Civilization 5 Ideology Guide

Strategies for Order, Freedom, and Autocracy Tenets

Click the Magnifying Glass in-Game to View Tenets Before Choosing an Ideology

Ideologies were introduced with the Brave New World Expansion. Choosing one of these 3, you can help boost your chances at a particular Victory type based on how you've played your Civ. These Tenets are more powerful than the usual Social Policies and may make huge impacts on Happiness, Production, Culture, and your Military prowess. However, the choice is not a simple one because other Civilizations may have more Tourism than your Civ's cumulative Culture can defend against and this may cause negative public opinion that reduces Happiness. Once selected, you will be locked in unless your population is not content with your choice.

Choosing an Ideology & Adopting New Tenets

Once you have either built three Factories or reached the Modern era, you will get to pick an Ideology to follow. If you are first to adopt that Ideology, you will get 2 free Tenets - otherwise, you will select 1. Afterward, you will get to select a new Tenet each time you are eligible for a new Social Policy - you may choose a regular Policy or a new Tenet. To get a Level 2 Tenet, which is generally more powerful, you must first select two Level 1 Tenets. A Level 3 Tenet will require two Level 2 Tenets. To get a Level 3 Tenet, you would require three Level 1s, and two Level 2s. Every Ideology has seven Level 1 Tenets, six Level 2s, and three Level 3s. You may select almost all of these in a single game. You are limited in that you may pick only four of the Level 2 Tenets.

Having a high Culture output is essential to selecting these in good time, along with the necessity that you not be culturally backward while a Civ with another Ideology has a powerful Culture. As other Civs select Ideologies, you will be informed with each new turn. Do not necessarily pick one for the early adopter Tenet unless you are sure you can overcome potential unhappiness from public opinion. Look to the Culture Victory screen to find other Civs' choices, and Influence by player to determine if other Civs are influencing your Civ with Tourism. The more Tourism levels (exotic, influential, etc.) they have generated against your Culture, the worse the negative public opinion will be.

Politically, having a different Ideology causes a hit to relations between two Civs. It may be the tipping point to war if there have been 'incidents' in the past. Choosing the same Ideology gives a boost. Civs want their Ideology to be present in the World to avoid the drawbacks, and it shows that two Civs offer their Citizenry a similar life.

Public Opinion

Tourism Influence From Other Civs Will Make Those of Different Ideologies unhappy. Hover over the Opinion to see who is Influencing it. Read the Cultural Victory Guide to learn more about Influence.

Public Opinion and Unhappiness

Playing the Civ that is behind culturally has its drawbacks, assuming you pick an Ideology that is different from the most popular. Other Civs are more likely to have an easy time gaining Influence over your people through Tourism. When a Civilization has one or more Civs of different Ideologies affecting it, it will suffer increasing unhappiness with each Influence level from each Civ. In this way, an Ideology may gain popularity in the world, for others see how these people live and citizens begin to desire the other Ideology. The Ideology that has the most impact on a particular Civ is that which has the most total levels of influence.

There are four levels of Public Opinion, and thus Resistance:

Content (No Resistance) - the Population is happy with Ideology choice and not taking a hit to Happiness.

Dissidents - 1 Level Influence difference total. Suffer Unhappiness equal to the greater of 1 per City or 1 per 10 Population.

Civil Resistance - 3 Levels Influence difference total. Suffer Unhappiness equal to the greater of 2 per City or 1 per 5 Population.

Revolutionary Wave - 5+ Levels influence difference total. Suffer Unhappiness equal to the greater of 4 per city or 1 per 3 Population.

The end result for each Civ is determined by the sum of the number of levels for each Ideology affecting them, minus the levels of pressure they are exerting to every other Civ. For example, Korea has 3 levels of Influence over you Culturally (Popular), America 2 (Familiar), but you have are Exotic (1 level) with Korea. Both of these Civs follow Freedom, while you are Order. You have a total of 4 levels of Influence from other Ideologies affecting you, because of your own level negating one of these. Your Civ is in Civil Resistance and one more level of Tourism Influence for Freedom will result in your Civ going into Revolutionary Wave. If another Civ had Autocracy and had one level against you, it would also count and cause you to go into Revolution. It is the total number of levels from opposing Ideologies summed up. However, levels for your Ideology coming from other Civs are subtracted from that total.

Civs following your Ideology that have Tourism influence levels over you can help cancel out some of the opposing levels, as they are votes for your Ideology. In the example, if another Order Civ were to have two levels for Order influencing your people by being Familiar to you, you would only experience 3 total levels of Unrest instead of 5 and stay in Civil Resistance instead of full-blown Revolutionary Wave.

In the screenshot above, Carthage is at 6 levels of influence difference. They follow Order and have 6 levels for Freedom, 2 for Autocracy against them for a total of 8. The 2 'votes' for Order from The Huns cancels out two of these levels leaving them at 6, which results in Revolutionary Wave. If they could gain 2 levels of Influence over an Autocracy or Freedom Civ, this would fall to Civil Resistance. If Songhai switched to Order for some reason, there would be 6 votes for Order and the 4 remaining (2 Autocracy, 2 Freedom) would be negated resulting in a Content population.

The amount of Unhappiness for following a particular Ideology is determined on a per-Civ basis, so while one Order Civ with a strong Culture or a high Tourism output with many levels of Influence over Civs of other Ideologies may have no trouble with outside pressure to change, another Order Civ with low Culture or Tourism would net much more Unhappiness because they do not have levels of Influence over others to offset the levels against them.

