there's no heavy cultural defense, Numidian Cavalry can do a decent job busting cities on their own, although you'll need a good number of them. As active empire defenders or counter units, they are versatile enough, having bonuses against two categories of units. As pillagers, they are excellent since spears, the easiest counter, are not as effective against them - just be sure to build stables and give them Combat I and Shock (of course, you may want a few Sentries). It may seem like a waste of their free Flanking I, but this way the enemy cannot easily drive your pillaging Numidians out. The few Flanking-promoted ones can attack enemy units guarding key resources. Remember to pillage ivory and horses first, since elephants and horse archers are the most effective counters to your UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cons of the Numidian Cavalry are their reduced strength, the 10% penalty against cities and the fact that they can't get City Raider promotions. Once there's significant cultural defense in an enemy city, expect to take huge losses if you don't bring siege weapons along. Even if there's no cultural defense and the city is not on a hill, Numidian Cavalry are actually not as strong as the city's unpromoted fortified archers, so you need to bring at least twice as many. You can beeline to HBR and rush a neighbour with a moderate stack of them to quickly capture a few cities, but don't expect them to carve out a large empire for you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Horse archers no longer get the 10% city attack penalty, so the Numidian Archer is slightly stronger now. It also gains mounted units' flanking attack ability (not to be confused with Flanking promotion), whereby it does 'collateral damage' to siege units in the stack it is attacking, making it better at countering mass catapults than before. These changes certainly mean that Carthage players have something to cheer about.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Celtia: Gallic Warrior (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Gallic Warrior is a much-maligned UU. Most people wonder why an offensive unit is given a promotion for hill defense. How on earth is that going to help him attack cities, which is what it does best?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Attacking a city is the culmination of an offensive movement, which begins with your entering enemy territory. If you're careful, you would want to move your stack along the safest route to the target city as far as possible, which often means favouring forests and hills over flatlands. This is where the Gallic Warrior's free Guerilla I can help. While spearmen protect your stack against mounted units and axemen/crossbows protect it from melee units, a Gallic Warrior on a hill is the best defender against counterattacking catapults and can even take over the role of the other stack-protection units. For example, if your spearman is badly injured, the Gallic Warrior can defend against chariots or horse archers as long as you're on a hill. Thus, while normal swordsmen may be badly injured before reaching the target city in these circumstances, chances are Gallic Warriors would be in better shape.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And note that Gallic Warriors can be promoted with Guerilla II and III. Such units can be a thorn in your enemy's side, running through the hills pillaging mines and maybe raiding a weakly defended city or two, thanks to Guerilla III's movement bonus on hills. The 25% bonus for attacks on hills and 30% withdrawal chance that this promotion gives also make it easier for you to deal with stubborn hill cities. And now that you can build Gallic Warriors with copper in the latest versions of Warlords, this UU can make an extra early appearance for city-busting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another neat thing about this UU is the fact that you can upgrade it to more advanced units in its line without losing the free Guerilla I. So, in effect, the benefit of this UU lasts for a long time. Remember that forests can be chopped but hills are permanent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Somewhat like the Jaguar, this UU benefits from an improvement to its natural promotion branch: the change to Guerrilla III. It still gives +25% hills attack but now it gives a 50% withdrawal chance, making a Guerilla III Gallic Warrior a very effective crack troop. Need to attack that fortified hilltop city before Construction? Guerilla III Gallic Warriors can soften the defenses and have a good chance of surviving even after losing. The 50% withdrawal chance really is quite amazing, outclassing both the Flanking promotions combined. Moreover, since both Celt leaders are Charismatic, it's really easy to get to Guerrilla III. With barracks, your Gallic Warriors can start with Guerilla II and you are only 1XP away from Guerilla III. Sounds like fun.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]China: Chukonu (Crossbowman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu has a fearsome reputation. Collateral damage is something well-loved by most Civ4 players, and a respectable non-siege ground unit that has the ability to inflict it would surely become the favourite of some. The biggest weakness of siege units is their inability to defend effectively. The Chukonu, however, can function as an improved crossbowman, thus having an important benefit of siege units without the drawback.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may find it hard to pinpoint the exact role of this UU, though. Crossbows are primarily a counter unit, designed to help eliminate the threat of enemy melee units, and can in turn be countered by mounted units. If the enemy builds stacks of melee, your Chukonus will tear them apart with their bonus vs melee, first strikes and collateral damage. If the enemy mixes his stacks with mounted units, Chukonus are less effective. Thanks to collateral damage and the extra first strikes, however, they are much less helpless than normal crossbows and are still able to attack such mixed stacks, although you would probably sustain losses initially. The idea is to wear the enemy units down with your extra hits and collateral damage. Given enough Chukonus, there's almost nothing you can't defeat in the field (assuming you are facing units of the same era). But the question arises: Are they more cost effective for this purpose than catapults, since the latter are cheaper? If the enemy only has melee units then the answer is clearly yes. If the enemy has mounted units (which may be immune to first strikes) in his stack, sending in a few scuicide catapults first would probably be a better idea. The Chukonus can do semi-cleanup, dealing even more collateral damage to the enemy units and making them extremely weak and easy for more Chukonus or other units to take out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can apply the same concept when attacking a city. Siege units are still needed to remove the city's defenses, but who does the first few assaults would depend on what sort of units are defending the city. If they are macemen and pikemen/spearmen, use your Chukonus. If there are archery/mounted units in the city, use the siege units first, followed by the Chukonus and finally the cleanup crew (if you have any). Remember, Chukonus don't get City Raider promotions, so be prepared to lose some as they attack at lower odds than your CR units might have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Chukonu's first strikes are useful on the offense, but they become the primary advantage on the defense. When Chukonus are defending, they won't get to inflict any collateral damage on the enemy units, but their first strikes would be a great boost. First strikes grant chances of hitting the enemy unit before the combat proper even begins, thus improving your odds. The stronger your unit is compared to the enemy's the better first strikes are, since the hits you score would do more damage, thus increasing the possibility of your unit winning without taking much damage. This makes them even better a defense against enemy melee units than normal crossbows. Their first strikes also work well when defending against siege weapons, since they might be able to win before much collateral damage is suffered.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whether you give your Chukonus Drill promotions for more first strikes is up to you. Note that this UU has higher chances of being promoted than normal crossbowmen, since they are more suitable for an offensive role, making it possible to accumulate quite a few Drill promotions and a lot first strikes. Moreover, if you're playing on Warlords, both Chinese leaders are Protective, so Chukonus start with Drill I, giving you a headstart in that line of promotions. Gunpowder units can't choose Drill, so upgraded Chukonus can be interesting. Incidentally, Protective also makes the Chukonu better at defending cities, thanks to the free City Garrison I promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On a final note, here's a tip on how to get Chukonus early and really overrun your neighbours: Choose Qin Shi Huang as your leader and aim to build the Oracle to grab Metal Casting (requires Pottery and Bronze Working). The Industrious trait makes getting the Oracle viable, even without marble. Metal Casting leads to Machinery, but it also allows you to build your cheap Industrious forges. Build one asap and run an engineer specialist. When a Great Engineer is born, use him to lightbulb Machinery, giving you access to the Chinese UU very early. But do note that Machinery requires Iron Working and Chukonus need the iron resource to be built, so make sure you get this tech researched while waiting for the GE to be born. The worst scenario is finding no iron in your territory. To help prevent this situation, research Iron Working as quickly as possible to locate iron resources and claim them if necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Egypt: War Chariot (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At 5 strength, the Egyptian War Chariot is essentially an axeman on wheels with no City Raider promotions but has withdrawal chance. It is a very powerful and mobile unit that can win your game from as early as the Ancient Era.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An Egyptian player who does not have copper has less to worry about. In fact, horses are much more important for him/her, making Animal Husbandry (AH) a priority. And since Egypt starts with Agriculture, which leads to AH, things are pretty much set up for you. Egypt also starts with The Wheel, which is required to build chariots and roads (to hook up those horses). What serendipity! Feel free to delay Bronze Working till you wish to use Slavery, unless it turns out that there are no horses within reasonable distance. If you discover horses nearby, get a settler there as soon as possible and hook it up. You can then begin preparing for your offensive. Chariot rushing has never been so effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]While the chariot rush tactic of pillaging the enemy's metal mines should still be applied, War Chariots aren't as afraid of spears as normal chariots because of their increased strength. Additionally, you can give them the Shock promotion to help deal with enemy spears that you might encounter. This would also help vanilla players who face enemy axemen, since the chariot bonus vs. axes applies only after Warlords (vanilla players are somewhat compensated by having 20% withdrawal chance instead of just 10%, though). That said, I have found Flanking promotions a generally better choice when up against spears. Even with Shock, War Chariots have lower odds of winning, so you might as well increase their survival rate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A little later in the game, a combination of War Chariots and axes would be good to guard against counterattacking spears, since War Chariots don't get defensive bonuses and would almost certainly lose all the time. In most games, axes (and maybe swords) would gradually replace them as the premier city raiders anyway. As enemy cities accumulate more defensive ratings, those spears become more and more costly to dislodge with War Chariots alone. The loss in mobility that would result from this handing over is usually nothing to worry about, since it corresponds roughly to the time when you need to expand at a slower pace until you can get upkeep costs down.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Speaking of upkeep, be wary of over-expanding with War Chariots. It's easy to fall into this trap since they pack a good punch so early in the game. While judicious use of them might mean smooth sailing for the rest of the game, their careless use can ruin you as you fall hopelessly behind in terms of technology and development paying upkeep, especially on the higher levels. This and the lack of close neighbours are the greatest early adversaries of the Egyptian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]England: Redcoat (Rifleman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The terror of your enemies in Civ4 vanilla, this unit is dramatically different in Warlords. In the former, it has 16 strength compared to the normal rifleman's 14 and an additional 25% bonus vs. gunpowder units. Hence, they are uber powerful in their era, quite unmatched by any other unit until infantry. The use of the Redcoat on vanilla is, therefore, quite straightforward. Build lots of them and/or upgrade your CR units to them and go on the offensive. Combine them with cannons for even greater effect and watch the colours on the minimap change rapidly. Even grenadiers are unable to counter them effectively due to their additional bonus. The only way the enemy can really fight back is by throwing lots of cannons at them, but you can always spread your stacks out, and the AI isn't likely to do that anyway. Don't let the enemy get machine guns, though. These are a sure counter to Redcoats on the defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, however, it's not so easy. Redcoats have the same base strength as normal riflemen. They only retain their bonus vs. gunpowder units. That said, they are still quite effective. Given no terrain or promotion-based bonuses, no unit of the same era can beat them when they attack. They are vulnerable to attacks by enemy grenadiers now, but still not as badly as in the case of normal riflemen. They own any other unit when defending. You can still use this UU the same way, but more careful planning is required. A proper defense against enemy grenadiers must now be provided for, and cannons play a greater role. Do note that Redcoats have no advantage over normal rifles when attacking cities defended by longbows.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In Warlords, you must consider the Churchill factor as well. The new English leader is Charismatic and Protective, making his gunpowder units especially effective. They start with City Garrison I and Drill I and require fewer xp points get promoted. As city defenders, Churchill's Redcoats are certainly a force to be reckoned with. They are also better on the offensive, since Drill helps in any combat situation and, thanks to the free City Garrison, you can better defend newly captured cities against enemy counterattacks. Some players even consider Churchill part of the reason why Redcoats had to be nerfed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A final point on this UU: Drill IV Redcoats are formidable. They get a total of 5 first strikes and a chance at another (immunity from first strikes are rare enough post-Gunpowder), an extra 10% bonus vs. mounted units and an amazing 60% reduction of any collateral damage sustained. These units are likely to take less damage in every way and win more often. And, in Warlords, Drill counts as a prerequisite promotion towards Cover, Formation and other "vs unit type" promotions. Hence, units with Drill are not condemned by not choosing Combat, should the need for those promotions arise. Especially valuable is the availability of Pinch as a promotion, since it helps to neutralise the threat of attacking grenadiers. The trouble is gunpowder (and melee) units don't get Drill promotions, so it's only possible to create such units by upgrading your archery units to Redcoats, which requires you to set aside a tidy sum. To make matters worse, archery units are generally not used offensively and are thus difficult to promote. However, the good news is Churchill players can do this more easily. With the Protective trait giving free Drill I to your archery units and Charismatic making promotions easier to obtain, you can use crossbows (the most likely candidate, since it has greater offensive value compared to archers and longbows) extensively in the hopes of getting some of them up to Drill IV to be upgraded later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Redcoat has indirectly been improved from its Warlords version since all gunpowder units can now receive Drill promotions. That means elite Drill Redcoats are much closer to reality, especially for Churchill. Gone are the days when you have to upgrade archery units to get them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ethiopia: Oromo Warrior (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Musket UUs generally don't get a lot of love, although the ones that the game has to offer are actually quite useful. But even if you're really not a fan of musket UUs, give the Oromo Warrior a try before you knock it. It is immune to First Strikes and starts with Drill I and II promotions; that means 2-3 First Strikes and -20% to collateral damage received out of the box. And if you throw the experience from barracks in, you get Drill III Oromo Warriors straight off the assembly line. Just add in Theocracy/Vassalage or a military instructor and you can be training Drill IV Oromos. Naturally, this UU has a potentially high survival rate, even after being battered by siege weapons (thanks to the Drill promotions' protection against collateral damage of up to 60%). They will perform normal muskets' defensive role extra well, and you need not be so hesitant about using them to attack even when faced with knights. Longbows are also less of a worry since Oromos are immune to First Strikes. Moreover, they are draftable, and you can get Drill III draftees with just Theocracy/Vassalage/a military instructor.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If those aren't enough, you needn't worry so much about this musket UU getting obsolete quickly (BTS has delayed the advent of grenadiers to prolong the life of muskets anyway) because the promotions will remain on them when they are upgraded to riflemen. You might have read about the elusive elite Drill IV Redcoats. Well, with Ethiopia, Drill IV riflemen are a lot easier to come by. Suddenly those enemy cannons are not so scary anymore, are they?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]France: Musketeer (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Although they are 1 strength point weaker than knights, musketmen have no hard counter in their time, which is the whole point of this unit. Also, knights don't get defensive bonuses so they are not as good at defending. Musketmen fare well as an all-round stack protector. And when one of your cities is threatened, wouldn't it be ideal to have a versatile defender that can counterattack as well? Remember that musketmen can be drafted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, think of the potential uses of Musketeers, which are musketmen with 2 moves. They can reinforce any threatened city quickly, which makes them potentially more effective as city defenders than longbowmen. And when you need stack protection during a campaign, Musketeers, besides being an insurance that covers you against everything except knights and Pinch elephants (both of which you can simply counter by bringing pikes), are also able to pillage along the way with the extra move (which can be useful for taking out strategic resources). Not just that, their speed means you can have reserves catching up with your stack to take over the role of their wounded comrades should your stack come under attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Offensively, they have their uses as well. Musketeers can do clean-up work when all your siege weapons and CR units have spent their move attacking, since they have 9 base strength and aren't countered by any particular unit. And, of course, they are great for a pillaging campaign. Mix them with pikemen in small stacks and they can move and pillage within a single turn and with near impunity. Versatility is the name of the Musketeer game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A major gripe that people have about this UU is the fact that it obsoletes too quickly, since Chemistry is effectively only a few techs away. Moreover, nothing upgrades to muskets and you have to build them from scratch, further narrowing their window of opportunity. The Musketeers' speed actually helps to alleviate this problem, since you can get them to the frontline to be used a lot more quickly compared to normal musketmen. Also, researching Nationalism and switching to Nationhood to draft can help you get enough of them out in time to be used to full effect. You can stay in Nationhood and research towards Rifling next, so that you can soon start drafting riflemen to complete your offensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this note, there's another interesting use for Musketeers. Try postponing Chemistry and beelining to Military Tradition for early cavalry. Research techs along the Education route, be the first to get Liberalism and grab Nationalism as the free tech. Then research Gunpowder (which is also needed for cavalry), start drafting/building Musketeers (you may use them first if you want), research Military Tradition (requires Music, which you should trade for) and start building cavalry. Escort your cavalry with Musketeers and either launch a lightning campaign or pillage with impunity. Only Musketeers can keep up with cavalry while protecting them against costly counterattacks by enemy pikes. Flanking cavalry often prevail against longbow-defended cities by themselves with relatively low casualty rates, so even if you plan on taking cities, there might not be a need to bring slow siege weapons along. If you do this right, you can finish off one or two neighbours just like that, before they can build riflemen to counter your cavalry.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Germany: Panzer (Tank)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Despite being the latest UU in the game, the Panzer really packs a punch. A tank with 50% bonus versus armour units, it will eat other tanks alive and beat even modern armour. This gives them the power to dominate the battlefield. Just watch out for those gunships, which are an effective counter to them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you get Panzers before the enemy gets Flight, you can solve this problem by beelining for enemy oil wells and pillaging them to prevent him/her from building a single gunship in the first place. This should be relatively easy to do, since the enemy can't stop you with his/her own tanks. Once that is done, you'd be facing mostly gunpowder units, against which the Pinch promotion would be effective in the field. With it, the Panzer can match even mech infantry, unless the latter is better promoted or is receiving defensive bonuses. And with the free Blitz promotion that tanks have, a stack of Panzers can annihilate up to double the number units in a turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When taking cities, the Panzer might only be as effective as a normal tank, since you are likely to face many gunpowder units, which receive defensive bonuses unlike armour units. But that is alright, since tanks are excellent at taking cities anyway, having access to both Barrage and City Raider promotions. After you've chewed through the toughest defenders, whatever armour is sitting in the city would be easy pickings. Apply the blitzkrieg strategy by using your bombers to soften city defenses before rapidly moving in with your City Raider Panzers. Be sure to have some Drill Panzers to clean up, since they are good at taking out the weaker units without suffering much damage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem with this UU is how late it appears. It is enabled by Industrialism but requires oil, which means you have to get Combustion and build oil wells in addition to it, placing it even later in the timeline than Navy SEALs. Many players would have won the game by then, or at least they would be in such dominant or winning positions that having Panzers would have little influence on the outcome. Once you get them, however, they can last till the end of the game. Their ability to stand up to modern armour means you can delay getting Composites and survive without aluminum. Even if modern armour is already available, you would probably want to leave some of your Panzers un-upgraded as a versatile counter to enemy armour. Of course, you must have oil to build Panzers in the first place. Being German and not having oil in the later eras in a tightly contested game would be a shame.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Greece: Phalanx (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx, derided by some, is in fact one of the stronger UUs in the game. With 5 strength and +25% hill defense (not to be confused with free Guerilla promotion), it has enough qualities to set it far above normal spearmen. Don't forget that it also gets free Combat I from Alexander's Aggressive trait.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Phalanx is essentially a super spearman. However, if you build them early enough in single player, chances are the AI might not have anything except archers. Thus, it would do just as well as the axeman when used as a rush unit, except that it holds the ground better on hills and isn't afraid of Warlords' chariots (which get +100% attack vs. axemen). The fact that the Greeks start with Hunting (which is required to build the UU) certainly helps if you are thinking of rushing with it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In its conventional role, the Phalanx also boasts a very long lifespan of more than two eras. Elephants give normal spearmen cause to worry, while knights are too strong be countered well by them. Phalangites, however, are able to counter elephants effectively and hold their own against knights. When they are defending on hills, no mounted unit before cavalry can beat them one-on-one without having at least the Shock promotion (perhaps with the exception of the melee-busting Conquistadors). They are also good at defending on hills, especially in hill cities, against most units in the Ancient and Classical eras. A truly solid package for a UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] The Phalanx has, for better or worse, been changed in BTS. It is now an axeman that is not vulnerable to chariots. That means chariots do not get a 100% bonus when attacking them. This effectively transforms a defensive UU into an offensive one, as Greek players need not worry about having to protect their earliest city raiding units from chariots. If you are the kind of player who says the glass is half empty, this change at most saves you from having to build a few spearmen and to research Hunting before you begin an axe rush. But if you like to say the glass is half full, this makes a strong rush unit that is exactly like the axeman in vanilla, which can only be countered by another axeman. Indeed, saving you the effort of building spearmen can be crucial in the early game, when cities are few and hammers are scarce. It can mean a few extra Phalanxes, which might decide whether you can take and hold a (or an extra) city or not.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On the defense, the new Phalanx also performs decently in the early game. Now you don't have to build spearmen to deal with the occasional pillaging chariot, though of course spears would be more effective. Not having to build spearmen might also mean having extra Phalanxes to defend against an enemy axe rush. You might prefer the old version of this UU, but you can't say the new one isn't useful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Inca: Quechua (Warrior)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Dubbed by some as one of the worst UUs when Civ4 was still new, the Quechua has gained notoriety through the Quechua rush, a strategy that might win you a Deity game even if it's far above your current skill level. How is that possible, you ask? Quechuas are cheap at 15 hammers each (cheaper than half an axeman) and they get a 100% bonus against archers, the AI's primary/only city garrison unit early in the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush is simple to do. You can probably start building Quechuas in the beginning and overwhelm the nearest AI capital with numbers (provided you've located it, of course). However, it's advisable that you build a worker, barracks and another worker first. The first worker would improve food resources (for whipping), build mines and chop trees, while the second would start building a road to the nearest AI capital (which, presumably, you would have found by then) and make logistics less of a nightmare. The barracks allows your capital to grow in between the worker builds, but, more importantly, it allows you to build Quechuas with Cover. In vanilla, Huayna Capac is Aggressive and hence Quechuas get Combat I free, allowing you to promote them with Cover immediately if you've built a barracks. Even though the Inca leader is no longer Aggressive in Warlords, Quechuas still get Combat I free, so this tactic still applies. Quechuas with Cover have a much higher chance of winning against fortified archers so you don't need as many of them. You would be able to capture one AI city after another much more quickly. This method also has the benefit of allowing the AIs to settle more cities before you attack, thus giving you early game expansion possibilities without having to build your own settlers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have the workers and barracks (and have researched Mining and Bronze Working), you can start building, chopping or whipping Quechuas out. If copper is discovered within your territory, you can supplement your rush with axemen, who can gradually take over as your main city raiders, ensuring that your offensive is longer-lasting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This rush does have its limitations. It requires a close neighbour. Otherwise, it would take too long to get there and you would have to pay an unreasonable amount of distance upkeep if you succeed in capturing the city. Of course, you can resort to razing, but this strategy would then lose half its value. It also assumes that the AI builds archers to defend itself. On that note, you need to be playing at a high enough difficulty, where the AI can either build archers immediately or soon enough. Warriors might be too cost-effective for Quechuas to be facing, even though you can choose the Shock promotion instead of Cover. A higher difficulty level also means the AI is likely to start with a free settler or two and would thus have more cities up for grabs when you begin your rush. The AI may also conveniently choose to settle his cities towards you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The downside to this rush is the relatively high amount of unit upkeep that you have to pay early in the game. Coupled with the distance maintenance you have to pay for captured cities, your early technological development might be retarded for a while. You can, however, count on being able to catch up fairly quickly if you've nabbed an especially powerful neighbouring capital. Huayna's Financial trait can also help you recover more quickly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond this strategy, the Quechua's usefulness is quite limited. They are effective against barbarians, since those often take the form of archers, and would hence perform well under raging barbs setting. They are also better than normal warriors at worker stealing (since they survive better against archers), should you choose to be aggressive from the start even though you have no plans of capturing enemy cities yet. Besides these, it's hard to conceive of another way to exploit this UU without rushing, making it rather situational. It either shines or fades into relative oblivion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]India: Fast Worker (Worker)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Fast Worker is a worker with 3 moves (which, interestingly enough, is unmatched till gunships in the modern age). This means, with all their moves unspent, they can enter forest/jungle/hill and immediately begin improving the tile without ending their turn. However, they do end their turn if they enter a forested/jungled hill.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Indirectly, this means the Fast Worker is faster at doing what workers do. It does not improve tiles faster, but being able to begin earlier in many situations would translate to a lot of saved worker turns by the end of the game. By the way, yes, it is the only UU that lasts throughout the game. Their extra movement also means they are able to cover distances more quickly, allowing you to move them around your empire efficiently. This enables a much tighter worker strategy, where you can have fewer workers improving tiles in different cities according to which city would grow and work the tiles next. To put it simply, playing as India, you do not need as many workers to develop your land.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To get the most out of this UU, adopt an early worker strategy (i.e. building a worker first). You'd develop much quicker than the other civs and could use this early game lead to your advantage for the rest of the game. Their 3 moves also make them excellent scouts, especially early on when revealing your surroundings quickly is crucial. Just make sure you keep them away from animals and barbs. With their speed, it shouldn't be that difficult.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some players do not like the fact that it is not a military UU, but few would be able to argue against its merits. The only downside to the Fast Worker is the fact that slower game speeds diminish their advantage, since the turns saved by their extra movement would be less and less significant compared to the increased number turns needed to improve tiles. If you're playing on Quick or Normal speed, this UU is certainly amazing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Japan: Samurai (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The cool factor aside, there seems to be little that is interesting about this UU at first glance. It is a regular maceman that cannot be built with copper (requiring specifically iron) and has 2 first strikes. The second thing is what gives the Samurai its power, and which has sparked considerable debate on how useful it makes this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After much testing and debate, it is generally agreed that the 2 first strikes are a great boon. They help the Samurai survive, even at lower odds, and give them an edge against archers and longbows, the primary city defenders of the day. First strikes essentially mean that the unit gets the chance to inflict damage on the enemy unit even before the combat proper begins. Both archers and longbows get 1 first strike, which help them deal with regular city attackers (i.e. units with access to City Raider promotions, such as macemen), but have this advantage cancelled out by one of the Samurai's first strikes. And the Samurai still has another first strike to use. This also applies to crossbowmen (who also get 1 first strike), making the Samurai less vulnerable to that effective anti-melee unit. And, just as importantly, this advantage also has the effect of giving Samurais a higher chance to win battles while suffering less damage. That means they are potentially able to recover faster for another attack, thereby shortening the length of the Japanese player's campaigns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But do take note that this bonus is not the same as getting free Drill promotions (to which, by the way, macemen do not have access). It is better than merely a free Drill I, but it will not remain when you upgrade your Samurais. And beware of knights (especially Conquistadors or those with Shock promotion). They are a fast and effective counter to Samurai, since they have enough strength and ignore first strikes, so bring enough pikemen when facing a sufficiently advanced opponent who has researched Guilds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The main drawback of the Samurai is the requirement of iron. While regular macemen can be built with copper as well, without iron, the Japanese player will be stuck without his/her UU or even regular macemen. Thankfully, this strategic resource is quite commonly available. But if you do find yourself not having one readily available, planting a city in the tundra or invading your neighbour to get it might be worth the effort before the age of the Samurai arrives.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Korea: Hwacha (Catapult)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] If you like axemen, you'd love the Hwacha. It is a catapult with 50% bonus vs melee units, making it an axeman with collateral damage, bombard ability and withdrawal chance for a mere five hammers more (Normal speed). The only downside is the Hwacha doesn't receive defensive bonuses like an axeman, so you might want to use your Hwachas offensively and turn up the heat so the enemy is forced to defend in his nice cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Hwacha has some interesting synergy with Wang Kon's Protective trait. Protective really shines when you have no metals and are forced to adopt a defensive position with archers in the early game. Construction represents the departure from such a stance, since you're now able to build catapults and attack. Hwachas, being super catapults, puts you in an even better position to go on the offensive, with Protective archers/longbows for support as defenders.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you have iron, Protective crossbows and spears/pikes are perfect companions to Hwachas. They eliminate the threat of enemy melee and mounted units and help defend new possessions while your Hwachas take down enemy defenders. You don't need axemen. A few swords to help clean up can complete your arsenal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When macemen and trebuchets come into the picture, Hwachas gradually take a back seat, but not before you can deal some serious damage to a neighbour or two. Nonetheless, a Korean player would benefit from picking up Construction as quickly as possible. Why not put this powerful weapon into use as early as you can? And Wang Kon's Financial trait can certainly help with that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]For BTS players:[\BOLD] Unfortunately, as it stands, the Hwacha has been weakened by the inability of siege weapons to kill units and to gain more than 1 experience point per battle. Its bonus still applies, but you can no longer rely on a stack of Hwachas to actually capture cities for you. You also need enough units to kill off all the weakened defenders. While this job can be done by almost any non-siege unit, this means hammers probably need to be diverted to other units, resulting in fewer Hwachas built. Then there's the 1xp only rule, which is worse since it means your Hwachas can no longer gain valuable additional promotions through combat, making it less effective.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The impact of this UU has certainly been reduced. You can still make good use of it much in the same way as before, but remember to build more units for clean up duty and to take up the slack caused by fewer veteran Hwachas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mali: Skirmisher (Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Skirmishers are archers with 4 strength and 1 extra first strike chance, effectively making Mali half a Protective civ until Feudalism comes around. With them, Malinese cities are certainly not ones to be taken easily in the early game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The normal use of Skirmishers is pretty straight forward: Defend your cities or hill improvements with them. As such, they play a rather passive role as a UU. This puts into question the rationale of going straight for Archery, even when playing Mali. First, you don't start with Hunting (required for Archery). Second, the threat of barbarian or enemy axes make axemen a better unit for defense, since they are able to counterattack and prevent your improvements from being pillaged. Lastly, Bronze Working is needed for Slavery anyway, and if you happen to find copper nearby after researching it you can soon build axes. Skirmishers can help with defense if you don't find copper around, but in that case you might want to beeline to Iron Working, so Hunting and Archery are still not the priority. But of course, in the worst case scenario where you find no metal around, Skirmishers can become quite important.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords improves Skirmishers a little by making chariots a counter to axes. Now you don't have to fear barbarian/enemy axemen if you don't have copper but have horses. Barb spearmen, if they do appear, can be countered somewhat by Skirmishers. You can thus concentrate on teching up with chariots and Skirmishers for defense, without having to beeline for the relatively expensive Iron Working. If you want to be aggressive, you can rush a neighbour with a stack of chariots and some Skirmishers. The latter can help secure newly conquered cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now for the less conventional. If you are going for a really quick rush as Mali, you can beeline to Archery from the beginning. Skirmishers don't require resources, so you can technically rush a neighbour with them Jaguar-style. Get Archery as quickly as possible, build barracks - maybe settle a second city - and start building Skirmishers. After you several of them, rush the nearest neighbour's capital. Skirmishers are better than normal archers, so with a ratio of about 3:1 in your favour, you may be able to overwhelm the defending archers. The surviving Skirmishers would then help you hold on to the conquered city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you whip to rush build Skirmishers for this tactic, becareful of the hammer overflow. You might quickly begin to whip them out for one population point each and run into serious happiness issues. If you want to try this rush, you should have a food-plenty and hilly area (i.e. a good production city site) as the site of your capital. You'll need the hammers because you'll be building most of the Skirmishers the slow way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mongolia: Keshik (Horse Archer)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Keshiks are horse archers that ignore terrain movement cost and get 1 first strike, but aren't immune to first strikes. Hence, they are extremely adept at raiding and pillaging, but aren't as good at attacking archers/longbows with Drill promotions. This has a few implications on a Mongolian player.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Surprise is the best asset of the Keshiks. Ignoring terrain movement cost means they can traverse forests/jungles and hills as easily as flatlands. Thus, it is easy for a Mongolian player to strike across difficult terrain at the unlikeliest of places, grabbing unguarded workers and lightly-defended cities or pillaging improvements (especially on strategic resources). However, this advantage relies on the enemy's inability to counterattack immediately with spearmen or a superior force, so good intelligence would be needed to know where exactly the enemy places his spears and the bulk of his units. If you do not have this luxury, you could always send more Keshiks in case you meet spears, but be prepared to lose quite a few of them. In addition, you could pillage enemy roads to eventually cripple his ability to counterattack. However, at the end of the day, the strategic advantage you gain from your harassment must outweigh the lost hammers you spent on the dead Keshiks[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Keshiks' first strike, meanwhile, makes them better than normal horse archers at picking off non-spear units in your territory or in the enemy's. Combined with their terrain movement advantage, this makes them good empire defenders and hit-and-run units. Unfortunately, the enemy can easily counter them by having spearmen guard his units, so this might only work effectively against the AI. There's also a limitation on how good Keshiks are in fighting non-spear units compared to normal horse archers. The immunity to first strikes that normal horse archers get makes them better at fighting archery units with Drill promotions or units with Drill III/IV. The Keshiks' own first strike can only negate one of the enemy units' first strikes. To remedy this, you have to give your Keshiks Flanking II so that they get immunity to first strikes as well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This, in turn, highlights the Keshik's relative weakness (compared to normal horse archers) in attacking cities defended by Drill-promoted archery units. In Warlords, this means Protective civs are better covered against attempts to take cities with Keshiks. The 10% city attack penalty that the horse archer unit-type gets in Warlords makes them even less desirable as city raiders. Thus, the only hope Mongolian player might have in using Keshiks to conquer in Warlords is to rely on speed, Flanking promotions and numbers (also applies to vanilla, but not to such a large extent).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With barracks and Ger in the city, a Keshik gets 7 xp upon being built. Unfortunately, that will still allow for only 2 initial promotions (unless you're running both Vassalage and Theocracy for a total of 11 xp), though of course your mounted units would be promoted to the next level sooner. But, at any rate, 2 initial promotions are good enough. Give most of the Keshiks Flanking I and II to give them 50% withdrawal chance each (including the natural 20%) and immunity to first strikes. Give Combat I and Medic I or Combat I and Shock (for defending against spearmen) to the rest. Have at least one Medic I Keshik and one Shock Keshik in each stack. If you get Compass early enough, you can use explorers (strength 4, ignores terrain movement cost and starts with free Guerilla I and Woodsman I) to help protect your stacks when they stop on hills or forests/jungles. 3 or 4 cities with Gers pumping out Keshiks would usually be good enough to amass a sizeable army in reasonable time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As your Keshiks attack enemy cities, some will die, some will withdraw and some will win. The medics will ensure that the withdrawing and winning Keshiks heal up more quickly. If you manage to overwhelm a prepared enemy with numbers, your speed advantage (from ignoring terrain movement cost and faster healing) will ensure that the enemy cannot fight back or resist as effectively, hastening his destruction. If the enemy is unprepared in the first place, your speed advantage will ensure his quick defeat. Note that this strategy can only work if the enemy doesn't have longbows yet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You should be prepared to build courthouses and marketplaces to help you keep your winnings. But even if you're not, you can just resort to razing and pillaging for some barbaric fun. Long live the Golden Horde![NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Netherlands: East Indiaman (Galleon)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]BTS only.[\BOLD] Now here's an interesting UU. Although it does have some combat capability, it serves primarily as a support unit. But the East Indiaman is pretty good at it, offering an extra cargo space for a total of 4, which is quite a big leap from a normal galleon considering the fact that transports have the same capacity. If you're planning on waging war during the age of the rifle, especially against an overseas civ, or if you are planning a large-scale settling another landmass, you don't have to build quite as many ships to carry your units over. Three East Indiamen carry as much as four galleons, thereby saving you 80 hammers, which can almost make an extra frigate (90 hammers) to protect your fleet. Moreover, since they carry as many units as transports, you might not need to decommission or upgrade them till the end of the game.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The East Indiaman also has the nifty ability to travel within rival borders without needing an open borders treaty. Have you accumulated much EPs thanks to the Financial trait? You can send your spies anywhere in the world conveniently, even directly into an unfriendly overseas civ. And the extra cargo space is useful for espionage as well, helping you keep a constant flow of spies even if many get caught.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Lastly, the East Indiaman has 2 more strength than a normal galleon, making it tougher to sink. While it still can't beat a frigate, it can more than annihilate caravels and destroy other galleons, so you have naval superiority at Astronomy until your rivals get Chemistry and build frigates. And, should there be privateers prowling the seas, you needn't worry so much about being ambushed by them while moving units across water without escort during peacetime. This is probably a UU that you would appreciate on maps with lots of seas.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Ottomans: Janissary (Musketman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] The Janissary’s advantage is a 25% boost against melee, archery and mounted units, making it a great all-round unit for its time. It is pretty much effective against all previous era units (with the big exception of siege units), so you can potentially put some serious hurt in your enemies.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to get as much use out of Janissaries as possible, you need to look for ways to get to Gunpowder early. You might even want to make a beeline for it, either through the northern path (Maths -&gt; Currency -&gt; Priesthood? -&gt; Civil Service -&gt; Paper -&gt; Education) or the southern path (Metal Casting -&gt; Machinery &amp; Monotheism -&gt; Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guilds) in the tech tree. Different lightbulbing strategies are available (with Great Merchants for the southern path and Great Scientists for the northern one), so you don't have to self-research everything. Strictly speaking, it may not be necessary to do a beeline, but it's probably the best way. The point is to get to Gunpowder before your enemies are even close to it, and rapidly exploiting this opportunity gap by building, whipping and possibly drafting as many Janissaries as you can to use against them. To be able to draft, you would need to pursue the northern path and probably research Liberalism first to grab Nationalism as the free tech, before actually researching Gunpowder. It is a slight diversion, but it may be worth the delay if your empire does not have the capability to build or whip enough Janissaries in time to give you a real edge, as often is the case.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once you have them, Janissaries are quite a fearsome force in the medieval battlefield. They have no hard counter, so the best bet your enemies might have is to promote their units with Pinch, which requires Gunpowder in Warlords. Knights with Pinch, however, are a good counter to Jannissaries, as are regular musketmen (against whom Janissaries have no advantage whatsoever), so once your enemies have Gunpowder as well you may find your edge disappearing. If they manage to get to Chemistry, which isn't that far away, this UU is practically obsolete. Janissary stacks are actually relatively vulnerable to siege units (and the associated collateral damage) as well, since they don't get any bonuses against these. But unless you're playing MP, this shouldn't be a big problem. The AI does not generally build many catapults.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also take note that Janissaries may not be the best city-taking troops you can get, since they do not have access to City Raider promotions. Needless to say, if you're relying on them as the backbone of your army, you still need to bring siege weapons along if you hope to grab some enemy territory. Given the fact that they are not actually very different from the conduct of normal campaigns of the time, Janissary campaigns might still be slow going, so don't be surprised if you don't manage to knock out more than one enemy with them, even with your best efforts (assuming you're playing on the higher levels). Hence, the emphasis is again on getting them as early as possible so as to enlarge the window of opportunity that you have.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Overall, without the mobility of the Musketeer, this UU is quite situational and, to an even higher degree than the former, requires some long term planning in the early game to be put to good use. It is probably better the lower the difficulty you play on, since you would be more likely to out-tech the AIs and get to Gunpowder much earlier than them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Persia: Immortal (Chariot)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It seems odd that Immortals are chariot-replacements, and you may miss the ownage days of playing as Persia with their Civ3 incarnation. Fortunately, they are still very effective in Civ4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When you have horses and a neighbouring civ nearby, you know you're in for some fun. Immortals get 50% bonus vs. archery units, as well as an innate 30% withdrawal chance. No AI I've seen can resist them very early in the game. Hook up those horses quickly, build/whip out some of these creatures and head straight for the neighbour. If you managed to build barracks, you can give them Flanking I for an extra 10% withdrawal chance. If you have time to kill some barbs as well, before heading for your neighbour's cities, you can promote some with Flanking II for immunity against first strikes and a total of 60% withdrawal chance. This would give them a high survival rate against archers. Don't they sound like excellent AI city busters? What's more, they do get defensive bonuses, making them less vulnerable to counterattack and decent garrison units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If or when your enemy gets spearmen, however, Immortals lose much of their power. Even one spearman in a city you're attacking can give you a lot of trouble. You really have to count on the withdrawal chances if you want the first few Immortals to survive a direct attack on the city. In Civ4 vanilla, enemy axemen would be a problem too, since chariots don't get the 50% bonus when attacking axemen like in Warlords. To help prevent difficulties from arising, you should pillage any AI mine that you see sitting on a metal resource. If a city is on top of one, pillage the roads around it to limit spear production to that city. You would thus prolong the effectiveness of your Immortals. Until your enemy gets Feudalism, that is. If he can. Although the 50% bonus also applies when fighting longbows, the latter are too strong when defending in cities to be dislodged by Immortals alone. The same may be said of enemy crossbows. But with the help of siege weapons, Immortals can still take them down quite easily.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The biggest problem is when there is no neighbour near you. In that case, you can't use Immortals to their full potential. However, they are still quite handy against barbs, since the latter usually take the form of archers. In Warlords, they are also great for dispatching barb axemen. Clearly, the expansion has given this solid UU even more oomph.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Rome: Praetorian (Swordsman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians are a blunt instrument with which you can rule the early battlefield. Taking cities is the name of the game, and Praetorians easily destroy enemy archers defending cities (even those with some cultural defense), with odds so favorable that they'll likely not suffer losses. You may lose a few if the enemy city is on a hill and the defender has City Garrison promotions, but the odds will still favor you most of the time. You probably want to give your Praetorians City Raider (CR) promotions to help bust those cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because of their high strength, Praetorians can hold their own against axeman, their natural counter. Nevertheless, it may be best to build your own axemen or promote a few Praetorians with Combat I and Shock for stack defense. Praetorians will also prevail against mounted units of the same era, though a spearman or two will only do you good, leaving your Praetorians to focus on taking those cities. After the enemy gets longbowmen, the Praetorian is still useful, but you need to support them with catapults to remove city defenses and soften up the defenders to avoid catastrophic losses. Watch out for crossbows, though; they are very effective against Praetorians. The best way to guard against them is to pillage the enemy's iron mines before he/she can build them. The same goes for enemy Shock war elephants, in which case you should pillage his/her ivory camps.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Praetorians require Iron Working and iron. A Roman player would probably want to take advantage of the Praetorian as early as possible, so beelining to Iron Working is a good call. You may want to have a settler and some workers ready to exploit any iron deposit you see as soon as the tech is researched, although there's some chance that you'd find iron within your existing borders. You should also build barracks first, so that you can give your Praetorians a promotion from the get go, whether it is CR 1 for city busting or Combat 1 for Shock later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The problem with Praetorians is the Roman player may become a victim of his own success. Because it is so easy to expand quickly with this UU, the temptation to expand beyond your limit is great. You may end up too many cities, causing your economy to crash from the upkeep. One solution is to raze cities rather than keep them, unless they are close to yours or have high value (eg. capitals, holy cities or those with wonders). This also has the effect of severely weakening or even eliminating your enemies so it is easier to actually expand when your economy is able to support it later. And, while you're doing this, do pillage the improvements around razed cities to set your enemies back even further and for extra funds. You can also help yourself by building up your infrastructure at home to support your campaigns, such as laying down lots of cottages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This UU is the main reason why it's good to play as Rome when you're new on a difficulty level. Try not to get too used to having them, though, as you might become too dependent on their strength to play with any other civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Russia: Cossack (Cavalry)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the Redcoat, the Cossack is one UU that has been changed in Warlords. In Civ IV vanilla, the Cossack has a fearsome reputation. A cavalry with 18 strength and +50% against mounted units on top of the ordinary cavalry capabilities (+50% against cannon and 30% withdrawal chance), it can beat almost every unit in its era. Even riflemen, its counter, have less strength if you don't consider promotions or defensive bonuses. Pinch-promoted Cossacks can eat them alive. Riflemen need to be one level higher (4) and get the Formation promotion to even out the playing field, though you should note that Aggressive riflemen can get Formation at level 3. Redcoats do counter Cossacks very well, but Cossacks are faster, can withdraw and aren't destroyed by machine guns and massed cannons the way Redcoats are.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you are using them in the vanilla game, consider getting them as early as possible by beelining to Education, getting Liberalism and choosing Nationalism as the free tech. Nationalism leads to Military Tradition (requires Music, so make sure you trade for it) and Education leads to Gunpowder, techs needed to build Cossacks (and you must have horses, of course). If you pull this off early enough, the rest of the game should be easy - Cossacks versus longbowmen is no contest. You can shoot for a domination victory right away. All you need to do is keep pumping out Cossacks, with the whip whenever possible, while ideally running the military civics (Vassalage and Theocracy) to give your Cossacks an even bigger edge. It's no wonder that some people consider them overpowered in vanilla.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords, however, is a vastly different game for Cossack fans. On one hand, there's the introduction of the stable, which improves mounted units by giving them 2 more experience points. On the other hand, the Cossack has the same strength as normal cavalry now, only retaining their bonus against mounted units. They are basically cavalry that excel in killing other cavalry. This is a lot more useful in MP, where cavalry versus cavalry is pretty much a fair game and you need to get riflemen to gain an advantage. Having Cossacks means you already have an advantage against enemy cavalry, forcing your enemies to tech to riflemen to stand a chance on the battlefield or risk being holed up in their cities and becoming sitting targets for your cannons.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In SP, however, much of the action would ideally take place at enemy cities to begin with, and in this respect the Cossack is mostly as good as normal cavalry in Warlords. It can get the 2 extra experience points from stables, but so can normal cavalry. The only time you have a real advantage against the AI is when it masses cavalry. In that case, your Cossacks would cut through the AI's army like knife through butter. Unfortunately, you would probably have to capture cities to end the war anyway. That said, Cossacks are pretty good for pillaging if you promote them with Pinch, since they would then be more difficult to counter (neither riflemen nor cavalry would work effectively against them). But, still, as you can see, what was an amazing UU has become a pretty situational one.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Spain: Conquistador (Knight)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With this UU, the road to El Dorado can be wide and clear. It has the potential to be exploited in a game-breaking way. The reason is this: Conquistadors get 50% bonus vs. melee, which gives it an advantage against the most common counter to knights - pikemen. They also get defensive bonuses, which means they can exploit the terrain to make counterattack difficult. To top all of this off, Conquistadors benefit from 2 first strikes (which normal knights don't get), making them even harder to defeat.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need horse and iron to produce this UU. Playing as Spain, I'd make sure I get those by the time Conquistadors can be built. The Spanish player would also do well to research Guilds early, extending the life and usefulness of the UU. Conquistadors can fill the role of your main city attackers, following your siege weapons to capture city after city. They don't get CR upgrades, but they can perform decently against city defenders even when they haven't accumulated promotions. Their first strikes and immunity to first strikes certainly help, especially against longbows. And, thanks to their bonus against melee, defending pikes don't scare them that much. With defensive bonuses to help, they can also act as stack-protectors during your campaigns. Furthermore, since they have 2 moves, they can attack enemy units and come back to the stack in the same turn. If you're playing on Warlords, they make the perfect companions to Citadel-improved siege weapons. Woe to the enemy cities![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Once those shiny cities have been taken, Conquistadors can help defend them until you get suitable defenders (such as longbowmen) there. This works especially well if a city is on a hill. As you can see, the versatility of the Conquistador almost matches that of the Musketeer.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, here are a few words of caution. Siege weapons are not to be excluded from your Conquistador campaigns. Unless your target is still fielding archers, bringing siege units for bombardment and some collateral damage should still be part and parcel of your plans. Conquistadors are strong but not invincible. Without the proper support, they would still die to entrenched units, especially pikes and longbows. The other thing is, beware of elephants! These are the ultimate counter to Conquistadors. Under normal circumstances, there is no way a Conquistador can beat an elephant, and the latter is much cheaper to train. Just make sure you target opponents who have no ivory and you should have great time conquering with this UU.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Vikings: Berserk (Maceman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] Hate them or love them, Berserks are a popular UU. Although, not as powerful as their Civ3 incarnation, these guys can really be useful. Their 10% bonus vs. cities is certainly nice. However, for many people the problem is finding a good use for their free Amphibious promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Vikings have a higher potential to rule on water maps than any other civ. Ragnar is Financial, which means coastal tiles produce 3 commerce instead of 2, and his UB allows his ships to move further earlier in the game by giving free Navigation promotion. Combined with the Berserk's ability to attack amphibiously with no penalty and its city attack bonus, a Viking player on a water map can fast tech to Civil Service and Machinery and have fun raiding enemy coastal cities with Berserks on fast galleys. One method to do this early is building the Oracle and grabbing Metal Casting as the free tech (which, by the way, gives access to Colossus for a further boost to those coastal tiles). Then build/whip a forge and run an engineer in a city without the Oracle. Research your way to Code of Laws and Civil Service a.s.a.p. (in the pre-patch version you can use a prophet generated by the Oracle to lightbulb CoL/CS by not researching Masonry). In the meantime, build several galleys to prepare for your sea adventures. You'll get a Great Engineer as your 1st or 2nd Great Person from the forge city. Use him to lightbulb Machinery and start building Berserks. You could also put your research slider at 0% for a few turns and upgrade some axes to Berserks (being Financial helps with accumulating money for that). If you catch your opponents without longbows yet, you've done really well.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are limitations to your Berserks' ability to raid cities from the sea, though. If a city is defended by longbows, on a hill, has high cultural defense and/or walls, it could be difficult to take and might render an attempt not worth the cost. To attack such a city, you probably need to bring siege units along as galleys/triremes are not able to even bombard the city's defenses. Having to land siege units to bombard/deal collateral damage nullifies the Berserks' amphibious advantage. As such, you would need to look for softer targets to strike at. You don't have to keep the city. Find a weak spot (a lightly defended coastal city), raid, raze and pop back into the galleys before the enemy can counterattack. Landing a spear with the Berserker that has to land on that turn would help the latter survive a counterattack by mounted units (the most likely reaction you'll get from an AI). But becareful not to attack too close to an AI capital. AIs tend to stack more units in their capitals and can easily counterattack with a stronger force from there. Humans in MP will be wary of a sea attack, so watch out for axes/xbows in or within reach of coastal cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Even if you're not playing on a water map, Berserks present some interesting options. With them, you have the advantage when laying siege to a city across a river if the enemy doesn't have Engineering. His non-mounted units cannot counter attack from the city without suffering a 20% penalty for attacking across the river. With their free Amphibious promotion, Berserks get no such penalty attacking the city. The only downside is your siege units do suffer from the penalty if you want to cause some collateral damage first. Conversely, this idea works in defense as well. When enemy units are across a river beside one of your cities, you can attack them with your Berserks with no penalty while they would suffer it when they attack. At the very least, Berserks always get their 10% bonus when attacking cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Perhaps the most valuable thing about the Berserk is the fact that he keeps the Amphibious promotion when upgraded. This allows a Viking player to build Berserks (especially City Raider ones) and upgrade them later on to grenadiers or riflemen with free Amphibious. Frigates are able to bombard city defenses, so you can get yourself an elite amphibious attack force long before marines make their appearance. The free Amphibious also works the opposite way, allowing your older units to benefit from it when upgraded to Berserks. Hence, it makes sense to do so with all of your more experienced axemen or swordsmen. It would almost certainly be worth the money.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Zulus: Impi (Spearman)[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Warlords and BTS only.[\BOLD] On the surface, the Impi may not appear to be a stellar UU, since it does not come with extra strength or with obviously strong bonuses. However, the tactical value of this unit is considerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Impi comes with the Mobility promotion (-1 movement cost to enter tiles that would normally cost 2 moves or more) and 2 moves. Thus, they have the ability to rapidly cross territory and catch another nation with a weakly defended city in the early game, when borders are not really expanded and cultural defenses are not high. They can be two tiles from a city and attack it on the same turn that war is declared. Thanks to Aggressive, they also start with Combat I, making them a little stronger. Furthermore, they are eligible for City Raider promotions, which would help crack the defenses of those early cities. Their relatively low cost, meanwhile, helps you amass a number of them as quickly as possible and simply bum rush a close neighbour.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]They also make excellent pillagers. With the 100% bonus against mounted that spears get, the only units that can really catch them are not able to kill them effectively. Naturally, they can be put in your stacks or cities to defend and make counterattacks against mounted units. In your own territory, no enemy horse can hope to outrun them, so it's death to the common enemy pillagers![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An interesting gambit you can try is attaching a Great General to an Impi and giving him the Morale promotion, thus creating a 3-move unit with reduced terrain movement cost. If you manage to get it beyond Combat IV, you can add Commando to the collection. It's not going to be a particularly strong unit, but it might have some interesting tactical uses (such as running into a weakly defended part of an enemy empire to killl a worker and then getting out).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In addition, Impis have good synergy with the Zulu UB, the Ikhanda, which is a barrack that also acts as a mini courthouse (-20% maintenance cost for the city). Grab some cities from an unsuspecting opponent as outlined above and rush build Ikhandas in them to help pay for the early extra maintenance. Moreover, being Aggressive, Shaka builds his UB at double production speed, so it's more power to you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Zulus start conveniently with Hunting, which is required to build their UU, but Impis need copper or iron to be built. If you want to use them as an early attack unit, you must beeline to BW and find copper. If there's no copper around, well, then there's no hope for an Impi rush. The other downside to them is the fact that Mobility becomes useless when you upgrade them, unless you continue doing so all the way till they become mech infantry. No matter what, unroaded terrain would cost at least 1 movement point to enter and, except for mech infantry much later, the Impi's line of units only has 1 move each.</Spanish>
