Smart, fast-paced, well-spoken, well-prepared advice from a clearly very experienced player to make the transition from intermediate to advanced and expert level player faster and much less painful. Dude you are simply excellent at this, please keep going with the tips & tutorials, I always find your assessment of units/strategies/wonders/starting locations and Civs very helpful and well-reasoned. I learned a ton, I'm good at reading terrain and defending or planning attacks but I find it hard to develop and especially adapt game-winning long-term strategies and picking out exactly the right wonders and policies at the right time. I'm decent at warfare and it was obvious to me that catapults are a waste, but you made me realize that I severely under-utilize horses, usually I only used them as harassment and backup city-taking unit. It would be nice to play a game some time with your group, but I'm probably still too terribly mediocre. Generally you make it much easier to see the big picture, instead of getting lost in the tactical details that often don't really make or break your game. Thanks for your efforts.

you just destroyed my life saying the catapult is shit lol. I'll never build it again :(

Just wanted to say that your videos are sadly way too unknown, you deserve a bigger audience.

Filthy forgot to say that you can also get information from your military advisor. You find him in the advisor council, same drop-down-menu as the demographics, and he tells you how your military is compared to the other civs by giving you one of seven messages. If a neighbor of yours has "an army that could wipe us off the planet", you should be worried, even if another guy on the other side of the world is still first place in demos.

If your worker removes the marsh you no longer suffer the combat penalty. Workers cannot remove floodplains or oases.

filthy is the civ 5 wiki

the map looks like a 3-eyed fish

Filthyrobot is actually the only person on KZfaq who I will watch hour long videos for. Tfw a gaming KZfaq’s for a game that’s a decade old is a better lecturer than most college profs...

12:35 perfectly timed comedic "mooo", LOL

39:55 8 years after watching this for the first time and after 3018 hours of Civ 5 i learned something new from this video. Filthy was just so incredible at this game it's just amazing.

Just getting into Civ 5 and your videos are great. It's been especially hard to find good ones covering combat, which seems to be the most difficult part of the game to get right.

50:00 "Some players are aggressive and like to go to war, I'm not one of them" You so funny :P

Thank you for this video! I learned a lot even though I've been playing Civ 5 for years. I have almost never played multiplayer competitively (only as a team with a friend vs AI) and have mostly only played on warlord or prince, so I was getting by winning fairly easily without knowing more. Anyhow, thanks very much. I'm planning to check out more of your Civ 5 guides after this one. As an aside, you kept mentioning "place your general here" or "generaling" and I found it confusing for while. I figured out that I think you were talking about placing a citadel, but since a great general gives some bonuses to adjacent units without building a citadel I was confused.

Great video Marcus Aurelius. I needed this. Thanks

even 7 years later, this is a very good explanation and doesn't go on for an hours lol.

Hey man, just wanted to say thanks for the videos they helped me improve my play a lot!

Lesson of the video: 47:35 If you stick it somewhere. Stick it somewhere really good. I apoligize for the childish comment. :D Really well explained and easy to understand. Good job.

Never knew about the production queuing trick. That's amazing.

*Sun Tzu wants to know your location

does a citadel stack additively or multiplicatively with the hill +25% defense bonus?

Two questions. What do you think of swordsmen, longswordsmen, and muskets completely being off the optimal tech path of CS->education, and swords in particular being weaker than pikes? I thought ranged units used their melee strength when defending from ANY attack, ranged or melee? I could be wrong though.

Great video. Love your Games. Hope they fix MP soon.

Can you do warfare on other eras please like late game and stuff

This video helped me a lot as I'm a pretty new player. Thanks!

is this going to expand to war in the modern era or something? im not entirely sure how to dogfight properly etc

Very good tutorial. Never realized that the melee units arent your damage lmao. (Well, aside from the impi)

18:19 is underrated. That's a really good tip.

luv the guides man ty, years late, but i hope the like helps.

If I rename a unit using the mod or with a promotion, do other players see that name?

Very good, informative video albeit a bit dated at this point. I am still playing Civ V and I am not a strategy game wizard. Other videos I have watched lately had little to no substance, but yours is very good. Just wanted to chime in with that. Well, I'm off to try out some of the tactics you mentioned that I hadn't thought about. Thanks.

You said the Catapult doesn't have any bonuses but like all siege units it has 200% vs Cities.

