These guides are designed to help players who are new to Civ but still interested in Vox Populi, familiar with Civ but new to Vox Populi, or even those well versed in Vox Populi who just want to see if there's anything they didn't know about a particular civilization. I am actually a big fan of Zigzagzigal's Civ guide series, and it really helped me learn a lot about the game, and I wanted to bring a similar experience for fans of the Vox Populi or Community Balance Patch modpack. For those interested in the modpack it can be downloaded here[forums.civfanatics.com]

Anyways, without further ado, onto the Mongolians!

Before I go into depth with this guide, here's an explanation of some terminology I'll be using throughout for the sake of newer players.

Beelining - Focusing on obtaining a technology early by only researching technologies needed to research it and no others. For example, to beeline Bronze Working, you'd research Mining and Bronze Working and nothing else until Bronze Working was finished.
Finisher - The bonus for completing a Social Policy tree (e.g. +33% Great Scientist rate and +25% growth in all cities from rationalism.)
GWAM - Great Writers, Artists and Musicians. These are the three types of Great People who can make Great Works, a major source of tourism for cultural Civs.
Opener - The bonus for unlocking a Social Policy tree (e.g. +25% Great Person Rate and +100% construction of guilds in Artistry)
Tall Empire - A low number of cities with a high population each.
UA - Unique Ability - the unique thing a Civilization has which doesn't need to be built.
UB - Unique Building - A replacement for a normal building that can only be built and used by one Civilization.
UI - Unique Improvement - A tile improvement that can be made by workers that doesn't replace any other improvement that can only be made by a single civilization
UU - Unique Unit - A replacement for a normal unit that can only be built by one Civilization or provided by militaristic City-States when allied.
Uniques - Collective name for Unique Abilities, Units, Buildings, Tile Improvements and Great People
Wide Empire - A high number of cities with a low population each.
XP - Experience Points - Get enough and you'll level up your unit, giving you the ability to heal your unit or get a promotion.

Mongolia has a plains/grasslands start bias. While this might push them a bit away from the center of the map, it does guarantee that there is lots of flat land for Monglian mounted ranged units


Mounted ranged units get +2 and ignore zone of control

+100% yields from bullying city states.




A Great General Replacement

*This extra healing only applies if the unit was already healing, either by spending the turn to heal, or by having the march promotion

Misc Changes
May construct a Ordo

Positive Changes

• Higher movement (5 instead of 2)
  
• Units adjacent to and on the same tile heal an extra +10hp per turn. Deals 10 damage to any adjacent enemy units at the end of the turn

Positive Changes

• +1
  
• No maintenance cost
  
• -25% & needed for acquiring new tiles
  
• +1 from cows, sheep, and horses

These scores are merely my personal opinions from playing and examining this Civ, you may find other uses for the Mongolian uniques that make you disagree with a certain ranking


Mongolia is an obvious domination civ, having terrifying mounted ranged units. While mounted ranged units don't translate fantastically to defense, having a strong army does.
Tributing cultural city states can net Mongolia a bit of culture, and their UB makes their borders grow faster, an important reason to have culture. None of this translates to tourism however
Mongolia can get a small amount of science from tribute, but not that much. They do get a bit of growth from tributing and their UB however
Mongolia can get a good amount of gold from tribute, however since this is from city states, they are actively discouraged from going diplomacy
Finally, with how early their UB comes, Mongolia has a solid chance at founding an early religion.

Coming in as the second earliest unique building (beat only by Ethiopia), the Ger may on paper seem to have some relatively minor bonuses compared to a lot of unique buildings, but these effects are in play for basically the entire game.


Are we having some barbarian issues? Yes, but look at those tasty cows though. Pasture not required.

The base granary already gives food bonuses to several resources, and the Ger extends this to all pasture resources, and you're at least going to already want to settle near horses, so this is just a nice cherry on top of already wanting to do that. The Ger also makes tile acquisition faster and cheaper, to ensure no one can easily steal your important tiles. Probably the most important part of the Ger however, is seemingly its smallest benefit. +1 faith. This simple addition means you don't have to detour as much for shrines in order to get your pantheon up, or get it, and a possible religion, much faster then normal.

This does raise an interesting question for Mongolia I want to address real quick. God of the Open Sky or God of the Sun. Mongolia is incentivized to get both pasture resources and granaries, so which is better? Usually I would still say God of the Open Sky, it has a lot more potential, unless you happen to be near lots of wheat, in which case God of the Sun is the clear winner.

Above: That's only 61% of the tribute too, we can get over 200 gold, for basically doing nothing

Tributing city states is normally a solid way to get some early gold, purchase a worker, things like that. Mongolia though, can arguably tribute throughout the entire game for some solid yields, considering they are straight up doubled for them. No city state is safe from Mongolia.