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		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_CONQUEST_DIPLO_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Conquest-Oriented Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy is a very complicated thing. In some multiplayer games (not restricted to CV titles), diplomacy is undisputely the most important factor to victory. I don't have any word to say for Dipoomacy in Multiplayer games, because people are smart, creative, and sometimes annoying spoiled kids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In single player games; however, the AI opponents can be viewed as dumb human players, who act according to predictable patterns. It is much easier to figure out some guidelines to crack AI's brains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to discuss the diplomatic approaches used in a conquest-oriented game. This does not limit to a Conquest Victory, but generally applies to all games that the human player expands effectively and continuously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one expands extremely well, then there will be a Conquest Victory, or a Domination Victory. Otherwise one can still achieve Tech (space) Victory. Even if that is not possible, one can still aim for a Diplomatic Victory by adjusting the friend/foe ratio (mentioned later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this board there is an article "Triangle Diplomacy", which is a very good read. This article of mine is a more generalized description of what we can do. In other words, you have to figure out a triangle, a hexagon, an axis, or an alliance yourself. Humans are creative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I only have 3 general guidelines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep all your opponents equally weak.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep as many foes as friends.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep expanding![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let me explain below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1) Keep all your opponents equally weak[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is the core of diplomacy. Do you know why the English divides up the Muslim Middle East in the early 20th century? *cough*[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you will emerge as the winner if all your opponents are weak. The trouble is other people will do the same to you, by sponsering your life enemy under the table. Do you know how much weapons the US is going to "encourage" Taiwan to buy from them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In CV4, you [BOLD]identify your stronger opponent at the time, and try to bribe the weaker ones to hate it [\BOLD](such as declaring a war). This involves some planning because you need to make friend with the weaker ones in advance. You must know that both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein used to be USA's friends by now. Do you know why they were USA's friends? Hint: they were both fighting against some other super power that no longer exist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you look at the score list, and figure out who needs to be put down, and who will be put down if you don't give them a lift. The high scorers sure needs to go down, and the bottom scorers not necessarily needs a lift (because of your limited power). Sure, it is fun to watch A put down B, but the consequence is A is going to merge B's land and evolves into a monster. You want to be that monster, not somebody else. So your mission here is exactly to help B to defend against A, but not feeding B too much so B eats A alive. When I was little, the TV cartoon hero's mission is always "help the weak to defend against the powerful". They do this for a reason that's not so naive, you see.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are usually more complicated than just scores, because you will be able to pick sides. Do you want to join the Budda's meditation class, or sing the chant of Hindu Blue? If you join one side, then you make CIvs on the other side hate you. Your powerful friend will become a headache, and your powerful enemy will also threaten your safety directly. This brings up the next guideline...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2) Keep as many foes as friends.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most effective diplomacy in a war-oriented game is NOT about to make a lot of friends, but to make your friends and foes both busy at fighting each other, while staying on the winning side. Obviously, if you have too many enemies and too little friends, you enemies will overpower you and run you over. So it is easy to pick side at first -- pick the side that will grant you SAFETY![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Less obviously, if you have too many friends, you friends will kill off all the enemies and prosper, or plot some conspiracy against you, and you have no way to stop your friends from surpassing you in score and tech. This isn't the end of the world, though. You can always dump your friends. Saddam is on trial now, isn't he?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is actually [BOLD]a careful balance of friends and foes[\BOLD]. If you see too many enemies, bring one down to restore the balance. If you have too many friends, bring one down to restore the balance. Notice the common phrase here -- bring somebody down...! You are bringing down other Civs, one by one. Eventually you will be the only one left, hence the Conquest Victory comes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The top scorers really needs to go fast. Friend or foe, you must bribe others to bring them down along with you. You are lucky if they are actually your neighbors, but what if they are not? Then you can either raze the cities, or give it to the underdog Civ who won't develop into the next superpower to dethrone yourself. During the "bringing down the biggest threat, then the next, then the next" process, you balance the ratio of friend and foe, to keep them busy with each other. You match them up, A1 hates B1, A2 hates B2, A3 hates B3, or even better A1 also hates B2 and B3, etc. They will drag each other into war, and nobody is really gaining anything through all the war because they are all equally strong, or weak relative to you. Later on, you will have a much easier time to wipe them out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also very beneficial to bribe your target to attack somebody else, about 10 turns before your grand backstab. 10 turns is about enough to get most of your target's extra troops far away (or killed). Likewise, every time you go to war, make sure you can't get backstabbed. If you can, make all nearby unfriendly Civs busy, so even if your target calls for help, nobody will come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3) Keep Expanding![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is really obvious, but easy to froget. I just include it for morale boosting reason. You know the drill. [BOLD]Keep expanding![\BOLD] You already have a good plan of the sequence of attack. On the first second you see the map clear, and the religions laid out, you form some plans of how you are going to win this game, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here comes a real game example. Every game is different, but the techniques used are similar. One can never go wrong by being creative, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120881[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this link above, I have some simplified pictures of the map at different times. They are not totally to scale, just for reference. You may want to un-shrink the map on your web browser to see the fonts clearly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game I am the Magenta Civ (Mao) on the very right end of the Standard Pangaea. Don't worry about the city names - the leaders are matched to their color. To my left are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ghandi (purple)[NEWLINE]Roosevelt (blue)[NEWLINE]Saladin (dark green)[NEWLINE]Isabella (pink)[NEWLINE]Napolean (dark blue)[NEWLINE]Bismark (dark grey)[NEWLINE]Qin Shi Huang (yellow)[NEWLINE]Montezuma (light green)[NEWLINE]Elizebeth (light grey)[NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (greenish brown)[NEWLINE]Kublai Khan (brown)[NEWLINE]Catherine (orange)[NEWLINE]Alexander (blue-green)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1800 BC[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My workers are hard choppers, and my axemen are swarming around like locusts. The international atomsphere is taking its shape. Ghandi founded Buddism earlier, and Bombay the Holy City is under my control. Lucky for me, Buddism spread to all of my religiously-fanatic neighbors, so they were all very happy with me (except Qin who declared war on me very soon.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apart from the Buddhism east, there is Hinduism west, slightly larger and centered on York (Elizebeth). Other Hindu members include Montezuma, Mansa Musa, Alexander, Catherine, and Kublai Khan. Around this time, Monty built a Oracle and founded Judaism, and later converted to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Liz's New Hamshire was taken by Monty very early in the game, before I even met Liz and Monty. The outcome of this skirmish was that Liz was permenantly crippled, and Monty's strong economical/military power was established.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qin declared war on me while I was attacking Napolean, and by wiping Qin out later I made a big mistake. I gave Beijing (yellow BJ on the map) to Saladin, to avoid the death of an exposed, low health, but very highly experienced axeman. Saladin was the only Civ I've met at the time who was willing to take the gift, so I had no other choice. I should have just razed Beijing, and sacrifice that poor axeman. (more on the consequence later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]700BC.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 9 cities to boot I was leading in score, followed closely by Saladin, then Monty. Saladin essentially took over all of Qin's land thanks to my gift of Beijing. Saladin is quickly catching up in tech and he has cottage spawned a huge grassland around Mecca and Medina. My lead is disappearing. Although I am well protected by brother/sister Saladin, Isabella and Bismark, I don't have any bright future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My future is dim not only because my friend Saladin will outgrow me, but also the Hinduism west will unite and become a huge threat. Even Monty has a huge stack waiting. (see here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120672&amp;d=1143322043)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can save me besides the map editor? You got it -- [BOLD] Conquest-oriented Diplomacy![\BOLD] Dang Dang![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My great evil plan is to make a world war. I wish to keep the west busy and hate each other. They will keep fighting, weakening each other, while nobody gains anything, and I gain lands from the east.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately, since I own Buddhism, I can kill 2 birds with 1 baldy, well actually quite a few baldies. These bald missionaries will bring me incomes and friends. With my stream of baldies some Civs in the west will convert to Buddhism, become my friend, take my bribe to attack Hinduism Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I can't convert people without an Open Border, so I have to give them really cheap deals to get the +4 "Our trade relationship has been fair..." so the Hindu Civs' will agree on an Open Border.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point I managed to Open Border with Mansa Musa, Catherine and Kublai. But I have to be careful not to convert everybody - I need as many foes as friends, so they will fight each other, and weaken themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a simple pattern of AI's conversion. If an AI doesn't own a particular holy city, it will automatically convert to the religion that has the most popularity in its land. For example, Kubali Khan has 4 cities, 3 of them with Hinduism. He has a good reason to become a Hindu. However, after my missionaries added Budda's shiny statue to ALL 4 of Kublai cities, he converted himself to Buddism. I don't even have to ask and lose a tech. (Well, maybe Saladin or Isabella did)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there are 2 or more equally popular religions, the AIs can be pursuaded to convert to any side. Another factor is the international atmosphere. Obviously one tries not to become the only pagen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see from my mini-map, Catherine is blocking Kublai's way out, so they are a natural pair of archrival. I want Catherine and Kublai to go that way, even if they like each other now. So, I spread Buddhism to all of Kublai's cities; he converts. However, I spared Cath's Moscow and another city, so Cathy stays a Hindu, which is present in all of Catherine's cities. I still spread Buddhism to other Catherine's cities so I get some income from them from my Shrine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine and Kublai used to be close friends, but after Kublai's flip, I easily bribed Cathy (the best backstabber according to Personality Matrix) to go after Kublai.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another example I have is Mansa Musa and Alexander. Alexander helped Monty to attack Mansa before (Alex briefly converted to Judaism, but converted back to Hinduism later), so MM and Alex already dislike each other. Now since my baldies cannot enter Alexander's land due to a lack of Open Border, I convert Mansa Musa to Buddhism. They are now even more likely to fight again in the future![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to make sure Mansa Musa the crazy tech racer is not doing the best he could, I bribed MM to go after Monty. He took one of Monty's cities, and Monty took one of his. Excellent![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also bribed Bismark to go after Monty, just to make them hate each other, and keep Monty's attention away from me. (I am a paranoid, thinking Monty's huge stack was intended to me). Monty's stack of death sacked Bismark's border city, but didn't do so well on Hamburg's tough defense. Monty didn't use any catapult and simply threw them to the stone wall. Now Monty hates Bismark more than me, and I will be able to border Monty safer after I take Saladin's northern territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now the (miserable) future of the West is roughly decided; I can concentrate on the present east - my rival Saladin. The war isn't the point of this article, so I will just tell you in brief. I bribing Saladin to go after Elizebeth, and mass produced all kinds of troops to backstab Saladin. If I didn't bribe Saladin's large maceman stack away, I don't think I had a chance, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally I took over Saladin's lands on the east. Interestingly, Saladin never pulled back his maceman, but to leave all of them in the west, defending London and other English cities, which he captured from Elizebeth (stupid AI. Any human player would give up those cities and rush back to defend homeland.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My troop chased Saladin across the Pangaea, and finished him in a small town on the west coast. That town used to be a prosperous city of Mansa Musa, but Monty sacked it, and culturally it flipped to the English, only to be taken by Saladin a few turns later. Now this town is given away to Alexander by me, along with other former English cities. Alex has been in the bottom of the list for long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apparantly it is a weird decision of me to give 3 cities to Alex. York is the holy city of Hinduism. By giving it to Hindu Alex, I am pretty much gauranteed a Hindu Alex in the future, and sure he will not like me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So why do I bother to make a potential enemy strong? Well, I really want to establish some enemies for Mansa Musa, the notorious tech racer. With a well-grwon Alex in the future, Mansa Musa will be surrounded by 3 hostiles, Monty, Alex and Catherine. (I bribed MM to attack Cathy later. You can see on the next map St. Peterburg was taken by MM's musketeer, thanks to my free gunpowder.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to summrize the relationships in the west.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Monty (Judaism) - Catherine (Hinduism) - Alexander (Hinduism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]vs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (Buddhism) - Bismark (Buddism) - Kublai Khan (Buddism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Past wars:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MM --(attacked)--&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Bismark --&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; MM[NEWLINE]Catherine --&gt; Kublai[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; Bismark[NEWLINE]MM --&gt; Catherine[NEWLINE]Monty --&gt; MM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]380 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the west further "blanaced", I had the free time to take out Isabella. Actually the war with Saladin cost me a few hundred years in tech development. I rushed to Chemistry by Liberalism. Before Liberalism I rushed Economics to get the free Great Merchant. Guess how much I got from MM's capital? 6900G! I upgraded all of my assaulting melee units to Grenadiers, and still had more than 2000G left. Isabella, who has never seen war, became a victim of Grenadier + knight + musketeer + catapult sea rush. She went down on the 8th turn. If I had not bribed the western world to war on each other, they would definitely beat me on Economics and Liberalism at this point. (I beat MM of Economics by 2 turns.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is now clear that I am going to win. I will then take down the other Civs one by one, a friend, an enemy, a friend, an enemy, until there is nobody left. I think Bismark -&gt; Monty -&gt; MM -&gt; Alex -&gt; Cathy -&gt; Kublai is a good route.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To the power of Diplomacy!</English>
		<French>[H1]Conquest-Oriented Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy is a very complicated thing. In some multiplayer games (not restricted to CV titles), diplomacy is undisputely the most important factor to victory. I don't have any word to say for Dipoomacy in Multiplayer games, because people are smart, creative, and sometimes annoying spoiled kids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In single player games; however, the AI opponents can be viewed as dumb human players, who act according to predictable patterns. It is much easier to figure out some guidelines to crack AI's brains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to discuss the diplomatic approaches used in a conquest-oriented game. This does not limit to a Conquest Victory, but generally applies to all games that the human player expands effectively and continuously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one expands extremely well, then there will be a Conquest Victory, or a Domination Victory. Otherwise one can still achieve Tech (space) Victory. Even if that is not possible, one can still aim for a Diplomatic Victory by adjusting the friend/foe ratio (mentioned later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this board there is an article "Triangle Diplomacy", which is a very good read. This article of mine is a more generalized description of what we can do. In other words, you have to figure out a triangle, a hexagon, an axis, or an alliance yourself. Humans are creative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I only have 3 general guidelines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep all your opponents equally weak.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep as many foes as friends.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep expanding![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let me explain below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1) Keep all your opponents equally weak[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is the core of diplomacy. Do you know why the English divides up the Muslim Middle East in the early 20th century? *cough*[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you will emerge as the winner if all your opponents are weak. The trouble is other people will do the same to you, by sponsering your life enemy under the table. Do you know how much weapons the US is going to "encourage" Taiwan to buy from them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In CV4, you [BOLD]identify your stronger opponent at the time, and try to bribe the weaker ones to hate it [\BOLD](such as declaring a war). This involves some planning because you need to make friend with the weaker ones in advance. You must know that both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein used to be USA's friends by now. Do you know why they were USA's friends? Hint: they were both fighting against some other super power that no longer exist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you look at the score list, and figure out who needs to be put down, and who will be put down if you don't give them a lift. The high scorers sure needs to go down, and the bottom scorers not necessarily needs a lift (because of your limited power). Sure, it is fun to watch A put down B, but the consequence is A is going to merge B's land and evolves into a monster. You want to be that monster, not somebody else. So your mission here is exactly to help B to defend against A, but not feeding B too much so B eats A alive. When I was little, the TV cartoon hero's mission is always "help the weak to defend against the powerful". They do this for a reason that's not so naive, you see.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are usually more complicated than just scores, because you will be able to pick sides. Do you want to join the Budda's meditation class, or sing the chant of Hindu Blue? If you join one side, then you make CIvs on the other side hate you. Your powerful friend will become a headache, and your powerful enemy will also threaten your safety directly. This brings up the next guideline...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2) Keep as many foes as friends.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most effective diplomacy in a war-oriented game is NOT about to make a lot of friends, but to make your friends and foes both busy at fighting each other, while staying on the winning side. Obviously, if you have too many enemies and too little friends, you enemies will overpower you and run you over. So it is easy to pick side at first -- pick the side that will grant you SAFETY![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Less obviously, if you have too many friends, you friends will kill off all the enemies and prosper, or plot some conspiracy against you, and you have no way to stop your friends from surpassing you in score and tech. This isn't the end of the world, though. You can always dump your friends. Saddam is on trial now, isn't he?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is actually [BOLD]a careful balance of friends and foes[\BOLD]. If you see too many enemies, bring one down to restore the balance. If you have too many friends, bring one down to restore the balance. Notice the common phrase here -- bring somebody down...! You are bringing down other Civs, one by one. Eventually you will be the only one left, hence the Conquest Victory comes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The top scorers really needs to go fast. Friend or foe, you must bribe others to bring them down along with you. You are lucky if they are actually your neighbors, but what if they are not? Then you can either raze the cities, or give it to the underdog Civ who won't develop into the next superpower to dethrone yourself. During the "bringing down the biggest threat, then the next, then the next" process, you balance the ratio of friend and foe, to keep them busy with each other. You match them up, A1 hates B1, A2 hates B2, A3 hates B3, or even better A1 also hates B2 and B3, etc. They will drag each other into war, and nobody is really gaining anything through all the war because they are all equally strong, or weak relative to you. Later on, you will have a much easier time to wipe them out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also very beneficial to bribe your target to attack somebody else, about 10 turns before your grand backstab. 10 turns is about enough to get most of your target's extra troops far away (or killed). Likewise, every time you go to war, make sure you can't get backstabbed. If you can, make all nearby unfriendly Civs busy, so even if your target calls for help, nobody will come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3) Keep Expanding![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is really obvious, but easy to froget. I just include it for morale boosting reason. You know the drill. [BOLD]Keep expanding![\BOLD] You already have a good plan of the sequence of attack. On the first second you see the map clear, and the religions laid out, you form some plans of how you are going to win this game, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here comes a real game example. Every game is different, but the techniques used are similar. One can never go wrong by being creative, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120881[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this link above, I have some simplified pictures of the map at different times. They are not totally to scale, just for reference. You may want to un-shrink the map on your web browser to see the fonts clearly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game I am the Magenta Civ (Mao) on the very right end of the Standard Pangaea. Don't worry about the city names - the leaders are matched to their color. To my left are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ghandi (purple)[NEWLINE]Roosevelt (blue)[NEWLINE]Saladin (dark green)[NEWLINE]Isabella (pink)[NEWLINE]Napolean (dark blue)[NEWLINE]Bismark (dark grey)[NEWLINE]Qin Shi Huang (yellow)[NEWLINE]Montezuma (light green)[NEWLINE]Elizebeth (light grey)[NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (greenish brown)[NEWLINE]Kublai Khan (brown)[NEWLINE]Catherine (orange)[NEWLINE]Alexander (blue-green)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1800 BC[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My workers are hard choppers, and my axemen are swarming around like locusts. The international atomsphere is taking its shape. Ghandi founded Buddism earlier, and Bombay the Holy City is under my control. Lucky for me, Buddism spread to all of my religiously-fanatic neighbors, so they were all very happy with me (except Qin who declared war on me very soon.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apart from the Buddhism east, there is Hinduism west, slightly larger and centered on York (Elizebeth). Other Hindu members include Montezuma, Mansa Musa, Alexander, Catherine, and Kublai Khan. Around this time, Monty built a Oracle and founded Judaism, and later converted to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Liz's New Hamshire was taken by Monty very early in the game, before I even met Liz and Monty. The outcome of this skirmish was that Liz was permenantly crippled, and Monty's strong economical/military power was established.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qin declared war on me while I was attacking Napolean, and by wiping Qin out later I made a big mistake. I gave Beijing (yellow BJ on the map) to Saladin, to avoid the death of an exposed, low health, but very highly experienced axeman. Saladin was the only Civ I've met at the time who was willing to take the gift, so I had no other choice. I should have just razed Beijing, and sacrifice that poor axeman. (more on the consequence later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]700BC.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 9 cities to boot I was leading in score, followed closely by Saladin, then Monty. Saladin essentially took over all of Qin's land thanks to my gift of Beijing. Saladin is quickly catching up in tech and he has cottage spawned a huge grassland around Mecca and Medina. My lead is disappearing. Although I am well protected by brother/sister Saladin, Isabella and Bismark, I don't have any bright future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My future is dim not only because my friend Saladin will outgrow me, but also the Hinduism west will unite and become a huge threat. Even Monty has a huge stack waiting. (see here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120672&amp;d=1143322043)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can save me besides the map editor? You got it -- [BOLD] Conquest-oriented Diplomacy![\BOLD] Dang Dang![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My great evil plan is to make a world war. I wish to keep the west busy and hate each other. They will keep fighting, weakening each other, while nobody gains anything, and I gain lands from the east.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately, since I own Buddhism, I can kill 2 birds with 1 baldy, well actually quite a few baldies. These bald missionaries will bring me incomes and friends. With my stream of baldies some Civs in the west will convert to Buddhism, become my friend, take my bribe to attack Hinduism Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I can't convert people without an Open Border, so I have to give them really cheap deals to get the +4 "Our trade relationship has been fair..." so the Hindu Civs' will agree on an Open Border.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point I managed to Open Border with Mansa Musa, Catherine and Kublai. But I have to be careful not to convert everybody - I need as many foes as friends, so they will fight each other, and weaken themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a simple pattern of AI's conversion. If an AI doesn't own a particular holy city, it will automatically convert to the religion that has the most popularity in its land. For example, Kubali Khan has 4 cities, 3 of them with Hinduism. He has a good reason to become a Hindu. However, after my missionaries added Budda's shiny statue to ALL 4 of Kublai cities, he converted himself to Buddism. I don't even have to ask and lose a tech. (Well, maybe Saladin or Isabella did)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there are 2 or more equally popular religions, the AIs can be pursuaded to convert to any side. Another factor is the international atmosphere. Obviously one tries not to become the only pagen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see from my mini-map, Catherine is blocking Kublai's way out, so they are a natural pair of archrival. I want Catherine and Kublai to go that way, even if they like each other now. So, I spread Buddhism to all of Kublai's cities; he converts. However, I spared Cath's Moscow and another city, so Cathy stays a Hindu, which is present in all of Catherine's cities. I still spread Buddhism to other Catherine's cities so I get some income from them from my Shrine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine and Kublai used to be close friends, but after Kublai's flip, I easily bribed Cathy (the best backstabber according to Personality Matrix) to go after Kublai.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another example I have is Mansa Musa and Alexander. Alexander helped Monty to attack Mansa before (Alex briefly converted to Judaism, but converted back to Hinduism later), so MM and Alex already dislike each other. Now since my baldies cannot enter Alexander's land due to a lack of Open Border, I convert Mansa Musa to Buddhism. They are now even more likely to fight again in the future![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to make sure Mansa Musa the crazy tech racer is not doing the best he could, I bribed MM to go after Monty. He took one of Monty's cities, and Monty took one of his. Excellent![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also bribed Bismark to go after Monty, just to make them hate each other, and keep Monty's attention away from me. (I am a paranoid, thinking Monty's huge stack was intended to me). Monty's stack of death sacked Bismark's border city, but didn't do so well on Hamburg's tough defense. Monty didn't use any catapult and simply threw them to the stone wall. Now Monty hates Bismark more than me, and I will be able to border Monty safer after I take Saladin's northern territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now the (miserable) future of the West is roughly decided; I can concentrate on the present east - my rival Saladin. The war isn't the point of this article, so I will just tell you in brief. I bribing Saladin to go after Elizebeth, and mass produced all kinds of troops to backstab Saladin. If I didn't bribe Saladin's large maceman stack away, I don't think I had a chance, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally I took over Saladin's lands on the east. Interestingly, Saladin never pulled back his maceman, but to leave all of them in the west, defending London and other English cities, which he captured from Elizebeth (stupid AI. Any human player would give up those cities and rush back to defend homeland.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My troop chased Saladin across the Pangaea, and finished him in a small town on the west coast. That town used to be a prosperous city of Mansa Musa, but Monty sacked it, and culturally it flipped to the English, only to be taken by Saladin a few turns later. Now this town is given away to Alexander by me, along with other former English cities. Alex has been in the bottom of the list for long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apparantly it is a weird decision of me to give 3 cities to Alex. York is the holy city of Hinduism. By giving it to Hindu Alex, I am pretty much gauranteed a Hindu Alex in the future, and sure he will not like me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So why do I bother to make a potential enemy strong? Well, I really want to establish some enemies for Mansa Musa, the notorious tech racer. With a well-grwon Alex in the future, Mansa Musa will be surrounded by 3 hostiles, Monty, Alex and Catherine. (I bribed MM to attack Cathy later. You can see on the next map St. Peterburg was taken by MM's musketeer, thanks to my free gunpowder.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to summrize the relationships in the west.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Monty (Judaism) - Catherine (Hinduism) - Alexander (Hinduism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]vs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (Buddhism) - Bismark (Buddism) - Kublai Khan (Buddism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Past wars:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MM --(attacked)--&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Bismark --&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; MM[NEWLINE]Catherine --&gt; Kublai[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; Bismark[NEWLINE]MM --&gt; Catherine[NEWLINE]Monty --&gt; MM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]380 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the west further "blanaced", I had the free time to take out Isabella. Actually the war with Saladin cost me a few hundred years in tech development. I rushed to Chemistry by Liberalism. Before Liberalism I rushed Economics to get the free Great Merchant. Guess how much I got from MM's capital? 6900G! I upgraded all of my assaulting melee units to Grenadiers, and still had more than 2000G left. Isabella, who has never seen war, became a victim of Grenadier + knight + musketeer + catapult sea rush. She went down on the 8th turn. If I had not bribed the western world to war on each other, they would definitely beat me on Economics and Liberalism at this point. (I beat MM of Economics by 2 turns.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is now clear that I am going to win. I will then take down the other Civs one by one, a friend, an enemy, a friend, an enemy, until there is nobody left. I think Bismark -&gt; Monty -&gt; MM -&gt; Alex -&gt; Cathy -&gt; Kublai is a good route.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To the power of Diplomacy!</French>
		<German>[H1]Conquest-Oriented Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy is a very complicated thing. In some multiplayer games (not restricted to CV titles), diplomacy is undisputely the most important factor to victory. I don't have any word to say for Dipoomacy in Multiplayer games, because people are smart, creative, and sometimes annoying spoiled kids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In single player games; however, the AI opponents can be viewed as dumb human players, who act according to predictable patterns. It is much easier to figure out some guidelines to crack AI's brains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to discuss the diplomatic approaches used in a conquest-oriented game. This does not limit to a Conquest Victory, but generally applies to all games that the human player expands effectively and continuously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one expands extremely well, then there will be a Conquest Victory, or a Domination Victory. Otherwise one can still achieve Tech (space) Victory. Even if that is not possible, one can still aim for a Diplomatic Victory by adjusting the friend/foe ratio (mentioned later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this board there is an article "Triangle Diplomacy", which is a very good read. This article of mine is a more generalized description of what we can do. In other words, you have to figure out a triangle, a hexagon, an axis, or an alliance yourself. Humans are creative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I only have 3 general guidelines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep all your opponents equally weak.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep as many foes as friends.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep expanding![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let me explain below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1) Keep all your opponents equally weak[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is the core of diplomacy. Do you know why the English divides up the Muslim Middle East in the early 20th century? *cough*[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you will emerge as the winner if all your opponents are weak. The trouble is other people will do the same to you, by sponsering your life enemy under the table. Do you know how much weapons the US is going to "encourage" Taiwan to buy from them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In CV4, you [BOLD]identify your stronger opponent at the time, and try to bribe the weaker ones to hate it [\BOLD](such as declaring a war). This involves some planning because you need to make friend with the weaker ones in advance. You must know that both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein used to be USA's friends by now. Do you know why they were USA's friends? Hint: they were both fighting against some other super power that no longer exist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you look at the score list, and figure out who needs to be put down, and who will be put down if you don't give them a lift. The high scorers sure needs to go down, and the bottom scorers not necessarily needs a lift (because of your limited power). Sure, it is fun to watch A put down B, but the consequence is A is going to merge B's land and evolves into a monster. You want to be that monster, not somebody else. So your mission here is exactly to help B to defend against A, but not feeding B too much so B eats A alive. When I was little, the TV cartoon hero's mission is always "help the weak to defend against the powerful". They do this for a reason that's not so naive, you see.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are usually more complicated than just scores, because you will be able to pick sides. Do you want to join the Budda's meditation class, or sing the chant of Hindu Blue? If you join one side, then you make CIvs on the other side hate you. Your powerful friend will become a headache, and your powerful enemy will also threaten your safety directly. This brings up the next guideline...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2) Keep as many foes as friends.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most effective diplomacy in a war-oriented game is NOT about to make a lot of friends, but to make your friends and foes both busy at fighting each other, while staying on the winning side. Obviously, if you have too many enemies and too little friends, you enemies will overpower you and run you over. So it is easy to pick side at first -- pick the side that will grant you SAFETY![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Less obviously, if you have too many friends, you friends will kill off all the enemies and prosper, or plot some conspiracy against you, and you have no way to stop your friends from surpassing you in score and tech. This isn't the end of the world, though. You can always dump your friends. Saddam is on trial now, isn't he?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is actually [BOLD]a careful balance of friends and foes[\BOLD]. If you see too many enemies, bring one down to restore the balance. If you have too many friends, bring one down to restore the balance. Notice the common phrase here -- bring somebody down...! You are bringing down other Civs, one by one. Eventually you will be the only one left, hence the Conquest Victory comes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The top scorers really needs to go fast. Friend or foe, you must bribe others to bring them down along with you. You are lucky if they are actually your neighbors, but what if they are not? Then you can either raze the cities, or give it to the underdog Civ who won't develop into the next superpower to dethrone yourself. During the "bringing down the biggest threat, then the next, then the next" process, you balance the ratio of friend and foe, to keep them busy with each other. You match them up, A1 hates B1, A2 hates B2, A3 hates B3, or even better A1 also hates B2 and B3, etc. They will drag each other into war, and nobody is really gaining anything through all the war because they are all equally strong, or weak relative to you. Later on, you will have a much easier time to wipe them out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also very beneficial to bribe your target to attack somebody else, about 10 turns before your grand backstab. 10 turns is about enough to get most of your target's extra troops far away (or killed). Likewise, every time you go to war, make sure you can't get backstabbed. If you can, make all nearby unfriendly Civs busy, so even if your target calls for help, nobody will come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3) Keep Expanding![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is really obvious, but easy to froget. I just include it for morale boosting reason. You know the drill. [BOLD]Keep expanding![\BOLD] You already have a good plan of the sequence of attack. On the first second you see the map clear, and the religions laid out, you form some plans of how you are going to win this game, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here comes a real game example. Every game is different, but the techniques used are similar. One can never go wrong by being creative, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120881[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this link above, I have some simplified pictures of the map at different times. They are not totally to scale, just for reference. You may want to un-shrink the map on your web browser to see the fonts clearly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game I am the Magenta Civ (Mao) on the very right end of the Standard Pangaea. Don't worry about the city names - the leaders are matched to their color. To my left are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ghandi (purple)[NEWLINE]Roosevelt (blue)[NEWLINE]Saladin (dark green)[NEWLINE]Isabella (pink)[NEWLINE]Napolean (dark blue)[NEWLINE]Bismark (dark grey)[NEWLINE]Qin Shi Huang (yellow)[NEWLINE]Montezuma (light green)[NEWLINE]Elizebeth (light grey)[NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (greenish brown)[NEWLINE]Kublai Khan (brown)[NEWLINE]Catherine (orange)[NEWLINE]Alexander (blue-green)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1800 BC[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My workers are hard choppers, and my axemen are swarming around like locusts. The international atomsphere is taking its shape. Ghandi founded Buddism earlier, and Bombay the Holy City is under my control. Lucky for me, Buddism spread to all of my religiously-fanatic neighbors, so they were all very happy with me (except Qin who declared war on me very soon.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apart from the Buddhism east, there is Hinduism west, slightly larger and centered on York (Elizebeth). Other Hindu members include Montezuma, Mansa Musa, Alexander, Catherine, and Kublai Khan. Around this time, Monty built a Oracle and founded Judaism, and later converted to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Liz's New Hamshire was taken by Monty very early in the game, before I even met Liz and Monty. The outcome of this skirmish was that Liz was permenantly crippled, and Monty's strong economical/military power was established.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qin declared war on me while I was attacking Napolean, and by wiping Qin out later I made a big mistake. I gave Beijing (yellow BJ on the map) to Saladin, to avoid the death of an exposed, low health, but very highly experienced axeman. Saladin was the only Civ I've met at the time who was willing to take the gift, so I had no other choice. I should have just razed Beijing, and sacrifice that poor axeman. (more on the consequence later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]700BC.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 9 cities to boot I was leading in score, followed closely by Saladin, then Monty. Saladin essentially took over all of Qin's land thanks to my gift of Beijing. Saladin is quickly catching up in tech and he has cottage spawned a huge grassland around Mecca and Medina. My lead is disappearing. Although I am well protected by brother/sister Saladin, Isabella and Bismark, I don't have any bright future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My future is dim not only because my friend Saladin will outgrow me, but also the Hinduism west will unite and become a huge threat. Even Monty has a huge stack waiting. (see here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120672&amp;d=1143322043)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can save me besides the map editor? You got it -- [BOLD] Conquest-oriented Diplomacy![\BOLD] Dang Dang![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My great evil plan is to make a world war. I wish to keep the west busy and hate each other. They will keep fighting, weakening each other, while nobody gains anything, and I gain lands from the east.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately, since I own Buddhism, I can kill 2 birds with 1 baldy, well actually quite a few baldies. These bald missionaries will bring me incomes and friends. With my stream of baldies some Civs in the west will convert to Buddhism, become my friend, take my bribe to attack Hinduism Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I can't convert people without an Open Border, so I have to give them really cheap deals to get the +4 "Our trade relationship has been fair..." so the Hindu Civs' will agree on an Open Border.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point I managed to Open Border with Mansa Musa, Catherine and Kublai. But I have to be careful not to convert everybody - I need as many foes as friends, so they will fight each other, and weaken themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a simple pattern of AI's conversion. If an AI doesn't own a particular holy city, it will automatically convert to the religion that has the most popularity in its land. For example, Kubali Khan has 4 cities, 3 of them with Hinduism. He has a good reason to become a Hindu. However, after my missionaries added Budda's shiny statue to ALL 4 of Kublai cities, he converted himself to Buddism. I don't even have to ask and lose a tech. (Well, maybe Saladin or Isabella did)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there are 2 or more equally popular religions, the AIs can be pursuaded to convert to any side. Another factor is the international atmosphere. Obviously one tries not to become the only pagen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see from my mini-map, Catherine is blocking Kublai's way out, so they are a natural pair of archrival. I want Catherine and Kublai to go that way, even if they like each other now. So, I spread Buddhism to all of Kublai's cities; he converts. However, I spared Cath's Moscow and another city, so Cathy stays a Hindu, which is present in all of Catherine's cities. I still spread Buddhism to other Catherine's cities so I get some income from them from my Shrine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine and Kublai used to be close friends, but after Kublai's flip, I easily bribed Cathy (the best backstabber according to Personality Matrix) to go after Kublai.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another example I have is Mansa Musa and Alexander. Alexander helped Monty to attack Mansa before (Alex briefly converted to Judaism, but converted back to Hinduism later), so MM and Alex already dislike each other. Now since my baldies cannot enter Alexander's land due to a lack of Open Border, I convert Mansa Musa to Buddhism. They are now even more likely to fight again in the future![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to make sure Mansa Musa the crazy tech racer is not doing the best he could, I bribed MM to go after Monty. He took one of Monty's cities, and Monty took one of his. Excellent![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also bribed Bismark to go after Monty, just to make them hate each other, and keep Monty's attention away from me. (I am a paranoid, thinking Monty's huge stack was intended to me). Monty's stack of death sacked Bismark's border city, but didn't do so well on Hamburg's tough defense. Monty didn't use any catapult and simply threw them to the stone wall. Now Monty hates Bismark more than me, and I will be able to border Monty safer after I take Saladin's northern territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now the (miserable) future of the West is roughly decided; I can concentrate on the present east - my rival Saladin. The war isn't the point of this article, so I will just tell you in brief. I bribing Saladin to go after Elizebeth, and mass produced all kinds of troops to backstab Saladin. If I didn't bribe Saladin's large maceman stack away, I don't think I had a chance, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally I took over Saladin's lands on the east. Interestingly, Saladin never pulled back his maceman, but to leave all of them in the west, defending London and other English cities, which he captured from Elizebeth (stupid AI. Any human player would give up those cities and rush back to defend homeland.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My troop chased Saladin across the Pangaea, and finished him in a small town on the west coast. That town used to be a prosperous city of Mansa Musa, but Monty sacked it, and culturally it flipped to the English, only to be taken by Saladin a few turns later. Now this town is given away to Alexander by me, along with other former English cities. Alex has been in the bottom of the list for long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apparantly it is a weird decision of me to give 3 cities to Alex. York is the holy city of Hinduism. By giving it to Hindu Alex, I am pretty much gauranteed a Hindu Alex in the future, and sure he will not like me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So why do I bother to make a potential enemy strong? Well, I really want to establish some enemies for Mansa Musa, the notorious tech racer. With a well-grwon Alex in the future, Mansa Musa will be surrounded by 3 hostiles, Monty, Alex and Catherine. (I bribed MM to attack Cathy later. You can see on the next map St. Peterburg was taken by MM's musketeer, thanks to my free gunpowder.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to summrize the relationships in the west.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Monty (Judaism) - Catherine (Hinduism) - Alexander (Hinduism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]vs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (Buddhism) - Bismark (Buddism) - Kublai Khan (Buddism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Past wars:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MM --(attacked)--&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Bismark --&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; MM[NEWLINE]Catherine --&gt; Kublai[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; Bismark[NEWLINE]MM --&gt; Catherine[NEWLINE]Monty --&gt; MM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]380 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the west further "blanaced", I had the free time to take out Isabella. Actually the war with Saladin cost me a few hundred years in tech development. I rushed to Chemistry by Liberalism. Before Liberalism I rushed Economics to get the free Great Merchant. Guess how much I got from MM's capital? 6900G! I upgraded all of my assaulting melee units to Grenadiers, and still had more than 2000G left. Isabella, who has never seen war, became a victim of Grenadier + knight + musketeer + catapult sea rush. She went down on the 8th turn. If I had not bribed the western world to war on each other, they would definitely beat me on Economics and Liberalism at this point. (I beat MM of Economics by 2 turns.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is now clear that I am going to win. I will then take down the other Civs one by one, a friend, an enemy, a friend, an enemy, until there is nobody left. I think Bismark -&gt; Monty -&gt; MM -&gt; Alex -&gt; Cathy -&gt; Kublai is a good route.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To the power of Diplomacy!</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Conquest-Oriented Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy is a very complicated thing. In some multiplayer games (not restricted to CV titles), diplomacy is undisputely the most important factor to victory. I don't have any word to say for Dipoomacy in Multiplayer games, because people are smart, creative, and sometimes annoying spoiled kids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In single player games; however, the AI opponents can be viewed as dumb human players, who act according to predictable patterns. It is much easier to figure out some guidelines to crack AI's brains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to discuss the diplomatic approaches used in a conquest-oriented game. This does not limit to a Conquest Victory, but generally applies to all games that the human player expands effectively and continuously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one expands extremely well, then there will be a Conquest Victory, or a Domination Victory. Otherwise one can still achieve Tech (space) Victory. Even if that is not possible, one can still aim for a Diplomatic Victory by adjusting the friend/foe ratio (mentioned later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this board there is an article "Triangle Diplomacy", which is a very good read. This article of mine is a more generalized description of what we can do. In other words, you have to figure out a triangle, a hexagon, an axis, or an alliance yourself. Humans are creative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I only have 3 general guidelines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep all your opponents equally weak.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep as many foes as friends.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep expanding![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let me explain below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1) Keep all your opponents equally weak[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is the core of diplomacy. Do you know why the English divides up the Muslim Middle East in the early 20th century? *cough*[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you will emerge as the winner if all your opponents are weak. The trouble is other people will do the same to you, by sponsering your life enemy under the table. Do you know how much weapons the US is going to "encourage" Taiwan to buy from them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In CV4, you [BOLD]identify your stronger opponent at the time, and try to bribe the weaker ones to hate it [\BOLD](such as declaring a war). This involves some planning because you need to make friend with the weaker ones in advance. You must know that both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein used to be USA's friends by now. Do you know why they were USA's friends? Hint: they were both fighting against some other super power that no longer exist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you look at the score list, and figure out who needs to be put down, and who will be put down if you don't give them a lift. The high scorers sure needs to go down, and the bottom scorers not necessarily needs a lift (because of your limited power). Sure, it is fun to watch A put down B, but the consequence is A is going to merge B's land and evolves into a monster. You want to be that monster, not somebody else. So your mission here is exactly to help B to defend against A, but not feeding B too much so B eats A alive. When I was little, the TV cartoon hero's mission is always "help the weak to defend against the powerful". They do this for a reason that's not so naive, you see.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are usually more complicated than just scores, because you will be able to pick sides. Do you want to join the Budda's meditation class, or sing the chant of Hindu Blue? If you join one side, then you make CIvs on the other side hate you. Your powerful friend will become a headache, and your powerful enemy will also threaten your safety directly. This brings up the next guideline...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2) Keep as many foes as friends.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most effective diplomacy in a war-oriented game is NOT about to make a lot of friends, but to make your friends and foes both busy at fighting each other, while staying on the winning side. Obviously, if you have too many enemies and too little friends, you enemies will overpower you and run you over. So it is easy to pick side at first -- pick the side that will grant you SAFETY![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Less obviously, if you have too many friends, you friends will kill off all the enemies and prosper, or plot some conspiracy against you, and you have no way to stop your friends from surpassing you in score and tech. This isn't the end of the world, though. You can always dump your friends. Saddam is on trial now, isn't he?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is actually [BOLD]a careful balance of friends and foes[\BOLD]. If you see too many enemies, bring one down to restore the balance. If you have too many friends, bring one down to restore the balance. Notice the common phrase here -- bring somebody down...! You are bringing down other Civs, one by one. Eventually you will be the only one left, hence the Conquest Victory comes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The top scorers really needs to go fast. Friend or foe, you must bribe others to bring them down along with you. You are lucky if they are actually your neighbors, but what if they are not? Then you can either raze the cities, or give it to the underdog Civ who won't develop into the next superpower to dethrone yourself. During the "bringing down the biggest threat, then the next, then the next" process, you balance the ratio of friend and foe, to keep them busy with each other. You match them up, A1 hates B1, A2 hates B2, A3 hates B3, or even better A1 also hates B2 and B3, etc. They will drag each other into war, and nobody is really gaining anything through all the war because they are all equally strong, or weak relative to you. Later on, you will have a much easier time to wipe them out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also very beneficial to bribe your target to attack somebody else, about 10 turns before your grand backstab. 10 turns is about enough to get most of your target's extra troops far away (or killed). Likewise, every time you go to war, make sure you can't get backstabbed. If you can, make all nearby unfriendly Civs busy, so even if your target calls for help, nobody will come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3) Keep Expanding![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is really obvious, but easy to froget. I just include it for morale boosting reason. You know the drill. [BOLD]Keep expanding![\BOLD] You already have a good plan of the sequence of attack. On the first second you see the map clear, and the religions laid out, you form some plans of how you are going to win this game, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here comes a real game example. Every game is different, but the techniques used are similar. One can never go wrong by being creative, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120881[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this link above, I have some simplified pictures of the map at different times. They are not totally to scale, just for reference. You may want to un-shrink the map on your web browser to see the fonts clearly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game I am the Magenta Civ (Mao) on the very right end of the Standard Pangaea. Don't worry about the city names - the leaders are matched to their color. To my left are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ghandi (purple)[NEWLINE]Roosevelt (blue)[NEWLINE]Saladin (dark green)[NEWLINE]Isabella (pink)[NEWLINE]Napolean (dark blue)[NEWLINE]Bismark (dark grey)[NEWLINE]Qin Shi Huang (yellow)[NEWLINE]Montezuma (light green)[NEWLINE]Elizebeth (light grey)[NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (greenish brown)[NEWLINE]Kublai Khan (brown)[NEWLINE]Catherine (orange)[NEWLINE]Alexander (blue-green)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1800 BC[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My workers are hard choppers, and my axemen are swarming around like locusts. The international atomsphere is taking its shape. Ghandi founded Buddism earlier, and Bombay the Holy City is under my control. Lucky for me, Buddism spread to all of my religiously-fanatic neighbors, so they were all very happy with me (except Qin who declared war on me very soon.