Woah, I've never even considered something like 'prebuilding.' I guess it's cus I rarely play multiplayer. Sneaky stuff, and saves some gold too! :O

Would you make a promotion guide for the units most used?

Awesome videos man. I have a quick question that I can't seem to find the answer to anywhere. If you have a unit and you press SPACEBAR to skip his turn, does he still get the fortified bonus, assuming he hasn't moved that turn? or do you have to actually press F or A.

Oh, and also I was wondering if you'd agree that catapults are still useful when playing only vs AI and on lower difficulties (up to prince?) and only for attacking cities since if you keep them safe, for 75 hammers they have in effect a 16 combat strength vs the city?

I have a fair few hours on this game and it never occurred to me and it makes me wonder how you figured it out that other people have technology that you don't have costs you less I just thought it was because you are progressing in the game thanks for the tip

Also what about promotions. What if they have mt. Kilimanjaro, then would you place your city in a bunch of hills?

I was playing as The Huns, Brazil had well defended capital. 1 battering ram, 1 scout and 2-3 turns later, Rio de Janeiro was no more. Seriously, if you are defending against Attila in this era, you better have one strong military.

When you say "until they fix the Hybrid system", what do you mean? Is Hybrid mode broken, and in what way? I haven't played multiplayer a lot, is there a lag issue or something?

Does the bonuses stack like You add bonus and then multiple base value by this (VALUE x (1+20%+25%) or like in majority of games ((VALUE x 1+20%) x 1+25%)?

I know that the catapult is pretty trash against other civs, but I have some what put it into my meta game. It was mainly for smaller maps which didnt have many tiles to settle. I would use them to take city states as I could easily send them right beside one. In the early game(mainly classical era) I can take a city state in 2 turns with 2 catapults and a spearman and mabye a composite bowman. I would usually capture around 3 city states. Then I could upgrade them into trebuchets and have a use for them later. Just my two cents, I think they're good for taking city states but thats really it. Thoughts on a better method to do this?

How do I get tool tips, such as the one at 12:58? I've looked all over the menus and can't find it

What about the rest of the eras?

is it meta playing with ruins? i noticed you have ruins in this. I thought it would limit RNG if you play without.

I did not know about the defensive penalty on flood plains. I did know about marshes and you also forgot that oasis have the same penalty. You mentioned something about hybrid being broken? Isn't a combat system with connection determining success more broken?

3:12 In Civ 4, units which ended their turn with "Space" got the same advantages as units which ended their turn with "F" (assuming they hadn't moved yet.) Is this true of Civ 5, as well? Or do you *have* to put the unit to sleep to gain defensive bonuses in Civ 5?

Would all this also work when playing against the AI? or is it just for multi-player?.

As a player who hasn't tried multiplayer, this video was very helpful!

hi, i started playing this game like 2 years ago,,have a break and played again lately on BNW, thats why im not too pro and i really learned a lot on your vids and on other, i always aim for domination victories, i only feel satisfaction on that, lol, after i beat a certain difficulty, i go up..im on emperor right now with byzantium, tho i failed to build my own religion im leading at the moement in within my almost 2 weeks of playing it.

I'd say from a defensive position your capital is safer because it has mountains on the north side so realistically you could choke point the south

Horsemen are also great for responding to barbarian-related CS quests faster than other players if you're going for diplo or just want some friends. Until the barbs start spawning pikemen, at least. lol

Catapults can be good if your oponent doesn't have a single military unit (like the city state that I took over in the ancient era)

Have you made videos for war in different areas? I find online play to be too easy, there is almost no competition. So I really only play against the computer on immortal or deity. Although in deity I feel like it's impossible to take some land cities without nukes in the last era, which I hate because then the population is destroyed. Do you have strategies to take well placed defensive cities without nukes? If the city is by the sea it is fairly easy to capture though.

what exactly is wrong with the hybrid system? cause he said it needs to be fixed.

The catapult gets bonuses to attacking units and cities? Tf u mean?

Well settled? Sure it has iron but it has desert on its back side I would have pushed north 2 more tiles for the resources and I would get the defense bonuses from the hill

important to note that this is only for multilayer with no mods. If you have the 3 units per tile or are in single player things are completely different.

would you ever recommend baiting a neighbour in by saying you are attacked from the other side then crush his army in transit or attack his capital?

