Alright, everyone knows Civ, it's pretty much the standard by which all 4X games are judged (Explore, Expand, and a couple of other Exs). However, that's not what I'm talking about, what I'm talking about is the board game based on the computer game. Grid based map with horribly random terrain and all. This post is going to be me explaining the game, as well as a place for me to muse on victory conditions, strategies, and the value of all the choices available to you through wonders, city improvements, and technologies.
So, let's start with a quick overview of the game, and how it's played. Just like with the main civs, you start off with your corner of the world, where you have your capital. The rest of the world is a black void that you have to get out there and explore before your neighbours do. There's five distinct phases to each turn.
Start, where you do the basic bookeeping, change governments, and found cities.
Trade, where you get trade (there's a little dial), and can then trade, well, trade along with other commodities and promises with other players.
City Management, wherein each city you own can take an action. Be it production, culture, or resource extraction. With production you can build a wonder, city improvement, a military unit, or a map unit. Also, extra trade can be converted to production.
Movement, where you move your map units around the board. Armies can collect huts or fight villages (basically, Civ's huts, just here you know which ones have a bite to them) or they can fight other folk's units or cities. And Scouts can either set up to found a new city, or get to a place where they'll provide resources to your current cities next round.
Science, where you convert trade into a new technology. Need to have enough trade for the level of tech you're getting, and it drops to whatever your economy currently is. Limit of one per turn.
Then move on to the next turn, with a new player getting to be the first player. .Also, at the start all of your military units are at their weakest, you probably can only build one improvement, and you have a limit of two pieces in one square, two cities, a movement rate of two and an inability to cross water, let alone end your turn on it. Also, you have no economy, no culture, and only a basic military and a single starting tech. So, let's take a look at what you're aiming for from these humble beginnings.
The Victory Conditions
There are four ways to win. Most of these methods work well together, but I'll cover them all and how often I've seen them comeup.
Science - [OOooo]
Science is one of the classic ways to win, as space flight was one of two ways to win back in Civ 2, and has always remained an option. In this game, technology comes in five levels and is placed like a pyramid, so that you need to have at least one more lower level tech than the tech level above it. As well, there's a Trade threshold of 1+(Tech Level X 5) Trade in order to learn a new tech, at which point your trade dial drops to equal your economy. Each progressive level of tech is more impressive until you hit Tech Level 5, which is Space Flight, and that wins you the game. But even before that, Tech will remove all of your starting limitations, unlocking buildings, better units, and giving you impressive abilities.
So, why is this awesome victory condition getting only two stars? Simple, I've only seen a Science victory threatened once. And even then, it was threatened by the Science Tribe with all of the possible advances to their scientific program. That is a poor track record in a game where everyone is usually threatening some kind of victory by endgame, and everyone wants to up their science. The problem is, science is slow and methodical, it's easy to see someone's tech tree grow, and since it's hard capped at one per round you can't press ahead. The main purpose this victory condition serves is as a kind of timer, letting people know when the game is going to end.
Now, there are four ways to cheat past that limit, but they all have the common flaw that you cannot gain anything that hasn't already been discovered by someone else. So, if nobody is getting anything that you don't already have, then even your workarounds just won't work.
Military - [OOOOo}
Here it is, the classic method of victory. And in this game it's simpler than ever, because all you have to do is take a single capitol city and you've won. The real trick is in how combat works. Your armies serve as the front for your units, but armies and units are different. Armies are pieces you move on the board, while your units are a deck of cards made up of what you've purchased that you draw from randomly when it's time for a fight. A number of factors can determine how many units you draw, though number of armies is the biggest one, with your getting three for the first army and two for each extra army (of course, if those extra units die, then so do the extra armies). Battle then sees you playing cards, either starting a new front, or attacking an existing front, with a weapon triangle in play (infantry > cavalry > artillary > infantry) and each confrontation seeing one or both units dead. The weapon triangle basically granting a first strike ability. Later on, fighters are introduced, and they are neutral to everything. At the end of battle, add up the value of the surviving units on both sides, then add any static bonuses and whoever has the higher number wins. Defender gets the tie, which is good, since the attacker has the advantage of forcing the defender to play first. When attacking a city, the defender only gets three cards, but will receive a large defensive bonus of +6 for outlying cities, and +12 for the Capitol (add +4, and forcing the attacker to play first if the city is walled). After winning, any losing armies or cities are removed from the map, and the winner gets to loot the loser (killing cities is one of the four ways to get extra tech).
Just like tech, the military is something you ignore at your great peril. There are ways to get by without, but at that point you're relying on luck. Though, all you really need is to be tough enough that your opponants can't bust into your cities. When it comes to conquoring, you have a lot of support techs, as well as one building which is in short supply. However, when you focus on military, the big advantage that you get is that this is the best way to hamper your rivals in the game. Not only is looting their cities profitable, but it also keeps them from fueling whatever victory engine they have going. It also helps keep their troops away from your cities and buildings, which is important since culture can do a lot if they can just get close.
The real trick about the military is that, while it's relatively easy to get enough of an edge that you can throw your weight around, it's a harder sell to get enough of an edge to actually win. After all, these are small scale numbers, and you need to get a +12 to win. And pushing too hard on the military will do a great job of rallying people against you. So, while it can be profitable, I've rarely seen military get the win either. But, it does get props because the military strategy works well with every other strategy.