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apart from the Buddhism east, there is Hinduism west, slightly larger and centered on York (Elizebeth). Other Hindu members include Montezuma, Mansa Musa, Alexander, Catherine, and Kublai Khan. Around this time, Monty built a Oracle and founded Judaism, and later converted to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Liz's New Hamshire was taken by Monty very early in the game, before I even met Liz and Monty. The outcome of this skirmish was that Liz was permenantly crippled, and Monty's strong economical/military power was established.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qin declared war on me while I was attacking Napolean, and by wiping Qin out later I made a big mistake. I gave Beijing (yellow BJ on the map) to Saladin, to avoid the death of an exposed, low health, but very highly experienced axeman. Saladin was the only Civ I've met at the time who was willing to take the gift, so I had no other choice. I should have just razed Beijing, and sacrifice that poor axeman. (more on the consequence later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]700BC.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 9 cities to boot I was leading in score, followed closely by Saladin, then Monty. Saladin essentially took over all of Qin's land thanks to my gift of Beijing. Saladin is quickly catching up in tech and he has cottage spawned a huge grassland around Mecca and Medina. My lead is disappearing. Although I am well protected by brother/sister Saladin, Isabella and Bismark, I don't have any bright future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My future is dim not only because my friend Saladin will outgrow me, but also the Hinduism west will unite and become a huge threat. Even Monty has a huge stack waiting. (see here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120672&amp;d=1143322043)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can save me besides the map editor? You got it -- [BOLD] Conquest-oriented Diplomacy![\BOLD] Dang Dang![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My great evil plan is to make a world war. I wish to keep the west busy and hate each other. They will keep fighting, weakening each other, while nobody gains anything, and I gain lands from the east.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately, since I own Buddhism, I can kill 2 birds with 1 baldy, well actually quite a few baldies. These bald missionaries will bring me incomes and friends. With my stream of baldies some Civs in the west will convert to Buddhism, become my friend, take my bribe to attack Hinduism Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I can't convert people without an Open Border, so I have to give them really cheap deals to get the +4 "Our trade relationship has been fair..." so the Hindu Civs' will agree on an Open Border.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point I managed to Open Border with Mansa Musa, Catherine and Kublai. But I have to be careful not to convert everybody - I need as many foes as friends, so they will fight each other, and weaken themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a simple pattern of AI's conversion. If an AI doesn't own a particular holy city, it will automatically convert to the religion that has the most popularity in its land. For example, Kubali Khan has 4 cities, 3 of them with Hinduism. He has a good reason to become a Hindu. However, after my missionaries added Budda's shiny statue to ALL 4 of Kublai cities, he converted himself to Buddism. I don't even have to ask and lose a tech. (Well, maybe Saladin or Isabella did)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there are 2 or more equally popular religions, the AIs can be pursuaded to convert to any side. Another factor is the international atmosphere. Obviously one tries not to become the only pagen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see from my mini-map, Catherine is blocking Kublai's way out, so they are a natural pair of archrival. I want Catherine and Kublai to go that way, even if they like each other now. So, I spread Buddhism to all of Kublai's cities; he converts. However, I spared Cath's Moscow and another city, so Cathy stays a Hindu, which is present in all of Catherine's cities. I still spread Buddhism to other Catherine's cities so I get some income from them from my Shrine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine and Kublai used to be close friends, but after Kublai's flip, I easily bribed Cathy (the best backstabber according to Personality Matrix) to go after Kublai.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another example I have is Mansa Musa and Alexander. Alexander helped Monty to attack Mansa before (Alex briefly converted to Judaism, but converted back to Hinduism later), so MM and Alex already dislike each other. Now since my baldies cannot enter Alexander's land due to a lack of Open Border, I convert Mansa Musa to Buddhism. They are now even more likely to fight again in the future![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to make sure Mansa Musa the crazy tech racer is not doing the best he could, I bribed MM to go after Monty. He took one of Monty's cities, and Monty took one of his. Excellent![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also bribed Bismark to go after Monty, just to make them hate each other, and keep Monty's attention away from me. (I am a paranoid, thinking Monty's huge stack was intended to me). Monty's stack of death sacked Bismark's border city, but didn't do so well on Hamburg's tough defense. Monty didn't use any catapult and simply threw them to the stone wall. Now Monty hates Bismark more than me, and I will be able to border Monty safer after I take Saladin's northern territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now the (miserable) future of the West is roughly decided; I can concentrate on the present east - my rival Saladin. The war isn't the point of this article, so I will just tell you in brief. I bribing Saladin to go after Elizebeth, and mass produced all kinds of troops to backstab Saladin. If I didn't bribe Saladin's large maceman stack away, I don't think I had a chance, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally I took over Saladin's lands on the east. Interestingly, Saladin never pulled back his maceman, but to leave all of them in the west, defending London and other English cities, which he captured from Elizebeth (stupid AI. Any human player would give up those cities and rush back to defend homeland.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My troop chased Saladin across the Pangaea, and finished him in a small town on the west coast. That town used to be a prosperous city of Mansa Musa, but Monty sacked it, and culturally it flipped to the English, only to be taken by Saladin a few turns later. Now this town is given away to Alexander by me, along with other former English cities. Alex has been in the bottom of the list for long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apparantly it is a weird decision of me to give 3 cities to Alex. York is the holy city of Hinduism. By giving it to Hindu Alex, I am pretty much gauranteed a Hindu Alex in the future, and sure he will not like me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So why do I bother to make a potential enemy strong? Well, I really want to establish some enemies for Mansa Musa, the notorious tech racer. With a well-grwon Alex in the future, Mansa Musa will be surrounded by 3 hostiles, Monty, Alex and Catherine. (I bribed MM to attack Cathy later. You can see on the next map St. Peterburg was taken by MM's musketeer, thanks to my free gunpowder.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to summrize the relationships in the west.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Monty (Judaism) - Catherine (Hinduism) - Alexander (Hinduism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]vs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (Buddhism) - Bismark (Buddism) - Kublai Khan (Buddism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Past wars:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MM --(attacked)--&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Bismark --&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; MM[NEWLINE]Catherine --&gt; Kublai[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; Bismark[NEWLINE]MM --&gt; Catherine[NEWLINE]Monty --&gt; MM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]380 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the west further "blanaced", I had the free time to take out Isabella. Actually the war with Saladin cost me a few hundred years in tech development. I rushed to Chemistry by Liberalism. Before Liberalism I rushed Economics to get the free Great Merchant. Guess how much I got from MM's capital? 6900G! I upgraded all of my assaulting melee units to Grenadiers, and still had more than 2000G left. Isabella, who has never seen war, became a victim of Grenadier + knight + musketeer + catapult sea rush. She went down on the 8th turn. If I had not bribed the western world to war on each other, they would definitely beat me on Economics and Liberalism at this point. (I beat MM of Economics by 2 turns.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is now clear that I am going to win. I will then take down the other Civs one by one, a friend, an enemy, a friend, an enemy, until there is nobody left. I think Bismark -&gt; Monty -&gt; MM -&gt; Alex -&gt; Cathy -&gt; Kublai is a good route.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To the power of Diplomacy!</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Conquest-Oriented Diplomacy[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Diplomacy is a very complicated thing. In some multiplayer games (not restricted to CV titles), diplomacy is undisputely the most important factor to victory. I don't have any word to say for Dipoomacy in Multiplayer games, because people are smart, creative, and sometimes annoying spoiled kids.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In single player games; however, the AI opponents can be viewed as dumb human players, who act according to predictable patterns. It is much easier to figure out some guidelines to crack AI's brains.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to discuss the diplomatic approaches used in a conquest-oriented game. This does not limit to a Conquest Victory, but generally applies to all games that the human player expands effectively and continuously.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If one expands extremely well, then there will be a Conquest Victory, or a Domination Victory. Otherwise one can still achieve Tech (space) Victory. Even if that is not possible, one can still aim for a Diplomatic Victory by adjusting the friend/foe ratio (mentioned later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]On this board there is an article "Triangle Diplomacy", which is a very good read. This article of mine is a more generalized description of what we can do. In other words, you have to figure out a triangle, a hexagon, an axis, or an alliance yourself. Humans are creative.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I only have 3 general guidelines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep all your opponents equally weak.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep as many foes as friends.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Keep expanding![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let me explain below.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]1) Keep all your opponents equally weak[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is the core of diplomacy. Do you know why the English divides up the Muslim Middle East in the early 20th century? *cough*[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Obviously, you will emerge as the winner if all your opponents are weak. The trouble is other people will do the same to you, by sponsering your life enemy under the table. Do you know how much weapons the US is going to "encourage" Taiwan to buy from them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In CV4, you [BOLD]identify your stronger opponent at the time, and try to bribe the weaker ones to hate it [\BOLD](such as declaring a war). This involves some planning because you need to make friend with the weaker ones in advance. You must know that both bin Laden and Saddam Hussein used to be USA's friends by now. Do you know why they were USA's friends? Hint: they were both fighting against some other super power that no longer exist.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you look at the score list, and figure out who needs to be put down, and who will be put down if you don't give them a lift. The high scorers sure needs to go down, and the bottom scorers not necessarily needs a lift (because of your limited power). Sure, it is fun to watch A put down B, but the consequence is A is going to merge B's land and evolves into a monster. You want to be that monster, not somebody else. So your mission here is exactly to help B to defend against A, but not feeding B too much so B eats A alive. When I was little, the TV cartoon hero's mission is always "help the weak to defend against the powerful". They do this for a reason that's not so naive, you see.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Things are usually more complicated than just scores, because you will be able to pick sides. Do you want to join the Budda's meditation class, or sing the chant of Hindu Blue? If you join one side, then you make CIvs on the other side hate you. Your powerful friend will become a headache, and your powerful enemy will also threaten your safety directly. This brings up the next guideline...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]2) Keep as many foes as friends.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most effective diplomacy in a war-oriented game is NOT about to make a lot of friends, but to make your friends and foes both busy at fighting each other, while staying on the winning side. Obviously, if you have too many enemies and too little friends, you enemies will overpower you and run you over. So it is easy to pick side at first -- pick the side that will grant you SAFETY![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Less obviously, if you have too many friends, you friends will kill off all the enemies and prosper, or plot some conspiracy against you, and you have no way to stop your friends from surpassing you in score and tech. This isn't the end of the world, though. You can always dump your friends. Saddam is on trial now, isn't he?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is actually [BOLD]a careful balance of friends and foes[\BOLD]. If you see too many enemies, bring one down to restore the balance. If you have too many friends, bring one down to restore the balance. Notice the common phrase here -- bring somebody down...! You are bringing down other Civs, one by one. Eventually you will be the only one left, hence the Conquest Victory comes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The top scorers really needs to go fast. Friend or foe, you must bribe others to bring them down along with you. You are lucky if they are actually your neighbors, but what if they are not? Then you can either raze the cities, or give it to the underdog Civ who won't develop into the next superpower to dethrone yourself. During the "bringing down the biggest threat, then the next, then the next" process, you balance the ratio of friend and foe, to keep them busy with each other. You match them up, A1 hates B1, A2 hates B2, A3 hates B3, or even better A1 also hates B2 and B3, etc. They will drag each other into war, and nobody is really gaining anything through all the war because they are all equally strong, or weak relative to you. Later on, you will have a much easier time to wipe them out.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is also very beneficial to bribe your target to attack somebody else, about 10 turns before your grand backstab. 10 turns is about enough to get most of your target's extra troops far away (or killed). Likewise, every time you go to war, make sure you can't get backstabbed. If you can, make all nearby unfriendly Civs busy, so even if your target calls for help, nobody will come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]3) Keep Expanding![\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is really obvious, but easy to froget. I just include it for morale boosting reason. You know the drill. [BOLD]Keep expanding![\BOLD] You already have a good plan of the sequence of attack. On the first second you see the map clear, and the religions laid out, you form some plans of how you are going to win this game, right?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Here comes a real game example. Every game is different, but the techniques used are similar. One can never go wrong by being creative, too.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Example: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120881[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this link above, I have some simplified pictures of the map at different times. They are not totally to scale, just for reference. You may want to un-shrink the map on your web browser to see the fonts clearly.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In this game I am the Magenta Civ (Mao) on the very right end of the Standard Pangaea. Don't worry about the city names - the leaders are matched to their color. To my left are:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ghandi (purple)[NEWLINE]Roosevelt (blue)[NEWLINE]Saladin (dark green)[NEWLINE]Isabella (pink)[NEWLINE]Napolean (dark blue)[NEWLINE]Bismark (dark grey)[NEWLINE]Qin Shi Huang (yellow)[NEWLINE]Montezuma (light green)[NEWLINE]Elizebeth (light grey)[NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (greenish brown)[NEWLINE]Kublai Khan (brown)[NEWLINE]Catherine (orange)[NEWLINE]Alexander (blue-green)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1800 BC[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My workers are hard choppers, and my axemen are swarming around like locusts. The international atomsphere is taking its shape. Ghandi founded Buddism earlier, and Bombay the Holy City is under my control. Lucky for me, Buddism spread to all of my religiously-fanatic neighbors, so they were all very happy with me (except Qin who declared war on me very soon.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apart from the Buddhism east, there is Hinduism west, slightly larger and centered on York (Elizebeth). Other Hindu members include Montezuma, Mansa Musa, Alexander, Catherine, and Kublai Khan. Around this time, Monty built a Oracle and founded Judaism, and later converted to it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Liz's New Hamshire was taken by Monty very early in the game, before I even met Liz and Monty. The outcome of this skirmish was that Liz was permenantly crippled, and Monty's strong economical/military power was established.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Qin declared war on me while I was attacking Napolean, and by wiping Qin out later I made a big mistake. I gave Beijing (yellow BJ on the map) to Saladin, to avoid the death of an exposed, low health, but very highly experienced axeman. Saladin was the only Civ I've met at the time who was willing to take the gift, so I had no other choice. I should have just razed Beijing, and sacrifice that poor axeman. (more on the consequence later).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]700BC.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With 9 cities to boot I was leading in score, followed closely by Saladin, then Monty. Saladin essentially took over all of Qin's land thanks to my gift of Beijing. Saladin is quickly catching up in tech and he has cottage spawned a huge grassland around Mecca and Medina. My lead is disappearing. Although I am well protected by brother/sister Saladin, Isabella and Bismark, I don't have any bright future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My future is dim not only because my friend Saladin will outgrow me, but also the Hinduism west will unite and become a huge threat. Even Monty has a huge stack waiting. (see here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=120672&amp;d=1143322043)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]What can save me besides the map editor? You got it -- [BOLD] Conquest-oriented Diplomacy![\BOLD] Dang Dang![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My great evil plan is to make a world war. I wish to keep the west busy and hate each other. They will keep fighting, weakening each other, while nobody gains anything, and I gain lands from the east.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fortunately, since I own Buddhism, I can kill 2 birds with 1 baldy, well actually quite a few baldies. These bald missionaries will bring me incomes and friends. With my stream of baldies some Civs in the west will convert to Buddhism, become my friend, take my bribe to attack Hinduism Civs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I can't convert people without an Open Border, so I have to give them really cheap deals to get the +4 "Our trade relationship has been fair..." so the Hindu Civs' will agree on an Open Border.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point I managed to Open Border with Mansa Musa, Catherine and Kublai. But I have to be careful not to convert everybody - I need as many foes as friends, so they will fight each other, and weaken themselves.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There is a simple pattern of AI's conversion. If an AI doesn't own a particular holy city, it will automatically convert to the religion that has the most popularity in its land. For example, Kubali Khan has 4 cities, 3 of them with Hinduism. He has a good reason to become a Hindu. However, after my missionaries added Budda's shiny statue to ALL 4 of Kublai cities, he converted himself to Buddism. I don't even have to ask and lose a tech. (Well, maybe Saladin or Isabella did)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If there are 2 or more equally popular religions, the AIs can be pursuaded to convert to any side. Another factor is the international atmosphere. Obviously one tries not to become the only pagen.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As you can see from my mini-map, Catherine is blocking Kublai's way out, so they are a natural pair of archrival. I want Catherine and Kublai to go that way, even if they like each other now. So, I spread Buddhism to all of Kublai's cities; he converts. However, I spared Cath's Moscow and another city, so Cathy stays a Hindu, which is present in all of Catherine's cities. I still spread Buddhism to other Catherine's cities so I get some income from them from my Shrine.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Catherine and Kublai used to be close friends, but after Kublai's flip, I easily bribed Cathy (the best backstabber according to Personality Matrix) to go after Kublai.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another example I have is Mansa Musa and Alexander. Alexander helped Monty to attack Mansa before (Alex briefly converted to Judaism, but converted back to Hinduism later), so MM and Alex already dislike each other. Now since my baldies cannot enter Alexander's land due to a lack of Open Border, I convert Mansa Musa to Buddhism. They are now even more likely to fight again in the future![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to make sure Mansa Musa the crazy tech racer is not doing the best he could, I bribed MM to go after Monty. He took one of Monty's cities, and Monty took one of his. Excellent![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I also bribed Bismark to go after Monty, just to make them hate each other, and keep Monty's attention away from me. (I am a paranoid, thinking Monty's huge stack was intended to me). Monty's stack of death sacked Bismark's border city, but didn't do so well on Hamburg's tough defense. Monty didn't use any catapult and simply threw them to the stone wall. Now Monty hates Bismark more than me, and I will be able to border Monty safer after I take Saladin's northern territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now the (miserable) future of the West is roughly decided; I can concentrate on the present east - my rival Saladin. The war isn't the point of this article, so I will just tell you in brief. I bribing Saladin to go after Elizebeth, and mass produced all kinds of troops to backstab Saladin. If I didn't bribe Saladin's large maceman stack away, I don't think I had a chance, though.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]50 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally I took over Saladin's lands on the east. Interestingly, Saladin never pulled back his maceman, but to leave all of them in the west, defending London and other English cities, which he captured from Elizebeth (stupid AI. Any human player would give up those cities and rush back to defend homeland.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]My troop chased Saladin across the Pangaea, and finished him in a small town on the west coast. That town used to be a prosperous city of Mansa Musa, but Monty sacked it, and culturally it flipped to the English, only to be taken by Saladin a few turns later. Now this town is given away to Alexander by me, along with other former English cities. Alex has been in the bottom of the list for long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Apparantly it is a weird decision of me to give 3 cities to Alex. York is the holy city of Hinduism. By giving it to Hindu Alex, I am pretty much gauranteed a Hindu Alex in the future, and sure he will not like me.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So why do I bother to make a potential enemy strong? Well, I really want to establish some enemies for Mansa Musa, the notorious tech racer. With a well-grwon Alex in the future, Mansa Musa will be surrounded by 3 hostiles, Monty, Alex and Catherine. (I bribed MM to attack Cathy later. You can see on the next map St. Peterburg was taken by MM's musketeer, thanks to my free gunpowder.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just to summrize the relationships in the west.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Monty (Judaism) - Catherine (Hinduism) - Alexander (Hinduism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]vs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Mansa Musa (Buddhism) - Bismark (Buddism) - Kublai Khan (Buddism)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Past wars:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MM --(attacked)--&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Bismark --&gt; Monty[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; MM[NEWLINE]Catherine --&gt; Kublai[NEWLINE]Alexander --&gt; Bismark[NEWLINE]MM --&gt; Catherine[NEWLINE]Monty --&gt; MM[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]380 AD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the west further "blanaced", I had the free time to take out Isabella. Actually the war with Saladin cost me a few hundred years in tech development. I rushed to Chemistry by Liberalism. Before Liberalism I rushed Economics to get the free Great Merchant. Guess how much I got from MM's capital? 6900G! I upgraded all of my assaulting melee units to Grenadiers, and still had more than 2000G left. Isabella, who has never seen war, became a victim of Grenadier + knight + musketeer + catapult sea rush. She went down on the 8th turn. If I had not bribed the western world to war on each other, they would definitely beat me on Economics and Liberalism at this point. (I beat MM of Economics by 2 turns.)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]***[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]It is now clear that I am going to win. I will then take down the other Civs one by one, a friend, an enemy, a friend, an enemy, until there is nobody left. I think Bismark -&gt; Monty -&gt; MM -&gt; Alex -&gt; Cathy -&gt; Kublai is a good route.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To the power of Diplomacy!</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_HEALING_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Unit Healing[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]PieceOfMind[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to cover all aspects of unit healing in Civ4. Although it was written for Vanilla Civ 4, it includes information relevant to the Warlords expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you accessed this article through the War Academy, it may be worth checking the associated thread for updates: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=157954[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I welcome any feedback. Please post to direct my attention to anything which is not accurate. Don't hesitate to add any tips you think would benefit the article or make it more comprehensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have included a list of useful tips/observations at the conclusion of the article for your convenience.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The term [BOLD]friendly[\BOLD] will be used in this article to describe a civ with whom you are at peace. [BOLD]Allied[\BOLD] civs include teammates and civs with a permanent alliance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which is damaged (less than 100HP) and [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] (see below) for healing will be healed at the beginning of the next turn, after all other AIs/players/barbarians have had their turns. An eligible unit will stop healing only when it reaches 100HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit is [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] for healing if it "forfeits" its turn. More explicitly, there are actions which disqualify a unit from being eligible for healing, and actions which have no effect on a unit's eligibility. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Eligibility for Healing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit that performs ANY of the following actions will NOT be eligible for healing:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Movement (this does not include the indirect movement of cargo in transports)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pillage[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombard[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Load or unload (including from ship to ship)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Airlift[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombing/Air Strike (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Reconnaissance (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Re-basing (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Upgrade[NEWLINE][BOLD]EXCEPTION: The March promotion[\BOLD][NEWLINE]A unit with the March promotion is ALWAYS eligible for healing. Any of the above actions which ordinarily disqualify a unit from being allowed to heal instead have no effect. For example, a March-promoted Cavalry can move 1 tile, attack, and then still be eligible for healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following actions will [BOLD]not[\BOLD] affect a unit's eligibility for healing:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fortify[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sleep[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sentry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Defending from an attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sitting in a cargo ship while it moves[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Accepting a promotion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Intercept Mission (air units)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most documentation on unit healing, a unit will be said to heal some "percentage" in a turn. eg. the manual will tell you Medic I heals units on the same tile by 10%. The percent healed is the same as the number of HP healed. eg. A medic will add 10HP to units it heals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit's heal rate is determined by adding its [BOLD]Base Heal Rate[\BOLD] to, if applicable, any [BOLD]medic[\BOLD] healing, [BOLD]hospital[\BOLD] healing and healing from [BOLD]Combat[\BOLD] promotions. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Base Heal Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Eligible units will heal:[NEWLINE]5HP per turn in enemy territory,[NEWLINE]10HP per turn in neutral territory (but not a city). Note: Neutral territory includes unclaimed territory and the territory of friendly civs, but not allied civs.[NEWLINE]15HP per turn in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in any city which is in resistance[NEWLINE]20HP per turn in a city which is not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Medics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with the Medic I promotion will heal all eligible units on the same tile by 10HP.[NEWLINE]A medic can move and then heal units on the tile it ends its turn on.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I heals itself if eligible.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic II will heal all eligible units in any adjacent tiles by 10HP. Minor note: a unit with Medic II but not Medic I will NOT heal units on the same tile.[NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPORTANT NOTE: Units with Medic II cannot heal units across a land/sea boundary. Ships in port are considered to be on the land side of the land/sea boundary.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No more than one Medic unit can operate on a unit eligible for healing each turn.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I and II does not heal units on the same tile any quicker than if it had only Medic I.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any ships (including transport ships) with Medic I will heal eligible units in their cargo or on the same tile.[NEWLINE]A medic unit can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]Medics can heal the units of an allied civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Minor note: The Red Cross wonder only gives the Medic I promotion to units which are ordinarily allowed to accept that promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords: In the Warlords expansion, the presence of a great general allows the Medic III Promotion for Medic II promoted units. The Medic III Promotion gives an additional 15HP of healing to units on the same tile and adjacent tiles, totalling 25HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Hospitals[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A hospital will heal all eligible units on the same tile (city) an additional 10HP.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal all eligible friendly/allied units.[NEWLINE]A hospital does not work in a city during resistance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Combat IV and Combat V [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat IV promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if it is in [BOLD]neutral[\BOLD] (including friendly civ's) territory.[NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat V promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if in [BOLD]enemy[\BOLD] territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Combat IV and Combat V do nothing when in home/allied territory (contrary to what one might expect). Both Combat IV and Combat V apply [BOLD]only[\BOLD] when in the territory described above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Promotion-Heal[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choosing a promotion IMMEDIATELY heals 50% of the HP needed to reach 100HP. If the number of HP needed is odd, the number healed is rounded down. Eg. a unit with 21HP will heal to 21 + (100 - 21) * 0.5 = 60.5 "=" 60HP[NEWLINE]A unit need not be eligible for healing to receive the Promotion-Heal.[NEWLINE]Accepting promotions has no effect on a unit's eligibilty for healing, and the immediate Promotion-Heal is independent of the healing that happens at the beginning of your turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Extra Info[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Upgrading a unit does not heal any HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]AI units and barbarians heal the same way a player's units do. For barbarians, all civs are enemies (for territory considerations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Healing Formula[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 parameters that affect a unit's healing rate; Base Heal Rate, Medic, Hospital and Combat promotions (IV or V).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let X be the number of HP a unit has which is eligible for healing.[NEWLINE]Let P be the number of HP the eligible unit will heal. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = min(100 - X, B + M + H + C)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 5 if in enemy territory[NEWLINE]B = 10 if in neutral or friendly territory (but not a city)[NEWLINE]B = 15 if in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in a city during resistance[NEWLINE]B = 20 if in a home/allied/friendly city not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]M = 10 if a medic is available to operate on the unit (In Warlords, if the medic is Medic III then M = 25)[NEWLINE]M = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 10 if the unit is in a city with a hospital[NEWLINE]H = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat IV and is in neutral (or friendly civ's) territory[NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat V and is in enemy territory[NEWLINE]C = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with X hit points which is eligible for healing will heal to X + P hit points at the beginning of the next turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let N be the number of turns required to heal a unit. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N = ceiling[(100 - X) / (B + M + H + C)][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note the formula always holds because B + M + H + C is never 0, and 0 &lt; X =&lt; 100.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N is the same as the number of turns the game will display for a unit to heal completely. Minor note: Units that are not eligible for healing will still display the same N so actually they will take N+1 turns to heal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those interested, the Promotion-Heal has the following (obvious) formula.[NEWLINE]Let X be the HP of ANY unit which has a new promotion available. Selecting a promotion will IMMEDIATELY heal P hit points where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = floor[(100 - X) * 0.5][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit will therefore have X + floor[(100 - X) * 0.5] hit points immediately after choosing a promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Observations[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemy territory will take 20 turns to heal if it has less than 5HP. This is the maximum number of turns a unit could take to heal.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemey territory will heal 3 times faster if he has a medic available. He will heal in 7 turns at the most, at a rate of 15HP per turn (as opposed to 5HP per turn without a medic).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit without Combat IV will heal fastest in a home or friendly city, with a hospital and a medic of your own or ally's (40HP per turn and maximum 3 turns to completely heal).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit with Combat IV will heal faster in a friendly civ's city than your own![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The fastest any unit can heal is 50HP per turn. The unit must have Combat IV and be in a friendly civ's city that has a hospital and a medic of yours or your ally's. With this set up you will have a maximum heal time of 2 turns! 20HP from being in city, 10HP from medic, 10HP from hospital and 10HP from Combat IV. Total: 50HP[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]March is generally a useless promotion for your medic units. It is often confused but you should give March to units which you will want to BE healed. For example, send along a Medic I Explorer with your Mech Infantry or March-promoted units and you will have a force which heals quickly when on the move even in enemy territory.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you have damaged units in a friendly civ's territory, put them in one of the civ's cities. These cities are just as good as your own cities at healing your units![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Armored units and helicopters cannot be given Medic promotions. Armored units, helicopters and naval units cannot be given the March promotion. However, these promotions can be retained through unit upgrades eg. by upgrading march promoted cavalry to gunships.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Often it is wise to hold off on promoting a unit so that after a battle the immediate (and significant) Promotion-Heal can be used.</English>
		<French>[H1]Unit Healing[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]PieceOfMind[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to cover all aspects of unit healing in Civ4. Although it was written for Vanilla Civ 4, it includes information relevant to the Warlords expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you accessed this article through the War Academy, it may be worth checking the associated thread for updates: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=157954[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I welcome any feedback. Please post to direct my attention to anything which is not accurate. Don't hesitate to add any tips you think would benefit the article or make it more comprehensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have included a list of useful tips/observations at the conclusion of the article for your convenience.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The term [BOLD]friendly[\BOLD] will be used in this article to describe a civ with whom you are at peace. [BOLD]Allied[\BOLD] civs include teammates and civs with a permanent alliance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which is damaged (less than 100HP) and [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] (see below) for healing will be healed at the beginning of the next turn, after all other AIs/players/barbarians have had their turns. An eligible unit will stop healing only when it reaches 100HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit is [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] for healing if it "forfeits" its turn. More explicitly, there are actions which disqualify a unit from being eligible for healing, and actions which have no effect on a unit's eligibility. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Eligibility for Healing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit that performs ANY of the following actions will NOT be eligible for healing:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Movement (this does not include the indirect movement of cargo in transports)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pillage[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombard[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Load or unload (including from ship to ship)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Airlift[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombing/Air Strike (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Reconnaissance (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Re-basing (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Upgrade[NEWLINE][BOLD]EXCEPTION: The March promotion[\BOLD][NEWLINE]A unit with the March promotion is ALWAYS eligible for healing. Any of the above actions which ordinarily disqualify a unit from being allowed to heal instead have no effect. For example, a March-promoted Cavalry can move 1 tile, attack, and then still be eligible for healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following actions will [BOLD]not[\BOLD] affect a unit's eligibility for healing:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fortify[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sleep[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sentry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Defending from an attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sitting in a cargo ship while it moves[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Accepting a promotion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Intercept Mission (air units)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most documentation on unit healing, a unit will be said to heal some "percentage" in a turn. eg. the manual will tell you Medic I heals units on the same tile by 10%. The percent healed is the same as the number of HP healed. eg. A medic will add 10HP to units it heals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit's heal rate is determined by adding its [BOLD]Base Heal Rate[\BOLD] to, if applicable, any [BOLD]medic[\BOLD] healing, [BOLD]hospital[\BOLD] healing and healing from [BOLD]Combat[\BOLD] promotions. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Base Heal Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Eligible units will heal:[NEWLINE]5HP per turn in enemy territory,[NEWLINE]10HP per turn in neutral territory (but not a city). Note: Neutral territory includes unclaimed territory and the territory of friendly civs, but not allied civs.[NEWLINE]15HP per turn in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in any city which is in resistance[NEWLINE]20HP per turn in a city which is not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Medics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with the Medic I promotion will heal all eligible units on the same tile by 10HP.[NEWLINE]A medic can move and then heal units on the tile it ends its turn on.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I heals itself if eligible.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic II will heal all eligible units in any adjacent tiles by 10HP. Minor note: a unit with Medic II but not Medic I will NOT heal units on the same tile.[NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPORTANT NOTE: Units with Medic II cannot heal units across a land/sea boundary. Ships in port are considered to be on the land side of the land/sea boundary.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No more than one Medic unit can operate on a unit eligible for healing each turn.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I and II does not heal units on the same tile any quicker than if it had only Medic I.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any ships (including transport ships) with Medic I will heal eligible units in their cargo or on the same tile.[NEWLINE]A medic unit can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]Medics can heal the units of an allied civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Minor note: The Red Cross wonder only gives the Medic I promotion to units which are ordinarily allowed to accept that promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords: In the Warlords expansion, the presence of a great general allows the Medic III Promotion for Medic II promoted units. The Medic III Promotion gives an additional 15HP of healing to units on the same tile and adjacent tiles, totalling 25HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Hospitals[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A hospital will heal all eligible units on the same tile (city) an additional 10HP.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal all eligible friendly/allied units.[NEWLINE]A hospital does not work in a city during resistance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Combat IV and Combat V [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat IV promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if it is in [BOLD]neutral[\BOLD] (including friendly civ's) territory.[NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat V promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if in [BOLD]enemy[\BOLD] territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Combat IV and Combat V do nothing when in home/allied territory (contrary to what one might expect). Both Combat IV and Combat V apply [BOLD]only[\BOLD] when in the territory described above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Promotion-Heal[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choosing a promotion IMMEDIATELY heals 50% of the HP needed to reach 100HP. If the number of HP needed is odd, the number healed is rounded down. Eg. a unit with 21HP will heal to 21 + (100 - 21) * 0.5 = 60.5 "=" 60HP[NEWLINE]A unit need not be eligible for healing to receive the Promotion-Heal.[NEWLINE]Accepting promotions has no effect on a unit's eligibilty for healing, and the immediate Promotion-Heal is independent of the healing that happens at the beginning of your turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Extra Info[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Upgrading a unit does not heal any HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]AI units and barbarians heal the same way a player's units do. For barbarians, all civs are enemies (for territory considerations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Healing Formula[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 parameters that affect a unit's healing rate; Base Heal Rate, Medic, Hospital and Combat promotions (IV or V).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let X be the number of HP a unit has which is eligible for healing.[NEWLINE]Let P be the number of HP the eligible unit will heal. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = min(100 - X, B + M + H + C)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 5 if in enemy territory[NEWLINE]B = 10 if in neutral or friendly territory (but not a city)[NEWLINE]B = 15 if in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in a city during resistance[NEWLINE]B = 20 if in a home/allied/friendly city not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]M = 10 if a medic is available to operate on the unit (In Warlords, if the medic is Medic III then M = 25)[NEWLINE]M = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 10 if the unit is in a city with a hospital[NEWLINE]H = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat IV and is in neutral (or friendly civ's) territory[NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat V and is in enemy territory[NEWLINE]C = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with X hit points which is eligible for healing will heal to X + P hit points at the beginning of the next turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let N be the number of turns required to heal a unit. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N = ceiling[(100 - X) / (B + M + H + C)][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note the formula always holds because B + M + H + C is never 0, and 0 &lt; X =&lt; 100.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N is the same as the number of turns the game will display for a unit to heal completely. Minor note: Units that are not eligible for healing will still display the same N so actually they will take N+1 turns to heal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those interested, the Promotion-Heal has the following (obvious) formula.[NEWLINE]Let X be the HP of ANY unit which has a new promotion available. Selecting a promotion will IMMEDIATELY heal P hit points where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = floor[(100 - X) * 0.5][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit will therefore have X + floor[(100 - X) * 0.5] hit points immediately after choosing a promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Observations[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemy territory will take 20 turns to heal if it has less than 5HP. This is the maximum number of turns a unit could take to heal.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemey territory will heal 3 times faster if he has a medic available. He will heal in 7 turns at the most, at a rate of 15HP per turn (as opposed to 5HP per turn without a medic).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit without Combat IV will heal fastest in a home or friendly city, with a hospital and a medic of your own or ally's (40HP per turn and maximum 3 turns to completely heal).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit with Combat IV will heal faster in a friendly civ's city than your own![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The fastest any unit can heal is 50HP per turn. The unit must have Combat IV and be in a friendly civ's city that has a hospital and a medic of yours or your ally's. With this set up you will have a maximum heal time of 2 turns! 20HP from being in city, 10HP from medic, 10HP from hospital and 10HP from Combat IV. Total: 50HP[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]March is generally a useless promotion for your medic units. It is often confused but you should give March to units which you will want to BE healed. For example, send along a Medic I Explorer with your Mech Infantry or March-promoted units and you will have a force which heals quickly when on the move even in enemy territory.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you have damaged units in a friendly civ's territory, put them in one of the civ's cities. These cities are just as good as your own cities at healing your units![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Armored units and helicopters cannot be given Medic promotions. Armored units, helicopters and naval units cannot be given the March promotion. However, these promotions can be retained through unit upgrades eg. by upgrading march promoted cavalry to gunships.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Often it is wise to hold off on promoting a unit so that after a battle the immediate (and significant) Promotion-Heal can be used.</French>
		<German>[H1]Unit Healing[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]PieceOfMind[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to cover all aspects of unit healing in Civ4. Although it was written for Vanilla Civ 4, it includes information relevant to the Warlords expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you accessed this article through the War Academy, it may be worth checking the associated thread for updates: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=157954[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I welcome any feedback. Please post to direct my attention to anything which is not accurate. Don't hesitate to add any tips you think would benefit the article or make it more comprehensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have included a list of useful tips/observations at the conclusion of the article for your convenience.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The term [BOLD]friendly[\BOLD] will be used in this article to describe a civ with whom you are at peace. [BOLD]Allied[\BOLD] civs include teammates and civs with a permanent alliance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which is damaged (less than 100HP) and [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] (see below) for healing will be healed at the beginning of the next turn, after all other AIs/players/barbarians have had their turns. An eligible unit will stop healing only when it reaches 100HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit is [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] for healing if it "forfeits" its turn. More explicitly, there are actions which disqualify a unit from being eligible for healing, and actions which have no effect on a unit's eligibility. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Eligibility for Healing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit that performs ANY of the following actions will NOT be eligible for healing:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Movement (this does not include the indirect movement of cargo in transports)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pillage[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombard[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Load or unload (including from ship to ship)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Airlift[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombing/Air Strike (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Reconnaissance (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Re-basing (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Upgrade[NEWLINE][BOLD]EXCEPTION: The March promotion[\BOLD][NEWLINE]A unit with the March promotion is ALWAYS eligible for healing. Any of the above actions which ordinarily disqualify a unit from being allowed to heal instead have no effect. For example, a March-promoted Cavalry can move 1 tile, attack, and then still be eligible for healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following actions will [BOLD]not[\BOLD] affect a unit's eligibility for healing:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fortify[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sleep[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sentry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Defending from an attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sitting in a cargo ship while it moves[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Accepting a promotion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Intercept Mission (air units)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most documentation on unit healing, a unit will be said to heal some "percentage" in a turn. eg. the manual will tell you Medic I heals units on the same tile by 10%. The percent healed is the same as the number of HP healed. eg. A medic will add 10HP to units it heals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit's heal rate is determined by adding its [BOLD]Base Heal Rate[\BOLD] to, if applicable, any [BOLD]medic[\BOLD] healing, [BOLD]hospital[\BOLD] healing and healing from [BOLD]Combat[\BOLD] promotions. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Base Heal Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Eligible units will heal:[NEWLINE]5HP per turn in enemy territory,[NEWLINE]10HP per turn in neutral territory (but not a city). Note: Neutral territory includes unclaimed territory and the territory of friendly civs, but not allied civs.[NEWLINE]15HP per turn in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in any city which is in resistance[NEWLINE]20HP per turn in a city which is not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Medics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with the Medic I promotion will heal all eligible units on the same tile by 10HP.[NEWLINE]A medic can move and then heal units on the tile it ends its turn on.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I heals itself if eligible.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic II will heal all eligible units in any adjacent tiles by 10HP. Minor note: a unit with Medic II but not Medic I will NOT heal units on the same tile.[NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPORTANT NOTE: Units with Medic II cannot heal units across a land/sea boundary. Ships in port are considered to be on the land side of the land/sea boundary.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No more than one Medic unit can operate on a unit eligible for healing each turn.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I and II does not heal units on the same tile any quicker than if it had only Medic I.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any ships (including transport ships) with Medic I will heal eligible units in their cargo or on the same tile.[NEWLINE]A medic unit can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]Medics can heal the units of an allied civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Minor note: The Red Cross wonder only gives the Medic I promotion to units which are ordinarily allowed to accept that promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords: In the Warlords expansion, the presence of a great general allows the Medic III Promotion for Medic II promoted units. The Medic III Promotion gives an additional 15HP of healing to units on the same tile and adjacent tiles, totalling 25HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Hospitals[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A hospital will heal all eligible units on the same tile (city) an additional 10HP.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal all eligible friendly/allied units.[NEWLINE]A hospital does not work in a city during resistance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Combat IV and Combat V [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat IV promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if it is in [BOLD]neutral[\BOLD] (including friendly civ's) territory.[NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat V promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if in [BOLD]enemy[\BOLD] territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Combat IV and Combat V do nothing when in home/allied territory (contrary to what one might expect). Both Combat IV and Combat V apply [BOLD]only[\BOLD] when in the territory described above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Promotion-Heal[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choosing a promotion IMMEDIATELY heals 50% of the HP needed to reach 100HP. If the number of HP needed is odd, the number healed is rounded down. Eg. a unit with 21HP will heal to 21 + (100 - 21) * 0.5 = 60.5 "=" 60HP[NEWLINE]A unit need not be eligible for healing to receive the Promotion-Heal.[NEWLINE]Accepting promotions has no effect on a unit's eligibilty for healing, and the immediate Promotion-Heal is independent of the healing that happens at the beginning of your turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Extra Info[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Upgrading a unit does not heal any HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]AI units and barbarians heal the same way a player's units do. For barbarians, all civs are enemies (for territory considerations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Healing Formula[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 parameters that affect a unit's healing rate; Base Heal Rate, Medic, Hospital and Combat promotions (IV or V).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let X be the number of HP a unit has which is eligible for healing.[NEWLINE]Let P be the number of HP the eligible unit will heal. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = min(100 - X, B + M + H + C)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 5 if in enemy territory[NEWLINE]B = 10 if in neutral or friendly territory (but not a city)[NEWLINE]B = 15 if in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in a city during resistance[NEWLINE]B = 20 if in a home/allied/friendly city not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]M = 10 if a medic is available to operate on the unit (In Warlords, if the medic is Medic III then M = 25)[NEWLINE]M = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 10 if the unit is in a city with a hospital[NEWLINE]H = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat IV and is in neutral (or friendly civ's) territory[NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat V and is in enemy territory[NEWLINE]C = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with X hit points which is eligible for healing will heal to X + P hit points at the beginning of the next turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let N be the number of turns required to heal a unit. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N = ceiling[(100 - X) / (B + M + H + C)][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note the formula always holds because B + M + H + C is never 0, and 0 &lt; X =&lt; 100.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N is the same as the number of turns the game will display for a unit to heal completely. Minor note: Units that are not eligible for healing will still display the same N so actually they will take N+1 turns to heal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those interested, the Promotion-Heal has the following (obvious) formula.[NEWLINE]Let X be the HP of ANY unit which has a new promotion available. Selecting a promotion will IMMEDIATELY heal P hit points where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = floor[(100 - X) * 0.5][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit will therefore have X + floor[(100 - X) * 0.5] hit points immediately after choosing a promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Observations[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemy territory will take 20 turns to heal if it has less than 5HP. This is the maximum number of turns a unit could take to heal.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemey territory will heal 3 times faster if he has a medic available. He will heal in 7 turns at the most, at a rate of 15HP per turn (as opposed to 5HP per turn without a medic).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit without Combat IV will heal fastest in a home or friendly city, with a hospital and a medic of your own or ally's (40HP per turn and maximum 3 turns to completely heal).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit with Combat IV will heal faster in a friendly civ's city than your own![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The fastest any unit can heal is 50HP per turn. The unit must have Combat IV and be in a friendly civ's city that has a hospital and a medic of yours or your ally's. With this set up you will have a maximum heal time of 2 turns! 20HP from being in city, 10HP from medic, 10HP from hospital and 10HP from Combat IV. Total: 50HP[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]March is generally a useless promotion for your medic units. It is often confused but you should give March to units which you will want to BE healed. For example, send along a Medic I Explorer with your Mech Infantry or March-promoted units and you will have a force which heals quickly when on the move even in enemy territory.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you have damaged units in a friendly civ's territory, put them in one of the civ's cities. These cities are just as good as your own cities at healing your units![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Armored units and helicopters cannot be given Medic promotions. Armored units, helicopters and naval units cannot be given the March promotion. However, these promotions can be retained through unit upgrades eg. by upgrading march promoted cavalry to gunships.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Often it is wise to hold off on promoting a unit so that after a battle the immediate (and significant) Promotion-Heal can be used.