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 Aztecs!

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.

The Aztecs have a forest/jungle start bias. This is great for their UU, which indirectly helps your UA as your UU's effectiveness determines the effectiveness of you UA a lot in the early game


Receive & from each enemy killed

When you complete a favorable peace treaty (25+ warscore) begin a golden age




A melee unit



Positive One-Off Changes

• Higher combat strength (10 instead of 8)
  
• Obsoletes at Steel rather than Bronze Working

Positive Stay on Upgrade Changes

• +33% combat strength fighting in forest/jungle
  
• Double movement through forest/jungle. +10% defending in rough terrain(Woodsman)
  
• Heals 25 dmg if it kills a unit

Positive Changes

• +2 & +3 (Up from +0 and +2 respectively)
  
• Does not require a nearby river
  
• +1 per 4
  
• +10% during golden ages
  
• Lake tiles give +2
  
• River tiles give +1

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


The Aztecs have a strong early rush with their UU, and incentives to go to war for nearly the entire game makes domination their preferred victory route. However, outside of their UU, they don't actually have any military bonuses.
The Aztecs lack any benefits to culture or tourism
Food is actually likely the Aztec's greatest strength, in fact they probably have the most food of any warmonger. Despite them lacking any direct bonuses to science, this does make them a good science civ
As long as the Aztecs are killing units, they'll be making plenty of gold. They do lack any diplomacy bonuses to leverage this towards though
The Aztecs make as much faith from fighting as they do gold, making them a solid religious civ.

Rawr!

Coming in as the earliest unique unit in the game, the Aztecs start off in an interesting position thanks to the Jaguar. Since it replaces the warrior, you actually start the game with a Jaguar. The Jaguar does give you a lot more then just coming early



Jaguar's start with Woodsman, making it so they can move quickly through forests and jungles. Considering your start bias, this will allow you to easily move your army through your starting area. This is doubly useful considering the Jaguar's next promotion



Jaguars get a 33% combat bonus in forests/jungles. This gives them 13 combat strength, on par with a horeseman, or a massive 24 against barbarians assuming you have the Authority opener, which is just one point shy of a knight! In fact probably no civ is better at killing barbarians in the early game then the Aztecs. Of course just killing barbarians is not all they are capable of. Rushing the first civ you find will almost certainly be a good idea.


Note the green +25

The final promotion Jaguar's have is that they heal 25 hp upon killing a unit. This can be increased to a massive 40 hp with Authority's dominance policy. As long as they can get kills, Jaguars have to spend very little time healing.

• +33% combat strength fighting in forest/jungle
  
• Double movement through forest/jungle. +10% defending in rough terrain(Woodsman)
  
• Heals 25 dmg if it kills a unit

Jaguars upgrade very well, and it doesn't take a lot of techs to get to spearman. It is only a 2 combat strength bump and formation I, so while it is worth getting to bronze working early and upgrading a few Jaguars if you have the money, don't delay your first war over it, Jaguars are perfectly capable un-upgraded until medieval units come around, in which case spearman wouldn't make the difference anyways

Jaguars may give you the punch you need to pull off early war, but it's the Aztec UA that makes them really want to fight



Whenever the Aztecs kill a unit, they gain faith and gold equal to 1.5x the unit's combat strength. This means 4 warrior kills puts the Aztecs 2 faith short of a pantheon, made up by just one turn of shrine faith or meeting a faith city state first. With Authority's dominance policy, you'll also earn culture and science on top of that, meaning you'll want to kill as many units as possible. Obviously you'll want to kill and possibly even farm as many barbarians as possible, but it can be difficult to guard a barbarian encampment effectively. What you'll really want to do is declare war. Unlike pretty much every other civ though, your goal is not just strictly to siege and take cities. Of course you'll still want to take some, might as well, but you'll want to hunt down and kill units, even those that otherwise won't cause any problems. Jaguars are excellent for this, due to their enhanced mobility, strength, and healing.


Gao was in a significantly better spot then my capital for everything except defense. Good thing it was also very close to my capital.

The other part of the Aztec UA is that if you make peace with 25 or more warscore, or if you completely eliminate a civ, you start a golden age. This makes recovery out of a war a decent bit easier, and on top of the yields from killing units can make it worth starting small wars if you are confident you can get the necessary warscore but don't want to go full out for a capital conquest and/or vassalization.

