Brave new world
[postad]This guide assumes you have a basic understanding of Civilization V (including Gods and Kings).
Brave New World is the latest Expansion for Civilization V and was released on 9 July 2013. It adds 10 civilizations and leaders, 8 wonders, 5 national wonders and several units and buildings. Most importantly it introduces new gameplay mechanics! Furthermore the (online) AI has improved dramatically.
(International) Trade route
The main feature of Civilization Brave new world is obviously the new trade system. Up until now trade in Civilization V has been limited to swapping out luxury resources in a trade screen. With Brave new world this all changes! Civilization V players can now build caravans or cargo ships to set-up actual trade routes which are visible on the map. The new trade routes can be plundered by barbarians and enemy players so they have to be guarded! This changes the whole dynamic of the game. Vision is more important then ever and a building a navy has become viable if not necessary.
Setting up trade routes
But how does trade actually work in Brave New World? A trade route can be established between any city that is in range of the trade unit. There is a limit to how many trade routes can be active. At the start of the game this will be 2, there are 8 different technologies that will increase this number all the way up to 10. The new Venice Civilization gets to double this number. Note that there are also a few wonders that give the player an additional trade route (Petra and Colossus). After initiating a trade route these units will move from Point A to B over the duration of 30 turns. This movement cannot be cancelled. However construction of roads is not required.
Land routes
Land routes are established with a Caravan, animated as a camel. By default a Caravan has a range of 10 hexes, however this range can be extended. The Caravansary building extends the range by 50%, the Combustion technology adds another 50% and upgrades the animation to a truck. The upgrades are not cumulative meaning you end up with a maximum range of 20 hexes.
Sea routes
Sea trade routes are established with a cargo ship. The cargo ship has a range of 20 hexes, twice that of the Camel. Usually this means sea routes are more lucrative. The range can be extended by the harbor building (+50%) and the Compass (+50%) and Refrigeration (+50%) technology. You will end up with a maximum range of 50 hexes, which is a lot! Keep in mind that because of their length sea trade routes are much harder to protect against barbarians and other civilizations.
Selecting the best trade routes
The new trade router overview helps you identify the best trade routes. In this example it has been sorted on gold gains. The first icon will show you if it is a land (camel) or sea route (ship).
Changing home city.
After constructing a trade unit they can be moved to any city through the ability “set new home city”.
International Trade route benefits
The new trade routes will provide a substantial part of your gold income. The game will force you to use them because in Brave New World construction of the “trade post” improvement has been moved deeper into the tech tree. The trade route benefits can be categorized into 3 types; city states, foreign cities and Your cities (including pre-made team).
Summary
It easy to underestimate the benefit of the new trade routes. Constructing a Caravan early game will take some serious time. Purchasing it for 350 gold is also a questionable move since it will usually only provide 6 gold per turn. However these trade routes allow you to boost your gold per turn and thereby increase your ability to maintain buildings and military units. At turn 200 4 trade routes can provide you 90 gold per turn. At turn 300 9 trade routes can provide you with 120 gold per turn. There is actually an achievement to receive 200 gold per turn from trade routes alone!
World Congress and Resolutions
When some civilization has discovered all other civilizations AND the printing press technology, the World Congress will be founded. At the congress two civilizations have the ability to propose so called resolutions. These resolutions including banning certain luxury goods, assigning a world religion or having a World’s Fair.
Choosing a host
The first order of business is choosing a host. To understand the significance of a host we must talk about delegates. Each civilization gets voting rights based on how many delegates they own. Each civ will receive 3 delegates but this number can be increased throughout the game. For example each allied city state will provide additional delegates. City states have never been more important! The Forbidden Palace world wonder will also provide 2 additional delegates. Following the world religion or world ideology (requires vote on that topic first) will also provide 2 bonus delegates. Once you are the host you will receive 2 bonus delegates.
Proposing resolutions
Once a host is chosen, the host and one other Civ get to propose a resolution. Some of these are very powerful. For example there can be a trade embargo on a specific civ meaning that this civ can no longer operate a trade route with others. There is also policical weapons such as the the standing army tax (+33%) or the disabling of newly constructed nuclear weaponry. There are also cooperative resolutions such as the World Fair, International games and International space station that provides the top contributors with large bonuses.
It is important to remember that you can vote both positive as negative. After the resolutions have been proposed you will have to be patient until the next turn to see the outcome.