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Unit Healing[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]PieceOfMind[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to cover all aspects of unit healing in Civ4. Although it was written for Vanilla Civ 4, it includes information relevant to the Warlords expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you accessed this article through the War Academy, it may be worth checking the associated thread for updates: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=157954[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I welcome any feedback. Please post to direct my attention to anything which is not accurate. Don't hesitate to add any tips you think would benefit the article or make it more comprehensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have included a list of useful tips/observations at the conclusion of the article for your convenience.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The term [BOLD]friendly[\BOLD] will be used in this article to describe a civ with whom you are at peace. [BOLD]Allied[\BOLD] civs include teammates and civs with a permanent alliance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which is damaged (less than 100HP) and [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] (see below) for healing will be healed at the beginning of the next turn, after all other AIs/players/barbarians have had their turns. An eligible unit will stop healing only when it reaches 100HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit is [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] for healing if it "forfeits" its turn. More explicitly, there are actions which disqualify a unit from being eligible for healing, and actions which have no effect on a unit's eligibility. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Eligibility for Healing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit that performs ANY of the following actions will NOT be eligible for healing:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Movement (this does not include the indirect movement of cargo in transports)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pillage[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombard[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Load or unload (including from ship to ship)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Airlift[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombing/Air Strike (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Reconnaissance (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Re-basing (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Upgrade[NEWLINE][BOLD]EXCEPTION: The March promotion[\BOLD][NEWLINE]A unit with the March promotion is ALWAYS eligible for healing. Any of the above actions which ordinarily disqualify a unit from being allowed to heal instead have no effect. For example, a March-promoted Cavalry can move 1 tile, attack, and then still be eligible for healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following actions will [BOLD]not[\BOLD] affect a unit's eligibility for healing:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fortify[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sleep[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sentry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Defending from an attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sitting in a cargo ship while it moves[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Accepting a promotion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Intercept Mission (air units)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most documentation on unit healing, a unit will be said to heal some "percentage" in a turn. eg. the manual will tell you Medic I heals units on the same tile by 10%. The percent healed is the same as the number of HP healed. eg. A medic will add 10HP to units it heals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit's heal rate is determined by adding its [BOLD]Base Heal Rate[\BOLD] to, if applicable, any [BOLD]medic[\BOLD] healing, [BOLD]hospital[\BOLD] healing and healing from [BOLD]Combat[\BOLD] promotions. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Base Heal Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Eligible units will heal:[NEWLINE]5HP per turn in enemy territory,[NEWLINE]10HP per turn in neutral territory (but not a city). Note: Neutral territory includes unclaimed territory and the territory of friendly civs, but not allied civs.[NEWLINE]15HP per turn in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in any city which is in resistance[NEWLINE]20HP per turn in a city which is not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Medics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with the Medic I promotion will heal all eligible units on the same tile by 10HP.[NEWLINE]A medic can move and then heal units on the tile it ends its turn on.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I heals itself if eligible.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic II will heal all eligible units in any adjacent tiles by 10HP. Minor note: a unit with Medic II but not Medic I will NOT heal units on the same tile.[NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPORTANT NOTE: Units with Medic II cannot heal units across a land/sea boundary. Ships in port are considered to be on the land side of the land/sea boundary.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No more than one Medic unit can operate on a unit eligible for healing each turn.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I and II does not heal units on the same tile any quicker than if it had only Medic I.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any ships (including transport ships) with Medic I will heal eligible units in their cargo or on the same tile.[NEWLINE]A medic unit can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]Medics can heal the units of an allied civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Minor note: The Red Cross wonder only gives the Medic I promotion to units which are ordinarily allowed to accept that promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords: In the Warlords expansion, the presence of a great general allows the Medic III Promotion for Medic II promoted units. The Medic III Promotion gives an additional 15HP of healing to units on the same tile and adjacent tiles, totalling 25HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Hospitals[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A hospital will heal all eligible units on the same tile (city) an additional 10HP.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal all eligible friendly/allied units.[NEWLINE]A hospital does not work in a city during resistance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Combat IV and Combat V [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat IV promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if it is in [BOLD]neutral[\BOLD] (including friendly civ's) territory.[NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat V promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if in [BOLD]enemy[\BOLD] territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Combat IV and Combat V do nothing when in home/allied territory (contrary to what one might expect). Both Combat IV and Combat V apply [BOLD]only[\BOLD] when in the territory described above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Promotion-Heal[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choosing a promotion IMMEDIATELY heals 50% of the HP needed to reach 100HP. If the number of HP needed is odd, the number healed is rounded down. Eg. a unit with 21HP will heal to 21 + (100 - 21) * 0.5 = 60.5 "=" 60HP[NEWLINE]A unit need not be eligible for healing to receive the Promotion-Heal.[NEWLINE]Accepting promotions has no effect on a unit's eligibilty for healing, and the immediate Promotion-Heal is independent of the healing that happens at the beginning of your turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Extra Info[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Upgrading a unit does not heal any HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]AI units and barbarians heal the same way a player's units do. For barbarians, all civs are enemies (for territory considerations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Healing Formula[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 parameters that affect a unit's healing rate; Base Heal Rate, Medic, Hospital and Combat promotions (IV or V).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let X be the number of HP a unit has which is eligible for healing.[NEWLINE]Let P be the number of HP the eligible unit will heal. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = min(100 - X, B + M + H + C)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 5 if in enemy territory[NEWLINE]B = 10 if in neutral or friendly territory (but not a city)[NEWLINE]B = 15 if in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in a city during resistance[NEWLINE]B = 20 if in a home/allied/friendly city not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]M = 10 if a medic is available to operate on the unit (In Warlords, if the medic is Medic III then M = 25)[NEWLINE]M = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 10 if the unit is in a city with a hospital[NEWLINE]H = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat IV and is in neutral (or friendly civ's) territory[NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat V and is in enemy territory[NEWLINE]C = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with X hit points which is eligible for healing will heal to X + P hit points at the beginning of the next turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let N be the number of turns required to heal a unit. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N = ceiling[(100 - X) / (B + M + H + C)][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note the formula always holds because B + M + H + C is never 0, and 0 &lt; X =&lt; 100.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N is the same as the number of turns the game will display for a unit to heal completely. Minor note: Units that are not eligible for healing will still display the same N so actually they will take N+1 turns to heal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those interested, the Promotion-Heal has the following (obvious) formula.[NEWLINE]Let X be the HP of ANY unit which has a new promotion available. Selecting a promotion will IMMEDIATELY heal P hit points where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = floor[(100 - X) * 0.5][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit will therefore have X + floor[(100 - X) * 0.5] hit points immediately after choosing a promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Observations[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemy territory will take 20 turns to heal if it has less than 5HP. This is the maximum number of turns a unit could take to heal.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemey territory will heal 3 times faster if he has a medic available. He will heal in 7 turns at the most, at a rate of 15HP per turn (as opposed to 5HP per turn without a medic).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit without Combat IV will heal fastest in a home or friendly city, with a hospital and a medic of your own or ally's (40HP per turn and maximum 3 turns to completely heal).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit with Combat IV will heal faster in a friendly civ's city than your own![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The fastest any unit can heal is 50HP per turn. The unit must have Combat IV and be in a friendly civ's city that has a hospital and a medic of yours or your ally's. With this set up you will have a maximum heal time of 2 turns! 20HP from being in city, 10HP from medic, 10HP from hospital and 10HP from Combat IV. Total: 50HP[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]March is generally a useless promotion for your medic units. It is often confused but you should give March to units which you will want to BE healed. For example, send along a Medic I Explorer with your Mech Infantry or March-promoted units and you will have a force which heals quickly when on the move even in enemy territory.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you have damaged units in a friendly civ's territory, put them in one of the civ's cities. These cities are just as good as your own cities at healing your units![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Armored units and helicopters cannot be given Medic promotions. Armored units, helicopters and naval units cannot be given the March promotion. However, these promotions can be retained through unit upgrades eg. by upgrading march promoted cavalry to gunships.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Often it is wise to hold off on promoting a unit so that after a battle the immediate (and significant) Promotion-Heal can be used.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Unit Healing[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]PieceOfMind[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The purpose of this article is to cover all aspects of unit healing in Civ4. Although it was written for Vanilla Civ 4, it includes information relevant to the Warlords expansion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you accessed this article through the War Academy, it may be worth checking the associated thread for updates: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=157954[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I welcome any feedback. Please post to direct my attention to anything which is not accurate. Don't hesitate to add any tips you think would benefit the article or make it more comprehensive.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I have included a list of useful tips/observations at the conclusion of the article for your convenience.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The term [BOLD]friendly[\BOLD] will be used in this article to describe a civ with whom you are at peace. [BOLD]Allied[\BOLD] civs include teammates and civs with a permanent alliance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which is damaged (less than 100HP) and [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] (see below) for healing will be healed at the beginning of the next turn, after all other AIs/players/barbarians have had their turns. An eligible unit will stop healing only when it reaches 100HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit is [BOLD]eligible[\BOLD] for healing if it "forfeits" its turn. More explicitly, there are actions which disqualify a unit from being eligible for healing, and actions which have no effect on a unit's eligibility. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Eligibility for Healing[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit that performs ANY of the following actions will NOT be eligible for healing:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Movement (this does not include the indirect movement of cargo in transports)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Pillage[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombard[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Load or unload (including from ship to ship)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Airlift[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Bombing/Air Strike (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Reconnaissance (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Re-basing (air units)[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Upgrade[NEWLINE][BOLD]EXCEPTION: The March promotion[\BOLD][NEWLINE]A unit with the March promotion is ALWAYS eligible for healing. Any of the above actions which ordinarily disqualify a unit from being allowed to heal instead have no effect. For example, a March-promoted Cavalry can move 1 tile, attack, and then still be eligible for healing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The following actions will [BOLD]not[\BOLD] affect a unit's eligibility for healing:[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Fortify[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sleep[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sentry[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Defending from an attack[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Sitting in a cargo ship while it moves[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Accepting a promotion[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Intercept Mission (air units)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most documentation on unit healing, a unit will be said to heal some "percentage" in a turn. eg. the manual will tell you Medic I heals units on the same tile by 10%. The percent healed is the same as the number of HP healed. eg. A medic will add 10HP to units it heals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit's heal rate is determined by adding its [BOLD]Base Heal Rate[\BOLD] to, if applicable, any [BOLD]medic[\BOLD] healing, [BOLD]hospital[\BOLD] healing and healing from [BOLD]Combat[\BOLD] promotions. Details below:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Base Heal Rate[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Eligible units will heal:[NEWLINE]5HP per turn in enemy territory,[NEWLINE]10HP per turn in neutral territory (but not a city). Note: Neutral territory includes unclaimed territory and the territory of friendly civs, but not allied civs.[NEWLINE]15HP per turn in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in any city which is in resistance[NEWLINE]20HP per turn in a city which is not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Medics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with the Medic I promotion will heal all eligible units on the same tile by 10HP.[NEWLINE]A medic can move and then heal units on the tile it ends its turn on.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I heals itself if eligible.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic II will heal all eligible units in any adjacent tiles by 10HP. Minor note: a unit with Medic II but not Medic I will NOT heal units on the same tile.[NEWLINE][BOLD]IMPORTANT NOTE: Units with Medic II cannot heal units across a land/sea boundary. Ships in port are considered to be on the land side of the land/sea boundary.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]No more than one Medic unit can operate on a unit eligible for healing each turn.[NEWLINE]A unit with Medic I and II does not heal units on the same tile any quicker than if it had only Medic I.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any ships (including transport ships) with Medic I will heal eligible units in their cargo or on the same tile.[NEWLINE]A medic unit can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]Medics can heal the units of an allied civ.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Minor note: The Red Cross wonder only gives the Medic I promotion to units which are ordinarily allowed to accept that promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Warlords: In the Warlords expansion, the presence of a great general allows the Medic III Promotion for Medic II promoted units. The Medic III Promotion gives an additional 15HP of healing to units on the same tile and adjacent tiles, totalling 25HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Hospitals[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A hospital will heal all eligible units on the same tile (city) an additional 10HP.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal land, air and naval units.[NEWLINE]A hospital can heal all eligible friendly/allied units.[NEWLINE]A hospital does not work in a city during resistance.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Combat IV and Combat V [\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat IV promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if it is in [BOLD]neutral[\BOLD] (including friendly civ's) territory.[NEWLINE]A unit which has the Combat V promotion and is eligible for healing will heal itself an additional 10HP if in [BOLD]enemy[\BOLD] territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Combat IV and Combat V do nothing when in home/allied territory (contrary to what one might expect). Both Combat IV and Combat V apply [BOLD]only[\BOLD] when in the territory described above.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Promotion-Heal[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Choosing a promotion IMMEDIATELY heals 50% of the HP needed to reach 100HP. If the number of HP needed is odd, the number healed is rounded down. Eg. a unit with 21HP will heal to 21 + (100 - 21) * 0.5 = 60.5 "=" 60HP[NEWLINE]A unit need not be eligible for healing to receive the Promotion-Heal.[NEWLINE]Accepting promotions has no effect on a unit's eligibilty for healing, and the immediate Promotion-Heal is independent of the healing that happens at the beginning of your turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Extra Info[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Upgrading a unit does not heal any HP.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]AI units and barbarians heal the same way a player's units do. For barbarians, all civs are enemies (for territory considerations).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Healing Formula[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are 4 parameters that affect a unit's healing rate; Base Heal Rate, Medic, Hospital and Combat promotions (IV or V).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let X be the number of HP a unit has which is eligible for healing.[NEWLINE]Let P be the number of HP the eligible unit will heal. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = min(100 - X, B + M + H + C)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]B = 5 if in enemy territory[NEWLINE]B = 10 if in neutral or friendly territory (but not a city)[NEWLINE]B = 15 if in home/allied territory (but not a city) or in a city during resistance[NEWLINE]B = 20 if in a home/allied/friendly city not in resistance[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]M = 10 if a medic is available to operate on the unit (In Warlords, if the medic is Medic III then M = 25)[NEWLINE]M = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]H = 10 if the unit is in a city with a hospital[NEWLINE]H = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat IV and is in neutral (or friendly civ's) territory[NEWLINE]C = 10 if the unit has Combat V and is in enemy territory[NEWLINE]C = 0 otherwise[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit with X hit points which is eligible for healing will heal to X + P hit points at the beginning of the next turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Let N be the number of turns required to heal a unit. Then,[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N = ceiling[(100 - X) / (B + M + H + C)][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note the formula always holds because B + M + H + C is never 0, and 0 &lt; X =&lt; 100.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]N is the same as the number of turns the game will display for a unit to heal completely. Minor note: Units that are not eligible for healing will still display the same N so actually they will take N+1 turns to heal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]For those interested, the Promotion-Heal has the following (obvious) formula.[NEWLINE]Let X be the HP of ANY unit which has a new promotion available. Selecting a promotion will IMMEDIATELY heal P hit points where[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]P = floor[(100 - X) * 0.5][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A unit will therefore have X + floor[(100 - X) * 0.5] hit points immediately after choosing a promotion.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Observations[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemy territory will take 20 turns to heal if it has less than 5HP. This is the maximum number of turns a unit could take to heal.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit in enemey territory will heal 3 times faster if he has a medic available. He will heal in 7 turns at the most, at a rate of 15HP per turn (as opposed to 5HP per turn without a medic).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit without Combat IV will heal fastest in a home or friendly city, with a hospital and a medic of your own or ally's (40HP per turn and maximum 3 turns to completely heal).[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A unit with Combat IV will heal faster in a friendly civ's city than your own![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The fastest any unit can heal is 50HP per turn. The unit must have Combat IV and be in a friendly civ's city that has a hospital and a medic of yours or your ally's. With this set up you will have a maximum heal time of 2 turns! 20HP from being in city, 10HP from medic, 10HP from hospital and 10HP from Combat IV. Total: 50HP[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]March is generally a useless promotion for your medic units. It is often confused but you should give March to units which you will want to BE healed. For example, send along a Medic I Explorer with your Mech Infantry or March-promoted units and you will have a force which heals quickly when on the move even in enemy territory.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If you have damaged units in a friendly civ's territory, put them in one of the civ's cities. These cities are just as good as your own cities at healing your units![NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Armored units and helicopters cannot be given Medic promotions. Armored units, helicopters and naval units cannot be given the March promotion. However, these promotions can be retained through unit upgrades eg. by upgrading march promoted cavalry to gunships.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Often it is wise to hold off on promoting a unit so that after a battle the immediate (and significant) Promotion-Heal can be used.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_WORLD_WAR_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Let's Make a World War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Peace is a lie, there is only passion.[NEWLINE]Through passion, I gain strength.[NEWLINE]Through strength, I gain power.[NEWLINE]Through power, I gain victory.[NEWLINE]Through victory, my chains are broken.[NEWLINE]The Force shall free me.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- The Sith Code (Star Wars)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Welcome to the dark side![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War isn't all about the childish destruction and hysterical laugh - that's why the bad guys always lose at the end of the movie.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War serves a purpose. The purpose is to give you the relative strength to overpower your neighbors, while they are busy killing each other. The purpose is to give you the victory otherwise impossible. Making a World War is plotted with a tactful, careful brain, and carried out with a steady, dirty index finger.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And then comes your hysterical laugh.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you make a World War by [BOLD]bribing a lot of countries to attack a lot of other countries, which threaten your advantage and might cost you a victory[\BOLD]. Obviously, there are 3 key elements of making a world war: (A) A Tech Lead, (B) The Invaders, and (C) The Victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](A) A Tech Lead[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can't initiate a world war by eye winking and spine bending. If your tech level falls behind everybody else, this article is unfortunately beyond you. You need to be more aggressive (axeman, horse archers, or settlers) at the very beginning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AIs value techs very highly. Many of them are willing to declare a life-long enemy, as long as you give them 1-3 free techs. You don't have to be a global tech leader, since you only need to give free techs to those technologically-inferior Civs, not on the top of the score list. For those who are actually more advanced than you, they make perfect victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can always make a pseudo tech lead. Although you are not really more advanced in tech, you own some techs that the AIs don't. You do that by researching the AI-disfavored techs before the AIs do. The predictable AIs tend to follow a general research trend:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Writing -&gt; Mathematics -&gt; Calendar / Construction / Code of Laws -&gt; Philosophy[NEWLINE]Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guild -&gt; Gunpowder -&gt; Chemistry -&gt; Rifling[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why Alphabet is so useful. AIs avoid it, while it enables you to trade other techs at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Drama + Music is the next nice early bribery. Later on, you will bribe with Machinery + Civil service (dangerous military bribe as they give Maceman!), Paper + Education, Constitution, etc. Researching these AI disfavored techs first also gives you the chance to trade for techs that you missed. Even if you don't use them to bribe, you still gain advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](B) The Invaders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As mentioned above, civs who lags behind you in tech have the potential to become invaders. There are a few exceptions - when the invader is extremely friendly to you, and quite hostile to the target. In that case the attack may be free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may ask, "I still can't make them to attack, because they gave me red texts, instead of white, under the [Declare War to] section in the diplomatic interface."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]p.s. It is also possible to see white texts, but still get refused. This is because you don't have enough free techs for them to pick. You know what to do -- come back later with more free techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you move the mouse cursor over the red text, you will see the reason why the AI refuses to attack. It can be one of the following reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse I: [COLOR_RED]"We just don't like you enough."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need to improve your relationship to this invader Civ. There are 4 ways to make friends:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. The quickest way: Trade with them, and let them take some advantage. The modifier "Our trade relationship has been fair... (yeah right!)" goes up to +4. If you are playing on Deity, you always get a lot of positive feedbacks because AI never agrees a trade unless they rip you off. Note that gifts (city, cash, tech, resource) fall into this category. So if you already have a +4 here, there no need for additional gifts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2. The slow way: Share the same state religion. The positive modifier "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" goes up with time, up to +8 for some leaders (such as Isabella), and almost doesn't matter for some others (such as Victoria).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3. The lucky way: You have their favorite Civic. For example, Mansa Musa likes Civs with Free Market as their economic policy. The modifier goes up with time, up to +4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4. The bonus way: Mutual military struggle - sharing the same enemy. This modifier is usually useless, since by the time you see it, probably you've already bribed the Civ to attack your target. However, if the Civ is aggressive enough to attack even before your bribery, this modifier could be the final kick making the invader Pleased with you. Thus it will be easier to ask them to attack someone else in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are other smaller modifiers that may make a difference, such as:[NEWLINE]- "You have supplied us with resources." (from resource trade)[NEWLINE]- "You gave us help." (from giving away techs based on their request/threats)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse II: [COLOR_RED]"We can't betray our close friends!"[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Civ is having good relationship with your target. If you see this excuse, it is usually impossible to make the deal no matter how friendly you are to them, unless one of them suddenly decides to switch its state religion, thus nullifying that huge "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you see a Civ suddenly change their state religion after mid game - laugh out loud. Your golden chance has come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Catherine is the only AI that ignores friendship to the target. In other words, it is possible to bribe her to go after her best friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse III: [COLOR_RED]"Our hands are busy with something else."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means the AI is either currently at war, or has set out a defined target, and is on its way to declaring a war on the defined target. There is no way to bring the AI's willingness to take your bribe, unless you either pull them out of the current war, or cancel their defined target somehow. Sometimes, if your military falls behind, this target is very likely yourself![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just a side note:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can accurately predict an aggressive AI's attack, from the diplomatic screen. The warmongers are usually willing to take bribes, so you can see at least a few white fonts in the list of "declare war to". If all of a sudden, all targets are reded out, and you get the excuse of "our hands are busy with something else", then you know you are a little bit late on bribing. In one of my current games, I was attacked by Monty, then Genghis Khan. When I loaded back a few hundred years, I can pinpoint the exact turn where they decided to attack me, and I can go to the previous turn to bribe them to go after somebody else. The lesson here: always bribe them as early as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse IV: [COLOR_RED]"We would have nothing to gain."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This excuse reflects an insufficient hatred against the target. Some leaders are not aggressive in nature, so they are very reluctant to attack a neutral, even slightly hostile Civ, even you are already Friendly with them. Aggressive AIs might also give you this response, if they really "have nothing to gain" from the war. Perhaps their distance is too far, or perhaps its power is too low compared to the target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to avoid this excuse, you should know a little personalities of different AI leaders. There are two kinds of AI that are ideal invaders. The "[BOLD]Peg Dogs[\BOLD]" and the "[BOLD]Zealots[\BOLD]".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peg dogs are the more aggressive Civs, attacking any weak neighbor no matter how Pleased (not Friendly yet!) they are with them. Peg dogs are very dangerous when they have nothing to do -- they WILL come after you if you are weak, even you are on the other end of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You recognize pet dogs by their constant barking at the door - "gimme this tech!" "gimme this cash!" Don't think they won't bite you when you hand them the bone. Throw the bone at your target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pet dogs grow into dinosaurs when they are given abundant resources to develop, but if you keep them under-developed by a continuous assignment of warfare, they will stay as your loyal friend. That is, if you make them your friend in the first place. If they are annoyed with you, you better make somebody else to go after them soon, and take good care of them yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most famous pet dog is Montezuma (Monty) of Aztec. Our chief pushes the definition of pet dog to extreme. Other good pet dogs include: Alexander of Greeks, Genghis Khan of Mongol, Louis XIV of France, Tokugawa of Japan, Victoria of England, Catherine of Russia, etc. Whoever give you a white text under the "declare war on" option for no apparent history of violence, you get yourself a pet dog right there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zealots are one level more supplicated than pet dogs - and that one extra level is [BOLD]Religion[\BOLD]. Zealots are not necessarily aggressive in nature, but sure they hate pagans. If you are aligned with Zealots in religion, you've got yourself some solid, fine allies. Even better, almost all AI leaders has the potential of becoming a Zealot - as long as you share the religions long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best example of zealot is Isabella of Spain. Many people hate her because they are used to go with their own religion... and their own religion usually is not the same as Isabella's religion. Ops. There will be a totally different story if you become Isabella's brother/sister in faith. She will attack anywhere you point your finger to. You will think she is the most beautiful woman in Civ4. Ok... at least I did at one point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chances are you will see quite a few potential invaders in any map. The most important factor here would be RELIGION. In essense, you [BOLD]religiously align yourself to the invaders, so they are happy enough to agree to attack your victims[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful though - many Civs tend to adopt free religion after they get Liberalism. Free religion means less friendly and less annoyed. You have to match the invaders-victims earlier than Liberalism. Even after they switch, they still hate each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](C) The Victims[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cooperating invaders are hard to come by, so you must spend them carefully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Victims in your World War are the Civs that actually threaten your victory. Is Mansa Musa or Gandhi running away with tech? You might even consider to make more than 2 Civs to attack them at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since your victim is usually a peace lover, it is likely that they have few enemies. It is possible that their missionaries will convert everyone to their religions in the near future, making everybody their friend. That can be really bad for you, because you can't bring them down! You must bribe early, before everybody is converted. If you are lucky, you get a few leaders who don't really care about backstabbing friends (such as Victoria). That will be really nice. Otherwise you will have to wait, until somebody converts to Confucianism, Christianity or Islam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, some additional information that might be useful:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Each war goes on for at least 10 turns, before a peace treaty can be made.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A less aggressive leader makes a peace treaty earlier and easier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If one side is clearly winning, the losing AI is likely to bring up a treaty proposal. The winning AI tends NOT to accept the peace treaty if their complete victory (i.e. target elimination) is perceivable.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The AIs do give away Cheap techs in exchange for a treaty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]AIs prefer to convert to a state religion that is found by themselves.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]When converting the state religion ourselves, it is really beneficial switch to organized religion and build tons of missionaries to spread it among your country, so all of your cities build 25% faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you have enjoyed this guide. Thanks for reading.</English>
		<French>[H1]Let's Make a World War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Peace is a lie, there is only passion.[NEWLINE]Through passion, I gain strength.[NEWLINE]Through strength, I gain power.[NEWLINE]Through power, I gain victory.[NEWLINE]Through victory, my chains are broken.[NEWLINE]The Force shall free me.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- The Sith Code (Star Wars)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Welcome to the dark side![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War isn't all about the childish destruction and hysterical laugh - that's why the bad guys always lose at the end of the movie.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War serves a purpose. The purpose is to give you the relative strength to overpower your neighbors, while they are busy killing each other. The purpose is to give you the victory otherwise impossible. Making a World War is plotted with a tactful, careful brain, and carried out with a steady, dirty index finger.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And then comes your hysterical laugh.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you make a World War by [BOLD]bribing a lot of countries to attack a lot of other countries, which threaten your advantage and might cost you a victory[\BOLD]. Obviously, there are 3 key elements of making a world war: (A) A Tech Lead, (B) The Invaders, and (C) The Victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](A) A Tech Lead[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can't initiate a world war by eye winking and spine bending. If your tech level falls behind everybody else, this article is unfortunately beyond you. You need to be more aggressive (axeman, horse archers, or settlers) at the very beginning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AIs value techs very highly. Many of them are willing to declare a life-long enemy, as long as you give them 1-3 free techs. You don't have to be a global tech leader, since you only need to give free techs to those technologically-inferior Civs, not on the top of the score list. For those who are actually more advanced than you, they make perfect victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can always make a pseudo tech lead. Although you are not really more advanced in tech, you own some techs that the AIs don't. You do that by researching the AI-disfavored techs before the AIs do. The predictable AIs tend to follow a general research trend:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Writing -&gt; Mathematics -&gt; Calendar / Construction / Code of Laws -&gt; Philosophy[NEWLINE]Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guild -&gt; Gunpowder -&gt; Chemistry -&gt; Rifling[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why Alphabet is so useful. AIs avoid it, while it enables you to trade other techs at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Drama + Music is the next nice early bribery. Later on, you will bribe with Machinery + Civil service (dangerous military bribe as they give Maceman!), Paper + Education, Constitution, etc. Researching these AI disfavored techs first also gives you the chance to trade for techs that you missed. Even if you don't use them to bribe, you still gain advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](B) The Invaders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As mentioned above, civs who lags behind you in tech have the potential to become invaders. There are a few exceptions - when the invader is extremely friendly to you, and quite hostile to the target. In that case the attack may be free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may ask, "I still can't make them to attack, because they gave me red texts, instead of white, under the [Declare War to] section in the diplomatic interface."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]p.s. It is also possible to see white texts, but still get refused. This is because you don't have enough free techs for them to pick. You know what to do -- come back later with more free techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you move the mouse cursor over the red text, you will see the reason why the AI refuses to attack. It can be one of the following reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse I: [COLOR_RED]"We just don't like you enough."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need to improve your relationship to this invader Civ. There are 4 ways to make friends:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. The quickest way: Trade with them, and let them take some advantage. The modifier "Our trade relationship has been fair... (yeah right!)" goes up to +4. If you are playing on Deity, you always get a lot of positive feedbacks because AI never agrees a trade unless they rip you off. Note that gifts (city, cash, tech, resource) fall into this category. So if you already have a +4 here, there no need for additional gifts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2. The slow way: Share the same state religion. The positive modifier "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" goes up with time, up to +8 for some leaders (such as Isabella), and almost doesn't matter for some others (such as Victoria).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3. The lucky way: You have their favorite Civic. For example, Mansa Musa likes Civs with Free Market as their economic policy. The modifier goes up with time, up to +4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4. The bonus way: Mutual military struggle - sharing the same enemy. This modifier is usually useless, since by the time you see it, probably you've already bribed the Civ to attack your target. However, if the Civ is aggressive enough to attack even before your bribery, this modifier could be the final kick making the invader Pleased with you. Thus it will be easier to ask them to attack someone else in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are other smaller modifiers that may make a difference, such as:[NEWLINE]- "You have supplied us with resources." (from resource trade)[NEWLINE]- "You gave us help." (from giving away techs based on their request/threats)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse II: [COLOR_RED]"We can't betray our close friends!"[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Civ is having good relationship with your target. If you see this excuse, it is usually impossible to make the deal no matter how friendly you are to them, unless one of them suddenly decides to switch its state religion, thus nullifying that huge "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you see a Civ suddenly change their state religion after mid game - laugh out loud. Your golden chance has come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Catherine is the only AI that ignores friendship to the target. In other words, it is possible to bribe her to go after her best friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse III: [COLOR_RED]"Our hands are busy with something else."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means the AI is either currently at war, or has set out a defined target, and is on its way to declaring a war on the defined target. There is no way to bring the AI's willingness to take your bribe, unless you either pull them out of the current war, or cancel their defined target somehow. Sometimes, if your military falls behind, this target is very likely yourself![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just a side note:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can accurately predict an aggressive AI's attack, from the diplomatic screen. The warmongers are usually willing to take bribes, so you can see at least a few white fonts in the list of "declare war to". If all of a sudden, all targets are reded out, and you get the excuse of "our hands are busy with something else", then you know you are a little bit late on bribing. In one of my current games, I was attacked by Monty, then Genghis Khan. When I loaded back a few hundred years, I can pinpoint the exact turn where they decided to attack me, and I can go to the previous turn to bribe them to go after somebody else. The lesson here: always bribe them as early as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse IV: [COLOR_RED]"We would have nothing to gain."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This excuse reflects an insufficient hatred against the target. Some leaders are not aggressive in nature, so they are very reluctant to attack a neutral, even slightly hostile Civ, even you are already Friendly with them. Aggressive AIs might also give you this response, if they really "have nothing to gain" from the war. Perhaps their distance is too far, or perhaps its power is too low compared to the target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to avoid this excuse, you should know a little personalities of different AI leaders. There are two kinds of AI that are ideal invaders. The "[BOLD]Peg Dogs[\BOLD]" and the "[BOLD]Zealots[\BOLD]".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peg dogs are the more aggressive Civs, attacking any weak neighbor no matter how Pleased (not Friendly yet!) they are with them. Peg dogs are very dangerous when they have nothing to do -- they WILL come after you if you are weak, even you are on the other end of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You recognize pet dogs by their constant barking at the door - "gimme this tech!" "gimme this cash!" Don't think they won't bite you when you hand them the bone. Throw the bone at your target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pet dogs grow into dinosaurs when they are given abundant resources to develop, but if you keep them under-developed by a continuous assignment of warfare, they will stay as your loyal friend. That is, if you make them your friend in the first place. If they are annoyed with you, you better make somebody else to go after them soon, and take good care of them yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most famous pet dog is Montezuma (Monty) of Aztec. Our chief pushes the definition of pet dog to extreme. Other good pet dogs include: Alexander of Greeks, Genghis Khan of Mongol, Louis XIV of France, Tokugawa of Japan, Victoria of England, Catherine of Russia, etc. Whoever give you a white text under the "declare war on" option for no apparent history of violence, you get yourself a pet dog right there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zealots are one level more supplicated than pet dogs - and that one extra level is [BOLD]Religion[\BOLD]. Zealots are not necessarily aggressive in nature, but sure they hate pagans. If you are aligned with Zealots in religion, you've got yourself some solid, fine allies. Even better, almost all AI leaders has the potential of becoming a Zealot - as long as you share the religions long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best example of zealot is Isabella of Spain. Many people hate her because they are used to go with their own religion... and their own religion usually is not the same as Isabella's religion. Ops. There will be a totally different story if you become Isabella's brother/sister in faith. She will attack anywhere you point your finger to. You will think she is the most beautiful woman in Civ4. Ok... at least I did at one point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chances are you will see quite a few potential invaders in any map. The most important factor here would be RELIGION. In essense, you [BOLD]religiously align yourself to the invaders, so they are happy enough to agree to attack your victims[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful though - many Civs tend to adopt free religion after they get Liberalism. Free religion means less friendly and less annoyed. You have to match the invaders-victims earlier than Liberalism. Even after they switch, they still hate each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](C) The Victims[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cooperating invaders are hard to come by, so you must spend them carefully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Victims in your World War are the Civs that actually threaten your victory. Is Mansa Musa or Gandhi running away with tech? You might even consider to make more than 2 Civs to attack them at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since your victim is usually a peace lover, it is likely that they have few enemies. It is possible that their missionaries will convert everyone to their religions in the near future, making everybody their friend. That can be really bad for you, because you can't bring them down! You must bribe early, before everybody is converted. If you are lucky, you get a few leaders who don't really care about backstabbing friends (such as Victoria). That will be really nice. Otherwise you will have to wait, until somebody converts to Confucianism, Christianity or Islam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, some additional information that might be useful:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Each war goes on for at least 10 turns, before a peace treaty can be made.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A less aggressive leader makes a peace treaty earlier and easier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If one side is clearly winning, the losing AI is likely to bring up a treaty proposal. The winning AI tends NOT to accept the peace treaty if their complete victory (i.e. target elimination) is perceivable.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The AIs do give away Cheap techs in exchange for a treaty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]AIs prefer to convert to a state religion that is found by themselves.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]When converting the state religion ourselves, it is really beneficial switch to organized religion and build tons of missionaries to spread it among your country, so all of your cities build 25% faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you have enjoyed this guide. Thanks for reading.</French>
		<German>[H1]Let's Make a World War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Peace is a lie, there is only passion.[NEWLINE]Through passion, I gain strength.[NEWLINE]Through strength, I gain power.[NEWLINE]Through power, I gain victory.[NEWLINE]Through victory, my chains are broken.[NEWLINE]The Force shall free me.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- The Sith Code (Star Wars)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Welcome to the dark side![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War isn't all about the childish destruction and hysterical laugh - that's why the bad guys always lose at the end of the movie.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War serves a purpose. The purpose is to give you the relative strength to overpower your neighbors, while they are busy killing each other. The purpose is to give you the victory otherwise impossible. Making a World War is plotted with a tactful, careful brain, and carried out with a steady, dirty index finger.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And then comes your hysterical laugh.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you make a World War by [BOLD]bribing a lot of countries to attack a lot of other countries, which threaten your advantage and might cost you a victory[\BOLD]. Obviously, there are 3 key elements of making a world war: (A) A Tech Lead, (B) The Invaders, and (C) The Victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](A) A Tech Lead[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can't initiate a world war by eye winking and spine bending. If your tech level falls behind everybody else, this article is unfortunately beyond you. You need to be more aggressive (axeman, horse archers, or settlers) at the very beginning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AIs value techs very highly. Many of them are willing to declare a life-long enemy, as long as you give them 1-3 free techs. You don't have to be a global tech leader, since you only need to give free techs to those technologically-inferior Civs, not on the top of the score list. For those who are actually more advanced than you, they make perfect victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can always make a pseudo tech lead. Although you are not really more advanced in tech, you own some techs that the AIs don't. You do that by researching the AI-disfavored techs before the AIs do. The predictable AIs tend to follow a general research trend:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Writing -&gt; Mathematics -&gt; Calendar / Construction / Code of Laws -&gt; Philosophy[NEWLINE]Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guild -&gt; Gunpowder -&gt; Chemistry -&gt; Rifling[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why Alphabet is so useful. AIs avoid it, while it enables you to trade other techs at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Drama + Music is the next nice early bribery. Later on, you will bribe with Machinery + Civil service (dangerous military bribe as they give Maceman!), Paper + Education, Constitution, etc. Researching these AI disfavored techs first also gives you the chance to trade for techs that you missed. Even if you don't use them to bribe, you still gain advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](B) The Invaders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As mentioned above, civs who lags behind you in tech have the potential to become invaders. There are a few exceptions - when the invader is extremely friendly to you, and quite hostile to the target. In that case the attack may be free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may ask, "I still can't make them to attack, because they gave me red texts, instead of white, under the [Declare War to] section in the diplomatic interface."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]p.s. It is also possible to see white texts, but still get refused. This is because you don't have enough free techs for them to pick. You know what to do -- come back later with more free techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you move the mouse cursor over the red text, you will see the reason why the AI refuses to attack. It can be one of the following reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse I: [COLOR_RED]"We just don't like you enough."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need to improve your relationship to this invader Civ. There are 4 ways to make friends:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. The quickest way: Trade with them, and let them take some advantage. The modifier "Our trade relationship has been fair... (yeah right!)" goes up to +4. If you are playing on Deity, you always get a lot of positive feedbacks because AI never agrees a trade unless they rip you off. Note that gifts (city, cash, tech, resource) fall into this category. So if you already have a +4 here, there no need for additional gifts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2. The slow way: Share the same state religion. The positive modifier "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" goes up with time, up to +8 for some leaders (such as Isabella), and almost doesn't matter for some others (such as Victoria).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3. The lucky way: You have their favorite Civic. For example, Mansa Musa likes Civs with Free Market as their economic policy. The modifier goes up with time, up to +4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4. The bonus way: Mutual military struggle - sharing the same enemy. This modifier is usually useless, since by the time you see it, probably you've already bribed the Civ to attack your target. However, if the Civ is aggressive enough to attack even before your bribery, this modifier could be the final kick making the invader Pleased with you. Thus it will be easier to ask them to attack someone else in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are other smaller modifiers that may make a difference, such as:[NEWLINE]- "You have supplied us with resources." (from resource trade)[NEWLINE]- "You gave us help." (from giving away techs based on their request/threats)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse II: [COLOR_RED]"We can't betray our close friends!"[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Civ is having good relationship with your target. If you see this excuse, it is usually impossible to make the deal no matter how friendly you are to them, unless one of them suddenly decides to switch its state religion, thus nullifying that huge "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you see a Civ suddenly change their state religion after mid game - laugh out loud. Your golden chance has come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Catherine is the only AI that ignores friendship to the target. In other words, it is possible to bribe her to go after her best friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse III: [COLOR_RED]"Our hands are busy with something else."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means the AI is either currently at war, or has set out a defined target, and is on its way to declaring a war on the defined target. There is no way to bring the AI's willingness to take your bribe, unless you either pull them out of the current war, or cancel their defined target somehow. Sometimes, if your military falls behind, this target is very likely yourself![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just a side note:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can accurately predict an aggressive AI's attack, from the diplomatic screen. The warmongers are usually willing to take bribes, so you can see at least a few white fonts in the list of "declare war to". If all of a sudden, all targets are reded out, and you get the excuse of "our hands are busy with something else", then you know you are a little bit late on bribing. In one of my current games, I was attacked by Monty, then Genghis Khan. When I loaded back a few hundred years, I can pinpoint the exact turn where they decided to attack me, and I can go to the previous turn to bribe them to go after somebody else. The lesson here: always bribe them as early as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse IV: [COLOR_RED]"We would have nothing to gain."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This excuse reflects an insufficient hatred against the target. Some leaders are not aggressive in nature, so they are very reluctant to attack a neutral, even slightly hostile Civ, even you are already Friendly with them. Aggressive AIs might also give you this response, if they really "have nothing to gain" from the war. Perhaps their distance is too far, or perhaps its power is too low compared to the target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to avoid this excuse, you should know a little personalities of different AI leaders. There are two kinds of AI that are ideal invaders. The "[BOLD]Peg Dogs[\BOLD]" and the "[BOLD]Zealots[\BOLD]".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peg dogs are the more aggressive Civs, attacking any weak neighbor no matter how Pleased (not Friendly yet!) they are with them. Peg dogs are very dangerous when they have nothing to do -- they WILL come after you if you are weak, even you are on the other end of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You recognize pet dogs by their constant barking at the door - "gimme this tech!" "gimme this cash!" Don't think they won't bite you when you hand them the bone. Throw the bone at your target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pet dogs grow into dinosaurs when they are given abundant resources to develop, but if you keep them under-developed by a continuous assignment of warfare, they will stay as your loyal friend. That is, if you make them your friend in the first place. If they are annoyed with you, you better make somebody else to go after them soon, and take good care of them yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most famous pet dog is Montezuma (Monty) of Aztec. Our chief pushes the definition of pet dog to extreme. Other good pet dogs include: Alexander of Greeks, Genghis Khan of Mongol, Louis XIV of France, Tokugawa of Japan, Victoria of England, Catherine of Russia, etc. Whoever give you a white text under the "declare war on" option for no apparent history of violence, you get yourself a pet dog right there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zealots are one level more supplicated than pet dogs - and that one extra level is [BOLD]Religion[\BOLD]. Zealots are not necessarily aggressive in nature, but sure they hate pagans. If you are aligned with Zealots in religion, you've got yourself some solid, fine allies. Even better, almost all AI leaders has the potential of becoming a Zealot - as long as you share the religions long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best example of zealot is Isabella of Spain. Many people hate her because they are used to go with their own religion... and their own religion usually is not the same as Isabella's religion. Ops. There will be a totally different story if you become Isabella's brother/sister in faith. She will attack anywhere you point your finger to. You will think she is the most beautiful woman in Civ4. Ok... at least I did at one point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chances are you will see quite a few potential invaders in any map. The most important factor here would be RELIGION. In essense, you [BOLD]religiously align yourself to the invaders, so they are happy enough to agree to attack your victims[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful though - many Civs tend to adopt free religion after they get Liberalism. Free religion means less friendly and less annoyed. You have to match the invaders-victims earlier than Liberalism. Even after they switch, they still hate each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](C) The Victims[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cooperating invaders are hard to come by, so you must spend them carefully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Victims in your World War are the Civs that actually threaten your victory. Is Mansa Musa or Gandhi running away with tech? You might even consider to make more than 2 Civs to attack them at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since your victim is usually a peace lover, it is likely that they have few enemies. It is possible that their missionaries will convert everyone to their religions in the near future, making everybody their friend. That can be really bad for you, because you can't bring them down! You must bribe early, before everybody is converted. If you are lucky, you get a few leaders who don't really care about backstabbing friends (such as Victoria). That will be really nice. Otherwise you will have to wait, until somebody converts to Confucianism, Christianity or Islam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, some additional information that might be useful:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Each war goes on for at least 10 turns, before a peace treaty can be made.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A less aggressive leader makes a peace treaty earlier and easier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If one side is clearly winning, the losing AI is likely to bring up a treaty proposal. The winning AI tends NOT to accept the peace treaty if their complete victory (i.e. target elimination) is perceivable.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The AIs do give away Cheap techs in exchange for a treaty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]AIs prefer to convert to a state religion that is found by themselves.