Civ 5 Tier List: Everything You Need to Know

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Miah Schmahl

Slow & Steady Wins the Civilization at Civ Fandom

Miah enjoys turned-based strategy games like Civilization for their unique approach to gameplay and ability to force players to think outside of the box. But, she loves how Civilization doesn't make her stress out. She wants to help teach other people how to unwind, relax, and take a chill approach to the Civilization games.e of the box.

Latest posts by Miah Schmahl (see all)

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• Civ 5 Tier List: Everything You Need to Know - May 23, 2021

Sid Meier’s Civilization V is the fourth Civilization game in the series, developed by Firaxis Games and released in 2010 for PC. The game leads players as they build a civilization of their own through prehistoric times to the future.

The goal of the game is to achieve one of the victory conditions using research, exploration, expansion, economic development, diplomacy, government, and military conquest. The game uses a procedurally generated map that is based on hexagonal tiles.

Gameplay and Victory

Civ V is a turn-based strategy game, where each player represents either a nation or an ethnic group, and they must help guide their civilization into the future. Each player starts with a small settlement and either achieve a victory condition or survives until the number of game turns end.

The highest-scoring civilization then takes over the population, land, technological advancements, and cultural development. During each player’s turn, the player manages both their civilians and military units, instructing them to do various tasks in order to grow the civilization and ensure its survival.

There are multiple victory conditions that a player can meet, and which one they strive for ultimately will depend on their goals for the civilization. The victory tracts are dominations, science, cultural, diplomatic, and time.

• Domination- In order for players to achieve a victory through domination, they must be in possession of their original capital. If players are playing the Brave New World expansion, they must be in control of all opposing players’ original capitals as well.
• Science- To achieve a science victory, players must be the first to build and launch a spaceship.
• Cultural- For a cultural victory, players must be the first to fill out five trees of social policies and complete the Utopia Project.
• Diplomatic- In order to achieve a diplomatic victory, players must achieve the winning vote in the United Nations by allying with other city-states or returning captured cities to defeated AI players.
• Time- The time victory is basically running out the clock and hoping no one else achieves a different victory. You can disable this victory if you would like. The score is based on gold in a player’s treasury, players, resources, tiles within players’ border, cities in players empire, people in the empire, social policies, technologies present in the empire, future technology present, constructed wonders, and the players ranking within the empire.

Tier Rankings

Each tier is ranked SD. S being the highest and D being the lowest. The higher the tier, the easier it is to play a civ as a beginner. As players become experienced with gameplay and situations, they will find the lower-tier players to be a greater challenge.

• S tier focuses on the most well-rounded civilizations. These civs have the best strength and can be adapted to every situation. They are capable of completing every victory condition, but their strengths ultimately are within their own victory focus.
• A tier focuses on civilizations that are strong and advantageous but not quite as versatile as those in the S tier. They don’t quite have as strong starts, but they can overcome bad situations with some careful planning and considerations. This is especially true in early gameplay.
• B tier focuses on civilizations that create an even playing ground against opponents and AI. These civilizations aren’t as advantageous as others, but overall they are still solid choices within the game.
• C tier focuses on civilizations that tend to force players into a specific way of playing the game. These civilizations have focuses that are very narrow and they excel at their victory track while struggling or failing with the others.
• D tier focuses on civilizations that need a strong plan and strategically executed choices. They come with bonuses that have a minimal game impact and are overall lacking.
• F tier focuses on the civilizations that offer little in the way of value for specific victory paths. Due to this nature, they are a major challenge to win, and new players will struggle greatly.

S Tier

A Tier

B Tier

C Tier

D Tier

FAQ

Final Thoughts

Civilization is a loved game series, and CIV V adds a new layer of depth and fun into the game. Each CIV has its own advantages and disadvantages, preferred climate, and culture. Based on the civilizations present in both the past and present of our own world, CIV V offers a unique take on what it’s like to watch a civilization grow from a village to a reigning empire.

The game also features modding and community elements allowing players to really make it their own. CIV V has received a number of positive reviews from Metacritic, GameRankings, G4TV, and IGN.