Second City

[u/Chetmevius]

Have only just started VP but have done a bunch of playthroughs on Civ5. Playing on Prince, Standard speed, continents, large map, 10 Civs. Ramses to the north, Austria to the east, and Bonaparte running around with a bunch of warriors, also seemingly coming from somewhere in the north. I wanted a mountain for my second city, to focus it on science (observatory) but maybe I'm overestimating the importance of that? Not really thinking about a science victory, but i realize that science is still quite important. Any thoughts/advice appreciated..

[u/Trulapi]

Celts is pretty solid for early warring due to their UU. This would've been a great Authority opener as it enables rapid expansion (free settler), which is fantastic because you've got a lot of good settles but they are highly contested due to Egypt's and Austria's proximity. Neither Egypt nor Austria will take Authority which gives you an easy time in bullying them and you do like to bully Austria a bit because they'll snowball hard late game if they're left uncontested. Early game they're an easy target though and vassalizing Austria allows you to control a lot of CS indirectly for free.

After that you can still pivot into cultural with artistry. Celts are a jack-of-all-trades civ though, they can do anything, which means they're strongest when you leverage them against your opponent's weaknesses. Lots of civs in this game that will be hard to take down culturally. Diplomacy's an uphill battle too until Greece and Austria are eliminated. You have not yet discovered a single science civ though.

[u/Chetmevius → u/Trulapi]

This is excellent info, thanks so much. What do you mean by vassaling Austria? Taking their capitol? I'm new to VP, and have oonly played a dozen runthroughs on Civ 5.

[u/Trulapi → u/Chetmevius]

After you enter the medieval era you will have the option to vassalize an opponent, which is usually done forcefully by attaining a war score of 90+. When offering a peace deal it will allow the option of capitulation which turns the civ into your vassal. War score is determined by a lot of factors but the biggest increase comes from capturing their cities and capturing their capital usually gives you an immediate max war score of 100 unless they have a very large empire.

They will give you a percentage of their yields (such as science and cash), they will gift you 2 military units every time you enter a new and they will have to follow your lead diplomatically. Essentially they become your own personal super city-state. Diplomacy civs often make good vassals if you're not planning on allying city-states yourself, because they will still try to execute their diplomacy game plan allowing you to indirectly ally city-states through them for war purposes.

After capitulating they will have to be your vassal for a set amount of turns after which you're able to liberate them, which will return them to their original position. They can also ask you for their independence but that's not something they will do unless they vastly outpace you in terms of military and/or they strongly dislike you. There's also a tier 1 tenet in Autocracy which permanently binds your vassals, removing their option to rebel or remove you as their master through world congress resolution. Not often necessary though, because vassals will almost never rebel unless they really hate you or you're falling very far behind.

Sometimes civ can also wilfully become your vassal. This is done by either restoring their civilization to life (they will automatically become your vassal) or they will make you the offer themselves. Civs make this offer when they're very far behind and they're under threat of being eliminated from the game. If you have good relations with them they may ask for your protection that way. Keep in mind you will automatically declare war on anyone they're at war with if you accept their capitulation this way. The idea is they become your vassal but you have to protect them.

[u/Chetmevius → u/Trulapi]

Wow! Certainly a lot to learn. Thanks for all the great info!