The Napoleon Culture Rush

After determining that most leaders can rush to the first Social Policy by Turn 19 (on Epic speed) and the second by Turn 27, Napoleon is going to show how France dominates the Policy rush by using the Ancien Régime bonus of +2 Culture per turn from Cities.



In the previous example, Sejong and Korea used the Monument to Tradition combo to accelerate Culture production in Seoul from +1 Culture a turn up to +6 by turn 19. Seoul started with the default +1 Culture per turn, built the Monument on turn 11 adding +2 Culture, and then selected Tradition as the first Social Policy on Turn 19 adding +3 Culture in the capital. This lead to the second Policy on Turn 27. Napoleon is going to blow that out of the water.



With the +2 Culture from Napoleon's Ancien Régime, Paris is already generating +3 Culture per turn at Turn 0. By using the Citizen Management options, Paris has locked a citizen on the un-improved Stone which means Paris is already generating +6 Production when combined with the production from the Palace as well as the hill starting tile. At this pace the Monument will be complete in 10 turns.

Since the first Policy costs 35 Culture and the second 50 Culture, the calculation is that France will reach the first Policy (which will be Tradition) no later than Turn 11 and the second Policy by Turn 17, a full 10 turns before Korea was able to at the same speed.

The Warrior has been sent out to explore and may find a ruin that will speed things up more. Even without a ruin, France will greatly outperform most Civilizations ability to rush Social Policies.

Time to test the calculations:

Turn 4, Warrior finds ancient weapons in a ruin and is upgraded to Spearman.
Turn 6, Spearman finds a map of the surrounding area in a ruin, highlighting 2 more ruins nearby.
Turn 9, As if to prove a point, the Spearman find +30 Culture in a ruin bringing what would have normally been 27 Culture up to 57 Culture out of the 35 needed for the first Policy.



STRATEGY TIP!: Even though France has accumulated 57 of 35 Culture needed for the first Policy (as shown at the top of the screen), the player has not been sent a notification on the right side of the screen promoting to select a new Policy. That notification will not happen until Turn 10, but here's a tip: Clicking the Culture total at the top of the Screen will bring up the Policy Purchase UI and allow for a Policy to be selected immediately (on Turn 9) instead of waiting until next turn.




Since France intends to select Tradition, this means the difference of +3 Culture lost if the player waits for the prompt on Turn 10 instead of manually selecting the Policy on Turn 9.



Now, by the end of Turn 9, France has purchased the first Social Policy (Tradition), is generating +6 Culture per turn, and will complete the Monument in 1 turn.

Here is the updated turn by turn Culture calculation to predict the second Social Policy

• Turn 01: +3 = 3
• Turn 02: +3 = 6
• Turn 03: +3 = 9
• Turn 04: +3 = 12
• Turn 05: +3 = 15
• Turn 06: +3 = 18
• Turn 07: +3 = 21
• Turn 08: +3 = 24
• Turn 09: +3 = 27, +30 from ruin = 57, -35 to buy Tradition = 22, Culture at +6
• Turn 10: +8 = 30, Monument completed at start of turn, Culture at +8
• Turn 11: +8 = 38
• Turn 12: +8 = 46
• Turn 13: +8 = 54, second Policy available for 50 Culture

This shows that, at worst, France was going to have the second Social Policy on Turn 17. Thanks to the +30 Culture from the ruin, they will now have it on Turn 13. This is 14 turns faster than Sejong was able to achieve it.

If the Spearman gets lucky and finds Culture in the other ruin before Turn 13, it'll be an even bigger blowout. Time to test France's good fortune.

Turn 10, Monument is complete, Culture production at +8 per turn.
Turn 11, +1 Population in Paris, next Citizen in 12 turns, Worker in 17 turns.
Turn 13, Spearman find +85 Gold in a ruin, new Policy available!



As suspected, Napoleon and the Ancien Régime bonus of +2 Culture are able to reach the second Social Policy at least 10 turns faster than most Civs (on Epic speed). In this example were able to do it by Turn 13, a full 14 turns faster than Sejong was able to!