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]When converting the state religion ourselves, it is really beneficial switch to organized religion and build tons of missionaries to spread it among your country, so all of your cities build 25% faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you have enjoyed this guide. Thanks for reading.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Let's Make a World War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Peace is a lie, there is only passion.[NEWLINE]Through passion, I gain strength.[NEWLINE]Through strength, I gain power.[NEWLINE]Through power, I gain victory.[NEWLINE]Through victory, my chains are broken.[NEWLINE]The Force shall free me.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- The Sith Code (Star Wars)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Welcome to the dark side![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War isn't all about the childish destruction and hysterical laugh - that's why the bad guys always lose at the end of the movie.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War serves a purpose. The purpose is to give you the relative strength to overpower your neighbors, while they are busy killing each other. The purpose is to give you the victory otherwise impossible. Making a World War is plotted with a tactful, careful brain, and carried out with a steady, dirty index finger.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And then comes your hysterical laugh.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you make a World War by [BOLD]bribing a lot of countries to attack a lot of other countries, which threaten your advantage and might cost you a victory[\BOLD]. Obviously, there are 3 key elements of making a world war: (A) A Tech Lead, (B) The Invaders, and (C) The Victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](A) A Tech Lead[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can't initiate a world war by eye winking and spine bending. If your tech level falls behind everybody else, this article is unfortunately beyond you. You need to be more aggressive (axeman, horse archers, or settlers) at the very beginning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AIs value techs very highly. Many of them are willing to declare a life-long enemy, as long as you give them 1-3 free techs. You don't have to be a global tech leader, since you only need to give free techs to those technologically-inferior Civs, not on the top of the score list. For those who are actually more advanced than you, they make perfect victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can always make a pseudo tech lead. Although you are not really more advanced in tech, you own some techs that the AIs don't. You do that by researching the AI-disfavored techs before the AIs do. The predictable AIs tend to follow a general research trend:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Writing -&gt; Mathematics -&gt; Calendar / Construction / Code of Laws -&gt; Philosophy[NEWLINE]Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guild -&gt; Gunpowder -&gt; Chemistry -&gt; Rifling[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why Alphabet is so useful. AIs avoid it, while it enables you to trade other techs at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Drama + Music is the next nice early bribery. Later on, you will bribe with Machinery + Civil service (dangerous military bribe as they give Maceman!), Paper + Education, Constitution, etc. Researching these AI disfavored techs first also gives you the chance to trade for techs that you missed. Even if you don't use them to bribe, you still gain advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](B) The Invaders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As mentioned above, civs who lags behind you in tech have the potential to become invaders. There are a few exceptions - when the invader is extremely friendly to you, and quite hostile to the target. In that case the attack may be free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may ask, "I still can't make them to attack, because they gave me red texts, instead of white, under the [Declare War to] section in the diplomatic interface."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]p.s. It is also possible to see white texts, but still get refused. This is because you don't have enough free techs for them to pick. You know what to do -- come back later with more free techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you move the mouse cursor over the red text, you will see the reason why the AI refuses to attack. It can be one of the following reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse I: [COLOR_RED]"We just don't like you enough."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need to improve your relationship to this invader Civ. There are 4 ways to make friends:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. The quickest way: Trade with them, and let them take some advantage. The modifier "Our trade relationship has been fair... (yeah right!)" goes up to +4. If you are playing on Deity, you always get a lot of positive feedbacks because AI never agrees a trade unless they rip you off. Note that gifts (city, cash, tech, resource) fall into this category. So if you already have a +4 here, there no need for additional gifts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2. The slow way: Share the same state religion. The positive modifier "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" goes up with time, up to +8 for some leaders (such as Isabella), and almost doesn't matter for some others (such as Victoria).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3. The lucky way: You have their favorite Civic. For example, Mansa Musa likes Civs with Free Market as their economic policy. The modifier goes up with time, up to +4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4. The bonus way: Mutual military struggle - sharing the same enemy. This modifier is usually useless, since by the time you see it, probably you've already bribed the Civ to attack your target. However, if the Civ is aggressive enough to attack even before your bribery, this modifier could be the final kick making the invader Pleased with you. Thus it will be easier to ask them to attack someone else in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are other smaller modifiers that may make a difference, such as:[NEWLINE]- "You have supplied us with resources." (from resource trade)[NEWLINE]- "You gave us help." (from giving away techs based on their request/threats)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse II: [COLOR_RED]"We can't betray our close friends!"[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Civ is having good relationship with your target. If you see this excuse, it is usually impossible to make the deal no matter how friendly you are to them, unless one of them suddenly decides to switch its state religion, thus nullifying that huge "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you see a Civ suddenly change their state religion after mid game - laugh out loud. Your golden chance has come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Catherine is the only AI that ignores friendship to the target. In other words, it is possible to bribe her to go after her best friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse III: [COLOR_RED]"Our hands are busy with something else."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means the AI is either currently at war, or has set out a defined target, and is on its way to declaring a war on the defined target. There is no way to bring the AI's willingness to take your bribe, unless you either pull them out of the current war, or cancel their defined target somehow. Sometimes, if your military falls behind, this target is very likely yourself![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just a side note:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can accurately predict an aggressive AI's attack, from the diplomatic screen. The warmongers are usually willing to take bribes, so you can see at least a few white fonts in the list of "declare war to". If all of a sudden, all targets are reded out, and you get the excuse of "our hands are busy with something else", then you know you are a little bit late on bribing. In one of my current games, I was attacked by Monty, then Genghis Khan. When I loaded back a few hundred years, I can pinpoint the exact turn where they decided to attack me, and I can go to the previous turn to bribe them to go after somebody else. The lesson here: always bribe them as early as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse IV: [COLOR_RED]"We would have nothing to gain."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This excuse reflects an insufficient hatred against the target. Some leaders are not aggressive in nature, so they are very reluctant to attack a neutral, even slightly hostile Civ, even you are already Friendly with them. Aggressive AIs might also give you this response, if they really "have nothing to gain" from the war. Perhaps their distance is too far, or perhaps its power is too low compared to the target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to avoid this excuse, you should know a little personalities of different AI leaders. There are two kinds of AI that are ideal invaders. The "[BOLD]Peg Dogs[\BOLD]" and the "[BOLD]Zealots[\BOLD]".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peg dogs are the more aggressive Civs, attacking any weak neighbor no matter how Pleased (not Friendly yet!) they are with them. Peg dogs are very dangerous when they have nothing to do -- they WILL come after you if you are weak, even you are on the other end of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You recognize pet dogs by their constant barking at the door - "gimme this tech!" "gimme this cash!" Don't think they won't bite you when you hand them the bone. Throw the bone at your target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pet dogs grow into dinosaurs when they are given abundant resources to develop, but if you keep them under-developed by a continuous assignment of warfare, they will stay as your loyal friend. That is, if you make them your friend in the first place. If they are annoyed with you, you better make somebody else to go after them soon, and take good care of them yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most famous pet dog is Montezuma (Monty) of Aztec. Our chief pushes the definition of pet dog to extreme. Other good pet dogs include: Alexander of Greeks, Genghis Khan of Mongol, Louis XIV of France, Tokugawa of Japan, Victoria of England, Catherine of Russia, etc. Whoever give you a white text under the "declare war on" option for no apparent history of violence, you get yourself a pet dog right there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zealots are one level more supplicated than pet dogs - and that one extra level is [BOLD]Religion[\BOLD]. Zealots are not necessarily aggressive in nature, but sure they hate pagans. If you are aligned with Zealots in religion, you've got yourself some solid, fine allies. Even better, almost all AI leaders has the potential of becoming a Zealot - as long as you share the religions long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best example of zealot is Isabella of Spain. Many people hate her because they are used to go with their own religion... and their own religion usually is not the same as Isabella's religion. Ops. There will be a totally different story if you become Isabella's brother/sister in faith. She will attack anywhere you point your finger to. You will think she is the most beautiful woman in Civ4. Ok... at least I did at one point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chances are you will see quite a few potential invaders in any map. The most important factor here would be RELIGION. In essense, you [BOLD]religiously align yourself to the invaders, so they are happy enough to agree to attack your victims[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful though - many Civs tend to adopt free religion after they get Liberalism. Free religion means less friendly and less annoyed. You have to match the invaders-victims earlier than Liberalism. Even after they switch, they still hate each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](C) The Victims[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cooperating invaders are hard to come by, so you must spend them carefully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Victims in your World War are the Civs that actually threaten your victory. Is Mansa Musa or Gandhi running away with tech? You might even consider to make more than 2 Civs to attack them at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since your victim is usually a peace lover, it is likely that they have few enemies. It is possible that their missionaries will convert everyone to their religions in the near future, making everybody their friend. That can be really bad for you, because you can't bring them down! You must bribe early, before everybody is converted. If you are lucky, you get a few leaders who don't really care about backstabbing friends (such as Victoria). That will be really nice. Otherwise you will have to wait, until somebody converts to Confucianism, Christianity or Islam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, some additional information that might be useful:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Each war goes on for at least 10 turns, before a peace treaty can be made.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A less aggressive leader makes a peace treaty earlier and easier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If one side is clearly winning, the losing AI is likely to bring up a treaty proposal. The winning AI tends NOT to accept the peace treaty if their complete victory (i.e. target elimination) is perceivable.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The AIs do give away Cheap techs in exchange for a treaty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]AIs prefer to convert to a state religion that is found by themselves.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]When converting the state religion ourselves, it is really beneficial switch to organized religion and build tons of missionaries to spread it among your country, so all of your cities build 25% faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you have enjoyed this guide. Thanks for reading.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Let's Make a World War[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]maltz[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Peace is a lie, there is only passion.[NEWLINE]Through passion, I gain strength.[NEWLINE]Through strength, I gain power.[NEWLINE]Through power, I gain victory.[NEWLINE]Through victory, my chains are broken.[NEWLINE]The Force shall free me.[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]-- The Sith Code (Star Wars)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Welcome to the dark side![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War isn't all about the childish destruction and hysterical laugh - that's why the bad guys always lose at the end of the movie.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Making a World War serves a purpose. The purpose is to give you the relative strength to overpower your neighbors, while they are busy killing each other. The purpose is to give you the victory otherwise impossible. Making a World War is plotted with a tactful, careful brain, and carried out with a steady, dirty index finger.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]And then comes your hysterical laugh.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In practice, you make a World War by [BOLD]bribing a lot of countries to attack a lot of other countries, which threaten your advantage and might cost you a victory[\BOLD]. Obviously, there are 3 key elements of making a world war: (A) A Tech Lead, (B) The Invaders, and (C) The Victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](A) A Tech Lead[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can't initiate a world war by eye winking and spine bending. If your tech level falls behind everybody else, this article is unfortunately beyond you. You need to be more aggressive (axeman, horse archers, or settlers) at the very beginning.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The AIs value techs very highly. Many of them are willing to declare a life-long enemy, as long as you give them 1-3 free techs. You don't have to be a global tech leader, since you only need to give free techs to those technologically-inferior Civs, not on the top of the score list. For those who are actually more advanced than you, they make perfect victims.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can always make a pseudo tech lead. Although you are not really more advanced in tech, you own some techs that the AIs don't. You do that by researching the AI-disfavored techs before the AIs do. The predictable AIs tend to follow a general research trend:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Writing -&gt; Mathematics -&gt; Calendar / Construction / Code of Laws -&gt; Philosophy[NEWLINE]Monarchy -&gt; Feudalism -&gt; Guild -&gt; Gunpowder -&gt; Chemistry -&gt; Rifling[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why Alphabet is so useful. AIs avoid it, while it enables you to trade other techs at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Drama + Music is the next nice early bribery. Later on, you will bribe with Machinery + Civil service (dangerous military bribe as they give Maceman!), Paper + Education, Constitution, etc. Researching these AI disfavored techs first also gives you the chance to trade for techs that you missed. Even if you don't use them to bribe, you still gain advantages.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](B) The Invaders[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As mentioned above, civs who lags behind you in tech have the potential to become invaders. There are a few exceptions - when the invader is extremely friendly to you, and quite hostile to the target. In that case the attack may be free.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You may ask, "I still can't make them to attack, because they gave me red texts, instead of white, under the [Declare War to] section in the diplomatic interface."[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]p.s. It is also possible to see white texts, but still get refused. This is because you don't have enough free techs for them to pick. You know what to do -- come back later with more free techs.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you move the mouse cursor over the red text, you will see the reason why the AI refuses to attack. It can be one of the following reasons:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse I: [COLOR_RED]"We just don't like you enough."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You need to improve your relationship to this invader Civ. There are 4 ways to make friends:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1. The quickest way: Trade with them, and let them take some advantage. The modifier "Our trade relationship has been fair... (yeah right!)" goes up to +4. If you are playing on Deity, you always get a lot of positive feedbacks because AI never agrees a trade unless they rip you off. Note that gifts (city, cash, tech, resource) fall into this category. So if you already have a +4 here, there no need for additional gifts.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2. The slow way: Share the same state religion. The positive modifier "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" goes up with time, up to +8 for some leaders (such as Isabella), and almost doesn't matter for some others (such as Victoria).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3. The lucky way: You have their favorite Civic. For example, Mansa Musa likes Civs with Free Market as their economic policy. The modifier goes up with time, up to +4.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4. The bonus way: Mutual military struggle - sharing the same enemy. This modifier is usually useless, since by the time you see it, probably you've already bribed the Civ to attack your target. However, if the Civ is aggressive enough to attack even before your bribery, this modifier could be the final kick making the invader Pleased with you. Thus it will be easier to ask them to attack someone else in the future.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are other smaller modifiers that may make a difference, such as:[NEWLINE]- "You have supplied us with resources." (from resource trade)[NEWLINE]- "You gave us help." (from giving away techs based on their request/threats)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse II: [COLOR_RED]"We can't betray our close friends!"[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This Civ is having good relationship with your target. If you see this excuse, it is usually impossible to make the deal no matter how friendly you are to them, unless one of them suddenly decides to switch its state religion, thus nullifying that huge "We love our brothers and sisters of the same faith" modifier.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you see a Civ suddenly change their state religion after mid game - laugh out loud. Your golden chance has come.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Note: Catherine is the only AI that ignores friendship to the target. In other words, it is possible to bribe her to go after her best friends.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse III: [COLOR_RED]"Our hands are busy with something else."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This means the AI is either currently at war, or has set out a defined target, and is on its way to declaring a war on the defined target. There is no way to bring the AI's willingness to take your bribe, unless you either pull them out of the current war, or cancel their defined target somehow. Sometimes, if your military falls behind, this target is very likely yourself![NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Just a side note:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can accurately predict an aggressive AI's attack, from the diplomatic screen. The warmongers are usually willing to take bribes, so you can see at least a few white fonts in the list of "declare war to". If all of a sudden, all targets are reded out, and you get the excuse of "our hands are busy with something else", then you know you are a little bit late on bribing. In one of my current games, I was attacked by Monty, then Genghis Khan. When I loaded back a few hundred years, I can pinpoint the exact turn where they decided to attack me, and I can go to the previous turn to bribe them to go after somebody else. The lesson here: always bribe them as early as possible.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Excuse IV: [COLOR_RED]"We would have nothing to gain."[COLOR_REVERT][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This excuse reflects an insufficient hatred against the target. Some leaders are not aggressive in nature, so they are very reluctant to attack a neutral, even slightly hostile Civ, even you are already Friendly with them. Aggressive AIs might also give you this response, if they really "have nothing to gain" from the war. Perhaps their distance is too far, or perhaps its power is too low compared to the target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In order to avoid this excuse, you should know a little personalities of different AI leaders. There are two kinds of AI that are ideal invaders. The "[BOLD]Peg Dogs[\BOLD]" and the "[BOLD]Zealots[\BOLD]".[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Peg dogs are the more aggressive Civs, attacking any weak neighbor no matter how Pleased (not Friendly yet!) they are with them. Peg dogs are very dangerous when they have nothing to do -- they WILL come after you if you are weak, even you are on the other end of the continent.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You recognize pet dogs by their constant barking at the door - "gimme this tech!" "gimme this cash!" Don't think they won't bite you when you hand them the bone. Throw the bone at your target.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Pet dogs grow into dinosaurs when they are given abundant resources to develop, but if you keep them under-developed by a continuous assignment of warfare, they will stay as your loyal friend. That is, if you make them your friend in the first place. If they are annoyed with you, you better make somebody else to go after them soon, and take good care of them yourself.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The most famous pet dog is Montezuma (Monty) of Aztec. Our chief pushes the definition of pet dog to extreme. Other good pet dogs include: Alexander of Greeks, Genghis Khan of Mongol, Louis XIV of France, Tokugawa of Japan, Victoria of England, Catherine of Russia, etc. Whoever give you a white text under the "declare war on" option for no apparent history of violence, you get yourself a pet dog right there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Zealots are one level more supplicated than pet dogs - and that one extra level is [BOLD]Religion[\BOLD]. Zealots are not necessarily aggressive in nature, but sure they hate pagans. If you are aligned with Zealots in religion, you've got yourself some solid, fine allies. Even better, almost all AI leaders has the potential of becoming a Zealot - as long as you share the religions long enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The best example of zealot is Isabella of Spain. Many people hate her because they are used to go with their own religion... and their own religion usually is not the same as Isabella's religion. Ops. There will be a totally different story if you become Isabella's brother/sister in faith. She will attack anywhere you point your finger to. You will think she is the most beautiful woman in Civ4. Ok... at least I did at one point.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Chances are you will see quite a few potential invaders in any map. The most important factor here would be RELIGION. In essense, you [BOLD]religiously align yourself to the invaders, so they are happy enough to agree to attack your victims[\BOLD].[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Be careful though - many Civs tend to adopt free religion after they get Liberalism. Free religion means less friendly and less annoyed. You have to match the invaders-victims earlier than Liberalism. Even after they switch, they still hate each other.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD](C) The Victims[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cooperating invaders are hard to come by, so you must spend them carefully.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The Victims in your World War are the Civs that actually threaten your victory. Is Mansa Musa or Gandhi running away with tech? You might even consider to make more than 2 Civs to attack them at the same time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since your victim is usually a peace lover, it is likely that they have few enemies. It is possible that their missionaries will convert everyone to their religions in the near future, making everybody their friend. That can be really bad for you, because you can't bring them down! You must bribe early, before everybody is converted. If you are lucky, you get a few leaders who don't really care about backstabbing friends (such as Victoria). That will be really nice. Otherwise you will have to wait, until somebody converts to Confucianism, Christianity or Islam.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, some additional information that might be useful:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]Each war goes on for at least 10 turns, before a peace treaty can be made.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]A less aggressive leader makes a peace treaty earlier and easier.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]If one side is clearly winning, the losing AI is likely to bring up a treaty proposal. The winning AI tends NOT to accept the peace treaty if their complete victory (i.e. target elimination) is perceivable.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]The AIs do give away Cheap techs in exchange for a treaty.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]AIs prefer to convert to a state religion that is found by themselves.[NEWLINE][ICON_BULLET]When converting the state religion ourselves, it is really beneficial switch to organized religion and build tons of missionaries to spread it among your country, so all of your cities build 25% faster.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I hope you have enjoyed this guide. Thanks for reading.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_MODERN_WAR_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Warmonger's Guide for Industrial/Modern Era World War of Conquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most people prefer to finish the game ASAP and take whatever approach will get them the victory and maximum score. Some of us, however, enjoy the warfare aspects of Civ4. I like taking on the AI's instead of just shooting for a space race or diplomatic victory. War is fun and it's even more fun when you can fight with a wide variety of units, including tanks, modern armor, mech infantry, bombers, fighters, etc...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I measure my success by the exchange ratio. If I can take out every single AI while maintaining a kill ratio of 3:1, that's a stunning military victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this is not really a guide on winning Civ4, because there are many other guides. This is all about war. How you fight a war against a well armed AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Modern era[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Armor units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Modern Armor and Tank should be promoted in 3 different styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are the one you expect to die in large numbers due to leading assault on a city fortified with Mech Infantry. They should receive City Raider, and Barrage. If you chose civics such that you can have a third promotion right out of production, choose Combat I. If an unit survives enough assaults to get another promotion, choose Pinch. Blitz will be a non-factor because these shock troops won't have enough HP to make a 2nd attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cleanup troops are the ones who will go in when all defenders are at a fraction of their initial strength. Promotion order is Drill I, Drill II, Combat I, Drill III, Pinch. These units will usually survive and eventually become highly promoted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are the units you built in the city with West Point. You only need 1 or 2 of each. Combat I, Combat II, Charge makes a specific anti-siege unit. Substitute Formation if you want an anti-Cavalry Tank unit, but it's unlikely you'll need many of these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit mix should be 3:1 in terms of shock troops versus cleanup, since the core cities you'll be assaulting usually will have 6-8 defenders. Expect to lose 40-60% of your shock troops in any given assault against entrenched Mech Infantry which has been softened up already with either an artillery suicide-charge or stealth-bomber air strikes, so plan accordingly when it comes to your post-conquest goals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the assault is against regular Infantry or Marine, then the loss ratio for shock troops should be in the 20-40% range. The shock troops should NOT be moved after the assault. Leave 2-3 full-strength gunpowder units in place, one of them with medic upgrade, to maximize healing. The only exception is in beachhead assault, where you must put everyone into the city in order to wait out the counter-attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Gunpowder Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Infantry and Mech Infantry are in the same basic category. They are usually considered defensive units, but they are much more versatile than that. There are 3 basic types of Gunpowder units, and your options are going to be complex since you'll likely have legacy units you upgraded. So the unit mix won't be quite as static as armored units, which you can plan from day 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Especially valuable are those units who have been promoted from archers and longbowmen because those units can have Drill upgrades, which they keep even as Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are designated for city assault. These units are essential when facing a city with wall/castle because the 50% bonus can't be reduced with bombardment. Sending anything except for gunpowder units makes the city a meat grinder. Combat I, Pinch, City Assault is the promotion order. Expect 85%+ casualty from units which make the assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Garrison troops are used to hold the captured territory. City Garrison, Combat I, and Medic are the promotion order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are given Guerilla I and Guerilla II for a special hill-cover unit. , or the Woodman equivalent. For Infantry, in the pre-Gunship era, you may want to get Combat I, Combat II, and Pinch for a specialty anti-tank unit. Once promoted to Mech Inf, you can now fight Modern Armor on equal footing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Gunpowder units are needed on a minimum of 1:4 ratio with the armor units in a large-scale assault. If you have 12 armor units (9 shock, 3 cleanup) then expect to carry at least 3 Gunpowder units. If this is the initial landing on enemy territory separated by ocean, the ratio needs to be reversed to 3:1 in favor of gunpowder (12 gunpowder for every 3 armor) in order to weather the initial assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Always keep the Infantry unit's +25% vs gunpowder in mind. Against an infantry unit entrenched in a city guarded by walls, the defender has the 50% bonus in addition to the normal entrenchment. At 100% strength, that gives the defender 35 = 20 (base) + 10 (wall) + 5 (entrench) versus the armor unit's 28. Bad odds. Even if you reduce the infantry defender's base to 60%, it's still 28 vs. 21 (defender).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An assault with an Infantry unit against the same 60% defender, the odds are better at 25 vs. 18 because the wall bonus no longer applies. Even better if the attacker has Pinch and the defender has Garrison because you apply the 25% bonus to a higher base and the defender's bonus is only 20%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the defenders are composed of Marines or SAM Infantry, the advantage is even more pronounced. The Marines have a higher base, but the Infantry's 25% bonus makes up the difference. SAM Infantry has a lower base and no gunpowder bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mounted and Helicopter Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the modern era, both you and the AI can have a large number of gunships just because the inventory of cavalry units which was subsequently promoted. In some cases, it's better not to promote because the main use of such mounted units in the modern era is defensive or for pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The gunship is touted as an anti-armor unit, and there are no good promotion strategy other than Drill. Anything else is useless because it usually doesn't survive combat. The AI is smart enough to cover their tanks with SAM infantry and other gunpowder units, so you'll rarely get a chance to use your gunships against them anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use gunships for raiding. Uniquely, they can move immediately upon unloading from a transport. The initial transoceanic assault will trigger a massive response and gunships will help you survive it by cutting all rail lines around the city you'll be assaulting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use 1 movement to unload, 1 more to get into position, and the remaining 2 to pillage. You need to cut ALL the railroads into the entry city to prevent the 1 MP units from reinforcing. Of course, you should have cut the lines around your initial landing site first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the initial landing, take the surviving gunpowder units to cover the gunships into proximity any nice geographic features like hills. Create a fire break wherever possible by cutting railroads. Gunships are the only unit which can cut an improved tile in a single turn, although you should plan to sacrifice them. Stalling the enemy counter-attack is well worth doing even if you lose several gunships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you start a war without Gunships, Cavalry is your only option. Once Infantry is in play, Cavalry is useless anyways and their only use is to pillage. If you have any older units left like Horse Archers, etc..., now is the time to use them. You have to use (and lose) twice as many mounted units, but the result will be the same. It's a shame that Explorers can't pillage, because they'd otherwise be the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Important Note:[\BOLD] Due to a bug in the patch, a group (2 more more) of gunships without stack-attack turned on can actually occupy a city. Thus it's actually possible for an all-gunship assault to take enemy territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Siege Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In modern warfare, there is really only 1 siege unit - the artillery. The Machine Gun is worthless and don't even bother bringing it when planning an assault. Its usefulness is strictly against the likes of Cavalry and Rifleman. Once you have infantry, you don't need MG's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The artillery, however, should be your best friend. On an assault, sacrificing 3-4 artillery units is worth it as long as you save a couple of tanks or mech. infantry units from destruction. The slow movement isn't going to matter in your initial beachhead assault, and your operating tempo will slow down to allow units to heal anyways, so you have time to let large artillery divisions move forward. Unlike the catapult or Cannon, the Artillery has enough strength to make a halfway decent defender, and none of the "modern" units have anti-siege bonuses built in. Artillery comes in two varieties - general and assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]General artillery should have Accuracy and Barrage. That makes them suitable both as bombardment if you don't have bombers (or don't want to use them) and as shock troops. The assault artillery is either units built in the West Point city or a general artillery which got promoted enough to get Barrage II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In an assault after all cultural bonus has been worn down, pick your highest Barrage artillery unit and send them in to die. Expect 60-80% mortality rate, and the goal is to wear down the defenders such that you have a definite superiority in attack strength. For every 3 units in the city, expect to use 1 artillery assault. So if a city is defended by 9 units, plan to use at least 3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A crucial point is that in the initial beachhead assault, you MUST hold at least 4 artillery units in reserve because the AI will inevitably send its most powerful counter-attack immediately. Assuming you brought the right unit mix, the gunships should have cut the roads. That will force the AI to stack up its units instead of just rushing in for the attack. This is where the artillery saves your beachhead by doing so much collateral damage to the stacked up units that you get breathing room to have your transports make another round-trip with reinforcements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the convoy system, the only 2 units that matter are Battleship and Transport. You don't need to have carriers, destroyers, etc... unless you seek naval superiority, which really isn't necessary. By the time you are in a modern world war, the health bonus from fish, clam, etc... are no longer critical so the AI is welcome to parade their naval units up and down the coast without interference. If they deny your border cities of the sea-based foods, it's likely that war weariness will reduce your workforce to the point where it doesn't matter anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Transports should be given Flanking and Navigation I to bring them up to 6 MP. That puts their range the same as the Battleship, which should receive all the Drill Bonuses possible. You won't need flank or navigation because the BB's aren't going anywhere once they are on station.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, you should choose a common embarkation point for transports. Every 6 MP's, station 2 BB's as the convoy guard point. If the ocean is 3 transits wide, you'll need 2 BB stations with a total of 6 units in order to provide relief. All transports, coming and going, will hald on the BB-guarded spots. In general, the AI doesn't like to take on guarded transports without good odds and 2 BB's are long odds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if those are the only places where naval units are found, then the AI will go for them. That's why you should be producing transports for use strictly as bait. Load them up as they are built with a single low-value unit and just send them into the deep blue seas. Losing them keeps the AI navy busy elsewhere while you truck in dozens of new units. To sustain an assault, airlifts alone aren't enough unless you want a grinding war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also remember that the transports have enough attack points that if there is a severely injured BB or destroyer hanging around, feel free to just take him out with an empty transport.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Air Warfare[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most of the strategy articles talk about Stealth Bomber, but that is at the end of the tech tree. Surely people have gone to war while armed strictly with Tanks, Artillery, Infantry, and Bombers?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the Industrial Era, the Bomber is of limited utility. It takes at least 6 attacks to reduce a 100% cultural defense down to zero, and that assumes you can obtain a good base. You'll spend a lot of time rebasing bombers, because a base suitable for assaulting one city won't be suitable for another. Given how much the AI likes to use SAM Infantry, the Bomber is in deadly danger as soon as they have Rocketry, which comes a LOT sooner than Stealth Bomber. The Bomber is also relatively worthless in an air strike role unless the enemy AI is so far behind as to NOT have SAM Infantry or Fighters.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At Prince or above, how likely is it that an AI which you'd have to plan a trans-oceanic assault on doesn't have SAM Infantry?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Bombers are almost a complete waste of time in the city assault role. You'd be better off using the production capacity to produce an artillery[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fighters are also nearly completely worthless. They spend too much time trying to re-base as operations move forward, and the production is better spent on another SAM Infantry or Mech. Infantry unit if you wanted anti-air protection. Unlike fighters, those units are actually useful for something else.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only air unit even worth building is the Stealth Bomber, which is of course set to be wayyyy too powerful. With a big stack of stealth bombers (12+) not even a city protected by Jet Fighters can reasonable hope to protect it from bombardment. As long as you rest the Stealth Bombers to heal any time they take damage, you can expect to lose less than 1-in-10 even after 40+ rounds of combat. There's no need to discuss how to use these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tactics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some random thoughts, in no particular order[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Dealing with Gunships[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sending out any kind of an armor force of Tanks or even Modern Armor without protection is an open invitation for AI gunships to swoop in, and as discussed, the AI always has a lot of gunships since they are upgrades from Cavalry. How to deal with them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A lot of people like to use SAM Infantry, because of the 50% bonus. Bad idea. Even with the bonus, they don't measure up to the Mech Infantry's attack power. And SAM Infantry can't keep up with tank units. Best to leave these guys back in your conquered cities as air cover.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't have the Mech Infantry unit, you should bring along extra Gunships instead. It's a fair fight, and Gunships have little combat role in the city assault anyways since they can't attack an entrenched SAM unit with any kind of success. As part of a stack with tanks, the enemy SAM Infantry can't get at them and you just need to have more Gunships than the enemy can bring the bear.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the event there are gunships covering a city, expect to spend a couple more artillery so that your own tanks have a fighting chance at beating them. Infantry against gunship is not a good deal either, and it's better to spend more artillery units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Railroad Raider[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the vital necessity of creating a fire-break around your beachhead city, you should have obtained a world map at some point which gives you a look at the terrain. Look for choke points where the road network narrows and plan to drop a transport with a few gunships on that spot. Because of the 4 MP's, a gunship can unload, pillage, and get back on the transport in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any enemy choke point which comes too close to the ocean is your prey. Stay away from squares with towns. Although the plunder is nice, it takes too long to get all the way down to the railroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unlike previous versions of Civ, you can't cross an entire continent on rails in a single turn. Any degradation of the rail network which causes units to detour is worth doing. A transport loaded with 4 gunships can move down the coast and blow away 2-3 squares worth of railroads in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Feint[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use the railroad movement cost to your advantage. In Civ4, it's much harder to reinforce. If you have the units, start a false landing with ONLY the crap-units you can't use (machine guns, un-upgraded cannons, old riflemen, unneeded cavalry) in an inaccessible spot near a bad city. The AI will respond in force regardless, and it'll draw all those 1 MP units too far from your actual beachhead to respond the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That extra turn gives you the breathing space make sure you cut rail links. This tactic is best combined with Railroad Raider. If you draw them out and then cut the roads behind them, you can comfortably settle in before they reach you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Research Priority[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Considering the relative useless nature of bombers, is it really necessary to research Radio early on?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of 6k on Radio, get Rocketry first because Gunships are a lot more valuable.</English>
		<French>[H1]Warmonger's Guide for Industrial/Modern Era World War of Conquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most people prefer to finish the game ASAP and take whatever approach will get them the victory and maximum score. Some of us, however, enjoy the warfare aspects of Civ4. I like taking on the AI's instead of just shooting for a space race or diplomatic victory. War is fun and it's even more fun when you can fight with a wide variety of units, including tanks, modern armor, mech infantry, bombers, fighters, etc...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I measure my success by the exchange ratio. If I can take out every single AI while maintaining a kill ratio of 3:1, that's a stunning military victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this is not really a guide on winning Civ4, because there are many other guides. This is all about war. How you fight a war against a well armed AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Modern era[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Armor units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Modern Armor and Tank should be promoted in 3 different styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are the one you expect to die in large numbers due to leading assault on a city fortified with Mech Infantry. They should receive City Raider, and Barrage. If you chose civics such that you can have a third promotion right out of production, choose Combat I. If an unit survives enough assaults to get another promotion, choose Pinch. Blitz will be a non-factor because these shock troops won't have enough HP to make a 2nd attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cleanup troops are the ones who will go in when all defenders are at a fraction of their initial strength. Promotion order is Drill I, Drill II, Combat I, Drill III, Pinch. These units will usually survive and eventually become highly promoted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are the units you built in the city with West Point. You only need 1 or 2 of each. Combat I, Combat II, Charge makes a specific anti-siege unit. Substitute Formation if you want an anti-Cavalry Tank unit, but it's unlikely you'll need many of these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit mix should be 3:1 in terms of shock troops versus cleanup, since the core cities you'll be assaulting usually will have 6-8 defenders. Expect to lose 40-60% of your shock troops in any given assault against entrenched Mech Infantry which has been softened up already with either an artillery suicide-charge or stealth-bomber air strikes, so plan accordingly when it comes to your post-conquest goals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the assault is against regular Infantry or Marine, then the loss ratio for shock troops should be in the 20-40% range. The shock troops should NOT be moved after the assault. Leave 2-3 full-strength gunpowder units in place, one of them with medic upgrade, to maximize healing. The only exception is in beachhead assault, where you must put everyone into the city in order to wait out the counter-attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Gunpowder Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Infantry and Mech Infantry are in the same basic category. They are usually considered defensive units, but they are much more versatile than that. There are 3 basic types of Gunpowder units, and your options are going to be complex since you'll likely have legacy units you upgraded. So the unit mix won't be quite as static as armored units, which you can plan from day 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Especially valuable are those units who have been promoted from archers and longbowmen because those units can have Drill upgrades, which they keep even as Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are designated for city assault. These units are essential when facing a city with wall/castle because the 50% bonus can't be reduced with bombardment. Sending anything except for gunpowder units makes the city a meat grinder. Combat I, Pinch, City Assault is the promotion order. Expect 85%+ casualty from units which make the assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Garrison troops are used to hold the captured territory. City Garrison, Combat I, and Medic are the promotion order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are given Guerilla I and Guerilla II for a special hill-cover unit. , or the Woodman equivalent. For Infantry, in the pre-Gunship era, you may want to get Combat I, Combat II, and Pinch for a specialty anti-tank unit. Once promoted to Mech Inf, you can now fight Modern Armor on equal footing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Gunpowder units are needed on a minimum of 1:4 ratio with the armor units in a large-scale assault. If you have 12 armor units (9 shock, 3 cleanup) then expect to carry at least 3 Gunpowder units. If this is the initial landing on enemy territory separated by ocean, the ratio needs to be reversed to 3:1 in favor of gunpowder (12 gunpowder for every 3 armor) in order to weather the initial assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Always keep the Infantry unit's +25% vs gunpowder in mind. Against an infantry unit entrenched in a city guarded by walls, the defender has the 50% bonus in addition to the normal entrenchment. At 100% strength, that gives the defender 35 = 20 (base) + 10 (wall) + 5 (entrench) versus the armor unit's 28. Bad odds. Even if you reduce the infantry defender's base to 60%, it's still 28 vs. 21 (defender).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An assault with an Infantry unit against the same 60% defender, the odds are better at 25 vs. 18 because the wall bonus no longer applies. Even better if the attacker has Pinch and the defender has Garrison because you apply the 25% bonus to a higher base and the defender's bonus is only 20%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the defenders are composed of Marines or SAM Infantry, the advantage is even more pronounced. The Marines have a higher base, but the Infantry's 25% bonus makes up the difference. SAM Infantry has a lower base and no gunpowder bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mounted and Helicopter Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the modern era, both you and the AI can have a large number of gunships just because the inventory of cavalry units which was subsequently promoted. In some cases, it's better not to promote because the main use of such mounted units in the modern era is defensive or for pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The gunship is touted as an anti-armor unit, and there are no good promotion strategy other than Drill. Anything else is useless because it usually doesn't survive combat. The AI is smart enough to cover their tanks with SAM infantry and other gunpowder units, so you'll rarely get a chance to use your gunships against them anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use gunships for raiding. Uniquely, they can move immediately upon unloading from a transport. The initial transoceanic assault will trigger a massive response and gunships will help you survive it by cutting all rail lines around the city you'll be assaulting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use 1 movement to unload, 1 more to get into position, and the remaining 2 to pillage. You need to cut ALL the railroads into the entry city to prevent the 1 MP units from reinforcing. Of course, you should have cut the lines around your initial landing site first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the initial landing, take the surviving gunpowder units to cover the gunships into proximity any nice geographic features like hills. Create a fire break wherever possible by cutting railroads. Gunships are the only unit which can cut an improved tile in a single turn, although you should plan to sacrifice them. Stalling the enemy counter-attack is well worth doing even if you lose several gunships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you start a war without Gunships, Cavalry is your only option. Once Infantry is in play, Cavalry is useless anyways and their only use is to pillage. If you have any older units left like Horse Archers, etc..., now is the time to use them. You have to use (and lose) twice as many mounted units, but the result will be the same. It's a shame that Explorers can't pillage, because they'd otherwise be the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Important Note:[\BOLD] Due to a bug in the patch, a group (2 more more) of gunships without stack-attack turned on can actually occupy a city. Thus it's actually possible for an all-gunship assault to take enemy territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Siege Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In modern warfare, there is really only 1 siege unit - the artillery. The Machine Gun is worthless and don't even bother bringing it when planning an assault. Its usefulness is strictly against the likes of Cavalry and Rifleman. Once you have infantry, you don't need MG's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The artillery, however, should be your best friend. On an assault, sacrificing 3-4 artillery units is worth it as long as you save a couple of tanks or mech. infantry units from destruction. The slow movement isn't going to matter in your initial beachhead assault, and your operating tempo will slow down to allow units to heal anyways, so you have time to let large artillery divisions move forward. Unlike the catapult or Cannon, the Artillery has enough strength to make a halfway decent defender, and none of the "modern" units have anti-siege bonuses built in. Artillery comes in two varieties - general and assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]General artillery should have Accuracy and Barrage. That makes them suitable both as bombardment if you don't have bombers (or don't want to use them) and as shock troops. The assault artillery is either units built in the West Point city or a general artillery which got promoted enough to get Barrage II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In an assault after all cultural bonus has been worn down, pick your highest Barrage artillery unit and send them in to die. Expect 60-80% mortality rate, and the goal is to wear down the defenders such that you have a definite superiority in attack strength. For every 3 units in the city, expect to use 1 artillery assault. So if a city is defended by 9 units, plan to use at least 3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A crucial point is that in the initial beachhead assault, you MUST hold at least 4 artillery units in reserve because the AI will inevitably send its most powerful counter-attack immediately. Assuming you brought the right unit mix, the gunships should have cut the roads. That will force the AI to stack up its units instead of just rushing in for the attack. This is where the artillery saves your beachhead by doing so much collateral damage to the stacked up units that you get breathing room to have your transports make another round-trip with reinforcements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the convoy system, the only 2 units that matter are Battleship and Transport. You don't need to have carriers, destroyers, etc... unless you seek naval superiority, which really isn't necessary. By the time you are in a modern world war, the health bonus from fish, clam, etc... are no longer critical so the AI is welcome to parade their naval units up and down the coast without interference. If they deny your border cities of the sea-based foods, it's likely that war weariness will reduce your workforce to the point where it doesn't matter anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Transports should be given Flanking and Navigation I to bring them up to 6 MP. That puts their range the same as the Battleship, which should receive all the Drill Bonuses possible. You won't need flank or navigation because the BB's aren't going anywhere once they are on station.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, you should choose a common embarkation point for transports. Every 6 MP's, station 2 BB's as the convoy guard point. If the ocean is 3 transits wide, you'll need 2 BB stations with a total of 6 units in order to provide relief. All transports, coming and going, will hald on the BB-guarded spots. In general, the AI doesn't like to take on guarded transports without good odds and 2 BB's are long odds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if those are the only places where naval units are found, then the AI will go for them. That's why you should be producing transports for use strictly as bait. Load them up as they are built with a single low-value unit and just send them into the deep blue seas. Losing them keeps the AI navy busy elsewhere while you truck in dozens of new units. To sustain an assault, airlifts alone aren't enough unless you want a grinding war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also remember that the transports have enough attack points that if there is a severely injured BB or destroyer hanging around, feel free to just take him out with an empty transport.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Air Warfare[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most of the strategy articles talk about Stealth Bomber, but that is at the end of the tech tree. Surely people have gone to war while armed strictly with Tanks, Artillery, Infantry, and Bombers?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the Industrial Era, the Bomber is of limited utility. It takes at least 6 attacks to reduce a 100% cultural defense down to zero, and that assumes you can obtain a good base. You'll spend a lot of time rebasing bombers, because a base suitable for assaulting one city won't be suitable for another. Given how much the AI likes to use SAM Infantry, the Bomber is in deadly danger as soon as they have Rocketry, which comes a LOT sooner than Stealth Bomber. The Bomber is also relatively worthless in an air strike role unless the enemy AI is so far behind as to NOT have SAM Infantry or Fighters.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At Prince or above, how likely is it that an AI which you'd have to plan a trans-oceanic assault on doesn't have SAM Infantry?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Bombers are almost a complete waste of time in the city assault role. You'd be better off using the production capacity to produce an artillery[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fighters are also nearly completely worthless. They spend too much time trying to re-base as operations move forward, and the production is better spent on another SAM Infantry or Mech. Infantry unit if you wanted anti-air protection. Unlike fighters, those units are actually useful for something else.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only air unit even worth building is the Stealth Bomber, which is of course set to be wayyyy too powerful. With a big stack of stealth bombers (12+) not even a city protected by Jet Fighters can reasonable hope to protect it from bombardment. As long as you rest the Stealth Bombers to heal any time they take damage, you can expect to lose less than 1-in-10 even after 40+ rounds of combat. There's no need to discuss how to use these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tactics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some random thoughts, in no particular order[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Dealing with Gunships[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sending out any kind of an armor force of Tanks or even Modern Armor without protection is an open invitation for AI gunships to swoop in, and as discussed, the AI always has a lot of gunships since they are upgrades from Cavalry. How to deal with them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A lot of people like to use SAM Infantry, because of the 50% bonus. Bad idea. Even with the bonus, they don't measure up to the Mech Infantry's attack power. And SAM Infantry can't keep up with tank units. Best to leave these guys back in your conquered cities as air cover.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't have the Mech Infantry unit, you should bring along extra Gunships instead. It's a fair fight, and Gunships have little combat role in the city assault anyways since they can't attack an entrenched SAM unit with any kind of success. As part of a stack with tanks, the enemy SAM Infantry can't get at them and you just need to have more Gunships than the enemy can bring the bear.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the event there are gunships covering a city, expect to spend a couple more artillery so that your own tanks have a fighting chance at beating them. Infantry against gunship is not a good deal either, and it's better to spend more artillery units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Railroad Raider[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the vital necessity of creating a fire-break around your beachhead city, you should have obtained a world map at some point which gives you a look at the terrain. Look for choke points where the road network narrows and plan to drop a transport with a few gunships on that spot. Because of the 4 MP's, a gunship can unload, pillage, and get back on the transport in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any enemy choke point which comes too close to the ocean is your prey. Stay away from squares with towns. Although the plunder is nice, it takes too long to get all the way down to the railroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unlike previous versions of Civ, you can't cross an entire continent on rails in a single turn. Any degradation of the rail network which causes units to detour is worth doing. A transport loaded with 4 gunships can move down the coast and blow away 2-3 squares worth of railroads in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Feint[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use the railroad movement cost to your advantage. In Civ4, it's much harder to reinforce. If you have the units, start a false landing with ONLY the crap-units you can't use (machine guns, un-upgraded cannons, old riflemen, unneeded cavalry) in an inaccessible spot near a bad city. The AI will respond in force regardless, and it'll draw all those 1 MP units too far from your actual beachhead to respond the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That extra turn gives you the breathing space make sure you cut rail links. This tactic is best combined with Railroad Raider. If you draw them out and then cut the roads behind them, you can comfortably settle in before they reach you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Research Priority[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Considering the relative useless nature of bombers, is it really necessary to research Radio early on?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of 6k on Radio, get Rocketry first because Gunships are a lot more valuable.</French>
