Sid Meier's Civilization V: Complete Strategy Guide

This is a practical guide to Civilization V with both expansions (Gods & Kings and Brave New World): openings, economy rules, happiness, policy trees, civ picks, and how to close out each victory type.

Researched September 2026. Current as of the final Brave New World ruleset (the game has not been patched in years). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Civ V is a finished game. Almost every player today uses the Complete Edition (base game plus Gods & Kings, Brave New World, and the DLC civs). This guide assumes Brave New World rules. Some mechanics, like trade routes, tourism, and the World Congress, don't exist without it.

Quick Start

1. Settle your capital on turn 1 unless the spot is clearly terrible. A river or coast start is worth much more than a few tiles of wandering.
2. Open with Scout, Scout (or Monument), Settler. Early exploration finds city-states (first-contact gold and Faith) and ancient ruins.
3. Pick Tradition or Liberty first. Tradition suits 3 to 4 strong cities (tall). Liberty suits many cities (wide). Honor is for early war.
4. Happiness is your real expansion limit. Every city and every citizen costs happiness. Luxury resources, Circus/Colosseum-type buildings, and policies fix it.
5. Build trade routes as soon as you get Animal Husbandry. Caravans (and later Cargo Ships) are the best early gold and food source in Brave New World.
6. Work tiles with food and production early. Growth and hammers matter more than gold in the first 50 turns.
7. Walls and ranged units win defensive wars. The AI throws units at cities. A city with walls plus two archers behind it holds far longer than you'd expect.
8. Know your victory condition by the Medieval era. It changes what you build, which policies you take, and whether you should be at war.

Core Mechanics

Yields

Happiness

• Each city costs unhappiness. Each citizen costs a little more. Freshly annexed conquered cities count as occupied and are extra unhappy until you build a Courthouse. Puppets avoid that penalty and are cheap to hold, but you can't control what they build.
• Each unique luxury resource type gives happiness once. A second copy of the same luxury gives nothing locally, so trade duplicates to the AI.
• Global unhappiness below zero slows growth. At deeper levels growth stops, you can't train Settlers, your units fight worse, and eventually rebels spawn.
• Golden Ages come from accumulated happiness surplus. Great to time around wonder pushes.

Social Policies

Building three Factories or entering the Modern era (whichever comes first) unlocks Ideologies: Freedom, Order, or Autocracy. Ideologies matter a lot in the late game because civs with different ideologies generate unhappiness pressure on each other through tourism.

Culture cost rises with each city you own, so ultra-wide empires fall behind on policies unless they generate a lot of culture.

Religion (Gods & Kings)

• Generate Faith early (Shrine, some Pantheons, city-states) to found a Pantheon.
• A Great Prophet founds a religion. There are limited slots depending on map size, so prophets are a race.
• Strong founder and follower beliefs: Tithe (gold per followers), Church Property, Pagodas and Mosques (happiness plus faith), Religious Community (production), and Swords into Plowshares.
• Once you reach the Industrial era, Faith can buy Great People of the types matching the policy trees you have completed. That makes a big Faith bank useful even after religions are founded.

City-States

• Maritime: food. Cultured: culture. Religious: faith. Mercantile: happiness plus gold. Militaristic: free units.
• Quests (kill barbarians, connect resources, find natural wonders) give cheap influence.
• Allying city-states gives their luxuries and votes in the World Congress. Diplomatic victory depends on them.

Trade Routes

• Caravans run land routes and Cargo Ships run sea routes. Sea routes are longer and more lucrative.
• Routes to your own cities can carry food or production. That's a great way to grow a new city fast.
• Routes to foreign civs give gold and science, but they also give the other civ science.
• Caravans are vulnerable to barbarians and enemies. Escort them or route through safe land.

Opening Build Orders

Tradition, 4-city (the safe default): Scout, Monument, Settler (at size 2 to 3), Settler, Shrine, Worker, then a Settler or Library depending on space. Take Tradition, Legalism (free culture buildings), Aristocracy or Monarchy, then Landed Elite. National College in the capital early.