The other two Aztec uniques pushes them into a domination civ focused on messy, high casualty wars. The Floating Gardens offers a completely different, but nearly equally powerful route


Unfortunately didn't find any lakes this game, but had a fair amount of rivers

Floating Gardens give 2 major benefits. The biggest of the two is that it gives river tiles +1 food. As shown in Gao this could easily be half or more of a city's tiles. This makes it easier to work tiles that don't otherwise give much food, and just in general will result in higher population cities. The other big benefit of the Floating Gardens is that, despite being a watermill replacement, it does not require you to be next to a river. This means you can build it in every city, gaining the superior benefits of a watermill over a well, plus the extra benefits the Floating Gardens gives, even if the city lacks river tiles. One small side effect of this is that you cannot build a well in any of your cities. While the watermill and even moreso the Floating Gardens are superior, it does require more production then the well, which could mean it takes a bit more time to get new cities going. However once they are going they'll be stronger then most.



For the other minor benefits, the Floating Gardens gives a 10% food boost during a golden age, which combos well with the Aztecs getting a golden age upon significantly winning a war. It also gives food scaling with citizens at the same rate it gives production. It also gives a bit of culture. Finally, it gives lakes +2 food

As the Floating Gardens give the Aztecs a potential alternative victory to domination by giving such strong food output, it is good to determine when you'd want to do what. Quite simply, if you have a lot of rivers or lakes, you probably want to consolidate your empire after your first or perhaps second war and build up your infrastructure for your high population cities. If you lack the terrain the Floating Gardens want, it is probably better to stick to war

Terrain/resource specific pantheons are not listed here unless they have some other synergy with a civ's uniques, however they can often be a great choice if the terrain/resources you start with favors them

God of War: Stacks incredibly well with the Aztecs bonuses to give tons of yields when killing units. You'll have a religion in no time

Goddess of Purity: If you get a great spawn to make the most of your floating gardens, this will make it just that little bit better

Goddess of Renewal: If you spawn in a lot of forests and jungles, this will give you a lot of yields early, although it'll probably be weaker in the long run then the two above


Hero Worship: Gives a ton of bonuses for your more conventional conquest.

Divine Inheritance: If you have a good city in a good spot to make your holy city, this can give a lot of yields given your ability to stay in more golden ages


Teocalli: Fitting that an Aztec building in real life synergizes perfectly with their abilities

Orders: Stronger units for more killing for more yields

Mandirs: Your cities grow fast so this will be a good chunk of yields

Mosques: More science and culture, can't complain

Diligence: The only thing the Aztecs need that they don't get much of from other sources is production, so this will help with that


Zealotry: Allows you to really put your faith towards domination

Sacred Calendar: A great choice to take advantage of golden ages and get a bit of extra gold too

Universalism: A good chunk of science and faith considering the conquered but high population of your empire


Crusader Spirit: A huge boost to your army strength

Defender of the Faith: A good backup to Crusader Spirit if someone gets it first

Divine Teachings: The best reformation belief for any science civ

The Aztecs should start with Authority both to make their first (and potential later) wars easier, and to stack the bonuses they get from killing units. They should then go Fealty to better use their faith and build up infrastructure. Finally, it depends on what route they want to go. Imperialism if they want to stick with domination, or Rationalism if they'd rather use their high population for science


Opener: Culture on top of your other yields. Also your Jaguars shred barbarians even more now

Dominance: Get some science out of your kills too, truly a monstrous amount of yields. Your Jaguars also heal even more, making them nearly immortal on the offense

Tribute: Some extra yields for your cities here and there never hurt

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: The Aztecs do alright with gold but they can struggle with happiness. This helps out

Honor: Some extra units here and there, plus they are all stronger. Neat.

Finisher: Free Companies, Foreign Legions and Mercenaries can be useful from time to time, especially since you should have a decent bit of money to purchase them as needed


Opener: Monasteries are a solid building and the cheaper faith buys are nice too.

Nobility: Castles are a decent building, but armories are often a pain to build, even for warmongers. This makes both much easier to build, and actually gives even more incentive to build castles in particular

Divine Right: A big help to happiness, and maybe even a bit of culture

Serfdom: If you've got some pastures on rivers they'll really shine

Burghers: Extra border growth combines well with Tribute from Authority and the production is quite welcome

Organized Religion: Should make it a bit easier to spread your religion to nearby cities and keep it there

Finisher: A few extra yields, not terrible


Opener: At this point in the game (depending on the map type you're playing on) your last rivals are likely on different continents, so faster navies and embarked units is great. The extra production is good, and the cheaper upgrades are great.