This doesn't negate the Monument to Tradition combo but instead shows the power of it when combined with a Civ capable of adding to it.

It will be interesting to see how Sejong and Napoleon compare in the long run. Will Sejong's technology bonus be able to overcome Napoleon's culture bonus when it comes to the rush for future Policies? Look for this analysis in upcoming posts.

Until next time,

TheHiredGun
civ5strategy.blogspot.com
follow me on Twitter @ Civ5Strategy

Note: The above example is based off a Normal Difficulty Game at Epic Speed in the God's and Kings expansion on a Huge Map. Even though the examples use Epic Speed build times, the logic should still apply at other speeds. For more context, see the previous article: The Second Policy Strategy

The Second Policy Strategy

The First Policy Selection Options

On Turn 19 Sejong reached a total of 37 of the 35 Culture need to purchase the first Social Policy. Seoul has a population of 2 and is producing +3 Culture per turn thanks to the Monument.

How quickly can Korea get 50 more culture and purchase the second Policy? Since Korea is already generating +3 Culture per turn and has a leftover balance of 2, the next Policy would be on Turn 35 (16 turns). Depending on Korea's first Policy choice, they may be able to reach 50 Culture sooner, so here's a look at the three options.

Tradition
Immediately, this seems best because it adds +3 Culture in the Capital bringing the total up to +6 Culture per turn. At that rate the next policy would be on Turn 27 (8 turns). It also opens up Legalism (Free Culture Building in first 4 Cities) and Aristocracy (+15 Production when building Wonders). Both of those would aid in the race to construct future Culture buildings.



Liberty
While it provides +1 Culture from every city, Korea would need 3 cities built before it would surpass Tradition in Culture generation. Liberty is tempting because following this line will net a free Worker (Citizenship) as well as a free Settler (Collective Rule), but if our goal is to get to the next policy as fast as possible, Tradition is the better choice so far.



Honor
This option would be an interesting situational choice. Each barbarian unit killed will provide Culture, with as many as +8 per kill. If Korea could kill several barbarian warrior units in the next 7 turns, then Honor would be reach the next policy before Tradition does on Turn 27. If there was a barbarian unit within city range and one within range of my exploring warrior, then Sejong might actual consider this because the future Military Caste policy in this track provides +2 Culture per city with a garrisoned unit, which would be very useful for a Culture victory. Seems risky given the goal.



Being risk averse, Sejong decides to go with the Tradition which will yield the next Social Policy on Turn 27.

Now that the decision is made, and the next Policy is coming in 8 turns or less (lucky ruin), what could Seoul be doing to help continue building Culture?



At only 2 Population, Seoul needs to decide if it is going to focus on city growth or empire expansion. Currently, a Worker is set to build in 12 turns while the city Population will grow in 4 turns. Neither of those events will generate more Culture. The only choice that may yield more Culture would be the construction of a Settler which will add Culture to the empire when founded. Selecting to build a Settler would result in 23 turns of 0 Population growth, so for now Sejong is going to stick with the Worker because the stagnation will not help towards our upcoming goals.

A case could also be made for building a Scout to search for more Ruins, but there is no guarantee any will be found and even less of a chance it will contain a Culture bonus. With the Warrior still out exploring it doesn't seem worth the risk, despite the fact it would generate income from discoveries.

At the end of Turn 19, the first Policy is Tradition and thanks to the Monument, Korea is now generating +6 Culture per turn. A Worker is due up in 12 turns, the Population in Seoul is 2 and will grow in 4 turns. A Warrior is out exploring, leaving the city undefended. The second Social Policy is due to hit on Turn 27. Time to start hitting Next Turn buttons.

Turn 23, Seoul grows to 3 Population. There is a barbarian 4 tiles away from the city. A barbarian encampment is 4 tiles away from the Warrior. Seoul's next citizen is in 24 turns and the Worker will be complete in 8 turns.



