Mastering Tourism in Civilization V: A Guide to Cultural Domination

Tourism in Civilization V is your weapon of choice for achieving a Cultural Victory. It’s more than just pretty buildings and Great Works; it’s a strategic game of influence, ideological warfare, and leveraging your civilization’s unique strengths to captivate the world. To effectively use tourism, you need to generate more Tourism Output than any other civilization generates Culture Output. When your tourism directed at a particular civilization exceeds their cumulative culture, you become influential over them. Once you are influential over all other civilizations, you win a cultural victory!

Understanding the Core Mechanics of Tourism

The concept is straightforward: you generate Tourism, other civilizations generate Culture, and the goal is to overwhelm their culture with your tourism. However, the devil is in the details. Here’s a breakdown:

• Culture: Each civilization accumulates Culture, which drives the acquisition of Social Policies. More importantly for the purposes of a Culture Victory, it also acts as a defensive barrier against your tourism. The more Culture a civilization has, the harder it is for your tourism to influence them.
• Tourism: This is your offensive stat. Tourism is generated from various sources, including Great Works, Wonders, Landmarks, Artifacts, Religious Spread, and Trade Routes. The higher your tourism output, the faster you’ll influence other civilizations.
• Influence: Influence is the key to winning a Cultural Victory. Once your cumulative tourism directed towards a civilization exceeds their cumulative culture, you become ‘Influential’ over them. Achieve this with all other civilizations, and you win.
• Ideologies: This is where things get interesting. If you adopt a different ideology (Autocracy, Freedom, or Order) from another civilization, it creates Ideological Pressure. Your ideology can spread to other civs, causing unhappiness. If a civ becomes too unhappy, it can revolt and adopt your ideology.

Key Factors Affecting Tourism Output

Several elements influence how effectively your tourism spreads:

• Great Works: These are the cornerstone of your tourism strategy. Great Works of Writing, Art, Music, and Artifacts housed in Museums, Opera Houses, Broadcast Towers, and Wonders generate significant tourism. Filling them with thematics bonuses is even better
• Wonders: Certain Wonders provide direct tourism bonuses, while others provide slots for Great Works, and some do both.
• Open Borders & Trade Routes: These provide significant boosts to tourism between civilizations. Think of them as cultural exchange programs.
• Religion: Spreading your religion can draw tourists, especially if you have religious relics.
• Shared Ideologies: Civilizations sharing the same ideology are less resistant to your tourism. Conversely, conflicting ideologies increase resistance.
• Landmarks: Archaeological Excavations can lead to Landmarks. These can be dug up to create great tourism boosters.
• Civilization Abilities & Unique Buildings: Some civilizations have abilities or buildings that directly boost tourism output.

Strategies for a Cultural Victory

1. Prioritize Culture and Tourism Buildings: Build Amphitheaters, Museums, Opera Houses, and Broadcast Towers in every city. Fill them with Great Works as soon as possible.
2. Focus on Aesthetics Social Policies: This policy tree is vital for a Cultural Victory. It unlocks tourism-boosting policies and allows you to generate Great Writers, Artists, and Musicians more easily.
3. Build Wonders with Great Work Slots: Wonders like the Louvre, Uffizi, and Broadway are essential for maximizing your Great Work slots and generating tourism.
4. Spread Your Religion: Your religion can draw tourists, especially if you enhance it with tourism-boosting beliefs.
5. Establish Trade Routes and Open Borders: These increase tourism significantly.
6. Manage Ideologies: Choose an ideology that aligns with other major powers to minimize ideological tension and maximize tourism. You can also manipulate other civs to be unhappy with their ideology to cause them to be ripe for a cultural takeover.
7. Utilize Great People Effectively: Use Great Writers, Artists, and Musicians to create Great Works and generate tourism. Great Musicians can create Concert Tours in other civs, providing a temporary burst of tourism. Great Merchants can be used for Trade Missions.
8. Archaeology: Send Archaeologists to dig sites. You can obtain artifacts for museums or create landmarks on the dig site.
9. Beeline Important Technologies: Focus on technologies that unlock tourism-boosting buildings, wonders, and policies.
10. Spying: Use Spies to steal Tech from more technologically advanced civs. They can also be used for Diplomatic pressure against competing ideologies and tourism centers.

