HPR4610: Playing Civilization V, Part 10

This show has been flagged as Clean by the host. In our next look at the game mechanics for Civilization V we three key ideas: Great People, Trade, and Empires/Civilizations. Playing Civilization V, Part 10 - Great People Gaining Great People You earn Great People by accumulating Great Person Points (GPP). Each type of Great Person has its own type of GPP, and they are earned independently, so you can easily accumulate points for several different types of Great People at the same time. You can earn these points through specialists, through Wonders, and through Social Policies. While you can accumulate points towards any and all Great People, you should focus on ones that fit your game strategy. If you are going for a Domination victory, you should focus on Great Generals and Great Admirals in preference to Great Artists and Great Musicians. But if you are going for a Culture victory you might want to reverse that. That is not to say you won’t gain a few random other Great People along the way, just that you should know what you are trying to achieve. And Great Generals and Great Admirals are a little different in that you earn them by winning battles. Types of Great People Great Artist – Can start Golden Age, or create Great worksGreat Musician – Can do Concert Tour (+Tourism), or create Great WorksGreat Writer- Can write a Political Treatise (+Culture), or create Great WorksGreat Engineer – Can hurry production (including Wonders). Can create ManufactoryGreat General – combat bonus to units within 2 tiles, or steal land when creating a CitadelKhan – Unique to Mongolia, replaces Great General, moves faster and heals adjacent units, and can create CitadelGreat Merchant – Trade Mission (+Gold and +Influence with a city state). Create Customs HouseMerchant of Venice – Unique to Venice, replaces Great Merchant. +100% Gold and +100% Influence from Trade Mission, or can puppet a City-State. Can create Customs HouseGreat Scientist – Can Hurry Research, or create AcademyGreat Admiral – Combat bonus to naval units within 2 tiles. Can repair adjacent naval and embarked unitsGreat Prophet – Can Found or enhance Religion, can spread Religion, or can create Holy Site Every type except Great Admiral can create something, but that uses up the Great Person. And the main action for each also uses up the Great Person (e.g. do a Concert Tour, Hurry Production, etc.). So you need to consider which one works best for you. As a general rule, compare which option pays off the best. For example, if it is early in the game and you get a Great Scientist, creating an Academy will give you science points per turn that will pay off over the whole game. But once you hit the mid-to-late stages the one time hit of science points from Hurry Research makes more sense because you don’t have the time left for the per-turn bonus from an Academy to add up. And if there is a key Wonder you need to make your strategy works, keeping a Great Engineer on hand to hurry it up can pay off very nicely. This is the only way to Hurry Production on a Wonder. Trade In Civilization V, the amount of Gold you earn from terrain is much lower, so the path to a full treasury requires that you set up Trade Routes. You have limited number of Trade Slots available, but that limit grows over time. You can earn slots two ways. The first is through discovering techs: Ancient Era: Animal Husbandry, SailingClassical Era: EngineeringMedieval Era: CompassRenaissance Era: BankingIndustrial Era: BiologyModern Era: RailroadAtomic Era: Penicillin So just from keeping up your research you can get up to 8 Trade Routes. In addition, the Wonders Colossus and Petra each provide an additional Trade Route. You can establish trade route with your own cities, with City-States, and with other Empires. Trade routes are always city-to-city, and are limited by distance, so it can make sense sometimes to move your trade unit to a different city. The city that produced the unit will always be where it shows up first, but you can make a move on its first turn to transfer the unit to another city, though note that Cargo Ships can only be placed in coastal cities. This can bring a desired destination city within range. Note that for land units (Caravans) you can increase the range by building roads. Effects of Trade Trade is generally pursued for the gold, but there can also be Science, Culture, and Religious effects, so it is worth paying attention here. Even if Gold is the main object, you may have several options that provide equivalent amounts of Gold, and a potential gain of Science or Culture might be the tie-breaker, depending on your strategy for victory. If you establish a trade route with a City-State, you can receive Gold, provide religious pressure to convert them to your religion, and gain influence with them, This can be very helpful if you are going for a Diplomatic Victory, But I would not accept a large difference in Gold just for that minor ...