		<German>[H1]Warmonger's Guide for Industrial/Modern Era World War of Conquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most people prefer to finish the game ASAP and take whatever approach will get them the victory and maximum score. Some of us, however, enjoy the warfare aspects of Civ4. I like taking on the AI's instead of just shooting for a space race or diplomatic victory. War is fun and it's even more fun when you can fight with a wide variety of units, including tanks, modern armor, mech infantry, bombers, fighters, etc...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I measure my success by the exchange ratio. If I can take out every single AI while maintaining a kill ratio of 3:1, that's a stunning military victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this is not really a guide on winning Civ4, because there are many other guides. This is all about war. How you fight a war against a well armed AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Modern era[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Armor units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Modern Armor and Tank should be promoted in 3 different styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are the one you expect to die in large numbers due to leading assault on a city fortified with Mech Infantry. They should receive City Raider, and Barrage. If you chose civics such that you can have a third promotion right out of production, choose Combat I. If an unit survives enough assaults to get another promotion, choose Pinch. Blitz will be a non-factor because these shock troops won't have enough HP to make a 2nd attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cleanup troops are the ones who will go in when all defenders are at a fraction of their initial strength. Promotion order is Drill I, Drill II, Combat I, Drill III, Pinch. These units will usually survive and eventually become highly promoted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are the units you built in the city with West Point. You only need 1 or 2 of each. Combat I, Combat II, Charge makes a specific anti-siege unit. Substitute Formation if you want an anti-Cavalry Tank unit, but it's unlikely you'll need many of these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit mix should be 3:1 in terms of shock troops versus cleanup, since the core cities you'll be assaulting usually will have 6-8 defenders. Expect to lose 40-60% of your shock troops in any given assault against entrenched Mech Infantry which has been softened up already with either an artillery suicide-charge or stealth-bomber air strikes, so plan accordingly when it comes to your post-conquest goals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the assault is against regular Infantry or Marine, then the loss ratio for shock troops should be in the 20-40% range. The shock troops should NOT be moved after the assault. Leave 2-3 full-strength gunpowder units in place, one of them with medic upgrade, to maximize healing. The only exception is in beachhead assault, where you must put everyone into the city in order to wait out the counter-attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Gunpowder Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Infantry and Mech Infantry are in the same basic category. They are usually considered defensive units, but they are much more versatile than that. There are 3 basic types of Gunpowder units, and your options are going to be complex since you'll likely have legacy units you upgraded. So the unit mix won't be quite as static as armored units, which you can plan from day 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Especially valuable are those units who have been promoted from archers and longbowmen because those units can have Drill upgrades, which they keep even as Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are designated for city assault. These units are essential when facing a city with wall/castle because the 50% bonus can't be reduced with bombardment. Sending anything except for gunpowder units makes the city a meat grinder. Combat I, Pinch, City Assault is the promotion order. Expect 85%+ casualty from units which make the assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Garrison troops are used to hold the captured territory. City Garrison, Combat I, and Medic are the promotion order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are given Guerilla I and Guerilla II for a special hill-cover unit. , or the Woodman equivalent. For Infantry, in the pre-Gunship era, you may want to get Combat I, Combat II, and Pinch for a specialty anti-tank unit. Once promoted to Mech Inf, you can now fight Modern Armor on equal footing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Gunpowder units are needed on a minimum of 1:4 ratio with the armor units in a large-scale assault. If you have 12 armor units (9 shock, 3 cleanup) then expect to carry at least 3 Gunpowder units. If this is the initial landing on enemy territory separated by ocean, the ratio needs to be reversed to 3:1 in favor of gunpowder (12 gunpowder for every 3 armor) in order to weather the initial assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Always keep the Infantry unit's +25% vs gunpowder in mind. Against an infantry unit entrenched in a city guarded by walls, the defender has the 50% bonus in addition to the normal entrenchment. At 100% strength, that gives the defender 35 = 20 (base) + 10 (wall) + 5 (entrench) versus the armor unit's 28. Bad odds. Even if you reduce the infantry defender's base to 60%, it's still 28 vs. 21 (defender).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An assault with an Infantry unit against the same 60% defender, the odds are better at 25 vs. 18 because the wall bonus no longer applies. Even better if the attacker has Pinch and the defender has Garrison because you apply the 25% bonus to a higher base and the defender's bonus is only 20%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the defenders are composed of Marines or SAM Infantry, the advantage is even more pronounced. The Marines have a higher base, but the Infantry's 25% bonus makes up the difference. SAM Infantry has a lower base and no gunpowder bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mounted and Helicopter Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the modern era, both you and the AI can have a large number of gunships just because the inventory of cavalry units which was subsequently promoted. In some cases, it's better not to promote because the main use of such mounted units in the modern era is defensive or for pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The gunship is touted as an anti-armor unit, and there are no good promotion strategy other than Drill. Anything else is useless because it usually doesn't survive combat. The AI is smart enough to cover their tanks with SAM infantry and other gunpowder units, so you'll rarely get a chance to use your gunships against them anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use gunships for raiding. Uniquely, they can move immediately upon unloading from a transport. The initial transoceanic assault will trigger a massive response and gunships will help you survive it by cutting all rail lines around the city you'll be assaulting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use 1 movement to unload, 1 more to get into position, and the remaining 2 to pillage. You need to cut ALL the railroads into the entry city to prevent the 1 MP units from reinforcing. Of course, you should have cut the lines around your initial landing site first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the initial landing, take the surviving gunpowder units to cover the gunships into proximity any nice geographic features like hills. Create a fire break wherever possible by cutting railroads. Gunships are the only unit which can cut an improved tile in a single turn, although you should plan to sacrifice them. Stalling the enemy counter-attack is well worth doing even if you lose several gunships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you start a war without Gunships, Cavalry is your only option. Once Infantry is in play, Cavalry is useless anyways and their only use is to pillage. If you have any older units left like Horse Archers, etc..., now is the time to use them. You have to use (and lose) twice as many mounted units, but the result will be the same. It's a shame that Explorers can't pillage, because they'd otherwise be the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Important Note:[\BOLD] Due to a bug in the patch, a group (2 more more) of gunships without stack-attack turned on can actually occupy a city. Thus it's actually possible for an all-gunship assault to take enemy territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Siege Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In modern warfare, there is really only 1 siege unit - the artillery. The Machine Gun is worthless and don't even bother bringing it when planning an assault. Its usefulness is strictly against the likes of Cavalry and Rifleman. Once you have infantry, you don't need MG's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The artillery, however, should be your best friend. On an assault, sacrificing 3-4 artillery units is worth it as long as you save a couple of tanks or mech. infantry units from destruction. The slow movement isn't going to matter in your initial beachhead assault, and your operating tempo will slow down to allow units to heal anyways, so you have time to let large artillery divisions move forward. Unlike the catapult or Cannon, the Artillery has enough strength to make a halfway decent defender, and none of the "modern" units have anti-siege bonuses built in. Artillery comes in two varieties - general and assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]General artillery should have Accuracy and Barrage. That makes them suitable both as bombardment if you don't have bombers (or don't want to use them) and as shock troops. The assault artillery is either units built in the West Point city or a general artillery which got promoted enough to get Barrage II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In an assault after all cultural bonus has been worn down, pick your highest Barrage artillery unit and send them in to die. Expect 60-80% mortality rate, and the goal is to wear down the defenders such that you have a definite superiority in attack strength. For every 3 units in the city, expect to use 1 artillery assault. So if a city is defended by 9 units, plan to use at least 3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A crucial point is that in the initial beachhead assault, you MUST hold at least 4 artillery units in reserve because the AI will inevitably send its most powerful counter-attack immediately. Assuming you brought the right unit mix, the gunships should have cut the roads. That will force the AI to stack up its units instead of just rushing in for the attack. This is where the artillery saves your beachhead by doing so much collateral damage to the stacked up units that you get breathing room to have your transports make another round-trip with reinforcements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the convoy system, the only 2 units that matter are Battleship and Transport. You don't need to have carriers, destroyers, etc... unless you seek naval superiority, which really isn't necessary. By the time you are in a modern world war, the health bonus from fish, clam, etc... are no longer critical so the AI is welcome to parade their naval units up and down the coast without interference. If they deny your border cities of the sea-based foods, it's likely that war weariness will reduce your workforce to the point where it doesn't matter anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Transports should be given Flanking and Navigation I to bring them up to 6 MP. That puts their range the same as the Battleship, which should receive all the Drill Bonuses possible. You won't need flank or navigation because the BB's aren't going anywhere once they are on station.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, you should choose a common embarkation point for transports. Every 6 MP's, station 2 BB's as the convoy guard point. If the ocean is 3 transits wide, you'll need 2 BB stations with a total of 6 units in order to provide relief. All transports, coming and going, will hald on the BB-guarded spots. In general, the AI doesn't like to take on guarded transports without good odds and 2 BB's are long odds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if those are the only places where naval units are found, then the AI will go for them. That's why you should be producing transports for use strictly as bait. Load them up as they are built with a single low-value unit and just send them into the deep blue seas. Losing them keeps the AI navy busy elsewhere while you truck in dozens of new units. To sustain an assault, airlifts alone aren't enough unless you want a grinding war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also remember that the transports have enough attack points that if there is a severely injured BB or destroyer hanging around, feel free to just take him out with an empty transport.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Air Warfare[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most of the strategy articles talk about Stealth Bomber, but that is at the end of the tech tree. Surely people have gone to war while armed strictly with Tanks, Artillery, Infantry, and Bombers?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the Industrial Era, the Bomber is of limited utility. It takes at least 6 attacks to reduce a 100% cultural defense down to zero, and that assumes you can obtain a good base. You'll spend a lot of time rebasing bombers, because a base suitable for assaulting one city won't be suitable for another. Given how much the AI likes to use SAM Infantry, the Bomber is in deadly danger as soon as they have Rocketry, which comes a LOT sooner than Stealth Bomber. The Bomber is also relatively worthless in an air strike role unless the enemy AI is so far behind as to NOT have SAM Infantry or Fighters.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At Prince or above, how likely is it that an AI which you'd have to plan a trans-oceanic assault on doesn't have SAM Infantry?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Bombers are almost a complete waste of time in the city assault role. You'd be better off using the production capacity to produce an artillery[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fighters are also nearly completely worthless. They spend too much time trying to re-base as operations move forward, and the production is better spent on another SAM Infantry or Mech. Infantry unit if you wanted anti-air protection. Unlike fighters, those units are actually useful for something else.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only air unit even worth building is the Stealth Bomber, which is of course set to be wayyyy too powerful. With a big stack of stealth bombers (12+) not even a city protected by Jet Fighters can reasonable hope to protect it from bombardment. As long as you rest the Stealth Bombers to heal any time they take damage, you can expect to lose less than 1-in-10 even after 40+ rounds of combat. There's no need to discuss how to use these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tactics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some random thoughts, in no particular order[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Dealing with Gunships[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sending out any kind of an armor force of Tanks or even Modern Armor without protection is an open invitation for AI gunships to swoop in, and as discussed, the AI always has a lot of gunships since they are upgrades from Cavalry. How to deal with them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A lot of people like to use SAM Infantry, because of the 50% bonus. Bad idea. Even with the bonus, they don't measure up to the Mech Infantry's attack power. And SAM Infantry can't keep up with tank units. Best to leave these guys back in your conquered cities as air cover.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't have the Mech Infantry unit, you should bring along extra Gunships instead. It's a fair fight, and Gunships have little combat role in the city assault anyways since they can't attack an entrenched SAM unit with any kind of success. As part of a stack with tanks, the enemy SAM Infantry can't get at them and you just need to have more Gunships than the enemy can bring the bear.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the event there are gunships covering a city, expect to spend a couple more artillery so that your own tanks have a fighting chance at beating them. Infantry against gunship is not a good deal either, and it's better to spend more artillery units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Railroad Raider[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the vital necessity of creating a fire-break around your beachhead city, you should have obtained a world map at some point which gives you a look at the terrain. Look for choke points where the road network narrows and plan to drop a transport with a few gunships on that spot. Because of the 4 MP's, a gunship can unload, pillage, and get back on the transport in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any enemy choke point which comes too close to the ocean is your prey. Stay away from squares with towns. Although the plunder is nice, it takes too long to get all the way down to the railroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unlike previous versions of Civ, you can't cross an entire continent on rails in a single turn. Any degradation of the rail network which causes units to detour is worth doing. A transport loaded with 4 gunships can move down the coast and blow away 2-3 squares worth of railroads in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Feint[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use the railroad movement cost to your advantage. In Civ4, it's much harder to reinforce. If you have the units, start a false landing with ONLY the crap-units you can't use (machine guns, un-upgraded cannons, old riflemen, unneeded cavalry) in an inaccessible spot near a bad city. The AI will respond in force regardless, and it'll draw all those 1 MP units too far from your actual beachhead to respond the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That extra turn gives you the breathing space make sure you cut rail links. This tactic is best combined with Railroad Raider. If you draw them out and then cut the roads behind them, you can comfortably settle in before they reach you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Research Priority[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Considering the relative useless nature of bombers, is it really necessary to research Radio early on?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of 6k on Radio, get Rocketry first because Gunships are a lot more valuable.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Warmonger's Guide for Industrial/Modern Era World War of Conquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most people prefer to finish the game ASAP and take whatever approach will get them the victory and maximum score. Some of us, however, enjoy the warfare aspects of Civ4. I like taking on the AI's instead of just shooting for a space race or diplomatic victory. War is fun and it's even more fun when you can fight with a wide variety of units, including tanks, modern armor, mech infantry, bombers, fighters, etc...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I measure my success by the exchange ratio. If I can take out every single AI while maintaining a kill ratio of 3:1, that's a stunning military victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this is not really a guide on winning Civ4, because there are many other guides. This is all about war. How you fight a war against a well armed AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Modern era[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Armor units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Modern Armor and Tank should be promoted in 3 different styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are the one you expect to die in large numbers due to leading assault on a city fortified with Mech Infantry. They should receive City Raider, and Barrage. If you chose civics such that you can have a third promotion right out of production, choose Combat I. If an unit survives enough assaults to get another promotion, choose Pinch. Blitz will be a non-factor because these shock troops won't have enough HP to make a 2nd attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cleanup troops are the ones who will go in when all defenders are at a fraction of their initial strength. Promotion order is Drill I, Drill II, Combat I, Drill III, Pinch. These units will usually survive and eventually become highly promoted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are the units you built in the city with West Point. You only need 1 or 2 of each. Combat I, Combat II, Charge makes a specific anti-siege unit. Substitute Formation if you want an anti-Cavalry Tank unit, but it's unlikely you'll need many of these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit mix should be 3:1 in terms of shock troops versus cleanup, since the core cities you'll be assaulting usually will have 6-8 defenders. Expect to lose 40-60% of your shock troops in any given assault against entrenched Mech Infantry which has been softened up already with either an artillery suicide-charge or stealth-bomber air strikes, so plan accordingly when it comes to your post-conquest goals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the assault is against regular Infantry or Marine, then the loss ratio for shock troops should be in the 20-40% range. The shock troops should NOT be moved after the assault. Leave 2-3 full-strength gunpowder units in place, one of them with medic upgrade, to maximize healing. The only exception is in beachhead assault, where you must put everyone into the city in order to wait out the counter-attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Gunpowder Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Infantry and Mech Infantry are in the same basic category. They are usually considered defensive units, but they are much more versatile than that. There are 3 basic types of Gunpowder units, and your options are going to be complex since you'll likely have legacy units you upgraded. So the unit mix won't be quite as static as armored units, which you can plan from day 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Especially valuable are those units who have been promoted from archers and longbowmen because those units can have Drill upgrades, which they keep even as Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are designated for city assault. These units are essential when facing a city with wall/castle because the 50% bonus can't be reduced with bombardment. Sending anything except for gunpowder units makes the city a meat grinder. Combat I, Pinch, City Assault is the promotion order. Expect 85%+ casualty from units which make the assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Garrison troops are used to hold the captured territory. City Garrison, Combat I, and Medic are the promotion order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are given Guerilla I and Guerilla II for a special hill-cover unit. , or the Woodman equivalent. For Infantry, in the pre-Gunship era, you may want to get Combat I, Combat II, and Pinch for a specialty anti-tank unit. Once promoted to Mech Inf, you can now fight Modern Armor on equal footing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Gunpowder units are needed on a minimum of 1:4 ratio with the armor units in a large-scale assault. If you have 12 armor units (9 shock, 3 cleanup) then expect to carry at least 3 Gunpowder units. If this is the initial landing on enemy territory separated by ocean, the ratio needs to be reversed to 3:1 in favor of gunpowder (12 gunpowder for every 3 armor) in order to weather the initial assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Always keep the Infantry unit's +25% vs gunpowder in mind. Against an infantry unit entrenched in a city guarded by walls, the defender has the 50% bonus in addition to the normal entrenchment. At 100% strength, that gives the defender 35 = 20 (base) + 10 (wall) + 5 (entrench) versus the armor unit's 28. Bad odds. Even if you reduce the infantry defender's base to 60%, it's still 28 vs. 21 (defender).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An assault with an Infantry unit against the same 60% defender, the odds are better at 25 vs. 18 because the wall bonus no longer applies. Even better if the attacker has Pinch and the defender has Garrison because you apply the 25% bonus to a higher base and the defender's bonus is only 20%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the defenders are composed of Marines or SAM Infantry, the advantage is even more pronounced. The Marines have a higher base, but the Infantry's 25% bonus makes up the difference. SAM Infantry has a lower base and no gunpowder bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mounted and Helicopter Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the modern era, both you and the AI can have a large number of gunships just because the inventory of cavalry units which was subsequently promoted. In some cases, it's better not to promote because the main use of such mounted units in the modern era is defensive or for pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The gunship is touted as an anti-armor unit, and there are no good promotion strategy other than Drill. Anything else is useless because it usually doesn't survive combat. The AI is smart enough to cover their tanks with SAM infantry and other gunpowder units, so you'll rarely get a chance to use your gunships against them anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use gunships for raiding. Uniquely, they can move immediately upon unloading from a transport. The initial transoceanic assault will trigger a massive response and gunships will help you survive it by cutting all rail lines around the city you'll be assaulting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use 1 movement to unload, 1 more to get into position, and the remaining 2 to pillage. You need to cut ALL the railroads into the entry city to prevent the 1 MP units from reinforcing. Of course, you should have cut the lines around your initial landing site first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the initial landing, take the surviving gunpowder units to cover the gunships into proximity any nice geographic features like hills. Create a fire break wherever possible by cutting railroads. Gunships are the only unit which can cut an improved tile in a single turn, although you should plan to sacrifice them. Stalling the enemy counter-attack is well worth doing even if you lose several gunships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you start a war without Gunships, Cavalry is your only option. Once Infantry is in play, Cavalry is useless anyways and their only use is to pillage. If you have any older units left like Horse Archers, etc..., now is the time to use them. You have to use (and lose) twice as many mounted units, but the result will be the same. It's a shame that Explorers can't pillage, because they'd otherwise be the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Important Note:[\BOLD] Due to a bug in the patch, a group (2 more more) of gunships without stack-attack turned on can actually occupy a city. Thus it's actually possible for an all-gunship assault to take enemy territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Siege Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In modern warfare, there is really only 1 siege unit - the artillery. The Machine Gun is worthless and don't even bother bringing it when planning an assault. Its usefulness is strictly against the likes of Cavalry and Rifleman. Once you have infantry, you don't need MG's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The artillery, however, should be your best friend. On an assault, sacrificing 3-4 artillery units is worth it as long as you save a couple of tanks or mech. infantry units from destruction. The slow movement isn't going to matter in your initial beachhead assault, and your operating tempo will slow down to allow units to heal anyways, so you have time to let large artillery divisions move forward. Unlike the catapult or Cannon, the Artillery has enough strength to make a halfway decent defender, and none of the "modern" units have anti-siege bonuses built in. Artillery comes in two varieties - general and assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]General artillery should have Accuracy and Barrage. That makes them suitable both as bombardment if you don't have bombers (or don't want to use them) and as shock troops. The assault artillery is either units built in the West Point city or a general artillery which got promoted enough to get Barrage II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In an assault after all cultural bonus has been worn down, pick your highest Barrage artillery unit and send them in to die. Expect 60-80% mortality rate, and the goal is to wear down the defenders such that you have a definite superiority in attack strength. For every 3 units in the city, expect to use 1 artillery assault. So if a city is defended by 9 units, plan to use at least 3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A crucial point is that in the initial beachhead assault, you MUST hold at least 4 artillery units in reserve because the AI will inevitably send its most powerful counter-attack immediately. Assuming you brought the right unit mix, the gunships should have cut the roads. That will force the AI to stack up its units instead of just rushing in for the attack. This is where the artillery saves your beachhead by doing so much collateral damage to the stacked up units that you get breathing room to have your transports make another round-trip with reinforcements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the convoy system, the only 2 units that matter are Battleship and Transport. You don't need to have carriers, destroyers, etc... unless you seek naval superiority, which really isn't necessary. By the time you are in a modern world war, the health bonus from fish, clam, etc... are no longer critical so the AI is welcome to parade their naval units up and down the coast without interference. If they deny your border cities of the sea-based foods, it's likely that war weariness will reduce your workforce to the point where it doesn't matter anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Transports should be given Flanking and Navigation I to bring them up to 6 MP. That puts their range the same as the Battleship, which should receive all the Drill Bonuses possible. You won't need flank or navigation because the BB's aren't going anywhere once they are on station.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, you should choose a common embarkation point for transports. Every 6 MP's, station 2 BB's as the convoy guard point. If the ocean is 3 transits wide, you'll need 2 BB stations with a total of 6 units in order to provide relief. All transports, coming and going, will hald on the BB-guarded spots. In general, the AI doesn't like to take on guarded transports without good odds and 2 BB's are long odds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if those are the only places where naval units are found, then the AI will go for them. That's why you should be producing transports for use strictly as bait. Load them up as they are built with a single low-value unit and just send them into the deep blue seas. Losing them keeps the AI navy busy elsewhere while you truck in dozens of new units. To sustain an assault, airlifts alone aren't enough unless you want a grinding war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also remember that the transports have enough attack points that if there is a severely injured BB or destroyer hanging around, feel free to just take him out with an empty transport.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Air Warfare[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most of the strategy articles talk about Stealth Bomber, but that is at the end of the tech tree. Surely people have gone to war while armed strictly with Tanks, Artillery, Infantry, and Bombers?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the Industrial Era, the Bomber is of limited utility. It takes at least 6 attacks to reduce a 100% cultural defense down to zero, and that assumes you can obtain a good base. You'll spend a lot of time rebasing bombers, because a base suitable for assaulting one city won't be suitable for another. Given how much the AI likes to use SAM Infantry, the Bomber is in deadly danger as soon as they have Rocketry, which comes a LOT sooner than Stealth Bomber. The Bomber is also relatively worthless in an air strike role unless the enemy AI is so far behind as to NOT have SAM Infantry or Fighters.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At Prince or above, how likely is it that an AI which you'd have to plan a trans-oceanic assault on doesn't have SAM Infantry?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Bombers are almost a complete waste of time in the city assault role. You'd be better off using the production capacity to produce an artillery[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fighters are also nearly completely worthless. They spend too much time trying to re-base as operations move forward, and the production is better spent on another SAM Infantry or Mech. Infantry unit if you wanted anti-air protection. Unlike fighters, those units are actually useful for something else.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only air unit even worth building is the Stealth Bomber, which is of course set to be wayyyy too powerful. With a big stack of stealth bombers (12+) not even a city protected by Jet Fighters can reasonable hope to protect it from bombardment. As long as you rest the Stealth Bombers to heal any time they take damage, you can expect to lose less than 1-in-10 even after 40+ rounds of combat. There's no need to discuss how to use these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tactics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some random thoughts, in no particular order[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Dealing with Gunships[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sending out any kind of an armor force of Tanks or even Modern Armor without protection is an open invitation for AI gunships to swoop in, and as discussed, the AI always has a lot of gunships since they are upgrades from Cavalry. How to deal with them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A lot of people like to use SAM Infantry, because of the 50% bonus. Bad idea. Even with the bonus, they don't measure up to the Mech Infantry's attack power. And SAM Infantry can't keep up with tank units. Best to leave these guys back in your conquered cities as air cover.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't have the Mech Infantry unit, you should bring along extra Gunships instead. It's a fair fight, and Gunships have little combat role in the city assault anyways since they can't attack an entrenched SAM unit with any kind of success. As part of a stack with tanks, the enemy SAM Infantry can't get at them and you just need to have more Gunships than the enemy can bring the bear.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the event there are gunships covering a city, expect to spend a couple more artillery so that your own tanks have a fighting chance at beating them. Infantry against gunship is not a good deal either, and it's better to spend more artillery units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Railroad Raider[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the vital necessity of creating a fire-break around your beachhead city, you should have obtained a world map at some point which gives you a look at the terrain. Look for choke points where the road network narrows and plan to drop a transport with a few gunships on that spot. Because of the 4 MP's, a gunship can unload, pillage, and get back on the transport in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any enemy choke point which comes too close to the ocean is your prey. Stay away from squares with towns. Although the plunder is nice, it takes too long to get all the way down to the railroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unlike previous versions of Civ, you can't cross an entire continent on rails in a single turn. Any degradation of the rail network which causes units to detour is worth doing. A transport loaded with 4 gunships can move down the coast and blow away 2-3 squares worth of railroads in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Feint[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use the railroad movement cost to your advantage. In Civ4, it's much harder to reinforce. If you have the units, start a false landing with ONLY the crap-units you can't use (machine guns, un-upgraded cannons, old riflemen, unneeded cavalry) in an inaccessible spot near a bad city. The AI will respond in force regardless, and it'll draw all those 1 MP units too far from your actual beachhead to respond the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That extra turn gives you the breathing space make sure you cut rail links. This tactic is best combined with Railroad Raider. If you draw them out and then cut the roads behind them, you can comfortably settle in before they reach you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Research Priority[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Considering the relative useless nature of bombers, is it really necessary to research Radio early on?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of 6k on Radio, get Rocketry first because Gunships are a lot more valuable.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Warmonger's Guide for Industrial/Modern Era World War of Conquest[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most people prefer to finish the game ASAP and take whatever approach will get them the victory and maximum score. Some of us, however, enjoy the warfare aspects of Civ4. I like taking on the AI's instead of just shooting for a space race or diplomatic victory. War is fun and it's even more fun when you can fight with a wide variety of units, including tanks, modern armor, mech infantry, bombers, fighters, etc...[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I measure my success by the exchange ratio. If I can take out every single AI while maintaining a kill ratio of 3:1, that's a stunning military victory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]So this is not really a guide on winning Civ4, because there are many other guides. This is all about war. How you fight a war against a well armed AI.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Modern era[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Armor units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Modern Armor and Tank should be promoted in 3 different styles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are the one you expect to die in large numbers due to leading assault on a city fortified with Mech Infantry. They should receive City Raider, and Barrage. If you chose civics such that you can have a third promotion right out of production, choose Combat I. If an unit survives enough assaults to get another promotion, choose Pinch. Blitz will be a non-factor because these shock troops won't have enough HP to make a 2nd attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cleanup troops are the ones who will go in when all defenders are at a fraction of their initial strength. Promotion order is Drill I, Drill II, Combat I, Drill III, Pinch. These units will usually survive and eventually become highly promoted.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are the units you built in the city with West Point. You only need 1 or 2 of each. Combat I, Combat II, Charge makes a specific anti-siege unit. Substitute Formation if you want an anti-Cavalry Tank unit, but it's unlikely you'll need many of these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The unit mix should be 3:1 in terms of shock troops versus cleanup, since the core cities you'll be assaulting usually will have 6-8 defenders. Expect to lose 40-60% of your shock troops in any given assault against entrenched Mech Infantry which has been softened up already with either an artillery suicide-charge or stealth-bomber air strikes, so plan accordingly when it comes to your post-conquest goals.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the assault is against regular Infantry or Marine, then the loss ratio for shock troops should be in the 20-40% range. The shock troops should NOT be moved after the assault. Leave 2-3 full-strength gunpowder units in place, one of them with medic upgrade, to maximize healing. The only exception is in beachhead assault, where you must put everyone into the city in order to wait out the counter-attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Gunpowder Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Infantry and Mech Infantry are in the same basic category. They are usually considered defensive units, but they are much more versatile than that. There are 3 basic types of Gunpowder units, and your options are going to be complex since you'll likely have legacy units you upgraded. So the unit mix won't be quite as static as armored units, which you can plan from day 1.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Especially valuable are those units who have been promoted from archers and longbowmen because those units can have Drill upgrades, which they keep even as Gunpowder units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Shock troops are designated for city assault. These units are essential when facing a city with wall/castle because the 50% bonus can't be reduced with bombardment. Sending anything except for gunpowder units makes the city a meat grinder. Combat I, Pinch, City Assault is the promotion order. Expect 85%+ casualty from units which make the assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Garrison troops are used to hold the captured territory. City Garrison, Combat I, and Medic are the promotion order.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Specialty troops are given Guerilla I and Guerilla II for a special hill-cover unit. , or the Woodman equivalent. For Infantry, in the pre-Gunship era, you may want to get Combat I, Combat II, and Pinch for a specialty anti-tank unit. Once promoted to Mech Inf, you can now fight Modern Armor on equal footing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Gunpowder units are needed on a minimum of 1:4 ratio with the armor units in a large-scale assault. If you have 12 armor units (9 shock, 3 cleanup) then expect to carry at least 3 Gunpowder units. If this is the initial landing on enemy territory separated by ocean, the ratio needs to be reversed to 3:1 in favor of gunpowder (12 gunpowder for every 3 armor) in order to weather the initial assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Always keep the Infantry unit's +25% vs gunpowder in mind. Against an infantry unit entrenched in a city guarded by walls, the defender has the 50% bonus in addition to the normal entrenchment. At 100% strength, that gives the defender 35 = 20 (base) + 10 (wall) + 5 (entrench) versus the armor unit's 28. Bad odds. Even if you reduce the infantry defender's base to 60%, it's still 28 vs. 21 (defender).[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]An assault with an Infantry unit against the same 60% defender, the odds are better at 25 vs. 18 because the wall bonus no longer applies. Even better if the attacker has Pinch and the defender has Garrison because you apply the 25% bonus to a higher base and the defender's bonus is only 20%.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If the defenders are composed of Marines or SAM Infantry, the advantage is even more pronounced. The Marines have a higher base, but the Infantry's 25% bonus makes up the difference. SAM Infantry has a lower base and no gunpowder bonuses.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Mounted and Helicopter Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the modern era, both you and the AI can have a large number of gunships just because the inventory of cavalry units which was subsequently promoted. In some cases, it's better not to promote because the main use of such mounted units in the modern era is defensive or for pillage.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The gunship is touted as an anti-armor unit, and there are no good promotion strategy other than Drill. Anything else is useless because it usually doesn't survive combat. The AI is smart enough to cover their tanks with SAM infantry and other gunpowder units, so you'll rarely get a chance to use your gunships against them anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use gunships for raiding. Uniquely, they can move immediately upon unloading from a transport. The initial transoceanic assault will trigger a massive response and gunships will help you survive it by cutting all rail lines around the city you'll be assaulting.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use 1 movement to unload, 1 more to get into position, and the remaining 2 to pillage. You need to cut ALL the railroads into the entry city to prevent the 1 MP units from reinforcing. Of course, you should have cut the lines around your initial landing site first.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]After the initial landing, take the surviving gunpowder units to cover the gunships into proximity any nice geographic features like hills. Create a fire break wherever possible by cutting railroads. Gunships are the only unit which can cut an improved tile in a single turn, although you should plan to sacrifice them. Stalling the enemy counter-attack is well worth doing even if you lose several gunships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you start a war without Gunships, Cavalry is your only option. Once Infantry is in play, Cavalry is useless anyways and their only use is to pillage. If you have any older units left like Horse Archers, etc..., now is the time to use them. You have to use (and lose) twice as many mounted units, but the result will be the same. It's a shame that Explorers can't pillage, because they'd otherwise be the ideal.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Important Note:[\BOLD] Due to a bug in the patch, a group (2 more more) of gunships without stack-attack turned on can actually occupy a city. Thus it's actually possible for an all-gunship assault to take enemy territory.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Siege Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In modern warfare, there is really only 1 siege unit - the artillery. The Machine Gun is worthless and don't even bother bringing it when planning an assault. Its usefulness is strictly against the likes of Cavalry and Rifleman. Once you have infantry, you don't need MG's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The artillery, however, should be your best friend. On an assault, sacrificing 3-4 artillery units is worth it as long as you save a couple of tanks or mech. infantry units from destruction. The slow movement isn't going to matter in your initial beachhead assault, and your operating tempo will slow down to allow units to heal anyways, so you have time to let large artillery divisions move forward. Unlike the catapult or Cannon, the Artillery has enough strength to make a halfway decent defender, and none of the "modern" units have anti-siege bonuses built in. Artillery comes in two varieties - general and assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]General artillery should have Accuracy and Barrage. That makes them suitable both as bombardment if you don't have bombers (or don't want to use them) and as shock troops. The assault artillery is either units built in the West Point city or a general artillery which got promoted enough to get Barrage II.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In an assault after all cultural bonus has been worn down, pick your highest Barrage artillery unit and send them in to die. Expect 60-80% mortality rate, and the goal is to wear down the defenders such that you have a definite superiority in attack strength. For every 3 units in the city, expect to use 1 artillery assault. So if a city is defended by 9 units, plan to use at least 3.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A crucial point is that in the initial beachhead assault, you MUST hold at least 4 artillery units in reserve because the AI will inevitably send its most powerful counter-attack immediately. Assuming you brought the right unit mix, the gunships should have cut the roads. That will force the AI to stack up its units instead of just rushing in for the attack. This is where the artillery saves your beachhead by doing so much collateral damage to the stacked up units that you get breathing room to have your transports make another round-trip with reinforcements.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval Units[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the convoy system, the only 2 units that matter are Battleship and Transport. You don't need to have carriers, destroyers, etc... unless you seek naval superiority, which really isn't necessary. By the time you are in a modern world war, the health bonus from fish, clam, etc... are no longer critical so the AI is welcome to parade their naval units up and down the coast without interference. If they deny your border cities of the sea-based foods, it's likely that war weariness will reduce your workforce to the point where it doesn't matter anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Transports should be given Flanking and Navigation I to bring them up to 6 MP. That puts their range the same as the Battleship, which should receive all the Drill Bonuses possible. You won't need flank or navigation because the BB's aren't going anywhere once they are on station.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In general, you should choose a common embarkation point for transports. Every 6 MP's, station 2 BB's as the convoy guard point. If the ocean is 3 transits wide, you'll need 2 BB stations with a total of 6 units in order to provide relief. All transports, coming and going, will hald on the BB-guarded spots. In general, the AI doesn't like to take on guarded transports without good odds and 2 BB's are long odds.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]However, if those are the only places where naval units are found, then the AI will go for them. That's why you should be producing transports for use strictly as bait. Load them up as they are built with a single low-value unit and just send them into the deep blue seas. Losing them keeps the AI navy busy elsewhere while you truck in dozens of new units. To sustain an assault, airlifts alone aren't enough unless you want a grinding war.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Also remember that the transports have enough attack points that if there is a severely injured BB or destroyer hanging around, feel free to just take him out with an empty transport.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Air Warfare[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Most of the strategy articles talk about Stealth Bomber, but that is at the end of the tech tree. Surely people have gone to war while armed strictly with Tanks, Artillery, Infantry, and Bombers?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the Industrial Era, the Bomber is of limited utility. It takes at least 6 attacks to reduce a 100% cultural defense down to zero, and that assumes you can obtain a good base. You'll spend a lot of time rebasing bombers, because a base suitable for assaulting one city won't be suitable for another. Given how much the AI likes to use SAM Infantry, the Bomber is in deadly danger as soon as they have Rocketry, which comes a LOT sooner than Stealth Bomber. The Bomber is also relatively worthless in an air strike role unless the enemy AI is so far behind as to NOT have SAM Infantry or Fighters.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At Prince or above, how likely is it that an AI which you'd have to plan a trans-oceanic assault on doesn't have SAM Infantry?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In short, Bombers are almost a complete waste of time in the city assault role. You'd be better off using the production capacity to produce an artillery[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Fighters are also nearly completely worthless. They spend too much time trying to re-base as operations move forward, and the production is better spent on another SAM Infantry or Mech. Infantry unit if you wanted anti-air protection. Unlike fighters, those units are actually useful for something else.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The only air unit even worth building is the Stealth Bomber, which is of course set to be wayyyy too powerful. With a big stack of stealth bombers (12+) not even a city protected by Jet Fighters can reasonable hope to protect it from bombardment. As long as you rest the Stealth Bombers to heal any time they take damage, you can expect to lose less than 1-in-10 even after 40+ rounds of combat. There's no need to discuss how to use these.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][H2]Tactics[\H2][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Some random thoughts, in no particular order[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Dealing with Gunships[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Sending out any kind of an armor force of Tanks or even Modern Armor without protection is an open invitation for AI gunships to swoop in, and as discussed, the AI always has a lot of gunships since they are upgrades from Cavalry. How to deal with them?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A lot of people like to use SAM Infantry, because of the 50% bonus. Bad idea. Even with the bonus, they don't measure up to the Mech Infantry's attack power. And SAM Infantry can't keep up with tank units. Best to leave these guys back in your conquered cities as air cover.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you don't have the Mech Infantry unit, you should bring along extra Gunships instead. It's a fair fight, and Gunships have little combat role in the city assault anyways since they can't attack an entrenched SAM unit with any kind of success. As part of a stack with tanks, the enemy SAM Infantry can't get at them and you just need to have more Gunships than the enemy can bring the bear.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the event there are gunships covering a city, expect to spend a couple more artillery so that your own tanks have a fighting chance at beating them. Infantry against gunship is not a good deal either, and it's better to spend more artillery units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Railroad Raider[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Besides the vital necessity of creating a fire-break around your beachhead city, you should have obtained a world map at some point which gives you a look at the terrain. Look for choke points where the road network narrows and plan to drop a transport with a few gunships on that spot. Because of the 4 MP's, a gunship can unload, pillage, and get back on the transport in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Any enemy choke point which comes too close to the ocean is your prey. Stay away from squares with towns. Although the plunder is nice, it takes too long to get all the way down to the railroad.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unlike previous versions of Civ, you can't cross an entire continent on rails in a single turn. Any degradation of the rail network which causes units to detour is worth doing. A transport loaded with 4 gunships can move down the coast and blow away 2-3 squares worth of railroads in a single turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Feint[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Use the railroad movement cost to your advantage. In Civ4, it's much harder to reinforce. If you have the units, start a false landing with ONLY the crap-units you can't use (machine guns, un-upgraded cannons, old riflemen, unneeded cavalry) in an inaccessible spot near a bad city. The AI will respond in force regardless, and it'll draw all those 1 MP units too far from your actual beachhead to respond the same turn.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That extra turn gives you the breathing space make sure you cut rail links. This tactic is best combined with Railroad Raider. If you draw them out and then cut the roads behind them, you can comfortably settle in before they reach you.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Research Priority[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Considering the relative useless nature of bombers, is it really necessary to research Radio early on?[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead of 6k on Radio, get Rocketry first because Gunships are a lot more valuable.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_TANK_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]On the Finer Points of Tank Warfare[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cleverhandle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I love Tanks. And while I know that the diehard warmongers would consider a game that lasts long enough to see them a disgrace, I'd still like to share some thoughts about how to make the most of these lovely, rolling implements of destruction. Experienced warmongers may view much of this as obvious implications of the combat system, but hopefully there will be a few tips useful for everyone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Significance:[\BOLD] The combination of two moves, collateral damage, and city raider allow one to capture enemy cities far more quickly than in previous eras. Conquering a city every other turn with only a modest battlegroup (i.e. 10-12 tanks) is easily possible, given the right tactics. This can have tremendous impact, whether you're a builder looking to demolish a rival or a warmonger looking for an early end date.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Objective:[\BOLD] Conquer enemy cities as [BOLD]quickly[\BOLD] as possible. At this stage of the game, IMO, losing an occasional tank is well worth cutting your conquest time by 50%-75%. The war weariness, supply costs, and wasted turns before victory are more important than a few hundred hammers. If you are significantly behind your enemy and are trying for a desperate late game power-grab, these tactics may not be appropriate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Assumptions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) You are at least close to tech/power parity with your victim. It's fine if he has gunships and/or SAM's. If he's far enough ahead to already have Jets or MechInfs, then you're probably too late.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) You have Flight and Radio (for Fighters and Bombers). Having Rocketry (for Gunships) and Robotics (for MechInfs) is nice, but by no means required. You also need Airports in your major military production cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) You have a reasonable supply of Level 4 (10XP) units. Just having a military city with West Point is enough - you don't need a ton of Level 4 units. Having the Pentagon and civics such that every city can produce 10XP troops is obviously nice, but again not strictly necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) You're playing on Settler. Kidding... this works fine at least through Emperor, provided you can stay in the game well enough to meet the other criteria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What you need:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Tanks: Well, duh. More specifically, you need several kinds:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Raider Tanks - your heavy hitters: You want 3 of these, 4 is better. These are the ones that really need to be Level 4 to be effective. Take Raider I, Raider II, and Barrage I promotions. Take Raider III at Level 5 if you get there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Drill Tanks - cleanup crew: How many you need depends on how many troops you're up against. A number equal to the number of defending troops is safe. If you're in a time/production bind, you can reasonably count on blitzing for multiple attacks but make sure that the target city isn't on a hill (costs 2 moves to attack). Promote these with as many Drill promos as you can get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Cover Tanks - protection: You want 2-3 of these, depending on how much you fear the enemy's counterattack. Promote either all Combat or Combat I/II, Ambush depending on whether you think a counterattack will be heavier on tanks or artillery/gunships. If you have Gunships, one of them can replace one of these. If you have MechInfs, use them instead. On the very first assault of a war, these will take a larger beating as the AI throws its extra troops at them. For the fastest conquest, keep two extras safe behind your lines and ready to move.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non-Tank units:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Medics - Explorers are essential for this, because they'll likely be the only available 2 move unit that can take medic. You need two of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Bombers - The more the merrier, but 10 is probably enough. 15 can cut through even the toughest air defenses I've seen. More than that is overkill. Expect to lose about one for every other city and be ready to replace them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Fighters - Two or three flying Interception within range of the target city. Only needed if the victim has Bombers himself, in order to intercept bombing runs against your approaching stack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Worker pair w/cover - Very important. You need to be able to quickly build rails in conquered territory. In contrast to Civ3, the AI doesn't appear to be very keen on snagging covered workers. I tend to cover with only a single tough defender like a Combat I/II/Ambush Infantry. An extra cover unit would be safer. Having two pairs of workers is also nice, but not essential.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How it works:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most situations, this will be a two turn process - one to approach and the other to attack. If terrain, culture, or a reliance on blitz necessitate an extra approach turn, you may want to hold off some or all of the bombers until turn two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 1:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Tank group approaches. Since tanks don't receive terrain bonuses, you generally just want the fastest path. But sometimes you can position yourself so that incoming attacks are across a river, which is helpful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) First bombing run - balance is key here. It's important to damage the units in the target city on this turn since the combat system significantly penalizes weakened attackers. You want counterattacking tanks, artillery, and gunships to come at you at no more than 75% strength or so. At the same time, your airstrikes won't be effective until you've lowered the culture defense, and of course you need to start softening them up for your approaching tanks anyway. Keep in mind that, at 15%/turn, it takes 7 successful bombing runs to completely eliminate enemy defenses. I tend to go about 60/40 %bombard vs. unit bombard on this turn. %bombard first, then unit bombard. If you have a surplus of air power, it's worth looking around at other cities near your target in order to weaken any responders there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 2:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Second bombing run - Finish what the first one started. You should really have enough bombers to both zero out the cultural defense and reduce all defenders to 50%. If that's impossible, go for a balanced approach. If the enemy has bunkers (which is pretty rare, in my experience), try to make sure that every unit takes a few hits but don't get hung up on it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Raiders attack - This wave has two objectives - take out the toughest defenders and soften up the remainder for your drill tanks. These tanks [BOLD]will[\BOLD] take damage, though hopefully not be destroyed. Do [BOLD]not[\BOLD] use every raider tank you brought. Two is enough - the goal is speed, and the more damage you suffer the more time you spend healing. After two collateral damage hits from these the rest of the defenders should be under 50% strength, and it's time to move on. The third/fourth raider tanks are purely for backup purposes in case the other two get badly beat up by counterstrikes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Drill tanks attack - This wave takes advantage of first strikes, letting your drill tanks sweep up defenders with a good probability of taking no damage. Nothing elaborate, just send them in. Don't blitz with a wounded tank unless absolutely required - not because you'll lose it, but because you want to minimize healing time. This wave should capture the city. If you've never tried this, expect to be surprised at how your tanks can go 5 for 5 battles or more without taking a scratch.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Move in to the city? - This gets tricky, depending on how the enemy countered your advance. If you have damaged tanks (from an artillery or air strike, perhaps) that haven't moved, you may want to leave them outside the city to get an extra turn of healing. Just make sure they're protected by one of your cover units, and keep one of the medics there of course. The AI doesn't seem terribly interested in picking off your stack provided that it's covered. Otherwise, move them in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Fly in a garrison - You do have a garrison infantry waiting at a friendly airport, right? Your shiny new city can accept one airlifted unit each turn, even while it's revolting. Make sure you have another one for next turn, too. If you want a larger garrison, you can airlift to the nearest city and move it over via rails.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have a new city and a bunch of tanks that need, at most, a single skipped turn to heal. After you've weathered the initial counterstrikes in a war, it's entirely common that only your lead raider tank takes any damage at all - let that one stay behind to heal up, and the others can start their next approach on the turn after the first assault. Typical losses are 1-2 tanks and 3-4 bombers for a sustained campaign taking 6-8 cities from an enemy of roughly equal power. If your unfortunate victim doesn't have any far-flung island cities, a tank campaign along these lines can eliminate an enemy civ in under 20 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that's pretty much it. I hope these tactics prove useful in your conquests. Comments, questions, and improvements are welcomed.</English>