Liberty, wide: Scout, Monument, Settler, Settler (Liberty's Citizenship gives a free Worker), Worker, Settler... Take Collective Rule early for the free Settler. You must plan luxuries and happiness carefully.

Early tech path (common): Pottery or Mining depending on terrain, then Animal Husbandry (caravans and horses), Writing (Library, Great Library), Calendar or Bronze Working (luxuries and your wonder), then Philosophy (National College timing).

Victory Types

Strong Civs

Your pick matters less than your plan. Any civ can win at Prince or King difficulty with a clear victory focus.

Warfare Basics

• One unit per tile. Form lines with melee in front and ranged behind. Choke points are gold.
• Ranged units bombard cities. Melee units capture them. Damage the city to zero hit points with ranged units and siege first.
• Promotions: take Cover on melee units against archers, and Accuracy/Barrage or Logistics on ranged.
• Great Generals give combat bonuses to adjacent units, and a Citadel can flip a front line.
• Keep an eye on warmonger penalties. Capturing capitals angers everyone who has met the victim. Razing unwanted cities reduces unhappiness but increases the diplomatic penalty.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Settling too many cities with no luxuries. Unhappy empires stagnate.
• Wonder-spamming. The AI often beats you to wonders and the lost production is refunded as gold, not production. Pick a few that match your plan.
• Ignoring the navy on water maps. Frigates and Destroyers can shut down coastal cities.
• Leaving trade routes unprotected. Plundered caravans are a big loss early.
• Weak military. The AI judges your strength. A thin army invites declarations of war.
• Taking policies from too many trees. Completing a tree gives big finisher bonuses. Finish trees you start.
• Never using Workers. Automated workers are fine for beginners, but manual workers prioritize luxuries and roads.

Advanced Tips

• Sell duplicate luxuries and strategics to the AI for gold per turn, then use that gold to ally city-states.
• Buy with gold, build with hammers. Hard-to-produce items like Settlers or Workers can be bought in new cities.
• Plan specialists. Scientists in Universities or Public Schools boost science. Writers and Artists speed cultural Great People.
• Time Great Scientists. Save them until Public Schools or later if possible. They're worth more beaker bursts later.
• Save a Great Engineer for a key wonder.
• Use the World Congress to embargo rivals, ban their luxuries, or push resolutions that help your victory.
• Pick your ideology before tourism pressure hits. If a strong cultural civ is influencing you, matching their ideology limits unhappiness.

Mods and Modern PCs

• The game still runs on Windows via Steam. If it crashes on DirectX 11, try the DirectX 9 launch option in the Steam launcher.
• Popular community projects: Vox Populi (Community Patch Project, a full rebalance and AI overhaul), Enhanced User Interface (EUI), and InfoAddict. Install Vox Populi with its own installer and read its instructions. It conflicts with many other mods.
• Achievements are disabled when mods are active.

FAQ

Should I play Civ V or Civ VI/VII? They play differently. Civ V is famous for one-unit-per-tile tactical combat, the tall-vs-wide debate, and Brave New World's trade and tourism. Many players still prefer it.

Tradition or Liberty? Tradition is the safer default for new players and most science games. Liberty is strong with lots of good land and plenty of luxuries.

How do I fix unhappiness? Connect new luxuries (build the right improvement), trade for luxuries, build Colosseums and Temples, take happiness policies or religious beliefs, and ally Mercantile city-states.

What difficulty should I start on? Settler to Prince for learning. Prince is the "fair" difficulty where the AI gets no bonuses. Beyond King, the AI gets meaningful head starts.

How do I win culturally? Stack Great Works and Wonders, dig antiquity sites with Archaeologists, build Hotels and Airports, and use trade routes plus open borders to boost your tourism against each civ.

Can I play multiplayer? Yes, via Steam, but multiplayer is known for desyncs. Hosting with a stable connection and fewer mods helps.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Civilization V
• Wikipedia: Civilization V: Brave New World
• Civilization Wiki (Civ5)
• Civilization V on Steam