Economy - [OOOoo]
The economy is a bit of a mixed bag because while it isn't actually terribly hard to get, it does involve doing a few specific things. Namely, a devotion to getting at least three of the four techs that let you pump your economy, and then focussing a lot on technologies that give you an economy boost just because. To really try and win this way will involve sacrificing a lot of turns to meet the conditions which let you pump your economy, and you'll miss out on most of the military techs. That said, it's nearly impossible to stop an economic victory outside of using armies to trash your cities, and it's easier to pull off than the Cultural victory. It just has the least side benefits of any victory path.
So, what does the Economy get you? Discounts on tech. Since your tech drops from wherever it is to what your economy is worth when you get new tech, building your economy simply makes it so that each new tech costs less. And Level 1 and 2 techs can even become free through building this aspect of your Civ, which means more trade can be turned to production or culture. There's even a tech that turns economy into raw production for your whole Civ. Just remember, 15 coins means you win.
Culture - [OOOOo}
Likely the most expensive way to win, it's also the most common way I've seen of winning. The way it works is, there are a few ways to get culture tokens. When you get enough, you can trade them in and move up a space on the culture track. The price increases as you go along, with the whole thing divided into three ages, and the later ages require trade as well as culture. When you reach the end of the third age, you win. But, before then, there's three decks of cards, corresponding with each age, and when you move up a space you get one of these cards. These cards generally let you do something to one of your opponents, whether it be killing their armies, destroying their buildings, or simply trading tech with them. Though there's also some that trigger natural disasters, or simply defend you against their tricks. Another possible reward is great leaders, a pile of people who can go anywhere and greatly improve the tile you put them on, able to give you boosts to trade and production, or even to your economy or military.
This path tends to, because of its steep trade costs, halt any scientific progress in its tracks when you get to the third age. But, by that point you're basically devoting yourself to a cultural victory and essentially hoping that your strong culture will keep you safe. And with a good culture engine, it's not impossible to be moving three steps on the track in a round by the end of the game in spite of the heavy cost involved.
Of course, the funny thing about this track is that you can completely ignore it and be just fine. I've done it before and won. This and economy are the only ones you can say that about. There's also the UN, which makes one person immune to all culture events. Though that's really the extent of it. While there are counter cards (some of which can be played by a third party) and a few cards that don't help all that much, most of the culture cards are good enough that you can find a use for them regardless of your strategy. And Great Leaders are always good to have.
Now that we've seen how you can win, let's take a look at who you can win with. Like every Civ game since 3, each of the Civs has been given unique traits which make each of them suited to certain styles of play. The game has done an excellent job of keeping all of these guys on an even keel though, so that you'll have a fair shot at winning regardless of who you wind up with, and they do manage to play slightly differently. Each Civ comes into the game with three distinct traits, their starting tech, their starting advantage, and their in game advantage.
Americans - [OOOOo]
The Americans, true to form, get most of their advantage from having strong founders and strong trade. What this translates to is that they start the game with a random great person which is a tremendous advantage. They can also, over the course of the game get twice as much production out of exchanging trade for productivity. Finally, they start with Currency as well as a convenient incense spot, which lets them exchange a turn for an Age I culture track right off the bat, which is pretty impressive. So, the Americans start with a strong incentive to go for Culture, or at least to dabble in it. However, their strategy might change a bit depending on which great leader they get, including the possibility that they may start off as a military power, or with their economy already on the go. This means that the Americans are good for all four victory conditions, and you simply need to be ready to take advantage of circumstances as they happen.
Chinese - [OOOoo]
Unlike the Americans, the Chinese tend towards two of the victory conditions. Specifically, they're cultural and military in focus. Their starting advantage is that their capital is walled, meaning they're hard to beat militarily, and as such need to worry less about a sudden strike on their capitol. Unfortunately, this does nothing for their field units or later cities, so it's the worst of the starting advantages. Writing is also a curious choice, since it can block city actions in exchange for a very rare resource type, and allows for a trade/culture improvement to be built. However, where they shine is in their in game abilities. Yes, they get two of them. The first gives culture in exchange for exploring huts and vilages (enough for an early game bump on the culture track) and the second is that at the end of each battle, they can pick one of their killed units to return to their deck. This means that the Chinese are very adept at either getting more out of their military, or if they focus on it, on swarm tactics. And their encouragement of early expansion will also get them a decent start on the cultural race if military doesn't look like it's the way to go.
Egyptians - [OOOOo]
Possibly the best of the civs, the Egyptians come to the table with three good abilities. Specifically, they have a Level 2 tech to start the game with, granting them the ability to gain a good deal of extra production with wheat, or to build mines in the mountains. But, that pales in comparison to what else they get, such as a free Ancient wonder given at random to start the game, and the ability to once per turn when producing something, to produce a city improvement for free. This makes the Egyptians somewhat similar to the Americans in that they can focus on any area, and their strategy can change depending on which wonder they get. Their real strength is that they don't need production to produce buildings, which means they can get an early start on trade by choosing to handicap their production values in the capitol in exchange for massive trade. This is doubly true if they get the 25% chance of getting the Hanging Gardens, which gets them armies and scouts for free.
Germans - [OOOOo}
The Germans are a good example of a Civ that's built to do one thing, but damn does it do it well. The Germans start with Metal Working, which is the Lvl 1 Military tech and grants access to Barracks, which are the military building. They also start with two extra infantry, just because. However, what really cements things for them is that when they get a tech that upgrades their military forces, they get a free resource and a free unit of that type, which is nice as those units cost more to produce as they get upgraded. This means that while other Civs will be wanting to play their unit upgrade techs efficiently, the Germans will instead spam the things for great profit. The one time I've seen them in play, they were useless in Culture, and I suspect that will always be the case, though a good German player will be on top of his technology tree, and will have at least one or two ways into a decent economy as a secondary path to victory if your military machine gets halted.