List of resolutions
- Ban luxury resource (choose one): disables happiness bonus
- Embargo (choose a civilization): disables trade with other players
- World Religion (choose one):
- World Fair
- International Games
- International Space station
- Standing Army tax
- to be continued
World Congress, the AI and diplomacy
The AI trade options now include requesting them to vote “yea” or “nay” on the resolutions. You can also use the time to ally additional city states. When the council reconvenes you get to spend your delegates.
Using spies as diplomats, or sharing ideology, results in knowing how the AI will vote. In this example 16 Delegates have votes against repealing the Embargo on Brazil. For 1 civilization there is no information (no spy present in their capitol, or in this case a human player). Since the unknown civilization is Brazil and I am able to spend 22 delegates we are sure this resolution will pass (22+7 vs 16).
Diplomatic Victory
With the introduction of the World Congress there is a new diplomatic victory. In Brave new world the World Congress will be upgraded to the United Nations once a single civilization reaches the Information era or at least half of the world reaches the Atomic Era. This triggers voting rounds for the World Leader every 20 turns. When this resolution is accepted the World Leader has achieved a diplomatic victory. However this is more difficult then it sounds because where regular resolutions require 50% +1 to pass the World Leader will require a much higher percentage. Usually it is about 65% but the game will show you the number of delegates required to win the election.
New Wonders
Brave New World introduces a few new wonders. Most of them are aimed at the new cultural victory.
Borobudur (medieval era)
This World Wonder will provide you with 3 free missionaries and a permanent +5 faith per turn.
If you plan on taking your religion seriously then you should consider constructing this wonder. If you fail to do so you might be flooded by another religion’s missionaries.
Recommended: situational.
Broadway (modern era)
Provides a free Great Musician and 3 slots for Great Works of music.
This wonder can only be useful when you are planning a cultural victory. If you do then this is one of the few buildings that give room for great works of music. Keep in mind that the theming bonus requires you to fill all three slots with works from the same civilization and same era. Meaning you must have saved at least two great musicians.
Recommended: cultural victory.
Globe Theatre (renaissance era)
Provides 1 free Great Writer and 2 slots for Great Works of Writing.
This wonder is useful if you are planning a cultural victory. However because the free Great Writer can also be used to gain culture towards a new social policy you could argue constructing it defensively. The culture boost means other Civilizations will need more tourism to convert your empire. You also take away some of their potential tourism.
Recommended: Yes.
Parthenon (classical era): Recommended
Provides +4 culture per turn and a Great Work of Art (making it +6 culture per turn).
This wonder gives you a jump start on tourism which is required for a cultural victory. The +6 culture bonus is quite significant this early in the game which will help you unlock Social Policies.
Recommended: Yes.
Prora (modern era, autocracy)
Provides +2 Happiness, +1 happiness for every 2 social policies adopted and 1 free social poliy.
This World Wonder requires the autocracy ideology which is aimed towards a military (domination) victory. It provides quite a significant boost to your happiness. Usually it will provide you with at least 10 happiness. Keep in mind that it has to be constructed on a coastal city.
Recommended: Yes, if using autocracy.
Red Fort (renaissance era)
Provides +12 defense in the city it was built and +25% defense in all cities.
There are two uses for this wonder which are both very specific. The first is a scenario where you are afraid you will be invaded by another Civilizations more powerful military. Meaning more units or more advanced units. In that case it will help you defend you cities and prolong the fight.
The second scenario is offensively because letting another civilization construct this wonder means you will have a harder time warmongering. So if you are going for a domination victory then owning this wonder makes your life easier.
Recommended: situational.
Uffizi (reinassance era)
1 free Great Artist and 3 slots for Great Works of Art (+3 theming bonus if you combine works from the same era and civilization)
A single golden age is usually not worth the 625 hammer required to construct this wonder. Therefore it is only useful as a tourism booster for your cultural victory.
Recommended: cultural victory.
International Space Station (Information Era, World Congress Wonder)
+1 production from Scientists and +1 science from Engineers (the specialists in your cities). Great scientists provide 33% more science when used to discover a new technology,
Unlike most wonders this can not be constructed directly. Instead a resolution to construct the International Space Station has to be accepted by the World Congress. After that all cities from all players start contributing to the construction of this wonder. When the construction is finished the highest contributor will receive the wonder. Keep in mind that construction can fail if you do not finish it before the next World Congress.
The bonus from this World Wonder is quite significant. If you have 10 cities that all have 7 scientists you will receive 70 additional production hammers per turn. Winning also means securing “Crew on Board” which gives a free great scientists and “constructed parts” which gives a one-time research boost.
Recommended: Yes!
Questions
Thanks for reading this article, if you have any additional questions feel free to post them in the comments.