That last statement implies major civs are safe from Mongolia however, and that is simply not the case



4 movement is a good amount. Easily enough to hit and run any melee units. However, other mounted units and even ranged units are usually able to counterattack without much issue. 6 movement however, is a lot. You can start 3 tiles away from a unit, move 2 tiles to be adjacent, fire, and then retreat 2 tiles away with a movement point to spare. Even a tile of rough terrain can't quite stop 6 movement. Even lots of rough terrain doesn't completely shut down 6 movement, although it certainly makes it a bit harder. Of course even with 6 movement, mistakes can still happen, right? You can run out of movement just as you discover enemy units, or just end up running into a large amount of units and end up being surrounded, right? Not with Mongolia you can't. Unless they surround your mounted ranged units on every single tile, they can still get out as they ignore zone of control.


Above: An example of the strategy mentioned above. The skirmisher started in the marsh, moved up to the city, attacked, then fled back to the marsh, unable to be hit by the city's counterattack.

It is nigh impossible to fight Mongolia in open terrain. Even in rough terrain, if it isn't positioned exactly right, Mongolia will still have the upper hand. Bombard all enemy units with your ranged fire until an opening appears to a city, then slowly whittle them down. Of course keep in mind that ranged units can't capture cities. Bring a mounted unit or two along to take the final hit on a city.

One thing to note is, since there is a very high chance your entire army consists of mounted units, you want to make sure to grab up lots of horses, and later on oil and aluminium, although if you did plenty of conquering before oil and aluminum come into play you shouldn't have to worry about them

OH? A nigh untouchable horde isn't enough for you is it? Fine have the Khan

The Mongolian uniques have all proved to be relatively simple bonuses that hold interesting implications or otherwise cover up weaknesses, and the Khan is no exception. The first bonus is the Khan having 5 movement. While technically slower then the 6 most of your army will have, it still ensures that your fast horde will almost always have the great general bonus.

The second bonus is that the Khan causes all adjacent units(including any unit the Khan is on the same tile as) to heal an extra 10hp per turn. Your units may be able to avoid most damage, and even retreat if they seem like they might get killed, but it still takes just as long to heal without the Khan. So this makes sure your army can be fighting as much as possible. The best scenario for Mongolia is to get as many units with march as possible, then your units will all be healing at an enhanced rate, at minimum 15 in enemy territory up to 25 in friendly territory. Khans also deal 10 damage to adjacent enemy units at the end of your turn, but considering the mobile but fragile nature of your army, this should rarely come up if you're playing your cards right


Do Ordo not. There is no try

The Ordo is a slightly odd thing to use, but it can allow you to take out cities that you otherwise couldn't, or at least can help you take out cities faster. It absorbs tiles and provides a defense boost just like a citadel, and has arguably better yields then a citadel, but doesn't damage nearby enemies. The big thing about it though, is that if a unit starts their turn on an Ordo, or if they move onto it, they gain +1 movement. This can happen multiple times per turn


Note how it says that doing this movement would end the unit's turn


And yet I still have one movement point left

With careful positioning, the Ordo can allow you to use significantly more of your army in a single turn, as your units can start farther away from a city, and still be able to attack and get out of firing range

Mongolia follows the standard domination policies of Authority into Fealty (which unlike most warmongers they can actually likely use for some religion) finishing with Imperialism


Opener: Little bit of production to help early unit and building construction, plus easier barbarians and some culture out of them and any other units you kill to boot

Dominance: Get some science out of your kills. The healing isn't that useful as Mongolia rarely if ever uses melee units, but you never know when it'll help.

Tribute: Mongolia grows their tiles pretty fast, so this helps get some yields out of it

Imperium: You're bound to be conquering a lot of cities, so this will probably add up to several techs and a few policies

Discipline: Mongolia can somewhat get away with a somewhat smaller force then most warmongers, but they still have to pay for it. The happiness is also pretty useful.

Honor: It'll be rare if ever that this gives you a mounted ranged unit, use these units for garrisons or defense.

Finisher: Quick units to grab in a pinch, but they aren't that useful for Mongolia. What is useful is that later on you can faith buy Khans


Opener: Monasteries are a solid building, definitely build them where you can, but it's going to be hard to build them in every city considering how much you're likely to conquer

Nobility: Castles and armories are useful, now they are even more so, and much quicker to build

Divine Right: Reduces unhappiness by a very large amount, plus if you actually manage to keep your happiness up for any length of time, enjoy a nice bit of culture

Serfdom: You're bound to have plenty of pastures since the Ger already makes you want to have them. Now they give even more yields

Burghers: You're bound to be conquering lots of resources and getting plenty of We Love the King Days, so get some production out of them.