Turn 27, the second Social Policy becomes available as Korea accrues 50 Culture thanks to the Monument and Tradition. If Korea was being money conscious, they might have waited to build the Monument since they could get it for free with Legalism in the Tradition track. By building it first instead, they reached the first Social Policy quickly and now have the second Policy.



The goal thus far has been to achieve the initial Social Policies as quickly as possible. Thus far, the Monument to Tradition combo seems to be the best starting move.

In the future, I will use the baseline of 2 Policies in 27 turns as the time to beat when looking for specialized Leaders capable of outperforming this combo.

If I were instead thinking of a mid-to-long term goal such as a Cultural Victory, it would be worth investigating if a different strategy might yield more policies faster than starting with the Monument to Tradition combo.

In future installments Korea will be making the second Policy decision and looking for the fastest track to the third Policy. That may prove more challenging considering the potential unknowns. Still makes me wonder how much better Napoleon will be at this.

Until next time,

TheHiredGun
civ5strategy.blogspot.com
follow me on Twitter @ Civ5Strategy

Note: The above example is based off a Normal Difficulty Game at Epic Speed in the God's and Kings expansion on a Large Map. Even though the examples use Epic Speed build times, the logic should still apply at other speeds. For more context, see the previous article: The Fastest Route to the First Social Policy

The Fastest Route to the First Social Policy

Social Policies are obviously critical to development of your empire and more often than not have a lot to do with your victory strategy. Lately, I've been obsessed with the best Policy purchase order. To give an idea of what I'm talking about, typical web searches have included "best social policy purchase order" or "Civ 5 policy purchase strategy". Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot of specific help.

Thus this first blog post and the topic - How Fast Can I Get a Policy?

The beginning of a Civ 5 game is a bit like chess. Starting moves dictate your strategy and establish whether you are off to a "good start" or not.

Playing as Korea's leader Sejong, he founds Seoul on the coast and the tool tip shows that +1 Culture is produced by cities and that it will currently take 36 "next turns" (on Epic speed) before gaining the next Policy. It also warns that each city you own will increase Social Policy cost by 7%. Thus, at Turn 0, Sejong decision dictates that a Social Policy rush will not involve expanding too much, or else there will be diminishing returns.



Waiting 36 turns for the first Policy would be a drag, so the first question that pops into Sejong's mind is, "How can I speed that up?" There are two options available at turn 0:  Explore in hopes of finding a ruin with +30 Culture, and/or build a Monument which once constructed will generate +2 Culture per turn for 1 Gold maintenance.



While there is a chance that a ruin may net me +30 Culture, the sure bet is the 15 turns it will take to build the Monument. Once Seoul has it, the Turn 0 estimate of Next Policy: 36 Turn(s) will be shaved down depending on how fast they can build the Monument. At 60 cost, the 15 turns is a calculation based on the city's production of +4 Production per turn. The next question is, "How can I speed that up?"

One option would be to forgo any population growth at all by using the Citizen Management screen to direct the 1 population to work the +2 Production hill instead of the +2 Food grassland. Doing so would cut the Monument production time down to 10 turns, but would mean 10 turns of 0 Population growth. In hindsight, settling the city on the hill may have made this choice moot by giving the City Center +2 Production, but for now Sejong sticks with the decision of settling the coast.




If Korea went the all Production route, barring any ruin bonus, the fastest time to get a new Social Policy would be Turn 19 (10 turns of +1, 9 turns of +3). This poses the question, is it better to Stagnate 10 turns for a Turn 19 Policy? Sejong decides to investigate by looking at the default Citizen Management choice.



By default, the game has the 1 population working on the grassland with silver for a bounty of +2 Food and +2 Gold. With this selected, Seoul is generating +4 Production (+3 from the Palace and +1 from the City Center on grassland) and will grow a population in 11 turns. The assumed benefit from the +2 Gold is that in 15 turns, Korea will have 90 Gold which will allow them to buy ... nothing. In fact the cheapest thing they could buy (on Epic speed) is a Scout at 190 Gold. Since the goal is to get the fastest Social Policies possible, Gold seems like a nice-to-have versus the +1 Production they could get from the grassland with stone.