Romans - [OOOoo]
The Romans are like the Chinese in that they are also very military/culture in their approach. The difference lies in how they do it. Whereas the Chinese do it by absorbing barbarians and civil infrastructure, the Romans do it by beating people up and building grand monuments. Specifically, their starting tech gives them extra economy for their first four battle victories, and they gain a space on the culture track, regardless of age, whenever they build a city or a wonder, or they sack a village or an opposing player's city. In Age 3, that's worth a lot because Age 3 cards are good, even beyond Wonders generally being useful. The reason for their lesser rating is because their benefit, while nice, can only go so far. It helps them dabble, but doesn't go so far as to really assist in a win.
Russians - [OOOoo]
The Russians are an odd group. They're likely the ones hardest pressed to win a Cultural victory since their starting benefit is Communism, which stunts Cultural growth in the capitol. However, this is made up for by a civ wide +2 bonus to production, which is just dandy. They also start off with an extra army, and they get an arbitrarily higher stacking limit. However, the real benefit to being Russian is their ability to steal technology from other players, which makes them one of the four ways to get extra tech. It's only once per turn, limited to what other players already have, and requires you to get an army into a city belonging to the civ in question, but this ability makes them the only Civ predisposed to a scientific victory.
Terrain
One of the other key things in Civ is the way terrain works. Much like in the computer series, there are several types of terrain, each of them providing unique bonuses. In addition, each terrain type in this version has one or two unique tiles across all of the map boards which grant an extra point of culture for simply being there. In total, there are five terrain types, and there is a total of eight buildings, six of which are upgradable, which all have limitations on where they can be placed. Buildings, Wonders and Great Leaders in this game do not add to a tile's bonuses however, they instead cover the tile completely replacing its bonus with their own. Buildings and Wonders are permanent, while Great Leaders, if built over, simply relocate to your board, to settle somewhere else at the start of a later turn. Ratings are generally made off of how much work you need to put into the type to get benefit, and how many options it affords.
Deserts - [OOOoo] +1 Trade
Deserts start with one trade each, which starts them equal with water. They're also equal with water in that they have non-upgradable bildings. However, the trick with Deserts is that they're more likely to have the resource Incense. As well, their building is the Trading Post, which doubles trade output and also grants one culture to the tile. Which makes cities sitting in deserts likely to be cultural powerhouses.
Forests - [OOOOo] + 2 Production
Forests have no buildings. Let's get that out of the way right now. While there are a few ways to cover up your forests, there's nothing specifically suited for that task. Instead, what you get is the highest natural production output in the game, as these guys produce their traditional two production. So a forest town will be an industrial powerhouse good for making high grade military units and wonders. Also, these are high value spots for your scouts to sit on the whole game since hey, +4 Production you can direct wherever you want, what's not to love about that.
Grassland - [OOooo]
Grasslands start with no bonuses. That's right, zip, nada, nothing. Their big bonus is having the best buildings available to them, with your choice of pairing trade with either production or culture, getting one of each at their first level, and two of both when the buildings are upgraded. There's also the fact that any other improvement put on plains are pure upgrade instead of a trade.
Mountains - [OOooo] +1 Production
Mountains start off with simply giving you one production, though with a higher chance of having iron than other places, and are the only places you can find gold (ie, point of economy). However, with the right techs you can ramp up production to 3, or even 4 per tile meaning that this city can be even more productive than a forest city once those mines get going. Unfortunately, unless you're Egyptian, those are Lvl 2 and 3 techs you're looking at there.
Water - [OOooo] +1 Trade
Just like deserts, you're looking at limited use. Especially since Water expressely forbids anything but Harbours to be built on top of them. So, why is this place considered on par with grasslands? Simple, Harbours are actually pretty good and they boost water spaces by a trade and a production. These are both resources where plus one can be a huge thing, as opposed to Culture, where you need to put in a lot of work to get a snowball effect going and there's other better ways to get the ball rolling. So, a pretty good building off a level one tech is worth a fair bit.
Buildings
As stated before, five of these eight buildings only work on one terrain type, so they've been highlighted above but will be seen in more detail here. The other three buildings have the advantage of being buildable on any terrain but water. However, their restriction is that you can only build one of them per city. By which I don't mean one of each, I mean pick one of the three, build one, you now cannot build any of those buildings in that city. They make up for this by being upgradable and better than the other buildings.
Barracks / Military Academy, All Terrain - [OOOOO] +2 Trade, +2 Military / +2 Trade, +4 Military
The backbone of every military strategy I've ever seen, I have seen these buildings accidentally make someone a military powerhouse when they were built for their trade bonus. Since this works for both attack and defense, they tend to get built out very quickly, and building destruction is often aimed at these things. Also, there's only five of them, so competition is fierce, though it does mean they dominate less in three and four player games.
Granary / Aquaduct, Grasslands - [OOOOo] +1 Trade, +1 Production / +2 Trade, +2 Production
This is an upgradable harbour which makes it a great building, which is good because being grassland only it has to be good to be build considering all of the competition for that spot, and the fact that grassland tiles are initially undesireable because they need to be developed. It's also nice that these cost two less than other buildings of their level.