Organized Religion: A bit of extra faith and pressure, build well off of the base your Ger has likely given

Finisher: Whether you've founded your own religion or had one spread to you, some extra yields never hurt


Opener: Hey now your Khans DO move as fast as your army. Nice

Colonialism: You'll have lots of monopolies by now, get some more use out of them.

Regimental Tradition: Your army is likely to be a bit more spread out when fighting then most civs, so now positioning your Khans isn't as hard, and they help even more.

Martial Law: You'll definitely have plenty of puppet cities, and conquered ones too. Both of them will be less of a burden now.

Exploitation: Shame that pastures aren't effected here, but now the rest of your tiles stack up a bit better.

Civilizing Mission: Gold from conquering cities, and production in said conquered cities, everything you need to push the front line.

Finisher: A stronger navy, and a new way to use air units to help manage unhappiness.

Mongolia benefits greatly from Autocracy


Elite Forces: New units start better, old units get better quicker, all you could want for a world-conquering horde

New World Order: Warmongers need every bonus they can get to reduce unhappiness, and the Mongols are no exception

Military-Industrial Complex: Cheaper upgrades to make sure your army is always in tip top shape.


Total Warfare: You can get a lot from bullying city states even at this point in the game, so making it easier helps, plus the other bonuses this tenet gives are nice

Third Alternative: Having a full mounted/armor army can be a strain on resources, this should alleviate that


Air Supremacy: Free Airports in every city means that you almost don't need a navy as long as you have a city on every continent. Also makes air units quicker to build if you need to.

Statue of Zeus: Your mounted ranged units may be almost untouchable by city attacks, but they are really slow at taking them down. This helps a massive amount

Temple of Artemis: Mounted ranged units are considered ranged units, which means with this wonder you build them faster


Angkor Wat: Might as well double down on border growth, assuming you went Authority this should be some solid yields

Great Wall: The free Khan is decent, but you really want this to stop other civs from getting it. More so then any civ the Great Wall stops conquest HARD for Mongolia


Alhambra(Authority Only): If you really want to mix some mounted melee units in your army comp for more then just cities, this will certainly help make them better

Karlstejn: There are some great domination focused reformation beliefs, and unlike most warmongers you are in a decent position to get it, so this will help assure it happens


Red Fort(Fealty Only): Similar to the great wall, if someone else gets this it becomes significantly harder to conquer the city, but it is a bit less detrimental then the great wall, both since only civs that go fealty can grab it, and it only effects one city, but still.


Brandenburg Gate: Free Khan, a bit more xp for new units, and a lot of military supply. All good things

Neuschwanstein: A bit hard to get due to terrain requirements, but this will help happiness issues a lot


Prora(Autocracy Only): Should nearly eliminate any happiness problems you were having


Pentagon(Imperialism Only): If you ever need the air support, you air units will now be significantly better.


CERN: 2 free techs to clean up the tech tree, what more could you want?

Mongolia's bonuses are very simple on paper, but using them is a bit more complicated.


Khans may be much faster then a great general, but they still are just as vulnerable. Make sure they are well protected


Mongolia's extra movement means they can easily dart in and out of enemy range, even in less then favorable terrain. However that's practically all Mongolia has. If they aren't using it effectively they will get crushed. Deserts and snow, especially if they have hills, and forest/jungle covered hills can cause lots of trouble for Mongolia, as desert and snow don't block line of sight like other rough terrain, and hills with desert, forest/jungle or snow cost 3 movement, which will make it really hard to position well. Just make sure you are always aware of where ranged units and cities can hit your units, as well as how much terrain costs to move in. Pay extra care for ranged units or cities on hills, as they can see anywhere that isn't a forest/jungle hill


In most scenarios, your mounted ranged units should be enough to take out cities, however sometimes a city is just in terrible terrain, and your units can't get in range without taking damage. In this case, you will need to bring in siege. There is also a period of time from the industrial era to the information era where most cities will have arsenals, giving cities 3 range and giving them indirect fire, meaning your units can't really fire on cities without taking damage. When this happens still use your mounted ranged for fighting units but use siege for cities. Once the helicopter gunship comes around this won't be an issue however, as they will have a staggering 8 movement for Mongolia, as well as ignoring terrain costs.


Ordos can significantly speed up conquest of a city, but getting them requires sacrificing a Khan. So consider carefully if the help an Ordo gives conquering one or two cities is more help then that Khan was giving you alive

Mongolia has units that are nigh untouchable, with a better infrastructure then you might think, and the ability to terrorize any city state of their choosing. It may seem impossible to combat them at first, but there are weaknesses in the Mongolian strategy.


There isn't a lot you can do to stop Mongolia from bullying city states, however, this might actually be a good thing for other civs. Bullied city states often give out quests after they are bullied, including asking for a protection pledge, denouncing or even declaring war on the civ that bullied them. This means that city states near Mongolia should be easy to ally. But that's not the real scary part of the Mongolian UA, it's their fast mounted ranged units.