With this selected, the +2 Food and +1 Production reduce the Monument build time to 12 turns while retaining the 11 Turns until a New Citizen is Born. If they only factor the +1 Production, this choice would net a new Policy in 20 turns (12 turns of +1, 8 turns of +3). At turn 11 a new Citizen will be born, but that won't play a factor in the Policy rush because the Monument will be built by the time the Citizen could impact Production of any Culture bonus.

Given this starting location, Turn 19 would be the fastest way to a Policy. Giving up 10 turns of no growth seems harsh compared to a Turn 20 Policy plus Population growth. Sejong leaves it on the +2 Food +1 Production and decides to see how it goes.

Since it is still Turn 0, Korea must also choose a technology to research. Sejong's initial inclination would be to go for Writing as soon as possible so that his science bonus for building science buildings in the Capital can kick in as soon as possible.



Keeping the Policy rush strategy in mind, the Great Library might be a good way to get +1 Culture as well as Sejong's science bonus. Sejong wonders if that is really the fastest way to get more culture. With the DLC that provides the Temple of Artemis (a potential +1 Culture), going for Archery could net a Wonder faster. Culture will increase with more cities, so perhaps a Settler should be in the queue after the Monument. For now, Sejong sticks with the tech choice of Pottery to Writing in order to go for the Great Library.

Time to roll the dice on whether or not the solo Warrior will find some more culture.

Turn 3 - Meet Bismark
Turn 4 - Ruin provides 90 Gold (106)
Turn 6 - Ruin provides +1 Population

The random find of +1 Population brings up an interesting question. Would Seoul have been better off working the hill first?

For now, the extra Citizen will Seoul to shave a few turns to get to the first Policy, but only by going into the Citizen Management screen and switching to a Production focus. Perhaps the Turn 19 Policy is going to happen after all.



Back to the Warrior exploring.

Turn 11 - Monument construction is completed. This bring the Culture per turn from +1 to +3. Time to switch the work focus back to "Default" and select a Settler as the next build.



Turn 15 - Pottery research completes, next up Writing
Turn 15 - Ruin provides technology: Calendar
Turn 17 - Ruin provides a crudely-drawn map
Turn 19 - First New Policy!



While the prediction was for Turn 20, the first Policy arrives on Turn 19 because the Warrior found the +1 Population. Since it is uncertain what ruins you might find in the early game, the sure bet was still on Turn 20 so that the city will be at Population 2 when the Policy arrives.

In hindsight, had Sejong settled the city on the hill and found the +1 population, the first Policy might have been earlier than Turn 19. Surely a leader such as Napoleon (+2 Culture) would beat this time, but the example shows some basic strategy for rushing the Social Policy regardless of which leader you may be playing. Perhaps in a future blog we can explore how Napoleon would fare in this scenario, but for now we'll stick with Sejong.

Next up will be an investigation of which Policy selection would be the fastest route to the second Policy.

See you next time,

TheHiredGun
civ5strategy.blogspot.com
follow me on Twitter @ Civ5Strategy

Note: The above example is based off a Normal Difficulty Game at Epic Speed in the God's and Kings expansion on a Large Map. Even though the examples use Epic Speed build times, the logic may still apply to other speeds.

Welcome to Civ 5 Strategy

Greetings!

Welcome to the Civ 5 Strategy blog. As an avid player, I often find myself searching the web looking for tips and strategies that relate to a situation occurring in one of my games. While the web has bountiful amounts of general strategy information, it is often lacking in specifics. By posting situations and musings about my games, perhaps you'll find something useful. Who knows, maybe you'll be the one to share your thoughts.

To start off the blog, I'd like to talk about the Civ 5 Social Policies.

Enjoy!

TheHiredGun
civ5strategy.blogger.com
follow me on Twitter @ Civ5Strategy