Harbour, Water - [OOOOo] +2 Trade, +1 Production
These could be anything, and they'd still be decent just because they're your only upgrade option for water tiles. But a Trade/Production booster is a great combo. Especially since once you've built the city you don't need to worry about limiting options later when you build these because they are the only option. All in all, it's good there's a lot of these, because if you don't have a better use for the action, these are always a good choice to build.
Library / University, Grasslands - {OOooo} +1 Trade, +1 Culture / +2 Trade, +2 Culture
These buildings face all of the same issues as the Granary, except that they produce culture instead of production. This makes them an good choice for if you're planing on devoting that city to the arts, but nigh useless for anything else since the Granary already provides the trade bonus and its production is more versatile. And this is before factoring in that these buildings will provide just as much culture as a Medieval Wonder, and without the nice secondary effect each wonder has.
Market / Bank, All Terrain - {OOOoo} +1 Trade, +1 Culture, +1 Production / +1 Trade, +1 Culture, +1 Production, +1 Economy
I think I may like these buildings more than they deserve, but they're a really nice middle of the road building which has the secondary effect of granting +1 Economy per city with one of these once you get the Lvl 3 tech that upgrades them. This makes these the buildings of choice for anyone going for an economic victory. Just, becareful, these things make you vulnerable to military types as you won't have Barracks. But they can provide that extra kick for the surprise economic victory.
Temple / Cathedral, All Terrain - [OOooo] +2 Culture / +3 Culture
I've only seen these used once, when I used them in an attempted cultural victory. I lost. I'll admit, the three culture is nice when going for that win, as is the two culture before that. It's just, they weren't able to impress me enough to really recommend them as a good choice. Just use them if you're really devoting a city to culture, best in conjunction with Libraries.
Trading Post, Desert Only - [Ooooo] +2 Trade, +1 Culture
It's nice for getting culture and trade, but you're likely going to want wonders and cultural great leaders going here instead. Also, connected tech is of limited use.
Workshop / Iron Mine, Mountains - [OOOoo] +3 Production / +4 Production
The mining series upside is obvious, that kind of production is hard to get, and makes it easy to field large armies or to get whichever wonder you want, especially the game winning Modern Wonders. The downsides are a little less obvious, but very real. Simply, unless you're Egyptian, you need to sink in a Level 2 Tech to get the first level, and a Level 3 Tech in order to get the +4. This means that they'll be showing up mid-game at best, and possibly late game at worst, where actions are at a premium.
A step up from buildings are the great big set pieces of history themselves, the Great Wonders. These are spread out over three ages, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, with each building being worth an amount of culture equal to its age. However, each wonder also has a secondary function that will continue to work until such time as someone trashes the thing with either Monarchy or Gunpowder.
Ancient Wonders
Collossus of Rhodes - [OOOoo]
+3 Trade is nice, especially when you have less cities and are scrambling for ways to pay for those crucial Lvl 2 techs you need. This wonder gives you that extra boost, and it's not like the extra trade isn't worthwhile later since it's always a free +1 Productivity wherever you need it if it's not busy being crucial for tech advancement.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon - [OOOOO]
The best wonder that isn't modern, hands down. While most wonders give a limited boost, or are useful or just one or two strategies, this sucker is good for everyone, whatever you're planning. The Russians and the Egyptians may get the most use from this guy, but anyone profits. What does it do? Every turn, you get an army or a scout (your choice) for free just because. The only downside is that they have to start wherever you built the Hanging Gardens, and the worst case scenario if you get this is that you'll only get a few units before someone hamstrings themselves by getting an early Monarchy and then paying the cost of shutting this unit factory down. If you have the means, you owe it to yourself to get the Hanging Gardens.
Oracle of Delphi - [OOooo]
The Oracle is a purely military wonder whose job is that when you get in a fight, the other guy has to play with his hand of units face up. ie. You've got awesome scouting. This is a great edge if you're expecting to get in a lot of fights. The downside is that if it's a low combat game then this is the most worthless wonder in the game since it will do jack all.
Stonehenge - [Ooooo]
This is the cheapest wonder in the game, and it shows. One culture can be nice early on, but given the opportunity costs (as well as the real costs), this guy isn't really worth it. Especially since 1 Culture isn't really worth all that much by itself. Keep it in mind since it's not attrocious (Wonders are still pretty badass), but don't make this one a priority.
Medieval Wonders
Angkor Wat - [Ooooo]
This wonder can be a lifesaver, if you're in pretty specific circumstances. The thing Angkor Wat does is that it lets the city it's built in harvest any resource. That's great if you want to harvest something that you can't get your hands on, or if you don't have enough of something. The downside is that, if you're building wonders in that city, it tends to have pretty good production, which you'll be expecting to set aside decently often for resource harvesting instead.
Himeji Samurai Castle - [OOOOo}
How would you like a wonder that essentially gives your military units a tech upgrade without making them cost any more. This is your wonder.
Louvre - [OOOoo]
Y'know, +3 Culture is a lot more attractive than +1 Culture. This wonder will get you a step on Age I for free, and does a nice chunk out of each step on Ages II and III. So it's a great addition for anyone since culture dabblers will get something, and those going for the win will be well supported here.
Porcelain Tower - [OOOOo]
Those upper level techs are tricky things to get even with a great trade setup. After all, you can't afford to drop much into production even if you constantly refill to max, and with a max of 27, losing a single field battle will drop you to 24, short of the 26 trade you need for a science victory. However, all of that can change with this wonder. The Porcelain Tower has the nice effect of dropping all science thresholds by five, meaning that it is now considerably cheaper to keep in the tech game.