Around 37:25, I know you mean well, but months of playing Civ 5 and I still don't know where to find info about other players. I know of the Demographics page in general, but I have no idea how to find out where others are in the tech tree. You may have "the curse of knowing " (not remembering fully what it was like not to know what you know now). I'm sure it's obvious to you and all the other No Quitters players, but Civ 5 has a very complicated structure, and info hides in a wide variety of places.

Ay man im listening to you explaining civ 5 really well.Out of nowhere I hear you at like 14:45 doubt yourself,and needlessly correct yourself, saying that defensibility isnt a word. Dont doubt yourself dude and even if you do fake it till you make it! Thanks for the great civ 5 advice i am currently trying to get all the achievements these are a great help!

where dyou play multiplayer civ5? cant find any populated ones XD

thing about civ V players is that they don't like war at all, yet civ rev players enjoy war. reason why civ V online is so easy to win because everyone fights for the late game, rather than just rushing and quickly taking a capital.

what is wrong with hybrid mode? Civ 5 is really fun and i am intrested in playing more multi but i found i don't really enjoy simul turn combat. Since i am quite a slow but strategic type player

Personally I'm wary of attacking the capital first and leaving well-defended cities for later. The city only becomes even more annoying when it has a palace freshly built. I usually only leave hardy cities if I'm not planning to finish the war completely in the short-term. If I'm willing to wait for an era or two the lost capital will get them so far behind it will work out nicely, but if I'm going to turn around and kill that city in a few turns it's really not good to fight through the palace more than once if you can avoid it.

See, I've always built 1 or 2 catapults before tech advances past them simply for cheap. I then put them on Frontline cities and declare war. Getting them upgrade to plus 1 range, makes them into deadly trebuchet, and eventually artillery

Would you say Catapults are viable as Persia if you attack during a Golden Age, since they can move from outside of city range and still attack? At first thought this seemed like it could work well, however putting more thought into it even the 3 movement doesn't particularly justify their use. I did manage to successfully use them in a siege recently, but my opponent focussed on killing the Melee units I sent in a bait, so I would have to agree that they're probably not worthwhile, especially against more competent opponents. As another question, whilst their meant to be more defensive units, have you ever tried using Hwach'as a support in a siege. Despite being much more fragile than Crossbows, I have a feeling a wall of Hwach'as may be effective at holding off flank attacks or support coming from other cities. I have never attempted this, what are your thoughts?

the -10% Combat reduction is only for flood plain and oasis ^^

The thing is it would be nice to see how you actually build up to this.. you talk about building roads bringing workers to clear forest having an army.. in the ancient era.. how do you have the time to build all of this in the ancient era and what about gold per turn and happiness and all this other stuff. That's why it would be nice to see you actually get to this stage step by step..

Could you weigh in on the advantages of actually going the catapult/trebuchet route instead of the archer/composite/crossbow route so that you can have an unbroken upgrade path to artillery? Would that be viable for a defensive game? Crossbows are great, but gatling guns much less so.

Do you plan on doing a video about religion?

I'm from pka. I like you intellect, and civ.

Any particular reason why you usually use Brazil as your test civ in these videos?

Civlopedia: Made by the game to tell us everything about it Filthy: Thats wrong

How do you like the roman ballista

Question about roads, tho. EVERYONE can use them, right? Enemies included. Now I'm not saying you should not build them, but I'm surprised I never see anyone saying "But careful not place them willy-nilly, or you'll allow your enemy to reach you faster". Or am I getting something wrong?

If you attack a mounted unit across a river, do you still get a penalty or is that considered a defensive bonus?

i have 400 hours in civ 5 and im now learning the catapult is bad bruh

So- just my two cents worth- 31.5 minutes in you’re comparing cities to attack. All other things being equal I’d say go for the well defended city first, only because if you take the capital first, then the well defended city can then Become their capital, which will give it the extra defense bonus- thus turning it from a ‘well-defended’ city in a Very well defended city.

"defensibility" is a perfectly cromulent word: dictionary.reference.com/browse/defensibility (see "related words")

can trireme's attack cities like galleys can?

I did not know you could chop in enemy territory!

whats the mod that allows you to tell your cities what to build before they finish the current one? also ive lost the hammers on pre-built military units by waiting to long to finish them, idk how that works

com-poe-sit bowman

Edit : Found the video explaining my question :)

Hi FilthyRobot, I loved this video. Would you be kind enough to share/post your notes? I would just like some bullet points so I can remember all this good stuff while I'm in-game. Cheers.