Civilization Choices for a Culture Victory

Some civilizations are naturally better suited for a Culture Victory:

• France (with Eleanor of Aquitaine): Eleanor’s ability to acquire cities simply through Great Works is extremely powerful.
• Greece (Gorgo/Pericles): Greece’s Culture bonuses and unique cultural buildings make them a strong contender.
• Brazil (Pedro II): Brazil’s Carnival unique ability and their unique improvement, the Brazilwood Camp, provide significant culture and tourism boosts.
• Sweden (Kristina): Sweden’s unique ability grants extra Great Person Points and theming bonuses for Great Works, making them excellent for accumulating Great Works.
• Polynesia (Kamehameha): Polynesia has the unique ability to sail the oceans from turn 1. This allows you to meet all civilizations first.

Ideological Considerations

Be mindful of the Ideologies you and the other civilizations adopt. If you choose Freedom and most of the other dominant civilizations pick Order or Autocracy, your tourism will face significant penalties. Try to align your ideology with the majority or use diplomacy and espionage to influence their choices.

Don’t Neglect Defense

While focusing on culture and tourism, don’t neglect your military. A strong military can deter aggression and protect your cultural assets. It is hard to have a cultural victory if you are under constant attack.

The Nuances of Theming Bonuses

Theming Bonuses are the tourism multipliers you get in Museums and Wonders for placing certain combinations of great works. For Example, the Louvre requires all artifacts to come from different civilizations and different eras, so having archaeologists in different areas of the world is vital. These may seem small but quickly accumulate. Theming bonuses are the single largest boost to tourism output in the game.

Conclusion

Achieving a Culture Victory in Civilization V requires a multifaceted approach. You must balance cultural development, tourism generation, diplomacy, ideology management, and even military strength. By understanding the core mechanics of tourism, leveraging the strengths of your chosen civilization, and implementing sound strategies, you can captivate the world and achieve cultural dominance!

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How do I increase my Tourism Output quickly?

Focus on building Wonders with Great Work slots and filling them with thematically appropriate Great Works. Prioritize Aesthetics Social Policies, establish Trade Routes and Open Borders with other civilizations, and spread your religion if it has tourism-boosting beliefs. Great Musicians performing concerts in foreign lands can give a big temporary tourism boost.

2. What is the difference between Culture and Tourism?

Culture acts as a defensive barrier against other civilizations’ tourism. It also allows you to unlock Social Policies. Tourism is your offensive stat, used to influence other civilizations.

3. How do Ideologies affect Tourism?

Civilizations with different ideologies exert ideological pressure on each other, increasing tourism resistance and causing unhappiness. Shared ideologies reduce resistance.

4. What are the best Wonders for a Cultural Victory?

The Louvre, Uffizi, Broadway, Sistine Chapel, Eiffel Tower, and Globe Theater are excellent choices as they have Great Work slots or tourism-boosting effects.

5. How do Great Works generate Tourism?

Great Works generate tourism based on their type (Writing, Art, Music, Artifacts), the building they are housed in, and any theming bonuses they provide.

6. What are Theming Bonuses?

Theming Bonuses are additional tourism multipliers awarded for placing specific combinations of Great Works in Museums and Wonders. These bonuses can significantly boost your tourism output.

7. Is Religion important for a Cultural Victory?

Yes, spreading your religion can draw tourists, especially if you enhance it with beliefs that provide tourism bonuses.

8. What Social Policies should I prioritize for a Cultural Victory?

The Aesthetics tree is essential, as it unlocks tourism-boosting policies and allows you to generate Great Writers, Artists, and Musicians more easily. Exploration, Commerce, and Rationalism can also be helpful.

9. How do Trade Routes and Open Borders affect Tourism?

Both Trade Routes and Open Borders provide significant boosts to tourism between civilizations.

10. How do I defend against another civilization’s Cultural influence?

Focus on generating Culture to build a strong defense. Adopt an ideology that is popular among other civilizations, or use diplomacy to influence their choices.

11. What do Great Musicians do?

Great Musicians can create Great Works of Music or perform Concert Tours in other civilizations, providing a temporary surge of tourism.

12. How can I use Spies to help with a Cultural Victory?

Spies can steal technologies that unlock tourism-boosting buildings and policies. They can also be used to conduct coups in city-states friendly to civilizations that compete with you for cultural influence.

13. What is the role of Archaeology in a Cultural Victory?

Archaeologists can excavate dig sites to find Artifacts for your Museums and Landmarks for additional culture and tourism bonuses.

14. What should I do if I’m behind in technology compared to other civilizations?

Use Spies to steal technologies and focus on beelining technologies that unlock tourism-boosting buildings and policies.

15. How do I know if I’m on track for a Cultural Victory?

Monitor your Tourism Output and compare it to the Culture Output of other civilizations. You can view these statistics in the Diplomacy overview screen. If your tourism consistently exceeds their culture, you’re on the right track.