		<French>[H1]On the Finer Points of Tank Warfare[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cleverhandle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I love Tanks. And while I know that the diehard warmongers would consider a game that lasts long enough to see them a disgrace, I'd still like to share some thoughts about how to make the most of these lovely, rolling implements of destruction. Experienced warmongers may view much of this as obvious implications of the combat system, but hopefully there will be a few tips useful for everyone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Significance:[\BOLD] The combination of two moves, collateral damage, and city raider allow one to capture enemy cities far more quickly than in previous eras. Conquering a city every other turn with only a modest battlegroup (i.e. 10-12 tanks) is easily possible, given the right tactics. This can have tremendous impact, whether you're a builder looking to demolish a rival or a warmonger looking for an early end date.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Objective:[\BOLD] Conquer enemy cities as [BOLD]quickly[\BOLD] as possible. At this stage of the game, IMO, losing an occasional tank is well worth cutting your conquest time by 50%-75%. The war weariness, supply costs, and wasted turns before victory are more important than a few hundred hammers. If you are significantly behind your enemy and are trying for a desperate late game power-grab, these tactics may not be appropriate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Assumptions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) You are at least close to tech/power parity with your victim. It's fine if he has gunships and/or SAM's. If he's far enough ahead to already have Jets or MechInfs, then you're probably too late.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) You have Flight and Radio (for Fighters and Bombers). Having Rocketry (for Gunships) and Robotics (for MechInfs) is nice, but by no means required. You also need Airports in your major military production cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) You have a reasonable supply of Level 4 (10XP) units. Just having a military city with West Point is enough - you don't need a ton of Level 4 units. Having the Pentagon and civics such that every city can produce 10XP troops is obviously nice, but again not strictly necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) You're playing on Settler. Kidding... this works fine at least through Emperor, provided you can stay in the game well enough to meet the other criteria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What you need:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Tanks: Well, duh. More specifically, you need several kinds:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Raider Tanks - your heavy hitters: You want 3 of these, 4 is better. These are the ones that really need to be Level 4 to be effective. Take Raider I, Raider II, and Barrage I promotions. Take Raider III at Level 5 if you get there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Drill Tanks - cleanup crew: How many you need depends on how many troops you're up against. A number equal to the number of defending troops is safe. If you're in a time/production bind, you can reasonably count on blitzing for multiple attacks but make sure that the target city isn't on a hill (costs 2 moves to attack). Promote these with as many Drill promos as you can get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Cover Tanks - protection: You want 2-3 of these, depending on how much you fear the enemy's counterattack. Promote either all Combat or Combat I/II, Ambush depending on whether you think a counterattack will be heavier on tanks or artillery/gunships. If you have Gunships, one of them can replace one of these. If you have MechInfs, use them instead. On the very first assault of a war, these will take a larger beating as the AI throws its extra troops at them. For the fastest conquest, keep two extras safe behind your lines and ready to move.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non-Tank units:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Medics - Explorers are essential for this, because they'll likely be the only available 2 move unit that can take medic. You need two of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Bombers - The more the merrier, but 10 is probably enough. 15 can cut through even the toughest air defenses I've seen. More than that is overkill. Expect to lose about one for every other city and be ready to replace them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Fighters - Two or three flying Interception within range of the target city. Only needed if the victim has Bombers himself, in order to intercept bombing runs against your approaching stack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Worker pair w/cover - Very important. You need to be able to quickly build rails in conquered territory. In contrast to Civ3, the AI doesn't appear to be very keen on snagging covered workers. I tend to cover with only a single tough defender like a Combat I/II/Ambush Infantry. An extra cover unit would be safer. Having two pairs of workers is also nice, but not essential.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How it works:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most situations, this will be a two turn process - one to approach and the other to attack. If terrain, culture, or a reliance on blitz necessitate an extra approach turn, you may want to hold off some or all of the bombers until turn two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 1:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Tank group approaches. Since tanks don't receive terrain bonuses, you generally just want the fastest path. But sometimes you can position yourself so that incoming attacks are across a river, which is helpful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) First bombing run - balance is key here. It's important to damage the units in the target city on this turn since the combat system significantly penalizes weakened attackers. You want counterattacking tanks, artillery, and gunships to come at you at no more than 75% strength or so. At the same time, your airstrikes won't be effective until you've lowered the culture defense, and of course you need to start softening them up for your approaching tanks anyway. Keep in mind that, at 15%/turn, it takes 7 successful bombing runs to completely eliminate enemy defenses. I tend to go about 60/40 %bombard vs. unit bombard on this turn. %bombard first, then unit bombard. If you have a surplus of air power, it's worth looking around at other cities near your target in order to weaken any responders there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 2:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Second bombing run - Finish what the first one started. You should really have enough bombers to both zero out the cultural defense and reduce all defenders to 50%. If that's impossible, go for a balanced approach. If the enemy has bunkers (which is pretty rare, in my experience), try to make sure that every unit takes a few hits but don't get hung up on it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Raiders attack - This wave has two objectives - take out the toughest defenders and soften up the remainder for your drill tanks. These tanks [BOLD]will[\BOLD] take damage, though hopefully not be destroyed. Do [BOLD]not[\BOLD] use every raider tank you brought. Two is enough - the goal is speed, and the more damage you suffer the more time you spend healing. After two collateral damage hits from these the rest of the defenders should be under 50% strength, and it's time to move on. The third/fourth raider tanks are purely for backup purposes in case the other two get badly beat up by counterstrikes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Drill tanks attack - This wave takes advantage of first strikes, letting your drill tanks sweep up defenders with a good probability of taking no damage. Nothing elaborate, just send them in. Don't blitz with a wounded tank unless absolutely required - not because you'll lose it, but because you want to minimize healing time. This wave should capture the city. If you've never tried this, expect to be surprised at how your tanks can go 5 for 5 battles or more without taking a scratch.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Move in to the city? - This gets tricky, depending on how the enemy countered your advance. If you have damaged tanks (from an artillery or air strike, perhaps) that haven't moved, you may want to leave them outside the city to get an extra turn of healing. Just make sure they're protected by one of your cover units, and keep one of the medics there of course. The AI doesn't seem terribly interested in picking off your stack provided that it's covered. Otherwise, move them in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Fly in a garrison - You do have a garrison infantry waiting at a friendly airport, right? Your shiny new city can accept one airlifted unit each turn, even while it's revolting. Make sure you have another one for next turn, too. If you want a larger garrison, you can airlift to the nearest city and move it over via rails.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have a new city and a bunch of tanks that need, at most, a single skipped turn to heal. After you've weathered the initial counterstrikes in a war, it's entirely common that only your lead raider tank takes any damage at all - let that one stay behind to heal up, and the others can start their next approach on the turn after the first assault. Typical losses are 1-2 tanks and 3-4 bombers for a sustained campaign taking 6-8 cities from an enemy of roughly equal power. If your unfortunate victim doesn't have any far-flung island cities, a tank campaign along these lines can eliminate an enemy civ in under 20 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that's pretty much it. I hope these tactics prove useful in your conquests. Comments, questions, and improvements are welcomed.</French>
		<German>[H1]On the Finer Points of Tank Warfare[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cleverhandle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I love Tanks. And while I know that the diehard warmongers would consider a game that lasts long enough to see them a disgrace, I'd still like to share some thoughts about how to make the most of these lovely, rolling implements of destruction. Experienced warmongers may view much of this as obvious implications of the combat system, but hopefully there will be a few tips useful for everyone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Significance:[\BOLD] The combination of two moves, collateral damage, and city raider allow one to capture enemy cities far more quickly than in previous eras. Conquering a city every other turn with only a modest battlegroup (i.e. 10-12 tanks) is easily possible, given the right tactics. This can have tremendous impact, whether you're a builder looking to demolish a rival or a warmonger looking for an early end date.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Objective:[\BOLD] Conquer enemy cities as [BOLD]quickly[\BOLD] as possible. At this stage of the game, IMO, losing an occasional tank is well worth cutting your conquest time by 50%-75%. The war weariness, supply costs, and wasted turns before victory are more important than a few hundred hammers. If you are significantly behind your enemy and are trying for a desperate late game power-grab, these tactics may not be appropriate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Assumptions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) You are at least close to tech/power parity with your victim. It's fine if he has gunships and/or SAM's. If he's far enough ahead to already have Jets or MechInfs, then you're probably too late.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) You have Flight and Radio (for Fighters and Bombers). Having Rocketry (for Gunships) and Robotics (for MechInfs) is nice, but by no means required. You also need Airports in your major military production cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) You have a reasonable supply of Level 4 (10XP) units. Just having a military city with West Point is enough - you don't need a ton of Level 4 units. Having the Pentagon and civics such that every city can produce 10XP troops is obviously nice, but again not strictly necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) You're playing on Settler. Kidding... this works fine at least through Emperor, provided you can stay in the game well enough to meet the other criteria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What you need:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Tanks: Well, duh. More specifically, you need several kinds:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Raider Tanks - your heavy hitters: You want 3 of these, 4 is better. These are the ones that really need to be Level 4 to be effective. Take Raider I, Raider II, and Barrage I promotions. Take Raider III at Level 5 if you get there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Drill Tanks - cleanup crew: How many you need depends on how many troops you're up against. A number equal to the number of defending troops is safe. If you're in a time/production bind, you can reasonably count on blitzing for multiple attacks but make sure that the target city isn't on a hill (costs 2 moves to attack). Promote these with as many Drill promos as you can get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Cover Tanks - protection: You want 2-3 of these, depending on how much you fear the enemy's counterattack. Promote either all Combat or Combat I/II, Ambush depending on whether you think a counterattack will be heavier on tanks or artillery/gunships. If you have Gunships, one of them can replace one of these. If you have MechInfs, use them instead. On the very first assault of a war, these will take a larger beating as the AI throws its extra troops at them. For the fastest conquest, keep two extras safe behind your lines and ready to move.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non-Tank units:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Medics - Explorers are essential for this, because they'll likely be the only available 2 move unit that can take medic. You need two of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Bombers - The more the merrier, but 10 is probably enough. 15 can cut through even the toughest air defenses I've seen. More than that is overkill. Expect to lose about one for every other city and be ready to replace them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Fighters - Two or three flying Interception within range of the target city. Only needed if the victim has Bombers himself, in order to intercept bombing runs against your approaching stack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Worker pair w/cover - Very important. You need to be able to quickly build rails in conquered territory. In contrast to Civ3, the AI doesn't appear to be very keen on snagging covered workers. I tend to cover with only a single tough defender like a Combat I/II/Ambush Infantry. An extra cover unit would be safer. Having two pairs of workers is also nice, but not essential.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How it works:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most situations, this will be a two turn process - one to approach and the other to attack. If terrain, culture, or a reliance on blitz necessitate an extra approach turn, you may want to hold off some or all of the bombers until turn two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 1:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Tank group approaches. Since tanks don't receive terrain bonuses, you generally just want the fastest path. But sometimes you can position yourself so that incoming attacks are across a river, which is helpful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) First bombing run - balance is key here. It's important to damage the units in the target city on this turn since the combat system significantly penalizes weakened attackers. You want counterattacking tanks, artillery, and gunships to come at you at no more than 75% strength or so. At the same time, your airstrikes won't be effective until you've lowered the culture defense, and of course you need to start softening them up for your approaching tanks anyway. Keep in mind that, at 15%/turn, it takes 7 successful bombing runs to completely eliminate enemy defenses. I tend to go about 60/40 %bombard vs. unit bombard on this turn. %bombard first, then unit bombard. If you have a surplus of air power, it's worth looking around at other cities near your target in order to weaken any responders there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 2:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Second bombing run - Finish what the first one started. You should really have enough bombers to both zero out the cultural defense and reduce all defenders to 50%. If that's impossible, go for a balanced approach. If the enemy has bunkers (which is pretty rare, in my experience), try to make sure that every unit takes a few hits but don't get hung up on it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Raiders attack - This wave has two objectives - take out the toughest defenders and soften up the remainder for your drill tanks. These tanks [BOLD]will[\BOLD] take damage, though hopefully not be destroyed. Do [BOLD]not[\BOLD] use every raider tank you brought. Two is enough - the goal is speed, and the more damage you suffer the more time you spend healing. After two collateral damage hits from these the rest of the defenders should be under 50% strength, and it's time to move on. The third/fourth raider tanks are purely for backup purposes in case the other two get badly beat up by counterstrikes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Drill tanks attack - This wave takes advantage of first strikes, letting your drill tanks sweep up defenders with a good probability of taking no damage. Nothing elaborate, just send them in. Don't blitz with a wounded tank unless absolutely required - not because you'll lose it, but because you want to minimize healing time. This wave should capture the city. If you've never tried this, expect to be surprised at how your tanks can go 5 for 5 battles or more without taking a scratch.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Move in to the city? - This gets tricky, depending on how the enemy countered your advance. If you have damaged tanks (from an artillery or air strike, perhaps) that haven't moved, you may want to leave them outside the city to get an extra turn of healing. Just make sure they're protected by one of your cover units, and keep one of the medics there of course. The AI doesn't seem terribly interested in picking off your stack provided that it's covered. Otherwise, move them in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Fly in a garrison - You do have a garrison infantry waiting at a friendly airport, right? Your shiny new city can accept one airlifted unit each turn, even while it's revolting. Make sure you have another one for next turn, too. If you want a larger garrison, you can airlift to the nearest city and move it over via rails.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have a new city and a bunch of tanks that need, at most, a single skipped turn to heal. After you've weathered the initial counterstrikes in a war, it's entirely common that only your lead raider tank takes any damage at all - let that one stay behind to heal up, and the others can start their next approach on the turn after the first assault. Typical losses are 1-2 tanks and 3-4 bombers for a sustained campaign taking 6-8 cities from an enemy of roughly equal power. If your unfortunate victim doesn't have any far-flung island cities, a tank campaign along these lines can eliminate an enemy civ in under 20 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that's pretty much it. I hope these tactics prove useful in your conquests. Comments, questions, and improvements are welcomed.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]On the Finer Points of Tank Warfare[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cleverhandle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I love Tanks. And while I know that the diehard warmongers would consider a game that lasts long enough to see them a disgrace, I'd still like to share some thoughts about how to make the most of these lovely, rolling implements of destruction. Experienced warmongers may view much of this as obvious implications of the combat system, but hopefully there will be a few tips useful for everyone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Significance:[\BOLD] The combination of two moves, collateral damage, and city raider allow one to capture enemy cities far more quickly than in previous eras. Conquering a city every other turn with only a modest battlegroup (i.e. 10-12 tanks) is easily possible, given the right tactics. This can have tremendous impact, whether you're a builder looking to demolish a rival or a warmonger looking for an early end date.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Objective:[\BOLD] Conquer enemy cities as [BOLD]quickly[\BOLD] as possible. At this stage of the game, IMO, losing an occasional tank is well worth cutting your conquest time by 50%-75%. The war weariness, supply costs, and wasted turns before victory are more important than a few hundred hammers. If you are significantly behind your enemy and are trying for a desperate late game power-grab, these tactics may not be appropriate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Assumptions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) You are at least close to tech/power parity with your victim. It's fine if he has gunships and/or SAM's. If he's far enough ahead to already have Jets or MechInfs, then you're probably too late.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) You have Flight and Radio (for Fighters and Bombers). Having Rocketry (for Gunships) and Robotics (for MechInfs) is nice, but by no means required. You also need Airports in your major military production cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) You have a reasonable supply of Level 4 (10XP) units. Just having a military city with West Point is enough - you don't need a ton of Level 4 units. Having the Pentagon and civics such that every city can produce 10XP troops is obviously nice, but again not strictly necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) You're playing on Settler. Kidding... this works fine at least through Emperor, provided you can stay in the game well enough to meet the other criteria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What you need:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Tanks: Well, duh. More specifically, you need several kinds:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Raider Tanks - your heavy hitters: You want 3 of these, 4 is better. These are the ones that really need to be Level 4 to be effective. Take Raider I, Raider II, and Barrage I promotions. Take Raider III at Level 5 if you get there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Drill Tanks - cleanup crew: How many you need depends on how many troops you're up against. A number equal to the number of defending troops is safe. If you're in a time/production bind, you can reasonably count on blitzing for multiple attacks but make sure that the target city isn't on a hill (costs 2 moves to attack). Promote these with as many Drill promos as you can get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Cover Tanks - protection: You want 2-3 of these, depending on how much you fear the enemy's counterattack. Promote either all Combat or Combat I/II, Ambush depending on whether you think a counterattack will be heavier on tanks or artillery/gunships. If you have Gunships, one of them can replace one of these. If you have MechInfs, use them instead. On the very first assault of a war, these will take a larger beating as the AI throws its extra troops at them. For the fastest conquest, keep two extras safe behind your lines and ready to move.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non-Tank units:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Medics - Explorers are essential for this, because they'll likely be the only available 2 move unit that can take medic. You need two of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Bombers - The more the merrier, but 10 is probably enough. 15 can cut through even the toughest air defenses I've seen. More than that is overkill. Expect to lose about one for every other city and be ready to replace them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Fighters - Two or three flying Interception within range of the target city. Only needed if the victim has Bombers himself, in order to intercept bombing runs against your approaching stack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Worker pair w/cover - Very important. You need to be able to quickly build rails in conquered territory. In contrast to Civ3, the AI doesn't appear to be very keen on snagging covered workers. I tend to cover with only a single tough defender like a Combat I/II/Ambush Infantry. An extra cover unit would be safer. Having two pairs of workers is also nice, but not essential.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How it works:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most situations, this will be a two turn process - one to approach and the other to attack. If terrain, culture, or a reliance on blitz necessitate an extra approach turn, you may want to hold off some or all of the bombers until turn two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 1:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Tank group approaches. Since tanks don't receive terrain bonuses, you generally just want the fastest path. But sometimes you can position yourself so that incoming attacks are across a river, which is helpful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) First bombing run - balance is key here. It's important to damage the units in the target city on this turn since the combat system significantly penalizes weakened attackers. You want counterattacking tanks, artillery, and gunships to come at you at no more than 75% strength or so. At the same time, your airstrikes won't be effective until you've lowered the culture defense, and of course you need to start softening them up for your approaching tanks anyway. Keep in mind that, at 15%/turn, it takes 7 successful bombing runs to completely eliminate enemy defenses. I tend to go about 60/40 %bombard vs. unit bombard on this turn. %bombard first, then unit bombard. If you have a surplus of air power, it's worth looking around at other cities near your target in order to weaken any responders there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 2:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Second bombing run - Finish what the first one started. You should really have enough bombers to both zero out the cultural defense and reduce all defenders to 50%. If that's impossible, go for a balanced approach. If the enemy has bunkers (which is pretty rare, in my experience), try to make sure that every unit takes a few hits but don't get hung up on it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Raiders attack - This wave has two objectives - take out the toughest defenders and soften up the remainder for your drill tanks. These tanks [BOLD]will[\BOLD] take damage, though hopefully not be destroyed. Do [BOLD]not[\BOLD] use every raider tank you brought. Two is enough - the goal is speed, and the more damage you suffer the more time you spend healing. After two collateral damage hits from these the rest of the defenders should be under 50% strength, and it's time to move on. The third/fourth raider tanks are purely for backup purposes in case the other two get badly beat up by counterstrikes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Drill tanks attack - This wave takes advantage of first strikes, letting your drill tanks sweep up defenders with a good probability of taking no damage. Nothing elaborate, just send them in. Don't blitz with a wounded tank unless absolutely required - not because you'll lose it, but because you want to minimize healing time. This wave should capture the city. If you've never tried this, expect to be surprised at how your tanks can go 5 for 5 battles or more without taking a scratch.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Move in to the city? - This gets tricky, depending on how the enemy countered your advance. If you have damaged tanks (from an artillery or air strike, perhaps) that haven't moved, you may want to leave them outside the city to get an extra turn of healing. Just make sure they're protected by one of your cover units, and keep one of the medics there of course. The AI doesn't seem terribly interested in picking off your stack provided that it's covered. Otherwise, move them in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Fly in a garrison - You do have a garrison infantry waiting at a friendly airport, right? Your shiny new city can accept one airlifted unit each turn, even while it's revolting. Make sure you have another one for next turn, too. If you want a larger garrison, you can airlift to the nearest city and move it over via rails.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have a new city and a bunch of tanks that need, at most, a single skipped turn to heal. After you've weathered the initial counterstrikes in a war, it's entirely common that only your lead raider tank takes any damage at all - let that one stay behind to heal up, and the others can start their next approach on the turn after the first assault. Typical losses are 1-2 tanks and 3-4 bombers for a sustained campaign taking 6-8 cities from an enemy of roughly equal power. If your unfortunate victim doesn't have any far-flung island cities, a tank campaign along these lines can eliminate an enemy civ in under 20 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that's pretty much it. I hope these tactics prove useful in your conquests. Comments, questions, and improvements are welcomed.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]On the Finer Points of Tank Warfare[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]cleverhandle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I love Tanks. And while I know that the diehard warmongers would consider a game that lasts long enough to see them a disgrace, I'd still like to share some thoughts about how to make the most of these lovely, rolling implements of destruction. Experienced warmongers may view much of this as obvious implications of the combat system, but hopefully there will be a few tips useful for everyone.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Significance:[\BOLD] The combination of two moves, collateral damage, and city raider allow one to capture enemy cities far more quickly than in previous eras. Conquering a city every other turn with only a modest battlegroup (i.e. 10-12 tanks) is easily possible, given the right tactics. This can have tremendous impact, whether you're a builder looking to demolish a rival or a warmonger looking for an early end date.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Objective:[\BOLD] Conquer enemy cities as [BOLD]quickly[\BOLD] as possible. At this stage of the game, IMO, losing an occasional tank is well worth cutting your conquest time by 50%-75%. The war weariness, supply costs, and wasted turns before victory are more important than a few hundred hammers. If you are significantly behind your enemy and are trying for a desperate late game power-grab, these tactics may not be appropriate.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Assumptions:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) You are at least close to tech/power parity with your victim. It's fine if he has gunships and/or SAM's. If he's far enough ahead to already have Jets or MechInfs, then you're probably too late.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) You have Flight and Radio (for Fighters and Bombers). Having Rocketry (for Gunships) and Robotics (for MechInfs) is nice, but by no means required. You also need Airports in your major military production cities.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) You have a reasonable supply of Level 4 (10XP) units. Just having a military city with West Point is enough - you don't need a ton of Level 4 units. Having the Pentagon and civics such that every city can produce 10XP troops is obviously nice, but again not strictly necessary.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) You're playing on Settler. Kidding... this works fine at least through Emperor, provided you can stay in the game well enough to meet the other criteria.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]What you need:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Tanks: Well, duh. More specifically, you need several kinds:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Raider Tanks - your heavy hitters: You want 3 of these, 4 is better. These are the ones that really need to be Level 4 to be effective. Take Raider I, Raider II, and Barrage I promotions. Take Raider III at Level 5 if you get there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Drill Tanks - cleanup crew: How many you need depends on how many troops you're up against. A number equal to the number of defending troops is safe. If you're in a time/production bind, you can reasonably count on blitzing for multiple attacks but make sure that the target city isn't on a hill (costs 2 moves to attack). Promote these with as many Drill promos as you can get.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Cover Tanks - protection: You want 2-3 of these, depending on how much you fear the enemy's counterattack. Promote either all Combat or Combat I/II, Ambush depending on whether you think a counterattack will be heavier on tanks or artillery/gunships. If you have Gunships, one of them can replace one of these. If you have MechInfs, use them instead. On the very first assault of a war, these will take a larger beating as the AI throws its extra troops at them. For the fastest conquest, keep two extras safe behind your lines and ready to move.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Non-Tank units:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Medics - Explorers are essential for this, because they'll likely be the only available 2 move unit that can take medic. You need two of them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Bombers - The more the merrier, but 10 is probably enough. 15 can cut through even the toughest air defenses I've seen. More than that is overkill. Expect to lose about one for every other city and be ready to replace them.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Fighters - Two or three flying Interception within range of the target city. Only needed if the victim has Bombers himself, in order to intercept bombing runs against your approaching stack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Worker pair w/cover - Very important. You need to be able to quickly build rails in conquered territory. In contrast to Civ3, the AI doesn't appear to be very keen on snagging covered workers. I tend to cover with only a single tough defender like a Combat I/II/Ambush Infantry. An extra cover unit would be safer. Having two pairs of workers is also nice, but not essential.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]How it works:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In most situations, this will be a two turn process - one to approach and the other to attack. If terrain, culture, or a reliance on blitz necessitate an extra approach turn, you may want to hold off some or all of the bombers until turn two.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 1:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Tank group approaches. Since tanks don't receive terrain bonuses, you generally just want the fastest path. But sometimes you can position yourself so that incoming attacks are across a river, which is helpful.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) First bombing run - balance is key here. It's important to damage the units in the target city on this turn since the combat system significantly penalizes weakened attackers. You want counterattacking tanks, artillery, and gunships to come at you at no more than 75% strength or so. At the same time, your airstrikes won't be effective until you've lowered the culture defense, and of course you need to start softening them up for your approaching tanks anyway. Keep in mind that, at 15%/turn, it takes 7 successful bombing runs to completely eliminate enemy defenses. I tend to go about 60/40 %bombard vs. unit bombard on this turn. %bombard first, then unit bombard. If you have a surplus of air power, it's worth looking around at other cities near your target in order to weaken any responders there.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Turn 2:[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]1) Second bombing run - Finish what the first one started. You should really have enough bombers to both zero out the cultural defense and reduce all defenders to 50%. If that's impossible, go for a balanced approach. If the enemy has bunkers (which is pretty rare, in my experience), try to make sure that every unit takes a few hits but don't get hung up on it.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]2) Raiders attack - This wave has two objectives - take out the toughest defenders and soften up the remainder for your drill tanks. These tanks [BOLD]will[\BOLD] take damage, though hopefully not be destroyed. Do [BOLD]not[\BOLD] use every raider tank you brought. Two is enough - the goal is speed, and the more damage you suffer the more time you spend healing. After two collateral damage hits from these the rest of the defenders should be under 50% strength, and it's time to move on. The third/fourth raider tanks are purely for backup purposes in case the other two get badly beat up by counterstrikes.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]3) Drill tanks attack - This wave takes advantage of first strikes, letting your drill tanks sweep up defenders with a good probability of taking no damage. Nothing elaborate, just send them in. Don't blitz with a wounded tank unless absolutely required - not because you'll lose it, but because you want to minimize healing time. This wave should capture the city. If you've never tried this, expect to be surprised at how your tanks can go 5 for 5 battles or more without taking a scratch.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]4) Move in to the city? - This gets tricky, depending on how the enemy countered your advance. If you have damaged tanks (from an artillery or air strike, perhaps) that haven't moved, you may want to leave them outside the city to get an extra turn of healing. Just make sure they're protected by one of your cover units, and keep one of the medics there of course. The AI doesn't seem terribly interested in picking off your stack provided that it's covered. Otherwise, move them in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]5) Fly in a garrison - You do have a garrison infantry waiting at a friendly airport, right? Your shiny new city can accept one airlifted unit each turn, even while it's revolting. Make sure you have another one for next turn, too. If you want a larger garrison, you can airlift to the nearest city and move it over via rails.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]The result:[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You have a new city and a bunch of tanks that need, at most, a single skipped turn to heal. After you've weathered the initial counterstrikes in a war, it's entirely common that only your lead raider tank takes any damage at all - let that one stay behind to heal up, and the others can start their next approach on the turn after the first assault. Typical losses are 1-2 tanks and 3-4 bombers for a sustained campaign taking 6-8 cities from an enemy of roughly equal power. If your unfortunate victim doesn't have any far-flung island cities, a tank campaign along these lines can eliminate an enemy civ in under 20 turns.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I think that's pretty much it. I hope these tactics prove useful in your conquests. Comments, questions, and improvements are welcomed.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
	<TEXT>
		<Tag>TXT_KEY_STRATEGY_NAVAL_PEDIA</Tag>
		<English>[H1]Modern Naval Strategy for Beyond the Sword[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond the Sword changed many things about the game, and naval warfare was one of the most dramatically affected. The limits on aircraft units per city changed the scope, but not the basis of air warfare. The additional units in land warfare made siege units relevant again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But war at sea was completely changed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the vanilla CIV4, naval supremacy was nice to have but not necessary. The worst that could happen from not owning the oceans was losing some fishing boats and an air strike here and there (which you could counter with land-based aircraft). After your massed stealth bombers whittle them down, a few battleships can take down entire fleets of weakened enemy ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cruise missiles and tactical nukes changed all that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, not having sea superiority means that large stretches of your interior can be devastated, and possibly even nuked. The AI also uses amphibious assaults more often, and in conjunction with missle/nuke strikes. At the same time, the equation for gaining sea power has gotten more complicated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A whole new naval strategy is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To start, let's cover the main units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Missile Cruiser[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is going to be your main combatant. Once onboard missles are exhausted, this is just a battleship and should be used accordingly. Promotions should be for Drill 1, Drill 2, and then Barrage. The idea is that you want the MC to survive initial combat, and then start prepping the rest of the enemy fleet for destruction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You shouldn't feel the need to always have fully-loaded MC's, but rather keep a few empties around so that they can fight the battles. Once the enemy is down to ~27 strength, a Drill 2 MC should be sent in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a protracted war at sea, expect to build (and lose) a lot of MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stealth Destroyer[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a misunderstood unit in because it's NOT a replacement for the destroyer the way a MC is a replacement for Battleship in every way. This is a brand new unit, like the Attack Submarine, and needs to be used in a brand new way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two basic role exists for Stealth Destroyers - surveillance and assassin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the surveillance role, the SD should have Flanking and Sentry to maximize the viewing radius. Surveillance SD's (S-SD) should be deployed to make EVERY ocean square between you and your enemy visible. There can be no fog of war when it comes to naval warfare unless you want an entire fleet to sneak up on you. The specifics of how such a picket line should be ployed will be discussed later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another use for the S-SD's is to sneak in and bombard enemy cities' cultural defenses, if your picket lines are close enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assassin role, the SD should have only Drill promotions, and hold those promotions in reserve for healing injuries. Once you kill opposing SD's, your highly damaged SD's can be in the middle of the ocean but also be perfectly safe. That's why your Assassin SD's (A-SD) should be the vehicle of choice for finishing off damaged units or hunting down tranports/subs/carriers. They're the only ones who can survive the aftermath.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SD's should emphatically NOT be employed in a stack with other units, the way the AI does. It doesn't buy you anything, since SD's won't defend against anything except another SD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a critical unit, because the AI really loves to use submarines to deliver tactical nukes. Once you have Stealth Destroyers, you'll need Attack Subs in order to help locate and destroy enemy submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because Attack Subs should only be used against other subs or transports/carriers or heavily damaged units, it's in the same category as a S-SD and should get Flanking and Sentry. Additional promotions should be Navigation 1 and 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also a crucial unit because it's the way to deliver tactical nukes and additional cruise missles to a front-deployed fleet. There's no combat role for the submarine because it's not powerful enough to fight any of the late-game opponents head on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want missle strikes - better to deliver it from a MC, which can follow up with an attack or survive a counter-attack after getting close to enemy shores.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to detect/kill other subs, the Attack Sub is much better.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why the main role of subs is to either shuttle cruise missles to re-load MC's which have fired their on-board supply or to sneak in a tactical nuke. As such, submarines receive Flanking and Navigation 1/2. Beyond that, add Sentry to help avoid threats.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Battleship[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whatever battleships you have as of the time that MC's come along - leave them alone. There's no need to spend money upgrading BB's when they don't gain any combat power and the supply of cruise missiles always tend to trail the number of MC's on hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use the BB's for the same role as they had in CIV4 original - escorting carriers and transports. Their MP's are perfect, once the transport/carrier has been upgraded with Navigation 1. They're just as powerful in defensive role as MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's no particular need to stock up on BB's, and also no reason to change how you use them from the original CIV4. You can't see SD's or subs sneaking up on you, but that's why you have surveillance SD's and Attack Subs anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Destroyers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are critical units which should be stockpiled in large numbers. Build them while you can and NEVER upgrade them. You can always build more SD's, but the supply of destroyers you have are finite[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's have the ability to detect subs, they can move farther than the Attack Subs, and can kill the invading subs just as effectively. On top of that, they still retain their anti-air capabilities, so they're not nearly as vulnerable to air assault as the submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's also come in the same 2 varieties as SD's - surveillance or attack. Unlike SD's, surveillance-type DD's should be used to escort large fleets because it'll provide some redundant sub-spotting (and killing) capability.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otherwise, attack- and surveillance-DD's should be deployed near shorelines because they're so valuable and so vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carriers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In theory, carriers are much less useful than before. Air recon can't detect submarines or Stealth Destroyers, and the naval strike role which made Jet fighters valuable can now be taken over by missiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, carriers are still useful for providing first-strike on detected submarines and MC's which have been stripped of their escorts. More importantly, they have a HUGE role in one of the main purposes of the navy - supporting a beachhead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Technically not an unit, but so crucial it deserves its own mention. With BTS, fortifications act as cities for naval and air purposes. That means new tricks which were impossible before.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A naval unit can use a fort to create a land-bridge to cross an island while an enemy fleet must take the long way around. A ship can move from ocean-to-fort #1, then fort #1-to-city, then city-to-fort #2, and finally fort #2 to ocean. A crossing which might have used on the entire MP quota of a MC could instead be completed with only 4 MP's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ocean-Fort-City-Fort-Ocean[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can also be constructed to give you secure naval bases in stretches of your territory where it makes no sense to plant a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can be used to house fighters/bombers to help support your coastal defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you're lucky enough to have an island off your shore, build a city on it just to be able to use it as forward air/naval station. Forts give you shortcuts to help chase down a faster enemy, and a secure way of bringing your transports further along before exposing them to attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval deployments[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several major categories of naval war strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can choose to fight a defensive action, where your fleets are deployed out of home ports and are tasked with killing any unit you see. The goal is to protect your own lands while the land war continues or you're trying to prevent a landing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's also the offensive approach, where you bring your fleets near the enemy cities to offer battle and to strike at their infrastructure. The goal is to decimate their coastal cities and wipe out their fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, there's the sea-lane action where the goal is to maintain a secure travel route in order to ship in more units for the war in a distant location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, a large war will always involve at least some of each of the 3 in different phases. It might start with a defensive action, then you'd move to secure a sea lane to provide an invasion corridor, and finally shift over to a total offensive action.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or it might be the other way around, where you deploy your fleet to a forward position to nail the initial stack-of-doom invasion fleet and then pull back to a defensive position shortly afterwards.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In all cases, there are some basic tactics to consider.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Oceanic Surveillance[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Stealth Destroyer, it's critical that you cover the ocean with your own Surveillance-SD's. Each S-SD can cover 14 ocean squares, so it doesn't take that many units. Because enemy SD's can easily move beyond the range of your S-SD in a single turn, you need to either deploy enough units to cover the ENTIRE ocean or establish two picket lines far enough apart that there's no way that an enemy unit can get past your S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Between the S-SD pickets, you should seed in Attack Subs, also spaced out carefully to make sure there are no gaps. That's the only way you're going to spot the enemy subs given the disability of the S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination, the line should look like[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](enemy continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](home continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE][NEWLINE](each [COLOR_RED]+[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]-[COLOR_REVERT] represents an empty ocean square)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The combined 9 spaces between the SD lines means that it's impossible for enemy SD's to slip by, and the double-line of attack subs also ensure that no submarine can make it past without being stuck in at least 1 location where your own Attack Submarine can see it. The absence of an Attack Sub is also a clue that there must be at least 1 enemy sub in the vicinity, so units in the 1st line should be prepared to move up to the next line at any time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal is to NOT use the units in the line to make attacks and to place your own battle fleet in a position to attack only after detection of the enemy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack echelon[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When attacking an enemy fleet, always check if there's SD's in the stack. If there is, send your own attack-configured Stealth Destroyers in first to engage them. Beyond that, use cruise missiles to soften up the enemy units to around 30 strength, and then send in your highest promoted MC which has Barrage. That MC will probably die, but naval warfare is about attrition - not experience. It'll soften up the fleet for follow up attacks. Then send in additional MC's until there are no units above strength ~20.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point, it's time for the assassin SD's to enter the fray and clean up. By holding back promotions, the same group of SD's can be used to attack multiple fleets over time and they're perfectly safe sitting in the middle of the ocean as long as you eliminate enemy SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts and airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Airpower is less powerful now that nearly 1/2 of the modern AI navy can't be detected by recon, but that's why you deployed that Oceanic Surveillance network. Forts give you places to put Stealth Bombers where it can do the most good, and add to the numbers of deployed aircraft. Do NOT send in stealth bombers until the enemy jet fighters are eliminated, but they can be deadly against subs and missile cruisers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each fort should come standard with at least 1 A-SD and 1 S-DD, to provide full coastal surveillance. Then drop in a gunpowder unit with Medic to provide healing and cover against amphib assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carrier airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the danger of parking a carrier in the middle of the ocean, and how softening up the enemy fleet can be done via cruise missiles - there isn't much of a role for carriers as before. Their job is now more specialized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Carriers should also be based in forts/frontier port cities. They can sally out 4 squares, launch air strikes, and then retreat. Rather than trying to avoid the enemy fighters, you're going AFTER them. Strike directly at the enemy carriers, and whittle down their fighters to open them up for stealth bomber strikes. That covers everything between line #1 and #2 on your surveillance net.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can then reload with fighters from a secure home port during the same turn, and be ready to sally forth again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assault role, carriers are a lifesaver. When an enemy city is taken, it's never taken with the airport intact so the amount of airpower available is limited. There's also no option to use nearby cities to provide extra air cover if this is the beachhead. Support the ocean crossing with carriers, and you can park as many fighters in the conquered city as you want. Then every available slot can be used for Stealth Bombers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine shuttle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you plan to use tactical nukes, regular submarines are mainly useful in finding other subs and bringing cruise missiles to bear. Like regular land units in transports, missiles can be transferred from subs to MC's. That will help fleets to keep a full inventory of cruise missles without coming off their forward-deployed stations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since the surveillance pickets are keeping an eye open for any intruding units, the submarine carrying missiles to the front should have a secure journey, doubly so if the MC move back enough spaces to shorten the journey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Convoy Escort[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When escorting convoys, you need a BIG fleet unless your sea superiority is so complete that the AI navy is completely decimated. But given production advantages, that's unlikely. In general, a convoy's escorting fleet units should reflect how many turns the fleet will be in transit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MC's = (# turns) x3[NEWLINE]SD's = (# turns) x2[NEWLINE]DD's = (# turns) x1[NEWLINE]Carriers = 3 minimum[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's a lot of ships but you should need 1 escort fleet per ocean and you can use it to escort 4 or 25 transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I consider the "typical" crossing to be 3 turns, landing the army on the 3rd turn. That means a fleet of 9 MC's, 6 SD's, 3 DD's and 3 carriers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the start of the turn, move the carriers forward 2 spaces and send out 2 fighters to recon for large fleets. That will make sure you detect any large stacks of BB's or MC's for a detour if necessary. Next, send the DD's on a roundabout route to the targeted rendevous point. With S-DD's, you should be able to scan a 6-square wide corridor and still get the DD's to the target point. Any detected subs will be struck by air power. SD's with cruise missiles and subs with air strikes. Move your A-SD's in for the kill and then have them rejoin the fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the final move of the turn, the rest of the fleet (MC, carrier, and transports) will move to the convoy station through a thoroughly sanitized area so that the AI won't know for sure you have transports coming their way. Remember that the AI's LOVE Espionage so they already know your port of embarkation. They just don't know when the transports will sail. But they will know once your transports leave port, so it's important to deny the AI precise location on your transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Final point - the transports should hold off-shore the planned insertion point as far as possible on the final move to keep out of range of land-based air and units which might sally forth from secure ports. That means even if you have the MP's to gt within 4 squares of the coast on that turn, hold off 6-7 squares so that the transport can make a last-turn dash straight for the enemy coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Coastline defense[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With cruise missiles, stealth destroyers, and air strikes - defending off-shore platforms and fishing boats are just a quick way to get your units killed. Stockpile the work boats and leave those resources unguarded. A good surveillance network will protect your off-shre resources more surely than a bunch of sentry-duty MC's or SD's.</English>
		<French>[H1]Modern Naval Strategy for Beyond the Sword[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond the Sword changed many things about the game, and naval warfare was one of the most dramatically affected. The limits on aircraft units per city changed the scope, but not the basis of air warfare. The additional units in land warfare made siege units relevant again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But war at sea was completely changed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the vanilla CIV4, naval supremacy was nice to have but not necessary. The worst that could happen from not owning the oceans was losing some fishing boats and an air strike here and there (which you could counter with land-based aircraft). After your massed stealth bombers whittle them down, a few battleships can take down entire fleets of weakened enemy ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cruise missiles and tactical nukes changed all that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, not having sea superiority means that large stretches of your interior can be devastated, and possibly even nuked. The AI also uses amphibious assaults more often, and in conjunction with missle/nuke strikes. At the same time, the equation for gaining sea power has gotten more complicated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A whole new naval strategy is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To start, let's cover the main units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Missile Cruiser[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is going to be your main combatant. Once onboard missles are exhausted, this is just a battleship and should be used accordingly. Promotions should be for Drill 1, Drill 2, and then Barrage. The idea is that you want the MC to survive initial combat, and then start prepping the rest of the enemy fleet for destruction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You shouldn't feel the need to always have fully-loaded MC's, but rather keep a few empties around so that they can fight the battles. Once the enemy is down to ~27 strength, a Drill 2 MC should be sent in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a protracted war at sea, expect to build (and lose) a lot of MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stealth Destroyer[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a misunderstood unit in because it's NOT a replacement for the destroyer the way a MC is a replacement for Battleship in every way. This is a brand new unit, like the Attack Submarine, and needs to be used in a brand new way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two basic role exists for Stealth Destroyers - surveillance and assassin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the surveillance role, the SD should have Flanking and Sentry to maximize the viewing radius. Surveillance SD's (S-SD) should be deployed to make EVERY ocean square between you and your enemy visible. There can be no fog of war when it comes to naval warfare unless you want an entire fleet to sneak up on you. The specifics of how such a picket line should be ployed will be discussed later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another use for the S-SD's is to sneak in and bombard enemy cities' cultural defenses, if your picket lines are close enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assassin role, the SD should have only Drill promotions, and hold those promotions in reserve for healing injuries. Once you kill opposing SD's, your highly damaged SD's can be in the middle of the ocean but also be perfectly safe. That's why your Assassin SD's (A-SD) should be the vehicle of choice for finishing off damaged units or hunting down tranports/subs/carriers. They're the only ones who can survive the aftermath.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SD's should emphatically NOT be employed in a stack with other units, the way the AI does. It doesn't buy you anything, since SD's won't defend against anything except another SD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a critical unit, because the AI really loves to use submarines to deliver tactical nukes. Once you have Stealth Destroyers, you'll need Attack Subs in order to help locate and destroy enemy submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because Attack Subs should only be used against other subs or transports/carriers or heavily damaged units, it's in the same category as a S-SD and should get Flanking and Sentry. Additional promotions should be Navigation 1 and 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also a crucial unit because it's the way to deliver tactical nukes and additional cruise missles to a front-deployed fleet. There's no combat role for the submarine because it's not powerful enough to fight any of the late-game opponents head on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want missle strikes - better to deliver it from a MC, which can follow up with an attack or survive a counter-attack after getting close to enemy shores.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to detect/kill other subs, the Attack Sub is much better.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why the main role of subs is to either shuttle cruise missles to re-load MC's which have fired their on-board supply or to sneak in a tactical nuke. As such, submarines receive Flanking and Navigation 1/2. Beyond that, add Sentry to help avoid threats.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Battleship[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whatever battleships you have as of the time that MC's come along - leave them alone. There's no need to spend money upgrading BB's when they don't gain any combat power and the supply of cruise missiles always tend to trail the number of MC's on hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use the BB's for the same role as they had in CIV4 original - escorting carriers and transports. Their MP's are perfect, once the transport/carrier has been upgraded with Navigation 1. They're just as powerful in defensive role as MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's no particular need to stock up on BB's, and also no reason to change how you use them from the original CIV4. You can't see SD's or subs sneaking up on you, but that's why you have surveillance SD's and Attack Subs anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Destroyers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are critical units which should be stockpiled in large numbers. Build them while you can and NEVER upgrade them. You can always build more SD's, but the supply of destroyers you have are finite[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's have the ability to detect subs, they can move farther than the Attack Subs, and can kill the invading subs just as effectively. On top of that, they still retain their anti-air capabilities, so they're not nearly as vulnerable to air assault as the submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's also come in the same 2 varieties as SD's - surveillance or attack. Unlike SD's, surveillance-type DD's should be used to escort large fleets because it'll provide some redundant sub-spotting (and killing) capability.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otherwise, attack- and surveillance-DD's should be deployed near shorelines because they're so valuable and so vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carriers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In theory, carriers are much less useful than before. Air recon can't detect submarines or Stealth Destroyers, and the naval strike role which made Jet fighters valuable can now be taken over by missiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, carriers are still useful for providing first-strike on detected submarines and MC's which have been stripped of their escorts. More importantly, they have a HUGE role in one of the main purposes of the navy - supporting a beachhead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Technically not an unit, but so crucial it deserves its own mention. With BTS, fortifications act as cities for naval and air purposes. That means new tricks which were impossible before.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A naval unit can use a fort to create a land-bridge to cross an island while an enemy fleet must take the long way around. A ship can move from ocean-to-fort #1, then fort #1-to-city, then city-to-fort #2, and finally fort #2 to ocean. A crossing which might have used on the entire MP quota of a MC could instead be completed with only 4 MP's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ocean-Fort-City-Fort-Ocean[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can also be constructed to give you secure naval bases in stretches of your territory where it makes no sense to plant a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can be used to house fighters/bombers to help support your coastal defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you're lucky enough to have an island off your shore, build a city on it just to be able to use it as forward air/naval station. Forts give you shortcuts to help chase down a faster enemy, and a secure way of bringing your transports further along before exposing them to attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval deployments[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several major categories of naval war strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can choose to fight a defensive action, where your fleets are deployed out of home ports and are tasked with killing any unit you see. The goal is to protect your own lands while the land war continues or you're trying to prevent a landing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's also the offensive approach, where you bring your fleets near the enemy cities to offer battle and to strike at their infrastructure. The goal is to decimate their coastal cities and wipe out their fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, there's the sea-lane action where the goal is to maintain a secure travel route in order to ship in more units for the war in a distant location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, a large war will always involve at least some of each of the 3 in different phases. It might start with a defensive action, then you'd move to secure a sea lane to provide an invasion corridor, and finally shift over to a total offensive action.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or it might be the other way around, where you deploy your fleet to a forward position to nail the initial stack-of-doom invasion fleet and then pull back to a defensive position shortly afterwards.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In all cases, there are some basic tactics to consider.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Oceanic Surveillance[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Stealth Destroyer, it's critical that you cover the ocean with your own Surveillance-SD's. Each S-SD can cover 14 ocean squares, so it doesn't take that many units. Because enemy SD's can easily move beyond the range of your S-SD in a single turn, you need to either deploy enough units to cover the ENTIRE ocean or establish two picket lines far enough apart that there's no way that an enemy unit can get past your S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Between the S-SD pickets, you should seed in Attack Subs, also spaced out carefully to make sure there are no gaps. That's the only way you're going to spot the enemy subs given the disability of the S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination, the line should look like[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](enemy continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](home continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE][NEWLINE](each [COLOR_RED]+[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]-[COLOR_REVERT] represents an empty ocean square)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The combined 9 spaces between the SD lines means that it's impossible for enemy SD's to slip by, and the double-line of attack subs also ensure that no submarine can make it past without being stuck in at least 1 location where your own Attack Submarine can see it. The absence of an Attack Sub is also a clue that there must be at least 1 enemy sub in the vicinity, so units in the 1st line should be prepared to move up to the next line at any time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal is to NOT use the units in the line to make attacks and to place your own battle fleet in a position to attack only after detection of the enemy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack echelon[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When attacking an enemy fleet, always check if there's SD's in the stack. If there is, send your own attack-configured Stealth Destroyers in first to engage them. Beyond that, use cruise missiles to soften up the enemy units to around 30 strength, and then send in your highest promoted MC which has Barrage. That MC will probably die, but naval warfare is about attrition - not experience. It'll soften up the fleet for follow up attacks. Then send in additional MC's until there are no units above strength ~20.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point, it's time for the assassin SD's to enter the fray and clean up. By holding back promotions, the same group of SD's can be used to attack multiple fleets over time and they're perfectly safe sitting in the middle of the ocean as long as you eliminate enemy SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts and airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Airpower is less powerful now that nearly 1/2 of the modern AI navy can't be detected by recon, but that's why you deployed that Oceanic Surveillance network. Forts give you places to put Stealth Bombers where it can do the most good, and add to the numbers of deployed aircraft. Do NOT send in stealth bombers until the enemy jet fighters are eliminated, but they can be deadly against subs and missile cruisers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each fort should come standard with at least 1 A-SD and 1 S-DD, to provide full coastal surveillance. Then drop in a gunpowder unit with Medic to provide healing and cover against amphib assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carrier airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the danger of parking a carrier in the middle of the ocean, and how softening up the enemy fleet can be done via cruise missiles - there isn't much of a role for carriers as before. Their job is now more specialized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Carriers should also be based in forts/frontier port cities. They can sally out 4 squares, launch air strikes, and then retreat. Rather than trying to avoid the enemy fighters, you're going AFTER them. Strike directly at the enemy carriers, and whittle down their fighters to open them up for stealth bomber strikes. That covers everything between line #1 and #2 on your surveillance net.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can then reload with fighters from a secure home port during the same turn, and be ready to sally forth again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assault role, carriers are a lifesaver. When an enemy city is taken, it's never taken with the airport intact so the amount of airpower available is limited. There's also no option to use nearby cities to provide extra air cover if this is the beachhead. Support the ocean crossing with carriers, and you can park as many fighters in the conquered city as you want. Then every available slot can be used for Stealth Bombers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine shuttle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you plan to use tactical nukes, regular submarines are mainly useful in finding other subs and bringing cruise missiles to bear. Like regular land units in transports, missiles can be transferred from subs to MC's. That will help fleets to keep a full inventory of cruise missles without coming off their forward-deployed stations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since the surveillance pickets are keeping an eye open for any intruding units, the submarine carrying missiles to the front should have a secure journey, doubly so if the MC move back enough spaces to shorten the journey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Convoy Escort[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When escorting convoys, you need a BIG fleet unless your sea superiority is so complete that the AI navy is completely decimated. But given production advantages, that's unlikely. In general, a convoy's escorting fleet units should reflect how many turns the fleet will be in transit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MC's = (# turns) x3[NEWLINE]SD's = (# turns) x2[NEWLINE]DD's = (# turns) x1[NEWLINE]Carriers = 3 minimum[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's a lot of ships but you should need 1 escort fleet per ocean and you can use it to escort 4 or 25 transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I consider the "typical" crossing to be 3 turns, landing the army on the 3rd turn. That means a fleet of 9 MC's, 6 SD's, 3 DD's and 3 carriers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the start of the turn, move the carriers forward 2 spaces and send out 2 fighters to recon for large fleets. That will make sure you detect any large stacks of BB's or MC's for a detour if necessary. Next, send the DD's on a roundabout route to the targeted rendevous point. With S-DD's, you should be able to scan a 6-square wide corridor and still get the DD's to the target point. Any detected subs will be struck by air power. SD's with cruise missiles and subs with air strikes. Move your A-SD's in for the kill and then have them rejoin the fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the final move of the turn, the rest of the fleet (MC, carrier, and transports) will move to the convoy station through a thoroughly sanitized area so that the AI won't know for sure you have transports coming their way. Remember that the AI's LOVE Espionage so they already know your port of embarkation. They just don't know when the transports will sail. But they will know once your transports leave port, so it's important to deny the AI precise location on your transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Final point - the transports should hold off-shore the planned insertion point as far as possible on the final move to keep out of range of land-based air and units which might sally forth from secure ports. That means even if you have the MP's to gt within 4 squares of the coast on that turn, hold off 6-7 squares so that the transport can make a last-turn dash straight for the enemy coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Coastline defense[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With cruise missiles, stealth destroyers, and air strikes - defending off-shore platforms and fishing boats are just a quick way to get your units killed. Stockpile the work boats and leave those resources unguarded. A good surveillance network will protect your off-shre resources more surely than a bunch of sentry-duty MC's or SD's.</French>
