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Sid Meier's Civilization V > Guides > Ryan's Guides
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Basics - America
By Ryan
Hello, this is a quick video guide of what to expect if you are to pick America as your Civilization.
   
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Created by
Ryan
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Category: Characters, Classes, Gameplay Basics, Multiplayer, Walkthroughs
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
31 May, 2013 @ 7:58pm
9 Jul, 2013 @ 3:04pm
9,671 Unique Visitors
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Guide Index
Overview
Video of how to play America. 
Victory Conditions 
Social Policies 
Factoids 
Other Basic Guides 
Cont. 
Cont. 
Cont. 
Brave New World Basic Guides 
Comments
Video of how to play America.
This will tell you what to expect out of the special units, what to expect out of the playstyle, and what victory conditions to expect to dominate with.

Victory Conditions
Hello, if you really didn't want to watch the video I'll give a quick rundown of what you probably should be thinking if you are randomly paired up with the Americans or are just new to Civilization and think they would be fun to play!


Victory Conditions

  • Domination
    The added +1 Sight will help you drastically in the early game. If you play on a larger based map you'll be able to scout out all of the resources you should go to before anyone else. You'll also be able to get more ruins because you'll have an easier time locating them. Regardless of that, Domination is fantastic later in the game once you get your special units. It comes down to waiting - building up cities and buying the tiles to increase the amount of land you have is handy as well. It's a battle until the Industrial Era but once there then you begin to have the edge up on others. Recommended.

  • Science
    Considering you are able to buy tiles for cheap you'll be able to get natural resources fairly quicker than anyone else. You'll want to build a fair amount of cities and grab all the luxury resources you can for trade. Doing this will keep your happiness in the positives - when that happens your cities grow. Once the cities are grown enough they will produce quite a bit of science. With that, you'll be able to achieve a Scientific Victory so as long as things go well! Recommended.

  • Culture
    One of the weaker victory conditions Washington has. The only reason why it is somewhat viable is due to his personality trait which allows him to buy those extra tiles of land. With the newly bought tiles of land you can decide which ones you absolutely NEED right NOW! You'll have huge cities(city) so building only a few is possible. Just be careful of enemies as they will probably choose you as a prime target to attack if weak enough. Somewhat Recommended.

  • Diplomatic
    Although the USA is one of the most Diplomatic countries in the world, in Civilization V, they are not so Diplomatic. To the benefit of Firaxis, this is Washington leading the country so the Americans were Isolationists at the time. Nonetheless, you'll have no personality trait to help you win nor will you have any special unit/etc. to help with this victory condition either. Not Recommended.
Social Policies
Won't get into as depth as the Victory Conditions only because Social Policies can usually go anyway for any Civ and still win. Will only note those that are very important to each Civ.
  • Liberty
    Expansion is usually key for those eying Domination. Liberty will grant you a free worker that works faster, a free settler, a free Great Person, along with other goodies. While you are expanding through building more cities make sure to buy the tiles of land that have luxury resources that you'd otherwise need to wait to obtain.
The rest are really up to you on how you're playstyle will be for policies, Tradition for hunkering down with few cities - Honor for cutting down enemies early on - Liberty for expanding like a mad-man but again, that goes for any Civ, not just the Americans.
Factoids
  • American astronauts land on the moon, July 1969, arguably the single greatest scientific event in the history of mankind.

  • Compared to most other civilizations in the game, America is one of the youngest civilizations featured in the game, being a little over 200 years old. But there are Younger Civilizations such as the Australians.

  • Out of all the civilizations in the game, America is the only one that hasn't been historically conquered by a foreign power or has collapsed due to internal discord or other means.

  • Currently, America is a major economic and political power in the world, with influence in the majority of the world.
19 Comments
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KLOG 28 Dec, 2016 @ 1:48pm 
pretty cool that you made this guide. i normaly play as americans because early in the game (if done properly) you can churn out units fairly fast and have a lead on other civs on military numbers. after i make a certin numer of units i start to delve into science to upgrade my units to were any civ that declares war will fight a small but highly advanced army that will crush almost any large force with ease.
beachboyhottie 8 May, 2016 @ 3:23pm 
awesome!
Ryan  [author] 29 Dec, 2015 @ 9:40pm 
@ColonelPants

I've made guides for all of the Civilizations, if I'm not mistaken. If not all, I think Korea was the only one that was left out. Quite a few :-)
epicpantsryummy 29 Dec, 2015 @ 1:53pm 
Homie, how many guides have you made? I've ended up just reading these for enjoyment, you've made so many!
knifes 17 Oct, 2015 @ 1:31pm 
Can you do one for Korea?
Ryan  [author] 15 Jan, 2014 @ 1:31pm 
@Danny

Yeah, I suppose that is true, I could change that to have that factoid over there on Russia's page as well.
dapper plapper 10 Jan, 2014 @ 9:06pm 
'Murica
Grittle 18 Oct, 2013 @ 3:53pm 
'MURICA
Ryan  [author] 11 Jun, 2013 @ 2:05pm 
Best ones out there, in my opinion, Japan, Rome, Germany, France, China, and the Huns.
Saltimus_Sodium 11 Jun, 2013 @ 9:37am 
Other than Japan, since I don't like playing as them.