Modern Wonders
Panama Canal - [OOOOO]
There's a trend to modern wonders that starts here, and is well worth noticing. While other, lesser, wonders have nifty effects that will help you on your way, modern wonders have one purpose: To win the game. Get the appropriate wonder, and if you are at all close in winning through that catagory, then you now have a nigh unstoppable edge. In the case of the Panama Canal, you gain one gold coin on it at the start of every round, just because. Given some of the limits on expanding your economy, this is huge. But, this isn't the only game breaker since these guys all want you to just end the damn game already.
Statue of Liberty - [OOOOO]
Welcome to the scientific version of just ending the damn game already. At the start of each turn, pick one tech someone else has that you don't and you can support. Bang, it's yours now. This wonder is a no fuss, no muss, get two techs in a round machine. Even better if you have the right cultural cards or are the Russians. But either way, you just get eccentric in your research and then grab the more mundane choices of your competitors on your shortcut to victory.
Sydney Opera House - [OOOOO]
And finally, Culture's answer to just ending the game already. The effect here isn't quite as dramatic at first glance since it's just get a free slot on the Culture Track each turn. And the Culture Track is both a lot longer of a slog than either economy or science, and it also lacks the limitations on growth that those two tracks have. However, when you realise that at endgame you need to get 7 Culture and 6 Trade per space you want to travel, then you'll understand why this thing is great, because trying to pay for two spaces is already fairly steep, let alone getting three or four. This wonder eases a lot of pressure on your trade pool and your culture production.
United Nations - [OOOOo]
The United Nations breaks the trend of just ending the game already in that it's less of an offensive wonder but a defensive one. And while it can really help anyone, it helps the military types more. What the UN does is give you a veto option on any culture card played against you. Why this helps the military types most is because there are more culture cards that screw over pieces on the field than there are ones that screw over any other type of victory (in fact, they do almost nothing against those guys). Which means that their attempts to stop you from moving in and taking their capitol are now utterly futile.
Technology
Now that we've looked at the rest of the game, let's take a look at the technologies themselves. These guys come in four seperate tiers which each have their own level of the pyramid.
Level 1Level 1 techs stand out the least. In large part this is because you will be getting at least half of them, and none of them are all that powerful. This means there's one or two you're likely to get each game, and the rest will depend on what you're expecting to get at Level 2, though let's be honest, these guys are so plentiful you can afford to have overlap with what you get at higher levels if they even unlock a useful building.
Animal Husbandry - [OOooo]
This tech is one that I always underestimate. I've never gotten it, and I've rarely seen other people get it, but each time they have, I've ended up regretting it. Essentially, this tech does three things. It gives a discount to building the Hanging Gardens, it lets you trade one wheat in for three production, and once per battle, it lets you heal up to three wounds off of your units. This is useful, because it lets you keep those exceptional or upgraded units alive, especially when the person facing you is hoping to chip them so that they can weapon triangle them to death with an inferior unit (much like with Fire Emblem, weapon triangle means little if one of the units is clearly superior). However, given how the other two bonuses aren't that strong (the discount is nice, but getting this just for that still runs the risk of losing out to someone else who just muscles their way to a full 15) and the primary use is situational, I can't rate it that highly.
Code of Laws - [OOOOO]
This is the other economic tech at level 1, but it's only for those who're going to be beating folks up. You get one coin on this the first four times you win a fight. That, by itself is worth a three or a four. The thing that really bumps this up is that it's the only Level 1 tech to give you a government, unlocking the Republic, which is a great early game government. This will almost always be taken early in order to capitalize on both of those abilities. It's third ability, unlocking Trading Posts, is more of a bonus tossed into the mix and not what you're actually getting this thing for.
Currency - [OOOoo]
Currency gives you two benefits: it unlocks markets and it lets you trade incense for three culture, making it a good middle of the road choice, and possibly one that you'll pick up because you need something, right? Especially likely that it'll be something you get if anyone ever uses culture to trade techs with you since they'll be picking someone who can't get anything better than a Lvl 1, and if they got it early, they were likely cashing in incense for the culture cards to make that trade with. So, Culture folks love this one if they can take advantage of it, but Economy types also have an interest here, because Markets are cheaper to build than Banks, and upgrade automatically when you get Banking.
Horseback Riding - [OOOoo]
This tech is hit or miss. The extra movement speed is nice, though not necessary as it lets your armies and scouts move three squares instead of two. The other benefit is also good, if you have the spare cloth, and don't mind being nice to some of your enemies. Basically, you spend a cloth and get nine trade, then you pick one other civ and they get six. One of many mechanics that involve getting something awesome in exchange for giving a nice bonus to the person you think is least threatening to you.
Masonry - [Ooooo]
Can't help but feel like I'm being hard on this one, except that I have never seen this one purchased, and I have never seen anyone build walls. Heck, even the stacking limit, which is nice, has only really come up very few times. Granted, this is one of the better defensive techs in the game, and is likely necessary to fend off a superior military foe (or at least convince them to find someone else to beat up on), but I can't help but feel that this tech either means you're not playing defensively, in which case you probably want better stacking anyways, or you're announcing an intent to give up a lot of flexibility on the world map.