You can jump multiple levels in the blink of an eye when a Cultural Civ picks an Ideology and instantly begins this type of Influence over your Citizens or a Civ following your Ideology has influence levels over you and suddenly changes to the dominant Ideology. Keep your Happiness in the positive as best you can and consider changing if it's awful, at least before you are far in -- unless you plan to conquest or have a late-game Tourism boom coming.

World Ideology & Public Opinion

A World Ideology Resolution exists for the World Congress, but is not available until a Civ has chosen an Ideology. Once that is done, passing this will further increase public opinion for that Ideology and result in more potential Unhappiness for other Civs while those following it could have less. This amounts to two levels of Influence for that Ideology. Civs following the World Ideology will also get +2 Delegates in the World Congress. Getting this passed and being Culturally dominant with a very high Tourism output can cause your enemies serious trouble. Given World Ideology only provides 2 levels of Influence, it will not necessarily make your chosen Ideology the one other Civs' citizens want to change to.

Cultural City Flipping

Back in the Civ 4 days, a City could be flipped and join a bordering Civ if Cultural output was capable of surpassing it. Now, you (or the AI) chance losing Cities if other Civs are causing your Civ to go through Civil Resistance or a Revolutionary Wave, which produces a very high level of Unhappiness. If the Civ does not have enough Happiness remain in the positive, it may begin losing Cities to the preferred Ideology. They will join the Civ that is of the preferred ideology that has the closest City, so that may explain why you may be the biggest Tourism generator but have another Civ of the same Ideology getting all the Cities. The Civ gaining these Cities will get to select what to do with them (Annex or Puppet).

Causing Problems for Other Civs or Preventing Revolutions in Your Lands

Once your or another Civ is experiencing Civil Resistance or a Revolutionary wave, it's only likely to get worse. You must greatly raise your Culture per turn or use a Great Musician to gain an Influence level over the other Civ and effectively cancel out a level of resistance - but only if it's powerful enough to get you to the next level with that Civ. While Great Writers cannot lower the Tourism influence level they have over you, they can slow their progress to the next one. Great Musicians are capable of delivering large amounts of Tourism at once to a Civ and raising the level of Influence you have. Negating one of their levels in Influence may knock you down a level from Revolutionary Wave to Civil Resistance if you only have 5 levels against you. If you do not have a high Tourism output and aren't planning to conquer another Civ that is influencing you, you may as well fall in line and switch Ideology if Unhappiness is too much to bear. You risk losing Cities because of this. Thankfully, the AI can be very stubborn even if they are experiencing a large amount of unhappiness and I have seen Civs fall apart from this, losing their best Cities and turning their lands to swiss cheese, providing me puppets and gold per turn.

Researching the Internet will double Tourism Output which may help you gain some Influence levels to make up the difference, and only one Civ may build the Great Firewall to block others' Internet tech. You may find World Congress resolutions that increase Culture from Wonders/Landmarks/Natural Wonders and convert those to Tourism with Hotels/Airports. Simply having a high culture will protect your Civ against these things whether your Tourism output is good or not. If you want more info on that, again, read the Cultural Victory Guide.

Switching Ideologies

If your Civ is unhappy because you've chosen differently, you can switch Ideologies, but only then. Switching Ideologies causes some unrest for a time and costs you a number of Tenets. Even if you selected nine Tenets and went to another Ideology, you would still lose almost all of that progress and only be able to pick a couple of Tenets. This will fix a major Unhappiness problem however, and may allow you to continue on your chosen path to Victory. You may do this through the Ideology screen once public opinion falls below Content.

Ideology Benefits

Autocracy

Summary of Benefits for Civs Following the Autocracy Ideology:



+1/+2 Happiness from Defensive/Offensive Buildings - Castle and up, Barracks and up

Wounded units inflict more damage

Reduced Maintenance and Gold Purchasing of Units

Build Courthouses faster and gain +3 Happiness from them, offsetting the Happiness cost of a City

Increased Production of Military Units and +15 Starting Experience

Double Strategic Resources to support more Units

Double Spy Stealing rate to catch up Technologically while on the warpath

Gain Influence over any City-State you can Demand Tribute from

Clausewitz's Legacy - gain a big +25% increase in Combat Strength for 50 Turns after adopting - steamroll the rest of the world and finish a Domination Victory!

Freedom

Summary of Benefits for Civs Following the Freedom Ideology:



Specialists consume less food and generate less Unhappiness than regular Citizens

Foreign Legion - Units specialized in fighting away from home that keep the unique Promotion when Upgraded to Infantry

Golden Ages last 50% longer

+Happiness for Economic and Growth buildings like Banks, Mints, Hospitals, and Medical Labs

Increased City Combat Strength for Defense

Gain Influence each turn you have a Trade Route with each City-State

Buy Spaceship Parts with Gold

Increased Production of Military Units and +15 Influence for gifting one to a City-State

Easy Tourism boost from all Cities with a Broadcast Tower

Order

Summary of Benefits for Civs Following the Order Ideology:



Happiness from Monuments and Production Buildings (Factory, Windmill, Solar/Nuclear/Hydro Plant)

Spies twice as likely to catch enemy agents attempting to steal Technology

Increased Production (+1) from Mines/Quarries and +2 flat Production per City

Tourism to other Order Civs and those with less Happiness

Gold cost of Purchasing Buildings reduced

Internal Trade Routes 50% more effective

Gain +25% Science from Factories

+15% Attack Bonus when fighting in Friendly Territory

Finish Spaceship Parts with Great Engineers

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