1.Brazil
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BRAZIL: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Brazilian_(Civ5)
The nation of Brazil is a very interesting one in Civilization 5. Their starting bias is in the jungle, which makes them a pretty hard starting civilization because of the bad starting location which you have much to do about until the medieval era.
The Brazilians are especially good for cultural victory. Because of their unique ability that grants double tourism bonus and increases great person generation during Golden Ages. Furthermore, players should emphasize building up a lot of happiness to trigger Golden Ages more often, in addition to building wonders and producing great writers, artists, and musicians.
WHY BRAZIL IS GREAT:
- Great leader trait
- Earn great persons at a higher rate
- Has golden ages more often
2.Celts
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CELTS: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Celtic_(Civ5)
One of the many added Civilizations from Gods and Kings DLC, the Celtic people are a strong and fearsome nation, with great special units and buildings. Their leader trait Druidic Lore makes them a strong faith nation which can bring cultural bonuses too. Their unique ability produces Faith from every city bordering an unimproved forest, and their starting bias usually puts them in large forested areas. This means they can form a Pantheon as early as Turn 5. With careful placement of their first two or three cities, they will be able to found a religion before Turn 30. Furthermore, thanks to the wide range of religious buildings, the Celts is one of the best cultural religious-oriented nations in the game, able to convert to their culture any city in a very short time.
WHY CELTS ARE GREAT:
- great leader trait
- strong special buildings
- strong cultural conversion power
3.Egypt
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT EGYPT: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Egyptian_(Civ5)
The people of Egypt led by the great Ramesses II, dominate the game when it comes to production and culture. Egypt is a great choice if you opt-in for a cultural victory because of its ability for fast expansion and production capability. Even more so because of their fast production rate, they can make wonders at an alarming rate, even stealing wonders from other nations with higher difficulty. Replacing the Temple, the Burial Tomb has per-city happiness and no maintenance cost - perfect for a wide empire. Regarding the war chariot, removing the Chariot Archer's horses requirement means that early military production can proceed with reckless abandon, allowing rapid expansion against an early neighbor.
WHY EGYPT IS GREAT:
- Great expansion opportunities
- Great leader traits
- Fast production of wonders
4.France
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FRANCE: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/French_(Civ5)
The France Empire is one of the strongest nations in Civilization 5, having no preferred starting bias, they still can develop very fast and take over the world with culture or military. The French civilization is aimed plainly at achieving cultural dominance and thus pursuing a cultural victory. Both their vanilla and unique abilities focus on that, although the new state of affairs is even more pronounced in that direction, because of their new improvement, the Chateau. Not only does it help defend their lands, but it also provides extra Culture for the empire, so use every opportunity to build Chateaux after researching chivalry.
WHY FRANCE IS GREAT:
- great tourist rates
- strong cultural power
- strong leader trait
5.Polynesia
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT POLYNESIA: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Polynesian_(Civ5)
Polynesia is a very interesting nation, having been added as a DLC nation, they made a great impact in the base game, being one of the strongest cultural nations. With a unique ability and improvement that allows them to be culturally dominant without necessarily having a small empire. Polynesian units can move through open seas from the very start of the game, permitting them to start settling foreign lands much earlier than any other civilization. One way to capitalize on this advantage is to build some reconnaissance units as soon as possible and start exploring the seas - they are able to find all these interesting places in the middle of the ocean while the other nations are still fighting Barbarians.
WHY POLYNESIA IS GREAT:
- strong starting bias
- great leader trait
- strong cultural dominance
6.Assyria
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ASSYRIA: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Assyrian_(Civ5)
The Assyrian Empire is a strong dominating one in the base game, having a great starting bias and a strong military presence they can easily win the game through the military. Even so, they have a strong military advantage, they have the ability to win the game culturally. Their unique ability allows them to steal technologies when conquering cities, this allows them to either catch up with their rivals or keep ahead in cultural technology throughout the game. Furthermore, they have extra Great Writing slots, which are scarce in the late game. Also is great at warfare if you need to take out a Civ with an insurmountable amount of culture built up.
WHY IS ASSYRIA GREAT:
- Great leader trait
- Strong trading culture
- Extra Great Person slots
7.Austria
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AUSTRIA: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Austrian_(Civ5)
The Austrian Empire is a strong base game nation, having great leader traits, a strong military, and a strong cultural history. Austria's unique ability allows you to spend Gold to acquire allied city-states without having to conquer them by military means, provided the city-state remains your ally for at least five consecutive turns. The exact price scales with the progress of the game (and the development of the city-state), starting from around 500 gold in the Ancient Era and reaching more than 1000 gold in the Information Era. Furthermore, coffee houses help you generate GWAMs faster and their lack of restrictions help you get the production bonuses for wonders anywhere.
WHY AUSTRIA IS GREAT:
- Great National traits
- Strong trading culture
- Fast cultural progress
8.India
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT INDIA: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Indian_(Civ5)
The Indian Empire has the best cultural progress in the entire game, having some great national and leader traits and the ability to handle a large number of cities which can provide faster wonders. Their unique ability makes initial expansion slower, but once cities reach size 6, Gandhi's bonus kicks in. While Gandhi does well with a few large cities, his ability also makes him uniquely suited for maintaining a wide empire with many cities. From the start, adopt the policies in the Tradition tree (and later the Freedom ideology) to maximize Population growth and specialist use and make the most of a limited territory.
WHY INDIA IS GREAT:
- Great leader trait
- Strong cultural progress
- Faster building of wonders
9.Spain
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SPAIN: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Spanish_(Civ5)
Spain is a great West-European Nation that is in the base game. Their naval power makes them one of the strongest military and economic nations in the base game. Furthermore, you can get a lot of tourists from natural wonders thanks to natural heritage sites, hotels, and airports.
The Spanish are the masters of exploration. They receive a 100 Gold bonus for discovering a natural wonder, which goes up to a whopping 500 Gold if they were the first to discover it, creating an advantage for the early game. Spain also gets double Happiness for discovering a natural wonder. Their starting bias also makes them a strong cultural influencer, allowing them to open fast trading routes over the sea, making them able to influence the culture and economy of other nations.
WHY SPAIN IS GREAT:
- Has the ability to develop strong tourists places
- Unique abilities which improve the cultural bases
- Great leader trait
10.Sweden
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SWEDEN: https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Swedish_(Civ5)
Sweden is a great diplomatic country, but even so, a greater cultural one, making them one of the strongest non-military countries in the base game. You should strongly consider adopting Patronage once you have access to that policy tree, and make it a priority to gain as many Great People as you can, whether from Specialists, Declarations of Friendship, or city-state allies (after adopting all the policies in the Patronage tree). Don't forget to give some of your Great People to city-states - each one translates to one new city-state ally! Additionally, you should try to build the Leaning Tower of Pisa as early as possible, which will give you an even greater advantage on the diplomatic front. Furthermore, thanks to the ability to make fast friends out of city-states they can easily gain cultural influence over them and in the late games, over other nations.
WHY SWEDEN IS GREAT:
- strong special buildings
- great leader trait
- great ability to make friends out of city states