Metalworking - [OOOOO]
This tech offers just a building and a resource action, but what a building and what a resource action. The building is the Barracks, which I've gushed about earlier. But the resource action is also good, letting you trade an iron in exchange for your unit hitting with three more strength. Which means that unless you're really the underdog, or you're stuck on the losing end of the weapon triangle, you can bash down most superior units in exchange for one resource (which, incidentally also makes Animal Husbandry less useful because you just ignore its ability if you kill their good stuff outright). This is the foundation tech for anyone with military aspirations, and just plain useful for anyone who wants to put up a good defense.
Navigation - [OOOOo]
Another building and static benefit tech, this one can be absolutely essential depending on what the map looks like. Navigation unlocks the harbour, which is what most people will care about, but it also lets you cross water squares, which can be vital depending on how much water you have in your area (I once saw a game where one Civ was on an Island). Even without that, it's a water crossing tech at a level where you're not facing as much competition, which increases its value a fair bit as it means you won't be pressed to get a similar tech at a level with more competition.
Philosophy - [Ooooo]
On paper, this looks like a perfectly fine tech. I mean, the ability to get a great person is pretty damn good, and if you're planning a culture blitz, then you'll want those temples. The trick is, those temples are, as stated before, not very good. And while great people are a nice resource, three resources of your choice are still a steep price to pay since you'll only get a handful from the map, a single one takes a city action, and there'll be a lot of other techs wanting to eat those resources for other, more short term, benefits that can be leveraged into pretty good long term gain.
Pottery - [OOOOO]
Given how cheap Lvl 1 techs are, Pottery is one of those ones you will eventually get, just because it has three abilities, and all of them are useful. First off, it increases your culture card hand size, and is likely the first tech you'll get to do that. Secondly, it opens up the Granary, which is a useful building. Thirdly, you can spend two resources of any type in order to put a coin on this tech and increase your economy. You can only do it four times, but it's one of the quickest, easiest ways to improve your economy in the early game, and can help get a solid scientific base going even if you don't have much trade. While you can win without this Tech, odds are you're going to get it at some point.
Writing - [Ooooo]
Another tech that I rarely see people get. And it's not hard to see why. First off, the building it unlocks is the Library, which is an unlikely building choice. Secondly, while it has a great resource action, you can cancel a city action, it also requires the second rarest resource type: the spy. Spies can only be gotten by collecting villages and huts, which means that you aren't guaranteed to get any, and even if you do you won't get many of them. Which means this is a very limited resource, with other demands upon it, including some excellent wildcard powers.
Level 2
Level 2 techs are the defining techs for your civ. They're generally more powerful than the Level 1 techs, having better unlocks, and offer governments and unit upgrades, not to mention superior resource actions. They also come early, and you'll need four of them over the course of the game which means that, again, you'll get a decent chunk of them. Also, if necessary people will be willing to let you have one of these in a trade, or they're just nicely affordable when you need your trade for something else, so you may end up with more than the necessary four, because, hey, these things are nice. Just remember, this is where the picking and choosing really starts to come into play.
Chivalry - [OOOoo]
There are three benefits with Chivalry, the first is that it opens up Feudalism which may not be as good as Democracy, but also doesn't have the huge drawback that Democracy does for military types. The second is that it gives an upgrade to cavalry, which gets you knights and those two help really sell this tech to the Germans. Finally, you gain the ability to trade an incense for five culture, which can be nice if you skipped on Currency.
Civil Service - [OOOoo]
Several techs at this tier will be ones you'll want to focus on early and will define your strategy through the game. Civil Service is odd in that it's the opposite, it's a great one to grab as a way to shore up a working Culture/Economic strategy. It grants a coin for free, and increases your hand size, and finally adds in an ability to trade in a spy in order to cancel a culture event.
Construction - [OOOoo]
This guy is all about production, and how to get things built fast. This is where you get access to the Workshop, which will let you mine your mountains, and as an added bonus lets you turn wheat into 5 production, which is great for crash building wonders or units. Works well with Engineering, though they'll both basically lock you down for Lvl 2 techs.
Democracy - [OOOOo]
One of the better endgame governments for anyone who isn't going military, Democracy helps with science and economy. How with the economy? Simple, aside from giving you the government, Democracy also lets you, once per turn, spend six trade in order to add one coin to the tech. Again with the limit of four coins. In addition, this gives you the first infantry upgrade, so even the Germans might be tempted by this, even as they probably won't want the government attached to it.
Engineering - [OOOoo]
This is a fun little tech. Not only does it unlock Aquaducts, which are awesome buildings, but they also allow your cities to produce two things per round with a single catch: that you have the production to build both of these things. So, this is a great tech for making yourself unmatch industrially, the real trick is getting the production power to take advantage of that fact. Especially good for military juggernaughts and the Egyptians.
Irrigation - [OOOOOO]
Everything else in the game, including the five star entries, are things which you can win the game without. While you'll want at least one of them, they're not necessary. Unlike them, the question of Irrigation is not if you will get it, but when. The benefit of Irrigation is that it unlocks your third city, it allows you to have 50% more production, culture, trade, city actions, you name it. Without this, you'll simply be left behind by your bigger, stronger neighbours.
Mathematics - [OOOOo]
I say four, despite the fact that this is something that has no use whatsoever outside of battles. In fact, this tech is a solid five for the Germans, and anyone else considering a Military victory, while in a peaceful game, Math rates a one or a two rating. It gives two bonuses, the first is that you upgrade from archers to catapaults. The second is the real value of the card, while the Iron bonus of metalworking lets you deal three extra damage when you attack, this one lets you deal three damage however you like, without having to attack. Large field battle with several wounded, or a few weak units? You can pick them off. Dealing with a unit of strength three or less that has weapon triangle against you? It's dead. And in any situation where Metalworking is useful, this skill is just as useful, making it a pure upgrade. While there is a similar pure upgrade (complete with artillery upgrade), and it is awesome, it's also a level 4 tech, so it won't be coming for a long time.