Colonialism: You're bound to have at least a few monopolies by now, might as well get more out of them

Regimental Tradition: Great Generals and Admirals are very important to keep your army fighting at peak strength, so making them affect more units, and affect them better, is great. Unfortunately doesn't effect heroism units

Martial Law: You might have a few puppets by this point, and now they are less of a burden

Exploitation: Because your tile yields (especially lakes) weren't good enough?

Civilizing Mission: Gold to support your conquests, production to support your conquered cities, both exactly what you need on the war path.

Finisher: A better navy, less unhappiness, and making your air units more effective on defense are all solid things to have


Opener: Lots of science and a bit of production.

Scientific Revolution: Depending on the terrain this could be only a bit of science or a ton, but overall it's usually worth building these.

Empiricism: Helps prevent other civs from leeching off your science lead

Rights of Man: Little bit of food, better villages, probably the weakest policy in rationalism.

Enlightenment: A free tech and more science is a fantastic bonus. I recommend putting it off till this late because the free tech is likely more useful if you postpone it to when the techs are more expensive

Free Thought: Great Scientists are critical in getting through the atomic and information era, and this makes them better at it.

Finisher: More Great Scientists and more growth so your cities can truly explode in population

If you're going domination Autocracy obviously serves the Aztecs best, but if not, Freedom serves a tall science civ best


Civil Society: Before you were making lots of food. Now you'll be making lots of lots of food.

Universal Suffrage: In case you get into any solid wars this will make those golden ages longer

Avant Garde: Should help you get more scientists and engineers, which are both very important


Universal Healthcare: A free hospital in every city, possibly before you even have biology researched, is amazing.

Capitalism: Should be a solid amount of gold given the size of your cities


Space Procurements: Makes your gold much more useful towards your science victory. In fact you could even have a war pay for your spaceship parts.


Elite Forces: Whether you need to replenish your army or are continuing to fight with veteran units, this will make them improve much faster

Military Industrial Complex: Combined with Imperialism upgrading units is pretty much free

New World Order: The Aztecs struggle with happiness even more then most warmongers. This won't completely fix it but it helps


Lightning Warfare: Better armor and gun units, as well as faster generals is hard for almost any civ to stand up to.

Martial Spirit: It might be a good idea to delay this if you have more then 1 or 2 civs left to conquer, but this will allow you to clean up your last few conquests


Air Supremacy: Free Airports allow your army to be almost anywhere at any time, and almost eliminates the need for a navy as long as you've conquered/founded a city on every continent

Statue of Zeus: The biggest hurdle in your first conquest will be capturing the capital. This will make it a bit easier


Oracle: Almost a free tech and policy, no reason not to grab this if you can

Terracotta Army: Add just a bit more culture on your yield pile of death


Alhambra(Authority Only): Some extra culture is nice, plus some bonuses to mounted units if you want to diversify

Karlstejn: Reformation beliefs can give a massive boost to either domination or science. The faster you can get one the better

Hagia Sofia: A free great prophet to enhance or spread your religion to a pesky rival


Chichen Itza: This may belong to your Yucatan neighbors, but it is more useful for you

Porcelain Tower(Science): Should be a large bonus to your science output

Red Fort(Fealty Only): Put this near an aggressive neighbor or towards your next point of conquest, and laugh at the ranged coverage and defense of the city


Brandenburg Gate: Better units for your warfare, whether domination is your victory of choice or not, this is still useful

Neuschwanstein: A lot of happiness. Even a science Aztecs can have happiness problems, let alone a domination one. This wonder is practically essential for a stable empire


Prora(Autocracy Only): Speaking of happiness, this will leave you pretty set on that front

Statue of Liberty(Freedom Only): A nice bit of production for the presumably large amount of specialists you have


Bletchley Park(Rationalism Only): Makes your spies better, makes everyone else's worse. Nothing to complain about here

Pentagon(Imperialism Only): Gives you more, and better air units. Great to finish the game with


CERN: Two free techs, awesome no matter what you're doing

Great Firewall(Science): Makes it almost impossible for other civs to steal your science

Hubble Space Telescope(Science): The final push you need to get all your spaceship parts going.

