Civ 5 Moroccan Civilization

Civ Bonuses, AI Info, Strategies, Unique Units and Buildings

Updated for Gods and Kings and Brave New World DLCs

Civilization's Leader: Ahmad al-Mansur

Civ Bonus: Gateway to Africa

+3 Gold and +1 Culture for each Trade Route with a different Civ or City-State. Other Civs get +2 Gold for each Trade Route sent to Morocco.

Unique Unit: Berber Cavalry

Requires Military Science, Replaces Cavalry

The Berber Cavalry is a great defensive unit designed to help protect Moroccan lands. It gets a +25% Combat Bonus in your territory, and another 50% when fighting in Desert. These can be combined, so if your Capital or other Cities are located in Desert, they will get a total of +75% Combat Strength. You will want to build a good number of these when they become available as the Unit retains these Promotions when Upgraded to the Landship and later Tanks, resulting in some truly powerful armored Units that will be exceptional at picking off enemy units with their high mobility.

Unique Tile Improvement: Kasbah

Requires Chivalry

May only be built in Desert. Gives +1 Food, Production, and Gold to the tile. Morocco may thrive in a Desert location, while others would have a small and weak City. In addition to this, your units stationed within a Kasbah will get a +50% bonus just as if they were in a Fort. This won't help the Berber Cavalry, but your ranged and artillery will very much appreciate this defensive boost.

Playing Against The Moroccan AI - Their Tendencies (XML Info and Flavors) Warmonger

Hatred Wonder

Compete Offense

Build Defense

Build City

Defense DoF Friendly

to Civs Denounce

Civs War w/Civs Deception

Likelihood CS

Comp CS War 5 4 5 7 6 6 8 5 5 5 5 4 Other Info Ahmad al-Mansur is a peaceful AI that can make an excellent Trade Partner, given they should not have trouble generating Gold. Befriend this Civ unless they are singled out as a target by other Civs. Regardless, enjoy the Trade benefits of sending your routes to him - the +2 Gold will make him a desirable target along with the high gold output of his Cities. Overall, not a Civ you need to fear. Just watch for any DoFs causing Diplomatic harm between your Civ and any others that hate him. Start Bias: Desert

The Kasbah provides +1 Food, Production and Gold, making Desert Cities very livable

Strategies/Ideas for playing Morocco:

Morocco's Gateway to Africa Unique Bonus is an excellent early-game boost to help your Civ's Gold and Culture. Taking advantage of this and getting Trade Routes up early is essential to capitalizing on their strengths. You will get the +3 Gold and +1 Culture whether you are the one initiating the Trade Route or not, so making your Cities good spots to Trade is a very good idea. More Resource Diversity, along with gold-generating tiles will help a lot in this as the AI should prefer trading with you given the extra income they'll receive. In this way, you may attract AI to trade with you by having a Coastal City and City for Land-based trade routes that is in a good position for early Trade Routes' shorter range. You may want to trade with a City-State or another Civ if you already have one incoming from each unique Civ, for you can only get the +3/+1 for one Trade Route. Each individual CS counts as its own, so Patronage's increase to CS Trade Route income will be very beneficial if you are trying to make best use of this strategically. It also paves the way for an easy Diplomatic Victory.

I play this Civ peacefully, but it's not nessary to do so for they could benefit from a sprawling empire of Puppet Cities, particularly if you are capturing those near Desert. While the Kasbah's effects on your Capital and other Cities are obvious, it is very nice to use for increasing the food output and production of Puppets, for they are attracted to working Tiles with Gold. Therefore either expanding rapidly with Liberty and/or starting with Tradition while transitioning to fighting other Civs is viable. However, you would be limiting your Trade Partners. For this reason, I would only play aggressively if it were obviously a need - like spawning next to Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan. This just shows the Civ's flexibility, given Food, Production, and Gold all have their roles and a balance of them is lovely. Any victory condition is possible, moreso than other specialized Civs.

The Kasbah itself synergizes incredibly well with Petra so try and rush for it, as you want the Currency Tech early to get Markets, increasing your Cities' desirability as Trade Route destinations and enabling the East India Company with Guilds. It's also on the way to Chivalry to unlock the Kasbah itself. You will turn a useless Desert tile into a wonderful tile producing +2 Food/Production and +1 Gold. Desert Hills, especially those along Rivers will make your City have incredibly high Production and excellent growth potential. Even without Petra, play is still strong for the tiles give more overall and will allow plenty of growth so long as you have enough Food Resources or give up a couple Trade Routes for internal Food. If you get it, use the extra Trade Route from Petra to give your Capital a Food boost to allow it to grow large enough to quickly work those tiles, and you'll be rich by the mid-game and performing well as far as Science to allow you to capitalize on all this Production for mid-game Wonders, allowing you to pick just about any Victory Condition you desire. I would not accept a non-desert start with Morocco unless playing on a much higher difficulty like Immortal or Deity, where Petra is not so easy to get. Playing on Emperor and below, it's easy to snag it (and possibly the Hanging Gardens with Tradition). If you go Liberty, you may use the free Great Engineer to rush Petra and ensure other Civs don't even have a chance.

It is worth noting just how powerful a Golden Age is with many Kasbah at your disposal. Every tile producing +1 will jump to +2, which is then amplified by any Gold buildings. You've also got strong Production, so the +20% bonus is very welcome and will help you keep your Cities modern. Using Artists and making up for the lack of Great Works with the bonus Culture from Golden Ages and your passive Culture from connecting to other Civs can give you a big edge against your opponents and let you buy up CS alliances. Patronage/Commerce both accomplish this but I prefer the former - the Science gained from City-States and many Alliances with them is also invaluable, along with the increase to Happiness from Luxuries, leading to even more Golden Ages!

Given their Desert Start bias, I would highly recommend trying to found a Religion (particulary if Wide) by making a Pantheon and choosing Desert Folklore. Those tiles along River will give faith, as will every tile with a Kasbah later on - you will have no trouble buying Great People later, or even capitalizing on Beliefs that allow faith purchasing. With that chosen, you are free to work on Income (Tithe), Happiness (Pagodas) or Growth bonuses (Feed the World) for your Civ's beliefs, particularly if you have another City with Desert tiles and Kasbah.

Once the Berber Cavalry is available, you will have incredibly mobile defenders for the rest of the game. Their Combat Strength when fighting in desert homeland is more than enough to prevent enemies taking your Cities, and you have the Gold necessary to build plenty of the preceding units (Knight w/ Chivalry) to get promotions from Barbarians and any Wars and Upgrade to powerful Berber Cavalry. When upgraded to Landships and Tanks later, they keep their Unique Promotion (Desert Warfare), meaning they make super powerful Tanks. Throughout the life of the Berber, you can use the Homeland defense bonus to wage Wars on your own Territory and draw in your opponent to take easily-acquired Puppet Cities from them. They will also be likely to cough up Desert Cities given they are unlikely to be as well-suited to Desert as Morocco. In fact, I'm not sure any Civ survives in Desert as well as Morocco.

While the Berber Cavalry cannot benefit from Defensive Bonuses from Terrain, your ranged stationed there will be in a strong position to protect your Civ. Do not neglect to have a few regular melee with high combat strength to Fortify and block the attacking troops from coming in to wreck your lands.

I think many will agree that Morocco is a strong Civ that makes playing in a Desert interesting. The tactics you can employ with this Civ are numerous, so long as you have a nice spot of oft-undesirable Desert to call your own. It is easy to pick a direction by mid-game and take any Victory type you choose, especially with an almost game-breaking Petra at your Capital's disposal. Share your strategies and recommendations for playing Morocco below.

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