Monarchy - [OOooo]
Monarchy is good for two things, if you're dedicating yourself strongly enough to Culture that the extra one in your capitol will be nice, and if you need to kill the Hanging Gardens. Ostensibly, the ability of this tech is you can trade a cloth in exchange for killing an ancient wonder or a single random unit. But, outside of a few specific scenarios, the only real reason to pick this tech for that purpose against the other choices is to kill the Hanging Gardens. The rest is just getting the most out of your choice.
Printing Press - [OOooo]
Another odd duck that I'm, reluctant to give three stars to since it isn't really essential to anyone, but it also has a little something for everyone, including a discount on the Louvre. First off, this unlocks the University, which means you've got your awesome trade/culture buildings ready to go. As well, for the economy types, you can trade five culture in a coin once per turn. Finally, for those who want to engage in mob tactics, you've got an increase in the stacking limit to 4. Though, if you're able to take advantage of that, then your resources have probably not been tied up in the culture and other economic techs necessary to capitalize on the other improvements on this tech.
Sailing - [OOooo]
This is the first tech that lets you end your turn in water, though every movement tech from here on in allows that. It also boosts your movement to 4, and does nothing else. Now, let's not underestimate this tech, this is great for the Russians, and can be a great benefit to anyone who wants that added mobility. However, it's not hard to do well at the game despite having move two or three, and given how many Level 1 techs you'll be getting, it's hard to justify this pick over some other level 2 techs when it's not a huge improvement over Horseback Riding.
Level 3If level 2 techs help define your civ, these are the ones that give you the further edge needed to win. Your final governments are here, as well as a nice choice between complimenting what you've already taken or shoring up weaknesses in your civ. Unlike the Level 1 and 2 techs where it's common to get a chance at extras, at this level you are, unlikely, to wind up with more than the required three, so you need to pick well. The good news is that, aside from your first one, you're going to have a lot of time to pick before the call needs to be made.
Banking - [OOOOo]
I can see this rating being argued, but this is a good clinching tech for both the Economy types and the Military types who favour quantity over quality. Essentially, Banking does two things: it unlocks banks, but it also gives the third tier wheat action, which means trading in a wheat for seven production. Perfect for modern wonders, and for crash building lots of units fast when paired with Engineering.
Biology - [OOooo]
Hey, look! Another Stacking increase! Now at 5! Granted, if, for whatever reason, you do have a use for that stacking limit, then the second power is useful. Because when you can field nine units, having a power that says you can heal your entire army of all wounds for free once per battle is kinda useful. Sadly, the one time I saw it used, Animal Husbandry would have been just as good.
Communism - [OOOOo]
Not a tech I've often seen grabbed, this is more because there's good competition than because this tech sucks. For example, it lets you use a spy to forbid figures from leaving a square of your choice. Military types will hate you forever for this. It also gives you Communism, which is awesome if you're not into the Culture race. Really, getting this at Lvl 1 is probably the best thing the Russians have going for them.
Gunpowder - [OOOoo]
Welcome to your first third tier unit, which is nice if you've been stockpiling. However, this unit also gives you access to the ability to obsolete medival and ancient wonders as well destroying buildings. All it'll cost is two resources, which is why I put this tech in the middle of the pack.
Metal Casting - [OOOOo]
Just like the last tech, you're getting a unit upgrade here, though it's artillery instead of infantry. However, the benefits are also better, for example, this tech gives you a coin for free just for picking it. And the resource action is seven culture for one incense, which is the kind of firepower that lets you win culture races, or even just get some quality dabbling in at rock bottom prices. Heck, this is even a great way to press forward on your economic track if you have the Printing Press. All in all, a versatile tech that can help across the board.
Military Science - [OOOOo]
This tech is essential for the military types who've gotten their hands on some Barracks, since this tech will give you that upgrade to the Academy. +2 Might for every Barracks already built. As an added bonus for any general whose kept his economy chugging along, you get an extra production in each city per three coins you have in your economy.
Railroads - [OOooo]
Railroads aren't that bad, it's just that they don't have a lot to recommend them over other lvl 3 techs. They do two things, first, they're your Cav update, secondly, they unlock Iron Mines, which is great if you have mountains and need the production.
Steam Power - [Ooooo]
I've seen this taken, once, in the very first game I've ever played. What it does is gives you a movement speed of five, but it also has a cloth ability which lets you move all of the units in one square to any water square on the map. Of course, after you do this, they can't move again. Honestly, I suppose I can see the use for this if you're about to skip people's movement phases so you can take a bunch of units from right by your homeland and do a surprise assault on one of their cities, but this tech is otherwise the bastard stepchild of Sailing and Flight.
Theology - [OOooo]
Welcome to the best combat government in the game. And the last. Other than that, here you get the Cathedral, which is the best culture producing building that isn't a Modern Wonder, as well as an increase to your hand size, which is good because if you're getting this tech for the culture, then you're going to be swimming in cards.
Level 4 TechsThese are the best of the best. Each tech here is awesome in ways undreamt of by those lesser techs. Of course, for all intents and purposes, you also only get one, given that the second one is one of two requirements for winning the game. And the notably harder one to get at that. So it's a good thing that there's only seven of these guys to pick from, because it's gonna be one hell of a choice.