Just started playing the game and found your videos. Really like them, appreciate trying to keep them as concise as possible but you talk really fast for a tutorial type video well at least for new players like myself.

Defensibility is most certainly a word.

46:30 Poland during WWII

hmm... never thought of warfare this way... -_- , so this is why i get stuck below immortal AI

Video has exactly 60.000 views

it's "defendable".

I have a question based on a scenario I confronted last time. So if anyone can help me, that'd be great. I was starting with Brazil and right when I mark out my expansion points, I see Rome. Rome scouts out my borders and, as anticipated, he starts forward settling in my face; taking one of the prime real estate spaces I desired. So I shift gears and start going for war. End up taking one of his cities and I realize that there is no way to move for true peace. If I proposed peace after taking the first city, he'd probably just keep building military units and attack me 20 turns later -- that's if he would even accept peace in the first place! So I ended up pushing hard and taking two more cities and his capitol. I was in a horrible position with science and technology, I was expanded far beyond where I intended.... but I don't know how I could have avoided that. I know the answers I receive will be limited because you didn't view the game but still: what do you do if you're facing a hyper aggressive player that you can never forge long standing peace with?

I only play against computers and for me it looks like this: Up to about turn 100-120 I don't bother with military, except for 2-4 scouts, maybe 1 tireme and 2-3 brutes/archers/spearmen to kill barbarian camps and escort settlers. Then a neighbour or two get pissed that I'm forward settling them and buying tiles or that I've built Petra or whatever and I tell them to get lost. I get a little worried and set one of my cities to build barracks and composite bowmen to put 1 in each of my cities and if I'm really worried, I also build some walls or save up 400+ gold. Sometimes this is enough and I can develop my cities in peace and even build Wonders, other times my neighbours declare war, because apparently they care more about the military strength than my production and defensive terrain around my cities. Sometimes I loose a city, but I can usually stall them long enough to have an army of my own and kill their units until they offer me a city to peace out. Then I hit really bad hapiness issue. Then everyone hates ME for being a warmonger, even though I didn't start any wars. Then my enemies fear my military and try to play nice. Idiots. As for basic stuff: I find that one ranged unit per city and walls on border towns plus maybe 1-2 melee units are usually enough of a deterrent. If enemy attacks, that ranged unit will help with a secondary attack and won't take damage, as a melee unit would. Having 1-3 melee units for support helps prevent encirclement and to kill wounded enemy melee units before they can escape. If enemy looses or at least gets severely wounded around 2 units per turn, he'll often loose momentum and will retreat. I've won against overwhelming odds by having forests and jungles around my city (which slowed down their movement), composite bowman garrison and 2-3 melee units that prevented envelopment and switched to heal behind the city. Oh and I killed a retreating wounded catapult with a scout. When attacking, I usually need around 4 melee units of 0.75 * strength of the city and about that many ranged units for support. Some of them will die, mostly to enemy units. Before attack, I envelop the city outside it's range, then move in all units at once, and hopefully take the city after 2 turns of attacking it with everything, at which point the enemy units around it tend to retreat. I've used trebutchets effectively, but they were slowing the envelopment down. I find that taking cities is doable in the classical and medieval era, but then defensive strength of cities outpaces what I can throw at them until Plastics and Infantry with 70 Strength. Even winning a war seems like a waste though, due to time wasted not building up cites and happiness issues from anexing/puppeting/razing. Plus unit upkeep is expensive and I like to keep it at about half my upkeep for buildings. I'm only getting 1-2 generals and they're usually better used to bring along for the 15% bonus than to put down a fort and take tiles. And I wouldn't even think of forward settling just to have a place for the units to heal or building "offensive" roads before watching this video.

I mostly play in Ottoman. I attach great importance to military power and dominate the civilizations around me. What matters to me is military power and economy. I do not care much about happiness.

Good morning Mr Filthy what you think is the best way to unlock rationalism social policy? First the right si de or the left side?

who pays for roads outside of cultural borders?

This map is a giant dinossaur! a triceratops

13:54

I like to torture myself with Civ V videos because I know I will never be able to run it on my computer.

12:41 lol