It is all about using the terrain. Try to force Mongolian units to come through rough terrain, but don't stand your units next to rough terrain, Mongolia will just move onto it, attack then retreat. Make the rough terrain part of the path. Do it just right and Mongolia won't be able to attack your units without putting themselves at risk of counterattack. Your best option against Mongolia is usually mounted units. While they are most certainly outmaneuvered, they can punish poor positioning better then other units. If you have a Mongolian neighbor, you might want to avoid putting cities in large swaths of open terrain. Try to put cities on hills if at all possible, it makes it much harder for Mongolia to hide behind rough terrain


There isn't a lot you can do about the faith or border growth that the Ger provides, however there is one thing you can do, that can in general hurt Mongolia. Their reliance on horses. Mongolia can to be fair get by on a smaller army then a lot of civs, but they still need a decent amount of resources to get an army going. If you can steal any horses near Mongolia, as well as any other pasture resources while you are at it, you've hurt Mongolia in both military capacity and growth. Mongolia is in fact one of the few possibly the only domination civ I would say forward settling is at all advisable


Khans are more of a supplement to the already scary Mongolian horde then something to actively worry about, but there are still a few tips to give. Try to fully finish off a Mongolian unit if possible, a retreat won't buy you as much time as it would for other civs. Also try to focus down any unit escorting a Khan if you can, Khans go down just as easy as a great general, they can just get away easier if you don't take them out the moment they are vulnerable. Ordos will only become an issue if Mongolia can get a border with you, so try to avoid that. If they do get a border, either from conquest or a forward settle, push them back hard and either pillage the Ordo or take the city that it belongs to, otherwise Mongolia will be able to focus fire even more effectively then they already can.


Early-Game Warmongers: Forward settle Mongolia and try to take their horses, and they should be easy to take out

Mid-Game Warmongers: Keep slower units clumped together, they'll die very easily if they get separated. Put pressure on Mongolian cities to try and bait them into an ambush, preferably one with mounted melee units

Late-Game Warmongers: Until helicopter gunships the strategy remains the same as before, but helicopter gunships make things incredibly difficult. armor units are now a terrible option. Instead use a mix of rocket artillery and mechanized infantry. Giant Death Robots if possible are probably the best counter, and air units can assist too.

Diplomatic Players: It may on the surface seem like Mongolia will be a detriment to your goals, but in fact they are just the opposite. Build up a good defense, and you can easily get lots of easy alliances

Scientific Players: Keep on top of unit techs and try your best to get to arsenals. If you can do that, Mongolia becomes far more manageable until helicopter gunships, which by then you should have just as good if not better units, if you haven't already won.

Cultural Players: Get defensive wonders, especially the Great Wall to slow if not entirely halt the Mongolian advance. If you can hold out until arsenals Mongolia is manageable until the extreme late game

These guide cover every civ in the game, and can be used as a quick reference

• Civ Summaries

• America (Domination/Science/Culture)
  
• Arabia (Culture/Science)
  
• Assyria (Science/Domination)
  
• Austria (Diplomacy/Culture)
  
• The Aztecs (Domination/Science)
  
• Babylon (Science)
  
• Brazil (Culture)
  
• Byzantium (All)
  
• Carthage (Domination/Diplomacy)
  
• The Celts (Domination/Culture/Science)
  
• China (Domination/Culture)
  
• Denmark (Domination)
  
• Egypt (Culture)
  
• England (Domination/Diplomacy)
  
• Ethiopia (Science)
  
• France (Domination/Culture)
  
• Germany (Diplomacy/Science)
  
• Greece (Domination/Diplomacy/Culture)
  
• The Huns (Domination)
  
• The Inca (Science/Domination)
  
• India (Science/Culture)
  
• Indonesia (Domination/Culture/Science)
  
• The Iroquois (Domination)
  
• Japan (Domination/Culture)
  
• Korea (Science/Domination)
  
• The Maya (Science/Domination)
  
• Morocco (Culture/Diplomacy)
  
• The Netherlands (Diplomacy/Domination)
  
• The Ottomans (Domination/Science)
  
• Persia(Domination/Culture)
  
• Poland (Domination)
  
• Polynesia (Culture)
  
• Portugal (Science/Diplomacy)
  
• Rome (Domination/Science)
  
• Russia (Science/Domination)
  
• The Shoshone (Domination/Science/Culture)
  
• Siam (Diplomacy/Science/Culture)
  
• Songhai (Domination)
  
• Spain (Domination/Diplomacy)
  
• Sweden (Domination)
  
• Venice (Diplomacy/Culture/Domination)
  
• The Zulus (Domination)