Atomic Theory - [OOOOO]
This tech is either going to be game breaking, or it is going to be useless. It's one property is two resource actions, both of them exceedingly strong. First up, you can take an extra action with each of your cities. Secondly, pick a non-capitol city, and nuke it. This action removes the city from the board, along with all buildings, wonders, figures, and leaders in its outskirts. The catch? The resource required for both of these actions is Uranium. This can only be acquired by certain Age III culture cards, or by hitting the jackpot and conquoring the right villages way back when you're exploring the world in the early game, and then not spending it on anything else, or losing it by enemy conquest in the intervening time.
Ballistics - [OOOOo]
Honestly, this is a great tech, and perfect for anyone who somehow missed Mathematics or Metal Casting, since it's your level 4 upgrade for Artillery. It's also the upgrade on Mathematic's resource ability, letting you spend an iron for six damage, spread however you like. Which is starting to become more important as the health of units goes up, and the number of units involved also goes up. The only reason this isn't a five for millitary types is because there's better military tech to aim for.
Combustion - [OOOOO]
Arguably better for the military types than Ballistics. Not only is it your final cavalry upgrade (Tanks!) but it also has an arguably better ability. Once per turn you can destroy an enemy building just by parking an army on it, and when you attack cities with walls, you bust down the walls before the attack starts, meaning they lost that +4 bonus and have to play first. And the best part is, this is a free ability so you don't have to pay for it.
Computers - [OOooo]
This is an odd support card, giving you a +1 to your hands size, and to the cards you draw in battle, for each five coins you have in your economy. Since this tech gives you one coin for free, you're likely to get at least +1, and likely +2, though that's where you cap out since +3 automatically wins you the game. And while this may, or may not, be viable for culture hand size, each extra card you draw in a fight can be crucial. Just, without a strong economy, there's better military cards at this tier.
Flight - [OOOOO]
I'll admit, I like this card. It's your Move Speed: 6 upgrade, but also so much more. Until you get this card, running into hostiles stops your movement. Now you just fly over them. As well, this card gets you your fourth unit type, the Fighter. It is not only neutral against all of the other units, it is also strong, with its average strength being that of a Lvl 5 unit, if such a thing exsisted. Exceptionally good for the Germans, and merely very good for anyone else, it's one downside is that you'll have to build the fourth unit type from scratch instead of upgrading your old units.
Mass Media - [OOOOo]
Nothing quite like the frustration of having your Culture events canceled. With the Mass Media, nothing can jam your culture from doing what it wants anymore. In addition, you can now use spies to cancel resource actions, including Mr. Atomic Buster up there, while still making the person spend the resources. Very useful in blocking a few of the nastier surprises, though the competition for spies is fierce, and one may not have lived this long.
Replacable Parts - [Ooooo]
It's a stacking limit of 6 as well as the last infantry upgrade, which means that if you've built up enough to use this thing to its limit, then it's awesome. But if you haven't, then there's better military techs at this level.
Finally, I'm not actually sure how I missed this, but there's governments. A whole eight of them to be specific, with the rules for changing them being fairly specific. You can change governments at the start of your turn. When you just researched it the turn before, you can switch to it for free. Any other time, and you can only switch to Anarchy, and from there to whatever you have unlocked.
Anarchy - [ooooo]
Anarchy, to put it bluntly, sucks. You lose your city action in your capitol.
Despotism - [Ooooo]
One star for not being Anarchy. Otherwise, Despotism does absolutely nothing, and is the default government for anyone who isn't the Romans or the Russians.
Republic - [OOOOo]
A good early game government, it lets scouts harvest huts, and lets your armies found cities. Given that affording scouts in the early game isn't trivial, having more flexibility in building is a fine thing. Especially when connected to a good tech.
Democracy - [OOOoo]
The mid-late game government of choice for scientists and economists, it gives you two points of trade for free. The downside is that you cannot attack other people's cities. Though, if you don't have military aspirations, then this isn't a drawback at all.
Feudalism - [OOOoo]
Feudalism is another oddly good choice for economists. Though it can't match the Trade for Gold that comes with Democracy's associated tech, it does just give you a coin for being in the government. In addition, it can prove to be a strong choice for any resource based Civ as it lets your cities harvest a resource in another city.
Monarchy - [Ooooo]
While I have used it, it was a pretty situational thing. Namely, through a series of chance events, I found myself with a ton of culture production in my capitol. Which meant that Monarchy's +1 culture production in the capitol was useful. As was the +1 Hand size. Of course, why this government needed to be saddled with a smaller bonus, restricted to the capitol, on a worse tech than Democracy, with the added bonus of a resource that needs to be activated and isn't just collected automatically, I'll never know.
Communism - [OOOOO]
Much like Democracy, this government is awesome saddled with a drawback that doesn't really matter. Each city in your civ gains +2 Production, in exchange your capitol produces one less culture, if you decide to go for culture. Now, unlike Democracy, which is saddled with a real drawback that hurts a military player, most culture players can go communist, secure in the knowledge that so long as they don't task their capitol to culture (at least through the arts, Incense production also ignores this drawback) they will have no drawback at all.
Fundamentalism - [OOOOo]
And here is the general's endgame government. Fundamentalism loses you two trade per turn, which stings but can be overcome. In exchange, whenever you fight, you draw one extra unit into your battle hand, which lets you take the initiative even when you're defending.