		<German>[H1]Modern Naval Strategy for Beyond the Sword[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond the Sword changed many things about the game, and naval warfare was one of the most dramatically affected. The limits on aircraft units per city changed the scope, but not the basis of air warfare. The additional units in land warfare made siege units relevant again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But war at sea was completely changed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the vanilla CIV4, naval supremacy was nice to have but not necessary. The worst that could happen from not owning the oceans was losing some fishing boats and an air strike here and there (which you could counter with land-based aircraft). After your massed stealth bombers whittle them down, a few battleships can take down entire fleets of weakened enemy ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cruise missiles and tactical nukes changed all that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, not having sea superiority means that large stretches of your interior can be devastated, and possibly even nuked. The AI also uses amphibious assaults more often, and in conjunction with missle/nuke strikes. At the same time, the equation for gaining sea power has gotten more complicated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A whole new naval strategy is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To start, let's cover the main units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Missile Cruiser[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is going to be your main combatant. Once onboard missles are exhausted, this is just a battleship and should be used accordingly. Promotions should be for Drill 1, Drill 2, and then Barrage. The idea is that you want the MC to survive initial combat, and then start prepping the rest of the enemy fleet for destruction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You shouldn't feel the need to always have fully-loaded MC's, but rather keep a few empties around so that they can fight the battles. Once the enemy is down to ~27 strength, a Drill 2 MC should be sent in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a protracted war at sea, expect to build (and lose) a lot of MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stealth Destroyer[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a misunderstood unit in because it's NOT a replacement for the destroyer the way a MC is a replacement for Battleship in every way. This is a brand new unit, like the Attack Submarine, and needs to be used in a brand new way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two basic role exists for Stealth Destroyers - surveillance and assassin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the surveillance role, the SD should have Flanking and Sentry to maximize the viewing radius. Surveillance SD's (S-SD) should be deployed to make EVERY ocean square between you and your enemy visible. There can be no fog of war when it comes to naval warfare unless you want an entire fleet to sneak up on you. The specifics of how such a picket line should be ployed will be discussed later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another use for the S-SD's is to sneak in and bombard enemy cities' cultural defenses, if your picket lines are close enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assassin role, the SD should have only Drill promotions, and hold those promotions in reserve for healing injuries. Once you kill opposing SD's, your highly damaged SD's can be in the middle of the ocean but also be perfectly safe. That's why your Assassin SD's (A-SD) should be the vehicle of choice for finishing off damaged units or hunting down tranports/subs/carriers. They're the only ones who can survive the aftermath.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SD's should emphatically NOT be employed in a stack with other units, the way the AI does. It doesn't buy you anything, since SD's won't defend against anything except another SD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a critical unit, because the AI really loves to use submarines to deliver tactical nukes. Once you have Stealth Destroyers, you'll need Attack Subs in order to help locate and destroy enemy submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because Attack Subs should only be used against other subs or transports/carriers or heavily damaged units, it's in the same category as a S-SD and should get Flanking and Sentry. Additional promotions should be Navigation 1 and 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also a crucial unit because it's the way to deliver tactical nukes and additional cruise missles to a front-deployed fleet. There's no combat role for the submarine because it's not powerful enough to fight any of the late-game opponents head on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want missle strikes - better to deliver it from a MC, which can follow up with an attack or survive a counter-attack after getting close to enemy shores.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to detect/kill other subs, the Attack Sub is much better.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why the main role of subs is to either shuttle cruise missles to re-load MC's which have fired their on-board supply or to sneak in a tactical nuke. As such, submarines receive Flanking and Navigation 1/2. Beyond that, add Sentry to help avoid threats.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Battleship[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whatever battleships you have as of the time that MC's come along - leave them alone. There's no need to spend money upgrading BB's when they don't gain any combat power and the supply of cruise missiles always tend to trail the number of MC's on hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use the BB's for the same role as they had in CIV4 original - escorting carriers and transports. Their MP's are perfect, once the transport/carrier has been upgraded with Navigation 1. They're just as powerful in defensive role as MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's no particular need to stock up on BB's, and also no reason to change how you use them from the original CIV4. You can't see SD's or subs sneaking up on you, but that's why you have surveillance SD's and Attack Subs anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Destroyers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are critical units which should be stockpiled in large numbers. Build them while you can and NEVER upgrade them. You can always build more SD's, but the supply of destroyers you have are finite[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's have the ability to detect subs, they can move farther than the Attack Subs, and can kill the invading subs just as effectively. On top of that, they still retain their anti-air capabilities, so they're not nearly as vulnerable to air assault as the submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's also come in the same 2 varieties as SD's - surveillance or attack. Unlike SD's, surveillance-type DD's should be used to escort large fleets because it'll provide some redundant sub-spotting (and killing) capability.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otherwise, attack- and surveillance-DD's should be deployed near shorelines because they're so valuable and so vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carriers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In theory, carriers are much less useful than before. Air recon can't detect submarines or Stealth Destroyers, and the naval strike role which made Jet fighters valuable can now be taken over by missiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, carriers are still useful for providing first-strike on detected submarines and MC's which have been stripped of their escorts. More importantly, they have a HUGE role in one of the main purposes of the navy - supporting a beachhead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Technically not an unit, but so crucial it deserves its own mention. With BTS, fortifications act as cities for naval and air purposes. That means new tricks which were impossible before.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A naval unit can use a fort to create a land-bridge to cross an island while an enemy fleet must take the long way around. A ship can move from ocean-to-fort #1, then fort #1-to-city, then city-to-fort #2, and finally fort #2 to ocean. A crossing which might have used on the entire MP quota of a MC could instead be completed with only 4 MP's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ocean-Fort-City-Fort-Ocean[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can also be constructed to give you secure naval bases in stretches of your territory where it makes no sense to plant a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can be used to house fighters/bombers to help support your coastal defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you're lucky enough to have an island off your shore, build a city on it just to be able to use it as forward air/naval station. Forts give you shortcuts to help chase down a faster enemy, and a secure way of bringing your transports further along before exposing them to attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval deployments[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several major categories of naval war strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can choose to fight a defensive action, where your fleets are deployed out of home ports and are tasked with killing any unit you see. The goal is to protect your own lands while the land war continues or you're trying to prevent a landing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's also the offensive approach, where you bring your fleets near the enemy cities to offer battle and to strike at their infrastructure. The goal is to decimate their coastal cities and wipe out their fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, there's the sea-lane action where the goal is to maintain a secure travel route in order to ship in more units for the war in a distant location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, a large war will always involve at least some of each of the 3 in different phases. It might start with a defensive action, then you'd move to secure a sea lane to provide an invasion corridor, and finally shift over to a total offensive action.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or it might be the other way around, where you deploy your fleet to a forward position to nail the initial stack-of-doom invasion fleet and then pull back to a defensive position shortly afterwards.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In all cases, there are some basic tactics to consider.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Oceanic Surveillance[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Stealth Destroyer, it's critical that you cover the ocean with your own Surveillance-SD's. Each S-SD can cover 14 ocean squares, so it doesn't take that many units. Because enemy SD's can easily move beyond the range of your S-SD in a single turn, you need to either deploy enough units to cover the ENTIRE ocean or establish two picket lines far enough apart that there's no way that an enemy unit can get past your S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Between the S-SD pickets, you should seed in Attack Subs, also spaced out carefully to make sure there are no gaps. That's the only way you're going to spot the enemy subs given the disability of the S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination, the line should look like[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](enemy continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](home continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE][NEWLINE](each [COLOR_RED]+[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]-[COLOR_REVERT] represents an empty ocean square)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The combined 9 spaces between the SD lines means that it's impossible for enemy SD's to slip by, and the double-line of attack subs also ensure that no submarine can make it past without being stuck in at least 1 location where your own Attack Submarine can see it. The absence of an Attack Sub is also a clue that there must be at least 1 enemy sub in the vicinity, so units in the 1st line should be prepared to move up to the next line at any time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal is to NOT use the units in the line to make attacks and to place your own battle fleet in a position to attack only after detection of the enemy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack echelon[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When attacking an enemy fleet, always check if there's SD's in the stack. If there is, send your own attack-configured Stealth Destroyers in first to engage them. Beyond that, use cruise missiles to soften up the enemy units to around 30 strength, and then send in your highest promoted MC which has Barrage. That MC will probably die, but naval warfare is about attrition - not experience. It'll soften up the fleet for follow up attacks. Then send in additional MC's until there are no units above strength ~20.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point, it's time for the assassin SD's to enter the fray and clean up. By holding back promotions, the same group of SD's can be used to attack multiple fleets over time and they're perfectly safe sitting in the middle of the ocean as long as you eliminate enemy SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts and airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Airpower is less powerful now that nearly 1/2 of the modern AI navy can't be detected by recon, but that's why you deployed that Oceanic Surveillance network. Forts give you places to put Stealth Bombers where it can do the most good, and add to the numbers of deployed aircraft. Do NOT send in stealth bombers until the enemy jet fighters are eliminated, but they can be deadly against subs and missile cruisers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each fort should come standard with at least 1 A-SD and 1 S-DD, to provide full coastal surveillance. Then drop in a gunpowder unit with Medic to provide healing and cover against amphib assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carrier airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the danger of parking a carrier in the middle of the ocean, and how softening up the enemy fleet can be done via cruise missiles - there isn't much of a role for carriers as before. Their job is now more specialized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Carriers should also be based in forts/frontier port cities. They can sally out 4 squares, launch air strikes, and then retreat. Rather than trying to avoid the enemy fighters, you're going AFTER them. Strike directly at the enemy carriers, and whittle down their fighters to open them up for stealth bomber strikes. That covers everything between line #1 and #2 on your surveillance net.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can then reload with fighters from a secure home port during the same turn, and be ready to sally forth again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assault role, carriers are a lifesaver. When an enemy city is taken, it's never taken with the airport intact so the amount of airpower available is limited. There's also no option to use nearby cities to provide extra air cover if this is the beachhead. Support the ocean crossing with carriers, and you can park as many fighters in the conquered city as you want. Then every available slot can be used for Stealth Bombers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine shuttle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you plan to use tactical nukes, regular submarines are mainly useful in finding other subs and bringing cruise missiles to bear. Like regular land units in transports, missiles can be transferred from subs to MC's. That will help fleets to keep a full inventory of cruise missles without coming off their forward-deployed stations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since the surveillance pickets are keeping an eye open for any intruding units, the submarine carrying missiles to the front should have a secure journey, doubly so if the MC move back enough spaces to shorten the journey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Convoy Escort[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When escorting convoys, you need a BIG fleet unless your sea superiority is so complete that the AI navy is completely decimated. But given production advantages, that's unlikely. In general, a convoy's escorting fleet units should reflect how many turns the fleet will be in transit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MC's = (# turns) x3[NEWLINE]SD's = (# turns) x2[NEWLINE]DD's = (# turns) x1[NEWLINE]Carriers = 3 minimum[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's a lot of ships but you should need 1 escort fleet per ocean and you can use it to escort 4 or 25 transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I consider the "typical" crossing to be 3 turns, landing the army on the 3rd turn. That means a fleet of 9 MC's, 6 SD's, 3 DD's and 3 carriers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the start of the turn, move the carriers forward 2 spaces and send out 2 fighters to recon for large fleets. That will make sure you detect any large stacks of BB's or MC's for a detour if necessary. Next, send the DD's on a roundabout route to the targeted rendevous point. With S-DD's, you should be able to scan a 6-square wide corridor and still get the DD's to the target point. Any detected subs will be struck by air power. SD's with cruise missiles and subs with air strikes. Move your A-SD's in for the kill and then have them rejoin the fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the final move of the turn, the rest of the fleet (MC, carrier, and transports) will move to the convoy station through a thoroughly sanitized area so that the AI won't know for sure you have transports coming their way. Remember that the AI's LOVE Espionage so they already know your port of embarkation. They just don't know when the transports will sail. But they will know once your transports leave port, so it's important to deny the AI precise location on your transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Final point - the transports should hold off-shore the planned insertion point as far as possible on the final move to keep out of range of land-based air and units which might sally forth from secure ports. That means even if you have the MP's to gt within 4 squares of the coast on that turn, hold off 6-7 squares so that the transport can make a last-turn dash straight for the enemy coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Coastline defense[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With cruise missiles, stealth destroyers, and air strikes - defending off-shore platforms and fishing boats are just a quick way to get your units killed. Stockpile the work boats and leave those resources unguarded. A good surveillance network will protect your off-shre resources more surely than a bunch of sentry-duty MC's or SD's.</German>
		<Italian>[H1]Modern Naval Strategy for Beyond the Sword[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond the Sword changed many things about the game, and naval warfare was one of the most dramatically affected. The limits on aircraft units per city changed the scope, but not the basis of air warfare. The additional units in land warfare made siege units relevant again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But war at sea was completely changed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the vanilla CIV4, naval supremacy was nice to have but not necessary. The worst that could happen from not owning the oceans was losing some fishing boats and an air strike here and there (which you could counter with land-based aircraft). After your massed stealth bombers whittle them down, a few battleships can take down entire fleets of weakened enemy ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cruise missiles and tactical nukes changed all that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, not having sea superiority means that large stretches of your interior can be devastated, and possibly even nuked. The AI also uses amphibious assaults more often, and in conjunction with missle/nuke strikes. At the same time, the equation for gaining sea power has gotten more complicated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A whole new naval strategy is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To start, let's cover the main units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Missile Cruiser[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is going to be your main combatant. Once onboard missles are exhausted, this is just a battleship and should be used accordingly. Promotions should be for Drill 1, Drill 2, and then Barrage. The idea is that you want the MC to survive initial combat, and then start prepping the rest of the enemy fleet for destruction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You shouldn't feel the need to always have fully-loaded MC's, but rather keep a few empties around so that they can fight the battles. Once the enemy is down to ~27 strength, a Drill 2 MC should be sent in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a protracted war at sea, expect to build (and lose) a lot of MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stealth Destroyer[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a misunderstood unit in because it's NOT a replacement for the destroyer the way a MC is a replacement for Battleship in every way. This is a brand new unit, like the Attack Submarine, and needs to be used in a brand new way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two basic role exists for Stealth Destroyers - surveillance and assassin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the surveillance role, the SD should have Flanking and Sentry to maximize the viewing radius. Surveillance SD's (S-SD) should be deployed to make EVERY ocean square between you and your enemy visible. There can be no fog of war when it comes to naval warfare unless you want an entire fleet to sneak up on you. The specifics of how such a picket line should be ployed will be discussed later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another use for the S-SD's is to sneak in and bombard enemy cities' cultural defenses, if your picket lines are close enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assassin role, the SD should have only Drill promotions, and hold those promotions in reserve for healing injuries. Once you kill opposing SD's, your highly damaged SD's can be in the middle of the ocean but also be perfectly safe. That's why your Assassin SD's (A-SD) should be the vehicle of choice for finishing off damaged units or hunting down tranports/subs/carriers. They're the only ones who can survive the aftermath.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SD's should emphatically NOT be employed in a stack with other units, the way the AI does. It doesn't buy you anything, since SD's won't defend against anything except another SD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a critical unit, because the AI really loves to use submarines to deliver tactical nukes. Once you have Stealth Destroyers, you'll need Attack Subs in order to help locate and destroy enemy submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because Attack Subs should only be used against other subs or transports/carriers or heavily damaged units, it's in the same category as a S-SD and should get Flanking and Sentry. Additional promotions should be Navigation 1 and 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also a crucial unit because it's the way to deliver tactical nukes and additional cruise missles to a front-deployed fleet. There's no combat role for the submarine because it's not powerful enough to fight any of the late-game opponents head on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want missle strikes - better to deliver it from a MC, which can follow up with an attack or survive a counter-attack after getting close to enemy shores.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to detect/kill other subs, the Attack Sub is much better.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why the main role of subs is to either shuttle cruise missles to re-load MC's which have fired their on-board supply or to sneak in a tactical nuke. As such, submarines receive Flanking and Navigation 1/2. Beyond that, add Sentry to help avoid threats.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Battleship[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whatever battleships you have as of the time that MC's come along - leave them alone. There's no need to spend money upgrading BB's when they don't gain any combat power and the supply of cruise missiles always tend to trail the number of MC's on hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use the BB's for the same role as they had in CIV4 original - escorting carriers and transports. Their MP's are perfect, once the transport/carrier has been upgraded with Navigation 1. They're just as powerful in defensive role as MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's no particular need to stock up on BB's, and also no reason to change how you use them from the original CIV4. You can't see SD's or subs sneaking up on you, but that's why you have surveillance SD's and Attack Subs anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Destroyers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are critical units which should be stockpiled in large numbers. Build them while you can and NEVER upgrade them. You can always build more SD's, but the supply of destroyers you have are finite[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's have the ability to detect subs, they can move farther than the Attack Subs, and can kill the invading subs just as effectively. On top of that, they still retain their anti-air capabilities, so they're not nearly as vulnerable to air assault as the submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's also come in the same 2 varieties as SD's - surveillance or attack. Unlike SD's, surveillance-type DD's should be used to escort large fleets because it'll provide some redundant sub-spotting (and killing) capability.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otherwise, attack- and surveillance-DD's should be deployed near shorelines because they're so valuable and so vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carriers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In theory, carriers are much less useful than before. Air recon can't detect submarines or Stealth Destroyers, and the naval strike role which made Jet fighters valuable can now be taken over by missiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, carriers are still useful for providing first-strike on detected submarines and MC's which have been stripped of their escorts. More importantly, they have a HUGE role in one of the main purposes of the navy - supporting a beachhead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Technically not an unit, but so crucial it deserves its own mention. With BTS, fortifications act as cities for naval and air purposes. That means new tricks which were impossible before.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A naval unit can use a fort to create a land-bridge to cross an island while an enemy fleet must take the long way around. A ship can move from ocean-to-fort #1, then fort #1-to-city, then city-to-fort #2, and finally fort #2 to ocean. A crossing which might have used on the entire MP quota of a MC could instead be completed with only 4 MP's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ocean-Fort-City-Fort-Ocean[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can also be constructed to give you secure naval bases in stretches of your territory where it makes no sense to plant a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can be used to house fighters/bombers to help support your coastal defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you're lucky enough to have an island off your shore, build a city on it just to be able to use it as forward air/naval station. Forts give you shortcuts to help chase down a faster enemy, and a secure way of bringing your transports further along before exposing them to attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval deployments[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several major categories of naval war strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can choose to fight a defensive action, where your fleets are deployed out of home ports and are tasked with killing any unit you see. The goal is to protect your own lands while the land war continues or you're trying to prevent a landing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's also the offensive approach, where you bring your fleets near the enemy cities to offer battle and to strike at their infrastructure. The goal is to decimate their coastal cities and wipe out their fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, there's the sea-lane action where the goal is to maintain a secure travel route in order to ship in more units for the war in a distant location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, a large war will always involve at least some of each of the 3 in different phases. It might start with a defensive action, then you'd move to secure a sea lane to provide an invasion corridor, and finally shift over to a total offensive action.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or it might be the other way around, where you deploy your fleet to a forward position to nail the initial stack-of-doom invasion fleet and then pull back to a defensive position shortly afterwards.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In all cases, there are some basic tactics to consider.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Oceanic Surveillance[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Stealth Destroyer, it's critical that you cover the ocean with your own Surveillance-SD's. Each S-SD can cover 14 ocean squares, so it doesn't take that many units. Because enemy SD's can easily move beyond the range of your S-SD in a single turn, you need to either deploy enough units to cover the ENTIRE ocean or establish two picket lines far enough apart that there's no way that an enemy unit can get past your S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Between the S-SD pickets, you should seed in Attack Subs, also spaced out carefully to make sure there are no gaps. That's the only way you're going to spot the enemy subs given the disability of the S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination, the line should look like[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](enemy continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](home continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE][NEWLINE](each [COLOR_RED]+[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]-[COLOR_REVERT] represents an empty ocean square)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The combined 9 spaces between the SD lines means that it's impossible for enemy SD's to slip by, and the double-line of attack subs also ensure that no submarine can make it past without being stuck in at least 1 location where your own Attack Submarine can see it. The absence of an Attack Sub is also a clue that there must be at least 1 enemy sub in the vicinity, so units in the 1st line should be prepared to move up to the next line at any time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal is to NOT use the units in the line to make attacks and to place your own battle fleet in a position to attack only after detection of the enemy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack echelon[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When attacking an enemy fleet, always check if there's SD's in the stack. If there is, send your own attack-configured Stealth Destroyers in first to engage them. Beyond that, use cruise missiles to soften up the enemy units to around 30 strength, and then send in your highest promoted MC which has Barrage. That MC will probably die, but naval warfare is about attrition - not experience. It'll soften up the fleet for follow up attacks. Then send in additional MC's until there are no units above strength ~20.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point, it's time for the assassin SD's to enter the fray and clean up. By holding back promotions, the same group of SD's can be used to attack multiple fleets over time and they're perfectly safe sitting in the middle of the ocean as long as you eliminate enemy SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts and airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Airpower is less powerful now that nearly 1/2 of the modern AI navy can't be detected by recon, but that's why you deployed that Oceanic Surveillance network. Forts give you places to put Stealth Bombers where it can do the most good, and add to the numbers of deployed aircraft. Do NOT send in stealth bombers until the enemy jet fighters are eliminated, but they can be deadly against subs and missile cruisers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each fort should come standard with at least 1 A-SD and 1 S-DD, to provide full coastal surveillance. Then drop in a gunpowder unit with Medic to provide healing and cover against amphib assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carrier airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the danger of parking a carrier in the middle of the ocean, and how softening up the enemy fleet can be done via cruise missiles - there isn't much of a role for carriers as before. Their job is now more specialized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Carriers should also be based in forts/frontier port cities. They can sally out 4 squares, launch air strikes, and then retreat. Rather than trying to avoid the enemy fighters, you're going AFTER them. Strike directly at the enemy carriers, and whittle down their fighters to open them up for stealth bomber strikes. That covers everything between line #1 and #2 on your surveillance net.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can then reload with fighters from a secure home port during the same turn, and be ready to sally forth again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assault role, carriers are a lifesaver. When an enemy city is taken, it's never taken with the airport intact so the amount of airpower available is limited. There's also no option to use nearby cities to provide extra air cover if this is the beachhead. Support the ocean crossing with carriers, and you can park as many fighters in the conquered city as you want. Then every available slot can be used for Stealth Bombers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine shuttle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you plan to use tactical nukes, regular submarines are mainly useful in finding other subs and bringing cruise missiles to bear. Like regular land units in transports, missiles can be transferred from subs to MC's. That will help fleets to keep a full inventory of cruise missles without coming off their forward-deployed stations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since the surveillance pickets are keeping an eye open for any intruding units, the submarine carrying missiles to the front should have a secure journey, doubly so if the MC move back enough spaces to shorten the journey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Convoy Escort[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When escorting convoys, you need a BIG fleet unless your sea superiority is so complete that the AI navy is completely decimated. But given production advantages, that's unlikely. In general, a convoy's escorting fleet units should reflect how many turns the fleet will be in transit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MC's = (# turns) x3[NEWLINE]SD's = (# turns) x2[NEWLINE]DD's = (# turns) x1[NEWLINE]Carriers = 3 minimum[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's a lot of ships but you should need 1 escort fleet per ocean and you can use it to escort 4 or 25 transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I consider the "typical" crossing to be 3 turns, landing the army on the 3rd turn. That means a fleet of 9 MC's, 6 SD's, 3 DD's and 3 carriers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the start of the turn, move the carriers forward 2 spaces and send out 2 fighters to recon for large fleets. That will make sure you detect any large stacks of BB's or MC's for a detour if necessary. Next, send the DD's on a roundabout route to the targeted rendevous point. With S-DD's, you should be able to scan a 6-square wide corridor and still get the DD's to the target point. Any detected subs will be struck by air power. SD's with cruise missiles and subs with air strikes. Move your A-SD's in for the kill and then have them rejoin the fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the final move of the turn, the rest of the fleet (MC, carrier, and transports) will move to the convoy station through a thoroughly sanitized area so that the AI won't know for sure you have transports coming their way. Remember that the AI's LOVE Espionage so they already know your port of embarkation. They just don't know when the transports will sail. But they will know once your transports leave port, so it's important to deny the AI precise location on your transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Final point - the transports should hold off-shore the planned insertion point as far as possible on the final move to keep out of range of land-based air and units which might sally forth from secure ports. That means even if you have the MP's to gt within 4 squares of the coast on that turn, hold off 6-7 squares so that the transport can make a last-turn dash straight for the enemy coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Coastline defense[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With cruise missiles, stealth destroyers, and air strikes - defending off-shore platforms and fishing boats are just a quick way to get your units killed. Stockpile the work boats and leave those resources unguarded. A good surveillance network will protect your off-shre resources more surely than a bunch of sentry-duty MC's or SD's.</Italian>
		<Spanish>[H1]Modern Naval Strategy for Beyond the Sword[\H1][PARAGRAPH:1]- by [BOLD]Plato90s[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Beyond the Sword changed many things about the game, and naval warfare was one of the most dramatically affected. The limits on aircraft units per city changed the scope, but not the basis of air warfare. The additional units in land warfare made siege units relevant again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]But war at sea was completely changed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the vanilla CIV4, naval supremacy was nice to have but not necessary. The worst that could happen from not owning the oceans was losing some fishing boats and an air strike here and there (which you could counter with land-based aircraft). After your massed stealth bombers whittle them down, a few battleships can take down entire fleets of weakened enemy ships.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Cruise missiles and tactical nukes changed all that.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, not having sea superiority means that large stretches of your interior can be devastated, and possibly even nuked. The AI also uses amphibious assaults more often, and in conjunction with missle/nuke strikes. At the same time, the equation for gaining sea power has gotten more complicated.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A whole new naval strategy is needed.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]To start, let's cover the main units.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Missile Cruiser[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is going to be your main combatant. Once onboard missles are exhausted, this is just a battleship and should be used accordingly. Promotions should be for Drill 1, Drill 2, and then Barrage. The idea is that you want the MC to survive initial combat, and then start prepping the rest of the enemy fleet for destruction.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You shouldn't feel the need to always have fully-loaded MC's, but rather keep a few empties around so that they can fight the battles. Once the enemy is down to ~27 strength, a Drill 2 MC should be sent in.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In a protracted war at sea, expect to build (and lose) a lot of MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Stealth Destroyer[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a misunderstood unit in because it's NOT a replacement for the destroyer the way a MC is a replacement for Battleship in every way. This is a brand new unit, like the Attack Submarine, and needs to be used in a brand new way.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Two basic role exists for Stealth Destroyers - surveillance and assassin.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the surveillance role, the SD should have Flanking and Sentry to maximize the viewing radius. Surveillance SD's (S-SD) should be deployed to make EVERY ocean square between you and your enemy visible. There can be no fog of war when it comes to naval warfare unless you want an entire fleet to sneak up on you. The specifics of how such a picket line should be ployed will be discussed later.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Another use for the S-SD's is to sneak in and bombard enemy cities' cultural defenses, if your picket lines are close enough.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assassin role, the SD should have only Drill promotions, and hold those promotions in reserve for healing injuries. Once you kill opposing SD's, your highly damaged SD's can be in the middle of the ocean but also be perfectly safe. That's why your Assassin SD's (A-SD) should be the vehicle of choice for finishing off damaged units or hunting down tranports/subs/carriers. They're the only ones who can survive the aftermath.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]SD's should emphatically NOT be employed in a stack with other units, the way the AI does. It doesn't buy you anything, since SD's won't defend against anything except another SD.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is a critical unit, because the AI really loves to use submarines to deliver tactical nukes. Once you have Stealth Destroyers, you'll need Attack Subs in order to help locate and destroy enemy submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Because Attack Subs should only be used against other subs or transports/carriers or heavily damaged units, it's in the same category as a S-SD and should get Flanking and Sentry. Additional promotions should be Navigation 1 and 2.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]This is also a crucial unit because it's the way to deliver tactical nukes and additional cruise missles to a front-deployed fleet. There's no combat role for the submarine because it's not powerful enough to fight any of the late-game opponents head on.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want missle strikes - better to deliver it from a MC, which can follow up with an attack or survive a counter-attack after getting close to enemy shores.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]If you want to detect/kill other subs, the Attack Sub is much better.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's why the main role of subs is to either shuttle cruise missles to re-load MC's which have fired their on-board supply or to sneak in a tactical nuke. As such, submarines receive Flanking and Navigation 1/2. Beyond that, add Sentry to help avoid threats.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Battleship[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Whatever battleships you have as of the time that MC's come along - leave them alone. There's no need to spend money upgrading BB's when they don't gain any combat power and the supply of cruise missiles always tend to trail the number of MC's on hand.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Instead, use the BB's for the same role as they had in CIV4 original - escorting carriers and transports. Their MP's are perfect, once the transport/carrier has been upgraded with Navigation 1. They're just as powerful in defensive role as MC's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's no particular need to stock up on BB's, and also no reason to change how you use them from the original CIV4. You can't see SD's or subs sneaking up on you, but that's why you have surveillance SD's and Attack Subs anyways.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Destroyers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]These are critical units which should be stockpiled in large numbers. Build them while you can and NEVER upgrade them. You can always build more SD's, but the supply of destroyers you have are finite[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's have the ability to detect subs, they can move farther than the Attack Subs, and can kill the invading subs just as effectively. On top of that, they still retain their anti-air capabilities, so they're not nearly as vulnerable to air assault as the submarines.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]DD's also come in the same 2 varieties as SD's - surveillance or attack. Unlike SD's, surveillance-type DD's should be used to escort large fleets because it'll provide some redundant sub-spotting (and killing) capability.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Otherwise, attack- and surveillance-DD's should be deployed near shorelines because they're so valuable and so vulnerable.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carriers[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In theory, carriers are much less useful than before. Air recon can't detect submarines or Stealth Destroyers, and the naval strike role which made Jet fighters valuable can now be taken over by missiles.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, carriers are still useful for providing first-strike on detected submarines and MC's which have been stripped of their escorts. More importantly, they have a HUGE role in one of the main purposes of the navy - supporting a beachhead.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Technically not an unit, but so crucial it deserves its own mention. With BTS, fortifications act as cities for naval and air purposes. That means new tricks which were impossible before.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A naval unit can use a fort to create a land-bridge to cross an island while an enemy fleet must take the long way around. A ship can move from ocean-to-fort #1, then fort #1-to-city, then city-to-fort #2, and finally fort #2 to ocean. A crossing which might have used on the entire MP quota of a MC could instead be completed with only 4 MP's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Ocean-Fort-City-Fort-Ocean[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can also be constructed to give you secure naval bases in stretches of your territory where it makes no sense to plant a city.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]A fort can be used to house fighters/bombers to help support your coastal defense.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Now, if you're lucky enough to have an island off your shore, build a city on it just to be able to use it as forward air/naval station. Forts give you shortcuts to help chase down a faster enemy, and a secure way of bringing your transports further along before exposing them to attack.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Naval deployments[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There are several major categories of naval war strategy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can choose to fight a defensive action, where your fleets are deployed out of home ports and are tasked with killing any unit you see. The goal is to protect your own lands while the land war continues or you're trying to prevent a landing.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]There's also the offensive approach, where you bring your fleets near the enemy cities to offer battle and to strike at their infrastructure. The goal is to decimate their coastal cities and wipe out their fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Finally, there's the sea-lane action where the goal is to maintain a secure travel route in order to ship in more units for the war in a distant location.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In reality, a large war will always involve at least some of each of the 3 in different phases. It might start with a defensive action, then you'd move to secure a sea lane to provide an invasion corridor, and finally shift over to a total offensive action.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Or it might be the other way around, where you deploy your fleet to a forward position to nail the initial stack-of-doom invasion fleet and then pull back to a defensive position shortly afterwards.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In all cases, there are some basic tactics to consider.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Oceanic Surveillance[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With the Stealth Destroyer, it's critical that you cover the ocean with your own Surveillance-SD's. Each S-SD can cover 14 ocean squares, so it doesn't take that many units. Because enemy SD's can easily move beyond the range of your S-SD in a single turn, you need to either deploy enough units to cover the ENTIRE ocean or establish two picket lines far enough apart that there's no way that an enemy unit can get past your S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Between the S-SD pickets, you should seed in Attack Subs, also spaced out carefully to make sure there are no gaps. That's the only way you're going to spot the enemy subs given the disability of the S-SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In combination, the line should look like[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](enemy continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 2)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE]--SD----SD----SD----SD----SD-- [BOLD](SD line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]AS----AS----AS----AS----AS-- [BOLD](AS line 1)[\BOLD][NEWLINE]+[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]S [BOLD](home continent)[\BOLD] N[NEWLINE][NEWLINE](each [COLOR_RED]+[COLOR_REVERT] and [COLOR_RED]-[COLOR_REVERT] represents an empty ocean square)[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The combined 9 spaces between the SD lines means that it's impossible for enemy SD's to slip by, and the double-line of attack subs also ensure that no submarine can make it past without being stuck in at least 1 location where your own Attack Submarine can see it. The absence of an Attack Sub is also a clue that there must be at least 1 enemy sub in the vicinity, so units in the 1st line should be prepared to move up to the next line at any time.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]The goal is to NOT use the units in the line to make attacks and to place your own battle fleet in a position to attack only after detection of the enemy.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Attack echelon[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When attacking an enemy fleet, always check if there's SD's in the stack. If there is, send your own attack-configured Stealth Destroyers in first to engage them. Beyond that, use cruise missiles to soften up the enemy units to around 30 strength, and then send in your highest promoted MC which has Barrage. That MC will probably die, but naval warfare is about attrition - not experience. It'll soften up the fleet for follow up attacks. Then send in additional MC's until there are no units above strength ~20.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At this point, it's time for the assassin SD's to enter the fray and clean up. By holding back promotions, the same group of SD's can be used to attack multiple fleets over time and they're perfectly safe sitting in the middle of the ocean as long as you eliminate enemy SD's.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Forts and airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Airpower is less powerful now that nearly 1/2 of the modern AI navy can't be detected by recon, but that's why you deployed that Oceanic Surveillance network. Forts give you places to put Stealth Bombers where it can do the most good, and add to the numbers of deployed aircraft. Do NOT send in stealth bombers until the enemy jet fighters are eliminated, but they can be deadly against subs and missile cruisers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Each fort should come standard with at least 1 A-SD and 1 S-DD, to provide full coastal surveillance. Then drop in a gunpowder unit with Medic to provide healing and cover against amphib assault.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Carrier airpower[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Given the danger of parking a carrier in the middle of the ocean, and how softening up the enemy fleet can be done via cruise missiles - there isn't much of a role for carriers as before. Their job is now more specialized.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Carriers should also be based in forts/frontier port cities. They can sally out 4 squares, launch air strikes, and then retreat. Rather than trying to avoid the enemy fighters, you're going AFTER them. Strike directly at the enemy carriers, and whittle down their fighters to open them up for stealth bomber strikes. That covers everything between line #1 and #2 on your surveillance net.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]You can then reload with fighters from a secure home port during the same turn, and be ready to sally forth again.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]In the assault role, carriers are a lifesaver. When an enemy city is taken, it's never taken with the airport intact so the amount of airpower available is limited. There's also no option to use nearby cities to provide extra air cover if this is the beachhead. Support the ocean crossing with carriers, and you can park as many fighters in the conquered city as you want. Then every available slot can be used for Stealth Bombers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Submarine shuttle[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Unless you plan to use tactical nukes, regular submarines are mainly useful in finding other subs and bringing cruise missiles to bear. Like regular land units in transports, missiles can be transferred from subs to MC's. That will help fleets to keep a full inventory of cruise missles without coming off their forward-deployed stations.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Since the surveillance pickets are keeping an eye open for any intruding units, the submarine carrying missiles to the front should have a secure journey, doubly so if the MC move back enough spaces to shorten the journey.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Convoy Escort[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]When escorting convoys, you need a BIG fleet unless your sea superiority is so complete that the AI navy is completely decimated. But given production advantages, that's unlikely. In general, a convoy's escorting fleet units should reflect how many turns the fleet will be in transit.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]MC's = (# turns) x3[NEWLINE]SD's = (# turns) x2[NEWLINE]DD's = (# turns) x1[NEWLINE]Carriers = 3 minimum[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]That's a lot of ships but you should need 1 escort fleet per ocean and you can use it to escort 4 or 25 transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]I consider the "typical" crossing to be 3 turns, landing the army on the 3rd turn. That means a fleet of 9 MC's, 6 SD's, 3 DD's and 3 carriers.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]At the start of the turn, move the carriers forward 2 spaces and send out 2 fighters to recon for large fleets. That will make sure you detect any large stacks of BB's or MC's for a detour if necessary. Next, send the DD's on a roundabout route to the targeted rendevous point. With S-DD's, you should be able to scan a 6-square wide corridor and still get the DD's to the target point. Any detected subs will be struck by air power. SD's with cruise missiles and subs with air strikes. Move your A-SD's in for the kill and then have them rejoin the fleet.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]As the final move of the turn, the rest of the fleet (MC, carrier, and transports) will move to the convoy station through a thoroughly sanitized area so that the AI won't know for sure you have transports coming their way. Remember that the AI's LOVE Espionage so they already know your port of embarkation. They just don't know when the transports will sail. But they will know once your transports leave port, so it's important to deny the AI precise location on your transports.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE]Final point - the transports should hold off-shore the planned insertion point as far as possible on the final move to keep out of range of land-based air and units which might sally forth from secure ports. That means even if you have the MP's to gt within 4 squares of the coast on that turn, hold off 6-7 squares so that the transport can make a last-turn dash straight for the enemy coast.[NEWLINE][NEWLINE][BOLD]Coastline defense[\BOLD][NEWLINE][NEWLINE]With cruise missiles, stealth destroyers, and air strikes - defending off-shore platforms and fishing boats are just a quick way to get your units killed. Stockpile the work boats and leave those resources unguarded. A good surveillance network will protect your off-shre resources more surely than a bunch of sentry-duty MC's or SD's.</Spanish>
	</TEXT>
</Civ4GameText>