The Aztec's bonuses may appear fairly simple and straightforward, and they are, but they combine in a very odd way. If not handled correctly, you could find yourself weak and vulnerable


If you aren't fighting units, you aren't getting much out of the Aztec UA. Don't completely overextend yourself and abandon other goals to do it, especially later in the game, but you want your wars to be messy. You get a lot out of it


The Aztec's strong growth bonuses are already going to cause some problems with happiness. If you try to conquer and keep too many cities you are going to collapse. You should only keep very few cities in your conquest. Preferably even avoid razing cities if you can get away with it, as you can vassalize the civ you're fighting, and the stronger they are the better for you


In the first few turns of the game Jaguars are easily the strongest unit. Coming so early does have its downsides however. Jaguars will be outclassed quicker then most unique units. They can still hold their own in the classical, especially if they are in forests/jungles, but they are still at somewhat of a disadvantage. When you can, make sure to upgrade your Jaguars into spearman. Don't waste time getting steel either, even spearman in forests/jungles will be hilariously weak against medieval units. Don't be afraid to mix up your army comp later too.


Forests/jungles may hold lots of value for your Jaguars, but this is usually most applicable on offense. You shouldn't need to worry about it very much in your own lands, especially if you are the one doing lots of conquest. Treat forests/jungles like anyone else


Floating Gardens give their most when the terrain is right. If you find that terrain, make sure to settle it. Rivers may be the most likely to appear en masse, but if you see a lake heavy area, that can truly be an incredible city. Don't underestimate the food on lakes, even if they are rarer.

The Aztecs get more out of war and especially killing units. They also have some of the strongest food bonuses around. However, outside of the early game they lack any real bonuses to warfare. In fact, some of their strengths can actively hurt their perceived goals.


Both parts of the Aztec UA are very easy to counter if you simply consider one thing. They only come into effect when the Aztecs are already winning/at an advantage. It does nothing to help them reach that point. As long as you have even a comparable army to the Aztecs, they are going to struggle, especially if it's past the early game. Keep your ranged and other weakened units safe, and the Aztecs won't be gaining much at all


The Jaguars are the biggest reason why the above strategy could run into issues. If you have an Aztec neighbor early on, you're in for some trouble. You'll want to get walls up as fast as possible to avoid complete annihilation. For fighting the Jaguars themselves, it will be tough. Horseman are your best bet if you can get them, at least until they upgrade to spearman. Avoid fighting them anywhere near forests/jungles. You will lose. If you can survive their first attack. Swordsman, and then medieval units are your goal. If you can get that far, you should be home free.


The Floating Gardens are very terrain dependent, but they're dependent on a different terrain to the one Aztec units excel in. Use this to your advantage. As long as they aren't significantly forested/jungled, settle areas near the Aztecs with lots of rivers and lakes. They will both be denied the bonuses from their Floating Gardens, and struggle to take it from you as they will have almost no military bonuses in which to do so.


The Iroquois and the Aztecs on the surface share many similarities. A dependence on forests/jungles, an early melee unit, and a building for growth and production. If you want a further breakdown on their exact similarities, I did so in my Iroquois guide. One thing I didn't note there in too much detail however, is how they'd fair fighting eachother. The Iroquois fair slightly better then most in the very early game, but Jaguars still beat them handily. However, if the Iroquois get their UU, it completely turns around. If you are the Aztecs, you'll want to make sure you take out the Iroquois fast before they turn your terrain against you.


Early-Game Warmongers: Bad time, not worth, their Jaguars will destroy you unless you're the Iroquois with your UU. If you absolutely must, try to lure them out of the forests/jungles.

Mid & Late Game Warmongers: Make sure to keep your ranged units safe from harm, and try not to sacrifice as many units as you might normally, and they should prove an easy foe

Scientific Players: The Aztecs rely on high food and strong infrastructure rather then direct science bonuses. This gives them a solid late game, but some weakness in the early and even mid-game science. If you believe them a threat, around the medieval renaissance era would be a good time to attack them militarily.

Diplomatic Players: Global Peace Accords may seem like a poor choice, but the Aztecs only have a good economy when fighting. Similar to Songhai, their economy is very fragile if not fighting, so Global Peace Accords can hurt a lot. Banning their luxuries hurts as well as they can struggle with happiness

Cultural Players: The Aztecs can benefit from a strong religion. Stealing some religious wonders can hurt them a bit.

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)
  
• 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)
  
• Mongolia (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/Culture)
  
• Sweden (Domination)
  
• Venice (Diplomacy/Culture/Domination)
  
• The Zulus (Domination)